For most of us, reading can be a pretty great (and cheap!) hobby. It doesnt take much to imagine immersing yourself in another time, another place, another culture, all through the written word.

But how can one enjoy these new worlds when they cant see or process the words, or are physically unable to hold a book or a digital device?

Everyone deserves to read.

It is in this spirit that, the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled was born. Since 1931, NLS and its member libraries have provided Braille books, and later audiobooks and playback machines, for free through the mail. They serve those who cannot use standard print, whether from visual impairment or reading disability, or handle a book due to physical limitations.

Books available through the service range widely, from popular novels (like the newest John Grisham), to cookbooks, travel books and beyond. They produce audio and Braille versions of popular magazines, like The Economist or People. There is even an app that provides instant access to thousands of books and magazines right on a smart device, if youre tech-savvy.

This federal program also supports libraries in every state to provide more localized support to its residents. Taylor Community Library, where I have worked for the past four years, houses the NLS program which serves Wayne County residents, excluding Detroit. (The lovely staff at the Frederick Douglass branch on 3666 Grand River Ave. serve the large population of Detroit and Highland Park). This allows us to exchange players, help residents select materials, and host inclusive and accessible events. Popular programs include our audiobook book club and our visually impaired support group (affectionately known as the VIPs). We are your local hub for getting connected to this life-changing service.

Currently, Taylor Community Library serves roughly 900 persons living with blindness or other print disabilities in Wayne County. But, according to the 2018 American Community Survey, there could be as many as 250,000 people in Wayne County living with a vision disability.

Reading disabilities, like dyslexia, are also prevalent (about 43.5 million Americans deal with dyslexia). So much emphasis gets put on the blind part that thousands of people are potentially missing out, like those dealing with reading disabilities, or those with MS or Parkinsons or stroke survivors. The list goes on. Even those with a temporary visual or physical limitation may apply for service (its pretty hard to hold a book with two broken arms in casts).

The success of our program relies completely on the United States Postal Services Free Matter for the Blind service to deliver and return the majority of our materials nationwide, completely free for the patron. From those in large, bustling cities to those in small, rural communities, they deliver everywhere.

Many of our patrons are homebound or unable to come to the library due to health or transportation issues. For these people, access to books, magazines and information is totally reliant on the mail. The Postal Service is their main connection to the world. Recent events and changes at the administrative level of the USPS have caused delays throughout the country. Michigan alone had 10 mail sorting machines and even more mail collection boxes removed recently.

Our incredible program cannot survive without access to affordable and reliable mail service. So, I urge you, please contact your legislators and voice your concerns on these recent changes and its negative effects to this centuries old institution.

For an easy way to connect with your areas legislators, text USPS to 50409 and a letter will be sent to your rep to urge them to take action.

To learn more about the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, visit loc.org/nls. To learn more about our program at Taylor Community Library and fill out an application, visit taylor.lib.mi.us/btb.

Sarah Roe oversees the Braille & Talking Books program at Taylor Community Library, which provides free library service for those with vision impairments or print disabilities.
The death penalty has been used in the U.S. to enforce racial hierarchies since colonial times, according to a report released Tuesday by the Death Penalty Information Center.

Racial disparities are still present in capital cases, the DPIC contends.

If you dont understand the history  that the modern death penalty is the direct descendant of slavery, lynching, and Jim Crow-segregation  you wont understand why, the report says.

Southern states dominate two maps produced in the report that show locations of the lynchings of Black individuals in the U.S. between 1883 and 1940 and the legal executions of Black people from 1972 to 2020.

And historic figures from Virginia are displayed in a graphic that the DPIC says shows how race determined who was executed for non-murder crimes in the state.

By 1848, the report says, white people in Virginia could be sentenced to death only for first-degree murder, while slaves could be executed for less serious crimes.

By the 20th century, race distinction in the law was gone in Virginia, but not in practice, the report says.

The DPIC says that in Virginia, from 1900 to 1969, 185 Blacks and 46 whites were executed for murder. And although a total of 73 Blacks were executed for rape, attempted rape and armed robbery  no whites were, according to the DPIC study.

The findings echo those of a 2004 review by the Richmond Times-Dispatch of archived Virginia Department of Corrections records and contemporaneous newspaper accounts of executions in the state from 1908 to 1954.

The figures suggest that Virginias justice system curbed lynchings by supplanting them with court-imposed executions.

Quick trials and use of the death penalty against Blacks are reasons why Virginia had the lowest incidence of lynchings of any state in the South from 1880 to 1950, according to W. Fitzhugh Brundage, a University of North Carolina history professor and an expert on lynchings.

The Times-Dispatch found that191 of the 221 men and one woman executed in Virginia from 1908 to 1954 were Black. Only murder put whites in the electric chair, and not often.

The 87-page DPIC report released Tuesday is titled Enduring Injustice: The Persistence of Racial Discrimination in the U.S. Death Penalty.

Ngozi Ndulue, the reports lead author, said, The death penalty has been used to enforce racial hierarchies throughout United States history, beginning with the colonial period and continuing to this day.

According to the study, as lynchings decreased in the early 20th century, executions increased.

Across the South, African-American men were condemned and executed for the alleged rape or attempted rape of white women or girls. No white man was ever executed for raping a Black woman or girl, the authors wrote.

According to the DPIC report, 13% of the 823 Blacks convicted of rape in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina and Tennessee between 1945 and 1965 were sentenced to death. During the same period, just 2% of 442 white men convicted of rape were sentenced to death.

The same disparities were seen in executions, the DPIC found. Of the 455 men executed for rape in the U.S. between 1930 and 1972, 405  or 89%  were Black and 443 of the 455 occurred in former Confederate states, the report says.

The report contends that racial bias persists today: the murders of white people are more likely to lead to capital murder charges; the systemic exclusion of jurors of color from service in death penalty trials; and disproportionate imposition of death sentences against defendants of color.

The authors said evidence of racial bias in the report includes a 2015 analysis of 30 studies showing that the killers of white people were more likely than the killers of Black people to face a capital prosecution.

The DPIC report cited other evidence to support the argument that discrimination remains in the application of capital punishment:

A North Carolina study cited in the report showed that qualified Black jurors were struck from juries at more than twice the rate of qualified white jurors. As of 2010, 20% of those on the states death row were sentenced to death by all-white juries.

Since executions resumed in 1977, 295 African-Americans defendants have been executed for the murder of a white victim, while only 21 white defendants have been executed for the murder of an African-American victim.

Exonerations of African Americans for murder convictions are 22% more likely to be linked to police misconduct.

There have been more executions in Virginia since colonial times than in any other state  almost 1,400, beginning in 1608 when Capt. George Kendall, a Jamestown councilor, was shot by firing squad.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed executions to resume in 1976, Virginia has executed 113 people, a toll second only to Texas.

In 2000, a study of Virginias death penalty by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission found that defendants who murdered white victims were more likely to be indicted for capital murder and face prosecution than defendants who murdered Black victims.

But that study concluded that local prosecutors do not base the decision of whether to seek the death penalty in capital-eligible cases on the race of the defendant or the race of the victim.

A recent study of Georgia executions published in the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review focused on who was actually executed  and not just tried  for capital murder.

Nationally, relatively few death sentences imposed in the U.S. are ultimately carried out. That study found a person was 17 times more likely to be executed for murdering a white victim than a nonwhite victim.

Robert Dunham, executive director of the DPIC, said racial disparities grow as cases proceed to juries, then to convictions, then to death sentences and then to executions, where the report shows that, nationally, 75% of all the people executed in the U.S. were convicted of killing white victims.
Alan Dershowitz, legal counsel for President Donald Trump, answers a question from a senator during impeachment proceedings in the Senate chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 29, 2020. (Senate Television via Getty Images)

Alan Dershowitz Sues CNN for $300 Million, Alleging Defamation

Former law professor Alan Dershowitz sued CNN for $300 million on Sept. 15, alleging the cable news network defamed him.

Dershowitzs lawsuit claims CNN left out a crucial portion of public comments it reported on in January.

The conduct is in direct violation of the law and falls outside First Amendment protection, the suit argues.

Dershowitz testified before the Senate on Jan. 27 during the impeachment trial against President Donald Trump. The president was impeached by the House of Representatives, which said he solicited the interference of a foreign government, Ukraine, to interfere in the 2020 election by pushing Ukrainian officials to announce a probe into Democratic candidate Joe Biden.

Trump was ultimately acquitted by the Senate.

Dershowitz argued that the only way a quid pro quo would be unlawful is if the quo were somehow illegal.

There are three possible motives that a political figure could have, he said. One, a motive in the public interest, and the Israel argument would be in the public interest. The second is in his own political interest, and the third, which hasnt been mentioned, would be his own financial interest, his own pure financial interest, just putting money in the bank.

I want to focus on the second one for just one moment. Every public official that I know believes that his election is in the public interest and, mostly you are right, your election is in the public interest, and if a president does something which he believes will help him get elected in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment.

Jeff Zucker, president of CNN, poses for a photograph in New York on Dec. 8, 2019. (Mike Coppola/Getty Images for WarnerMedia)

The lawsuit says Dershowitz expressly stated a president could be removed from office if what he did was illegal.

But during CNN programming throughout the day, crucial portions of the video were left out, making it seem as if Dershowitz was arguing that a president could do anything, even something illegal, as long as he believed his reelection was in the public interest, according to the lawsuit.

With that portion of Professor Dershowitzs words played without his words that preceded that sentence, it was an easy sell to CNNs viewers that the respected Alan Dershowitz believed that the president of the United States could commit illegal acts as long as he thought it would help his reelection and that his reelection was in the public interest, even though it was the opposite of what he said, it stated.

CNN didnt respond to a request for comment.

The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Dershowitz is seeking a trial by jury.
A Delhi-based student housing brand YourShell has been acquired by Stanza Living, a managed accommodation company.

The two companies had been in talks since late last year.

YourShell was launched in 2017 with 145 beds to provide easy-to-book, serviced, and affordable rental homes to students within the North campus area of the Delhi University. Currently, they have over 600 beds across 18 properties.

It is among the youngest startups to raise venture debt under the Government of Indias StandUp India programme.

When we learnt that they (Stanza Living) were looking at strategic acquisitions for growth, we believed it was the ideal time to pass on the reigns to the experienced team at Stanza Living and become a part of their rapid-scale story, said Shaifali Jain, co-founder, YourShell.

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 real estate sector, particularly the student housing segment, has been impacted due to the current social and economical uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report.

According to an EY report titled, 'Impact of COVID19 on the student housing segment in India', student housing has attracted significant investment of 600 million dollars. However, the current situation has resulted in major changes affecting all four stakeholders - educational institutions, students, asset owners and student housing providers and managers.

Gaurav Karnik, partner - real estate, EY India, said, "The B2C model, where most students pay monthly, has seen a larger impact. Students who have left are less likely to pay their monthly rentals for the remaining two months. But most operators have two months of the refundable security deposit which could help them avoid revenue shortfall. However, students could use force majeure as a reason to claim refunds."

Student housing managers and operators are trying to reduce variable costs for services such as housekeeping, security, and laundry by complete closure or offering partial operations. From a cost perspective, more cleaning and fumigation will be required, thus increasing the maintenance cost marginally.

In addition to all this, a larger problem could arise if colleges decide to run the early part of the first semester through virtual classrooms. In such an event, the revenue loss could be close to four to five months.
TANZANIA, Tanzania - The U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution Tuesday welcoming the start of negotiations between Afghan representatives and the Taliban, encouraging the warring parties to engage in good faith and aim for a permanent cease-fire and political settlement to their 19-year conflict.

The resolution, which also extended the U.N. political mission in Afghanistan into next September, also strongly encourages the parties to continue pursuing confidence-building measures including additional reductions in violence.

Germanys U.N. Ambassador Christoph Heusgen, who drafted the resolution with Indonesia, called the weekends start of negotiations in Qatar a major achievement which we have all been waiting for for many years.

It is indeed in Afghan hands to define the future path of their country  just the way it should be, he said, but he reiterated that the violence must stop now and there has to be a sustainable ceasefire.

Heusgen said the resolutions unanimous adoption showed international support for the talks and stressed that the United Nations and Afghanistans regional and international partners will do their part to support and facilitate this process.

The Taliban were ousted from power in Afghanistan in 2001 by a U.S.-led coalition for harbouring Osama bin Laden, the architect of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on America. The talks in Qatar were laid out in a peace deal that Washington brokered with the Taliban and signed in February, aimed at bringing American troops home and ending more than four decades of relentless wars following the 1979 Afghan invasion by forces from the former Soviet Union.

The so-called intra-Afghan talks in Qatar are expected to set a road map for a post-war society in Afghanistan.

But while the historic start of talks last Saturday was mostly about ceremony, the negotiations are expected to be long and difficult as the two sides struggle to end the fighting and debate ways of protecting rights of women and minorities. One of the first items on the agenda will be a comprehensive and permanent cease-fire.

Under the Taliban, women were not allowed to go to school, work outside the home or leave their house without a male escort. And though they still face many challenges in the male-dominated society, Afghan women are increasingly stepping into powerful positions in numerous fields  and many fear the current negotiations could bargain away their gains.

The Taliban have promised women could attend school, work and participate in politics but stressed that would all be allowed in keeping with Islamic principles  without saying what that might mean.

The Security Council called for women and young people to be included in peace negotiations and underlined that the economic, social, political and development gains made in the last 19 years, including in the field of human rights, especially the rights of women, children and minorities, must be protected and built upon.

The council expressed deep concern at the current high level of violence in Afghanistan, especially the number of civilian casualties. It condemned in the strongest terms all militant activity and attacks, and reaffirmed the importance of ensuring that Afghan territory is not used by terrorist organizations such as the Islamic State group and al-Qaida to threaten or attack any other country.

The council also reaffirmed that neither the Taliban nor any other Afghan group or individual should support terrorists operating on the territory of any other country.

The U.N.s most powerful body also stressed the important role that the United Nations will continue to play in promoting peace and stability in Afghanistan, while also addressing the challenges facing the country and its people, especially the short- and long-term consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has severely taxed the countrys deteriorating health system.

The council said the U.N. mission, known as UNAMA, will support the negotiations in Doha, if requested, including by proposing and supporting confidence-building measures and supporting the organization of future timely, credible, transparent, and inclusive Afghan elections.
The Abu Dhabi Government Services ecosystem, TAMM has launched the second phase of its innovative digital payment platform Abu Dhabi Pay.

The second phase of Abu Dhabi Pay, launched as part of Abu Dhabi Digital Authoritys (ADDA) ongoing digital solutions for the capital, will enable residents and citizens to use payit, the UAEs first fully featured digital wallet application when completing digital governmental services and transactions through the integrated Abu Dhabi government services platform TAMM.

As part of a partnership between The Abu Dhabi Government Services ecosystem, TAMM and First Abu Dhabi Bank, payit will allow members of the society who have a valid Emirates ID, regardless of who they bank with, conduct easy and simple digital payments for any governmental services through their smartphones.

Since its launch in 2018, payit, which is available on the Apple App store and Google Play Store, has become a popular choice for conducting transactions with more than 180,000 people across the country using the service to dine, shop and pay as well as sending money to anyone. It is also the fastest growing wallet service, attracting over 500 new users every day.

Helping to eliminate the needs for cash and to instigate change in payment methods in the UAE, the functionality of payit is also in line with the Abu Dhabi Governments ambition to advance digital transformation.

The second phase of Abu Dhabi Pay, represents the ongoing effort towards accelerating the pace and impact of digital transformation, ensuring solutions and services for Abu Dhabi residents and business communities are secure, convenient, simple and unified.

The launch of the second phase of Abu Dhabi Pay also comes under the supervision of The Higher Committee of the Digital Government and is aligned with its efforts in activating a digital transformation governance framework in Abu Dhabi, providing new concepts of government services and moving towards a digital future.

Engineer Mohamed Al Askar, Director-General of Abu Dhabi Digital Authority, said: The second phase of Abu Dhabi Pay is another milestone moment for us and a significant step forward to achieving our main goal which is to ensure all governmental services and transactions can be completed digitally through continuous co-operation and co-ordination with government agencies. By implementing modern digital technologies and solutions, Abu Dhabi Pay will be easy and simple to use, providing more convenience for everyone in Abu Dhabi.

Andre Sayegh, CEO of First Abu Dhabi Bank Group, said: To enhance the efforts of our wise leadership in developing the latest technologies that will help support the government and benefit the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, First Abu Dhabi Bank is supporting Abu Dhabi Governments efforts to operate digital payment systems that will enable all governmental payments and services to be completed through a single platform.

He added: This is why First Abu Dhabi Bank is delighted to introduce its payit digital wallet as part of Abu Dhabi Pay, which is aligned with the best international practices and standards. At a time where there is a growing focus on digital payments, we believe Abu Dhabi Pay will contribute significantly to improving the digital experience across Abu Dhabi and enhance the customer experience.

Since the launch of Abu Dhabi Pay, users have been able to benefit from multiple safe payment options, one-time payments for multi-party services and unified customer experiences on all government channels.

In the second phase, users will also now be able to register using a unified access and verification system for greater security.-- Tradearabia News Service
SAN RAFAEL, Calif. and PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Phoenix American, a leading transfer agent and fund administration provider for alternative investments, and Alternative Investment Exchange (AIX), a digital platform built to improve processes for investing in alternatives, have announced an integration partnership to provide a seamless, fully digital purchase process for client funds. The partnership will enable investors to purchase alternative investment products digitally using the AIX platform resulting in a complete and active investment record in the Phoenix American transfer agent system, STAR-XMS, with no manual intervention.

Alternative Investment Exchange (AIX)

"We're working hard to improve the way business is done and grow the overall industry. Partnering with Phoenix American is a critical step toward that goal," said AIX COO, Brad West.

The partnership between Phoenix American and AIX is a key step in advancing the entire alternative investment industry. A significant amount of attention is paid in the alternatives industry to the problem of investment subscriptions that arrive at the transfer agent 'not in good order' (NIGO). Minimizing NIGOs by developing a purchase process that eliminates manual data input has been a long-term goal. While both firms believe that reducing NIGOs is essential, they agree that it will not by itself scale the alternatives industry. Full automation of the purchase process will.

"Phoenix American has long been a supporter of technological advancements that reduce costs for sponsors and improve investor and rep adoption of alternative investments," said Andrew Constantin, Senior Vice President, Operations for Phoenix American. "Our mission is to identify ways to reduce operational frictions while remaining agnostic. Leveraging the AIX platform is an important step for Phoenix American as we continue to embrace advancements in technology that push the industry forward."

Seamlessly moving data between the firms' systems, without manual intervention, will fundamentally change the way business is done. With Phoenix American integrated with the AIX Platform, true front-to-back connectivity of pure data involving no paper will occur for the first time. Authentically connecting sponsors, advisors and wealth managers to create a mutual-fund-like experience enhances compliance, provides true efficiency and addresses an operational friction that has rate-limited growth in the alternatives industry. This authentic data connectivity is where both Phoenix American and AIX see the potential to grow the alternatives industry and create transformational change.

The first client of the new partnership is ARCTRUST Properties, Inc., sponsor of ARCTRUST, Inc., ARCTRUST III, Inc. and Capitol Opportunity Zone Fund, LP, programs specializing in investments made through Protected Appreciation Vehicles for Real Estate (PAVRs).

The AIX Platform integration will also enable Phoenix American to create opportunities for advisors to participate in alternatives, providing a significant competitive edge. AIX's technology was built to provide dynamic check points across the entire investment life-cycle, removing obstacles that advisors and wealth management home offices often encounter. Advisors will experience for the first time, a seamless experience of buying, owning, and selling alternatives for their clients.

AIX COO Brad West added, "We wanted to confront the objections and address the friction points that have rate-limited growth in this industry. We have committed ourselves to building the plumbing that will connect and benefit the entire industry, creating meaningful change and positive outcomes for each stakeholder we serve."

Phoenix American, an innovator in the alternatives industry, welcomes the added efficiency of the AIX integration. The company's STAR-XMS transfer agent and administration system, the most advanced administration system in alternatives, centralizes and streamlines back-office functions and provides sales reporting capability to drive sales. The integration of STAR-XMS with the AIX platform, eliminating the need for manual entry of subscription information, further streamlines the Phoenix American back-office process.

About AIX:

Alternative Investment Exchange (AIX) is a leading enterprise platform that simplifies buying, owning and trading in alternative investments  transforming the business model and empowering growth by connecting data. AIX's technology helps wealth and asset managers use business intelligence to manage risk, drive efficiency and improve advisor and investor experiences. Thousands of wealth advisors rely on AIX to support their business. AIX employs over 30 people and is based in the Philadelphia Navy Yard. For more information, please visit aixplatform.com or Linkedin: linkedin.com/company/aix-alternative-investment-exchange.

About Phoenix American:

Phoenix American provides full-service fund administration, fund accounting, transfer agent and investor services as well as sales and marketing reporting to fund sponsors in the alternative investment industry. The Phoenix American aircraft group provides managing agent and accounting services for asset-backed securitizations specializing in the commercial aviation leasing industry. The company was founded in 1972, has six offices worldwide and is headquartered in San Rafael, CA.

Contact:

David Fisher

(310) 621-7822

[email protected]

SOURCE Phoenix American

Related Links

http://www.phxa.com


Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 02:07:50|Editor: huaxia

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OTTAWA. Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- The United States has dropped its 10 percent tariffs on Canadian aluminum, CTV reported Tuesday afternoon.

The drop came after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that his government would unveil retaliatory measures against the U.S. tariffs Tuesday afternoon.

In a statement Tuesday noon, Trudeau said, "we will be taking action to counter the unjust tariffs put on Canadian aluminum by the United States. As I've said many times we will always be there to defend Canadian workers, defend our aluminum sector."

Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he would impose 10 percent tariffs on Canadian aluminum goods during a campaign speech in Ohio, citing national security concerns.

The Trudeau government responded quickly by saying that Canada "intends to swiftly impose dollar-for-dollar countermeasures." Enditem
It is not uncommon to see companies perform well in the years after insiders buy shares. Unfortunately, there are also plenty of examples of share prices declining precipitously after insiders have sold shares. So before you buy or sell Tiziana Life Sciences PLC (LON:TILS), you may well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling.

What Is Insider Buying?

Most investors know that it is quite permissible for company leaders, such as directors of the board, to buy and sell stock in the company. However, such insiders must disclose their trading activities, and not trade on inside information.

We would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing. But it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing. For example, a Columbia University study found that 'insiders are more likely to engage in open market purchases of their own companys stock when the firm is about to reveal new agreements with customers and suppliers'.

Check out our latest analysis for Tiziana Life Sciences

Tiziana Life Sciences Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when Founder & Executive Chairman Gabriele Marco Cerrone bought UK132k worth of shares at a price of UK2.11 per share. That means that even when the share price was higher than UK1.37 (the recent price), an insider wanted to purchase shares. Their view may have changed since then, but at least it shows they felt optimistic at the time. We always take careful note of the price insiders pay when purchasing shares. As a general rule, we feel more positive about a stock when an insider has bought shares at above current prices, because that suggests they viewed the stock as good value, even at a higher price. Gabriele Marco Cerrone was the only individual insider to buy during the last year.

Gabriele Marco Cerrone purchased 91.00k shares over the year. The average price per share was UK1.58. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

Story continues

Tiziana Life Sciences is not the only stock that insiders are buying. For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

Insider Ownership

I like to look at how many shares insiders own in a company, to help inform my view of how aligned they are with insiders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. It's great to see that Tiziana Life Sciences insiders own 42% of the company, worth about UK109m. Most shareholders would be happy to see this sort of insider ownership, since it suggests that management incentives are well aligned with other shareholders.

So What Do The Tiziana Life Sciences Insider Transactions Indicate?

There haven't been any insider transactions in the last three months -- that doesn't mean much. However, our analysis of transactions over the last year is heartening. With high insider ownership and encouraging transactions, it seems like Tiziana Life Sciences insiders think the business has merit. While we like knowing what's going on with the insider's ownership and transactions, we make sure to also consider what risks are facing a stock before making any investment decision. To assist with this, we've discovered 2 warning signs that you should run your eye over to get a better picture of Tiziana Life Sciences.

If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.

For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions, but not derivative transactions.

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.
The global health crisis, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has now topped 29.47 million cases worldwide. The pandemic is still spreading rapidly, with many countries reporting surging cases and deaths.

Early in the pandemic, scientists revealed what the coronavirus looked like, spherical with spike proteins protruding from their surface. These spike proteins latch onto human cells and bind to the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptors found in healthy cells, which act as the cellular gateway for the virus to enter and infect the cell to be copied, producing more viruses.

Now, a team of scientists from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine produced striking images in respiratory tract cultures of the infectious form of the SARS-CoV-2 produced by infected epithelial cells.

SARS-CoV-2 virions (red). (Ehre Lab, UNC School of Medicine)

Images of infected cells

The images, which are featured in the New England Journal of Medicines Images in Clinical Medicine, showed images of infected cells taken by scientists, which may provide new information on how the virus invades healthy cells. The team captured the images to illustrate how intense the infection of SARS-CoV-2 of the airways can be in clear and easily understood images.

To capture the images, the team inoculated the SARS-CoV-2 into human bronchial epithelial cells, which was done in a biosafety level 3 facility. The scientists examined the cells for 96 hours after infection, utilizing a scanning electron microscopy.

The images were re-colorized by a medical student in UNC and showed infected ciliated cells with strands of mucus, colored yellow, attached to the cilia tips, which were colored blue. Cilia are small hair-like structures on the surface of airway epithelial cells. These structures aid the transport mucus and trapped viruses from the lungs.

A higher power magnification image shows the structure and density of SARS-CoV-2 virions (red) produced by human airway epithelia. (Ehre Lab, UNC School of Medicine)

A high number of virions

Apart from the two previous colors, the team added red to show the SARS-CoV-2 virions, which was revealed using a higher power magnification image. Virions are the complete and infectious form of the virus, consisting of an outer protein shell called a capsid, and an inner core of nucleic acid, which is the RNA. The core is responsible for its infectivity, while the capsid provides specificity to the virus.

An en face image shows an infected ciliated cell with strands of mucus attached to the cilia tips. At higher magnification, an image shows the structure and density of SARS-CoV-2 virions produced by human airway epithelial cells. Virus production was approximately 3106 plaque-forming units per culture, a finding that is consistent with a high number of virions produced and released per cell, the researchers wrote in the paper.

The imaging study also illustrated the markedly high number of virions produced and released per cell inside the respiratory tract, which can show how infectious SARS-CoV-2 is, the virus that causes the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Further, the images can show how potent the virus is and how many virions are present in a single cell, which can invade and infect other cells in the body. The study shows that the sizeable viral burden may be the culprit of the infection spread to multiple organs of an infected person. It may also explain why the virus is highly infectious, with skyrocketing numbers of cases each day. The team reiterates that the findings support the use of masks by infected and uninfected people to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus, which has now killed nearly a million people across the globe.

Several countries report surging COVID-19 cases, with the United States as the nation with the highest number of cases, surpassing 6.55 million. India follows with a staggering 4.84 million confirmed cases, while Brazil and Russia report 4.33 million and 1.06 million cases, respectively.

The U.S. reports more than 194,000 deaths tied to COVID-19, followed by Brazil and India, with more than 131,000 and 79,000 deaths, respectively.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 15/9/2020 (492 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Newly elected head of Liberal Democratic Party Yoshihide Suga poses for photos following his press conference at its headquarters after the party's leadership election in Tokyo Monday, Sept. 14, 2020. Suga was elected as the new head of Japans ruling party on Monday, all but assuring that he will become the country's new prime minister when a parliamentary election is held later in the week. (Nicolas Datiche/Pool Photo via AP)

TOKYO - Japan's Parliament elected Yoshihide Suga as prime minister Wednesday, replacing long-serving leader Shinzo Abe with his right-hand man.

Suga bowed deeply several times when the results were announced, as fellow governing party lawmakers applauded in parliament's more powerful lower house. He was also confirmed in the upper house.

Suga, who was chief Cabinet secretary and the top government spokesman under Abe, selected a Cabinet with a mix of fresh faces and current or former ministers, a lineup that suggests a continuation of Abe's influence while reflecting Suga's pledge of administrative reforms.

Suga has stressed his background as a farmers son and a self-made politician in promising to serve the interests of ordinary people and rural communities. He has said he will pursue Abes unfinished policies and that his priorities will be fighting the coronavirus and turning around an economy battered by the pandemic.

Response to the coronavirus is the immediate priority, Suga, wearing a formal suit, said at his first news conference as prime minister Wednesday night. I will carry on former Prime Minister Abe's policies and push them forward in order to overcome this national crisis and restore safety for the people.

Japan's outgoing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, left, arrives at the prime minister's office for a cabinet meeting Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2020, in Tokyo. Abe and his Cabinet resigned, clearing the way for his successor Yoshihide Suga to take over after parliamentary confirmation later in the day. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Suga was a loyal supporter since Abes first stint as prime minister from 2006 to 2007 and helped him return to the job in 2012.

Abe, 65, announced last month he was resigning because of a chronic illness. He said Wednesday that as a lawmaker, he will support Sugas government.

Suga, 71, praised Abes diplomacy and economic policies when asked what he would like to accomplish himself. He pledged to speed up Japans lagging digital transformation and appointed a special minister, Takuya Hrai.

Japan's outgoing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, center, walks for a cabinet meeting at his office Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2020, in Tokyo. Abe and his Cabinet resigned, clearing the way for his successor Yoshihide Suga to take over after parliamentary confirmation later in the day. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Suga also said he will push reforms by breaking down bureaucratic barriers and vested interests. But in reshuffling key posts within the party, Suga evenly allocated top posts to key factions, a balancing act seen as returning favours for support in the leadership race.

Suga said late Wednesday he will further deepen the Japan-U.S. alliance to protect the national interest, and wants to build a stable relationship with neighbouring countries including China and Russia.

Suga said he was appointing reform-minded, hard-working people to the new 20-member Cabinet. Eleven members of the last Abe administration were retained or shifted to different ministerial posts.

Former Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, left, walks out of the prime minister's office Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2020, in Tokyo. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Cabinet resigned, clearing the way for his successor Suga to take over after parliamentary confirmation later in the day. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Abe's younger brother, Nobuo Kishi, who has close ties with Taiwan, was appointed defence minister, replacing Taro Kono, who was shifted to administrative reforms minister. China claims Taiwan is its territory and opposes contacts between other countries and the self-ruled island.

China congratulated Suga on his election, with foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin saying China is willing to work with the new Japanese government to jointly push forward China-Japan relations to achieve new and greater developments.

But in reaction to Kishi's appointment, Wang said Beijing hopes Japan will abide by the one-China principle and avoid any form of official exchanges with Taiwan."

Outgoing Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe waves before leaving the prime minister's office Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2020, in Tokyo. Abe and his Cabinet resigned Wednesday, clearing the way for his successor Yoshihide Suga to take over after parliamentary confirmation later in the day. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Finance Minister Taro Aso, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, Olympic Minister Seiko Hashimoto, and Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, the son of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, were retained.

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Motegi called South Korea an important neighbour and said he hopes to resolve ongoing disputes over Koreans forced by Japanese companies to work during World War II, although he said Seoul's position violates international law.

Kishi, who in the past has said Japan should consider acquiring nuclear weapons, said as a Cabinet member he will abide by the government's non-nuclear principle. He said he will study ways to bolster missile deterrence, including acquiring a first-strike capability.

Japan's outgoing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe waves as he leaves the prime minister's office Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2020, in Tokyo. Abe and his Cabinet resigned Wednesday, clearing the way for his successor Yoshihide Suga to take over after parliamentary confirmation later in the day. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Hashimoto and Yoko Kamikawa are the only Cabinet ministers who are women. Kamikawa in her last stint as justice minister in 2018 ordered the executions of 13 Aum Shinrikyo cult members for the 1995 gas attacks on Tokyo subways.

Suga picked Katsunobu Kato, a former health minister and finance official, to succeed him as chief Cabinet secretary.

Compared to his political prowess at home, Suga has hardly travelled overseas and his diplomatic skills are unknown, though he is largely expected to pursue Abes priorities.

He will inherit a range of challenges, including relations with China, which continues its assertive actions in the contested East China Sea, and the fate of the Tokyo Olympics, which were postponed to next summer due to the coronavirus. And he will have to establish a good relationship with the winner of the U.S. presidential election.
The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has deported an immigrant woman after she accused guards of sexually assaulting her while in the deportation centre, according to her lawyer.

Lawyer Linda Corchado told the El Paso Times that an immigrant woman from Mexico was deported on Monday, mere weeks after she was interviewed by investigators for five hours about her sexual assault claims.

"She paid the price for coming out of the shadows," Ms Corchado told the publication. She represented the woman on behalf of Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center in El Paso, Texas.

The woman is from Mexico and has two American-born children. She has not been identified.

Ms Corchado has accused law enforcement of looking the other way when her client needed their protection the most.

The Department of Homeland Security's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) investigated the womans claims by first holding a five-hour interview. The woman also took the investigators around the facility to point out the camera blind spots, which she said were allegedly used by guards to accost or assault detainees without detection.

This tour was done in front of guards and detainees in the facility, and Ms Corchado said it put her client at risk.

"For 21 days, OIG let a victim just sit in detention," Ms Corchado said. "It was truly damaging to her to have to continue being detained and see her abusers all around her, to begin to be bullied by other detainees and guards."

Initially, OIG said they would not allow for the woman to face deportation amid the investigation. But Ms Corchado said her client was told by ICE on Monday that she would be deported that day after receiving approval from OIG.

The immigrant woman was ordered to change into her civilian clothes by that evening in what Ms Corchado called the fastest deportation Ive ever seen.

The Independent has contacted ICE about the deportation. The agency previously said it has zero tolerance for any form of sexual abuse or assault against individuals in the agencys custody and takes very seriously all allegations of employee misconduct.
Our earnings growth underscores the importance of our business initiatives and investments over the last several years, and, in many ways, the world has accelerated to meet our strategies, Smith, who is also CEO, said in the press release. Hes right: The billions of dollars that FedEx has poured into automation equipment and expanded weekend services has put the carrier in a prime position to capitalize on the countrys national appreciation of e-commerce as an essential service. But whats helped FedEx and UPS the most is that the spike in e-commerce shipments was so sudden and pervasive that even their sprawling networks of planes and trucks are bursting at the seams. Chief Marketing Officer Brie Carere told Bloomberg News in an interview this month that FedEx expects the U.S. market will reach 100 million packages a day by 2023, three years earlier than it had previously expected. Logistics capacity is tight  so much so that a group of retailers is trying to start a new shopping event in October in an effort to convince consumers to plan ahead for the holidays and help them avoid extra shipping fees and delays.
(Natural News) Attorney General Bill Barr on Friday issued a scathing critique of the mainstream medias coverage of riots and violent protests after the death of George Floyd during an arrest in May. Barr accused most of the mainstream media of being basically a collection of liars.

(Article by Martin Burger republished from LifeSiteNews.com)

Right on the street it was clear as day what was going on, anyone observing it, reporters observing it, it could not have escaped their attention that this was orchestrated violence by a hardened group of street fighting radicals, Barr told Townhall. Nevertheless, they kept on excluding from their coverage all the video of this and reporting otherwise and they were doing that for partisan reasons, and they were lying to the American people.

The Attorney General said the media has dropped any pretense of professional objectivity and are political actors, highly partisan who try to shape what theyre reporting to achieve a political purpose and support a political narrative that has nothing to do with the truth.

Theyre very mendacious about it, Barr added. Its very destructive to our republic; its very destructive to the Democratic system to have that, especially being so monolithic. Its contributing to a lot of the intensity and partisanship.

Even though Barr criticized the mainstream media as a whole, he granted that on the level of individual journalists, there are some exceptions. I think there are a handful of reporters in the mainstream media that still have journalistic integrity, and there are some, but the overwhelming majority dont have it anymore, he pointed out.

He said the reporters covering his Department of Justice do understand some of the issues. But, on the other hand, some of them have essentially adopted the same methods and ploys as what I refer to more generally as the national media and that is theyre not because, probably somewhat because, of their own orientation but also what their editors say, theyre not really interested so much in what really happened but in pursuing a preformed narrative that suits some kind of ideological agenda. Thats what its all become.

Barr had joined the administration of President Donald Trump as Attorney General in 2019. He had previously served in the same capacity under President George H.W. Bush for just over a year.

Barr is no stranger to criticizing the mainstream media. In February, he argued that the corporate  or mainstream  press is massively consolidated. And it has become remarkably monolithic in viewpoint, at the same time that an increasing number of journalists see themselves less as objective reporters of the facts and more as agents of change.

These developments have given the press an unprecedented ability to mobilize a broad segment of the public on a national scale and direct that opinion in a particular direction, the Attorney General said.

When the entire press advances along the same track, as Tocqueville put it, the relationship between the press and the energized majority becomes mutually reinforcing, he continued. Not only does it become easier for the press to mobilize a majority, but the mobilized majority becomes more powerful and overweening with the press as its ally.

This is not a positive cycle, and I think it is fair to say that it puts the press role as a breakwater for the tyranny of the majority in jeopardy. The key to restoring the press in that vital role is to cultivate a greater diversity of voices in the media.

A recent Gallup poll has found that 86 percent of Americans see a great deal or a fair amount of political bias in the media. Although 56 percent of U.S. adults see at least a fair amount of bias in their go-to news source, they are much more concerned about bias in the news other people are getting (69 percent) than about their own news being biased (29 percent), Gallup reported.

Among Republicans, 71 percent have an unfavorable opinion of the mainstream news media. On the other hand, only 22 percent of Democrats and 52 percent of independents express the same sentiments.

Since Trump launched his campaign for president in 2015, he has been an outspoken critic of the mainstream media.

At one press conference in 2018, for instance, Trump called CNNs Jim Acosta a rude, terrible person after the reporter interrupted the President several times and eventually refused to give up the microphone in order to let somebody else ask a question.

CNN should be ashamed of itself having you working for them, Trump said. The way you treat (former White House Press Secretary) Sarah Huckabee is horrible, and the way you treat other people are horrible (sic). You shouldnt treat people that way.

A little later, after another reporter had already started to ask his question, Acosta stood up again, beginning to talk to the President without a microphone.

In response to Acostas behavior, Trump said, OK, just sit down please. When you report fake news, which CNN does a lot, you are the enemy of the people.
The Singapore Grip star Jane Horrocks has suggested that Absolutely Fabulous creator Jennifer Saunders would have a hard time making her show today.

Horrocks, who played the character of Ednas assistant Bubble in the sitcom, told The Sun that Saunders had free rein over her show for the first few series.

When Jennifer started writing Ab Fab, in the first few series nobody bothered her at all. She had free rein to write what she wanted and there were no producers who interfered with her work, she said.

They didnt say, You cant write that, or, You have to write that. I think that she personally would have a very different experience writing for todays television because I dont think she would be allowed free rein.

Horrocks suggested that Saunders might struggle with the restrictions she would have to adhere to.

Fans will get to see "the Chanel of babies" all grown up

Absolutely Fabulous was based on the French and Saunders sketch Modern Mother and Daughter, and starred Saunders as the substance-abusing PR agent, Edina Monsoon.

In 2000, the show was ranked 17th on the British Film Institutes list of 100 Greatest British Television Programmes.

Horrocks currently stars in the ITV drama The Singapore Grip, with co-stars including Charles Dance and David Morrissey.

Read our review here.
The state Medical Examining Board agreed Tuesday to fine two doctors $5,000 each and issued a cease and desist order to a woman without a Connecticut medical license who performed a procedure that led to an infection.

Dr. Bryan Boffi, of Avon, a psychiatrist at the Hospital of Central Connecticut, was fined $5,000 and his license was reprimanded after he issued a patient a prescription for Ativan, a sedative, without consulting with the persons regular mental health clinician, documents said.

Boffi cared for the patient while the person was admitted to HOCCs psychiatric ward in May of 2016, but failed to talk to the persons out-patient psychiatrist about the patients history or inpatient treatment strategy before prescribing the medication, a consent order said.

The state Department of Public Health began investigating Boffi after receiving a complaint from the patients family, papers said. Boffi has since completed 150 hours of continuing education in the treatment of depression, addiction and the use of benzodiazepines, such as Ativan, DPH officials said.

The board also agreed to discipline anesthesiologist Dr. Glen Rosenfeld, of West Hartford, with a $5,000 fine after he admitted that he had performed a nerve block on the wrong eye of a patient in October 2016 and a nerve block on the wrong leg in a second patient in 2017.

He was working at Bristol Hospital as an anesthesiologist at the time and is still working there, according to state officials.

A New Haven woman has agreed to not practice medicine without a Connecticut medical license after she conducted three procedures to remove fluid from a patient who later suffered an infection, documents said.

Lillian Ruiz-Estrepo was listed as a college graduated nurse in Columbia in DPH papers. But she had no medical license while working for Pelle Dolce Aesthetics in June of 2019, according to the DPH.

Over a two-week period, Ruiz-Estrepo removed excess fluid with a syringe three separate times that had built up in the abdomen of a woman who recently had surgery, documents said. The woman wound up with an infection as a result of the procedures, documents said.

The DPH was notified of the incident in July of 2019. Ruiz-Estrepo told DPH investigators that the woman was not scheduled to see a doctor for another week and she felt bad for the patient so she agreed to remove the fluid, documents said.

The board also agreed to reinstate the medical license of Dr. Sarita Mallya, of California, who is seeking to return to psychiatry after a four-year absence following two serious automobile accidents. She is returning to Connecticut to practice psychiatry at the Capitol Region Mental Health Center, she said.

This story was reported under a partnership with the Connecticut Health I-Team ( c-hit.org ), a nonprofit news organization dedicated to health reporting.
CHICAGO, Sept. 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Inspirotec, Inc. expands to meet large demand for its AirAnswers airborne COVID-19 testing device with the support of global thought leader, Dr. Robert L. Murphy.

AirAnswers by Inspirotec, Inc. is the only commercial air sampling device that has the capability to collect ultra fine particles (0.1um) including aero-allergens, various bacteria and viruses, including the capture of airborne COVID. The company has several major announcements (1) adding Dr. Robert Murphy of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, a COVID expert to the Scientific Advisory Board, (2) expanded state of the art COVID testing, and (3) a follow up COVID study at the University of Chicago with AirAnswers to build upon the first study's success.

Inspirotec, Inc. has expanded its collaboration efforts with the addition of Robert L. Murphy, MD to its Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Murphy is Professor of Medicine and Biomedical Engineering at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and McCormick School of Engineering, Executive Director, The Institute for Global Health and John P. Phair Professor of Infectious Diseases. He has been featured routinely throughout the COVID-19 outbreak as a thought leader to media outlets and will serve as a key resource to the Inspirotec team.

"The two primary sources for transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, include person-to-person spread by respiratory droplets and when the virus becomes aerosolized in a confined space such as a classroom, home, business or workplace. As the summer winds down and activities move indoors, it becomes critically important to determine if the local environment is safe and the risk for infection is as low as theoretically possible," says Dr. Robert L. Murphy.

In July 2020, an open letter to the World Health Organization (WHO) was published in Clinical Infectious Diseases addressing the methods of transmission for COVID-19. Endorsed by 239 scientists worldwide, the letter encouraged WHO to revise their past statements regarding how the virus spreads to include airborne transmission. The letter provided evidence that smaller respiratory particles can linger in the air for hours, especially indoors, and can be a mode of transmission for COVID-19. This revelation raises concerns about how the virus was previously understood and how the new normal will be defined.

AirAnswers has the capability to sample and test airborne COVID-19. This was recently proven in a feasibility study performed by Jayant Pinto, MD and colleagues at The University of Chicago's Biological Sciences Division and Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, with collaboration from the Inspirotec team. Having proof of principle, a follow-up larger scale study has begun to measure aerosolized SARS-CoV-2 in the hospital setting and optimize the application of the AirAnswersTM platform technology.

The capabilities of the AirAnswers device will provide peace of mind to the global community as we embrace the new normal with COVID-19 and other viral threats that may arise in the future through the proactive monitoring of indoor environments. The groundbreaking science behind AirAnswers is quite remarkable. It is literally rocket science. The device utilizes ion particles to generate tremendous air flow. Over one million liters of air are circulated and sampled through the device over the course of a five-day period, with no moving parts or filters. Inspirotec is bringing an innovative solution to detect a myriad of invisible threats to our health related to small airborne particles that are increasing in seriousness around the globe.

The Inspirotec team is using state-of-the-art real-time thermal cyclers to test SARS-CoV-2 samples using a CDC written protocol within its BSL-2 (biosafety level 2) rated laboratory. Inspirotec takes quality very seriously. Inspirotec has 4 critical ISO certifications: for manufacturing excellence (ISO 13485:2016), overall company quality processes and controls (ISO 9001:2015), personnel occupational health and safety management system (ISO 45001:2018), and best practices for protecting our environment (ISO 14001:2015). Inspirotec has successfully completed our laboratory audit and will receive their AIHA ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation certificate for laboratory testing by September.

This revolutionary combination of sampling, detection, and testing has the capability to monitor a multitude of public area types for the presence of the virus along with validating cleaning protocols or confirmation of efficacy for active air purification technology installations.

"Our original seed funding from the Thiel Foundation to prove that the underlying technology would be able to capture any class airborne agent has now been demonstrated by our ability to rapidly adapt to the new normal and take on monitoring of airborne COVID, or whatever else the world will throw at human populations in the future," says Dr. Julian Gordon, Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer, Inspirotec.

Improving the quality of life for people around the globe is our mission. Being able to sample and identify particles in the air, including viruses, can be the first step towards breathing relief for individuals struggling with allergies and asthma. Verifying employee work environments, your child's school, large gathering public spaces and countless other examples are safe from airborne viral threats is the invaluable peace of mind the population deserves.

About Inspirotec, Inc.

Inspirotec, Inc. is the only company providing airborne allergen detection either through physicians, industrial hygienists, indoor air quality professionals, home resale, or direct to consumer. It has developed a highly sensitive patented technology for testing and measuring biological agents in the air, including bacteria, viruses and specifically SARS-CoV-2.

Inspirotec's vision is to improve health and happiness by finding allergy and mold solutions in transforming the home environment critical to our wellbeing. Our mission is to deliver the most personalized prevention and management solutions for allergies, asthma, and respiratory conditions. https://airanswers.com

Inspirotec has an extensive portfolio of patents* as well as publications in peer-reviewed literature.

*US patents 8,038,944, 9,216,421, 9,360,402, 9,481,904, 9,618,431 as well as patents and application worldwide.

Contact:

Tom Brya

President & CEO, Inspirotec, Inc.

866-539-4253, ext. 805

[email protected]

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SOURCE Inspirotec
UAE, Bahrain sign normalization deals with Israel at White House

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 15 September 2020 4:27 PM

The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain sign controversial normalization agreements with Israel at the White House amid outrage across Palestine and elsewhere throughout the Muslim world at the Arab regimes' sheer betrayal of the Palestinian cause.

The deals were signed between Emirati and Bahraini Foreign Ministers, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. US President Donald Trump also penned his blessing into the accords.

With the US-brokered deals, the UAE and Bahrain have become only the third and fourth Arab states to ever normalize their relations with Israel after Egypt and Jordan.

Trump: More countries to fall into line

At the White House, US President Donald Trump claimed "five or six" more Arab countries were poised to agree to normalize relations with Israel.

"We're very far down the road with about five countries, five additional countries," Trump said as he hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as Emirati and Bahraini Foreign Ministers, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani.

With Trump facing a tough re-election on November 3, the back-to-back agreements could help bolster his electoral appeal to pro-Israel Christian evangelical voters in the US, an important chunk of his political base.

Taking the podium after Trump, Netanyahu thanked the US president for "unequivocally" standing by Israel's side since taking office.

Trump and Netanyahu called the deals historic, with the former alleging that they "mark the dawn of a new Middle East."

The White House ceremony also helps distract from Netanyahu's domestic grievances  the worst economic downturn in 45 years, a coronavirus crisis that has prompted the second general lockdown, and his own trial on corruption charges.

Hours before the signing ceremony, Emirati Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Anwar Gargash claimed that the deal with Israel had come after "we broke the psychological barrier" of establishing ties with Tel Aviv.

The agreement, he added, will help the UAE and bring results "that we want to see," calling it "the way forward for the region."

The normalization trend has, however, been uniformly panned by all Palestinian people and factions as well as the Bahraini public that have been holding daily rallies since its inception.

Throughout the day, the Palestinian territories of the Gaza Strip and Tel Aviv-occupied West Bank witnessed raucous rallies against the deals, and passionate denunciation speeches and statements by Palestinian leaders and Muslim authorities worldwide.

A protest was also held in Washington to lambaste the the agreements.

In London, protesters amassed in front of the Bahraini Embassy waiving Palestinian flags and staging a mockery of the signing ceremony by dressing up as American, Israeli, Emirati, and Bahraini officials.

'Palestine factions standing united'

Ahead of the signing ceremony, Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Gaza-based Palestinian resistance movement of Hamas' Political Bureau, talked to the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas over the phone about the matter.

He said Palestinian groups would not allow "the Palestinian cause to turn into a bridge enabling normalization of relations with the occupying regime."

Hamas and Fatah, the party leading the PA, "are in the same front," Haniyeh added, hailing a recent plenary meeting of all Palestinian factions in the Lebanese capital Beirut that sought to sew up their rifts.

"The message of this meeting is unity, steadfastness, and opposition to all plots and attempts at destroying the Palestinian cause," he said.

Abbas, for his part, threw his weight behind all exerted efforts that affirm the unity of Palestinians in facing plots aimed at undermining the Palestinian cause and depriving the people of their legitimate rights.

Middle East experts say the normalization trend will have unprecedented geopolitical ramifications for the entire region.

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Harutiunian has faced in recent weeks small-scale street protests staged by various extra-parliamentary opposition groups and activists denouncing some of those policies. They are particularly unhappy with new guidelines for the teaching of Armenian history and literature in schools, which were issued by his ministry this summer.

The protesters claim that those guidelines are at odds at with traditional Armenian values. The ministry denies this and cites the need to update school curricula.

The Bright Armenia Party (LHK), one of the two opposition groups represented in the parliament, added its voice to the calls for Harutiunians resignation last week. It said it will try to push through the National Assembly a motion to ask Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian to consider sacking the minister. LHK leaders said Harutiunian has failed to carry out any major reforms of Armenias education system beset by many problems since being appointed as minister in the wake of the 2018 Velvet Revolution.

Harutiunian, who is a senior member of Pashinians My Step bloc, rejected the criticism. I would ask our colleagues not to threaten me with irresponsible statements and resignation demands because Im not scared of that, he told a news conference.

I was and am one of the leaders of a revolutionary team, he said. I took on a mission to reform the sector and am now accomplishing that mission.

LHK lawmakers continued, meanwhile, to push for Harutiunians resignation. One of them, Ani Samsonian, urged her pro-government colleagues to back his ouster. Everyone knows that he is a close associate of Nikol Pashinian and they are keeping silent for that reason, she complained.

One My Step deputy, Arsen Julfalakyan, announced on September 9 that he has decided to resign from the parliament because of what he described as serious disagreements with Harutiunian. Julfalakyan accused the minister of mismanaging his areas of responsibility but did not elaborate.

Harutiunian countered on Wednesday that Julfalakyan, who is also a renowned Greco-Roman wrestler, has not tried to meet with him in the last several months. He said he was always open to discussing the lawmakers concerns.
By Express News Service

KOCHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which interrogated minister KT Jaleel as part of its probe into the money trail behind the smuggling of gold via the diplomatic channel, is likely to question him again. If the secretive manner in which Jaleel had appeared for interrogation at the ED Kochi office on Friday morning had caused a furore, it has been revealed now that he was questioned on Thursday night as well.

ED to quiz 8 persons this week

We asked him only about the copies of the Quran he had received from the UAE Consulate and his links with diplomats. Its too early to give him a clean chit. More investigation into this aspect is on. If we receive any incriminating material during the probe, well call him again, an ED source said.Jaleel was first questioned by the ED at its Kochi office on Thursday between 7.30pm and 11pm.

He appeared before the agency again on Friday morning and the interrogation was held between 9.30am and 11.30am. He was questioned after it was revealed that the UAE Consulate handed over 300 copies of the Quran to him as part of Ramzan this year.

ED officials said the agency would interrogate eight persons including some key witnesses in the case this week. Though their names are yet to be revealed, summons has been issued to them. ED had interrogated principal secretary M Sivasankar, CPM secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnans son Bineesh and Jaleel.The agency has arraigned four persons so far and more persons are expected to be arraigned in the case soon.
Malaika Arora reveals she worked and travelled through her pregnancy, says marriage was never a hindrance
The Washington Post reports on statistics released today that show the coronavirus is killing Hispanic, Black and American Indian children at much higher numbers than their White peers. According to the stats, more than 75 percent of children killed by the virus are Hispanic, Black and American Indian children. Yet, these groups represent only 41 percent of the U.S. population [note: in that age category].

The most significant finding here, though  the only truly significant one, really  is the exceedingly low number of deaths in the U.S. among people under the age of 21. From February to July, apparently there were only 121 such deaths attributed to the coronavirus.

Thats a finding one could build an important article around. But the Posts William Wan decided to build his article around the racial angle. To the surprise of no one.

Doing the math, it seems that 81 of the 121 people under age 21 who died due to the coronavirus were Hispanic, Black, or America Indian. If the virus had been PC enough to adhere to race-based quotas, the number of deaths among children in these groups would have been around 50. So the surplus is approximately 31 minority youths under the age of 21. In a population of maybe 100 million within that age category.

The Posts write-up would be amusing if it were appropriate to find humor in a deadly pandemic. For example, there is this passage:

CDC officials conclude that whats needed is for health departments, medical providers and communities to mobilize to remove systemic barriers that contribute to health disparities.

Yes, lets mobilize and reboot our society to avoid 31 surplus deaths.

What causes this small surplus? According to the Post:

The CDC report pointed to underlying social disparities that minority children are more likely to experience than their White peers: crowded living conditions, food and housing insecurity, parents who are essential workers and cannot work from home, wealth and education gaps and difficulty accessing health care because of a lack of family resources including insurance, child care, transportation or sick leave.

Might comparatively reckless behavior by parents of minority youths and and minority teenagers have something to do with the disparities? If so, the CDC isnt saying.

The Post says that one key factor might be underlying health disparities among minority children and young adults. About 75 percent of those who died had at least one underlying condition, and the most frequent were asthma and obesity  two conditions that disproportionately occur in minority youths.

What about genetics? The CDC apparently isnt citing it as a possible explanation, either. However, John Williams, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at UPMC Childrens Hospital of Pittsburgh, says the racial gap in fatalities suggests genetic or biologic factors could be at play. He notes that some diseases have been shown to affect certain races more severely than others.

For example, before a vaccine was developed, pneumococcal meningitis disproportionately affected Black children even after accounting for social determinants. Similarly, Haemophilus influenzae type b (also known as Hib) was known disproportionately to affect Native Americans.

I dont think we know whether or to what degree genetics and underlying health conditions like obesity are playing a role in the racial disparity at issue. Maybe we should find out before we mobilize in the hope of saving up to 31 young lives during a period of half a year.
Immigration officials are accused of allowing improper gynaecological procedures on detainees without their knowledge.

US immigration officials on Tuesday said a federal watchdog would investigate complaints made by a whistle-blower nurse in a Georgia immigration detention facility who alleged detainees had improperly received hysterectomies and other gynaecological procedures.

The allegations were made by Dawn Wooten, a former nurse at the Irwin County Detention Center (ICDC), in a complaint filed to the watchdog, the US Department of Homeland Securitys Office of the Inspector General, on Monday by advocacy groups Project South and the Government Accountability Project.

The Reuters news agency interviewed Wooten but could not independently confirm the claims of improper hysterectomies, or surgery to remove the uterus.

The allegations caused an outcry among Democratic legislators in the US, including House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and US Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) denied the allegations. Dr Ada Rivera, the medical director of the ICE Health Service Corps, said in a statement that since 2018, only two individuals at the Irwin centre in Georgia were referred for hysterectomies based on recommendations by specialists that were reviewed by the facility clinical authority and approved.





LaSalle Corrections, the private contractor that runs the facility, said in a statement it strongly refutes these allegations and any implications of misconduct at the Irwin centre.

Yesterday, I was briefed by attorneys representing women who were subjected to forced, invasive procedures by a gynecologist connected with a private, for-profit detention center in GA. It has become clear that the initial reports are likely part of a horrific pattern of conduct.  Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) September 16, 2020

Democrat Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, said she had spoken to three attorneys representing women at the detention centre, and that there may be a minimum of 17 migrant detainees who were subject to unwanted procedures.

The controversy is the latest issue in the handling of migration by US President Donald Trumps administration, which critics have called racist.

Trump, running for re-election on November 3, ran his 2016 campaign for president on building a wall on the US-Mexico border, and called Mexicans drug dealers, criminals and rapists as he announced his campaign.

Trump also promised to ban immigration and asylum seekers from Muslim-majority nations, which lead to his controversial Muslim Ban.

Wooten told Reuters on Monday women who complained of heavy periods or asked for birth control would be sent to outside gynaecologists and sometimes receive hysterectomies but many did not fully understand what medical procedures were being ordered.

A lot of them said that they didnt understand what was being done to them. Nobody explained it to them, she said.

Attorneys representing detainees at Irwin told Reuters several women had complained about gynaecological treatment by an outside provider to the facility.

Asylum seeker and former immigrant detainee Mateo Lemus Campos attends a protest against conditions in Adelanto Immigration Detention Center, outside ICE headquarters in Los Angeles, California [Lucy Nicholson/Reuters]

Sarah Owings, a Georgia-based immigration attorney, told Reuters she and other advocates were collecting information about hysterectomies performed on detainees, and had put out a call to attorneys to review their files. She had no evidence to suggest these surgeries were widespread, she said.

I do think theres a situation in which healthcare is not up to par in these places and that there is absolutely room to have lack of oversight, she said.

Elizabeth Matherne, another immigration attorney in Georgia, recalled complaining to detention centre officials about treatment her clients said they were receiving from an outside gynaecologist.

ICE said in its statement: A medical procedure like a hysterectomy would never be performed against a detainees will.
SARAJEVO, Bosnia - Authorities in Bosnia on Wednesday arrested nine former Bosnian Serb military officers and troops who are suspected in the killing of 44 civilians during the 1992-95 Bosnian War.

So far, 11 people are suspected of killing the Bosniak civilians in September 1992 in the area of Sokolac, in southeastern Bosnia, the Bosnian prosecutors office said in a statement. It said the investigation was continuing.

Of the 11 suspects, one is still at large and one is already in prison.

Bosnian Serbs separated men and boys from women and girls in the village of Novoseoci before taking the male Bosniaks away to a nearby waste dump and killing them, the statement said.

The bodies of the victims, ages 14-82, were left at the dump site and covered in waste. Bosnian Serbs later blew up a local mosque in Novoseoci and threw its parts over the bodies at the dump area.

All but one of the victims remains have been exhumed from the site, prosecutors said. They had a total 178 wounds inflicted by firearms.

More than 100,000 people died during the war in Bosnia, which erupted when the countrys Serbs rebelled against independence from the former Yugoslavia and moved to create their own state.

The Serbs took control of over two-thirds of Bosnia in the early days of the conflict, expelling and killing non-Serbs - the Bosniaks, who are mostly Muslims, and Bosnias Croats.

The suspects detained Wednesday were members of the so-called crisis committee that was formed when Bosnian Serbs took control of the area in 1992.

Also among the suspects is Gen. Radislav Krstic, who is serving a 35-year-old prison sentence. In 2004, he was convicted by the U.N. war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia on charges of aiding genocide. Bosnian prosecutors said he will be questioned in prison in Poland.

Another, unidentified suspect lives outside Bosnia, and authorities plan to seek his extradition, the prosecutors statement said.
The basis of allotment for Route Mobile IPO has been finalised.

The Mumbai-headquartered company is expected to debut on bourses on September 21 with a likely final issue price of Rs 350 per share.

Its Rs 600-crore initial public offering witnessed a massive 73.3 percent subscription during September 9-11 and the price band was Rs 345-350 per share.

The company in consultation with merchant bankers is expected to finalise basis of allotment on September 16 and the process of refunds/ASBA unlocking could take place from September 17. Equity shares are likely to be credited to eligible investors on September 18 and the listing date could be September 21.

Also read: Happiest Minds Technologies IPO: Check allotment status here

Investors, who have subscribed for the public offer, can check their IPO allotment status through two available options:

Option 1

>> Select "Equity" in Issue Type;>> Select "Route Mobile" from the dropdown;>> Enter your "Application Number";>> Enter your "PAN Number (Permanent Account Number)";

>> And click on the "Search" button.

Option 2

You can check your allotment status through the website of Registrar - KFin Technologies appointed for IPO:

>> Select IPO "Route Mobile" from the dropdown.

>> In "Application Type" box Select "ASBA" or "NON ASBA";>> Enter your "Application Number";>> Enter "Captcha" mentioned in digits-and-letters in above table;

>> And click on the "Submit" button.

>> Select Depository "NSDL" or CDSL";>> Enter DPID (depository participant ID);>> Enter "Client ID";>> Enter "Captcha" mentioned in digits-and-letters in above table;

>> And click on the "Submit" button

>> Enter your PAN number;>> Enter "Captcha" mentioned in digits-and-letters in above table;

>> Click on the "Submit" button.

(Note: Captcha is Completely Automated Public Turing Test To Tell Computers and Humans Apart)

Also read: Chemcon Speciality Chemicals IPO likely to open on September 21

Ahead of likely listing next week, Route Mobile share price continued to trade at a premium of Rs 160-190 per share over the expected final issue price of Rs 350 per share in the grey market, citing stellar response to the IPO, sources familiar with the development told Moneycontrol.

Route Mobile provides cloud communication platform as a service (CPaaS) to enterprises, over-the-top (OTT) players and mobile network operators (MNOs). Its enterprise segment provides a cloud-based communication platform to enterprises, while mobile operations segment include services such as SMS analytics, firewall, filtering, monetisation and CPaaS (cloud-communication platform as a service) and hubbing solutions.

Company's IPO consisted of a fresh issue of Rs 240 crore and offer for sale of Rs 360 crore by promoters Sandipkumar Gupta and Rajdipkumar Gupta. The fresh issue proceeds will be used for repayment of certain loans, acquisitions and other strategic initiatives, purchase of office premises in the Mumbai region and general corporate purposes.

Its global operations included 9 direct and 12 step-down subsidiaries serving its clients through 18 locations across Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East and North America. The company generates over 80 percent of its revenue in foreign currency.

As of June 2020, Route Mobile had served more than 30,150 clients since its inception. The company has direct relationships with over 240 mobile network operators (MNOs).
In order to return the economy to normal despite the pandemic, the French government is abandoning whatever safety measures were previously taken for the restart of classes. This is proceeding despite the recent surge in cases of COVID-19, with over 10,000 cases discovered on September 12 in France alone.

What this policy signifies can clearly be seen in Spain where the resurgence of COVID-19 is also well underway. The right-wing Madrid regional prime minister, Isabel Ayuso, declared: It is probable that practically all children, in one way or another, will be infected by the coronavirus. That is what is in store for children and their families across Europe if the working class does not oppose the forced reopening of schools.

In the case of Frances September restart of the school year, distance learning has been abandoned: all pupils must be present in overcrowded classrooms. And while teachers moved between classrooms during the partial school reopening in June, now pupils will have to move between classes through overcrowded corridors. This intermingling, to which the minister was previously opposed, is now accepted.

As for school buses, recreation periods and meals, intermingling is also the rule. Everything is returning to pre-lockdown conditions, with minor adjustments. An epidemic explosion in schools is in the making, with masks being the only protective barrier, and only then for middle and high school pupils. In any case, masks are not very effective in environments where social distancing is lacking.

To force parents back to work at all costs, no plans are made to look after pupils whose classes are forced to close due to cases of COVID-19. Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer bluntly told BFM-TV on September 7: We are planning for parental leave in the event of school closures. Parental leave is time off work without pay and therefore an enormous cost to workers families.

Nevertheless, infections are rising rapidly. The government announced last Thursday it would reactivate payments for partially laid-off workers in the private sector, authorized absences of public sector workers, and absences for one parent only if schools or classes are shut down. The obvious aim is to avoid a social explosion.

The criteria for closures of classes and schools are vague. The decision is in the hands of local government officials in consultation with regional health authorities. The ministry refuses to communicate the list of classes and schools closed and only provides limited vague data on classes and establishments concerned.

Information is being concealed, as during the first COVID-19 wave at the beginning of the year, when it proved impossible to find out about the situation in the retirement homes. For local information, one must consult the regional press. The militant Red Pen teachers group also offers an online unofficial map application identifying closures at the national level.

On September 7, Blanquer announced 28 teaching establishments and 262 classes had been closed since the school reopening due to COVID-19.

The Red Pens have located more than 1,200 establishments affected by COVID-19 as of last Sunday. This confirms the explosive growth of infections. The Education Ministry is mainly only closing classes and not schools, despite the intermingling risk described above, increasing the risks of contagion.

Another increasingly difficult problem is distinguishing COVID-19 from other pathologies. While only a few children have started to catch colds as it is still before the end of summer, family doctors are already overwhelmed with calls after children were denied access to school because they had symptoms of unidentified illnesses that might be COVID-19.

Parents are being advised to keep children at home if their temperature exceeds 38C. On the other hand, guidelines for teachers and school principals refer to various clinical signs that could indicate COVID-19. Educational establishments are denying access to more and more children, above all in primary schools and kindergartens.

All this is panicking parents, who do not know when they should test the child for COVID-19. That is considerably increasing the number of days off work for sick children. Days off are limited, however, and parents must bear the costs, unless the work contract specifies employer responsibility.

Given that COVID-19 is in any case contagious before symptoms appear and that childrens cases are more often asymptomatic than adults, these measures will not contain the epidemic. The confusion between COVID-19 and common colds and flus will grow as the number of cases increase with the start of seasonal winter illnesses.

Before the school year restarted, Prime Minister Jean Castex could think of nothing better to propose than to avoid allowing grand-dad and grandma go pick up the kids from school.

The current television campaign in favor of maintaining social distancing to protect senior citizens perfectly illustrates this attitude. It gives the impression that French retirees live unhurried lives in spacious apartments or opulent villas, allowing them to carefully organize contacts with their children and grandchildren. This represents in a concentrated form the condescending contempt with which the bourgeoisie considers the situation of the working class.

Working class districts have already paid a heavy price in the pandemic. Low-paid workers have played an essential role in guaranteeing continued functioning of the economy during the lockdown, often without protective equipment. They have suffered large numbers of infections compared to the rest of the population. One study (in French) shows that mortality rates were twice as high in poor districts than in others. Bad living conditions and conditions at the workplace are the probable reasons for explaining this difference.

In poorer working class districts housing is cramped and several generations of the same family are often grouped together in one apartment. This is often the case of immigrant workers who have more problems accessing housing. Even if the elderly avoid picking up children from school, contamination will spread rapidly in these working class areas, this time via their children, as the epidemic invades the education system.

While the epidemic is resurging, the government is making miserly savings on the backs of workers. It decided by decree, applicable starting September 1, to drastically reduce the number of categories of vulnerable people able to benefit from partial time off at work due to chronic pathologies. Authorizations for absences of close relatives of vulnerable people were also scrapped.

The decree was promulgated without taking into account the opinions of patient associations, which are outraged.

The situation is particularly a problem for teachers and school staff in contact with children. Those whose health is fragile will be obliged to use overcrowded public transport if they live in a big city or suburbs and will be exposed to potentially infected children. The situation is even more dangerous in primary schools, where pupils do not wear masks and where physical contact is greater.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

A new study by researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago and the University of Pittsburgh suggests that a significant proportion of older patients receiving opioids at dental visits also use psychotropic medicationsa potentially harmful combination. Their findings are published in the journal Pharmacotherapy.

Rates of polypharmacy, or taking multiple medications, are high among older adults who are more likely to be managing more than one health issue at any given time. Psychotropic medications that act on the central nervous system, such as antianxiety or antidepressant medications, are especially dangerous if taken with opioids because they can interact with each other and have negative effects.

"Some of the most concerning negative outcomes of these combinations include overdosing on opioids or falling, which can necessitate a visit to the hospital, which in itself carries greater risk for older adults," said Gregory Calip, associate professor of pharmacy systems, outcomes and policy at the UIC College of Pharmacy and corresponding author on the paper.

The researchers looked at medical, dental and pharmacy claims data from 40,800 older adult dental patients who visited a dentist between 2011 and 2015 and were prescribed opioids. The data was from the IBM Watson MarketScan databases.

The average age of the patients included in the study was 69 years old and 45% were female. Of these patients, 10% were taking medications that are associated with increased risks for harm with opioid prescriptions.

There were a total of 947 hospitalizations or emergency room visits among these patients.

The researchers found that among patients prescribed opioids by their dentist, 1 in 10 were already taking a prescription medication that should not be prescribed with opioids.

They also found that patients inappropriately prescribed an opioid medication combination by their dentist were 23% more likely to be hospitalized or visit an emergency department in the 30 days after the dental visit where they were prescribed an opioid, compared with dental patients who were not prescribed an opioid medication.

"Dentists are among the top prescribers of opioids," said Katie Suda, professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and principal investigator of the study. "It seems that the increased messaging regarding limiting opioid prescriptions has been aimed primarily at medical physicians and not tailored to other specialist providers, including dentists. This can have dire consequences. As we saw in our study, opioid interactions with other medications was likely responsible for the significant rise in emergency room visits and hospitalizations."

"Although the percentage of opioids prescribed by dentists has decreased in the last 20 years, dentists must continue interprofessional collaboration with primary care physicians, pharmacists, and other health care providers to address devastating and preventable drug interactions affecting vulnerable patients who look to them for safe and compassionate care," said Dr. Susan Rowan, executive associate dean and associate dean for clinical affairs at the UIC College of Dentistry.

Explore further Study: Patients commonly prescribed opioids and antibiotics for dental conditions at EDs

More information: Jifang Zhou et al, Potentially Inappropriate Medication Combination with Opioids among Older Dental Patients: A Retrospective Review of Insurance Claims Data, Pharmacotherapy: The Journal of Human Pharmacology and Drug Therapy (2020). Jifang Zhou et al, Potentially Inappropriate Medication Combination with Opioids among Older Dental Patients: A Retrospective Review of Insurance Claims Data,(2020). DOI: 10.1002/phar.2452
Oracle's bid to buy TikTok from Chinese parent ByteDance has reportedly fallen short of requirements from the Trump administration to resolve concerns that the video-sharing app represents a national security concern.

The proposed deal has drawn continuing concerns from national security officials that could sway President Donald Trump's decision, people familiar with the deal told Bloomberg News on Wednesday.

Oracle announced on Monday it was part of a proposal submitted by Bytedance to the U.S. Treasury Department to serve as 'trusted technology provider,' to Bytedance, providing no further details on the terms of the deal.

The Trump administration will make a decision soon on the proposed deal, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said on Wednesday.

Oracle's bid to buy TikTok from Chinese parent ByteDance has reportedly fallen short of requirements from the Trump administration to resolve national security concerns

'We'll have a decision here in short order,' McEnany said. 'I don't want to get ahead of the president but obviously we care deeply about protecting the data and security of American citizens.'

Marco Rubio and five other Republican senators have called on the Trump administration to reject the deal if ties to Chinese owner Bytedance remain.

Rubio, the first senator to call on the administration to investigate TikTok over censorship concerns, said in the letter to Trump that 'serious questions' remained about Oracle's role, the technology it would provide to Bytedance, and the future of the application's algorithm.

'We remain opposed to any deal that would allow China-based or controlled entities to retain, control or modify the code or algorithms that operate any U.S.-based version of TikTok,' Rubio wrote in the letter, dated Wednesday.

'We are heartened that this deal still requires government approval, and if reports indicating this proposed deal will retain links to ByteDance or other Chinese-controlled entities, we strongly urge the administration to reject such a proposal on national security grounds,' he added.

The letter, also signed by Senators Thom Tillis, Rick Scott, John Cornyn, Roger Wicker and Dan Sullivan, is part of a growing chorus of lawmakers raising questions about the deal.

On Monday, Republican Senator Josh Hawley sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who heads a national security panel reviewing the proposal, calling for the deal to be scuttled, if it does not allow for the 'full emancipation of TikTok software from potential Chinese Communist Part control.'

It is unclear what President Trump will do. White House adviser Jared Kushner on Tuesday said the White House is reviewing Oracle's bid and a Senior Administration official said a decision had not yet been made.

Trump has also said he is a fan of Oracle's co-founder and Chairman Larry Ellison (right), one of few tech executives to openly support the Republican President

Trump had previously made clear he sought a full-scale sale of the app to an American technology company, amid concerns among national security officials that Bytedance could provide American user data to the Chinese government.

However, Trump may not want to alienate 100 million-odd American TikTok users weeks before a hotly-contested presidential election.

Trump has also said he is a fan of Oracle's co-founder and Chairman Larry Ellison, one of few tech executives to openly support the Republican President.

Meanwhile, China has updated its export control rules to give it a say over the transfer of technology, such as TikTok's recommendation algorithm, to a foreign buyer. Chinese officials have said ByteDance should not be coerced by the United States into a deal.
Conakry, Sept 16 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Sep, 2020 ) :A movement opposing Guinean President Alpha Conde's controversial bid for a third term in elections next month announced Wednesday that it would stage a new round of protests from late September.

"Our citizens' movement calls on the population of Conakry and the surrounding area to join a series of peaceful marches, starting on Tuesday September 29, 2020, to demand Mr. Alpha Conde's departure," said one of its leaders, Abdourahmane Sanoh.

"The people of Guinea are urged to mobilise massively, in the greatest civic responsibility... to block" Conde, he said.

He described the 82-year-old president as a "dictator... whose sole ambition today is to stay in power for the rest of his life." Deadly clashes erupted in the West African state last October, claiming several dozen lives, over Conde's plans.

He is contesting the October 18 polls despite accusations of sidestepping limits on presidential terms by pushing through changes to the constitution.

Guinea is one of Africa's most volatile countries, enjoying little stability between coups since independence from France in 1958.

Conde is a former opposition figure who was jailed under previous regimes.

He became the country's first democratically elected president in 2010 and was re-elected for a second time in 2015.

But critics say he has become increasingly authoritarian, resorting to crackdowns to quell dissent and pushing through changes to the constitution, validated in a referendum, that he argues has reset the two-term counter to zero.

Sanoh, whose statement was issued in the name of an anti-Conde coalition called the National Front for the Defence of the Constitution (FNDC), said a third term would be "illegal and illegitimate".

Twelve candidates have been authorised to take part in the elections.

The announcement of the protests came just hours after Conde declared that anti-coronavirus measures imposed in March, which include restrictions on public gatherings, would be extended for another month.
Residents of Dakibiu, a suburb within the Jabi area of Abuja, have been thrown into panic by the ongoing demolition of the community by the authorities.

PREMIUM TIMES reporters, who visited the village, tucked in between Utako market and airport junction, saw several houses marked demolition and removed in the community.

Many residents, whose houses were marked, are currently removing their properties. Even zincs and other structures in the houses are being removed.

People could be seen standing in clusters, waiting to see when the bulldozers will be pulled in to start pulling down structures.

They also thronged the palace of the community chief with the hope that he will help beg the government to reconsider their plan.

Scores of policemen were also in place to restore calm in the event of an uprising.

Residents said they were not even given prompt notice before the said demolition.

They only came and marked houses on Monday and today (Wednesday), they are coming to demolish, said Amos Abbas, a dry cleaner, who has a house and shop that were marked for demolition.

Many of the residents, while counting their losses, also questioned why the government would go ahead with the destruction of houses considering the economic impact of the COVID-19 on especially the low class.

PREMIUM TIMES cannot immediately confirm from Abuja authorities the reason behind the planned demolition.

The contact of Muktar Galadimawa, the developmental director of the Federal Capital Development Agency (FCDA), was switched off as at press time.

The village, awaiting demolition The village, awaiting demolition

Efforts to speak with the Dakibiu chief were unyielding as he was busy attending to people in his palace.

Dakibiu is considered an illegal settlement by authorities in Abuja. It is being occupied by both Gwagi indigenes and other Nigerians.

Before now, it mainly dotted with makeshift houses and shanties but more recently, good structures are now built in the area.

There has been an ongoing demolition in some places that were marked by the government as holding illegal structures within the Abuja metropolis.

Demolition occurred in some parts of Utako village in the past week.

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WASHINGTON - The Trump administration has agreed to provide in-person briefings on threats to the November election to key members of Congress, backing down from a decision last month to provide that information only in writing.

Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe has agreed to provide briefings to the Senate and House intelligence committees, according to the heads of those panels. The move comes after significant pushback from Democrats and some Republicans who said the briefings were more important than ever as the 2020 presidential election approaches and Russia signals it will try to interfere again as it did four years ago.

Acting Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the panel, said in a joint statement Wednesday that Ratcliffe had reaffirmed that the panel will receive briefings, including in-person, on all oversight topics.

Rubio told reporters that he expects a briefing next week on election security, though he said he wasnt sure of the timing. A person familiar with the briefing said Ratcliffes office had accepted an invitation to brief the panel behind closed doors. The person discussed the meeting on condition of anonymity because it has not been publicly announced.

House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff also said in a statement that Ratcliffes office had on Wednesday committed to the briefings after extensive public criticism. Schiff said the panel was working to confirm a date and time.

Still, Schiff said, these briefings for the intelligence committees must not obviate the need to keep all Members and the American people appropriately and accurately informed about the active threats to the November election.

Ratcliffe said in August that most briefings would be in writing instead of live, citing what he said were leaks out of all member meetings held earlier this year. Democrats said that would prevent members from asking followup questions and allow the administration to limit what information it allows.

Shortly after Rubio and Warner issued their statement, Ratcliffe claimed his position remained unchanged.

I will continue to provide congressional leadership and the intelligence oversight committees appropriate updates to keep Congress fully and currently informed, Ratcliffe said in his own statement. In order to protect sources and methods, the IC will not provide all-member briefings, but we will work to provide appropriate updates primarily through written finished intelligence products.

Ratcliffe met with congressional leadership and the heads of the intelligence committees earlier on Wednesday  a group called the Gang of Eight that receives the highest levels of intelligence. He said in the statement that he had shared with them his proposal on how the intelligence community will share election updates in the future.

Over the summer, the nations counterintelligence chief, William Evanina, issued a statement saying U.S. intelligence officials believe that Russia is using various methods to denigrate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and that people linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin are boosting President Donald Trumps reelection bid.

U.S. officials also believe China does not want Trump to win a second term and has accelerated its criticism of the White House, Evanina wrote.

___

Associated Press writers Laurie Kellman, Eric Tucker and Deb Riechmann contributed to this report.
The Trump campaign isnt subtle. In an ad over the summer titled Break In, an older white woman is watching news coverage about activist demands to defund the police when she spots a burglar scouting her homes perimeter and begins to dial 911. As the burglar attempts to force his way in, we hear Sean Hannitys voice coming from the television, talking about how Joe Biden is absolutely on board with defunding the police. Before the woman can alert the authorities, the intruder crowbars his way into the home. He approaches her, and, following an implied assault, the phone falls to the ground.

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You wont be safe in Joe Bidens America, the screen reads.

The ad is a lurid rehash of Trumps 2016 campaign strategy: using fear of American carnage to mobilize elderly white voters. The political problem that the Trump campaign now faces, though, is that those votersolder, white women, specificallydont feel safe in Donald Trumps America.

In 2016, older voters were one of Trumps best demographics. According to exit polls, while Hillary Clinton won voters 45 and under by 14 percentage points, Trump won voters 45 and olderthe larger age cohortby 8 points. A separate Pew Research Center study of the electorate found that voters 65 and older were Trumps strongest overall age demographic last time around. He won them by 9 points.

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But while the country has spent four years bracing itself for a replay of November 2016, with eyes fixed on the same Pennsylvania-to-Wisconsin battlegrounds as before, the age-demographic landscape of the presidential contest has been quietly and dramatically rearranged. Although polling in recent months has shown Trump maintaining his advantage among the 50-to-64-year-old cohort, support among those over 65 has moved sharply toward Biden. In a national survey from Monmouth University released on Aug. 11, for example, which gave Biden a 10-point lead overall, Biden was leading registered voters over 65 by 17 points. That would represent a shift of 26 points among the oldest measured demographic from 2016. A Quinnipiac national poll from mid-July, meanwhile, showed Bidens lead among the 65-plus at 14 points.

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If Biden succeeds, it will be a catastrophic blow to the Trump campaign.

Surveys since the two conventions, and the Trump campaigns blitz to hang urban riots and violence around Democrats necks, largely show Bidens strength among seniors remaining steadfast. A CNN national poll released in early September saw Biden leading among the 65-plus set by 17 points, while a Quinnipiac national poll saw him leading by 4. In some recent state polls where Bidens margins are tightening, meanwhile, seniors are no longer a bonus demographic contributing to a prospective Biden landslidetheyre the ones responsible for Biden holding onto his lead. An early September Quinnipiac poll of Florida, in which Biden led overall by 3 points, saw him leading among the 65-plus by 10; a Monmouth poll of Pennsylvania, in which Biden led overall by 4, showed him with an 11-point edge among seniors. The Biden campaign spent heavily in swing states over the summer trying to preserve this advantage.

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Is this the battle we expected? After the 2016 election, Democrats felt their restoration hinged on rebuilding the Obama coalition, by drastically improving turnout among young people and minorities and mitigating their damage among the white working class. Those improvements are still important. But Biden is creating his own coalition, and some of the most dramatic movement thats taking place, and some of the aggressively contested terrain down the stretch, is among older white voters in both the Sun Belt and the Midwest. Now, the Biden campaign has the opportunity to do something that Democrats havent done since the 2000 campaign: win seniors. If Biden succeeds, it will be a catastrophic blow to the Trump campaign.

Seniors were a strength group for Trump in 2016. They were a strength group in 2018. Given the challenges we have with other voter groups, weve got to work to bring them back into the fold, Glen Bolger of Public Opinion Strategies, a top Republican pollster and strategist, told me in July. I asked him how optimistic he was about the ability of the Republican incumbentwho, at the time, was embarking on one of his ephemeral pivots to a new toneto do this.

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I dont have a choice but to be optimistic, he said. If we cant get back to our position of strength with senior citizens, its going to be a long electionwell, I was going to say night, but I guess month by the time theyre finally done counting votes.

Before seniors were a reliable Republican voting bloc, they were a reliable Democratic one.

Al Gore narrowly won the votes of seniors in 2000, but 65-plus voters were one of Bill Clintons strongest demographics in his 1992 victory, and he carried them again in his comfortable 1996 reelection. This was in line with older voters affiliations of the time: From 1992 until 2010, without interruption, more seniors identified as Democrats than Republicans.

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That all changed during Obamas presidency, as seniors became more likely to identify as Republicans. The switch, as Gallup explained in a 2014 analysis about how seniors had realigned, was closely correlated with an overall shift among white voters away from the Democratic Party. With seniors being disproportionately white relative to the national average, the shift in their political alignment was substantial.

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Bidens polling strength with seniors, then, is partly reflective of his overall improvement in standing among white voters compared with Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. But seniors, along with college-educated, suburban whites, are one of the demographics where that improvement is particularly pronounced.

Biden has tested well among seniors in hypotheticals against Trump since 2015, when he also mulled a presidential bid. And as a Washington Post analysis in May showed, Biden has led Trump among 65-plus voters throughout the election cycle, and performed consistently better among them versus Trump than his nearest primary competitor, Sen. Bernie Sanders, did.

The Post analysis couldnt divine from the data a verifiable reason that Biden has a higher floor with white seniors against Trump than Clinton or Sanders did. Is it because hes perceived as more moderate than the others? Because hes a moderate white man? Because he says things, in the year 2020, like, Look, the carny shows gone through town once, and they found out theres no pea under any of the three shells?

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Jim Farr would say its because of the kind of man he is. Farr, 77, retired to Kissimmee, Florida, from Papua New Guinea, where he worked as a Bible translator, a year ago. Hes a conservative Christian who served in the Army, who believes that abortion is murdering babies, and who couldnt support Hillary Clinton because she wouldnt accept responsibility for the 2012 Benghazi attack. Farr voted for Trump, even though he behaved like a 3-year-old. In November, he told me, he will likely vote for Republicans down-ballotand Joe Biden for president.

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I was hoping that if [Trump] started out at an emotional 3-year-old level, he would now be an adult, Farr said, but he seems to have regressed to a 2-year-old. Even though he doesnt agree with Biden on either economic or social policy, he comes across as measured and trustworthy.

A bad plan with good people will work, he said. A good plan with bad people wont.

Comparing the character of the two candidateswell, thats exactly what Democrats want voters to do. Older voters are the most concerned about the way [Trump] comports himself as president, Democratic strategist Tad Devine told me. I think theres also a comfort factor with Biden that perhaps they didnt have with Clinton as much. Hes someone that they know, and I think theyre very comfortable with him, the way he comports himself, the kind of person he is.

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Seniors also have a small-c conservative way of not wanting to see things get too disrupted. Trump really has worn out his welcome with these people, Devine added. I think many of them voted for Trump because they wanted to maybe put a brake on the change that they were seeing happening in the country in such a short amount of time. Now I think they want to put a brake on Trump.

Theres also a specific issue thats been in the news of late thats of particular concern to seniors.

Helen Lyon, 73, of Grand Junction, Colorado, has been a Republican since 1972. She held her nose and voted for Trump in 2016, with the encouragement of friends who told her Trump was a good businessman who could shake things up.

She told me she felt she was living in a state of cognitive dissonance for much of Trumps presidency. Her husband, a Democrat, loves to watch Colbert, whom she found irritating.

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I cannotI cannotvote for this man.  Helen Lyon, 73

I would kind of get ticked off, she said, because he was making fun of my president.

After a while, though, she found that she kept asking her husband, Did [Trump] really say that? Did he really tweet that? Did he really do that? She would then look up what Trump said, tweeted, or did, and she began to wonder if she could vote for him again.

And then, when COVID came, she said, and the way that he handled it and just said it was going to go away, I guess that was finally the minute that I was able to step out of that cognitive dissonance and say, I cannotI cannotvote for this man. 

It is not high-level political analysis to determine that the global plague disproportionately affecting older people, which has killed nearly 200,000 Americans in the last six months, has weakened the incumbents position among seniors. Even though Biden had maintained a higher-than-usual floor among seniors in a matchup against Trump, his strength increased noticeably as the coronavirus outbreak dragged into late spring.

John Hishta, the senior vice president for campaigns at AARP, insisted to me that the core issues for seniors in this election havent changed. Its that the pandemic has heightened their concern around those issues.

Ultimately, at the end of the day, the core issues of Social Security, Medicare, health care, and things like prescription drugs still are the most important issues for older voters, Hishta told me. They just are. And I dont think thats changed in all the years Ive been doing this stuff. Certainly it hasnt changed in the 10 years Ive been with AARP.

The pandemic, in Hishtas view, has just exacerbated peoples uneasiness and feelings about their own health and well-being. And Trumps response to the pandemic has done the same.

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It may seem like a distant memory now, but there was a timetwo or three new tones agothat Trumps job approval actually improved during the coronavirus outbreak. After months of ignoring the threat the virus posed, Trump adopted his first newfound somber tone in mid-March and began holding lengthy, daily press briefings alongside public health experts and the rest of his coronavirus task force. By the end of March, his approval ratings had measurably improved. Whether he was providing leadership is one question. But at least he was on television pantomiming the image of a leader taking a problem seriously.

But soon the artifice collapsed. Cases and deaths continued to pile up, and the daily opportunity to address the public on task force developments devolved into an opportunity to speculate about the efficacy of injecting household cleaning products. Trump stopped talking with Dr. Anthony Fauci and started emphasizing the need to rapidly reopen the economy. (There was a calamitous handling of race relations and treatment of protesters that tanked his numbers in the middle of this too.) With both his head-to-head numbers against Biden and approval of his handling of the virus in free-fall, we were back to the beginning: Another new, somber tone, and a resumption of daily press briefings in late July, to perform the motions of being on top of an issue that was killing him with a demographic he needed. But then, in his first press briefing back, the president wished Ghislaine Maxwell, the accused sex trafficker and accomplice to Jeffrey Epstein, well.

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It was a few days after this that I spoke to Terry Sullivan, a Republican strategist who managed Sen. Marco Rubios presidential campaign in 2016. He did not think resuming the press briefings was a smart strategy.

If you think that him talking more about putting sunshine and bleach inside the body was helpful to him with seniors? Sullivan said. Well, good on you, but thats not necessarily borne out in the data Ive seen.

Perhaps theres only a certain amount of damage from which public relations yo-yoing can distract when the stakes reach a certain level. For seniors, the stakes couldnt be higher. The coronavirus epidemic is a daily reminder of their mortality. Trump being crude, provocative, and inexperienced was tolerable for some (mostly white) older voters when it was at a distance, and the economy was humming. Trumps style, in which mayhem is the message, now represents an immediate danger.

Lori McCammon, 65, of Alma, Wisconsin, voted for Trump in the last election, when she was living in Southern California. She now says Trump is guilty of voluntary manslaughter for those who have died from COVID-19.

In 2016, McCammon had been concerned about illegal immigration from Mexico. She also didnt like Hillary Clinton.

I dont have a reason, I dont know, she told me. I just didnt like her.

She says she almost instantly regretted her vote, and cant bear to watch Trump speak anymore.

I consider myself very lucky so far that someone close to me hasnt contracted or died from it, she said of the coronavirus. My immediate family is all gone from various illnesses. I havent lost anybody to COVID, but Ive lost my family. So I feel the pain of losing a parent or losing a sibling.

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McCammon told me that she isnt sure shell ever vote for another Republican again.

In the November 2019 Democratic presidential debate, Sen. Kamala Harris, in what turned out to be a last stand for her campaign, repeatedly argued that she was the candidate most capable of reconstructing the Obama coalition that had as its backbone wide margins and high turnout from young people, Hispanic voters, and Black voters. Biden, hearing the word Obama, claimed that he would be better suited for the task because hes part of the Obama coalition. He would add, in one of his more curiously worded debate lines of the cycle, that I come out of the Black community, in terms of his support.

The two now share a ticket thats favoredthough we would like to emphasize here, not certainto win the general election. But they wont do it through a simple reconstruction of the Obama coalition.

A point or two amongst older voters is worth three or four or five with younger voters.  Terry Sullivan, Republican strategist

As it looks today, Biden will, like Obama, win young voters, Black voters, and Hispanic voters by wide margins, though not necessarily as wide. But unlike Obama, who twice lost white voters with college degrees, Biden is leading with that group by upward of 20 percentage points. Meanwhile, 65-plus voters were Obamas worst age demographic in both 2008 and 2012. Theres now a chance that Biden could win them.

Even if Biden slips and doesnt outright win seniorsmean reversion as we approach Election Day is always a fair beta significant shift of 65-plussers away from Trump could have a profound effect on the outcome of the election. For one, seniors always have the highest turnout rate in elections, a fail-safe that could offset the Biden campaigns issues with enthusiasm among younger voters. Looking at the polls, as Terry Sullivan put it, a point or two amongst older voters is worth three or four or five with younger voters.

And theres something else: Critical swing states like Arizona, Florida, Michigan, and Pennsylvania all have disproportionately higher shares of the senior electorate. For 2020, an early Pew look at the national breakdown estimated that the 65-or-older cohort would be 23 percent. According to an analysis performed by the firm Echelon Insights that AARP commissioned, 25 percent of Pennsylvanias electorate, 25.9 percent of Michigans, 29.6 percent of Arizonas, and 30.5 percent of Floridas were over 65 years old in 2016. Its that particularly high rate of seniors in Florida that makes even Bidens slim lead in the state such a blinking red light for the Trump campaign.

The story of 2016 was how the blue wall collapsed as Clinton narrowly fell to Trump in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. For three years, then, the dominant narrative has been about how Democrats needed to reconstruct the same blue wall by either flipping roughly 70,000 white, working-class diner patrons spread across those three states or turning out 70,000 likely Democratic voters who stayed home. This, and this alone, is what the election would be.

This way of thinking misses what is, frankly, one of the only interesting things about presidential elections: the entrepreneurial way that nominees build coalitions tailored to them and, in doing so, change American politics. After John Kerry lost in 2004, some Democrats thought they needed to nominate a folksy white guy from the South. Instead they nominated Illinois Barack Obama and won in a landslide with a coalition of Obamas making. After Mitt Romney lost in 2012, the Republican National Committee wrote an autopsy pleading with its leaders to soften their stance on issues like immigration. Instead, the party nominated Donald Trump and won the general election. Hillary Clintons defeat was blamed, among leftists and populists, on her being an establishment candidate tied to the dispiriting memories of 90s centrism. Now the Democrats are holding a steady lead with another establishment-endorsed 90s holdover, as old white voters rally to a figure from the old days.

That the 2020 campaigns would be focused on the votes of white senior citizens in Florida as a key determinant of the electionan election whose integrity hinges on adequate funding of the United States Postal Service during a global health crisisis not what many of us would have anticipated a couple of years ago. But it never is.
They live 260 kilometres apart in country Victoria and they've been banned from visiting each other under COVID-19 restrictions.

And so six-year-old Lucia Sharples has been chatting with her grandparents, Jenny Skewes and Bob Sharples, once a week by video call.

Hello from Castlemaine: Lucia Sharples, with parents Marty Sharples and Nanda Gasparini, will soon be able to see grandma Jenny Skewes in person. Credit:Joe Armao

"Its great, isnt it?" says Lucias father, Jenny and Bobs son Marty Sharples. "But its not the same as face to face and never will be."

Like many others, the family  one lot in Castlemaine and the other in Ventnor on Phillip Island  are excited that from Thursday, under the easing of COVID-19 restrictions in regional Victoria, they will be permitted to visit one another again.
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.
Aryzta is best known here for the Cuisine de France brand. Photo: Leon Farrell/Photocall Ireland.

Annette Flynn will resign from the board of Aryzta following the conclusion of todays extraordinary general meeting.

Ms Flynns position had come under pressure from activist shareholders, who have spent a number of months campaigning for changes to the board of the Swiss-Irish food group.

Activist investors - Switzerland's Veraison and Spain's Cobas - between them own more than 20pc of Aryzta.

A statement from Aryzta this morning said the board asked Ms Flynn to remain as a member of the board, due to her role as audit committee chair, given the increased complexities of the financial year-end in light of the recent resignation of the chief financial officer.

In addition, they highlighted the challenging financial circumstances arising as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, the statement said Ms Flynn has accepted the expected decision of shareholders.

Gary McGann, chairman of Aryzta, said: We appreciate Annettes commitment to Aryzta and thank her for her contribution to the board and for her highly effective stewardship of the audit committee.

The EGM is due to start at 9am Irish time today.
Mike Postle, Justin Kuraitis Break Silences in Wake of Settlement

September 15, 2020

Anyone who expected Mike Postle and Justin Kuraitis to ride off quietly into the sunset after they avoided millions of dollars in potential liability from a high-profile civil suit was disabused of that notion on Tuesday.

Postle, alleged to have cheated dozens of players out of six figures at the Stones Gambling Hall poker tables over the course of 2019, broke his silence on the matter with a text to The Sacramento Bee. In it, he reaffirmed his innocence and promised he'd be exonerated in a forthcoming documentary.

Kuraitis, the supervisor who presided over some of the allegedly crooked games, penned a lengthy and controversial paper in which he castigated the poker community for its actions in condemning him. He also doubled down on Postle's innocence.

Postle-Geist?

Postle has declined numerous interview requests in the months since the story first broke, including several requests for comment from PokerNews. One of the few times he went on the record was with Mike Matusow on "The Mouthpiece," where he maintained he was "10,000% innocent."

He has hidden even from his court summons at times.

He also turned down an interview request from the Bee, but he did provide a statement via text.

As much as Id like to say, all I can really say right now is that I have my side of this entire fiasco to tell. It wont just shock the poker and gambling industries, but the entire world. This all goes way beyond just my innocence, but includes an entire incredible 17+ year story along with it, and whats happened since the allegations. In fact, its such a mind blowing story, that its being told to Dave Broome at 25/7 Productions who will be producing a wild documentary for the world to see on it! Ive been waiting for many, many months on this and Im anxious for it to finally come out. So to all the detractors and accusers who have asked, Why hasnt he spoken or provided his evidence of innocence and explanations? Well guess what? ... Now you know.

No doubt, the entire world waits as anxiously as Postle.

Kuraitis Claims Vindication

House tournament director Kuraitis has been under fire as well, with some alleging he may have been an accomplice of Postle's if he wasn't outright ignorant of the incredible things happening under his watch.

Following the settlement, he and his lawyer let the poker world know their thoughts.

I would characterize the settlement as a complete vindication, the lawyer told the Bee.

Kuraitis was a bit more wordy. Throughout the four pages of text, he alternated between attacking the poker community and poker media, including PokerNews, and painting himself as a long-suffering and falsely accused victim.

"The pain and unfairness of their allegations and the wrath of the social media mob and internet bullying lingers."

"I watched in utter amazement as Joey Ingram devoted hour after hour to 'PostleGate,'" Kuraitis wrote. "Some of the videos were entertaining and they certainly were great for increasing Ingrams popularity, but as I watched them it became clear that Ingram was peddling false statistics, cherry-picking hands to fit his theories and ignoring data that did not fit his version of the story.

"The propaganda machine that these guys created was prolific but it was all a case of confirmation bias. Anything that fit in their narrative was trumpeted and the many things that contradicted their story were simply ignored."

He took aim specifically at whistleblower Veronica Brill as well. He claimed she never provided him with evidence of her belief that Postle was cheating, and she has a "penchant for making outrageous statements and frivolous claims."

Kuraitis said he was "ashamed" that he actually wondered for a time if Postle cheated.

He also railed against a poker community that he claimed victimized him unfairly.

"The pain and unfairness of their allegations and the wrath of the social media mob and internet bullying lingers," he wrote.

"The Twitter mob is real, it is ugly, and it has real life consequences. I have never before experienced so much hatred, ignorance and even threats of violence. All this just because of one person on Twitter and the mob of people who were willing to believe her without facts. It is pretty surreal to think about in retrospect."

The Bee reported that Kuraitis remains employed at Stones.

Poker Community Less than Moved

If Kuraitis expected a flood of apologies to come his way, he may be disappointed.

The poker community appeared to be largely unmoved by the post. A Tweet from Doug Polk exemplified most of the reactions.

1) You and Postle are innocent in the eyes of the law because the legal system is not fit to determine if you were https://t.co/npMmcgioSA  Doug Polk (@DougPolkVids)

Settlement Said to Be "Nominal"

The reactions come less than a week after most of the remaining plaintiffs in the case, with little recourse following an initial court setback, settled with Stones for an unknown amount, which the Bee reported as being "nominal." The cardroom's spokesperson told the outlet that they wanted to "show good will."

Part of the settlement evidently called for a statement from plaintiffs' attorney Mac VerStandig that exonerated the venue and Kuraitis.

Based on our investigation, we are satisfied that Stones and Mr. Kuraitis were not involved in any cheating that may have occurred," he said.

VerStandig told the Bee the settlement was "amicable" and something his clients were "happy" to accept.

However, it's clear they weren't all happy as Brill was among those who chose not to settle.

I didn't sign the settlement  Veronica (@Angry_Polak)
Earlier this week, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) arrested alleged drug peddler Suryadeep Malhotra after conducting searches at his residence in Mumbai, in connection with the drug case linked to actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death case. Reportedly, Suryadeep is Rhea Chakraborty's brother Showik's friend.

Suryadeep was produced before the special Narcotics Drugs and Psychotrophic Substances (NDPS) court on Tuesday. According to a report in ANI, the court sent him to NCB custody till September 18, 2020. An alleged drug peddler Chris Costa was also sent to NCB custody till September 17.

As per a report in Mumbai Mirror, NCB Zonal Director, Sameer Wankhede earlier told the reporters, "Drug peddlers Chris Costa and Suryadeep are arrested by NCB Mumbai. They will be produced before the court today."

According to NCB officials, raids were also conducted at several other locations in Mumbai in connection with the case.

On Sunday, the NCB had apprehended a person identified as Karam Jeet Singh Anand in connection with the drug case after ganja was recovered from his possession. The NCB had earlier revealed that they apprehended Dywan Anthony Fernandes along with two persons, who used to supply ganja, and recovered 500 grams of ganja.

According to a NCB statement, Ankush Arenja, age 29 years of Powai was also apprehended. He is a receiver of contraband from Karam Jeet who supplied it to arrested accused Anuj Keshwani. Reportedly, 42 grams of charas and cash of Rs 1,12,400 has been recovered from him.

NCB, Sub Zone, Goa has apprehended Chris Costa in the same case. Further investigation is still going on. Currently, he has also been brought to Goa from Mumbai. Further, the NCB acknowledges the role of Sameer Wankhede ZD Mumbai in the team for these operations.

The NCB joined the probe in Sushant Singh Rajput's death case after the Enforcement Directorate came across various chats related to drug consumption, procurement, usage and transportation in connection while probing the money laundering angle in the actor's death case.
The Supreme Court September 16 said it will continue to hear the case related to the validity of the National Law Aptitude Test (NLAT) 2020 on September 17. NLAT was held on September 12 and 14.

On September 3, the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru, or NLAT decided it would conduct its own entrance examination for admission to undergraduate and postgraduate courses. This was in response to the common law entrance test CLAT 2020 being postponed.

During the hearing on September 16, senior advocate Nidhesh Gupta appearing for the petitioners said that holding a separate examination is a violation of bye-laws.

Also Read: CAT 2020 major changes: Check what has changed

He added that all the national law universities are bound by the Memorandum of Association under which there will be a single law entrance examination for admission into undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

Gupta also added that there were malpractices (like cheating) during NLAT 2020. Moneycontrol had reported about the alleged paper leak of NLAT exam on September 14. Here, NLSIU had said that the integrity of the examination was not compromised.

Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayan who was appearing for a parent of a CLAT aspirant added that CLAT is considered to be a tough examination, but added that it was very easy to meddle with NLAT. Sankaranarayan also told the apex court that video tutorials to meddle with the exam were also available on the internet.

However, senior advocate Arvind Datar appearing for NLSIU said that there is a systematic programme to denigrate the process of NLAT 2020.

In its hearing on September 12, the Supreme Court had said while the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru, can hold its entrance test National Law Aptitude Test (NLAT), 2020, on September 12, the results cannot be declared before the apex court decides on the matter.

Also read: All you need to know about NLSIU's new entrance test

The issue pertains to a joint petition filed by a parent of a Common Law Admission Test (CLAT 2020) aspirant and the former NLSIU vice chancellor R Venkata Rao in the apex court, challenging the sudden withdrawal of the standard law entrance test.

Though the CLAT is the entrance exam for admission into all national law universities, NLSIU announced on September 3 that it will conduct its own entrance examination for admission to undergraduate and postgraduate courses.
KANAZAWA, Japan, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Researchers at Kanazawa University report in Nature Communications the mechanism making some lung-cancer patients resistant to the drug osimertinib. In addition, they suggest a combined drug treatment resolving osimertinib resistance in the case of cancer cells expressing low amounts of AXL, a protein belonging to the class of receptor tyrosine kinases.

The effectiveness of cancer treatment is often hampered by cancer cells being heterogeneous. This is the case for EGFR-mutated lung cancer: drugs based on biomolecules of a type known as tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) have been used to treat the disease, but with various levels of efficacy. (EGFR stands for "epidermal growth factor receptor", a protein playing an important role in signaling processes from the extracellular environment to a cell.) Sometimes, tumor cells are simply resistant to the drug. Now, Seiji Yano from Kanazawa University and colleagues have investigated the efficacy of the TKI osimertinib for treating EGFR-mutated lung cancer, and how it relates to the expression in tumor cells of a particular protein called AXL. They found that both AXL-high and -low expressing tumor cells showed tolerance (acquired resistance) to osimertinib, but that the mechanisms involved are different for the two situations. Moreover, the researchers suggest a way to enhance the success of osimertinib treatment for the case of AXL-low expressing tumors.

First, the scientists compared the susceptibility to osimertinib in both AXL-high and -low expressing tumor cells in in vitro experiments. They observed that osimertinib inhibited the viability of the cancer cells in both cases, but that the sensitivity to the drug was higher for AXL-low expressing EGFR-mutated lung cancer cells. They also noticed that a small number of tumor cells survived the procedure  an indication of osimertinib tolerance. These findings were consistent with results from the clinical study of the drug performed earlier on 29 patients with EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer.

Through experiments aiming to understand the mechanism behind osimertinib tolerance, Yano and colleagues discovered that phosphorylation of IGF-1R was increased in AXL-low-expressing tumor cell lines, but not in AXL-high expressing tumors. (IGF-1R stands for 'insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor'; it is a protein located on the surface of human cells. Phosphorylation is the chemical process of adding a phosphoryl group.) The researchers then found that phosphorylated IGF-1R supported the survival of AXL-low expressing tumors after exposure to osimertinib.

The scientists then tested whether the observed osimertinib resistance could be resolved by administering linsitinib, a substance known to inhibit the phosphorylation of IGF-1R. Encouraged by the positive outcome of the experiment, Yano and colleagues went further and evaluated the combination of osimertinib and linsitinib. Their conclusion was that the transient combination of linsitinib with continuous osimertinib treatment could cure or at least dramatically delay tumor recurrence in AXL-low-expressing EGFR-mutated lung cancer. More investigating needs to be done, though. Quoting the researchers: " the safety and efficacy of the transient combination of IGF-1R inhibitor and osimertinib should be evaluated in the clinical trials."

Background

Tyrosine kinase inhibitors

A tyrosine kinase inhibitor is a drug inhibiting (that is, preventing or reducing the activity of) a specific tyrosine kinase. A tyrosine kinase is a protein (enzyme) involved in the activation of other proteins by signaling cascades. The activation happens by the addition of a phosphate group to the protein (phosphorylation); it is this step that a tyrosine kinase inhibitor inhibits. Tyrosine kinase inhibitors are used as anticancer drugs. One such drug is osimertinib, used to treat EGFR-mutated lung cancer.

AXL

AXL is a receptor tyrosine kinase  a tyrosine kinase consisting of an extracellular part, a transmembrane part ('sitting' within a cell membrane) and an intracellular part. AXL regulates various important cellular processes, including proliferation, survival and motility.

In recent years, it has become clear that AXL is a key facilitator of drug tolerance by cancer cells. Seiji Yano from Kanazawa University and colleagues have found that this is also the case for EGFR-mutated lung cancer. While a high expression of AXL correlates with resistance to osimertinib, such tolerance also occurs in AXL-low-expressing cancer cells. Yano and colleagues have now found that for the latter case, phosphorylation of IGF-1R (insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor) is responsible for the resistance to osimertinib.

Reference

Rong Wang, Tadaaki Yamada, Kenji Kita, Hirokazu Taniguchi, Sachiko Arai, Koji Fukuda, Minoru Terashima, Akihiko Ishimura, Akihiro Nishiyama, Azusa Tanimoto, Shinji Takeuchi, Koshiro Ohtsubo, Kaname Yamashita, Tomoyoshi Yamano, Akihiro Yoshimura, Koichi Takayama, Kyoichi Kaira, Yoshihiko Taniguchi, Shinji Atagi, Hisanori Uehara, Rikinari Hanayama, Isao Matsumoto, Xujun Han, Kunio Matsumoto, Wei Wang, Takeshi Suzuki, and Seiji Yano. Transient IGF-1R inhibition combined with osimertinib eradicates AXL-low expressing EGFR mutated lung cancer, Nature Communications 11, XX (2020).

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-18442-4

URL: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18442-4

Link to figure

https://nanolsi.kanazawa-u.ac.jp/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Figure-768x567.png

Figure Caption

Mechanism of targeted drugs tolerance in lung cancer cells

Further information

About WPI NanoLSI Kanazawa University

Hiroe Yoneda

Vice Director of Public Affairs

WPI Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI)

Kanazawa University

Kakuma-machi, Kanazawa 920-1192, Japan

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +81 (76) 234-4550

About Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI)

https://nanolsi.kanazawa-u.ac.jp/en/

Nano Life Science Institute (NanoLSI), Kanazawa University is a research center established in 2017 as part of the World Premier International Research Center Initiative of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The objective of this initiative is to form world-tier research centers. NanoLSI combines the foremost knowledge of bio-scanning probe microscopy to establish 'nano-endoscopic techniques' to directly image, analyze, and manipulate biomolecules for insights into mechanisms governing life phenomena such as diseases.

About Kanazawa University

http://www.kanazawa-u.ac.jp/e/

As the leading comprehensive university on the Sea of Japan coast, Kanazawa University has contributed greatly to higher education and academic research in Japan since it was founded in 1949. The University has three colleges and 17 schools offering courses in subjects that include medicine, computer engineering, and humanities.

The University is located on the coast of the Sea of Japan in Kanazawa  a city rich in history and culture. The city of Kanazawa has a highly respected intellectual profile since the time of the fiefdom (1598-1867). Kanazawa University is divided into two main campuses: Kakuma and Takaramachi for its approximately 10,200 students including 600 from overseas.

SOURCE Kanazawa University
IMF negotiations with Ukraine not frozen  finance minister

13:35, 16.09.20 1107

Marchenko has denied the claim by former Head of the President's Office, Andriy Bohdan, that the IMF has allegedly frozen contacts with Ukraine until December.
Hyderabad, Sep 16 : Hyderabad Police on Wednesday arrested Telugu film producer G. Ashok Reddy in the suicide case of Telugu television actor Kondapalli Sravani, who hanged herself last week.

Ashok Reddy, who was absconding since Monday when he along with two others were booked, was finally arrested by the police.

Police had served notice on the producer, asking him to appear before them. He, however, went into hiding and his mobile phone was also switched off.

Ashok Reddy, who produced hit movies like "RX100", is the third accused to be arrested in the case. Sai Krishna Reddy and Devaraj Reddy were already arrested and sent to judicial custody for abetment to suicide.

The producer was taken to the Osmania Hospital for medical check-up. He will be produced in the court later in the day.

The 26-year-old actor, who is known for her work in Telugu serials like "Manasu Mamata" and "Mounaragam", hanged herself at her apartment in Madhuranagar in Hyderabad on September 8.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (West Zone) A. R. Srinivas said Sravani had come in contact with Ashok Reddy in 2017 and he had offered her a small role in the film "Premato Karthik". They developed friendship.

Ashok Reddy and Sai Kumar Reddy, who were earlier in relationship with Sravani, were unable to digest her coming closer to Devaraj Reddy since August last year. The duo along with Sravani's family harassed the actor and even physically assaulted her to keep her away from Devaraj.

Meanwhile, in a new twist to the case, the police in its remand report named Devaraj as the main accused. Sai Kumar is listed as accused number two and Ashok Reddy as accused number three.

While announcing the breakthrough in the case, the police officer had said that Sai Kumar is the accused number one, Ashok Reddy number two and Devaraj is accused number three.

During a telephonic conversation with Devaraj before hanging herself, Sravani spoke about the harassment by Sai Kumar Reddy, Ashok Reddy and her family members.

Police said Devaraj Reddy was also included as an accused in the case. He had promised to marry her, but distanced himself later, after learning about her past relationships with two men.

The police officer said all the accused at some point of time had promised to marry her and were also harassing her citing her relationship with others.

The police have not included the actor's family as accused saying they belonged to the victim party.
Two Boeing plane crashes that killed 346 people in five months were the 'horrific culmination' of design flaws, poor government oversight and a lack of action by the planemaker, investigators have said.

Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration were both criticized in a scathing report by the House Transportation Committee after the crashes in Indonesia in October 2018 and Ethiopia in March 2019.

The reports said that Boeing hid 'catastrophic' design flaws in a bid to beat deadlines so the 737 Max could be certified as fit to fly.

Both the stricken planes were Boeing 737 Max 8 jets - a model which met FAA requirements but was grounded around the world in the wake of the second disaster 18 months ago.

'The fact that a compliant airplane suffered from two deadly crashes in less than five months is clear evidence that the current regulatory system is fundamentally flawed and needs to be repaired,' the report released early Wednesday said.

Boeing was criticised in a House committee report after two crashes in 2018 and 2019 (pictured, the very jet which crashed in Ethiopia in March last year)

Regulators are testing planes with revamped flight control software, and Boeing hopes to get the Max flying again late this year or early in 2021.

The investigators mainly focused on the reason Boeing was able to get the jet approved with minimal pilot training: It convinced the FAA that the Max was an updated version of previous generation 737s.

But in fact, Boeing equipped the plane with software called MCAS, an acronym for Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, which automatically lowers the plane's nose to prevent an aerodynamic stall.

Initially, pilots worldwide were not told about the system, which Boeing said was needed because the Max had bigger, more powerful engines.

In both crashes, MCAS repeatedly pointed the nose down, forcing pilots into unsuccessful struggles to keep the planes aloft.

Committee investigators said they found several instances in which Boeing concealed information about MCAS from the FAA and airlines.

The Chicago-based company didn't disclose that MCAS worked off a single sensor called 'angle of attack,' which measures a plane's pitch.

It also didn't disclose that a gauge that would have alerted pilots to a malfunctioning sensor didn't work on the vast majority of the jets.

Boeing also concealed that it took a company test pilot more than 10 seconds to determine that MCAS was operating and respond to it, a condition that the pilot found to be 'catastrophic,' according to the report.

Federal guidelines assume pilots will respond to this condition within four seconds.

Ethiopian emergency services work at the scene of the crash near Addis Ababa on March 10, 2019

Four Boeing employees with permission to act on the FAA's behalf to validate aircraft systems knew about the test pilot's slow response, the report said -but there was no evidence that they reported this to the FAA, the report said.

Another representative raised concerns in 2016 about hazards of MCAS repeatedly pointing the plane's nose down, but the concerns never made it to the FAA.

Repeated MCAS activation and faulty sensors 'were the core contributing factors that led to the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines crashes more than two years later,' the report said.

The committee identified many deficiencies in the FAA approval process for new jetliners.

The report highlights the need for legislation to fix the approval, said committee chairman Peter DeFazio.

'Obviously the system is inadequate,' said DeFazio, a Democrat. 'We will be adopting significant reforms.'

DeFazio would not give details of possible changes, saying committee leaders are in talks with Republicans about legislation.

Senators are today considering a bill introduced in June giving the FAA more control over picking company employees who sign off on safety decisions.

One improvement may be that a plane with significant changes from previous models would need more FAA review.

According to the report, Boeing wanted to keep details about MCAS from the FAA so it wouldn't require additional pilot training.

Extra training would have ruined Boeing's sales pitch for the Max, that pilots of older 737s wouldn't have to go through extensive simulator training to fly the new planes.

Investigators found that Boeing had a financial incentive to avoid more pilot training. Under a 2011 contract with Southwest Airlines, Boeing would have had to knock $1 million off the price of each Max if simulator training was needed.

'That drove a whole lot of really bad decisions internally at Boeing, and also the FAA did not pick up on these things,' DeFazio said.

He added that Boeing had an internal meeting in 2013 and agreed never to talk about MCAS outside the company.

At one point, MCAS was listed in pilot training manuals, but an authorized representative signed off on removing it, he said.

An Indonesian officer holds the Lion Air JT610 flight data recorder shortly after it was found underwater in November 2018

In a statement, Boeing said it has worked to strengthen its safety culture and has cooperated with the committee. The company has incorporated many recommendations from committees and experts who have examined Max issues.

Boeing said it has learned from mistakes.

'Change is always hard and requires a daily commitment, but we as a company are dedicated to doing the work,' the statement said.

The FAA said in a statement it looks forward to working with the committee to make improvements, and is already making changes based on internal and independent reviews.

'These initiatives are focused on advancing overall aviation safety by improving our organization, processes, and culture,' the FAA said, adding that it is requiring a number of design changes to the Max before it can fly again.

When it came to FAA oversight, investigators said they found multiple examples of agency managers overruling technical and safety experts at the behest of Boeing.

A draft FAA survey said that many in the FAA believe aviation officials 'are overly concerned with achieving the business oriented outcomes of industry stakeholders and are not held accountable for safety-related decisions,' the report stated.

In an interview with investigators, Keith Leverkuhn, former Boeing general manager for the Max who was promoted in the company, said he considered development of the Max a success despite the crashes.

'I do challenge the suggestion that the development was a failure,' the report quotes him as saying.

Investigators wrote that this raised doubts about Boeing's ability to change.

'Only a genuine, holistic, and assertive commitment to changing the cultural issues unearthed in the committee's investigation ... can enhance aviation safety and truly help both Boeing and the FAA learn from the dire lessons of the 737 Max tragedies,' the report said.
Please join us for our end-of-semester study-thon on Tuesday, December 14---we're open straight through from 12pm until 9pm, and will have pizza delivered at 7.

Tutors cannot help you on take-home exams, but they can help you study for your in-person ones---"any math from any course"!



For the Autumn 2021 semester, we are open in-person and online. In-person tutors will be working in the Feigenbaum Center for Science and Innovation, Room 101. Our hours are:

Sundays and Thursdays 7-9pm,

Mondays 10am-12pm and 6-9pm

Tuesdays 10am-2pm and 7-9pm

Wednesdays 11am-12pm and 7-9pm

During open hours, tutors in the Center will monitor our virtual Teams Channel on a laptop. Outside of open hours, tutors are not required to respond to your message on Teams, but may sign in to do so if they are able. To visit the Channel virtually, please fill out the sign-in form here: bit.ly/MCLA_math_SIGNIN and then check your e-mail for an automated message describing how to proceed to our Teams Channel.

About

After a successful first four years, MCLA is continuing to run the Mathematics Help Drop-In Center, a place for students with any questions related to mathematics.

Among our tutors, we have the ability to assist with the mathematics portions of problems from any course in any department on campus, as well as the ability to help students studying for the mathematics portions of exams like the MTEL, GRE, and TEAS. The Center is free for the MCLA community to use, and all MCLA students, faculty, and staff are welcome to drop inno appointment necessary!

How can I get the most out of my visit?

When you first arrive in the virtual Channel, file the sign-in form that will tell us: (1) what course you're here for, and (2) who your professor is. These records of how many students we serve, what the busiest times are, and in what course students are seeking help assists us in planning.

file the sign-in form that will tell us: (1) what course you're here for, and (2) who your professor is. These records of how many students we serve, what the busiest times are, and in what course students are seeking help assists us in planning. When you first arrive in the physical Room 101, fill in the sign-in form on paper (or online, your choice). This is for our own records, which we use in making staffing and operational decisions.

Leave your anonymous comments after your tutoring session by following the form link that will be sent to you via e-mail, and that is available on the "General" Teams sub-Channel.

after your tutoring session by following the form link that will be sent to you via e-mail, and that is available on the "General" Teams sub-Channel. Have your syllabus, textbook, class notes, homework and computer/calculator available if appropriate.

if appropriate. Have specific questions . It's not very helpful to tell the tutor you're confused about everything. It's much more helpful to have picked out particular homework problems you are stuck on or particular topics or examples you want explained.

. It's not very helpful to tell the tutor you're confused about everything. It's much more helpful to have picked out particular homework problems you are stuck on or particular topics or examples you want explained. Seek out other students in the Center or Channel who are in the same course as you. A lot can be accomplished by breaking out into small group chats/calls, and it makes good use of the time you're waiting for the tutor.

in the Center or Channel who are in the same course as you. A lot can be accomplished by breaking out into small group chats/calls, and it makes good use of the time you're waiting for the tutor. Even though the tutors are very good mathematics students, they are still students, and so there may be occasional questions they can't answer. Don't let this bother you; if you can't work through the material, just return when a more experienced student or professor is in the Center or Channel.

Don't ask tutors to help you with a take-home test . They are not allowed to do so.

. They are not allowed to do so. The tutors have their own studies, so please don't flood them with questions when they are not working. We all need our spare time.

Tips in this section were adapted from Hofstra University's page.

Where can I get general help with math and coding outside of the drop-in center's hours?

Tutors

Robert Leonard

Robert Leonard (2023) is a physics major from Watertown, MA. He offers tutoring in all introductory physics courses, Calculus 1-3, Differential Equations, and Modern Physics. He also has experience programming in Java and C++. Robert is currently enrolled in Electricity & Magnetism, Mathematical Physics, Statistical Thermodynamics and Intro to Python.

Robert works Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays 8-9pm, and also Mondays and Wednesdays 11am-12pm.

Tarcisio Ramos dos Santos

Tarcisio Ramos is an Interdisciplinary Studies Major with a minor in Math and Leadership. He is originally from Brazil and has been in the Berkshires for the last 9 years and counting. He has taken Calc I-III, and Intro to Stats.

Tarcisio works Mondays and Tuesdays 10am-12pm and Mondays 6-7pm.



Holly Swanson

Holly Swanson is a computer science major and IT, math, and business administration minor from Poquoson, VA. She has taken Intro to Statistics, Calculus I-II, Intro. to Mechanics, Database, and Physics for Superheroes.



Holly works Sundays through Thursdays 7-9pm.

Megan Walsh

Megan is from Ashby Ma, and shes majoring in psychology and philosophy. She has taken Intro to Statistics and has tutored for this course in the past. Shes happy to help psych students with research and statistical work as well as general statistics students. Though not strictly mathematician, she can also help students with logic problems in philosophy courses.

Megan works Tuesdays 10am-2pm.

Encourage Your Students to Visit

Include This Blurb in your Syllabus

The Math Help Drop-In Center is now open in-person as well as virtually on Microsoft Teams! To get in-person help with any math question from any course, please visit the Feigenbaum Center for Science & Innovation, Room 101 from 6-9pm Sunday through Thursday, and from 10am-12pm on Mondays and Wednesdays. To get online help, follow this link: bit.ly/mcla_math_signin (case-sensitive), then fill in the sign-in sheet and follow the instructions that arrive in your e-mail inbox. Our tutors are friendly, supportive, and ready to help!

Use Pre-Tests in your Class

Ungraded pre-tests can often help students decide early whether they will need help with the mathematics that an upcoming course topic entails, and such evaluations can often be given in five minutes, or as take-home assignments. For templates on particular topics, please e-mail Erin Kiley at emkiley@mcla.edu .
The government and labour leaders held a meeting on petrol and electricity prices.

The federal government has not fully deregulated the petroleum sector and should it do so, Nigerians would be paying about N183 per litre for petrol, an official said Tuesday.

The Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, said this at a meeting in Abuja between a government delegation and labour leaders over the recent increase in the price of petrol.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how petrol prices rose from about N145 per litre to about N160 per litre across Nigeria with the government saying the increase was due to the deregulation of the downstream sector and the removal of subsidy on petrol.

However, on Tuesday, Mr Sylva sang a different tune. He said the government only partially deregulated the sector and a full deregulation would have led to further price increase.

"Why have we kept it at N161? Frankly speaking, let us face it and this is what I will tell you. One of the things that the president considered; he said if you take it to the full scale of deregulation, today, prices should have been around N183 because you all know this."

The minister said government's current intervention was in the purchase of foreign exchange for the importation of petrol. He said importers, mainly the NNPC and its subsidiaries, were still buying dollars from the government at about N391 to a dollar contrary to the prevailing market price of about N450.

Speaking on why government partially deregulated the sector, the minister said the government was spending too much on subsidy.

"The federal government spent N10.4 trillion on petrol subsidy between 2016 and 2019, while the country was losing N1 billion daily to fuel subsidy between 2016-2019," he said.

Labour's Position

At the meeting, labour unions said the recent increase in the prices of petroleum products and electricity tariff have erased the benefits recorded with the signing of the national minimum wage signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari.

President Muhammadu Buhari signed the minimum wage bill in April 2019. The National Assembly had passed the bill approving N30,000 as the minimum wage for workers on March 19, 2019 and transmitted to Mr Buhari on April 2.

President Muhammadu Buhari [PHOTO: Presidency]The leadership of the labour unions led by the president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Ayuba Wabba; Trade Union Congress (TUC) president, Quadri Olaleye; secretary-general of the TUC; Musa Ozigi-Lawal, president of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, Festus Osifo; and the president of Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Association of Nigeria, Williams Akporeha, stated their position during the meeting.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that President Buhari directed the minister of labour and employment, Chris Ngige, to have a dialogue with the labour unions on issues affecting the economy.

While speaking, the president of the NLC, Ayuba Wabba, disapproved of the federal government hiking the prices of electricity and petrol without consultations with Nigerians.

He said majority of the Nigerians citizens are struggling to survive due to the high cost of living caused by the federal government's recent policies, which include an increase in the value added tax (VAT).

"The question now is what do you have on the table to actually cushion the effect on workers and their families because they have been pushed to the wall. They are already enraged. Do you have anything for us so that we can say yes despite this challenges this is what I have for Nigerian workers that they can be able to have something that can cushion this effect for them?" he said.

He said the value of the minimum wage has been eroded with the introduction of different policies.

According to him, the federal government has transferred the inefficiency in the subsidy regime to the consumers which they have to pay through the hike in the price of products.

He appealed to the government to fix the nation's refineries and stop lining the pockets of fuel marketers through a fraudulent subsidy regime.

"I agree with Mr President that subsidy is a fraud but do we address it or transfer it to the customers? That is where the issue is. We don't need to transfer it to the customers. We have increased VAT, we have increased some taxes, we have increased now the fuel price and the tariff on electricity. An ordinary worker can't pay those charges. In fact, higher-level officers are complaining seriously. This is the predicament we are in," he said.

'Masses are at the receiving end'

Similarly, the TUC president, Quadri Olaleye, asked the government to reverse its recent increases and policies which have been biting Nigerians hard.

"Nigerian workers are crying and the populace is also crying. Last year December we were so happy that when we signed the minimum wage agreement and Nigerian workers were happy that their lots were increased. Unfortunately, now they are crying. By (our) calculation we are losing an additional 15 percent of what we gained as a result of signing minimum wage," he said.

"For somebody who is paid N6,666 as increment, now is losing not less than N25,000 from his income. The N6,666 is going, additional N15,000 is added," he said.

According to him, "we have not been able to discuss labour matters since February all in the name of there is COVID-19 but people that are signing the budget, people that are sharing money on daily basis, they meet either on Zoom or physically. They meet and share those money but when they come to labour matters we have to remember that there is COVID-19."

"The questions our members are asking is that does it really mean that the politicians represent the rich people in this country? Does it mean it is only labour that represents the poor people? Does it mean when we have an economic predicament that is when we call Nigerians that we want to hear from them but when we have surpluses we hear nothing about it?"

"Nigerians have never enjoyed surplus when the country has money but when we have predicaments, especially crude oil crash, then labour will be called upon, let us see how we can rescue the economy. I think it is high time everybody bears their fathers' name."

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FG speaks

At the meeting, the minister of labour and employment, Chris Ngige, said there was an urgent need for stakeholders to resolve on how the country would survive the economic challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We are faced with the new normal to survive as human species and we can only hope to build back better society that would sustain us and aid us in our quest for recovery both physically and structurally," he said.

Mr Ngige said the COVID-19 pandemic has affected price stability and major means of production.

Mr Ngige led the government team that included Mr Sylva, minister of state for labour and employment, Festus Keyamo; minister of power, Saleh Mamman, and the minister of works and housing, Babatunde Fashola.

The problem

PREMIUM TIMES reported how electricity distribution companies hiked their tariffs from N30.23 to N62.33 per kWh for Nigerians after the federal government said it would no longer subsidise electricity consumption.

Also, the price of petrol increased from N145 to about N161 per litre.

While the federal government says it no longer has the funds to subsidise petrol and electricity, the labour unions said the government's actions will worsen the plight of millions of Nigerians who are yet to recover from the economic impact of COVID-19.
The Justice Department unsealed charges Wednesday against five Chinese citizens and two Malaysian nationals, accusing them in a global hacking campaign that targeted more than 100 entities, including the billion-dollar online gaming industry, federal authorities said.

While the suspects were not charged as part of an operation sanctioned by the Chinese government as in previous cases, federal prosecutors and the FBI believed the groups far-flung activities had won the tacit approval of Beijing.

The broad range of targets, particularly the choice of universities, think tanks and pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong, signaled that the suspects were likely working for the benefit the Chinese government, officials said.

The group allegedly operated as part of a larger operation known as "Advanced Persistent Threat" or APT-41.

"Cyber-security experts have referred to APT-41s activities as one of the broadest campaigns by a Chinese cyber espionage actor in recent years," Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen said.

Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen poses for a portrait after an interview, the first interview since taking over for Rod Rosenstein. He was also touring the Englewood (Colorado) Federal Correctional Institution.

The two Malaysian suspects were arrested Sunday evening by officials in Sitiawan, Malaysia. The five Chinese defendants remain at large and are believed to be living in China.

More: Chinese hackers charged in theft of trade secrets also probed for coronavirus research, DOJ says

More: 'Painted as spies': Chinese students, scientists say Trump administration has made life hostile amid battle against COVID-19

The wide-ranging attacks, Rosen said, were "turbo-charged" by a technique in which the hackers allegedly planted so-called "back-doors" into software products that later allowed hacker access to the software providers' customers.

Beyond the gaming industry intrusions, in which hackers allegedly gained access to stores of digital currency, the suspects targeted software development companies, computer hardware manufacturers and telecommunication providers.

Prosecutors did not identify the victims in court documents, saying that they did not want to expose them to additional harm.

Story continues

Federal authorities said they would be seeking the extradition of the Malaysian suspects, but lamented a continued lack of cooperation by Chinese authorities in pursuing the other defendants.

The case also underscored ongoing tensions between Beijing and Washington, where the Trump administration has sought to punish China for its aggressive cyber-espionage programs. Last month, China was identified in a national threat assessment, along with Russia and Iran, related to the November presidential election.

The analysis, prepared by the National Counter-Intelligence and Security Center, concluded that China views President Donald Trump as "unpredictable" and prefers that he not win re-election.

"Ideally, I would be thanking Chinese law enforcement authorities for their cooperation in this matter and the five Chinese hackers would now be in custody awaiting trial," Rosen said Wednesday. "Unfortunately, the record of recent years tells us that the Chinese Communist Party has a demonstrated history of choosing a different path, that of making China safe for their own cyber criminals, so long as they help with its goals of stealing intellectual property and stifling freedom."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 5 Chinese citizens at-large in alleged APT-41 global hacking campaign
Principal of St Brigid's Secondary School in Killarney, Roisin Moore, has penned a special message for the departing class of 2020 who last week picked up their long awaited Leaving Certificate results.

In what surely will go down as one of the most complicated and fraught with tension exam years, Principal Moore, in her letter, described this year's journey as "particularly arduous and harrowing" as the pupils faced huge uncertainty about their future, writing that for many of the pupils, they missed out on what for almost all of us, was a "rite of passage."

"On behalf of the school community I am delighted to congratulate the class of 2020 on their Leaving Certificate and Leaving Certificate Applied results. The Leaving Certificate journey was particularly arduous and harrowing this year and the students faced enormous uncertainty and had to cope with a constantly evolving situation from March 12th until May 8th," said Principal Moore in her letter.

"These students missed out on many of the rites of passage associate with the completion of second level education.

"The outstanding results this year are testament to the dedication and commitment exhibited by the students not just in their final year but throughout their senior cycle."

"We were thrilled that 3 of our students were awarded maximum points of 625 points and in excess of 31 % of students received in excess of 500 points. This is in line with the school's academic profile in previous years. All of our Leaving Certificate applied students received distinctions," she continued.

"Monday was a most surreal day in the school as the usual excitement, apprehension and energy associated with results day was absent. However, the most striking absence was the absence of the girls who due to COVID-19 restrictions were required to access their results online.

As a school we missed meeting them and sharing in their celebrations," she said.

"It is our hope that no matter what the future holds for the class of 2020 that they will look back fondly on their time in St. Brigid's and that they will always be proud to be Pres girls," she finished.
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's cabinet on Tuesday approved visas of up to 270 days for long-stay tourists as the government prepares to reopen to foreign visitors from as early as next month to help support a key sector battered by the coronavirus pandemic.

Visitors will be able to extend a 90-day visas that cost 2,000 baht ($64.14) two more times, deputy government spokeswoman Traisulee Traisoranakul told a cabinet briefing.

The government aims to allow foreign visitors from low-risk or no-risk countries to visit the country from next month, Yuthasak Supasorn, governor of the official Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), told Reuters.

"I want to see this happen quickly. I will try to do it in October or the fourth quarter at the latest," he said.

Several hundred visitors who agreed to a 14-day quarantine will be allowed per month and "we also want them to fly direct to reduce risks".

The plan is to start with provinces that provide alternative state quarantine, Yuthasak said.

By sealing off the country to all but returning Thai nationals and approved foreigners, and requiring all arrivals to quarantine, Thailand has kept coronavirus cases to just 3,480, the vast majority of which have recovered. The country has reported 58 deaths.

But Thailand has previously shelved plans to reopen to foreign tourists due to concerns about new outbreaks, including an East Asia travel bubble and a proposal to designate resorts such as Phuket for holidays that include mandatory quarantine and movement restrictions.

The tourism-reliant country has recorded no foreign tourists since April when it imposed a travel ban.

The state planning agency expects only 6.7 million foreign tourists this year after last year's record 39.8 million visitors whose spending made up 11.4% of GDP.

(Reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat; Writing by Orathai Sriring; Editing by Ed Davies)
After months of protests and calls for justice, Breonna Taylors family will receive the largest settlement for police misconduct ever paid by the city of Louisville, Kentucky. The city announced Tuesday that it will settle the familys wrongful death lawsuit for $12 million and also commit to instituting several reforms to policing practices.

I hope this agreement is the next step in bringing a more just Louisville, said Jefferson County Attorney Mike OConnell. A more just Louisville is the medicine we need to heal.

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Taylors family will receive $12 million, yes. But the Louisville police officers who busted into the 26-year-old ER technicians house and killed her will not pay a penny. Nor will the police department that sent them. The money for the settlement is coming, as these things always do, from taxpayers. According to the Louisville Courier-Journal, $5 million is coming from the citys risk management fund, while the rest will be paid via the citys self-insurance fund.

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The settlement comes a couple months after the police department successfully fended off demands for its defunding. In June, Louisvilles metro government actually increased the police budget from $189.8 million to $190.5 million. Some of that money will be used to recruit a more diverse force, implement additional training, and explore co-responder models to bring trained behavioral health specialists on calls with police officers. They have also allocated funding for a civilian review board to oversee the police and increased money for youth programs and affordable housing. Still, 49 percent of the citys entire budget is devoted to police and corrections, according to BLM Louisville.

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Taylors settlement may be the largest, but it is far from the only payout the city is making this year on behalf of police officers. Louisville is still facing a pile of lawsuits over a scandal where officers sexually abused teenage boys through a mentorship program for years. Two former officers implicated in that abuse pleaded guilty and are now in prison. The city is still picking up the tab for them.

It matters that the bill for brutality falls on taxpayers. These taxpayers include the very communities who endure constant harassment and abuse from the police. Part of the point of a civil rights lawsuit is to deter future violationsbut that doesnt work when the agency that keeps churning out violations is completely insulated from the consequences. Many have pointed out this accountability problem with qualified immunity, the legal doctrine that makes it much harder to sue officers for constitutional rights violations. But even when lawsuits do manage to clear that hurdle, the wrongdoers are almost always exempt from having to actually pay for what theyve done.

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Individual police officers almost never contribute their own money to city settlements with their victims, UCLA law professor Joanna Schwartz found in a 2013 analysis of data from 44 of the nations largest police departments and 37 midsize departments. Even when a court requires them to pay punitive damages, which is a doctrine specifically meant to punish abusive cops if they acted with reckless or callous indifference, the government tends to pay for them. Schwartz has noted that its unlikely officers would be able to afford multimillion-dollar payments themselves, so forcing them to pay the entire amount could shortchange the families of their victims. But police departments are good for the money. Police budgets have steadily ballooned even while the agencies are racking up millions of dollars a year in civil rights complaints that are then passed off to taxpayers.

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With municipal budgets strained by the pandemic, it will become harder for city services to absorb the costs of these enormous settlements. Some cities have already started borrowing money to pay for police brutality, as CityLabs Brentin Mock reported. But theres one source of funding thats thus far gone untapped. What if city governments finally got sick of paying millions both to the police and the people theyve abused? Some commentators have claimed Defund the Police is a confusing or misleading slogan. Heres a clearer option: Defund the Police by the Amount They Owe Their Victims.
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DEDHAM, Mass., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Riverside Community Care (www.riversidecc.org), a leader in behavioral healthcare and human services helping more than 40,000 people across Massachusetts and over a million people around the world, has been named to Forbes' 2020 list of America's Best-in-State Employers. Riverside's 1,700 clinicians, social workers, and support staff offer a wide range of mental healthcare, developmental and brain injury services, early childhood and youth programs, addiction treatment, trauma response, and more.

"We are very pleased with this recognition and are proud that our employees feel fulfilled working at Riverside as they make a positive difference in people's lives," said Scott M. Bock, Founder and President/CEO of Riverside Community Care. "We work hard on hiring a thoughtful, passionate, and diverse workforce, and we appreciate them, just as they appreciate working at Riverside."

Forbes partnered with market research company Statista for the second year to select America's Best-in-State Employers based on an independent survey from a sample of more than 80,000 U.S. employees working for companies with more than 500 employees in their U.S. operations. The survey was administered in a series of anonymous, online panels allowing participants to openly share their opinions. The final list ranks the top 95 employers in Massachusetts and 1,461 employers in America that received the greatest number of recommendations.

"At Riverside, we have developed policies and programs for employees that encourage professional and personal growth. We are also flexible and innovative in our management so that our employees can achieve a good work-life balance. It's gratifying that our employees have recognized these efforts and gave Riverside such high marks," said Paulo Fulton, Vice President of Human Resources.

Riverside Community Care (www.riversidecc.org) makes a difference in the lives of individuals, families, and communities through innovative and compassionate behavioral healthcare and human services. For information about Riverside employment opportunities, please visit riversidecc.org/careers.

For complete details on Forbes' list of America's Best-In-State employers, visit https://www.forbes.com/best-employers-by-state/#5bd4e70a487a.

SOURCE Riverside Community Care

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The following resolution calling for the defence of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was passed unanimously at the inaugural meeting of the London Bus Drivers Rank-and-File Safety Committee held on Sunday September 13.

This meeting of the London Bus Drivers Rank-and-File Safety Committee condemns the frame-up and state persecution of WikiLeaks publisher and journalist Julian Assange. Imprisoned in Londons notorious Belmarsh maximum security prison, he has been charged under the US Espionage Act (1917). If found guilty, he faces 175 years in a US federal prison.

The extradition hearings underway in London are a grotesque show trial staged by the British state. We reject the lies against Assange by the media, the Tory government and their allies in the Labour Party. Assange is not guilty of espionage or hacking. He has been targeted for exposing war crimes by the US, Britain and their alliescrimes that led to the deaths of 1 million people in Iraq and Afghanistan.

We call on all workers everywhere to come to Assanges defence. At stake are basic democratic rights, including free speech and freedom of the press. The defence of Assange is the spearhead of the struggle against militarism and war abroad, and the mobilisation of the state against the working class at home.

We demand a halt to extradition proceedings, the dropping of all charges and Assanges immediate release from prison. Julian Assange must be reunited with his family and be afforded full compensation for the suffering he has endured as a result of the decade-long state vendetta against him.

September 13, 2020
North Korea may soon conduct its first underwater-launched ballistic missile test in about a year, according to a top South Korean military official.

It comes amid long-stalled nuclear talks between the North and the United States.

Won In-choul, the nominee for chairman of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said North Korea has been repairing recent typhoon damage at its northeastern Sinpo shipyard, a place where it builds submarines.

North Korea could soon conduct its first underwater-launched ballistic missile test in about a year, South Korea's military said Wednesday. Above, a file image of an underwater-launched missile off North Korea's eastern coastal town of Wonsan

Shortly after the repairs are complete, there is a chance it will carry out a submarine-launched ballistic missile test, Won said. He said South Korea's military is keeping a close watch on developments there, according to a copy of his remarks provided by a lawmaker, Kang Dae-sik.

In recent years, North Korea has been pushing hard to acquire the ability to launch missiles from submarines in what experts say is a worrying development because such weapons are difficult to detect before launch.

A test of an underwater-launched missile by North Korea last October was the first of its kind in three years, and the most provocative weapons test since North Korea entered nuclear negotiations with the U.S. in 2018.

The nuclear talks have made little headway since the second summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump in Vietnam in early 2019 collapsed due to disputes over U.S.-led sanctions against North Korea.

Jung Changwook, head of the private Korea Defense Study Forum in Seoul, said North Korea could perform a submarine-launched ballistic missile, or SLBM, test to upgrade its nuclear attack capability and put pressure on Washington after the U.S. presidential election in early November.

There has been speculation that North Korea may test such a missile before the anniversary of the founding of its ruling Workers' Party on Oct. 10. Jung said that is possible, but stressed that North Korea is aiming more at pressuring the U.S. rather than celebrating its state anniversary.

Polaris submarine launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) are paraded to celebrate the 105th birth anniversary of Kim Il Sung, the country's late founder, in Pyongyang, North Korea in this 2017 file image

Some experts say it's unlikely that North Korea will conduct any major weapons test soon because it is grappling with multiple crises, including typhoon damage, the coronavirus pandemic that led to the closure of its border with China  its biggest trading partner  and harsh U.S.-led sanctions.

Foreign experts say past North Korean underwater-launched missile tests were conducted from a submersible barge with a single launch tube, not a functioning submarine. In July 2019, North Korean state media said Kim inspected a newly built submarine which observers said appeared to be the North's most sophisticated model with several launch tubes.

Jung said the possible upcoming test would also be made from the barge, not the new submarine, to not provoke the United States too much.

According to 38 North, a website specializing in North Korea studies, recent satellite images of the Sinpo shipyard show the repositioning or departure of the submersible test barge. It said the barge's location 'may signal an impending SLBM test though conducting such a launch on the heels of a destructive typhoon seems unlikely.' It said the barge may have been moved somewhere for repairs.

Jung said a missile fired from the barge would have a potential range of 300-500 kilometers (185-310 miles), thus posing no direct threat to the U.S. mainland. Despite the deadlocked nuclear talks, North Korea hasn't conducted nuclear or long-range missile tests in an apparent bid to keep chances for a resumption of diplomacy alive.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 02:08:21|Editor: huaxia

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A vehicle sprays disinfectant on a street in Rabat, Morocco, on Sept. 15, 2020. Morocco registered 2,121 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, taking the tally in the North African country since March 2 to 90,324, the health ministry said in a statement. (Photo by Chadi/Xinhua)

RABAT, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Morocco registered 2,121 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, taking the tally in the North African country since March 2 to 90,324, the health ministry said in a statement.

In addition, 34 new deaths were reported, pushing the death toll to 1,648.

The total recoveries increased by 2,077 to 71,047 in the last 24 hours, while 263 patients are in intensive care units.

The epidemiological situation linked to the coronavirus has undergone a surge in the North African country since August with the daily new cases exceeding 1,500 on average.

Moroccan government has extended the state of health emergency until Oct. 10.

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 also donated 15,000 surgical gloves, 20,000 medical masks and 2,000 protective suits to help protect Moroccan medical workers fighting the pandemic.
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Chairs Cabinet's Virtual Session

Saudi Press Agency

Tuesday 1442/1/27 - 2020/09/15

NEOM, September 15, 2020, SPA -- Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Prime Minister, chaired today the Cabinet's virtual session.

At the outset of the session, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques briefed the Cabinet on the message he received from King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of the Kingdom of Bahrain.

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques also briefed the Cabinet on the phone calls with President Xi Jinping of the People's Republic of China, Chancellor Angela Merkel of the Federal Republic of Germany and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the Republic of India, which addressed the actions and efforts of the G20 to confront the effects of Coronavirus pandemic. The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques affirmed the Kingdom's keenness on working with the G20 countries to serve the peoples, support the global economy and mitigate the consequences of the pandemic.

The Cabinet commended the speech of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques delivered at the L20 Summit. The speech reiterated that the utmost current priority is overcoming the pandemic and its health, social and economic impacts; the efforts in the G20 this year are focused on several key areas, the most important of which is international collaboration in developing vaccines for COVID-19, ensuring equitable and fair access to vaccines for everyone while taking into account the needs of low income countries; and safeguarding lives and livelihood is at the top of priorities of G20 leaders.

The Cabinet reviewed a number of reports on the developments of Coronavirus pandemic at local and international levels. The Cabinet also addressed the draft resolution adopted by the United Nations General Assembly to coordinate a practical global response to combat COVID-19 pandemic.

In a statement to Saudi Press Agency (SPA), Acting Minister of Information Dr. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi commended the Kingdom's achievement of the first rank among the G20 member states in terms of competitiveness during the last three years according to the World Competitiveness Report issued by the European Center for Digital Competitiveness, attributing this achievement to the support given by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and HRH the Crown Prince to the communications and information technology sector over the past years. This achievement reflects the qualitative leaps the Kingdom has made in terms of digital infrastructure, digital capacity development, and mega digital projects; and reflects the maturity of digital regulations derived from the Kingdom's Vision 2030.

The Cabinet reviewed the latest developments regionally and internationally, including the 154th Session of Arab League Council at the Level of Foreign Ministers which addressed security, political and social developments in the Arab world. The Cabinet highlighted the Kingdom's keenness on the unity, sovereignty and integrity of Arab territories; its rejection of any threat that destabilizes the region; and its support for the Palestinian people and all efforts aimed at reaching a just and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian cause that enables the Palestinian people to establish their independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital in accordance with international legitimacy decisions and the Arab Peace Initiative.

Dr. Majid Al-Qasabi stated that the Cabinet expressed the Kingdom's condemnation of the hostile and terrorist escalation by the terrorist Houthi militia targeting civilians and civilian objects in the Kingdom with ballistic missiles and bomb-laden drones in a systematic and deliberate manner. The Cabinet praised the Joint Forces of the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen for confronting these threats and taking all necessary measures to protect civilians and civilian objects in addition to taking necessary operational measures to stop these terrorist acts in accordance with the international humanitarian law and its customary rules.

The Cabinet reiterated the Kingdom's strong condemnation and denunciation of bombing the convoy of the Vice President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in Kabul, which resulted in a number of deaths and injuries. The Cabinet affirmed the Kingdom's solidarity with the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan against all forms of violence, terrorism and extremism, offering condolences to the families of the victims, the Government and people of Afghanistan, and wishing the injured a speedy recovery.

The Cabinet issued the following decisions:

First: The Cabinet authorized the Minister of Energy - or his deputy - to discuss and sign with the Mauritanian side a draft memorandum of understanding for cooperation in electricity and renewable energy sector between the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania.

Second: The Cabinet authorized the Minister of Interior - or his deputy - to discuss and sign with the Tanzanian side a draft memorandum of understanding for cooperation in the field of civil defense and civil protection between the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Government of the Federal Republic of Tanzania.

Third: The Cabinet authorized the acting Secretary General of King Abdulaziz Foundation for Research and Archives - or his deputy - to discuss and sign with the Moroccan side a draft memorandum of understanding for cooperation between the King Abdulaziz Foundation for Research and Archives of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Morocco Archives of Morocco.

Fourth: The Cabinet approved a memorandum of understanding in the field of documentation and archiving between the National Center for Documentation and Archives of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the National Archives Foundation of the Republic of Tunisia.

Fifth: The Cabinet approved the establishment of Red Sea Tourism Authority.

Sixth: The Cabinet approved the organization of Tourism Development Council.

Seventh: The Cabinet approved the unified Saudi classification for educational levels and specializations.

Eighth: The Cabinet approved amendment to Paragraph (1) of Item (First) of Cabinet Decision No. (259) dated 01/09/1429H, pertaining to the 'End of Service Reward' being paid to those who complete 20 years of service in higher education sector.

Ninth: The Cabinet renewed membership of Eng. Rayan bin Mohammed bin Hamid Fayez as representative of the private sector, and appointed Dr. Mohammed bin Saud Al-Badr and Khalid bin Mohammed Al-Amoudi as members representing the private sector at the Board of Directors of the Human Resources Development Fund.

Tenth: The Cabinet approved the final account of the Saudi Grains Organization (SAGO) for the fiscal year 1439/1440H.

Eleventh: The Cabinet approved the national strategy for cyber security.

Twelfth: The Cabinet approved a number of promotions.

--SPA

23:25 LOCAL TIME 20:25 GMT

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STAMFORD, Conn., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Synchrony announced that the company has earned a spot on Working Mother's annual list of the 2020 100 Best Companies . The 2020 list recognizes companies for inclusive benefits for working families, including gender-neutral parental leave and accessible, affordable childcare. Synchrony was also named among the top 85 organizations on Working Mother's third annual list of the "Best Companies for Dads ," leading in the areas of paternity leave, childcare, flexible schedules and more.

"Cultivating a culture of caring is core to who we are at Synchrony and we are honored to be recognized by Working Mother," said DJ Casto, Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer at Synchrony. "As working parents and caregivers face unprecedented challenges, it's critical that we provide inclusive, progressive benefits to help families succeed both at home and at work."

"Our 100 Best Companies are the standard of excellence and continue to pave the way with the work they are doing on behalf of working parents and caregivers in the US," says Subha Barry, president of Working Mother Media. "These companies were well ahead of the curve when it came to supporting their employees during this time of vast change with their family-friendly policies already in place. We celebrate their efforts and applaud them for addressing the needs of this important and ever-growing sector of talent."

Providing benefits for working families

Starting in 2020, Synchrony increased benefits for working families, offering paid parental leave for 12 weeks and with the onset of the pandemic, extending backup care benefits to 60 days for emergency care for children and seniors (and more if needed on an individual basis). The company continues to evolve its industry-leading benefits programs based on employees feedback, increasing its lifetime maximum fertility benefit to $30,000.

Supporting working parents and children through virtual learning

To help working parents, Synchrony will launch an afterschool program later this month (Synchrony After School) which will provide virtual tutoring, homework club, extracurricular activities and wellness support, following the successful launch of Synchrony Summer Camp  a virtual experience for employees' children designed to educate, engage, and enrich across a range of topics including health, arts, culture and leadership.

Offering flexible work arrangements

Synchrony helps employees balance the demands of work and life by offering flexible work arrangements including reduced hours, compressed workweeks, flextime hours, job sharing, and remote work. To help employees meet their personal and professional needs, the company recently unveiled a new approach that combines flexibility for all employees, who can now work remotely, and purpose-driven office-based spaces where employees can come together in person when needed in a safe environment, staying connected with each other and our culture.

Developing and advancing women leaders

Synchrony provides training programs to help develop and advance women leaders at every stage of their career, including:

Advancing Diverse Talent Leadership Institute  focuses on initiatives to support the professional development of diverse senior talent and to increase the leadership pipeline.

 focuses on initiatives to support the professional development of diverse senior talent and to increase the leadership pipeline. Leadership Experience for Accelerated Development (LEAD)  Synchrony's first companywide, immersive leadership development program for high potential women, offered in partnership with Linkage's Women in Leadership Institute, focused on skills building through cross-functional business projects.

 Synchrony's first companywide, immersive leadership development program for high potential women, offered in partnership with Linkage's Women in Leadership Institute, focused on skills building through cross-functional business projects. Business Leadership Program (BLP)  a two-year, three-rotation leadership program spanning diverse functional tracks for recent undergraduates and graduates that enable them to build deep, functional expertise while developing broad-based business acumen.

 a two-year, three-rotation leadership program spanning diverse functional tracks for recent undergraduates and graduates that enable them to build deep, functional expertise while developing broad-based business acumen. Skills Training for Evolving Professionals (STEP)  This nine-month training program helps Synchrony's call centers and administrative talent hone their management and tech skills. Participants gain valuable experience through special projects and in-role developmental activities.

About The Methodology For Working Mother's 100 Best Companies

The 2020 Working Mother 100 Best Companies application includes more than 400 questions on leave policies, workforce representation, benefits, childcare, advancement programs, flexibility and more. It surveys the availability and usage of these programs, as well as the accountability of the many managers who oversee them. All applicants receive feedback showing how they compare with other applicants; however, the names of applicants that do not make the list are kept confidential. Company profiles and data come from submitted applications and reflect 2019 data.

About The Methodology For Best Companies For Dads

This year, for the first time, the Best Companies for Dads was offered to companies as a separate initiative for which they had to apply. The previous two years, Working Mother Research Institute had pulled out responses pertaining to dads from the 100 Best Companies application. The organizations listed here received the highest numbers of points in the survey about dads, which included questions on parental leave, childcare, adoption leave, fertility benefits and employee-resource groups for men and working parents.

About Synchrony

Synchrony (NYSE: SYF) is a premier consumer financial services company. We deliver a wide range of specialized financing programs, as well as innovative consumer banking products, across key industries including digital, retail, home, auto, travel, health and pet. Synchrony enables our partners to grow sales and loyalty with consumers. We are one of the largest issuers of private label credit cards in the United States; we also offer co-branded products, installment loans and consumer financing products for small- and medium-sized businesses, as well as healthcare providers.

Synchrony is changing what's possible through our digital capabilities, deep industry expertise, actionable data insights, frictionless customer experience and customized financing solutions.

For more information, visit www.synchrony.com and Twitter: @Synchrony.

About Working Mother Media

Working Mother Media (WMM), a division of Bonnier Corp., publishes Working Mother magazine and its companion website, workingmother.com. The Working Mother Research Institute , the National Association for Female Executives , Diversity Best Practices and [email protected] are also units within WMM. WMM's mission is to serve as a champion of culture change, and Working Mother magazine is the only national magazine for career-committed mothers. Follow us on Facebook , Twitter , LinkedIn and Pinterest .

Media Contact

Angie Hu

[email protected]

SOURCE Synchrony

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Austrian President Says He Sees no Link Between Navalny's Case, Nord Stream 2 Project

Sputnik News

12:19 GMT 15.09.2020

VIENNA (Sputnik) - Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen said Tuesday he did not see any connection between the situation with Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny and the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project.

"I, for one, do not see any connection between the situation with Navalny and the Nord Stream 2 project. I see the latter as a commercial project," the Austrian president said when asked if Vienna would back the project's closure over the situation with Navalny.

Van der Bellen remarked that there was no clarity in Navalny's case and that nothing had been proven decisively.

The statement follows US Ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison's comment about Washington's hopes that Germany will abandon the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project over allegations that Russia poisoned Navalny.

Earlier on Tuesday, Navalny shared his first photo since coming out of a coma on Instagram. The opposition figure's condition has started to improve since 7 September, when he was awakened from an induced coma.

Last week, the German government said that doctors at Charite hospital found traces of a nerve agent from the Novichok group in Navalny's system. Russia said Berlin lacks evidence to back up its allegations and noted that Russian doctors had found no toxic substances.

Russia also requested legal assistance and more information on Navalny's case. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Berlin could share information about Navalny, but such sharing is a multistage process.

On 20 August, Navalny fell ill during a domestic flight in Russia. He was initially treated in the Siberian city of Omsk, where the plane made an emergency landing but was then flown to Berlin once the doctors established he was fit for cross-border aerial transportation.



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A World Trade Organisation panel ruled Tuesday that Trump administration tariffs on USD 200 billion worth of Chinese goods are illegal, vindicating Beijing even if the United States has all but incapacitated the WTO's ability to hand down a final, binding verdict.

The decision marks the first time that the Geneva-based trade body has ruled against a series of high-profile tariffs that President Donald Trump's government has imposed on a number of countries allies and rivals alike. Trump has repeatedly claimed that the WTO treats the US unfairly.

The ruling, in theory, would allow China to impose retaliatory tariffs on billions' worth of US goods. But it is unlikely to have much practical impact, at least in the short term, because the US can appeal the decision and the WTO's appeals court is currently no longer functioning largely because of Washington's single-handed refusal to accept new members for it.

In its decision, the WTO's dispute settlement body ruled against the US government's argument that China has wrongly engaged in practices harmful to US interests on issues including intellectual property theft and technology transfer and it quickly drew criticism of US trade representative Robert Lighthizer.

Also read: US shelves broad import bans on cotton, tomatoes from China's Xinjiang

This panel report confirms what the Trump administration has been saying for four years: The WTO is completely inadequate to stop China's harmful technology practices, Lighthizer said in a statement. He said the United States had presented extensive evidence of China's intellectual property theft and the WTO has offered no fixes for it.

The United States must be allowed to defend itself against unfair trade practices, and the Trump administration will not let China use the WTO to take advantage of American workers, businesses, farmers and ranchers, he added.

The Chinese ministry of commerce said the ruling was objective and fair and called on the US to respect it. The appeals court issues final rulings in trade cases and stopped functioning last year when the terms of two of its last three judges expired with no replacements.

"That means the United States can appeal the decision into the void,'' said Timothy Keeler, a lawyer at Mayer Brown and former chief of staff for the US trade representative. The US tariffs target two batches of Chinese products.

Also read: China announces new restrictions on US diplomats' activities amid rising tensions

Duties of 10 per cent were imposed on some USD 200 billion worth of goods in September 2018, and were jacked up to 25 per cent eight months later. An additional 25 per cent duties were imposed in June 2018 against Chinese goods worth about USD 34 billion in annual trade, targeting industrial products and items like airplane propellers, water purifiers and motorcycles.

The Trump administration has justified the sanctions under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, once a common tool used by the US government to impose sanctions and recently revived by Trump. The US argued that China's actions had amounted to state-sanctioned theft and misappropriation of US technology, intellectual property and commercial secrets.

Trade lawyer Mark Herlach, a partner with the firm Eversheds Sutherland, said there has been a longstanding controversy over whether the 301 law is consistent with WTO rules. It's not surprising that a WTO panel didn't like what the US was doing,'' he said.

The WTO panel ruled that the US measures violated longstanding international trade rules because they only applied to products from China, and that Washington had not adequately substantiated its claim that the Chinese products hit with the extra duties had benefited from the allegedly unfair Chinese practices.

Also read: Xi Jinping's aggressive moves against India 'unexpectedly flopped', says US magazine
Congress member Anand Sharma on Wednesday sought compensation for families of migrant workers who died while walking thousands of kilometers to their native places after the lockdown was imposed in the country to check the spread of COVID-19.

While initiating a discussion on the coronavirus pandemic in Rajya Sabha, Sharma also asked the government to take steps to strengthen the public healthcare system in the country. "It was said during the current session that there are no figures regarding the death of migrant workers during the lockdown and therefore no compensation. This is such an unfortunate situation for the country. Why you don't have figures? Every state knows who died. They should be given compensation," Sharma said.

He said for future the government should make a data base regarding migrant workers in the country. "There should be a register and those people who live in cities who did not get food security, ration, please find solution for such exigencies," Sharma said.

He said state governments should have been taken into confidence so that they could have prepared better. "Local administration knows where construction labour camps are located and how many people work there. This did not happen so what happened was that in four hours railways stopped. This led to painful scenes and the picture of the country which went out were not good," Sharma noted.

He said people walked on foot for thousands of kilometers and in some cases many people were also found travelling to their native places inside cement mixer trucks. "Also if proper quarantine centres would have been set up on time for people returning to their native places, the disease would not have reached villages," Sharma said.

The Centre had imposed a nationwide lockdown on March 24 to check the spread of coronavirus.

Also read: Economic recovery likely to be gradual, RBI stands battle-ready: Shaktikanta Das

Also read: No data available on migrant deaths during lockdown, so no compensation: Centre tells Parliament
Bachelor in Paradise fans complained that Niranga Amarasinghe didn't get enough screen time during this year's season.

So on Wednesday, the 28-year-old aircraft engineer kept his fans satisfied by sharing a cheeky Instagram post addressed to the current Bachelor, Locky Gilbert.

Niranga posted a photo with blonde bombshells Gemma White, 28, and Charley Bond, 25, who have both been eliminated from Locky's season.

'You missed out, dude!' Bachelor in Paradise's Niranga Amarasinghe (centre) enjoyed a night out with Locky Gilbert's contestants Gemma White (right) and Charley Bond (left) this week

'With two of the best from The Bachelor S8. Locky you missed out dude!' he captioned the post.

'Cute for us,' P.E. teacher Charley commented below the post,

Meanwhile, property manager Gemma wrote: 'We are besties, we go way back!'

Spoiled for choice: Locky Gilbert (pictured) had 24 contestants to choose from on The Bachelor, and has so far eliminated 16, including Charley and Gemma

The photo was taken while the three former Bachelor franchise stars enjoyed a fun night out at the Hello Gorgeous bar in Brisbane.

Gemma and Charley appeared on Locky's season of The Bachelor, but have both since been eliminated.

Charley famously shared a mud bath with Locky before being sent home at the same rose ceremony as Gemma.

Bachelor fam: Charley (left) appeared on Locky's season of The Bachelor while Niranga (right) starred on Angie Kent's season of The Bachelorette and Bachelor in Paradise season three

Niranga appeared on Angie Kent's season of The Bachelorette last year and Bachelor in Paradise earlier this year.

Niranga and Charley were previously spotted together in Brisbane in April, when she was still an active contestant on the show.

Proving himself to be quite the social butterfly, Niranga is also known to be friends with Bachelor contestants Renee Barrett and Sam Royce.
Rajesh Kumar Thakur By

Express News Service

PATNA: As preparations for Bihar polls are afoot, around 86 kilos of contraband substances, akin to brown sugar, and 15 bundles of foreign-made clothes, were seized on September 11 in a joint operation of customs officials and SSB from an Indian village on the Indo-Nepal border in East Champaran district of Bihar.

On Wednesday, after five days of completing official formalities, deputy commissioner of customs Ashutosh Kumar Singh told the media that the contraband substances, which appeared to look like brown sugar, were wrapped up in small size pouches inside three big bags inside dense bushes near the Sariswa river of East Champaran of Bihar at Raxaul near the Indo-Nepal border.

Acting on an intelligence tip, a joint team of customs and SSB unit first raided a hideout at Premnagar colony in Raxaul and seized 15 bundles of clothes of with an estimated market value of Rs 18 lakhs," Singh said, adding that the bulk consignment of contraband was seized after from a riverside hideout in the wider search operation of the locality.

He said that the international market values of both the contraband substances were estimated to cost around Rs 25 crore and Rs 18 lakhs for seized bundles of clothes.

When officials opened the three sacks, they were surprised to see small pouches containing brown colour narcotics substances mixed with a green colour tablet in one sack.

In another two sacks, small pouches containing yellow colour of narcotic substance powder with green coloured tablets were found, Singh said.

He said samples of seized contrabands have been sent for lab test in Kolkata. It is considered to be the biggest seizures in recent times on the India side of Indo-Nepal border.

IG SSB Sanjay Kumar added that the seized clothes were handed over to the customs department for further action.
One of Ghana's opposition parties the Convention People's Party (CPP) has opened official nominations for the party's aspiring parliamentary candidates ahead of the 2020 elections in December.

The opening of nominations is expected to run from 10th to 17th September 2020.

The CPPs General Secretary Nana Yaa Akyempim Jantuah said any member of the party who wants to be considered a candidate to contest in the forthcoming election should have paid his or her membership dues in full.

Candidates seeking nomination should have registered in the very constituency he or she wants to contest as a parliamentary candidate.

In a letter to party members dated 8th September 2020, the General Secretary said the candidate must demonstrate belief and commitment to the ideology and philosophy of the party and be prepared to contest at the primaries to be organized in the constituency.

Nana Jantuah said prospective candidates or their representatives can purchase the attached Nomination Form from the Regional Secretariat for a non-refundable fee of GH200.00 and a nomination filing fee of GH1000.00.

According to the letter, made available to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Accra, the opening of the nominations should be communicated in the Regions through the local media.

The letter reminded aspiring CPP aspiring parliamentary candidates to note that under the amended party constitution, polling station executives form part of the electorate at constituency party conferences t be held later.

The importance of organizing polling stations executives cannot, therefore, be underestimated, the letter emphasized and added that the closing date and other relevant details s shall be communicated to members later.

---GNA
In the space of 72 hours, two airmen deployed to Kuwait have died in separate vehicle mishaps.

Staff Sergeant Ronald J. Ouellette, 23, of Merrimack, New Hampshire, died Sept. 14 in a single-vehicle ATV crash on the flight line at Ali Al Salem Air Base, Defense Department officials announced Wednesday. The incident was not combat-related and is under investigation.

Read Next: V-280 Not Advanced Enough to Replace Osprey, AFSOC Commander Says

Ouellette was attached to the 42nd Aerial Port Squadron at Westover Air Reserve Base, Massachusetts. In October 2019, he was named the unit's airman of the month, according to the squadron's Facebook page.

Officials at Westover said Ouellette was single and had no children. He had been in the Reserves for six years, said Lt. Col. Rodney Furr, 439th Airlift Wing chief of public affairs. His awards include the Air Force Achievement Medal, Air Force Reserve Meritorious Service Medal and Air Force Longevity Service Award.

"Ronald was a valued member of the Patriot Wing, and there are no words that can heal the pain his loss brings," Col. Craig C. Peters, 439th Airlift Wing commander, said in a statement. "We consider every Airman, civilian and dependent part of the team that makes all we do in the defense of our nation possible. The loss of our own, or any service member, is never easy. During this difficult time, our priority is to do all we can to lift and support his family, friends, fellow Airmen in his squadron and loved ones who are struggling."

The tragedy closely follows the death of another Massachusetts-based airman deployed to Kuwait. On Sept. 12, Senior Airman Jason Kai Phan, 26, was killed in a "single-vehicle noncombat-related" accident while he was conducting a patrol around the perimeter of Ali Al Salem.

That incident, which left two other airmen injured, is also under investigation.

Phan was from Anaheim, California, but was stationed at Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts.

Ouellette and Phan are the seventh and eighth troops to die this year in noncombat incidents while deployed in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, the fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. In all, 12 U.S. troops have died while supporting that mission in 2020.

-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.

Related: Pentagon IDs Airman Who Died in Kuwait Military Vehicle Accident
Days after the remembrance of 9-11 and in memoriam of the many victims who have succumbed to acts of violence and brutality, Retired Sergeant Major Keith L. Craig calls leaders to the carpet to implement real change to policing in America.

In the wake of multiple societal atrocities and racial uproar-- the covid-19 global pandemic, the persecution of black men and women by polarized citizens and the police, protests, and riots -- evidence of disparities in the community, Craig provided anecdotes to leaders in a virtual town hall discussion, United We Serve on The Kelly Wright Show via The Black News Channel.

Ive grown tired of hearing about the problem and felt as though something had to be done to derive a solution, said Craig when asked about the premise of the panel discussion and his 4-point plan.

Craig suggests that multiple alliances and partnerships be forged to address and correct the systemic disparities and misconduct in police departments. He calls upon Mayors, Police Chiefs and Mental Health Associations to devise and execute a common sense plan to provide support to citizens, rather than ostracize or victimize them.

His TERM, Training, Education, Ratio and Mental Health approach allows leaders and policy officers to protect and serve citizens, adhering to the original intent of their roles. It also allows for the hiring of former active duty and veteran personnel, diversity and sensitivity training, increases education requirements, revises the officer to citizen ratio in local communities, and infuses a mental health component to regulate the stability of engaged citizens (upon first response) and status of police officers.

Dont Defund, Refund!, Craig insisted. He further explained, Re-fund the programs that actually allow for the protection of and the provision of service to all citizens.

About

Retired Sergeant Major Keith L. Craig is a decorated combat Veteran, Industry Executive, and International Bestselling Author (Serving To Lead). He has also founded a nonprofit organization to support and develop opportunities for US veterans, Military Heroes Meet Heroes, Inc. which provides support to U.S. troops and their families stationed domestically and abroad.

For more information about Mr. Craig, media inquiries and bookings, contact Nicole Lester @ 818-200-9745 or nicole@empyreanpr.com.

####
Sim-Sim villagers mark Malaysia Day in style

SABAH POLLS | Folks from the Kampung Sim-Sim fishing villages in N56 Tanjong Papat came out in full force to mark Malaysia Day with an annual decoration competition.

The area is divided across 24 "Jambatan", each with its own village committee, which is responsible to coordinate the displays and performances.

Children of all ages and their parents participated in the festivities while taking extra precautions against Covid-19.

At Jambatan 8, their presentation for the competition judges included a live version of the Tugu Negara, with a brief re-enactment of a battle scene set before Malaysia's independence.

Also on display was a model helicopter and a model Malaysia Airlines jet, with some of the villagers quipping that the flight was delayed as it had just arrived on a truck only after a crowd had gathered.

At the entrance of Jambatan 8, which leads to smaller wooden and cement bridges that are connected to houses, a large board stood out, on which were the five principles of Rukun Negara written entirely in Jawi script.

Over at Jambatan 11, visitors were treated to a more cultural display, with villagers dressed in traditional costumes representing Sabah's diverse ethnic backgrounds.

The villagers also rigged a model tank that 'fired' a confetti cannon, adding to the celebratory air.

Read more: Sabah Decides 2020: Making sense of the players, parties and battles

The Malaysia Day celebrations this year coincided with ongoing campaigns for the state polls and among those who dropped by this morning included Warisan's Tanjong Papat incumbent assemblyperson Frankie Poon, who joined the villagers in several rounds of traditional dances.

The Sabah flag and Jalur Gemilang adorned costumes worn by villagers, aside from various party flags raised as things are heating up on day five of the campaign period.

While the first few days saw campaigning in the area largely dominated by Poon and United Sabah National Organisation (Usno) Tanjong Papat candidate Yunus Apil, other contenders have begun to make their presence felt among the floating villages.

Story continues

Amid the festivities, Tanjong Papat independent candidate Noraini Sulong was seen leading a small team of campaign workers who distributed flyers.

Noraini is reportedly a former Sandakan Wanita Umno chief, making her the second former Wanita Umno chief to contest this state polls after Warisan's Armani Mahiruddin who formerly led Libaran Wanita Umno.

Polling day for the Sabah state election will be on Sept 26.

Follow Malaysiakini's coverage of the Sabah state election here.
Sept. 13-19 marks National Arts in Education Week, a celebration designated by Congress and led by Americans for the Arts. This week recognizes the transformative power of the arts in education and to support equitable access to the arts for all students.

The arts SPARK! imagination, ignite innovation and excite learning. They increase students collaboration and communication skills, as well as provide opportunities to critically think about our world. The arts help students become successful adults by building the skills we seek in leaders.

As we enter this unprecedented school year, we reflect about the importance of arts education differently than in previous years. In this unparalleled time, the arts are more important than ever. With all the uncertainty and tragedy, the arts provide not just a creative outlet, but are also vital to our social and emotional health. Therefore, the arts are critical to schools as we learn to adapt to the new world. Through art activities, we become more self-aware, gain self-confidence and perseverance. As we emerge from the trauma and brutality of the world, we turn to the arts to process and understand, express emotions, grieve, share and connect to each other, and heal. Now, more than ever, it is imperative that the arts are at the core of education.

Uncharted territory causes uncertainty, but it can also provide opportunity for creativity to thrive. This year, the Missoula arts education community was quick to creatively pivot programming to continue to reach children. Missoula County Public Schools (MCPS) arts educators found ways to engage students with drive through art supply pickups, virtual choir performances for graduation, quarantine raps, and increased elementary visual art lessons; The Clay Studio of Missoula created online lessons and clay kits; MCTs Playdate inspired families across the country to produce a play at home; Missoula Writing Collaborative created a Cabin Fever Survival Guide with kids poetry activities; Montana Repertory Theatre transformed their Educational OutReach play, Zombie Thoughts, to screen at Ogren Field; SPARK! Arts teaching artists created social-emotional arts resources for students, teachers and families, and collaborated with MCPS to distribute 775 art kits; Tell Us Something created online storytelling workshops; Turning the Wheel hosted virtual movement events to support social-emotional health; and ZACC recruited Kindergarten Monster Makers to continue their Missoula Monster Project tradition. Creativity continues this fall while Big Sky Film Institute partners with Indian Education Specialists and Indigenous filmmakers to debut an online documentary filmmaking course; MAMs Museum as Megaphone allows students to visit and interact with the museum virtually; and The Roxy will turn Kiddomatic into a virtual childrens film festival in November.

We are fortunate to be part of a community that embraces the arts and understands their importance to students education. Missoula has been named Best Communities for Music Education due to the vibrant MCPS music education program. This year, MCPS hired another elementary visual art teacher to increase visual arts access. In 2013, the Kennedy Center named Missoula a partner site for their Any Given Child initiative, locally named SPARK! Arts Ignite Learning. SPARK! Arts is a collective impact administered through Arts Missoula, and partners with City of Missoula, Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation, Logjam Foundation, UM College of the Arts and Media, and numerous local artists and arts organizations to work hand-in-hand with MCPS Fine Arts Department to ensure equal access to the arts.

These are challenging times. Yet, there is no doubt that the unifying power of the arts will prevail and carry us forward, through the uncertainty to a brighter world. Especially, here in Missoula, Montana, because #weARTinthistogether.

Tom Bensen is executive director of Arts Missoula and Sienna Solberg is director of SPARK! Arts Ignite Learning.

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A court in Russia has sentenced seven Crimean Tatars to lengthy prison terms on charges of being members of a banned Islamic group.

On September 16, the Southern Military Regional court in the city of Rostov-on-Don sentenced Marlen Asanov, Memet Belyalov, Timur Ibragimov, Seyran Saliyev, Server Mustafayev, Server Zekiryayev, and Edem Smailov to prison terms of between 13 and 19 years.

All were found guilty of being members of the Hizb ut-Tahrir Islamic group, which is labeled as extremist and banned in Russia but is legal in Ukraine.

An eighth defendant, Ernes Ametov, was acquitted.

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) branch in Crimea said earlier that Smailov and Mustafayev, a coordinator of the Crimean Solidarity human rights group, were arrested in May 2018, while the other men were arrested in Crimea in October 2017.

Rights groups and Western governments have denounced what they have called a persistent campaign of oppression targeting Crimean Tatars and other citizens who opposed Moscow's forcible annexation of the peninsula.

Russia occupied and seized Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014.

The majority of Crimean Tatars opposed the Russian takeover of their historic homeland.
Om Birla says it pained him that Lok Sabha did not run smoothly during Monsoon session

Monsoon Session Day 3 highlights: Lok Sabha clears Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill

India

oi-Deepika S

New Delhi, Sep 17: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will on Thursday make a statement in the Rajya Sabha at 12 noon on the ongoing border row between India and China in eastern Ladakh. Thereafter, Opposition leaders will be given a chance to speak on the issue and Singh may give a clarification if required and if the Chair permits.

Monsoon Session Day 3: Highlights

Lok Sabha adjourned till 3 pm tomorrow, 17 September, 2020

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will address the Rajya tomorrow, issuing a statement on the border tussle with China at 12 noon.

The Central Public Works Department openened financial bids for the construction of the new Parliament building. Tata Projects Ltd has won the contract, with a bid of Rs.861.90 crore. Larsen and Toubro Ltd had submitted a bid of Rs.865 crore.

From the ruling BJP, Rajnath Singh, Piyush Goyal, Pralhad Joshi, Thawarchand Gehlot, Arjun Meghwal and V Muraleedharan arrive for the all-party meeting. Anand Sharma and Ghulam Nabi Azad from the Oppostion in attendance.

All party meet begins

Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien attacked the Narendra Modi government over the PM CARES Fund to help contain Covid-19 spread in the country, saying it was the "most opaque fund" in the world and termed it as "PM couldn't-care-less fund". Urging the Centre to show "humility" and work with the Chief Ministers, the TMC leader told the Rajya Sabha during the third day of Monsoon Session, "You must not use pandemic to convert democracy into an autocracy."

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman moves Bill to amend the Banking Regulation Act, 1949. "We are trying to bring this amendment to protect the depositors. As in some unfortunate situation in banks, depositors are put to hardship," she says.

''The financial status of 277 urban cooperative banks is weak. 105 cooperative banks are unable to meet the minimum regulatory capital requirement. 47 banks have net worth in negative. 328 urban cooperative banks have more than 15% gross NPA ratio,'' FM Sitharaman said in Lok Sabha.

Government calls all-party meeting at 5pm today in the Parliament Annexe Building, to discuss the forward plan for the session in terms of bills and ordinances to be taken up, given Opposition's objections.

Lok sabha proceedings begins.

49 security personnel & 45 civilians killed in terrorist-related incidents and 25 security personnel & 26 civilians killed in ceasefire violations from 05.08.2019 to 10.09.2020 in J&K: MoS MHA in a written reply on 'civilian & security personnel deaths post revocation of Art 370'.



The Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2020 passed by LS

Lok Sabha passes Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2020. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said amendments to the banking regulation law seeking to extend the supervision of RBI to cooperative banks are aimed at improving their governance and protecting depositors' money.

Rajnath Singh to address RS on China Issue tomorrow

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will address the Rajya tomorrow, issuing a statement on the border tussle with China at 12 noon.

Rajya Sabha adjourned till 9 am tomorrow

The Centre should have taken best practices from different states, like covering all allied workers under insurance and make a formidable plan for the pandemic. No one knows it all, not us, neither do you. This government needs the humility to work with states," O' Brien says.

BSP MP Ritesh Pandey has given Adjournment Motion notice in Lok Sabha over increasing instances of alleged police encounters.

Trinamool Congress MP Saugata Roy has given Adjournment Motion notice in Lok Sabha over 'GST conflict between state and centre.'

The MoS Home Affairs in a written reply to MDMK MP Vaiko's question says there is no proposal to amend Official Languages Act to include scheduled languages other than Hindi and English as its official languages.

'Yesterday, the health minister said that this decision (lockdown) prevented approximately 14 to 29 lakh COVID-19 cases & 37,000-78,000 deaths. The house must be informed what is the scientific basis on which we've reached this conclusion," asks Anand Sharma.

Rajya Sabha Congress MP Anand Sharma demands Centre's reply on the outcome of the nationwide lockdown that was imposed in March, putting restrictions on all public activities in the country.

In Rajya Sabha, discussion begins on coronavirus status in the country and govt's management of the pandemic.

Rajya Sabha passes the Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda Bill, 2020.

AIADMK MP M Thambidurai in Rajya Sabha said the Siddha is also a very important medicine system and requested the Centre to consider giving the status of national importance to National Institute of Siddha in Tamil Nadu.

Rajya Sabha takes up 'Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda Bill 2020' for discussion.

Ministry of Home Affairs says in Rajya Sabha, "No infiltration on Indo-China border in last 6 months." India has been engaged in a prolonged military standoff with China in the Ladakh borders with the troops of both sides breaking into intermittent clashes and skirmishes.

KC Venugopal in RS said as per a media report, a Shenzhen based tech company with links to Chinese govt is tracking over 10,000 Indians in its global database of foreign targets. I want to know from the govt if it has taken note of it. If so, what actions have been taken?

Congress MP KC Venugopal gives Zero Notice on the Chinese surveillance issue in Rajya Sabha as he demands the government to address the matter.

Congress MP Anand Sharma has given short duration discussion notice in Rajya Sabha over 'the incursion of Chinese Army across the LAC and military standoff between the Armies of India and China on the LAC'.

RJD MP Manoj Jha has given Zero Hour notice in Rajya Sabha over 'COVID-19 and its impacts on migrant workforce.'

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut has given Zero Hour notice in Rajya Sabha over 'proposed privatisation of Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) ports and concern over national security'.
On August 31, the illegitimate regime of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela announced it would conditionally pardon 110 people, including some political prisoners. Of these, 50 were in jail, 37 were being investigated and 23 had already been conditionally released. Prior to the release, the illegitimate regime held 386 political prisoners.

According to Foro Penal, now 333 Venezuelans are incarcerated for no valid reason, other than their opposition to an illegitimate regime headed by an illegitimate president.

These dismissals of charges are conditional, with officials threatening to rescind the benefit if any individuals return to any act of terrorism, violence, or coup-mongering, as arbitrarily determined by the regime, said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a written statement.

Most exiled Venezuelan democratic political leaders will not be able to return, because they know they could be jailed instantly; there are zero guarantees for their safety. Charges against Deputy Juan Requesens were not dismissed, and he remains under house arrest. On the same day that Requesens was released, the mother of National Assembly Deputy Armando Armas was arbitrarily detained, reminding us that the regime maintains a revolving door of incarceration and intimidation to extort participation in Maduros December 6 electoral farce, wrote Secretary of State Pompeo.

The so-called amnesty is a political ploy to legitimize Venezuelas December 6th national elections. All 167 seats of the National Assembly are in play, including that of Maduros political rival Juan Guaido, who has been interim President in his constitutional capacity as president of The National Assembly since January of last year. Maduro also unconstitutionally increased the total number of seats by 110 in order to secure a phony majority at any cost.

Conditions for free and fair elections do not exist in Venezuela and the release of a number of political prisoners does not change that. None of the political parties whose leadership was removed and their names, symbols, and assets stolen by the regime have been restoredMany political opponents of the regime are still prohibited from running for office and remain without political rights, said Secretary of State Pompeo.

We urge all democratic actors, both within and outside of Venezuela, to continue to insist on the necessary, internationally accepted conditions for free and fair elections. We, and our democratic partners in Venezuela and the international community, will not contribute to legitimizing yet another electoral fraud carried out by the Maduro regime. Venezuelan citizens deserve our continuing solidarity in their struggle to restore democracy to their country.
A panel ruled Tuesday that Trump administration on USD 200 billion worth of Chinese goods are illegal, vindicating Beijing even if the United States has all but incapacitated the WTO's ability to hand down a final, binding verdict.

The decision marks the first time that the Geneva-based trade body has ruled against a series of high-profile that President Donald Trump's government has imposed on a number of countries allies and rivals alike. Trump has repeatedly claimed that the WTO treats the US unfairly.

The ruling, in theory, would allow China to impose retaliatory on billions' worth of US goods.

But it is unlikely to have much practical impact, at least in the short term, because the US can appeal the decision and the WTO's appeals court is currently no longer functioning largely because of Washington's single-handed refusal to accept new members for it.

In its decision, the WTO's dispute settlement body ruled against the US government's argument that China has wrongly engaged in practices harmful to US interests on issues including intellectual property theft and technology transfer and it quickly drew criticism of US trade representative Robert Lighthizer.

This panel report confirms what the Trump administration has been saying for four years: The WTO is completely inadequate to stop China's harmful technology practices, Lighthizer said in a statement.

He said the United States had presented extensive evidence of China's intellectual property theft and the WTO has offered no fixes for it.

The United States must be allowed to defend itself against unfair trade practices, and the Trump administration will not let China use the WTO to take advantage of American workers, businesses, farmers and ranchers, he added.

The Chinese ministry of commerce said the ruling was objective and fair and called on the US to respect it.

The appeals court issues final rulings in trade cases and stopped functioning last year when the terms of two of its last three judges expired with no replacements.

That means the United States can appeal the decision into the void,'' said Timothy Keeler, a lawyer at Mayer Brown and former chief of staff for the US trade representative.

The US tariffs target two batches of Chinese products. t



Duties of 10 per cent were imposed on some USD 200 billion worth of goods in September 2018, and were jacked up to 25 per cent eight months later.

An additional 25 per cent duties were imposed in June 2018 against Chinese goods worth about USD 34 billion in annual trade, targeting industrial products and items like airplane propellers, water purifiers and motorcycles.

The Trump administration has justified the sanctions under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, once a common tool used by the US government to impose sanctions and recently revived by Trump.

The US argued that China's actions had amounted to state-sanctioned theft and misappropriation of US technology, intellectual property and commercial secrets.

Trade lawyer Mark Herlach, a partner with the firm Eversheds Sutherland, said there has been a longstanding controversy over whether the 301 law is consistent with WTO rules.

It's not surprising that a WTO panel didn't like what the US was doing,'' he said.

The WTO panel ruled that the US measures violated longstanding trade rules because they only applied to products from China, and that Washington had not adequately substantiated its claim that the Chinese products hit with the extra duties had benefited from the allegedly unfair Chinese practices.

(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.)
China on Sept. 8 launched a global data security initiative, the first one of its kind proposed by a country in the field of digital security.

The Global Initiative on Data Security, focusing on core issues in the world's digital security governance, aims to offer Chinese schemes and contribute Chinese wisdom to enhancing global digital security governance and promoting sustainable development of digital economy, by regulating government behaviors, promoting shared responsibilities of enterprises, and advocating cooperation to cope with security risks.

The initiative came at a right time when human society is entering the digital era, in which the COVID-19 epidemic is accelerating the digitalization of the economy and society with emerging risks in data security.

It is a great pioneering undertaking that conforms to the trend of the time. As internet is being popularized, and digital technologies such as AI, big data and cloud computing are integrating into the real economy, the world's data volume is going through exponential growth. Data have become a vital strategic resource for countries, releasing its enormous driving force for the economy and society.

However, in the mean time, data security is also becoming an important issue. Personal data security and privacy protection, the storage and utilization of data, as well as risk control in trans-border flow of data all pose new challenges for countries regarding digital governance capability.

The deficit of global digital governance is especially prominent as countries have different laws, regulations and standards of data protection, which leads to surging compliance cost for enterprises in transnational operation.

The outlook of digital economy will always be haunted by uncertainties if these problems remain unsolved. Therefore, the world is in dire need of a set of global data security rules.

The initiative holds a banner of multilateralism in the sector of global digital governance. Data security is a borderless issue that bothers every country. To enhance global digital governance calls for wide participation of countries, democratic discussion and the making of a set of universal rules that takes care of the interests of all parties.

However, unilateralism has been emerging in recent years, with several countries trying to form exclusive cliques and even forcing their own wills upon others. The Chinese initiative on global data security aims to categorically safeguard multilateralism in global digital governance. Wide consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits are the right approaches to solve global issues.

The initiative mirrors a common demand of the world for balancing security and development. The development of digital economy will be unprotected without data security, and data security will also be unsustainable without development. The international society shall look at the problem of data security from a dialectical perspective, and seek balance between data protection and digital development.

In a word, the issue of data security was generated during the development of digital economy, and can only be addressed with higher-level development of digital economy. Establishing barriers and walls and rejecting development for the fear of risks are not the right solutions.

The initiative upholds equity and justice in data security. The discussion of data security shall be focused on data, rather than politicizing the matter by introducing irrelevant factors such as ideology and political systems, let alone presuming conclusions and applying double standards.

Slandering other countries on data security issues in the name of "cleaning," rejecting enterprises of other countries under the excuse of national security, and suppressing the leading firms of other countries with state power are all digital supremacy and protectionism disguised under data security, which will only hinder global data security cooperation.

The initiative is a solemn promise made by China to safeguard global data security. The country is always poised on the issue of data security. It did and will not request enterprises to illegally offer foreign data to the Chinese government, or force them to store data acquired overseas within its territory, let alone spying on other countries with information technologies.

By proposing the initiative, China hopes that each party can place problems and suggestions on the table for frank discussion, and work with them to establish consensus.

If every country, especially those groundlessly blaming China on data security issues, can make such a promise and is willing to negotiate over a global code of conduct on multilateral platforms, and treats data security issues fairly and objectively with a same standard, international trust will be largely enhanced. It will always boost international solidarity and help the world effectively cope with data security risks.

In the era of digital economy, countries need mutual assistance. For the healthy development of global digital economy, and for a common digitalized future of mankind, the world needs a set of equal rules of data security. It is hoped that the international society can start from the Chinese initiative, jointly forge a community with a shared future in cyberspace, and create a safer, more prosperous and better future in the digital era.
By Neil Jerome Morales

MANILA, Sept 16 (Reuters) - The Philippines continues to negotiate supply deals with a wide range of COVID-19 vaccine makers, its health ministry said on Wednesday, despite its president scolding Western firms and saying he wanted Chinese and Russian vaccines.

The Philippines, which has the most infections and second highest number of deaths in Southeast Asia, is potentially a large market for vaccine makers with its population of 107 million.

"We are still continuously negotiating," Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire told Reuters in a text message. "No vaccine manufacturers have 'formally' asked for pre-payment, though there have been insinuations during the discussions."

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday lashed out at Western vaccine manufacturers for seeking advance payment or a reservation fee for vaccines that are still under clinical trials.

He pledged to prioritise Russia or China, countries that he frequently praises during his trademark verbal tirades at the West.

His government has talked to a number of potential vaccine suppliers, including those of Russia and China plus U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc. It plans to meet Australian biotech giant CSL Ltd.

A Philippine procurement law forbids payment of goods well ahead of delivery and before a product's specifications are finalised, putting the country at a disadvantage amid expected high global vaccine demand. The Philippines has recorded nearly 270,000 coronavirus infections and over 4,600 deaths.

In contrast, countries like the United States and the United Kingdom have committed to buy hundreds of millions of doses even as vaccines are still under late-stage trials.

The Philippines has joined a World Health Organization-led vaccine trials and allocation plan and is promoting itself as a site for pharma firms' phase 3 trials, Vergeire said.

"We are doing all efforts to put us in a position to access these vaccines," Vergeire told a regular news conference.

(Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by Martin Petty)
"Septet: The Story of Hong Kong", an anthology film made by seven of the most renowned Hong Kong filmmakers will open the 25th edition of the Busan International Film Festival.

The omnibus film by Sammo Hung, Ann Hui, Patrick Tam, Yuen Wo Ping, Johnnie To, Ringo Lam, and Hark Tsui, was previously an official selection of the Cannes Film Festival.

Produced by Johnnie To, "Septet" is a collection of Hong Kong stories, each directed by a different director through their unique artistic vision, illustrating different time periods of the city.

"Septet" was also the last directing work of the late Ringo Lam, who died on Dec. 29, 2018.

Directors of "Septet: The Story of Hong Kong" shoots their part on set. [Photos courtesy of Media Asia]

Actors and actresses involved include Simon Yam, Francis Ng, Yuen Wah, Timmy Hung, Cheung Tat Ming, Lam Suet, Lawrence Lau, Emotion Cheung, Jennifer Yu, Mimi Kung and Sire Ma.

The film spans the period from the 1950s to the present. Each director had to handle one decade. Production for "Septet" took place off and on over four years.

In his episode, Sammo Hung, producer, Kung fu actor and director, goes back to the 1950s and restrictive school of dance and martial arts. Ann Hui reflects on educational boom in the 1960s. Patrick Tam, the New Wave director, portrays the 1980s from the perspective of two teenagers facing the prospect of separation. Yuen Woo-ping, legendary choreographer and director of action movies created an intimate story about an older man and his little granddaughter.

However, the 1970s segment is lost, since the title of the film was changed from "Eight & a Half" to "Septet" due to John Woo's departure from the project. This was believed due to his health problems.

Johnnie To narrates a story showing the fate of three friends looking for opportunities to quickly enrich themselves in a dynamically developing city in the 2000s. Ringo Lam tells a story of the return to Hong Kong of an emigrant rediscovering his hometown in the 2010s. Tsui Hark has decided to look to the future in his episode, the story evolving in a psychiatric hospital with a therapeutic conversation between doctor and patient taking an unexpected turn in the 2020s.

In addition, filmmakers of "Septet" returned to their artistic roots and shot it entirely on 35mm film rather than digital cameras, as the project is originally intended as filmmakers' farewell to 35mm film, a summary of extraordinary history of Hong Kong cinema and as an inspiration to young Hong Kong filmmakers.

Executive producer Johnnie To said he and other directors especially wanted to thank organizers of the Busan film festival for choosing "Septet" as the opening film; though they would not be able to attend the premiere, he believed the first collaboration of the seven filmmakers and their visions proved capable of producing a creative work recognized by film industry around the world, as more and more film festivals in various countries and regions have invited "Septet" to be included in their selections.

A poster of "Septet: The Story of Hong Kong [Image courtesy of Media Asia]

This year's Busan film festival will shrink by a third due to the COVID-19 pandemic and be running on newly announced dates of Oct. 21 - 30. The reduced format means that most events involving human contact have been canceled, which include the opening and closing ceremonies, red carpet, receptions, parties, and on-stage greetings.

The only theatrical screenings will take place on five screens within the Busan Cinema Center and all tickets must be booked in advance and online. Current COVID-19 restrictions limit capacity to 50 people per screening. The film selection has been reduced from more than 300 features and shorts in a normal year to 192 from 68 countries this time. Each film will screen only one time.

But the 25th edition could be canceled if the situation worsens and the South Korean government strengthens its social distancing, organizers said.
Selective, regional pandemic restrictions imposed by the provincial government are likely to become the staple of fighting the spread of COVID-19, says Niagaras top public health official, and should serve as a reminder to stay vigilant about infection control protocols.

Dr. Mustafa Hirji, Niagaras acting medical officer of health, said new measures to restrict personal gatherings in Toronto, Peel and Ottawa  expected to be announced by Doug Ford on Thursday  will be how Ontario tries to put out COVID-19 fires.

It is a better approach than a full return to Stage 2 or a provincewide lockdown, said Hirji. This is what we can expect going forward.

Personal gatherings where people were not physically distancing, wearing masks or practising hand hygiene have fuelled a rise in cases in Ontario, particularly in those three cities. Toronto public health, for instance, is tracking four weddings which may have caused at least 22 COVID-19 infections.

To get control of the situation before case growth gets out of control, Ford said Wednesday that new restrictions on personal gatherings will be imposed on those cities.

Hirji said distancing, handwashing and masks have worked well in restaurants and stores where staff and customers alike are taking the steps necessary to protect each other.

We really havent seen many cases arising out of businesses. That appears to have worked quite well, Hirji said. Personal gatherings is where the issue is.

That said, Hirji said both the model of limiting personal gatherings and the messaging around it have been confusing and likely needs to change if Ontario is to prevent further spread of the virus.

Currently, the provincial government says a persons social circle should be limited to 10 people. Gatherings inside are limited to 50 people and outdoors to 100, although in both cases physical distancing is required and masks necessary indoors.

Hirji said the limit of a circle of 10 people may be too difficult for many Ontarians to adhere to, particularly those with large extended families.

He said it may be time for the province to expand the size of the social circles while simultaneously reduce the size of indoor and outdoor gatherings.

Hirji said tackling a rise in cases region by region rather than provincewide is likely the best way the province can handle the situation without pushing all of Ontario back into more restrictive lockdowns.

He noted some northern communities do not have the same COVID-19 issues found in the GTA or Ottawa, and imposing further restrictions upon them would neither be fair nor productive.

He said short-term restrictions could help a community get COVID-19 infections under control, while allowing unaffected regions to continue with its current level of social and economic activity.

However, he said the government has not disclosed how it is making decisions about what regions will face new restrictions.

The St. Catharines Standard has asked Ontario Health about what public health indicators it is using, and how they inform its pandemic decisions. The ministry has repeatedly declined to disclose that information.

Some greater transparency around those metrics would be helpful, Hirji said.

While it is not clear what metrics could trigger provincial government action, it does not appear Niagara would face that kind of action at this time.

Niagara has seen a slight increase in daily cases in the past two weeks, the region has not experienced a significant rise in cases.

There was one new case confirmed Tuesday and three on Wednesday, bringing Niagaras historic total of COVID-19 infections to 973.

At least 64 people with the virus have died since March.

In Niagara, in the cases where public health has been able to identify the source of virus contact, COVID-19 has been spread largely within the same households as opposed to at personal gatherings.

However, about 35 per cent of recent cases have no known origin of exposure.

Hirji said Niagara should be paying close attention to the restrictions being imposed on other Ontario regions, as well as the more expansive second wave lockdowns in other countries, and learn from those examples.

Niagara residents dedication to COVID-19 control measures have helped keep the infection rate low, reducing the risk of community spread.
In this article GM

Duncan Aldred, vice president of Buick-GMC sales for General Motors Co., speaks next to a GMC Sierra Denali HD truck displayed during an event in Chula Vista, California, U.S., on Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019. Sandy Huffaker | Bloomberg via Getty Images

Supplies of highly profitable pickups from General Motors are at historically low levels months after the company restarted production following nationwide plant shutdowns this spring due to the coronavirus pandemic. Supplies of GMC Sierra pickups on dealer lots are at 20 days or less compared with a typical supply of 75 days to 90 days, according to Duncan Aldred, head of the GMC truck brand. He attributed the low supplies to continued demand for the pickups throughout the coronavirus pandemic despite the shutdowns. "We're continuing to sell faster than we build," he told reporters this week. "That's not a comment on the build schedule, that's a comment on how fast we're selling them." The plants that build the vehicles in the U.S. and Mexico were shut down for about two months this spring due to the coronavirus pandemic. The pandemic was a second blow to the company's production and inventory levels following a 40-day UAW strike that ended in October. While low supplies generally mean higher transaction prices and profits, they also can strain dealer operations and cause them to lose customers due to longer wait times or models being unavailable at purchase. Other automakers with higher inventory levels also can offer better deals to lure customers.

Aldred said that is not the case for the GMC Sierra, saying the brand has "its highest segment share in recent history" despite its "lowest stock in history." He also noted that the Sierra light-duty and larger heavy-duty models have the highest average transaction prices of about $47,500 and more than $65,000, respectively. But dealerships such as Gulf Coast Chevrolet Buick GMC in Texas  America's top-selling truck market need more pickups on their lots. Craig DeSerf, executive manager of the dealership, said pickups typically account for 75% of his inventory. They're now only 25%. "Out here, south of Houston, it's truck country. That's all we do," he said. "This is pickup truck country, big time." DeSerf said some people get upset that there's not inventory but it's still better than having too much from a business standpoint. "Not to be greedy, it's better this way than the other way," he said. Heading into Labor Day weekend, a significant sales time for dealers, J.D. Power reports there were just over 500,000 pickups on dealer lots. That's compared with 900,000 entering September last year after the Labor Day selling weekend.

2021 GMC Sierra HD pickup GM
WASHINGTON - The State Department on Wednesday rejected Democrats charges of improperly firing its independent inspector general and defended its weapons sales to Saudi Arabia.

Democrats say the two are connected because Steve Linick, the former IG, told lawmakers in June that at the time of his firing, his office had been probing Secretary of State Mike Pompeos emergency declaration that sped up the $8 billion in arms sales. Democrats and some Republicans complained that the move improperly bypassed Congress and that Linicks firing was part of a cover up.

Three of the departments top officials testified Wednesday during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing that Pompeo had asked President Donald Trump to fire Linick for a variety of management and ethical malpractice practices. Previously, they had blamed him for not advancing the departments mission and leaking details about the probe. Linick was fired in May.

If there is due cause, as been laid out, said R. Clarke Cooper, assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs, there is no coverup.

But Democrats insisted the allegations against Linick are after-the-fact excuses for dismissing an independent investigator who was probing allegations that could embarrass Pompeo. Linick was also investigating complaints that Pompeo and his wife, Susan, improperly used department staff to perform personal tasks for them.

We have real concern on this committee that the firing of Mr. Linick was an abuse of power, said Chairman Eliot Engel, D-N.Y. The fact that we had to drag you up here kicking and screaming itself makes me think that the department has been trying to hide the truth.

The session was an election-season effort by the Democratic-led House to challenge the Trump administrations well-documented refusal to co-operate with oversight. The struggle has played out across the courts and the committees of Congress since Trump took office in 2017, most notably during investigations that led to the presidents impeachment by the House and his acquittal by the GOP-led Senate.

Cooper, Undersecretary of State for Management Brian Bulatao and the departments acting legal adviser, Marik String, testified only after the committee prepared to subpoena Pompeo.

Linicks firing was one of several dismissals by Trump of people charged with preventing fraud and abuse in the government. The series of abrupt ousters concerned members of Congress, including some Republicans, who questioned whether Trump was interfering with legitimate oversight.

The State Department officials told the committee that Pompeo acted appropriately on all counts. The IG concluded that the arms sales did not violate the letter of the law but said the department did not take enough action to limit civilian casualties.

Cooper agreed with this criticism, a rare acknowledgment from the administration.

That is a finding I not only accept, but which I, my bureau, the department, and this administration take to heart, which we were working to address before the IG even put pen to paper, and which we will continue to address, he said.

Congress had pushed for a probe into administrations May 2019 decision to proceed with $8 billion in sales to Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Jordan. To clear the way past lawmakers objections, the administration declared a national emergency due to tensions with Iran.

Members of Congress had been blocking some of the sales because they might contribute to the human rights disaster in Yemen. A Saudi-led series of bombings there caused significant civilian casualties.

___

Associated Press Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report.
Good morning, Bay Area. Its Wednesday, Sept. 16, and dont expect to trick-or-treat this Halloween. Heres what you need to know to start your day.

Six months into the pandemic, hunger is more pervasive than ever among households throughout the Bay Area and California.

Food insecurity has more than doubled statewide and more than tripled in some Bay Area counties compared with December 2018 and food banks in the area are regularly serving twice as many people as before the pandemic.

Reporter Carolyn Said speaks to those struggling for the first time, and those trying to help limit household hunger.

From Kathleen Pender: Running out of California unemployment benefits? Heres what comes next.

Marin in the red: County gets reopening nod from California, will move forward with some of the Bay Areas most expansive reopening plans for businesses. More: California coronavirus case tracker.

Lease disputes: San Francisco small businesses are struggling to pay rent during the coronavirus pandemic, sparking fights that include four tenants clashing with the same landlord in the Castro neighborhood.

The stress of fire season for those fighting it

Brittany Hosea-Small / Special to The Chronicle

Firefighter Justin Silvera worked 72 days straight in 2018, when the Camp Fire destroyed his hometown of Paradise. Seven of his family members lost homes. It took a toll, exhausting him more than anything in his two-decade career.

But hes even more worried about this fire season. Its on track for being the worst year Ive ever experienced, Silvera, a Cal Fire battalion chief in Humboldt County, told reporter Mallory Moench from his 37th straight day of work, including the moment an inferno in Big Basin Redwoods State Park trapped his crew overnight during a 68-hour shift.

Read more.

Transit powered by floppy disk

Paul Chinn / The Chronicle

Muni is on track to award an $89 million contract for a new, state-of-the-art system to inform riders when the next bus or train will arrive. At the same time, the downtown Muni Metro train routing system still runs in part on floppy disks and spare parts can be a struggle to find.

Money for a new control system has been folded into a larger $300 million project to modernize the entire light rail system, Phil Matier writes, but it will be at least another five years before its changed.

From Heather Knight: Should one person have the right to block emergency transit projects? The mayor, transit officials and several supervisors say no and commit to reforming the emergency appeals process.

Around the Bay

Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle

 Not a partisan issue: Kamala Harris sounds climate change alarm from ruins of California fires, redoubling the Democratic presidential tickets new emphasis on the threat of global warming.

 Governor on upcoming ballot measures: Newsom backs business property reform for Californias Proposition 13, opposes tax-the-rich plans.

 Dont even think about apple-bobbing: Trick-or-treating is strongly discouraged, Bay Area health officials say as a pandemic Halloween approaches.

 But As game played the night before: Giants flying home as smoke forces postponement of game in Seattle.

 Foothills saga continues: ACLU sues Palo Alto over residents-only park.

 Internal investigation: The California Highway Patrol has opened an investigation into an incident that left a protester hospitalized after an officer accelerated into a crowd of people surrounding his patrol car at a Sacramento rally on Monday.

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.

 Word to the Warriors: Dont sacrifice Klay to get Giannis, Bruce Jenkins writes.

Datebook

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

There could never be a stranger time for Guy Raz to release his new book.

How I Built This: The Unexpected Paths to Success from the Worlds Most Inspiring Entrepreneurs, based on the hugely popular NPR business podcast How I Built This, arrives as the pandemic continues to cause unprecedented devastation for businesses  big and small  across the country. But Raz, one of the pioneering figures in podcasting, sees optimism as the only option: Now might be as good a time as any, he says, to take the leap and start an enterprise.

So how did he build this?

More from Datebook:

 10 intriguing films to watch during Frameline 44.

 Mulan made Mick LaSalle realize he misses big-studio blockbusters.

 Amoeba Music plans to open San Francisco store for first time in 6 months.

 Soul jazz vocalist Kenny Washington steps out from shadows with Whats the Hurry.

Bay Briefing is written by Taylor Kate Brown and sent to readers email inboxes on weekday mornings. Sign up for the newsletter here, and contact Brown at taylor.brown@sfchronicle.com.
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In three high-profile U.S. Senate races in Maine, South Carolina, and Kentucky where longtime Republican incumbents are seeking re-election, only one of those incumbents has a clear lead, one is now an underdog, and one is locked in a dead heat, according to a Quinnipiac University poll of likely voters in each of the states released Wednesday.

Senate control hangs in the balance as the GOP confronts a likely nail-biter in South Carolina and a possible knockout in Maine, offset by a presumably solid lead in Kentucky, Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy said.

Maine

Democrat Sara Gideon leads the race among likely voters for the U.S. Senate 54-42 percent over Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who is seeking her fifth term.

Eighty-nine percent of likely voters who selected a candidate in the Senate matchup say their minds are made up, and 10 percent say they might change their minds before the election.

"The tide has turned on Sen. Susan Collins, who was so popular in Maine that she won nearly 70 percent of the vote the last time she ran. Likely voters are sending the message that there's no 'middle of the road' when it comes to President Trump, who is deeply unpopular in the state," Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Mary Snow said.

Former Vice President Joe Biden leads President Donald Trump in the race for the White House 59-38 percent.

South Carolina

Sen. Lindsey Graham, who is seeking his fourth term in the U.S. Senate, is tied with his Democratic challenger Jaime Harrison.

Ninety-three percent of likely voters who selected a candidate in the Senate matchup say their minds are made up, and 6 percent say they may change their minds.

"A victor by almost 16 points back in 2014, Sen. Graham stares down the first real test of his Senate tenure. Outspent and accused by some of being a Trump apologist, he is in a precarious tie," Malloy said.

In South Carolina, Trump leads Biden in the race for the White House, 51-45 percent, according to the poll.

Kentucky

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who is seeking a seventh term, leads the race 53-41 percent over Democratic challenger Amy McGrath.

Ninety-one percent of likely voters who selected a candidate say their minds are made up, and 9 percent say they might change their selection before the election.

"After 36 years in the Senate, Majority Leader McConnell appears to have a comfortable path to six more years in Washington in one of the most expensive Senate races to date," Malloy said.

In Kentucky, Trump leads Biden in the race for the White House 58-38 percent.

Voting in 2020

A majority of voters in each state expect to cast ballots in person on Nov. 3.

In-person voting is most popular in South Carolina, where 72 percent of likely voters say they think they will vote in person on Election Day, and only 24 percent say they will vote by mail or absentee ballot.

In Kentucky, 56 percent of likely voters say they think they will vote in person on Election Day, while 26 percent say will vote by mail or absentee ballot. Kentucky will also have early voting locations, and 13 percent of likely voters say they plan to cast their ballot at those sites.

In Maine, 54 percent of voters plan to cast their ballot in person on Election Day, and 42 percent say they will vote by mail or absentee ballot.

Trump approval

When asked how Trump is handling his job as president, likely voters had varying opinions across the three states.

In Kentucky, 55 percent approve, 41 percent disapprove.

In South Carolina, 50 percent approve, 47 percent disapprove.

In Maine, 38 percent approve, 60 percent disapprove.

Trump coronavirus response

When asked how Trump is handling the response to the coronavirus, likely voters gave similar responses to his overall job approval.

In Kentucky, 54 percent approve, 43 percent disapprove.

In South Carolina. 49 percent approve, 48 percent disapprove.

In Maine, 37 percent approve, 61 percent disapprove.

To view the complete poll results, click here.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 08:49:07|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- The China Marrow Donor Program (CMDP) has facilitated 10,000 donations of hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) over the past two decades, with more than 2.8 million potential donors listed on its database, according to the Red Cross Society of China.

The Red Cross Society of China presented a certificate to Lin Binbin Tuesday recognizing her as the 10,000th HSC donor. The presentation took place in Beijing at an event marking the 6th World Marrow Donor Day.

HSCs are stem cells that give rise to all blood-cell types. They are found in the bone marrow of adults and used to treat blood diseases such as leukemia.

The CMDP, established in 1992, is a non-profit organization affiliated with the Red Cross Society of China. Enditem
Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr. has advised political parties in the country to desist from making seditious comments or inciting their members and supporters to engage in violence during the December 7 elections.



Kwesi Pratt bemoaned the culture where anytime there are elections in the country, some electorates will have to either get hurt or killed.



To him, this is because the political parties are not true to their words.



He explained that they do not match their peaceful sermons with action and warned against any militant acts by the political party members or supporters, stressing the elections should be conducted in a peaceful manner.



"The political parties are opaque," he said.



He pleaded with the parties and their supportes to put Ghana first going into the elections, stressing ''they should do things which foster peace in Ghana. Those militias are still around. We must be very careful. As we go into the elections, we must make sure no one incites anybody or engage in violence; if you do, then you don't love this country''.



Kwesi Pratt was speaking on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' in relation to the Electoral Commission (EC) filing fee.





The EC has set a filing fee of Ghc 100,000 for Presidential candidates and Ghc 10,000 for Parliamentary aspirants willing to file their nominations to contest the Presidential and Parliamentary elections, come December 7."The Presidential Candidate will be required to deposit an amount of Ghc 100,000 in a form of a Bankers draft to the Commission, Parliamentary Candidates will be required to deposit Ghc 10,000 in a form of a Bankers draft as well. We wish all candidates for both presidential and parliamentary elections well, we trust that the nomination process will be efficient, seemless and orderly . . ." EC Chairperson, Madam Jean Mensa said at the "Let The Citizen Know" press conference held at the Electoral Commission office in Accra on Monday.Nominations were opened on Monday, Septmber 14 and forms are to be accessed on the EC's website https://ec.gov.gh/political-parties/ The electoral management body will receive the filled out nomination forms from the Presidential and Parliamentary candidates from Monday, 5th October to Friday, 9th October, 2020.The forms are to be submitted within the hours of 9am and 5pm each day.

Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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And this is the right thing. Egypt and Jordan each made peace with Israel to end their state of war, but trade, tourism and mutual investments have been limited. Israel and the Emirates and Israel and Bahrain are normalizing their relations because they want trade, tourism and investment, and also intelligence-sharing against Iran. And Saudi Arabia has clearly blessed it all by allowing Israels El Al airlines to fly through Saudi airspace back and forth to Bahrain and the UAE.
By Trend

The 102nd anniversary of the liberation of Baku from the occupation and the date of September 15 in itself is very important for Azerbaijan and Turkey, Turkish historian, Ilber told Trend.

The chronicle of the heroism and brotherhood of the two countries must be passed on from generation to generation. Much could be said about the courage and bravery of the Caucasian Islamic Army and the Azerbaijani people, shown in 1918. The liberation of the occupied Baku by the Caucasian Islamic Army should be specially studied to convey the history of those events to the broad masses, said the historian.

Ortayli added that Azerbaijan is currently the most developed country in the region from a political and economic point of view.

The independence of Azerbaijan is unshakable. I congratulate the entire Turkic world on the 102nd anniversary of the liberation of Baku from occupation, Ortayli noted.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Kisumu Governor Anyang' Nyong'o has inaugurated Maseno as the newest town in Kisumu County, ignoring a thorny border dispute with its neighbour Vihiga.

The development was based on the thriving fortunes of an urban centre whose foundation was laid by missionaries who set up the oldest formal educational institution in the country.

For over a decade now, Maseno has risen from a humble beginning to one of the fastest growing townships in the country.

The town credits its growth to the existence of Maseno University.

With Maseno's elevation to a town, the county plans to make it an education hub. It is considering building a research centre and light industries to support the thousands of people living there.

Famous tree

In 1906, when the Church Missionary Society sent Reverend James Jamieson Willis to explore the Lake Victoria region as a prospective place for the establishment of a mission, he pitched tent under a carya ovalis tree.

The tree, known as Oseno in Luo and Oluseno in Luhya, became the fulcrum of development for the area which adopted the name Maseno.

From the spot at the border of Kisumu and Vihiga counties, the missionaries built the Rock of Ages chapel, which later became known as St Paul's Chapel.

In the same year, they also built Maseno School which taught how to read and write, besides offering carpentry, masonry and tailoring courses for the children of African chiefs from the local area.

Some of the prominent personalities who went through the institution are Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Ramogi Achieng Oneko, Barack Obama Sr, former National Assembly Speaker Kenneth Marende, former Deputy Speaker Farah Maalim and Prof Thomas Odhiambo.

The institution attracted a number of missionaries and teachers such as Edward Carey Francis, arguably one of the most influential educationists in Kenya's modern history.

Prof Nyong'o, who grew up in the neighbouring Rata village in Seme Sub-County, said the missionaries provided a ready market for their harvests as they trekked to sell their farm produce.

"I remember, with nostalgia, making trips to Maseno to sell vegetables grown in my mother's backyard to the missionaries who lived here many years ago," he said during the launch of Maseno town.

Tourist destination

The town, which straddles the Equator, has also become one of the leading tourist destinations in the country.

In 1935, veterinary and nursing schools were set up at Maseno. The nursing school was established to train nursing assistants and midwives.

Siriba Teachers Training College was set up in 1940 before merging with the Government Training Institute to become Maseno University in 1990.

Maseno was a constituent college of Moi University for 11 years before becoming a full-fledged university in 2001.

From this premise, the town, located along the Kisumu-Busia road, 25 km from Kisumu City, has witnessed tremendous growth over the years.

Border dispute

The town has, however, been dogged by controversy over the boundary dispute between Kisumu and Vihiga counties.

Vihiga Governor Wilber Ottichilo said the disagreement dates back to 1962 when the boundary between Kisumu and Kakamega district was erroneously hived off and Maseno land annexed as part of Kisumu.

"In our efforts to agitate for the return of Maseno to Vihiga, we have sought use of historical maps and documents as reference points when demarcating the boundaries in order to correct this historical injustice," he said.

While expressing concerns over the slow pace of resolving the issue, Mr Ottichilo called on the neighbouring communities to avoid violence as the dispute still remains in the form of a petition before Parliament.

Following the elevation, Maseno will now have a dedicated team of staff headed by the office of the town administrator working under the oversight of a town committee set up in line with the Urban Areas and Cities Act.

The county chief said Kennedy Hongo has been appointed acting town administrator and promised that members of the committee will reflect the diversity of Maseno's residents.

Huge potential

By virtue of being a university town, said Prof Nyong'o, Maseno has the capacity to contribute to the socio-economic transformation of Kisumu, the Western region and even East Africa.

"The growth of Maseno will not only bring services closer to the people but also create opportunities for thousands of people. This will also serve to reduce pressure on the city of Kisumu," he said.

Maseno University Vice-Chancellor Julius Nyabundi said the student population has grown from 2,700 to 20,000 in the last three years.

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"This has seen the mushrooming of rental houses and a contribution of at least Sh2 billion per year from the students alone," Prof Nyabundi said.

However, he noted that the population has caused challenges in access to water amid lack of a sewerage system.

According to the Constitution, an area shall be eligible for the grant of the status of a town if it has a population of at least 10,000 residents and can demonstrate economic, functional and financial viability.

Kisumu's Lands, Housing, Physical Planning and Urban Development Executive Dixon Obungu said Maseno currently has a population of 60,000.

To underscore the county's commitment to realisation of the Maseno dream, Governor Nyong'o said over Sh40 million in the current financial year has been allocated to water and sewerage services, road and lighting infrastructure, solid waste management and tourism development in Maseno.

"I am aware that this is not enough but it is a statement that going forward, we will have a dedicated budget for Maseno town to adequately offer services to her residents," he said.
CHICAGO, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- James R. Baldwin has joined McDonald Hopkins LLC where his mix of experience as both an attorney and an electrical engineer working in the aerospace industry will enhance the Intellectual Property Department of the firm's Chicago office.

Baldwin's practice is directed to drafting and prosecution of patent applications, patent prosecution, clearance and patentability analysis, and intellectual property due diligence. He has drafted patent applications focused on a variety of technologies, including electrical and electromechanical systems, computer software, industrial and vehicular control systems, medical device hardware and software, virtual and mixed reality hardware and software, networking infrastructure, and data analysis and data processing. He has experience prosecuting both U.S. and international patent applications.

Prior to joining McDonald Hopkins, Baldwin was an associate at Shumaker & Sieffert, where he did focused on patent prosecution. Prior to Shumaker & Sieffert, James did a variety of work dealing with intellectual property law, such as patent prosecution, clearance and patentability analysis, patent litigation, and intellectual property due diligence.

Baldwin worked as an electrical engineer at an aerospace defense contractor before beginning work on his J.D. He designed control system for life support systems, such as Onboard Inert Gas Generating Systems (OBIGGS) for VIP military aircraft, Onboard Oxygen Generating Systems (OBOGS) for military aircraft, and dive computers for rebreathers used by the United States Navy.

Baldwin earned his J.D., cum laude, from the Chicago-Kent College of Law in 2012 and obtained his B.S. in Computer Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology in 2005. Baldwin can be reached at 312.642.4556 or [email protected].

About McDonald Hopkins

Since 1930, McDonald Hopkins has thrived by building long-lasting relationships with businesses and individuals who share an entrepreneurial spirit. As the business advisory and advocacy law firm celebrates its 90th anniversary in 2020, it has a renewed commitment to providing exceptional client service and insight for the challenges at hand and on the horizon. To learn more, visit mcdonaldhopkins.com.

CONTACT:

David Carducci

McDonald Hopkins LLC

600 Superior Avenue, East, Suite 2100

Cleveland, Ohio 44114

Phone: 216.348.5814

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE McDonald Hopkins

Related Links

http://www.mcdonaldhopkins.com


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Linkedin Peter Schoof (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, September 16, 2020 10:52 492 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c4512948 3 Opinion Germany,ASEAN,diplomacy,multilateralism,Indo-Pacific Free

In the past few years, the importance of the Indo-Pacific region in both economic and political terms has increased markedly. With its Policy Guidelines for the Indo-Pacific, the German government is setting out the course of its future policy on the countries of the region.

More than half the worlds population lives in countries around the Indian Ocean and the Pacific. The region now accounts for almost half of global gross domestic product (GDP) and is gaining in economic and political importance.

In recent decades, countries like Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam have seen rapid economic growth: At the same time, the strategic competition in the region is increasing. The Indo-Pacific is becoming key to shaping the international order in the 21st century.

ASEAN lies at the very center of the region. Its relations to both Germany and the European Union are growing ever closer. Hopefully, we will be able to form a strategic partnership by the end of 2020.

Shifting geopolitical power structures in the Indo-Pacific have a direct impact on Germany and the EU at large: Our economies are closely connected through global supply chains. Major trading routes pass through the Indian Ocean, the South China Sea and the Pacific. If conflicts in the region arose, it would have immediate repercussions for us in Europe and Germany.

Open markets and free trade are crucial for Germany as a trading nation. The share of the broader region, including South and East Asia, in Germanys trade balance has risen steadily in recent decades and now amounts to over 20 percent of our total trade in goods, or just under 420 billion euro (2019).

But rapid economic growth in the Indo-Pacific region also brings about rising greenhouse gas emissions as a challenge for the global climate and our planets ecosystem. In the interest of future generations, our goal must be to ensure environmentally friendly and socially compatible growth in the Indo-Pacific region.

These are only a few of the reasons why the German government has decided to open a new chapter of cooperation with the countries of the Indo-Pacific region and with ASEAN in particular. Our fresh Policy Guidelines for the Indo-Pacific region have been largely inspired by the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP). We share the same view on the region as a space for inclusive cooperation and engagement, and not containment. Germany and the ASEAN member states form relations based on partnership and common interests. This is all the more the case for the European Union, which is why it is high time that the EU and ASEAN become full-fledged strategic partners.

Not only during the COVID-19 pandemic has it become obvious that multilateralism has become more important than ever before. Stronger political, economic and security policy networks lead to a reduction of unilateral dependencies and preserve both sovereignty and our ability to act, in short, a free and active foreign policy.

Germany and the EU are  as is ASEAN  committed to the further integration of the IndoPacific region into multilateral organizations and forums like the G20 and to the promotion of regional multilateral structures in the spirit of true partnership and a level playing field. Multilateral agreements are the most effective way to make progress in climate and environmental protection, rules-based trade, disarmament, arms control and nonproliferation, as well as in the protection of human rights.

In the coming years, Germany will strategically position itself and step up its engagement vis-a-vis ASEAN. To this end, we will expand our cooperation with ASEAN institutions and continue to support the ASEAN Secretariat. As member of the European Union and current presidency of the Council of the European Union, Germany will strengthen the role of the EU as a partner of ASEAN in close cooperation with its EU partners.

To this end, we will spare no effort to fill a new Strategic Partnership between ASEAN and the EU with life and substance, including a more substantial contribution to security and stability. As a matter of principle, we are committed to protecting and safeguarding the rules-based order in the IndoPacific region.

This is in particular true for supporting a substantive and legally binding Code of Conduct between China and the ASEAN member states for the South China Sea, based on the principles of the UN Convention of the Law of the Seas, monitoring UN sanctions against North Korea and offering our assistance in the mediation of regional conflicts with humanitarian implications.

To tackle the common challenge for the worlds climate, we intend to step up our cooperation with partners in the Indo-Pacific region in all aspects of climate policy, from adaptation to climate change, the protection of biodiversity and the promotion of renewable energy and energy efficiency.

We will look for collaboration  and offer our assistance  to substantially reduce emissions in line with overall efforts of the European Union to achieve climate commitments with partners in the region that go beyond the current obligations. We will also increase bilateral and regional cooperation to reduce marine litter and protect marine ecosystems. Last but not least, we are committed to expanding our projects on low-emission and sustainable palm oil development with relevant producer countries, with an emphasis on supporting smallholders.

And as the regions share in Germanys and the EUs trading balance is steadily growing, we emphasize again the importance of a coherent network of free and comprehensive trade agreements in addition to a comprehensive EU/ASEAN agreement. Through these agreements we will be able to eliminate existing obstacles to trade and investment on both sides as well as agree on important environmental and social standards, climate protection and competition policy, subsidies and the protection of intellectual property. The lesson of the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be to deglobalize our supply chains and trade relations, but rather to diversify them and make them more resilient.

We hope that, by opening this new chapter of our cooperation with the region, we will be able to contribute to a secure, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific region, with ASEAN as a central player. The Indo-Pacific region is important to us! Not only as Germans, but as Europeans.

***

German ambassador to Indonesia, ASEAN and Timor Leste

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.
SEATTLE, Sept. 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Marketplace Clicks, advertising specialists for brands selling products on Amazon, announced it has been included in Amazon Advertising's find-a-partner directory. The directory includes agencies that have demonstrated a high level of engagement and proficiency with Amazon Advertising products. Marketplace Clicks is one of 50 agencies that have been named to the directory.

"We are honored to be listed in the directory," said Mike Ziegler, President of Marketplace Clicks. "When we started this agency, our founding principle was to be the best at what we do."

Mike Ziegler began working in the Amazon Advertising space eight years ago as a Senior Product Manager on the Amazon Advertising Sponsored Products team. Mike was part of the Sponsored Products expansion from beta to launch.

Marketplace Clicks manages advertising across eligible Amazon product categories with a highly experienced and skilled team. The company's expert advertising management combines human analysis aided by its proprietary software. Client advertising is never fully turned over to automation.

"Automating the decision-making process limits a brand's performance because of the complexities involved in this ever-evolving space," explained Patricia O'Reilly, co-founder CFO of Marketplace Clicks. "We have so much fun being part of our clients' growth and helping them achieve their goals."

Marketplace Clicks manages advertising on all of the Amazon Advertising products, including Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Display (beta), Sponsored Brands video and display ads (Amazon DSP).

For those interested in learning more about Marketplace clicks or becoming a client, visit www.marketplaceclicks.com.

About Marketplace Clicks

Marketplace Clicks was co-founded in 2014 by former Amazon Advertising Sponsored Products Senior Product Manager Mike Ziegler. We are dedicated to helping brands selling on Amazon further grow through advertising. Cumulative managed ad spend exceeds $100 million for clients ranging from multi-national CPGs to startups. To learn more about Marketplace Clicks, visit www.marketplaceclicks.com.

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Patricia O'Reilly

Phone: 425.408.0866

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Two police officers who posted Tik Tok videos of themselves dancing and using foul language while in uniform have been allowed to keep their jobs - despite their actions being branded as 'gross misconduct'.

Police constables Amy Taylor and April Cooper, of Cambridgeshire Police, were subject to a disciplinary hearing after a member of the public reported the series of 'unprofessional' videos to the force in April this year.

The clips, filmed while the officers were on duty, in uniform, and in once case inside a marked police vehicle, were found to have damaged the reputation of their force.

PC Amy Taylor, who was previously awarded a Chief Constable's commendation, was one of two officers subject to a disciplinary hearing after posting videos to social media site Tik Tok

In one clip, both officers were seen in full uniform in a police station dancing in an 'inappropriate way utilising fire marshal tabards'.

In another, they appeared in a police vehicle 'shouting offensive language'.

Chief Constable Nick Dean said there were 'numerous' clips, adding: 'These videos, which I have seen, range from dancing, in uniform in a police station whilst on duty, to being within a marked police vehicle, in uniform, on duty, using offensive language.'

In one clip, with the caption 'when calling in sick at work and they ask what's up', Pc Cooper appeared in uniform shouting 'coronavirus' down a phone.

Chief Constable Nick Dean said constables Amy Taylor and April Cooper posted 'numerous' clips on Tik Tok, ranging from dancing, in uniform in a police station whilst on duty, to being within a marked police vehicle, in uniform, on duty, using offensive language

'This clip was made in the height of a pandemic which is still ongoing yet you appear to be insensitive to the many thousands who have suffered and the vital role that emergency services and other agencies played in this outbreak, and continue to do so,' said Mr Dean.

'This clearly shows a lack of respect and sensitivity to those that were suffering or indeed their families and friends.

'This brings the service into disrepute and damages public confidence.

'You did not treat the public or your colleagues with respect or courtesy.'

In the misconduct report Mr Dean said he accepted the officers' 'motivation was to boost morale' but added that 'some of the clips presented cannot in any way be seen to do this'

PC Amy Cooper was previously awarded a Chief Constables commendation for saving the life of a woman threatening to take her own life in Whittlesey in Cambridgeshire.

Mr Dean said he accepted that the officers' 'motivation was to boost morale' but added that 'some of the clips presented cannot in any way be seen to do this'.

He said that the reach of the videos on TikTok had been 'extensive' but that the officers took 'immediate action' to remove the clips once highlighted to them.

'I accept that in hindsight that you both have accepted that you did not consider the wider implications of your actions at the time, however there is no doubt in my mind that the clips have damaged the reputation of this Constabulary,' Mr Dean said.

A misconduct panel found that their actions amounted to gross misconduct and both officers were given a final written warning.

This is not the first case of police officers being rapped for their use of the social media platform.

Police chiefs issued a warning after dozens of officers filmed themselves performing the latest dance crazes and lip-syncing to pop songs on social media, including choreographed routines with colleagues, while wearing full uniform or on duty in stations.

Left: A police officer makes a heart with her hands to the camera, with the message 'Stay home, stay safe'. Right: A police officer shows off his cartwheeling abilities while wearing his police uniform

Chiefs warned officers it is inappropriate when Britain is in the grip of the deadly Covid-19 outbreak.

Chief Constable Gavin Stephens, the national lead for digital engagement, told The Mail on Sunday: From a National Police Chiefs Council point of view, weve been very clear, particularly through Covid, that were not encouraging people to take part in dancing, rapping TikTok challenges.
BJP MLA Nitesh Rane has on Wednesday request Union Home Minister Amit Shah to provide a security detail for late celebrity manager Disha Salian's fiance Rohan Rai. The investigation into Disha's alleged suicide on June 8 is a key to ascertaining the probable motives behind the mysterious death of Bollywood actor Sushant singh Rajput six days later on June 14, Rane has said earlier to Republic in the most sensational disclosure yet in the twin cases. Now, Rane has written to the Centre expressing surprise that Mumbai Police did not question Rohan Rai, the deceased live-in partner, in their primary investigation in Disha's death.

Read | I know what Rohan Rai knows: Nitesh Rane's stunning Sushant-Disha-June 8 party disclosure

Rane has chalked out the reasons for asking for Rohan Rai's protection by stating that the latter may have been asked to avoid scrutiny and hence, flee from Mumbai. Rohan is conspicuous by his absence from the city since a week after the death of his fiancee. Rane has also alleged that "some influential people" may have put pressure on him due to which he is "scared" to return to Mumbai.

Here's the letter:

Read | Disha Salian's fiance Rohan Rai came down 25 mins after her fall & death, says Nitesh Rane

BJPs Nitesh Rane on Disha-Sushant death link

All of what Nitesh Rane has written to Amit Shah has been disclosed by him on Republic TV. Speaking to Republic Media Network's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami on The Debate earlier this week, Rane said, There was a party held in Juhu, and I have clear information. Disha was called by powerful people, though against her wish, she showed up at the party."

"At the party whatever wrong happened to her, she left and called up Sushant, thats the information I have. When she was on her way to Malad, Malvani, I heard that she called up Sushant, and he called up Rhea, and Rhea called up a person who was there at the party and alerted them that this is what Disha is doing while she has left the house, so need to do something about it," he added.

Read | In Disha Salian & Sushant cases, Arnab asks 'What happened on June 8?' Nitesh Rane answers

Rane continued, "By the time she reached the Malad, Malvani house, obviously someone would have been sent to shut her up. And in that house, her fiance Rohan Rai was present. Obviously, she was pushed down or something happened to her, she died after that.

Disha fell from the 14th floor of a building in Malad on June 8. Incidentally, Rhea, who has been jailed till September 22 for alleged involvement in a drug cartel, had also left Sushants residence on June 8. He was found dead on June 14. The CBI, that is currently investigating Sushant Singh Rajput's death, has also summoned people linked to Disha Salian's alleged suicide for interrogation. As per sources, Rohan Rai is also likely to be called for questioning by the CBI.

Rane has stated that Rohan Rai's grilling would solve both cases, and that Rane himself would depose before the CBI if Rohan wasn't called in. He has openly offered security to Rohan Rai.

Read | Sushant spoke to Rhea after Disha Salian told him of 'wrong' at June 8 party: Nitesh Rane

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.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-17 00:22:00|Editor: huaxia

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UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock warned on Wednesday that food insecurity is rising again in South Sudan despite political progress.

Nearly 6.5 million people, more than half of the population, faced severe food insecurity at the height of the annual hunger season a few months ago. COVID-19 has made this worse. Another 1.6 million vulnerable people, most of them in urban settings and cities, have been pushed to the brink as well, Lowcock told the Security Council.

Overall this year, 7.5 million people now need humanitarian assistance. That is close to levels in 2017 when he warned of famine. Some 1.3 million children under the age of 5 are forecast to be malnourished, the highest number in four years. Put another way, about 10 percent of the entire population of South Sudan will be malnourished children who have not yet reached their fifth birthday, he said.

South Sudan's economy is contracting as a result of lower global oil prices and the wider global recession. The government has little money to respond to the health and socio-economic impacts of COVID-19, said Lowcock.

COVID-19 is also adding to the pressure on an already fragile health system. Years of conflict devastated basic services, including the health care system. South Sudan has one of the highest under 5 mortality rates in the world. Around three-quarters of all child deaths in South Sudan arise from preventable diseases like diarrhea, malaria and pneumonia, with malnourished children succumbing where the better fed would not, he said.

Two consecutive years of severe flooding exacerbated food insecurity, as well as malnutrition, and displacement. Last year, nearly 1 million people were affected. The floods started earlier this year and more than half a million people have so far been affected. It is feared that the worst is yet to come, with the peak of flooding season normally in November and December, said Lowcock.

Humanitarian access has been challenging in South Sudan for years. But the pandemic, along with increased violence in some areas, has magnified pre-existing access challenges. Humanitarian agencies' capacity to reach people who need aid is now limited in some areas, he said.

South Sudan also remains one of the most dangerous places in the world for an aid worker. At least 122 aid workers have been killed since 2013. This year, seven aid workers have lost their lives. Another 144 have had to be evacuated and relocated as a result of threats to their security. Aid supplies have been looted on at least 17 occasions. And a number of health centers have been forced to suspend activities, interrupting life-saving services, he said.

Despite the challenges, the humanitarian response in South Sudan is keeping millions of people from sliding into famine. Aid agencies have assisted more than 5 million people across South Sudan in 2020, said Lowcock.

But he cautioned that continued funding is needed to sustain health services and other life-saving programs. As a result of the fighting, flooding and COVID19, funding needs continue to grow. The South Sudan humanitarian response plan is now larger than ever, at 1.9 billion U.S. dollars for this year. About a third of that has been funded so far, he said. Enditem
Leading British artist Damien Hirst has created four new limited edition prints to raise money for Save the Childrens project Riscriviamo il futuro (Rewrite the future), supported by Fondazione Prada. The project aims to support Italian children from disadvantaged backgrounds who have been affected by school closures during the COVID19 crisis.

The editions, titled Fruitful and Forever, feature bright, abstract details from Hirsts new series of Cherry Blossoms paintings. Depicting blossom trees in full bloom, the series is inspired by the work of Pierre Bonnard, Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh and the Pointillist innovations of Georges Seurat. The new limited edition prints show close-up details of the densely layered and colourful dabs of paint from sections of the large-scale canvases.

The editions are available to buy through HENI Leviathan from Tuesday 15 September until Sunday 27 September 2020. Each image is available in two sizes (39 x 39 cm and 78 x 78 cm) and priced at EUR 400 and EUR 1,200 respectively. To purchase the prints, visit leviathan.heni.com.
After months of delay and wrangling, the intra-Afghan peace talks finally began in Doha, Qatar, last week. These talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban delegation saw envoys and organisations from over 15 countries participating, underscoring the wider regional and global ramifications of these negotiations. Yet, the challenges were clear from the opening remarks of the main interlocutors.

Abdullah Abdullah, chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation, was categorical that while the legitimate demand of our people and the goal of peace is to end all forms of war and violence through political means, they wanted a constitutional system in the country that would preserve democracy, elections, womens rights, minority rights, rule of law, human and civil rights. In essence, he underlined the need to preserve the achievements of the past two decades. Mullah Baradar, Talibans deputy leader, tried to strike a conciliatory tone but the group has been clear about its goal: Preserving religious values and striving for an Islamic system.

The United States (US) has left the choice of the political system to the Afghan government and the Taliban but has not been shy of articulating its preferences. Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, suggested that protecting the rights of all Afghans is indeed the best way for you to break the cycle of violence, even as he warned that the choices and conduct during the negotiations will affect both the size and scope of future US assistance. Earlier this year, in February, the Donald Trump administration decided to reduce its military footprint in Afghanistan; this is likely to go down to 4,500 troops by November. Though Washington is not convinced that the Taliban has weaned itself off completely from Al Qaeda or that it can be a trusted partner in ensuring peace in Afghanistan, there is a wider political consensus in the US on the need to bring troops back home. For Trump, claiming that he managed to conclude an endless war would be a significant policy success to highlight in his beleaguered re-election campaign.

So, in more ways than one, the preference matrix of key players in these negotiations is not in sync, posing fundamental challenges to both the process and the outcome. For the Afghan government, it is essential that violence by the Taliban should cease before any substantive talks on power-sharing can begin. But for the Taliban, their ability to unleash dramatic violence is a major leverage that they would like to exploit in political negotiations.

But the Taliban also seem to recognise that todays Afghanistan is not the one they controlled from 1996 to 2001. Afghanistans nascent democracy has thrown up new voices, new actors and new aspirations. Reports of the Taliban engaging with China to build infrastructure after a US withdrawal is an indicator that governance is now one of the priorities which cannot be ignored. And this is where India comes into the picture.

Despite the pessimism in some quarters that India has lost it all in Afghanistan, ground realities are more complex. Indias approach is also evolving in line with the changing strategic environment. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankars remarks at the start of the intra-Afghan talks in Doha conveyed Indias priorities even as they subtly underlined its reservations. For New Delhi, it is imperative that the peace process must be Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-controlled, respect national sovereignty and territorial integrity of Afghanistan, promote human rights and democracy, ensure interest of minorities, women and the vulnerable, effectively address violence across the country.

Indias primary concern emanates from a perceived Pakistani victory in managing to bring the Taliban back to political power in Kabul, thereby energising Islamist extremists in South Asia to target India. Indias regional security environment could be further undermined if the Taliban let Pakistan use Afghan territory for gaining strategic depth vis-a-vis India. Then there is the China factor. Given its close ties with Pakistan, Beijing would like to ensure that the Taliban sever their ties with Uighur extremists in Xinjiang. In exchange, China might emerge as the key economic benefactor of a Taliban-dominated Afghanistan, nudging Pakistan to bring the country into the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

These are significant challenges and New Delhi must be cognisant of such pressures. But it should also remain alive to new possibilities and alignments. Indias role as Afghanistans largest development partner cannot be easily dismissed; it also remains the most popular country for ordinary Afghans. New Delhi has strong ties with not only the US and Europe, which will be critical for Afghanistans economic reconstruction long after foreign military forces leave, but also with neighbours such as Russia and Iran, key for Afghanistans strategic autonomy. The Pashtun question which divides Pakistan and Afghanistan also gives New Delhi significant leverage. It is, therefore, not surprising that the Taliban have been signalling their intent to engage with India. They seem to get the salience of New Delhi in the Afghan matrix much better than many in India.

Harsh V Pant is professor, Kings College, London, and director of studies, Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi

The views expressed are personal
I was in a white sarcophagus, like a blind man, for months and months, the person said. The isolation, it is so strong that you even doubt if you are alive. When they take away your sounds, when you do not see colors and you are in a cold temperature that forces you to tense your body, how do you know that you are alive?
US tariffs on China illegal world trade body rules

By Jamey Keaten

September 15, 2020 " Information Clearing House " - Geneva  The World Trade Organization said Tuesday that Trump administration tariffs on Chinese goods totaling more than $200 billion are illegal under the rules of the global trade body.

The decision marks the first time the Geneva-based trade body has ruled against a series of tariffs that President Donald Trump's government has imposed on a number of countries, allies and rivals alike.

Trump has repeatedly criticized the WTO, which oversees international disputes on trade, for allegedly treating the U.S. unfairly.

In its decision, the WTO ruled against the Trump administration's argument that China has engaged in practices harmful to U.S. interests, on issues including intellectual property theft, technology transfer and innovation.

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The ruling, in theory, would allow China to impose retaliatory tariffs on billions worth of U.S. goods - if the process is completed. But the U.S. government can appeal the decision announced by the WTOs dispute settlement body, and the WTO's appeals court is currently no longer functioning - largely because of Washingtons single-handed refusal to accept new members for it.

The U.S. tariffs target two batches of Chinese products. Duties of 10% were imposed on some $200 billion worth of goods in September 2018, and were jacked up to 25% eight months later. An additional 25% duties were imposed in June 2018 against Chinese goods worth about $34 billion in annual trade.

The administration has justified the sanctions under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, a common tool used by the government to impose sanctions. The U.S. argued that Chinas actions had amounted to state-sanctioned theft and misappropriation of U.S. technology, intellectual property and commercial secrets.

The WTO panel ruled that the U.S. measures violated longstanding international trade rules because they only applied to products from China, and that Washington had not adequately substantiated its claim that the Chinese products hit with the extra duties had benefited from the allegedly unfair Chinese practices.
The meeting between the federal government, labour unions and civil society organisations (CSO) over the recent hike in the prices of petroleum products and electricity tariff has ended without a conclusion.

The meeting which lasted for about 10 hours held at the Old Banquet Hall, State House, Abuja. It was subsequently adjourned to a later date which is yet to be announced.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how President Buhari directed the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, to have a dialogue with the labour unions and CSOs on issues affecting the economy.

The issues include the hike in electricity tariff by distribution companies (DisCos) from about N30.23 to about N62.33 per kWh and an increase in the price of petrol from about N145 to about N161 per litre.

The government called for the meeting to prevent the planned protest by labour unions and other civil society organisations over the increase in petroleum products and electricity tarrif.

Speaking during the meeting, the Deputy President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Amechi Asugwuni, said the government had no agenda at the meeting and did not provide an alternative means for the hardship the masses are experiencing.

According to him, all the presentations made at the meeting were theories. He suggested that all the parties should go back and consult adequately so that the government may also have a solution.

The government should not expect the labour unions that represent the masses to fold their arms when Nigerians are suffering, he said.

Also speaking, the President of the Trade Union Congress, Quadri Olaleye, said the first solution to the problem is to reverse the fuel price hike and electricity tariff increase.

He said the TUC had already written the federal government and given a seven-day ultimatum for these demands to be met.

Government should take immediate steps to reverse the hike in prices as it affects electricity, petrol and all other social services in the country to the prices they were prior to the increase and provide adequate and quality healthcare and education for all to save the poor and the vulnerable at all levels, he said.

In his reaction, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, said there was an agenda for the meeting.

It is not true that the government has nothing on the table. The view of the meeting is that we adjourn, everybody to go and consult his principal, he said.

Subsidy data

Speaking earlier, the Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Silva, said the government can no longer afford to subsidise petrol.

You can see what subsidy cost us in 2011, subsidy cost us N2.105 trillion. We are talking of losing job, we are talking of people suffering. In 2010, it cost us N1.355 trillion, 2013 N1.316, and by 2015 the subsidy figure came down to N654 billion, by 2016 we didnt even have any under-recovery. So, you can see that in 2018, prices came up again.

So you can see that this is a policy direction that should have been taken long ago. No wonder every government comes to that point when they realised that subsidy was not sustainable but unfortunately some of those government did not have the political will; also the time probably was not ripe and they couldnt take it because you can see that the cost of subsidy from 2016 to 2019 was N3.6 63 trillion, an average of N916 billion per annum, he said.
STRATFORD  A Town Council member was allegedly drunk behind the wheel while doing 117 mph on the Merritt Parkway Saturday, according to state police.

William Perillo, 51, a Republican who represents District 7 on the council, is due in court Sept. 22 to face charges of operation under the influence, reckless driving, disobeying the signal of an officer and failure to drive in the proper lane.

In a prepared statement Tuesday afternoon, Mayor Laura Hoydick said she had been made aware of Perillos arrest.

The offenses he is charged with are grave and alarming and I am grateful no one was injured, Hoydick said. Driving under the influence is a serious allegation which I don't take lightly. We await the outcome of the legal process that needs to take place.

In response to an inquiry from Hearst Connecticut Media, state police Tuesday said Perillo, a retired police officer, was stopped about 10:10 p.m. Saturday near Exit 53 on Route 15 southbound.

Observed vehicle at high rate of speed, wrote Sgt. Robert Olechowski, who was listed on the police report as the investigating trooper. Vehicle clocked at 117MPH in clearly posted 55MPH zone. The operator initially accelerated refusing to stop. The operator continued for a considerable distance before finally slowing then bringing his vehicle to a stop.

Perillo allegedly exhibited numerous indicators he was under the influence of alcohol and was taken into custody for (motor vehicle) violations observed, the summary said.

Immediately after stopping the vehicle, Perillo complained of difficulty breathing, police said. He was taken to St. Vincents Hospital in Bridgeport by Stratford EMS for treatment.

There, he allegedly failed a field sobriety test and was charged with DUI.

He was released on a $2,500 bond to the care of the hospital staff, according to state police.

A message left Tuesday at a publicly listed telephone number for Perillo was not immediately returned.

Perillo is serving his second term on the council. He was first elected in 2017.
With Storm Noul set to make landfall in central provinces Friday afternoon, Vietnamese authorities are preparing to evacuate half a million to safety.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the eye of the tropical storm lay around 680 km to the southeast of Vietnams Hoang Sa (Paracel) Islands off the central coast, packing winds of 70 kph.

On Wednesday, the storm is expected to move west-northwest at a speed of 15 kph and further intensify.

As of 10 a.m. Thursday, it will lay centered around 300 km to the southeast of Vietnams Hoang Sa (Paracel) Islands with maximum speed of 100 kph.

Mai Van Khiem, director of the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, said the storm is forecast to make landfall on Friday afternoon in central provinces from Quang Binh to Da Nang, home to popular tourism hotspots including Son Doong Cave, Hoi An and Hue, packing a maximum wind speed of 135 kph, according to the government news portal.

Weather forecasting centers in the U.S., Japan, and Hong Kong predict the storm would make landfall on the central coast Friday afternoon with a maximum speed of 130 kph.

Due to the impact of Storm Noul, northern and central localities should expect heavy rains of up to 300 mm a day. Rainfall of 180 mm a day is considered heavy.

From Thursday afternoon to Friday, central provinces from Quang Tri to Thua Thien-Hue would be hit by heavy rains of 300-400 mm a day. Mountainous areas could be affected by landslides while urban areas face heavy flooding.

Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien-Hue, and Da Nang City would be heavily affected by the storm, Khiem added.

Mass evacuation

Vietnams Ministry of National Defense has called for the mobilization of more than 300,000 people - soldiers, members of the police force, and civilian volunteers, to assist residents in storm-hit areas.

Tran Quang Hoai, deputy head of the Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention, said with Nouls strength level, the committee is ready to evacuate 107,000 families, or a total 548,000 people across central coast provinces, media reports said.

In case of emergency, localities can allow students to stay home. Millions of Vietnamese students began the new academic school year on September 5 while those from Da Nang City, epicenter of the second Covid-19 wave, returned to class last Monday.

Hoai asked provincial leaders to stay in contact with fishing boats, evacuate residents to safety, and make plans to limit damage caused by the storm.

He added the storm is expected to make landfall in central provinces during a optimal high-tide period; therefore, the devastation could be great, asking localities in the area affected by the approaching storm to calculate flood discharge plans for hydropower reservoirs to ensure safety for those downstream.

Storm Noul is the fifth formed this year in the East Sea, known internationally as the South China Sea.

The years fourth storm, Higos, hit last month, making landfall in China.

Natural disasters like droughts, floods, and landslides killed 133 people in Vietnam last year and caused losses worth around VND7 trillion ($302.6 million), according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

In the first half of this year, they have claimed 47 lives and caused losses worth VND3.3 trillion.

The East Sea could see 11-13 storms and tropical depressions this year, half of them affecting the country, meteorologists have warned.
Chandigarh, Sep 16 : Angry over three agriculture-related Bills, hundreds of farmers blocked major highways in parts of Punjab and Haryana on Wednesday to demand that the proposed laws should not be pursued in Parliament.

The protesters also warned that if any Member of Parliament from Punjab supported the farm Bills in Parliament, he or she would not be allowed to enter villages.

"The MPs who support the farm bills in Parliament will not be allowed to enter the villages," said Bharatiya Kisan Union (Lakhowal) General Secretary Harinder Singh Lakhowal.

He said members of his outfit along with those from other farmers' organisations blocked roads, mainly national highways, at several places in Punjab. There were reports of farmers blocking highways in Haryana also.

In Punjab, a sit-in was started by protesters outside Chief Minister Amarinder Singh's residence in Patiala town and also outside former Chief Minister and Akali Dal leader Parkash Singh Badal's residence at his native Badal village in Muktsar district.

Farmers from both the states also staged a protest at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi against the Bills. Later, the police detained them.

Heavy police presence was seen at various places in Haryana and Punjab to maintain law and order in view of the protest by farmers.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh appealed to the farmers not to stop traffic or violate Section 144 of the CrPC in the state over the agriculture Bills, but made it clear that no cases would be registered against them as "they are fighting for their lives".

FIRs already registered against farmers protesting in violation of Section 144 would be withdrawn, said the Chief Minister on Wednesday.

He was talking to media persons outside the Governor's House after submitting a memorandum against the anti-farmer Bills on behalf of the Punjab Congress.

The ordinances would pave the way for ending the Minimum Support Price (MSP) regime, which will spell doom for Punjab, and in fact the whole nation, he added.

Amarinder Singh urged the farmers to take their protests to Delhi, on the doorsteps of the central government, and assured them of Congress support in their fight.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Dim Future for US-China Engagement as US Ambassador Plans Exit

By Fang Bing September 15, 2020

The U.S. ambassador to China, Terry Branstad, announced on Monday that he would step down in early October, ending his three-and-a-half-year tenure in Beijing.

In a tweet that day, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said "Ambassador Branstad has contributed to rebalancing U.S.-China relations so that it is results-oriented, reciprocal, and fair."

Analysts say the departure of the U.S. ambassador, a former Republican governor of Iowa, marks another sign that the U.S. engagement policy with China has reached an end.

"Terry Branstad came into the embassy with the hope that they could work something out with China, yet none of that worked out," Orville Schell, director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations at the Asia Society in New York, told VOA.

The U.S. ambassador enjoys special access to China's president from an old friendship.

Branstad first met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in 1985, when Xi was then a county official in Iowa's sister state, Northern China's Hubei province.

When Branstad was appointed by President Donald Trump as the U.S. ambassador to China in 2017, many had hoped he would help smooth friction after Trump harshly criticized U.S. trade deals with Beijing during his 2016 campaign.

Yet U.S.-China relations have entered a downward spiral since the COVID-19 outbreak, leaving the folksy midwestern American ambassador little room to use his personal relationship to benefit bilateral relations.

"He must feel he was not performing a constructive function there," Schell added.

Branstad became embroiled in controversy last week when China's state-run newspaper People's Daily rejected an op-ed that he had written. Pompeo tweeted last week that this showed the lack of reciprocity in bilateral relations because the Chinese ambassador to the United States "is free to publish in any U.S. media outlet." China's foreign ministry spokesman said Branstad's article was "full of loopholes and seriously inconsistent with facts."

Schell, a long-time China analyst, said he believes Beijing must accept most of the responsibility for worsening bilateral relations.

"I think it's the whole framework of engagement that kept the two countries more or less stable for over 40 years," he said. "But that framework was essentially killed by China's very aggressive actions in the South China Sea, the Taiwan Strait, Hong Kong, and Xinjiang. And it was unnecessary."

A high-level official from the U.S. Department of State told VOA that during the ambassador's tenure, China maintained a policy of "seek common ground while shelving differences." The official, who asked not to be identified when discussing the current situation, said Beijing's tactic of ignoring policy differences has seriously damaged fundamental U.S. interests.

"The common ground is economic benefit, the difference, however, is differences on politics and universal values," the official said, adding that activities such as forced technology transfer from American companies "pose a severe challenge to America's fundamental national interest."

"The departure of an ambassador won't change anything in this dynamic," the official said.

David Miller, former director of Research and Commodity Services with the Iowa Farm Bureau, said Branstad might also be using his return to the U.S. to help Trump win the 2020 election in a closely fought battle with former Democratic vice president Joe Biden.

"Governor Branstad is well respected, particularly in Iowa. And Iowa is a swing state," Miller said.

CNN reported that Branstad is leaving his post earlier in part because Trump "asked" the former Iowa governor to come back and help him campaign. The ambassador's son, Eric Branstad, is already working on the Trump campaign.

Calla Yu contributed to this report.

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The creative force behind one of Australia's hottest new apps met each other by accident in an Uber.

David Wareing, Tim Nicholas and Silje Dreyer are the entrepreneurs behind GetReminded - a free digital platform dreamed up in a Sydney rideshare that reminds users when their bills, policies, mobile phone plans and insurance premiums are up for renewal.

According to the trio, the simple idea is saving users thousands of dollars a year, they told Daily Mail Australia.

David Wareing (left), Silje Dreyer (centre) and Tim Nicholas (right) are the entrepreneurs behind GetReminded

GetReminded is a free digital platform dreamed up in a Sydney rideshare that reminds users when their bills, policies, mobile phone plans and insurance premiums are up for renewal

It all started when Mr Wareing returned from overseas after spending about a decade working in motor vehicle marketing.

'The holy grail in automotive marketing was knowing when people wanted to change their car,' Mr Wareing said.

'I thought, instead of brands just spraying messages to people all the time, isn't it better to understand customers a little more, so they know what they need and when they need it?'

He had returned to Sydney and was working as an Uber driver when he picked up Mr Nicholas in 2017 - a digital marketing and website development specialist who had the kind of expertise needed to raise money, promote the concept and get the idea of the ground.

But the pair were still one short when it came to technical experience and design capabilities.

Until the day Ms Dreyer showed up in the back of Mr Wareing's Uber.

'I have a Master's in interactive design from the University of Sydney and had been working in the sector for a few years,' she said.

'When I met David I was very skeptical at first, but I was really intrigued and I just thought there might really be something here.

Mr Wareing was working as an Uber driver when he picked up Mr Nicholas in 2017 - a digital marketing and website development specialist who had the kind of expertise needed to raise money, promote the concept and get the idea of the ground

'We talked about the idea and I just had a gut feeling... I also had nothing to lose.'

In July 2017, the business went live.

'We started it with a website only. In the tech world they call it a minimum viable product - just to see what the take up would be,' Mr Nicholas said.

'We discovered very quickly that most people were accessing it on their mobile so we knew we have to build this as an app.

Ms Dreyer (pictured) said she had 'a gut feeling' there was something here

'We build version one of our app in just a few months with seed funding, now we are on version three.'

Australia has been a hotbed of start up success with billion-dollar unicorns like Atlassian, Afterpay, Nearmap, Airwallex and 10x Genomics.

GetReminded already has over 23,000 users in Australia and New Zealand, and last month the company launched in the UK and Ireland.

In the near future, GetReminded plans to expand into the US and other markets after securing more funding to scale up and raise brand awareness.

'There are some calendar apps and reminder services out there but nobody is replicating what we're doing,' Ms Dreyer said.

'What's unique is that it gives you a lot of reminders leading up expiry dates, most apps usually give you a reminder when it's too late and you don't have time to look for a better deal.'

'We are not trying to be a bill paying app, we are not a comparison site, we are not fintech, we are not lending money to people, we are just focused on giving users good consumer help,' Mr Wareing said.
Regulatory News:

THERADIAG (Paris:ALTER) (ISIN: FR0004197747, Ticker: ALTER, eligible for the French PEA-PME personal equity plan), a company specializing in in vitro diagnostics and theranostics, is pleased to announce the launch of four new i-Tracker assays designed to run on the automated IDS-iSYS analyser. These assays were developed by Theradiag to address the rapidly growing market of biologics drug monitoring.

The four i-Tracker assays: i-Tracker Infliximab, i-Tracker Anti-Infliximab, i-Tracker Adalimumab and i-Tracker Anti-Adalimumab were previously launched on the i-Track10 analyser, an instrument manufactured by IDS for Theradiag.

In the six months since the Theradiag launch, the assays have undergone validation on the IDS-iSYS analyser and are now available for use on the installed base of IDS-iSYS analysers in countries accepting the CE mark.

About Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM) of Biologics

Biologic drugs such as Infliximab and Adalimumab have revolutionized the management of Chronic Inflammatory Diseases such as Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Rheumatoid Arthritis, and Psoriasis. A significant proportion of patients may still experience either non-response to the therapy or a loss of response over time.

TDM assays provide information for therapeutic decisions to maximize response and minimize overexposure to the drugs, and their use is included in many clinical guidelines. It is estimated that around 2 million patients worldwide are treated with Infliximab and Adalimumab.

About the i-Tracker tests

The i-Tracker tests are the first random access automated chemiluminescent (CLIA) tests for TDM of Biologics and give precise results in a very short time for an immediate adjustment of treatment by clinicians.

The drug measurement kits measure the serum/plasma levels of biologics which are used in the treatment of many inflammatory diseases. The Anti-drug kits measure the antibodies that a patient may raise against the drugs, causing a decrease in treatment efficacy. The kits are validated both on the princeps molecules and on biosimilars and are standardized according to the international standards of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Bertrand de Castelnau, CEO of Theradiag commented: "Theradiag was the first to introduce the random access approach and the CLIA technology for its range of TDM of Biologics and we are glad to now make these products available for the many users of IDS-iSYS instruments. Access to this large installed base will help increase adoption of TDM for the well-being of patients."

Jaap Stuut, CEO of IDS added: "We are pleased to see that validation of these biologics monitoring markers has been completed successfully. IDS has distribution rights for these unique assays in a number of key markets, and making the kits available to our installed base of customers is a crucial step in the distribution strategy. These tests also complement our continued focus on auto-immune diseases, as therapeutic drug monitoring is often performed by the same immunology teams."

Theradiag's financial calendar:

H1 2020 results, Monday, September 21, 2020

About IDS

IDS is a specialist in-vitro diagnostic provider to the clinical laboratory market. IDS develops, manufactures and markets innovative immunoassays and automated immuno-analyser technologies to provide improved diagnostic outcomes for patients.

IDS is headquartered in Boldon, UK, and listed on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange. Website: www.idsplc.com

About Theradiag

Theradiag is the market leader in biotherapy monitoring. Capitalizing on its expertise in the diagnostics market, the Company has been developing, manufacturing and marketing innovative in vitro diagnostic (IVD) tests for over 30 years. Theradiag pioneered "theranostics" testing (combining therapy with diagnosis), which measures the efficacy of biotherapy in the treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases. Going beyond mere diagnosis, theranostics aims to help clinicians set up "customized treatment" for each patient. This method favors the individualization of treatment, evaluation of its efficacy and the prevention of drug resistance. In response to this challenge, Theradiag develops and markets the CE-marked TRACKER range, a comprehensive solution of inestimable medical value.

The Company is based in Marne-la-Vallee, near Paris, has operations in over 70 countries and employs over 60 people. In 2019, the Company posted revenue of 9.6 million. The Theradiag share is listed on Euronext Growth Paris (ISIN: FR0004197747) and is eligible for the French PEA-PME personal equity plan. For more information about Theradiag, please visit our website: www.theradiag.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200915006194/en/

Contacts:

Theradiag

Bertrand de Castelnau

CEO/Managing Director

Tel.: +33 (0)1 64 62 10 12

contact@theradiag.com



NewCap

Financial Communications Investor Relations

Sandrine Boussard-Gallien

Quentin Masse

Tel.: +33 (0)1 44 71 94 94

theradiag@newcap.eu



NewCap

Media Relations

Nicolas Merigeau

Tel.: +33 (0)1 44 71 94 98

nmerigeau@newcap.fr
Indore, Sep 17 : Worst fears about systemic failure on the coronavirus testing came true on Monday in Tana village in Madhya Pradesh's Dhar district when many persons tested positive for Covid-19 even without offering their swab or blood samples, officials said on Wednesday.

Health department technician Guman Singh apparently decided to test the efficiency of the laboratory where samples are sent for examination. He had been hearing complaints about the loopholes in the testing system.

He collected only four samples from the village.

The health department team collected the names and other details of 15 other persons without taking their samples. Many of them were not even not in the village at that time.

Singh is said to have admitted having manipulated the samples. He said when many villagers had been suspecting the genuineness of the tests. So, he sent 20 test kits without the swab samples for the examination to the laboratory, he said. Most of them had just been dipped in plain water, Guman Singh claimed on a television channel.

The block community mobiliser (BCM) Bachhan Mujalda whose services along with Guman Singh have been terminated is reported to have sent the "blank" samples to the laboratory without even bothering to inform the villagers.

The unsuspecting villagers received the messages for testing positive though they had not offered their samples for testing.

District Collector Alok Kumar Singh said that a Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) was sent for the investigation when villagers of Tana complained of having received the fake messages.

"Initial investigation revealed the carelessness of a block community mobiliser (BCM) and technician in this work. Possibly, the samples collected from some other persons were mixed in the test kits sent on the names of persons, who did not give samples," the collector said on Wednesday.

The services of BCM Bachchan Mujalda and technician Guman Singh have been terminated with immediate effect, he said. This was done after the incident caused panic among villagers. Further investigation is underway, said the collector.

"I was in Bhopal when the samples were collected from the village. Only four samples were collected from the village. The health department team collected the names and other details of 15 other persons without taking their samples," said Kamal Mujalda, who had received the message about his sample being found positive.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Kate Carnell at the National Press Club in Canberra, Australia, on July 29, 2020. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas)

Victorian Grants Do Not Restore Confidence Says Small Business Ombudsman

The Victorian governments multi-billion-dollar support package to restart the states economy is facing backlash.

Small-business advocates say it does little to dispel the lack of confidence that strict restrictions have brought, with many company owners uncertain the cautious roadmap will ever enable them to restart operating.

Announced on Sept. 13 and 14 the $3 billion business support package and the $290m million cash grant are aimed at rejuvenating the hospitality industry in the state.

However with grants exceeding no more than $20, 000 for companies that earn more than $10 million and $10,000 for sole traders and small businesses some are not sure if the financial aid provides enough support.

Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, Kate Carnell said she does not believe these particular grants will go very far.

The fact is, there is a lack of confidence that [the lockdown] wont end, she told the Epoch Times.

Its a confidence-sapping thing; its really hard for small businesses to deal with that, its hard enough to be able to afford to open again  to get up and running again, Carnell said.

For all hospitality and retail businesses to completely open up after Oct. 26 the state must lower its COVID-19 cases to meet the threshold along the state governments four-step roadmap.

The third step of the plan requires the state to have a 14-day average of fewer than five cases of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as novel coronavirus. Unknown cases must also meet the same targets.

Currently the state of Victorias 14 day average of virus cases is 53.6.

Victorian Liberal Opposition Leader Michael OBrien agrees with Carnell that the grant is not enough.

Victorian businesses dont want welfare, they just want the opportunity to safely reopen with a COVID plan, he told the Epoch Times.

Premier Daniel Andrews though has maintained that his roadmap is the safest and best way to a COVID normal state. Andrews reiterated that health matters are more of a priority than economic stability at this stage.

When we get to the budget later in the year we will have much more to say about driving confidence, demand, investment, profitability, getting people back to work, finding that COVID normal and doing the economic repair work which is essential. But you have to deal with the health issue first, he said at a press conference Sept. 15.

But that is little help to small business owners like Michelle Loielo from the Mornington Penisula.

Loielo who had to restructure her business radically, Unica Cucina e Caffe to survive the economic downturn told The Epoch Times that its unlikely the governments grant will effectively help her.

Related Coverage Love Unites Mornington Peninsula Foodies and Restaurants Amid Lockdown

Asserting that the money does not cover enough of the running costs of her business Loielo noted that the roadmap does not fill her with confidence.

It doesnt to me reflect any sense of businesses reopening, it doesnt reflect any strategic plan they may have moving forward in terms of dealing with the virus if there is another outbreak, it is basically a lolly to get us to shut up, she said.
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U.S. Air Force Airmen with the 75th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron prepare to load cargo onto a C-130J Super Hercules at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti on June 18, 2020. The squadron provides strategic airlift capabilities across the Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa area of responsibility.

analysis

Recent media reports claim that a covert Kenyan paramilitary team is responsible for the unconstitutional killing of terror suspects in nighttime raids. The reports are based on interviews with US and Kenyan diplomatic and intelligence officials.

The team was trained, armed and supported by US and British intelligence officers.

It has been reported that since 2004, a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) programme has been operational in Kenya without public scrutiny. For its part, the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) has played a key role in identifying, tracking and fixing the location of targets.

This has drawn renewed attention to the reality of widespread foreign security operations in Africa.

Several African governments are hosting foreign military bases. This is despite the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council's ongoing concerns about the proliferation of foreign military bases on the continent. The AU is also concerned about its inability to monitor the movement of weapons to and from these military bases. Regardless, a host of bilateral agreements between AU member states and foreign powers underlie the spread of foreign military forces across the continent.

At least 13 foreign powers have a substantial military presence on the continent. The US and France are at the forefront of conducting operations on African soil.

Moreover, private military groups are active in several conflict zones on African soil. Northern Mozambique is the most recent case.

These dynamics coincide with claims that Russian MiG-29 and Su-24 warplanes have now conducted missions in Libya in support of Kremlin-backed private military forces to extend Moscow's influence in Africa.

Military base mapping

Currently, the US has 7,000 military personnel on rotational deployment in Africa. These troops carry out joint operations with African forces against extremists or jihadists. They are hosted in military outposts across the continent, including Uganda, South Sudan, Senegal, Niger, Gabon, Cameroon, Burkina Faso and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In addition, 2,000 American soldiers are involved in training missions in 40 African countries. American special forces operate across east Africa in so-called forward operation locations in Kenya and Somalia.

Like the US, France has either deployed military forces or established bases in a number of African countries. The country has more than 7,500 military personnel currently serving on the continent. Its largest presence is in the Sahel, especially in the border zone linking Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

The presence of foreign military forces in Africa is not limited to Western powers. China has been particularly active with its military presence in the Horn of Africa. It has become more engaged since 2008 when it participated in the multinational anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden.

Since then China has maintained an anti-piracy naval presence in the Horn of Africa and Gulf of Aden. Between 2008 and 2018, the Chinese Navy deployed 26,000 military personnel in a variety of maritime security operations.

In 2017, China inaugurated its first overseas military base in Djibouti. This came after the US established Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti in 2003.

Lemonnier was established alongside French, Italian, Spanish, German and Japanese bases. China has developed a 36-hectare military facility to host several thousand Chinese troops and provide facilities for ships, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.

China's military base in Djibouti was set up to support five mission areas. These are counter-piracy in the Gulf of Aden; intelligence collection on other countries; noncombat evacuation of Chinese citizens in East Africa; international peacekeeping operations where Chinese soldiers are deployed; and counter-terrorism operations.

India is another Asian nation that has increased its naval presence in Africa. The country has established a network of military facilities across the Indian Ocean to counter China's rising military footprint in the region.

It also wants to protect its commercial sea lanes from piracy.

India has ongoing deployments that monitor developments in the Horn of Africa and Madagascar. The country also plans to establish 32 coastal radar surveillance stations with sites in the Seychelles, Mauritius, and other locations outside Africa.

When it comes to the Middle East, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are the two countries with a notable military presence in Africa.

Turkey joined the international counter-piracy task force off the Somali coast in 2009. In 2017, it opened a military base in Mogadishu, Somalia. The purpose is to train recruits for the Somali National Army. Turkey will also support the Somali navy and coastguard.

The UAE has had a military base in Eritrea since 2015. It comprises a military airfield with aircraft shelters and a deepwater naval port. The base has been used in operations against opposition forces in Yemen.

Foreign military motivations

It is clear that the Horn is the epicentre of foreign military activity in Africa. Foreign troops have been deployed there to counter threats to international peace, subdue terror groups and pirates, and support foreign security initiatives.

But there are other motivations to establish military bases in Africa. These include protection of commercial interests, aligning with friendly regimes, and expressing dominance on a continent that is the focus of rising global competition.

Of course, Africa is not the exception. The US, for example, also maintains a substantial military and security presence in the Gulf region. It has bases in countries such as Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and UAE.

For some observers it might seem like foreign governments are imposing their militaries on Africa, but, in fact, many African governments are keen to host them.

Bilateral agreements with major powers generate income for African states. The opening of China's military base in Djibouti is a case in point. Most of Djibouti's economy relies on Chinese credit.

The presence of foreign military forces has also played a significant role in fighting terror groups. These include groups like al-Shabaab in East Africa and jihadists in Mali. This explains why several African countries are willing to turn to foreign governments for advice, intelligence and support.

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But there is a downside to the presence of foreign forces on the continent. For instance, the African security landscape has become overcrowded by a multiplicity of foreign security and military activities. These activities often function at cross purposes.

The competition among some of the world's powers has been heightened by the increasing presence of Asian powers. China's expanding presence in Djibouti has caused concern.

Its influence in Africa and the Indian Ocean has ruffled feathers within Japanese and Indian political and security circles. A Chinese monopoly could impede their engagement with the continent.

Finally, African countries are not agreed on how to regulate foreign security and military activities. The approach so far has been disjointed.

Though Africa's peacekeeping capacity has increased significantly, the AU is still highly dependent on external funding and resources for its peacekeeping operations. It does not have the freedom to take independent strategic, operational and even tactical decisions in its operations.

As long as these shortcomings exist in Africa's response to armed conflict, foreign militaries and intelligence services will continue to operate on the continent.

These are matters that have to be addressed before African states can heed the AU Peace and Security Council's concerns about extensive foreign military involvement on the continent.

Theo Neethling, Professor of Political Science, Department of Political Studies and Governance, University of the Free State
CAIRO - The head of Libyas U.N.-supported government said Wednesday night that he wants to hand over power to a new administration in October, amid peace talks on ending the countrys yearslong conflict.

Fayez Serraj said the U.N.-brokered talks between the countrys rival factions have led to a new preparatory phase to unify Libyan institutions and prepare for parliamentary and presidential elections.

I announce to everyone my sincere desire to hand over my duties to the next executive authority, no later than the end of next October, he declared in a televised speech from the capital, Tripoli.

Oil-rich Libya was plunged into chaos when a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 toppled longtime ruler Moammar Gadhafi, who was later killed. The country has since split between rival east- and west-based administrations, each backed by armed groups and foreign governments.

Eastern military commander Khalifa Hifter launched an offensive in April 2019 trying to capture Tripoli from Sarrajs government. But Hifters campaign collapsed in June when militias backing the U.N.-supported government, with heavy Turkish support, gained the upper hand, driving his forces from the outskirts of the capital and other western towns.

Under heavy international pressure, delegates from rivals camps met earlier this month and agreed on a preliminary deal that aims to guide the country toward elections within 18 months and demilitarize the contested city of Sirte. The city, which is controlled by Hifter, is the gateway to Libyas major oil fields and export terminals, also held by Hifter.

Talks are expected to resume soon in Geneva.

Sarraj, who arrived in Tripoli on Wednesday after a visit to his close ally Turkey, urged negotiators to quickly name the new administration to secure a peaceful and smooth transition.

Last month he called for a cease-fire and the demilitarization of Sirte and Jurfa area. Aguila Saleh, speaker of the rival eastern-based House of Representatives, supported Sarrajs proposal for demilitarizating Sirte, but he did not mention Jurfa, which includes a vital military airbase held by Hifter. The warring sides have been building up in and around Sirte.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at a news conference Wednesday that Libya requires a new political process.

That political process needs to renew the institutions that exist and, at the same time, to move for elections in an acceptable delay, he said. There are signs of hope.

Guterres said also there are promising contacts to agree on a lasting cease-fire rather than the currently existed military standstill.

Sarraj, a 60-year-old former architect, was appointed in 2015 to lead the presidential council, created by a political agreement that was signed by Libyas factions in Skhirat, Morocco.

That agreement, however, failed in its aim of creating a national government in Tripoli and ending the divide between the rival parliaments, governments and military coalitions in Libya, and the conflict morphed into a bloody proxy war.

Wednesdays announcement came amid protests over dire living conditions and corruption across the divided country. The demonstrations exposed a rift within the U.N.-supported government and led to a rival administration in the east to resign.

Hifter, who controls Libyas east and south, is supported by the United Arab Emirates, Russia, Jordan and Egypt. The Tripoli forces that hold the countrys west are supported by the wealthy Gulf state of Qatar and by Turkey, a bitter rival of Egypt and the UAE in a broader regional struggle over political Islam.

___

Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

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Linkedin Nina Loasana (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, September 16, 2020 16:53 492 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c452abbd 1 World COVID-19-vaccines,COVID-19-in-Indonesia,unicef,COVAX-Facility,Foreign-Minister-Retno-Marsudi,WHO,vaksin,vaksin-merah-putih Free

The Health Ministry and the United Nations International Childrens Fund (UNICEF) signed on Wednesday an agreement on the procurement of COVID-19 vaccine under the COVAX Facility, a global COVID-19 vaccine allocation plan co-led by the World Health Organization (WHO) that aims to help buy and fairly distribute the vaccine.

Through this agreement, Indonesia could ensure access to COVAX's COVID-19 vaccines once they were available, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said.

"Since the very beginning of the pandemic, Indonesia has consistently underlined the importance of safe, effective and affordable vaccines [...] We developed cooperation through bilateral and multilateral tracks [for vaccine procurement]," Retno said on Wednesday.

"It is my strong hope that through this memorandum of understanding [MoU], once [COVID-19] vaccine is available we won't have any delay in delivering it to the people," she added.

UNICEF representative to Indonesia Debora Comini said all countries participating in the COVAX scheme would have special access to the vaccine at affordable prices, once it is available.

"All participating countries will have special access at affordable prices, Indonesia is going to be part of this very important initiative," Debora said.

Read also: China coronavirus vaccine may be ready for public in November

She explained that the MoU signing would also allow domestically manufactured COVID-19 vaccines, such as the Merah Putih vaccine, to be placed in the international market through UNICEF's supply division.

Through the agreement, Indonesia will also have access to vaccines for other diseases such as the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) against pneumococcal disease.

"This [PCV] vaccine could save 10,000 children per year in Indonesia," she said.

According to Retno, Indonesia would receive financial assistance for COVAX's COVID-19 vaccine procurement through the Official Development Assistance (ODA) mechanism.

"We're maintaining intensive communication with the COVAX Facility and the Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunization [GAVI], including about [the vaccine's] price, availability, etc. We predict that this vaccine will be available in 2021," she said.

"With the ODA financial assistance, the vaccine would be more affordable than through other means of procurement," she added.

Read also: Jokowi forms national team to accelerate vaccine development

Seventy-six wealthy nations are now committed to joining the COVAX Facility, including Japan, Norway and Germany.

Besides the WHO, COVAX is also co-led by GAVI and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), and is designed to discourage national governments from hoarding COVID-19 vaccine and to focus on first vaccinating the most high-risk people in every country.

Its backers say this strategy should lead to lower vaccine costs for everyone and a swifter end to the pandemic that has claimed some 926,000 lives globally as per Tuesday.

Wealthy countries that join COVAX will finance the vaccine purchases from their national budgets, and will partner with 92 poorer nations supported through voluntary donations to the plan to ensure vaccines are delivered equitably.

COVAX's aim is to procure and deliver 2 billion doses of approved vaccines by the end of 2021. It currently has nine COVID-19 candidate vaccines in its portfolio, which employ a range of different technologies and scientific approaches.
DropKey Pop-up Studio in a Bag We solved a difficult physics problem in light using artificial intelligence to make perfect live background replacement with no rotoscoping or post-production.

KiwiTech, LLC, a tech accelerator that helps early to growth-stage companies scale quickly, today entered into a strategic partnership agreement with DropKey, Inc., a Silicon Beach startup that offers the DropKey app and Pop-up Studio in a Bag, a portable, inflatable green screen Chroma key background kit with pro audio and bright lights. To date, DropKey has raised a seed round of $1.1M and is currently raising a pre Series A round of $1M to launch DropKey and MediaBook.tv, a store for curated video clips used as searchable location shots in live Chroma key processing on smartphones.

We are thrilled to partner with the amazing Academy and Emmy Award-winning team at DropKey to revolutionize the way the world shoots live HD green-screen background replacement videos on smart devices," said Rakesh Gupta, Co-Founder and CEO of KiwiTech. "Drawing on our deep expertise in established and emerging technologies, we look forward to helping DropKey further their mission to create their platform and ecosystem for shooting live Chroma key in any location...all from their own Hollywood Pop-up Studio.

At DropKey, we solved a difficult physics problem in light using artificial intelligence to make perfect live background replacement with no rotoscoping or post-production, said Rockwell Scharer, Founder and CEO of DropKey. We enable amateurs and pros to have their own Hollywood Movie Studio in their second bedroom for just a few hundred bucks.

Our DropKey camera app and Pop-up Studio in a Bag is the only turnkey solution on the market that comes with an entire ecosystem, which includes MediaBook.tv, our eCommerce store for curated video clips used as loop-able location shots, not just fun backgrounds. Our TAM is a percentage of 2.1 billion daily active users of the Facebook Live App that want to level up their content creation using DropKeys patented, proprietary technology with SAAS Media Asset Management in the cloud. Consumers and small businesses can use our subscription model to choose marketing templates that include teleprompter and text to make commercials using any HD location they want. Shooting all day in locations they find on Mediabook.tv is something amateurs never could have imagined  all from their own home. Its a revolution in content creation.

"Every startup has its challenges and we couldn't be more excited about our strategic partnership with KiwiTech to help us meet ours."

About DropKey

The DropKey Pop-up Studio in a Bag is a portable, inflatable green-screen with bright lights, pro audio and HD background replacement. The DropKey camera app pairs via Wi-Fi with the worlds first Pop-up Studio In A Bag using artificial intelligence to obtain a perfect key with no post-production. The companys mission is to Consumerize, de-mystify and make cheaper an incredibly difficult, time-consuming process that all professional content creators use every day to make super high-quality content. This major disruption in content creation will create huge opportunities for amateur media producers to compete with networks using our tools on their iPhones. For more information, see https://dropkey.com.

About KiwiTech

Over the last decade, KiwiTech has led innovation across multiple verticals scaling businesses in the tech space. KiwiTech intimately understands the challenges faced by new founders, aspiring unicorns and established leaders and works closely with them to realize their passion and purpose. Through its extensive relationships and expertise, KiwiTech brings a perspective that helps strategically connect technology creators with technology consumers. KiwiTech is an ecosystem of proactive investors and advisors who are passionate about building technology, supporting entrepreneurship, and helping companies realize their maximum potential. For more information, see http://www.kiwitech.com.
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U.S. lawmakers blasted Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration over the failure of the 737 MAX jet following two fatal crashes.

A U.S. House committee report said the crashes were not the result of a single factor  but rather, what it called the horrific culmination of a series of faulty technical assumptions by Boeings engineers, a lack of transparency on the part of Boeings management, and grossly insufficient oversight by the FAA.

Specifically it said Boeing made faulty design and performance assumptions regarding its key safety system called MCAS. That system was linked to both the Lion Air jet that crashed in Indonesia in 2018 and the Ethiopian Airlines crash in 2019. The report said Boeing even concealed the very existence of MCAS from 737 MAX pilots.

It also said the aerospace giant had withheld crucial information from the FAA and its customers in addition to its pilots.

Boeing said it - in its words - learned many hard lessons from the accidents and from its mistakes. It said it had fully cooperated with the House panel and that revised design work on the 737 MAX had received intensive review.

The House report also said the Federal Aviation Administration had failed to ensure the safety of travelers. In a statement, the FAA said it is focused on improving its organization, processes and culture to boost safety. It also said it would work with lawmakers to implement improvements named in the report.
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP)  Venezuelas chief prosecutor on Monday said a U.S. citizen recently arrested in the country as a suspected spy has been charged in an alleged terrorist plot to sabotage oil refineries and electrical service in order to stir unrest.

The man, alleged to have CIA ties, had help from three Venezuelan conspirators, who were arrested with him last week near a pair of oil refineries on the country's north Caribbean coast, Venezuela's Chief Prosecutor Tarek William Saab said on state television.

The office gave the U.S. suspect's name as Matthew John Heath.

Authorities said cellphones taken from the men when they were arrested last week include images of suspected targets, including a large bridge in Zulia state, military installations and dilapidated oil refineries in Falcon state. The prosecutor showed pictures of equipment allegedly seized from the group, including a grenade launcher, plastic explosives, a satellite phone and a bag of U.S. dollars.

Everything here could qualify as a lethal weapon designed to cause harm and to promote assassinations, crimes against the people of Venezuela, said Saab, who also accused the man of planning to open a drug trafficking route through Venezuela.

President Nicolas Maduro announced on Friday that an unnamed suspected U.S. spy had been captured, saying he was a Marine and former CIA operative in Iraq.

Heath has been charged with terrorism, trafficking illegal weapons and conspiracy, authorities said.

U.S. authorities have not commented on the case. The Associated Press was unable to make immediate contact with Heath, an attorney or a relative representing him for comment on the accusations.

The arrest surfaced as this nation, once wealthy from oil, has been gripped by a deep gasoline shortage that has sparked mile-long lines to fuel up, even in the capital of Caracas. Venezuela also struggles to provide electricity to residents, especially in Zulia state, once a major hub of the nation's vast oil production.

Story continues

Heath is accused of targeting the Amuay and Cardon refineries  part of the massive Paraguana Refinery Complex on Venezuelas northern Caribbean coast. However, the refineries have ceased producing gasoline, and Venezuela depends on shipments from Iran, despite having the world's largest oil reserves.

He is accused of entering Venezuela illegally, the prosecutor said, adding that he didn't have a passport but rather had a copy of it hidden in one of his shoes. The three Venezuelans accused of conspiring with Heath include a military officer, Saab said.

The investigation also landed the arrest of four other Venezuelans accused of helping him sneak into the country from Colombia, authorities said.

Saab said Heath had worked in Iraq as a communications specialist three months each year from 2006 to 2016 for MVM Inc., a Virginia-based private security contracting company.

MVM provided a statement to the AP saying that Heath is not currently an employee or contractor with the firm.

The U.S. Marine Corps said it had a record of a man by the same name who served from 1999 to 2003, but it could not confirm that this was the same person detained in Venezuela. Military records showed the decorated Marine was a specialist in communication.

This arrest follows a failed beach incursion in early May that landed two ex-Green Beret soldiers in a Venezuelan jail for allegedly participating in a failed attempt to overthrow the socialist government.

The two former U.S. special forces soldiers were arrested along with more than 80 rebel Venezuelan fighters who staged a failed beach attack called Operation Gideon aimed at arresting Maduro.

The operation mounted from makeshift training camps in neighboring Colombia left several rebels dead. It was orchestrated by Jordan Goudreau, an American citizen and three-time Bronze Star recipient who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The ex-Green Berets in Goudreau's force  Luke Denman Airan Berry Venezuela  have been sentenced to 20 years in prison. Authorities say the two men confessed to being part of the plot.

While the Trump administration denied having anything to do with the bungled May incursion, Washington backs Venezuelan opposition politician Juan Guaido as the country's legitimate leader in place of Maduro.

___

Follow Scott Smith on Twitter: @ScottSmithAP
Delaware Democrats on Tuesday nominated Sarah McBride, a transgender rights activist, for a State Senate seat, advancing her bid to become the nations highest-ranking openly transgender elected official.

Ms. McBride, 30, defeated a token primary challenger and is widely expected to win the November general election  the Wilmington-based seat is safely Democratic and is being vacated by Harris B. McDowell III, who is retiring after representing the district for 44 years.

Ms. McBride said in an interview that she wanted her victory to inspire others. My hope is that this result can help reinforce for a young kid trying to find their place in this world, here in Delaware or anywhere else in this country, that this democracy is big enough for them, too, she said.

Right now in America, we are seeing voices that for so long were pushed to the margins and to the shadows finally being heard, she added.
What does it mean that we now practically elect our Supreme Court justices?

True, theyre supposed to be nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, not elected, but thats becoming a quaint anachronism like other parts of the Constitution  the emoluments clause, say, or the idea that laws come from votes in Congress rather than executive orders.

In 2016, Donald Trump didnt simply promise to name conservative justices, he became the first presidential candidate to release a list of actual people, lower court judges, hed nominate for the Supreme Court. When conservatives pulled the lever for Mr. Trump that year, they knew they were also electing one or more of these judges to fill Justice Antonin Scalias seat. The list, which included Neil Gorsuch, is widely credited with helping Mr. Trump win the White House.

Now President Trump is at it again: He named 20 new conservatives hed consider for the court in a second term. Candidates for president owe the American people a specific list of the individuals, he claimed, so people can properly make a decision as to how they will vote.

Some liberal groups have urged Joe Biden to release his own list. During the Democratic primaries, he said he would offer no names. But he did commit to appointing a Black woman. All but one of the justices named since 1975 have been lower court judges, and there are (regrettably) only 10 Black women on federal and state supreme courts younger than 55 and appointed by Democrats. So Mr. Biden and his voters more or less have a list, too.
United Nations  Several members of the UN Security Council on Tuesday welcomed the inter-Libyan dialogue held in Bouznika and its outcome, considering it a "positive step" towards the rapid resumption of the political process and a way out of the crisis in Libya.

"The outcome of the mediation talks held in Switzerland and Morocco are positive steps towards the early resumption of the Libyan political process," according to a joint statement of the five current and incoming European members of the Security Council, namely Belgium, Estonia, France, Germany and Ireland.

This statement, made during a press conference at UN headquarters following the adoption by the Council of resolution 2542 which provides for the appointment "without delay" of a new UN special envoy to Libya, also insists that there is "no military solution to the Libyan conflict" and that the way out of the crisis can only be "political, in a spirit of inclusion, under the auspices of the United Nations".

Also, other member countries of the Security Council lauded the Libyan dialogue in Bouznika and the agreements reached in this regard.

Thus, South Africa hailed the holding of the inter-Libyan dialogue in Morocco. "We welcome the recent inter-Libyan dialogue hosted by the Kingdom of Morocco in Bouznika and the talks in Montreux, Switzerland, which could bring the various parties closer to a Libyan-led process that will hopefully result in a lasting peace in Libya," said South African ambassador to the UN in his explanation of vote on resolution 2542.

For his part, the Indonesian ambassador also expressed his country's appreciation for "international efforts" in favor of Libya, "including the facilitation of inter-Libyan dialogue by the Kingdom of Morocco".

Vietnam also commended the holding in Morocco of this dialogue which brought together delegations from the Tobruk Parliament and the Libyan High Council of State.
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The LA County Sheriff's Department has insisted a huge SWAT response and armed standoff with a carjacker was not related to the ambush of deputies in Compton over the weekend - despite huge speculation it was - as tensions continue to mount across the city.

Deonte Murray, 36, was arrested Tuesday over an alleged carjacking that resulted in a high speed police chase and the suspect holing up in a trash bin at the back of an apartment building in Lynwood, authorities said late Tuesday.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said there is no known connection between Murray and the gunman who shot two deputies in the head at the weekend, after conflicting reports from law enforcement sources and a massive police presence including helicopters, bomb squads and K-9 units drafted in to hunt for the suspect.

Two officers - 31-year-old Claudia Apolinar and her 24-year-old male colleague  were shot multiple times as they sat inside their patrol car outside the Metro Blue Line station at Willowbrook Avenue and Oak Street Saturday night.

Shocking surveillance footage captured the moment the black male suspect strolled up to the police cruiser and gunned the officers down at close range before fleeing the scene on foot.

Both officers survived and are said to be in a stable condition in hospital while a massive manhunt is underway for the gunman, who authorities said is between the ages of 28 and 30.

The LA County Sheriff's Department has insisted a huge SWAT response and armed standoff with a carjacker was not related to the ambush of deputies in Compton at the weekend - despite huge speculation it was - as tensions continue to mount across the city. Pictured the scene of the standoff

An armed carjacker led cops on a high speed chase through the Lynwood area of Compton Tuesday in what was thought to be connected to the ambush on LA deputies

The sheriff's department confirmed around 10 p.m. local time the carjacking suspect was taken into custody but said there was no link between the individual and Saturday's ambush.

'At this time there is no information that would lead us to believe that he is involved in the shooting of our deputies,' a department official said.

LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva had repeatedly denied any connection between the carjacking suspect and the gunman throughout Tuesday as the standoff rumbled on for around eight hours and residents were evacuated from the area.

Villanueva, who challenged LeBron James to match a reward to find the gunman responsible for shooting the two deputies earlier this week, told several media outlets the two incidents were unrelated and the search was for a carjacker.

However he provided no further details about the carjacker and there was a massive police presence in the area, including a bomb squad and two sheriff's helicopters.

Several law enforcement sources gave conflicting reports to NBC Los Angeles saying authorities were increasingly confident the suspected carjacker was connected to Saturday's attack.

They told the outlet the male suspect was wanted in connection with the weekend ambush but that the sheriff's department was not yet ready to provide details to the public.

Deputy Juanita Navarro-Suarez told City News Service she could not confirm whether the suspect was connected to the attack on her colleagues but also did not rule out a connection.

'At this time, it's just a carjacking suspect, but it's really important that we apprehend him and ID him to see if there's any nexus with the ambush,' she said.

Aerial footage showed multiple police cars continued to be on the scene as darkness fell, while the suspect's vehicle could be seen abandoned in the road

A huge search was underway in Lynwood for several hours for the armed suspect who was allegedly driving a light blue Toyota coupe and led cops on a chase

Deonte Murray, 36, was arrested Tuesday over an alleged carjacking that resulted in a high speed police chase and the suspect holing up around some homes in Lynwood, authorities said late Tuesday

A huge manhunt was launched in Lynwood for the armed suspect who was allegedly driving a light blue Toyota coupe through the residential area.

LA County Sheriff's Department deputies were in hot pursuit of the vehicle, which the driver then crashed along the 3100 block of Carlin Avenue.

Police sources said the driver fled from the vehicle into a nearby home or condo.

Officers evacuated people out of the area as the SWAT team prepared to search nearby homes for the suspect.

Aerial footage showed multiple police cars continued to be on the scene as darkness fell, while the suspect's vehicle could be seen abandoned in the road.

Authorities said in a press conference around 10 p.m. local time that Murray, of no known address, had been arrested over the incident.

They said Murray had been wanted in connection to a carjacking on September 1 where a 51-year-old man was shot in the leg with a rifle.

Murray was identified as the suspect and located in the Toyota Tuesday before he fled.

Officials said they finally located him in a trash bin behind an apartment with the help of K-9 unit.

They said the huge search was because they suspected Murray to be armed with the high-powered rifle used in the September 1 shooting and not because of any connection to Saturday's incident.

LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva repeatedly denied any connection between the carjacking suspect and the gunman but provided no further details about the carjacker

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said there is no known connection between Murray and the gunman who shot two deputies in the head at the weekend. SWAT teams search homes in the area Tuesday

The massive manhunt for the alleged carjacker comes as police continue their search for two main suspects involved in Saturday's ambush - the gunman and a suspected getaway driver who was seen driving the gunman away from the scene in a dark Mercedes.

The investigation has so far focused on two prominent Compton street gangs, sources said.

It was previously suggested that the shooting was a revenge attack for one of the spate of recent deaths of black men and women at the hands of cops across America.

Apolinar, a mother of a six-year-old, and her colleague each sustained multiple gunshot wounds in Saturday's attack.

The two cops - who both graduated from the Los Angeles Police Academy last year - both underwent surgery and are now in a stable condition.

Video released by cops showed the suspect approaching an LACSD vehicle parked outside the Metro Blue Line station and opening fire before he fled.

Despite taking multiple bullets  one to the face and several to her upper torso  Apolinar managed to get her partner to safety, apply a tourniquet and radio for help.

A photo of the aftermath of the attack shows Apolinar covered in blood, giving medical help to her injured partner who was also struck in the head.

Video released by the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department shows the moment that the male suspect opened fire on two deputies at a Compton bus station before fleeing on foot

FOX11 obtained a photo (above) of the female deputy, who was described as a 31-year-old mother of a six-year-old boy, covered in blood after she was shot in the jaw helping her colleague in the Saturday shooting

A harrowing dispatch call reveals a shaky voice called in the shooting, muttering: '998 Compton Pax.'

Recognizing the code for a deputy-involved shooting, a dispatcher asks: 'Just happened?'

The voice replies, almost unintelligibly, 'Compton Pax, deputies down. Compton Pax 998.'

The suspect, meanwhile, is described as a black male between 28 and 30 years old.

He was wearing dark clothing at the time of the shooting and was last seen in a black four-door sedan.

Fox News reporter William la Jeunesse said Monday: 'Los Angeles police will not say this publicly - but some believe this ambush was retaliation for some recent police shootings of black suspects in LA.'

On August 31 black man Dijon Kizzee was shot and killed by Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies after he was stopped for a traffic violation while riding a bike.

Claudia Apolinar, 31, was identified as one of the gunned down officers. She graduated from the Police Academy last year

At the beginning of this month the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors also voted to ask the coroner to conduct an inquest into the fatal deputy shooting of 18-year-old Andres Guardado on June 18.

Thousands have taken to the streets demanding justice and calling for an end to police brutality and racism since May following the 'murder' of black man George Floyd by a Minneapolis cop who knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes until he passed out and died.

Floyd's death reignited outrage over the death of EMT Breonna Taylor, 26, who was shot eight times while sleeping in her bed when three plain clothes officers performed a no-knock arrest warrant at her Louisville apartment on March 13.

In June, unarmed father Rayshard Brooks was shot dead while he ran away from cops in the drive-thru of a Wendy's restaurant in Atlanta.

On August 23, Jacob Blake was shot seven times in the back by a white cop in front of his three young children, leaving the father-of-six paralyzed from the waist down.

A week later on August 30, Dijon Kizzee, 29, was gunned down in the street by LA cops who allegedly shot him 20 times and then handcuffed his dead body after trying to pull him over for an alleged bicycle code violation.

In early September, footage was released by the family of Daniel Prude, 41, showing cops in Rochester, New York, putting a spit hood over his face and pushing his face into the ground for two minutes until he passed out and died on March 23.

The Monroe County medical examiner listed the manner of death as homicide caused by 'complications of asphyxia in the setting of physical restraint' but no charges have been brought against any of the cops.
ISTANBUL - Over 20,000 people since August 22 have violated mandatory home quarantine in Turkey after testing positive or having contracted coronavirus without requiring hospitalization, according to the Turkish interior ministry.



Previously, authorities announced that people who had violated quarantine rules would be forced to move to State-controlled dormitories. The controls carried out were over 3.3 million, the ministry said. Over the same period, the ministry added, nearly 10,000 people and retailers were fined for failing to respect preventive measures against Covid-19 and 178 stores were temporarily closed.
Pakistan on Wednesday violated ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) in Bandipora district of Jammu and Kashmir, a day after security forces foiled an infiltration bid. The Pakistani Army resorted to unprovoked firing in forward areas in Gurez sector of the district of north Kashmir.

Pakistani troops targeted forward posts of the area with mortars and other weapons at around 11.30 am, according to a police official. The shelling targeted forward defence locations in Bagtore area of Gurez sector.

A police official said, Ceasefire violation happened in Gurez, adding the Pakistan Army started an unprovoked ceasefire violation (CFV) along the Line of control in Bagtore area of Gurez, by resorting to unprovoked firing of mortars and other weapons at around 11:30 am today. Shelling targeted forward defence locations in Bagtore area of Gurez sector.

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He added that the Indian Army was giving a strong and befitting response. Heavy shelling was still going on from both sides when last reports came in. There was no immediate report of any causalities, said the official.

The official added, Indian Army personnel giving a strong and befitting response to. Heavy shelling still going on from both sides. however, there was no immediate report of any causalities."

On September 15, an infiltration bid was also foiled by alert security forces in the same sector. Security forces acted on specific inputs and launched search operations in forward areas of LoC during which suspicious movement was detected by forces. The suspected terrorists opened fire on the security forces before running away from the area.

Security forces have recovered a huge amount of arms and ammunition from the spot. The recovered items include one assault rifle with four magazines and 135 rounds, three pistols with 5 magazines and 120 rounds, one GPS set and four rucksacks. Search operations are still going on in the area.

Meanwhile, the Border Security Force (BSF) has foiled an infiltration bid by five terrorists from the Pakistan side in Jammu and Kashmir's Samba on the intervening night of September 14-15. As per the reports, the movement of a group of five terrorists was noticed in Pakistan side of International Boundary of Samba sector which was tracked by the BSF troops.

"At about 0030 hours, the group of heavily armed five terrorists were seen by BSF troops close to International Boundary on Pakistan side where they reached taking advantage of undulating ground and thick wild growth," said the BSF.

On September 15, an Indian Army jawan was martyred and two others, including an officer, were injured when Pakistani troops violated ceasefire in Rajouri district. In the afternoon hours, the Pakistani Army initiated unprovoked ceasefire violation by firing with small arms and intense shelling with mortars along LoC in Sunderbani sector of the district. The Indian Army retaliated befittingly. The officer, along with another soldier, is undergoing treatment at the military hospital, sources told news agency PTI.

The Centre on September 14 had said that there have been 3,186 incidents of ceasefire violations along the LoC in Jammu region in this year (from January 1 to September 7). In addition, 242 incidents of cross-border firing have occurred along Indo-Pak International Border in Jammu region in this year (January 1 to August 31).

There have been eight fatal casualties and two non-fatal casualties of Army personnel in Jammu and Kashmir in this year (till September 7, 2020). In addition, there have been five non-fatal casualties of Border Security Force (BSF) personnel occurred along International Border and Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir.

Appropriate retaliation to the ceasefire violations, as required, has been carried out by the Indian Army and the BSF. In addition, all the cases of ceasefire violations are taken up with Pakistan authorities through the established mechanisms of hotlines, flag meetings, Directorate General of Military Operations talks as well as diplomatic channels between the two countries.

Minister of State for Defence Shripad Naik said, replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha had said, "Appropriate retaliation to the ceasefire violations, as required, has been carried out by Indian Army/BSF."

Notwithstanding the coronavirus pandemic in the region, Pakistan has been resorting to unprovoked ceasefire violations along the LoC and making concerted efforts to push terrorists into Kashmir. The Pakistani hostilities increased after India announced its decision to withdraw the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcate the state into two union territories in August 2019. The Pakistan Army resorts to border shelling as a cover to help Pakistan-based terrorists infiltrate into Kashmir, according to Army officials.
The United States Department of Treasury on Tuesday sanctioned a Chinese state-owned entity, Union Development Group Co., Ltd. (UDG) for the seizure and demolition of local Cambodians land during construction of the Dara Sakor project in Cambodia.

The sanctions by the Treasurys Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), targets the perpetrators of serious human rights abuse and corruption under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, prohibit UDG from conducting business with any U.S. citizen, and cuts it off from the U.S. financial system, according to a press statement issued by the Department of OFAC.

READ |China imposes lockdown in city near Myanmar border after report of fresh COVID-19 cases

"After falsely registering as a Cambodian-owned entity in order to receive land for the Dara Sakor development project, UDG reverted to its true ownership and continued to operate without repercussions," Steven T. Mnuchin, Department of the Treasury Secretary, said.

"The United States is committed to using the full range of its authorities to target these practices wherever they occur," he added.

READ | Rajnath Singh's statement on LAC faceoff angers Congress; seeks expose of China's deceit

Following the order, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo tweeted, "Today, the United States imposed sanctions on PRC-owned Union Development Group, Ltd. for its role in corruption in Cambodia. We will not tolerate these actions against innocent people and will always stand with the Cambodian people."

Sanctions Implication by US Treasury

"All property and interests in property of the entity above, and of any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more by it, individually, or with other blocked persons, that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons, are blocked and must be reported to OFAC," the statement said.

Furthermore, the land granted to UDG as part of a lease by the Cambodian government extends into Botum Sakor National Park, a protected area that can only be handed over by royal decree. The Treasury Department stated that in order to obtain the land, UDG falsified its registration to hide its Chinese ownership. The Department further informed that China has used UDG's projects in Cambodia 'to advance ambitions to project power globally'.

"In order to receive the land, UDG registered itself as a Cambodian-owned company, headed by a Cambodian national, but nevertheless within three years of receiving the land, UDG switched back to being a Chinese-owned and operated company without repercussion," the statement read.



READ | CAIT urges Sachin Tendulkar to withdraw as ambassador of China-backed Paytm First Games

READ | US envoy accuses China of insincerity toward Southeast Asia

(With ANI inputs)
The administration of State Bank of India has launched an internal inquiry into the death of a coronavirus-infected manager of a rural branch near Vishakhapatnam following allegations of negligence.

The investigation was ordered after the SBI Officers Association alleged that Pitta Rajesh (39), who headed the Agency Laxmipuram village branch, died as he was forced to work despite being infected with coronavirus.

The official letter addressed to the general secretary, SBI Officers Association (Amaravati Circle), surfaced on the Twitter page of United Forum of Bank Unions, an umbrella body of nine bank unions with over 21,000 followers.

We Demand Death Sentence against AGM Vishakhapattanam FIMM, Manager HR & @TheOfficialSBIIts planned murder of an innocent Manager. Even SBI has voiltaed norms of DM Act.If @APPOLICE100 dont lodge FIR under IPC307 we will be forced to do protest infornt of CM Office.#KillerSBI pic.twitter.com/P335H8hpEv  United Forum of Bank Unions | #StayHome #StaySafe (@UFBUIndia) September 14, 2020

According to the association, Rajesh was suffering from mild fever since August 25, but was disallowed from taking leave as his field manager was also on a sick leave and the bank was already facing a manpower shortage.

The field manager eventually tested positive for COVID-19 on August 28 and by this time, Rajeshs health condition also worsened. The association has further alleged that when Rajesh reached out to both the regional manager and the banks human resource team on August 30 and 31 seeking medical leave, his request was rejected on the ground that deputation cannot be arranged where two officers are posted.

Rajesh could not undergo a COVID-19 test as the branch is located in a remote area with no testing centres. The association has alleged that the banks HR despite being aware that Rajesh had come in contact with a coronavirus-infected person, had compelled him to come to work.

When Rajeshs health condition deteriorated on September 1, his other colleague took him on a two-wheeler to a hospital that was 50km away. Rajesh was found to be severely COVID-positive through a RT-PCR test. However, even after informing his regional, he was allegedly asked to furnish proof of the same. He was finally sanctioned leave next day after he submitted his test reports.

It has also been alleged while Rajesh was undergoing treatment at a government hospital in his hometown Kakinada, he was forced to attend review meetings on August 5 and was subjected to constant humiliation by his seniors, before succumbing to the virus on 11 September.

While SBI is yet to officially issue a statement about the incident, News18 has learnt that a team from SBIs main office in Hyderabad reached Visakhapatnam on Wednesday to conduct an inquiry. The team will submit a report soon, following which the top management will take a call on whether there was any negligence on the part of the regional manager and HR.

Sources said a compensation package following norms has already been provided to the deceaseds family.

So, SBI mgmt woke up after a long hibernation & issued strict advisory (Again) to safeguard their employees from any possible COVID infection. Please let us know whether enquiry has been setup against RM & HR Manager for Not granting leave to late Mr. P Rajesh or not??@DFS_India https://t.co/xS3R8sXU6Z pic.twitter.com/0voMcB6cIV BankersUnited@Official (@Bankers_United) September 16, 2020

Meanwhile, members of the Union Forum of Bank Union have threatened to protest outside Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddys office if an FIR is not lodged against the accused.
by Sumon Corraya

The Holy Cross priest was a missionary in Bangladesh for 71 years. He died four days ago at the age of 97. He discovered at least 250 species of nematodes. He was committed to education, science, the poor and human rights. In 1987 he received the Ramon Magsaysay Award, the Asian Nobel Prize.

Dhaka (AsiaNews)  Fr Richard William Timm, a missionary with the Holy Cross Institute, passed away last Friday at the University of Notre Dame (Indiana, USA), at the age of 97.

Fr Timm was a legend in Bangladesh. An internationally renowned zoologist, he discovered at least 250 species of nematodes, roundworms found in wet soils or water.

As a friend of the country, he was an educator, author of many books and publications, committed to social development, and winner of the Magsaysay prize (the Asian Nobel Prize).

Fr James C. Cruze, superior of Holy Cross, remembers him as a great friend of Bangladesh, who loved the people of this land. He did not receive any government recognition, but Bangladeshi Catholics loved him very much.

Fr Timm was born in Michigan City on 2 March 1923. He was ordained a priest in 1949. After completing his studies, including a degree from the Catholic University of Washington DC, he arrived in Dhaka in November 1952 to work for Notre Dame College.

He immediately opened a science department and a debate club shortly thereafter to help students assimilate knowledge through discussions. He later also opened a Science Club.

He has discovered at least 250 species of nematodes, including the timmia parva, a marine nematode named after him. And his tome on biology has been used in the country for many years.

He was honoured for his contribution to Bangladeshs War of Liberation,

As a zoologist, he spent most of his time in the lab. But after the great cyclone of 1970 and the War of Liberation of 1971, he left everything to devote himself to relief and reconstruction work.

He spent many months on Manpura Island to save the lives of the poor and abandoned. This period changed his life.

Upon returning to Dhaka, he never returned to his educational role in the college, but got involved with Caritas Bangladesh and Justice and Peace, supporting human rights.

Understanding the need for non-governmental organizations, he formed an association, the Association of Development Agencies in Bangladesh (ADAB).

To support the human rights, he set up a Coordinating Council for Human Rights in Bangladesh (CCHRB).

His views and articles were published in Bangladesh and other countries. For all of this, he was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1987.

His confreres remember him as a man of strong faith and a good Catholic priest who served Bangladesh and the Church for 71 years.

During his stay in the country he edited the Dhaka Letter. He was also a historian, a writer for his institute and a spiritual director. One of the buildings of Notre Dame College was renamed after him.
Dreamworld has reopened to visitors as its parent company prepares to return to court over safety offences following the deaths of four tourists on the Thunder River Rapids Ride four years ago.

Ardent Leisure says 400 staff returned to work at the Gold Coast theme park on Wednesday after it closed in March due to COVID-19 health restrictions.

The gates were thrown open a fortnight before the company is scheduled to be sentenced on September 28 for breaching Queensland's Work Health and Safety Act.

Dreamworld has reopened to visitors as its parent company prepares to return to court over safety offences. Pictured: Patrons pose for photos at Dreamworld entrance on September 16

Dreamworld's Thunder River Rapids ride (pictured just after the incident) malfunctioned in October 2016, killing four people

Kate Goodchild (left) and her brother Luke Dorsett (right) were also killed in the tragedy

Roozi Araghi (left) from Canberra, and Sydney mother-of-two Cindy Low (right) were killed in the Thunder River Rapids ride tragedy at Dreamworld

Ardent Leisure says 400 staff returned to work at the Gold Coast theme park on Wednesday after it closed in March due to COVID-19 health restrictions

Ardent pleaded guilty in July to three counts of failing to comply with its health and safety duty and exposing individuals to a risk of serious injury or death.

The charges relate to the deaths of Cindy Low, Kate Goodchild, her brother Luke Dorsett and his partner Roozi Araghi.

The holidaymakers were killed on October 25, 2016, when they were thrown from a Thunder River Rapids Ride raft into a mechanised conveyor that moved the rafts below the water.

The raft had collided with another and partially flipped after becoming stuck when the ageing ride's water pump malfunctioned, causing water levels to fall dangerously low.

The pump failure was the third that day and the fifth in a week, and no automated shutdown function was installed despite recommendations.

Ms Goodchild's 12-year-old daughter and Ms Low's 10-year-old son survived the incident.

Dreamworld was closed in March, when Australia was feeling the beginning of COVID-19

Ardent pleaded guilty in July to three counts of failing to comply with its health and safety duty and exposing individuals to a risk of serious injury or death. Pictured: People at reopening of COVID-19

Queensland's Workplace Health and Safety prosecutor Aaron Guilfoyle said Ardent had failed to provide and maintain safe plant and structures, and systems of work at the 38-year-old park.

Each charge carries a maximum penalty of $1.5million.

Ardent is also fighting a shareholder class action in the Federal Court.

The case was filed in June to recoup the losses of people who bought shares in the theme park operator in the two years before the tragedy.
According to Armenias Investigative Committee, the contract soldier, Hovik Tamrazian, was killed by Azerbaijani sniper fire.

The Azerbaijani military said one of its servicemen was shot and wounded by Armenian forces in the same area on Tuesday. It accused the Armenian side of heightening tensions there.

The Armenian Defense Ministry denied that. It said its troops deployed in northern Tavush province are only countering Azerbaijani attempts to build new border fortifications dangerously close to their positions.

This situation has been like this for about two weeks, Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan told the Armenian parliament later on Wednesday. He said truce violations there have nearly doubled in recent days.

Tonoyan also said that the Armenian army will take appropriate actions in retaliation for its soldiers death. We hope that as a result of appropriate actions by our armed forces the ceasefire will hold and facilitate the negotiating process, he added.

The same border area between Tavush and the Tovuz district in western Azerbaijan was the scene of weeklong hostilities that broke out on July 12 and left at least 17 soldiers from both sides dead. The international community expressed serious concern over the clashes involving artillery and attack drones.

The conflicting parties reported no serious ceasefire violations along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and the line of contact around Nagorno-Karabakh in August.

The latest border skirmishes coincided with international mediators calls for Baku and Yerevan to prepare the ground for renewed talks on resolving the Karabakh conflict. The U.S., Russian and French co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group spoke separately by phone with the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers on Monday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged the parties late last month to prevent another flare-up of violence in the conflict zone.
Press Release

September 16, 2020 Bong Go urges DOH to expand suicide awareness to rural populations, youth; renews call to national agencies to prioritize expanding access to mental health care Senator and chair of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography Christopher "Bong" Go issued an urgent call to the Department of Health to improve suicide awareness among specific demographic sectors, particularly rural communities and the youth, following an increase in suicide rates. "Sana magkaroon ng mas malawak na program ang in-charge na agency sa suicide awareness. In a span of one month, marami pa ang nagpakamatay sa amin sa province kesa sa namatay sa COVID-19. It's really alarming kasi mga bata pa karamihan," said the Senator. Experts warn the overall stress of the COVID-19 pandemic and the financial strain it has caused had ushered in a second pandemic of mental illness and suicides. Unemployment, debt, isolation and anxiety are some of various external conditions that can induce high levels of stress which, in turn, can cause and worsen mental health problems. Following the imposition of community quarantine measures to contain the pandemic, many small farmers and fisherfolk as well as informal workers have had their daily earnings reduced or had lost their livelihoods. Rural areas, in particular, present many challenges for suicide prevention, including poor access to behavioral health care providers and mental health facilities. "Ang mental health issue ay hindi lang naman tungkol sa mga nag-suicide. Worst case na iyan. Karamihan sa mga mental health concerns natin ay ang anxiety, stress and depression caused by the pandemic. Dahil hindi na nakakalabas ng bahay, marami ay nalulungkot. Marami ang nawalan ng trabaho, hindi alam kung saan kukunin ang pambili ng pagkain, mga gamit sa blended schooling, katulad ng laptop, at pambayad sa tuition," continued Go. The Senator expressed concern that the mental health system remains under-funded and many Filipinos who have been receiving mental health treatment prior to the pandemic have likely been cut off from such services in areas under community quarantine. He reiterated his plea to the DOH and other concerned national agencies, such as the Department of Labor and Employment and Department of Social Welfare and Development, to prioritize expanding access to mental health care and psychosocial support services. He encouraged the national agencies to take advantage of online platforms (e.g. social media) and other technologies (e.g. mobile applications) through which they may provide free mental health services. Under Republic Act No. 11036, also known as the Mental Health Act, the DOH is mandated to develop and implement a national mental health program and, in coordination with relevant government agencies, improve awareness and promote effective strategies regarding mental health care. Go cited that primary mental health services are now integrated into basic health services and offered at the city, municipal and barangay level. The national government, through the DOH, is directed to fund the establishment of community-based mental health care facilities in provinces, cities and clusters of municipalities based on the needs of the population. The legislation also directs educational institutions, such as schools, to adopt pertinent policies and programs addressing mental health issues among their students, teachers and non-teaching staff. Earlier, the Senator praised the Department of Education for developing a series of psychosocial support and training to prepare parents, teachers, school heads and non-teaching personnel for the start of the 2020-2021 school year. The department launched an online training series to educate parents on their new roles in their children's education as well as a second training series for secondary teachers, school heads and non-teaching personnel on giving remote psychological first aid to learners. "With or without COVID-19, napaka-importante ng health, kalusugan po ng bawat Pilipino... Let me reiterate, let us learn from this pandemic and work together to strengthen our health care system and to better provide quality health care to our people," said Go. Go also assured the public that the Duterte administration will always prioritize the welfare of the poor and vulnerable sectors. He appealed to citizens to continue to cooperate with authorities and show compassion to fellow Filipinos in order to overcome the ongoing crisis as one united nation. "Magbayanihan po tayo at magmalasakit sa ating kapwa. Konting tiis lang po. Huwag kayo mawalan ng pag-asa dahil ginagawa namin ni Pangulong Duterte ang lahat ng aming makakaya para matulungan kayo," Go appealed, adding that once a COVID-19 vaccine is made available, government must ensure access to poor and vulnerable sectors. "Uunahin po namin palagi ang mga mahihirap. Ako naman po, bisyo ko ang magserbisyo, handa po akong magsilbi sa inyo lalo na sa oras ng inyong pangangailangan. Bukas po ang opisina ko para mapakinggan ang inyong hinaing at mabigyan ng solusyon ang inyong pang araw-araw na suliranin," he added.
(Reuters) - The top U.S. Food and Drug Administration official on Tuesday confirmed AstraZeneca Plc's U.S. COVID-19 vaccine trial is on hold, saying the agency is planning to do "very significant work" with the company as it conducts its investigation after an illness in a participant in Britain. "We're here to protect the American public and we're going to do very significant work with the company to figure out if there's a significant safety issue or not," FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said during an Instagram Live interview with Republican U.S. ...
New Delhi: Delhi Police have arrested a 32-year-old man for allegedly duping over 2,500 people on the pretext of getting them mobile phones on EMI through fake websites. He was arrested from Ghaziabad, the police said on Wednesday.

The man, who has been identified as Jitender Singh, disclosed to the police that he along with his associates - Praveen Kumar and Rajat Shukla - indulged in defrauding people by offering them to provide mobile phones on easy monthly installments.

However, after taking a small amount as down payment from them, they would vanish, the man told police. According to the police, Singh confessed to have duped over 2,500 people across the country this way. The police said that efforts are being made to trace Singh's associates Kumar and Shukla.

The matter came to notice when a probe was initiated on January 9 on the complaint of one Irfan Pathan, who alleged that in December last year, he wanted to buy a mobile phone and came across a website -- www.Mobilityworld.In -- which offered them on EMIs at cheap rates, the police said.

In order to make a purchase, he was asked to deposit Rs 1,499 by Virtual Private Address (VPA) ''paymobile@upi''. He was then contacted by the executives of the website who asked him to deposit further money for getting the mobile phone delivered.

Live TV

He deposited Rs. 5,998 in three transactions on VPA provided by the executive of the website. But he neither got any mobile phone nor did they return his money, according to the complainant.

Addressing a press conference, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) RP Meena said that during the course of the investigation, call details of the mobile numbers mentioned on the website and those provided by the complainant were obtained.

On analysis of the Call Detail Record, it was found that one of the mobile numbers used by the accused was registered on the name of Rajat Shukla. On analysing the details of VPA paymobile@upi', it was found that it was linked to a bank account of Rajat Shukla.

However, the money from the said bank account used to be immediately credited into Singh's account, he said. Singh was arrested later from his home in Ghaziabad on Tuesday and two mobile phones used by him in the commission of the crime were seized, he added.

During interrogation, Singh disclosed that in last two years, he along with his associates have duped people through three fake websites created by them, the police said. They shifted their setup and domain name of the websites to avoid detection and took small amounts ranging between Rs 1,999 to Rs 7,999 so that the victims would not approach the police.

(With Agency Inputs)
I.Coast parties nominate former president, ex-PM for election Ivory Coast former president Henri Konan Bedie, 86, has been officially nominated as his party's candidate for next month's election

Ivory Coast ex-president Henri Konan Bedie and former rebel leader Guillaume Soro were officially nominated on the weekend as the candidates of their opposition parties for next month's tense presidential election.

The vote in the country with a recent history of post-election violence has turned volatile after President Alassane Ouattara's handpicked successor died unexpectedly, prompting the incumbent to run for a contentious third term.

Former prime minister Soro, who intends to run from exile in France because he faces a long list of legal difficulties at home, was nominated as the candidate of his Generations and People in Solidarity (GPS) party on Sunday.

But the country's electoral commission has barred Soro from running in the October 31 vote as he was sentenced in April to 20 years in prison for "concealment of embezzlement of public funds".

GPS formally nominated Soro at a gathering of hundreds of supporters at a hotel in Abidjan.

"Our candidate is eligible for the next presidential election and he will win it," said party spokeswoman Minata Kone Zie.

"Let us unite our energies and our actions to impose a democratic alternative."

The country's main opposition party, PDCI, meanwhile nominated the 86-year-old Bedie as its candidate on Saturday.

In front of tens of thousands of supporters in the capital Yamoussoukro, Bedie called for opposition parties to unite behind him.

"I invite all political formations and political platforms, that want to, to support my candidacy," he said.

He pledged his government would take "concrete and immediate measures for the unconditional return of all exiles, as well as the release of all political, civilian and military prisoners from the post-election crisis".

Bedie is seeking to return to the presidency after he was ousted in the country's first coup in 1999.

Laurent Gbagbo was then elected president in 2000, but when Gbagbo refused to recognise Ouattara's 2010 election victory, months of violence followed in which around 3,000 people lost their lives.

Story continues

Gbagbo's supporters have filed for him to run in next month's election.

But he is also living in exile, sentenced in absentia to a 20-year term last year over the looting of the local branch of the Central Bank of West African States during the post-election crisis.

- Shadow of violence -

Soro's lawyers filed several requests to Ivory Coast's constitutional council over the past week to try to allow him in stand in the election.

But the electoral commission has said that anyone convicted of a crime cannot contest, and judicial sources have told AFP that Soro or Gbagbo are unlikely to be allowed to run.

The constitutional council is expected to release the list of validated candidates this week.

Unrest and uncertainty ahead of October's election has sparked fears that political violence could again return to the country.

Ouattara's announcement last month that he would run for a third term provoked protests that degenerated into violence, leaving around 15 dead.

Although the constitution limits presidents to two terms, Ouattara and his supporters argue that a 2016 constitutional tweak reset the clock.

The president had previously committed to not running again, but he changed his mind after the sudden death of prime minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly from a heart attack in July.

Bedie called Ouattara's tilt at a third term a "violation" of the constitution.

ck/pgf/dl/mtp
The Security Council of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) today held its first session chaired by President Arayik Haroutyunyan, as reported the Office of the President of Artsakh.

Several key security issues were on the agenda. Before discussing the issues on the agenda, President Haroutyunyan delivered a speech in which he stated that the main mission of the authorities of Artsakh in the security sector is guaranteeing the security of the population of Artsakh in the narrow sense and the security of the Armenian people in the broad sense.

Touching upon the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict as an environment conditioning the main security risks, Haroutyunyan stated that the Republic of Artsakh is ready for a peaceful settlement of the conflict, but has specific principles that underlie Artsakhs policy, including the following: the authorities of Artsakh must fully and completely participate in all stages of the process for a peaceful and ultimate settlement of the conflict; the sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and security of Artsakh cant be put at risk or bargained in any case; no option for settlement of the conflict can become a matter of substantive discussion between the parties without recognition of the exercise of the right of the people of Artsakh to self-determination; the attempts to use force and threat of force during the settlement of the conflict must be ruled out with specific guarantees; unilateral concessions or disproportionate and inadequate mutual concessions on the part of the authorities of Artsakh are ruled out in any option for settlement of the conflict; Armenian refugees and internally displaced persons need to be equally engaged in the settlement of the conflict and related processes along with Azerbaijani refugees and internally displaced persons; the international community, particularly the OSCE and co-chairing countries need to rule out the violations of and restrictions on the rights of the residents of Artsakh conditioned by the conflict and the international status of Artsakh.
Actor Chris Evans, who inadvertently posted a private picture on social media over the weekend, has thanked his fans for supporting him throught the embarrassing situation. The actor had shared a video on Instagram, which briefly revealed a glimpse of his camera roll, which contained the picture in question.

Look, it was a very interesting weekend, full of lessons learned, the Captain America actor said on the Tamron Hall show. You know, things happen. Its embarrassing but you gotta roll with the punches. I will say, I have some pretty fantastic fans who really came to my support. That was really, really nice.

Now that I have your attention

....



VOTE Nov 3rd!!!  Chris Evans (@ChrisEvans) September 15, 2020

The post was deleted quickly, but not before six million followers had been exposed to it. But the actors friends and fans were quick to support him. Mark Ruffalo, his co-star in the Marvel movies, tweeted, Bro, while Trump is in office there is NOTHING you could possibly do to embarrass yourself. See... silver lining. Actor Jameela Jamil wrote, You did it for your country. Meanwhile, Evans brother, actor Scott Evans wrote on Twitter, Was off social media for the day yesterday. So. Whatd I miss?

Even Evans seemed to have taken the gaffe in his stride. His first tweet post the incident was, Now that I have your attention... VOTE Nov 3rd. Jamie Lee Curtis, who worked with Evans on Knives Out, wrote in response, My boy! Proud of him. Got MY attention!

Also read: Chris Evans fans request respect for his privacy after he shares nude photo on Instagram by mistake

Chris Evans ended his Marvel journey with 2019s Avengers: Endgame, in which Captain America was given a fitting sendoff. The actor recently made his television starring debut with the Apple TV+ series Defending Jacob, and was recently announced to have joined the cast of The Gray Man, touted as the most expensive Netflix original film, directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, and co-starring Ryan Gosling.

Follow @htshowbiz for more

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Authorities in southern Germany say they've recorded three more cases of Covid-19 connected to a 26-year-old American woman suspected of flouting quarantine rules.

The latest cases take the total number of recent infections in the Alpine resort of Garmisch-Partenkirchen to 59.

It includes 25 staff at a hotel catering to US military personnel, where the woman worked.

Anton Speer, who heads the county administration, told reporters on Tuesday that authorities are still waiting for the results of about 300 tests conducted Monday and it was too soon to give the all-clear.

The three new infections were said to have emerged from 740 tests conducted over the weekend.

Bavarias governor, Markus Soeder, called the outbreak in Garmisch-Partenkirchen a model case of stupidity, saying the American woman had partied despite suffering with Covid-19 symptoms and awaiting a test result.

Such recklessness must have consequences, said Mr Soeder, who suggested the woman, who has not been named, could be fined for her actions.

That came as Andrea Mayer, a spokeswoman for prosecutors in Munich, said a preliminary investigation into the woman had been opened, on suspicion of causing bodily harm.

The investigation is ongoing, she told The Associated Press, who reported new 10pm curfews on bars and restaurants in the area, following the cases.

The Edelweiss Lodge and Resort, which is reserved for members of the American military, their families and veterans, also remains closed for two weeks.

John Tomassi, a spokesman for the US Army Europe said the military was carrying out its own investigation into the incident.

Germany has seen far fewer cases and coronavirus deaths than the United States, which has more than 32-times the number of infections and 20-times more deaths.

Additional reporting by the Associated Press.
Alex Albon has been a man under pressure in 2020.

FORMULA ONE: Thailands Alex Albon at long last stepped onto a Formula One podium at Mugello, but will it be enough to keep him in his plum Red Bull Racing seat?

Formula-One

By Michael Lamonato

Wednesday 16 September 2020, 12:47PM

Alex Albon has been a man under pressure in 2020. Photo: AFP

When Alex Albon opened his microphone after crossing the finish line third at the Tuscan Grand Prix he showed none of the exhilaration you might have expected from a racer at their first podium.

Thank you, everyone; thanks for everything, he radioed. Thanks for sticking with me.

But his words carried no less weight for their lack of jubilation.

Alex Albon has been a man under pressure in 2020. The innocence of an impressive rookie season lost, the jungle drums have been beating ever louder for the Thai occupying one of only four regular victory-contending seats.

Its easy to forget that only two years ago Albon had given up on his F1 dream when an unexpected vacancy at Toro Rosso, now named AlphaTauri, provided the opening he needed, and by last August he was thrust into the limelight of being a fully fledged Red Bull Racing driver.

His nine races at the senior team were solid, albeit unspectacular, but that was his rookie campaign; 2020 would be the real mark of the man.

The year got off to a cracking start, a likely victory in Austria wiped out only by a clash with an errant Lewis Hamilton, but the Thai has struggled since. On average half a second behind the Dutchman in qualifying and with 47 points fewer to his name, just twice this year has Albon has finished inside the top four, where is car comfortably belongs.

By contrast Verstappen has finished on the podium in every race hes finished, including one victory.

Piling on the pressure is that the man whose former seat Albon occupies, Pierre Gasly, is revitalised in AlphaTauris low-pressure environs. One of the years standout performers, the Frenchman banished his 2019 demons with a famous maiden win at Monza, a race Albon ended an anonymous 15th.

Red Bull holds the contracts to all four Red Bull Racing and AlphaTauri drivers and can switch them as it likes. Notoriously cut-throat, you either swim or sink.

But the team has notably mellowed this season. Whereas in 2019 Gasly was cut no slack against Verstappen, in 2020 team boss Christian Horner is publicly supportive and in an acknowledgement of the RB16s capriciousness has confirmed therell be no Gasly-Albon switchback this season.

But the sword still dangles for 2021, which is why Albons first podium offered as much relief as joy.

Hed qualified well at the physically challenging Mugello and survived the first-lap melee that claimed Verstappen and so many others for retirement, but at both standing restarts he lost positions, threatening to misalign the stars working in his favour.

But the cool aggression behind the wheel is yet to leave him during his struggles, and one by one he picked past his rivals to rise.

The last overtake was decisive. Faced with stern racer Daniel Ricciardo, Albon perfectly judged a move around the Australians outside, where the grip is low and the risk immense, and made it stick, rocketing into a third place he at long last held to the line.

It took a while to get here! he said. Its really nice to give the team something back after theyve supported me since day one and show them what I can do.

Undoubtedly talented and blessed with a sharp racing brain, Albon deserves a seat at the front - but youre only as good as your last result, and Albon has eight more races to argue his case.
Indian soldiers have a huge experience of winter warfare, said Indian Army officer on Wednesday, adding the troops are psychologically tuned to operate at a short notice. The comment comes on the back of bursts of bullets fired into the air last week on the northern bank of Pangong Tso amid a protracted stand-off with China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

It may be stated that retired Indian army generals and defence analysts anticipate a long haul and a hot winter in the eastern Ladakh this year.

India is a peace loving country and wishes to have good relations with its neighbours. India always prefers to resolve issues through dialogue. While talks are in progress to resolve the issue of borders with China in Eastern Ladakh, at military level it is well prepared for the prolonged stand-off, said the officer.

Also read: China blames India, claims its honouring border pacts

Altitudes in Ladakh range from high to super high and there is a lot of snowfall, after the month of November up to 40 feet of snow is experienced. Coupled with this, temperature dipping down to minus 30 to 40 degrees is a usual phenomenon. Wind chill factor makes matters even worse for the troops. The roads also get closed due to the snow. But despite all this, the most encouraging part for India is that the Indian soldiers have a huge experience of winter warfare and are psychologically tuned to operate at a short notice. While this fact is known to the world, the operational logistics capabilities are hardly known, he added.

It is important to understand that the Army has experience of Siachen where conditions are much more demanding than the frontiers with China.

Traditionally, there were two routes for moving into Ladakh, that is through Zojila and Rohtang Passes.

Recently, India commissioned the third road from Darcha to Leh which is much shorter distance wise and less prone to closure. Completion of Atal tunnel on the Rohtang route has force multiplied the logistic capacities.

Special fuel and lubricants for tanks and armoured personnel carriers have also been stocked adequately, including spares for their maintenance.

Water points and tube wells have been established for the troops and animals like mules and yaks.

The living barracks have also been prepared which are comfortable and warm. Facilities such as the central heating system are some of the high points of these facilities.

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Charles Chuck Feeney, the former billionaire co-founder of airport retail giant Duty Free Shoppers, is now broke after giving away his massive fortune to charity.

The 89-year-old, who lived a frugal life, has donated more than $8 billion to charities, universities and foundations worldwide through his foundation, the Atlantic Philanthropies.

Feeney had pioneered the idea of Giving While Living, the idea to spending ones fortune on big charitable donations during ones lifetime instead of creating a foundation upon death. He was famous for his promise that he will give all his money away to charitable causes, and he fulfilled his dream this month. And he insists he couldnt be happier.

We learned a lot. We would do some things differently, but I am very satisfied. I feel very good about completing this on my watch, Feeney told Forbes.

In 2012, Feeney said he set aside $2million for his and his wifes retirement with plans to donate the rest.

The philanthropist gave all of his money to charities anonymously, and even went to great lengths to keep his donations a secret. For that, he is known as the James Bond of Philanthropy.

Now, his extreme charitable contributions are no longer a secret. His foundation, which was dissolved on September 14, donated for efforts to bring peace to Northern Ireland, helped modernise the health care system of Vietnam, and focused on expanding education.

He gave $3.7billion to education  including nearly $1billion to his alma mater Cornell, more than $870million to human rights and social change. He also gave more than $700million in gifts to health causes ranging from a $270million grant to improve public healthcare in Vietnam to a $176million gift to the Global Brain Health Institute at the University of California, San Francisco.

One of his final gifts was a $350million donation to Cornell for the university to build a technology campus on New York Citys Roosevelt Island.

Not one to boast about giving his money away, Feney urged other billionaires to also take the Giving While Living pledge. Try it, youll like it is his message.

It was his generosity that had influenced Bill Gates and Warren Buffett in launching the Giving Pledge in 2010  a campaign for the worlds wealthy to give away at least half their fortune before death.

Chuck created a path for other philanthropists to follow. I remember meeting him before starting the Giving Pledge. He told me we should encourage people not to give just 50 percent but as much as possible during their lifetime. No one is a better example of that than Chuck. Many people talk to me about how he inspired them. It is truly amazing, Bill Gates said.

Today, the businessman lives in a modest apartment in San Francisco with a plaque that says Congratulations to Chuck Feeney for $8billion of philanthropic giving.
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked a committee appointed by the lieutenant-governor (L-G) of Delhi to immediately convene a meeting on priority to chalk out a strategy for increasing the number of RT-PCR tests in the national capital, saying that the rapid antigen test (RATs) was only 60% accurate.

A bench comprising justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad also asked the Delhi government to provide maps of all community centres and mohalla clinics where testing would be conducted after it told the court that Geospatial Delhi Limited (GSDL) would map test centres in the city.

The court said the Delhi government should ensure that while getting the mapping done, the density of the population in a particular district and the number of containment zones in a district are taken into consideration. And wherever there is a distance between the testing facilities, the dots should be connected with the help of mohalla clinics and community centres, it said.

A requisite number of mohalla clinics and community centres shall be identified in each district and included in the mapping being undertaken by Geospatial Delhi Limited, the court said.

The Delhi government will implement the orders of the Honble High Court, a media advisor to the chief minister said.

Also read: Initial findings of antibody survey in Delhi suggests 33% exposed to Covid

The court was hearing a plea filed by advocate Rakesh Malhotra, who wanted tests in the city to be scaled up. On the last date of the hearing, the court did away with the provision of asymptomatic persons having to produce a prescription for Covid-19 tests. The bench had also asked the government to put up maps of testing centres at Metro stations.

On Wednesday, the bench expressed its displeasure over the low number of RT-PCR tests conducted between September 8 and September 15, compared to the number of rapid antigen tests. The bench said RT/PCR testing was less than one-fourth of the total number of tests and the rest was done by the rapid antigen process.

It asked advocate Satyakam, the Delhi governments additional standing counsel, as to why the rapid antigen tests were still being conducted when their accuracy is about 60%. It said that more RT-PCR tests should be conducted because they are more accurate.

Having regard to the fact that the results of tests conducted through RAT are accurate only to the extent of 60% thus leaving a great doubt about infection being carried by those persons who are asymptomatic, we are of the firm view that RT-PCR should be the way forward, the court said.

The bench said an expert committee constituted by the L-G should immediately decide on testing more people via the RT-PCR method to get accurate results. It asked the committee to file a report and posted the matter till September 30.

Also read| Covid-19: What you need to know today

Directorate general of health services Nutan Mundeja told the court that they had started mobile testing facilities at a few metro stations. In an affidavit, the government also told the court that 79 mobile teams are active in the city. It said testing facilities have been set up all over Delhi and DMRC is displaying their details to enable commuters to access testing sites closest to their point of exit and entry.
Good writing both reflects and drives good thinking, enabling students to do justice to their intellectual abilities. I beseech the NSW Department of Education to bring on all the language, grammar, vocabulary and punctuation training that has been lacking for years, including when many of todays teachers were themselves at school. An enlightened department would also recognise that English teachers bear the greatest teaching load of all subjects, simply because English is compulsory for every student through to Year 12 and requires the greatest amount of marking, in volume and time. Boost the number of English teachers by 30 to 50 per cent, upgrade their writing skills and teaching thereof and our high school results should soar. Hazel Baker, Randwick We have spent millions on filling our schools with computers, iPads and other electronic gizmos but our kids' ability to write a coherent sentence has diminished. They don't write; they process words or, as often is the case, they cut and paste without even understanding what it is they have pasted. Welcome to the brave new world of technology where our kids are lobotomised by stealth into being nothing more than supplicant consumers of the latest computer software. Classrooms all over the nation are filled with kids whose only thoughts are what inane posturings they can next put on TikTok. Ryszard Linkiewicz, Caringbah South Why worry about writing? To students, texting is the "in" thing. So easy. Why write how are you when you can text how r u? Remember, the three ps  pen, pencil and paper  are out of date. Texting on smartphone is the thing of this century. Kersi Meher-Homji, St Ives What a sad and scandalous state of affairs this is. Who will teach these teachers about grammar, punctuation, spelling, paragraphing and sentence structure? Tom Mangan, Woy Woy Bay I would of thought riting came natural. Now they tell me I must lurn grammer, speling & panctuation. Mustafa Erem, Terrigal

Clean and green beats old and dirty I am gobsmacked that we are still discussing outdated fossil fuel sources of energy for Australia at all (''Taylor stares down critics of gas expansion plans'', September 16). The more obvious solution to our energy needs would be a mix of nuclear power and renewables. We could then enjoy a clean, green modern economy while also saving our climate and environment. We need to get with it. Ann Parker, Berrima There is no way the federal government should be promoting gas as the transitional energy source to renewables. Australia will end up with stranded assets. There will be an increase in emissions from both gas and fugitive gas. Australia will fall behind other nations in development of renewables and the country will be a pariah, missing an opportunity to join the roundtable of smart nations moving out of fossil fuels. Carol Dance, Wollstonecraft Here's a swifty. Take money from taxpayers and use it to build a gas power station to prevent any increase in power prices. The mug punter sees his bill unchanged but fails to see the added cost he has paid in his tax. The government should be open with us and tell us the facts: that in the short run, while we transition from fossil fuels, electricity prices may have to rise. With the huge drops in renewable-generation prices we are seeing, this is likely to be brief and should fall below current prices. But if those gas plants are built they will be used at a greater cost than renewables. Guess who pays that added cost? Hans Knutzelius, Balmain Whats the point, Prime Minister, in having a gas-led economic recovery when the continued use of fossil fuels makes Earth uninhabitable for mankind? Terry Lanz, Mona Vale

The gas question is merely a matter of economics 101, Angus Taylor (''Gas will help us bounce back from pandemic'', September 16)? Sorry, this is trumped by science 101, which states that gas plus oxygen makes carbon dioxide, water and heat; and more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere turns into scorching heat at monstrous expense. There is no escape from this reality. Bruce Graham, Waitara Let's share load More Australians wish to return home ('''Lift the cap': States told to take more Aussies from overseas'', smh.com.au, September 16). The Australian government limits the intake to 4500 per week. NSW currently takes the lion share. NSW and Victoria has been battling the virus that in general terms at least came from overseas. Other parts of the country are virus free because of closed borders. It is time for other states and territories to do some heavy lifting. Queensland and Western Australia must increase their intake to match NSW's. Other states must increase their intake as well. We are all in this together or are we? Stewart Ison, North Macksville Fur flies again So the koala-led NSW government crisis was not about the Nationals' concern about farmers but a push from a major Newcastle property developer (''Developer raised koala concerns'', September 16). Now we need to know about who is leaning on governments and acting behind the scenes to make other decisions on our behalf. Kristin Dawson, Kanahooka

Illustration: Matt Golding Credit: Egg on his face, a stain on his name, belligerent as ever and still no signs of contrition. Now the saga has taken a new twist with the introduction of a property developer into the stoush. From correspondence between developer and former Newcastle mayor Jeff McCloy and Planning Minister Rob Stokes, it appears that the latter received notice from the Koala Kid himself that the disputed land was no longer developable. Was this his ultimate objective? Save the koalas or save the farmers so that the developers can later buy them out? If Barilaro is to be believed he is on the record saying that he wont contest the next state election and he wouldnt mind working for the NRL. Maybe therell be a vacancy in the integrity unit. Peter Skrzynecki, Eastwood Correspondent Peter Comensoli of Mangrove Mountain claims that two-thirds of the species listed as koala food in the SEPP is unpalatable to koalas (Letters, September 16). This claim is untrue. A Review of Koala Tree Use across New South Wales published by the Office of Environment and Heritage, formed the basis for species listed in the new SEPP. In the Central Coast koala management area, which includes Mangrove Mountain, 19 plant species (17 eucalypts) were deemed to be of high use by koalas. Of these, two provided shelter only. The remaining 17 are well-documented food sources.

A further 17 species (15 eucalypts) were identified as "significant use" species. Four have been documented as providing shelter only. The remaining 13 are all documented food sources for koalas.

A further 33 species are listed as providing irregular or low use for koalas. Many of these provide only shelter, some provide food. Misrepresenting information found in the review, which is publicly available, does no one any good. Paul Parramore, Sawtell Pew figure reeks I am surprised by the recent Pew Research Centre findings that show roughly one in 10 Australians on the ideological left have confidence in US President Donald Trumps handling of global affairs (''Australians support for US falls to record lows'', September 16). It seems to me that's rather generous given that Trump doesn't have an agenda for the next four years  he doesnt have an agenda for after lunch. Jack Dikian, Mosman

Do Nats really care? I read with dismay about the crisis in rural health in NSW (''Labor secures inquiry into appalling rural hospitals'', September 16). Why was this inquiry instigated by Labor; surely the Nationals who proclaim loudly that they represent people from the bush should have pushed for this inquiry. Richard Statham, Kiama It looks like the NSW Nationals have even more explaining to do. No wonder koalas have fared badly under their watch. Sue Dyer, Downer Keep trees in plans It's reassuring to see that tree planting has been mandated for the new Wilton development ("Every home in new precinct will have trees", September 16). However, what about existing areas? All too often we're seeing new homes built with no trees planted at all, because certifiers sign off on landscape plans in a "tick-and-flick" exercise and councils are reluctant to take enforcement action.

James Deli, Oatley
Every few days U.S. 'intelligence' and 'officials' produce fake claims about this or that 'hostile' country. U.S. media continue to reproduce those claims even if they bare any logic and do not make any sense.

On June 27 the New York Times and the Washington Post published fake news about alleged Russian payments to the Taliban for killing U.S. troops.

The stories ran on the outlets' front pages.

Two week later the story was shown to have no basis:

[T]hat the story was obviously bullshit did not prevent Democrats in Congress, including 'Russiagate' swindler Adam Schiff, to bluster about it and to call for immediate briefings and new sanctions on Russia. Just a day after it was published the main accusation, that Trump was briefed on the 'intelligence' died. The Director of National Intelligence, the National Security Advisor and the CIA publicly rejected the claim. Then the rest of the story started to crumble. On June 2, just one week after it was launched, the story was declared dead.

...

The NYT buried the above quoted dead corpse of the original story page A-19.

Despite that the Democrats continued to use the fake story for attacks on Donald Trump.

Yesterday the commander of the U.S. forces in the Middle East drove a stake though the heart of the dead corpse of the original story:

Two months after top Pentagon officials vowed to get to the bottom of whether the Russian government bribed the Taliban to kill American service members, the commander of troops in the region says a detailed review of all available intelligence has not been able to corroborate the existence of such a program. "It just has not been proved to a level of certainty that satisfies me," Gen. Frank McKenzie, commander of the U.S. Central Command, told NBC News. McKenzie oversees U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

But as one fake news zombie finally dies others get resurrected. Politico's 'intelligence' stenographer Natasha Bertrand produced this nonsensical claim:

The Iranian government is weighing an assassination attempt against the American ambassador to South Africa, U.S. intelligence reports say, according to a U.S. government official familiar with the issue and another official who has seen the intelligence. News of the plot comes as Iran continues to seek ways to retaliate for President Donald Trumps decision to kill a powerful Iranian general earlier this year, the officials said. If carried out, it could dramatically ratchet up already serious tensions between the U.S. and Iran and create enormous pressure on Trump to strike back  possibly in the middle of a tense election season. U.S. officials have been aware of a general threat against the ambassador, Lana Marks, since the spring, the officials said. But the intelligence about the threat to the ambassador has become more specific in recent weeks. The Iranian Embassy in Pretoria is involved in the plot, the U.S. government official said.

Ambassador Lana Marks is known for selling overpriced handbags and for her donations to Trump's campaign. To Iran she has zero political or symbolic value. There is no way Iran would ever think about an attack on such a target. Accordingly the South African intelligence services do not believe that there is such a threat:

South African Minister of State Security Ayanda Dlodlo said the matter was receiving the necessary attention and that the State Security Agency (SSA) was interacting with all relevant partners both in the country and abroad, to ensure that no harm will be suffered by the US Ambassador, including any other Diplomatic Officials inside the borders of our country. However, an informed intelligence source told Daily Maverick that although the matter has been taken seriously as we approach all such threats, specifically, there appears to be, from our perspective, no discernible threat. Least of all from the source that it purports to emanate from. There was no evidence or indicator, the source said, so the plot was not likely to be real. The associations made are not sustainable on any level but all precautions will be put in place. The source suggested this was an instance of the tail wagging the dog, of the Trump administration wielding a weapon of mass distraction to divert attention from its failures in the election campaign running up to President Donald Trumps re-election bid on November 3. The spokesperson for the Iranian ministry of foreign affairs, Saeed Khatibzadeh, strongly denied the allegation in the Politico report which he called hackneyed and worn-out anti-Iran propaganda.

In January the U.S. assassinated the Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad. Soleimani led the external campaigns of the Iranian Quds Forces. He was the one who orchestrated the campaign that defeated the Islamic State. His mythic-symbolic position for Iran and the resistance in the Middle East is beyond that of any U.S. figure.

There is simply no one in the U.S. military or political hierarchy who could be seen as his equal. Iran has therefore announced that it will take other ways to revenge the assassination of Soleimani.

As an immediate response to the assassination of Soleimani Iran had launched a precise missile attack against two U.S. bases in Iraq. It has also announced that it will make sure that the U.S. military will have to leave the Middle East. That program is in full swing now as U.S. bases in Iraq are again coming under daily missile attacks:

More than eight months after a barrage of rockets killed an American contractor and wounded four American service members in Kirkuk, Iraq, militia groups continue to target U.S. military bases in that country, and the frequency of those attacks has increased. "We have had more indirect fire attacks around and against our bases the first half of this year than we did the first half of last year," Gen. Frank McKenzie, the commander of the U.S. Central Command, said. "Those attacks have been higher."

...

McKenzie's comments came just hours after he announced the United States would be cutting its footprint in Iraq by almost half by the end of September, with about 2,200 troops leaving the country.

Just hours agon two Katyusha rockets were fired against the U.S. embassy in Baghdad's Green Zone. Two British/U.S.convoys also came under attack. U.S. air defense took the missiles down but its anti-missile fire is only further disgruntling the Iraqi population.

These attacks are still limited and designed to not cause any significant casualties. But they will continue to increase over time until the last U.S. soldier is withdrawn from Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and other Middle East countries. That, and only that, is the punishment Iran promised as revenge for Soleimani's death.

The alleged Iranian thread against the U.S. ambassador to South Africa is just another fake news propaganda story. It is useful only for lame blustering:

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump - 3:04 UTC  Sep 15, 2020 According to press reports, Iran may be planning an assassination, or other attack, against the United States in retaliation for the killing of terrorist leader Soleimani, which was carried out for his planning a future attack, murdering U.S. Troops, and the death & suffering...

...caused over so many years. Any attack by Iran, in any form, against the United States will be met with an attack on Iran that will be 1,000 times greater in magnitude!

The danger of such fake stories about Russia or Iran is that they might be used to justify a response in the case of a false flag attack on the alleged targets.

Should something inconvenient happen to Ambassador Lana Marks the Trump administration could use the fake story as an excuse to respond with a limited attack on Iran.

It is well known by now that U.S. President Donald Trump is lying about every time he opens his mouth. Why do U.S. journalists presume that the agencies and anonymous officials who work under him are more truthful in their utterings than the man himself is hard to understand. Why do they swallow their bullshit?
The committee will oversee the deepening of bilateral economic ties with a focus on Egyptian participation in Iraqs reconstruction

Egypt's Minister of International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat met Monday with Iraqs ambassador to Cairo and permanent representative to the Arab League Ahmed Nayef Al-Dulaimi to discuss arrangements for convening the Joint Supreme Committee between the two countries that is expected to be chaired by their respective prime ministers soon.

The committee's upcoming meeting will aim to deepen bilateral ties between Egypt and Iraq in numerous areas, enhancing economic diplomacy among Arab countries as well as following up on recommendations that emerged from the trilateral summit held between the leaders of Egypt, Iraq and Jordan in August, according to a statement.

Minister Al-Mashat stated that intensive contacts were initiated in recent weeks with all concerned Egyptian ministries to highlight areas for joint cooperation for the sake of tapping the economic resources the two countries enjoy.

She added that the joint committee has taken decisions regarding the activation of bilateral and multilateral agreements that contribute to achieving the development plans of the two countries and deepening investment, especially in industry, agriculture, energy, tourism and construction.

"Egypt is looking forward to growing relations with Iraq in all economic cooperation aspects. The Supreme Committee will put rules that target organising bilateral ties in health, education, scientific research, social affairs, as well as exchanging experiences in water resources, environment, communication and information technology with a focus on the role the Egyptian private sector is expected to play regarding Iraq's reconstruction," said Al-Mashat.

For his part, Ambassador Al-Dulaimi said that Iraq is eager to reinforce its relations with Egypt through the convening of the Joint Supreme Committee.

Al-Mashat and Al-Dulaimi discussed during their meeting the mechanisms that would facilitate the work of Egyptian investment companies in Iraq and the return of Egyptian labour to the Iraqi market, in addition to the role that the Council of Arab Economic Unity plays and its anticipated regular session that is scheduled to be held in December.

During August and September, Al-Dulaimi held a series of meetings with Egypts ministers of housing, industry, and international cooperation in order to discuss the participation of Egyptian companies in ongoing reconstruction efforts in Iraq.

The head of the Federation of Arab Contractors estimated that Iraq needs between $150 and $200 billion for reconstruction.

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ABURI, Ghana: West African leaders have emphasized that Malis junta should nominate civilian transitional leaders within days to lead the nation toward elections, Ghanas president said following a regional summit.

Six leaders from the West African regional economic bloc, ECOWAS, met with Malis junta Tuesday in Ghana, whose president now serves as the blocs new chairman. They agreed the junta must install a civilian president and vice president.

ECOWAS insisted that the transitional leaders must be civilians, rejecting the juntas suggestion that the leaders could come from the military.

We need a civilian leadership of the transition," Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo said after the summit. From the minute that leadership is put in place, the regional sanctions on Mali will be lifted, he said. This should be accomplished within days, not weeks, he said.

The regional leaders appear to have accepted the juntas call for an 18-month transitional period to new elections, instead of the one-year timeline that the regional bloc originally proposed.

Malis junta had earlier floated the idea of waiting three years before holding a new election, a proposal quickly rejected by both ECOWAS and former colonizer France, which maintains a large military presence in Mali where it has been fighting Islamic extremists.

ECOWAS also called for the dissolution of the National Committee for the Salvation of the People as soon as the transitional government is in place.

The regional bloc has already closed Malis borders with neighboring countries and halted financial links in order to put pressure on the junta. Those sanctions could be lifted once a transitional civilian government is in place, it said in its Tuesday statement.

The military junta staged a coup detat on Aug. 18, deposing Malis President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita who still had three years remaining in his second term in office. Led by Col. Assimi Goita, the junta, calling itself the National Committee for the Salvation of the People, held talks with various political and civil society groups to come up with an outline for a transition to civilian rule last week.

There has been widespread concern that the ongoing political upheaval in Mali will set back efforts to contain the countrys growing Islamic extremist insurgency. After a similar coup in 2012, Islamic extremists grabbed control of major towns in northern Mali. Only a 2013 military intervention led by France pushed extremists out of those towns and the international community has spent seven years battling the militants.

The terrorists are taking advantage of the situation in Mali to flex their muscles even more, Ghanas president warned after the summit.

___

Petesch reported from Dakar, Senegal.

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor
American democracy faces what could be its greatest test in a lifetime as signs mount that Russia is working to interfere in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, while the Trump administration and its allies systematically minimize those efforts, in the process becoming an accessory to them.

Why it matters: It's becoming ever more difficult to find any boundary between foreign meddling and domestic disinformation.

The big picture: As journalist David Halberstam once observed of the McCarthyist convulsions of the 1950s, "If the center did not fold, it did not exactly hold, either." As the president and his proxies invent monsters to destroy, while declaring that real monsters are imaginary, the center of the American polity faces unprecedented strain from within and without.

Driving the news: Just last week...

Microsoft announced that hackers linked to Russia as well as China and Iran were attempting to infiltrate political organizations including both the Trump and Biden campaigns.

It's unclear whether these campaigns are "mere" spying attempts or preludes to a 2016-style hack-and-dump campaign seeking to alter the American political dynamic.

A whistleblower told House lawmakers that, while working as the top intelligence official in the Department of Homeland Security, acting agency chief Chad Wolf told him "to cease providing intelligence assessments on the threat of Russian interference in the United States, and instead start reporting on interference activities by China and Iran."

Wolf, according to the whistleblower, was working on orders from national security adviser Robert OBrien.

The Treasury Department sanctioned Andrii Derkach, a Ukrainian parliamentarian and active Russian agent.

The move was a belated official acknowledgment that Derkachs campaign to smear Joe Biden is in essence a Russia-backed disinformation operation.

Not mentioned by Treasury: Trump lawyer and confidante Rudy Giuliani pushed material from Derkach.

The Derkach operation has also received the imprimatur of legitimacy from Senate Homeland Security Committee Chair Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), whose investigation into Biden is built in part around Derkach-provided material.

Microsofts disclosures make clear that Chinese and Iranian cyber spies are also targeting U.S. politicians and political operatives.

Top U.S. intelligence officials have said that both Beijing and Tehran are seeking to influence the 2020 election, and they prefer that former Vice President Biden is victorious in November.

Yes, but: Only Russia has a demonstrated record of taking the momentous step beyond cyber spying to actually using pilfered political data in service of covert action: hacking, then leaking material strategically to sow chaos in the U.S. and tip the scales toward its preferred candidate.

And unlike in 2016, the levers of federal power are being used to stamp out public disclosures on the subject.

As willing, powerful U.S. political figures circulate material from interference campaigns while also downplaying the threat they pose, the line between foreign and domestic disinformation is blurring, and perhaps eroding entirely.

There is no intelligence or national security solution to what has become, in essence, an acute domestic political crisis.

Be smart: Leaders in Moscow can watch CNN or read the Washington Post and interpret the administrations timorous response to Russian active measures clearly as tacit encouragement  or at least implicit tolerance.

What's next: A close election in November will likely be contested, and ballot counting could drag on for weeks; legal challenges, for months.

Foreign intelligence services may rush into the void, seeking to exacerbate political tensions and weaken the United States.

Domestic politicians, including the president himself, will likely sow fear, uncertainty and doubt about the results, perhaps amplifying disinformation created by foreign actors. Other levers of state power can be used for the same ends.

Massive street protests, and other forms of nonviolent and even violent extra-parliamentary politics, may become widespread.

The bottom line: America is in a vulnerable place, and we simply dont know what might push the wobbling center toward collapse.
This GOES-16 GeoColor satellite image taken on Tuesday shows Hurricane Sally moving slowly towards the coast from the Gulf of Mexico - NOAA/AP

Hurricane Sally made landfall on Alabama's Gulf Coast on Wednesday morning as a Category Two hurricane, after winds intensified overnight. It has since reduced to a Category One storm but remains dangerous.

Winds were clocked at 105 miles per hour (165 km per hour), able to cause extensive damage, according to the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale. The hurricane also poses the risk of "catastrophic and life-threatening" flooding along portions of the north-central Gulf Coast, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in an advisory around 5 a.m. CDT (1000 GMT).

Flood waters are causing significant damage in Mobile, Alabama, and Pensacola, Florida, two cities with a combined metropolitan-area population of almost 1 million.

Rescue workers pick through the wreckage of a house in Mobile, Alabama, destroyed by a tree felled by Hurricane Sally - Leslie Spurlock/ZUMA Wire/Shutterstock /Shutterstock

'It's uncommon to measure rainfall in feet'

The NHC earlier said the hurricane could bring more than 2 feet (60 cm) of rain to some areas as it creeps inland.

Emergency officials in Alabama and Florida reported flash floods that pushed water into homes. Tthe National Weather Service reported nearly 3 feet (1 meter) of water covered streets in downtown Pensacola.

"It's not common that you start measuring rainfall in feet," said National Weather Service forecaster David Eversole in Mobile, Alabama. "Sally's moving so slowly, so it just keeps pounding and pounding and pounding the area with tropical rain and just powerful winds. It's just a nightmare."

Sally's plodding pace may be a consequence of climate change, experts say. A 2018 study in Nature magazine found that translation speeds of all hurricanes and tropical storms had decreased by 10% between 1949 and 2016, a drop that was linked to an increase in total rainfall.

Damage from Sally is expected to reach $2 billion to $3 billion, said Chuck Watson of Enki Research, which tracks tropical storms and models the cost of their damage. That estimate could rise if the heaviest rainfall happens over land.

Story continues

Flood waters surge through Pensacola, Florida, as 'feet' of rain falls - Gerald Herbert /AP

Mississippi, Florida in line to be hit

Sally made landfall at Gulf Shores, Alabama, and was creeping toward the Alabama-Florida border at 3 mph (5 kph). Its winds and rains will stretch from Mississippi to the Florida Panhandle, the NHC said.

More than 500,000 homes and businesses were without power in Alabama and Florida early Wednesday, according to local utilities, with more outages expected.

In Dauphin Island, Alabama, winds sustained 81 mph (130 kph), while in Pensacola, Florida, winds were at 61 mph (98 kph), NHC said.

In Mobile, Alabama, strong winds shook windows while trees and power lines swayed.

#Hurricane the center of the eye of category 2 hurricane #Sally makes landfall near gulf shores #Alabama...catastrophic and life-threatening flooding likely along portions of the north-central gulf coast... Pressure: 965 mb, Wind Speed: 105 mph https://t.co/7AdfVq2ojw pic.twitter.com/N3tpaewb7L  Hurricane Tracker (@ushurricanebot) September 16, 2020

Ports, schools and businesses were closed along the coast as Sally churned. As the storm track shifted east, ports along the Mississippi River were reopened to travel on Wednesday. But they were closed to vessel traffic from Biloxi, Mississippi, to Pascagoula, Florida.

Energy companies also shut more than a quarter of U.S. Gulf of Mexico offshore oil and gas production and some refiners halted or slowed operations.

To compound fears, the National Weather Service has warned there is a slight risk, level two of five, of tornadoes forming in the wake of Sally.

"Hurricanes and tropical storms that make landfall in the Gulf of Mexico are more likely to produce tornadoes compared to storms in the Atlantic," said Brandon Miller, a meteorologist for CNN.

Water levels at NOAA tide stations along the Florida panhandle are continuing to rise following landfall of Hurricane #Sally. The Pensacola, FL station is experiencing moderate flood levels, over 5.5 feet above normal high tide. https://t.co/vaiXjzRee6 pic.twitter.com/orXhtGq7UX  NOAA's Ocean Service (@noaaocean) September 16, 2020

Officials across the South had called on residents of low-lying areas to shelter away from the winds and rain. But for some, Hurricane Sally's slow approach brought a chance to relive childhood memories of storms past, and to witness the power of nature first hand.

Thomas Harms braved the wind and rains on Tuesday to watch the waves crash into the Fairhope Municipal Pier, and reminisced about past storms. As a child, he went with his grandfather to see storms arrive, and he did the same on Tuesday for his son.

"It kind of takes a little bit of the fear out of it and also help you understand the dangers of it too," said Harms. "I've been kind of passing that on to my son in doing the same thing."

People play in a flooded car park at Navarre Beach in Pensacola Beach, Florida - Gerald Herbert /AP

Alabama facing 'record flooding'

A flash flood emergency has been issued by the National Weather Service for parts of the coast, near where Hurricane Sally made landfall.

Alabama governor Kay Ivey told a press conference: "We are looking at record flooding, perhaps breaking historic levels. And with rising water comes a greater risk for loss of property and life.

"I urge you in the strongest way possible to evacuate if conditions permit and seek shelter elsewhere as possible today."

A man in Mobile, Alabama, clings on to his hat in high winds - CHANDAN KHANNA /AFP

Ms Ivey had declared a state of emergency Monday ahead of Sally's arrival.

President Donald Trump, speaking on "Fox & Friends," compared Sally to Hurricane Laura, which battered Texas and Louisiana, as well as the Caribbean, just a few weeks ago.

"This one is smaller but it's a little bit more direct, but we have it under control," he said. "We have it under watch very strongly."

Earlier, he tweeted: "We are fully engaged with State & Local Leaders to assist the great people of Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi."

He urged people in the storm's path to "listen to State and Local Leaders."

Corbin Boyce holds an American flag on the beach near Fort Walton Beach in Florida - Northwest Florida Daily News/Devon Ravine

President Trump also issued emergency declarations for parts of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.

Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves had also declared a state of emergency ahead of the approaching storm.

He said the storm surge projections were "worrisome with anywhere from five to eight feet of coastal surge."

Governor John Bel Edwards of Louisiana, which is still recovering after Hurricane Laura made landfall in the state as a Category 4 storm, told residents Monday to be prepared.

"Be smart and be safe," he tweeted.

My team and I are closely monitoring extremely dangerous Hurricane Sally. We are fully engaged with State & Local Leaders to assist the great people of Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Be ready and listen to State and Local Leaders! @GovernorKayIvey @LouisianaGov @TateReeves  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2020

At a hurricane refuge in Pascagoula, a coastal town in eastern Mississippi, 50-year-old evacuee Cliton Shepherd was hoping the area could avoid the worst.

"I don't think the wind is going to hurt anything, hopefully. I pray that it doesn't. But that's the main thing, you know, hoping and praying for the best, that's all we can do."

Record number of storms

It was the second hurricane to hit the Gulf Coast in less than three weeks and the latest blow in one of the busiest hurricane seasons ever recorded, so frenetic that forecasters have nearly run through the alphabet of storm names with 2 1/2 months still to go. At the start of the week, Sally was one of a record-tying five storms churning simultaneously in the Atlantic, strung out like charms on a bracelet.

For the 2nd time on record, the Atlantic has 5+ tropical cyclones (tropical depression (TD) or stronger) simultaneously: #Hurricane #Paulette, TD #Rene, Tropical Storm #Sally, Tropical Storm #Teddy and TD21. Other time was from September 11-14, 1971. pic.twitter.com/9ET1OoxE6f  Philip Klotzbach (@philklotzbach) September 14, 2020

There have been so many tropical storms in the Atlantic this year that the UN's World Meteorological Organization, which names the tempests, is about to run out of names for only the second time in history.

The last time the UN's World Meteorological Organization ran out of names was in 2005, the year Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans.

Sally is one of five tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean - a phenomenon only recorded once before, in September 1971, according to meteorologists.

The latest Atlantic storm, Hurricane Paulette, pounded the island of Bermuda on Monday with Category 2 winds and heavy rains, according to the NHC.

The center also said Tropical Storm Teddy, currently positioned in the mid-Atlantic, was expected to become a hurricane.
The $500 in savings can be further combined with all current national and regional incentives.

Those who have served in the military can obtain a special discount on a new vehicle at Nissan of Victoria. The dealership, which serves Victoria and the surrounding area, offers $500 savings on any new Nissan model to Active, Reserve and Retired U.S. Military personnel. The offer is the businesss way of providing a small token of thanks for such individuals service to the country.

The $500 in savings can be further combined with all current national and regional incentives. In this manner, Nissan of Victoria aims to help qualifying individuals receive maximum savings on their new ride. The dealership cheekily refers to their offer as Operation: Appreciation.

As stated above, the discount is available to U.S. Military Personnel who fall under Active, Reserve or Retired status. If Retired, the individual in question must have completed 20 years of Active or Reserve duty. Those of Veteran status also qualify, but must be within 24 months of separation from Active or Reserve duty.

Those who wish to take advantage of the Military Appreciation Offer at Nissan of Victoria must provide verifiable proof of military status or active service at the time of purchase. Such proof can be in the form of a:



Leave and Earning Statement

Military ID card

DD Form 214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty

Those intrigued by the offer above can learn more on the Nissan of Victoria website at http://www.nissanofvictoria.com. The dealership can also be contacted via telephone by dialing 361-221-8219. Finally, those who wear a mask and practice responsible social distancing procedures may head to the dealership location itself at 6003 N. Navarro St., Victoria.
HYDERABAD: Domestic workers and their unions in Telangana have called for a protest on September 24 in response to the nationwide protest call to highlight their problems during the ongoing Parliament session. Domestic workers will also try to meet Members of Parliament and urge them to enact comprehensive legislation for them.

As per Telangana Domestic Workers Union data, there are around 10 to 12 lakh domestic workers in Telangana of which five to six lakh are based in Hyderabad. Their national body is keen to classify them as essential workers.

The major demands include a comprehensive legislation, transfer of cash to vulnerable domestic workers as mandated by Disaster Management Act and implementation of urban employment guarantee scheme, according to Sr Lissy Joseph, secretary of Telangana Domestic Workers Union.

Domestic workers are among the worst hit by COVID-19 as many employers have removed them from service, They have neither been shown any alternative livelihood nor have been given any compensation.

According to the Telangana Domestic Workers Union, the government failed to provide recognition to domestic workers, who paid a heavy price during the lockdown.

Vijaya Lakshmi, a domestic help living at Dammaiguda, said in the surrounding areas, there are around 5,000 domestic workers. We have thrown out as the employers feared that we could carry the disease to their homes. No compensation has been given to us and we have been jobless since the time the pandemic broke.
Financial newspaper Les Echos claims the government is mulling a renegotiation of historic feed-in contracts after the Court of Auditors in 2018 ruled the incentives too generous.From pv magazine France. French financial newspaper Les Echos today claimed the Ministry of Economy and Finance is considering retroactively renegotiating feed-in tariffs (FITs) awarded by the government to solar energy projects before 2011. Provisions to enact cuts which could save around 600 million could be included in the budget bill for next year which is expected this month, according to the report. The French ...

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.
BOSTON - A panel of appeals court judges on Wednesday repeatedly challenged the legal claims of a group that accuses Harvard University of intentional discrimination against Asian American students who apply to the Ivy League school.

The three-judge panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston appeared skeptical of arguments made by Students for Fair Admissions, which says Harvard imposes a racial penalty on Asian Americans. When a lawyer for the group accused the school of racial stereotyping against Asian American applicants, a judge interrupted and questioned the basis of the claim.

Where is the evidence of racial profiling here? Judge Juan Torruella asked.

The panel is expected to make a decision on the case in coming weeks. Either way, legal experts believe the case will probably end up before the Supreme Court.

Students for Fair Admissions is asking the appeals court to overturn a trial-level judges 2019 decision finding that Harvard does not intentionally discriminate against Asian Americans. U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs issued the decision in October after a three-week trial.

In her ruling, Burroughs said Harvards admissions process is not perfect but concluded that there was no evidence of any racial animus whatsoever. She ruled that other factors beyond bias could explain why Harvard accepts Asian American students at lower rates than students of other races.

The groups lawsuit alleges that Harvard admissions officers use a subjective personal rating assigned to each student to discriminate against Asian Americans. Using six years of admissions data, the group found that Asian American applicants averaged the highest scores in an academic rating but received the lowest personal ratings, and that they were admitted at lower rates.

Harvard denies any bias and defends its use of race in the application process. The school says race is one of many factors considered and that at most it provides a tip in favour of underrepresented students. It says the university has a compelling interest in attracting a diverse student body to its campus.

Presenting the case to judges, a lawyer for the group said Harvards practices go beyond the limited consideration of race that has been upheld by the Supreme Court. Attorney William Consovoy said the schools efforts to keep a similar racial makeup among students from year to year amounts to illegal racial balancing.

The statistical evidence in this case showed that the personal rating discriminates against Asian Americans in a statistically significant way, Consovoy said.

But Judge Sandra L. Lynch challenged that allegation, saying that, presented with competing statistical models from both sides, the trial court judge sided with Harvards.

The district court actually found that Harvards statistical model was the more reliable one, Lynch said. So, again, Im just trying to get your argument. Consovoy argued that both models were deemed credible.

A representative for the U.S. Justice Department spoke in support of Students for Fair Admissions on Wednesday, arguing that race pervades every aspect of Harvards admissions process. Eric S. Dreiband, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division, said the schools admissions process unduly burdens Asian American applicants compared to white applicants.

The Trump administration has opposed the use of race at Harvard and other colleges across the U.S. Last month, the Justice Department found that Yale University discriminates against Asian American and white applicants. The finding, which resulted from a two-year inquiry, was rejected by Yale as meritless and hasty.

As evidence, the group points to a U.S. Education Department investigation into Harvards admissions practices in the 1990s. In that case, the agency also explored whether Harvard discriminates against Asian Americans. The school was ultimately cleared.

Speaking on behalf of the university Wednesday, attorney Seth Waxman said the schools personal rating, which was also examined during the federal inquiry, has assumed a Frankenstein-like significance. But he argued that the 1990s investigation only helps Harvards case.

It reached the exact same conclusion, based on its review of all the evidence, that Judge Burroughs did, he said.
Potholed and damaged city roads continue to pose inconvenience to commuters amid monsoon delaying MCs plans to start road repair work.

Several accidents have taken place due to deep potholes on various roads, including Dugri main road, Gill Road, Tajpur Road, Jalandhar Bypass, and damaged stretches in Industrial Area A and Haibowal areas, among others.

A resident of Dugri area, Dilpreet Singh, said, Potholes are detrimental to vehicles. Commuters have been raising a hue and cry over deep potholes on Dugri main road, but MC is not paying heed to it.

Last week, in a symbolic protest against the MC authorities over failure to deal with the pothole menace, social activists had planted saplings in the potholes near Phullanwal Chowk.

Mayor Balkar Sandhu had earlier announced that the civic body will commence the repair work after September 15, if the weather conditions remained favourable.

MCs superintending engineer Praveen Singla said, The road repair works got delayed due to unfavourable weather conditions. We are waiting for monsoon to end. The work is likely to commence next week.
Lucknow, Sep 16 : Twenty-eight years after the Babri Masjid was demolished, the judgement in the case is expected to be delivered on September 30.

The case that changed the political and social course of the country will decide the fate of 32 accused persons, including BJP veterans L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti and former Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh.

All of them are required to be present in the court when the verdict is delivered, a special CBI court said on Wednesday.

Advani, Joshi and Uma Bharati are accused of conspiracy that led to the demolition of the 15th century mosque in December 1992.

It was said that the mosque was built after pulling down an ancient temple that marked the birthplace of Lord Ram and in November last year, the Supreme Court delivered a landmark verdict in the title suit of the Ram Janambhoomi case, ordering the construction of a temple at the site.

Advani, 92, had recorded his statement in the case before the special CBI court through video conference on July 24.

Joshi, 86, recorded his statement a day before Advani. Both have denied all the charges against them just like Uma Bharti and Kalyan Singh.

Kalyan Singh, a senior BJP leader, was the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh at the time of the mosque demolition.

His government was dismissed as riots broke out across the country in which around 3,000 people died.

In April 2017, the top court had asked the special court to conduct day-to-day hearings and complete the trial within two years.

It was given several extensions thereafter and when special judge S.K. Yadav asked for more time, the court extended the deadline to September 30.

The symbolic construction of Ram temple started earlier this year, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi participating in the ground-breaking ceremony in Ayodhya on August 5.
The International Space Station on Mar. 7, 2011. Thousands of pieces of "space junk" orbiting the Earth pose a danger to satellites and even the International Space Station. (NASA)

Britain Pledges Million Pounds to Tackle Dangerous Space Junk

The British government pledged a million pounds ($1.3 million) on Wednesday to tackle dangerous space junk, which could crash into active satellites and disrupt key services like mobile phones and weather forecasting.

Seven UK companies will share the million pounds to develop tracking technologies to monitor the orbiting debris, the UK Space Agency said in a media release.

Some space debris can be detected by functioning satellites, but only a fraction of the total can currently be tracked. The technologies will help avoid collisions with operating satellites, and even with the manned International Space Station, the UK Space Agency said.

Last year there was a close call in which a 100 million [$130 million] spacecraft operated by the European Space Agency (ESA) had to light up its thrusters to dodge a satellite, the agency said.

File photo of a graphical representation of space debris in low Earth orbit. There are currently around 900,000 pieces of space debris larger than 1 cm orbiting the Earth, according to the UK Space Agency. (NASA/Getty Images)

The new technologies will include artificial intelligence and sensors to monitor anything in orbit over 1 centimeter (0.4 inches) in size. There are up to 160 million objects currently orbiting the Earth, an estimated 900,000 of which are larger than 1 centimeter.

The UK has a significant opportunity to benefit from the new age of satellite megaconstellationsvast networks made up of hundreds or even thousands of spacecraftso it is more important than ever to effectively track this debris, The UK Space Agency said.

In 2018, the ESA highlighted the importance of avoiding space collisions as satellite mega-constellations become a commonplace solution for global telecommunications coverage.

The ESA likened the orbits of space objects to the movement of traffic on roads.

Like roads on Earth, these space highways are becoming increasingly congested with operational spacecraft, dead spacecraft and space debris, increasing the likelihood of collisions, the ESA said.

Helping Small Business

One of the pioneering projects being backed by the government is from Lift Me Off, a two-year-old company of only five people.

By using cameras in space and applying future recognition software, patterns in data from the sensors would show whether an orbiting object is a satellite or space debris, Lift Me Off CEO Michel Poucet told The Epoch Times in an interview.

If its a satellite, the team could then identify if its a functioning satellite or not, Poucet said, and from there assess the risk to other satellites and warn interested parties.

If its a defunct satellite that another country put up and we werent aware of, we can provide that information to the UK government or other governments or commercial operators and tell them, Oh, watch out we have spotted an objectit looks like a satellite but it doesnt seem to be functioning, it doesnt give the standard footprint. We can then give a warning, he explained.

Poucet said Lift Me Off appreciated the UK Space Agencys backing of new and smaller companies.

We are not a big company, we are five people. We started two years ago. We thought of new things and the challenges of the future. This was one of them, and the UK Space Agency acknowledges that and also that there are new companies out there that have new technologies that can enhance capability, he said.

It is giving us a chance.

Other companies receiving the government backing include Deimos, who will be looking at designing and creating a prototype Optical Surveillance Sensor, and NORSS, who will research the quick design and deployment of a low-cost space camera system to track objects that are orbiting relatively close to the Earth.

New Jobs

UK Business Secretary Alok Sharma said the government backing would not only protect relied-upon services but also have the knock-on effect of creating new employment.

By developing new AI and sensor technology, the seven pioneering space projects we are backing today will significantly strengthen the UKs capabilities to monitor these hazardous space objects, helping to create new jobs and protect the services we rely on in our everyday lives, he said in a statement.

Chief Executive of the UK Space Agency Graham Turnock said people were not generally aware of the amount of space junk that is orbiting the planet.

You would never let a car drive down a motorway full of broken glass and wreckages, and yet this is what satellites and the space station have to navigate every day in their orbital lanes, he said.

Turnock also said the UK had an unmissable opportunity to lead the way with tracking and tackling space junk.

The new funding will also help create sought after expertise and new high skill jobs across the country, he added.
Queensland's residential tenancy eviction freeze will end on September 30, despite calls from tenancy advocates to extend it another three months.

Commercial tenancies, however, will have a moratorium on evictions extended until December 31, the state government has announced.

Residents across Queensland may face eviction when the state government's moratorium ends on September 30. Credit:Michelle Smith

Other residential tenancy protections, including not allowing tenants to be listed on a tenancy database for unpaid rent caused by the pandemic's impacts, will be extended until December 31.

Housing Minister Mick de Brenni said the freeze on evictions "was important in the residential sector when movement in Queensland was much more restricted".
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A recent market study published by Future Market Insights (FMI) on the mobile money market includes a global industry analysis for 2015-2019 and opportunity assessment for 2020-2030, and delivers a comprehensive assessment of the most important market dynamics. After conducting a thorough research on the historical as well as current growth parameters, growth prospects of the market are obtained with maximum precision.

Mobile Money Market: Segmentation

The global mobile money market is segmented in detail to cover every aspect of the market and present a complete market intelligence approach to readers.

Solution

Mobile Money Platform

Services

Consulting

Integration & Deployment

Support & Maintenance

Request a Sample of this Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-2800

Transaction Type

Person to Person

Person to Business

Business to Person

Business to Business

Application

Bill Payment

Money Transfer

Tickets Payment

Recharge & Top-ups

Others

Payment Type

Remote Mobile Payment

Proximity Mobile Payment

Vertical

BFSI

Telecommunication

Retail

Energy & Utilities

Government

Travel & Hospitality

Others

Region

North America

Latin America

Europe

East Asia

South Asia & Pacific

Middle East & Africa

Report Chapters

Chapter 01  Executive Summary

The report begins with the executive summary of the mobile money market, which includes a summary of key findings and statistics of the market. It also includes the demand and supply-side trends pertaining to the market.

Chapter 02  Market Overview

Readers can find the definition and detailed taxonomy of the mobile money market in this chapter, which will help them understand the basic information about the market. Along with this, comprehensive information pertaining to mobile money and its properties are provided in this section. This section also highlights the inclusions and exclusions, which help readers understand the scope of the mobile money market report.

Chapter 03  Key Market Trends

The mobile money market report provides key market trends that are expected to significantly impact market growth during the forecast period. Detailed end user trends are also provided in this section.

Chapter 04  Global Mobile Money Market Pricing Analysis

The mobile money market report provides pricing analysis of mobile money platform.

Chapter 05 Pandemic Crisis Impact Analysis

The section provides information regarding the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on mobile money market

Chapter 06  Market Structure Analysis

In this chapter, readers can find detailed information about the tier analysis and market concentration of key players in the Mobile Money market, along with their market presence analysis by region and product portfolio.

Chapter 07 -Global Mobile Money Market Demand Analysis 2015-2019 and Opportunity Assessment 2020-2030

This section explains the global market value analysis and forecast for the mobile money market during the forecast period of 2020-2030. It includes a detailed analysis of the historical mobile money market, along with an opportunity analysis of the future. Readers can also find the absolute $ opportunity for the current year (2020), and an incremental $ opportunity for the forecast period (20202030).

Chapter 08  Market Background

This chapter explains the key macroeconomic factors that are expected to influence the growth of the mobile money market over the forecast period. Along with macroeconomic factors, this section also highlights the supply chain, forecast factors, and value chain analysis of the mobile money market. Moreover, in-depth information about the market dynamics and their impact analysis on the market have been provided in the successive section.

Chapter 09  Global Mobile Money Market Analysis 2015-2019 and Opportunity Assessment 2020-2030, by Solution

Based on component, the mobile money market is segmented into devices mobile money platform, services. In this chapter, readers can find information about key trends and developments in the mobile money market and market attractiveness analysis based on component.

Chapter 10  Global Mobile Money Market Analysis 2015-2019 and Opportunity Assessment 2020-2030, by Transaction Type

Based on transaction, the mobile money market is segmented into person-to-person, person to business, business to person, business-to-business. In this chapter, readers can find information about key trends and developments in the mobile money market and market attractiveness analysis based on transaction type.

Chapter 11  Global Mobile Money Market Analysis 2015-2019 and Opportunity Assessment 2020-2030, by Application

This chapter provides various details about the mobile money market based on application, and has been classified into bill payments, money transfer, ticket payments, recharge and top-ups and others. In this chapter, readers can understand the market attractiveness analysis based on application.

Chapter 12  Global Mobile Money Market Analysis 2015-2019 and Opportunity Assessment 2020-2030, by Payment Type

This chapter provides various details about the mobile money market based on payment type, and has been classified into remote mobile payment and proximity mobile payment. In this chapter, readers can understand the market attractiveness analysis based on payment type.

Chapter 13  Global Mobile Money Market Analysis 2015-2019 and Opportunity Assessment 2020-2030, by Vertical

This chapter provides various details about the mobile money market based on vertical, and has been classified into telecommunication, BFSI, government, retail & consumer goods, energy & utilities, travel & hospitality and others. In this chapter, readers can understand the market attractiveness analysis based on industry.

Chapter 14  Global Mobile Money Market Analysis 2015-2019 and Opportunity Assessment 2020-2030, by Region

This chapter explains how the mobile money market is anticipated to grow across various geographic regions such as North America, Latin America, Europe, East Asia, South Asia & Pacific, and the Middle East & Africa.

Chapter 15  North America Mobile Money Market Analysis 2015-2019 and Opportunity Assessment 2020-2030

This chapter includes a detailed analysis on the growth of the North America mobile money market, along with a country-wise assessment that includes the U.S. and Canada. Readers can also find the regional trends, and market growth based on vertical, and countries in North America.

Chapter 16 Latin America Mobile Money Market Analysis 2015-2019 and Opportunity Assessment 2020-2030

This chapter provides the growth scenario of the mobile money market in Latin American countries such as Brazil, Mexico, and the rest of Latin America. Along with this, assessment of the market across target segments has also been provided.

Chapter 17  Europe Mobile Money Market Analysis 2015-2019 and Opportunity Assessment 2020-2030

Important growth prospects of the mobile money market in several countries such as Germany, the UK, France, Spain, Italy, BENELUX, Russia and the rest of Europe are included in this chapter.

Chapter 18  South Asia & Pacific Mobile Money Market Analysis 2015-2019 and Opportunity Assessment 2020-2030

This chapter highlights the growth of the mobile money market in the South Asia & Pacific region by focusing on India, ASEAN, Australia, New Zealand, and the rest of South Asia & Pacific. This section also help readers understand key factors that are responsible for the growth of the mobile money market in the South Asia & Pacific region.

Chapter 19  East Asia Mobile Money Market Analysis 2015-2019 and Opportunity Assessment 2020-2030

This chapter provides the growth scenario of the mobile money market in East Asian countries such as China, Japan, and South Korea.

Chapter 20  MEA Mobile Money Market Analysis 2015-2019 and Opportunity Assessment 2020-2030

This chapter provides information about how the mobile money market is anticipated to grow in major countries in the MEA region, such as GCC countries, South Africa, Turkey, and the rest of MEA, during the forecast period of 2020-2030.

Chapter 21 Key Countries Analysis

This chapter provides information about key countries analysis on mobile money market. The chapter provides information regarding incremental opportunity share.

Request for Reports Methodology @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/mobile-money-market#idMethodology

Chapter 22  Competition Analysis

In this chapter, readers can find a comprehensive list of all the prominent stakeholders in the mobile money market, along with the detailed information about each company. This includes the company overview, revenue shares, strategic overview, and recent company developments. Some of the market players featured in the report are Bosch, SAP SE, IBM Corporation, Intel Corporation, Infosys Ltd, Cisco among others.

Chapter 23  Assumptions and Acronyms

This chapter includes a list of acronyms and assumptions that provides a base to the information and statistics included in the mobile money market report.

Chapter 24-Research Methodology

This chapter help readers understand the research methodology followed to obtain various conclusions as well as important qualitative and quantitative information about the mobile money market.
World Cleanup Day unites millions of volunteers in 180 countries who come together to rid our planet of waste on the 19st of September 2020 to create a global call for creating a waste-free world.

On 15 September 2018, World Cleanup Day united 18 million people in 157 countries and territories for the biggest waste collection day in human history. An epic 36-hour green wave of cleanups stretched across the globe beginning in New Zealand and travelling around the world before ending in Hawaii. In 2019, World Cleanup Day had 21.2 million participants from 180 countries who collected over 100 000 tons of waste. World Cleanup Day is the largest single peacetime civic action against waste in human history, aimed at raising awareness of the scale of the global mismanaged waste crisis threatening the environment and the lives of millions of people and living beings.

The aim of World Cleanup Day is not only cleaner cities, parks, beaches and forests, but to also move towards better waste management, to raise awareness both locally and globally of the global waste problem, and the urgency of tackling it. And more importantly, it aims to support and connect a new generation of community leaders  ready to act together to find sustainable solutions for a cleaner future.

All participating countries are aiming to engage 5% of their countrys population to instigate a profound shift in the values and norms of their society

World Cleanup Day catalyses a discussion on how to keep our planet clean in the future and lead countries, companies and organisations to change policy and adopt more sustainable resource management practices as a part of a wider effort to combat climate change.

Waste Facts

World Cleanup Day 2020 Call and Media Centre will be hosted by Estonia, led by the Lets Do It HQ, who initiated World Cleanup Day in 2018.

The world generates 2.01 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste annually. Without urgent action, global waste will increase by 70% on current levels by 2050 (World Bank, 2018).

1.6 billion tons of CO2-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions were generated from solid waste management in 2016. Without improvements in the sector, solid wasterelated emissions are anticipated to increase to 2.6 billion tonnes of CO2- equivalent by 2050 (World Bank, 2018) In 2020, World Cleanup Day will take place on the 19th of September.

The world generates 2.01 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste annually. Without urgent action, global waste will increase by 70% on current levels by 2050 (World Bank, 2018).

1.6 billion tons of CO2-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions were generated from solid waste management in 2016. Without improvements in the sector, solid wasterelated emissions are anticipated to increase to 2.6 billion tonnes of CO2- equivalent by 2050 (World Bank, 2018) In 2020, World Cleanup Day will take place on the 19th of September. Every year approximately 11 million tons of plastic leaks into oceans. 80% of the in oceans is mismanaged waste carried to the sea through our beaches and rivers (Breaking the Plastic Wave, 2020).

People eat plastic an amount equal to a credit card per week. Thats approximately 21 grams a month, just over 250 grams a year

Cigarette butts are the most common litter picked up during World Cleanup Day actions, therefore Lets Do It World launch the awareness campaign to prevent cigarette butts ending up in nature.

Cigarette butts are small, but highly dangerous waste.

The main reason for cigarette butts pollution is low awareness about the impact of cigarette butts to the environment. People dont know that cigarette butts are made of plastic and they find it normal to throw cigarette butts on the ground and in the sewer system.

The main message of the Cigarette Litter campaign is that cigarette butts are made of plastic and they are deadly for living beings.

The target for World Cleanup Day has been set at 1 billion cigarette butts to pick up.

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With less than two months until ballots are tallied, President Donald Trump defended his handling of race relations in the United States amid a pandemic that has disproportionately affected minority populations and unprecedented social unrest in American cities.

Asked Tuesday by an uncommitted voter at ABC News' town hall, "The President and the People," why he would "downplay a pandemic that is known to disproportionately harm low-income families and minority communities," Trump denied ever understating the disease's threat.

"Yeah, well, I didn't downplay it. I actually, in many ways, I up-played it, in terms of action. My action was very strong," Trump said.

As evidence of his claim that he "up-played" the disease "in terms of action," Trump cited a pair of travel bans imposed against China and Europe in February and March. But pressed by ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos, who moderated the town hall, about "his own words" about the pandemic threat, Trump said, "We did a very, very good job when we put that ban on."

"Whether you call it 'talent' or 'luck,' it was very important," Trump continued, "so we saved a lot of lives when we did that."

MORE: Republicans unveil agenda aimed at winning back the House in November

The president has faced backlash in recent days after comments he made to journalist Bob Woodward in March which appeared to conflict with his dismissive public stance on the virus at the time -- a virus that, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has disproportionately affected Black and Hispanic populations.

Another uncommitted voter questioned the president about his ubiquitous campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again," in light of a long history of systemic racism in housing and criminal justice.

PHOTO: President Donald Trump speaks with reporters as he walks to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Sept. 15, 2020, en route to participate in a town hall event in Philadelphia. (Alex Brandon/AP)

"Because you say again, we need to see when was that 'great'? Because that pushes us back to a time in which we cannot identify with such 'greatness,'" the voter asked. "You've said everything else about choking and everything else, but you have yet to address and acknowledge that it has been a race problem in America."

Story continues

"Well, I hope there's not a race problem," Trump said. "I can tell you there's none with me because I have great respect for all races -- for everybody. This country is great because of it."

The president then turned to what he called "the best unemployment numbers they've ever had in the Black community, by far," prior to the economic fallout from the pandemic.

"And that was solving a lot of problems, and you know what else was -- it was bringing people together," Trump said.

MORE: What President Trump said about the coronavirus versus what Bob Woodward recorded in interviews: Timeline

The president faced a wide range of questions from uncommitted voters on Tuesday at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia during the town hall event hosted by ABC News.

The location of ABC News' "20/20" event is not only historically significant, but represents a key city in a state that could tilt the balance of the Electoral College. After Florida, Pennsylvania boasts the second-highest number of electoral votes at stake among battleground states, rendering it a crucial stepping stone in both candidates' paths to the presidency.

PHOTO: Seven weeks before Election Day, ABC News will host a town hall with President Donald Trump and uncommitted voters. ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos will anchor the event in Philadelphia, Sept. 15, 2020. (Heidi Gutman/ABC News)

As such, Trump and his surrogates have crisscrossed Pennsylvania in recent weeks. But so has former Vice President Joe Biden, a native of Scranton, a town in the state's industrial northeast. Both leaders commemorated the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks by visiting the site of a downed jetliner in Shanksville.

Despite winning Pennsylvania by a slim margin in 2016, recent polling indicates that Trump has an uphill battle in the waning weeks of the 2020 campaign. According to an NBC/Marist poll released last week, Biden maintains a healthy nine-point buffer among likely voters in the state.

ABC News offered to host a similar town hall with Biden, but the two parties were not able to find a mutually agreeable date.

The "20/20" special event airs from 9 to 10:30 p.m. ET and 8 to 9:30 p.m. CT on ABC. ABC News Live will also have pre- and post-show coverage for more context and analysis.

Trump, pressed during ABC town hall on downplaying pandemic threat, says instead he 'up-played it' originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Bhubaneswar, Sep 16 : The Odisha government on Wednesday clarified that there is no ban on referral of Covid patients to Bhubaneswar and Cuttack from other districts.

"Government is not banning movement of patients to Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. It's regulating to ensure that they travel safe and with proper medical advice and logistics," said Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy.

Tripathy said precautions should be taken at the time of sending the patients to referral hospitals.

"Covid patients travelling to Cuttack and Bhubaneswar on advice of health authorities must do so under proper med mgt & equipment/oxygen support. Carelessness in the past has led to serious consequences. Govt has created advanced Covid facilities in twin cities for the entire state," tweeted the chief secretary.

Additional Chief Secretary to Health department, Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra said while there has been no ban on referring the Covid patients to the twin cities, the doctors have been asked to take adequate precautions while sending the patients.

Earlier, Mohapatra on Tuesday directed the authorities to manage critical Covid-19 patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) or high dependency unit (HDU) initially instead of referring them to Bhubaneswar or Cuttack.

Notably, Cuttack and Bhubaneswar have become the Covid-19 hotspots while recording maximum positive cases in the past several days.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
After being foxed by Indian troops on Aug 29, Chinese PLA now resorts to psy-ops

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Sep 16: With tensions refusing to die down along the Line of Actual Control, the People's Liberation Army is now resorting to psy-ops against the Indian Army.

On one hand, the PLA is doing all it can to bring down the morale of the Indian Army and on the other hand, mouthpieces of the Communist Party of China have gone on an overdrive mode on the social media against the Indian government.

The latest in the offing are the loudspeakers put up by the Chinese PLA along the border areas. On the loudspeakers there are constant announcements made in broken Hindi about the futility about being deployed at these heights. Constant attempts are also being made to tell the Indian soldiers that they are deployed here in the winter only because of the fancies of their leaders in New Delhi.

It may be recalled that the Indian Army thwarted a PLA attempt on Rezang La and Rechin La Ridgeline. India had on August 29 repositioned its troops and dominated the heights of Finger 4 on the north bank of Pangong Tso.

This move by India had taken the Chinese aback and today the PLA is resorting to psy-ops to demoralise the Indian troops.

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India has sought for the restoration of status quo ante on the Line of Actual Control. With China showing no signs of disengagement, India is rushing supplies with the Border Road Organisation to ensure that the Chang La pass and Khardung La on route to contested Pangong Tso is kept snow free through this year.

The BRO is also expected to strengthen all bridges and culverts to Class 70 by October 15. Class 70 would mean that the bridge can bear a load of 70 tonnes. This would mean that the road could be used to deploy T-90 tanks, surface to air missiles and infantry combat vehicle along the Eastern Ladakh Line of Actual Control.

On Tuesday Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh made a statement in Parliament on the Indo-China issue. There was a face-off in Galwan Valley on June 15, in which the Indian forces inflicted heavy casualties on the Chinese forces, Rajnath Singh also said. The indian forces will forcefully counter all Chinese aggressive actions along the border. Since April we have seen an increase in troops and weapon deployment along the LAC in Ladakh, Singh said.

Let no one have any doubt about our capabilities. We want peace and will continue to talk to China. Both sides should respect the Line of Actual Control Singh also said. All mutual agreements must be respected, he also said.

China does not accept customary and peripheral alignment of Sino-India border, Singh also said. There has been a massive build up by the Chinese along the LAC and this has led to several friction points, the Defence Minister also said.

India describes Pakistan as an epicentre of terrorism | Oneindia News

Our Armed Forces will successfully thwart all threats and protect the borders. We should be proud of our forces, he further said.

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Story first published: Wednesday, September 16, 2020, 15:49 [IST]
Piers Morgan lashed out at the toxic cancel culture pervading social media on Wednesday morning after novelist JK Rowling was targeted for writing about a transvestite killer.

Morgan had previously been embroiled in his own war of words with the Harry Potter creator, with the pair clashing on Twitter over British politics, Donald Trump and his notable disdain for her books.

But the 55-year old found himself defending Rowling during a heated Good Morning Britain debate sparked by the recent publication of her latest novel, Troubled Blood, written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

Hitting about: Piers Morgan lashed out at the toxic cancel culture pervading social media on Wednesday morning after novelist JK Rowling was targeted for writing about a transvestite killer

Addressing journalist Benjamin Butterworth, Morgan dismissed claims that Rowling should be boycotted for writing a cross-dressing serial killer into the novel after expressing inflammatory views about the trans community on social media.

He said: 'If I were to write a book tomorrow... I interview real killers of all shapes and sizes and genders, if I was to write a book tomorrow, its your position that I would not be allowed to make it a transgender killer?

'Because that doesnt seem very equal to me. If youre battling for equality, surely criminals in novels could be transgender?'

Morgan also slammed the divisive RIP JK Rowing hashtag used by a minority of Twitter users in reaction to the book, Rowling's fifth in a series of crime novels featuring the fictional detective Cormoran Blue Strike.

Speaking out: The 55-year old found himself defending Rowling during a heated Good Morning Britain debate sparked by the recent publication of her latest novel, Troubled Blood

'All those who have been contributing to the RIP JK Rowling - theyre the ones who want her dead, cancelled, shamed, vilified, finished,' he raged.

Citing a recent review of the novel, he also pointed out that its most vocal critics haven't read it.

He said: 'This is a novel none of you have read, which according to Nick Cohen in his lengthy review is not remotely transphobic.'

Observer journalist Cohen, in his initial assessment of the book, wrote: 'I've read the latest Strike novel, and the claim it's anti-trans is total sh***.

'I can't tell you why it is total sh*** without giving away the ending. So until you read it yourself, which you should, you will just have to trust me: this is total sh***.'

A Twitter user called Steve replied stating: 'But when you combine it with all the negative stereotyping she's done about trans women, it shows a clear pattern.

'It's not anti-trans as such but it does play into the fears that trans women are cis males looking to spy on women.'

Cohen replied: 'Read the bloody book why don't you?'

Difference of opinion: Addressing journalist Benjamin Butterworth (pictured) Morgan dismissed claims that Rowling should be boycotted for writing a cross-dressing serial killer into the novel

Rowling was initially accused of being transphobic after responding to an article headlined 'Creating a more equal post-Covid-19 world for people who menstruate'.

She tweeted: 'People who menstruate.' I'm sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?'

She went on to defend her comments and said: 'If sex isn't real, there's no same-sex attraction. If sex isn't real, the lived reality of women globally is erased.

'I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn't hate to speak the truth.'

Controversy: Rowling was previously accused of being transphobic after responding to an article headlined 'Creating a more equal post-Covid-19 world for people who menstruate'

Addressing her comments in relation to the new publication on Wednesday morning, Butterworth remarked: 'Shes been tweeting derogatory comments about trans people for some months now.

'For some years shes been suggesting her anti-trans views, and she reportedly, in her new book under a male name indeed, features a man who dresses as a woman in order to kill.

'A lot of people, myself included, are incredibly worried about how that smears trans people, and misrepresents them.'

Not right: Morgan also slammed the divisive RIP JK Rowing hashtag used by a minority of Twitter users in reaction to the book, Rowling's fifth in a series of crime novels

The comment prompted co-host Susanna Reid to point out that the character in question was actually a cross-dressing man, not a transgender woman.

Undeterred, Butterworth added: 'In a lot of peoples minds who are not familiar with the distinctions of trans people with these issues and may have seen JKs other derogatory comments - this will be seen as a way to debase them.

'This will be seen as an insult to all transpeople - the idea we should be afraid or nervous.'

Politician George Galloway, who sided with Morgan, also waded into the argument, citing the 'irony' that people will be encouraged to buy the book as a result of the ongoing furore.

Targeted: The Harry Potter author has continuously come under fire for her controversial views on gender identity, but vehemently denies that she is transphobic

Following the initial backlash to her Twitter posts, Mermaids - a charity that supports transgender children - urged Rowling to meet some of the young people it works with in a lengthy statement challenging her views.

But she has since answered her critics with a 3,663 word essay posted on her website on Wednesday under the headline: 'J.K. Rowling Writes about Her Reasons for Speaking out on Sex and Gender Issues.'

She included her personal experiences with domestic abuse at the hands of her ex-husband of 18 months, Jorges Arantes.

She appeared mindful that her words might not be suitable for her younger fans by adding the sub-heading: 'Warning: This piece contains inappropriate language for children.'

Discussing: Rowling went on an extraordinary rant on Twitter rant in June, prompted a huge backlash from fans

In it, the author revealed she was sexually assaulted in her 20s and told of her scars of domestic violence from her first marriage.

'I couldn't shut out those memories and I was finding it hard to contain my anger and disappointment about the way I believe my government is playing fast and loose with womens and girls' safety.'

Rowling also went on to describe her experience of domestic and sexual abuse.

'I've been in the public eye now for over twenty years and have never talked publicly about being a domestic abuse and sexual assault survivor,' she wrote.

Opening up: She answered her critics with a 3,663 word essay posted on her website on Wednesday under the headline: 'J.K. Rowling Writes about Her Reasons for Speaking out on Sex and Gender Issues'

'This isn't because I'm ashamed those things happened to me, but because they're traumatic to revisit and remember. I also feel protective of my daughter from my first marriage.

In her post, Rowling said she did not want to 'claim ownership' of a story which also belongs to her daughter.

'I didn't want to claim sole ownership of a story that belongs to her, too. However, a short while ago, I asked her how she'd feel if I were publicly honest about that part of my life, and she encouraged me to go ahead,' she added.

Out now: Rowing's new book the latest to feature the fictional detective Cormoran Blue Strike

Opinion: Observer journalist Nick Cohen wrote, 'I've read the latest Strike novel, and the claim it's anti-trans is total sh***'

'I'm mentioning these things now not in an attempt to garner sympathy, but out of solidarity with the huge numbers of women who have histories like mine, who've been slurred as bigots for having concerns around single-sex spaces.

'I managed to escape my first violent marriage with some difficulty, but I'm now married to a truly good and principled man, safe and secure in ways I never in a million years expected to be.

'However, the scars left by violence and sexual assault don't disappear, no matter how loved you are, and no matter how much money you've made.

'My perennial jumpiness is a family joke  and even I know it's funny  but I pray my daughters never have the same reasons I do for hating sudden loud noises, or finding people behind me when I haven't heard them approaching.'

Rowling also declared she had 'deep concerns' about the pressures young people face to transition to another gender.
Escape time is so important, Lenzi said. You can have as little as 30 seconds to escape. We got a call five blocks away. We found the victim in the basement. We got right into the basement. We couldnt save him. He died. Smoke detectors save lives if theyre working.
Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed AB 145, a bill to equalize the legal consequences of statutory rape. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)

Gov. Gavin Newsom deserves praise for signing a bill that equalizes penalties for perpetrators of certain sex offenses against minors. Thats because he no doubt knew the political hazards of SB 145. Examination of the bill shows that signing it ought to have been a no-brainer, even though critics are now ridiculously claiming it weakens the state's prohibition on pedophilia.

The bill deals with sex acts between adults and minors (commonly referred to as statutory rape), which in California remain crimes punishable by up to four years in state prison and up to $25,000 in fines.

The only change is to the judges power to decide when to include, alongside the criminal penalties, a requirement that the convicted offender be added to Californias first-in-the-nation sex offender registry.

Judges have always had the power not to require registration in cases of young people convicted of criminal sex acts traditionally considered heterosexual. But registration was mandatory for young people convicted of criminal sex acts traditionally deemed homosexual. Judges lacked legal discretion over that portion of the penalty.

The bill erases the distinction between sex acts and grants prosecutors and judges discretion over sex offender registration equally.

Previously, for example, in the case of two high school seniors, one 17 and the other 18, who had sex on graduation night, the judge could decide not just whether to send the 18-year-old to prison but whether to make him register as a sex-offender  but only if the act being prosecuted was vaginal intercourse. If it was another sex act  and the statute is specific, referring to oral sex, anal sex and other acts  the judge would lose that discretion. Sex offender registration would be automatic.

Now the judge has discretion in both circumstances, so the requirements apply equally, whether the two teenagers are of the same or opposite sexes.

And thats it. Thats all the bill does. It does not decriminalize any act, make prosecution any less likely or lessen any penalty  except for equalizing the requirement for sex offender registration.

Story continues

There is no change to California's laws punishing sex with minors under 14 or sex between an adult and a minor 10 or more years younger.

The bill was authored by Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey and strongly supported by criminal prosecutors around the state, so its hardly a soft-on-crime measure.

By the way, we want the judge to have that discretion, do we not? Depending on the totality of the circumstances, a judge may consider it foolish to impose any criminal punishment at all on the two teenagers, just a few weeks apart in age, doing what teenagers (many, anyway) do.

But if the older partner is 23 and the younger one 14, it looks a lot more like predation and abuse, and the judge may well deem it appropriate to impose tough penalties, including sex offender registration.

So wait, you may ask: Oral sex was considered a more serious offense than vaginal intercourse? Even though intercourse could cause unwanted pregnancy?

Well, sort of.

The history is convoluted. Like many states, California once had laws governing the legality of consensual sex acts between heterosexual married couples, and as in many states, the dividing line between acceptable and unacceptable acts revolved around the supposed purpose of sex: procreation. If sex between a husband and wife could result in pregnancy, it was legal. If not, it was banned.

When California legalized all sex between consenting adults in the 1970s, that distinction was erased, but it was kept, as an artifact, in cases of statutory rape. Perhaps the rationale was to distinguish between gay and straight sex in cases of statutory rape. But there is no justification for doing so; or if there were, one might presume that the illegal sex that could result in pregnancy would be treated more harshly, not less.
According to a panel of three judges, Washington has failed to prove that Chinese misconduct justified tariffs imposed in 2018. The Trump administration has imposed tariffs of  350 billion. Beijing asks them to respect the verdict. The White House responds the WTO is inadequate to deal with Chinese violations. Experts: the verdict will have no practical effect.

Washington (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The duties imposed by the Trump administration on Chinese exports in 2018 violate the rules of international trade. This was established yesterday by three judges of the World Trade Organization (WTO) who ruled that the US failed to demonstrate that the accusations against the Chinese state of observing unfair commercial practices justified customs tariffs.

The US government has imposed duties on 295 billion euros in goods imported from China, sparking a trade war between the two powers. Washington accuses Beijing of systematically breaking WTO rules by stealing technological and industrial secrets, and massively subsidizing Chinese companies (public and private).

Last January the two sides signed a preliminary agreement (the so-called "phase one") in an attempt to find a solution to the crisis. Under the deal the Asian giant committed to buying around 184 billion euros in goods and services from the United States by the end of 2021.

The Chinese authorities, which had appealed to the WTO against US tariffs worth  169 billion, welcomed the decision. They called on the US to respect it and to take the necessary steps to keep the multilateral trading system running.

According to the Trump executive, the verdict shows that the WTO is "completely inadequate" to punish China's misconduct: " Although the panel did not dispute the extensive evidence submitted by the US of intellectual property theft by China, its decision shows that the WTO provides no remedy for such misconduct, said US trade representative Robert Lighthizer.

For several observers, the WTO response will have no practical effect. President Donald Trump is on the electoral campaign and does not intend to destabilize the markets with sensational moves, such as the announcement of the US exit from the organization.

The current White House tenant has long blocked the appointment of new judges of the WTO Court of Appeal, the body that should ultimately decide on any appeals to the verdict pronounced yesterday in the first instance.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will give a statement in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday over the developments along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

New Delhi [India], September 16 (ANI): Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will give a statement in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday over the developments along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).



A day earlier, he gave the statement in Lok Sabha over the same subject. The Opposition has been demanding a discussion on the issue. Congress also walked out from Lok Sabha over the matter.



In his statement, Singh said India has conveyed to China that its attempt to unilaterally alter the status quo along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) was unacceptable and noted that the Chinese actions reflect a disregard of various bilateral agreements between the two countries.



Also read: NSA Ajit Doval walks out of SCO meet after Pakistan uses fictitious map

Also read: Lok Sabha passes bill to amend Essential Commodities Act

Since April, we had noticed a buildup of troops and armaments by the Chinese side in the border areas adjacent to Eastern Ladakh. In early May, the Chinese side had taken action to hinder the normal, traditional patrolling pattern of our troops in the Galwan Valley area, which resulted in a face-off, Singh said in Lok Sabha in his statement on the situation on eastern border in Ladakh.



He said that the Chinese side has mobilised a large number of troops and armaments along the LAC and asserted that Indian armed forces have made adequate counter deployments in response to Chinas actions.



As of now, the Chinese side has mobilized a large number of troops and armaments along the LAC as well as in the depth areas. There are several friction areas in Eastern Ladakh including Gogra, Kongka La and North and South Banks of the Pangong Lake. In response to Chinas actions, our armed forces have also made adequate counter deployments in these areas so that Indias security interests remain fully protected, Singh said.



The two countries have been engaged in a standoff since April-May and China has refused to vacate locations in the Finger area and other friction points in the Eastern Ladakh area.



Multiple rounds of talks have also failed to yield any significant result in defusing the tensions and now the Indian side has prepared itself for long-term deployment in the high mountainous region. (ANI)

Also read: 1993, 1996 agreements entail China, India to keep forces along LAC to minimum level: Rajnath Singh
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Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 10:00:30|Editor: huaxia

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KATHMANDU, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.0 was felt in various parts of Nepal on Wednesday early morning as many citizens in the capital Kathmandu were suddenly awakened by the powerful tremor.

According to Nepal's National Seismological Center, the epicenter of the earthquake was at Ramche area of Sindhupalchok district in northern Nepal.

Baburam Khanal, an assistant of the chief district officer of Sindhupalchok told Xinhua over the phone that no human casualties and physical damages were reported as of early morning.

"We have asked the elected representatives at local levels to notify urgently if the tremor affected geological conditions of any areas since the area is vulnerable to landslide and flood," said Khanal.

Sindhupalchok district saw the largest casualties in the deadly earthquake struck in 2015, which killed nearly 9,000 people. Enditem
The death of Sushant Singh Rajput, who got off to a successful career in Bollywood without any godfather, reignited the talks revolving around privilege and how tough it is for an artiste to survive in the industry without any film connection or a famous surname.

The tragic incident has also caused a wave of nepotism debate wherein many celebrities and star-kids have become the target of massive online trolling. Now, Chunky Panday, whose daughter Ananya, among other star-kids, is facing social media outrage for allegedly riding on the privileges of an insider, has opened up about how hes been dealing with all the personal attacks being made on the young actress.

If someone does say something, we have to just take it in our stride. What else can we do? Theres no other solution to this. Being an actor, celebrity or a film star, it has some plus points and some minus points. Right now, people have gone a little too sensitive because of the whole situation (coronavirus pandemic) we are in right now. It has made people anxious and insecure. It has done that to me. Im 57 and I wouldnt say that Ive been through the greatest of career but a career of 33 years and if I can have these emotions then I can imagine what younger people must be going through. These are not ordinary times. So, one has to have a little empathy. Everyone is entitled to an opinion. I actually dont give it too much energy myself because I feel in times like these you need to engage in things that keep you happy," said Chunky.

Netizens and a number of celebrities have pointed out that while insiders get easy access" to the industry, the outsiders have to struggle to even get a foothold in, thereby, prompting a raging debate on insider versus outsider.

To which, Chunky said, This has always happened. This is nothing new. Rivalries have been happening since forever. Things have been said about each other. If you pick up a 50-year-old magazine, youd find the same dialogues there. All these debates have happened before also in many ways. Right now, its more because people have nothing else to watch because of such extraordinary times. People are just glued to their television sets. Theres no end to this."

When asked about the intense social media scrutiny that actors are often subjected to, Chunky said, Social media is a tool and you need to use it as a tool. You cant get personal about it because you are using it to put your pictures out there. Basically we used to have publicists and PRs, but today you dont need all that. Social media is not a part of your body. Its just the way you look at it. You cant get emotional about it. Its a nice way to communicate with people and you have to keep it to that. And, its all in your control what you put out."

Chunky Panday is currently seen in ZEE5s Abhay season 2, which has been widely praised by both audiences and critics alike. In the show, Chunky plays a psychopath killer on the loose.

Talking about it, the actor said, He is a very sweet uncle who lives next door. You feel sorry for him the way he walks and bargains with a vegetable vendor. Kids normally tease him. You feel bad and you love him but when he flips then you dont want to be 100 km near this man. Its a three-dimensional character. Normally when you play negative roles, you are negative from the first frame to the last frame. So, this was something very new for me."
Satellite imagery of Africa. Credit: Public Domain

Referred to as the "fire continent" by NASA, Africa is surprisingly a crucial hot spot for blazes. Global satellite images have shown that on an average August day, it is home to at least 70 percent of the 10,000 wildfires burning worldwide and 50 percent of fire-related carbon emissions.

However, a new observational study has revealed a decreasing burned area trend that could impact African ecosystems.

The study, led by a team of researchers at the University at Albany, analyzed fires in Central Africa from 2003 to 2017 using a combination of satellite-derived burned area data, reanalysis data, and machine learning techniques. Results showed a total decline in burned area by about 1.3 percent per year. The decline, both in fire frequency and size, occurred mostly in tropical savannas and grasslands. A small increase in burned area was observed over the southern edge of the Congo rainforest.

Findings were published on Friday in Environmental Research Letters.

"Wildfires can be hugely destructive, particularly to forest ecosystems, but also play a crucial role in maintaining ecological function and health," said Liming Zhou, a professor in UAlbany's Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences (DAES) and study co-author. "Naturally occurring fires are important for controlling vegetation growth and patterns for grasslands, savannas, and shrublands, and are integral for the maintenance of these ecosystems and supporting a large range of endemic species."

Fire and Climate Change

Climate in Central Africa is characterized by a strong precipitation gradient between the Sahara, the world's largest and driest desert, and the Congo Basin, the world's second-largest tropical rainforest. The area is extremely rich in biodiversity and encompasses ecosystems that are sensitive to wildfires due to weather shifts and human activities, according to the researchers.

Less flammable vegetation, due to climate change in Central Africa, is suggested to be the leading cause for the observed burned area decreases, according to the study. The finding adds to a previously documented long-term drying trend and increasing dry season length over the Congo Basin since the 1980s.

Although warmer and drier conditions with longer dry seasons tend to increase the risk, spatial extent, and duration of wildfires, the impact on fire is difficult to predict due to a number of climatic and anthropogenic factors, according to the researchers. Combining the latest satellite products and machine learning techniques enabled them to better untangle the region's complex fire-climate-ecosystem interactions, which could have profound implications for future local societal development and fire management.

"We are surprised to find that suppressed flammable biomass was the leading cause for burned area decreases in savannas and grasslands," said Yan Jiang, the study's lead author and DAES graduate student. "Our results are consistent with the positive correlation between vegetation greenness and precipitation amount in local savannas and grasslands. Another key finding is that burned area changes in savannas, grassland, and rainforest edges over Central Africa are likely natural and not caused by the clearing of forests and agricultural activity."

Added Ajay Raghavendra, a study co-author and DAES graduate student: "Although we are not the first to report the decreases in burned area in Central Africa, our work advances this scientific knowledge by attributing the changes using machine learning techniques. We were also able to include the impact of lightning, which is a major ignition source for fires in Central Africa, using data from our previous work."

The researchers plan to continue improving their analysis to include small fires that are not detected by the satellite data and separate the natural and anthropogenic factors that contribute to the wildfires. Their research is funded by the National Science Foundation.

Explore further Study finds increased moisture facilitated decline in African fires

More information: Yan Jiang et al. Observed changes in fire patterns and possible drivers over Central Africa, Environmental Research Letters (2020). Journal information: Environmental Research Letters Yan Jiang et al. Observed changes in fire patterns and possible drivers over Central Africa,(2020). DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/ab9db2
(Alliance News) - The Thomas Cook brand has been "reinvented" as an online travel company.

Chinese firm Fosun Tourism Group acquired the brand for GBP11 million after the 178-year-old travel company collapsed in September 2019.

The new version began selling holidays online and over the phone on Wednesday but does not have any stores.

It employs around 50 people and retains the brand's logo.

Alan French, who was group strategy and technology director at Thomas Cook when it collapsed, has been hired as UK chief executive of the new travel agency and described the relaunch as "an honour".

He said: "What happened last year was a tragedy at a personal level for many thousands of my former colleagues, our business partners and of course our loyal customers.

"The resilience and affection still felt for the Thomas Cook brand reflects the huge commitment and professionalism of those former colleagues. We are very much in their debt and hope to have their backing as we look to take the brand into a new era."

The failure of Thomas Cook led to 9,000 jobs being lost and the repatriation of around 150,000 holidaymakers who were overseas.

French pledged that the new travel agency's customers can be "reassured their money is protected" due to its "robust financial structure".

Thomas Cook only offers trips to destinations from which UK holidaymakers can return without entering quarantine, such as Italy, Turkey and parts of Greece.

The travel industry has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, with the self-isolation requirement causing demand for foreign breaks to plummet.

French said: "We have reinvented one of the most recognisable names in British travel. Our new business will combine fantastic UK-based customer service with an updated operating model protected by Atol and with the backing of a multibillion-dollar organisation.

"We are launching now clearly aware of the short-term challenges posed by the pandemic. We and our Fosun backers are taking the long view and we want to offer choice, customisation and 24/7 on-holiday customer care to families who wish to travel now and in the future.

"We know Brits are keen to travel but feel nervous about safety and any changes to government rules on quarantine. We are only selling destinations on the travel corridor list and all the hotels are flexible. We also won't charge customers a fee to change their holidays if Government rules change."

Jim Qian, chairman and chief executive of Fosun Tourism Group, said: "Thomas Cook has a proud heritage and after acquiring the brand last year we wanted to quickly return it to its home in the UK.

"Supporting the growth of the brand in China and its relaunch in the UK is a big step in our plan to turn Thomas Cook into a global success story and a key milestone in the development of the Fosun Tourism Group's strategy."

By Neil Lancefield, PA Transport Correspondent

source: PA

Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
We, as adults, have not given children the tools to grow up healthy in our society. I wanted to open people's eyes to what's truly happening in schools and on social media, forcing them to confront images of young girls made up, dressed up and dancing suggestively to imitate their favorite pop icon. I wanted adults to spend 96 minutes seeing the world through the eyes of an 11-year-old girl, as she lives 24 hours a day. These scenes can be hard to watch but are no less true as a result. Like most 11- and 12-year-olds, our actors in the film had already seen these types of dances and more. Despite this, during filming we were extremely mindful of their age. A trained counselor was present on set. There was no nudity except for a one-second shot in which the main characters see the exposed breast of an actress over 18 while watching a video of a dance routine on a grainy mobile screen. The project was even approved by the French government's child protection authorities.
File / Hearst Connecticut Media

GREENWICH  Police made an arrest in a strong-arm robbery that occurred at a Byram liquor store late last year, according to court papers in Stamford.

An 84-year-old woman, a co-owner of the store, was shoved during the robbery on the evening of Dec. 27, according to documents in Superior Court in Stamford. She suffered a small cut as a result of the impact against a door frame, court papers said.
SHENZHEN, China, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- On September 20, 2020, YEAHKA LIMITED ("Yeahka", Stock Code: 09923.HK) will host the LINK 2020 Smart Business Ecosystem Summit (the "Summit") in Shenzhen. More than 100 C-suite executives from leading SaaS service providers will attend this annual event and jointly search for the key to a new world of digitalization.

Prominent speakers from SaaS businesses, research institutes, investors and regulators to share insights on the "small-store economy"

During the first half of 2020 when the entire society was paralyzed by the COVID-19 pandemic, small and micro merchants found themselves among the most vulnerable, with outdated facilities and stale marketing methods. They began to see the need for digital transformation and to gradually upgrade from traffic-centric business models to full-life cycle smart operations.

According to statistics , there are more than 100 million small stores across China, including restaurants, mom and pop shops and convenience stores. Most have been stagnant in their development due to a lack of digital awareness and capabilities.

These small and micro merchants come from various sectors, with different business models and digital needs. Yeahka's event will seek to find answers to this thorny issues and explore effective digital solutions that help them unleash synergies and build life cycle resilience.

The event will feature a number of prominent speakers, including SaaS leaders, researchers, investors and regulators. In particular, Yang Tao, Professor and Deputy Director-General at the National Institution for Finance & Development will deliver a keynote speech on economic and financial changes in the digital age and share his insights on macro finance policy and practice, financial markets, fintech, payments and settlement.

Wu Sitao, Director of Corporate Finance and Capital Markets at CLSA, will address how to leverage the capital markets to surpass competitors in challenging times. He has more than 12 years of experience in corporate finance and capital markets, and has led more than 20 capital market financing projects for companies.

Tan Beiping, Vice President of Mininglamp Technology Group, will also deliver a speech to demystify how to tap shifting consumer trends and digital marketing to boost business growth. Mininglamp Technology is popular among investors, having raised RMB2 billion and USD300 million in its D round and E round funding in March 2019 and March 2020, respectively.

In addition, Yeahka will release its "Small Business Big Dreams: 2020 Report on Small-Store Economy Dynamics", a report compiled in collaboration with iResearch that analyzes emerging trends in the small-store economy in China following the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Summit will also invite senior executives from Joy Spreader Interactive Technology, RUIPOS, SmartMore Technology and Juewei Food to discuss emerging business trends and share their latest insights and cases for smart business enabled by digital transformation, covering industry policies, business strategies and technologies. There will also be a roundtable themed "How traffic, solutions, data and digital business services interact across the life cycle of business operations".

More than one hundred CEOs to discuss intelligent business solutions in China

It is worth noting that Zhu Zinan, Chairman and CEO of Joy Spreader Interactive Technology, will also attend and present at the Summit.

Joy Spreader Interactive Technology (Stock Code: 06988.HK) recently announced its plan to list on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange by issuing approximately 544 million shares, of which 10% will be publicly offered. As a cornerstone investor in the deal, Yeahka (09923.HK) will invest US$2 million in Joy Spreader Interactive Technology, becoming an important part of Yeahak's investment portfolio.

Joy Spreader Interactive Technology is just one of Yeahka's portfolio companies.

To shortlist more high-quality portfolio companies, Yeahka will host at the Summit a "LINK Night: Emerging CEO Salon", where CEOs of SaaS service providers from different industries will share their insights on the industry. Luke Liu, Founder and Chairman of the Board at Yeahka will attend the Summit.

RYK Capital Partners is an investment platform jointly established by Yeahka and its shareholder Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd., a renowned Japanese internet company.

Soon after the establishment of the investment platform, Yeahka, through RYK Capital Partners, increased its capital in Fushi Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd.'s payment and service platform "Haoshengyi", and made an exclusive and strategic investment in Shenzhen Zhibaiwei Technology Development Co., Ltd., a SaaS software developer that specializes in the retail and catering sector in China.

As a vehicle for the development and enhancement of Yeahka's investment portfolio, "LINK Night: Emerging CEO Salon" will continue to attract new and outstanding companies to join. As the organizer of the LINK 2020 Smart Business Ecosystem Summit, Yeahka (Stock Code: 09923.HK) will continue to host industry events such as this going forward.

 2019 China Third-Party Merchant Payment Market Research Report, iiMediaResearch

SOURCE Yeahka
(Natural News) Netflix is under fire for distributing the pro-pedo flick Cuties over its streaming video service. The movie Cuties is about an 11-year-old girl who discovers her sexuality while twerking.

(Article by Shane Trejo republished from BigLeaguePolitics.com)

Cuties has been described by its apologists as a triumph of diversity and womanhood. It should come as no surprise that this content is getting distributed as former first lady Michelle Obama is an influential producer with Netflix.

Big League Politics reported three years ago on how the Obamas were using Netflix to distribute their political propaganda and promote their social agenda after leaving the White House:

Trending: Drudge Report Monthly Traffic Spirals Downward As Longtime Readers Reject Democrat MSM Site Former President Barack Obama is currently in advance negotiations with Netflix to produce a series of shows through them. This will give the former President easy access into the living rooms of virtually every American in order to spread whatever propaganda he wants. The deal would pay both the former President, and his wife Michelle to provide exclusive content to the over 118 million Netflix subscribers around the world. It is unclear of the exact content that would be produced, but after looking at other content produced by Netflix, the shows being highly political wouldnt be surprising. After receiving massive investments totaling over $40 million from George Soros in 2015 and 2016, the content on the streaming service began to shift and include originally produced content with political agendas. One show they released was titled Dear White People, and was extremely racially charged, as the name implies. They also released a show featuring Katie Couric that explores gender identity, while at the same time editing a portion of an old episode of Bill Nye the Science Guy, where Nye makes the claim that there are only two genders. With former President Obama already going against the norm for other Presidents by attacking the current President, its clear that Obama is okay with getting divisively political. It would not be surprising to see his show used as a political weapon of the left.

Making matters even worse, Russia-gate villain and former national security advisor Susan Rice also sits on the Netflix board.

#BoycottNetflix this crap is unbelievable! Susan Rice is a liar and thief. Cancelled my Netflix and sell my stock pic.twitter.com/6xEMbEnYTp  Trudy Mallon (@mallonhomes) March 28, 2018

It should come as no surprise that Michelle is completely silent with regards to Cuties. This is the type of filth that her family is personally invested in promoting throughout the West. Her husband is the founder of ISIS, as President Trump so eloquently put it, after all.

Big League Politics has reported on how Cuties is mainstreaming child pornography and the sexualization of kids:
The problematic 'green list' will be updated, before Ireland opts into a new European 'traffic light' system for travel next month. So what does it all mean?

Stock Photo. An Aer Lingus jet prepares to land at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, in 2010. Photo: Tim Boyle/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Finally, there is certainty on travel. Well, kind of. In a way. Or at least, a little less uncertainty. Or is there?

If yesterdays brief announcement on Irelands Green List, and confirmation of the Governments intention to opt in to a proposed Europe-wide traffic-light system for safe travel confused you  welcome to the twilight zone in which holidaymakers and pretty much anyone who works in tourism or aviation has been living for months.

Heres what we know. Taoiseach Micheal Martin said Ireland will broadly support the European Commissions colour-coded system for a common approach to travel. Based on weekly updates, Green countries will have fewer than 25 cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 in a 14-day period; Orange fewer than 50 cases; Red more than 50.

The proposal wont be adopted until at least October 13, but, in the meantime, Irelands Green List will be taken down from the shelf on which it has been gathering dust since August 4, and updated more or less by this method.

As I write, that means Germany, Poland and Cyprus are in, while Greece, Italy, Hungary and Slovakia are out  for now. The list will be updated weekly, and given the way cases have been yo-yoing all over the world lately, its not exactly going to make it easier for holidaymakers to book, or for those in the tourism and travel trade to plan ahead, for the coming weeks  not to mind the coming year.

Heres what we dont know. What will happen between now and mid-October? A week is a long time in politics, but an eternity in a pandemic. Who else will opt in to the EC system? (Its non-binding.) Will Ireland reliably update its list this time?

Will TDs and public-health experts be on board, or continue to say they would prefer if we stayed on the island?

And whatever happened to that testing and tracing system we were told was being discussed specifically for travel?

The travel industry knows a can kicked down the road when it sees one. Ryanair condemned more delay and indecision.

Pat Dawson, CEO of the Irish Travel Agents Association, said the Government had gifted his beleaguered sector another month of stress. The Irish Tourist Industry Confederation said the measures, although an improvement, will do little to benefit the Irish tourism industry.

Travel thrives on certainty  be it sun holidays or inbound tourists. Instead, weve had chaos for months. That is primarily due to the pandemic, of course  but it has been exacerbated by the spaghetti of rules and restrictions issuing from individual countries, by the speed at which they change, and by Irelands mixed messaging and inaction.

Moving towards traffic lights at least signals some direction, but a few broad lines in a six-month plan dont go far enough. The industry wants specifics on supports and testing now.

On that at least, we have clarity.

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Versailles, KY, Sept. 16, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- National Midwifery Week is the first week of October, and Frontier Nursing University (FNU) is celebrating by hosting a virtual event from Oct. 5-8, called Empower 2020: Year of the Nurse and the Midwife.

The event features four free sessions, including two continuing education opportunities, presented by FNU faculty, students, and alumni on the latest practices and topics influencing nurse-midwifery care:

Its the Year of the Nurse and the Midwife: Get the 411 on Becoming a Nurse-Midwife is for midwifery students or anyone who is considering becoming a nurse-midwife. Participants will hear from current midwifery students about their experiences and have the opportunity to ask questions during this live session.

Midwifery Pearls of Telehealth will provide an overview of telehealth from a midwifery perspective with special emphasis on the areas of patient engagement, group care, provider satisfaction and best practices for meeting compliance requirements.

Hot Topics in the Management of Perimenopause & Menopause: A Conventional & Integrative Approach will provide a review of the most common conventional and evidence-based integrative medicine interventions used during perimenopause and menopause.

Maternal and infant mortality affects black and indigenous women at a much higher rate than other races. In Racial Disparities in Maternity Care: Where Do We Go From Here?, FNU Assistant Professor Dr. Heather Clarke and FNU President Dr. Susan Stone will review the issues related to health care disparities and discuss how midwives can engage in meaningful strategies for change.

The World Health Organization (WHO) designated 2020 as the Year of the Nurse and the Midwife in honor of the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingales birth. The designation brings awareness to the importance of nurses and midwives in the health and care of populations across the globe. According to the WHO, the world needs nine million more nurses and midwives to achieve universal health coverage by 2030.



Southern Cross Insurance Solutions is sponsoring the 2020 virtual event. National Midwifery Week was created by the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) to celebrate and recognize midwives and midwife-led care. ACNM and its 7,000+ midwife members, physicians and womens health organizations observe National Midwifery Week each year. Dr. Cathy Collins-Fulea, FNU course faculty member and DNP graduate, is currently serving as president of the ACNM Board of Directors.



Frontier Nursing University is the birthplace of nurse-midwifery in the United States and has 80 years of experience in delivering graduate nursing and midwifery programs. This is the sixth consecutive year FNU has hosted a virtual event in support of National Midwifery Week.



Register for the Empower 2020: Year of the Nurse and the Midwife virtual event and learn more at Frontier.edu/MidwiferyWeek.

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FNU is passionate about educating nurse-midwives and nurse practitioners to serve women and families in all communities, especially rural and underserved areas. FNU offers graduate Nurse-Midwifery and Nurse-Practitioner distance education programs that can be pursued full- or part-time with the students home community serving as the classroom. Degrees and options offered include Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP), Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) or Post-Graduate Certificates. To learn more about FNU and the programs and degrees offered, please visit Frontier.edu.

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Staff dance on the tables in the Hofbrauzelt at the Oktoberfest on the last day of the festival in Munich on 7 October 2018. Photo: Felix Horhager/Picture Alliance via Getty

Germanys beer brewers were already reeling from the economic downturn in spring this year when coronavirus lockdowns shuttered bars and restaurants. They were dealt a second blow after the cancellation of Oktoberfest, the worlds biggest beer festival, which would have been kicking off this weekend.

Oktoberfest which runs from mid-September until early October in Munich every year, attracts more than 6 million visitors, who spend about 440m (405m, $522m) and drink 7 million litres of beer at the 16-day beer festival.

Indirectly, including hotels, taxis, restaurants and so on, Oktoberfest generated more than 1.2bn for the local economy last year.

Watch: Germany's annual Oktoberfest cancelled for the first time since WWII

A complete sales channel for us brewers just broke down overnight, Andreas Steinfatt, director of gastronomy and marketing at the Paulaner Brewery Group told reporters this week. Oktoberfest is a brand stage for Munich beers, Steinfatt said.

What the long-term effects will be for our industry is a bit like looking in a crystal ball at the moment, Steinfatt added.

The German beer market is down about 6.2% overall as of July, compared to last year, Jorg Lehmann, chief executive of the Paulaner Brewer Group and president of the German Brewers Bund told reporters in Berlin. The 6.2% drop in sales relates to the first six months of this year.

Aerial view of the Oktoberfest grounds in central Munich, Germany. Photo: Achim Schmidt/Paulaner Brauerei Gruppe

Even though private consumption rose during the pandemic, Lehmann said that it wasnt enough to offset the effects of the shutdowns in the gastronomy sector. Pure beer sales via gastronomy plunged by up to 50% depending on the month, he said.

Restaurants and bars have reopened since lockdowns started easing at the end of May, but even though owners are taking strict hygiene precautions, some consumers are still uncertain about returning to shared public spaces.

Lehmann declined to give an exact prognosis for how the beer market will fare for the remainder of the year  big events are still cancelled in Germany and recent spikes in COVID-19 infections could necessitate smaller lockdowns  but said that the beer market could end 2020 with sales down between 4.5% to 5% overall.

Story continues

Watch: What is a V-shaped economic recovery?

Paulaner bosses declined to give absolute numbers for the financial loss to the brewing group from the shutdown of Oktoberfest.

Germanys decision to ban big events to avoid spreading coronavirus was a massive hit not just for beer brewers like Paulaner, but also for the 13,000 jobs that Oktoberfest creates  8,000 permanent roles and 5,000 seasonal workers in the various tents and stands on the huge meadows in central Munich.

The 2020 closure was the first time the event, which started in 1810, as a celebration of the wedding of King Ludwig I was called off in 70 years. It had been cancelled due to epidemics before though: in 1854 and 1873 over cholera.

Asia and Russia rebounding

Paulaner, founded as a brewery in a monastery in 1634, has around 900 staff, owns around 10 different beer brands, exporting to over 70 countries. The Paulaner Group in turn is owned by Schorghuber und Heineken, with 70% and 30% share respectively.

About one-third of all the groups beer production is exported, and they have observed a domino effect as COVID-19 spread across the world from Asia, initially shutting down China.

However, they are seeing markets coming back to life in China, Singapore, and Russia, even as Germany, Italy, France, and Spain remain in the doldrums. The Americas are even further behind in terms of returning to normality.
Remote working (where we work), flexible working (when we work) and smart working (how we work) - these are all themes currently being analysed and discussed. These approaches to work are interwoven, at times indistinguishable and can be confusing. Covid-19 has fast-tracked the debate and made some discussion irrelevant as changes have already occurred.

This is not evolution, this is revolution. In 34 years in HR, I have never seen such a radical transformation at such speed.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) is the professional body for HR and people development in Ireland, with a membership of 6,000. The CIPD has a reputation for having its finger on the pulse regarding emerging trends and changes to practices within the workplace. In the CIPD Covid-19 Survey (June 2020), respondents indicated during the crisis:

:: 52pc of organisations had more than 75pc employees working remotely;

:: 66pc of organisations had more than 50pc of employees working remotely;

:: 70pc of organisations said they were willing to provide greater remote working opportunities after the Covid-19 crisis.

The new world of work is the most significant change to our working lives since the internet. Global organisations like Facebook, Twitter and Siemens have stated that remote working will be a key part of their business strategy over the longer term. Many more will follow.

During the crisis, the revolution has been driven by practical business requirements - to keep operations functioning, to remain responsive to customer needs, to remain competitive, and to retain talented workforces. Longer-term employer benefits include reduced office costs, potential for higher productivity, a richer and wider talent pool, and an attractive retention strategy. Employee benefits include greater flexibility and reduction of work-related travel. Everyone should win.

Historically, business leaders have been hesitant to embrace remote working. This was based on a fundamental mistrust of how it would work. Most business leaders get a sense of reassurance attending the office and viewing their team(s) busily working away, interacting, and engaging with each other. That is a natural reaction and as plans form that will reduce this reassurance, many business leaders feel nervous. Some business leaders remain sceptical about the effectiveness and productivity gains of remote working.

I speak with experience of the new world of work. Over the past 12 years I worked for a global organisation that had more than 90,000 employees spread across over 100 countries. In 2014, after six years as a HR leader in Ireland, I moved to a global HR role. Although still employed and based in Ireland, my global HR role had little interaction with the business in Ireland. The new role required leadership of global HR and business transformation initiatives across five continents, with representatives from up to 70 countries, all working on different time zones. My working life had changed forever.

Thankfully, my employer truly embraced the concepts of remote working and flexible working and had the technology, processes and, most importantly, the mindset to make it work. Over time work became a series of global projects, large project teams, WebEx meetings, one-to-one virtual meetings and calls, PowerPoint slides, detailed meeting agendas and meeting minutes. My role required more structure, more planning and significantly more written communication.

In Ireland, organisations are at different stages on this journey. Progressive organisations are already rising to the challenge and making changes, engaging with employees, and reviewing work practices. Some organisations will wait to see how things develop; they may think this phase will pass. It will not.

The Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation is conducting a public consultation to inform the delivery of guidance on remote working for both employers and employees. Submissions were due by August 7. This process is moving quickly: it needs to.

There are complexities with the remote working model, and a detailed code of practice is needed. Employment law, employee rights, health and safety, insurance, equality and well-being of employees are top of the list. There is a solution for each challenge. Remote working will not suit all organisations (nor all employees) and needs careful role-by-role assessment to see what is viable and sustainable within each organisation. However, it is now part of an organisation design concept for future working life.

The greatest challenge for business leaders will be to transform their mindset and make businesses smart, attractive, flexible, adaptable with a positive work environment. Remote working will be a critical component of this transformation. Business leaders will need educational support and training to adapt to new conditions.

Ireland is a small island nation that is largely export-focused, and foreign direct investment is a critical factor. Ireland prides itself as being a great place to do business. We need to move with the times. Our stakeholder representatives (employer and employee) will do a good job in advising Government; in turn, Government needs to bring clarity to this situation and communicate in a practical and succinct manner.

The key challenge is not technology -this already exists. The key challenge is not the viability of remote working - the business case is proven. The key challenge is to develop a new mindset with education, training, and engagement processes to support organisational change.

With effective guidance, Ireland can have competitive businesses and a more flexible and engaged workforce.

Niall Eyre is principal consultant at www.TransFromHR.ie - a HR consulting practice providing solutions for the new world of work.
Ambassador of the European Union (EU) to ASEAN Igor Driesmans has appreciated Vietnams efforts in hosting the 53rd ASEAN Minister Meeting and related meetings amid unprecedented challenges.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh chairs AMM-53 (Photo: VNA)

Vietnam has successfully managed to host a series of important ministerial meetings this year amid unprecedented challenges, Ambassador Driesmans said in an interview recently granted to Vietnam News Agency correspondents following the closing of the ministerial meetings.

The technical and logistical aspects of this undertaking are impressive, taking into account the fact that the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) membership spans four continents and multiple time zones, he said.

The 27th ARF and the ASEAN-EU Post-Ministerial Conference took place at a time when Europe, Southeast Asia, and the entire global community are facing the COVID-19 pandemic. The fact that both meetings were successfully held  albeit virtually  serves as an important reminder about the value that all participants see in a multilateral approach to solving problems and enhanced cooperation at a time of great uncertainty, he added.

This joint effort is reflected in the ARF Statement on Infectious Disease Outbreaks, which was endorsed by all participants and calls, among others, for enhanced regional and international solidarity and cooperation in addressing the current pandemic and preventing future outbreaks.

According to the ambassador, the 27th ASEAN Regional Forum addressed important regional and international security issues such as fight against terrorism and transnational crimes, situation in the East Sea, and the Korean Peninsula.

The global pandemic has accelerated existing trends towards digitalisation of economies and societies, which in turn bring to the fore the need for more cooperation on developing international norms and guidelines for safeguarding cyber-security. This is a new and increasingly important area of work for the ARF.

It was the first time since the start of his mandate that EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell participated in the ASEAN-EU Post-Ministerial Conference, Driesmans said, assessing in what turned out to be a very fruitful meeting, both sides took stock of the width and depth of EU-ASEAN relations ranging from countering transnational crime, maritime security, human rights, sustainable development and smart cities to trade, education, connectivity, cybersecurity, and narrowing the development gap.

He went on more specifically, the meeting addressed a broad range of current issues such as EU-ASEAN cooperation to fight against COVID-19, in particular support from the EU for developing a comprehensive recovery framework and enhance collaboration for equitable access to affordable COVID-19 vaccines.

Our key message is that the European Union continues to be a reliable, trustworthy, and predictable partner of the region, the ambassador affirmed.

In addition to responding to the COVID-19 crisis and providing 800 million EUR of Team Europe support to ASEAN countries, the EU emphasised the importance of looking ahead, he noted.

According to the diplomat, the EU stands ready to work with ASEAN partners in ensuring fair and equitable access to affordable COVID-19 vaccines. The bloc will continue to support ASEANs efforts to achieve a prosperous, safe and united community, as this brings lasting benefits to both regions.

In addition to maintaining its current supply lines, the EU look forward to accelerating joint economic recovery by further strengthening trade and connectivity with ASEAN. Trade facilitation, removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers, and connectivity in all shapes and forms  physical infrastructure, transport, digital, and people-to-people exchanges  will be play key roles in the joint post-COVID recovery. The EU is willing and able to deepen cooperation with ASEAN to ensure that both sides are able to use the existing opportunities to the fullest possible extent.

At the same time, regional and global challenges must not be ignored, he said. He added the EU noted the recent developments in the East Sea and as a staunch believer in international law and peaceful resolutions of conflicts, encouraged further progress in the negotiations on the Code of Conduct in the East Sea. We look forward to its early conclusion in line with international law, particularly the 1982 UNCLOS.

During the Post-Ministerial Conference, the EU voiced its strong support to a more enhanced role for ASEAN in addressing the situation in Rakhine State and facilitating the repatriation process of the displaced persons, he said, adding that the bloc is proud to have cosponsored the ASEAN Regional Forum Statement on the Treatment of Children Recruited by or Associated with Terrorist Groups.

Looking ahead, green economy, digitalisation in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and the fight against climate change will feature more and more prominently in the cooperation between the EU and ASEAN. The green agenda in particular remains a top priority for the EU and for our partnership with ASEAN, he stressed.

Commenting on Vietnams role as the Chair of ASEAN 2020 through its performances achieved from the beginning of the year, the diplomat said Vietnam has successfully managed to host a series of important ministerial meetings this year amid unprecedented challenges.

While we have turned mostly online for now, we have been able over the past few months to maintain a good momentum in strengthening EU-ASEAN relations and reinforcing their strategic nature, he emphasised.

Vietnams focus on strengthening a cohesive and proactive ASEAN cannot be more relevant than it is today, when the pandemic has provoked a global economic shock unlike any other in recent history. Vietnams ASEAN Chairmanship has successfully upheld the spirit of solidarity, cooperation and the sense of responsibility towards the international community since the early days of this crisis.

Under the leadership of Vietnam, ASEAN has shown a real willingness to come together to find regional solutions and to mitigate the effects of this crisis, as illustrated by the Special ASEAN Summit on the Coronavirus Disease in April, he affirmed.

Ambassador Driesmans held that Vietnam has also been able to reaffirm the centrality and unity of ASEAN by maintaining the regular, substantive engagement between the region and its partners since the outbreak of the pandemic.

Looking ahead, EU-ASEAN relations will certainly continue to benefit from the steps taken during this year of crisis, allowing the two regions to take their strategic partnership even further, he added.

Laos lauds Vietnams hosting of AMM 53

Deputy Foreign Minister of Laos Thongphane Savanphet has spoken highly of Vietnams organisation of the 53rd ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting (AMM 53) and related meetings, saying despite their virtual form, all discussions took place frankly as held directly.

The official, who is also head of the SOM ASEAN of Laos, congratulated Vietnam on successfully hosting all events as scheduled and completing the discussion of a series of documents as planned amid the complex developments of COIVD-19 worldwide.

Priorities set by the country as Chair of ASEAN 2020 are progressing well, he added.

The AMM 53 and related meetings, held from September 9-12 via video conferences, reviewed the implementation of ASEAN-related works and the results of member nations conduction of the blocs plan on building its three pillars, vision, and master plan on ASEAN connectivity, among others.

At the event, participating countries agreed and were committed to collaborating in COVID-19 prevention and control, including experience exchange and joint research on vaccine production. ASEAN ministers also approved numerous important documents for cooperation for comprehensive economic recovery within the bloc, including a document on the establishment of an ASEAN fund in response to COVID-19 and the Joint Communique of AMM 53 ASEAN.

According to Thongphane Savanphet, at these meetings, ASEAN continued playing its central role in cooperating with international partners, planning programmes, and putting forth priorities in discussions. He said the blocs joint work with its development and dialogue partners have grown robustly in the past five years.

The meetings passed plans for ASEANs cooperation for 2021  2025 with partners like the US, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, and India, among others. ASEAN ministers agreed to grant the development partnership status to Italy and France.

In addition, the ministers also discussed with representatives of ASEAN partner nations on the matters of security and peace, particularly traditional and non-traditional security issues.

The Lao official said the pandemic has interrupted the blocs the Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) negotiation this year.

In the past week, as part of the event, working groups in charge of the negotiation met, with ASEAN and China agreeing to carry out online negotiation if the pandemic keeps going on longer and committed to concluding the work effectively as soon as possible.

Vietnam shoulders ASEAN Chairmanship during tough time: Chinese ambassador

Vietnam has shouldered the responsibility of ASEAN Chairmanship during a tough time, and the theme Cohesive and Responsive chosen by the country for this year couldn't be more relevant, Chinese Ambassador to ASEAN Deng Xijun has said.

He told the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) that facing the rising challenges within and outside the region, from the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis to changing geopolitical landscape, the role of ASEAN chair is more important in upholding ASEANs unique inclusive regionalism and in maintaining "ASEAN way" of consensus.

China is committed to work with Vietnam in implementing leaders consensus on solidarity against COVID-19 and common welfare of people, he stressed.

With the joint efforts of regional countries, the pandemic in the region is generally under control, Deng said, stressing that East Asia is expected to become the only region with positive economic growth this year.

According to the ambassador, efforts of ASEAN and China will focus on thoroughly defeating the pandemic, promoting regional economic recovery and cooperation on sustainable development, and strengthening the long-term planning of the ASEAN-China cooperation.

He noted that next year marks the 30th anniversary of ASEAN-China dialogue partnership, to which foreign ministers attach great importance and commit to close collaboration on commemorative activities.

Both sides look forward to concluding the negotiations on the Plan of Action to Implement the Joint Declaration on ASEAN-China Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity (2021-2025) as soon as possible, which draws directions for cooperation in the next five years.

The ministers are committed to jointly strengthening the third pillar of cooperation through more exchanges in education, culture, media, youth and more.

The ambassador said the ASEAN-China Ministerial Meeting was, on the whole, a full success.

ASEAN and China will strengthen regional anti-pandemic cooperation and step up regional economic recovery. They will also uphold multilateralism and free trade and champion open, inclusive and win-win cooperation.

China will give strong support to ASEAN community building, ASEAN centrality in East Asia cooperation and ASEAN solidarity, while working together with the grouping to ensure peace and development prevail in the region, he pledged.

Russian Ambassador hails Vietnams efforts as ASEAN Chair

Russia appreciates the efforts made by Vietnam as the Chair of ASEAN in 2020 and other ASEAN-led mechanisms, according to Russian Ambassador to ASEAN Alexander Ivanov.

In an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agencys correspondents in Jakarta on the outcome of the 53rd ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting (AMM-53) and related meetings, the Russian diplomat said Vietnam has successfully managed to perform its duties in the difficult time of COVID-19 pandemic.

It is a real challenge for our Vietnamese friends and we always do our best to facilitate their chairmanship, he stressed.

Regarding the ASEAN-Russia cooperation, he said it is developing well, and both sides are promoting the strategic partnership in all directions.

Some of the joint activities have been transformed into the format of videoconferences, including the ASEAN-Russia Special Ministerial Meeting on COVID-19 where ASEAN and Russia agreed to exchange information and experience as well as work together on vaccine and many other issues.

Besides, Russia started to cooperate with ASEAN on fighting infectious diseases long time before the COVID-19 outbreak. A number of ASEAN experts have been trained at the International Research Centre for the Study of Biosafety and Human Well-Being in the Asia-Pacific Region in Vladivostok, he added.

Regarding the most important outcomes of the East Asia Summit (EAS) Foreign Ministers Meeting and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), Alexander Ivanov said the EAS Foreign Ministers Meeting is the key step in preparation for the East Asia Summit where leaders of countries discuss topical issues for the Asia-Pacific region.

This year, the most pressing problem in the spotlight is the common fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, and its socio-economic impact on the region. In this context, Russia has initiated the preparation of the EAS Leaders Statement on Strengthening Collective Capacity in Epidemics Prevention and Response, which will not only give impetus to joint efforts in tackling the current crisis, but also contribute to enhancing regional resilience to the future pandemics.

Vietnam, China, Indonesia and Thailand are co-sponsoring this document that was also welcomed by all EAS Foreign Ministers as timely and very important, he said.

Meanwhile, he said the discussion at the ARF was focused on key issues of regional stability and countering the growing number of new threats and challenges, and Russia co-sponsored the ARF Ministers Statement on Cooperation in the field of security and in the use of ICTs.

With regard to promoting security of ICTs, which is a high-profile agenda in the fast-developing world, Russia has also initiated an ARF Workshop on Countering the Use of ICTs for Criminal Purposes as well as the development of the ARF Terminology in the field of Security of and in the use of ICT. Both these initiatives were endorsed by the ARF Ministers on September 12.

Ambassador Ivanov said the main attention at the ASEAN-Russia meeting and the ARF was paid to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, adding Russia was the first country to register a COVID-19 vaccine called Sputnik-V.

I wish to assure you that it wasnt a matter of only a few months. Between the start of development of the adenoviral vector technology and the creation of the vaccine 40 years have elapsed. The technology has been tested on dozens of thousands of people.

With this experience, Russia has managed to expeditiously develop this target vaccine. Mass production of this vaccine will start soon, and everyone wishing to do so can be vaccinated, he emphasised.

Today more than 50 nations including countries from the Asia Pacific region have expressed their interest in acquiring the vaccine. We are also thinking about launching the mass production of the vaccine in the number of regional states.

Touching on the issues of post-pandemic economic recovery, he said Russia has become a co-sponsor of the EAS Leaders Statement on Cooperation to Promote Steady Growth of Regional Economy initiated by China.

Moscow has also supported the Indonesian proposal to convene the EAS Health Experts Meeting on COVID-19, and is preparing an ASEAN-Russia Seminar Joint Response to the Coronavirus Outbreak to be held on September 30, 2020, he revealed, adding the idea of the seminar has been very much welcomed by the ASEAN and Russian Economic Ministers.

Regarding the regional security matters, Russia is one of the main proponents of the EAS Discussions on the Regional Security Architecture. This dialogue is of a special importance today, when the competition of great powers in the region is growing, which jeopardizes the role of ASEAN and ASEAN Centrality. Having this in mind, it is very topical to continue the regular practice of holding such consultations among EAS Ambassadors in Jakarta with optional participation of similarly-ranked officials from capitals.

Russian parliamentarian, scholar laud Vietnam's role in ASEAN

Chairman of the International Affairs Committee of the Federal Council of Russia Konstantin Kosachev has lauded Vietnams efforts in its capacity as Chair of the 41st General Assembly of ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA-41) in ensuring AIPAs activities amid the global COVID-19 outbreak.

Addressing the AIPA-41, Kosachev also spoke highly of Vietnams role in promoting global inter-parliamentary cooperation, saying that Vietnam is one of the locomotives playing an outstanding role in the Inter-Parliamentary Union and other international forums.

He added that inter-parliamentary exchanges at AIPA play an important role and Russia sees it as an important mechanism to strengthen peace, stability and mutually-beneficial cooperation.

In his speech, he said Russia regards ASEAN as one of the most successful organisations in Asia-Pacific and Russia-ASEAN dialogue is a crucial factor to ensure regional stability.

Regarding the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic, he said it fails to hinder Russia  ASEAN ties with dialogue mechanisms being maintained online. Both sides fostered collaboration in hi-tech, innovation, digital economy via the Russia  ASEAN Business Council.

About Vietnams role in ASEAN, well-known Russian journalist and expert on international affairs Adam Shamir offered objective and positive feedback.

Talking with a Vietnam News Agency correspondent in Moscow, he said Vietnam takes the guiding role in ASEAN not only thanks to crowd but also dynamic population. Its industry and agriculture are growing while military power is maintained. Despite challenges, Vietnams efforts brought about positive results, contributing to developing ties with regional nations.

Vietnams entry to ASEAN has brought a new vitality and changes to the bloc, he said, adding that as Russia is paying more attention to Asia in general, Southeast Asia and Vietnam in particular, it is striving to develop economic and trade ties with the region.

In order to develop its Far East region, Russia considers Vietnam a favorite partner and a key ally, he said.

AMM 53: Japanese Ambassador to ASEAN praises the lead of Vietnam

The most important outcome of the of the 53rd ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM 53) is the commendable chairmanship of Vietnam and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh.

Japanese Ambassador to ASEAN Chiba Akira made the remarks in an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency correspondent in Jakarta on September 14.

He said that Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu from Japan also commended the excellent ASEAN chairmanship through the lead of Vietnam.

We think that ASEAN centrality was realised, which is the most important factor of ASEAN, he stressed.

According to the diplomat, Japan and ASEAN had four meetings altogether, and there are many messages that came up from Japan.

First of all, the ASEAN plus Japan foreign ministers meeting focused on Japan's contribution to ASEAN, including the situation brought about by COVID-19. Japan reiterated its commitment to establishing a centre for health problems and emerging diseases. This will be established in ASEAN.

Japan also committed to dispersing US$1 million for a new COVID-19 response fund established by ASEAN as well as carry out its loan and investment programmes especially tailored for the bloc.

But the most important message that came from Japan this time is that Japan is in full support of the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP), he noted.

He went on to say that through the discussions, it was made clear that Japan's own vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) and AOIP have many common traits, such as treasuring rules of law and freedom of navigation and overflight.

These are core principles of both AOIP and FOIP. So that is why Japan is in full support of AOIP, Chiba Akira stressed.

According to the ambassador, this issue was not covered thoroughly during these meetings, but Japan has two plans for economic recovery. One is to support construction of infrastructure through loans and investments through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). And the other is to work together to rebuild the supply chain, with Vietnam being a very important country.

The Japanese government is encouraging Japanese companies to rethink their supply chain, and Vietnam is expected to lure Japanese investors, he said.

Canadian expert greatly values Vietnamese role as ASEAN Chair

Vietnam has successfully taken advantage of its position as ASEAN Chair to become a bridge that is capable of promoting intra-ASEAN connections as well as links between the bloc and its dialogue partners, a Canadian expert has said.



Jonathan Berkshire Miller, director and co-founder of the Ottawa-based Council on International Policy, highly values the countrys role in continuing to harmonise relations with China, while also striving to strengthen the partnership that exists within ASEAN and in the wider Indo-Pacific region.

The nations principled and resolute leadership has served to make progress in settling challenging issues relating to the East Sea, he emphasised.

Miller, who is also a senior expert of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, highlighted the countrys initiatives to change the way it organises dialogues and important meetings held throughout the year since taking on the role of Chair of ASEAN. Indeed, this can be considered to be an especially tough time due to the impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic which is ravaging the world, in addition to escalating regional geopolitical tensions.

Furthermore, Luis Silva, a Canadian expert on government relations, expressed his optimism about future prospects regarding co-operation between ASEAN and Canada.

Amid the context of the unpredictable developments relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Canadian Government is working to reduce its dependence on the Chinese market, whilst taking new measures aimed at expanding economic co-operation with other countries in East Asia, he said.

According to the expert, Canada, along with four ASEAN countries such as Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, and Brunei, are members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

Canada and ASEAN are therefore implementing a working plan in line with the Canada-ASEAN Joint Declaration on Trade and Investment, whilst also considering the possibility of signing a free trade agreement, he said, adding that these moves indicate that both ASEAN and Canada are keen to further their co-operation ties.

The ASEAN-Canada dialogue partnership was first established in 1977. In the framework of the ASEAN-Canada Ministerial Meeting taking place online as part of the 53rd ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM 53), both sides discussed concrete measures aimed at strengthen co-operation in political, social, and cultural pillars.

Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne affirmed that with Canada having a major Pacific coastline, the North American country attaches great importance to its growing relationship with all ASEAN member nations, with his country and ASEAN able to unite in order to deal with important global issues whilst supporting peace, security, economic growth, and sustainable development for all countries.

At present, ASEAN is Canada's sixth largest trading partner, with two-way trade between the two reaching hit CAD 27.2 billion, equivalent to US$20.6 billion, in 2019.

This comes after Canadian investment and trade activities in Southeast Asia have witnessed a sharp increase in terms of volume across many areas, including oil and gas, mining, high technology, telecommunications, food processing, financial services, and aviation.

VNA
The deportation of 18 migrants was blocked yesterday after their lawyers lodged 11th-hour human rights claims.

The migrants were supposed to join another 14 who were successfully deported, but their lawyers lodged claims at the last minute which stopped immigration officials from boarding them on to the plane.

Of the 14 who were deported, ten were flown to Germany and four to France.

The deportation of 18 migrants was blocked yesterday after their lawyers lodged 11th-hour human rights claims. Pictured: migrants arriving in Kingsdown, Kent, on Monday

They had arrived in the UK illegally by crossing the Channel in boats.

Among them were nationals from Afghanistan Iraq, Iran, Kuwait and Yemen.

Sir John Hayes, chairman of the new Common Sense Group of Tory MPs, said he welcomed the removal of the 14, but the blocking of of the 18 was proof that 'we need to look at the system'.

He said: 'The Home Secretary is doing the right thing and fighting hard to make it clear that illegal immigration is not acceptable, but she's being frustrated by people trying to game the system.

'And if the system allows them to do this, then we need to look at the system.

Sir John Hayes, chairman of the new Common Sense Group of Tory MPs, said he welcomed the removal of the 14

'You've basically got a group of activist, bourgeois, liberal lawyers who are gaming the system by making vexatious claims at the last minute. We need primary legislation that allows right to be done.'

The Home Office said: 'Today we have removed a number of migrants who arrived illegally from France and had no right to remain in the UK. They were returned to both France and Germany.

'Those who seek asylum can and should claim it in the first safe country they enter.'

It is understood the lawyers acting for the 18 whose deportations were blocked had raised the issue of their human rights potentially being breached.
The University of Nebraska system received one more $92 million contract to provide research in national security and defense, NU President Ted Carter announced Tuesday.

The five-year contract is designed to use NU research and scientists to serve U.S. Strategic Command and the federal Defense Department, the university said. The NU systems National Strategic Research Institute won a $92 million grant two years ago and an $84 million grant in 2012.

NU oversees institutions in Omaha, Lincoln and Kearney. The system said Tuesday that projects that have come from this partnership with the Defense Department include:

Drug development to protect military service members from the effects of radiation exposure.

Coronavirus research to examine how transporting infected passengers in various military aircraft affects crews.

Use of oxygenated microbubbles for treatment of lung injuries, particularly on the battlefield.

A new counterterrorism center based at UNO to focus on innovation, technology and education.
These stunts are worthless if temporary and short-lived (which they always are), tweeted Jenna Golden, the head of a consulting firm in Washington, mirroring a common sentiment shared across Twitter. If anything, they shine a light on the fact that we cannot live without these platforms since everyone always comes back (brands included.)

It was a far cry from what the organizers of the Instagram freeze had hoped to achieve. The Stop Hate for Profit Campaign  which is made up of civil rights organizations including the Anti-Defamation League and the N.A.A.C.P.  has had success over the past few months in getting others to take action against Facebook for its distribution of toxic content. In July, the campaign persuaded more than 1,000 of Facebooks advertisers, including Ben & Jerrys and Puma, to pause their spending on ads on the platform.

In an interview on Tuesday, Jim Steyer, the chief executive of Common Sense Media, a nonprofit group that is part of the campaign, said the Instagram freeze was just the first step in a new round of messaging.

After the 24 hours of the freeze was over, he said, celebrities such as Sacha Baron Cohen and Demi Lovato would begin posting educational messages aimed at young people. The messages would promote democracy and explain how social media companies spread disinformation, broadcast hate speech and allow far-right groups to form online.
Australia's state and territory chief health officers have backed Queensland's strict trigger for reversing hotspot declarations, which stop people from those areas travelling to the state without a special exemption.

In a letter sent to some state premiers and chief ministers, seen by Brisbane Times, the nation's health panel has outlined its draft definition for a COVID-19 hotspot ahead of the national cabinet meeting on Friday.

Queensland's border remains closed to NSW and Victoria. Credit:Paul Harris

The Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, a panel made up of all state and territory chief health officers and chaired by the national Chief Medical Officer, will have the power to declare hotspots.

The panel has set out three proposed definitions for COVID-free, controlled and community transmission zones.
"Right now, our thinking must be totally devoted to how a Labor government might rebuild a broken economy and save and create jobs," Mr Fitzgibbon said. "Right now, we can't afford to be spending too much time talking about how we might get to net zero emissions in 30 years' time, or, worse, what [the targets] might be in 10 or 15 years' time. "Because that has the potential to undermine our economic growth and job security initiatives." Labor has accused Prime Minister Scott Morrison of failing to produce a system-wide energy policy and revealing a gas plan that will not create jobs quickly enough when the country is in recession. At the same time, however, some Labor MPs have broken with the environmental movement by supporting the development of new gas fields and the construction of new gas-fired power stations.

Loading "We've got to support the gas industry. It's less carbon intensive than coal for a start, and it's crucial that we get affordable, reliable energy to industry and households," said Shayne Neumann, a Labor frontbencher and the member for Blair in Queensland. "That's the economic reality  if you want jobs you will support the gas industry." Daniel Mulino, an economist and the member for Fraser in western Melbourne, said gas would have a role to play for the long term. "There's a whole lot of manufacturing that relies on gas for energy, and there's a lot of industry that relies on gas for feedstock," he said.

"We need to take that into account." Meryl Swanson, whose NSW electorate of Paterson includes the sites for potential AGL and Snowy Hydro gas-fired power stations, said this week she would welcome the jobs from new power stations and gas pipelines. Pat Conroy, who holds the adjacent electorate of Shortland, said he was comfortable with a gas-fired power station or with a new gas field going ahead near Narrabri in northern NSW, subject to environmental approvals that were yet to be decided. "We need to be increasing investment in the energy sector because it has fallen off a cliff in recent years," said Mr Conroy, who is also Labor's assistant spokesman on climate change. "And the cheapest form of new power is renewable energy made dispatchable by pumped hydro and batteries.

"Anyone who says that investing in new gas fired power is the cheapest form of new power is flat-out wrong." Josh Burns, the member for Macnamara in Melbourne, said Australia should be focusing on renewables. "I have yet to see any credible economic evidence that gas is our ticket out of our economic woes right now," he said. "Obviously renewables are where Australia has an economic advantage and where we need to be going." While the caucus is undecided over whether to back the expansion of new gas fields and power stations, the government is yet to reveal any draft legislation that might force a Labor vote on specific parts of the gas policy.

Mr Butler questioned whether Australian gas would be cheap enough to deliver on the government's claims this week. "The new gas fields that are being proposed at the moment, including in NSW, are substantially more expensive than the traditional gas fields that Australian industry has been used to sourcing its gas from, particularly offshore Victoria and the Cooper Basin," he said. Citing estimates from Santos that the Narrabri gas will be $6.40 per gigajoule, Mr Butler said coal seam gas in Australia was more expensive and could not be compared to the cheaper shale gas being developed in the United States. "There is a reality here that these eastern Australian fields produce expensive gas, and that's a challenge for Australian manufacturing," he said. "So, yes, there's a role for gas in firming up renewables, along with batteries and pumped hydro, but the market operator says that role is going to decline, mostly because of economics.

"Gas is just not going to be able to compete with these newer technologies, particularly in Australia, which has expensive gas as a feedstock." Loading But Mr Fitzgibbon, whose portfolio includes gas extraction and transport, is pressing for a Labor stance that actively supports the expansion of gas. "We should absolutely be opening up new gas fields ... it's one of the few things we can use to drive jobs growth quickly," he said. "I'm a proponent of the Narrabri project and I am disappointed that the NSW government has taken almost a decade to consider the project and still hasn't given us an answer."
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-17 04:50:31|Editor: huaxia

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UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock on Wednesday voiced concern about COVID-19 transmission in Syria, saying the situation is probably worse than reported.

Reports from inside Syria continue to point to a much broader spread of COVID-19 than the number of confirmed cases conveys due to limited testing, he told the Security Council in a briefing.

Syria has 3,618 confirmed cases of COVID-19, he said. "We will not be able to grasp the extent of the outbreak until laboratory testing is increased across the country. We do know that community transmission is widespread as almost 90 percent of newly confirmed cases cannot be traced to a known source. Infection rates among health workers have also been rising."

Syria lacked the health workers it needed even before the pandemic. Supply shortages and temporary shutdowns add even more pressure to the decimated health system, said Lowcock.

On Aug. 27, the first confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported among residents at the Al Hol and Areesha camps for internally displaced people in the northeast. Five health care workers at one of the field hospitals in Al Hol had tested positive in the previous weeks, he said.

Lowcock also voiced concern over the economic downturn in Syria.

The value of the Syrian pound has remained relatively stable in recent weeks, trading in informal markets at around 2,100 to the U.S. dollar. But food prices remain at the highest level ever recorded, said Lowcock.

Monitoring by the World Food Programme shows the price of a standard reference food basket increased by over 250 percent on last year. Recent data also show the impact of COVID-19 on businesses, with 45 percent temporarily shut down, 25 percent operating at reduced levels, and 15 percent permanently closed, he said.

In the northwest, where an estimated 45 percent of households draw their income from day labor, more than 70 percent of households say their income does not cover their needs, an increase of 10 percentage points since January, said Lowcock. Enditem
A manhunt has been launched for a gunman in Virginia who opened fire at a marked police car with an officer inside - just days after two cops were critically injured in a similar ambush in Los Angeles.

Police said an unidentified suspect shot at a moving patrol car at about 7.25pm on Tuesday in Suffolk, leaving at least three bullet holes in the side of the vehicle.

The officer who was driving was not injured. Their name has not been released.

A large police presence remained at the scene on North Broad Street for hours after the shooting as investigators collected evidence and searched the area for the gunman.

Authorities have not released any description of the suspect or speculated on the motive for the attack.

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A manhunt has been launched for a gunman who opened fire at a marked police car with an officer inside in Suffolk, Virginia, on Tuesday night. The Suffolk Police Department released the photo above showing three bullet holes in the side of the patrol car

Investigators asked anyone with information to contact the Suffolk Police Department via the Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP or by submitting a tip online.

A $1,000 reward is being offered for tips that lead to an arrest.

The Suffolk shooting came just three days after a gunman fired multiple shots into a patrol car in the Compton neighborhood of Los Angeles on Saturday night, striking two deputies.

Both deputies were struck in the head by gunshots, but miraculously both are in stable condition and expected to survive.

One is a 24-year-old male and the other is a 31-year-old former librarian and mother of a six-year-old child.

A massive manhunt is underway for that shooter, described as a 28 to 30-year-old black male.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is offering a $100,000 reward for information that leads to his capture, and President Donald Trump called him an animal who deserves the death penalty.

The Compton shooting sparked nationwide controversy as bystanders were filmed mocking the bloodied officers at the scene and protesting outside the hospital where they are recovering.

The videos of protesters enraged many critics who said the shooting was the result of anti-police sentiment fueled by a turbulent summer of demonstrations against police brutality.
Ten men will be charged with murder following the death of a teenager who died in a Brisbane park melee on Sunday.

Girum Mekonnen, 19, died at the scene after paramedics could not revive him after a brawl between two groups in Zillmere about 5pm on Sunday.

Girum Mekonnen, 19, was fatally stabbed at OCallaghan Park in Zillmere in Brisbane's north on Sunday evening. Credit:Facebook

He and 10 others who were injured were from the same group.

They were set upon by a second group, with at least nine people who were brandishing knives and baseball bats arriving at the park in three cars, Superintendent Tony Fleming said on Tuesday.
Hitachi is set to ditch plans for a power station in North Wales, in another major setback for Britain's ailing nuclear programme.

The Japanese industrial giant bought the site on Anglesey eight years ago for just under 700million.

But the 20billion scheme was mothballed in January 2019 after it failed to secure Government cash and was not prepared to continue ploughing in its own money.

Axed: Hitachi is set to ditch plans to build a planned power station on the island on the island of Anglesey in North Wales

But it kept on a skeleton staff at Anglesey and continued to seek planning permission.

According to reports yesterday Hitachi is ready to pull the plug.

The Government declined to comment but critics said the decision leaves Britain's nuclear energy policy, seen as key to hitting carbon emissions targets and helping to power millions of electric cars, in disarray.

And there are now concerns about the future of other nuclear projects, including Sizewell in Suffolk and Bradwell in Norfolk.

Cameron Gilmour, at The Sizewell C Consortium, which represents over 100 firms and trade unions, said: 'Anglesey would have been an important milestone for the UK's nuclear supply chain and would have created thousands of jobs.

'There is now a serious risk to the future of the UK's civil nuclear construction capability.'

Hinkley Point in Somerset is the only nuclear power station being built in the UK but it is over budget and behind schedule.
Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik will seek to apply for parole, his lawyer told daily VG on Wednesday.

The far-right extremist killed eight people with a bomb in Oslo and shot dead 69 others on an island nearby, many of them teenagers attending a Labour Party youth camp in July 2011, in what is Norway's worst peacetime atrocity.

He is serving Norway's maximum sentence of 21 years, which can be extended indefinitely.

While Breivik is eligible to seek parole after serving the first ten years of his term, a date he will reach in July 2021, it is up to the courts to determine whether a release is appropriate.

"I have at his demand sent a request for parole," Breivik's lawyer, Oeystein Storrvik, told VG.

"This is a right that all prisoners (who can be detained indefinitely) have and that he wants to use," he said.

Storrvik was not immediately available for comment.

Reactions to the news were immediate and negative. "He will never be released. Never!" tweeted Raymond Johansen, the governing mayor of Oslo, who was secretary-general of the Labour Party at the time of the attacks.

HUMAN RIGHTS

Breivik would also launch a new legal challenge about his prison conditions, Storrvik told VG.

In 2015 Breivik attempted to sue the Norwegian state to end his isolation in prison, arguing that such strict conditions violated his human rights.

He won the first round in 2016 but lost on appeal. The Norwegian Supreme Court did not take up his case, nor did the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

The Nordic country has one of the most liberal regimes in Europe in terms of crime and punishment, with most prisoners released after serving two-thirds of their sentences.

However, criminals can be detained indefinitely if they are deemed to still pose a threat to society.

"I feel quite safe that the Norwegian judicial system will do the right thing," tweeted Vegard Wennesland, a survivor of the attack on Utoeya island.
September 16, 2020





So, 2020. Just when we thought we knew all the rules about software development and outsourcing, along came a year that blindsided us all. As well as the devastating loss of life, the closing of our high streets and lost jobs sent many countries spiralling into recession.







For the world of software development, this has thrown up a whole new set of challenges; not least that of managing costs. This has presented a very real surge in the number of development jobs being outsourced and has introduced some new players into the mix.

Locking down new opportunities

Outsourcing software development - and, in particular, nearshoring, has become massively popular over the last decade or so. While some may say that this is all about cost savings, it actually goes a lot deeper than that says Jack Zmudzinski, a senior associate at startnearhoring.

In recent years, the number of developers with advanced skill sets has increased exponentially in many countries across the world; particularly throughout Europe. Savvy students have realised the lucrative and rewarding nature of a career within software development and, factors such as cheap flights and increased technology for communication have all meant that doing business with an agency or individual in another country is really easy and straightforward - particularly for those within Europe, the United States and North America.

So what has outsourcing looked like during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic?

To begin with, there are some territories which have been largely unaffected by the pandemic. Whilst America, Canada and Central European hubs have been sent into almost full lockdown in order to keep the virus under control, some countries like Albania, Romania, Finland, Poland and Ukraine have been left relatively untouched. This has meant that while other agencies effectively ground to a halt, those in these countries continued to thrive. In turn, companies in affected countries have been able to tap into those which were still up and running in order to get projects completed.

Ukraine has become very much a go-to outsourcing location for companies within and North America for a number of reasons says Max Babych, CEO at SPDLoad.

To begin with, Ukraine is a rising star in the tech field, with 3000 technology intensive companies actively working for customers all around the world. This means that theres a huge tech talent pool waiting to be tapped into - added Max.

Additionally, highly competitive pricing and a number of cultural similarities have meant that Ukraine is an increasingly good fit for brands in North America.

When it comes to first choice for those within Europe, Poland has several high-reputation software development agencies, such as Future Processing and, the countrys low COVID-19 death rate of 2,092 people has meant that business was able to resume relatively quickly. In recent years, the Polish IT market has grown at a super-stable rate of between 5% and 10% per year and, currently, it accounts for 3.3% of the countrys GDP. In the last five years, weve started to see some superstar software developers emerging from the country, including CD Project - a brand who gave us the Witcher video game series and, have since gone on to become one of the key players in the industry worldwide. These days, Polish engineers are recognised as some of the most skilled Java developers in the world and, Warsaw and Krakow, have become known as world leaders across the globe for software development outsourcing.

As well as countries within Europe, 2020 has seen the emergence of some surprising software development players from other parts of the world, including Vietnam, Brazil and The Philippines - all of which offer considerable cost savings as well as a fresh new pool of IT and tech talent.

A new landscape

Needless to say, the very nature of outsourcing carries pretty much a zero risk regarding the virus due to the fact that it involves no contact between the parties. Communication by email, telephone and Zoom calls allows for troubleshooting and updates without any significant problems.

The ease and low cost of outsourcing has meant that even small startups can get on board with software development projects without the cost and commitment of full time staff or soaring prices in their local area. This has been incredibly important at a time when local and international travel and socialising has had a huge question mark over it, preventing meetings, meet and greets and the usual networking events says founder at Totality Services.

When The Dust Settles

As COVID-19 cases continue to plateau and decline, we can just about see a light at the end of the tunnel in terms of getting industry back on its feet. This doesnt, however, mean that brands will revert to their old practices. While 2020 has been devastating in many ways, a lot of brands have discovered new ways of doing business - including outsourcing. As the future remains relatively uncertain, most brands will continue with the practices set in place during this extraordinary year.

While outsourcing will almost certainly go from strength to strength, we are likely to see a lot more diversification in the format that it takes. Moving into 2021, the types of outsourcing which are likely to be more popular are:

Co-Sourcing

A relatively new format, co-sourcing is when a brand hires an external team to act as an additional arm of the brand. The brand and the external team become a partnership whereby both parties are responsible for risk, solutions and the troubleshooting of issues. The benefit of this to a brand is that an outsourced company who effectively becomes a partner is much more invested in the work and in the end result. This also benefits the outsourcing company in that all risks and responsibilities are shared. For brands who expect to embark on a number of software development projects, this can be an ideal solution.

Outcome Based Outsourcing

Similar to co-sourcing in that risks are shared, outcome based outsourcing is all about rewarding an outsourcing company based on the outcome of the project. This benefits the outsourcing company as fast delivery of high quality work will result in higher rewards. For the brand, this type of outsourcing helps to mitigate risk in that the brand will only be paying for the quality of work delivered.

Finding your outsourced software developer

When it comes to finding the right supplier for your requirements, many of the rules are the same as looking for one in your own home town:

Word of mouth - Before conducting an exhaustive internet search for your offshore developer, try joining a few social media groups and forums as these can be really useful in putting together a shortlist. These resources will allow you to connect with brands who have completed similar projects to the one you have planned and will be able to recommend developers.

The audition - Once you have your shortlist, prepare a comprehensive list of questions designed to drill down into the suppliers history, qualifications and, most importantly, experience with projects like yours.

Virtual get together - Before making a decision, organise a zoom or video call with your shortlist of suppliers. Although the supplier may look good on paper, its also important to get a feel for the actual players - particularly if youre looking at a long term relationship.

The dotted line - Finally, bear in mind that laws and guidelines in the developers country may be slightly different to those in yours - so, always make sure that you have a solicitor look over the paperwork before signing anything.

As we head into 2021, we can expect a few bumps in the road - but also a great number of opportunities. The world of software development is changing at breakneck speed - as are some of the players involved. With new processes and formats for outsourcing arriving almost every month, we can certainly expect outsourcing to become the new normal - whatever that may mean!
Four times a year, France's Air and Space Force organise a mock attack on an enemy objective that it must destroy with a nuclear strike. And this new round of war games, nicknamed Poker, will be taking place on 15 September across French airspace.

Up until 2014, the use of Poker to describe the simulation was somewhat taboo within the French Air Force.

But everyone knew that "Poker" was the name of a mock nuclear air raid carried out over French territory that include air-to-air refuelling of fighters, low altitude penetration by fighter bombers and the simulated shooting down of a missile (once the nuclear charge has been deactivated).

"This is a classic mission," said General Patrick Charaix, commander of the Strategic Air Force, which is responsible for the aerial contingent of France's nuclear deterrent. "Ground tracking at very low altitude and very high speed to cross defence systems."

This evening's war games are very different, however, to how the United States tests its defence response.

They chose the high altitude raid, said Charaix. With stealth aircraft and a massive deployment of electronic warfare planes. They're less discreet ... Tonight, the raid includes about 15 planes. But Poker can also comprise of missions with up to 50 devices if you include those who play the role of the defenders."

On Tuesday, as reported in the French press and confirmed by the Ministry of the Armed Forces, a "Poker game will take place over France.

The main players at the table: Rafale jets, Awacs E3-F aerial surveillance command posts and in-flight refuelling planes.

Rendez-vous in the skies over Brittany

The attack, search and support planes will gather off the coast of Brest in Finistere, with the fleet then crossing the Bay of Biscay, passing over Biarritz towards Corsica, before turning left and heading towards their target north of the Massif Central mountain range.

During this raid, anti-aircraft defence systems will be tracing and tracking the sky to hunt down the attackers.

Although this evening's exercises are only a test, in the event of a real crisis and a direct threat to France, it would be up to the Rafale jets to lead a warning strike.

That warning strike would be the president's decision to use an atomic weapon, something that French pilots would not consider to be trivial.

Tensions in the Med

Poker takes place in France comes as Greece's prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, outlined plans to upgrade his country's defence capabilities at the weekend, amid heightened tensions with Turkey over rights to resources in the eastern Mediterranean.

Speaking on Saturday, Mitsotakis said Athens would procure 18 new French-made Rafale fighter planes to replace its ageing Mirage 2000 fighters.

France has welcomed the Rafale acquisition, the first by a European country.

Although NATO allies, Greece and Turkey have deployed naval and air force units to assert their competing claims over energy rights in the eastern Mediterranean.

Turkish survey vessels and drill ships continue to prospect for gas in waters where Greece and the European island nation of Cyprus claim exclusive economic rights.
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The scale of China's core artificial intelligence (AI) industry had hit 51 billion yuan (about 7.5 billion U.S. dollars) by the end of 2019, with the number of AI enterprises exceeding 2,600.

The figures were announced by Wang Zhijun, vice minister of Industry and Information Technology, Tuesday at the ongoing 2020 Smart China Expo Online held in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality.

Wang said China's AI industry shows stronger innovation capabilities, with world-class applied technologies including image recognition and voice recognition.

The intelligent technology has seen faster applications in manufacturing, transportation, health care, education, and other fields, Wang said. "A batch of products such as intelligent CT imaging systems, robots, and temperature measuring systems have played an active role in preventing the novel coronavirus from spreading."

Wang added that promoting the integration of AI and the real economy is an important way to optimize and upgrade industries and enhance human well-being, and China encourages enterprises and research institutions at home and abroad to deepen cooperation and jointly promote AI technologies.

Themed "Smart Technology: Empowering Economy, Enriching Life," the three-day 2020 Smart China Expo Online commenced Tuesday, and serves as a platform to promote the global exchange of smart technologies and international cooperation in the smart industry.
Etienne Bottineau was a sailor and an employee of the French East India Company who possessed a remarkable skill. Bottineau could detect ships located beyond the horizon hundreds of miles from the coast and invisible to the eye. He would baffle anybody including his superiors by predicting the arrival of these yet-to-be-seen fleets up to four days in advance, and even correctly estimate the number of ships in the fleet.

One particularly famous anecdote involving Bottineaus almost supernatural gift occurred during the American Revolutionary War. In 1782, Bottineau informed Francois de Souillac, the Governor General of the islands of Mauritius and Bourbon, that a fleet of eleven vessels were approaching Port Louis, Mauritius. Fearing an attack from the British, de Souillac hurriedly dispatched a warship to counterattack. Shortly after the warship left, Bottineau informed the governor that the danger had passed as the fleet had altered course and is now steering away from Mauritius. A few days later, the warship returned and confirmed Bottineau's predictions in every way possiblethe presence of the fleet, their position and direction. The only error that Bottineau made was the fleets perceived intention. They fleet was not coming to attack Mauritius, but were British merchant vessels making for Fort William in India.

A large cargo ship in the distant horizon. In Bottineaus time, he would have predicted the ships arrival well before it appeared in the horizon. Photo: Wendy Townrow/Shutterstock.com

Between 1778 and 1882, Bottineau made as many as 575 prediction for Governor de Souillac, many of them four days before they became visible.

However incredible this discovery may appear, myself and a great many officers, naval and military, must bear testimony to the announcements made by M. Bottineau, de Souillac wrote in a letter to Marechal de Castries, the minister of marine affairs. He continued: We cannot treat him as an impostor, or as a visionary. We have had ocular demonstration for so many years, and in no instance has any vessel reached the island, the approach of which he had not predicted; those which did approach but did not touch the island, were in most cases proved to be foreign vessels.

Etienne Bottineau was born in 1738 in the former commune of Champtoceaux in western France, and grew up in Nantes, where his fascination with the sea developed. At fifteen, he went on board a trading vessel, then on the ships of the Royal Navy and finally in those of the French East India Company. Bottineau began to observe the atmosphere around this time.

In 1762, Bottineau wrote:

It appeared to me that a vessel approaching land must produce a certain effect upon the atmosphere, and cause the approach to be discovered by a practised eye even before the vessel itself was visible. After making many observations, I thought I could discover a particular appearance before the vessel came in sight: sometimes I was right, but more frequently wrong; so that at the time I gave up all hope of success. In 1764, I was appointed to a situation in the Ile de France: while there, having much leisure time, I again betook myself of my favorite observations. Here the advantages I possessed were much greater than before. First, the clear sky and pure atmosphere, at certain periods of the day, were favorable to my studies, and as fewer vessels came to the island, I was less liable to error than was the case off the coast of France, where vessels are continually passing, although the indications that I allude to may have been witnessed by me. I had not been six months upon the island when I became confident that my discovery was certain.

Bottineau called this newly discovered science nauscopie or nauscopy.

Bottineau frequently placed bets against his fellow sailors and naval officers, wagering that a vessel would arrive at a certain time, several days before she actually appeared above the horizon. He was rarely wrong. The officers attributed his success to sharp vision, even though they themselves used telescopes to scan the horizon and Bottineau never seemed to use one. It puzzled them immensely.

The phenomenon of Fata morgana could be a possible explanation to Bottineaus wizardry. In this engraving, dated 1870, a fata morgana is depicted appearing off the coast of Mauritius. Photo: Yan' Dargent/Wikimedia Commons

After fooling around for years in Isle de France (now Mauritius), Bottineau decided to act, and in 1780, he wrote to the minister of marine affairs in France, Marechal de Castries, offering himself for service. Castries was skeptical, so he wrote to the governor Francois de Souillac instructing him to keep a record of all of Bottineaus predictions for the next two years. It was in response to this request from the minister that Francois de Souillac wrote a detailed report to de Castries, attesting the authenticity of Bottineaus uncanny ability.

At one point, the governor offered Bottineau 10,000 livres and a further pension of 1,200 livres a year to disclose his secret, but Bottineau declined, believing he could do much better.

In 1784, Bottineau went to Paris to try his luck, but was only met with ridicule. Marechal de Castries refused to offer him audience, and Abbe Fontenay, editor of Mercure de France, suggested that what Bottineau was seeing was not ships at sea, but castles in the air. Bottineau returned to Isle de France disappointed, before moving to India, where he died an obscure death in 1802.

Bottineau never revealed his secrets, although he did try to explain in vague terms how his technique worked. He wrote:

The very moment I discovered that a vessel at sea was always accompanied by a mass of vapours that preceded it, it was not difficult for me to conceive that several vessels being together, the mass must necessarily be increased and modified in a different manner. This circumstance infallibly occurs; each vessel produces the same phenomenon; the phenomena collect, without mixing with each other. From these individual pictures a general picture is composed, exhibiting the features appertaining to each vessel. There is scarcely a seaman who has not frequently observed this particular state of the horizon; but it has always been attributed to the whimsical freaks of nature, the necessary effect of capricious winds, and the lightness of the clouds without ever suspecting that there could be the slightest connexion between these appearances in the atmosphere and floating substances at a distance.

Did Bottineau actually see something that others did not? Or was he a highly successful fraudster? Whatever it was, Bottineau wasnt the only one who practiced it. Twenty five years after Bottineau left Isle de France, there appeared an old Frenchman named Feilaffe, who began hanging around the harbor masters office in Port Louis. Every morning, he made it his business to go down to the harbor and announce the approach of ships before they came within telescopic sight. It was said that Feilaffe rarely made a mistake, and in the cases where he clearly did, Feilaffe claimed, just like Bottineau did, that the ships had passed. Feilaffe never tried to profit from his skills nor made much fuss about his powers, but apparently he did try to teach one of his pupils, a lady, the science of nauscopie without success. Perhaps it was the lack of tutoring skill on the part of Mr. Feilaffe, or perhaps it was her own stupidity, for which Feilaffes lady disciple failed to pick up the craft, or perhaps because there was no science to teach at all.

The modern Port Louis, Mauritius. Photo: byvalet/Shutterstock.com

Nauscopie continued to aroused interest, mostly in Great Britain rather than Bottineaus home country, until the middle of the 20th century. The Scottish physicist Sir David Brewster mentioned him in 1832 as the wizard beacon-keeper of the Isle of France, who he believed must have derived his power from a diligent observation of the phenomena of nature. Jean-Paul Marat, the French political theorist and scientist, also mentioned him with some skepticism but wondered, in view of the numerous testimonies in his favor, whether French authorities and scientists had neglected to study his technique. As late as 1928, Bottineau found a sympathizer in the former British officer of the Royal Navy, Rupert Gould, who wrote:

there can be little doubt that Bottineau was no charlatanthat he had made a discovery which would be of some interest even in these days of W/T , and must, in his own day, have been of much greater importance.

# Mike Dash, Naval Gazing: The Enigma of Etienne Bottineau, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/naval-gazing-the-enigma-of-etienne-bottineau-104350154/ # E. Littell, Museum of Foreign Literature, Science and Art, Volume 23, https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=0tsXAQAAIAAJ # Eneas Sweetland Dallas, Once a Week, https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Uu4jAQAAIAAJ # J. Gregory Dill, The lost art of Nauscopie, http://www.oceannavigator.com/January-February-2003/The-lost-art-of-Nauscopie/ # Wikipedia, https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etienne_Bottineau
She was recently left devastated when her pet puppy Rolo passed away.

But Katie Price's teenage daughter Princess was showing off her makeup skills as she posed for a cute selfie on Tuesday.

The teenager, 13, sported a full face of makeup and false lashes as she showed off her pouting skills for the snap with makeup artists Zoe James.

Looking good: Katie Price's teenage daughter Princess, 13, showed off her makeup skills as she posed for a cute selfie on Tuesday

Princess sported heavy false eyelashes and pink lipgloss as she appeared in the sweet snap with Zoe.

The teen has clearly taken after her famous mum when it comes to her makeup skills, which Katie shared with fans on Instagram.

She penned the caption: 'My gorgeous @officialprincess_andre did @zoejamesmua makeup and her own they are both beautiful inside and out.'

Proud: The teen has clearly taken after her famous mum when it comes to her makeup skills, which Katie shared with fans on Instagram (pictured together in July)

Katie herself has previously come under fire for gifting her youngest daughter Bunny, five, with a large collection of makeup.

In a video shared on Katie's Instagram at the weekend, an ecstatic Bunny could barely contain her excitement as she showed off a huge pile of make-up including lip gloss, mascara and nail polish.

However, not everyone was enthusiastic about Katie and Bunny's make-up haul as some hit out at the reality star for allowing her young daughter to have so much cosmetics, with some stating: 'she's still a child.'

However, several were quick to defend the star, highlighting that it is harmless fun and that most little girls love to experiment with their mum's make-up.

I feel pretty! Katie herself has previously come under fire for gifting her youngest daughter Bunny, five, with a large collection of makeup

Katie shares Bunny with her ex-husband Kieran Hayler. They also have six-year-old son Jett.

Princess was also left devastated back in July when her adorable pet puppy Rolo was killed in a 'tragic accident.'

Katie was reportedly distraught after the French bulldog was found dead, mere weeks after she bought him for Princess' 13th birthday.

Princess also took to Instagram to pen a heartbreaking tribute to Rolo, saying she 'missed him already' along with a gallery of snaps of her pet.
I think our growth is due in part to our strong, long-lasting client partnerships. It shows that our clients believe in us.

For the second time, Think Anew, a thriving, nationally-awarded tech company serving long-term care, was recently named to the prestigious Inc. list of the 5000 Fastest-Growing Companies in America. According to Scott Omelianuk, Editor-in-Chief at Inc. Media, "This achievement puts Think Anew in rarefied company. The elite group they have joined, over the years, has included organizations such as Microsoft, Timberland, Vizio, Intuit, Chobani, Oracle, and Zappos.com. The 2020 Inc. 5000 achieved an incredible three-year average growth of over 500 percent and a median rate of 165 percent. The Inc. 5000's aggregate revenue was $209 billion in 2019, accounting for over 1 million jobs over the past three years."

"I'm grateful that we are a recipient of this award again," Don Glidewell, Founder, and CEO said. "Our team consists of some of the most talented and dedicated professionals in our field, and I'm very proud of the success we've achieved during the past 14 years. Our company's continued recognition is the result of their efforts and commitment to be at our best for our customers, which is exactly what they deserve. Our relationships built on trust and accountability allow our customers, and us, to focus on what matters most: responsiveness, compliance, and keeping them safe from hackers," he said. "We're committed to being innovative and going the extra mile for our caregivers. I think our growth is due in part to our strong, long-lasting client partnerships. It shows that our clients believe in us, too. We sure do love them."

Think Anew has developed a range of new, revolutionary long-term care focused products and services. Most importantly to Don, they empower caregivers with tools to improve care and keep residents safe. Headquartered in Madison, Mississippi, Think Anew expanded its operations and support to downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin (2019), and Tampa, Florida (2017), doubling its workforce in just three years. Don received the prestigious Florida Business Ambassador Award (2017) from former Governor Rick Scott, and has served on the Board for the Better Business Bureau, The Mississippi Council for Economic Education and honored as one of Mississippi's Top CEO's (2016) and Top Entrepreneurs (2018). He was recently honored as A Mississippi Healthcare Hero (2019) for his teams' work surrounding disaster communications after Hurricane Michael in the Florida panhandle. Think Anew is a multiple recipient of Mississippi's Best Places to Work Award, has been selected to be in Microsoft's Top 5% Global Partner Network, and recently nominated for the 2019 Microsoft Healthcare Innovation Award.

About Think Anew

Think Anew, honored to be one of Inc Magazines fastest growing top 5000 companies, is an IT solutions company built upon love and dedication to the senior care community. Since 2007, Don Glidewell, owner and CEO, has led Think Anew to the top of the industry with willingness and commitment to supporting the long-term care and senior living organizations across our country. With the best customer service and most advanced, secure, and cost-effective technology available, Think Anew succeeds in providing quality services and cost-savings for their clients every day.
Depositors of the collapsed Microfinance companies, Savings and Loans and Finance Houses will from Wednesday, 16 September 2020 receive their locked-up funds in cash.



Government had earlier said it will refund the monies in a form of bonds but on Tuesday, 15 September 2020 the government received a sum of GHS3.56 billion to settle the depositors.



This was contained in a statement signed by the Receiver, Eric Nipah.



The customers have been directed to visit any branch of the Consolidated Bank Ghana Limited to receive their monies.



Notice is hereby given that with effect from Wednesday 16 September 2020, affected depositors may contact any branch of Consolidated Bank Ghana Ltd (CBG) the paying bank to access their newly created Cash accounts which were originally designated as Commercial Paper (Bond) accounts at the bank, the statement said.



It is recalled that in February this year, the government, through the Ministry of Finance, released GHS5 billion to the Receiver of the defunct Savings and Loans and Microfinance Companies, as well as the Official Liquidator of the Microcredit companies through Consolidated Bank Ghana (CBG).



This was in a combination of cash and bonds to fully settle all validated claims due depositors of failed Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions (SDIs).



The Bank of Ghana collapsed nine local banks, 347 microfinance institutions and 23 savings and loans; and finance houses within a space of two years as part of the financial sector clean up in the country.



Find below the full statementIN THE MATTER OF THE BANKS AND SPECIALISED DEPOSIT-TAKING INSTITUTIONS ACT,2016(ACT 930)



AND



IN THE MATTER OF THE RECEIVERSHIPS OF 347 MICROFINANCE COMPANIES AND THE 23 SAVINGS AND LOANS AND FINANCE HOUSE COMPANIES



AND



NOTICE OF CONVERSION OF GOVERNMENT BACKED NON INTEREST BEARING COMMERCIAL PAPER (BONDS) INTO CASH AT NO DISCOUNT IN RESPECT OF PAYMENTS TO AFFECTED DEPOSITORS OF RESOLVED MICROFINANCE, AND SAVINGS AND LOANS AND FINANCE HOUSE COMPANIES WHOSE CLAIMS HAVE BEEN VALIDATED IN THE RESOLUTION PROCESS



In line with Governments commitment to protect depositors funds and to shore up public confidence in the financial system, Government made available to the Receiver of the above resolved companies, as well as the Official Liquidator of the Micro Credit Companies in official liquidation, a combination of cash and Commercial Paper totalling approximately GHS6.49billion to fully settle the valid depositor claims on these institutions.



As the Receiver/Official Liquidator brings the processing and payment of valid depositor claims to closure, a total amount of approx GHS6.07billion has been paid to some depositors of these resolved companies, leaving an amount of approx. GHS402million to be paid to the remaining depositors, to fully settle all valid depositor claims in the resolution process. It should be noted that these claims include validated claims previously assessed by the Receiver/Official Liquidator as Late Submission claims owing to the fact that they were submitted after the extended deadline for the submission of depositor claims in the resolution process.



Of the total amount of approximately GHS6.49billion required to fully settle all valid depositor claims in the resolution process, about GHS3.56billion of these claims in value representing approx 55% of total claims payable are being settled with Government of Ghana backed Non-Interest bearing Commercial Paper (Bond), with the remaining approx. 45% in value of claims payable, worth approx. GHS2.93billion being settled with Cash.



The Depositor Payment Scheme set up by the Receiver/Official Liquidator to administer and fully settle all valid depositor claims in the resolution process has largely been successful; however an area of concern for most of the affected depositors is with the features of the Commercial Paper used to partially settle the indebtedness of these resolved companies to those depositors whose claims were not fully extinguished by the payment of cash to them. These depositors have indicated that the features of the Bond, being non-interest bearing and with a tenor of five years do not make the Bond commercially attractive, thus creating a significant loss in value of their claims to them.



Sensitive to these concerns and in order to provide additional liquidity to the financial sector, Government has made available to the Receiver/Official Liquidator additional cash amounting to approx.GHS3.56billion, equivalent to the total value of the Bond component of funding required to fully satisfy the indebtedness of the resolved entities to their body depositors. It is the expectation that this additional cash of approx. GHS3.56billion will replace the Commercial Paper which has been issued by Government in favour of affected depositors of these companies in resolution.



The implication of the above is that depositors who have either received or are due Commercial Paper in partial satisfaction of their claims will now receive CASH payments at no discount for the Commercial Paper they have either received or is due to them. Please note that depositors who have already discounted all or part of their Commercial Paper will receive a full refund in cash of the discount they suffered.



As a result of this new funding arrangement provided by Government, all valid depositor claims in the resolution exercise worth GHS6.49billion in value are being fully settled in CASH.



Notice is hereby given that with effect from Wednesday 16 September 2020, affected depositors may contact any branch of Consolidated Bank Ghana Ltd (CBG) the paying bank to access their newly created Cash accounts which were originally designated as Commercial Paper (Bond) accounts at the bank ie CBG.













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Only about 65 close family and friends were on the guest list for a bride and groom's rustic wedding celebration in a small Maine town in early August.

But the nuptials began an outbreak now traced to more than 170 reported coronavirus infections and also to the deaths of seven people, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday.

The cluster of coronavirus infections that originated from the Big Moose Inn outside Millinocket on Aug. 7 continues to grow in Maine, state health officials said, after guests flouted social distancing and mask-wearing guidelines. Now people who have no association with the party have died, including six residents of the Maplecrest Rehabilitation and Living Center in Madison, Maine CDC Director Nirav Shah said in a news briefing on Tuesday.

The Millinocket wedding is not the only rule-defying celebration linked to a growing number of cases, as contact tracers and public health officials across the country continue to track down infections that stem from summer "superspreader" gatherings, from a motorcycle rally in South Dakota to a choir practice in Washington.

The exposure among non-attendees can multiply exponentially, especially if people live or work in communities where social distancing and mask-wearing is not enforced, said Michael Small, a professor at the University of Western Australia who has studied superspreader events.

"These superspreaders can be bad without bound," Small told The Post.

Earlier this year, a leadership conference for the biotech company Biogen in Boston made headlines when infections were initially tracked among the attendees who fanned out across several states. Months later, researchers sequenced genetic errors of the virus, linking the outbreak to infections among Boston's homeless population.

The outbreak among company executives that led to infections among the homeless is a reminder of how interconnected social networks can be, inciting further spread of the virus, Thomas Tsai, assistant professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told The Post.

"You can't just think of these individuals or even clusters alone, they're sort of clusters of clusters," Tsai said.

Even where communities may not seem as interwoven, such as in a sparsely populated Maine town, the coronavirus can strike.

"It's a real cautionary tale that even in a relatively rural area in Maine that there was still fuel for a fire to erupt," Tsai said.

Between 10 and 20 percent of infected people are responsible for 80 percent of the coronavirus's spread, Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead for the World Health Organization's Health Emergencies Program, said at a press briefing on Thursday.

Maine health officials have continued to track several outbreaks, and are even investigating if some clusters are related to each other, said Maine's CDC Director Shah.

"The virus favors gatherings," Shah said. "It does not distinguish between happy events, like a wedding celebration, or a sad farewell, like funerals. It is everywhere."

Shah said the spread of the virus beyond those who attended the wedding, killing people unrelated to the gathering, is an indication of "how virulent the disease can be and how far-reaching the effects can be."

While Shah noted the state's low hospitalization rates, he remarked that the spread of the virus in the state was disturbingly ubiquitous. The health official said residents should not assume that the virus has not reached their community, as it's already probably there.

"I'm concerned about where we are," Shah said. "Maine CDC is concerned about where we are, and I'm asking everyone else to share in that concern."

The state agency confirmed to The Post that the pastor who officiated the wedding, Todd Bell, preaches at the Calvary Baptist Church in Sanford, which has had 10 cases traced to it. Bell has espoused criticism of coronavirus restrictions, local media reported.

"What he is basically saying to the state of Maine is rules don't apply to us," Bangor resident Kathy Day said of Bell.

The Millinocket native said she does not believe anyone who attended the wedding intended to cause the havoc wrought since the celebration. But, Day said, the infections were preventable. As someone who studied to be a contact tracer, Day said she wished an image could exist to represent the spread of the virus from that one event in her state.

"I think it would be an extremely interesting image for people to be able to understand that when you spread it to one person, unless that person isolates, it has the potential to do something exactly like what happened in this outbreak," Day said. "It just keeps going and going."
Australia's citizenship test will be overhauled to force respondents to study values such as 'mateship', having a 'fair go' - and that it's not acceptable for men to assault their wives.

Acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge will reveal the changes to the test on Thursday as part of Australian Citizenship Day.

The new test will also include questions about laws on polygamy, same-sex marriage and racial abuse.

Sweeping new changes to Australia's citizenship test will see respondents face questions about key values like 'mateship' and having a 'fair go' (Pictured: Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg bump elbows in a show of mateship in parliament)

Until now, would-be Australians only had to study the 'Life in Australia' booklet, pass the test, then sign the Australian values statement.

From November, a section on Australian values will be added to the booklet - and questions about those values will be asked in the test for the first time.

Five of the new test's 20 multiple choice questions will be about 'values' - and respondents will need to answer all five correctly to pass, reported the Courier Mail.

They will include 'are people free to choose who they marry', 'should people in Australia learn English' - and 'is it acceptable for a husband to psychically harm his wife if she disrespected him'.

The booklet will also include advice about camaraderie and a 'fair go'.

It offers are explanations on the 'strong tradition of 'mateship' in Australia 'where people provide help to others voluntarily'.

Apsiring Australians will face a new challenge from November 15 with changes to the Australian Citizenship test (pictured: Bondi Beach is packed with revellers celebrating Australia Day in January 2020)

'A mate is often a friend but can also be a spouse, partner, brother, sister, daughter or son. A mate can also be a total stranger,' the booklet reads.

The booklet will also place an emphasis on abiding by the rules including the directive to 'follow the law even if no one is watching.'

Advice around religion aims to demonstrate there is no official religion in Australia and religious teachings do not dictate the law.

Attempts to include Australian values in the citizenship test were rebuffed back in 2017 because of a push to include an English language test

Mr Tudge said it will be a vital new way to integrate new Australians into the community.

'Our Australian values are important. They have helped shape our country and they are the reason why so many people want to become Australian citizens,' he said.

'We are asking those who apply for citizenship to understand our values more deeply before they make the ultimate commitment to our nation.'

The changes mark the first major restructure of the citizenship test in more than a decade.

Attempts to include Australian values in the citizenship test were rebuffed back in 2017 because of a push to include an English language test.
The G20 Saudi Arabia Presidency comes at a difficult time when the world is suffering from one of the worst health disasters leading to slowdown in economic growth and trade.

Today, the global economy is facing loss of lives and livelihood, and rising healthcare, social and economic costs, were not even perceived when G20 was first conceived to bring economies out of the financial crisis. The global growth is projected at negative 4.9% in 2020 by the IMF. The UNCTAD and OECD forecast that global FDI flows will decrease by as much as 40% in 2020. The WTO projected a steep decline in world trade by up to 32%. The recent visa restrictions by the US and import restrictions by India are examples of how countries are implementing protectionist measures. Apart from these, there is growing geo-political tensions between countries such as the US and China and India and China.

The G20 members account for 85% of the global economic output, 75% of global trade, 80% of global investment and 66% of the worlds population. Thus, they are the key players in addressing the pandemic and reviving the global economy. However, their individual ability to manage pandemic within their countries vary widely. According to the WTO, the G20 economies had implemented 93 trade and trade-related measures (as of mid-May) linked to the covid-19, which primarily consisted of export restrictions. In addition, there are travel bans. Thus, the role of Saudi Arabia becomes crucial to build consensus, support countries to address the pandemic and revive growth and trade. Its partnership with India is important as economic recovery will spin off to 2021 and beyond to Indias Presidency in 2022.

Saudi Arabia has pledged $500 million to international organisations for development, manufacturing and distribution of covid-19 diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines, and to help bridge a financial gap of around $8 million. Around $150 million has been allocated to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness and Innovation, $150 million to the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Innovation and $200 million to other international and regional health organisations and programmes. India with its comparative advantages in low cost and high-quality health care, R&D and technology can participate actively in such initiatives. Several Indian expatriates are in Saudi Arabia and the Kingdom has pledged to provide free covid-19 related medical care to all expatriates. In this initiative, Indian healthcare sectors can provide support through supply of medicines, PPE kits, telemedicine, and other technologies. This is also the right time for India to showcase Ayurveda and other traditional medicines with preventive properties.

At a group level, the G20 leaders have supported the launch of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator' initiative, to facilitate high level control of the pandemic in the medium-term through four pillars-- diagnostics, treatment, vaccines and health system strengthening. They have agreed to put in over $5 trillion as part of targeted fiscal and economic policy measures to reduce the adverse social, economic and financial impacts of the pandemic. The leaders have endorsed the G20 Action Plan Supporting the Global Economy through the COVID-19 pandemic in April as the first step in formulating a collective response. One of the objectives of this Action Plan is to address debt vulnerabilities in low-income countries and enhancing co-ordination among international organisations to optimise the use of resources.

In April, the G20 nations announced a one-year debt standstill for the least developed countries. On July 18-19, the Saudi Presidency hosted a virtual talk of G20 finance ministers and central bankers to further discuss this issues and economy recovery. The G20 announced a debt service suspension initiative (DSSI), which supports a time bound suspension of principal and interest payments for eligible countries that make a formal request for debt relief from their official bilateral creditors. However, Indias role in these initiatives and its position is not available in public domain, as it is of other countries like France.

As India prepares itself for G20 Presidency in 2022, it is important for the country to articulate its position based on research and consultations and its needs and requirements. Today, it is a unique opportunity for India to work together with Saudi Arabia, a country with which it shares many common interests. Saudi Arabia has recognised India as an important strategic partner under its Vision 2030 programme, which has been aligned with Indias flagship initiatives such as Make in India, Start-up India, Smart Cities, and Digital India.

There is scope for collaboration and attracting more investment from the Kingdom in areas like healthcare research, healthtech, fintech, digital economic development with emphasis on areas of importance to Saudi Presidency like women and youth empowerment through digital financial inclusion. India needs to broaden its existing collaborations with the Saudi Arabia beyond energy and strategic to encompass, healthcare, technology, start-ups and empowerment of vulnerable groups like women, youth and small and medium enterprises. India also needs to focus on research-based action plans and strategies for 2022, based on inputs from its think-tanks in lines with research support provided by the think-tanks of earlier G20 Presidencies.

(Arpita Mukherjee is professor at ICRIER and Drishti Vishwanath is researcher at ICRIER. Views are personal and do not reflect Mints' editors')

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We are pleased to recognize Dr. Kristopher Gunn 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 Kristopher Gunn, M.D., Memorial Urology in Jasper, IN, has been designated as a UroLift Center of Excellence. The designation recognizes that Dr. Gunn 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. Kristopher Gunn 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
GAZA - The Israeli army on Wednesday morning bombed a number of sites in the Gaza Strip after more rockets were launched from the Palestinian enclave towards the Jewish State, sources in Gaza said. Rockets hit Israel already on Tuesday night, during the signature in Washington of agreements to normalize relations between the Jewish State and two Arab countries - the Emirates and Bahrain - followed on Wednesday morning by more rockets and Israeli retaliatory attacks.



Rockets were repeatedly fired on Wednesday morning from Gaza towards the western Negev and the city of Sderot, according to Israeli military radio. Previously, the broadcaster added, the Israeli air force hit targets in the Strip. Yesterday, while in Washington the peace agreement between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain was being signed, two rockets were fired from Gaza towards Ashdod. Premier Benyamin Netanyahu is meanwhile returning to Israel.



As a reaction to the rocket launches yesterday, fighter jets and helicopters hit ''10 Hamas terrorist objectives in Gaza'', an Israeli military spokesperson said. The targets included plants for the production of arms and explosives and a training base used to conduct drills to launch rockets. ''The terrorist organization Hamas - the spokesperson added - is responsible for any event originating from the Strip'', referring to the attacks Tuesday against Israeli cities.

'Terrorists want to hinder peace' says Netanyahu

TEL AVIV - ''I am not surprised by Palestinian terrorists'', Israeli Premier Benyamin Netanyahu said while leaving the United States, commenting rockets fired from Gaza yesterday while he was in Washington to sign peace agreements for the normalization of relations with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

''They fired against Israel during a historic ceremony. They want to hinder peace but they won't succeed. We will strike anyone attempting to strike us but we extend a hand for peace to those who want peace with us'', he continued. When he returns to Israel, he said, three urgent tasks await him: ''Fighting coronavirus, fighting terrorism and widening the circle of peace''.


Kosi The pervasive lie propagated by many satsang teachers is based on the idea that enlightenment or liberation is faster than a finger snap. This shallow perspective is imbued with the false promise of an instant end to fear, anxiety, stress, sadness, and many other forms of suffering.

Even something simple like sitting with friends at a cafe to enjoy a cup of coffee has been transformed into socially distanced weirdness. The simple act of giving your grandmother a hug is shunned and zoom calls are the only safe way to connect, but the online zoom experience is no replacement for in-person meetings or the simple act of giving a close friend a heartwarming hug.

At this point, the online meeting phenomenon has taken over the world creating the overwhelming feeling of being zoomed out and the pervasive hope that zoom isn't the new normal. The longing for the precious connection of meeting in person has reached a fever pitch worldwide. But what if there is a zoom call that creates a natural connection to an oasis of peace? What if there is a zoom meeting that transcends the limitations imposed by COVID-19?

In the spring of 2014, Wisdom Rock Foundation launched the Clear Way Mastery Coursea unique program that utilizes many different modalities to support the direct discovery of happiness, peace, and love that surpasses all understanding. Based on the sublime teaching of the famous sage Sri Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi this course provides long-term continuous support for your spiritual evolution. In 2012 Kosi recognized what has been called the global satsang movement falls far short of providing the essential context and support necessary for real progress. The cavalier attitude of many satsang teachers combined with the systemic problem of abuse of power and sexual misconduct was the primary catalyst of providing the real tangible support the Clear Way Mastery Course represents.

In a recent interview, Kosi explained, The Clear Way Mastery Course was actually the result of a vision that occurred in the Philippines in 2012. At the time, and even more poignantly now, it was clear the heartbreaking abuse of power demonstrated by many well-known satsang teachers represents a serious corruption of the teaching of Sri Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi. After ten years following the teaching coined as 'the spiritual bypass' or 'the fastest route to enlightenment', it was crystal clear that there simply is no quick solution for ending repeating patterns of suffering. The ancient science that provides the essential context and practices necessary to make any real progress were simply non-existent. 

She continued by emphasizing, The pervasive lie propagated by many satsang teachers is based on the idea that enlightenment or liberation is faster than a finger snap. This shallow perspective is imbued with the false promise of an instant end to fear, anxiety, stress, sadness, and many other forms of suffering. It ignores the very real effort essential for liberation and tends to trap students in a kind of awakened limbo with no real progress that can prolong suffering for years. The Clear Way smashes this pervasive lie and provides essential support for real tangible progress.

In May of 2012, after the divinely ordained meeting with Sri Amma Karunamayi, the living saint and avatar prophesized by Sri Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi, Kosi realized the science of enlightenment was simply missing from the global satsang movement aptly coined as Neo Advaita. Kosi explains, Ramana is the code breaker of enlightenment. His teaching is simple, direct, and infinitely deep. The direct immediate quality of his teaching gave rise to the insidious western idea that enlightenment instantly and effortlessly transcends what can be the very intense suffering of life. This immature perspective of his teaching leaves students without the essential context or support required for what can be the arduous process of liberation from the suffering generated by your mind, ego, and genetic mind. The Clear Way takes a radically different approach by providing the scientific context for his teaching as well as the essential support for real tangible progress.

The Clear Way Mastery Course is usually held at the Lonay Retreat Center nestled in the awe-inspiring Swiss Alps, but one of the great gifts of COVID-19 is this life-changing course is now being offered online for the very first time. The Clear Way represents an evolutionary perspective of the teaching of Sri Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi supported by the ancient wisdom and presence of Sri Amma Karunamayi. This revolutionary course is a potent transmission that supports the direct experience of the sublime happiness, peace, and contentment of a living presence that cannot be fully described with words. The ancient secrets contained within this teaching provide an essential context for understanding the science of liberation. It supports the development of the skill essential to break free of the suffering nature of the mind, ego, and the powerful force of genetics, or the genetic mind, that keep patterns of suffering repeating again and again.

The mind naturally swings from one thought to another like a monkey swings from one branch to another. This swinging nature of mind, aptly called 'monkey mind', combined with the tendency to instantly agree with the endless stream of thoughts flowing through the mind is the nature of suffering. The instantaneous agreement with the internal thought stream is what actually generates the roller coaster of emotions that everyone experiences on a daily basis. The great challenge is to recognize that suffering is actually generated by instantly agreeing with the thoughts that constantly roll through the mind. This happens so fast it seems like the constantly changing circumstances and experiences cause all of the emotional ups and downs of life. Seeing through this visceral illusion is the nature of breaking free of the suffering nature of the mind to directly experience the profound bliss of pure awareness (see inset video).

Many different modalities are utilized in the Clear Way to support a radical shift in consciousness from the suffering of the mind to the indescribable happiness of the heartthe support essential for mastery. This course consists of two annual weeklong retreats, monthly online meetings, support directly from Kosi, as well as an online community. It takes time, resolve, perseverance, and the deep commitment essential for mastery. The nature of this teaching requires the maturity to realize this is an evolutionary process that requires a significant commitment. It takes perseverance to overcome deeply engrained patterns of suffering required for what is known as enlightenment, liberation, or moksha.



Two Annual Week-Long Retreats

Online Community

Support Directly from Kosi

Online Satsangs for Ongoing Support

The Secret Practices Essential for Liberation

Many Different Modalities

This course provides the long-term support necessary for masterythe profound clarity that arises with direct realization. No words exist to describe this clarity or the power of presence that coincides with the deep realizations necessary for mastery. Naturally, with the craziness of life and the constant threat of COVID-19, it can be difficult to make a long-term commitment to anything but to receive the full benefit of this program a minimum of a one-year commitment is essential. Instead of attending both week-long retreats, it is possible to attend either the fall or spring retreat and participate for one year in the online meetings. This provides an opportunity to see if this teaching provides the kind of support that resonates.

The Clear Way is no ordinary zoom callit is a meeting held in the highest truth that supports anyone who is seeking liberation from the karmic wheel of suffering known as the great wandering of samsara as well as anyone who simply wants to break free of the suffering nature of the mind. This is more than just an online zoom meeting, it is an intimate connection to a group of people devoted to freedom for themselves and othersthe Clear Way simply provides long-term continuous support.

The 2020 Fall Retreat of the Clear Way Online Mastery Course begins on Saturday, October 17, 2020, ending on Friday, October 23, 2020. It provides radical support for overcoming the global angst caused by COVID-19 as well as life in general. This is a potent course and not something to be taken lightly. The nature of this journey of self-discovery requires the maturity necessary to intimately examine the uncomfortable aspects mind, ego, and life experiences like the global angst or the global longing to get back to normal life.

What if zoom really is the new normal? Perhaps zoom is actually a gateway to the purest joy, happiness, and contentment. For more information please visit: https://www.wisdomrock.org/the-clear-way
Moscow: Russia`s sovereign wealth fund has agreed to supply 100 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine, Sputnik-V, to Indian drug company Dr Reddy`s Laboratories, the fund said on Wednesday, as Moscow speeds up plans to distribute its shot abroad.

The deal comes after the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) reached agreements with Indian manufacturers to produce 300 million doses of the vaccine in India, which is a major consumer of Russian oil and arms.

Dr Reddy`s, one of India`s top pharmaceutical companies, will carry out Phase III clinical trials of the vaccine in India, pending regulatory approval, RDIF said in a statement.

Deliveries to India could begin in late 2020, it said, adding this was subject to the completion of trials and the vaccine`s registration by regulatory authorities in India.

Russia was the first country to license a novel coronavirus vaccine before large-scale Phase III trials were complete, stirring concern among scientists and doctors about the safety and efficacy of the shot.

The Phase I and II results had shown promise, G V Prasad, co-chairman of Dr Reddy`s, was cited in the RDIF statement as saying.

"Sputnik V vaccine could provide a credible option in our fight against COVID-19 in India," he said.

There was no detail about the price of the vaccine but RDIF has said previously it was not aiming at making a profit, just covering costs.

The agreement comes as India`s coronavirus cases surged past 5 million on Wednesday, piling pressure on hospitals grappling with unreliable supplies of oxygen that they need to treat tens of thousands of critical patients.

India is only the second country in the world to cross the grim milestone and said this week it is considering granting an emergency authorisation for a vaccine, particularly for the elderly and people in high-risk workplaces.

The RDIF has already reached vaccine supply deals with Kazakhstan, Brazil and Mexico. It has also signed a memorandum with the Saudi Chemical company.

Russia has billed Sputnik-V as the first vaccine against the coronavirus to be registered in the world. Phase III trials, involving at least 40,000 people, were launched in Russia on August 26 but have yet to be completed.
The Government Covid-19 test booking website has been branded a shambles after an investigation by this newspaper uncovered a series of alarming errors.

The site believes Portadown and Londonderry are just four miles apart, rather than almost 70. It also thinks 43 miles lie between Ballymena Showgrounds and one of the town's main hotels.

And it calculated a distance of almost 40 miles between Coleraine and Enniskillen - it is double that.

The erroneous calculations emerged during attempts by this newspaper to book tests from locations around Northern Ireland yesterday - no slots were available at most testing centres.

Read More

Growing complaints have been made about difficulties in accessing slots.

Testing is one of the key tools in the Executive's strategy to deal with the virus. Dr Gabriel Scally branded the system "a shambles".

The Belfast-born public health expert also voiced fears about the "potentially disastrous" ongoing situation in the Holyland student area of Belfast, and predicted a second national lockdown before Christmas if behaviour does not change.

"Northern Ireland can't expect to get to grips with this virus if this is the test booking system we have to contend with; it's a complete shambles," he said.

"Not only that - it's a shambles that has been a long time in the making. And it's a shambles that the authorities were well warned would happen.

"You don't get many opportunities to get it right with a virus and they missed it.

"They had the opportunity to get it right but they didn't take that opportunity."

Read More

Dr Scally, who is president of the epidemiology and public health section of the Royal Society of Medicine, described the current testing system as a massive fail and said the situation is out of control, citing the escalating Holyland street parties.

"If someone tests positive in a house which nine people share in the Holyland, how can they self-isolate?" he asked, adding that for the last three weeks the situation "shows every sign of getting out of control" because "it's not possible to see the mechanisms in place that would bring it back under control. It's potentially disastrous".

Dr Scally, a member of the Independent SAGE group of scientists, also claimed the Government had disregarded important advice.

"The current system is failing the people of Northern Ireland," he said.

"The Department of Health has to carry the can for that; Who else can be to blame?

"Public Health England has been chosen to be the whipping boy. This is a blame game.

"The only people responsible for the health of the population in Northern Ireland is the Department of Heath - the minister and the top officials. No-one else.

"It is their job to look after the health of the population." During an Belfast Telegraph investigation into the availability of Covid tests across Northern Ireland, we discovered a lack of appointments across a huge swathe of the region, as well as a scarcity of home test kits, which Dr Scally described as "worrying".

"We are up a creek without too many paddles," he said, pointing to a potential virus timebomb.

"Hospitals admissions and deaths are starting to go up across the UK.

"When that happened in the past, the only thing that brought it under control was lockdown.

"So, all things remaining equal, unfortunately, another lockdown is entirely possible before Christmas."

Booking a test is done through a centralised NHS system.

There are four fixed testing sites in Northern Ireland and six mobile venues.

A number of geographical anomalies also emerged when attempting to book Covid tests from postcodes in 10 different locations across Northern Ireland on two separate occasions yesterday.

Of the postcodes used from Belfast, Londonderry, Dungannon, Ballymena, Omagh, Enniskillen, Newry, Coleraine, Portadown and Lurgan there were no same day tests offered from six locations.

Despite trying shortly after 10am - when new slots become available - and once again in the afternoon, there were no appointments for postcodes in Dungannon, Derry, Omagh, Enniskillen, Newry and Lurgan.

The message on the website said: "More tests should be available later. If you cannot book a test now, or the location or time are not convenient, try again in a few hours."

On several occasions there was an additional warning: "Do not call the helplines - you will not be able to get a test this way."

In the morning, only two postcodes, in Belfast and Portadown, offered testing slots.

For Belfast, the website said there were 18 slots available at Lough Moss Leisure Centre which was deemed closest.

It said: "Your nearest walk-through test site is Carryduff. There are currently no drive-through test sites or home test kits available."

For the Portadown postcode, the website said: "Your nearest drive-through site is Derry Lycra Car Park (4.1 miles away). Seven slots available."

In the afternoon, test slots were offered when postcodes from three locations were entered, including a BT42 postcode just outside Ballymena.

Although the residence entered was close to Ross Park Hotel, the website estimated the Ballymena Showgrounds drive-though site was 43 miles away, rather than three.

In another case, a Coleraine postcode was offered a slot in Enniskillen, which it said was almost 44 miles away rather than double that.

Dr Scally said that, without an effective test and trace system, and with Northern Ireland experiencing a lack of both home test kits and available test slots, "it's inevitable that cases will continue to escalate".

"It's not just the speed with which you can get the test that's important," he said.

"It's also the speed with which it can be analysed and results returned.

"All of that needs to be done rapidly and in an integrated fashion."

SDLP health spokesman Colin McGrath said he has had lots of complaints from constituents about the test booking system.

"There's definitely a huge problem with it," he said.

"People are either having to spend all day waiting for an elusive appointment, or people in Co Down are being offered a slot in the Isle of Man or Scotland.

"It doesn't instil a lot of faith in the system. There is a sufficient lack of confidence in it because of the basic errors that are being made."

Mr McGrath said he worries that Northern Ireland won't be able to cope with an increased demand in testing.

"If we can't deal with it now, how will we fare in a month's time?" he said.

He added: "Mr Swann needs to recognise the magnitude of the problem before lockdown, which nobody wants, is the only option."

When questioned about the booking test system the Department of Health referred the Belfast Telegraph to the Public Health Agency, which subsequently referred us to the UK Department of Health and Social Care.

The Department of Health and Social Care has been approached by this newspaper for comment.
As part of their election bids, President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden have staked out generally similar positions on troop withdrawals from Iraq and Afghanistan and the threats posed by Russia and China, but part ways on growth in military spending, according to a survey of the candidates' views on defense issues conducted by the Military Officers Association of America.

As he often has, Trump touted the military buildup under his administration, with spending soaring to a record request of $738 billion for the coming fiscal year. Biden argued for "less" spending while maintaining strength and readiness through the elimination of so-called "legacy systems."

Read Next: Futuristic V-280 Not Advanced Enough to Replace the Osprey: AFSOC Commander

Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, and bipartisan members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees have all noted that there will be pressure to limit or cut defense budgets in the coming years due to the enormous costs of coping with the COVID-19 pandemic and reviving the economy.

However, Trump gave no indication that he would decrease military spending if he were to win a second term.

"Before I came into office, the military endured deep and devastating budget cuts," he said. "Our military, quite frankly, was very depleted and the Obama-Biden administration failed to give our military forces what they needed.

"Within three years of record military investment, our country has rejected a future of American decline and embraced our destiny of American dominance," Trump said.

In his response, Biden echoed the recommendations of the National Defense Strategy of 2018, shaped by former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, to shift away from the focus on counter-terrorism to the great power competition threats posed by Russia and China.

To meet the new threats, "we need to maintain our superiority, but we must do so affordably and by preparing for the wars of tomorrow," Biden said.

He charged that Trump "has abandoned all fiscal discipline when it comes to defense spending. His budget is dominated by investments in aging legacy capabilities. At a time when we're winding down our main combat efforts from the last two decades, we need to make smarter investments in our military."

"We can maintain a strong defense and protect our safety and security for less," Biden said in a statement sure to be challenged by the Trump campaign. "The real question is not how much we invest -- it's how we invest."

Both Candidates Support Military Pay Increases

Trump and Biden backed pay increases to show the nation's support for the volunteer military, and both committed to keeping the U.S. out of "endless wars" and nation building efforts that fail to contribute to national security.

"In my administration, service members experienced their biggest pay raise in a decade," Trump said, referencing the 3.1% pay raise last year, "and I have voiced opposition to smaller pay increases."

Biden countered, saying, "We need to ensure that our military pay raises keep pace with increased costs of living. In my administration, this will be a high priority.

"Despite consistent pay increases in recent years, some military families are still struggling to make ends meet, and even report food insecurity, lack of quality child care, and poor financial health. That is totally unacceptable," he added.

On the big picture policy issue of where and when the U.S. must fight, Trump underlined his well-known resolve for a full withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. Biden also backed withdrawals, but with caveats.

"I will end the forever wars in Afghanistan and the Middle East, which have cost us untold blood and treasure," Biden said. "I will bring U.S. combat troops home from Afghanistan in my first term.

"Any residual U.S. military presence would be focused only on counter-terrorism operations and supporting local partners," he added. "For the time being, we will also likely need to maintain a residual presence in Iraq and Syria, with our coalition partners, to prevent a re-emergence of ISIS."

On recruitment and possible changes to the Selective Service System, Trump said, "My historic investment in our military is meant to give those who serve every opportunity to be successful on any battlefield and to also attract the best our nation has to offer."

He did not mention the Selective Service System, but Biden said that women should be required to register for it.

"The United States does not need a larger military, and we don't need a draft," Biden said. "I would, however, ensure that women are also eligible to register for the Selective Service System so that men and women are treated equally in the event of future conflicts."

In Trump's opinion, "The best recruitment tool for an all-volunteer force is a well-transitioned veteran" in touting what he called the transformation of the Department of Veterans Affairs under his administration.

"I signed the most significant reform in VA care since its inception with the Mission Act, enabling veterans in the VA to receive care in the private community whenever it's in their best interest or when they require urgent care without any prior authorizations," he said.

Trump also suggested that he would back closing little-used VA facilities to enhance efficiency across the system.

"As policymakers across the spectrum realize, the VA also needs to be the right size to address veteran needs in the future, focusing resources on the areas where its impact can be greatest," he said.

Biden said he would "expand the list of presumptive conditions to ensure that no veteran who experienced a [traumatic brain injury] or had exposure to burn pits or other environmental toxins goes without access to VA health care and benefits."

"We must never again have an Agent Orange-like crisis," he said, referencing the VA's reluctance to expand presumptive illness lists.

Biden questioned the reforms under the Mission Act.

"This administration has underperformed on the rollout of the Mission Act, constantly underfunding the community care program, and creating unnecessary headaches for veterans with referrals, scheduling and payment," he said.

Both candidates pledged increased support for military families in housing, child care and spousal employment.

"One of the great challenges for military spouses is to find a meaningful job as they move in support of their active-duty spouse," Trump said. "We want military spouses to be able to pursue their careers and help their families thrive."

Military families who move across state lines often "lose the chance for the civilian spouse to practice their chosen profession and have to go through costly and time-intensive re-licensing," Trump said. "This administration is committed to continuing to fight for military spouse license portability."

According to Biden, "Family readiness is a national security imperative."

He committed to relaunching the "Joining Forces" initiative begun by former first lady Michelle Obama and then-second lady Dr. Jill Biden to focus on family issues and rally support from the business community.

"After two decades of sustained warfare, it is our duty to ensure that military families have the necessary support to thrive," Biden said.

The MOAA survey also included responses from Libertarian candidate for president Jo Jorgensen, whose views were in striking contrast to those of Trump and Biden.

"Total military spending should decrease," Jorgensen said. "We should turn America into one giant Switzerland: armed and neutral, with a military force that's ready to defend America's shores and soil against any foreign attack."

"With no U.S. involvement in foreign wars, a military that's laser-focused on defending America, and a citizenry with the unabridged right to keep and bear arms, America will be safe," she said.

The survey questions were sent to the candidates' teams earlier this summer, and replies were received in late July and early August, MOAA said.

Much of the Biden camp's responses reflected the 91-page Democratic Party platform adopted at the party's national convention in August.

In an unusual move, the Republican National Convention chose not to have a platform this year. Instead, it referred to the one adopted in 2016 and stated that the party's positions were the same as Trump's.

The Republican National Committee stated that the party "has and will continue to enthusiastically support the president's America-first agenda."

News outlets and think tanks have done numerous reports on Trump and Biden's policy positions on a wide range of issues, both foreign and domestic, but the MOAA survey appears to be one of the most detailed yet on defense policy.

The full MOAA survey can be seen here.

-- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com.

Related: Dozens of Retired Generals, Admirals Sign Letter Backing Trump for Reelection
San Francisco property owners will have another year to come into compliance with city-mandated seismic work.

On Tuesday, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously approved Supervisor Rafael Mandelmans legislation to extend the deadline for completion of seismic retrofitting of Tier IV wood-frame buildings by one year from Sept. 15 to Sept. 15, 2021.

Seismic retrofit work is essential and urgent, but the reality is that small businesses, residential tenants and property owners alike have asked for, and need, more time, said Mandelman. This legislation will allow additional time for property owners to complete retrofit construction on a timeline that reduces disruption to our already beleaguered and struggling small businesses.

The citys 2013 Mandatory Soft Story Retrofit Program, aimed at improving the safety and resilience of San Franciscos housing stock, requires the retrofit of older, wood-framed, multifamily buildings. Most of the buildings that fall into that category have completed retrofits, or are in the process of doing so. The Tier IV buildings, the final group to be completed, often have ground-floor commercial space with residential units above.

The prior deadline for completion of work on these buildings was Sept. 15 this year. The 1,014 Tier 4 properties identified in 2013 are estimated to hold 2,028 businesses. According to the Department of Building Inspection, 425 or 41% still need to complete their retrofit work.

Regina Dick-Endrizzi, executive director of the San Francisco Office of Small Business, said the extension would grant property owners time to work with tenants on when best to complete the work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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.

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.

J.K. Dineen is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jdineen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfjkdineen
The silhouette of a person holding what seems to be a smartphone is seen in a shopping mall in New York City, on Sept. 09, 2020. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Online Shopping Boom Predicted to Last Beyond Pandemic: Reports

While the pandemic-driven surge in online sales has leveled off, executives and researchers are increasingly saying that the digital shopping boom will persist even after the CCP virus outbreak is brought under control.

The latest data from Adobe, which analyzed 1 trillion visits to retail sites, found that online shopping activity declined in August as more lockdowns lifted and more physical stores opened up across the United States. Online sales reached $63 billion in August, up 42 percent year-over-year, a clear softening from July when online sales grew 55 percent year-over-year. Still, buy online pickup in store, or BOPIS shopping, continued to surge, growing 59 percent month-over-month in August and 259 percent year-over-year.

Adobe also found that the pandemic has driven $107 billion in additional online spending since March, with the first eight months of 2020 driving $497 billion in online spending. Adobes findings that digital shopping surged amid the pandemic echoes a recent report by Digital Commerce 360, which analyzed U.S. Department of Commerce data for the first six months of the year and found that consumers spent 30.1 percent more online compared to the same period in 2019.

John Copeland, Adobes VP of marketing and customer insights, said in a recent post that while its normal for new digital channels to see fast rates of growth, e-commerce is not a new trend, and prior to the COVID-19 outbreak it was experiencing much slower growth.

The fact that even while states are starting to open up, the numbers remain so much higher than typical proves that things will never really go back to normal. E-commerce is more embedded into our lives than it has ever been before and that is irreversible, he said.

Executives in retail and related industries have also noted the boom in online shopping and delivery business, and believe it will last.

Chipotle Chief Executive Officer Brian Niccol told Bloomberg in a recent interview that he believes much of the pandemic-driven surge in business is permanent. He told the publication in March that he expected online to account for between 30 percent and 40 percent of Chipotles business within several years. The outbreak has accelerated that trend significantly.

That was before digital became 80 percent of our business for a time. Now were in that 40 to 50 percent range, and that will fluctuate as the dining rooms reopen, but I definitely think theres a real possibility thats where it could stick, he told Bloomberg.

The head of Whole Foods, which Amazon bought in 2017 for $13.4 billion in a bid to expand its brick-and-mortar footprint and gain an edge in the $700-billion grocery industry, said he believes the trend away from in-person shopping is here to stay.

When things return to normal, there will be a lot of people who dont go back to shopping in-person, CEO John Mackey told The Wall Street Journal in an interview. He said that the grocery chain closed some of its stores to walk-in shoppers to meet the spike in demand for grocery deliveries amid the outbreak.

Rob Garf, vice-president of industry strategy and insights at Salesforce, told CNBC in an interview that for many retailers, the pandemic brought concerns not about profitability, but about how to keep warehouses stocked and meet the surging demand for deliveries.

In the first two quarters of this pandemic, many retailers werent as concerned about profitability: They were more concerned about product availability and getting it to the consumers doorstep, Garf said.

One of the most common questions I get from our retail customers is: How do we sustain this new shopping behavior in a profitable manner? he added.
BRANFORD - Someone just bought themselves one heck of a getaway - for the bargain price of just $4.2 million.

Potato Island, one of the Thimble Islands off the coast of Branford's Stony Creek section, had been on and off the market for several years before selling Sept. 8 for $4.2 million to a buyer who prefers to remain anonymous, said listing agent John Campbell of the Page Taft-Christie International Real Estate's Madison office.

Originally listed in 2014 for $7.35 million, it had been listed for the past two years for $4.9 million, Campbell said Wednesday.

- Click here to take a video tour of Potato Island -
Job losses at banks this year are on course to be the deepest for half a decade.

After a pause during lockdown, lenders from Citigroup Inc. to HSBC Holdings Plc have restarted cuts, taking gross losses announced this year to a combined 63,785 jobs, according to a Bloomberg analysis of filings. That puts the industry on track to exceed the almost 80,000 disclosed last year, the biggest retrenchment since 2015.

More than 30 lenders -- from Europe, North America, Asia and Africa -- are behind the planned reductions. The actual total is probably higher because many banks eliminate staff without disclosing their plans. The banks cited a need to reduce expenses to offset the cost of credit souring during the pandemic as well as spending to comply with stricter regulation and invest in digital technology.

Total disclosed job eliminations since the start of 2014 now stand at about half a million. For comparison, JPMorgan Chase & Co., the biggest US bank, had a headcount of 256,710 at the end of June.

Citigroup said this week it will restart job cuts, joining rivals such as Deutsche Bank AG and HSBC, which resumed staff reductions in May and June. The U.S. banks reductions will affect less than 1% of its global workforce, which amounted to about 204,000 at the end of the second quarter.

Banks headquartered in Europe, which didnt bounce back from the 2008 financial crisis as quickly as the US, account for the largest share of the announced job cuts. Thats driven largely by HSBC, which said in February that it would reduce its workforce by 35,000 as part of a plan to cut $4.5 billion of costs at underperforming units in the US and Europe.

With the pandemic sowing economic uncertainty, its a tough market for unemployed bankers. Theres been a 55% decrease in financial services job vacancies in London in July and a 39% fall in August compared to a year earlier, according to data compiled by recruiter Morgan McKinley.

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The first-degree murder trial of Michael Durant will hear from the accused.

That is the word from his attorney as Durant, 47, stands trial in the death of a 32-year-old Niagara Falls woman in August 2003.

Tuesday, defence attorney Joe Wilkinson told Superior Court Justice Gerald Taylor that Durant will take the stand Wednesday.

We can adjourn until tomorrow, and I will call Mr. Durant, Wilkinson said. Mr. Durant is the only major defence witness to complete, and it will take a couple of days, at least.

The Court of Appeal overturned Durants conviction in 2019. The victims name is protected by a publication ban imposed by C. Stephen Glithero, and she is being referred to in the trial as DD.

Durant, who has been in custody since Niagara Regional Police arrested him in January 2006, was convicted of her murder in 2012 and sentenced to life with no possibility of parole for at least 25 years.

The victims body was discovered in a ditch near Darby Road and Grassybrook Road on the outskirts of Niagara Falls. A pathologist testified she died from blunt force trauma to the back of her head, possibly due to a hammer strike.

Court Tuesday was consumed by trial housekeeping.

Items included the testimony transcript of John McNeils roommate. McNeil was the victims boyfriend at the time of her death. The defence is working to build a case that McNeil killed DD, not Durant.

The roommate in question, Kevin Fancy, testified at the first trial. The transcript was submitted as evidence because Fancy has since died.

Its a highlighted copy that emphasizes the hearsay and double hearsay parts, Wilkinson said. We also have transcripts of Mr. Fancys interviews with the police. Weve parked all this together in terms of the court record.

Wilkinson said he wants Taylor to rule on some principled exceptions for hearsay evidence in Fancys testimony.

Ive done my best to break out where we are now in the trial, and what we have offered in terms of alternative suspects, Wilkinson said. Im trying to give you real specifics.

Taylor later commented on the sheer volume of materials. Some of the principal witnesses led high-risk lifestyles and have died or gone missing in the 17 years since the offence was committed. Thats resulted in a mountain of trial transcripts and police interviews being filed as exhibits.

There are some challenges we didnt anticipate when the trial began, Crown attorney Andrew Sabbadini said.

Also entered into evidence Tuesday was the transcript from the first trial of the testimony of Dr. John Fernandez, who was the director of forensic pathology at Hamilton General Hospital. He conducted the autopsy on the victim. Fernandez is also deceased.

Wilkinson said he wanted it to be easy for Taylor to lay his hands on certain portions of evidence as the trier of fact in the non-jury trial.

I hear you, Taylor said. What you are saying is it is better to have all the exhibits electronically in one location. We dont have that. If we had one USB key from Day 1, we could have added all the evidence to that key.

Taylor agreed to create a separate consolidated file of all the trial evidence and motions, with some exceptions such as floorboards (large informational trial exhibits set up on easels in the courtroom for a jury or judge).

The fact that there is going to be some redundancy doesnt bother me, Taylor said. OK. You wore me down.

Thats what Im here for, your honour, Wilkinson said.
Northern Berkshire Adult Basic Education Program

The mission of the Northern Berkshire Adult Education is to assist the residents of Northern Berkshire County to achieve their academic and Career goals.

We offer classes to prepare individuals to earn their Alternative High School Credential from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. All of our program and services are free of charge; funded by a grant from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Office of Adult and Community Learning Services.

Classes Offered

Adult Basic Education (ABE) Improve basic reading, writing and math skills

Adult Secondary Education (ASE) Prepare for the new High School Equivalency Test/GED

Blended Learning Preparation for the High School Equivalency Test and college and career & Career Readiness in class & online

ESOL - English for Speakers of Other Languages Classes - are for non-fluent English speakers who want to improve their language skills. Curriculum is designed to help with personal, social and business communications & prepare for U.S. citizenship.

College & Career Readiness

Bridge to College Build the skills needed to be successful in a post secondary educational environment

Build the skills needed to be successful in a post secondary educational environment Employability Skills Personal Care Attendant (PCA) Pre-employment readiness for students preparing for this entry level health care position

Personal Care Attendant Pre-employment readiness for students preparing for this entry level health care position Digital Literacy Class Starting February we will be offering a course in Digital Literacy, using the North Star Digital Literacy Program. Students participating in this program will be eligible to take a certification exam to demonstrate competency in Digital Literacy. For more information, please use the Schedule an appointment option to sign up for an information session for Digital Literacy.

Enrollment and Orientation

Individuals interested in enrolling in the program are encouraged to contact the Program Director, Annie Pecor at 413-412-1118 or via email at apecor@napsk12.org. All office hours are by appointment.

QUICK LINKS

Contact information

Program Director, Annie Pecor

Phone 413-412-1118

apecor@napsk12.org

Drury High School

1130 Church Street

North Adams, MA 01247
The government has provided four more months till January next year to the domestic toy industry to comply with quality norms amid the coronavirus pandemic, an official statement said on Wednesday.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), under the commerce and industry ministry, has issued a notification to extend the date of implementation of Toys (Quality Control) Order, 2020 "as January 1, 2021 in place of September 1 this year".

"This decision allows domestic manufacturers four months of extra time to make necessary arrangements for compliance of standards in view of difficulties arising out of COVID-19 pandemic," it said.

As the government is focusing on promoting domestic manufacturing of toys, it came out with a quality control order and also increased import duty in February. Quality control order on toys is one of the ways to stop flow of cheap sub-standard toys into the market.

According to a study, about 67 per cent of toys failed all safety and standard tests, while about 30 per cent of plastic toys failed to meet the safety standards of admissible levels of heavy metals and phthalates. Phthalates are a group of chemicals.

The toys industry in India is primarily in the unorganised sector comprising about 4,000 small and medium enterprises.

About 85 per cent of toys are imported in the country, with maximum coming from China. It is followed by Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Germany, Hongkong and the US.

Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that India has talent and ability to become a toy hub for the entire world and called upon startups to work towards realising this potential while being "vocal about local toys".

Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is the government''s nodal agency that frames quality standards in coordination with the ministries concerned.
Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos have provided scholarships to 20 homeless students in New York City.

The Live With Kelly And Ryan host and her husband have paid for laptops and scholarships worth $2,000 each for a total of 20 of the most vulnerable students who are headed to college in New York, according to People magazine.

Kelly and Mark's donation is being done in partnership with the Win foundation in New York, which 'provides safe housing and critical services to help homeless women and their children rebuild their lives and break the cycle of homelessness'.

Helping others: Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos have provided scholarships to 20 homeless students in New York City. Seen in 2015

In a statement, Kelly said: 'Mark and I are so excited to help these students in whatever small way we can.

'Starting college is a pivotal moment for so many and being a part of this time is really special for our family.

'We know each of these scholarship recipients has a bright future ahead and we can't wait to see what amazing things they accomplish!'

Happy to help: The Live With Kelly And Ryan host and her husband have paid for laptops and scholarships worth $2,000 each for a total of 20 of the most vulnerable students who are headed to college in New York, according to People magazine

Several of the students who received laptops and scholarships are currently living in housing provided by the Win foundation, and didn't have access to a computer - which has been a vital tool to complete remote learning amid the coronavirus pandemic - before the donation.

Kelly added in her statement: 'We were watching our kids, with all of their technology, and Mark and I said, "Learning remotely is so difficult  how are they possibly doing this at Win?"

'Sure enough, they didn't have the Wi-Fi, tablets or other things they needed.'

The right thing: In a statement, Kelly said: 'Mark and I are so excited to help these students in whatever small way we can. 'Starting college is a pivotal moment for so many and being a part of this time is really special for our family.' Kelly and Mark with their three kids

For those receiving the scholarships, the good deed has been life-changing.

One recipient, named Michael Jones, said: 'Despite the fires that are currently ripping through the West Coast, I am still determined to attend Portland State University and major in Creative Writing there.

'The scholarship from Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos is a major help to my college career and will help me purchase books, dorm essentials and other necessities, which will put me in a strong position toward success in my freshman year.'

While Mikayala Garay added: 'As a student at SUNY Morrisville studying equine science to one day become a vet, I take classes off-campus at nearby stables. I'll use this money to buy books and to save up for a car to get to and from my classes off-campus.'
The British Medical Association has today been accused of 'denying biological reality' after saying transgender people should be allowed to legally change their gender identity without a doctor's consent.

Doctors backed a motion at the BMA's annual meeting yesterday which asked the Government to pursue a 'simplified' way for transgender and non-binary individuals to gain legal recognition of their gender.

At present, those in Britain need a diagnosis of gender dysphoria in order to legally change their gender identity under the Gender Recognition Act.

But the BMA hopes the Government will adopt models similar to those in the Republic of Ireland and Denmark, which allow individuals to gain legal recognition of their gender through a witnessed sworn statement.

The move has been criticised by the LGB Alliance, which accused the Association of using an 'ambushing practice' after allegedly only distributing briefing documents an hour before the decision was made.

The Alliance also blasted the BMA for what it claimed was agreeing 'to treat any man with a beard and a penis who 'identifies as a woman' as a woman in hospital.'

Transgender people should be allowed to change their gender without a doctor's consent in the UK, the British Medical Association has said. Pictured: File image

LGB Alliance founder Bev Jackson told MailOnline: 'The public is unaware that this is what it would mean to introduce self-ID, without a diagnosis of gender dysphoria.

'If it were not so serious, it would be a joke. The BMA clearly has egg on its face. As we have seen most recently with Covid-19, biological sex really matters.

'We would expect doctors, of all people, to know this. We have heard that the briefing documents were only handed to the meeting one hour before the decision.

'This is standard ambushing practice recommended by gender identity campaigners who want to create confusion with a minimum of information and consultation, hoping that those concerned will accept that this is about being 'kind'.

'It has nothing to do with kindness and everything to do with denying biological reality. The BMA will clearly need to reconsider to avoid becoming a laughing stock.'

Current rules under the Gender Recognition Act At present, those hoping to legally change their gender must apply to the Gender Recognition Panel for a Gender Recognition Certificate. Applicants must have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, be over the age of 18 and have lived in their gender for more than two years to apply. Those hoping to change gender must also pay 140 and state that they intend to live in their gender for life. Source: Gov UK Advertisement

However, Eloise Stonborough, Head of Policy and Research at Stonewall, welcomed the BMA's affirmation, adding the current process for gender recognition in the UK is 'demeaning and out of step with international best practice.'

'It's great to see the British Medical Association affirm that trans and non-binary deserve to be recognised for who they are without a medical diagnosis,' Ms Stonborough added.

'Last year, the World Health Organisation recognised that being trans is not a mental illness.

'That's why we've been urging the Government to introduce a de-medicalised system of self-determination for gender recognition and we're glad to hear the British Medical Association is now calling for a similar system.

'The current Gender Recognition Act is out of date and equality for trans and non-binary people is well overdue.'

The BMA has been contacted for comment.

In a background briefing of the motion published yesterday, the BMA affirmed the right of transgender and non-binary individuals 'to access healthcare and live their lives with dignity.'

The motion claimed that many transgender people find the requirement for medical diagnosis 'demeaning and patronising, playing into antiquated notions of transgender people being mentally ill.'

The BMA added others find the process 'too bureaucratic and expensive'.

The proposal - which was passed by a narrow margin - also called on the Government to allow transgender individuals to 'receive healthcare in settings appropriate to their gender identity'.

It asked that 'transgender healthcare workers are able to access facilities appropriate to the gender they identify.'

The BMA did, however, admit the motion is not 'uncontroversial', writing: 'The involvement of doctors or other health professionals who have experience in working with those with gender dysphoria may enable discussions about emotional and physical wellbeing that may be helpful to the transgender person.'

Dr Helena McKeown, Chair of the BMA representative body, said: 'The BMA supports transgender and nonbinary individuals' equal rights to live their lives with dignity which includes the right to equal access to healthcare.

'We oppose discrimination of all kinds and are committed to ensuring universal access to healthcare for all on the basis of clinical need.

'While the BMA has numerous policies affirming our support of LGBT individuals, [The agreement to this new policy means] that, for the first time in our history, we now have a BMA-wide policy giving specific attention to the needs of transgender and nonbinary individuals.

'Receiving any medical treatment can be stressful for patients and so it is important for individuals to receive healthcare in settings they feel comfortable with. This applies to transgender as well as cis individuals.

'This motion provides clear policy for the BMA on this along with other matters that are important to moving towards a society that is fully accepting of trans and nonbinary individuals'.

Currently, to apply for a Gender Recognition Certificate in the UK an individual must prove they have lived for two years in their chosen gender.

The Gender Recognition Act states a person must also be over 18, pay 140, and declare they intend to live as this gender for the rest of their life.

In 2018, Theresa May's Government drew up measures which would have enabled transgender individuals to change their birth certificate without a medical diagnosis.

In 2018, Theresa May's Government drew up measures which would have enabled transgender individuals to change their birth certificate without a medical diagnosis

However, it was reported in June that these plans had been ditched by Boris Johnson

However, it was reported in June that these plans had been ditched by Boris Johnson.

Instead, The Sunday Times claimed ministers planned to announce a ban on 'gay cure' therapies, in what was described as an attempt to placate LGBT people.

At the same time, the Government was said to be preparing to set out new safeguards to protect female-only spaces  including refuges and public lavatories  to stop them being used by those with male anatomy.

The details were said to be contained in a leaked paper setting out the Government's long-delayed response to a public consultation on the Gender Recognition Act.

The Sunday Times said the paper was 'basically ready' and was being slated for publication by the equalities minister Liz Truss at the end of July before MPs break for the summer.

A No 10 source said that the details of the response were yet to be finalised, and the Prime Minister would have the final say on the recommendations.
The Governor of Osun State, Gboyega Oyetola, has ordered an investigation into the death of a suspected internet fraudster (yahoo boy) on Tuesday while being chased by police officers attached to the Osun Joint Task Force.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how a protest broke out in Osogbo, Osun capital after the suspected internet fraudster simply identified as Remi died while he and three other suspects were being pursued by officers.

A Toyota Corolla car, with registration number KUJ 553 LY Abuja, in which the suspects were fleeing ran into an electric pole and turned over.

Following the accident, youth stormed the streets, vandalised police vehicles and dumped the body of the suspect at Government House, Osogbo.

In his reaction, Mr Oyetola in a statement by the state commissioner of information, Funke Egbemode, on Wednesday morning, ordered the police to investigate the matter.

The governor said he was shocked at the tragedy and the disruption that followed it.

The tragic events that reportedly led to the death of one person on Tuesday evening were both sad and shocking and Governor Adegboyega Oyetola has ordered a full investigation into the circumstances that led to it all.

To the governor, all lives matter and nobody has a right under our laws to take a life summarily. While we appreciate the great job our law enforcement agencies are doing to keep Osun safe, the confusion and disruption to our peaceful state capital on Tuesday needs to be investigated 

Mr Oyetola also urged the families of the deceased and the injured not to take matters into their hands by hurting more people or destroying properties.

We implore our citizens to trust the government to get to the bottom of this sad occurrence. Let us all go about our lives peacefully while we await results of the investigation, the statement read.

This newspaper on Tuesday reported how a 20-year-old man was killed in the same state over a N50 bribe by a police officer.
William H. Gates Sr., a lawyer raised in the Great Depression who helped his son give away an immense fortune, has died. He was 94.

He died Monday at his beach home on Hood Canal, Washington, according to Bill Gates IIIs family office. The cause was Alzheimers disease.

Gates saw his middle child grow from a headstrong boy to one of the most admired business leaders of his generation who became the worlds second richest person, with a net worth of more than $123 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. When Bill Gates started giving away the billions hed made as co-founder of Microsoft Corp. he turned to his father to advise his charitable foundation.

I never imagined that the frequently argumentative little boy I faced each night at dinner, the one eating my food and using my name, was to be my future employer," Gates said in a 2003 speech to fellow members of Rotary International, a worldwide service organization.

For their earliest philanthropic endeavors in the 1990s, the elder Gates worked from a basement office at home or, as a British newspaper reported, from the vinyl booth of a burger joint where he often ate lunch.

Funding Pleas

The William H. Gates Foundation, started in 1994 with an initial stock gift of $94 million, concentrated its giving on global health and community groups in the Pacific Northwest. The elder Gates scanned pleas from the serious to the whimsical. One man suggested funding a ballroom dancing television channel, he wrote in his 2009 memoir, Showing Up for Life."

In the book, he also recounted getting an appeal from his son and his sons wife, Melinda. They had learned that many children die each year from illnesses that are rarely fatal in developed countries, such as measles, malaria and diarrhea. Dad, maybe we could do something about this?" they wrote.

The foundation, now known as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has committed more than $50 billion to expand childhood immunization, eradicate polio, provide seeds to African farmers and improve American public schools, according to its website. The elder Gates served as one of the foundations co-chairs, along with his son and daughter-in-law.

We have to be helpful to each other or it would be an impossible world," he said in a May 2009 interview with the Seattle Times. This is not only good religion but very practical for economy and humanity."

Ballmer Connection

Earlier, he played a role in the development of Microsoft, the worlds largest software company.

Over dinner in 1980, he helped his son recruit a friend from Harvard University, Steve Ballmer, to work for Microsoft. Ballmer left graduate school and later became chief executive officer of the Redmond, Washington-based company.

The elder Gates operated the slide projector at his sons first keynote address at the Comdex trade show in Las Vegas, in 1983. Without me, you wouldnt be here," he joked at one meeting of Microsoft employees.

William Henry Gates II was born Nov. 30, 1925, in Bremerton, Washington, an hours ferry ride from Seattle. He said in his memoir that he learned his work ethic from his father, who owned a furniture store in a town hit hard by the Great Depression.

Eagle Scout

With his Boy Scout troop, Gates felled trees and worked two-man crosscut saws to build a lodge in the woods. He became an Eagle Scout.

He enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War II in 1944 and served in Hokkaido, Japan, and Tokyo after the Japanese surrender.

Returning to Seattle, he attended the University of Washington under the GI Bill and received a law degree in 1950. While there he asked a university friend, Mary Maxwell, to set him up with one of her sorority sisters -- preferably a tall girl, because he stood 6 feet, 7 inches tall (2 meters). Mary, at 5 feet, 6 inches, stood on her tiptoes and suggested herself, Gates recalled in his memoir.

They married two years later. In addition to the son they called Trey" -- for William III, his name before father and son became simply Sr. and Jr. -- the couple had two daughters, Kristianne and Libby.

Their sons intellectual intensity and headstrong nature at times led to a battle of wills, Gates wrote.

Parental Discipline

Once, the younger Gates dawdled in his room as the family waited in the car. His mother asked what he was doing. Im thinking, mother," he replied, according to his fathers recollection. Dont YOU ever think?"

On another occasion, the future software mogul, then 12, got so nasty with his mother that his father threw a glass of cold water in his face, according to an April 2009 Wall Street Journal article. Thanks for the shower," young Gates replied. His parents took him to a counselor, who advised them to give the youth more freedom.

Later, the young Gates demonstrated his first commercial software, a program to measure traffic that he wrote with his friend Paul Allen, at the kitchen table.

The elder Gates built his law practice at the Seattle firm that became Preston Gates & Ellis LLP, then part of K&L Gates LLP. Among its clients was Microsoft, which Gatess son founded with Allen in 1975.

Aside from his law work, Gates served as a trustee for more than two dozen Pacific Northwest groups, including the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce and King County United Way. In recent years, he was also lent his name to proposals for higher estate and income taxes. Voters rejected a state income tax initiative he supported in 2010.

Mary Gates died of cancer in 1994. The elder Gates married his second wife, Mimi Gardner Gates, the former director of the Seattle Art Museum, in 1996.

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US President Donald Trump said he wanted to order the assassination of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2017 but was advised against it by then Defense Secretary Gen (rtd) James Mattis.

The Syrian president is accused of a number of war crimes, including massacring his own citizens and ordering the torture of foreigners.

"I would have rather taken him (Assad) out. I had him all set. Mattis didn't want to do it, Trump told Fox News in an interview on Tuesday when asked if Assad had ordered chemical bombs be dropped on the north Syria town of Khan Sheikhoun in April 2017.

According to intelligence reports, the chemical agent sarin had been used, killing 86 people including 27 children.

"Do you regret not taking out Assad and was it because of Russia being allied with them (Assad) the Fox News presenter asked Trump.

"No, I do not regret that. I could have lived either way with that. I considered him certainly not a good person, but I had a shot to take him out if I wanted and Mattis was against it," Trump said.

The US president was critical of Mattis. "Mattis was against most of that stuff (the assassination bid). He'd keep you in military, but he didn't know how to win. He had no concept to win, Trump said.

Trump said they have made tremendous progress in the war against terrorism.

"I got rid of the Islamic State (IS) after he (Mattis) was gone. I did a great job on IS, 100 per cent of the caliphate (is gone). Got rid of them. Took out (Iranian major general Qasem) Soleimani as you know. Took out (Iraqi terrorist Abu Bakr) al-Baghdadi. These are the two biggest terrorists. Al-Baghdadi founded ISIS, he was trying to build it again after I wiped it out, he said.
After deals with UAE and Bahrain, there are signs Saudi Arabia is preparing its people to warm to Israel.

When one of Saudi Arabias leading Muslim leaders called this month for Muslims to avoid passionate emotions and fiery enthusiasm towards Jews, it was a marked change in tone for someone who has shed tears preaching about Palestine in the past.

The sermon by Abdulrahman al-Sudais, imam of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, broadcast on Saudi state television on September 5, came three weeks after the United Arab Emirates agreed upon a historic deal to normalise relations with Israel and days before the Gulf state of Bahrain, a close Saudi ally, followed suit.

Sudais, who in past sermons prayed for Palestinians to have victory over the invader and aggressor Jews, spoke about how the Prophet Muhammad was good to his Jewish neighbour and argued the best way to persuade Jews to convert to Islam was to treat them well.





While Saudi Arabia is not expected to follow the example of its Gulf allies any time soon, Sudaiss remarks could be a clue to how the kingdom approaches the sensitive subject of warming to Israel  a once inconceivable prospect. Appointed by the king, he is one of the countrys most influential figures, reflecting the views of its conservative religious establishment as well as the Royal Court.

The dramatic agreements with the UAE and Bahrain were a coup for Israel and US President Donald Trump who is portraying himself as a peacemaker before November elections.

But the big diplomatic prize for an Israel deal would be Saudi Arabia, whose king is the Custodian of Islams holiest sites, and rules the worlds largest oil exporter.

Test public reaction

Marc Owen Jones, an academic from the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter, said the UAE and Bahrains normalisation has allowed Saudi Arabia to test public opinion, but a formal deal with Israel would be a large task for the kingdom.

Giving the Saudis a nudge via an influential imam is obviously one step in trying to test the public reaction and to encourage the notion of normalisation, Jones added.

Sudais plea to shun intense feelings is a far cry from his past when he wept dozens of times while praying for Jerusalems Al-Aqsa Mosque  Islams third-holiest site.

The September 5 sermon drew a mixed reaction, with some Saudis defending him as simply communicating the teachings of Islam. Others on Twitter, mostly Saudis abroad and apparently critical of the government, called it the normalisation sermon.

The United Arab Emirates, Israel and Bahrain signed historic accords normalising ties. [Saul Loeb/AFP]

Ali al-Suliman, interviewed at one of Riyadhs malls, said in reaction to the Bahrain deal that normalisation with Israel by other Gulf states or in the wider Middle East was hard to get used to, as Israel is an occupying nation and drove Palestinians out of their homes.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), the kingdoms de-facto ruler, has promised to promote interfaith dialogue as part of his domestic reform. The prince previously stated that Israelis are entitled to live peacefully on their own land on condition of a peace agreement that assures stability for all sides.

Saudi Arabia and Israels mutual fear of Iran may be a key driver for the development of ties.

There have been other signs that Saudi Arabia, one of the most influential countries in the Middle East, is preparing its people to eventually warm to Israel.





A period drama, Umm Haroun that aired during Ramadan in April on Saudi-controlled MBC television, a time when viewership typically spikes, centred around the trials of a Jewish midwife.

The fictional series was about a multi-religious community in an unspecified Gulf Arab state in the 1930s to 1950s. The show drew criticism from the Palestinian Hamas group, saying it portrayed Jews in a sympathetic light.

At the time, MBC said the show was the top-rated Gulf drama in Saudi Arabia in Ramadan. The shows writers, both Bahraini, said it had no political message.

But experts and diplomats said it was another indication of shifting public discourse on Israel.

Earlier this year, Mohammed al-Aissa, a former Saudi minister and the general secretary of the Muslim World League, visited Auschwitz. In June, he took part in a conference organised by the American Jewish Committee, where he called for a world without Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.

Certainly, MBS is intent on moderating state-sanctioned messages shared by the clerical establishment and part of that will likely work towards justifying any future deal with Israel, which would have seemed unthinkable before, said Neil Quilliam, associate fellow with Chatham House.

Isolated Palestinians

Normalisation between the UAE, Bahrain and Israel, signed at the White House on Tuesday, has further isolated the Palestinians.





Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, has not directly addressed Israels deals with the UAE and Bahrain, but said it remains committed to peace on the basis of the long-standing Arab Peace Initiative.

Saudi Arabia, which does not recognise Israel, drew up the 2002 initiative by which Arab nations offered to normalise ties with Israel in return for a statehood deal with the Palestinians and full Israeli withdrawal from territory captured in 1967.

Trump said he expected Saudi Arabia to join the agreements to normalise diplomatic ties and forge a broad new relationship.

But Saudi Arabias King Salman bin Abdulaziz told the US president the Gulf country wanted to see a fair and permanent solution for the Palestinians first.

How, or whether, the kingdom would seek to exchange normalisation for a deal on the terms of Arab Peace Initiative remains unclear.

In another eye-catching gesture of goodwill, the kingdom has allowed Israel-UAE flights to use its airspace. Trumps son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, who has a close relationship with MBS, praised the move last week.

A diplomat in the Gulf said for Saudi Arabia, the issue is more related to what he called its religious position as the leader of the Muslim world, and a formal deal with Israel would take time and is unlikely to happen while King Salman is still in power.

Any normalisation by Saudi will open doors for Iran, Qatar and Turkey to call for internationalising the two holy mosques, he said, referring to periodic calls by critics of Riyadh to have Mecca and Medina placed under international supervision.
An assistant professor at McMaster University who is working as a pandemic adviser in the Trump administration will appear before United States congress this month over concerns he allegedly meddled in federal public health reports and minimized the dangers of COVID-19.

Paul Alexander  a part-time professor of health research methods, evidence and impact at McMaster since 2015  will field questions from a congressional subcommittee on Sept. 24. He is alleged to have sought to revise, delay and prevent the release of reports by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on coronavirus.

McMaster said in a statement Tuesday that Alexander does not currently teach at the school and is not on its payroll. They said as a consultant, Alexander does not speak on behalf of the university.

The university added that scientists may have conflicting views on different issues, and sometimes those views are controversial and can become political.

What is vital is that scientific evidence is the foundation of all our research and teaching at McMaster, said spokesperson Susan Emigh.

Emails originally obtained by Politico show Alexander demanded the CDCs weekly scientific newsletter, known as the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), be halted until he could personally make edits.

The MMWR has a publication process that dates back to the 1960s and is renowned for its objectivity and freedom from political influence.

In an August email to CDC director Robert Redfield, Alexander allegedly accused the federal health agencys scientists of trying to hurt the president with the reports.

CDC to me appears to be writing hit pieces on the administration, Alexander wrote in reference to a report that he claimed wrongly inflated the risks of COVID-19 to children and undermined President Donald Trumps pandemic response. CDC tried to report as if once kids get together, there will be spread and this will impact school reopening  Very misleading by CDC and shame on them. Their aim is clear.

Alexander moved from Hamilton to Washington, D.C., in late March to advise a leading official in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on coronavirus policy.

The official, Michael Caputo  who came under fire shortly after his appointment in early April for promoting conspiracies about Chinese people  is a face of the Trump administrations response to a virus that has infected more than six million and killed nearly 200,000.

Caputo told The Spectator in a July telephone interview that Alexander was his first hire as assistant secretary of public affairs for HHS. He said he didnt know if I could do my job without Alexander.

McMaster said at the time it was unaware how many courses Alexander taught at the university because his teaching calendar was unavailable.

Alexander is a decorated academic whose peer-reviewed works have been published more than 60 times  six of which pertain to novel coronavirus research.

He received a masters degree in evidence-based medicine and clinical epidemiology from the University of Oxford and University of Toronto, and completed masters training in health sciences at York University. In 2015, he received his doctorate from McMaster in health research methods.

The Trinidad and Tobago natives seven-month role in the White House has been marred by allegations of politicizing a public health crisis.

In June, The Washington Post reported that Alexander accused the CDC of undermining the president by releasing a report about the risks of coronavirus to women.

Alexander criticized the federal agencys methods and said its warning to pregnant women reads in a way to frighten women  as if the president and his administration cant fix this and it is getting worse.

The most recent objection to the CDCs public morbidity report threatens the confidence of the public which the agency is intended to protect, said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University who sits on the external editorial board of the MMWR.

The (MMWR) is rigorous and scientific. It is required reading by public health departments all over the country and, indeed, around the world, Schaffner told The Spectator.

We are very dismayed that there would even be an attempt to introduce political influence into this public health communication  If that content has to be viewed through a skeptical, political lens, its really injurious. Its destructive.

Meanwhile, Caputo previously said he takes no issue with a pandemic adviser wading into political discussion.

This is a battle of ideas. And every day, there are winners and losers. We all have to be very mindful that politics has no place in daily life, but undermining the presidency is not a political judgment  it is an administrative judgment, he said, noting Alexanders specialty is criticizing other peoples work.

In the end, when you undermine the president of the United States, you undermine the coronavirus response that (Trump) is responsible for.

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New Delhi: Indias overall export (merchandise plus services) declined by 25.42% during period April-June 2020 as compared to the corresponding period of previous year, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal in a written reply in the Lok Sabha said on Wednesday.

"The latest merchandise exports show a recovery, with export decline reducing to (-)12.66% in August,2020. With the gradual opening up of the economy after the nation-wide lockdown, industrial activity has started to normalize. The quick estimate of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation for the month of June, 2020 stands at 107.8 as compared to 53.6 and 89.5 in April, 2020 and May, 2020 respectively," said an official release.

He informed that the government has taken several key steps to boost exports. Validity of Foreign Trade Policy (2015-20) has extended by one year i.e. upto 31-3-2021 and relaxations granted and time lines extended due to COVID-19.

Interest Equalization Scheme on pre and post shipment rupee export credit has been extended by one year i.e. upto 31-3-2021.

Line Ministries have notified various sectoral incentive packages, such as Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI) by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and PLI Scheme by Department of Pharma for Key Starting Materials (KSMs)/ Drug Intermediates and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs).

Common Digital Platform for Certificate of Origin has been launched to facilitate trade and increase FTA utilization by exporters.

A comprehensive Agriculture Export Policy is under implementation to provide an impetus to agricultural exports related to agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, fisheries and food processing sectors, Goyal said.

Promoting and diversifying services exports by pursuing specific action plans for the 12 Champion Services Sectors and Promoting districts as export hubs by identifying products with export potential in the District, addressing bottlenecks for exporting these products, supporting local exporters/manufacturers to generate employment in the District, are some measures the government has undertaken.

Strengthening eco-system for adoption / implementation of mandatory technical standards for goods, services and skilling and Energising Indian missions abroad towards promoting our Trade, Tourism, Technology and Investment goals have also been initiated.

Goyal said that the government has announced announced package to support domestic industry, including through various banking and financial sector relief measures, especially for MSMEs, which constitute a major share in exports.
California-based Connixt, a provider of breakthrough cloud-mobile digital transformation solutions for the last mile, has appointed Aljoaib International as a distributor in the Middle East region.

Aljoaib and Connixt also announced that GTC, an expert in geotechnical engineering services to government and commercial markets (lab tests, NDT, geotechnical, projects inspection and evaluation, oil drilling services, environmental studies), as the first business in the region to go live with the Connixt iMarq solution.

We are excited to partner with Aljoaib International, a group that has been a leader in innovative engineering services and solutions in the Middle East, said G Satish, CEO and co-founder of Connixt. This is a win-win for businesses in the region that are looking to digitise their operations in the field, especially in industries with distributed assets and a heavily reliance on a field work force.

Aljoaib is reselling iMarq, the award-winning Digital Transformation solution from Connixt, in the Middle East region. Connixts iMarq, in use at some of the largest transit, utility and construction businesses, digitises and automates asset maintenance, condition assessments, inspections, scheduling and crew management.

Aljoaib sees great potential in for Connixts offerings in the Middle East, given the substantial efficiency gains and ROI that their customers testify to, said Dr Abdulla Aljoaib, CEO of Aljoaib International. A number of businesses require work done outside the four walls of offices, and with the renewed focus in the region in areas like public transit, we see great potential for Connixt solutions.

GTC, based out of Dammam, Saudi Arabia, is one of the first customers to go live with the Connixt iMarq product. A leader in the geotechnical engineering services to government and commercial markets, GTC was looking for a means to automate its field testing and other activities and picked the iMarq suite after they tested its functionality and ease of deployment.

Beyond the excellent configurability and flexibility of the iMarq product to meet our needs, one of the most important factors in our decision was the extensive localization including Arabic language, said David Bahrani, Inspection Service Manager of GTC. We are seeing immediate benefits from the deployment and are especially satisfied with the extent of support and responsiveness of the Aljoaib-Connixt team.

Connixts award-winning cloud-mobile enterprise suite powers digital transformation for the last mile for some of the worlds largest businesses. Connixt digitises and automates asset maintenance, workforce management and compliance, saving millions of dollars in asset uptime, labour-hours and reduced paperwork, while enhancing safety and compliance. Connixts patent-pending self-learning cloud-framework further maximises gains from deployment of IoT technologies. Connixt serves customers in the Transit, Utilities, Construction and Manufacturing & Distribution industries.

AIC is the trading arm of Aljoaib Holdings and includes Aljoaib Agriculture and Aljoaib Electromechanical companies and provides products for the oil and gas, power, petrochemical and agriculture industries. - TradeArabia News Service
The Chick-fil-A spokes-cows are going to be utterly ecstatic, because the restaurant chain is expanding its chicken sandwich offerings.

The company announced that select Chick-fil-A restaurants began selling a new chicken sandwich Monday made with honey, jalapeno peppers and pimento cheese, according to Today.

The only problem? The sandwich will initially only be available for a limited-time as a test in select North and South Carolina restaurants  specifically in upstate South Carolina and the Asheville, N.C., areas.

Named the Honey Pepper Pimento Chicken Sandwich, the chicken filet will be fried, than drizzled with honey, topped with Southern-style pimento cheese and served on a toasted bun with mild pickled jalapenos, according to a company release.

This is the first variation of the Original Chick-fil-A Chicken Sandwich weve tested as a seasonal item, Chef Stuart Tracy, one of Chick-fil-As senior culinary developers, said in a statement.

The jalapenos add what we call entry-level spice, Tracy said. They give the sandwich just a little kick, bringing a Southwest influence that pairs well with honey and pimento cheese.

The company indicated it was looking to add a melt-style sandwich with standout elements  savory, salty, sweet and melty. During customer taste testing, it won in a landslide when compared to other sandwich concepts under development.

If it does well down South, possibly other parts of the country will have a chance at this new culinary treat.

Read more:
If the Winnipeg Police Service had a reputation for being open and forthcoming when its members are accused of wrongdoing, there would be less need for officers to wear body cameras. Given the apparent ineffectiveness of police oversight in Manitoba, however, the city should test the cameras as a tool to dig out information that police are often reluctant to share.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 15/9/2020 (493 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If the Winnipeg Police Service had a reputation for being open and forthcoming when its members are accused of wrongdoing, there would be less need for officers to wear body cameras. Given the apparent ineffectiveness of police oversight in Manitoba, however, the city should test the cameras as a tool to dig out information that police are often reluctant to share.

Coun. Kevin Klein was unsuccessful last week in his motion to fund body cameras for the WPS, but he said hell keep trying. He would likely gain more support from his colleagues if he scales down his proposal and seeks only to resurrect a body-camera pilot project that was approved in 2015 but later scrapped for budget reasons.

Officer body cameras would benefit police and community, says councillor Click to Expand Promotional image of an Axon Body 3 camera, used by some police forces in North America. (Axon Public Safety Canada) Posted: 7:00 PM Sep. 9, 2020 A city councillor wants Winnipeg police officers to wear body cameras, arguing they would help address complaints of racism and excessive force in policing. Coun. Kevin Klein said he supports outfitting patrol officers with cameras that would automatically record entire police interactions. Read Full Story

Councillors who voted against Kleins motion last week were concerned about the cost, and said there is little proof the cameras reduce "use of force incidents."

While it might be inconclusive whether they reduce police/public confrontations, thats not the sole purpose of body cams. Other cities have found videos give up-close insight into police confrontations, particularly the arrests of people in marginalized ethnic communities.

Images of several such arrests in the U.S. have gone viral, offering a public record of violent arrests and police shootings. Without video images, the public would have been left with only typically vague police statements, such as "forceful techniques were necessary to subdue the suspect."

The desire to get more information than is available in police press releases is pronounced in Winnipeg, where police fatally shot four people within a 40-day period this year. Three of the victims were Indigenous and the ethnicity of the fourth is unknown.

In theory, oversight of serious incidents involving police is supposed to be provided by an arms-length body, the Independent Investigation Unit. In practice, however, police often find ways to circumvent the IIU and continue to withhold important information from the public.

For example, Manitoba legislation lets police block the release of internal documents if they could be used to sue police agencies in civil court. The existence of this legislation surprised access-to-information experts from other provinces, who said this loophole should be closed because it lets Manitoba police withhold information the public has a right to know.

JONATHAN HAYWARD / CANADIAN PRESS FILES While not a perfect solution, body cameras might prove useful.

The IIU has investigated at least 24 shootings by police in Manitoba since 2015. The only instance in which it recommended criminal charges was against an officer who fatally shot a 39-year-old father of two girls in Thompson; the RCMP officer was eventually acquitted of manslaughter and sentenced to probation for criminal negligence causing bodily harm.

A Free Press investigation found that in 19 instances, some of which included police shootings, the IIU forwarded investigative files to the Crowns office for review. The Crowns office recommended no charges be laid in any of the cases.

When Winnipeg police have the right to refuse to release internal records if those records can be used to sue the WPS in civil court, and when the Crown has an unblemished record of recommending police not be charged, its understandable if the public feels the police watchdog is only a lapdog.

Police body cameras are not a perfect answer but, given the current state of police oversight, video footage could offer a valuable supplement to official accounts.

When the publics right to know about police confrontations is thwarted, it erodes trust in the justice system and tarnishes the badges of all officers, including the majority who act responsibly in a job that is difficult and critically important.
The peace treaty between Israel and the United Arab Emirates states that both countries are committed to "working together for a negotiated solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that will meet the aspirations and needs of both parties."

Why it matters: The Emiratis face criticism from the Palestinians over their peace treaty with Israel. Officials involved in the negotiations on the text of the treaty told me the Emiratis wanted to include language on Palestinians in the document. The Emiratis wanted stronger language, but Israel did not agree.

The big picture: The Israel-UAE treaty references the peace agreements Israel has with Egypt and Jordan and President Trump's "vision of peace," presented in January. The text also says that Israel and the UAE commit to make effort to achieve a "just, comprehensive, realistic and long lasting" solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Details:

The nine-page-long treaty states that Israel and the UAE establish full diplomatic relations and normalization.

It says both countries will respect each other's sovereignty and solve disputes only through peaceful means.

Both countries will open embassies and exchange ambassadors as soon as possible.

Israel and the UAE will work in cooperation and mutual understanding to promote peace and stability in the region.

Neither country will allow any hostilities against the other from its territory and will not support any such hostilities by a third party.

Both countries will form a joint forum for promoting a culture of peace and coexistence and fighting extremism.

The nations will form a trilateral dialogue with the U.S. on a strategic agenda for the Middle East.

What's next: Israel and the UAE are, as soon as possible, going to sign agreements in the fields of: finance and investment, civil aviation, visas, trade and innovation, health, science and technology, tourism, energy and the environment, education, telecommunication, agriculture, food security, water and legal cooperation.
LANSING -- The state is putting $10 million dollars into a new COVID-19 testing plan. Only this testing method doesnt involve spit or a Q-tip up the nose. Instead of waiting in long lines, all people have to do is...poop.

Since nearly 70 percent of Michigan residents rely on public wastewater systems, this COVID-19 surveillance program has the potential to provide critical, life-saving data on COVID-19 transmission within a large portion of Michigans population, said department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy Director Liesl Clark.

Scientists at Saginaw Valley State University, Michigan State University and others have been testing wastewater for the COVID-19 virus for months. Now the state is ramping up the effort.

Read More: How Michigan scientists are using beach testing tools to find COVID-19 infections

The three-month pilot program through the state department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) will fund local public health departments with their efforts to coordinate with universities, counties and other labs across the state to do more wastewater testing.

This is a, pretty remarkable step for COVID-19 testing in the state, said Tami Sivy, chemistry professor at Saginaw Valley.

Sivy and her team have been testing seven wastewater plants around the Great Lakes Bay Region, but now they are likely going to add the Saginaw Correctional Facility, and more sites in the Thumb and Arenac County, she said.

Theyve also been testing SVSUs wastewater for the last few weeks to make sure there isnt a spike in cases as students return to school. At the University of Arizona, similar testing allowed the university to figure out not only which dorm coronavirus cases were coming from, but the two students that were positive.

Its a good way to do kind of a community testing, without individual testing but yet being able to, hopefully, isolate where its coming from to better gear your testing on individual humans, Sivy said.

The testing methodology originated at the beach.

The labs use quantitative polymerase chain reaction, or qPCR methods to test the wastewater for traces of the virus. The genetic testing method has been used for years to provide fast turnaround responses for whether a beach has E. coli.

But scientists in Michigan and across the world discovered the qPCR methods can also be used to test human waste for traces of the virus. Scientists watch for upticks in the amount of virus in the waste, and from there can alert local health departments to head-off a potential surge.

The ability to predict outbreaks on college campuses, at nursing homes, prisons, and other congregate care facilities could be game-changer in our mission to slow the spread of this virus," said Clark.

The plan is for EGLE to coordinate sample collection, lab analysis, data reporting, and communication with local monitoring teams across Michigan.

This partnership could provide early indicators of COVID-19 in a community and allow public health to take quick actions to protect the health and safety of Michiganders,said Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, chief medical executive for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS).

The ultimate goal of the pilot is to target wastewater surveillance programs that are already testing for COVID-19 to establish a standardized and coordinated network of monitoring systems. EGLE plans to have the network up and running by October 1.

Theyre recognizing that this could be a great way to use our skills and to apply them to this virus testing and wastewater, its really just a different medium," said Sivy. "But it still has the same implications and same goals of protecting human health.

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The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has told the UP government that it requires 478.1 acres land for the phase-1 development of the airport, said Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Wednesday.

"The state government of Uttar Pradesh has informed that they have earmarked Rs 525.92 crore for acquiring the land so far (for the airport)," Puri said in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha.

On the request of the UP government, a multi-disciplinary team of the visited the existing airport in December last year to conduct a pre-feasibilty study to develop the airport further so that it can handle wide-bodied aircraft, Puri said.

"As per the techno-economic feasibility study report, the airport is suitable for development in two phases i.e. phase-I and phase-II with the expected rise in passenger traffic in Ayodhya," he noted.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on August 5 performed the 'bhoomi pujan' of a Supreme Court-mandated Ram temple in Ayodhya, bringing to fruition the BJP's 'mandir' movement that defined its politics for three decades and took it to the heights of power.

" has projected land requirement of 478.1 acres to the state government of Uttar Pradesh for development of the airport in Phase - I," Puri stated on Wednesday.

The timeline for start and completion of an airport project depends upon many factors such as land acquisition, availability fo mandatory clearances, financial closure, etc, said Puri.

(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 ngela Rayner has called on Boris Johnson to ensure that no woman is forced to give birth alone due to coronavirus restrictions.

Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, Labour's deputy leader asked Mr Johnson to meet her and other MPs to discuss their concerns.

But the PM replied that he would encourage health ministers to take the matter forward.

During the coronavirus pandemic some hospitals banned partners from attending antenatal appointments, including scans, to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Others said partners could only be present when women were in the later stages of labour.

NHS leaders last week published guidance on how hospitals can safely reintroduce partners, visitors and other supporters of pregnant women to maternity services in England.

Ms Rayner said: Weve heard of relatives dying alone in care homes and people not being able to say goodbye to their loved ones.

Angela Rayner has called on Boris Johnson to ensure that no woman is forced to give birth alone due to coronavirus restrictions / PA

Weve also heard from mothers who have had to give birth without the support of their partners or their family.

The Health Secretary yesterday said that the new guidance had been issued, but even under that new guidance many birth partners will not be allowed to join until that moment of established labour, leaving women enduring difficult labours or even worse, traumatic and devastating miscarriages alone without support.

Will the Prime Minister agree to meet with me and my honourable friends and work with us to ensure that no woman is forced to give birth without the support that they need?

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

Mr Johnson replied: I totally agree that birth partners should be able to attend the birth, thats why we changed the guidance in the way that we did.

But of course Im very happy to encourage co-operation between her and my right honourable friends in the Health Department to take the matter forward.

Ms Rayner later told the Commons: This winter, we are staring down the barrel of a second wave with no plan for the looming crisis.

People cant say goodbye to their loved ones, grandparents cant see their grandchildren and frontline staff cant get the tests that they need  and what was the top priority for the Covid war cabinet this weekend? Restoring grouse shooting.

She added: So Prime Minister, is this really your top priority?

Mr Johnson said while Labour has been consistently carping from the sidelines throughout this crisis the Government has been getting on with delivering for the British public.

Angela Rayner claims PM 'cannot deliver' on Covid-19 testing promises

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey also called on the Government to protect the rights to care of disabled people and act lawfully during the pandemic.

He said: Research by the Disabled Childrens Partnership shows that three quarters of families with disabled children had their care support stopped during lockdown.

The Coronavirus Act is partly to blame as it relaxed the duties to assess and meet the needs of disabled people.

As the father of a disabled child and the patron of the Disability Law Service, Ive seen legal advice that suggests that his Government broke international law in how the Coronavirus Act reduced the rights of disabled people.

So before this House is asked to renew the Coronavirus Act, will he meet with me to discuss how we protect the rights to care of disabled people and act lawfully?

Mr Johnson responded: I must say to him Im not aware of that particular allegation about the legal effects of the Coronavirus Act and would be only too happy to write to him very shortly to clarify the matter.
Hyderabad, Sep 16 : A police officer was killed as the AK 47 he was carrying went off accidentally during anti-Maoist operations in Telangana on Wednesday.

The incident occurred in Chennapuram forest area in Cherla mandal of Bhadradri Kothagudem district when a police party was engaged in search operations to apprehend Maoists, police said.

Aditya Sai Kumar (25), a Reserved Sub-Inspector of Police (RSI), died on the spot in the incident. His body was shifted to Bhadrachalam Area Hospital for autopsy.

According to district Superintendent of Police Sunil Dutt the incident occurred when the officer along with others was engaged in combing operations.

Meanwhile, police were continuing search operations in the district bordering Chhattisgarh following information about the presence of Maoists in the region.

Police have stepped up search operations in the border areas amid reports of the CPI (Maoist) trying to revive its activities in Telangana.

Two Maoists were killed in an exchange of fire with police in the forests in Cherla mandal on September 7.

The incident had occurred during combing operations by the police following information that the CPI (Maoist) Telangana State Committee was planning some sensational actions against security personnel and public representatives.

This was the second exchange of fire between Maoists and police in the district in less than a week. A Maoist was killed and another had escaped after a shootout on September 3 near Devallagudem village in Gundala mandal.

Telangana police have also heightened vigil in the districts bordering Maharashtra to foil any attempt by the Maoists to regroup.

Director General of Police M. Mahender Reddy camped in the region for five days early this month to review the situation and discuss anti-Maoist operations with top officials.
Former Derry minor captain Conor Glass is currently weighing up his options, if he is not offered a contract extension after Hawthorn's 2020 season, which ends on Sunday.

Glass signed for the Hawks in October 2015 on an international rookie deal and his one-year extension expires in October.

The Glen man hinted earlier his month that his chances of earning a new contract was '50-50'.

After a spell out of the side, he played in four successive games this season, taking his senior appearances to 21. He scored the second goal of his AFL career in defeat to the West Coast Eagles, but wasn't listed in the squad for last two games against St Kilda and Western Bulldogs.

The Hawks, who have won just four games from 16 so far, sit third from bottom and end their season on Sunday against the Gold Coast Suns.

Glass, who captained Derry minors to the 2015 Ulster title, would be a significant addition to Derry senior manager Rory Gallagher's plans.

He was home last season, was in Glen's extended panel for the county final against Magherafelt and always spoke of trying to help Glen win the John McLaughlin Cup

It's understood that if he is not offered a contract and returns home, he will continue his studies with UUJ, where his father Cathal won two Sigerson Cup medals in 1986 and 1987.
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NATO intends to hold largest military exercises beyond Arctic Circle in early March

7 new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

'Zangezur corridor' will unite Turkic world, says Azerbaijan presidential office official

First film studio in space to be set up for Tom Cruise movie

Armenia FM highlights need for full resumption of Karabakh peace talks

Singer Robbie Williams to sell three of Banksy's works

Armenia ex-defense minister: In our time it was shame to immediately turn to CSTO in case of Azerbaijan provocations

UN General Assembly head calls for peace during Beijing Olympics

Tottenham extend contract with Hugo Lloris

Armenia Tourism Committee has new chairperson

AusOpen Zverev moves into 4th round

Russian MFA: Priority today is to start Azerbaijan-Armenia border delimitation, demarcation process

Parliament passes, in first reading, bill restricting gambling advertising in Armenia

UK considering sending hundreds of additional troops to Ukraine's neighbors

American cult actor and rock musician Meat Loaf dies aged 75

Warships of Russia, Iran and China work out counteraction to maritime piracy

Armenia first deputy minister of justice dismissed

Roma congratulate Mkhitaryan

Israeli defense minister tests positive for COVID-19

Karabakh conflict resumption likelihood is moderate, its impact on US interests is low, report says

Liverpool set new record

Antonio Guterres thinks Russia will not invade Ukraine

Azerbaijan ambassador to Russia hastens to sweeten the sediment of statement by US embassy in Baku

Virgil Abloh's latest collection for Louis Vuitton presented in Paris (VIDEO)

IS fighters attack army barracks in mountainous area north of Baghdad, killing 11 soldiers

Sputnik V more effective against Omicron strain than Pfizer

Mourinho says he has no intention to move to Everton

Thomas de Waal: Will Armenia and Turkey be able to normalize relations after 3rd attempt?

Armenia Security Council secretary, visiting EU delegation discuss situation on border with Azerbaijan

Foreign ministers of Israel and Turkey have talk for 1st time in 13 years

Fly Arna shareholders appoint companys Board of Directors

628 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Henrikh Mkhitaryan turns 33

CSTO chief: Necessary to work on Armenia-Azerbaijan border delimitation, demarcation

FBI search congressman's home in connection with Azerbaijan probe

Pamela Anderson splitting with bodyguard husband of one year

Newspaper: Armenia PM again goes way of black and white

Rex Kalamian heads Armenian national basketball team

Newspaper: Scenario devised after war to be implemented in Artsakh

EU Special Representative for South Caucasus arrives in Armenia

Copa del Rey: Barca are out

Coppa Italia: Roma reach quarterfinals, Mkhitaryan plays 100th match and makes assist

EFL Cup: Liverpool make it to the final

Africa Cup of Nations: Mali, Gambia, Tunisia advance to playoffs

Copa del Rey: Real reach quarterfinals

Armenian Noah hosts representatives of Spanish Celta

Quake hits Armenia: 28 km northwest of Jermuk

Crete island lighthouse illuminated with colors of Armenian tricolor

Aurora Humanitarian Initiative to allocate $500,000 to projects in Artsakh

Sajid Javid: Britain must learn to live with COVID-19, it could be with us forever

Erdogan suggests Putin and Zelensky meet face to face

EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus meets Aliyev

Mariam Mkrtchyan becomes chess champion of Armenia

US imposes sanctions on Ukrainians related to 'Russian harmful foreign activities'

Sabah: Ankara refuses to hold next Armenian-Turkish meeting in a third country

US general discusses regional security and bilateral cooperation in Armenia

Secret graves of alleged protesters discovered in Almaty

Armenian side members to Armenian-American Intergovernmental Commission confirmed

Juventus ready to sell De Ligt for 65 million euros

WHO advises countries to lift or ease international travel restrictions

Bed scene with Lady Gaga and Salma Hayek was cut from House of Gucci

US sanctions against Vladimir Putin, Ruben Vardanian and members of the Russian government
TO THE EDITOR:

This letter is in response to Mr. Wagner (published Sept. 8) and Ms. Knoche's (published Sept. 12) letters to the editor.

A little research on your part would allow you to discover President Trump did not demean servicemen and women and losers and suckers. This was a liberal lie. Liberals will not give the president any credit for anything.

Under his leadership, Blacks and Hispanics unemployment is at record lows, more women in the workforce, wages that had stagnated for years have risen, jobs Obama said were gone forever are coming back and the North Korean dictator has stopped shooting missiles over Japan. Does this sound like a horrible president's accomplishments?

Liberals are hellbent on destroying this nation and its greatness. Do you want socialism like Venezuela has? Do you want this nation to become communistic? Some liberals do. If this is what you want, vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. They will take you there.

Bob Henry

Brethren
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 18:00:24|Editor: huaxia

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TOKYO, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Yoshihide Suga, the newly elected president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, was sworn in as Japanese Prime Minister by Emperor Naruhito on Wednesday after being elected to succeed Shinzo Abe in an extraordinary parliamentary session.

After announcing the lineup of his new cabinet, Suga was formally endorsed by Emperor Naruhito in a ceremony at the Imperial Palace.

The new prime minister is scheduled to hold a news conference and convene the first meeting of the new cabinet later in the day.

Suga has formed his cabinet comprising a number of ministers who served under his predecessor Abe, whose cabinet resigned en masse in the morning. Fifteen of his picks for the 20-member cabinet held ministerial portfolios in the previous administration.

At the age of 71, Suga is the oldest prime minister to take office since Kiichi Miyazawa in 1991. His premiership will last through the remainder of Abe's term as LDP leader until September 2021. Enditem
A citizens group that wants the partially demolished former GM property on Ontario Street cleaned up is stepping up its efforts, calling on officials to take action.

Coalition for a Better St. Catharines sent letters to the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks, the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development and Niagara Public Health Tuesday asking each agency to get involved in the issue.

It also sent out a press release calling on the province and city to immediately clean up the site, privately owned by Bayshore Groups, which includes piles of rubble and partial structures.

Were not asking them to go in and remediate the land. Were asking them just to make it safe and to ensure that theres no toxins leaching off the site, said Dennis Van Meer, Coalition for a Better St. Catharines spokesman.

Right now the immediate concern is we need to ensure the public and the environment is not being exposed to hazards coming off that site.

The requests come after a Ministry of the Environment report in July found high levels of PCBs in Twelve Mile Creek near the property, supported in August by an independent consultant firm hired by the coalition which noted the presence of disturbed and distressed vegetation along drainage to the creek.

Environmental Liability Management wrote in a report for the coalition that its observations indicated contaminants are likely entering the creek with unknown consequences on wildlife and human health.

Residents in the surrounding area of the industrial site have raised concerns about what is contained in the piles of rubble and whether the air and runoff near their homes is safe.

After the coalition formed and held a public meeting in January, city council passed a multi-step action plan to address the health, safety and security concerns at the site. Steps included securing the fencing, cleaning up graffiti, hiring an external law firm to discuss the municipalitys options and asking the Ministry of the Environment to do testing, among others.

Tami Kitay, the citys director of planning and building services, said the municipality has executed almost every item on the action plan, is strengthening enforcement through its new waste bylaw and continues to clean up graffiti and boulevard weeds.

The site is absolutely a priority for the city, she said Tuesday. We continue to advance it in the best way we are able to with our legal authority.

Mayor Walter Sendzik said city officials have focused on working with the owners of the property but cant go onto the property, take it over and assume liability.

Its been a priority of ours since Day 1. I dont think anyone could say the city has ignored this issue at all. Anyone who says that is just playing politics, he said.

The reality is that this is private property and there are regulations surrounding private property and what the city is able to do and not able to do.

After the MOE was asked to do testing, it conducted water sampling in Twelve Mile Creek in February, which led to the report released in July finding the PCBs and cadmium that were higher than the provinces guidelines.

However, the ministry said the results revealed that water quality downstream of the site has not been impacted.

Spokesman Gary Wheeler said Tuesday the ministry is planning additional water sampling and that an air monitoring survey is ongoing to assess for any dust impacts from the rubble piles.

The ministry will provide all results to the city and to the property owner to assist in determining whether plans for cleanup are required, he said by email.

We will continue to stay on top of this issue.

St. Patricks Coun. Karrie Porter, whose ward includes the property, said the ministry has been asked to come to council with its results and answer questions.

The ministry needs to do everything in its power to test and when there are violations the ministry needs to do whatever it needs to do to get compliance on the site, she said.

GM operated a factory at 282 and 285 Ontario St. until 2010. It sold the property in June 2014 to Bayshore Groups, which auctioned off machinery and tools and partially demolished the site before listing it for sale in March 2019.

The property is the focus of a $15-million lawsuit between Bayshore and Attar Metals which is expected to be in court in Toronto for trial later this month.
The Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission today said there was no breach on the part of Cooper Hospital or the Mumbai police in allowing Rhea Chakrabarty inside the mortuary of the hospital to see the dead body of late actor Sushant Singh Rajput.

The SHRC said that based on the details of the waiting area, all the protocols have been duly followed. The matter therefore has been disposed off. The detailed order is awaited in this case.

Sources from Cooper Hospital said, We informed the SHRC about how things transpired at the hospital. There are 3 areas at the hospital mortuary. One is where the relatives and close ones are allowed, known as the gallery. The other two are known as the cold storage and post mortem room. In our reply, we said that our attendant didnt allow anyone in the storage and postmortem room. Not even police is. Hence the SHRC believes that Rhea saw the dead body of SSR in the gallery area."

The SRHC was looking into who was responsible for allowing Rhea Chakrabartys visit inside Cooper Hospital mortuary, where the dead body of the late actor was kept. During the previous hearings, representatives from both Cooper Hospital and Mumbai police blamed each other for her wrongful entry. The matter was taken by up the SHRC suo motu based upon media reports.

Earlier, Sushants family lawyer Vikas Singh had raised concerns over Rhea visiting the morgue. He had said, Rhea going to the mortuary was definitely irregular because somebody has facilitated this visit. With the covid situation, how do you manage to get into there? So either the Mumbai police or the hospital authorities have colluded with her to give her access."

The SHRC had reportedly made a strong objection to the fact that Rhea had access to the mortuary. They had sent a notice to Cooper Hospital, Mumbai police and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for allowing Sushants girlfriend Rhea to enter the mortuary.
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.




A bicyclist rides along 1st Street Bridge in Los Angeles under smoky skies. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

The patients walk into Dr. Melissa Marshalls community clinics in Northern California with the telltale symptoms. They're having trouble breathing. It may even hurt to inhale. They have a cough, and the sore throat is definitely there.

A straight case of COVID-19? Not so fast. This is wildfire country.

Up and down the West Coast, hospitals and health facilities are reporting an influx of patients with problems most likely related to smoke inhalation. As fires rage largely uncontrolled amid dry heat and high winds, smoke and ash are settling on cities and towns up to hundreds of miles away, turning the sky orange or gray and making ordinary breathing difficult.

But that, Marshall said, is only part of the challenge. Facilities already strapped for testing supplies and personal protective equipment must first rule out COVID-19 in these patients, because many of the symptoms they have are the same as those caused by the virus.

Obviously, theres overlap in the symptoms, said Marshall, the CEO of CommuniCare, a collection of six clinics in Yolo County that treats mostly underinsured and uninsured patients. Any time someone comes in with even some of those symptoms, we ask ourselves, Is it COVID? At the end of the day, clinically speaking, I still want to rule out the virus.

The protocol is to treat the symptoms, whatever their cause, while recommending that the patient quarantine until test results for the virus come back, she said.

It is a scene playing out in numerous hospitals. Administrators and physicians, finely attuned to COVID-19s ability to spread quickly and wreak havoc, simply wont take a chance when they recognize symptoms that could emanate from the virus.

Weve seen an increase in patients presenting to the emergency department with respiratory distress, said Dr. Nanette Mickiewicz, president and CEO of Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz. As this can also be a symptom of COVID-19, were treating these patients as we would any person under investigation for coronavirus until we can rule them out through our screening process. During the workup, symptoms that are more specific to COVID-19, like fever, would become apparent.

Story continues

For the workers at Dominican, the issue moved to the top of the list quickly. Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties have borne the brunt of the CZU Lightning Complex fires, which have burned more than 86,000 acres. Multiple tents erected outside the building serve as an extension of its ER waiting room. They also are used to perform what has come to be understood as an essential role: separating those with symptoms of COVID-19 from those without.

New patients have been arriving at NorthBay Healthcare's two hospitals in Solano County with COVID-19-like symptoms that may actually be from smoke inhalation.

NorthBays intake process calls for anyone with COVID characteristics to be handled as [a] patient under investigation for COVID, which means theyre separated, screened and managed by staff in special PPE, said spokesperson Steve Huddleston. At the two hospitals, which have handled nearly 200 COVID-19 cases so far, the protocol is well established.

Although the West Coast is now squarely in the most dangerous time of year for wildfires  generally September to December  another complication for health providers lies on the horizon: flu season.

The Southern Hemisphere, whose influenza trends during our summer months typically predict whats to come for the U.S., has had very little of the disease this year, presumably because of restricted travel, social distancing and face masks. But its too early to be sure what the U.S. flu season will entail.

You can start to see some cases of the flu in late October, said Marshall, and the reality is that its going to carry a number of characteristics that could also be symptomatic of COVID. And nothing changes: You have to rule it out, just to eliminate the risk.

Mark Kreidler writes for Kaiser Health News , a nonprofit news service covering health issues. It is an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation and is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Donald Trump reversed course during a town hall in crucial battleground Pennsylvania by denying he downplayed the coronavirus despite acknowledging being caught on tape in February calling it deadly stuff.

During a wide-ranging town hall event on Tuesday, voters pressed the president on a list of issues, including a pointed question from a black man on race that he mostly dodged. The president visited Pennsylvania yet again as he tries to keep it red after a stunning win there in 2016. But he did little during the 90-minute event to appeal to voting blocs other than his conservative base, defending law enforcement and his coronavirus response  even defying his own medical experts yet again by saying Covid-19 would one day disappear even if a vaccine is never approved and deployed.

The president, after last week admitting to downplaying the Covid-19 outbreak to avoid panic after journalist Bob Woodward released recordings of interviews with Mr Trump, claimed he up-played the diseases severity earlier this spring and summer.

Not downplaying.  Im a cheerleader for our nation, Mr Trump said during an ABC News town hall with undecided voters.

I still say it. Its going to disappear, he said when pressed by ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos about his predictions the virus would just magically vanish. Were not going to be in an empty studio like this.

The president also said the virus will eventually vanish with or without a vaccine over a period of time because youll develop like a herd [immunity]. But with a vaccine, itll go away very quickly.

Mr Trump was asked about his coronavirus response, and told one voter the United States does not need ventilators anymore  even as the death toll nears 200,000 and cases are at least 6.6m.

Weve saved a lot of lives, he contended. If we didnt do testing, we wouldnt have cases.

Asked about mask-wearing and why he does not wear one more often in public, Mr Trump said he does so sometimes and always inside medical facilities.

There are people who think that masks arent good, he said, saying patrons in public restaurants touch their face then their plate. That cant be good.

Theres not with me

The president also was pressed on the countrys ongoing racial upheaval and calls for policing reform.

The president used the term chokers unironically even after some black men have recently died while being choked by white police officers.

Asked by a black voter if he realises how some of his comments come off to them as tone deaf, Mr Trump responded by claiming polls show he has high approval rates among black voters. But polling data shows the opposite, and Mr Biden is counting on a big black turnout of support to help him win in November.

The black voter questioned him why he has yet to say there is a race problem in the United States, the president dodged the question.

Theres not with me, the president responded, contending once again, falsely, that he has done more for the black community than any other president.

On health care, when a black woman with a serious pre-existing condition tried to ask what he would do to protect people like her, he tried to interrupt. She demanded he stay quiet until she was finished in a surreal scene.

He eventually said, yet again, that Republicans soon will roll out a plan that would replace the 2011 Affordable Care Act. The president has been saying that for several years, and denied trying to take down the law known as Obamacare despite a lawsuit experts say would do just that.

Confronted with reported comments by former Secretary of State James Mattis and other former national security officials that he is unfit for office, the president contended Mr Mattis was not up to his role and former national security adviser John Bolton wanted to go to war with everybody.

Take a look at whats going on, he said of peace accords he signed with Israel, the UAE and Bahrain. Mr Trump said a guy like Jim Mattis never could have done it because  they were going in all the wrong outlets and wrong doors.

It was the first time on a major campaign stage he talked up the Abraham Accords, signed earlier in the day during an elaborate White House ceremony.

'Tipping-point state

The president was back in the crucial battleground state for the seventh time, among his most-visited this year. He and Mr Biden are both keen to secure its 20 Electoral College votes as they seek the 270 needed to secure the White House.

Mr Trump stunned many political observers four years ago by winning the Keystone State, defeating former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by less than 1 percentage point.

Since even before Mr Biden secured the Democratic nomination, the president has trailed the former VP in the state where he was born and lived for around a decade. RealClearPolitics average of several recent polls there give Mr Biden a 4.3 per cent lead  but that is within or just outside the margin of error in most surveys.

Mr Trumps selection of Philadelphia to talk to undecided voters was no coincidence. Nathaniel Rakich of FiveThirtyEight wrote this week that Pennsylvania looks like the single most important state of the 2020 election.

Pennsylvania is by far the likeliest state to provide either President Trump or Joe Biden with the decisive vote in the Electoral College: It has a 31 per cent chance of being the tipping-point state, he wrote, In fact, Pennsylvania is so important that our model gives Trump an 84 per cent chance of winning the presidency if he carries the state  and it gives Biden a 96 per cent chance of winning if Pennsylvania goes blue.

Both candidates seem keenly aware.

Mr Biden, who has spent almost the entire coronavirus outbreak at his nearby Wilmington, Delaware home has used several Keystone cities to deliver remarks. Mr Trump knows, too.

As he headed back to Washington with his cheesesteaks, the president had a message for the Keystone State: Great to be back in Philadelphia. Thank you Pennsylvania, see you again soon! With the race likely to tighten in its final seven weeks, it is now just a question of how many times can his campaign get him back to the Keystone State.
Freedom From Fear/Yellow Bowl Project

Artist Setsuko Winchester

On View Sept. 28 - Nov. 19

Opening Reception September 28th from 5-8pm

Artist Talk October 12th at 5pm

Read the press release and web story

Visit the Arts Management online archive of this exhibition.

Read the Artist's reflection on her experience working with MCLA

Born in New York City to Japanese immigrant parents, artist Setsuko Winchester, has worked as a journalist, editor and producer at NPR on shows like Morning Edition and Talk of the Nation before moving to Western Massachusetts in 2006 to pursue a life-long interest in the ceramics and visual arts.

Photographs from the Freedom From Fear/Yellow Bowl Project will be on view from September 28- November 19. All are welcome to attend the opening reception on Thursday, September 28 from 5-8 pm. The exhibition will center on all the research Winchester has done around the history not only of the Japanese internment camps, but more broadly around Asian-American civil right issues over the last century. The bowls and objects will be installed in Lenox, MA at The Mount, Edith Wharton's home, from June - October. Gallery 51 will host an artist talk on October 12 (time TBA). On October 26 at 6pm at Gallery 51, MCLA faculty and students will share selections from the interdisciplinary collection of essays that will be published to coincide with the exhibition. In addition, a public roundtable discussion on November 14 (Murdock Room 218, MCLA Campus at 7pm) will explore the history of immigration orders in the United States.

Winchester decided to take 120 handmade fragile tea bowls, ceramic tea bowls, packed inside two enormous boxes as her traveling objects to places that were not famous or glamorous, but places most people had never heard of nor would probably ever go. By exposing these places of fear, Winchester hopes we can finally exorcise the shame and guilt, and move forward rather than blame the victim or shame the oppressors. More information can be found at can be found at http://www.yellowbowlproject.com/.

3 Second Stories

Artist, Tom Olson

Guest curated by Corwin Lev

On View July 27 - September 23

Opening reception: July 27th from 5-8pm

Read the press release

Featuring the work of Flipbook artist Tom Olson who uses flipbooks to weave tales of love, loss and other investigations into the human psyche and the absurd by spending countless hours drawing hundreds of pages to arrive at a profound three seconds. This will be the first time they have been exhibited and the show will include video and print presentations.

Olson's stories include "The Beast and the Lightning Bolt," "How the Sun Becomes the Moon," and "What Maps Do When Nobody's Looking." One flipbook examines the struggles of a Hegelian and a neo-Platonist facing the same intractable dilemma; while another series follows the adventure of little circle seamlessly morphing between an orange, the planet Saturn, and other objects.

Cloud Headed: On view June 29th - July 19th

image: Stephanie Williams

Read the press release

Artists: Michelle Aldredge, Corwin Levi, Mark W. Mulherrin, Heidi Pollard, Jarvis Rockwell, Sam Trioli, Anna Von Mertens, Stephanie Williams, and selections from the collection of Jamie Franklin including Polly E.G.G., Phillip Germann, and Lucy Robinson.

Across time immemorial, humans have looked up at the sky and wondered what lies beyond. We have prayed to gods above, looked through telescopes at distant galaxies, and pondered the very origins of our existences. For "Cloud Headed," a selection of artists offer their own mixed-media visions of the view beyond our planet and how we look towards that destination. Whether people in prayer, depictions of heaven, constellations and astronomical imagery, or a more singular vision, these artists are examining both experiences beyond our daily comprehension and what investigating those experiences looks like.

GALLERY 51 WELCOMES GUEST CURATOR, CORWIN LEVI

Levi is a visual artist investigating perception, finding and unfinding. This summer he will introduce Babel's Bricks, Cloud Headed and 3 Second Stories to the Berkshires. For more information about Corwin and his works, visit www.corwinlevi.com and find him on instagram @corwinlevi and @all.nine.legs.

Babel's Bricks: On view May 25th - June 25th

Opening Reception: May 25, 5 - 7pm

image: Paul Inglis

View additional images from the exhibition.

Read the press release.

Review of Babel's Bricks

Artists: Sarah Burris, Rodney Carswell, Brittany De Nigris, Sarah Fagan, Marc Ganzglass, Maggie Gourlay, Paul Inglis, Roger Feldman, Katie Loughmiller, Afton Love, Susan Marie Dopp, Matthew Northridge, Heidi Pollard, Ryder Richards, Pam Rogers, Megan Suttles, Max Spitzer, Caleb Taylor, Natasha Van Nettern and Stephanie Williams.

Remember, as a kid, when you played with toy blocks? Old wooden blocks, Erector sets, Lincoln Logs, Legos, or Mine Craft filled countless hours of childhood afternoons and summer vacations. Artists have continued to nurture the impulse of putting parts together to make a more wonderful whole. Lines make a drawing, strokes make a painting, pieces make a sculpture, and seconds stacked on seconds make a video. What if, though, artists created works AS the building blocks? For Babels Bricks, artists in a variety of media are interpreting the idea of artwork as building block. Additionally, there will be a component of the show in which viewers can construct their own works out of a selection of various blocks. By putting these disparate construction elements into a whole, the show will remind us that an aggregate of various systems has the power to be greater than its parts, whether individually or in sum.

Artists: Sarah Burris, Rodney Carswell, Brittany De Nigris, Sarah Fagan, Marc Ganzglass, Maggie Gourlay, Paul Inglis, Roger Feldman, Katie Loughmiller, Afton Love, Susan Marie Dopp, Matthew Northridge, Heidi Pollard, Ryder Richards, Pam Rogers, Megan Suttles, Max Spitzer, Caleb Taylor, Natasha Van Nettern and Stephanie Williams.

Remember, as a kid, when you played with toy blocks? Old wooden blocks, Erector sets, Lincoln Logs, Legos, or Mine Craft filled countless hours of childhood afternoons and summer vacations. Artists have continued to nurture the impulse of putting parts together to make a more wonderful whole. Lines make a drawing, strokes make a painting, pieces make a sculpture, and seconds stacked on seconds make a video. What if, though, artists created works AS the building blocks? For Babels Bricks, artists in a variety of media are interpreting the idea of artwork as building block. Additionally, there will be a component of the show in which viewers can construct their own works out of a selection of various blocks. By putting these disparate construction elements into a whole, the show will remind us that an aggregate of various systems has the power to be greater than its parts, whether individually or in sum.

INSIGHT celebrates the work of emerging graduating artists. During this process, students learn how to display and install their art, advertise for the show and more. The idea behind the exhibition comes from a quote by Malcolm Gladwell, a journalist for The New Yorker, who wrote: Insight is not a light bulb that goes off inside our heads. It is a flickering candle that can easily be snuffed out.

In that delicate balance of keeping ideas, momentum, passion, engagement, creativity, hope, and vision lit, INSIGHT is both an exhibition about finding paths and considering possibilities, according to the shows artists. The Senior Art Show serves as the annual culminating event that provides graduating artists with the tools they will need to further their careers. INSIGHT remains in view through May 21 at Gallery 51, located at 51 Main St.

CRITICAL MASS

April 27th - May 21st

Opening Reception: April 27th, 2017 5-8pm

MCLA Design Lab, 49 Main St. North Adams

This years Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) Advanced Museum Studies course exhibition, Critical Mass, will feature everyday objects from the collection of Harley Spiller, a renowned collector with thousands of diverse, everyday objects  from spoons to Metrocards and gum to money.

With the goal to rethink the significance of the mundane, students in MCLAs Advanced Museum Studies class designed opportunities to build awareness of the objects that often are taken for granted. Spillers prized collection previously included more than 40,000 Chinese food menus that earned him a Guinness World Record.

Critical Mass explores the value of seemingly insignificant objects when amassed in large quantities and placed in specific contexts. This theme emerged from a curatorial consideration of what lends importance to any given object. Interactive components of the exhibition will allow viewers to document personal relationships to objects, and invite them to contribute and thereby elevate their own belongings. Critical Mass remain on view through May 21 at MCLA's Design Lab, located at 49 Main St.

BIOTOPE/FRIENDS/ LIFE FORMS/LANDSCAPES

February 23 - April 23, 2017

Opening Reception February 23, 5-7pm

Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) Gallery 51 is pleased to announce that it will present the collaborative exhibition Biotope: Friends, Life Forms, Landscapes featuring the artwork of accomplished artists from several regions across the United States.

The public is invited to attend a free opening reception on Thursday, Feb. 23, from 5 to 7 p.m. at MCLA Gallery 51. The exhibition will remain on display until Sunday, April 23, 2017.

Biotope: Friends, Life Forms, Landscapes showcases the creative output of over a dozen artists. The exhibition, which is being organized by Richard Harrington, a visual artist from North Adams, features works from a wide range of artistic mediums, including painting, photography, sculpture and printmaking.

All of the work exhibited as part of Biotope: Friends, Life Forms, Landscapes engages in some way with a particular living environment. These regions of the earth, or biotopes, have a recognizable uniqueness which has inspired each individual artist to depict or capture the spirit of these places.

While planning the exhibition, Harrington immediately thought of several friends whove done very different things, but each of whom at one time or another in their artistic trajectories was involved with living things and places. According to Harrington, Biotope isnt an exhibition about abstraction. It also isnt specifically a show about painting, photography or the other disciplines of my exhibitor friends. Instead, Harrington envisioned an exhibition that maintained a balance where no approach would dominate, but where some threads of continuity would be recognizable.

In addition to Harrington, participating artists include Larry Alice of North Adams, Mass., Peter Boudreau of North Adams, Mass., John Cooley of Chatham, N.Y., Joanna Gabler of North Adams, Mass., Rick Harlow of North Adams, Mass., Jennifer Maestre of Maynard Mass., Kevin McLatchy of New Wilmington, Pa., Michael Miller of North Adams, Mass. and New York, N.Y., Ron Morris of Louisville, Ky., Steve Quinn of South Shore, Mass., Rachel Cheetham Richard of Philadelphia, Pa., Dan Rose of Philadelphia, Pa., Martha Rose of Philadelphia, Pa., and Greg Scheckler of Williamstown, Mass.

OFA ATU

Josh Ostraff

January 26 - February 19, 2017

Opening Reception January 26, 5-7pm

Ofa Atu is both a solo exhibition and a public art project. The exhibition combines a series of the artist's paintings with screen prints produced by members of the local community during a DownStreet Art project Ostraff ran throughout the summer of 2016. Read more about the show via this Berkshire Eagle article.

"I was a teenager living on a small island in Tonga when a man named Hiko called hundreds of tuna to him. Before I met Hiko there was a fierce hurricane that wiped out his village's food. Hiko one night had a dream and visit from the youngest son of the first Tui Tonga. He taught him how to call the Atu (skipjack tuna) to him to feed his people. There were rules they would need to follow and if broken then he would not be able to call the fish again until the people had changed their hearts. For 21 years Hiko was able to call to the Atu and the people in his village followed the rules. Then one day Hiko went out and called the fish, people took more than they needed and sold them, they broke the rules, and I was there. As a result Hiko said it would be a long time before he could call the fish again. I was recently reminded of this event through the work my brother Zac did on this story for his MFA thesis in creative writing. After reflection I saw places in my life where parallels exist and though I dont live near the ocean I see the equivalent of the Atu all around." -- Josh Ostraff

Josh Ostraff was born in Seattle, Washington. He has lived and traveled around the world with his family but claims Utah as his home. He received his BFA at Brigham Young University, his MFA at the University of Minnesota, and he currently teaches as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Art at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. Josh is a multimedia artist who has exhibited his paintings, drawings, films, and art books both internationally and nationally.

See more of the Josh's work at: http://www.jostraff.com

Be sure to follow Josh on Instagram @thinwalls.studio.
This is the tragic moment a grandmother was executed during a bus robbery in Colombia.

A surveillance camera captured the dramatic turn of events Monday night inside bus as it traveled through the Caribbean coast city of Barranquilla.

The suspect, Marcos Andres Fontalvo, appeared in the back of the bus threatening a passenger before he rushed to the front of the moving vehicle.

WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT

Marcos Andres Fontalvo aims his weapon before fatally shooting Cielo Payares during Monday night's bus robbery in Barranquilla, Colombia

Marcos Andres Fontalvo (left) was arrested Tuesday at his home at 1:30am after he was caught on camera killing Cielo Payares (right)

The 24-year-old subsequently turned towards the driver and had a quick exchange of words before he aimed his gun and shot Cielo Payares indiscriminately.

The Colombian National Police arrested Fontalvo at his home Tuesday at 1:30am after learning of his location by tracking a cellphone that he had stolen from one of the passengers.

According to Caracol Radio, Payares worked as a seamstress making face masks due to the high demand caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Marcos Andres Fontalvo (middle) had a prior criminal history that included eight arrests for robbery and selling drugs

Payares was on her way home after she stopped to pick up food and diapers for her great granddaughter, according to Stefany Fernandez, her grand daughter.

'I called her and she said that she was already on her way,' Fernandez said. 'She raised me when my mother died. She did not deserve this. She worked to get ahead.'

A police spokesperson said Fontalvo had a prior criminal history that included eight arrests for robbery and selling drugs.
Logo of Tencent is seen at its booth at the 2020 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) in Beijing

By Pei Li and Aradhana Aravindan

HONG KONG/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Gaming giant Tencent Holdings Ltd <0700.HK> said on Tuesday it would develop a regional hub for Southeast Asia in Singapore, opening a new office and becoming the latest Chinese tech firm to invest in the city-state.

The new hub comes on the heels of a planned expansion by TikTok owner ByteDance and investment by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd <BABA.N> as firms look to deepen their exposure to fast-growing Southeast Asia - home to about 650 million people.

Singapore has also gained fresh appeal as a base for Chinese corporate operations, benefiting from the political tensions that have rocked rival hub Hong Kong and growing distrust of China in the United States and other parts of the world.

Tencent will develop a full-scale comprehensive hub in Singapore that will house its international game publishing business, said a source with knowledge of the matter, who was not authorised to speak to media and declined to be identified.

Tencent did not disclose further details of the office.

The plans highlight Tencent's international ambitions despite setbacks in India where some of its apps have been banned and in the United States which has flagged an imminent ban on U.S. transactions relating to its WeChat messaging app.

"We view Tencent's decision as a necessary step to extend its enterprise service offering (Tencent's cloud computing business) to this new market," said Alex Liu, an analyst with China Renaissance.

He also noted Tencent had several minority investments in Southeast Asia such as its stake in Singapore online gaming and e-commerce firm Sea Ltd <SE.N>, and has been making deeper forays into the region's gaming market.

Offering lucrative grants and incentives, Singapore has been ramping up its efforts to lure tech firms and investors in recent years. Ethnic Chinese also make up a majority of Singapore's population and Mandarin is widely spoken, making it one of the most popular locations for Chinese firms looking to expand overseas.

Story continues

ByteDance, whose short-form video app TikTok has also been deemed a national security risk by the Trump administration, plans to invest billions of dollars and recruit hundreds of employees in Singapore after opting to base its Southeast Asia regional headquarters there, according to a source.

Alibaba, which owns Singapore-based e-commerce firm Lazada, this year bought a 50% stake in a Singapore office tower. It is in talks to invest $3 billion in Grab Holdings Inc, Southeast Asia's biggest ride-hailing firm and Singapore's most-prized tech firm, Bloomberg news agency has reported.

In addition to the Chinese investments, America's Zoom Video Communications has recently opened a new data centre in Singapore.

(Reporting by Pei Li in Hong Kong and Aradhana Aravindan in Singapore; Additional reporting by John Geddie; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell and Edwina Gibbs)
DETROIT  Americans wont be able to cross the border into Canada for at least another month as that countrys government waits for the COVID-19 pandemic to be managed efficiently in the United States.

Canada will keep the border with the United States closed to non-essential travel until at least Oct. 21, CBC News reports. The closure is set to expire on Sept. 21. There has not yet been an official announcement.

The TV station learned of the upcoming extension from an anonymous source with direct knowledge of the situation. The source said the Canadian government is waiting to reopen the border until there is evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic is being managed efficiently in the United States.

Border restrictions were first announced in March and have been extended monthly since then. Truck drivers transporting essential goods like food, health-care professionals along with other essential travelers are still allowed to cross.

READ MORE:

Emergency stay-home order issued for Grand Valley State University students

Wednesday, Sept. 16, coronavirus data by Michigan county: Ingham in crisis, health director says

Big Ten reverses course, votes to play football in 2020
Benguela  Angolan minister of Territory Administration (MAT) Marcy Lopes Monday expressed satisfaction at the execution and quality of the ongoing social works in Baia Farta, coastal Benguela province.

The minister, who is heading an inter-ministerial delegation in a 48-hour visit to the region, said the works will bring benefit both to the country and the local residents.

He said there was a great sense of dedication by those involved in performing the social works in the fish-rich district.

Marcy Lopes said that despite decrease in the workforce due to Covid-19, the companies are operating at full speed to meet the deadlines.

In Baia Farta municipality, the minister held a closed-door meeting with local authorities and contractors.

He also inaugurated the one-kilometer section that connects the municipal headquarters to the local cemetery.

The minister also visited some construction works of the commander Kassanje schools and the Alto Liro neighborhood, both with seven classrooms each.

The former is estimated at AKz 96 million, and the execution are at 35 percent.

The visit includes the municipalities of Baia Farta, Lobito, Bocoio and Catumbela.
Marysville, CA (95901)

Today

Windy with a mix of clouds and sun. High near 65F. Winds NNW at 20 to 30 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph..

Tonight

A few clouds. Low near 45F. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph.
The Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs under Mr Akpabio's has been overshadowed by corruption scandals in NDDC which it supervises, although some of the cases predate his appointment in 2019.

When Godswill Akpabio, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, and some federal lawmakers squared off in July during a National Assembly investigative hearing, the minister's aides and his political supporters celebrated it as a victory for him.

Rattled by Mr Akpabio's assertion that National Assembly members were involved in contract-awards in the tainted Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), the chairman of the panel, Thomas Ereyitomi, asked the minister to discontinue his testimony which was broadcast live.

"Honourable minister, it's okay, it's okay. Off your mic!" Mr Ereyitomi told Mr Akpabio.

An enraged Mr Akpabio, after the public hearing, went ahead to name lawmakers who got contracts from NDDC.

'Off your mike'

However, much to Mr Akpabio's disadvantage, the infamous remarks by Mr Ereyitomi has become well-known among Nigerians, much more than any programme or project of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs.

The Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, in fact, has been overshadowed by corruption scandals in NDDC which it supervises, although some of the corruption cases predate Mr Akpabio's appointment as minister.

The notable corruption cases in NDDC during Mr Akpabio's first year as minister include the admittance by the acting Managing Director of the commission, Kemebradikumo Pondei, that the commission spent N1.5 billion for its staff as 'COVID-19 relief funds'.

A recent report by the Senate said top management of the NDDC paid themselves N85.6 million to attend a graduation ceremony in the United Kingdom at a time Nigeria was on lockdown and airports shut because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Senate also said NDDC officials paid themselves scholarship grants at a time hundreds of deserving scholarship beneficiaries had not been paid for years and were stranded in different countries.

Two directors in the NDDC were arrested and detained in August by the Independent Corrupt Practices & Other Related Offences Commission over corruption allegations, while a former managing director of NDDC forfeited N250 million to the federal government a few days ago.

Mr Akpabio himself has been accused of inserting N500 million worth of projects into the 2017 budget of the NDDC when he was the Senate minority leader, an accusation the minister's spokesperson, Anietie Ekong, dismissed as "nothing extraordinary".

"In fact, it would have been a dereliction of duty if Senator Akpabio did not try to influence projects to his constituency. It was part of his legislative duties as the Senate minority leader to attract projects to his constituency.

"I don't know what the hue is about," a smug Mr Ekong said.

A former acting managing director of NDDC), Joy Nunieh, said Mr Akpabio had wanted her to take an oath which would have restrained her from exposing fraud at the commission.

"For instance, he told me to raise a memo to fraudulently award emergency contracts for flood victims in the Niger Delta," she said.

Ms Nunieh also said she once slapped the minister at his guest house in Abuja for sexually assaulting her.

Mr Akpabio denied Ms Nunieh's allegations and has sued her for defamation.

'Project ministry'

The Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs was created in 2008 by the administration of President Umaru Yar'adua "to promote and coordinate policies for the development, peace and security of the Niger Delta Region".

It is generally seen as a 'project' ministry - meant to take roads, jetties, bridges, modern school and hospital buildings to the nine states that make up the Niger Delta region.

The ministry's budget in 2019 was N37 billion, with more than 70 per cent of it allocated to capital projects.

The budget, which increased to N69 billion in 2020, with N21 billion allocated to capital projects, is replete with several roads, water, school building and other projects which could help improve the standard of living in the region.

But it unclear to what extent the ministry's budgets have been implemented.

PREMIUM TIMES could not get the list of the actual projects undertaken by the ministry since Mr Akpabio assumed office. The 'projects' section on the ministry's website had no item when this newspaper checked it out on Monday.

When contacted, the minister's spokesperson, Mr Ekong, said he would have to contact a senior ministry official for the list of the ministry's projects.

But Mr Ekong, for almost seven days, did not respond to further calls from a PREMIUM TIMES reporter.

And when he eventually did, he requested he should be given some hours "to gather information on the ministry's projects". Again, he did not respond when the reporter called him.

Thousands of uncompleted NDDC projects, many of them poorly executed, have been abandoned across the Niger Delta region, as shown in recent investigative reports by the Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ).

Even Mr Akpabio, on assumption of office, said about 12,000 projects have been abandoned by NDDC.

A group, Niger Delta Rights Advocates (NDRA), said there was no clear cut roadmap to the completion of the abandoned projects.

"On February 5th 2020, the FEC gave approval for the completion of 12,000 abandoned projects and setting-up of nine (9) skills acquisition centres in each of the mandate states of the NDDC.

"As at today, 7 months down the line, nothing has been heard of these skills acquisition centres which to our mind will take the teeming unemployed youths in the region off the streets," NDRA spokesperson, Darlington Nwauju, said in a statement on Tuesday.

Forensic audit of NDDC

The planned forensic audit of the NDDC appears to be Mr Akpabio's signature project - he speaks about it at various forums and even said it was the reason his 'enemies' within and outside the National Assembly were 'fighting' him and the current interim management of NDDC which enjoys his backing.

But the planned audit appears to be at very slow pace, to the consternation of many.

The Federal Executive Council only recently, in August, approved the appointment of auditors, 10 months after President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the forensic audit which could possibly uncover decades of corrupt dealings at the commission.

Besides, some people feel the NDDC forensic audit is being unnecessarily politicised by Mr Akpabio.

"The NDRA frowns strongly at the dramatisation and politicisation of the forensic audit. Audits all over the world are diligently, thoroughly and silently executed not dramatized," the group said.

"It is quite strange for managers of agencies under probe to bamboozle Nigerians with pedestrian stories such as, 'if we release the names of contract beneficiaries/looters, Nigeria will break'.

"The NDRA considers this an alibi to confirm our fears that those trumpeting and sloganeering the forensic audit exercise may actually be acting out a script or intending the exercise as a tool for blackmail."

East-West Road Project

The East-West Road, an ambitious project meant to connect the various states of the Niger Delta region, remains uncompleted 14 years after it was initiated by the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Mr Akpabio's spokesperson, Mr Ekong, said the project has just been "moved" from the Presidential Intervention Fund to the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and that the contractors handling the project have just been "mobilised" to resume work.

Several people who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES said Mr Akpabio's ministry, in the past one year, has not created any noticeable impact in the Niger Delta.

"They have failed," Ken Henshaw, the Executive Director of We The People, a non-governmental organization, said of the ministry's performance.

Mr Henshaw said the Presidential Amnesty Programme has been a "flagship project" of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs.

"The fact that after 2009 when the amnesty programme was initiated and up till now we are still talking about the payment of stipends to ex-combatants, simply shows that that system has failed.

"We are still seeing the escalation of insecurity and violence in the region, it shows that something is not right," Mr Henshaw said.

He said the uncompleted East-West Road is another indicator that the ministry has failed.

"I can tell you authoritatively that I have not in my various survey seen any tangible infrastructural project which is credited to the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, I work in the region and I have traveled around extensively.

"So, my rating of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs in the last one year is that nothing has really changed," he added.

Mr Henshaw said the East-West Road, as far as he is aware, has always been a project of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs.

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"And guess what? The Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs has been more known for the corruption in that place than any developmental strides," Mr Henshaw said.

Bassey Henshaw, a youth leader in the Niger Delta, said the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs is "work in progress" even though "it might not be where we want it to be".

Mr Henshaw, who is the secretary of Niger Delta Ethnic Nationality Youth Leaders Council, said there was, therefore, no need to castigate the ministry.

Solutions

Ken Henshaw said there is need to re-evaluate how people are appointed to lead the NDDC and the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs.

"This presidency alone has replaced the leadership of NDDC six times in five years," he said while advising the government not to use the commission and its supervising ministry to "settle" politicians.

He said the "lack of monitory and evaluation of NDDC" was another loophole.

"I said it on radio the other day, why did it take us 20 years to know that NDDC was not living up to its mandate?" he said. "It was created in 2000 and it took us up to 2020 to realise that the NDDC wasn't working.

"The same thing with the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs. Have we carried out any evaluation to know whether the ministry is living up to its mandate?

"I think we should put robust monitoring and evaluation frame-work in place to ensure there is a match between projects and objectives and to ensure that those projects actually speak to the issues in the Niger Delta region," he said.

During the launch of PTCIJ's report on NDDC, in August, experts called for the prosecution of those who have stolen money from the commission and the overhaul of Nigeria's procurement process.

The NDRA called for removal of NDDC from the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs to the presidency where it was before.

"We remind Nigerians and President Buhari that we do firmly believe that if the Dubai desert could be transformed with $12 billion in six years, the Niger Delta region could have been transmogrified in the last 20 years, if there was the political will," the NDRA said.
This is the heartbreaking moment a chimpanzee was discovered in the boot of a car in Angola after being captured by wildlife poachers.

Animal workers discovered the female chimp - which they named Caita - covered in lacerations from a snare used to capture her, and with her hands and feet bound.

Staff from charity Wild@Life, based in Germany, said Caita had been beaten with a metal rod and was so badly injured that two of her fingers had to be amputated.

Wildlife workers in Angola were shocked to find a female chimpanzee that had been badly wounded by a snare, tied up and beaten in the boot of a car in Angola

The chimp's hand had been so badly wounded in the snare (left) that to of her fingers had to be amputated to prevent infection (right)

A spokesman for the charity explained they had been acting on a tip-off when they found Caita in the car on a busy street in Angola in August last year.

'We could not believe our eyes when they met with the situation in front of us,' the spokesman said.

Two poachers who had captured the chimp and killed her family for meat were arrested, and having since been jailed

'A female chimpanzee was tied up by her wrists and feet by thick ropes, her fingers were hanging off and she was in a great deal of pain and distress.

'She had been caught in a rusty snare, and her family murdered in front of her - they were to be sold for bushmeat.

'The two Poachers struck her across her back with an iron pipe, tied her up and threw her in the trunk of a car.'

The team took Caita to a nearby rescue centre where she survived for 11 days - slowly regaining her appetite as workers tried to treat her wounds.

But, sadly, she contacted tetanus from the snare and 11 days after being rescued she died from septic shock.

It is not known how long Caita was held in the trunk of that car, or whether she was to be sold alive or killed and cut up a part of the trade in animal parts.

Chimpanzees are often eaten as bushmeat, while their bones, blood, organs, and other body parts are used in various traditional medicines.

The two poachers have since been jailed for wildlife crimes.

A spokesman for Wild@Life added: 'Many are also sold to zoos and man-made safari parks where humans pay to keep them trapped and away from everything that is natural to them.

Caita survived for 11 days after being rescued, but contracted tetanus from the rusty snare used to capture her and eventually died from septic shock

'They are sold to laboratories where they're tortured in the name of science, too.

'None of these animals belongs anywhere but in the wild with their families.

'The ones who are rescued from humans are given everything possible to keep them safe and to enrich their lives but make no mistake, there is no replacement for their families and their wild homes.

'Wild@Life is continuously operating on the ground to rescue the victims of poaching.'
The final stage of the peace process which has begun in Doha could quite easily collapse if the Taliban exposes it to intransigence and continued violence

The Intra-Afghan Talks which commenced in Doha, Qatar on 12 September mark the first direct dialogue between the Afghan government and the Taliban. Over six months have gone by since the US-Taliban agreement was signed in the Qatari capital. It was supposed to be followed by the Intra-Afghan negotiations in March. Political disagreements, debates, and doubts over the release of brutal Taliban terrorists, and continued Taliban terror attacks on Afghan government forces have encumbered an already problematic process.

The present peace process is witnessing a phased US withdrawal of forces, Taliban assurances about terrorism and prisoner releases as part of a confidence building measure to facilitate Intra-Afghan talks.

Despite the disagreements there is a sense that significant sections of both the political dispensation and the Taliban have a genuine desire for peace. A 'mutually hurting stalemate' with neither able to succeed militarily nor effortlessly sustain the current posture has wormed into the cognitive of the warring sides. While the Americans and their NATO partners have been involved in the conflict for two decades, for Afghans the war has been going on for twice as long.

That the desire for peace has been genuine can be appraised by the continuity of the process even in the coronavirus pandemic environment. In the initial phases, talks were doggedly held via Skype. There appears to be a broad political consensus towards the Doha talks with the Taliban. The formation of a High Council for National Reconciliation (HCNR) negotiating team was a significant step despite the dispute between Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah over the results of the presidential elections.

The incredible grit of the government negotiating team  many of whom have been in the crosshairs of the Taliban at some point  in sitting across them is also testament to the desire for the bloodshed to end.

The question is, even after recognising the futility of continued escalation can the Taliban be accepted as a legitimate negotiating partner?

The exchange of 5,000 Taliban prisoners for 1,000 Afghan forces was made prerequisite in the February 2020 Doha agreement, without any ceasefire guarantees, or that these former inmates wouldnt return to the battlefield. Further, the Taliban handed the government the list of 5,000 names and was insistent that only those fighters named should be released. Because the release of the last batch of 400 controversial prisoners was an unpopular step Ashraf Ghani's government convened a consultative Loya Jirga offering the members a stark choice between accepting the Taliban demand of releasing the prisoners or facing continued war.

Under these circumstances, the Jirga, which met from 7 to 9 August, agreed to the release of these inmates without being provided any details. The Taliban that had earlier issued a statement that the Jirga itself was a not legitimate, accepted its "good" outcome. Many believe that the Jirga provided Ghani with a political cover for the release of the prisoners.

Notwithstanding the excitement surrounding the peace talks, negotiating with the Taliban is already proving to be specious. While Kabul's HCNR indicated early on that it is ready to start direct negotiations, the Taliban kept delaying its assent to participation in talks. It was only on 10 September that the group announced that while it would attend the inauguration ceremony of the Intra-Afghan talks in Qatar on 12 September, its delegation would now be led by hard-line cleric Mullah Abdul Hakim, and not by Mullah Baradar, who was instrumental in the February US-Taliban deal.

Chief Justice of the Taliban, Hakim, is a religious scholar from Taliban stronghold of Kandahar. Indicative of assertive posturing, the decision is in line with its continuous use of violence to gain leverage over talks. The Taliban negating team includes Anas Haqqani, brother of current Haqqani clan leader and deputy Taliban chief Serajuddin Haqqani. The team also includes former Guantanamo prisoners.

The Taliban has not relented on the use of violence to secure an upper hand in negotiations. Through the past week, leading up to the Doha meeting, several Taliban attacks over two dozen provinces lead to the death of 49 civilians. Despite some ambiguity about the official launch of its annual Spring Offensive this year, due to the peace process and rising coronavirus cases amongst its ranks, the intervening period witnessed a discernible upsurge in violence.

The Taliban's ties with Pakistan-based terror groups and with the Al-Qaeda continue.

As part of the prisoner exchange deal Taliban secured the release of the wife of Asim Umar, the leader of Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) who was killed in October last year. More than a quarter of the 5,000 prisoners released are from the Taliban strongholds of southern Kandahar and Helmand provinces.

Another problem that will arise from dealing with an insurgent group like the Taliban is the assumption that it is a homogeneous entity and that any agreement produced in the peace process be acceptable to all Taliban rank and file. The attitudes of regional terrorist groups like the Haqqani network, the Tehrik-i-Taliban in Pakistan (TTP), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which are aligned to the Taliban and use Afghan territory as sanctuaries, to the peace process is sure to be disruptive. Rival groups may try to entice dissenting Taliban fighters.

According to UN estimates 6,000 to 6,500 Pakistani terrorists are operating from bases in in the Kunar and Nangarhar. According to the Afghan NDS the Taliban have recruited many students from Pakistani seminaries after their closure due to COVID-19.

For India, the expansive influence that Pakistan has over the Taliban is of immense concern. In late August, a Taliban delegation led by the chief negotiator of the February deal with the US, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar was briefed by Pakistan's foreign minister and head of its Inter-Services Intelligence, in Islamabad, which is acutely aware that "an Islamist government... will be more friendly towards Pakistan than it would be towards India."

Pakistan would refrain from criticism of any future Taliban-dominated establishment if it fails to action against regional terror groups that are operating on Afghan soil in order to appease it.

The problem with the entire peace process is that, in order for it to be a 'success' it is structured to reach a goal in which the Taliban will ultimately have an overwhelming presence. President Donald Trump's interest is in ending the war in Afghanistan as his signature accomplishment to bolster his reelection bid notwithstanding the setback to democratic governance in that country.

The challenge for Kabul would be to remain clear about its interests and prospects in any future government. The Taliban is not a force that is popular with the vast majority of Afghans. A peace that is designed only to achieve an end in itself, without respecting the democratic process, or the sentiments of Afghans or the sacrifices of thousands of security personnel will most certainly plunge Afghanistan back to days of a fanatical regime.

The issues that need to be addressed in the intra-Afghan negotiations include, although they are not limited to ceasefire, power sharing arrangements, questions on whether the Constitution will be amended, the rights of women and minorities like the Shia Hazara. But standing above all other issues, is the crucial deliberation over Afghanistans fate as an Islamic Republic, which it has been since the American intervention in 2001 or its reversion to an Islamic Emirate which is what the Taliban desires.

The long-term implications of the pandemic on the already challenging peace process is also uncertain. The final stage of the peace process which has begun in Doha could quite easily collapse if the Taliban exposes it to intransigence and continued violence. It is difficult to imagine that the Taliban would relent its vision of an "Islamic Emirate" for which it has been fighting a deadly insurgency. How this corresponds with Kabul's prerogative of retaining the 'democratic' system and as much of the current Constitution as is possible is indeed a paradox.

The author has worked as a consultant with the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS). She is presently associated with the think tank Policy Perspectives Foundation
 Flash

China's rapid containment of COVID-19 and subsequent economic recovery offer hope to the global tourism industry that has been hit hard by the pandemic.

"China has become one of the fastest-growing source markets for Poland. We hope that more Chinese can visit our country once the pandemic is contained," Zuzanna Gutkowska, acting director of the Polish National Tourist Office in Beijing, said on the sidelines of the recent China International Fair for Trade in Services.

Since Frederic Chopin is a household name in China, the Polish tourism industry plans to introduce more tourism packages featuring the pianist's belongings to attract Chinese visitors, she says.

China is the world's largest outbound-travel source market, skyrocketing from 4.5 million outbound travelers in 2000 to 170 million in 2019.

Many countries have introduced various measures and incentives, including long-term visas and adopting Alipay and WeChat Pay, to entice Chinese.

The United Nations recently projected international tourist numbers may decline by between 58 percent and 78 percent year-on-year in 2020, while tourism revenue will drop by $910 billion to $1.2 trillion.

As one in 10 people work in the tourism sector worldwide, the unprecedented crisis threatens the well-being of millions. Over 100 million tourism jobs may be lost, while unemployment in countries heavily reliant on tourism may spike by more than 20 percent, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in August.

"We will share with the world China's anti-epidemic measures and its experience in tourism-sector recovery," says World Tourism Cities Federation executive deputy secretary-general Li Baochun.

Some Chinese have resumed traveling and retail spending in recent months. While the domestic tourism market is steadily recovering, outbound travel may not be too far behind after the global pandemic subsides and borders reopen, Li says.

China Tourism Academy director Dai Bin says the pandemic will lead to some changes in people's travel habits, which travel agencies should pay attention to.

In a post-pandemic world, independent travel and smaller group tours will be popular since cautious people may hesitate to take large group tours or cruises, Dai says.

Some experts also point out that, in addition to strengthening global cooperation and stimulating demand for travel, countries should also use modern technologies, such as big data, to upgrade the industry and promote high-quality development.




When you need to warm up, what's your favorite winter comfort food?
A military appeals court is dismissing a conviction and ordering a rehearing for a Navy lieutenant commander who pleaded guilty to strangling a woman identified as his ex-fiancee in late 2017.

Navy Lt. Cmdr. Jason Doyle, 36, was sentenced April 2, 2019, to confinement for nine months, a reprimand and dismissal from the service -- tantamount to a dishonorable discharge. At a general court-martial held at Naval Base Kitsap in Bremerton, Washington, Doyle pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated assault with means likely to produce death or grievous bodily injury.

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But the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals determined, in an authored opinion published Aug. 31, that the judge in Doyle's case did not establish an adequate factual basis to support the plea, and left some terms unacceptably vague, thereby rendering the verdict invalid.

Doyle, a naval flight officer by training, originally faced charges of attempted murder, assault and battery, obstruction of justice and conduct unbecoming an officer. According to charge sheets obtained by Military.com in January 2019, Doyle was accused of getting violent in a December 2017 argument with his ex-fiancee in St. Johns, Florida.

"The altercation turned physical when Jason threw [the woman] onto a couch on the back patio," the arrest report states.

Doyle was accused of placing his hand around the woman's neck and coming after her after she broke free, forcing his way into a bathroom after she locked herself inside and slapping her face with an open palm. He's accused of following her again once she broke free and proceeding to choke her on the couch, according to the arrest report.

"[The woman] stated [that], during the physical altercation, Jason repeatedly stated, 'He was going to kill her,'" the report said.

Doyle's guilty plea, recounted in the appeals decision document, cast events in a slightly different light. Stationed at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Washington, at the time with Patrol Squadron 47, a P-8A Poseidon unit, he had returned to Jacksonville, Florida, on Christmas leave in 2017, staying with his former fiancee in the house they'd purchased together. The relationship at the time was somewhat undefined and had turned "difficult," court documents state.

Conflict erupted one evening during the stay when the alleged victim revealed to Doyle that she had an upcoming date with another man. Doyle told the military judge, Navy Capt. Colleen Glaser-Allen, that the alleged victim had then accused him of being too passive and "not an aggressive man," to which he responded by placing his hands around her neck and applying pressure.

Doyle maintained that he wasn't enraged when he moved to strangle the woman.

"It was reacting to what I'd been told for the last 20 months about how I needed to act a certain way," he told the judge, according to the court decision. " ... You know, it was purely reactionary to try to [scoffs] trying to show someone that maybe you could be this kind of person that, that they wanted."

Doyle said he witnessed fear in the alleged victim's eyes; in his telling, the encounter ended when she got up off the patio chairs they'd been sitting in and went into the house.

But despite extensive back-and-forth discussion about the meaning of terms during the court-martial, the appeals court found the judge failed to establish that Doyle had applied force in "a manner likely to produce death or grievous bodily harm." Doyle acknowledged, according to the court account, only that it was possible those things could have been the outcome of his actions.

"Acceptance of Appellant's guilty plea was an abuse of discretion," the three-judge NMCCA panel that reviewed the case determined.

For Doyle, this decision could extend his time under the immediate purview of the military. The nine months to which he was sentenced in April 2019 has already elapsed. However, a rehearing, if ordered, could result in a more favorable discharge determination or other military records change.

Doyle's civilian attorney in the case, Jeffrey Lustick, did not respond to Military.com's request for comment.

-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.

Related: Navy Lieutenant Commander Faces Attempted Murder Charges
The Unwind is a new, recurring feature in which we share the ways were finding moments of peace, levity and inspiration during these trying times. From adopting soothing strategies that boost our mental health, to losing ourselves in virtual social calls, newfound passions and other joyous diversions, these are the things getting us through the pandemic. The days may feel uncertain, but beauty and bright spots abound.

Back-to-school season is in full swing, which means many teachers are being tasked with mastering remote learning  and battling distracted kids, a lack of one-on-one instruction, and spotty Wi-Fi and other technical glitches in the process  while others must risk their own health by heading back into the classroom. So what are some ways to successfully keep those sky-high stress levels in check? For this edition of The Unwind, we asked teachers and faculty members around the country to share how theyre making their well-being a priority.

Some teachers are turning to yoga and meditation to reduce stress amid back-to-school season. (Photo: Getty Creative stock photo)

Yoga

Online teaching used to sound like such a dream job, but in practice, not so much. Online education has added stresses to the already stressful situation of educating students. It includes the added worries of technology, student engagement and not being able to move from the computer to monitor students. Also, not being able to see students, not having them able to see the teacher look and not being able to help students one-on-one privately. Just listing these stresses is stressful. And then I have my own family and kids to monitor. I need to relax. I would not have thought that online teaching would drive me to find stress relief in online exercise, but it has. I join two friends early in the morning for online yoga six days a week. I have never done yoga before, so I was very skeptical, but it does relax me  even though I cannot do many of the poses on the first try. The soothing voice of the instructor and the encouragement of my friends (fortunately they cannot see me) both relax and strengthen me to be the best I can be. And I get better every day. The patience and humor of my students and the support of parents and colleagues also strengthen me to be the best teacher I can be. And I get better every day. I am stretching to be the best me in yoga, and stretching to be the best teacher in the online environment.  Patty Duncan, middle school teacher and educational expert at Vooks, Portland, Ore.

Story continues

Meditation

I have been meditating regularly using the Calm app, and it has helped tremendously. My students and I began using it at the beginning of the last school year to aid in better focusing and we loved it. I have many of those same students again next year, so I'm excited that we have a resource that we all know how to use together  especially in a time of such stress. Ive also been making an active list of things that I can control and cannot control. Seeing how much is in my control really helps with my stress. For instance, I spent last night shopping online for the PPE that makes me personally feel safe when returning to my school building.  Stephanie Ambarsumyan, high school teacher, Queens, N.Y.

Getting crafty on TikTok

I am starting my 15th year of teaching high school. A year ago, I would have told you that I think I have seen it all. Well, the truth is, I hadnt. Life for me as a planner is an emotional rollercoaster because I am not knowing what my life looks like week to week, when I used to be able to predict almost everything. So I have focused on my hobby of sharing kind words of encouragement while crafting and creating videos ... I have actually grown my TikTok channel to over 120,000 followers  that isnt too bad for an old high school teacher. Crafting definitely is my self-care during long weeks. Being able to come up with a design and try to make it happen is soothing to me. Then teaching my craft and inspiring others through video is fun.  Enza Ketcham, high school computer science teacher, Kansas

Video games

I've been teaching online since late March, but the prospect of physically returning to the classroom soon is causing lots of stress. To take my mind off it, I go the escapist route and play video games. I know increased screen time isnt exactly what the doctor ordered, but for me, it is otherwise hard to escape the feeling of constantly being on with the constant work emails and impulse to reply instantly to every single one that comes my way, even during off-hours.  Will D., elementary school teacher, Austin, Texas

One teacher switches off by playing video games. (Photo: Getty Creative stock photo)

Blacksmithing

I'm a novice blacksmith, so heating and beating steel is a really cathartic experience. Im also leaning on my co-curricular teachers a lot more for heavier collaboration.  Darin Roodman, middle and high school teacher and AP streamer with Fiveable, Nevada

Working out

My school is opening with remote learning. Leading up to the start of school, summer vacation was anything but utilizing every spare moment for drafting plans, communicating with families and ordering the necessary supplies to enable a successful start to the school year this fall. In an effort to calm my mind of racing thoughts, I began practicing yoga twice weekly along with spinning on a stationary bike and engaging in meditation. Each of these activities, in short bursts, allows me to step back from the stress and pressure of meeting the needs of my 250 students, 30-plus staff members and hundreds of parents, and take time to reflect and restore my perspective so that I am a more creative, capable leader.  Meredith Essalat, elementary school principal and author of The Overly Honest Teacher, San Francisco

Prioritizing to-do lists

We started the 2020-2021 school year on Aug. 10 in person. With all of the stress, I find myself learning to take time each day to prioritize my tasks. With everything going on, it sometimes feels like we have to take on the world and solve big problems, but that is not the case. Some things are completely out of our control. We can not worry and stress each day about the what if. If we just think of all the things we need to do, it can become overwhelming. That is why we need to take time, to make time. Take the 15 minutes of quiet time each day, write out the tasks to be done and then prioritize them by what has to be done within 24 hours, what can be done later in the week, and what can be done in the future. Just doing this will alleviate stress and calm your mind! As a school owner in the middle of a pandemic, this is by far my best tip for coping with all of the stress.  Lisa Collum, owner and principal of Coastal Middle and High School, Lake Park, Fla.

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The boss of British Airways has defended his decision to cut up to 12,000 jobs and said the pandemic has left the national carrier 'fighting for survival'.

Chief executive Alex Cruz stressed that 'people need to get flying again' if the company is to emerge through the winter and weather the 'worst crisis in its 100 years of history'.

But he told MPs that many would-be customers are still cautious about travelling for fear their holiday destination will suddenly be brought on to the government's quarantine list.

Passenger numbers have nosedived and last week the airline only flew 187,000 passengers, compared with almost a million the same week last year.

The slump in flights - roughly a quarter are operating - is causing BA to burn through 20million a day and has led to a jobs bloodbath.

Mr Cruz said: 'Fewer passengers means fewer flights, and fewer flights means fewer people required to actually service them.'

The boss of British Airways has defended his decision to cut up to 12,000 jobs and said the pandemic has left the national carrier 'fighting for survival' (Pictured: BA flights remain grounded at London City Airport)

Chief executive Alex Cruz stressed that 'people need to get flying again' if the company is to emerge through the winter

BA boss warns of 'airline bankruptcies' if slot relief is not extended There will be airline bankruptcies and thousands more job losses if a waiver requiring airlines to use airport slots is not extended, British Airways chief executive Alex Cruz has warned. 'I suspect that if that slot relief is not provided for the winter season we will have a number of airline bankruptcies and there will be many, many thousands of jobs that will be lost, in addition to the jobs that have already been lost,' Mr Cruz told MPs. He said he was not contemplating that scenario because reports from the European Union were encouraging that the waiver of the requirement that airlines use 80 per cent of their take-off and landing slots would be extended until March 2021. Advertisement

In April, British Airways announced plans to axe up to 12,000 jobs, representing nearly 30 per cent of its workforce.

Today, Mr Cruz revealed that 7,200 employees have already left the company, and said the final amount out of redundancies would likely be around 10,000, although this could be greater.

Appearing before the Commons' Transport Select Committee, he said: 'As CEO of British Airways, I have to take responsibility. I cannot ignore the situation. I had to act incredibly fast.

'I deeply, deeply regret that way too many loyal and hardworking colleagues of mine are having to leave our business, and I understand why MPs are concerned.'

Mr Cruz said he had 'very difficult and yet very constructive' meetings with pilots' union Balpa, which resulted in a package being agreed on job and pay cuts aimed at avoiding a larger number of redundancies.

But he added: 'This is an impossible situation. We're having to make incredibly difficult decisions as a consequence of this pandemic and it is really only because of Covid-19 that we have had to go through such deep restructuring.

'I have to make these difficult decisions at this time but I am completely dedicated and focused on protecting those nearly 30,000 jobs of those British Airways colleagues that will remain within the business.'

The chief executive, whose fleet was mostly grounded during the pandemic, said his mission objective was the survival of Britain's flagship airline.

Not mincing his about the precariousness of BA's future, he said: 'The main focus at the moment is to survive.

'We must make it through, then we must be able to compete effectively and make it through the recovery cycle... people need to get flying again.'

Laying bare the uphill struggle to revive BA's dire financial fortunes, he said: 'We ended up last year, British Airways, with 2.6billion in cash.

'At the end of June we had 2.1billion in cash. We've been burning approximately an average of 20million of cash per day.'

Mr Cruz also told the MPs that BA had processed 2.1million refunds and 1.6million vouchers for customers whose flights had been cancelled.

Key numbers underpinning BA's 'worst crisis in 100 years' Jobs: BA announced around 12,000 redundancies, but the estimate now is closer to 10,000 - 7,200 have already left. Passengers: Mr Cruz announced that last week, BA only flew 187,000 passengers, compared with almost a million the same week last year. Flights: BA is currently operating only 25-30 per cent of its flights. Funds: Mr Cruz said BA is burning through 20million a day. Pay: Mr Cruz revealed his own financial package to the MPs, and said he took home 805,000 last year in salary, benefits and pension. He added he had taken a 33 per cent pay cut, and his top team a 20 per cent pay cut. Advertisement

Mr Cruz revealed that he had taken a 33.3 per cent pay cut, and his top team a 25 per cent cut.

Last year, the boss made 805,000 in salary, benefits and pensions, he said.

But Mr Cruz's efforts could be thwarted by a nervous public who he claimed are avoiding trips abroad for fear of having to quarantine.

He said: 'People are still afraid of travelling. Of course, we are having weekly changes, as you know, to the quarantine list.

'We don't have a testing solution yet. And still our customers are paying APD (air passenger duty) even just to fly on domestic regional flights.

'So the overall situation is quite challenging, and this is why we are taking every measure possible to make sure that we can actually make it through this winter.'

Mr Cruz called on the government to approach its quarantine list of countries on a regional basis, allowing them still to fly to areas of a nation which has low cases.

On the issue of coronavirus testing at airports as a way of reducing quarantine requirements, he said: 'It is incredibly important that we reach a testing regime of some sort as quickly as possible, so that we can reduce that quarantine time to the minimum possible.

'We are making a suggestion that we actually run a test between London and New York, so we can give authorities on both sides of the Atlantic an opportunity to test different ways in which a particular testing regime would actually work.

'This is imperative, so that we can drive the confidence of travellers so we can get business going again.'

He went on: 'We're sitting here, we're ready to go. We need some testing regime that will minimise the quarantine process so again we can get people travelling.

'With the current quarantine process of two weeks, unfortunately we are not having sufficient travellers wanting to do either business or wanting to go on holiday.'

Mr Cruz urged the government to approach its quarantine-exempt list of countries on a regional basis to allow flights to continue to specific areas with low cases.

In a wide-ranging committee appearance via video-link, he also reaffirmed BA's commitment to be net zero by 2050.
Today, Divo Music, one of Indias leading digital media and music companies in music distribution and publishing, announced it has partnered with Sony/ATV Music Publishing to administer its publishing rights for overseas markets. Sony/ATV is the leading global music publishing company, which recently expanded into India's music publishing market.

With this new partnership, Sony/ATV will provide publishing and administration services to Divo Musics extensive community of songwriters, composers and lyricists and deliver new opportunities for their musical works on a global scale.

Guy Henderson, Sony/ATV President, International, stated, Sony/ATV India takes great pleasure in welcoming Shahir and his great stable of artists and songwriters to the Sony/ATV global family. We are very excited at expanding our Indian repertoire by adding Divos new and exciting talent to our global roster and we look forward to being part of their international success both now and the in the years to come.

Dinraj Shetty, Director, Sony/ATV India said, We are thrilled to welcome Divo Music to the Sony/ATV Music Publishing family. We look forward to giving Divo Music and its artists transparent and efficient monetization opportunities for their works across multiple platforms, and Im confident we will achieve great success together in this partnership.

Shahir Muneer, Director & Founder, Divo Music said, We are glad to partner with Sony/ATV to help us with our music monetization on the publishing side of the business. Using their strong tech capabilities and our operational and content strengths we will be able to effectively generate a more streamlined approach to collecting our royalties from outside India. And the major benefactor wont be just our organization but all the music directors and lyricists who are part of those musical works, as they will effectively get royalties faster and more comprehensively which otherwise may have been not reaching them. The digital music industry is booming and publishing royalties from digital is a very key factor and there is great scope to innovate and bring in new offerings. We look forward to our association with Sony/ATV in helping our music business journey.
BEIJING, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The following article was published today by China Daily.

As this year marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, officials and experts have called for upholding multilateralism and concerted efforts to secure the UN Sustainable Development Goals amid mounting unilateralism and protectionism as well as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking at the virtual Vision China event organized by China Daily on Wednesday, they voiced hope that China, as a major international player on the international stage and a champion of multilateralism and the international system with the UN at its center, would play a bigger part in promoting global development against the backdrop of deep global economic recession.

During the video addresses delivered to the event, Amina J. Mohammed, UN deputy secretary-general and also the chairwoman of the UN Sustainable Development Group, said COVID-19 has shown that multilateral institutions are essential and that there is overwhelming support for multilateralism across the world.

"People want collective action to address the pandemic, climate change and conflict. They want to see our world transformed, and they want to play their part," she said, adding that this message has emerged clearly from UN75, the global conversation for the UN anniversary.

The Vision China event, themed "Shaping our Future Together: Poverty Eradication & Peaceful Development", was broadcast online to a global audience. It was the 15th edition since China Daily launched the platform, which invites influential political, business and academic speakers to tell China's story from a global perspective and discuss major China-related topics of international interest.

Given the unprecedented challenges the world is facing as well as the profound changes unseen in a century in the international landscape, "it has become even more important that we stand firmly committed to multilateralism with the UN at its core, and combine our efforts toward a community with a shared future for mankind," said Vice-Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu in a speech at the event.

Ma said that faithfully observing the purpose and principles of the UN Charter and upholding the international order based on international law are crucial for world peace and development. "We must reject any act that undermines the norms governing international relations, and we must act together to defeat the attempt of certain country to start a new Cold War."

Addressing the event, Guo Weimin, vice-minister of the State Council Information Office, said that in the face of unbalanced global development and widening South-North development gaps, countries need to uphold the philosophy of win-win cooperation and work together to eliminate poverty.

"To this end, ... we need to build up the consensus of people from different countries, ethnicities and regions with different beliefs and cultures, and we need to turn people's aspirations into visions and goals and translate them into concrete plans and actions," Guo said.

Zhou Shuchun, publisher and editor-in-chief of China Daily, analyzed the challenges the world is facing in his speech. He said the COVID-19 pandemic poses new challenges to global development and humankind is once again standing at a crossroads.

It is the time to draw on historical experiences and look to the future, Zhou said. "No matter who we are, media people or businesspeople, scholars or diplomats, politicians or common folks, we should stand on the right side of history and push for human civilization to make new progress in facing up to the challenges."

Jeffrey Sachs, a professor of economics at Columbia University and senior UN adviser, commended China's contributions to sustainable development by ending poverty within China and by helping other countries with basic infrastructure through projects under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Kishore Mahbubani, Singapore's former permanent representative to the UN and a distinguished fellow at the Asia Research Institute of the National University of Singapore, underlined the basic rights to safe living, enough food, basic medical care, education and jobs in ensuring people's human rights, and praised China for what it has done in improving people's well-being. He said, "This is why the recent story of China is a very important story for the rest of the world to understand."

Gert Grobler, a former diplomat for South Africa and now a senior research fellow at the Institute of Africa Studies at Zhejiang Normal University, looked back on the development of China-Africa relations based on mutual respect and win-win cooperation. He said China's growth model and success have inspired and given confidence to other developing countries in their endeavors to achieve development and enhance prosperity.

Martin Jacques, author of the book When China Rules the World, and a China expert and former senior fellow at Cambridge University, described China as a "very good global citizen" in the UN, in the World Trade Organization, in the International Monetary Fund and in the World Bank. He said China has played a very positive role in the multilateral institutions.

By CAO DESHENG

SOURCE China Daily
Vietnamese PM, German Chancellor hold phone talks

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc engaged in a talk on the phone with Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel on September 15 on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of Vietnam  Germany diplomatic ties (September 23, 1975, 2020).









Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (Photo: VNA)



The two leaders expressed their delight at the development of bilateral ties over the past 45 years as well as of the bilateral strategic partnership in the past decade.



PM Phuc affirmed that Vietnam treasures its strategic partnership with Germany, a country with a leading role and position in Europe and the world.



The two sides agreed to increase the exchange of delegations, especially those at high level when conditions permit, and work closely together to effectively implement the Vietnam  Germany strategic action plan adopted last year and further deepen the bilateral relationship.



The Vietnamese PM thanked the German Chancellor, Government, partners and friends for supporting the Vietnam  EU ties over the past years, especially pushing forward the signing and ratification of the EU  Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the EU  Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement, thus opening up opportunities and prospects for both sides to fuel growth after the pandemic.



He suggested the German Government encourage German firms to expand cooperation with Vietnam in fields of their strength and priority such as mechanical engineering, support industry, smart infrastructure, renewable energy, vocational training, and labour cooperation.



Vietnam always welcomes German investors to the country to seize opportunities amid the shift of supply and investment chains in the region, he said.



Expressing her delight at the taking effect of the EVFTA that marks an important milestone in bilateral ties in both economic and strategic terms, Merkel congratulated Vietnam on its success in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic and thanked the country for presenting masks to Germany.



PM Phuc thanked the German Government for supporting the textile industry of several countries hit by the pandemic, including Vietnam. He affirmed that Vietnam is ready to continue partnering with Germany in pandemic control and vaccine production while promoting trade, travelling and economic recovery.



The two government leaders spoke highly of the two countries' close coordination and mutual support at international forums and organisations, especially at the United Nations when both countries are non-permanent members of the UN Security Council, based on their shared concerns and backing of multilateralism and enhancement of the role of the UN and other multilateral cooperation institutions.



Vietnam, as Chair of ASEAN in 2020, and German, as rotating Chair of the EU in the last half of 2020, pledged to continue bolstering collaboration and connectivity between the two regions, towards upgrading EU  ASEAN ties.



Appreciating the importance of the Indo-Pacific region in shaping the world order in the 21st century, Merkel affirmed that Germany will involve more actively in the region. She wished that Vietnam would upholding its role of linking Germany and the region together.



The Vietnamese PM spoke highly of Germanys recent issuance of strategic orientations for the region and the European country's active and constructive role in the region on the basis of supporting ASEANs central role, boosting cooperation and maintaining rules-based order.



He also highlighted the significance of recent statements by ASEAN on related issues such as statements of the 53rd ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting and the ASEAN Regional Forum in September this year.



The two leaders stressed the importance of the settlement of disputes by peaceful means in line with international law and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in the East Sea, as well as of joint efforts to ensure peace, stability, safety, security, maritime and aviation freedom in the region.



PM Phuc reiterated his invitation to Merkel to visit Vietnam. Merkel also invited the Vietnamese leader to visit Germany in convenient time./.


The police in Sacramento, California, fatally shot Robert Coleman, an 88-year-old Black man, on Saturday. Days later, it was discovered that Coleman was a former member of the police department, The Sacramento Bee reported.

"Many people are impacted any time a life is lost. In this case, Mr. Coleman was not only a loving husband and a caring father, but he was also a member of the West Sacramento Police Department family for almost 10 years," the West Sacramento Police Department said in a statement.

Coleman held several positions at the department from the late 1990s to the early 2000s.

Authorities in California identified a Black man who police officers fatally shot on Saturday as a former employee of the West Sacramento Police Department, The Sacramento Bee reported.

Related video: The real cost of the police

The local coroner identified the man as Robert Coleman, an 88-year-old from West Sacramento, according to a statement released by the local police department.

"Many people are impacted any time a life is lost. In this case, Mr. Coleman was not only a loving husband and a caring father, but he was also a member of the West Sacramento Police Department family for almost 10 years," the West Sacramento Police Department said in a statement Monday.

The police said Coleman held multiple jobs at the department, serving as a code-enforcement officer, parking officer, and police volunteer.

According to KCRA-TV, Coleman was shot by officers Saturday after they responded to an unrelated 911 call about a man with a gun, the West Sacramento police said in a separate statement.

When officers arrived at the scene, they discovered Coleman in a vehicle parked nearby. The department said that an officer tried to engage with Coleman at that point but that the man "exited the vehicle armed with a handgun and a shooting ensued." The city plans to release body-camera footage of the incident.

Coleman's family said it told the police that Coleman was battling with mental illness at the time. The officers involved were placed on administrative leave.

Read the original article on Insider
WASHINGTON and SAN MARCOS, Calif., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The GSA/GSS BPA allows all government agencies to buy any amount (no MOL) of pre-configured Dell laptops, desktop, tablets and monitors, optional upgrades and services for a faster, more efficient business model. The BPA solution provides cost savings to the government with next-generation technology customer service capabilities while streamlining procurement requirements. For contracting officers, there is a non-manufacturer waiver already on file.

Of the company's recent milestone, MCP President Raj Ghai had this to say: "We're proud that this is our fifth year of supporting the Government's consolidation efforts, which has saved them millions of dollars. MCP has invested a significant amount to make complicated acquisitions quicker, easier, and shorter. We've reduced delivery times from months to weeks. Customers also receive real-time updates throughout the procurement process."

About MCP Computer Products Inc.

As an Economically Disadvantaged, Woman-Owned Business, MCP has provided IT solutions, hardware, software and services to the U.S. federal government for over 22 years, as well as large Federal Systems Integrators that support the federal government. MCP provides end-to-end solutions and services that go above and beyond what our customers' expectations require. MCP believes that through our strategic enterprise partnerships, we can promote change that will simultaneously assist agencies with information technology and set-aside goals.

About GSA/GSS Program

GSA has established the GSS Desktops and Laptops Program to help federal agency buyers easily identify MAS IT Schedule 70 contractors that offer government-wide standard configurations for desktop and laptop computers. The standard configurations were developed by the Workstations Category Team (WCT), a consortium of over 20 federal agencies established by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

Visit http://www.mcpgov.com

Contact Information:

Michael Buchko

VP of Sales & Marketing

800-255-8607

[email protected]

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Linkedin Margareth S. Aritonang (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, September 16, 2020 09:33 492 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c450d6f1 1 National BSMP,BSMC,Bro-Anthony-Bautista,Keuskupan-Bogor,Blessed-Sacrament-Missionaries-Charities Free

The Philippines-based Catholic religious order the Blessed Sacrament Missionaries of Charity (BSMC) was largely unknown to the Indonesian public until one of its members, Lukas Lucky Ngalngola, calling himself Brother Angelo and later Geovanny, put the congregation on the map, and for all the wrong reasons.

Angelo allegedly abused orphanage boys under his care, sexually and physically. While the abuse against the boys who lived at the Kencana Bejana Rohani orphanage that Angelo set up in 2015 in Depok, West Java, was reported to the police in September last year, the crime was revealed to the public only very recently after victims and child protection activists spoke out in the media.

Collective efforts coordinated by the state-sponsored Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) are being made to prosecute Angelo after a lack of action taken against him brought state institutions in charge of child protection, including the KPAI, as well as the Catholic Church, into the spotlight. He was arrested by the Depok Police in September 2019 but was released three months later as the police failed to complete the dossiers for the prosecutors office to bring the case to court.

The Catholic Church, in this particular case Bogor Diocese, had washed its hands of the case, reiterating to the public that Angelo was not a Catholic brother. The diocese holds a letter dated Sept. 19, 2019 to be the basis of their claim. The letter said the BSMC was not a Catholic order and that Angelo should not wear a robe. But Angelo continues to wear the brown robe of a brother and along with other brothers from the BSMC, set up another orphanage after he walked free in December. He has continued these activities without any hindrance, collecting money from individual Catholic donors while Bogor Diocese has turned a blind eye.

Obscure order

The Jakarta Post investigated the BSMC and has found that it is an obscure Catholic order based in the Philippines. It has yet to receive any official acknowledgement from the Indonesian Catholic Church, although the BSMC has managed to convince several clergymen to recommend them. On Sept. 7, the Indonesian Bishops Conference (KWI) issued a circular to all bishops informing them about Angelo and the BSMC and to be careful in making decisions regarding anything related to the subjects.

Yet, despite all this, the BSMC brothers including Angelo continue to woo donors and operate under a religious guise. How has this obscure order managed to do this for so long? How does the Indonesian Catholic Church verify whether an order is legitimate or not?

Angelo, a native of Tanimbar, an island in Maluku, is still at liberty. He has changed his name to Brother Geovanny, and set up a new orphanage a few months after his release, living among vulnerable boys again, as well as a few other BSMC brothers. In spite of all the allegations, which have never been dropped, he has requested that the BSMC be given a permit to work under the supervision of the parent institution from Palangkaraya diocese in Central Kalimantan so that he can conduct missionary work using the name of the BSMC in the area after being rejected by Bogor diocese.

On Sept. 19, 2019, five days after Angelos arrest, the Bishop of Bogor Paskalis Bruno Syukur issued an internal announcement declaring that BSMC was a questionable congregation because of a lack of legal documents and decrees required by the Catholic Church. Thus, according to Bogor diocese, Angelo was not a Catholic brother and therefore was banned from carrying out work on behalf of the church, emphasizing that any legal action against Angelo was solely related to him as an individual.

The decision made by Bogor diocese was kept internal until Angelos story became known to the public through an investigation undertaken by The Jakarta Post in collaboration with Tirto.id. This prompted the KWI to issue its Sept. 7 circular.

The Bishop of Palangkaraya Aloysius Maryadi Sutrisnaatmaka confirmed that he received the circular on Sept. 7. He told the Post that he had a meeting two days later to talk about Angelos request for recognition and supervision, which had been submitted to Palangkaraya diocese under the name of Geovanny.

We have decided to reject the BSMC, Sutrisnaatmaka told the Post on Sept. 10.

Apparently, Angelos notoriety exceeds that of his congregation reputation as very little is known about the BSMC, including among priests and leaders of the Catholic Church in this country. KWI executive secretary Ewaldus, for example, spoke very briefly about the congregation in response to the Posts question about the BSMC. You must find other priests who know about it [the BSMC] because I am totally in the dark, he said via a text message on Sept. 9.

The BSMC has no official website that provides comprehensive information about its history, spirituality or its work either in the Philippines, where it is based, or elsewhere including in Indonesia, unlike other religious orders that are officially recognized by the Catholic Church. The very limited information about the congregation is available only through old blog posts that seem to be individually crafted, and through the congregations Facebook page that mostly presents photos of the members and their activities.

BSMP or BSMC?

According to two posts available on internet sources that were accessible as of Sunday, the BSMC was originally called the Blessed Sacrament Missionaries of the Poor (BSMP). It draws on the compassion and charitable works of Mother Theresa of Calcutta in serving the poor. Headquartered in Binan City, the congregation has Brother Anthony Bautista as its leader. Angelo once claimed that Bautista was the superior general, the most senior leader of an order globally.

The website, which is said to relate to the diocese of Malolos in the Philippines, says that Bautista, who was then a temporary professed member of the Missionaries of Charity, a religious congregation established by Mother Theresa in 1950, started to develop a community that later became the BSMP in around March 1990.

It is unclear whether the Malolos diocese has recognized the BSMP or approves of its work in the area as the information available on the dioceses website only mentions though there was no formal declaration of the bishops affirmation of the suggestion [to build the BSMP community in the diocese], Bro. Anthony was instructed by the monsignor [Aguinaldo, a priest from a local parish, the first person whom Anthony met to seek approval to set up the intended religious community] to begin their aspirations already. The dioceses website also puts the BSMP in the category of charitable institution rather than religious order category. The Post could not reach the Malolos diocese for further clarification.

Brother Angelo BSMC (second left, back row) poses with children in his orphanage. (Courtesy of Kokon Production YouTube Channel/-)

It is also unclear when the BSMP changed its name to the BSMC. According to a blog post, the congregation was still called the BSMP until 2015 when it first came to Indonesia.

BSMC leader Bautista, claimed to the Post via Skype call on Aug. 23 that the congregation had never been named the BSMP. It [the BSMC] is the original name [of the congregation]. It has been the name [of the congregation] since the beginning, he said.

Traces of BSMC in Indonesia

As an order for Catholic brothers, Angelo claimed the BSMC was introduced to Indonesia for the first time on March 10, 2015, when Angelo arrived in Depok. He told this story to Jakarta Archdiocese magazine, Hidup, last year. The website version of the two articles has been taken down since Angelos alleged crimes became public last month.

An article about an orphanage in Depok, West Java, published by Catholic magazine Hidup. It includes a photo depicting the head of the orphanage, known as Brother Angelo Ngalngola, and Bogor Bishop Mgr. Paskalis Bruno. (Courtesy of/www.hidupkatolik.com)

Angelo claimed to a Hidup journalist that he met Bishop Paskalis to seek his approval to carry out charitable works within the dioceses territory also in March, but failed to obtain it as he was required to first provide documents in regard to his congregation, which was then called the BSMP. Angelo met Paskalis again for the second time three months later on May 18, during which meeting he was granted three-month probationary status to work. In a recent interview with the Post, Paskalis said that he only approved of Angelo helping teach English to children.

Angelos leader, Bautista, flew from the Philippines to Depok five months later to meet Paskalis on Oct. 10, according to Angelo. That was the only meeting between the two leaders. Shortly after that, Angelo set up the Kencana Bejana Rohani foundation on Dec. 14.

Still BSMC brother

Bautista told the Post that Angelo was still a brother in the BSMC congregation despite the allegations and the legal process he had gone through. Bautista however provided contradictory statements regarding Angelos religious life throughout the interview. He for example told the Post that he had advised Angelo not to continue his religious life and drop his identity as a Catholic brother, and instead focus on serving the poor after he was informed about Angelos alleged sexual abuse against minors. But later he defended Angelos membership of the BSMC congregation and repeatedly emphasized that Angelo was still a BSMC brother.

If he wants to continue serving God, well that is no longer my business but his. Its his decision. If he is using the name of the religious order, well it depends on him. I cannot stop him, Bautista said.

In an apparent insistence on marking the presence of the BSMC among other Catholic religious orders in Indonesia despite the controversies surrounding him and his congregation, Angelo fled to Palangkaraya recently to meet Bishop Sutrisnaatmaka to seek approval to carry out charitable works in the area.

Sutrisnaatmaka told the Post that he had not discussed Angelos proposal with other priests in the diocese until he received the circular from the KWI on Sept. 7.

BSMC sisters

Other than the proposal for acknowledgment submitted by Angelo, the Palangkaraya diocese also received a similar request from sisters of the BSMC led by Sister Yulia on April 18, 2018. Unlike the proposal from the BSMC brothers, the Palangkaraya diocese is processing the BSMC sisters intention to carry out missionary work in the area as they could provide administrative documents required by the diocese including, among other documents, a constitution and a structure of the congregation.

Recalling his conversations with Yulia and her fellow BSMC sisters during their first meetings, Sutrisnaatmaka told the Post that the sisters had undertaken their formative years to become Catholic sisters under the supervision of the BSMC congregation in the Philippines, but later declared separation from the BSMC community of brothers to ease their work in Palangkaraya, where the sisters have set up the Taman Fioreti orphanage.

They told me that they had separated themselves from the BSMC congregation in the Philippines and set up an independent BSMC congregation of sisters with a new constitution, Sutrisnaatmaka said.

He further explained that he did not care about what had happened with the BSMC congregation in the Philippines as his focus was only on supervising the BSMC sisters in obtaining church recognition.

Palangkaraya diocese plans to make the decision on the fate of the BSMC sisters next year if they can fulfil all the conditions required by the diocese. As Bogor diocese has thrown doubt on the authenticity of the BSMC, Palangkaraya diocese might possibly dissolve the existing BSMC congregation of sisters and ask Yulia and five other sisters to join other congregations that have been officially recognized by Palangkaraya diocese.

But please bear in mind that the process is still ongoing. We havent made any decisions, Sutrisnaatmaka stressed, adding that the process could take longer than expected.
CORPUS CHRISTI, TX, Sept. 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - Uranium Energy Corp (NYSE American: UEC, the "Company" or "UEC") applauds the U.S. Department of Commerce ("DOC") for negotiating an amendment to the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on Uranium from the Russian Federation ("RSA") that reduces America's dependence on Russian natural uranium concentrates up to 75% from prior levels. An initialed draft agreement between the DOC and Russia's State Atomic Energy Company Rosatom, was released for public comment on Friday, September 11th.

Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, stated: "This draft agreement represents an important step forward for the American nuclear industry. If finalized, it will contribute to the restoration of America's nuclear energy advantage and protect the domestic industry from dumped Russian uranium."

UEC Chairman and Former U.S. Energy Secretary, Spencer Abraham, stated: "The DOC should be commended for their work to limit Russian imports, while balancing the interests of the U.S. nuclear utility consumers and the domestic uranium fuel cycle industries. This milestone will set the stage for growth and opportunity in the domestic uranium mining industry. Most importantly, the amendment protects our national security interests by avoiding an over-reliance on Russian nuclear fuel for our nuclear generating stations that provide 20% of America's electricity and about 55% of our carbon-free energy. The new RSA, plus the establishment of a strategic national Uranium Reserve ("UR") of domestically mined and converted uranium will go a long way toward fulfilling the Administration's strategy to restore American nuclear energy independence."

UEC CEO, Amir Adnani, added that; "America's commercial reactor fleet needs domestic uranium for supply diversity and assurance in their contract portfolios. With no U.S. uranium production today, and many supply-chain challenges globally, there is a clear opportunity for our Company as a low-cost, domestic uranium supplier with licensed projects in energy and mining friendly states like Texas and Wyoming. The strong bipartisan support for nuclear energy in the United States is exciting and we are looking forward to playing an important role in America's energy independence, and carbon-reduction goals in the coming years."

The RSA was set to expire at the end of this year and allowed approximately 20% of U.S. low enriched uranium ("LEU") requirements to be imported from Russia. The amended agreement considers the components of nuclear fuel in LEU with various limits depending on the specific component. The amount of enrichment services varies but are set to average about 17% of U.S. requirements through 2040 and are capped at 15% after 2027.

DOC noted the natural uranium and conversion components "will be equivalent to approximately 7% of U.S. enrichment demand, and no higher than 5% starting in 2026." This amounts to a reduction in Russian natural uranium imports of up to 75% from prior limits. For context, the U.S. consumes about 47 million pounds U3O8 annually, the initialed agreement reduces the annual natural uranium component limit from ~9.4 million pounds of Russian U3O8 to less than 2.4 million pounds.

DOC is releasing a draft amendment of the RSA for public comment, which will be due by 5:00pm EST on September 28, 2020. The draft amendment is available to registered users at https://access.trade.gov (reference case number A-821-802). It will also be published in the Federal Register. DOC is seeking to finalize an amendment to the RSA no later than October 5, 2020, at which time it will go into effect and become binding on the U.S. and Russia.

About Uranium Energy Corp

Uranium Energy Corp is a U.S.-based uranium mining and exploration company. In South Texas, the Company's hub-and-spoke operations are anchored by the fully-licensed Hobson Processing Facility which is central to the Palangana, Burke Hollow and Goliad ISR projects. In Wyoming, UEC controls the Reno Creek project, which is the largest permitted, pre-construction ISR uranium project in the U.S. Additionally, the Company controls a pipeline of uranium projects in Arizona, New Mexico and Paraguay, a uranium/vanadium project in Colorado and one of the highest-grade and largest undeveloped Ferro-Titanium deposits in the world, located in Paraguay. The Company's operations are managed by professionals with a recognized profile for excellence in their industry, a profile based on many decades of hands-on experience in the key facets of uranium exploration, development and mining.

Stock Exchange Information:

NYSE American: UEC

+Frankfurt Stock Exchange Symbol: U6Z

WKN: AJDRR

ISN: US916896103

*Notice to U.S. Investors

The mineral resources referred to herein have been estimated in accordance with the definition standards on mineral resources of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum referred to in NI 43-101 and are not compliant with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") Industry Guide 7 guidelines. In addition, measured mineral resources, indicated mineral resources and inferred mineral resources, while recognized and required by Canadian regulations, are not defined terms under SEC Industry Guide 7 and are normally not permitted to be used in reports and registration statements filed with the SEC. Accordingly, we have not reported them in the United States. Investors are cautioned not to assume that any part or all of the mineral resources in these categories will ever be converted into mineral reserves. These terms have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence, and great uncertainty as to their economic and legal feasibility. It should be noted that mineral resources which are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of measured mineral resources, indicated mineral resources or inferred mineral resources will ever be upgraded to a higher category. In accordance with Canadian rules, estimates of inferred mineral resources cannot form the basis of feasibility or other economic studies. Investors are cautioned not to assume that any part of the reported measured mineral resources, indicated mineral resources or inferred mineral resources referred to herein are economically or legally mineable.

Safe Harbor Statement

Except for the statements of historical fact contained herein, the information presented in this news release and oral statements made from time to time by representatives of the Company are or may constitute "forward-looking statements" as such term is used in applicable United States and Canadian laws and including, without limitation, within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, for which the Company claims the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements. These statements relate to analyses and other information that are based on forecasts of future results, estimates of amounts not yet determinable and assumptions of management. Any other statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans, "estimates" or "intends", or stating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and should be viewed as forward-looking statements. Such 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 such forward-looking statements. Such risks and other factors include, among others, the actual results of exploration activities, variations in the underlying assumptions associated with the estimation or realization of mineral resources, the availability of capital to fund programs and the resulting dilution caused by the raising of capital through the sale of shares, accidents, labor disputes and other risks of the mining industry including, without limitation, those associated with the environment, delays in obtaining governmental approvals, permits or financing or in the completion of development or construction activities, title disputes or claims limitations on insurance coverage. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be 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. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that its expectations will be achieved. Forward-looking information is subject to certain risks, trends and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Many of these factors are beyond the Company's ability to control or predict. Important factors that may cause actual results to differ materially and that could impact the Company and the statements contained in this news release can be found in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company assumes no obligation to update or supplement any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements contained in this news release and in any document referred to in this news release. This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities.

SOURCE Uranium Energy Corp

Related Links

http://www.uraniumenergy.com/


Ghanas former President, Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings, has urged the new leadership in Mali to use the transition period to exhibit exceptional leadership for the country and usher her into a prosperous era.

The former President made the call when a four-man delegation of the National Committee for the Salvation of the People (CNSP) led by its Chairman, Colonel Assimi Goita called on him on Tuesday.

He urged the Malian leadership to mobilise their people into taking up productive activity through a positive vision to boost the countrys development. He also advised them to empower and encourage the people to own their political climate and to improve on the quality of multiparty democracy that Western powers have hung around our necks.

The level of corruption that has become an integral part of multiparty democracy has created a general climate of stress and tension that may destabilize some areas in our region. It is unfortunate that the world is being forced into multiparty democracy with corruption and violence rather than other forms of democratic practices with none or minimal corruption. Unfortunately, the West appears to favour corruptible political tendencies in order to continue to dominate our security and economy, the former President stated.

Former President Rawlings also encouraged the transitional unit to govern with humility and diligence and inspire the people to fight and defy corruption and injustice.

He said he was dutifully passing on ECOWAS leaderships concerns while sharing his own political experiences and observations.

The meeting took place after ECOWAS leaders held an Extraordinary meeting with the Malian leadership at Peduase in Ghana, to discuss political developments in Mali.

Colonel Assimi Goita was accompanied by Colonel Ismael Wague, Major Talibe Konte and Captain Demba Ndaw. Also present was the Malian Ambassador to Ghana, Abdoul Kader Toure.
'The Bharat Ratna should have been given a long time ago.'

'Not just to irk the Chinese, but to recognise His Holiness for what he is and how we have benefited immensely from his presence in India.'

'I don't think there has been a better ambassador for India's philosophical and cultural past than the Dalai Lama.'

IMAGE: His Holiness The Dalai Lama greets his followers before delivering teachings at the Thupsung Dhargyeling Monastery in Dirang, Arunachal Pradesh, April 6, 2017. Photograph: Anuwar Hazarika/Reuters

"I would not be too worried about the Chinese designs in Arunachal Pradesh because Arunachal is well and truly integrated into India with very strong leaderships over there,' says Amitabh Mathur, former senior Research and Analysis Wing officer and former advisor to the Union home ministry on Tibetan affairs.

Mr Mathur played a key role in the framing of the Tibetan Rehabilitation Policy of 2014 which provides guidelines about the facilities extended to Tibetan refugees by the Government of India.

In part 2 of the interview with Rediff.com's Archana Masih, Mr Mathur discusses how India had kept the Tibetan civilisational struggle for its unique identity alive.

"That's a great success story of India's Tibetan policy," he says. "India's failure would be if we were to dilute this support to the Tibetan people."

In your vast experience, what changes would you advocate in our day Tibet policy, especially in view of the Ladakh standoff with China?

The Tibetan exile community is a very unique example. 61 years since coming out of Tibet, they still are very optimistic and united as a people.

Their faith in the Dalai Lama is as unshaken. It is largely due to his magnetic personality and also because India has provided the conditions in which Tibetan culture religion and unique identity has not only survived outside Tibet, but flourished.

Tibetans have built many monuments and monasteries in India.

This has kept the Tibetan civilisational struggle for its unique identity alive. That's a great success story of India's Tibetan policy.

India's failure would be if we were to dilute this support to the Tibetan people.

The changes that I would suggest personally and in a private capacity is that we be forthcoming in our support to His Holiness by stating that the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama is his business alone.

The Chinese have said that they will decide the next Dalai Lama.

The US has come out strongly in support of the Dalai Lama and passed the Tibetan Policy and Support Act in the US House of Representatives. It is now in the US Senate.

(If enacted, the bill would establish official US policy supporting the selection of Tibetan religious leaders, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama, by the Tibetan Buddhist community -- free of Chinese government interference.)

India too should adopt this line -- that it is up to the Dalai Lama to decide his successor.

India should also strengthen its support to the Central Tibetan Administration.

We do not recognise the Central Tibetan Administration as a government in exile. It was basically a vehicle set up to enable the Tibetans to live in India the way they lived in Tibet.

De facto it is a government in exile and we must continue to extend our support to it, strengthen it and strengthen the international campaign for Tibet.

And since the SSF has become a factor in the current situation, I think let the Tibetans in Tibet know what is happening.

Is it time to leverage the SSF and the Tibetan factor against China? On the other hand, what impact is that likely to have in Arunachal Pradesh which China lays claim to?

The Chinese would certainly react if our diplomatic efforts do not find a quick solution and the situation drags on into, God forbid, to an escalation of conflict.

The Chinese do feel vulnerable in Xinjiang and Tibet.

Given the past involvement of the Chinese in India's north eastern insurgencies -- (the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom leader) Paresh Barua was based in China after all till sometime back.

If China would resort to something like that, again, it will need to take into consideration what impact it will have on China's relationship with the ASEAN countries.

I would not be too worried about their designs in Arunachal because Arunachal Pradesh is well and truly integrated into India.

There is no local movement like ULFA in Assam or the Naga insurgents. India has done very well in Arunachal and we have very strong leaderships over there.

The issue is what will happen within Tibet.

If the Chinese are nervous, they will come down with a very heavy hand like they did in 2008 and the Dalai Lama will not be comfortable about that.

So whatever India does should be in consultation with the Tibetan leadership. I'm not saying officially, but they know what is happening within Tibet better than anyone else.

IMAGE: Tibetan monks look at a giant Thangka displayed at the Tashilhunpo monastery in Shigatse in China's Tibetan Autonomous Region, July 17, 2019. Photograph: He Penglei/CNS/Reuters

Do you think it is time India confers the Bharat Ratna on the Dalai Lama?

It is already overdue; it should have been given a long time ago.

Not just to irk the Chinese, but to recognise him for what he is and how we have benefited immensely from his presence in India.

I don't think there's been a better ambassador for India's philosophical and cultural past than the Dalai Lama.

It should be in recognition of the man rather than as a card on a chessboard because that would be an insult to a great person.

Also, the people of India think very highly of him and they too have a relationship with him over the years.

Yes, he has struck a very deep relationship with the Indian people. When he met President George W Bush, he spoke a lot about India's past and the various streams of religions that flourish in India.

He has a deep devotion to India because he sees his religious and philosophical origins from Nalanda.

That is the reason why most of the important Tibetan monks who came to India in 1959 and their reincarnation have stayed behind in India.

They had the option of going to the West because Tibetan Buddhism is actually very popular in the West.

They are welcomed with open arms and their donors come from the West, but they stay here because of this deep spiritual connection they have with India.

I think that is something we need to honour in His Holiness and the people of Tibet.

IMAGE: The Dalai Lama during his visit to Arunachal Pradesh in April 2017.

His Holiness stopped between Tawang and Bomdila to consecrate the Thupsung Dhargyeling monastery in Dirang and and deliver teachings. Photograph: PTIP

In view of the stand-off with China, do you think India is likely to be more open and reach out more to the Dalai Lama?

India has always been open about His Holiness.

A couple of years back, he visited Arunachal.

He is treated as a very respected religious leader and as a religious leader, he travels where he wants and there has never been any restriction to him.

Every summer he would go to Ladakh and has been all over India.

I don't think we have tied him down or put restrictions on him of any sort.

We must also not forget for a moment that His Holiness was brought up not only to be the spiritual leader of Tibet, but also the temporal leader.

He is as tutored in religious matters as he is in statecraft. He understands how States conduct business between each other and knows where the red lines are.

He knows what to do and what not to do.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
Other prominent projects of his have also been pushed back  he has a starring role in Spiral, a reboot of the Saw horror series, whose release was postponed a full year to May 2021. But Rock wasnt mourning the delay of any professional gratification, having spent the spring and summer realigning his values for the new reality of pandemic life. Maybe for like a day or two, I was like, Oh, me, he said with an exaggerated whimper. But honestly, it was more like, Ive got to get to my kids and make sure my family is safe.

In that time he has also heard countless Americans echoing the lesson he offered in the opening minutes of his 2018 standup special, Tamborine, where he spoke humorously but emphatically about the ongoing incidents of police violence against Black people. As he said in that routine, law enforcement was among the professions that simply cannot allow a few bad apples: American Airlines cant be like, You know, most of our pilots like to land. We just got a few bad apples that like to crash in the mountains.

Now Rock was feeling mistrustful about the power of his comedy to do anything other than entertain, and unsure when he would get to perform it again for large audiences. And he was admittedly wary about this very interview, explaining with a chuckle that when he talks to the print media, he said, You have to be comfortable with being boring. If youre not comfortable with being boring, occasionally, youre going to get in trouble.

Not that Rock was ever boring in a wide-ranging conversation that encompassed Fargo and his broader career; his latest observations on a nation grappling simultaneously with a pandemic and a reinvigorated longing for racial equality; the resurfacing of a past video where Jimmy Fallon impersonated him in blackface; and of course, President Trump. (No one has less compassion for humans than a landlord, he said.) Even in the absence of an audience, Rock was candid, increasingly animated, uncommonly nimble and always looking for the laugh. Now, let the trouble begin.
Thousands of people have been arbitrarily detained in Belarus and hundreds have been subjected to torture during a brutal crackdown on critics of the states flawed democratic elections.

Belarusians have taken to the streets in mass rallies and protests in the wake of the 9 August vote, which officials said returned a new mandate for the nations autocratic president Alexander Lukashenka to perpetuate 26 years in power.

However amid anger on the streets and claims the vote was rigged, security forces have begun to brutally suppress peaceful protesters, NGO Human Rights Watch has reported.

Victims of alleged state brutality interviewed by the agency described beatings, prolonged stress positions, electric shocks, and rape in at least one instance.

They also described being able to see others suffer the same or worse treatment, while presenting injuries including broken bones, cracked teeth, skin wounds, electrical burns, and mild traumatic brain injuries.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. 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Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. 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A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

The sweeping brutality of the crackdown shows the lengths to which the Belarusian authorities will go to silence people, but tens of thousands of peaceful protesters continue to demand fair elections and justice for abuses, said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

He added: The United Nations and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) should urgently set in motion inquiries to ensure that evidence is collected that could contribute to accountability for grave human rights violations.

The organisation interviewed 27 former detainees  21 men and six women  who said they were arrested in the four days after election day.

Dan Peleschuk, 34, a freelance journalist and US national, said his transfer from the Pevomaisky Police Station to the Zhodino detention centre on 11 August saw him subjected to pressure positions while kicked and punched.

Riot police piled us into what looked like a military truck with benches on the sides, and made us kneel on the metal floor, foreheads under the bench, hands behind the back," he said.

The drive probably took 90 minutes, but it felt like an eternity. Soon, I couldnt feel my legs and was crying out in pain. Those who asked to be allowed to get up were kicked and punched.

When we arrived  there must have been other vehicles in front of us. We would move, then stop, then move again, and the whole time the police were saying, You wanted a revolution, now youll see what its like! Welcome to the worst place on earth."

Meanwhile Dmitry Lukowski, who was arrested on the street and taken to a detention facility, described a corridor full of OMON riot officers waiting to beat him and the other detainees.

At first I kept silent, but then I started screaming, he said. I fainted, but they splashed water into my face and continued to beat me. There was blood everywhere and I saw a few teeth on the floor.

During the ordeal he added that an officer grabbed him by the hair, saying, So, Lukowski, you want a lawyer? When he answered, Yes, the officer continued to beat him, adding, So, Lukowski, you still want a lawyer?

Protests in the country have continued to boil over in the country, with widespread rallies accompanied by more subtle shows of defiance  including the wearing of red and white by mixed groups in the colours of the nations pre-soviet flag.

Video footage has show violent response from police and defiance from activists  including groups of older women shielding younger protestors from the riot officers attempting to arrest them

Mr Lukashenka meanwhile has denied anything untoward in his victory with 80 per cent of the nations vote, while accusing dissenters of being western puppets.

It comes as the EU, which has called the election result fraudulent, calls for close monitoring of the human rights situation in the country.

A resolution is set to be brought before the UNs human rights council in Geneva on behalf of the European bloc by Germany, stating that the council expresses deep concern about the overall human rights situation in Belarus, and its deterioration in the run-up and particularly in the aftermath of the fraudulent presidential election on 9 August 2020

It is expected to be accepted by council members, with the wording stopping short of calling for an inquiry, a provision which tends to be applied to the most severe breaches of human rights.

Instead it seeks two formal updates from the UNs top rights official, Michelle Bachelet, and for the Special Rapporteur to have "free, full and unhindered access" to the country.

Additional reporting by agencies
A man wearing a face mask following the COVID-19 outbreak walks past a Huawei booth at the 2020 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) in Beijing, China, Sept. 4, 2020. (REUTERS/Tingshu Wang)

Top Huawei Executives Had Close Ties to Company at Center of US Criminal Case

LONDON/SAO PAULOAn obscure Hong Kong-registered company stands at the center of the U.S. criminal case against Chinas Huawei Technologies and its chief financial officer.

U.S. authorities allege the giant telecom-gear maker used the firm to skirt American economic sanctions on Iran between 2007 and 2014. Huawei has said it sold the business in 2007 and denies any wrongdoing.

Now, Reuters has uncovered previously unreported links in Brazil between Huawei and the company, Skycom Tech Co Ltd, that could offer support to the U.S. case against the tech giant and Meng Wanzhou, its chief financial officer and daughter of its founder. Corporate records filed with the state of Sao Paulo in Brazil show that Huawei and Skycom were closely intertwined there for five years after Huawei disposed of its shares in Skycom in 2007.

Until late 2007, two other top-level Huawei executives also had close ties with Skycom, corporate records filed in Brazil and Hong Kong show. Both men  Ken Hu and Guo Ping  currently are deputy chairmen of Huawei and serve on a rotating basis as the companys chairman. Guo now has the chairmans role.

The criminal case is part of a multifaceted, global campaign by Washington to check the power of Huawei, a front in Americas broadening cold war with China. The United States has been lobbying allies to avoid using Huawei equipment in their next-generation mobile telecommunications systems, known as 5G. Washington argues China could use the technology to attack critical infrastructure and compromise intelligence sharing. Huawei and China have strenuously denied this.

Huaweis relationship with Skycom is central to the high-profile U.S. criminal case. A U.S. indictment alleges Huawei controlled Skycom and used it to violate American sanctions by obtaining embargoed U.S. computer gear in Iran. Huawei and Meng have maintained that while Huawei once owned Skycom, the firm later became in effect an arms-length business partner. In a recent court filing related to the case, however, Mengs lawyers acknowledged that Huawei exercised a level of control over Skycom.

The information newly uncovered by Reuters buttresses the U.S. case by establishing that Huaweis control over Skycom was even stronger than American prosecutors have asserted. Corporate records show that two additional Huawei executives ran a company that owned Skycom  not just Meng, the sole executive named by prosecutors. Records also show that Huaweis control of Skycom extended to Brazil, not only Iran, and lasted through the period of the alleged sanctions violations, long after the Chinese tech giant claims it sold its 100% stake.

Huawei declined to comment for this article.

Until now, only Skycoms business activities in Iran have received public attention. But the company records filed in Sao Paulo show that Skycom also had a little-known presence in Brazil between 2002 and 2012.

The records show that Hu was based in Sao Paulo in May 2002 when Skycom acquired a small stake in Huawei Brazil, where he was then a manager. Hus LinkedIn profile states he also was president of Huaweis Latin America region around that time.

Hu later left Brazil, but he established another link to Skycom. Hong Kong company records show that in 2007, Hu and Guo were directors of a Huawei affiliate, Hua Ying Management Co Ltd, that owned Skycom. Hua Ying transferred its shares in Skycom to another company that year. Meng was listed at the time as Hua Yings corporate secretary.

Documents filed by American authorities in the U.S. criminal case describe the share transfer as essentially a sham transaction and that Huawei continued to control Skycom as an unofficial subsidiary.

Last year, the U.S. Department of Commerce added Huawei and scores of its affiliates, including Hua Ying, to its so-called Entity List. That move restricted sales of U.S. goods and technology to Huawei. Washington said the affiliates pose a significant risk of involvement in activities contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States.

Hu, Guo and Meng are currently listed as the three directors of Hua Ying in the Hong Kong companies registry.

Hu, who is also known as Hu Houkun, and Guo arent named in the U.S. criminal case. Their links to Skycom and its activities in Brazil havent been reported before.

Huaweis close links to Skycom in Iran after the purported 2007 sale have been previously documented by Reuters. The Brazilian documents, filed with the Sao Paulo companies registry, show the extent to which Huawei and Skycom also continued to be closely linked in Brazil for five more years.

For example, in July 2008, Huawei Brazils two shareholders at that time  Skycom and a Huawei affiliate called Huawei Tech Investment Co Ltd  each appointed the same Chinese person to represent them at Huawei Brazil. The documents also show that Meng, who was then serving on the boards of both shareholding companies, authorized the appointments.

Indeed, during Skycoms decade as a shareholder of Huawei Brazil until 2012, Skycom was always represented in the Brazilian company by people who were also representing Huaweis interests, the documents show.

Numerous Misrepresentations

The United States has been trying to get Meng extradited from Canada, where she was arrested at the request of U.S. authorities while changing planes in Vancouver in December 2018.

The U.S. indictment alleges that Huawei and Meng participated in a fraudulent scheme to obtain prohibited U.S. goods and technology for Huaweis Iran-based business via Skycom, and move money out of Iran by deceiving a major bank. U.S. authorities have identified the bank as HSBC Holdings PLC. Meng is accused of giving a PowerPoint presentation to a HSBC executive in 2013 that included numerous misrepresentations regarding Huaweis ownership and control of Skycom.

A spokesman for HSBC declined to comment.

Huawei and Meng have denied the U.S. criminal charges, which include bank fraud, wire fraud and other allegations. They have argued in court filings in Canada that Meng did not deceive HSBC. Skycom, which was incorporated in Hong Kong in 1998 and dissolved in 2017, is also a defendant.

The U.S. indictment cites Reuters stories in 2012 and 2013 that detailed numerous financial and other ties between Skycom, Huawei and Meng and described an attempt by Skycom in 2010 to obtain embargoed U.S. computer equipment in Iran. The 2013 article directly linked Meng to Skycom.

In June, Reuters reported that following its 2013 article, Huawei acted to cover up its relationship with Skycom in Iran, according to internal Huawei documents. Huawei declined to comment on the story.

The Brazilian records show Skycom became a small shareholder of Huawei Brazil in 2002 without injecting new money into the company. Instead, Huawei Brazils two shareholders at the time  both Huawei-affiliated companies  transferred shares to Skycom.

When Skycom exited Huawei Brazil in 2012, it transferred its shares to yet another Huawei entity, Huawei Technologies (Netherlands) BV, the Brazilian filings show.

Public Role

Hong Kong corporate filings show that in 2005, Hu and Guo became directors of Hua Ying, the Huawei affiliate, within days of the units incorporation there that year. Hua Ying later played a key role in Huaweis purported sale of Skycom.

Skycom filings in Hong Kong show that Hua Ying acquired all of Skycoms shares in February 2007. Nine months later, Hua Ying transferred the shares to a company called Canicula Holdings Ltd, a holding company registered in Mauritius.

U.S. authorities allege that Huawei never gave up control of Skycom. In court papers filed in Canada, they allege that Huawei treated Canicula as a subsidiary and that Huawei lent Canicula money to buy Skycom. The loan came from another Huawei affiliate, Huawei Tech Investment, they say. Huawei Tech Investment is the company that co-owned Huawei Brazil with Skycom.

Hu and Guo today are among Huaweis highest-level executives. At times, both have played key public roles at the tech giant.

Shortly after Mengs 2018 arrest, Hu held a press conference in China with international media, in part to address U.S. allegations against Huawei. Asked about Huaweis relationship with Skycom, he said he couldnt provide any information because the matter was under a judicial process.

By Steve Stecklow and Marcelo Rochabrun
A 28-year-old Harrisburg man shot and injured another in the city last month during a confrontation over crack cocaine, police said in court documents charging him with attempted homicide.

Siam Shabazz Yeiser was formally charged Tuesday, more than a month after police said he shot Richard Taylor in the torso Aug. 2 on the 2100 block of Jefferson Street.

According to an affidavit of probable cause, Taylor was walking around 1 p.m. past a car that held Yeiser and a man whod sold him crack cocaine in the past. The dealer became angry and said Ill knock you the [expletive] out when Taylor told him he did not want to buy drugs, the affidavit said.

Taylor told police he pulled out a gun when the man approached him aggressively. You better kill me because Im going to kill you now, the dealer said, according to the affidavit.

The dealer had knocked out three people in the past on Jefferson Street and threatened to kill Taylor, he told police, according to the affidavit.

The confrontation lasted about three minutes before Yeiser shot Taylor, according to the affidavit. Yeiser and the second man fled the scene in a Saturn SUV, the affidavit said.

The cars owner said an acquaintance borrowed the car and returned it around 3 p.m. the day of the shooting, according to the affidavit.

Putty-filled bullet holes and a donut-style tire were on the car in place of a flat tire, which Taylor shot so the men could not escape the scene, the court documents said.

Police were led to Yeiser through a tipster, who said anonymous people from Jefferson Street believed the shooter was a man named Si.

Surveillance cameras also captured a skinny man running down Moltke Street and getting into a car just before the shooting took place, the affidavit said.

Using the surveillance footage and the tipsters testimony, police put together an array of photos containing Yeiser and similar-looking men. Taylor told police he was 100% sure Yeiser was the shooter.

Police said Yeiser isnt allowed to possess firearms because of an aggravated assault conviction from 2005.

Yeiser is charged with attempted homicide and firearms offenses. Court records show a preliminary hearing has not yet been scheduled.

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An old casino is seen at the Dara Sakor investment zone in Cambodia's Koh Kong province, in a file photo.

Cambodias government on Wednesday condemned the U.S. Department of Treasurys decision to sanction a Chinese developer building a massive project in the countrys Koh Kong province over graft and rights abuses, calling the allegations false and saying the jungle resort plan was going ahead.

The Treasurys Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Tuesday sanctioned Union Development Group (UDG) for the seizure and demolition of local Cambodians land during construction of the Dara Sakor project, prohibiting the company from doing business with any U.S. citizen and cutting it off from the U.S. financial system.

The Treasury said that in order to obtain the land for the U.S. $3.8 billion-dollar projectwhich includes an airport, deep water seaport, and casino resort as part of an investment zone in the middle of the jungleUDG falsified its registration to say that it was Cambodian owned before reverting to its true Chinese ownership and continuing to operate without repercussions.

UDG was designated under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act for acting for or on behalf of a current or former government official, who is responsible for or complicit in, or has directly or indirectly engaged in corruptionin this case, a Chinese-owned company acting on behalf of a Chinese official.

The Treasury said some of UDGs seizure and demolition of land for the Dara Sakor project was conducted through Kun Kim, a former senior Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) who the agency sanctioned in December last year for corruption. It said Kun Kim had directed military forces to prevent villagers from planting rice paddy fields on disputed lands, as well as burn down their houses and control their movements.

The agency also raised concerns that Beijing may be using the project to secretly build a deep-water port naval base and airstrip for military use there as part of a bid to secure its territorial claims in the disputed waters of the South China Sea. It noted that Cambodian government spokesperson Phay Siphan has said Dara Sakor could be converted to host military assets.

On Wednesday, Phay Siphan posted a message on his Facebook page denouncing the Treasurys false allegations and said the agency had misquoted him.

It is an exaggeration, he said of the statement.

RFAs Khmer Service was unable to reach Phay Siphan for comment on the sanctions. Calls to Kun Kim also went unanswered on Wednesday.

Sok Ey San, spokesperson for Prime Minister Hun Sens ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP), told reporters that while Washington acted within its rights in leveling sanctions against UDG, the companys project plan was vetted and approved by the Cambodia Development Council and would proceed as planned.

What we have done is a matter of sovereignty, he said. Foreign sanctions will have no impact as the development is moving forward without any obstacles.

Sok Ey San said he did not expect that the Treasurys decision would affect bilateral relations between Washington and Phnom Penh.

Sanctions welcomed

The Dara Sakor project has been mired in controversy ever since UDGs parent company, Tianjin Wanlong Group, was granted a 99-year lease to 90,000 acres along 20 percent of Cambodias coastline in May 2008.

The lease, which was handed to Tianjin Wanlong without an open bidding process, provided the company with more than triple the size of any concession allowed under Cambodias land law and exempted it from any payments for a decade.

UDG soon began clearing large swathes of forest from Botum Sakor National Park that was included as part of the land lease and forcing hundreds of families to relocatemany of which have yet to receive compensation they were promised as part of the deal 12 years ago.

Meanwhile, much of the Dara Sakor project remains unfinished, and structures that were builtsuch as the casino and hotelhave been largely left to rot. Few tourists visit the area and not many companies have signed deals to set up a presence in the investment zone.

Thorng Chandara, Koh Kong provincial coordinator for local rights group Adhoc, told RFA that the project has affected residents of two of the provinces districts, more than 1,000 families yet to receive compensation for being uprooted.

He said residents were never informed about the development or given the opportunity to discuss how it should proceed.

Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson, the founder of domestic environmental watchdog Mother Nature, welcomed the sanctions, saying Washington had sent Hun Sen a message that there will be more to come if he continues to abuse human rights and destroy Cambodias natural resourcesand particularly if he allows China to build a military base in the country.

If the government allows Chinese military installations, not only will Try Pheap or Kun Kim be targeted, sanctions will affect Hun Sens family as well, he said.

This is a message for Hun Sen to back down.

Rampant timber trafficking in Cambodia led the Treasury Department to sanction Try Pheap, a business tycoon with close ties to Hun Sen, and 11 of his registered entities at the same time as Kun Kim. Treasury cited his establishment of a large-scale illegal logging consortium that relies on the collusion of Cambodian officials, to include purchasing protection from the government, including military protection, for the movement of his illegal products.

The possibility that China could establish a military foothold in Cambodia has long worried Washington. Vice President Mike Pence in 2018 wrote a letter to Hun Sen expressing fears that Cambodia might be planning to host Chinese military equipment at the Ream Naval Base in the coastal city of Sihanoukville, but Hun Sen dismissed the concerns.

Ream base was at the center of controversy last year after The Wall Street Journal in July cited U.S. and allied officials as confirming a secret deal to allow the Chinese to use part of the base for 30 yearswith automatic renewals every 10 years after thatand to post military personnel, store weapons and berth warships.

The reported deal, which would provide China with its first naval staging facility in Southeast Asia and allow it to significantly expand patrols on the South China Sea, was vehemently denied at the time by Hun Sen, who said permitting foreign use of a military base in the country would be in full contradiction to Cambodias constitution.

Beijing decries unwarranted allegations

On Wednesday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters at a regular press briefing in Beijing that the Chinese government requires overseas Chinese companies to abide by local laws and regulations and stressed that bilateral cooperation between China and Cambodia is open, transparent, mutually beneficial and equal.

Wang said the U.S. has repeatedly used unwarranted allegations that Chinas relevant projects in other countries could be transformed into military bases to discredit and attack our normal cooperation with relevant countries.

However, the United States itself has hundreds of military bases in more than 150 countries around the world, he said, calling Washingtons approach hypocritical.

Wang alleged that Washington has been violating international law  to illegally impose sanctions on Chinese companies in order to contain and suppress China and vowed that Beijing will take necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of its own enterprises.

The Chinese Embassy in Phnom Penh issued a statement on its Facebook page Wednesday claiming that the Trump administration had exaggerated the truth in order to sanction UDG, calling the action a violation of Cambodian sovereignty and demanding that Washington reverse course.

Reported by RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
A prominent university has threatened to discipline students caught partying through the pandemic as part of an effort to cut down on superspreader events.

The most serious offenders  those who flagrantly disregard public health measures meant to curb the spread of COVID-19  will be formally reviewed, said Patrick Deane, the principal of Queens in Kingston.

Should they be found guilty under the student code of conduct, theyll be subject to sanctions as stipulated in the code, Deane said. Those sanctions do include the possibility of expulsion from the university.

Deane said there would be due process before anyone is kicked out of the school, and such punishment would be reserved only for those who have seriously jeopardized public safety.

When there are students who persist in flouting those regulations, obviously the university must have some kind of recourse against them, he said.

The announcement came a day after the regions top public health officer told Kingston city council that the school should take that action.

On Dr. Kieran Moores advice, the city also hiked fines to $2,000 from $500 for first-time offenders holding nuisance parties in violation of public health protocols. Repeat offenders could be referred to the courts, where they would face fines of up to $100,000.

Our assessment centre continues to be very busy, and testing in our case management is getting stretched, Moore told council. So, I think the response of increasing the fines is proportionate to the risk. We need further deterrents that would protect our community.

City officials said most of those fined in recent weeks have been in the university neighbourhood heavily populated by students.

Kingston has a large student population even during the pandemic. While Queens has limited in-person learning to about 4,400 students  roughly one sixth of its total population  many learning online have returned to the city.

Mayor Bryan Paterson said the city is working with the school to curb the partying, taking actions that include closing a popular pier and beach due to crowding. But he said it was necessary to boost the potential fines, because the parties didnt stop even after the go-to spots closed.

While we have seen the vast majority of students that have been very conscientious and careful to abide by those rules, there are some students that are clearly not taking it seriously, Paterson said. The fact that we have seen some very large house parties over the last week or two indicates that the message is still not getting through to some students.

Current provincial rules limit indoor gatherings to 50 people and outdoor ones to 100, all with physical distancing, to curb the spread of COVID-19, but the province now plans to lower the limits due to a recent increase in cases of coronavirus disease.

Premier Doug Fords office confirmed the plan Wednesday but wouldnt say when the new guidelines would be released.

Provincewide, there have been 45,383 COVID-19 cases, which includes 2,822 deaths and 40,245 cases classified as resolved.

Kingston has been mostly spared, reporting only 117 cases over the course of the pandemic  112 of which have since been resolved. None of the five people who currently have COVID-19 is in hospital or on a ventilator.
State Department officials defended the May 2019 arms sale to Gulf countries in Congress today, but some House members continued to take issue with the departments actions.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel said many in Congress thought that the US arming of Saudi Arabia led to unnecessary civilian deaths in Yemen but that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo disagreed.

Many of us here in Congress saw the situation on the ground in Yemen and said, 'Enough,' the New York Democrat said during a hearing today. Pompeos State Department didnt see it that way.

The hearing focused on the firing of State Department Inspector General Steve Linick in May. Congressional Democrats are concerned that Linick was fired for looking into the Trump administration's weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as well as allegations that Pompeo improperly used the departments resources for his personal benefit. In May 2019, Pompeo issued an emergency certification to allow the arms sales in question to go through. This bypassed a hold Congress placed on them due to concerns over civilian casualties.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE are part of the coalition supporting the UN-recognized Yemeni government against Iran-backed Houthi forces in the country. The Saudi-led coalition has been widely criticized for its actions in Yemen. In 2018, a coalition airstrike on a bus killed 38 schoolboys there.

During the hearing, Engel said the Donald Trump administration did not sufficiently research whether the sale of US weapons to Saudi Arabia and the UAE would lead to innocent deaths in Yemen. Didnt assess the risks, didnt try to reduce civilian casualties, said Engel. This isnt describing the Saudis or the Emiratis; its describing our State Department under the Trump administration.

Engel also said he doubts the transfer constituted an emergency because the weapons have yet to arrive to the Gulf. There was no emergency, he said.

State officials defended the decision to use emergency powers to push through the sale. R. Clarke Cooper, the assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs, said the sale was based on the significant increase in intelligence reporting on threat streams related to Iran.

Cooper cited pro-Iran militias' attacks on US forces in Iraq and Houthi forces' firing of missiles into Saudi Arabia since May 2019 to justify the emergency sale. Events since that time serve only to magnify the challenge Iran poses to the region and demonstrate the administration is on the right side of history, said Cooper at the hearing.

Iran, and the partners and proxies it supports, continue to threaten not only US partners, but have directly targeted US personnel and military forces and facilities in the region, he added.

Cooper said he would be willing to provide a classified briefing to the Foreign Affairs Committee on threats from Iran.

The controversy surrounding the arms sale is likely to continue. In August, a State Department inspector general report said Pompeo acted within the law when he skirted Congress to push the weapons sale through. The report also found that the department did not put in place measures to reduce civilian casualties with the sale.

On Tuesday, Engel released documents showing correspondence between the inspector general and the State Department. Engel said the documents show the department tried to hide information on the sale from Congress.
Google Pixel 5, the next generation of the companys Pixel smartphones, now has a release date. The internet giant on Tuesday sent out press invites for a special event on September 30, where it is expected to launch the new Pixel 5, along with a new Google Nest smart speaker and a new Chromecast device.

Google had announced that arrival of the Pixel 5 and a 5G variant of the more affordable Pixel 4a last month, along with the launch of the standard Pixel 4a in USA. Google had also said then that the Pixel 5 and the Pixel 4a 5G wont be launched in India. Google is, however, going to launch the Pixel 4a in India, along with the global release of the two 5G smartphones.

Google Pixel 5: What to Expect

Since Googles Pixel smartphones are one of the most anticipated smartphone launches every year, there has been a slew of rumours surrounding the Pixel 5. The phone is speculated to sport a 6-inch OLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate. The Pixel 5 is also rumoured to come with a Snapdragon 765G processor and a larger battery this time around, with support for 15W Qi wireless charging. The Pixel 5 might also come with 5W reverse wireless charging.

Google Pixel 4a 5G: What to Expect

The Pixel 4a 5G, on the other hand, is rumoured to come with a slightly larger 6.2-inch screen. It has also been reported that the Google Pixel 4a 5G might come with a dual-camera on the back, unlike the standard Google Pixel 4a, which only houses one rear shooter. The Pixel 4a 5G will likely be powered by the same Snapdragon 765G chipset, paired with 6GB RAM and 128GB internal storage. The battery on the Pixel 4a 5G is rumoured to be a 3,800mAh unit.

Google Nest Smart Speaker: What to Expect

The Google Nest smart speaker is the successor to Googles famous Home smart speaker. Google had teased the Nest smart speaker back in July, which pointed to a complete design refresh for Googles smart speaker. The new Nest speaker will have a tall shape, designed to stand on a surface. Earlier in July, the Nest Mini was seen in a regulatory filing in Japan, as well. It is speculated that the new smart speaker will be about 8.5 inches tall, with the mic-mute button on the back. The speaker will be wrapped in fabric, with a rubber stand on the bottom. The fabric on the Nest, as seen in the Google video previously, will come in at least two colours  grey with a hint of blue, and soft pink.

Google Chromecast: What to Expect

Remember the rumoured Google Android TV dongle doing rounds on the internet? Well, it might also make an official appearance on the same day. Codenamed Sabrina, the upcoming device is expected to be launched under the Chromecast branding, and offer users the ability to convert their regular TVs into an Android TV. This would be similar to products like the recently launched Mi TV Stick and the Nokia Media Streamer. As per the latest leaked information, Googles Android TV dongle is expected to run on an Amlogic S905X2 chipset clocked at up to 1.8GHz, paired with an ARM Mali-G31 MP2 GPU and 4GB RAM. It is expected to support 4K video as well as HDMI 2.1, HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision standards. It is also expected to have support for an Auto Low-Latency Mode, possibly to bring support for the Google Stadia cloud gaming service.
California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara said today that he will convene an investigatory hearing in October in advance of initiating a series of regulatory actions that will protect residents from the increasing risk of wildfires.

His announcement comes as devastating fires continuing to burn across the state and the Western U.S.

The announcement notes that several years of deadly and destructive wildfires, intensified by climate change, have made insurance more difficult and expensive to find for many Californians, and that his actions will aim to help stabilize the insurance market while protecting lives and homes.

With climate change fueling Californias devastating fires, I am taking action to bring down the risk of losing your home in a wildfire and losing your insurance to a non-renewal, Lara said in a statement. Californians need to know they can get and keep insurance they can afford before they buy, sell, or build a home. I will use my authority under California law and Proposition 103 to protect consumers and the future of a sustainable insurance market in our state.

The American Property Casualty Insurance Association has been reached out to for comment.

Lara will take the following actions:

Developing home-hardening standards that are consistent, based in fire science, and apply to all insurance companies;

Giving transparency to consumers about their wildfire risk score and what they can do to reduce it. Insurance companies use wildfire risk scores to determine which homes they will write and the premium they charge;

Creating insurance incentives recognizing home hardening, mitigation of properties, and community mitigation actions; and,

Requiring that insurance companies seek adequate and justifiable rates to protect the solvency of the market.

Laras actions come as California Department of Insurance data shows that insurance has become less available and affordable for many residents.

Our current reality of increasing insurance premiums and non-renewals hurts those who can least afford it, including working families and retirees on fixed incomes, Lara said. We can lower the insurance risk by incentivizing people to bring down the fire risk on their properties and in their communities with clear, science-based home-hardening standards. I call on insurance companies to work together with policyholders to renew California.

The investigatory hearing, which will be virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will be held on Monday, Oct. 19. The CDI website has an official invitation to the virtual hearing with sign-in details.

Related:

Topics California Catastrophe Natural Disasters Wildfire Homeowners
A research study found that a large number of workers frequently suffer cough, fatigue, body ache, etc. Worryingly, the study also found that they spend an average of Rs 7,248 per year on medical expenses, which amounts to 29.2 percent of their annual income

Wheezing has been persistent for 38-year-old A Kowsalya, a beedi roller from Tamil Nadu, who suffers because her job has become an inescapable reality. Her doctor has advised her to take a break from the occupation, but this is an option she can ill-afford.

"If I stop doing this work even for a while, the contractors will stop giving me work altogether. How will I sustain my family then? she asks. Kowsalya, a resident of Nettur village in Tirunelveli district, earns a meagre Rs 140 for every set of one thousand beedis she rolls. This income, along with her husbands who works as a coolie, is what keeps the household running. The COVID-19 lockdown has meant lesser work and dwindling earnings for the couple, and they worry about how they will pay their two sons school fees in the future.

Kowsalya is one of 460 women interviewed by AF Development Care, a New Delhi-based research consulting agency, for a study on the living conditions of beedi workers in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Out of the total respondents, 400 women presently work as beedi rollers while the remaining 60 have now left the occupation.

What did the study find:

The research found that a large number of workers frequently suffer from cough, fatigue, body ache, etc. Worryingly, the study also found that they spend an average of Rs 7,248 per year on medical expenses, which amounts to 29.2 percent of their annual income they earn through the occupation.

While the exorbitant yearly health expense is one indicator of how the job takes a toll on the workers, many women also listed out other serious health issues that came with the occupation. Lower back pain was the ailment that was most widely cited, with as many as 45.3 percent of the women saying that they suffered it either frequently or always.

Similarly, 43.5 percent of the respondents experienced body ache either frequently or always. For other symptoms of ill health such as breathing difficulty, cough and abdominal pain, the corresponding figures are 18.6 percent, 13.3 percent and 18.8 respectively.

While beedi rolling takes a significant toll on health of the workers, the amount of money they earn through it is paltry  on an average Rs 24,787 per year. Women beedi rollers in Karnataka earn slightly better (Rs 26,266) than their counterparts in Tamil Nadu (Rs 23,307), the study found.

In comparison, the average annual income of women who shifted from beedi rolling to alternative occupations was significantly high at Rs 58,431.

In a previous study, AF Development Care had analysed data from the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) to show that in 2011-2012, as many as 96 percent of beedi workers were home-based, while only 4 percent worked in factories. Out of the workers who worked from home, 83.7 percent were women and 16.3 percent were men.

The study also found significant gender gap in terms of pay - women, on an average, earn Rs 126 per day while the men make Rs 266 per day. The average earning fir women is even lower than the national minimum wage which is set at Rs 178 by the Code on Wages, 2019.

Beedi industry is only one such in India where the workers get wages based on the number of units (in this case, number of beedis) they produce. As noted in an article in the Pulitzer Center, other industries take into account both - the time-rate (amount of time spent at the job) and the piece-rate (the number of units of the commodity that are produced), into account.

It is little surprising then that over half of the beedi rollers interviewed for the study (53.8 percent) said that they wanted to shift to alternate occupations.

Low pay, tough working conditions

R Amutha, 48 and resident of Ukkirankottai village in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu is one of those who expressed the desire to leave the profession. She has been rolling beedis for thirty years now, and earns Rs 200 for every set of 1,000 hand-rolled cigarettes.

Speaking to Firstpost, Amutha said that she will be happy to take up an alternative job if she gets a better opportunity. Describing her ardous routine, she said, I have to finish my chores early in the morning, after which I make beedis from 9 am to 4 pm. I take a break for a few hours, and then again do the same work for a few hours in the evening. I often suffer headaches, body ache, and pain in the hands and legs because of the work that I do.

Another woman from her village, M Chithirai Kani, left beedi rolling a year ago, and although she is facing hard times on the economic front, she does not intend to go back to her old job. She said, After I left beedi rolling, I took up a job as a helper at a hotel, for which I earned Rs 8,000 a month. However, the hotel was closed recently. Now, I am working on my farm, but the rains have been scarce this year. If my farm income is not enough, I will work as a labourer on other peoples farms, or take up work under the MGNREGS. But I will certainly not take up beedi-making again. I was paid only Rs 150-200 for every thousand beedis, and I often suffered from headaches and body aches due to the nature of the work.

Jamila Begum, a resident of the Channapatna town in Karnatakas Ramanagara district, has also drastically cut down on beedi rolling on her doctors advice. She said, I used to get only Rs 150 for every set of 1,000 beedis. However, I often used to suffer from breathing difficulties and body ache because of it. Of late, I have also been suffering from heart-related ailments. I have two sons and they have started working as labourers now. So, I have now more or less stopped beedi rolling in the past two years.

Occupational health hazards such as the ones described above are only to be expected given the present nature of beedi-making further, says Sachi Satapathy, the principal investigator of the study conducted by AF Development Care. Speaking to Firstpost, he said, Women who roll beedis have to inhale tobacco dust throughout the time that they are working. They also have to remain in a particular sitting position for several hours at a stretch, sometimes in houses without adequate ventilation. These women are grossly underpaid and exploited. What makes matters worse is that even though they are prone to many long-term ailments, healthcare facilities in rural areas are often inadequate. This can mean that their illnesses can remain undiagnosed.

Satapathy further remarked, At present, because a large proportion of beedi rollers are home-based, they do not get the benefit of labour laws. The government must urgently formulate a strong and effective policy that is aimed at regulating the working conditions of these workers.

K Satish, a member of the data collection team for the study, said, These women, especially the poorer ones, are often exploited by contractors who give them work. This exploitation happens by giving the women sub-standard raw material, and then rejecting a certain percentage of beedis by saying that they are of inferior quality. The contractors keep even the rejected beedis but do not pay the women for them.

The study has emphasised that not only should beedi rollers be provided training for alternative occupations, but it should also be ensured that there is an economically viable market for the alternative skills.

Broadly, what becomes clear from the study is that improving the condition of beedi workers will require a combination of legal safeguards as well as alternative economic opportunities.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 23:04:13|Editor: huaxia

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MOSCOW, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- The United States has been accused by Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Director Sergei Naryshkin of playing a key role in preparing the protests following Belarus' presidential elections.

"Although Washington is trying to stay in the shadows in public space, the Americans have multiplied funding for the Belarusian anti-government forces after the start of the massive street protests," Naryshkin said in a statement issued on Wednesday.

He alleged that preparations began in 2019 and early 2020, when Washington channeled about 20 million U.S. dollars through various non-governmental organizations to help organize the protests.

"In fact, we are talking about a poorly veiled attempt to organize another color revolution and an anti-constitutional coup, the goals and objectives of which have nothing to do with the interests of the Belarusian citizens," Naryshkin said.

Belarus has been engulfed in mass protests since incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko won a sixth term in the Aug. 9 elections, with the opposition refusing to recognize the results. Enditem
US President Donald Trump welcomed Japan's new prime minister, the White House said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that the president looked forward to working with Yoshihide Suga and continuing to pursue "the vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific."
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Israel signed agreements to normalize diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain at the White House on Tuesday.

U.S. President Donald Trump joined Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan and Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani in signing the three-way agreements.

The signing ceremony, which was held in the South Lawn at the White House, formally makes the UAE and Bahrain the third and the fourth Arab nation to establish diplomatic ties with Israel. Egypt and Jordan signed their peace deals with Israel in 1979 and 1994, respectively.

The signing also demonstrated that the Trump administration is eager to showcase its foreign policy achievement and gain support among pro-Israel evangelical Christians with the upcoming presidential election.

Trump touted the historical significance of the agreements by calling them "peace deals."

The UAE and Bahrain have never fought a war against Israel in history, and the unofficial relationship between Israel and the two Arab states have developed for years.

Netanyahu hailed the normalization agreements as "a pivot of history" that heralds new dawn of peace, saying Israel, the UAE and Bahrain are eager to invest in a future of partnership, prosperity and peace.

Bahrain's foreign minister noted that the agreement is an important first step, while emphasizing the two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

"Today's agreement is an important first step and it is now incumbent on us to work urgently and actively to bring about the lasting peace and security our peoples deserve a just, comprehensive, and enduring two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict will be the foundation, the bedrock of such peace," he said.

Sheikh Abdullah of the UAE in his remarks expressed thanks to Netanyahu for halting the annexation of Palestinian territories, calling it "a decision that reinforces our shared will to achieve a better future for generations to come."

According to the Israel-UAE deal announced on Aug. 13, Israel agrees to suspend its plan to annex parts of the occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank.

The Palestinian leadership, which has long accused the Trump administration of being biased in favor of Israel, condemned the deals.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on all Arab countries to abide by the Arab Peace Initiative, launched in 2002, which stipulates that the Arabs can only normalize relations with Israel after the Palestinian issue is resolved.
The Greater Washington Coalition for Jewish Life is gearing up for its High Holiday services.

The schedule will begin Sept. 18 with Rosh Hashanah.

This Jewish community, whose members reside in different towns in and around Litchfield and Fairfield County, is gathering again to welcome the High Holidays.

Because of health and safety considerations, this year will include both virtual and in-person gatherings.

Coalition services are open to all, but pre-registration is required to receive a link to virtual service options.

Jewish life is about community, and that community is what makes the coalition such a special group, said Rabbi James Greene, the coalitions spiritual leader.

The coalition is a family where everyone is welcome, he said. Although our virtual services provide a unique challenge, our committee has been diligently planning for months and I am looking forward to celebrating the Jewish New Year with our members and guests.

Although we may be physically distant, we remain socially connected through the coalition, he said.

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, will begin at sundown Sept. 18 and will continue through Sept. 19 with morning services.

The coalition will also come together on Saturday afternoon for an outdoor, in-person gathering.

The high holidays will continue on the evening of Sept. 27 with Kol Nidrei and on Sept. 28 during the day for Yom Kippur, the day of atonement.

There is no cost to attend services with the coalition, but pre-registration is required to receive the appropriate video link.

The Greater Washington Coalition for Jewish Life meets monthly for Friday night worship as well as for Jewish holidays, life cycle events, Jewish study, and programs that present Judaism in a relevant, interactive way.

For more information, email jewishlifect@gmail.com or call Sally Talarico at 860-868-2434.
(Newser)  Snooki and the gang moved out a long time ago, but the antics haven't ended at the Seaside Heights, NJ, house featured in Jersey Shore. Authorities say YouTube pranksters the Nelk Boys hosted a website launch party at the house Monday that attracted hundreds of people, breaching the state's coronavirus regulations. "There was not an actual count but there was an estimate by our police department of about a thousand young people," Mayor Anthony Vaz tells the New York Daily News. Video shared on Instagram shows a tightly packed crowd outside the house. Under NJ's regulations, outdoor gatherings are limited to 500 people and social distancing is required.

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Police broke up the gathering around 9pm and arrested several people for disorderly conduct. Daniel Merk, the man who rented the house to the Nelk Boys, tells NBC that the YouTubers said the house was only going to be used for a small gathering. "I was not prepared for this, the town was not prepared for this," says Merk, who could be fined or lose his rental license. "There's definitely going to be ramifications from this," he says. "I'm definitely going to be in trouble for this." The mayor says there will be "consequences" and he plans to hold the Nelk Boys financially responsible for the cost of the police response. (Read more New Jersey stories.)
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 18:08:37|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Nearly 6,800 Taiwan students have applied for mainland colleges and universities this year, a Chinese mainland spokesperson said Wednesday.

Ma Xiaoguang, a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said admissions are still in progress, congratulating and welcoming those who have been admitted to mainland universities.

Addressing a regular press conference, Ma said Taiwan students will resume classes together with their mainland counterparts after completing quarantine in accordance with local regulations.

If any Taiwan student cannot return to school temporarily due to various reasons, mainland universities will offer alternative options, such as online learning and tutoring, to ensure their studies, Ma said. Enditem
She recently revealed plans to kick-start her exercise routine.

And Jacqueline Jossa proudly displayed her tanned curves in a sexy chocolate brown bikini as she posed for a sizzling shoot on Monday.

The former EastEnders star, 27, looked incredible in the revealing two-piece teamed with a white blazer as she shared the sexy snap from her shoot with BPerfect Cosmetics.

Gorgeous: Jacqueline Jossa, 27, proudly displayed her tanned curves in a sexy chocolate brown bikini and white blazer as she posed for a sizzling shoot on Monday

Jacqueline exuded confidence as she posed up a storm for the shoot in a revealing brown bikini top and matching bottoms.

The actress teamed the look with a statement white blazer as she showed off the results from the tanning brand.

She let her glossy brunette waves tumble down her back as she captioned the post: 'Work attire: blazer and a tan. COMING SOON'

Jacqueline is known for promoting body confidence and embracing her curves in her social media content.

Embrace your looks: The former EastEnders star is known for promoting body confidence and embracing her curves in her social media content

During her family Greek holiday last month, the TV personality took to Instagram to share an 'unedited' snap, which saw her clad in a cute pink-coloured two-piece while on a boat.

Beaming in the sea-filled snap, Jacqueline captioned the post 'Unedited but hell she is breathing in!!', explaining that it was completely untouched after previously showing her followers the power of editing apps.

It came days after she claimed that celebrities who edit their social media snaps must be 'insecure'.

Gorgeous: Jacqueline also recently took to Instagram to post a gallery of snaps featuring her latest collaboration with fashion brand In The Style

In a series of videos to Instagram Stories, the ITV darling insisted she didn't have any qualms with making small tweaks to snaps, but thought it was a 'bit crazy' for users to completely change their body shape.

Jacqueline also shared her own attempt at altering a selfie she'd taken after jetting abroad on her family holiday with husband Dan and their kids.

In a series of videos, Jacqueline explained this was her first attempt at using an editing app, and reminded her fans that not all social media snaps are as they seem.

Happy: During her family Greek holiday last month, the I'm A Celebrity winner also took to social media to share an 'unedited' bikini snap in a coral two-piece

The star, who shared several looks from her autumn/winter In The Style range on Instagram on Monday, demonstrated how she managed to change her own face to give the illusion of 'a full face of make-up.'

Jacqueline explained: 'I wanted you guys to know and see how easy it is and how much you can't really tell and that everybody does it.

'So you know when you looking at people thinking, ''they look flawless and absolutely amazing'', the majority they don't.'

Jacqueline has previously spoken out in support of body confidence after revealing she is planning to kick-start an exercise routine.

The star, who has embraced her size 12-14 figure, said on Instagram last month: 'I'm having those thoughts of I need to start doing a bit for me and I'm going to try and go for walks and maybe do some exercise.

It comes after Jacqueline revealed she finally 'doesn't care' about being a size 12 to 14, after sharing a candid snap of her figure in a bikini from different camera angles.

The I'm A Celebrity winner said she has finally accepted her curves and embraced being a 'plus-sized' woman, but hasn't ruled out the idea of hitting the gym to lose weight.
Arts Minister Catherine Martinand Catherine Heaney, Chair of the National Museum of Ireland, looking at a late 10th / early 11th century bell. PIC JULIEN BEHAL PHOTOGRAPHY

A womans shoe made of cowhide and dating back to 899AD alongside a bronze-coated handbell used to curse people are two of the eye-catching artefacts that have gone on display in Dublins National Museum of Ireland.

The Kildare Street venue yesterday lifted the curtain on a new exhibition of 24 historical artefacts dating back 1,200 years all found around one of Ireland's most famous monastic sites.

Entitled Glendalough: Power, Prayer and Pilgrimage this is the first time many of the items have been seen publicly, having been carefully curated by Matthew Seaver for the museums first exhibition post-Covid.

Given that the beauty spot found by St Kevin in the 6th century was a place where pilgrims sought isolation and spiritual solace, the exhibition has been hailed as particularly timely given the current crisis.

Expand Close Deirdre Geraghty pictured at the launch of Glendalough: Power, Prayer and Pilgrimage. PIC JULIEN BEHAL PHOTOGRAPHY / Facebook

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Whatsapp Deirdre Geraghty pictured at the launch of Glendalough: Power, Prayer and Pilgrimage. PIC JULIEN BEHAL PHOTOGRAPHY

Many of the objects on display were discovered as part of UCD-led research archaeological excavations undertaken at Glendalough and starting in the 1950s. Others were found by members of the public or by donation from a religious body.

Some of the more exotic objects found reveal Glendaloughs significance to pilgrims from Ireland and beyond over the centuries including a cross made of an English gemstone called jet. There are also pieces of a porphyry tile thought to have originated from a building in Rome.

Other items of interest a piece of shale which was used as a board and used to play a game called Merels which dates back to the Roman Empire.

The item of footwear dates back over 1,100 years and is described in an under-stated fashion as being heavily worn. Historians believe it belonged to a pilgrim and had been preserved in a bog for over a millenia before being discovered.

The Dublin Diocese donated the handbell, which dates back to the 8th or 9th century. As well as being used to mark meal and prayer times, they were also believed to have the power to banish evil spirits and curse people.

Museum Chair Catherine Heaney said the new exhibition will really resonate with members of the public.

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So many themes in this exhibition resonate with the times we are living through  isolation, reflection, faith, and the healing qualities of the countryside, she said.

Collectively, we can take comfort from the endurance of these objects, and of our resilience as a nation through difficult times, past and present.

Entry is free but visitors must book slots in advance on www.museum.ie
Indian soldiers and Chinese troops fired warning shots in the August 29-30 clash at the southern bank of Pangong lake in Ladakh. Amid continuing hostility, 100-200 rounds of warning shots were also fired by the two sides on September 8. The incident happened when the Chinese army tried to close in on Indian forward positions.

Yesterday Defence Minister Rajnath Singh informed in Lok Sabha that Chinese PLA has mobilised a large number of troops and armaments along the LAC as well as in the depth areas, adding there are several friction areas in eastern Ladakh including Gogra, Kongka La and North and South Banks of the Pangong Lake. He said that China continues to be in an "illegal occupation" of approximately 38,000 sq. kms in the Union Territory of Ladakh.

The defence minister also said that even as discussions were going on, the Chinese side again engaged in "provocative military manoeuvers" on the night of August 29 and 30 in an attempt to change the status quo in the South Bank area of Pangong lake.

"I will not hesitate to share with this August House that we are facing a challenge in Ladakh and I urge the House to pass a resolution in support of our armed forces who have been defending our motherland at great heights and most inclement weather conditions," he said.

Satellite imagery of the Pangong Lake region shows Chinese construction activity in the North Bank and the creation of new Chinese posts near the LAC in the South Bank.

Also read: India says China laying fibre optic cables to boost communications at Ladakh border
Press Release

September 16, 2020 Sponsorship Speech at the Commission on Appointments

by Senator Panfilo M. Lacson

More at: https://pinglacson.net/2020/09/16/sponsorship-speech-for-13-dfa-officers-at-the-commission-on-appointments/ Mr. Chairman, distinguished members of the Commission on Appointments, our common idol, Mr. Senate President - the fightingest secretary of the DFA, this Representation as Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, presided over a public hearing this morning to deliberate on the nominations of six (6) Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). The Committee likewise deliberated on the ad interim appointments of one (1) Senior Officer to the rank of Chief of Mission, Class I, and six (6) Senior Officials promoted to the rank of Foreign Service Officer, Class II. Your Committee, after deliberating on their qualifications and fitness during the said public hearing, determined that all of the six (6) nominees and seven (7) appointees are fit and qualified to the post and position to which they are respectively promoted or nominated, and ruled to recommend to the plenary their respective nominations and appointments for the consent and confirmation of this august body. Mr. Chairman, it is therefore my honor and privilege to recommend that the Commission give its consent to the nomination of the following Department of Foreign Affairs' Senior Officers, namely: MS. MARIA AMELITA C. AQUINO. Our nominee has 35 long years of experience in the Foreign Service. She started as a Foreign Service Staff Employee III performing the functions of a clerk at the Office of American Affairs, and worked her way up to assume important posts overseas, particularly, at the Philippine Embassies in Santiago, Chile; Mexico City, Mexico; Chongqing, China; and finally, in Buenos Aires, Argentina where she earned the distinction of being the first woman to assume the post of a Philippine Ambassador to Argentina with concurrent jurisdiction over Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay. Mr. Chairman, it is my honor to recommend that this body give its consent to the nomination of MS. MARIA AMELITA C. AQUINO as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Kingdom of Cambodia, with the salary and emoluments of a Chief of Mission, Class I. I so move, Mr. Chairman. Our next nominee is ATTY. FRANK REVIL CIMAFRANCA. He is fondly known to many as Jojo, a proud Boholanon and probinsyano. He joined the Department of Foreign Affairs in 1981 as a clerk and researcher. He later pursued his law studies while at the DFA and steadily made his way up to significant overseas posts. In recognition of his outstanding service to our migrant workers, he was conferred with the Parangal-Kabalikat na Lingkod-Bayan Award in 2010. Mr. Chairman and distinguished colleagues, it is my privilege and honor to recommend that this body give its consent to the nomination of ATTY. FRANK REVIL CIMAFRANCA as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Hungary, with concurrent jurisdiction over Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Bulgaria, Montenegro, Romania, the Republic of Serbia, and the Republic of Moldova, with the salary and emoluments of a Chief of Mission, Class I. I so move, Mr. Chairman. Our third nominee is MR. MEYNARDO LOS BANOS MONTEALEGRE. Our nominee has 30 years of experience in the Foreign Service, starting in 1990 as the Principal Assistant of the Northeast Asia Division (Japan and Korea) to his present post as Assistant Secretary of the Office of Asian and Pacific Affairs or ASPAC. Under his leadership, ASPAC was honored with the Best Organization Award in 2019, Top Newsmaker Award and the Most Requested Office for Media Interview Award 2019 by the DFA. Mr. Chairman, it is my privilege and honor to recommend that this body give its consent to the nomination of MR. MEYNARDO MONTEALEGRE as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. I so move, Mr. Chairman. Our next nominee started his legal career as an Associate Lawyer in various private firms in 1990, until he joined the Department in 1995. He rose from the ranks and assumed key positions overseas, particularly at the Embassies of the Republic of the Philippines in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Muscat, Oman; Wellington, New Zealand and Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Being the current Assistant Secretary of the DFA's Internal Audit Service, it is worth mentioning that he effectively headed various internal audit teams that audited 17 of the DFA's units comprising seven Regional Consular Offices and 10 Foreign Service Posts, and thereafter conducted Management Conferences relative to the findings. Mr. Chairman and distinguished colleagues, it is my privilege and honor to recommend that this body give its consent to the appointment of ATTY. GIOVANNI ENDENCIA PALEC as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Hellenic Republic with concurrent jurisdiction over the Republic of Cyprus, with the salary and emoluments of a Chief of Mission, Class II. I so move, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, our next nominee is LT. GEN. MACAIROG S. ALBERTO (Retired). A fellow cavalier from PMA Sinagtala Class of 1986, our nominee has a reputable 37-year service in the Armed Forces of the Philippines. He was conferred with a Distinguished Service Star in 2008 as the Battalion Commander of the 3rd Scout Ranger Battalion; and again, in 2015, as the Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence of the Philippine Army (PA). His outstanding credentials in military service affirm his competency and advantage as an envoy to the State of Israel. Mr. Chairman, it is my privilege and honor to recommend that this body give its consent to the nomination of GEN. MACAIROG S. ALBERTO as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the State of Israel, with the salary and emoluments of a Chief of Mission, Class I. I so move, Mr. Chairman. Finally, Mr. Chairman, our last nominee is MR. MOHD. NOORDIN PENDOSINA NOOR LOMONDOT. He has been lauded for ably promoting the welfare of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), most recognized of which was the successful rescue of ten (10) Filipinas who were victims of abuse in Labuan, Malaysia and which earned him one of his laurels, the Kalinga sa Kapwa Award, by the Social Welfare Attache. Mr. Chairman, it is my privilege and honor to recommend that this body give its consent to the nomination of MR. MOHD. NOORDIN PENDOSINA NOOR LOMONDOT as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the State of Kuwait with the salary and emoluments of a Chief of Mission, Class I. I so move, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chairman, it is likewise my honor and privilege to recommend to the Commission the confirmation of the ad interim appointment of MS. MILLICENT CRUZ-PAREDES, a lawyer by profession who has passionately worked for the diplomatic service for more than two decades and is now serving as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Kingdom of Thailand and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), to the rank of Chief of Mission, Class I. I so move, Mr. Chairman. At this point, Mr. Chairman, let me recommend to the Commission the confirmation of the ad interim appointments of the following officials to the rank of Foreign Service Officer, Class II: 1. MR. JUAN CARLOS C. BORROMEO I so move, Mr. Chairman. 2. MS. JANINA LOURDES S. BUSTOS I so move, Mr. Chair. 3. MR. RAINIER JAEN CASIS* I so move, Mr. Chairman. 4. MS. MA. CHARMAINE D. GUEVARA* I so move, Mr. Chair. 5. MR. ALVIN CASTANEDA MALASIG* I so move, Mr. Chair. And finally, 6. MR. JOSE CARLO GRIMALDO MORALES* I so move, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is scheduled to address Rajya Sabha on the situation along the Line of Actual Control in Eastern Ladakh on Wednesday (September 16). Rajnath Singh will address the Upper House of Parliament at 11 am. It is to be noted that the Union Defence Minister had briefed Lok Sabha on India-China standoff on Tuesday.

Singh asserted in Lok Sabha that there should be no doubt about the country's determination to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and asserted that India's armed forces are ready to deal with "all contingencies" in Ladakh.

The Union minister noted that China has been conveyed that any attempt to "unilaterally" change the status quo along the LAC is not at all acceptable while acknowledging that India is facing a "challenge" in the region.

"As this House is aware, China is in unauthorized occupation of about 38,000 square km of land in Ladakh. Also, under a so-called Boundary-Agreement in 1963, Pakistan illegally handed over 5180 square km of Indian land of PoK to China. China's action shows its disregard towards our various bilateral agreements. The deployment of large amounts of troops by China is a violation of the 1993 and 1996 agreement," said the Defence Minister.

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Singh also stated that respect and strict adherence to the Line of Actual Control (LAC) is the basis for peace and harmony in the border areas, and is explicitly accepted in the 1993 and 1996 agreements. "While our armed forces fully follow it, it has not happened from the Chinese side," said the Defence Minister.

"India is committed to resolving the current issues in border areas through peaceful dialogue and consultation. To achieve this objective, I met my Chinese counterpart in Moscow on 4 September and we had an in-depth discussion with them. I clearly put our concerns before the Chinese side, which was concerned with the deployment of large numbers of troops, aggressive behaviour and unilaterally changing the status quo (which violated bilateral agreements)," he added.
Kolkata: On March 5, 2020, amid beats of Tamak (tribal drums), West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee sprung a surprise after she danced with the tribal women in Malda district.

It was a mass marriage ceremony organised by the state government under the Rupashree Prakalpa scheme and her gesture attuned well among the tribal community despite the Bharatiya Janata Partys impressive performance in Bengals Jangalmahal region in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Over the past few months, the states ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) has aggressively managed to regain most of its lost ground in the refugee and tribal-dominated areas of Jangalmahal and Mamatas announcement on September 14, 2020, to set up a Tribal Sahitya Academy is certainly a well-thought move ahead of the 2021 assembly polls in Bengal.

Dalit literature is an important chapter and its inclusion in the Bengali literature will enrich the latter. Therefore, in todays cabinet meeting, we have decided to set up a Tribal Sahitya Akademi in Bengal. We already have Tribal Board but Tribal Sahitya Academy is something new, Mamata said, with a broader target to woo all the people from the Dalit community.

While sharing more about Tribal Sahitya Academy, the chief minister had said, The whole idea behind this is to promote learning sessions on tribal literature, setting up of a library and to address issues related to tribes like Nomosudra, Matua, Bagdi, Bauri, Dom, Manjhi and others who falls under the ST category. Mamata announced the name of Manoranjan Byapari, a rickshaw puller turned Bengali writer and socio-political activist, as its chairman.

With eyes on the nearly 35.8% Scheduled Caste (SC) and Schedule Tribe (ST) voters in Bankura (predominantly a tribal area with 12 assembly seats out of the states 294) alone and close to 40% in the entire tribal-dominated Jangalmahal region, the party is strategically moving ahead to corner the BJP, which made significant advances in all these tribal seats during last years Lok Sabha polls.

Party insiders said that Mamata is seeing Bankura district as the gateway to win tribal confidence because three-fourths of the district is in Jangalmahal. If we manage to set the confidence among the tribal people in Bankura, it will have ripple effects in the entire south Bengal including Purulia, Paschim Medinipur and Jhargram, consisting of 32 assembly seats (most under Jangalmahal), a senior TMC leader in Jhargram said.

Once a Maoist stronghold, Jangalmahals substantial vote bank of the Left Front moving towards it has pushed the saffron brigade ahead of the ruling TMC here in recent years. This helped the BJP to create history by securing 18 Lok Sabha seats out of the total 42 in Bengal in 2019.

According to Election Commission (EC) statistics, though the BJP lost to the TMC in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the vote percentage of the saffron party increased significantly to 20% in the Jangalmahal districts. Similarly, in the 2018 panchayat elections, the BJP upped its vote share by 27% in Jangalmahal districts as the Trinamool suffered big setbacks in Jhargram, Purulia and Bankura.

On the other hand, Mamata is also carefully handling the Matua Dalit community (Scheduled Caste) because they were the deciding factor during the Left rule till she came to power in 2011. Mamata knows that any significant division in the Matua vote share  a deciding factor in nearly 90 assembly segments in the state  could shatter her mission 2021 for the assembly polls.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and in the 2016 assembly elections, its only with the blessings of Binapani Devi Thakur (an influential Matua leader who died on March 5, 2019) that the TMC ruled the area with the support of Matuas.

Considering these factors, Mamata has already re-activated her partys refugee cell and appointed Mukul Chandra Bairagya as its convenor. Bairagya is the working president of the All India Namasudra Vikash Parishad (an organisation of several Scheduled Caste communities). The TMC has also approached leaders of Kurmi (another Dalit community that falls under OBC category) to handle the BJP in some areas of Jangalmahal.

In the previous Lok Sabha polls, the Kurmis sided with the BJP in the hope that their long-pending demand of getting Scheduled Tribe status will be fulfilled (as the matter is pending with the Centre) and the saffron brigades vote share has increased in the last few years.
Tokyo :

Toshiba shares went into freefall on Thursday, with the embattled stock down by nearly half since late December on concerns about huge losses at its nuclear power business in the United States.

The Tokyo-listed shares dived 16 per cent to end the day at 242.3 yen after Japanese media said the vast conglomerate could book losses of as much as 700 billion yen (USD 6.1billion) in the US unit.

The stock fell as much as 26 per cent earlier in the day,its biggest intraday decline in more than four decades,according to Bloomberg. The eye-popping loss would force the company, which has been struggling to move past an embarrassing accounting scandal, to seek support from a government-backed lender, the Nikkei newspaper said.

Toshiba, one of Japan's best-known firms, said exact figures were not finalised.

"We are still discussing how to deal with this issue, and no concrete decisions have been made," it said in a statement. Toshiba has fallen more than 45 per cent since the company, which makes everything from nuclear reactors to laptops, warned in late December of a possible one-time loss on its US nuclear business.

It said costs linked to the acquisition last year by its US subsidiary Westinghouse of a nuclear services company could come to "several billion US dollars" and dent its earnings. Japan's public broadcaster NHK said today Toshiba had drafted a plan to sell more assets and delay expensive plans such as layoffs to boost its coffers by about 300 billion yen.

Toshiba might spin off its semiconductor operations into a separate firm, among other efforts, in a bid to shore up its finances, NHK and the Nikkei said.

Toshiba said that splitting its memory chip business was an option, but that no conclusion had been reached. "There is a bigger sense of crisis than you would have imagined even a week ago," said Damian Thong, an analyst atMacquarie Group.

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Hamiltons hospitals are watching Ontarios uptick in COVID-19 cases with worry as they try to get through a massive backlog of postponed care.

Were seeing increased cases in the community but were not seeing increased hospitalizations so far, said Dr. Wes Stephen, chief operating officer of Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS). But its only a matter of time.

Over the weekend, the Ontario Hospital Association and Kevin Smith, CEO of Torontos University Health Network (UHN), warned the province is losing ground in the fight against COVID-19.

Im worried, Smith, who was previously CEO of St. Josephs Healthcare, tweeted on Sept. 12. He said UHN has gone from zero cases for several weeks to seven, with the majority in the intensive care unit.

Its time to act, he tweeted. We know how to turn the tide on increasing cases of COVID. Mask. Physically distance. Hand wash. Limit gatherings. Test. Trace. Isolate. Get serious.

The second wave of COVID-19 is coming sooner than expected, said current CEO of St. Josephs Healthcare, Dr. Tom Stewart.

There is a growing concern, he said. Really the numbers we are seeing now on a daily basis are not dissimilar to numbers that would be typical during the spring (in the first wave).

The uptick  with 251 new infections reported by the province Tuesday  comes as hospitals are gradually reintroducing elective surgery and other postponed care. While there are no numbers locally, research published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal on Sept. 1 estimates 148,364 surgeries were postponed provincewide from March 15 to June 13. The Toronto researchers estimate it will take 84 weeks to clear the backlog.

Weve got one eye on the uptick of COVID cases, said Stephen. It is worrisome. Were all wondering how big is the next wave and how much of an impact its going to have on health care.

There is wide agreement that hospitals can not postpone care again but they also need to make sure they have beds available for a potential surge of COVID-19 patients.

Our goal is not to add to the wait list and we are actively working toward getting back to our pre-COVID surgical volumes, said Stephen. I do want to emphasize that we do recognize the impact on the patients waiting for their surgery and we continue to plan in hopes to get the backlog addressed.

Originally, the province directed hospitals to leave 15 per cent of their acute care beds open for COVID-19 patients but Stephen says HHS is working to keep 10 per cent free.

Its a big task considering Ontarios hospitals normally have more patients than funded beds. As a result they open beds not paid for by the Ministry of Health and often have to put them in unconventional spaces like sunrooms, family rooms and hallways which has been coined hallway medicine.

From what were hearing  all across Ontario  the hospitals are back up toward 100 per cent capacity, Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition, said about hospitals having all funded beds full.

Now we are heading into a second wave and it does not appear that theres any more of a plan than there was in the first wave to provide enough care to meet the population need  so we are extremely concerned.

A long-standing issue that fills hospital beds is patients who cant be discharged because they are waiting for other types of care such as home care and long-term care. For the first time in more than a decade, hospitals were able to get the majority of these patients care in other settings at the beginning of the pandemic. But the problem is creeping back again.

We havent been able to move patients in the usual way into long-term care, so a lot of patients are backed up into hospital, said Stewart. As we try to ramp up and catch up on our backlog, as we maybe get hit by another surge of COVID and then do our usual hospital operations, something has got to give.

Hospitals in Hamilton, Burlington, Brant, Niagara, Haldimand and Norfolk released a joint plan for the second wave which mostly focuses on working together to make sure none of them are overcome.

We have worked together to develop a strategy that allows us to balance the demand across the region and make sure that our health-care system  no one part of it becomes overwhelmed, said Dr. Cheryl Williams, vice-president of adult regional care at HHS.

The plan keeps things much as they are with Hamilton General Hospital, the Charlton campus of St. Josephs, Joseph Brant Hospital, Niagara Healths St. Catharines site, Norfolk General Hospital and Brant Community Healthcare System as the main providers of care to COVID patients.

Hospitals have always had the ability to work together if one is completely overwhelmed, said Mehra. I think theyre making much of what really isnt much of a plan.

She said the lack of a robust plan is a problem across the province
Loving birthday greeting to Harry or serious shade at Meghan? The royal debate is on.

Prince William and Kate Middleton took to Instagram early Tuesday with a sweet post for Prince Harry's 36th birthday that caught the eyes of many for lacking any reference to his wife, Meghan Markle.

"Wishing a very happy birthday to Prince Harry today!" read the Kensington Royal caption.

The family's official Instagram account posted a photo of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge racing alongside Harry. Markle, the former "Suits" actress, was nowhere to be found.

Some pointed out that the decision to choose a picture not featuring Markle, 39, had nothing to do with the oft-rumored rifts between the royals and the Duchess of Sussex.

Some pointed out that for Markle's birthday last month, the Cambridges posted a photo of the "Elephant" narrator without her husband.

In early January, Prince Harry and Markle announced they would "step back" as "senior" royals. They've since moved stateside to Markle's hometown of Los Angeles.

 New York Daily News

Madonna to direct, co-write her biopic

A biopic about Madonna has found a uniquely qualified director: Madonna, herself.

Universal Pictures announced Tuesday that the studio is developing an untitled film about the pop star that Madonna will direct and co-write with "Juno" scribe Diablo Cody. Madonna said she wants the film to convey "the incredible journey that life has taken me on as an artist, a musician, a dancer  a human being, trying to make her way in this world."

"The focus of this film will always be music," said Madonna "Music has kept me going and art has kept me alive. There are so many untold and inspiring stories and who better to tell it than me. It's essential to share the roller coaster ride of my life with my voice and vision."

The film will be produced by Amy Pascal, the former Sony Pictures chief who produced "A League of their Own," the 1992 film co-starring Madonna.

"This movie is an absolute labor of love for me," said Pascal. "I have known Madonna since we made 'A League of Their Own' together, and I can't imagine anything more thrilling than collaborating with her and Diablo on bringing her true-life story to the big screen with Donna (Langley) and our partners at Universal."

Madonna, 62, previously directed the 2008 British drama "Filth and Wisdom" and the 2011 period drama "W.E.," with Abbie Corning and Andrea Riseborough. Madonna, whose last album was 2019's "Madame X," has sold 335 million records worldwide.

 Associated Press

Rowling slammed as 'transphobic'

Author J.K. Rowling is, again, at the center of another anti-transgender controversy.

Sign up for The Knick  Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter.

In the fifth installment in Rowling's "Cormoran Strike" series  which she has written under the pen name Robert Galbraith  the creator of the "Harry Potter" universe seems to double-down on her anti-transgender rhetoric.

According to early reviewers, "Troubled Blood," tells the story of a male serial killer named Dennis Creed who dresses up as a woman to kill his female victims.

Jake Kerridge, a reviewer for U.K.'s newspaper Telegraph, wrote that the "meat" of the 900-page novel, out Tuesday, is an investigation into the disappearance of a woman in 1974, who was believed to be murdered by Creed.

"One wonders what critics of Rowling's stance on trans issues will make of a book whose moral seems to be: never trust a man in a dress," he wrote.

"She's been a blatant transphobic for years THEN she writes this book which pretty much confirms that she hates trans people," tweeted "The Dirty Vegan" author Catherine Gill. "She's been a giant bigot for a long time and has always targeted trans people specifically."

 New York Daily News

Cardi B files for divorce from Offset

Grammy-winning rapper Cardi B filed a divorce petition in Atlanta on Tuesday after nearly three years of marriage to Migos rapper Offset, according to a Fulton County court filing reviewed by the Los Angeles Times.

A hearing in the case is scheduled for Nov. 4.

Cardi B, whose real name is real name Belcalis Almanzar, 27, stated she is currently separated from her husband, the marriage is "irretrievably broken" and "there are no prospects for a reconciliation," People and TMZ reported.

 Los Angeles Times
The agreement establishing diplomatic relations will be signed at noon today at the White House. This will help Trump in his election campaign and Netanyahu, who is contested at home. Both sides will enjoy mutual benefits in terms of technology and financial resources. Meanwhile, the Palestinians remain increasingly divided and isolated. The number of people present at the ceremony will be limited due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Washington (AsiaNews)  Today at noon, the White House will be the venue for the signing of the Abraham Accords, the historic pact aimed at normalising relations and opening diplomatic channels between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (with Bahrain ready to follow), each for their own reasons, and the US President Donald Trump, who plays host in front of TV cameras.

The Palestinians are nowhere to be seen, relegated to the margins if not forgotten, whose feeble voice seems to have less and less weight in the international arena.

For Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this is an important moment. Faced with a second coronavirus wave (Israel is the first country in the world to impose a second lockdown), a corruption trial, and street protests, including one just before he left for the United States, he is playing the international card for the sake of his political survival.

For experts, today's signing ceremony in Washington represents one of his greatest successes, which will be followed by the Israeli flag raising ceremony at the countrys new embassies in Abu Dhabi and Manama. The same will happen for the two Arab states in Tel Aviv.

Now Israelis may even be able admire Saudi territory and coast from their plane on their way east.

Before signing, Netanyahu and Trump will hold a bilateral meeting to be followed by a mini-summit with the foreign ministers of the UAE and Bahrain, who will then have their own tete-a-tete with the US president.

Of course, Trump will sign the agreement as a "witness" or an "observer". For him, today's ceremony should boost his re-election chances in November, as the gap with his Democratic rival Joe Biden narrows.

This is a far cry from his predecessor Barack Obama who could not envisage such an outcome given the crisis in relations with Israel at the end of his mandate.

The main signatories, Israel and the UAE, will also benefit. Analysts and experts point to the combined potential of Israeli technologies and Abu Dhabi's financial power to open new avenues in the Middle East.

In addition to Israeli technology and UAE money, transport and logistics are also at stake, such as Dubais airport, the busiest in the world. For many, this is not a pact between two regional powers, but a broader agreement between international players.

Bahrain is expected to follow with others lining up, starting with Saudi Arabia, despite the opposition of its leaders who want an agreement with the Palestinians first.

It will be interesting to see if Netanyahu refers to the issue today or simply illustrates the benefits and concessions included in the process of normalising diplomatic relations with Arab countries, which now join or complete Trump's so-called "deal of the century".

For the Palestinians, the story is different. Marginalised, they are increasingly in need of new leaders and greater internal cohesion to play any role and obtain diplomatic benefits and concessions.

All this is happening as Arab countries, with rare exceptions like Algeria and Kuwait, seem increasingly to be turning towards Israel to stand against Iran in the ongoing power shuffle in the Middle east.

The agreement represents a special historical time dominated by the novel coronavirus pandemic, which has forced ceremony organisers to make necessary adjustments: the hundreds of guests will be "encouraged" to wear masks and respect social distancing, but mouth and nose covering will not be mandatory.

The ceremony will be held at the White House South Lawn, which has more space for the 700 people expected; however, this is half the number of those who attended Trumps Republican nomination a few weeks ago.
Ireland's Acting Chief Medical Officer has warned that there are "particularly concerning trends" emerging in Louth relating to the spread of Covid-19.

Speaking this evening Dr Ronan Glynn said: "Along with Dublin we have seen particularly concerning trends in Louth, Waterford and Donegal. It is now absolutely essential that people action public health advice and act as if they or those close to them are potentially infectious.

Nationally, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today been informed that three people with COVID-19 have died.

There has now been a total of 1,788* COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland.

As of midnight Tuesday 15th September, the HPSC has been notified of 254 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There is now a total of 31,799* confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland.

Of the cases notified today;

115 are men / 133 are women

65% are under 45 years of age

61% are confirmed to be associated with outbreaks or are close contacts of a confirmed case

24 cases have been identified as community transmission

136 in Dublin, 20 in Donegal, 13 in Louth, 12 in Wicklow, 9 in Waterford, 7 Carlow, 7 in Cork, 6 in Galway, 5 in Kerry, 5 in Wexford and the remaining 28 cases are located in Clare, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Leitrim, Limerick, Longford, Mayo, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon and Westmeath.

The HSE is working to identify any contacts the patients may have had to provide them with information and advice to prevent further spread.

The COVID-19 Dashboard provides up-to-date information on the key indicators of COVID-19 in the community.

Dr. Ronan Glynn, Acting Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, added: The current situation has deteriorated both in Dublin and nationally over the past week."

Professor Philip Nolan, Chair of the NPHET Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, said The reproduction number is between 1.3  1.7 nationally. I am more concerned than I have been at any point since late April. Case numbers appear to be growing exponentially and are likely to double every 10 to 14 days if every one of us does not immediately act to break chains of transmission of the virus. If we do not interrupt transmission now, bring the r-number back to below 1, modelling shows that we could have 500 -1,000 cases per day by the 16th of October, 50-60% of which would be in Dublin.

Dr Colm Henry, Chief Clinical Officer, HSE, said; There are currently 73 COVID-19 patients in hospital, 9 of these have been admitted in the past 24 hours. 14 of these patients are in ICU. We are seeing a sharp increase in rate of admissions of COVID-19 patients into our acute hospitals. We know that without a reversal of these trends, admissions can escalate rapidly to the point where our healthcare facilities will be under unsustainable pressure. It is more essential than ever that we all adhere to the basic measures which can weaken the virus in the community.

Dr. Mary Favier, COVID-19 advisor to the Irish College of General Practitioners, said: While we have been conducting a large number of tests on children, thanks to the vigilance of parents around symptoms and contacting GPs with concerns, we have not witnessed a disproportionate rise in the number of confirmed cases in children.
Most of the world's phones, cameras and electric cars are dependent on minerals that are currently exclusively processed in China.

As the geopolitical tension between China and the US, EU and Australia grows, questions are emerging about the security of the worlds rare earth minerals supply.

At the end of 2019, China began to wind its exports back. As trade sanctions escalate, concern is brewing about Australias future access to these minerals.

In this episode, senior journalist Jacqueline Maley is joined by China correspondent Eryk Bagshaw to talk through how China's fragmented relations with Australia may affect the economy.
BERLIN: The German government on Wednesday welcomed news that poisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalnys condition has further improved, and confirmed that Moscow has sent a second request for judicial assistance to Germany in the case.

Navalny, who fell ill on a domestic flight in Russia on Aug. 20, on Tuesday posted a selfie photo from Berlins Charit hospital where he has been treated for almost four weeks. I still cant do almost anything on my own, but yesterday I managed to breathe on my own for the entire day, he wrote.

The German government is relieved about the latest news from the Charit, according to which the health situation of Alexei Navalny has further improved," government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer told reporters, citing his social media. That is encouraging and the German government wishes Mr. Navalny a quick and complete recovery.

Germany has demanded that Russia should answer questions about Navalnys poisoning, after a German military laboratory confirmed the presence in his body of Novichok a Soviet-era nerve agent previously linked to the attempted assassination of Kremlin critics.

Russia has rejected the suggestion that it was involved in Navalnys poisoning. The affair has added to pre-existing friction between Berlin and Moscow over issues such as Ukraine, Syria, and alleged Russian intelligence activity on German soil.

Demmer declined to say whether German Chancellor Angela Merkel planned to meet Navalny any time soon. But she confirmed that, despite speaking out prominently on the Navalny case, she has not so far discussed it directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Separately, Germanys justice ministry said it has received a second request for judicial assistance from Russia.

On Sept. 14 the Russian prosecutor general approached the Federal Office of Justice with a second judicial assistance request, ministry spokesman Marius Leber said. It is currently being examined.

Moscow has accused Germany of failing to provide information necessary for investigators examining the case.

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor
ALTO RIO GUAMA INDIGENOUS TERRITORY, Brazil  A bit after sunrise, dozens of Indigenous Tembe men began preparing for the important day ahead. They danced, chanted and donned matching black T-shirts before setting off on motorbikes into Brazils Amazon forest.

Self-declared forest guardians, their aim was to find and expel illegal loggers and miners within their territory on the eastern edge of Brazils Para state. Emblazoned on their T-shirts was their groups name  KaAzar, which in their language means Owners of the Forest.

For a long time, since I was born, I heard my father and the elders talk about the need to fight the loggers in our lands, said Ronaldo Tembe, a 21-year-old member of the 40-man patrol. We are trying to combat deforestation within our reserve, which is becoming increasingly precarious.

The Tembe began these patrols last year as increasing encroachment on their territory and lax enforcement during President Jair Bolsonaros administration prompted them to take matters into their own hands. Put on hold during the pandemic, the patrols resumed last week.

We created the guardians, so these young men can inspect the land, to show where the invasions and illegal loggers are, said village leader Sergio Tembe, adding that Bolsonaros staunch support for Amazon development has emboldened the illegal activity.

Accompanied by an Associated Press photographer, the men rode for four hours before they heard barking dogs in the distance. Leaving their motorbikes, they walked along a trail until they found a wiry man in shorts and sandals near a huge felled tree.

Altemir Freitas Mota, 52, claimed the destruction wasnt his doing, and that he was merely gathering vines to make brooms and chairs. But he conceded that he had seen the loggers and, surrounded by the Tembe men brandishing rifles and machetes, agreed to guide them to their camp.

Deforestation in Brazils Amazon region may have reached a 14-year high in the 12 months through July, according to preliminary data published last month by the countrys space agency. It calculated the Brazilian Amazon lost 9,216 square kilometers (3,558 square miles) of vegetation in that period.

Bolsonaro has repeatedly said he believes it is folly for relatively small Indigenous populations to control vast swaths of rain forest. The Tembe peoples Alto Rio Guama territory spans some 2,800 square kilometers (1,080 square miles), nearly the size of Rhode Island, and has about 1,700 residents, according to the advocacy group Socio-Environmental Institute. The Tembe are the western branch of the Tenetehara Indigenous group.

No one is against giving due protection and land to our Indian brothers, but in the way it was done, and today it reflects 14% of national territory demarcated as Indigenous land, it is rather abusive, Bolsonaro said earlier this year.

He has also blasted Brazils environmental regulator, IBAMA, for seizing lawbreakers logging equipment or setting it afire, which is permitted under law. His administrations recently submitted 2021 budget proposal for IBAMAs environmental control and monitoring is down 25% from 2018, the final year of the prior administration.

Sergio Tembe, the village leader, told the AP that Bolsonaros stance has motivated criminals in the region to exploit their lands. Then he offered a plea to Bolsonaro.

Our land is invaded, President, because you gave incentives for the loggers, the land grabbers to invade, he said. So stop it, President. You need to have respect for us.

Initially, the Tembe destroyed the trespassers tractors and other heavy equipment too, but doing so brought death threats and attempted ambushes. Last September, public prosecutors issued an official request for the Federal Police to conduct an urgent operation to protect the Tembe from loggers attacks. They also recommended that the Tembe patrols limit their activities to monitoring and recording invasions, then alerting prosecutors, who can work to force action from federal authorities.

But even patrolling can be dangerous for the Tembe in a place where public oversight is scant, and where killing is an all-too-common recourse for lawbreakers. Several of the Guajajara Indigenous people, whose forest guardians defend their own land in neighboring Maranhao state, have been killed in the past year.

Mota, the man who said hed seen the loggers and knew where their camp was, told the Tembe patrol that those at the camp were unarmed. Still, the Tembe kept their rifles at the ready as they walked an hour through the forest. They paused to discuss strategy as they drew near, and some painted their faces red with oil from the seeds of achiote pods.

They came upon a clearing where two large tarps were propped up with branches over a makeshift kitchen and sleeping area. There they found six loggers, a female cook and her son. Mota took a seat beside them.

The Tembe men explained to the loggers how felling trees harms both the environment and their people, while using their cellphones to record the exchange. Then they demanded the loggers leave their territory.

We just ask you to leave from what is ours, and we stay in peace, no trouble with no one, one of the Tembe men told the logging camps leader, Zeca Pilao, who stood shirtless with his arms crossed.

The Tembe will return and give one further warning, said Sergio Tembe. If the loggers fail to comply, they will burn the loggers equipment and camp, and hold the government responsible, he added.

Up until now, we dont have support and we will never stop protecting our forest, said Ronaldo Tembe. We will never stop doing whats right, never stop allowing our forest to breathe.

___

Associated Press writer Marcelo de Sousa contributed reporting from Rio de Janeiro.
NEW YORK, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- As the United Nations General Assembly opens its 75th session, CAF America, America's nonprofit leader in international grantmaking, will share its charitable giving expertise across a host of events that take place in parallel to the first week of UNGA.



September 21-23



CAF America is a proud sponsor of Uniting Business LIVE, a virtual event hosted by the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) from September 21-23. The event will convene business, government, and civil society leaders around their commitment to advancing the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). CAF America will present on the event's Innovation Stage, sharing key data on philanthropic funding from its SDG Giving Landscape Report in a brief video. A virtual Content Studio will be available for participants to access additional videos and live Q&A sessions with CAF America leaders.



"Philanthropy plays a vital role in tackling humanity's most pressing problems worldwide, the very challenges that the United Nations' SDGs target. COVID-19 has only amplified the needs of international charitable organizations," said CAF America President and CEO Ted Hart. "While the current situation may seem grim, we're finding many charities are becoming increasingly adaptable and resilient to the unprecedented circumstances, and donors are stepping up to ensure these organizations survive."



September 22



In addition, on September 22 from 8:30 to 10 a.m. ET, CAF America will join the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Worldwide Initiatives for Grantmaker Support (WINGS), and the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University for a panel discussion hosted by the SDG Philanthropy Platform focused on a "Comprehensive Approach to COVID-19 & the SDGs." CAF America's report, The SDG Giving Landscape: An insight into philanthropic giving to the SDGs, found that giving through CAF America impacted all 17 Sustainable Development Goals, with a particular increase in individual cross-border giving through corporate employee matching gift programs.



More recently, data from CAF America's COVID-19 Report Series shows that corporate philanthropy plays a vital role in supporting charities around the world struggling to provide essential services amid the pandemic. In parallel to releasing its COVID-19 reports, CAF America has led a series of webinars highlighting the charitable and corporate response, which have included insights from ACCP, Bank of America, Biogen, Cargill, Citi Foundation, CyberGrants, Dow, Edwards Lifesciences and Edwards Lifesciences Foundation, Mars Wrigley Foundation, PepsiCo, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, and more.



About the SDGs



The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also known as the Global Goals, were adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030.



About CAF America

A leader in international philanthropy, since 1992 CAF America (Charities Aid Foundation of America) has been assisting corporations, foundations, and individuals in making strategic, effective, and tax-advantaged gifts internationally and domestically. Whether supporting organizations working in low-income countries, providing swift responses to major disasters, or helping build connections between global communities, CAF America turns donors' visions into impact. CAF America's worldwide reach translates into more than $1 billion in donor funds and over 1.8 million eligible organizations in 110 countries. For more information about CAF America visit cafamerica.org.



Media Contact:

Ashley Antonini

[email protected]

309.202.5357



Photo(s):

https://www.prlog.org/12838404



Press release distributed by PRLog

SOURCE CAF America Donor Advised Funds

Related Links

https://www.cafamerica.org


At least two rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip the previous evening, one of which was intercepted by Israel's anti-missile system

Smoke and flames are seen following an Israeli air strike in the Khan Yunis town of the southern Gaza Strip on September 16, 2020. - Israel bombed sites in the Gaza Strip early Wednesday, Palestinian security sources said, after rocket fire from the Hamas-controlled territory into Israel the previous evening. The retaliatory attack came the morning after the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain signed a landmark accord in Washington establishing diplomatic relations with the Jewish state. (AFP)

Ashdod: Israel bombed Gaza on Wednesday morning after rocket fire from the territory coinciding with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's signing of normalisation deals with the UAE and Bahrain in Washington.

At least two rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip the previous evening, one of which was intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system.

The other crashed into the southern coastal city of Ashdod, lightly wounding at least two people, emergency services said.

The Israel Defence Forces said their fighter jets responded with air strikes on military targets belonging to Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the rocket fire from the various Palestinian factions operating in Gaza.

But the IDF levelled blame at Hamas and warned that it would "bear the consequences for terror activity against Israeli civilians".

The rocket attack came as the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain signed accords establishing diplomatic relations with the Jewish state, prompting demonstrations in the Palestinian territories.

Clutching Palestinian flags and wearing blue face masks for protection against coronavirus, demonstrators rallied in the West Bank cities of Nablus and Hebron and in Gaza.

Hundreds also took part in a demonstration in Ramallah, home of the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas warned that the deals would "not achieve peace in the region" until the US and Israel acknowledged his people's right to a state.

"Peace, security and stability will not be achieved in the region until the Israeli occupation ends," he said.

The normalisation by the UAE and Bahrain breaks with decades of consensus within the Arab world that an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal is a prerequisite for establishing ties with the Jewish state.

Abbas warned that "attempts to bypass the Palestinian people and its leadership, represented by the Palestine Liberation Organisation, will have dangerous consequences".

In Gaza, protesters trampled on and set fire to placards bearing images of the leaders of Israel, the UAE and Bahrain.

That latest rocket fire came after a month in which militants in the strip had stepped up incendiary balloon attacks against Israel, which responded with nighttime air strikes against Hamas.

The two sides last month reached a Qatari-mediated deal to end hostilities and revive a fragile 18-month truce.

Hamas has joined the PA in condemning the UAE and Bahraini accords as a "betrayal" of their cause.
Woman wearing a protective face mask

Wearing a face mask is the new normal for the foreseeable future - and masking up for workouts is no exception. Of course, this raises the question of how long it's safe to exercise while wearing a mask. Experts say there's no one-size-fits-all answer. It depends on the type of workout you're doing, where you're exercising, and whether you have any underlying conditions that could put you at risk.

Rajeev Fernando, MD, an infectious disease doctor who's been recognized as one of "America's Top Doctors in New York" since 2014, explained that the best way to avoid getting COVID-19 - or experiencing any discomfort while working out in a mask - is to choose outdoor workouts or virtual workouts. If you work out in the privacy of your own home or find an outdoor spot where you can easily maintain a six foot distance from others, a mask isn't necessary. Just make sure you keep a mask on hand when you're outside in case you cross paths with anyone.

If you're going to be around others while you're working out (because you live in a crowded city, for example), you'll need to mask up. "The amount of time to work out while wearing a face mask will depend on the intensity of the exercises you're doing and whether or not you're feeling restricted, having trouble breathing, and so much more," Robert Quigley, MD, senior vice president and global medical director of International SOS Assistance, told POPSUGAR.

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Dr. Quigley explained that, if you're doing low-intensity exercises like walking and light weight lifting, you should be able to safely wear a mask for the duration of your workout. If you're doing high-intensity exercises like running, heavy lifting, and HIIT, "you should be more cognizant of how you're feeling," he said. Plan to take frequent breaks, because wearing a mask during these types of workouts can be difficult.

Story continues

Both doctors emphasized the importance of watching for any signs that you should stop your workout, regardless of the intensity. Symptoms like dizziness, lightheadedness, shortness of breath, or a rapid heart rate are all red flags. If you're struggling, take a break and restart your workout when you're feeling better, Dr. Fernando explained. "If symptoms persist, I suggest ending the session."

For the millions of Americans who have underlying medical conditions, such as a respiratory or cardiovascular condition, it's even more important to be cautious. "Speak with your doctor before deciding whether or not to work out while wearing a mask," Dr. Quigley advised. "If possible, people with underlying medical conditions generally should only participate in workouts that are socially distant and do not require a mask to be worn."

POPSUGAR aims to give you the most accurate and up-to-date information about the coronavirus, but details and recommendations about this pandemic may have changed since publication. For the latest information on COVID-19, please check out resources from the WHO, CDC, and local public health departments.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - September 16, 2020) - Defiance Silver Corp. (TSXV: DEF) (OTC Pink: DNCVF) ("Defiance" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has closed the previously announced brokered private placement 29,415,000 units (the "Units") at a price of C$0.34 per Unit , which includes 8,825,000 Units issued pursuant to the exercise in full of the Agents' overallotment option, for gross proceeds totaling C$10,001,100 (the "Offering"). The Offering was led by Red Cloud Securities Inc. and included Canaccord Genuity Corp. (the "Agents").

Each Unit consists of one common share and one-half of one common share purchase warrant (each whole warrant a "Warrant"). Each Warrant entitles the holder thereof to acquire one common share of Defiance at an exercise price of C$0.48 per share until September 16, 2022.

Defiance intends to use the proceeds of the Offering to begin an aggressive exploration program at its Zacatecas projects and for general working capital purposes. The drill program will focus on the following:

A 1.3km X 300m corridor where a hanging wall mineralizing event has been identified. Deep targets along strike of the Veta Grande to the immediate south east. "El Mirador," part of a multi-kilometer felsic fault structure (La Veta Morada) with visible silver sulfides that outcrops near previous drilling in the vicinity of the Almaden Shaft and underground working.

In connection with the Offering, the Agents received a cash commission of C$499,844 and 1,470,782 non-transferable compensation option, each entitling the Agents to purchase one Unit of the Company at a price of C$0.34 per Unit until September 16, 2022. All securities issued under the Offering are subject to a four month hold period expiring on January 17, 2021.

Insiders of Defiance subscribed for a total of 470,800 Units for total gross proceeds of $160,072 under the Offering. Participation by insiders constitutes a related party transaction as defined under Multilateral Instrument 61-101. The issuance of securities to such related parties is exempt from the formal valuation requirements of Section 5.4 of MI 61-101 pursuant to Subsection 5.5(b) of MI 61-101 and exempt from the minority shareholder approval requirements of Section 5.6 of MI 61-101 pursuant to Subsection 5.7(b) of MI 61-101 as the purchase of securities does not exceed 25% of the Company's market capitalization. The Company is relying on exemptions from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements provided under sections 5.5(a) and 5.7(1)(a) of Multilateral Instrument 61-101. The Company did not file a material change report 21 days prior to the closing of the Offering as the details of the participation of insiders of the Company had not been confirmed at that time.

In other news, Defiance is pleased to announce that it has entered into an Advisory Agreement (the "Agreement") with Red Cloud Financial Services Inc. ("Red Cloud"). Red Cloud is a Toronto-based financial services company that provides assistance in accessing capital markets. Under the Agreement, Red Cloud will assist with organizing and administering "roadshows", drafting traditional marketing materials, managing Defiance's social media and providing traditional media support and assistance in the creation of video content for exclusive use on "Red Cloud TV".

Under the engagement, Red Cloud will be paid a fee of C$75,000 for an initial six month period of services rendered to the Company. The Agreement will automatically renew month-to-month thereafter at C$10,000 per month and may be terminated at any time.

The Offering and Agreement remain subject to regulatory approval.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy 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.

About Defiance Silver Corp.

Defiance Silver Corp. (TSXV: DEF) (OTC Pink: DNCVF) (FSE: D4E) is an exploration company advancing the district-scale San Acacio Deposit, located in the historic Zacatecas Silver District and the 100% owned Tepal Gold/Copper Project in Michoacan state, Mexico. Defiance is managed by a team of proven mine developers with a track record of exploring, advancing and developing several operating mines and advanced resource projects Defiance's corporate mandate is to expand the San Acacio and Tepal projects to become premier Mexican silver and gold deposits.

Mr. George Cavey, P.Geo, is a Qualified Person within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101 and has approved the technical information concerning the Company's material mineral properties contained in this press release.

On behalf of Defiance Silver Corp.

"Chris Wright"

Chairman of the Board

For more information, please contact: Investor Relations at +1 917-563-3821 or via email at info@defiancesilver.com.

www.defiancesilver.com

704 - 595 Howe Street

Vancouver, BC V6E 2K3

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.

Certain statements in this news release are forward-looking and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements are within the meaning of the phrase 'forward-looking information' in the Canadian Securities Administrators' National Instrument 51-102 - Continuous Disclosure Obligations. Forward-looking statements are not comprised of historical facts. Forward-looking statements include estimates and statements that describe the Company's future plans, objectives or goals, including words to the effect that the Company or management expects a stated condition or result to occur. Forward-looking statements may be identified by such terms as "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "estimates", "may", "could", "would", "will", or "plan". Since forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Although these statements are based on information currently available to the Company, the Company provides no assurance that actual results will meet management's expectations. Risks, uncertainties and other factors involved with forward-looking information could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Forward looking information in this news release includes, but is not limited to, the anticipated use of the net proceeds from the Offering, the receipt of all necessary approvals, timing and content of upcoming work programs and the Company's intentions regarding its objectives, goals or future plans and statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to: an inability to complete the proposed work program as anticipated and within a reasonable delay; and those risks set out in the Company's public documents filed on SEDAR. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein.



NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION OR DISSEMINATION DIRECTLY, OR INDIRECTLY, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/63971
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 14:38:08|Editor: huaxia

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LOS ANGELES, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- The San Pedro Bay ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in southern California, the largest container port complex in the United States, both reported their best August numbers in history.

The monthly report released by the Port of Los Angeles Tuesday said it moved 961,833 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) in August, jumping 12 percent compared to the volume in July. It was the first time since last August the port had a monthly cargo increase.

Due to the trade conflict ignited by the White House with its main trade partners like China and COVID-19 pandemic, the port has seen a consistent trend of decrease since September of last year.

While August volumes were the strongest monthly in the port's nearly 100-year history, Los Angeles Port Executive Director Gene Seroka warned in an online briefing meeting that much uncertainty lies ahead and the overall volumes in the first eight months was still lower by 11.7 percent compared to the same period in 2019.

The Port of Long Beach also reported last week its best August in its history, with 725,610 TEUs. It marked a 9.3 percent increase compared to August of last year.

Long Beach Port Executive Director Mario Cordero also cautioned that international trade and the national economy, in light of the ongoing pandemic, remain uncertain.

In the lastest report of the Port of Los Angeles, imports cargo figure eclipsed 500,000 for the first time in history, a signal showing retailers are preparing for the upcoming holiday season and hope the spending could not be restrained after months-long lockdowns.

The twin ports see their largest cargo numbers from August through October as retailers prepare for holiday shoppers.

The San Pedro Bay Port Complex handles approximately 40 percent of all containerized imports and 30 percent exports for the United States, according to data released by the Port of Los Angeles in June last year. Enditem
Murder rates surged nearly 15 percent nationwide in the first half of 2020 while overall violent crime fell by almost half a percent, a new FBI report has revealed.

The FBI released its Preliminary Uniform Crime Report for January through June of this year on Tuesday, which showed how crime rates have changed around the US amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The national murder rate increased 14.8 percent in the first six months of 2020 compared with the year before. The largest increase of 26 percent was seen in cities with a population of 250,000 to 500,000 people.

Arson rates also increased by 19.2 percent nationwide, with a 52.1 percent spike in cities with more than one million residents.

Meanwhile rates for violent crimes including assault, rape and robbery declined by 0.4 percent, and property crime fell 7.8 percent.

Murder rates surged by 14.8 percent nationwide in the first half of 2020 while overall violent crime fell by 0.4 percent compared with the same period in 2019, a new FBI report found

The graphic above shows how rates for different types of crimes changed between the first quarter of this year (January 1 through March 31 - left side) and the second quarter (April 1 to June 30 - right side). The percentages are based on the change from the same period in 2019

The largest decrease in violent crime was seen in the Northeast, where rates dropped by five percent. The South was the only region where violent crime increased, by 2.5 percent.

Within that category, incidents of rapes fell by 18 percent nationwide, robberies fell by 7.1 percent and aggravated assaults rose 4.6 percent.

For property crimes, the largest decrease was seen in the Midwest with 10.3 percent, while the West saw the smallest decrease of 5.3 percent.

Across the board larcenies fell 9.9 percent and burglaries fell 7.8 percent while motor vehicle thefts increased 6.2 percent.

The Midwest saw the highest increase in murder rate with 21.1 percent (red - center)

Cities with 250,000 to 500,000 people (red - third left) saw the largest spike in murder rate at 25.9 percent, while the rate rose by just 2.5 percent in nonmetropolitan counties (blue - right)

Violent crime rates nationwide (dark red - left)) fell by 0.4 percent in the first half of 2020. The largest decrease was seen in the Northeast (dark blue), where rates dropped by five percent. The South (light blue) was the only region where violent crime increased, by 2.5 percent

Cities with more than one million people (dark red - left) saw a 2.3 percent increase in violent crimes while rates dropped by 7.2 percent in cities with 25,000 to 50,000 people (light blue)

The FBI report was compiled using data provided by law enforcement agencies around the country.

A footnote in the report cautions against using the statistics to draw conclusions about specific geographic areas because it does not take into account 'the numerous variables that shape crime in a given state, county, city, town, tribal area or region'.

FBI analysts did not offer any explanation for the drop in overall crime or the spikes in murders and arsons.

In response to other reports that have shown similar findings over the past few months, experts have attributed a drop in overall crime to widespread lockdowns implemented when the coronavirus pandemic took hold.

On the flip side, some experts have suggested that rising murder rates have been fueled by the pandemic destabilizing community institutions.

Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore on Tuesday blamed the pandemic for an increase in gun violence and murders in the city - saying that the crisis created widespread economic instability while undercutting law enforcement efforts to prevent crimes.

'What we're sensing is a lot of stress, a lot of communities that are on edge, a certain amount of depression,' Moore said at a meeting of the civilian Police Commission.

He added that neighborhoods have become a 'fertile bed for some type of spontaneous violence' as coronavirus-related business restrictions have shifted nighttime gatherings from bars and clubs to people's homes.

President Donald Trump is likely to seize on the less flattering findings of the FBI report as he continues to put his promise to enforce 'law and order' at the center of his re-election campaign.

Trump has repeatedly blamed the rising homicide rates on 'anarchists and agitators' in Black Lives Matter protests that have roiled the country for the past three and a half months as he accuses officials in Democrat-led cities of spiraling out of control.

The president has insisted that he is the only candidate who can fix the turmoil, charging that his rival Joe Biden will only make things worse by bowing to 'the mob'.
Journalist Bob Woodward told CNBC that President Donald Trump lacked a national strategy to bring the U.S. together to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.

"If you tell the public the truth, that they will rally 'round. They will get behind the leadership," Woodward said in an interview with CNBC's Shepard Smith that aired Wednesday on "Squawk Box."

Woodward, who is best known for his role in uncovering the Watergate scandal while at The Washington Post, published his latest book on the Trump presidency, "Rage," on Tuesday. He also authored the book, "Fear," which was released two years ago.

In the CNBC interview, Woodward compared Trump's early response to the intensifying coronavirus  which emerged late last year in Wuhan, China  to how former President George W. Bush responded immediately following the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, that killed nearly 3,000 Americans.

"This happened in 9/11 after the terrorist attack in New York and the Pentagon. President George W. Bush actually gave speeches and said, you know, we're going to respond at an hour of our choosing," Woodward said, likely referring to Bush's speech at a national prayer service a few days after the attack.

"The public got behind this. The Congress got behind it," said Woodward, a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, including an award as part of The Post's coverage of 9/11. "It was bad news. People won't flee from bad news. People in this country are problem-solvers, I believe."

Asked specifically by CNBC's Smith if the Trump administration did "have a plan" to respond to the eventual pandemic, Woodward said, "They didn't."

"One of my findings in the book is that President Trump is a one-man band. He decides things. He has his impulses. There are not the kind of serious regular meetings of the National Security Council or the National Economic Council. And being a one-man band, he acts on the impulse of the moment," Woodward added.

Woodward's book is partly based on nearly 20 interviews he conducted with Trump over the course of several months. Last week, it was reported that Trump told Woodward in mid-March that he "wanted to always play it down," referring to the threat of the coronavirus.

"I still like playing it down, because I don't want to create a panic," Trump told Woodward on March 19. On Feb. 28, weeks before that interview with Woodward, Trump had said publicly that the virus would "disappear."

Despite those comments to Woodward, which are on tape, Trump said at an ABC town hall event Tuesday that "in many ways I up-played it in terms of action." White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany has said Trump "was expressing calm" and "embodied the American spirit" in his pandemic response.

The U.S. now has more than 6.6 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus and at least 195,961 people have died, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. In addition to the significant health toll, the pandemic has caused significant economic damage as states and cities around the U.S. imposed business restrictions intended to slow transmission of the virus.

Millions of Americans lost their jobs, and the stock market also experienced a steep decline, plunging from records highs in late February into bear market territory by late March. That is generally defined as declining 20% or more from recent highs. Wall Street has rapidly recovered since then. The U.S. unemployment rate was 8.4% in August, a marked improvement from its 14.7% coronavirus-era peak in April.

The stock market has recovered tremendously from its pandemic-induced lows, in part due to the fiscal and monetary support unleashed by Congress and the Federal Reserve in hopes of preventing further financial carnage. As of Tuesday's close, the S&P 500 is more than 55% above its March 23 intraday low.

Along the way of Wall Street's swift rally, Trump has touted the robust recovery in equity markets.

Woodward told Smith the stock market is "one indicator of what's going on in the American economy." But, he added, "for the tens of millions of people who don't have jobs, who don't have enough food, who have no steady income, this is a crisis like the Great Depression in terms of people who live here and work here."

Woodward said he asked Trump whether the president was aware of the economic struggle being faced by Americans during the pandemic. Woodward said, "He will acknowledge it. But he's not acting on it."

In August, after key provisions of earlier stimulus expired, Trump signed a series of executive actions he said were designed to provide economic relief to Americans, including a partial extension of the weekly federal unemployment insurance enhancement to state benefits. Trump, who is seeking reelection against Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, also initiated action to get the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to invoke authority to halt evictions for some Americans through the end of the year.

Democratic negotiators in Congress and Trump administration officials remain deadlocked on another broader coronavirus relief package.

"The News with Shepard Smith" premiers at 7 p.m. Sept. 30 on CNBC.
2020 Half-year results and business update

TG4001: Very promising results from Phase 1b/2 trial in HPV-positive cancers

TG6002: Initial translational results confirm the value of intravenous administration

Preclinical and clinical projects progressing despite the Covid-19 pandemic

33.2 million of cash at the end of June 2020 was followed by the receipt of 19 million due to the partial sale of the stake in Tasly BioPharmaceuticals in August 2020, providing financial visibility until 2022

Succession of the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer planned at the end of 2020

Conference call scheduled today at 6:00 p.m. CET (in English). See details below.

Regulatory News:

Transgene (Paris:TNG) (Euronext Paris: TNG), a biotech company that designs and develops virus-based immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer, today publishes its financial results for the six-month period ended June 30, 2020, and provides an update on progress of its portfolio.

Philippe Archinard,Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Transgene, commented:

"I would like to thank the teams at Transgene for their remarkable job in advancing all our clinical and preclinical projects in an environment that has been severely disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

During the period we delivered positive Phase 1b/2 results with TG4001, which have given us the confidence to progress the clinical development of this therapeutic vaccine against HPV-induced cancers. We intend to provide more detail on these positive Phase 1b/2 study results in the coming months.

Our oncolytic virus TG6002 showed positive initial data in a Phase 1 trial, indicating that it induces the production of a chemotherapy agent in the tumor. These promising results confirm the safety of TG6002 when given intravenously and are highly supportive of the new generations of oncolytic viruses that we are developing based on our exciting Invir.IO platform.

Patient inclusion continues in line with expectations in the first trials of the individualized immunotherapy TG4050, which has been generated from our myvac platform. The myvac platform and the launch of these trials earlier this year exemplify our technological leadership in individualized immunotherapies. The data which were presented at the AACR congress in June highlighted the power of NEC's artificial intelligence and the integration of the first block chain solution into the myvac production process. In parallel, we successfully produced the first clinical batches of TG4050.

The collaboration with AstraZeneca continues with the delivery of new oncolytic viruses.

Finally, by selling part of approximately 40% of the stake in Tasly BioPharmaceuticals for $22.2 million, Transgene has the cash resources to fund its activities until 2022."

Promising initial data for TG4001

The analysis of the efficacy data from the Phase 1b/2 trial combining TG4001 with avelumab in HPV16-positive recurrent and/or metastatic malignancies showed a promising clinical activity in the overall study population (34 evaluable patients).

In addition, Transgene identified a selection criterion corresponding to patients showing particularly encouraging clinical activity. For more than 50% of these patients, the disease had not progressed at 12 weeks, compared to an expected median progression-free survival (PFS) of 8 weeks for this population with current treatment regimens or with immune checkpoint inhibitors in monotherapy. Responses are durable in most of the responder patients. Transgene is currently completing translational analyses. Patient follow-up is still ongoing. Complete data will be presented at an upcoming scientific conference.

Transgene intends to pursue the development of TG4001 and is actively working on the preparation of a confirmatory clinical study.

Advanced technological leadership with the myvac platform

Transgene is developing the therapeutic vaccine TG4050, together with NEC. This individualized cancer vaccine is based on the myvac platform and integrates NEC's artificial intelligence capabilities.

The first Phase 1 clinical trials assessing TG4050 in patients with ovarian and head and neck cancers started in January 2020 in Europe and in the United States. NEC is financing 50% of these studies.

The Company has set up an in-house production unit dedicated to the manufacturing of the individualized clinical batches of TG4050 needed for each patient. This unit is operational and complies with good manufacturing practice (GMP) norms. The manufacturing process and unit have been validated and the first clinical batches have been produced.

The myvac platform is being actively promoted as it exemplifies Transgene's technological leadership in individualized immunotherapies.

Data validating the vaccine design principle and underlining the accuracy of the artificial intelligence used to personalize TG4050 were presented at the AACR congress (June 2020).

? Transgene has implemented the first block chain solution dedicated to the traceability of personalized treatment in clinical trials. This cloud-based solution monitors and orchestrates all of the processes related to the design and manufacturing of Transgene's individualized therapeutic vaccine TG4050.

? Other innovative approaches were integrated into the myvac approach and will be detailed in the coming months.

The initial translational data of TG6002 highlight the potential of the Invir.IO platform

Initial data from the Phase 1 trial confirm the good tolerability of TG6002 in humans and demonstrate that this Vaccinia Virus, which is the viral backbone on which the Invir.IO platform is based, can reach the tumor and replicate within these cancer cells when administered intravenously.

BT-001 is the first oncolytic virus from the Invir.IO platform. A first-in-human trial is being prepared; the trial protocol has been filed in France and in Belgium. Promising preclinical results for BT-001 were presented at the AACR annual congress (June 2020).

The collaboration with AstraZeneca continues with the development of new innovative oncolytic viruses. AstraZeneca can exercise an option to further develop each of these novel drug candidates.

Summary of key ongoing clinical trials

TG4001

+ Bavencio (avelumab)

Phase 1b/2 Targets: HPV16 E6 and E7 oncoproteins Advanced HPV-positive cancers including oropharyngeal head and neck cancer 2nd line Clinical collaboration with Merck KGaA and Pfizer, for the supply of avelumab Very promising results; patient follow-up is ongoing ? Detailed results will be presented at an upcoming scientific conference ? Transgene intends to launch a larger, controlled, confirmatory trial

myvac

TG4050 Phase 1 Targets: tumor neoantigens

? Data demonstrating the high accuracy of AI-based neoantigen prediction technology used to design TG4050 were presented at AACR

Ovarian cancer after surgery and first-line chemotherapy

? Trial authorized in the United States and in France

? First patient enrolled in January 2020 inclusions progressing in line with forecast

? First scientific communication in 2021 TG4050 Phase 1 HPV-negative head and neck cancer after surgery and adjuvant therapy

? Trial authorized in the United Kingdom and in France

? First patient enrolled in January 2020 inclusions progressing in line with forecast

? First scientific communication in 2021

TG6002

Phase 1/2a Payload: FCU1 for the local production of a 5-FU chemotherapy Gastro-intestinal cancer (colorectal cancer for Phase 2) Intravenous (IV) administration Multicenter trial ongoing in Belgium, France and Spain First findings confirm that 5-FU is produced in the tumor ? Dose escalation is ongoing in the Phase 1 part, testing additional dose levels TG6002

Phase 1/2a Colorectal cancer with liver metastasis Intrahepatic artery (IHA) administration Multicenter trial authorized in the United Kingdom First patient treated in February 2020; enrollment resuming in September 2020 after pausing due to Covid-19 ? First observations in 2021

Invir.IO

BT-001

Phase 1/2 Payload: anti-CTLA4 antibody and GM-CSF cytokine Solid tumors Collaboration with BioInvent First clinical trial applications submitted (France and Belgium) Presentation of very encouraging preclinical results at AACR 2020 ? Approval from health authorities expected before the end of 2020

Key Financials

The Board of Directors of Transgene met on September 16, 2020 and approved the financial statements for the six-month period ended June 30, 2020. The Statutory Auditors have conducted a limited review of the interim consolidated financial statements.

The half-year financial report is available on Transgene's website, https://www.transgene.fr.

Key elements of the income statement

(in thousands of euros) June 30, 2020 June 30, 2019 Operating revenues 5,731 4,909 Research and development expenses (13,831) (14,668) General and administrative expenses (3,297) (3,572) Other expenses (141) Operating expenses (17,128) (18,381) Operating income/(loss) (11,397) (13,472) Financial income/(loss) 9,183 (1,870) Net income/(loss) (2,214) (15,342)

Operating revenues amounted to 5.7 million for the first six months of 2020 compared to 4.9 million for the same period in 2019.

In 2019, the Company entered into a collaboration agreement with AstraZeneca with exclusive licensing options to co-develop oncolytic immunotherapies derived from the Invir.IO platform. As a result, in the first half of 2019 Transgene received 8.9 million (US$10 million) in fees for access to its platform. This initial payment is recognized as revenue based on the stage of completion of the related activities. Over the period, the income recognized under this collaboration agreement was 2.2 million (0.7 million in the first half of 2019). Of this amount 1.8 million reflects recognition of the initial payment for work done during the period and 0.4 million for the achievement of certain preclinical milestones.

The research tax credit amounted to 2.9 million for the first half of 2020, compared to 3.1 million for the first half of 2019.

Research and Development (R&D) expenses amounted to 13.8 million in the first half of 2020 compared to 14.7 million for the same period in 2019. External expenses for clinical projects decreased to 3.0 million from 4.7 million in the first half of 2019. This decrease is mainly due to a reduction in subcontracted clinical batch production expenses in the first half of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.

General and administrative expenses amounted to 3.3 million for the first half of 2020 compared to 3.6 million for the same period in 2019.

Net interest income amounted to a gain of 9.2 million in the first half of 2020 compared to an expense of 1.9 million for the same period in 2019. This change is mainly due to the increase in the fair value of Tasly Biopharmaceuticals shares: in July 2020, the sale of the shares was carried out at a higher price than the acquisition price in July 2018. This sale price was applied to all the shares held.

As a consequence, the net comprehensive loss amounted to 2.2 million for the first half of 2020 compared to a loss of 15.3 million for the same period in 2019.

As of June 30, 2020, the Company's cash, cash equivalents and other financial assets amounted to 33.2 million versus 43.3 million as of December 31, 2019.

Transgene's cash burn amounted to 10.1 million in the first half of 2020, compared with 4.1 million for the same period in 2019.

Transgene intends to reimburse the 10 million bank loan from the European Investment Bank in advance of its June 2021 maturity.

The Company confirms its financial visibility until 2022.

Partial sale of the stake in Tasly BioPharmaceuticals

On August 4, 2020, Transgene announced the receipt of $22.2 million (19 million) following the sale to a Chinese investment fund of part of its minority stake in Tasly BioPharmaceuticals. This transaction involved the sale of 10.3 million shares of Tasly BioPharmaceuticals (38% of the shares held by Transgene).

Following this share sale, Transgene holds 17.1 million shares in Tasly BioPharmaceuticals, equivalent to 1.58% of the Chinese company's capital. Transgene's remaining shareholding in Tasly BioPharmaceuticals is valued at approximately $36.9 million based on the price of the current share sale.

At the end of August 2020, Tasly BioPharmaceuticals filed its IPO documentation with the Science and Technology Innovation Board (STIB) of the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Succession of the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer planned at the end of 2020

Philippe Archinard, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Transgene, has informed the Board of Directors of his intention to leave his position at the end of 2020 to take up new responsibilities within Institut Merieux. The Board has acknowledged his decision and proposes that his successor be Hedi Ben Brahim, who has been a Board member of Transgene since May 2019. This decision will be approved at the Board meeting scheduled on December 3, 2020. Philippe Archinard will remain a Board Member of Transgene thereafter.

A conference call in English is scheduled today, on September 16th, 2020, at 6:00 p.m. CET.

Webcast link to English language conference call:

https://channel.royalcast.com/webcast/transgene/20200916_1/

Participant telephone numbers:

France: +33 (0) 1 7037 7166 United Kingdom: +44 (0) 20 3003 2666 United States: +1 212 999 6659 Confirmation code: Transgene

A replay of the call will be available on the Transgene website (www.transgene.fr) following the live event.

About Transgene

Transgene (Euronext: TNG) is a publicly traded French biotechnology company focused on designing and developing targeted immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer. Transgene's programs utilize viral vector technology with the goal of indirectly or directly killing cancer cells.

The Company's clinical-stage programs consist of two therapeutic vaccines (TG4001 for the treatment of HPV-positive cancers, and TG4050, the first individualized therapeutic vaccine based on the myvac platform) as well as two oncolytic viruses (TG6002 for the treatment of solid tumors, and BT-001, the first oncolytic virus based on the Invir.IO platform).

With Transgene's myvac platform, therapeutic vaccination enters the field of precision medicine with a novel immunotherapy that is fully tailored to each individual. The myvac approach allows the generation of a virus-based immunotherapy that encodes patient-specific mutations identified and selected by Artificial Intelligence capabilities provided by its partner NEC.

With its proprietary platform Invir.IO, Transgene is building on its viral vector engineering expertise to design a new generation of multifunctional oncolytic viruses. Transgene has an ongoing Invir.IO collaboration with AstraZeneca.

Additional information about Transgene is available at: www.transgene.fr.

Follow us on Twitter: @TransgeneSA

Disclaimer

This press release contains forward-looking statements, which are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. The occurrence of any of these risks could have a significant negative outcome for the Company's activities, perspectives, financial situation, results, regulatory authorities' agreement with development phases, and development. The Company's ability to commercialize its products depends on but is not limited to the following factors: positive pre-clinical data may not be predictive of human clinical results, the success of clinical studies, the ability to obtain financing and/or partnerships for product manufacturing, development and commercialization, and marketing approval by government regulatory authorities. For a discussion of risks and uncertainties which could cause the Company's actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, please refer to the Risk Factors ("Facteurs de Risque") section of the Universal Registration Document, available on the AMF website (http://www.amf-france.org) or on Transgene's website (www.transgene.fr). Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and Transgene undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future.

Appendix A: Interim financial statements 2020

Consolidated balance sheet, IFRS

(in thousands)

Assets June 30, 2020 Dec.31, 2019 CURRENT ASSETS Cash and cash equivalents 7,174 1,343 Other current financial assets 26,027 42,028 Cash, cash equivalents and other current financial assets 33,201 43,371 Trade receivables 1,122 2,324 Other current assets 3,299 3,943 Assets available for sale 19,771 Total current assets 57,393 49,638 NON-CURRENT ASSETS Property, plant and equipment 13,683 13,283 Intangible assets 141 147 Financial fixed assets 34,541 42,931 Investments in associates Other non-current assets 4,010 9,478 Total non-current assets 52,375 65,839 Total ASSETS 109,768 115,477

Liabilities and equity June 30, 2020 Dec.31, 2019 CURRENT LIABILITIES Trade payables 5,120 7,092 Financial liabilities 11,615 2,037 Provisions for risks and charges 568 898 Other current liabilities 6,289 8,619 Total current liabilities 23,592 18,646 NON-CURRENT LIABILITIES Financial liabilities 17,344 26,703 Employee benefits 4,503 4,427 Other non-current liabilities 15 4 Total non-current liabilities 21,862 31,134 Total liabilities 45,454 49,780 EQUITY Share capital 41,921 83,265 Share premiums and reserves 39,962 39,738 Retained earnings (14,327) (37,444) Profit/(loss) for the period (2,214) (18,804) Other comprehensive income (1,028) (1,058) Total equity attributable to Company shareholders 64,314 65,697 TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY 109,768 115,477

Consolidated income statement, IFRS

(in thousands, except for per-share data)

June 30, 2020 June 30, 2019 Revenue from collaborative and licensing agreements 2,255 1,463 Public funding for research expenses 2,975 3,132 Other income 501 314 Operating income 5,731 4,909 Research and development expenses (13,831) (14,668) General and administrative expenses (3,297) (3,572) Other expenses (141) Operating expenses (17,128) (18,381) Operating income/(loss) (11,397) (13,472) Financial income/(loss) 9,183 (1,870) Share of profit/(loss) of associates Income/(loss) before tax (2,214) (15,342) Income tax expense NET INCOME/(LOSS) (2,214) (15,342) Basic loss per share (0.03) (0.25) Diluted loss per share (0.03) (0.25)

Cash Flow statement, IFRS

(in thousands)

June 30, 2020 June 30, 2019 Cash flow from operating activities Net income/(loss) (2,214) (15,342) Cancellation of financial income (9,183) 1,870 Elimination of non-cash items Income of associates Provisions 828 70 Depreciation and amortization 869 (72) Share-based payments 828 290 Others (1,070) 51 Net cash generated from/(used in) operating activities before

change in working capital and other operating cash flow (9,942) (13,133) Change in operating working capital requirements Current receivables and prepaid expenses 738 (673) Inventories and work in progress 25 Research tax credit (2,967) (3,110) Other current assets 734 2 Trade payables (1,966) 939 Prepaid income (1,768) 8,059 Other current liabilities (549) 419 Net cash used in operating activities (15,720) (7,472) Cash flows from investing activities (Acquisitions)/disposals of property, plant and equipment (520) (210) (Acquisitions)/disposals of intangible assets (16) (24) Other (acquisitions)/disposals 321 1,106 Net cash used in investing activities (215) 872 Cash flow from financing activities Net financial income/(loss) proceeds (194) (205) Conditional subsidies 655 (Acquisition)/disposal of other financial assets 16,000 13,934 Net amounts received for financing of tax credits 6,288 5,500 Bank borrowing (971) (2,250) Financial leases and change in lease obligations (7) (556) Net cash generated from/(used in) financing activities 21,771 16,423 Exchange rate differences on cash and cash equivalents (5) 1 Net increase/(decrease) in cash and cash equivalents 5,831 9,824 Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period 1,343 1,885 Cash and cash equivalents at end of period 7,174 11,709 Investments in other current financial assets 26,027 1,081 Cash, cash equivalents and other current financial assets 33,201 12,790

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200916005724/en/

Contacts:

Transgene:

Lucie Larguier

Directeur Communication Corporate

& Relations Investisseurs

+33 (0)3 88 27 91 04

investorrelations@transgene.fr



Media:

Citigate Dewe Rogerson

David Dible/Sylvie Berrebi

+ 44 (0)20 7638 9571

transgene@citigatedewerogerson.com
In a politically motivated and blatantly undemocratic ruling, the Wisconsin Supreme Court on Monday rejected a lawsuit by the Green Party requesting that its presidential and vice presidential candidates be added to the states ballot for the November elections.

In the 4-3 unsigned decision, the court majority used the bogus claim that halting the distribution of absentee ballots and reprinting them to add the names of Howie Hawkins for president and Angela Walker for vice president would cause confusion and undue damage seven weeks ahead of Election Day.

The real reason the Green Party candidates are being kept off the ballot, however, is Democratic Party fears that votes cast for Hawkins and Walker will reduce support for the Biden-Harris ticket and thereby strengthen Trumps chances of winning the battleground state. Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in Wisconsin by less than 23,000 votes in 2016.

Conservative Justice Brian Hagedorn joined with three Democrats in the decision, which stated that for this court to order the printing and mailing of replacement ballots containing the petitioners names would create a substantial possibility of confusion among voters who had already received, and possibly returned, the original ballots.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court placed the blame for excluding Hawkins and Walker on the Green Party itself, claiming that it waited too long to file its request. The court wrote that the petitioners delayed in seeking relief in a situation with very short deadlines.

However, the Green Party filed its brief with the states top court within one week of being notified by the Wisconsin Elections Commission that it would not be on the ballot.

The courts decision acknowledged in a backhanded manner that the Green Partys democratic rights had been violated, but refused to address the constitutional issues. The ruling stated: Even if we would ultimately determine that the petitioners claims are meritorious, given their delay in asserting their rights, we would be unable to provide meaningful relief without completely upsetting the election.

The Green Party filed its request on September 3 after the Wisconsin Elections Commission--made up of three Democrats and three Republicansrefused to put Hawkins and Walker on the ballot, even though they had complied with the states ballot access requirements. The commission members were deadlocked three to three along party lines in two votes regarding approval, following a challenge to the signatures of registered voters submitted by the Green Party.

In a dissenting opinion, Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Patience Roggensack revealed critical details concerning the challenge to the Green Party signatures and the partys subsequent exclusion from the ballot, which the court majority left out of its ruling.

Judge Roggensacks dissent states: The Order of the court gives some underlying facts, but it omits other undisputed facts that are important for the public to know. In so doing, the Order fails to disclose unlawful Commission actions to the public, which should be told what actually occurred here.

On August 4, the Green Party submitted nominating petitions with 3,966 signatures to the Wisconsin Elections Commission. The states minimum requirement is 2,000 signatures to obtain ballot access.

On August 7, Allen Arntsen, a Madison, Wisconsin attorney with high-level connections to the Democratic Party establishment in Wisconsin, filed a verified complaint challenging 2,046 of the Green Party nominating signatures.

At a meeting of the commission on August 20, Arntsens challenge was verified on just 57 signatures, and it appeared that the Green Party had 3,909 presumptively valid signatures. However, the commission administrator sent the Green Party a letter on August 21 stating that since the Commission had certified a total of only 1,789 signatures, less than the 2,000 required for ballot access, Hawkins and Walkers names would not be on the ballot for the November 3, 2020 general election.

Initially, on September 10, the state Supreme Court ordered a halt to the production and distribution of ballots pending a decision on the Green Party case. By rejecting the lawsuit by Hawkins and Walker, the Supreme Court accepted entirely the spurious procedural arguments of the Democrats that millions of ballots had already been printed and, since ballots are different in cities and towns across the state, there would not be enough time to meet the federal deadline of mailing them by September 17.

Judge Roggensack concluded her dissent by writing: This lawsuit is not about the Green Party sleeping on its rights. It is about the treatment that independent candidates from a small political party received from the Commission, who repeatedly refused to follow the law relative to nomination papers.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling follows by nine days the refusal of the US Supreme Court to hear the appeal of the Socialist Equality Party (SEP) against the unconstitutional ballot access laws in Michigan during the coronavirus pandemic. In this case, the lower courts and the Michigan Democrats argued persistently that the SEP should have been collecting signatures while COVID-19 was spreading rapidly across the state and in violation of the state governments stay-at-home orders.

Also in Wisconsin, presidential candidate and rap music celebrity Kanye West was denied ballot access by the Elections Commission because his campaign officially submitted nominating petitions 14 seconds past the 5:00 pm deadline on August 4. A county circuit court judge ruled on September 11 that the commissions decision to keep West off the ballot was justified. The West4Prez campaign has appealed this decision to the state Supreme Court, but no ruling has yet been issued.

The outcome of these cases is the judicial confirmation of the fact that ballot access laws in the US are the most undemocratic of any industrialized country in the world. In many US states, independent candidates and parties must collect tens of thousands of signatures from registered voterswith deadlines often requiring petitioning in the dead of winterjust to provide the voting public with an alternative to the two parties of the banks, corporations and financial elite.

In the state of Florida, for example, a presidential campaign seeking ballot access must satisfy the major party requirement, a membership of 5 percent of all registered voters in the state or 500,000 people, or the minor party requirement of 132,781 voter signatures on nominating petitions.

As of 1994, a party without previous ballot standing seeking to run a candidate in every race for the US House of Representatives and to have the candidates names appear on the ballot next the partys name would need to have 1.5 million declared members or gather an equal number of signatures of registered voters on petitions spread across every district in the country.

Meanwhile, the undemocratic nature of the quadrennial US presidential elections is manifested in the existence of the Electoral College system, which is a violation of the principle of political equality referred to as one man-one vote. The institution of the Electoral College, established in Article II of the US Constitution, stipulates that the election of the president is determined by the number of Electoral College votes from each state, not the total vote of the public across all states.

Twice in the last five presidential elections, the Electoral College system has resulted in the election of a president who did not win the popular vote. In 2000, Republican George W. Bush received 271 electoral votes and 266 went to Democrat Al Gore, while Gore received 543,895 more popular votes than Bush. In 2016, Donald Trump received 304 electoral votes with 227 going to Hillary Clinton, while Clinton received 2,868,686 more popular votes than Trump.
Virginia Police Searching for Gunman Who Shot Patrol Car 3 Times

Authorities in Suffolk, Virginia, said they are looking for a suspect who opened fire on a marked police car on Tuesday night. The vehicle was hit three times, they added.

An officer was inside the patrol car but wasnt injured, officials said in a statement.

Police said the shooting occurred at around 7:30 p.m. in the 200 block of North Broad Street.

Upon preliminary investigation it was determined that the marked police vehicle that was traveling in the area was shot three times. The officer did not sustain any injuries, authorities said.

On Tuesday night, after the incident, there was a large police presence in the area as officers attempted to obtain evidence, according to the department.

Other details about the incident were not provided.

It comes hours after a federal officer was shot near a courthouse in Phoenix, Arizona, and several days after two Los Angeles County Sheriffs deputies were shot in the head in an ambush attack. Suspects are being sought in those cases.

The Phoenix Police Department said the officer suffered non-life-threatening injures.

According to the department, the shooting occurred near the Sandra Day OConnor U.S. Courthouse near 7th Avenue and Jefferson Street.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Suffolk Police or Suffolk Crime Line. One can call 888-LOCK-U-UP, 1-888-562-5887, Option 5. Once a person submits a tip, they will be given a TIP ID and password. With this information they can login at p3tips.com and submit follow-up information, engage in two-way dialogue, be informed of the outcome of the tip, and access any pertinent reward information.
An L.A. County sheriff's deputy patrols near the Compton Metro station Sunday in the wake of the shooting of two deputies there. (Los Angeles Times)

To the editor: Arresting the KPCC reporter is a symptom of a broader malady in America that deals with consent of the governed and policing. The arrest surely resulted from reactions by sheriff's personnel to the ambush shooting of two comrades that very day. I can sympathize with their feelings of anger, fear, hurt and so much more. But I cannot justify or excuse it.

I can also imagine that the ugly criminal who did the shooting had emotions that they thought justified the ambush. That cannot be excused or justified either. The shooter must be brought to justice. But more importantly we all must stand down and de-escalate.

We the people delegate armed authority to our police agencies to ensure our safety. That places a tremendous responsibility and trust on the police agencies. A fundamental re-imagining needs to take place. It needs to start today.

The Sheriff's Department can truly address excess force and the way in which they go about providing public safety and law enforcement. The community needs to hold the department to those challenges and it needs to give change a chance and reason to happen. If we fail to make such fundamental changes, the future is easy to predict. Law enforcement officers are already outgunned and outnumbered. They need to swiftly earn moral authority to enforce the law, for their own sake and for civilians' sake.

Stephen Galvin, Simi Valley

..

To the editor: The senseless "protesters" outside St. Francis Medical Center on Saturday night should be condemned by every right-thinking human being. Chanting "we hope they die" while two deputies fight for their lives and their anguished loved ones can do nothing but wait and pray is inhuman and unforgivable.

They had a right to express their opinions, but lacked the intelligence and common sense to realize that they were wrong on every level. The Black Lives Matter movement will only achieve the reforms we need with widespread, diverse community support. This kind of hateful display will not allow that to develop. Those people were not protesters, they were agitators bent on creating more violence and destruction. Community, political, religious and civic leaders must strongly condemn these heartless individuals.

Story continues

Terry Walker, Sylmar

..

To the editor: There is no excuse for handling a member of the press in this manner for doing her job. I have no doubt that that this was an act to intimidate members of the press and the public.

When leadership lies about the circumstances, we should not be surprised about the presence of gangs in the Sheriff's Department. Trust, support and respect for officers will not come from such misapplied force.

I am sorry that a person shot and gravely wounded the deputies. I do hope they recover fully and return whole to their families. I also hope Ms. Huang recovers fully from her injuries from this unprovoked attack.

Jo Ann Dawson, Northridge
On Aug. 27 at the General Assemblys Energy and Technology committee forum in Hartford, Eversource CEO Jim Judd proclaimed that storm Isaias was an act of God.

Hamden Alliance for Trees begs to differ. This storm was not an act of God. This storm was a result of human failure to heed the call of scientists who have warned for decades that fossil fuels contribute to climate change and thus ever-increasing violent storms, flooding, drought, wildfires, heat waves and more.

The comments by Eversource officials defending their performance and blaming trees, trees, trees for the destruction that resulted on Aug. 4 continues their refusal to acknowledge the true cause of these storms and the role the utilities play in keeping us tied to fossil fuel electric power through their vegetation management plans and their infrastructure replacement projects throughout Connecticut.

Their determination to blame the victims, our trees, is consistent with their goal of removing every tree that might possibly fall on their electric lines to lower their operating expenses and increase their revenue due to an increase in use of air conditioning. One of the most important services trees provide is natural cooling.

There was also much discussion of why so many trees came down. Both companies pointed to the recent droughts and the diseased and pest-infested trees in their service areas. One would think that it would have been a top priority of these companies to remove these trees, but no, dead and diseased trees were routinely left standing in Hamden, a UI service area, while healthy trees were routinely removed. At one point Hamden had a list of more than 200 trees that were reported to UI for removal but were ignored.

According to PURA Docket 16-12-37, in 2016, of 11,043 trees removed, only 703 trees were classified as hazardous.

According to the UI VM Plan Exhibit H, in 2018, of 6,789 trees removed; only 2,267 were classified as hazardous. This means that in 2016 and 2018 a total of 14,862 non-hazardous trees were removed.

This weakens the tree system contributing to the demise of trees in violent weather. The utility companies should be required to replace every tree removed with two healthy trees.

When considering the health of a tree, UI testimony on page 33-34 of Docket 19-01-25 speaks volumes. PURA Commissioner Michael Caron asked UI Vegetation Management Manager, David Goodson: So does that mean that you could check off a number of factors why you should take the tree down, but health may not be one of them? Goodson: The industry does not generally use the term health. Theyre called hazards or risk factors. So theres not one one that says healthy.

HAT challenges UI and Eversource to name any living thing that has no risk factors.

Instead of Eversource and UI looking up at the trees to blame, they need to look down at their feet for the obvious solution  undergrounding!

Legislators, local town leaders and residents were also outraged by the poor communication they received after the storm. Historically, these two companies have been completely uninterested in the views of their customers and good communication has not been a priority to either company.

In Docket 19-01-25, when Commissioner Caron asked, Is there any customer service follow-up to see how the customers experience went, post-work  were customers surveyed? Both companies answered no.

This lack of concern for customer satisfaction is unacceptable and is indicative of the disdain these two companies have for their customers and the towns they serve.

HAT has raised the issue of UIs poor customer communications with PURA and the Legislature in the past. In 2019, HB 5312 addressed this problem. It was passed in the House, but not considered by the Senate.

HAT has urged PURA repeatedly to require a tear-off satisfaction survey as part of the utility door hanger notification. This would be returned directly to PURA and should result in higher-quality tree work and honor the type of work the property owner requests and has been agreed to by the utility company. Perhaps now it will be seriously considered.

Providing quality customer service includes both recognizing and committing to the protection of our natural world and providing excellent communication with utility customers. This must become an important legislative and PURA consideration when reviewing the performance of the utilities for the sake of our future and survival of our planet.

Diane Hoffman and Melinda Tuhus are members of Hamden Alliance for Trees.
Technavio has been monitoring the truffles market and it is poised to grow by USD 122 million during 2020-2024, progressing at a CAGR of almost 7% 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/20200915006028/en/

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Truffles Market 2020-2024 (Graphic: Business Wire)

Although the COVID-19 pandemic continues to transform the growth of various industries, the immediate impact of the outbreak is varied. While a few industries will register a drop in demand, numerous others will continue to remain unscathed and show promising growth opportunities. Technavio's in-depth research has all your needs covered as our research reports include all foreseeable market scenarios, including pre- post-COVID-19 analysis. Download a Free Sample Report on COVID-19 Impacts

Frequently Asked Questions-

Based on segmentation by product, which is the leading segment in the market?

The black truffles are expected to be the leading segment in the global market during the forecast period.

What are the major trends in the market?

Increased use of truffles in fine dining and premium dishes is one of the major trends in the market.

At what rate is the market projected to grow?

Growing at a CAGR of almost 7%, the incremental growth of the market is anticipated to be USD 122 million.

Who are the top players in the market?

Arotz S.A., Conservas Ferrer S.A., Gazzarrini Tartufi, La Maison Plantin, LES FRERES JAUMARD, Qingdao Colorful Farm Food Co. Ltd., Sabatino Italia Srl, The Truffle Wine Co., The Truffles Co., and Urbani Tartufi Srl. are some of the major market participants.

What are the key market drivers and challenges?

Growth in commercial truffle farming is one of the major factors driving the market. However, the fluctuating prices of truffles restraint market growth.

How big is the Europe market?

The Europe region will contribute 35% of market growth.



The market is fragmented, and the degree of fragmentation will accelerate during the forecast period. Arotz S.A., Conservas Ferrer S.A., Gazzarrini Tartufi, La Maison Plantin, LES FRERES JAUMARD, Qingdao Colorful Farm Food Co. Ltd., Sabatino Italia Srl, The Truffle Wine Co., The Truffles Co., and Urbani Tartufi Srl are some of the major market participants. The growth in commercial truffle farming will offer immense growth opportunities. To make 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.

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

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.

Truffles Market 2020-2024: Segmentation

Truffles Market is segmented as below:

Product Black Truffles White Truffles Others

Geography Europe North America APAC MEA South America



To learn more about the global trends impacting the future of market research, download a free sample: https://www.technavio.com/talk-to-us?report=IRTNTR43639

Truffles 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. The truffles market report covers the following areas:

Truffles Market Size

Truffles Market Trends

Truffles Market Analysis

This study identifies increased use of truffles in fine dining and premium dishes as one of the prime reasons driving the truffles market growth during the next few years.

Technavio suggests three forecast scenarios (optimistic, probable, and pessimistic) considering the impact of COVID-19. Technavio's in-depth research has direct and indirect COVID-19 impacted market research reports.

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Truffles Market 2020-2024: Key Highlights

CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2020-2024

Detailed information on factors that will assist truffles market growth during the next five years

Estimation of the truffles market size and its contribution to the parent market

Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

The growth of the truffles market

Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors

Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of truffles market vendors

Table of Contents:

Executive Summary

Market Overview

Market Landscape

Market ecosystem

Value chain analysis

Market Sizing

Market definition

Market segment analysis

Market size 2019

Market outlook: Forecast for 2019 2024

Five Forces Analysis

Five forces summary

Bargaining power of buyers

Bargaining power of suppliers

Threat of new entrants

Threat of substitutes

Threat of rivalry

Market condition

Market Segmentation by Product

Market segments

Comparison by Product

Black truffles Market size and forecast 2019-2024

White truffles Market size and forecast 2019-2024

Others Market size and forecast 2019-2024

Market opportunity by Product

Customer landscape

Overview

Geographic Landscape

Geographic segmentation

Geographic comparison

Europe Market size and forecast 2019-2024

North America Market size and forecast 2019-2024

APAC Market size and forecast 2019-2024

MEA Market size and forecast 2019-2024

South America Market size and forecast 2019-2024

Key leading countries

Market opportunity by geography

Volume driver Demand led growth

Market challenges

Market trends

Vendor Landscape

Overview

Landscape disruption

Vendor Analysis

Vendors covered

Market positioning of vendors

Arotz S.A.

Conservas Ferrer S.A.

Gazzarrini Tartufi

La Maison Plantin

LES FRERES JAUMARD

Qingdao Colorful Farm Food Co. Ltd.

Sabatino Italia Srl

The Truffle Wine Co.

The Truffles Co.

Urbani Tartufi Srl

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 focuses 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/20200915006028/en/

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Technavio Research

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Website: www.technavio.com/
The opening ceremony took place in a space imbued with Vietnamese culture at the Sudestasie bookstore in District 5 of Paris. This is a Southeast Asian bookstore, with a tradition of introducing books on Vietnam for nearly 50 years.

The event was attended by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to France Nguyen Thiep; and Ambassador Tran Thi Hoang Mai, head of the Vietnamese Permanent Delegation to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO); along with Vietnamese scholars and French and Vietnamese writers, translators, and painters.

Ambassador Tran Thi Hoang Mai reviewed Nguyen Du's dedication as a writer who affirmed Vietnamese language as the identity of the country, emphasizing Nguyen Du as "Vietnam's most successful and talented cultural ambassador".

Just as all Vietnamese are proud of Nguyen Du and The Tale of Kieu, many foreigners also admire Nguyen Du and his work. In 2013, UNESCO's resolution 37 C / 15 recognised the great contributions made by 109 famous people in the world in culture, education and science, including Nguyen Du.

The Tale of Kieu has been translated into many languages, taught in schools, and reprinted annually in large numbers. The work was recited from generation to generation. It has its own dictionary, and its own research association (Association for Kieu Studies). The vitality of The Tale of Kieu has also reached other art forms such as stage performance, music and painting.

The Tale of Kieu is not only an endless source of inspiration for the generations of Vietnamese people but is growing increasingly popular abroad.

At the exhibition, readers, researchers and people who love Nguyen Du and interested in The Tale of Kieu in France discovered, for the first time, near complete translations in 21 languages. Among these was the first translation in French by the orientalist Professor Abel des Michels in 1884.

Over the past 140 years, generations of translators and poets have constantly overcome difficulties and obstacles in language and culture to convey The Tale of Kieu in various other languages, contributing to the excellent work of Vietnamese ancient literature to the world. More than 70 complete translations were published in over 25 countries, in addition to many other translations.

On the occasion, a set of stamps commemorating Nguyen Dus 200th death anniversary was displayed at the exhibition. The set of stamps used an illustration of The Tale of Kieu by painter Claudia Borchers in Germany and painter Ngoc Mai in Vietnam along with the painting "The first meeting with Dam Tien" by Vietnamese-French painter Ngoc Thach. A short documentary film "Nguyen Du with the hometown of Ha Tinh" made by Ha Tinh Television Station, was also introduced at the exhibition.

The exhibition will take place until September 26.

Translations of The Tale of Kieu were presented at the exhibition.
Irans Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif argued that US-brokered deals to normalize ties between Israel and two Persian Gulf States  Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates  were just a campaign photo that President Donald Trump desperately needs for reelection in November.

In a tweet, Zarif said that he was not surprised by the agreements as Washingtons Arab allies in the Middle East have been Israels de facto allies for years. The Iranian foreign minister also accused Trumps son-in-law, Jared Kushner, of blackmailing Americas regional clients into the deals.

It was not the first time that Iranian authorities have called Kushner an architect of what Tehran views as American-Zionist plots in the Middle East. Earlier this month, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei referred to the Jew in the Trump family and one of the dirty elements in the United States who is acting against the interests of the Islamic world. In a scathing speech, Khamenei rebuked Emirati officials for their treason, which he said will leave behind an everlasting mark of disgrace.

The ultraconservative paper Kayhan, run by Khameneis office, blasted both Bahrain and the UAE for betraying the blood of Palestinians by signing the accord on the anniversary of the Sabra and Shatila massacre that left as many as 3,500 Palestinian refugees and Lebanese Shiites dead in Beirut back in 1982. The killings were perpetrated by the Phalange militia, operated under the Israel Defense Forces.

Javan, which is owned by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, also lamented the scene of the banquet in which petty sheikhs danced and sold out al-Quds. The Arabic name for Jerusalem is often used also to represent the citys al-Aqsa Mosque, Islams third holiest site.

Not only conservative but also Reformist publications spoke out against the normalization pacts with Israel. Despite their intolerance for one another, the leading rival camps in Iran share a fundamental conviction of unwavering support for the Palestinian cause and the struggle against the Zionist occupation. Ebtekar, a pro-Reformist newspaper, objected at length to the black peace in the White House. It also argued that Irans main regional foe, Saudi Arabia, was involved behind the scenes and gave the green light to Bahrain, whose leaders have become increasingly dependent on Riyadh in recent years.

The normalization deal Israel inked with Bahrain and the UAE is an important achievement for the Trump administration, wrote London-based Iranian journalist Mehdi Parpanchi. Why didnt they hold it off until another time closer to the US election day? One possibility is that more Arab nations are queuing to join in the coming two months [before the polls].

Trump said at the signing ceremony on the White Houses South Lawn on Tuesday that talks were already underway with a number of other countries to enter the club. One of them, according to media reports, is Oman. The country was the last leg of an August Middle East tour by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in his mission to bring Arab allies on board with normalizing relations with Israel.

An imminent Omani deal with Israel would be even more disappointing to Iran. Abu Dhabi and Manama were already adversaries whose rapprochement with Tel Aviv was not shocking in Tehran. Muscat, however, has had good relations with Iran for decades, one that mediated preliminary talks between the Islamic Republic and the United States in 2013 that only two years later culminated in the multilateral Iran nuclear deal.
Travelers start to make a list of destinations they want to escape to when Covid-19 is under control.

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Vietnam ranked 31st among the most searched places for a post-lockdown holiday as travel restrictions have prevented tourists from jetting off across the world on holiday, according to Official ESTA, the US visa service company.

Bac Son, Lang Son province. Photo: Vu Minh Quan (Facebook)

Using Google Keyword Planner, the company analyzed the countries whose people are looking for their post lockdown travels by searching terms such as Flights to X and Holidays in X. Vietnam is searched 628,000 times each year, according to the report.

Italy is the most searched place among 220 countries and territories, followed by Maldives, Mexico, Thailand, Spain, Canada, Greece, Turkey, Japan and Australia. Meanwhile, some countries including Georgia, India, the US had zero searches for post lockdown travel.

Earlier, The Independent ranked Vietnam as the safest place to travel on holidays this summer.

Despite sharing a long border with China and a population of 97 million people, the Southeast Asian countrys swift reaction to the pandemic in early January, which involved travel restrictions, intensive contact tracing, the monitoring and eventual closure of the border with China, has stemmed the pandemic.

Professor Guy Thwaites, director of Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU) in Ho Chi Minh City, said the Vietnamese government very, very quickly acted in ways which seemed to be quite extreme at the time but were subsequently shown to be rather sensible, according to the Independents article. Hanoitimes

Nhat Minh
The car park in Edgbaston, Birmingham, was abandoned. (Reach)

Parents desperate for coronavirus tests for their children have hit out at authorities after they were sent to an empty car park.

They were among hundreds who showed up to an abandoned mobile site in Edgbaston, Birmingham, on Tuesday.

John Waterman, from Sutton Coldfield, tried for hours to secure a test for his 11-year-old son after he came down with a cough.

More than two hours after his scheduled appointment, he was sent a message telling him the former Tower Ballroom car park site was now unavailable.

Watch: What are the current UK government guidelines on face coverings within schools?

Waterman, 38, said: "There must have been at least a hundred people there when we arrived.

Cars driving up and down the road trying to find this test site they had been sent to.

On Monday, MPs branded Englands Test and Trace system a world beating shambles after it emerged that some of the countrys COVID-19 hotspots have no tests available.

Waterman added: "It's a total shambles. Think of how bad this is actually going to be when cold and flu season starts in earnest.

"It needs to be sorted out quickly."

Another angry parent told how she turned up at the same Edgbaston site only to find a locked and gated car park.

Samantha Moore said: "Finally managed to get a COVID test booked for my 14-year-old at the former Tower Ballroom car park in Edgbaston.

"No test centre on site and a lot of confused and frustrated people milling about looking for it.

"There are no directions upon arrival. Some people had walked up and down Osler Street and couldn't find any sort of test centre.

"The derelict car park opposite the cafe was gated and locked, no mobile unit inside. There was a lot of people in that street looking for the test centre and it was nowhere to be seen."

Parents were angry when they turned up at the testing site. (Reach)

The mobile testing site is believed to have been at the car park on Monday but it vanished overnight.

NHS signs advising people to only enter with an appointment had been left stuck to a fence at the former Tower Ballroom car park on Osler Street.

Story continues

Birmingham City Council said: "Sorry to hear this. We are not involved in the running of mobile testing sites but we'll make sure to alert relevant partners to the issue."

It is unclear exactly what led people to still be directed to the Edgbaston test centre, but Labour MP Preet Kaur Gill, who represents Birmingham Edgbaston, said she would be escalating the matter.

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 21:03:27|Editor: huaxia

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NEW DELHI, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Russia's sovereign wealth fund and Indian pharmaceuticals major Dr Reddy's Laboratories on Wednesday said they had agreed to cooperate on clinical trials and distribution of the Sputnik V vaccine for COVID-19 in India.

The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Russia's sovereign wealth fund, and Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. (Dr. Reddy's) had agreed to cooperate on clinical trials and distribution of Sputnik V vaccine in India. Upon regulatory approval in India, RDIF shall supply to Dr. Reddy's 100 million doses of the vaccine, read a joint press statement issued by the two.

"The Sputnik V vaccine, which is based on well studied human adenoviral vector platform with proven safety, is undergoing clinical trials for the coronavirus pandemic. Deliveries could potentially begin in late 2020 subject to completion of successful trials and registration of the vaccine by regulatory authorities in India," said the statement.

"India is amongst most severely impacted countries from COVID-19 and we believe our human adenovirus dual vector platform will provide a safe and scientifically validated option to India in the battle against COVID-19," Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of RDIF said.

"RDIF partners will receive an effective and safe drug to fight the coronavirus. The platform of human adenoviral vectors, which is the core of the Russian vaccine, has been tested in more than 250 clinical studies over decades, and it has been found safe with no potential negative long-term consequences."

G V Prasad, co-chairman of Dr Reddy's, said the Phase I and II clinical trials have shown promising results.

"We will be conducting Phase-III trials in India to ensure safety and efficacy for the Indian population and to meet the requirements of the Indian regulators. Sputnik V vaccine could provide a credible option in our fight against COVID 19 in India," he said.

At present several vaccine trials are going on in India. On Sunday India's federal health minister Harsh Vardhan said COVID-19 vaccine might be ready by the first quarter of next year.

Currently, India is in the grip of COVID-19 pandemic and cases are increasing with every passing day. On Wednesday the number of COVID-19 cases in the country has reached 5,020,359 including 82,066 deaths. Enditem
San Diego is the ideal "staycation" weekend spot since many popular beaches, boardwalks and restaurants are now open  and that includes area attractions like the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Zoo Safari Park. Handlery Hotel's landscaped pool invites guests to dive in and take a break from the stresses of the past few months.

"Many of us have endured a pretty difficult and exhausting summer, so we're inviting area residents to come over to our place for some well-deserved rest and relaxation," said Jon Handlery, president of Handlery Hotels, Inc. "A warm weekend spent by the pool or dipping your toes in our famous sandy beaches is a great way to recharge and feel like you've had that vacation you wanted all year."

"Remote Relaxation" Package  only $89 per night with a three-night minimum stay

The package, which does not include tax/service fees and must be booked at sd.handlery.com or via phone at (800) 676-6567, includes:

Check in on a Thursday afternoon in September or October and check out as late as 3 p.m. on Sunday  allows even more pool time

 allows even more pool time Complimentary parking with unlimited in-and-out privileges

Complimentary bottled water

Complimentary Wi-Fi

15% discount at the San Diego Zoo or Safari Park

10% discount at Macy's or 20% discount if you book an appointment with one of their personal shoppers

"Wanderlust Weekend" Package  only $99 per night with a two-night minimum stay

The package, which does not include tax/service fees and must be booked at sd.handlery.com or via phone at (800) 676-6567, includes:

Check in on a Friday afternoon in September or October and check out as late as 3 p.m. on Sunday  allows even more pool time

 allows even more pool time Complimentary parking with unlimited in-and-out privileges

Complimentary bottled water

Complimentary Wi-Fi

15% discount at the San Diego Zoo or Safari Park

10% discount at Macy's or 20% discount if you book an appointment with one of their personal shoppers

About Handlery Hotels' Commitment to Clean

All areas of the Handlery Hotel San Diego have been fully cleaned and disinfected according to local health guidelines. A strict cleaning process taking place throughout the day further ensures the health and safety of our guests and staff. For more information on our health and safety protocols, please visit www.handlery.com.

About Handlery Hotel San Diego

Handlery Hotel San Diego is a contemporary, full-service property featuring 217 guestrooms and suites. Among the amenities of the family owned-and operated hotel: outdoor heated pool, 42,000 sq. ft. of indoor and outdoor event space, Handlery Hotel San Diego also offers full-service catering, convention and wedding planning services, as well as a landscaped outdoor wedding or event venue which seats up to 400. For more information, please visit sd.handlery.com or call (800) 676-6567.

About Handlery Hotels, Inc.

Handlery Hotels is California's oldest family-owned hotel company, serving guests for nearly 100 years. Two premier properties welcome guests visiting both northern and southern California: Handlery Union Square Hotel in San Francisco and Handlery Hotel San Diego. Frequent guests can take advantage of the Handlery Rewards program, which offers one free night after every 10 nights you stay between either California location. For more information, please visit www.handlery.com.

MEDIA, PLEASE NOTE: For more information, including an interview with Jon Handlery, please contact David Cumpston/Landis Communications (LCI) at (415) 902-4461 or [email protected].

SOURCE Handlery Hotels

Related Links

http://www.handlery.com


The government of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro has committed crimes against humanity including torture and murder, independent experts commissioned by the UN have claimed.

The experts issued a report that says the people responsible for crimes that include extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions and torture must be held to account, in part to ensure they do not happen again.

The findings, based on nearly 3,000 cases that were investigated or examined, concluded that Mr Maduro and his defence and interior ministers were aware of crimes committed by security forces and intelligence agencies.

It further alleged that high-level authorities had both power and oversight over the forces and agencies, making the top officials responsible.

This handout photo released by the Venezuelan Presidency shows Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro delivering a speech at Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas, on April 23, 2019

Mr Maduro's government has come under increasing political pressure from the United States and dozens of other countries which consider Juan Guaido the legitimate leader of Venezuela.

Mr Maduro has called this a plot to overthrow him so the US can exploit Venezuela's oil wealth.

The 411-page report for the Human Rights Council represents an extensive look at rights violations in Venezuela and was based on interviews with alleged victims, relatives, witnesses, police, government officials and judges, as well as videos, satellite imagery and social media content.

The authors said they did not receive responses from the government itself.

Venezuelan security forces clash with supporters of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido on the Venezuelan side of the Francisco de Paula Santander International Bridge on February 25, 2019. A UN report has found that Mr Maduro was aware of crimes committed by security forces and intelligence agencies

Marta Valinas, Francisco Cox Vial and Paul Seils worked under a fact-finding mission for the Geneva-based rights council set up last September to investigate violations in Venezuela over the past five years.

'These acts were committed pursuant to two state policies, one to quash opposition to the government and another to combat crime, including by eliminating individuals perceived as criminals,' Mr Valinas told reporters.

'We also consider that the documented crimes were committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population.'
Angry over three agriculture-related Bills, hundreds of farmers blocked major highways in parts of Punjab and Haryana on Wednesday to demand that the proposed laws should not be pursued in Parliament.

The protesters also warned that if any Member of Parliament from Punjab supported the farm Bills in Parliament, he or she would not be allowed to enter villages.

"The MPs who support the farm bills in Parliament will not be allowed to enter the villages," said Bharatiya Kisan Union (Lakhowal) General Secretary Harinder Singh Lakhowal.

He said members of his outfit along with those from other farmers' organisations blocked roads, mainly national highways, at several places in Punjab. There were reports of farmers blocking highways in Haryana also.

In Punjab, a sit-in was started by protesters outside Chief Minister Amarinder Singh's residence in Patiala town and also outside former Chief Minister and Akali Dal leader Parkash Singh Badal's residence at his native Badal village in Muktsar district.

Farmers from both the states also staged a protest at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi against the Bills. Later, the police detained them.

Heavy police presence was seen at various places in Haryana and Punjab to maintain law and order in view of the protest by farmers.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh appealed to the farmers not to stop traffic or violate Section 144 of the CrPC in the state over the agriculture Bills, but made it clear that no cases would be registered against them as "they are fighting for their lives".

FIRs already registered against farmers protesting in violation of Section 144 would be withdrawn, said the Chief Minister on Wednesday.

He was talking to media persons outside the Governor's House after submitting a memorandum against the anti-farmer Bills on behalf of the Punjab Congress.

The ordinances would pave the way for ending the Minimum Support Price (MSP) regime, which will spell doom for Punjab, and in fact the whole nation, he added.
The United Kingdom has warned of imposing sanctions, including visa ban and asset seizure, on Nigerians who incite or execute violence in the Edo and Ondo governorship elections.

The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing, said in a statement on Tuesday that the UK greatly values the Nigerian democracy and thus will not condone any violent act that may undermine the democratic process in the coming elections.

As a friend and partner of Nigeria we are closely following the lead up to the off-cycle governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states scheduled for September 19 and October 10 respectively.

These elections are important, both as an essential element of effective governance within both states and an indicator of the strength of Nigerias democratic institutions, the statement read.

The warning came days after the United States government announced it is imposing visa restrictions on some Nigerians undermining the electoral processes in the run-up to the governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states.

Ms Laing said the UK would deploy observers to the two states to monitor the elections.

The British High Commissioner who met leaders of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) and the main opposition, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Monday reminded the politicians that apart from their asset being seized in the UK, they could experience a worst case scenario of prosecution.

The UK takes a strong stand against election-related violence and, just as we did in the general election in 2019, will continue to take action against individuals we identify as being responsible for violence during the elections.

This could include restrictions on their eligibility to travel to the UK, restrictions on access to UK based assets or prosecution under international law, the statement said.

The warning comes a day after the United States issued a similar statement, announcing visa restrictions on some politicians it said orchestrated violence and rigging during the governorship elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states.

The British High Commissioner also spoke on the peace accord recently signed by both political parties and urged INEC and security agents to ensure peaceful and fair elections.

We urge INEC, the Police and all other agencies involved to work together to deliver free, fair and credible elections, she said in the statement.
Sandra Gonzalez and Adelaida Vasquez Mihu, shareholders at global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP, will participate in the Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA)/Vision in Action Corporate Counsel Conference and Annual Convention (CCC-AC2020), taking place Sept. 15-18 and Sept. 22-24 respectively. Greenberg Traurig is also a sponsor of the events.

This year, HNBA has combined two of its signature events with the themes: Together We Rise and StayConnected. According to the HNBA website, the agenda features virtual programming, including continuing legal education sessions, plenaries, and specialty programs, along with an exhibitor and sponsor showcase, networking opportunities, awards ceremonies, and virtual receptions designed to foster connections, recognize achievements, and encourage collaboration.

Mihu, a HNBA Latina Commissioner, will lead two breakout sessions during the Latina Leadership Academy on Tues., Sept. 15 as part of the HNBA CCC. The first breakout is scheduled to start at 12:00 p.m. ET followed by the second session at 1:45 p.m. ET. Both sessions will focus on leadership, authenticity in the legal profession, and executive presence.

On Thurs., Sept. 24 at 11:00 a.m. ET, Mihu will moderate and Gonzalez will be a panelist for the session titled, FCPA Trends: Perspective from the Regulatory and Compliance Bar. Panelists will discuss hot topics in Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement and how to best implement an effective compliance program.

Gonzalez focuses her practice on international corporate compliance matters and more specifically, the FCPA and the UK Bribery Act. Gonzalez assists clients around the world to design, build and implement anti-corruption compliance policies and procedures consistent with the elements of an effective compliance program under U.S. Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission guidelines.

Mihu focuses her practice on international compliance matters and counsels companies doing business in international markets. Mihu advises on a host of compliance and transactional due diligence issues arising out of various government regulations and assists clients with developing anti-corruption programs.

About Greenberg Traurigs Diversity Initiative: From its inception, Greenberg Traurig has been committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Greenberg Traurig is a uniquely empowering and diverse firm built on a foundation of fairness, equality, and authenticity. The firm's efforts have been recognized by local, national, and global publications and organizations including, Chambers and Partners. Web: https://www.gtlaw.com/en/general/our-firm/diversity Twitter: @GT_Drives.

About Greenberg Traurigs Womens Initiative: Greenberg Traurig is committed to its women lawyers success, which includes a firmwide womens affinity group encompassing recruiting, retention, and business development. The firm regularly collaborates with like-minded organizations to address these issues on a broader scale in a variety of industries and communities. Greenberg Traurig also takes thoughtful action to address issues such as maintaining a healthy work-life balance, breaking the glass ceiling, mentoring, creating and maintaining healthy lifestyles, and giving back to the community. Twitter: @GTLawWomen.

About Greenberg Traurig, LLP: Greenberg Traurig, LLP (GT) has approximately 2200 attorneys in 40 locations in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. GT has been recognized for its philanthropic giving, diversity, and innovation, and is consistently among the largest firms in the U.S. on the Law360 400 and among the Top 20 on the Am Law Global 100. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com Twitter: @GT_Law
Indian pharma giant Dr. Reddys Laboratory Ltd. has partnered with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) to conduct phase-III trials of Russian vaccine Sputnik V and will distribute 10 crore doses of the anti-coronavirus vaccine, a press note released by RDIF said.

Pune-based Serum Institute of India and Hyderabad-based Biological-E are the two other Indian companies that have tied up with vaccine developers; Oxford-AstraZeneca and Janssen Pharmaceutica NV (Janssen), one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical companies of Johnson & Johnson, respectively, for domestic production of their vaccines.

The development at Dr. Reddys Lab comes a week after the Indian government publicly confirmed that it was in advanced talks with the Russians on two counts; production of the vaccine in India and conducting Phase-III clinical trials of the same in the country.

Russias federal government had approved emergency registration of the Sputnik V vaccine last month. The vaccine has been developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Moscow. The Russian governments early approval for the vaccine, even before the commencement of the critical Phase-III trials, was met with skepticism and criticism from scientists around the world.

However, the partnership between Dr. Reddys and RDIF is an indication that the vaccine will have to go through the critical phase-III trials to test for efficacy and safety on a large number of people before it is approved by domestic regulators. Dr VK Paul, head of the National Covid-19 Task Force, had said last week that there would be phase-III trials in the normal course of things and that the government was also facilitating conduct of the trials, according to requirements of science and domestic regulations.

Dr. Reddys Lab co-chairman and managing mirector GV Prasad said, We are pleased to partner with RDIF to bring the vaccine to India. Phase I and II results have shown promise, and we will be conducting phase-III trials in India to meet the requirements of Indian regulators. Sputnik V vaccine could provide a credible option in our fight against COVID-19 in India.

The Sputnik V vaccine is based on the human adenoviral vector platform and phase-III trials are underway in Russia. Deliveries could potentially begin in late 2020, subject to completion of successful trials and registration of the vaccine by regulatory authorities in India, the RDIF press note stated.

Dr. Reddys has had a very well established and respected presence in Russia for over 25 years and is one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in India. India is amongst the most severely impacted countries from COVID-19 and we believe our human adenovirus dual vector platform will provide a safe and scientifically validated option to India in the battle against COVID-19, said RDIF CEO Kirill Dmitriev.
Chandigarh, Sep 16 : Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday appealed to farmers not to stop traffic or violate Section 144 in the state over the agriculture bills, but made it clear that no cases would be registered against them as they were fighting for their lives.

FIRs already registered against farmers protesting in violation of Section 144 would be withdrawn, said the Chief Minister, talking to mediapersons outside the Governor's house after submitting a memorandum against the anti-farmer Bills on behalf of the Punjab Congress.

The farmers are violating the law as the ordinances will ruin them and their families, he said in response to a question.

The state Congress and his government were with the farmers, the Chief Minister asserted, adding that the Centre's legislations would ruin Punjab and its agriculture, which was the backbone of its economy.

The ordinances would pave the way for ending the Minumum Support Price (MSP) regime, which will spell doom for Punjab, and in fact the whole nation, he added.

Amarinder Singh urged the farmers to take their protests to Delhi, at the doorstep of the Central government, and assured them that the Congress would stand with them in their fight.
Imteyaz Ahmed, 42, has a small cloth store at Mushkipur village under Gogari block of Khagaria district in Bihar. He struggled for five years to pay the tax for a chunk of land, measuring less than an acre, inherited by his father from his grandfather; which would have given his father Wazruddin the title rights.

His father passed away during the intervening period as Ahmed was made to run from pillar to post, with revenue officials in the block raising some frivolous objection or the other.

A year later when Bihar introduced the public grievance redressal forum, I made an application to the public grievance redressal officer at Gogari sub-division. It worked like magic. In just two hearings, the matter was disposed of in less than two months time and I was handed over the land tax receipt in my fathers name, said Ahmed.

Krunesh Kumar Mishra, 52, a farmer and a political activist in Srisiraniya village of Gogari block of Khagaria district, also benefitted from the Bihar Right to Public Grievance Redressal Act-2015, the first such legislation in the country. He took up cudgels for around 1,900 farmers, who were denied diesel subsidy for three years after the drought in 2016-17.

Around 1,900 farmers in my village were not being given diesel subsidy due to some corrupt officials. We complained to officials at the block level, but nothing happened. Finally, I petitioned through the Right to Public Grievance Redressal Act. After three hearings, in just over a month, the government had disbursed Rs 36 lakh (approx.) as diesel subsidy into the bank account of all the farmers in my village, said Mishra.

Manish Kumar, 28, who owns a small flour mill at Belchhi in Biharsharif block of chief minister Nitish Kumars home district Nalanda, had suffered at the hands of officials, as the energy department failed to provide him electricity connection at his flour mill.

I waited for six years before complaining to the sub-divisional public grievance redressal officer in January this year. Though the matter was resolved in a couple of sittings, I got the electricity connection at my flour bill through the South Bihar Power Distribution Company Ltd only last week, benefitting 20 other households in my locality, said Kumar.

Also Read: PM lauds Bihar govt, launches projects worth  541 crore

There are many such stories where people in Bihar have actually benefited from the public grievance redressal act.

Bihar is the only state in India to have given its people the legal right of redressal of grievance by bringing in the Right to Public Grievance Redressal Act through an act of legislation. It ensures right of hearing, redressal and the right to know the decision taken by authorities on their complaint, said Dr Pratima, additional mission director of Bihar Prashasnik Sudhar Mission (Bihar Administrative Reforms Mission).

Anyone can log a complaint either online or offline. Online complaints can be made through the portal (lokshikayat.bihar.gov.in) or through mobile app Jan Samadhan, which can be downloaded from the Google play store. One can even file their complaints through e-mail (info-lokshikayat-bih@gov.in). One can even log a complaint by making a call to its toll-free call centre (18003456284). Offline complaints through applications are also entertained at three levels  sub-division, district and department level  having public grievance redressal officers at each level.

Watch: Selfish interests took over: PM Modis jibe at RJD & Congress in Bihar

A citizen can expect redressal of grievance within 60 working days under the Act. There is also a provision to appeal against an order passed by the public grievance redressal officer to the next higher level. Besides, there is also provision to penalise errant officials. As many as 550 officials have so far been penalised and Rs 15 lakh penalty has been imposed and disciplinary action has been initiated against 325 erring officials, said Pratima.

During coronavirus pandemic, we conducted virtual hearing through our B-Swan network. We also extended the period of hearing and gave complainants the option to attend virtual hearings either by latching to our system through a private network or going to the nearest office of the public grievance redressal officer in sub-division, district or state headquarters, she said.

At least 26% complaints are filed online. We also receive as many as 100 complaints per day through our call centre. We have disposed of 7,26,837 of the 8,02,167 complaints  a success rate of over 90%  received till now since June 5, 2016, when the system was put in place, said Pratima.

From the analytics, it has been found that 23.71% of the complaints received are of revenue department, followed by home (14.53%), rural development (10.29%), energy (8.93%), social welfare (8.72%), food and consumer protection (5.86%), finance (4.23%), panchayati raj (4.23%), education department (3.82%) and disaster management payment (3.71%).

Most complaints are land-related, pertaining to encroachment, taxes, land mutation; or inflated electricity billing, non-payment of government pension schemes like old age and widow pension, those related to lack of hand pumps and piped water supply, issues pertaining to public distribution system, the PM Awaas Yojana, police cases  both pertaining to coercive action and inaction  and non-payment of ex gratia for deaths due to natural disaster, etc.

Other states like Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab and Haryana are now approaching Bihar, having shown interest to replicate its model. A team from Karnataka was here in February to examine the Bihar model. The public grievance redressal system in Bihar has also kindled interest of researchers, with many scholars coming here to analyse it.
Leaders of the architecture biennial acknowledge that they need to reach a decision soon. A curator, or team of curators, would need time to determine an overall theme and recruit participating designers, who, in turn, would need months to prepare materials to exhibit. Funds would also need to be raised from corporate sponsors.
172 Environmentalists Urge Biden Voteand Not for Green Party Candidate

Environmentally concerned voters implored to avoid being 'too pure to beat Donald Trump'

An open letter issued Sept. 14 and signed by a group of more than 170 environmentalists urged like-minded voters to vote for Democratic Party candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden in Novembers presidential electionand not the Green Party candidate, Howie Hawkins, or any other third-party candidate. Are environmentalists too pure to beat Donald Trump? the letter asks.

Angry right-wing voters and liberal absentees put Trump in the White House in 2016, according to the group. In 2020 the same unholy team could keep him there.

The letter asserts the signatories belief that progressive voters who confer their ballots on Green Party candidate Hawkins vote for a candidate with no realistic chance of winning and spoil their vote, contributing directly to the reelection of President Donald Trump.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump looks at his wife Melania as they cast their votes at PS-59 on Nov. 8, 2016, in New York. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

Such pious gestures will produce catastrophic results, the letter reads. Four years ago, Trump carried Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, which lifted him into power, by margins of less than 1 percent. He would have lost all three if the votes cast for the Green Party had gone to Hillary Clinton instead, let alone the votes of the many thousands of progressives who failed to show up at all.

The letter was signed by 172 environmentalists and environmental activists, including the former director of the Environmental Protection Agencys Office of Civil Enforcement, Eric Schaeffer, and author and conservationist at the National Audubon Society Carl Safina.

This is not the year to make a utopian statement or to waste a single vote. This is the year to unseat Donald Trump, the letter states.

Green Votes in Swing States

The letter also makes reference to the 2000 presidential election between Republican candidate George W. Bush and his Democratic Party opponent, Al Gore, suggesting that Green Party candidate Ralph Nader won votes that election year that might otherwise have benefited Gore.

Twenty years ago, the Green Party snatched the White House from a climate change leader and handed it to George W. Bush, the letter reads. In Florida, no less than 97,488 progressive voters snubbed Al Gore for Ralph Nader, letting Bush win the state, and therefore the presidency, by 537 votes, or so the Supreme Court ruled.

The signatories describe Joe Biden as a progressive candidate. During eight years as vice president, he nudged President Obama toward better environmental policies, they state. Now he has a plan to invest two trillion dollars in a lifesaving program to arrest and reverse the catastrophe of man-made climate change.

According to the Biden plan, the Democratic Party candidate has vowed to build a more resilient, sustainable economyone that will put the United States on an irreversible path to achieve net-zero emissions, economy-wide, by no later than 2050. A core tenet of his environmental plan is to transition the production of electricity across the United States away from fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas by 2035. In the process, Biden says, he will ensure the creation of millions of good-paying jobs while combating climate change.

Green Party Platform

In its election platform, the Green Party sets a more ambitious goal of transitioning to 100 percent renewable energy by 2030and of creating 20 million American jobs in the process. If elected president, Howie Hawkins says he will declare a climate emergency on the first day of his presidency.

According to the party platform, this would entail enacting an emergency Green New Deala WWII-scale national mobilizationto combat climate change, which the party calls the greatest threat to humanity in our history.

The Green Party candidate also describes himself as a socialist. Trump acts like hes debating a socialist, but Bidens no socialist and doesnt want a debate, Hawkins wrote on Facebook on Sept. 14. Voters have a right to hear more voices and if Trump wants to debate a socialist, name a time & place and Ill be there.

Hawkins has also said that he would slash military spending by 75 percent, while the Green Partys Democracy Agenda involves abolishing the electoral college and the U.S. Senate.

Trump Administration Environmental Record

In a Sept. 9 interview on Fox Business News, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Chairman Andrew Wheeler lauded the Trump administrations energy and environmental policies, which he said have made the United States energy dominant while reducing atmospheric emissions by 7 percent since Trump took office.

In addition, the administration has focused strongly on eliminating unnecessary regulations to advance energy production, slash regulatory costs, and reduce red tape for farmers and businesses. According to an October 2019 statement by the White House, Under the Presidents leadership, the Administration has cut 8 and a half regulations for every new rule, far exceeding his promise to cut two regulations for every new one.

The EPA has also focused on a broader range of environmental challenges. According to a recent statement by Wheeler: Water issues are the most immediate environmental issue facing the world right now. Under President Trump, EPA is driving water infrastructure improvements forward with common-sense regulations.
The Nigerian government plans to capture the details of internally displaced persons (IDPs), the minister of communication and digital economy, Isa Pantami, has said.

He disclosed this in a statement signed by his spokesperson, Uwa Suleiman, on Tuesday.

According to the statement, the ministry is developing the right policy environment to support enrolments for digital identity cards across the country.

It said the importance of a digital identity programme to the successful development of a digital economy cannot be overstated.

Digital Identity plays a critical part in the development of a digital economy is also called the fabric of the digital economy, it said

He reminded Nigerians of the importance of digital Identity.

We will start by capturing Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Nigeria and will also support the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and other stakeholders to ensure that we make the process of obtaining Digital IDs swift and secure, it said.

One of the key objectives of Pillar #6 (Soft Infrastructure) of National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS)is support for the accelerated implementation of a Digital Identity Programme.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa rightly noted that Digital Identity and the digital economy are not only linked, but are also, reinforcing, as digital ID is the basis for digital economy platformsDigital identification can be an important catalyst for various development initiatives in the continent, impacting on trade, governance, social protection, financial inclusion, domestic resource mobilization, as well as security and human rights.

Meanwhile, Mr Pantami announced that September 16 has been declared as the International Identity Day.

Following the approval of the Federal Government under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, Nigeria also formally adopted 16.9 as the National Identity Day, it said.

It said this years edition of the National Identity Day will take place virtually on the same date and will have the theme: Identity for Health, Sustainable Development and Growth.

As the world and Nigeria mark the International Identity Day and National Identity Day, respectively, Mr Pantami urged Nigerians to support the development of the digital economy by embracing the use of digital identity.

 The Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy is committed to ensuring that Nigeria derives the benefits of a functional digital ID system and calls on all stakeholders to support this process. Nigerians are encouraged to visit NIMC accredited centres soon for their Digital IDs, it concluded.
In this 10-part series produced over the past year by outdoor reporters and photojournalists across Montana and Wyoming, the many issues surro
When the whole world is eagerly waiting for a vaccine to protect against deadly novel coronavirus , Microsoft founder Bill Gates said a vaccine in the United States may come by the the end of this year. None of the vaccines are likely to seek approval in the US before the end of October," the billionaire philanthropist told CNBC.

I do think once you get into, say, December or January, the chances are that at least two or three will (seek approval)  if the effectiveness is there," the Microsoft co-founder said.

And so we have these phase three trials that are going on. The only vaccine that if everything went perfectly, might seek the emergency use license by the end of October, would be Pfizer." according to CNBC.

Joining the debate over "vaccine nationalism", Gates urged the United States to take more global approach in dealing with coronavirus pandemic. Were trying to make sure we can end it not just in the rich countries," Gates earlier said in an interview with Bloomberg.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates' philanthropic venture has pledged more than $250 million toward COVID-19 research. Gates has also funded COVID-19 vaccine candidates developed by AstraZeneca PLC, Johnson & Johnson and Novavax Inc and Pfizer. Those are the ones most scalable and low-cost," Gates said. His foundation has invested in an entire portfolio of potential COVID-19 therapies and vaccines, including a vaccine being developed in South Korea.

By spending an additional $8 billion to $10 billion on global vaccinations, he said, the US would save trillions" in lost economic output, not to mention lives and livelihoods.

The inequity of this  whether its between citizens in the country, blue collar versus white collar, blacks experiencing a higher sickness rate than others -- poor countries cant borrow money and spend money like the US and other rich countries have," Gates said.

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PROSPECT HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN  A Brooklyn-based artist has collaborated with a Harlem youth development and social justice organization in a project that helps to increase public awareness to the disproportionate number of coronavirus cases that occur among communities of color.

Artist Carrie Mae Weems is working with Brotherhood-Sister Sol, the Harlem-based group in a collaborative effort that combines Weems art with the organizations Peace Poets to create a presentation that will be visualized both in English and Spanish on billboards around New York City and Harlem and that will also be included in social media broadcasted public service announcements.

"Weve all been impacted by COVID-19. It's an ecological health crisis of epic proportionan international disaster, Weems said in a news release issued by Brotherhood/Sister Sol on Wednesday. And yet we have indisputable evidence that people of color have been disproportionately impacted. The death toll in these communities is staggering. This fact affords the nation an unprecedented opportunity to address the impact of social and economic inequality in real time. Denial does not solve a problem.

Weems uses multiple mediums such as photography, video, digital imagery, text, fabric to explore themes of cultural identity, sexism, class, political systems, family relationships and the consequences of power.

Weems was named one of Bro/Siss two inaugural Artist in Residence in March 2020 along with Bill T. Jones. In this role, she collaborates with Bro-Siss members and alumni on select works, participates in virtual conversations on the topics of art and advocacy, and serves as an advisor on arts programming and art installations, according to the news release.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Black Americans account for almost a quarter of coronavirus-related deaths but only 13 percent of the countrys population.

COVID-19 has brought further into the light, for all to see, the gross inequalities of our nation, Brotherhood/Sister Sol co-founder and Executive Director Khary Lazarre-White said in the news release. The profound racial and class disparities of deaths from COVID have been laid bare. Through this public health, artist and activist collaboration with one of the greatest visual artists of our generation, we seek to both further expose the inequities and to create public health messaging that brings awareness.

This article originally appeared on the Prospect Heights-Crown Heights Patch
KITCHENER  Police have issued a public alert after a Kitchener man who abducted and raped two university students a decade ago was released from prison this week.

Hayan Yassin, now 34, had been freed on statutory release in 2018 but was sent back to prison four months later after he went multiple times to restaurants and coffee shops in the university district in Waterloo  the same area where his crimes in 2010 took place.

He was released again on Monday and will live in Kitchener, Waterloo Regional Police said in a news release on Wednesday.

Police said they believe Yassin poses a high risk to reoffend or breach his release terms.

Yassin must follow a curfew except for work, abstain from alcohol and drugs, stay away from the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier campuses and surrounding area, live in a place approved by Correctional Service Canada, not access sexually explicit material, report any relationships with women and not use online dating websites.

Police said they are working with corrections staff to monitor Yassins release terms, including through electronic monitoring, but are seeking community assistance to help reduce the risk.

If anyone sees him breaking a release term, please do not approach but call 911, police said.

The Parole Board of Canada revoked his release in 2018, saying he poses an undue risk to society.

Yassin had been seen multiple times in the university district.

His crimes in 2010 occurred in the exact same vicinity and both of his victims were female university students, his parole officer wrote.

Yassins offence cycle includes forcibly confining and sexually assaulting university-aged females and it cannot be ignored that (hanging out in the university district) could potentially be an indicator of a return to that offence cycle.

While he was at work after getting out of prison in 2018, Yassin was seen wearing track pants bearing the University of Waterloo logo, although he was never a student there.

In 2010 Yassin kidnapped a woman leaving an Oktoberfest event in Waterloo and drove her to an isolated area.

Six weeks later he abducted a woman out for a walk near her Hazel Street home. Yassin put his hand over her mouth and forced her into a backyard.

Both women were raped and feared they would be killed. He threatened one of the victims with a knife and a needle. He did not know his victims.

Yassin was convicted in 2011 of kidnapping, forcible confinement, sexual assault causing bodily harm and sexual assault with a weapon and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
The husband and wife were alone in her boutique, but the security cameras captured it all: him pushing her down, punching her, slapping her and dragging her by the hair across the floor.

In footage from last year that recently circulated online, he can be seen hauling her into another room. Minutes later, the woman  her hair flailing  plummets from the second floor onto the street below in the central Chinese city of Shangqiu. The woman, Liu Zengyan, said later it was the only way she could escape.

As she lay in the hospital after the assault, with fractures in her waist, chest and eye socket and her lower limbs temporarily paralyzed, Ms. Liu said, she was determined to leave her husband for good.

But a court said no.

Ms. Lius case has set off a nationwide debate about two of the biggest issues facing women in China: the prevalence of domestic violence and the difficulties of getting justice in a legal system stacked against them.
COLUMBIA  U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham continues to face the most competitive challenge of his political career less than seven weeks out from Election Day, as a new poll Wednesday again found the South Carolina Republican tied with Democratic opponent Jaime Harrison.

The survey from Quinnipiac University found Graham and Harrison both drawing 48 percent support from likely voters in South Carolina, with just 3 percent saying they are not sure who they are going to vote for on Nov. 3.

"A victor by almost 16 points back in 2014, Sen. Graham stares down the first real test of his Senate tenure," said Quinnipiac polling analyst Tim Malloy. "Outspent and accused by some of being a Trump apologist, he is in a precarious tie."

In the presidential race, Republican incumbent Donald Trump maintains a 6-point lead over Democratic challenger Joe Biden in South Carolina, 51 percent to 45 percent.

Those results suggest that not all Trump supporters in the state are necessarily planning to vote for Graham, who has become one of the president's most vocal congressional allies in recent years but was a harsh critic of him during the 2016 presidential campaign.

The latest Quinnipiac numbers comes six weeks after their initial survey of the race found it locked in a dead heat  a result that turned up the temperature on a contest in which both campaigns were already aggressively competing.

After Graham began the race with a sizable advantage, Harrison gradually closed the gap over the first year of his campaign. It has been relatively static over the past few months, with multiple polls showing a neck-and-neck race.

The number of persuadable voters appears to be small as the race barrels into the home stretch. Some 93 percent of respondents in the Quinnipiac results Wednesday said they had made up their mind about who they are voting for while just 6 percent said they might change their mind.

Graham's campaign unveiled a new website shortly before Wednesday's release calling his opponent "Hiding Harrison" and criticizing him for shifting his stance on some issues, naming single-payer government-funded health care and the "Green New Deal" proposal to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Harrison, meanwhile, has similarly hit Graham for changing his position on offshore drilling. In 2013, Graham sponsored a bill to allow drilling for oil of South Carolina's coast, but he applauded a recent decision by Trump to ban those efforts for the next 12 years.

As Malloy noted, money has been a crucial component of Harrison's rise. The first-time candidate has repeatedly outraised Graham in recent months, shattering South Carolina records along the way.

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Harrison's campaign announced he raised a staggering $10.6 million in August alone  more than Graham brought in for April, May and June combined, and more than most previous South Carolina candidates raised for their entire runs.

With both campaigns raking in cash, the resources have allowed them to blitz television airwaves months in advance of the election, far earlier than campaigns can typically afford.

Graham has highlighted Harrison's past as a Washington lobbyist and a high-ranking official at the Democratic National Committee, while Harrison has brought forward former Graham supporters who say they believe he has changed from his previous reputation as a moderate compromiser.

Graham has also sought to elevate law and order as the "defining issue of the election," amid at violence in some cities around the country. According to the new poll, a plurality of South Carolina voters agree with him, as 23 percent cited it as their most important issue when deciding who to vote for in the Senate contest.

That issue was followed by the economy at 22 percent, the coronavirus pandemic at 12 percent, racial inequality at 12 percent and the U.S. Supreme Court at 11 percent.

Graham campaign spokesman T.W. Arrighi brushed off the head-to-head result and reiterated his response to earlier public polls, questioning Quinnipiac's understanding of South Carolina politics and saying the campaign's internal polls show Graham is on track to win the race.

Republicans also questioned Quinnipiac's polling sample, which showed 34 percent of respondents identifying as Republicans. In the 2016 general election, a CNN exit poll of South Carolina voters found 46 percent were Republicans, a number that GOP officials argue more closely reflects the true partisan breakdown of the state.

Still, Harrison campaign manager Zack Carroll said Graham is "in for the race of his life."

"Lindsey Graham has changed after 25 years in Washington into someone who puts his political fortunes ahead of problem solving," Carroll said. "Voters are turning towards Jaime Harrison, who will work hard to deliver real results and represent South Carolina values in the U.S. Senate."

The Quinnipiac poll of 969 self-identified likely voters in South Carolina was conducted by telephone from Sept. 10-14 and had a margin of error of 3.2 percentage points.
This report is part of "Turning Point," a groundbreaking month-long series by ABC News examining the racial reckoning sweeping the United States and exploring whether it can lead to lasting reconciliation.

Six months since COVID-19 was declared a national emergency in the United States, Latino health care workers say theyre burned out as new information about the virus changes work protocols, traumatized by the viruss impact on those theyve cared for and saddened by the way in which the virus has ravaged their community.

What Im seeing now is the patients are coming in sicker and theyre taking longer to recover, Mary Juarez, a registered nurse in Los Angeles, told ABC News. Its generally seen mostly in the Latino population, so of course, I am very, very aware of that.  My anxiety level is 100% more. My anxiety begins a day before going into work.

Juarez has been working in the cardiology progressive care unit at LAs Good Samaritan Hospital, which has been turned into a COVID-19 unit. Over the last few months, as California saw cases surge, she says her experience at work has been unlike anything shes seen in her 20 years of being a nurse.

The death has been  one of the hugest life-changing events for me, said Juarez, who is also the union representative for the California Nurses Association at Good Samaritan. There was a period in this pandemic when we were putting patients in body bags once a shift. Not once every 24 hours, but once a shift. Day shift, night shift."

PHOTO: Mary Juarez, who has been treating COVID-19 patients, said the mental health of nurses on the frontlines hasn't been addressed and that it's a 'very real issue for us.' (Courtesy Mary Juarez)

Oftentimes there was more than one, she continued. So to face that as a nurse, having never experienced that before and certainly never expected that before, that is something thats going to stay with me for the rest of my life.

Latinos, like other racial and ethnic minorities, have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19 in the United States. They are 2.8 times as likely to be diagnosed with the virus and 4.6 times more likely to be hospitalized, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Story continues

But the COVID-19 toll on the Latino population is more than just physical; its mental, too.



MORE: Like the virus, coronavirus pandemic mental stress hits Latinos more: Study

A CDC survey from last month found Hispanics reported more symptoms of anxiety, depressive disorder, suicidal ideation and increased substance abuse to cope with their pandemic-related stress. These symptoms were more prevalent among essential workers, unpaid caregivers for adults and those with pre-existing mental health conditions.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Nadine Kaslow, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University School of Medicine, has been supporting front-line workers by going into the intensive care units (ICUs) where COVID-19 patients are being treated. She says the staff shes spoken to have entered somewhat of a disillusionment phase.

People are really tired. Theyre exhausted.  The uncertainty, unpredictability, and the sense that theres no end in sight. People [are] not getting their normal breaks they would get over the summer to travel and do things like that. I think thats really added to the stress and sense of burnout, Kaslow, who is also a former president of the American Psychological Association, told ABC News.

She said that with restrictions around visitors in hospitals, Latino health care providers have taken on the role of being patients advocates, helping to translate and explain things to family members. Having family members around, she says, is a key to the healing process for many patients.

Stephanie Perez is a pediatric ICU nurse at a hospital in New York City whose unit began admitting 20- and 30-year-old COVID-19 patients at the height of the pandemic, when people of all ages -- not just the elderly -- began getting sick. She saw the healing power of family firsthand with a patient who had been placed on life support. She said he was constantly concerned about his family.

We ended up finding out that he had a newborn at home, so we just tried to console him, like, Your daughter is fine. Youre OK, she said. When his wife would call, he would ask how everything is there.  and we would see his numbers and his vital signs get better.

PHOTO: Pediatric ICU nurse Stephanie Perez and her boyfriend Greg Rousseau, a medical ICU nurse, bought a house and moved out of their families' homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Courtesy Stephanie Perez)

MORE: Driving while Black: ABC News analysis of traffic stops reveals racial disparities in several US cities

To date, the United States has been hit harder than any other country by the pandemic, with more than 6.5 million diagnosed cases and at least 193,976 deaths.

New York City hit its peak in April, with a seven-day average of 5,305 cases per day, according to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Now long past its peak and with new cases of COVID-19 continuing to drop, Perez no longer cares for COVID-19 patients. However, the pandemic continues to affect her.

Perez said she and her boyfriend, Greg Rousseau, a medical ICU nurse in New York City, are used to traveling during the summer, yet neither of them has been able to go on vacation. As the city reopens, even everyday forms of releasing stress have been difficult for Perez to partake in without feeling guilty.

Theres this expectation that youre here to serve the community; you cant live your life or enjoy yourself, she said. Obviously, restaurants -- all these public places -- are now under serious precautions. . . . [So] youre already dealing with it 24/7 at work and doing all those precautions there and you dont have an outlet really to even go and enjoy yourself without feeling like youre letting your unit down, letting your coworkers down.

"You can only really just do two things," Rousseau added. "Its just work and go home, work and go home. So, you know, that sort of cycle is a bit taxing at times. But just staying the course and trying to stay strong, thinking that there are better days ahead is whats most encouraging at times."

PHOTO: Pediatric ICU nurse Stephanie Perez and her boyfriend Greg Rousseau, a medical ICU nurse, normally travel for some respite from their demanding jobs. (Courtesy Stephanie Perez)

Perez and Rousseau were living with their families in March when COVID-19 surged in New York City -- he was in Brooklyn and she was in the Bronx. Both Perezs father and Rousseau became ill with COVID-19 around the same time. Rousseau was moved to a hotel 10 minutes away from Perez so that she could take care of him. She also quarantined her father in her parents bedroom while she slept with her mother, a breast cancer survivor with a compromised immune system, in her own bedroom.

I was bouncing between taking care of [my father], taking care of Greg, going to work, trying to be superclean and then dealing with my mom, who was going crazy in the house with her anxiety, Perez said. Its a lot.

Rousseau and Perezs father were both able to recover from the virus, and the couple has since bought a house together and moved out of their families homes.

All the while dealing with COVID-19 in New York City, Perez and Rousseau were also watching the outrage grow over the death of George Floyd, which sparked months of nationwide protests against police brutality.

Perez and Rousseau, who is Haitian American, joined these protests, and the weight of social injustice was added to the burden they already carried as front-line workers.

I started to eat, sleep, breathe [Black Lives Matter]. It sucked, drilling into Gregs head that he could be fighting the pandemic one minute, literally saving lives like Breonna Taylor, and [then] someone could turn around and take his life in the blink of an eye, Perez said. It was and still is so stressful.

PHOTO: Pediatric ICU nurse Stephanie Perez and her boyfriend Greg Rousseau, a medical ICU nurse, march for Black Lives Matter following the death of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. (Jawmar Francis)

The rise of anxiety and depression symptoms among Latinos is the cumulative result of a number of factors converging, Kaslow says.

I think a lot depends on ones own personal experience. How personally you were touched both at your job and in your personal life, she said. We certainly have health care workers that have lost family and friends and lots of patients. I think that the grief of that is just tremendous and theres no time to heal from the grief.

MORE: 'America is Ready:' Missouri voters on whether they see a turning point on policing and race relations

For Rosario Salazar, an emergency room nurse at an LA hospital, there were stressful moments in her personal life and at work. Her godmother, the mother of six of her cousins and a stage 4 cancer patient, died from COVID-19.

Salazar said the virus spread through her godmothers household soon after her cousin called her to say she had been diagnosed and that she was afraid shed spread it to the rest of the family. Salazar said that within days, all six of her godmothers children became ill. They called Salazar and asked her to come and check up on their mother.

I kind of had a feeling that she wasnt going to make it out of this one, Salazar said. Based on what I was seeing, based on what I knew: shes stage 4 cancer. She gets this cough. Itll just start developing into something else.

PHOTO: Rosario Salazar, an emergency room nurse in Los Angeles, spoke about how hard it is to see Latinos who lost their jobs struggling to make ends meet. (Courtesy Rosario Salazar)

Salazar said her godmother went to the hospital a day later and that her oxygen levels were really low. Being a medical provider, she said she was able to gain visitation access to see her godmother, but her cousins could not.

So I had to call [them]. I was in the room for two hours in my full gear  and I had each one of her kids call and say their goodbyes. Even though she wasnt very coherent, that gave them closure, Salazar said. She passed away a day later.

As an ER nurse, Salazar says she feels that she and her colleagues are expected to deal with worst-case scenarios on a regular basis.

I think it was just a matter of, you know, we're all a team. We have to deal with it the way we can. And we could deal with this, she said.

Salazar says that personally, being a front-line worker during the pandemic hasnt been traumatizing. She expressed appreciation for the job she has and the nice home she can return to, where her ER doctor husband and her children remain healthy. She also said she doesnt consider herself a hero.

PHOTO: Rosario Salazar, an emergency room nurse poses for a photo with her husband, Stephen Kishineff, an ER doctor. Both have been working throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. (Courtesy Rosario Salazar)

To me, its just my job, and my job was to protect myself and other patients, Salazar said. I felt more for the overall people that were suffering from it, and mainly for the people of low socioeconomic status not being able to go to work.

MORE: Anxiety, depression increasing among mothers during the COVID-19 pandemic

Salazar, who is in graduate school to become a nurse practitioner, has been doing clinical rotations at a community health clinic where she says many Latino patients whove lost their jobs come in.

I think what made it mentally taxing for me was hearing the patients; hearing their stress and how vulnerable they were during this time, said Salazar. You know, the stress of losing their jobs and worrying about how they were going to feed their families. Hearing that, I think, put a little stress on me.

Theres been uncertainty with regard to the use and availability of personal protective equipment (PPE) for each of the health care workers ABC News spoke to at different stages of the pandemic.

Juarez says she hasnt been protected enough by her hospital in LA. Even today, she says her colleagues are still given only one single-use N95 mask to wear throughout the day -- they can ask for a second one if it becomes soiled -- and that they wear surgical masks and donated face masks on top of them to keep them as clean as possible.

It causes me great concern because I need to know that as a nurse Im going to be protected enough to go into these rooms and take care of these patients who are sicker, she said.

PHOTO: Mary Juarez is a nurse in the cardiac progressive care unit at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles. She says the COVID-19 pandemic has been 'life changing.' (Courtesy Mary Juarez)

Even having the one mask per shift was a fight for our rights to have the proper PPE, Juarez said.

Even after everything that had happened in New York in the beginning, we were told not even to wear a mask, not even a simple surgical face mask, by our administration, she said, adding that this happened in March when there were no protective guidelines in place. So that was a huge deal for us because all we wanted to do was wear a mask when these patients came in.

In a statement, Good Samaritan Hospital said it has followed PPE guidelines from the CDC and the California Department of Public Health, including for the use of masks throughout the coronavirus pandemic. We have maintained a high supply of masks and continue to provide appropriate masks for our physicians, nurses, staff, patients and visitors at all times.

Health care workers who aren't directly working with COVID-19 patients are also feeling the fatigue of new processes implemented to protect them and prevent the transmission of the virus throughout their facilities.

Betsy Arlene Tirado, a pediatric cardiac ICU nurse manager in Miami, says they're "very lucky in the pediatric world because we were not hit with the same intensity and the same volume as adult facilities."

Only 7.3% of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. have been in children, according to the CDC, which says hospitalizations rates are also much lower than in adults. Still, even with a low percentage of COVID-19 patients, she says theyre treating everybody like they have COVID.

So before, we would wear maybe a mask if we thought the kid was infected, she said. Now, it doesnt matter.  You always wear a mask. You always wear face shields. You always wear full PPE with the possible exception of an N95, she said. Those can be reserved for COVID patients or patients you suspect are positive.

PHOTO: Betsy Tirado, a pediatric cardiac ICU nurse manager in Miami, says the COVID-19 pandemic has led to 'sleepless nights' as she sees its impact on the health care industry. (Courtesy Betsy Tirado)

Keeping up with the new processes her facility has implemented, however, has been tiring and she says the pandemic has without question been traumatizing.

Its been a lot of sleepless nights.  With the process changes, especially to the extent that weve made them, theres always questions. You always find holes, room for improvement, said Tirado, who is also the secretary for the Miami chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses. So its been a struggle and its going to be a struggle for quite a while.

Youre constantly living in fear, because there were not consistent answers from guiding entities, especially in the very early phase of this, she added.

Before the pandemic, many hospitals were also already facing or bracing for nurse shortages. Juarez says her unit hasnt been adequately staffed to care for the amount of COVID-19 patients theyre seeing.

It goes full circle here, Juarez said. Were short-staffed because the staff that we do have is burnt out. Theyre overwhelmed, and the fact that were not getting more staff to help us, it just goes round and round in a full circle. So yes, some nurses have retired. Some nurses have left.  Theres nurses that are on medical leave because its just sheer exhaustion.

PHOTO: Betsy Arlene Tirado, a pediatric cardiac ICU nurse manager, says she hasn't seen such a major shift in processes in health care since the HIV/AIDS pandemic, when her mom, right, also named Betsy Tirado, worked as a nurse. (Courtesy Betsy Tirado)

MORE: Community left behind: Asian American businesses affected by COVID-19

In its statement, Good Samaritan said it faced an increase in staff sick calls during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic. To maintain appropriate staffing ratios, we called in additional staff to float from other units as well as registry nurses to support staff on those units with increased absenteeism.

Despite their struggles, each of these health care workers expressed great pride in their work. Salazar said its rewarding seeing how her work benefits patients and that she derives strength from it.

During this pandemic, I get to work in a field where Im actually helping or contributing to someones improvement in health, or helping the vulnerable populations. Anything I can do, that keeps me strong, she said.

Still, Juarez says its important for all nurses to get the support they need to do their jobs successfully. Juarez said she feels strongly that the mental health of those on the front lines has not been addressed, and its a very real issue for us.

PHOTO: During her time off, registered nurse Mary Juarez says she has taken up meditating as part of her self-care routine. (Courtesy Mary Juarez)

Unless you are in it, you have no idea what its like. You have no idea what its like to feel that emotion and that attachment that you do to our patients and then knowing theres only so much you could do for them, she said.

I didnt sign up for this, Juarez continued, referring to the pandemic. I signed up to take care of patients; to do my best. . . . You know, Im [of] service to others.

Latino nurses push through COVID-19 burnout, sleepless nights and lost loved ones originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) Dr V G Somani on Tuesday gave permission to Serum Institute of India to resume clinical trial of the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine candidate in the country while revoking its earlier order of suspending any new recruitment for phase two and three trial.

The DCGI, however, put certain conditions like taking extra care during screening, providing additional information in informed consent and close monitoring for adverse events during follow-up of the study which have to be scrupulously followed by Serum Institute of India (SII).

Click here for full Covid-19 coverage

SII has also been asked to submit to the DCGIs office details of medication used in accordance with the protocol for management of adverse events.

The DCGI had on September 11 directed Serum Institute of India to suspend any new recruitment in the phase two and three clinical trial of the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine candidate till further orders in the backdrop of pharma giant AstraZeneca pausing the clinical trials in other countries because of an unexplained illness in a participant in the study.

On Saturday, British-Swedish biopharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford said clinical trials for their coronavirus vaccine have resumed in the UK after the Medicines Health Regulatory Authoritys (MHRA) confirmed that the trials were safe.

SII, which has partnered with AstraZeneca for manufacturing the vaccine candidate for Covid-19, on Tuesday submitted the recommendations of the Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB), UK and DSMB, India, and requested for permission to restart enrolment in the clinical trial.

According to Tuesdays order issued by DCGI, the DSMB, UK, recommended that the investigators recommence all immunization in their clinical trials subject to certain conditions.

DSMB, India, also has recommended to continue the study and enroll the remaining participants in the clinical trial as per protocol subject to certain conditions.

According to the order, SII has submitted revised participant information sheet, revised informed consent form and additional safety monitoring plan for the evolved participants.

The Pune-based firm has also submitted a summary of safety follow up of seven days post first vaccination, stating that no serious adverse events were experienced by any of the subjects till the date of the reporting, and the reported adverse events were stated to be mild, resolved on their own and did not have any sequale.

In view of the above, I Dr V G Somani, Drugs Controller General of India, Central Licensing Authority, after careful examination of your reply and the recommendations of the DSMB in India and in UK revoke herewith the order dated September 11 issued under Rule 30 of the New Drugs and Clinical Trials Rules, 2019.

You may recommence the clinical trial as recommended by DSMB, India, as per already approved protocol and the provisions laid down under the New Drugs and Clinical Trial Rules, 2019, subject to the conditions mentioned, the order said.
MOSCOW: Allies of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny reacted with scorn on Wednesday to comments by Russia that it would have made no sense for Moscow to poison an opponent whose popularity rating was so low.

The 44-year-old opposition politician fell violently ill and collapsed last month while travelling from Siberia to Moscow and was airlifted to a Berlin hospital, where doctors found he had been poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent.

Germany says laboratories in three countries have established the presence of Novichok, and demanded an explanation from Moscow. Russia says it has yet to see evidence.

In a statement on its website, Russias permanent mission to the European Union said there would be no reason for Russia to poison Navalny with a military-grade nerve agent and then allow him to travel to Germany where the substance could be detected.

Quoting a July opinion poll, it continued: What would be the reason for the Russian authorities to poison Alexei Navalny, taking into account that his actual popularity level hardly reaches 2%?"

Navalnys chief of staff Leonid Volkov responded on his Telegram social media channel: Its as if theyre saying If his rating was 20%, then we would have poisoned him."

Navalny spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said results of regional elections at the weekend, in which candidates backed by Navalny gained seats in two Siberian cities, showed his support among Russians was much higher.

The Kremlin, facing calls from some western politicians to tighten sanctions on Moscow, has said it does not think poisoning Navalny would benefit anyone.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was wrong to link the affair to the near-complete Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, which German Chancellor Angela Merkel has faced calls to halt.

It should stop being mentioned in the context of any politicization," Peskov said, referring to Nord Stream 2. This is a commercial project that is absolutely in line with the interests of both Russia and European Union countries, and primarily Germany."

Navalny, who spent several weeks in a coma, on Tuesday shared a photograph showing him sitting up in his Berlin hospital bed, surrounded by his family. He said he could now breathe independently.

Opposition politician Dmitry Gudkov told Reuters he knew from Navalnys team that his recovery would be lengthy.

Great news that he will be back," Gudkov said. And Navalny will return to the country as a different Navalny, a world famous politician, and this will help all of us fight this regime."

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor
Hope: Members of the public pass a mural painted onto the side of a building in Dublin. Photo:Gareth Chaney/Collins

New coronavirus restrictions look increasingly likely for Dublin with an emergency Cabinet Committee on Covid-19 scheduled for Friday morning.

The unscheduled meeting was arranged today in anticipation of the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) recommending moving Dublin into level three restrictions under the Government's recently published plan for living with the virus.

Read More

Dublin is currently in level two, with some additional measures but it is now expected it will be moved fully into level three this weekend.

The move would mean people will be prohibited from leaving or entering Dublin for unnecessary reasons.

People would also be asked to work from home and most religious services would move online.

Funerals and weddings would be reduced to 25 people.

Current restrictions on household visits and outdoor gatherings would remain in place.

Nphet will meet tomorrow morning at 10am to discuss the increasing rise of new cases in Dublin and elsewhere in the county.

The group led by Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn will make a recommendation which will then be reviewed by the newly formed Covid-19 Oversight Committee chaired by the Department of the Taoiseach secretary general Martin Fraser.

The recommendations of both groups will then be considered by the Cabinet Committee on Covid-19 which is chaired by Taoiseach Micheal Martin on Friday morning. Tanaiste Leo Varadkar and Green Party leader Eamon Ryan along with their senior advisers also sit on the committee.

This group will then make recommendations which will have to be agreed on by the cabinet before restrictions can be introduced in Dublin.

An incorporeal Cabinet meeting may be held on Friday to sign off on the new rules for the Capital.
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Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 07:35:02|Editor: huaxia

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OTTAWA. Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Canada welcomed the U.S. decision to drop tariff on Canadian aluminum imports on Tuesday.

At a press conference in Ottawa Tuesday afternoon, Canadian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland welcomed the decision. "This is really a day when common sense has prevailed."

Freeland stressed that the U.S. decision was not a negotiated agreement with Canada and the U.S. government acted "unilaterally" and Canada does not accept the imposition of quotas.

"Should tariffs be reimposed, Canada will retaliate with perfectly reciprocal dollar-for-dollar tariffs," Freeland said.

Meanwhile, Canadian Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade Mary Ng said at the press conference that Canada did not concede anything in exchange for the U.S. decision. "It is a testament to the Team Canada approach, as we all worked relentlessly to ensure these unjustified tariffs on Canadian aluminum were removed."

U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer announced Tuesday afternoon that the United States has dropped its 10-percent tariff on Canadian aluminum.

"Average monthly imports are expected to decline 50 percent from the monthly average in the period of January through July," he said. "Based on these expectations, the United States will resume duty-free treatment of non-alloyed, unwrought aluminum retrospective to Sept. 1, 2020."

"If actual shipments exceeded 105 percent of the expected volume for any month during the four-month period, then the United States will impose the 10 percent tariff retroactively on all shipments made in that month," he added.

The U.S. statement was announced Tuesday afternoon before Canada was set to unveil retaliatory measures on U.S. imports.

On Tuesday noon, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that his government will unveil its retaliatory measures against the U.S. tariff later on Tuesday.

"We will be taking action to counter the unjust tariffs put on Canadian aluminum by the United States. As I've said many times we will always be there to defend Canadian workers, defend our aluminum sector," Trudeau said in a statement.

Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he would impose a 10 percent tariff on Canadian aluminum during a campaign speech in Ohio, citing national security concerns.

In response, the Trudeau government responded quickly by saying that Canada "intends to swiftly impose dollar-for-dollar countermeasures." Enditem
In November 2020, five states will have ballot referendums on the legalization of cannabis, potentially expanding the cannabis industry into new markets.

Each state has its own laws governing the medicinal and recreational use of cannabis, and every business must follow these state laws.

Cannabis remains illegal at the federal level, but enforcement against state-legal businesses has largely been suspended and lacks congressional funding, making these markets effectively safe.

This article is for entrepreneurs who are thinking about starting a cannabis business and need to understand the regulations surrounding a complex and growing industry.

In 2019, about a dozen states were poised to put some form of cannabis-legalization initiative on their ballot referendums. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and stymied petitioner campaigns, though, that number is now down to five states. Still, if these ballot referendums pass, the cannabis industry could see the expansion of existing markets and the opening of new ones in 2021. If you've been thinking about starting a cannabis business, now could be the time.

The value of the U.S. cannabis industry

The market value of the U.S. cannabis industry is projected to reach $30 billion annually by 2025, according to industry research group New Frontier Data. This projection comes at a time when cannabis remains federally illegal despite the legalization of medical marijuana by 33 states and Washington, D.C., and the legalization of adult-use cannabis (sometimes called recreational use) programs by 11 states and Washington, D.C.

As cannabis-legalization movements expand into new states and some members of Congress advocate for reform and even federal legalization, the cannabis industry could soon break into new markets as well.

Key takeaway: The cannabis industry is a multibillion-dollar business that's poised to grow rapidly as new markets open and more states legalize both medical and adult-use programs.

States voting on cannabis legalization in 2020

Five states are confirmed to vote on some form of cannabis legalization during the November 2020 election, with a sixth potentially joining depending on the result of a pending court decision.

Arizona: In Arizona, voters will determine whether the state legalizes an adult-use cannabis program. Petitioners in Arizona collected more than 420,000 signatures and defeated a lawsuit to secure the ballot referendum. The state's adult-use cannabis market is expected to generate $750 million in value annually, according to Cannabis News Box.

In Arizona, voters will determine whether the state legalizes an adult-use cannabis program. Petitioners in Arizona collected more than 420,000 signatures and defeated a lawsuit to secure the ballot referendum. The state's adult-use cannabis market is expected to generate $750 million in value annually, according to Cannabis News Box. Mississippi: Voters in Mississippi will have multiple medical-marijuana-legalization referendums on the ballot in November. One, called Initiative 65, was developed through a grassroots campaign that gathered more than 105,000 signatures. A competing measure proposed by state legislators, known as Alternative 65A, will also be up for a vote. If approved, both measures would legalize medical marijuana, but regulatory details would vary.

Voters in Mississippi will have multiple medical-marijuana-legalization referendums on the ballot in November. One, called Initiative 65, was developed through a grassroots campaign that gathered more than 105,000 signatures. A competing measure proposed by state legislators, known as Alternative 65A, will also be up for a vote. If approved, both measures would legalize medical marijuana, but regulatory details would vary. Montana: After petitioners gathered more than 130,000 signatures, Montana voters will have the chance to approve an adult-use cannabis program in a state that recently oversaw reform to its existing medical-marijuana program. In According to Cannabis Business Plans in 2018, Montana's medical-marijuana program generated $45 million in sales; expanding the industry into the adult-use market would likely increase that value substantially.

After petitioners gathered more than 130,000 signatures, Montana voters will have the chance to approve an adult-use cannabis program in a state that recently oversaw reform to its existing medical-marijuana program. In According to Cannabis Business Plans in 2018, Montana's medical-marijuana program generated $45 million in sales; expanding the industry into the adult-use market would likely increase that value substantially. New Jersey: After several failed attempts to legalize adult-use cannabis through the state legislature, New Jersey is leaving it up to the voters this November. If the measure is approved, the state would have one of the lowest sales-tax rates placed on cannabis in the country. MJBizDaily says New Jersey's cannabis industry could be worth $1.5 billion annually if the measure passes, according to projections from Marijuana Business Daily.

After several failed attempts to legalize adult-use cannabis through the state legislature, New Jersey is leaving it up to the voters this November. If the measure is approved, the state would have one of the lowest sales-tax rates placed on cannabis in the country. MJBizDaily says New Jersey's cannabis industry could be worth $1.5 billion annually if the measure passes, according to projections from Marijuana Business Daily. South Dakota: South Dakota voters will have the opportunity to vote for the legalization of both medical marijuana and adult-use cannabis. No other state has legalized both medical-cannabis and adult-use-cannabis programs at the same time.

Nebraska could potentially join these five states with a cannabis-legalization measure on the ballot. Petitioners looking to get a medical-marijuana-legalization referendum on the ballot collected 182,000 signatures  60,000 more than required by Nebraska state law. However, Nebraska's push for a medical-cannabis vote has faced a challenge in court by Lancaster County Sheriff Terry Wagner. A final ruling on whether the referendum will be on the ballot is expected this fall.

Key takeaway: Five states have cannabis-legalization ballot measures planned for the November 2020 election, with a sixth possibly joining the list. This could prompt a significant expansion into new markets in 2021.

How to start a business in the cannabis industry

It is easy to think of the cannabis industry simply as the cultivators who grow the plant, the manufacturers who refine it into products and the dispensaries that sell those products. However, while these elements are central to the legal-cannabis supply chain, the cannabis industry is much more complex and varied than those businesses.

Cannabis businesses can be broken down into two broad categories: plant-touching businesses and ancillary businesses. Here's a closer look at each, along with some examples of the businesses in each category.

Plant-touching cannabis businesses

Plant-touching businesses include those that might come to mind when you think of the cannabis industry, such as breeders, cultivators, manufacturers and dispensaries. However, there are other plant-touching businesses that might not be so obvious, including the transportation and delivery companies that bring harvested cannabis and finished products from point A to point B.

Breeders. Breeders are focused on the proliferation of existing strains of cannabis and the development of new strains through selective breeding. They are responsible for developing the seeds used by cultivators, as well as identifying and propagating the highest-quality genetics for future generations of plants.

Breeders are focused on the proliferation of existing strains of cannabis and the development of new strains through selective breeding. They are responsible for developing the seeds used by cultivators, as well as identifying and propagating the highest-quality genetics for future generations of plants. Cultivators. Cultivators manage immense growing facilities, which are generally indoor operations stored in large buildings such as warehouses. They engage in a variety of cultivation methods to grow healthy, high-quality cannabis plants, which are then harvested and often sold wholesale to processors or dispensaries.

Cultivators manage immense growing facilities, which are generally indoor operations stored in large buildings such as warehouses. They engage in a variety of cultivation methods to grow healthy, high-quality cannabis plants, which are then harvested and often sold wholesale to processors or dispensaries. Manufacturers. Manufacturers, such as extractors, are responsible for processing harvested cannabis flower into finished products, such as concentrated extracts, edibles and topicals. Manufacturers make a wide variety of cannabis products available on dispensary shelves possible.

Manufacturers, such as extractors, are responsible for processing harvested cannabis flower into finished products, such as concentrated extracts, edibles and topicals. Manufacturers make a wide variety of cannabis products available on dispensary shelves possible. Dispensaries. Dispensaries are the distribution hubs of the cannabis industry, operating much like retail stores in other industries. Dispensaries vary in their approach to the point of sale, but they typically maintain a staff of knowledgeable people who can help guide patients and consumers in making the right buying decision based on their needs and preferences.

Dispensaries are the distribution hubs of the cannabis industry, operating much like retail stores in other industries. Dispensaries vary in their approach to the point of sale, but they typically maintain a staff of knowledgeable people who can help guide patients and consumers in making the right buying decision based on their needs and preferences. Transportation and logistics providers. Without a transportation network, the cannabis industry couldn't survive. Fleets of trucks bring cannabis flower and products from sellers to buyers and deliver the equipment cannabis businesses need to continue operations.

Plant-touching businesses are the most heavily regulated companies in an industry already characterized by immense oversight. To open a plant-touching business, entrepreneurs typically need to secure licenses through an application process, which can be lengthy and expensive, with no guarantee of success. Application processes for licensing vary from state to state, but there is typically a cap on how many licenses are available, similar to the way liquor licenses work.

Some states require what is known as vertical integration, in which the cultivation, processing and dispensary businesses are all managed by one company. Other states instead employ a system of specialization, in which licenses for each type of operation are kept separate and are often awarded to different companies.

Ancillary cannabis businesses

Ancillary cannabis businesses comprise all of the other types of companies in the cannabis industry. These companies are required for the support of plant-touching businesses but are not necessarily involved in the process of breeding, growing, refining or distributing cannabis products. They can include professionals, such as lawyers and marketers, as well as companies that produce packaging or machinery that can improve plant-touching businesses' processes.

Professional services. Lawyers, accountants and digital marketers are all examples of professional services that are familiar to businesses in all industries. They are also crucial for cannabis businesses. Given the significant regulatory constraints and highly varied framework of rules from state to state, these professional advisors must have additional expertise focused on the cannabis industry.

Lawyers, accountants and digital marketers are all examples of professional services that are familiar to businesses in all industries. They are also crucial for cannabis businesses. Given the significant regulatory constraints and highly varied framework of rules from state to state, these professional advisors must have additional expertise focused on the cannabis industry. Packaging. Businesses that produce packaging rarely touch the plant directly, instead focusing on regulatory compliance, shelf appeal and branding. Packaging companies need to consider business needs  such as how to appeal to consumers and demonstrate company branding  as well as regulatory considerations. In many states, colorful packaging or certain approaches to branding are considered illegal.

Businesses that produce packaging rarely touch the plant directly, instead focusing on regulatory compliance, shelf appeal and branding. Packaging companies need to consider business needs  such as how to appeal to consumers and demonstrate company branding  as well as regulatory considerations. In many states, colorful packaging or certain approaches to branding are considered illegal. Equipment. There are many different types of equipment that plant-touching businesses require to get things done. For example, manufacturers use large machines to extract compounds from harvested cannabis flower to create cannabis oils and waxes. Similarly, cultivators might want to flash freeze their harvested flower for preservation during transportation.

There are many different types of equipment that plant-touching businesses require to get things done. For example, manufacturers use large machines to extract compounds from harvested cannabis flower to create cannabis oils and waxes. Similarly, cultivators might want to flash freeze their harvested flower for preservation during transportation. Construction. Cultivation facilities and dispensaries often must be built with strict adherence to state laws and regulations, so there is a significant demand for contractors that are well versed in the development of these facilities.

Cultivation facilities and dispensaries often must be built with strict adherence to state laws and regulations, so there is a significant demand for contractors that are well versed in the development of these facilities. Security. The cannabis industry relies on security for both regulatory and practical business reasons. On one hand, regulators often require specific areas to be viewable by security cameras in cultivation and dispensary facilities, as well as certain lighting and systems for monitoring the premises. Additionally, many cannabis businesses are forced to operate largely in cash because of the financial constraints posed by the ongoing federal prohibition of cannabis, making them prime targets for robbery.

The cannabis industry relies on security for both regulatory and practical business reasons. On one hand, regulators often require specific areas to be viewable by security cameras in cultivation and dispensary facilities, as well as certain lighting and systems for monitoring the premises. Additionally, many cannabis businesses are forced to operate largely in cash because of the financial constraints posed by the ongoing federal prohibition of cannabis, making them prime targets for robbery. Investment. Because cannabis businesses are largely precluded from normal financing options, private financiers  such as venture capitalists and angel investors  have entered the industry to provide funding. Private family offices, which are private wealth management advisory firms that specialize in serving high-net-worth investors, are common sources of financing for cannabis businesses, and investors have looked into this high-growth industry with relish. This is especially important for plant-touching businesses that face application fees in the tens of thousands of dollars and require substantial capitalization to gain approval.

While many people are excited about the prospects of starting a plant-touching cannabis business, ancillary businesses arguably offer a lower barrier to entry. Ancillary businesses still face significant regulation compared with many non-cannabis businesses, but they don't have to vie for a license through a complex and costly application process.

Additionally, many ancillary businesses can be started by pivoting your existing business into the cannabis space, or by developing a new brand associated specifically with cannabis. For example, with a bit of research and networking, a digital marketer with years of experience in building websites, running social media campaigns and buying advertisements for clients could easily pivot into the cannabis space.

Key takeaway: The cannabis industry is diverse and comprises a wide range of businesses. Consider your existing skill set and how you can enter the cannabis industry with expertise under your belt.

Common challenges for cannabis businesses

There are a number of challenges facing cannabis businesses above and beyond those that startups in other industries face. Navigating these challenges in the early days of your business and building a foundation that allows you to adapt as regulations inevitably change will be key to your success in the cannabis industry.

Here are some common challenges cannabis businesses encounter and some tips for overcoming them:

Developing the right partnerships

It is difficult, if not impossible, to go it alone in the cannabis industry. The partnerships you develop at the early stages can make or break your fledgling cannabis business.

Scott Rudder, president of the New Jersey Cannabusiness Association, said how you establish your company in the beginning is critical to its long-term success.

"The best way to do it right now is hiring a consultant who can help develop your plans with you," Rudder told Business News Daily. "You need to develop partnerships and relationships across the country to give your team a competitive advantage  the right processes, the right SOPs [standard operating procedures], the right security plan. Get the right local attorney and local CPA  with experience in cannabis."

Changing regulations

It's also likely that the regulations that apply to your cannabis business are subject to change, as the industry is a new and evolving space and public officials are regularly working to revamp and revise rules and regulations. Jess Gonzalez, a cannabis and intellectual property attorney at Bressler, Amery and Ross PC, said to engage with an experienced attorney who can look ahead.

"Given the fluctuations in regulations across the country  the best way for folks to keep apprised of what their state requires is to have a lawyer who is able to interpret the regulations and statutes," Gonzalez said. "We all recognize in cannabis that the industry is always changing, so as  entrepreneurs, we need to be ready to pivot at a moment's notice."

Banking, financing and insurance challenges

Banking is a particular pain point for cannabis companies. Because the federal government still considers cannabis an illegal Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act, many banks are hesitant to work with cannabis businesses for fear of losing their FDIC status or inviting money laundering charges related to "drug trafficking," despite cannabis's legal status in many states.

"In any other industry, you could open a business bank account and name your LLC or corporation anything you wanted, and it's not an issue," Gonzalez said. "But if you go to bank and you have 'cannabis' in your name, you may have a lot of trouble finding a banking partner. I'm not saying to lie to your bank about what you're doing, but  by having 'weed' or 'cannabis' in the entity name, you're cutting yourself off at your knees.

"I always advise folks when creating an LLC or corporation to stay away from those names, because it inhibits banking options and insurance options as well," she added.

Advertising and marketing restrictions

State regulations and private company policies limit how cannabis businesses can advertise themselves. Not only is advertising cannabis on the radio, television or billboards often banned, but many local marketing channels make it tough, including Facebook, prohibit the purchase of sponsored content for cannabis businesses. This means many cannabis businesses have to rely on a combination of content marketing and more organic social media content, email marketing campaigns and in-person marketing opportunities at trade shows and industry events. Networking and word-of-mouth referrals are essential tools in a cannabis business's marketing toolbox.

Stigmatization of cannabis

Cannabis still faces a stigma that it's just about "stoner culture," when in reality, cannabis patients and consumers come from a broad range of backgrounds. Avoid reinforcing the stereotypes associated with cannabis, like the head-shop vibe or the underground associations linked to nearly a century of prohibition. Instead, work closely with community stakeholders and elected officials to be a responsible member of your community. Doing so will go a long way toward not only gaining any necessary regulatory approvals but also broadening accessibility to your target customers, who are likely more turned off by the stigmatized trappings of the past than you might think.

"There are outdated historical stereotypes of who cannabis consumers are," Rudder said. "They are moms and dads, lawyers, pipe fitters  it covers the gamut of who cannabis consumers are. The foundation of cannabis is as a medicine, and it will be for a very long time. It's very important for people to understand  the science side and medical side of the industry.

"The consumer, whether a patient or adult-use consumer, is getting smarter and doing their own research," he added. "When people start asking questions, you need to have those answers."

Key takeaway: Cannabis businesses face a lot of challenges, but by forming your company with these challenges in mind and creating the right plan and partnerships, you can overcome them.
The magazine Scientific American has backed Joe Biden for president, saying it felt 'compelled' to choose sides in a presidential election for the first time in its 175-year history.

Editor-in-chief Laura Helmuth said Donald Trump had been far worse for the scientific community than the magazine feared in 2016, when it did not endorse Hillary Clinton.

An editorial published on Tuesday lambasted Trump for mishandling the coronavirus pandemic, questioning the science of climate change and cutting budgets for science and disease prevention.

'The evidence and the science show that Donald Trump has badly damaged the United States and its people because he rejects evidence and science,' senior editor Josh Fischman wrote.

Democratic nominee Joe Biden (pictured in Delaware on Monday) has won the backing of Scientific American magazine ahead of the November election

The publication said it felt 'compelled' to jump off the fence in a presidential election for the first time in its 175-year history

The magazine's endorsement was posted online on Tuesday, a day after Trump questioned the science of climate change in relation to California's wildfires.

Helmuth said the timing was coincidental and the science magazine's editorial was written during the past two months.

She added that the magazine had not ignored politics in its long history - having had 3,000 copies burned by the Atomic Energy Commission in the 1950s because of its stance on the hydrogen bomb.

In 2016 the magazine wrote an editorial questioning Trump's fitness to be president, although it did not endorse Clinton.

'Part of our magazine's mission is to show people how the world works - whether it's black holes, evolution, viruses, or systemic racism,' Helmuth said.

'We felt it was our duty as part of that mission to warn people that Trump has been disastrous for research, science, health and the environment.'

The magazine hopes it does not have to make a presidential endorsement again, she said.

The editorial berated Trump for failing to develop a testing strategy during the pandemic, scorning the use of masks and feuding with top adviser Anthony Fauci.

'The pandemic would strain any nation and system, but Trump's rejection of evidence and public health measures have been catastrophic in the US,' it said.

'At every stage, Trump has rejected the unmistakable lesson that controlling the disease, not downplaying it, is the path to economic reopening and recovery.'

The magazine berated Trump for questioning the science of climate change, blamed by state governors for the current West Coast wildfires (pictured, a blaze in Oroville, California)

The US has by far the largest outbreak in the world with more than 6.5million confirmed cases and 194,000 deaths from Covid-19.

Trump has repeatedly insisted that the huge numbers are merely the result of widespread testing.

Aside from coronavirus, the magazine slammed Trump for proposing cuts to scientific programs and pulling the US out of the Paris climate change accords.

'In his ongoing denial of reality, Trump has hobbled US preparations for climate change,' the article says.

By contrast, Democratic nominee Joe Biden 'has a record of following the data and being guided by science', the magazine said.

Biden's campaign says that 'climate change poses an existential threat' and 'puts our national security at risk'.

The former vice president has called for a 'clean energy revolution' with a target of achieving net-zero admissions by the year 2050.

On Monday, Trump was confronted during a California wildfires briefing about the need to address climate change - and responded that the Earth would get cooler.

The magazine lambasted Trump (pictured) for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has caused more deaths in the US than anywhere else in the world

'I wish science agreed with you,' responded Wade Crowfoot, secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency.

'Well, I don't think science knows, actually,' the president said.

The governors of California, Oregon and Washington have all said global warming is priming forests for wildfires as they become hotter and drier.

Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes as the fast-moving flames turned neighbourhoods to nothing but charred rubble and burned-out cars.

At least 10 people have been killed in Oregon, while 24 have died in California and one person was killed in Washington state.

Officials say more than 20 people are still missing in Oregon, and the number of deaths is likely to rise as authorities search.

Trump has said that the states themselves are to blame for failing to rake leaves and clear dead timber from forest floors.

However, many of the California blazes have roared through coastal thickets and grasslands, not forest.
Clotilde Armand, the Save Romania Union - Party of Liberty, Unity and Solidarity Alliance (USR PLUS) and National Liberal Party (PNL) Alliance candidate for the District 1 City Hall told on Wednesday a press conference, that the Social Democratic Party (PSD) District 1 mayor, Dan Tudorache, wants to take out a 200 million-lei loan, nine days before the local elections.

"Nine days before the elections, the PSD District 1 mayor wants to take out a loan of 200 million lei, an end-of-term killing, of 1,000 lei from each inhabitant. At the end of his term. In his four-year-term, obtained under suspicious conditions, the PSD mayor had over one billion euros at his disposal, enough to make investments at an accelerated pace ... if he had wanted to. The mayor's office always had credit lines to complete the program for thermal rehabilitation of blocks of flats , but postponed the investment and we have a delay of more than four years in this investment," she said.

She spoke about three investments that the mayor of District 1 announced in connection with the mentioned loan and added that she would like a correct management of the money and the allocation of an important percentage of the local budget to investments.

"With this loan that he wants to take out, nine days before the end of his term, there are three investments that the mayor is talking about. Only at the end of his term has he realized that there are a number of streets that have not been paved and of the promise he made four years ago for an Olympic pool at the Media Technical High School.The third investment is in health care, a field of choice, of expertise of the mayor, if we look at the imaginary hospital he accomplished on paper. This time the project is a transplant center (...), at the former Grivita Hospital, which is not even in the administration of District 1 municipality. The estimated cost is 430 million lei," said Clotilde Armand.

She accused the PSD administration of creating a system of "false achievements", that are being repeated, represented by projects, studies, but which never materialize.

"We have a system of false achievements, that are being repeated over and over again. We are all interested, of course, in the field of health investments, it is an effective announcement, and then the money projected for the investment is lost in other expenses, for studies, under various pretexts. But most of the time, the project was never real. It is the PSD system of fictitious investments. It is a disastrous investment policy. In fact, absolutely nothing is invested," said the candidate running for mayor of Bucharest's District 1.
These results from studies in both experimental and theoretical physics may help to improve antibacterial surfaces. The research work was recently published in the journal 'Nanoscale'.

Staphylococcus aureus bacteria are one of the most common causes of infections acquired by patients during a stay in hospital. These pathogens are particularly problematic because they can form robust biofilms on both natural and artificial surfaces from which they are very difficult to remove. 'The individual bacteria within these biofilms are effectively protected from attack by antibiotics or by the human immune system. That's why it can be so dangerous when these bacteria colonize medical implants as they can then cause serious post-operative infections,' explains Karin Jacobs, Professor of Experimental Physics at Saarland University. It is therefore crucial to try and prevent these biofilms from forming in the first place.

However, to be able to influence biofilm growth, the researchers had to understand the mechanisms by which the bacteria adhere to different materials. Using a scanning atomic force microscope, they pressed the minute bacterial cells onto different types of surfaces and then determined the force needed to lift the adhered cells from the surface. This experimental configuration allowed the researchers to record what are known as force-distance curves. 'We used extremely smooth silicon surfaces as model surfaces. In one set of experiments, the silicon surfaces were prepared so that they had high water-wettability; in another set of experiments they were treated to be highly hydrophobic. We were able to show that the bacterial cells adhered far more strongly to the hydrophobic surfaces, from which water simply rolled off, than on the hydrophilic (water-wettable) surfaces,' explains Karin Jacobs. But it is not just the magnitude of the forces that differ between the two surface types, so too do the shapes of the force-distance curves (see figure). 'On the hydrophobic surfaces, we see very smooth curves with a characteristic cup shape. On the hydrophilic surfaces, in contrast, we observe force-distance curves with a very jagged profile,' says Professor Jacobs.

In order to understand these results, the dynamics of these complex systems were modelled using Monte Carlo simulations that were carried out in the research group led by Professor Ludger Santen, Professor of Theoretical Physics at Saarland University. The model treats the bacterial cell as a rigid sphere and the molecules in the cell wall that tether the cell to the surface as minute springs. 'It turns out that in order to reproduce the experimental results, the role played by the random (stochastic) nature of the molecular binding process is more important than trying to increase the complexity of the model. We have now uncovered why the bacteria cells behave so differently on different types of surfaces. On hydrophobic surfaces, a large number of the cell wall proteins adhere to the surface, which results in a strong binding force and yields a smooth force-distance curve,' explains Ludger Santen. In contrast, on a hydrophilic surface, far fewer cell wall proteins are involved in tethering the bacterium to the surface. As a result, the bacteria are held less strongly on the surface and the shape of the force-distance curve is less uniform. 'The jagged shape of the curves that we see with hydrophilic surfaces is caused by a few individual cell wall molecules as they are pulled from the surface. Because fewer cell wall proteins are involved, the bacteria bind less strongly to hydrophilic surfaces,' says Erik Maikranz, who carried out the Monte Carlo simulations as part of his doctoral research work.

Due to the different shapes of the force-distance curves, the physicists suppose that on a hydrophilic surface fewer cell wall proteins are involved in the binding process because these molecules first have to overcome a potential barrier, which effectively reduces the number of protein macromolecules that can tether the cell to the surface. 'The potential barrier to adhesion on hydrophilic surfaces is relatively high, so only a few of the cell wall proteins are able to overcome this energy barrier in a particular time. On hydrophobic surfaces, however, the barrier is negligibly small, so that many cell wall proteins can adhere directly to the surface,' explains Dr. Christian Spengler, who performed the experiments in the study.

###

The research project was supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) as part of a Collaborative Research Centre (CRC 1027: 'Physical modeling of non-equilibrium processes in biological systems'). Researchers in the fields of physics, medical science, bioinformatics, biology and chemistry collaborate within CRC 1027 to study the fundamental physical principles underlying biological processes.

Original publication:

E. Maikranz, C. Spengler, N. Thewes, A. Thewes, F. Nolle, M. Bischoff, L. Santen and K. Jacobs, 'Different binding mechanisms of Staphylococcus aureus to hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces'; Nanoscale (2020), DOI: 10.1039/d0nr03134h

https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2020/nr/d0nr03134h

Further information: http://www.sfb1027.uni-saarland.de

The accompanying graphic and press photographs are available for use with this press release. They can be downloaded free of charge at:

http://www.uni-saarland.de/universitaet/aktuell/artikel/nr/22409.html

Questions can be addressed to:

Prof. Dr. Karin Jacobs and Dr. Christian Spengler

Department of Experimental Physics, Centre for Biophysics, Saarland University

Tel.: +49 (0)681 302-71788

Email: k.jacobs@physik.uni-saarland.de

Prof. Dr. Ludger Santen and M. Sc. Erik Maikranz

Department of Theoretical Physics, Centre for Biophysics, Saarland University

Tel.: +49 (0)681 302-57411

Email: santen@lusi.uni-sb.de

Note for radio journalists: Studio-quality telephone interviews can be conducted with researchers at Saarland University using broadcast audio IP codec technology (IP direct dial or via the ARD node 106813020001). Interview requests should be addressed to the university's Press and Public Relations Office (+49 (0)681 302-3610).
U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter and LAPD Officer Deon Joseph check an empty water dispenser while touring skid row. (Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)

By any account, the Aug. 7 hearing convened in Los Angeles City Hall by U.S. District Judge David O. Carter was unusual.

This is a rather historic occasion that the federal court would gather in the City Council chamber, Carter, who took the chair usually reserved for the council president, said. I hope its very positive.

But Ground Game LA, a group that describes itself as a nonprofit dedicated to increasing civic engagement, contends the meeting was illegal. At the status conference, Los Angeles City Council members came forward one by one to brief the judge on the progress of their efforts to create more shelter for homeless people camped near freeways and underpasses. That, Ground Game LA contends in a letter to City Atty. Mike Feuer, was, in effect, a meeting held without an agenda, notice to the public or the required opportunity for public comment.

Feuer's office in a statement Wednesday said the hearing was not a council meeting because "the council members attended the hearing individually or in small groups. At no point was a majority of the Council in the Council chamber at the same time. Nor were the Members able to hear the meeting except when inside the Council chamber, either physically or via Zoom."

The letter of complaint contends that the meeting was what is known as a serial meeting, which is expressly prohibited by the state's open meeting law.

A legislative body shall not "use a series of communications of any kind, directly or through intermediaries, to discuss, deliberate, or take action on any item of business, in lieu of a formally noticed meeting, the letter said, quoting the Ralph M. Brown Act, which sets out open-meeting requirements for government bodies in the state.

Feuer spokesman Rob Wilcox said it was not a serial meeting because "council members were instructed to not communicate anything said at the hearing between the small groups," and Carter "did not transmit council members communications between the small groups."

Story continues

Carter has called another status conference for Thursday, and the group is threatening to file a lawsuit if the council members appear.

The group's letter, delivered Tuesday by the law firm Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, also demands that the council publish any action taken during the Aug. 7 meeting, a status conference for an agreement reached by the city and county to find alternate shelter for about 7,000 people living on the sidewalks under freeway overpasses. Some news media were invited to the hearing, which was otherwise not open to the public. There was no agenda, and no time was set aside for public comment. No council votes were taken.

Although the letter does not identify any specific action, Bill Przylucki, the group's executive director, said the council members' testimony sent a clear "vibe" that they were discussing policy that could lead to homeless people being forcibly removed from encampments once more shelters are opened.

"This opens a pathway for them to start doing enforcement and clearing encampments in exchange for housing," Przylucki said. "That would be a new policy that was never voted on in light of day. We absolutely think the city needs to house people. We don't think a consent decree is needed to do that. We also don't think the civil rights of unhoused people have to be the payoff."
Profoundly shocked: Mamata writes to PM Modi over Centre's move to reject Bengal tableau from R-day parade

Proposal to change rules for central deputation of IAS officers affects states' administration: Mamata to PM

BJPs womens wing to give self defence training in Bengal

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Kolkata, Sep 16: The BJP women's wing announced that it will give self-defence training to the women of West Bengal, workshops for which will start on September 17, the birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Fifty women from each of the 23 districts of the state will be taught basic self-defence skills by trained experts in the workshops named 'Uma', BJP Mohila Morcha president Agnimitra Paul told PTI.

Ahead of PM Modi's 70th birthday, JP Nadda launches week-long 'Seva Saptah' campaign

"We have chosen PM Modi's birthday to officially flag off the programme, and September 17 also happens to be Mahalaya. The ground-level workshops will begin from October 2 with one day slotted for every district. Any woman can enroll.

We speak for the safety of every single woman in the state, it is not for women of any particular party," she said.

Paul also referred to the incident of a taxi driver making lewd remarks at actor and Trinamool Congress MP Mimi Chakraborty, and alleged, "It shows that no woman is safe in the state."

"We are happy Mimi mustered the courage to protest.

India describes Pakistan as an epicentre of terrorism | Oneindia News

This shows the need for imparting self-defence skills to every single woman, on the street or at home," she added.
Most of the countries said the World Health Organization and the European Union have done an admirable job containing the pandemic. Almost all of the countries, except the U.S. and Britain, gave their countries positive grades for their handling of the outbreak.

The survey also found that much of the damage to America's international reputation among key allies and partners is linked to its handling of the coronavirus crisis. Only 15 percent of the participating countries gave the U.S. good marks for dealing with the pandemic.

A 13-nation survey by the U.S. think tank found that only 41 percent of those surveyed in Britain have a favorable opinion of the U.S., the lowest percentage of any comparable survey Pew has conducted in the country. A mere 31 percent of the population in France views the U.S. favorably, mirroring survey results from March 2003, when tensions between the two countries peaked over the Iraq War, the survey found.

America's image as a global superpower has been tarnished since Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016, according to the nonpartisan Pew Research Center.

While few of the countries believe China has effectively handled the outbreak, it still received significantly better reviews than the U.S. response.

Trump's performance on the world stage has remained low since he entered office, the survey said. Belgium gave him his most negative assessment, with just 9 percent expressing confidence that Trump will do what is right when handling global affairs. Japan gave him the highest rating, with one-quarter of its respondents expressing confidence.

Global attitudes toward Trump have consistently been considerably lower than those of former President Barack Obama, particularly in Western Europe, the survey found.

Trump, however, is perceived more favorably among Europeans who have favorable views of "right-wing populist parties, though confidence is still relatively low among all groups," the survey said. Pew noted that 45 percent of the adherents of Spain's Vox Party are confident in Trump's ability to handle global issues, much higher than the 7-percent approval rate among Spaniards who do not support Vox.

Trump ranks last in trust when compared with the six world leaders in the survey. Some 83 percent of the respondents said they have "no confidence" that Trump will "do the right thing regarding world affairs," higher than Chinese President Xi Jinping's 78 percent "no confidence" rating and Russian President Vladimir Putin's 73 percent.

The White House did not immediately respond to the survey, but Trump has maintained he has done a good job in handling the coronavirus crisis, although the U.S. continues to lead the world in coronavirus infections and COVID-19 deaths. During a White House news conference last month, Trump said, "When you look at the job we've done, compared to others, we've done a great job."

Trump also suggested at the news conference that the U.S. has not been as adversely affected by the virus when compared with other countries. "We've done a great job, and on top of that, when you look at the numbers, how we were impacted less than these other countries," Trump said. During a recent interview with Axios, Trump said the U.S. has done a "great" and "incredible" job in handling the pandemic.

Pew said the survey's findings are based on feedback from 13,273 respondents from June 10 to Aug. 3. The respondents were in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Korea, Spain, Sweden and Britain. The U.S. was not included in the survey.


Reuters

The search for a domestic COVID-19 vaccine in India has been boosted with the Pune-based Serum Institute of India resuming the clinical trials of the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University. Read more

Here's more top news of the day:

1) COVID-19 Cases In India Have Crossed 5 Million, The Last One Million Came In Just 11 Days

Image For Representation

Indias coronavirus cases surged past 5 million on Wednesday with a single-day jump of 90,123 infections in the last 24 hours. Read more

2) Huge Victory For The Common Man: Aarey Metro Shed Site Being Cleared & Closed

Sabrang India

The metro car shed is now being shifted out of Aarey forest in Mumbai after Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra government signalled the beginning of removing construction material from the site. Read more

3) Shunning Plight Of Helpless, Govt Blames Fake News For Migrant Exodus; Twitter Calls It A Lie

Reuters

After saying that the government has no data on the death of migrant workers, the Centre claimed that the mass movement of migrants after the country went into lockdown in March to fight the coronavirus was because of "fake news". Read more

4) 155 Heathcare Workers, Including 64 Doctors Have Died Of COVID-19 So Far, Claims Govt

File Photo

According to data cited by the government, as many as 155 healthcare staff, including 64 doctors, have died due to coronavirus till September 11. The government quoted Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package Insurance Scheme for Health Workers Fighting Covid-19 which provides relief in case of death of such workers.

Read more

5) MP Has One Of Highest Child Malnutrition Rate In India, But Govt Still Won't Provide Them Eggs

File Photo

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has overruled his cabinet colleague Woman and Child Development Minister Imarti Devi on the issue of distribution of eggs as part of mid-day meals for students at primary education centres in the state. Read more
On Wednesday, Congress Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari accused the Centre of stonewalling a discussion on the LAC situation in the Parliament. He recalled that 165 members of the Lower House of Parliament had participated in a discussion amid the Chinese aggression in 1962. Tewari added that most Parliaments in the world regularly met during World War I and II. Moreover, he pointed out that Winston Churchill's most famous speeches were made during World War II. According to him, the opposition would be failing in its responsibility if it permitted the Union government to avoid a debate under the garb of "operational sensitivity".

1/1 Extremely unfortunate NDA/ BJP Govt is stonewalling a discussion in Parliament on China .

From 8 -14 th November 1962- middle of Chinese aggression 165 Lok Sabha Members participated in a discussion on the War. During World War -1 & 2 Most Parliaments in the world regularly  Manish Tewari (@ManishTewari) September 16, 2020

Read: Rajnath Singh's Statement On LAC Faceoff Angers Congress; Seeks Expose Of China's Deceit

Defence Minister speaks on LAC faceoff

Making a statement on the LAC situation in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh affirmed that the Armed Forces were capable of facing any challenge from China. While acknowledging that the situation at the LAC is very different both in terms of the scale of troops involve and the number of friction points, he reiterated India's commitment for a peaceful resolution of the dispute. Observing that the violent conduct of Chinese troops was a violation of all past agreements, he informed the MPs that India has done counter deployments in the area to safeguard the border.

Singh conceded that the LAC boundary issue remains unresolved due to the reluctance of China to recognise the traditional and customary alignment of the border. Furthermore, he added that China is in the illegal occupation of 38,000 sq. km in Ladakh apart from 5,180 sq. km of Indian territory in PoK ceded by Pakistan in 1963. Acknowledging that this is a complex issue, he highlighted that peace and tranquillity in border areas is imperative for the development of the bilateral relationship.

He explained that both sides continued to have a differing perception about the LAC over the last many decades. The LAC faceoff was exacerbated when 20 Indian Army soldiers including a Commanding Officer were martyred in the Galwan Valley on June 15, followed by multiple attempts of provocation by the Chinese side at the end of August. There are friction points in Eastern Ladakh, Gogra, Kongka La and Pangong Lake's north and south banks.

Read: India Takes On China & Pakistan For Aggression & Terror Amid Covid; Names No Names At UN
White US Christians becoming less motivated to address racial injustice: Barna

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White, self-identified Christians in the United States have become less motivated to address racial injustice and are less likely to believe that the country has a race problem compared to last year, according to a new report by the Barna Group.

In findings made public on Tuesday, Barna reported that 33% of white self-identified Christians believe that the United States definitely has a race problem, down from 40% last year.

By contrast, 81% of black self-identified Christians agreed that the nation definitely has a race problem, up from 75% in 2019. Hispanic self-identified Christians stayed about the same, with 54% responding definitely in 2019 and 55% responding the same in 2020.

Barna also found that from 2019-2020, the number of white self-identified Christians who felt very motivated to address racial injustice dropped from 14% to 10%.

White self-identified Christians who were motivated to address racial injustice also declined from 18% in 2019 to 15% in 2020, with those not at all motivated rising from 11% in 2019 to 22% in 2020.

In contrast, from 2019-2020, the number of black self-identified Christians who were very motivated to address racial injustice rose from 33% in 2019 to 46% in 2020.

Despite the decrease in motivation to address racial injustice and a drop in the belief that the nation has a race problem, Barna did find an increase in belief among white self-identified Christians that the United States has historically been oppressive to minorities.

White self-identified Christians who agreed with that sentiment increased from 43% in 2019 to 48% in 2020, while those who disagreed dropped from 30% last year to 23% this year.

For the report, Barna surveyed 1,525 U.S. adults online from June 18-July 6, over-sampling African Americans, Asians, and Hispanics. The data has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.8%.

Barna also found a decline in the belief that the U.S. has a race problem among the entire U.S. adults sample, with 46% agreeing in 2020, versus 49% in 2019.

Further, the number of U.S. adults in general who responded that they were not at all motivated to address racial injustice grew from 9% last year to 16% this year.

The research was conducted not long after Barna President David Kinnaman penned a blog entry calling for action regarding the divergent views on race between white and black evangelicals.

Simply put, most white Christians miss and misunderstand the lived experience of Black Christians. Weve been tracking this gap for years, including the higher degree to which Black Christians perceive police brutality, experience the effects of racism and believe the effects of slavery continue to this day, wrote Kinnaman.

It is the Churchs responsibility to reject racism, embrace responsibility to tear down unjust and white-centered systems and, in the Spirits power, advance justice and reconciliation.

The United States has experienced renewed internal conflict over race and racial reconciliation following the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota, back in May.

This has included protests, both violent and peaceful, as well as increased dialogue within churches over the existence of systemic racism in both sacred and secular institutions.

New protests occurred after a black man named Jacob Blake was shot seven times in the back by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last month.

Earlier this year, polls indicted a growing support for the Black Lives Matter movement, with a Pew Research Center report finding that about two-thirds of all Americans were in favor.

However, a new Politico-Morning Consult poll from Wednesday found support for the BLM movement drop by nine points to a 52% favorable opinion among voters compared to June.

The PMC poll also found that while 57% of respondents supported the Floyd protests earlier this year, 49% of respondents recently voiced support for the Blake protests.
Twenty-Nine German Police Suspended for Sharing Pictures of Hitler

DUESSELDORF, GermanyTwenty-nine police officers have been suspended in Germany for sharing pictures of Adolf Hitler and doctored depictions of refugees in gas chambers on their mobile phones, officials in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) said on Wednesday.

They are also accused of using far-right chatrooms where extremist content, such as Nazi symbols, that breaches the German constitution was shared.

This is a disgrace for the NRW police, said NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul, announcing an investigation against 29 male and female officers.

Some of the suspects could be charged with disseminating Nazi propaganda and hate speech and could be dismissed from the police. Others are accused of failing to report their colleagues.

Im appalled and ashamed, said Frank Richter, chief of the police force in the city of Essen where most of the suspects worked. It is hard to find words.

German prosecutors said last month they were investigating a retired police officer suspected of sending threatening emails, signed with the name of a gang of neo-Nazi killers, to prominent figures of immigrant background.

The emails, including some sent to legislators with a Turkish background, were signed NSU 2.0, a reference to the National Socialist Underground neo-Nazi gang, which killed 10 people, mainly immigrants, between 2000 and 2007.
WINSTED  Members of the Planning & Zoning Commission continued to fine-tune their concerns surrounding the site plan for renovation of the Mary P. Hinsdale School during a public hearing earlier this week.

Voters approved the school renovation project in September 2018 by a vote of 780-669. Winsted has applied for funding and grants to pay for the $17.43 million project, and the town still is waiting for legislative and State Bond Commission approval for that funding.

Monday night on Zoom, engineer Donald Smith Jr. and architect Paul Jorgensen from Silver Petrucelli Architects reviewed the project, using maps of the property, the existing school building and its proposed addition. Superintendent of Schools Melony Brady-Shanley also attended to answer questions, along with landscape architect Stephen Wing.

We are also appearing with the Inland Wetlands Commission for a hearing this week, Smith said. Our request for a variance on the (Hinsdale) school sign was denied by the ZBA, so we have to come back with a new one for that.

Smith is also requesting a variance for the required buffer zone around the school; regulations dictate that it must be 35 feet, but some areas are less than that. That variance, Smith said, is being discussed with the Zoning Board of Appeals.

In response to some of P&Zs requests, Smith said, he has added a set of stairs between the school and the Hinsdale Avenue parking lot, where there is a drop, for employees and parents dropping off or picking up their children.

An Eversource transformer has to be replaced, Smith said, and the new one must be 10 feet from the building. Right now its five feet from the building, but the legal distance is supposed to be 10 feet. Well get some landscaping done around it, whatever the power company will allow, he said. But its an electric transformer. It has to be there.

Camouflaging large areas of heating and cooling equipment located on the roof of the renovated school building has been a point of concern for commission members, who want to be sure neighbors around the building see as little of it as possible.

During his presentation, Jorgensen, the architect with Silver Petrucelli, said locating that equipment as close to the center of the building, then placing screening around it that matches the color of the building, will make a difference with visibility.

The first unit on the existing building is eight feet high above the roof surface, but weve located it in the center, so you see it when you drive in, but then its not as visible, Jorgensen said. Screens look better than the unit itself, so we can coordinate a louver-type screen, to allow air to flow in. Theyre usually set up approximately four feet (around the unit) away, which also allows for air flow and a service area inside.

Jorgensen said the biggest issue with screening these roof units is the cost. Our biggest concern is the budget, he said. Roof screens are very expensive, and right now the project is in a cost-cutting mode. Were trying to find elements to make sure our budget is intact. ... The current pandemic is throwing the whole process for a bit of a loop right now.

Jorgensen said costs for equipment and labor vary. Some costs are very tight, and some are escalating, he said.

P&Z Chairman George Closson encouraged Jorgensen to be flexible. Come up with something thats cost-effective, he said. These things (roof units) arent pretty, and over time, the elements affect how they look.

Commission member Peter Marchand wanted to know what kind of noise the roof units would make, and asked whether they could be shielded if they were too loud.

I dont know what the noise level is, but theyre centered on the roof, as far away from the property line as we can get them, Jorgensen said. I can ask the mechanical engineer about the noise.

Landscape architect Stephen Wing reviewed changes to a type of tree that will be planted around the school.

Weve swapped out some of the maples that are a globe-headed tree with the Armstrong maple. Theyre very columnar (in shape), and given a fair shot, they can grow 50 to 70 feet tall but only about 15 feet wide, he said. The trees profile is very narrow when its young, and as it matures, it can be (trimmed) to eliminate light interference.

The commission asked that Wing provide the school building committee and Brady-Shanley with a tree maintenance information packet.

We can do that, Wynn said. I have my own experience with post-construction issues. These maples are tough. Theyre well-suited to the site conditions, soils and moisture, and once theyre settled, they should do fine without any care.

Closson complimented Brady-Shanley on her efforts to improve the public school grounds overall. I know what Melony has done since shes been here. Its been a huge improvement, he said.

Well be happy to take care of (the new trees), Brady-Shanley said.

The hearing was continued until Sept. 28. We can make a determination (at that hearing), hopefully, Closson said.
A whistleblower complaint filed on behalf of a nurse who worked at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in southern Georgia until July alleges that a number of immigrant women detained there were subjected to sterilization through hysterectomies without their consent.

In the complaint, filed by the legal advocacy group Project South, the former nurse describes conditions at the center as akin to an experimental concentration camp.

The complaint also details the refusal of the centers administrators to carry out COVID-19 testing or implement protective measures, putting detainees and employees throughout the countrys network of detention centers at risk of infection. It alleges that detainees who have spoken out about conditions at the facility have been placed in solitary confinement.

Detention facility in McAllen, Texas, Sunday, June 17, 2018 (Photo US Customs and Border Protection).

The chilling report provides further evidence of the sadistic abuse meted out by the Trump administration in its fascistic war on immigrants. At least 17 people have died so far this year in ICE custody from various causes, including COVID-19. Two guards at a facility in Louisiana died from coronavirus in April.

The target of the of the complaint, the Irwin County Detention Center (ICDC), which is operated by the private prison company LaSalle Corrections, was previously the subject of complaints raised by the American Civil Liberties Union in 2012. The ACLU urged that the facility be closed due to widespread abuse as well as its remote location. A 2017 Project South investigation found that ICDC was guilty of human rights abuses, violations of due process rights and unsanitary living conditions.

The nurse who lodged the latest complaint, Dawn Wooten, explained that detained women were sent to a doctor known as the uterus collector and that many did not have a full understanding of what was happening to them or why they were having the procedure. When I met all these women who had had surgeries, I thought this was like an experimental concentration camp, Wooten said. It was like theyre experimenting with our bodies.

While the extent of the sterilizations is unknown, a detained immigrant told Project South that she knew of five women who had hysterectomies while held at ICDC between October and December 2019.

Everybody he sees has a hysterectomyjust about everybody, Wooten said of the doctor who carried out the procedures at ICDC.

Hes even taken out the wrong ovary on a young lady, Wooten said. She was supposed to get her left ovary removed because it had a cyst on the left ovary; he took out the right one. She was upset. She had to go back to take out the left and she wound up with a total hysterectomy. She still wanted children, so she has to go back home now and tell her husband that she cant bear kids... she said she was not all the way out under anesthesia and heard him [the doctor] tell the nurse that he took the wrong ovary.

Wooten also noted there is often an issue with obtaining consent, as medical staff rely on googling Spanish phrases or getting other detainees to interpret information about the medical procedure. These immigrant women, I dont think they really, totally, all the way understand this is whats going to happen, depending on who explains it to them, Wooten said.

One detainee who spoke to Project South reviewed her harrowing experience with a sterilization procedure that was stopped at the hospital only when an antibody test for COVID-19 came back positive and she was sent back to the detention center.

A doctor initially told her that she had to go to the hospital to have an ovarian cyst removed in a non-invasive procedure. However, on the day of the procedure, the officer who was transporting her told her that, in fact, she was about to have her womb removed in a hysterectomy. The procedure was scuttled by her positive coronavirus test.

After she had been sent back to ICDC, a nurse told her that she would need to have the procedure done because of heavy bleeding. The nurse then told her it was to correct a thick womb.

The woman explained that she had never been diagnosed with either, and the doctors had spoken of a totally different procedure. The nurse reportedly became angry and began shouting after the woman explained that she did not want a hysterectomy. Reflecting on her experience, the detainee said that it felt like they were trying to mess with my body.

The Project South report and Wootens testimony reviewed various forms of medical malpractice at the facility, including the withholding of medication for cancer and HIV. Even if inmates were severely ill, the medical unit would only supply them with ibuprofen and send them back to their cells.

Wooten reports that ICDC repeatedly ignored Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines on handling COVID-19 positive patients so as to prevent the spread of the virus.

A video of ICDC inmates pleading for protection which was posted online in April forced the administration to provide them with a single cloth or paper mask, but nothing since. The New York Times reported that detainees resorted to fashioning makeshift masks out of scraps of cloth or broken meal containers in an effort to protect themselves.

ICE reported in August that 41 detainees at the facility had tested positive for the coronavirus, but Wooten said the actual number was certainly higher, since ICDC was not actively testing inmates, denied tests to those who requested them, and was not reporting all its positive cases to ICE or the State Department. She also noted that detainees who were COVID-19 positive were still being transferred to other facilities or deported, and new arrivals were not being properly quarantined, ensuring that the virus would continue to spread. Employees who self-reported coronavirus symptoms were still made to work, and at least 13 officers at the facility have tested positive.

The horrors exposed by Wooten come amidst an escalating assault on the rights of immigrants in the lead-up to the Nov. 3 election, as Trumps works to build up his far-right base. On Monday, a federal appeals court panel approved the Trump administrations termination of protected status for immigrants from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua and Sudan, removing legal status for nearly 400,000 people, many of whom have lived in the US for decades and have children who are citizens. The 21 ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit opens the immigrants up to deportation if they do not leave the country voluntarily.
Tributes have been paid to a hugely-popular Northern Ireland teacher who has died following a short illness.

Barry Geraghty (42) passed away in hospital on Tuesday. The married father-of-four, who was originally from Keady, was a widely admired and highly respected IT teacher at Lismore Comprehensive School in Craigavon.

Earlier this week, Mr Geraghtys wife Fiona had taken to social media to appeal for prayers as her husband fought for his life in Intensive Care after taking ill unexpectedly.

Posting following her husbands tragic passing, she wrote: My heart is absolutely broken. No words to describe the fear and heartache in my life right now. Its just not fair.

Paying tribute on social media, Lismore Comprehensive School said: We deeply regret the tragic and untimely passing of our friend and teaching colleague Mr Barry Geraghty.

As a subject teacher and senior leader, Barry embodied the ethos of Lismore and was greatly admired and respected by all who knew him.

We wish to offer our most sincere sympathy to his wife Fiona, his daughter our Year 8 student Chloe, his sons Jamie, Conor and Niall and the extended Geraghty and Campbell families.

Hundreds of people have taken to social media to pay tribute to the talented and very popular teacher.

One person wrote: A great teacher who always time for his students. A huge, huge loss to Lismore.

Another added: He was an inspirational teacher who will be forever remembered by those he taught.
UT Health San Antonio plans to build a 144-bed teaching hospital, a key component of its joint effort with University Health System to bolster health care in San Antonio, officials said Wednesday.

UT Health and UHS, both publicly funded, are looking to form an integrated health care system, a venture that would operate as a nonprofit with its own board of directors and that could co-develop clinics and other facilities in the future.

The institutions signed an initial, nonbinding agreement Sept. 4.

Weve had a 51-year-old partnership with University Health System, said Dr. William Henrich, president of UT Health San Antonio. This memorandum of understanding that weve signed signals a day in which we advance that partnership.

UT Healths planned hospital  a multispecialty research facility estimated to cost up to $430 million  is expected to open in spring 2024. The eight-story hospital will be located at Wurzbach Road and Floyd Curl Drive in the South Texas Medical Center.

A bridge over Floyd Curl will connect the hospital to the Mays Cancer Center.

The facility, which will be part of the University of Texas System, will sit near University Hospital.

We have intentionally designed the new UT Health hospital to be complementary to the services that are offered at University Hospital, Henrich said. We dont want to compete with or duplicate any of those services.

UT Health will present design plans to the UT systems Board of Regents in mid-November.

Henrich said the hospital will give Bexar County residents more access to cutting-edge technologies and clinical trials. And the partnership with UHS will put them in contact with more specialists at facilities throughout the new health care system.

The venture will mean fewer patients find it necessary to ever leave San Antonio for the most sophisticated care, Henrich said.

The finances and existing operations of UT Health and UHS will remain separate, but both parties have committed to work together on a joint-venture plan for future facilities.

On ExpressNews.com: Editorial: UT Healths new teaching hospital will boost region

George Hernandez, president and CEO of University Health System, said the coordinated system will be more efficient  in part because of the recent upgrade of UHSs electronic medical record system.

In July, UHS completed the transition to Epic, the same record system used by UT Healths clinical practices.

This new system will offer substantial benefits to our patients, including more access to services and providers, and an integrated patient medical record, Hernandez said.

UHS is building a 12-story tower, which will serve as a new womens and childrens hospital, on its main campus. It is expected to open in early 2023.

Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said creating a UHS-UT Health network should increase patients access to care regardless of their income.

He said it also could be good for the economy.

On ExpressNews.com: University Health System prepares for $500 million hospital expansion

This partnership is an economic engine that involves two of our largest employers, Wolff said, and the resulting health delivery system will be a valuable factor in helping us to attract companies that look to relocate to our area.

The partnership between the public hospital and medical school is also expected to increase training opportunities for medical, nursing, dental students and those in other health professions.

Henrich said the new hospital will increase the number of medical students the school can accept annually, as well as bump up the number of residency slots available for post-graduate students. According to officials, the facility could result in 100 to 130 additional residency positions by 2027.

UT Health has collaborated with UHS, which is county-owned, since both opened in 1968.

In addition to University Hospital, the school currently has agreements with other major health care providers in San Antonio, allowing its post-graduate students to gain hands-on training. They include Christus Santa Rosa Health System, Methodist Healthcare System, Baptist Health System, the VA and the U.S. military.

Laura Garcia covers the health care industry. To read more from Laura, become a subscriber. laura.garcia@express-news.net | Twitter: @Reporter_Laura
Stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra recently dropped a sarcastic comment on Kangana Ranauts thoughtful quote about how it takes a strong spiritual core to recognise the delusion between the reel and real world. This led to a heated argument between the two. While Kangana went on to call herself a revolutionary, Kunal went a step ahead and shared a new definition of the word.

Kangana had shared a picture of herself Wednesday morning on her teams Twitter account along with a quote, Show business is absolutely intoxicating, this make believe world of lights and camera is designed to make one live and believe in an alternate reality, a little bubble of their own, it takes a very strong spiritual core to recognise this delusion.

Wisdom via showman Jagga Jasoos AKA @SadhguruJV https://t.co/JDrQVKJYt4  Kunal Kamra (@kunalkamra88) September 16, 2020

Alleging that the words of wisdom by Kangana were actually inspired from Sadhguru, of whom the actor is an ardent follower The actor hit back at Kunal and said, These fools are desperate to credit my struggles, intellect, spiritual depth, guts, success and achievements to some powerful man, how it hurts their fragile egos and cotton balls to admit that I am my own person, leading my life on my own terms. DEAL WITH IT Slightly smiling face.

Kunal again took a dig at Kangana, this time targeting her for her newly provided Y-plus security by the central government. He said, I am wondering how a strong women like you can have Y - security where men are protecting you just for living life on your own terms...

I am wondering how a strong women like you can have Y - security where men are protecting you just for living life on your own terms...



 https://t.co/nxoyBh7YVI  Kunal Kamra (@kunalkamra88) September 16, 2020

Justifying her security arrangement, Kangana replied to Kunal, In a democracy it is the duty of the constitution to protect a revolutionary voice. Here in this case you see two aspects of the glorious democracy The protector and  The protected. You will never make it to any of them. Be someone who means something to this nation Slightly smiling face.

Also read: Urmila Matondkar slams Kangana Ranauts comments: Does she know Himachal is the origin of drugs?

Kunal again hit back at her by coining a new definition of revolutionary. He tweeted, New definition of revolutionary - 1) Call Karan Johar an idiot 2) Selectively attack the government of a single state 3) Consume Jagga ka H***a for spiritual depth 4) Join the casteless upper-caste casteist tribe. Aur bhi dukh hai zamane main BJP ki mohabbat ke siva (there are many more worries in the world other than being in love with BJP).

Follow @htshowbiz for more
Kimberlee Centera Our mission is to provide critical development and financial closing support for organizations that are investing in climate change solutions. We are pleased to have been part of the team that contributed to this groundbreaking achievement for ENGIE.

In April, ENGIE North America secured major tax equity financing for its renewables portfolio. The portfolio consists of 2.0 GW of renewable assets, comprised of 1.5 GW of onshore wind and 0.5 GW of utility-scale solar PV projects. This is believed to be the largest tax equity deal of its kind in the United States. TerraPro Solutions was a part of the team of third-party consultants who helped ENGIE complete this tax equity financing.

From late-stage project development through construction and financial closing, TerraPro Solutions experts worked on 8 of the 11 wind and solar projects in this portfolio. The deliverables included title curative analysis and bridge documentation to streamline and mitigate risk related to the real estate title curative requirements and title policies. TerraPro Solutions also provided critical support in negotiating and obtaining relevant consents, subordinations, and crossing permits.

Our mission is to provide critical development and financial closing support for organizations that are investing in climate change solutions, states Kimberlee Centera, CEO, TerraPro Solutions. We are pleased to have been part of the team that contributed to this groundbreaking achievement for ENGIE.

About TerraPro Solutions:

TerraPro Solutions, a leading risk mitigation renewable energy project development consultancy has generated over 10 GWs in Solar, Wind, and Energy Storage. With a total financed value of over $6 billion, it is the top development consultancy in the renewables market. TerraPro Solutions provides high-level expertise in the development and implementation of renewable energy projects. Services include site feasibility and land acquisition, due diligence for investment and financing, and construction, compliance and post-construction operations. For more information contact Annemarie Osborne 949-237-2906 aosborne@terraprosolutions.com or Vanessa Faucher 858-573-2000x810 vfaucher@terraprosolutions.com or visit http://terraprosolutions.com/

About ENGIE North America:

ENGIE North America Inc. offers a range of capabilities in the United States and Canada to help customers decarbonize, decentralize and digitalize their operations. These include comprehensive services to help customers run their facilities more efficiently and optimize energy and other resource use and expense; clean power generation; energy storage; and retail energy supply that includes renewable, demand response, and on-bill financing options. Nearly 100% of the companys power generation portfolio is low carbon or renewable. Globally, ENGIE S.A. relies on their key businesses (gas, renewable energy, services) to offer competitive solutions to customers. With 170,000 employees, customers, partners and stakeholders, we are a community of Imaginative Builders, committed every day to more harmonious progress. For more information on ENGIE North America, please visit our LinkedIn page or Twitter feed, http://www.engie-na.com and http://www.engie.com.

# # #


By Lisa Richwine

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Television's Emmy Awards usually provide a night of hugs, high-fives and glamorous stars posing on the red carpet, but the coronavirus pandemic will make for a very different virtual-only ceremony on Sunday.

Jimmy Kimmel will host from a stage in the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles, telling jokes without the usual packed audience of celebrities. Only production staff and a handful of stars will be allowed in. The red carpet was canceled.

Still, producers said the show, broadcast live on Walt Disney Co's <DIS.N> ABC network, aims to provide a celebratory feel for the industry's highest honors.

Hoping to avoid the feel of a stilted Zoom call, staff shipped dozens of movie-quality cameras, lights and microphones to capture live and spontaneous reactions from winners in their living rooms. Producers will monitor 130 live feeds from about 20 cities, including Los Angeles, New York, London, Tel Aviv and Berlin.

"They don't want it to be the 'Zoomies,'" said Michael Schneider, senior editor at Variety. "They want to avoid that look, and have it look like a regular production."

Television audiences for awards shows have slumped in recent years. Last year's Emmys drew a record-low viewership of 6.9 million. Producers hope the unpredictability of this year's format will draw interest, and they admit things might go wrong.

"Think about having a Zoom with your family and how complicated that is, getting grandma to look at the camera and have her whole face on camera," Kimmel quipped in a promotional video. "Multiply that by a million, and that's what we're dealing with here."

A lineup of "special guests" including Oprah Winfrey, Sterling K. Brown and Jason Bateman is slated to appear in some form. Casts of some series will gather together to watch the broadcast.

Producer Reginald Hudlin said the show scrapped parts of the traditional format for presenting awards.

Story continues

"Some are going to work and it's going to be great," he said. "Some of them might not work. We said 'let's just experiment.'"

Breanne Heldman, senior TV editor for People magazine, believes the unusual setup will yield surprises and a side of celebrities not normally seen on television.

"I think there could end up being some really beautiful, touching and romantic moments with people thanking the people sitting right next to them on the couch," she said. "It will be intimate and honest."

While the lack of a red carpet will disappoint many fans, Heldman expects stars will don notable attire throughout the show. Some may wear masks that match their outfits, which could range from sweatpants or pajamas to high fashion, she said.

"There will be some women who don't want to pass up on this big moment and wear the gown," Heldman said. "And why not? Put on those Jimmy Choos. You don't have to walk around in them."

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; additional reporting by Jill Serjeant; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
A blame game has erupted between politicians and education deans over who is responsible for declining writing skills in NSW schools.

NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said university teaching degrees need to lift their game, but heads of faculty said a lack of on-the-job training and a failure of the school system to value or allow time for writing is the problem.

A blame game has erupted over who is responsible for a decline in students' writing skills.

As the Herald revealed on Wednesday, a survey of 4000 teachers found almost half felt poorly prepared to teach writing, while a review of education degrees found there was significant variation in the extent to which universities prepared trainee teachers.

Thirty per cent of respondents said they had never had training from their employer in how to teach writing.
You know 2020 is a strange year when, in addition to pandemics and protests, Donald Trump and Ellen DeGeneres agree on something.

Thats right. The conservative president and liberal Hollywood talk-show host have something in common. Both are victims of blistering attacks in the media courtesy of anonymous sources.

In the presidents case, The Atlantic published a story alleging that Mr. Trump canceled a trip to the Aisne-Marne American cemetery near Paris by stating: Why should I go to that cemetery? Its filled with losers. The article continues: In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 Marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as suckers for getting killed.

Great fodder for anti-Trumpers, as it fits their narrative that he is a heartless monster  except for one problem. Theres absolutely, positively no proof that he said any of those things. By proof, were talking about someone with the guts to go on the record, and explain, in detail, what the president said, where he said it, and when. And ideally, given that The Atlantics sources for such bombshell allegations consisted of four people with firsthand knowledge of the discussion that day, we should hear from more than just one person.

But we didnt.

Instead, The Atlantic ran a sensational story  one still garnering nationwide headlines, and which has become a significant campaign issue  based on nothing but cowardly sources too scared to go on the record. The $64,000 question: Which is more pathetic, a media publication that would run such a feckless hit-piece, or the so-called Trump insiders  if they exist  who would slam their leader from the comfort of the cheap seats, smugly thinking they are tough guys but, in reality, are nothing but jealous poltroons?

Give The Atlantic credit for at least admitting how shallow the publication is, as it stated in the article: These sources, and others quoted in this article, spoke on condition of anonymity.

Anonymous allegations have no place within a media organization that wants to be taken seriously. Therefore, the solution is incredibly simple: Either compel the sources to go on the record, or dont run their statements. Period  end of story. Literally. Otherwise, anonymity allows someone to make something up and slam a public figure with a broadside without recourse, since slander and libel suits are virtually impossible to win when an attack is on a public figure. The Atlantic certainly isnt alone in running non-cited sources, as far too many media entities do just that on a regular basis.

Worse is the Fourth Estates penchant for repeating such outlandish allegations, often running headlines making it seem that the statements in question were indisputably made, rather than just allegations from nameless sources.

But the lowest of the low is Joe Biden, who is running a series of video attack ads utilizing the alleged statements. Naturally, the ad fails to mention that the statements are anonymous, and thus unverified. Instead, in an utterly classless move, Joe Biden made our fallen soldiers pawns in his quest for political advancement  perhaps the most unpresidential thing one could do.

Joe Biden has never been the sharpest tool in the shed, as his statement on the controversy attests: If what is written in The Atlantic is true, its disgusting and affirms what most of us believe to be true: That Donald Trump is not fit to do the job of president and be commander-in-chief. First, since Mr. Trump is, in fact, commander-in-chief, Mr. Biden is incorrect in postulating that most of us dont think he is fit for the job. Secondly, by Mr. Bidens logic, he is actually saying that, should the allegations turn out to be false, he thinks the Mr. Trump is fit to be president. Brilliant.

What a campaign ad that would make.

And then we have Ellen. She was brutalized in the U.K.s Daily Mail by an anonymous former employee who worked at DeGeneres household, who likened that environment to a traumatic military boot camp.

First things first. If you are a former employee  and therefore are not beholden to Ms. DeGeneres for job security  why the need for secrecy? Why be such a yellow-belly that you cant go on the record? And if the answer is because Ellen could blacklist you in the Hollywood housecleaning circuit, you should be more concerned about performing your job for your current employer, rather than jadedly running the bus over a former boss.

Among the beauties leveled at Ellen by the source:

 So after everything that has been said about her at (her) work, you can imagine how terrible Ellen is going to be at home when her guard is down. No actually, we cant imagine. What happens behind a persons closed doors can be a night and day difference from her work environment. To assume such a thing is the height of arrogance.

 Sometimes she would yell at us, but it was more about the incredibly condescending tone she would use. She treated you like you were nothing  She was going to torture you and you were just going to sit there and listen to it because you were being paid. Hmmm. Torture? Even though youre making a decent living in America, working for a celebrity (which is not bad on the resume), it becomes torture because you dont like what a boss says, or the tone she uses? Grow up! No one held a gun to your head to take the job, and no one forced you to stay. Once again, Americas entitlement culture rings through loud and clear: Complain anytime someone holds you accountable or interferes with your right to be do things your way, even though you are the employee.

News flash: Bosses sometimes assign you tasks which you dont like. Thats life. So suck it up and get over it  or quit, or be fired. In an age of complex problems, this one is incredibly easy. And by the way, maybe you should compare notes on torture with former prisoners of war. Heres betting that their take on torture might differ just a bit from yours.

 Ellen was the worst person that Ive ever met in my life. She takes pleasure in firing people. Well, if Ellen DeGeneres is the worst person you ever met, you live a very sheltered life, so consider yourself lucky. And if Ellen does take pleasure in firing people, so what? Thats her prerogative  whether she has good reasons or not. Again, if that work environment is truly as despicable as described, then you can exercise your American rights and quit. But if youre going to tell your woe-is-me story to the world, then at least have the intestinal fortitude to do it publicly, instead of skulking around in the shadows. Karma being what it is, however, the best, and most ironic, part of all this is that Ellen will benefit from such allegations, because most Americans look at anonymous critics as nothing more than axe-to-grind, sour-grapes whiners.

Hell, its enough to make me start watching her show.

Anonymous sources should be flat-out rejected. They have no place in partisan politics, and the media should not utilize them  opting instead for credible reporting rather than destroying a persons reputation on mere allegations. That doesnt mean that reporters shouldnt use background material from anonymous people; this author frequently engaged in that practice while producing hard-hitting investigative reports. The monumental difference is that such material was thoroughly vetted  not quotes from nameless sources.

Instead of providing even-keeled reporting, the media has become obsessed with sensationalism, playing on fears and whipping up hysteria. As a result, journalisms reputation now ranks alongside those of politicians, lawyers and snake oil salesmen. An increasingly lazy, biased and incompetent Fourth Estate has violated the cardinal rule of the medias Field Of Dreams: If you provide content, they will come. That hasnt been happening, and fans are exiting the ballpark.

To get them back, lets start with an on-the-record suggestion: No more anonymous sources. And as a member of the media, I approve this message.

Chris Freind is an independent columnist and commentator whose column appears every Wednesday. He can be reached at CF@FFZMedia.com Follow him on Twitter @chrisfreind.
Pipeline

16 September 2020

Brick streets. Large, spacious courtyards. Ornate globe street lamps. Legendary cigar factories. Free roaming roosters. Historical architecture. Rich multicultural roots. Ybor City, the landmarked district just northeast of downtown Tampa - one of the City's most celebrated neighborhoods - will soon have a hotel with a vibrant character to match: Hotel Haya. The property, which officially opens on Sept. 24, is the latest to be unveiled by Kevin Robinson and Mario Tricoci of Aparium Hotel Group, whose award-winning properties include Kansas City's Crossroads Hotel, Detroit Foundation Hotel and Minneapolis' Hewing Hotel, to name a few.

Ybor City, also known as the "Cigar Capital of the World," owes its name to Vicente Martinez Ybor  one of the largest cigar titans to bring production from Cuba to U.S. shores in the late 19th to early 20th centuries. With it came an influx of European, Spanish, and Cuban immigrants that are credited with giving Ybor City its eclectic cocktail of culture, tradition, and cuisine unlike any other city in America. Aparium's Hotel Haya is inspired by its namesake: another pioneer in the cigar industry, Ignacio Haya, known as the city's hero for his philanthropic efforts.

Hotel Haya will embody everything special about Ybor City: exuberant Cuban, Italian, and Spanish influences. On a downtown street teeming with history, the project fuses two historic buildings with integrated new build construction: the ornate Las Novedades building, Tampa's oldest restaurant built in 1890 and the Warren Building, where Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders are rumored to have haunted. The largest property in the Aparium Hotel Group portfolio, Hotel Haya touts 178 guest rooms  most of which feature balconies, with some overlooking 7th Avenue, known for its shops, bars, parades and celebrations. The result is a new hospitality concept for Ybor City, a destination underserved in the luxury boutique hotel space.

Ybor City's Alfonso Architects Incorporated, founded by Cuban born brothers Albert and Carlos Alfonso, served as Architect of Record and is responsible for the hotel's distinct design. Guests will be immersed in "mid-century Cuban" decor with rooms featuring period fabrics and colors: warm and inviting palettes of blue, red, brown, and gold. Hotel Haya will feature exposed brick walls, a repurposed corner "HAYA" sign, and contemporary and classic art - including four massive Francisco Goya reproductions, one of the most influential Spanish artists of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Like every other Aparium property, Hotel Haya will provide locals with deep connections to their city - from design to collaborations with local businesses. Rooms will feature Chihuly-style glass blown globes from artisans from Morean Art Center to mimic the street lamps of Ybor City. Available for purchase will be custom cigars from J.C. Newman Cigars, one of the oldest family-owned cigar companies in the country, and custom candles hand poured by Seventh Avenue Apothecary. Grown Alchemist bath amenities and Frette bathrobes and plush towels round out the in-room luxury experience.

The hotel will also feature a collaborative and world-class art initiative with USF Graphicstudio and Contemporary Art Museum. The first artist featured in the hotel's pre-function gallery is the famed Ybor City-based artist Theo Wujcik (1936-2014).

Hotel Haya's secluded courtyard pool is an oasis among the hustle and grit of downtown featuring lush greenery and Italian white tile. Hotel Haya also features vibrant meetings and events spaces including a 4,000 sq. ft. ballroom.

Signature dishes from Flor Fina include: Deviled Crab Cigars - a twist on a local favorite Cuban dish which is then meticulously rolled into a pastry shell to form a cigar shape as a nod to Ybor's history, elegantly plated; five fresh ceviches; Signature Ribeye Tomahawk "Dirty Bone Ribeye" and a Porchetta Suckling Pig Feast to share. Most of the grill menu items include tableside preparation to celebrate and showcase the dishes.

Cafe Quiquiriqui (pronounced KI-KI-RIKI; Spanish for the call of a rooster and a nod to the free-roaming roosters of Ybor City) will have a Cuban influence and will feature Made Coffee alongside homemade empanadas and pastries, and of course, the quintessential Cuban sandwich made from scratch.

Linking Ybor City's glorious past and thrilling future, Hotel Haya captures its magic to bring a beautifully crafted, boutique-luxury hotel experience to one of America's most distinctive neighborhoods welcoming guests and neighbors alike.
Prior to Crimea occupation by Russia, Ukraine used to cover up to 85% of the peninsula's needs for fresh water through the North Crimean Canal.

The Simferopol water reservoir in the Russia-annexed Crimea has completely dried up.

A local blogger has posted the relevant photos on Twitter.

"Crimea. Photos of the Simferopol water reservoir. This is the place that many of you might have seen when leaving Simferopol, driving toward Alushta/Yalta or when entering Simferopol from Alushta/Yalta. Fresh images. Yes, there's no water at all," the tweet says.

Water supplies to Crimea: background
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) during a hearing in Washington on Aug. 6, 2020. (Toni Sandys/Pool/Getty Images)

Senate Panel Authorizes Subpoenas for 40 in Crossfire Hurricane Probe

Comey, Halper, and other key figures in the investigation of Trump's 2016 campaign are among them

A Senate committee on Sept. 16 authorized its chairman to issue subpoenas for 40 people, including former FBI Director James Comey and Cambridge professor and informant Stefan Halper, in the committees review of the FBIs counterintelligence investigation against Donald Trumps campaign.

The 86 party-line vote took place during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee meeting in Washington.

Committee members authorized Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) to issue subpoenas in June, but ranking member Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) argued that the vote didnt actually grant the authorization, prompting the Sept. 16 action.

The issue had come to a head when Johnson subpoenaed Jonathan Winer, a former State Department official who destroyed his correspondence with former British spy Christopher Steele, author of the unsubstantiated dossier that was funded by Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clintons campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

Peters gave Winer cover to ignore the subpoena, Johnson said, despite the earlier vote. What Peters did amounted to inappropriate meddling, he told the ranking member and others at the hearing.

Former State Department official Jonathan Winer. (State Department)

The vote also authorized Johnson to issue subpoenas for seven others in addition to the 33 on the original list, based on new information.

Those seven include Halper, one of several informants used by the FBI to spy on Trump campaign associates.

Democrats appear to only be concerned about foreign interference that they didnt pay for, Johnson charged, noting that Steele relied heavily on Russians for his dossier.

Apparently Democrats are willing to look the other way when they pay for or use foreign disinformation against Republicans, he said.

While Peters, who is seeking reelection, declined to respond directly as to whether he communicated with Winer, he railed against what he described as a partisan investigation when the COVID-19 pandemic has taken the lives of so many Americans.

Im disappointed that our committee is once again meeting to discuss the authorization of subpoenas insteadlet me say again, insteadof the serious challenges facing Americans, and our committee has a responsibility to address with our full focus and resources, he said.

Referring to the list approved in another party-line vote in June, Peters said the chairman has subpoenaed none of them.

Yet you now seek authority to depose seven new individuals on the same matters, he said.

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs ranking member Gary Peters (D-Mich.) during a hearing in Washington on Aug. 6, 2020. (Toni Sandys/Pool/Getty Images)

No other senators spoke for or against the subpoenas during the brief meeting.

Johnson subpoenaed Winer last month. He also issued a subpoena for records from the FBI, which told The Epoch Times it was complying with the request.

Peters has repeatedly protested steps that Johnson has taken in the investigation, including the attempt to depose Winer.

In an Aug. 19 letter, he wrote that the subpoena was in direct and clear violation of committee rules, making the subpoena unenforceable.

The Sept. 16 vote appears to definitively give Johnson subpoena power.

Johnson has said he hasnt issued more subpoenas because hes been stymied in efforts to obtain documents about those individuals.

How can you sit down and conduct a thorough interview when you dont have, for example, the two documents that were just revealed over the last week? he said in an interview in August.
Overnight reports from Jacksonville police:

 A Jacksonville man was arrested on driving under the influence and other charges after the car he was driving hit a tree Tuesday night.

Yanni M. Armstrong, 19, of 902 N. Clay Ave. was driving north on South Fayette Street at 7:35 p.m. Tuesday when his car went off the road and traveled along a ditch, hitting a culvert and then a tree at West Beecher Avenue, according to a police report.

Armstrong and a passenger, Jasmine L. Powell, 19, of 134 Walnut Court, were taken to Passavant Area Hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

Armstrong was later arrested on a driving under the influence charge and cited on charges of having no valid drivers license, disobeying a stop sign, improper lane use and operating an uninsured vehicle.

 Heather N. Hartwick, 35, of 722 W. College Ave., Apt. 5, was arrested on a retail theft charge at 8:17 p.m. Tuesday after being accused of taking a cart full of groceries from County Market, 1255 W. Morton Ave., without paying.

 A resident of the 300 block of North Clay Court told police a woman came to her door at 10:33 p.m. and threw something at her, damaging a window in the process.
(Newser)  William H. Gates Sr., father to Microsoft founder Bill Gates, died Monday at age 94. The younger Gates announced his dad's death in a blog post, calling him "one of the hardest-working and most respected lawyers in Seattle" as well as a civic leader. He recalls the influence his father had on both his career and his philanthropic endeavors, noting that without Gates Sr., "the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation would not be what it is today." He writes that the two became closer than ever while working together there. "People who came through the doors of the Gates Foundation felt honored to work with my dad. He saw the best in everyone and made everyone feel special." Read his full post, which ends with a touching story about a letter the elder Gates wrote to his son, here. (Read more Bill Gates stories.)
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-17 00:24:43|Editor: huaxia

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BERLIN, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Carmakers in the European Union (EU) could cope with the tightening of the regulations introduced by the EU, according to a study by the German Center for Automotive Research (CAR) published on Wednesday.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday that the executive arm of the European Union is proposing to cut emissions by 55 percent from 1990 levels by 2030, in response to the climate emergency.

The new target, which is more ambitious than the 40-percent goal originally set in the Green Deal but falls short of the 60 percent target requested by the European Parliament's environment committee last week, was announced in von der Leyen's first State of Union speech at the European Parliament.

"This is a difficult but feasible path for car manufacturers," said CAR Director Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, "With the tightening of the regulations, emissions will become very expensive and one can assume that small cars will then run mainly on electricity."

Compared to the previous requirement of 62 grams of CO2 per kilometer for average new passenger cars, only 43 grams would be permitted from the year 2030 to meet the new EU target, according to the study.

"According to our model calculation, this would mean that 67 percent of new cars would then have to be fully electric compared to 53 percent according to the previous specifications," Dudenhoeffer stressed.

With a total of 15 million new cars sold in the EU market every year, an additional 2.2 million fully electric cars would have to be sold from 2030 onwards due to the tightening of regulations, according to the study.

Based on an average car battery capacity of 60 kWh, the additional number of electric vehicles would also require lithium-ion for an additional 130 GWh in batteries, according to the study. The costs would sum up to 11 billion euros (13 billion U.S. dollars), which would be "feasible."

Germany's economic stimulus package against the effects of the COVID-19 crisis also included a premium for electric vehicles which was recently doubled so that fully electric cars now receive subsidies of up to 9,000 euros until the end of 2021.

In September, alternative drive types showed "triple-digit growth in some cases" despite overall new passenger car registrations in Germany falling by 20 percent to 250,000 at the same time, according to the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA). (1 euro = 1.18 U.S. dollars) Enditem
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 16

Trend:

The Mediterranean has always been the cradle of civilization as well as a basin of constant cultural and economic interaction, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu wrote in his article titled Our Preference in Eastern Mediterranean is Diplomacy without Preconditions, Trend reports with reference to the article.

In this geography our past, present and future are inextricably intertwined. Turkey and Greece have always had only two choices: lock horns in a way that hurts both of us or find a win-win formula to define a mutually beneficial way forward," he said.

The logic of 'permanent neighbor' naturally entails mutual respect for each other's rights. Unfortunately, this does not seem to be the case for what we experience in Turkey face these days Such mutual respect in turn should be manifest in a sense of obligation to solve all pending issues or outstanding conflicts through peaceful means and dialogue. In such a spirit, neighbors do not seek escalation, but seek direct diplomacy and dialogue in good faith and with an aim for genuine dispute resolution," wrote Cavusoglu.

Recently, governments like that of France are displaying an ill-advised yearning for their colonialist past. Did we really forget so quickly that the colonial period brought nothing but enormous pain and suffering for so many peoples? The pattern of accepted behavior of the metropolitan masters imposing their will on the periphery is over. Our president is advocating that the World is Bigger Than Five to call for a more equitable international order," said the article.

"We designate our foreign policy as Enterprising and Humanitarian to underscore the values we want to prevail and our tirelessness and creativity in pursuing them, all in service of the dictum of Peace at Home, Peace in the World formulated by Ataturk, who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Venizelos. That is why we underscore mutual respect and equitable solutions to problems," Cavusoglu said.

That is why Turkey supports NATO's initiative towards de-confliction and Germany's initiative for de-escalation with the ultimate aim of reviving the already established bilateral mechanisms between Turkey and Greece. We hope that Athens understand that those are two different things. Turkey respects Greece enough not to want to negotiate and agree with other parties over issues that must be settled directly between the two neighbors," he wrote.

Our basic objectives in the Eastern Mediterranean are clear:

- fair and equitable delimitation of maritime boundaries;

- protection of our continental shelf rights against maximalist and excessive maritime boundary claims;

- protection of Turkish Cypriots equal rights over the off-shore resources of the island through the establishment of equitable revenue sharing mechanism;

- creation of a genuine, inclusive, fair and equitable off-shore energy cooperation mechanisms with the participation of all parties, including the Turkish Cypriots (proposals to this end are still on the table) in the Eastern Mediterranean."

A string of maximalist claims cannot be imposed upon Turkey through the EU which has no competence over maritime boundary delimitation. You dont get to cut off Turkeys access to high seas and to its own maritime zones by claiming 40,000 square kilometers of continental shelf for a tiny island like Meis or Kastellorizo that is only 2 kilometers away from Turkey and 580 from the Greek mainland. No law nor logic nor a basic sense of fairness would allow an opposite argument," he said.

Furthermore, attempts towards excluding a country like Turkey -with the longest relevant coastline in the region, a growing population, production capacity, and increasing energy demand - from the riches of its own neighborhood are not realistic either. As we said it several times- that shall not happen," the article said.

Therefore Turkey will naturally be firm in not allowing attempts to harm her fundamental interests. We maintain a naval presence in the region not for offensive ends, but for self-defence against interference with our seismic research activities within our own continental shelf (that was declared in accordance with international law as far back as 16 years ago, by the way!)," he wrote.

Dialogue and negotiations are indeed the first and foremost means in international law to address maritime boundary issues. We thus expect Greece to revive all dialogue channels with Turkey without any preconditions. Preconditions beget counter-preconditions (believe me, we could come up with quite a few of our own) and thus is not a good way to seek talks between two neighbors," Cavusoglu said.

Every crisis may create an opportunity and we must seize it to move ahead peacefully. It is evident that any negotiation process should include an exercise of give and take. The alternative is sweeping the problems under the carpet and hope they go away or somebody else solves them for you. However, problems tend to get ever more complicated as time goes by, let alone disappear on their own. We need strong, effective and rational leadership in order to hand down peace and security to future generations. That exists on Turkish side. What we do today will define not only today but also tomorrow and you know all too well that Turkey can go whichever way Greece chooses. The choice is in fact not that of Turkey nor France nor anyone else for that matter but of the esteemed leaders and people of Greece, the article said.
An amateur baker from Northern Ireland with a taste for African and Asian flavours is to spice up this year's series of The Great British Bake Off.

Mark Lutton is one of 12 contestants competing for the title of Britain's best amateur baker, one fewer than the baker's dozen who competed last year.

The 32-year-old fell in love with baking through a Edinburgh pie shop he visited every day while at university.

Mark, who lives in Liverpool, loved the shop's mac 'n' cheese pie but started experimenting with his own baked goods, including a lemon drizzle cake and multi-tiered wedding cakes.

His cuisine is influenced by Northern Ireland and the flavours of Africa and Asia, where he travels regularly for his work as a project manager for public health research programmes.

When he is not baking, you can find Mark walking in the Lake District, indulging his passion for wildlife or exploring new places with his wife Laura.

I think I'm quite a versatile baker and I'm always up for a challenge, he said.

My biggest weakness is baking to a time limit. At home I spend hours  and sometimes days  baking something as a way of de-stressing, so I wasn't sure how I would deal with that in the tent.





Mark shared the news that he had been selected for the competition on his Instagram page (@thebakingbuddha), where he posts mouth-watering photographs of his efforts, including a Veda recipe he perfected after moving to England, where the product is unavailable.

Expand Close Mark will put his skills in the kitchen to the test when taking part in The Great British Bake Off (C4/Love Productions/Mark Bourdillon) PA / Facebook

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Whatsapp Mark will put his skills in the kitchen to the test when taking part in The Great British Bake Off (C4/Love Productions/Mark Bourdillon)

Alongside a picture of himself sieving flour into a bowl, he wrote, So, the secret is out it was me. I bought all the flour (and toilet roll), joking about stockpiling the essentials during coronavirus lockdown.

The new series of The Great British Bake Off was delayed by the pandemic, but producers have promised fans that the show will look the same as it usually does.

Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith will return as judges, but comedian Matt Lucas is replacing Sandi Toksvig as the programme's co-host alongside Noel Fielding.

The bakers were selected by April, but coronavirus restrictions meant the filming schedule had to be rewritten, with the result that the series will reach screens a month later than usual.

The Channel 4 show is normally filmed over three months, largely at weekends.

However, this year the producers asked the contestants to take six weeks off work and stay in a secure filming location.

Down Hall Hotel in Essex was chosen as the show's new base, housing the production team, bakers, hosts, judges, hotel staff and cleaners all together, with extra temporary accommodation set up in the car park.

Previous Northern Ireland contestants have had mixed fortunes on the programme.

Holywood man Andrew Smyth came second in 2016, but engineer Iain Watters memorably lost his cool after his Baked Alaska melted, causing him to throw it in the bin in a rage.

Edited highlights saw fellow contestant Diana Beard remove the dessert from the freezer, leading to claims of sabotage.

The Great British Bake Off returns to Channel 4 on September 22.
Senior Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath said his former party colleague Jyotiraditya Scindia was only interested in issues of transfers and postings and not development as claimed by the latter.

Nath was responding to repeated allegations by Scindia, now a BJP Rajya Sabha MP, that his pleas on development were ignored by the former chief minister. Speaking at the News18 Election Agenda event, Nath said he has Scindias e-mails to prove his point, but he does not wish to indulge in politics of exposure.

He would never talk to me about development. I had inaugurated a hospital in Vidisha and named it after his father Madhav Rao Scindia on my own. He did not ask me for it, Nath said, adding that Scindia has been a close friend and also a quick learner.

Nath, who is also the state Congress committee chief, said he realised that Scindia has quickly learnt how to lie from Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

Scindia, who comes from the erstwhile royal family of Gwalior, had switched sides in March along with a couple of MLAs, leading to the fall of Naths government and coming back to power of Chouhan.

Speaking about Scindias changed stance about the previous Congress-led government, Nath said, Look at his speeches till March 9. He spoke on farm loan waivers, pensions and enhanced marriage assistance as he was aware of every positive step taken by my government.

Nath further launched an attack on the Scindia family over the dismal development of the Gwalior-Chambal region. He said 40-50 years ago, Madhya Pradesh was known by this region, but places like Bhopal, Jabalpur and Indore progressed over the years, the Gwalior-Chambal region lagged behind. Why could the Scindias now build an identity for the region, the former CM said, added that he had left development and politics of the region to the royal family.

Now (after Scindia left Congress), locals come and tell me that they are feeling free and liberated, Nath said.

Regarding the fall of his government, the Congress veteran said he was aware about the trading that was going on in Madhya Pradesh months ahead of it actually happened and he could have also done something similar, but he did not wish to be part of this unholy business that ultimately earned a bad name for the state.

The MPCC chief said he had inherited a state riddled by corruption, joblessness, atrocities on women, farmer suicides and other issues and tried creating a new identity for the state by working against these problems, especially the mafia and adulteration.

The public has seen it all and voters are highly aware nowadays. The (bypoll) results will be there for all to see, Nath said, while declining to comment how his party plans to win most of seats required for forming the government again.

Responding to Naths allegations that he made him do several unjustified works when the Congress was in power, Scindia said blaming others is a habit of Congress leaders. We all had formed the government with hard work and certain dreams but in 15 months, the state saw massive corruption, betrayal and destruction, he said, adding the BJP has shown in the last five months how a government is run.

When asked about Naths charges, Scindia said publics mandate will be key. It could be battle for some, but for me, it is a competition where you follow an ideology, he said.

The former Guna MP referred to his grandmother Vijaya Raje and father Madhav Rao, who too had left the Congress in the past, and said for him and his family, public faith, affection and pride of the state and nation were paramount.

Senior Congress leaders were never in touch with grounds-level workers, Scindia said. Like my grandmother and father took a decision on principles, I did the same for the public not for personal gains.

Some Congress leaders were taking it as personal battle as their most loved and cherished possession  power  has been snatched from them and they need someone to attack and blame, the former Union minister said.
New Delhi, Sep 16 : After nearly three years of inconclusive investigation into the mysterious death of a third-year student of National Law University, Jodhpur, the Supreme Court has ordered a fresh probe to be completed within two months.

Neetu Kumar Nagaich, mother of victim Vikrant Nagaich, had moved the court through advocate Sunil Fernandes to seek transfer of the case from Rajasthan Police to the CBI, as there has been no progress in the investigation so far.

In July, the apex court had said that the probe should be completed within two months and a final report filed before it.

On Wednesday, a bench comprising Justices RF Nariman, Navin Sinha and Indira Banerjee, setting aside the closure report, said: "No officer who was part of the investigating team leading to the closure report shall be part of the team conducting de novo investigation. Much time has passed and there is undoubtedly an urgency in the matter now. We, therefore, direct that such fresh investigation must be concluded within a maximum period of two months from today." Criticising the Rajasthan police, the bench said its closure report is a "clear hasty action", and only after its July order did the investigation conclude within two months.

"Suddenly, a very lengthy investigation closure report has been filed before us, taking a stand that though the death was homicidal there was no clue," noted the bench.

The bench noted that the High Court, despite noticing the long pendency of the investigation, took a misguided approach that the petitioner had not expressed suspicion against anyone or alleged bias by the investigating officer, to pass an open-ended order to investigate the case and file a report.

"In this manner, the investigation remained inconclusive for nearly three long years with the investigating agency sanguine about passing it off as an accidental death without coming to a firm conclusion...," the bench said.

The victim went to a restaurant, nearly 300 meters from the university campus, with his friends in the evening of August 13, 2017. His body was found next morning near a railway track. The victim's mother argued that the police is yet to retrieve his mobile phone data to find out his whereabouts on the night of the incident.

The petitioner insisted that there is reasonable suspicion in the death of her son, and that she is not satisfied with the probe so far. The petitioner said she has been left dismayed and devastated after the death of her only child.
Leftist AMLO has requested that the Senate vote on possible trials for his five centrist, right-wing predecessors.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has asked the Senate for an unprecedented national vote on whether to investigate and possibly bring charges against his predecessors, alleging they allowed massive theft of public resources over decades.

Pitching a referendum next year, either in June or August, Lopez Obrador singled out the terms of five former presidents going back to 1988.

He read out a long list of grievances during his regular morning news conference, blaming his predecessors for rampant corruption and spiralling cycles of violence and inequality that have convulsed the country.

The timing of the planned referendum, which must be approved by Congress, means the subject of corruption in previous governments would likely dominate the campaign ahead of midterm elections next year.

Critics of the move say Lopez Obrador is seeking to divert attention from his handling of contentious issues: the coronavirus pandemic, an ailing economy, which is seen slumping to levels not seen since the 1930s-era Great Depression, and record levels of gang violence.





The leftist president signed a formal request on Tuesday asking the Senate to trigger the vote on possible trials for his immediate five predecessors, all from the long-ruling centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) or the conservative National Action Party (PAN).

Mexico experienced a period characterised by excessive concentration of wealth, monumental devastation to the treasury, privatisation of public goods, general corruption, foul electoral processes, and governing practices that led to uncontrolled growth of violence, he said.

Lopez Obrador views the referendum as an indictment of corruption, conservative economic programmes and privatisations, not just what he claimed was systematic corruption since 1988.

The social and humanitarian disasters we have suffered in this country over the last 30 years were the result of a series of conscious acts by those who governed during this period, Lopez Obrador said. The evils I have enumerated did not occur by chance, but rather were the result of the application of a model over five presidential terms  this tragic stage in the life of the country is called the neoliberal era.

Acts of corruption can be punished under current law, but it is unclear whether Lopez Obrador can investigate former leaders for policy decisions he disagrees with, like the widespread privatisations of government companies carried out by Carlos Salinas de Gortari, who governed Mexico from 1988 to 1994.

Supporters of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) demonstrate with a sign reading Direct combat to corruption in public institutions during the presentation of the second annual report of his government [File: Pedro Pardo/AFP]

A parallel effort to collect voter signatures, largely organised by activists from Lopez Obradors Morena party, could also legally trigger the vote if the threshold of some 1.8 million citizens is met by a deadline later on Tuesday.

Elected in a landslide on an anti-corruption platform in 2018, Lopez Obrador has repeatedly said he would personally vote against allowing trials of the former presidents, but says it is important to let citizens decide for themselves.

Lopez Obradors two immediate predecessors, Enrique Pena Nieto and Felipe Calderon, have denied wrongdoing. The other former presidents  Carlos Salinas, Ernesto Zedillo and Vicente Fox  have not yet spoken out on the referendum push.
Breathing or drooling onto a pillow during sleep can transfer viruses onto the pillow. The virus may not only stay on the pillow cover but can also enter the pillow stuffing, becoming a potential source of virus transmission.

Understanding the different routes of virus transmission has become critical during the COVID-19 pandemic. The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and other such viruses that affect the respiratory system, generally spread by coughing, sneezing, or by saliva coming out of the mouth when talking.

The virus travels in the air via the droplets expelled from an infected persons nose or mouth. Hence, there are guidelines for social distancing during this pandemic.

Apart from such direct transmission, the droplets with the virus may land on surfaces, such as counters, tabletops, or other frequently touched surfaces. Coming in contact with contaminated surfaces is also another route of virus transmission.

Usually, any surfaces frequently touched by people are disinfected regularly. This is especially critical in public places that are used by many people.

With travel curbs easing in many parts of the world, sharing of items used during traveling could become a potential source of virus transmission, even after disinfecting the items.

Virus transmission by microfiber pillows

One commonly used item that is usually shared, especially during travel, is a pillow. Todays pillows are made of stuffing covered with fabric. The stuffing in about half the pillows used today in the US and China is microfibers.

A new study by researchers at the Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, China, and published in the journal Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety suggests that respiratory pathogens can not only fall on the fabric covers but can also penetrate the outer cover and go into the microfiber stuffing. The SARS-CoV-2 virus can remain alive on fibers for several hours to several days under room temperature. Once the particles enter the microfiber stuffing, it is very difficult to disinfect the pillows using standard sanitizing methods.

Whether virus particles penetrate the fabric covers depends on the size of the particle and how densely the fabric is weaved. One study reported that cotton fabrics with 80 threads per inch allowed 86% of NaCl aerosols 0.31 m large, and polyester fibers allowed about 76% of the particles.

Using common pillows while traveling is risky

Although current practices for disinfecting aircraft, trains, buses, and hotels include cleaning surfaces, towels, and other items, there is not much being done for sanitizing pillows.

In another study, researchers investigated the hotel rooms of two patients with COVID-19 before the onset of symptoms. They found the pillows had a significant amount of the virus in just 24 hours.

Furthermore, guidelines for screening travelers differ across the world, and it is challenging to identify asymptomatic travelers. When such travelers shed virus on pillows, which can potentially penetrate the outer covers, reusing these pillows becomes risky and could cause transmission of the virus.

The risk is higher is trains where bedding is not changed en route, say the authors, for example, in couchette trains in China. So, if a traveler boards the train at intermediate stops, they may be exposed to used items, increasing their risk of being exposed to the virus.

The risk may be slightly lower in airplane travel as there are no intermediate stops, and all the passengers and crew travel from one point to the final destination.

Current CDC guidelines do recommend that if a symptomatic traveler is identified during or immediately after a flight, items that cannot be cleaned should be appropriately disposed of. However, this does not protect against asymptomatic passengers who may have shed virus.

Mitigating the risk

No studies to date have investigated whether the SARS-CoV-2 virus is present in pillow stuffing and how long it could survive. The risk of transmission of the virus via pillows is also unknown.

So, the best strategy, until the risk is known, is not to reuse pillows and dispose of them after a single-use. However, this will create additional problems of waste and pollution.

The authors recommend another strategy. The pillow could be sealed in a reusable plastic bag, like a Ziploc bag, which will prevent any particles from getting into the stuffing. A fabric cover could be used on top of the plastic.

After use, the plastic wrap could be removed, and a new cover could be used. The used plastic can be disinfected in hot water at 5070 C without any loss in integrity.

Travelers could also bring their own pillows rather than using the pillows provided, thus reducing the risk of virus transmission.
NASA observes Hurricane Sally making early morning landfall in Alabama

NASA's Aqua satellite and the NASA-NOAA Suomi NPP satellite provided views of the strength, extent and rainfall potential as Hurricane Sally was making landfall during the morning hours of Sept. 16.

Watches and Warnings

NOAA's National Hurricane Center has many warnings and watches in place today, Sept. 16. A Storm Surge Warning is in effect from Dauphin Island, Alabama to the Walton/Bay County Line, Florida. A Hurricane Warning is in effect for the Mississippi/Alabama border to the Okaloosa/Walton County line, Florida.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for east of the Okaloosa/Walton County line, Florida to Indian Pass, Florida and from the Mississippi/Alabama border to the Mouth of the Pearl River.

NASA's Infrared Data Reveals Heavy Rainmakers

Tropical cyclones and hurricanes are made up of hundreds of thunderstorms, and infrared data can show where the strongest storms are located. That is because infrared data provides temperature information, and the strongest thunderstorms that reach highest into the atmosphere have the coldest cloud top temperatures.

On Sept. 16 at 4:10 a.m. EDT (0810 UTC) the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument that flies aboard NASA's Aqua satellite used infrared light to analyze the strength of storms within Sally. MODIS found the most powerful thunderstorms were north of the eye where cloud top temperatures were as cold as minus 80 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 62.2 Celsius).

Strong storms with cloud top temperatures as cold as minus 70 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 56.6. degrees Celsius) circled the most powerful storms. NASA research has found that cloud top temperatures that cold indicate strong storms with the potential to generate heavy rainfall.

NASA's Night-Time View of Sally's Landfall Approach

On Sept. 16 at 4:15 a.m. EDT (0815 UTC), the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument aboard NOAA-NASA's Suomi NPP satellite captured an early morning image of Hurricane Sally approaching landfall near Gulf Shores, Alabama as a Category 2 Hurricane. This nighttime image shows the extent of Sally's clouds blotting out the city lights from southern Mississippi to the northwestern coast and panhandle of Florida.

Sally's Official Landfall

NOAA's National Hurricane Center reported that Hurricane Sally made landfall at 5:45 a.m. EDT (4:45 a.m. EDT/0945) near Gulf Shores, Alabama as a as a Category 2 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph (165 kph) and a minimum central pressure of 965 millibars.

Sally's Status at 8 a.m. EDT on Sept. 16

The NHC noted at 8 a.m. EDT (1200 UTC), the center of the eye of Hurricane Sally was located by NOAA Doppler weather radars near latitude 30.4 degrees north and longitude 87.6 degrees west. Sally's eye was just 15 miles (25 km) north-northeast of Gulf Shores, Alabama and 25 miles (40 km) west-southwest of Pensacola, Florida.

Sally is moving toward the north-northeast near 3 mph (6 kph). A north-northeastward to northeastward motion at a slightly faster forward speed is expected later today and tonight, followed by a faster northeastward motion on Thursday. Doppler weather radar data indicate that the maximum sustained winds are near 100 mph (155 kph) with higher gusts.

Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 40 miles (65 km) from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 125 miles (205 km). A sustained wind of 74 mph (119 kph) and a gust to 92 mph (148 kph) were recently reported at the Pensacola Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida. The estimated minimum central pressure based on surface observations is 967 millibars.

NHC Key Messages, Historic and catastrophic flooding is unfolding

The National Hurricane Center issued Key Messages about Rainfall, Wind, Tornadoes and Surf:

RAINFALL: Through this afternoon, Sally will produce additional rainfall totals of 8 to 12 inches with localized higher amounts possible along and just inland of the central Gulf Coast from west of Tallahassee, Florida to Mobile Bay, Alabama. Storm totals of 10 to 20 inches to isolated amounts of 35 inches is expected. In addition, this rainfall will lead to widespread moderate to major river flooding.

Sally is forecast to turn northeastward after making landfall today and move across the Southeast through Friday, producing the following rainfall totals:

Southern and central Alabama to central Georgia: 4 to 8 inches, with isolated maximum amounts of 12 inches. Significant flash and urban flooding is likely, as well as widespread minor to moderate flooding on some rivers.

Western South Carolina into western and central North Carolina: 4 to 6 inches, with isolated maximum amounts of 9 inches. Widespread flash and urban flooding is possible, as well as minor to moderate river flooding.

Southeast Virginia: 2 to 5 inches, with isolated maximum amounts of 7 inches. Scattered flash and urban flooding is possible, as well as scattered minor river flooding.

STORM SURGE: The combination of a dangerous storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline. The water could reach the following heights above ground somewhere in the indicated areas if the peak surge occurs at the time of high tide.

AL/FL Border to Okaloosa/Walton County Line, FL including Pensacola Bay and Choctawhatchee Bay, 4-7 ft Okaloosa/Walton County Line, FL to Walton Bay County Line, FL, 2-4 ft Dauphin Island, AL to AL/FL Border including Bon Secour Bay, 2-4 ft Walton Bay County Line, FL to Chassahowitzka, FL including Saint Andrew Bay, 1-3 ft

The deepest water will occur along the immediate coast in areas of onshore winds, where the surge will be accompanied by large and damaging waves. Surge-related flooding depends on the relative timing of the surge and the tidal cycle, and can vary greatly over short distances.

WIND: Hurricane conditions are spreading onshore within the hurricane warning area in Florida and Alabama. Tropical storm conditions will continue in portions of the warning areas through tonight.

TORNADOES: A few tornadoes may occur today and tonight across portions of the Florida Panhandle, southern Alabama, and southwestern Georgia.

SURF: Swells from Sally will continue to affect the coast from the Florida Big Bend westward to southeastern Louisiana during the next couple of days. These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.

Sally's Forecast from NHC

Weakening is expected as the center moves inland today and tonight. On the forecast track, the center of Sally will move across the extreme western Florida panhandle and southeastern Alabama through early Thursday, and move over central Georgia Thursday afternoon through Thursday night.

About NASA's EOSDIS Worldview

NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) Worldview application provides the capability to interactively browse over 700 global, full-resolution satellite imagery layers and then download the underlying data. Many of the available imagery layers are updated within three hours of observation, essentially showing the entire Earth as it looks "right now."

NASA Researches Earth from Space

For more than five decades, NASA has used the vantage point of space to understand and explore our home planet, improve lives and safeguard our future. NASA brings together technology, science, and unique global Earth observations to provide societal benefits and strengthen our nation. Advancing knowledge of our home planet contributes directly to America's leadership in space and scientific exploration.

For updated forecasts, visit: http://www. nhc. noaa. gov

By Rob Gutro NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

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This story has been published on: 2020-09-16. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Bio-IT World Conference & Expo Virtual October 6-8, 2020 And for the first time ever, many presentations will be available on demand after their first showing. Attendees will be able to learn more, ask more questions, and derive more value from the program for weeks and months to come.

Bio-IT World Conference & Expo Virtual kicks off on October 6th, 2020. The program this year includes three days full of content, networking, and interaction across 16 tracks, plenary session, workshops, posters, awards, and happy hours. The virtual meeting platform offers integrated tools to stay connected with colleagues, reach out to speakers, ask questions during presentations and live Q&A panels, and tour virtual exhibit booths.

And for the first time ever, many presentations will be available on demand after their first showing. Attendees will be able to learn more, ask more questions, and derive more value from the program for weeks and months to come.

We are already busy marking our agendasnotations well be able to transfer to the virtual platform soon. Heres some of what is our on current list.The Editors

As usual, the event kicks off with workshops designed to be instructional, interactive and in-depth. This year topics include data management for biologics, a crash course in AI, data science-informed decisions, data at scale, and more.

The 2020 Bio-IT World plenary program is exceptional. Susan Gregurick, NIHs Office of Data Science Strategy, and Rebecca Baker, Director, HEAL, will share NIHs strategic vision for data science, and how the the pandemic will shape NIHs future. Tuesday, October 6

Robert Green, Brigham & Womens Hospital and Harvard Medical School will share fascinating news on his latest sequencing project. And Natalija Jovanovic, Sanofi Pasteur, will share pharmas view of the AI-enabled future. Thursday, October 8

A panel of experts including Seth Cooper, Northeastern University; Lee Lancashire, Cohen Veterans Bioscience; Pietro Michelucci, Human Computation Institute; and Jerome Waldispuhl, McGill University will tackle how AI, citizen science, and human computation are working together with the help of gaming. Wednesday, October 7

Rare disease patients suffer too often from long diagnostic delays and misidentified diseases. This creates a significant burden, not just for patients, but for healthcare systems. Tom Defay, Alexion, will share examples of collaboration with researchers and hospital systems to develop novel approaches for rare disease patient identification using tools like genomics, machine learning, and NLP. Thursday, October 8

Biomedical research over the last decade has become increasingly complex, and different disciplinary experts are needed to solve challenging scientific questions. No longer is a single disciplinary perspective enough for truly breakthrough research advances. L. Michelle Bennett, NIH NCI, explores how to build the most impactful interdisciplinary teams and how to keep them working effectively. (For more, see our conversation with Michelle at Training Scientists For Our Interdisciplinary Future.) Wednesday, October 7

John Quackenbush, Harvard Medical School, will outline how his group uses networks to understand genetic and genomic drivers of disease. By using innovative computational methods built around network representations of biological interactions, we can gain insight into the disease process, develop predictive biomarkers, and identify possible avenues of therapeutic intervention, he argues. Wednesday, October 7

Alexander Sherman, Massachusetts General Hospital, will describe how MGH is pursuing patient centricity to bring such information together and bridge clinical trials data with RWD, such as data from EHRs, DNA sequences, image banks, biobanks, -omics, etc. We are introducing patient-centric approaches with a unique secure patient identification and aligning incentives for all players in a research continuum, including academia, industry, government, patient advocates, and patients. Wednesday, October 7

Matthew Trunnell, Data Commoner-at-Large (former Vice President and Chief Data Officer, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center) will present the Cascadia Data Discovery Initiative, and its goal to accelerate health innovation and cancer research through collaboration, data sharing, and data-driven research. Wednesday, October 7

Many critical facts required by healthcare AI applications are locked in unstructured free-text data. Recent advances in deep learning have raised the bar on achievable accuracy for tasks, like named entity recognition, entity resolution, de-identification and others, using novel healthcare-specific networks and models. Vishakha Sharma, Roche Molecular Systems, will discuss how Roche applies the greatest advances in AI for healthcare to extract clinical facts from pathology reports and radiology. She will then detail the design of the deep learning pipelines used to simplify training, optimization, and inference of such domain-specific models at scale. Wednesday, October 7

Digital transformation is still a driving principle in pharma R&D with the ultimate goal being to streamline processes and enable precision medicine. Anastasia Christianson, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, will present examples of digital technologies driving transformation and tangible results in R&D. Wednesday, October 7

In a pair of talks from Bristol-Myers Squibb speakers, Ajay Shah and Albert Wang will present Sage, a comprehensive platform for innovation with data and how BMS researchers use Sage to maximize real-world assets. Shah will start by giving an overview of essential components of the platform, such as uniform high-quality data ingestion, data lake enhancement with semantic integration conformance of data, and a reproducible research framework. Wang will highlight how Sage catalogs, models, integrates, conforms, and presents patient-level metadata across all RWD assets to facilitate downstream cross-dataset analysis within an integrated managed analytics environment. This talk will touch on the business drivers for this initiative, our current progress, as well as some lessons learned. Wednesday, October 7

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File photo dated 15/09/20 of Justice Secretary Robert Buckland, who gave a speech for the think tank the Centre for Social Justice, London, on Wednesday morning in which he called for a new approach to sentencing as he set out plans for a shake-up of powers for courts. PA Photo. Issue date: Wednesday September 16, 2020. Buckland said sentencing failures could perpetuate low-level offenders getting stuck in a life of crime. - Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

Teenage criminals face lengthy and punitive 'house arrests' to prevent them re-offending, under a crackdown announced by ministers.

In a white paper on sentencing, Robert Buckland, the Justice Secretary, proposed giving judges the power to impose a tough new form of house detention that severely restricts liberty.

It would be enforced through GPS electronic tags that would immediately alert police and probation officers if they tried to leave their house. They would only be allowed out to attend training, education or a job.

Courts could also impose extra restrictions including sobriety tags, which would alert probation officers if they started drinking, curbs on internet use, and compulsory attendance at drug or alcohol treatment centres.

This would be a robust order, which would be served in the community and would be based on a highly restrictive and lengthy curfew, that would fully exploit GPS tagging technology, said the white paper.

We envisage the order would provide a strong punitive response to crime in a way that current community sentences do not, while enabling those offenders in training, education or employment to maintain those obligations.

Mr Buckland plans pilots of the orders for under-21s before extending them nationwide and potentially to older criminals. They would not be used against those who would have otherwise received a custodial sentence.

Low-level offenders jailed for less than six months are on average responsible for 65 crimes with community sentences having been tried and failed, according to the white paper.

Eighty per cent of crime is committed by re-offenders.

In a further toughening of community sentences, courts will get powers to extend curfews on offenders from the current limit of one year to two years.

They could also impose longer curfews of up to 20 hours a day, primarily at weekends, to increase the punitive nature of a curfew but also enhance rehabilitative benefits such as cutting ties between offenders and criminal associates, said the white paper.

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The reforms are designed to boost the chances of rehabilitation of offenders who would otherwise be in and out of prison on short-term sentences at the same time as protecting the public.

The approach is allied to longer sentences for serious offenders which will increase prisoner numbers by 2,600 by 2028 at a cost of about 1 billion, equivalent to 385,000 per place, according to an impact assessment.

The Government is committed to a 2.5 billion, 10,000 prison place expansion.

Mr Buckland also said he wanted to encourage greater use of deferred sentences under which criminals can escape jail or other punishments if they agree to rehabilitation. The judge can lift the threat of prison up to six months after the deferral if their rehabilitation has been successful.

The Justice Secretary said it would be for exceptional circumstances.

What we mustn't do is create an artificial incentive that leads to false compliance, he added.

Victims of violent and sex offences will for the first time to get an automatic legal right to know when their attacker will be released from jail and what measures are in place to protect the public.

The move will be included in a new victims law and aims to end scandals where families have been left in the dark only to subsequently discover the offender has been released or is about to be let out of jail, as happened with black cab rapist John Worboys.

Under the proposed changes, victims will no longer have to opt into the so-called victim contact scheme but will automatically be included and then decide if they want to opt out.

Labour's shadow justice secretary David Lammy urged the Government not to apply tougher sentences "gratuitously" but said the party welcomed the reforms to "protect the British public".
PUNE: A man was booked for attempting suicide at a police station in Pune on Tuesday morning.

The 30-year-old man was called to the police station for questioning after a 34-year-old woman had lodged a complaint against him.

The two were known to each other earlier. The woman is married to someone else. She ended their relationship after which he started calling her repeatedly. He used to threaten her with self-harm if she refused to talk to him. So, visit the station to lodge a complaint, said sub-inspector DR Gupta of Alankar police station who is investigating the case.

The man is a commerce graduate and works as an accountant to earn a living.

He started asking her why she had approached the police and had come prepared with a blade, said PSI Gupta.

He cut himself in front of police officials who stopped him before he could harm himself seriously, the police said. The man was taken to a hospital and has been recommended bed rest for 15 days.

A case under Section 309 (attempted suicide) of Indian Penal Code was registered at Alankar police station against the man.

Pune-based NGO - Connecting - works towards providing support to those in emotional distress using the philosophy of mindfulness based active listening, thereby preventing suicide. Helpline numbers: 1800-209-4353 (toll free) and 9922001122 all days, 12 pm to 8 pm. Walk-in facility: 12 pm to 5 pm, Monday  Saturday. Email: connectingngo@gmail.com
A Melbourne man who went cold turkey on soft drink has celebrated 100 days with 'no fizzy drink' and shared his transformation on TikTok.

Softly-spoken Rohit Roygre has become a cult figure on social media by sharing daily updates on his battle to stop drinking energy drinks and Coke.

He started his journey back in July after admitting he was drinking two cans of soft drink a day and could down a Red Bull in just four seconds.

On Tuesday after 100 days with no soft drinks, Mr Roygre unveiled his amazing transformation and thanked his followers for their support.

Rohit Roygre is seen on day one of his journey cutting fizzy drinks from his life. On Tuesday he reached 100 days without fizzy drinks

'Finally the day has arrived. We have celebrated smaller milestones which have led us to this milestone  now I have completed 100 days of having no fizzy drink,' Mr Roygre said on Tuesday.

'A big thankyou to you guys for providing the love, support and inspiration. Without you guys, this wouldn't be possible.'

Mr Roygre shared an update to his fans everyday starting off his videos with his signature line: 'Hello everyone no fizzy drink for me today'.

In earlier days of his journey, the soft drink lover said he would allow himself just one can at the end of each week - but proudly told his fans he didn't need it.

'I previously said I would have a fizzy drink on Sunday but guess what? I'm not going to have any fizzy drink tomorrow you know why? All because of all the support you guys have given I don't crave it anymore,' he said on day six of his journey.

On day 85, Mr Roygre shared a photo of what he looked like while he was consuming large amounts of soft drinks to what he looked like without them

Halfway through his journey on day 50, Mr Roygre shared a photo of him and his wife who he said was encouraging him to reach 100 days

Mr Roygre said that within nine days he was noticing changes to his stomach and face.

In an early video he admitted his doctors had given him strong advice to quit the cans.

He also added his twin brother who was a lot 'thinner' than him was helping him through his journey.

Each day Mr Roygre updated his 440,000 followers with his progress announcing he was feeling more energetic and had started eating healthier and exercising.

He admitted there were times he was tempted like during his trips to his favourite restaurant Nandos and for Friday night footy games, but he stayed strong.

Each day Mr Roygre updated his fans with his progress announcing he was feeling more energetic and had started eating healthier and exercising

His videos were flooded with comments from people congratulating him and many who shared their own journeys of boycotting fizzy drinks.

'Rohit single handedly saving 2020,' one commented.

'This is the most wholesome content on TikTok,' wrote another.

On Day 50 Mr Roygre revealed he was married, disappointing legions of fans.

'Rohit is married? Well there goes my future plans,' said one user.

'I get clinical anxiety waiting to see Rohit's videos each day,' another said.

'I can only sleep peacefully after seeing Rohit's daily vlogs,' one commented.

'I would die for this man,' one wrote.

Mr Roygre said he hopes to continue his journey through the rest of his life with the help of his dedicated fan base.
By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday postponed consideration of a bill to overhaul how the Federal Aviation Administration certifies new airplanes in the wake of two fatal Boeing 737 MAX crashes.

The decision to delay the vote on the bill followed the release earlier on Wednesday of a U.S. House report that found the crashes were the "horrific culmination" of failures by Boeing Co and the FAA.

Boeing's 737 MAX has been grounded since March 2019 following crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia that together killed 346 people and prompted investigations into the plane's design, development and certification.

The House report called for urgent reforms to improve how planes are certified.

While the Senate committee's proposed bill would mark the most significant effort toward adopting certification reforms, critics including families of the 737 MAX crash victims have called for more.

The 70-page bipartisan Senate bill would grant the FAA new power over the long-standing practice of delegating some tasks to aircraft manufacturer employees and create new whistleblower protections.

The bill, jointly endorsed by Senate Commerce Committee Republican Chairman Roger Wicker and the committees top Democrat, Maria Cantwell, would also bolster misconduct investigations and discipline management at the FAA and require a review of FAA certification expertise.

"It's very important that we have accountability and transparency both at the FAA and at manufacturers," Cantwell said on Wednesday.

Wicker called the delay a "setback." With time running out, it is increasingly unlikely that Congress will approve reforms before it adjourns for the year.

The House report blamed the MAX crashes on "a series of faulty technical assumptions by Boeings engineers, a lack of transparency on the part of Boeings management, and grossly insufficient oversight by the FAA."

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Boeing has updated 737 MAX software and training to get the 737 MAX recertified to fly again before the end of the year.

Michael Stumo, whose daughter Samya died in the Ethiopian crash, said: "The FAA should immediately halt the recertification process for the 737 MAX in light of this report."

(Reporting by David Shepardson; additional reporting by Tracy Rucinski; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Nick Zieminski)
Justin Silvera came off the fire lines in Northern California after a grueling 36 straight days battling wildfires and evacuating residents ahead of the flames. Before that, he and his crew had worked for 20 days, followed by a three-day break.

Silvera, a 43-year-old battalion chief with Cal Fire, California's state firefighting agency, said he's lost track of the blazes he's fought this year. He and his crew have sometimes been on duty for 64 hours at a stretch, their only rest coming in 20-minute catnaps.

"I've been at this 23 years, and by far this is the worst I've seen," Silvera said before bunking down at a motel for 24 hours. After working in Santa Cruz County, his next assignment was to head north to attack wildfires near the Oregon border.

His exhaustion reflects the situation on the West Coast fire lines: This year's blazes have taxed the human, mechanical and financial resources of the nation's wildfire-fighting forces to an extraordinary degree. And half of the fire season is yet to come. Heat, drought and a strategic decision to attack the flames early combined with the coronavirus to put a historically heavy burden on fire teams.
New Delhi: The problem of fake news can have dangerous consequences and its impact was witnessed during the lockdown when a panic situation was created through social media. The fake news can now make or mar the fate of a country or a society, affecting the lives of millions of people. The DNA analysis looks at different aspects of this menace that can trigger riots or even create a war-like situation between the two countries.

Talking about its impact, MoS Home G Kishan Reddy told Parliament on Tuesday that the migration of a large number of workers was triggered by fake news during the lockdown. We can recall that thousands of people left from Delhi to their native place despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi's advice to stay wherever they are.

Kishan Reddy told Lok Sabha that caused panic among workers who were forced to flee as they felt that if they stay in their house, they will not get food and water. The fake news was spread that the lockdown would last be too long.

In reply to TMC MP Mala Roy, who had asked the reasons why thousands of these labourers ended up walking home post lockdown, Reddy said, The migration of a large number of migrant workers was triggered by panic created by fake news regarding the duration of lockdown. And people, especially migrant labourers, were worried about an adequate supply of basic necessities like food, drinking water, health services and shelter."

Regarding the number of people who died during the said migration, Reddy said the Centre does not have the data as it is not maintained centrally.



In the Lok Sabha, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai, however, said that the Centre was 'fully prepared' in this regard. It had taken necessary measures to provide food and water to the poor, but due to rumour, the labourers thought it better to go home.

It may be noted here that on 28th and 29th March, thousands of migrant labourers gathered at Anand Vihar in Delhi. The topic of migrant labourers became the most preferred subject for politicians and intellectuals during the COVID-19 induced lockdown. A similar picture was also seen at Mumbai's Bandra railway station on April 14. The migrant labourers reached the railway station to catch a train for their native city.

Even after the lockdown was imposed, pictures of migrant labourers were seen across the country. It seemed as if the state governments were not trying to stop these people. Perhaps, the states too wanted that the migrant labourers should return to their native places. In such a situation, fake news has created a worse situation for the migrant labourers.

In India, there are about 4 crore migrant labourers who go away from their homes and work in another state. According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, about 75 lakh labourers returned to their homes till May this year. It means one in every 5 migrant labourers went back to their state. There is a possibility that all these people become victims of fake news.

The fake news not only causes riots it can also harm the economy and society of a country. Nowadays, big countries are adopting this method to fight against their enemies. This can also be termed a hybrid war.

Fake news was recently spread on social media on the 4th September, claiming that a Chinese fighter jet Sukhoi-35 was shot down by Taiwan's air defence system as it was entering into the Taiwan border. A 15-second fake video was also shared with this claim. This fake news spread like a wildfire across the world in a few hours, but neither China nor Taiwan confirmed this news. The website which published the denial of this news had also crashed.

Last month, a journalist tweeted fake news about the death of former President Pranab Mukherjee, and it was retweeted by many in a few seconds without confirming it. Later, Pranab Mukherjee's son Abhijeet Mukherjee tweeted to deny this and the fake news was deleted.

During anti-CAA protests also, fake news was used to create an atmosphere in the country against the ruling dispensation. Due to the increasing trend of fake news, this has been formally incorporated into the Oxford Dictionary last year. It says that term was first used in the year 1890.

The first case of fake news in modern times is believed to have appeared in the year 1835. The then American newspaper, The Sun, claimed to have found life on the moon, and it also published some photographs.

Perhaps the world's first fake news is associated with the Mahabharata period when Yudhishthira had disclosed the fake new of Ashwathama's death before Guru Dronacharya, who then decided not to fight and was beheaded by Draupadi's brother.

Now the question arises how to ascertains the truth behind any fake news. You just need to take some precautions. There are three sides to fake posts on social media. One who posted, the other service provider, and the third segment is of those who liked or shared the post.

To identify fake news, you should see from where the news has come, and from where did it start. After that, you should check the veracity of the news with the help of a search engine. Don't share any news until you are confident about it. The sharing of fake news may put you behind the bar for 3 years under Section 66A of the Information Technology Act 2000.
The unidentified woman had told lawyers about a pattern and practice of sexual abuse in their El Paso facility.

The detention center in El Paso, Texas where a detained woman alleges she and others held were sexually assaulted and harassed in camera blind spots. (Paul Ratje/AFP via Getty Images)

The Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement is under scrutiny for another story of impropriety at one of its facilities.

On Monday, the United States government deported a crucial witness into allegations of sexual assault and harassment at a Texas detention center.

ProPublica and The Texas Tribune are reporting that the 35-year-old woman had been held at the center for about a year and told lawyers about a pattern and practice of sexual abuse at the facility.

Read More: Super Bowl champ Dwight Hicks accuses Michigan doctor of sexual abuse

The unidentified woman alleged that several guards forcibly kissed her and touched her private parts. She also detailed that the guards regularly assault detainees in areas that are not visible to security cameras.

In the original report on Aug. 14, the woman told ProPublica that she would rather return to Mexico, even though she is in danger there. However, she says she was being targeted at the center for speaking up about the abuse.

Its going to get worse now, she said. I cant handle this anymore.

Read More: Black nurse speaks out after being identified as ICE whistleblower

Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center filed for the woman to be released while the investigation was ongoing, citing safety concerns. She could have also qualified for a U visa that protects immigrant victims of crime.

Instead, she has been deported back to Mexico, according to her lawyer, Linda Corchado.

The U.S. government allowed their most powerful witness to be deported, Corchado said. How can we possibly take this investigation seriously now or ever pretend that it ever was from the outset?

Read More: San Francisco to provide $1,000 per month to pregnant Black mothers

In 2018, ICE reported 374 formal accusations of sexual assault. Most assaults are levied against male guards by female detainees, but male detainees have made reports as well.

Story continues

The El Paso facility is run by Global Precision Systems, a subsidiary of Bering Straits Native Corporation, a private prison company that is contracted by ICE.

According to the Cato Institute, there are over a half million people detained at federal ICE detention centers. More than 70% of those centers are run by private prison companies.

Have you subscribed to theGrios Dear Culture podcast? Download our newest episodes now!

The post ICE deports witness in sexual assault investigation at Texas center appeared first on TheGrio.
THE same morning the Express published an article highlighting the plight of three young girls studying by the light of a pitch oil lamp, the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (T&TEC) called the family to say a crew was coming to put up a light pole for them.
More than a hundred families in central Laos Bolikhamxay province who were displaced by the Nam Theun 1 dam have decided to accept compensation, putting an end to a standoff that lasted 17 months, sources in Laos told RFA.

Disputes over compensation by displaced villagers have exploded as Laos carries out plans to build dozens of hydropower dams on the Mekong River and its tributaries to become the Battery of Southeast Asia by exporting the electricity to neighboring countries.

Nearly 625 families were displaced by the first of two dams on the Nam Theun River, a Mekong tributary, and about 500 families settled compensation claims in March 2019.

The 125 families that had in March 2019 refused compensation of about U.S. $8,000 per hectare (2.5 acres) of lost land, instead demanding between $10,000 and $14,000, settled last month.

The families in the provinces Viengthong district in late August accepted 120 million kip ($13,150) per hectare of farmland and 200 million kip ($21,900) per hectare for the land on which their homes sat, according to an affected villager.

We all have received compensation, but the amounts were below what we were expecting, the affected villager who currently resides at a resettlement village told RFAs Lao Service Monday.

Another resettled villager confirmed to RFA that all 125 families accepted compensation in August.

A Viengthong district official told RFA Monday that the families were made to wait so long because of the coronavirus.

We had planned to pay the compensation in March or April of this year, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we had to postpone the payments until last month, the official said.

An official from the provincial Energy and Mines Department told RFA, The compensations paid out to the 624 families are higher than those paid by many of the other dam projects.

We have no land to farm

Even though all 624 of the displaced families have now received compensation, at least 335 of them are currently still living at the Houay Hoy resettlement village, and have not returned to farming due to lack of available land.

A third resettled villager told RFA, We want to go back to our farmland in our old villages to grow rice and vegetables.

Here at the resettlement village, we just sit, do nothing, and only wait for our living allowances, because we have no land to farm, the third villager said.

In addition to the compensation, each villager will receive a monthly stipend of 200,000 kip ($22) for three years starting in May 2020.

The district official said that plans to provide the villagers with farmland have stalled.

The district has proposed that as much as 1,000 hectares be distributed to the resettled villagers, but up until now, the proposal has not been approved, the district official said.

The energy and mines official suggested that the villagers buy land with the money they received in compensation.

They should use their money wisely. For example they should buy land that they can farm long-term instead of relying on allowances that will last for only three years, the provincial official said.

Construction field manager Khamteum Inthirath told RFA that a domestic company called Phonesack Group began construction on the Nam Theun 1 dam in 2014 and it will be completed in 2022. RFA reported in March 2019 that the dam at that time was 40 percent complete. It is now only 45 percent complete as a result of delays caused by the pandemic.

The Nam Theun 1 hydropower project is 60 percent funded by Phonesack Group, 25 percent by the Thai Electricity Generating Company or EGCO and 15 percent by Electricite du Laos. When complete, its 520MW output will be sold to neighboring Thailand.

Though the Lao government sees power generation as a way to boost the countrys economy, the projects are controversial because of their environmental impact, displacement of villagers without adequate compensation, and questionable financial and power demand arrangements.

Reported by RFAs Lao Service. Translated by Max Avary. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
YEREVAN, 16 SEPTEMBER, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs Armenpress that today, 16 September, USD exchange rate down by 0.38 drams to 484.93 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 0.65 drams to 575.95 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.03 drams to 6.49 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 1.93 drams to 627.79 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price down by 169.71 drams to 30392.04 drams. Silver price up by 9.96 drams to 429.45 drams. Platinum price up by 424.98 drams to 15201.09 drams.
Breonna Taylors family has reached a settlement in the 26-year-olds wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Louisville, Kentucky, after she was shot and killed in her own home in March when city police executed a late-night, no-knock warrant for a narcotics investigation.

[The] family is pleased that the city was willing to collaborate on meaningful reform, Sam Aguiar, attorney for the Taylor family, told HuffPost. Now, were counting on the AG and DOJ to do the right thing and hold all responsible officers accountable.

During a Tuesday press conference, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer announced that the city agreed to pay Taylors family $12 million, which will be the largest sum paid out by the city of Louisville in a police misconduct case.

The settlement also includes key police reforms, such as establishing a housing credit program for officers to live in certain low-income areas. It also requires that the Louisville police department hire social workers to work with officers in handling social service issues like mental health, homelessness and addiction. Fischer added that multiple policies will be implemented to help create more transparency and accountability for police.

The wrongful death suit, which accuses the Louisville police of wrongful death, excessive force and gross negligence, alleges that the cops fired more than 20 rounds of ammunition at Taylor and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, who was also in the apartment that night.

Tamika Palmer, Taylors mother, spoke briefly at the conference, acknowledging that the day was significant but that she hopes for more.

We must not lose focus on what the real drive is, she said. With that being said, its time to move forward with the criminal charges because she deserves that and much more.

Her beautiful spirit and personality is working through all of us on the ground. So please continue to say her name: Breonna Taylor.Tamika Palmer, mother of Breonna Taylor

Her...

Continue reading on HuffPost
China claimed on Wednesday that it has been honouring agreements signed with India and is committed to maintaining peace in border areas, a day after defence minister Rajnath Singh said Beijing is not respecting the customary alignment of the boundary.

Singh had told Parliament that China has engaged in massive mobilisation of troops at the Line of Actual Control (LAC), engaged in aggressive behaviour, and sought to unilaterally change the status quo, in contravention of existing border agreements and pacts.

Responding to Singhs statement, the Chinese foreign ministry again blamed New Delhi for the tensions, saying it is India which has breached agreements made to maintain tranquility along the disputed boundary.

For the Chinese side, we have been honouring the agreements signed between China and India. We are committed to peace and stability in the border area, foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said when asked to comment on Singhs statement.

We are committed to our sovereignty and territorial integrity. But China is not to blame for the current situation. It is the Indian side that has breached the agreements, first trespassed the territory first and fired shots to threaten the safety of the Chinese border troops first, Wang said at the regular ministry briefing.

So, what is imperative is for the Indian side to address these mistakes to follow through the disengagement agreements and take concrete actions to ease up the situation on the ground, Wang said, repeating Beijings stand on the months-long border standoff thats plunged bilateral ties to the worst level in decades.

India has already dismissed similar allegations made by China earlier, saying the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) troops were the first to provoke and not ready to disengage.

External affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava clearly spelt out the Indian governments position on the disengagement process earlier, saying the LAC must be strictly respected and observed as this is the basis for peace and tranquility in the border areas.

During the Moscow meeting the two foreign Ministers reached five point agreements on the border situation, spokesperson Wang said, referring to the recent meeting between external affairs minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting of foreign ministers in Moscow.

We hope India will work with China to follow through on the agreement and also other previously reached agreements and put the border issue at an appropriate position in the bigger picture of China India relations, he said.

Wang added that China is ready to work with India to remain in dialogue and consultation through diplomatic channels, jointly ensure peace and tranquility of the border areas.
Lauren Hernandez / The Chronicle

San Jose police reported Wednesday that a sixth person was shot late Tuesday near San Jose State Universitys campus, an incident that left two dead and three others wounded.

Police reported only three surviving victims after the shooting Tuesday. The fourth was discovered during the course of the investigation, police said, providing no additional details. The person was treated for non-life-threatening injuries, police said in a statement Wednesday morning.
Day after day, they arrive on Britain's south coast.

This year, almost 6,500 migrants have made the dangerous journey in small boats across the English Channel.

On Monday, an overloaded dinghy carrying ten such migrants landed in Kent. The occupants, none of whom was wearing a life jacket, leaped out, ran towards a thicket of trees near the seafront by Kent's Kingsdown village, and disappeared.

This disused Army barracks in Folkestone will be used to house newly-arrived immigrants

A group of migrants walk alongside the White Cliffs of Dover after landing on the Kent beaches on Tuesday

It is understood some were caught.

What, many might wonder, were the backgrounds of these apparently fit, healthy young men (some covering their faces despite the unseasonal heat) as they rushed into Britain?

Whatever the reality, the Government is taking action. In a dramatic development, it has emerged that the first migrant camp built on British soil  housed in a disused Army barracks in Folkestone, Kent  is to open on Monday. Other camps are expected to follow.

It is a sensational move by the Government as it tries to deal with these ever arriving boats.

The new camp is a statement that the Government is determined to end criticism of Britain being a soft touch for migrants, where all who come here are put up at the State's expense.

As part of a 4billion, ten-year contract with at least 50 hotels, the Home Office is believed to be spending hundreds of millions a month at a huge cost to the taxpayer.

Migrants landing on a beach in Folkestone being handled by members of the coastguard and emergency services

On Monday, an overloaded dinghy carrying ten such migrants landed in Kent's Kingsdown village (pictured)

Needless to say, Britain can ill-afford this sum as it battles the economic impact of Covid-19.

Meanwhile, every picture of smiling migrants making a successful landing in Britain sends a clear signal that this country is struggling to control its borders.

Large numbers of former Labour supporters who voted Tory at the last election did so partly because they believed Boris Johnson's promise to crack down on illegal immigration.

Though many migrants who reach Britain are genuinely fleeing persecution or war at home, the truth is that, as their numbers grow, so have suspicions that some have a darker motive.

Lucy Moreton, from the Immigration Services Union, warns that criminals deliberately evade Border Force patrols to enter the UK undetected. They could be returning jihadis or would-be terrorists.

She said: 'It is most likely they have a criminal or immigration record in the UK or in the European Union that they do not want us to know. Those who genuinely wish to seek assistance do wait to be collected by us.'

Britain can ill-afford this sum as it battles the economic impact of Covid-19. Pictured: Plage de la Rotonde in France

There is a further concern. People-smuggling gangs control this lucrative market on the north French coast. Their power, assisted by guns, knives and thuggery, is huge.

They have potential customers hoping to reach the UK stretching from Calais just across the Channel all the way to migrant camps on Greek islands at the other end of Europe.

Over the years, the gangsters have perfected a sales patter. It goes: don't claim asylum in mainland EU countries. They hate migrants. The UK is kind. It will give you free housing, education and benefit money for you to send back home to help your family.

The gangs' agents peddle this story in village tea houses far away from Europe, long before a migrant even sets out. It sticks in the minds of desperate people as they journey thousands of miles towards the UK, seeking a new life.

So now it's crunch time. Our immigration system is overwhelmed as genuine asylum seekers wait months, even years, for a decision about whether they are allowed to stay.

The Home Office is believed to be spending hundreds of millions a month on housing migrants at a huge cost to the taxpayer

The first camp will house 400 young men. Another, to house similar numbers, is being discussed near Tenby in Pembrokeshire, Wales.

The new camp or camps will send out a propaganda message. They counter the smugglers' evil story that this country is paved with gold. Out-of-control borders can stoke social unrest.

Anti-migrant activists have marched in Dover, the Kent port that has become the epicentre for arrivals.

In the Midlands and the North, people complain constantly on social media of waking in the morning to find their local hotel shut to paying guests. Instead, every room has been rented by the Government to house migrants.

The new camps could be a gamechanger. Telling a migrant that he must pay thousands for the sea journey to be housed in a former military base will be a tough sell for the gangs.

The critics of the camps are on soap boxes. Migrant supporters say they will resemble 'Army jails'. Kent politicians say putting hundreds of young men in an isolated place is not a sensible idea.

Yet the camps may be a line in the sand. If the smuggling chain is broken, numbers of migrants will come down. That means genuine asylum seekers seeking help on our soil will get a quicker hearing instead of being lost in the crowd.

And those new Tory voters  so essential to the Government  will be pacified.

Revealed: Britain's first migrant camp... It's a disused Army barracks in Folkestone where 400 migrants will be kept behind barbed wire. Inhuman  or a powerful message to help stem deadly Channel crossings?

By Glen Keogh and Sue Reid for the Daily Mail

Britain is set to open its first migrant 'camp' for asylum seekers who have crossed the Channel, it was confirmed yesterday.

The controversial move to house 400 people in a Second World War Army barracks in Folkestone, Kent, has divided opinions, with the area's MP, Damian Collins, saying he had 'great concerns'.

But supporters of the camp say the policy of dispersing asylum seekers around the country means they can be lost from the system, and the promise of a comfortable living situation, free food and a 40-a-week spending allowance for many encourages migrants to attempt the perilous Channel crossing.

Britain is set to open its first migrant 'camp' for asylum seekers who have crossed the Channel, it was confirmed yesterday

Alp Mehmet, a former immigration officer and chairman of think-tank MigrationWatch, said the decision to use the Army barracks 'makes sense'.

He added: 'This certainly helps in sending a message to Europe and to the traffickers who have been taking advantage of the UK being a soft touch, exploiting our weakness.

'It makes sense to keep asylum seekers in one place while their claims are processed. It's an ideal location.'

The Home Office is under increasing pressure to get a grip on the migrant crisis, with a further 151 people making the perilous Channel crossing from France in small dinghies to land on the Kent coast yesterday.

The group, including two babies, followed the detention of 168 migrants on Monday, taking the total who have made the crossing to Britain this year to at least 6,489.

Plans are also under way to convert an Army barracks in Pembrokeshire, Wales, into temporary accommodation for asylum seekers. At the Folkestone barracks, dozens of mattresses were being unloaded yesterday.

It is set to start welcoming asylum seekers while their applications are being processed from Monday.

The controversial move to house 400 people in a Second World War Army barracks in Folkestone, Kent, has divided opinions

Folkestone and Hythe council leader David Monk said communication from the Government over the decision had been 'very, very poor' and warned the move was a 'recipe for disaster'.

'My thoughts are simple,' he said. 'There has been zilch consultation, protocols have not been followed, this has been very poorly handled by the Home Office, and myself, the MP, the ward councillor, the council chairman and the local parish are all up in arms.

'The site is in the middle of nowhere. We believe the concentration of single males  up to 400  is not sensible.

'Our concern is, what are they going to do? They will gravitate to town and form groups and trouble will ensue. We have had no consultation and that's the thing we are really, really angry about.'

Mr Monk and Folkestone and Hythe MP Mr Collins have urged Home Secretary Priti Patel to reverse the decision.

They raised concerns that the migrants in the new facility will not be unaccompanied children but 'adults and their families', and 'many will be young men in their 20s and 30s'.

The Home Office is under increasing pressure to get a grip on the migrant crisis, with a further 151 people making the perilous Channel crossing from France in small dinghies to land on the Kent coast yesterday

They said: 'We would ask that you... find more suitable accommodation for people who are currently having their cases processed by the asylum system.'

They raised concerns about the lack of notice, the potential impact on the local community and whether provisions had been made to support local services, including the NHS.

Migrants also had concerns. Fahad, a Yemeni activist helping asylum seekers at Brook House immigration centre in the grounds of Gatwick airport, said the use of Army accommodation was 'not right'. 'It's not a good idea,' he added. 'People will think they are in Army jail or Army camp.'

However, he said asylum seekers would benefit from the extra security, having been allegedly threatened by far-Right groups.

He added that many asylum seekers, previously housed in hotels during the coronavirus pandemic, had asked to leave because the accommodation was not suitable.

'People want to be in proper accommodation where they can socialise with other people and become integrated and merge. No one can live in a hotel,' he said.

An Iraqi migrant in his 40s who is waiting in northern Europe to reach the UK by boat predicted the prospect of being put in a camp will stem the flow of Channel boats.

He said: 'A migrant camp in the UK? Many of us choose to come to your country because we are not put in camps. This news will spread fast.'

A Government spokesman said: 'During these unprecedented times, the Government is working with a range of partners and across departments to secure further accommodation, and the Ministry of Defence has offered use of some of its sites.

'When using contingency accommodation, we work closely with organisations, including local authorities and law enforcement, throughout the process to ensure value for money and that vulnerable asylum seekers, who would otherwise be destitute, have suitable accommodation while their claims are processed.'
The Bobcat fire continues to burn in the Angeles National Forest as seen from the Evergreen Cemetery in Los Angeles on Monday. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

The Bobcat fire continued to be a threat on several fronts Tuesday, expanding to the northeast while all eyes remained on the southern foothill communities and the Mt. Wilson Observatory to the west.

The blaze in the Angeles National Forest has charred 44,393 acres and remained at 3% containment Wednesday morning, according to the U.S. Forest Service . The fire jumped Highway 2 on Tuesday evening and started a spot fire that has burned nearly 1,000 acres.

In response, new evacuation orders were issued for residences north of Angeles Crest North and between Clear Creek Station and Highway 39.

Los Angeles County Fire Capt. David Dantic said dry brush and steep terrain are the main reasons for the fires erratic behavior.

The fire is finding places to go through ridges, down [wind channels] and drainages, and its getting to new areas, Dantic said. Thats why were constantly working on putting a perimeter around it. But it has been challenging. There are some places we cant get to.

On Tuesday, flames came dangerously close to Mt. Wilson Observatory, at one time reaching less than 500 feet from the famed complex . The Forest Service credited strategic hand- and bulldozer-dug lines with creating a "strong protection point" for the observatory and said fire crews had a "good night last night ... [but] not out of the woods yet.

There is a possibility that the fire could go back up north toward Mt. Wilson, because its just a little bit south of there and east, he said Wednesday morning. We have structure defense groups, and were trying to protect any property that we can.

Tuesday evening, fire officials said "isolated patches of the fire ran up towards the compound, however, firefighters containment lines continue to hold."

The observatory isn't the only structure threatened by the blaze. In the forests Big Santa Anita Canyon, officials said they feared 80 historic cabins, along with the 1893-built Sturtevant Camp , may have been destroyed.

Story continues

We think we lost most of it, said Deb Burgess, cabin owner and president of the Sturtevant Camp board.

The cabins are made of wood and rock, and are preserved as such under Forest Service rules, said Ben Fitzsimmons, president of Big Santa Anita Canyon Permittees Assn., who added that it is unlikely that this 100-year-old community has survived unscathed.

Forest Service officials could not confirm yet whether any structures had burned, further frustrating owners.

Why cant they go through? Burgess asked of the fire service personnel. They dont have to do a complete inventory, but they could give us something, just something to hold onto.

Residents in other parts of Los Angeles are also watching the fire closely  particularly as it pertains to air quality. The forecast for the day is sunny and smoky, according to the South Coast Air Quality Management District, which has extended a smoke advisory for the 10th consecutive day.

Smoke from the West Coasts wildfires has now reached as far as the East Coast and parts of Europe.

The Bobcat fire is one of more than two dozen fires currently burning in California and one of the 10 largest in terms of acres burned, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection , which is providing air support for the blaze.

While more firefighters have been added to battle the wildfire, Cal Fire officials said size is not a primary factor in resource allocation.

Resources usually go where life is at stake, said Cal Fire spokeswoman Lynette Round. Life is first, property is second, natural resources is third.

More than 1,100 personnel are now assigned to the Bobcat fire  up from 652 a week ago  as the fire has crept closer to communities.

We have personnel everywhere, from the north to the south, Dantic said.

Evacuation orders for residents of Camp Williams in Azusa have been lifted, as have orders for parts of Arcadia and Sierra Madre north of Elkins Avenue and east of Santa Anita Avenue. Residents in those areas will be allowed to return beginning at 4 p.m. Wednesday. Evacuation warnings for Monrovia, Bradbury, Sierra Madre, Altadena, Duarte and Pasadena are still in effect.

The temporary closure of the Angeles National Forest, along with all national forests in California, has been extended until Sept. 21.
Charlevoix man denies wrongdoing despite signing illegitimate election document

Charlevoix resident John Haggard is among a group of Republicans who signed an Electoral College certificate attempting to award the states 16 votes to Donald Trump following the 2020 election  a document now under federal investigation.
Mini India has introduced the Mini Online Shop. Customers can start their journey from online to on-road by simply visiting the official website, their destination for everything MINI. They can explore the entire Mini range, Configure a Mini of their choice, locate the nearest Mini dealer, request for a test drive or quotation, calculate EMI as well as book their favourite Mini at the click of a button.

Mr. Vikram Pawah, President, BMW Group India said, Creative and optimistic by nature, MINI is always up to something new. Digitalisation is transforming our world and is now becoming an integral part of the overall customer journey. As a progressive brand MINI has always differentiated itself in engaging with its customers and fans. With the launch of the MINI Online Shop in India, we are able to enhance our footprint across the country, providing access to new customers while making their journey with MINI a lot safer and easier.

Also Watch:

The Mini Online Shop allows customers to browse, configure and book from the entire range of Mini models available in India. They can select a Mini Authorised Dealer closest to their location who can assist them through their online journey as well as provide hassle-free and customised Financial Solutions. Customers will also receive E-Mail and SMS notifications at key stages of their journey on the Mini Online Shop including Registration, Book a Test Drive, Request for a Quotation, Book Online etc.

Customers visiting the Mini India website on www.mini.in can also click on Buy a Mini and will be directed to the Mini Online Shop or continue their journey on www.mini.in to configure their car, post which they will be directed to the Mini online shop.
ANN ARBOR, MI -- John McLeod thought he would consume opiates for the rest of his life -- until cannabis transformed him.

When he was 7 years old, McLeod said he was the victim of a robbery and decided that when he grew up he would be a police officer to ensure other kids would be safe.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 22:37:06|Editor: huaxia

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TAIPEI, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Taiwan reported a new confirmed case of COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing to 500 its total number of cases since the epidemic began, the island's epidemic monitoring agency said.

The new case, a Filipino woman in her 30s, arrived in Taiwan on Sept. 13 and took the COVID-19 test upon arrival, despite showing no suspicious symptoms, the agency said in a press release.

The result of her test came back positive on Wednesday, but she still has not developed any symptoms, the statement said.

The agency was also informed that six Filipino travelers had tested positive for COVID-19 after leaving Taiwan between Aug. 28 and Sept. 11.

A total of 113 people were identified as having had contact with them in Taiwan, 23 of whom have tested negative for the virus so far, according to the statement.

In June, a Japanese college student tested positive for the virus shortly after leaving Taiwan. Since that time, the island has received several reports of people testing positive after leaving the island. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 01:57:38|Editor: huaxia

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Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (R) and European Council President Charles Michel attend a joint press conference in Athens, Greece, on Sept. 15, 2020. Security and stability in the Eastern Mediterranean is an issue that does not concern only Greece and Cyprus, but the European Union (EU) as a whole, European Council President Charles Michel said on Tuesday during joint statements with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis after their meeting in Athens. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos)

ATHENS, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Security and stability in the Eastern Mediterranean is an issue that does not concern only Greece and Cyprus, but the European Union (EU) as a whole, European Council President Charles Michel said on Tuesday during joint statements with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis after their meeting in Athens.

"The issue of security and stability in the Eastern Mediterranean is not an affair of Greece and Cyprus alone, but an EU issue. We believe that all the member states must be respected and this is the meaning of my presence here today, to repeat this message," Michel was quoted by Greek national news agency AMNA as saying.

Michel paid a visit to Greece to discuss tension in the region lately over maritime borders and exploitation rights of energy resources, as well as the refugee-migration challenge after the destruction of Moria, Greece's largest reception camp on the island of Lesvos by a series of fires last week.

The situation in the Eastern Mediterranean and EU-Turkey relations will be discussed in the upcoming Special European Council on Sept. 24-25, during which the EU should demonstrate its unity and strength because security and stability are strategic interests of the EU, he added, according to AMNA.

Mitsotakis said on his part during the joint statements to the press, which were broadcast on Greek national broadcaster ERT, that the Mediterranean Sea is a vital security zone for entire Europe. "Therefore, support to Greece and Cyprus is not only a demonstration of solidarity but a clear acknowledgment that the EU's geopolitical and strategic interests are at stake here," he elaborated.

After the Turkish seismic survey vessel Oruc Reis returned to Turkey last weekend after weeks of research in a disputed area, the Greek prime minister said Greece expects more positive steps and an end to "provocations" to restart dialogue with Turkey over the delimitation of maritime borders.

In August, Turkey dispatched Oruc Reis and two auxiliary navy vessels to the disputed region near the Greek island of Meis, also known as Kastellorizo, where Greece claims lies within its continental shelf.

"Turkey has time, before and after the EU summit, to follow up the first encouraging step of disengagement from the crisis. If we see tangible proof of good behavior, we are ready to begin exploratory contacts with Turkey at once on the sole difference that exists between us, the delimitation of maritime borders in the Aegean and Eastern Med," Mitsotakis said.

"Until there is a final delimitation, however, either through a bilateral agreement or through an international court ruling, the international law of the sea prohibits unilateral actions," he stressed.

Regarding the refugee, migration challenge, Michel stressed that Greece and other countries at the forefront of the influx in recent years have shouldered disproportionate burdens and the EU is ready to find a common effective response through a new policy on the issue.

The European Council president was scheduled to visit Lesvos island in the northeastern Aegean to personally see the reality the EU faces.

Lesvos received the bulk of the massive flow of more than one million people who reached Greece since 2015, mainly from Turkey.

"It is time this European support will be translated into tangible solidarity and will be shown with actions and not words so that we can succeed where we had the courage, in my view, as the EU to admit that we have failed in the past," Mitsotakis said on Tuesday.

The Greek PM also stressed that with the support of other EU partners the new hosting facility under construction on Lesvos will offer better living conditions than Moria.

Meanwhile, Greek Citizen Protection Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis announced from Lesvos that five young foreign nationals were arrested for the arson in Moria, while another, who has been identified, is still at large.

Greek authorities said that the series of blazes that turned the camp to ashes started when few of a total of 35 camp residents who had tested positive for COVID-19 resisted isolation measures.
Black Lives Matter agitators organized a protest outside a Trump-supporting man's residential home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Tuesday night and rather than arrest the mob for harassment and causing a public disturbance police reportedly arrested the man for "brandishing" a gun from inside his home at the mob.





BLM protesters in Milwaukee, Wisc. surround a mans house. He has a Trump & US flag on the outside. He appears to ready a gun from inside the home. He was reportedly arrested for brandishing the weapon. pic.twitter.com/tMKFUGVCa5  Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) September 16, 2020



Kitty Shackleford shared video of the man being arrested to cheers from the mob:





I'm still trying to figure out whose house this is. Milwaukee, WI - seems to be outside of a house who BLM is saying pointed a gun at them. The title of the video is "We still lit - This goes out to all the racist neighbors out there" so I assume it is just a local "racist" 1/3 pic.twitter.com/84X6BDQwnD  Kitty Shackleford (@KittyLists) September 16, 2020

BLM group, including children, pouring onto someone's property that they seem to be harassing after he was arrested by police. They're calling him "Probation Pete," and are celebrating his arrest. Milwaukee, WI 2/3 pic.twitter.com/WsrIaUZs0T  Kitty Shackleford (@KittyLists) September 16, 2020



The "protest party" was organized on Facebook by BLM agitator Vaun L. Mayes because the man allegedly said the N-word and had a Confederate flag.





This is what was going on outside the house before he "pulled a gun on them." They went specifically to his house to protest him for "being a racist." The homeowner was arrested, and the crowd remains outside. They seem to have gone on his property. WTF Milwaukee? (more above) pic.twitter.com/cMs6MpMe4y  Kitty Shackleford (@KittyLists) September 16, 2020



Vaun Mayes is currently facing federal charges for "plotting to firebomb a Milwaukee police station after the Sherman Park unrest in 2016," according to CBS 58.



Mayes was arrested in June on suspicion of burglary as a party to a crime in relation to a violent George Floyd riot where a home was set on fire but the District Attorney declined to file formal charges in August.



This is pure Anarcho-Tyranny.



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In California, smoke plumes spun into twisters made out of soot and flame, prompting the first-ever "fire tornado" warning. In Oregon, blazes advanced on towns so rapidly that even fire crews had to flee. Never in memory have so many fires burned so much land in so many places over such a short span of time. The smoke has enveloped the whole continent, dimming the sun in cities 2,000 miles away.

"Science knows very well what is going on here," said Monica Turner, fire ecologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Extreme climate change has arrived in America, and it burns.

Fire experts say the nation needs new strategies to cope with the escalating threat.

But the country's top fire science budget has been slashed - cuts that began in the last year of the last year of the Obama administration and have only accelerated under President Donald Trump, who has twice tried unsuccessfully to eliminate it altogether. States, which are struggling under the coronavirus-induced economic crisis, have run short of funds for the scientific work.

Trump has repeatedly said "forest management" - harvesting trees to reduce fuel for fires - is the key to preventing wildfires. But scientists agree no amount of "forest management" can stop disasters in an ever-more-flammable world.

"There are no climate change denialists on the fire lines," said Tim Ingalsbee, a veteran wildland firefighter who serves as executive director of the group Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology. "Now we really need science to play a role in the solutions."

- - -

The link between fires and climate is basic physics: Human greenhouse gas emissions have warmed the planet. Higher temperatures trap more water in the atmosphere, drying out vegetation and making it more likely to ignite. In the American West - where temperatures are already as much as 4 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than in the preindustrial era - landscapes are burning in fundamentally different and more destructive ways.

This was predicted. The first National Climate Assessment, published in 2000, forecast that the West would experience increased risk of fire as a result of global warming and called on states to prepare. A study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that human-caused climate change doubled the amount of forest burned between 1984 and 2015. California's own climate assessment in 2018 predicted that higher temperatures would cause 2.5 million acres to burn annually - the models just did not expect it to happen until 2050.

The scale of this year's fires have horrified even those who saw them coming. As of Tuesday, 3.2 million acres in California have been incinerated - almost double the previous record of 1.9 million, set in 2018. In Oregon, blazes have erupted in parts of the wet Western Cascades that have not burned in years. On a single day last week, red-flag warnings on fire weather stretched along the entire West Coast from the U.S. border with Mexico to Canada.

"It really is a shocking escalation," said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California at Los Angeles. "Characterizing it as a phase change, a new era of megafire - as dramatic as that sounds, ultimately I think it's accurate."

It is not just the scale or frequency of fires that has changed - it is their behavior. Extreme heat, such as the record-setting August and "kiln-like" conditions in California over Labor Day weekend, sets the stage for fires that burn hotter and more unpredictably. The intensity of the blazes creates towering plumes of heat called pyrocumulus clouds, which in turn trigger lightning storms and swirling fire tornadoes. Powerful winds push fires farther and faster than firefighters are used to. Embers carried far ahead of the main front enable fires to travel dozens of miles in a single day.

"It's like a blow torch in a wind tunnel," said Ingalsbee, whose home in Eugene, Ore., is mere miles from the perimeter of the 167,000-acre Holiday Farm Fire. "These fires are beyond human control."

Federal spending on wildfire suppression has ballooned from roughly $450 million per year in the 1990s to a record-setting $3.1 billion in 2018. This year will probably be even more costly.

But as the toll of wildfire increases, the federal government is supporting less research into the issue. The budget for the Joint Fire Science Program, which is funded through the Interior and Agriculture departments and produces research on the best practices for fire prevention and management, has steadily declined since the mid-2000s. In a 2017 budget deal approved before the current administration, the program's funding was reduced from $12.9 million to $8.9 million. In 2018 and 2019, the White House sought to eliminate it entirely. The program now receives $6 million a year.

"It is very much a mismatch between the increased scale, scope and urgency of the problem and the amount of resources we're putting into understanding what's coming, what it means and how to adapt," Turner said.

California has funded its own projects on forest health and wildfire readiness through its cap-and-trade program. But the budget shortfall created by the coronavirus crisis caused the state to put many programs on hold. A proposed ballot initiative to create a $5 billion "climate resilience" bond for the state has also been delayed.

- - -

For much of the 20th century, the standard response to all wildfires was the same: put them out.

But that can actually worsen fire danger, scientists say. Most Western ecosystems are adapted to fire, even dependent on it. Periodic blazes clear landscapes of dead vegetation and help new trees to germinate - by extinguishing them, people have made forests unnaturally dense, creating more fuel for future burns.

The administration has pushed to solve this problem through logging. In a 2019 executive order, President Trump called on the secretaries of Agriculture and Interior to consider harvesting 4.4. million board feet of timber from public lands as a means to reduce wildfire risk.

The majority of forest in the West is controlled by the federal government; in California, for example, the state manages only 3% of forested land. Logging in national forests - which in the 1980s produced as much as 12 billion board feet of timber per year - has fallen precipitously and now generates about 3 billion board feet annually. Current management plans for these forests call for logging nearly twice as much.

American Forest Resource Council President Travis Joseph, whose Portland, Ore.-based group represents mills, manufacturers and purchasers of timber from public lands across the West, said in a phone interview that climate change has certainly worsened fires, but the forest industry can play a role in fighting them by alleviating the buildup of fuel.

"What we're pushing for, ultimately, is resiliency, sustainability and protection of our forests," Joseph said.

The science of "treating" forests - often through selectively harvesting trees to reduce density - is nuanced, researchers say. In dry ponderosa pine forests, thinning may help recreate the parklike openness that once came from frequent burning. One study of the aftermath of a fire in central Oregon found that "treated" areas recovered faster than ones with no intervention.

Thinning can also be useful in the areas immediately surrounding communities, said Chris Dunn, a forester at Oregon State University who worked as a firefighter for eight years. The cleared-out space can keep forest fires from igniting homes and give firefighters room to mount a defense.

But by analyzing satellite images of the southwestern part of the state, where the 2013 Douglas Complex burned on the wet side of the Cascades, Dunn found the most intensively managed industrial forests experienced more severe fire than untouched old growth - even when huge amounts of debris had accumulated on the "untreated" forest floor. This is because younger trees planted for harvest are less resilient and fire spreads easily between them, he said.

"That's the problem when people say 'management' or 'no management,' " he said. "Management can mean a lot of things."

Dunn and others say one of the most powerful tools for reducing fire risk is fire itself. Natural fires can clear out a lot more forest than thinning crews, and if allowed to burn in uninhabited areas under mild weather, they are less likely to be dangerous and destructive, Dunn said. Later, if a more extreme fire roars through, the previously burned areas may slow the blaze or even stop it.

But Trump has described timber removal as the single solution to combating fires out West and emphasized it during a Monday briefing on the fires in McClellan Park, Calif.

When secretary for natural resources Wade Crowfoot asked Trump to recognize climate change played a role as well, Trump asserted - without evidence - that things would soon cool down.

Earth is now about 1.15 degrees Celsius (2 degrees Fahrenheit) hotter than in preindustrial times, and roughly 10% of Americans live somewhere that has already warmed by 2 degrees Celsius, a threshold often associated with the worst effects of climate change. That includes Los Angeles County, where the Bobcat Fire has burned tens of thousands of acres in the past week, and in western Colorado, where the Pine Gulch fire now ranks as the state's largest in history. Unless people significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, average global temperatures can be expected to rise at least another 2 degrees Celsius before the century is over.

Research also shows that climate change is making forests so hot and dry that almost no intervention can keep them from igniting. Just look at this year's fires, Turner said: They are burning through tree plantations and wild forests. They have consumed fire breaks and jumped rivers.

"When the climate conditions are as extreme as they are now, it doesn't matter how you're managing it," she said. "The fires will burn across anything."

- - -

Rather than trying to alter the forest, said Ingalsbee, the firefighter, people should focus on something slightly easier to change: ourselves.

The most devastating thing about the recent fires, he said, is the death and destruction they have caused. More people than ever live in harm's way. One Forest Service analysis found the number of homes in what fire experts call the wildland-urban interface increased 41% between 1990 and 2010.

When forest fires reach these homes, they can become urban conflagrations, moving from roof to roof instead of tree to tree. Photos of the aftermath will show entire neighborhoods burned to the ground while the vegetation around them is still green.

It is possible to "harden" buildings against fire, often at relatively low cost. Simple steps like clearing debris from roofs, rain gutters, decks and yards can limit a fire's access to fuel. Wooden fences and roofs can be replaced with materials that do not burn.

There are limited resources available to help residents implement these measures, Ingalsbee said. In contrast with the billions of dollars spent fighting wildfires and helping people in their aftermath, the budget for FEMA's Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities predisaster mitigation programs is $500 million - money that must cover not just preparation for wildfires but also hurricanes, tornadoes and a host of other disasters.

"We're putting all this investment into emergency reactive suppression and not proactive planning and preparation," Ingalsbee said.

There is one other way all Americans can help reduce risk of wildfire, Turner said: by stopping greenhouse gas emissions. Last winter, United Nations scientists reported that the world would need to start cutting emissions 7.6% annually to limit warming to a "tolerable" 1.5 degrees Celsius. At that point, fires would likely be even worse than they are now - but not nearly as bad as they might otherwise become.

Emissions were rising about 1.5% a year before the coronavirus pandemic. This year, even after massive societal shutdowns and a global economic crisis, the world is unlikely to meet the 7.6% target.

"We have to get it under control," Turner said. "If we continue to raise the planet's temperature, this is going to be our tragic reality."

- - -

The Washington Post's Darryl Fears contributed to this report.
Jill Duggar is proving to be one of the most rebellious in the family. According to her husband, Derick Dillard, shes on the outs with the rest of her family. And shes even making decisions for her kids that differ from what her parents and siblings are doing.

Jill and Derick ultimately decided to send their son, Israel, to public school despite Jills homeschooled background. But shes now explaining that she actually did consider homeschooling Israel prior to this decision.

Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard sent their son, Israel, to public kindergarten

RELATED: Jill Duggar Defied Her Family Even More With the Outfit She Chose for Israels Back-to-School Photos

Derick grew up going to public school, but this was new territory for Jill. After the couple weighed their options, they decided the best course of action for their family was to send Israel to public school. And they announced it on Instagram for all of their fans.

Happy first day of school for these two! Jill captioned her post of Israel and Derick, as Derick was also starting his last year of law school. 1st day of Kindergarten for Israel and 1st day of last year of law school for Derick!

After Israels first day, Jill posted a video of how it all went down to YouTube. And she encountered a few surprises she never wouldve anticipated, like the long pick-up car line at the end of the day.

Hey guys, so, I was homeschooled. And I had no idea that these lines would take so long, Jill explained in her video.

Despite a few hiccups and unexpected moments, its clear Jill is excited to have her son get a public education.

Israel seems to be thriving in school

Given what fans saw from Israels first day of school, it seems like he loved it. And Jill and Derick created another home Q&A video for their YouTube channel on Sept. 16 to further explain Israels experience in the public school system.

So far Israel is loving school, at least based on what he tells us when he comes home from school, Derick told the camera. We get all the updates. He was even king for a day recently. Loves it, loves it, loves it. Making lots of good friends.

Jill verified that this is true. Its working out pretty good, she added. Hes getting used to it. She then added that kindergartens dont realize that the current coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions are any different than the usual. He doesnt even have a normal, so.  Hes loving playing and making new friends.

Jill notes she considered homeschooling Israel

While Jill and Derick ultimately decided that public school was the way to go for their family, it wasnt an easy decision. They explained during their Q&A video that they researched all of their options first, and homeschooling was certainly on the table.

We were both open to both options, Derick explained in terms of public school versus homeschooling.

We just talked about it and prayed about it, Jill added. We felt like this was the right timing for us. We moved right next to a really good school and in a good community, so I think it just made sense for us right now.

Derick then added that every family is different and should do what they feel is best.

We didnt take it lightly, Jill noted again. We dont want to take our childs education lightly.  Lots of prayer and consideration. Not making decisions out of fear, but just informed.

It looks like Derick is also getting involved in Israels school. He tweeted that he joined the parent-teacher organization.

Were glad Jill and Derick are happy with their decision to send their kids to public school. Now, well have to wait and see if any other Duggars follow suit.

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(Natural News) While most Americans continue to struggle against shutdown Democrats who continue to keep portions of their states economies shut down months after telling their citizens they just needed a few weeks to bend the curve of the COVID pandemic, they are oblivious to whats coming in just a few short weeks.

Many of these same Americans have seen the rioting, the looting, the attacks against our police, the continued assaults against Trump supporters, and the endless violence that has torn the soul out of many of our cities.

They dont like what theyre seeing. But they dont really understand what theyre seeing: The beginning of a revolution that will proceed regardless of who wins the November election.

Translated, that means if youre someone who thinks weve got to put Democrats and Joe Biden in office in order to get the rioting to stop, think again.

Retired CIA officer Sam Faddis, who spent decades undercover working in the Middle East and South Asia  and who has seen such revolutions unfold  writes in a column published by Revolver News that whats happening across our country is nothing new. Its a script thats been used over and over again by Marxists, Leninists and Communists to gain power since the violent creation of the Soviet Union in the ashes of World War I.

And whats more, many of the anarchist foot soldiers  the Antifa and Black Lives Matter types who think they really are fighting fascism and believe theyll wind up with a more fair and equitable world if the win  will realize too late they were patsies.

They discovered far too late that at the heart of the movement in which they were caught up were hard men with very different ideas about the future, Faddis writes, adding: We cannot afford to repeat this naivety. (Related: Nancy Pelosi declares all Republicans to be domestic enemies of the state.)

He explains:

We are not experiencing a wave of social unrest generated by injustice or police brutality. We are watching an insurrection in progress, one which uses police violence as a pretext, but which has as its goal the destruction of the existing social, economic and political order in the United States.

Refuse Fascism is one of the primary umbrella organizations supporting Antifa demonstrations nationwide. Refuse Fascism is a creation of the Revolutionary Communist Party of the United States. If you watch footage of the chaos in our streets, you will quickly see signs linked to both groups.

Faddis notes that the leader of the so-called RevComs is Bob Avakian, a lifelong Commie who, along with other hard-Left groups, formed Refuse Fascism in 2016. The CIA vet says Avakian has been open about his objectives.

Lets get down to basics. We need a revolution. Anything else, in the final analysis, is just bulls**t, he recently said.

Understand, then, that Avakian and those like him who are leading and funding (yes, George Soros is involved, but so, too, are other billionaires like Tom Steyer and former Fox News child James Murdoch) do not want peaceful protests to rule the day. They want to overthrow our founding system of capitalism and small r republicanism, which means replacing our Constitution with something more akin to Cuba or, at best, China.

The New Socialist Republic in North America isa form of dictatorship  the dictatorship of the proletariat, says the RevCom website.

Get it now?

The groups sponsoring the 2020 rioters are hostile to the United States of America as it currently exists. They have long since made common cause with some of our most dangerous enemies. Now, what they want is not reform. Phrases like Black Lives Matter are a deliberate obfuscation, a time-honored tactic of radical left groups, used to make themselves and their goals seem less threatening, Faddis warns.

He says if President Trump wins, his victory will be declared illegitimate and the mob will continue its assault on our institutions and our security and freedom. If Joe Biden wins, they will look at him as their puppet and accelerate the revolution; if he refuses to go along, he will be discarded as well.

This is not about reform. It is about revolution, and revolutions dont care about elections, Faddis concludes.

Sources include:

Revolver.news

AmGreatness.com

ANDMagazine.com

DeepState.news
A RETIRED 85-year-old vicar sexually assaulted a female curate after leaping at her 'like a rabbit out of rabbit hole', a court heard.

Jurors heard Reverend Geraint Hughes told the trainee vicar: 'I really miss having cuddles.'

The shocked married woman tried to fend off the elderly clergyman and, in a bid to distract him, even suggested: 'Let us pray.'

But Hughes, pictured, continued to stroke the woman's neck and hair while planting unwanted kisses on her, the jury was told.

The curate was visiting Hughes's home to discuss Sunday services when he suddenly 'shot out of his chair' and wrapped his arms around her, it was said.

Reverend Geraint Hughes, the former Dean of Brecon, arrives at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court

At Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court, prosecutor Nicola Powell said: 'He told her he really missed having cuddles and needed some. As he hugged her he said, 'This is nice physical contact'. He attempted to kiss her and caught her on the lips on one occasion.'

Oxford-educated Hughes, the former Dean of Brecon Cathedral in Wales, lost his wife and daughter the year before allegedly lunging at the female curate.

Miss Powell said: 'The touching was sexual and she was not consenting to it. She confessed to her husband and her mother before the Archbishop of Wales became involved.'

The curate  who cannot be named for legal reasons  said she gave Hughes a quick hug when she arrived at his home for the 90-minute meeting on February 20 last year.

But she added that when she got up to leave 'he got out of his chair like a rabbit out of a rabbit hole'.

She told the jury: 'He came towards me quite fast with his arms out... it wasn't like a normal hug, he had my arms pinned, we were locked together. My brain was not computing what was happening.

'He tried to kiss me a few times, I don't know how I managed to break away.' The curate was left feeling like she had 'ants in her head' after Hughes stroked her hair while trying to peck her.

Hughes, Dean of Brecon from 1998 to 2000, claims it was a misunderstanding and denied getting sexual gratification from the encounter.

He admits hugging the curate and giving her one kiss but said he did not 'cross the line'.

Hughes, of Llandrindod Wells, Powys, denies sexual assault and the trial continues.
The Daily Beast

Reuters/Arnd WiegmannTheatrical rock superstar Meat Loaf, whose Bat Out of Hell is one of the bestselling albums of all time, has died at the age of 74. Reports say the singer and actor had recently fallen sick with COVID-19.In an emotional statement posted to Facebook early Friday, the performers family said he was with his wife when he died and had said his final goodbyes to his two daughters in the past 24 hours. The star sold 100 million albums in his five-decade career and starred in movie
U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-12th District) co-led a coalition of grassroots groups, labor unions, and Black, Brown and Indigenous leaders from across the nation to announce the introduction of a strong plan for economic renewal known as the THRIVE Agenda. Introduced by Representative Deb Haaland (D-NM) and Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Ed Markey (D-MA), Dingell co-led the THRIVE resolution along with Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Representatives Donald McEachin (D-VA), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Brendan Boyle (D-PA), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and Ro Khanna (D-CA).

THRIVE  Transform, Heal, and Renew by Investing in Vibrant Economy  is a unifying roadmap that meets this moment by creating nearly 16 million good jobs, reviving our economy, and addressing the interlocking crises of climate change, racial injustice, public health, and economic inequity.

Built on eight pillars  from creating millions of union jobs while averting climate catastrophe to investing in Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities  THRIVEs top priorities are the families and communities who share the dream of a good life: free from worry about meeting basic needs, with reliable and fulfilling work, and a dignified and healthy standard of living.

Like no other time in our nations history, we are facing multiple intersecting and compounding crises that threaten public health, our economic future, and the health of the planet for future generations, said Dingell. The THRIVE Agenda puts forth a bold, transformative vision for our society, economic renewal, racial injustice, public health, and mitigating climate change. I am proud to co-lead this resolution with my House and Senate colleagues, as well as all the groups backing this effort and their tireless fight to address the long standing economic and racial inequities that have plagued us for too long.

Climate change exacerbates the racial and economic inequalities the coronavirus pandemic has laid bare, and with millions out of work and at risk of losing their homes, their health care, and their loved ones, the time for bold, forward-thinking action is now, said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer. While President Trump and Congressional Republicans continue to ignore climate change, I am proud to work with my Democratic colleagues and many advocates and progressive groups on the THRIVE Agenda. Even in the face of a global pandemic, we can and must develop solutions to the climate crisis that create good jobs, invest in communities, and ensure healthy lives for everyone regardless of your zip code.

The promise of the American dream should be available and accessible to everyone, but right now, our country is facing crises that are fatefully intertwined: tens of millions of people are unemployed, the COVID-19 pandemic rages, racial and economic injustice are rampant, and the climate crisis is accelerating. I grew up in a culture that welcomes everyone, a culture in which we support each other in times of need so everyone thrives. We have an opportunity to not just recover from these interlocking crises, but to thrive by creating millions of good paying, union, clean, green jobs while building a more just, healthy, and stable economy that leaves no one behind, said Congresswoman Deb Haaland.

The solutions to help rebuild from the current health and economic crisis will help combat another  the climate crisis. The THRIVE Agenda is the kind of economy-wide job and justice creation mobilization we will need, said Senator Ed Markey. We can and must do more than simply rebuild our economy, we must transform it  into an economy and a democracy that works for all Americans and saves the planet. We can thrive as we recover, and I thank Rep. Haaland and my Senate colleagues for their partnership on this important agenda.

To meet this moment, we cannot accept short-term solutions that pretend our problems are siloed and dont seek to transform the systems that harm Black people, said Karissa Lewis, National Field director, Movement for Black Lives. We cant stop police from murdering Black people, without divesting from policing and investing in Black and Brown communities through secure jobs with living wages and benefits. We cant address a pandemic that is ravaging Black and Brown people without ensuring access to quality health care and the basic right of not living with or drinking toxic pollutants. Everything is connected, and we do ourselves a grave disservice by maintaining normality when momentum is on our side and the people are demanding more.

Tom BK Goldtooth, Executive Director of the Indigenous Environmental Network, added: Indigenous peoples know that everything in life is connected and related. This is also the case with the issues humanity are facing today. The THRIVE Agenda addresses the climate crisis, racial injustice, mass unemployment, economic injustice and the global pandemic while recognizing the importance of recognition of our Indigenous and tribal sovereignty and treaty rights. Indigenous knowledge provides a path forward, acknowledging any form of economic recovery must respect the sacred relationship to Mother Earth, to assure nature and ecosystems are not viewed as capital in a carbon and conservation offset market system and THRIVE recognizes that.

Communities across the country cannot afford incremental and piecemeal solutions to the dire intersectional issues we face, including the climate crisis, racial injustice, mass unemployment, and the deadly pandemic, to name a few, said Michael Brune, Executive Director of the Sierra Club. Our government must rise to the moment and enact the bold, large-scale solutions outlined in the THRIVE Agenda, which lays out a forward-thinking vision that creates millions of secure jobs, supports cleaner air and a more stable climate, takes aim at racial injustice, and invests in the health of frontline communities. The Sierra Club calls on members of Congress to take immediate action and invest in a healthy, just, equitable economic recovery for all.

The THRIVE Agenda is powered by activists and advocates nationwide, and supported by a wide array of organizations including the American Federation of Teachers, Center for American Progress, Church World Service, Climate Justice Alliance, Color of Change, Communications Workers of America, Greenpeace, Green New Deal Network, Indigenous Environmental Network, League of Conservation Voters, Movement for Black Lives, NAACP, Peoples Action, Service Employees International Union, Sierra Club, Sunrise Movement, United We Dream, and over 200 other advocacy groups.

A new, independent economic analysis from the University of Massachusetts Amherst finds that a bold economic renewal plan, as outlined in the THRIVE Agenda, would create nearly 16 million new jobs  enough for all of the 14 million currently unemployed U.S. workers to go back to work building a more just, healthy, and stable economy. As outlined in the THRIVE Agenda, these 16 million new jobs would offer safe workplaces, family-sustaining wages and benefits, and access to unions to workers building clean and affordable public transit, replacing lead pipes for clean water, expanding wind and solar power, caring for our children and the elderly, retrofitting buildings to cut costs and pollution, expanding manufacturing of clean technologies, restoring our wetlands and forests, and growing food sustainably on family farms.

Source: Debbie Dingell
New Delhi, Sep 16 : A Delhi court on Wednesday held a former regional manager of SriLankan Airlines guilty for outraging the modesty of one of his colleague at the airline's division in the national capital.

Metropolitan Magistrate Dev Saroha of Patiala House Court convicted Lalit D'Silva, noting that his intention to outrage the modesty of the sales executive "was beyond reasonable doubt". The court will now hear the arguments on the quantum of sentence on November 17.

The judge noted, "It is proved beyond reasonable doubt that accused with intention to outrage the modesty of the complainant uttered the above mentioned words, as such he is liable to be convicted under section 509 of IPC." Under the section, the convict could be subjected to imprisonment for a term of three years of simple imprisonment, including fine.

The incident dates back to October 8, 2009, when the accused called the complainant to his room and outraged her modesty by asking improper questions, according to the prosecution.

"In the present case, not only the social dignity of the complainant was on line but also there must be some professional considerations, the accused being a senior officer of the company and her boss," the judge further said.
Kolkata, Sep 16 : A West Bengal district court on Wednesday sentenced Anindita Dey, wife of deceased Calcutta High Court lawyer Rajat Kumar Dey, to life imprisonment in connection with the murder of her husband and tampering with evidence.

In its order the court also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 or six-month jail term if the amount was not paid. The Chief Judicial Magistrate's Court at Barasat in North 24-Parganas pronounced the judgment.

While being taken out of the courtroom to the prison van, Anindita shouted: "I have been framed in the case. I will continue to fight for justice till the last drop of my blood." New Town police station had arrested Calcutta High Court lawyer Rajat Kumar Dey's wife Anindita Dey, on the suspicion of murdering her husband. She had divulged misleading statements during the course of interrogation on the basis of which she had been booked.

Rajat was found dead under mysterious circumstances inside a room in his flat at DB 97 in New Town -- Rajarhat area on November 25, 2018. His wife Anindita had initially claimed that Rajat had died due to cardiac arrest. But later the autopsy examination report confirmed that Rajat had died due to strangulation.

Police sources said that Rajat was choked to death using a mobile phone's charger cord. The investigators had seized Anindita's mobile phone and laptop for further enquiry and found further evidence of the case.
Airline CEOs and labor unions Wednesday again pushed for billions in additional federal aid as a ban on industry job cuts is set to expire in two weeks and a recovery in travel demand hasn't materialized.

Several airline executives plan to meet with White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to discuss the situation Thursday, according to people familiar with the matter.

U.S. airlines could furlough or lay off more than 30,000 workers, starting Oct. 1. The terms of a $25 billion aid package for airlines that Congress approved in March as part of a larger coronavirus bill, prohibited job cuts through Sept. 30.

"Despite the aggressive self-help measures the company has taken to bolster its financial position, and even with several thousand of our colleagues opting for voluntary leave and early retirement, nearly 20,000 American Airlines team members are facing furloughs in just two short weeks, and several markets in our domestic network are at risk of significant reductions in air service," American Airlines' CEO Doug Parker wrote to lawmakers and Trump administration officials Wednesday in a letter that was also signed by leaders of labor unions that represent most of its workers.

Airlines are pushing for another $25 billion that would preserve sector jobs through the end of next March. The proposal has won bipartisan support in Congress and from President Donald Trump. While lawmakers and the White House have yet to reach a deal on a new stimulus package that could include another round of relief, Trump on Wednesday pushed Republicans to back a bigger stimulus bill. Meadows told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" that he is "probably more optimistic about the potential for a deal in the last 72 hours than I have been in the last 72 days."

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby on Wednesday said in an interview with Politico that the industry needs additional aid and said he was hopeful.

Earlier this month, United said it could cut around 16,000 jobs this fall when after the current round of aid expires, though it has reached a preliminary agreement with its pilots' union to avoid nearly 3,000 furloughs. The union said Wednesday that its leadership approved the agreement, which prevents furloughs through at least June 2021, that includes work reductions that aim to lower costs, among other provisions. The Air Line Pilots Association's some 13,000 members will vote on the agreement next week.

-- CNBC's Jacob Pramuk contributed to this article.

Correction: A ban on industry job cuts is set to expire in two weeks. An earlier version misstated the time frame.
The Vatican Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, made a visit to Belarus from September 11 to 14. A few highlights of his trip follow.

By Vatican News and L'Osservatore Romano

An article appeared in the Italian edition of L'Osservatore Romano on Wednesday regarding Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher's visit to Belarus.



On Friday, 11 September, Archbishop Gallagher traveled to Belarus. A statement released by the Holy See Press Office that evening said that he had gone there to show the attention and closeness of the Holy Father to the Catholic Church and the whole country.

The Archbishop was accompanied by Archbishiop Antonio Mennini, Apostolic Nuncio, and Archbishop Paul Butnaru, Secretary of Nunciature in service at the Section for Relations with States. When they arrived in Minsk, they were welcomed at the airport by the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Sergei Aleinik, and by the temporary Attache of the Apostolic Nunciature in Belarus, Rev. Maher Chammas.

From there, the Delegation went directly to the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where a meeting with Minister Vladimir Makei took place. During the meeting, which lasted about an hour and a half, some of the most important moments of the collaboration between Belarus and the Holy See in the international sphere were recalled, as well as the important contribution of the local Catholic Church to the spiritual growth of the Belarusian people, to their social assistance, to the good inter-religious national coexistence and to the promotion of the cultural identity of the country. Particular attention paid to the best way in which the Catholic Church can continue to carry out its spiritual mission for the benefit of all citizens.

On Saturday, September 12, Archbishop Gallagher met with the Catholic Bishops of Belarus at the Apostolic Nunciature. The meeting allowed, on the one hand, to know more deeply the challenges that Catholic communities and their Pastors are facing and, on the other hand, to show them the concrete closeness and support of the Holy Father. The dialogue was very useful in evaluating together the path that the local Church needs to follow in order to remain faithful to its identity and its evangelical mission, while also making itself an effective instrument of social unity.

In the afternoon, the Delegation made a private visit to the Orthodox Cathedral in Minsk, the adjacent Chapel of the Faculty of Orthodox Theology, and the nearby Catholic Cathedral. The visit gave them the opportunity to discover some details of Belarus' religious history and, above all, of its capacity for spiritual rebirth after the difficult period it lived under atheism.

That evening Archbishop Gallagher met the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and Ambassador to the Holy See, Mr. Sergei Aleinik in the Apostolic Nunciature. This dialogue allowed them to once again exchange points of view on various themes of national and international importance as well as to to deepen other reflections on some aspects of greater relevance and importance.

On Sunday, 13 September, Archbishop Gallagher celebrated Holy Mass in the chapel of the Apostolic Nunciature. Some Catholic Ambassadors also participated in the celebration. At the end of the liturgy, he briefly greeted those present.

On Sunday afternoon, the Delegation made a private visit to the Memorial Shrine in honor of all the Saints, meeting the Rector of the Shrine, the Most Reverend Archpriest Fyodor Povny. This time the Delegation was able to learn more about the history of the Belarusian people and the richness of their Orthodox Christian tradition.

On Monday, September 14, the Secretary for Relations with States returned to the Vatican.
Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) has announced the appointment of Frank Sapio as head of claims in North America. Sapio succeeds Terry Campbell, who will continue as an advisor to AGCS until July 2021.

Sapio was previously the regional head of liability and aviation claims in North America, which he will continue to oversee on an interim basis. A 30-year industry veteran, Sapio joined AGCS in 2014. Prior to that, he served in various claims management roles at Firemans Fund.
NOT FOR PUBLICATION, RELEASE OR DISTRIBUTION, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES, AUSTRALIA, CANADA, JAPAN, SOUTH AFRICA OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION IN WHICH IT WOULD BE UNLAWFUL TO DO SO. PLEASE SEE THE IMPORTANT NOTICE AT THE END OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT.

IMCD announces the launch of an accelerated bookbuild offering of new shares

ROTTERDAM, The Netherlands (15 September 2020, 17:42 CET)  IMCD N.V. (IMCD or the Company), a leading distributor of speciality chemicals and food ingredients, today announces its intention to proceed with an accelerated bookbuild offering of shares (the Offering). The Offering will consist of up to approximately EUR 400 million worth of ordinary shares (the New Shares). The Company intends to use the net proceeds of the Offering for general corporate purposes and to finance the acquisition of Signet Excipients Private Limited (Signet), one of the leading distributors of excipients in India, as announced today in a separate press release.

The Offering will be executed by way of an accelerated bookbuild offering of the New Shares (the Placement). The New Shares will be issued on a non-pre-emptive basis, under the existing mandate by the Companys shareholders provided at the most recent AGM on 30 June 2020. The Placement is being made (1) outside the United States, exclusively to institutional investors in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom and to certain institutional investors in other jurisdictions, and (2) in the United States, in transactions pursuant to an exemption from, or in transactions not subject to, the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the Securities Act) to qualified institutional buyers (as defined in Rule 144A under the Securities Act).

The bookbuilding procedure will commence with immediate effect following the release of this announcement. Details of the offer price and the final number of New Shares will be announced as soon as practicable after the books are closed, in a subsequent press release, which is expected to be published before markets open on Euronext Amsterdam on 16 September 2020, subject to acceleration.

Story continues

In relation to the Offering, the Company is subject to a market customary lock-up ending 90 days after the issue date, subject to customary exceptions and waivable by the Sole Global Coordinator.

No prospectus will be published in connection with the Offering.

Settlement of the transaction and admission to listing and trading of the New Shares on Euronext Amsterdam are expected to take place on 18 September 2020. The New Shares will rank parri passu in all respects with the outstanding ordinary shares of the Company.

J.P. Morgan Securities plc is acting as Sole Global Coordinator and, together with BNP Paribas and HSBC, as Joint Bookrunners in the Placement.

This press release contains information that qualifies as inside information within the meaning of Article 7(1) of the EU Market Abuse Regulation.

For further information, please see www.imcdgroup.com or contact ir@imcdgroup.com .

Attached, please find the press release in pdf format.

DISCLAIMER

The securities referred to herein have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act") or with any securities regulatory authority of any state or other jurisdiction of the United States and may not be offered, sold, pledged, taken up, exercised, resold, renounced, transferred or delivered, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States, except pursuant to an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the Securities Act and in compliance with any applicable securities laws of any state or other jurisdiction of the United States. Subject to certain limited exceptions, the New Shares may not be offered or sold in the United States, Australia, Japan, South Africa. No public offering of securities is being or will be made in the United States.

This announcement and the materials herein are for information purposes only and are not intended to constitute, and should not be construed as, an offer to sell or subscribe for, or the announcement of a forthcoming offer to sell or subscribe for, or a solicitation of any offer to buy or subscribe for, or the announcement of a forthcoming solicitation of any offer to buy or subscribe for New Shares and/or ordinary shares in the share capital of IMCD (such New Shares and/or ordinary shares, the "Securities") in the United States or in any other jurisdiction. No offer to sell or subscribe for Securities, or announcement of a forthcoming offer to sell or subscribe for Securities, or solicitation of any offer to buy or subscribe for Securities, or announcement of a forthcoming solicitation of any offer to buy or subscribe for, Securities will be made in the United States, Australia, Japan, South Africa or in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration, exemption from registration or qualification under the securities laws of such jurisdiction.

Neither this press release nor any copy of it may be taken or transmitted, directly or indirectly, into the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan or South Africa. This press release does not constitute or form part of any offer or invitation to sell, or any solicitation of any offer to purchase or subscribe nor shall it (or any part of it) or the fact of its distribution, form the basis of, or be relied on in connection with, any contract therefore. The release, publication or distribution of the information contained in this press release and other information in connection with the Offering may, in certain jurisdictions, be restricted by law. Persons into whose possession this press release or any document or other information referred to herein comes should inform themselves about and observe any such restrictions. Any failure to comply with these restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.

The Company has not authorized any offer to the public of Securities in any Member State of the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom. With respect to any Member State of the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom (each a Relevant State), no action has been undertaken or will be undertaken to make an offer to the public of Securities requiring publication of a prospectus in any Relevant State. As a result, the Securities may only be offered in Relevant States: (i) to any legal entity which is a "qualified investor" as defined in the Prospectus Regulation; or (ii) in any other circumstances falling within Article 1(4) of the Prospectus Regulation; provided that no such offer of Securities shall result in a requirement for the publication by the Company of a prospectus pursuant to Article 3 of the Prospectus Regulation and each person who initially acquires Securities or to whom any offer is made will be deemed to have represented, warranted and agreed to and with the Company that it is a qualified investor within the meaning of the Prospectus Regulation. For the purpose of this paragraph, the expression "offer of securities to the public" means the communication in any form and by any means of sufficient information on the terms of the offer and the Securities to be offered so as to enable the investor to decide to exercise, purchase or subscribe for the Securities and the expression "Prospectus Regulation" means Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 and amendments thereto and includes any relevant delegated regulations. Any such investor will also be deemed to have represented and agreed that any Securities acquired by it in the contemplated offering of Securities have not been acquired on behalf of persons other than such investor. This announcement is not an advertisement within the meaning of the Prospectus Regulation and does not constitute a prospectus.

Any investor will be deemed to have represented and agreed that any Securities acquired by it in the contemplated offering of Securities have not been acquired on behalf of persons other than such investor. This announcement is not an advertisement within the meaning of the Prospectus Regulation and does not constitute a prospectus.

In the United Kingdom, this press release and any other materials in relation to the Securities is only being distributed to, and is only directed at, and any investment or investment activity to which this press release relates is available only to, and will be engaged in only with, persons who are "qualified investors" (as defined in section 86(7) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000) and who are (i) persons having professional experience in matters relating to investments who fall within the definition of "investment professionals" in Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 ("Financial Promotion") Order 2005 (the "Order"); or (ii) high net worth entities falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order (all such persons together being referred to as "relevant persons"). Persons who are not relevant persons should not take any action on the basis of this press release and should not act or rely on it. No action has been taken by the Company that would permit an offer of Securities or the possession or distribution of these materials or any other offering or publicity material relating to such Securities in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required.

Statements included in this press release that are not historical facts (including any statements concerning investment objectives, other plans and objectives of management for future operations or economic performance, or assumptions or forecasts related thereto) are forward looking statements. These statements are only predictions and are not guarantees. Actual events or the results of the Companys operations could differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are typically identified by the use of terms such as may, will, should, expect, could, intend, plan, anticipate, estimate, believe, continue, predict, potential or the negative of such terms and other comparable terminology. The forward looking statements are based upon the Companys current expectations, plans, estimates, assumptions and beliefs that involve numerous risks and uncertainties. Assumptions relating to the foregoing involve judgments with respect to, among other things, future economic, competitive and market conditions and future business decisions, all of which are difficult or impossible to predict accurately and many of which are beyond the Companys control. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, the Companys actual results and performance could differ materially from those set forth in the forward looking statements.

The Joint Bookrunners are acting exclusively for the Company and no-one else in connection with any offering of Securities and will not regard any other person as their clients in relation to such offering and will not be responsible to anyone other than the Company for providing the protections afforded to their respective clients, nor for providing advice in relation to the transactions, the contents of this announcement or any other matter referred to herein. None of the Joint Bookrunners or any of their respective affiliates or any of its respective directors, personally liable partners, officers, employees, advisers or agents accepts any responsibility or liability whatsoever for or makes any representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the truth, accuracy or completeness of the information in this announcement (or whether any information has been omitted) or any other information relating to the Company or its subsidiaries or associated companies, whether written, oral or in a visual or electronic form, and howsoever transmitted or made available or for any loss howsoever arising from any use of this announcement or its contents or otherwise arising in connection therewith. Accordingly, the Joint Bookrunners and their respective affiliates expressly disclaim, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, all and any liability, whether arising in tort or contract or that they might otherwise be found to have in respect of this announcement and/or any such statement.

In connection with the Offering, the Joint Bookrunners and any of their respective affiliates, may take up a portion of the New Shares in the Offering as a principal position and in that capacity may retain, purchase, sell, offer to sell for its own accounts such New Shares and other securities of the Company or related investments in connection with the Offering or otherwise. In addition, the Joint Bookrunners and any of their respective affiliates may enter into financing arrangements (including swaps or contracts for differences) with investors in connection with which affiliates may from time to time acquire, hold or dispose of shares in the capital of the Company or other securities of the Company. None of the Joint Bookrunners intends to disclose the extent of any such investment or transactions otherwise than in accordance with any legal or regulatory obligations to do so.

Solely for the purposes of the product governance requirements contained within: (a) EU Directive 2014/65/EU on markets in financial instruments, as amended (MiFID II); (b) Articles 9 and 10 of Commission Delegated Directive (EU) 2017/593 supplementing MiFID II; and (c) local implementing measures (together, the MiFID II Product Governance Requirements), and disclaiming all and any liability, whether arising in tort, contract or otherwise, which any manufacturer (for the purposes of the MiFID II Product Governance Requirements) may otherwise have with respect thereto, the New Shares subject of the Offering have been subject to a product approval process, which has determined that such New Shares are: (i) compatible with an end target market of retail investors and investors who meet the criteria of professional clients and eligible counterparties, each as defined in MiFID II; and (ii) eligible for distribution through all distribution channels as are permitted by MiFID II (the Target Market Assessment). Notwithstanding the Target Market Assessment, distributors (for the purposes of the MiFID II Product Governance Requirements) should note that: the price of the New Shares may decline and investors could lose all or part of their investment; the New Shares offer no guaranteed income and no capital protection; and an investment in the New Shares is compatible only with investors who do not need a guaranteed income or capital protection, who (either alone or in conjunction with an appropriate financial or other adviser) are capable of evaluating the merits and risks of such an investment and who have sufficient resources to be able to bear any losses that may result therefrom. The Target Market Assessment is without prejudice to the requirements of any contractual, legal or regulatory selling restrictions in relation to the Offering.

For the avoidance of doubt, the Target Market Assessment does not constitute: (a) an assessment of suitability or appropriateness for the purposes of MiFID II; or (b) a recommendation to any investor or group of investors to invest in, or purchase, or take any other action whatsoever with respect to the New Shares. Each distributor is responsible for undertaking its own target market assessment in respect of the New Shares and determining appropriate distribution channels.

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India`s Covid-19 cases crosses 50-lakh, 1290 deaths in 24 hours



India reported 90,123 new cases taking its COVID-19 case tally past the 50-lakh mark. The country also reported 1,290 deaths in the last 24 hours. The number of people who have died of the disease now stands at 82,066 with a case fatality rate of 1.63 per cent. More than 39 lakh people stand cured with a recovery rate of 78.52 per cent. Almost 83,000 patients were discharged in the last 24 hours, bringing the total recoveries closer to the number of new cases. Only 20 per cent, or 9,95,933 cases, are active.



Maharashtra remains the worst affected state by the pandemic with a tally of 10.7 lakh cases as it reported more than 17,000 new cases again. Close to half (48.8 per cent) of the active cases are concentrated in three states - Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Kerala and Telangana contribute close to a quarter (24.4 per cent) of the active cases, the ministry said.
BRUSSELS, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Josep Borrell, the European Union (EU) high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, warned on Tuesday that EU's relations with Turkey were at a watershed moment in history.

At a European Parliament plenary, Borrell called for urgent and collective engagement to deal with the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean.

The dispute over Turkish natural gas explorations off Greek islands in the Eastern Mediterranean has escalated in recent weeks.

Greece considers the explorations illegal. The Turkish government, on the other hand, believes the waters, in which natural gas is being drilled on a trial basis, belong to the Turkish continental shelf.

"I have spent the last few months trying to facilitate de-escalation efforts. But the least I can say is that more efforts are needed -- the softest way of saying that the situation has not been improving," Borrell said to MEPs.

He said Turkey is an important neighbor of the EU, but with its actions in the Eastern Mediterranean its future relations with the bloc are called into question.

"Our relations with Turkey, which are -- I can say that firmly -- at a watershed moment in history," Borrell said.

According to the EU foreign policy chief, immediate de-escalation is essential to allow the resumption of dialogue and the negotiations, which is the only path towards stability and lasting solutions.

"This is one of the moments in history when decision makers have to go and face difficult decisions, trying to look for the best for all of us. I am sure that this is what the European Council will try to do at the next meeting," he said, referring to the Special European Council on Sept. 24-25.

According to Borrell, the latest move by Turkey to discontinue seismic exploration in the waters is a step in the right direction and gives some hope that it will lead to further steps towards dialogue. "We are not going to solve it by military means, but through dialogue and negotiations," said the EU foreign policy chief.
MONTREAL, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- On September 15th, Dr. Paul Saba, an American and Canadian physician who has worked in underdeveloped countries, will release Made to Live, an inspiring book about his deeply personal journey to save lives.

The journey begins with his story of his daughter Jessica who was born with a severe heart abnormality (https://bit.ly/31h6EbV).

The doctors told Dr. Saba and his wife, Marisa that their pre-born daughter, Jessica had little chance of survival, and if she lived she would have a poor quality of life.

Despite doctor's persistent recommendations to abort her up to 24 weeks during the pregnancy, Dr. Saba and his wife, Marisa, were determined to save Jessica. When the delivery date approached, they were asked how aggressively the medical team should intervene to save Jessica after she was born. Marisa courageously responded: "I have done everything to come this far, and you do everything you need to do to keep her alive." Jessica is now a flourishing, energetic 11-year old.

"Every human life is valuable whether you are pre-born, after birth and even at the end of a long life-never give up, always have hope. You are valuable because you are made to live," Dr. Saba reiterates in Made to Live.

Published by Winnipeg-based Word Alive Press, Made to Live www.madetolive.com tells for the first-time Dr. Saba's story of growing up in a family rooted in service to life. Even the book's creation was a family affair. The title comes from a drawing by Jessica when she was seven years old. The book's cover was designed by their son, John-Anthony. Eldest daughter Eliana contributed a chapter about saving children's lives in the underdeveloped world.

A family physician in his birthplace of Montreal, Canada, Dr. Saba draws on his years as a doctor, husband and father to help debunk the mythology that life is just one more disposable commodity.

The books are available on Amazon, Barnes & Nobles, Chapters, Indigo, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Google Play, Kindle, and Scribd vendors. The book will soon be available in other languages.

You can contact Lisa Hanash for review copies.

Book trailer: https://bit.ly/31h6EbV www.madetolive.com

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1273985/Dr_Paul_Saba_Made_to_Live__A_Physician_s_Journey_to_Save_Lives.jpg
(Alliance News) - ClearStar Inc said Wednesday it has agreed to a GBP14.7 million takeover offer from Hanover Bidco 1 Ltd, an investment vehicle owned by Hanover Active Equity Fund II.

Under the acquisition's terms, Hanover will acquire ClearStar for 40 pence per share, reflecting a premium of 23% to the company's closing price of 32.5p on Tuesday.

Shares in the background and medical screening firm were 20% higher at 39.00 pence on Wednesday in London.

The acquisition is conditional on gaining at least 50% in shareholder approval at an upcoming general meeting. However, already Hanover has obtained irrevocable acceptances for around 20.2 million shares, reflecting 56% of ClearStar's entire issued share capital. The long-stop date for the acquisition is the end of December.

Also on Wednesday, ClearStar reported a widened loss for the first half of 2020, as revenue declined on reduced screening volumes due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

For the six months to the end of June, ClearStar's pretax loss widened to USD1.2 million from USD914,000 the year before, on revenue that declined by 23% to USD8.9 million from USD11.6 million.

Sales from direct services declined by 29% to USD3.0 million from USD4.2 million as a result of lower screening volumes. Revenue from Medical Information Services declined by 20% to USD4.0 million from USD5.0 million.

Looking ahead, sales for August reached the same level as August in 2019, following a sustained improvement in run rate since the end of May. Revenue recovery has mainly come from new activity with customers with increased requirements due to the pandemic.

However, ClearStar remains cautious on its near-term outlook, due to continued uncertainty around the length of the pandemic.

"With the outbreak of COVID-19 and consequent widespread freeze on recruitment, our volumes were substantially reduced in March and April. However, from the end of May we have achieved a significant uptick in revenues - increasing month-on-month - and in August returned to our run rate of last year," said Chief Executive Officer Robert Vale.

"We have continued to be able to service our customers throughout the period as well as win new business and launch new services. This reflects our resilience and ClearStar's strong fundamentals with the necessity of employers taking action to protect the safety of their workforce and customers never being more apparent," Vale added.

Commenting on the board's decision to accept the takeover offer from Hanover, Chair Barney Quinn said: "Up until the outbreak of COVID-19, ClearStar had a good start to the year, and then saw excellent improvement from May onwards following the significant impact on revenues in March and April. However, we have not yet seen a return in much of our traditional business and the ongoing challenges created by the pandemic means that there remains significant near-term uncertainty.

"The Hanover offer provides us with the financial certainty to continue building our business and enable our employees to play a major role in transforming our industry for the benefit of our customers."

By Dayo Laniyan; dayolaniyan@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
The UK's relationship with the EU has been plunged into crisis after ministers rejected a demand by Brussels to drop plans to override key elements of the Brexit withdrawal agreement.

London's proposals to change key parts of the deal relating to Northern Ireland do not protect the Good Friday Agreement as the Government says - they do the opposite, the EU claimed.

At a stormy meeting in London, European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic gave the UK until the end of the month to drop the provisions in the Internal Market Bill or face the potential collapse of talks on a free trade agreement.

However, Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove, who co-chairs a joint committee on the withdrawal agreement with Mr Sefcovic, said the Government was not prepared to back down.

"I explained to vice-president Sefcovic that we could not and would not do that," Mr Gove told reporters following the meeting.

"I made it perfectly clear to vice-president Sefcovic that we would not be withdrawing this legislation. He understood that. Of course he regretted it."

The emergency talks were called after ministers admitted on Tuesday that provisions in the Bill to enable the Government to change elements of the withdrawal agreement relating to Northern Ireland would breach international law.

In a strongly worded statement following the meeting, the European Commission said Mr Sefcovic had made clear that the British proposals had "seriously damaged trust" between the two sides and that it was up to the UK to repair the relationship.

It said he had made clear that the EU would "not be shy" in using the "mechanisms and legal remedies" contained in the agreement to address any violations if the UK did not withdraw the provisions.

"Violating the terms of the withdrawal agreement would break international law, undermine trust and put at risk the ongoing future relationship negotiations," the statement said.

"The EU does not accept the argument that the aim of the draft Bill is to protect the Good Friday Agreement. In fact, it is of the view that it does the opposite.

"Vice-president Maros Sefcovic called on the UK Government to withdraw these measures from the draft Bill in the shortest time possible and in any case by the end of the month."

Mr Gove denied the Government was seeking to set aside the withdrawal agreement or to shirk from the protocol on Northern Ireland which means that some goods entering from the rest of the UK will be subject to EU tariffs.

"We are absolutely serious about the implementation of the protocol," he said

"But we have to ensure the protocol is implemented in a way that respects the fact that Northern Ireland is an integral part of the United Kingdom and part of our customs territory. It is British ministers in Westminster who are responsible for good governance in Northern Ireland."

Mr Gove said he still hoped the two sides could resolve their differences through the joint committee, but he refused to be drawn on the prospects of a deal being reached.

"It is not for me to speculate about the chances for success. It is my job to work for success," he said.

The row erupted as the EU and UK chief negotiators, Michel Barnier and Lord Frost, were concluding the latest round of talks on the post-Brexit relationship, including a free trade agreement, in London.

Taoiseach Micheal Martin repeated yesterday that he was not optimistic that a UK-EU trade deal would be reached, raising the prospect of high tariffs on Irish exports to its neighbour.

Mr Martin said he told Prime Minister Boris Johnson the move would be "very unsettling" for Northern Ireland.

"I pointed out very strongly to him that this was very unsettling for Northern Ireland, that it was dragging Northern Ireland back into the centre stage, that it was bad for Northern Ireland politics and that it would be divisive," Mr Martin told RTE One's Morning Ireland.

"I made a point to him that we all have obligations as political leaders to protect our peoples from the worst effects of a no-deal, and that this intervention was very serious and had raised a fundamental issue of trust between the European Union negotiators, the United Kingdom and ourselves,"

"When you enter into an agreement, solemnly engaged in hard-working negotiations and so on, you sign off, you go through your own parliament, and your own parliament approves this. Then you decide to undermine that international agreement.

"That has implications for the conduct of negotiations into the future."

Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said the UK had "breached an international commitment and they need to get back in line". "I hear commentary coming from London from some who are looking to break international law and at the same time say that they're concerned to protect peace on the island of Ireland. To me, that's absolutely absurd. It's also dangerous," she added.
The years-long spat between Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister and Metis leader David Chartrand continues to escalate, with both sides accusing the other of not picking up the phone to help track COVID-19 cases.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 15/9/2020 (493 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The years-long spat between Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister and Metis leader David Chartrand continues to escalate, with both sides accusing the other of not picking up the phone to help track COVID-19 cases.

On Monday, the premier was asked about the Manitoba Metis Federation seeking a human rights investigation into why the province shared novel coronavirus testing data with every Indigenous group except the Metis.

The MMF alleges the province has discriminated by not meeting with the federation to look at sharing data, so both can better prevent outbreaks and cope with them. Manitoba signed such agreements with First Nations and Inuit leaders months ago.

Pallister shot back Chartrand is overly litigious and constantly "trying to weasel" public funds.

"I have tons of Metis friends whom I have way too much respect for to start throwing money at them," Pallister told the Free Press at a Monday news conference.

The premier claimed Chartrand does not return phone calls, emails and text messages, on COVID-19 or on issues such as a planned flood channel outlets project. The premier said all First Nations possibly impacted by that large-scale project have shared their concerns and criticisms about the plan, but not the MMF.

"David Chartrand's been invited a dozen times to come and get involved in that discussion and he isn't returning calls," Pallister said.

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On Tuesday, the MMF said the premier was misleading Manitobans in a manner akin to U.S. President Donald Trump, and challenged him to release records showing the provinces attempted contact with the MMF.

On Monday, Pallister also chided Chartrand over a Manitoba Hydro agreement the premier cancelled in 2018, which would have given the MMF $67.5 million to not contest a transmission line to Minnesota.

"Its just David Chartrand looking to sue somebody, and theres not many people in Manitoba he hasnt chosen to sue," said the premier.

Chartrand responded the PC government is the cause of its lawsuits. "We have no choice but to sue when the premiers actions invite a lawsuit," he wrote.

 with files from Temur Durrani

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca
When Robert and Janice Beecham were married on April 15, 1974, they vowed to stick together through sickness and health.

It was a promise twice tested: Robert suffered a stroke and was in the hospital on two of their wedding anniversaries, in 2014 and again 2016.

And he was on the verge of missing a third: In late February, Robert said he started feeling chills, lost his sense of taste and was dealing with phlegm "as thick as paint." He was hospitalized again as their 46th anniversary approached, this time with COVID-19.

"The night [before I was diagnosed], I prayed because I was so sick," Robert said. "I told God I was ready to come home."

Janice was dealing with her own health issues. She had just had surgery for breast cancer and was about to undergo her first chemotherapy treatment when she got the text that her husband had tested positive for COVID-19.

"I started crying hysterically because I was like, 'I got to get to this man,'" she said.

But Janice said medical staff explained to her that she couldn't see Robert due to COVID-19 safety protocols.

"I was trying to explain to them, 'I've always been there for him through everything,'" she said. "I didn't want him alone."

PHOTO: Dr. Satyam Nayak asked Robert Beecham to draw a picture of his floor plan. Nayak then mapped out where Robert and Janice could go to maintain social distancing from each other. (WFAA)

Fortunately, Robert wasn't alone. After he transferred to the floor with COVID-19 patients, he met Dr. Satyam Nayak, a hospitalist at Parkland Health & Hospital System. Nayak is also an assistant professor of internal medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

MORE: How fit and placement influence effectiveness of face masks

The two went for multiple walks around the tactical care unit and developed a friendship.

"I told him, 'It's not fair,'" Robert said. "'My anniversary is coming up and I'm in the hospital again.'"

PHOTO: Janice Beecham was about to undergo her first chemotherapy treatment when she found out that her husband tested positive for COVID-19. (Courtesy Rober Beecham)

Robert told Nayak that he wanted to get home to his wife in time for his anniversary.

Story continues

"You could close your eyes," Nayak said. "And the way they talk about each other, you could feel the love."

MORE: Instagram influencer breaks down what's real and what's not on social media

Robert's condition began improving after a week in the hospital. Nayak spoke with his team, and they came up with a plan that could potentially get Robert home in time for his anniversary.

First, Nayak asked Robert to draw him a picture of his house floor plan.

Robert started drawing and Nayak mapped out where in the house he could go. The Beechams had a spare bedroom and bathroom, which allowed him to quarantine from his wife for 14 days.

They also had a window that faced the outdoor patio, where Janice could sit and to talk to Robert.

Robert agreed to the plan. After a week in the hospital, Robert was home in time for his 46th anniversary.

PHOTO: Dr. Satyam Nayak developed a relationship with Robert Beecham during his one-week stay at Parkland Health & Hospital System. (University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center)

"I was so glad to see him. My heart was happy," Janice said. "When you're together all the time, it's hard when someone is not there."

Although the Beechams usually celebrate by taking road trips, this year's anniversary was still special, as Robert and Janice were able to speak on the phone and through a crack in the bedroom door.

On their anniversary, Robert called Nayak to thank him.

"My wife and I were sitting in the car," Nayak said. "We go into tears because, especially as a physician, we always see patients at their worst times, and it was one of those moments where I got to hear him at his best times with his wife celebrating his anniversary."

MORE: Trick-or-treating not recommended in Los Angeles County amid COVID-19 pandemic: Is it safe in your neighborhood?

Robert has fully recovered from COVID-19 and Janice is now receiving radiation treatment for her breast cancer.

"Tomorrow is not promised," Janice said. "But I thank God that our tomorrow is a promise for us."

Couple married for 46 years survives COVID-19, cancer, and chemotherapy originally appeared on goodmorningamerica.com
Political and public health messages clashed Wednesday as the U.S. hurtles toward a high-stakes presidential election and the approval of a vaccine aimed at ending the COVID-19 pandemic.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert R. Redfield told a Senate panel that a vaccine may not be available to the American public until summer or fall 2021 and that masks are "the most important, powerful public health tool we have"  possibly even more effective than a vaccine.

Hours later, President Donald Trump criticized and contradicted both comments, repeatedly suggesting Redfield may have misunderstood the questions asked of him under oath.

Also Wednesday, Trump loyalist Michael Caputo announced he was taking a leave of absence from his role as the top spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, citing a "lymphatic issue discovered last week." Caputo previously accused scientists at the CDC of "sedition." Caputo was also accused of trying to manipulate COVID-19 data for political purposes.

Meanwhile, the CDC is under heavy scrutiny, too, after a USA TODAY investigation exposed how it failed to communicate vital information to local health authorities at the start of the pandemic, even downplaying the virus' threat.

'Let people choose': How the CDC failed local public health officials fighting the coronavirus

Some significant developments:

A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found the majority of children, teens and young adults who've died from COVID-19 are Hispanic, Black or Native American.

India surpassed 5 million cases of COVID-19 and more than 82,000 deaths.

Pfizer, one of the frontrunners in creating a COVID-19 vaccine, reported its candidate has "potential" after expanding its trial over the weekend.

 Today's numbers: Alabama, North Dakota and Wisconsin set records for new cases, while Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Montana, North Dakota and Tennessee set records for number of deaths reported, according to a USA TODAY analysis of Johns Hopkins data through late Tuesday. The U.S. has reported more than 6.6 million cases and 196,000 deaths. Globally, there have been more than 29.7 million cases and 938,000 fatalities.

Story continues

 What we're reading: Even as thousands of their employees fell ill with COVID-19, meatpacking executives pressured federal regulators to help keep their plants open, according to a trove of emails obtained by USA TODAY. Read more.

 Mapping coronavirus: Track the U.S. outbreak, state by state

This file will be updated throughout the day. For updates in your inbox, subscribe to The Daily Briefing newsletter.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom to act 'very, very shortly' on theme park reopenings

Under pressure from the amusement industry and tourism-dependent cities, California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday vowed action "very, very shortly" that could reopen Disneyland and other shuttered theme parks.

Even a partial reopening would help Anaheim and surrounding cities in California's Orange County that depend on a flood of tourists from around the world to spend lavishly at Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm, hotels, restaurants and shopping districts.

The city of Anaheim projects a fiscal-year deficit of at least $75 million, instead of the surplus that had been expected before the pandemic struck, officials said.

We are disappointed with the states lack of progress in providing the industry with guidance and clarity on reopening," Ken Potrock, president of the Disneyland Resort, said in a statement.

The California Attractions and Parks Association, whose members include both Disneyland and Universal Studios, called for Newsom to release rules for reopening on Tuesday.

 Chris Woodyard

Donald Trump says CDC Director Robert Redfield 'confused' about coronavirus vaccine, mask efficacy

President Donald Trump suggested Wednesday that the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention misspoke when he testified that a coronavirus vaccine might not be widely available until next year and that face masks are a more effective way of fighting the disease.

Trump said during a White House news briefing that Redfield was wrong on both counts.

I called him  I said, What did you mean by that? Trump told reporters. I think he just made a mistake.  I think he misunderstood the question.

Redfield told a Senate panel on Wednesday that a limited supply of coronavirus vaccine may be available between November and December, but that it was unlikely to be available to the general public until the summer or fall of next year. His remarks contradicted Trump, who has said a vaccine could be available by the end of the year, perhaps by the Nov. 3 election.

 Michael Collins and David Jackson

2-month-old baby becomes Michigan's youngest COVID-19 victim

A 2-month-old from Michigan died this week of COVID-19 and is believed to be the state's youngest victim of the virus.

"Children are not spared from this disease," said Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, chief medical executive and chief deputy for health at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, at a news conference Wednesday. "My condolences go out to their parents and family."

Additional details, such as the baby's gender, hometown, whether the infant was treated at a hospital or had other health conditions that may have contributed to the death, were not disclosed.

 Kristen Jordan Shamus, Detroit Free Press

Health official accused of meddling with CDC data takes leave of absence

Michael Caputo, the Trump administration health official embroiled in a furor over political meddling with the coronavirus response, announced he was taking a leave of absence citing a "lymphatic issue discovered last week."

The Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement that Caputo was taking the time "to focus on his health and the well-being of his family." On Twitter, Caputo cited his own medical issue.

Caputo, the departments top spokesman, apologized on Tuesday to his staff for a Facebook video in which he reportedly said scientists battling the coronavirus are conspiring against President Donald Trump and warned of shooting in America if Trump were to lose the November election.

The Trump appointee also was accused of trying to muzzle a scientific weekly put out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Majority of kids who die of COVID are Hispanic, Black or Native American, CDC finds

A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found the majority of children, teens and young adults who've died from COVID-19 are Hispanic, Black or Native American.

Researchers found there was a staggering racial disparity in the more than 390,000 coronavirus cases and 121 deaths among people under the age of 21 reported to the CDC between Feb. 12 and July 31.

Hispanic, Black and Native American children accounted for 78% of those deaths even though those groups represent just 41% of the United States population, a disproportionate effect that reflects a similar disparity among adults.

Previous research has shown the death toll from COVID-19 is twice as high for people of color under the age of 65 as it is for white Americans.

UAE approves COVID-19 vaccine developed in China for emergency use

The United Arab Emirates government authorized Emergency Use Authorization of a COVID-19 vaccine developed in China for first line defense heroes, the countrys National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority tweeted Monday.

Abdul Rahman Bin Mohammed Al Owais, UAE's Minister of Health and Prevention, said results from preclinical studies, first and second phase trials showed the vaccine is safe and effective, and that the third phase is progressing very well.

According to NCEMA, 31,000 volunteers participated in clinical trials. The agency observed mild side effects including pain in the injection area, fatigue and headache.

The vaccine will be given to front line workers who interact with people who are infected with COVID-19.

Feds outline plan to provide free COVID-19 vaccine for all Americans

The federal government outlined a sweeping plan Wednesday to make vaccines for COVID-19 available for free to all Americans.

In a report to Congress and an accompanying playbook for states and localities, federal health agencies and the Defense Department sketched out complex plans for a vaccination campaign to begin gradually in January or possibly later this year, eventually ramping up to reach any American who wants a shot.

The Pentagon is involved with the distribution of vaccines, but civilian health workers will be the ones giving shots.

Some of the plan's highlights include:

For most vaccines, people will need two doses, 21 to 28 days apart.

Vaccination of the U.S. population wont be a sprint but a marathon.

The vaccine itself will be free of charge, and patients wont be charged out of pocket for the administration of shots.

CDC failed health departments, downplayed virus at the start of the pandemic: USA TODAY investigation

A USA TODAY investigation found the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention failed to consistently perform its most basic job: giving local public health authorities the guidance needed to save American lives during a pandemic.

Instead of answers, public health departments received slow, confusing and conflicting information from the agency  if they received any response at all. Communities were left to make life-or-death decisions about testing, personal protection and reopening.

Reporters reviewed 42,000 pages of emails and memos obtained from local health departments and interviewed more than 100 community leaders and public health experts.

During this time, the agency downplayed the potential harm from the virus in dozens of press briefings, congressional hearings and other public statements between January and April. The investigation comes as the CDC continues to receive widespread scrutiny for yielding to political pressure from the White House.

 Brett Murphy and Letitia Stein

India surpasses 5 million COVID-19 cases, including 90K in past 24 hours

India's coronavirus confirmed cases crossed 5 million on Wednesday, still soaring and testing the country's feeble health care system in tens of thousands of impoverished towns and villages.

The Health Ministry reported 90,123 new cases in the past 24 hours, raising the nation's confirmed total to 5,020,359, about 0.35% of its nearly 1.4 billion population. It said 1,290 more people died in the past 24 hours, for a total of 82,066.

India's total coronavirus caseload is closing in on the United States' highest tally of more than 6.6 million cases and expected to surpass it within weeks.

India reported a record daily high of 97,570 cases on Sept. 11 and has added more than 1 million cases this month alone.

Pfizer reports 'potential' with COVID-19 vaccine candidate, expands trial

Pfizer, one of the frontrunners in the quest for a COVID-19 vaccine, said its candidate vaccine is looking safe, and the company expects to have data next month on how well it is protecting people against the coronavirus.

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said Tuesday that he is intentionally revealing more information about the COVID-19 candidate vaccine than he would about any other vaccine under development because he wants the process to be open and transparent.

"Transparency is a must, particularly given this situation and the politicization of the vaccine," he said in a Q&A with journalists.

The company had said Saturday that it was expanding its trial from 30,000 to 44,000 people to include teenagers, ages 16-18, as well as people with diseases such as HIV, and hepatitis A, B, or C. Tuesday, Bourla said the expansion took place because the vaccine appeared to be extremely safe, and the trial could be expanded without delaying the timeline for completion.

 Karen Weintraub

COVID-19 resources from USA TODAY

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 16)  The head of a United Nations panel on human rights is calling for an end to Philippine policies that were said to have led to killings and human rights violations in the bloody war on drugs.

At the opening of the UN Human Rights Council's 45th session in Geneva, Switzerland on Monday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet expressed concern about the abuses across several countries, including the drug-related killings in the Philippines amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

In her report to the council in June, Bachelet flagged the "widespread and systematic" killings which she said were "being carried out without due regard for the rule of law, due process, and the human rights of people who may be using or selling drugs." The Philippines' Justice Department subsequently said that an inter-agency panel has been looking into all the 5,655 anti-drug operations that resulted in deaths.

Bachelet said her office is seeking details from the Philippine government so we can advise and assess the scope, process, and efficacy of the review panel.

However, beyond this initial process, there is clearly an urgent need to revoke the policies that continue to result in killings and other human rights violations, to bring to justice the perpetrators, and to halt the use of rhetoric inciting violence against people who use or sell drugs, Bachelet said.

Local and international human rights groups say President Rodrigo Duterte's public pronouncements have resulted in thousands more extrajudicial killings. But Malacanang has repeatedly denied this, saying there are no state-sanctioned killings and any abuse will be investigated and prosecuted by local courts.

READ: 62 groups ask UN for independent probe on PH killings, human rights abuses

Bachelet said her office will continue to monitor the situation in the Philippines and cooperate with the government, the independent constitutional body Commission on Human Rights, civil society groups and the UN system so its recommendations can be implemented, including the call to strengthen the countrys accountability mechanism.

Aside from the drug war, Bachelet also sounded the alarm over the harassment, threats, and violence against journalists, activists and critics of the administration, the passage of the problematic Anti-Terrorism Act, and Dutertes renewed call for the revival of death penalty.
In the Medical Technology concentration, students complete three years of coursework at MCLA and a clinical year at Berkshire Medical Centers Medical Technology program. Students who complete this concentration can become certified medical technologists and immediately work in the field.

Requirements

BIOL 101 Seminar for Entering Majors (1 cr)

BIOL 150 Introduction to Biology I: Cells (4 cr)

BIOL 240 Genetics (4 cr)

BIOL 302 Applied Statistics in Biology (1 cr)

BIOL 320 Microbiology (4 cr)

BIOL 342 Anatomy & Physiology I (4 cr)

BIOL 343 Anatomy & Physiology II (4 cr)

BIOL 305 Immunology (3 cr)

CHEM 150 Introduction to Chemistry I (4 cr)

CHEM 152 Introduction to Chemistry II (4 cr)

CHEM 201 Organic Chemistry I (4 cr)

CHEM 202 Organic Chemistry II (4 cr)

MATH 232/232H Introduction to Statistics (3 cr)

At Berkshire Medical Center, following acceptance into the training program:

BIOL 491 Clinical Chemistry (8 cr)

BIOL 492 Clinical Molecular Biology (1 cr)

BIOL 493 Clinical Immunology (1 cr)

BIOL 494 Clinical Hematology (8 cr)

BIOL 495 Clinical Urinalysis & Body Fluids (1 cr)

BIOL 496 Clinical Microbiology (8 cr)

BIOL 497 Clinical Immunohematology (5 cr)

Different states have different sets of courses that must be completed if a student wishes to be eligible for certification as a medical technologist. The courses listed in the MCLA Medical Technology concentration allow for certification in most states, including Massachusetts. To allow for certification in the remaining states, students are advised to take the following courses: BIOL 360 Biochemistry, BIOL 395 Bioethics, CHEM 310 Analytical Chemistry, CSCI 243 Database Development, PHYS 131 General Physics I and PHYS 132 General Physics II.

MCLA in 4

A sample 4-year plan showing a possible sequence of courses in this concentration.

Articulation

Strong students who have met the requirements outlined in the articulation agreement gain preferred admission to the School of Medical Technology at the Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, MA. Students that complete the program at BMC earn a certificate in Medical Technology. The Articulation (3+1) has students complete the required course work for general education and biology program requirements in 3 years at MCLA, and then in their final year coursework in in the Medical Technology program at BMC.

Professional Experience

Students should become familiar with the medical technology profession prior to applying to the training program at Berkshire Medical Center. Students accepted into the medical technology program at Berkshire Medical Center will gain professional experience and training for the certification exam during their clinical year.

Application Tests

Upon completion of their coursework at MCLA and Berkshire Medical Center students are eligable to take the national registry exam, administered by the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) Board of Certification

Advising

A faculty advisor will meet with each student at least once per semester and will provide information about the application procedure for the training program at Berkshire Medical Center. Information about upcoming courses, and other topics is provided to enrolled students on the Biology Departments Canvas page.

Careers & Outcomes

Berkshire Medical Centers Medical Technology Program consistently reports a 100% pass rate on the certification exam, and all of our recent Medical Technology graduates gained employment as medical technologists. Three MCLA students are currently completing their clinical year at Berkshire Medical Center.
Rhea Chakrabortys arrest by the NCB, the film industry has come under the scanner. However, yesterday Jaya dismissed these allegations and lashed out at those trying to defame the film industry. She said, Just because there are some people, you can't tarnish the image of the entire industry. I am really embarrassed and ashamed that yesterday one of our members in Lok Sabha, who is from the film industry, spoke against it. It is a sham. Today, reports suggest that Mumbai Police has beefed up the security as a precautionary measure. After, the film industry has come under the scanner. However, yesterday Jaya dismissed these allegations and lashed out at those trying to defame the film industry. She said, Just because there are some people, you can't tarnish the image of the entire industry. I am really embarrassed and ashamed that yesterday one of our members in Lok Sabha, who is from the film industry, spoke against it. It is a sham.

Yesterday, Samajwadi Party MP and veteran actor Jaya Bachchan gave out a strong speech against those trying to tarnish the reputation of the Hindi film industry. Recently, many have accused Bollywood of being involved with the drug mafia after which she moved a Zero Hour notice in Rajya Sabha to raise the issue of a conspiracy to defame the film industry.
Somalia's former Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire, whose Cabinet lost a parliamentary vote of confidence in July, has returned with a bid for the president.

But the message he posted on his Twitter account on Saturday immediately elicited anger among his opponents, some of whom think he masterminded the failures in the current administration.

Mr Khaire, appointed by President Mohamed Farmaajo in March 2017, said on Saturday that he has done a lot of work and learnt many lessons.

"Brothers and sisters, there is no doubt that over the last 20 years, the country's state-building has been advancing gradually," he stated as the preamble.

"There is no doubt that the country's state-building has been advancing gradually over the last 20 years. During the fifth stage of that state-building, I have done a lot, serving the Somali people in a responsible way, and learnt a lot with Allah's help.

"Now that we are looking forward to a new mandate for the Somali government, I inform you about my candidacy in the upcoming presidential race," he said, underlining that he reached his decision upon profoundly thinking about it and after consultations.

Mr Khaire said he understands the opportunities and challenges related to the leadership of the country and that he wants to lead through "capacity, integrity and honesty".

Mr Khaire's former position is yet to be filled and is being held in acting capacity by his former deputy premier Mahdi Mohammed Guleid alias Khadar.

No surprise

Mr Khaire's announcement was not surprising.

Rumours swirled around Mogadishu's political circles from 2019 that he could contest for the presidency.

His declaration means the race for Villa Somalia, the State house, will be crowded with big names such as President Farmajo and former presidents Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud and Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.

Mr Khaire appears to be the odd one out of those expected to run for the post.

He was a little known former refugee, who worked as an oil executive, and was more like Abdi Farah Shirdon alias Saaid or Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed, who were picked by Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud as PMs during his presidency in 2012-2016.

Mr Shirdon was the premier from Oct 2012 to November 2013 and was succeeded by Mr Ahmed for another year before Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke took over.

Mr Sharmarke was premier under two presidents while Mr Ahmed and Mr Mohamoud were also prominent. Mr Sharmarke's father had been both prime minister and president of Somalia in the post-independence civilian government in the 1960s.

Despite emerging as a little known, Mr Khaire immediately built his brand as a youthful executive leader who was very happy to be associated with youngsters.

His surprise nocturnal trips to spots in the city, where young boys often had tea and shared stories, made him more socially acceptable and open to conversations with them in slang.

Mr Khaire's critics, however, dismissed his interactions with the younger generation as a move to build a name for himself, especially via the formal and social media. They said his actions would not grow his portfolio as a leader.

Abdirahman Abdishakur, leader of Wadajir Party, once labeled Khaire's action as Igu-sawir, which means 'take a photo of me with everything'.

And on Sunday, Mr Abdishakur, a former planning minister, said the former PM's was being opportunistic about the presidency and accused him of running a government that targeted the dissidents

The party's offices were bombed on December 18, 2017 and several officials and guards were killed. Mr Abdishakur survived but he had often claimed the government under Mr Khaire masterminded the attack.

In a post on Facebook, the Wadajir leader said Mr Khaire's government suppressed free speech and worsened the relationship between the Federal government and federal states.

Impeachment charges

When MPs impeached Mr Khaire in July, they argued he had failed to ensure Somalia's electoral plan worked.

They also said he had failed to ensure a constitutional review, which would have given clarity on federal state functions and facilitated timely elections.

Despite negative utterances from those opposing the government he led from March 2017, Mr Khaire resisted and continued impressing both fellow nationals and Somalia's international partners as the PM who caused little headache to his President.

Three years passed without parliamentary troubles for Mr Khaire or President Farmaajo, earning the duo the reputation of being most stable since Somalia's governance was restored at the Arta conference in Djibouti in 2000.

However, as the election fever spread and debates gathered momentum over the envisaged parliamentary election in 2020 and the presidential one in 2021, cracks appeared in the partnership.

Now that the bond has been severed following Khaire's chaotic loss of the premiership, reactions by compatriots, in and out of Somalia have varied in many ways.

Based in Virginia, USA, Ms. Kamar H. D. Hersi, a Somali-American professional, is among those who wanted the Horn of Africa country to be ruled by determined politicians who could lift the beleaguered nation out of its predicament and save it from years of misrule. Ms Hersi found in Mr Farmajo and Mr Khaire the ideal team but felt disappointed by their divide this year.

"I trusted Farmajo and Khaire to move the country forward. I was saddened to see them split," she told the Nation on phone.

"I blame Khaire because, at the end, he was disloyal to the President," she added, citing a political partnership in the US as an example of a successful strategic alliance.

"Look at Biden (current Democratic Party presidential candidate Joe Biden). For eight years, he supported the President (Barack Obama), who was younger than him and in this country is considered a minority. Biden has had presidential ambitions for the last 40 years. However, he never diminished Obama. This is because he respected the office."

Suspected strategy

Some think Mr Khaire is playing a designed fixture to the advantage of Farmajo.

Within days of his dismissal, Khalif Raghe at Brunel University London tweeted, "His exit is a strategy to counter Hassan Sheikh and Sheikh Sharif's alliance. The plan is to create an environment for Khaire to get sympathy from his backyard and run for the presidency to divide the votes of the former presidents."

For the past 51 days that Mr Khaire kept quiet, his political rivals did not speak words against him, avoiding the classical dictum of 'killing the dead and kicking the corpse".

Many expressed sympathy because of the seemingly unfair manner in which he was removed from power but after his announcement, his critics struck almost immediately.

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Mahad Mohamed Salad, a member of the Lower House of Parliament, on Sunday questioned why Mr Khaire did not arrange a big gathering to announce his candidacy.

Describing the politician's move as hasty, he said via Facebook, "[He] could not hold one ceremony in just one evening in the city where he has been living as a prime minister. How [does] a nation trust him to lead as president?"

"How he announced his candidacy was unceremonious."

Former presidents Ahmed and Mohamoud, who led the six-party coalitions known as The Forum for National Parties (FNP), are yet to utter a word in reaction to Mr Khaire's announcement.

FNP appears to have little time for Khaire's public announcement as the former leaders appear to be closely monitoring a conference on election modalities that started in Mogadishu on Sunday.

The partakers are President Farmajo and the presidents of the five federal member states of Jubbaland, Galmudug, South West, Hirshabelle, and Puntland, as well as the Mayor of Mogadishu.

It is labeled as the National Consultative Forum (NCF) meeting and is being held at Villa Somalia.

The popular belief is that Mr Khaire's true intention will come to light once the NCF meeting is concluded.

Amusingly, Hussein Mohamed Mohamoud, a political analyst at Hamarweyne district in Mogadishu, suspects that Farmajo and Khaire aims to play the now classical Putin-Medvedev tandemocracy in Russia.

"I suspect Farmajo and Khaire want to play in Somalia a rare game like (Vladimir) Putin and (Dmitry) Medvedev did in taking the presidency in turn in Russia," he said.
Kochi, Sep 16 : Acting on six different petitions, the Kerala High Court on Wednesday passed an interim order seeking Centre's view on the need for a federal probe into a gold loan firm's claim of having gone bust, besides asking police to treat each complaint as an individual case against the company.

The high court directed the Personnel Department of the Centre to take a call on the need for a CBI probe into the manner in which the leading finance firm -- Popular Finance -- went bust leaving thousands of depositors in the lurch.

It also asked for the cancellation of an order of the State Police chief that had directed to register one FIR bunching all complaints against Popular Finance from each district of the state.

Instead the court asked the respective police stations to treat every depositor's complaint as a single FIR and go ahead with the case.

According to estimates, there could be around 12,000 individual complaints.

Headquartered in Pathanamthitta district, the firm has been in the business of gold loans and taking deposits from people since 1965. The company has 247 branches in the state.

It has now come to light that Rs 2,000 crore of depositor's money has been alleged to have been misappropriated by the management.

The police by now have arrested its key partners which include the managing partner Thomas Daniel Roy and his wife Prabha. Two daughters of his were picked up at the Delhi airport, when they were trying to sneak into Australia, while a third daughter is all likely to be booked shortly.

Incidentally Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, last month soon after the scam surfaced had announced that the state will now seek Interpol's help to track down the international links suspected in the Popular Finance fraud case.

According to sources in the know of things, while Roy has invested in properties in neighbouring states, it remains to be known if money has been diverted to Australia, where close relatives of Roy are settled and have a few business establishments.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
A group calling itself the Dagbang Forum, has expressed opprobrium over what its national executives describe as instances of occurrences which tend to undermine the authority of the Ya Na.

The forum cited instances of lawlessness being perpetrated by a section of the youth in the Karaga area of the Northern Region.

Video footages, the forum stated, showed the said youth engaging in acts of destructionsomething which it cautioned could threaten the peace and pose danger to human lives and property.

It could, they added, undermine the authority of the Dagbon King; their spewing of harsh language and putting up a posture which did not inure to the authority of the King of Dagbang, Ya Na Abukari II.

A statement signed by Dr. Abdulai Sulemana Mobson, National President of Dagbang Forum, on Monday and copied to the media in Tamale, said there could be no justification for actions seeking to undermine the Ya Nas authority as it is happening now in Karaga and in April last year in Nanton.

The statement said the Dagbang peace process was in a nascent state, requiring all sections of the society to dig deep within their hearts and souls to help in the attainment of lasting peace, adding, We appeal for calm, surely there are less violent ways of showing displeasure when the Overlord of Dagbang has spoken on an issue.

Ya Na Abukari II on Friday, September 11, 2020, enskined one Abdulai Nantogma Abdulai as the Chief of Karaga, a decision that has been challenged by the Ragent of Karaga.

It said the ground-breaking road map presented by the eminent kings and bravely implemented by the government, provided a framework for peace building, and enjoined on all stakeholders to have the overriding interest of the people of Dagbang at heart.

There are many more funerals to be performed and many chieftaincy positions to be filled. We should be finding ways of supporting the Ya Na, the Dagbang Traditional Council (DTC) and the various institutions of governance to manage the increasingly complex situation created by nearly 40 years of mistrust, tension and chaos, the statement said.

It said, Decisions will be made and some people are bound to be unhappy with efforts being made to fill numerous vacant chieftainships.

The statement added that barely two years after the hard work of the eminent kings to secure a lasting peace in Dagbang, government and the chiefs and people of Dagbang must show honesty, sincerity and inclusive dialogue among stakeholders to avoid what was being seen today and call for calm in Karaga and its environs.

We should trust in his ability and wisdom to rule us in a manner that detoxifies the archaic Abudu/Andani divide and bring honour to all Dagbamba. More of our dialogues and discussions should be on development rather than conflict resolution, it stated.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 16:49:26|Editor: huaxia

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VIENTIANE, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Lao government urged authorities countrywide to strictly monitor people entering the country to prevent a second wave of COVID-19.

The temperature of each person entering Laos must be checked and people entering Laos must be sent to quarantine centers for 14 days, according to a statement from Lao Ministry of Health.

On Tuesday, a total of 2,076 people entering Laos through international border checkpoint. Of these, 1,298 people crossed the border with Thailand.

A total of 14 people entered from China, while 748 people from Vietnam, and nine people from Cambodia.

The National Taskforce Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control said on Wednesday that it has been monitoring 2,551 people at 51 accommodation centers across the country.

The Lao government has advised people and relevant authorities not to neglect containment and preventive measures.

As of Wednesday, Laos has tested 45,612 suspected cases with 23 cases returned positive, and 22 patients have recovered.

The last patient has been treated in the designated hospital, Mittaphab Hospital (Hospital 150) in Lao capital Vientiane.

Laos detected its first two COVID-19 cases on March 24. Enditem
In expanded deal with India, Novax aims for 2 billion COVID-19 doses

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Sep 16: Novax Inc, the US drug developer said that it was doubling its potential COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing capacity to two billion doses annually under and agreement with the Serum Institute of India.

Novax had in August signed a deal with Serum Institute to produce a minimum of one billion doses of its vaccine candidate.

Serum Institute will also manufacture the antigen component of the vaccine, dubbed NVX CoV2373 as part of the expanded agreement. The Novax vaccine is currently in the mid-stage trials after an early stage showed it produced highest levels of antibodies against the coronavirus. The company has plant to begin late stage trials in the third quarter.

Serum Institute gets DCGI nod to resume clinical trial of AstraZeneca vaccine

Novax had said last month that it will supply 60 million doses of its vaccine candidate to the UK beginning as early as the first quarter of 2021. The company is also preparing to deliver 100 million doses to the United States by January. It was awarded 1.6 billion USD for its potential vaccine. Further supply agreements were also signed with Japan and Canada.
President Birge's remarks, presented during opening breakfast, January 22, 2019

Good Morning, Happy New Year, and welcome to the start of the spring 2019 semester.

Lets start this morning by thanking our friends in Aramark for todays breakfast.

I hope you have returned to campus as excited about a new semester as I am. This morning I will share with you some of the reasons why I am excited and what is on the horizon for MCLA.

(After welcoming trustees, elected representatives, and union representatives to speak at the podium, President Birge plays a video of students describing their experiences of their first visits to MCLA.)

Great. Cool. Enthusiastic. Welcoming. I dont feel like a number. Great Choice. These perspectives of students about MCLA dont surprise me. I am certain many of you have heard students make such statements, as have I. These internal assessments of our students experiences should help us feel confident we are exercising our mission.

We started the 2018-2019 academic year with external organizations also praising our work. US News and World Report ranked MCLA #9 in the country among public liberal arts institutions.

A few weeks later, University of Southern Californias Race and Equity Center identified MCLA as one of the top public institutions nationally for serving black students well. And more recently, the Eos Foundation examining gender equality in Massachusetts colleges and universities has identified MCLA as one of only 18 colleges out of 93 to achieve gender parity, and the only public, four year institution on that list.

Although it is gratifying to have these internal and external affirmations of the work we are doing to be a better college, there remain far too many instances when we have not lived up to these rankings. All the more reason for us to continue the hard work, and to be frank, there is much more work to be accomplished, that positions MCLA as THE institution where the sharing and acquisition of knowledge occurs for anyone without the presence of bias, oppression, marginalization, and exclusion. That day is on the horizon for us. And I know we are fully capable of being that institution.

We can see examples of our capacity to be a great institution in the achievements of our graduates and among our colleagues.

Let me offer a few examples from our Web Site News Page:

New Prof Specializes in Transnational Studies

Alumna to Work with Teach for America in Atlanta

New Prof Brings Experience from Chinese Journalism Outlets

My Chance to Advance: Head Start Exec Director Lauds MCLA Degree Completion Program

Poli Sci Profs Research Attracts International Audience

Alumna Finds Dream Job in NYC

Business Prof Shares Theory with International Audience

Arts Management Alumna Lands Position at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

I encourage you to go to the MCLA website and click on the MCLA NEWS link and read the stories about us!

If you have not read these stories in a while, or ever, I think you will be pleasantly surprised to read about the accomplishments we have made as an institution. And these stories only capture a fraction of our success.

MCLAPittsfield:

One of the upcoming stories for the web site is the grand opening of MCLAPittsfield located at 66 Allen Street. A grand opening and ribbon cutting event will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 12, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. to celebrate the location, and the campuss commitment to offering courses in Pittsfield. MCLAs Division of Gradate and Continuing Education plays an increasingly critical role in responding to the needs of employers in the region to grow an educated workforce. I hope you can join us on the 12th to celebrate our new location in Pittsfield.

Mellon Foundation:

Returning to the category of external organizations affirming our work, I am happy to share with you that in early December the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation awarded MCLA a $360,000 grant to establish an Institute on the Arts and Humanities. Professor Lisa Donovan will be the principal investigator for the grant which will explore the connections between arts and cultural organizations and the teaching and learning of the humanities in order to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion. As part of the grant, MCLA will host a summer 2019 conference on DEI. Vice President Emily Williams has already secured Nikki Giovanni as the keynote speaker.

The Mellon grant and the conference will help to make MCLA a state-wide leader emphasizing diversity, equity, and inclusion as part of our institutional mission.

Earlier this month, Commissioner of Higher Education, Carlos Santiago, announced that the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education has decided to make equity the top statewide policy and performance priority for public higher education; and so the on-going work to enhance our commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion aligns well with the Commonwealths priorities.

External Pressures on Higher Education Institutions:

Making MCLA more visible to prospective students and providing evidence that an MCLA education makes a difference in peoples lives is critically important work for us today. The pressures on colleges and universities to reduce time to degree, to offer academic programs that prepare students for emerging job opportunities, to provide alternative delivery methods and credentials all while controlling for the cost of education compels us to think differently about what we do.

When we embrace the idea of changing the status quo of our work, we will better position MCLA as the college of choice for students and, as a result, thrive academically and financially.

For a decade, higher education leaders have been talking about the disruption that is coming to our campuses. One only needs to read recent news reports to see that a correction in higher education is here. Many colleges have closed, merged, or are on the brink of either. Although our finances are stronger than most of these institutions, we struggle under the competition to recruit and to retain students. Each of us has a responsibility to create an environment where students can thrive and achieve their academic goals as well as to offer academic programs and credentials that respond to the changing world of work and that prepare graduates to have meaningful careers.

I think MCLA has more to offer than the institutions I just listed. We have the capacity to respond to the disruption occurring around usand we must respond. As a public institution, the Legislature provides MCLA with an appropriation that supports our mission, but it doesnt cover our expenses. In fact, our appropriation covers a third of our operating expenses leaving the balance for us to cover with tuition and fee revenue, donor support, grants, and summer conference and event revenue. The MCLA Foundation also is an important source of revenue for us with funds that grow out of the endowment. But our endowment, at approximately $13 million, is relatively small compared to Hampshire Colleges endowment of $52 million, for example.

This period of disruption in higher education presents us with an opportunity to further distinguish MCLAs mission of providing a high quality, liberal arts education while responding to the needs and demands of society, today.

Strategic Plan:

All the more reason, then, for us to pay attention to the goals of the strategic plan. Last May we met as a community to formalize the work of the Strategic Planning process and to discuss next steps for implementation. The first phase of our work responded to the Department of Higher Educations feedback to assure the following as the plan moves forward:

To consider academic programs that respond to workforce/labor needs

To consider the cost structure of attending MCLA when implementing the Strategic Plan

To deepen corporate and philanthropic relations

To develop a 5-year financial model, and

To create metrics/benchmarking to compare with State U, private colleges, and COPLAC peers)

On the slide are major initiatives in progress this academic year. Work continues on these initiatives, and others, and we will recap the results at our end-of-year retreat tentatively scheduled for May 28. This semester we will roll-out a process to fund year two initiatives. This will follow a similar divisional proposal process as last year and we will focus on alignment with Title 3 goals and planning.

Thank you for your continued efforts on this transformative work. It is a competitive time in higher education and this work allows us to continue to "Think Differently" as we plan for MCLA's future. Succeeding in retaining students, offering academic programs that attract students, controlling our costs, responding to changes in the workforce into which our graduates will enter will allow us to continue to offer a high quality, liberal arts education that has meaning for students and employers and that produces outcomes that families want for their students.

Marketing/Brand Identity:

As part of our strategic planning goal of improving internal communications and enhancing our external reputation, MCLA engaged in a partnership with higher education marketing firm SimpsonScarborough in spring 2018. You may already know this important work is under way, and you may have even been one of the 3,000 respondents to the market research surveys.

Through brand assessment, group discussions with campus stakeholders, and quantitative research with prospective undergraduate students, high school and transfer counselors, current students, faculty, staff, and alumni, SimpsonScarborough helped us identify the current and aspirant positions of the MCLA brand for these key stakeholders.

With this data and information as a guide, SimpsonScarborough developed a brand strategy to help us increase awareness, reputation, and preference for MCLA, and to align the institution for a stronger future. Based on the brand strategy, two creative concepts were developed to frame and unify MCLAs storytelling through a combination of messaging, tone, and graphic design.

After testing the concepts with internal and external audiences, it was clear there were strong preferences for both concepts. As a result, SimpsonScarborough took the strongest elements from concept two and integrated them into concept one. You will begin to see some of these new branding elements right away, and implementation of the new brand will continue through the next academic year and beyond.

Thank you all for participating in the market research project. Your feedback was integral to this process.

A special note of thanks to the Marketing and Communications team Bernadette Alden and Francesca Olsen for managing this project, and to the Brand Advisory Team: Kayla Hollins; Josh Mendel; Laura Mooney; Dale Osef; Steve Pesola; Graziana Ramsden; Ryan Senecal; Diane Scott; and Tom Whalen, for their valuable input and representation. Finally, our deepest gratitude should be for Helen Sinderman 44, whose estate provided the resources for us to engage this important work.

Anyone who is interested in learning more about the new brand and ways that you can use it as a tool for your departments and projects, can participate in an upcoming brand training session February 13 or 14. There, SimpsonScarborough representatives will guide us through the new brand strategy and provide an overview of how the new brand will be used from college messaging to design.

Website Overhaul:

One of the most important tools MCLA has to position itself as a college of choice for families is our website. And although our current site is adequate, we know there are elements of the site that are not accessible to all people and has limited functionality with mobile devices. All the more reason, then, to overhaul the website that will include the new brand strategy and enhance its functionality.

Over the last two months, the website development team: Bernadette Alden, Ian Bergeron, Jana Boyer, Francesca Olsen, Steve Pesola, and Gina Puc, has interviewed a number of firms that specialize in website development. The team has selected iFactory out of Boston to perform this work which will commence in the next few weeks and progress throughout the year. Our goal is to have the new website on-line by late fall 2019.

Cyber Security:

Speaking of technology, you may have recently noticed that our colleagues in Information Technology Services have tagged any external e-mail messages that come into the MCLA accounts. The reason for this notice is to alert you to the possibility that the message could be an attempt to get data from you.

MCLA has been a recipient of these attempted cyberattacks and so I urge you to be cautious about opening attachments in e-mails that originate from outside of MCLA. If you receive e-mails that you suspect are fraudulent, please forward them to the Help Desk, immediately.

Please join me in welcoming Professors Elizabeth Hartung, Mathemetics; Matthew Silliman, Philosophy; and Ben Wood, Psychology, back from sabbatical.

During the past several weeks, VP Williams made adjustments to the organizational structure in Academic Affairs. As part of these changes, Deborah Foss will now serve as Dean of Academic Operations and Theresa OBryant as Dean of Student Success and Engagement. Both will report to VP Williams in their new roles.

In late December, we received a letter from NECHE, New England Commission of Higher Education, in response to MCLAs fifth year report. I am happy to report that NECHE has accepted interim report and a comprehensive evaluation was confirmed and has been scheduled for Fall 2023. This evaluation will cover an intensive review of compliance with all of NECHEs standards; however, the fall 2023 evaluation will give emphasis to our work in revising the core curriculum (general education), increasing student enrollment, retention and graduation, and developing a multi-year financial plan that is aligned with its recruitment, enrollment and retention plans.

I am happy to report that Sarah Smarsh has been confirmed as the speaker for our spring public policy lecture scheduled for April 4. Ms. Smarsh is an author, educator, speaker, and journalist who focuses on socioeconomic class and rural America. Her book Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth examines historic economic inequality and tells the story of her upbringing among the working poor on a Kansas farm.

Presidents Council:

In an organization of 400 employees with many different departments and divisions, communication is a challenge, at best. Sometimes there is information that cant be shared for legal reasons; at other times information shouldnt be shared to preserve someones dignity, and still other times when information cant be shared immediately because it is incomplete.

Nonetheless, there are, indeed, times when information should be shared and it isnt due to other pressing priorities. It is my goal to improve upon the sharing of information around the college. One way to enhance communication of information might be to return to a model from a few years ago when there was a Presidents Council. The minutes and membership rosters that I have read suggest that a similar group could help with opening communication.

And to be clear, the Presidents Council will not be for me solely to give information to the members but for all of the Council members to learn more about what is happening in departments and divisions that inform the decisions we all make.

Shortly I will invite 30-40 of you to join the Presidents Council.

The Presidents Council will meet five times a year for 90 minutes each.

Members will exchange information and discussion around challenges and opportunities for MCLA.

We will identify and examine policies and practices that enhance the learning and teaching environment.

We will all share data and information and address rumors and mis-information.

Each member will be responsible to report discussion content to colleagues.

Presidents Office will post meeting notes on-line for everyone to read.

I will send out invitations to join the Council later this week.

I am under no illusion this Council will solve our communications inefficiencies, but it has the opportunity to expand the amount of information that we can share with one another.

Honorary Degree Recipients and Speaker:

It always seems to me that the spring semester of the academic year passes more quickly than the fall term. If that holds true this year, then MCLAs 120th Commencement Exercises will be upon us sooner than we might anticipate. As has been our tradition, MCLA will confer honorary degrees on May 18 upon three worthy candidates. The MCLA Board of Trustees has voted to recognize former North Adams Mayor Richard Alcombright who will receive an honorary doctor of public service degree.

Mr. Alcombrights support and advocacy on behalf of MCLA is without question, evidenced by his presence at admissions events where he urged parents to choose MCLA for their students.

Additionally, the Board voted to recognize Ms. Shirley Edgerton, alumna of MCLA and a former Trustee of the College with an honorary doctor of humane letters degree. Ms. Edgerton has long served the people of Berkshire County and our students as an educator and community activist.

Finally, the Board voted to recognize Congressman Richard Neal, the U.S. Representative for Massachusetts's 1st congressional district with an honorary doctor of public service degree. Mr. Neal recently became the Chair of the US House of Representatives Ways and Means Committeeone of the most powerful posts in Washington DC. Mr. Neal will also offer the Commencement Address.

125th Anniversary:

In 1894, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts established the Normal School in North Adams to educate teachers for the public schools. Since then, our College has had numerous name changes which include State Teachers College in North Adams (1932), North Adams State College (1960), and, finally, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (1997). Regardless of our name, MCLA over the years has reflected its historic public purpose to respond to the needs and demands of society.

MCLA will celebrate its 125th anniversary in 2019 and I have invited faculty, staff, students, and alumni to form an anniversary committee. The members of the committee will help to guide activities, events, and visibility of the celebration of our 125th year including themed alumni events and signage on campus, to photo exhibitions, special events, and more. Bob Ziomek 89, Vice President of Institutional Advancement, has agreed to chair the committee.

I will share more information about these activities once they are planned.

New Employees:

One of the factors that sets us apart from other institutions is the high quality of our faculty and staff. There are some new faces among us since last fall including:

Bernadette Dineen

Susannah McAllister

Robert Hungate

Brandon Lipka

Khalil Paul

Steven Stengel

Cindy MacDonald

Kate Gigliotti

Maria Moulton

Kate Flower

Closing:

Colleagues, Thank you all for being here this morning and for your ongoing contributions to providing our students with a high quality liberal arts education.

Happy New Year!
Nigerian lesbian movie "Ife" produced by Pamela Adie and directed by Uyaiedu Ikpe-Etim is set for release despite stern warning from Nigerian Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) that the film (which means "love" in Yoruba language violates the country's strict laws on homosexuality.

But according to a report by BBC, the filmmakers are determined to get the film across to the Nigerian audience. To get around, the report says the filmmakers are planning a surprise online release to catch the regulators off-guard. However, according to BBC in its report, the Censors Board is well aware and diligently monitoring all digital platforms to checkmate the release of the movie.

According to the Censors Board boss, Adebayo Thomas, both the producer and the director, and indeed all involved in the film could be risking jail terms of 14 years sentence for promoting homosexuality in a country where same-sex relationships are forbidden.

BBC in the report says the filmmakers are planning a private screening in Lagos at the end of the month for which they feel they do not need the nod of the regulators to go ahead. It was also reported that the film is being billed for international premiere in Canada in October of this year.

BBC quotes the producer, Adie as saying the film was to show an accurate picture of lesbian and bisexual women in Nigerian movies

If a lesbian woman does appear in a standard Nollywood movie they are often portrayed as being possessed, influenced by bad friends or forced into homosexuality and always needing "saving", she told the BBC.

"You rarely see stories about LGBT people, especially about queer women that speak to the realities of our lives. "Ife was made to bridge the gap and to get the conversation going in Nigeria."

"Ife" is a story about two women, played by Uzoamaka Aniunoh and Cindy Amadi falling in love as they spend three days together. They "then have their love tested by the realities of being in a same-sex relationship in a country like Nigeria", according to the publicity for the film.

"Before now, we have been told one-sided stories. What we are doing with this film is normalising the queer experience, we are normalising the LGBT romance. It will begin to erase that shame that LBQ [lesbian, bisexual and queer] women face," Adie told the BBC.

The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community in Africa is becoming increasingly vocal and visible, thanks to the internet providing a space for films, talk shows and websites.

But that has not stopped filmmakers from getting into trouble with authorities. The head of the NFVCB said there was no space for Ife or other homosexual movies in Nigeria, citing the law.

"There's a standing law that prohibits homosexuality, either in practice or in a movie or even in a theatre or on stage. If it's content from Nigeria, it has to be censored," Mr Thomas told the BBC.

He said that whatever the platform was, "as long as it's Nigerian content and it's telling a Nigerian story, then we have a right to it".

But there is no plan for large-scale screenings of Ife in Nigerian cinemas or selling the DVD, as the producers want to make it available online as pay-on-demand.

But even that will get them into trouble with the regulators.

"If it did not pass through NFVCB and it is released, the filmmakers will be prosecuted according to the law," Mr Thomas said. As long as it's Nigerian content, we will pull it down because we have collaborations with Google, YouTube and other key players."

But that has not deterred the producers and Adie says her team will continue as planned, as they believe they have done nothing wrong and do not plan to seek permission for an online release.

This is not the first time an LGBTQ-themed movie has fallen foul of regulators on the continent.

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"Stories of Our Lives", a collection of five short films based on stories of LGBTQ life in Kenya was banned in 2014 for being "contrary to national norms".

This was also the fate of Rafiki, Kenya's first film about a lesbian relationship, which went on to be the East African nation's first film to premiere at the Cannes film festival and also receive an Oscar nomination.

"Inxeba/The Wound", a South African film about a relationship between two men in the context of the Xhosa initiation ritual was also banned from mainstream South African cinemas in 2018.

Despite the set-backs, some in the LGBTQ community in Africa say they are gradually gaining confidence and acceptance and link it to the increased visibility in films and literature which are encouraging greater tolerance among younger generations.

Vanguard
Over the past few weeks, quite a few major technology companies have retreated from their all-time high and now are attempting to rebound. One of those issues is Shopify Inc (NYSE: SHOP) and is the PreMarket Prep Stock Of The Day.

The Company: Shopify is a Canadian multinational technology company that offers an e-commerce platform primarily to small and midsize businesses. The firm has two segments: subscription solutions (43% of fiscal 2018 revenue) and merchant solutions (57% of fiscal 2018 revenue).

Big Winner Since IPO: Shopfiy made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange in May 2015. After an initial surge to $41.11, the issue retreated and undercut its initial monthly low ($24.11) and didn't find a bottom until January 2016 at $18.48.

From that low, it began to rapidly appreciate ending 2016 at $42.87, 2017 at $101 and 2018 at $138.45. The momentum started to kick in 2019, rallying to end the year $397.59. It has gone parabolic this year after bottoming in March at $305.20, nearly tripling off that low when it peaked earlier this month at $1,146.91.

Much Needed Pullback: The issue posted its all-time high ($1,146.91) and all-time closing high that same day at $1134.32 on Sept. 1. Interestingly, that's one day before the S&P 500 index posted the same on Sept. 2.

In the three days following, the issue descended to $896.48 and revisited that low on Sept. 11, when it reached $897.50. Its lowest close for the decline was on Friday ($914.50).

Rebound Capped at $975: After such a sharp decline, the rebound off the recent low has been met with an overhead supply of sellers that are looking to take profits or mitigate losses from an ill-timed purchase and short sellers making another attempt to tame the beast. At this time, the issue has a potential double top in place from Sept. 9 ($970) and Sept. 10 ($975).

Shrugs Off Potential Dilutive News: Before the open, the company launched an offering of class A subordinate voting shares and convertible senior notes. As of 12:30 p.m. ET, the Street doesn't seem to be concerned about the offering.

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After a flat open, it surpassed Fridays ($946) and Mondays highs ($946.88), but came up well shy of the recovery high ($975), only reaching $953 and has reversed course falling into the upper $930 handle.

Bulls in the issue want to see the rally exceed and close above the rebound high and close back in four digits. Also, those investors don't want to see a breach of the double bottom just under $900, as that could signal further declines in the issue.

See more from Benzinga

 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
South Africa: Life sentence welcomed for intern doctor's killer

The Limpopo government has welcomed the ruling against Ntiyiso Xilumani, who killed his girlfriend, Dr Shongile Pretty Nkhwashu, in January this year.

Xilumani, 26, who pleaded guilty, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Tuesday.

Limpopo High Court Judge President, Ephraim Mokgoba, meted out the sentence after a two-day trial.

The perpetrator told the court that an argument ensued over the interference of Nkhwashu's father in their relationship, IOL reported.

She bit me on my finger, Xilumani said.

He then told the court that he grabbed Nkhwashu, 25, by the throat, threw her on the bed and strangled her until she stopped moving. Xilumani used Nkwashu's stethoscope -- which the deceased at some stage had shown him how it works -- and found that she had stopped breathing.

It was also heard that Xilumani had a history of abusing Nkhwashu, who was also the mother of his child.

Limpopo Health MEC, Dr Phophi Ramathuba, said she was pleased with the sentence handed down by the high court.

This will send a clear message to all the men out there, who still think they can continue to abuse, kill and rape our women and children, and walk free.

Dr Nkwashu was also our daughter as the department, whom together with her family, we were still expecting a lot from her.

We are happy that justice has prevailed and the fight against gender-based violence has received a boost after this judgment, said Ramathuba.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has described GBV as a pandemic, as cases of women and children dying at the hands of men continue to rise exponentially during the COVID-19 crisis.

The President has been calling on the men of South Africa to do and be better.

Patriarchy is practised and exercised by men, and men think that theyre superior to women. Some men believe that they own women and therefore, they can order them around, beat them up, rape them and kill them. It is this patriarchy that prevails in men that we need to break down, said the President earlier this year.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2020-09-16. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Tracey Aldrich at a relative's home in Oroville on Thursday. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Tracey Aldrich and her mother Deborah were forced out of their rural Northern California homes by fire last Tuesday, but that's not their biggest concern.

At night, before she falls asleep, Tracey Aldrich loses control of her thoughts, and they turn to her daughter Keiana, she said. She wonders how badly she is hurt, or if she is in pain, or even aware that anyone cares.

Nearly three weeks ago, Keiana Aldrich, 25, an inmate at the California Institution for Women, allegedly slashed her neck and wrists with razor blades then swallowed two of them. No one on the outside has spoken to her since and prison officials have denied her attorney a phone call.

Tuesday, prison officials declined to comment on Keiana Aldrich's condition or why communication with her has been cut off.

"I try to keep myself busy so I dont think, but then I have to think because she is my daughter," said Aldrich from Oroville, where the North Complex fire continues to burn, and where she is staying at a cousin's house while her own remains under threat. "I am just so tired all the time, so tired."

Keiana Aldrich, a sex trafficking victim, is petitioning Gov. Gavin Newsom for clemency. (Maggy Krell)

Deborah Aldrich, 69, who lives in Berry Creek up the mountain about 10 miles from her daughter, fled just ahead of flames that destroyed the town and killed at least 15. The most senior Aldrich is now without a home for the foreseeable future as well, while crews attempt to control the blaze and ensure the area is safe.

It is, said Deborah Aldrich, "too much tragedy."

How the Aldrich family came to this confluence of crises is a distinctly California story of race, poverty, fire and  they hope  redemption.

Tracey Aldrich, 45, ran away from home as a teenager, she said, and by 14 was "eating out of garbage cans" in Oroville, a Northern California town of 20,000, founded after gold was discovered in its hills. Though she was raised in Thermalito, a town of about 7,000 on Oroville's outskirts, her parents moved to a triple-wide trailer up a steep dirt road in Berry Creek about 25 years ago, she said.

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By 18, she was pregnant with Keiana, her second child, by a Black minister nearly twice her age, she said. Tracey Aldrich, who is white, said her father was bigoted and having mixed-race children was intolerable to him.

"I was never raised that way, but he was," said Deborah Aldrich of her late husband, who passed away six years ago, and whom she otherwise describes as a "good husband."

"He was very prejudiced. That was the way he was raised," she said. "It was really hard on me, and on Tracey, too. He didnt want [Tracey's children] in his house. It was redneck."

Tracey Aldrich split with Keiana's father, but when Keiana was about 5, he was charged with assaulting the child, Tracey Aldrich said. Keiana testified against him. Court records show he pleaded no contest to a battery case in 1998 and was sentenced to 120 days in jail. He went to prison a few years later for an unrelated felony count of a sexual act with a minor, according to Butte County Superior Court records, and served more than seven years before he was released in 2008.

Tracey Aldrich eventually made her way with her kids 70 miles south to Sacramento, where she found herself in a string of abusive relationships, she said. By the time Keiana was 12, the young girl began running away  behavior that made Tracey Aldrich angry then, but which she now sees as her daughter feeling "helpless" at seeing her mother being abused.

Often taken by police to juvenile hall, Keiana was returned to her mother with little intervention, said Peggy Fava, a counselor and sex trafficking victims advocate who first met Keiana when she was brought in after one of those police pickups.

In interviews earlier this year, Keiana said she was sexually exploited almost as soon as she began leaving home and at 16 was arrested in a prostitution sting in Sacramento. She testified against her female pimp, hoping prosecutors would help her find counseling and stable housing, she said  but that aid never materialized despite the pimp being convicted.

At 17, she was back on the streets and another female pimp was selling her through online advertisements. Responding to one of those ads were two men who wanted to make child pornography with Keiana, according to court documents. The pimp pulled a gun and Keiana helped her put one of the men in the trunk of a vehicle, the documents say. They took the man to a store and allegedly forced him to buy goods and give them money. The incident was caught on surveillance video.

Keiana was charged as an adult with false imprisonment and kidnapping, and accepted a plea deal in 2013 for nearly 10 years in prison.

Neither man was charged with attempting to purchase Keiana, as they intended to do when they answered the ad, according to Maggy Krell, a former state prosecutor who has taken Keiana's case pro bono.

Krell points out that California law has changed in recent years, and sex trafficked minors like Keiana are now treated as victims, rather than willing participants in their sale.

A few years after Keiana went to prison, Tracey Aldrich began to rebuild a relationship with her mother after her father died, she said. Though it has been tentative steps, "I kind of forgave my dad," she said, and is now living in Oroville just down the hill from Deborah Aldrich.

"Tracey's been wonderful," said her mom, who has lung problems and uses an oxygen tank. "When I need anything, I just call her."

Last Tuesday, Tracey Aldrich was in her two-story house down a winding dirt road when Deborah Aldrich called to ask her to bring some groceries. Tracey Aldrich recalls her mother asking for beer. Deborah Aldrich said it was tuna and bread she was after.

PG&E had cut the power to her trailer the night before. In the deep dark of the forest, gusting winds kept Deborah Aldrich up all night, she said, and "everything was rolling around on my deck."

Though they were aware that fires had started in the nearby national forest, there had been no indication they were growing close enough to be a danger, both women said.

"We knew it was smokey, but we didn't know about [any] fires," said Tracey Aldrich.

But after grabbing the groceries, Tracey found the road up the mountain blocked by law enforcement who told her there was a mandatory evacuation happening. Deborah Aldrich said she did not receive any evacuation notice on her cellphone, though local authorities said they sent them.

Fearing her mom wasn't mobile enough to get out quickly, she asked sheriff's deputies to check on her, then called to warn her she needed to leave.

"I just started throwing a few clothes in and my oxygen, medication," Deborah Aldrich said. "I seen what happened in Paradise."

The senior Aldrich had also been evacuated during the Camp fire in 2018, when a blaze about five ridges away destroyed that town, killing 85 people. Last week, she was halfway down her driveway when deputies arrived to take her to safety.

By then, hundreds of other people were coming down the narrow, two-lane highway, and uncontrolled fire was about to sweep down on Berry Creek. By nightfall, the town was nearly completely destroyed.

When the women found each other in the grocery store parking lot, "I just hugged her and she hugged me," Tracey Aldrich said. If it hadn't been for wanting that beer, "she wouldn't have made it out."

Before Tracey Aldrich could even return to her own home to gather some belongings, it was also put in an evacuation zone, and the women both found themselves temporarily homeless with few possessions  though Deborah Aldrich's trailer was one of the few structures to survive the blaze, she recently learned, with the flames stopping just feet from her home.

"I was lucky," she said. "Cal Fire said my defensive area was perfect. So what stopped it was probably that."

Now, as they wait for evacuation orders to be lifted, they are anxious and frustrated that there is little word about Keiana.

Keiana applied to Gov. Gavin Newsom for clemency in July  which she hoped would cut the final eight months off her time. Tracey Aldrich said she emailed Newsom's office to ask for help, but has not heard back. Krell, the lawyer, has asked a judge to intervene to force prison officials to allow her a phone call with Keiana, but has not received a decision. Tuesday night, she received word that Keiana was removed from suicide watch.

"I think it's very unfair that they wont let us talk to her, or at least let her mother talk to her," said Deborah Aldrich. "Why not?"

Tracey Aldrich said she just wants her daughter home, and is holding out hope that she will be granted clemency.

"She deserves a second chance," she said. "She deserves a chance, period. She never got one."

If you or someone you know is exhibiting warning signs of suicide, seek help from a professional by calling the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at (800) 273-TALK (8255).
Gettyimagesbank





Chinese people will have access to locally developed coronavirus vaccines as early as November or December, according to a top scientist from the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).



Clinical trials of several vaccine candidates had been progressing smoothly and preparations were being made to go into mass production, Wu Guizhen, the CDC's chief biosafety expert, said in a programme shown on Monday night by state broadcaster CCTV.



"I joined the experimental group and had a coronavirus shot in April," Wu said. "I've felt quite good in the past few months, nothing abnormal. The process of inoculation did not cause any localised pain."



According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), more than 30 vaccine candidates are undergoing clinical trials around the world. Of the nine to have reached the final, phase three, stage, five were developed in China.



Wu said she was optimistic about the vaccine candidates' efficacy and safety.



"We expect them to remain effective for one to three years  [but] the results will need to be observed for a longer time."






LONDON, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The chair of family company Davis & Shirtliff has been named in the 2020 Business Worldwide CEO Awards for his exceptional leadership and vision. Alec Davis has won two categories; 'Chairperson of the Year Africa - Water and Energy Solutions Industry' & 'Employee-Focused Chairperson of the Year, Kenya'

The awards seek to identify and honour the Most Respected C-level executives across the globe from a variety of different sectors. Unlike many business awards that focus on the overall companies' success, here the spotlight is on individuals who make the corporations tick  namely senior executives such as CEOs, Managing Directors, Directors and senior-level management. The intention is to give worthy individuals the recognition they deserve, using their example to inspire others to achieve similar success.

Davis & Shirtliff was established in Nairobi in 1946 by Alec's father Eddie Davis and business partner Dick Shirtliff focusing on developing Kenya's water supplies. Alec joined the company in 1976 and took the helm in 1990, leading an aggressive expansion strategy which focused on the distribution side of the business. The company partnered with a number of leading pump manufacturers including Grundfos from Denmark and Pedrollo from Italy and also established subsidiaries in various regional countries including Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and Rwanda.

The company has seen huge growth since the dawn of the new Millenium, now operating nearly 80 branches from subsidiaries in nine countries and with a staff complement of over 1000 people. Today, Davis & Shirtliff is widely recognized as the leader in water and energy solutions, delivering a range of products and services including water pumps, water treatment, generators, solar, swimming pools and irrigation systems.

Alec's leadership style is motivational and entrepreneurial, with a strong emphasis on fostering teamwork. At the heart of everything Davis & Shirtliff does are the core values that were so important to Alec's father all those years ago - quality, integrity and 'Altiora Peto', a Latin motto that means 'I seek higher things' or a focus on constant change.

To read more about Davis & Shirtliff, visit the company's website; https://www.davisandshirtliff.com

An article on the company can be found on the BWM website: https://www.bwmonline.com/2020/08/17/davis-shirtliff-purpose-before-profit-the-family-business-thats-revolutionised-kenyas-water-supply/

Further information about the Business Worldwide Magazine CEO Awards 2020 visit https://www.bwmonline.com/awards/ceo-awards-2020-winners/

About Business Worldwide Magazine

Business Worldwide Magazine is the leading source of business and dealmaker intelligence throughout the world. Our quarterly magazine and online news portal enables an established audience of corporate dealmakers to track the latest news, stories and developments affecting the international markets, corporate finance, business strategy and changes in legislation. This readership includes of CEO/CFO - Banks, Corporate Lawyers and Venture Capital/Private Equity Companies to name a few.

Contact

David Jones

Awards Department

E: [email protected]

SOURCE Business Worldwide Magazine
Livestreamed from Cognac to audiences worldwide, the artist's The Birth of Tragedy honors the universal values of resilience, courage and hope

PARIS, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Cai Guo-Qiang is one of the most admired artists on the contemporary art scene. In addition to his largescale, site-specific installations, Cai is particularly renowned for his unique use of gunpowder and fireworks as an artistic medium to stage spectacular public events of intense emotional resonance, as he did for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. This fall, Hennessy invites Cai Guo-Qiang to create a daytime explosion event to be held on the Charente in Cognac, France, on Friday, September 25th at 3 PM CET.

This impassioned fireworks display was designed as an uplifting event amid the unprecedented context of a pandemic. Inspired by Nietzsche's "The Birth of Tragedy," Cai Guo-Qiang composed a 15-minute fireworks event in three acts to honor the eternal cycle of creation and destruction and the human spirit that, while acknowledging pain, nonetheless embraces and rejoices in life, in harmony with nature. Like a theatrical performance, this artistic odyssey promises to explode with drama, poetry, color and emotion, with multicolored fireworks launched from 150 oak barrels floating on the Charente River that echo Hennessy X.O's 150th anniversary. In a first for the Maison, "World Odyssey" will be unveiled internationally via livestream. For the artist, this project represents the first time he has conceived a daytime explosion event launched from an aquatic environment, to be broadcast to a global, real-time audience.

"In these unprecedented times, what has become particularly clear is that we are one interconnected family," says Hennessy president and CEO Laurent Boillot. "At Hennessy, our roots run deep thanks to longstanding relationships reaching back generations. Today, from his base in New York City, Cai Guo-Qiang reminds us of those time-honored bonds with a masterpiece of universal beauty and resonance. On behalf of the Maison Hennessy, it is not only an honor and a privilege to host this artistic event, it is a demonstration of our steadfast commitment to our extended international family. A century and a half after the Hennessy X.O saga began, Cai offers an artistic vision of an Odyssey forged by unity, resilience and hope. In the exceptional context of 2020, those values guide us, reminding us how far we've come, and how far we can still travel together. From our vantage point in Cognac, where fireworks from the East - Liuyang county in China - blooms in the sky overlooking the Charente, Hennessy and Cai are proud to welcome one and all to participate in an artistic event that honors generosity of spirit and looks to new horizons with renewed courage."

Says Cai Guo-Qiang, "We are now entering a new chapter of humankind's strenuous odyssey. The signal from Cognac, travelling through cloud infrastructure, connects individuals from different parts of the world, enabling primeval passion to burst and form a community of shared future that is closely bonded with nature and art. While the fireworks express my contemplation on tragedy, art, and the essence of life, I hope the audience will draw inspiration from the fireworks in order to reconcile with nature and find the power to heal."

The event is yet another instant of the energy, persistence and hope demonstrated by Maison Hennessy this year in an effort to support its communities in Cognac and internationally. "World Odyssey" carries a dual message from the illustrious cognac maker and the artist, one of consolation to those affected by the pandemic, and of confidence in the future that will be livestreamed across digital platforms including Hennessy.com, WeChat, Tencent, Facebook, and YouTube.

Cai Guo-Qiang's daytime explosion event will be staged using exclusively non-toxic, reduced-smoke, CE-certified pyrotechnic products.

To learn more and view the livestream, visit Hennessy.com/en-int/stories/cai-guo-qiang-live-event

ABOUT CAI GUO-QIANG

The recipient of numerous international art awards, including the Medal of Arts from the State Department (Washington DC), the 24th Praemium Imperiale Lifetime Achievement in the Arts (Tokyo), and the Fondation Cartier award (Paris), Cai served as the Director of Visual and Special Effects for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, for which he staged remarkable opening and closing ceremony events. A native of Quanzhou, China, Cai currently lives and works in New York. His personal story, inspirations and projects are the subject of the acclaimed Netflix documentary Sky Ladder (2016) by Academy Award-winning director Kevin Macdonald. This event in partnership with the Maison Hennessy marks his first collaboration with a luxury brand.

ABOUT HENNESSY X.O

In 1870, Maurice Hennessy, a 4th-generation member of the Hennessy family, asked the Cellar Master Emile Fillioux to create a special cognac for his family and friends, using long-aged eaux-de-vie to perfect the blend. They called it "X.O" for "Extra Old". Hennessy X.O became the first House blend to attain international renown, to the point that the X.O classification became a gauge of uncompromising quality. In 1947, Gerald de Geoffre - Maurice Hennessy's great-grandson - created its iconic carafe, a shape inspired by an upturned cluster of grapes. Today, Hennessy X.O remains as true as it was when Maurice Hennessy first shared it with his inner circle. A timeless symbol with a powerful and balanced structure, it carries the promise of an extremely long finish: each drop an invitation to embark on an odyssey of the senses through seven tasting notes.

In 2020, Hennessy X.O marks its 150th birthday with a masterpiece by Cai Guo-Qiang.

ABOUT HENNESSY

The leader in Cognac, the Maison Hennessy has shined around the world with its exceptional know-how for more than 250 years. Built on founder Richard Hennessy's spirit of conquest, the brand is present in more than 160 countries. Based in the heart of the Charente region, Hennessy is also a steadfast pillar of the regional economy. The Maison's success and longevity are rooted in the excellence of its cognacs, each of which is born of a unique process of transmission of know-how from generation to generation. The first spirits house to be certified ISO 14001, Hennessy unites its capacity for innovation and the support of all of its partners to protect this exceptional area. As a crown jewel of the LVMH Group, Hennessy is a major contributor to French international trade, with 99% of production sold in export, and a worldwide ambassador for the French art de vivre.

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 22:47:43|Editor: huaxia

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NAIROBI, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Kenyan government has added Tanzania to the list of countries to resume international air services to the country, ending the diplomatic impasse over access of flights for weeks.

The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) added Tanzania and nine more nations in its latest review of the countries whose travelers are exempted from the 14-day mandatory quarantine upon arrival.

The latest review brings the total number of countries allowed to fly in Nairobi to 147 after Kenya reopened its skies for international travel.

Other countries that have been added to the list include Ghana, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone among others.

Visitors from Tanzania were not allowed to mingle freely with the public until they complete a two-week quarantine period.

The directive from the ministry of health prompted a diplomatic spat between the two neighboring countries over COVID-19 protocols to be followed in the cross-border movement of people and goods.

The Tanzanian government then banned Kenyan airlines from its airspace and warned not to lift the ban unless air travelers from the neighboring country were accorded the same treatment as those on the initial list of exemptions.

However, the diplomatic impasse ended on Tuesday after the inclusion of Tanzania on the "safe flights list".

Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) in a statement later lifted the suspension of all Kenyan operators including Kenya Airways, Fly 540 Limited, SafariLink Aviation and AirKenya Express Limited.

"The resumption and restoration of flights for all Kenyan operators are with immediate effect and the KCAA has been informed accordingly," TCAA said in a statement on Wednesday.

Kenya resumed international flights on Aug. 1, with only 11 countries with mild and limited community transmission allowed in.

The government said the list will be reviewed on a regular basis depending on the circumstances on the ground and after a comprehensive global mapping of the intensity of the disease.

The expansion of the list of countries in the "safe flights list" comes as the east African nation continues to record decline to COVID-19 cases across the country.

The Ministry of Health on Wednesday announced that 92 more people tested positive for COVID-19 in Kenya from 2,985 samples tested in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 36,393.

Mercy Mwangangi, health chief administrative secretary told a daily briefing that 165 people recovered from the disease, 60 of them from the home-based care program and 105 discharged from hospitals, taking the tally of recoveries to 23,529.

Three patients however succumbed to the disease, bringing the total number of fatalities to 637. Enditem
Bill Gates Sr., a lawyer and the father of Microsofts co-founder, who stepped in when appeals for charity began to overwhelm his billionaire son and started what became the worlds largest philanthropy, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, died on Monday at his beach home on Hood Canal, in the Seattle area. He was 94.

The cause was Alzheimers disease, his family said in an announcement on Tuesday.

In 1994, Mr. Gates was 69 and planning to retire from his prestigious law practice in a few years when, one autumn evening, he and his son, Bill, and his daughter-in-law, Melinda, went to a movie. Standing in the ticket line, Bill told his father that he was being inundated with appeals for charity but that he was far too busy running Microsoft to answer them.

His father suggested that he, Bill Sr., could sift through the paperwork and, with his sons approval, send out some checks. Bill Jr. agreed.

What Mr. Gates Sr. found later were dozens of cardboard boxes filled with requests for money, many with heartbreaking stories of need. A week later, Bill Jr. set aside $100 million to open what was initially called the William H. Gates Foundation. His father, sitting at his kitchen table, wrote the first check: $80,000 for a local cancer program.
Copyright  2020 Albuquerque Journal

A former computational physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory was sentenced Friday to five years of probation and fined $75,000 for lying to federal investigators about his involvement in a Chinese government recruitment program, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Turab Lookman, 69, of Santa Fe, who had worked at LANL since 1999, was arrested by the FBI in May 2019 after lying to a LANL counterintelligence officer about being recruited by Thousand Talents, a program established by the Chinese government in 2008.

Thousand Talents was set up to encourage successful Chinese nationals abroad to return home and recruit others with access or knowledge of foreign technology and intellectual property, according to prosecutors. Federal authorities feared that Thousand Talents could be a conduit for transferring American technology, know-how, or trade secrets to China.

Authorities said Lookman first came under scrutiny after he told a co-worker he had citizenship in four different countries: India, Great Britain, Canada and the United States. He became a U.S. citizen in 2008.

Lookman initially pleaded not guilty to the charges but changed his plea in January. He was facing up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on a charge of making a false statement to a federal investigator.

Federal prosecutors said that on three different occasions Lookman falsely denied that foreign nationals had offered him a job or that he had applied for one. Yet investigators determined that Lookman did, in fact, apply and was accepted into the Thousand Talents program to receive monetary compensation.

He also did not disclose his association with Thousand Talents on a security clearance questionnaire, prosecutors said.

I think that probation, all things considered, is an appropriate resolution, Lookmans attorney, Paul Linnenburger said in a phone interview.

He added that Lookman understood the gravity of the charges and was grateful for the opportunity to put his life back together and maintain his time with his family.

Linnenburger said it was also important to note that Lookmans association with Thousand Talents wasnt illegal. The only issue, and this he pled guilty to, was failing to disclose, he said.

LANL terminated Lookman after his arrest, two years after it had named him a Laboratory Fellow, one of LANLs highest awards for its scientific staff. The co-author of two books and more than 250 scientific papers, Lookman was also honored with the labs Fellows prize for outstanding research in 2009 and the Distinguished Postdoctoral Mentor Award in 2016.

Lookman is expected to serve the entirety of his five-year probation in New Mexico, according to a Department of Justice news release.
Title ix procedures

Reports may be made at any time (including during non-business hours) by contacting MCLAs Title IX Coordinator. If you make a report during non-business hours, the Title IX Coordinator will follow up with you when the office reopens.

title ix coordinators

Heather Quire

Dean of Students - Interim Title IX Coordinator and Equal Opportunity Officer for Students

Office Location: Amsler Campus Center - Room 305

Phone: 413-662-5231

Email: Heather.Quire@mcla.edu

Mailing Address: 375 Church Street, North Adams, MA 01247

Christopher Hays

Human Resources Generalist - Interim Title IX Coordinator and Equal Opportunity Officer for Employees

Office Location: Mark Hopkins Hall, Room 101

Phone: 413-662-5597

Email: Christopher.Hays@mcla.edu

Mailing Address: 375 Church Street, North Adams, MA 01247

*This information is for incident reporting only. In the case of an emergency, please call 911.

what happens when a report is made?

When the Title IX Coordinator receives notice of an incident, they will contact the individuals involved to provide information about support resources, interim measures, and options for further action. The Title IX Coordinator can also help facilitate contact with law enforcement if the individual involved wishes to pursue a criminal complaint.

It is always the complainants choice whether they wish to file a formal complaint or not. Support services are available to the complainant whether or not they decide to file a formal complaint, and whether or not such a complaint results in a finding of responsibility.

what happens when a formal complaint is filed?

When the Title IX Coordinator received a formal complaint under the Title IX Sexual Harassment Policy, there are 3 options for resolution:

Formal Investigation and Resolution Procedure Informal Resolution (both parties must agree to this option) Mediation (both parties must agree to this option)

the title ix investigation, hearing, and resolution process

This process is only for complaints that fall under Title IX. For more information about the Complaint Investigation and Resolution process under other EO Plan polices please refer to the Equal Opportunity page.

Complaint Received



Notification to Respondent

Respondent will receive a copy of the complaint and has 10 days to respond



Investigation

Every effort will be made to complete the investigation within 60 days



Parties Review All Evidence

Parties will have 10 days to review and provide



Investigation Report Provided to Parties

Parties have 5 days to provide comments to investigator

Hearing to be scheduled within 10 days



Live Hearing with Cross-Examination

Every effort will be made to conclude the Hearing within 15 days



Determination Issued

Every effort will be made to issue the determination within 10 days of conclusion of hearing



Appellate Review (if applicable)

The parties will have 10 days to file an appeal

Every effort will be made to complete the Appellate Review within 30 days

live hearing

At the live hearing, the Decision Maker(s) will permit each partys advisor to ask the other party and any witnesses all relevant questions and follow-up questions, including those challenging credibility.

Cross-examination at the live hearing must be conducted directly, orally, and in real time by the partys advisor and never by a party personally.

Before a Complainant, Respondent, or witness answers a question, the Decision Maker(s) must first determine whether the question is relevant and explain any decision to exclude a question as not relevant.

Questions and evidence about the Complainants sexual predisposition or prior sexual behavior are not relevant, unless: such questions and evidence about the Complainants prior sexual behavior are offered to prove that someone other than the Respondent committed the conduct alleged by the Complainant, or if the questions and evidence concern specific incidents of the Complainants prior sexual behavior with respect to the Respondent and are offered to prove consent.

If a party does not have an advisor present at the live hearing, MCLA will provide that party an advisor of MCLAs choice to conduct cross-examination on the partys behalf.

If a party or witness does not submit to cross-examination at the live hearing, the Decision Maker(s) must not rely on any statement of that party or witness in reaching a determination regarding responsibility. The Decision Maker(s) cannot draw an inference about the determination regarding responsibility based solely on a partys or witnesss absence from the live hearing or refusal to answer cross-examination or other questions.

standard of review

Preponderance of evidence is a standard of review. Under this standard, conclusions by the Decision Maker must be based on what more likely than not occurred, based on available information and evidence. Accordingly, the Decision Maker must determine whether it is more likely than not that the Respondent violated the Title IX Sexual Harassment Policy.

determination

Once the determination is made, the Title IX Coordinator will provide the written determination to the parties simultaneously.

The written determination will include:

identification of the allegations potentially constituting sexual harassment;

a description of the procedural steps taken from the receipt of the formal complaint through the determination, including any notifications to the parties, interviews with parties and witnesses, site visits, methods used to gather other evidence, and hearings held;

findings of fact supporting the determination;

conclusions regarding the application of the Title IX Sexual Harassment Policy to the facts;

a statement of, and rationale for, the result as to each allegation, including a determination regarding responsibility, any disciplinary sanctions imposed on the Respondent, and whether remedies designed to restore or preserve equal access to an education program or activity will be provided to the Complainant; and

the procedures and permissible bases for appeal.

possible sanctions and remedies

For Faculty and Staff (employee) Respondents:

Disciplinary action taken against an employee shall be regarded as an administrative action, up to and including termination, subject to all provisions of applicable collective bargaining agreements and employee handbooks.

Additional disciplinary action, subject to all provisions of applicable collective bargaining agreements or personnel policies, shall also be taken against an employee who violates a sanction or sanctions imposed pursuant to this Policy.

For Student Respondents

A student who has been found to have violated the Sexual Harassment Policy may be subject to sanctions including, but not limited to:

reprimand

fines and/or restitution

warning

disciplinary hold

disciplinary probation

assessment

loss of privileges

educational program or project

relocation of residence

revocation of admission or degree

restriction from facilities or activities

withholding of degree

temporary or permanent residence hall suspension

suspension

expulsion

In general, the sanction typically imposed for students for rape is expulsion. The sanction typically imposed for students for other forms of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking is suspension or expulsion. All student sanctions, however, are determined on a case-by-case basis in consideration of: the seriousness of the violation; sanctions typically imposed for similar violations; prior disciplinary history; and any other circumstances indicating that the sanction should be more or less severe.

appeals

Either party may appeal a determination regarding responsibility, a dismissal of a formal complaint, or any allegations therein, on the following bases:

procedural irregularity that affected the outcome of the matter;

new evidence that was not reasonably available at the time the determination regarding responsibility or dismissal was made, that could affect the outcome of the matter; and/or

the Title IX Coordinator, investigator(s), or Decision Maker(s) had a conflict of interest or bias for or against complainants or respondents generally or the individual Complainant or Respondent that affected the outcome of the matter.

links

Help for Complainants

Help for Respondents

Support & Interim Measures

File a Formal Complaint

Title IX Procedure

Consent

Information for Managers and Supervisors

Equal Opportunity

Title IX Personnel Training Information

MCLA Equal Opportunity, Diversity, and Affirmative Action Plan

Questions? Contact Us

Hours: Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.

MCLA

375 Church Street,

North Adams, MA 01247

800.969.MCLA or 413.662.5596

hr@mcla.edu
Kanye West wants to bring back prayer in schools, give more government support to religious groups and has even asked his campaign staff to refrain from fornicating outside of marriage, according to people aiding his candidacy.

Mr. West, the billionaire hip-hop artist and fashion mogul turned Christian revivalist, is not running for president, but walking, as he puts it. He entered the race late and is not going to make the ballot in states including Florida, Texas and Michigan, but he will be on the ballot in others like Colorado, Minnesota and Iowa. Some Democrats fear he could be a spoiler, even if his political appeal is minuscule. Third-party candidacies dont need that many votes to make an impact, as Jill Stein showed in 2016 and Ralph Nader in 2000.

In calls and texts with The New York Times, and in other recent comments, Mr. West made clear he believes he will become president  eventually  but said almost nothing about what he actually wanted to do if elected. Indeed, Mr. Wests curio candidacy has confused many fans and voters alike. His party is called the Birthday Party. His first piece of campaign art included pictures of that well-known populist Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue, and of the actress Kirsten Dunst, who was puzzled. (Whats the message here, she tweeted, and why am I apart of it?)

An inescapable element of Mr. Wests candidacy is his bipolar disorder, which he has spoken about in the past. His wife, Kim Kardashian West, opened up about it for the first time days after Mr. Wests only campaign appearance, in South Carolina, during which he broke down crying. Writing on Instagram, she called him a brilliant but complicated person who has to deal with pressure and isolation that is heightened by his bipolar disorder.
Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government was firm On following two-language policy--of Tamil and English-- in the state and will not go back on it, Chief Minister K Palaniswami said on Wednesday.

Responding to opposition DMK in the state Assembly on the New Education Policy (NEP), he said the government would take a stand on it based on the recommendations of the two expert committees constituted by the government to advise on the policy response on all thrust areas of the policy, subject to Tamil Nadu continuing with its two-language policy.

"Already two expert committees have been formed and they are on the task.We will take a stand based on their recommendations. At that juncture, we will consider your suggestions also," Palaniswami said replying to leader of the opposition in the Assembly M K Stalin who moved a special call attention motion on NEP.

The three-language formula in NEP 2020 unveiled by the Centre recently has found opposition in Tamil Nadu over alleged "Hindi imposition," even as the ruling AIADMK has made it clear it will only follow the two language system in vogue in the state for decades.

Contending that the NEP accords importance to Sanskrit and encourages the Hereditary Occupation System, Stalin demanded a special sitting of the assembly to discuss the NEP and pass a resolution against it.

He also pointed out that a book on herbs distributed to the members today contained Hindi apart from Tamil and English. Responding, Health minister Dr C Vijaya Baskar said the chief minister has made it clear that a bilingual policy will be implemented in Tamil Nadu.

On the Hindi text figuring in the book on herbs distributed to the MLAs by the health department, the minister explained that the book was brought out by the Union Ayush ministry.

School education minister K A Sengottaiyan pointed out that a letter has already been written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi stating that Tamil Nadu will follow the two-language policy.

Later, the DMK members staged a walkout from the House after the Speaker declined to concede their demand for a special sitting on NEP.
Luanda  Angola is willing to cooperate with the United Arab Emirates in the development of agro-industrial projects.

1 / 1

Minister of Industry and Commerce Victor Fernandes (left) and Sheikn Ahned Dalmook Al Naktoun

This was said Tuesday in Luanda by the minister of Industry and Commerce, Victor Fernandes, during a meeting with the Sheik Ahmed Al Maktooum, meant to review the UAE's investment plans for Angola.

On the occasion the parties discussed the avenues towards strengthening the relations, and the need to boost industrial production in Angola and increase UAE's food production as a country situated in the desert.

The parties also set as priority the sectors of food production, technologies and equipment manufacture.

During the meeting, the two sides decided that a technical teams of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of Angola and UAE should work together to develop priority projects that have been identified.

On Monday, Sheik Ahmed Al Maktooum signed with Banco de Desenvolvimento de Angola a cooperation agreement to facilitate the purchase of tractors assembled in the Luanda-Bengo Special Economic Zone.

The memo makes provisions for BDA to fund the purchase by Angolan farmers of tractors manufactured in the Luanda-Bengo ZEE by the UAE.

The investment on the Luanda-Bengo ZEE tractors assembly plant with a capacity to produce 3,000 machines a year, is designed to boost the country's ongoing economy diversification process.

With this memo, Angola and UAE bring into effect a 16-year old partnership set up in 2004, when the Arab nation opened in Luanda a general consulate that became an embassy four years later.

The two countries enjoy an active economic cooperation that reached Usd 1.9 million worth of exports and imports in June this year alone.

Trade between both countries since 2004 involves an assortment of materials and raw materials like ornamental rocks, diamonds, oil and other minerals.

Diamonds account for 90 percent of the Angolan goods exported to the UAE.

Other areas of cooperation between the two countries include oil, gas, trade and investment, energy, defence, transports, mining, agriculture, fisheries, banking, telecommunications, finance and others.
Bettors Delight mare Delishka N made a pace-controlling move in front of the stands the first time, then held off a wall of challengers the second time around to win the $14,400 featured distaff pace at Harrahs Philadelphia on Wednesday afternoon (Sept. 16) in 1:51.

Dexter Dunn sent Delishka N out to early command, yielded to Bettor Joy N, then went onward again when favourite Machnhope made a move just past the :26.1 quarter. Delishka N went back to the lead around Bettor Joy N, with Machnhope, seeing a likely battle for pace control developing, got in a vacant three-hole before the :54.3 half.

The winner did not receive a strong challenge past the 1:22.2 three-quarters, but as they neared headstretch, there seemed to be 'live' horses everywhere. Delishka N was most 'live' of all, holding off inside rallier Machnhope by a half-length, with first-over Shezallapples A showing good determination late to gain third, a photo away from second. Bettors Joy N was beaten less than two lengths and still did not get a cheque from finishing sixth.

Richard Johnson trains the winner of $387,864 for DElegance Stable IX.

Still among the older females, the Well Said mare Caviart Cherie made it 3-for-3 since teaming with trainer Darren Taneyhill and the Wildcard Stables Inc., during that time going from the second-lowest condition at Pocono to the second-highest for mares at Philly on Wednesday, a $11,200 contest in which she posted a 13-1 upset in a new mark of 1:50.4. Joe Bongiorno rallied the winner of $399,947 from the pocket to overhaul the pace-setting favourite Anytime N by a length.

The $12,800 co-featured fillies and mares pace for the 'class-climbing crowd' saw New Year, who was 7-5 in a Pennsylvania Sire Stakes race against JK First Lady at Philly recently, enjoy the drop in company en route to a 1:51.4 triumph as a heavy favourite. George Napolitano Jr. drove the sophomore Somebeachsomewhere filly, who has now amassed $197,415, for trainer Chris Ryder and the partnership of Let It Ride Stables Inc. and Bottom Line Racing LLC.

Tim Tetrick won four races on the day, including with Iaquinta, who broke a 51-race losing streak dating back to June 29, 2018. She came from an unusual spot for winners at Philly, too  fourth-over -- with Tetrick keeping her off an overheated pace and then rallying her for the 12-1 victory.

(PHHA / Harrahs Philadelphia)
After years of planning and months of delays, the Industry City rezoning finally made its way to the New York City Council on Tuesday, as the fight over the contentious proposal played out in its first and only scheduled council hearing. Despite the opposition of City Council Member Carlos Menchaca, who represents the Sunset Park neighborhood where Industry City is located, the rezoning application is moving forward. For over ten hours, the councils Zoning and Franchises Subcommittee heard testimony from Sunset Park residents, lawmakers, business owners and others.

Traditionally, Menchacas decision to oppose the Industry City rezoning would have been the kiss of death because of member deference, a practice in which City Council members effectively had veto power over land use decisions in their own districts.

While the proposals future remains uncertain, the developers behind it decided to push ahead despite Menchacas opposition. If the City Council approves the rezoning, it may not mean the complete end of member deference, but the confluence of circumstances surrounding Industry City may have a lasting impact by opening up land use decisions to other people besides the local City Council member.

Although the full 51-person council votes on every rezoning application, the speaker and other members generally defer to the lawmaker who represents that district. That means approving a project the member supports and voting down a proposal they oppose. It never comes to that, though, as the council generally wont hold a vote on a proposal that wont pass, and the developer who submitted the application will simply pull it.

The Industry City rezoning would expand the Sunset Park campus by nearly 1.5 million square feet, permitting the construction of three new buildings and allowing for additional retail, office and education space, while also creating a new manufacturing hub. The rezoning has a long and complicated history dating back to 2015, although right now, one of its more unusual features is that the complexs owner is moving ahead with the application despite not having buy-in from Menchaca.

A day before Menchaca announced in late July that he would vote no on the proposal, Politico New York reported that the Industry City owners were considering pulling the rezoning application before the City Planning Commission voted on it. Such a move would be expected when the developers cant win over the local council member, and Menchaca had been threatening to vote against the proposal for months.

But the Industry City owners did not. Soon after Menchaca made his decision, City Council Members Ritchie Torres from the Bronx and Donovan Richards from Queens published an op-ed saying that the council should still approve the Industry City rezoning because it would bring 15,000 to 20,000 jobs to the city and an additional $100 million in tax revenue per year at a time when the city is facing a dire fiscal crisis. (Currently, Industry City employs 8,000 people. Industry City CEO Andrew Kimball has said the rezoning would create 7,000 new jobs on-site plus 8,000 jobs outside the campus.) Torres and Richards argued that while they may not live in Sunset Park, the proposal had citywide implications, which they had a right to weigh in on. Member deference has its place, to be sure, they wrote. But it becomes dangerous when it morphs into veto power over the growth of the citys economy.

Kimball said at a press conference on Monday that it was in part the public support from members like Torres and Richards, as well as Council Member Robert Cornegy Jr., that convinced the developers to move ahead with the proposal after Menchaca said he would vote no. We always considered this project of citywide importance, Kimball said. So yes, it did refortify us, and thats why were committed to taking this to a vote.

Industry City could be the right project  a major rezoning with citywide implications during an economic downturn  for the councils decision to potentially have lasting impacts on land use decisions. The vote on Industry Citys rezoning application could be an indication that City Council members are recognizing that their constituents have a stake in land use decisions in other districts, NYU Furman Center Executive Director Matthew Murphy said in a statement. The loss of Amazon from Queens and the companys promise of 25,000 jobs also casts a long shadow over Industry City. But unlike that deal, which did not involve any city-level land use decisions, council members have the power to approve Industry City and the jobs it could bring to a struggling city.

In 2018, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson indicated that he would take a more active role in land use decisions than his predecessor Melissa Mark-Viverto. He said he would defer to local members without giving them veto power, opening the door to overruling them. The Industry City rezoning would be a true test of those promises, although so far he has remained silent on the proposal. Johnson has largely been keeping a low profile after a bruising fight over cutting police funding in June. He has been taking some of the blame from progressives, whom he hopes to court in his 2021 bid for mayor, for not making deeper cuts. His decision here will likely follow him into next year and potentially define his candidacy.

To have the City Council overrule the local member on a land use decision is rare, though not unprecedented. In 2009 under then-City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the council approved a mixed-use development project in Dumbo, Brooklyn, over the objections of then-Council Member David Yassky. Kenneth Fisher, a real estate lawyer and former New York City Council member, said the stakes were not high enough then for that decision to have any sort of lasting impact. The city was doing so well for so long, (there) didnt seem to be any consequences to turning something down, he said. But the consequences now seem stark. I think that this should carry over to residential and mixed-use rezonings of scale, Fisher said of having the entire council weigh in rather than adhering to the opinion of the local member.

Menchaca, unsurprisingly, strongly disagreed and has been trying to convince his fellow members to vote with him against the Industry City rezoning. The dangerous precedent we must undo is not the Councils tradition of member deference but our deference to developers, Menchaca wrote in an op-ed last month with Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer. They argued that the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure  the process that rezonings must go through to be approved  is flawed, but member deference creates accountability at the ballot box, where it belongs.

Elizabeth Yeampierre, the executive director of the Brooklyn community group Uprose that has been fighting the rezoning, agreed. She found the input of members from outside the district and borough on the Industry City project incredibly troubling. I think its stunning that elected officials from other communities undermined the leadership of a council member doing exactly what his community has been asking for, Yeampierre said. It isnt as if Menchaca (made) this decision easily. She added, though, that member deference was only preferable when the member actually listened to what the community wanted. While some parts of Sunset Park have supported the rezoning, the local community board partially rejected the application. Youve got the council member standing with the community, and people saying, Hey, you know what, no, we know whats better for your community than your community knows, Yeampierre said, questioning whether this would have happened if Sunset Park were not a community of color.

Yeampierre agreed that both the city and Sunset Park desperately need the jobs, but argued that the Industry City rezoning is not the only way to get them, despite the insistence of lawmakers from outside the district. She pointed to the community plan that her group helped develop last year as an alternative to Industry City to bring clean energy jobs to Sunset Park, which would provide thousands of high-wage manufacturing positions to residents without college degrees, while also helping address regional economic and climate concerns.

A members land use decision may not always align with the majority of the community, or even the will of the local community board. In those cases member deference benefits developers, which is why Menchaca argued in his op-ed that they favored it  although they do fight against it when the member opposes them. But so do community members when they feel that the members decision does not represent their interests, which was the case with the decision to build or upgrade four borough-based jails. All four council members of the affected districts supported the jails, but community members and anti-jail advocates urged the council not to adhere to member deference.

Progressives like Tiffany Caban, who is running for a City Council seat in Astoria, Queens, next year, may upend member deference from the opposite direction by rejecting a rezoning that has the support of the local member. I am going to consistently vote on the side of working people and low-income families, Caban said when she launched her campaign. Her campaign did not return a request for comment, but Fisher said that while its fairly unusual to have the City Council reject a land use decision that has the local members support, he thinks Industry City could open the door for progressives to launch campaigns to reject major private developments if community members oppose it.

A final decision by the council still looms, with a vote likely to be scheduled by early October in adherence to the 50-day window the body has to review and decide on the rezoning application. Although a lot can change in a month, Menchaca has made it clear that there is not enough time for conditions to change enough for him to support the rezoning. So if it goes to a full council vote, its all but guaranteed to do so without his support, putting to the test the tradition of member deference during one of the citys most tumultuous years.
Scientists are the first to identify large-scale differences between surface fish and cavefish populations of A. mexicanus, as well as between different populations of cavefish. They used whole-brain imaging of circuits associated with sleep and feeding and whole-brain pERK neural activity imaging, which reveals altered landscape of brain activity. Credit: Florida Atlantic University

For more than 1 million years, independent cavefish populations that are geographically and hydrologically isolated from one another have evolved to include about 29 different populations. Among them, the tiny Mexican tetra, Astyanax mexicanus, which comprises river-dwelling surface fish and multiple independently evolved populations of blind cavefish. Many of the behaviors between these cavefish populations differ, suggesting widespread differences in brain structure and function. Although trait evolution in cavefish has been studied for more than a century, little is known about how their brains differ. Moreover, the differences in brain activity have never been explored.

A groundbreaking study published in Science Advances by neuroscientists at Florida Atlantic University's Charles E. Schmidt College of Science and Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College in collaboration with Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan in Israel, is the first to identify large-scale differences between surface fish and cavefish populations of A. mexicanus, as well as between different populations of cavefish. Researchers extracted 18 anatomical regions across the entire brain and measured changes in neural activity across these regions. Whole-brain atlases generated from this study represent a comparative brain-wide study of intraspecies variation in a vertebrate model and provide a resource for studying the neural basis underlying behavioral evolution.

"Cavefish have evolved numerous behavioral changes, including sleep loss, reduced social behaviors, widespread changes in sensory processing, and alterations in foraging behavior," said Alex C. Keene, Ph.D., lead author and an associate professor of biological sciences in FAU's Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. "Despite the long-standing focus on characterizing differences in behavior and morphology between cave populations, unexpectedly little is known about the brain anatomy and neural circuits associated with these behavioral changes in cave populations."

Video demonstrates the behavioral and neuroanatomical evolution in larval A. mexicanus using whole-brain imaging of circuits associated with sleep and feeding. Researchers also utilized whole-brain pERK neural activity imaging, which reveals altered landscape of brain activity. Credit: Florida Atlantic University

To compare brain anatomy across independently evolved populations of A. mexicanus, researchers performed whole-brain confocal imaging in surface fish and fish from Tinaja, Molino, and Pachon cavefish populations. They defined evolutionarily derived changes in brain function on 684 larval fish to generate neuroanatomical atlases. They combined morphometric analysis, imaging of neural circuits, and whole-brain activity mapping to generate standard brains for river-dwelling surface fish and three independently evolved populations of cavefish. Using these reference brains, they quantified volume of defined neuroanatomical regions and specific neuronal populations that contribute to sleep and feeding. They also mapped patterns of neuronal activity to standard brains to generate a brain-wide map of activity differences in waking, feeding, and sleeping fish using phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated kinase (pERK) labeling.

Results of the study show that hunting behavior induced broad changes in brain activity across all four A. mexicanus populations and likely activates brain regions associated with sensory processing, satiety, and motivation. Sleep-associated activity differed in the rostral zone of the hypothalamus and tegmentum. Alterations in feeding-associated circuitry identified in the study occurred early in development suggesting that evolutionary changes are unique among different cavefish populations. Analyses of brain region volume and neural circuits associated with behavioral regulation identified convergence on hindbrain and hypothalamic expansion, as well as changes in neurotransmitter systems, including elevated numbers of catecholamine and hypocretin/orexin neurons in cavefish populations.

To characterize differences in brain anatomy between populations, researchers quantified the size of individual brain regions within each A. mexicanus population. To determine whether identifiable brain regions were different in size between populations, they identified select regions using the standard brains they developed as a reference map, along with a brain atlas made for adult A. mexicanus. To determine whether there are changes in the size of brain regions that may be associated with evolved behavioral differences, the researchers quantified 13 additional brain regions, including the tectum, cerebellum, pallium, and four regions of the hypothalamus. To localize pERK signal to distinct regions of the brain, they performed registrations to the standard brains they developed.

"These fish have been studied for more than 80 years and there is widespread appreciation for how much they can tell us about how different behaviors evolve. Now, for the first time, we can look inside their brains with millimeter resolution," said Keene. "We can start to understand how the individual neurons and brain regions that drive complex behaviors, including sleep and feeding have evolved. This work has broad implications for our understanding of how brains evolve in many different animal models and we hope that it will be widely used by the scientific community."

More information: "Cavefish brain atlases reveal functional and anatomical convergence across independently evolved populations" Science Advances (2020). Journal information: Science Advances "Cavefish brain atlases reveal functional and anatomical convergence across independently evolved populations"(2020). advances.sciencemag.org/lookup  .1126/sciadv.aba3126
Kangana Ranaut has said that she continues to fight for herself not out of a sense of vengeance but because of her strong survival instinct. She said in an interview that what happened to her in Mumbai was an open lynching and butchering, and also slammed recent comments made against her by Urmila Matondkar.

She was making a mockery out of my struggles, Kangana said, launching into a personal attack on Urmila, whom she described as a soft porn star who is not known for her acting, for sure. In a recent interview, Urmila had said that Kangana should look inside her own backyard before slamming other states. The entire country is facing the menace of drugs. Does she (Kangana) know Himachal is the origin of drugs? She should start from her own state, Urmila had said in an interview to India Today.

Kangana countered in a Times Now interview by saying that it isnt very difficult for her to get a political ticket, because Urmila also got one. If she can get a ticket, why wont I get a ticket? Everyone is getting a ticket. Why do I have to play with my life, have my house demolished...?

Also read: Urmila Matondkar slams Kangana Ranauts comments: Does she know Himachal is the origin of drugs?

Claiming that she is 100% clean, Kangana responded to her former partner Adhyayan Sumans allegations that she forced him to consume drugs several years ago. I have never called any drug peddlers ever, I have never myself bought drugs, but yes I have been exposed to people, and I have seen this very clearly, she said, adding that she has seen the affect drugs have had in India, especially in Punjab.

She said that during her stay in Mumbai, she received calls from people warning her that she could face repercussions for her actions, like being thrown in jail, or being framed for drug use. There are people who are so downright nasty, that it breaks your heart, she said. Kangana said that her friends and neighbours also received threatening phonecalls.

Directly addressing Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut, with whom she was engaged in a war of words ahead of her Mumbai visit on September 9, the actor said, I fall in the highest tax bracket, Im sure I pay around Rs 15-20 crore every year in taxes, and generate employment for hundreds of people in Maharashtra.

I am not a har******r, she said, referring to the slur that was used against her. Kangana had previously said that she feels unsafe in Mumbai, and compared the city to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, fuelling the ire of Sanjay Raut, who advised her to stay away from the city.

Also read: Kangana Ranaut responds to Jaya Bachchans thali comment: They offered 2 min roles, item numbers, that too after sleeping with hero

Kangana was also recently involved in a war of words with Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan, who called her attacks on the film industry shameful during Tuesdays session of parliament.

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MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images Donald Trump

Oops: A new digital ad for President Donald Trump's reelection campaign called on people to "support our troops" while reportedly using a stock photo of Russian-made fighter jets.

The ad, created by the Trump Make America Great Again Committee, ran over several days last week. It featured the silhouettes of a group of soldiers with aircraft flying overheard.

Pierre Sprey, who helped design F-16 and A-10 planes for the Air Force, identified the jets as Russian MiG-29s to Politico by noticing the angle of the aircrafts tail and the spacing of the engines.

"Thats definitely a MiG-29. Im glad to see its supporting our troops," Sprey said.

RELATED: Biden Hopes He Doesn't 'Get Baited Into a Brawl' with Trump  What They've Both Said About the Debates

Trump campaign ad

Ruslan Pukhov, director of the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies in Moscow, confirmed to Politico that the soldier on the right of the campaign ad image is holding a Russian AK-74 assault rifle.

As noted by Politico, the image used in the ad is available on Shutterstock and is labeled, "Military silhouettes of soldiers and airforce against the backdrop of sunset sky."

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.

RELATED VIDEO: Melania Trump's Former Friend Says 'There's Nothing' in Scathing Tell-All 'That I Can't Back Up

Melania Trump's Former Friend Says 'There's Nothing' in Scathing Tell-All 'That I Can't Back Up'

The White House has dismissed the new book as "full of mistruths and paranoia"

According to Politico, Russian MiG-29s, twin-engine jet fighter aircrafts, were developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War to combat American F-15s and F-16s. They first flew in 1977.

During the war, the U.S. managed to obtain a few MiG-29s. They were also exported by Russia to other countries such as North Korea, India and Syria, Politico reported.

The Trump campaign has a history of headline-grabbing posts online, in keeping with the candidate himself. Sometimes that boomerangs, as when the campaign compared Trump to Marvel supervillain Thanos or described their operation like the "Death Star" from Star Wars.

The president's ties to Russia have also long drawn scrutiny  most famously in the multiple connections between his campaign and Russia during the 2016 election  though he has defended his relationship with Vladimir Putin as in the best interest of American national security.
Public transport bosses in northwest England on Tuesday clarified the rules on face coverings after a bus passenger was spotted with a snake around his neck and mouth.

The commuter was spotted on a bus bound for Manchester on Monday but fellow passengers initially believed he was wearing a colourful face covering, the Manchester Evening News reported.

"At first I thought he had a really funky mask on, then he let it crawl around the hand rails," one witness was quoted as saying.

"No one was really bothered on the bus but a man behind took a video. It was definitely entertaining."

Photos of the man, dressed in a white t-shirt and jeans, showed what appeared to be a python coiled around his neck and face but he was not wearing a mask as required underneath.

The use of face coverings is mandatory on public transport in Britain, to prevent the close-contact spread of the coronavirus.

Some exceptions are allowed, such as for people with health conditions or young children.

A Transport for Greater Manchester spokesman said government guidance stipulated face coverings could be surgical masks, scarves or bandanas.

"While there is a small degree of interpretation that can be applied to this, we do not believe it extends to the use of snakeskin, especially when still attached to the snake," he added.

The UK government initially resisted the use of face masks in confined spaces such as shops as a preventative measure against the virus but changed its policy as the number of cases climbed.

The move sparked some opposition but not to the same extent as in the United States.
Here are a few questions and suggestions to help you calibrate your concern and weigh contingencies, based on our conversations with epidemiologists and public health experts.

If theres a case, where did that person get exposed?

Its important to distinguish between Covid in your school, which is bad, but not exactly the same thing as Covid being transmitted in your school, Dr. Linas said. People have lives outside of school. Its very likely that people will get infected somewhere else.

A few unrelated cases at a school does not necessarily mean theres an outbreak. If community transmission rates are high, students are most likely getting infected outside of school, where the environment is less controlled. (Most experts agree that students shouldnt return to school if more than 5 percent of people in their community test positive.) Effective contact tracing is essential to help families and classrooms assess risks and make a plan.

How transparent is your district?

Just because theres a case in your childs school, it doesnt mean that your child has been exposed. By just passing a kid in a hallway, your kid is extremely unlikely to get Covid-19, said Dr. Megan Ranney, an emergency physician and assistant dean at Brown University. Its really about being in a classroom with that other person for a significant period of time.

If your child hasnt been anywhere near the infected child, she said, it would not be appropriate for your kid to quarantine.
Continuing their agitation against Centres agriculture ordinances and power amendment bill, several farmers organisations on Wednesday held a protest in Mohali.

The farmers, including members of Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) Rajewal and Lakhowal, began their protest march from Amb Sahib Gurudwara in Phase 8 towards the Punjab governors house in Chandigarh, but were stopped at the Chandigarh-Mohali border near YPS roundabout.

However, eight members were later allowed to proceed to the governors residence. When they reached at the gate, the ADC to governor came to receive their memorandum of demands, but the farmers refused to hand it over saying that they will do so only if the governor agreed to meet them.

Earlier on Tuesday, BKU workers were booked for blocking NH 21 and violating social distancing norms during a protest in Kharar.

BKU Rajewal president Balbir Singh Rajewal stated that the BJPs anti-farmer face had been exposed with the introduction of the three agriculture ordinances in the Lok Sabha. Other farm leaders said the Union government wanted to sell commodities to the corporate houses by not giving the right price to the farmers. Farmers of Punjab were meeting 70 to 80 per cent of the food grain requirement of the country, but such laws would destroy them, added the BKU chief.

The protesting farmers also discussed their issues and pledged to fight for their rights in a united manner. The farmers wore black robes and raised slogans against the Union government.

The spokespersons appealed to the farmers not to allow the MPs, who had voted in favour of the ordinances, to enter their villages.

Rajewal said due to the lethal policies of the Centre, farmers were already on the verge of suicide and now with the implementation of new laws, there was a feeling of uneasiness, resentment and insecurity among them.
The has blocked 224 mobile in the interest of and sovereignty, Parliament was informed on Wednesday.

"The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has blocked 224 mobile applications, including TikTok, Helo and WeChat under the provisions of section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 in the interest of sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India and security of State," Minister of State for Electronics and IT Sanjay Dhotre said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

He said these have been blocked on concerns and thus "linkage with any country may not be disclosed in public domain".

In response to another question, Dhotre said blocking of for public access is a dynamic process.

In June, the government had banned 59 Chinese applications, including TikTok, UC Browser, SHAREit, WeChat, CamScanner and Mi Community.

Earlier this month, 118 more mobile apps, including popular gaming app PUBG, were banned.

(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.)
T he government has extended a moratorium on business evictions, helping tenants until the end of 2020.

Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick said: We are extending support to protect those businesses that are unable to pay their rent from eviction to the end of the year. This will stop businesses going under and protect jobs over the coming months.

The Government said it is clear that where businesses can pay their rent, they should do so, as this support is aimed at businesses struggling the most during the pandemic.

The update comes a day after the Financial Times reported an extension was being considered. Retail property landlords yesterday told the Evening Standard they were unhappy at the potential move.

The moratorium on business evictions was introduced in April to help firms recover from the virus crisis, and had been due to end on September 30.

While some tenants agreed six-month rent holidays with landlords, many had not and were worried they would not be able to pay the outstanding rent, after suffering three months of closure in lockdown.

But landlords claim some of the tenants refusing to pay are big, profitable companies wrongly taking advantage of the crisis.

Melanie Leech, chief executive of the British Property Federation, today said: It is hugely disappointing that the Government has decided on a blanket extension to the moratorium, when the majority of property owners and tenants are working collaboratively together, and well-capitalised businesses continue to exploit the intervention, refusing to pay rent despite being able to afford it.

Leech added: It is imperative, for the health of the pensions and savings funds that own our high street, that the Government confirms this is the last extension and sets out an exit strategy to clearly outline to both property owners and tenants how we are going to transition back to normal market conditions and overcome what is a growing and for some an insurmountable challenge of rent arrears.

Business Secretary Alok Sharma said: Extending the temporary measures we put in place earlier this year to protect businesses from the threat of eviction will give them some much-needed breathing space at a critical moment in the UKs economic recovery."

High Street chains have had some respite from the lockdowns impact on revenues since non-essential stores have been allowed to reopen, while the Eat Out to Help Out scheme helped restaurants.

But many companies are still battling lower footfall in city centres as tourists and office workers stay away.
The Cold Carrier Certification recognizes cold trucking carrier companies that comply with the GCCA Refrigerated Transportation Best Practices Guide . This guide was published to provide support to companies on implementing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's rule for the Sanitary Transportation of Human and Animal Food (STF) in the U.S. Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). Though this is a U.S.-based standard, GCCA considers the best practices laid out in its guide to be applicable across the globe.

"We're committed to instilling the highest levels of sanitary measures and safe perishable product transportation in our fleet," said Jeff Jackson, senior vice president, operations  dedicated contract carriage. "This certification underscores our commitment and provides our customers with an added layer of confidence and documentation that we are doing our utmost to ensure the safety and sanitation of their perishables shipments."

Penske Logistics is a leading provider of dedicated contract carriage services, which also includes refrigerated trucking in the food and beverage sector. Its customers span convenience stores, grocers, wholesalers and distributors, and quick-service restaurant chains. The company's fleet of more than 2,000 refrigerated vehicles handle more than 1.5 million cold chain truck shipments annually. Similarly, Penske Logistics also manages millions of square feet of refrigerated warehousing space for leading grocers in North America.

GCCA President Matthew Ott, CAE, CMP, said: "I applaud Penske's commitment to food safety, demonstrated by becoming a Certified Cold Carrier. Together, we can all work to ensure we are forging a universally strong cold chain where every product retains quality and safety through each link."

Comprised of its Core Partners, including the International Association of Refrigerated Warehouses (IARW), the World Food Logistics Organization (WFLO), the International Refrigerated Transportation Association (IRTA), and the Controlled Environment Building Association (CEBA), GCCA represents all major industries engaged in temperature-controlled logistics. GCCA unites all partners to be innovative leaders in the temperature-controlled products industry. For more information, visit www.gcca.org.

Penske Logistics is a Penske Transportation Solutions company with operations in North America, South America, Europe and Asia. Penske Logistics provides supply chain management and logistics services to leading companies around the world. Penske Logistics delivers value through its design, planning and execution in transportation, warehousing and freight management. Visit www.PenskeLogistics.com to learn more.

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KISSIMMEE, Fla. (AP)  Joe Biden made his first trip to Florida as the Democratic presidential nominee on Tuesday with an urgent mission to boost support among Latinos who could decide the election in one of the nations fiercest battleground states.

More than any other time, the Hispanic community, Latino community holds in the palm of their hand the destiny of this country, Biden said during a Hispanic Heritage Month kickoff event in Kissimmee. You can decide the direction of this country.

A win for Biden in Florida would dramatically narrow Trumps path to reelection. But in a state where elections are often decided by a percentage point, there are mounting concerns that Biden may be slipping, particularly with the states influential Latino voters.

An NBC-Marist poll released last week found Latinos in the state about evenly divided between Biden and Trump. Democrat Hillary Clinton led Trump by a 59% to 36% margin among Latinos in the same poll in 2016  and Trump won Florida by about 1 percentage point.

To regain lost ground, Biden made the case Tuesday night that he would be a better president for Hispanics than Trump, touting his commitment to immigration reform and a new plan to support Puerto Ricos economy.

Donald Trump has failed the Hispanic community time and time again, and thats not a secret, Biden said. Whether its in his heinous act of separating children from their families at our border, or his repeated attacks on Dreamers, or his neglect of the people of Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, or his repeated failures to make sure essential workers have the personal protective equipment they need.

Still, Hispanic voters in Florida tend to be somewhat more Republican-leaning than Hispanic voters nationwide because of the states Cuban American population. Nationally, little public polling is available to measure the opinions of Latino voters this year and whether they differ from four years ago.

But Democrats arent taking chances. Billionaire Mike Bloomberg has pledged to spend at least $100 million to defeat Trump in Florida.

And by spending his day along the Interstate 4 corridor, Biden is devoting time to one of the most critical regions of the state. While Republicans typically post big numbers in the northern and southwestern parts of the state and Democrats are strong in coastal cities, campaigns typically battle it out for every vote in central Florida.

Bidens first event, in Tampa, focused on veterans and was aimed at pushing a potential opening with military voters, who broadly supported Trump in 2016 but are seen as potentially persuadable because of controversial remarks the president reportedly made mocking American war dead as losers and suckers. Trump has denied making the remarks, first reported through anonymous sources by The Atlantic, but many of the comments were later confirmed by The Associated Press.

Nowhere are his faults more glaring and more offensive, to me at least, than when it comes to his denigration of our service members, veterans, wounded warriors who have fallen, Biden said. Speaking of his late son Beau, who served overseas as a Delaware Army National Guard member, Biden said, Hes gone now, but hes no sucker.

Bidens decision to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month in Kissimmee reflects a focus on the states rapidly growing Puerto Rican community. Many Puerto Ricans relocated to Florida after Hurricane Maria devastated the island in 2017.

The campaign announced a new plan Tuesday focused on boosting Puerto Ricos economy and helping the island recover from Maria. Biden would create a federal working group focused on aiding Puerto Rico in rebuilding and would forgive disaster relief loans to Puerto Rican towns and invest in Puerto Ricos power and schooling infrastructure and health care services, among other things. He also expressed support for Puerto Rican statehood Tuesday night.

I happen to believe statehood would be the most effective means of ensuring that residents of Puerto Rico are treated equally, with equal representation on a federal level, but the people of Puerto Rico must decide, and the United States federal government must respect and act on that, he said.

Puerto Ricans may be more open to Biden than Cuban Americans concentrated in Miami are. Many of them are attuned to Trumps message that the Democratic ticket would embrace socialism.

Indeed, surrogates for the Trump campaign focused on Cuban immigrants during a call with reporters. Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez, a Republican, accused Biden of trying to feign interest in the Hispanic community after neglecting us.

She said a Biden presidency would, among other things, appease and enrich Cubas leadership at the expense of the people. Some foreign policy analysts, however, say the Trump administrations tough economic restrictions on Cuba only contribute to the oppression of the Cuban people.

Biden, who hasnt been to Florida since last October, has struggled with Latinos in part because of the record-setting number of deportations when President Barack Obama was in the White House. Biden has apologized for that policy.

But unlike his Democratic rival Bernie Sanders, who used strong support among Latinos to notch key primary victories in Nevada and California, Biden has refused to adopt the most liberal positions in his party  especially when it comes to calling for decriminalizing illegal crossings of the U.S.-Mexico border and halting all deportations indefinitely. He supports a 100-day moratorium on deportations.

As for Trump, despite many of his anti-immigration policies, some Latino voters have responded positively to the presidents embrace of religious conservative positions and his warnings of protest-related violence and socialism. Trump also frequently visits his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, and the president votes absentee in the state.

Ana Navarro-Cardenas, a former Republican strategist who has endorsed Biden and spoke at one of his campaign events, said the Tuesday night event signaled Biden plans to fight for and work for Hispanic support.

But she added that she hopes to see the Biden campaign ramp up their outreach to Hispanic voters in Florida to mitigate any damage done by the Trump campaign.

Joe needs to come to South Florida, look us in the eye and combat the ridiculous Republican narrative that hes some sort of socialist, she said. He needs to call out the lies and Trumps hypocrisy.
CLEVELAND and ORANGE COUNTY, Calif., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Champion ONE Family of Companies ("C1" or the "Company"), a leading designer, marketer, and supplier of optical networking components worldwide, today announced the appointment of Michael Rapp as its new Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. As part of this transition, Pete Kirchof, C1's acting CEO, will return to his primary role of Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Mr. Rapp is a seasoned executive with more than 25 years' experience building and leading a diverse portfolio of technology companies. Throughout his career, Mr. Rapp's passion for developing diverse corporate cultures, built for accelerated growth, has allowed him to succeed in multiple organizations from start-ups to multi-billion-dollar companies. Mr. Rapp's extensive executive experience ranges from serving as Chief Revenue Officer at En Pointe IT Solutions to heading integration and growth strategy at Insight. He has also held key senior leadership positions at PCM, En Pointe Technologies, Software Spectrum, and Admor Memory.

"I am thrilled to be taking the helm of C1 at such an exciting time," said Mr. Rapp. "Over the last few years, the management team and employees have propelled C1 forward, achieving record-level performance and expanding C1's capabilities to serve its customers. C1 is an industry leader with respected brands and exponential growth potential. I am humbled to be entrusted with leading this team and look forward to continuing C1's established history of recruiting top-tier talent and driving operational excellence while servicing customers at the highest levels."

Mr. Kirchof added, "The board and the management team have been working tirelessly over the last several years to build C1 into the world-class organization it is today, and Michael is a key addition to this growth strategy. Michael is the ideal leader to capitalize on the momentum of our successful merger with Approved Networks  a recognized leader in the industry with significant runway  and steward C1 through its next phase of accelerated growth. In addition to his outstanding track record of success and breadth of experience, Michael has proven himself to be an exceptional cultural fit for C1. We are confident that, with Michael leading the C1 team, we are well-equipped to create greater value for our customers and stakeholders."

About the Champion ONE Family of Companies:

Champion ONE is a designer, marketer, and supplier of optical networking components worldwide. Founded in 1992, Champion ONE is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, with additional offices in Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Omaha, Silicon Valley, Albany, and Washington, D.C. The company provides high-performance, mission-critical open networking solutions for domestic and international telecommunications providers and category-leading businesses across both public and private sectors. In February 2020, Champion ONE merged with Approved Networks and its affiliate U.S. Critical, two recognized leaders in the programming, testing, and distribution of network solutions. The combined company is one of the world's largest independent optics companies, servicing the global market's leading telecommunication service providers, data centers and U.S. government agencies, among others. For more information, visit https://www.championone.com/.

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A volleyball player from The Woodlands High School who nearly died from a heart attack several months ago got to meet the paramedics and other first responders who saved her life during a reunion ceremony on Tuesday at The Woodlands Fire Departments Central Station.

Julieta Valdes, a player for the Highlanders girls volleyball team, was flatlined for 23 minutes on May 3 before being saved by a combination of her family members providing CPR before Montgomery County Hospital District paramedics and firefighters from The Woodlands arrived and continued life-saving efforts until she was transported to a local hospital.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Double lung transplant, one of the nations first, saves COVID patient in The Woodlands

On Tuesday, Valdes said thanks in person. Something she could not do on that fateful day as she lay on the floor unconscious, clinging to life.

Reading from a prepared statement, Valdes thanked those involved with her near-death experience and said it was, nice to finally meet you again, but conscious for a change. Valdes, a freshman at the time, explained to those who were not aware of the circumstances surrounding the incident. She had begun to workout with her sister around 10 p.m. and was doing push-ups when she collapsed unconscious.

From what I have heard, I was (unconscious) without a pulse for quite some time, but you never gave up on me. I have always taken graduating from high school, going to college and having a family of my own and so many other things as a given, Valdes read as those who saved her sat silently behind her in socially distanced chairs. While I know I am mortal, now more than ever before, I never thought about my time (to die) coming so early. I now get to make it to the ripe age of 17, and that is all because of you. I cannot thank you all enough for what you all did for menever giving up on me and working tirelessly to get a pulse on me.

When Valdes collapsed, her family called 911 and were given instructions by emergency dispatcher Scott McCully on how to properly do CPR.

ALL HEART: The Woodlands Valdes continues recovery

Once paramedics arrived at Valdes home, they took over until she was taken to Texas Childrens Hospital-The Woodlands. She was eventually transferred to another hospital in Houston where she recovered.

Dr. Robert Dickson of the Montgomery County Hospital District began the press conference by noting that the event was intended to celebrate Valdes life. He said the chain of survival starts the minute someone calls 911 and that proper instructions on how to do CPR can increase survival odds by more than 50 percent.

We are extraordinarily happy to see you here with us today, Dixon said.

McCully, the veteran 911 operator who took the frantic call from Valdes family on that May night, was the lone person of the group of honorees Tuesday who had not met Valdes in-person.

RENEW HOUSTON: Get the latest wellness news delivered to your inbox

I am truly blessed to meet you, McCully said.

After her speech, the varied first responder teams that helped save Valdes were recognized.

Included in the group were MCHD paramedics Tyler Grisham and Joe ONeill; McCully, the MCHD 911 dispatcher; and members of The Woodlands Fire Department including Mitch Hubbard, Lt. Bill Holt and also firefighters Gary Rogers, Travis Nicholson and Reginald Jackson. All of those who helped saved Valdes received Lifesaver Award plaques and took commemorative photographs with Valdes.

With this new opportunity of life I have been graciously gifted by you, Valdes said. I feel like I have a greater purpose and want to make an impact as well.

jeff.forward@chron.com
Samuel L. Jackson is using his unique set of linguistic skills to encourage fans to vote in the upcoming election.

The 71-year-old actor took his verified Twitter on Monday, telling hiss 8.5 million followers that he will teach them how to swear in 15 different language.

The Pulp Fictions star's fans came through in droves, leading him to post a new video on Tuesday, staying true to his word, with curse words in 15 languages.

Linguist: Samuel L. Jackson is using his unique set of linguistic skills to encourage fans to vote in the upcoming election

Swearing lessons: The Pulp Fictions star's fans came through in droves, leading him to post a new video on Tuesday, staying true to his word, with curse words in 15 languages

'Listen up - If 2500 of you click a voting action below to make sure youre #GoodToVote, I will teach you to swear in 15 different languages. Go to HeadCount.org/SamJackson now!' Jackson wrote on Monday.

He also shared a video where he reiterated the same message, and it didn't take long to get 2,500 fans to commit to vote.

The actor returned with a new video on Tuesday, rocking a face mask that said VOTE and a black t-shirt that read 'Your Voice Matters.'

Voting: 'Listen up - If 2500 of you click a voting action below to make sure youre #GoodToVote, I will teach you to swear in 15 different languages. Go to HeadCount.org/SamJackson now!' Jackson wrote on Monday

Voting voice: The actor returned with a new video on Tuesday, rocking a face mask that said VOTE and a black t-shirt that read 'Your Voice Matters'

'You guys showed up and blasted through our Voter Action Goal for #GoodToVote! So as promised, here's some Cussin' 15 ways to go!' Jackson said.

'Thanks for getting involved and make sure to #vote on Nov.3rd!' he added, along with the hashtag #votemask #MKsaysVote and #yourvoicematters.

Jackson said in the video that his fans, 'showed up and showed out' for his voter initiative.

Blasted through: 'You guys showed up and blasted through our Voter Action Goal for #GoodToVote! So as promised, here's some Cussin' 15 ways to go!' Jackson said.

Involved: 'Thanks for getting involved and make sure to #vote on Nov.3rd!' he added, along with the hashtag #votemask #MKsaysVote and #yourvoicematters

'Now, it's time for me to hold up my end of that bargain. Let's learn some cussin' in 15 different languages,' Jackson said.

The Avengers star had a series of cards with swear words in various languages, with the first being 'Zoaz Popatik Hartzera' in the Basque language.

He continued with 'Dit Me May' in Vietnamese, along with various curse words in Ukranian, Swahili and Nepali.

Basque: The Avengers star had a series of cards with swear words in various languages, with the first being 'Zoaz Popatik Hartzera' in the Basque language

Swearing around the world: He continued with 'Dit Me May' in Vietnamese, along with various curse words in Ukranian, Swahili and Nepali

He also added curse words in Jamaican Patois, Icelandic and Maori as he continued his cursing spree.

The actor closed out his cursing lessons with Haitian, Bemba, Czech, Esperanto, Catalan, Brazilian Portuguese and Thai.

'Pass this on, make sure you get other people to register to vote, and make sure you go out and vote too,' Jackson concluded.

More swears: He also added curse words in Jamaican Patois, Icelandic and Maori as he continued his cursing spree

Closing out: The actor closed out his cursing lessons with Haitian, Bemba, Czech, Esperanto, Catalan, Brazilian Portuguese and Thai
A man is being sought by police over a suspected attempt to abduct two schoolgirls from near a bus stop in south London.

The suspect got out of a car and tried to grab the girls, both aged 11, on Crofton Road, Orpington, at around 3pm on September 9.

They both fled and made their way back to school, where police and their parents were alerted, detectives said.

The victims were distressed but otherwise physically unharmed.

The incident is being treated as an attempted abduction.

The suspect is described as a white male aged in his 30s.

He is believed to have been travelling in a white car, possibly an L plate Fiat 500, with another man, also a white male aged in his 30s.

Officers from the South Area Command Unit are investigating.

Anyone with information is asked to call 101 quoting ref CAD 5071/09Sep.
The chief executive of a European airline says that flying is safer than shopping for groceries in terms of the risk catching coronavirus.

Jozsef Varadi, CEO of Wizz Air, told CNBC's Squawk Box Europe: "We don't know a single case globally that someone would have been infected by flying, so flying is a very safe activity, it's a lot safer than going to the supermarket or even meeting your friend," he stated.

Varadi said that as it operates a young fleet, with aircraft averaging five years of age, filtration systems meant air quality is "comparable to an intensive care unit of a hospital." "By engineering and design the aircraft is very safe," he said.

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He added that he was satisfied with standards of cleanliness in airports and called for government to provide testing for people who wanted to travel, rather than impose travel bans or quarantines.

HEPA, or high efficiency particulate air filters, are used in aircraft, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), and they are similar systems to those used in operating theaters and intensive care units, it states.

People in close proximity on an airplane may transmit infections to each other, similar to how they might on a bus or in a theater, the WHO adds.

Aircraft cabin air systems use 50% outside air and 50% recirculated, filtered air, according to the International Air Transportation Association (IATA).

Wizz Air flies to 45 European countries and Varadi said no two countries currently have the same quarantine rules. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, governments have imposed various restrictions on citizens travelling to and from certain countries  for example, people travelling to England from Portugal now have to self-isolate for 14 days, in a measure announced last week.

"There are no two countries of those 45 that would be imposing the same measures, so it is totally unpredictable, it has become  very difficult to cut through. We need to align standards, we need to align measures," Varadi stated.

The airline industry has been rocked by the coronavirus pandemic as governments imposed shelter-in-place orders, and last month U.S. airlines said that more than 75,000 jobs are at risk.

Varadi has previously warned of a "rollercoaster effect" in terms of economic recovery for airlines and business, and stated that airlines would simply have to cope with uncertainty.
Sometimes a picture can speak a thousand words and this photo shared by the Cincinnati Zoo, USA perfectly proves that. Featuring one of the famous members of the zoo, Fiona the hippo and an adorable toddler, the photo is something that will melt your heart.

Shared on the Zoos official Instagram profile, the photo shows Fiona and a little girl looking at each other. Both of their adorable reactions to each other make this a delightful picture.

Two 3-year-olds. #TeamFiona, reads the caption alongside the photo. Take a look at the post:

Posted on September 15, the post has garnered over 17,100 likes and lots of comments from netizens. While some showered their love with heart emojis, others couldnt stop praising the cute picture.

Heres how people reacted:

So cute! said an Instagram user. Oh this is precious, commented another. Omg I love this! exclaimed a third.

Such innocence, wrote a fourth.

What do you think of this post?
Trump admin. can end humanitarian protections for refugees: appeals court

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A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has ruled that the Trump administration can end a program aimed at giving humanitarian aid to refugees.

At issue were the efforts by the administration to end the Temporary Protected Status program for beneficiaries from countries including Sudan, Nicaragua, Haiti, and El Salvador.

Administered by the Department of Homeland Security, the program gives temporary benefits to refugees from countries that have experienced major disasters, both natural and manmade.

In a 2-1 decision filed Monday, the appeals court panel vacated a preliminary injunction issued by a lower court, with Circuit Judge Consuelo M. Callahan authoring the court opinion.

The Callahan opinion rejected the claims of plaintiffs who argued that the decision to end their TPS protections was unlawful given the potential negative impact it would have on them.

The TPS statute also does not dictate any substantive guidelines or restrictions on the manner by which the Secretary may reach her TPS determinations, other than setting forth the three possible findings that the Secretary must make before designating a country for TPS, wrote Callahan.

Nothing in the language of the TPS statute requires the Secretary to consider intervening events prior to terminating TPS, or to explain her failure to do so.

In the dissenting opinion, Circuit Judge Morgan Christen argued that the plaintiffs complaint had merit, as the lower court provided a long list of evidence of racial animus from the administration.

One example cited was a January 2018 Oval Office meeting in which President Donald Trump called some of the nations involved in the TPS program s***hole countries.

 we cannot sweep aside the words that were actually used, and it would be worse for us to deny their meaning. Some of the statements expressly referred to people, not to places. The Presidents statements require no deciphering, argued Christen.

The [district] court recognized that the government could not in good faith argue that it would suffer any concrete harm if TPS holders are allowed to remain in the United States pending resolution of this litigation because they have been lawfully present in the United States for many years.

Crista Ramos, lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, denounced the appeals court panel decision, saying in a statement that the government has failed me and the other 250,000 US citizen children of TPS holders.

If this decision stands, it means Trumps termination of TPS will move ahead and TPS holders will only have until January 2021 to legally live and work in this country, stated Ramos.

We need our senators to act now and pass the Dream & Promise Act to grant TPS holders a permanent residency before another wave of family separations occurs. Despite the courts decision, our fight must continue.

In 2017 and 2018, the Trump administration moved to terminate the TPS program for people who came to the country from Sudan, Nicaragua, Haiti, and El Salvador.

Supporters of the decisions to drop the four countries from the program argued that the conditions used to justify their addition to TPS have considerably changed.

For example, while Haiti was added to TPS due to the 2010 earthquake, the Department of Homeland Security concluded that conditions there had since sufficiently improved.

Since the 2010 earthquake, the number of displaced people in Haiti has decreased by 97 percent, stated DHS in 2017. Haiti is able to safely receive traditional levels of returned citizens.
China's recent military exercises near Taiwan are a 'necessary action' to protect the country's sovereignty, particularly against 'the interference of foreign forces', a government spokesperson has said.

Beijing, which claims democratic Taiwan as its own, has stepped up large-scale air and naval drills near the island, in what Taiwan views as intimidation to force it to accept Chinese rule.

Ma Xiaoguang of the Chinese Cabinet's Taiwan Affairs Office said Wednesday that the Chinese war games were a deliberate signal to Taiwan leaders who were working with foreign backers to push the island's formal independence from China.

China's recent military exercises near Taiwan are a 'necessary action' to protect the country's sovereignty, particularly against 'the interference of foreign forces', a government spokesperson has said. This file photo shows a Chinese Air Force Su-30 fighter being refuelled during a routine combat simulation drill over the West Pacific on September 12, 2016

Taiwan has denounced that Chinese warplanes entered its airspace over two days last week during the large-scale war games. In this file photo, Chinese missile frigate Yuncheng launches an anti-ship missile during a military exercise in south China on July 8, 2016

The statement comes after Taiwan has denounced that Chinese warplanes entered its airspace over two days last week during the large-scale war games that it called a 'serious provocation to Taiwan and a grave threat to regional peace and stability'.

The drills are said to have taken place in Taiwan's air defence identification zone, between mainland Taiwan and the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands. Taiwan says China sent advanced Su-30 and J-10 fighters to participate.

Taiwan urged the international community to respond, claiming such actions by China's People's Liberation Army threaten the entire region.

Ma said the exercises were a 'necessary measure' because Taiwan's leaders had been engaging in activities aimed pushing the island's formal independence from China.

He said Taiwan's leaders had sought support from abroad and were doing so in a bid to hamper China's development.

'The situation between the sides at present is even more grave and complicated. The Democratic Progressive Party authorities and the Taiwanese independence forces are behind this,' Ma said, referring to Taiwan's ruling party.

The drills are said to have taken place in Taiwan's air defence identification zone, between mainland Taiwan and the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands. An undated handout photo released on September 10, 2020 by Taiwan Ministry of National Defense, showing China's SU-30 Fighter aircraft entertaining Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ)

Ma said the exercises were a 'necessary measure' because Taiwan's leaders had been engaging in activities aimed pushing the island's formal independence from China. In this file photo, Chinese soldiers take part in the Scout Trail obstacle course race on August 28

China's tank crew members take part in a tank biathlon competition at the 2020 International Army Games at the Alabino training ground in Moscow, Russia on September 5

'We have the determination and the capability to defeat all Taiwan independence activities and absolutely safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity,' Ma told reporters at a regularly schedule briefing.

China has been stepping up its threat to bring the self-governing island under its control by military force with frequent war games and aerial patrols.

That follows the apparent failure of its efforts to win over the island's 23 million people to the prospect of political unification under the 'one country, two systems' framework in place in China, with a large majority of Taiwanese favouring maintaining the status quo of de facto independence.

China cut contacts with Taiwan's government following the 2016 election of independence-minded President Tsai Ing-wen, who was re-elected this year, and has sought to isolate her diplomatically while ratcheting up political, military and economic pressure.

At Wednesday's briefing, Ma repeatedly side-stepped questions about the decision by Taiwan's China-friendly Nationalist Party not to send a delegation to attend an annual cross-strait economic and cultural forum in the Chinese city of Xiamen following remarks by a Chinese television presenter seen as disparaging.

Soldiers from China take part in the Open Water competition for pontoon bridges as a part of the 6th International Army Games 2020 in the town of Murom, Russia on September 2

China cut contacts with Taiwan's government following the 2016 election of independence-minded President Tsai Ing-wen (pictured centre), who was re-elected this year, and has sought to isolate her diplomatically while ratcheting up political, military and economic pressure

After repeated questioning, Ma said his understanding was the decision was dictated by Taiwanese internal politics, citing unidentified media sources in Taiwan.

Ma also denied reports that the Chinese presenter had been asked to apologise for her statement that the Nationalist delegation was coming 'begging for peace.'

The Nationalists have lost badly in the past two presidential elections, largely as a result of perceptions that they are too close to Beijing and willing to sell out Taiwan's interests for political and economic gain.

The party had run Taiwan for decades, partly under martial law, after Chiang Kai-shek moved it to the island following the Communist takeover of mainland China in 1949.

China has sought relentlessly to isolate the Tsai's government even while she draws closer to key ally the United States.

Beijing has whittled Taiwan's roster of diplomatic allies down to just 15 and blocked its representatives from attending international gatherings, demanding that Tsai agree to recognise Taiwan as a part of Chinese territory.
- Metallic stearates are used in diverse industries to enhance the quality of the product, thus inviting great growth opportunities for the metallic stearates market through the forecast period of 2020-2030

- The global metallic stearates market is extrapolated to expand at a CAGR of ~5 percent across the assessment period of 2020-2030

ALBANY, N.Y., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The roles played by metallic stearates such as stabilizers, water-repelling agents, lubricating agents, and others among a plethora of end-users may serve as a prominent growth booster for the metallic stearates market.

Transparency Market Research (TMR), after a scrutinized analysis on diverse factors, predicts the global metallic stearates market to expand at a CAGR of ~5 percent during the assessment period of 2020-2030 and is estimated to reach a value of US$ 3.5 bn by the end of the forecast period.

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The plastic industry is growing rapidly across the globe and this factor may bring tremendous growth opportunities for the metallic stearates market through the forecast period of 2020-2030. Furthermore, the applications of metallic stearates across the rubber industry may also add extra stars of growth to the metallic stearates market. The construction industry may also serve as a key prospect for the growth of the metallic stearates market due to their use in paint and coatings as water-repellent ingredients.

Metallic Stearates Market: From Experts' Desk

The exponential growth experienced across industries such as paints and varnishes, detergents and lubricants, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals is inviting extensive growth prospects for the metallic stearates market according to the TMR analysts. Furthermore, the analysts quote the increasing adoption of metallic stearates in the plastic industry as a prominent growth aspect.

The analysts suggest the players in the metallic stearates market to pay attention to streamlining their supply chain and weave a strong web of suppliers from diverse regions to exert influence on the metallic stearates market.

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Metallic Stearates Market: Major Findings

Based on type, the sodium stearates segment acquired a prominent share of 20 percent of the global metallic stearates market in 2019

The sodium stearate segment is expected to display prominent growth between 2020 and 2030

The powder segment held a 40 percent share of the global metallic stearates market in terms of form in 2019 and is expected to hold a significant share during the forecast period of 2020-2030

The plastic and rubbers segment was holding more than 40 percent share in 2019 and may continue as a leading application of the metallic stearates market from 2020 to 2030

Asia Pacific may prove to be a leading growth contributing region during the assessment period of 2020-2030, expanding at a CAGR of 4.5 percent

View Detailed Table of Contents at https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/report-toc/54630

Metallic Stearates Market: Growth Boosters

The overwhelming lubrication properties of metallic stearates may bring expansive growth for the metallic stearates market during the assessment period.

Growing investments from various investors and conglomerates are accelerating research and development activities, eventually harnessing the growth of the metallic stearates market

Characteristics of metallic stearates such as low permeability, fire-resistant, good insulation properties, and durability may serve as prominent growth generators

Metallic stearates are used prominently in the cosmetics segment and the rising demand for cosmetics and personal care products is serving as a growth multiplier

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Metallic Stearates Market: Growth Dampeners

Allergy symptoms can be observed in some people after consuming supplements or food products containing metallic stearates. It can irritate the mucosal lining of the bowels and can result in diarrhea. This factor may prove as a major growth obstacle for the metallic stearates market.

Furthermore, the COVID-19 outbreak has restrained the growth of the metallic stearates market due to the stringent lockdown measures. The shutting down of various manufacturing units and production facilities has resulted in slow growth of the metallic stearates market.

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Global Metallic Stearates Market: Segmentation

By Type

Aluminum Stearates

Calcium Stearates

Magnesium Stearates

Zinc Stearates

Sodium Stearates

Others (including Potassium, Cobalt, and Barium)

By Form

Granular

Powder

Prills

Flakes

Pellets

Pastilles

By Application

Plastics & Rubbers

Food

Pharmaceutical

Paints & Varnishes

Building Materials

Cosmetics

Lubricants & Detergents

Others (including Water Repellent)

By Region

North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Latin America

Middle East & Africa

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Explore Transparency Market Research's award-winning coverage of the global Chemicals and Materials Industry,

Stearates Market - The global Stearates market was valued at US$ 4,512.4 Mn in 2018 and is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 5.5% during the forecast period. The market for stearates is driven by factors such as high demand for additives in the plastic & rubber processing industry coupled with rising demand for stearates in the building & construction industry. Stearates are used as lubricating, releasing and anti-caking agents in plastic processing. Stearates are also used as acid scavengers in plastic processing and compounding.

Anti-Tack Agents Market - The global anti-tack agents market is segmented into the product types of stearates, fatty acid esters, fatty acid amides, soap, and others. Among these, stearates led the global anti-tack agents market, with a 40% share. The factors responsible for the dominant share of stearates in the global anti-tack agents market are their excellent water repellence, lubrication, foam inhibition, separation, and gelling capacity. Among other product segments, fatty acid esters, in particular, are used as rubber releasing agents.

Fatty Acid Esters Market - The growing relevance of personal care products, especially amongst youngsters and women, has generated humongous demand within the global fatty acid esters market. The use of these esters is not restricted to a single industry, and a plethora of applications for these chemical compounds have come to the fore in recent times. Therefore, the total volume of revenues within the global fatty acid esters market is set to expand in the years to follow. The chemical industry has also become a matter of debate and discussion across key international entities. Development of distinct compounds and esters for chemical testing and analysis has become an important consideration for several chemical scientists. Therefore, the use of fatty acid esters is expected to increase in the years to follow.

Isobutyl Stearate Market - In terms of region, Asia Pacific dominated the isobutyl stearate market in 2016. It is likely to remain the dominant region during the forecast period. Rise in demand for isobutyl stearate in personal care and metal working industries, especially in countries such as China and Japan, is boosting the isobutyl stearate market in Asia Pacific. It is a densely populated region in the world; India and China account for 1/6th of the global population. Thus, there exists high demand for personal care and cosmetics products in the region. Additionally, large number of manufacturing companies operate in Asia Pacific, especially in India, China, Japan, and South Korea. High amount of metal working fluids is constantly used in these countries.

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About Transparency Market Research

Transparency Market Research is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. Our experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.

Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.

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Fashion designer Nicky Hilton hit a snazzy event in New York City on Wednesday.

The blonde socialite had on a black tank top and stripped slacks as she went mask free at the Alice + Olivia show during NY Fashion Week.

This comes after the mother-of-two was seen reminding sister Paris Hilton during the star's new documentary This Is Paris that the Simple Life standout did some very 'naughty' things when she was 16-years old.

Back at it: Fashion designer Nicky Hilton hit a snazzy event in New York City on Wednesday

Ready for fall: The blonde socialite had on a black tank top and stripped slacks as she went mask free at the Alice + Olivia show during NY Fashion Week

Nicky looked stylish in a black sleeveless top with a silver necklace and black-and-white striped slacks with black pointy heels and a black structured purse.

Her hair looked newly lightened and cut just to her shoulders as she had her makeup carefully applied.

And the cover girl did not have a mask on as she was over six feet away from photographers.

Pals: Nicky posed with Alice + Olivia designer Stacey Bendet

Invested: Bendet also served as her own living mannequin and modeled her own designs

Street style: The outdoor venue provided a backdrop for a colorful presentation

Later Nicky met up with stunning blogger and socialite Olivia Palermo at Sant Ambroeus.

Olivia was in a creamy beige coat over a dark beige sweater and black leather slacks with her hair pulled back.

Her makeup was beautiful and she had on red nail polish with gold rings.

Good times: Later she met up with stunning blogger and socialite Olivia Palermo at Sant Ambroeus

Le look: Olivia was in a creamy beige coat over a dark beige sweater and black leather slacks with her hair pulled back

Always flawless: Her makeup was beautiful and she had on red nail polish with gold rings

The ladies had white and red wine as well as a bottle of chilled water during their al fresco meet up.

They laughed up a storm as they appeared to be close, longtime friends.

On Monday Paris' heartbreaking film This Is Paris debuted on YouTube; the movie offered many new details about Paris' childhood.

Side by side: The ladies had their masks on as they walked down the street. Olivia opted for a lavender mask and Nicky a black and white one

A new era: Celebrities have been trying to choose fashionable masks and Louis Vuitton has even made some very pricey ones

A look indeed: She seemed to treat the sidewalk as her runway as she walked in six inch heels. And the star took her time to look up and down the street for different angles

The information Paris shared was shocking: her parents had her taken by two men from her bedroom and sent off to a camp for troubled youth when she was only about 16-years-old.

She ran away from several camps before landing at Provo Canyon School in Utah where she claims she was beaten, drugged and sent to solitary confinement. She was there for 11 months, only leaving when she turned 18-years-old.

When Paris talks this over with sister at the designer's New York home, Nicky reminds her that she did a lot of 'naughty' things in NYC at 16 to cause such serious action.

Nicky reminds Paris of the past: She ran away from several before landing at Provo Canyon where she was beaten, drugged and sent to solitary confinement. When Paris talks this over with sister at the designer's New York home, Nicky reminds her that she did a lot of 'naughty' things to cause such serious action.

Nicky did not say what the naughty things were but she asks her sister if she ever apologized to their parents for her actions.

Paris does admit during the documentary that she constantly partied at nightclubs using her fake ID and she also cut school.

Meanwhile, her mother Kathy Hilton was hoping to make Paris into a debutante.

Paris is seen reliving the nightmare that was Provo and often cries in the docu as her painful experiences have given her PTSD resulting in regular nightmares which has led to crippling insomnia.
Combine Your Major with Teaching Certification

We have many majors who graduate as qualified teachers. By working with your faculty advisor to choose your courses carefully, you can complete MCLA's core curriculum requirements, your major requirements, and the teacher certification process in the normal four year time frame.

Students majoring in History can pursue initial licensure as an early childhood, elementary, or middle school/high school teacher.

MCLA also offers incoming students a 4 + 1 program  an opportunity to complete not only a bachelors degree and teaching license, but also their masters degree  all in just five years. Click here for more information or contact the Education department.

Here are examples of schools employing MCLA History graduates as teachers:
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) summoned Sushant Singh Rajput's former business manager Shruti Modi and talent mnager Jaya Saha to join the investigations for the drug probe related to the late actor's death case on Wednesday (September 16, 2020).

Jaya and Saha were to be interrogated about the drug use and delivery to Sushant and his girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty, who was arrested by the NCB last week, and if they were aware of this. However, the questioning was called off after one of the team members of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed by NCB tested positive for COVID-19.

Shruti was was sent back after the agency received results which revealed that a team member of SIT was COVID-19 positive.

KPS Malhotra, Deputy Director, NCB said in his statement, "One of the team members of SIT has been tested positive for COVID-19. We received the antigen test report. In view of that, other members will be tested and due protocol will be followed. Accordingly, we have sent back Shruti Modi who had joined the investigation today morning."

He revealed that Jaya Saha will also not be interrogated, and that she will be summoned again after the requisite protocol is followed.

Earlier, Shruti Modi had appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Mumbai for questioning in connection with the money laundering case linked to Sushant's death. The NCB joined the probe in Sushant's death case after the ED shared many chats related to drugs procurement and consumption in connection to the late actor.

ALSO READ: Film On Sushant Singh Rajput-Rhea Chakraborty To Be Made By Shruti Modi's Lawyer's Wife

ALSO READ: Shruti Modi Alleges Rhea Chakraborty Made Financial And Professional Decisions For Sushant
Bringing World-Class Experts to Campus

Thanks to the generosity of benefactor Arlindo Jorge, MCLA will remain at the cutting-edge of educational theory and practice. Jorge established The Evelyn H. and Arlindo Jorge Visiting Professorship in Education, the first endowed chair in the MCLA's history. Jorge, an eminent electrical engineer, donated the fund in honor of his late wife, who graduated from the College in '44 and dedicated her life to education. The Fund allows MCLA to bring scholars of exceptional merit to campus, making MCLA an important destination for world-leading educational scholars.
Many of our most notable chefs have international backgrounds and experience in innovative European and Asian cuisine in an extraordinary range of contexts. Tastes that originated in provincial kitchens enjoyed traditionally in outdoor settings of terraced tables under pergolas, using organic produce of the highest quality, are the basis of fine dining. We look forward to the enhanced experience of dining in a dynamic new CBD and rural Victoria, showcasing picturesque, open spaces flowing out onto roads that are closed off to vehicles, with free parking along nearby streets. In these globally challenging times, our economy will be opening up ready for the long haul. COVID-safe environments will free us to get back to a happy, healthy balance of seeing family and friends, and sharing the enjoyment of fine dining for special occasions.

Marianne Hale, East Malvern Will all restaurants have a COVID-safe plan? A restaurateur says restaurants are more than capable of perfecting a COVID-safe plan for opening indoors and outdoors and keeping our customers safe (Epicure, 15/9). My experience of indoor dining, back in June, leaves me with health concerns. One cafe did not bother to record our names and phone numbers. A restaurant sat us adjacent to, and less than 1.5 metres from, two other diners even though there were other empty tables available. We arrived at 8pm. The other two diners arrived at the 6pm session and should have left by 8pm but were there until 8.30pm. Menus were hand-delivered and the hand sanitiser was not near the front door. (We had to ask where it was). Until you dine in a restaurant, you will not know what COVID-safe practices will be enforced. Diners beware.

Gloria Bower, Mitcham

People are voting with their feet: they love al fresco If Stephen Downes has never judged a restaurant outdoors, how is he qualified to arrive at the pretentious conclusion that it is a stupid option for the rest of us? As long as the weather is OK, alfresco is a terrific way to eat, and drink, which is why it is very common all over Australia and Europe. It is also why backyard and parkland barbecues are so popular, but maybe he has never been to one of those either.

Ron Reed, Caulfield South THE FORUM A protective measure Dining outdoors is an appropriate public health response to a pandemic. There is increasing evidence that indoor environments are more hazardous, especially when crowded, and with everyone talking and where ventilation is poor, the risk of aerosol transmission increases. Large groups of people in small spaces have long been known to facilitate the spread of infectious diseases.

The principles being applied to restaurants could be applied more broadly. Gyms should have windows open, school classes could be held outdoors when feasible or, if indoors, at least with the door open. Physical education classes should be outdoors. And Melburnians should let fresh air into their homes.

Dr Anita White, Kew

An act of aggression Surely when police are requested to assist with a person who is known to have been waiting 19 hours for treatment for a mental health condition  Watchdog to investigate police over use of force (The Age, 16/9)  they would approach the situation with that in mind: anticipate irrational and difficult behaviour and use strategies to diffuse the chaos rather than employ deliberate acts of aggression. This fails the reasonableness test; it is a dereliction of duty.

Maxine Hardinge, Clunes Our mental health crisis I feel empathy with the family of the man suffering from a mental illness who, due to the lack of beds at the mental health unit at the Northern Hospital, ran off and was harshly treated by the police. My son has waited in emergency at several hospitals for up to 24 hours, hoping for a vacant bed in the mental health unit and has run off. Fortunately he had caring policemen who caught up with him. There is a terrible crisis in the mental health system which needs to be addressed immediately.

Name withheld, Doncaster East Fruit picking option 1

School leavers who spend a gap year picking fruit could get a discount on their university loans under a plan from a bipartisan parliamentary inquiry (The Age, 16/9). What a great idea, but what about the unemployed? My son has not found a job since he finished year 12 in 2018. When he searches fruit picking, he finds he needs experience or the ability to drive a tractor. He has no licence and no chance of getting one at the moment. If farmers truly need fruit pickers this summer, and the government is truly interested in helping, it should find a way to get the unemployed without licences from the city to the fruit-picking jobs.

Heather Murtagh, Croydon Hills Fruit picking option 2 If there is a shortage of people to pick fruit, why dont we invite those refugees who are currently being detained to do the work, with the offer of full citizenship at the end of the picking season? It would be a win-win for all, and would break the current stalemate.

Robert Preston, McKinnon Wacko, were free at last The day after playgrounds open, Fawkner Park, South Yarra. I cannot believe the irreverence shown by parents now that they have been granted this long-awaited freedom. Takeaway coffee cups are everywhere, sipped by maskless folk (approximately 50) who are standing and sitting in groups closer than the safe, requested distance, with no regards to the coronavirus, while children clamber on the freshly sanitised play equipment. Come on, do the right thing and stay safe.

Ant Straker, South Yarra

Melburnians on the loose So a ring of steel and hefty fines await Melburnians who try to slip out into regional areas (Editorial, 16/9). I am sorry to burst your bubble but they have already slipped out over the past few weeks. Just ask any local along the Surf Coast, Ocean Grove, etc.

Serge Bobbera, Curlewis Explain the difference Why does Daniel Andrews think that visits between friends are more dangerous than those between intimate partners? Is there any medical evidence for the more stringent conditions placed on single households? To take this to its ludicrously logical extreme, would two friends who want to visit one another become less of a risk as soon as they sleep together? I would have thought it would be marginally the other way round.

Mary Jones, Mornington Mixed views on our rights

Why are people who object to regulations restricting their freedom of movement and compelling them to wear masks not outraged at speed limits (for example) that outlaw driving at 100km/h on a 20km/h street? Or, come to think of it, perhaps they are  and do. Are not both equally limits on their democratic rights?

Joe Rich, Carlton North So some crowds are OK? When people cannot protest outdoors, safely distanced from each other, but are free to congregate en masse to purchase groceries at supermarkets, we have slipped ever so precariously past the limits of democracy.

Lara Blamey, Mount Eliza Take a break, Daniel Julie Tullberg (Comment, 16/9) is right. The Premier would show us a stronger government if he disappeared for a week and let his deputy do the talking.

Rodney Wetherell, Murrumbeena

A very easy scapegoat Since Victorias second virus wave, there have been even bigger second waves in the United Kingdom, France, India, Indonesia and elsewhere. All obviously Daniel Andrews fault. Just ask an expert such as Victorian Opposition Leader Michael OBrien.

Graham Dunkley, Gladysdale The beauty of hindsight For years, the gospel has been that the private sector can deliver services better and more cheaply than a government enterprise. It is fascinating that the state opposition and the usual shock jocks are now criticising the engagement of a security firm instead of the military to monitor Melbournes quarantine locations. One can only wonder what the opposition would have done had it been the one to make the decision back in those uncertain first days. Hindsight is a marvellous thing, of course. Or is this a sign that the small government enthusiasts are having second thoughts?

Ray Brindle, Malmsbury

The brilliant wisdom... When the President of the United States says I dont think science knows actually when discussing the role of climate change in bushfires (World, 16/9), I do not know whether to laugh, cry or be absolutely terrified. Is all science fake news when Donald Trump does not like what it reveals?https://www.theage.com.au/world/trump-labelled-climate-arsonist-by-biden-20200915-p55vto.html

Kim Alexander, Richmond ...and genius of Trump Who is better qualified to say I dont think science knows and the planet will start getting cooler than the man who discovered the cure for COVID-19?

Henry Herzog, St Kilda East The very high cost of gas

Affordable gas, Angus Taylor (Opinion, 16/9)? I have just paid my latest gas bill and it took all of my fortnightly part-aged pension to do so. But, more important, are the concerns of environmental bodies as we face a future energy plan for Australia dependant on methane-emitting, gas-fired power stations.

Pat Anderson, Airport West A bipartisan disgrace The only thing more mind-bogglingly idiotic than Scott Morrisons proposal for a gas-led recovery is Labors tacit agreement. Not only do we desperately need a new government, we desperately need a new opposition.

Charles Shepherd, Brighton Expensive fossil fuel Can somebody please tell Scott Morrison and the Coalition that gas is a fossil fuel and that it is a more expensive source of power than wind or solar. If they listened to the scientists, not the fossil fuel lobby, they would know that.

Des OShea, Wyndham Vale

We need to find the gas Gas-powered electricity and/or hydro generation is currently critical as a component in Australias major electricity grids. The reason: to provide instantaneous, large-scale electricity supply backup to grids being increasingly supplied by the variable power generation of renewables, photovoltaics and wind. And this situation will be the case until technology and/or massive-scale electricity storage facilities provide a solution. So, as the federal government and many experts say, in the foreseeable future there will be a need for probably a small number of carefully sized and located, major gas-powered electricity generators to stabilise and make reliable our major electricity grids.

David Wright, Albert Park Our city is paying the price Melbournes long run of apparent prosperity has depended heavily on migrants and students, casual workers and their exploitation, and the subversion of our regulators and standards in international education, technical training, construction, environment, public agencies, gambling, town planning, aged care and foreign investment. In sum, we have been living a false economy. We are now paying up in billions, with billions more to be paid by the next generations.

Don Townsend, St Kilda

Voting by mail, again Laurie Vaughan from Bairnsdale asks: With many local papers now closed, how do we know when the local elections are to be held? (Letters, 16/9). Our local paper, The Bairnsdale Advertiser (such as it is) still operates. Council elections will be held by post, as they have for the 10-plus years I have lived here.

Heather Butler, Bairnsdale Unequal Melburnians If the Mornington Peninsula is part of metropolitan Melbourne (The Age, 16/9), why is my local fire brigade an all-volunteer CFA unit? And why, on my rates, am I paying the country fire services levy, which is higher than the metropolitan levy?

Paul Wilcock, Blairgowrie AND ANOTHER THING

Credit:Illustration: Matt Golding Environment I suppose Morrison will enter parliament holding a gas cylinder instead of a lump of coal.

Merilyn Tabor, Point Lonsdale Transitioning power generation from coal to gas: one step forward and two steps back.

Francis Bainbridge, Fitzroy North Someone should whisper to Trump: Californias nine national parks are controlled by the federal Department of the Interior.

Gary Bryfman, Brighton

Coronavirus Five months on, the silence as to when families can visit residents in aged care facilities is deafening.

Ruth Farr, Blackburn South With its incompetence and lying, Labor got us into this mess. It needs to get us out of it. Quickly.

Brian Harris, Mount Eliza Dan battles the naysayers and case numbers daily, with uwavering strength. My superhero.

Betty Alexander, Caulfield Andrews wont make available for checking and debate the modelling underpinning his road map. A case of Dans facts?

Stephen Minns, South Yarra

Can I blame Dan for my COVID-19 hip span and clothes shrinkage?

Kerry Bergin, Abbotsford Conservatives are upset with the Victorian government because its being too ... conservative.

Ian Abbey, Park Orchards Furthermore Sent a parcel from Sorrento, 11.30am on Monday. Arrived at Beecroft, NSW at 11am on Tuesday. Where is the problem?

Susan Leeming, Portsea Spot on, Cathy Wilcox (Letters, 16/9)  a perceptive and compelling cartoon.

Wendy Logan, Croydon North
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 16)  The Supreme Court threw out a petition seeking COVID-19 mass testing, saying the petitioners did not show proof that such an action was needed.

The resolution dated September 1, was in response to a request seeking a writ of mandamus to "compel the Department of Health, and any and all agencies involved in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, to conduct mass testing, efficient contact tracing and isolation, and effective treatment of positive cases."

Without asking the government to comment, the Supreme Court junked the petition.

A writ of mandamus is an appropriate remedy only when the law defines the duty to be done with precision and certainty.

The petitioners sought to compel government to conduct testing for all suspected cases, contacts of probable and confirmed cases, frontline healthcare workers, and high-risk communities.

They also wanted the government to provide "accurate, timely, and complete" data on the country's COVID-19 situation.

The Supreme Court said it had no authority to issue such a writ "no matter how dire the emergency," unless an official in the Executive branch is shown as not performing their duty.

"The job of the Court is to say what the law is and not to dictate how another branch of government should do its job," the statement said.

The Supreme Court added the petitioners have not exhausted all remedies that were available to them.

CNN Philippines' Anjo Alimario contributed to this report.
The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 says international travellers from some countries have been presenting fake PCR results on their COVID-19 status to enter Nigeria.

The PTF National Coordinator, Sani Aliyu, said this on Tuesday at an interactive session with the Joint Senate Committees on Health and Aviation. The meeting between the panel and the PTF was centred on the re-opening of the international airspace as well as testing procedure for international passengers.

The country reopened its international airspace on September 5 even though some international airlines like Lufthansa and Air France were banned.

Mr Aliyu complained that some passengers from nine of 13 identified countries had presented negative COVID-19 PCR results but later tested positive for the disease. He said test results presented by the passengers cannot be trusted.

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He also said the validity period of PCR results to be presented before boarding has been changed from seven to four days.

This was in response to a question from the chairman of the panel, Ibrahim Oloriegbe, on the protocols for testing of passengers and the challenges.

When we started evacuation flights and special flights, the arrangement then was that people coming into the country will need to have a negative COVID-19 PCR result which had to be valid at the time and when they are coming into the country.

There were situations from specific countries where we had up to 40 per cent of the passengers in a certain flight coming in with negative COVID-19 PCR results but subsequently tested positive.

We identified 13 countries and of those 13 countries, we had issues with nine of them because they had high rates of such cases. We had meetings with the ambassadors of these countries and raised questions as to why it is happening, Mr Aliyu said.

Testing/laboratories

On his part, the chairman of the Senate committee on Aviation, Smart Adeyemi, faulted the testing procedure which allows only private laboratories to carry out tests on intending travellers abroad.

The policy, he said, is detrimental to average Nigerians who are being forced to pay about N75,000 for such tests.

The amount is too high. It should be brought down and public health institutions laboratories should be equipped to carry out the tests.

People are not finding things easy outside there as a result of the way and manner COVID-19 pandemic is being fought in the country.

The panel thereafter, mandated the Minister of Health, Osagie Ohanire and Mr Aliyu to enlarge the scope of laboratory testing for the pandemic by including the public ones and ensuring reduction in the cost of testing.

It also promised that requests for establishment of 52 laboratories will be included in the 2021 budget.

The officials were asked to return with action plans in two weeks.
Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia:

An investor group with a combined 33 trillion ($39.1 trillion) in assets has called on the European Union to set 2030 carbon-emission reduction goals at 55%, to support low-carbon economy investments.

This is the minimum level of ambition required to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, it said.

The policy report is issued yesterday by the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC). Representing more than 250 members, mainly European pension funds and asset managers, the intervention highlights the importance the investment community is placing on the EU's approach to climate change leadership.

The European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, is set to announce a proposed increased emissions reduction target today. The target is of critical relevance to the future competitiveness and growth of member states, including the delivery of the EU's commitment to a sustainable economic recovery to COVID-19.

"At least" a 55% reduction in emissions is required to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. A "well above" 55% target is required when taking account of EU global 'effort sharing' obligations, in recognizing existing historical emissions and economic capability, the group said in a press release.

"The EU has shown it understands climate action and economic growth go hand in hand and has the full backing of investors in creating a more resilient economic future across member states," explains Stephanie Pfeifer, CEO......................

To view our full article Click here
Disaster upon disaster is how the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario describes long-term-care homes during the pandemic.

Nursing homes basically during COVID-19 for several months were abandoned, said CEO Doris Grinspun. Abandoned by government in very concrete ways.

Despite promises from the federal and provincial governments to end long-standing problems that led to long-term care and retirement homes becoming the epicentre of COVID-19, accounting for at least two-thirds of Ontarios pandemic deaths, Grinspun says little has changed as Ontario prepares for an expected second wave of the virus over fall and winter.

It will be one tragedy on top of another tragedy, she said. I basically am afraid we will finish a whole generation of seniors in nursing homes if we dont do something fast.

The lack of progress in properly staffing, overseeing, modernizing and funding long-term care raises questions about whether Ontario is prepared for the second wave of COVID-19. Will seniors homes be the epicentre again? How will Ontarios normally overcrowded hospitals cope? Will the public even know about outbreaks in businesses and workplaces? How do Ontarians know what risks are worth taking as the province reopens?

Nobody knows when that second wave will hit or how bad it will be, said Dr. Dominik Mertz, associate professor of infectious diseases at McMaster University. We will see what happens when fall and winter comes.

Most Ontarians fear the second wave, according to a poll commissioned by the Canadian Mental Health Association. The vast majority expressed worry people are becoming relaxed too quickly and not following physical distancing requirements, found the survey of 1,002 Ontarians conducted by Pollara Strategic Insights from July 23 to Aug. 2.

Nearly 80 per cent are concerned the province will go back into lockdown and 85 per cent dread a second wave will put us back where we started.

Even when things are going well, there might be a turn for the worse, said Dr. Mark Loeb, infectious disease physician and professor at McMaster University. When you can move forward, you have to do it cautiously. There will be setbacks. Its going to be like this until there is a vaccine that is proven to be effective and thats available. Were going to be in this game for a while.

Some feel Ontario is ready for whatever hits.

We have the resource capacity and the knowledge from the first wave to deal with the second wave, said Dr. Zain Chagla, infectious disease physician at St. Josephs Healthcare.

But others say the province is vulnerable, especially in hard-hit areas such as long-term care where the situation has deteriorated over the pandemic, says the Ontario Health Coalition.

The capacity to provide care is worse than it was entering the first wave, said executive director Natalie Mehra. Its the lack of staffing that has been the biggest barrier.

Long-term care staffing challenges

The province has limited staff to working at one long-term-care facility during the pandemic to stop the spread of the virus. Having to choose between jobs has decimated the workforce in some homes, says the coalition.

The workforce is so precarious theyve had to cobble together multiple jobs across multiple facilities, said Mehra. That was a lesson the SARS commission highlighted that in the hospitals, workers went from hospital to hospital and that was a danger. But in long-term care its much more extreme than in hospitals.

Compounding the problem is that families ordinarily take on some of the care in seniors homes but their visits are restricted due to COVID-19.

They dont have enough staff for regular times, said Mehra. What has been made very clear is that when you do have COVID-19 outbreaks, there is a need for more staff than the regular times. It has been a complete failure. Those things have been laid bare, but its not like theyve actually been addressed.

The staffing shortages leave the homes relying on temporary agency workers who are exempt from the order prohibiting employees from working in multiple homes. It raises concern they will inadvertently spread COVID-19 from home to home in the same way workers did in the first wave before the new rule was put in place.

We learned a lesson that the spread of infection is not necessarily from patient to health-care workers, said Chagla. It was also that health-care workers  spread it to other health-care workers. That was a pocket we didnt anticipate.

Staff need to be hired immediately to avoid a repeat of the terrible toll the first wave took on Ontarios most vulnerable seniors, says Grinspun.

We want increased staffing now so we dont find ourselves in the predicament that we did last time, she said. Because, on top of everything, this time you will have influenza and you will have people who are exhausted.

She says she honestly believes Premier Doug Ford when he says he wants to fix the problems in long-term care, but the clock is ticking down to the second wave and no government has a good track record when it comes to seniors homes.

They were abandoned for the last two decades, said Grinspun. Government after government after government.

Niagara Health president Lynn Guerriero said establishing a better system of managing COVID-19 in nursing homes will also help ensure hospitals dont get overwhelmed if the next wave of the virus is more severe than the first, as it appears to be in other countries including Australia.

Backlogs in the hospital system

Niagara Health, Hamilton Health Sciences and St. Josephs Healthcare are still struggling to catch up with a massive backlog of surgeries and other patient procedures that were cancelled in the first wave of the pandemic. Research published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal on Sept. 1, estimates 148,364 surgeries were postponed provincewide from March 15 to June 13. The Toronto researchers estimate it will take 84 weeks to clear the backlog.

The best thing we need to do between now and the fall is make sure that we have a plan in place for congregate settings, said Guerriero. As a hospital system, we cant really function if we have to always have the capacity to decant long-term care. So you saw that happening in various places where 10, 20, 50 patients, residents of a long-term-care home, with no other option, would have to go to a hospital.

In Hamiltons deadliest COVID-19 outbreak, 63 seniors from the Rosslyn Retirement Residence had to be evacuated to St. Josephs Charlton Campus and Hamilton General Hospital  most within a matter of hours on May 15  when the home had no staff left and was shut down. Hospital workers said theyd never seen so many patients admitted at once in their careers.

In the second wave, such evacuations would be a bigger challenge as hospitals work to clear the backlog of postponed care.

What that means for the hospital is all of a sudden we have to ramp down our procedures, said Guerriero. We dont want that to happen, so I think that the relationships weve built with congregate settings and public health need to be strengthened and kept in place so that we are absolutely ready for whatever happens in the fall.

Many wonder how Ontarios normally overcrowded hospitals will juggle influenza, COVID-19 and the backlog.

We are chronically above 100 per cent (occupancy) just to do what we are supposed to do without being faced with a pandemic at the same time, said Mertz. Finding the right balance between opening up as much as we can to provide care to those who have waited a very long time but still making sure we are nimble enough to reduce scheduled care when we see things are ticking up again, will continue to be a challenge throughout this pandemic.

The question is how to keep beds open  an issue that has increasingly challenged hospitals for decades.

We do have capacity, said Chagla. At the same time, we have a plan on how to create more space relatively quickly. I think its just part of the new normal that you have to have some capacity.

But hospitals usually have more patients than funded beds, especially during flu season, so they have to put people in unconventional spaces such as hallways, family rooms and sunrooms  something that has been coined hallway medicine.

Every year Im screaming in the media about not enough beds, said Grinspun. Picture this year when you will have influenza plus COVID. Unless we really prepare primary care, nursing homes and home care for October, November and December, we are toast in my opinion. The entire system will crumble not only nursing homes.

Ontario has to break down the silos in the health-care system and improve co-ordination, said Guerriero.

I think one of the biggest things that has to change  is better integrating the response between hospital, home and community, and long-term-care and retirement homes, she said.

The RNAO says whats missing now is a sense of urgency from the provincial government to get ahead of the second wave.

I have been asking and asking for the plan for wave two and the answer is always, Its coming, its coming.  she said. A key message is to move faster, much faster, and with a more serious sense of urgency.

Mertz is also frustrated by wasted opportunities, particularly when it came to the best way to get kids back in the classroom.

I think we lost valuable time in terms of testing models back in May and June in areas where there was hardly any COVID, he said. We were stuck in a one-size-fits-all approach for the entire province for a very long time.

Local or partial lockdowns?

He says sticking with a regional approach will be even more important as the second wave hits.

I dont think there will be a need to shut down the entire province anymore as a whole, but there might be need for local or partial lockdowns along the way, said Mertz. I think the main challenge is identifying clusters early and reacting quickly.

In the second wave, outbreaks are expected to shift more to stores, restaurants, bars, factories, transit and workplaces as services reopen.

The bigger area of concern now is the community, said Chagla. Theres always a risk with some of these indoor, poorly ventilated activities that we see a big transmission event. I think we just have to be smart, universal mask, make sure people are getting tested. Every individual has to make their own risk assessment on how much they want to engage with society.

A need for transparency in reporting

The Ontario Health Coalition fears the public wont even know about the majority of outbreaks in the second wave. While public health departments report outbreaks in congregate living and hospitals, they ordinarily dont reveal cases at businesses.

The reporting is actually much worse, said Mehra. The names are being shielded from public scrutiny. There is no reason why you can publish the name of a long-term-care home with an outbreak, but not a food production facility. It is in the public interest for transparency.

It leaves the community counting on the businesses themselves to make COVID-19 outbreaks public.

Some stores have been reporting publicly, but many others have not, said Mehra. This is about protecting business interests and that should not supersede the public interest. Theres no reason to hide it, so it shouldnt be hidden.

The lull right now between the waves is the time to find a new normal the community can live with for months or even years, say infectious disease experts.

Weve gotten to a point that this is as good as its going to get, said Chagla. Were not going to eliminate COVID without something in terms of a treatment or a vaccine.

Over the summer, the numbers of new cases have been low meaning the community has been as safe as it can be.

I think people can  go back to some semblance of normalcy as long as they are practicing good hand hygiene, distancing and testing if they have symptoms, said Chagla.

The focus now needs to be on giving people the tools to make the right decisions, said Mertz.

I think we need to stop asking the question if doing X or Y is safe, he said. We really should say how can I do X or Y as safely as possible. Going back to simple principles like the three Cs: Avoid close spaces; crowded places and close contact.

I hear about people who are still scared to leave the house, he adds. If you are not considering things safe enough now than this will be a major problem for you in the months to come because it will likely not get any safer.

Incredible testing capacity

The one piece that is already in place for the second wave is the ability to quickly test for COVID-19.

The testing capacity is incredible in terms of 20,000 to 30,000 tests provincially (a day), said Chagla. I think we learned very quickly that you cant fight the enemy that you dont see.

What Mertz wants to stop in the second wave is the shaming of so-called COVIDIOTS which he believes ultimately hampers the ability to stop the spread of the virus.

I think blaming will not help us moving forward, he said. If anything, it will result in people hiding what they really did and then we fail with our contact tracing.

While Hamiltonians could have the chance to test a vaccine candidate in early 2021, Loeb says having an immunization proven to be effective and thats available to the public is still a ways off.

There is no guarantee the first horses out of the gate are going to work, he said. Even if they do, then the question becomes the availability  which countries are going to get those. The United States is not going to be giving vaccines to Canada before theyve vaccinated their own country  thats pretty clear. Canada has to make its own arrangements to secure vaccine.

Until then, Ontario is left bracing for the next wave  particularly as children go back to school  whether its ready or not.

Were probably not going to see a surge in a day or two  its going to happen over weeks and months that well start to see rises in cases and, hopefully, we can respond to them to keep them relatively low, said Chagla. Were at a point where we can breathe, think about and reflect on where weve been and on the next wave.
The consortium is responsible for the conduct of the admission test, scheduled to take place on 28 September

The Consortium of National Law Universities (CNLU) released the CLAT 2020 admit card on its official website on Tuesday. Candidates who have registered for the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) 2020 can download their hall tickets by signing into their accounts at consortiumofnlus.ac.in or clat.ac.in.

The consortium is responsible for the conduct of the admission test, scheduled to take place on 28 September. According to Hindustan Times, CNLU has also released a set of guidelines that talk about necessary instructions for the applicants.

It also specified that the admit card is an important document as it will carry a medical self-declaration form which must be signed by the candidate and shown at the entrance gate. They can then submit it to the invigilator. Apart from the admit card, candidates should produce an ID proof at the entrance as well.

Follow these steps to download the admit card for CLAT 2020:

Step 1: Visit the official site of the Consortium at consortiumofnlus.ac.in

Step 2: Select the blue-coloured tab in the homepage that says, For details about CLAT 2020 Click Here

Step 3: Candidates will be directed to a new page where they need to login

Step 4: Enter details like your registered mobile number and password to login

Step 5: Your CLAT 2020 admit card will be displayed on the screen

Step 6: View, download and a print out a hard copy of the document

Here is the direct link to download the CLAT 2020 hall ticket.

https://consortiumofnlus.ac.in/clat-2020/

CNLU conducts the common entrance test for admission into various UG and PG courses in Law offered by the 22 National Law Universities present in the country. The entrance exam is also accepted by other universities offering law courses. The pandemic had forced authorities to push back the dates of the exam multiple times.

Moreover, with National Law School of India University, Bengaluru deciding to conduct its own entrance examination,CLAT were postponed further.

Go through the detailed guidelines given out by the CNLU here.
Schools in Knox County, Tennessee, which includes the city of Knoxville, concluded their third week of school last week with over one-third of schools in the district having reported a positive case of COVID-19. Across the county, 31 of 88 schools have at least one confirmed COVID-19 case.

The growing spread of the deadly virus is the direct outcome of the herd immunity policies that have been pursued by every level of government in the US from the Trump administration down to the local Board of Education in the county.

The public health protocols in the county mandate that principals of individual schools contact staff and parents after a confirmed case of COVID-19. The schools then collaborate with public health officials to conduct contact tracing, and anyone that has been within six feet of someone infected with COVID-19 for 15 minutes or longer is required to quarantine for two weeks.

Within the last few weeks, Knox County Health Department has reported some of the largest daily increases in COVID-19 cases in the country since the start of the pandemic. The department reported 222 new cases on September 6, 219 new cases on September 15 and 189 new cases on September 12.

According to the Knox County School website, as of September 15 there are 50 active COVID-19 cases associated with the school district, including 39 students and 11 staff members. In a reflection of the failure to implement adequate social distancing measures within the schools, 917 students and 69 staff members were in isolation or quarantine on the same day.

Prior to the school year resuming, over a hundred teachers in the county refused to return to in-person instruction, opting to either retire or resign from their positions. By early July, over 18,000 studentsroughly 30 percent of the 59,235 total enrollmentwere registered for virtual learning.

Last week, the Knox County School Board announced that they were in need of more substitute teachers in order to continue with in-person classes. The school board has acknowledged that prior to the COVID-19 pandemic the district had been experiencing a shortage of substitute teachers, and that the situation has worsened as a result of staff needing to be quarantined.

The Executive Director of Human Resources at Knox County Schools, Scott Bolton, stated last week, Were seeing issues because of contact tracing or people having to quarantine. Were having to fill those vacancies. Now, while staff members are quarantined, theyre still providing remote instruction into the classroom. However, the issue is we need someone in that particular classroom to monitor students and to assist with any kind of technology, and thats what we use our subs for in that scenario.

The school district has 25 openings that need to be filled immediately, and has created a new position titled, traveling teaching assistant, whose role as described by Bolton is to act as an in-person babysitter while instruction is provided remotely by a quarantined teacher.

Despite multiple protests by teachers and concerned parents in Knox County held over the summer to demand the district switch to remote learning, including a car rally organized by teachers last Wednesday, the Knox County Board of Education remains intransigent that schools must stay open for in-person instruction. The school board insists that schools will only go virtual if there is a major COVID-19 outbreak or there are not enough substitute teachers to cover all absences.

In public statements last month, Tennessees Republican Governor Bill Lee punted the decision on whether districts would reopen to local school boards, which has become the haphazard and chaotic standard for each of the nearly 14,000 school districts across the country.

Following the lead of the Trump administration, Lee also empowered districts to designate teachers and school administrators as essential workers, enabling them to force teachers to work even if they have been exposed to COVID-19, unless they show symptoms or have tested positive. At least six districts in the state have designated teachers as essential workers.

A teacher in Knox County, who wished to remain anonymous, told the WSWS, It would be impossible to have social distancing in the schools, especially if they ever moved totally away from virtual learning. I am talking to teachers that are running remote classes with 36 students. If the district changes to in-person classes, there would not be a classroom at her school that could have 36 students with social distancing.

We dont have enough janitors to sanitize every class. Now teachers are supposed to teach, provide social and emotional counseling, and practically be a school nurse during the pandemic.

At the same time they are constantly giving us more work. We had to do a mandatory unpaid training this summer, which a lot of teachers said was not helpful. Now they are saying that we have to work as subs during our planning periods.

Governor Lee is claiming that he is helping, and providing us with PPE. The only thing they sent me was a mask made of the same material as a tube sock, and a role of paper towels.

Leigh, a parent in Knox County, said, They are keeping everything from us. We just get emails and sometimes the email says case and sometimes it says cases, and that is about all the information we get. Why have all the smoke and mirrors? Why not just tell us how many cases are in every school?

We are told that the schools will go all virtual if over 10 percent are infected. But how many students or teachers would die if that happens? This is, also, a new virus, and we dont know the long-term impact of the virus.

Asked if there was pressure to send her kids to in-person classes, Leigh added, My son and daughter are both doing virtual learning. My daughter is taking AP classes and is in an advanced program, where some of the classes go for two years. When we were registering them for remote learning the schools were saying that they were unsure about which classes were being offered.

They also wanted me to sign a form about taking my son to do in-person standardized testing. These tests are part of his grade, but I am not taking him to do in-person tests and risk getting sick. I am hoping all the parents refuse to take their kids.

My husband is a teacher and I know the schools are not taking safety precautions. We had to make a baby registry on Amazon and filled it with safety supplies. We had to get all our supplies with the help of our friends and family, and I know other teachers that all did the same thing.

It is really up to the teachers to take their safety into their own hands. It is clear the politicians dont care about us. Lee promised a 4 percent raise for teachers and then took it away.

The reckless reopening of schools is the bipartisan policy being pursued throughout the US. While Republican Governor Lee continues to recklessly endanger the lives of teachers and students by keeping schools open, Democrat-controlled states like New York and California are moving forward with the reopening of schools as the COVID-19 pandemic deepens.

Educators, parents and students that want to take a stand against unsafe conditions in schools must build rank-and-file safety committees in their area. We urge all those opposed to unsafe school reopenings to join our Facebook page and contact us today.
West Bengal: First consignment of 12 ton Bangladeshi Hilsa arrives in Bengal

September 16,2020 | Source: UNI India

Much to the gastronomic delight of the Bengalis of this part, first consignment of 12 ton Bangladeshi Hilsa arrives the state. Thee trucks carrying 12 ton of Bangladeshi Hilsa out of 1,450 ton promised by the neighbouring country arrived in Bengal late on Monday evening through the Petrapole border here in North 24-Parganas district. The Sheikh Hasina Government had last week announced that it would export 1,450 ton of hilsa to India as a Puja goodwill gesture.



The remaining will arrive through the Petrapole border, around 71km from Kolkata, in phases by October 10, officials and agents said Sources in Petrapole said the unloading of Hilsa from the Bangladeshi trucks began Monday morning. Packed in theromocol boxes with ice, the fish was then loaded onto Indian trucks. For the first time since 2012, when Bangladesh had banned the export of Hilsa fish to India, the government of the neighbouring country has given special permission for the export of the much-loved delicacy to India.



The export wing under the Bangladeshi commerce ministry on Thursday last approved nine private agencies in the country to export around 1,450 MT of Hilsa to India. The first consignment of 12 tonnes, the largest consignment in recent times, headed for Kolkata soon after its arrival. More such consignments will come by October 10. We are thankful to the Bangladesh government for responding to our letters to their commerce ministry, a member of West Bengal Fish Importers Association said.



We have been trying for this since 2012. Hopefully, the price of Hilsa would be now within the reach of fish lovers, said Syed Anwar Maqsood, secretary of the West Bengal Fish Importers Association. The price of Bangladeshi hilsa would come down to Rs 1,200 per kg for bigger sizes and Rs 800 per kg for smaller sizes, weighing 700 to 800 grams, he added. Meanwhile, exporters and wholesale fish traders in Kolkata and Howrah said they were relieved and expect the Hilsas to be readily available in another day or two Ganga and sea hilsa are being sold in Kolkata markets at between Rs 1,500 and Rs 1,800 per kg. The production of Hilsa has been declining over the years. However, Bangladesh has been able to check the declining Hilsa population by banning fishing during the breeding period and establishing sanctuaries for the fish.
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.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept. 15, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Silver Bull Resources, Inc. (TSX: SVB; OTCQB: SVBL) ("Silver Bull" or the "Company") announced today that its board of directors has approved a 1-for-8 reverse stock split of the Company's issued and outstanding common stock. The reverse stock split will be effective prior to the stock market opening on Friday, September 18, 2020, subject to receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals, including the final approval of the Toronto Stock Exchange ("TSX") and the Nevada Secretary of State ("NSS").



In the reverse stock split, every eight pre-split shares of issued and outstanding common stock of the Company will be converted into one post-split share of common stock, with all fractional shares being rounded up to the nearest whole share. No fractional shares will be issued in connection with the reverse stock split. In connection with the reverse stock split, the 300,000,000 pre-split authorized shares of Silver Bull common stock will be proportionately reduced to 37,500,000 post-split authorized shares of Silver Bull common stock. Proportional adjustments will also be made to the Company's outstanding stock options.

As a result of the reverse stock split, each shareholder's percentage ownership interest in the Company and proportional voting power will remain virtually unchanged, except for minor adjustments that may have resulted from rounding fractional shares into whole shares. In addition, the rights and privileges of the holders of Silver Bull common stock will be unaffected by the reverse stock split.

The reverse stock split will become effective as of 12:01 a.m. PT on September 18, 2020, and Silver Bull common stock will begin trading on the TSX and the OTCQB on a post-split basis at the open of trading on Friday, September 18, 2020, subject to receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals, including the approval of the TSX and the NSS. The Company's ticker symbol on the OTCQB will remain unchanged, although a "D" will be placed at the end of the SVBL ticker symbol (SVBLD) for 20 business days following the reverse stock split. Silver Bull common stock will also be identified under a new CUSIP number (827458209).

Story continues

Any shareholder of Silver Bull common stock who holds its shares in book-entry or other electronic form does not need to take any action, as the effect of the reverse stock split will automatically be reflected in its account. Any shareholder of Silver Bull common stock who hold its shares in certificated form will be mailed a letter of transmittal providing instructions for how to exchange its existing stock certificate for a stock certificate with a stamp indicating the new CUSIP number.

About Silver Bull: Silver Bull is a mineral exploration company whose shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and trade on the OTCQB in the United States, and is based out of Vancouver, Canada. Silver Bull recently signed an option to purchase agreement for the "Beskauga" copper-gold project in Kazakhstan. This agreement is still subject to on the ground due diligence when safe travel due to COVID to the region allows. In addition, Silver Bull owns the Sierra Mojada Project which is located 150 kilometers north of the city of Torreon in Coahuila, Mexico, and is highly prospective for silver and zinc and is currently under a joint venture option with South32 Ltd.

About the Sierra Mojada deposit: Sierra Mojada is an open pittable oxide deposit with a NI43-101 compliant measured and indicated "global" resource of 70.4 million tonnes grading 3.4% zinc and 38.6g/t silver at a $13.50 NSR cutoff giving 5.35 billion pounds of zinc and 87.4 million ounces of silver. Included within the "global" resource is a measured and indicated "high grade zinc zone" of 13.5 million tonnes with an average grade of 11.2% zinc at a 6% cutoff, giving 3.336 billion pounds of zinc, and a measured and indicated "high grade silver zone" of 15.2 million tonnes with an average grade of 114.9g/t silver at a 50g/t cutoff giving 56.3 million ounces of silver. Mineralization remains open in the east, west, and northerly directions. Approximately 60% of the current 3.2 kilometer mineralized body is at or near surface before dipping at around 6 degrees to the east.

The technical information of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Tim Barry, a Chartered Professional Geologist (CPAusIMM), and a qualified person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

"Tim Barry"

Tim Barry, CPAusIMM

Chief Executive Officer, President and Director

INVESTOR RELATIONS:

+1 604 687 5800

info@silverbullresources.com

Cautionary Note to U.S. Investors concerning estimates of Measured, Indicated, and Inferred Resources: This news release uses the terms "measured resources," "indicated resources," and "inferred resources" which are defined in, and required to be disclosed by, NI 43-101. We advise U.S. investors that these terms are not recognized by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). The estimation of measured, indicated and inferred resources involves greater uncertainty as to their existence and economic feasibility than the estimation of proven and probable reserves. U.S. investors are cautioned not to assume that measured and indicated mineral resources will be converted into reserves. The estimation of inferred resources involves far greater uncertainty as to their existence and economic viability than the estimation of other categories of resources. U.S. investors are cautioned not to assume that estimates of inferred mineral resources exist, are economically minable, or will be upgraded into measured or indicated mineral resources. Under Canadian securities laws, estimates of inferred mineral resources may not form the basis of feasibility or other economic studies.

Disclosure of "contained ounces" in a resource is permitted disclosure under Canadian regulations, however the SEC normally only permits issuers to report mineralization that does not constitute "reserves" by SEC standards as in place tonnage and grade without reference to unit measures. Accordingly, the information contained in this news release may not be comparable to similar information made public by U.S. companies that are not subject NI 43-101.

Cautionary Note regarding Forward-looking Statements: This news release contains forward-looking statements regarding future events and Silver Bull's future results that are subject to the safe harbors created under the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements include, among others, statements relating to the timing and other aspects of the proposed reverse stock split. These statements are based on current expectations, beliefs and assumptions of Silver Bull's management. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "targets," "goals," "projects," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "continues," "may," variations of such words, and similar expressions and references to future periods, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, including such factors as obtaining the requisite approvals from the Toronto Stock Exchange, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and others to effectuate the reverse stock split and other matters discussed under the caption "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2019, our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the interim periods ended January 31, 2020 and April 30, 2020, and our other periodic and current reports filed with the SEC and available on www.sec.gov and with the Canadian securities commissions available on www.sedar.com. Readers are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and that actual results or developments may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement made by us in this release is based only on information currently available to us and speaks only as of the date on which it is made. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.




PHILADELPHIA: If President Donald Trump agreed to a Pennsylvania town hall to sway undecided voters, his exchange with a literature professor born with a chronic disease lost him at least one vote in the battleground state.

Ellesia Blaque voted reluctantly for Hillary Clinton in 2016, and dislikes Sen. Kamala Harriss record as a prosecutor. She hoped that Trump would allay her fear of losing insurance coverage over her preexisting condition.

Instead, the president interrupted her she politely asked to finish and then, she thought, politicized the question to attack Obamacare.

I decided that even though Im dissatisfied, mainly with Kamala Harris, Im going to vote for Joe Biden, said Blaque, 57, who lives near Reading and teaches literature of the Black diaspora at Kutztown University. He (Trump) just reanimated my need to be part of the process.

Trump, as he did repeatedly with participants at the National Constitution Center on Tuesday, promised Blaque he had a plan in the works to address her concerns.

Were going to be doing a health care plan very strongly and protect people with preexisting conditions, the president said. If you look at what they want to do, they will get rid of preexisting conditions, if they go into Medicare for All.

She didnt buy it.

He just fluffed me away like Im nobody, Blaque, a longtime Independent who later became a Democrat, told The Associated Press in a phone call Wednesday.

She said she spends $7,000 or more a year on out-of-pocket medical bills, even with good insurance through her state university job. She was born with an inflammatory disease called sarcoidosis, and needs up to a dozen medications to stay alive.

Trump has frequently claimed he will always protect people with preexisting conditions despite evidence to the contrary. The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court for full repeal of the health law, including provisions that protect people with preexisting conditions from health insurance discrimination. Republicans say theyd put new protections in place, but they havent spelled them out.

Another woman who questioned Trump, Flor Cruceta Muoz, asked the president about his immigration plan. She and her mother, who are Dominican, had become U.S. citizens just before her mother died of cancer last month. Trump told her he supports legal immigration, then veered into a discussion about a coronavirus vaccine, apparently misunderstanding the cause of her mothers death.

Muoz said she was grateful for the opportunity, thanking ABC-TV, which organized the event, in a Facebook post.

He did answer about immigration a little. But he misunderstood my mom succumbing from brain, lungs and bones cancer, she wrote.

Blaque wasnt nervous about questioning the president, or insisting that he let her finish.

Im not impressed by power and money. That doesnt put my Lean Cuisines in my microwave, she said. Still, she was a bit embarrassed that her plea caused a stir on social media.

Shes been so upset about the state of the world in 2020 that she thought of sitting out the election.

Ive shed a lot of tears about all the people who have died unnecessarily from COVID, all the people who lost insurance, all the people who lost their jobs, how the Senate and the House just brawl like we dont exist, and people are dying because of it, Blaque said. It breaks my heart.

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor
A new public communication project seeking to ignite entrepreneurship spirit among youth in the country has been launched.

"We seek to promote entrepreneurship development in East Africa, beginning with Tanzania through this project christened 'Akili ya Pesa Challenge'," said Ms Maida Waziri, a Tanzania entrepreneur in a statement issued on Monday.

She added, "Our premise is that youth entrepreneurship in our epoch is a major catalyst for job creation in Tanzania and Africa at large."

The challenge started on social media from Tuesday and will last for one month, where each winner will take home about 100,000/-.

In the social media aspect of the challenge, the youth will showcase their capability to come up with ideas to solve the most pressing needs of our day and future.

According to Maida, empowering young people through entrepreneurship requires them to have a mindset shift.

"We have in mind that Tanzanian youths make up over 60 per cent of the population (15 to 35 years), according to the National Bureau of Statistics. We will extensively use Akili Ya Pesa Challenge to inspire Tanzanian youths to rise up to the occasion and be entrepreneurs or business people not only to improve their status but also to make Tanzania and Africa a better place," she noted.

As an entrepreneur for the last 30 years who have attended over 200 youths forums over the years to inspire the youth to be more responsible, Maida knows too well, the problems facing the youth in their battle for self-actualisation.

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"My words to young people have always been - start small and grow big. It does not matter how small you start so long as your vision is huge, and you are ready to fight to actualize it," she noted.

Tanzania by our population and the God-given resources that we have, we are capable of somersaulting our economic development to the highest level in Africa, and start competing with the Asian tigers, she noted.

According to Maida the solution to joblessness in Africa lies with igniting the spirit of entrepreneurship in our young people.

Akili Ya Pesa Challenges aims at bringing this conversation out in public so as to encourage the youth to actualize their potentials and solve the ballooning problem of unemployment.

Akili Ya Pesa will have many "challenges" and many prizes to be won. We will start off with a social media challenge in a limited period before the challenge goes to both, radio and TV, and a major prize is announced.
Police in New Hanover Township were called to the family's home on Monday night, according to investigators. Read more

A man in northern Montgomery County killed his son and daughter-in-law before turning the murder weapon on himself, according to prosecutors.

Gerald E. Mihalcik, 78, shot his son, Stephen J. Mihalcik, 56, and his sons wife, Rebecca Hall Evans, 51, on Monday inside a home the three shared in New Hanover Township, District Attorney Kevin R. Steele said Tuesday.

"This is such a tragedy, and my heart goes out to the surviving family members, Steele said in a statement. We are seeing more domestic violence homicides in Montgomery County this year than ever before.

 READ MORE: 2 dead, another person injured in possible domestic-related shooting in Montgomery County

Investigators were dispatched to the familys home on Monday evening for reports of a shooting. Inside, they found all three victims suffering from gunshot wounds. Hall and the elder Mihalcik were pronounced dead at the scene, and medics took Stephen Mihalcik to Reading Hospital, where he died from his injuries hours later, investigators said.

It was unclear Wednesday what motivated the murder-suicide.

The incident was the latest in a string of fatal domestic violence in Montgomery County this summer.

In August, Terence W. Cheatham, 47, killed himself and his wife, Nadege St. Preux, 43, inside their apartment in Abington, police said. Weeks earlier, authorities said, Gilbert Newton III, 18, stabbed his ex-girlfriend to death during an argument outside a SEPTA station. And two days before that, Frederick J. Clea, 57, shot his wife and mother-in-law at their home in Cheltenham, according to police.

Newton and Clea were both charged with first-degree murder and related offenses.
The Barasat court in North 24 Parganas district on Wednesday sentenced a lawyer to life in prison for killing her husband with the chord of a mobile phone charger.

Lawyer Anindita Pal Dey, 35, was convicted for murdering her husband Rajat Kumar Dey, who too was a lawyer at the Calcutta high court, on the night of November 25, 2018. Anindita Pal Dey was also accused of tampering with evidence.

The victims body was found on the floor of the bedroom. His face had turned blue and there was a deep mark on the throat. His wife told the police that he fell from the bed and suffered a heart attack.

The couple lived in an apartment in New Town in the eastern outskirts of Kolkata. Their only child, a boy, is now three years old.

This was a unique investigation. The evidence filed before the court was based almost entirely on the convicts mobile call, chat and Google search history, said Bibhas Chatterjee, the public prosecutor.

Before being arrested, the victims wife made self-contradictory statements for six days in an apparent bid to mislead the investigators.

Later, it was found that she had been visiting websites to find information on strangulation, said Chatterjee.

We could not even believe that she had committed the murder. She behaved normally all day, Samir Dey, the victims father, told the media at Barasat court.

The court had pronounced Anindita Pal Dey guilty on Monday. After the sentence was announced, she said she had been framed and would fight for justice. Her lawyers will challenge the order in the higher court.

Police suspected that an extramarital affair led to the murder. The couple often fought over phone calls that Anindita used to make. On the night of the murder, she allegedly wanted to be alone in the bedroom and the couple quarrelled over this.
It is essential that students receive the instruction, guidance, and support needed to master foundational skills in the elementary grades, especially to close early learning gaps in math and reading.

Edgenuity, a leading provider of online curriculum and instructional services for the K-12 market, today announced that its Pathblazer solution has earned the Research-Based Design product certification from Digital Promise. The certification provides third-party verification to educators and families that an educational technology product is based on credible learning sciences research.

It is essential that students receive the instruction, guidance, and support needed to master foundational skills in the elementary grades, especially to close early learning gaps in math and reading, said Sari Factor, CEO of Edgenuity. This certification assures educators and parents that our products are grounded in well-accepted research documented to help accelerate student learning.

Pathblazer offers teachers in grades K-6 dynamic, skills-based online content that can be used for math and reading intervention and enrichment so they can help every student catch up, keep up, and get ahead. Whether in an individualized learning path or single lesson, Pathblazer provides students with engaging, motivating content that they can access in class or at home, which will make it easier for students to continue learning during transitional periods in the coming months.

The program utilizes data-driven, targeted instruction built around a gradual-release instructional modelwhich includes supported practice, independent practice, and assessmentto help reinforce grade-level skills among elementary-school students. For students in need of more support, educators can also use Pathblazer to offer targeted, standards-based intervention in math and ELA as needed.

The Research-Based Design product certification uses a competency-based learning framework, developed in consultation with Digital Promises Learner Variability Project advisory board, expert researchers in the Learning Sciences field, and dozens of educators across the United States. Further information about the development of the Research-Based Design product certification can be found here.

Edgenuity submitted evidence to Digital Promise demonstrating that instructional design decisions were intentionally grounded in recognized research. Earlier this year, Pathblazer was also found to meet the highest level of efficacyTier 1 strong evidencein improving student achievement in reading for grades three to five, as outlined by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which governs the United States K12 public education policy.

Edgenuity is dedicated to offering innovative, research-based learning solutions aimed at improving student achievement. An extensive body of pedagogical research about how people learn drives every aspect of the Companys design and development of K12 learning solutions. Educators interested in learning more about Edgenuity Pathblazer can visit this page or contact an Edgenuity representative for more information.

About Edgenuity

Edgenuity, a leading provider of online curriculum and instructional services for the K12 market, is in use by more than 20,000 schools nationwide, including 20 of the 25 largest school districts, to meet academic goals and improve student outcomes. Edgenuitys full suite of solutions is aimed at helping students, educators, and districts achieve success in their online and blended learning programs. For students, Edgenuity offers learning solutions including initial credit courses, honors and Advanced Placement courses, credit recovery, intervention, and test readiness. Edgenuity additionally supports educators through high-quality digital-first core curriculum provided by LearnZillion, as well as professional development solutions to help educators plan and deliver powerful, lasting learning experiences.

About Digital Promise

Digital Promise is a nonprofit organization that builds powerful networks and takes on grand challenges by working at the intersection of researchers, entrepreneurs, and educators. Our vision is that all people, at every stage of their lives, have access to learning experiences that help them acquire the knowledge and skills they need to thrive and continuously learn in an ever-changing world. For more information, visit the Digital Promise website and follow @digitalpromise for updates.
He's got a reputation for being fearless around the most dangerous of animals, but Australia's Outback Wrangler Matt Wright's latest video takes the cake.

Mr Wright shared a video titled 'dangerous work' with his 307,000 Instagram followers on Tuesday, showing him pushing away a four-metre crocodile by the snout.

In the footage, Wright explains that he and co-worker Tommy Nichols were clearing logs in a Northern Territory waterway when the beast began tailing behind them.

Matt Wright was clearing logs in a Northern Territory waterway this week when a crocodile began tailing him and his co-worker Tommy Nichols

'We've been having a bit of a hard time, we have a little friend that has come to visit us,' he says as he pans the camera to show a crocodile idling by his leg.

Wright shoves the animal's jaw away with his right hand, turns his back on the animal, then wads through the knee-deep water back to help Nichols with the job.

But within seconds, the apex predator starts swimming back towards him.

'Utt, give it up,' he says to the crocodile, pushing its muzzle down into the water.

'We are trying to get some work done.'

When the animal refuses to halt, he resorts to treating it like a dog, pointing his finger at it and ordering it to 'stay'.

The clip quickly racked up more than 150,000 views, with fans commenting it is the sort of thing that would 'only happen in Australia'.

'Welcome to Australia,' one person wrote.

'This is the most Australian thing I have watched,' another added.

Others were amused that Wright treated the bone-cruncher like man's best friend.

Matt Wright is a helicopter pilot and wildlife relocator who is also the star of the National Geographic show 'Outback Wrangler' and his new show, 'Monster Croc Wrangler'. He is pictured with his wife Kaia

'Australians literally give no f***s. I swat flies in America. These blokes are literally swatting crocodiles like they're puppies,' a foreigner wrote.

'Can't wait until tourists see this and think Crocs are big puppies. What could possibly go wrong?'

A few said Wright reminded them of late Australian icon Steve Irwin.

'Im convinced he is Steve Irwin reincarnated,' one said.

'Steve Irwin's lost twin brother,' another noted.

A second video posted to Wright's Instagram page days earlier shows Nichols handling another crocodile in a similar way after it jumped up and snapped at him.

Wright is a helicopter pilot and wildlife relocator who is also the star of the National Geographic show 'Outback Wrangler' and Australian series 'Monster Croc Wrangler.'

The series follow Mr Wright throughout his numerous adventures in the Australian Outback where he encounters and captures large animals.
Washington: The accords the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have signed with Israel in the US were hailed by President Donald Trump as a "foundation for a comprehensive peace" across the Middle East and touted as a crowning achievement of his presidency.

Yet despite all the pomp of a grand White House signing ceremony on Wednesday AEST, the documents released hours later, while making several sweeping promises  especially between the UAE and Israel  left many crucial questions unanswered.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump hold the signed documents at the White House. Credit:Bloomberg

The "Abraham Accords" declaration, which Trump joined in signing, and Bahrain's deal with Israel are single-page documents. The first offers to pursue a "vision of peace, security and prosperity in the region," and the second holds out little beyond an agreement to establish diplomatic ties. That's significant in itself, but the declaration acknowledged that other achievements would be left for later.

A White House official briefing reporters earlier had said the Bahrain deal would be less detailed because the Gulf nation agreed to the accord only last week.
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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
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IS OPERATION LEGEND WORKING IN KANSAS CITY?!?!?

Kansas City Crime Suffers Revolving Door Problem

Carjacking, fatal crash suspect released from jail before incident KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A Kansas City man accused of leading police on a high-speed chase in a stolen car which resulted in a deadly crash was released from jail on his own recognizance in April, despite six pending felony charges against him.

Family Attacker Charged

Operation LeGend: 2 Kansas City men charged with robbing family at gunpoint Two Kansas City, Missouri, men have been charged in federal court with robbing a family in their home at gunpoint.Cameron E. Scott, 19, and Chase M. Murphy, 19, were charged in a five-count criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Missouri, on Monday.

Golden Ghetto Creeper Thakfully Caught Via Nasty Subscription

Shawnee man sentenced on child porn charges KANSAS CITY, KS (KCTV) - A Shawnee man is heading to federal prison and will face a fine after be convicted on buying a membership to access a child pornography website. Authorities said 36-year-old Daryl Miller pleaded guilty to one count of access with intent to view child pornography.

Police Seek Conversation With Northeast Fire Bug Suspect

ATF, KCPD search for arsonist Police are searching for a man suspected of arson in Northeast Kansas City as part of Operation Legend. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Kansas City, Mo. Police Department (KCPD) Bomb and Arson Unit are offering a reward of up to $2,500 for information leading to the identification and arrest of the suspect.

Rural Community Push Back After Shooting

'Justified' shooting in Sedalia upsets victim's family, supporters SEDALIA, Mo. - The decision from a special prosecutor not to file any charges came one day after the three-month anniversary of Hannah Fizer's death. The Sedalia woman's family and supporters were disappointed, but some weren't surprised with the outcome. "She was no angel, but she was my angel," John Fizer, Hannah's father, said.

South Side Suffers Gunfire

Police need help finding source of Sunday night gunfire in south KC Residents in south Kansas City were mystified by the sound of gun shot Sunday night that continued sporadically from 9:45 to 10:30 pm. By Monday morning, South Patrol was also mystified. "The police haven't found shell casings anywhere," says Mary McCall, Community Interaction Officer for the South Patrol. "They found absolutely nothing.

Spy Tech Solution Sneak Peek

Operation Legend Is Bringing Surveillance Tech to Cities In August, 40 federal agents arrived in Memphis. Some were already on the ground by the time U.S. Attorney Michael Dunavant announced the onset of Operation Legend and the city became, along with St. Louis, the seventh to be targeted by the Justice Department's heavy-handed initiative to reduce violent crime.

The obvious, and probably correct, answer to skeptiicsm about the current federal crackdown is that violence would be much worse without help from federal law enforcement.However, there's no denying the rising level of gunfire, violent crime and murder on local streets no matter how many encouraging reports about recent arrests are broadcast.And so we ask our blog community . . .Accordingly, this is the most appropriate place to post a collection of news links and info related to police action, recent crime and more . . .Developing . . .
Regardless of political differences, Egypt and Turkey should communicate, said Yasin Aktay, advisor to the chairman of the Turkish Justice and Development Party and Recep Tayyip Erdogans strongman. Aktays controversial statement juxtaposes Turkeys hostile and arrogant political attitude towards Egypt since the 30 June 2013 Revolution that toppled the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood allied with Erdogans regime.

The Ankara regime is based on twisting facts and promoting fallacies. In an interview to a Qatar-funded website, Aktay said Turkeys presence in Libya is for the sake of reform and peace and is not in any way an occupation. He called on Egypt to adopt the same course, adding those who want to occupy Libya should retreat. Building on the same fallacies, Aktay claimed Turkey is present in the Mediterranean not to oppose or attack, but rather to defend itself and its rights.

Aktay fiercely criticised the decision of the Arab League meeting held on a foreign ministerial level that included what he dubbed are allegations about Turkish interventions in Arab countries affairs. Aktays statements constitute a complete denial of Turkish military presence in a number of Arab countries, as Ankara intervenes politically in other countries affairs in an effort to destabilise peace and security in the region.

As part of his false claims, Aktay, expressing surprise at the Arab League decision, said this is a funny situation, who are the Arabs? Is the UAE, for example, more Arab than Turkey?

In a blatant interference in regional affairs, Aktay said Turkey has the right to intervene and speak for the Arabs more than several Arab countries can do for several reasons, including that 10 million Arabs reside in Turkey and Syrian refugees seek shelter in Turkey not in Arab countries.

Egypts Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukris response was sharply worded against Aktays attempts to pass false messages about Egypt. We are looking at the actions, if this talk is not in accordance with the policies then it does not have impact or significance.

Turkeys military presence in Syria, Iraq and Libya, and the tensions in the East Mediterranean foretell of expansionist policies to destabilise the region. These [actions] dont lead to dialogue and opening a new chapter [in relations]. It is not statements, rather actions and policies in line with international relations and international legitimacy, that reinforce stability. This is what we are concerned with at this stage, added Shoukri.

Erdogans use of force is starting to isolate Ankara. Turkey can no longer continue its policies of fait accompli in the Eastern Mediterranean after it had threatened Greece and Cyprus and France and the European Union intervened to halt Turkish threats.

In response, Erdogans government had to pull back its exploration vessel in the Mediterranean Sea after it sensed the gravity of the situation.

Meanwhile, Erdogan is still arming Tripoli militias that have turned against each other following Turkeys military intervention. The conditions in western Libya are deteriorating after Turkeys flagrant intervention.

Egypt, on the other hand, is committed to bring Libyan factions closer, reiterating its only concern is to bring the Libyan people together and protect the state from complete collapse.

There is a world of difference between the Egyptian and Turkish discourses on Libya and the Eastern Mediterranean. Ankara is trying to make political and economic gains by sowing instability, while Cairo is committed to international legitimacy, international law and good neighbourliness.

Time is of the essence, but time is on the side of rational discourse against arrogance and might.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 17 September, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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In a veiled warning to its ally the Bharatiya Janata Party, Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Badal on Wednesday said his party can sacrifice anything for farmers' interests as he came out strongly against the three farm sector-related bills introduced by the government in the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament and asked the Centre to address the concerns of farmers.

IMAGE: SAD's Sukhbir Badal said his party can sacrifice anything for farmers' interests as he came out strongly against the three farm sector-related bills introduced by the government. Photograph: PTI Photo

The SAD has been requesting the Centre not to introduce the three agriculture-related bills for the approval of Parliament until all reservations expressed by farmers' organisations, farmers and farm labourers are addressed, Badal said.

On Tuesday, Badal, the MP from Punjab's Ferozepur, voted against the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha, saying the proposed legislation is against the interests of farmers.

The government introduced the Farmers' Produce Trade And Commerce (Promotion And Facilitation) Bill, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill in Parliament on Monday to replace ordinances promulgated earlier.

"Before introducing these bills, they should at least have consulted the parties that are essentially farmers' parties and their allies. Our minister, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, had expressed her reservations when the matter was taken up during a cabinet meeting," Badal said.

Expressing concerns over the proposed legislations, he said it would impact the entire farm sector and procurement system.

Badal said in Punjab, the system is robust and efficient as there is a grain market in every six villages and the entire procurement gets completed in 25 days.

"The SAD will oppose the remaining two bills on Wednesday if they are taken up for consideration and sacrifice anything for farmers' interest as it is at the centre of our politics," the former Punjab deputy chief minister said, asserting that his party will stand with farmers in their cause.

Demanding that the government should organise a meeting with farmers, Badal said before moving forward, it should address their concerns.

"The government should not have brought these bills without taking farmers and their organisations on board," he said.

Badal made an emotive speech in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, where he said the SAD is essentially a party of farmers and has always championed their cause.

The legacy of the party cannot and will not be compromised or diluted no matter what price it has to pay, he said, speaking in Punjabi.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-17 06:18:27|Editor: huaxia

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SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Police of U.S. Northern California's San Jose reported on Wednesday that a sixth person was shot late Tuesday near San Jose State University's campus, in a shooting incident that left two dead.

The person was treated for non-life-threatening injuries, police said in a statement Wednesday morning.

Police reported three surviving victims after the shooting Tuesday. The fourth was discovered during the course of the investigation, police said.

The three victims, who were found at the scene Tuesday night, remain hospitalized. All are expected to survive their injuries, according to a report by the San Francisco Chronicle.

The shooting was reported at about 10 p.m. Tuesday in downtown San Jose. Two victims were pronounced dead at the scene, making them San Jose's 27th and 28th homicides of the year. Police have not identified any suspects, the report said. Enditem
A British Airways Airbus A321. Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto/Getty

The coronavirus pandemic has left British Airways (BA) fighting for its survival, Alex Cruz, the CEO of the airline, said Wednesday.

Cruz, who has taken a one-third pay cut, said BA is burning through 20 million ($25.9 million) per day.

Only 187,000 passengers flew with the BA on the week starting September 7, compared to 1 million this time last year, he told a government committee.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The UK's flag-carrier airline British Airways (BA) is fighting for survival, its boss said Wednesday.

Its CEO Alex Cruz told a government committee that the coronavirus pandemic is "worst crisis that British Airways has gone through in its 100 years of history," adding that the firm is burning through 20 million ($25.9 million) per day. He has taken a one-third pay cut, he said.

The company has already cut more than 8,000 jobs.

"COVID has devastated our business, our sector, and we're still fighting for our own survival," he said.

Only 187,000 passengers travelled with the company on the week starting September 7, he said, compared to 1 million at the same time last year.

"We remain worried about the virus in the winter season. People are still afraid of travelling. We are having weekly changes to the quarantine list. All the data that we get are still pointing at a slow recovery process," Cruz said.

British Airways has joined other airlines in calling for a test-and-quarantine scheme between London and New York  the world's busiest intercontinental air link  that will "minimize the quarantine process" and encourage passengers to fly again. But the government says that there is no alternative to 14 days of self-isolation.

In April, British Airways announced plans to cut up to 12,000 jobs from its 42,000-strong workforce. This has since been increased to 13,000. Cruz described the job cuts on as an "impossible situation" on Wednesday, adding: "I deeply, deeply regret that way too many loyal and hardworking colleagues of mine are having to leave our business."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Mary Ann Hotaling is the daughter of immigrants. Her mother is from Brazil, her father from Portugal.

They moved to America in search of a better life. They found it, and were grateful.

They just instilled a love of country in me from an early age, said Hotaling.

So after she graduated from Seton Hall University, Hotaling joined the Army, serving the Medical Service Corps and seeing duty in Bosnia as an ambulance platoon leader when she was a freshly commissioned lieutenant.

She left the Army in 2002 as a captain and chief of military personnel at William Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso, Texas, the countrys largest military hospital.

Me serving in the military was a way for me to give back because of the opportunity (the United States) gave my family, she said.

Then Lt. Mary Ann Hotaling served as an ambulance platoon leader during the peacekeeping mission in Bosnia.

Hotaling, who now lives in Athens and works for Decatur City Schools, is a longtime advocate for female military veterans. Thats the main reason shes now competing as a top 25 finalist for Ms. Veteran America.

Its not a beauty pageant, she said. Im 44 years old and I love carbs."

The contest focuses more on how much the contestants advocate for veterans and how much they know about military history and current events.

As part of her Ms. Veteran America campaign, Hotaling is raising $20,000 for Final Salute, an organization that helps homeless female veterans get back on their feet.

To raise the money, shes been rucking (marching with a rucksack on her back) all over North Alabama. Shes just 20 miles short of her 50-mile goal and shes only $1,200 away from raising the $20,000 for Final Salute.

All the funds go to obtaining safe and suitable housing for homeless female veterans, Hotaling said of her Ruck March for Our Sister Warriors. The daily operating cost to house veteran and her children is only $25 a day. If I reach my goal, that will be 800 days of housing.

Females are the fastest-growing population of homeless veterans, Hotaling said, and when they hit hard times, its often more difficult for them to find help.

Hotaling said when Final Salute started providing homes for homeless female veterans, Veterans Administration transitional homes were mostly geared toward men. And they were not welcoming to single mothers in particular, which make up 70% of the homeless female veteran population.

If they did allow female veterans, they didnt allow children, she said. I dont know of any mother who has fallen on hard times who would get herself situated and ditch her kids.

On top of that, most of the female veterans who find themselves homeless are often recently divorced, fleeing an abusive marriage or are a victim of sexual trauma.

The last thing she wants to do is get thrown into a transitional home with a bunch of men she doesnt know, Hotaling said. Shes already traumatized.

Hotaling will complete her 50-mile march on Saturday, Sept. 26, by marching around downtown Huntsville, beginning and ending at the Huntsville/Madison County Veterans Memorial on Monroe Street.

Shes asking the military-friendly North Alabama community to help her keep raising money so she can spread her advocacy for homeless female veterans beyond North Alabama as Ms. Veteran America.

They just dont want some lady who wants to win a crown and sash, she said. I want to be the national advocate for these homeless female veterans.

Want to help?

To see Mary Ann Hotalings Ms. Veteran America Finalist page and donate to her Ruck March for Our Sister Warriors, visit https://www.facebook.com/maryannh4MVA2020

To donate to Final Salute, visit www.finalsaluteinc.com

Shelly Haskins writes about points of pride statewide. Email your suggestions to shaskins@al.com, or tweet them to @Shelly_Haskins using #AlabamaProud
A key body which scrutinised Australia's overseas aid program was quietly shut down last month, sparking accusations from the opposition that the Morrison government is trying to avoid independent evaluation of the development program.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has played down the move to close the independent office, saying its functions are being performed by other areas in the department.

A portion of Australia's foreign aid budget is being refocused, with the Pacific, Timor-Leste and Indonesia named as key priorities. Credit:Justin McManus

Diplomacy and aid experts have been voicing growing concern the $4 billion Australia spends on foreign aid is not enough at a time when China has been expanding its influence throughout the Indo-Pacific region.

The Office of Development Effectiveness, established in 2006 by the Howard government, was an independent branch of DFAT which reported directly to the department's secretary on the effectiveness of Australia's aid programs.
WASHINGTON - The Department of Health and Human Services' top communications official is going on medical leave, three days after urging President Donald Trump's supporters to prepare for an armed insurrection and accusing scientists in his own agency of "sedition," HHS announced Wednesday.

Michael Caputo, assistant secretary for public affairs at HHS, leveled the accusations and promoted other conspiracy theories in a Facebook Live event on Sunday.

HHS said in a statement released early afternoon that Caputo would be on leave for the next 60 days to "focus on his health and the well-being of his family." That means he will be gone until after the Nov. 3 election.

The agency also said that Paul Alexander, a top aide to Caputo, would be leaving the agency permanently. Alexander came under scrutiny in recent weeks for his efforts to exert control over the messages coming from scientists and top health officials, including the content of weekly science reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to make them conform to the president's assertions that the virus is under control.

In a statement, Caputo said he decided to take a temporary medical leave to "pursue necessary screenings for a lymphatic issue discovered last week." He added that he has been losing weight for months, which he initially attributed to a new exercise and diet regimen before realizing something might be wrong.

Caputo also said violent threats against his family had contributed to his stress level. He expressed thanks to Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of the White House coronavirus task force, for conferring with his personal physician. (Fauci is among the scientists Alexander had sought to instruct on what he could say.)

"My experience mirrors that of many Americans," Caputo said in his statement. "Every American battling COVID - in every city in every state across the nation - has been under enormous pressure. I am just one of them."

White House aides began discussing putting Caputo on leave Monday afternoon but he was initially resistant, said White House officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions.

Caputo's comments on Facebook Live stunned many inside the administration, who said he had done the event without approval, and then left aides struggling to find the video. "The great irony is he wanted to control everyone else's appearances," one senior administration official said.

During that event, Caputo accused the CDC, which is part of HHS, of harboring a "resistance unit" that aimed to undermine Trump. Without offering any evidence, he also accused scientists "deep in the bowels of the CDC" of giving up on science and becoming "political animals."

He also predicted that Trump would win the election but that Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, would refuse to concede. "And when Donald Trump refuses to stand down at the inauguration, the shooting will begin," he warned in the video. "The drills that you've seen are nothing. If you carry guns, buy ammunition, ladies and gentlemen, because it's going to be hard to get."

Caputo in recent days has accused White House staffers of running a vendetta against him.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany declined to comment on Caputo at a briefing Wednesday.

Caputo had been set to oversee a critical public relations campaign to help build public trust in a coronavirus vaccine. Recent polls show a significant number of Americans are unlikely to take a vaccine as soon as it is available over fears that safety has been compromised for speed.

Several current and former officials said the recent controversies engulfing him threatened the efforts to win greater acceptance of a prospective vaccine. The White House officials said Caputo's exit will improve the communications strategy.

Speaking at a Senate hearing Wednesday, CDC Director Robert Redfield said he had been "deeply saddened" by Caputo's accusations that his agency contained a "resistance unit" trying to undermine the president.

"It not true," Redfield said, saying the CDC is "made up of thousands of men and women, highly competent. It is the premier public health agency in the world."

Redfield also denied that Caputo or Alexander had undermined the agency's weekly science missives, known as Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports. "The scientific integrity of the MMWR has not been compromised, and will not be compromised on my watch," he said.

Caputo had apologized to HHS staff on Tuesday for his remarks and the embarrassment they brought upon HHS, and said he was considering a medical leave.

Trump installed Caputo at HHS in April after damaging stories about Trump's handling of the pandemic, according to three current and former senior administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe behind-the-scenes discussions.

Caputo was an unusual choice for the top health communications job because he has no background in health or science. The longtime political consultant began working with Trump in 2014, first to assist Trump's unsuccessful bid to buy the Buffalo Bills, and then, in 2016, to assist Trump's efforts in the Republican primary for president in New York. Later, he publicly defended Trump and members of his campaign and administration when special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and his staff investigated Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Democrats had called for Caputo's resignation on Monday - and on Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., also called on Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar to step down after media reports detailing how Caputo and Alexander had attempted to interfere with scientists under Azar's watch.

McMaster University in Canada, where Alexander is listed as a part-time assistant professor, also sought to distance itself from him as well.

"While Paul Alexander graduated with a PhD in health research methodologies from McMaster in 2015, he is not currently teaching and he is not paid by the university for his contract role as a part-time assistant professor," Susan Emigh, a spokeswoman at McMaster University, said Monday. "As a consultant, he is not speaking on behalf of McMaster University or the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact."

The HHS announcement said that Ryan Murphy will lead the day-to-day operations of the public affairs office while Caputo is gone. Murphy has previously served as Acting Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs.

- - -

The Washington Post's Amy Goldstein contributed to this story.
OSHA Cites Meatpacking Facilities for Coronavirus Violations

The meatpacking company experienced a coronavirus outbreak among employees, resulting in a penalty from OSHA.

OSHA cited JBS Foods Inc. in Greely, Colorado on September 11, 2020 for failing to protect employees from exposure to coronavirus.

The company, which was ranked the second largest meat packing facility in America by The National Provisioner, received the citation in response to a violation of the general duty clause for failing to provide a workplace free from recognized hazards that can cause death or serious harm. OSHA proposed $15,615 in penalties  the maximum allowed by law. JBS Foods must respond to the citation by complying, requesting an informal conference with OSHAs area director or contest the findings within 15 days of receipt.

Employers need to take appropriate actions to protect their workers from the coronavirus, said Amanda Kupper, OSHA Denver Area Director. OSHA has meatpacking industry guidance and other resources to assist in worker protection.

The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), an organization that represents workers in meatpacking plants, called the fine JBS Foods received insufficient because the companys violation resulted in 8 deaths and more than 200 infected workers.

JBS Foods also failed to supply an authorized employee representative with injury and illness logs in a timely manner after a May 2020 inspection by OSHA. Smithfield Food Inc. in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, received a citation for failing to protect employees from coronavirus as well, with a penalty of $13,494.
Police at Bourke Street Mall in the CBD in Melbourne, Australia on Jan. 21, 2017. (Wayne Taylor/Getty Images)

Dep. Commissioner Condemns Victoria Police Officer After Stomping Incident

The Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner of Capability Neil Paterson has condemned the actions of two officers who used excessive force, during an arrest in Epping, Melbourne.

Paterson, in a press conference on Sept. 15 said: I form the view that its an inappropriate use of force by a police member in regard to the kick or stomp to the head of the man involved in that incident.

He added that the use of force while using a police vehicle in that same incident was concerning.

Following the incident on Sept. 13, a senior constable from the Critical Incident Response Team was suspended with pay after footage from bypassers showed him use force with his foot while the suspect identified as Timothy Atkins was on the ground.

Using a kicking action or any action against the head of a person is not trained by Victoria Police. That is outside of our accepted training, Paterson said. He added officers are not trained to use the car in the manner it was either.

The police officer driving the vehicle has also had their license to drive police vehicles revoked but has not been suspended he noted. The actions of both police officers are under criminal investigation.

Read More Victoria Police Officer Stood Down After Arrest Allegedly Injures Man

Victorias Independent Broad-Based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) has launched their own investigation to the incident at Epping.

IBAC Commissioner, Robert Redlich said in a media statement, The community is rightfully concerned if someone is injured during an interaction with police.

Given the potentially serious nature of this incident, IBAC has determined it is in the public interest to independently investigate this matter.

Paterson noted in the press briefing that Victoria Police would provide IBAC with all information they need to conduct their investigation.

Footage of the incident shows the 32-year-old allegedly being knocked over by a police vehicle and then receiving a blow to his head from a police officer during the arrest.

Latest reports on Atkins have said he has been placed into a medically-induced coma to conduct a CT scan following the blow.

Atkins family have indicated that he has Bipolar Disorder and was at Epping Northern Hospital on Sept. 12 to receive treatment for his condition.

After waiting around 19 hours to be treated he allegedly smashed the hospitals glass door, at which point police were called.

In a police statement to The Epoch Times, Victoria Police said Atkins attempted to avoid arrest and was behaving erratically.
Gurugram: Samsung India on Tuesday said its Galaxy Z Fold2 5G foldable smartphone has received record pre-bookings within 24 hours of its launch in the country.

According to the company, the booking for Galaxy Z Fold2 5G is four times that of Galaxy Fold, its first foldable smartphone launched in 2019.

The record pre-bookings indicate huge consumer interest for Galaxy Z Fold2 5G, which has been designed to transform mobile experiences.

Samsung India also announced more offers for customers pre-booking the device.

"Galaxy Z Fold2 5G consumers get accidental and liquid damage protection for their device within 12 months of activation for a one-time deductible price of Rs 10,999," the company said.

Those pre-booking the device can avail no-cost EMI starting from Rs 12,499 per month.

Samsung said customers purchasing the Galaxy Z Fold2 5G for Rs 149,999 in India would be eligible for specialised customer care services.

The Galaxy Z Fold2 customers will have 24/7 access to trained experts to ensure great experience with their device.

Meanwhile, in South Korea, pre-order sales for Galaxy Z Fold 2 are estimated to be around 60,000 units, industry sources told Yonhap news agency.

"Considering that the Galaxy Z Fold 2 is an expensive smartphone, its preorder volume is high," said an official with a local mobile carrier.
Despite a four-month delay to the premier, updates regarding the latest chapter to the Sailor Moon Crystal arc have keeps the fan-base buzzing and excited.

The latest addition to the Sailor Moon Crystal franchise, Sailor Moon Eternal is the first of a two-part movie series taking place during the Dead Moon Circus arc. Originally slated for release in Japan on Friday, Sept. 11th, production has unsurprisingly slowed down, pushing the release date back to early January of next year. As of right now part two is scheduled to premiere just one month later in February 2021, but whether this goal date is realistic remains to be seen. As of right now, no North American release dates have been announced.

Despite the numerous hangups and slowdowns, neither the studio nor fans have lost their enthusiasm for Sailor Moon Eternal, filling twitter with announcements, trailers, art, and of course an endless collection of opinions and critiques.

Last week it was announced that Japanese comedian, actress, and fashion designer Naomi Watanabe would be voicing key villain Zirconia. This was a welcome bit of news that drew by and large positive response from Sailor Moon fans everywhere with a photo-opp that frankly couldnt have been cuter or more on brand.

This announcement comes after months of being left with an unsatisfying teaser trailer which has earned as much scrutiny as it has excitement due to the flat and detail lacking art style.

Could this be an unfinished teaser trailer and the product of trying to meet ever-changing deadlines during a pandemic, or is the more simplified animation style employed by Sailor Moon Crystal being turned up to eleven for these films? Well have to wait and see.

Still, despite all of the delays and questions, there is no doubt that the moonies of the world are almost unanimously excited for the latest chapter of the Crystal story. Its been more than four years since weve seen a new episode and we are ready for more.

Are you looking forward to Sailor Moon Eternal? What do you think of the animation style showcased in the teaser trailer? Which story arc is your favorite? Let us know in the comments!

Ja ne, Adventurers!
Contract tracing problems

(TNS)  More than 6,700 people in Mecklenburg County received text messages from the county Health Department on Friday that they had tested positive for COVID-19. And more than 500 people were told the same news via a county email.But it was a mistake.Its not known how many of the thousands who received the messages actually have COVID-19, had tested positive at one point or never had the coronavirus. Regardless, none of them should have gotten such a text or email from the county, because the county does not give people results that way.At 9:30 a.m. Friday, the county tweeted that those messages from the health department were a scam: Public Health does not send out COVID-19 testing results via text message.But five hours later, the county updated its tweet : These texts were sent due to a technical glitch in the software system that has been addressed by the software provider.In an email Monday, County Manager Dena Diorio told county commissioners that the texts were sent through British Columbia-based HealthSpace Data System.The county began using software from the Canadian company in late May to help with case investigation and contact tracing efforts  part of a contract worth $157,800 over five years.Diorio said 6,727 text messages and 541 emails were sent to people who were already in HealthSpaces system. That means they could have tested positive for COVID-19 once  and likely already recovered  or they are thought to have had close contact with someone who had the novel coronavirus.The vendor sent a corrected text or email to everyone who had received incorrect information, Diorio said in the email to commissioners. It was not known whether some people got erroneous texts as well as emails.We apologize for any alarm this caused citizens who were not supposed to be sent an alert or survey, HealthSpace CEO Silas Garrison said in a statement on Friday.Fridays error was another stumbling block for contact tracing , where the public is asked to provide confidential health information in an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19.Case investigators  the first layer in the contact tracing process  are trained to probe for contacts names, employers, phone numbers and home addresses, among other details.Contact tracers then use that information to call people who potentially were exposed. The county uses HealthSpace software to automate some portions of the contact tracing process.From the start of the pandemic, Mecklenburg Public Health Director Gibbie Harris has detailed residents mistrust or unwillingness to comply with contract tracers.The difficulty of tracing can be exacerbated by the scope of coronavirus cases, with Mecklenburg now recording more than 27,000 infections.
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- The more desperately Chinese firms seek a haven for their international operations, the more theyll lean toward Singapore. Will their love be reciprocated?

Amid the drumbeats of a U.S.-China cold war, the Southeast Asian island-state is often talked about as a sanctuary for capital looking to flee the clash of superpowers. But aging Singapore, with excess savings of its own, doesnt want a truckload of new money.

Business investments, however, are very different from potentially destabilizing financial flows. They create jobs, provide new orders to local vendors, and spark optimism about the future, something rather badly needed amid the Covid-19 despondence. Thats why Singapore must be pleased to see Tencent Holdings Ltd., Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and ByteDance Ltd. coming to the city with investment plans worth billions of dollars.

All of them have their own reasons for flocking to the nation of 5.7 million people. According to Bloomberg News, Alibaba is exploring a $3 billion investment in Grab Holdings Inc., which is pivoting from a Southeast Asian ride-hailing firm to a regional super app with finance at its core.

Grab has applied for a Singapore digital bank license, and so has Alibaba-backed Ant Group, the worlds hottest fintech, awaiting its initial public offering in Hong Kong.(1) Reuters reported in June that Grab and Tencent-backed Sea Ltd., a Singaporean maker of online games, have made the Monetary Authority of Singapores shortlist.

Running a regulated bank in Singapore comes with a valuable coupon: free admission into the U.S.-dominated global financial network. This may be important for Chinese fintech firms in case Beijing decides to run a parallel system of its own. The vehicle for that push might be the digital yuan, which could erode the moat built by Ants Alipay and Tencents WeChat Pay. More immediately, access to Grabs customers in Southeast Asia may help Alibaba-backed online bazaar Lazada in its fight against Tencent-backed rival Shopee app, Bloomberg Intelligence has noted.

Story continues

Tencent, meanwhile, may also be eyeing Singapore to skirt situations like New Delhis ban on the video game PUBG mobile, for which it had the India publishing rights. WeChat is already a Trump administration target. As escalating violence on its border with China draws India closer to the U.S., globally-minded Chinese firms need neutral addresses to avoid becoming collateral damage. Ditto for ByteDance, which is trying to save its TikTok video-sharing platforms U.S. operations by partnering with Oracle Corp. The Beijing-based firm, which has also applied for a Singapore virtual bank license, will make the city its beachhead for Asia.

Singapore, which never had powerful domestic business interests to protect, isnt new to foreigners wanting a piece of it. In the late 1960s, the likes of Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corp. came for semiconductor assembly. Young women putting together pieces of ceramics, aluminum wire and a one-inch-wide lead frame played a big role in turning Singapore  along with Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan  into Asian exporting powerhouses.

Its too early to say if the U.S.-China conflict will have a similarly large and enduring impact. In areas like data centers, Singapore is benefiting. Measured by power supply, its the worlds largest repository for storing and processing data, with Facebook Inc. alone setting up an 11-story facility. Hong Kong has lost its special trading status with the U.S. over a Beijing-imposed national security law. Singapore has free-trade accords with both countries. The one with China was widened last year to include e-commerce.

To be sure, Singapores population is far less willing than before to accept a never-ending stream of overseas professionals in exchange for prosperity. Still, whats the alternative? Visitor arrivals in July were down 99.6% from a year earlier. Singapore Airlines Ltd. is slashing a fifth of its workforce. As long as the new Chinese investors dont ask for too many foreign employment passes, Singapore will give them a shelter to sit out the cold war. If nothing else, the islands nascent startup economy will get a fillip.

Financial capital wont be walking on the same red carpet. Hong Kong can live with private-sector credit three times the size of the economy and a property market pushed into the stratosphere of unaffordability. The same strategy would amount to political suicide in Singapore, where the bedrock of prosperity is real estate. A deflated housing bubble could prove costly for the Peoples Action Party, in power since 1959. Unlike Hong Kong, which ultimately has the protection of the bigger Chinese economy, Singapore has no parachutes. It dare not crash.

(1) Ant, though, has applied for a wholesale digital bank license, which means it can't take retail deposits.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Andy Mukherjee is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering industrial companies and financial services. He previously was a columnist for Reuters Breakingviews. He has also worked for the Straits Times, ET NOW and Bloomberg News.

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion

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John Kobina Abuah Sanie, parliamentary candidate of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) for the Mpohor Constituency of the Western Region, has stated that the ruling party was poised for a resounding victory in the December general elections.

He indicated that most sectors of the countrys economy had witnessed tremendous changes, citing the implementation of the pro-poor policies of the current government, particularly the Free Senior High School (SHS) programme.

He was speaking at the inauguration of the partys campaign team and the 2020 camp launch of the NPP in the constituency.

He said, currently in Ghana, institutions like the police, military, prisons and fire service among others would not recruit people with junior high school (JHS) certificates but those with a minimum of SHS certificates.

This is what Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo thought about and decided to give everybody that privilege to attend SHS free of charge, he said.

In the Mpohor District, over 2,000 children are benefiting from the free SHS, he noted.

He said scholarships had been granted to students in the district to be able to further their education in the tertiary; adding, Foreign scholarship had also been granted to 11 students to be able to further their education abroad.

NPP has initiated many vibrant programmes to uplift the living standards of the ordinary Ghanaian, Mr. Sanie added.

He mentioned that over 500 people in the constituency had been employed by the Forestry Commission and a lot of the residents had also gained employment into the security services and other agencies.

Victory is on the way coming, because the Akufo-Addo-led administration has so far met expectations of the people in terms of the delivery of life-transforming policies, he emphasized.

But all of us have the duty to move from house to house and campaign to enable our party win the upcoming elections massively, he said.

The Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, stressed that the NPP had proven that it is a party that could be trusted when given the mandate.

He pointed out that good development policies ought to be sustained for a considerable number of years to deliver the intended positive results.

He said the construction of the road leading to the Mpohor town had been given to a contractor who had started work.

The chairman of the constituency campaign team, Anthony Evans Amoah, a former Regional Minister, appealed to the constituents to give the NPP four more years to continue with its pro-poor programmes.

Daily Guide
Monday, September 21 has been declared a public holiday to mark Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day in Ghana.

The general public is hereby reminded that Monday, September 21, 2020, which marks Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day is a statutory Public Holiday and should be observed as such throughout the country, the Ministry for Interior noted in a statement.

The sector Minister, Ambrose Dery, who signed the statement urged the public to strictly adhere to all COVID-19 preventive protocols pertaining to social gatherings in all activities on the day.

The general public is advised to observe the safety protocols associated with the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), especially in relation to social events at public places.

This will be the second time the day is being marked in the country.

This holiday commemorates the birthday of Ghana's main independence leader, first Prime Minister, and first President, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.

In 2019, the holiday was shifted to Monday , September 23, 2019, because the actual date, September 21 fell on a Saturday.

 citinewsroom
Indias automakers expect passenger vehicles and two-wheelers sales to grow significantly during the upcoming festive season, despite the challenging environment because of the rising covid-19 cases, largely buoyed by the gradual pickup in retail demand since June, said senior executives of automobile manufacturing companies at the Mint CMO Dialogues on Tuesday.

Demand for vehicles in the urban markets also has to pick up to witness a proper recovery, as urban markets command a higher share of overall vehicle sales, they said.

Most automobile companies have ramped up production and increased wholesale dispatches to increase inventory levels at dealerships, as sales during festivals account for almost a fourth of the overall vehicle sales in a fiscal year. In the last two years, however, vehicle sales during Diwali and Navratri remained subdued because of the broader economic slowdown.

Sentiment always play a big role in influencing festive demand and, if the covid-19 spread does not worsen it, the industry, including Maruti, could look forward to good festive sales this year, according to Shashank Srivastava, executive director, marketing and sales, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.

Government spending in the rural economy has also driven the sentiment. While we say that Bharat is leading Indias growth, it cannot carry India. This means that unless the urban demand recovers, we might not see the great demand revival that we are expecting," Srivastava said.

Vehicle manufacturers have witnessed continuous decline in sales from the second half of FY19 because of the economic slowdown and an increase in vehicle prices because of the need to transition to Bharat Stage 6 emission norms.

In FY20, sales of vehicles fell 15-25% across categories after reporting low single-digit growth in FY19. Vehicles sales are expected to fall 25-45% across segments, according to the Society of India Automobile Manufacturers (Siam).

August has given the auto industry some hope as sales were 35% higher during the Ganpati festival on a corresponding basis, according to Tarun Garg, director, sales and marketing, Hyundai Motor India Ltd. This is a good indicator of demand for cars.

There has been a 20% swing between the urban and rural markets and this highlights how strongly rural demand has come up. However, the big growth for cars has to come from cities because thats where the basic demand lies. The overall sentiment has to improve and that is what we are looking forward to," said Garg.

Post-lockdown vehicles sales, especially for entry-level cars and motorcycles, in the rural market has picked up faster because of a healthy monsoon, good summer crop and fewer covid infections.

Penetration remains very low in the rural market. However, there are ample robust factors for demand to be sustained in the long-term," said Naveen Chauhan, national head, sales and after-sales, Hero MotoCorp Ltd. Rural has always led urban demand by 4-6%, in these times it has gone up by 8-10%," he said.

 Customers are splurging on cars at the top endlike S Class, GLE and GLS. But during the festival season it is time for customers to also go for the bottom segment priced at 40 lakh and above," said Santosh Iyer, vice president, sales and marketing, Mercedes-India Ltd.

malyaban.g@livemint.com

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There have been reactions from all around the world to the shocking story of the Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison, 1,000 lashes to be administered in public, 50 lashes at a time, and a hefty fine, for having opinions unacceptable to the Saudi authorities  but one person not talking about it is the Foreign Office minister, Tobias Ellwood.

Stewart McDonald, MP for Glasgow South, arranged a Commons debate on civil rights in Saudi Arabia during which he raised the Badawi case. Replying for the Government, Mr Ellwood claimed the case is in the Supreme Court and is under review. We therefore cannot interfere with that process, in the same way that the Saudi authorities would not interfere with our process.

When challenged, he insisted: The case has returned to the Supreme Court, which reflects the fact that the leadership has taken stock of international opinion. The punishment has stopped and is under review. Until that process moves forward, it would be incorrect to comment on another countrys judicial process.

The last the world heard was that in June the Saudi Supreme Court had upheld Mr Badawis sentence, and it was reported then that his only remaining hope was a royal pardon. I asked the Foreign Office if they could throw light on Mr Ellwoods statement. More than seven hours after he spoke, I was told that their Saudi desk was working on a reply. When it comes, I will gladly pass it on.

Huffington Post 1; PM 0

As lobby journalists were quaffing champagne at the Downing Street end-of-term party, someone mentioned to David Cameron that Andy Burnham had said he would carry on supporting Everton even if he won the Labour leadership. Cameron was asked if he ever managed to watch Aston Villa, whereupon Owen Bennett, of Huffington Post, interjected: Or West Ham? Cameron affected not to hear.

EUs heart of darkness

During the same evening, Cameron said his summer reading will include Dark Continent, by the historian Mark Mazower, who debunked the idea that it was always Europes destiny to be the home of freedom and democracy, arguing that extremism, particularly right-wing extremism, is every bit as much part of the continents heritage. We can no longer afford to  simply think of it as a dead load that by itself time will bury in oblivion, he warned.

That should provide the Prime Minister with a few arguments when it comes the EU referendum.

The dwarfs revenge

The Commons had been in session for only a few minutes when John Bercow threw a wobbly. The Chancellor, George Osborne, was replying to a question on the economy from the veteran Labour MP Barry Sheerman, and used the chance to express mock regret that the Labour Party is not listening to the sensible voices of the old intake. The Speaker was correct to rule him out of order, because Labours internal turmoil is not Treasury business, but did so with shocking vehemence. Sit down! he barked, and when Osborne appeared to be ignoring him, added: Chancellor, sit down, man! I told you to sit down, so sit down!

Onlookers wondered why he was so angry. I think it was because of the exchange that preceded it.

The first person to put a question to the Chancellor was the Tory backbencher, Sir Simon Burns. It was an exercise in sycophancy. What progress, he asked, had the Chancellor made with his long-term economic plan? This was answered with a few minutes of self-congratulatory blather, after which Sir Simon put a second question. Did the Chancellor agree that his Budget clearly demonstrated the Conservatives are the natural party for hard-working families?

Sir Simon is not always so respectful. He once called Bercow a sanctimonious dwarf. Hearing him wasting time with toadying questions is  I hear  what drove Bercow into a fury.
PORTLAND - The developer of the Brainerd Place project is seeking a revision to his permit which, if it were approved, would front-load the installation of infrastructure and traffic improvements for the project.

Developer Daniel Bertram is scheduled to go before the Planning Commission Thursday to seek a modification of his special use permit.

The proposed modification would add seven residential units to the 92 already approved under Phase One of the development, Economic Development Planner Mary D. Dickerson said Tuesday .

Bertram also is seeking to take commercial/retail space intended for Building E and covert that to office space, Dickerson said.

The decision to opt for office rather than retail space is due to the coronavirus and, frankly, to a current abundance of commercial (space), she added.

Bertram - who heads the Danbury-based BRT Companies - has been working with town officials since 2014 to convert the former Elmcrest Hospital property into a mixed retail/residential complex.

He has an agreement with Starbucks to open a coffee house on a portion of the 14.7-acre property, and is working on an agreement to bring a CVS Pharmacy to the site as well, Dickerson said.

Under the proposed revision, Phase One would include building a new building to house Starbucks, Dickerson said.

(Bertram) would also restore the historic Sage House and the Brainerd house and move the Hart-Jarvis House to a more prominent site on Main Street, Dickerson said.

Bertram committed to installing the infrastructure - water, sewers, gas and electric, and interior roads - on the property as well as the traffic improvements for Main and Marlborough streets.

The latter improvements have been requested by the state Department of Traffic Engineering as a condition for its approval for the project.

All of that will be paid for by the developer as part of Phase One, Dickerson said.

Once DTEs approval is finalized, Bertram would file a $1 million bond with the town.

In all, Bertram has estimated the project could cost roughly $40 million.

Crews last year demolished some of the buildings on the property and removed hazardous materials that were previously identified.

Work on the project has been suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The project will be completed with Phase II, which calls for constructing the remain 141 residential units and Buildings A and F, Dickerson said.

Bertram did not immediately respond to an email Tuesday seeking a comment.

The Planning and Zoning Commissions meeting begins at 7 p.m. Thursday.

It can be accessed on ZOOM on the town website at www.portlandct.org.
Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson walks to his office in Downing Street after a cabinet meeting in London, on Sept. 15, 2020.(Frank Augstein/AP Photo)

Japans Hitachi Pulls Out of UK Nuclear Project

LONDONWork on a major new nuclear power station in Britain will stop after Japanese company Hitachi pulled out of the project.

Hitachi halted work on the Horizon Project, located in Wylfa, on the Welsh island of Anglesey. It will also end work on another site located in England after it had been unable to agree on financing with the UK government.

The company had been in talks with the British government for years about how it might support the project financially, including through stock and debt investments. It suspended operations last year when a deal couldnt be reached, and said the COVID-19 pandemic made financing difficult.

Hitachi made this decision given that 20 months have passed since the suspension, and the investment environment has become increasingly severe due to the impact of COVID-19, the company said in a statement.

The suspension was seen as a blow to a British government facing Brexit at the end of the year. Prime Minister Boris Johnsons government wants to show it is open to business deals with companies and countries beyond the European Union.

Horizon will now take steps for the orderly closing down of all its current development activities, but will keep the lines of communication open with government and other key stakeholders regarding future options at both our sites, Horizon nuclear power said in a statement.
Describing Pakistan as an "epicenter of terrorism", India on Tuesday (September 15) said that Islamabad should refrain from delivering unsolicited lecture as Pakistan has consistently persecuted its ethnic and religious minorities including Hindus, Sikhs and Christians.

Exercising the Right of Reply to the statements made by Pakistan at the 45th session of Human Rights Council (HRC), the Indian diplomat slammed Pakistan saying that it has become a habit of Islamabad to tarnish India's image with false and fabricated narratives.

"Neither India nor others deserve this unsolicited lecture on human rights from a country that has consistently persecuted its ethnic and religious minorities, is an epicenter of terrorism, has the distinction of providing pensions to individuals on UN Sanctions list and has a Prime Minister who proudly admits training tens of thousands of terrorists to fight in Jammu and Kashmir," the Indian diplomat said.

Exposing the nefarious designs of Pakistan in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, the diplomat said, "the mass influx of outsiders has whittled down the number of Kashmiris to an insignificant number in Pakistan occupied parts of Indian Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Laddakh."

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"In its zeal to reassert its theocratic ideology, it has ensured that ethnic and religious minorities have no future through systematic persecution, blasphemy laws, forced conversions, targeted killings, sectarian violence and faith-based discrimination," the diplomat said, adding, "Thousands of Sikh, Hindus and Christian minority women and girls have been subjected to abductions, forced marriages and conversions in Pakistan."

Referring to the plight of people in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh, the Indian diplomat said, "Not a single day has gone by when a family in Balochistan doesn't find its members picked up or kidnapped by the security forces of Pakistan. Pakistan does well when it comes to intimidation and attacks against journalists, human rights defenders and political dissidents in particular by its state machinery. It is not without a reason that Pakistan has been highlighted by international organizations as a country where journalists are slain and their killers go scot free."

India also rejected the reference made by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to Jammu and Kashmir, saying, "The OIC has no locus standi to comment on internal affairs of India. The OIC has allowed itself to be misused by Pakistan to subverse its own Agenda. It's for the members of the OIC to decide if it is in their interests to allow Pakistan to do so."
President Donald Trump contradicted his Centers for Disease Control and Prevention head Tuesday saying he was 'confused' and 'made a mistake' when he told Congress a coronavirus vaccine wouldn't be widely available until the second quarter of next year.

Trump also said Dr. Robert Redfield must have 'misunderstood' a question when he told a Senate committee, 'I might even go so far as to say that this face mask is more guaranteed to protect me against COVID than when I take a COVID vaccine.'

He opened a major public dispute with one of his most senior doctors at a freewheeling, almost hour-long coroanvirus briefing at which he also disclosed that a White House staff member had tested positive but said: 'They were nowhere near me.'

In what appeared to be a repeat of his public feuds with Dr. Tony Fauci - and his contradiction of his own weather forecasters over Hurricane Dorian - he repeatedly claimed the CDC director's sworn evidence to the Senate was confused, mistaken and that he did not understand the question.

Trump had tried to start the briefing by accusing Joe Biden of being anti-vaccine after the Democratic candidate said he 'trusted scientists, the vaccine, but not Donald Trump,' but instead found himself divided from his own senior medical experts - on a day when both numbers and deaths showed the first uptick since July.

'No, the mask is not more important than the vaccine,' Trump said, telling reporters he called Redfield earlier Wednesday to set him straight. 'Maybe he misunderstood both of them,' he said of the two questions posed to Redfield by U.S. senators that morning.

President Donald Trump contradicted his own CDC chief at Wednesday's press briefing, calling Dr. Robert Redfield 'confused' and 'mistaken' for saying vaccines wouldn't be widely available until halfway through 2021 and masks work better than vaccines

Dr. Robert Redfield testified Wednesday morning before a Senate committee and said a ' face mask is more guaranteed to protect me against COVID than when I take a COVID vaccine.' He also said a COVID-19 vaccine wouldn't be widely available until quarter two or three of 2021

Told you so: How Joe Biden reacted during the freewheeling White House briefing

WAS DR. REDFIELD 'CONFUSED'? READ HIS WORDS AND DECIDE FOR YOURSELF Dr. Robert Redfield was testifying to senators when John Kennedy (R-LA) asked him: 'Tell me when you think you'll have a vaccine - as best you can - ready to administer to the public, Dr. Redfield.' Redfield: 'Well as I think Dr. Kadlec said, I think there will be a vaccine that will be initially available some time between November and December, but very limited supply and will have to be prioritized. 'If you're asking me when is it going to be generally available to the American public, so we can begin to take advantage of vaccine to get back to our regular life, I think we are probably looking at third, late second, third quarter of 2012.' Kennedy: 'And so you think by the late second or third quarter, we will have started to vaccinate people?' Redfield: 'I think the vaccination will begin in November, December, and then will pick up and it will be, you know, in a prioritized way. Those first responders and those at greatest risk for death and then, eventually, that will expand. You know, hard to believe, but there's about 80 million people in our country that have significant co-morbidities that put themselves at risk. They have to get vaccinated. And then the general public.' He was later asked by Jack Reed (D-RI): 'It's also the leader of the country trying to cope with a disease, a pandemic that's killed over 100,000 people and he's rejecting this emphatic advice that you give repeatedly and you yourselves demonstrate. Dr. Redfield, your comment .' Redfield: 'I'm not going to comment directly about the president but I am going to comment as the CDC director that face masks - these face masks - are the most important, powerful public health tool that we have. And I will continue to appeal for all Americans, all individuals in our country, to embrace these face coverings. I've said it, if we did it for six, eight, 10, 12 weeks we'd bring this pandemic under control. These actually, we have clear scientific evidence they work and they are our best defense. I might even go so far as to say that this face mask is more guaranteed to protect me against Covid than when I take a Covid vaccine, because the immunogenicity may be 70%. And if I don't get an immune response, the vaccine is not going to protect me. This face mask will.' Advertisement

But during a lengthy briefing, Trump said he still had confidence in Redfield.

'I do, I do,' he answered.

But he continued to say Redfield heard wrong.

'He sort of, I think, maybe misunderstood a question,' Trump said again.

On Wednesday morning, Redfield testified to a Senate committee that while first responders may have access to a vaccine in November or December of 2020, most Americans wouldn't get it until the 'second or third quarter' of 2021 - meaning a full year from now.

By early afternoon, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany had disputed that timeline.

'We do believe that it will be widely available by the end of the year,' the press secretary said.

And Trump reiterated that claim later in the day.

'I think he made a mistake. I was very surprised to hear. It really doesn't matter, we're all set to distribute immediately,' the president said. 'I got the impression that he didn't realize he said what he might have said. I didn't see him say it.'

Trump even brought Dr. Scott Atlas, who's held a number of contrarian positions on the coronavirus and is not an epidemiologist, up to the podium to provide assurance the government was prepared to distribute the vaccine imminently.

As the briefing unfolded Biden tweeted: 'When I said I trust vaccines, and I trust the scientists, but I don't trust Donald Trump  this is what I meant.'

After Trump's remarks, a spokesperson for Redfield told ABC News that he was 'answering a question he thought was in regard to the time period in which all Americans would have completed their COVID vaccination.'

'He was not referring to the time period when COVID-19 vaccine doses would be made available to all Americans.'

The statement also contained quotes from Redfield regarding what he had said about masks.

'I 100 per cent believe in the importance of vaccines and the importance in particular of a COVID-19 vaccine. A COVID-19 vaccine is the thing that will get Americans back to normal everyday life,' Redfield said.

'The best defense we currently have against this virus are the important mitigation efforts of wearing a mask, washing your hands, social distancing and being careful about crowds,' he added.

Earlier Wednesday, the government released a 'playbook' to make vaccines for COVID-19 available for free to all Americans as early as January, with plans to start shipping them out within 24 hours of approval from regulators.

Trump also said of Redfield, 'Maybe he doesn't understand the distribution process.'

The president originally focused his coronavirus ire on his political rival, Democrat Joe Biden, who spoke in Wilmington earlier Wednesday and expressed concerns that a vaccine would be expedited to help with the president's re-election process.

'So let me be clear, I trust vaccines. I trust the scientists. But I don't trust Donald Trump - and the American people can't either,' Biden said there, announcing some safety standards he'd like to put in place.

Biden also mocked a response Trump gave Tuesday night when asked why he wasn't promoting more widespread mask-wearing, a prospect the president has bulked at.

'He said because waiters don't like them, waiters touch food and touch the mask,' Biden scoffed. 'Come on.'

Trump made the same point Wednesday in the briefing room.

He also pushed that Biden seemed too comfortable in a mask.

'Joe feels very safe in a mask. Maybe he doesn't want to expose his face,' Trump said. 'I don't know what's going on.'

'There's no reason for him to have masks on,' the president added, pointing out that Biden hasn't held large rallies, due to the Democrat being concerned about coronavirus spread.

The ugly public differences with the CDC director came after the adminsitration unveiled its 'playbook' for shipping coronavirus vaccines within 24 hours of approval from regulators.

No companies have completed testing for their coronavirus vaccines or gotten Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for them.

Yet Trump has continued to insist that a vaccine will be ready in a matter of weeks - ahead of Election Day on November 3.

In a report to Congress and an accompanying 'playbook' for states and localities, federal health agencies and the Defense Department sketched out complex plans for a vaccination campaign to begin gradually in January or possibly later this year, eventually ramping up to reach any American who wants a shot.

Vaccines will be available to anyone, regardless of whether or not they have health insurance.

Whenever a vaccine to combat the virus that has infected more than 6.6 million Americans and killed nearly 196,000 people in the US, the Pentagon plans to be involved with the distribution of vaccines, but civilian health workers will be the ones giving shots.

The campaign is 'much larger in scope and complexity than seasonal influenza or other previous outbreak-related vaccination responses,' said the playbook for states from the CDC.

Among the highlights in the 'playbook':

For most vaccines, people will need two doses, 21 to 28 days apart. Double-dose vaccines will have to come from the same drugmaker. There could be several vaccines from different manufacturers approved and available.

Vaccination of the U.S. population won't be a sprint but a marathon. Initially there may be a limited supply of vaccines available, and the focus will be on protecting health workers, other essential employees, and people in vulnerable groups. The National Academy of Medicine is working on priorities for the first phase. A second and third phase would expand vaccination to the entire country.

The vaccine itself will be free of charge, and patients won't be charged out of pocket for the administration of shots, thanks to billions of dollars in taxpayer funding approved by Congress and allocated by the Trump administration.

States and local communities will need to devise precise plans for receiving and locally distributing vaccines, some of which will require special handling such as refrigeration or freezing. States and cities have a month to submit plans.

Some of the broad components of the federal plan have already been discussed, but Wednesday's reports attempt to put the key details into a comprehensive framework.

Nonetheless, some experts are concerned that these plans are being made and presented prematurely.

'Isn't this putting the cart before the horse?' Dr Peter Hotez, dean of the Baylor College of Medicine's National School of Tropical Medicine, said in an interview with DailyMail.com.

'We don't really understand the full extent of efficacy or safety of these vaccines, and each vaccine may be different.

'Some may prevent infection versus some [others that] will reduce the severity of illness. So it's very complicated to understand the different variations in terms of efficacy and safety and come up with a full plan.'

Dr Hotez also questioned the impetus for the report, wondering whether Congress had asked to see a plan like that laid out on Wednesday, or if it was something 'the WHite House is promoting.'

Either way, 'this is unprecedented,' he said.

Senator Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon, accused the CDC of being politically motivated.

'It escapes no one's perspective that you're deliberately laying [plans to have states start administering vaccines] two days before the election,' Merkley said, asking Dr Redfield who in the White House had asked him to do so.

When Redfield answered that 'no one' had, Merkley hit back that he was 'influencing the election,' asking 'what happened to science driving decisions' and said that the improbable vaccine timeline 'undermines [the CDC's] credibility.'

Distribution is happening under the umbrella of Operation Warp Speed, a White House-backed initiative to have millions of doses ready to ship once a vaccine is given what's expected to be an emergency use approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Several formulations are undergoing final trials.

But the whole enterprise is facing public skepticism. Only about half of Americans said they'd get vaccinated in an Associated Press poll taken in May.

Of those who wouldn't get vaccinated, the overwhelming majority said they were worried about safety.

To effectively protect the nation from the coronavirus, experts say upwards of 70 percent of Americans must either be vaccinated or have their own immunity from fighting off COVID-19.

Since the poll, questions have only mounted about whether the government is trying to rush COVID-19 treatments and vaccines to help President Donald Trump's reelection chances.

Before the Republican National Convention in August, the FDA granted authorization for treatment of COVID-19 patients with plasma from people who have recovered, even though some government scientists were not convinced the clinical evidence was sufficiently strong.

And last week it was reported that Michael Caputo, a Health and Human Services (HHS) Department political appointee with no medical or scientific qualifications or experience, tried to gain editorial control over a weekly scientific publication from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

He stepped aside to deal with his own health issues after a Facebook live rant calling the CDC the 'deep state' and claiming its scientists want Americans to die so Biden can win.

He admitted he had 'mental health' issues on the video but still it took from Sunday until Wednesday for him to be removed from his role - and to be able potentially to return to it in November.

Caputo is a Trump ultra-loyalist and associate of Roger Stone.

US REPORTS AN UPTICK IN AVERAGE DAILY COVID-19 CASES AND DEATHS FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE JULY AS NORTH DAKOTA, WISCONSIN AND SOUTH CAROLINA ALL RECORD SINGLE-DAY HIGHS

The United States is showing a slight uptick in the average number of daily coronavirus cases and deaths - as about 20 states reported increases in new infections in the past week.

The average number of infections per day was at more than 37,000 on Tuesday after increasing steadily since the weekend.

Cases, on average, have been trending downwards nationally since July when about 70,000 infections were being reported daily.

Daily deaths are now averaging at just over 840 per day after the average number of fatalities dropped to 720 a week ago.

Deaths in the US have been declining steadily since mid-August when an average of 1,000 American were dying each day.

Twenty states have reported an uptick in cases within the last week as North Dakota, Wisconsin and South Carolina all recorded single-day highs in new infections in the last few days

Cases in Utah have been increasing the last week with more than 560 cases reported on Tuesday. Nebraska's have been increasing since early September with the state now recording more than 38,000 cases

More than 195,000 Americans have now died from COVID-19 and there has been over 6.6 million infections.

The uptick in cases comes after health officials had warned there could be increases following the Labor Day weekend.

It comes as 20 states reported an uptick in cases within the last week with North Dakota, Wisconsin and South Carolina all recording single-day highs in new infections.

South Carolina's infection peaked at 2,454 on September 11 with the state now recording more than 133,00 cases.

North Dakota's cases spiked to a record 467 on September 12 and now total more than 16,000.

Cases in Wisconsin surged to a single day high of 1,624 on September 13. Infections in the state have risen 38 per cent in the last week, bringing the total to more than 96,900.

Twelve of the 20 states that have seen increases in the last week have high case numbers in relation to the population.

They include North Dakota, Wisconsin, South Carolina, Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Nebraska, Kentucky, Utah and Louisiana.

An indoor event in Henderson, Nevada drew thousands on Sunday.

There has been a slight uptick in cases in Louisiana in the last week after a steep drop off in August (left). Texas is also among the states seeing an uptick after recording a spike of 5,300 new cases on Tuesday. Cases in the former hotspot state had been on a downward trajectory since mid-August following a summer surge (right)

There has been an uptick in cases in Missouri in the last week with the state recording a total of 105,000 cases. Cases in Oklahoma have been slowly increasing since late August with just over 1,000 cases reported on Tuesday

Trump on Monday also drew hundreds of supporters to an indoor event in Phoenix, Arizona that his campaign advertised as a 'Latinos for Trump roundtable'.

Trump has made the case that if demonstrators can gather en masse for protests over racial injustice, so can his supporters. His campaign has insisted that it takes appropriate health precautions, including handing out masks and hand sanitizer and checking the temperatures of those in attendance.

It comes after it emerged last week that Trump had referred to the virus as 'deadly stuff' in a private conversation with Bernstein's former reporting partner Bob Woodward.

Trump, at the same time, was publicly downplaying the threat of COVID-19.

Three days after delivering his 'deadly' assessment in a private call with Woodward, he told a New Hampshire rally on February 10 that 'it's going to be fine'.

Trump's acknowledgment in Woodward's new book 'Rage' that he was minimizing the severity of the virus in public to avoid causing panic has triggered waves of criticism that he wasn't leveling with the American people.

The president told Woodward on March 19 that he had deliberately minimized the danger. 'I wanted to always play it down,' the president said. 'I still like playing it down because I dont want to create a panic.'
TROY  The lead investigator of the fatal 2016 police shooting of Edson Thevenin testified Wednesday that former Rensselaer County District Attorney Joel Abelove put the case before a grand jury before the police departments probe into the killing was complete.

Capt. Raymond White, the first witness to testify at Abeloves perjury and official misconduct trial in Rensselaer County Court, said that when the case went to a grand jury on April 22, 2016  just five days after Thevenin was killed  investigators had not yet submitted Sgt. Randall French's service weapon for testing.

White also said investigators had not yet met with the State Police to discuss the case or conducted an accident reconstruction of the incident, which involved a crash, or spoken to a bullet trajectory expert.

French was allowed to testify before the grand jury without waiving immunity, making it impossible for him to ever be charged in relation to Thevenin's death. The local grand jury cleared him. (The sergeant died earlier this year of COVID-19.)

Abelove is on trial for alleged crimes related to his handling of the case and the decision to let French testify with immunity. He is accused of lying to a state grand jury about another his office's handling of another Troy officers 2015 testimony in an unrelated fatal shooting. He faces charges of first-degree perjury and official misconduct.

The trial is before Columbia County Judge Jonathan Nichols, who will serve as judge and jury in what is known as a bench trial.

On April 17, 2016, French stopped the 37-year-old Thevenin in his Honda Civic at about 3:25 a.m., suspecting him of drunken driving. The Watervliet man drove away from the stop with French in pursuit. An internal police investigation later found French used his patrol car to push Thevenin's vehicle into a concrete barrier near the entrance to the Collar City Bridge.

French told White and other officers that he had been pinned against his police cruiser by Thevenin's sedan and fired eight times through Thevenin's windshield, striking the driver seven times and killing him.

Under questioning by state prosecutor Nick Viorst on Wednesday, White testified that when he interviewed French one day before the grand jury received the case, neither he nor other officers had asked French about the pattern of bullet holes on Thevenins windshield.

Viorst noted that on the morning after the shooting, images showed that the front tires of Thevenins Honda Civic were turned to the left. The prosecutor asked White whether he or another supervisor asked French to explain why French claimed Thevenins car was pulling him to his left when Thevenins car was turned in that direction.

We did not discuss that, White said.

Earlier: Internal probe concluded Troy police sergeant lied about fatal shooting

AG accuses of ex-DA Abelove of 'whitewash' to protect Troy police

Troy seeks 'mole' who disclosed internal report on fatal shooting

Crash expert concluded Troy police sergeant forced suspect off road

Abelove charged with felony perjury, official misconduct

Viorst asked White he if recalled when the case had been scheduled to go a grand jury. White said it was set to go on Friday, April 22, 2016.

As of that date, had you completed your investigation of circumstances (leading to) the Thevenin death? Viorst asked White.

No, White said.

Viorst, acting chief of the attorney generals special investigations and prosecution unit, asked White if he believed the case had been ready for the grand jury at that point. Abelove's lawyer objected, saying it called for a legal conclusion. The judge sustained the objection.

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

The prosecutor pressed, asking White if in his experience it was typical to present a case to the grand jury before an investigation was complete.

The defense objected again, but the judge allowed White to answer.

White said it depends on the prosecutor handling the case: Ive seen it both ways."

During cross-examination, defense attorney Joshua Friedman sought to show that White had spoken to as many witnesses as he could within the five-day period and obtained statements from French, Capt. Matthew Montanino and civilian witness D. Phillip Gross, who went to the scene.

Viorst also asked White if French's version of events was the only account of the three that said French was pinned before he started shooting.

"Yes," White replied.

The prosecution played a video of the scene that Gross had shot with his cell phone. It was difficult to see in court what the video showed in its entirety; White said he believed it depicted French pinned.

Under a 2015 executive order by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the attorney generals office is tasked with investigating fatal police encounters with unarmed civilians. In opening statements Tuesday, Jen Sommers, deputy chief of Viorst's unit, accused Abelove of "engineering a speedy dismissal before the attorney generals office could begin its own investigation into Thevenin's death.

Sommers told Nichols that the grand jury process was a charade and quick whitewash manipulated by Abelove to exonerate French. She said Abelove rushed the case before a grand jury and failed to present critical evidence. She said it deprived the 2016 grand jury of knowing all the facts before they declined to bring charges against French.

William Dreyer, another defense lawyer, said the former district attorney had discretion and broad powers to bring what he wanted before the grand jury.

The stakes are high for Abelove: He could face a maximum of two-and-a-third to seven years in state prison if convicted of the felony. His law license would automatically be taken from him if he is convicted of a felony.
J ohn Lewis has drawn up plans for a massive reduction in the size of its Oxford Street store if shoppers continue to stay away from the West End.

The staff-owned business has asked Westminster council to approve plans that allow it to cut trading space by almost 40 per cent, the Standard has learned.

Documents show that the third, fourth and fifth floors  which house departments such as kitchens and bathrooms, the Christmas shop, toys and childrens books and TV and audio  would be converted into offices to rent out.

This would leave tills on only the basement, ground, first and second floors, while the largely unused sixth, seventh and eighth levels would also be turned into offices. The plan comes two months after chairman Dame Sharon White announced the closure of eight financially challenged outlets including stores in Birmingham and Watford.

John Lewiss property adviser CBRE said the partnerships bosses have been considering their options for this building for some time in light of the issues surrounding retailing, but in particular Oxford Street.

The challenges confronting retailers are more pronounced given the Covid-19 situation, but it is important to stress that JLP are not leaving Oxford Street, and see the flexibility of a dual/alternative use as providing them with the opportunity to invest in the retail store for its long-term future.

It said that if the conversion takes place the remaining store floor space would still exceed that of Oxford Street rivals House of Fraser and Debenhams.

Nevertheless, such a major loss of space at one of Londons best known shopping destinations would represent a fresh blow to the prestige of the battered West End.

John Lewis has had a presence on Oxford Street since 1864. The partnership has been struggling to stay in profit amid intense competition on the high street. Results for the first half of the year being announced tomorrow are expected to reveal a big fall into the red for the department stores. According to the React News website John Lewis would continue trading while the works take place on the upper floors.

John Lewis said the reconfiguration of the store at 300 Oxford Street would enable a more efficient use of space but said it remained a hypothetical option for now.

A spokesperson said: Oxford Street is our largest and oldest shop and has a surplus of non-selling space compared to our newer shops. We have therefore made a planning application for the upper floors of the shop, to give us greater flexibility on how we use this space more efficiently in future, with the potential to have office space at the top of the building.

While no decisions have been made, any plans would look to further improve our customers experience.

Paul Souber, head of Central London retail at property agent Colliers International said: Incorporating both retail and office space into a mixed-use development can be a massive property value-driver not only from an investment and financial perspective but also in helping to build a successful long-term vibrant community where people can work and shop.

Tom Whittington, retail and leisure research director at Savills, said: The rightsizing of retail floorplates is something weve seen for some time but we expect it to gather pace over the coming months, particularly given the challenges facing the department store market."
WASHINGTON, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The new Medicare Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule announced by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for calendar year 2021 (CY2021) threatens patients' access to surgical care by cutting Medicare payments to surgeons.

Starting September 21st, the Surgical Care Coalition will launch a Week of Action calling on Congress to stand up and stop the cuts.

"Congress needs to step in and stop these cuts. They will negatively impact patients and the surgeons who treat them, during a time of unique stress on the health care system," said John A. Wilson, MD, FAANS, American Association of Neurological Surgeons President. "This Week of Action is an important call on Congress to preserve American's access to surgical care."

The Surgical Care Coalition's Week of Action, starting September 21st, will include several public initiatives to highlight the need for Congress to stop these cuts.

A webinar with practicing surgeons on the damaging impact of these cuts

Grassroots Congressional email and social campaigns

A radio media tour with surgeons from Netflix's Lenox Hill , Drs. Boockvar and Langer

, Drs. Boockvar and Langer A public campaign to raise awareness of the issue nationally

To stop these cuts and preserve care for patients, Congress needs to act. The proposed rule would cut Medicare payments across several surgical specialties, some up to 9%. These cuts would have been damaging when they were planned before COVID-19, but amid the pandemic these cuts are reckless to impose on an already disrupted health care system. These cuts will likely force surgeons to take fewer Medicare patients, leading to longer wait times and limiting access to surgical care.

"Ophthalmology lost more patient volume due to the COVID-19 pandemic than any other medical specialty," said David Glasser, MD, American Academy of Ophthalmology Secretary for Federal Affairs. "And the many ophthalmologists who operate like small businesses are struggling the most. Working with less pay and a shrinking staff, they face the heartbreaking choice of restricting access to Medicare patients, selling their practices or retiring."

About the Surgical Care Coalition

The Surgical Care Coalition advocates for access to quality surgical care for all Americans. The Surgical Care Coalition is comprised of 12 surgical professional associations that proudly represent more than 150,000 surgeons working across the country with a common goal of improving the quality of care, and quality of life, for all patients. The founding members have worked together for nearly three decades to promote sound policy solutions to the U.S. Congress and federal regulatory agencies to solve the biggest challenges in health care.

[email protected]

SOURCE Surgical Care Coalition
VANCOUVER, Wash., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Hubb, a provider of virtual and hybrid event management technology, is re-inventing the way the world experiences events. Today, the company announces a fresh corporate branding and website to support its renewed vision and commitment to the meeting and events industry. Hubb has experienced significant 100%+ YoY growth since it was founded in 2015, raised series A & B funding rounds, and noteworthy awards like the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network start-up stage winner, Eventex Best Event Technology and the Technology Association of Oregon Tech Startup Winner.

Hubb Virtual Event Platform

As the recognized leader helping to move the industry forward towards our new hybrid future, Hubb makes hybrid event experiences easy to manage, immersive, engaging and profitable. The company's new website and refreshed corporate branding showcases the value that Hubb offers event managers. As the leading virtual event platform, Hubb is one of the only platforms that lets them control and own an event from start to finish. Hubb refreshed the core elements of its existing brand, rather than creating a new one, to maintain continuity while also propelling its position forward as an industry leader and visionary.

"We believe passionately in the power of events and we have years of experience supporting the world's largest and most complex experiences for top brands. This refresh effort was fueled by a desire to catapult our branding to the next level, one that matches the vision of our company, a commitment to our customers, and to the events industry as a whole," said Allie Magyar, founder and CEO of Hubb.

Hubb is a single platform that manages virtual, in-person and hybrid environments. No other company or product suite on the market provides both the immersive attendee experiences with the robust back-end management tools that Hubb offers. Hubb's technology enables meeting planners to bulletproof their event strategy and easily pivot from onsite to online with the press of a button. Being an agile technology provider, Hubb allows organizations to create custom, branded, immersive experiences in a matter of weeks.

"The Hubb team is incredible and made our pivot from in-person to virtual for CEMA Summit 2020 seamless. We received rave reviews from attendees on how easy the event was to navigate and what a great overall experience it was," said Kim Gishler, President of the Corporate Event Marketing Association.

About Hubb

Hubb is re-inventing the way the world experiences events. The Hubb Platform creates virtual, onsite and hybrid events that bring brands to life. We help drive business growth by streamlining time consuming processes, mining profitable insights, boosting engagement and improving ROE. By collecting, managing and marketing event data more efficiently, Hubb powers high-impact, immersive and personalized experiences for attendees, speakers, sponsors and even your executives. Built by event-management veterans for event professionals, the Hubb Platform gives event planners unprecedented control and agility to create experiential designs that brings their brand to life. For more information, visit www.hubb.me .

Media Contacts

Raime Merriman

[email protected]

Nicole Brunet

408-761-1803

SOURCE Hubb
Aircraft manufacturer Boeing has been slammed in a report by the US House of Representatives transport committee for hiding design-related flaws in its 737 MAX jet both from the regulator and the pilots. The panel report also said that Boeing prioritised profits over other things in its rush to compete with rival Airbus.

Various design failures during the development of Boeing 737 MAX 8 jet led up to the "preventable death" of 346 people in two crashes involving Ethiopian Airlines and Indonesia's Lion Air. Boeing has been under scrutiny since these two crashes happened within a span of five months. Following this, the 737 MAX 8 has been grounded worldwide since March 2019.

Boeing 737 MAX 8s are operated in India by two airlines - Jet Airways and SpiceJet. With such a report coming up, things may turn more challenging for these two domestic carriers amid ongoing fund crunch and coronavirus-related woes.

The committee also came down hard on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). It identified many deficiencies in the regulator's approval process for new jets.

"[The two crashes] were the horrific culmination of a series of faulty technical assumptions by Boeing's engineers, a lack of transparency on the part of Boeing's management, and grossly insufficient oversight by the [Federal Aviation Administration] - the pernicious result of regulatory capture on the part of the FAA with respect to its responsibilities to perform robust oversight of Boeing and to ensure the safety of the flying public," the report said.

"The fact that a compliant airplane suffered from two deadly crashes in less than five months is clear evidence that the current regulatory system is fundamentally flawed and needs to be repaired," the report noted.

Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio said, "Obviously the system is inadequate. We will be adopting significant reforms." Investigators said they found various instances in which Boeing concealed information from the FAA and airlines.

Also read: Boeing, FAA in talks over new production defect in 787 Dreamliner
BOSTON, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The film "Cuties," now streaming on Netflix, is perpetuating the sexual exploitation of girls, according to Dr. Gail Dines, Founder & President of Culture Reframed, an organization that helps kids build resilience and resistance to hypersexualized media and pornography.

The organization calls for a global conversation about the hypersexualization of girls  and ways to help build resilience and resistance in girls growing up in a pornified culture; but in ways that do not further hypersexualize and exploit young girls. Studies show that girls who conform to these cultural pressures tend to develop high levels of anxiety, depression, an increased risk of being sexually abused, self-harm, and suicidal ideation.

French filmmaker Maimouna Doucoure, who wrote and directed 'Cuties', calls her film a "social commentary" that sheds light on the dangers of sexualizing young girls. But Dines argues that "you can't critique the sexual exploitation of girls if you are going to sexually exploit them to make the film."

Netflix users in the U.S. have been canceling their accounts at a rate that is nearly eight times higher than the average daily levels recorded in August 2020  reaching a multiyear high, according to Variety. The #CancelNetflix hashtag continues to trend on social media.

"The film attempts to critique the hypersexualization of young girls but it uses the very same visual grammar that it is attempting to critique," said Dines.

Culture Reframed's free, online programs  the Program for Parents of Teens and the Program for Parents of Tweens -- provide parents with the information, skills, and resources they need to have conversations to build resilience in young people to porn, which is easily accessed via any smart device.

Culture Reframed responds to the pornography crisis by providing education and support to promote healthy child and youth development. Our research-driven parent programs teach parents and those in the helping professions how to recognize and respond to the role pornography can play in sexual violence, unhealthy relationships, habitual use of porn, negative self-image, sexual dysfunction, depression, sexually transmitted infections, injuries, and other issues. Culture Reframed is supported by a multidisciplinary team of experts and scholars who are helping to build the public's capacity to deal with mainstream hardcore online pornography.

MEDIA CONTACT

Dr. Gail Dines: (617) 733-6915; [email protected]

Culture Reframed

SOURCE Culture Reframed

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BAGHDAD - A Katyusha rocket landed inside the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad on Wednesday, the Iraqi military said, a day after a British Embassy convoy was targeted on a key highway in the city.

There were no casualties and no one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack  the latest in near-daily rocket assaults targeting the Green Zone and Iraqi army bases hosting U.S. troops. The attacks have raised security concerns about armed groups outside of the states control.

The Green Zone is the seat of Iraqs government and home to several foreign embassies, including the U.S. Embassy. Wednesdays rocket hit near a residential building in the al-Qadisiya complex but caused no damages.

An Iraqi security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said the building was empty at the time of the attack. The military statement said the rocket was launched from the nearby Amel neighbourhood.

Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi has promised to reign in armed groups acting outside of the states authority. The attacks surged after al-Kadhimi travelled to the U.S. last month to conclude strategic talks, putting pressure on his administration.

The British convoy was targeted on a Baghdad highway close to the Umm al-Tabool Mosque, between the airport and the Green Zone, a strategic road often used by diplomatic missions.

Earlier in the week, two rockets were fired at the Green Zone late on Monday but caused to casualties; one was intercepted by the U.S. embassys C-RAM defence system. That attack came after a roadside bomb targeted an convoy of vehicles carrying equipment for Americans earlier in the day on the main highway in Babylon province, south of Baghdad.
The catastrophic wildfires in parts of the West are a product of climate change, but also decades of failure to use controlled fire to reduce fuel load.

Why it matters: Warming temperatures in the years ahead will only intensify the climatic conditions that can lead to massive wildfires. That puts more pressure to scale up land management techniques that can clear overgrown forests before they ignite.

Driving the news: On a short trip to California on Monday to discuss the wildfires that are already the most extensive in the state's history, President Trump downplayed the connection to climate change and focused on forest management practices that he said had left too much fuel to burn.

Reality check: Scientists have no doubt that major factors in the wildfires are unusually high temperatures and dry weather that can be traced back to climate change.

Scientists have no doubt that major factors in the wildfires are unusually high temperatures and dry weather that can be traced back to climate change. "What we're seeing this year is more in line with what our climate models suggested wouldn't happen until the middle of the century," says Matthew Hurteau, an ecologist at the University of New Mexico.

But, but, but: Trump does have a point  shared by most wildfire experts  that how we've managed forests in the West also plays a role in the size of the infernos.

Forests are more dense today, and as warmer, drier air evaporates water that would otherwise be available to vegetation, forests are also drier.

"The truth is, it's both climate change and fuels management that are overlapping and coming together in a really unfortunate way," says Lenya Quinn-Davidson, director of the Northern California Prescribed Fire Council.

By the numbers: The amount of prescribed burning  purposefully setting controlled fires to clear forest  in the West remained stable or even decreased between 1998 and 2018.

According to a 2020 paper co-authored by Rebecca Miller of Stanford University, up to half of the acreage planned for prescribed burning in California is not actually burned, likely as a result of budgets, cultural preferences and opposition by some landowners.

In the same paper, Miller estimated that 20 million acres of California's forest land  nearly a fifth of the state's total territory  would benefit from fuel treatment, including prescribed burning. Yet just 125,000 acres of wildlands are treated each year in California with prescribed burns.

"We are definitely in the hole," says Miller.

What to watch: Whether the catastrophic fires of 2020 finally alter the practices of wildfire suppression.

In her paper, Miller found bad wildfire years tended to be followed by more legislative bills advocating prescribed burns.

In 2018, California passed new laws designed to speed more prescribed burning, and state lawmakers have committed more than $200 million to fire prevention efforts.

"I think that there's a mindset that needs to change among the public in accepting that these are not lush green landscapes that don't experience fire."

 Matthew Hurteau

Background: Many of the forests in the West, especially around the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, had adapted to burn regularly.

Studies indicate as many as 11.8 million acres of forest burned annually in pre-European settlement times, in part because Native Americans regularly made use of what are now known as prescribed burns.

But that shifted in the 20th century, when a culture of absolute fire suppression was exported to the U.S. from Germany, where temperate forests are less dependent on regular fire.

In 2018, the U.S. Forest Service spent nearly half its budget on wildfire management, with much of that going to fire suppression, while California has budgeted $1.8 billion for wildfire suppression, significantly more than goes to prevention.

At the same time, development has grown in fire-vulnerable areas, with 25 million more people living in wildland-urban interface zones around the country in 2010 than in 1990.

More people means more pressure to suppress wildfires early and often to protect homes, and more barriers to the kind of regular prescribed burning that many parts of California needs, says Timothy Ingalsbee, the executive director of Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology.

The big picture: Even if the U.S. embarks on far more aggressive climate action, the dice will be loaded for powerful fires years into the future. That means we'll also need aggressive adaptation on the ground and be willing to accept a different western landscape.

"We have to realize and accept [no matter] how much we throw at this problem, it is still going to take decades to solve and mitigate some of the hazard from these fires. It took us over 100 years to get into this predicament."

 Matthew Hurteau
New York  New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday that he and about 500 other city employees will take one-week, unpaid furloughs from their jobs in the coming months as the city grapples with a financial crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The furloughs, which would start in October, will be a largely symbolic move, saving only around $860,000 in the face of a projected $9 billion budget shortfall. But the Democractic mayor said they will still send a message that sacrifice is needed.

This is a painful step, but it shows just how committed we are to responsible budgeting and leading the City through these challenging times, de Blasio said.

De Blasio has been hoping for more aid from a federal stimulus bill and has been lobbying for state lawmakers in Albany to grant the city the authority to borrow up to $5 billion to prevent layoffs of as many as 22,000 city employees.

Todays announcement makes it clear we need Albany to step up, too, de Blasio said. We need our partners in the state government to give New York City long-term borrowing authority.

The mayor said he will work during his furlough but other city employees are not expected to do the same.

Here are other developments related to the coronavirus in New York:

___

INSURANCE ENROLLMENT PERIOD EXTENDED

Uninsured New Yorkers are now getting more time to apply for health insurance coverage in light of the pandemic.

A special enrollment period for people buying coverage through New Yorks health insurance marketplace or directly through insurers will run through Dec. 31, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday.

New York state health officials and insurers say theyre offering the special enrollment period so people dont avoid seeking testing or medical care because of lack of health insurance coverage.

Typically, people who lose workplace insurance have 60 days from when their coverage ended to apply for insurance on their states marketplace.

The state received over 3.6 million claims for unemployment assistance from mid-March through Sept. 5, up from roughly 385,000 in that period last year.

___

FEDERAL AID

New York City would have received hundreds of millions of dollars more in federal emergency virus aid if Congress had distributed funding based on need instead of population, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said in a report released Wednesday.

The report looked at communities that had the highest share of confirmed COVID-19 cases by late August, and compared their share of $27.6 billion in federal aid to the aid that went to places with fewer cases of the virus.

The report comes as New York officials keep pushing for another round of pandemic aid from Congress.

The way the formula was set up did not maximize what kind of help we could have gotten from Washington, given how hard-hit we were in the state, DiNapoli said in an interview Monday.

His report is in line with an AP analysis finding some states with small populations took an outsize share of federal virus funds.
Nairobi  The Standing Committee on Health and the Ad Hoc Committee on COVID-19 which are jointly investigating the alleged mismanagement of funds at the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) were set to resume their joint sittings on Tuesday.

The joint committee is expected to hold virtual meetings with Auditor General Nancy Gathungu, the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority, the Pharmacy and Poisons Board and the Kenya Bureau of Standards.

Committee co-chairs, Nominated Senator Sylvia Kasanga and Trans-Nzoia Senator Micheal Mbitho, said investigations conducted by the Senators will establish if the KEMSA management plundered public resources in sourcing for expensive equipment at a time when the country was tackling the pandemic.

KEMSA has been on the spotlight after it emerged that its officials dished out tenders to mysterious entities under the cover of the COVID-19 pandemic supplies procurement.

This came hot on the heels of an audit that exposed procurement and financial irregularities that put at risk more than Sh100billion of both donor funds and taxpayers' money.
DENVER, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Lumen Technologies (NYSE: CTL) announced today that Qwest Corporation, its indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary ("Qwest"), completed its previously-announced partial redemption of $250 million aggregate principal amount of its 6.625% Notes due 2055 (the "Qwest Notes") on Sept. 15, 2020.

Additional information regarding the redemption of the Qwest Notes is available from U.S. Bank National Association.

About Lumen Technologies

Lumen is guided by our belief that humanity is at its best when technology advances the way we live and work. With 450,000 route fiber miles serving customers in more than 60 countries, we deliver the fastest, most secure global platform for applications and data to help businesses, government and communities deliver amazing experiences.

Learn more about Lumen's network, edge cloud, security and communication, and collaboration solutions and our purpose to further human progress through technology at news.lumen.com, LinkedIn: /lumentechnologies, Twitter: @lumentechco, Facebook: /lumentechnologies, Instagram: @lumentechnologies and YouTube: /lumentechnologies. Lumen and Lumen Technologies are registered trademarks of Lumen Technologies LLC in the United States. Lumen Technologies LLC is a wholly-owned affiliate of CenturyLink Inc.

* The Lumen brand was launched on Sept. 14, 2020. As a result, CenturyLink Inc. is referred to as Lumen Technologies, or simply Lumen. The legal name CenturyLink Inc. is expected to be formally changed to Lumen Technologies Inc. upon the completion of all applicable requirements.

Forward-Looking Statements

Except for historical and factual information, the matters set forth in this release and other of our oral or written statements identified by words such as "estimates," "expects," "anticipates," "believes," "plans," "intends," and similar expressions are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results and are based on current expectations only, are inherently speculative, and are subject to a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control. Actual events and results may differ materially from those anticipated, estimated, projected or implied by us in those statements if one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or if underlying assumptions prove incorrect. You are cautioned not to unduly rely upon our forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements for any reason, whether as a result of new information, future events or developments, changed circumstances, or otherwise. We may change our intentions, strategies or plans (including our plans expressed herein) without notice at any time and for any reason.

SOURCE Lumen Technologies

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HONG KONG: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and China Mobile Communications Group Co Ltd are considering investing 3 billion yuan ($443 million) in Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co Ltd, three people with knowledge of the matter said.

Dahua, Chinas second-largest surveillance equipment maker, is among Chinese tech firms that Washington last year placed on a blacklist of companies it said helped Beijing monitor and detain Uighurs and other Muslim minorities. Those blacklisted cannot buy U.S. technology without U.S. government approval.

E-commerce leader Alibaba and top telecommunications group China Mobile plan to jointly invest in Shenzhen-listed Dahua - which has a market capitalisation of $10.3 billion - via a private share placement in coming weeks, the people said.

China Mobile is also negotiating a three-year business agreement with Dahua worth 40 billion yuan, said two of the people, who declined to be identified as the plans are private.

The agreement would give China Mobile use of Dahuas big data and cloud computing services, video surveillance equipment and Internet of Things (IoT) technology, they said.

The business agreement and investment plan are reported here for the first time. Neither China Mobile nor Alibaba responded to requests for comment. Dahua said it did not have any information on the matter.

SMART CITY DEMAND

The deals would come as the government builds over 500 smart cities featuring the worlds most sophisticated surveillance technology networks, with millions of cameras in public places and increased use of techniques such as facial recognition to manage issues as varied as traffic and public health.

The initiative could be a boon for Hangzhou-based Dahua and rival Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co Ltd, with products such as video surveillance, access control and remote image monitoring systems.

Chinas smart city market is likely to be worth 25 trillion yuan by 2022 from 7.9 trillion yuan in 2018, showed July data from researcher Qianzhan. The COVID-19 pandemic has added to prospects with demand surging globally for thermal cameras.

Amazon.com Inc bought 1,500 cameras from Dahua - which is present in over 50 countries - in a near $10 million deal to take workers temperatures, Reuters reported in April.

Dahua chairman Fu Liquan is the surveillance firms single largest shareholder with a 34% stake, with minority shareholders including state-owned Central Huijin Asset Management, showed the companys 2020 first-half earnings report.

($1 = 6.7721 Chinese yuan renminbi)
Lome, Togo (PANA)  The Togolese parliament on Tuesday again gave the government the green light to extend the state of health emergency in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic by another six months
Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday will make a statement on the India-China border issue in the Rajya Sabha.

On Tuesday, the defence minister spoke in the Lok Sabha where he said that any serious situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh is bound to impact the bilateral relations between India and China.

Also Read | China again engages in blame game against India on border tensions

The amassing of the troops by China goes against our 1993 and 1996 agreements. Respecting and strictly observing the Line of Actual Control is the basis for peace and tranquillity in the border areas and explicitly recognised in both agreements. While our armed forces abide scrupulously by it, this has not been reciprocated by the Chinese side... In the recent incidents, this year, the violent conduct of Chinese forces has been in complete violation of all mutually agreed norms, Singh said in the Lok Sabha.

Singhs statement in the Lok Sabha triggered reactions from China. China claimed on Wednesday that it has been honouring agreements signed with India and is committed to maintaining peace in border areas.

For the Chinese side, we have been honouring the agreements signed between China and India. We are committed to peace and stability in the border area, foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said when asked to comment on Singhs statement.
LIMERICK businesses have recived some clarity of the new Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) which came into effect on September 1.

Aileen Downes, Tax Director at EY Limerick addressed local businesses via a virtual event in partnership with the Limerick Chamber.

The event aimed to give clarity to businesses in Limerick on whether they were eligible for the new scheme as well as insights on how best to approach Revenues queries and how to close out of the original temporary wage subsidy scheme.

Local businesses were urged to look at their situation anew in relation to the EWSS, regardless of whether they qualified for the TWSS or not.

An eligible employer is one that will see a 30% downturn on turnover or customer orders due to Covid-19 in the second half of 2020 (July 1 to December 31). If a business sits within that bracket they are encouraged to register for the scheme.

For a business with 50 employees on the average industrial wage the scheme could be worth up to 300,000.

The registration is straightforward and can be done on ROS. The one thing businesses will require is tax clearance. Most employers have that anyway, but if you dont, apply for tax clearance, citing the EWSS as your reason, explained Aileen.

While there may be some initial confusion between the two schemes, Aileen says the new EWSS scheme is much easier to administer for businesses compared to the previous scheme which was introduced in March,

This is the payment of a subsidy, directly to an employer, for the employer to keep, rather than a subsidy, paid to an employer, to be passed onto the employee. The upshot for employers is that they no longer need to have a payment going through the employees payroll with the angst associated with tax bills building up for employees, or indeed employees not getting mortgages as a result of being on the wage subsidy, she said.

Businesses can easily assess for which employees they can claim for on the scheme as well; a qualifying employee is effectively anyone who is on the payroll in real time, or, if a family member or a proprietary director, was on the payroll anytime up to 30 June 2020.

Given the uncertain nature of todays environment businesses are advised to ensure they regularly check their positions in relation to the scheme.

An employer must look at their position at the end of every month and see where they are at. If they are still on track to be greater than 30% down, they can continue to claim for the following month. If they are not, they must de-register from the scheme from the 1st of the following month, said Aileen.

For more Limerick news click here
Mexicans celebrated their Independence Day without big public ceremonies for the first time in 153 years on Tuesday due to restrictions on public gatherings caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Each year, the president rings the bell that marked the call to arms during the 1810-1821 struggle to win independence from Spain, and reenacts the Cry of Dolores, shouting Viva Mexico!

That cry or grito, gives the ceremony its name. Independence Day is formally September 16, but has been celebrated the night before for over a century.

The event has not been cancelled since 1847, during the Mexican-American War, when US troops occupied Mexico City.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador performed the grito, but only in front of a select number of invited guests.

Lopez Obrador usually has no problem with crowds and dislikes wearing face masks, but with over 668,000 coronavirus cases and almost 71,000 deaths, the fourth-highest number in the world, the president apparently thought twice about packing the usual 100,000 rowdy revellers into Mexico Citys main square, known as the Zocalo.

It is a ceremony that you can watch on television, Lopez Obrador said on Tuesday. We can all participate from our homes.

We will remember the dead and their families, he said, adding, We are going to light a torch in the Zocalo, a torch of hope.

Security has been so tight in the main plaza, where soldiers were dispatched to provide security and prevent gatherings, that it sparked a warning by church authorities that troops had taken over the area around the Roman Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral, which sits on the northern edge of the plaza. The Archdiocese later clarified that it had been a misinterpretation, and that worshippers would be allowed access to the cathedral.

The pain has not been felt only in Mexico City. Enrique Alfaro, the governor of Jalisco, the state famed for tequila and mariachis, had to cancel a decades-old September 14 parade of charros, or Mexican cowboys, and said Independence Day will be without gatherings or mass events, to keep us safe from COVID-19.

Alejandro Murat, the governor of the Mexican state of Oaxaca, known for its cuisine and handicrafts, said the most patriotic thing people could do is to stay home and wear face masks. Murat wrote that it is important to care for our health and everybody elses, and that is an excellent way to demonstrate our love for Mexico.

Michoacan Governor Silvano Aureoles, who himself is recovering from COVID-19, wrote that this year we will celebrate our countrys liberty in a different way, to care for your health, that of your family and everybody elses.
U.S. drug developer Novavax Inc said on Tuesday it was doubling its potential Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing capacity to two billion doses annually under an agreement with Serum Institute of India, sending its shares up about 7%.

In August, Novavax signed a deal with Serum Institute, the worlds largest producer of vaccines, to produce a minimum of one billion doses of its vaccine candidate, when approved, for low- and middle-income countries and India.

As part of the expanded agreement, Serum Institute will also manufacture the antigen component of the vaccine, dubbed NVXCoV2373, which Novavax said will bring its manufacturing capacity to over two billion doses by mid-2021.

Novavaxs vaccine is currently in mid-stage trials after an early-stage study showed it produced high levels of antibodies against the novel coronavirus. The company plans to begin late-stage trials in the third quarter.

Last month, Novavax said it will supply 60 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine candidate to the UK beginning as early as the first quarter of 2021.

The company is also preparing to deliver 100 million doses to the United States by January after it was awarded $1.6 billion for its potential vaccine, and has also signed supply agreements with Canada and Japan.

Other drugmakers such as Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc have already begun large late-stage studies of their experimental vaccines.
Raymond Mitchell, 73, of Detroit in recent years reunited and married the love of his life. But the couple both tested positive for COVID-19 and were hospitalized for weeks. His wife got better after being in the hospital for 23 days and eventually tested negative for COVID-19, but Raymond did not recover. He passed away March 30 at Sinai-Grace Hospital in Detroit.

Born in Alabama, Mitchell overcame challenges at a young age that many would have never survived. He witnessed the death of his father from a brain aneurysm right before his eyes and then suffered the loss of his mother. With no parents to raise him, he was forced to quit school and took on the responsibilities of caring for his siblings and tending to the family.

After being run over by a tractor, Mitchell was told that he would never walk again. Despite all the pain, he broke free of his then full body cast and made strides every day by taking two steps at a time until he taught himself how to walk again.

Mitchell persevered and moved to Detroit in 1965. There, he took up a career in truck driving. After 45 years of truck driving and as a member of the Teamsters, he retired and planned to live out life doing what he enjoyed best, which was being with his family. He had a genuine heart, always willing to lend a helping hand to those in need, oftentimes neglecting his own needs, his family members have said.

At the age of 70, he reunited with the love of his life, Betty, after 42 years. They originally dated in the early 70s, but decided to go their separate ways back then. They had been married for three years and eight months before his death.

Betty and Raymond both tested positive for COVID-19 and were both in Providence Hospital for six days before being released and going home, according to his wife, who said, before the day was over they both ended up in the emergency room at Sinai-Grace Hospital. All together he was in the hospital for like 10 days, and I was in there 23 days. The second time they tested me I was negative, she said.

Raymond was funny, his wife said, he loved to laugh and joke, and told the most unforgettable stories. He was a kind-hearted man who enjoyed watching the news, doing yard-work and whatever needed to be done. He always dressed in jeans and a shirt because he said that for whatever work had to be done that day he would be ready for it, she said.

He could cook anything you want, his wife said, He always loved some pound cake with his fried chicken. He was an excellent cook.

Raymond in addition to his wife, left behind five children, Raymond Jr., Elijah, Nicholas, Michele and Nicole, and a host of grandchildren, nieces and nephews.

He was a wonderful guy, his wife said. We had plans coming up for our future.

The inability to hold his hand in his final moments  or say good-bye  has left a sting in the hearts of those who loved Raymond Mitchell dearly.

If you have a family member or close friend who has died from COVID-19 and you would like to share their story, please visit our memorial wall and select Share a story.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Raymond Mitchell reunited with the love of his life before he died of COVID-19



2020 the Detroit Free Press

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Boonville, N.Y.  Troopers are seeking witnesses to a fatal head-on, two-car crash in Oneida County.

The New York State Police are also looking for information about a third vehicle that may have been driving recklessly Saturday evening at the time of  and near the scene of  the deadly crash.

The accident happened around 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Boonville.

Rakwan D. Marshall, 22, of Liverpool, was headed south on State Route 12 when he drove his 2020 Mercedes into the southbound lane to pass a vehicle, troopers said. When he switched lanes, Marshalls car crashed head-on into an oncoming 2010 Chrysler Sebring, troopers said.

Cary A. Croniser, 42, of Boonville  a passenger in the Sebring  was pronounced dead at the scene.

READ MORE: State police: Liverpool man involved in fatal crash in Boonville

Sarah J. Stinebrickner, 38, of Boonville, was the driver of the Sebring. She was critically injured in the crash, troopers said, and was taken to St. Elizabeths Hospital in Utica.

Marshall, the driver of the Mercedes, was transported to St. Elizabeths with serious injuries, troopers said. A 19-year-old woman who was riding in his car was also seriously injured and taken to the Utica hospital for treatment, troopers said.

Troopers are seeking information about a third vehicle that was not directly involved in the crash, said Trooper Jack Keller, state police spokesman. The vehicle, a dark-colored SUV, may have been driving recklessly around 7:30 p.m. Saturday on State Route 12 in Boonsville, troopers said.

Troopers asked anyone who witnessed the crash or spotted an SUV driving recklessly in the area to call (315) 366-6000.

Staff writer Samantha House covers breaking news, crime and public safety. Have a tip, a story idea, a question or a comment? Reach her at shouse@syracuse.com.
Bahri, a global leader in logistics and transportation, delivered exceptional growth in earnings and profitability in the first and second quarters of 2020.

The companys second quarter results were the highest ever in its history. Net profit surged 1,569% to reach SR760.61 million ($202.88 million), compared to SR45.57 million reported in the same period in 2019.

Total revenue came in at SR3.53 billion, jumping 145% from SR 1.44 billion. As for the half-yearly performance, Bahri reported a 425% increase in net profit and a 78% rise in revenues.

Besides announcing the results, Bahri also hosted its annual Investor Day for its major institutional shareholders.

Bahris CEO, Eng Abdullah Aldubaikhi, highlighted the companys key achievements since January 2020, including the establishment of the National Grain Company as a joint venture between Bahri and SALIC, a $410-million agreement with Hyundai Mipo Dockyard to build ten Medium Range chemical tankers, and the delivery of two newbuild dry-bulk carriers, Sara and Alanood, taking the total tally of Bahris wide-ranging vessels to 88.

The shareholders representatives also contributed to the discussion by sharing their expertise and views with the Bahri team.

Aldubaikhi said: Events such as this not only deepen our relationship, but also help exchange ideas to further expand our market reach and enhance our offerings so that we can deliver greater value and higher returns to our customers. It has been an eventful journey for us at Bahri over the past few months. Despite the many and varied challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, we sustained our operations and continued to serve our customers around the world.

Aldubaikhi further outlined Bahris commitment to giving back with a cooperation agreement with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development to raise awareness of the importance of CSR, boost partnership between the public and private sectors, and further bolster national initiatives aimed at the empowerment of women.

In addition, Fayez Al Asmari, Bahris Chief Financial Officer, presented the companys future strategy, current and proposed business units, and key financial figures.-- Tradearabia News Service
MYTILENE, Greece - Four Afghan migrants were formally charged with arson Wednesday for their alleged involvement in fires that destroyed most of a large refugee camp on Greeces eastern island of Lesbos, authorities said.

The men, who have not been named, were led to a court on the island and later returned to police detention after being given three days to prepare their testimony.

The fires swept through the overcrowded camp at Moria on two nights last week, prompting more than 12,000 migrants and refugees to flee. Nobody was hurt. Most of them remain without shelter, camped on a roadside near the gutted camp.

Two other migrants allegedly involved in setting the fires are minors who are being held by police on the Greek mainland but have not been formally charged. They were among around 400 unaccompanied minors from Moria who were flown to the mainland after the fires.

The Greek government maintains that the fires at Moria were set deliberately by migrants protesting confinement after the site was locked down due to an outbreak of COVID-19.

Athens on Tuesday urged the European Union to jointly run new refugee camps on Greeces eastern islands as part of an overhaul of the EUs migration policies.

The images of the Moria camp are a painful reminder of the need for Europe to come together, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday during her state of the union address.

Everybody has to step up here and take responsibility  and the commission will do just that, von der Leyen told lawmakers at the European Parliament, adding that the commission was working on a plan for a new camp on the island.

But I want to be clear: if we step up, then I expect all (EU) member states to step up, too. Migration is a European challenge ,and all of Europe must do its part, she said.

Greek army personnel have been building a new camp on the island, using tents for emergency housing for asylum-seekers left homeless by the fire. But many are reluctant to go to a new facility they fear could end up like the squalid Moria camp.

The U.N. refugee agencys representative in Greece, Philippe Leclerc, said about 1,100 people, mostly those considered vulnerable, had been housed at the new site by Wednesday afternoon, but that up to 8,000 could be accommodated. Leclerc encouraged more of the Moria camps former residents to move there.

Greek officials have said they could forcibly remove people from the road near the burned-out camp where they have been sleeping rough and take them to the camp if people refuse to go.

Leclerc noted that relocation to other European countries would only be for a limited number of persons, in particular the unaccompanied children and some more vulnerable individuals.

Several European countries have pledged to take in some of the unaccompanied minors who were staying in Moria.

We asked for the support of other European countries to continue assisting Greece, which is hosting...more than 100,000 asylum-seekers and refugees, Leclerc said.

He stressed violence was not a solution for migrants and refugees to get off the island.

Despair is understandable, but it cannot justify the violence, Leclerc said. Violence...and burning will not provide any solution. We need (a) peaceful, orderly way of getting people out of Lesbos gradually. And this is what we are supporting,.

___

Gatopoulos reported from Athens

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Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has accused the West of attempting "to destroy our country" by ignoring the results of last month's election, an accusation opposition leaders rejected, saying the authoritarian leader himself is to blame for current protests sparked by his falsifying of the balloting after nearly three decades of rule.

Thousands of people have been detained and beaten by police while nearly all the opposition's key leaders have been forced to leave the country or been arrested over their demonstrations against the election results, which gave Lukashenka just over 80 percent of the vote.

Opposition leaders have accused the authoritarian leader of vote rigging, which he denies.

In a speech to senior officials and state-run media outlets on September 16, Lukashenka said that the ongoing protests questioning his victory in the August 9 vote were organized by the United States and "its satellites -- Poland, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, and unfortunately, Ukraine," who tried to organize a so-called "color revolution" with the goal of "violating our sovereignty and even our territorial integrity."

"We did not allow their plans to come true and we will not allow that," Lukashenka said.

Crisis In Belarus Read our ongoing coverage as Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka continues his brutal crackdown on NGOs, activists, and independent media following the August 2020 presidential election, widely seen as fraudulent.

Thousands of people have been detained and beaten by police while nearly all the opposition's key leaders have been forced to leave the country or been arrested over their demonstrations against the election result, which gave Lukashenka just over 80 percent of the vote.

Opposition leaders have accused the authoritarian leader of vote-rigging, which he denies.

His main challenger in the election, Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, dismissed his comments as an attempt to divert public attention from rigging the vote and the violent crackdown on protests.

There is just one reason behind the protests in Belarus and it's known to everyone: Lukashenka has lost the vote, but he doesnt want to step down, Tsikhanouskaya was quoted by the Associated Press as saying in a written comment to the news agency.

People have denied Lukashenka their trust and support and demand that he leave, she added.

Lukashenka has led a crackdown on protests, strikes, and the media since the election, drawing condemnation from human rights groups, media freedom watchdogs, and the international community.

The United States and the European Union have rejected the poll as neither free nor fair, and urged Lukashenka to open talks with the opposition, which he has refused, saying on September 16 that "we held the presidential election and got the result, period" and that the next presidential election will be held only after a new constitution is adopted.

"It is time now to give a new momentum to the social and political life. It is important to form a single opinion on what our country, its state system, will be," he said, adding that the current electoral laws have flaws that are being used by what he called "sham candidates and their representatives" -- a reference to Tsikhanouskaya and her associates, who say that she, in fact, won the election.



Lukashenka's claims of Western interference were echoed by Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service chief, Sergei Naryshkin, who claimed in a statement carried by Russian news agencies on September 16 that Washington has funded the Belarusian opposition and encouraged the protests.

Naryshkin, in an apparent attempt to delegitimize the Belarusian protests, added that his agency has information that the United States is playing a key role in the current developments in Belarus.

He alleged that Washington has earmarked tens of millions of dollars to finance Belarus' opposition groups, but provided no evidence.

The U.S. Embassy in Minsk had no immediate comment.

Tsikhanouskaya rejected Naryshkin's statement.

It's an internal political crisis, and the protesters' demands contain nothing regarding relations with other countries or a shift in Belarus's foreign policy course, she said in written remarks to AP. Mr. Naryshkin should better understand that instead of airing dated propaganda cliches.

With reporting by BelTA and AP
They will replace justices controversially ousted as a result of amendments to the Armenian constitution enacted in June. The amendments also required Hrayr Tovmasian to quit as court chairman but remain a judge.

Tovmasian and the ousted judges refused to step down, saying that their removal is illegal and politically motivated. They appealed to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to have them reinstated.

In line with the constitution, Pashinians government, President Armen Sarkissian and a national convention of Armenian judges each nominated last month a candidate to fill one of the disputed vacancies.

The governments pick for the court was Edgar Shatirian, a 40-year-old law lecturer, while Sarkissian nominated Artur Vagharshian, a chair of jurisprudence at Yerevan State University. The judges nominee, Yervand Khundkarian, has headed the Court of Cassation, Armenias highest body of criminal and administrative justice, for the last two years.

The National Assembly controlled by Pashinians My Step bloc voted to appoint them on Tuesday amid strong criticism voiced by several Armenian civic groups. The latter claimed that the new judges were linked to the former Armenian authorities in one way or another and that their election will therefore not address what Pashinian has repeatedly described as a lack of public trust in the Constitutional Court.

Pashinian rounded on the critics during his governments question-and-answer session in the parliament, saying that they are primarily concerned with their own parochial interests, rather than the rule of law.

In any situation, there are groups, political or non-political forces that want to further their interests and agendas and to install their people, their candidates, their clients in certain positions on behalf of the public, he said.

I believe that what happened in the National Assembly was very important: it ended the crisis around the Constitutional Court, declared the prime minister. Does it mean that an ideal Constitutional Court has been formed? No, it doesnt.

Pashinian also lambasted civic activists who claim that the selection of the new high court justices contradicted the goals of the 2018 Velvet Revolution led by him. He said that they cannot act like ardent defenders of the revolutions values because they played no part in the popular uprising that brought him to power.

For more than a year, Pashinian was locked in a standoff with Tovmasian and six other Constitutional Court members installed before the revolution. He accused them of maintaining close ties to Armenias former government and impeding his judicial reforms. Tovmasian dismissed Pashinians claims and in turn accused the prime minister of seeking to take control of the countrys highest court.
That survey doesnt include all utilities in the state, or any debt incurred since July 1.

On Tuesday, the Senate advanced legislation introduced by Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, that would allow customers 12 months to pay down their debt, and would compel the SCC to issue a report to lawmakers outlining the full extent of utility debt in the state.

The Virginia Poverty Law Center, which has been working on the issue, has warned of a disconnection crisis once the current moratorium ends  whenever that happens.

At the end of the day, the moratorium will end, and we have to understand what happens next. How can people and utilities get back to normal after the moratoriums are over? said Dana Wiggins of the Virginia Poverty Law Center in an interview last month. We wanted there to be at least more wiggle room so that people who are paying their bills and trying to catch up on their debt  that their debt payments are something that they can actually pay.

Southwest Virginia
Practitioners of the spiritual discipline Falun Gong gather in front of the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles to raise awareness of the persecution of Falun Gong in China, on Sept. 13, 2020. (Jack Bradley/The Epoch Times)

Rally at LAs Chinese Consulate Calls for End to Renewed Falun Gong Persecution

LOS ANGELESPractitioners of the spiritual discipline Falun Gong and their supporters gathered in front of the Chinese Consulate on Sept. 13 to call for an end to the Chinese Communist Partys persecution of the practice, which has recently intensified.

In the first half of this year, 40 practitioners of Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, died in China due to torture and mistreatment, according to Minghui.org, a website that documents the persecution. Many succumbed to long-term abuses in prison, and many were denied needed medical treatment.

More than 5,300 practitioners were targeted in the same time period, including those arrested for their faith and those whose homes were ransacked.

Those are all innocent people, Dr. Yingnian Wu, a professor at University of CaliforniaLos Angeles and a Falun Gong practitioner, said at the rally.

So thats why weve come here: to condemn the evil crimes of the communist regime. And at the same time, we ask the U.S. government and the governments of all civilized countries to stand up against the Chinese communist regimes brutal persecution and bring those criminals to justice.

Xian Jijun attended the rally and spoke of his friend, Jiang Quande, 66, who died on Aug. 26 as a result of persecution. Jiangs wife, Sun Xiuying, was also arrested and is currently being held at a detention center in Nongan County, Jilin Province.

I was shocked and heartbroken to hear this, Xian said of Jiangs arrest and death. I once stayed together with Mr. Jiang for about half a year. He was a very kindhearted and courageous person. He worked hard and selflessly to raise public awareness about the persecution of Falun Gong.

I miss him dearly and highly respect him. I urge the Chinese authorities to release his wife and other Falun Gong practitioners.

Wang Jing, another practitioner at the rally, spoke about her husband, Ren Haifei, who has recently been persecuted in China and may be in extremely poor health.

[He] was brutally beaten after he was taken to the Ganjin street police station in Dalian City. His heart and kidneys consequently became very weak, and he was sent to the hospital for emergency treatment, Wang said.

We dont know what his condition is. Im extremely worried for his safety. I am also worried about other Falun Gong practitioners who were persecuted simply for their belief. I urge people to pay attention to this and demand that the Chinese regime release all detainees.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) recently began a zero-out campaign, in which officials go to the homes of Falun Gong practitioners and demand they sign documents renouncing the spiritual discipline. Officials threaten to arrest them if they dont, according to Minghui.

The persecution of Falun Gong began on July 20, 1999. On Oct. 7 of that year, Zhao Jinhua was beaten to death by police in Chinathe first known death in the persecution of Falun Gong.

Practitioners of the spiritual discipline Falun Gong gather in front of the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles to raise awareness of the persecution of Falun Gong in China, on Sept. 13, 2020. (Jack Bradley/The Epoch Times)

Some recent deaths that have been detailed by Minghui include those of Li Ling and Wang Fengchen.

Lis family reported that she was taken into custody by a village official and a group of paramilitary soldiers in Dazhangjia Village, Penglai City, Shandong Province, on June 28, after a neighbor told authorities she possessed Falun Gong literature.

She was allegedly taken to an empty house where she was beaten and tortured for weeks, before dying on July 13. Her family said officials forced them to cremate her remains the same day.

Wang was a middle school teacher in Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province. He was arrested on Jan. 18, 2017, for being a Falun Gong practitioner. He had almost finished serving a four-year sentence at the time of his death on Aug. 9. While he had become critically ill in prison, his familys application for medical parole, filed July 2, was reportedly rejected.

Today, we are here to protest and condemn a new round of escalated persecution of Falun Gong in mainland China, said Michael Ye, host of the rally in Los Angeles.

Ye said the Chinese regime persecutes Falun Gong because the spiritual practice advocates the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance, and [because of] its independent thinking.

We know the Chinese Communist regime has been trying to control Chinese people, including their minds, Ye told The Epoch Times.

In 1999, the CCP estimated there were 70 million to 100 million Falun Gong practitioners in China. With the number of practitioners greater than the number of CCP members at the time, then-CCP leader Jiang Zemin began a campaign to eradicate Falun Gong.

Jiang reportedly said at the time, Defame their reputations, bankrupt them financially, and destroy them physically. He wanted the practice eradicated in three months.

After 21 years, Falun Gong continues to have a strong presence in China, and the persecution continues.

If you speak out different from the government, youll be persecuted, Ye said. You may not be able to make a living, or you may even lose your life. And then outside of China, they basically try to use economic tools to try to keep every government silent. So they basically want every country to put their economic interests in front of human rights.

The CCP has also been committing a crime that has never been seen on this planetthe crime of forced organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners, Dr. Youfu Li, president of the U.S. Southwestern Falun Dafa Association, said.

The CCP is a mortal enemy that undermines the moral conscience of mankind and persecutes the traditional culture of China. We urge the U.S. government to designate the CCP as a transnational criminal organization and completely eliminate it, Li said at the rally.

We urge the U.S. government and other countries to work together to stop the CCPs persecution of Falun Gong as soon as possible, and to pass bills to penalize and impose sanctions against major perpetrators, including Jiang Zemin.

Dr. Dana Churchill, the U.S. West Coast delegate of Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting, said at the rally, The Chinese Communist Party has been found guilty of state-sanctioned forced, illegal, live organ harvesting of the Falun Gong and other religious prisoners of conscience in China for the past 20 years.

Dr. Dana Churchill, the U.S. West Coast delegate of Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting, attends a rally in Los Angeles to raise awareness of the persecution of Falun Gong in China, on Sept. 13, 2020. (Jack Bradley/The Epoch Times)

In June 2016, the U.S. House of Representatives passed its fifth resolution condemning Chinas persecution of Falun Gong, calling for an end to the regimes eradication campaign and forced organ harvesting.

We want the world to know and want other governments to know that you have to get a lot tougher on the Chinese governmenta lot tougher, Churchill told The Epoch Times.
GREENWICH  The work of contact tracing began Wednesday to determine who may have come in contact with a Greenwich High School teacher who tested positive for COVID-19, the school district confirmed.

The teacher had been self-quarantining since Friday night and has not been inside the school building this week, according to a letter sent to families and students Tuesday night from Superintendent of Schools Toni Jones and the districts Head of Nursing Mary Keller.

Greenwich Public Schools Director of Communications Sasha Houlihan said Wednesday night that classes would proceed as scheduled Thursday at Greenwich High.

Contract tracing was initiated and the minimal number of students and staff impacted were personally notified to quarantine, Houlihan said.

The district said it learned Tuesday night that the teacher had tested positive. In partnership with the town Health Department, it will begin contacting students Wednesday who may have come in contact with the teacher before they return to the school Thursday.

Wednesday is a remote learning day for all Greenwich High School students.

Although the necessary safety protocols are in place in our schools, including masks, social distancing and enhanced cleaning procedures, we may see limited incidences similar to other districts in Fairfield County and around the state, Board of Education Chair Peter Bernstein said Wednesday afternoon. We will continue to be vigilant regarding the health and safety of our students and staff and rely on the Greenwich Heath Department and Connecticut Department of Public Heath in terms of forward guidance.

Additional testing of staff will also continue to take place, Jones said in the letter.

In an effort to be proactive, GPS began optional COVID-19 testing for staff last week, the letter said. GPS tested approximately 50 GHS staff members last Friday and all results were negative. GPS will remain vigilant in keeping our families informed as guided by our local health officials.

In addition, a Greenwich High School student was sent home Tuesday after learning a family member had tested positive for COVID, the district said. The family member had been in quarantine a week before learning the results, and the student had no contact with the family member in that time period, according to the district.

Out of an abundance of caution, the student will quarantine for 14 days at home and will be tested, Jones letter said. The student has not experienced any COVID-19 symptoms.

According to the district, they will keep families and students informed if the student tests positive.

Before the start of school, the district confirmed that three staff members had tested positive for the coronavirus and that a fourth was in quarantine as a result of possible exposure. None of the staff members had been in school buildings at that point, according to the district. Greenwich Public Schools did not provide information as to where in the district the staff members were employed.

Middle school students at Greenwich Catholic School were sent into remote learning until Sept. 26 after a seventh-grader at the school tested positive for the virus, school officials there said. Schools throughout the state, including in Stamford, New Milford and Westport, have also been forced to close temporarily in the days and weeks since reopening because of coronavirus cases.

First Selectman Fred Camillo said he had been in touch with the school district and the Health Department but didnt have details on the scope of the contact tracing effort.

While Camillo said the case of COVID-19 was concerning, he cited the towns ability to thwart other recent spikes by adhering to safety guidelines as reason for cautious optimism.

Since day one, you always have to have a healthy bit of concern, Camillo said. But we have all the protocols in place and for the most part were seeing really good compliance on the part of our residents. But we knew there were going to be cases coming up.

justin.papp@scni.com; @justinjpapp1; 203-842-2586
Ive got a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel, said Blackadders sidekick Baldrick in the BBCs brilliant historical comedy series Blackadder. In fact, he said I have a cunning plan in almost every episode, but the plans hardly ever worked, and it became a popular catchphrase.

So the question in the United Kingdom today is this: if Prime Minister Boris Johnson is Blackadder, who is his Baldrick? Who actually put Johnson up to passing a new law that says Britain can unilaterally change the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement he signed with the European Union less than eight months ago?

Did he plan from the start to break the treaty? Probably not. This is Boris Johnson  well, Al Johnson, really; Boris is just his stage name  and he regards worrying about next week as long-term planning.

Johnson was well aware that the problem that brought down Theresa Mays government last year and made him prime minister was the Irish border. Peace in Northern Ireland depends on there being an open border with the Irish Republic. EU trade with the United Kingdom, post-Brexit, depends on controlling that border so that there is not a massive smuggling problem. Square that circle, if you can.

May tried to square it by agreeing that the customs border would effectively run down the middle of the Irish Sea, between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K. That way, no customs controls would be needed on the border between the two parts of Ireland.

She never got that through parliament, because so many MPs from her own Conservative Party saw it as an unacceptable breach of British sovereignty. Eventually her government fell, and Johnson won the Conservative leadership and a large majority in an election last December by promising to fix that problem and get Brexit done.

But he couldnt fix it, of course. Instead, he just accepted the same withdrawal terms as May had when the negotiating time ran out, with a few extra concessions to the EU and the border still firmly in the middle of the Irish Sea. But he went around telling everyone in the U.K. who hadnt read the text that it wasnt true.

On the strength of that victory he won a big majority in last Decembers election. How could he imagine that this would not come back to bite him?

By following standard Boris operating procedure: bluster and lie to win time, and hope something magical turns up in the end to save the day. If that doesnt happen, then stage a disguised last-minute surrender, because without a trade deal with the EU, its biggest trading partner, the U.K. is heading for a massive economic crash.

Johnson has been on course for that surrender for some time now, but a new trade deal doesnt cancel the existing Withdrawal Agreement, so the border controls will still appear in the Irish Sea next January. His instinct would be to blame it all on Johnny Foreigner and his tricky ways, and maybe he could ride out the storm.

Instead, he has announced that he is going to tear up an international treaty with the EU. This is most un-Boris-like behaviour.

We are asked to believe that Boris Johnson  BORIS JOHNSON  has belatedly realized there will be a crisis in the Irish Sea next January, and decided to push through a highly controversial law right now to give himself cover for an illegal act next year. Its so out of character that it begs the question: who put him up to it?

Not exactly Baldrick, but Johnsons senior political adviser is Dominic Cummings, whose passionate and scarcely concealed desire is to crash the United Kingdom out of the European Union with no deal at all.

The other man who truly wants that outcome is Michael Gove, the most powerful person in Johnsons cabinet, who used to be Cummingss main patron in government. Together, they have somehow talked Johnson into doing something so stupid that it may make a trade deal impossible and end his prime ministership.

They probably just told him that such a grave threat would bring the spineless foreigners to heel. The EU would let Johnson have his way, forget about putting an Irish-U.K. border anywhere (even though the Irish Republic is an EU member), and all would be well.

And the poor mug believed them.

Gwynne Dyer s new book is Growing Pains: The Future of Democracy (and Work).

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Participants of the meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group (TC) during the discussion of results of Berlin meeting of the Normandy Four advisers on Wednesday said the importance of comprehensive support for silence regime in Donbas, a source close to the talks told Interfax-Ukraine.

According to the source, the parties also said that participation of the head of the International Red Cross Mission in Ukraine Florence Gillette in the meeting of the subgroup on humanitarian issues of the TCG on September 15 opens the way for the admission of ICRC mission to the citizens of Ukraine located in the uncontrolled territories.

"The meeting participants also said the importance of attracting the special representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office in Ukraine and TCG Heidi Grau, as well as the security coordinator, Ambassador Yashar Khalit Cevik, to the meeting of advisers to Normandy format states leaders on September 11," he said.

The source also reported that the head of the Ukrainian delegation to the TCG Leonid Kravchuk said that the Ukrainian side, respecting the Normandy format and the Minsk agreements, is ready for constructive and consistent work to restore the territorial integrity of Ukraine and achieve a comprehensive peace.
FAIRFIELD  State Rep. Brian Farnen received the endorsement of the Independent Party of Connecticut as their candidate for state representative in the 132nd Assembly District.

With the endorsement, Farnen will appear on both the Republican and Independent ballot lines on Nov. 3, according to a release from Farnens reelection committee.

"I am grateful that the Independent Party recognizes my dedication to putting people and good policy over politics," said Farnen in the release. "When individuals cast their votes, I hope they know they have a representative in Hartford who puts their interests first, not party politics. People in Fairfield do not care if an idea is a Republican idea or a Democratic idea -- a good idea is a good idea.

According to paperwork submitted to the Secretary of the States office, Farnen accepted the endorsement on Aug. 29. In an email, Michael Telesca, chairman of the Independent Party of Connecticut, said while they prefer to endorse their own candidates, they do not always have one in every district.

We are faced with a use it or lose it as far as ballot access goes, Telesca said. Which means if we don't run a candidate, we lose the line and are forced to petition back on the next time around.

With that in mind, Telesca said, the party opens their ballot line to candidates from other parties looking for a cross-endorsement.

This year, we used a questionnaire to determine who is a better fit with the collected views of our party if we have more than one possible candidate, he said. We are very much a centralist party on many issues when you take in the collected views of our State Central Committee members.

The release said the Independent Party is the third largest political party in Connecticut, and has a long record of nominating fiscally responsible, socially moderate candidates from both the Republican and Democratic Party. It said the Independents also endorse candidates that do not align with either major political party.

Farnen won a special election in January to fill the seat of former State Rep. Brenda Kupchick, who encouraged him to run after being elected as Fairfields First Selectwoman. In his first term, Farnen was assigned to the Transportation, Education and Finance Revenue and Bonding committees.
MCLA offers a variety of academic Supports

Check out the trailblazer Peer Tutor Program or cruise the academic support success zone

Submit a tutorial request right from your MCLA portal. Peer led group tutorials are students helping students achieve success! Join an open tutorial by submitting a tutor request form or request a tutor for ANY course you would like additional support in!

The SUCCESS ZONE Is FULL of tips and resources that are crucial for your academic success. Available to you 24/7 online!

Do you ever feel like your study skills and habits just aren't cutting it?

Students who want to become more aware of their own study skills and learning strategies can take the Learning and Study Skills Inventory (LASSI). The LASSI is a 10-scale, 80-item online assessment of students' awareness and use of learning and study strategies. The LASSI takes about 15-20 minutes to complete and provides the student with immediate results.

Please email Cassie Rochelo for the LASSI login information to get started. Once you have completed your LASSI, please make an appointment with the Center for Student Success & Engagement @ 662-5314 to review your results and get started on your goals! Take the LASSI Now

Modern Language Placement Test

The Center for Student Success & Engagement administers the modern language placement test for students interested in placing into an upper level language course or waiving the modern language requirement as required by the college. Students must contact Donna Poulton in CSSE to request access to the placement site in Canvas. She will need your name and A #. Once the course has been added to your Canvas site, you can take the placement test in Spanish, French, or Italian. Each test consists of 50 multiple choice questions.

A score of 31 or higher will waive the modern language requirement. If you score between 0 and 15, you will be placed in the beginner (101) level of the language. If you score between 16 and 30, you will be placed in the second half (102) of the beginner level. Please email Donna once you have completed the test so she can check the score. The college allows two attempts for placement; please also contact Donna if you wish to have the test reset for a second attempt.

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We are available to meet with students or answer any questions via email, phone or virtually through Microsoft Teams. Schedule an appointment with Cassie Rochelo, Academic Support Coordinator here.

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Shakespeare's Birthplace. The Trust has been awarded 3million. Photo: Mark Williamson

TODAY, 16th September, marks the anniversary the day Shakespeare's Birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon, the first building in Britain to be officially preserved, was bought by what is now the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

When the property was put on the market in 1846 American showman B T Barnum originally proposed buying the building and shipping it over to his homeland "brick-by-brick".

Charles Dickens who helped purchase Shakespeare's Birthplace back in 1847

To save it for the nation the Shakespeare Birthplace Committee, supported by such luminaries as writer Charles Dickens, raised 3,000 to buy the house in Henley Street a year later.Incorporated by a private Act of Parliament, the Birthday Committee became the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.
Major insurers vow not to deny claims or charge an excess to people unable to visit holiday homes due to COVID-19 restrictions, despite extended vacancy being a common exclusion clause in home and contents policies.

Melburnians have been told not to visit second properties in regional Victoria since stay-at-home orders came into effect in July, prompting concern properties may be left uninsured on the eve of bushfire season.

A firefighting helicopter tackling a bushfire near Bairnsdale in Victoria's East Gippsland. Credit:Victorian government/AAP

Most insurers have a clause in their product disclosure statements excluding cover for homes that are unoccupied for a certain period of time, usually 60 days.

Insurers that do allow a claim typically must be informed in writing beforehand, with some then charging an excess or higher premium.
LOWER TOWNSHIP  A township man on Wednesday was charged after firing a handgun in his Jersey Shore Motel apartment in the Villas section of the township.

Officers were dispatched to the motel at 10:40 a.m. for a report of a gunshot possibly being fired from one apartment through another and into an outside wall, police said in a news release. Witnesses pointed out a hole in the outside wall consistent with a bullet hole, and the officers secured the scene and evacuated several people from the motel. The apartment where the bullet originated was secured with no one inside.

Detectives contacted the resident of the apartment, 23-year-old Brian Britton Jr., at his job. Britton went to police headquarters to give a statement regarding the incident and admitted to firing a weapon through the wall prior to leaving for work, police said.

Authorities obtained search warrants for the apartment and a lock box that was recovered during the investigation. Several items were seized, including suspected marijuana, MDMA and LSD tabs. Inside the lock box were a 9 mm Ruger handgun, 9 mm handgun ammunition, U.S. currency, mushrooms and marijuana, police said.

Lower Township police cancel National Night Out event The Lower Township Police Department is following the recommendations of the national organi
Additionally, two elements of Egyptian cultural heritage  stick dancing and hand puppets  have been added to the UNESCO Urgent Safeguarding List

Egyptian Minister of Culture Ines Abdel-Dayem received on Tuesday the certificate confirming the official registration of the file "The Palm: Knowledge, Skills, Traditions, Practices" on the Representative List of Human Heritage at UNESCO.

Abdel-Dayem expressed pride at registering historical elements of Egypt's intangible heritage on the UNESCO Urgent Safeguarding List and announced the establishment of a central unit for safeguarding intangible heritage in line with the 2003 UNESCO Convention.

Egypt participated in submitting the file of The Palm to the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in its 14th session held in Bogota, Colombia.

"The registration of the Palm file on the Representative List of Human Heritage at UNESCO has been enforced upon an initiative proposed by a number of Arab countries, namely Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the Sultanate of Oman, Iraq, Yemen, Palestine, Jordan, Sudan, Tunisia, Morocco and Mauritania," said Abdel-Dayem.

Representatives of ALESCO (the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organisation) attended an expanded forum held in January 2019 in Luxor to discuss the file, in addition to several meetings held in Khartoum, Tunisia and Abu Dhabi during which the procedures for putting the file forward were completed. Afterwards, the United Arab Emirates coordinated submitting the file.

Abdel-Dayem assured the continuation of efforts to preserve cultural heritage wealth that characterise Arabic communities, announcing the registration of two historical elements belonging to Egypt's intangible heritage: the Tahteeb (Stick Dancing) and the Aragoz doll (traditional hand puppetry).

Abdel-Dayem presided over the organisational meeting of the Supreme Committee For Intangible Cultural Heritage, setting up general frameworks for its work to implement a national strategy on intangible heritage following four steps: collection, documentation, preservation and maximising benefits.

"The wealth of Egyptian intangible heritage proves its leadership and forms an important part of its unique identity, Abdel-Dayem said.

Abdel-Dayem clarified that the committee works to implement a clear strategy to unite efforts and coordinate between governmental organisations and civil society institutions to protect and safeguard intangible heritage.

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Biden Transition Team Suggests Balancing Act Between Centrists, Far Left

Joe Bidens transition team and its newly expanded 15-person advisory board are filled with Obama administration alumni. His former rivals also have roles of influence. The policy positions of these people may give some insight into the Democratic presidential nominees plans.

A look into the backgrounds of the people shows that Biden has assembled a mix of liberal and moderate members. Some of the people Biden has promised to give Cabinet positions to, such as former Texas congressman Beto ORourke, have had more radical policy stances.

Transition teams help to lay the groundwork of a nominees potential future platform by building policy agendas, researching information about federal agencies, vetting possible future political appointees, and developing a management agenda, according to the Center for Presidential Transition.

Jeffrey Zients, a key economic adviser to President Barack Obama, was recently added as one of the co-chairs of the transition team. Nearly eight in 10 registered voters say the economy will be a very important factor in who they would vote for.

Zients, who served as director of the National Economic Council and assistant to the president for economic policy under Obama, was recently targeted by progressives and Wall-Street critics for having too many corporate ties. His record, which includes credit for saving Obamas controversial health care website, also includes him pushing tax breaks for the poor. A Biden spokesperson emphasized to Bloomberg Zientss expertise in management.

Another new co-chair added to the transition team is Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.). Richmond is a member of the New Democrat Coalition, a congressional caucus filled with centrist Democrats that its website says are committed to pro-economic growth, pro-innovation, and fiscally responsible policies.

Richmond also serves as the national co-chairman of the Biden campaign. In an interview with The New York Times, he said people put too much emphasis on getting millionaires to improve everybodys else life, instead of talking to that regular mom that is struggling.

The transition team also includes Julie Siegel, who was senior counsel for economic policy for Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). Siegel has endorsed Warrens so-called wealth tax and also backed [progressives] plan to take on private equity and #StopWallStreetLooting, according to The Investigative Research Center.

Anita Dunn, recently added as co-chair of the transition team, meanwhile has made controversial comments in the past. Dunn, who is a senior adviser to the Biden campaign, referred in 2009 to Chinese communist dictator Mao Zedong as one of her favorite political philosophers. Dunn has said her comment was meant to be ironic.

Former U.S. senator for Delaware Ted Kaufman, who is head of the transition team, told The Wall Street Journal in August, When you see what Trumps done to the deficit  forget about COVID-19, all the deficits that he built with the incredible tax cuts. So were going to be limited.

Kaufman also has progressive support. Jeff Hauser, an executive director at the Revolving Door Project, a liberal group, said on Twitter that Kaufman has an excellent reputation as a committed opponent of Wall Street banksters and financial fraudsters more generally from his two years in the Senate.

One member of the advisory board is Felicia Wong, president of the Roosevelt Institute, a New York-based think tank that says it promotes a bold economic and political vision capable of bringing the ideals of Franklin and Eleanor into the 21st century. Former President Franklin D. Roosevelt has left a legacy of big government.

Wong is also the co-author of The Hidden Rules of Race: Barriers to an Inclusive Economy.

One study found that Bidens tax and spending policies over the next decade would add nearly $2 trillion to the federal deficit, according to the Penn Wharton Budget Model, a research project of the University of Pennsylvania.

On gun control, the former vice president has previously promised to give ORourke a leading position in his administration, although the exact position has yet to be specified.

I want to make something clear, Im going to guarantee you this is not the last youve seen of him, Biden said during a rally in March when ORourke officially endorsed him after dropping out of the race. Youre going to take care of the gun problem with me. Youre going to be the one who leads this effort.

ORourke has endorsed confiscating guns, though he has also said that such a plan wouldnt require police officers going door to door. He also backed a controversial mandatory gun buyback program last year. ORourkes policy plans on gun control went further than those of his opponents.

Were going to take your AR-15, your AK-47, ORourke said during the third Democratic primary debate last year. Were not going to allow it to be used against our fellow Americans anymore.

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who was added as co-chair to the transition team, served as secretary of health of New Mexico from 2004 to 2007 and had been added on a shortlist for Bidens vice presidential pick.

Pete Buttigieg, former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and himself a former presidential candidate, serves on the 15-person advisory board to Bidens transition team. On health care, Buttigieg has called for virtually no limits on abortion. While he opposes Medicare for All, he had realized a plan titled Medicare for All Who Want It that would lead to universal health coverage while cutting costs.

Other people with health care backgrounds on the advisory board include Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, who served as U.S. surgeon general during the Obama administration. One of the areas of focus during his tenure, according to his page, was promoting vaccinations, noting that they partnered with the Muppet character Elmo in a popular video that demystifies vaccines for parents and children.
The grouping of India, and (IBSA) on Wednesday expressed "frustration" over the "slow" pace of progress on reform of the UN Security Council and said time has come to move towards a result-oriented process to expand the key global body.

The three countries, in a joint statement, strongly called for expediting reform of the UNSC, saying any failure to do so may have serious implications for international peace and security.

The statement was issued after foreign ministers of the three countries held a video conference focusing majorly on long-pending reform of the United Nations. The conference was chaired by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

"Issued a Joint Statement on reform of UNSC. Expressed our collective frustration with the slow progress of reforms in the Inter-Governmental Negotiations. Time has come for substantive negotiations in a formal setting on a single comprehensive text," Jaishankar tweeted.

All the three countries are strong contenders for permanent membership of the UNSC.

"The failure to reform the Security Council has serious implications for international peace and security. Significant and accelerated reform is critical to ensure that this organ is more representative, effective and responsive, and remains capable of delivering on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter," the IBSA said in the statement.

The grouping also renewed its commitment to work for the expansion of UNSC to include representation from emerging and developing countries of Asia, Latin America and Africa, in both the permanent and non-permanent categories.

The IBSA said "legitimacy" of the UNSC rests on whether its composition is equitable and reflective of the aspirations and perspectives of the UN's membership.

Expressing "frustration" over the slow pace of progress on UNSC reforms in the inter-governmental negotiation process, the IBSA insisted that the time has come to move towards a result-oriented process with provision for substantive negotiations based on a single comprehensive text.

Referring to India's election as a non-permanent member of the UNSC, the grouping said the country will be a "strong voice" in the forum and will continue to be a defender of a rules-based system in accordance with the charter of the UN.

The external affairs ministry said the ministers exchanged views on various issues of global significance including peace, security, countering terrorism, climate change, sustainable development, multilateral trading system and non-proliferation.

"Further, the Ministers shared their experience on the COVID-19 pandemic situation and appreciated the work done by the IBSA Fund for Alleviation of Poverty and Hunger," it said.

(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.)
It's a simple statement of fact at this point that we've never had more television shows to choose from, but there's a corollary to that: we've never had more podcasts about television shows to choose from. From single episode dissections and themed discussions to oddball commentary and behind the scenes explanations, more and more people are talking about what we watch, and the many reasons why.

What began as the province of fans, flowing over in a whirl of shared discovery from online communities, is increasingly moving back up the production chain. There are several successful podcasts about popular series hosted by former cast members, including Michael Imperioli and Steve Schirripa's Talking Sopranos and Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey's Office Ladies. The next step? Putting a program's creator behind the microphone.

Entourage cast Jerry Ferrara, Kevin Connolly and Kevin Dillon with creator Doug Ellin (second from right) in 2015. Credit:Mike Coppola/Getty

"I was definitely done with the show, but these guys are still my boys," says Doug Ellin, the creator of Entourage, the HBO Hollywood comedy-drama that proved to be a defining series for the term 'bro' when it aired between 2004 and 2011. "I look at Entourage now and I feel like a person who wasn't even involved because it's been so many years. I remember the things that happened, but it's all a distance. It's fun to talk about it now."

Prompted by a pitch from cast member Kevin Connolly, Ellin and another of Entourage's signature stars, Kevin Dillon, host Victory the Podcast, a weekly journey through an episode of the show that's currently charting the second season after launching in June. The discussion is like the show's dialogue: predicated on male camaraderie, full of friendly digs, and culturally illustrative for the Los Angeles dude.
On September 13th, the Captain and crew of the COSCO SHIPPING Lines container ship COSCO MALAYSIA rescued a sailboat crew in distress in the Gulf of Mexico, 130 nautical miles west of Port Tampa Bay, Florida.

At 8:22 local time, the COSCO MALAYSIA received a distress call from the sailboat and immediately carried out rescue operations under instruction from local U.S. Coast Guard officials.
Ukrainian diplomats are interested in holding political consultations between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and Iraq.

This issue was discussed during a meeting of First Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Emine Dzhaparova with Ambassador of the Republic of Iraq to Ukraine Bakir Ahmad Aziz Al-Jaf, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministrys press service reported.

The interlocutors expressed mutual interest in the further development of trade, economic and military-technical cooperation. In particular, they discussed the possibility of holding a meeting of the Ukrainian-Iraqi Joint Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation in Kyiv in the first half of 2021.

Also, Dzhaparova told the Iraqi ambassador about numerous human rights violations in the Russian-occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea and stressed that militarization of the peninsula posed a threat to regional and global security. She also said that Ukraine is planning to launch Crimean Platform, which will help strengthen the issue of Crimea on the international agenda.

The issues of cooperation between Ukraine and Iraq within international organizations were also discussed at the meeting.

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New Delhi, Sep 16 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday said this is something very new where judicial officers have come to the court seeking appointment as High Court judges.

A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde and comprising Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian said: "You become a High Court judge, when you are called. You do not become a High Court judge by saying, 'I want to be! I want to be!'." The remarks from the bench were made during the hearing of a petition challenging non-inclusion of certain judicial officers from Uttar Pradesh in the Supreme Court Collegium recommendation on August 14, 2020, for appointment as judges of the Allahabad High Court. The petitioners, seven judicial officers, in their plea sought direction from the Collegium to reconsider their cases for elevation.

The Chief Justice said the bench finds it inappropriate that a writ petition has been filed where petitioners say they want to become High Court judges. However, the Supreme Court issued notice on the plea. The petitioners have argued that the High Court Collegium had recommended their names for the elevation, but the Supreme Court Collegium has proposed to elevate only a District and Sessions Judge.

The petitioners argued that their cases were not considered, as they have not completed a period of 10 years of holding judicial office. The petitioners contended that they were the same batch as District and Sessions Judge, recommended for elevation, as they had joined Higher Judicial Services at the same time.

The petitioners argued that the District and Sessions Judge joined judicial service in December 2011, or January 2012, as an advocate after resigning from UP Nyayik Sewa. Citing a break in the judicial service, the plea argued that the judge's services at the UP Nyayik Sewa cannot be included for the purpose of computing the period of 10 years of holding of a judicial office, in accordance with Article 217 (2) (a) of Constitution. Two of the judicial officers retired last year.

The plea argued that several times so many judicial officers have been appointed as judges of various High Courts even after their retirement.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A 29-year-old man gunned down in a possible road-rage incident had picked up his children just moments before he was fatally shot in front of them in Mariners Harbor, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation.

The source provided fresh details about the deadly encounter that happened in broad daylight during the morning rush hour after Sean Dallas drove from his home borough of Brooklyn to Staten Island.

Dallas was alone in his car when, a short time before the shooting, he had a brief verbal dispute behind the wheel with another driver in or near Mariners Harbor, the source said.

Dallas then continued driving and picked up his two children.

He drove about a half block to the corner of Grandview Avenue and Arlington Place, according to the source.

The 29-year-old man stepped out of his car before he was murdered in front of his two little children, according to Kergen Merrill of Mariners Harbor, a friend of the victim.

Police respond to the fatal shooting of Dallas on Grandview Avenue in Mariners Harbor on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel)

When police arrived at the scene at about 8:45 a.m., they saw Dallas lying face up on the sidewalk with gunshot wounds to his chest and arm, police said.

Cops called for EMS and Dallas was pronounced dead at the hospital.

The unknown suspect fled in a blue sedan toward Richmond Terrace, a police spokesman said.

Authorities are not sure about the nature of the dispute behind the wheel.

Merrill described Dallas as a good guy.

It was literally a senseless killing for nothing of a guy picking up his kids and road rage, Merrill said. Family is the only thing weve got nowadays, he said, adding that there are kids without a father now.

Merrill said, Just let the people know to take a breath before you make a stupid decision and kill somebody.

SHOOTINGS ON S.I.

Dallas was one of three men gunned down in broad daylight in less than two days on Staten Island.

At 1 p.m. on Monday, Prince Edmonds, 21, was shot dead on the 3000 block of Richmond Terrace. Detectives were probing whether it was gang-related.

On Tuesday at 5 p.m., Cedrick Black, 34, of New Brighton, was fatally shot near his home on Jersey Street. Black was visiting a memorial vigil set up in Edmonds' honor when he was slain.

There have been 27 shooting incidents on Staten Island through Sept. 13, according to the latest NYPD CompStat data, up 92% from the 14 through the same time period in 2019.

Most of the shootings this year took place in June and July.

This latest bout of bloodshed comes after a quiet August in terms of gunfire, as Staten Island was the only borough in the city to post a decline in shootings year-over-year that month.

A recent string of arrests, coupled with an ongoing push by civilian-led mediation groups working to prevent disputes from turning violent were appearing to have made a difference.

From Aug. 1 to Sept. 11, police made 18 gun-related arrests across the borough, compared to 12 during the same time period in 2019. The recent busts include eight in the 120th Precinct and seven in the 121st Precinct  the two precincts where a majority of the violence has occurred.
If Pennsylvania has a repeat performance of its primary, America is in trouble.

Election results in Pennsylvanias June 2 primary took weeks to be announced. And because it is such a crucial swing state, a similar delay in the Nov. 3 election could end up leaving the country unsure of who the next president will be long after Election Day.

But state officials told Yahoo News theyre confident that results wont take as long to be announced in the fall election.

Thats not going to happen, said Wanda Murren, a spokesperson for the secretary of states office.

Murren said the biggest reason for delays during the primary was the consolidation of polling places. Because of COVID-19 and a shortage of poll workers, Philadelphia reduced what are normally more than 800 voting locations in the city to just under 200.

For the Nov. 3 election, Murren said, the city plans to have around its usual number of polling places for in-person voting.

But there are other roadblocks to getting a timely result out of Pennsylvania, which was one of three states that decided the 2016 election by a razor-thin margin.

The biggest challenge is that lawmakers have yet to act on requests from the state election office and nonpartisan voting groups to give election clerks more time to prepare mail ballots to be counted. This is known as pre-canvassing of mail ballots.

A worker processes mail-in ballots in West Chester, Pa., prior to the state's June 2 primary. (Matt Rourke/AP)

Pre-canvassing allows counties to open envelopes, flatten and stack the ballots, and begin to scan the ballots, so results can be determined more quickly once tabulation begins on Election Day, wrote Gene DiGirolamo, a Republican county commissioner in Bucks County, which includes some of Philadelphias northern suburbs, in an op-ed last week.

DiGirolamo wrote that despite the rumors, falsehoods, and outright lies, pre-canvassing is not vote counting or early voting.

It is simply an administrative process to lessen the amount of time that county election directors and their staff have to spend opening envelopes and organizing ballots. Votes would not be counted until the polls closed, he wrote.

Story continues

State law currently forbids election clerks from opening mail-in ballots before Election Day. If that remains the law, mail ballots will likely not be counted for at least a few days, and possibly even longer, in part because the state is expecting a massive increase in mail voting because of the coronavirus pandemic.

If we are not given the authority to do this, well be forced to contend with a man-made disaster  one that easily could be avoided if our legislature and governor would work together, DiGirolamo wrote.

Working on mail-in ballots for the Pennsylvania primary on May 28. (Keith Srakocic/AP)

The need to pre-canvass mail ballots has never been as pressing as it is this year, because Pennsylvania voters have not usually cast ballots by mail in past elections, unlike other states where mail-in voting is more widespread.

But demand for mail-in voting has skyrocketed due to COVID-19. About 1.4 million Pennsylvania voters cast ballots by mail in the June 2 primary. In the 2016 primary, only about 84,000 Pennsylvanians voted by mail.

During the primary, in approximately half the counties, ballots were still being counted over a week later after Election Day because of Pennsylvanias restrictive law, an Aug. 1 report from the secretary of states office said.

The secretary of states office requested in that report that it be given 21 days before Election Day to pre-canvass mail ballots.

Republicans control both chambers in the state Legislature, and Democrats say they are using the issue of pre-canvassing as leverage, trying to extract concessions that will make it harder to vote in other ways.

The state House passed a Republican-led bill two weeks ago that has yet to be taken up by the state Senate. The law would allow clerks to pre-canvass three days before Election Day. But the GOP included other provisions in the bill that would eliminate most drop boxes in the state and shut down an effort to allow voters to deliver their mail or absentee ballots by hand to a satellite voting location.

Processing mail-in ballots in West Chester, Pa., prior to the primary election. (Matt Rourke/AP)

Drop boxes resemble blue Postal Service receptacles, only theyre run by county or local election officials and not by the post office. They are a secure way for voters to cast mail-in ballots without actually having to mail them in.

A bill passed last year in Pennsylvania, Act 77, allows counties to provide multiple locations where voters can cast a mail ballot in person ahead of the election, in addition to the county clerks office. But the Republican bill that passed the House would bar counties from receiving mail-in ballots from voters by hand other than at permanent government offices or the county courthouse.

A spokesman for House Speaker Bryan Cutler, a Republican from Lancaster, said the GOP opposes expanding drop boxes and satellite voting locations because this is the first general election where were going to have no-excuse absentee voting. Act 77 expanded mail voting by removing the need to have an excuse to cast one.

Thats a major step, Michael Straub, a Cutler spokesman, told Yahoo News. That and other steps weve taken have really increased the ability for anyone whos interested in absentee voting to do so. We want to make sure we get it right before we add additional steps.

The Republican bill would also allow poll watchers to come from any part of the state to observe voting in large cities like Philadelphia. The law currently restricts poll watchers  who can challenge the validity of voters  to their own counties.

Democrats say that provision in the Republican bill opens the door to voter suppression.

Anybody from anywhere in the state could come into a heavily African-American part of Philly and object to voting. I find that very problematic and could lead to voter suppression. Democrats are not going to budge on that, said state Rep. Kevin Boyle, a Democrat who represents parts of northeastern Philadelphia.

A voter waits to drop off his mail-in ballot in Philadelphia on June 2. (Hannah Yoon/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

State Sen. Anthony H. Williams, a Democrat who represents part of Philadelphia, told Yahoo News that poll watchers coming into major urban areas from other parts of the state could be as disruptive as they are productive.

Democrats oppose expanding poll-watcher eligibility, but they support doing so for poll workers, who actually run the election. There are still concerns that the state may not have enough poll workers in November. Boyle has proposed allowing poll workers to volunteer anywhere in their county of residence, rather than restricting them only to the district in which they vote.

Immediate action is needed to address the enormous volume of mail-in ballots expected to be cast. We need to ensure that Pennsylvania does not become a national embarrassment on Election Day, Boyle told Yahoo News.

He introduced an amendment to the Republican legislation that represents a compromise on pre-canvassing. It would give clerks 14 days to open mail ballots and make sure they are in order so they are ready to be counted.

But Straub indicated that the GOP is not likely to support giving clerks more than three days.

Allegheny County Election Division deputy manager Chet Harhut demonstrates a mail-in and absentee ballot counting machine at the election warehouse in Pittsburgh on June 1. (Gene J. Puskar/AP)

There is openness to being at the table with the governor to find solutions, but the three days before is really the best counties can do because three days before the election is the deadline to challenge a ballots residency eligibility, Straub said. So allowing pre-canvassing when a ballots eligibility could still be challenged presents a potential issue ballot by ballot.

A spokesman for state Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, a Republican from central Pennsylvania, echoed Straubs point, telling Yahoo News that once a mail ballot is opened for pre-canvassing, there are no identifying marks on it to connect it to a specific voter, and it can no longer be challenged by someone who thinks it might have been cast fraudulently.

The Legislature could move up the deadline to challenge mail ballots to coincide with the day it allows clerks to pre-canvass.

The debate echoes much in the area of election law, where election security concerns are weighed against other issues like voter access and, in this case, election integrity. A substantial delay in reporting results could gravely damage the integrity of the fall election and even lead to unrest in the country, and so legislators will need to weigh that against the ways in which they seek to prevent voter impersonation via mail-in balloting, which does happen but is not common.

Its not nonexistent. It happens to be rare, and its really hard to pull off in any large-scale way, election expert Rick Hasen, author of Election Meltdown, told Yahoo News in July.

Pennsylvania Republicans and Democrats, however, did agree that counties should be required to send mail ballots out 28 days before the election, rather than the current 14. The GOP bill would also reduce the amount of time that voters have to apply for their mail ballots. The deadline to apply would be moved to 15 days before the election, rather than one week, as it is now.

Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, on Tuesday said he is pushing the Legislature to allow pre-canvassing 21 days before Election Day. Wolf also said counties should be able to fill poll-worker vacancies 60 days ahead of the election, rather than the mere five days allowed right now.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf. (TNS via Zuma Wire)

Finally, Wolf called on the Legislature to allow ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted as long as they are received by the following Friday. This would come into play if the state has a delay in its result and the number of outstanding ballots is great enough to have an impact on the winner. Current law requires ballots to be received by Election Day, but there is ongoing litigation to change this, given delays in Postal Service delivery.

State Sen. Steve Santarsiero, a Democrat who represents Bucks County, said there is some willingness on the part of Republicans to give clerks more time to pre-canvass mail ballots.

Theres an understanding that its a problem, Santarsiero told Yahoo News. The issue is whether it will be held hostage.

_____

Read more from Yahoo News:
Just as Sony is preparing to officially announce the pricing of the upcoming PlayStation 5 console, Bloomberg reported that there might be potential trouble behind the scenes. According to its story Sony slashed its production forecast from 15 million units to 11 million.

Poor yields of the custom SoC that powers the console were quoted as a reason, but Sony stepped in to deny the reports.

While we do not release details related to manufacturing, the information provided by Bloomberg is false. We have not changed the production number for PlayStation 5 since the start of mass production."

It's worth mentioning that early targets reported by Bloomberg were as low as 5-6 million, so it's clear that a lot of guesswork is involved.

Hopefully Sony will be able to make enough PS5 consoles to meet the inevitable increase in demand during the holiday season. Meanwhile, you should check back tomorrow for the prices of the PlayStation 5 and the Digital Edition of the console (which is the same, just without the Blu-ray drive).

Rival Microsoft is set to release the $300/300 Xbox Series S and $500/300 Series X on November 10 (and fans will be able to pre-order starting on September 22). Meanwhile Nintendo is teasing a 4K version of the Switch for next year.

Source
"Our hope is that with this offer, as well as our Next-Level Care and middle seat blocking through Oct. 31, our guests are given further peace of mind while traveling to our more than 115 destinations this fall," said Sangita Woerner, Alaska Airlines' senior vice president of marketing and guest experience. "We have added layers of safety to keep our guests and employees safe when they are ready to fly, and hope to see many of them in the skies in the coming months."

When guests make the decision to fly again, they will be met with the same Alaska hospitality they have come to know and love, as well as new layers of safety to keep everyone healthy. As part of nearly 100 Next-Level Care safety measures, Alaska is:

Extending physical distancing on board for fall travel with blocked middle seats on all mainline flights and reduced capacity on regional flights through Oct. 31 *.

for fall travel with blocked middle seats on all mainline flights and reduced capacity on regional flights through *. Strengthening face mask policies, including:

Requiring all guests over the age of two to wear a mask or face covering, with no exceptions. If a traveler does not wear a mask, they will not be allowed to fly. This policy applies to anywhere Alaska conducts business  at ticket counters, gate areas and inflight.

conducts business  at ticket counters, gate areas and inflight.

In late June, Alaska empowered its flight attendants to issue a final notice to any guest  in the form of a yellow card handed to them  who repeatedly disregards or disobeys the requirement to wear a mask or face covering. If a guest still does not comply after that warning, their travel with Alaska will be suspended immediately instead of undergoing a review process.

empowered its flight attendants to issue a final notice to any guest  in the form of a yellow card handed to them  who repeatedly disregards or disobeys the requirement to wear a mask or face covering. If a guest still does not comply after that warning, their travel with will be suspended immediately instead of undergoing a review process. Over the coming weeks, new touch-free options for Alaska guests and employees will include the ability:

will include the ability: To pre-order meals and purchase food and beverages on board using a stored credit card (pending return of food and beverage for purchase in main cabin).



To print bag tags without having to touch check-in kiosks.



For agents to scan boarding passes up to six feet away while boarding.



To receive a text message instead of a printed boarding pass if guests don't already have the Alaska Airlines mobile app.



To get an emailed receipt for baggage instead of printed receipt.

Continuing enhanced cabin cleaning procedures that exceed CDC guidelines, including cleaning between flights, using electrostatic disinfectant sprayers for a next-level clean.

that exceed CDC guidelines, including cleaning between flights, using electrostatic disinfectant sprayers for a next-level clean. Extending flexible travel policies, with Peace of Mind waivers that allow for no change or cancellation fees for flights booked through Dec. 31 , if travelers' plans should change**.

Terms and conditions

For the BOGO sale, tickets must be purchased by 11:59 p.m. (PT) on Sept. 16, 2020, for travel between Sept. 15, 2020 and Oct. 31, 2020. To get the row, select seats when purchasing. Day of week and other restrictions apply. View complete terms and conditions at Alaskaair.com/GETYOURROW.

* Blocked middle seats are only available on Alaska Airlines flights 1-1999. Our regional aircraft do not have middle seats. An open middle seat is not guaranteed. Certain occasions, such as aircraft changes or re-accommodating guests from a previously canceled flight, may require guests to be seated next to someone not in their party. If you're uncomfortable with the distance between you and others on your date of travel, please speak with a customer service agent about your options.

** Change and cancellation fees are waived for all tickets purchased through December 31, 2020, and on January 1, 2021, we will be eliminating change fees permanently. Learn more about our flexible travel policy.

Alaska Airlines and its regional partners serve more than 115 destinations across the United States and North America, providing essential air service for our guests along with moving crucial cargo shipments, such as food, medicine, mail and e-commerce deliveries. With hubs in Seattle; San Francisco; Los Angeles; Portland, Oregon; and Anchorage, Alaska, the airline is known for low fares, award-winning customer service and sustainability efforts. With Alaska and its Global Partners, guests can earn and redeem miles on flights to more than 800 destinations worldwide. Learn more about Alaska at newsroom.alaskaair.com and blog.alaskaair.com. Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air are subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group (NYSE: ALK).

SOURCE Alaska Airlines

Related Links

http://www.alaskaair.com


Yesterday, Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates announced the demise of his father, William Gates II, at the age of 94.

GatesNotes

His death occurred due to complications caused by Alzheimer's. He passed away peacefully on Monday at his beach home in Washington state.



Bill Gates Sr. was a lawyer by profession, however, he was also a philanthropist who inspired the Microsoft founder to adopt a philanthropic way of life, through Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

In a tribute penned down by Bill Gates, he expressed his emotions on this loss, stating, "My dad was the real Bill Gates. He was everything I try to be and I will miss him every day." He added, "My dad's influence on our philanthropy was just as big. Throughout my childhood, he and my mom taught me by example what generosity looked like in how they used their time and resources."

Gates Sr was born in the year 1925 and grew up in Bremerton, Washington. He joined the army after his freshman year at the University of Washington. However, in 1945 while he was on his way to Japan for war, Japan surrendered and he served a year there before returning to the States. He then resumed his studies and attained his law degree in 1950. He later progressed and established Preston Gates and Ellis law firm.

Bill Gates shared how the foundation wouldnt have existed without his contribution, One night in the 1990s, before we started our foundation, Melinda, Dad, and I were standing in line at the movies. Melinda and I were talking about how we had been getting more requests for donations in the mail."

Getty Images

He added, "Dad simply said, Maybe I can help. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation would not be what it is today without my dad. More than anyone else, he shaped the values of the foundation. He was collaborative, judicious, and serious about learning. He was dignified but hated anything that seemed pretentious.


The Delhi University's St Stephen's College on Tuesday released its first cut-off list for undergraduate courses, with the highest cut-off being announced at 99.25 per cent for BA (Hons) Economics for students coming from commerce background.

This year's cut-offs are higher than last year. In 2019, the cut-off for BA(Hons) English and BA (Hons) Economics were pegged at 98.75 per cent for students from commerce background.

The cut-off for BA (Hons) Economics stands at 99.25 per cent for commerce students, 98.75 per cent for humanities and 98 per cent for science stream students.

The cut-off for BA English (Hons) stands at 99 per cent for commerce students, 98.75 per cent for science and humanities stream students. This year's cut-off for the course is higher by 0.25 per cent for commerce and science students.

Last year, the college had pegged the cut-off for BA(Hons) English at 98.75 per cent for commerce students, 98.25 per cent for humanities students and 98.75 per cent for science students.

The cut-off for BA History (Hons) stands at 99 per cent for commerce students and science stream students, and 98.25 per cent for humanities students.

The cut-off for BA(Hons) Philosophy stands at 98 per cent for commerce, 98.75 per cent for Humanities and 97 per cent science stream students.

The cut-off for BSc Physics (Hons) stands at 97.66 per cent while the cut-off for BSc(Hons) Chemistry stands at 96.67 per cent.

Last year, the cut-offs for BSc Physics (Hons) and BSc Chemistry (Hons) stood at 96.66 per cent and 96.33, respectively.

The cut-off for BSc(Hons) Mathematics stands at 98 per cent for commerce and science students and 96.5 per cent for humanities stream students.

In Economics, the college has put a rider that applicants need to score at least 95 per cent in mathematics to secure a seat.

Those under Church of North India Delhi Diocese (CNID) and Church of North India (CNI) need to have 70 per cent marks in the subject while SC, ST and general applicants need 95 per cent in the subject.

For English honours applicants, students need to have scored 90 per cent in English Core or 85 per cent in English Elective.

For the BA programme, the cut-off for students from commerce and science backgrounds stands at 99 per cent while for humanities stream students it is 98 per cent.

(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.)
KRAKOW, Poland, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Moet Hennessy, a member of the Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy Group, the world leader in high-quality products, has been cooperating with Comarch in order to improve its partnership with distributors and wholesalers. Accurate sales data, and the effective exchange of this information between partners, was a clear goal to help the company to make decisions based on reliable business information. This strategy is intended to create opportunities to help stimulate partners' sales activities. After implementation in Poland of the reporting and communication platform Comarch Online Distribution, Moet Hennessy has decided to extend the project scope to other European markets.

Comarch Online Distribution and Comarch Online Sales Support enable automatic daily reporting of the most important business data on the distributor/wholesaler-producer line. Constant access to up to date, reliable information on distributors' inventory levels and sell-out of products in the on-trade channel allows Moet Hennessy to respond more effectively to market changes. From the beginning of 2018, Comarch has been supporting Moet Hennessy Poland in expanding cooperation with selected distributors through the implementation of resale and inventory reporting to increase joint sales and marketing activities.

"The choice of Comarch, which has many years of experience in implementing these types of solutions, was determined by two factors: the company's high quality of services and very positive international references. Moreover, successful pilot implementation performed in the first chosen market has convinced us that Comarch is a responsible and reliable partner," said On Trade Sales Director, Moet Hennessy Europe.

The goal of the pilot project in Poland was to connect dozens of strategic distributors with the platform. The implementation of Comarch Online Distribution, a comprehensive service platform for obtaining the highest quality market data, and deployment of an analytical web application (Online Sales Support), enables daily reporting of high-quality data. The first connections of distributors have already shown that the platform is going to be a powerful source of information, giving Moet Hennessy Poland and its distributors huge business opportunities. Shortly thereafter, Moet Hennessy decided to expand cooperation with Comarch into further European markets.

"There are two dimensions of Comarch Online Distribution. The solution provides companies with high-quality business data, which provides a solid foundation for planning sales strategies. It also guarantees full automation of the information exchange process. As a result, companies gain a significant competitive advantage," said Kamil Goscinski, Comarch.

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The restrictions on the export of medical supplies, including PPE coveralls, 2/3 ply masks and sanitizers, which are key in the fight against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) have been lifted, Union minister of commerce and industry Piyush Goyal said on Wednesday.

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Goyal informed that prohibition on the export of various medical items such as face shields, hydroxychloroquine API and its formulations, and 13 other pharmaceutical APIs and its formulations have been removed.

Follow latest updates on coronavirus here

Sanitizers too can now be exported except when in containers with dispenser pumps. The government has also lifted the ban imposed on the export of ventilators.

While the export of diagnostic kits, N-95/FFP2 masks is currently restricted, they can be exported in a limited monthly quota, the commerce ministry said in the statement.

The ban on the export of medical supplies was put in place earlier this year to ensure domestic availability of the items in the view of the rising numbers of Covid-19 cases in the country. The curbs have been relaxed following a time-to-time assessment of the domestic requirement, production capacity and the availability of surplus products for export, the statement added.

The government also hailed the increased domestic production of the items to meet the requirement amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Goyal said that prior to March 20, India was importing PPE coveralls as there was very limited domestic production. However, now the domestic production has gone up to 1.5 crore units per month and hence, the lift of the export ban, he added.

The availability of alcohol-based hand sanitizers that was at 10 lakh litres per annum earlier has subsequently increased to 38 lakh litres per day, enabling the prohibition on its export to be removed, he said in a statement.

The minister also pointed towards the ramped-up production of domestically manufactured ventilators, which he said, was negligible prior to January 2020.
India has moved its troops to the eastern part of the border with China in Ladakh after noticing Chinese troop movement at least two locations across the Line of Actual Control in Arunachal Pradesh.

Government sources told CNN-News18 the Peoples Liberation Army has built ups its presence opposite Arunachal Pradeshs Asaphila and Fishtail-2 sectors, nearly 20 km from the Indian territory.

Officials said that Indian troops are fully prepared to thwart any attempts by China to make incursions and the forces have strengthened vigilance all along the LAC, from Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh.

News agency Reuters had recently reported that India had sent additional troops to the eastern district of Anjaw in Arunachal Pradesh, which China also claims as its territory, raising the prospect of a wider face-off.

The military presence has surely increased, but as far as incursions are concerned, there are no verified reports as such, Ayushi Sudan, Anjaws chief civil servant, had told Reuers, adding that several Indian army battalions were stationed there.

Arunachal Pradesh, which China calls South Tibet, was at the centre of a full-scale border war between India and China in 1962, and security analysts have warned that it could become a flash-point again.

Earlier this month, Chinas PLA had allegedly kidnapped five Indian villagers from Arunachal Pradesh. The five were reportedly taken away by a team of the PLA from a jungle where they were hunting.

China also asserted that they do not recognise Arunachal Pradesh to be Indian territory.

Chinas position on the eastern section of the China and India boundary and Chinas southern Tibet is consistent and clear, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at a press briefing. We have never recognised the so-called Arunachal Pradesh illegally established on the Chinese territory, he said.

The five Indian men were returned to India after 12 days. The army said three such incidents, including the latest one, had taken place this year in Upper Subansiri and West Siang districts of Arunachal Pradesh and that all have been brought back home.
Crime Prevention Alert

Campus Crime and Safety Alert

The Department of Public Safety - Campus Police, in conjunction with the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts administration, makes every effort to ensure information regarding any extraordininary event(s) that may pose a potential or continuing public safety threat to the campus community at large, is distributed to the same when deemed appropriate and necessary. The purpose of such notification is to ensure the highest regard for health, safety and the protection of life and property is maintained within the campus community.

A variety of methods are used to disseminate these public safety alerts, including phone calls, voicemail messaging, e-mail announcements, postings or at times, the services of the local media. The timing and method of notifications will depend on the level of severity of the event or emergency, an assessment of it based on the timeliness and accuracy of available information and the creation and implementation of an emergency action plan that takes into account the best safety practices for such notifications.

Notifications will typically come from the Department of Public Safety - Campus Police, as this department serves as the 24 hour, seven days a week, operation on campus where reports of public safety related information are made. The department also has direct contacts with the North Adams Police and Fire Departments, as well as the Massachusetts State Police, in the event reports involving the safety of the campus community are made to them.

All campus community members are urged to make similar notifications of events related to the health, safety and protection of life and property on campus, using the department's Emergency Line at 662-5100 or 911.




Kansas GOP candidate Amanda Adkins repudiates FEC complaint as 'frivolous' | Kansas Reflector Topeka - Kansas Republican congressional candidate Amanda Adkins pushed back Tuesday against allegations she broke federal law by raising about $140,000 in contributions before officially registering her candidacy. Adkins won a competitive five-person GOP primary in August to earn an opportunity to challenge Democratic U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids.

Big money questions confront this politico as this progressive hype blog delves into the political deets that won't really influence anybody one way our another . . . Read more:
"So sorry was the state of the U.S. Army in 1939 that, had Pancho Villa been alive to raid the southwestern United States, it would have been as ill-prepared to repulse or punish him as it had been in 1916."

Author Carlo D'Este wrote this in his 1995 book, "Patton: A Genius for War." While Pancho Villa was dead by 1923, then-2nd Lt. George S. Patton's raids into the American Southwest never managed to kill or capture the Mexican bandit.

When the earliest conscripts arrived in Louisiana for the 1941 Maneuvers, they still wore World War I-style uniforms. (U.S. Army/Fort Polk Museum)

Only after the outbreak of World War I did Gen. John J. Pershing, commander of the "Punitive Expedition" get reassigned. Villa retired to an estate he acquired in negotiations with the Mexican government. Villas ambitions ended only after he was assassinated by hired gunmen.

The United States went on to help the Triple Entente win World War I, but after the Great War ended, the interest in its 4 million men in uniform waned. In 1935, there were fewer than 119,000 troops in the U.S. military.

A field kitchen in the Louisiana Maneuvers of 1940-41. (U.S. Army/Fort Polk Museum)

But a new threat was looming to both the east and west of the United States. By 1935, Adolf Hitler had consolidated power in Germany and begun rearming the German Army. In 1936, German troops reoccupied demilitarized zones in Europe, in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. That same year, Hitler and Fascist Italian dictator Benito Mussolini declared the formation of the Rome-Berlin Axis Pact.

In Imperial Japan, the United States former World War I ally was hungry for natural resources to feed its growing Army and Navy. By 1937, Japan was in direct conflict with both Chinese Communist and Nationalist forces in the Asian mainland. In 1940, it joined Italy and Nazi Germany in what was then called the Tripartite Pact.

The Louisiana Maneuvers allowed combat commanders to test out armored warfare doctrine in 1941. (U.S. Army/Fort Polk Museum)

When Hitler invaded Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, it sparked the outbreak of global war. The United States Army still had fewer than 200,000 men. It, too, would have to rearm itself into the "Arsenal of Democracy."

In a new book,"The Rise of the G.I. Army, 1940-1941," historian and author Paul Dickson details that rearmament. It began with a peacetime draft -- the first in American history -- with the passage of the September 1940 Selective Training and Service Act.

Some 10 million men entered military service during World War II, most of them volunteers. But in those early days, thousands of men between the ages of 21 and 34 were put into uniform before there was even a war to fight. The following year, the Army put its doctrines to the test in the Louisiana Maneuvers of 1941, testing its men, material and methods using blank ammunition and bombs of flour dropped from airplanes.

The Army used explosives to enhance river crossings during the 1941 Louisiana Maneuvers. (U.S. Army/Fort Polk Museum)

All the while, a political debate raged in the halls of Congress as to whether there should even be an Army of conscripts (whose draft enlistment was only one year long) and if they should be used to fight a war in Europe (if necessary) or sent home as the United States fell backward into isolation.

That debate raged until November 1941, when the House of Representatives rejected the disbandment of what Patton called an Army of 820,000 "civilians in khaki pants."

Those arguments came to a halt on Dec. 7, 1941. Four days later, Germany also declared war on the United States.

After the war, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, who participated in the Louisiana Maneuvers, credited those exercises with helping the United States win the war on both fronts.

The Army found horses unsuitable for modern warfare during the 1940-41 Louisiana Maneuvers. (U.S. Army/Fort Polk Museum)

Dickson's book covers the buildup to conscription, the Louisiana Maneuvers and even the nascent U.S. Army's trial by fire in North Africa in one expansive, thoroughly researched and compelling volume. "The Rise of the G.I. Army, 1940-1941: The Forgotten Story of How America Forged a Powerful Army Before Pearl Harbor" is on sale now.

-- Blake Stilwell can be reached at blake.stilwell@military.com. He can also be found on Twitter @blakestilwell or on Facebook.

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Lok Sabha MP Balli Durga Prasad Rao died at the age of 65 in a hospital in Chennai on Wednesday, family members said. The minister was undergoing treatment after testing positive for Covid-19.

The YSR Congress leader was admitted to the hospital three weeks ago after contacting coronavirus and undergoing medical treatment, PTI cited his family members as saying.

Balli Durga Prasad Rao, a former state minister and three-time MLA, is survived by his wife, a daughter and two sons.

Many expressed grief over the passing of Tirupati MP Balli Durga Prasad Rao, who was the first-time MP from the Tirupati (SC) reserved constituency.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Ram Nath Kovind, Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy were among those who condoled the ministers death.

Saddened by the demise of Lok Sabha MP, Balli Durga Prasad Rao Garu. He was an experienced leader, who made effective contributions towards the progress of Andhra Pradesh. My thoughts are with his family and well-wishers in this sad hour. Om Shanti, PM Modi tweeted.

The President, in a tweet, said, Anguished by the demise of Shri Balli Durga Prasad Rao, Member of Parliament from Tirupati. He worked tirelessly for the welfare of the people of Andhra Pradesh. Condolences to his family, friends and well-wishers.

Andhra Pradesh CM Jagan Reddy said in a message, Loss to the party. He strove for peoples welfare as MLA, Minister and MP.
President Donald Trump confirmed on Wednesday that another White House staffer has tested positive for the coronavirus.

'It's not anybody that was near me,' he said at his press conference.

'It was one person,' Trump added. 'It was not a person that I was associated with.'

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany stepped in to say the person will not be identified and it did not affect any events around the White House.

'We're not going to confirm the identity of the individual. It did not affect the event and press was not around,' she said.

President Donald Trump confirmed that another White House staffer has tested positive for the coronavirus

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany stepped in to say the person will not be identified and it did not affect any events around the White House

The White House held a signing ceremony on Tuesday for its deal between Israel, the UAE and Bahrain.

The president also attended a town hall meeting in Philadelphia on Tuesday night.

'None of yesterday's events were affected,' White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere told DailyMail.com in a statement.

More than 800 people attended the signing ceremony at the White House for the Abraham Accords.

Row after row of white chairs were on the South Lawn Tuesday morning, lined up together with no social distancing in between them. Few in the crowd wore face masks.

Senior White House staff and the president receive COVID tests daily after two staffers tested positive for the virus in May, raising questions about the safety protocols in place around the complex.

Additionally anyone meeting with the president or getting near him is tested for the virus.

Trump has had close calls with the virus before.

Kimberly Guilfoyle, the girlfriend of President Trump's oldest son and a top campaign official, tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of a Fourth of July event at Mount Rushmore.

Guilfoyle, 51, tested positive ahead of the South Dakota event but her boyfriend Donald Trump Jr., 42, did not.

The couple promptly left to fly back to New York, where they are based.

In May, both Vice President Mike Pence's communications director Katie Miller and a Navy valet who served Trump his food tested positive for the virus.

Miller, who also serves as spokesperson for the White House Coronavirus Task Force, tested positive for the coronavirus on May 8th.

After her and the valet tested positive, the White House instituted new protocols for preventing the virus from reaching the president.

More than 800 people were on the South Lawn when President Donald Trump, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bahrain Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the United Arab Emirates Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan signed the Abraham Accords

Kimberly Guilfoyle (right), pictured with her boyfriend Donald Trump Jr. (left), tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of a Fourth of July event

Katie Miller tested positive for COVID in May; she is married to White House senior adviser Stephen Miller; the two are seen at the September 2019 state dinner for the Australian prime minister

Staff, Secret Service agents and members of the military were seen wearing masks. Additionally, senior staff began to get tested for the disease on a daily basis.

Trump also began a two week regimen of the anti-malaria hydroxychloroquine as a counter measure to possible exposure. The president claims the drug can help fight off the coronavirus but the FDA has issued a warning that only patients in the hospital with the virus should take the drug.

Pence tested negative despite his spokesperson's diagnosis. He was seen wearing a mask around the White House in the aftermath. Additionally he and President Trump stayed apart for several days to ensure Pence wasn't infected.

The positive tests raised questions about the White House's policy on trying to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus inside the complex, which includes the West Wing offices where the president works, the Old Executive Office building where many aides are located, the East Wing offices of the first lady, and the Executive Mansion where the first family lives.

Questions were raised about the safety of the nation's leadership and the first family after a presidential valet tested positive on May 7th.

The valet was part of the White House Military Office, an elite group of officers and enlisted men who are assigned to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
New Delhi: The Special Cell of Delhi Police on Wednesday (September 16) filed a voluminous charge sheet at Karkardooma court against 15 accused under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Indian Penal Code, and Arms Act in connection with a case related to widespread violence in Delhi in February.

The charge sheet has been filed before Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat in the FIR 59/2020, u/s 120B, r/w 302/307/124A/153A/109/114/147/148/149/186/212/353/395/427/435/436/452/454/341/34 IPC, 3/4 PDPP Act 1984 and 25/27 Arms Act, and 13/16/17/18 UA(P) Act, police station crime branch, March 6, 2020.

The riots that broke out in parts of North East Delhi in February 2020 had claimed 53 deaths, and 583 persons were injured. There were destruction and damage to government as well as private properties on a huge scale. Claims amounting to more than Rs 20 crore to compensate for the loss of property have been filed before the GNCTD, which indicates the scale and immense cost of the tragedy.

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The Delhi Police had received over 16,000 PCR calls and registered a total of 751 cases in connection with these riots. 59 cases were assigned to SIT constituted in the Crime Branch, 691 cases were investigated by the district police and one case which was registered on March 6, 2020, to investigate the larger conspiracy behind these riots was assigned to the Special Cell.

In the course of the investigation of the 750 FIRs registered concerning the specific offences committed during the riots, 12 pistols, 121 empty cartridges, 92 live cartridges, 61 glass bottles filled with noxious chemicals and an assortment of sharp-edged weapons have been seized so far by the Delhi Police.

The Special Cell took 195 days to complete the first phase of the investigation. During this period, 747 witnesses have been examined and approximately 75 electronic devices have been seized as part of the investigation.

Based upon scientific, documentary, and testimonial evidence, a total number of 15 accused have now been charge-sheeted out of the 21 persons arrested so far. The remaining six persons are expected to be charge-sheeted in due course after collecting sufficient evidence and completing statutory and procedural requirements.

The charge-sheet submitted today runs into 11 volumes, totaling over 17,000 pages. The court has been requested to take cognizance of the offences and begin the trial of the charge-sheeted accused persons.

The Special Cell is probing the `conspiracy` angle in the communal riots. The charge sheet has named Tahir Hussain, Devangana Kalita, Asif Iqbal Tanha, Natasha Narwal, Mohammed Pervez Ahmad, Mohammed Ilyas, Saifi Khalid, Ishrat Jahan, Meeran Haidar, Safoora Zargar, Shahdab Ahamd, Talseem Ahmad, Salim Malik, Mohammed Salim Khan, and Athar Khan.

Further investigation into the matter is continuing and supplementary charge-sheets are likely to be filed in due course.
A new inspection regime of jails in Portlaoise and elsewhere will improve accountability in Irelands prison system and safeguard prisoners but must be backed by legislation and resources, according to the Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT).

The organisation welcomed the launch of Inspection Framework for Prisons in Ireland by the Minister for Justice Ms Helen McEntee TD this week.

The Framework sets out how the Office of the Inspector of Prisons will conduct inspections of prisons in Ireland.

The IPRT says there have been no published inspection reports on a closed prison in Ireland since 2014 which it said undermines public scrutiny and the States accountability for how it treats people behind prison walls.

The trust said there is a need for increased resourcing of the Office of the Inspector of Prisons, and for laws that allow the Inspector of Prisons to publish reports directly and not through the Minister for Justice.

Director Fiona Ni Chinneide is the IPRT Executive.

Independent inspections play a critical role in preventing torture and ill-treatment in prisons and encouraging good practice. This rights-led Framework will play an important role in improving accountability in Irelands prison system and safeguarding the rights of thousands of men and women each year.

It is essential that a programme of prison inspections is now commenced. There have been no published inspection reports for any closed prison in Ireland since 2014, and half of Irelands prisons have not been subject to a published inspection in twelve years or more. This is unacceptable by any measure.

There are two actions that should be taken now. Government must demonstrate that it is serious about preventing torture and ill-treatment in Ireland through meeting its commitment to ratify the United Nations Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture by end 2021, and the Inspection of Places of Detention Bill needs to be progressed and the independence of the Inspectorate of Prisons strengthened in law and resources.

While the Irish Prison Service is to be commended for keeping the people in its custody largely free from COVID-19, and for introducing measures to mitigate against harsh restrictions, we simply cannot assess whether minimum human rights standards have been met in the absence of independent inspection reports, she said.

The Trust said it is important now that the Office of the Inspector of Prisons is fully resourced both short- and long-term so that the Office can deliver on a programme of robust prison inspections under the new Framework, while also delivering on other functions within the Offices remit, including the prompt publication of deaths in custody reports and undertaking other relevant thematic reviews, where appropriate.

The IPRT campaigns for the rights of everyone in prison and the reform of Irish penal policy, with prison as a last resort.
Smoke from U.S. forest fires has reached the Big Smoke, but the good news is that the milky haze over the Toronto area poses no danger, according to Environment Canada.

A layer of smoke is in the upper atmosphere and it is not affecting air quality, Peter Kimbell, a warning preparedness meteorologist for Environment Canada based in Ottawa, told CBC Toronto on Tuesday.

"We are seeing forest-fire smoke in Toronto, not only in Toronto, but in most of southern Ontario, southern Quebec, and it's even drifting across the northeastern United States into the Maritimes," Kimbell said in a phone interview.

"It has come a long way and it's not affecting air quality at the surface because most of the heavier particles have kind of fallen out in their voyage from the West Coast to Ontario. But what we do have is a layer of smoke at some altitude aloft and it is making it a bit hazier than it would otherwise be."

The smoke comes from hundreds of wildfires burning in Washington, Oregon and California that have destroyed whole communities and killed at least 36 people. Dozens of blazes have raged with unprecedented scope across some 18,000 square kilometres on the U.S. west coast since August.

Hayley/@hayleooo/Twitter

The jet stream has brought the smoke to Toronto. It is particularly apparent at morning sunrise and at evening sunset when the sky appears to be an odd colour, often more red or more orange.

Kimbell could not say when the smoke will clear.

"As long the fires continue and the smoke is blowing east from the fires, it could continue for some time," he said.

"It all depends on the jet stream, of course, and the jet stream is in constant state of evolution, so there will be some days that will be hazier than others, but this could last for awhile," Kimbell added.

"There may be one day that will be totally sunny with no smoke, followed by another day that is smokier or hazier than otherwise. It could last for a week or maybe even longer but it's hard to say exactly."

Story continues

Alastair Woods/@alastairwoods/Twitter

Environment Canada has been fielding calls about the smoke because people want to know why it has travelled this far. Many people have realized that the weather is cloudier than it ought to be, he said.

Tuesday, for example, was forecast to be mainly sunny, Kimbell said.

The smoke poses no danger to human health because it is not low enough in the atmosphere to affect air quality, he added. It's at a high altitude.

"It is interesting to note that some remnants of this forest fire smoke on the West Coast of North America has made its way all the way to Central and even parts of Eastern Canada," he said.

Colette Kennedy, CBC Toronto meteorologist, said a cold front is expected to move into the Greater Toronto Area on Wednesday night and it could push the smoke from the skies.

"Our skies may clear out tomorrow night," Kennedy said on Tuesday.
NEW HAVEN  One of the Elm Citys most prominent hotels has notified state Department of Labor officials that a majority of 170 employees it furloughed at the end of March because of the pandemic-induced economic downturn could be out of work for significantly longer.

Fletcher Williams, general manager of the Omni New Haven Hotel at Yale, told state Labor Department officials in a letter received Tuesday that due to business circumstances that were unforeseen at the time of the layoffs, the hotel now reasonably anticipates that a sufficient number of furloughs will extend beyond six months. The workers originally were furloughed on March 30, according to Williams.

Regrettably, it now appears that the length and severity of the direct effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business operations are greater than previously were foreseeable, Williams letter said in part. As a result, we have had to reassess our initial understanding of the circumstances facing the hotel.

Williams was not immediately available for comment on how much longer the employee furloughs are expected to last.

The letter to state labor officials about the employee furloughs being extended comes even as Donna Larney, the Omnis human resources director, said the hotel had reopened for business as of Wednesday. Larney declined further comment.

The Omni originally was expected to reopen Sept. 4, according to Ginny Kozlowski, executive director of the New Haven-based Connecticut Lodging Association. But Kozlowski said she wasnt surprised the reopening was delayed.

Right now, they cant host meetings or weddings because of the (COVID-19) crowd restrictions and that is the base of their business, she said. Without those events and business travelers, there simply isnt enough transient business to support the hotel.

Kozlowski said the Omni likely is operating with a skeleton staff, with hotel management doing some of the work that normally would be handled by employees.

Of the 170 workers furloughed, 135 are members Local 217 UNITE Here, which represents hospitality industry workers. And of the 135 unionized workers, fewer than 20 returned to work Wednesday, according to Ian Dunn, a spokesman for the union local.

Connie Holt, secretary/treasurer for Local 217, said her members returned to work after the union successfully concluded negotiations with Omni officials.

We have spent a lot of time and energy working with Omni management and negotiators to reopen the Omni at Yale, Holt said. We are proud to have reached an agreement that sets a new standard for guest and worker safety. Unfortunately, due to the COVID crisis, the hotel is not yet fully staffed.

luther.turmelle@hearstmediact.com
Policies in states expected to have razor-thin margins could affect number of rejected ballots and tallying time.

United States citizens are expected to vote on November 3 like never before, with the number of Americans casting their ballots by mail expected to surge amid the coronavirus pandemic.

While President Donald Trump has largely sought to keep attention on unfounded claims that voting by mail leads to higher rates of fraud, voting advocates have instead highlighted an array of changes to how states process votes by mail that they say could lead to fewer ballots being rejected and shorter wait times for states to reach their final counts after election day.

While analysts say there is no evidence to indicate that mail voting leads to higher rates of fraud, voting by mail does have higher rates of ballot rejection than other forms of voting.





With more than half of the electorate expected to cast ballots by mail, attention has turned to the patchwork of state policies and laws that determine the parameters for such voting, with some states quickly moving to adopt what are considered best practices for this years unusual election.

Its a completely unprecedented scale of election reform, Charlotte Hill, a policy researcher and PhD candidate at the University of California Berkeley, told Al Jazeera. Weve never seen this many election laws change so quickly and so substantially in modern American history.

Those changes are perhaps most consequential in so-called battleground states, which saw razor-thin margins of victory in 2016 and are projected to see the same in 2020.

A recent analysis of mail voting in battleground states by the Associated Press news agency found that if rejection rates for mail ballots remain the same as they did during 2020 primaries, as many as three times more voters could be disenfranchised in key states than in 2016. The AP analysed data from Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin and Michigan.

In 2016, Trump won the state of Michigan by just 0.3 percentage points, or 10,704 votes. In the primary in August, which saw a turnout of about 2.5 million residents, 10,694 mail votes were rejected, according to the office of Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.

The majority of disenfranchised voters in last weeks statewide primary could easily have had their votes counted with small changes in law, Bensons office said in a news release after the primary.

Rejected ballots

Three laws introduced in Michigans Republican-controlled state house and senate broadly encapsulate reforms sought by voting rights advocates.

One calls for ballots postmarked by election day to still be counted if they are received after election day (in the case of this bill, two days after, although some reformists have sought longer timeframes). Another calls for strengthening requirements for election officials to contact voters if there are problems with their ballots to give them a chance to correct them. The third calls for election officials to start processing ballots before election day.

With turnout and absentee ballot numbers expected to double or even triple in November, we could be looking at tens of thousands of Michigan citizens disenfranchised if the legislature again fails to act, Benson said in a statement after the primary.

Of the rejected ballots in the state, the vast majority, 6,405, were thrown out because they arrived after election day, according to Bensons office.





Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, and Florida currently only accept mail ballots that arrive by the end of election day, although legislative action and lawsuits in most of the states are seeking to change that. North Carolina counts ballots that arrive within three days after election day, as long as they are postmarked on election day.

In Pennsylvania, if voter turnout is the same as 2016 and the ballot rejection rate remains the same from this years primary, nearly 43,000 voters in the state could be disenfranchised this fall, according to an Associated Press analysis. Trump won the state by 44,200 votes in 2016.

In many states, the absolute latest that you could [send] your ballot in may not actually result in your ballot being counted if it gets delayed by the post office, policy researcher Hill said, referring to an ongoing dispute between state election officials and US Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.

In August, the United States Postal Service (USPS) sent letters to a majority of US states warning, amid newly instated cost-saving measures, that it may not be able to deliver all ballots in time given states deadlines for requesting a mail ballot and their final voting deadline.

.@RidgeGlobal is right. Early ballot processing is an essential step in making our elections run smoothly and efficiently which is why we've been pushing for it across the country We echo this call to allow more time to process ballots in PA ahead of the general election https://t.co/NqwvbcBoo6  Vote At Home (@voteathome) September 9, 2020

DeJoy has since paused those measures and assured legislators that the USPS can be trusted to carry out the election, amid a swarm of state lawsuits against the agency.

Arguments over whether ballot drop-off boxes, which allow a mail voter to deliver the ballot while staying socially distanced, should be provided in all districts have also defined legislative and legal battles preceding November 3.

Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Florida currently do not uniformly mandate drop boxes in all districts.

Signature rejections

The other major reason for ballot rejection, according to researchers, is problems with signatures. This usually relates to forgetting to sign the envelope in which a ballot is sealed  and, to a lesser extent, signatures not matching those on record.

Currently, at least two closely watched battleground states, North Carolina and Wisconsin, still require a witness to sign a mail ballot, creating what Hill describes as an onerous additional requirement that poses particular difficulties during the coronavirus pandemic.

With the special circumstances that arise from COVID, at least having an emergency provision that says that for this election year, those requirements will be waived, would go a long way, she added.

In Wisconsin, about 23,000 ballots were rejected during the 2020 primary, according to investigative news site APM Reports. Trump won the state by 22,748 votes in 2016.

About 13,834 were rejected due to problems with the signatures of voters or witnesses, who are both required to sign the ballot envelope, according to APM Reports analysis. Witnesses are also required to put their address on the envelopes.





Lawsuits in both Wisconsin and North Carolina have sought to do away with the requirement.

Lawsuits across the country have also sought to create more reliable processes for election officials to notify  and allow adequate time for  a voter to fix a mail ballot.

While Florida and Arizona have relatively robust ballot cure processes, advocates have called for procedures to be strengthened in Wisconsin and Michigan, with the latters law saying a voter should be contacted and given the opportunity to correct if time allows, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Meanwhile, in August, a federal judge ruled that residents in North Carolina must be given an opportunity to fix their ballots, while rejecting other changes sought by Democracy North Carolina and the League of Women Voters of North Carolina. A subsequent lawsuit by the North Carolina Democratic Party says the procedure for fixing ballots does not go far enough.

Advocates in Pennsylvania are currently seeking provisions that uniformly require election officials to contact voters and give them adequate opportunity to fix a signature-related issue with a ballot.

Tally delay

Dovetailing into concerns over giving voters the opportunity, and the time, to correct their ballots are concerns over long waits for final results as states grapple with the high rates of mail votes.

Several states, including Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan, do not permit mail ballot processing until election day.

Meanwhile, Florida allows processing and counting to begin 22 days before November 3, and North Carolina may begin processing on the fifth Tuesday before election day, and can begin counting two weeks before. Arizona, meanwhile, can begin processing and tallying 14 days before election day.

During its June primary, Pennsylvania saw delays amid a 17-fold increase in mail voting when compared to the 2016 general election. In June, about half of the three million voters cast their ballots by mail.

Observers fear such delays could be exacerbated in the general election, leading to a potentially fraught post-poll period, especially as some accuse Trump of already laying the groundwork to contest the results.

Nobody in Pennsylvania wants this to be Florida in 2000. And that includes Republicans and Democrats, Independents, everybody, Jon Delano, the political editor at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania television station KDKA and an adjunct professor of public policy at Carnegie Mellon University, told Al Jazeera, referring to the 2000 general election, in which Floridas problems with polling delayed final election results for more than a month.

The crunch is expected to be especially felt in states that are projected to have a huge surge in mail voting, despite having historically low mail voters in past elections.

In the 2018 congressional elections in North Carolina, just under three percent of voters successfully cast ballots by mail, according to the US Election Assistance Commission. Wisconsin had just over five percent successfully cast mail votes in that election. Pennsylvania had just under four percent.

Its fair to say that the most critical election of our lifetime is occurring in the middle of a pandemic, when many states like Pennsylvania are implementing brand new systems of voting, Delano said.

You have a cascade of circumstances that lead to great uncertainty as to how this process will work, he added. It could be that everything works very smoothly, but with an anticipated six to seven million voters [in Pennsylvania], theres always plenty of room for glitches.

Emily Sumlin contributed research.
Even as it fitfully embraces modernity, India remains a country of perpetual myth-making. For the past few years, the world of e-commerce and internet start-upsa story-telling business worldwide where projections of endless exponential growth take precedence over revenues and operating profits that boring old-world companies must live byhas been grafted onto Indias gift for tall stories. The breathless coverage of unicorns becoming decacorns captures headlines, while the cash-burn or value destruction of $2.5 billion by Indian e-commerce last year and the fact that Facebook derived a single-digit share of its revenues from India remain footnotes. As a Goldman Sachs July report observes, Low income levels result in customers being very price sensitive. The biggest question remains how, if ever, will Indias internet become increasingly monetized."

Months of deal-making and rumours of deal-making of Reliance Retail was thus bound to compete with Paatal Lok as the most emblematic Indian serial of 2020.

Fresh from the acquisition of Future, Reliance Retail received a $1 billion investment from Silver Lake in early September for a 1.75% stake. Carlyle is now reportedly poised to make a $2 billion investment. Unconfirmed reports last week that Amazon might pay $20 billion for a 40% share in the company led me to ask Arvind Singhal, who heads Technopak, Indias leading retail management consulting and research firm, why the worlds largest e-commerce company would seek a passive stake in a competitor. It makes no sense to me at all," said Singhal. Given the repeated policy interventions of the Narendra Modi government in the e-commerce sector to prevent, say, deep discounting by foreign companies, Wal-Mart, which has an erratic international record, is a more likely candidate to hedge its bets on Flipkart, he said. The Economic Times reported that in the second quarter, Amazon passed Wal-Marts Flipkart in mobile phone sales, a critical segment for e-commerce in India, for the first time.

Mukesh Ambanis Reliance group is certainly hard to bet against, given its track record of agile deal-making this year alone with Facebook, Google and a host of foreign private equity investors. Telepathy for the concerns of New Delhi helps as well. Just last year, Ambani said at a business summit in Gujarat that Indias data must be owned and controlled by Indian people and not by corporates, especially foreign corporations". In April, after securing $5.7 billion from Facebook for a 10% stake in Reliance Jio, Mr Ambani struck a warmer tone as he welcomed one such global corporation, a friend of the Indian people: Facebook," the Financial Times wryly reported. Remarkably, Reliance Jio is both profitable and has 400 million subscribers paying an average of $2 a month and signed up for the least expensive data in the world.

Whether this record of ambition and execution in telecom is a solid foundation for the e-commerce success of Jio Mart and broadly of Reliance Retail remains to be seen. Reliance Retail both dwarfs its nearest brick-and-mortar competitor, Dmart, and is growing much faster. But, its huge share of the countrys organized retail market means that Reliance Retails growth is partly dependent on the Indian middle class and Indias economy growing as fast as in previous decades. As I had argued in this paper in October before the pandemic tipped Indias economy into something akin to a depression, with income shocks for just about everyone except the very rich, the Indian middle class is not growing (https://bit.ly/3knuTfu).

Reports late last month that JioMarts corner-shop kirana partners increased order flows to four times of their pre-lockdown numbers, on a base that is tiny in the context of Indias unorganized retail trade, is part of a global trend. Amazon in the second quarter of 2020 saw its net income rise 100%, but still remains heavily dependent on web services for its profits. Significantly, Silver Lakes investment in JioMart coincided with the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy reporting that 21 million salaried jobs have been lost after Indias late-March lockdown.

Reliances success hitherto has also largely been in businesses that serve other large entities, rather than consumersor in telecom, where service expectations are low. As K Vaitheeswaran, author of Failing to Succeed, his account of co-founding Indias first e-commerce business in 1999, points out, The service levels in telecom are modest. E-commerce is different." Vaitheeswaran, who is now a co-founder of a firm marketing a health drink, Again, tried JioMart some weeks ago. A couple of items were old or had expired, he reports: Its almost a month. It remains unresolved. I have moved on."

Grocery remains highly fragmented in India, is much more complex online than selling books or clothes, and is hyper-local" says K. Ganesh, a promoter of Big Basket. Even formats like supermarkets have just a fraction of Indias total grocery spend. Once the pandemic is behind us, conversion to online grocery sales may stall because Indian consumers prefer looking at vegetables and fruit closely before they buy.

In far more tech-savvy China, traditional markets account for above two-thirds of all grocery sales. With 75% of Indian consumers having an annual income of less than $2,500, according to Goldman Sachs, and the prospects of raising incomes looking bleak, the projected online bonanza for Reliance may prove a tall order.

Rahul Jacob is a Mint columnist and a former Financial Times foreign correspondent.

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She spends her downtime away from luxury real estate travelling the world with her millionaire tech industry husband Christian Richard.

And Christine shared her latest series of updates from their current getaway, as she lounged beside the pool at the Grand-Hotel du Cap-Ferrat in the south of France.

The Selling Sunset star, 31, looked typically fabulous in a leopard print swimsuit as she posed up a storm by sipping on a cocktail in the sunshine.

Glam: Christine shared her latest series of updates from their current getaway, as she lounged beside the pool at the Grand-Hotel du Cap-Ferrat in the south of France

Christine accessorised her swimwear with a diamond necklace as well as a selection of other sparkling jewels, including her jaw-dropping engagement ring.

The reality star wore her platinum locks in a loose poker straight style, while keeping her look glamorous with a full face of make-up for the occassion.

She later added a floppy straw hat to her ensemble.

Skillful: Life is all about balance for Christine, who as well as enjoying a cocktail also headed down to the beach for a yoga session earlier in the day

Glowing: The Selling Sunset star, 31, looked typically fabulous in a leopard print swimsuit as she posed up a storm by sipping on a cocktail in the sunshine

Life is all about balance for Christine, who as well as enjoying a cocktail also headed down to the beach for a yoga session earlier in the day.

Christine practiced a headstand while demonstrating her core strength with the impressive display, which she shared on her Instagram Stories.

While Christine often shows off her incredible figure, she has made no secret of the fact that she has had cosmetic surgery, and is passionate that people should be honest about any procedures they've undergone.

The blonde bombshell told Vogue: 'I'm all about plastic surgery truth-bearing. It's important in a world where there's this facade of social media causing people to have body dysmorphia.

Wow! Christine practiced a headstand while demonstrating her core strength with the impressive display, which she shared on her Instagram Stories

'People think that [things are] real, and it's not. I tell people all the time: I got my boobs done, I get my lips done, tons of Botox, tons of make-up.

'How I look on Selling Sunset is not how I look when I wake up in the morning.

'The full start to finish, including wardrobe, is around two-and-a-half to three hours. My glam isn't cheap, either  $1,000 a day, if I go all out. It's expensive to look this cheap.'

Christine went on to say in season one she wasn't doing as well financially so used to buy designer clothes and then return them after filming

Honest: While Christine often shows off her incredible figure, she has made no secret of the fact that she has had cosmetic surgery
The Spring Hill fire and backfire burns in Woodland Township, N.J., Sunday, March, 31, 2019. Authorities say fire whipped by high winds has spread over thousands of acres of state forest land in the Pinelands of New Jersey. (Ed Murray/NJ Advance Media via AP) Read more

The largest wildfire raging in the western United States, the August Complex in California, has scorched 800,000 acres  the local equivalent of an inferno raging from Reading, Pa., to Turnersville, N.J.

And thats just one of dozens of blazes throughout California, Oregon, and Washington. Officials in those states where more than 35 people have died have begun calling them climate fires," saying the blazes are reaching farther and burning longer than past wildfires because of climate change.

While conditions in New Jersey and Pennsylvania are much different, both states are looking down their own forested roads to plan for the role climate could play in future fires. The biggest threats in the greater Philadelphia area come in spring, but despite recent rains, some areas to the west now are dry.

New Jerseys roughly 1.1 million acres of Pinelands is the most likely tinderbox. Greg McLaughlin, chief of the states Forest Fire Service, acknowledges the potential for large catastrophic fires already exists.

Fire is part of the Pine Barrens ecosystem. The dry, sandy soil prevents vegetation from decomposing, leading to lots of potential fuel on the forest floor that has built up for decades in some areas. Pitch pine, highly flammable, needs fire to release seeds from cones.

Meanwhile, the Pinelands 1,819 square miles of connected shrub oak, laurel, and blueberry create a dense link to the tree canopy, allowing fire to spread explosively, similar to some conditions in Californias forests. Wind blows uninterrupted across the flat landscape.

For example, the March 2019 Spring Hill fire burned more than 11,000 acres in the Pine Barrens, starting with embers that spread from an illegal bonfire, fueled by wind. A large-scale fire, blown by westerly winds, could escape to neighboring communities.

Typically, fire threats are highest mid-March through May.

Its sort of becoming accepted nationally that the fire season ... is starting earlier and going longer, McLaughlin said. Were seeing this a little bit as well. We had a large fire in 2018 that occurred in late February.

He said conditions were ripe when vegetation grew extensively during that record wet year, followed by a warm January and February.

Youre starting to see, on a larger, global scale something happening with climate and its changing things, he said, like how vegetation responds to long periods of drought and long periods of rain. So were seeing fire happening in non-traditional times."

Through its prescribed burning program, the forest service uses a variety of methods to prevent wildfires, including intentionally burning up to 25,000 acres a year to clear brush. To help stop fires from spreading, crews create fire breaks in advance, thin old brush with machines, and mow.

Our program is growing and were at a point where were hosting workshops for other professionals, McLaughlin said of the New Jersey Prescribed Fire Learning Exchange, which has drawn fire professionals from Utah, Idaho, and elsewhere. Members share ideas, and New Jersey has already sent firefighters to help out West.

But state officials acknowledge their current measures, hampered by limited resources, are not enough. More brush needs to be burned, they say.

Bob Williams, owner of Pine Creek Forestry, a private forester in South Jersey, has warned for years the Pinelands are a conflagration waiting to happen. He credits the fire service for protecting the area, but said the state needs a plan for how to manage all of the hundreds of thousand of acres it owns.

He agrees a lot more acres need to be burned than the state can manage right now.

We have to start being realistic about this, Williams said of the fire threat. That means we need to manage the forest in terms of its ecological integrity but also in reducing the fuel loads to a more natural state as it was hundreds of years ago when native people used burning to manage the land."

His solution: establishing a logging program, but not one based on clear cutting. "The situation with our pine forest is almost identical to what we see in the West. Its overstocked, Williams said.

The threat might be less in Pennsylvania, but the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources warns of increased frequency of wildfire, blowdowns, and other natural disturbances in its 2018 climate plan.

Compared to the western U.S., fire has not been a major disturbance in Pennsylvania, but that is likely to change," the plan states. "There is already evidence of an extended fire season, with fires now happening year-round, not just in spring and fall.

Still, Mike Kern, the states chief fire warden, said the likelihood is fairly low for now of a large-scale fire because of Pennsylvanias geography and weather. Kern said 1,100 wildfires, sometimes referred to as brushfires, have been reported this year, but most are less than an acre, and almost all were caused by people.

He said Pennsylvania has enough roads that provide good access for firefighters, unlike in the sprawling West. Kern noted that Western droughts can last years, while those in Pennsylvania tend to be short lived. Currently, 18 Pennsylvania counties are in a drought watch and one, Potter, is in a drought warning. Droughts can lead to favorable conditions for wildfires.

Pennsylvanias fire season tends to be in the spring, fanned by winds at a time when vegetation and trees have not yet grown leaves that retain water, slowing fire. In addition, its a time when theres little shade, allowing sunlight to dry the forest floor.

Kern said recent springs have been relatively wet, which helps brush decompose more quickly, unlike in the Pine Barrens and U.S. West, where droughts persist for years. Kern also pointed out that California and Oregon have a lot of residential communities surrounded by forest, making fires even more life-threatening. And, unlike in the West, fire-sparking lightning here is usually accompanied by rain.

If Kern has one fear right now, its people  most fires start with homeowners burning leaves, branches, or debris.

We ask people to be careful with fire if they are burning at their home, Kern said.
A father disfigured for life after a pint of acid was thrown in his face is 'sickened' that his attacker is now enjoying open prison after spending just five years behind bars.

Andreas Christopheros, 34, was blinded in one eye and permanently scarred after David Phillips hurled sulphuric acid in his face at his home in December 2014.

Phillips had travelled more than 300 miles from his home in Hastings, East Sussex to Truro, Cornwall seeking revenge - but turned up at the wrong address.

He admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent and was jailed for life at Truro Crown Court in October 2015 after a judge rule he was a danger to the public.

But the attacker, 53, had his jail term slashed to 16 years by the Court of Appeal in 2016 and became eligible for parole after serving just eight.

In a stinging rebuke of the UK justice system, Mr Christopheros said he is 'sickened' that Phillips has been moved to open prison and is applying for day release less than six years after the horrific assault - and after Phillips spent just five years in jail.

The property developer added that the move to treat Phillips in a way he considers to be lenient 'just doesn't add up' and resents that his attacker can seek employment again while he is left 'picking up the pieces of what he (Phillips) did to me'.

Mr Christopheros' intervention comes ahead of a radical Government overhaul of the justice system in England and Wales, with tough new plans to slap terrorists, rapists and other violent offenders with longer prison sentences to be unveiled today.

'How can (Phillips) be out? Yes he's at an open prison, but he can go out and enjoy the sunshine, go out and spend time with his family,' he told Sky News.

Andreas Christopheros, 34, was blinded in one eye and permanently scarred after David Phillips hurled sulphuric acid in his face at his home in December 2014

Mr Christopheros said he is 'sickened' that Phillips has been moved to open prison and is applying for day release after Phillips spent just five years in jail

'It became very obvious that in the UK, you can throw a pint of sulphuric acid in someone's face, ruin their life, cost them physically, emotionally, mentally, cost the state hundreds of thousands if not millions in hospital fees and police investigation, and only spend five and a half years behind actual bars. It just doesn't add up.'

Phillips had travelled 300 miles to Mr Christopheros' address in December 2014 wanting revenge on a man accused of sexually assaulting someone close to him, Truro Crown Court heard at the time of his sentencing.

He threw a pint of concentrated sulphuric acid in the unsuspecting father's face as Mr Christopheros, who was working from home, answered a knock on the door - thinking he was about to collect a Christmas parcel.

Mr Christopheros recalled that his attacker said: 'This is for you mate'.

'He was stood two steps down from my doorstep so he threw it in an upright motion so the acid came up, hit the ceiling above me, raining down my back,' he said.

'My t-shirt disintegrated from top to bottom and was just hanging on my arms like a waistcoat. That was the moment I knew it was acid.'

David Phillips had travelled more than 300 miles from his home in Hastings, East Sussex to Truro, Cornwall seeking revenge in December 2014 - but turned up at the wrong address

He added that 'every aspect' of his life has been affected by the ghastly attack, including the way he sleeps and the time he spends with his sons.

Mr Christopheros was at his home when he opened the door to Phillips who said 'This is for you' before throwing concentrated sulphuric acid over him. The acid was so strong his t-shirt 'disintegrated immediately' and damaged the house floor and hallway

'There isn't one aspect that hasn't been affected, even sleeping,' Mr Christopheros said. 'I'm not the person I was before the attack.

'In a way the old me died when (Phillips) did what he did to me, and I've had to reinvent myself into something that worked for my injuries.'

Phillips' life sentence was slashed to 16 years after judges ruled that it was 'wrong' for the attacker to be condemned as a significant threat to the public.

Changes to the law which came into force in November 2018 now make the possession of sulphuric acid above 15 per cent a criminal offence, with offenders facing a two-year prison sentence and an unlimited fine.

A Government spokesman told MailOnline that prisoners held in open conditions are under strict conditions and will be returned to custody if they breach them.

'Acid attacks devastate lives and leave victims with both emotional and physical scars and our thoughts remain with Mr Christopheros,' the spokesman said.

'Since this appalling case, we have made it an offence to carry these substances in public, banned their sale to under-18s, and brought in minimum custodial sentences to ensure the cowards who use acids as weapons face the full force of the law.'

Today, Justice Secretary Robert Buckland is unveiling plans to give judges the power to hand 18 to 20-year-olds whole life sentences amid an outcry that one of the Manchester terrorist bombers avoided this sentence because of his age.

The revamp will also beef up non-custodial community sentences, including 20-hour-a-day curfews and the use of satellite monitoring for convicted burglars.

Mr Buckland has said he wants to make 'radical and meaningful' changes to crime sentencing, telling the BBC: 'I want to change this system.

Justice Secretary Robert Buckland announced a major overhaul of sentencing that will see 18 to 20-year-olds become eligible for whole life sentences

'And with the help of the probation service, which we're increasing in capacity, I believe that we can deliver a really balanced system of sentencing that means that we protect the public from serious offenders but also offer meaningful rehabilitation for those who want to take that opportunity.'

The worst sex and violent offenders can already receive a life sentence. The change sees convicts sentenced to between four and seven years made to serve two-thirds of sentences instead of being eligible for release on licence at the halfway stage.

Former Victims' Commissioner Baroness Helen Newlove, whose husband was beaten to death by three teenagers in 2007, welcomed the bill, but called for more.

She told GMB this morning: 'It is something I will fight for in the House of Lords when this comes through, but we've got to ensure that there's legal rights for victims, survivors and their families. I think its been shown recently, with PC Harper's widow Lissie, that's shown how the system actually is broken.'

Measures included in today's Sentencing White Paper Whole life orders for child killers, including the ability for judges to hand out this maximum punishment to 18-20 year-olds in exceptional cases. New powers to halt the automatic release of offenders who pose a terrorism risk or are a danger to the public. Ending the release of offenders sentenced to four-seven years at the halfway point, instead requiring them to serve two-thirds of their term. Longer minimum sentences for 15-17 year-old murderers. Prisoners sentenced to life will serve longer before being eligible for parole. Using 'sobriety tags' to clampdown on alcohol-related crimes. Using GPS to track burglars, robbers and thieves when they are released from prison. Advertisement

Last month the brother of the Manchester Arena bomber was jailed for 55 years - the longest minimum life term in history.

Justice Jeremy Baker told the hearing Hashem Abedi 'may never be released' but it was revealed the mass murderer could not face a 'whole life tariff' despite being found guilty in England's biggest terror trial because he was under 21 when he helped his brother plot the bomb attack.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has already said the reforms will make it easier for 'judges to put dangerous offenders behind bars for longer'.

But the package, covering in England and Wales, will also include measures at the lower end of the sentencing spectrum.

Community sentences given to offenders instead of prison will be made tougher by doubling the length of time offenders can be subject to curfew restrictions to two years.

The orders can be made more flexible to help offenders keep their jobs, for example by having fewer restrictions from Monday to Friday but then stricter curfews of up to 20 hours at weekends.

In an effort to tackle reoffending, for the first time GPS electronic location monitoring will be routinely used to track burglars, robbers and thieves when they are released from prison.

The technology will allow probation to monitor an offender's whereabouts and, if appropriate, share this data with the police.

For criminals who stay out of trouble, the requirement to routinely disclose offences to employers for non-sensitive roles will be reduced.

Custodial sentences of up to a year will become spent after a further 12 months without reoffending, instead of four years, while terms of one-to-four years will no longer be disclosed after four crime-free years - down from seven.

Sentences of more than four years will not automatically be disclosed to employers once a seven-year period of rehabilitation has been served, instead of for the rest of an offender's life.

Mr Buckland said: 'For too long our justice system has been beset by complex and confusing laws which the public often feel fail in their most essential aims - to keep them safe and properly punish offenders.

'That ends today. This White Paper is the first step in a fundamental shift in our approach to sentencing, towards one that is fairer, smarter and ultimately better protects the public.

'Our measures will ensure the most serious violent and sexual offenders get the prison time they deserve, while new community interventions and changes to rules around criminal records will help boost rehabilitation and cut reoffending - which means creating fewer victims.'

The Government has set a target of 20,000 extra police officers but Mr Johnson told the Cabinet on Tuesday that 'there's no point in catching the criminals if they are simply going to be let out early'.

He said: 'We have seen far too many cases recently of criminals being let out early and then offending again and the judges being unable to impose the stiff sentences that they want and that society wants because of the restrictive guidelines that they face.'

He told ministers that he wanted 'sensible approaches to sentencing, making it easier for judges to put dangerous offenders behind bars for longer'.

He promised to end the 'ridiculous state of affairs whereby a criminal can just get back out onto the streets even when it is clear to everybody  including the court  that they pose a threat to justice and a threat to the British public'.

'That includes longer sentences for child killers, lowering the age limit on whole-life tariffs for the worst offenders and locking (up) for longer more of the most violent criminals before they can apply for parole,' he said.
The living room is one of the most important spaces to scrutinize when you're house hunting. After all, that's where you'll unwind after a long day, share laughs with friends when you host game night, or find solace in a good book, curled up next to the fireplace.

But riddle us this: How can you fully inspect the living room when you're not even there?

As the COVID-19 pandemic has trudged on, virtual and video home tours have become crucial to home buyers. Technology allows us to feel like we're actually there. But there are some drawbacksyou won't notice a bad odor or noisy neighbors through a video screen, for instance. No, to get a complete picture of the space you're looking to drop a down payment on, you need to rely on your agent to be your eyes, nose, and ears.

To suss out the most info possible about your prospective new home, ask your agent these questions about the living room during your video tour.

1. Does the front door open into the living room?

Upon entering the home, are you immediately in the living room, or is there a foyer that leads the way?

That's an important question to ask, says Leneiva Head, principal broker/owner of Welcome Home Realty, in Antioch, TN.

For most prospective buyers, foyers are a nice bonusa place to take off shoes and hang up coats. If there is one, be sure to get a look inside the closet, too.

Also: If you're looking at a two-story home, where is the staircase?

"This is important because sometimes the staircase greets you at the door, or it's off to the side of the living room," Head says. "Depending on the staircase location, the wall space available for furniture placement could be affected."

2. Where exactly is the living room?

Be sure to have your agent show you exactly where it is in reference to the rest of the house.

"It is very important for your agent to take video walking in and through the living room as if they were living there daily," says Jennifer Carr, associate broker at Timber and Love Realty, in Boise, ID.

"If there are obstacles such as small doorways or stairs, it could be difficult for some buyers who may have special needs," she adds. "I can tell you from experience that having even one step down or up to a living area can be a big negative for many buyers of all ages."

3. What does it lookand soundlike outside the windows?

Be sure to have your agent point the camera out each of the windows. Look and listen.

"You may want to ask your agent if there are any intrusive or disruptive sounds while viewing that may have not come through on their endlike traffic noise, dogs barking, or a train horn," Carr recommends.

4. Is this a formal living room?

You might tour a house with a family room and living room. In a home with both, the family room tends to be a more casual space away from the front entrance where everyone hangs out to watch TV. On the other hand, the living room is traditionally located near the front door and serves as a formal room to welcome guests or entertain.

Wendy Gladson, real estate consultant at Compass, Los Angeles, says to consider how the formal living room will be used.

"Will it be wasted space if it is separated from the rest of the home," she says, "or can it be reimagined to suit your needs?"

5. What kind of flooring is that?

"Having your agent include video of the flooring in the living room is more important than you would think," says Carr.

Whether it's hardwood, laminate, tile, or carpeting, ask what condition it's in.

"Flooring can be changed, but more importantly, if it's not in great condition, you can use this in negotiations," says Carr.

6. How high is the ceiling?

Low ceilings create a cozy feeling, while a higher one creates an illusion of more space and grandeur, Gladson says.

Asking your agent how high the ceiling is important if you want to keep your utility bills lower, as it costs more to heat and cool high-ceilinged rooms. While you're getting a peek at the ceiling, check out the condition of any wooden beams or planks.

7. Can I get a closer look at the lighting?

Lighting is often an overlooked feature, Gladson says, but you should give it more than a passing glance.

"In many older homes, the lighting may be obsolete and need an upgrade," she says.

It might get pricey if you have to replace a ceiling fan, sconces, and other attached lighting, or add new lighting. Some older homes don't have light fixtures or ceiling fans with lights in the living room living. That's something to keep in mind if you want overhead lighting.

8. Is that a wood-burning fireplace?

"The fireplace is the heart of the living room, an emotional anchor representing warmth and charm," says Gladson.

It's not so warm and inviting if it's crumbling or nonfunctional. Whether the fireplace is gas, gel, pellet, or wood-burning, look closely when your agent zooms in on the structure and mantel.

Ask your agent if it works, and, if it's wood-burning, when was the last time a chimney sweep serviced the fireplace.

9. How many windows and doors are in the living room?

Natural light is a coveted feature, yet too many windows can affect furniture placementunless you prefer your furniture away from the walls. Also, take note of the window shapes and sizes.

"Note any unique features like a bay window or window seat, which creates more floor space because of the bump-out, or French doors. Beautiful as they are, if the doors swing inward, they can rob you of valuable floor space," cautions Head.

10. Can I see a close-up of the finishes?

It's easy to be distracted by a beautifully staged living room and overlook the finishes. And even if the living room is empty, you might take note of the size and flooring and move on.

However, before your agent leaves the living room, request a closer look.

"Check the quality of the finishes from paint to baseboards and crown moldings, flooring, draperies or window coverings, and custom built-ins," advises Gladson.

The post 10 Hidden Problems in a Living Room You Might Not Spot on Video appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com.
On that bright late winter morning in 44 B.C., Gaius Julius Caesar (who looked a lot like Louis Calhern) probably didn't have an inkling that while he was finishing his latte and Pop-Tart that a group of concerned Roman citizens, including one he considered a friend (a carbon copy of James Mason), were gunning (knifing?) for him, or that by sunset, despite the sage advice of his wife and a soothsayer in the street, he would end up resembling a human pin cushion.

More fortunate for him (but unfortunately for the world), on a warm summer day in A.D. 1944, the Fuhrer of Germany (a David Bamber lookalike) who already had more than just an inkling that quite a few concerned German citizens were looking to terminate his disastrous control of their homeland with extreme prejudice, is blissfully unaware that one of his staff officers (the spitting image of Tom Cruise) planned to plant a bomb right under his nose. Only dumb luck would spare the dictator's worthless life.

Then there is the American president (a replica of Fredric March), who, in a fictional 1974 A.D., discovers almost too late that the Joint Chiefs of Staff, concerned Americans all, are secretly coordinating a coup d'etat, a military takeover aimed at saving the nation from the actions of what they perceive as a weak executive knuckling under to the enemy.

Man! You can learn a lot about high-level political conspiracies from Hollywood movies.

All of the foregoing brings us in a very roundabout way to a recently released 22-page document that could have been written by a Hollywood screenwriter (and who knows, perhaps it was)  but, unlike those fictional conspiracy films, there is obviously a deadly serious intent behind it. Entitled "Preventing a Disrupted Presidential Election and Transition" and dated August 3, 2020, it is attributed to the "Transition Integrity Project" (TIP), whatever or whoever that is. To judge from its contents and characteristic language (e.g., "white supremacist and extremist networks"; "steadily undermined core norms of democracy and the rule of law and embraced numerous corrupt and authoritarian practices"), though, we find it easy to conclude the TIP would be associated with the Jackass Party  or BLM, Antifa, CNN, MSNBC, or any lamestream alphabetical media outlet  even the Communist Party USA; it's hard to tell actually, since they all seem to talk the same way.

The controlling idea behind "Preventing a Disrupted Presidential Election and Transition" is nothing short of a detailed contingency plan pretending to be a war game for a coup d'etat in the United States if the 2020 elections turn out in a way that the authors clearly deem unacceptable. The "Executive Summary" basically outlines the paper's intent:

In June 2020 the Transition Integrity Project (TIP) convened a bipartisan group of over 100 current and former senior government and campaign leaders and other experts in a series of 2020 election crisis scenario planning exercises. The results of all four table-top exercises were alarming. We assess with a high degree of likelihood that November's elections will be marked by a chaotic legal and political landscape. We also assess that the President Trump is likely to contest the result by both legal and extra-legal means, in an attempt to hold onto power. Recent events, including the President's own unwillingness to commit to abiding by the results of the election, the Attorney General's embrace of the President's groundless electoral fraud claims, and the unprecedented deployment of federal agents to put down leftwing protests, underscore the extreme lengths to which President Trump may be willing to go in order to stay in office.

Permeating the document is a consistent mistrust of the president's intentions, invariably assuming that he will not abide by his constitutional duty to step down should he lose the election. According to this paper, Seven Days in May (the one with Fredric March) might have missed the mark:

Of particular concern is how the military would respond in the context of uncertain election results. Here recent evidence offers some reassurance, but it is inconclusive.

In what respect does "recent evidence" offer "some reassurance"? It doesn't say. To their credit, the war-gamers do consider the possibility of a Seven Days in May scenario playing out; in light of how politicized the Joint Chiefs have become in recent decades under both Elephant and Jackass administrations, the prospect of a banana republicstyle coup should never be dismissed out of hand. Through various media outlets the Jackasses, in particular, have been lobbying the big military brass to "think about" their constitutional obligations should the next presidential election hangfire. You don't need an interpreter to understand what "think about" implies.

Continuing its litany of things that "concern" the paper's authors is the power at any president's disposal:

Of particular concern are the President's ability to federalize the national guard; to deploy the military domestically; to launch investigations into opponents and to freeze their assets; and even to control communication in the name of national security.

We agree: That much power shouldn't be available to any one person, although constitutionally speaking much of it isn't. By not condemning it, though, the authors give tacit approval of those powers, with the inescapable implication that they wouldn't mind having their own candidate pushing such levers of authority for their benefit when he (or she) takes charge.

Moreover, nothing short of spectacular Stalinesque public show trials featuring government officials promising to be good little boys and girls would satisfy these particular concerned citizens:

Congressional leaders should conduct oversight hearings, set clear expectations ahead of time about the conduct of the election, and seek advance assurances from the military and agency heads about their plans and conduct.

The bottom line: By adopting a "these are just what-if table-top scenarios" posture, the paper cleverly generates enough plausible deniability to allow the authors -- quite unlike the Roman citizens, the German conspirators, and the Joint Chiefs in those films above -- to escape being condemned for conspiring to commit treason against the state, should such an accusation ever be leveled at them (which is unlikely). Nevertheless, anybody with more than a couple of brain cells would probably be disinclined to accept their disclaimer at face value:

The purpose of this report is not to frighten, but to spur all stakeholders to action.

Just who, we feel compelled to ask, are those "stakeholders"? And what sort of "action" will they be spurred to? But fear not; after all, it's just a game.

"Preventing a Disrupted Presidential Election and Transition" is something rarely seen in public, a serious blueprint for political revolution unabashedly put on display by the conspirators themselves, no matter what they might say otherwise.

Image credit: Pixabay public domain.
Some people wait a lifetime to win the lottery. Other win and never know it.

The Massachusetts Lottery announced on Wednesday that four winning Mass Cash tickets from 2019 were never claimed.

Each of the prizes is worth $100,000. They are set to expire in September and October if the winners arent identified.

The first two prizes were purchased from the Dedham Convenience Store on 69 Cedar St. in Dedham for the Mass Cash game on April 14, 2019. The winning numbers were 05-06-11-23-26.

The second winning ticket was sold at Big Y at 503 Memorial Dr. in West Springfield. The winning ticket for June 5, 2019 was 08-21-30-32-34. The final location of an unclaimed ticket was at a Shell station at 509 Main St. in Wakefield. The October 16, 2019 winning draw was 02-15-18-32-33.

The final day to claim the prizes won in April and June 5 is Sept. 30. The last day to claim the prize won in the October 16, 2019 is Oct. 16.

Lottery prizes that expire become part of the net profit that the Lottery returns to the state for distribution to all 351 cities and towns.

Prizes can be claimed at Lottery claim centers located in Braintree, Dorchester, New Bedford, Springfield, Woburn and Worcester.

Mass Cash drawings are conducted seven nights a week with a cost of $1 to play. Players must pick five out of 35 numbers or choose Quic Pic, which randomly picks the five numbers for you. Players who match all five winning numbers selected in the drawing win a $100,000 prize.
Advertisement

A series of extraordinary pictures has revealed French border guards escorting a boatload of 16 migrants into British waters and 'dumping' them there.

The incident was witnessed yesterday morning from a fishing boat about 12 miles from Folkestone near the French-British sea border.

The images capture the moment a French rigid inflatable boat or RIB, carrying two border guards, was dispatched from a larger naval vessel to check on the migrants.

But, rather than block them from entering British waters, they allowed the illegal crossing to continue.

Most of the 16 on board the little inflatable were understood to be Afghan nationals, including two children and two women.

A passenger on the fishing boat said they called UK Border Force just after 7.45am because it looked as if the overloaded vessel was about to sink. The migrants were using cut up plastic bottles to it bail out.

Danger zone: The overcrowded migrants' boat chugs across the world's busiest sea lane, taking in water the whole time

Just checking: The French RIB speeds towards the migrants as they sail through French waters in perilous conditions

Mind how you go: But the French do nothing even though the migrant boat is so low in the choppy waters with winds howling

Flashpoint: The area of the English Channel off the coast of Sangatte, France, where the drama unfolded yesterday morning

The Border Force cutter Hunter later picked them up before bringing them back to Dover.

A witness on the fishing boat said: 'We thought the French guards on the RIB were going to take them back, but they continued escorting them down the north-east lane of the Channel and into British waters. They pretty much just dumped them there.

'We called the Border Force because it looked like they were going to sink. It was very, very choppy and windy.'

Tory MP Tim Loughton, who sits on the parliamentary home affairs committee, said: 'This is further evidence the French are happy to provide an escort service to people illegally trying to get into Britain rather than turn them round.'

He said further evidence that the French are not doing enough to ensure migrants make asylum applications in France  rather than undertake dangerous Channel crossings  had come from witnesses working with migrants in France and was given to the select committee yesterday.

Migrants packed into a tiny dinghy were forced to bail out water after the raft started sinking while they were trying to cross the Channel

Running out of time: The desperate migrants, now in English waters, use hollowed plastic containers to bail themselves out

Eventually the UK Border Force boat arrive to rescue the occupants of the craft before it sank, and took them aboard

Taken to safety: The British crew escorted the mainly Afghan asylum seekers onto their boat and took them to the shore

The dinghy was carrying more than a dozen migrants who were trying to reach the UK despite strong winds at sea

The boat, carrying men, women and children was intercepted by Border Force officials near the Kent coast

A second boat is understood to have landed on the beach at Kingsdown near Deal in Kent

He added: 'It is clear that the first priority of the French is to make their problem our problem.'

Natalie Elphicke, the MP for Dover, told the Mail: 'Safety at sea starts with stopping small boats leaving French shores in the first place. They must be turned around at the earliest opportunity, closer to land.'

France's border forces do stop some boats, but it is often only a small proportion compared to the number that make it across.

For example, on Tuesday 151 migrants made it to British shores on 11 boats, compared with 36 on three boats stopped and sent back by the French.

They were seen using plastic bottles to desperately get rid of the water flooding the dinghy

So far in September, 1,464 migrants have arrived, including a single-day record of 416 on 28 boats on September 2

The UK's Border Force was understood to be dealing with a further three boats arriving last night. It means the total who have successfully made the crossing to British shores this year has exceeded 6,500. A further 168 made it across on Monday.

Home Secretary Priti Patel has called on the French authorities to turn more boats back.

But French officials are demanding the UK pays 30million to help fund patrols on the beaches of northern France.

In July Mrs Patel met French counterpart Gerald Darmanin and they agreed to set-up a new Franco-British unit in Calais aimed at curbing crossings.

Wearing a face-mask, puffer jacket and Adidas tracksuit, a migrant father was photographed walking with his wife and two children along the coastal path at Kingsdown Beach in Deal yesterday

Home Office officials are said to be considering plans for curbing human rights laws to make it easier to boot out illegal boat arrivals.

Charities warned that trying to make the crossings 'unviable', which Mrs Patel has vowed to do, could lead to more deaths. Maddy Allen, of the Help Refugees charity, told the home affairs committee that it could lead to migrants spreading further along the French coast before crossing.

She said: 'That will directly result in an increase in deaths in the water because you're crossing a larger body of water.'

Around 400 people including families, believed to have crossed the Channel in small boats, are to be housed in temporary accommodation at Napier Barracks in Folkestone, Kent, from next week

Ms Allen said she hoped the crossings would stop as it was an 'incredibly dangerous journey', adding: 'As the Home Office and their French counterparts strive to make this route unviable - blocking access to beaches, increasing securitisation, making investments - I think there's probably a number of options that could play out.

'People will begin to make these crossings from further afield, we are already seeing this.

'And it's going to spread out further up and down the coast. And that will directly result in an increase in deaths in the water because you're crossing a larger body of water to make that journey.'

Beth Gardiner-Smith, chief executive of Safe Passage UK, said: 'I would hope they could (make the route unviable). We don't want to see people crossing by boat.

'I'm not sure it's realistic without a serious investment in more support on the ground in northern France, more support to get people into the system and more safe and legal options for people to be able to come to the UK in limited circumstances.

'So no, I don't believe it's realistic at this point.'

The charities told the committee the coronavirus pandemic was likely to have triggered the recent surge in crossings and also warned that child migrants in northern France who have relatives in the UK are being pushed into the hands of trafficking gangs amid delays in processing claims to join their families.

The hearing came as it emerged Channel migrants are to be housed in military barracks while their asylum claims are processed.

Around 400 people including families will be put in temporary accommodation at Napier Barracks in Folkestone, Kent, from next week.

A barracks in Pembrokeshire, Wales, is also being considered for use by the Home Office, the PA news agency understands.
EU Does Not Recognize Lukashenka, Borrell Says

September 15, 2020

The European Union does not recognize embattled leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka as the legitimate president of Belarus, the bloc's top diplomat said on September 15.

High Representative of the European Union Josep Borrell told the European Parliament that the August 9 election which returned the strongman to power was fraudulent.

The Belarusian opposition, led by Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, accuses Lukashenka of rigging the election, which handed him a sixth term with 80 percent of the vote.

Since then, thousands of people have been detained and beaten by police while nearly all the opposition's key leaders have been forced to leave the country or been arrested in a widening crackdown condemned by the United States and European Union.

"The situation is clear for us. We consider the elections of August 9 fraudulent," Borrell told the European lawmakers.

"We don't recognize Lukashenka as the legitimate president of Belarus."

More than 7,500 peaceful protesters have been detained and 500 cases of torture have been documented, Borrell said.

The EU has already said it does not recognize Lukashenka's reelection as legitimate. The 27-member bloc is preparing sanctions against those it deems responsible for rigging the election and cracking down on protests.

But diplomats say the EU sanctions on Belarus are being blocked by Cyprus, which is demanding measures against Turkey first in a dispute over natural gas drilling in the eastern Mediterranean.

Borrell urged member states to pass the sanctions -- which need a unanimous vote -- before a summit next week in Brussels.

Based on reporting by AFP and AP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/eu-does-not-recognize -lukashenka-borrell-says/30840563.html

Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Berkshire County high school students seeking further challenge can earn free MCLA credit through the Dual Enrollment Program.

The College has an established program which allows qualified high school students to take a transferable, introductory college course at MCLA. The student would take the course at no cost.

Benefits

Earn college credit at no cost

Enroll in a college course that can be transferred to another school, or get a head start on an MCLA degree

Prepare students for the rigors of a college-level class and environment

Allows exploration in an academic field of interest

Strengthens college applications

Inspires college aspirations

Program Requirements:

Must be an area high school student

Guidance counselor recommendation

Completion of brief MCLA Dual Enrollment application

Minimum GPA is a 3.0 or demonstrate potential for academic success through steadily improving high school grades, special talent, strong grades in the desired college course, strong recommendations, etc.

Examples of courses high school students have taken at MCLA:

Pre-calculus

Microeconomics

Introduction to Sociocultural Anthropology

Robotics

Human Biology

We also provide an orientation to familiarize dual enrollment students with the expectations of the College and the services that are provided.

Student Testimonials

"I found it very easy to approach my professor. It's a fascinating experience to take a class with so many people from different backgrounds and age groups. We all had such different dreams and backgrounds, but we knew that we were there because of one common interest: to learn something new."

- Mount Greylock student

"My Human Biology professor is wonderful. She makes class really fun, but is also available after class if I have questions. I find it easy to follow along. I am learning about the human body and how it works. This is important because this is information I will need to know for my career choices."

- BArT student

Please contact the Office of Admission at 413.662.5410 for more information on how to apply.
Allentown, PA (18103)

Today

Partly cloudy and very cold. Near or below zero wind chills again late at night towards sunrise. .

Tonight

Partly cloudy and very cold. Near or below zero wind chills again late at night towards sunrise.
By Gina Lee

Investing.com  Asian stock were mixed on Wednesday morning, with investors looking to a slew of central bank policy decisions due later in the day and on Thursday.

The U.S. Federal Reserve will hand down its policy decision later in the day, which is widely expected to continue the stance announced by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell at the Jackson Hole symposium on August 27. The Bank of Japan and Bank of England will hand down their respective decisions on Thursday.

Hopes for a COVID-19 vaccine rose after U.S. President Donald Trump said that a vaccine could be ready within three to four weeks. But his comments also raised concerns, as experts including National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci are putting forward a more cautious timetable.

Trade issues are also at the forefront for the U.S. after the World Trade Organization ruled on Tuesday that the country violated international regulations by imposing tariffs on more than $234 billion worth of Chinese exports.

Japans Nikkei 225 edged up 0.10% by 11:07 PM ET (4:07 AM GMT) and South Koreas KOSPI edged up 0.16%.

In Australia, the ASX 200 was up 0.89%.

Hong Kongs Hang Seng Index inched down 0.07%, reversing some earlier gains. The city reported no new local cases on Tuesday, and is set to further relax social distancing measures on Friday.

Chinas Shanghai Composite inched down 0.06% while the Shenzhen Component was down 0.41%.

Investors are continuing the search for a catalyst to return global stocks back to their months-long rally, which came to halt earlier in the month. Central bank stimulus measures have provided some protection against risks such as the ever-rising number of global COVID-19 cases, November's U.S. presidential election and the possibility of a no-deal Brexit.

Given the volatility we have seen in the stock market in the last couple of weeks -- as more evidence of some bubble-like characteristics in the exposure to growth stocks has been revealed -- its hard to see a new, strong rally ahead of the U.S. election, AXA Investment Managers chief investment officer of core investments Chris Iggo told Bloomberg.

Story continues

Meanwhile, the U.S. Congress stalemate over the latest round of stimulus measures continued to raise concerns about the economic recovery from COVID-19.

There is some expectation that with the U.S. Congress unwilling/unable to agree to a new fiscal package, monetary policy may need to step in to fill the void, NAB analyst Tapas Strickland said in a note.

Accordingly, markets will be focused on any changes to forward guidance and to any balance sheet adjustments, the noted added.

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SAUSALITO, Calif., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Helping Hands Community announced a $50,000 donation from Bridgepoint, a major international private equity group, to support the organization's COVID-19 community relief efforts. The donation from Bridgepoint's Hardship Fund will go directly to covering food and services costs, delivery services, and minimal operational costs including background checks that ensure safety for all Helping Hands users.

"As a completely volunteer-run nonprofit organization, we depend on donations to meet community needsand Bridgepoint's support allows us to continue to scale as demand grows. For as long as this public health crisis persists, we'll continue to direct resources and aid straight into the hands of high-risk populations in our communities," said CEO and co-founder of Helping Hands Community, Jeff Miller.

Recently designated 501c3 status, Helping Hands is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving those most vulnerable to COVID-19. Donations and grants to Helping Hands are fully tax deductible as provided by law and retroactive to the determination date of March 20, 2020.

"Helping Hands Community was created in direct response to the COVID-19 pandemic and when we learned of their mission, we were eager to support their community-focused efforts to help those most in need during this extraordinary time," said Partner at Bridgepoint, Andrew Sweet.

Since Helping Hands was founded, it has worked with partners including Uber, the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation , and the American Lung Association to provide aid to thousands of people who are most vulnerable to COVID-19.

To donate to Helping Hand's COVID-19 relief efforts, please visit https://helpinghands.community/donate .

About Helping Hands Community

Helping Hands Community is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving those most vulnerable to COVID-19. Our technology platform connects partnersincluding food banks, city and county governments, mutual-aid organizations, faith-based organizations, and community groupswith logistics infrastructure and local community volunteers to ensure food and other essential goods get delivered safely. Our work enables at-risk community members to stay home and stay safe while still receiving food and support they need. Founded by veterans of Uber, Facebook, and Google, the Helping Hands Community organization comprises more than 150 volunteers nationwide, both professionals wanting to give back and students just beginning their careers. Together, we make local volunteerism easy and enable our partners to better serve vulnerable individuals.

Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE Helping Hands Community

Related Links

https://helpinghands.community


What are we doing? I mean, its beyond frustrating, Chicago police Superintendent David Brown said at a news conference Monday. It makes your blood boil if youre one of those victims. This is what we are doing. Were making the arrest of people who possess illegal guns, which should make us safer, and yet every weekend we can bring forth an example of a person out of jail that should be in jail.
China is having a bad year. Covid19 caused lots of damage to the economy and the actual number of Chinese killed by the virus is a still a well-kept secret. China did prevent the virus from spreading to many parts of the country, but this entailed lots of disruption to the economy and these unpredictable local disruptions continue. A growing number of doctors and medical researchers are fleeing China to escape the crackdown on anyone wishing to speak out on the nature of the virus and how the government handled the response.

The Americans continue their trade war in an effort to persuade China to halt its economic espionage program and years of IP (intellectual property) theft. China thought it could placate the Europeans and Asian trading partners but that did not work out as hoped. The Europeans joined the Americans in demanding reforms in their trading terms with China. This came as a shock because until recently China thought it could enlist Europe as an ally in opposing the U.S. trade war. The Europeans had a lot of disputes with the Americans but opposing decades of Chinese economic misbehavior turned out to be one thing the American and Europeans could agree on.

Indian Impasse

Today marks day 114 of the current clash in Indian Ladakh along the shore of Pangong Lake. In India and China recently agreed to halt their operations on the Indian border. Both sides declared victory but China was the actual winner because now a thousand square kilometers of additional Indian territory along Panglong Lake is under Chinese control. The Chinese SSSN (Shove, Stop, Stands Fast) tactics have once again prevailed, as they have many times in the recent past. China expressed no interest in retreating but was willing to negotiate. With the cold weather arriving India was in no position to refuse the Chinese offer. China believes they will prevail by repeating their SSSN and push Indian forces out of all the disputed areas along their common border. SSSN is slow and it would take decades to grab all the Indian territory claimed by China. As long as China maintains a stronger military than India and can keep more troops near the disputed border areas, India will not feel confident to defend forcefully and risking a large-scale battle on the border. While both nations have about the same population, the Chinese economy is nearly five times the size of Indias. This was no surprise to India, which has put great emphasis on economic growth since the 1990s. That has paid off, with GDP nearly doubling in the last decade from $1.7 trillion to the current $2.9 trillion. This made India the fifth largest economy, recently surpassing Britain and France. The rest of the top five are the U.S., China, Germany and Japan. Chinese GDP growth is slowing although in the last decade it more than doubled from $6.1 trillion to $14 trillion. But for once the annual Indian GDP growth has been faster than in China, where GDP growth rates have been declining over the last five years. Over three decades of spectacular economic growth in China resulted in the Chinese GDP becoming over fourteen times larger than it was in 1989. In that same period the U.S. GDP doubled. After World War II India had a larger GDP than China and never felt the same urgency as China to modernize and expand the economy. Actions have consequences and, in this case, it means China can push India around on their mutual border.

Another reason for this is that India is still haunted by the last battle between Indian and Chinese forces back in 1962. In a month of fighting (starting on 20 October) India lost 7,000 troops (57 percent prisoners, the rest dead or missing) compared to 722 Chinese dead. China declared a ceasefire that India accepted. China actually advanced in two areas, a thousand kilometers apart and ended up taking 43,000 square kilometers of Indian territory.

The source of the 1962 war and current border disputes are a century old and heated up again when China resumed control over Tibet in the 1950s. From the end of the Chinese empire in 1912 up until 1949 Tibet had been independent. But when the communists took over China in 1949, they sought to reassert control over their "lost province" of Tibet. This began slowly, but once all of Tibet was under Chinese control in 1959, China had a border with India and there was immediately a disagreement about exactly where the border should be. Thats because, in 1914, the newly independent Tibet government worked out a border (the McMahon line) with the British (who controlled India). China considers this border agreement illegal and wants 90,000 square kilometers back. India refused, especially since this would mean losing much of the state of Arunachal Pradesh in northeastern India and some bits elsewhere there and all along the new northern border.

India, as a democracy with a free press, has a public discussion of Chinese tactics and possible Indian responses. China also tries to take advantage of the India's media freedom by buying favorable coverage in the Indian press. This is done via bribes, offers of investments or loans as well as economic concessions within China. Military strategy in China, since ancient times, has placed emphasis on having a powerful military but using it mainly as a threat and giving enemies an incentive to accept bribes and allow China to get what they want. Yet India has rarely been seen as an enemy of China. There is nothing valuable on their mutual border which for thousands of years has been along high mountains and thinly populated lowland jungles. Neither India nor China had any incentive to raise large armies to threaten each other.

Because of this background, the border disputes of the last 60 years are seen by Indians as inexplicable and by Chinese as overdue restitution for centuries of humiliations inflicted by Western invaders. India, ever since it emerged from centuries of British colonial rule in 1947, insisted that India and China shared a background of oppression by the West. China sees India as trying to perpetuate Western crimes against China. To most Chinese Indians look and sound like Westerners, therefore India must be an enemy of China. India has come to accept that the Chinese are obsessed with making India pay for real or imagined wrongs inflicted by Western imperialists and see nothing wrong with using ancient Chinese imperialist methods to get their way. Suddenly British imperialism is not the worst thing that could ever happen to India. China is seeking to provide something much worse and much closer.

The latest phase of this ongoing campaign began earlier this year when China revived its border war with India over Pangong Lake, which is largely in Tibet and connected to Chinese claims on Kashmir territory. This is the longest lake in Asia and part of the 134-kilometer long lake extends 45 kilometers into the Indian Ladakh region. China is using its usual SSSN tactics to slowly move the border into territory long occupied by India. The portion of the lake shore in dispute has no native population. The only people who visit the area are soldiers from India or China.

Indian efforts to get China to negotiate a more permanent settlement of border disputes are not working. This is again demonstrated as India tries to get negotiations going over the new dispute on the shore of Pangong Lake. The Chinese will issue vague press releases but they will not negotiate a final settlement. Even when they negotiate a deal the Chinese tend to see these permanent agreements are temporary ceasefires.

Southern Shoving Zone

In the last two decades China has aggressively asserted its claimed ownership of most of the South China Sea. This claim was first made after World War II but not often acted on, except in the 1970s against Vietnam. In the last decade China has more aggressively asserted its claims om the South China Sea but has not opened fire on anyone they found illegally operating in the South China Sea. There has been some violence against Filipino fishing boats working within the Filipino EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone). China insists their claims supersede the Filipino EEZ. These incidents angered many Filipinos, and encouraged the Filipino government to keep up the hostile statements and military activities against the Chinese intruders.

In 2016 an international court declared the Chinese claims illegal. This was the result of a Filipino lawsuit. China ignored the ruling and has been protecting Chinese claims mainly through propaganda and intimidation. The Philippines admits that it has not got sufficient military forces to oppose China. The local coalition opposed to the Chinese claims does have the military capability to block Chinese forces. That coalition includes the United States, Australia, Japan and South Korea and several other local nations. For the moment it is a war of words and its up to China to escalate that to open warfare. China has not opened fire since 1974 when they fought a naval battle with the South Vietnamese near the Paracel islands, and took control after sinking one of the four Vietnamese warships and chasing the others away. Since Vietnam was united in 1975 China has continued to claim areas within the Vietnamese EEZ and used intimidation to enforce those claims. China is willing to take it slow in the South China Sea. As long as their buildup there is not stopped, China is winning.

September 10, 2020: India and China announced that they had reached an agreement on a ceasefire on their border near Panglong Lake. The main motivation for this deal is the weather. Six months of freezing temperatures, lots of snow and the lake freezing over are underway. Both sides are maintaining troops in the disputed area and it requires a major effort just to keep those troops fed and warm up there.

September 8, 2020: In the southwest (Tibet border with India) Chinese troops once more advanced on Indian troops near Panglong Lake. This time there was no fistfight because Indian forces opened fire with a lot of assault rifles and machine-guns. The bullets went over the heads of the Chinese troops, who returned a similar barrage. The Chinese backed off. Lately both sides have concentrated on cold-weather shelters for the troops and stockpiling food, fuel and other supplies.

September 6, 2020: In the southeast (Jiangsu Province) officials running the city of Suzhou backed off on their plans to expand the SCR (Social Credit Rating) to include constant information on what everyone was doing via a mandatory app in their smart phones. The government has been testing such an app in the northwest (Xinjiang province), where a form of martial law had been imposed to deal with protests and terror attacks by members of the Moslem Turkic minority there that until recently was the majority. The government was impressed with this degree of control and was seeking to implement it nationwide. Massive popular opposition to expanded SCR by the ten million residents of Suzhou was an unexpected and unpleasant surprise for national and provincial officials.

Since 2015 the government has forcibly instituted the SCR system in Xinjiang. There the government has installed an extensive network of vidcams and other forms of population monitoring and used that to develop and perfect methods to obtain more control over large populations. By 2019 the government boasted that nationwide millions of people have been identified and punished because of their low SCR. Punishments for a low SCR include more difficulty in getting a good job, a bank loan or a passport. SCR scores depend on what the government sees, hears or reads via that growing network of sensors and informants. The residents of Xinjiang province, both Turkic and Han Chinese, opposed the strict and unrelenting surveillance of the SCR system but could not protest because of the heavy police presence in the province to control ethnic violence and largely non-existent Islamic terrorists. The government was guilty of believing their own propaganda that an expanded and more intrusive SCR system would be welcomed, or at least tolerated, by most Chinese.

September 4, 2020: China launched an unmanned reusable space plane similar to the two American X-37Bs, which has been constantly in orbit since 2010. One is always on the ground but after a year or more in orbit an X-37B lands and the other one is launched again. The Chinese space landed two days after launch but no pictures or other details have been released yet.

September 1, 2020: American intelligence agencies believe China now has a larger (350 warships) fleet than the United States (293). The U.S. Navy still has a considerable edge in tonnage, manpower, firepower and experience. China plans to close all those gaps by mid-century.

August 29, 2020: In the southwest (Tibet border with India) both Chinese and Indian troops fired into the air. This was done while the troops were far apart but near the shore of Panglong Lake. Two days later there as a similar incident of gunfire by both sides.

August 28, 2020: North Korean trade (buying and selling) with China continues declining. In July the total trade was only $74 million. This was down 24 percent from June. This is caused by the continued border closures because of covid19. At its worst (March) trade was reduced to $19 million. Restrictions were gradually lifted and in June trade was almost $100 million but revived fear of virus infections led to tighter border control. Smuggling is also more difficult but still occurs. One of the most painful trade shortages is imports of refined petroleum products. These come from China and Russia and during the first six months of 2020 were only 17,000 tons, half what came in during the first six months of 2019.

August 27, 2020: In the northwest, across the border in North Korea (Ryanggang Province) two cities (Samjiyon and Hyesan) ordered locked down until a woman who recently crossed the border from China was found and arrested. The woman in question used smugglers to get her into China back in 2017. That did not work out well as smugglers often try to turn young women like this into prostitutes or unwilling wives for local Chinese men. The woman saw going back to North Korea as her best option. It is illegal border crossers like this woman who have brought covid19 into North Korea before. Earlier line crossers who were later caught were tested for the virus and if they had it, they were killed.

August 11, 2020: Off the west coast a North Korea patrol boat opened fire on Chinese fishing boats that were operating illegally in North Korean waters. Three Chinese were killed. This was unusual because the patrol boat crews usually get a bribe from the Chinese to ignore the poaching. The death of three Chinese may be retaliation for a July incident where Chinese fishing boats rammed a North Korean coast guard patrol boat. China believes North Korea was responsible for killing several Chinese fishermen in June. The bodies were never found but their empty boat, with lots of blood stains on it, was later found drifting. The root cause of the increase violence is the North Korean coast guard men demanding larger bribes because so many other sources of bribes were not available because of the covid19 restrictions.

August 9, 2020: France hosted an international donor meeting to coordinate aid for Lebanon in the aftermath of the Beirut port explosion. The Arab Gulf states were invited, along with the United States, China and Russia. Iran was not invited. The International Support Group for Lebanon (United Nations, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, China, U.S., Britain, European Union and the Arab League) will be represented. This conference raised over $250 million for Lebanon. The explosion took place in an area controlled by Iran via its local affiliate Hezbollah.

August 7, 2020: Pakistan is publicizing a proposal that Pakistan, with the help of China, take control of all of Kashmir (unlikely) and create another direct land-link with China. That is unlikely unless China backed Pakistan wins a war to push India out of Kashmir. That might cause India to use its nuclear armed ballistic missiles against China. The geopolitics of all this is that Pakistan is the only military ally China has and most countries that border China have border disputes with China. Most of these disputes are dormant now, but as China has demonstrated in the South China Sea, northeastern and northwestern India, the claims are there for the exploiting.
New Delhi:

The CBI has registered a preliminary enquiry in the appointment of Saumya Jain, AAP minister Satyendar Jain's daughter, as advisor to Delhi government on its Mohalla Clinic project.

The Lt Governor's office had earlier recommended a CBI probe in the matter after she was appointed an advisor in the health department. The Delhi government, on the direction of the LG's office, had sent a letter to CBI in December last year to look into the matter.

Jain had earlier rejected the allegation of favouritism, saying she had worked voluntarily and not a single paisa was given to her. In July, Soumya had resigned from the post following the opposition's allegation of nepotism.

"We have done nothing wrong. She was not given a single paisa. She had offered to work voluntarily and we had taken her service. Let them probe the matter," Satyendar Jain had said. Official sources said the Preliminary Enquiry will cover the role of Jain, the MD of the Health department and others, and will decide if a regular case needs to be registered.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 16

Trend:

Young people in Azerbaijan, like elsewhere in the Europe and Central Asia region, are being provided with the opportunities needed to grow into productive adults, thanks to continued investments in health and education during their childhood and teenage years, says the latest update of the World Banks Human Capital Index (HCI), which measures pre-pandemic human capital outcomes around the world, Trend reports citing the World Bank (WB).

This years report includes a decade-long analysis of human capital development from 2010 to 2020 in 103 countries. Azerbaijan is among the top 10 global improvers in progress made on health and education.

However, the Covid-19 pandemic and resulting turbulence in the commodity markets are threatening the gains made so far, with numerous challenges to maintaining health and education services in the face of pandemic-related restrictions to protect public health.

Azerbaijans HCI value is 0.58, meaning that a child born today in Azerbaijan can expect to achieve 58 percent of the productivity of a fully educated adult in optimal health. This is slightly higher than average for the Upper-Middle Income Countries.

"Governments in Europe and Central Asia have done well in prioritizing investment in health and education, which are key drivers of growth and development. The challenges unleashed by Covid-19, however, require an even stronger policy response, including greater use of technology to improve service delivery and enhanced social assistance programs, to ensure that people receive quality education and health care", said Anna Bjerde, World Bank Vice President for the Europe and Central Asia region.

The recently completed study Survive, Learn, Thrive: Strategic Human Capital Investments to Accelerate Azerbaijans Growth, carried out by the World Bank and Government of Azerbaijan, has identified progress and challenges in building and activating human capital in Azerbaijan. Over the last 10 years child mortality and child stunting rates in Azerbaijan have dropped considerably.

To tackle ongoing human capital development challenges in the education sector, Azerbaijan needs to increase access to early learning programs and improve relevance of the higher education system. In the health system, it needs to improve the systems response to chronic diseases and increase the efficiency of financial resources to ensure better health care provision. In the area of social protection and labor, the country needs to increase investment in social assistance to support the most vulnerable and expand the scope and coverage of active labor market programs.

"Azerbaijans population, its human capital, is the most precious resource in the country and the World Bank is committed to supporting opportunities to further enhance the well-being and productivity of the population  across ages and genders and regions," said Sarah Michael, World Bank Country Manager for Azerbaijan.

The World Banks HCI looks at a childs trajectory, from birth to age 18, on such critical metrics as child survival (birth to age 5); expected years of primary and secondary education adjusted for quality; child stunting; and adult survival rates. HCI 2020, based on data up to March of this year, provides a crucial pre-pandemic baseline that can help inform health and education policies and investments for the post-pandemic recovery.
Facebook and Instagram flagged posts from the Fox News show Tucker Carlson Tonight as false information Wednesday, saying that they repeated information about COVID-19 that multiple independent fact checkers say is false.

The show posted a video on the social media platforms Tuesday night with the caption Chinese whistle-blower to Tucker: This virus was made in a lab & I can prove it. The posts feature a segment in which Carlson interviewed Li-Meng Yan, a Chinese virologist who claims that the virus is not from nature.

Intelligence agencies have been skeptical that the pathogen can be conclusively linked to a lab. Scientists who have studied the genetics of the virus agree that it began as a bat virus and likely evolved to jump to humans. Many have dismissed theories that the virus infected researchers in a lab accident.

On Tuesday night, Facebook and Instagram placed screens of varying levels of opacity over images of the Tucker Carlson Tonight video along with a false information warning while also allowing users an option to watch it. A similar post on Twitter, which has suspended Yans account, was untouched as of Wednesday afternoon.

On Wednesday, Carlsons show updated the captions to say that Facebook is trying its best to censor this video. In a separate Facebook post, Carlsons team wrote that Facebook is working hard to prevent people from viewing the interview segment and vowed to address the situation on Wednesdays show.

The video has been viewed more than 478,000 times on Instagram and shared more than 62,000 times on Facebook.

Earlier this week, a report about the virus, co-written by Yan, was published by two nonprofit organizations, the Rule of Law Society and the Rule of Law Foundation. According to The Daily Beast, both are linked to Steve Bannon, the former adviser to President Donald Trump who was recently charged with fraud.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
The firm claims that this gaming laptop is not heavy and has a portable design measuring 369.7 x 253 x 19.9 mm while using material like aluminium alloy.

As anticipated, Honor has finally launched its Hunter range of gaming laptops in the market. And the first one in the series is the Hunter V700. Introduced at Honor Smart Life conference held in Beijing, China, this new gaming laptop is priced at RMB 7499 (roughly 81,500) for the base model.

The firm claims that this gaming laptop is not heavy and has a portable design measuring 369.7 x 253 x 19.9 mm while using material like aluminium alloy. It has a 16.1-inch screen with fullHD (1920 x 1080 resolution) a 4.7mm narrow border on both sides and 100% sRGB with 300nits brightness. As for the ports, it includes 3.5mm audio, USB 2.0, RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet port, HDMI 2.0, 2 x USB 3.2 ports and a Type-C display/data port.

Also read: Honor launches new smartwatches, MagicBook laptop and more at IFA 2020

Powering the laptop is the 10th-generation Intel Core i7-10750H processor along with Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 GPU. You also get configurations in Intel Core i5-10300H processor and GTX 1660 GPU with 192-bit 6GB GDDR6 memory. The Hunter V700 also features up to 16GB GDDR6 RAM, which upgradable to 32GB RAM, along with two NVMe SSDs for up to a total of 1TB storage.

For heat dissipation, the gaming laptop relies on Wind Valley design. When the cover is closed, the heat dissipation panel is retracted, keeping the body slim. When opened, the wind valley channel at the base is automatically revealed to form an air intake vent of 8.5 mm, increasing the air intake volume by 40 percent, says Honor.

Like soon in other gaming laptops, this one also has a dedicated Hunter button to switch between performance, balanced and quiet modes.
PLYMOUTH, England  With a splash of Plymouth gin, the U.S. ambassador to Britain officially launched a ship named Mayflower on Wednesday, 400 years to the day after a wooden vessel with that name sailed from an English port and changed the history of two continents.

Unlike the merchant ship that carried a group of European Puritan settlers to a new life across the Atlantic Ocean in 1620, the Mayflower christened by U.S. Ambassador Robert Wood Johnson has no crew or passengers. It will cross the sea powered by sun and wind, and steered by artificial intelligence.

Johnson said the high-tech ship, developed jointly by U.K.-based marine research organization ProMare and U.S. tech giant IBM, showed that the pioneering spirit of the Mayflower really lives on in the trans-Atlantic partnership.

Were heading out with the same spirit of adventure and determination and vision for the future as the original colonists, the American diplomat said at a ceremony also attended by the head of the Royal Navy, Adm. Tony Radakin, and Dutch Ambassador Karel van Oosterom.

Like the Mayflower in 1620, the new vessel will travel from Plymouth, England, to Plymouth, Massachusetts, but on a marine research trip rather than a colony-founding journey. The coronavirus pandemic has delayed its trip until the spring of 2021.

The ships launch in Plymouth, 200 miles (320 kilometers) southwest of London, is part of Mayflower commemorations disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. They involve British, Americans and Dutch institutions  many of the 17th-century Pilgrims had fled England for Holland in the years before the voyage  and the Wampanoag people, who had lived for millennia in what is now New England.

In 1620, the Wampanoag helped the exhausted Mayflower settlers survive their first winter. But soon colonial expansion, conflict and new diseases were having a devastating impact on North Americas indigenous peoples.

Wampanoag stories have been marginalized on past Mayflower anniversaries, but they are playing a big part in events and exhibitions this time around.

Its going a long way to lend balance to this story, said Paula Peters, a Wampanoag writer and educator who has helped create anniversary exhibitions, including one opening later this month at The Box museum in Plymouth.

We dont expect people to take one side or the other, Peters said. But certainly the story of the Mayflower is one that really cant be told without telling also the story of the Wampanoag.

The Mayflower voyage plays a central role in American history, but is less studied in Britain. Charles Hackett, chief executive of Britains Mayflower 400 events, said he had been surprised how much the story really resonates and is important to different communities in the U.K., from the towns that nurtured the Puritans to Harwich, the eastern England port where the Mayflower was built.

He thinks the 17th century voyage, with people desperately crossing oceans, also strikes a chord with many in our era of global pandemic, climate crisis and mass migration. While half the Mayflowers passengers were religious dissenters, the rest were economic migrants, he said.

The Mayflower Autonomous Ship  its creators decided against a snappier name  is intended to be the first in a new generation of crewless high-tech vessels that can explore parts of oceans too difficult or dangerous for people to reach.

Andy Stanford-Clark, chief technology officer for IBM U.K. and Ireland, said the ships launch is a very exciting stage of the journey towards autonomous shipping that could pave the way for AI-driven cargo ships, water taxis and research vessels  as well as warships.

Radakin, the British navy chief, said he was excited by the potential of automation to increase our availability, our sustainability and our lethality.

The 50-foot (15-meter) trimaran will undertake six months of sea trials and short trips before setting out on its trans-Atlantic trip to measure ocean health: assessing the impact of climate change, measuring micro-plastic pollution and studying populations of whales and dolphins.

Along the way, its AI captain will have to make complex decisions in response to wind, waves, vessels and unknown surprises.

Were quietly confident were going to make it, Stanford-Clark said. Ultimately, the sea will decide.

Wednesdays event on Plymouths seafront, yards from where the Mayflower passengers embarked in 1620, was deliberately low-key to prevent large crowds from gathering in breach of social distancing rules. Repeated reminders about hand sanitizer and masks slightly undermined the grandeur of the occasion.

But the Mayflower is woven into the fabric of Britains chief naval city, and hundreds of people gathered along the seawall to watch the sleek new ship leave harbor.

Retired teacher Richard Jackelman said he could remember as a boy joining a 350th-anniversary parade dressed as a Pilgrim and making money off the many American tourists who came to town.

I used to sell bits of concrete here as a kid, saying that the Pilgrim Fathers had sat on it  and the Americans would buy it! he said.

Jackelman is proud of Plymouths association with the Mayflower, which he thinks epitomizes a British spirit of adventure. Hes sorry to see events disrupted because of the pandemic.

The anniversary means a lot, he said. It was going to be such a wonderful year.

___

Jo Kearney in Plymouth contributed to this story.
"Well, today did not go as planned," Indy driver Ed Carpenter tweeted Aug. 23. "Some days just aren't meant to be, but what an honor to represent such a great institution."

Both quotes are understatements.

Carpenter was talking about the sponsor of his No. 20 IndyCar, the United States Space Force. And the day didn't go well because he lost the race at pretty much the first turn, finishing in 26th place.

His all-black racer qualified for the event, which was notable for a number of reasons. First, the race is usually held on or around Memorial Day, but due to the COVID-19 outbreak, it was postponed until the end of August. For the same reason, it was held without spectators.

Secondly, the race was significant because it was the first time the newest branch of the U.S. military, the Space Force, sponsored a qualifying vehicle. Carpenter set a four-lap average of 230 miles per hour, getting the starting position of 16, inside track, row 6.

Unfortunately, a lot went wrong for Carpenter, as he alluded to in his post-race tweet. He hit the wall in the south short chute and had to repair the car's suspension. His tweet was correct: It was not meant to be. He and the car never recovered from the early hit.

Ed Carpenter Racing was also fielding the U.S. Air Force-sponsored No. 47 car, driven by Conor Daly. Daly finished slightly behind Carpenter and the Space Force at 29th, driving a Chevy that sported the colors of the Air Force's Bell X-1 supersonic jet aircraft.

It was a Bell X-1 named "Glamorous Glennis" that Air Force test pilot Chuck Yeager flew to break the sound barrier for the first time in 1947.

As for Carpenter's Space Force car, the blacked-out Chevy featured the service's delta symbol, long used by the U.S. Air Force's Space Command, along with the new Space Force motto, Semper Supra or "Always Above."

"The partnership gives the U.S. Space Force the ability to reach a large number of prospects and influencers through the far-reaching broadcast viewership and media coverage both for and leading up to the race," said Maj. Jason Wyche, chief of the Air Force and Space Force Recruiting National Events Marketing Branch, in a statement.

Carpenter, 39, has never won the Indy 500, although he has qualified on pole position three times in his career. In 2018, he qualified at pole but finished in second place behind racer Will Power.

Daly has been racing with the Air Force car for three years, and there's no reason to believe he won't do the same in 2021. Considering the support Ed Carpenter Racing currently gets from the Air Force, there's no reason the Space Force won't continue its support either.

-- Blake Stilwell can be reached at blake.stilwell@military.com. He can also be found on Twitter @blakestilwell or on Facebook.

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Google Doodle on September 16 was dedicated to spreading awareness about ways to prevent the spread of coronavirus. The alphabets of the word GOOGLE on its search engine page sport a mask and are spread out indicating the importance of maintaining social distancing. The message 'Wear a mask. Save lives' pops up when GOOGLE is clicked.

The search engine also shared the World Health Organization's (WHO) guidelines aimed at preventing COVID-19 spread.

Steps to prevent coronavirus:

> Clean your hands often. Use soap and water, or an alcohol-based hand rub.> Maintain a safe distance from anyone who is coughing or sneezing.> Wear a mask when physical distancing is not possible.> Dont touch your eyes, nose or mouth.> Cover your nose and mouth with your bent elbow or a tissue when you cough or sneeze.> Stay home if you feel unwell.> If you have a fever, cough and difficulty breathing, seek medical attention.

> Calling in advance allows your healthcare provider to quickly direct you to the right health facility. This protects you and prevents the spread of viruses and other infections.

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

Read: Coronavirus prevention | WHO recommends these precautions to keep COVID-19 at bay

On September 14, Google had dedicated a doodle to express gratitude towards people who have been on the forefront to combat the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

In the doodle, the search engine giant replaced the two 'o' in Google to feature those who continued to deliver the essential services amid the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Also read: Thank You Coronavirus Helpers: Google dedicates doodle to honour those on the front line amid COVID-19 pandemic

Google included caricatures of doctors, nurses, delivery staff, farmers, teachers, researchers, sanitation workers, grocery workers and emergency services workers and thanked them all with a big heart right in the centre of the doodle.

Sharing the doodle, Google shared a note titled Thank you, coronavirus helpers.

For many years, Google regularly observes anniversaries of famous people, celebrating festivals and commemorating significant days through doodles.
The Taoiseach came under fire in the Dail where Labour Party leader Alan Kelly accused Mr Donnelly of contradicting the new plan

Dublin could be placed in a local lockdown within days as the rise in cases of Covid-19 shows no sign of slowing down.

It is widely expected that the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) will advise that more severe measures be introduced for the capital when it meets tomorrow.

Taoiseach Micheal Martin said last night he would be asking people in Dublin who were planning staycations not to go ahead with them.

The largest one-day spike in cases of Covid-19 since May - 357 cases - was reported last night with three people dying with the virus.

Escalation

It comes as the threat of tighter curbs in Dublin escalated with 218 of yesterday's 357 cases reported in the capital.

It is expected the current advice to Dubliners not to make non-essential journeys outside the county boundary may be stepped up and there will be firmer instructions on travel around the country.

The tougher restrictions would mean Dublin would be moved up to Level 3 of the Government's five-level 'Plan for Living with Covid-19', which was launched yesterday.

Official government advice on the first phase of restrictions for Dublin were amended and updated on at least two occasions after the plan was published. However, the capital was still kept on Level 2 - the same as the rest of the country.

The latest restrictions include a ban on more than two households meeting, a limit of 100 people at any outdoor sporting event and the postponement of the reopening of pubs that don't serve food next week.

The official advice also says people living in Dublin should be "encouraged to limit travel outside the region, and only meet one other household when outside the county".

However, while the advice was being published online, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly told RTE's News At One that people living in the capital could "absolutely" travel outside the county.

The Taoiseach came under fire in the Dail where Labour Party leader Alan Kelly accused Mr Donnelly of "contradicting" the new plan.

"This isn't a five-point plan. This is a five and a half point plan. We can't have Dublin at two-and-a-half," Mr Kelly said.

"The virus doesn't distinguish between Dublin and Kildare, or between Laois and Offaly.

"We support the five-point plan - but we don't support the 5.5 point plan. By tonight, give clear advice."

Mr Martin said: "Nphet gave us advice on Dublin. We didn't ignore it. We didn't get advice to move Dublin to Level 3.

"Nphet will meet again on Thursday and there could be different advice."

Not every county would be the same and some would demand a different response.

Prof Ivan Perry, Prof of Public Health at UCC, said yesterday he expected that when Nphet meets tomorrow, restrictions in Dublin will be have to be increased because of the ongoing spread of the infection.

Earlier, Professor Sam McConkey warned there could be 5,000 daily cases of the virus in Dublin at the end of October if action is not taken.

Professor Kingston Mills of TCD said the testing and tracing system still needed improvement and was essential to tackling the spread of the virus in Dublin and other counties.

The Irish College of General Practitioners' clinical lead on Covid-19, Dr Nuala O'Connor, said: "Dublin numbers have increased ten-fold in the past two months.

Elderly

"If this continues, we won't be able to continue to protect our older population and those who are medically vulnerable who run the risk of a more severe course and higher risk of dying from Covid-19."

Meanwhile, senior Garda officers are awaiting new public health regulations to determine how they will police them.

Gardai have already increased the number of high-visibility patrols in the capital.

However, officers say many of the current provisions are merely guidelines and they cannot, for example, go into a private house to check the number of people there without the owner's consent or clear evidence there has been a breach of the law.
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Pfizer, one of the front-runners in the quest for a COVID-19 vaccine, said its candidate vaccine looks safe, and the company expects to have data next month on how well it protects people against the coronavirus.

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said Tuesday that he is intentionally revealing more information about the COVID-19 candidate vaccine than he would about any other vaccine under development, because he wants the process to be open and transparent.

"Transparency is a must, particularly given this situation and the politicization of the vaccine," he said in a Q&A with journalists.

The company said Saturday that it was expanding its trial from 30,000 to 44,000 people to include teenagers, ages 16-18, as well as people with diseases such as HIV and hepatitis A, B or C. Tuesday, Bourla said the expansion took place because the vaccine appeared to be extremely safe, and the trial could be expanded without delaying the timeline for completion.

Warp speed? Why a coronavirus vaccine is more than a year away, despite medical researchers' progress

In data released Tuesday, the company showed that participants  both younger people and senior citizens  complained of only minor side effects, such as headaches and sore arms. The data included about 6,000 people; some who received the active vaccine and others the placebo. The company  which is developing its vaccine, called BNT162, in collaboration with German vaccine developer BioNTech  does not know which participant got which.

An independent Data Safety Commission does know who got the active vaccine and has been checking regularly to make sure there are no health concerns, Pfizer executives said.

The first patient enrolled in Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore receives an injection May 4.

There probably have been some serious health issues during the trial, but the safety panel "concluded that none are vaccine-related," said Kathrin Jansen, Pfizer senior vice president and head of vaccine research and development.

The larger numbers should allow the company to look more closely at subgroups of participants, such as those with underlying health conditions such as HIV, and those who had the virus when they received the vaccine, she said.

Story continues

A final report on the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine should be ready for regulators to review next month.

'It's not at all unprecedented': AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine trial stopped after illness

The vaccine must be at least 50% effective  protecting on average at least half the people who take it  for it to win federal approval and be given to the public. Pfizer manufactures BNT162 in three plants in the USA  in Kalamazoo, Michigan; St. Louis; and Andover, Massachusetts  as well as in Germany and Belgium.

It is not clear how long the vaccine's protection will last. The company is preparing for three possibilities: that people will need an annual shot, as with the flu; that they will need a vaccine every few years, as with tetanus; or that it will be one-and-done, like the polio vaccine, said Dr. Mikael Dolsten, the company's chief scientific officer.

"We think this vaccine has the potential to give reasonable and good protection, but we need to monitor [it]," Dolsten said. "It's reasonable also to assume that we need maybe in the future a boost, because this is a real pandemic and there's going to be a lot of virus circulating even after global [vaccination] campaigns."

Jansen said that although Pfizer is committed to and "very happy with its current vaccine candidate," the company is already working on a second generation.

Pfizer hopes to make two improvements in the next generation, she said: eliminating the need to keep the vaccine frozen and altering the technology so only one dose will be needed, instead of two.

BNT162 uses technology called messenger RNA, which trains the person's cells to make a protein on the surface of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Once the immune system learns to recognize this protein, it will attack when it sees it again on the virus.

Achieving herd immunity: How vaccines and masks are the keys to fight coronavirus

In a next-generation vaccine, Jansen said, she could envision a messenger RNA that could amplify itself. "There may be an opportunity that with such an approach, you would be able to only need a single shot" that would provide both "the priming and the boosting effect."

The vaccine needs to be kept frozen at minus-80 degrees, the temperature of dry ice. Pfizer ships BNT162 in coolers that maintain the ultra-cold temperature. The cooler can be fed with dry ice to keep the vaccine frozen for 15 days, then it can be refrigerated for up to five more days before being diluted and injected, said Angela Hwang, president of the Pfizer Biopharmaceuticals Group.

Because the company expects high demand for the vaccine, and its shipping network is efficient, Hwang said the vaccine shouldn't suffer heat damage. "No dose is going to be lying around for very long," she said.

A second-generation vaccine that did not require such cold conditions would be an improvement, Dolsten said.

Bourla, speaking at the end of a two-day conference for investors, bemoaned the politicization of COVID-19 vaccine and drug development.

But he said he thinks the pharmaceutical industry is "rising to the occasion" of the pandemic and hopes that will boost the industry's public image.

"I don't want to declare any victory, just because we're going to bring a vaccine or a treatment that works, that we're going to come back to where we deserve to be, but I think it will be a very good step," he said. "Then we need to continue doing the right thing."

He had one concluding thought as he ended the Q&A: "Science will win," he said.

Health and patient safety coverage at USA TODAY is made possible in part by a grant from the Masimo Foundation for Ethics, Innovation and Competition in Healthcare. The Masimo Foundation does not provide editorial input.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: COVID-19 vaccine: Pfizer offers a positive update on its candidate
What does it say about the values of a city that reopens restaurants, gyms and salons before outdoor playgrounds?

Like most kids in 2020, my 7- and 10-year-old navigate Zoom like experts, put on their masks without complaint, and wash their hands the minute they walk inside the house.

Kids, like all of us, have been asked to give up so much of their normal lives. Birthday parties are canceled. Grandparents are off limits. School is closed.

Its for your safety. Its to protect people in our community. It wont be forever.

They get it. And theyve been remarkably resilient.

So, now, as San Francisco again begins the process of reopening, dont we owe it to these kids to put their needs in the front of the line?

Playgrounds across the country started reopening in May, and there is no evidence of transmission attributed to an outdoor playground. Mounting evidence shows that COVID-19 is airborne, and fomite transmission  while possible  is far less likely than we feared back in March and April.

So where is the science to back up the continued deprivation of public play spaces for our kids?

San Francisco was the first city in the nation with a park a 10-minute walk from every home. Voters have approved $380 million in bonds since 2008 to upgrade playgrounds, rec centers and open spaces in nearly every neighborhood. We have a treasure trove of free, beautiful play spaces for all of our children.

This impressive investment in parks and playgrounds is no accident  play is essential. Peter Gray, psychology professor emeritus at Boston College, has written extensively on the importance of play for childrens mental and physical well-being. As we deprive children more and more free play, we get more anxious, more depressed or less resilient children. A 2017 Time magazine story called The Secret Power of Play argues that free play isnt just something children like to do  its something they need to do.

Reopening playgrounds is not without risk. Children from different families gathering on the monkey bars, parents sipping coffee while chatting on the side, and the inevitable grossness of nose picking and coughing and finger sucking all certainly increase risk of transmission.

And, yet, if the city can rely on parents to navigate remote schooling while working, to figure out how to put food on the table when unemployment benefits are months behind, and to keep our families safe in stores, supermarkets and parks, why cant we also be trusted to protect our children in playgrounds?

No one wants to see children get COVID-19. But the universal reality of 2020 is that we are all making constant decisions to balance risk of transmission with economic realities and mental health concerns. So, why is it too risky to trust that parents and caregivers will make appropriate choices for their children?

Harm reduction is a centerpiece of public health strategy in San Francisco. We provide clean needles to reduce transmission of disease. We fund a housing-first approach to ending homelessness. And for COVID-19, the city has relied on positive constant messaging about wearing masks and keeping distance rather than handing out fines. The city gives businesses meticulous guidelines for safe reopening. How is it conscionable to let people get a tattoo, have their nails done or work out with a trainer before we even provide a timeline to reopen outdoor playgrounds? Playgrounds certainly pose some danger, but given that play is necessary for kids, where is the reopening plan for these sacred spaces? Why is posting clear signage about capacity, reminding people to wear masks, and providing hand sanitizer sufficient for adult businesses, and not for childrens playgrounds?

We should be so proud of our kids for their continued adjustments to the broken and scary world around us. And when Zoom school is done for the day, we should let them run and play and slide and swing, with masks on and hand sanitizer at the ready. If we want them to thrive, we must give them the opportunity to be kids again.

Amanda Kahn Fried is a public school parent and city employee who has loved and lived in San Francisco for most of the past 20 years.
A shopper has issued a warning after claiming her $6 scented candle from Kmart spontaneously 'exploded', leaving hot wax all over her table.

The woman, from Perth, was stunned to find the remnants of the green pear honey suckle and neroli candle, with broken glasses after the hot jar cracked into pieces.

'Just a warning to be careful if you are a Kmart candle lover! Exploded and leaked candle wax all over side table,' she wrote in a Facebook group.

'Lucky no one was close. Let off a good crack.'

A shopper has issued a warning after claiming her $6 scented candle from Kmart spontaneously 'exploded', leaving hot wax all over her table

The woman had purchased the green pear honey suckle and neroli candle for $6

The candle in question is no longer in stock online.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Kmart for comment.

Dozens of people claimed they had a similar experience with their budget candles, while others described the incident as 'dangerous' and 'scary'.

'This happened to me once and I haven't brought candles from Kmart since,' one man claimed, while another said: 'I had this happen with this candle too.'

Many quickly pointed out an overlong wick or not enough wax can cause the candle's glass surround to shatter.

'I had this happen with this candle [from Kmart] too. I didn't have a lot of wax left in it though so I assumed it was because of that... I was silly,' one woman admitted.

A second woman said: 'If there's not much wax left in them the glass, it gets too hot and will explode.'

A third woman added: 'There's many factors to how this can happen. Wick size is a big issue in the Kmart candles. We should be trimming wick when necessary to avoid the flame being so huge. This makes it less hot and less likely to shatter the glass.'

And another shopper said: 'This can happen if you burn past a certain point, on most labels it will give you a warning not to burn past a certain amount.'

Others defended the retailer, saying Kmart should not be blamed as other expensive brands are also prone to overheating and exploding.

In 2016, a shopper claimed he suffered serious burns to his hands after he tried to stop a $6 candle from Kmart from setting his home on fire after the glass 'exploded' in his bedroom

'I've had this happen with another branded candle and the response from the company was that once it gets to a certain point at the bottom to no longer burn as the wax is no longer able to keep the glass cool while lit,' one woman said.

'Stupid I know, best believe I've not bought one since.'

And a second woman said: 'I have had this happen with a candle from another brand. It can happen with any of them.'

In another post on social media this week, one shopper claimed her 75 cent scented candle from Kmart left a 'petrol' smell.

'I brought the salted caramel candle today and lit it up for an hour. It smelt amazing but I had to leave so I blew it out. When I came home my house smelt really badly of petrol,' she claimed.

In October 2016, a shopper claimed he suffered serious burns to his hands after he tried to stop a $6 candle from Kmart from setting his Gold Coast home on fire after the glass 'exploded' in his bedroom.

The man told Daily Mail Australia at the time there was and a 'huge, uncontrollable flame' that almost touched the ceiling coming from what was left of the candle.

'While trying to avoid burning the house down I tried to blow the candle out but to no avail and had no option but to pick it and run to remove it from danger,' he said.

However, he claimed he dropped the candle as it burned his hands, leaving wax and glass all over a hallway while his wife rushed him to hospital.

In a statement to Daily Mail Australia in 2016, a Kmart spokesperson said: 'We test our candles, list safety instructions and when adhered to the product is safe to use.'

'We encourage all those who own a candle to review these instructions as a safety precaution.'
A Basking Ridge, N.J., man admitted Tuesday to concealing his efforts at providing material support for Hamas, a Palestinian group considered a terrorist organization by United States, federal authorities announced.

Jonathan Xie, 21, pleaded guilty by videoconference in U.S. District Court in Trenton to a count of concealing attempts to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, the U.S. Attorneys office in New Jersey announced with the FBI.

He was charged last year with five federal crimes, including attempting to provide support to a designated terrorist group, making false statements related to international and domestic terrorism and transmitting threats.

Hes scheduled to he sentenced in January 2021.

In May 2019, federal investigators described Xie in court papers as having been radicalized online for the previous year, since graduating high school.

His social media showed at times a teen who worked at a store and was in his high schools marching band, but also fixated on joining Hamas, although he had no obvious cultural or religious ties to the Middle East.

In December 2018, authorities said, Xie sent $100 to an individual in Gaza who he believed to be a member of the Al-Qassam Brigades, a faction of Hamas. Then he posted on Instagram: Just donated $100 to Hamas. Pretty sure it was illegal but I dont give a damn.

He also expressed a desire to bomb Trump Tower and the Israeli embassy in New York City, federal authorities say. FBI surveillance observed Xie outside of Trump Tower in April 2019 and he later posted on Instagram, I want to bomb Trump Tower.

In another post online, in April 2019, Xie appeared in a live video and displayed a Hamas flag and a handgun. He told the viewers, Im gonna go to the [expletive] pro-Israel march and Im going to shoot everybody, authorities say.

Xie faces up to 10 years in prison for the charge.

Jonathan Xie, in the 2017 Ridge High School yearbook.

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Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com.
These folks homes. I mean, they want to come back to sift through their stuff. But theres nothing to sift through.

STUART WARREN, a 35-year-old councilman from Phoenix, Ore., who was looking for ways to help his constituents after the giant Almeda Fire ravaged large parts of their town in just a few hours last week.
An Australian ambassador has been criticised after he shared a photograph online of him eating an endangered soft shell turtle in Cambodia.

Pablo Kang, Australia's representative in Cambodia, was forced to issue a grovelling apology after posting the images of his meal to Twitter while visiting the nation.

The Asian giant softshell turtle is regarded as a 'high status' food and is now endangered because it is eaten by humans.

Pablo Kang, Australia's representative in Cambodia, was forced to issue a grovelling apology after posting photographs of his meal to Twitter while visiting the nation.

The Asian giant softshell turtle he ate is regarded as a 'high status' food and is now threatened as a direct result of human consumption

Mr Kang was forced to apologise for his tweet before deleting it after widespread backlash.

'Hello. I have removed my tweet about soft shell turtles & eels, and apologise to all those who took offence,' he wrote online.

'My intent was not to promote these dishes, but to tell people about some of the foods I was offered during my recent provincial visit.'

Giant softshell turtles disappeared from most of their habitat last century.

Mr Kang deleted the original tweet following the backlash, before issuing a public apology. In spite of his apology, Mr Kang's actions drew the ire of environmentalists who expressed concern about the damage he could have caused

Prior to holding his post with Cambodia, he worked as the ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, and the High Commissioner to Vanuatu for Australia

Asian giant softshell turtles The freshwater turtle is native to southeast Asia. It is considered a delicacy, and as a result of excessive human consumption is largely considered to be endangered. Other scientists say that it is threatened at the very least. Advertisement

Some scientists describe the species as endangered, while other say it is threatened, at the very least.

'I certainly do not condone the harvesting of any endangered species for food or other purposes, and will be more careful about my actions in future,' Mr Kang wrote.

Mr Kang's actions drew criticism from environmentalists who expressed concern about the damage he could have caused.

'All Softshell Turtle species in SE Asia are listed as at least vulnerable, while others are endangered,' one person tweeted.

'Consumption is the number 1 threat, and demand is in part due to perception that it is a 'high-status' food, all the more reckless for an Ambassador to promote!'

A wildlife account added: 'Really? Promoting consumption of endangered species and therefore the illegal wildlife trade? Not responsible actions from an Ambassador.'

Mr Kang is an experienced diplomat.

Prior to holding his post with Cambodia, he worked as the ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, and the High Commissioner to Vanuatu for Australia.

Pictured: Pablo Kang's Twitter account, where he originally shared photos of his meal
Plenty of judges require permission to record proceedings in their courtrooms. But only one of Harris Countys state criminal court judges underscores the policy with threats of fines and jail time, spelled out in bold, all-caps letters on her official government web page.

What has state district Judge Ramona Franklin so concerned about people recording the goings-on in her court?

Weve got a theory.

Recently, defense attorney groups filed a judicial complaint against Franklin of the 338th criminal court, arguing she has revoked defendant bonds without notice or cause  in some cases without a lawyer present  in clear violation of Texas law and even flouting a recent appeals court decision.

She has also denied some defendants bail altogether, which is unconstitutional in Texas for cases that dont involve capital murder or under narrow exceptions. Judge Franklin must reconsider her actions and be held accountable by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct as we wait for bail reform to make its way to the felony courts.

Franklins actions have already been called out by the First District Court of Appeals in Houston. In a unanimous opinion, it found the judge abused her discretion when she revoked bond and raised bail for Joseph Gomez, who was charged with burglary and assaulting a family member.

As with most other suspects in Harris County, after arrest, Gomez went before a magistrate who determined probable cause and set a bail amount  $40,000 total for both charges. After posting bail and being released from custody, Gomez made what should have been a preliminary initial appearance before Franklin, in which defendants are traditionally appointed counsel.

Instead, the judge revoked Gomezs original bail, raised it to $75,000 on each charge and ordered him re-arrested. If a judge revokes bail, the money is non-refundable. In this case, that left Gomezs family unable to cover a new bond.

To be sure, the charges against Gomez are serious. But in America, defendants have rights. One of them is to be presumed innocent. Leaving Gomez, still innocent in the eyes of the law, to sit in jail for 269 days for no apparent reason while waiting on his appeal, is not acceptable.

According to defense lawyers, this was not the first time the judge had taken it upon herself to rescind bond since she was elected in 2016, and the higher courts decision had little effect on her subsequent actions. A week after the appellate ruling in August, defense attorneys could point to at least seven defendants whose bond was not only revoked, but where Franklin set bail amount at $0  which in practice results in keeping them in jail without bond.

In Texas, defendants can be denied bail only in rare circumstances  none of which were present in these cases, most of which involved an assault on a family member. Whats more, a magistrate had already reviewed charges and a Public Safety Assessment to make a bail determination.

Thats in conflict with Texas law. There must be some new reason to revoke someones bail, Harris County Public Defender Alex Bunin told the editorial board. Even leaving Texas law alone, its pretty basic that if youre going to do something as serious as that, you need a proper hearing.

The appeals court decision is currently on hold while Texas highest criminal appellate court weighs in on the case, but experts said the ruling against Franklin is unlikely to be overturned.

A request for comment to Judge Franklin went unanswered. She had previously told a Chronicle reporter she could not speak about ongoing legal matters.

Franklins bail review may be the most egregious example, but other Harris County judges are taking similar liberties with the law, according to the complaint filed by the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association and the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. The defense attorney groups say they are investigating and considering filing additional complaints.

This behavior only reaffirms the need for felony bail reform and the importance of ongoing litigation to bring any and all abuses to light. Already, a preliminary report shows a promising start to the revamped Harris County misdemeanor bail system, with low instances of re-offending and fewer people ending up in jail because they could not pay bond.

As for Franklin, judges have a lot of discretion in how they run their court, but the power of the black robe is not unlimited. She may disagree with the bail set by the magistrate  in which case, she can follow correct procedure to change it. Disregarding rules intended to protect defendants rights is an abuse of her position. How can Franklin expect the people who come before her court to follow the law when she does not?
A new survey has found that two-thirds of American Millennials and members of Gen Z do not know that six million Jews were killed during the Holocaust.

The survey of adults ages 18 to 39 was commissioned by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, examining knowledge about the Holocaust among young Americans.

The survey included 1,000 interviews nationwide and 200 in each state, and the Claims Conference says the findings bolster the urgency of the group's campaign to get Facebook to ban holocaust denial from the platform.

'The survey findings underscore the importance [and] the urgent need to understand the Holocaust denial is hate speech and to remove denial of this critical historic event,' the group said in a statement.

A heat map shows for each state, the percentage of respondents who did not reply 'six million' when asked how many Jews were killed in the Holocaust

The main gate of the concentration camp Auschwitz with the German inscription 'work makes you free' is seen in a file photo.

The fence that surrounds the Auschwitz II-Birkenau extermination camp is seen in a file photo. A new survey has found that two-thirds of American Millennials and members of Gen Z do not know that six million Jews were killed during the Holocaust

Nationally, the survey found that 63 percent of all respondents did not know that six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust, and 36 percent thought that 'two million or fewer Jews' died.

The states where the highest share of young people did not know that six million Jews were killed were Arkansas with 69 percent, followed by Delaware with 68 percent, Arizona with 67 percent, Mississippi and Tennessee with 66 percent, and Hawaii, Iowa, Vermont, and West Virginia with 65 percent.

'The results are both shocking and saddening and they underscore why we must act now while Holocaust survivors are still with us to voice their stories,' said Gideon Taylor, the president of the Claims Conference.

'We need to understand why we aren't doing better in educating a younger generation about the Holocaust and the lessons of the past. This needs to serve as a wake-up call to us all, and as a road map of where government officials need to act,' Taylor said.

Records show that around 17 million people, including six million Jews, were murdered by Nazis as part of a state-sponsored genocide in the 1940s.

Tables show responses by state on survey questions about the Holocaust. New York had the highest rate of respondents who believe Jewish people caused the Holocaust

Women at the train station ramp of Auschwitz concentration camp - around 1944

The study reveals that Wisconsin scores highest in Holocaust awareness, while Arkansas scored the lowest, as measured by a series of questions about the Holocaust.

Shockingly, 11 percent of U.S. Millennial and Gen Z respondents believed Jews caused the Holocaust.

In New York, which has the highest Jewish population of any U.S. state, an astounding 19 percent replied that they believed Jews caused the Holocaust.

Nationally, 48 percent of respondents could not name a single one of the more than 40,000 concentration camps or ghettos established during World War II.

As well, 56 percent of national U.S. Millennial and Gen Z respondents were unable to identify Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Prisoners of Auschwitz are seen looking through barbed wire after liberation in 1944

The Auschwitz I camp premises are seen after liberation at the former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp in Oswiecim, Poland

A delegation of survivors of the Auschwitz concentration camp and their families arrive to lay wreaths at the execution wall at the former Auschwitz I site in January

According to the survey, 49 percent of young Americans have seen Holocaust denial or distortion posts on social media or elsewhere online.

Nationally, 30 percent of respondents indicated that they had seen Nazi symbols on their social media platforms or in their community. The state with the highest response was Nevada with 70 percent.

The Claims Conference, which commissioned the survey, is currently conducting a campaign to pressure Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to remove content from the platform that denies or distorts the Holocaust.

Survivors from around the globe, including Anne Frank's stepsister, have recorded 30-second messages that are then posted on social media, including Instagram and Twitter, with the hashtag #NoDenyingIt.

'I lost all my family. Many, many family members. There is no denying it! Remove Holocaust denial from Facebook,' Eva Schloss, Frank's stepsister, says in her video.

Survivors from around the globe, including Anne Frank's (above) stepsister, have recorded 30-second messages imploring Mark Zuckerberg to ban Holocaust denial from Facebook

The unloading ramp and the main gate called the 'Gate of Death' at the former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz II-Birkenau are seen in 1945

'People who say the Holocaust did not happen are calling me a liar. My fellow survivors and I are not liars. We are witnesses,' said Sidney Zoltak, who also was among the survivors featured in the footage.

Similar videos will be posted daily urging Zuckerberg to remove Holocaust-denying groups, pages and posts as hate speech. Videos will also be posted on Facebook-owned Instagram, as well as Twitter.

Zuckerberg, who is Jewish, sparked controversy in 2018 when he argued that Facebook should not filter out posts denying that the Nazis killed six million Jews.

In an interview with tech website Recode he said that while Facebook was dedicated to stopping the spread of fake news, it would not filter out posts just on the basis of being factually wrong.

He said that while he found Holocaust denial 'deeply offensive,' he said he didn't think deniers were 'intentionally getting it wrong.'

The non-profit Claims Conference works to seek compensation from the German government and the return of Jewish property stolen by the Nazis.
Kremlin Refuses to Comment on Whether Moscow Has Plan in Case Lukashenko Fails to Hold on to Power

Sputnik News

10:49 GMT 15.09.2020(updated 10:59 GMT 15.09.2020)

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to speculate on Moscow's reaction to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko potentially losing power.

"I would rather not get into some conjectures now, I would not speculate about that," Peskov told reporters, when asked if the Kremlin had a plan for what to do if Lukashenko does not hold on to power.

On Monday, Lukashenko met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi. Putin confirmed that Moscow would lend Minsk $1.5 billion. When asked if any conditions were attached to the loan, Peskov said that any loan has commercial terms, but those were the only ones in this case.

"Obviously, there cannot be any other conditions," Peskov told reporters.

Peskov said on Monday that Russia's issuance of $1.5 billion in a state loan to Belarus must not be interpreted as interference in its internal affairs.

Putin and Lukashenko discussed a broad range of issues on the bilateral and regional agenda during their talks in Sochi on Monday, including the ongoing post-election protests in Belarus and Russia's stance on the matter.

Mass protests in Belarus have been ongoing for over a month now. People took to the streets in Minsk and other big cities after the opposition denounced the official presidential election results  according to which Lukashenko collected over 80 percent of the vote  and claimed instead that Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, an opposition candidate, won the election.

A Sputnik

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- The push for the expanded authorities traces back to a Shabab attack in January 2020

- The attack on the airfield at Manda Bay was on a military base in Kenya that housed US troops

- It killed three Americans and caused millions of dollars in damage

- The commanders scrambled immediately to track and kill the Shabab hit team that infiltrated the base from Somalia

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The United States militarys Africa Command is pressing for permission to carry out armed drone strikes targeting Qaeda-linked Shabab fighters in parts of eastern Kenya.

Four American officials are reported to have said the militia group was potentially expanding the war zone across the border from its sanctuaries in Somalia.

READ ALSO: Chadwick Boseman: Black panther actor buried 6 days after suffering multiple organ failure

US President Donald Trump and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta. Photo: State House.

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Bungoma family left in the cold after pastor demolishes house cries for justice

This does not necessarily mean the US will start carrying out drone attacks in Kenya, The New York Times reported.

Nevertheless, this will give Africa Command permission under certain circumstances to expand the counterterrorism drone war in another country.

According to the report, permission must first be approved by Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper and then President Donald Trump.

READ ALSO: Father, daughter recreate adorable old photo as she becomes legal practitioner

The officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the draft guidelines would theoretically authorise not only drone strikes in self-defence of American troops or collective self-defence of partnered Kenyan forces.

It will also see offensive strikes intended to pre-empt a suspected threat  like if officials uncover intelligence about preparations at a compound to assemble a car bomb.

The draft plan was said to contain limitations, among them being the military would be permitted to conduct strikes only in a portion of Kenya, two officials said.

READ ALSO: Netizens shook by lady who claims she deserves men's hard-earned money

One specifically identified the potential strike zone as Garissa and Lamu counties which encompass the airstrip camp at Manda Bay and the nearby border region with Somalia.

Moreover, the Kenyan government would have to consent to any strike  a major difference from Somalia, whose provisional government has essentially given the US blanket permission to carry out strikes when it sees fit.

The American military would also have to consult with the US ambassador in Kenya.

READ ALSO: Woman married to tree celebrates 1st wedding anniversary in style

The push for the expanded authority traces back to a Shabab attack in January 2020 on a military base in Kenya that housed US troops, the officials said.

The attack on the airfield at Manda Bay killed three Americans and caused millions of dollars in damage and the commanders scrambled immediately to track and kill the Shabab hit team that had infiltrated the base from Somalia.

The US commanders are said to have secured permission on the fly to carry out a drone strike on Shabab team in Kenyan territory, according to the officials.

READ ALSO: Revenue sharing standoff: Senators fail to agree on allocation formula for record 10th time

But they never attacked because the militants  retreating to Somali territory  eluded them.

As they confronted the fallout from the debacle, officials recognised that they lacked guidelines to conduct drone strikes in Kenya should Shabab attack there again.

The Pentagon led an inter-agency push to write rules for any future strikes in Kenya under more relaxed limits on drone strikes that Trumps national security team created in 2017, replacing more stringent procedures from the Obama era.

Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Contact Tuko.co.ke instantly

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KALAMAZOO, MI -- Attacks alleging drug use and sex crimes involving a candidate have infiltrated the race for Michigans District 6 congressional seat.

Democratic state Rep. Jon Hoadley, who is challenging Republican U.S. Rep. Fred Upton in Novembers election, was the target of the messages criticizing an online post of Hoadleys from years ago.

Hoadley responded by denying allegations of drug use or sex crimes, and is calling out his opponent for not stopping the swamp politics and failing to maintain his promise for civility in politics."

The New York Post published a story on Aug. 4, the day of the primary election in Michigan, that pulled excerpts from Hoadleys college LiveJournal blog. The blog has since been deleted, but the publication quoted sentences referring to crystal meth and inappropriate jokes such as on referencing a four year old wearing a thong, according the NYPost.

The National Republican Congressional Committee and spokesman Michael McAdams released a statement after the August primary, also referencing Hoadleys blog.

There is no place in Congress for the deranged musings of down on his luck pedo sex poet Jon Hoadley," McAdams said.

McAdams' statement had been used multiple times in NRCC blog posts, social media posts and press releases. McAdams and the NRCC did not respond to MLives request for comment.

In an interview with MLive, Hoadley dismissed all allegations of drug use or sex crimes, calling them unequivocally not true.

Following Hoadleys primary victory, his opponent Jen Richardson used the discussion around the state lawmakers former blog as an opportunity to talk about misogyny within politics, explaining why she was not endorsing Hoadley after his win.

A week later, she appeared next to Hoadley in a video posted to Facebook addressing the allegations. She apologized for repeating the comments without doing her due diligence and fact-checking the information, she said. Richardson has since endorsed Hoadley in the race.

In the Facebook video, Hoadley takes accountability for his off-color jokes.

I said things 16 years ago that I would never say today and arent reflective of who I am, Hoadley said. For folks I hurt with my words, Im sorry.

He questions where Upton was in this conversation, asking why he did not speak out against the NRCCs remarks.

The comments about Hoadleys blog have continued to come up in political circles. The political action committee The LGBTQ Victory Fund and The Michigan Democratic Party have called the comments homophobic in press statements and on social media.

Hoadley explained in an MLive interview the blog post was written after he attended a public health meeting addressing crystal meth use among the LGBTQ population. Recalling the situation while speaking with MLive, he called the meeting a Nancy Reagan-style dont do drugs meeting.

Hoadley said his blog post, although peppered with cheeky commentary, was not advocating drug use.

That post literally ended with dont do crystal meth, Hoadley said. And they make it sound like Im doing drugs.

The comments that seem to accuse Hoadley of sex crimes are what concern him most as an gay man, he said. Historically, the LGBTQ community has been framed as pedophiles or sexual deviants as a form of discrimination.

Hoadley called the NRCCs comments dog whistle politics, saying they were perpetuating the same stereotypes. Hoadley said while he stands strong in his reputation and voting record as a state representative, he is concerned what precedent those comments might set.

Not just in politics, but its its every LGBTQ kid that is worried about if someone is going to say the same terrible things about them," he said. And then watching as their other elected leaders stay silent on these issues when they could correct the record here. And, in this case, the silence speaks volumes.

Uptons campaign said they have had nothing to do with the NRCCs comments about Hoadleys blog and issued the following statement to MLive:

The Upton campaign has had nothing whatsoever to do with Jon Hoadleys own words being used in campaign ads by independent outside groups, which we legally do not, nor can we, have any control over. But the facts are the contents of the blog were written by Jon Hoadley. He deleted the blog as a candidate for Congress until his writings resurfaced election night. He has since apologized, acknowledging his words were hurtful. This is clearly an attempt to distract from his professional, public record as a Michigan legislator who voted against law enforcement and will defund the police, which we highlighted in a new ad last week.

Both candidates said that the narrative is a distraction from the issues. The two will debate on Kalamazoos radio station WKZO on Monday, Sept. 28.

More on MLive:

State Rep. Jon Hoadley among a trio challenging Congressman Fred Upton for the 6th District seat

Democrats will need another blue wave to unseat Fred Upton, political expert says

Republican Peter Meijer, Democrat Hillary Scholten seek to replace Justin Amash in Congress
"What impressed us most about the team at 1440 Security is their exemplary culture of integrity and the overwhelmingly positive customer feedback about the company's commitment to keeping customers' networks, data and other critical assets safe," said Jeff Schmidt, CEO of Avertium. "This shared singular focus along with their technical LogRhythm expertise make them excellent additions to the Avertium team," he added.

"At the heart of our business is ensuring the security of our customers' systems and data. Partners like Avertium are a key part of that philosophy," said Mark Logan, president and CEO of LogRhythm. "I am excited that long-time LogRhythm partner 1440 Security will join with Avertium and together bring their combined expertise to customers that want to take their security program to the next level," he added.

Named to the MSSP Alert Top 200 MSSPs list in 2019, 1440 Security has built a loyal customer base and a reputation for excellence in managed security, particularly in the deployment, configuration, and management of the LogRhythm NextGen SIEM Platform.

"Cybersecurity, specifically SIEM and SOC-as-a-Service, is our business and we are constantly looking for ways to deliver more value to our customers," said Brian Bilodeau, president of 1440 Security. "For 1440 Security, this acquisition means continued investment in core cyber competencies while expanding what we can offer existing customers with Avertium's extensive suite of cybersecurity consulting services  from governance and compliance to strategic advisory services to digital forensics and incident response."

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Compliance and governance [HIPAA, PCI DSS, SOC 1-3, NIST and HITRUST]

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Avertium brings enterprise-level security to mid-to-large organizations challenged by the cybersecurity talent shortage, rapidly evolving threat landscape and budgetary constraints. The company's acclaimed show-no-weakness approach to extended detection and response (XDR), governance and compliance, and strategic advisory services is redefining the managed security services category. From financial services and manufacturing, to technology and healthcare, more than 2,500 companies rely on Avertium's more rigorous, more relevant, and more responsive delivery of cybersecurity services. Backed by growth equity firm Sunstone Partners, Avertium operates CyberOps Centers of Excellence in Arizona, Colorado, and Tennessee. For more information, visit www.avertium.com.

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(Newser)  The World Meteorological Organization approved a list of 21 Atlantic storm names for the 2020 season. AccuWeather reports there are, on average, 12 named storms in a full season, but at this point, there's only one of the 21 that has gone unused. That would be Wilfred, reports USA Today, which notes there are currently four named systems at play: Paulette, Sally, Teddy, and Vicky. But the National Hurricane Center was as of Tuesday also tracking three potential weather systems. If one of those becomes Wilfred, we'll then switch to a new alphabet: the Greek one. It wouldn't be unprecedented. In 2005 we ended up using six Greek names: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, and Zeta. We'd use them in that order again; there are 24 in total on that list.

story continues below

But as the Washington Post explains, some meteorologists aren't fans of this approach. That's because we use six rotating sets of names, and when named storms end up being particularly deadly or damaging, their names are retired. Katrina and Sandy, for instance, are off the lists, with Katia and Sara being subbed in. There aren't replacements for the Greek alphabet, though, and some say it would be weird to skip a letter. The WMO's solution: If a major storm designated by a Greek letter is retirement-worthy, it will be included in the official list of retired storms, along with its year, but the letter will still be available for future use. One other proposal on the table: introducing a seventh list of names to be used as "extras." As for why there are 21 names on the six rotating lists and not 26, AccuWeather explains Q, U, X, Y, and Z aren't used due to the slim number of names that begin with those letters. (Read more hurricane stories.)
Some 'Vikings' were not Scandinavian but Picts who had adopted Viking culture after the seafaring warriors invaded British shores, a new study shows.

A study of more than 400 skeletons at Viking burial sites across Europe found two men living in Orkney were buried as Vikings despite not having Scandinavian ancestry.

They were buried with swords and other Viking memorabilia, suggesting they were respected as Vikings.

Experts believe this shows the Vikings were not the murderous rabble we perceive them as, and were willing to mix with other cultures who accepted their way of life.

Scroll down for video

Pictured, a mass grave of around 50 headless Vikings from a site in Dorset, UK. Some of these remains were used for DNA analysis

DNA from a female skeleton named Kata found at a Viking burial site in Varnhem, Sweden, was sequenced as part of the study (pictured)

The study of Viking remains, which is the largest ever conducted, attempts to map genetic history of the now-extinct people.

The six-year project debunks the modern image of Vikings as brutal predators who travelled by sea from Scandinavia to pillage and raid, the researchers say.

Instead, the findings hint at a society that welcomed newcomers, with Picts appearing to benefit the most.

The Picts were Celtic-speaking people who lived in what is today eastern and northern Scotland during the Late British Iron Age and Early Medieval periods.

Dr Daniel Lawson, lead author of the study from The University of Bristol, explained: 'Individuals with two genetically British parents who had Viking burials were found in Orkney and Norway.

'This is a different side of the cultural relationship from Viking raiding and pillaging.'

As well as accepting outsiders into their midsts, the study also shows Scandinavian Vikings inherited genes from people who hailed from Southern Europe and Asia.

The study also reveals that Scandinavia was highly fragmented and different groups likely had little interaction with one another. It shows Vikings from Norway, Sweden and Denmark went and conquered different lands. The Danes went to England, the Swedes to the Baltics and the Norwegian natives conquered Scotland, Ireland, Iceland and Greenland

Study shows Scandinavian Vikings inherited genes from people who hailed from Southern Europe and Asia. As a result, the stereotypical image of burly blonde-haired folk (pictured) may be inaccurate as it is more likely that Vikings were brunette

Lost Viking canal running across Orkney is revealed A lost Viking waterway that ran across Orkney and connected the North Atlantic and Scapa Flow 1,000 years ago has been discovered by archaeologists. The canal-like network would have provided a shallow water routeway through which the Norse/Vikings were able to haul both their boats and heavy goods, such as grain. Similar navigable waterways are known elsewhere in Scotland, for example, at Rubh an Dunain in Skye. A team of researchers from the Universities of the Highlands and Islands, St Andrews and Wales worked to uncover the lost passage that formed an 'ancient highway'. The results showed that a complete route from Harray, through the Loch of Banks and including a portage at Twatt over to the Loch of Boardhouse into the earldom estates in Birsay was easily achieved. A series of Old Norse place names, connected to the sea and boats, located in the middle of the Orkney Mainland initially drew the attention of the researchers. Using the names, scientific methods, sensing, mapping and sediment samples allowed the team to discover a series of ancient waterways and canals. Names with Viking origins are prevalent on the west mainland of Orkney which was a key area of power for the Norse Earls from the 9th to the 12th century. Advertisement

As a result, the stereotypical image of burly blonde-haired folk may be inaccurate, as it is likely that most Vikings were brunette.

Professor Martin Sikora, a lead author of the paper and an Associate Professor at the Centre for GeoGenetics, University of Copenhagen, said: 'We found that Vikings weren't just Scandinavians in their genetic ancestry, as we analysed genetic influences in their DNA from Southern Europe and Asia which has never been contemplated before.

'Many Vikings have high levels of non-Scandinavian ancestry, both within and outside Scandinavia, which suggest ongoing gene flow across Europe.'

As a result of this plentiful passing of genes, the study shows the Viking DNA lives on in people living not only in Scandinavia, but in the nations the Vikings conquered.

The researchers estimate that, in the UK population, six per cent of a person's DNA is of Viking origin. For Swedes, this figure is ten per cent.

The study also reveals that Scandinavia, home of the Viking culture, was highly fragmented, and different groups likely had little interaction with one another.

It shows Vikings from Norway, Sweden and Denmark went and conquered different lands.

The Danes went to England, the Swedes to the Baltics and the Norwegian natives conquered Scotland, Ireland, Iceland and Greenland.

The age of the Vikings spanned more than two centuries, from around 750 AD to 1050 AD, shortly before the Norman Conquest of England.

They were excellent seafaring warriors with a knack for adapting to any environment.

In Greenland, for example, the Vikings survived until the 1400s and made a living by trading the ivory from walrus tusks.

It is known that the Vikings had great success marauding around Europe. King Cnut, for example, was one of England's first true monarchs.

Professor Willerslev concluded: 'The results change the perception of who a viking actually was. The history books will need to be updated.'

The research has been published in Nature.
Photograph: Jeff Amy/AP

The top congressional Democrat, the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has joined mounting calls for an investigation into an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) detention centre in Georgia accused of sending migrant women held there to have hysterectomies without their full consent.

Pelosi branded the substance of allegations presented by a whistleblowing nurse a staggering abuse of human rights.

Related: Ice detainees faced medical neglect and hysterectomies, whistleblower alleges

The nurse, Dawn Wooten, who worked at Irwin county detention centre for three years, made a whistleblower complaint, filed on her behalf on Monday in which she accused the centre of negligence, poor safety precautions, including around the spread of coronavirus.

She cited dangerous and unsanitary conditions and an alarmingly high rate of hysterectomies performed on Spanish-speaking women who she said she and other nurses feared did not understand what procedure they were undergoing.

If true, the appalling conditions described in the whistleblower complaint  including allegations of mass hysterectomies being performed on vulnerable immigrant women  are a staggering abuse of human rights, Pelosi said in a statement.

The DHS [Department of Homeland Security] inspector general must immediately investigate the allegations detailed in this complaint.

The nurse and four lawyers representing clients at the centre are claiming that immigrant women are routinely sent to a gynecologist who has left them bruised and performed unnecessary procedures, including hysterectomies, according to a report by NBC News.

Three lawyers identified the gynecologist as Mahendra Amin, practicing in Douglas, Georgia, who underwent a federal investigation in 2015 over payments, which resulted in a settlement.

Elizabeth Mathren, a lawyer who represented several women who saw Amin said she took their complaints to the detention facility.

It comes as more than 160 Democrats signed a letter addressed to the DHS inspector general, Joseph Cuffari, demanding an immediate investigation.

Story continues

The letter, dated Tuesday, said: These reports hearken back to a dark time in US history in which 32 states passed eugenic-sterilization laws, resulting in the sterilization of between 60 and 70 thousand people in the early 1900s.

It adds: The reports of mass hysterectomies cause grave concern for the violation of the bodily autonomy and reproductive rights of detained people. Everyone, regardless of their immigration status, their language, or their incarceration deserves to control their own reproductive choices, and make informed choices about their bodies.

The letter requests a response and a briefing on the status of the investigation by 25 September.

Ice, which comes under the umbrella of the DHS, said on Tuesday it would cooperate with an investigation but denied claims of extensive hysterectomies, claiming it has performed only two on detainees at the centre since 2018.

Ada Rivera, the medical director of the Ice Health Service Corps, said in a statement: The accusations will be fully investigated by an independent office, however, Ice vehemently disputes the implication that detainees are used for experimental medical procedures.

She added: To be clear, medical care decisions concerning detainees are made by medical personnel, not by law enforcement personnel. Detainees are afforded informed consent, and a medical procedure like a hysterectomy would never be performed against a detainees will.

However, the complaint alleged jarring medical neglect and high rates of hysterectomies done to immigrant women.

Nancy Pelosi: The DHS inspector general must immediately investigate the allegations detailed in this complaint. Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EPA

The whistleblower claimed there were issues over proper informed consent for some of the hysterectomies. The centre is also accused of refusing to test detained immigrants who had either been exposed to coronavirus or had symptoms.

Wooten said in the complaint: These immigrant women, I dont think they really, totally, all the way understand this is whats going to happen, depending on who explains it to them.

The claims against the centre have prompted widespread political outrage, chiefly among senior Democrats.

Joaquin Castro, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus chairman, praised Wootens courageous choice to speak up and said these horrors must not remain hidden as he called for an immediate investigation.

He added: The American people need to know exactly why and under what conditions that vulnerable women in Ice custody underwent hysterectomies.

Were Trump administration officials aware of any coerced procedures, and if so, what actions did they take, if any, to stop this abuse? Congress is already examining this disturbing complaint, and the DHS inspector general must immediately investigate these serious allegations by conducting thorough on-the-ground inspections and not relying on statements from Ice agents and private contractors.

Senator Cory Booker sent a letter to the DHS Office of Inspector General urging them to immediately conduct a thorough in-person investigation into the centre and other detention centres across the US.

He wrote: This whistleblower complaint is stunning and, if true, paints a disturbing picture at the Irwin county detention center  Given the serious nature of the complaint, I urge your office to immediately conduct a thorough in-person investigation of the Irwin county detention center.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted: Its astounding that after a massive family separation operation, mass sexual assault of detainees, trapping immigrants in Covid-infected detention centers, and now reports of mass hysterectomies (which the US has done before), abolishing Ice is controversial. Wheres the line?

The Guardian is seeking comment from Ice, LaSalle Corrections, the Louisiana-based company that runs the Irwin centre, and the DHS, but has not yet received responses.

A company spokesperson denied to NBC that there had been any wrongdoing and refuted the allegations. NBC contacted Amins office and the person answering hung up the phone.
YEREVAN.  Junior Sergeant Hovik Tamazyan, a contract soldier of the Armed Forces of Armenia, on Wednesday sustained fatal gunshot and shrapnel wounds at the combat position of a military unit located in the northeastern sectorand as a result of another provocation by Azerbaijan.

An investigation is underway to find out the details of this incident, the Armenian Ministry of Defense informed.

"The military and political leadership of Azerbaijan bears the entire accountability for the current situation and the increase in border tension," it added, in particular.
Archaeologists in Mexico said on Tuesday that they had found a ship that carried the Mayan people into virtual slavery in the 1850s. It was the first time such a ship has been found.

The Mayan slave ship was found in 2017. However, it was not identified until researchers from the National Institute of Anthropology and History checked contemporary documents.

The researchers also found evidence that it was the ship "La Union." The Mayan slave ship has been used to take Mayas captured during an 1847-1901 rebellion known as "The War of the Castes" to work in Cuba's sugarcane plantations.

Slavery was illegal in Mexico at the time. However, operators of similar ships had reportedly bought seized captured combatants. This or they deceived Mayas left landless by the conflict to "sign on" as contract workers. Mayas were often taken in Cuba, where they were treated like slaves.

The La Union was traveling set to Havana in September 1861. Its boilers exploded, and it sank off the Yucatan port of Sisal.

Helena Barba Meinecke, an institute archaeologist, said that the captured Mayan combatants were often sent to Cuba, where many have never returned.

"Each slave was sold to a middleman for 25 pesos, and they resold them in Havana for as much as 160 pesos, for men, and 120 pesos for women," she said in a report.

Meinecke added that many of the inhabitance of Sisal had passed down through generations. One of those led the researchers to the answers.

"The grandparents and great-grandparents of the inhabitants of Sisal told them about a steamship that took away Mayas during the War of the Castes," she noted in a report.

"And one of the people in Sisal who saw how they led the Mayas away as slaves, told his son and then he told his grandson, and it was that person who led us to the general area of the shipwreck," she added.

The team also found silverware with the emblem of the company that operated the vessel.

October 1860

In October 1860, a ship had been caught near the Campeche state with 29 Mayas aboard, including children as young as seven.

Authorities have prevented the ship from leaving. However, that did not stop the trade from continuing. It is unclear if there were any Maya aboard on the ship's last voyage.

The records are unclear as the Mayas would probably be listed as cargo, not as passengers. This might be the situation, or the ship may have tried to conceal their presence.

Meinecke said the next stage of research would involve trying to find their descendants. Researchers intend to travel to Havana, where there is a neighborhood called "Campeche."

Meinecke noted that these people or some of them could be descendants of the Mayas who were taken by force or deception. She added that research has to be done so these people can know where their grandparents or great-grandparents are.

The Maya started one of North America's last Indigenous revolts in the lower Yucatan Peninsula in 1847. They were fighting against domination by white and mixed-race Mexicans who exploited them.

The Mexican government fought the rebellion with brutal repression. However, they could not wipe out the last resistance until 1901.
(Natural News) The industrial rail lines that fan out from ports all along the West Coast to destinations throughout the rest of the United States are no longer able to accommodate normal demand for product shipments, according to new reports.

A logistics consultant from Northern California claims he was unable to book any shipping containers either through Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) or Union Pacific (UP) during the first week of September, a scenario that apparently has never happened before during his tenure.

I have been working in the industry for 30 years and I have never seen anything like this, he is quoted as saying after failing to get loads sent to and from West Coast ports and Midwest destinations. Its weird.

This individual, who chose to remain anonymous, says it was the same story in Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, and Seattle, all of which had no rail cars and no chassis available for shipping goods.

Because these two major rail lines appear to no longer be accepting shipments, some companies are now having to send their goods via truck freight, which is a whole lot more expensive.

The railroads will not take any bookings right now and so all the containers going to and from the West Coast to places such as Chicago and Memphis must go by truck, he indicated.

The situation is putting importers of low-value products such as tee shirts at an economic disadvantage since it will now cost them a whole lot more money to send their goods via Americas crumbling roadways.

A freight truck from Los Angeles or Long Beach to Chicago, for instance, costs about $7,000, while one from LA or LB to Nashville costs about $7,200. A shipment from the same origin all the way to Jacksonville, Florida, costs even more at $8,800 a pop.

While it used to cost about $2,000 to send a truck container from one coast to the other, those days are gone, the consultant maintains.

In the good old days, you could ship a container from the West Coast to Chicago or Memphis by rail for $1,000, he explains.

More train loads now passing through Canada because its cheaper

One exception was observed at the Port of Prince Rupert in British Columbia, where COSCO vessels can still ship goods internationally from Memphis, Tennessee while completely avoiding Americas West Coast ports. The only problem is that it takes an extra 21 days, the consultant noted.

Shipping through Canada in this manner is cheaper, however, which evidence suggests is contributing to a shift in the way some businesses send their goods overseas.

BNSF is also rejecting the notion that it lacks international railcar capacity, which a spokesman described as inaccurate.

BNSF is open for business and ready to receive all freight from ocean carriers at the West Coast ports, he added. We have a railcar fleet in excess of demand and have sufficient locomotives, equipment and people across our network to handle current and additional volumes.

As always, we are in constant communication with our customers and remain focused on meeting their shipment needs.

UP offered similar feedback, claiming that the company is continuing to align its resources to handle increased demand. An UP spokesman told AJOT that there is positive momentum happening, and a surge in intermodal demand.

The Surface Transportation Board (STB), however, sent identical letters to both companies expressing similar concerns as the consultant about a lack of adequate rail service, as well as available rail personnel to handle the transport freight.

More related news about Americas growing logistics problem can be found at Collapse.news.

Sources for this article include:

AJOT.com

NaturalNews.com
NEW YORK, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- VG Acquisition Corp. (the "Company) a special purpose acquisition company, announced today that it filed a registration statement on Form S-1 (the "Registration Statement") with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") relating to the proposed initial public offering of 40,000,000 units at a price of $10.00 per unit, consisting of one share of Class A common stock and one-third of one redeemable warrant. The Company has applied to list the units on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "VGAC."

The Company is a newly formed company incorporated for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. The Company intends to search for targets that operate in consumer-facing industries in the United States and Western Europe.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. Any offers, solicitations of offers to buy, or any sales of securities will be made in accordance with the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"). This announcement is being issued in accordance with Rule 135 under the Securities Act.

Media Contacts

For inquiries please contact FTI Consulting:

US, Canada, South America, Australia  Antonia Gray / Grace Altman

E: [email protected] / [email protected]

UK, Middle East, Asia, Africa  Charles Palmer

E: [email protected]

SOURCE VG Acquisition Corp.
Conservation of the Mau forest complex has led to increased water levels in the Mara River.

Delegates from Kenya and Tanzania attending the Mara Day celebrations hosted by Bomet County said there is need to sustain efforts to conserve the Mara Basin, a regional resource.

The river empties its water to Lake Victoria.

The government started the rehabilitation of the Mau forest complex by evicting more than 60,000 settlers and planting trees.

"There is need for conservation upstream with planting of environmentally-friendly trees along rivers and springs so as to curb pressure on underground water," said Bomet Governor Dr Hillary Barchok during the celebrations at Mara Serena in Maasai Mara.

Bomet County has rolled out a tree-planting initiative to raise forest cover to more than 12 per cent.

East African Community Principal Secretary Dr Gevid Desai said the Kenya government is enlisting support of all development partners in conservation efforts.

"We encourage participation of partners all over the world to sustain the conservation of the basin which is known for yearly migration of tens of thousands of wildbeest from Kenya to Tanzania," said Dr Desai

Dr Ali Matano, the executive secretary of the Lake Victoria Basi Commission Secretariat under the East African Community, said residents of Kenya and Tanzania have taken over conservation of the Mara River Basin following a series of sensitisation initiatives.

"Existing framework between Kenya and Tanzania to manage the Mara Basin ecosystem is being implemented in what has elevated the issue from politics to a matter of life and death of wildlife, aquatic and humans whose lives is dependent on the basin," said Dr Matano.

Narok Governor Samwel Tunai said there is need for all stakeholders, including corporate institutions, to play a role in conservation of the Mara Basin.

"Narok County has allocated resources towards the conservation efforts, with communities having been brought on board to ensure policies are implemented," said Mr Tunai.
Ghana's private sector has been lauded for its commitment and support in helping the government to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the Minister of Planning Professor George Yaw Gyan-Baffour, so far COVID-19 response efforts from the private sector have been overwhelming with the establishment of the Ghana Private Sector COVID-19 Trust Fund.

Professor Gyan-Baffour was speaking at the third Virtual Accra Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Investment Fair in Accra on the theme: Regaining Momentum in SDGs Implementation during and post COVID-19.

In 2018, the Ministry of Finance in collaboration with Ghana Investment Promotions Centre and the SDGs Advisory Unit, launched the annual SDGs Investment Fair to encourage private financing of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The fair aims at facilitating collaborations between investors and sustainable public and private sector project/businesses.

He said the pandemic had come as a shock, and disrupted plans in achieving some of the SDGs.

The Planning Minister said despite the challenges, we need to be consistent and resilient in achieving the goals of the SDGs.

He said the pandemic had exposed the nation's infrastructure gaps, which indicated that a lot needed to be done to close our infrastructure gap.

Prof Baffour called on the private sector to take advantage and opportunities presented by the COVID-19 pandemic to expand their operations.

He said there was a need for financing options for small and medium enterprises for sustainability in the acceleration of achievements of the SDGs.

The Minister said in the era of the new normal, innovation, information communication technology in education and telemedicine was needed to drive the system.

Mr Charles Adu Boahen, the Deputy Minister of Finance said COVID-19 had great impact on some of the goals of the SDGs and called for partnership to drive the implementation of the goals.

He said the government had launched a 100 billion Ghana CARES Programme to mitigate the economic challenges by the pandemic and urged players in the private sector to take advantage of the programme to revamp their busineses.

Mr Adu Boahen said it was part of Government's resolute steps to get the economy back on track, and working to anchor the comprehensive transformation of our society.

He said the initiative had two phases: a Stabilisation Phase that would run from July to the end of the year (2020); and a medium-term Re-vitalisation Phase (to be implemented from 2021-2023) to revitalise the economy and accelerate the Ghana Beyond Aid transformation agenda.

The stabilisation phase of the Ghana CARES programme will ensure food security, protect businesses and worker incomes, strengthen the health system, attract private investments and support Ghanaian businesses, he said.

Mr Adu Boahen said the world needed to put in place a recovery plan on the impact of the pandemic, and that Africa needed to have a marshal plan to continue to manage its human and developmental agenda in the post-COVID-19 era.

The 2020 Virtual Accra SDGs Investment Fair is to provide a platform to explore new opportunities within the new normal, identify innovative ways to access financial resources during the COVID-19 pandemic and recovery, share experiences relating to individual and corporate adaptability in the wake of Covid-19 and rebuilding momentum for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Accra SDGs Investment Fair brought together high-level government Officials, community facilitators, investors, civil society organisations, entrepreneurs, knowledge institutions and other stakeholders to help develop sustainable network for post-COVID-19 strategies that will support Government's vision of a Ghana Beyond Aid.

Topics under discussion include; The Path from Response to Recovery and Resilience, Socio-economic impact of COVID-19 on the SDGs, A post-COVID-19 vision of sustainable enterprises, Financing for Development and the New Normal: Innovations in Education.

---GNA
First, the good news: The states prison population has dropped 15% in the past year.

That really is something worth celebrating. It means, among other things, that smart-on-crime measures approved by voters and the Legislature are starting to work.

Now, the bad news: We still have too many people in prison, and the number is about to go back up.

Finally, the critical news: Theres still important progress needed to get Oklahoma out of the mass incarceration business, starting with the passage of State Question 805.

Here are some critical facts:

The number of people in Oklahoma prisons peaked in late 2018 at more than 27,000.

Thanks to the states first efforts at justice reform and intense work by the state parole board and Gov. Kevin Stitt, the number was down to under 25,000 before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Currently, the number is 21,991. For the first time in memory, the state prison system has a little room, but wed still have to release more than 7,000 prisoners to get to the national average incarceration rate.
How to merge COVID-19 vaccination certificate after first and second dose in to final one

COVID-19 cases: Mexico enters to third wave of coronavirus; infections up 29 per cent

Covid and dengue 'co-infections' is the new concern in India

India

oi-Briti Roy Barman

New Delhi, Sep 16: As the country has crossed 50 lakh mark with COVID-19 cases, India's new concern is Covid and dengue 'co-infections'.

As both the viral diseases do not have any specific antiviral drug or vaccine, the treatment depends on only clinical conditions and symptoms.

Chinese firm to test COVID-19 vaccine in teenagers, children on Sep 28

Delhi and West Bengal are registering a rise in co-infection of dengue and COVID-19 with doctors now warning that this combination could enhance the severity of both diseases.

Both the states are in the midst of a worsening Covid outbreak, have now started to see the fatal co-infections.

"Most cases of COVID-19 and dengue are asymptomatic (about 80 per cent), and in a setting of co-infection one disease might enhance the severity of the other," Ashutosh Biswas, professor of Medicine at AIIMS-Delhi, told HT.

The doctor further told that false positivity is high among co-infection cases, which can create diagnostic challenges.

Several hospitals said patients testing positive for Covid are later being diagnosed with dengue infection too, or vice-versa.

Experts say, this creates an extremely critical condition in patients as coronavirus causes blood to clump while dengue causes bleeding that does not allow blood to clot. This creates an extremely critical condition in a patient.

"Both COVID-19 and dengue have unpredictable clinical courses and both generally require hospital monitoring for management. Most hospitals are busy managing COVID-19 and very little window is open for tackling another disease outbreak. IV Fluid therapy is challenging in co-infected patients due to early development of ARDS/pulmonary oedema, and treatment with low molecular weight heparin for management of COVID-19 may enhance bleeding in the presence of dengue, especially with low platelet count," said Dr. Biswas to HT.

Meanwhile, in Maharashtra, a hospital treated a paediatric co-infection, where a 10-year-old was treated of dengue and Covid-19 infection.

The child was brought with complaints of high grade fever along with sore throat, malaise and nausea since the past five days with positive Covid-19 RT-PCR report.
The Muzaffarnagar police on Wednesday claimed to have busted an international drug trafficking racket with the arrest of three men from Budhana town here.

The accused have been identified as Zahir, Sajan Sharma, both natives of Bihar, and Islam, a resident of Budhana. They were arrested on Tuesday evening and 30.5 kg of charas worth Rs 7 lakh was seized from their possession, police said.

Superintendent of Police (rural) Nepal Singh told reporters that the three men were intercepted by a police team during a checking and drugs were seized from them.

During interrogation, it was found that the accused used to supply drugs, which were smuggled in from Nepal, in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi, he said.

A case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act has been registered against the accused, the police said.

READ | Guj: 5 Booked For Operating Spurious Tocilizumab Drug Racket

READ | NCB Busts International Drug Racket, Arrests 7
President Trump visited the smoky hellscape of California on Monday and proclaimed that the scientists are wrong about climate change.

Itll start getting cooler, he said. You just watch.

With fires blazing everywhere, with temperatures rising and the glaciers melting, he conceded that things are getting a touch steamy these days. But no one knows why, the president says. I dont think science knows, actually, he said.

Rumor has it that Bob Woodward spoke to Trump about climate change privately, and the president admitted that he is only spewing this nonsense because he doesnt want us to panic. Look for it in Woodwards next book, Armageddon.

But really, at this point it doesnt matter much whats going on in Trumps head. What matters is his actions. And when it comes to climate, he will be judged by history as a saboteur, or as Joe Biden put it, a climate arsonist. He hasnt just failed to move the United States in the right direction. He is actively reversing President Obamas modest steps to reduce emissions.

On climate, Trump is a radical of the wrong kind. He reversed President Obamas effort to shut down the old coal plants in the Midwest, leaving them free to spew their toxins into the dominant wind currents flowing towards New Jersey, where nearly half our air pollution is imported. He rolled back Obamas directives to increase auto efficiency standards. Hes opening pristine public lands, in Alaska and elsewhere, to drilling and mining.

He knee-capped efforts to build a global coalition on climate by withdrawing from the Paris agreement. Hes even whined about the terrible inconvenience of using efficient light bulbs, as if that hill is just too steep to climb. Hes never met an environmental regulation he hasnt tried to kill, and in fact has rolled back 68 so far, the bulk of them on emissions and drilling.

All the while, Trump spills his poison into the climate discussion by casting doubt on the established science, just as hes done during the pandemic. If you cant see the connection, folks, then youre suffering from the conservative version of Trump Derangement Syndrome. Hes using the same disastrous playbook in each crisis.

About those wildfires out West: Trump charged that California is partly to blame because it has done a poor job managing its forests, leaving too much fuel on the ground, and allowing homes to be built in red zones. And thats true, a point conceded even by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

But these are the worst fires in Californias long history of fires, and the warming climate is a culprit as well, mainly because higher temperatures dry out the ground, underbrush and trees, effectively baking them dry and setting the table for disaster. Temperatures in Death Valley reached 130 degrees recently, a record. The 10 largest fires in Californias history have all occurred since the year 2000.

This climate-change connection is straightforward: warmer temperatures dry out fuels, says Park Williams, a bioclimatologist at Columbia Universitys Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. As long as stuff is dry enough and theres a spark, then that stuff will burn.

Republicans once took this problem seriously. John McCain, the party nominee for president in 2008, supported a cap-and-trade system to limit emissions from power plants, essentially a carbon tax. Heres what the party platform said about climate: The same human economic activity that has brought freedom and opportunity to billions has also increased the amount of carbon in the atmosphereCommon sense dictates that the United States should take measured and reasonable steps today to reduce any impact on the environment.

Joe Biden gets that, and his plan to cut emissions is goes well beyond Obamas. He would eliminate all carbon emission from the electricity sector by 2035, investing $2 trillion in clean energy projects, with $400 billion more to subsidize U.S.-made electric vehicles. He would fund research on clean energy on the scale of the Manhattan project, and launch a diplomatic effort to set global limits. Its a muscular answer to an existential challenge.

Biden is treating us like adults, telling us the hard truth. Dont panic, though. Just make sure youre registered to vote.

More: Tom Moran columns

Tom Moran may be reached at tmoran@starledger.com. Follow him on Twitter @tomamoran. Find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.
The Australian Federal Police logo is seen in Canberra, Australia, on June 6, 2019. (Getty Images)

Australian Law Enforcement Investigate Communications of Chinese Officials

Australian police were issued warrants to investigate a Chinese consular official and a political advisors communication amid ongoing scrutiny of foreign interference in the country.

Search warrants have been issued to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) to investigate the Sydney Chinese consulate and Consulate-General Sun Yantao, according to an ABC report published on Sept. 15.

Sun was appointed to the consulate by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, which liaises with Chinese communities outside of China and is under the authority of the United Front Work Department (UFWD).

The UFWD gained notoriety with its connection to billionaire Huang Xiangmo and the downfall of former Senator Sam Dastyari.

The current investigation by the AFP and the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) centre on if the Sydney Chinese consulate conspired with New South Wales (NSW) Labor political staffer John Zhang to infiltrate the NSW branch of the Labor Party in an attempt to influence the party and its political agenda.

Zhang who is currently employed part-time by the NSW Upper House Parliamentarian Shaoquett Moselmane, is under investigation over allegations he breached Australias 2018 foreign interference laws.

According to a case lodged against the AFP in August by Zhang, the AFP and Australian Border Force read and combed through his communications, on his laptop and phone, with diplomats in China and family members.

Moslemane who is also under investigation was the subject of a dramatic morning raid on his home in June.

The Chinese Consulate in Sydney has rejected the allegations calling them baseless and arguing this is nothing but vicious slander.

This latest incident comes after two Australian journalists were forced to flee China over security concerns after Chinese authorities harassed them.

Chinese state-owned media outlet, and vocal commentator, The Global Times claimed Beijings behaviour towards the two correspondents was retribution for the Australian governments investigation into the Chinese regime activities in Australia.

Included in these ongoing investigation is the revelation on Sept. 10 that four Chinese nationals were barred from re-entering Australia following alleged raids conducted by the AFP and ASIO.

Currently Australias relations with China are experiencing a significant cooling with foreign minister Marise Payne stating on Sept. 8 that Australians should not travel to China.
A 39-year-old Cumberland, Rhode Island, man who has been accused of posing as a rideshare driver in order to target women at Boston bars has been indicted on charges including rape and kidnapping, officials said Wednesday.

Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins has called the suspect, Alvin Campbell, a serial rapist. Campbell was indicted Tuesday on two counts of kidnapping, two counts of aggravated rape, five counts of rape, two counts of indecent assault and battery, one count of assault with intent to rape and eight counts of filming an unsuspecting person in the nude. The indictment moves Campbells case to Suffolk Superior Court.

The charges reflect assaults against seven women between 2017 and 2019. Campbell was previously indicted in March for an attack on an eighth woman that occurred in 2019, Rollins' office said in a statement.

Campbell will be arraigned on the indictments at a later date. Additionally, Campbell is charged as a habitual offender based on prior convictions for violent acts and firearm offenses, the statement said. The habitual offender indictment opens Campbell to the potential of life in prison if found guilty.

Campbell posed as a rideshare driver in connection with six of the indicted offenses, the district attorneys office said, trying to target women near bars. In two incidents, the victims believed Campbell was a bouncer.

Most of the assaults happened in Campbells vehicle, Rollins' office said. Campbell is accused of assaulting two women at their apartment after driving them to the residence.

He is charged with filming each of the victims, who were unconscious, in a state of undress, the statement said. In five of the assaults, he allegedly filmed the victims as he raped them.

Campbell is the brother of Boston City Councilor Andrea Campbell.

Rollins' office previously said that Campbell last worked for Uber in 2016. When his vehicle was seized in the first case, "it was festooned with Uber stickers and logos.

Support for survivors of sexual violence and information by city and town can be found online.

Related Content:
INFORMATION ABOUT MCLAS RESPONSE TO COVID-19

As we look ahead to the Spring 2022 semester, MCLA will continue to implement best practices in order to make the campus experience as safe and successful as possible for the entire community. To that end, we will continue to require all enrolled students to be vaccinated and to receive a booster shot in order to attend classes or participate in activities on campus. See the FAQ regarding vaccination requirements here.

All members of our community, including visitors, are required to wear masks while on campus, especially inside College buildings. All students, regardless of vaccination status, are required to be masked in all indoor spaces, including classrooms, common spaces, and residence areas outside of their own rooms. This policy is necessary to begin the semester based on the latest data and information surrounding the Delta and Omicron variants. As with all our COVID-19 protocols, this is subject to change, based on prevailing public health data and best practices. COVID-19 can be spread by vaccinated individuals, and a mask is the best tool available to help stop any potential spread of the virus. Please stay home if you are sick.

As usual, MCLA will continue to be vigilant about public health and safety for students, faculty, and staff. The College will continue to follow all guidelines set by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and require all members of the campus community to follow these guidelines as they participate in campus life. MCLA will continue to monitor available public health data in order to make the best decisions regarding our campus populations safety and accessibility.

An archive of campus messages regarding COVID-19 can be found below. You can also find answers to frequently asked questions and links to helpful information from the Commonwealth.

MCLA has set up a hotline phone number for questions related to COVID-19 at 413-662-5550. The hotline is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday-Friday. You can also leave a message outside of these hours.
It is insensitive, to say the least, for the Union government to refuse to compensate migrant families who lost their near and dear ones making the trek back home. The governments stand is based on the specious argument that there is no data available. No such data is maintained.

Question does not arise in view of the above, was the curt reply of Union Labour Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar to questions from opposition benches. In the first Parliament session after the pandemic broke out in March, the labour ministry was asked: one, did the government have any data on migrant workers who had returned home? And two, were the names of those who had lost their lives documented?

More than a crore of migrants, a figure acknowledged by the government, had made their way back to their villages after lockdown conditions paralysed their sources of income.

Most went hungry and thirsty; many lost their lives. The callous reply by the labour ministry is prima facie a breach of the apex court order of June 9 that had directed both the Centre and states to identify and transport migrant workers home within the next 15 days. If the registration process and transportation of migrants had been carried out as envisaged by the court, the basic database would have been available.

If the government is willing to look beyond its nose, there is volumes of private NGO data documenting the tragedy. For instance, the SaveLIFE Foundation, a road safety NGO, has documented that 198 migrant workers lost their lives in as many as 1,461 road accidents during the lockdown period till May 31. The labour ministry could have built up primary data too by inviting claims of deaths during those gruelling summer months.

It is indeed bizarre that the Delhi Police, a Central government agency, has collected 11 lakh pages of data to confront arrested anti-CAA protestor Umar Khalid to establish a conspiracy, but has no data on those who died while on the move. Have the lives of those who toil and die by the wayside become so cheap?
SAN FRANCISCO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / September 16, 2020 / MIRA BEAUTY, the world's first universal store and collaborative library for makeup and skincare, announces a $9 million fundraise and new achievements.

Founded by Stanford data scientists Jay Hack and Brandon Garcia, the company has gathered a group of investors spanning cosmetics conglomerates, technology, and consumer venture capital firms, as well as marquee brand founders. This round was co-led by Unilever Ventures and 14W, the venture capital firm behind Glossier and Goop, and underscores the combined power of machine learning and crowdsourced intelligence in retail.

Recognized as a disruptive innovation, MIRA BEAUTY reaches millions of beauty shoppers weekly, counts over 100,000 products from more than 3,000 brands, and translates over 10 million product pages, authentic reviews, photos, and videos into one clear, simple, and personalized shopping experience. Launched last October, mirabeauty.com's collective, retailer-agnostic and transparent approach to online beauty shopping has made it a company to watch in the rapidly evolving global cosmetics and skincare industry - expected to grow to $429.8 billion by 2022.

With this latest round of seed funding, Jay Hack, co-founder, and CEO, said the company is focused on taking a verticalized approach to beauty shopping in collaboration with its customers: "Our belief is that beauty should be a celebration of personal choice. We designed MIRA BEAUTY to improve the accuracy and relevance of beauty product searches and recommendations per individual. Beauty consumers increasingly want to interact with brands and purchase products online in a way that feels authentic, frictionless, and collaborative, and today's specialty retailers, direct-to-consumer stores, and marketplaces are ill-equipped to retrofit their businesses to this new reality. We are thrilled to partner with 14W, Unilever, and other like-minded investors who have track records of backing market-leading innovations."

"MIRA BEAUTY is like Netflix: It rolls exactly what you want to see, and seamlessly," said Ally Tam, who led the partnership for 14W. "MIRA BEAUTY was quick to carve a niche for itself where all individuals can easily find the products that work for them, and we believe this new capital will help the company scale their services to meet the demands of a rapidly growing online audience."

"This round of funding is the result of impressive business fundamentals for MIRA BEAUTY, and it will help further the company's mission to impart the knowledge and experiences of the beauty community," said Stephen Willson, Investment Director at Unilever Ventures, the venture capital and private equity arm of Unilever. "MIRA BEAUTY is well-positioned to deliver cutting-edge technology to beauty e-commerce, alongside more simplicity and transparency."?

One destination

As part of the company's effort to boost its digital roadmap and streamline e-commerce operations, the beta app will entirely be phased out and merged into the redesigned website. MIRA BEAUTY has unified the two experiences together under a bolder and more contemporary visual identity.

"We know our guests love the app, and we are bringing what has made the app a success to the website, as well as a brand experience that celebrates self-confidence and diversity," said Brandon Garcia, co-founder, and COO of MIRA BEAUTY. "With something as inspiring as beauty, we're making it easier than ever to shop for skincare and cosmetic products that work for you - shopping for beauty should be an empowering moment."

Inclusivity and consciousness

Powered by a proprietary technology that thoughtfully curates top-rated skincare and makeup products from the web, MIRA BEAUTY has developed unique categories and assortments that appeal to its audience tastes, needs, price points, and values. These include the industry's largest collection of female-founded and Black-founded brands, as well as the largest assortments of vegan, recyclable, and K-Beauty products.

The company plans to introduce new product categories and assortments by the end of the year to diversify the growing offering.

CONTACT:

Benjamin Lord

media@mirabeauty.com

SOURCE: MIRA BEAUTY

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/606369/Personalized-Beauty-Marketplace-Closes-9M-in-Funding-to-Accelerate-Growth
New Delhi:

The row over ban on the Tamil sport 'Jallikattu' has snowballed into a state-wide agitation with protesters thronging Chennai's Marina Beach in support of the age-old tradition.

The mounting anger on the streets has prompted the top brass of the state government to chalk out a strategy to persuade people to maintain calm.

Chief minister O Panneerselvam met Prime Minister Narendra Modi i9n Delhi and demanded an ordinance for the sport.

Read | Jallikattu row: Chennai's Marina Beach becomes epicentre of protests, CM Panneerselvam to meet prez, PM

Here are the live updates:

# Chennai: People gather in huge numbers to protest in support of jallikattu at Marina Beach



# Prime Minister refuses to meet me. I don't have any other way but to sit outside his house till he meets me: PMK MP Anbumani Ramadoss



# PMK MP Anbumani Ramadoss sits in support of #Jallikattu outside PM residence at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg, Delhi

# The case in SC is being heard and verdict is not pronounced yet. PM has assured support to whatever steps state government takes over Jallikattu: Panneerselvam

# Pongal is the biggest festival in Tamil Nadu. Bigger than Holi and Diwali and Jallikattu is an intergral part of it:Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Chennai: Youth activists protesting in support of #jallikattu at Chennai's Marina Beach pic.twitter.com/vmKvgCT4dU  ANI (@ANI_news) January 19, 2017

# Massive protests in support of Jallikattu continue for the third day at the Marina Beach in Chennai and other parts of Tamil Nadu

# PM Modi tells Panneerselvam that Jallikattu matter is sub-judice but he appreciates its cultural significance.

While appreciating the cultural significance of Jallikattu, the Prime Minister observed that the matter is presently sub-judice.  PMO India (@PMOIndia) January 19, 2017

# Chief minister Panneerselvam meets Prime Minsiter Narendra Modi, presents memorandum

# Supreme Court refuses to hear a plea seeking hearing of the matter pertaining to public protest at Marina beach: ANI

# Chief minister O Pannerselvam arrives at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi

# Activists protest outside Tamil Nadu House in support of the bull-taming sport Jallikattu

Delhi: Youth activists protest outside Tamil Nadu House in support of the bull taming sport #jallikattu pic.twitter.com/2wlZ0DJ4Kk  ANI (@ANI_news) January 19, 2017

# CM Panneerselvam leaves Tamil Nadu House to meet PM Modi in Delhi

# Thousands of protesters gather at Chennai's Marina Beach in support of the age-old tradition

#Jallikattu supporters in large numbers at Chennai's Marina Beach garner support through social media. pic.twitter.com/1Ohup6on3I  ANI (@ANI_news) January 19, 2017

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Today, Socio announced the EventHack Hybrid Games, a 10-week hackathon that brings together 72 industry leaders, marketers, and journalists to square off and compete for the ultimate hybrid-crossover solution.

As restrictions on large gatherings eventually begin to ease, the industry anticipates organizers will pivot to a hybrid event model, which combines a smaller, in-person audience with a virtual audience. Event organizers will soon need to adopt solutions for attendee engagement, networking, sponsorship, as well as other strategies that work for both attendee groups.

Socios goal in hosting the EventHack Hybrid Games is to help lay the groundwork for the future of eventswhich will rely heavily on hybrid-event strategies, and inspire event organizers to take their events to the next level during these exciting times, said Corey McCarthy, Socio Chief Marketing Officer. Im looking forward to seeing all of the innovation inspired by the crowdsourced ideas from the top event experts over the next 10 weeks.

The EventHack Hybrid Games is an evolution of Socios EventHack 2020, which brought together 16 event industry leaders in April to hack virtual event solutions.

The original EventHack was designed to help event organizers through a very dark hour, McCarthy said. What started as an ambitious idea has morphed into a full-blown EventHack Community that comes together regularly for thought leadership, education, and virtual meetups. For the Hybrid Games, were taking it to the next level by upgrading our own production quality, and weaving in some fun surprises that you wont want to miss.

The EventHack Hybrid Games will launch September 17 and run every Thursday through November 19. Four squads will compete each weektwo for Team Virtual and two for Team In-Person. The Virtual Team will approach the hack from a virtual-first perspective, and their ability to make it work for in-person events. The In-Person Team will hack from an in-person event perspective, and figure out how to include virtual attendees. Each session will uncover four hybrid-crossover solutions that Socio will turn into a comprehensive playbook on hybrid events.

Judges will evaluate the hackers on three criteria: real world applicability, innovation, and hybrid-crossover strategy. A live audience will also vote, and the top four squads on each team will compete in the finals on November 19.

EventHack judges include Adam Parry of Event Industry News, Keneisha Williams of Black in Events, Ashton Pike of BizBash, Viveka von Rosen of Vengreso, JT Long of Smart Meetings, Arlene Shows of Trade Show News Network, Corbin Ball of Corbin Ball & Co, and more.

The hackers represent organizations including Microsoft, Netflix, Heinz Marketing, IBM, Pinterest, Meeting Professionals International, Salesforce, SITE Global, iSocialFanz, Dahlia+ Agency, SoolNua and more.

McCarthy will co-host the series with Will Curran of Endless Events. Currans team will work behind the scenes running tech production. Nick Borelli of Borelli Strategies was involved with the event design, and veteran television producer Terisa Whitted is helping bring everything to life.

Headquartered in Indianapolis, and with global offices in San Francisco and Istanbul, Socios customers include Google, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Comcast, Pinterest, The National Institutes of Health, and Harvard University, along with other major enterprises, member-based associations, and event organizers.

About Socio: Socio is an event technology platform built for live, hybrid, and virtual events. The end-to-end system includes event registration, an interactive mobile event app, community platform, full virtual event suite, Orange Glove Service, lead retrieval, and live display. The Socio platform uses drag-and-drop technology that makes it simple for organizers to customize a branded experience that attendees love.
On Sept. 1, as candidates from across the commonwealth and their supporters urged voters to ensure their voices were heard in the Massachusetts primary, Berkshire District Attorney Andrea Harrington began her own campaign, of sorts.

Harrington was pulled over on Primary Day for a traffic violation in Pittsfield, the Berkshire Eagle reported Tuesday.

At 2:39 p.m. on Sept. 1, she was spotted by a Pittsfield officer driving the wrong direction on a one-way street in Pittsfield.

The officer issued a verbal warning, Lt. Gary Traversa, a spokesman for the Pittsfield Police Department, told the Eagle.

The newspaper reported her license was suspended on Nov. 24, 2019 and restored Sept. 4.

During the traffic stop, Harrington says she learned that her license was suspended.

What does a couple of hundred dollars to the State of NY and 7 hours on the phone with the MA RMV get you? A story in the Berkshire Eagle, apparently, she wrote on Facebook following the articles publication on Tuesday.

Harrington acknowledged she was pulled over for a traffic violation.

Which is a good thing because they let me know to check my drivers license, Harrington said.

Last summer, Harrington received a speeding ticket while driving into New York City. Rather than contest the ticket at a hearing, I took responsibility and paid my ticket online to the NY RMV," she said. "However, the NY court apparently did not know that which triggered MA suspending my license which I was not aware of.

After learning her license was suspended, Harrington said she gathered the necessary paperwork for the Registry of Motor Vehicles to restore her license.

It did literally take 7 hours on hold with the MA RMV over the course of two days, Harrington said. Lock her up, as they say.

Harrington was elected Berkshire County District Attorney in 2018, beating Paul J. Caccaviello, who served as first assistant district attorney under longtime DA David Capeless, and former prosecutor and defense attorney Judith C. Knight in the Democratic primary.

There was no Republican on the ballot in 2018, though Caccaviello mounted a write-in campaign to challenge Harrington again in the general election.

Harrington was the sole candidate without experience on the prosecutors side of the courtroom and centered her campaign on promises of criminal justice reform. She endorsed treatment beds over jail cells for nonviolent drug users, proposed ending cash bail for low-level offenders and criticized the disproportionate prosecution of juvenile minorities.

District attorneys are elected to four-year terms. The seat will not be on the ballot this November.
Complete Discovery Source (CDS), leading provider of eDiscovery and data management solutions, announced today that it is expanding the companys global footprint in the European Union (EU) with cloud-based eDiscovery solution, RelativityOne, in Switzerland and the Netherlands.

In Europes shifting legal and regulatory landscape, litigation and investigations continue to grow in scope, scale, and risk. Data privacy regulations make information sharing more complicated between jurisdictions. And in many cross-border matters, parties are required to keep data from leaving the country altogether.

CDS EU expansion leverages the companys deep experience helping organizations address the challenges of complying with complex global data privacy laws.

Companies and law firms based in and/or operating in Switzerland and the Netherlands responding to litigation or investigations, need a comprehensive, secure solution for data processing, hosting, review, and production, said Nyi Htwe, Chief Technology Officer, CDS. Built on the Microsoft Azure Cloud, RelativityOne is the most flexible, scalable, and secure platform for eDiscovery available.

Since 2015, CDS has been on the ground in Switzerland, servicing global companies' Swiss operations and data sources. CDS recently partnered with Relativity on the launch of RelativityOne Switzerland to provide clients access to leading-edge eDiscovery.

CDS expansion to the Netherlands is designed to provide European companies that are concerned about Brexit the opportunity to support their businesses in mainland Europe. Looking ahead to the potential issues that may arise between the EU and the UK, companies can now achieve some peace of mind by opening their litigation hub within the EU.

CDS has been a key Relativity partner for more than a decade, having expanded global services and support, and helping many customers make the move to the cloud, said Steve Couling, Managing Director and VP Sales, EMEA at Relativity. We are excited for CDS to and their expansion of their RelativityOne footprint into Switzerlamd and the Netherlands, offering their deep-rooted expertise to to more corporations and law firms in Europe.

CDS maintains data centers in the US, Canada, UK, and EU and executes multi-jurisdictional data collections and analysis around the world. When data cant be moved out of local data centers and/or requires remote access, CDS Digital Customs can be deployed onsite in corporate facilities.

About Complete Discovery Source

Complete Discovery Source (CDS) is a leading eDiscovery company, providing litigation technology, advisory services, and data management solutions for complex, global matters. CDS is the first choice of the Am Law 100 and Fortune 500 and has been recognized as Best in End-to-End eDiscovery by the National Law Journal. As a Silver-Level RelativityOne certified partner, CDS delivers a large, high volume footprint of cloud-based eDiscovery for corporations, law firms and government agencies. The company is headquartered in New York with offices in Chicago, Washington DC, San Francisco and London, and maintains highly secure data centers internationally. For more information, contact CDS at getstarted@cdslegal.com or visit http://www.cdslegal.com.

About Relativity

At Relativity, we make software to help users organize data, discover the truth, and act on it. Our e-discovery platform is used by more than 13,000 organizations around the world to manage large volumes of data and quickly identify key issues during litigation, internal investigations, and compliance operations with SaaS platform RelativityOne and Relativity Trace. Relativity has users in 48+ countries from organizations, including the U.S. Department of Justice, and 199 of the Am Law 200. Relativity has been named one of Chicago's Top Workplaces by the Chicago Tribune for nine consecutive years. Please contact Relativity at sales@relativity.com or visit http://www.relativity.com for more information.
Unemployed men and poor women as well as unmarried people, but not long-distance migrants, are more likely to have their remains go unclaimed after death, according to data from Los Angeles County.

Article Title: Loneliness in life and in death? Social and demographic patterns of unclaimed deaths

Funding: This project was supported by Grant Number K99HD096322 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The authors also benefited from facilities and resources provided by the California Center for Population Research at UCLA (CCPR), which receives core support (P2C-HD041022) from NICHD. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Article URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0238348

###
Touchstone Laboratory at Medisend College The advanced training that they receive as a result of this contribution will make a real difference for the futures of our veteran graduates and their families, says General Richard B. Myers.

Touchstone Medical Imaging, headquartered in Franklin, TN, with regional offices in Plano, TX, has donated the design and construction of two state-of-the-art X-ray and imaging laboratories to Medisend College of Biomedical Engineering Technology, located in Dallas. Medisend Colleges General Richard B. Myers Veterans Program trains US military veterans to become professional biomedical technicians with opportunities for careers in the healthcare industry. Medisend College has been training veterans and successfully placing them in positions with major healthcare organizations since 2013.

Touchstone is proud to support our military veterans through this community partnership with Medisend College, says Clete Madden, President of Touchstone Imaging and Board of Trustee member at Medisend College. It is inspiring to be able to help these young men and women find a future that can repay them for their sacrifice. We are pleased to play a role in helping them receive the highest level of education and training at Medisend.

The two Touchstone Imaging Laboratories at Medisend College will house new advanced X-ray equipment, donated by Siemens, and four new panoramic dental X-ray units, donated by Henry Schein Dental. Veterans will enter the workplace with knowledge and experience on this state-of-the-art equipment and technology and will have the opportunity to serve their communities in rewarding and lucrative positions.

It is through the generosity of organizations like Touchstone Imaging that Medisend College has continued to offer the highest level of education and training in biomedical engineering technology. Our mission is to have graduates obtain sought-after jobs after receiving a quality education. The advanced training that they receive as a result of this contribution will make a real difference for the futures of our veteran graduates and their families, says General Richard B. Myers, Past Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Current President of Kansas State University, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Medisend College, and Founder of the General Richard B. Myers Veterans Program at Medisend College.

About Touchstone Imaging:

Touchstone Medical Imaging is a leading provider of diagnostic imaging services in the United States. Headquartered in Franklin, TN, with regional offices in Plano, TX, Touchstone owns and operates diagnostic imaging facilities in Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Florida, Arkansas and Montana. The company uses the highest quality imaging equipment and partners with subspecialized radiologists to deliver a wide range of imaging services in a comfortable, service-oriented outpatient environment. Touchstone is part of the US Radiology Specialists national radiology network.

About Medisend College of Biomedical Engineering Technology:

Medisend College is the premier educational and training center for individuals seeking a future in biomedical technology. Students can earn an Associate Degree in Biomedical Engineering Technology in an innovative and intensive 7-month program with hands-on training using the most up-to-date hospital-grade equipment. The highly recognized training gives graduates the education and background necessary to get promising careers with healthcare industry leaders.

The General Richard B. Myers Veterans Program at Medisend College enables veterans to maximize the skills gained in service to their country. The program enables veterans to transition into civilian workplace with well-paying jobs in the coveted healthcare industry. General Myers states it best, Our mission is not complete until we have given our veterans and their families the best opportunity for a secure future.
The OPEC+ coalition saw its overall compliance rate with the production cuts at around 101 percent in August, three sources in the group told Reuters on Wednesday, when OPEC+ panels start their monthly two-day meeting to take stock of the most recent oil market developments.

The technical panel will meet later on Wednesday, while the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC), co-chaired by the energy ministers of Saudi Arabia and Russia, is meeting on Thursday to assess compliance rates and possible actions.

OPEC+ has given the laggards in compliance, such as Iraq, time until the end of September to additionally cut production on top of their share of the cuts, in order to offset the overproduction between May and July.

The panel on Thursday could extend the period in which non-compliant members should compensate for their overproduction, other sources told Reuters earlier this week.

Iraq has signaled that it could ask the OPEC+ panel to allow it to extend the period in which it should compensate for its lack of compliance through November, instead of by the end of September.

Iraq could lose as much as $50 billion over the next two years because of the OPEC+ deal, a former Iraqi oil minister, Ibrahim Bahr Al-Ulloum, was quoted as saying this week.

While potentially discussing altered compensation schedules for the laggards in compliance  of which Iraq is the biggest, the OPEC+ panel meetings this week are not expected to recommend any changes to the current production cut deal, despite the fact that oil prices slumped in the past two weeks over mounting concerns that global oil demand recovery has stalled.

The JMMC is unlikely to recommend expanding the cuts, sources told Reuters.

This week, OPEC and the International Energy Agency (IEA) revised down for the second consecutive month their respective demand forecasts for 2020, amid heightened uncertainty over the pandemic and the economic recovery. OPEC revised down by another 400,000 bpd its forecast for global oil demand this year, expecting consumption to shrink by 9.5 million bpd over 2019 as risks with the pandemic and economic activity remain skewed to the downside.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Tottenham have moved closer to sealing their double swoop for Real Madrid pair Gareth Bale and Sergio Reguilon.

A total agreement for Bale to join on a year-long loan was close on Wendesday night following another day of discussions.

It is understood no players will go in the opposite direction.

Gareth Bale is nearing completion of a loan move to Tottenham from Real Madrid

Left-back Reguilon is due to undergo a medical on Thursday ahead of signing a five-year deal with Tottenham, who have agreed a 27million fee with Real.

Jose Mourinho will be buoyed by the incoming duo from his former club in the Spanish capital.

It now seems a matter of time before both deals are completed to bolster his squad for the upcoming season.

But one blow to Spurs fans is the fact that Dele Alli has sensationally been left out of the squad to face Lokomotiv Plovdiv in the Europa League and he could leave before the transfer window closes.

Sergio Reguilon is on the brink of joining Spurs on a five-year deal for a fee of 27million

Jose Mourinho will be delighted if the club manage to get both deals over the line

It is unlikely that the England international will be used as a sweetener in the Bale deal and Real are well stocked in the attacking midfield department.

If the 24-year-old and Spurs are willing to part company, there will be a number of clubs interested in him.

Inter Milan and PSG are both interested parties and the club would prefer to sell him abroad rather than to a Premier League rival.

Alli was substituted at half-time during Spurs' opening day 1-0 defeat by Everton, fuelling suggestions of a rift between player and manager.

There is however a reluctance to sell him below market value, particularly with coronavirus impacting the transfer market so significantly.
A significant arrest was made in the war on human trafficking on Saturday when the alleged leader of a major human-smuggling organization was apprehended by ICE special agents in Brazil.

Reza Sahami, a suspect with dual Canadian and Iranian citizenship, was found guiding a group of seven Iranian nationals in the city of Assis Brasil near the Brazilian-Peruvian border. The seven Iranians possessed fraudulent or altered passports from Israel, Denmark, and Canada, an ICE press release states.

Sahami is suspected of smuggling individuals from the Middle East (mainly Iran) into South America, the United States, Canada, and Europe.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lended significant assistance to the Brazil Federal Police leading to Sahamis arrest.

Sahami has been smuggling criminals across international borders for over 10 years, said ICE attache for Brazil Bolivia Robert Fuentes. We are grateful to our Brazilian partners for the unwavering efforts not only in this investigation, but in our overall strong partnership in combating transnational criminal organizations.

ICE Homeland Security Investigations is committed to disrupting human smuggling networks who undermine our immigration and put countless individuals at risk while doing so.

Additional support in the operation was provided by ICEs Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Lima (Peru) and the Interpol National Central Bureau in Brazil.

ICE agents working together with Brazilian police arrested three suspects in Brazil in August 2019, who were Somalian, Algerian, and Iranian nationals, successfully disrupting a human-trafficking ring.

Transnational criminal organizations continue to use the smuggling of human beings as a means to a profit, no matter what their motivations are, said then-acting special agent in charge of HSI Boston Jason J. Molina in a press release last year.

HSI special agents remain committed to disrupting and dismantling these criminal networks, who seek to subvert the immigration laws of the United States.

HSI Brazil is the Department of Homeland Securitys largest investigative presence overseas whose personnel serve as liaisons to governments and law enforcement agencies across the globe and work side-by-side with foreign law enforcement on HSI investigations. ICE is the lead U.S. law enforcement agency responsible for fighting human smuggling and human trafficking, ICE states.

We would love to hear your stories! You can share them with us at emg.inspired@epochtimes.nyc
India seems to have belatedly understood and now appear more accepting of the reality that peaceful resolution of the dispute is a long shot and the focus should instead be more on prevention of an armed conflict that looms large.

Rajnath Singhs maiden statement in Parliament on Tuesday on Chinese incursions along the LAC and the resultant border crisis, among other things, is an acknowledgement that the five-point consensus reached between both sides in Moscow last week is little more than a piece of paper.

The Union defence minister struck a note of caution, defiance and fortitude, delivering a warning to the nation that we are nowhere close to a resolution despite back to back diplomatic efforts in Moscow, and military conflict is a real possibility.

The ministers statement was notable for its stark admission of reality on the floor of the House  minus operational details  that carries an indication that this time India is not being taken in by Chinas duplicity. Throughout the crisis China has spoken with a forked tongue, masking PLAs aggression at the border with diplomatic sweet talk  or what has been termed as Chinese policy of talking and fighting simultaneously.

Ahead of the Jaishankar-Wang talks, Chinese state media, without a hint of irony, had commented: Whatever India says diplomatically, China should not only listen to its words but also observe its actions  a strategy that India must adopt to deal with Chinese deception.

It is not a coincidence that the dialogue between the two foreign ministers on the sidelines of SCO Summit in Moscow has been followed by renewed Chinese troop movements and fresh buildup along LAC in Arunachal Pradesh while eastern Ladakh remains poised on a knifes edge with no hint of reduction in troops or disengagement despite the five-point formula.

Meanwhile, reports have emerged that just before EAM S Jaishankar sat down with his counterpart Wang Yi, Indian and Chinese troops exchanged 100-200 rounds on the north bank of Pangong Tso, far more intense than the firing of warning shots in the Chushul sub-sector, according to Indian Express.

Singhs tone in Parliament indicates a palpable shift in the mood among Indias military, political and policymaking establishment that was not seen even after the murderous 15-16 June intervening night at Galwan. India seems to have belatedly understood and now appear more accepting of the reality that peaceful resolution of the dispute is a long shot and the focus should instead be more on prevention of an armed conflict that looms large. At the very least, a stalemate through the biting winter cold is certain.

Consider Singhs statement where he said: I met my Chinese counterpart on 4th September in Moscow and had an in-depth discussion with him. I conveyed in clear terms our concerns related to the actions of the Chinese side, including amassing of large number of troops, their aggressive behavior and attempts to unilaterally alter the status quo that were in violation of the bilateral agreements. I also made it clear that even as we wanted to peacefully resolve the issue and would like the Chinese side to work with us, there should also be no doubt about our determination to protect Indias sovereignty and territorial integrity.

On the battle ahead, the minister said, our commanders and soldiers understand that the entire nation stands behind them in support of the just cause of defending our territorial integrity. They are accordingly being provisioned with suitable clothing, habitat and the required defence wherewithal. The determination of our troops is praiseworthy. They are capable of serving at forbidding altitudes with scarce oxygen and in extremely cold temperatures, something that they have effortlessly done over the last many years on Siachen, and Kargil.

And finally, his declaration I will not hesitate to share with this august House that we are facing a challenge in Ladakh and I urge the House to pass a resolution in support of our Armed Forces points to the grim reality on Indias borders and an admission that diplomatic domain has failed to provide the answers.

Where does that leave the five-point agreement arrived at by Jaishankar and Wang after 150 minutes of frank and constructive discussion on 10 September? Even before Singhs statement in the ongoing Monsoon Session of the Parliament, it was clear that the consensus provided little more than a brief pause because the fundamental issues remain unaddressed.

The fact that both sides issued separate explanatory notes following the joint statement should tell us while none wants war and seeks to continue with the engagement framework at different levels, both sides do not really believe that a diplomatic resolution is possible without an off-ramp that will remain elusive unless one side is ready to accept the political loss.

As Devesh Kapur of Johns Hopkins University writes in Financial Times, Prime Minister Narendra Modis image will be severely dented at home if he does not craft a strong riposte. This leaves Xi Jinping with two options: inflict the damage and brace for consequences or withdraw to pre-June positions and lose face.

The key issue still remains the fact that while India wants a resolution at the border as a prerequisite to restoring normalcy in a broader relationship, China wants to decouple the border tension from larger bilateral ties  quite possibly from the calculation that it has already made territorial and strategic gains and now wants to secure that and move on.

This dichotomy is evident in the statements that have been issued. The joint statement referred to the fact that two Foreign Ministers agreed that the current situation in the border areas is not in the interest of either side. They agreed therefore that the border troops of both sides should continue their dialogue, quickly disengage, maintain proper distance and ease tensions.

The Indian explanatory note, issued the next day by the MEA, adds: While there have been incidents from time to time, peace and tranquility has largely prevailed in the border areas. As a result, India-China cooperation also developed in a broad range of domains, giving the relationship a more substantive character. While the Indian side recognized that a solution to the boundary question required time and effort, it was also clear that the maintenance of peace and tranquility on the border areas was essential to the forward development of ties.

Concurrently, the Chinese explanation in Xinhua stresses its own position: Wang said that China-India relations have once again come to a crossroads. But as long as the two sides keep moving the relationship in the right direction, there will be no difficulty or challenge that can't be overcome. The Chinese statement then goes on to quote the Indian foreign minister to make an incredible claim that Jaishankar said that the Indian side does not consider the development of India-China relations to be dependent on the settlement of the boundary question and India does not want to go backwards. This appears more a case of pressure tactic than tectonic change in stance.

While the joint statement did move away from the blame game that we had seen in statements following Rajnath Singh-Wei Fenghe talks and sought to create a new modus vivendi between both sides by way of concluding new Confidence Building Measures to maintain and enhance peace and tranquility in the border areas this positive step may only follow if disengagement and easing of tension takes place. Notably, this huge responsibility has been delegated to the respective militaries and special representatives  indicating the wide political gap that still persists.

This is a tacit admission of political failure, and the reflection of that failure was evident in Singhs Parliament address. We should brace for impact.
Mercifully, the finish line is approaching.

It has taken almost four years to get here. It has taken stamina and resilience. It has taken will and perseverance, too. It has required us to brave a long, black pall that has never seemed to lift  for more than a moment  to allow light or hope to seep through.

In slightly more than six weeks, we will learn whether that heavy, near-perpetual malaise will deepen or begin, finally, to be replaced by the faint prospect of better days, free of the daily, grinding indignities, insults and perversions of a malignant president, Donald Trump.

Of course, the outcome remains uncertain. While national polls continue to show Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, with a durable lead, some crucial state polls are beginning to reveal a tightening. Although anticipated, this phenomenon is alarming to those who wish, as I do, to be rid of this pestilential presidency.

That the verdict American voters will render on November 3 remains in doubt is testament to the rebar-sturdy support Trump still enjoys despite his profane temperament, manifest incompetence, corruption and congenital dishonesty.

The latest and fatal example of Trumps insidious perfidy was his taped admission in February to journalist Bob Woodward that he knew COVID-19 was airborne, deadly and that the virus killed indiscriminately and efficiently.

And yet, the American president, predictably, buried the truth, claiming, instead, that the virus was a hoax as part of his dangerous, self-serving strategy to downplay knowingly its lethality, allegedly to avoid panic.

Even by Trumps appalling standards, this lie, perhaps more than any other, has revealed his singularly malevolent nature. Trump knew the virus would likely kill a lot of people and he did little to stop it.

Worse, he encouraged  and still encourages  Americans to behave in ways that would  and will  heighten their chances of contracting and succumbing to the virus. Today, more than six million Americans have been infected, while close to 200,000 have died.

Despite his apocalyptic negligence, millions of Americans in all parts of America will vote for him come November. In the unhappy event that Trump shrinks the polling gap in key swing states further in the days ahead, it may be undecided voters who ultimately decide his, and by extension, our fates.

Given the entrenched and polarised nature of the US electorate, you may be surprised to learn that undecided voters exist. They do. Reportedly, there could be as many as 21 million would-be voters, waiting, apparently, to be moved or persuaded somehow, someway, at some time, to opt for Biden or Trump or neither of them.

In 2016, Trump eked out victories in states that polls on the eve of the presidential election suggested would pick Hillary Clinton largely because undecided voters broke late for him. That, combined with a depressingly low turnout  55 percent of eligible voters  helped Trump win.

The same constellation of fortuitous circumstances  for Trump  could well happen again, resulting in the same giddy, although unexpected, outcome for him and the same demoralising and disastrous outcome for many of us.

Indeed, reading profiles and watching interviews of several undecideds, I felt a mixture of sympathy, bewilderment and anger at the rationales being offered up to explain the, at times, irresponsible dithering on repeated display.

Some undecideds insist that since America is more a plutocracy than a democracy; they are reluctant to participate in the pantomime by voting.

Others suggest that despite the rhetorical differences between Democrats and Republicans, a vote for either party is a vote for the status quo.

Neither party nor presidential candidate, in particular, is committed to truly challenging the fundamental structural centres of power and privilege that have made the poor poorer and the rich richer in America  hence their hesitancy to choose or to even cast a ballot, for that matter.

These arguments are not only reasonable, but also historically astute. In fact, in opinion columns for Al Jazeera, I have made the same case about the essential, indisputable role that money and entrenched power play in determining the mirror governing principles of the Democratic and Republican parties and, as a result, in perpetuating the social and racial inequalities and injustices endemic in American society.

So, while I appreciate and share the impulse to declare a pox on both discredited houses, this is an extraordinary time when we confront an extraordinary menace.

Trump is peculiarly sinister. The sinister instincts Trump not only embodies but enthusiastically encourages and foments must be defeated urgently and emphatically.

We know from the, by now, scores of testimonies of people who once worked for him  and, in some cases, were so devoutly loyal they went to prison for him  that he is unstable and unfit.

The most searing, and I suspect accurate, indictment of Trumps defining character comes courtesy of his niece, Mary Trump. The psychologist says her uncle is a racist, bigot and a sociopath, who, by definition, is devoid of empathy and willing to sacrifice lives to satiate his narcissism and diseased ego.

Donald is a very sick man, she recently told MSNBC. Hes never going to get better. Hes only going to get worse.

Still, incredibly, there are undecideds who remain convinced that Trump can get better and, as such, they are considering voting for him again.

An undecided voter in suburban Minneapolis interviewed on CNN said she had only lately begun to tune in to politics again to make up my own mind.

This may account for her bizarre claim that Trump is not only capable of changing his ugly, pernicious modus operandi but could, with time and effort, transform himself into a statesman.

What I would like for him is to show me that he can be that statesman, she said. I need him to show me that he can do this [the presidency] differently.

This is not only delusional, but, as I alluded to earlier, almost criminally irresponsible.

Anyone remotely paying attention to the desecration of public discourse, the blatant racism and bigotry, the rampant, craven criminality, the overt endorsement of murderous right-wing vigilantes, and lunatic conspiracy theories that personify this loathsome administration could not and must not remain undecided.

Being a bystander, in this pressing context, can no longer suffice.

This is a moment for choosing between decency and indecency, between knowledge and ignorance, between empathy and viciousness, between tolerance and intolerance, between hope and hopelessness and, yes, between good and evil.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.
The 2020 Smart China Expo Online commenced Tuesday in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality.



A total of 551 companies and institutions, including 148 foreign enterprises such as Intel, IBM and Siemens, have participated in the three-day event of smart products and smart manufacturing exhibition, co-hosted by Chongqing and Singapore.

The expo, the third edition since its inauguration in 2018, is widely considered as a manifestation of China's all-round, multi-level and diversified pattern of opening-up and cooperation amid the regular prevention and control of the COVID-19 epidemic.

"Indeed, smart technologies are vital for the inclusive and sustainable future we want," said Liu Zhenmin, UN Undersecretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, while addressing the opening ceremony via video link. "In the ongoing fight against COVID-19, smart technologies have been deployed to prevent, monitor and contain the spread of the pandemic, and to support recovery."

"The creativity and innovation of industries is key to the advancement of smart technologies, while governments have a crucial and expanding influence on creating an enabling environment," he added.

Themed "Smart Technology: Empowering Economy, Enriching Life," the expo has 41 online forums on 5G, blockchain, industrial internet and semiconductors.

Huawei, Hikvision, Mitsubishi Electric and other leading tech companies will hold 116 online launch events, releasing their latest products and showcasing their cutting-edge technologies.

A branch venue was set up in Singapore for the opening ceremony, which maintained a real-time connection with the main venue in Chongqing.

Addressing the opening ceremony via video link, Josephine Teo, Singapore's minister for manpower, said "this is a testament to Chongqing's ability to innovate and leverage digital technologies."

"Singapore and Chongqing have a shared commitment to be at the forefront of digital connectivity," she added.

"The era of intelligence belongs to the whole world," said Wang Zhijun, vice minister of industry and information technology, at the opening ceremony. "We welcome global smart enterprises to invest in China and share the world's largest consumer market and technology application market."

China will advance in the commercial deployment of 5G network, strengthen the development of new infrastructure such as artificial intelligence, Internet of Things and industrial Internet, and provide strong support to the global smart industries.

Facing the COVID-19 pandemic, China proposed to foster a new, dual-cycle development architecture with the domestic cycle as the mainstay and with domestic and international development reinforcing each other. China will open its door wider to the world to cooperate with countries, regions and enterprises that are willing to cooperate with it.

Since July, China has organized a slew of international events including Canton Fair, World Artificial Intelligence Conference and the 2020 China International Fair for Trade in Services.

The country has also announced that it will continue to hold international exhibitions such as China International Import Expo in the second half of this year, and will take the reform and opening-up of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone to a new level on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of its establishment.

As the first major economy in the world to recover from the shock of COVID-19, China has seen its gross domestic product expand 3.2 percent year on year in the second quarter, bouncing back from a contraction of 6.8 percent in the first quarter.

"Economic globalization is still a historical trend," said Zhang Xiaotao, dean of the school of international economics and trade at Central University of Finance and Economics. "China adheres to the vision of a community with a shared future for humanity and is firmly expanding opening-up, which will help pull the world economy out of the crisis and achieve recovery."
NORTHAMPTON, England, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --

Jim Murray's Whisky Bible hails "rampantly beautiful" Canadian champion.

US knocked off World Whisky of the Year top spot for first time in five years.

India returns to podium with "near-perfect" offering.

A Canadian rye whisky which draws its water from the Rocky Mountains has been declared the summit of all the world's whiskies.

Whisky guru Jim Murray has given "totally world class" status to Alberta Premium Cask Strength in his Whisky Bible 2021, naming it World Whisky of the Year  the first time it has won the coveted top prize.

Made from a mix of malted and unmalted rye, Alberta Premium Cask Strength weighs in at a massive 65.1% abv and scores 97.5 marks out of a 100.

The last time a Canadian won World Whisky of the Year in Jim Murray's Whisky Bible police in Toronto were called as drinkers fought over the last bottles still on the shelf.

After sweeping the board in 2020 with a unique 1-2-3, Kentucky distiller the Sazerac Company has to settle for the runner-up spot in 2021 with the "mind-blowing" Stagg Jr Barrel Proof, another bourbon out of the Buffalo Trace stable, boasting a finish of "cocoa, dark liquorice and so much toastiness".

But the most eye-catching podium entry of all is Mithuna, from the Paul John distillery in the tiny Indian state of Goa - the first time a South Asian whisky has taken a top three gong in more than a decade.

Jim Murray says sampling its sensational chocolate-and-spices complexity is: "Like after you have just made love...and you are unable to speak or move while your senses get back into some kind of normality."

The renowned and influential whisky writer tasted 1,252 new drams for the 2021 edition of the Whisky Bible.

Speyside classic Glen Grant takes Scotch Whisky of the Year for its Aged 15 Years Batch Strength 1st Edition with Jim Murray praising the Moray distillery's "extraordinary and unique charm."

Other sectional winners include: Ballantine's 30 Year Old (Blended Scotch); Annandale (Scotch 10 Years & Under); Midleton Barry Crockett Legacy (Irish); Thomas H Handy Sazerac (American Rye); Nikka Whisky Single Malt Yoichi Apple Brandy Wood Finish (Japanese); PUNI Aura Italian Single Malt (European).

Editor's Notes

Jim Murray's Whisky Bible 2021 contains tasting notes for around 4,500 drams.

Available from 16/9/20 at whiskybible.com, priced 14.99.

Press enquiries: Vincent Flint-Hill +44 (0)117 317 9777; [email protected]

SOURCE Jim Murray's Whisky Bible 2021
Indias relations with China has not deteriorated recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modis Government on Wednesday informed the Lok Sabha, notwithstanding the four-month-long military stand-off along the disputed boundary between the two nations in eastern Ladakh.

The Modi Government denied any downslide in New Delhis relations with Beijing, although it earlier stated that the situation in India-China border areas could not be separated from the future of the ties between the two nations.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) shared with the Lok Sabha its view on the India-China relations in response to a question.

Saugata Ray of the Trinamool Congress asked the government if Indias relations with China and Nepal as well as other neighbours like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Myanmar had deteriorated recently. No, Minister of State for External Affairs, V Muraleedharan, stated in a written reply to the question submitted by the MP from West Bengal.

The MEAs statement on the status of India-China relations came just a day after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told the Lok Sabha that India was facing a challenge along its disputed boundary with China in Ladakh and prepared to deal with all contingencies, even as it would remain committed to peacefully resolve the military stand-off with the neighbouring communist country.

Two days after the Indian Army and the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) had suffered casualties in a violent face-off in Galwan Valley on June 15, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had conveyed to his counterpart in the communist country, Wang Yi, that the incident would have serious impact on bilateral relationship.

New Delhis envoy to Beijing, Vikram Mishri, had also said on June 26 that the Chinese PLAs aggressive moves to unilaterally change the status quo along the Line of Actual Control (LAC)  the de facto boundary between the India and China in western sector  had damaged considerable trust in bilateral relations.

The External Affairs Minister had also recently said in an interview to a web portal that the state of the border could not be separated from the future of the relations between India and China. Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla too had of late said that the business cannot be as usual between India and China unless and until the communist country pulls back its soldiers and restores the status quo ante that existed before the stand-off along the disputed boundary between the two nations started.

The MEA, however, on Wednesday denied any deterioration in ties between India and China.

The Minister of State for External Affairs on Wednesday also made the same observation on India-Nepal relations, although ties between New Delhi and Kathmandu soured over the past few months as the K P Sharma Olis government in the neighbouring country ratcheted up territorial disputes between the two nations.

Muraleedharan said that the government accorded the highest priority to Indias relations with its neighbouring countries. India is an active political and economic partner of its neighbours and is involved in various projects, including development projects with these countries, he stated in the written reply in the Lok Sabha. Indias relations with other countries stand on their own footing and are independent of the relations of those countries with third countries.
Meerut : , Sep 16 (IANS) A case of 'love jihad' has come to light in Uttar Pradesh following the recovery of a minor girl who had allegedly been kidnapped from Meerut on September 3.

Police on Wednesday recovered the girl, who was kidnapped from Kankarkheda area and also arrested one Abdullah, 42, who was posing as 'Aman' to lure Hindu girls.

Abdullah confessed before the police that he has three wives and four children.

He created a Facebook ID as 'Aman' in which he posted his photographs wearing a wig -- to look younger.

He admitted that he had kidnapped the minor girl and had raped her. He said that he wanted to marry her too.

Meerut SP Akhilesh Narain said that the girl had gone missing on September 3 and her family had lodged a complaint with the police.

"We had set up several teams to search for the minor and we finally caught this man and recovered the girl. He will be produced in court today (Wednesday) and sent to jail. He has confessed to the crime. We will book him under relevant sections of IPC and also the POCSO Act," the SP said.

In another case of love jihad, the Moradabad police on Wednesday, recovered a Class 8 student who was kidnapped by one Asif, who posed as Bunty Tyagi and befriended the girl.

Asif has been arrested.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
By Caitlin Johnstone

September 15, 2020 " Information Clearing House " - The US military has been unable to find any evidence that the Russian government paid bounties on US troops to Taliban-linked fighters in Afghanistan, confirming what was already obvious to anyone who hasnt had their brain stem hijacked by mass media-induced Russophobia.

NBC News reports the following:

Two months after top Pentagon officials vowed to get to the bottom of whether the Russian government bribed the Taliban to kill American service members, the commander of troops in the region says a detailed review of all available intelligence has not been able to corroborate the existence of such a program. It just has not been proved to a level of certainty that satisfies me, Gen. Frank McKenzie, commander of the U.S. Central Command, told NBC News. McKenzie oversees U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The U.S. continues to hunt for new information on the matter, he said. We continue to look for that evidence, the general said. I just havent seen it yet. But  its not a closed issue. McKenzies comments, reflecting a consensus view among military leaders, underscores the lack of certainty around a narrative that has been accepted as fact by Democrats and other Trump critics, including presidential nominee Joe Biden, who has cited Russian bounties in attacks on President Donald Trump.

2 months after top Pentagon officials vowed to get to the bottom of whether the Russian gov't bribed Taliban to kill US service members, the commander in the region says a review of the intel has not been able to corroborate the existence of such a program https://t.co/RaiUV2XtHr  NBC News (@NBCNews) September 14, 2020

Like many other critical voices, I said from the beginning that there was no reason to believe the Russian bounties narrative and that the mass publication of baseless and nonsensical claims circulated anonymously by US intelligence operatives constitutes journalistic malpractice. There is no excuse for a reporter to ever present anonymous CIA press releases under the guise of news, especially when they make no sense; the US-centralized coalition in Afghanistan is a hostile occupying force and there are an essentially limitless number of people there who require no financial incentive to attack them.

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But this is exactly what happened. Once the news media had reported the unsubstantiated rumor given to them by anonymous spies, spinmeisters like Rachel Maddow began presenting it as an objective fact that had been fully authenticated, and from there the entire Democratic political/media class began months of loudly babbling about how suspicious it is that the US president hadnt confronted Vladimir Putin and sanctioned Russia in response to this verified fact.

And it was never anything of the sort. It was fake. But now aggressions have been ramped up against Russia, Trump has been painted as a Putin puppet who hates the troops, Senate Democrats have introduced a bill mandating sanctions on any Russians involved in this imaginary conspiracy, and legislation has been passed making it harder for Trump to withdraw troops from Afghanistan.

The story did its job, and now that its proven false the same people who promoted it are uniformly ignoring the new evidence which clearly shows it to have been bogus.

This story has been so ubiquitously promoted within the establishment liberal echo chamber that its impossible to list all the dishonest portrayals its been given since June, but to pick just a few recent examples:

Again, thats just a very few very recent examples. Now that their claims have proven false, how many of these highly influential people do you think are using their massive platforms to spread awareness of this fact? Take a wild guess.

If you said zero, you are correct. In fact Democratic Party influencers are even continuing to promote the debunked Russian bounties story many hours after the report debunking it became available on mainstream platforms. Andrew Bates, Director of Rapid Response for the Biden campaign, just tweeted that Trump is giving Russia a pass for putting bounties on the heads of American service members.

At a time when Trump is giving Russia a pass for putting bounties on the heads of American service members.



Team Trump needs so much reminding: this is A-M-E-R-I-C-A.



"Trump ad asks people to support the troops. But it uses a picture of Russian jets" https://t.co/7CxCWBfXp7  Andrew Bates (@AndrewBatesNC) September 15, 2020

Again, this is hours after its been public knowledge that this is a completely false thing to assert.

And we can absolutely expect this to continue. We can absolutely expect establishment Democrats to continue bleating about Russian bounties in Afghanistan for as long as it is politically convenient to do so. They never let the lack of evidence for their position get in the way before, and they wont let it get in the way now. The arguments that they make for their power-serving position are not designed to reflect truth or reality, they are designed to serve power. Thats exactly what echo chambers are for.

An email published by WikiLeaks in 2016 was sent by Democratic Party insider John Podesta to billionaires George Soros, Peter Lewis, John Sperling, and Herb and Marion Sandler in 2007 with a detailed and structured overview of material the group had covered during a meeting theyd had in September (to read the email click Attachments and then 2008 Combined Fundraising, Message and Mobilization Plan). Among the thing these powerful manipulators discussed was the creation of a robust echo chamber to be used in the partys interests.

On page two of the attachment:

Control the political discourse. So much effort over the past few years has been focused on better coordinating, strengthening, and developing progressive institutions and leaders. Now that this enhanced infrastructure is in place  grassroots organizing; multi-issue advocacy groups; think tanks; youth outreach; faith communities; micro-targeting outfits; the netroots and blogosphere  we need to better utilize these networks to drive the content of politics through a strong echo chamber and message delivery system.

And on page four:

Create a robust echo chamber with progressive messaging that spans from the opposition campaigns to outside groups, academic experts, and bloggers.

Usually when you see the names Podesta and Soros presented together it just means you stumbled into a bad corner of the internet pervaded by sloppy thinking and an irrational trust in anonymous 8chan posts, but in this WikiLeaks email we actually get a useful glimpse into the reason people can keep babbling about something thats completely divorced from the truth without being smashed by cognitive dissonance. The fact that echo chambers are actively created by establishment manipulators enables establishment-friendly narratives to remain afloat long after evidence should have sunk them.

Read the comments from liberals on this tweet from July. They were all 100% certain there was proof that Russia had paid bounties on US troops to Taliban-linked fighters, because people like @Maddow told them so. Now the top US commander in Afghanistan says there's no evidence. https://t.co/IJNDq1PPyK  Caitlin Johnstone  (@caitoz) September 14, 2020

Several weeks ago I tweeted Its clear that Russia paid bounties to Taliban fighters is one of those narratives the propagandists decided to ram into mainstream consciousness until they force it to become consensus orthodoxy by repetition and sheer force of will, with zero interest in facts or evidence.

This has indeed happened, and it will continue to happen. The oligarchs who rule over us have so thoroughly divorced the information ecosystem from truth that they can get people to believe just about anything. They do this because they understand that humans are storytelling animals and you control the humans by controlling the stories. We will be unable to fight lies with truth until we collectively understand this fact as well as our oppressors.

Caitlin's articles are entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking her on Facebook, following her antics on Twitter, checking out her podcast, throwing some money into her hat on Patreon or Paypal, or buying her book Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers. https://caitlinjohnstone.com


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West York police believe a Tuesday night shooting that injured a man took place because of an altercation earlier that night in a gas station parking lot.

Multiple shots were fired from a pistol around 10:21 p.m. near West King and Dewey streets, borough police said.

A 22-year-old man was taken to York Hospital after the shooting with non life-threatening injuries, according to police.

Investigators said the shooting seems to be connected to a confrontation earlier that night in the Fuel Stop parking lot on the 1100 block of West Market Street.

Anyone with information is asked to call 911 or West York Borough police at 717-854-1975.

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16.09.2020 LISTEN

The University of Ghana chapter of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) is demanding the immediate withdrawal of the Public University Bill, 2020 (PUB).

According to UG UTAG, the PUB is dangerous, retrogressive, needless and violates the 1992 constitution.

The University of Ghana chapter of the association also insisted that the Bill, if passed into law, will create more problems for public universities.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, September 16, 2020, a lecturer at the African Studies Department of the University of Ghana, Prof. Akosua Adomako said instead of forcing the Bill on public universities, the government should rather channel its energies towards enforcing the already existing laws to ensure that universities operate smoothly.

The PUB is yet another instance of the government introducing a new law, rather than ensuring that existing laws work as they should. The Bill will do more harm than good.

The Director of Policy and Advocacy at the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) Dr. Kojo Asante at the same conference expressed shock that the government had failed to withdraw the Bill despite the backlash from the public.

He said the arguments made for the passage of the Bill are unfounded.

There is an implicit suggestion that more accountability will be achieved with politically appointed council members. This suggestion is flawed because political appointment in itself does not guarantee accountability. Control by the Executive will be counterproductive to academic freedom projected in Article 21 of the 1992 constitution. 

Sanctions

Meanwhile, the National Executive Committee of UTAG has distanced itself from the press conference organised by the University of Ghana chapter of UTAG.

The National Secretary of UTAG, Eric K. K. Abavare said the chapter will be sanctioned for holding a press conference without the knowledge of NEC.

We all agree that the Public Universities Bill is not the one we want therefore as a body we are taking steps in engaging the government. The University of Ghana seems to be going contrary to what the NEC decided. They will be sanctioned for that and that will be decided by the NEC.

About the bill

The Bill, when passed, will give the government power to appoint the majority of members of the University Council, control the finances of the university and determine the allocation of funds.

The Bill also gives the President the power to dissolve the University Council.

 citinewsroom
The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2020 to bring cooperative banks under the supervision of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to protect depositors interests.

The legislation empowers the central bank to regulate only the banking business of cooperatives and it is not applicable to a primary agricultural credit society or a cooperative society providing finance for development of the farm sector, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the House. .

The Bill is not to undermine the importance of cooperatives, she said. But, if a cooperative is performing banking functions, there is a need to regulate it... so that it functions professionally, she said, replying to queries raised by members of the House.

The amendments do not affect existing powers of the state registrars of cooperative societies under state cooperative laws.

Depositors in Mumbai-based Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank (PMC) and Bengaluru-based Sri Guru Raghavendra Cooperative Bank have in recent months faced distress because of problems confronted by the banks. While 430 cooperative banks faced liquidation in the last two decades, not a single commercial bank, whose depositors are protected by the Banking Regulation Act, have had to be liquidated, Sitharaman said.

Cooperative banks comprise urban cooperative banks (UCBs) and rural cooperative banks (RCBs). Total amount of deposits in all UCBs as of March 31, 2019 totalled Rs 484,315.85 crore and at RCBs Rs.5,05,859.16 crore.

The legislation also enables a scheme of reconstruction or amalgamation of a banking entity for protect the interests of depositors without resorting to moratorium that freeze withdrawals by depositors. The Bill replaces an ordinance that was promulgated in pursuance of the governments commitment to ensure safety of depositors across banks by the President on June 26.

Sitharaman said the government was compelled to come out with an ordinance during the lockdown period because the condition of some cooperative banks was grave and there was uncertainty over the resumption of normal legislative business due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The government had tabled the Bill in Parliament in March, but it could not be enacted because of the pandemic.

During the budget session in March, we introduced this bill in order to have the amendments brought in so that depositors interest will be taken care of. But unfortunately, during the budget session, we could not have this bill passed, Sitharaman said.

Moving the Bill for passage by the House on Wednesday, Sitharaman said the financial health of several cooperative banks was becoming very delicate. She said that 277 urban cooperative banks were reporting losses and 105 cooperative banks were unable to meet the minimum capital requirements.

Divakar Vijayasarathy, founder and managing partner at consulting firm DVS Advisors LLP, said: Cooperative banks have been under severe criticisms with rising scams, especially involving small retail depositors. State governments and their respective regulatory boards have not been able to keep up the monitoring mechanisms efficiently over these institutions. The government was waiting for an opportune moment to bring them under the purview of RBI and the timing couldnt have been better.

Capital adequacy ratios of most of these banks are concerning and the present regulatory structure does not make the restructuring of these institutions practically feasible. The Bill strikes the right chord and has given a mechanism to restructure these banks and also significantly improves their regulatory oversight by a competent and efficient regulator, the RBI. This move should certainly improve the confidence in the cooperative banks and the interests of all the stakeholders would be protected in the long run, he said.
The continuous closure of Ghana's land and sea borders has led to a high rise in prices of laptops and their accompanying accessories.

According to some electronic dealers in Accra, the closure of the country's borders as part of measures to contain COVID-19 has created a shortage in supply.

Mr Douglas Nartey, a dealer in laptop accessories at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle told the Ghana News Agency that the closure of the border had affected the importation of goods, with the few items in stock attracting higher prices because of high demand.

He said products including HP, Dell, and Apple were out of stock, compelling some shops to shut down.

Mr Usman Moro, another dealer at the Tip Toe lane said the cost of laptop charger, which used to be between GH 25 and GH 30 was now going for GH 50.

He said laptop covers, selling at GH 50 before the pandemic was now between GH 80 and GH 100.

Mr. Moro said laptop batteries used to be between GH 70 and GH 150 but were now between GH 85 and GH 300.

Another dealer, Nana Kofi Poku said due to the pandemic, the business had been very slow.

Mr. Kelly Njoku, also a dealer, said I hope government opens the borders soon with the gradual easing of restrictions so we can import products and increase sales.

---GNA
In Vermont, liberal demonstrators are permitted by government agencies to occupy public spaces, block traffic, organize political rallies, and paint one-sided political messages on public property, while the rest of the citizenry is under "mandate" to limit social gatherings, prohibited even from holding traditional weddings or funerals. Many businesses are closed for noncompliance with COVID mandates  some permanently  yet Black Lives Matter (BLM) protesters remain exempt from social gathering restrictions.

This is the "slide-rule of law," enforced by Vermont's "progressive" public servants. Free speech is afforded to liberal extremists, but not to anyone who might take issue with their violent, hateful rhetoric: when Vermont citizens organized a "Support the Police" rally, they were silenced by BLM anti-protesters  and the police did not intervene.

Numerous Vermont schools fly BLM flags. Governor Phil Scott has openly told BLM protesters that COVID rules won't be enforced against them. The Montpelier City Council has endorsed the painting of "Black Lives Matter" in front of the Vermont State House as "government speech" and refused to permit any additional messaging.

For weeks, hundreds of (mostly white) BLM protesters have encamped in Burlington's Battery Park, far exceeding the governor's executive orders for public gatherings. Unconcerned about COVID violations, the ultra-progressive Burlington City Council instead mulled an ordinance exempting protesters from anti-camping laws.

Burlington's Mayor Miro Weinberger asserted that public safety requires compliance with existing public camping laws. In retaliation, the protesters blocked traffic and marched to the mayor's residence:

They blocked portions of Main Street twice during their march and laid [sic] in the street in front of the mayor's personal residence while a speaker recited the names of Black Americans killed by police[.] ... The names of the dead were also displayed on coordinated cardboard signs, each scrawled in dripping red strokes[.] ... [O]range-vested volunteers stepped across Main Street and rerouted vehicles without police assistance.

Citing complaints of late-night noise and limited public sanitation, the mayor stated:

"We understand civil disobedience and the important role that protests have played throughout the country's history to advance Black lives," Weinberger wrote,..."....We want, and need, to be a partner in that fight with you, not a hindrance. However, the City must also do what it can to ensure safety for all our residents, and apply our ordinances and standards fairly to all parties."

Many Vermont schools and municipal boards are ignorant of basic constitutional requirements to "apply laws fairly to all parties." They are ignorant also of the BLM message. For instance: considering increased attacks against police, do Vermont's public officials endorse the following statements of Burlington Vermont BLM?

Policing is inherently violent and we will not achieve collective liberation or healing by reforming a system rooted in oppression. Police are not an appropriate resource in schools, social work, or community building[.] ... Police and prisons exist to protect the profit and property of business, not the prosperity of our communities. Not to protect people or public safety[.] ... Don't forget: This nation, this state, and their police, do not have some higher moral authority to commit violence  they are just given power by the government. We, the people, determine what is moral and what is right, and it's been proven time & time again that we can't trust state powers to make ethical decisions for us.

In this bizarre mutilation of historic principles, the police are labeled evil, violence against others is encouraged, and the Constitution is immoral; the police must be removed, and instead, unnamed, unaccountable individuals will install themselves  as judge, jury, and Taliban-like enforcers  in lieu of the Rule of Law. Thus, they are exempt from gathering restrictions, and they block or control traffic, stop others from protesting, or interfere with arrests.

Among BLM Burlington's demands:

WE DEMAND the decriminalization of all nonviolent "crimes" and cutting current sentences for all crimes in half. WE DEMAND no more police workshops or visits to schools and the immediate removal of all School Resource Officers. We DEMAND diverting 80% of funds from police departments to permanently end homelessness and provide educational funding for. free school breakfasts & lunches, technological infrastructure, and the transition to proficiency based grading, lower class sizes, and decolonized education.

This is a policy list that citizens in a democracy could take to their elected representatives, to institute by public discussion and vote. Instead, this lawless inversion of civilized legal structures (i.e., anarchy) reveals the alternative being proposed  a Legislature will not determine criminal sentences; this mob will. The police will not control street traffic; this mob will. There is no need for judges, for there is no appeal: all demands must be fulfilled or there will be violence. No discussion or demurring permitted. Is this what a "non-systemically racist" society looks like?

More shocking, this "movement" is being integrated into Vermont government, schools, and public messaging: Vermonters who challenge this are silenced with the slide-rule of law.

Photo illustration by Monica Showalter with use of Pixabay public domain images.
Happiest Minds Technologies, a small-sized IT services company promoted by Ashok Soota, is set to debut on bourses on September 17 after its Rs 702-crore IPO issue last week.

The company has fixed final issue price at Rs 166 per share, the upper end of price band of Rs 165-166.

Given the hefty subscription figures for its IPO, strong management led by ex-co-promoter of Mindtree, Ashok Soota, and sound fundamental report card, Happiest is expected to list with a bumper premium over its issue price, experts feel.

According to experts, the listing premium could be in the range of 50 percent to 94 percent above the final issue price.

CAMS IPO: Price band set at Rs 1,229-1,230/share

The public issue witnessed a subscription of 150.98 times, the 8th highest subscription figure in a decade, during September 7-9. The strong response was across segments of investors with reserved portion of qualified institutional buyers subscribing 77.42 times, non-institutional investors 351.45 times and retail 70.94 times.

"The Company commands over 97 percent of the revenues from digital IT business which is highest amongst the other Indian listed IT firms. Founded by Ashok Soota, well-known name in the IT industry, signals strong corporate governance. Therefore, we expect bumper listing for the stock. It should list at a premium around Rs 125-160 over the issue price. Hence, listing should be around Rs 291-326 per share," Manali Bhatia, Head of Research at Rudra Shares & Stock Brokers told Moneycontrol.

Route Mobile IPO: Check allotment status here

Prashanth Tapse, AVP Research at Mehta Equities also feels considering overwhelming investors response to Happiest Minds' IPO, the subscription demand indicates the listing could be with hefty premium around 65-75 percent to issue price.

He believes that digital engineering business is growing much faster than traditional IT business and Happiest Minds is well positioned with high exposure into 'edutech' and 'high tech' verticals which have grown faster during the pandemic and enabling the company to grow at around 20 percent YoY whereas the industry has slowed down to around 8-10 percent. "Overall, we remain optimistic on Happiest Minds for medium to long term play."

Chemcon Speciality Chemicals to raise Rs 318 crore via IPO; price band set at Rs 338-340

The IT company offers digital business, product engineering, infrastructure management and security services among others. It had 148 active customers as of Q1FY2021 with the share of repeat business growing consistently over the year to account for a significant portion of revenues indicating a high degree of customer stickiness.

The United States, historically, has contributed a majority (77.50 percent) of its revenues, which increased from 73.50 percent in FY18, while India business contributed 11.90 percent to total revenue in FY20 and UK 7.2 percent.

Happiest Minds reported profit of Rs 50.2 crore in Q1FY21 against Rs 71.7 crore in FY20, led by higher other income. Its revenue was flat in Q1 YoY on account of COVID-19 related challenges, but the company reported a significant improvement in its EBITDA margin at 21.4 percent against FY20 margin of 13.9 percent.

On the back of higher volume of projects executed over FY18-20, Happiest Minds reported a 22.8 percent CAGR rise in consolidated revenue and higher utilization of work forces led to an EBITDA profit of Rs 54.83 crore and Rs 97.1 crore in FY19 and FY20, respectively, as compared to an EBITDA loss of Rs 18.61 crore in FY18. Adjusted PAT stood at a loss of Rs 22.47 crore in FY18, while it remained in green and stood at Rs 26.79 crore in FY19 and Rs 82.97 crore in FY20.

The company had a positive operating cash flow over FY18-20, which increased by 229.4 percent CAGR to Rs 112.22 crore in FY20. "We feel that Happiest Minds has gained business momentum and thus is forecasted to report improved operating and financial performance in the mid-term," said Choice Broking which expects a 14.6 percent CAGR rise in topline over FY20-23, EBITDA 22.1 percent and PAT 17.9 percent.

Astha Jain, Senior Research Analyst at Hem Securities expects Happiest to list at premium of 50-60 percent above issue price.

"Company has shown strong growth in its financials in last couple of years. Company is strong brand in digital IT services with growing high revenue generating customer accounts with a high proportion of repeat revenues and revenues from mature markets," said Astha Jain who likes company's scalable business model which has multiple drivers of steady growth with experienced leadership focused on sound corporate governance practices.

Happiest Mind is founded by Ashok Soota who is also the Executive Chairman and Director of the company. Before founding Happiest Minds in 2011, Soota was one of the founding members of Mindtree prior to which he was also the Vice Chairman of Wipro.

: 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.
In an interview Wednesday, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson did not mention Trump, but she described the problem with precision: I am mindful of the fact that every minute that passes between when the polls close and when we do announce those final results provides an opportunity for bad actors to sow seeds of doubt in the electorate about the accuracy of our results and the sanctity of our election.
Tripoli  President of the Libyan High Council of State, Khaled Al Mechri, expressed, on Tuesday, gratitude for Morocco's efforts in order to ensure the success of the Inter-Libayn dialoguie held recently in Bouznika, near Rabat.

"We can only express our sincere gratitude and recognition to the Kingdom of Morocco, the King, the government and the people, for the efforts made to ensure the success of these meetings," Al Mechri said during a speech devoted to the evolution of the inter-Libyan dialogue..

This meeting did not address, either directly or indirectly, the names of those who will hold positions of sovereignty, he said, adding that it rather focused on defining an appropriate framework to apply the article 15 of the Libyan political agreement on the positions of sovereignty, and on adopting this framework through the House of Representatives and the High Council of State.

Neither the transfer of sovereign institutions outside the capital nor the composition of the Presidential Council and the modalities of selection of its members were mentioned, Al Mechri explained, adding that "these rumors are only attempts to obstruct the dialogue by the people who benefit from the current situation in Libya, and the plight of its citizens."

The delegations of the Libyan High Council of State and the Tobruk Parliament announced Thursday at the end of their meetings in Bouznika, that they reached a comprehensive agreement on the transparent and objective criteria and mechanisms to occupy posts of sovereignty.

Both parties also agreed to continue this dialogue and to resume these meetings during the last week of this month in order to complete the necessary measures to ensure the implementation and activation of this agreement, according to the final joint statement issued at the end of the Libyan Dialogue.
Kobi Gideon/GPO via Getty

TEL AVIVIsrael and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain signed historic peace agreements on Tuesday during a festive ceremony at the White House presided over by President Donald Trump. Several hundred cheering officials and dignitaries gathered on the South Lawn, with Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Alzayani delivering remarks from the White House portico high above. The U.S.-brokered accords were a political boon for Trump in the midst of his tight re-election bid, a useful opportunity to shift attention away from his downplaying of the domestic COVID-19 pandemic and burnish his reputation as a global dealmaker.

Calling it an important day for the world, [and] an important day for peace, Trump took singular credit for the peace deals that had brought Israel and the Gulf Arab kingdoms together. There were only two [peace agreements] in Israels first 72 years. We have achieved two in a single month, Trump said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with reason, touted the agreements as a pivot of history in his countrys bid for acceptance in the Middle East. Let us put all cynicism aside let us feel on this day the pulse of history. Long after the pandemic is gone, the peace we make today will endure, he said. The people of Israel well know the price of war Those who bear the wounds of war cherish the blessings of peace.

Yet the pageantry at the White House stood in sharp contrast to the situation in Israel, with the country in crisis as it heads into another nationwide lockdown later this week due to spiking COVID infection rates, an economy already reeling from the fallout of the pandemic, a government that barely functions, and a prime minister on trial for corruption.

The peace treaties, to be sure, were a rare bit of good news for Netanyahu in recent weeks, yet troubles on the domestic front threaten to overshadow his diplomatic achievements.

Story continues

This big event, a historic peace, could not have come at a worse time for Netanyahu, Tal Shalev, chief political correspondent for Walla News, told The Daily Beast. Most of the publics attention wont be in Washington, but on preparations for the lockdown during the Jewish high holidays.

The multi-week holiday season that starts on Friday with the Jewish New Year is usually a time of family meals and trips, religious ceremonies, and social gatherings. This year much of that is banned due to stringent new COVID restrictions that will limit most Israelis to no more than 500 meters from their home, with restaurants, event halls, hotels, schools, and beaches shuttered. After an initial (and successful) six-week lockdown in the spring, Israel is the first developed country in the world heading to another nationwide closure regime.

Polls show that two-thirds of the public disapproves of the long-serving premiers handling of the coronavirus crisis, with the same proportion pessimistic about the countrys overall mood on the eve of a new year. There is a lot of anger with the government. The first lockdown [in March/April] was traumatic. With Netanyahu now in Washington, it reinforces the sense that hes disconnected, Shalev added.

The public anger and pessimism are understandable given that Israel in recent weeks has the worlds highest per capita rate of new COVID infections: over 3,000 per dayand hitting 5,000 on Tuesdayin a country of only 9 million people (for comparison, the United Kingdom with 67 million people has had in absolute terms roughly the same number of daily infections).

The lockdown, set to last for an initial three weeks in a bid to lower these eye-watering figures, was the least worst option at this point in time, officials argueprimarily to avoid future attrition in the local health system. In truth, this option was only adopted after an earlier differentiated plan of localized closures in COVID hotspots was delayed due to political squabbling.

It took some time to agree on every little detail, and by the time [this differentiated model] was implemented two weeks ago, it was already too late, Prof. Ran Balicer, chief adviser to the national coronavirus taskforce, told The Daily Beast. Critics contend that Netanyahu balked at locking down primarily ultra-Orthodox towns that have experienced major COVID outbreaks, as they form a key part of his political support base. We cant know if this model failed because it didnt have a chance, Balicer added. Nearly seven months into the pandemic, Israel still has not established a robust contact tracing infrastructure, which officials now predict will only come fully online by late October at the earliest.

Trust in the government has plummeted, and with unemployment nearing 20 percent, and many Israelissmall business owners, restaurateurs, and freelance contractorshave vowed to remain open. One senior opposition politician even went so far as to call on the public not to obey the new restrictions.

[The government is] leading the public towards anarchy. They had four months to get organized for a reality where we would have to go into lockdown again, we alerted them about everything, and no lessons were learned, the head of the local Independent Workers Union told the Haaretz daily paper.

Most worrisome, it remains unclear if the weekly anti-Netanyahu demonstrations in Jerusalem will be allowed to continue as normal. While judicial authorities have made clear that public protest is a fundamental right that the government cannot ban, strict social distancing guidelines may dilute the numbers.

Netanyahu has repeatedly called the protestors anarchists and vectors for disease, with his partisans urging authorities to halt the demonstrations. Internal Security Minister Amir Ohana, a Netanyahu loyalist responsible for the police, made clear on Sunday that violating the lockdown orders would be considered a criminal offense.

Were running towards the abyss and there is no choice but to enforce with a strong hand. The emphasis needs to be on [public] gatherings you will see dispersals, including by force, he said ominously.

Compounding these health and economic emergencies, Israels political system appears, if such a thing were possible, even more in crisis.

After three stalemated elections in the span of 15 months, the current Israeli government was formed in May as a power-sharing emergency unity coalition between Netanyahu and his centrist rivals from the Blue and White party. Its primary stated goal: tackling the pandemic. As COVID numbers ticked up, politicians spent the summer squabbling over various ministerial and legislative issues, as well as a bid by Netanyahu to annex large parts of the West Bank, now reportedly shelved for three years as part of Israels understanding with the UAE.

The government has barely met over the past month, senior civil servant appointments have been left unfilled, and a budget for this year and next has not been passed. Defense minister (and alternate prime minister) Benny Gantz and foreign minister Gabi Ashkenazi, senior Blue and White officials, were not informed of the impending peace deals with the Gulf Arab states ahead of time; neither made the trip to Washington. Netanyahu and his Likud party have declared open warfare against the judicial authorities who have charged the prime minister with bribery, fraud, and breach of trust in a slew of graft cases. It is all, according to Netanyahu, a conspiracy by the left-wing deep state to unseat him.

Its a moment of deep and unprecedented democratic and constitutional crisis, Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute, a non-partisan think-tank, told The Daily Beast. The political system has been close to paralyzed for almost two years, and now everyone is behaving like another election will be called in December.

The reason for the paralysis, and the shadow looming over all government businesscoronavirus, economy, politics, and moreis Netanyahus own personal future, Plesner observed. With the witness phase of his trial set to begin in January, Netanyahu may opt to call snap elections just beforehand in a bid to win a clear parliamentary majority and pass laws shielding him from prosecution.

The attention and ability to respond to the coronavirus is closely tied to this, Plesner said. Hes using his powerful position as prime minister to attack and undermine the legal authorities. He also wants to preserve his base at all costs, which undermined the differentiated [geographic] strategy, which is how we got to a national lockdown.

Netanyahu in Washington may look, to all the world, like a strong statesman making international deals, but the view from Israel is vastly different. Several hundred protestors blocked the road to the Tel Aviv airport ahead of his departure late Sunday night. If we are in lockdown, you should be locked down too, they demanded. Upon his return home he will be, inside a country teetering on the brink.

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Sue, the Barbadian who favors republicanism, said he is hopeful given the recent protests against the statue of British Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson in the capital of Bridgetown. Government officials have said they would remove the statue and relocate it to a place that has not yet been identified. But he worries people have gotten used to the political status quo.
ALBANY, N.Y, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Barcode scanners assist in storing information of a particular product such as manufacturing date, supply date, and selling price that is printed on the packaging of the product in the form of a barcode. This function proves beneficial and convenient for the end-user. Therefore, the barcode readers market may gain good growth based on this prominent benefit.

Considering these factors, the global barcode readers market is prognosticated to expand at a CAGR of ~4 percent across the forecast period of 2020-2030. The global barcode readers market may attain a valuation of US$ 10.1 bn by 2030.

The advent of barcode technology has reduced the overall burden on the retailers in terms of tracking and supply of the products. This aspect has proven to be the best advantage for the barcode readers market to flourish over the years. Furthermore, cutting-edge features and technological advancements are inviting good growth through the forecast period.

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The fixed barcode readers segment is estimated to record notable growth in terms of form factor

On the basis of type, the wired barcode readers may bag the title of the fastest-growing segment across the forecast period of 2020-2030

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The escalating need for reducing human errors in terms of keeping track of the inventory may serve as an important growth factor for the barcode readers market from 2020 to 2030.

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The magnifying ecommerce sector may also invite expansive growth opportunities for the barcode readers market

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RFID-based barcode readers prove a threat to barcode readers. RFID readers are cheaper than barcode readers and can perform the same functions with fewer complications. RFID readers also display greater operational efficiency.

Furthermore, the lack of awareness among a considerable populace is also a prominent growth obstacle that may dampen the growth of the barcode readers market.

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Global Barcode Readers Market: Segmentation

By Form Factor

Handheld

Fixed

By Type

Wired

Wireless

By End User

Retail & e-Commerce

Transportation & Logistics

Warehouse

Courier & Postal Services

Manufacturing

Healthcare

Others (Aviation, Port, etc.)

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North America

Asia Pacific

Middle East and Africa

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South America

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RF-Microwave for 5G Market  The global RF-microwave for 5G market is projected to reach value of ~US$ 5 Bn by 2027. The RF-microwave for 5G market is projected to expand at a CAGR of ~20% from 2019 to 2027. Expansion of the RF-microwave for 5G market can be attributed to increase in investments for 5G, and growing requirement to boost communication signals.

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IP DECT Phones Market  Due to the surging number of COVID-19 (coronavirus) patients, especially in the U.S. and Europe, there is a growing demand for high-tech IP DECT phones in hospitals. As such, the healthcare industry is predicted to generate the second-highest revenue in the IP DECT phones market by the end of 2027, where the market is estimated to grow at a volume CAGR of ~7% during the forecast period.

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Scientists using a mathematical model to study the first months of the corona pandemic in Europe have found that the decrease of COVID-19 cases in spring was also related to the end of the flu season and influenza may have increased transmission of the coronavirus by an average of 2.5-fold.The results of the study by scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology (Berlin, Germany) and the Institut Pasteur (Paris, France) suggest that the coming flu epidemic will have an amplifying impact on the COVID-19 pandemic. The researchers have emphasized the potential importance of flu vaccinations as a possible extra protection against COVID-19.Data from earlier experiments led the team to investigate the effects of a co-infection with coronavirus and flu. The researchers developed a mathematical model of coronavirus transmission and mortality to decipher the influence of the flu season on the COVID-19 pandemic. The researchers modelled the course of the pandemic in Belgium, Norway, Italy and Spain. Four European countries in which the pandemic was differently pronounced during the first half of the year. To approach the real infection events, the model was based on known disease parameters like the "generation interval", i.e. the time needed for an infected person to infect another person. The researchers also took non-pharmaceutical countermeasures into account, since lockdowns and social distancing had an extensive impact on the pandemic. This was measured by the so-called Stringency Index, a value developed by Oxford University, which indicates the "strictness" of government anti-coronavirus measures.After mathematically recreating the pandemic, the researchers were able to test various assumptions about the impact of the flu season. They checked if the model was more realistic under the assumption that influenza either reduces, increases, or does not influence the transmission rate of coronavirus. The team showed that influenza may have increased coronavirus transmission at the population level by 22.5 times, on average during the period of co-circulation. The researchers checked their model against data on daily deaths in the four countries, enabling them to demonstrate that their model is consistent with the observed pandemic mortality data. Without the amplifying impact of influenza, the model explained the observed data substantially less well - with significantly lower COVID-19 infection rates.It remains open whether influenza patients are more likely to transmit coronavirus to others or whether flu makes people more susceptible to corona, although the latter seems more probable according to the researchers. Other research groups recently showed that flu viruses may increase susceptibility to COVID-19 in patients: Influenza viruses cause a higher production of the receptors that are used by the coronavirus to dock to human respiratory cells. These results imply that vaccinating against influenza may be essential in the coming flu season, not only to relieve hospitals, but also to contain the potential effect of influenza on the transmission of coronavirus.
The start of the new school year in Walworth County has resulted in reports of new coronavirus cases, including two new Lake Geneva student cases reported today.

Four students in total have tested positive for coronavirus in the Lake Geneva school district, while two have been reported in the Elkhorn school district.

Reporting no coronavirus cases so far this school year are officials at Big Foot High School in Walworth, at Walworth Elementary School and at the Williams Bay school district.

More than 150 students have tested positive at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

UW-Whitewater posted on its website that 115 students tested positive one week, and 51 others tested positive the previous week, as well as one employee and two others on campus.

Officials at the university could not be reached for comment.

The Walworth County Health & Human Services Department said county health officials are working with UW-Whitewater, along with the Jefferson County Public Health Department.

The university has a good plan, but the young adult population is proving difficult to convince, said Carlo Nevicosi, deputy director of Walworth Countys health department.

Lake Geneva School Superintendent Jim Gottinger said four students have tested positive for the coronavirus since the public school district resumed classes on Sept. 1.

Gottinger said two infected students were at Badger High School and two at Lake Geneva Middle School. All will remain home for two weeks and until they are symptom-free.

At least six other students also have been quarantined because they had close contact with one of the infected students. Close contact is defined as coming within six feet for a combined 15 minutes within one day.

Of the Lake Geneva cases, two were reported today  one at Badger, one at the middle school.

Elkhorn School Superintendent Jason Tadlock earlier said two students had tested positive at Elkhorn High School.

Tadlock said both students will remain in isolation for 10 days.

Another 25 students in Elkhorn have been ordered to stay home for 14 days and quarantine because they were found to have been in close contact with one of the infected students.

Walworth County has reported 2,003 coronavirus cases countywide, surpassing the 2,000 mark for the first time. The county reached 1,500 cases on Aug. 17, after hitting 1,000 cases on July 24.

Reporters Dennis Hines and Connor Carynski contributed to this report.

Reporters Dennis Hines and Connor Carynski contributed to this report.
Niagara Falls city council has approved spending $20,000 to renew a one-year agreement with Pathstone Mental Health to continue providing service for youth in the community.

Pathstone offers a walk-in clinic one day per week at Niagara Falls Community Health Centre through a partnership with the municipality that started in August 2019.

The agency requested the city renew the agreement, with an added video counselling component to ensure service through the COVID-19 pandemic. Council agreed to the request during its Tuesday meeting.

Pathstone, which delivers mental-health services for children and youths up to 18 years of age in Niagara, offered last year to provide a program in Niagara Falls called the Hear & Now Walk-in Clinic.

Council agreed to fund the program for one year, at a cost of $20,000. Council also agreed to help Pathstone secure a space for the clinic that was safe, accessible and capable of ensuring patient and family confidentiality.

After reviewing several options, officials decided the community health centre on Victoria Avenue was the most suitable location.

The clinic is open to children and youths aged six years until the day before their 18th birthday who are feeling sad, worried or angry; having fights with parents/caregivers; being bullied; dealing with a personal issue; having thoughts of self-harm; getting in trouble at school, home or in the community.

Parents and caregivers can also use the clinic for children under the age of six if they are concerned about child-related ages and stages, are constantly arguing with their child, or are worried about their childs social and emotional challenges.

The one-on-one service is provided under the guidance of a Pathstone clinician, Thursdays between 11:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. The service has no fee, no appointments are necessary, and no health card is required.

Pathstone also operates the program, through municipal support, in Port Colborne, St. Catharines, Thorold, Welland, Beamsville, Grimsby, Niagara-on-the-Lake, and Fort Erie, said a city staff report.

Within a single day of service in Niagara Falls, officials see, on average, two to three clients, said the report. This is consistent with, or slightly higher than, attendance at other programs across the region.

Pathstones next step is to make these services even more accessible through video counselling. Remote service would alleviate COVID-19 contact concerns, and families would not need to arrange travel to meet with a therapist.

Immediate mental-health counselling for children/youth and their parents/caregivers prevents many from having to access programs as they progress toward adulthood, said the report. This service provides an early intervention model that would help youth to get into programs much earlier.

Kim Rossi, director of philanthropy and public relations for Pathstone Foundation, said the agency has seen how COVID-19 has impacted peoples mental health.

We have already seen a resurgence in cases we had already closed at Pathstone, she said in an August letter to city council. While we continue to see a 15 to 20 per cent increase in clients each year, we have no accurate way to say yet how much higher that increase will be in 2020 due to the pandemic.

Rossi said the pandemic has created a mental-health crisis through job loss, fear for safety and lack of social connection.

She said clinics such as the one in Niagara Falls have been a lifeline for many.

We gave families immediate access to mental-health care, often times in the moment while children were still fresh in their feelings. It was the foundation of which these clinics were designed for, reducing barriers to care and offering immediate support.
Joe Biden made his first trip to Florida as the Democratic presidential nominee on Tuesday with an urgent mission to boost support among Latinos who could decide the election in one of the nations fiercest battleground states.

More than any other time, the Hispanic community, Latino community holds in the palm of their hand the destiny of this country, Biden said during a Hispanic Heritage Month kickoff event in Kissimmee. You can decide the direction of this country.

A win for Biden in Florida would dramatically narrow Trumps path to reelection. But in a state where elections are often decided by a percentage point, there are mounting concerns that Biden may be slipping, particularly with the states influential Latino voters.

An NBC-Marist poll released last week found Latinos in the state about evenly divided between Biden and Trump. Democrat Hillary Clinton led Trump by a 59% to 36% margin among Latinos in the same poll in 2016  and Trump won Florida by about 1 percentage point.

To regain lost ground, Biden made the case Tuesday night that he would be a better president for Hispanics than Trump, touting his commitment to immigration reform and a new plan to support Puerto Ricos economy.

Donald Trump has failed the Hispanic community time and time again, and thats not a secret, Biden said. Whether its in his heinous act of separating children from their families at our border, or his repeated attacks on Dreamers, or his neglect of the people of Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, or his repeated failures to make sure essential workers have the personal protective equipment they need.

Still, Hispanic voters in Florida tend to be somewhat more Republican-leaning than Hispanic voters nationwide because of the states Cuban American population. Nationally, little public polling is available to measure the opinions of Latino voters this year and whether they differ from four years ago.

But Democrats arent taking chances. Billionaire Mike Bloomberg has pledged to spend at least $100 million to defeat Trump in Florida.

And by spending his day along the Interstate 4 corridor, Biden is devoting time to one of the most critical regions of the state. While Republicans typically post big numbers in the northern and southwestern parts of the state and Democrats are strong in coastal cities, campaigns typically battle it out for every vote in central Florida.

Bidens first event, in Tampa, focused on veterans and was aimed at pushing a potential opening with military voters, who broadly supported Trump in 2016 but are seen as potentially persuadable because of controversial remarks the president reportedly made mocking American war dead as losers and suckers. Trump has denied making the remarks, first reported through anonymous sources by The Atlantic, but many of the comments were later confirmed by The Associated Press.

Nowhere are his faults more glaring and more offensive, to me at least, than when it comes to his denigration of our service members, veterans, wounded warriors who have fallen, Biden said. Speaking of his late son Beau, who served overseas as a Delaware Army National Guard member, Biden said, Hes gone now, but hes no sucker.

Biden spoke about his experience as vice president escorting military caskets home and working on military issues, and about his own commitments to strengthen the Department of Veterans Affairs and tackle the mental health crisis among veterans. And he attacked Trump for what he said were failed promises to veterans.

President Trump likes to say he passed VA Choice, but just like everything else he seems to say, its a figment of his imagination or a flat-out lie, he said, referencing a program passed under the Obama administration that steers more patients to the private sector.

Bidens decision to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month in Kissimmee reflects a focus on the states rapidly growing Puerto Rican community. Many Puerto Ricans relocated to Florida after Hurricane Maria devastated the island in 2017.

The campaign announced a new plan Tuesday focused on boosting Puerto Ricos economy and helping the island recover from Maria. Biden would create a federal working group focused on aiding Puerto Rico in rebuilding and would forgive disaster relief loans to Puerto Rican towns, expand a food stamp program to residents, invest in Puerto Ricos power and schooling infrastructure and health care services, and help alleviate the territorys massive debt load.

Biden expressed support for Puerto Rican statehood on Tuesday night, though he said the decision should be left up to the U.S. territorys residents.

Puerto Ricans may be more open to Biden than Cuban Americans concentrated in Miami are. Many of them are attuned to Trumps message that the Democratic ticket would embrace socialism.

Indeed, surrogates for the Trump campaign focused on Cuban immigrants during a call with reporters. Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez, a Republican, accused Biden of trying to feign interest in the Hispanic community after neglecting us.

She said a Biden presidency would, among other things, appease and enrich Cubas leadership at the expense of the people. Some foreign policy analysts, however, say the Trump administrations tough economic restrictions on Cuba only contribute to the oppression of the Cuban people.

Biden, who hasnt been to Florida since last October, has struggled with Latinos in part because of the record-setting number of deportations when President Barack Obama was in the White House. Biden has apologized for that policy.

But unlike his Democratic rival Bernie Sanders, who used strong support among Latinos to notch key primary victories in Nevada and California, Biden has refused to adopt the most liberal positions in his party  especially when it comes to calling for decriminalizing illegal crossings of the U.S.-Mexico border and halting all deportations indefinitely. He supports a 100-day moratorium on deportations.

As for Trump, despite many of his anti-immigration policies, some Latino voters have responded positively to the presidents embrace of religious conservative positions and his warnings of protest-related violence and socialism. Trump also frequently visits his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, and the president votes absentee in the state.

As Biden campaigned in Florida, Sen. Kamala Harris made her first trip to her home state of California as his running mate. She toured wildfire damage in the small foothill community of Auberry, declaring that federal disaster aid is not a partisan issue in response to Trumps threats to withhold aid from the state.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo insisted Wednesday the United States will enforce new UN sanctions on Iran starting next week, despite overwhelming consensus that Washington is out of bounds.

The United States will do what it always does. It will do its share as part of its responsibilities to enable peace, this time in the Middle East, Pompeo told a joint news conference with British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.

Well do all the things we need to do to make sure that those sanctions are enforced, he said.

Pompeo last month headed to the United Nations to announce the snapback of sanctions under a 2015 Security Council resolution after failing to extend an embargo on conventional arms sales to Iran.

Also read: Donald Trump vows 1,000 times greater response to any Iran attack

The resolution allows any participant in a nuclear accord with Iran negotiated under former president Barack Obama to reimpose sanctions, which would take effect one month afterward.

President Donald Trump pulled out of the accord, which he has repeatedly denounced, but Pompeo argues that the United States remains a participant as it was listed in the 2015 resolution.

The sanctions are authorized by a valid UN Security Council resolution, Pompeo said.

Trump has already enforced sweeping unilateral US sanctions on Iran, inflicting a heavy toll in a bid to curb the clerical states regional influence.

The United Nations has clearly said that it cannot proceed with the reimposition of UN sanctions, with 13 of the Security Councils 15 nations objecting to the US move.

European allies of the United States say that they support extending the arms embargo but want to preserve a diplomatic solution on the nuclear issue, which they see as more important.

Playing down differences, Raab said of the nuclear accord: We have always welcomed US and indeed any other efforts to broaden it.

The means by which we get there, there may be shades of difference but we have handled them... constructively, he said.

The issue has come to a head less than two months before Trump seeks another term against Democrat Joe Biden, a supporter of the accord that curbed Irans nuclear program.
Mumbai, Sep 16 : Actress Kangana Ranaut and Kunal Kamra locked horns on Twitter on Wednesday after the comedian took a dig at her and compared her with Indian yogi Sadhguru.

Earlier in the day, Kangana had called show business "absolutely intoxicating" and that the "make believe world of lights and camera is designed to make one live and believe in an alternate reality, a little bubble of their own, it takes a very strong spiritual core to recognise this delusion".

Kunal retweeted it and wrote: "Wisdom via showman Jagga Jasoos AKA @SadhguruJV." The actress then retweeted Kamra's tweet and wrote: "These fools are desperate to credit my struggles, intellect, spiritual depth, guts, success and achievements to some powerful man, how it hurts their fragile egos and cotton balls to admit that I am my own person, leading my life on my own terms. DEAL WITH IT." Following which, he wondered how a "strong women like you can have Y - security where men are protecting you just for living life on your own terms".

Kangana, who was provided Y-plus security by the Central government this month, then wrote: "In a democracy it is the duty of the constitution to protect a revolutionary voice. Here in this case you see two aspects of the glorious democracy 'The protector' and 'The protected'. You will never make it to any of them. Be someone who means something to this nation." Kangana is now in her hometown Manali following the rising tension in her relationship with the Shiv Sena-led Maharashtra government.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
ANN ARBOR, MI  On the seventh day of striking, graduate student employees, dining staff, residential staff and faculty members at the University of Michigan held a press conference on the steps of the Diag to reiterate their demands to the university for a safe and just response to the coronavirus pandemic.

And while the strike has only lasted a week, the Graduate Employees' Organization (GEO) has been working for months to meet with university administrators, but the university has failed to provide comprehensive information on the reopening and to meet with graduate student employees to discuss their concerns, GEO vice president Erin Markiewitz said.

As a result, UM failed to keep its students and workers safe, Markiewitz said.

We are three weeks into the fall semester, and the university is no longer able to hide the inadequacy of their pandemic response, Markiewitz said.

Markiewitz and several other speakers, including dining staff, residential staff and professors, stood at the microphone on the steps of the Hatcher Graduate Library to discuss the universitys response to the pandemic, as well as demilitarizing the campus Division of Public Safety and Security. Residential staff are also on strike demanding more protection from COVID-19.

Residence hall staff on strike at University of Michigan, demand more coronavirus protections

Zoey Angers, a member of the residential staff council, said that a resident in her building tested positive for COVID-19 privately and did not report it to the university. Another student told residential staff, but Angers said that if housing had any commitment to thorough testing, each student in that hallway would be tested immediately.

But when we reported this to central housing, they said there was nothing they could do, Angers said. Nothing they could do about someone with COVID-19 living in my own dorm, where over 600 students now live.

Last week, members of GEO marched in solidarity with dining staff who are fighting for more protections from COVID-19. Nik Von Seggern, a student-manager at Mosher Jordan Dining Hall, said dining staff have not been tested at all, there are very little sanitation measures being taken, and some dining halls still give attendance violations for missing work, even when employees are sick.

According to Von Seggern, one employee from another dining hall even took it upon themselves to screen her coworkers and track who has symptoms of COVID-19 on a piece of paper.

This is unacceptable, Von Seggern said. ... For now, our movement is focusing on contacting administration, voicing our concerns and seeing what their response is. We havent gotten anything back from the administration yet, but when we do, we will be guiding our next actions from their responses.

On Sept. 10, UM said it is providing a multi-layered approach to testing designed by some of the states top public health experts, and it will describe the methodology for its surveillance testing program and make the weekly surveillance testing capacity public.

GEO rejected UMs initial offer Sept. 10 to continue the strike.

A few UM employees also spoke about the increased policing on campus, starting with the Michigan Ambassadors Program. Maren Spolum, a graduate student in UMs Population Studies Center, spoke at length about UMs police, saying it makes campus unwelcome for students of color and other marginalized community members.

Black students at UM have been advocating against racism within this institution for decades, yet over a summer in which egregious examples of police violence were all over the news, UM chose to strengthen its ties with the (Ann Arbor Police Department) and DPSS through the ambassador program to address the COVID-19 pandemic, Spolum said.

Spolum said that in 2018, a vast majority of reported offenses to DPSS had to do with liquor law violations, property crimes and drug offenses. Only 3% of DPSS calls that year were categorized as violent offenses, Spolum said, and the data offers clear support to disarm DPSS.

UM President Mark Schlissel said several times over the summer that the university would have a public health-informed fall semester, and Spolum said that if UM is going to have that kind of semester, its important to consider the struggles students face on campus.

... A public health-informed semester necessitates changes to our funding on campus, and that includes changes to policing on campus, Spolum said. Students and employees cannot be expected to learn and perform their best work in an environment under surveillance by inherently racist and violent systems like DPSS, AAPD and (Immigration, Customs and Enforcement).

In their Sept. 10 proposal to GEO, UM said the issue on demilitarizing campus should and will be part of a broader discussion to include multiple stakeholders. The university acknowledged that theyre unable to bargain with one employee group for matters that affect the entire campus community and other peoples employment terms.

UM is seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against the strike and asked the Washtenaw County Circuit Court to order striking members of the GEO to return to work. The university argues that GEOs members are interfering with the universitys mission to educate students by unlawfully withholding their labor and also encouraging impressionable undergraduate students to forego their education, the court filing said.

Court records show the case is still pending a decision by Judge Timothy Connors.

READ MORE:

University of Michigan seeks restraining order to end graduate employee strike

From COVID testing to cops, University of Michigan graduate students explain why theyre striking

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One of Guelphs largest employers is receiving millions of dollars from the provincial government to help cover the costs of making lifesaving equipment.

During a visit to the companys iHub production facility on Woodlawn Road West Tuesday, Premier Doug Ford announced that the province would be investing $2.5 million in Linamar, via the Ontario Together Fund, to help offset the costs of retooling some of its production capacity to make ventilators.

In April, the auto parts manufacturer announced it would be working with O-Two Medical, a Brampton medical supply company, to build 10,000 ventilators following an order from the province.

"It was quite an experience the whole transition and tooling up of these programs, which we did very rapidly," Linda Hasenfratz, Linamars CEO, told the Mercury Tribune following the announcement.

Work on those 10,000 ventilators is now complete, Hasenfratz said the Linamar equipment used for that project has been changed back over to its regular use.

"We are continuing with the Thornhill (Medical) ventilator, ICU in a box units, which we will continue producing through the end of the year," she added.

In April, the federal government announced it had reached a deal with Thornhill to make 500 of the companys compact ventilator systems, with Linamar partnering with the Toronto firm to help increase production capacity.

At the time, Hasenfratz told the Mercury Tribune that through this deal, there would be assembly lines created in Guelph to finish the units, and that Linamar would help to manage any supply chain issues.

During his speech, Ford pointed to the need to have ventilators ready to go in the event of a second wave of COVID-19.

"It continues to spread, and as we see around the world, countries are getting hammered by COVID-19. In Ontario, weve done better than most, but we cant take that for granted," he said.

"A second wave of COVID-19, its coming. And the officials are telling us that the second wave could be more complicated than the first one."

Hasenfratz said if more ventilators are needed, Linamar would be easily able to retool its production line back to those parts.

"We already have all the programming, we already have all the operator instructions and all of the training done to be able to make parts," she said.

"It would simply be a matter of liberating enough equipment in order to tool back up and get back into production."

While the visit was a good news announcement, someone who was not pleased with how it panned out was Guelph MPP and provincial Green Party leader Mike Schreiner.

"It's unfortunate that I had to find out via Twitter that the Premier was in Guelph today. It should be common courtesy to notify the MPP when visiting an opposition-held riding to make a government announcement," he said in an emailed statement to the Mercury Tribune.

"This is a good news announcement that I would have patted the Premier on the back for making. Instead, the move suggests Premier Ford is in campaign mode rather than focusing on COVID-19."
A mentally ill man who repeatedly stabbed a mother pushing her baby daughter in a buggy in Streatham has been handed a life sentence for attempted murder.

Mark Brazant, 44, brutally attacked Josephine Conlon, 36, just days after being released from Thameside Prison on Christmas Eve last year.

Mrs Colon was on her way home from meeting friends at a bakery on December 30 and was on the phone to her mother when she was set on by her paranoid attacker.

Brazant, who had 19 previous convictions, stabbed her seven times on the face and neck before running off. The violent offender then handed himself in to police on January 2.

CCTV image of Mark Brazant about to pass the young mother pushing a buggy / PA

Neighbours were alerted when they heard Mrs Conlons blood-curdling scream, and she recalled how she feared he was going to rape her before he fled.

Judge Angela Rafferty QC described it as a ferocious, unprovoked attack and said Brazant was totally unpredictable.

She handed him a life sentence, with a minimum hybrid hospital and custodial term of 11 years, warning: It is not possible to say when you will no longer be a risk.

Sentencing him at the Old Bailey on Wednesday, the judge said: It can only be imagined the horror and terror Josephine Conlon must have felt for her child.

Its quite apparent to me that Josephine Conlon showed extreme courage when you attacked her, she was not the defenceless woman you thought you had at your mercy. She fought back.

CCTV image of Mark Brazant / PA

Giving evidence during the hearing, Mrs Conlon said: It feels my life is on hold.

I struggle with large crowds and I am unable to leave my house after dark. Having said that, I have been lucky  all I have is a few scars.

I also feel I failed my daughter for walking her into such a dangerous situation and witnessing the attack on me. It could have been so different.

Brazant, wearing a dark blue shirt and a face mask, had an intermediary in the dock next to him to explain proceedings throughout the hearing.

He had previously gone on trial over the attack, but jurors were unable to reach a verdict. He later changed his plea and admitted attempted murder when prosecutors called for a retrial.

The court had heard that Brazant, who has paranoid schizophrenia, had a history of attacking lone women for no reason and had a conviction for carrying a blade.

He was released on licence from prison on Christmas Eve to spend a year on post-sentence supervision, following a conviction for battery and common assault.

On his release, he reported to the probation service but records show he was asked to return the following week as Thameside had sent him to the wrong office.

Brazant was reported missing after he failed to turn up at a supported house for people with mental health problems where he was meant to stay.

He struck as Mrs Conlon made her way home, crossing paths with Brazant in the street, prompting him to follow her.

Defence counsel Oliver Renton said his client was paranoid and sleep-deprived at the time, wandering the streets and sleeping on buses, and added: But for his mental illness, the attack would never have been carried out.

Mrs Conlon told jurors she first realised she was in danger when she was shoved forcefully in the back.

She fell into a driveway, and the buggy containing her young daughter rolled on to the kerb and became wedged next to a parked car.

Mrs Conlon previously told jurors: I remember thinking he had pushed me into the driveway because he was going to rape me.

Mrs Conlon, who was supported in court by her husband Greg, was discharged from hospital the next day but continues to have treatment for scars on her face and neck, the court heard.

In the early hours of January 2, Brazant walked into Wandsworth police station carrying a knife, and said he had stabbed a person on the street two days earlier.

During his original trial, Brazant, of Ealing, west London, denied he intended to kill Mrs Conlon, saying he was hearing voices telling him to hurt someone.

He said he chose Mrs Conlon because she was small, female, pushing a buggy and he did not think she would fight back.

Having stabbed her repeatedly, he told himself thats enough, that will do and left, he said.

The court heard Brazant was on medication for his mental health condition but had stopped taking it.

Additional reporting by PA Media.
Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector Poto Williams paid a visit to Omanu Surf Lifesaving Club yesterday to celebrate the funding, which will support surf lifesaving infrastructure projects across the region.

Recently, the government announced funding towards 11 Surf Lifesaving New Zealand projects across the country, including $5,382,000 towards projects in the BOP/Coromandel area.

About $2.9m of the funding is set to go towards an Eastern Region Rescue Centre which will be based in Omanu.

The Papamoa Surf Lifesaving Club will also receive about $800,000 to complete their club rebuild.

Omanu Surf Lifesaving Club president Donal Boyle says receiving the funding for the hub was a huge relief.

It gives surf lifesaving a base  we now have a purpose-built building for all of the Eastern Region.

The benefits now is that we will have a rescue centre and a storage area that will cater for our club. We need a base outside of the incident area to mobilise our lifeguards.

Surf Lifesaving New Zealand Eastern Region manager Chase Cahalane says this funding will take huge pressure off volunteers who are responsible for developing building projects.

These are the guys that give thousands of hours into developing projects and trying to find the money for them. To be able to take this weight off their shoulders, so they can spend more time on actual lifesaving  that is the biggest gift, to be honest.

Papamoa Surf Lifesaving Club president Andrew Hitchfield says thanks to this funding injection, the club can now finish their new clubrooms debt-free.

It has been a long, hard process. Now we can invest all our money back into our people, and our community.

Williams says it was extremely humbling to hear about the enormous differences that the funding will have on local clubs.

Tauranga Mayor Tenby Powell says the Omanu and Papamoa Surf Lifesaving Clubs make a huge contribution to community safety in the western Bay of Plenty.

On behalf of local beachgoers, passes on sincere thanks for the work the club committees put into their submissions and for the funding support provided by the Government.

Surf Lifesaving does an extraordinary job around Aotearoa and our Tauranga clubs provide a critical service which keeps locals and visitors safe while they are enjoying our beaches and ocean, he says.

Surf Lifesaving New Zealand CEO Paul Dalton says the funding will ultimately directly impact safety along our countrys beaches and coastlines.

Surf Lifesaving facilities are at the heart of many communities. They support and facilitate the safe public use of New Zealands iconic beaches, he says.

Paul says that in the 2019/2020 season, SLSNZ Surf Lifeguards saved 577 people from drowning and assisted 1,543 people to safety.

Millions of New Zealanders benefit from lifeguards presence on our beaches each year and, as a charity, we rely on government and philanthropic funding in order to maintain this vital community service. This funding injection is a win for coastal safety in Aotearoa.
WEST LAFAYETTE, IND.  A record number of Purdue students have been awarded the Astronaut Scholarship and will be presented the awards by NASA astronaut and Apollo 13 veteran Fred Haise.

Purdues recipients are Maia Clare in the College of Science; Zachary Marshall in the College of Engineering, the Purdue Polytechnic Institute and Honors College; and Lindsey Wilson in the College of Science.

The Astronaut Scholarship is given by The Astronaut Foundation (ASF), which was created in 1984 by the six surviving Mercury 7 astronauts. The scholarship is known nationwide for being among the highest merit-based monetary scholarships awarded to undergraduate students in science, technology, engineering and math to a closed circle of universities.

Purdue, a longtime member institution, is unique in offering three Astronaut Scholarships to its students. The ASF has awarded an Astronaut Scholarship to a Purdue student since 1987, now named in honor of Purdue Astronaut Gene Cernan and sponsored by Jim Hays. This year, a second and a third scholarship will be awarded. One is sponsored by Kathy and Dick Covey and The Covey Love Legacy Fund. The other is sponsored by Marc and Sharon Hagle, and was announced in fall 2019. The scholarship amount, which was $10,000, has been increased to $15,000. Astronaut Scholars also have the opportunity to network with fellow scholar alumni and ASF member astronauts, and are honored at the Innovators Gala, an event that was virtual this year on Aug. 20 and 21.

These students are already making new and exciting contributions to their fields through their relentless pursuit of the next giant leaps in health care, genetics and aviation, said Jay Akridge, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs and diversity. Their contributions deserve to be recognized, and Im thrilled that both the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation and Mr. Haise will be helping us do just that.

As a NASA astronaut, Fred Haise flew on the aborted Apollo 13 lunar mission in 1970, spending 142 hours and 54 minutes in space before returning safely to Earth. This year is the 50th anniversary of that mission. He also served as a backup crew member for the Apollo 8, 11, and 16 missions. Among his awards are the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Haley Astronautics Award, the General Thomas D. White Space Trophy, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the NASA Exceptional Service Medal, and the NASA Special Achievement Award.

Maia Clare

Maia Clare, from Glenshaw, Pennsylvania, is a senior in the College of Science with a major in genetics. She is the recipient of the scholarship sponsored by Dick Covey and The Covey Love Legacy Fund. As an undergraduate student, she has participated in research supported by the National Science Foundation, focused on the development of pathogenic immune cells during disease. Her professors describe her work as having important implications in the field.

In my pursuit of developing treatments that are inclusive to all, I have received meaningful support and support others from underrepresented backgrounds as a mentor, panelist, friend, ambassador, and leader in diversity and inclusion programs on my campus, Clare said.

Her diversity work also is applauded. This includes serving as president of the Purdue Association of Multicultural Science Students, mentorship as part of the BoilerMentor Multicultural Science Programs, and being appointed research scholar of the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation.

Through these experiences, I have learned about my own ignorance to the hardships of others, including the widening health gap between white and non-white people in the U.S. and globally, Clare said.

Zachary Marshall

Zachary Marshall, from Orland Park, Illinois, is a senior in the College of Engineering, the Honors College, and the Purdue Polytechnic Institute, with majors in aeronautical and astronautical engineering and aerospace financial analysis. He is the recipient of the scholarship sponsored by Jim Hays in memory of Gene Cernan. With experience in three Purdue colleges, he focuses on a broad array of issues in aviation, from the technical details to problem-solving to management.

I am committed to future research in investigating and mitigating the frequency and severity of uncrewed aerial vehicle separation conflicts in the national airspace system, he said. Fueling my flame of research ambition through an allegiance to academic excellence, I strive to elevate the future of our transportation networks.

He has worked in multiple Purdue aviation design teams, including as a founder and recruiter, as well as a chief engineer, and is also the president of the Purdue chapter of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. On the management front, he placed second in the nationwide Airport Cooperative Research Program University Design Competition, in which the Federal Aviation Administration judged teams on airport planning. His research focuses on UAV (uncrewed aerial vehicle) systems.

Lindsey Wilson

Lindsey Wilson, from Boonville, Indiana, is a senior in the College of Science pursuing a major in genetics. She is the recipient of the scholarship sponsored by Marc and Sharon Hagle. Wilson has conducted research on phage folding in the lab of Nicholas Noinaj, an associate professor of biology. She was also an intern at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, one of the National Institutes of Health.

My future research lies at the leading edge of genomic discovery, where there are few standard experimental procedures, she said. Since a wide range of genetic mutations exist, almost never can the same methods be relied on in the research of genetic disorders. Essentially, I must choreograph an experimental sequence that turns my questions into discovery.

This is not the first time her research has been recognized with a prestigious scholarship. She was awarded the Goldwater Scholarship in the spring of 2020.

The National and International Scholarships Office (NISO), which is housed in the Honors College, supports all Purdue students in applying for prestigious scholarships. Students interested in such awards are encouraged to reach out to the NISO office by email at niso@purdue.edu, or to visit the NISO website at www.purdue.edu/niso.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a top public research institution developing practical solutions to todays toughest challenges. Ranked the No. 5 Most Innovative University in the United States by U.S. News & World Report, Purdue delivers world-changing research and out-of-this-world discovery. Committed to hands-on and online, real-world learning, Purdue offers a transformative education to all. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue has frozen tuition and most fees at 2012-13 levels, enabling more students than ever to graduate debt-free. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap at https://purdue.edu/.

Media contact: Jim Bush, 765-336-1909, jsbush@purdue.edu

Journalists visiting campus : Journalists should follow Protect Purdue protocols and the following guidelines:
Stripe Inc. plans to make a one-time payment of $20,000 to employees who opt to move out of San Francisco, New York or Seattle, but also cut their base salary by as much as 10%, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The payments processor will make the offer available to workers who choose to relocate before the end of the year, said the person, who asked to remain anonymous to discuss private details. But employees opting to move may have to relinquish some of their base pay.

The new policy adds Stripe to the list of technology companies that have expanded opportunities for employees to work remotely while also signaling they may implement pay cuts if workers move to less-expensive cities. VMware Inc. told Bloomberg News on Friday it had instituted such a policy, and Facebook Inc., Twitter Inc. and ServiceNow Inc. have all considered similar measures.

For many Americans, the Covid-19 crisis has upended the cost-benefit balance of living in expensive metropolitan areas, which for months have been devoid of their usual flair. With corporate campuses and office buildings still closed or only partially staffed, many companies have given workers more leeway than ever to decide where and how they want to work. Thats led scores of white-collar workers to move closer to loved ones or to more sparsely populated areas with less punishing living costs.

Pay cuts and a lesser need for pricey office space offer companies ways to save money. But a migration of workers from downtown headquarters also pose challenges for bosses who worry that remote work over the long term could stifle innovation or hamper productivity. It will also be financially challenging for coastal hubs that have long attracted large companies and their highly paid employees.

For tax reasons, companies must know where employees reside, but any decisions to cut pay is at their discretion.

San Francisco-based Stripe, which employs around 2,800 people, has for years relied on remote work. Last year it formed a remote engineering hub in addition to its hubs in the Bay area, Seattle, Dublin and Singapore, and vowed to hire 100 new fully remote engineers and other staff.

Doing so has brought its workers closer to customers and businesses, and tailor products to fit local needs and limitations, Jay Shirley, who is the site lead for Stripes remote engineering hub, wrote in a May blog post.

The company was valued at $36 billion in it latest funding round, making it one of the countrys most valuable closely held startups.

The San Francisco Bay area had the highest prices for goods and services, including rent, among large metropolitan areas in the country in 2018, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. New York was in second place. Among areas of all sizes, the California cities of San Jose, Sunnyvale and Santa Clara, in the heart of Silicon Valley, had the nations highest rents.





This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.

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State Awards Grants to Support Mohawk Trail Woodlands Partnership

ROWE, Mass.  The Baker-Polito Administration announced $225,000 in grant funding to eight municipalities and a regional economic development organization to support forest stewardship and conservation, trail improvements, and nature-based tourism in the Mohawk Trail Woodlands Partnership region.

The funding builds upon the Commonwealth's Shared Stewardship Agreement with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service, which established a framework for partnerships between local governments and stakeholders to advance the goals of the Mohawk Trail Woodlands Partnership (MTWP) to conserve forests and enhance regional economic development.

The grants and report were announced as part of the Baker-Polito Administration's celebration of Climate Week in the Commonwealth.

"The communities within the Mohawk Trail Woodlands Partnership region offer incredible natural resources and opportunities for nature-based tourism," Governor Charlie Baker said. "Our Administration is proud to invest in these rural communities in ways that drives economic development and makes them more resilient to the impacts of climate change."

"To achieve our shared climate goals, it is essential that we embrace opportunities for partnerships between our state agencies and our municipalities, and we are proud to provide this funding to support the conservation of our forests and the development of rural economies," Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito said. "Through this funding and the dedication of a strong network of local volunteers, these communities will be able to make important upgrades to trail design and infrastructure while also taking meaningful steps to prepare for the impacts of climate change."

The Mohawk Trail Woodlands Partnership is a grassroots-led program based on conserving forests and supporting their sustainable management in order to advance economic development in rural communities along the Vermont and New York border. The program provides funding to assist towns in the Commonwealth's rural and forested region to plan for the care of forests in the face of climate change, prepare forest offset projects, and improve nature-based tourism by improving trail networks, infrastructure, and educational exhibits.

The projects will help to improve access to outdoor recreation in town and state forests and sell "carbon credits" on town owned and private forest lands. The projects also include the development of educational assets for residents and visitors about the importance of forests in reducing the impacts of climate change. The regional projects will develop a network of local experts to support budding forest-based businesses that will enhance tourism and creatively utilize the forest products from the region.

"The conservation of the Commonwealth's forests is critical to meet our ambitious target of net zero emissions by 2050," Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Kathleen Theoharides said. "These projects will leverage this incredible network of forests and trails to drive nature-based tourism and create local jobs, and we are proud to work with these communities toward our shared mission of preserving the Commonwealth's forests and critical habitats for future generations."

The following municipalities and regional planning committees were awarded grant funding:
Whether it is the loss of economic productivity or the higher costs of health care, our behavior affects both ourselves and everyone else in the economy. The same is true for the retirement crisis that has been building for decades. Indeed, Dodd-Frank regulations mandated that the SEC perform a study to find ways to reduce costs for retirement investors. The result was the proposed fiduciary rules, which were calculated to save some $17 billion per year to retiree investors in excess costs. Lobbying by Wall Street killed those savings. It is not a stretch to suggest the shortfall will likely be made up - in part - by taxpayers.
STARKVILLE, Miss.  A judge has ruled that a Mississippi contractor will have to pay restitution after accepting more than $450,000 to build a church sanctuary but doing little work.

Donald Crowther is owner of TCM Construction of Long Beach. In July, he pleaded guilty to fraud in the project at Second Baptist Church in Starkville.

During a hearing Thursday in Oktibbeha County Circuit Court, Judge Lee Coleman said Crowther must pay restitution, with an amount to be determined, the Commercial Dispatch reported. Sentencing is Nov. 2.

They paid you $454,000 and all they have to show for it is a pile of dirt, Assistant District Attorney Ben Rush told Crowther during the hearing.

Crowther was arrested in 2016. In pleading guilty, he admitted he had prepared and submitted false invoices.

Charles Ware, spokesman and adviser for Second Baptist Church trustees, asked Coleman to give Crowther the maximum of 10 years in prison. Ware read from Crowthers bank records in court.

The only part of the project completed was preliminary site preparation. The building permit expired in October 2017.

How can you steal from a church, the bedrock of our community, the bedrock I grew up in? Ware said.

Crowther asked the judge to sentence him to house arrest, as did his aunt, Jeanette Self. Crowther, 73, is the primary caretaker for his 95-year-old father, who has dementia, and his 40-year-old son, who has a disability, both Crowther and Self testified.

Coleman said Crowther should be able to make care arrangements for his father and son by Nov. 2.

The church has pursued multiple lawsuits over the incomplete project. Crowthers attorney, Warren Conway of Gulfport, told The Dispatch after the hearing that it was unfortunate the church kept pursuing multiple cases and trying to get paid three times.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
BERLIN/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Bundesbank chief Jens Weidmann defended the European Central Bank's bond purchases in the face of criticism from some German lawmakers in a culmination of efforts to defuse a stand-off with Germany's top court over its policy, sources said on Wednesday.

Weidmann spoke to the lawmakers in a closed-door session via a video-link and answered questions for nearly two hours, four participants told Reuters, adding that his remarks helped to dispel doubts over the proportionality of the ECB's measures.

His appearance marked the climax of efforts to overcome a constitutional crisis in Europe's largest economy that had threatened to upend monetary policy in the 19-nation euro zone.

Most parliamentary groups view the issue as solved by now. Only the far-right AfD party, which has lost popular support over the past months, has vowed to continue the legal fight against the ECB's measures.

Weidmann rejected the assertion that Germany's highest court had ruled earlier this year that the ECB's Public Sector Purchase Program (PSPP) represented monetary financing of governments, the participants said on condition of anonymity.

Weidmann extended his defence to the ECB's latest bond-buying scheme, the Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP), saying that so far, he could not see an "obvious violation" of the ECB's rule to stay clear of monetary state financing, the sources added.

But he added a note of caution by telling lawmakers that the desired impact of the measures and their side effects had to be constantly monitored and weighed up against each other, the sources said.

More generally, Weidmann repeated his stance that the ECB should interpret its mandate rather narrowly to guarantee its independence as there was a risk of monetary policy getting politicised, the sources said.

The Bundesbank declined to comment.

Germany's top court ruled earlier this year that lawmakers failed to exercise appropriate control over the Bundesbank, which must quit the ECB's government bond purchase programme unless it could justify its participation.

Story continues

The early May ruling threatened to force the euro zone's biggest central bank to withdraw from a stimulus scheme credited with helping underpin growth before the coronavirus struck and averting a financial crisis amid the pandemic.

Since that ruling, the ECB has sent a justification of its 2.3 trillion euro Public Sector Purchase Programme to the German government and parliament, which was accepted by Berlin.

The Bundesbank has also agreed to participate in regular hearings billed as "monetary dialogue," modelled after similar meetings held for the ECB President by the European Parliament.

Still, the ECB faces a fresh legal challenge after lawmakers for the AfD party last month filed a complaint against the ECB's Pandemic Emergency Purchase Program (PEPP), claiming that the scheme exceeds the ECB's mandate.

The 1.35 trillion PEPP was launched earlier this year at the height of the coronavirus crisis to keep borrowing costs down and prevent the pandemic from morphing into a sovereign debt crisis.

(Reporting by Michael Nienaber and Balazs Koranyi; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Chizu Nomiyama)
About three years ago, Mr Prince Komen, 28, wouldn't have contemplated that he would one day wash cars to survive.

After graduating in 2017 from the Cooperative University, he hoped to get a well-paying white collar job in one of the big financial institutions in the country.

Having pursued a degree in banking and finance, he sent his application letters to almost every financial institution he knew of.

However, he received no positive feedback from the institutions, something which made him decide to change his strategy.

He successfully applied for an internship to try and get some experience in the field as he waited for a job opening.

Three months later, the internship period lapsed and the company could not absorb him since there was no vacancy.

Months of waiting turned into a year and still there was no sign of getting employment.

He decided to exploit his singing talent and joined one of the bands in Nakuru called the Nakuru Christian Centre band.

The band turned out to be his saving grace as it was involved in a number of income-generating activities, including organising events, and performing at social gatherings.

"Without any source of income, I was unable to pay my bills and even sustain myself, but after joining the band, I could earn something small from its activities," said Mr Komen.

By last year, he had become a key member of the band and was assured of earning some money to sustain himself.

But this only lasted until March 2020 when the first case of Covid-19 was reported in the country and the government imposed measures to prevent its spread.

Huge blow on band

The measures, including the banning of social gatherings, dealt a huge blow to them as their business model depended on events and social meetings.

He, together with other band members, found it very tough to survive during the period when the country was placed on lockdown.

"We could no longer perform in any event and life changed drastically for those of us who solely depended on the activities of the band. We could not pay rent, buy food or pay for our expenses," said Mr Komen.

In a bid to find a way out, the group came together and brainstormed on ideas of generating income.

And this is how the idea of starting a car wash was fronted. The band of 30 members mobilised funds to establish the car wash.

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By the end of March, the business was up and running. Mr Komen says it began on a low note, but has been picking up gradually.

"I am happy now that I can earn between Sh300 and Sh400 per day which can sustain me for the period," he said.

Mr Emanuel Simiyu, the band leader and the project manager, said the idea to set up a car wash was unanimously adopted because it did not need much expertise and skills.

He said he approached the church leadership for assistance and was allowed to set up their business on a part of the church's land next to the road at Freehold Estate in Nakuru town.

After buying a washing machine, water tanks, pipes and setting up a shade, they went into business.

The business is fully run by the members and who work in shifts.

Mr Simiyu said they also used part of the land to grow flowers and lawns for the purpose of hiring it for events.

The band, according to Mr Simiyu, earns between Sh10,000 and Sh15,000 per day, which they share among themselves.

"We use the surplus to buy food for other youth in the church whose sources of income were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic," said Mr Simiyu.
The union representing Kroger employees is sparring with the grocery chain over hazard pay  a $2-per-hour bump that started nearly six months ago when the pandemic took hold but ended May 16. Workers, who said the raise helped make the dangers of the job worthwhile, are seeking its reinstatement.

Sherman Giles, a meat market manager at the Kroger on East Sam Houston and a member of the board of the local United Food and Commercial Workers International Union,, said hes watched colleagues fall ill with the virus and fight for their lives. While grocers such as H-E-B extended pandemic-related pay boosts, union leaders say Kroger cut hazard pay in May.

Its a very stressful everyday life for us now, Giles said before heading out for a Tuesday afternoon protest at the Kroger store on Cypress Creek in North Houston.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Kroger expands hours, waives pick-up fees for Houston-area stores

The fight comes amid contract negotiations between Kroger and the UFCW, which represents its employees across the nation. Union members such as Giles are participating in rallies and protests outside of stores as they aim to push Kroger into a more favorable arrangement.

Clara Campbell, corporate affairs manager for the company, said Kroger presented its last, best and final offer to the union last month, but the union declined to bring it to a vote. She said the proposal includes benefits that would help workers, including pay raises and a higher quality health plan.

Pay increases over the last year, including those in the contract offer, amount to the largest investment in associate wages in the history of Kroger Houston, Campbell said.

It was unclear whether the pay raises Campbell referred to would match the $2-an-hour raise workers enjoyed during the early weeks of the pandemic.

Union workers said the proposed insurance would cost more for workers, saying coverage was already prohibitively expensive. Giles said he feared many will soon lose health insurance, as the contract would also make it difficult for him to give out enough hours to meet hourly minimums.

Thats why, he said, they couldnt put the contract to a vote.

It was very, very irritating to even look at because we know that its impossible for them to afford this insurance, Giles said. Theres nothing to vote on.

amanda.drane@chron.com
Guo Wengui  So Anti-Chinese that even US Establishment Cannot Stomach Him

By Andre Vltchek

September 15, 2020 " Information Clearing House " - In some very rare cases, it is better to read British conservative, right-wing press, like The Economist or the Telegraph, instead of the mainstream liberal sheets like The Independent or The Guardian. That is if one wants to come somehow closer to the truth.

The Economist is extremely biased; it is pre-historically conservative, anti-Russian, anti-Chinese, and laughably cold-war-style  anti-Communist. But it has some breaks and limits, which the liberal mainstream media already lost many years ago. And it does not forgive what it considers bad manners and bad taste.

Recently, an on-going saga which involves a notorious right-wing couple  Guo Wengui and Steve Bannon  received unusually harsh but frank analyses from The Economist, while all big British liberal newspapers have been busy trashing, fanatically, everything Chinese and Russian.

In its recent edition [August 29  September 4, 2020], The Economist pitilessly attacked Steve Bannons close ally and an arch-anti-Beijing gladiator, Guo Wengui:

From his 152-foot yacht and his $67.5m penthouse overlooking Central Park, he spins tales of Chinese elite corruption and purges, styling himself a CCP terminator. (Mr. Bannon is given the same nickname). On June 4, Messrs. Guo and Bannon announced, aboard the yacht in New York harbor, the founding of The New Federal State of China, meant to supplant the Peoples Republic.

Needless to say, no one in the PRC seemed to be impressed or inspired, especially considering the fact that Mr. Guo is wanted in China on various unsavory charges, ranging from sexual assault to bribery. China is doing extremely well, economically, socially, and even environmentally, and the majority of its people are content with the political system. But The New Federal State of China catchphrase is not for the Chinese citizens to admire; it is for the Western consumption, and especially for the Guos fundraising campaigns in the US and Europe.

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Before escaping from China, Mr. Guo rode high, many say, using corruption and extortion to amass his billion-plus dollars fortune. But good times ended when President Xi came to power and began cracking on corruption. Mr. Guo escaped, shut the door behind him, and cursed CCP for spoiling his dark machinations. Since then, he has been involved in each and every attempt to attack and discredit Beijing and Chinese leadership.

For a long time, US intelligence and diplomatic community had a great kick out of Mr. Guo and of his friend Mr. Ma Jian, who some time ago got also hit by a determined anti-corruption campaign in the PRC. But Guo and Ma were never fully trusted even in the West, when both of them used to live in China, or, especially, after Mr. Guos escape to the United States, where he asked for political asylum. Many have thought that Guo went grotesquely hyperbolic, in order to please his masters in Washington and secure favors.

On August 26, 2020, Foreign Policy warned against Mr. Guo and people of his type:

Western policymakers should be wary of figures like Guo. Take Ahmed Chalabi, the Baghdad multimillionaire who fled Iraq after becoming wrapped up in a Jordanian financial scandal. Chalabi played a malignant role in the US drive to the Iraq War, making a series of exaggerated claims that were taken seriously by political and military leaders. As US relations degenerate with China, the space for those like Guo to operate will grow.

Mr. Guo teamed up with Steve Bannon. Soon after, these two right-wing extremists unleashed the most aggressive and ridiculous anti-Beijing and anti-CCP campaigns in modern history. They began dropping names to openly insult the most populous nation on earth, twisting history, and smear what even the deeply anti-Chinese Trump administration wouldnt dare to touch. The problem for them was that they became too extreme even for some respectful right-wing politicians and the mass media outlets. In brief: they began behaving like two adolescent fools and in the most embarrassing manner.

Despite all that, the couple has not been without influence on the US administration; it has been extremely active in Washingtons power annals. But those whom it has been persuading have been chiefly the individuals who already reached the point of no return, who would not stop at anything. They simply wanted a war, a military conflict with China. Full stop.

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Others are reluctant to take renegade billionaire seriously. Guos style, or more precisely his lack of style, is not only embarrassing, but it is also extremely dangerous. China may be a patient nation, but now it is also indignant when facing insults from one of its citizens who should most likely be in jail for serious crimes, but who is instead sheltered by the United States system.

The Economist concluded, in its article about Mr. Guo:

American intelligence is said to listen to his insights  but also to keep him at arms length That may be wise. The day before Mr. Bannons arrest the Journal had reported that a company he and Mr. Guo are involved in, GTV Media Group, was the subject of a federal investigation into its fundraising. Mr. Guo called the report a fabrication, part of the CCPs plot to take Mr. Bannon down. But his antics have worn thin on his hosts. There would be a lot of groans when his name came up, says a former Trump administration official. In both Beijing and Washington, it seems.

For some time, it was taught that the anti-Chinese hysteria was supposed to help Mr. Trump to get reelected. That is when Messrs. Guo and Bannon were used. This cynical strategy failed to deliver results. Most American voters are scared. They are losing jobs, and many are now losing roofs over their heads. They know almost nothing about China, and they have very little time for leaning.

President Trump is a pragmatic, and some would say, brutal businessman. He may now have very little use for Mr. Guo and Mr. Bannon. They may soon, literally, end up on the street. That would be good for both China and the world.

The luxury yacht of Mr. Guo, on which Steve Bannon was recently arrested, is already for sale. And so is the Manhattan apartment.
AIDA Cruises expands its range of cruises with new autumn voyages in the Mediterranean

ROSTOCK, Germany, Sept. 16, 2020 -- AIDA Cruises, the leading cruise line in Germany and a part of Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK), will expand its range of cruises this autumn with new voyages visiting the highlights of Italy, starting on Oct. 17, 2020.

The new seven-day itinerary departs from Civitavecchia near Rome and travels to Palermo and Catania in Sicily, Naples and La Spezia. In Rome, an overnight stay is planned. The voyages are offered weekly until Nov. 28, 2020.

The AIDA health and safety program will be implemented on all cruises. Developed with leading medical experts, the program has been audited and confirmed by the renowned independent auditing company SGS Institut Fresenius and the classification society DNV-GL. The measures include a complimentary COVID-19 test, regular temperature measurements for guests and crew, physical distancing and increased disinfection measures. Further detailed information on the AIDA health and safety program can be found at www.aida.de/sichererurlaub.

The new Mediterranean cruises, as well as all other offers of AIDA Cruises, can be booked from Monday, September 21, through travel agencies, at the AIDA Customer Center under the telephone number 0381/202 707 07 or at www.aida.de.

SOURCE AIDA Cruises

CONTACT: Published by: AIDA Cruises , Am Strande 3d I 18055 Rostock , Tel.: +49 (0) 381 / 444-0 , Fax: + 49 (0) 381 / 444-88 88 , www.aida.de; Communication: Hansjorg Kunze , Vice President Communication & Sustainability , Tel.: +49 (0) 381 / 444-80 20 , Fax: + 49 (0) 381 / 444-80 25 , presse@aida.de
The final report was to be submitted in March but it got an extension till the second week of the monsoon session that began September 14.

The Personal Data Protection Bill 2019 will be delayed further.

Pressed for time, with a long list of stakeholders still waiting to depose, and several thorny privacy issues pending resolution, the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Bill will not make the deadline for its final report and is expected to seek a second extension.

The final report was to be submitted in March but it got an extension till the second week of the monsoon session that began September 14.

The Bill, which will provide the architecture for policy on all private data, was referred to a JPC soon after the legislation was tabled.

The JPC is currently holding hearings.

There are nearly 200 stakeholders and we have met a few, said a participant in the 28-member committee.

It is highly unlikely that the final report will be ready by September 20.

I really dont think so said another MP, when asked if the committee will be able to meet the deadline.

Representatives of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) are expected to depose on concerns in the banking sector.

Although the RBI had sought exemption from deposition and wanted to give its point of view in writing, it is not clear if its request has been accepted.

The RBIs deposition will be crucial for banks and payment firms like PayTM, as well as new payment gateways seeking government permission to launch their services, like WhatsApp pay.

Costs could go up for the sector if RBI recommends enhanced security features.

What constitutes personal data is only one part of the committees remit.

Who will control and regulate this data is another aspect. So far, the committee seems to be divided.

While private companies see data as a new way to expand their business, and have deposed that companies wanting to do business in India must share data with the Indian government, there are MPs on the committee who reject this understanding and argue that privacy, not sovereignty should drive data protection laws.

More foreign companies will invest in India if they are sure that their data will remain private.

"The analogy is the loose Intellectual Property Right (IPR) protection regime in India.

"Most foreign companies dont want to invest here because they are not sure if IPR will be safe.

"The same thing should not happen with data protection, said an MP.

The Committee, headed by BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi, held no meetings between March and June.

However, written submissions have not yet been circulated to all members of the committee.

As a result, members, especially from Opposition parties, are worried that a consultative exercise might turn into a one-sided echo-chamber, especially in areas involving national security.

Photograph: Kacper Pempel/Reuters
NEW DELHI: Defence Minister Rajnath Singhs statement in Lok Sabha that India is ready to deal with any situation regarding the India-China border tensions has irked Beijing and the hostile neighbouring nation has warned that ''it is ready for both peace and war.''

An article published in Chinas state-run Global Times said, Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh addressed Parliament on Tuesday. Singh bragged of how righteous and brave Indian troops were while emphasizing the importance of peacefully resolving the border crisis to China-India ties. The latter part was the keynote of his speech.

The Global Times editorial further stated that the Indian military's moves on border areas have eased these days, which coincided with Singh's address. This is the result of strong pressure from the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), the editorial stated.

The article penned by Hu Xijin, who is the editor-in-chief of the Global Times, claimed that increased deployment of PLA troops along the India-China border areas has made the Indian Army feel that engaging in a military confrontation with China is not a good option.

The article stated that there are different forces in India. Some ultra-nationalist ones stubbornly refuse the easy way and stick to the hard way. When China engages in diplomatic negotiations with India, it must also use the only language those forces could understand - cooperation will last long when it is achieved through struggles.

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The article concluded by saying, China should continue to strive for a peaceful settlement of China-India border disputes but must keep its army prepared. The jittery response from China came after Rajnath Singh said that India is ready to deal with any situation regarding the India-China border tensions.

"I want to assure you that we are ready to deal with any situation. I request this house to pass a resolution that we stand shoulder to shoulder with our armed forces who are guarding our borders to safeguard India`s sovereignty and integrity," Singh said in the Lok Sabha.

He said that China does not recognise the traditional customary alignment of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and the border issue between remains unresolved.

"India and China border issue remain unresolved. Till now, there has been no mutually acceptable solution. China disagrees on the border (issue). China does not recognise the traditional and customary alignment of the boundary. We consider that this alignment is based on well-established geographical principles," Singh said.

"Both India and China agree that to maintain peace and tranquillity in the India-China border areas, it is essential for the further development of bilateral relations," he added. The Defence Minister said that India has told China through diplomatic channels that the "attempts to unilaterally alter the status quo were in violation of the bilateral agreements".

"Violent conduct of Chinese troops is a violation of all past agreements. Our troops have done counter deployments in the area to safeguard our borders," he stated. Singh said that China has mobilised a huge number of Army battalions and armaments along LAC and inner areas. "There are many friction points in eastern Ladakh, Gogra, Kongka La, Pangong Lake`s north and south banks. Indian Army has made counter deployments in these areas," he said.

The two countries have been engaged in a standoff position since April-May timeframe and the Chinese have refused to vacate areas in the Finger area and other friction points in the Eastern Ladakh area.
Scientific American has been in circulation since Abraham Lincoln was a humble lawyer in Springfield, Ill. But the magazine had not formally endorsed a presidential candidate until Tuesday, when it urged its readers to vote for Joseph R. Biden Jr. in a scathing editorial that condemned President Trumps handling of the coronavirus and other science-related issues.

The pandemic would strain any nation and system, but Trumps rejection of evidence and public health measures have been catastrophic, the editorial said, pointing to the presidents misleading statements downplaying the viruss severity, his early disparagement of mask-wearing, his chastising of governors who declined to reopen businesses in their states and his administrations well-documented testing failures.

At every stage, Trump has rejected the unmistakable lesson that controlling the disease, not downplaying it, is the path to economic reopening and recovery, added the editorial, which was bylined by the magazines editors and primarily written by Josh Fischman, a senior editor.

The editorial also criticized other actions taken by the Trump administration, such as repeatedly trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act without submitting an alternative, eliminating regulations designed to protect the environment and proposing drastic cuts in scientific research. It appears in the October issue, which went online Tuesday and will hit subscribers mailboxes this week.
Two armed police officers stand watch at the entrance to a small office in Warsaw, the capital of Poland. In the courtyard, a van holds several more officers.

The security is warranted. Inside the office is arguably one of the most important leaders of the weeks of protests in Belarus that have sought to push its authoritarian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, from power. Stepan Svetlov is 22 years old and -- despite not having been in Belarus for two years -- has played an outsize role in them.

Svetlov runs NEXTA, a social media channel on the messenger app Telegram that has become a crucial organizing tool in the protests that have shaken Lukashenkos 26-year rule.

On the night of Aug. 9, when Belarus presidential election concluded, giving Lukashenko 80% of the vote, thousands gathered in the center of Minsk to protest. As they had repeatedly over the past few weeks, authorities shut down the internet, creating a near total information blackout inside Belarus as riot police attacked peaceful demonstrators with rubber bullets and stun grenades.

The internet shutdown incapacitated most social media and messaging services. But NEXTA, based in Poland, is equipped with some anti-censorship safeguards and was able to keep posting. It gathered videos of the crowds and then the savage assaults by police.

In the days after, with virtually all other online news sites blocked and state media showing nothing of the protests, NEXTA became the go-to source for information on the demonstrations. It posted calls for where protesters should gather and, when police sealed off an area, proposed alternative plans. People sent hundreds of videos to the channel, which would then publish them, cheering on the protesters and also broadcasting images of police brutality that fed popular fury.

At times, NEXTA has almost been able to guide the protests in real-time, warning people where police are and directing groups of protesters toward each other. It would list advice on buying protective equipment, the location of nearby pharmacies for those hurt and recommend how protesters should move, for example telling them to march in many groups from different directions so as to overstretch police.

Story continues

MORE: Alexey Navalny, Russian opposition leader suspected of being poisoned, slowly recovering

PHOTO: Protesters with old Belarusian national flags march during a Belarusian opposition supporters' rally protesting the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus, Sept. 13, 2020. (AP)

We do feel that to a certain extent we are the organizers and coordinators of these protests because who else could do it? Svetlov told ABC News in a recent interview at the Warsaw office. But we understand its the people themselves who took to the streets. We just help in the first stages, so they can gather, so they know at what time. We just assist people but they are the ones who actually go out and protest.

Since the protests began, NEXTA (pronounced "Nekh-ta" and translating roughly as "Everyman" in Belarusian), along with several other Telegram channels, has gained hundreds of thousands of subscribers, reaching well over 2 million. At the height of the protests, Svetlov said he was being sent several thousand videos each day.

The channels have allowed people to circumvent the heavy control on Belarus media. Even compared to neighboring Russia, Belarus state broadcasters are remarkably unchanged since the Soviet times, airing often crudely edited pieces that give entirely fabricated reports. Traditional print and television media are dominated by the state. Independent bloggers publishing material critical of the authorities risk arrest.

We are currently witnessing what may be the worlds fastest digital transformation as Belarusians respond to Kremlin-style fake news and government censorship by adopting new ways of delivering and consuming independent information, Franak Viacorka, a non-resident fellow at The Atlantic Council, wrote in a recent article.

In what remains a largely leaderless political protest movement, these digital platforms have performed an invaluable service, Viacorka wrote.

NEXTAs operation in Warsaw is tiny, run by Svetlov and a handful of other Belarusian exiles with a couple of laptops. Svetlov has not visited Belarus since 2018, when authorities raided his home. Since then he has been based in Poland, where he was a student and which, thanks to frequent trips as a child, he said he sees as a second home. Polands government has been a strong advocate for the protesters in Belarus, pressing the European Union from early on to support the demonstrations.

MORE: Lukashenko flies to Russia for talks with Putin amid Belarus protests

PHOTO: Stepan Svetlov poses at the Belarusian community center that hosts his office office in Warsaw, Poland, Sept. 2, 2020. (Anna Liminowicz/The New York Times via Redux)

If someone in Belarus tried to do this theyd get detained, no question. Thats why we feel the responsibility and we feel the Belarusian people need us, so we have to do it for them, Svetlov said.

Svetlov began developing what would become NEXTA in 2015 while studying television and film production at Polands Katowice University. The original plan was to make it a music channel on YouTube but it didnt see much success until Svetlov added a news section and began publishing events in Belarus. After the channel gained over 100,000 subscribers, the authorities started paying attention, he said.

They tried to block the channel on copyright grounds. Of course, that was just an excuse. I just used bits of video of Lukashenko recorded off state TV, Svetlov said.

Worried that YouTube might remove it, he decided migrate to Telegram.

In Europe and the United States, Telegram is best known as an encrypted messenger. But in Russia and former Soviet countries, it has become a major news source. Users can subscribe to post headlines, short text stories, photos and videos in the so-called "channels."

Created by the Russian internet entrepreneur Pavel Durov, Telegram was designed from the beginning to be resistant to authoritarian censorship and Russia recently gave up a fruitless two-year effort to block it. During the protests in Belarus, Durov tweeted he had activated anti-censorship tools to protect the app.

Svetlov said NEXTA supports itself primarily from donations from subscribers; in August, it received $40,000, he said, some of which would be sent as aid to people in Belarus.

NEXTAs success makes it an obvious target for Lukashenkos government. Svetlov said the team is under the protection of the Polish government.

MORE: Key opposition figure in Belarus disappears after weekend of mass protests

PHOTO: Police officers detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus, Sept. 13, 2020. (Tut.by via AP)

Of course, we get a lot of threats, but for now its OK, Svetlov said. We now try to avoid going out without real necessity. These days its just to the office and back.

He went on, We havent yet faced any direct risks, no verbal assaults, but we did have strange characters near the office. Our editor and his girlfriend saw someone secretly taking pictures of them in a restaurant. Weird things happen, but so far, we havent faced danger directly.

Lukashenkos regime has moved in the past two weeks to break up the leadership of the protest movement. Lukashenkos main opponent in the election, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, was forced into exile days after the vote. Authorities recently detained Maria Kolesnikova, the last of the three women who headed the protest movement in Belarus. All but two members of the oppositions transitional negotiating body are now either detained or in exile abroad.

Authorities have increased the pressure on the protests and Lukashenkos grip has appeared stronger recently, bolstered by Russia which has signaled it will not allow him to fall.

Svetlov, however, said he believes the protests in Belarus will continue, both as demonstrations and in other forms, like economic boycotts. He also has a plan to expand NEXTA now beyond Belarus and into other former Soviet states, including Russia. Because we need to communicate what is happening there as well, he said.

In any case, he said he believes Lukashenkos grip on information in Belarus is already broken.

We are warriors of information, you can call us that. These days everyone needs to do whatever they can. But weve already won the information battle, Svetlov said.

The 22-year-old helping to lead Belarus' protests from behind a screen in Poland originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Austrian Federal Minister for European and International Affairs Minister Alexander Schallenberg have discussed the development of business projects between Austria and Ukraine in the infrastructure and energy sectors.

"The ministers discussed ambitious projects in the infrastructure and energy sectors, which can strengthen economic cooperation, increase trade and investment between Ukraine and Austria," reads a report issued by the Ukrainian Foreign Ministrys press service following a meeting of the foreign ministers within an official visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the Republic of Austria.

The situation in temporarily occupied territories of Donbas and Crimea was also considered.

"The Foreign Minister of Ukraine informed his Austrian counterpart about Ukraine's efforts in the political and diplomatic settlement of the situation in Donbas within the Normandy format. Dmytro Kuleba thanked Austria for its continued support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, its firm position on extending the EU sanction policy against the Russian Federation until it fully implements its obligations under the Minsk agreements, reads the report.

The interlocutors also exchanged views on the situation in Belarus.

They also agreed on further coordination of efforts to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and overcome its consequences.

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Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, air passenger movement in northeast India is growing since July, Airport Authority of India (AAI) officials said on Tuesday.

According to the officials, the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport in Guwahati has registered 111 per cent increase in airline passengers from 2,812 on July 10 to 5,924 on September 10.

Agartala airport witnessed a 104 per cent increase, Assams Dibrugarh 126 per cent and Imphal 66.5 per cent.

AAIs officiating Regional Executive Director J.T. Radhakrishna said, in a statement, that passenger movement in northeast India is growing with each passing month.

Amid corona pandemic, since the domestic flight operations resumed in the country, the airlines have slowly started their services to almost 50 per cent pre-corona numbers adhering to all the health guidelines laid down by the state as well as the Central government," he added.

He said that airports mainly operational during July to September, included Guwahati, Dibrugarh, Silchar, Jorhat, Tezpur and Lilabari (all Assam), Agartala, Imphal and Dimapur (Nagaland).

Radhakrishna said: We are expecting more flights in the coming days as norms are being relaxed for air travelling in the country. The figures are growing and air traffic will soon be touching normal operational capacity for airlines as well as the airports in the region, which is an encouraging factor for us."

Under the UDAN scheme, new regional airline FlyBig" would be introduced in mid-November to boost air connectivity in the northeast.

The AAI official said that out of 78 routes identified by the Civil Aviation Ministry under UDAN 4.0 programme across the country, the northeast region has got 40 routes.

Initially, ATR-72 type aircraft would be operated in Guwahati-Passighat (Arunachal Pradesh), Guwahati-Tezu (Arunachal Pradesh)-Imphal and Tezpur (Assam)-Lengpui (Mizoram) routes.

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Radhakrishna said that smaller aircrafts are the future of UDAN programme and as far as the northeast is concerned, more routes are expected to be open for regional connectivity.

To facilitate the marketing of agricultural and farm products of the northeastern states outside the region, the AAI last month has launched the Krishi-Udan Scheme.

AAIs immediate past Regional Executive Director Sanjeev Jindal said that it was one of his wishes that has come true after a dedicated domestic freighter started its services in the northeastern region.

Under the Krishi-Udan Scheme, the services have been started in the region and it is aimed to benefit the local farmers and villagers whose products have a higher value outside the region. AAIs aim is that they (farmers) should be paid as per the demand," he said.
Morgan County Health Department will offer flu immunizations at the Jacksonville High School Bowl, 215 S. Church St., from 1 to 6 p.m. Oct. 8 and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 9.

Flu shots are free with most major insurance providers, including Medicare Part B and Illinois Medicaid. The department also contracts with several commercial carriers.
Helen Goodman, Labours shadow media minister, is in trouble again. Last time, it was for not knowing where she was; this time, it was for putting out a sweeping insult of all the women Tory MPs promoted by David Cameron in his latest reshuffle.

Many MPs objected when the Daily Mail reported on the reshuffle as if it were a fashion parade, naming the employment minister, Esther McVey, Queen of the Catwalk. The Green MP Caroline Lucas, for instance, tabled a Commons motion deploring the objectification and sexualisation of women.

But Ms Goodman thought this was foolishly giving David Cameron the coverage he wanted, and tweeted what was meant to be a counter-blast. The Mails treatment of the women was fair, she wrote, because all are puppets wholl change nothing and their appearance really is the most interesting thing about them.

The Conservatives had been relatively quiet about the original Daily Mail article, not wanting to alienate a powerful Tory newspaper, but Ms Goodman had now presented herself as a soft target for pent-up outrage. The Education Secretary Nicky Morgan called her tweet disgraceful. Anna Soubry, the defence minister, demanded an apology. Sarah Newton, the Conservative deputy chairman, wrote to the deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman demanding Ms Goodman be disciplined.

Ms Goodman deleted the offending tweet, replacing it with an apology for what I intended... as a light-hearted remark  but that did not stop the onslaught.

Last month, she landed herself in it after she asked someone doing work experience in her office to research a village she was due to visit in her Durham constituency, called Ingleton. She used the information in the research note in her speech to the bemused villagers, unaware she was talking about Ingleton in North Yorkshire.

On the side of the angels

He spent four years travelling the world. He has rubbed shoulders with Angela Merkel; hobnobbed with Angelina; and now he is stuck with Commons Angela,  with these words, William Hague, was welcomed to his new job, the Leader of the Commons, by his Labour shadow, Angela Eagle.

Figuring it out

At the end of the trial of Chris Huhne and Vicky Pryce, certain journalists took a wild guess at the prosecution costs and plucked 150,000 from the air. The correct figure has now been published. It was 150,710.88. Not a bad guess then.

Commons sense

The Speaker, John Bercow, rebuked a Tory MP, Robert Halfon, for telling a Labour MP who was barracking him to keep his trap shut. That was tasteless, said the same Speaker who, according to Wednesdays Hansard, told the Clerk of the Commons Sir Robert Rogers, in front of witnesses, to f-*-*-* off.

Rage against the machine

In a market town called Frodsham, near Chester, there lives a man called Frank Pennington, who has been a councillor for 39 years. He does not like the way the council is run. In one outburst, he described it as worse than the Second World War and Hitler.

A member of the public complained. Councillor Pennington was told to apologise. He wrote to the clerk saying sorry. His fellow councillors decided that he must say it in person. He refused. He was banned from all committees and working groups.

He has told the Chester Chronicle that he is consulting a lawyer to see if he can take the town council to court. This hot weather must have melted their brains.
The sixth anniversary of the ratification of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement is marked today.

On 16 September 2014, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the European Parliament simultaneously ratified the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement. This decision was supported by 355 members of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and 535 MEPs.

The negotiations on a new underlying agreement between Ukraine and the EU to replace the partnership and cooperation agreement were launched in March 2007 (the title of the future agreement  the Association Agreement  was agreed on in 2008).

In November 2011, the final, 21st round of negotiations on the Association Agreement took place in Brussels, during which all provisions of the Agreements wording were finalized. The document was supposed to be signed at the Vilnius summit in November 2013 by then President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych. However, he succumbed to Russias pressure and refused to sign the agreement. That decision provoked mass protests and the overthrow of the Yanukovych regime in February 2014.

On 6 March 2014, the heated debate about the future of the agreement took place at the extraordinary EU summit in Brussels and a number of European states urged to separate the economic part out of the agreement in order not to spoil relations with Moscow. The political part of the agreement, which was mostly declarative in nature, was signed at an extraordinary summit in Brussels on 21 March 2014.

On 27 June 2014, during a meeting of the Council of the EU, then President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and the leadership of the European Union and the Heads of State and Government of the 28 EU member states signed the economic part of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement.

On 16 September 2014, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the European Parliament simultaneously ratified the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement. Subsequently, the Ukrainian side handed over the instruments of ratification to the depositary and thus completed all domestic procedures.

Many provisions of the Association Agreement have been provisionally applied since 2014. The free trade area with the European Union has functioned since 1 January 2016, and the Agreement entered into full force and effect on 1 September 2017.

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The Centres decision to ban the export of onions has turned controversial in Maharashtra as many political parties, as well as farmers organisations, have opposed the move.

State Congress unit staged a statewide protest against the ban while senior NCP leader and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar has criticised the Centres decision as anti-farmer. A delegation of Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government headed by the NCP chief Sharad Pawar is also going to Delhi to request the Centre to withdraw its decision. Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray has also decided to write a letter to the Centre demanding them to take back the decision.

Even, the state BJP unit, opposition in the state, has urged the Centre to reverse it back. Leader of Opposition and former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has written a letter to the Union minister for commerce and industry Piyush Goyal requesting him to withdraw the decision immediately.

On Monday, the Central government issued a notification and prohibited the export of onions. It has clarified that the decision was taken to control the rising prices of the commodity. The move doesnt go well within the agrarian community especially in Maharashtra.

On Wednesday, Congress leaders staged protests across districts and expressed their resentment. Party workers gathered at district headquarters to register their opposition. State Congress president and revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat termed the move as injustice to the farmers. The decision is an injustice to the farmers. We want the Centre to reverse it immediately and hence decided to mark our protest across the state, he said.

Ajit Pawar said, The move is no less than enormity with the farmers as they were already in trouble due to Covid-19 pandemic and this will add to their miseries.

The issue was discussed in the state cabinet meeting on Wednesday. State agriculture minister Dada Bhuse said that the decision has led to a sharp decline in onion prices in markets that will cost huge losses to the farmers. We have decided that a delegation headed by the NCP chief will meet the concerned central ministers and urge them to withdraw the notification, the agriculture minister said after the cabinet meeting.

Fadnavis in his letter states, The onions produced in Maharashtra have good demand in the international market which helps them to get proper remuneration against the produce. They are hurt and unhappy with the decision. I request you reconsider it.

On Tuesday, Pawar had opposed the move and met Goyal in this regard. He has said that the ban on the export of onions would immensely benefit the exporters from Pakistan. The sudden decision is a major blow to Indias image as a reliable exporter of onions in the international market, he added.

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Libya's GNA Denies Reports of Prime Minister Saraj's Resignation, Calls Them Disinformation

Sputnik News

10:51 GMT 15.09.2020(updated 13:42 GMT 15.09.2020)

Back in August both sides in the civil war - the Government of National Accord (GNA) and a Tobruk-based parliament, supported by the Libyan National Army, had called for a ceasefire amid the pandemic.

The GNA stated on Tuesday that media reports about the resignation of Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj are false and are intended to disinform the public.

Previously, Bloomberg reported, citing informed officials, that Sarraj was planning to announce that he would soon step down from office.

According to the agency, Sarraj has discussed his plans to step down with Libyan and international politicians and may make the announcement at the end of the week. The prime minister may reportedly act as a caretaker until the talks in Geneva scheduled for the next month.

The reports were published after mass rallies in Tripoli and other GNA-controlled cities in August, with protestors demanding better living conditions and the resignation of the current government. According to the local media, the protests resulted in clashes between security staff and some demonstrators. According to Sarraj, that the security forces had resorted to excessive violence during the clashes.

Libya has been entangled in internal conflict since its long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown and murdered in 2011. At present, the east of the country is governed by the elected parliament, supported by the Libyan National Army, while the west is under the control of its Tripoli-based rival, the GNA.

A Sputnik

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Workers in Afghanistan's Herat Province are still producing silk the traditional way, separating the fabric from the silkworm cocoons in boiling pots and weaving on wooden looms. But the industry is in long-term decline with fewer people buying natural silk, both at home and in historical export markets such as Iran.
The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) has decided to expedite implementation of its scheme of providing life insurance cover to its contractual staff and daily wage workers.

In an order released by the civic body earlier this week, the officials have been asked to cover all contractual employees and daily wage workers under the scheme by September 30. The corporation has asked them to obtain consent forms from contractual employees and submit them to the bank partners along with the premium for insurance scheme.

Also read: Veggie vendors, locals oppose curbs imposed by south Delhi RWA, file police complaint

Under the scheme, SDMC contractual workers will be provided life insurance of 2 lakh in case of death or accidental death at a premium of 330 per year. This premium amount will be borne by the civic body.

The south Delhi civic body, in an order released on September 8, said that officials should ensure 100% coverage of contractual and daily wage employees by September 30.

The progress in enrolment of employees under this scheme has not been satisfactory, despite instructions. To expedite the implementation of this scheme, it is now decided that the department will obtain consent forms from employees and hand them over to the bank providing the insurance, along with the premium amount, the order said.

According to SDMC officials, contractual and daily wage employees of the municipality do not get service benefits such as life insurance. They said that eligible employees of the corporation had to enrol themselves for the scheme but the process was hampered due to coronavirus pandemic and other reasons. But now the plan has been revived and fast-tracked to ensure that eligible contractual employees get life insurance benefit at the earliest. This will be the first-of-its-kind move by any corporation in the city, the official said.

The scheme was launched by SDMC in November last year with an aim to benefit around 14,000 contractual employees and daily wage workers of the municipality and is applicable for employees up to the age of 55.

SDMC had signed an MoU with the State Bank of India (SBI) and Allahabad Bank for the scheme on November 20 last year. Contractual employees include sanitation workers and mosquito breeding checkers.

SDMC mayor Anamika Mithilesh said that eligible employees would not have to pay anything to avail the benefits of this life insurance scheme. The insurance scheme is part of the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana. We are expediting the process to cover all our contractual employees under the scheme by the end of this month, she said.
Mark Galli, former editor of Christianity Today, converts to Catholicism; considers himself evangelical Catholic

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Mark Galli, who was editor-in-chief of the evangelical publication Christianity Today until January, is now a member of the Catholic Church after his formal conversion to Catholicism at the Cathedral of St. Raymond Nonnatus in Joliet, Illinois, on Sunday.

I deeply appreciate all the good wishes the last two days for my joining the Catholic church, Galli, formerly a Presbyterian pastor, tweeted. Sorry I cant reply to each tweet. Perhaps I was naive (probably was!), but I didn't expect this much response. Thank you.

At the ceremony on Sunday, Galli stood before Bishop Richard Pates, who said, Francis, be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit, while dabbing Gallis forehead with anointing oil, according to Religion News Service, which reported that Galli chose his confirmation name after St. Francis of Assisi.

In many ways, I became a Catholic not to reject my evangelical convictions but merely to ground myself more deeply in them, Galli said last week, speaking to Evangelization & Culture, the Journal of the Word on Fire Institute. In some ways, I now consider myself today an evangelical Catholic.

Many evangelicals who discover the dark side of the movement become cynical. And many evangelicals who become Catholics look back and despise their evangelical past. Ive never been tempted to do that. Evangelicals, like Christians from any movement, can do some pretty despicable things. But overall theyve been a force for good in the world. They remind me of some of the more heroic Catholics Im aware of in their ability to make tremendous sacrifices, serving in some of the most troubled places on the planet to share the Gospel. Ive been proud to be part of that movement.

Talking about his faith journey, Galli said one of the key turning points was when he was editing an issue of a magazine called Christian History on Francis of Assisi. Naturally, his life of heroic self-denial and absolute infatuation with Jesus deeply impressed me, he said. At the same time, in the evenings, I was reading John Paul IIs encyclical The Splendor of Truth. I cant remember why I decided to read it, other than my general interest in theological currents of the day.

Having read that, he continued, he became deeply impressed not only with the mind of John Paul II but with the Catholic sensibility that was woven into this philosophical treatise.

And I remarked to myself that it was amazing that the same Church produced both a Francis and a John Paul II. That was probably the moment when my interest in things Catholic began to accelerate, although it would still take many years before I could say I was converted, he explained.

Galli went on to say that while many Protestants feel that Roman Catholicism is a version of works righteousness, I discovered that Roman Catholics believe in a grace that is even more radical than the radical Lutherans profess.

Before his conversion, Galli was part of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) for around two decades, the Episcopal Church for 14 years and later an Anglican church.
A woman has admitted assaulting a police officer in the aftermath of an illegal rave in south London.

Natasha Agyekum, 24, of Peckford Place, Brixton, appeared at Croydon Magistrates Court on Wednesday, where she admitted kicking a police officer at around 1am on June 25 near Angell Town, Brixton.

Agyekum pleaded not guilty to two other counts of assault over allegations that she punched one police officer and scratched another.

She spoke in court to confirm her name and date of birth.

Rubbish was strewn across the street during the clashes / NIGEL HOWARD 

Agyekum was granted unconditional bail and was told to appear at Inner London Crown Court on October 7.

Videos of the rave in Angel Town in June were shared online showing police vehicles being smashed and officers pelted with bottles during violent clashes with a large crowd.

More than 22 emergency workers were injured.
Tamil Nadu was actively promoting the Information Technology sector with the objective of making it an Information and Communication Technology hub of South Asia, state minister R B Udhayakumar said. The state was creating an ecosystem thereby leveraging entrepreneurship and was promoting a socially inclusive growth to achieve 25 percent share in the domestic ICT industry, the minister for revenue and disaster management and information technology said at the 19th edition of Connect 2020 organised by CII Tamil Nadu.

Listing out some investments received in the ICT sector, he said during the second edition of Global Investors Meet in January 2019, the state signed Memorandum of Understandings with various companies worth Rs 11,974 crore in the IT sector.

"The Government of Tamil Nadu is actively promoting Information Technology in the State with the objective of becoming the ICT hub of South Asia by creating a knowledge driven ecosystem," he said. Software exports in Tamil Nadu increased by nearly 12 per cent to Rs 1. 39 lakh crore in 2019-20 as against Rs 1.23 lakh crore recorded the previous year, he said.

The Minister said the government was investing around Rs 500 crore to set up high speed internet facilities across the state under the TamilNet project. The rural broadband project-Bharatnet was being implemented at an investment of Rs 1,815 crore through which 12,524 villages would be connected through optical fibre network, he said.

Udhayakumar said Chief Minister K Palaniswami unveiled an electronic hardware manufacturing policy on September 7 with an objective to increase the electronics industry output in the state to USD 100 billion by 2025. The policy would undertake skill training for more than one lakh people by 2024 to meet the incremental human resource requirement projected by the National Skill Development Corporation in the electronics and hardware sector, he said.

The minister urged captains of industry to take advantage of the policy initiatives by the government in order to set up new IT industries in emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence and blockchain, thereby increasing employment opportunities in the state.

The Special Economic Zones established by the Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCOT) have contributed Rs 21,700 crore of exports in the IT sector and created 94,000 jobs, he said.

Also read: Essential Commodities Amendment Bill gets Lok Sabha nod
President Donald Trumps campaign continued its all-out effort to win Pennsylvania on Wednesday as his oldest son spoke at a gathering at a sportsmans club outside Harrisburg.

Donald Trump Jr. said little about policy or his fathers record or plans for a second term. He devoted most of his 35-minute talk to criticizing and insulting Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

He comes out of his burrow every few months like a groundhog, he said of his fathers Democratic opponent. Joe Biden cant remember what day it is. He doesnt know what office hes running for. He confuses his wife with his sister.

Trump railed against the media and liberals, saying they are in full cooperation to support Biden, and said a Biden presidency would bring about radicalism, loss of gun rights and communism.

He ridiculed Bidens record as a U.S. Senator and vice president under Barack Obama. If Joe Biden could fix anything, why didnt he do it in the first half-century of his Washington career?, he said.

Trump spent the first part of his talk ripping Bidens son Hunter, accusing him of corrupt dealings around the world that would have resulted in prison for a son of Trump.

The audience seemed in full agreement, with some calling out remarks such as sick during Trumps portrayals of Democrats, who he accused of refusing to take a stand against even pedophilia.

Your father is saving our babies, shouted an audience member.

Trumps appearance at the Blue Ridge Sportsman Club came a day after FiveThirtyEight wrote that Pennsylvania is the most likely tipping-point state that will give either Trump or Biden the votes needed to win the Electoral College.

He asked the audience of roughly 300 to persuade as many of their friends as possible to vote for his father.

We need the organic movement because we dont get the free boosting, said Trump, who claimed Democrats benefit from billions of dollars of boosting from the mainstream media.

His visit came as polls for months have shown Biden with a substantial lead in Pennsylvania, although some recent polls show the lead shrinking.

As of Wednesday morning, the Real Clear Politics average of polls from Pennsylvania has Biden leading Trump 49% to 44.7%. The results range from a 9 percentage point lead for Biden to a tied race, with several showing Bidens lead within the polls margin of error, meaning the race could actually be tied or with a slight Trump lead.

The average of national polls has Biden leading 49.6% to 43%.

Both candidates are lavishing attention on Pennsylvania. President Trump participated in an ABC News town hall in Philadelphia on Tuesday night. Biden will be the focus of a CNN town hall on Thursday night. Last Friday, both candidates appeared at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Somerset County.

Several people who attended the event in Dauphin County said they expect a tight race that could go either way.

Im nervous about it, put it that way, said Sue Pindar of Bucks County.

Pindar, in her 50s, said she was a Democrat up until Trump entered the race in 2015. Asked what Trump must do to win, she said shes encouraged by an online walk-away campaign featuring former Democrats who now back Trump.

She further believes Trump has benefited from that pandemic in that many people used extra time at home to learn more about the issues.

Once they realize what the truth is, they are voting Trump  thousands of people, she said.

Laszlo von Rago of Hummelstown said Biden was slow to condemn violent and destructive protesters, presenting a golden opportunity for Trump. The 26-year-old said some protesters are breaking the law and receiving political preference from Democratic city leaders.

I think the most important thing is to really explain hes the law and order candidate  Donald Trump could do well to focus even more in it, von Rago said.

Another Trump supporter said the president just needs to be himself to win Pennsylvania. The business owner, who said he didnt want to give his name because he does business with members of both parties, predicted Trump will win Pennsylvania 52% to 48%.

He said Trump got off to a slow start in office because he surrounded himself with the wrong people and took bad advice, but eventually righted the situation. Hes gotten a lot more conservative these last three years, the man said. I love what he has done for the military. Hes built it back up.

Donald Trump Jr. on Wednesday addressed the protests that have followed incidents of police brutality, saying I dont think social justice entails stealing a 60-inch flat-screen TV.

Trump, 42, is an executive in the family business, the Trump Organization, helping to run the company while his father holds office. Hes also a close political adviser to his father, regularly stumping for him and sometimes warming up the audience at Trump rallies.

The younger Trump has strong Pennsylvania ties, having graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in economics, and the Hill School, a boarding school in Pottstown.

Trump is also at home in places such as Blue Ridge Sportsman Club: hes an avid hunter who has pursued big game around the country and the world. He played up both of those on Wednesday, saying his first opening day for deer season took place while a student in Pennsylvania.

But for now, he said, hes focusing on the campaign.

My hunting season starts Nov. 4, Trump Jr. said.
Friends Liam Fennecken, Brendan Jacob Smith and Jim Hogan started singing covers of songs just for fun in December. Now the group, known as T.3, has garnered national attention for their unique arrangements. The New York City-based a cappella group will give an online performance on Friday as part of the Midland Center for the Arts virtual lineup.

While Smith was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Fennecken and Hogan are originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The three connected through their common interest in music and performing arts. Smith recently graduated from Ithaca College where he studied music and theater. Fennecken and Hogan have been part of national tours, with Fennecken staring in productions including American Idiot, Once and School of Rock while Hogan was in Phantom of the Opera, Spring Awakening and Waitress. All three were members of The Hyannis Sound, an all-male a cappella group in Cape Cod.

It was Smiths idea for them to get together in December. The trio of tenors performed a rendition of Into the Unknown from Frozen 2. They posted the video on TikTok and the rest is history.

The internet kind of blew it up. It was supposed to be a one-off, Hogan said.

T.3, which stands for TikTok Tenors, continued meeting once a week and posting videos of them singing covers of Disney, Broadway and pop songs. Earlier this month they featured an arrangement of Reflection from Disneys 1998 classic Mulan in honor of the new live action remake. T.3 received recognition from both Lea Salonga and Ming-Na Wen, the singing and speaking voices of the title character, respectively.

Its such a beautiful Disney song, Hogan said.

At the event on Friday, audiences can expect to hear familiar tunes with a unique twist. Hogan described T.3 as a high energy, fun group of friends who happen to sing together.

"We are so excited to collaborate with T.3  these guys are great soloists and on a meteoric rise in the world of a cappella, said Matt Travis, director of orchestral and choral programs at the center. "The guys will even release a new surprise arrangement at our performance  it's going to be a blast!

The future looks bright for T.3. They recently acquired a manager and agent and plan to release a three-song EP on Spotify in the next three months. Once things return to normal after the pandemic, Hogan hopes the group can tour small venues to get their music out there. For now, they will continue to meet and put their music out into the world via social media.

We kind of feel the skys the limit, Hogan said.

T.3 will perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 18. The event is free for virtual pass holders or $10 per ticket. Tickets can be purchased at www.midlandcenter.org/shows-tickets/virtual-events/t3/
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, September 16, 2020 08:15 492 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c4507855 1 City Indonesian-Mosque-Council,jusuf-kalla,mass-prayer,Friday-prayer,PSBB,Jakarta-administration,dewan-masjid-indonesia Free

The Indonesian Mosque Council (DMI) has called on mosques across Jakarta to temporarily halt mass prayers as the capital is reimposing a partial lockdown, also known as large-scale social restrictions (PSBB), in the next two weeks.

[I hope] mosques can minimize or altogether stop activities that involve large congregations, including Friday prayers, until the PSBB policy is lifted, DMI chairman Jusuf Kalla said Tuesday as quoted by kompas.com.

The DMI issued a circular regarding the matter on the same day.

The Jakarta administration on Monday reinstated the PSBB to contain the spread of COVID-19. It has recorded an overwhelming number of daily cases in the past weeks, resulting in a rising hospital bed occupancy rate.

Read also: Police launch operation to monitor, sanction Jakarta PSBB violators

Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan revealed that the city would run out of hospital beds soon if no significant intervention was made.

Kalla, the former vice president, also encouraged mosques located in densely populated areas or regions marked red, or with a high risk of infection, in the COVID-19 risk mapping system to close temporarily to help curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Mosques located in safer zones, he said, could still hold mass prayers as long as they strictly implemented health protocols. (vny)
A co-founder of British chip designer Arm said it was a "disaster" upon hearing SoftBank Group Corps' announcement on Monday that it would sell its entire stake to rival U.S. semiconductor maker Nvidia in a move that could net the conglomerate up to $40 billion to help offset investment losses.



"I think it's an absolute disaster for Cambridge, the U.K., and Europe," said Arm co-founder Hermann Hauser, speaking to BBC Radio 4 on Monday.

In an open letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson posted on savearm.co.uk, Hauser elaborated his opinions and asked the general public to co-sign his letter.

"I am extremely concerned about the proposed sale of Arm to Nvidia," he wrote. "This concern is shared by many of my colleagues in Cambridge, [members of] the U.K. financial and electronics industry who are all co-signing this letter."

He said there was great concern about the impact on jobs in Cambridge, Manchester, Belfast, Glasgow, Sheffield and Warwick where thousands of Arm employees work. "When the headquarters moves to the U.S., this will inevitably lead to the loss of jobs and influence in the U.K. as we have seen with the Cadbury takeover by Kraft."

He also stated that the sale of Arm to Nvidia will "destroy" the very basis of Arm's business model which is to be "the Switzerland of the semiconductor industry" dealing in an even-handed way with its over 500 licensees, most of which are Nvidia's competitors, so that the new deal will create a monopoly, and implicitly threatening Arm's neutrality.

Thirdly, and most importantly for the long term, it is an issue of national economic sovereignty, he said.

"As the American president has weaponized technology dominance in his trade war with China, the U.K. will become collateral damage unless it has its own trade weapons to bargain with. Arm powers the smartphones of Apple, Samsung, Sony, Huawei and practically every other brand in the world and therefore can exert influence on all of them," Hauser wrote.

Sale to Nvidia will mean that Arm becomes subject to the U.S. OFAC regulations. There are hundreds of companies in the U.K. electronics industry employing tens of thousands of people who use Arm in their products. Many of them export to major global markets including China. They will all have to comply with the U.S. OFAC regulations.

"This puts Britain in the invidious position that the decision about who Arm is allowed to sell to will be made in the White House and not in Downing Street."

Arm is widely seen as the jewel in the crown of the British tech industry. Its chips power most of the world's smartphones, as well as many other devices. According to a joint statement on Sunday, SoftBank would be paid $12 billion in cash and $21.5 billion in common stock by Nvidia.

SoftBank said that along with its Saudi Arabia-backed investment fund it would gain a stake in Nvidia through both cash and stocks of up to 8.1%. The sale should be completed after approval by regulators of the U.K., the EU, the U.S. and China by March 2022, with the statement adding that Nvidia would extend $1.5 billion in equity to Arm employees.

"Joining forces with a world leader in technology innovation creates new and exciting opportunities for Arm," said SoftBank Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son in the statement. He referred to Nvidia as being the "the perfect partner" for Arm.

"We are joining arms with Arm to create the leading computing company for the age of AI," Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang, a Chinese American entrepreneur, said on Sunday in a letter to his employees, adding that by uniting Nvidia's AI computing with the vast reach of Arm's CPU, the company will engage the giant AI opportunity ahead and advance computing from the cloud, smartphones, PCs, self-driving cars, robotics, 5G and IoT.

But Hermann Hauser insisted there were three conditions in the deal that should all have to be legally binding or they would be prove useless: "Legally binding job guarantees for Arm employees in the U.K.; a legally binding agreement that Nvidia must not gain any preferential treatment over other Arm licensees. Britain must get an exemption from the U.S. OFAC regulation so that U.K. companies are guaranteed unfettered access to our own microprocessor technology."

"Moving British control to an American company is a transparent attempt to checkmate Chinese technology by denying them access to chips. ZTE was first, Huawei was second, Chinese leading tech companies in facial recognition and AI were third, the rest of the Chinese cell phone and tech companies will be next," said Einar Tangen, a political and economic affairs commentator based in Beijing.

He predicted that as Nvidia competes to monopolize current tech, China's Huawei is about to disrupt the market with new tech, the cloud phone with unlimited processing, long battery life and a new app and service ecosystem.

"Interestingly, Trump's moves to weaken China are only making it stronger. The assumption that a digital divide would benefit the U.S. is about to unravel. American companies will be laying off thousands due to lost sales and future business in China. Qualcomm could lose over 60% of its sales, Apple 25%, and the list goes on. American tech will be decimated, the resulting lost steps could have repercussions for years to come," Tangen added.
Collin Koh, an expert on the Peoples Liberation Army Navy at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said there is still a lively debate in China over the utility of carriers in modern warfare and how they would stack up against the threat posed by U.S. submarines. And both Chinese and U.S. officials have acknowledged in recent years that Chinas land-based power has already risen to the point where it may be able to keep U.S. forces out of what is known as the first island chain surrounding China, including Taiwan, Japan and the Philippines, in the event of war over Taiwan, for example.
The Ceann Comhairle has indicated he had clear Government advice to shut down the Dail for a week over the Stephen Donnelly coronavirus scare.

Sean O Fearghail wrote to Alan Kelly about the circumstances of the adjournment, after receiving a letter from the Labour leader requesting an explanation.

The Chair received a clear message from the Clerk of the Dail, Peter Finnegan, that the Government wanted the House adjourned, and acted on that basis.

The reason for the request was because Ministers would be unable to conduct business, the Irish Independent understands.

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The letter to Mr Kelly says: At approximately 5.10pm, a phone call was received from Government asking that the Ceann Comhairle should adjourn the Dail because the Minister for Health was displaying symptoms of Covid-19, awaiting the results of a test, and in the meantime the Chief Medical Officer had advised that the entire Cabinet should self-isolate or restrict movement.

The letter continues: There was a large element of uncertainty as to when [what date] the Dail should be adjourned, and a very brief conversation ensued.

It was agreed that the safest approach would be for the Ceann Comhairle to adjourn the Dail until Tuesday 22 September 2020, on the basis that the Taoiseach could summon for an earlier date if this proved possible.

The request to be conveyed to the Ceann Comhairle was then confirmed with the caller, the letter to Mr Kelly states.

A senior official subsequently went to the Dail chamber, conveyed the request to me, and I informed the Dail of the need to adjourn.

In so doing, I informed the Dail of the situation regarding the Minister and the Cabinet, and the request from Government to adjourn the House indicating that a return at an earlier date could happen on instruction from An Taoiseach.

The Ceann Comhairle himself received no telephone call or other direct communication, it is understood.

The senior representative of Government who consulted by phone with the Clerk of the Dail is understood to be Chief Whip Jack Chambers.

The Ceann Comhairle told TDs on Tuesday evening, five minutes after the phone call from Government: The House stands adjourned, I suspect until Tuesday next - or until I am directed by the Taoiseach to reconvene the House. The Dail is adjourned until further notice."

The week-long adjournment was later confirmed in Oireachtas notices - only to for the move to be rescinded within an hour, after a phone call from the Taoiseach, who indicated juniors could stand in for senior ministers.

There was heavy private criticism from some Opposition TDs for the lack of notice to Members as the chamber was adjourned abruptly.

A number had then begun their journeys back to their constituencies when they learned the Dail would be resuming after all.

The Irish Independent sought comment from Government Chief Whip Jack Chambers on the circumstances outlined in the Ceann Comhairles letter to the Labour Party leader.
ATLANTA, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- National Ultrasound has signed an exclusive distribution agreement for the United States with Elesta.

Elesta is an Italian company--a part of the El.En Group, a publicly traded company which comprises a multitude of laser companies globally. Elesta's flagship product is Elesta EchoLaser X4, a laser unit which can be paired with the majority of commercially available ultrasound machines and is used for the micro-invasive, atraumatic, anesthesia-free, outpatient treatment of a number of soft tissue lesions. Clinical evidence has been generated over the years in multiple clinical applications, including Benign Thyroid Nodules (ModiLite) and Benign Prostate Hyperplasia (SoracteLite). Elesta has an International presence, especially in Europe and China.

The first U.S. user of the EchoLaser on thyroid nodules was Dr. Augustin Andrade, Chief of Endocrinology Department at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami, FL.

Dr. Eric Walser , Chairman of Radiology at UTMB in Galveston, TX was the first U.S. user of the EchoLaser on the prostate. Dr. Walser is a pioneer in focal laser ablation of prostatic cancer. He uses the EchoLaser to treat patients suffering from BPH (benign prostatic hyperplasia).

National Ultrasound and Elesta will collaborate to expand the USA adoption of this innovative technology, which has many advantages for clinicians and most of all for their patients.

"We are excited to represent the Elesta EchoLaser in the United States. National Ultrasound believes this new technology will make treatment, in multiple clinical applications, more efficient and successful for doctors and patients."

--Joe Williams

President, National Ultrasound, Inc.

Visit National Ultrasound's blog to learn more about the Elesta EchoLaser X4 and subscribe to receive future updates about this amazing product.

Contact: Joe Williams, [email protected], (770) 551-8797 ext 103

SOURCE National Ultrasound
His tough-guy good looks have kept him in the spotlight for decades.

And Ray Liotta proved he still has what it takes to earn eyes while sharing his fitness routine during a Tuesday photoshoot at his Venice, California gym.

The 65-year-old Goodfellas star wasn't afraid to bare his brawny body, seen stripping off his tee shirt during his workout.

Still buff: Ray Liotta, 65, showed off his brawny body while sharing his workout routine during a photoshoot in Venice, California on Tuesday

Ray was ready to sweat in a pair of light joggers and a matching black tee shirt.

The star - who has been dating 45-year-old Jacy Nittolo - had some spring in his step courtesy of some Nike kicks with supportive neon green soles.

He did some barbell curls before moving onto his back to complete some reclining chest presses with dual dumbbells.

During his workout Ray made it clear he was more than capable of keeping up with his younger girlfriend.

Workout ready: Ray was ready to sweat in a pair of light joggers and a matching black tee shirt

Tough: He did some barbell curls before moving onto his back to complete some reclining chest presses with dual dumbbells

And it looked like things were going strong for Liotta and girlfriend Jacy during a PDA packed lunch date in the Pacific Palisades last week.

Nittolo, a mother-of-four, has suggested the duo are in it for the long haul, kicking off the new year with a January 1st Instagram shot of the pair which was captioned: '2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025.........'

The Field of Dreams actor was past married to actress Michelle Grace from 1997 thru 2004.

The pair are parents to actress Karsen Liotta, 21, who's appeared with her dad and Jennifer Lopez on the NBC show Shades of Blue.

Love: Nittolo has alluded to the idea that theirs was a long-term relationship on Instagram

This month marks the 30th anniversary of his signature film Goodfellas, in which he played the main role of Henry Hill.

Liotta reflected on appearing in the Martin Scorsese film, which also starred Robert De Niro, Lorraine Bracco, Joe Pesci and Paul Sorvino, in a chat with Men's Journal in 2016.

'That was a pretty momentous moment in my career,' he said. 'The fact that Scorsese was directing. All of a sudden Bob came into the project.

He recalled: 'My mother was sick with cancer and died in the middle of us filming. The fact that that was going on made me less intimidated by the situation, I believe, because I was thinking, "My mother is dying of cancer. I am going to come here and be afraid of a guy who is an actor?"'
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 15:46:03|Editor: huaxia

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JAKARTA, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- One died and four others went missing after a boat caught fires in Talaga waters in the Indonesian province of Southeast Sulawesi on Tuesday, officials said on Wednesday.

According to the Search and Rescue Agency in Southeast Sulawesi's capital of Kendari, the cargo ship KM Yuliner 05 carrying cement caught fires at about 2 p.m. local time during its trip to Binongko Island in Southeast Sulawesi province's district of Wakatobi from Pangkajene Island in South Sulawesi.

Some fishermen found two people at the accident in the waters, and one of them died during the evacuation, Aris Sofingi, chief of the Search and Rescue Agency was quoted by state-news agency Antara as saying.

He said that the rescue team would expand search area for the four missing people.

Boat accidents are common in Indonesia which consists of more than 17,000 islands. Such mishaps usually happen due to lax safety standards. Enditem
In everyday life, measuring temperature is pretty straightforward. But in the quantum world, which deals with the super small and the ultra-cold, determining how hot or cold something is starts to get more challenging. Now, in a collaboration between the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST), University College Dublin and Trinity College Dublin, researchers have described a quantum process that uses a single atom as a thermometer to sensitively measure the temperature of an ultra-cold gas.

"As quantum physicists, our ultimate goal is to create and measure systems as close as possible to absolute zero. This is the lowest temperature limit, around -273C or zero on the Kelvin temperature scale, and it's when particles stop moving. These ultra-cold systems are important for successfully harnessing quantum technologies or reducing noise in quantum experiments," said Professor Thomas Busch, head of the Quantum Systems Unit at OIST and co-author of the study, published as an Editor's Suggestion in Physical Review Letters. "So being able to detect minute changes in temperature, at only tens of billionths of a degree above zero kelvin, is critical."

Typically at room temperature there are more than a hundred billion trillion atoms whizzing about at speeds of up to 300 - 400 meters per second. "When we measure the temperature in a room, we don't try and measure the movement of all these atoms, we just take measurements from a thermometer," said Dr. Thomas Fogarty, a scientist in the Quantum Systems Unit. "Although one could, in principle, try to measure the velocity of all the atoms in a quantum system, we wanted to design a simpler and better method that uses a quantum thermometer."

But using a thermometer to measure a quantum system isn't simple. These systems are colder than any place that exists naturally in the universe. They are also very small, containing only about 100,000 atoms in the gas. If the thermometer is too large or too warm it would heat up the gas being measured and destroy the system's quantum properties. So instead, the approach this collaboration took was to use a thermometer that was also very small and very cold - a single, super-cooled atom.

When first added into the system, this thermometer atom exists in two different energy states at the same time - a unique, counter-intuitive property of quantum systems. But as the thermometer atom interacts with the ultra-cold gas, the quantum features of this combined energy state decay. The rate at which this decay occurs is directly related to the temperature of the ultra-cold gas being probed, so as the scientists measure the state of the thermometer atom, they can accurately infer the temperature.

"This process essentially destroys the 'quantumness' of the thermometer atom through interactions with the gas, making it truly a quantum thermometer", Dr. Fogarty explained.

The researchers also reported the optimal timings for when the measurements should be taken, as well as the ideal strength of the interactions between the single atom and the gas, to get the best sensitivity and the least amount of noise. The colder the gas, the slower the decay process occurs, as the single atom interacts more slowly and less often with the gas. "Therefore, in order to measure temperature at the lowest extremes we need to wait a long time before measuring and we require weaker interactions to maximize the signal and minimize the noise," added Dr. Fogarty.

The team is now exploring numerous paths to improve the method's sensitivity, such as by using machine learning to optimize the interactions between the thermometer atom and the gas, or by introducing more thermometer atoms into the system so more complex quantum interactions can occur.

"This new method has pushed the bounds of thermometry, which has important applications for quantum technology," concluded Prof. Busch. "I expect that we are going to see it being used very soon in experiments."

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The Queen and Prince Philip have been seen leaving Balmoral Estate together today for their new bubble at Sandringham, as they continue to enjoy spending an unprecendented amount of time together.

The royal couple, who have spent the last six weeks at their Aberdeenshire home, waved to photographers as they were whisked away by car for the airport, roughly an hour away, where they boarded a private jet.

The Queen, 94, and her husband, 99, are now set to travel to Sandringham for a fortnight break before their return to 'HMS Bubble' at Windsor, with reports claiming Prince Philip is 'being made' to return to Windsor Castle because there is not enough staff to create two anti-Covid-19 bubbles.

Meanwhile Prince Andrew, 61, was also seen departing from the estate after spending roughly two weeks with his parents, amid claims he had been visiting his 94-year-old mother for 'crisis talks'.

The Queen, 94, and Prince Philip, 99, offered a wave as they departed from their Balmoral estate at the of end their annual summer holiday in Scotland

The Duke of Edinburgh raised a hand in greeting as the couple were whisked away from their summer holiday break

Meanwhile Prince Andrew, 61, who is believed to have spent two weeks with his parents at the estate, also departed earlier today

The Duke of Edinburgh has spent much of his retirement at his cottage, Wood Farm, in the sanctuary of the Sandringham estate, more than 100 miles away from the Queen, who was usually at Buckingham Palace or at Windsor (pictured, Wood Farm)

The royal couple appeared in high spirits and waved to photographers as they departed the Balmoral Estate today for the airport.

The Queen donned a smart cream suit for the journey, with a white patterned headscarf, while her husband opted for a relaxed yellow shirt and comfortable waterproof navy coat.

They were followed by royal aides carrying luggage and a pair of dorgis, the Queen's beloved dogs which are a cross between a dachshund and a Welsh corgi.

The monarch and Duke of Edinburgh typically remain at Balmoral, in Aberdeenshire, until next month but surprised many royal fans by leaving early and spending time at Sandringham instead.

She and Philip are now due to travel to Norfolk together to 'spend time privately' at the their estate, where the Duke spends much of his retirement at Wood Farm.

The Duke of Edinburgh has spent much of his retirement at his cottage, Wood Farm, in the sanctuary of the Sandringham estate, more than 100 miles away from the Queen, who was usually at Buckingham Palace or at Windsor.

But amid the Covid-19 crisis, the Queen wiill return to Windsor in October, from where she will travel to Buckingham Palace for working visits.

An insider told The Sun last week that Prince Philip would also return to Windsor after a two week break at Sandringham as 'a compromise', adding: 'Philip didn't want to go to Balmoral and doesn't want to go to Windsor.

The Queen and Prince Philip later arrived at the airport in Aberdeenshire, where they boarded a private jet before departing from Scotland

The Duke of Edinburgh, who has spent the last six weeks in Balmoral Estate, was followed by royal aides as he stepped out of the car at the airport

'But there is not enough staff to make two bubbles so he is being made to go. It makes far more sense to keep them together.'

A memo issued to staff in April from the master of the household Tony Johnstone-Burt, a former Royal Navy Officer called the mission to protect the Queen and Prince Philip 'HMS Bubble'.

The bubble requires 24 dedicated employees which work in two teams of 12, with a three week on, three week off rota. Staff are forced to spend a week in isolation and pass a coronavirus test before each three week shift begins.

Although the Duke wishes to remain at Sandringham, insiders claim there are too few staff to create two bubbles 130 miles apart.

Femail has contacted Buckingham Palace for comment.

Experts previously noted that the coronavirus pandemic has allowed the couple, who have been married for 73 years, to spend more time together than they have done in 'many years'.

Earlier this summer, Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty magazine, said of their months in lockdown together: 'This must be the longest they've been under the same roof for many years, I would say. But it's an opportunity for them in their later years to reconnect.'

The royal, pictured, could be seen carefully walking around the edge of his car to meet his wife before stepping onto the private aircraft

Royal aides could be seen carrying bags and luggage for the couple, while one member of staff assisted with the dorgisin the boot of the car

A royal aide could be seen bowing as the Queen stepped out of the vehicle shortly after the Duke of Edinburgh

He added: 'It is the perfect royal cocooning.'

The Palace confirmed the Queen hopes to resume 'selected audiences and engagements' in London in October for the first time since the coronavirus crisis struck the UK in March.

In a statement confirming the news last week, the Palace said: 'The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh will depart Balmoral Castle during the week commencing September 14 to spend time privately on the Sandringham Estate.

'Subject to the finalisation of the autumn programme, Her Majesty's intention is to return to Windsor Castle in October and to resume the use of Buckingham Palace for selected audiences and engagements.

'These plans will be kept under review and will of course be subject to all relevant guidance and advice.'

The royal couple raised a hand in greeting as they were whisked off to an airport in Aberdeenshire, roughly one hour from Balmoral estate

Prince Philip and the Queen have spent six weeks at their Scottish home, and will now return to Sandringham, where the Duke of Edinburgh spends most of his time

The success of the Queen and Philip's long-lasting marriage has often been put down to their differing personalities.

'The Queen is a much more laid-back character, while the duke has never suffered fools gladly,' Mr Little said.

'The Queen is much less confrontational so I suppose they are opposites in many ways but clearly the chemistry has worked for them as they are now in the 73rd year of marriage so that itself is quite remarkable.'

The royal commentator added that the Queen and duke had admitted tolerance is essential for their happy marriage.

'As they have said publicly at times of wedding anniversaries, it's tolerance in abundance and plenty of patience as well,' Mr Little explained.

'I suppose for them perhaps it's always been a case of absence makes the heart grow fonder. They would go through periods of not really seeing much of each other.'

Earlier today, their second eldest son Prince Andrew could be seen leaving the estate amid claims was visiting his 94-year-old mother for 'crisis talks'.

He told Hello! magazine that the couple being able to spend more time together is a 'silver lining' of the coronavirus, and the Duke will be supporting her 'morally' in the way he always has.

'He is such an important ingredient in her success and happiness. He makes her laugh, he's got a slightly naughty sense of humour, a sense of the ridiculous that keeps her amused,' he said.

'She will value that companionship much more than if he were at the other end of a telephone.'

Phil Dampier, author of Prince Philip: Wise words and Golden Gaffes, pointed out that the Duke has 'always had the ability to make [Her Majesty] laugh'.

Joe added that Prince Philip will be a 'great comfort' to the 'very social' Queen, who was suddenly cut off from that dimension of her life.

'They clearly have the most enormously strong partnership and I think a lot of the strength in the relationship comes from his independent mind,' he told the publication.

'He's not your conventional lovey-dovey husband. He's always been bracing and supportive to the Queen.'

The romance of Prince Philip of Greece and Princess Elizabeth sprang out of a summer encounter at the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth in 1939.

Philip, who was just 18, was introduced to 13-year-old Elizabeth, who was visiting with her parents, King George Vi and Queen Elizabeth.

Handsome, blond-haired, athletic Philip caught Lilibet's eye as he entertained her by jumping over tennis nets, and the young princess was smitten.

The pair, who are distant cousins, maintained a regular correspondence and met on several more occasions, with Philip later spending Christmas with the royals at Windsor in 1943.

But, by the end of the war, newspapers were already speculating about their romance, and their engagement was confirmed after the princess turned 21 and returned from a royal tour to South Africa.

Philip applied for British nationality and in February 1947 became a naturalised British subject, renouncing his Greek royal title, adopting the surname of Mountbatten and becoming known as Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten.

The couple married in Westminster Abbey on November 20 1947.

While on honeymoon, Philip wrote to tell his mother-in-law Queen Elizabeth, later the Queen Mother, of his deep love for his new wife.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh arrived at Balmoral (pictured), in Aberdeenshire, at the start of August and have enjoyed visits from family in the weeks since. Stock image

'Lilibet is the only 'thing' in the world which is absolutely real to me and my ambition is to weld the two of us into a new combined existence that will not only be able to withstand the shocks directed at us but will have a positive existence for the good,' he said.

The Queen went on to move to Malta when her husband, Philip, was based there in command of a Royal Navy frigate.

Those were relatively relaxing times for Elizabeth, then in her early twenties. Security was light and she felt comfortable enough driving herself around in a humble Morris Minor.

Newspapers chronicled people turning up at the villa to hand her oranges. They reported her going to the cinema and a local hairdresser, enjoying picnics in the countryside and swimming at Sliema beach, three miles from her home.

Pictures show the princess chatting with locals, including an old lady weaving traditional lace. She hosted parties for service wives at the villa.

The royal couple left Malta in 1950 for the birth of Elizabeth's second child, Princess Anne, in August 1950, but they were back by Christmas.

Philip has devoted his married life to supporting his wife, giving up his successful naval career to be by her side when the King's health grew worse.

On the Queen's accession, the duke watched her become the single most important woman in the country.

But Lord Charteris, the Queen's former private secretary, once recalled: 'Prince Philip is the only man in the world who treats the Queen simply as another human being.

'He's the only man who can. Strange as it may seem, I believe she values that.'

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will now spend at least two weeks 'privately' at Sandringham (pictured)

In 2007, the couple celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary by travelling to Malta, where they had lived for a short time as a young couple.

In 2012, they marked their blue sapphire anniversary - 65 years - and in 2017 passed the rare, personal milestone of 70 years of marriage - their platinum wedding anniversary.

As well as the Queen and Prince Philip leaving Balmoral, Prince Andrew was also seen departing the estate today after reports suggested he journeyed up to Scotland for crisis talks.

He has been accused of failing to help US prosecutors in their investigation into paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein and the financier Ghislaine Maxwell.

A source told the Sun: 'The Queen and Andrew will have lots to discuss. So much has come out over the summer.

'The Queen wants to be kept informed and she will not be back at Windsor until early October.'

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh arrived at Balmoral, in Aberdeenshire, at the start of August and have enjoyed visits from family in the weeks since.

The monarch's annual holiday to Balmoral has been a little different this year amid the coronavirus pandemic.

It is understood staff quarantined for two weeks in order to minimise the risk of the Queen or Prince Philip, who are both in their 90s, being exposed to Covid-19

It is thought staff also minimised their contact with people outside the royal household in order to create a 'Balmoral bubble' designed to keep the Queen and Prince Philip safe.

Measures were also taken by other members of the royal family who came to visit.

It is believed that proposals are being reviewed for how the Queen (pictured in March) could safely attend commemorations at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday in November

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have spent time on the estate, as have Princess Anne and Prince Andrew.

But family members did not stay in the castle with the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh as they had done in previous years and were instead housed in other properties in the grounds of the 50,000-acre estate.

They were able to meet the royal couple for outside activities instead including walks, horse riding and picnics.

It comes following reports that the Queen is set to make Windsor Castle her main home and won't resume residence at Buckingham Palace this year, according to a royal source.

Her Majesty would like to 'commute' to London for engagements if it is safe to do so, the Sunday Times reported.

It is believed the Queen's absence from Buckingham Palace will be her longest during her 68-year reign.

The Queen would usually go back to the premises in October following her summer break in Balmoral.

Instead, following her time in Sandringham, she will return to Windsor Castle where she self-isolated with the Duke of Edinburgh from March 19 prior to their Scottish holiday.

A royal source said: 'There is a desire to get Buckingham Palace up and running again as a working palace, but only if all the relevant advice suggests that it is appropriate to do so.'

It is believed that proposals are being reviewed for how the Queen could safely attend commemorations at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday in November.

But Her Majesty apparently won't be returning to Buckingham Palace again until the threat from COVID-19 is extinguished.

However, it is thought that the Queen will be spending her usual Christmas break at Sandringham in Norfolk.
Less than two weeks before the much discussed online examination for the summer 2020 batch is scheduled to begin, students are grappling with a new problem. While two circulars released by the University of Mumbai within the last ten days have mentioned the need for a comprehensive bank of multiple choice questions (MCQs) for each cluster of colleges, it does not mention if this question bank needs to be shared with students leaving many confused and anxious.

State minister for higher and technical education has previously assured us that a question bank for each subject will be compiled and shared with students because MCQ format papers is a new concept. But now, colleges arent sharing anything, and instead insisting on holding mock tests only, said Siddharth Ingle president, Maharashtra Students Union (MASU).

Colleges at present have already started work on putting together an exam schedule and conducting mock tests for their students to understand the new concept.

The university circular mentions the need for a comprehensive MCQ bank but nowhere does it mention the need for colleges to share the same with students. Mock tests have been made compulsory and we are working on it, said the principal of a prominent suburban college. He added that students have been demanding for a question bank for the past one week and they have all been provided the university circular for clarity on the issue.

Most colleges have already started work on setting question papers both for the practice test and the final exams.

Since the concept is new, university and the state education department has insisted on a practice test for students, which should help students understand the concept. Colleges have not been asked to share question banks with students, said Sobhana Vasudevan, principal, R A Podar College Matunga.

Colleges are not allowed to share any questions with the students and in order to ease them into the new examination format, the circular clarifies that sample or mock tests would be the key for all colleges, said Anju Kapoor, principal of Usha Pravin Gandhi College, Vile Parle. She added that all college teachers are already working on ensuring that students appear for a mock test before the final exams commence on October 1.

While the MU controller of examination, Vinod Patil could not be reached for an official comment, a senior official from the examination department has confirmed that colleges do not have to share any questions with students.

As per the MU schedule, practical exams for repeater candidates will begin on September 15 whereas their theory exam will start from September 25. Exams for fresh candidates will take place between October 1 and 15, 2020.

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Hyderabad: IIT Hyderabad-incubated startup PURE EV has entered its first international market. The startup will be launching its premium model EPluto7G in Nepal by October 2020 as part of its international expansion plans.

According to a statement released by the company, a unique point of this vehicle is that the battery and the vehicle have been designed and developed factoring in the gradient requirements of Nepal.

PURE EVs expansion into Nepal is part of a larger strategy to export to international markets having predominantly two-wheeler mode of transportation for personal mobility. The startup is also looking for good distribution partners for other markets who can create an efficient channel network for vehicle sales and service in the target markets.

The startup is partnering with White Lotus Motors (WLM) for distribution of its EV two-wheelers in Nepal. WLM will establish two outlets in the capital city of Kathmandu. PURE EV plans to launch more models in the near future.

Elaborating on the International expansion of PURE EV, Mr. Rohit Vadera, Chief Executive Officer, PURE EV, said, This is one of the most significant milestones in the journey of PURE EV. We look forward to catering to the esteemed customers in Nepal through our partnership with White Lotus Motors. Further, all the new range of products launched in the future will also be made available in the Nepal market in the due course of time. We will be expanding to other international markets as well over the course of next year with particular focus on South Asia, South East Asia and East African countries."

Further, highlighting the targets for Nepal, Mr. Rohit Vadera added, We intend to start off with an annual sales of 1,000 scooters and have wider coverage in the top five cities of the country within a year"

The indigenously-developed lithium-ion batteries developed and manufactured by PurEnergy, the parent company of PURE EV, can operate in a wide range of temperature conditions suiting the climates conditions of India and Nepal. PURE EV is working closely with WLM for the establishment of high-quality workshops and provide timely after-sales service requirements and also ensuring adequate spare parts availability.

Speaking about the PURE EV and White Lotus Motors partnership, Mr Ashok Khadgi, Managing Director, White Lotus Motors Private Ltd, said We are delighted to have a partnership with Pur Energy, India and to launch world-class, new generation 2 wheeler EV products in Nepal. We see value creation for Nepalese consumers with Pure EV products due to better product quality, high-class R&D capability and suitability for Nepalese road conditions. We see a bright future for Pure EV products in Nepal."

PURE EV was incubated by IIT Hyderabad. It has an in-house battery manufacturing facility and a research setup based out of IIT Hyderabad campus where the companys dedicated R&D team works on core areas of battery thermal management system for the development of long-range and high-performance Lithium batteries.

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According to a new study published by Polaris Market Research the worldwide anti-drone market is anticipated to reach over USD 3,064 million by 2026. In 2017, the defense and military segment dominated the global market, in terms of revenue. North America is expected to be the leading contributor to the global market revenue during the forecast period.

The rising incidences of misuse of drones and growing terrorist activities primarily drive the growth of this market. Smugglers and traffickers are increasingly using drones for malicious and criminal activities, thereby increasing the demand of anti-drones. Other driving factors include technological advancement, and increasing investment in R&D.

Request for sample of this research report @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/anti-drone-market/request-for-sample

There has been an emerging threat from drones to critical infrastructure. A high number of cases of drone overflights at nuclear and power stations have been registered. In 2014, after several cases of overflights of reactors, French authorities invested $1.1 million for detection, identification, and neutralization of small aerial drones.

There has been a significant increase in spoofing and cyber-attacks. Spoofing is taking control of a drone by hacking the radio signal and sending commands to the aircraft from another control station. Valuable data can be stolen or deleted through cyber-attacks. Complaints registered against misuse of drones also include snooping, burglary, smuggling contraband into prisons, and mid-air near misses among others. Terrorists have started using drones to gather valuable intelligence on their enemies. All these factors have increased the adoption of anti-drone systems.

Browse summary of this report with TOC @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/anti-drone-market

North America generated the highest revenue in the market in 2017, and is expected to lead the global market throughout the forecast period. The driving factors for anti-drone market in North America include increasing number of security breach incidents by unidentified drones and increasing terrorist activities. Recent incidences of riots & civil unrest have increased the demand for anti-drones in this region. North America spends high budgets for military expenditure and for research & development programs, which augment market growth.

The various end-users of anti-drones include defense and military, government, commercial, and others. In 2017, the defense and military sector accounted for the largest share in the global market, and is expected to maintain its lead during the forecast period. The demand for anti-drones in the military sector has increased owing to growing cases of smuggling, trespassing, and spying. Increasing need for border security, and threats from neighboring countries support the adoption of anti-drones.

The well-known companies profiled in the report include Saab AB, Thales Group, Raytheon Co., Lockheed Martin Corp. , Dedrone Inc, Droneshield Ltd., Northrop Grumman Corp., Theiss UAV Solutions, LLC, Blighter Surveillance Systems Ltd., Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd., 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.

Speak to Analyst to know more @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/anti-drone-market/speak-to-analyst

Key Segments:

 Anti-Drone Market Size and Forecast, 2017-2026 by Application

o Key Findings

Detection Detection and Disruption



 Anti-Drone Market Size and Forecast, 2017-2026 by Technology

Key Findings Kinetic Systems Electronic Systems Laser Systems Others



 Anti-Drone Market Size and Forecast, 2017-2026 by Mitigation Type

Key Findings Destructive Non-Destructive



 Anti-Drone Market Size and Forecast, 2017-2026 by End-Users

Key Findings Commercial Government Defense and Military Others



Get Exclusive Discount on This Report @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/anti-drone-market/request-for-discount-pricing

About Polaris Market Research

Polaris Market Research is a global market research and consulting company. The company specializes in providing exceptional market intelligence and in-depth business research services for our clientele spread across different enterprises. We at Polaris are obliged to serve our diverse customer base present across the industries of healthcare, technology, semi-conductors and chemicals among various other industries present around the world. We strive to provide our customers with updated information on innovative technologies, high growth markets, emerging business environments and latest business-centric applications, thereby helping them always to make informed decisions and leverage new opportunities. Adept with a highly competent, experienced and extremely qualified team of experts comprising SMEs, analysts and consultants, we at Polaris endeavor to deliver value-added business solutions to our customers.

Contact Us:

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Services to be Delivered Through PayLogiq eWallet and GoLogiq Hyper-Local Food Delivery Mobile Platforms

NEW YORK, Sept. 16, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Logiq, Inc. (formerly Weyland Tech, Inc., OTCQX: WEYL), a global provider of eCommerce and fintech business enablement solutions, has partnered with Yabx, a fintech venture of Comviva and part of $5.2 billion Tech Mahindra (BSE:TECHM), to offer credit-based financial services.



The services will be offered through Logiqs increasingly popular PayLogiq e-Wallet and GoLogiq hyper-local food delivery mobile platforms, and include cash advance for merchants and buy now, pay later (BNPL) options for consumers.

Through its partnerships with leading digital wallet providers, online payment gateways and point-of-sale aggregators, Yabx enables financial service providers to underwrite and service new-to-credit customer segments. The company applies proprietary artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms on massive amounts of alternate data to help providers create a profitable customer portfolio.

With Logiq, Yabx gains a channel partner for the Indonesian market where 50% of the population of 264 million people do not have access to traditional banking services, according to the e-Conomy SEA report, while nearly 70% of the population uses a smartphone daily.

Forrester reports that 69% of Indonesias existing banking customers prefer digital channels, and 73% believe they should be able to accomplish any financial task on a mobile device. These factors have created a digital financial services market in the country that is projected by SGE to reach US$8.6 billion by 2025, growing at a compounded annual rate of 34%.

Since its inception in 2018, PayLogiq (formerly AtozPay) has rapidly grown its footprint among unbanked consumers and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Through its e-wallet platform, it has generated more than $9 million in gross transaction volume so far this year. Its growth has been attributed to the accelerating adoption of mobile commerce in Indonesia and a major shift to contactless transactions since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Story continues

To address the growing market opportunity, Logiq will leverage Yabxs proprietary technology and expertise in scoring, decisioning and lending lifecycle management, and deliver a full range of financial products that it can distribute through the established network of PayLogiq and GoLogiq mobile users. This includes consumer and merchant cost-plus financing, like checkout financing (BNPL), merchant cash advance and airtime credit or top-ups. The companies expect to complete the integration of their fintech platforms before the end of the year.

Our partnership with Logiq grants us immediate access to the Indonesian market and the opportunity to improve the lives of people who do not have access to traditional financial services, commented Rajat Dayal, co-founder and CEO of Yabx. With an unprecedented growth in digital payments over the last 10 years, a large segment of the population and MSMEs have gained access to payment instruments to transact digitally. However, a majority have been unable to obtain credit and additional banking products that are considered critical for true financial inclusion. Together, we will endeavor to further democratize financial access by providing affordable and convenient financial services to the new-to-credit population, thereby expanding financial inclusion for all."

Matthew Brent, chief strategy officer of Logiq, commented: Partnering with Yabx opens up exciting opportunities for us to develop additional revenue streams by offering meaningful, new financial products to our fast-growing network of users. Yabx shares our mission of creating greater access to key financial services in emerging markets, and we look forward to exploring future opportunities to address other underserved and unbanked emerging markets around the world.

About Yabx

Yabx aims to simplify financial access for over 2 billion underserved customers and MSMEs in the emerging markets of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Yabx offers a platform to enable digital lending products where they help banks and financial services organizations underwrite the customers using alternate data. The company leverages technology and analytics to reduce the cost of delivering financial services, thereby bringing banking services to the new-to-credit population. This is achieved through strategic partnerships with leading banks, microfinance institutions, credit bureaus, mobile network operators, digital wallet providers, online payment gateways, PoS aggregators and handset manufacturers.

Incubated by Comviva, a global leader in mobile financial services, Yabx is a part of the $5.2 billion Tech Mahindra (BSE:TECHM). Its team of industry experts and entrepreneurs operate out of The Hague, New Delhi, Bogota, and Nairobi. For more information, visit yabx.co.

About Logiq

Logiq, Inc. (OTCQX: WEYL) is a U.S.-based leading global provider of eCommerce, mCommerce, and fintech business enablement solutions. Its AppLogiq platform-as-a-service enables small-and-medium sized businesses worldwide to easily create and deploy a native mobile app for their business without technical knowledge or background. AppLogiq empowers businesses to reach more customers, increase sales, manage logistics, and promote their products and services in an easy, affordable, and highly efficient way. AppLogiq is offered in 14 languages across 10 countries and three continents, including some of the fastest-growing emerging markets in Southeast Asia.



The companys subsidiary, DataLogiq, provides a data-driven, end-to-end eCommerce marketing solution for enterprises and major U.S. brands, including Home Advisor, QuinStreet and Sunrun. Its AI-powered LogiqX data engine delivers valuable consumer insights that enhance the ROI of online marketing spend. The companys PayLogiq offers mobile payments, and GoLogiq offers hyper-local food delivery services. For more information about Logiq, go to Logiq.com.

Forward-Looking Disclaimer

This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements and information, as defined within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and is subject to the Safe Harbor created by those sections. The Company cautions you that statements in this press release that are not a description of historical facts are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on the Company's current beliefs and expectations. The inclusion of forward-looking statements should not be regarded as a representation by the Company or its affiliates that any of our plans or expectations will be achieved. Actual results may differ from those set forth in this press release due to the risk and uncertainties inherent in our business, including, without limitation: the fitness of our product for a particular application or market, expectations of future events, financial results, and/or business transactions that may not be consummated or realized, as well as other risks described in our prior press releases and in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including under the heading "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and any subsequent filings with the SEC. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof, and the Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update this press release to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof.

Company Contact

Brent Suen, President

Logiq, Inc.

Email contact

Media & Investor Contact

Ronald Both or Grant Stude

CMA Investor & Media Relations

Tel (949) 432-7566

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Bodies of Covid-19 patients shall be handed over to relatives of the deceased for completion of last rites following safety precautions, ruled the Calcutta high court on Wednesday.

The petitioner, Vineet Ruia, had told the court that bodies of Covid-19 patients were being disposed of by the administration unceremoniously and in an undignified manner without showing even a resemblance of respect to the mortal remains of the dead person.

Families were not being allowed to perform last rites or see the bodies to pay their last respects, the petitioner had said.

After hearing the plea, chief justice TB Radhakrishnan and justice Arijit Banerjee laid down nine guidelines for the government to follow.

The bodies shall be handed over to the families only if post mortem examination is not required, the judges said. They also said that the bodies have to be taken from hospitals to cremation or burial grounds without any stopover.

In case there is nobody to claim a body, it should be cremated or buried with dignity at the state expense, the order said.

In its order, the court said that after completion of hospital formalities, a body should be secured in a body bag, the face-end of which should be preferably transparent and the exterior of which should be sanitised to eliminate/minimise the risk of people carrying it getting infected.

People handling the body should wear gloves and masks and PPE suits if possible, said the order, adding that the same rules would apply to the staff at the crematorium or burial ground. The hearse has to be sanitised too.

The face-end of the body bag may be unzipped by the staff at the crematorium/burial ground to allow the relatives to see the body for the last time, said the order.

At that time, religious rituals, such as reading from religious scripts, sprinkling holy water, offering grains and such other last rites that do not require touching of the body should be allowed, the judges said.

Since the bodies are being handled by state government personnel following guidelines issued by the Union health ministry on March 15 and a notification by the state government on June 6, the court heard both the Centre and the state before passing the order on Wednesday.

There have been nine hearings since June 5. The Centre was represented by three lawyers while the West Bengal government was represented by advocate general Kishore Dutta and three lawyers.

The petitioner had also said that the state government was not properly recording deaths and was not announcing the names of deceased patients. The court observed that it was satisfied with the measures taken by the state.
Outgoing Melbourne city councillor Nicolas Frances Gilley says the sexual harassment scandal surrounding former lord mayor Robert Doyle affected him so much he has been in counselling for more than a year.

Giving a valedictory speech on Tuesday night, Cr Frances Gilley, who is not recontesting the election, said: "On a personal level, the Doyle affair really impacted me personally.

Melbourne city councillor Nicolas Frances Gilley. Credit:Eddie Jim

"I realised something about the patriarchy that I didn't know about, actually, and I didn't know that I was part of it," he said.

"I'm really grateful, actually, to the people close to me, particularly my children who taught me actually you can be a man and not abuse the power, and partly that's why I'm not standing again, because I actually don't think you need lots of white men around."
Google has recently released another update for Google Maps on Android, and this time what the search giant wants to do is prepare the app for a new generation of devices.

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A trip to Doncaster races by a group of sports fans from south Wales is being blamed for a cluster of coronavirus cases in an area being put on local lockdown.

The borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf will be under new rules to curb the spread of Covid-19 from 6pm on Thursday, the Welsh Government announced on Wednesday.

The Welsh government said one of the clusters was associated with a club outing to the Doncaster races, which stopped off at a series of pubs on the way.

The local lockdown follows a rapid increase in the number of Covid-19 cases, which have also been linked to people meeting indoors, not following social distancing guidelines and returning from holidays abroad, it said.

Further measures will be considered by the Welsh Government, working with Rhondda Cynon Taf Council and Public Health Wales, if cases do not fall.

Health minister Vaughan Gething said: We have seen a rapid rise in cases in Rhondda Cynon Taf in a very short space of time, linked to people socialising indoors and not following social distancing guidelines.

We now have evidence of wider community transmission in the borough, which means we need to take urgent action to control and, ultimately, reduce the spread of the virus and protect peoples health.

The measures follow a local lockdown in neighbouring Caerphilly / PA

There will be no change to rules allowing up to four households to form an exclusive extended household in Wales.

People will also still be able to meet up in groups of up to 30 outdoors, as long as they maintain social distancing.

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

These changes will not apply in Caerphilly county borough, where a local lockdown has been enforced to control a rise in Covid-19 cases.

A statement from the Welsh Government said: "Contact tracing teams have been able to trace about half of the cases back to a series of clusters in the borough. The rest are linked to community transmission.

"There are a number of clusters in Rhondda Cynon Taf  two of which are significant. One is associated with a rugby club and pub in the lower Rhondda and the other with a club outing to the Doncaster races, which stopped off at a series of pubs on the way."

Restrictions on the 181,000 people who live there include a ban on extended households meeting indoors.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson previously announced that a limit of six people for social gatherings would come into force in England on Monday.

In Scotland, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon also confirmed that a maximum of six people from two households would be allowed to meet together.
3 Christian men facing combined 35 years in prison flee Iran

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Three Iranian Christian converts, who were facing a combined 35 years in prison because of their faith, have fled the country after a court rejected their appeal, according to a Christian persecution watchdog group.

The three converts, identified as Kvian Fallah-Mohammadi, Hadi Asgari and Amin Afshar-Naderi, were charged due to their connection to a December 2014 Christmas celebration and were facing a combined 35 years in prison, according to the U.S.-based International Christian Concern.

The three men fled the Islamic country just weeks after two other Christians  a pastor and his wife  were forced to flee after their appeals rejected, ICC reported, noting that the flight of five Christians from within a space of a few weeks is noteworthy, especially as their cases were some of the most publicized among Irans persecuted Christian community.

These five cases were all interconnected and trace back to the same Christmas celebration in 2014.

There is a sense that Iran wants to force Christians out of the country, but leaving is an incredibly painful and difficult process, ICC said. The church is at an important crossroad, even as persecution in Iran increases.

Last month, the Iranian human rights monitoring watchdog organization Article 18 reported that Pastor Victor Bet-Tamraz and his wife, Shamiram Isavi, fled Iran instead of turning themselves in to face a combined 15 years in prison.

Their appeals of prison sentences, related to their involvement in a house church and evangelism, were also denied.

The couples daughter, Dabrina Bet Tamraz, who met with President Donald Trump last year to advocate for her family members, confirmed that her parents had departed Iran. While she could not disclose their location, she assured Article 18 that they are safe and well.

Dabrina Bet Tamraz, who left Iran in the early 2010s, said her parents, who are in their mid-60s, plan to continue fighting their legal battle against Iranian authorities. Her parents, she added, are determined to return to their home country should the Iranian court overturn their sentences.

The charges brought against the couple have been condemned by human rights activists, as well as Vice President Mike Pence.

The couples son, Ramiel, was released from prison earlier this year after being sentenced to four months for participating in house churches.

In 2009, Iranian authorities shut down Pastor Victor Bet-Tamrazs church. But instead of fleeing the country, he continued to share the Good News, Pence said during a speech at the U.S. State Departments 2019 Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom. Pastor Bet Tamraz and his family are an inspiration to freedom-loving people the world over.

In Iran, it is illegal for Christians to share the Gospel with Muslims. Open Doors USA, a global persecution watchdog organization, ranks Iran on its annual World Watch List as the ninth-worst county when it comes to Christian persecution.

That ranking comes as several house churches were raided during the World Watch List reporting period  Nov. 1, 2018, to Oct. 31, 2019. During that period, Open Doors reports that at least 169 Christians were arrested in Iran.
PORTLAND, Ore. - Thick, hazardous smoke could continue to smother the West Coast for days, hindering firefighters battling dozens of deadly blazes that continue to scorch the region.

While a brief, long-awaited rain arrived along the Oregon coast on Tuesday, clearing up the skies in some parts of the state, officials warned that dangerous smoke will remain in the air through at least Thursday.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has extended an air-quality advisory through noon Thursday, as several cities in the state reached their highest-ever-recorded air-quality index ratings during the past week. The state already has seen a significant increase in emergency room visits for smoke-related respiratory conditions.

Sarah Present, a deputy tri-county health officer for the Portland metro region, warned residents in a video message on Tuesday that they should stay indoors.

"This air can worsen asthma or COPD," she said. "It can lead to heart attacks, irregular heart rhythms and even death."

"It is so bad that you can likely smell it inside your house, and in some areas, the air quality is so hazardous it is off the charts of the EPA's rating scale," she said. "What this means is you should not go outside."

The smoke that the wildfires in the American West has sent skyward has traveled across the country, causing a milky-orange haze and a dimmed sun as far east as Washington. The smoke, carried along by the jet stream, will linger on the East Coast through at least Thursday, promising surreal skies. Effects on the ground are expected to be minimal.

Here in Oregon, the unusual wildfires have displaced tens of thousands of residents and have left at least eight people dead and at about 16 people missing. There have been approximately 25 deaths in California.

Lower temperatures and higher humidity have allowed the more than 8,600 firefighters to make progress on the 30 large wildfires spreading across nearly 1.7 million acres in Oregon and Washington state, fire officials said Tuesday. Some of those fires continued to grow, while at least one, the Almeda Fire that ravaged communities in southern Oregon, reached 100 percent containment, a rare victory in what has been an alarmingly busy fire season at its outset.

"We now find ourselves one week into this, and without question our state has been pushed to its limits," Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat, said during a news conference Monday. "As we look toward the next few days, my firefighting teams tell me they are optimistic that cooler weather coming toward the end of this week will be a tremendous help."

In California, more than 16,600 firefighters continued to face off against 25 major wildfires across the state. The blazes in California have burned more than 3.2 million acres and destroyed more than 4,200 structures, according to state fire authorities.

A cooling trend in California has helped fire crews in the state, but gusty winds have allowed fires to pick up in the north and along the Sierra, said Daniel Berlant, assistant deputy director of Cal Fire. Those wind gusts are expected to continue through at least Thursday.

More than 1,145 homes have been destroyed in Oregon, and 3,185 residents remained in shelters provided by the Red Cross as of Tuesday. Many more are displaced from their homes and waiting for evacuation orders to lift.

While officials on Monday had said 10 people were reported dead in Oregon, the state medical examiner later determined that two of those fatalities were unrelated to the fires, bringing the death toll down to eight. The two subtractions were identified as animal remains.

On Tuesday, the state began consolidating its efforts to identify and report fatalities in a single mobile morgue, the state's Office of Emergency Management said.

About one-tenth of an inch of rain fell along the Oregon coast on Tuesday, bringing substantial improvements in visibility there, said Daniel Hartsock, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Portland. Still, satellite imagery showed smoke lingering over the Willamette Valley and Columbia River Gorge, with smoke moving north from the fires in California. Forecasts predict the first "big rain" will arrive in the valley by Thursday afternoon, Hartsock said.

But Doug Grafe, chief of fire protection at the Oregon Department of Forestry, said the rain could come with some lightning and thunderstorms in the east, which could ignite additional fires.

- - -

Livingston reported from Washington.
A father-of-two has revealed how he was able to kick his heroin and ice addictions following a daring prison escape, three overdoses and countless stints in rehab.

Danny Shannon grew up in stable household with a loving mother in Cabramatta, in Sydney's west, but after dabbling with marijuana and LSD at 14 his life 'spiralled out of control'.

Mr Shannon became hooked on heroin when he was 16, before eventually turning to ice and landing himself behind bars by the time he was 18 after a string of drug-related offences.

'I've gone from being a happy, good kid from a good background and once I started using drugs, I never stopped,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

When he was 25, Mr Shannon famously escaped from Sydney's Silverwater prison and fled all the way to Perth along with fellow inmate Patrick Page.

Danny Shannon grew up in stable household with a loving mother in Cabramatta, in Sydney's west, but after dabbling with marijuana and LSD at 14 his life 'spiraled out of control'

Danny Shannon, 45, has revealed how he was able to kick his heroin and ice addictions following a daring prison escape, three overdoses and countless stints in rehab

Mr Shannon said his jailbreak was spurred on by a large sum of money he had hidden on the outside, and his eagerness to see his girlfriend, who was pregnant with their son.

'I called her and I said "if you could see me tonight would it be okay?" It was like I wanted her permission [to escape],' he said.

'I had money stashed outside I was itching to get my hands on. So I managed to scale a four-metre high barbed-wire fence.'

The pair used garbage bin handles and rags to scale a five metre barbed-wire fence - before swimming through a shark-infested river.

'By the time we got down to Parramatta River, the water police and POLAIR were onto us,' Mr Shannon said.

'It was like a miracle. I don't know how the f**k we got away. I was climbing through mangroves and mud up to my neck for hours to get out of the river.'

Mr Shannon eventually arrived to his then-partner's house and grabbed his stash of money before they both made their way to Western Australia.

The father-of-two lasted six days on the run before police busted down his door at a hotel in Perth.

'I got pinched on Valentine's Day with my partner when police raided our hotel room,' he said.

Mr Shannon became hooked on heroin when he was 16, before eventually turning to ice and landing himself behind bars by the time he was 18 after a string of drug-related offences

He spent the next decade or so in and out of jail and rehab, checking himself in at least 50 times.

But after years of failing to shake his addictions, Mr Shannon made the life-changing decision in 2009 to check himself into Glebe House.

'That was a turning point in my entire life. I haven't really come close to using drugs since that day,' he said.

'I thought to myself that there's been maybe 100 times where I've been in that same position when I've thrown it all away.

'For some miracle reason I was brave and strong enough and made a different decision for the first time in my life, and I've never looked back.'

Mr Shannon has now been clean for 11 years, and said he hopes his experiences can serve as a lesson to others. Pictured with his daughter, 3

While Mr Shannon (right) works every single day on his sobriety, he said he isn't 'triggered' by thoughts of turning back to drugs

Mr Shannon, who is a father to a 19-year-old son and a three-year-old daughter, started his own virtual time capsule company Encapsulator 10 years ago to document his progress

Mr Shannon has been working at Glebe House - a community to help men transition to a life free from addiction - for over 10 years now.

'I now represent a symbol of hope for so many people going through exactly what I did for over a decade,' he said.

Mr Shannon has now been clean for 11 years, and said he hopes his experiences can serve as a lesson to others.

While Mr Shannon works every single day on his sobriety, he said he isn't 'triggered' by thoughts of turning back to drugs.

'The thought of it makes me sick. I work really hard everyday on my recovery program, and have been doing it everyday for 11 years,' he said.

Mr Shannon has been working at Glebe House - a community to help men transition to a life free from addiction - for over 10 years now

But after years of failing to shake his addictions, Mr Shannon made the life-changing decision in 2009 to check himself into Glebe House (pictured)

'It's not a chore but I work my a*** off on maintaining my sobriety by giving back and giving a lot of service to other people.'

Mr Shannon, who is a father to a 19-year-old son and a three-year-old daughter, started his own virtual time capsule company 10 years ago to document his progress.

'When I celebrated five years' clean this idea popped into my head to record a message to my 10 year birthday of sobriety,' he said.

'I realised it was such a unique, therapeutic and self-reflective practice. I discovered a real experience in creating a video message to my future self.'

Mr Shannon said his company Encapsulator records his client's messages to their future selves.

'You can choose any day in the future you want to lock your content until. When you record your video it disappears until the date you've selected,' he said.

'I'm a nostalgic person, and it's perfect for measuring growth.'
In a major escalation of tensions along the contested Line of Actual Control (LAC), Indian and Chinese soldiers fired bursts of bullets into the air last week on the northern bank of Pangong Tso when the Indian Army took control of key heights overlooking the Peoples Liberation Armys deployments on the Finger 4 ridgeline, officials familiar with the developments said on Wednesday.

This was the third incident of bullets being fired at the LAC since August 29-30 - the current border confrontation with China has seen bullets flying at the LAC for the first time in 45 years.

The firing incident took place at heights where Fingers 3 and 4 merge into the Sirijap range overlooking the Pangong Lake in eastern Ladakh, the officials said requesting anonymity. The lakes northern and southern banks are at the heart of the current border standoff between India and China, and among the four friction areas where both armies are holding forward positions.

Indian and Chinese soldiers are barely a few hundred metres at friction points on both sides of the lake.

Shots were fired on the lakes southern bank too - the Indian Army last week said that Chinese troops fired their weapons into the air on September 7 to intimidate its soldiers holding dominating heights at Mukhpari peak near Rezang La on the southern bank during a failed attempt to close in on a forward position controlled by India.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh told Parliament on Tuesday that China has engaged in massive mobilisation of troops at the LAC, aggressive behaviour, and sought to unilaterally change the status quo  all in contravention of existing border agreements and pacts between the two countries.

Also Read: Indian Army changes posture at LAC after Chinas failed midnight attempt

In the face of this, he said, Indias armed forces have shown both restraint when needed and courage when required, and will defend Indian sovereignty and territorial integrity in any situation. There was no mention of the firing incidents in the ministers statement.

He said the current friction areas in eastern Ladakh included Gogra, Kongka La and the northern and southern banks of Pangong Tso.

Before the PLA grabbed positions on Finger 4, 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 eight km apart. The Indian claim line in this sector extends to Finger 8, while the Chinese claim is up to Finger 4.

Also Read: India, China reach 5-point consensus on easing border tensions at Jaishankar-Wang meet

India is making vigorous attempts to provide logistics support to its soldiers deployed in the eastern Ladakh theatre where more than 50,000 Indian troops are likely to remain stationed through the winter months to deal any provocation by the Chinese forces, as reported by Hindustan Times on Wednesday.

China has deployed sizable military assets in the eastern Ladakh theatre including 50,000 troops, 150 aircraft, tanks, heavy artillery, missiles and air defence systems, with India matching every military move made by the neighbour.

The Indian Army controls ridgeline positions on the southern bank of Pangong Tso that allow it to completely dominate the sector and keep an eye on Chinese military activity, with the most significant heights being held by India on Rezang La and Reqin pass where the PLA is making desperate attempts to regain lost ground.

In Lok Sabha, Singh suggested on Tuesday that in the past too, there have been long standoffs which were peacefully resolved, but acknowledged that the scale of troop mobilisation and number of friction points made the current situation different. We are ready to face any situation, he said.

Singh said that India, in its communication with China, had clearly laid out three principles  the need to respect the LAC and adhere to it strictly; the need to not change the status quo; and the need to respect all pacts and agreements. But on August 29 and 30, even as discussions were underway, Singh said that the PLA tried to unilaterally change the status quo on the southern bank of Pangong Tso, but timely action by Indian armed forces repelled the design.

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US attempts to turn Mekong into another anti-China battlefield like S. China Sea

Global Times

By Hu Yuwei Source: Global Times Published: 2020/9/15 20:48:40

With $150 million initial investment, the US claimed to launch a Mekong-US partnership as an integral part of its "Indo-Pacific vision," which observers believe shows its accelerated pace in politicizing the water resources issue in the region to curb China's growing influence in Southeast Asia.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also accused the Communist Party of China (CPC) of "increasingly threatening the Mekong's natural environment and economic autonomy." Experts on Tuesday noted that Pompeo's remarks, with huge ideological overtones, show the US is trying to turn the Mekong River basin into a new battleground against China similar to the South China Sea.

The US launched a fierce narrative battle against China around the region in 2020. Working with US-backed NGOs, think tanks, lobbyists and media, the US hyped environmental and resources issues and sowed discord among the members by tarnishing China's efforts in the area.

A typical example is Pompeo's tweet on August 14 slandering China for "manipulating flows in a non-transparent manner," deliberately ignoring China's long-term pledge and efforts to share data with the countries involved.

For 18 years in a row, China has provided free hydrological data on the Lancang River, also known as the Mekong for southeast Asian nations, during the flood season, to assist Mekong River countries' flood control and disaster mitigation plans.

Global experts from the US, the UK, Lower Mekong Basin Region (LMRB) countries, and cross-national organizations at a virtual international seminar on July 14 agreed that cascade reservoirs along the Lancang River helped alleviate the drought downstream.

Some Western media claimed in 2019 that China's hydroelectric dams exacerbated the drought in other countries at the end of 2019.

But the Secretariat of the Mekong River Commission, an inter-governmental river basin organization, and Chinese hydraulic experts have cited scientific evidence, and concluded that the drought was mainly caused by reduced precipitation and the El Nino event.

"Many of those self-proclaimed US researchers did not even conduct field work in the Mekong basin before drawing their 'conclusions,'" Bi Shihong, a professor at the Center for China's Neighbor Diplomacy Studies and School of International Studies of Yunnan University, told the Global Times on Tuesday. "The reports of those institutions are less scientifically valuable, and member countries usually review the conclusions independently with more caution."

Pompeo on Monday again spread rumors in his statement, claiming that Chinese companies participating in construction projects in Mekong countries practice "predatory and opaque business." He blamed the CPC for a range of problems without providing evidence.

These allegations are clearly politically driven, exposing how the US is desperately looking for a new agenda to suppress China around the world, Bi said.

Prior to the Mekong-US partnership, the US proposed the Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI) in 2009 to pin more power in the Mekong sub-region. With the rapid development and smooth flow of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) mechanism initiated by China, the US escalated its stigmatization of China and has continued to offer multiple cooperation models to Mekong countries under "American-led Mekong water rules," said Zhang Li, an assistant professor on Water Diplomacy and the Mekong River region at Fudan University.

China is facing increasing pressure from beyond the Mekong River region, like smears from non-relevant countries that want to interfere in the region, Zhang told the Global Times. China can use the LMC mechanism to reap more tangible benefits for Mekong countries to promote regional stability and sustainable development, he said.

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The Multiplex Association of India, representing the interests of cinema exhibition industry has appealed to the Government of India to reopen cinema halls with an ongoing campaign #UnlockCinemaSaveJobs. The industry body claims that the rate of losses resulting from closure of cinema halls is at Rs 1500 crores monthly and amount to Rs 9000 crores over the six months. This cinema exhibition industry comprises of 10,000 cinema screens across the country and directly employs more than 2 lakh people.

Also read: ICRA: Post consolidation, expansion in tier II and tier III cities to lead future growth in multiplex industry; multiplex screens to cross 3000 by 2019

During Unlock, malls, airlines, retail, restaurants, gyms, bars, metros and other outdoor services have restarted. The multiplex association argues that cinemas are better equipped to ensure crowed management in stringent hygienic environments while maintaining applicable social distancing norms. In an open letter, the industry body lists out the factors that ensure safety in cinemas.

Only paying patrons visit unlike other events where there are no entry tickets.

Movie show timings are staggered ensuring there are no crowd buildups.

Controlled and regulated entry and exits.

Availability of ample waiting areas.

Cinemas are professionally managed, hence compliance with SOPs is assured.

The letter argues 85 countries across the globe have fully reopened cinema including China, Korea, UK, France, Italy, Spain, UAE, USA, Singapore, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka with the implementation of the highest degrees of safety protocols and to encouraging response from audiences.
Taiwanese Businesswoman Thanks Local Epoch Times for Truthful Coverage of Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected Japans economy, crippling businesses, especially in the restaurant industry. Tse-Min Chin (also known as Tammy Kawamura), wife of the chairman of Japanese restaurant giant Tentsusaikan Group, told The Epoch Times the difficulties faced by the restaurant industry and what people are truly thinking about.

Chin was a Taiwanese actor when she was 16 years old. She co-starred with Brigitte Lin, an icon in Chinese-language cinema, in the 1978 film, Love of the White Snake. Chin was shortlisted for Best Supporting Actress at the Golden Horse Awards in 1978. At age 19, she quit the film and television industry, got married, and moved to Japan. In addition to helping her husband manage their restaurants, Chin established her own handbag company, TAMMY, and runs a real estate business that operates in Taiwan, China, and Hawaii. She also operates her own luxury apartment rental business in Taiwan.

When she spoke about the pandemic, she said: My husband runs more than a dozen restaurants. However, he loses tens of millions every month because of the pandemic. Also, I have cancelled all real estate business in mainland China.

Compared with business operations, I want to say that nothing is more important than life and health. She said, I was clearheaded in this disaster and thoroughly understand the evil of the CCP.

The World Is Persecuted by the CCP

Chin said that business is important, but as long as you are alive, there is hopeand the economy will eventually recover. You dont have to worry too much about it, as ups and downs in business are normal, but the key issue is that people must learn some lessons.

She repeatedly emphasized: The CCP persecutes people all over the world.

COVID-19 has claimed more than 800,000 lives, and its like the world has experienced a terrible war. It is indeed heartbreaking, but if mankind does not pay such a painful price, I am afraid that the CCPs evil actions would not have been exposed.

Because the CCP concealed the virus outbreak, the disease harmed the world and claimed the lives of people everywhere. Only then did people discover that 70 percent of the worlds media have been infiltrated and bought by the CCP, and were kneeling in front of money, along with political dignitaries in many countries.

We ordinary people, business people, are completely deceived and have no way of knowing the truth. It [CCP] is hurting not just our economy, but also our lives.

The mainstream media reports all over the world are lies and are all bought by money. State officials dare not say anything to the CCP. Is it not scary to rely on it [CCP] so much ? When human beings no longer have morals and beliefs, isnt it over (for mankind)?

So I am very, very grateful to The Epoch Times for persisting in reporting the truth, which is rare in todays world. By resisting the CCPs money power it lets us understand the truth, so that we can wake up in time and stop doing business with it [CCP].

A long time ago, we were confused by the CCPs economic illusion, and we just invested in it. I was also doing real estate transactions in China at that time.

I grew up in Taiwan and later married a Japanese man. I have been living in places with a democratic and legal system. I did not really understand the cruelty and evil nature of the CCP.

A Wake-up Call From Hong Kongs Pro-Democracy Movement

Chin said that the repression suffered by Hong Kong people in their struggle to protect democracy and freedom, and the loss of life, made her completely sober: The CCPs repression is shameless, tyrannical, and inhumane. Under the gaze of the world, this presumptuous bully shows its face clearly.

She said that because of the resistance of the Hong Kong people, the Taiwanese have come to their senses, rejected the CCP, and taken measures to prevent the pandemic, for which she feels gratitude.

Fortunate to Read the Epoch Times and Learn the Truth

Chin said that what made her most sad wasnt the loss of business. After all, she now knows the truth (about the CCPs actions), which is a lucky thing. If a person is alive and healthy, there is still a chance to do the right thing.

However, when Chin shared with her friends and family some of The Epoch Times articles that exposes the CCPs wrongdoings, she encountered difficulty. She said they only believe in the reports by the media that were bought and controlled by the CCP. For this reason, she understood the CCPs viciousness even more.

She also said that she now pays close attention to The Epoch Times reports, the pandemic reports of countries around the world, and the recent actions of some governments in holding the CCP accountable.

She hopes that the media and governments that are pro-Beijing can quickly wake up and stand up against the CCPs tyranny.

I hope that in the future, our society, including China, will no longer be threatened by the CCP, and the people will live freely in peace and without fear.

Liu Ru contributed to this report.
GREENVILLE, S.C., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Duke Energy today announced an agreement with leading solar installers, environmental groups and renewable energy advocates that, if approved by regulators, will create long-term stability for the residential solar industry in South Carolina.

The deal will provide options for customers while allowing the company to address increasing electric demand periods in the winter for the benefit of the company's systems and customers in both North Carolina and South Carolina.

The proposed plan  Solar Choice Net Metering  could be the next generation of net energy metering for the Carolinas, a billing process that credits small customers with rooftop solar arrays for excess electricity they generate and provide to Duke Energy via the grid.

Solar Choice Net Metering will include retail rates that vary based on the time of day and when utilities experience peak demand. It will also give customers the ability to install a smart thermostat with their solar panels and receive an incentive for the combination.

"This first-of-a-kind package completely modernizes the rooftop solar transaction," said Lon Huber, Duke Energy's vice president for rate design and strategic solutions. "This new arrangement not only recognizes the value of solar and the enabling energy grid, but it unlocks additional benefits for all customers by addressing when utilities experience peak demand across their systems in the Carolinas."

Those organizations part of the effort include renewable energy advocates Vote Solar and North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association; the Southern Environmental Law Center on behalf of South Carolina Coastal Conservation League, Upstate Forever and Southern Alliance for Clean Energy; and leading rooftop solar installer Sunrun. Each organization that is part of the agreement will continue to advance the proposal to other stakeholders and ultimately regulators.

The agreement builds on the goals of the South Carolina Energy Freedom Act (Act 62). The 2019 legislation is the result of a collaborative and bipartisan effort to develop the next steps for energy policy in South Carolina that support the state's continued commitment to solar energy development.

"Collaboration brought us a pathway to growing renewables in the state with Act 62, and that spirit of working together created this plan for the continued expansion of solar in South Carolina," said Mike Callahan, Duke Energy South Carolina state president. "Duke Energy is committed to the cooperative spirit that has been a hallmark of achieving successful solar policy and creating a cleaner energy future for customers in South Carolina."

"Duke Energy deserves credit for its leadership in bringing stakeholders together, establishing trust through transparency, and embracing policy innovation," said Thad Culley, senior regional director for Vote Solar. "I am hopeful that this collaborative approach will encourage more partnerships with Duke Energy as we try to navigate our way toward a cleaner, more resilient grid, while providing additional choices for South Carolina families."

If approved by regulators, the company anticipates a transitional tariff to be available on June 1, 2021, to allow for a full transition into the new plan on or before Jan. 1, 2022.

Duke Energy

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 29,000 people and has an electric generating capacity of 51,000 megawatts through its regulated utilities and 2,300 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 7.8 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 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' "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.

Duke Energy Media Contact: Ryan Mosier

24-Hour: 800.559.3853

Vote Solar Media Contact: Hilary Lewis

202.455.0361

SOURCE Duke Energy

Related Links

www.duke-energy.com


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Heartwarming images reveal the hard work vets and animal activists are doing to save Australia's koala population following the devastating bushfires.

The horrific summer bushfire season saw 81 per cent of the koala population killed in New South Wales alone and left an estimated three billion animals killed or displaced across Australia.

The NSW Government has since committed $44.7million, the largest financial commitment ever conducted by the state, to help the koalas after a damning parliamentary inquiry released earlier in June found that koalas are likely to be extinct by 2050 if there is not government intervention to help the marsupials.

A young female koala fondly named Ash is seen sitting on a Eucalyptus branch following a general health check at the Australian Reptile Park on August 27, 2020

Clinical Director Cheyne Flanagan (R) and hospital volunteers Rita Saunders and Gaby Rivett and treat a juvenile female koala named 'Oxey Kylie' for car accident trauma at Port Macquarie Koala Hospital on September 15, 2020

Bek Shephard, a Field Officer with NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service in Dubbo, monitors a hazard reduction burn at Bowen Mountain a known koala habitat on September 04, 2020 in Sydney

Barbara Barrett, a Port Macquarie Koala Hospital volunteer of 20 years, cares for a 8 month old koala joey named Livvy orphaned following a car accident

Vets and animal activists have taken it upon themselves to help the endangered species who suffered a devastating loss due to the wildfires and other accidents which see them become orphaned.

Incredible images show the volunteers and working weighing koalas, feeding them, checking on their injuries as they work hard to protect the species and strengthen them.

The Port Macquarie Koala Hospital boasts 150 volunteers, a specialised treatment room, intensive care unit and rehabilitation yards for koalas.

Their extraordinary volunteers care for the beloved Australian marsupial to ensure they are recovered and able to go back into the wild.

Dean Reid, Head Mammal and Bird Keeper at the Australian Reptile Park is greeted by a female koala fondly named Pirri along with her joey Prim during a general health check

Jeremy Bear a Port Macquarie Koala Hospital volunteer releases a juvenile male koala named Savoy Vince in to natural habitat at Lake Innes Nature Reserve

Sonny Cromelin a Field Officer with NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service in Dubbo monitors a hazard reduction burn at Bowen Mountain a known koala habitat on September 04, 2020 in Sydney

Barbara Barrett, a Port Macquarie Koala Hospital volunteer of 20 years, cares for a 8 month old koala joey named Livvy orphaned following a car accident

Mr Reid weighs a young female koala fondly named 'Rosie' along with her joey Ash during a general health check on August 27

Barbara Barrett has been volunteering for 20 years at the hospital and is seen embracing an eight-month-old joey named Livvy who was orphaned following a car crash.

Clinical Director Cheyne Flanagan and fellow hospital volunteers Rita Saunders and Gaby Rivett were also spotted treating a young female koala named Oxey Kylie for car accident trauma.

Another fellow volunteer, Jeremy Bear, is cradling a baby male koala named Savoy Vince in a blanket before releasing him into the wild at Lake Innes Nature Reserve.

The Australian Reptile Park workers on the Central Coast also care for healthy and injured koalas in hopes they can go back to their natural habitat and repopulate.

Dean Reid, Head Mammal and Bird Keeper at the Australian Reptile Park oversees the koala program at the Australian Reptile Park.

He assists in weighing, feeding and caring for the marsupials. At one point he is even greeted fondly by a female koala fondly named Pirri along with her joey Prim during a general health check up.

Hospital volunteer Betty Lambert hand feeds a male koala named Jan at Port Macquarie Koala Hospital on September 14

Hospital volunteer Penny McKinley prepares fresh Eucalyptus feed for koala pens at Port Macquarie Koala Hospital

Clinical Director Cheyne Flanagan evaluates a juvenile female koala named Oxey Kylie for car accident trauma

Hospital volunteer Rita Saunders holds a juvenile female koala named Oxey Kylie suffering from a car accident injury

Following the parliamentary inquiry, 42 recommendations were made by the committee to protect the koala population, not just from bushfires.

The inquiry had also cited that land clearing, climate change and logging as driving the koala population to the brink of extinction.

'Given the scale of loss as a result of the fires to many significant populations, the committee believes the koala will become extinct in NSW well before 2050,' the report said.

Committee chair and Greens MLC Cate Faehrmann said the threatened species was already in significant trouble before the bushfire season which killed about 5,000 koalas.

The report said the government estimates there are 36,000 koalas in the state, but that figure is unreliable.

Some of the recommendations include protecting koala habitat, cease the opening up of old-growth state forest for logging and the establishment of a well-resourced network of wildlife hospitals in key areas of the state staffed by suitably qualified personnel and veterinarians.

Ms Barrett, a Port Macquarie Koala Hospital volunteer of 20 years, cares for a 8 month old koala joey named Livvy orphaned following a car accident
Jarrod Elphick, 20, was sentenced on Thursday after he snatched $100 out of the hand of Julian Stewart as he withdrew his disability pension

The man who shocked Australia after he robbed a vulnerable wheelchair-bound pensioner at a Sydney ATM has escaped a jail term.

Jarrod Elphick, 20, was sentenced on Thursday to an 18-month Community Correction Order involving 150 hours of community service after he snatched $100 out of the hand of Julian Stewart as he withdrew his disability pension.

Footage of the unbelievable incident went viral in May after the CCTV footage was released by police.

Mr Stewart has revealed he now lives in fear and is not surprised Elphick has been arrested again for a separate offence involving his own mother.

'I don't go to an ATM by myself anymore. I always make sure there is someone with me, I can't bear to have it happen again,' he said.

'I don't carry money anymore.

'Every time that I go to an ATM now, I still am frightened. Although I've managed to be very positive about the whole thing it did have a very large impact on my life.

'As far as I look at it, I made the mistake. I went in there when they were sitting there.'

Elphick (pictured) was arrested on August 25 after breaching his bail conditions

Mr Stewart said he wasn't surprised that his attacker has been arrested again

Elphick and another man (pictured) were waiting for Mr Stewart to withdraw money before stealing it

The men waited for Mr Stewart to withdraw his money before snatching $100 from him

Daily Mail Australia can exclusively reveal Elphick was re-arrested following an incident involving his mother almost three weeks ago.

While on bail for the offence involving Mr Stewart, Elphick fled his home after a row with his mum about what time he would be served dinner.

Court documents reveal he repeatedly banged his head against the wall, creating a small hole in the plaster and yelled 'incoherently' towards his mother.

Elphick then headbutted the corner of the hallway in the kitchen twice which caused damage in two separate areas.

Forty-five minutes later police intercepted Elphick half a kilometre from the home, arresting him for breaching bail conditions which had prohibited him from leaving home without his mum.

He was taken to Liverpool Police Station where police were unable interview him due to 'erratic' behaviour.

Elphick faced Magistrate Thomas at Liverpool Local Court on Thursday for sentencing after pleading guilty to 'destroy or damage property' following the incident on August 25, as well as the 'steal from person' charge relating to the ATM robbery.

He was sentenced to an 18-month Community Correction Order and required to perform 150 hours of community service work for the theft charge.

Elphick attempts to dodge news cameras after appearing at Downing Centre Local Court

Jarrod Elphick arrives at the Downing Centre District Court in Sydney on June 17

Elphick was sentenced to an 18-month Community Correction Order and required to perform 150 hours of community service work for the theft charge

He was also convicted for the 'destroy or damage property' charge but no further penalty was imposed.

A Final Apprehended Violence Order was also made prohibiting him from going within 100 meters of where his mother lives or works for a period of two years. He is also prohibited from assaulting or threatening her.

The cowardly act hasn't stopped Julian Stewart from turning the experience into a positive one.

He believes there was a reason for him being born with spastic diplegia cerebral palsy  in that he has a great gift and purpose in life.

'A lot of disabled people think that way and we don't want people to feel pity on us. We want to be part of society, and a productive part of society and give people a lot of great and positive messages,' Mr Stewart said.

Elphick faced Magistrate Thomas at Liverpool Local Court on Thursday for sentencing after pleading guilty to 'destroy or damage property'

After receiving thousands of dollars in donations he has started the Julian Stewart Foundation and also launched a podcast.

'Right now I'm working with down syndrome people, taking them out during the day.'

'I do a live podcast, about three days a week where we talk about making people's lives better.

'It's just been awesome, the sorts of things I've been able to do since all of this happened.

'There was a lot of very kind people that donated money to me, but I didn't want to take the money for myself. I've been able to use some of that money to help disabled people, which is a very special thing,' Mr Stewart told Daily Mail Australia on Saturday morning.

As for Elphick's 150 hours of community service  Mr Stewart hopes it would have to do with helping disabled people.

'People with a disability like me need extra protection, so I need the law to protect me.

'In saying all of that, I do know that the person who committed this crime is a very young person and I don't necessarily believe that putting them behind bars is the right thing.'

He has previously offered to talk to his perpetrators and would even extend his hand out to forgive Elphick but doesn't believe he has shown any remorse.

'I offered to come and talk with him. I do agree that young people make mistakes. I hope that he can turn his life around.

'It's only made me a better person. It's only made me a better and stronger person. It's allowed me to meet and show a lot of people just how a bad situation can become a very good one.'
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 20:56:06|Editor: huaxia

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JAKARTA, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Mitigation Team of the Indonesian Medical Association (IDI) has recorded that as many as 115 doctors had died during the COVID-19 pandemic across the archipelagic country with the biggest number in East Java province.

Of the total number, 60 were general practitioners, 53 were specialists and two resident doctors who were still attending an education for specialists, according to data from the IDI's Mitigation Team as quoted by Antara news agency here on Wednesday.

The biggest number of the doctors who died was found in East Java province with 29 doctors followed by North Sumatra province with 21 doctors, Indonesia's capital of Jakarta 15 doctors, and the rest were found in other provinces in the country.

The IDI recorded that the ratio of doctors in Indonesia was the lowest in Southeast Asia, namely 0.4 doctors per 1,000 people, meaning the country only has four doctors to serve 10,000 people. Meanwhile for specialist doctors, the ratio was 0.13 per 1,000 people.

Chairman of the IDI's Mitigation Team Adib Khumaidi explained that with the deaths of 115 doctors, it was assumed that one doctor served 2,500 patients.

The government was expected to make concrete measures in an effort to protect and save doctors and other health workers, Khumaidi said, adding that the government could set up a national committee for the protection and safety of medical workers and health workers. Enditem
Israel is likely to emerge as the biggest winner of last night's historic peace deal, as it will help build a US-led alliance against Iran, strengthen security ties with wealthy new allies, and potentially save the career of the country's embattled prime minister.

The accords unlock dozens of trade deals in aviation, tourism, and the country's advanced tech industry, with direct flights due to start running from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi. The Abraham Accord should also improve Benjamin Netanyahu's reputation at home, as he faces mass protests against his leadership, a corruption trial and a second wave of coronavirus.

But more importantly, Israel has secured peace with two more Arab nations, following the accords of the past with Egypt and Jordan, leaving Israel far less isolated in a hostile region.

For some time now, Israel has co-operated on security with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), but largely under the radar. Now that security relationship can continue in public, with concerns about the growing regional influence of Iran being a key area of common ground. At the White House ceremony, UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed and Bahrain's Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al Zayani each signed the agreements with Mr Netanyahu.

Iranian influence is of particular concern for Bahrain, because until 1969 the regime claimed it was part of its territory. As for the UAE - a small, oil-rich nation in the Persian Gulf - it harbours grand ambitions of becoming a key political power in the Middle East.

This deal will lend credibility to that goal, but Emirati officials stress that they also secured a significant concession from Israel in regards to the Palestinian issue. Earlier this year, Israel announced it would annex up to 30pc of the West Bank, prompting a storm of criticism. But the UAE says it has convinced Israel to postpone that move in return for a full diplomatic relationship and enhanced trade with the Gulf state.

It also appears, now the ink on the agreement is dry, that Donald Trump is willing to sell advanced F-35 fighter jets to the UAE, granting it a military prowess that could rival Saudi Arabia.

On the US side, the president is looking for any opportunity to present himself as a genius in foreign policy. As the deal stands to hugely benefit Israel, it should go down well with the Republican Right. If that wasn't enough, the Abraham Accord has also led to Mr Trump being nominated for the Nobel peace prize. ( Daily Telegraph)

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]
State Gas Limited (ASX:GAS)

State Gas Limited (GAS.AX) Exponential Increase in Gas Flow at Nyanda-4 - Reids Dome

Brisbane, Australia, Sep 16, 2020 - (ABN Newswire) - State Gas Limited (ASX:GAS) advises that gas flow rates at its Nyanda-4 well at the Reid's Dome Gas Project (PL231) have increased exponentially since the Company's last production update on Friday, 11 September. The Nyanda-4 well has been flowing gas at rates exceeding peak production recorded during testing in January this year, with rates overnight above 240mscf (or 240,000 standard cubic feet) per day.



State Gas Executive Chairman, Richard Cottee, said that the leap forward in gas production at Nyanda-4 followed the installation of customised pumping equipment built in Canada to suit the local conditions at Reid's Dome.



"I am really pleased with the performance of the Nyanda-4 well" Mr Cottee said.



"Seeing the well improve gas production and now exceed previous flow rates using the customized pumps is very encouraging for the development of the whole Reid's Dome gas field."



As previously advised, Nyanda-4, drilled by the Company in late 2018, was the first coal seam gas (CSG) well within the Company's 100% owned Reid's Dome Gas Project (PL231). Located in the southern region of the PL231, the well intersected 40m net coal and a further 25m of carbonaceous shales, as well as a number of conventional tight gas sands. With an average gas content of 13.75 m3/t (measured by desorption of the coal cores acquired from the well), the Nyanda-4 results confirmed the potential for a significant CSG project at Reid's Dome.



The Company has since embarked on Phase 1 of an exploration and appraisal programme and confirmed the widespread presence of CSG across PL231. A key element of this programme involved production testing the Nyanda-4 well to confirm the producibility of the gas in the coals. The production test commenced in December 2019 and as previously advised, sustained gas flows from the well commenced after only five days of dewatering. In signs very encouraging for commerciality at the time, the gas rate built to a rate of 227 mscf/d after six weeks with low water make, before technical problems intervened and pumping ceased. The downhole pressure increased and the flow rate fell when dewatering ceased in January.



Following investigation of the pump issues and the installation of customised pumps, the Nyanda-4 production test recommenced in July. After eight weeks of dewatering, gas flow rates have suddenly increased exponentially in recent days, reaching more than 240 mscf/d overnight. Water production continues to be low.



Other milestones during the successful Phase 1 exploration and appraisal program at Reid's Dome have included drilling the Serocold-1 and Aldinga East-1A wells, confirming a significant coal seam gas field across more than 12 kilometres north-south within PL 231, along with production testing of Serocold-1. Gas flows continue to build slowly at Serocold-1 using the new pumping solution, also confirming producibility of the gas.



Previously advised4 damage to the Serocold-1 well bore restricted the depth at which the pump could be placed, resulting in approximately 46% of the targeted coal seams below the pump and unlikely contributors to this test. The increasing flow rates and low water-make at Serocold-1 is encouraging and bodes well for commercial production.



The dramatic production increase at Nyanda-4, and its implications for Serocold-1 and future wells at Reid's Dome, also provide further support for commercial production from PL231 as tightening is expected in the east coast gas market over the coming two-to-three years.







Story continues

About State Gas Limited:



State Gas Limited (ASX:GAS) is a Queensland-based developer of the Reid's Dome gas field (PL 231), which includes both CSG and conventional gas, originally discovered in 1954 during oil drilling prior to the existence of a pipeline network and an east coast gas market. The Reid's Dome field is located in the Bowen Basin in Central Queensland on the apex of the Springsure-Sericold Anticline. State Gas is sole Operator of PL 231, which is well-located 30 kilometres southwest of Rolleston, approximately 47 kilometres from the Queensland Gas Pipeline.



http://www.stategas.com



Contact:



Lucy Snelling

Chief Executive Officer

Phone: 0439 608 241

e-mail: lucy@stategas.com



Richard Cottee

Executive Chairman

Phone: 0458 517 850

e-mail: richard@stategas.com



Source:

State Gas Limited



Copyright (C) 2020 ABN Newswire. All rights reserved.
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Linkedin M. Taufiqurrahman (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, September 16, 2020 16:20 492 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c45287ca 1 World Donald-Trump,COVID-19,Pew-Research-Center Free

The erratic style of United States President Donald Trump's leadership and his administration's mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has infected 6.7 million people and killed more than 197,000 in the country, has battered the superpower nation's standing in the world, sending its favorability rating in some countries to an all-time low, a fresh Pew Research Center survey has found.

The public opinion survey, conducted in 13 countries by interviewing more than 13,000 people between June 10 and Aug. 3, found that 83 percent of respondents have no confidence in the leadership of President Trump, while only 34 percent express a favorable opinion of the US.

The US reputation took a serious hit especially in Europe, the country's traditional ally.

In the United Kingdom, 41 percent of respondents have a favorable opinion of the US, the lowest percentage registered in any Pew Research Center survey there. In France, only 31 percent see the US positively, matching the grim ratings from March 2003, at the height of US-France tensions over the Iraq War.

Germans give the US particularly low marks on the survey: 26 percent rate the US favorably, similar to the 25 percent in the same March 2003 poll.

The US global reputation rebounded after the Iraq war and following the election of Democratic president Barack Obama. In France in 2009 for instance, the US favorability rating reached 75 percent.

Data from Pew Research Center also shows that the US favorability rating drop from last year's figures in all 13 countries surveyed.

Part of the decline over the past year is linked to how the US has handled the COVID-19 pandemic, Pew Research Center director for global attitude research Richard Wike said in a press briefing on Tuesday.

"People have admired the US for its scientific achievement and technology, and this public health challenge came along and people thought the US could deal well with this big public health challenge," Wike said.

Wike added that the world viewed Trumps personal attributes and leadership qualities in a negative light.

"People say he was intolerant, he wasn't well qualified, he was arrogant, dangerous and that's part of the story why he has the lower rating.

Also, some of Trump's isolationist policies, including withdrawing from the Iran Nuclear Deal, the Paris Climate Accord and a number of free trade agreements, has further damaged the US standing in the world, he said.

The survey also found that the public views President Trump more negatively than other world leaders.

Among the six leaders included in the survey, Angela Merkel receives the highest marks: A median of 76 percent across the nations polled have confidence in the German chancellor. French President Emmanuel Macron also gets largely favorable reviews of 64 percent. Ratings for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson are roughly split.

In this "most-trusted leader" category, Trump, with an 83 percent disapproval rating, lands below Chinese Premiere Xi Jinping with 78 percent and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who only got a 23 percent approval rating.

The only positive review that President Trump received was from Europeans who have favorable views of right-wing populist parties.

For instance, supporters of Spains Vox party are likely to view Trump in a positive light: 45 percent are confident in his ability to handle international affairs. In Germany, 34 percent in the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) gave a positive review of Trump, while in the UK, 33 percent of the Brexit Party views the Republican president in a favorable light.

(Left to right) Foreign Affairs Minister of Bahrain Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump, and Foreign Affairs Minister of the United Arab Emirates Abdullah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan participate in the signing ceremony of the Abraham Accords on the South Lawn of the White House on September 15, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Agence France Presse/Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Some of the efforts Trump made to improve his standing in the world, including his attempt to broker a peace deal in the Middle East, which recently materialized in the normalization between Israel and Arab countries like Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, could only do so much to undo some of damages that he had exacted in international politics.

"We have seen negative ratings in Jordan over the years, pretty low ratings in the Palestinian territory and from some other countries in the region [...] in the past two decades, the reviews have been negative toward the United States," he said.

The new Pew Poll is devastating for how the world sees us. Confidence in the U.S. has plummeted to historic lows. The global public has even greater trust in Putin and Xi Jinping than Trump. We need new leadership. | Pew Research Center https://t.co/0GrmQDcryh  Nicholas Burns (@RNicholasBurns) September 15, 2020

Former US Ambassador to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Nicholas Burns said the new poll was "devastating" and the country needed a new leadership to undo whatever damages Trump had wrought upon the US standing in the world.

"Confidence in the US has plummeted to historic lows. The global public has even greater trust in Putin and Xi Jinping than Trump," he said.
A San Antonio police officer shot and killed a man wanted on two warrants Tuesday, marking the eighth fatal shooting by San Antonio police this year.

Police Chief William McManus said three plainclothes and two uniformed officers were serving two family violence warrants Tuesday afternoon in the 100 block of Willee on the West Side when the man struck an officer with a can of paint and pulled the officers gun from its holster.

An officer fired one shot, striking the man, according to police. The man, identified by a family friend as Darrell Zemault Sr., 55, was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Michael Fisher

Celeste Brown, a friend of Zemaults family and an organizer with Defund Police SA, said the family learned that he had died when McManus said so during a news conference while they were on the way to the hospital.

Zemault  whom neighbors described as friendly and helpful  had three daughters, one son and several grandchildren. His wife, Susie, died unexpectedly on Thanksgiving Day in 2016.

According to San Antonio Police Department reports filed with the Texas Attorney Generals Office, eight people have been shot and killed by San Antonio police this year. Two additional people died while handcuffed in police custody. Ten was the total for each of the past two years, and the average over the past decade.

McManus said he had not yet seen the body camera video of Zemault being shot and would not release the footage at this stage of the investigation. In a rare move, he released body camera footage within days of a controversial arrest involving a Black jogger last month.

According to police, Zemault was in the front yard of his bungalow when the five officers arrived about 1:30 p.m. Police said the incident escalated as one officer grabbed Zemault in an effort to place him under arrest, at which point Zemault hit the officer in the face with a can of paint.

Michael Fisher

The two wrestled on the ground, police said, until Zemault pulled the officers gun from its holster.

Zemault was wanted on two warrants: assault causing bodily injury and violation of a bond. McManus said police typically serve such warrants when there is a clear and present danger to the family violence victim.

According to court records, Zemault was arrested in early July after his ex-girlfriend told police that he drove to her home days earlier and accused her of cheating on him.

According to the woman, the pair had split up nearly nine months earlier, in October 2019. Since then, she told officers, she had called police on him multiple times, accusing him of a terroristic threat in February, burglary of a vehicle and harassment in April and theft in late June.

No criminal charges were filed in those four cases, court records show.

In the latest incident, on July 3, Zemault pulled the woman out of her car and said he was going to kill her, the woman told police. She also said that he began to drag her to his car, took her purse and left.

Days later, Zemault was arrested on two counts of assaulting a police officer.

He spent a month in jail while awaiting trial before he was released on bail in early August. As a condition of his bail, Zemault was required to wear a GPS tracker, court records show. He was not allowed to contact his ex-girlfriend, and he couldnt possess any firearms.

A good dude

Zemault was the only Black man living in a largely Mexican American community near Loma Park Elementary School, neighbors said, noting that he got along with everybody.

Matthew Medrano has lived near Zemault for years.

Always been a good dude. Smiling all the time. Joking with all the neighbors, everybody, Medrano said.

Soledad Gonzales was a friend of Zemaults wife. Zemault had delivered kegs of beer for the local Mireles Party Kegs business, Gonzales said, describing him as someone who always tried to help.

Thats the way he was, Gonzales said. And if anybody would say anything different, that is wrong.

Andrew Castro had spent time with Zemault over the years at a nearby friends house.

Shocking. Thats all I can really say, Castro said. Unexpected. Really unexpected. Especially from him because he was a cool guy.

Nancy Alvarado recalled Zemault driving by one day when she was walking home from work, and he decided to give her a lift.

Olivia Rangel, a neighbor who lives down the street, was pulling weeds when she heard the gunshot. She described it as a loud pop and heard a dog whimpering.

She thought the dog was hurt. Then she thought it might be an explosion, only to learn from news reports what had happened.

Though Zemault was just an acquaintance of Rangel, she described him as very nice and helpful. He would wave at her when passing by.

According to Rangel, Zemault used to live on the other side of the street, at another corner house with his wife. While there, Zemault would often walk his kids to school.

He was a nice guy, said Isabel Ramirez, another neighbor. He didnt bother anybody.

News researcher Misty Harris contributed to this report.

Emilie Eaton is a criminal justice reporter in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. To read more from Emilie, become a subscriber. eeaton@express-news.net | Twitter: @emilieeaton
While Sony will start selling the PlayStation 5 in the US, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea on November 12th, it plans to release the console in Europe and other parts of the world on November 19th. That means most people will have to wait an additional week to try and get their hands on the companys next-generation console. When the system does make its way to the continent, it will start at 400 throughout the European Union and 360 in the UK.

Sony didnt offer a reason for the delay, but a recent Bloomberg report said the company expects to manufacture 11 million PS5 units by March 2021, four million fewer than it had previously planned. Sony pushed back against those reports, saying: While we do not release details related to manufacturing, the information provided by Bloomberg is false. We have not changed the production number for PlayStation 5 since the start of mass production.
For a brief moment, lets ignore the coronavirus pandemic and turn our attention to the flu. Now that its the middle of September, and children have headed back to school, its time to start thinking about ways to stay healthy, including getting vaccinated against the flu.

At a press conference Sept. 1, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, who is also a physician, was optimistic about entering the fall season while also battling COVID-19.

Perhaps a bit of a silver lining as we go into the fall, we are, I think, all paying more attention to keeping our hands clean, and wearing a face mask, Northam said. And if we can get our flu shots, which again I highly recommend all of you to do, then perhaps the flu season wont be as impactful as it was in the past, but if we get a bad flu season on top of COVID-19, were going to have some real challenges.

The Centers for Disease Control and Preventions Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommends a flu vaccine for everyone 6 months and older, especially those who are 50 and older, anyone with underlying medical conditions, health care workers, women who are or will be pregnant and residents of nursing homes and long-term care facilities.

The vaccine is updated annually to match the flu viruses that are circulating, according to the CDC.

Last years flu season reportedly was worse than the previous year with approximately 24,000 deaths. There were a reported 18 million medical visits and 410,000 hospitalizations, the CDC reported.

While no one knows what this years flu season might be like, it might be in our best interest--along with wearing a mask, regular hand washing and social distancing--to get vaccinated.

Also during that press conference, on what happened to be National Poll Worker Recruitment Day, Northam called on Virginians to get involved in working the polls on Election Day, which is Nov. 3.

Many poll workers are elderly, and they are at high risk for COVID-19, Northam said. So were seeing a shortage of poll workers across our state. We need to make up for that shortfall with people who arent considered as high risk to keep polling places open and operating smoothly and you can help.

The Virginia Department of Elections is partnering with the Virginia Department of Health to provide safe, clean polls for election workers and voters, Northam said.

If youre a healthy, able-bodied person who wants to give back to your community, this is your golden opportunity to be a part of our democracy. To learn more about what an officer of election (poll worker) does, visit vote.virginia.gov.

Census deadline is fast-approaching

Sept. 30 is the deadline to complete the 2020 census.

Northam urged those who have not yet completed the 10-minute survey to do it before the deadline, adding that census takers would soon be visiting Virginia households.

Both the Rocky Mount and Westlake locations of the Franklin County Public Library will help anyone who needs it complete the census. Every Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Rocky Mount, and every Thursday from noon to 4 p.m., census representatives will make sure tablets are available for individuals to complete the census online privately and security.
Unfortunately, we are living in a world where facts dont matter much anymore. For instance, the wildfires that have swept across the western United States over the past few weeks are being almost universally blamed on climate change, even though the facts tell otherwise.

The fires in California and Oregon are not due to climate change. They are due to arson and sheer stupidity on the part of many, including those who are responsible for the environmental stewardship that is supposed to prevent them in the first place.

According to the Cal Fire San Bernardino Unit, the El Dorado Fire, burning near Oak Glen in San Bernardino County, was caused by a smoke generating pyrotechnic device, used during a gender reveal party. Chalk this one up to stupidity, not climate change.

Likewise, the Almeda Fire in Oregon, which has burned more than 600 homes, cannot be tied to climate change whatsoever because it was caused by arsonists. As Ashland Police Chief Tighe OMeara said, We have good reason to believe that there was a human element to it. Were going to pursue it as a criminal investigation until we have reason to believe that it was otherwise.

There are several more reports of arsonists instigating the blazes that are currently destroying hundreds of thousands of acres in the West.

Despite these facts, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), recently said, Mother Earth is angry. Shes telling us, whether, shes telling us with hurricanes on the Gulf Coast, fires in the West, whatever it is, that climate crisis is real and has an impact.

Of course, Pelosi didnt offer one iota of evidence to support her contention that climate change is somehow responsible for all this. And since when did Mother Earth begin speaking to the Speaker of the House?

Not to be outdone, California Gov. Gavin Newsom also laid blame for his states out-of-control wildfires on climate change. I say this lovingly -- not as an ideologue, but as someone who prides himself on being open to argument, interested in evidence -- but I quite literally have no patience for climate change deniers, Newsom said. It's completely inconsistent, that point of view, with the reality on the ground, the facts as we are experiencing. You may not believe it intellectually, but your own eyes, your own experiences tell a different story.

Conveniently, Newsom failed to mention that California has one of the poorest records of implementing commonsense environmental stewardship protocols, which no doubt has played a significant factor in the Golden States proclivity for wildfires over the past several years.

According to Californias state oversight agency, During its review, the Commission found that Californias forests suffer from neglect and mismanagement, resulting in overcrowding that leaves them susceptible to disease, insects and wildfire.

In other words, under decades of Democratic leadership, California has woefully underinvested in forest management efforts, which have left forests grossly overgrown and prone to wildfire.

Making matters worse, Californias insistence on becoming the renewable energy utopia of the United States has led the states primary energy utility, PG&E, to disregard properly maintaining existing energy infrastructure.

As the San Diego Union Tribune reports, every dollar spent on additional costs of renewable energy results in a dollar not available to spend on culling vegetation, insulating power lines, placing lines underground and other measures.

As if that were not enough, the article also notes, a report prepared by the independent consulting firm Beacon Economics for the San Francisco-based think tank Next 10 estimated California wildfires last year produced about nine times more emissions than were reduced across the entire states economy between 2016 and 2017 -- and wildfires contributed more than the commercial, residential or agriculture sectors did in 2017.

Ironically, Newsoms naive attempt (and his predecessors) to make the Golden State the renewable energy mecca has actually led to more carbon emissions because the states abundant forests have been turned into a giant tinderbox.

Adding insult to injury, Newsom has pledged to double-down on his efforts to make California more reliant on renewable energy, regardless of the uptick in wildfires and rolling blackouts.

And the claim that wildfires are increasing is 100 percent false. According to the Congressional Research Service, the prevalence of wildfires has decreased over the past three decades. As the report notes, Over the past 10 years, there were an average of 64,100 wildfires annually and an average of 6.8 million acres burned annually. In 2019, 50,477 wildfires burned 4.7 million acres nationwide, below the annual average for both statistics.

John Adams once said, Facts are stubborn things. They cannot be altered by our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions.

Fact-shunners like Gov. Newsom and Rep. Pelosi ought to put their wishes and passions aside and deal with the reality that their state is being decimated by wildfires due to their incompetence and ignorance, not because of so-called climate change.

Chris Talgo (ctalgo@heartland.org) is an editor at The Heartland Institute.

Image: Scott L
Donald Trump presided over the signing of historic diplomatic deals between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, as he heralded a "new dawn" for the Middle East.

The US president yesterday hosted more than 700 guests at the White House to witness the sealing of the agreements - dubbed the Abraham Accords after the patriarch of the world's three major monotheistic religions - using the occasion to burnish his credentials as a peacemaker.

"They are choosing a future in which Arabs and Israelis, Muslims, Jews and Christians can live together, pray together and dream together, in harmony," said the US president. "This is an incredible day for the world."

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan, the UAE's foreign affairs minister, said: "We are witnessing today a new trend that will create a better path for the Middle East," making sure in Arabic to reference a concession made by Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, to delay the annexation of occupied Palestinian territory in the West Bank.

The accord brings the Gulf countries toward normalising relations with Israel in a strategic realignment of Middle Eastern countries against Iran.

The Trump administration has been pursuing a maximum pressure approach against Tehran.

The deals, an improbable diplomatic victory for Mr Trump just weeks before the US election, make the UAE and Bahrain the third and fourth Arab states to take such steps since Israel signed peace treaties with Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994.

While the latest deal is not a peace treaty, as the three countries are not at war, it opens up free trade, direct flights and diplomatic relations.

The UAE and Bahrain will now be able to purchase hi-tech weapons from the US, as Israel already does, including Reaper drones, EA-18G Growler jets and F-35 fighter planes. "You have boldly confronted the tyrants of Tehran," said Mr Netanyahu, addressing Mr Trump. "You have brought hope to all the children of Abraham," he added, before using the Hebrew and Arabic words for "peace".

The agreement has been criticised by Palestinians, who see the move as "a stab in the back" from their Arab allies.

Mohammad Shtayyeh, Palestinian prime minister, said it was a "black day" and "added to the calendar of Palestinian pain". Palestinian officials say the accord does not address the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict - one of the world's longest and most intractable.

Mr Netanyahu has insisted that Israel's plans to annex West Bank settlements is suspended only temporarily under the deal.

In a sign militant hardliners were not happy with the deal, rockets were reported to have landed in the southern Israeli cities of Ashqelon and Ashdod shortly after the event began.

"The agreement between Israel and Bahrain reflects a geopolitical alliance between repressive regimes that expands the US sphere of influence in the Middle East, rather than indicates a cessation of violence or an easing of oppression," said Noura Erakat, an American-Palestinian human rights attorney.

She said the deals between the Arab countries and Israel, unlike others before it, did not secure any lasting concession for Palestinians.

Mr Trump, however, claimed that "we have many nations ready to follow, we're very far down the road with five or six additional countries". He said the Palestinians had also "seen what's happening and want to get involved". ( Daily Telegraph, London)

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]
Dublin, Sept. 16, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Singapore Gift Card and Incentive Card Market Intelligence and Future Growth Dynamics (Databook) - Market Size and Forecast (2015-2024) - Covid-19 Update Q2 2020" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



This report details the impact of economic slowdown along with change in business and consumer sentiment due to disruption caused by Covid-19 outbreak on gift card industry in Singapore.



Despite near-term challenges, medium to long term growth story of gift cards in Singapore remains strong. The gift card industry in Singapore will continue to grow over the forecast period and is expected to record a CAGR of 11.1% during 2020-2024. The gift card market in the country will increase from US$ 908.1 million in 2019 to reach US$ 1,433.0 million by 2024.



Historically, the gift card market in Singapore has recorded a steady growth with a CAGR of 15.8% during 2015-2019. However, According to the Q2 2020 Global Gift Card Survey, gift card market in Singapore is expected to be impacted across retail and corporate segments due to disruption caused by Covid-19 outbreak.



Though growth of gift card industry will be impacted due to pandemic, there are certain segments such as self-use which will gain significant market share. Adoption of e-Gift cards is also expected to increase significantly over the next 4-6 quarters. There are interesting trends emerging across various segments, which are expected to fundamentally reshape gift card industry dynamics.



This report provides a detailed data centric analysis of gift cards and corporate incentive cards market along with consumer behaviour and retail spend dynamics in Singapore. With over 200 KPIs at country level, this report provides comprehensive understanding of gift and incentive card market dynamics.



Below is a summary of country level trend analyses covered across gift card segments:

Total gift market: This report provides detailed view of overall spend on gifts, broken down by retail and consumer segments. For both retail and consumer segments, this report provides a breakdown of spend on gifts by product categories (13 segments) and retail sectors (7 segments).

Gift cards: Drawing from proprietary survey results, this report provides in-depth analysis of opportunities in both open loop and closed loop prepaid gift card categories. Assesses consumer behaviour by type of consumer (retail and corporate - SMB, Mid-Tier, Large Enterprise), gifting occasion, digital gift card (e-gift card), and market share by retail sectors.

Details six essential KPIs: number of cards in circulation, load value, unused value, average purchase value, average value per transaction, and value of transactions.

Corporate incentive & loyalty cards: This report provides detailed market dynamics of corporate incentive cards, broadly segmented in three categories - consumer incentive card, employee incentive card, and sales/partner incentive card. It details market size and forecast at category level, by functional attribute (open loop and closed loop), and by corporate consumer segments (small scale business, mid-size business, and enterprise business).

Digital gift card (e-gift card) analysis: Provides market size and forecast for digital gift cards, broken down by retail and corporate buyers. It also includes gift card spend by occasion (retail - festivals & special celebration days, milestone celebration, self-use, other; Corporate incentive cards -consumer incentive card, employee incentive card, and sales/partner incentive card). The report also includes digital gift card adoption by company size.

Open loop and closed loop: Provides market estimates and forecasts to assess opportunities in open loop and closed loop gift and incentive card segments across consumer segments.

Consumer attitude and behaviour: Drawing from proprietary survey results, this report identifies and interprets key KPIs related to gift card dynamics including spend by age, gender, and income level.

Retail spend: Breaks down retail spend across retail sectors (7 segments) to provide detailed insights on consumer behaviour and changing dynamics of gift card spend.

Market share by retailer: Provides market share of closed loop gift cards by key retailers in Singapore.

Distribution channel analysis: Provides market share by distribution channel - online vs offline sales and 1st party vs 3rd party sales (sales through outlet of other retailers).

Story continues

Closed Loop Gift Card Market Share by Key Retailers. Key Retailers Covered Include:



NTUC FairPrice Co-operative Pte Ltd

Dairy Farm International Holdings Ltd

Shen Siong Supermarket Pte Ltd

Takashimaya Co Ltd

Mustafa Holdings Pte Ltd

Courts Asia Ltd

Al Futtaim Group LLC

Yamada Denki Co Ltd

Hutchison Whampoa Ltd

Challenger Technologies Ltd

Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd

Hour Glass Ltd, The

Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd

OG Pte Ltd

CK Tang Ltd

Inter Ikea Systems BV

LVMH Mot Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA

Gain City Best-Electric Pte Ltd

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/ddnrk6

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




You would expect Turks of different backgrounds and viewpoints to close ranks while tensions still run high between Turkey, Greece and France over the oil and gas riches of the eastern Mediterranean. Not so for the government of Turkey and President Mustafa Akinci of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

In an interview with the news outlet Euronews on Sept. 8, Akinci argued that outsiders (hinting at the Turkish government) are intervening in the Turkish Cypriot presidential elections that will be held Oct. 11. Akinci said, When the military insurgency happened on July 15 [2016], we supported the civilian administration in Turkey; we did so out of respect for the democracy, civil administration [and] the people of Turkey and their will. Now, we expect the same respect for the Turkish Cypriot democracy and the decision of our people. We expect nobody to make the mistake of taking sides during the election. I am saying that because there is evidence.

In the rest of the interview, Akinci struck a conciliatory tone in his comments on the resolution of the Cyprus conflict and Turkeys disputes with the European Union (especially Greece and France) over the eastern Mediterranean. He asked for the relationship between Turkey and Northern Cyprus to change from the traditional rhetoric of the motherland looking after the babyland toward one where Northern Cyprus acts and is treated as a state capable of determining its own future.

Akincis remarks met with a harsh reaction from the pro-government press in Turkey. Yeni Safak newspaper ran the headline A Raider for Greeks suggesting the Northern Cyprus president is a sell-out to Greek Cypriots (the Akinci were fast-charging Ottoman cavalry units that conducted incursions into Europe centuries ago). The Sabah newspaper called Akincis claims about the intervention in Northern Cyprus' elections an ugly smear. The independent news outlet T24, meanwhile, followed up with Akinci and gave him an opportunity to elaborate on his points.

This is not the first time that Ankara and Akinci have moved apart. In February, the Turkish Cypriot president warned that the prospect of a Crimea-style annexation of Cyprus by Turkey would be horrible, which is a factual and logical statement. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, in response, said Akinci was not an honest politician.

In a series of street interviews with the BBC in February, many Turkish Cypriots supported their president and called upon their fellow Turks from the mainland to respect their desire to resolve the Cyprus dispute on their own terms. Following the recent row, several Turkish and Turkish Cypriot supporters of Akinci who spoke with Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity underlined his image as a democrat, progressive and secular leader. Several pointed out Akincis pragmatic approach to issues affecting the two communities in Cyprus  especially in solving water and sewage problems during his tenure as the mayor of the Turkish side of the capital, Nicosia, in tandem with his Greek Cypriot counterparts.

The charged atmosphere between Ankara and Akinci lies in the critical geopolitics and the emotional history of Cyprus. Although the eastern Mediterranean island is small (one-third the size of Belgium and two-thirds the size of Connecticut), it has produced epic geopolitical drama in modern times.

Upon gaining independence from Britain under the so-called London-Zurich Accords of 1959, the Republic of Cyprus succumbed to ethnic strife between the Greek majority and Turkish minority. The colonels junta in Greece attempted a coup in 1974 to unify the island with the Hellenic homeland. After the Turkish military intervention that summer, the ill-fated Greek Cypriot coup and the colonels regime in Athens collapsed. Since then, despite successive attempts at reunification  including a UN-backed plan that was put to popular referendum in 2004  Cyprus remains divided between the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which only Turkey recognizes, and the Greek Cypriot-dominated Republic of Cyprus (an EU member), which Turkey refuses to recognize.

Of course, the dispute works for both Turkish leaders and Akinci. Not only has election interference become standard operating procedure in international affairs, it also serves a cudgel that competing political factions use against each other before elections or to explain away their poor campaigning. The more level-headed critics of Akinci in Turkey and Northern Cyprus who spoke with Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity said he was using Turkeys deteriorating image for his own benefit. Common criticisms involved Akinci allegedly playing a dangerous game by sowing divisions among Turkish Cypriots over those who are for or against Turkey. For them, Akinci is covering up his inability to deliver a workable peace plan and blaming Ankara for it.

A lingering problem underlying Turkey-Northern Cyprus relations is the unequal nature of the relationship. Both Turkish officials and mainland folks  be they just visiting Northern Cyprus or settling there  approach Turkish Cypriots with an overbearing, condescending and arrogant attitude that can be summed up as we saved you from the Greek Cypriots in 1974.

Owing to their historical illiteracy, most mainland Turks fail to appreciate that Turkish Cypriots resistance against injustice in the 1950s, 1960s and the early 1970s meant there was a land and a people for the Turkish military to save in 1974. Imagine what the ongoing crisis in the eastern Mediterranean would have looked like had Turkish Cypriots ever thrown in the towel and let Cyprus unite with Greece.

As the recent row between Ankara and Akinci shows, much of that emotionally charged history is still with us. But in the 2000s and early 2010s, Greeks and Turks  both mainland and Cypriot  aided by a smarter and more impartial approach from other EU countries (which is sorely lacking these days), made overtures that would have been unthinkable before. Whoever wins in Northern Cyprus on Oct. 11, one hopes that the acrimonious language from the Turkish side ends, smart diplomacy prevails and the winds of peace return to the eastern Mediterranean.
A judge has dismissed two of the charges a chemical manufacturer and one of its former executives were facing during an ongoing trial over a fire at the companys suburban Houston plant during Hurricane Harvey that sent toxic smoke into the air in 2017.

Harveys historic flooding overwhelmed power systems at Arkema Inc.s chemical plant in Crosby, northeast of Houston, eventually causing organic peroxides made at the facility to catch fire and explode. The blaze forced the evacuation of more than 200 residents from the area and sent 21 people, including first responders, to the hospital.

Arkema said the fire was caused by an act of God, Harvey, which dumped nearly 50 inches (127 centimeters) of rain in parts of the Houston area and caused 36 deaths locally. But prosecutors say Arkema bears criminal responsibility for the toxic blaze because it failed to properly prepare for the storm.

Arkema, a subsidiary of a French chemical manufacturer, and its now retired vice president of logistics, Michael Keough, each faced a felony assault charge related to two injured deputies for allegedly misrepresenting the danger that the unstable chemicals at the plant posed to the community.

But prosecutors last week filed motions to dismiss the assault charges. State Judge Belinda Hill accepted the motions on Sept. 14.

Prosecutors always have a duty to seek justice; in this case, a prosecutor felt that there was enough evidence for a criminal charge, but that he could not prove that charge beyond a reasonable doubt at this time, so he requested it be dismissed, Dane Schiller, a spokesman for the Harris County District Attorneys Office said in a statement.

Dan Cogdell, an attorney for Keough, said the case against his client should have never been filed.

And for him to have to suffer through weeks of trial and a ton of expenses and the angst and the worry of a possible conviction is outrageous  He was an innocent man that should have never been prosecuted, Cogdell said.

Rusty Hardin, an attorney for Arkema, declined to comment.

If convicted of the assault charge, Keough could have faced up to 10 years in prison and the company could have been fined up to $10,000.

Arkema, CEO Richard Rowe and ex-plant manager Leslie Comardelle are still being tried on charges of reckless emission of an air contaminant. If convicted, Arkema faces up to a $1 million fine while Rowe and Comardelle each faces up to five years in prison.

The trial, which began in February but has been on hold since March due to the coronavirus pandemic, was set to resume Sept. 21.

The U.S Chemical Safety Board said Arkema worked to keep equipment that stabilized its organic peroxides, used to make such things as plastic resins, from losing power. But Arkema didnt consider flooding of safety systems a credible risk, even though the plant was inside flood zones.

Ahead of next weeks resumption of the trial, a hearing was held Sept. 14 over claims by Arkemas attorneys prosecutors have continued to withhold evidence that could benefit the defense. Prosecutors have denied such claims. The hearing was set to continue later this week.

Opening statements in February were delayed after Hill sanctioned prosecutors for withholding some evidence.

Related:

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Topics Abuse Molestation Chemicals Arson
Gorilla Corporation This year has been characterized by increased demand for Gorilla solutions, services, and technologies, which are now available to customers and partners across Americas, Europe, MEA and APAC regions, said Carlo Tortora Brayda, President & CEO, Gorilla Corporation.

Gorilla Corporation, a leader in global partner marketing and strategy, has announced its expansion into Middle East and Africa (MEA) market by appointing former Westcon-Comstor Group Africa CEO, William Oduol to lead its charge. The appointment of Mr. Oduol as Regional President for MEA, will strengthen the companys multi-country plan at a time when business is increasingly becoming virtual.

The new regional headquarter has been opened in Cape Town, South Africa with a local office in Nairobi, Kenya, to meet the demand of rapid growth. William is an experienced technology leader and brings more than 25 years of industry expertise to this role. He has held senior leadership roles driving partner and distribution excellence, with many of the worlds most recognized brands, Westcon-Comstor, Microsoft, Safaricom among others.

This year has been characterized by increased demand for Gorilla solutions, services, and technologies, which are now available to customers and partners across Americas, Europe, MEA and APAC regions, said Carlo Tortora Brayda, President & CEO, Gorilla Corporation. This expansion is in line with our strategy of expanding into the emerging markets that are expected to yield significant cost and revenue synergies. In Mr Oduol, we have the right leader with the political capital, cultural experience and channel sales expertise in the region to drive our expansion and closely support our clients.

Mr. Tortora Brayda further said The expansion acknowledges Gorillas resilience and the potential of the Middle East and Africa. In Africa alone, McKinseys predicts $5.6 trillion dollars in business opportunities by the year 2025. Gorilla Corporation is bracing to meet the demands for technology growth in this lucrative and complex region. This move demonstrates that our capabilities are in high demand by technology vendors despite the pandemic.

This is an important move for Gorilla Corporation which has established a global reputation in IT channel marketing and sales for top technology vendors in the fields of hyper converged data center, cloud, and cyber security, said Mr. Oduol. This expansion into this fast growing but under-served market will allow us to create better value at a time when margins are tight for most business whilst aiming to meet increased demand for software defined cloud solutions. Our long-term strategy in MEA is focused on optimizing cloud as a game changer for technology vendors and their channel partners. This in-market presence will position us to reach that goal.

About Gorilla Corporation

Gorilla Corporation is a leading provider of vendor partner marketing services and technologies for the IT channel. Gorilla enables next generation partnering and helps technology vendors to measure, grow, enable, and manage their partner channel. Gorillas headquarters are located in San Francisco, USA with local offices in Europe, Africa and APAC regions. To learn more about Gorilla Corporation, visit http://www.gorillaict.com.
Advertisement

Scores of students flouted the new Rule of Six restrictions last night as they queued outside a nightclub in Portsmouth and descended onto the streets of the coastal city to enjoy a night of heavy partying.

Young revellers, including Portsmouth University students who had recently arrived to the city in Hampshire to begin their academic year, swapped a night in at home to queue outside The Astoria in Guildhall Walk and hit the numerous pubs and bars.

Crowds of alcohol-fuelled revellers appeared in high spirits as they huddled in large groups without face masks and walked onto the streets into the small hours to celebrate with their friends amid the coronavirus pandemic.

According to The Astoria, every group is allocated a table that seats a maximum of six people once inside the club.

Upon entry guests are also asked to sanitise their hands, must stay within their 'party bubble' and a thermal imaging system is also in operation.

The scenes come as Portsmouth University warned the thousands of students due to arrive to the city to begin the start of the new academic term on October 5 that they face temporary suspension and even permanent exclusion if they break the new regulations set out by the Government.

A group of party-goers flout social distancing guidelines as they queue outside a nightclub in Guildhall Walk in the coastal city of Portsmouth

A group of revellers huddle in a group without masks as they gather on the streets in Portsmouth amid the coronavirus pandemic

Revellers and students break social distancing guidelines as they gather together in the city without face masks into the small hours

A group of people flout social distancing measures as hundreds of students begin to arrive to the city to begin the academic year

Nightclub promoters from The Astoria walk onto the streets with their flags as party-goers arrive to the coastal city on Tuesday night

It also came just a day after Britons were banned from gathering in groups of more than six under new government guidelines to curb Covid infection rates.

In a statement Portsmouth University said: 'Students are expected to take personal responsibility for their own safety and the safety of other students, staff and the wider community by adhering to the university's student contract and code of student behaviour, safety measures put in place, and by following government guidelines.

'As with other members of our local community, students are advised of a 100 fine if they break the law banning social gatherings of more than six people, and this amount doubles for any subsequent breaches. This applies to halls of residence as well as private accommodation.'

The university added: 'The vast majority of our students adhere to requirements. However, if they do not, penalties for student misconduct range from temporary suspension to permanent exclusion.'

Earlier this month thousands of students across the UK were warned about spreading coronavirus and warned they face 'serious police action' if they hold mass gatherings during Freshers' Week.

Ministers discouraged young people preparing for university from attending Freshers' events, with Health Minister Lord Bethell urging freshers and returning university students to resist going to mass social gatherings 'in pubs, clubs and bedrooms'.

Meanwhile, Universities Minister Michelle Donelan furiously warned large event organisers that police will take 'serious action' against them, following reports that some companies have been advertising mass social Freshers' events.

And Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, pleaded with students to 'follow the rules' for 'the sake of your education and your parents' and grandparents' health'.

Revellers walk in a group as the enjoy their Tuesday night out in Portsmouth despite the Rule of Six measures now in place

Young party-goers huddle in a group without face masks as they enjoy a night of heavy partying in Portsmouth on Tuesday

A line of part-goers queue outside Dirty Disco nightclub in Portsmouth just days after the Rule of Six regulations come into force

Crowds of people begin to enter The Astoria in Portsmouth on Tuesday night amid the coronavirus pandemic

Some people stand outside a pub as they swap a night in a home for a night out with their friends in Portsmouth on Tuesday

A man throws flames into the air as revellers begin to queue outside a nightclub and enjoy a night out in the city

It comes as 510,000 young people prepare to start university this autumn amid the coronavirus pandemic.

This month Health Minister Lord Bethell said: 'We are deeply concerned about the spread among students. Some of that spread will take place in universities, and I pay tribute to the efforts of vice-chancellors to put in place social distancing arrangements in universities; we hope that they will have an impact.

'However, some of the effect is in their social life - in pubs, clubs and bedrooms up and down the country.

'That is the responsibility of the students themselves, and we are looking at measures to enhance and enforce the social-distancing measures that will stop the spread of this disease.'

Ms Donelan warned students: 'As a Government, we have clearly set out the consequences for anyone who risks spreading the virus, whether that's through illicit social gatherings or organising large events.

'The police and local authorities will take serious action where it is necessary. Health advice only works if we all follow it. I urge students, just like the wider public, to do their bit and act responsibly to ensure campuses can remain open for them to use and enjoy.'

While Health Secretary Matt Hancock pleaded with university students to 'follow the rules', telling MPs: 'If you are a student who is about to return to university or go to university for the first time then please, for the sake of your education and your parents' and grandparents' health, follow the rules and don't gather in groups of more than six.'

A group of revellers gather outside a bar in Guildhall Walk in Portsmouth without masks amid the coronavirus pandemic

Party-goers walk along the street in Portsmouth just days after the Government's Rule of Six comes into force in the UK

Part-goers without face coverings gather outside in Portsmouth, Hampshire, on Tuesday as they enjoy a night out

People begin to queue outside a nightclub in Guildhall Walk in Portsmouth without face coverings amid the coronavirus pandemic

At a Downing Street press conference this month, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: 'My message to students is simple. Please, for the sake of your education, for your parents' and your grandparents' health, wash your hands, cover your face, make space, and don't socially gather in groups of more than six now and when term starts.

The Universities of Greenwich, Leeds Trinity, Coventry and Queen Mary in London opened their campuses to freshers earlier this month while LSE, Birmingham City, and the Universities of Nottingham and the West of England are expected to hold their Freshers' Week from September 21.

Leicester de Montfort, the University of Bristol, the University of Durham and University College London will host Freshers' Week from September 28.

Meanwhile, Cambridge and Oxford, Birkbeck and Essex are among the last to host Freshers' Week for new students from October 5.

Under the new Rule of Six regulations, which were published just before midnight on Sunday, 'mingling' in a large group is banned however larger gatherings are permitted for work, childcare or political protests.

Recreational sports, including five-a-side football, cricket, rugby and park runs, can also continue provided people follow the correct protocol.

Those who breach the guidelines could face fines of 100, rising to a maximum of 3,200 for repeat offenders.
The following resolution to establish the London Bus Drivers Rank-and-File Safety Committee was adopted by a meeting of bus drivers on Sunday September 13. The committee's launch follows the tragic deaths of 33 London bus workers from COVID-19 and amid news of new infections at the Cricklewood garage being concealed by the bus companies, Transport for London and Unite the union.

Brothers and sisters,

We have formed the London Bus Drivers Rank-and-File Safety Committee to wage a fight for the protection of our lives against the spread of COVID-19.

Events at Cricklewood garage over the last week demonstrate this cannot be entrusted to the bus companies, Transport for London, or Unite the union.

Once more we have been kept in the dark about a confirmed case of COVID-19 affecting one of our colleagues and the risk of transmission it poses.

No briefings have been organised and no mass testing arranged. Neither Metroline nor Unite issued any statement to alert the garages more than 500 drivers. Instead, the company has been given a blank cheque to decide which drivers will be notified about COVID-19 infections and when, in order to avoid disruption and to ensure operational efficiency.

At least one driver who received a contact tracing letter on September 3 was pressured to work, despite reporting ill. When he stood his ground, saying he intended to book off, he was threatened with loss of wages, told to book his own test and left to sit in the output area for nearly three hours, despite the risk of exposure to others. These criminally negligent actions were backed by the Unite safety representative. The driver eventually tested negative, but the companys disregard for safety demonstrates how we are all being put at risk.

We have already lost our respected colleague and friend Ishrat Ali, whose children and wife are still mourning. Ali is one of 33 bus workers who died from COVID-19 between March and May. This cannot happen again!

Independent action is needed because the trade unions work on behalf of the companies and the government in suppressing opposition from below. During the first wave of the pandemic, as COVID-19 was killing drivers, Unite joined with TfL and the bus companies to insist that PPE was not recommended, pledging industrial harmony. Members who criticised Unites actions were suspended from the union.

Like our brothers and sisters in the NHS, on the railways and London Underground, in supermarkets and food processing, warehouse and logistics, we have worked on the frontline during this pandemic. But despite the phoney tributes to key workers from politicians and the media, we are not all in this together. Our lives are viewed as more expendable than the diesel in the buses. Our bodies are exhausted from working long and dangerous back-to-back shifts that leave us vulnerable to infection and death. Drivers previously shielded due to underlying health conditions are being forced back to work, even as infection rates across England double each week.

Our fight goes beyond the bus garage. The actions of Metroline and TfL are part of the Johnson governments return to work and unsafe reopening of schools that is forcing millions onto crowded transport. How many of those being crowded today onto buses, trains and the underground, will end up in the weeks and months ahead on a hospital ventilator or in overflowing morgues?

We say: Our lives and safety are non-negotiable! Our loyalty is not to the billionaire shareholders who own the major transport companies but to our fellow workers, their families, and the travelling public whose lives are being endangered through corporate negligence. Nothing will change unless we decide to change it, and for this to happen we must act as one!

The London Bus Drivers Rank-and-File Safety Committee resolves to fight for the following immediate demands:

 Immediate on-site testing and contact tracing for all staff at the garage. All staff required to self-isolate must be paid a full wage.  No more cover-ups! Immediate disclosure of all infections as soon as the company is informed, with immediate notification to drivers by SMS and company app.  No victimisations! All staff must be free to speak out on safety concerns and to share information with their colleagues, including on social media, without management and union reprisals.

The situation we confront is being replicated around the country in workplaces, factories, offices and schools. A resurgence of the pandemic is underway, prepared by the homicidal policy of the Johnson government and summed up in the brutal term herd immunity.

We are not cattle and will not be sacrificed to protect the profits of the corporations and banks who have made a financial killing during the pandemic. Against the Johnson government, and its backers in the Labour Party and Trades Union Congress, we make our appeal to the working class.

We call on fellow bus and transport workers at garages in London and beyond to stand with us in this fight. Help establish a network of rank-and-file committees to take this fight forward.

Motion adopted, September 13, 2020
A hammer-wielding teen gangster jailed for fighting in front of frightened train passengers says the deaths of his grandmother and a friend sparked his spiral into crime.

Frank Bosco, 18, was sentenced in Mount Druitt Local Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty but could be released from jail in January.

The OneFour gang member was caught brawling with rival Greater West and Inner West gangs at Rooty Hill train station in Sydney's west on June 12, the Blacktown Advocate reported.

Footage showed Bosco and other gang members arrive at the station armed with machetes, knives and hammers before confronting their rivals, who were on the train.

The rival gangs began to fight in front of horrified commuters after Bosco brandished a 30cm hammer.

Frank Bosco, 18, (pictured) was sentenced in Mount Druitt Local Court on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to taking part of a brawl against rival Greater West and Inner West gangs at Rooty Hill train station on June 12

The brawl only ended when Inner West gang members re-boarded the train.

The court was told a rivalry between the gangs started following the death of Inner West gang associate Tinorei Henri, 20, in 2018.

Magistrate Stephen Corry told Bosco it was lucky no one was killed during the violent attack, which sparked numerous triple zero calls.

'This was something where you had gone to the station as a planned exercise armed with a weapon that could potentially cause lethal injury,' Magistrate Corry said.

'This happened after 4pm on a weekday afternoon where you would expect there to be large numbers of members of the public going about their day.

'We've seen media reports recently about this sort of affair turning into a full-blown affray where someone ends up dead, which could've happened in this case.'

Footage showed Bosco and other gang members arrive at the station armed with machetes, knives and hammers before confronting their rivals, who were on the train

Bosco's lawyer told the court his offending was sparked by the death of his grandmother and a close friend after his high school exams.

The teenager also apologised for his actions, which he labelled selfish after putting fear into members of the public.

He said commuters should be able to get on the train without issues such as this

Bosco pleaded guilty to affray, possessing unlawfully obtained goods and being armed with intent to commit an indictable offence.

He was jailed for 14 months with a non-parole period of eight months.

Bosco could be out of jail by January due to time already served.
The United States nuclear sector is in trouble. And it has been for years now. While the United States remains the largest producer of nuclear energy in the world, producing about one-third of the world's total nuclear power supply, the industry has been in a state of decline for quite a while. The nuclear sector has never recovered from the influx of cheap natural gas that came along with the domestic shale revolution, and now the countrys aging nuclear fleet faces even bigger problems coming down the pike. Nuclear, like so many other industries (especially in the energy sector), was hit very hard by the pandemic. As Oilprice reported earlier this summer, climate change will hold particularly difficult challenges in store for the nuclear sector, which has to keep its reactors cooled down at all times to avoid meltdowns. And heat is just one risk factor--there are also extreme weather events and catastrophic floods to consider. In 2019, Bloomberg carried out a review of correspondence between the commission and owners of 60 plants and made some particularly worrying discoveries. According to nuclear companies own risk assessments, 54 of their [60] facilities werent designed to handle the flood risk they now face.

There were also questions as to whether the U.S. nuclear energy industry would be able to weather another storm, so to speak, when the sector was hit hard by COVID-19 earlier this year. While the entire global energy industry suffered from a drop in demand around the world, U.S. nuclear posed particular challenges as one of the lowest-profile domestic energy sectors, and therefore one of the least likely to get the kind of bailout they would need to stay afloat.

Related: OPEC+ Complied 101% With Oil Production Cuts In August



Just two weeks after Oilprice wondered Can The Nuclear Industry Survive COVID-19?, however, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) offered the nuclear sector a lifeline. On June 18, the DOE announced it would be awarding more than $65m in nuclear energy research, crosscutting technology development, facility access, and infrastructure awards. According to reporting by PowerTechnology, the awards fall under the departments nuclear energy programs  the Nuclear Energy University Programme, the Nuclear Energy Enabling Technologies, and the Nuclear Science User Facilities.

The PowerTechnology article highlights some of the more important and exciting ventures that will be funded with the new influx of money, the first of which is an initiative from Purdue University that seeks to explore the use of artificial intelligence to monitor and measure the relative risks of using 3D-printed reactor parts. In more scientific terms, this project examines the risk of nuclear reactor parts fabricated via additive manufacturing that uses a novel rendition of an artificial intelligence (AI) learning strategy, the so-called multi-armed bandit reinforcement learning (RL). In a word: 3D printing, which will allow for more efficient and inexpensive manufacturing of extremely complex parts, which in turn creates more room for experimentation and innovation.

Another promising initiative being spearheaded by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a transformational challenge reactor program, which aims to address the problem at the heart of the nuclear industry--economic viability. The TCR programme at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is designed to help change the economic paradigm of nuclear energy, according to the research team. The current basis for this TCR design is a gas-cooled reactor with multiple solid material types in a unique arrangement. The planned demonstration of the project will last over 60 months.

Ohio State University is tackling another huge challenge for the nuclear industry in its project that aims to evaluate the risk of a cyberattack on nuclear power plants. There is good reason for U.S. nuclear to be worried about the cybersecurity of their nuclear fleet, as the U.S. and Israel already launched a successful cyberattack against an Iranian nuclear plant from around 2005-2010 with what has been called the worlds first digital weapon, a malicious worm called the Stuxnet virus (which infected more than 200,000 computers around the world before it finally hit its target). It makes good sense, then, that the U.S. would be scared of retaliation and of vulnerability to a cyberattack in general.

The last two projects highlighted by PowerTechnology are an Integrated solar and nuclear cogeneration via a sCO2 cycle by the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Infrastructure for examination of irradiated structural materials by the University of Nevada, Reno.

The wide scope of these projects points to the multiplicity and complexity of the challenges faced by the U.S. nuclear industry today. While the money awarded by the DOE this June is a good sign for the sector, this is not the first time the DOE has tried to bail out the U.S. ailing nuclear industry. Since 2009, the Office of Nuclear Energy, part of the US Department of Energy, has allocated more than $800m to research, aiming to boost American leadership in clean energy innovation and train the next generation of nuclear engineers and scientists, Power Technology writes. But so far all efforts have been too little, too late.

By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
John Haggard is the finance director and treasurer in Alabaster.

I appreciated John Sharps article explaining the impact the Simplified Sellers Use Tax (SSUT) has had in helping supplement tax revenues during the pandemic. One thing I feel often gets overlooked in the discussion of SSUT is the United States Supreme Courts 2017 ruling in South Dakota v. Wayfair. The origins of Alabamas SSUT program goes back to before the Wayfair decision. Prior to this landmark ruling, online sales were not subject to sales tax. The program was created to encourage compliance by larger online retailers, but there was nothing Alabama could do to mandate online retailers participate in the system. The Wayfair decision completely changed the ballgame for online retailing. In this ruling the Supreme Court determined that online sales were subject to sales tax and that tax must be paid in the appropriate jurisdictions in which they made sales despite those sales originating in an online platform. Therefore, what was once a program designed to encourage voluntary compliance was now being converted to collect sales tax for all online retailers subject to the Supreme Courts decision.

Previously, the State of Alabama could make the argument to counties and municipalities that the rates and distribution werent important because something was better than nothing. The Wayfair decision meant that had the State of Alabama not created and mandated online sellers use the SSUT system, online retailers would be forced to pay the appropriate rate to each jurisdiction in which they made a sale. SSUT charges 8% on all sales. The total tax rate for the vast majority of sales in municipalities in Alabama is 9% or 10%. Many municipalities subsidize their school districts with sales tax. For example, my city, Alabaster, has a 1% school sales tax. If the State of Alabama is only charging 8% but our total local rate is 9% (4% to the State of Alabama, 3% to the City, 1% to the schools, and 1% to Shelby County), the school system is not getting their share of online sales tax revenue. In addition, in Birmingham the total sales tax rate is 10%, a full 2% above the SSUT rate. This rate discrepancy incentivizes people to shop online by providing a 2% advantage for online retailers compared to brick-and-mortar stores within Birmingham. This hurts the local business owners that invest in our communities.

The State of Alabama doesnt really care though, because regardless of if a transaction occurs online or in person, the State of Alabama will receive 4% of the transaction total. So, the state is hurting local businesses and school systems because the state doesnt stand to lose any revenue if sales transition online. In the latest bill amending the SSUT program, the State of Alabama changed the distribution for their portion of SSUT revenue. The states portion of online sales from SSUT are split 75% to the states General Fund while 25% goes to the states Education Fund. For brick-and-mortar sales, that percentage is 52% to the Education Fund and only 48% to the General Fund. The state wants more online retailing because it diverts more revenue away from the Education Fund to the General Fund. There may be new additional revenue from SSUT for cities and counties due to increased online retailing but often cities are seeing declines in brick-and-mortar sales tax. Most cities and counties understand it is necessary to adjust how we tax in a changing world of retail. Cities and counties are not opposed to the SSUT program as a whole, but its important to frame the discussion of SSUT around the Wayfair decision. People need to understand this is not a new tax and that we could never go back to a world where there are no taxes on online sales due to the Supreme Courts ruling on the matter. Cities and counties just want the system adjusted so that people arent incentivized to abandon our local community retailers for larger online behemoths and so that cities and counties can honor the commitments that were made to other agencies such a school systems by providing them the sales tax they need to function.
Stakeholders in the tourism industry struggling to remain afloat during Covid-19 period have urged county and national governments to reduce and harmonise taxes levied on them in order to save their businesses.

The players, led by Kenya Coast Working Group Chair (KCWG) and Kenya Association of Hotelkeepers and Caterers (KAHC), said harmonisation of taxes and levies on both levels of government will attract more domestic tourists and further create jobs in the sector.

They warned that Kenya risks losing business to neighbouring competing destinations including Tanzania, Rwanda and South Africa if prices offered are higher.

They cited counties such as Mombasa, Kilifi and Nakuru that have introduced a bed levy for every occupied hotel room. In its 2015/2016 Finance Bill, Mombasa County introduced a monthly room levy of between Sh120 and Sh180 per room, depending on the hotel's size and rating.

KCWG chairperson Mr Hasnain Noorani urged the government to unburden the hospitality sector by abolishing punitive levies.

"Levies introduced by counties coupled with already existing statutory taxes are pushing up the cost of tourism products," he said.

KAHC Coast executive Dr Sam Ikwaye said Kenya's tourism and hospitality industry is heavily burdened by duplication of levies including from the National Environment Management Authority (Nema), Tourism Regulatory Authority and high cost of water and electricity.

High taxes

"Our taxes are extremely high for any tourism investor. Policies are also another issue, but I blame the counties which are hell-bent on duplicating the levies and taxes. The national government should harmonise the levies to reduce the cost of doing business," he said.

Mr Noorani said currently, tourism establishments are paying the statutory 14 per cent Value Added Tax and an extra 2 per cent tourism levy to the Tourism Fund.

The players also pay for business permits, Nema permit, liquor licence at county level, health and advertising among others.

"Despite many levies being long-standing in nature, there has been a general increase in the number and scope of tourism-related taxes, fees and charges over the last couple of years. The higher taxes make Kenya too expensive as a destination," said Victor Shitakha, chairman of the Kenya Coast Tourism Association (KTCA) in a statement.

"The industry is currently experiencing the burden of paying taxes during this Covid-19 period when business proprietors are required to remit their dues, renew licenses and others do renovation after lockdown," Mr Noorani added.
The Tory MP Daniel Kawczynski had a struggle making himself heard at Prime Ministers Questions today because he was the next to be called after David Cameron had accused the shadow Chancellor Ed Balls of political masosadism. It was a slip of the tongue that had MPs rocking with laughter. No one present had ever heard the expression masosadism before, but apparently it exists, and applies to those who derive pleasure from pain but also occasionally like to dish it out too.

When Mr Kawczynski was finally able to put his question, it was a dull one, about how his Shrewsbury constituency has thrived under a Tory-led government. When he is not talking about his constituency, Mr Kawczynskis main interest is the Middle East. He was in Riyadh this year as a guest of the Saudi government, and in 2011 he told the Saudi-British Relations website that he was writing the most pro-Saudi book ever written by a British politician.

Saudi Arabia is a land of public beheadings, amputations, and the lash. Today, a Syrian drug smuggler became the 75th person executed by the Saudis this year. A few months ago, Raif Badawi, who co-founded a website called the Liberal Saudi Network, was sentenced to 10 years in prison, a massive fine, and 1,000 lashes, for holding the wrong opinions. Obviously, if 1,000 lashes were administered in one session, the victim would be dead before it was over, so to ensure that he feels every cut, they are inflicted 50 at a time, in public, after Friday prayers.

Perhaps Mr Kawczynskis forthcoming book could include a chapter about masosadism and Saudi law.

Cleggs vital port of call

David Cameron is having to get used to handling Prime Ministers Question without Nick Clegg sitting impassively at his side. The Deputy Prime Minister has been absent for three weeks in succession.

Today he was in Penzance, to announce a 150,000 study into whether the town needs a new breakwater. Ive spent four years dutifully sitting there on the green benches and this year I thought it would be a nice change to get out of the Westminster, he told the Western Morning News. Penzance is in the St Ives constituency, which the Liberal Democrat Andrew George held in 2010 by a perilously small majority.

So Clegg was really telling the locals that if they want that breakwater, they had better re-elect their MP.

Quietly does it, Ed

Politicians often choose a day like today, when the news was dominated by the Autumn Statement, to slip out an announcement on the quiet. Today, Labour announced that Ed Miliband had made a few minor adjustments to his front bench, including the appointment of Lord Bach, a former Justice minister, as shadow Attorney General. The previous holder was Emily Thornberry, who was sacked for posting a photograph on Twitter of a house in Strood bedecked with England flags.

Asking for the moon

In the past two years servicemen have been accused eight times of exposing themselves in public, according to the written answer in the Commons. The MP who tabled the question was Madeleine Moon.

Evolution farrago

St Johns Episcopal Church in Edinburgh has displayed a mural entitled Evolution showing Adolf Hitler, Sir Oswald Mosley, Nick Griffin and, at the front, the smiling face of Nigel Farage. Its an insult to Ukip voters in Scotland, Scotlands furious Ukip MEP, David Coburn, told the Edinburgh Evening News. But at least it implies that Farage is a higher life form that the three men behind him.
After the historic decriminalisation of homosexual relationships two years ago, the next step for ensuring equal extension of rights to the LGBTQIA community is legalising same-sex marriage.

A few days ago, a PIL was filed in the Delhi HIgh Court that sought legalising same sex marriage under the Hindu Marriage Act. The public interest litigation urged the court to issue a declaration to the effect that since Section 5 of the Hindu Marriage Act of 1956 mentions that "marriage can be performed between 'any two Hindus'" and does not distinguish based on sex or gender, the right of same-sex couples to marry should be recognized under the said Act.

The PIL also argued that the non-recognition of the rights of homosexual couples especially when the Supreme Court has recognised their sexuality violates various provisions of the Indian Constitution.

BCCL

"That Right to Marry is also stated under the Human Rights Charter within the meaning of the right to start a family. The Right to Marry is a universal right and it is available to everyone irrespective of their sexual orientation and gender identity," the PIL argued.

However, the Centre, in its response to the PIL, opposed it saying that the society does not recognise marriage between couple of the same sex.

Our law, society, values dont recognise marriage  which is a sacrament  between a same-sex couple, Mehta submitted in the Delhi High Court, adding that one has to a man and a woman for a marriage to not fall within degrees of the prohibited relationship under the Hindu Marriage Act.

The Court, however, has a progressive perspective to the plea.

The Court observed that such a petition must be viewed with an open mind. Acknowledging that though the position of law might be different, the Bench stated that "changes are happening across the world."

The September 2018 verdict was a watershed moment for the country, bringing it in the league of progressive countries which recognise the rights of homosexual individuals. The verdict brought hope and reignited the spirit of the LGBTQIA rights movement and their struggles.

AFP

While India has decriminalised same-sex relations, it is yet to legalise same sex marriage. The same-sex couple cannot get married to each other and their marriage is not deemed legal in the country, mostly due to the "societal values" which still view such relationships through the lens of stigma and taboo and are generally disapproving of such relationships, because they do not fall under the age-old binaries.

The legal approval of their relations acts as a reinforcement of social acceptance and plays a major role in evolving a non-judgemental society.

Article 15(1) of the Constitution of India provides no discrimination of a citizen on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them.

Article 21 of the Constitution ensures protection of life and personal liberty. In essence, the Constitution serves as a basis for right to marriage for same-sex couples but the discrimination exists in multiple forms.

With such provisions in the Constitution, a court of law cannot be restricted to make same-sex marriage legal, however certain provisions are needed against discrimination.
(Newser)  The New York high school student who protested his school's hybrid learning plan by attending classes on campus has been suspended for the rest of the school year. Maverick Stow, a 17-year-old senior, was initially hit with a five-day suspension early last week when he attended school on a day he was assigned to do distance learning; then, when he returned to Long Island's William Floyd High School last Thursday to continue his protest for the third consecutive day, he was arrested for trespassing, ABC 7 reports. The superintendent held a hearing, which Stow's attorney as well as school district attorneys attended; an "impartial hearing officer" decided to extend Stow's suspension until June, the district says.

story continues below

He will still be allowed to participate in remote learning, but will not be allowed on campus for any reason, including prom or graduation, Fox News reports. The district had threatened to cancel in-person classes for everyone and switch to a remote-only learning model if Stow didn't put a stop to his protest, and students had started a petition condemning his actions, which more than 2,000 people signed. The petition points out that with 3,000 students, social distancing would be impossible if all students attended classes on campus every day. "We do not believe that we should be deprived of our two days of in-person learning because of the actions of a single student," it says. The district says if Stow abides by his suspension, it could potentially be lifted at the end of the second quarter. (Read more remote learning stories.)
Israels peace agreement with the UAE and Bahrain, signed yesterday at the White House, is historic. It hasnt happened before, nor has Israel entered into such a deal since 1994 (with Jordan).

The extent to which the deal is historically significant can be debated (but wont be in this post). However, for those who wish Israel well (and who dont have an ax to grind with Donald Trump or Benjamin Netanyahu), it is difficult to criticize the agreement.

The Washington Post doesnt meet this test. Thus, it greeted the deal yesterday with a front page story professing concern that the agreement will spark an arms race in the Middle East.

In doing so, the Post was peddling Nancy Pelosis take on the deal. She has raised questions regarding the commitment the UAE has received from the Trump administration to purchase American made F-35 aircraft.

A Middle East arms race sounds ominous, but what are we really talking about when we use that expression in this context? Its true that, pursuant to this deal, the UAE and Israel will both increase their military capabilities.

The UAE will receive high-grade fighter planes that upgrade its armed forces. Israel, whose qualitative military superiority in the region is guaranteed by U.S. law, will receive advanced military hardware that preserves its significant edge (unless Joe Biden is elected president and refuses to adhere to the law).

The upshot? Israel and the UAE will both become stronger militarily. Thats a good development unless one sides with their enemies  in particular, with Iran.

At the same time, Israel will remain more potent than the UAE and other nations in the region by a significant margin. Thus, to the extent it might otherwise be realistic to fear for Israels ability to defend itself against the UAE or its allies, that concern can be dismissed.

Its touching to see Nancy Pelosi and the Washington Post fret about the possibility of Israel being attacked by F-35 aircraft supplied to the UAE. However, I trust the Israeli governments assessment that this prospect  purely hypothetical in my view  isnt a genuine worry.

Does anyone believe the Post would have raised the concern in a front page article if a Democratic president had brokered this deal? I dont. The Post wanted to rain on Donald Trumps parade. Thats all there was to its article.
By Kang Hyun-kyung





The National Assembly interpellation session held Monday turned into a state-sponsored farce.



Some ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) lawmakers tried hard to defend  not criticize  the embattled Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae who is accused of abuse of power  as the former head of the party  to help her son illicitly extend his leave of absence from the military back in 2016, among other allegations.



I was curious about the motives behind their coordinated endeavors to save the troubled Choo, who has angered the public due to a series of allegations, while watching the session on YouTube.



How could the ruling party lawmakers turn their back on voters, who were simmering with anger over the justice minister, and act like they knew nothing about the worsening public opinion which has already dealt a blow to President Moon Jae-in's approval ratings?



What they did was insane; it was even worse than a farce.



A farce is hilarious, gives its audiences laughter and satisfaction as it mocks corrupt politicians and greedy business tycoons.



The reality show in the Assembly, however, lacked any of this.



Unlike a farce, the Assembly reality show is free of charge and people can watch the video whenever they want to see. But in other factual respects, it is much more expensive than paying to see a satire or a farce. The interpellation session is "state-sponsored" as it is operated using the taxpayers' money.



Lawmakers enjoy lots of perks and financial benefits. Their pay and benefits come from taxpayers' money. This is because, in a democratic country like South Korea, legislators are expected to serve as the representatives of the voters who elected them.



As seen in the Assembly on Monday, however, the people's representatives more often than not prioritize their own personal gain, such as partisan interests, ahead of their prime mission  working for the betterment of those who elected them; the taxpayers. If lawmakers underperform or don't perform their duties as representatives of the voters who are the taxpayers, the latter suffer.



Monday was another day when the National Assembly was gripped by insanity.



Rep. Jung Chung-rae of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) pointed his finger at unspecified "right-wing" prosecutors and military brass for creating and spreading a conspiracy theory about the justice minister. The allegations Choo is facing are the result of smear politics of the supporters of former President Park Geun-hye, he alleged. "It's a political plot and rebellion," he insisted during the interpellation session. He tried to get confirmation about his observation from Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, telling him that he himself believed what Choo's son did when he extended his leave of absence via telephone was not against military regulations and protocol, asking if the prime minister agreed him. Chung said yes, noting he trusted the military's report on Choo's son.



Another DPK lawmaker Kim Jong-min performed a one-man show. He took advantage of his turn at the session to make a case for the justice minister, ignoring internal rules on how the interpellation is run.



Citing inaccurate data about the Korean Augmentation to the United States Army (KATUSA) soldiers' average days of leave of absence, Kim claimed the total days Choo's son took was shorter than the average. In fact, Choo's son, identified only by his family name Seo, turned out to have taken more days off during his military service.



The DPK lawmaker didn't pose questions to any Cabinet ministers, including Choo, who were present and spent his time in a tirade defending the justice minister. National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seog warned him about breaking rules, reminding Kim gently what the National Assembly interpellation session was supposed to be about.



"It's for a one-on-one session between a lawmaker and a Cabinet member," Park said as Kim was leaving the floor after his long speech.



Rather than trying hard to make their constituents' voices heard, the representatives are preoccupied with ways that can guarantee their next term. Following partisan interest at the expense of voters' voices seems to be the consequence of a democracy that lacks institutional devices to punish irresponsive representatives.



The tragedy for voters and their representatives seems inevitable under the current election system as there is no realistic way that can help voters flex their muscles to bring self-serving representatives down once an election is over. Voters are empowered only on election day.


A Delhi Police constable, posted with the special staff team of the outer-north district, was injured when a gang of five-six people allegedly attacked the police team that had gone to arrested people involved in running a betting racket in outer Delhis Badli area on Monday. Two more policemen were also manhandled by the alleged attackers, the police said.

Three persons have been arrested in connection with the case, while raids are being conducted to nab the absconding attackers, deputy commissioner of police (outer-north) Gaurav Sharma said on Wednesday. The police did not disclose the names of the arrested men by saying that their probe is still on.

DCP Sharma said that the special staff team had received information that some people were running a betting racket in Badli area. The team members who were not in uniform went to catch the betting operators.

They successfully raided the place where the betting racket was operating. A scuffle broke out when the police personnel tried to arrest the betting operators. They assaulted constable Ravi Kant who suffered injuries and manhandled two other policemen. While others managed to escape, one attacker was caught, said a police officer from the special staff, requesting anonymity.

The injured constable was admitted to a nearby hospital from where he was discharged the next day after treatment. A case of assaulting and stopping the public servants from performing their duties was registered against the attackers and two more of have been arrested, said DCP Sharma, adding that constable Ravi Kant was injured while trying to nab a snatcher a few weeks ago in north Delhis Burari.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 16:22:06|Editor: huaxia

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TOKYO, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Yoshihide Suga, the new leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, was chosen as Japan's new prime minister to succeed Shinzo Abe in an extraordinary parliamentary session on Wednesday.

The parliament formally chose Suga as the nation's 99th prime minister at the extraordinary session convened in the afternoon.

Suga was elected by both chambers of Japan's bicameral parliament, winning 314 votes in the more powerful 465-member lower house and 142 votes in the 245-member upper chamber.

Outgoing prime minister Abe's cabinet resigned en masse ahead of Suga being selected as the nation's next leader.

The new prime minister has formed his cabinet comprising of a number of ministers who served under Abe.

His new lineup sees health minister Katsunobu Kato picked as Chief Cabinet Secretary, a key post that functions as both a policy coordinator and the government's top spokesman.

Abe's younger adoptive brother and a former senior vice foreign minister, Nobuo Kishi, was given his first Cabinet portfolio as defense minister, taking over from Taro Kono who was picked to serve as minister in charge of administrative reform.

LDP bigwigs that also served under Abe were retained in Suga's cabinet, in interests of the party's continuity, with these including Finance Minister Taro Aso, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi.

Fifteen of Suga's picks for his 20-member Cabinet held ministerial portfolios in the previous administration.

Justice Minister Yoko Kamikawa and Olympics and Paralympics Minister Seiko Hashimoto are the only female ministers Suga tapped for his cabinet, despite the government's previous push to promote more females to positions of power in businesses and politics.

Following his LDP leadership win, Suga said with reference to his new cabinet that it will comprise "reform-minded" people.

"I'll create a cabinet that works for people," Suga said, with reference to his planned reforms and deregulation.

"I want to create a government that people can trust. I will push ahead with deregulation and put an end to ministry sectionalism, endemic vested interests and the practice of blindly following past precedents. I will create a working cabinet," he added.

After formally launching his cabinet, Suga will be formally inaugurated later at a ceremony at the Imperial Palace. Enditem
It got to the point, rather quickly, when they had finished all the puzzles in the house  and then all the puzzles in the neighborhood that they could borrow.

And it was only May.

Doing puzzles in the pandemic had become a soothing, escapist way to while away the isolated hours and a metaphor for putting together the pieces of a jumbled world.

For Patricia Cream and Leah Mitchell, puzzles were a substitute for going to movies, concerts at the zoo, Isotopes games, dinner parties, life outside their Old Town-area home.

If not for COVID-19, wed also be traveling, visiting our kids, working outside the home, said Cream, director of The Gallery ABQ, an artist co-op forced to close in March until it partly reopened in June. We had to cancel a trip to France.

So, puzzles.

But with their supply gone dry, the women decided to put pieces together in a different, more artful and unique way  by creating a mosaic.

Mitchell, a senior manager and accountant at Sandia National Laboratories, had learned the art of mosaic-making and wanted to put those skills into practice in a big way  as in a nearly 12-foot-by-4-foot big way.

Mitchell also researched designs for large flowers, drawing them on a long swath of butcher paper spread across the couples long dining room table and an adjoining card table beginning on May 2.

Plastic wrap was unfurled atop the butcher paper to keep the glued tile pieces from sticking to the paper. Wire mesh was placed on top of that.

And then came the pieces of this floral landscape, the cups and saucers and plates, the pitchers and statues, and anything ceramic or porcelain or pottery that friends and family donated to the cause.

It became this community project, Cream said. Family and neighbors brought us things. Ladies from the gallery brought us a broken cow, a bunny statue, a beautiful blue and white plate.

Grandsons, she said, found plates that were mysteriously, suddenly broken. And Mitchell and Cream used coffee cups and souvenirs from Alaska to New York.

We can look at the mosaic and see pieces that bring back memories over the last 17 years, Cream said.

For the next four months, the women spent each weekend cutting and fitting and gluing each piece, using weld bond glue, starting first with the flowers, then the leaves, the ground, the sky where butterflies and dragonflies flitted.

Cream took a photo of their daily progress, sharing those photos online with family and friends, especially their daughters in Denver and Houston.

It was like a group watching this project cataloged day by day, she said. Its truly a story of how we kept a sense of togetherness and how we kept our sanity.

Instead of throwing their usual large party on Labor Day weekend, Mitchell and Cream invited a handful of friends and family to don their masks and help finish the project. They mortared the mosaic to four tile backer boards, attached the boards with french cleats to a cinderblock wall in their backyard, grouted and cleaned the mosaic in place until the beauty of the work shone in the sunlight.

I got to help wash the grouting off and felt like I got to clean Michelangelos brushes, friend Eleanor Milroy said.

It was like that in a way, a beautiful, brightly colored field of flowers painstakingly put together like a community puzzle, each piece a memory or a gift, a way to pass the time under COVID-19 precautions, a way to put back the pieces of a jumbled world.

It was truly a work of love from our family and friends, Cream said. Photos dont do it justice. You need to see it in person.

Maybe some day when the coronavirus crisis is over, when the world comes together again, those who know and love this family will.

UpFront is a front-page news and opinion column. Reach Joline at 730-2793, jkrueger@abqjournal.com, Facebook or @jolinegkg on Twitter.
AUSTIN, Texas - Decisions on whether to prosecute members of the U.S. military for sexual assault or sexual harassment would be handled outside the chain of command under a measure members of Congress proposed Wednesday that is named for a Texas soldier who was slain by a fellow soldier.

Reps. Jackie Speier, a Democrat from California, and Markwayne Mullin, a Republican from Oklahoma, said their bill would make sexual harassment a crime within the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The bipartisan bill has at least 73 cosponsors.

Speier said that 20% of military service members are female, but that women make up more than 60% of victims in military cases of assault. She said younger women of lower rank were most at risk.

The voices of those survivors have never been louder or more clear, Speier said. This is the militarys me too moment.

The I Am Vanessa Guillen Act is named after the hashtag that was used by military sexual assault survivors to denounce their experiences on social media when Spc. Vanessa Guillen went missing in April. According to a federal complaint, Guillen was bludgeoned to death at Fort Hood, near Killeen, Texas. Her body was found on July 1, when a fellow soldier, Spc. Aaron Robinson, was confronted by police and died by suicide.

Holding up sombre signs that read Military Sexual Assault Ends With Us, a coalition of military sexual assault survivors, the Guillen family and their attorney joined the House members to present the bill at the U.S. Capitol.

Guillens family has stated multiple times that Guillen was sexually harassed on the base by a fellow soldier, who they said was Robinson. According to Natalie Khawam, who represents the Guillen family, Guillen told her mother that a soldier of a higher rank walked in and watched her while she was showering.

U.S. Army officials said in July that they had found no evidence that Guillen had been sexually harassed by Robinson after Guillen did not formally file a report on the harassment. Officials said they had evidence that Guillen did face other kinds of harassment by other people at the Central Texas base.

In July, U.S. Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy ordered an independent review of command climate at Fort Hood and said the investigation into the harassment claims were ongoing. In August, McCarthy said Fort Hood had one of the highest rates of murder, sexual assault and harassment in the Army and in September ordered that the investigation into Guillens case be expanded to the commands response from the day she went missing to the day she was found.

The bill is not slated to be attached to the National Defence Authorization Act for fiscal year 2021, which would authorize appropriations and sets policies for Department of Defence. Instead, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement she would bring the legislation to a House vote as a stand-alone bill.

Military leaders would be mandated to launch command-directed investigations to be carried out by an independent investigator who is outside a victims chain of command if the bill becomes law.

However, independent investigations of sexual harassment would not go into effect for two years after the legislation became law. The delay is to give each branch of service time for for training on investigating complaints of sexual harassment.

The bill would also strip commanders  known as convening authorities in the military  from the decision to prosecute cases where a sexual offence is involved and give the authority to a uniformed chief prosecutor  similar to a district attorney in local government.

The Defence Department has historically been resolute in maintaining the authorities granted to a convening authority, arguing that its a commanders duty to maintain good order and discipline within their unit. Last year, the U.S. militarys top uniformed attorneys were staunch in their criticisms over passing legislation that would seek to remove a commander from the process of deciding whether to prosecute serious crimes like those involving sexual assault.

Lt. Gen. Charles Pede, the Armys chief judicial officer, said last year on Capitol Hill, Commanders have the moral and legal authority to drive the U.S. Army toward preventing significant crimes in a way that lawyers do not.

Don Christensen, a retired Air Force colonel and president of Protect Our Defenders, a non-profit that advocates for military justice reform, told the AP in a phone interview on Tuesday that the Defence Department has a nonsensical and illegitimate argument over who gets to decide prosecutions.

The good order and discipline argument is the Pentagons go to for opposing any kind of reform, he said.

___

LaPorta reported from Delray Beach, Florida. Coronado is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a non-profit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
T he Government has agreed to a compromise with Tory rebels over the controversial UK Internal Market Bill, giving MPs a vote before using powers which would break international law.

Following constructive talks over the last few days, the Government has agreed to table an amendment for Committee Stage.

The bill, which looks at how England trades with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland post-Brexit, has proved controversial both in and outside of the House of Commons.

It gives the Government power to change aspects of the European Withdrawal agreement - a legally-binding deal which was signed with Brussels in January.

Around 30 Tory rebels were thought to be preparing to vote for an amendment on Tuesday which would have required a Commons vote before the provisions in the Bill relating to Northern Ireland could come into force.

MPs debated the Internal Market Bill in the Commons / PA

A joint statement issued on behalf of Downing Street and Conservative MPs Sir Bob Neill and Damian Green said: This amendment will require the House of Commons to vote for a motion before a minister can use the notwithstanding powers contained in the U.K. Internal Market Bill.

The Internal Market Bill was designed to give MPs and Peers a vote on the use of these powers via statutory instrument. But following talks, it is agreed that the Parliamentary procedure suggested by some colleagues provides a clearer, more explicit democratic mandate for the use of these powers, and also provides more legal certainty.

The Government will table another amendment which sets clear limits on the scope and timeliness of judicial review into the exercise of these powers. This will provide people and businesses with the certainty that they need.

We welcome the way the Parliamentary Party has come together on these issue. There is near-unanimous agreement that the Government must be able to use these powers as a final resort, that there must be legal certainty, and that no further amendments are required on these powers.

MPs approve giving Brexit Bill a second reading

It comes after the Governments top law officer for Scotland resigned amid reports he was unhappy about the controversial UK Internal Market Bill.

Lord Keen of Elie QC, the Advocate General, was reported to be deeply unhappy after ministers admitted the provisions in the Brexit bill would breach international law.

Labours shadow attorney general Lord Falconer said: This has been a week of chaos from the Governments own law officers, whose legal advice has been renounced by its own Government and the voice of the law officers has been muted, and their authority is completely shot.

This has been a farce that shames the entire Government.

Earlier European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, warned the UK could not unilaterally set aside the Withdrawal Agreement which settled the terms of its divorce.

In her annual State of the Union address to the European Parliament, Mrs von der Leyen said both sides had agreed it was the only way to guarantee the Northern Ireland peace process.

Mr Johnson has insisted the Bill is intended to provide a legal safety net to protect the peace process and ensure the EU could not impose tariffs on goods moving to Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK.

Addressing the Parliament in Brussels, Mrs von der Leyen said: This Withdrawal Agreement took three years to negotiate and we worked relentlessly on it line-by-line, word-by-word, and together we succeeded.

The European Union and the UK jointly agreed that it was the best and only way for ensuring peace on the island of Ireland and we will never backtrack on that.

This agreement has been ratified by this house and the House of Commons. It cannot be unilaterally changed, disregarded or disapplied.

This is a matter of law and trust and good faith.
What do you do in Counseling Services?

Most commonly, we provide individual to MCLA students. For most students, this means that we meet one-on-one to talk about what is troubling you. Students often seek counseling for help with family concerns, relationship difficulties, depression, anxiety, eating difficulties, grieving, or dealing with stressful situations. We generally operate on a Solution-Focused Brief Therapy model in which the counselor actively assists the student in defining the problem, identifying specific goals, and producing change.

Group counseling is offered as needs arise.



Who can come to Counseling Services?

Any currently enrolled MCLA student can be seen in Counseling Services. Consultation services are available to students, faculty, staff, and parents.



Where are you located and when are you open?

Counseling Services is located on the 2nd Floor of the MountainOne Student Wellness Center. Our hours are 8:30 am to 4:30 pm Monday through Friday. Students are seen by appointment only.



How do I make an appointment to talk with a counselor?

Please call the office at 413-662-5331 to schedule an initial appointment.



I need to speak with someone right away. Is that possible?

If it is urgent and you need to be seen right away, we may meet with you for a same-day emergency appointment. Same-day emergency appointments are usually 15-20 minutes and can be used for evaluation, to talk something over with a counselor, or to obtain a referral to an off-campus provider.



What does it cost?

There is no cost to students for using Counseling Services. However, if you are referred to an outside provider you will need to use your health insurance to cover the cost of those services.



Who works there?

The staff of Counseling Services is made up of the Director, two full-time counselors, two part-time counselors, a consulting psychiatrist, and an Office Manager. Professional specialties vary by staff member, but all clinicians have appropriate training and state licensure.



I want to talk with a counselor, but I don't want anyone to know. Is my business kept confidential?

All visits to Counseling Services and conversations with staff are considered confidential unless you have specifically given your consent for us to share information with a particular person. State law and professional ethics protect your privacy as a client; however there are exceptions to this. In general, all contacts are confidential unless we determine that you are at risk of hurting yourself or another, you inform us of child abuse or elder abuse, or under rare circumstance, if a court of law orders that we provide certain information. Please visit our Confidentiality page for more information on this topic.



I'm not "crazy" and I'm not suicidal. Isn't counseling only for people who are?

Certainly not. Counseling services are sometimes used by people with more severe mental health problems, or people who are in crisis, but most of the students we meet with are struggling with the stressors of daily living or having difficulty coping as effectively as possible. When possible, we are happy to work with you to prevent a crisis from happening. Counseling can help you improve problem-solving abilities and assist you in developing flexible coping strategies.



I think my roommate (or friend) has an eating disorder, or a drinking problem, etc. Can I talk with someone in Counseling Services about this?

Absolutely. We can assist you to identify if there is a problem, to decide what you should do, if anything, and provide you with support.



What kinds of things can I talk about with a counselor?

Basically anything that is important to you - no problem is seen as too big or too small. Some things students discuss with their counselors include feelings of depression, low self-esteem, anxiety (including test anxiety), suicidal thoughts, family problems, relationship problems, sexual orientation, disability issues, past sexual assaults, substance abuse, family or parental alcoholism, abusive relationships, eating disorders, learning disabilities, anger management, loneliness, grief and loss.
China Rejects Human Rights Criticism as EU Seeks Trade Rebalance

By Henry Ridgwell September 15, 2020

Europe has called on China to take down trade barriers and rebalance their economic relationship, following a virtual summit held Monday among EU leaders and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

European leaders also raised human rights concerns, but Beijing has rejected what it calls interference in its affairs.

Monday's videoconference was a substantially downsized version of the original plan to hold a face-to-face summit among all 27 European Union heads of state and the Chinese president in the German city of Leipzig.

A resurgent coronavirus pandemic in Europe forced the change of plan. The virtual meeting was attended by Xi, along with European Council President Charles Michel; European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the council of the EU.

Speaking at a press conference after the meeting, Michel reiterated demands for China to open its markets.

"Europe needs to be a player, not a playing field," he told reporters. "Today's meeting represents another step forward in forging a more balanced relationship with China."

Von der Leyen was more direct.

"We expect that the market access barriers in China will be removed," she said.

Europe has voiced frustration at its lack of access to Chinese markets and at having to compete with state-backed industries. Brussels sees the current trade relationship with China as deeply unfair, but is not seeking a trade war, said analyst Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute at the University of London.

"The reality is that the EU would want to be strengthening its economic relationship with China with some adjustments," he told VOA.

"I think COVID-19 has changed a lot of things in terms of the relationship with China. Many of these countries have found China less than an entirely reliable trading partner or supplier of essential goods like medical supplies. So, some of that will change. But they really don't want to have an economic decoupling with China," Tsang said.

Human rights

The trade talks were overshadowed by growing criticism in Europe of China's human rights record. The EU has requested that Beijing end its clampdown on pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong following the imposition earlier this year of a so-called "national security law," which critics say effectively ends the right to protest and freedom of speech. The law will allow the Communist Party to markedly expand its power in and tighten control of the Asian financial hub.

Europe has voiced growing alarm over China's treatment of the Muslim Uighur population in Xinjiang province, where human rights groups say millions of people are being detained amid reports of forced labor and sterilizations. China denies the accusations.

Speaking at a press conference after the summit, Merkel said Europe would continue to raise these issues with Beijing.

"The human rights dialogue will continue. (Chinese President Xi Jinping) offered this," Merkel said. "So, there are already points of contact for further joint action. But that does not mean that there is agreement on these issues."

The United States has also repeatedly raised concerns over China's human rights record. Speaking on France Inter radio Tuesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asked Europe to take a tougher stance.

"We've always said that when human rights are under risk  whether it's the inability to practice one's religion and one's faith, or the simple ability to speak and exercise the basic rights of conscience  that the United States has a role in making clear that that's unacceptable," Pompeo said.

"It's what we've done with respect to what's taking place in western China. It's what we've done in other parts of the world. It's what we hope and we expect of other nations around the world. And we think the Europeans understand this risk in the same way that we do. We hope that they'll take actions that reflect the seriousness with which these human rights violations need to be viewed."

Reaction from Xi

China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported that Xi rejected any interference in Chinese affairs during Monday's virtual summit, particularly on human rights.

The Brussels-Beijing relationship is strained, analyst Tsang said.

"Governments generally, and the EU as a whole, also take a more robust stance, reflecting the shift in public opinion towards China."

The EU is China's top trading partner, and analysts say Beijing wants to avoid further disputes amid its trade war with the United States. Brussels said it will continue to bring up security and human rights concerns, even as it seeks more trade.

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U.S. drug developer Novavax Inc said on Tuesday it was doubling its potential COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing capacity to two billion doses annually under an agreement with Serum Institute of India, sending its shares up about 7%. In August, Novavax signed a deal with Serum Institute, the world's largest producer of vaccines, to produce a minimum of one billion doses of its vaccine candidate, when approved, for low- and middle-income countries and India.

As part of the expanded agreement, Serum Institute will also manufacture the antigen component of the vaccine, dubbed NVX-CoV2373, which Novavax said will bring its manufacturing capacity to over two billion doses by mid-2021. Novavax's vaccine is currently in mid-stage trials after an early-stage study showed it produced high levels of antibodies against the novel coronavirus. The company plans to begin late-stage trials in the third quarter.

Last month, Novavax said it will supply 60 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine candidate to the UK beginning as early as the first quarter of 2021. The company is also preparing to deliver 100 million doses to the United States by January after it was awarded $1.6 billion for its potential vaccine, and has also signed supply agreements with Canada and Japan.

Other drugmakers such as Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc have already begun large late-stage studies of their experimental vaccines.

Also read: Will take 4-5 years till everyone on planet gets coronavirus vaccine: Adar Poonawalla

Also read: India's role in coronavirus vaccine production critical in combating pandemic: Bill Gates
Public Policy Lecture Series

In 2008, MCLA announced the establishment of the Public Policy lecture series, making public policy forums an ongoing part of the College's long-term speaker offerings, in complement to MCLA's major in political science and public policy. The series is made possible through the generosity of the Ruth E. Proud Charitable Trust.





Jamie Ducharme

Big Vape

Thursday, October 7, 2021

Church Street Center Auditorium

7 P.M.

Register Here for In Person Viewing

Register Here for Zoom Viewing

Free and Open to the Public

Information: 413.662.5224



Jamie Ducharme is a correspondent at TIME magazine, where she covers health and science. Her work has won awards from the New York Press Club, the Deadline Club, and the Newswomens Club of New York. Her first book, Big Vape: The Incendiary Rise of Juula deep-dive into the e-cigarette company Juul Labs and an exploration of the complicated search for an alternative to cigaretteswas published by Henry Holt in May 2021. Jamie grew up in New Hampshire, earned a journalism degree from Northeastern University, and started her career as a health writer and editor at Boston magazine.
Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana recently introduced a bill called the Support Peaceful Protest Act. Despite the cheery title, its very purpose appears to be to make individuals think twice before attending any sort of protest.

If the bill were to pass, it would make it so that an individual convicted of a federal offense related to their conduct at and during the course of a protest policed by federal law enforcement officers would be required to pay the cost of that policing, and would be deemed ineligible for COVID-19 unemployment benefits. This would be on top of the penalty imposed on the protester for committing that federal offense in the first place.

Rep. Bankss rationale for this piece of legislation? Antifa thugs are descending on suffering communities, disrupting peaceful protests and leaving violence, looting and vandalism in their wake  Due to enhanced federal benefits, taxpayers are giving wages to jobless rioters that are destroying our communities. We need to cut them off from their funding and make them feel the full financial consequences of their actions.

The handful of comments on the congressmans website were mostly positive, with the general sentiment being, Whats wrong with a law that holds people accountable for the damage they cause?

Well  a few things.

To start with, some of the commenters might be surprised to learn about what, exactly, constitutes a federal offense. As documented by the Prosecution Project, in many cases the charges that federal prosecutors are pursuing against protesters dont involve violence or even property damage.

For example, a Texas man was charged with civil disorder for trying to barge through a police line and then passively resisting arrest by placing his arms underneath his body as he lay on the ground. Six individuals were charged with inciting riots, not because of actions they took at protests, but because of posts they made on social media. (As the blog Lawfare reports, the federal statute that they are charged with violating has long been criticized for infringing on First Amendment rights because it broadly prohibits a class of speech without tying that speech to any imminent action.)

But even when it comes to federal offenses that are truly violent and destructive, I have an instinctive skepticism about laws that do nothing but take acts that are already illegal and make them even more illegal.

If you are convicted of, say, destroying government property because you vandalized a police car, you will already be facing jail time and/or heavy fines. So why should vandalizing a police car at a protest incur an extra layer of punishment over doing the exact same thing on a regular day?

If anything, its a lot more difficult to ascertain who did what at a protest than it is at almost any other time  its very easy for peaceful protesters to be swept up in charges for violent acts they had nothing to do with.

Interestingly, when a commenter in a Facebook discussion about the Support Peaceful Protest Act pointed this out (I see this going horrendously wrong and people being punished for something they didnt do), many of the responses implied that thats simply the price one must pay for going to a protest in the first place (if your [sic] there peacefully protesting and dont do anything to stop the ones who are rioting then yes you are just as guilty). In other words: if you want to exercise your First Amendment freedom to peacefully protest, you need to accept that youre risking your federal employment aid should violence break out nearby.

Laws like the ones proposed by Congressman Banks create what we call a chilling effect on First Amendment rights. They dont outright ban assembly, but create repercussions that intimidate and dissuade people from doing it. This law in particular seems aimed at keeping people who have suffered economic misfortune from politically participating.

The right to peacefully protest needs better supporters.

Lata Nott is a Fellow at the Freedom Forum, a nonpartisan foundation that fosters First Amendment freedoms for all. Contact her via email at lnott@freedomforum.org, or follow her on Twitter at @LataNott.
President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed optimism on the capacity of the Nigerian economy to rebound strongly in the near term with the right policy responses to the multi-dimensional crises created especially by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The economy contracted by 6.1 per cent in the last quarter heralding a slide towards another round of recession in about two years.

Buhari noted that since the government cannot simply wait for things to get better on their own, "we have to formulate appropriate policies and implement them steadfastly in order to address the challenges head on".

In an address presented on Monday at the 13th annual Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN)'s banking and finance conference with the theme, "Facilitating a Sustainable Future: The Role of Banking and Finance," the president said so far, the federal government had implemented a wide range of fiscal, prudential and monetary measures that squarely address four key necessities.

Represented by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, he listed the four measures as ensuring sufficient liquidity, in part to support government programmes for saving lives and livelihoods; maintain stability of the financial system; ensuring continued delivery of financial services to the public; and shore up confidence and cushion economic activity.

He noted that the banking system, which is a critical component of the financial sector, is not immune from the potential impact of the current economic situation as banks have to restructure potentially bad loans in every sector of the economy.

Buhari recalled that it has been nearly six months since the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic.

He stated: "Since then, lockdown of varying degrees and durations have been implemented in different jurisdictions of the world, some more successful than others. But while a few countries have reported some successes in fighting the spread of the virus, resurgence in COVID-19 cases continues to be seen in many parts of the globe.

"Consequently, business activities have been disrupted, and the global economy is set to contract this year. The International Monetary Fund, in its report released in June 2020, expects the global economy to shrink by 4.9 per cent this year, worse than the negative 3.0 per cent projection made in April.

"Nigeria is not spared either, as the economy recorded a negative growth of -6.0% in the second quarter according to the data recently released by the NBS.

"This is against the backdrop of the real GDP decline from 2.55% in Q4 2019 to 1.87% during Q1 of 2020 reflecting the earliest effect of disruptions to the global supply chains caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Overall, Nigeria's real GDP is projected by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) to relapse into a second recession in four years from Q3 and to contract by -4.2% in 2020.

"Amidst the uncertainty created by the pandemic, we're confident that the Nigerian economy will bounce back strongly within the near term with the right policy responses to the multidimensional crises."

The president observed that in response to the current health and economic crisis occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government had rolled out both fiscal and monetary stimulus packages in the form of domestic interventions.

Buhari stated that for instance, the House of Representatives on March 24, 2020 passed the Emergency Economic Stimulus bill, 2020 to provide a 50 per cent tax rebate for employers and business owners who agree not to make staff cuts in 2020.

"The federal government also created a N50 billion target credit facility for affected households and SMEs. It also approved additional N100 billion intervention fund in healthcare loans to pharmaceutical companies and healthcare practitioners intending to expand/build capacity.

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"In addition, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) availed a $3.4 billion Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) for Nigeria to support the health care sector, protect jobs and businesses crucial to support economic revival. Similarly, moratorium has been given to all federal government funded loans issued by the Bank of Industry, Bank of Agriculture and the Nigeria Export-Import Bank," he said.

According to him, as part of the concerted effort aimed at bridging the transition to a post COVID -19 era, the federal government in July launched a 12-month economic sustainability plan with a stimulus package of N2.3 trillion.

This amount, he stressed, is being funded by N500 billion from special accounts, N1.11 trillion structured lending by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and N302.9 billion from other funding sources.
President Trump called on Senate Republicans Wednesday to support much higher spending for a prospective coronavirus relief bill, surprising members of the caucus who have advocated for a more constrained approach compared to previous relief legislation.

House Democrats passed a bill in May that would include a new round of $1,200 stimulus checks to all Americans, while the bill would see $3 trillion in overall new spending. Republicans in the Senate countered with a pared-down $300 billion relief bill, which was blocked by Senate Democrats.

Republicans have generally opposed additional stimulus checks and have pushed to include liability legislation that would shield companies from some coronavirus-related lawsuits. Democrats have supported stimulus checks while decrying attempts to pass liability protections.

Democrats are heartless. They dont want to give STIMULUS PAYMENTS to people who desperately need the money, and whose fault it was NOT that the plague came in from China, Trump wrote on Twitter on Wednesday. Go for the much higher numbers, Republicans, it all comes back to the USA anyway (one way or another!).

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany later clarified that Trump supports a bill of at least $500 billion in relief spending, as well as stimulus checks for Americans.

House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) welcomed the presidents remarks.

We are encouraged that after months of the Senate Republicans insisting on shortchanging the massive needs of the American people, President Trump is now calling on Republicans to go for the much higher numbers in the next coronavirus relief package, Pelosi and Schumer said in a joint statement.

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R., S.D.) cautioned that Republicans could not easily agree raise spending levels.

Im not sure what higher numbers, what that means. That probably needs to get translated for us, Thune told the Washington Post. But I know kind of what the threshold is for what we can get Republican votes for in the Senate, and I think if the number gets too high anything that got passed in the Senate would be passed mostly with Democrat votes and a handful of Republicans, so its going to have to stay in sort of a realistic range.

More from National Review
The Black Lives Matter protests this summer widened our historical lens in a number of ways. Perhaps least recognised is how those protests dragged the names of some of Britains profit-making colonial corporations out from under the stones and plinths on which the statues of figures like Edward Colston and Cecil Rhodes stood. Rarely mentioned in public discussion of our colonial past until June, the dubious role of Rhodes British South Africa Company and Colstons Royal Africa Company, which established the foundations of the British slave trade, were being debated, among other places, in the pages of the Daily Mail. Those brands join the well known East India Company as part of Britains colonial folklore (think movie series Pirates of the Caribbean and the BBCs Taboo). But though Colstons statue may be gone, the prototype model of the corporation that made him a fortune is alive and kicking. The problem is, it is kicking us to death.

The colonial model of the joint-stock company is the prototype on which the modern-day corporation is based. Today the same basic model is threatening our ability to sustain the ecology and life of the planet. Most of the worlds key commodities are owned and controlled by corporations. Almost all of the plastic that is choking our oceans is produced by corporations. Most of the industrial processes causing atmospheric pollution are controlled by corporations. Our food, our transport, our energy it is estimated that since 1965, 20 corporations have collectively produced 35 per cent of all fossil fuel emissions; since 1988, just 100 have collectively produced 71 per cent of all fossil fuel emissions. If we do not change things radically the corporate person  the artificial invention that has its roots in the slave trade  will continue in perpetuity as everything around us dies.

Indeed, many of the companies that profited from colonialism and slavery in the early days are thriving. All of the major banks in the UK can trace their direct lineage to the slave business. Barclays, Lloyds, the Royal Bank of Scotland and the Bank of England all have slave trading companies in their family tree. University College Londons extensive database of slave traders reveals both the names of individuals and the corporate names they traded under. The profits made by slave trading was simply passed through the corporate structure.
New Delhi, Sep 16 : The much awaited intra-Afghan talks in Doha, Qatar, were sandwiched between bouts of violence. Days before the talks were to begin, Afghanistan's first Vice-President Amrullah Saleh was targeted with a bomb blast in Kabul, which killed ten civilians. During the talks itself, attacks and fights erupted across 18 out of the country's 34 provinces.

On the other hand, to make the seemingly impossible talks possible, and create a conducive atmosphere, the Afghan government released 5,000 prisoners including some "hardcore" militants much against its wishes. The Taliban too released 1,000 soldiers that it had captured.

The intra-Afghan talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban-held on September 12, ironically one day after the 19th anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the US-were the patient outcome of American diplomacy that forced the two sides to the negotiating table. Supposed to be held within ten days of the historic US-Taliban agreement on February 29 in Doha, the talks were delayed due to the recalcitrant stand taken by the two parties-both of which did not want to talk with the other.

Notably, the Afghan government, led by President Ashraf Ghani, was not too happy at being kept out of the US-Taliban talks. It was also unhappy about the fact that American and Nato troops would be going back from the war-ravaged country. Ghani pointed out that the Taliban consistently violated the provisions of the US-Taliban agreement by not stopping the attacks on Afghan security forces.

However, US President Donald Trump was clear that he was withdrawing his soldiers from the Afghan battlefield and that the two sides had to talk to find out an Afghan solution.

Interestingly, it seems that except for the Afghan government everyone else is keen that the Americans pull out. The Taliban is more than happy as it smells power. Pakistan is satisfied that the US is withdrawing as it seeks a proxy government in Afghanistan though the Taliban. The myriad militant groups are happy. Trump too is keen that Americans have no business in Afghanistan and they should resolve it between themselves. He, through the US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad, is eager to fulfill his promise to the American voters to bring the troops back.

For the moment, the September 12 talks between the 21-member negotiating teams are led by the Taliban's lead negotiator Sheikh Abdul Hakim, a scholar-cleric, and Masoom Stanekzai, a former intelligence chief, for the Afghan government. Abdullah Abdullah, the head of the High Council for National Reconciliation, and four women too are at the talks from the Afghan government's side.

Based on the US-Taliban agreement, the talks are focused on just two things-a comprehensive ceasefire and a power-sharing arrangement. Both are complicated. From February 29 till now, the Taliban has not shown an inclination to hold back its attacks. Quite the contrary; it has increased attacks on both the government forces as well as civilians. Regarding power-sharing between the Taliban and the government, Taliban has not specified clearly what it wants under both the provisions.

Qatar, which has been facilitating the talks between the Americans and the Taliban, extended an invite to External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar to join the inaugural session of the intra-Afghan negotiations in Doha on 12 September. Jaishankar highlighted India's role as a major development partner of Afghanistan with its development assistance in the form of over 400 projects in all the 34 provinces.

The Minister also said that any peace process must be Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-controlled; and it has to respect the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of Afghanistan. He added that the interests of minorities, women and vulnerable sections of society must be preserved and the issue of violence across the country and its neighbourhood has to be effectively addressed.

India has always been apprehensive of the Taliban and various other militant groups which have been inimical to India's interests. It has, therefore, maintained an arm's distance from the Taliban but is bracing itself for an Afghan government with the Taliban as an important component. The global geo-political matrix has changed much this year, owing to the spread of the deadly coronavirus from Wuhan this year, and is changing even faster in the Indian neighbourhood due to the Chinese aggression on the Indian border.

For India, what is worrisome is that China, using its all-weather ally Pakistan, is trying to squeeze itself into the vacuum that the US will create. The dragon had reached out to Afghanistan, Nepal and Pakistan in August with an offer that Afghanistan accepts the Belt and Road Initiative and connects with Pakistan using the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). It is this matrix-the Taliban in the Afghan government, Pakistan's bigger role in Afghanistan courtesy the Taliban, and China's role in Afghanistan with the help of Pakistan-that is bothersome for India.

Now that the first round of face-to-face talks has finally taken place between two steadfast adversaries, we continue to watch this fast-evolving space.

(This content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com)
More than a quarter of a century has gone by, and authorities are still seeking leads in the cold case murder of Susan Taraskiewicz in Massachusetts.

The 28th anniversary of the 27-year-old womans killing was Monday. Nearly 30 years after her death, Massachusetts State Police are as determined as ever to bring Taraskiewiczs killer or killers to justice, officials said.

A $250,000 reward remains in effect for those who provide information about the case to authorities that leads to an arrest.

We are certain there are people who have this information. Whatever reasons you have had not to come forward thus far do not matter anymore. Time passes, people and motivations change. Things that didnt seem important suddenly do, and vice versa. Fears and worries shrink away, and pale in comparison to the realization of what is right and just, state police said in a Facebook post. It is long past time for anyone who can help this family, to bring some peace, and to do right by Susan, to step up and do just that.

On Sept. 14, 1992, Taraskiewiczs body was found in the trunk of her car, which had been left outside an auto repair shop on Route 1A in Revere. She had been beaten badly.

The discovery came a little more than a day after Taraskiewicz left her job as a ramp supervisor for Northwest Airlines at Boston Logan International Airport to pick up sandwiches for her coworkers. She never returned to her shift or to her home in Saugus, according to state police.

After her murder, Northwest Airlines offered the $250,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. In 2008, Northwest merged with Delta Air Lines, but the company informed Taraskiewiczs mother that it stands by that reward offer, authorities said.

So much time has passed since then. But the determination of the Massachusetts State Police and Revere police to bring Susans killer or killers to justice is as fierce today as it ever was, state police said. Detectives have not retreated one inch, and never will, from their desire to close this case and find justice for Susan and her family.

Numerous calls over the years have gone out for information about the womans death. Marlene Taraskiewicz, the victims mother, has spoken publicly multiple times in the past decade, calling on people to come forward to help with the case.

Please come forth, its not too late. Its never late to solve a murder, she said in 2014. A murder case is always open. I am a very healthy woman, and I am not going away. Youre going to look over shoulder until the day that I go, but I will get you, and I will get justice for my Susan.

Anyone with information about Taraskiewiczs killing has been urged to call the state police detective unit for Suffolk County at (617) 727-8817.

Related Content: 24 years later, authorities still searching for Susan Taraskiewiczs killer
(Natural News) In a blog post he wrote, University of Rhode Island professor Erik Loomis defended the killing of Trump supporter Aaron Danielson by Antifa Michael Reinoehl. Danielson was murdered in August amid conflicts between Black Lives Matter protesters and Trump supporters in Portland. Later, Reinoehl was killed by U.S. Marshals when they attempted to serve him with an arrest warrant days after he shot Danielson.

In the blog post, Loomis claimed law enforcement officers were rife with fascists from stem to stem and openly worked with other pro-Trump elements in Portland and Kenosha, Wis. A reader challenged him that Reinoehl shot and killed a guy, to which the professor replied: He killed a fascist. I see nothing wrong with it, at least from a moral perspective.

Professor Loomis doubled down in his defense of Danielsons murder, saying that violence is not always a bad idea  and was even necessary  in certain instances. He believed that violence against political enemies was a central part of fascist ideology, therefore the ideological opposite was to avoid violence unless the specific context of a situation called for it.

However, Danielson was not the one who resorted to violence. Video footage shows that he was spotted by a protester, which served as the signal for Reinoehl to fire two shots.

Loomis tweets and replies to questions based on feelings, not facts

Outside the blog, Loomis also made headlines on Twitter. He retweeted a statement by MSNBC host Chris Hayes, which called President Donald Trump objectively pro-COVID, adding that Republicans stopped caring about the coronavirus after they figured out how it affected poor people and people of color.

Kara Zupkus of the Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) and editor of the groups official publication, The New Guard, reposted professor Loomis tweets. He then resorted to attacking Zupkus and the organization she belongs to  calling her a fascist, disparaging YAF as horribly disgusting and accusing the groups founder William F. Buckley with having a diseased racist brain.

The professor defended his claim of Republicans turning a blind eye on the coronavirus effect on minorities, calling his detractors fascists and challenging them to go after him if they wanted more material to use against him.

Loomis responses clearly fall under ad hominem fallacies. The Texas State Universitys philosophy department defines ad hominem fallacies as statements that attack the person presenting an argument instead of the argument itself. Furthermore, ad hominem fallacies also target a persons membership in a group or institution.

Left-leaning academia deserves credit for the crazy ideas of Loomis and others

Liberalism is rife in most U.S. universities, not just the University of Rhode Island. Loomis defense of Aaron Danielsons murder just because of different political beliefs falls in line with other ideas from the halls of left-leaning educational institutions.

Four universities  University of California-San Diego, Syracuse University, University of Michigan and Loyola University of Maryland  have stopped using the term alumni to refer to their graduates in favor of the supposedly inclusive and politically correct alumnx. However, the original word alumni is actually gender-neutral to begin with as it refers to graduates regardless of their gender.

Elgin Community College faculty member Mae Hicks Jones has called for scrapping figures of speech for racist microaggressions. She remarked that the term low-hanging fruit was reminiscent of lynching, while the term grandfathering in served as a reminder of the disenfranchisement of black voters in the South before the Civil Rights era.

Meanwhile, Harvard University post-graduate student Kareem Carr explained on Twitter that the correct answer to 2+2 is five and not four. When asked why, he explained that statements such as 2+2=4 are but generalizations of a larger concept. Carrs explanation was dismissed by a Twitter user, saying that leftists are trying to deconstruct the objectively correct concept of 2+2=4 to give it a new meaning.

Any sane individual who dares criticize these ideas straight out of Bizarro World ought to be prepared for ad hominem attacks! Find more news about the insane ideas formulated by Loomis and other leftists in academia at CampusInsanity.com.

Sources include:

CampusReform.org

CBSNews.com

LawyersGunsMoneyBlog.com

Twitter.com

TXState.edu

WritingExplained.org
The sharp sting of grief often strikes when you least expect it.

Years after my husband's death, hearing the first soulful notes of a Van Morrison song he used to sing to me, or the sight of posters advertising family breaks in Wales, a place we spent many happy holidays, would be more than enough to cause tears to well.

With this grief came a searing loneliness. I was 44, and our twin daughters just 13, when Neil, also 44, died of cancer in May 2012.

In the hard years after, our children were my only priority and I shaped my life around them, isolated to my core. I was lonely  but lonely for no one else but Neil.

For as well as those unexpected, everyday reminders of what was lost, was a deeper wound: a profound grief at the loss of the physical intimacy Neil and I had known, in a devoted 16-year relationship.

Linda Aitchison was 44, and her twin daughters just 13, when her husband Neil, also 44, died of cancer in May 2012

I couldn't bear the thought of anyone taking his place.

I read of widows who cried the first time they went to bed with someone new. Little wonder I was truly terrified of ever having sex again.

Neil and I had had a very contented love life. We would laugh about how suited we were, as we navigated the demands of a young family. With him, I felt complete.

How could anyone else compare? And how could I  a middle-aged woman, with all the body hang-ups you might expect  ever trust another man as I had trusted Neil?

Nobody understood.

Friends nagged me to give dating a go, and my support group of young widows and widowers told me of 'widow's fire', the flames of yearning the bereaved are meant to feel.

While I understood their longing, some, I thought, were undoubtedly using sex to escape the pain of bereavement  and I don't blame them.

But I didn't envy them. I was all too aware that grief had knocked my confidence, and considered a fleeting liaison a toxic prospect.

In the hard years afterwards, she said her children were her only priority and so she shaped her life around them. She was lonely, but for no one else but Neil. Pictured: The couple kiss at their wedding in January 2012

The reality is, when you lose someone you love so much, you grieve not only for their loss, but for your own future, too.

Raising a glass together on our girls' 18th birthday, visiting the Far East, maybe one day having our own holiday home on the Welsh coast  all these plans had to be unpicked.

My future was one based on having Neil at my side.

It took six years before I could bring myself to dip my toe in the dating pool, something that brought terrible guilt.

After all, some widows choose never to look for someone new. To make things even more complex, however, I also felt guilty for not obeying Neil's final wish.

One of the last things he said to me was: 'Don't be a victim'.

It was a loving, well-intended comment to reassure me I should get on with the rest of my life, but it only compounded my feelings.

Whenever grief overwhelmed me, when I had nothing but anger for the world, it felt like I was betraying Neil by not doing as he'd asked.

At sea with all these emotions, aged 50, haltingly, and full of fear, I started internet dating.

Linda said she and Neil had had a very contented love life. They would laugh about how suited they were. Pictured: The couple in 2010

It was an utterly foreign thing for me, as shown in my innocent selection of 'nothing serious' on my dating profile.

Big mistake  cue a barrage of men suggesting all manner of lascivious liaisons. At this stage, I just wanted companionship.

Yet, on one date, a man exposed himself to me in his car.

When I protested, he said, shrugging: 'I thought you'd like it.' I felt naive and stupid. What was I even doing in his car?

What would Neil make of it all? I found it all soulless and sad.

I realised I needed a man who understood the enormity of what I was going through, who could put my terror at ease.

I had always said it was love at first sight with Neil. He, meanwhile, would smile and say, 'We got on OK.'

I was the news editor on a local newspaper when Neil rang up for a job as a reporter in 1996. We were both 28.

I was struck by his voice on the phone and, when he came in wearing a smart suit, I said to myself: 'I'm going to marry him.'

I thought he was the best-looking man in the world. He spent six months working with me before I got head-hunted for a job at another paper 250 miles away.

At my leaving do, after one too many drinks, I confessed undying love while he sat with me, stone-cold sober because he was on a late shift. The next morning, I rang to apologise and he said, 'You have nothing to apologise for . . .'

And, so, our romance blossomed. Within two years I was expecting twins  a surprise, but our girls, Emily and Melissa, couldn't have been more loved.

The couple met when Linda was the news editor on a local newspaper and Neil rang up for a job as a reporter in 1996. They were both 28. Pictured: The pair with their then newborn babies Emily and Melissa

Like so many couples, we said we would like to marry, but it didn't happen. Neil went down on bended knee, during a quiet night in, when our girls were six or seven.

But I didn't want to be the centre of attention in some fancy wedding. We didn't need a piece of paper, we told ourselves.

One of my favourite memories is of a holiday we took: a Caribbean cruise in 2009, where Neil enjoyed a massage on a glistening white beach, his feet lapped by gentle waves. This is the life, I thought.

We were oblivious to the fact his card had already been marked.

Neil had had a melanoma removed from his back in 2002. He'd had yearly check-ups for five years before being given the all-clear.

A further four years on, however, in 2011, he found a lump under his arm.

Soon after, we were told it was widespread, with multiple deposits of melanoma in his spine, lungs, ribs and liver.

When, weeks later, doctors told us his cancer was incurable and he had three months at best, I collapsed in shock.

In floods of tears, I blurted that I wanted to get married. Neil said the same.

In December, after two rounds of chemotherapy, Neil and I sat with our girls, to tell them they were going to lose their dad.

There have been many bad moments, but that was the hardest. It still makes me cry now  the image of our two little girls clinging to each other, sobbing.

We tried to focus on the wedding, which took place at our church in Great Wyrley, Staffordshire, in January 2012.

Neil had lost the ability to walk, but thanks to strenuous daily exercises with a team of Macmillan physios, he surprised everyone by walking down the aisle.

Neil had had a melanoma removed from his back in 2002. A further four years on, however, in 2011, he found a lump under his arm

We even managed a dance to our song: Van Morrison's Have I Told You Lately.

Over the next four months, Neil's disease spread to his brain, and he slipped away. How did I get through the next few days and weeks? I just had to; there was no choice.

Still, years passed in a kind of terrible stasis before I braved dating again. Eventually, after many weeks dodging feckless potential partners, I met Simon, now 55.

In his picture he was standing in front of shelves filled with books, which is unusual. And he wrote me a long, intelligent message.

We met for a drink. When I kissed him on the cheek at the end of the date, he was so surprised he jumped. He had gone more than a decade alone after his divorce.

We took things slowly and helped each other to be ourselves.

Soon after, the couple were told it was widespread, with multiple deposits of melanoma in his spine, lungs, ribs and liver. Neil was able to walk down the aisle despite being crippled with cancer

Rather than be on my own, as my girls were at university, I spent nights with Simon, sharing his homemade curries and a classic film.

We never did get to see the end of Casablanca.

All my nerves about being undressed in front of a man fell away. Simon was so loving and reassuring, and I knew he felt exactly the same.

For a pair of not-quite oldies like us, it still felt right. There was nothing strange or awkward  it was just lovely and comfortable.

I was a little emotional, but that was because I knew I was loved and secure.

After Neil's death, years passed before Linda braved dating again. But she finally summoned up the courage and has been with her new partner Simon for two years

We've now been together two years and laugh a lot. Like many others in our position, our relationship was intensified by lockdown.

It was a case of move in together or face months apart. We moved in and haven't regretted it.

Lockdown also triggered a huge shift in perspective for me. After eight years of widow's guilt, I finally started living for me.

Last week, I collected my daughters from their universities, having both attained 2.1 degrees in politics.

By rights I should have been celebrating with Neil, and that was tough for all of us. But accepting grief will forever be a feature of my life is oddly liberating.

Now 52, I have found living with Simon has brought a sense of stillness and peace in my life. I love his intellect, his quirky sense of humour and his big heart.

I know Neil would be pleased that I'm smiling and laughing again. He would be even more delighted that I have shaken off the guilt, and have found someone to hold me in their arms once more.

And after eight, long years, so am I
The movie star and the chef have been showing off major PDA since they were first publicly spotted together earlier this month in New York City.

And on Wednesday, Katie Holmes, 41, stepped out without her new man, 33, as she ran errands in the Big Apple.

The 'smitten' actress bundled up in a houndstooth coat for her outing, as its been revealed she 'keeps texting Emilio all day long and he loves it,' People's source said. 'He can't get enough of her attention.'

Solo: Katie Holmes, 41, stepped out without her new man, 33, as she ran errands in the Big Apple on Wednesday morning

Katie paired her thigh-length black and white patterned button up coat with baggy jeans, green flats and a her hair pulled back.

The mother of one slung a large brown handbag over one shoulder with a pink and blue patterned face mask.

Katie 'seems very into' the chef and the duo have been talking to each other almost nonstop, the outlet's source revealed.

'Emilio is very charming, flirty. It's easy to see how Katie fell for him,' the insider said.

Her man: The 'smitten' actress bundled up in a houndstooth coat for her outing, as its been revealed she 'keeps texting Emilio all day long and he loves it,' People 's source said. 'He can't get enough of her attention;' pictured together on September 8 in NYC while picking up coffee

Effortless beauty: Katie paired her thigh-length black and white patterned button up coat with baggy jeans, green flats and a her hair pulled back

Chic: The mother of one slung a large brown handbag over one shoulder with a pink and blue patterned face mask

Bundled up: Katie 'seems very into' the chef and the duo have been talking to each other almost nonstop, the outlet's source revealed

Emilio Vitolo Jr. and Katie have been spotted together outside at his father's popular restaurant Emilio's Ballato in Manhattan several times in the last week.

Emilio is often seen chatting with his father Emilio Vitolo Sr., who owns the restaurant.

They were first spotted together on Tuesday, September 1 on a date at Mediterranean restaurant Antique Garage in Soho; the duo were laughing and smiling at each other.

'Smitten': Emilio Vitolo Jr. and Katie have been spotted together outside at his father's popular restaurant Emilio's Ballato in Manhattan several times in the last week; pictured November 6, 2019 in NYC

On Sunday, September 6, the duo confirmed their romance with a hot and heavy make out session at Peasant Restaurant in Manhattan; the actress sat on his lap as they kissed each other passionately.

Since then, they've been seen on multiple occasions together with major PDA.

In its positive review of Emilio's Ballato, New York Magazine noted the restaurant has a 'clubby' atmosphere, partly due to Emilio Sr., who decides which customers gets a table and in what order they'll be served from his spot at the front.

Despite the insular style, plenty of celebrities have been drawn to the restaurants classic Italian dishes, including former President Barack Obama and Hollywood stars Tom Hanks and Bradley Cooper.

Last week, DailyMail.com published photos of the chef and the 41-year-old Dawson's Creek star locking lips outside of his restaurant just feet away from his father, who kindly averted his eyes.

Shocking: Last week, DailyMail.com published photos of the chef and the 41-year-old Dawson's Creek star locking lips outside of his restaurant just feet away from his father, who kindly averted his eyes

On Wednesday, DailyMail.com also revealed that Vitolo broke it off with his live-in fiancee Rachel Emmons, 24, via text when handsy photos of him and Holmes were first published, leaving the handbag designer shocked and forcing her to move back home.

Katie and Emilio's friendship has been growing since October 2019, and she doesn't seem to have been bothered by his engagement.

Katie and Emilio first met when a mutual friend introduced them, and their passions have only intensified since she returned home to New York City following time quarantining with her family in Ohio.

An insider close to the Logan Lucky star said she's now behaving 'like a teenage girl in love' because Vitolo is 'openly affectionate with her, left his fiancee to be with her and gives her something [her ex-boyfriend] Jamie [Foxx] couldn't,' the source added.

The insider said Holmes had been devastated by her breakup last year with the playboy actor, who never seemed to give up his roving eye and was still too close for comfort with his baby mama.

Former flames: An insider close to the Logan Lucky star said she's now behaving 'like a teenage girl in love' because Vitolo is 'openly affectionate with her, left his fiancee to be with her and gives her something [her ex-boyfriend] Jamie [Foxx] couldn't,' the source added; pictured May 6, 2019 at the Met Gala in NYC

The acting couple were first linked in 2013 hand-in-hand through Malibu, but they kept their relationship private throughout the years.

The couple finally split after they took their relationship public last year at the Met Gala.

Prior to coupling up with Foxx, Holmes was married to Hollywood icon Tom Cruise.

The couple began their whirlwind courtship in 2005 and were married in seven weeks.

Katie filed for divorce in 2012, which was finalized after only ten days.

She and Cruise had welcomed their daughter Suri in 2006, who now spends her time with Katie, who has primary custody.
The peace accord signed between the UAE and Israel yesterday in Washington is a fresh approach since the "old approach of the empty chair, no communications, no bridges has not worked," said Dr Anwar bin Mohammed Gargash, the UAEs Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, in a CNN interview.

Speaking on CNN's Connect the World with Becky Anderson, Dr Gargash responded to critics who view the normalisation of relations with Israel as purely a foreign policy win for President Trump ahead of the US election saying that the accord allowed the opportunity to suspend annexation. He also discussed relations with Turkey, Iran and Palestine as a result of the normalisation pact.

Excerpts from the interview:



Dr Anwar Gargash: I think the most important thing why this peace agreement was juxtaposed very close in this period to the American election was really the opportunity to suspend annexation.



Becky Anderson, CNN: Which has been applauded by the Democrats as much as it has by the Republicans.



Dr Anwar Gargash: Exactly. So, really, if one is asking the question why now, I think the key, really, is in the issue of annexation. Everybody was appalled by the decision of the Israeli government and part of the electoral pledge, really, to Palestinian lands, and that was sort of hanging over a two-state solution. We could have signed this next year, we could have signed it the year after, but I think that's really the critical part if you're asking the question why now?



Becky Anderson, CNN: So why is it that the Palestinians say that it seems clear to them they can no longer count on certain Arab states for support?



Dr Anwar Gargash: I mean, not all our sovereign decisions here have to be completely about the Palestinian issue. We think that we can have the right balance of having a normal relations with Israel, but at the same time, being, you know, steadfast with regards to our goal towards the two-state solution and dependent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. I would say it's really about a fresh approach. Clearly the old approach of the empty chair, the old approach of no communications, no bridges, in our assessment, has not worked.



Becky Anderson, CNN: So, in reality that means what? What can you offer to the Palestinians in support of a new dialogue or a dialogue, at least, with the Israelis and the possible retabling of a two-state solution?



Dr Anwar Gargash: That's a good question. It's a very good question. I would say number one is we already have a tangible outcome, which is the pledge on suspension of annexation. Again, is this going to be in perpetuity? I doubt it. But at least we have a quite comfortable window 



Becky Anderson, CNN: You're talking about what, five years?



Dr Anwar Gargash: I don't know. And I think our ability to influence the Israelis will be more pronounced. I don't see it immediately to deal with tomorrow, but as you build, I would say political and economic and investment profile, your wait becomes more important in a bilateral relationship.



Becky Anderson, CNN: Turkey has accused the UAE of, and I quote here, betraying the Palestinian cause for its own interests. The Turkish foreign minister saying, and I quote him here, It is a country that puts pressure on some Arab countries regarding Palestine. Your response?



Dr Anwar Gargash: Again, Turkey's position is really not about Palestine. Turkey's position is about polarised region where Turkey has tried to play an outside role within the Arab context.



Becky Anderson, CNN: You have accused them of neo-Ottoman expansionism.



Dr Anwar Gargash: True, and I think this is also part and parcel of Turkey's image of itself.



Becky Anderson, CNN: It does remain significant to bipartisan position to sell F-35s to the UAE due to concerns that that would degrade Israel's technological and tactical military advantage in the region, while this deal, the normalisation in and of itself, has bipartisan support. That element does not, as we understand it.



Dr Anwar Gargash: The debate will always be there. I was reading comments, I think, the day before yesterday, by a former Israeli Prime Minister arguing that these F-35s should be sold to the UAE and that it was ridiculous in any way that the F-35s undermine Israel's security but make, actually, an American ally perhaps more secure.



Becky Anderson, CNN: Secretary of state Mike Pompeo has said, and I quote, We have a 20-year plus security relationship with the UAE, we've provided them with technical assistance and with military assistance. We will now continue to review that process. We are deeply committed to ensure that the UAE has-- and I'm paraphrasing here  The equipment they need to secure and defend their own people from the same threat that we face, that of the Islamic republic of Iran. Is that what this is all about?



Dr Anwar Gargash: We do have our issues with Iran, and many of these issues are substantial issues. I think that we see these issues need to be resolved through de-escalation and through diplomacy. This is not an agreement about Iran. This is an agreement, firstly, about the UAE, about the UAEs role and position in the world, and it's, secondly, about that of the Arab-Israeli theatre and what can be done there and what messages to send. This is not about Iran.
Alphabet Inc's Google faced a bipartisan buzzsaw of tough questions about its ad business in a hearing on Tuesday, with a particular focus on whether it misused its dominance in online advertising to drive profits. Senator Mike Lee, a Republican and chair of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee's antitrust panel, pressed Google's Don Harrison, who testified remotely, on the company's dominance of the interlocking businesses which connect advertisers with newspapers, websites and other firms looking to host them.

"As that business has grown, so too have complaints that Google - which both operates the ad selling and buying platforms, and sells its own inventory through those platforms -has conflicts of interest and has manipulated or rigged online ad technologies and auctions to favor its own interest," Lee said.

He and others pressed Harrison on advertiser complaints that Google was opaque about where ad dollars went, specifically how much went to publishers and how much to Google. Harrison, who took over as head of Google's corporate development in 2012, argued that the ad tech ecosystem was crowded and competitive, with Amazon.com Inc and Facebook Inc, AT&T, Comcast and others among Google's powerful rivals, and that the price of placing an ad had fallen.

The tech giant made a series of purchases, including DoubleClick and AdMob, to help make it the dominant player in online advertising. Lee's concern was echoed by fellow Republicans like Senator Josh Hawley as well as Democrats, such as Senators Amy Klobuchar, the top Democrat on the panel, and Richard Blumenthal.

The hearing was held as President Donald Trump's Justice Department is expected to file a lawsuit against Google within weeks, according to sources familiar with the matter. Blumenthal called the task of defending Google "thankless" because of the many roles it plays between buyer and sellers in online advertising.

"(It) seems unacceptable in a really free market and in a free enterprise system which is why I hope there will be antitrust enforcement directed against Google," he said. Klobuchar, whose father was a journalist, expressed concern that newspapers did not receive adequate revenues from advertisements placed on their websites because of Google's dominance.

"I literally don't have personal grudges against these companies, like sometimes the president has expressed about various companies. I don't," she said. "I just want our capitalist system to work." While conservative bias is not covered by antitrust law, Senator Lee, backed by Hawley, questioned Harrison about Google's threat to drop a conservative publication from its advertising and bar some conservative commentators from making money on Google's YouTube.

Google's Harrison said the companies involved had violated policies, such as those against placing advertising next to racist or similar content.

Also read: TRAI's no-regulation stance on WhatsApp, Messenger, JioChat to keep chats private, free
In a television interview, President Trump confirmed that he had wanted to assassinate Bashar al-Assad, but James Mattis stopped him.

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump confirmed that a plan was in the works to take out Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2017 and that he was supportive of it, but former Defense Secretary James Mattis was opposed.

He told his favorite morning show,Fox & Friends, that he, wouldve rather taken him out. I had him all set. Mattis didnt want to do it. Mattis was a highly overrated general.

The renowned journalist and biographer Bob Woodward mentioned the story in his new book, Rage, which was released on Sept. 15, 2020.

According to the journalist, who broke out the Watergate scandal in 1974, President Trump told Defense Secretary James Mattis he wanted to assassinate Assad after a chemical weapons attack against Syrian civilians last year, according to an excerpt from author Bob Woodwards new book.

Lets fing kill him! Lets go in. Lets kill the fing lot of them, Trump said to Mattis on the phone after the chemical weapons attack in Douma, Syria, according to the book, Rage, published by The Washington Post.

Mattis reportedly told Trump hed get right on it in an apparent attempt to pacify the president. He simultaneously told a senior aide they would not be going down that road.

Were not going to do any of that. Were going to be much more measured, Mattis told the aide at the time, Woodward wrote.

However, Trump added in his interview with Fox & Friends that he did not regret the decision not to target Assad, saying he couldve lived either way. The Syrian leader has overseen the deaths of thousands of civilians amid a years-long civil war that has ravaged the country.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Syrian Observer.
WASHINGTON  Even as negotiations continued on Wednesday over a proposal that would allow the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok to continue operating in the United States, a backlash was forming in Washington to the deal.

Over the weekend, TikTok had offered a proposal to the Treasury Department that aimed to address the Trump administrations concerns that the app could give the Chinese government access to sensitive data. The proposal included bringing on Oracle, the Silicon Valley business software company, as a technology partner to TikTok. But Oracle would not own TikTok outright and the app would not transfer ownership of its valuable recommendation algorithm to Oracle.

That proposal is now under review by a secretive, multi-agency national security panel, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which is expected to submit its recommendation to President Trump for a final decision on Thursday.

But while the proposal winds its way through the review process, some lawmakers are increasingly up in arms about it. In a letter on Wednesday, Republican senators including Marco Rubio of Florida, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas criticized the proposal, saying that any deal that left a Chinese company  in this case, TikToks parent company, ByteDance  in control of the code or algorithms that run the app would fail to address national security concerns.
Customers at a fast-food chain chain in South Korea can avoid any interaction with a human server during the pandemic.

No Brand Burger is using robots to take orders, prepare food and bring meals out to diners.

Customers order and pay via touchscreen, then their request is sent to the kitchen where a cooking machine heats up the buns and patties.

When it's ready, a robot 'waiter' brings out their takeout bag.

Scroll down for video

No Brand Burger is using robots to take orders, prepare food and bring meals out to diners. Human workers add toppings to the burgers and wrap them up in takeout bags

'This is the first time I've actually seen such robots, so they are really amazing and fun,' Shin Hyun Soo, an office worker at No Brand in Seoul for the first time, told the AP.

Human workers add toppings to the burgers and wrap them up in takeout bags before passing them over to yellow-and-black serving robots, which have been compared to Minions.

Last month, takeout orders at No Brand accounted for 58 percent total sales, up from 42 percent in July, according to the chain's parent company, Shinsegae Food.

The chain is marketed as an affordable quick-food option, with burgers costing between $1.50 and $4.50.

And it's slogan is 'Why pay more? It's good enough.'

The yellow-and-black robots at No Brand Burger have been compared to Minions from the Despicable Me movies. There are 10 restaurant locations across South Korea

No Brand Burger is marketed as an affordable quick-food option, with burgers costing between $1.50 and $4.50. The name, logo and decor are borrowed from the No Brand minimarts that only carry generic goods

Last month, takeout orders at No Brand accounted for 58 percent total sales, up from 42 percent in July. The country has been battling a second wave of coronavirus that saw major restrictions on restaurants, cafes, karaoke bars, churches and other public venues

There are 10 No Brand Burger restaurants across Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi Province.

The eatery's name, logo and decor are borrowed from the No Brand minimarts that only carry generic goods.

After a recent second wave of coronavirus infections, restaurants in South Korea were only allowed to provide takeout and delivery after 9pm -a restriction that was only lifted Monday.

Other eateries in Asia have started employing robot servers during the pandemic.



In Korea, the Italian restaurant chain Mad for Garlic is using serving robots even for sit-down customers.

Using 3-D space mapping, Mad for Garlic's electronic 'waiter,' known as Aglio Kim, navigates between tables with up to five orders

Using 3D space mapping and other technology, the electronic 'waiter,' known as Aglio Kim, navigates between tables with up to five orders.

Mad for Garlic manager Lee Young-ho said kids especially like the robots, which can carry up to 66lbs in their trays.

Initially South Korea had been doing well against the virus, with many crediting the government for instituting an early quarantine, widespread testing and a contact-tracing campaign that included using smartphone GPS and surveillance-camera footage to establish transmission chains, The New York Times reported.

A server checks on Aglio Kim. Mad for Garlic manager Lee Young-ho said kids especially like the robots, which can carry up to 66 pounds in their trays

But in August, the number of reported infections nearly doubled, from 56 to 103, in just two days.

Epidemiologists say the spike was fueled by a three-day weekend, a massive anti-government rally and the return of church services.

It reached a peak of 441 cases on August 26 before ticking back down to at least 100 new infections per day.

That month, the health ministry banned large gatherings and shuttered nightclubs, churches and beaches to turn the tide.

'We are now in a very dangerous situation that could trigger a massive nationwide spread of COVID-19,' Health Minister Park Neung-hoo said last month when announcing the shutdowns.

To date, the country of 50 million has had 22,504 reported cases of COVID-19 and 367 deaths, 42 of which were in Seoul.
on Tuesday said it has revived grass root democracy and provided a new momentum to social and economic development in despite persistent attempts by a neighbouring country to infiltrate terrorists to derail this process.

Speaking during a debate at the 45th Session of the Human Rights Council, India's permanent representative Indra Mani Pandey also expressed regret over the UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet 's reference to the region.

Pandey said that remains committed to upholding all human rights. He said the human rights agenda and discourse must be pursued in a transparent and impartial manner with respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity and non-interference in internal affairs of States.

Referring to the abrogation of the Article 370 in 2019 that revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, Pandey said that since the changes, people in Union Territory of have been enjoying the same fundamental rights as people in other parts of

We have been able to revive grass root democracy and provide a new momentum to social and economic development, despite the challenge posed by COVID-19 pandemic and persistent attempts by one country to infiltrate terrorists to derail this process by all possible means, he said, in a veiled reference to

"Over the past one year, the Government's efforts aimed at socio-economic development and ensuring better governance have yielded unprecedented results.

"By extending coverage of positive and affirmative federal legislations and repealing discriminatory or outdated local laws, the Government has reaffirmed its commitment to delivering socio-economic justice to disadvantaged people in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir, including women, children, minorities and refugees, he said.

"We regret that the High Commissioner in her oral update made a reference to the situation in Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, he added.

He noted that as the largest and most vibrant democracy, India has been, since independence, an ardent supporter of human rights.

We have encouraged OHCHR to continue engaging States in a constructive manner, while emphasising the need to specifically avoid politicisation of the discourse on human rights, which is not conducive to achieving our collective goal of promoting and protecting human rights, he said.

"We urge the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to recognise the enormity of challenges that we face due to our large and very diverse population of 1.3 billion and act as our partner in a cooperative and constructive spirit in our endeavour to secure for our people all their basic human rights, he said.

He added that India will continue its constructive engagement with the Council and OHCHR for the promotion and protection of human rights.

(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.)
The government is ready to reimpose tough coronavirus lockdown measures, according to a report. (SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Government gives itself two weeks for its rule of six law reduce coronavirus infections, according to report

If infections dont fall, tough lockdown measures will be reimposed, ITV reports

UK has seen spike in new infections in past week

Visit the Yahoo homepage for more stories

The government has given itself two weeks for its rule of six coronavirus law to work before it reimposes tougher lockdown measures, according to a report.

ITVs Robert Peston has reported that if the rule of six  which bans most social gatherings of more than six people in England  has not reduced the number of COVID-19 infections by the end of September, then further lockdown measures will be reintroduced.

Peston quoted a Downing Street insider as saying: There is no possibility of us waiting for the death rate to rise before we act.

All social distancing measures apart from school closures will be considered, it was reported.

Watch: What is the new rule of six?

Lockdown is the only thing that we know works, to be frank, a scientific advisor was quoted as saying.

Boris Johnsons nationwide lockdown, imposed on 23 March, ultimately led to a dramatic reduction in the number of coronavirus cases and deaths.

He began lifting the lockdown in May, with sections of the economy allowed to reopen in mid-June.

Number 10 has since been imposing targeted lockdowns, such as the one in Leicester, to deal with local outbreaks.

However, the last week has seen a spike in the UKs overall infections. As of Tuesday (15 September), the seven-day average of new cases was 3,018, as compared to 1,215 on 15 August and 489 on 15 July.

On the other hand, the UKs daily death count remains relatively low: 27 on Tuesday compared to a high of 1,166 on 21 April.

It comes as the government faces major issues with the coronavirus testing system.

Problems have included huge queues for tests, people reporting they have been unable to get tests, and others being offered tests hundreds of miles from their homes.

Story continues

Watch: How to remove a face covering correctly

And health secretary Matt Hancock admitted in the House of Commons on Tuesday that the issues will take weeks to solve as he introduced a priority system for tests.

Meanwhile, the Evening Standard has reported curfews could be imposed in London to fight a second COVID-19 wave, in an attempt to avoid a more stringent lockdown.

Coronavirus: what happened today

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Twenty-two Army personnel were killed between 2017 and 2019 while serving in high-altitude areas like the Siachen Glacier, according to details provided by the government in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

Minister of State for Defence Shripad Naik said six Army men were killed in 2017 followed by eight each in 2018 and 2019.

He was replying to a written question on the number of Army personnel killed while serving in high-altitude areas.

The Siachen Glacier in the Karakorum range is known as the highest militarised zone in the world where the soldiers have to battle frostbites and high winds. Avalanches and landslides are common at the glacier during the winter and temperatures can drop to as low as minus 60 degrees Celsius.

India and Pakistan started deploying troops at the strategically important glacier in 1984.

Indian Army is deployed in highly treacherous terrain along the borders in Jammu and Kashmir, where there is constant threat of crevasses, avalanches and other weather related calamities to the troops," Naik said.
By Associated Press

LONDON: Kim Kardashian West, Katy Perry and Leonardo DiCaprio are among celebrities taking part in a 24-hour Instagram "freeze" on Wednesday to protest against what they say is parent company Facebook's failure to tackle violent and hateful content and election misinformation.

They were among the high profile names lending their backing to the "#StopHateforProfit" movement's latest campaign. The movement asks people to put up a message highlighting what they called the damage Facebook does but otherwise refrain from posting on Instagram for a day.

"I can't sit by and stay silent while these platforms continue to allow the spreading of hate, propaganda and misinformation - created by groups to sow division and split America apart - only to take steps after people are killed," Kardashian West posted on her Instagram account on Tuesday.

They were among the high profile names lending their backing to the '#StopHateforProfit' movement's latest campaign.

Facebook declined to comment but pointed to recent announcements about what it's doing to limit the reach on its platform of groups that support violence and its efforts to protect the US election in November.

With 188 million followers, Kardashian West is one of the most influential people on Instagram and support from her and other big names for the boycott saw Facebook shares slide in aftermarket trading late Tuesday. They were down 1.3 per cent ahead of the market open on Wednesday.

The organisers behind "#StopHateforProfit", including civil rights groups such as the Anti-Defamation League, the NAACP and Color Of Change, had previously led a campaign that got hundreds of companies and groups to join a Facebook advertising boycott in July.

Ashton Kutcher, Mark Ruffalo, Kerry Washington, Rosario Dawson, Jamie Foxx and Sacha Baron Cohen were among at least two dozen other Hollywood stars supporting the campaign, the organizers said.

DiCaprio said he was standing with the civil rights groups to call "on all users of Instagram and Facebook to protest the amplification of hate, racism, and the undermining of democracy on those platforms". Social media companies, led by Facebook, are facing a reckoning over what critics call indefensible excuses for amplifying divisions, hate and misinformation on their platforms.
An Uber boss has blamed 'sophisticated fraudsters' for the identity scandal which allowed passengers to take nearly 15,000 trips with bogus drivers.

Jamie Heywood, boss of Uber Europe, said the company was 'transparent' and 'open' when giving information to Transport for London (TfL) about the issue.

He said Uber was 'trying to join the dots' and work out how unauthorised drivers exploited Uber's system and did not withhold information from the regulator.

'We were being attacked by a gang of fraudsters who were very, very sophisticated,' Mr Heywood told Westminster Magistrates' Court today.

'I would strongly say that there was no time during my time at Uber, and in what was a very complicated discovery process, that we tried to conceal any type of information from TFL.'

Uber is appealing TfL's decision not to renew its operating licence because of safety breaches that put passengers at risk.

The company was awarded a five-year licence in 2012, but in September 2017 TfL refused to renew it - and the ride hailing app had to go to court where a judge handed it a 15-month licence in June 2018.

It was then given a further two-month licence in September 2019, after which TfL rejected Uber's application for a new licence, citing 'several breaches that placed passengers and their safety at risk'.

Jamie Heywood, boss of Uber Europe, said the company was 'transparent' and 'open' when giving information to Transport for London (TfL) about the issue

'We were being attacked by a gang of fraudsters who were very, very sophisticated,' Uber executive Mr Heywood told Westminster Magistrates' Court today

Uber executive Mr Heywood explained that a security issue was detected on October 13, 2018 after a driver was discovered without a 'valid hire and reward insurance' by TfL's enforcement officers.

Uber also received complaints from customers who reported that their driver looked nothing like his picture on the app.

More than 14,788 thousand trips were taken using bogus identities created by drivers deactivating their GPS location to seem as if they were in another country.

The bogus drivers had uploaded their photographs onto legitimate driver's accounts, Westminster Magistrates' Court heard.

Mr Heywood said: 'It was escalated through the safety process that we have. We escalated it to San Francisco and the question here was what had happened.

'The San Francisco team then came back to us with the root cause specific to this complaint. At the time there was an ongoing dialogue with the San Francisco tech team about whether the fixes had gone in and been effective.'

Uber is appealing Transport for London's (TfL) decision to not renew its operating licence because of safety breaches that put passengers at risk (file image)

Uber began an internal review of customer complaints to investigate whether any other driver had exploited the vulnerability, the boss said.

'That audit identified 45 uniquely identified drivers that were flagged, and what we were then going to do with those drivers is identify whether we should be deactivating them or not.'

Mr Heywood said 17 drivers' accounts were deactivated after Uber asked for a new photo from them to confirm their identity.

The Uber boss said: 'There were several phases of audits trying to get to the root of the problem. We initiated this ourselves.'

TfL claim Uber did not keep them appropriately 'abreast of any security problems' and deliberately left out information in several reports and letters they sent to the regulator as the company carried out its internal investigation.

Mr Heywood said: 'I completely share TfL's frustration, and it is exactly the emotion I feel as well. We have a vital obligation to be transparent with TfL

'Where we were struggling was with what do we put where.'

The hearing continues.
LONDON - Black actor John Boyega has stepped down from his role as a global ambassador for perfume brand Jo Malone after the company decided to hire a Chinese actor to replace him in an ad he created.

The Star Wars star wrote on Twitter Tuesday that the brands decision to replace my campaign in China by using my concepts and substituting a local brand ambassador for me, without either my consent or prior notice, was wrong.

Jo Malone, an upscale British perfume brand owned by Estee Lauder, has said that replacing Boyega with Chinese star Liu Haoran in the ad campaign was a misstep. It has removed the ad and apologized.

The original ad starring Boyega, 28, aired last year and was called The London Gent. It features the London-born actor walking around the neighbourhood where he grew up and riding a horse in a park, and it makes reference to his Nigerian heritage in a scene featuring West African attire.

The film celebrated my personal story showcasing my hometown, including my friends and featuring my family, Boyega wrote. While many brands understandably use a variety of global and local ambassadors, dismissively trading out ones culture this way is not something I can condone.

Its not the first time Boyega has been deleted from a China-based ad. He played a leading role as Finn in 2015s Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but he and other nonwhite characters were removed or diminished from a Chinese poster for the movie.

Boyega recently told GQ that Black characters have been pushed to the side in Disneys Star Wars franchise. In June, the star made an emotional speech on racism when he joined Black Lives Matter protests in London.
Maria Kolesnikova (C), a representative of Viktor Barbarikos presidential campaign, walks outside the Directorate of Internal Affairs (RUVD) for Oktyabrsky District, where detained journalists covering an unauthorised protest are kept.

Belarus investigators have officially charged Maria Kolesnikova, a protest leader, with incitement to undermine national security, the Investigative Committee said in a statement on Wednesday.

Kolesnikova was charged with calling for "actions aimed at undermining Belarusian national security" using the media and the Internet, the committee said.

Kolesnikova, 38, is currently in jail in Minsk after ripping up her own passport last week to thwart an attempt to expel her to Ukraine.
To give the actors their moment in the spotlight, the Emmys are promising live camera feeds from about 140 locations. Gee, that wont present any technical challenges, will it? Not to worry. The best part of an awards show is often an unscripted mistake. If a live feed freezes on the face of a losing nominee while the winner is giving a speech, for instance, consider it a moment for future blooper reels.
ATLANTA (AP)  Leading congressional Democrats reacted furiously Tuesday to claims that immigrants held at a detention center in Georgia are undergoing an unusual number of hysterectomies.

In a complaint filed Monday, a nurse alleges that the Irwin County Detention Center performed questionable hysterectomies, refused to test detainees for COVID-19 and shredded medical records.

Democrats seized on the most explosive allegations in the nurses complaint  that a gynecologist called the uterus collector was performing mass hysterectomies  in declaring they would investigate the matter.

Lawyers for the nurse, Dawn Wooten, refused to release her full statement that she made to the Department of Homeland Securitys Inspector General. She appeared at a press conference Tuesday, but declined to take questions after reading a statement. The doctor is not named in the complaint.

Wooten worked full-time as a licensed practical nurse at the immigration jail until July, when she was demoted.

Democrats have previously condemned the Trump administrations treatment of immigrants, including the separation of families and the detention of children in squalid conditions at the border.

If true, the appalling conditions described in the whistleblower complaint  including allegations of mass hysterectomies being performed on vulnerable immigrant women  are a staggering abuse of human rights, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said in a statement.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, said the panel is conducting an ongoing investigation about the conditions at ICE contractor facilities and will be examining these new and incredibly serious allegations.

It was unclear to Wooten if women knowingly consented to the operations. She said nurses raised concerns about the doctor.

Everybody he sees has a hysterectomy  just about everybody, Wooten said in the complaint. Hes even taken out the wrong ovary on a young lady.

The facility in Ocilla, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) south of Atlanta, houses men and women detainees for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as inmates for the U.S. Marshals Service and Irwin County. Its run by the private LaSalle Corrections, a Louisiana company.

ICE said it does not comment on matters before the inspector general but that it takes all allegations seriously.

That said, in general, anonymous, unproven allegations, made without any fact-checkable specifics, should be treated with the appropriate skepticism they deserve, the agency said in a statement.

Wooten spoke little about the hysterectomy allegation during the news conference, instead focusing on her concerns that the facility wasnt testing detainees for COVID-19, that the detention center wasnt being sanitized, and that little protective equipment was available for employees.

While the 27-page complaint filed by advocacy group Project South quotes unidentified detainees extensively, it also includes detailed comments from Wooten. The complaint says Wooten was demoted after missing work with coronavirus symptoms, which she believes was retaliation for raising questions about COVID-19.

I know I was demoted because I raised questions about why, Wooten said during the news conference. I was told not to tell officers that there were detainees they dealt with day in and day out that were positive.

Wooten said the number of detainees infected was much higher than reported because there was no active testing and not all cases were reported, according to the complaint. The New York Times reported in June that inmates engaged in protests because of concerns about poor COVID-19 protections.

Wooten is quoted as saying the sick call nurse sometimes fabricated seeing detainees in person when they hadnt and that she saw the nurse shred a box of detainee complaints without looking at them. She said nurses ignored detainees reporting COVID-19 symptoms.

If detainees reported a fever, nurses would put them on an over-the-counter cold medication for seven days without testing them for COVID-19, she said.

Wooten said the facility declined to use two rapid-testing COVID-19 machines that ICE purchased for $14,000 each. No medical staff had been trained on them and she saw the machines used only once.

LaSalle Corrections did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Monday.

As of Sunday, 42 detainees at the facility had tested positive for the virus, according to ICE. Nationwide, 5,772 detainees were positive.
President Sisi said during the ceremony that significant improvement in the education sector has been achieved and discussed the challenges facing the country

Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi inaugurated on Wednesday the Egyptian-Japanese University for Science and Technology in Alexandrias city of Borg El-Arab, as well as a number of private universities, the presidency said.

President El-Sisi said during the ceremony that significant improvement in the education sector has been achieved.

He stressed that the newly announced system for Thanaweya Amma exams aims at reducing human error in correcting exams through the implementation of an electronic testing system.

The president said a different system of attendance in schools will be applied as a preventative measure against COVID-19, explaining that students will go to school for two or four days a week.

He added that decreasing the number of students per class aims at maintaining social distancing.

He said working mothers should be given a priority in the decision to reduce working days amid the coronavirus crisis.

President discusses challenges

El-Sisi said some states and groups aim at destroying the Egyptian nation and fuel strife and conflict among people through funding distorting platforms.

He warned that national achievements underway are resisted by campaigns launched by evil powers who falsely claim the states efforts aim at harming people.

"Our goal in reform measures is the national wellbeing not adding pressures on the people," El-Sisi stressed.

The state has established universities and schools during the past six years many times more than those established over the past four decades, the president said.

"We are fixing problems that have been neglected for years," the president said in comments during the inauguration of the Egyptian-Japanese University in Alexandria on Wednesday.

The president addressed the issue of rapid population growth in the country, saying the population, which stands at 103 million, is expected to reach 194 million by 2050.

To deal with rapid population growth, he said, the state needs to double its infrastructure projects during the coming 30 years, he said.

El-Sisi stressed the need to expand infrastructure projects, including roads, housing units, water desalination plants, and power plants over the coming years to cope with the population increase.

What we have achieved so far was believed to be unachievable, and we did it thanks to God, the president said.

El-Sisi warned that some of the ongoing attempts to sow doubts about the states efforts and intentions can reach a state of treason and conspiracy to destroy the state."

The government has laboured hard along myself in order for "Egypt not to burn, in order to counter those who lack a conscience and and only seek to sow doubts

He added that hostile political currents claim they aim to change, but, he swore that their hidden face is destruction.

I have always bet on the Egyptian people and their awareness."

Did I ever fail you? the president asked.

I sacrificed myself along with the army in the face of many problems such as that of energy and fuel, he added.

Why do they want to destroy the state? Take your evil and leave us alone. We are a nation of 100 million people who want the country to progress," the president said.

El-Sisi stressed the need to expand infrastructure projects, including roads, housing units, water desalination plants, and power plants over the coming years to cope with the population increase.

What we have achieved so far was believed to be unachievable, and we did it thanks to God, the president said.

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, Parliament Speaker Ali Abdel-Aal, minister of higher education, and other state officials attended the ceremony.

Prime minister's statement

At the opening event, Prime Minister Madbouly said education is an issue of national security and a top priority for the government.

He said the state faces challenges in education such as the high number of students per classroom, poor education quality indicators, high illiteracy rates, and insufficient technical education schools.

Egypt has about 30,000 schools with 500,000 classrooms and 23.5 million students, he added.

He noted that 73,000 new classrooms, which would cost EGP 40 billion, need to be established to reach an opitimum ratio of students per class.

He added that 38 more universities are needed to cope with population growth.

Madbouly said the state has invested EGP 100 billion in education, including higher education, over the past six years.

He highlighted the importance of technical and professional training and the necessity to maintain a link between scientific research and industry.

He noted that eight modern technological universities and 100 government faculties and institutes are being established.

The prime minister added that the state plans to build 40,000 classrooms during the current and coming year.

The education minister's statement

The Minister of Education Tarek Shawki said that a new book on the Values and Respect of Others will be included in the school curriculum for third graders.

The ministry will seek, in coordination with the ministry of youth and the relevant body of the armed forces, to make physical education in schools a pass or fail course.

The minister said 75,000 new classes have been established during the last six years, at a total cost of EGP 24 billion.

The ministry plans to distribute 1.8 million tablets among students and install 36,000 computer screens as well as a new fiber optic network in schools to enhance the educational experience, Shawki said.

Egypt is currently operating 43 Japanese schools in 24 governorates.

Shawki also explained that the new Thanaweya Amma exam system will allow students to take more than one makeup test in the same subject to improve their grades.

Higher education ministers statement

Egyptian Higher Education Minister Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar said the country has invested up to EGP 48 billion (around $3 billion) in public universities over the last six years.

He said that public universities accommodate 80 percent of the countrys university students, who number some 3 million, adding about 93 new public universities have been established in 2020.

The minister added that he expects the number of university students to increase by 2030, as the countrys population is projected to reach 121 million.

We need to provide more places in universities to cater to the expected increase, he added.

The minister said that Egypt ranks 42nd worldwide for quality of education, noting that the country has exerted great efforts to improve its global classification.

He added that 21 Egyptian public universities were included among the best universities in scientific research.

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Commonwealth Bank has issued an urgent warning to customers about a scam email that has been circulating online that asks for account details.

The bank took to social media on Wednesday to share an example of the hoax email, which claims the customer's account has been disabled.

'Due to recent activity on your account, we have placed a temporary suspension until you verify your account,' the email read.

Commonwealth Bank has issued an urgent warning to customers following a scam email (pictured) that has been circulating

TIPS TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM SCAMS Don't click on hyperlinks

Go to the website through your web browser

Never responded to unsolicited messages or calls that ask for personal details Advertisement

People are then asked to follow a link in order to verify their account.

'Please don't respond to this email, if you have any questions call the number on the back of your card,' the email continued.

The word 'until' is spelled incorrectly in the email.

Incorrect spelling is often a sign that an email is a scam and an attempt to defraud the receiver.

'We are aware that some of our customers have received this email asking them to verify their account. This is a hoax,' Commonwealth Bank wrote on Facebook.

'If you, or anyone you know has received this email, please delete it.'

Anyone who believes they have been scammed is urged to contact Commonwealth Bank.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Commonwealth Bank for comment.
BEIJING, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese mainland spokesperson on Wednesday condemned the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authority in Taiwan for attempting to develop "official ties" with the United States under the pretext of commercial purposes, saying the move will only damage the interests of Taiwan compatriots.

Ma Xiaoguang, a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, made the comments in response to the DPP's plan to hold an "economic and commercial dialogue" with the United States.

Ma called it another move to put the Taiwan market at the mercy of the United States, following the DPP's opening of the Taiwan market to problematic U.S. agricultural and livestock products for political purposes.

The DPP authority's attempt to develop "official ties" with the United States under the pretext of economic and commercial purposes will harm the economic interests and well-being of Taiwan compatriots, Ma said.

Noting that the Taiwan question falls under China's internal affairs and brooks no external interference, he urged the U.S. side to adhere to the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiques, and to cease any forms of official interaction with Taiwan.

When commenting on reports concerning U.S. Under Secretary of State Keith Krach's upcoming visit to Taiwan, Ma voiced firm opposition to the visit and to any forms of official interaction with China's Taiwan region carried out by countries that have diplomatic relations with China.

Such actions interfere in China's internal affairs and violate universally recognized norms governing international relations, Ma said, adding that the DPP authority's attempt to seek "Taiwan independence" relying on some external forces will face a dead end.

Regarding the Czech senate speaker's recent visit to Taiwan, Ma said the visit breached the Czech Republic's commitment to the one-China principle and the basic norms governing international relations. "We are firmly opposed to it," he said.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives quickly shot down a bipartisan coronavirus relief proposal on Tuesday.

Eight House Democratic committee chairs released a joint statement saying the proposal from the Problem Solvers Caucus (PSC) falls short of what is needed to save lives and boost the economy.

In reference to the House-passed Heroes Act, the joint statement said the new proposal retreats from these critical policies and fails to respond to additional issues that have emerged.

The $3 trillion package, which passed the House in May, has stalled in the Republican-controlled Senate after members of the GOP caucus described the bill as dead on arrival.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) said that Republicans would insist on narrowly targeted legislation.

The PSC, of which Rep. Max Rose (D-Staten Island/South Brooklyn) is a member, described the proposed framework as a march to common ground as stimulus talks have stalled in Congress.

Their proposal offered more than $1.5 trillion in new money for things like small business and school aid, a new round of $1,200 stimulus checks, more jobless benefits, and election funding.

Rose, who is up for reelection in a tight race against Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-East Shore/South Brooklyn), went on CNN on Tuesday to angrily criticize the rejection on the part of House leadership saying it made him "disappointed to be a Democrat.

You saw all the reasons why people hate politics, the freshman congressman said. Because they are rejecting a bold bipartisan measure outright and insinuating things are not in there when they actually are and just continuing to kick the can down the road over and over and over again. ... Its deeply frustrating.

On Tuesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) said her chamber will stay in session until a breakthrough is made on a coronavirus stimulus bill. McConnell has not made a similar commitment for his chamber, but Republicans, including President Trump, have suggested Democrats are delaying second stimulus to hurt his election chances.

Earlier in September, a significantly-reduced stimulus bill failed to even pass the Senate on nearly partisan lines.
KAMPALA  In a remarkable turn of events, a Ugandan publication Softpower News has reinstated a deleted story that peddled a conspiracy theory on the alleged murder of a French citizen of Rwandan origin Benjamin Rutabana.

The publication suggested that Mr. Rutabana who went missing since September 2019 was murdered in cold blood by Rwandan security operatives.

The story was restored after this website identified the matter on Tuesday.

It is not immediately clear why the editorial had resolved to delete story but the publication is said to have privately come to that grim realization in recent days, multiple pundits said, amid a mountain of taunting and warnings from a US-based rights firm, that the publication was on course to collide with humanitarian organizations.

The website, in the story (which is now reinstated) quotes a former Rwandan soldier who claims to have witnessed the killing of Rutabana.

I received Rutabana and saw everything. I witnessed his brutal execution by Rwandas Defence Intelligence  After that I had to flee with my family to Uganda, Lt Gerald Tindifa, an alleged former ADC of Nyakarundi, is quoted as saying.

In Rwanda, if you are involved in such an operation, you know for sure that one day all of you involved will get killed. That is how our intelligence operates, to conceal and forever bury evidence. I am grateful to God that my family and I are safe. I also pray that God comforts the family of Rutabana, he reportedly said.

On Wednesday, a veteran Ugandan editor who asked for anonymity said publication is now stuck with the article.

The veteran editor added: Maybe, they were pressured. Maybe, who knows.

Mr Greg Smith Heavens, the CEO and Founder President, IRHRI, had previously taunted the publication and said the plotters of the story are up to something else, most importantly playing diversionary tactics.

These people (publication) dont have any sense of humanity at all. See how they involved a person who is still seeking asylum (self-proclaimed Rwandan soldier) well knowing the consequences he could face if at all they actually interviewed the right guy. The story itself places whoever is called Gerald Tindifa at battle with humanitarian organisations and democratic countries for involvement in crimes against humanity. The whole act is completely against Humanity and UNHCR criteria of refugees rights protection.

Quoting highly placed security sources, Greg says, Rutabana is still alive and also believes he is Uganda.

We strongly believe that the information we have so far gathered and continue to gather is undoubtedly correct. We well know that Rwanda has no hand in the disappearance of Rutabana. His disappearance is mainly based on the personal interests of Gen Nyamwasa and his close confidants in Ugandas top security agencies, he said.

Mr Greg added: We can confidently confirm that Rutabana is well, alive and in Uganda. Our most recent findings indicate that following our instant pressure and diplomatic processes with Ugandan officials, President Museveni picked interest into the matter and ordered for Rutabanas safety. This was after he learnt that Rwanda had picked suspicious interest in him.

We couldnt confirm Mr. Gregs assertions because, in Uganda, army is a no go area for journalists.

Another senior editor at a Ugandan top news paper said: I dont know what informed their decision to first of all publish such allegations. I think they had a done well to delete the story.

Mr Greg said insists that Mr. Tindifa was never interviewed by the News website. He also thinks they never interviewed M23 commander as they claim.

The story itself had been cooked, shame on them, he noted, adding that the act of deleting the story clearly indicates that it was concocted.

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The Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), Marcel Ciolacu, declared, on Wednesday, in a press conference held in Targoviste, that Romanians in the diaspora will not be able to vote in the parliamentary elections in the countries where they live, because the respective states do not allow Romania to set up sections, and this issue should be discussed in Parliament.

"The big problem in the parliamentary elections is quite different. All European states have told us that there will not agree to the opening of polling stations in their countries. In other words, the whole diaspora will not have the opportunity to vote. I think this is a major question mark and we should have a serious discussion in Parliament with all political leaders, let's see what needs to be done," Ciolacu said.

He stressed that the right to vote is a fundamental one. "In the Constitution, the right to vote and to be elected is fundamental. As far as I remember, in 1989, this was the first thing for which we took to the streets," the PSD leader added.

Marcel Ciolacu held the press conference together with the president of the PSD National Council, Vasile Dincu, the vice-president of PSD Titus Corlatean, the president of PSD Dambovita, Corneliu Stefan, and the mayor of Targoviste, Cristian Stan.
Remarks by President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu of the State of Israel Before Bilateral Meeting

September 15, 2020

Oval Office

12:05 P.M. EDT

PRESIDENT TRUMP: (A ceremonial gold key is presented.) This was a special token of affection, given by myself and the First Lady to the Prime Minister and the First Lady of Israel. And it's a key  we call it a key to the White House. And it's a key to our country and to our hearts. And you've been an amazing leader for a long period of time. And this is  this is, in many respects, the big day, because this is something that's very special.

We just left UAE and Bahrain. We're going to meet outside in a ceremony. And it's just a very important event. And it's an honor to have you with us, Bibi. Thank you very much.

PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Thank you, Mr. President. And I have said  and this is true  that you have the key to the hearts of the people of Israel because of all the great things you've done for the Jewish State and the Jewish people. So, thank you. Thank you.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much. Fantastic. And we look forward to being outside.

Q Mr. President 

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yes, please. Anybody?

Q Mr. President, this is a great event  this is a great event and these are tremendous achievements. Can you  we know that Israel is getting a lot. What is Israel giving back for this 

PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: This is the Israeli press that wants to chip away at this.

(Cross-talk.)

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I think what, really, Israel is getting  I think what Israel is getting and what we're all getting, but what Israel is getting more than anything else is peace. They're going to have peace. As you know, UAE  United Arab Emirates  is a great warring nation, a very powerful nation in the region. And they very much wanted to do this. Mohammed is a tremendous leader, like Bibi is a tremendous leader. And it was important to have them first very early.

And, you know, the relationship is fantastic. And a lot of people are surprised to see it. And, as you know, we have Bahrain and we have many nations ready to follow. Many nations.

Q Is Saudi Arabia going to be next?

Q Can you name them?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I can't  no, not now, I won't. But you'll see. We'll be signing up other nations. And these are very strong agreements. These are very strong. This is really peace. This is serious peace. And so I think what Israel gets  the most important thing that they're getting, by far, is peace.

(Cross-talk.)

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Excuse me, one at a time, please.

PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Pick the other one.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Who? Which one?

PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: See the woman in the white? The woman in the white.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: In the white. Go ahead.

Q Yes. Thank you. Lital from Channel 20. Is it possible to know which countries will be following the Emirates?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, we'll be announce- 

Q Will it be Saudi? Maybe Oman?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yeah, we're very far down the road with about five countries, five additional countries. Frankly, I think we could have had them here today. We thought, out of respect, UAE  they deserved it. And Bahrain came immediately after. They really wanted to do it. But we'll have at least five or six countries coming along very quickly, and we're already talking to them.

And they want to see peace. You know, they've been fighting for a long time. They're tired. They're warring countries, but they're tired. They're tired of fighting. And so you're going to be seeing further announcements.

This is a  you know, it's a very big day. I guess they said  so there were two countries, over a 72-year period, and we did an additional two. And these are great countries. We did an additional two in one month.

PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Twenty-nine days.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: But you'll  but you're going to see  you're going to see a lot of very great activity. It's going to be peace in the Middle East.

Q Mr. President, will you promote the F-35 deal even if Israel objected?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Say it?

Q Will you promote the F-35 deal even if Israel objected?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yeah, we going  we're going to work that out. We'll work that out. That's  that's going to be an easy thing.

And, you know, we've fought with UAE four times  four different wars. They've been very, very loyal to us. And we have a better relationship with them now than we ever had in the past. In fact, in the past, it was very strained. We have a very good relationship with them. Yeah, we'll  all of that works out. That's going to be very easy to work out.

Q Mr. President, should Israel feel less isolated today than they were this last week? And, Mr. Prime Minister, maybe you can answer that question, as well.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I think Israel is not isolated anymore because, I can tell you, we have the two countries, plus you had an additional two, as you know, from many, many years ago. And now you have a situation where many of the countries  and I can actually say "most" of the countries, but many of the countries in the Middle East want to sign this deal.

And I think when that happens, hopefully after the election  because I really believe Iran wants to make a deal. They've had a very tough time. Their GDP is down 27 percent because of the sanctions and all of the other things. And I don't want that to happen. I don't want  I want Iran to be a great country, a great nation. I think that would be a wonderful thing.

But I think  and I've even said that. I've said that the representatives of them: "You should wait to see the election, first." There is nothing they or China or, probably, Russia would like better than to have Sleepy Joe Biden become the President, because if Sleepy Joe won, they would own the United States, all of them. China would own the United States.

So I told all of them, I said, "Wait until after the election." But after the election, we have to make a better deal. I do say that. We're going to make a better deal than we would have.

But, with Iran, they certainly should wait until after the election because, frankly, if Biden wins, they'll make a much better deal. But I'm going to make a good deal with Iran. I'm going to make a deal that's great for Iran. It's going to get them back. We're going to help them in every way possible. And Iran will be very happy. Iran will be very rich and very quickly. But I think they should wait until after the election. You understand what I mean by that. Because a dream for those countries would be Sleepy Joe.

Q Do you believe you will also broker a deal with the Palestinians?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yeah, I think they'd come along, and they're already  obviously, we speak to them. They've come a long way. We used to pay them $750 million a year when I got here.

And I said to people that negotiated with them before, "Why did you pay when they treat the United States with such disrespect?" They speak so badly. "Death to America. Death to Israel." I said, "We give them $750 million a year." I said, "Why didn't somebody cut off those payments?" "Well, we didn't think it would be appropriate." I said, "Well, I do." And I cut off the payments to them, as you know.

But other countries give them money. You're dealing with very rich countries. And these countries are now all signing with us. They're all be signed with us  all of them.

I spoke with the King of Saudi Arabia. We had a great conversation, and I think positive things will happen there, too. He's a great gentleman. And the Crown Prince  we spoke with the Crown Prince.

So we've made tremendous strides. And this is peace in the Middle East without blood all over the sand. I say it: Right now, it's been blood all over the sand for  for decades and decades and decades. That's all they do, is they fight and kill people, and nobody gets anything.

And this is  this is strong peace, really strong peace, far  and it's a different way. We went in the back door, but I call it going in the very smart door. We went in the smart door, and we're getting people. And the Palestinians will absolutely be a member. I don't say that with any bravado. I just tell you the Palestinians will be a member at the right time. At the right time.

Q Will they have a state of their selves in your peace?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: We're  we're working a deal. We're talking  we are talking to the Palestinians. At the right time, they'll be joining, too.

Q And as long as you're President, is annexation off the table? Is that something the Emirates know?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: We don't want to talk about that right now, but that's working out very well and very fair and very good for the people that are coming in and for Israel.

And again, Israel wants peace, and they're a great warring nation if they have to be. You see that. They have the best equipment; they have the best of everything, but they don't want this. After all of these years, even Bibi gets tired of war. (Laughter.)

But they've been, you know  look, they're a strong nation, a strong power, a strong military nation, but they want to get on with their lives. Israel wants peace. They really want peace. And I give this gentleman a great deal of credit. He's done a great job.

PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Thank you. Mr. President, I heard a question from one of the people here: "Does Israel feel isolated?" Heck no. We're breaking out to the entire world because we have a strong, free economy, because we have a strong military, and because we have a strong relationship with the President of the United States and the American people.

And I can tell you that we have a strong relationship throughout the Middle East. The President intimated how many countries are waiting to join the circle of peace. You know, Israel doesn't feel isolated at all. It's enjoying the greatest diplomatic triumph of its history.

I think the people who feel isolated are the tyrants of Tehran because of the pressure that the President has applied on them, because of the resistance to this bad Iran deal. They are under pressure. And, you know, I hope they'll all come around. I hope everyone will come around to the circle of peace.

But, no, we don't feel isolated at all; quite the contrary.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I would say this: There's less isolation right now for Israel than there's ever been. I mean, today, they would be less isolated than ever been.

I want to just thank your great Ambassador. Ron, thank you very much.

AMBASSADOR DERMER: Thank you.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: How do you feel about isolation? I think you're starting to see the light, huh?

AMBASSADOR DERMER: I can imagine what will happen when everyone is courting Israel, if this is what isolation looks like. (Laughter.)

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yeah. No, it's good. We  we love Israel. And I'll tell you what: I have great respect for the countries that have stepped up so beautifully. And you're going to see that in a little while. We're having a ceremony.

And thank you all for being here. Thank you very much.

END

12:15 P.M. EDT

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Kabul, Sep 16 : Afghanistan police have arrested 16 people on charge of involvement in criminal activities in the southern Helmand province over the past 24 hours, the state-run news agency reported on Wednesday.

The alleged criminals have been arrested during series of operations in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah and adjoining areas, Xinhua news agency said quoting Bakhtar news agency's report.

Helmand province with Lashkar Gah as its capital 555 km south of Kabul has been regarded as the hotbed of Taliban militants where the criminal gangs, according to the media outlet, are mostly involved in growing poppy, producing drug and drug trafficking.

Police would spare no efforts to stabilize law and order elsewhere in the conflict-battered country, the official news agency contended.
P.Pole Pizza We have a system that fosters true excitement in a business. Although you can do very well owning one, it is truly designed for the multi-unit franchise owner," said owner and founder Stefano Carniato, who also owns another restaurant franchise.

P.Pole Pizza, a Coral Gables-based restaurant geared toward millennials and Generation Z, announced the launch of a national expansion initiative, with the first franchise location to open in South Florida by January 2021.

While many restaurants have struggled to the changing business landscape due to COVID-19, P.Pole (pronounced people) has adjusted and even flourished. Plantation businessman Anthony DiCarlo purchased the exclusive rights to franchising P.Pole (PPolePizza.com) in Broward County, where he expects to open 10 locations, the first in Hallandale Beach.

This concept is virus proof. P.Pole offers good food, fast service, low prices and efficient management, DiCarlo said. Even during the darkest hours of the community lockdown, P.Pole thrived.

While the ribbon has yet to be cut on the Hallandale location, DiCarlo has entered into an agreement to purchase the exclusive rights to Palm Beach County, projecting to open between five to eight P.Pole Pizzas.

Lower real estate costs and growing retail vacancies make for a winning combination for an entrepreneur looking for a good business opportunity.

Im finding great locations with landlords willing to make good deals. The time is now," said DiCarlo, an experienced restaurateur.

P.Pole Pizza opened in 2018 focusing on feeding the millennial outlook on life. The pizzeria at 279 Miracle Mile is known for its skateboard-shaped, 13-inch, thin-crust artisanal pies and low prices. A cheese pizza goes for $7, a pie with unlimited toppings is $9 and specialty pizzas range from $10 to $12.

The open kitchen gives customers a clear view into the process of making pizzas from scratch. Customers order at the counter and select from different pizza doughs made fresh daily (traditional, gluten-free, chia and charcoal), a variety of sauces and more than 40 toppings. It takes just minutes for made-to-order artisanal pies to come out of the oven.

However, the most attractive aspect of becoming a P.Pole Pizza franchise owner may just be the companys exemplary training program and on-going support and low franchise fee.

We have a system that fosters true excitement in a business. Although you can do very well owning one, it is truly designed for the multi-unit franchise owner, like Anthony, said owner and founder Stefano Carniato, who also owns another restaurant franchise with locations in the U.S., Latin American and Europe.

For franchising information, visit ppolepizza.com/franchise.

About P.Pole

The P.Pole Pizza franchise was founded in May 2018 on the premise that customers should have more say in how their pizza is made. The concept was developed by restaurateur Stefano Carniato, who also co-owns the franchise Piola. Carniato plans to expand the brand nationwide. Visit PPolePizza.com.

Connect with P.Pole:

Facebook @ppolepizza

Instagram @ppolepizza
TROY, Mich., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- One of Michigan's most respected woman-owned commercial real estate companies, Compass Commercial / ITRA Global is celebrating its 10-year anniversary this month while also expanding both its team and service offerings.

Founded by Lynn Drake in 2010, the Troy-based firm specializes exclusively in tenant representation for local and national clients with a focus on new office, medical office and industrial clients. Drake, who is president of Compass, has more than 35 years experience in commercial real estate.

Joining the company this year will be Patrick Balice, a long-time manager at DTE Energy. He will take on the role of vice president of sales and operations.

For her work at Compass, Drake has received many honors including being named to the Midwest Commercial Real Estate Hall of Fame by Midwest Real Estate News, being named an Entrepreneur of Distinction by Corp! Magazine and receiving an Outstanding Achiever award by CEED Microloan of Oakland County.

Drake is part of Power of 100 Women, an initiative of Michigan Women Forward focused on supporting Michigan's women business owners. She is also a graduate of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business program.

Compass clients have included the State of Michigan Department of Technology Management and Budget, Comcast, Beaumont Hospital and the Leukemia Lymphoma Society. The firm is certified as a Women Business Enterprise (WBE) and Woman Owned Small Business (WOSB).

One of the company's clients, Misty Delegato of Relevar Home Care and Alivity Care Advocates, called Drake "crucial to finding and getting the building I was looking for," adding that Drake "went above and beyond" to help secure what was needed at the best price.

"I have worked hard to succeed in a heavily-male dominated industry," Drake explained. "I take pride in being in an elite group of 5 percent of the females practicing commercial real estate."

In addition to her work at Compass, Drake has focused on volunteering for various organizations including the Girl Scouts of Southeastern Michigan, which honored her in 2013 with a "One Tough Cookie" recognition for helping Girl Scouts work on their Gold Award, the highest honor a Girl Scout can achieve.

An author of the book "Do you speak lease?" Drake remains proud of her company's focus on always maintaining "truth north" when it comes to helping her corporate clients.

Balice spent more than 40 years with DTE as a principal business analyst, helping its customers with power transmission, lighting, survey and electric planning. A graduate of Central Michigan, Balice's background in industrial business management will assist Compass as the firm begins to offer construction management services next year.

About Compass Commercial and ITRA Global

Compass Commercial, LLC, as the exclusive Detroit affiliate of ITRA Global, is a Troy, Michigan-based company specializing in all phases of tenant representation for local, national and international clients. President Lynn Drake's years of corporate real estate experience allows Compass to help entrepreneurs and executives identify the right space at the right cost. Contact Lynn Drake at 248.817.5400 or visit www.compass-commercial.com.

ITRA Global is an organization of real estate professionals specializing in representing tenants and buyers in the leasing, acquisition and disposition of office, industrial and retail facilities. With coverage in major markets around the world, ITRA Global is one of the largest organizations dedicated to commercial real estate tenant and buyer representation. Clients benefit by having an experienced professional as their trusted advisor, providing conflict-free representation with total objectivity. Contact Beth Wade, Executive Director, at 706.654.3201 or visit http://www.itraglobal.com/.

Media contact:

Sue Voyles, Logos Communications, Inc.

734-667-2005 / [email protected]

SOURCE Compass Commercial

Related Links

http://www.compass-commercial.com


16.09.2020 LISTEN

Five people have been confirmed dead in a fatal accident that happened at Gomoa Adam near Gomoa Anteadze on the Kasoa  Cape Coast highway in the Central Region.

Seven others also sustained varied degrees of injuries and are in critical condition at Apam Hospital.

The accident involved in a Ford Transit with the Registration number GS 6031- 20 and a Toyota Hiace with the Registration Number GR 5059-20.

Fourteen passengers were on board the two vehicles but five died on the spot and seven others are battling for their lives at Apam Catholic Hospital.

Two people have been treated and discharged.

A survivor of the accident, who was a passenger in the Toyota Hiace vehicle, Mr Issah Abubakar attributed the accident to a wrongful overtaking on the part of the Ford Vehicle driver.

I boarded the vehicle from Kasoa heading to Cape Coast and upon reaching a section of the road, I saw the Ford Transit wrongfully overtaking a tanker and in the process, it collided with their car, he said.

Meanwhile, the seven injured people are however responding to treatment.

---GhanaNewsPage
A worker watches as a loader unloads coal at a yard on the outskirts of Ahmedabad

By Sudarshan Varadhan

CHENNAI (Reuters) - India's imports of thermal coal fell by 41.5% to 32.9 million tonnes during the quarter ended June 30, government data showed, as coronavirus lockdowns battered power demand.

India's electricity demand is expected to fall for the first time in four decades in the ongoing fiscal year, which ends in March 2021.

Imports by utilities, which account for over three-fourths of India's coal use, fell 41%, the government data showed, as coal's share in overall power generation dropped to as low as 60% during the quarter, compared with 2019 average of nearly 70%.

Thermal coal imports by the "non-regulated" sector, which includes cement producers and the metals industry fell 41.7%, the coal ministry data showed.

Lower coal imports is good news for the Indian government, which has been looking to cut down imports of the fuel.

But fewer shipments by India - the world's second largest consumer, importer and producer of the fuel - will hit miners such as Indonesia's Adaro Energy and traders such as India's Adani Enterprises and London-listed Glencore Plc.

Imports of coking coal - used mainly by the steel industry - also fell 28.6% to 9.71 million tonnes, government data showed.

Coal-fired electricity showed signs of recovery during the first half of September, driven by higher demand in India's industrial western states. Still, coal imports will likely not grow year-over year in the near-term, traders say.

India's thermal coal imports fell nearly 20% in the eight months ended August, data compiled by Iman Resources - which mainly trades U.S. origin coal - showed.

Vasudev Pamnani, senior trader at Iman, said he doesn't expect coal imports to grow year-over year till late 2021.

"Import of coal from the United States, Canada and Columbia will be likely hit in the near-term as they will be less competitive," Pamnani said.

(Reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
Read more: Calls intensify for freeze on housing costs

Weve seen vulnerable people leaving crowded shelters to stay physically distant on the streets or in tent encampments, said Bill Karsten, president of FCM and a councillor for the Halifax Regional Municipality in Nova Scotia. To keep more people safer, municipalities have responded by leasing motels and repurposing arenas as costly safe shelters. But we urgently need more sustainable housing solutions for vulnerable Canadiansand were ready to work with the federal government to do what it takes to get them housed as fast we can.

Sources have told Canadian Press that the federal government is considering whether to announce a program before their throne speech later this month or to wait and include it in the speech.

We think this is a no-brainer, said Edmonton mayor Don Iveson told Canadian Press. If we're going to borrow hundreds of billions of dollars to get through this pandemic, wouldn't it be wonderful if we could end homelessness, reduce the likelihood of an outbreak in this community of vulnerable people, at precisely the time that a second wave is the greatest risk?

If I was the government I would like to be seen as moving now on some of these things while the opportunity is there in the marketplace, Toronto Mayor John Tory told Canadian Press. And the federal government could say, look, not only did we move at wartime speed during the pandemic to make this money available to the cities, but they produce the housing most importantly at wartime speed.
Indias National Security Adviser Ajit Doval is set to join his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi for a virtual meeting of the NSAs of the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (Brics) grouping on Thursday against the backdrop of the border standoff.

The 10th meeting of the NSAs of the grouping is part of a series of events being hosted by Russia, the current chair of Brics. This will be the fourth time this month that top Indian and Chinese leaders have been part of multilateral meetings hosted by Russia, following a virtual meeting of Brics foreign ministers, and meetings of the defence and foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Moscow.

People familiar with developments said on condition of anonymity that as in the case of the Brics foreign ministers meeting on September 4, there will be no scope for bilateral discussions between the Indian and Chinese NSAs at Fridays meeting.

There will be statements by the NSAs and discussions on the items on the agenda, which has already been decided. Besides, the Brics grouping has no scope for takig up bilateral matters, one of the people cited above said.

On 17 September, the Russian Chairmanship will hold the 10th Meeting of BRICS National Security Advisors.

According to a statement issued by Russia, the Brics NSAs meeting is expected to discuss threats and challenges to national security.

The meeting agenda comprises of challenges and threats to global, regional and national security in todays world, the statement said. It added that the event will take place via video conference and Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the security council of the Russian federation, will represent Moscow at the meeting.

Though both India and China have made it clear that they dont want any third party mediation on the months-long border standoff that has taken bilateral ties to an all-time low, Russia has pushed the two sides to resolve their differences through dialogue.

The meetings of the defence and foreign ministers of the SCO in Moscow facilitated meetings on the sidelines between defence minister Rajnath Singh and his Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe and external affairs minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.

The two foreign ministers agreed on a five-point roadmap to address the tensions on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) but there has been little progress on the disengagement and de-escalation efforts on the ground, mainly because of China not pulling back its troops from friction points.

Tensions have been exacerbated by Chinas provocative military manoeuvres on the south bank of Pangong Lake since August 29-30 and Indian troops are now preparing to remain deployed at forward positions through the harsh winter.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Rezaul H Laskar Rezaul H Laskar is the Foreign Affairs Editor at Hindustan Times. His interests include movies and music. ...view detail
Suga has stressed his background as a farmers son and a self-made politician in promising to serve the interests of ordinary people and rural communities. He has said he will pursue Abes unfinished policies and that his priorities will be fighting the coronavirus and turning around an economy battered by the pandemic.
VSoft, a global provider of innovative digital banking and payment solutions to financial institutions (FIs) of all sizes, today announced the launch of its new merchant services network, Bread. Bread gives merchants the ability to accept real-time payments from customers with no waiting or transfer period. The benefits of Bread will be far-ranging, including peer-to-peer, consumer-to-business, business-to-consumer, and business-to-business payments.

In the current economic climate, having access to funds in real-time is now more important than ever, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. As business owners continue to operate during the COVID-19 pandemic, 60% say their employees live paycheck-to-paycheck and are asking for faster, more frequent payroll. The study, conducted by VSoft, demonstrates a growth in the end-of-shift pay that was popularized by Uber, and is now becoming the new, expected norm for workers.

On the Bread Network, payments are routed from financial institution to financial institution without a middleman holding funds. Account-holders money is hosted by the financial institution. When a Bread user makes a payment, the money is transferred from their account directly to the payees account, which includes individuals as well as merchants. The Bread platform will allow businesses to have access to their funds faster and, as a result, have the ability to pay employees quicker. In addition, Bread offers contactless payment solutions for businesses. With a simple scan of a QR code, a transaction will be completed and funds will become available almost instantly.

Financial institutions, business owners, and individuals are all looking for transactions that are processed faster and with lower fees. The introduction of Bread will be a gamechanger for both SMEs and peer-to-peer users alike, said Murthy Veeraghanta, Chairman and CEO at VSoft. We couldnt be more excited to help FIs incorporate the Bread platform into their existing online and mobile banking experience and pass along the benefits to their account holders.

Not only does Bread offer a solution for real-time payments, but it does so more securely than virtual wallet alternatives. When using Bread, money is kept within the financial institution, as opposed to a holding account owned by a fintech provider. With the security of money top of mind for customers right now, there is no safer place than a federally insured financial institution.

Currently, Bread is being rolled out to Corporate America Credit Union, a service provider for more than 400 credit unions across the country. For more information, please visit https://www.vsoftcorp.com/bread/.

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The unsafe reopening of New York University (NYU) amid the still-raging COVID-19 pandemic is encountering growing opposition among faculty and students. The reopening of NYU, the largest private university in the US, is utterly reckless and places the lives of students, workers and residents in the area in immense danger.

Over 10,000 students, faculty and staff have returned to campus to resume in-person classes. Last weekend, the inevitable first outbreak occurred at a student dorm. A freshman student who traveled from Georgia found out that he tested positive while moving into Rubin Residence Hall and after spending time in the halls popular communal lounge.

As word spread that a student living in Rubin Hall tested positive, NYU initially did not notify students living in the same building of the positive case. A parent in a NYU Facebook group for parents of current students vented her frustration over the situation. Anyone know why the kids in Rubin havent been notified by the school and mandatory retesting been requested of them? Especially the kids that were hanging out with him?

By Sunday, the university acknowledged that at least 6 out of the 400 students at Rubin Hall tested positive, and the dorm was placed under mandatory quarantine. However, the quarantine was only put in place for three days, far less than the necessary 14 days. On Tuesday, the administration reported a total of 65 positive COVID-19 cases, up from the 38 cases it had reported the day before in a statistic that had not been updated for four days.

Rebecca Karl, a professor at NYUs History Department, recently told Gothamist, NYU decided early on it was going to be a death cult, and it was going to engage in this experiment with the communityits students, faculty, staff, security and other worker personnelthat we were all going to be guinea pigs in their financial experiment.

Seth, an adjunct professor at NYU, told the World Socialist Web Site, The number of cases in New York has only managed to stay small after our huge initial spike due to widespread adoption of social distancing, mask wearing, and noncongregation, especially indoors. Its immoral and irresponsible to bring students to campus and to conduct in-person classes, both of which place them in close proximity to each other.

It is not enough to establish rules around socially distancing. He added, The institutions willingness to bring students and workers together in physical environments flies directly in the face of those guidelines. If an institution is unwilling to use its voice of authority to set a positive example of how to behave in the middle of a global pandemic, how can we possibly expect anyone involved with that institution to behave appropriately themselves? It is only through continued diligence that we can guarantee the safety of students, education workers, and our society at large. Appropriate diligence does not have space for in-person learning.

In fact, the university is consciously risking the lives of students, staff and faculty. At the same time, the administrations communication has focused on preparing to blame all infections on the individual actions of students. Days before the first students were to move into residence halls last month, NYU Board of Trustees Chairman Bill Berkley emailed the university community, stating that the coming weeks will be challenging and there will undoubtedly be bumps, while calling for everyones commitment and discipline to meet the challenge.

One student, speaking to the student newspaper NYU Local, complained that NYU did not share specific and detailed coronavirus guidelines.

Another NYU student took to Twitter to express opposition to the administrations actions, NYU wont give us a specific set of rules on exactly what is allowed because if we follow them and COVID still spreads, it will look like their fault. So they give us the vaguest possible guidelines so that no matter what we do, they can point the finger at us when things go south. The student continued, saying that this policy isnt meant to keep us safe, its meant to reduce liability for them. Thats their priority.

On just the second day of classes, September 3, the administration announced that over 150 violations of NYUs COVID-19 policy had been issued to students, leading to more than 20 student suspensions by September 5. A letter to the community stated, These suspensions have overwhelmingly involved large gatherings of NYU students in indoor, off-campus apartments that lacked any form of social distancing or face coverings. There have also been reports that some students have been suspended for attending gatherings of under 10 people.

On September 5, a party took place off campus in Washington Square Park after dark, attended by hundreds of young people who were not social distancing or wearing face masks. It remains unclear how many at the gathering were NYU students, but in response, Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomowho has been pushing for the in-person reopening of the largest public school system in Americahypocritically condemned the university for not being New York tough and sending NYU security to break it down.

The criminal policy of the NYU administration is based solely on the profit interests that have guided the response of the ruling class more broadly to the entire pandemic. On the one hand, the NYU Board of Trustees fears that by switching to remote learning they would risk declining enrollment, as there would be little reason for students to pay the exorbitant cost of tuition without any of the traditional aspects of the college experience. Furthermore, as with the reopening of K-12 schools, reopening colleges in the home of Wall Street and the center of world capitalism is meant to set a precedent and ensure that schools and businesses reopen across the country to return to business as usual and maintain the steady flow of profits.

The homicidal policy of reopening schools has already led to new surges and hot spots of COVID-19 cases across the countrya large portion of them in college townsas the death toll in the US alone approaches 200,000.

A powerful movement of educators, workers and youth is developing against the back-to-work and back-to-school campaigns in the US and internationally. Autoworkers have begun to form rank-and-file safety committees to oppose the unsafe reopening of their factories. At the University of Michigan, a courageous strike by graduate student workerswhich is being conducted in opposition to the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) unionis in its second week and has won broad support among undergraduate students, faculty, staff, and other sections of the working class.

In New York City, the countrys largest school district, educators, parents and students have formed the New York City Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee, independent of the Democratic and Republican parties and the Democrat-aligned United Federation of Teachers (UFT), to stop the dangerous school reopenings and fight for the building of a nationwide general strike led by the working class to save lives. Similar committees have been formed in Texas, Florida and Detroit, and by students in Germany.

The International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE), the youth organization of the Socialist Equality Party (SEP), is spearheading this fight on the campuses. We are calling for the immediate end of all in-person-classes at NYU and other colleges. In order to fight for their lives and social interests, students must turn to the working class. The fight against the reopening of schools and colleges can only be successful if it is based on a socialist strategy that connects the struggles of the working class in the US with those of workers internationally.

We call upon all students, academic workers and staff at NYU and other colleges and schools who want to discuss these questions with us to join our online meeting today, Oppose the unsafe reopening of schools and colleges: A socialist response to the pandemic, and to contact us to join our club at NYU or build other clubs at your colleges and schools.

Please register here to attend the event by the IYSSE at NYU today, Wednesday, September 16, at 6.30PM EST, and share it with your friends and colleagues on social media.
With COVID-19 cases spiking in Ontario, several Peterborough County politicians are concerned theres going to be a second wave.

Im personally worried about it. We had the pause button pushed here, but it can very easily go right back to the way it was if we dont take it seriously, county Warden J. Murray Jones said.

Otonabee-South Monaghan Township Mayor Joe Taylor said hes worried there will be a second wave.

The trend that were seeing the province go is troubling, and with further facilities opening up and schools getting back together, and it looks like some people continuing to ignore the advice of health care, I am very worried, Taylor said.

Selwyn Township Deputy Mayor Sherry Senis said she hopes there wont be a second wave, because no one wants to see something like that happen.

I just hope the province is right in what theyre hoping the outcome will be; that it will be a positive one. And I guess we have to prepare for the fact that it might not be. Were all kind of stumbling along, she said.

While Cavan Monaghan Township Mayor Scott McFadden said hes concerned about a second wave of the virus, he doesnt think the province jumped the gun on reopening schools and further businesses.

Beyond the epidemic itself is the situation of mental health issues as it relates to just society in general, so I think we do collectively have to work toward the reopening of the business world as well as the student world, under these new rules and regulations, McFadden said.

Trent University issued a warning to students on Friday after several outdoor orientation week parties last week in which students were not wearing masks and mingling closely, with one of the parties, held at the footbridge at Nassau Mills exceeding the provincial guideline capping outdoor gatherings at 100 people.

With Trent and Fleming College in the area, Senis said she hopes students abide by recommendations from public health.

We still have the imminent threat of COVID spreading, and if they act properly then we should be OK, and if not, then theyre going to be part of the second wave and re-closure, unfortunately, she said.

Jones said its important for post-secondary students to remember theyre going home to their loved ones who could contract the virus.

Statistics are starting to show that its their age group that is its starting to have an impact on and they have to still remember theyre going home to their parents and grandparents, he said.

Although Taylor isnt worried about having post-secondary students in the area, he is worried if they dont do what they should and put the community at risk.

First indicators arent really promising  I hope they get the message, he said.
Asseta Rouamba was one of thousands fleeing jihadist violence in Burkina Faso's troubled north when her daughter contracted malaria, putting the pair in an even more desperate situation.

"We are exposed. In addition to the precariousness of our shelter, there are food and health difficulties," the 74-year-old said at the bedside of her daughter inside a white tent at a health centre outside the northeastern city of Kaya.

"This centre has welcomed us with free care, which has been a huge relief."

Kaya, the capital of the Centre-Nord region, has been overwhelmed with a massive influx of people forced to flee their homes by the jihadist insurgency.

More than 1,100 people have lost their lives and over a million have been displaced in the violence since 2015, and the bloodshed is stretching already slim resources in the country's Sahel north.

Asseta Rouamba (left) said the free health care for her daughter had been 'a huge relief'. By - (AFP)

Kaya has been largely spared from the violence, but 472,000 people have taken refuge in the area around the city since January last year.

A third of that number have been taken in at reception sites in Kaya's Sector Six, which is home to the health and social promotion centre where Rouamba's daughter was treated.

Head nurse Issa Sawadogo said the centre receives an average of 160 visits a day, "80 percent of which are internally displaced people (IDPs) living in the sites that host families".

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has earmarked 14 million euros ($16.5 million) to fund consultations, vaccinations, maternity care, testing and malnutrition treatment, under a programme begun in April.

'A more human face'

ICRC president Peter Maurer visited the centre on Sunday.

"It is clear that there are enormous problems when all of a sudden a community grows by a factor of three or four," he said.

Pointing to the improvements at the centre, he said it was "impressive to see the results here".

The health centre at Kaya has been overwhelmed with a massive influx of people fleeing jihadist violence. By - (AFP)

Head nurse Sawadogo said the centre had struggled since the start of the influx early last year, "but now we are feeling good, more or less".

"With the rehabilitation of the maternity ward, toilets, laundry room and reception room, our health centre has been given a more human face," the nurse added.

Adjaratou Sawadogo, a 43-year-old mother of three who fled violence in the central Barsalogho department, also sang the centre's praises.

"There is no distinction in the treatment between the local population and we displaced people, she said.

Amidou Ouedraogo, a father of three who also fled Barsalogho, said his six-year-old daughter suffered from a fever for two days.

"We came here and she was taken care of -- we received free medicine," he said.

"We salute the efforts the centre is making to help us, because normally my daughter would not benefit from free care," he added -- in Burkina Faso, the age cut-off for free health care is five years.

"But given our situation as 'displaced people', we have no work or income."

Fati Sawadogo, a 34-year-old new mother who gave birth to a healthy baby at the centre, said: "It is really lucky to have this centre next to an IDP site."
Jon Stewart has delivered a blistering address on healthcare protections for veterans, accusing Congress of giving former service members the cold shoulder.

The former late-night host spoke at the US Capitol in Washington, DC on Tuesday. He has been a vocal advocate for 9/11 first responders. This latest action focuses on veterans who were stationed overseas and may have resulting health conditions.

Welcome to another exciting episode of When is America going to start acting like the great country we keep telling ourselves we are? he said.

Stewart remembered being in DC location a year ago, after a 15-year battle for healthcare protections for 9/11 first responders.

Advocates, as well as all the first responders and survivors and victims visited DC over and over and over again, sick and dying, walking the halls of Congress just to get them to recognise the basic humanity of what they were dealing with, that their selflessness and heroism had put them in harms way and they had been sick, Stewart said.

And when it was done, we thought it was done, he added. But it turns out that the war fighters that were sent to prosecute the battle based on the attack on 9/11 now suffer the same injuries and illnesses that the first responders suffered from, and theyre getting the same cold shoulder from Congress that they received."

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Congressman Raul Ruiz have pushed for legislation that would support veterans with conditions stemming from burn pit and other toxic exposures. Stewart was alongside Gillibrand and Ruiz for the announcement of the proposed bill on Tuesday.

According to a report by the US Department of Veterans Affairs, 3.5m veterans may have been exposed to burn pits in Iraq or Afghanistan.

War after war after war, we treat them as expendable," Stewart told The Washington Post of veterans. "And when they come home, were done with them. If an enemy did this to us, wed  bomb them into oblivion. We did it to ourselves and were ignoring it.
The Work of the Three Chinese Medical Expert Teams in Sierra Leone is Highly Appreciated

2020/09/15

On September 15, 2020, at a party held by the Chinese Embassy in Sierra Leone to bid farewell to the three Chinese Medical Expert Teams in Sierra Leone, Hon. Minister of Defence and National Coordinator For COVID-19 Response Brig. (Rtd.) Kellie Conteh and Hon. Minister of Health and Sanitation Dr. Alpha Wurie spoke highly of China-Sierra Leone health cooperation especially the mutual support in fighting against COVID-19 pandemic.

Hon. Minister Conteh and Hon. Minister Wurie thanked the government and people of China for always being the first to provide help to Sierra Leone in hours of need. Hon. Minister Wurie said that thanks to China's support, Sierra Leone was the first member state of the Mano River Union to have the capability of testing COVID-19. Hon. Minister Conteh furthered that were it not for the support China provided in the form of human capacity, equipment and supplies, Sierra Leone would not have made as much success in the fight against COVID-19 as it has registered at this point. They both spoke highly of the service offered by the three Chinese Medical Expert Teams in Sierra Leone.

H.E. Ambassador Hu Zhangliang commended the notable achievements the Sierra Leonean government and people made in the control of the pandemic under the staunch leadership of H.E. President Julius Maada Bio. He noted that China will continue to strengthen cooperation with Sierra Leone in all fields.

On behalf of the three Chinese Medical Expert Teams in Sierra Leone, Dr. Zhao Guangyu said that it's a big joy for the teams to provide support to this beautiful land and its people and that they are glad to fight against the virus shoulder to shoulder with their local counterparts.

Up to mid-September, the three Chinese Medical Expert Teams have all together conducted 9,000 testings, participated in treating and rescuing over 270 patients and lives, and organized trainings for 300 local staff.
A judge has said using cruise liners would enable jury trials involving more than one defendant to take place

Empty cruise liners off the south coast of England could be relocated to Northern Ireland to enable jury trials involving more than one defendant to take place, a Northern Ireland judge has suggested.

Judge Philip Babington made the suggestion that trials could take place in ships moored on Lough Foyle or Belfast Lough during a sitting of Derry Crown Court in Coleraine.

Several cases, some of them involving listed trials, were put back for several weeks because of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on court cases generally and on jury trials in particular.

Judge Babington told the prosecution and defence barristers, most of whom appeared on the court sightlink, that because of the current coronavirus pandemic no court building in Northern Ireland could be used to deal with a jury trial involving more than one defendant.

"There is no way I nor anyone else can list a case to be heard anywhere in Northern Ireland which involves more than one defendant. Like others I am not best pleased with this situation but we are where we are", he said.

Judge Babington asked the barristers that if they had "any influence through the Bar Council to see whether we can get the courts to deal with multiple defendant cases, it would be of great assistance".

"I am aware of empty cruise ships sitting off the south coast of England at the moment. Maybe they could be brought to Belfast or to Derry where they could be used in multiple defendant cases.

"In all seriousness there is a serious problem here which the Court Service will somehow have to attempt to resolve. Hopefully we will be updated on the situation on October 16", he said.
By Philip Weiss

September 15, 2020 " Information Clearing House " - Four days ago, Donald Trump said the U.S. isnt involved in the Middle East for oil, but because we want to protect Israel. The comments have gone all but unreported in the mainstream press.

Trump made the comment during a rally in Winston-Salem, N.C. on Sept. 8, when he was bragging about Americas energy independence, which he said Joe Biden would undermine if he gets the White House (minute 47):

I like being energy independent, dont you? Im sure that most of you noticed when you go to fill up your tank in your car, oftentimes its below two dollars. You say how the hell did this happen? Thank you President Trump! Look at your electric bills and everything else these guys, your electric would go up four, five, six times. The Green New Deal its called the Green New Nightmare. While Im president, America will remain the number one producer of oil and natural gas in the world. We will remain energy independent. It should be for many many years to come. The fact is, we dont have to be in the Middle East, other than we want to protect Israel. Weve been very good to Israel. Other than that, we dont have to be in the Middle East. You know there was a time we needed desperately oil, we dont need that anymore. We have more than they do, isnt that nice? After years of rebuilding other countries, we are finally building our country.

The American Conservatives Barbara Boland is the only reporter who seems to have picked up Trumps remarks. No one else cares, evidently.

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Do you remember all the arguments about Why are we engaged in so many conflicts in the Middle East? And why we are going to war in Iraq? And the mainstream default position is that its because of oil. Even though we lost concessions in Iraq.

These comments by Trump, the disrupter, tie into the long but shadowy pedigree of analysis from policymakers that we invaded Iraq to make Israel safer. Like the former head of the 911 Commission who said that the threat to Israel was the motivation for the war, but that was the threat that dare not speak its name. Or Colin Powells comment that we went into Iraq because the Secretary of Defense bought the neoconservative arguments of the JINSA crowd, referring to the Israel lobby group the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs.

Trump touches on a larger realpolitik understanding of the creation of Israel, that it helped foster unrest throughout the region. As the State Department warned that it would do, in the 1940s. But dont expect anyone in our media to consider such ideas
Chinese premier says peace and development, cooperation and exchange remain theme and trend of time

BEIJING, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said here Tuesday that peace and development, cooperation and exchange remain the theme and trend of our time.

Li made the remarks when speaking at the Special Virtual Dialogue with Global Business Leaders hosted by the World Economic Forum, attended by more than 500 business leaders.

Li noted that despite the profound and complex changes in the international environment, peace and development are still the theme of our time, and exchange and cooperation remain the trend of the world.

"Without a peaceful and stable environment, nothing would be possible," he said, adding that the international system and order centered on the UN must be safeguarded.

All parties are duty-bound to preserve the global environment for peace and development, support multilateralism, uphold the international order, and bring hope and confidence to people across the world, he said.

Noting that COVID-19 has compounded the difficulties faced by the world economy, Li said international trade came under the first wave of impact and the industrial and supply chains became disrupted.

"Against such a backdrop, it would be neither wise nor practical to go after technological or industrial decoupling, " he said.

"We need to jointly uphold trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, expeditiously restore the global industrial and supply chains and people-to-people exchanges to reinvigorate the world economy," the premier said.

Saying that the Chinese economy has been deeply integrated into the global economy, Li stressed that China cannot develop in isolation from the rest of the world, and the world needs China for further development.

"No matter how the external environment may evolve, China will only open wider to the world; China will move forward, not backward, in all areas of opening-up," Li said.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-17 05:19:17|Editor: huaxia

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Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Robert Redfield attends a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing on "Review of Coronavirus Response Efforts" on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., the United States, on Sept. 16, 2020. (Andrew Harnik/Pool via Xinhua)

Even if a vaccine for COVID-19 was released, it would take "six to nine months" for enough people to get it to create immunity, the U.S. CDC director said.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- It will be the late second quarter or third quarter of 2021 before a COVID-19 vaccine is generally available to the American public, said Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Robert Redfield on Wednesday.

During a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing, Redfield said he thought that there would be vaccine initially available sometime between November and December, but "very limited supply and will have to be prioritized."

"If you're asking me when is it going to be generally available to the American public, so we can begin to take advantage of vaccine to get back to our regular life, I think we're probably looking at late second quarter, third quarter 2021," he said.

Even if a vaccine for COVID-19 was released, it would take "six to nine months" for enough people to get it to create immunity, according to Redfield.

"In order to have enough of us immunized so we have immunity, I think it's going to take us six to nine months," he said.

Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Robert Redfield attends a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing on "Review of Coronavirus Response Efforts" on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., the United States, on Sept. 16, 2020. (Andrew Harnik/Pool via Xinhua)

In this time, it is important for people to embrace mitigation steps such as physically distancing, mask use and avoiding crowds, Redfield said, adding wearing a face mask might provide better protection against COVID-19 than a vaccine.

"I might even go so far as to say that this face mask is more guaranteed to protect me against COVID than when I take a COVID vaccine, because the immunogenicity may be 70 percent," he said.

"If I don't get an immune response, the vaccine is not going to protect me. This face mask will," Redfield said, adding that the American public has not yet embraced the use of face masks to a level that could effectively control the outbreak.

"I do want to keep asking the American public to take the responsibility, particularly the 18 to 25 year olds where we're seeing the outbreak in America continue to go like this," Redfield said.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Department of Defense released two documents Wednesday outlining detailed strategy of the U.S. government to deliver COVID-19 vaccine doses to the American people.

The documents provide a strategic distribution overview along with an interim playbook for state, tribal, territorial, and local public health programs and their partners on how to plan and operationalize a vaccination response to COVID-19, said the HHS.

Months into the pandemic, the United States has recorded more than 6.6 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and over 196,400 deaths by Wednesday afternoon, according to a tally of Johns Hopkins University. 
Recovering: Alexei Navalny with his wife and children in a hospital in Berlin. Photo: Navalny instagram via AP

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny yesterday said he was breathing normally and missing his supporters, in his first communication with the outside world since his poisoning almost a month ago.

The 44-year-old posted a picture to Instagram from the Berlin hospital where he is being treated, surrounded by his wife and two children.

"Hello, this is Navalny," he wrote in a caption. "I miss you."

In the light-hearted message, he added: "I can't really do much but yesterday I was able to breathe on my own all day. Absolutely on my own. I didn't have any outside help, not even the simplest valve in my throat.

"I enjoyed it very much. It's an amazing process that it is undervalued by many people. I recommend it."

Mr Navalny, Russia's most outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin, had been on a ventilator and in a medically induced coma for weeks after falling suddenly ill on a flight from Siberia to Moscow. In the social media image he looked thinner than usual but was sitting up in bed in a hospital gown.

His spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh confirmed that Mr Navalny would travel back to Russia once he was able, rather than stay and live in Europe. "It's strange to me that anyone could think otherwise," she said. "No other options have ever been considered."

On Monday, doctors said Mr Navalny's condition was improving and he was able to leave his bed for short periods, but did not rule out the possibility of long-term damage to his health.

Mr Navalny's first public statement comes after several European laboratories independently confirmed the top Kremlin critic had been poisoned with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok. The substance was also used in the attack on former Russian intelligence agent Sergei Skripal.

Doctors at the Charite Hospital in Berlin had earlier diagnosed Novichok poisoning, but Moscow accused them of "rushing to conclusions".

Western leaders have threatened sanctions against Russia and demanded explanations from the Kremlin, which denies involvement.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov cancelled a planned visit to Berlin yesterday, which the ministry said was due to German scheduling issues. But Mr Lavrov told Russian media Western governments had "gone beyond all reason and are forcing Russia to confess to the poisoning of Navalny".

"If it hasn't been Navalny, they would have thought up some other excuse for implementing additional sanctions," he said. ( Daily Telegraph, London)

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 20:38:37|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday sent a congratulatory message to Yoshihide Suga on his election as Japanese prime minister.

In his message, Xi pointed out that China and Japan are friendly neighbors to each other, and are both important countries in Asia and the world.

Developing a China-Japan relationship that features long-term stability and friendly cooperation not only serves the fundamental interests of both nations, but also contributes to peace, stability and prosperity in Asia and the world, Xi said.

He suggested that the two sides hold fast to the principles established in the four political documents between China and Japan as well as the four-point principled agreement, and actively promote the building of a bilateral relationship that meets the needs of the new era, so as to create benefits for both countries and their people and make positive contributions to safeguarding world peace and advancing common development.

On the same day, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang also congratulated Suga on his election as Japanese prime minister.

Li said in his congratulatory message that China stands ready to work with Japan to strengthen friendly exchanges and practical cooperation in all fields, and jointly push for new and greater progress in bilateral relations. Enditem
VANCOUVERBritish Columbias human rights commissioner says the province isnt collecting enough demographic information in order to tackle racism and social inequality.

Kasari Govender says use of data about ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation is minimal in B.C., leading to knowledge gaps and policies that fail to address discrimination.

That includes a lack of understanding of how people of colour may be disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 crisis, Govender says.

There is a responsibility to act when missing data can result in a loss of human life. Numbers matter. Ongoing silences in data have harmed the most systemically oppressed communities, says a report released by the commissioners office on Tuesday.

Govender says B.C. needs a law that paves the way for data collection as evidence to underpin policy changes in sectors like health care, policing and education.

The report proposes an Anti-Discrimination Data Act that would require government researchers to collect data towards tackling inequality and providing a framework for building relationships with communities experiencing systemic discrimination.

People know the discrimination that they face. They know the inequalities that they face. So, this is really about translating that kind of experience into data, into hard data that government can make decisions on, says Govender.

The report includes shorter-term recommendations as well, such as a requirement that all police forces in B.C. collect and analyze race-based data, including from offenders and victims of gender-based violence.

It also calls for the province to collect demographic data from people using rental, income and disability assistance programs, as well as from people in jail through BC Corrections and the Ministry of Educations annual student learning survey.

It also urges the province to collect such data for adults, children and youth in relation to involuntary detentions under the Mental Health Act.

Govender says its important to collect a broad range of demographic information to ensure its viewed through what she calls an intersectional lens.

The kinds of inequality that people face, the kinds of injustices, are often coming from multiple forms of their identity and we have to understand the data in that way, she says.

Premier John Horgan wrote to Govender and B.C.s information and privacy commissioner in June, asking for guidance on how the province could craft a policy initiative that balances the right to privacy with calls for rigorous and thoughtful data collection to address systemic racism.

Govender says shes optimistic thats a sign the province is motivated to move forward with the recommendations in her offices report.

Read more about:
NEW YORK, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --The Swiss Helvetia Fund, Inc. (NYSE: SWZ), a non-diversified registered closed-end investment company (the "Fund"), announced today that the 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders was held as scheduled and concluded. Based upon the voting results, 1) Andrew Dakos, Richard Dayan, Phillip F. Goldstein, Gerald Hellerman and Moritz A. Sell were elected as Directors to serve for a one-year term until the next annual meeting of stockholders and until his respective successor is duly elected and qualifies and 2) stockholders ratified the selection by the Fund's Board of Directors of Tait, Weller & Baker, LLP as the Fund's independent registered public accounting firm for the year ending December 31, 2020.

About The Swiss Helvetia Fund, Inc.

The Fund (www.swzfund.com) is a non-diversified, closed-end investment company seeking long-term capital appreciation through investment in equity and equity-linked securities of Swiss companies. Its shares are listed on the NYSE under the symbol "SWZ." The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing generally in Swiss equity and equity-linked securities that are traded on a Swiss stock exchange, traded at the pre-bourse level of one or more Swiss stock exchanges, traded through a market maker or traded over the counter in Switzerland. The Fund also may invest in Swiss equity and equity-linked securities of Swiss companies that are traded on other major European stock exchanges.

Closed-end funds, unlike open-end funds, are not continuously offered. Typically, shares of closed-end funds are sold in the open market through a stock exchange. Shares of closed-end funds frequently trade at a discount to net asset value. The price of the Fund's shares is determined by a number of factors, several of which are beyond the control of the Fund. Therefore, the Fund cannot predict whether its shares will trade at, below or above net asset value.

The Fund is managed by Schroder Investment Management North America Inc.

About Schroder Investment Management North America Inc.

Schroder Investment Management North America Inc. and Schroder Investment Management North America Limited, investment advisors registered with the U.S. SEC, are units of Schroders plc (SDR.L), a global asset management company with approximately $649.6 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2020. Schroder's clients include major financial institutions including banks and insurance companies, as well as local and public authorities, public and private pension funds, endowments and foundations, intermediaries and advisors, as well as high net worth individuals and retail investors. The firm has built one of the largest networks of offices of any dedicated asset management company with more than 500 portfolio managers and analysts covering the world's investment markets, offering a comprehensive range of products and services.

Schroder Investment Management North America Inc. provides asset management products and services to clients in the U.S. and Canada. Schroder Investment Management North America Inc. is an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of Schroders plc, a U.K. public company with shares listed on the London Stock Exchange.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy, nor shall there be any sale of the Fund's shares in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer or solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the laws of such state or jurisdiction.

Contact:

Jennifer Brogadir

212-641-3863

SOURCE The Swiss Helvetia Fund, Inc.

Related Links

www.swzfund.com


Chattanooga Public Works Administrator Justin Holland announced Tuesday that there will be three presentations at the end of September of a proposal for consolidation of services of the Chattanooga Sewer program and the Hamilton County Water and Wastewater Treatment Authority (WWTA).

The presentations will include discussions about a feasibility study for the consolidation that will include pros and cons.

City public works currently operates the regional sewage treatment plant at Moccasin Bend.

The WWTA handles sewer lines out in the county.

Mr. Holland also gave a report on what the city is doing to conform to the stormwater consent decree for reducing infiltration of stormwater runoff and overflows during periods of extreme rain events. The city is spending $2,362,974 to build a wet weather combined sewer storage facility. A change order for the builders of that facility was approved at the council agenda meeting on Tuesday, for an added amount of $310,577. The report was illustrated with slides of the building and massive tanks in process. There will be storage for 30 million gallons of stormwater in three storage basins, each holding 10 million gallons. The change order was due to more extensive work than was anticipated, such as piles that ended up needing to be in excess of 80 feet long in some places in order to get to the bedrock.

A change order was also needed for the revised amount of $97,437 for making upgrades to the control room for the sewer system. From the new control room, 84 pump stations can be controlled and all flows and pumps can be monitored. The upgrades will create efficiencies and reliability in running the system.

The 12 percent increase to sewer billings that was announced recently does not pertain to residents of Chattanooga, said Mr. Holland. The increase comes from WWTA which controls sewers in the county excluding Chattanooga. There will be a zero percent increase this year, said Mr. Holland, but future increases are anticipated, he stated.

Transportation Director Blythe Bailey told the council that the St. Elmo Riverwalk extension is close to being started once the city gets approval from TDOT. It now ends north of 33rd Street. The new extension will cross Broad Street at St. Elmo Avenue and proceed to the Incline, adding about a mile and a half to the length. This work will be federally funded, he said.
The first time Julie Mabry went to a gay bar, she saw a sense of liberty and affirmation that she never had before.

I watched my older sister, who is also gay, struggle with acceptance for many years, said Mabry. When we went to a gay bar in San Antonio, I saw her become who she really was. The sense of freedom I saw in her always resonated with me.

When Mabry came out herself years later, she says she experienced the same freedom.

It inspired her to dream of owning a bar focused on serving lesbians and other members of the LGBTQ community. It came true in 2013, when she opened Pearl Bar in Houston. Its the only lesbian bar in the Bayou City, one of two in Texas and one of 16 in the nation.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Pearl Bar has struggled to stay afloat, Mabry said. Like many LGBTQ businesses, the bar has faced unique challenges weathering the severe economic impacts of the last six months. On Tuesday, Mabry received a grant that will help preserve the cultural landmark.

This money is something that will help us be able to survive, Mabry said of the grant.

The funding was provided through an LGBTQ business preservation initiative by national nonprofit Human Rights Campaign and cable television channel Showtime. The size of the grant was not made public Tuesday.

Human Rights Campaign officials awarded grants to 10 businesses across the country and each will receive a five-figure amount. Other recipients include Alibi Lounge in New York City; Amplio Fitness in Rocky River, Ohio; Salon Benders in Long Beach, Calif.; Blush & Blu in Denver; Doyenne in Charlotte, N.C.; El Rio in San Francisco; Freed Bodyworks in Washington; Herz in Mobile, Ala.; and My Sisters Room in Atlanta.

A number of surveys and reports produced by the organization show the LGBTQ community has been hit especially hard by the pandemic, said Nicole Cozier, senior vice president for diversity equity and inclusion at the Human Rights Campaign.

Weve seen a number of LGBTQ businesses having a really hard time staying afloat, she said.

For decades before the pandemic, lesbian bars have been in decline. Online dating, gentrification and broader acceptance by the public have been identified across the country as reasons gay and lesbian bars are disappearing.

But for many, places like Pearl Bar still serve an essential purpose in their lives, said Mabry. A lot of the people who come to Pearl Bar arent accepted by their families, so the bar becomes their family, she said.

Saving businesses like Pearl Bar is essential to the LGBTQ community because they serve as safe spaces, Cozier said.

These bars are a safe haven where people can connect their community, said Cozier. That visibility and sense of safety and community are really profound.

Mabry said the show of support her bar has received demonstrates how important it is to the community.

Two months ago, the bar raised more than $35,000 on a GoFundMe page to help meet operational costs, she said. They supported us out of necessity, she said. Supporting us is imperative to them.

Though the bar hasnt been open through most of the pandemic, patrons have supported it by buying steaks to go, attending socially distanced nights on the patio and shopping at the Pride Market it hosts on Sundays. An RSVP-only event set for Friday is already sold out, said Mabry.

As Pearl Bar continues to slowly reopen, she said, the grant from Human Rights Campaign and Showtime will help fund getting it back into shape, restocking and paying longtime employees who have started to lose their unemployment pay.

Receiving this is not only a huge honor, but its definitely going to help us a lot.

hannah.dellinger@chron.com
A controversial episode of Q&A in which panelists endorsed violence, has been cleared of complaints by the media watchdog.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority found no breach of the ABC Code of Practice on impartiality, language, and inciting violence.

ABC received over 200 complaints on the November episode, presented in conjunction with The Wheeler Centres feminist ideas festival, Broadside. A discussion around violence against women raised the question, when is aggression and violence a better option than assertiveness?

Last year ABC launched an internal investigation with managing director David Anderson -who was watching at the time- acknowledging, I can understand why some viewers found elements of this episode confronting or offensive.

Host Fran Kelly, who cautioned a panelist over coarse language, later conceded she should have done more during the broadcast over remarks around violence.

ABCs investigation led to the episode being removed from iview.

ACMA investigated 7 formal complaints around a lack of perspectives, for promoting offensive male stereotypes, inciting violence and coarse language.

In a 35 page finding it concluded that as the show was promoted as part of the Wheeler Centres feminist ideas festival its perspective was clear to the audience. ABC also submitted it has sometimes featured one perspective in Q&A where there is a single guest such as Malcolm Turnbull, Bill Shorten and environmentalist Dr David Suzuki.

Both Mona Eltahawys and Nayuka Gorries comments (how many rapists must we kill?; yeah, lets burn stuff), were deemed provocative but ACMA found they were illustrative of potential responses to the debate topic rather than proposing courses of action.

ACMA looked at whether Nayuka Gorrie appeared to support and even advocate arson as the only option open to Indigenous Australians wishing to end the violence of colonisation. It concluded most viewers would accept the context of a light-hearted delivery, including a laugh and smile, was not an actual call to action.

There were also multiple F-bombs dropped during the debate which drew complaints. ACMA found one reference to Donald Trump as a fascist f*** carried more impact than other uses. But it noted Q&A as a current affairs programme does not require Classification, screened in a late slot and that Fran Kelly made three attempts to remind guests of language.

However given panelist Mona Eltahawy had previously been in breach of the Code over language, ACMA did find ABC failed to make reasonable efforts to provide information about the potential for content to cause offence. But because David Anderson issued a statement and the episode was removed from iview, it also considered this concern was resolved.

ACMA also found that although comments were made by panellists about male violence toward women, the panellists did not claim or imply that all men were violent toward women.

Last year Tony Jones, who was wrapping up as resident host, told TV Tonight, If we were to go back and reinvent the panel we probably would have had a panel with alternative views.
Blast In Northwestern Pakistan Kills Soldier, Wounds Three Others

By RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal September 15, 2020

A Pakistani soldier was killed and three others wounded when their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device in the northwestern South Waziristan tribal district.

District police officer Shaukat Ali told RFE/RL that the soldiers were on routine patrol when the attack occurred in the Makeen area on September 14.

The military launched a search operation following the incident, but no arrests have been made so far, said Ali.

No group has immediately claimed responsibility.

In early September, at least four Pakistani soldiers were killed and four others wounded in two different attacks in South Waziristan that were claimed by the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan, also known as the Pakistani Taliban.

The latest incident comes a day after the Pakistani military said it had killed a "terrorist" commander and three other militants near the boundaries of the North and South Waziristan districts.

The Pakistani military has claimed it cleared the two districts, located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, of the TTP and other militant groups following a major offensive that was launched in 2014.

However, the region has been the scene of an increasing number of attacks on security forces and the targeted killing of civilians.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/blast-in- northwestern-pakistan-kills-soldier-wounds- three-others/30839856.html

Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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The total number of confirmed cases grew to 162,660.

Ukraine said 2,958 new active COVID-19 cases had been confirmed across the country in the past 24 hours as of September 16, 2020.

The total number of confirmed cases grew to 162,660, as seen on the interactive map compiled by the National Security and Defense Council.

As many as 72,324 patients, including 1,514 in the past day, have recovered.

The death toll is 3,340 with 76 fatalities recorded in the past day.

Read alsoCOVID-19 lockdown: Hundreds of Hasidim pilgrims amass at Belarus-Ukraine border (Video)There were 86,996 active cases as of September 16. In total, there have been 226,294 reports on suspected COVID-19 since the beginning of 2020.

In total, 1,925,482 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests have been run since the outbreak, Ukraine's Health Ministry said on Telegram on Wednesday.

The overall incidence per region is as follows:

4,976 cases in Vinnytsia region;

6,504 in Volyn region;

3,539 in Dnipropetrovsk region;

2,180 in Donetsk region (Ukrainian-controlled districts);

4,543 in Zhytomyr region;

8,829 in Zakarpattia region;

2,591 in Zaporizhia region;

11,677 in Ivano-Frankivsk region;

934 in Kirovohrad region;

18,070 in the city of Kyiv;

7,207 in Kyiv region;

17,430 in Lviv region;

653 in Luhansk region (Ukrainian-controlled districts);

2,171 in Mykolaiv region;

10,277 in Odesa region;

1,307 in Poltava region;

10,707 in Rivne region;

2,640 in Sumy region;

10,004 in Ternopil region;

13,432 in Kharkiv region;

702 in Kherson region;

4,133 in Khmelnytsky region;

12,493 in Chernivtsi region;

2,739 in Cherkasy region;

2,922 in Chernihiv region.

Data from Russia-occupied areas  the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the city of Sevastopol, parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions  is not available.

COVID-19 tests were run by the Public Health Center's virological reference laboratory and regional laboratories. As of the morning of September 16, 2020, the Center had received 3,036 reports of suspected cases. In total, there have been 226,294 reports on suspected COVID-19 since the beginning of 2020.

Quarantine in Ukraine: background

The adaptive quarantine was introduced on August 1. The Ukrainian regions were split into the green, yellow, orange, and red zones depending on hospital bed occupancy, the average number of PCR and ELISA tests, the ascertainment rate of COVID-19, and daily spread dynamics.

Quarantine-related curbs differ in each zone. The mildest ones are in the green zone, the regions included in the red zone will have to introduce the toughest restrictions.

On August 26, the Cabinet of Ministers extended the adaptive quarantine until November 1.

On September 10, the government reviewed the borders of COVID-19 quarantine zones. The reviewed zoning regulations will take effect on Monday, September 14. Kyiv became part of the orange zone, with the second-toughest bans after the red zone.

Health Minister Maksym Stepanov says the ministry has no plans to introduce a new lockdown in Ukraine yet.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- As the 2020-2021 school year begins amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and educators across the United States work to teach students virtually at least some of the time, theres bound to be some technical issues. And a recent report highlighted how one teacher in North Carolina captured the adorable reactions her students expressed after she was kicked out of her virtual live session.

Good Morning America (GMA) reported that Michelle Westmoreland, a teacher at Mount Olive Elementary School in King, N.C., was reading a story to her second-graders, when she was suddenly kicked out of the virtual session on the platform Google Meet.

She logged back into the session just two minutes later, and all of her 17 students were still there, Good Morning America reported. But the reactions were adorable.

Im frantic, trying to get back in the meeting and I had no idea they were all still connected and having these wonderful conversations, Westmoreland told the media outlet. They were so engaged, concerned and waiting on me to come back. Im very proud and impressed.

She told GMA that her school district recommends recording virtual learning sessions in case a student cant make the meeting -- or wants to re-watch it.

Westmoreland was able to view the footage when she was booted off -- listening to her second-graders discuss whether they should log off the session.

Do we just log off the meeting? one student asked.

Another student responded saying: She was just like halfway done with the book ..."

All 17 students stayed on the call until she returned, Good Morning America reported.

You can view the students' reactions in the video above.

Jordan Edmonds, a parent of 8-year-old Jett, said she enjoyed seeing the kids' reactions.

My first thought was, They did a really good job with that, Edmonds, who is also a teacher, told the media outlet. They were trying to problem-solve and were so well-behaved and respectful of each other. I thought it was really neat.

Westmoreland said she believes her WiFi kicked her offline temporarily, and hasnt had any issues since, reports Good Morning America.

*** CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF CORONAVIRUS IN NEW YORK ***

Students in New York City public schools are reconnecting with their teachers Wednesday as party of a remote instructional orientation period -- which runs through Friday. The first full-day of learning begins Monday, Sept. 21.

Related stories:

NYC to bring in 2,000 more educators for the start of school as de Blasio pushes forward with Sept. 21 reopening

3 S.I. schools see positive coronavirus cases, union says

Coronavirus: How to find ventilation inspection results for your childs school

NYC school year delayed; in-person learning to start Sept. 21

Reopening of NYC schools delayed: What you need to know

Heres how coronavirus testing will work in NYC schools

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Pakistans Senate on Wednesday defeated yet another bill that sought to empower agencies investigating terrorist operations, in compliance with the requirements for terror financing watchdog FATF.

With this, the Upper House of parliament has voted against four out of seven legislations moved by the Imran Khan government to comply with the Financial Action Task Force. This is a setback to the governments efforts to get Pakistan out of FATFs grey list and to prevent it from going further down to a black list.

The defeated legislation would have given powers to investigators to conduct undercover operations, intercept communications and access computer systems. It sought the insertion of Section 19-C in the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) relating to application of investigation techniques.

The amendment to the Anti-Terrorism Bill, 2020, was rejected a day after the National Assembly, the lower house, passed it. It received 34 votes against it , while 31 voted in favour in Senate, in a major embarrassment to Khans government.

Last month, the 104-member Senate rejected the Anti-Money Laundering (Second Amendment) Bill and the Islamabad Capital Territory Waqf Properties Bill, both also related to FATF compliance, objecting to some of the provisions and linking its cooperation to retraction of remarks made by Leader of the House Dr Shahzad Waseem about certain leaders.

Pakistan was placed under the FATF grey list in June 2018 after the global watchdog found deficiencies in Islamabads money laundering and terror financing laws.

Last month, Khans government enacted laws and designated over 100 people as terrorists, in its desperate efforts to evade a possible blacklisting at the next FATF review meeting.

The meeting, which was initially scheduled for June and got postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, is now expected to be held in October.
The Narendra Modi-led government has taken two loans worth over Rs 9,000 crore from the Beijing-based to Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) to meet challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic, Union Minister of State Anurag Thakur told Parliament on Wednesday.

Thakur made the statement in the Lok Sabha response to queries posed by BJP parliamentarians Sunil Kumar Singh and PP Chaudhary in the Lok Sabha about how the Centre had utilised the funds and whether they had been transferred to the states.

The Union ministers revelations come at a time when the Modi government is issuing statements on the months-long border clashes with China along eastern Ladakh.

Earlier, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had invited AIIB to participate in Indias ambitious $1.4 trillion (about Rs 111 lakh crore) infrastructure development programme which the government is keenly pushing to revive economic growth hit by COVID-19 pandemic.

India is a founding member of the multilateral funding agency with the second highest voting share. India has 7.65 per cent vote share in the AIIB while China holds a whopping 26.63 per cent stake in the organisation which was set up in 2016.

Thakur informed the Lok Sabha the first loan agreement was signed with AIIB on May 8 while the second one was inked on June 19, about four days after the clash in Galwan Valley in which at least 20 soldiers of the Indian Army had lost their lives. Initial reports about intrusion by Chinese army in Ladakh had started coming from May.

The Government of India has signed two loan agreements with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank under COVID-19 Crisis Recovery Facility, Thakur said. First loan of $500 million (Rs 3,676 crore approximately) was signed on May 8, 2020, to partly support the India COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health Systems Preparedness Project to respond to the threat posed by COVID-19 pandemic and strengthen the national health system for preparedness, Thakur said. So far, AIIB has released about Rs 1,847 crore from this, he added.

The second loan of $750 million (Rs 5,514 crore approximately) was signed on June 19, 2020, as budgetary support to Government of India for accelerating Indias COVID-19 Social Protection Response Programme to support measures undertaken under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY), the benefits of which have also flown to states/Union territories.

Later in the day, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi hit out at the government for taking huge loans from the bank amid the border standoff with China.
Weather Alert

...Bitterly cold temperatures are forecast for the North Country tonight... Another round of cold temperatures are expected tonight with low temperatures generally dipping to between 10 and 30 below zero. Although winds will be light to calm, protect against hypothermia and expect to need multiple layers of clothing if heading outdoors. Running or even a brisk walk in these conditions could result in frost bite on exposed skin.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 13:24:06|Editor: huaxia

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WASHINGTON, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Israel signed on Tuesday normalization accords with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain, but Palestine claimed they will not achieve peace in the Middle East.

U.S. President Donald Trump joined Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan and Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani in signing the three-way agreements on the South Lawn of the White House.

The signing ceremony formally makes the UAE and Bahrain the third and the fourth Arab nation to establish diplomatic ties with Israel after Egypt and Jordan.

PEACE DEAL

Trump touted the historical significance of the accords by calling them "peace deals" and "the dawn of a new Middle East."

The UAE and Bahrain, however, have never fought a war against Israel in history, and the unofficial relationship between Israel and the two Arab states have developed for years.

Netanyahu hailed the normalization agreements as "a pivot of history" that heralds new dawn of peace, saying Israel, the UAE and Bahrain are eager to invest in a future of partnership, prosperity and peace.

Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani called the agreement "an important first step" while emphasizing the two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

"It is now incumbent on us to work urgently and actively to bring about the lasting peace and security our peoples deserve, a just, comprehensive and enduring two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict will be the foundation, the bedrock of such peace," he said.

Sheikh Abdullah of the UAE in his remarks expressed thanks to Netanyahu for halting the annexation of Palestinian territories, calling it "a decision that reinforces our shared will to achieve a better future for generations to come."

Netanyahu, however, said last month the annexation plans had only been delayed but still "on the table."

The signing demonstrated that the Trump administration is eager to showcase its foreign policy achievement and gain support with pro-Israel evangelical Christians for the upcoming presidential election, analysts say.

"The timing of this is explained by the fact that it's designed clearly to boost a beleaguered president's chance for reelection," said Aaron David Miller, a Middle East expert at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Tuesday's signing did bring the beginning of a new era in the region, but it is not clear that the era will be one of greater peace.

"In the near term, it may be an era of greater volatility," he cautioned. "Less pan-Arab cooperation, combined with a U.S. determination to lighten its footprint in the region, is likely to create different regional dynamics."

PALESTINIAN OPPOSITION

In response, Palestine said the signing of the three-way normalization accords will not achieve peace in the Middle East.

In a statement, the Palestinian presidency said that "all attempts to bypass the Palestinian people and their leadership will have serious consequences," stressing that the U.S. administration and Israeli authorities will bear the responsibility.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on all Arab countries to abide by the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative that stipulates the Arabs can only normalize relations with Israel after the Palestinian issue is resolved.

It remains unclear if other major countries in the Middle East, notably Saudi Arabia and Qatar, will join the normalization process.

Arab League (AL) Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit stressed the recent regional developments wouldn't impact the Arab consensus over the inevitability of ending the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories as an essential condition for achieving comprehensive justice and peace in the Middle East.

But Alterman thought otherwise. The Israeli-UAE-Bahrain breakthrough was "a collapse of Arab solidarity on the Palestine question that had been in place for three-quarters of a century," he noted.

"Without progress, let alone a settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian issue, it's going to be hard to describe this or even hope this is going to lead to a comprehensive peace in the Middle East," said Miller.

"For Israel, these agreements achieve a strategic goal of recognition in the Arab world," said Ehud Eiran, a visiting scholar of the Department of Political Science in Stanford University. "This is highlighted by the fact that it was achieved without the Palestinians."

The accords mark a major change from the traditional view held for decades that Israel must first solve the conflict with the Palestinians and only then can agreements be reached with its Arabs neighbors, according to him.

As the accords were being signed in Washington, rockets were fired into Israel from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, injuring two people. Hundreds of Palestinians protested against the normalization deals with Israel ahead of the signing ceremony. Enditem
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 16)  The Department of Health on Wednesday assured the country's vaccine experts panel is not under pressure to buy COVID-19 vaccines developed by countries preferred by President Rodrigo Duterte.

DOH spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire said all potential vaccines will go through the regulatory processes despite the President's liking for drugs made by Russia and China.

Walang pressure no? Katulad ng sabi natin, kung anuman ang dadating na bakuna sa ating bansa, it will go through the usual, regular regulatory process, Vergeire said in a media briefing.

[Translation: There is no pressure. Whatever vaccine arrives, it will go through the regulatory process.]

Duterte on Monday said the government will prioritize vaccines from China and Russia because those are the only two countries that helped the Philippines. He also ranted against unnamed Western pharmaceutical companies that are asking for an advanced fee for the vaccines they are developing.

RELATED: Duterte slams pharma firms seeking advance payment for COVID-19 vaccine

Vergeire explained that the countrys current negotiations with COVID-19 vaccine developers are restricted by the Republic Act 9184 or the Procurement Law. She said the law only allows payments to be made when the Philippines already knows the technical specifications of a vaccine and when the supply has been delivered to the country.

The health official noted that the government is also exploring other ways to secure vaccines for FIlipinos. This includes the Philippines participation in the World Health Organizations COVAX facility, which will ensure low- to middle-income countries access to vaccines.

She also said the Philippines is set to receive 1,000 new doses of antiviral drug remdisivir from the WHO.
Photo: Pwc Canada

Are you dreading heading back to the office? Or, have you gone a little stir-crazy at home and are itching to go back?

While the majority of Canadians worked from an external workplace prior to the pandemic, many of them have been working from home during these unprecedented times.

Now, many employers are asking their staff to make a return to the workplace. However, not all employees are ready to make the transition.

According to a new study released by Pwc Canada, 82% of Canadians worked primarily from an external workplace prior to the pandemic. Today, that number is down to 27%  with 59% now working remotely.

What's more, the study finds that, "while most employers (78%) expect at least a partial return to the office in the next three months, only one in five employees says they want to go back to their workplace full time."

Canada-wide, employees say they want the flexibility to choose between working from home or the office. That said, there are some regional disparities: "Workers in Alberta and Atlantic Canada are the most comfortable returning to their workplace in the next three months (47% and 45%, respectively), while Ontarians are the least (30%)."

In total, the study found that 27% of employees are ready to return to the workplace, while a staggering 59% say they'd like to work solely at home; 14% say they'd prefer a mix of the two.

Employees report that their top three challenges are dealing with work-life balance (especially for households with kids), maintaining productivity and communicating with co-workers without traditional in-person interactions.

Despite naming maintaining productivity as a top challenge, some Canadian workers say their productivity has actually increased since the pandemic. In fact, employees are largely split around whether productivity has increased, decreased or stayed the same. The financial services industry experienced a significant boost in output, with almost half (46%) of employees reporting increased productivity during the pandemic (the highest among sectors measured).
Madeleine McKeon, Commonwealth Scholar, 2019 My Commonwealth Scholar Thesis, entitled The Archbishop and the King: Church and State in Twelfth-Century England, examined the relationship between Thomas Becket (archbishop of Canterbury) and King Henry II, and the impact that this relationship (known as the the Becket controversy) had on English religious culture in the 12th century and beyond. Working on this thesis was one of the best academic challenges I took on in college. The project was so multifacetedthere was the creative portion of the construction and the writing of the thesis; there was the analysis that went into the reading and research; and there was the challenge of presenting and sharing all of my work. The amount of support I received (from my thesis advisor, my major/minors advisors, the library staff) made the project not only achievable but enjoyable. The opportunities that developed because of my thesis, like presenting at a national research conference, were invaluable. It was a long, often messy, process but I learned so much about how I work and think, how to do history, and about a topic that I loved.
Mr. Ohad Golan, Chief Marketing Officer, commented on the sponsorship, "easyMarkets was looking to partner with a team that has instant recognizability, a rich history and a loyal, dedicated fan base.

"We sought to sign with an organization that has global appeal, with millions of eyes on it each match  and Real Madrid was the obvious choice.

"We look forward to leveraging Real Madrid's immense popularity and global appeal strategically as we move forward."

Emilio Butragueno, Institutional Relations Director at Real Madrid, commented, "Both, Real Madrid and easyMarkets, are leaders in their sector and share common values. We are looking forward to start working with them as Official Online Trading Partner beginning with the 20/21 season."

About easyMarkets

easyMarkets is an award-winning global broker with full market access, innovative trading platforms, a commitment to easy trading and price transparency.

easyMarkets was founded on the idea of democratizing trading. Our purpose was to give market access to anyone that wanted it. We ended up fundamentally changing the online trading industry  which only offered Forex at the time. In 2001 we accepted initial deposits from $25, that could be funded online via credit card  instead of lengthy bank transfer. Our customers responded with loyalty and helped us grow.

Over the years we expanded our CFD offerings to include global indices, energy, metals, and more. In 2016 we rebranded from easy-forex to easyMarkets. We managed to democratize trading, make it accessible, and easier  but there is always more we can offer our customers.

We were the first to offer a true online trading platform that you could not lose more than what you invested. We continued innovating - offering valuable trading tools and conditions such as free guaranteed stop loss, insideViewer, Freeze Rate  and our most innovative tool yet: dealCancellation which allows traders to undo losing trades within an hour for a small fee.

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SOURCE easyMarkets
The CAA has applied to the courts for an enforcement order against Ryanair for refusing to pay compensation to delayed passengers. Credit: Getty.

Which? is calling for the aviation regulator to urgently be given powers to fine airlines, after nearly six months of blatant disregard for the law on refunds for cancelled flights during the pandemic.

The consumer group says airlines operating in the UK have not faced a single fine for breaking consumer law on refunds, delays or cancellations since 2003.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) was granted powers to enforce consumer rights laws on airlines in 2003, but cannot directly fine airlines.

And the regulator has only used its powers once to apply to the courts for an enforcement order which forces an airline to comply with the law. This was against Ryanair (RYA.L) in 2018, for refusing to compensate passengers for delays caused by planned industrial action by its staff during the peak of the summer holidays. The case is yet to be heard and the airline continues to refuse to compensate consumers.

READ MORE: Thomas Cook relaunches as online travel company

The findings come after Which? exposed the UKs 10 biggest airlines for repeatedly breaking the law on refunds for coronavirus cancellations earlier this year.

At the beginning of the pandemic, the consumer champion reported airlines to the regulator for refusing to reroute passengers when flights were cancelled, leaving passengers stranded abroad and having to pay extortionate fees to get home.

Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, said: Without the ability to issue fines or take swift action against airlines, the Civil Aviation Authority has struggled to effectively stand up for the passengers it is there to protect. Several airlines already know this, and theres a real risk some have felt empowered to break the law as a result  and without the threat of penalties, they may continue to do so.

Trust in the travel industry has been battered in recent months, so passengers need a strong regulator they can count on. Its clear serious reforms need to be made to the sector  as a first step, the government must take urgent steps to ensure the CAA has the tools it needs to effectively hold airlines to account.
The head of the Government of National Accord said on Wednesday he wants to hand over power to a new administration by end of October

The Tripoli-based UN- recognised Government of National Accord's (GNA) Premier Fayez Al-Sarraj announce his resignation in a televised speech to the Libyan people from the capital, Tripoli late on Wednesday.

Al-Sarraj said he wants to hand over power to a new administration next month amid inter-Libyan peace talks in Geneva.

"I declare my sincere desire to hand over my duties to the next executive authority no later than the end of October," he said.

"Hopefully, the dialogue committee will complete its work and choose a new presidential council and prime minister," Al-Sarraj added.

Earlier on Tuesday, officials "familiar with his thinking" told Bloomberg that he "would relieve some of the pressure on himself while setting the stage for his exit after the Geneva talks."

Sarraj, a member of the eastern parliament in Tripoli, was appointed in 2015 to lead the presidential council, created by a political agreement that was signed by Libya's factions in Skhirat, Morocco.

The government in eastern Libya resigned on Sunday amid street protests that erupted across the divided country over dire living conditions, officials said.

Abdallah Abaihig, a spokesman for the parliament, confirmed the government's resignation, saying lawmakers would review it in their next meeting. No date set for the session.

Libya was plunged into chaos when a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 toppled longtime ruler Moammar Gadhafi, who was later killed. The country has since split between rival east- and west-based administrations, each backed by armed groups and foreign governments.

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BERLIN: Satellite images show that smoke from wildfires in the western United States has reached as far as Europe, scientists said Wednesday.

Data collected by the European Unions Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service found smoke from the fires had traveled 8,000 kilometers (almost 5,000 miles) through the atmosphere to Britain and other parts of northern Europe.

The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, which operates some of the Copernicus satellite monitoring systems, said the fires in California, Oregon and Washington state have emitted an estimated 30.3 million metric tonnes (33.4 million tons) of carbon.

The scale and magnitude of these fires are at a level much higher than in any of the 18 years that our monitoring data covers, since 2003," Mark Parrington, a senior scientist and wildfire expert at Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, said.

Parrington said the smoke thickness from the fires, known as aerosol optical depth or AOD, was immense, according to satellite measurements.

We have seen that AOD levels have reached very high values of seven or above, which has been confirmed by independent ground-based measurement, he said. To put this into perspective, an AOD of one would already indicate a lot of aerosols in the atmosphere.

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor
A Ukrainian serviceman has died as a result of the careless handling of a grenade near Novotoshkivske (53km west of Luhansk). The circumstances are being clarified. The senior staff of the brigade and the working group of the military law enforcement service of the Armed Forces of Ukraine work at the scene.

Today, September 16, one ceasefire violation has been recorded in the areas of responsibility of Ukrainian brigades. The armed units of the Russian Federation fired an unaimed shot from an under-barrel grenade launcher in the area of Katerynivka (64km west of Luhansk), the press center of the JFO Headquarters reports.

No casualties among the Joint Forces personnel have been reported.

On September 15, the armed formations of the Russian Federation committed three violations of the agreements reached within the framework of the Trilateral Contact Group on July 22, 2020.

The occupiers opened fire near the village of Prychepylivka (50km north-west of Luhansk) from an under-barrel grenade launcher.

At the same time, the enemy carried out engineering works to equip its positions towards Ukrainian units near Popasna (69km west of Luhansk). In addition, Ukrainian troops spotted an enemy UAV which had crossed the demarcation line near Vodiane (94km south of Donetsk). The drone was suppressed by Ukrainian electronic warfare equipment. This made its further use impossible.

On September 15, a Ukrainian defender was injured by an unknown explosive device when performing engineering works near Vodiane. Two more servicemen were injured as a result of the explosion of RGD-5 grenade outside Shumy (41km north of Donetsk).

The injured soldiers were taken to medical facilities, their condition is stable.

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Espers phone call came as military and economic tensions in the Asia-Pacific region have reached the highest level since the Second World War. Late last month, Beijing fired aircraft carrier killer missiles into the South China Sea, in response to the provocative manoeuvres of the US naval flotilla led by the USS Ronald Reagan in the disputed marine territory.





by Vijith Samarasinghe





Late last month, US Defence Secretary Mark T. Esper phoned President Gotabhaya Rajapakse. Esper later Tweeted: Good talk today with Sri Lankan President @Gotabaya R. We discussed our cooperation in responding to COVID 19 & the international security environment.





US Defence Secretary Mark T. Esper

The Colombo media reported that the call was about COVID-19 and claimed Esper had praised Rajapakse for controlling the pandemic. This was a ridiculous attempt to cover-up the real content and implications of the discussion.





The extraordinary phone callthe first in living memory from a US defence chief to a Sri Lankan presidentwas not about the coronavirus, but the expansion of existing military agreements between the two countries, in line with President Donald Trumps preparations for war against China.





While Rajapakse and the Sri Lankan media have kept their mouths shut about the real purpose of the call, the US defence department later released a statement, indicating some of the issues raised.





The conversation, according to the statement, centred on the shared commitment of the two countries to a free and open Indo-Pacifica euphemism for Washingtons ongoing campaign against Beijing and unchallenged US military operations in the region. It involved a review of the defence priorities, such as military professionalization, counter-terrorism, and maritime security cooperation. The defence secretary also called for continued progress on reconciliation and human rights in Sri Lanka.





Espers phone call was motivated by the fact that Washington and its regional allies are intensifying their military build-up against China, in the Indian Ocean region, and are determined to further expand military relations with, and operations on, the strategically located island.





The call, which was made just a few weeks after the landslide victory of Rajapakses party in the parliamentary election, also reflected Washingtons concerns about the new administration and its previous links with China.





Two days after the election, the Wall Street Journal published an article headlined Pro-China Populists Consolidate Power in Sri Lanka. It stated that the previous Rajapakse administration had embraced China, and become a showcase for Beijings global infrastructure initiative.





While the US and India had backed Rajapakses brotherthe former president and current prime minister, Mahinda Rajapaksein the last phase of Sri Lankas bloody civil war in 2009, Washington was hostile to the regimes economic and military relations with Beijing.





In 2015, the US orchestrated a regime-change operation to oust Rajapakse as president and replace him with the pro-US Maithripala Sirisena. The subsequent Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration rapidly and systematically expanded Sri Lankas defence ties with the US. The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe regime strengthened defence agreements with Washington and involved the Sri Lankan military force in numerous drills and training exercises with the US and its allied armed forces.





The Access and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) between the US and Sri Lanka, which was first signed in 2011 by Gotabhaya Rajapakse, then defence secretary, was renewed indefinitely under Sirisena. ACSA gives the US military unrestrained access to Sri Lankas seaports and airports, while the American navy is currently investigating the feasibility of establishing a US logistics hub at the strategic eastern port of Trincomalee.





Further ties are also in the pipeline. These include the proposed renewal of a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with the US, the hand-over of Colombo Ports Eastern Terminal to India, and a $US480 million grant agreement with the Millennium Challenge Corporation, an instrument of US foreign policy. Ratification of these agreements and other defence proposals, however, were stalled by conflicts in 2018 that divided the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration.





Gotabhaya Rajapakse was elected president last year by capitalising on the political instability and exploiting deep-seated popular opposition to the International Monetary Fund austerity program implemented by the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe regime.





Espers phone call constitutes another clear message to the Rajapakses that Washington is insisting that pending military agreements be ratified immediately, and that US-Sri Lanka defence cooperation is taken to a new level.





As the US embassy in Colombo declared, following the August 5 general election, We look forward to partnering with the government and the new parliament.





Even before last months election results were finalised, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Washingtons chief regional ally, rushed to congratulate Rajapakse. In Colombo, the Indian high commissioner held a dinner for the new cabinet ministers, just days after their swearing-in.









Following his election as president last November, Rajapakse quickly demonstrated his loyalty to Washington and India, and made his first official foreign visit to New Delhi, on the invitation of Prime Minister Modi.





Last month, Rajapakse appointed retired Admiral Jayanath Colambage, who is director of the pro-US Pathfinder Foundation, as foreign secretary. Senior career diplomat and former foreign secretary Ravinath Ariyasinghe was named ambassador to the US.





In an August 26 interview with the Daily Mirror, Colambage said, as far as strategic security is concerned, Sri Lanka will always have an India-first approach.





In another diplomatic posting, Rajapakse appointed Milinda Moragoda a former minister with long established loyalties to Washingtonas a cabinet-ranked high commissioner to India. Cabinet rank means he can directly talk to the president and his top ministers.





Moragoda, a founder of the Pathfinder Foundation in Colombo, was described in 2003 by the former US Ambassador to Colombo, E. Ashley Wills, in a diplomatic cable, later published by WikiLeaks, as a perfect fit for cultivating relations with the US and India. His appointment as the Indian High Commissioner is another indication of Colombos endorsement of the anti-China, military-strategic build-up in the region.





The Rajapakse administration has signalled that it will go ahead with the pending US-Sri Lanka defence agreements. Both the president and prime minister have also confirmed that they will hand over the strategic Colombo Port East Terminal to India, despite mounting opposition from port workers.





Colambage told the Daily Mirror that the transfer of the terminal was agreed in a 2017 deal between Sri Lanka, India and Japan, and that President Rajapakse was committed to honour the deal.





Rajapakse is also advancing the close military-to-military ties with the US, established by the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration. In March, when the whole country was under strict COVID-19 lockdown and curfew, US Green Berets conducted combat training exercises with Sri Lankan forces in Trincomalee harbour.





President Rajapakses refusal to disclose the content of his discussion with Defence Secretary Esper indicates that he has no concerns about the preparations for war against China. This silence, at least for the time being, also reflects the sensitivity of Colombos ruling elite to popular concerns about this issue. During the election, Rajapakses nationalist allies attempted to posture as anti-imperialist. At the same time, the debt-ridden Rajapakse regime is also seeking extensive financial assistance from Beijing.





Espers phone call came as military and economic tensions in the Asia-Pacific region have reached the highest level since the Second World War. Late last month, Beijing fired aircraft carrier killer missiles into the South China Sea, in response to the provocative manoeuvres of the US naval flotilla led by the USS Ronald Reagan in the disputed marine territory.





Early last week, Japan, India and Australiaall members of the US-led quadrilateral military alliance against Chinaagreed to restructure commercial supply chains in the region to counter so-called China trade dominance.





The US has also banned 24 Chinese companies, including the China Communication Construction Company (CCCC), from buying American products, citing their involvement in the development of artificial islands in the disputed South China Sea. CCCC is involved in the construction of the massive Colombo Port City project, the largest single Chinese investment in Sri Lanka. The Chinese embassy in Colombo has appealed to the Rajapakse government to oppose the US sanctions.





Attempting to navigate its path through this geo-strategic minefield, Colombo has said nothing about the latest trade bans and their possible impact on the Colombo Port City project.





In a veiled threat, the US embassy in Colombo warned that the US further encourages countries to manage risk when dealing with CCCC, which it claims has done untold environmental damage and caused instability in the Indo-Pacific.





In his August 26 Daily Mirror interview, Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary Colambage said: We have to balance. The President has outlined a few specific things. Sri Lanka should be a neutral country. Sri Lanka does not want to be caught up in the power game.





Notwithstanding the rhetoric about balancing, the Rajapakse regime is signalling to Washington that Colombo is not siding with Beijing, and will continue to expand its military operations with US imperialism against China. The Rajapakses know, from their own experience, that any deviation from this line could have severe repercussions for the current government.
Jill Biden recently took a note out of Michelle Obama's book and let her clothing encourage people to get out and vote. The former second lady accompanied her husband, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, to the Delaware polls on Sept. 14 to cast their ballots early, and her boots are meant to motivate others to do the same.

Jill's over-the-knee black Stuart Weitzman boots looked inconspicuous from the front, but at a side angle, you could see they were detailed with the word "vote" written in silver lettering. She paired the shoes with a jewel tone purple dress and a black blazer, as well as a matching face mask. These shoes are certainly an expensive purchase at $695, but take comfort in knowing that all proceeds go to the I Am a Voter movement which encourages all Americans to participate in the election process.

Ahead, get a closer look at Jill's outfit and full details on her footwear.
Hundreds of people have been rescued after Hurricane Sally  which has since transformed into a tropical storm  made landfall in Alabama and Florida on Wednesday morning.

The storm arrived as a Category 2 hurricane in Gulf Shores, Alabama, around 4.45am with 105mph winds and rain depths in the feet, not inches, flooding homes and streets  as people were forced to evacuate from the southern coast.

Some areas have already been hit with 24 inches of rain, and a total of 35 inches could come in parts of Florida and Alabama, according to the National Weather Service. Why specific areas were getting hammered with high rains was due, in part, to how slowly the storm was moving. It was traveling at just 7mph up the coastal states.

First responders used boats and high water vehicles in parts of Florida and Alabama to rescue hundreds of trapped residents while Hurricane Sally transformed into a tropical storm, with winds decreasing to 70mph.

The rescues came after some of the areas hit the hardest were not issued mandatory evacuations. Residents were encouraged to voluntarily leave, but some people still stayed behind in their homes.

At one point we were grabbing things to evacuate because the water was starting to get up to the second level and then by that point it was too late for us to go anywhere," Kirsten Colla, who lives in a townhouse on Escambia Bay in Pensacola, Florida, told weather.com.

Pensacola, Florida, and Mobile, Alabama, were hit the hardest by the storm on Wednesday morning, and their metropolitan areas encompass a combined population of nearly 1 million people.

By Wednesday afternoon, authorities in Escambia County, which includes Pensacola, said that at least 377 people had been rescued from flooded areas, according to the Associated Press.

To assist, 200 National Guard Members would be arriving in Pensacola by Thursday to help communities most impacted by the storm.

There are entire communities that were going to have to evacuate, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said. It's going to be a tremendous operation over the next several days.

We anticipate the evacuations could literally be in the thousands," he added.

Mr Morgan also confirmed a portion of the Pensacola Bay Bridge was gone after a barge slammed into a portion of the structure, which is known by locals as Three Mile Bridge.

"Anybody who uses the Three Mile Bridge, just know it's going to be a while before you get to use that again," a public safety official said.

Besides dangerous floodwaters causing concern, there are more than 530,000 homes and businesses currently without power in Alabama and Florida alone.

Tropical Storm Sally was expected to continue its slow-moving rainfall into areas of central Alabama, central Georgia, and parts of the Carolinas on Wednesday into Thursday. Central Alabama and central Georgia could receive 4 to 12 inches and parts of the Carolinas could receive 4 to 9 inches.

Hurricane Sally comes just 16 days after the same areas were hit with a Category 3 Hurricane Ivan.

The Associated Press contributed to this report
CLEVELAND, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Lion Brand Yarn Company and Faber-Castell USA announced the release of the #HatNotHate special edition Quick Knit Loom, a fun and meaningful kit for crafters ages seven and older, produced through Faber-Castell's Creativity for Kids brand. The collaboration is designed to support #HatNotHate, an anti-bullying campaign and Lion Brand's premier advocacy initiative. The kit allows crafters of any skill level to create two EZ-knit blue hats. Blue hats are the key assets of the #HatNotHate campaign.

The #HatNotHate Quick Knit Loom kit allows crafters of any skill level to create two EZ-knit blue hats. Blue hats are the key assets of the #HatNotHate campaign.

"We couldn't be happier about partnering with Creativity for Kids on the #HatNotHate Quick Knit Loom kit," said Shira Blumenthal, Brand Ambassador for Lion Brand Yarn and founder of #HatNotHate. "With this easy-to-use product, children and adults who may not have been able to knit or crochet and want to contribute to the campaign can now use the kit's simple materials to make not one, but two blue hats, which they can either donate or keep as they stand with us in solidarity against bullying."

Founded by Blumenthal in 2018, #HatNotHate was born from its creator's own experience with youth bullying at the hands of a female classmate. Determined to ensure that bullying is no longer dismissed as an accepted part of growing up, and that no other child has to endure what she did, Blumenthal began collecting homemade, blue stitched hats from across the globe and distributing them to U.S. schools, culminating each year with a vast show of solidarity during National Bullying Prevention Month in October.

"Our mission is to enrich lives through creativity and self-expression, and that starts with childhood creativity," said Jamie Gallagher, CEO of Faber-Castell USA. "With #HatNotHate, we saw an opportunity to foster that creative confidence in a whole new way, and even more importantly, share it with others. Bullying can often stifle the self-expression of our youth, and with this kit, we're proud to help Shira and #HatNotHate prevent that from happening."

Contained within the kit is everything a crafting novice needs to jump on board with #HatNotHate, including four balls of blue yarn, one round loom, one tassel/pom pom maker, one loom hook, one plastic needle, two needle threaders, and two branded #HatNotHate faux leather tags. Crafters can follow along with the kit's clearly written instructions and online video to complete two hats.

The release of the #HatNotHate Quick Knit Loom Kit is perfectly timed with the recent announcement that #HatNotHate's 2020 campaign goal of collecting 100,000 hats has been extended into 2021, meaning there's plenty of time for those who purchase the kit to keep contributing to the #HatNotHate cause. While 2020 has been a landmark year for #HatNotHate, including an official partnership with like-minded LGBTQ youth charity The It Gets Better Project, concerns around health and safety have resulted in the postponement of educational, in-person #HatNotHate assemblies at schools across the country. They will resume, along with hat distribution, in October of next year.

"We're thrilled that the #HatNotHate Quick Knit Loom kit will make it possible for more crafters, young and old, to continue to support #HatNotHate," Gallagher said, "and we're excited that Faber-Castell's Creativity for Kids can be on this journey with the #HatNotHate community as it stretches into the new year."

The special edition #HatNotHate Quick Knit Loom kit is now available for purchase at specialty toy retailers and major crafting retailers. It can also be purchased on Amazon, as well as CreativityforKids.com , LionBrand.com , HatNotHate.org and more.

About Faber-Castell:

Faber-Castell USA is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio and is part of the global network of Faber-Castell companies in countries such as Australia, Brazil and Malaysia. Faber-Castell was founded more than 259 years ago as a pencil manufacturer and today is known for its high-quality, professional art supplies and fine writing instruments and accessories. Faber-Castell Children's brands include Creativity for Kids (CreativityforKids.com) and Faber-Castell Premium Children's Art Products (GreatArtStartsHere.com). For more information about Faber-Castell, head to FaberCastell.com.

About Lion Brand Yarn Company:

Lion Brand Yarn Company is a fifth generation, family-owned business, and one of the leading distributors of knitting and craft yarn in the United States. Lion Brand yarns are sold online and at craft chains, discount chains and independent shops across the country. Via their website, they ship to virtually every country in the world. More than 80 different types of yarn can be purchased on LionBrand.com, in addition to tools and accessories. Since 1878, Lion Brand has inspired and educated knitters and crocheters. Today, research shows that knitting and crocheting helps relieve stress through the soothing, repetitive motions of the craft and by helping people achieve a creative outlet that produces tangible and useful products. Among the company's recent triumphs are #StitchAroundTheWorld, the largest virtual crafting event in history, and "The Shi Show," a daily Facebook Live series hosted by brand ambassador Shira Blumenthal, who also founded the #HatNotHate anti-bullying campaign.

Contact:

Liza Grando

9542495730

[email protected]

SOURCE Faber-Castell USA
Journalist Jobert Polpog Bercasio was shot dead as he was riding a scooter in Sorgoson City, Sorgoson, Luzon on the evening of September 14. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its affiliate the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) in condemning the killing and calls on the authorities to conduct a swift investigation and bring the perpetrators to justice.

Bercasio, a former radio reporter who ran his own Balangibog TV channel on social media, was killed by two gunmen riding in tandem on a motorcycle. The police found empty casings of an M16 rifle at the crime scene. According to Sorsogon City Police Chief Supt. Benito Dipad, Bercasio died on the spot.

Bercasio hosted a program broadcast via Facebook live and commented on social issues, including illegal logging. He has been described as a hard-hitting commentator. An hour before the killing, Bercasio wrote on his personal Facebook page about the irregular movement of trucks from a quarry area in Bulan town.

According to NUJP, Bercasio is the 17th journalist killed under President Rodrigo Duterte's rule and the 189th since 1986. This year, he is the second journalist killed, after radio host Cornelio Rex Cornelio Pepino was gunned down by two men on separate motorcycles in Dumaguete City on May 5, just days after World Press Freedom Day.

NUJP said: NUJP stresses again that we see no official government policy at work in the continuing murder of journalists and other attacks on the press. But the general disinterest, apathy even, in solving and, just as important, bringing an end to media killings and the harassment of journalists have served to embolden those who seek to silence those in the profession of truth.

IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said: The IFJ condemns the murder of Bercasio and calls on the authorities to ensure the perpetrators are brought to justice. Amid the continued violence against journalists in the Philippines, it is vital the authorities take urgent steps to ensure journalists can operate freely and safely.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-17 05:08:03|Editor: huaxia

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TRIPOLI, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Fayez Serraj, the UN-backed prime minister of Libya, on Wednesday announced intention to step down in October.

"I call on the Dialogue Committee, which is the body charged with forming the new executive authority, to assume its historic responsibility to expedite the formation of a authority, so that we can all ensure a peaceful and smooth transition of power," Serraj said in a televised speech.

Serraj welcomed the recent UN-sponsored consultations between key Libyan stakeholders and expressed hope for more consensus and agreement.

Serraj's UN-backed government was formed in 2015 based on a UN-sponsored political agreement that aimed to end the political division in the country.

However, Libya remains politically divided amid insecurity and chaos, despite the signed agreement. Enditem
FARMINGDALE, NY  Lifelong artist Lorraine Dicarlo achieved a dream of hers when she officially opened her first business earlier in the week. The Vintage Canvas brings arts and crafts to Farmingdale in the form of instructional classes, products and a general workspace.

Dicarlo, 42, has been doing art since she was 7 years old. She took art courses for two years at Southampton College, majoring in art and minoring in child education. Dicarlo was once a preschool teacher. Now, at her store, she'll teach art to anyone willing to learn.

"It only took me 42 years to figure out how to do both things that I love," Dicarlo, who goes by Raine, told Patch. "I love children, and Ive wanted a studio my whole life. It took a long time to put it all together, and I figured it out. I just love working with children, and I love art. So what better way then to teach them? Its perfect."

Dicarlo's late mother played a large role in pushing her down the path towards her dreams, she said.

"She told me my whole life, Do your art, Do your art. I finally figured out how to do my art, and shes no longer with us," Dicarlo said.

Dicarlo is a lifelong Massapequa resident who loves Farmingdale. So when an opportunity to claim 459 Main St., formerly Jackie's Hair Salon, arose, she pounced.

"Massapequa is a very nice, family-knit community," she said. "But Farmingdale is a strong community. Being on Main Street and with all the family-oriented things they do on Main Street alone, I just had to be part of that. That, and the fact that Farmingdale seems to be the central point of Long Island in a sense."

The launch of The Vintage Canvas happens at a time when communities are still feeling the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. The store's grand opening was slated for April, but due to the lock down, it was postponed for more than five months. Both safety and finances are of "huge concern" to Dicarlo, she said. She's taking health measures very seriously to keep her staff of four - herself included - and clientele safe.

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The max capacity of all classes is currently limited, there are two washing stations, and bottles of hand sanitizer are placed throughout the room. As far as money, the anticipated enrollment in classes is "way down," and Dicarlo is fielding a lot of questions related to social distancing. Dicarlo said she'll host private lessons for small groups of kids at someone's home in order to ease concerns.

One of the washing stations in The Vintage Canvas (Michael DeSantis/Patch)





A wide array of classes are offered on-site: drawing, sketching, painting and cartooning at all different age levels. A toddler program focuses on art through music and stories. There are also courses in mixed media and cartooning. The Vintage Canvas also hosts ladies' nights, where participants make wood pallets and do step-by-step canvasses. The schedule can be found on The Vintage Canvas website, as well as its social media channels.

The staff will also run events, such as birthday parties for children, as well as bachelorette and bridal shower parties.

The store will also be open for those who wish to come in, grab a brush and canvas, sit down and paint. However, due to COVID-19, no walk-ins will be allowed when a class is going on. In the future, though, there will be designated areas for walk-ins and classes.

There won't be an art gallery section in the store, Dicarlo said, although after each "season" of classes, there will be an art show to feature the work of both children and adults.

The "gallery" tab of the business's website lists products such as canvasses, pallets, porch signs, clocks, wine bottles and mason jars. Anyone can head to the store to create an item for themselves, or they can commission the staff to make it for them for a slight extra fee. The estimated turnaround time on products is generally two to five days, but it can be done within 24 hours if needed, Dicarlo said.

Raine is looking to create a fun environment at her store.

"Were pretty laid back. Whats here is for everybody to utilize. Were here to have fun. Were taking all the precautions to help with the COVID situation."

The Vintage Canvas can be reached at 516-586-3200.

Photos

Lorraine Dicarlo, 42, recently celebrated the grand opening of her Farmingdale business, The Vintage Canvas. (Michael DeSantis/Patch)

Lorraine Dicarlo, 42, recently celebrated the grand opening of her Farmingdale business, The Vintage Canvas. (Michael DeSantis/Patch)

Lorraine Dicarlo, 42, recently celebrated the grand opening of her Farmingdale business, The Vintage Canvas. (Michael DeSantis/Patch)

Lorraine Dicarlo, 42, recently celebrated the grand opening of her Farmingdale business, The Vintage Canvas. (Michael DeSantis/Patch)

Lorraine Dicarlo, 42, recently celebrated the grand opening of her Farmingdale business, The Vintage Canvas. (Michael DeSantis/Patch)

Lorraine Dicarlo, 42, recently celebrated the grand opening of her Farmingdale business, The Vintage Canvas. (Michael DeSantis/Patch)

This article originally appeared on the Farmingdale Patch
BOSTON, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Egress, the leading provider of human layer data security solutions, today released their 2020 Outbound Email Data Breach Report, which highlights the true scale of data security risks related to email use. 93% of IT leaders surveyed said that their organisation had suffered data breaches through outbound email in the last 12 months. On average, the survey found, an email data breach happens approximately every 12 working hours.*

Rising outbound email volumes due to COVID-19-related remote working and the digitisation of manual processes are also contributing to escalating risk. 94% of respondents reported an increase in email traffic since the onset of COVID-19 and 70% believe that working remotely increases the risk of sensitive data being put at risk from outbound email data breaches.

The study, independently conducted by Arlington Research on behalf of Egress, interviewed 538 senior managers responsible for IT security in the UK and US across vertical sectors including financial services, healthcare, banking and legal.

Key insights from respondents include:

93% had experienced data breaches via outbound email in the past 12 months

Organisations reported at least an average of 180 incidents per year when sensitive data was put at risk, equating to approximately one every 12 working hours

The most common breach types were replying to spear-phishing emails (80%); emails sent to the wrong recipients (80%); incorrect file attachments (80%)

62% rely on people-led reporting to identify outbound email data breaches

94% of surveyed organisations have seen outbound email volume increase during COVID-19. 68% say they have seen increases of between 26 and 75%

70% believe remote working raises the risk of sensitive data being put at risk from outbound email data breaches

When asked to identify the root cause of their organisation's most serious breach incident in the past year, the most common factor was "an employee being tired or stressed." The second most cited factor was "remote working." In terms of the impact of the most serious breach incident, on an individual-level, employees received a formal warning in 46% of incidents, were fired in 27% and legal action was brought against them in 28%. At an organisational-level, 33% said it had caused financial damage and more than one-quarter said it had led to an investigation by a regulatory body.

Traditional email security tools are not solving this problem

The research also found that 16% of those surveyed had no technology in place to protect data shared by outbound email. Where technology was deployed, its adoption was patchy: 38% have Data Loss Prevention (DLP) tools in place, while 44% have message level encryption and 45% have password protection for sensitive documents. However, the study also found that, in one-third of the most serious breaches suffered, employees had not made use of the technology provided to prevent the breach.

Egress CEO Tony Pepper comments: "Unfortunately, legacy email security tools and the native controls within email environments, such as Outlook for Microsoft 365, are unable to mitigate the outbound email security risks that modern organisations face today. They rely on static rules or user-led decisions and are unable to learn from individual employees' behaviour patterns. This means they can't detect any abnormal changes that put data at risk  such as Outlook autocomplete suggesting the wrong recipient and a tired employee adding them to an email."

"This problem is only going to get worse with increased remote working and higher email volumes creating prime conditions for outbound email data breaches of a type that traditional DLP tools simply cannot handle. Instead, organisations need intelligent technologies, like machine learning, to create a contextual understanding of individual users that spots errors such as wrong recipients, incorrect file attachments or responses to phishing emails, and alerts the user before they make a mistake."

Organisations still cannot paint a full picture of the risks, relying on people-led reporting to identify email breaches, despite severe repercussions

When an outbound email data breach happens, IT leaders were most likely to find out about it from employees. 20% said they would be alerted by the email recipient, 18% felt another employee would report it, while 24% said the employee who sent the email would disclose their error. However, given the penalties that respondents said were in place for employees who cause a breach, it is not guaranteed that they will be keen to own up, especially if the incident is serious. 46% said that the employee who caused a breach was given a formal warning, while legal action was taken in 28% of cases. In 27% of serious breach cases, respondents said the employee responsible was fired.

Tony Pepper comments: "Relying on tired, stressed employees to notice a mistake and then report themselves or a colleague when a breach happens is unrealistic, especially given the repercussions they will face. With all the factors at play in people-led data breach reporting, we often find organisations are experiencing 10 times the number of incidents than they're aware of. It's imperative that we build a culture where workers are supported and protected against outbound email breach risk with technology that adapts to the pressures they face and stops them from making simple mistakes in the first place. As workers get used to more regular remote working and reliance on email continues to grow, organisations need to step up to safeguard both employees and data from rising breach risk."

About Egress

Our vision is for a connected world in which people communicate efficiently and securely. To achieve this, we provide human layer security to protect individual users and stop breaches before they happen. Our patented technologies are built using leading-edge contextual machine learning and powerful encryption that mitigate modern risks in ways that other solutions simply can't achieve.

Today, we provide intelligent email security and collaboration solutions that prevent accidental and intentional breaches, protect sensitive data, and equip CISOs and their teams with the detailed reporting required for compliance purposes.

Egress is headquartered in London, with regional offices in the UK, the US, Canada and the Netherlands.

Research Methodology

*Figures based on a working year of 254 days and working day of eight hours.

538 online interviews conducted in the USA and UK by independent research agency Arlington Research (271 USA, 267 UK). Interviews were conducted with Senior IT / IT Security / Information Security Leaders working in Legal, Financial Services and Healthcare between 7th  17th July 2020.

SOURCE Egress

Related Links

https://www.egress.com


A self-described 'country girl' will be celebrating her $20million lotto win with a meal at the local pub.

The woman from Drouin in Gippsland, Victoria, became a multimillionaire overnight after scoring a winning ticket in Oz Lotto's Tuesday night draw.

But the humble Australian said she has no plans to stop working despite her new wealth.

'I don't know what I'd do with myself if I retired! I'm a country girl through and through!' she laughed.

A self-confessed 'country girl' will be celebrating her $20million lotto win with a visit to the pub (stock image)

'I've been working for the past 30 years, and I don't think I could give it up that easily. I'm at work at the moment. I've got things to do!'

She said she plans to share the money with her family, as well as splashing out on a few luxury items including a new car.

She also revealed she was eager to celebrate once Victoria's regional restrictions lifted later tonight.

'I'm looking forward to a meal at the pub to celebrate,' she said.

The Gippsland winner held the only division one winning entry nationally in Oz Lotto draw 1387, drawn Tuesday 19 September 2020, and takes home a division one prize of $20 million.

As well as winning the coveted division one prize, her entry also scored division three 7 times, bolstering her total prize to $20,027,765.85.

The Gippsland winner held the only division one winning entry nationally in Oz Lotto draw 1387, drawn Tuesday 19 September 2020, and takes home a division one prize of $20 million (stock image)

She revealed her shock at receiving the life-changing news after playing the same numbers for the past 20 years.

'I marked the numbers with my birthday and things like that. I chose them so long ago now I don't know why I chose them,' she said.

'I play every week, and lately, I haven't had much luck. I'm always joking with the guy in the store that I never win anything.

'I guess I never won any smaller prizes because a big one was on its way! '

She revealed her shock at receiving the life-changing news after playing the same numbers for the past 20 years (stock image)

When asked how it felt to become an overnight multi-millionaire, the thrilled winner revealed it was just one of several life-changing moments she'd experienced.

'A few years ago a family member had a serious accident so I am very much aware of how your life can change in the blink of an eye,' she declared.

'This is another one of those life-changing moments but definitely a more exciting one. You really don't know what each day will bring.'
The signing of agreements between Israel and the Sunni Persian Gulf monarchies of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain on the White House South Lawn Tuesday was proclaimed by US President Donald Trump as the advent of peace in the Middle East without blood all over the sand, and universally hailed by the media as historic.

All of this inflated rhetoric is designed to conceal the reality that the sordid deals inked in Washington are only part of US efforts to solidify an anti-Iranian axis for a potentially world catastrophic war in the region.

The US-Israeli-Emirati-Bahraini signing ceremony was staged close to the anniversaries of two previous US-brokered peace deals: the September 17, 1978, Camp David accords signed by Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, and the Oslo Accords signed on the White House lawn by Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) leader Yassir Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on September 13, 1993.

President Donald J. Trump, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bahrain Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Foreign Affairs for the United Arab Emirates Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyanisigns sign the Abraham Accords Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020, on the South Lawn of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Tia Dufour)

The proximity of the anniversaries and Trumps absurd preening and posturing Tuesday as the architect of the so-called Abraham Accords and a new era of peace in the Middle East recall nothing so much as Marxs adage: the first time tragedy, the second time farce.

The 1978 deal initiated the process of normalization of relations between Israel and the Arab regimes, all of which assisted in the repression of the Palestinian movement and the annihilation of its leaders. With the 1993 accord, the PLO abandoned any pretense of a struggle for the liberation of Palestine, instead establishing the corrupt Palestinian Authority, whose principal purpose is policing the Palestinian population of the occupied territories in collaboration with Israels security forces.

The deals signed Tuesdaya treaty between Israel and the UAE and a declaration of intent between the Zionist state and Bahrain, which was dragged into the process at the last minute without any formal agreement negotiatedhave nothing whatsoever to do with peace.

In the first place, there has never been a shot fired in anger between the Gulf sheikdoms and Israel. Rather, the deals formalize what were already existing and barely concealed commercial, governmental and military ties between the venal and dictatorial Sunni Arab monarchies and Tel Aviv.

Among the most ludicrous features of Tuesdays ceremonies was the pretense that the Emirati and Bahraini foreign ministersSheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of the UAEs ruling royal family, and Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, former head of Bahrains viciously repressive security forcesrepresent the aspirations and interests of the Arab masses.

When Sadat carried out his historic betrayal at Camp David, he did so as the head of state of the most populous country in the Middle Eastnow numbering over 100 millionand as the representative of a regime founded by Gamal Abdel Nasser, the icon of Arab nationalism, which had been at war with Israel virtually continuously for a quarter of a century.

Nahyan represents an Emirati royal family that rules over a territory in which barely 11 percent of the population are citizens, with nearly 90 percent comprised of foreign migrant workers, most of them poorly paid South Asians who are brutally exploited under the shadow of dictatorial visa rules allowing for their summary expulsion.

As for Zayani, he speaks for Bahrains Sunni monarchy, which rules over a country in which 70 percent of the population consists of disenfranchised, poor and brutally repressed Shia Bahrainis, with opponents of the regime subjected to arbitrary detention, torture and death.

In carrying out their US-brokered deals with Israel, the Emirati and Bahraini monarchies dispensed with the threadbare fiction that the Arab bourgeois regimes are defenders of the rights of the Palestinians against Israeli occupation and apartheid rule. This fiction was codified in the so-called Arab Peace Initiative launched by Saudi Arabia in 2002, which made recognition of Israel dependent upon Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories, a just settlement of the Palestinian refugee problem and the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

While the Arab League had endorsed this initiative, when the Palestinians introduced a resolution condemning the UAE deal reached last month with Tel Aviv, the body voted it down.

If the House of Saud has not joined with its brother monarchs in the UAE and Bahrain in a peace pilgrimage to the Trump White House it is because of fear that such a naked renunciation of its own initiative and embrace of Israel could fatally undermine its claim to legitimacy, both internally and in the wider Muslin world. Nonetheless, there is no doubt that Riyadh gave its blessing to Bahrainwhich is heavily dependent upon Saudi supportfor its deal with Israel, and that the Saudi regime is itself collaborating closely with Tel Aviv, despite the absence of formal relations.

Palestinians demonstrated in the West Bank and Gaza Tuesday in a day of rage against the sham peace deals in Washington. Shawan Jabarin, the general director of Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq, said that the deals laid bare what has been clear to Palestinians for decades: Israels illegal acts of annexation and apartheid will not deter those in power from the pursuit of their own interests, to the detriment, if not damnation, of justice, accountability and human rights in Palestine.

For his part, Trump thuggishly bragged about cutting off US contributions to assistance programs for Palestinian refugees because they didnt say nice things about us, and suggested that the deals with the UAE and Bahrain would escalate pressure upon the Palestinians to capitulate.

Netanyahu, like Trump, aimed to use the White House ceremony to boost his domestic image under conditions in which he faces trial on charges of fraud, bribery and breach of trust and is confronting growing domestic opposition amid soaring COVID-19 infection rates and an economic crisis that has left 21 percent of the workforce unemployed. He kept the language of the deal with the UAE secret until the signing, fearing that its verbiage about foreswearing annexation of swathes of the occupied West Bank and supporting a so-called two-state solution, would alienate his right-wing base.

Netanyahu has insisted that annexation remains on the table. When he and Trump were asked about the issue at a press appearance shortly before the signing ceremony, the US president replied, We dont want to talk about that now.

The idea that the agreements signed on the White House lawn were a step toward peace in the Middle East is belied by the continuing war threats by the US-led anti-Iranian axis in the region.

Teheran warned Washington Tuesday against making a strategic mistake after Trump threatened Iran over unsubstantiated reports that it was preparing to exact revenge for the US drone assassination in January of Iranian general and senior leader Qassem Suleimani by assassinating the US ambassador to South Africa. South African authorities dismissed the reports as baseless.

Trump had threatened Monday that any Iranian attack would be met with retaliation 1,000 times greater in magnitude.

The Iranian navy reported last week that it had driven off US warplanes that had attempted to approach an area where Iranian military exercises were being conducted in the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

Military tensions have continued to escalate since Trump abrogated the Iranian nuclear accord with the worlds major powers in 2018, imposing unilateral sanctions against the Iranian population that are tantamount to a state of war.

Aerial bombings in the US-backed and Saudi-led war in Yemen continue to claim lives, with nearly 200,000 killed in the past five years and some 10 million people brought to the brink of starvation. One of the byproducts of the peace deals is the anticipated sale to the UAE, one of the participants in the near-genocidal war against Yemen, of F-35 fighter jets and other advanced weaponry.

Meanwhile, Israel is continuing its own bombing raids against what it claims are Iranian-connected targets in Syria, while threatening to launch a new war against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The chief impediment to peace in the Middle East is the protracted drive by US imperialism, under Democratic and Republican administrations alike, to assert its hegemony over the oil-rich region. Washingtons escalating campaign for regime change in Iran is aimed at denying the countrys resources and strategic position to China in preparation for great power conflicti.e., a third world war.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 14:27:03|Editor: huaxia

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CANBERRA, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- The leader of Australia's Opposition has called for the nation's air force to be deployed to bring home thousands of Australians stranded overseas.

Anthony Albanese, the leader of the Labor Party, said on Tuesday that the Royal Australian Air Force's fleet of VIP jets should be dispatched to bring Australians home "100 at a time".

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) earlier in September revealed that about 23,000 Australian citizens were stranded overseas after a government cap on international arrivals caused a reduce in flights to the country.

Albanese told reporters that the fleet of VIP jets -- which are usually reserved for the PM, foreign dignitaries and the Governor-General -- was "sitting idle" with "nothing to stop" them from being used.

"There are two large aircraft, but there are other smaller aircraft available as well," he said.

"It is simply unacceptable that the Prime Minister continues to say that there's nothing he can do about it and he hopes to have these families home by Christmas.

"Well, I think those who are desperate to get home should be brought home in September."

Labor's Home Affairs spokesperson, Kristina Keneally, recently called for the cap on international arrivals to be lifted from the current limit of 4000 per week.

In response, Peter Dutton, the Minister for Home Affairs, said that the number of people who could arrive in Australia per week was dependent on how many arrivals states could take into hotel quarantine. Enditem
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Simon & Schuster is said to have received a subpoena for documents amid reports that the Department of Justice is weighing potential criminal charges against President Trumps former national security adviser John Bolton over his bestselling memoir The Room Where It Happened, which S&S published in June.

S&S officials would neither confirm or deny to PW the receipt of a subpoena, and declined to comment on reports in numerous outlets suggesting that the DoJ has convened a grand jury to consider charging Bolton for illegally divulging classified or otherwise privileged information in the book.

The potential criminal charges represent a major escalation of the Trump administrations legal battle against Bolton. Although federal judge Royce Lamberth judge refused to block publication of the book in June, a civil case against Bolton continues, in which the government is looking to seize Boltons earnings from the bookincluding his future royalties and his reported $2 million advance.

In a statement, Boltons attorney, Charles Cooper, insisted his client did not break the law. Ambassador Bolton emphatically rejects any claim that he acted improperly, let alone criminally, in connection with the publication of his book and he will cooperate fully, as he has throughout, with any official inquiry into his conduct, Cooper said.

The news of potential criminal action against Bolton comes in a highly charged political environmentPresident Trump has repeatedly insisted that Bolton has broken the law, and in June tweeted that Bolton should be jailed. And, notably, news of the potential charges came on the very same day that veteran Washington Post reporter Bob Woodwards damning portrait of Trump, Rage, was officially published by S&S.

The news also comes at an interesting point in the DoJs civil case against Bolton, where Lamberth is now poised to rule on the DoJs bid for Summary Judgment in the case. Bolton, however, has asked the court to dismiss the case against him and, failing that, has asked the court to order discovery in the case, including on issues that would be central to any jury considering criminal chargeswhether Boltons memoir in fact contains information that was properly classified or otherwise restricted at the time of publication.

Bolton contends that after a months-long review process, involving many drafts, Ellen Knight, the NSCs senior director for Records, Access, and Information Security Management verbally affirmed that Boltons manuscript was cleared of any classified material. At that point, Bolton alleges, political appointees at the White House undertook a second bad faith review in an effort to suppress the book.

In his June 20 decision, Lamberth denied the DOJ's emergency application to block publication, but rebuked Bolton for opting out of the review process, concluding that his book likely jeopardized national security by disclosing classified information in violation of his nondisclosure agreement obligations."

In filings last week, Bolton again insisted that the book does not contain any classified material, and claimed that the evidence gathered in discovery would show that any contractual duties" relating to the pre-publication review of his book "were excused and released because the unprecedented second pre-publication review of the bookwas conducted unfairly and in bad faith, constituting a prior material breach by the Government.

In its reply last week, DoJ attorneys countered that whether the government was acting in bad faith or not doesnt matter. "Had [Bolton] believed that the Government was acting inappropriately, he had a remedy: to file suit challenging that conduct without releasing his manuscript to the world, the DoJ filing states. But he opted to engage in self-help insteadexactly the type of behavior the pre-publication requirement is designed to prevent.
Barack Obama has released a new lighthearted video encouraging young people to make a plan to vote in Novembers presidential election in which he addresses concerns over mail-in voting.

During the video, published by ATTN on Wednesday, Mr Obama makes an attempt to appeal to young voters with references to TikTok, Donald Glover, and Finstas.

He says that in return for the skills he has learnt from young people on how to quarantine successfully", he wants to assist them in making a plan for voting in Novembers election.

The former president goes on to outline different voting options and jokes about mail-in voting. I know that mail-in voting is an area where a lot of young people may have questions, he says.

Were not talking email were not talking gmail were talking throw back vintage O-G mail," he jests.

He encourages anyone thinking about voting by mail to register and apply for their ballot straight away and vote as early as you possibly can," seemingly makes a nod towards the political conflict over mail-in voting that has erupted since the pandemic began.

President Donald Trump has been vocal in his criticism of widespread mail in voting, suggesting it would lead to voter fraud.

Documented cases of mail-ballot fraud are extremely rare and experts have said successful mail-in fraud by foreign actors by mailing out fake ballots would be near impossible, Reuters reported.

The president has continually pushed back against Democrats attempts to allocate funding to ensure an effective mail-in system and has also been accused of trying to degrade the postal service ahead of the November elections in order to limit mail-in voting,

Mr Obama goes on to say: "a lot of people out there trying to confuse and mislead you about this election."

He then urges young people not to fall victim to those trying to make them cynical of the election process and trying to get you to believe that your vote doesn't matter.

Do not let them do that, he says. Our democracy is a precious thing, and it's up to all of us to protect it."
Peter Parker is a little far from queens. Actor Tom Holland, known for portraying Marvel character Spider-Man, took on a very different role for the Netflix original film, The Devil All the Time. As a result, fans shared their love for his talent, his new accent, and even his hair.

Tom Holland in The Devil All the Time | Glen Wilson/Netflix

Netflix released their original movie, The Devil All the Time

After months of anticipation, Netflix released its mystery-thriller, The Devil All the Time, on Sept. 16. This production stars a number of iconic and beloved actors, including The Batmans Robert Pattinson, It actor Bill Skarsgard, and Captain America: The First Avenger actor Sebastian Stan.

It also stars the Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home actor, Tom Holland, who is known for portraying Peter Parker in the MCU.

He portrayed one of the main characters in this film, Arvin Russell, who is determined to protect his loved ones at all costs. That proves to be a bit of a challenge in a town full of crooks, especially with a war-obsessed father that the character looks up to.

RELATED: What Has Tom Holland Been in Besides Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home?

Fans shared their love for Tom Holland in the Netflix original movie

Once the movie dropped on Netflix, fans took to social media, sharing their thoughts on the production. Tom Holland became a top trending topic on Twitter, with fans talking about everything from his acting to his accent to his new hairstyle.

Tom Hollands performance in this film is phenomenal. This is something weve never seen him do before and he is fantastic. Every time his character Arvin comes onto the screen, you are completely drawn to him. The rest of the cast are brilliant as well, there is no downfall, but personally, I think Tom Holland carried this film, one fan on Rotten Tomatoes wrote of the film.

This movie is phenomenal. It has set the bar high for crime movies. Tom Holland was able to express a wide range of emotions and very well, too. I think he deserves an Oscar for his incredible performance, another review said.

Tom Holland shared his thoughts on the movie

This is, in fact, quite a huge leap from Tom Hollands recent projects, (Spies in Disguise, where he starred alongside Will Smith and Disney and Pixars Onward.) As a result, he took to Instagram, sharing a few photos of him while on set.

Working with this guy was an absolute pleasure, Tom Holland wrote as the caption, sharing pictures with the director. The Devil All The Time was a huge step for me to take and I cant imagine anyone better to do it with.

The Devil All The Time is now available for streaming on Netflix. To learn more about Tom Hollands latest projects, including those with Marvel, visit his social media accounts.

RELATED: Will Tom Holland Ever Play Spider-Man Again? Heres What We Know About the Character Leaving the MCU
LONDON  Grenke, a German financial services company, is under investigation after a report by a short-selling investor research company alleged it of market manipulation, money laundering and fraud.

The 64-page report, which Grenke strongly rejects, was published by Fraser Perring of Viceroy Research. Shares of Grenke, which is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, were down 29% at one point on Tuesday and saw heavy falls again on Wednesday.

Grenke argues that one of the main accusations in the report is false.

"A central accusation is that a substantial portion of the 1,078 million euros in cash and cash equivalents reported in the 2020 half-year financial report does not exist," Grenke said in a statement. "This is demonstrably false."

The company said 849 million euros was held in Deutsche Bundesbank accounts on June 30. "As of today, the credit balance at the Bundesbank amounts to 761 million euros," Grenke said. A spokesperson for the German central bank declined to comment when contacted by CNBC.

Grenke said it is currently preparing a detailed reply to the accusations and that it reserves the right to take legal action.

BaFin, the German financial regulator, told CNBC it was looking into the allegations of market abuse. The regulator said its probe will look to establish whether Grenke tried to manipulate markets by, for example, giving false information regarding financial statements.

It will also look to determine whether there was potential market manipulation by third parties who may have initiated a short attack.

BaFin said it was also reviewing possible insider trading at Grenke before Viceroy's report was published online.

Founded by Wolfgang Grenke in 1978, Grenke employs 1,700 employees across 32 locations worldwide. The company, headquartered in the spa town of Baden-Baden in southwestern Germany's Black Forest, mainly provides banking services to small and medium-sized firms.

Viceroy Research raised the alarm on German electronic-transfer company Wirecard in 2016 with the now famous "Zatarra Report."

Founded in 2016, Viceroy Research rose to fame in 2017 after it published a report on accounting irregularities at South African retail giant Steinhoff that led to a share collapse.

In November 2018, South Africa's central bank governor claimed that Viceroy Research had profited "unethically" from its reports, according to Bloomberg. The company's "About" section on its website doesn't give much away, describing the firm as "a group of individuals that see the world differently."
She said the new camp is better than its predecessor, known as Moria, in part because few people have moved in yet. But the toilets, she said, were already dirty. And because there was no running water  Greek officials say they are trying to get it online within days  she hadnt showered since the fire.
Islamabad  Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has called for rapists and pedophiles to be publicly hanged or chemically or physically castrated for their crimes after a gang-rape case provoked a nationwide outcry.

Last week a woman was raped by two men after she ran out of gas and her car broke down on a highway outside of Lahore. The woman called a helpline and was waiting for the police to arrive when the men raped her and robbed her with her two children present, officials said.

Members of civil society groups take part in a rally to condemn the incident of rape on a deserted highway, in Karachi, Pakistan, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2020. / Credit: Fareed Khan / AP

Following the incident, Lahore police chief Umar Sheikh faced an angry backlash and calls for his resignation after suggesting the rape was partially the victim's fault. He said that the victim should have been better prepared for her journey by ensuring her fuel tank was full and travelling along a busier road to her destination.

Sheikh has since apologized for his remarks but has garnered more criticism for not appearing in front of the Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights after he was directed to do so.

The case has seen an outpouring of anger across the country and has brought sexual violence against women into the national spotlight.

A stunned nation took to the streets in countrywide protests, with those participating holding placards calling for the hanging of rapists. Demonstrators also demanded reforms in law enforcement agencies and the judicial systems handling of such cases.

In a television interview on Monday, the prime minister said that he had discussed punishment options with his cabinet for such cases.

"I think he (the culprit) should be hanged in a public square. Rapists and child molesters should undergo public hanging. You do not know the real statistics as well, because it's under-reported. People do not report it as they are scared or ashamed, women are ashamed, no one wants to speak."

Khan acknowledged that public hanging may not be internationally acceptable and could affect Pakistan's status in trade relations with the European Union. He suggested instead that sex offenders "undergo chemical castration, or surgery be performed so they cannot do anything in future."

Story continues

The main culprit in the case has so far evaded arrest however three of his associates have been detained according to police officials. The investigation is ongoing.

Khan has directed his cabinet to initiate procedures to introduce new legislation in regard to rape and child sexual abuse. On the floor of the National Assembly today, Khan said that his cabinet is working on introducing new measures so that sex offenders realize that there will be serious consequences

For their crimes.

He said that his government is looking into introducing a database and policy where all sex criminals will be registered and tracked. He said that the main suspect in the motorway rape case has been identified by law enforcement as a repeat offender who has been accused of gang rape previously.

Khan acknowledged that rape convictions are not easy to obtain as the evidence required by law is very complex and witnesses or victims are often reluctant to testify in court. He said his cabinet is looking into the possibility of the victims not being required to face their attackers.

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Tribert Rujugiro Ayabatwa was recently named by the Africa Report as one of the top 10 East African business leaders.

TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / September 16, 2020 / Tribert Rujugiro Ayabatwa is the founder and controlling shareholder of the Pan African Tobacco Group, which has become Africa's largest indigenous manufacturer of tobacco products. Last year, the company celebrated its 40th anniversary.

As a business leader, Ayabatwa is one of the few big Rwandan private-sector leaders to establish a strong presence outside of his home country, with Pan African Tobacco Group being active in Angola, Nigeria, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Being listed as one of the top 10 East African business leaders, Tribert Rujugiro Ayabatwa is in good company with East Africa's corporate citizens that are poised to take the region to greater heights.

The 10 businessmen and women listed are leading in such sectors as investment, financing, banking, manufacturing, logistics, chemicals, property development, power generation, breweries, and hotels.

East Africa is no exception to the fact that the private sector is the engine of economic development. Successful businesses drive growth, create jobs and pay the taxes that finance services and investment. In dynamic economies, the private sector generates over 90% of jobs, funds over 60% of investments, and provides more than 80% of government revenues.

The 10 top business leaders in East Africa indicate that the region's private sector is finally taking off.

"I am honored to be recognized as one of East African businessmen and women providing job opportunities and growth for our region. We need to expand our ranks to enable our region to achieve greater prosperity," shares Tribert Rujugiro Ayabatwa.

To learn more about Tribert Rujugiro Ayabatwa, visit https://www.ptg-hld.com/our-founder.

About Tribert Rujugiro Ayabatwa

Tribert Rujugiro Ayabatwa is a successful entrepreneur, business leader, and philanthropist from Rwanda. Ayabatwa is the founder and controlling shareholder of the Pan African Tobacco Group, Africa's largest indigenous manufacturer of tobacco products. The company, which celebrated its 40th year of operations last year, manufactures cigarettes in nine African countries including Nigeria, Angola, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Uganda, and the United Arab Emirates. Tribert Rujugiro Ayabatwa is also one of Africa's leading philanthropists. He has helped communities uplift themselves in fields such as education, food security, afforestation, and water-access. Through his non-profit foundation, Ayababwa also strives to help young people to gain the practical engineering experience required to enter the job market in Africa.

CONTACT:

David Himbara

PanAfrican Tobacco Group

info@ptg-hld.com

SOURCE: Tribert Rujugiro Ayabatwa

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/606340/Tribert-Rujugiro-Ayabatwa-Named-Among-the-Top-10-East-African-Business-Leaders
Dr. Redfield, appearing Wednesday at a Senate hearing, said he was deeply saddened by Mr. Caputos attacks on C.D.C. scientists, calling them false and offensive. The C.D.C. is made up of thousands of dedicated men and women, highly competent, he said. It is the premier public health agency in the world.

Mr. Caputo, in his Facebook video, also said his mental health was failing, he was under siege by the media and he might end up being killed because of his government role. He defended Dr. Alexander as a genius, saying the public criticism of his aides actions had only served to solidify his role at the health department.

They will not move me, he said. Im not going anywhere. You know why? Because the president of the United States supports me. And what Im doing is good for you and good for your family.

Kayleigh McEnany, the White House press secretary, dodged a reporters question Wednesday about whether the administration would welcome Mr. Caputo back after his leave ends about two weeks after the November election. Im not going to weigh into any personnel matters, she said.

Several high-ranking Democrats this week called for Mr. Caputos firing, including Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the ranking Democrat on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, who leads a subcommittee that controls funding of health programs.

Ryan Murphy, a communications official at the Health and Human Services Department, will fill in for Mr. Caputo, the agency said. Mr. Murphy held the position before the White House dispatched Mr. Caputo to the department in an effort to more carefully monitor and shape what its officials told the media.

Mr. Caputos influence was underscored on Wednesday by Dr. Redfield, who told a Senate appropriations subcommittee that the White House Office of Management and Budget and the health department had ordered him to transfer $300 million from his agencys budget to the department. Of that, $250 million was to be spent on a public-relations campaign directed by Mr. Caputo, a senior health department official said.
Young Child Found Dead After Driver Reports Seeing a Doll on Interstate

The body of a child was found along an interstate in Arkansas after a driver reported seeing a doll, officials said.

Arkansas State Police responded to a welfare check request at around 9 a.m. on Tuesday on Interstate 30 in Benton, authorities told TVH-11.

The driver reportedly said they saw what might have been a baby doll.

Officials discovered the young childs body, saying the child is around 2 years old. The identity of the child was not disclosed.

The Arkansas State Police said they are now investigating the matter.

No arrests or other details were released about the incident.

Missing Children

There were 424,066 missing children reported in the FBIs National Crime Information Center in 2018, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). Under federal law, when a child is reported missing to law enforcement they must be entered into the database. In 2017, there were 464,324 entries.

This number represents reports of missing children. That means if a child runs away multiple times in a year, each instance would be entered into NCIC separately and counted in the yearly total. Likewise, if an entry is withdrawn and amended or updated, that would also be reflected in the total, the center notes on its website.

Unfortunately, since many children are never reported missing, there is no reliable way to determine the total number of children who are actually missing in the U.S., NCMEC (National Center for Missing & Exploited Children) added.
Candidates for the open 73rd District state House seat, from left to right: Theodore Gerrard, U.S. Taxpayers Party; Republican Bryan Posthumus; and Democrat Bill Saxton.

GRAND RAPIDS, MI  Three candidates are running for Kent Countys 73rd District state House seat. The candidates vying for the two-year seat are: Theodore Gerrard, an electrician from Plainfield Township whos running with the U.S. Taxpayers Party; Republican Bryan Posthumus, a farmer from Oakfield Township; and Democrat Bill Saxton, a software engineer from East Grand Rapids. The Republican-leaning 73rd District includes the city of East Grand Rapids and the townships of Cannon, Courtland, Nelson, Oakfield, Plainfield, Spencer and Grand Rapids Charter Township. The seat is held by state Rep. Lynn Afendoulis, R-Grand Rapids Township. She opted against seeking another term in office and instead ran in the Republican primary campaign to replace U.S. Rep. Justin Amash in Congress. She was defeated by Republican candidate Peter Meijer. Heres a look at the three candidates: Gerrard, 58, of Plainfield Township, is the owner of Wilderness Electric Inc. He says he earned an associate degree in industrial mechanics from Grand Rapids Junior College and a bachelors degree in vocational education from Southern Illinois University.

Posthumus, 35, of Oakfield Township, is the co-owner of West Michigan Hop Yards. He says he earned a bachelors degree from Michigan State University in agribusiness management.

Saxton, 42, of East Grand Rapids, is a small business owner and software engineer. He says he graduated from Boston University with a bachelors degree in computer systems engineering. MLive Media Group partnered with the League of Women Voters of Michigan to provide candidate information for readers. Each candidate was asked to outline their stances on a variety of public policy issues. Information on all state and federal races and many of Michigans county and local races is available at Vote411.org, an online voter guide created by the League of Women Voters. 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.

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?

Gerrard:

Monies should be attached to the student and available for use in any school. Monies should also be available to Home School families for educational supplies and special programs. Abolish the US Dept. of Ed. returning control to the state and local school boards. Encourage 50 and up workers to transition into the classroom part time and full time. Increase programs where business and community leaders work along side neighbor hood schools and mentor students. Encourage opportunities for advanced students to work with struggling students through tutoring programs. Increased HS Vocational Training.

Posthumus:

Education is one of the most important issues facing our state, and we have a long way to go to ensure our kids are educated for 21st century jobs. To move in that direction, I will work toward the following: 1. Ensure a higher proportion of funding is directed to the classroom instead of tied up in administration and overhead. 2. Empower parents instead of zip codes to determine whats best for their child. 3. Expand career tech educational opportunities.In doing this, we will move our state forward and ensure our children are prepared for the jobs of tomorrow.

Saxton:

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many of our states school districts will soon be facing budget shortfalls more severe than those caused by the Great Recession. My first priority when creating our budget will be to preserve our public education funding so that we dont balance the budget on our childrens future once again. I will also push for the legislature to use its lobbying power to pursue additional funding from the federal government. A few policies I would support include incentives for new teachers to enter (or reenter) the field and two free years of tuition at our states community colleges.

What policies do you support to increase jobs and help Michigan residents improve their economic positions, in general and given the pandemic?

Gerrard:

Continue to encourage medical excellence with Collage / Hospital partnerships. Reducing regulation while holding those that cause harm accountable. Continue collage based vocational programs. Ensure those returning to society have employment opportunities.

Posthumus:

While the government cant create jobs, it can create an environment that fosters that creation by job providers. I will work to enact policies that gets the government out of the way, reduces the regulatory burden facing job providers, and cuts through the bureaucracy standing in the way of economic and job growth.

Saxton:

As we work to reinvest and rebuild post-COVID-19, I will fight to give Michigan companies an advantage in bidding on state contracts. I also intend to pass provisions to create gender and racial pay equity, affordable childcare, and paid sick leave. Finally, I will use my experience as a small-business owner to make sure we arent getting in the way of industrious Michiganders who want to lead the way toward a more prosperous future for our state. The COVID-19 pandemic reminded everyone of the value of working people, and we must enshrine that value in law.

What state policies do you support regarding Michigan elections, voting and campaign funding? Do you support mailing ballots to all eligible voters?

Gerrard:

NO to blanket vote by mail. You can only donate to a candidate you can vote for. Remove party affiliation from the ballot.

Posthumus:

Candidate did not respond to this question.

Saxton:

My first priority will be to protect the gains that voters achieved in 2018 with proposals 2 and 3. The 2018 lame-duck governments threats and meddling in popular ballot measures set a dangerous precedent of state overreach, and I will oppose any such action during my term. Further, I would pursue greater transparency in government by requiring our state elected officials to make personal financial disclosures and comply with the Freedom of Information Act. Voters deserve a full picture of who their potential leaders are and what they have done in office. I do support mailing ballots to all eligible voters.

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?

Gerrard:

Accountability for those that cause harm financial reconciliation and possible prison time. Government officials are held accountable when they approve actions that result in harm. Energy efficiency is always a good idea. Utilities should be required to pay for green energy from any reliable source.

Posthumus:

As a conservative and an outdoorsman, conservation is important to me, and I believe we have a responsibility to be good stewards of our environment. I will protect and preserve our wildlife, lakes, and rivers for responsible recreation today and for future generations. Further, I will work with the legislature to ensure local communities have the clean drinking water that all residents deserve.

Saxton:

Polluter-pay laws would require polluters to take all reasonable measures to clean up harmful substances like PFAS they have released into communities like the 73rd districts own Plainfield Township. I also support the review of cumulative air pollution impacts to prevent certain communities, often composed of marginalized people, from becoming toxic hotspots. I believe that we must view all new environmental action with climate change in mind, pursuing energy efficiency and renewable energy wherever possible so that our next generation of Michiganders can benefit from our unique natural advantages.

How would you address the racial, economic, health, education, etc. inequities, including Michigans 20% of children and 17% of seniors living in poverty?

Gerrard:

Equal justice under the law starts at the top when community / political leaders are NOT held accountable to the same standards as the citizens unrest is the result.

Posthumus:

The first and most important step we need to take is to get Michigan back to work. I am the only candidate with the business experience to do just that. Second, we need to increase educational opportunities for children by expanding career tech education initiatives, as well as remove the arbitrary requirement that zipcodes determine our childrens future.

Saxton:

I believe we must reinvest in our people to create a brighter future for our state, and part of that investment plan includes eliminating structural inequalities in health outcomes, educational attainment, and economic opportunity. I will fight to expand, not limit, access to the Healthy Michigan plan. I will seek a more equitable funding model for our public schools as well as accessible higher learning programs like community college and skills-training. I will prioritize investment in small businesses to level the playing field. The voices of marginalized people will inform my leadership as state representative.

Do you believe that Michigan has a gun violence problem? If so, what measures would you support to alleviate this problem?

Gerrard:

Violence in general is most often the result of anger, hatred, or lack of respect (to many underlying causes to list). A gun is just an effective tool for the execution of such violence. We should encourage training in proper use of firearms, firearms safety, and understanding the destructive impact a built has upon targets in general and specifically the human body.

Posthumus:

I am a strong supporter of our 2nd Amendment rights, and I believe our constitution meant what it said in the words shall not be infringed.

Saxton:

Yes, Michigan has a gun violence problem. The federal government has abdicated its duty to protect its citizens from gun violence, and I want to see our state take action on the common-sense gun reform that a majority of people support. Rep. Wittenbergs red-flag law, for example, would give judges the power to restrict firearm access for citizens who have proven themselves to be a likely danger to themselves or others. I would also strengthen smart regulations like mandatory background checks for all gun purchases and oppose the relaxation of regulations like no-carry zones and concealed-carry licenses.

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First Third-Party Sponsored Mortgage Bond Securitization to Build on Blockchain

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / September 15, 2020 / Saluda Grade Asset Management ("SGAM"), a private alternative real estate investment firm, is pleased to announce it has sponsored a $308 million unrated securitization backed by home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) originated and serviced by Figure Technologies. The transaction, GRADE 2020-FIG1, closed on Aug. 31, and is the largest securitization of HELOCs since the 2008 housing collapse.

As a Saluda Grade Ventures ("SGV") portfolio company, Figure has worked closely with Saluda Grade Advisory to lower its cost of capital and gain access to scalable institutional capital partners. SGV is also invested in Figure's proprietary blockchain platform, Provenance.io, that provides blockchain-powered efficiencies to asset originators and financial services counterparties.

Saluda Grade sees home equity as one of the largest opportunities in today's domestic mortgage market. Nearly $7T of American home equity remains trapped because of strict lending regulations and a lack of convenient borrowing options for the American homeowner. Aiming to solve this, Figure's HELOC product delivers home equity liquidity through a seamless digital underwriting process, and a very fast turnaround for up to $150,000 of funding.

"Saluda Grade Asset Management has now matured to the point where we are able to help support our portfolio companies like Figure through securitization issuance and create more exposure and liquidity in their origination via our GRADE platform," said Ryan Craft, CEO of Saluda Grade. "Figure is one of the most innovative fintech lenders in the market, and we deeply believe in Mike Cagney's mission of disrupting the asset-backed capital markets with blockchain and Provenance. We are honored to be part of their amazing growth story."

The Saluda Grade Opportunities Fund seeks to benefit from opportunities created via the Saluda Grade ecosystem that focuses on delivering alternative lending to the institutional real estate debt investor community. By providing flexible capital in unique formats to their portfolio companies, Saluda Grade has created an accreditive model to fuel growth, while seeking to give debt investors an above-market return in a sector that Saluda Grade specializes in.

About Saluda Grade:

Founded in 2019, Saluda Grade is a boutique real estate advisory and asset management firm focused on the alternative "non-bank" lending sector. Saluda Grade Advisory advises small to mid-sized lenders seeking institutional capital markets expertise and delivering institutional capital to private lenders. Saluda Grade Ventures, the firm's equity investment arm, currently manages two private funds. Saluda Grade Asset Management manages debt funds investing in transitional mortgage loans and distressed securitized product assets.

With offices in New York and San Francisco, the company is driven by a core mission to identify alternative lending sectors needing institutional capital to fuel growth. Its management team has more than 85 years of combined experience in the mortgage and securitized credit space. The firm has deep relationships with both private lenders and capital providers that allow Saluda Grade to bring attractive assets to institutional investors.

Media Contact Information

Ashleigh Carone

ashleigh.carone@saludagrade.com

SOURCE: Saluda Grade

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/606263/Saluda-Grade-Asset-Management-Issues-308-Million-HELOC-Securitization




Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh addressed parliament on Tuesday. Singh bragged of how righteous and brave Indian troops were, while emphasizing the importance of peacefully resolving the border crisis to China-India ties. The latter part was the keynote of his speech.

Indian military's moves on border areas have eased these days, which coincided with Singh's address. This is the result of strong pressure from the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA).

The PLA has been increasing its deployment in China-India border areas and taking resolute actions, which have formed an overwhelming momentum to annihilate the Indian troops on site once an armed clash breaks out. It has made the Indian army truly feel that engaging in a military confrontation with China is a gamble they simply cannot afford.

There are different forces in India. Some ultra-nationalist ones stubbornly refuse the easy way, and stick to the hard way. When China engages in diplomatic negotiations with India, it must also use the only language those forces could understand - cooperation will last long when it is achieved through struggles.

China should continue to strive for a peaceful settlement of China-India border disputes, but must keep its army prepared. Without strong military pressure, India won't behave on border issues.

The author is editor-in-chief of the Global Times.


WALTHAM, Mass., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Humatics, the leader in microlocation technology, has secured $30 million in Series B funding to scale its submillimeter Milo Microlocation System and increase its footprint in the transit industry with its proprietary Rail Navigation System, among other investments, company leadership announced today.

Blackhorn Ventures led the funding round, with Tenfore Holdings, Fontinalis Partners, Airbus Ventures, Lockheed Martin Ventures, and Presidio Ventures following suit. The $30 million infusion grows the company's funding by a third, bringing its total raised to over $80 million.

"This visionary $30 million investment will help bring Humatics microlocation technology to scale across the globe," said David Mindell, CEO of Humatics. "Microlocation technology is useful especially now, as we try to keep each other safe by providing space and keeping people and goods moving. We are grateful to Blackhorn and our other investors for sharing that vision."

"We're excited to lead the Series B round and invest in the Humatics team," said Trevor Zimmerman, managing partner of Blackhorn Ventures. "Humatics' focus on developing location and navigation technology for the transit space and millimeter scale precise positioning technology for manufacturing, logistics, construction and medical unlocks unprecedented collaboration between humans, machines and infrastructure. We look forward to working with the Humatics team to leverage the tremendous success they've had with their Rail Navigation System and Microlocation System."

Humatics proprietary Milo Microlocation System has broad uses across the manufacturing, logistics, industrial equipment, healthcare and construction spaces, helping to identify with millimeter precision where objects are in relation to each other, facilitating seamless collaboration between people, machines, robots and infrastructure. In manufacturing, the technology improves the speed and accuracy of autonomous lineside delivery, making it possible for lineside workers to take on other high-value tasks, and to facilitate tool endpoint tracking for faster, and better-quality assembly procedures. For other markets such as healthcare, construction, and security, Humatics envisions this technology fundamentally transforming how we conduct surgeries, manage secure spaces and utilize construction tools to make sure everything goes according to plan.

In transportation, Humatics Rail Navigation System improves transit vehicle navigation and positioning which helps trains run closer together, speeding up throughput and improving safety in some of the nation's busiest urban environments. These upgrades are proving critical as transit systems recover from Covid-19 slowdowns.

Humatics recently completed a successful pilot project to install its ultra-wideband technology on 5.5 miles of track in New York City's subway system. The pilot showcased the technology's durability, ease of installation, and potential to speed train throughput in one of the busiest transportation networks on the globe. For more information on Humatics' work on the MTA UWB Pilot, see here .

With this new funding, Humatics will also expand its talent pool. The company hired former Cisco executive Shawn Henry as SVP of Product and Engineering at the end of 2019 and he was recently promoted to President and Chief Operating Officer. In June of 2020, the company brought on Joffrey Lauthier as Director of Sales, Rail and Transit at Humatics to lead a dedicated New York team.

The company also aims to expand its transportation footprint beyond New York City-- helping large- and mid-market transportation systems across the United States and globally upgrade their signaling systems for quicker throughput, improved environmental durability, and reduced maintenance times.

Leaders from across the industry expressed their support for this news and for Humatics technology:

"Humatics has been Siemens Mobility's valuable and reliable partner for the past two years. Humatics' team has an unmatched knowledge of the UWB technology and its possible applications in rail transportation," said a spokesperson at Siemens Mobility.

"New technologies are needed to transform our out-dated infrastructure, not simply replace it in kind. Innovations in how we conceptualize, build, and manage infrastructure across multiple sectors to reduce costs, enhance benefits and improve safety are being made possible by Humatics' field-proven microlocation products," said Jeffrey Parker, infrastructure development investor and advisor.

"With its new mm-wave chip, Humatics has invented a novel location technology with unmatched precision and size. It is uniquely positioned to provide inexpensive, ubiquitous location as a core component of the internet of everything. It's a pleasure to be part of this journey with Humatics and see customers' excitement over this technology," said Thomas Lee, Professor of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University.

"Humatics new microlocation chip represents a breakthrough in precise, inexpensive location. It is a core technology that will generate valuable new products for years to come, in manufacturing, robotics, medical, aerospace, and more," said Ray Stata, co-founder and chairman at Analog Devices.

A video explaining how the Milo Microlocation technology works can be found here .

About Humatics

Recognized as the inventor and leader in industrial ultra-wideband, Humatics has built the first microlocation system for the industrial world that fuses proprietary industrial-grade UWB, sensors, and data, delivering best-in-class range and precision and enabling transit systems to navigate safely and reliably. Our breakthrough microlocation products include the Humatics Rail Navigation System, enabling transit systems to improve their train navigation capabilities, and the first-ever microlocation-on-a-chip technology for mm-scale tracking in industries such as manufacturing, medical, and industrial application. Customers use Humatics' systems to solve mission-critical localization and navigation challenges in harsh environments where other technologies fall short.

Founded by world leaders in AI-assisted piloting, autonomous navigation, and high-precision radar, Humatics is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts with an office in Huntsville, Alabama. Humatics is the underlying technology behind two out of the four winners in the Signaling category for the MTA Genius Transit Challenge and, in 2019, completed a successful UWB Pilot with the MTA, demonstrating that UWB can cost-effectively accelerate MTA signaling modernization. For more information, visit www.humatics.com .

Contact: Laurance Fauconnet, [email protected] or (678) 596-3182

SOURCE Humatics

Related Links

https://www.humatics.com


The Capitol restoration project is 90% complete and is on track to be finished in mid-2022, Stitt said.

Stitt said the visitor entrance is the front door to the iconic state building.

I love that the Capitol does not belong to any one person, Stitt said. It belongs to Oklahomans.

Oklahoma, this is your office where you can make your voice heard, where you can bring your passions, your concerns and dreams to the table.

A little more than 30 years ago, eighth-graders from Norman took a field trip to the Capitol, where they got to meet then Gov. Henry Bellmon, he said.

Now, one of those eighth-graders has grown up and now walks these historic halls as the 28th governor of Oklahoma, Stitt said, referring to himself.

Steve Mason, chairman of the State Capitol Restoration Expenditure Oversight Committee, said the project actually began about 25 years ago, when Keating led efforts to put a dome on the building.

Mason said using the old southeast entrance on the first floor was like walking into someones garage to get into their house.
Puneeth no more: Govt directs police to tighten security in respective jurisdictions

Puneeth Rajkumar follows in his father's footsteps, donates his eyes

Drugs case: Kannada actor-couple Aindrita Ray, Diganth appear before CCB for inquiry

India

oi-Deepika S

Bengaluru, Sep 16: Kannada film actors Diganth Manchale and Aindrita Ray on Wednesday appeared before the Central Crime Branch (CCB) in connection with the drug case.

The CCB, which is probing the drug abuse in the Kannada film industry, had issued notice to the actor-couple on Tuesday.

"We have received a telephonic notice from the Central Crime Branch for an ongoing enquiry at 11am tomorrow. We will be present and fully cooperate with the CCB," Aindrita tweeted on Tuesday.

The probe agency on Tuesday swooped down on the lavish bungalow of Aditya Alva, son of former minister and late Jeevaraj Alva in the city.

Alva, who is an accused in the case, is at large ever since the CCB sleuths launched a crackdown against the drug haul in the state capital, targeting those who arrange rave parties.

Sandalwood drug case: CCB sleuths conduct search at Aditya Alva's house

Cases have been registered against 15 people so far in this connection and nine arrested, police sources said.

Diganth, as Diganth Manchale is popularly known, had made his debut in the Kannada film in ''Miss California'' in 2006. He has acted in many movies but remarkable among them are ''Gaalipata'', ''Pancharangi'' and Lifeu Ishtene and Parijata.

His wife Aindrita Ray, Bengali by origin, started her career in Kannada film industry with the movie ''Meravanige''. She is known for her performance in the movie ''Manasaare,'' in which she played a mentally challenged girl.
Two victims of the California wildfires were packed and ready to evacuate the area, but decided to stay at their shared home after reading erroneous information about the spread of the fire.

The victims, 68-year-old Philip Ruble and 77-year-old Millicent Catarancuic, were found dead near their destroyed home in Berry Creek, California, last week, after wildfires ravaged areas in the state.

Mr Ruble was found inside a charred Toyota pickup truck by their home, while Ms Catarancuic was discovered in a nearby embankment, according to Butte County sheriff Kory Honea.

An evacuation order was sent out for Berry Creek in the afternoon of Tuesday 8 September and the information was posted on social media sites, the fire information line and was broadcast via ham radio.

Law enforcement officials also travelled through the area with evacuation sirens and went door to door when possible to make sure all residents were aware of the order, Butte County spokeswoman Megan McCann told CNN.

Mr Honea told reporters on Tuesday: After speaking to family members, it is believed the pair was aware of the fire in the area.

The sheriff added: They had packed their belongings in preparation to evacuate but later decided not to evacuate based on erroneous information that the fire was 51 per cent contained.

It is currently unknown where the couple read the fire containment figure, as that information is not generally released by the authorities.

The California wildfire has so far killed 15 people and injured one firefighter, while 13 more are still missing as the fire has decimated areas of the state for close to a month now.

More than 230,000 acres have been charred in the wildfires in California, as at least 780 structures have been burned to the ground.
The touchless, automated GO Pass kiosk is one of several form factors available. GO Pass facilitates consistent and easy screening. It has simply taken our COVID-19 protocol to the next level.

Today, Clio Health launched the Clio Health Go app featuring GO Pass to direct students, staff, and visitors to complete a quick, confidential COVID-19 screening and biometric analysis in order to receive an electronic entrance pass. Similar to scanning a boarding pass at an airport kiosk, users scan their electronic GO Pass once they arrive on campus. The results can be read using any smartphone or GO Pass kiosk. No specific symptom data are shared, instead venues receive anonymous, time-stamped images of the results to verify whether or not a user has been cleared for entry. GO Pass is designed to improve outcomes while overcoming the poor performance of contact tracing and isolation. It is based on immunology, science, and data analytics.

The Clio Health Go app is currently available in the App Store and Google Play and in closed pilots with area schools, health systems, medical practices, food processing plants, community and religious organizations. The app is scheduled to roll out nationally this fall. During the pilot phase, you can get access to GO Pass through a Kickstarter campaign. A variety of reward bundles are available to GO Pass backers. The campaign ends in early October.

Steve Lisk, Head of School, at Lancaster Country Day, said, Staff and students can now complete COVID-19 screening remotely in their homes or car line prior to nearing the building or boarding the bus. This reduces the risk that someone will spread the virus on campus. GO Pass uses encryption to secure identity and medical data, providing an additional layer of privacy to those opposed to facial recognition technologies. GO Pass facilitates consistent and easy screening. It has simply taken our COVID-19 protocol to the next level.

Mike Simpson, Head of The Stone Independent School, stated: We pride ourselves on providing students with tools and resources that shape the 21st century. We are thrilled to provide our staff and students with a hands-on 21st century solution for COVID-19 preparedness. Our students get an opportunity to use technologies and AI-assisted insights that not only protect our community at Stone, but ultimately improve and shape the future of health and safety for all.

"Screening employees was causing huge lines at shift changes and lots of employee frustration. The GO Pass system actually made the process 'kind of cool' - it's fast and it gives our employees confidence in the safety of our workplace," said Jeff Lehman, President, Shanks Extracts, LLC.

GO Pass personal information is secured by Powch, a patent-protected pseudonymity system. It protects identity using cryptography, in a manner similar to Bitcoin and blockchain. In keeping with its mission to further public good, Clio Health will open source COVID-19 risk assessment algorithms used in GO Pass, and will share anonymized data to foster advancements in battling the pandemic.

ABOUT CLIO HEALTH GO AND GO PASS

Clio Health Go is focused on leveraging AI to disrupt healthcare and change the way we manage, understand, and improve our health. It is a subsidiary of Aspire Ventures, LLC.

GO Pass is a product of MedStatix, an Aspire Ventures sister company. GO Pass is powered by Aspire's adaptive AI platform, A2I, to provide on-demand access to automated health assessments, deeper health insights, and action plans for better health and wellness. GO Pass is the most recently developed feature on the Clio Health Go platform. https://clio.health/

Committed to innovation in healthcare, Aspire Ventures co-founded the Smart Health Innovation Lab (iLab) with Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health and Capital BlueCross in 2017, effectively bringing down the long-standing operational silos in healthcare that have made it difficult to create lasting change. The collaborative work at iLab has resulted in global recognition and continues to fuel innovation.

Contact:

Melissa Sfida-Allen

melissa@aspirevc.com

717-799-9195
Only about 65 close family and friends were on the guest list for a bride and groom's rustic wedding celebration in a small Maine town in early August.

But the nuptials began an outbreak now traced to more than 170 reported coronavirus infections and also to the deaths of seven people, the Maine Centre for Disease Control and Prevention says.

The wedding at the Big Moose Inn on Millinocket Lake has been traced to more than 170 coronavirus infections. Credit:AP

The cluster of coronavirus infections that originated from the Big Moose Inn outside Millinocket on August 7 continues to grow in Maine, state health officials said, after guests flouted social distancing and mask-wearing guidelines.

Now people who have no association with the party have died, including six residents of the Maplecrest Rehabilitation and Living Centre in Madison, Maine, CDC Director Nirav Shah said.
For New Order star Diego Boneta, Michel Francos TIFF entry is a first for many reasons. Mainly, its his first Mexican film  previously, he had been told by the Mexican film industry that he wasnt Mexican enough to star in Mexican films.

This is a special one for me because its my first Mexican movie, Boneta told TheWraps Beatrice Verhoeven. Being from Mexico, and having moved here almost 14 years ago, my career didnt take the conventional path of doing Mexican films and then going to the States. It was quite the opposite  my first film was in the U.S. with Rock of Ages. The Mexican film industry said that I didnt look Mexican enough to be in a Mexican film until Michel came along.

He also said that Franco had called him to tell him that he wrote a part specifically for Boneta in his new film, which was also something that a filmmaker had never done before.

Also Read: Robert Rodriguez, Diego Boneta to Adapt Mexican Comic 'El Gato Negro' for Apple TV+

I was blown away by how impactful the script is not only in Mexico being such a Mexican theme and having such an international angle to it was what I was very, very drawn to, he said.

New Order (original title: Nuevo Orden) is an extremely timely film that opens with a wedding when an uprising takes place in Mexico, showcasing the crime and corruption in the country. Boneta stars alongside Naian Gonzalez Norvind, Monica Del Carmen and Fernando Cuautle. Franco wrote, directed, produced and edited the film that won the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival.

Its been a long process. I started writing this six years ago and Ive been thinking about it and it was ambitious from scratch trying to make a movie about a big scale problem from lots of different angles, Franco explained. Throughout the writing of the script, I kept seeing different conflicts in different places  from the Yellow Vests to Chile, Hong Kong and recently, of course, Black Lives Matter. Black Lives Matter  the movie was completely post-produced  but that was a confirmation of how much I needed to make this movie, how important it is to reach audiences worldwide, and as you said its timely and Im glad we made it.

Story continues

Also Read: 'New Order' Film Review: A Political Horror Moment Gets Its Political Horror Movie

Norvind was attracted to the script because of how Franco sets up his stories.

Michel has a way of ending but also beginning his films in a very.. it takes you by surprise, she explained. I realized that it was probably going to be the biggest challenge of my career, and thats what I wanted to work with.

Watch the video above.

Read original story Diego Boneta Explains Why New Order Is His First Mexican Film (Despite Being Mexican) At TheWrap
An opinion poll conducted by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) on Twitter on September 12, 2020 has shown that the New Patriotic Party, led by President Nana Akufo Addo, will win the December elections by 51%.

Out of the 9,386 respondents of the polls conducted on September 12, 2020, the NPP polled 51% whilst the NDC under John Dramani Mahama secured 49%.

There was a direct question on which political party can be trusted when it comes to the fulfillment of its manifesto promises based on their previous manifesto promises fulfillment.

Most of the voters have much trust and confidence in the NPP than the NDC as reflected in the final results of the IEA Polls.

Monitoring done by the Voiceless Media has revealed that the NPP has stayed faithful to Ghanaians and actively fulfilling most of its manifesto promises.

The free SHS education was a major campaign promise that got fulfilled in the very first year of the NPP. Teacher and Nursing allowances which were also promised in the 2016 manifesto of the NPP have also been delivered.

Other promises by the NPP like One Village One Dam as well as 1D1F are all underway as promised.

President Nana Addo and the NPP have also fulfilled the promise to create new Regions in Ghana and have as well restored peace in Dagbon through the facilitation of the enskinment of a new Yaa Naa.

Some political observers who spoke to the Voiceless Media hailed the NPP for introducing the Zongo Development Ministry and the historic Tamale Interchange which is the first of its kind in the whole of the five Northern Regions.

The Voiceless Media will bring to our readers further details on this development.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 16)  President Rodrigo Duterte favored a proposal to replace the health secretary with a different Cabinet member as chairman of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), Senate President Tito Sotto said on Wednesday.

Sotto filed Senate Bill 1829 on Monday which seeks to transfer the chairmanship of PhilHealth to the finance secretary, amending a provision in the Universal Healthcare Law which designated the health secretary for the post. Sotto reasoned that incumbent Health Secretary Francisco Duque failed to fulfill his mandate as board chairman.

"I just talked to PRRD, he agrees!" said Sotto in a tweet, referring to the President.

Senator Bong Go,a former close aide of the Duterte, confirmed that the President was "okay" with the idea.

PhilHealth was recently subjected to a rigorous investigation for corruption, prompting lawmakers to recommend the filing of graft charges against its top officials including Duque and ex-president Ricardo Morales.

However, the Justice Department-led task force PhilHealth did not include Duque in its list of officials recommended to face charges. Duterte on Tuesday approved the recommendation of the multi-agency task.

Duterte has repeatedly insisted that Duque should neither be fired nor resign despite wide criticisms against his leadership in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic.

Among the issues raised on the PhilHealth probe include the alleged illegal release of funds to hospitals prior to its effectivity date, and the proposed purchase of overpriced IT equipment.

Sotto had previously maintained that Duque should be held accountable for the irregularities at PhilHealth given his position in the board.

Duque vehemently denied all allegations against him saying he was a non-voting chairman, meaning he did not sign any of the questionable decisions of the corporation.

Sotto, nevertheless, said this does not mean that Duque should have been completely hands off or oblivious to PhilHealth's affairs.

Meanwhile, Go bared that during a meeting on Wednesday evening, the President expressed inclination to give the newly appointed PhilHealth chief Dante Gierran until the end of the year to reform the agency.

Should Gierran fail to do so, the senator said Duterte will study the possibility of disbanding or amending the state-run health insurer.

The President called the meeting to discuss measures that would eliminate red tape and corruption in the government. Also present at the meeting were Sotto, House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, and House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez.
While the news of the continued growth in the nation's banking and finance sector in the 2nd quarter of this year was encouraging, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele said the ulti-mate strength of the financial system would depend on three key factors.

The CBN Governor said the factors will insulate the nation's economy from externally induced disrup-tions as the currently ravaging coronavirus pandemic or any other crisis. He was speaking against the backdrop of the fact that COVID-19 has demonstrated the impact externally induced disruptions could have on the Nigerian economy.

"Ensuring that banks have adequate capital buffers to withstand similar pandemics; developing ade-quate internal controls that will be able to identify potential risks and putting in place measures to con-tain that risk and being able to adapt your business model to changes taking place in the business envi-ronment," Mr. Emefiele said yesterday at the 13th annual banking & finance conference in Abuja.

Emefiele observed that supply chain disruptions and concentration of production in particular coun-tries has highlighted the difficult challenges countries could face in the event of a major pandemic. "It is therefore imperative from an economic as well as a security perspective, that our banking and finan-cial system works to support growth in sectors that have significant growth potential, and can enhance the resilience of the Nigerian economy, in the face of external shocks." He added.

He also urged the banking sector to increase lending to agriculture from 4 percent to 10 percent. Over the next 4 years, the banking sector should consider ways under which it could increase its loans to the agriculture sector from 4 percent to 10 percent by 2024.

He called on the banking community to increase its support for the agriculture sector. He told the gathering at Transcorp Hilton hotel that the banking sector has a significant role to play as a facilitator of growth through its intermediation function. "The banking sector therefore has a significant role to play as a facilitator of growth through its intermediation function," he said.

Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed who was also at the event called on the banking sector to join the federal government in its effort to diversify the nation's economy.

"As bankers and fund managers, you stand in that position to partner with government in its efforts to diversify the economy and reposition the Country for a sustainable future," she said.

Mr.s Ahmed urged the gathering to redouble their efforts, to mobilize domestic resources and attract foreign investment to create quality job opportunities for the nation's teeming youths and lift people out of poverty.

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Emefiele said the Nigerian agricultural sector also offers significant opportunity for the nation to earn foreign exchange through the exports of processed agricultural products. With declining foreign ex-change earnings from crude oil, he said banks should consider supporting agro processing companies that are export oriented.

With the decline in foreign exchange earnings and subsequent adjustments in the value of the naira vis-a-vis the US dollar, Emefiele said the CBN has continued to implement a demand management framework, which is designed to support improved production of items that can be produced in Nige-ria, and further conservation of external reserves.

"These measures have helped to prevent a significant decline in our reserves. Our external reserves currently stand at $36 billion and are sufficient to cover 8months of import of goods and services," he said.
Ukraine in TCG confirms its commitment to ceasefire, notes that violations on contact line should be recorded by OSCE SMM  source

The Ukrainian side adheres to a tough negotiating position during the work of a subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group on security issues as part of the ongoing videoconference meeting of the TCG, a source close to the talks told Interfax-Ukraine.

According to the interlocutor of the agency, the head of the Ukrainian delegation, Leonid Kravchuk, said that OSCE SMM is exclusively authorized to record violations on demarcation line of parties in Donbas in accordance with the current mandate.

In addition, Kravchuk said that Ukrainian side has once again confirmed the fulfillment of the list of measures to comply with the silence and ceasefire regime, and requires this from the other side.
In a grand ceremony on the south lawn of the White House in Washington DC, US President Donald Trump presided over the signing of peace deals between Israel and two Gulf countries, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain, this week.

Some Arab diplomats were among the around 200 people in the audience, to which representatives of the US Democratic Party were also invited. Israel was represented by its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while the UAE and Bahrain were represented by their foreign ministers, sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan and Abdullatif Al-Zayani, respectively.

A common document known as the Abraham Accords was signed by the four parties, while Israel signed separate agreements with the two Gulf countries. The UAE and Bahrain are the third and fourth Arab countries to normalise relations with Israel since the Camp David Accords with Egypt in 1979 and the Wadi Araba Agreement with Jordan in 1994.

Trumps critics downplayed the event as an election campaign stunt coming just 48 days before the US presidential elections, but the agreements are legally binding, and both Gulf countries are now only waiting for their ratification next month before embarking on an era of cooperation with Israel.

Netanyahus adversaries in Israel and beyond said the agreements were intended as distractions from the problems the prime minister is facing at home, yet nobody in Israel would criticise a peace deal with an Arab country as the population is keen on normalising relations with the Arab world.

In the Gulf, the story is a bit different, even as people anticipate the benefits of peace deals with Israel. The mood is less muted than it was last year when Trump and his adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner announced their so-called Peace for Prosperity deal to settle the Palestinian issue.

Emirati political commentator Rashed Murooshid told the Al-Ahram Weekly that the normalisation of relations between Israel and the UAE and Bahrain would open up new business opportunities, particularly in technology, investment and tourism. There is no doubt that Israel has also accumulated experience in fighting terrorism that would be of benefit to others, I mean its technological advances in this regard, he said.

Regarding any possible challenges to a warm peace between Israel and the Gulf countries, Murooshid said that we look to the future and the benefits of cooperation for all the peoples in the region, not burdened by the bitterness of the past. Yet, that doesnt mean giving up on the basic principles we believe in, on top of them the fair and just settlement of the Palestinian issue.

In the few weeks since the announcement of the deal with the UAE, various Israeli trade delegations have visited Abu Dhabi and several putative deals have been announced. In the few days between Manama announcing the deal and the White House ceremony, contacts between Bahraini ministers and Israeli officials were made to discuss aspects of future cooperation.

The UK newspaper the Financial Times quoted Israeli Minister for Regional Cooperation Ofir Akunis as saying that Israel expected to seal deals worth about $500 million after the historic agreements to normalise ties with the UAE and Bahrain come into force.

The Jewish state will offer its expertise in water desalination and agricultural technology as the most promising sectors for cooperation with its new business partners in the Gulf, he said, but investments would vary from technology and tourism to culture and transportation.

The main idea here is peace to prosperity We want bilateral economic relationships with the UAE and Bahrain to build a new Middle East, Akunis said.

However, there could be nuances to these huge expected deals and business partnerships, editorial director of the Middle East Economic Digest (MEED) Richard Thompson said in a note for GlobalData.

Companies in the Gulf must assess any potential legal, commercial, reputational and security risks that might result from their doing business with Israel, he said.

It is now legal for companies in the UAE and Bahrain to do business with Israel, but it is currently still illegal to do business with Israel in every other Arab market except Jordan and Egypt. This includes Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Iraq, Lebanon, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. It is also illegal for people or companies from those countries to have direct business dealings with Israelis.

For many businesses in the region, Saudi Arabias position will be a significant factor in how they respond to the changes. Things have changed quickly and unexpectedly, and in the current climate they could change again. Companies should tread carefully.

But it is almost certain that Saudi Arabia agreed to the peace deals between Israel and the two Gulf countries, even though Riyadh said it was too early to sign a deal with Israel itself.

Concerning the challenges that those doing business with Israel might face, Saudi commentator Abdel-Aziz Alkhames told the Weekly that many of the regulations restricting dealings with companies that deal with Israel had been long frozen by almost all the countries in the region.

Since Egypt and Jordan signed peace agreements with Israel, many countries including Saudi Arabia have frozen their boycott rules. They have even relaxed regulations on certificate-of-origin issues so as not to punish Egyptian or Jordanian businesses that have dealings with Israeli companies, Alkhames said.

He expected little to be gained by Bahrain from the agreement with Israel, though probably it would benefit from cooperation in tourism and in some aspects of financial services, he said. Israel aims to be a financial hub in the region, and it wants Tel Aviv to be more than the Beirut of the 1950s for the Gulf region, when the Lebanese capital played a similar role.

The main area of cooperation that would be of benefit to the UAE, Bahrain and other Gulf countries that might also sign normalisation deals with Israel is likely in technology and its industrial applications, according to Alkhames.

I think the country that is most affected by the peace deals between the Gulf countries and Israel is Turkey. Almost all the advanced components of Turkish exports to the Gulf are in fact Israeli. Importing directly from Israel will deprive Turkey of lucrative benefits. Jordan might also lose some of the benefits it gets from exporting products to the Gulf countries that are produced by Israeli businesses investing in Jordan, he said.

The talk in the region now is about which country could be next in signing an agreement with Israel. It has been widely anticipated that Morocco could soon announce such a deal, but official statements from Rabat have cooled the anticipation.

Trump spoke to the sultan of Oman by telephone last week, and since then expectations have been high that Muscat could be the next Arab capital to announce the normalisation of relations with Israel.

Muscat, Doha and Rabat were the three Arab capitals that established representative offices for Israel after the Oslo Accords between the Israelis and Palestinians in the 1990s. For this reason, it is likely that one or all of them will be next.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 17 September, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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Seasoned journalist, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako has berated former President John Dramani Mahama for claiming the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has been embarking on a ''sakawa'' sod-cutting of projects.



The Flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Mahama, speaking at the partys Town Hall meeting held in Kumasi questioned the NPP's commitment to complete the projects saying it's all a ploy to gain electoral advantage.



Sakawa Sod Cutting



Mr. Mahama raised red flags over validity of the NPP's sod-cutting, asserting there is no funding for them.



He believed the NPP is just pulling wool over Ghanaian's eyes.



To buttress his point and not as a sign of blowing his own horn, the ex-president revealed that he vowed during his tenure not to commission projects until contractors have moved to the sites of the specific projects, and he has been faithful to that promise.



I learnt from a hospital project in Upper East when I was Vice President. Since that project, I told myself I will never cut sod until I have seen a contractor at the site. These days you see the President and Vice President cutting sod everywhere without any contractor there.



''Nananom, if they come to your town to cut sod for a project ask them two questions, let them tell you if the project were captured under the 2020 budget or whether parliament has approved a loan for the project. If theyre unable to answer then it means the sod cutting is a scam, its because of the elections. It is sakawa or 419'', he stated.



The NDC flagbearer made these comments regarding the recent sod-cutting ceremonies by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for the commencement of projects.



Setting the Records Straight



Kweku Baako, addressing the issue on Peace FM's ''Kokrokoo'', sought to reveal the real scam between projects by President Nana Akufo-Addo and that of Ex-President John Mahama.



He disclosed that, unlike President Akufo-Addo who does due diligence before cutting sods, Ex-President Mahama was guilty of cutting certain sods during his administration for electoral purposes only.



Mr. Baako, who is known for his impeccable record keeping, went into his archives and pulled out volumes of official documents to back his assertions.



He alluded to Mr. Mahama cutting sod for the construction of phase two of the Kumasi International Airport in 2016 but stressed it was needless and baseless because no proper preparations had been made for the project to materialize.



''My checks indicate that that particular sod cutting was needless. It had no real foundation because it's true Parliamentary approval for that particular loan facility had been effected but there were conditions precedent which were laid out that without that the agreements will not come into force. Some were value for money audit and others were that he should sign the loan agreement before they can proceed with the construction. At the time he cut the sod, the financing agreements had not been signed. Indeed, these things were done in 2018.



''My own checks and documentations I have accessed, point to the fact that the first sod cutting was for purely electoral purposes. Oh yes! It was completely baseless. There was no basis for it; no foundation for it but they did cut the sod on 5th December 2016...It was totally unnecessary but it was done for as I said electoral purposes'', he told host Kwami Sefa Kayi.







He added that it took President Nana Akufo-Addo to give the financial clearance for the project.



''It could be recalled that President Akufo-Addo also cut sod for the same project - phase 2. So, you had a ridiculous situation where two Presidents had cut sods for the same project at different times. You must ask yourself why and how? Which one was sustainable?



''The financial agreements were signed in 2018. It was in 2018, early days, that they completed the value for money audit.''



The veteran journalist further exposed the NDC flagbearer saying his administration portrayed a similar attitude on the Tema motorway in November, 2016.



He said ''at the time he (Mahama) was cutting the sod, there was nothing on the ground in terms of budget or loan agreement or anything. Indeed, at the end of the day, the truth is that they appealed to the Japanese government in 2013 for ground assistance to undertake that project''.



Again, the Tema motorway was also finalized in 2017 which saw Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia cutting sod for the same project.



''Bawumia's sod cutting was more meaningful because they had finished the feasibility studies and presented the final report for us and we had chosen which option of the interchange we wanted, and had also signed the financial agreement'', he said.



Sakawa Sod-Cutting



Kweku Baako, responding to former President John Mahama, made a sarcastic reference to the latter's sakawa comment.



''I've seen President Mahama has now fallen in love with the word 'sakawa''' Mr. Baako chipped in.



Regarding Mahama's penchant for sod-cutting projects without budgetary allocation, Mr. Baako light-heartedly stated; ''I haven't said it was sakawa''.

Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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H&M has said it is ending an indirect relationship with a supplier in China in light of allegations of forced labour within the supply chain.

Earlier this year, it was reported that the UK government was being urged by lawyers and a human rights group to ban the import of cotton sourced from the Chinese province of Xinjiang.

The 60-page document submitted to HM Revenue and Customs detailed the overwhelming and credible evidence concerning the scale and gravity of the forced labour regime in Xinjiang, where Uighur Muslims are being put to work in factories.

In a new statement published by the clothing retailer, it outlined that H&M Group is deeply concerned by reports of forced labour and discrimination of ethnoreligious minorities in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region [XUAR] in China.

The company said that it strictly prohibits any type of forced labour in the supply chain, and in the event of learning that forced labour has occurred within the supply chain, the firm will take immediate action and, as an ultimate consequence, look to terminate the business relationship.

H&M emphasised that the company does not work with any factories that are based in Xinjiang, nor are any products made in the region sourced by the retailer.

The firm has also carried out an investigation to check whether any of the factories in China that it works with are employing workers from XUAR through what is reported on as labour transfer programmes or employment schemes where forced labour is an increased risk.

In its statement, H&M explained that Xinjiang is the largest region for growing cotton in the country.

In August, the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), a non-profit organisation that champions sustainability in the cotton production industry, announced that it was suspending activities in Xinjiang.

While H&M had previously sourced cotton from farms in Xinjiang that were connected to the sustainability initiative, it no longer works with suppliers that do so.

In its statement, H&M said that despite claims made in a report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, it has never had a business relationship with a mill owned by the yarn producer Huafu Fashion Co in Anhui province where workers from XUAR have been employed, nor with with their Aksu unit in XUAR.

We do, however, have an indirect business relationship with one mill (in Shangyu, Zhejiang province) belonging to Huafu Fashion Co, which supplies some of our suppliers with a specific yarn, the retailer said.

H&M said that while there has been no evidence of forced labour at the Shangyu mill owned by Huafu Fashion Co, the firm has decided to, until we get more clarity around allegations of forced labour, phase out our indirect business relationship with Huafu Fashion Co, regardless of unit and province, within the next 12 months.
United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials have found evidence that that Blue Pipe Steel Center Co Ltd evaded a US anti-dumping duty order on circular welded carbon steel pipe and tube from Thailand by misrepresenting product specifications, it said.

Substantial evidence on the record demonstrates that Blue Pipe entered covered merchandise by means of false statements or omissions, the CBP said on Friday September 11, issuing its final determination on the Enforce and Protect Act (EAPA) investigation.



Domestic petitioners' legal counsel praised the decision.



It is critical that Customs continue to aggressively apply the EAPA statute to ensure that the relief the domestic industry is owed under the statute is not undermined by importers pernicious duty-evasion schemes, Robert DeFrancesco, a partner at Washington law firm Wiley and legal counsel to one of the domestic producers in the investigation, told Fastmarkets.



The domestic petitioners involved in launching the investigation included Wheatland Tube Co, Independence Tube Corp and Southland Tube.



The investigation took a long time, and during that time - through the circumvention - Thailand was able to capture a lot of the market at our expense and at the US consumers' expense, Barry Zekelman, chairman and chief executive officer Zekelman Industries, told Fastmarkets. Zekelman Industries is the parent company of Wheatland Tube.



The CBP said that evidence from the investigation showed that Blue Pipe misrepresented dual stenciled pipe, meeting both American Society for Testing and Materials A53 standard pipe specifications and American Petroleum Institute (API) 5L line pipe specifications.



They put product that was dangerously mislabeled and falsely labeled into the market which could cause injury or death. Theres product that is API labeled and does not meet API certifications, and if the general consumer got it they would use it for a gas or water line in a house, and what if that blew up? Zekelman said, estimating that Blue Pipe circumvented approximately $35-40 million in duties.



Fastmarkets latest assessment for steel ERW standard pipe A53 Grade B, fob mill US was at $880-930 per ton on September 8, up by 1.1% from $870-920 per ton previously but down by 7.2% from $960-990 per ton in early September 2019.



Rules are established for a reason and we want everyone to play within the rules that are set; thats all were asking, Zekelman said.



Join Fastmarkets at this years virtual Steel Success Strategies Online between October 26-28. Click here to sign up.
Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) can resume clinical trials for the Covid-19 vaccine candidate developed by United Kingdoms Oxford University and AstraZeneca after it received new approvals from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) following a suspension after an adverse reaction in a volunteer in UK.

The permission has been given to restart the trials with certain conditions, said a senior official aware of the developments in the DCGI office, asking not to be named. The conditions include extra care during screening, additional information [for] informed consent and close monitoring for similar events during the study follow-up.

The trials in India were paused last week after a trial subject in the United Kingdom developed an unexplained severe adverse reaction. On September 11, DCGI, Dr VG Somani, directed SII to pause recruitment of trial participants in India till all safety concerns were addressed. He asked the company to submit for clearances afresh after obtaining clearances from the data safety monitoring boards of both the UK and India.

Also read: Have reached agreement for Sputnik V trials, distribution in India, says Russia

On Saturday, Oxford University announced that the trial was being resumed. After carefully examining SIIs response, DCGI granted the approval to recommence the trial on Tuesday. Director General of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Dr Balram Bhargava, earlier said that SII completed phase II-B3 trials in India, and was preparing to start phase 3 trials.

Serum Institute of India (SII) has completed Phase II-B3 trials, for which 100 participants have been given the vaccine dose. Theres a seven-day pause and after that they plan to begin Phase 3 trials with about 1,500 participants across 14 sites, he had said during the Covid-19 media briefing on Tuesday.

The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine candidate, called the AZD1222, is being tested in the largest number of Indian volunteers yet. It has also been given to more volunteers across the world than some of the other front runners, making it the most watched vaccine candidates.

SII, the largest vaccine maker in the world, got DCGIs permission on August 2 to conduct Phase 2 and 3 clinical trials in India. The pharma company also has a production deal for 1 billion doses for low and middle income countries, 300 million of which will be delivered by the end of 2020.

The vaccine is made from a weakened version of a common cold adenovirus taken from chimps and genetically modified. The first dose of the vaccine as part of the phase 2 human trials to check its efficacy began at Bharatiya Vidyapeeth Deemed University Medical College and Hospital in Pune last month.
Foreigners on non-immigrant visas urged to exploit loophole: Phuket Immigration

PHUKET: The new long-stay visas approved by Cabinet yesterday are not grounds for tourists already in the country to apply for similar extensions of stay, Phuket Immigration confirmed to The Phuket News today (Sept 16).

immigrationCOVID-19

By The Phuket News

Wednesday 16 September 2020, 05:27PM

The exit sign at the Phuket Immigration Office in Phuket Town. Photo: Tanyaluk Sakoot / file

The new Special Tourist Visa, now in short being called the STV, was approved by Cabinet yesterday, and confirmed by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha after the Cabinet meeting.

Under the new visas, tourists who agree to 14-day quarantine and stay for at least 90 days will be allowed to enter the country.

The 90-day special tourist visa could be extended twice, for 90 days each time, allowing such tourists to stay in the country an uninterrupted 270 days.

Long-stay visitors could begin arriving next month, Deputy government spokeswoman Traisulee Traisaranakul later explained to the press.

However, tourists still staying in Thailand who are unable to or not wanting to return home must still obtain a letter from their embassy requesting that the foreigner be allowed to stay in the country, allowing them to be granted only an extra 30 days stay in the country, Phuket Immigration Deputy Chief Col Nareuwat Putthawiro told The Phuket News today.

Asked whether tourists who are currently in Phuket can be permitted to stay under the new Special Tourist Visa conditions, Col Nareuwat said clearly, No, they cannot. The visa is only for new tourists coming.

The tourists staying in Phuket before the Cabinets yesterday announcement will get a 30-day visa extension when they get embassy letters and file documents for the extension by themselves to Phuket Immigration, he added.

However, Immigration Bureau Deputy Commander Maj Gen Pornchai Khuntee earlier this month confirmed at a press conference in Bangkok that such tourists still staying in the country will be able to apply for repeated extensions to stay, without any limit on the number of extensions granted.

Meanwhile, with just 10 days to go before the visa amnesty expires, Phuket Immigration has received no instructions from Bangkok to provide any reprieve for foreigners staying on non-immigrant visas who cannot prove they have the income level required by immigration in order to be issued a one-year permit to stay.

Many such foreigners have lived in Thailand for years, and have started businesses, and families, during their years in the country  but without the required monthly income set by the Immigration Bureau, are unable to be issued a one-year permit-to-stay as usual.

Phuket Immigration Office Deputy Chief Lt Col Udom Thongchin told The Phuket News on Sept 1 that his office has no choice in the matter. We can accept the applications, but they cannot be approved. We do not approve them here [in Phuket]. The applications are sent to [the regional immigration headquarters in] Songkhla, but they cannot approve them as the conditions have not been met, he said.

However, he did advise such foreigners to delay filing their application for one-year permits-to-stay pending a possible temporary reprieve being granted by Immigration superiors in Bangkok.

That temporary reprieve has not come.

I understand the situation of the long-stay visa holders, but there have not been any new measures issued for them. We also are waiting for an order from headquarters in Bangkok, Col Nareuwat told The Phuket News today.

Col Nareuwat now suggests such long-stay foreigners on non-immigrant visas exploit a loophole in order to be granted at least short temporary stays in the country.

My advice, there is only one way for people in this situation, foreigners who are all long-term visa holders with non-imm visas and other types of visa The foreigners do not have to mention the income level required when they come to the Immigration office [to file their applications], but they must have a letter issued by their embassy or consulate about the COVID-19 pandemic.

If the letter states that the foreigner is unable to return home as there are no flights available or there is a high risk of being infected [with COVID-19] in their home country, we will accept the embassy letters.

We will accept such letters from embassies whether they are emails [printed out] or an actual document. It is just as easy for Immigration officers to check that the embassy letter is genuine, not a fake, Col Nareuwat said.

This way they can request for a temporary stay. Each approval can be granted no longer than 30 days without the need to go out of the country, he added.

Without any new orders to extend the periods of stay for such foreigners, we have to wait until a new immigration policy is announced, Col Nareuwat concluded.
Greenberg Traurig, LLP Shareholder Natasha L. Wilson will participate in a panel discussion at the CenterForce Women in Legal & Corporate Leadership  Atlanta: Virtual Summit, taking place on Sept. 17. Greenberg Traurig is a sponsor of the event.

Wilson will be a speaker on the panel discussion about Promoting Diversity & Inclusion in Law Firms & Corporations: Disrupting Old Models & Lowering Attrition. She will be joined on the panel by in house counsel from The Coca-Cola Company, Hibbett Sporting Goods, and Ciner Resources. The virtual summit is part of The Women in Law Summit Series and consists of virtual networking and learning opportunities that explore how to create lasting change for women and minorities in the legal profession.

Wilson serves as co-chair of the firm's Labor & Employment Practice's Complex Employment Litigation & Trials group and chair of the Atlanta Labor & Employment Practice. She focuses her practice on labor and employment law and devotes her legal practice to representing management in all aspects of employment law, from prevention and compliance issues to arbitration and litigation. She has litigated a wide variety of employment issues on the federal, state, and local levels before courts and administrative agencies. Wilson works closely with her clients to provide counseling and consultation on employee matters, policy revisions, litigation prevention, and the implementation of sound employment practices. In addition to her practice, Wilson serves as the co-chair of the Greenberg Traurig African-American Inclusion Network (GAIN).

About Greenberg Traurigs Diversity Initiative: From its inception, Greenberg Traurig has been committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Greenberg Traurig is a uniquely empowering and diverse firm built on a foundation of fairness, equality, and authenticity. Through its Social, Racial, and Economic Justice Action Plan, the firm has committed $5 million over five years to help combat systemic racism and support impoverished communities. In addition, the firms efforts have been recognized through its Mansfield Rule 3.0 certification, administered by the Diversity Lab, and by local, national, and global publications and organizations including Chambers and Partners. Web: https://www.gtlaw.com/en/general/our-firm/diversity Twitter: @GT_Drives.

About Greenberg Traurigs Womens Initiative: Greenberg Traurig is committed to its women lawyers success, which includes a firmwide womens affinity group encompassing recruiting, retention, and business development. The firm regularly collaborates with like-minded organizations to address these issues on a broader scale in a variety of industries and communities. Greenberg Traurig also takes thoughtful action to address issues such as maintaining a healthy work-life balance, breaking the glass ceiling, mentoring, creating and maintaining healthy lifestyles, and giving back to the community. Twitter: @GTLawWomen.

About Greenberg Traurig, LLP: Greenberg Traurig, LLP (GT) has approximately 2,200 attorneys in 40 locations in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. GT has been recognized for its philanthropic giving, diversity, and innovation, and is consistently among the largest firms in the U.S. on the Law360 400 and among the Top 20 on the Am Law Global 100. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com Twitter: @GT_Law.
If youre already tired of watching political ads, you may want to stay away from your TV this fall in Central New York.

The region has been exposed to more TV ads in this years campaign for Congress than any other place in the United States, almost 20,000 commercials since the middle of July, according to a new analysis.

And its far from over.

Before the Nov. 3 election, voters in New Yorks 22nd and 24th Congressional Districts will see a steady rise in ads filling the airwaves in two of the most competitive House races in the nation, according to the campaigns and political groups supporting them.

The bombardment of ads reflects the premium national political groups are placing on two districts where Congress members barely edged their opponents in the last election.

The ads also provide a preview of the nastiness to come. In the Syracuse market, Democrat Dana Balter portrays Republican Rep. John Katko as a puppet for President Donald Trump, while Katko claims she is too extreme for Joe Biden.

Further east in the Utica market, Republican Claudia Tenney hammers Democratic Rep. Anthony Brindisi, claiming hes out of touch with President Trump who carried the district in 2016. One ad tells viewers you cant spell Brindisi without BS. Brindisi portrays his opponent as beholden to wealthy special interests.

All of the political vitriol has added up quickly as the four candidates and outside political groups supporting them have aired ads 19,270 times in the region since July 15 at a cost of about $3.4 million.

Central New York stands atop a national trend that produced a record surge of political ads before Labor Day in House and Senate elections, said Michael Franz, co-director of the Wesleyan Media Project, which tracks political advertising in federal elections.

The number of ads that aired in congressional races over the past six weeks are two to four times higher than in the last two presidential election years, 2012 and 2016, Franz said.

The trend is driven, in part, by the coronavirus pandemic, he said. The pandemic has made it difficult for the candidates to hold in-person campaign events, raising the importance of TV advertising to reach large numbers of voters.

The candidates and outside political groups have also taken advantage of the relatively cheap cost of TV advertising in Central New York, where advertisers can afford to repeat their ads more often than in expensive media markets in large cities, Franz said.

The 22nd District election between Brindisi, D-Utica, and Tenney, R-New Hartford, tops all other House races for the number of ads that have aired on broadcast and cable TV.

A total of 10,043 separate campaign ads aired on TV in the eight-county district from July 15 through Sept. 4, according to Wesleyans data.

Brindisi, Tenney and outside political groups spent $1.27 million on those ads in the Syracuse, Utica and Binghamton media markets.

The 24th District election between Katko, R-Camillus, and Balter, a Syracuse Democrat, ranked third nationwide with 9,227 ads airing in the same period, the data shows.

The candidates and outside political groups spent more money  $2.1 million  on the 24th District ads. The ads aired only in the Syracuse TV market, which is relatively more expensive than Utica and Binghamton.

Franz said the Central New York districts have attracted attention because political analysts view Katko and Brindisi as two of the most vulnerable members of Congress in the 2020 election.

Both candidates are facing tough election rematches with opponents who came close to winning in 2018. Katko edged Balter by 5 percentage points. Brindisi defeated Tenney by fewer than 2 percentage points.

Brindisi began airing his first TV ads of the campaign in January, becoming the first of the 435 incumbent House members to air commercials for the 2020 campaign.

Brindisi bought his ads to respond to an early blitz of political ads attacking him for his December vote to impeach Trump.

The Democrat has aired a series of seven different ads daily since July 24 at a cost of $451,340, according to the Wesleyan Media Project.

From Aug. 10 through Sept. 4, Brindisi paid to air 5,072 separate TV ads, compared to 2,544 ads paid for by Republican-linked groups supporting Tenney, the data shows.

Brindisi decided it was important to tell voters as early as possible about his record, rather than allowing Tenney or Republican groups to define him or distort his record, said Luke Jackson, speaking for the congressman.

In the neighboring 24th District, Balter also began airing TV ads earlier than in her 2018 campaign. Her first TV ad aired July 10 and since then she has aired a series of 10 more ads.

The Balter and Katko campaigns and seven other political groups on both sides of the aisle have paid for TV ads in Central New York since July 15, according to the Wesleyan data.

The data shows 5,104 ads aired in support of Balter, compared to 4,123 ads in support of Katko.

Balters first ad portrayed Katko as a reliable supporter of Trump on the most important votes in Congress.

Katkos early advertising portrayed Balter as too liberal for the partys presidential nominee, Joe Biden. Biden later made Balter one of his first endorsements in a House race.

All of those ads will do little to sway undecided voters early in an election, said Franz, a professor of government and legal studies at Bowdoin College in Maine.

We know in our social science analysis of political advertising that early advertising doesnt really have much of a long-lasting effect, Franz said. Within two weeks, poll numbers tend to go back to where they were. On the other hand, political consultants dont really think theres a reason to wait.

He said the potential value of an early ad blitz is to control the message early in a campaign.

You can force your opponent to talk about issues that you define early on, Franz said. In an ideal world, you can put the other side on defense.

MORE ON THE 2020 ELECTION

Election 2020: Where John Katko and Dana Balter stand on health care

Judge blocks Dana Balter from third-party ballot line in campaign for Congress

Joe Biden endorses Dana Balter while John Katko uses former VP against her

GOP group doubles down on Claudia Tenney, plans to spend $5 million

Anthony Brindisi rejects Trumps idea to delay election, Claudia Tenney mum

Got a tip, comment or story idea? Contact Mark Weiner anytime by: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751
BP Plc offered a glimpse of the profitability of its huge and secretive trading arm, suggesting it makes annual returns of as much as $2.5 billion.

The revelation, which came during presentations this week about the companys clean-energy plans, follows the emergence of trading in the first half of the year as one of the few bright spots for BP and its peers. The operations brought a torrent of cash that partly offset the impact of the coronavirus crisis on oil prices and energy demand.

BPs in-house trading business has a long track record of boosting the companys return on average capital employed by close to 2 percentage points, according to Chief Executive Officer Bernard Looney.

Unlike the closely guarded trading profit, the company does disclose the average capital it employs each year. From 2015 to 2019, that figure was $124.2 billion a year, according to last years annual report. That suggests a 2% uplift to the RoACE equates to about $2.5 billion. Thats more than Vitol Group made in 2019, which was a record year for the company.

RENEWABLES: BP to supply Microsoft with renewable energy

BP doesnt disclose the profits of its trading unit and declined to comment on questions from Bloomberg News about this calculation.

The major published the figure this week as part of its bid to convince investors that its trading unit can help boost returns for less-profitable renewables. Trading, access to low-cost funding and integration are some ways that the company thinks it can achieve 8% to 10% returns across its renewables portfolio. We actually believe we can do better, and these returns could turn out to be conservative, Looney said.

Major Trader

Although better known for its oil fields, refineries and fuel stations, BP is one of the worlds largest commodity traders. Alongside rivals Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Total SE, it bets its own money on the ups and downs of the global oil and natural gas markets.

FUEL FIX: Get our energy news in your inbox each weekday.

The company said it traded just under 11 million barrels a day of crude oil last year, more than the best-known names of the commodity trading industry such as Vitol, Trafigura Group and Glencore Plc.

Historically, the three major oil companies have disclosed as little as possible about how their traders make money. When investors earlier this year asked Total about the profitability of its trading business, CEO Patrick Pouyanne responded: Oil trading is a secret.

The companies trading operations exploited wild price moves this year created by the pandemic. BP, for example, highlighted exceptionally strong results in its trading arm during the second quarter, while Shells equivalent division enjoyed record profits.

2020 Bloomberg L.P.
The judge presiding over the trial of former NSW Labor MP Eddie Obeid has issued a warning as a mystery tweeter appears to publish details from inside.

Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Fullerton reminded members of the public and parties on Wednesday that it was an offence under the state's Court Security Act to use any device in court to "transmit information that forms part of the proceedings", including by posting it on social media.

Moses Obeid (left), Ian Macdonald (centre) and Eddie Obeid (right) are on trial. Credit:Sydney Morning Herald

The maximum penalty is a $22,000 fine or 12 months' imprisonment, or both.

The prohibition does not extend to journalists. Lawyers and court staff also have the benefit of work-related exemptions.
Muckamore Abbey Hospital is at centre of an abuse probe

A man arrested by police investigating the allegations of ill-treatment of patients at Muckamore Abbey hospital has been released pending a report to the PPS.

Detectives from the PSNI's Public Protection Branch detained the 25-year-old on Sunday morning in the Antrim area.

The man was the ninth person arrested in relation to alleged abuse at the hospital.

The Antrim hospital - which treats people with severe learning disabilities and mental health needs - has been the subject of a PSNI probe.

Police are investigating claims of physical and mental abuse of patients in the psychiatric intensive care unit between 2017-18.

It is suspected that 1,500 criminal assaults took place over a number of months in a ward with six beds in the hospital. Police have been reviewing thousands of hours of CCTV footage.

Last week, a 57-year-old woman was arrested and released pending a report to the PPS.

There have been 59 precautionary suspensions of staff.

Health Minister Robin Swann also confirmed a public inquiry will be held into alleged abuse at the hospital.

The inquiry follows two reports into the abuse at Muckamore - a serious adverse incident report and a recently-published review into the leadership and governance of Muckamore by Belfast Trust.
"With a simple Slurpee coupon, the Operation Chill program lets local officers connect with kids and recognize their good behavior, which is essential to creating long-term positive relationships," said 7-Eleven President and CEO Joe DePinto. "Since 1995, 7-Eleven distributed millions of Slurpee drink coupons to kids across the country. The program's success over 25 years is a powerful testament to the importance of making these community connections  both for 7-Eleven and public safety officers."

This year, 7-Eleven will issue approximately 1.5 million Slurpee drink coupons to more than 1,100 law enforcement agencies that will, in turn, be distributed to the community's kids. Each coupon can be redeemed for one Slurpee* drink at participating 7-Eleven stores. Although the reasons for being rewarded vary  wearing a helmet while riding a bike, picking up litter or holding the door open  the end result is the same for every youngster: a free Slurpee drink and encouragement for being a good kid.

"As police officers, the relationships we share with the community are extremely important," said Washington D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham. "Community engagement campaigns and events provide us with the opportunity to further strengthen our connection with the citizens we serve. The Operation Chill program is a great way for us to bond with the youth in our city over a Slurpee drink."

Big-city departments and small-town forces alike use the Slurpee drink coupons to enhance relationships with the young people of their cities by rewarding them for good deeds, constructive activities and acts of kindness. All participants are encouraged to follow local city and state COVID-19 guidelines during Operation Chill.

The program was founded in Philadelphia with a goal to give law enforcement officers a positive way to interact with children and teens. Since inception in 1995, Operation Chill has expanded to hundreds of cities across the country, donating more than 23 million Operation Chill coupons to U.S. law enforcement agencies in 7-Eleven communities.

* Redeemable for one medium Slurpee drink at participating 7-Eleven stores.

About 7-Eleven, Inc.

Are you still reading this? Awesome. Most people stop when they get to the small print. But not you! You get to read the cool stuff. 7-Eleven, Inc. is the premier name and largest chain in the convenience-retailing industry. They don't like to brag, but they invented convenience stores. For real. Google it. Based in Irving, Texas, 7-Eleven operates, franchises and/or licenses more than 70,000 stores in 17 countries, including 11,800 in North America. Known for its iconic brands such as Slurpee, Big Bite and Big Gulp, 7-Eleven has expanded into high-quality sandwiches, salads, side dishes, cut fruit and protein boxes, as well as pizza, chicken wings and mini beef tacos. Mmmmm, tacos. 7-Eleven offers customers industry-leading private brand products under the 7-Select brand including healthy options, decadent treats, and everyday favorites, at an outstanding value. Customers can earn and redeem points on various items in stores nationwide through its 7Rewards loyalty program with more than 34 million members, place an order in the 7NOW delivery app in over 1,300 participating cities, or rely on 7-Eleven for bill payment service, self-service lockers and other convenient services. Find out more online at www.7-Eleven.com, via the 7Rewards customer loyalty platform on the 7-Eleven mobile app, or on social media at Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Also, they trademarked the word "Brainfreeze." No lie. Thanks for sticking with this. You're unstoppable.

SOURCE 7-Eleven, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.7-eleven.com


(Alliance News) - Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC on Wednesday noted "recent media speculation" around funding and said no final decision has yet been made.

The jet engine maker did not specify the source of the speculation but said it is reviewing "a range of funding options" aimed as strengthening its balance sheet which might include debt and equity.

However, it stressed that "no final decisions have been taken" and a further announcement would be made "if and when appropriate".

"We have already taken swift action to strengthen our liquidity with GBP6.1 billion at the end of the first half of the year and a further GBP2 billion term loan agreed in the second half. We have also announced GBP1 billion of cost mitigation activity in 2020 and launched a reorganisation of our Civil Aerospace business to save GBP1.3 billion annually. We have also identified a number of potential disposals that are expected to generate proceeds of more than GBP2 billion over the next 18 months, including ITP Aero," said Rolls-Royce.

Shares in Rolls-Royce ended down 5.4% at 192.35 pence in London on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, aviation partner Boeing Co said it has cooperated "fully and extensively" with the inquiry into its troubled 737 Max aircraft by Transportation Committee of the US House of Representatives since it began in early 2019.

The probe followed the crash of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 and the subsequent global grounding of the 737 Max jet.

The committee's investigation concluded that Boeing failed in its design and development of the 737 MAX and that the Federal Aviation Administration failed in its oversight of Boeing and its certification of the aircraft.

By Anna Farley; annafarley@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
LONGMONT, Colo., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Circle Graphics ("Circle"), the leader in digital graphics for online wall decor and out-of-home print production, has acquired Bay Photo, Inc. ("Bay Photo" or the "Company").

Bay Photo represents a market-leading provider of professional-grade photographic wall decor, albums, and specialty prints, serving professional photographers, artists, pro-sumers, and well-known third-party channel partners. The Company's commitment to providing personal attention to customers and serving them with a diverse range of premium products has solidified Bay Photo as the preferred partner to thousands of professionals nationwide. Bay Photo was founded by Larry Abitbol in 1976 and is headquartered outside of Santa Cruz, California, with an additional production facility in Springfield, Missouri.

"Bay Photo enhances Circle's presence in the professional photography and artist markets while expanding Circle's product portfolio into the rapidly growing segments of metal prints, albums, and photobooks," commented Andrew Cousin, Chief Executive Officer of Circle Graphics. "The Company has had a long and successful history under Larry's leadership dating back to the 1970s, and we look forward to serving as great stewards of his business going forward."

Larry Abitbol, President and Founder of Bay Photo, remarked, "Over the years we have searched for a partner that could leverage what we have built, provide scale and resources to help us exceed our goals, and align with the core values by which we run our business. I am pleased to announce that we have found that partner in Circle Graphics. Together, we will continue to provide our customers with innovative products of the highest quality, along with on-time delivery and superior customer service. We also share the same vision around the future growth of the photo print industry and look forward to continued success together."

With the acquisition of Bay Photo, Circle Graphics expands its footprint, expertise, and product breadth to further establish itself as the leader in the online wall decor market. Bay Photo represents the second add-on acquisition that Circle Graphics has made since H.I.G. acquired Circle less than one year ago. The acquisition is a testament to Circle Graphics and H.I.G.'s ability to execute transactions during this unprecedented period in the global economy.

About Circle Graphics

Founded in 2000, Circle Graphics produces best-in-class digital graphics for consumers, professionals, and businesses through two distinct divisions: Online Wall Decor and Out-of-Home Visual Solutions. The Company's Online Wall Decor division enables consumers and professional photographers to procure made-to-order photos and pre-designed art images via wholly-owned direct-to-consumer websites and reseller relationships. Circle Graphics' Out-of-Home Visual Solutions division represents the leading large format digital graphics provider to billboard operators with a growing offering in branded business signage. Based near Denver, CO, Circle Graphics employs approximately 600 people in multiple locations across the United States to efficiently serve the Company's nationwide customer base. For more information, please visit www.circlegraphicsonline.com.

About Bay Photo

Founded in 1976, Bay Photo has a long history of delivering innovative photographic prints and photo finishing services to professional photographers, artists, pro-sumers, and industry-leading third-party channel partners. Located outside of Santa Cruz, California, Bay Photo is well recognized as an industry pioneer and leader, providing the highest quality products with excellent service to its diverse customer base for almost 45 years. For more information, please visit www.bayphoto.com.

About H.I.G.

H.I.G. is a leading global private equity and alternative assets investment firm with $40 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:

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. 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. 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 $30 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.

Contact:

Dawn Jacobs

303-951-1455

[email protected]

Circle Graphics, Inc.

www.circlegraphicsonline.com

SOURCE Circle Graphics

Related Links

https://www.circlegraphicsonline.com


Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 23:36:57|Editor: huaxia

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BEIRUT, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese President Michel Aoun urged on Wednesday donor countries to secure money for the United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) to continue offering its services to Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and other countries, said a statement by Lebanon's presidency.

Aoun's remarks came during his meeting with UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini.

Aoun told Lazzarini that Lebanon is still waiting for a positive move to facilitate the return of Syrian refugees to their homeland in addition to securing the return of Palestinian refugees who moved to Lebanon from Syria following the eruption of the civil war in the neighboring country.

Meanwhile, Lazzarini said that UNRWA will continue to support Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, hoping that the agency's financial capabilities will improve in the near future. Enditem
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- In 1996, California became the first state to legalize marijuana for medical purposes, ending a decades long prohibition on the substance. The passage of the first recreational cannabis use laws in Colorado and Washington left those two states with a problem. How should a recreational drug business be regulated? Like many occupations with significant statutory licensing frameworks, new cannabis regulators promulgated rules that obligate cultivators, processors and dispensaries to offer a sort of financial assurance. In the United States that financial guarantee took the form of a surety bond.

Cannabis Surety Bond Program ~ Surety One, Inc. Insurance News Net, Inc.

A surety bond is a third-party guarantee that a principal, in this case a cannabis license holder, will comply with his or her obligations to the state and to customers. In other words, an insurance company steps in with its good name and creditworthiness and agrees to stand behind the promises of a licensee to "do the right thing." Surety bonds are largely issued through surety agents that possess experience in bonding. Surety is a small niche product in the insurance world. There are not many insurance agents that specialize specifically in surety insurance. With a unique risk like a cannabis business surety bond, who would step forward in to the unknown? There is one.

From a modest office in Puerta de Tierra, Puerto Rico a surety guy and his staff monitored the advance of regulations, enthusiastic about the possibilities. Surety One, Inc. was prepared. When final regulatory rules were released and a few insurance carriers decided to participate in the cannabis industry, Constantin Poindexter and his Team of underwriters immediately marketed it. The calls and emails came rolling in and haven't stopped.

Says Poindexter, "I've always felt that cannabis products should be available to treat the effects of illness. It's a quality of life thing from my perspective. I read quite a bit about it and looked at the reasoning behind the states' push to legalize. It turned out that marijuana wasn't the scary narcotic that the federal government has made it out to be. We read the bond forms that the states put out, got our heads wrapped around the obligations and decided that this is a space that we want to be involved in. At the start we all laughed when clients requested bonds from us because they asked how we could deliver from a communist island. I guess that they confused us with Cuba."

There has been no going back. To date, the Surety One, Inc. underwriting office has issued over three thousand surety bonds for marijuana and CBD operators in fifteen states. Operators in states that have legalized marijuana show no signs of abandoning the sector and new jurisdictions appear to be poised to enter. As a risk professional, does the product create a societal concern? Poindexter responds, "I don't use cannabis but frankly I see no difference between it and alcohol. Do I want my brain surgeon, my airline pilot or my kid's school bus driver smoking weed on the job? Of course not, but you can't drink and do those things either. Bottom line, our communities will benefit more from legalization than the risk of abuse."

Surety One, Inc. is an international insurance intermediary domiciled in Puerto Rico, licensed in all fifty states, U.S. Virgin Islands, Canada and the Dominican Republic. The firm delivers on a broad geographic footprint with a local feel. For more information on the cannabis program or any surety bond need visit https://SuretyOne.com. For more information call Sharon Marcelino (800) 373-2804.

SOURCE Insurance News Net, Inc.

Related Links

https://suretyone.com


It is basically over

6-12 months

In another year or years

It was never a real pandemic

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The governor of Osun State, Gboyega Oyetola, has directed the police to investigate the alleged killing of a youth by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in Osogbo.

Mr Oyetola, who said this in a statement by the states Commissioner for Information and Civic Orientation, Funke Egbemode, on Wednesday in Osogbo, said the incident was shocking.

The tragic events that reportedly led to the death of one person on Tuesday evening was both sad and shocking and the governor has ordered full investigation into the circumstances that led to it.

While we appreciate the great job our law enforcement agencies are doing to keep Osun safe, the disruption to our peaceful state capital on Tuesday needs to be investigated.

We hereby call on the Police Command in the state to launch a comprehensive investigation into this tragedy, she said.

Mrs Egbemode appealed to the families of the deceased and those injured not to take laws into their hands by hurting more people or destroying property.

We implore our citizens to trust the government to get to the bottom of this sad occurrence.

Let us all go about our lives peacefully, while we await results of the investigation, Mrs Egbemode said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that a group of youth in Osogbo on Tuesday staged a protest over the alleged killing of the youth.

The protesters, armed with sticks and other dangerous weapons, attacked passers-by during the protest.

(NAN)
South Africa: South Africa to ramp up COVID-19 testing

President Cyril Ramaphosa says, as new COVID-19 infections decline and the pressure on health facilities is reduced, the country now has sufficient capacity to expand the criteria for testing.

The President said this on Wednesday evening when he addressed the nation on South Africas risk-adjusted response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and announced that South Africa would move to lockdown alert level 1 from midnight on Sunday.

Among the categories of people we will now be able to test are all those who are admitted to hospital, outpatients with COVID symptoms, and individuals who have been in close contact with confirmed cases whether or not they themselves have symptoms.

Alongside increased testing, we are improving contact tracing through the deployment of the COVID Alert South Africa mobile phone app and the COVID Connect WhatsApp platform, the President said.

Effective testing and contact tracing systems will allow government to quickly identify and contain outbreaks before they spread further.

I want to make a call this evening to everyone who has a smartphone in South Africa to download the COVID Alert mobile app from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. The app has been zero-rated by mobile networks, so you can download it without any data costs, President Ramaphosa said.

Using Bluetooth technology, the app will alert any user if they have been in close contact with any other user who has tested positive for Coronavirus in the past 14 days.

The app is completely anonymous, it does not gather any personal information, nor does it track anybody's location.

The Department of Health has also developed WhatsApp and SMS systems for people without smartphones to provide them with test results and alert them to any possible exposure to the virus, the President said.

He explained that contact tracing is an important preventative measure that people can use to protect themselves and close family and friends.

Survey to assess levels of COVID-19 infections

South Africa will embark on a nationwide study that will allow scientists to estimate the extent of asymptomatic infections and immunity within the population as well as better understand the transmission patterns of the virus.

We will be undertaking a nationwide survey to assess the actual levels of infection within society. This survey  known as a seroprevalence survey  uses antibody tests to see if a person has been exposed to the Coronavirus, the President said.

The country continues to maintain health care capacity to ensure that it can manage any possible outbreaks of infections effectively, and to ensure that everyone receives the care they need.

While South Africa is working to prevent further transmission of the virus, government is also preparing for a time when a vaccine becomes available.

To ensure that South Africa is able to access an effective vaccine as quickly as possible and in sufficient quantities to protect the population, the country is participating in a global initiative supported by the World Health Organisation to pool resources for the development and distribution of a vaccine.

Through this initiative, South Africa joins other countries in supporting several vaccine development programmes and seeking equitable access to successful vaccines at a lower cost, the President said.

South Africa has through its position as chair of the African Union, been advocating for equitable access across the globe so that no country should be left behind.

We are also investing in our own capacity to produce and distribute a vaccine locally, so that South Africa can play a key role in the effort to expand access to vaccines, the President said.

The country is already participating in three vaccine trials.

Economic recovery plans

Following several weeks of engagement, the social partners at the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) have made progress on an ambitious social compact for economic recovery.

Cabinet will build on this emerging common ground to finalise the countrys economic reconstruction and recovery plan in the coming weeks.

The reconstruction and recovery plan that will be finalised will build on the R500 billion economic and social relief package we announced in April, which has provided vital support for households, companies and workers at a time of dire need, the President said.

Gender-based violence

The President said violence against women and children has continued unabated during the period of the pandemic.

Based on the latest data, we have identified 30 hotspots around the country where this problem is most rife. As we move to the next alert level, we are increasing and improving support services for survivors of gender-based violence, particularly in the identified hotspots," the President said.

These efforts are part of work already underway to implement the National Strategic Plan adopted by Cabinet earlier this year.

This includes the rollout of an integrated and multidisciplinary model that incorporates psycho-social support, case investigation, housing services and economic empowerment for survivors under one roof.

The Khuseleka One Stop Centres expand on the mandate of the existing network of Thuthuzela Care Centres, and are already operational in districts in the North West, Limpopo and the Eastern Cape.

Work is underway to expand this model of care and support to all provinces. Let us spare no effort to eradicate the problem of violence against women and children, the President said.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2020-09-16. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
A friend in California once found a raccoon cookie jar at a thrift store. Obviously, it was meant for McKanes collection. The friend mentioned it to her neighbor, who happened to know some people traveling to Nebraska.

These friends picked it up, hand carried it on the plane, and brought it over to my house, McKane said. I couldn't believe it. I didn't even know these people.

She guesses she regularly receives raccoons from 15 different states.

It's interesting to see where they come from, and who has heard about my collection, she said.

McKane is in contact with only one other serious raccoon collector shes been able to find who lives in Illinois, and theyve sent each other many items over the years.

It is nice to know that there's somebody else out there, she said.

She often searches online to find other raccoon collectors, but hasnt had any luck yet.
Judge Cynthia Westcott Rice has handled thousands of appeals in her 18 years on the Warren-based 11th Ohio District Court of Appeals, which reviews cases from lower courts in five Northeast Ohio counties  Ashtabula, Geauga, Lake, Portage and Trumbull. She is currently the courts administrative judge, has served as a visiting judge in three other Ohio appellate court districts, and is slated to serve next year as the chief judge of the Ohio Court of Appeals Judges Association  signaling also how highly she is regarded among her peers.

You cant buy that kind of experience and reputation. On top of which, Rice, 62, a Brookfield Township Democrat who also spent 10 years as a state and federal prosecutor, is committed to criminal justice reforms, including bail reform and creation of a centralized criminal sentencing database to address sentencing inequities. She co-chairs the criminal law and procedure committee for the Ohio Judicial Conference.

Rices challenger, attorney Sarah Thomas Kovoor, 57, a Warren Republican who came to this country with her family from India at age 7, has spent most of her 22-year legal career in private practice after three years in the Trumbull County Prosecutors Office. She is earnest and attuned to the needs of defendants in the legal system, but cannot match the practical experience and breadth of the incumbent.

Voters in Ashtabula, Geauga, Lake, Portage and Trumbull counties should reelect Judge Cynthia Westcott Rice to the 11th Ohio District Court of Appeals, in the Feb. 10 term, on the Nov. 3 ballot. Early voting begins Oct. 6.

Attorney Sarah Thomas Kovoor and 11th Ohio District Court of Appeals Judge Cynthia Westcott Rice are seeking the appellate seat Rice currently holds on the Warren-based court, which hears appeals from Ashtabula, Geauga, Lake, Portage and Trumbull counties. The candidates were interviewed Monday, Sept. 14, 2020, by the editorial board of The Plain Dealer and cleveland.com as part of its endorsement process. Listen to audio of this interview below:

About our editorials: Editorials express the view of the editorial board of cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer -- the senior leadership and editorial-writing staff. As is traditional, editorials are unsigned and intended to be seen as the voice of the news organization.

Have something to say about this topic?

* Send a letter to the editor, which will be considered for print publication.

* Email general questions about our editorial board or comments or corrections on this endorsement editorial to Elizabeth Sullivan, director of opinion, at esullivan@cleveland.com.

Other resources for voters:

League of Women Voters vote411.org voters' guide.

Trumbull County bar association preference poll.

JudicialVotesCount.org website with information on judicial candidates' legal background and why they are seeking judicial office.
United Nations, Sep 16 : Turkish diplomat Volkan Bozkir, who has taken over the General Assembly's presidency, has given an assurance that he will promote the Security Council reform process impartially.

"I am committed to support this process in an impartial, objective and open-minded manner," he said at a news conference after the 75th session of the Assembly that he presides over opened on Tuesday.

His affirmation of impartiality is to reassure members as Turkey is a member of the group known as United for Consensus (UfC) that has blocked the reform process known as Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN) from proceeding for over a decade.

The group that is led by Italy and includes Pakistan has prevented the IGN from adopting a negotiating text which would enable the negotiations to progress. They insisting that there should be consensus before the document could be adopted. In a Catch-22 set-up, a consensus can't be reached without first having a negotiating text that sets the parameters for negotiations to reach a consensus.

Council reform is an important goal for India, which wants a permanent seat on the reformed body.

Bozkir said, "There is no doubt that the membership of the Security Council as well as its working methods must reflect the realities of the 21st century." He said, "Security Council reform is very important, not only for the member states but also to the United Nations as a whole. Of Course, it is a complex challenge that is closely linked to one of the main aims of the organisation, that is peace and security." He said that during the current session the IGN will build on the meetings held in the previous sessions and that he hoped "through active engagement of members states and pragmatic approaches we will be able to make meaningful progress on this difficult issue." "Security Council reform is very important, not only for the member states but also to the United Nations as a whole," he said.

He said that an "urgent issue" is the appointment of the facilitators for the IGN and that he would do it after "consulting with countries so that the decision of mine will be acceptable and will allow the process to go further." Lana Nusseibeh of the United Arab Emirates and Joanna Wronecka of Poland were appointed the co-chairs or facilitators of the IGN during the last session only in December reducing the time available for negotiations, which was further cut after only two meetings because the COVID-19 pandemic caused a lockdown of the UN.

As it has done during every year since 2009, the Assembly's last session rolled over the IGN process to the next.

Reacting to it, India served an ultimatum that the reform process supporters will be forced to look for other ways to look to move it forward.

India's Deputy Permanent Representative Nagaraj Naidu issued the warning in a letter written behalf of India, Brazil, Germany and Japan to the president of last Assembly session, Tijjani Muhammad-Bande.

He wrote, "There is a need to ensure that the IGN process is not held hostage, procedurally and substantially, by those who do not wish to bring about reform in the Security Council." Although he did not identify the group or the countries holding the IGN "hostage," it was a reference to the UfC.

"If this happens, and there are indications that this is already happening, those who demand reforms will be forced to look for other ways to finally make progress, including potentially outside the IGN process," Nagaraj wrote.

India, Brazil, Germany and Japan, who make up the group known as G-4, jointly push for reforms and support each other for a permanent seat on a reformed Council.

Although the heads of government and state at the Millennium Summit of the UN in 2000 committed themselves to reforming the Security Council it has been mired by the opposition of a small number of countries that mainly oppose adding new permanent members to it.

(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
Jim Davidson has been criticised after sharing a rant on YouTube in which he suggests the dance group Diversity do a performance about mugging.

Diversity made headlines earlier this month after performing a dance inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement on Britains Got Talent. The act has since received over 21,000 Ofcom complaints.

In a video shared to his Youtube channel, the 66-year-old stand-up comic asked: Diversity, what the f*** do you want? You just want to be famous all around the world, you dont give a f*** about George [Floyd].

He added: Theres loads of white people sticking up for you, sticking up for Black Lives Matter [] young white girls walking around with banners.

Well, I say most young girls, Gemmas sister is not holding up a banner as she was violently mugged by three black men. Perhaps Diversity can do a mugging thing.

Comedian Davidson had reportedly joked that the faceless silhouettes in Yewtree-related articles all looked like Terry Wogan to me

The comedian went on to complain about the lack of white people on television and claimed most TV presenters are non-white. This is not true - a study by Diamond in February 2020 found that just 23.8 per cent of British TV presenters are from black and minority ethnic backgrounds.

The Generation Game host has also been condemned for his comments blaming the Bame community for Londons increase in coronavirus cases.

Viewers have taken to social media to express their anger at Davidson, calling the comedian racist. One user wrote on Twitter: I dont believe in the cancel culture but Jim Davidson just needs to be sent far far away from any media. Such a vile racist.

Another said: Archaic, washed-up, unfunny comedian complains about black people wanting equality [...] Jim Davidson is irrelevant so is clearly seeking attention.

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While a third called the comedian a horrible bitter little man.

In October last year, Davidson was accused of telling a black train attendant you arent welcome in this country during a row.

The comedian admitted to the comment but insisted the man in question was white with a thick South African accent". However, other people present claimed the man was black. The British Transport Police confirmed they had received a report of racial abuse".

The Independent has approached Davidsons representatives for comment.
However, despite Disneys apparent plan at the moment to proceed with a theatrical release, its important to keep in mind that anything can happen this year. Remember, Disney shifted the U.S. movie release date of Mulan more times than we can remember, before ultimately scrapping the whole theatrical debut and making it available to U.S. Disney+ subscribers for an additional Premier Access fee.

The company almost certainly has multiple release plans at the moment for Soul because of the fluid pandemic situation. Currently, some U.S. pandemic projections indicate a sharp rise in infections and deaths around November, which could complicate plans for fall theatrical rollouts.

And it certainly wouldnt be a surprise to see another animated film go straight to VOD. Since the start of the pandemic, every major U.S. animated release has either gone VOD (Trolls World Tour, Scoob!) or cancelled its 2020 release (Minions: The Rise Of Gru, The Spongebob Movie: Sponge on the Run).

The Disney Companys hands are tied in terms of how far they can push back the release date for Soul. The film has to come out sometime by February 28, 2021, the Academys deadline for this years Oscars race, because the Pete Docter-directed film is Disneys only serious contender for year-end awards. Pixars other film Onward was a creative dud, while Walt Disney Animation Studios doesnt have any films scheduled for release this year. With Disneys Raya and the Last Dragon scheduled for March 12, 2021, Disney will likely want to keep Soul as close as possible to its current November release date, whether it be theatrical or Disney+.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  In an open letter, three leaders of the Black community in Cleveland have demanded that public assistance granted to the Sherwin-Williams Co. for construction of its new headquarters and research center be rescinded.

In the letter, the trio protests the lack of minority inclusion in the key partners Sherwin-Williams announced Tuesday as the team that will manage the construction projects. The company, though, expressed a commitment to minority participation as it made its announcement.

The letter, dated Tuesday, is signed by Norm Edwards, president of the Black Contractors Group, and two leaders the Cleveland Clergy Coalition, Rev. E. Theophilus Caviness, the groups chairman, and Pastor Aaron Phillips, the groups president.

We are putting everyone on notice that once again our tax dollars are being used to assist with the financing of the $600 million dollar Sherwin-Williams World Headquarters project and we have no inclusion of black and/or minority partners listed, the letter states.

The company was awarded a broad package of development incentives from the state and its development arm, JobsOhio; the city of Cleveland; Brecksville; and Cuyahoga County. The Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority agreed to finance the project.

Clevelands package alone amounted to about $100 million in grants and tax incentives. In exchange, Cleveland would retain more than 3,100 jobs with the potential for more. The city has said those jobs generate more than $8.7 million annually in income taxes.

The letter from the three Black leaders states that Gov. Mike DeWine, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, Cleveland City Council, Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish and the County Council should stop providing tax incentives for construction projects that do not have diversity and inclusion "from the very start.

If black and minority architects, engineers, attorneys, owners representatives, construction managers, project managers, consultants, economic development advisors, contractors and construction workers are going to be excluded from the Sherwin-Williams project then dont build it here.

Sherwin-Williams on Tuesday announced the architectural and construction team it will use to build a new headquarters in Cleveland and a research complex in Brecksville, reaffirming its plan to invest more than $600 million into the sites.

The team consists of 10 established companies, none of which are minority-owned. They are:

Pickard Chilton Architects, Inc.  Design architect for the global headquarters.

HGA Architects and Engineers  Base building architect for the global headquarters and design, base building and interior architect for the research center.

Vocon Partners  Interior architect for the global headquarters.

Welty/Gilbane JV, a joint venture involving Welty Buidling Co. and Gilbane Building Co.  Construction manager.

Mark G. Anderson Consultants, Inc.  Project manager, project controls and owners representative.

CBRE Inc.  Real estate and economic development advisor

Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP  Legal and economic development counsel.

Hanson Bridgett LLP  Legal counsel.

inSITE Advisory Group  Economic development advisor.

But in its announcement, Sherwin-Williams also stated a commitment toward hiring women and minorities for the projects. The company noted it was named by Forbes magazine as one of the top employers for diversity, new graduates and women.

The company is extending this commitment to the construction of these facilities, it said in a news release. Sherwin-Williams will work proactively with the cities, community leaders and trade partners to positively impact the local economy by providing workforce opportunities for the community, including awarding contracts to minority-owned and female-owned businesses, as well as small businesses.

In February, the Fortune 500 company announced its plan to spend at least $600 million on the two sites to house more than 3,500 employees, with job growth expected.

The downtown headquarters, to be built at the west end of Public Square, would be a 1 million-square-foot building. In March, the company paid $49.4 million to buy the downtown property.

The research and development complex on 119 acres at Miller Road and Brecksville Road near Interstate 77 would have about 500,000 square feet of space.

Sherwin-Williams acknowledged Tuesday that the coronavirus pandemic had caused delays in the projects, but it recommitted to building at the scale announced in February.

Sherwin-Williams said Tuesday it estimates it will add a minimum of 400 jobs at the two facilities over time, an increase of 11 percent to the companys current local workforce.
Tencent, meanwhile, may also be eyeing Singapore to skirt situations like New Delhis ban on the video game PUBG mobile, for which it had the India publishing rights. WeChat is already a Trump administration target. As escalating violence on its border with China draws India closer to the U.S., globally-minded Chinese firms need neutral addresses to avoid becoming collateral damage. Ditto for ByteDance, which is trying to save its TikTok video-sharing platforms U.S. operations by partnering with Oracle Corp. The Beijing-based firm, which has also applied for a Singapore virtual bank license, will make the city its beachhead for Asia.
The United States has imposed sanctions on a state-owned Chinese company that it said was involved in corrupt activities and seized land in to build a development project that could be used to host military assets.

"There are credible reports that the coastal development project at Dara Sakor could be used to host PRC military assets, and if so would go against Cambodia's Constitution and could threaten Indo-Pacific stability, possibly impacting Cambodia's sovereignty and the security of our allies," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday.

"Today's action demonstrates how the Chinese Communist Party coopts companies to expand its influence, including by working through corrupt officials to use military force against innocent people in a blatant attempt to secure illicit financial gains," he said.

Pompeo said the Cambodian government granted China's Union Development Group (UDG) a 99-year lease in 2008 for the development of the project on a site that encompasses almost 20 percent of the country's coastline.

After falsely registering as a Cambodian-owned entity to receive land, UDG reverted to its true ownership and continued to operate without repercussions, said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, adding that the US is committed to using the full range of its authorities to target these practices wherever they occur.

Pompeo said UDG was founded as a wholly-owned PRC corporation but became a Cambodian enterprise to receive the lease for nearly 90,000 acres of land. It then went back to being Chinese-owned after acquisition of the lease and resulting land, he said.

In conjunction with a former Cambodian Army official, the Cambodian military cleared the leased land by force using violent tactics, he alleged.

The then Royal Cambodian Armed Forces chief of staff, Kun Kim (Kim), reaped significant financial benefit from this relationship with UDG, he said.

Kim was previously designated by the US for his role in corruption under the Global Magnitsky sanctions programme in December 2019. The land in question is also considered part of Botum Sakor National Park, a protected natural area, Pompeo said.

He said the US stands with the Cambodian people and "calls on the world to join us in condemning corruption and environmental degradation".

According to the Department of Treasury, used UDG's projects in to advance ambitions to project power globally. UDG-funded activities have forced Cambodians from their land and devastated the environment, hurting the livelihoods of local communities, all under the guise of converting into a regional logistics hub and tourist destination, the Treasury Department alleged.

As is too often the case with Beijing's One Belt One Road initiative, these activities have disproportionately benefited China, at the expense of the Cambodian people, it said.

"Of additional concern are media reports that the Cambodian government spokesperson, Phay Siphan, said that Dara Sakor could be converted to host military assets," it said adding that a permanent Chinese military presence in Cambodia could threaten regional stability and undermine the prospects for the peaceful settlement of disputes, the promotion of maritime safety and security, and the freedom of navigation and overflight.

(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.)
The raging wildfires in the US West Coast have brought climate crisis to the forefront of the election campaign, with Democratic challenger Joe Biden attacking Republican President Donald Trump for his attitude towards the issue.

While touring parts of California, Trump on Monday reiterated his scepticism of climate change, saying, Itll start getting cooler, you just watch.

He said many other countries have more explosive trees, meaning they catch fire much easier, but they dont have problems like this. I think this is more of a management situation, he added.

When you get into climate change, well, is India going to change its ways? And is China going to change its ways? And Russia? Is Russia going to change its ways? Trump questioned after landing in McLellan Park in California.

Calling Trump a climate arsonist, Biden pledged to rejoin the historic Paris Agreement on climate change if elected in the November 3 presidential election. If we have four more years of Trumps climate denial, how many suburbs will be burned by wildfires? How many suburban neighbourhoods will have been flooded out? he asked in a policy speech on climate change.

While he (Trump) turned against our allies, Ill bring us back into the Paris Agreement. I will put us back in the business of leading the world on climate change, and I will challenge every other country to up the ante on climate commitments.

The Paris accord committed the US and 187 other countries to keeping rising global temperatures below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and attempting to limit them even more, to a 1.5C rise. The decision by the US, one of the worlds top emitters of greenhouse gases, to exit the pact had led to condemnation from environmentalists and world leaders.

Biden said, Ill also see American workers building and installing 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations along our newly engaged infrastructure programmes and highways all across the country.

Wildfires in 10 states including California have burnt down nearly 5 million acres of land and killed dozens of people.

Local officials of Democrat-ruled California accepted the importance of forest management but argued climate change should be accepted as having played a role in the fires.
Sri Lankan fishermen protest against Indian trawlers allegedly trespassing sea boundary

September 16,2020 | Source: PTI

Fishermen in Sri Lanka''s northern Jaffna peninsula are protesting against Indian trawlers allegedly trespassing their sea boundary and taking up illegal fishing expeditions.



The fishermen handed a communique to the Indian Consul General in Jaffna S Balachandran on Monday and requested immediate intervention. Later, they staged a protest walk outside their camps in Vadamarachchi in Jaffna town.



The protesters, mostly members of fishing cooperative societies, claimed the Indian fishermen were entering Lankan waters from the Vadamarachchi sector after the country''s Navy had increased patrolling in the Mannar sea side.



The fishermen said around 3,000 Indian trawlers were laying nets daily on their side, depriving the local people of their catch.



The fishermen issue is a sensitive topic in India-Sri Lanka relations. It has been underlined that the Sri Lankan Government may consider the fishermen issue as a purely humanitarian and livelihood concern and both sides should ensure that there was no use of force under any circumstances.

Theme(s): Fishing Craft, Gear and Fishing Methods.
Nizamabad: Around 450 Indian workers have been in jail in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for the past four months. These are migrant workers belonging to various states, including Telangana, who landed in jail for petty crimes. The victims urged their respective state governments and the Ministry of External Affairs to get them released and allow them to go back to their native places.

In a video clip received by Deccan Chronicle on Tuesday, some of these inmates explained their woes. According to them, a majority of migrant workers were thos who were imprisoned for signal crossing, vegetable and water sale and lockdown violations. Due to ignorance of local laws, the migrants committed these petty crimes in Saudi Arabia and landed in jail. A similar plight is being faced by migrant workers from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia, they said in the video.

With no money, they are unable to get legal aid in Saudi Arabia. Neither getting work nor able to return home, they have been in jail for the last four months.

We are the sole breadwinners of our families and they are bearing the brunt back home, they lamented.

Incidentally, those from Pakistan, Bangladesh and others are being released in a phased manner, while Indian workers are left to languish, they said.

The migrant workers mostly belong to Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

We appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure our safe release by taking up the issue with Saudi Arabian authorities, the workers pleaded.
This is the fifth in a series of interviews with religious scholars exploring how the major faith traditions deal with death. Today, my conversation is with Brook Ziporyn, the Mircea Eliade professor of Chinese religion, philosophy and comparative thought at the University of Chicago Divinity School. Professor Ziporyn has distinguished himself as a scholar and translator of some of the most complex philosophical texts and concepts of the Chinese religious traditions. He is also the author of several books, including The Penumbra Unbound: The Neo-Taoist Philosophy of Guo Xiang and Zhuangzi: The Complete Writings," as well as two works on Tiantai Buddhism . All previous interviews in this series can be found here.  George Yancy

George Yancy: For many Westerners, Taoism is somewhat familiar. Some may have had a basic exposure to Taoist thought  perhaps encountering translations of the Tao Te Ching or Chinese medicine or martial arts or even just popular references to the concept of yin and yang. But for those who havent, can you give us some basics? For example, my understanding is that Taoism can be described as both a religious system and a philosophical system. Is that correct?

Brook Ziporyn: Taoism (or Daoism) is a blanket term for the philosophy of certain classical texts, mainly from Lao-tzus Tao Te Ching and the Zhuangzi (also known in English as Chuang-tzu), but also for a number of religious traditions that adopt some of these texts while also producing many other texts, ideas and practices. This can make it difficult to say what the attitude of Taoism is on any given topic.

What they have in common is the conviction that all definite things, everything we may name and identify and everything we may desire and cherish, including our own bodies and our own lives, emerge from and are rooted in something formless and indefinite: Forms emerge from formlessness, the divided from the undivided, the named from the unnamed, concrete things from vaporous energies, even beings from what wed call nothing.
Oct. 20: Wake Forest University kicks off its new Face to Face Speaker Forum with Pulitzer Prize-winning columnists Peggy Noonan and Eugene Robinson virtually at 7:30 p.m. The event is free for Wake Forest students and employees. It's also free for faculty and students at other colleges and universities in the Winston-Salem area. For everyone else, it's $10. Click here to register , and click here to buy tickets . The rest of the lineup: journalist and author Malcolm Gladwell (Jan. 26), former secretaries of state Madeleine Albright and Colin Powell (March 18) and cellist Yo-Yo Ma (May 1).

Fall 2021: The 2020-21 UNCG Concert and Lecture Series season has moved to the following academic year. Actress Geena Davis (Aug. 28, 2021) and author Margaret Atwood (Sept. 24, 2021) will lead things off. Click here for the rest of the 2021-22 schedule .

Update, 10:30 a.m. Wednesday: Elon says it moved the Nikki Giovanni date to Oct. 21. Her reading will start at 7:30 p.m.

Staff writer John Newsom covers higher education for the News & Record of Greensboro and the Winston-Salem Journal.

Have something to say about this blog post? Email him at john.newsom@greensboro.com. You can also follow him on Twitter at @JohnNewsomNR.

Support his coverage of higher education. Click here and here to learn about digital subscriptions the News & Record and the Journal.
Man of letters Samuel Johnson once remarked, Depend on it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates the mind wonderfully.

In the spring of 1974, I learned the truth of that saying.

A graduate student in European history at Wake Forest University, I was on the verge of winning my masters degree and heading north with a fellowship to the University of Connecticut. Id nearly completed my thesis, and had only to pass an exam in French to finish the program.

The exam, if I recollect correctly, was 60 minutes long, and students were allowed three attempts to pass it. Id taken French for two years in high school, some of the sources Id used for my thesis were in French, and I was overly confident. After a few hours of study, I took the exam and failed abysmally.

For the second exam, I studied a bit more, but failed again, though not quite as badly.

At this point my adviser, the beloved Jim Barefield, called me into his office. If you dont pass this next exam, he said, you wont graduate, and your fellowship at Connecticut will disappear.

Ive been in tougher places, I said.

The raised eyebrow and the look of incredulity he gave me were unforgettable.

For the next 17 days, from early morning into the evening, I did little but study French grammars and textbooks, frantically crammed vocabulary into my brain, read and interpreted passages, and walked up and down the street outside reciting conjugations. The possibility of losing everything Id worked so hard for had, as Johnson said, concentrated my mind wonderfully.

I took the third test, received a score of 90 percent, and by fall was in Storrs, Connecticut.

And to this day, though I would never embarrass myself trying to converse in French, I can read my way through a French newspaper with some help from a dictionary.

The Scattergun Approach

In addition to French, Id also studied Latin for two years in high school and for a semester in college, read primary sources in Latin at Wake Forest and Storrs (which I left after a year for personal reasons), and later taught Latin to homeschooling students. In college, I also studied Russian for three semesters. My poor instruction in that language and my own ineptitude have left me unable to say little more than Hello, Goodbye, I love you, I dont know, Thank you, and Dont shoot. (It was a military college.)

I imagine my experiences with foreign languages are typical of many American students. Though Ive known young people who became fluent in Russian or Arabic, most of us who sit through French, Spanish, or Chinese in secondary school come away equipped only with common phrases and a short list of vocabulary words.

Why is that? Why can so few Americans speak and comprehend a second language?

Reasons for Failure

In Why Dont More Americans Know More Foreign Languages? Steph Koyfman analyzes this deficit. She points out that American geographical and cultural isolation may still play a part in our aversion to learning another language, but even more importantly she draws attention to our system of education: the shortage of qualified teachers, the failure of schools to emphasize foreign languagesonly 11 states require a foreign language for graduationand perhaps most crucial of all, the failure of most of our students to begin learning a second language while in elementary school.

In many other countries, students are exposed to a foreign language, often English, in their early elementary school years. Through that course of study, they leave school with eight to nine years of learning a language other than their own. Not all of these programs are successful. The Japanese concentrate on reading English and learning its grammar rather than speaking it so as to pass written exams for universities, and German students who dont attend gymnasium, our equivalent to high school, often leave school at age 15 without being particularly skilled in the other languages.

Of course, its best if we start learning a language early. (Maroke/Shutterstock)

Nonetheless, introducing students at an earlier age to a foreign language, and thereby extending the number of years they study it, does bring results. Here I will cite the case of one of my Latin students. I began tutoring him in Latin when he was 7 years old, and just before his 14th birthday, he took the Advanced Placement Latin Exam and scored 4 out of 5 on that test, an above average score.

Learning a language often involves learning history and culture as well. Julius Caesars Commentarii de Bello Gallico is one of the most famous classical Latin texts. (Public Domain)

Is There Any Value in Studying a Foreign Language?

Certainly. Here are just a few of the reasons to do so.

Learning a foreign language puts students in touch with another country. Typically, students studying German, French, Spanish, or Chinese will pick up information about the culture of those nations. My high school French teacher, for example, who had spent a couple of years in that country, taught us French songs, regaled us with tales of living in Paris, and taught us a little modern French history.

The study of a foreign language, like the study of higher mathematics or the sciences, also exercises the mind, forcing students to think more abstractly than they might in a literature or history class.

And learning a foreign language immerses students in the basics of grammar. Given that many American students are weak in that subject, which is often neglected after elementary school, a new language brings into play such concepts as the subjunctive voice or the use of an adjective as a noun.

Those who wish to become teachers add strength to their job prospects if their resume includes a second language. An example: When I taught homeschoolers Latin, I would tell them that if they decided to pursue the classics, doors into the teaching world might open to them. Five of those young people are today Latin instructors in private schools. This same situation is probably true across the board, for as Steph Koyfman tells us, all of our schools are begging for qualified language teachers.

Finally, becoming fluent in another language opens doors of possibility for future employment and adventure. Our military and our diplomatic corps are always on the lookout for candidates fluent in a language other than English or Spanish, and many companies welcome job seekers who can engage foreign clients in their own language. The young woman I knew who became fluent in Russianshe majored in that and Russian history in collegeworked for several years in that country for an American firm.

These last two reasons account for the establishment of the European Day of Languages. Since 2001, the European Union has set aside Sept. 26 to celebrate its diverse languages and as a day to encourage its citizens, both young and old, to learn a new language so that they might enjoy greater opportunities in work and travel.

Maybe we Americans should do the same.

Resources and Help

Certainly we live in the best of times for acquiring a second language.

We can go online and read newspapers from Paris, watch any number of instructive videos on YouTube, enroll in foreign language programs through universities or community colleges, and purchase any number of language programs on CDs and DVDs. We can ask our neighbor, who spent part of her life in Spain, to instruct our children in Spanish. And we ourselves, whatever our age, can partake of these same gifts.

Online resources are more abundant than ever. The Live Lingua Project, for example, offers free instruction in over 130 foreign languages, with each program featuring free e-books, videos, and audios.

Or you might want to try the approach I took so long ago. Fill a desk full of grammar books and readers, chain yourself to a chair, metaphorically of course, and slog away for a few weeks. The methods painful, but it worked for me.

Et Voila!

At our fingertips are the means and materials to learn a foreign language. What is required is the time and willpower to make those resources our own.

Kathryn OBriens First Year French, the textbook I used 55 years ago, has these lines in the first lesson:

Jentre dans la salle de classe. I enter the classroom.

Je regarde autour de moi. I look around.

Je vois les eleves et le professeur. I see the students and the teacher.

Je dis bonjour au professeur. I say hello to the professor.

Je prends ma place. I take my place.

Young or old, if we want to learn a foreign language, we must enter the classroom, greet the teacher, and take our place.

Cest facile, eh?

Jeff Minick has four children and a growing platoon of grandchildren. For 20 years, he taught history, literature, and Latin to seminars of homeschooling students in Asheville, N.C., Today, he lives and writes in Front Royal, Va. See JeffMinick.com to follow his blog.
I feel a need to respond to Mr. Femi Adesina's article titled, "President Buhari focused on National Building and Unity of Nigeria," published in the Daily Trust of 15th September, 2020.

Being the spokesman to the president, Mr. Femi Adesina's sole job is defending the president and nothing more no matter what. I understand that. It's a tough job and right now I don't envy him. These are not the best of times for President Muhammadu Buhari and it's not an easy job defending the indefensible, especially at a time when perception is completely not favorable of the president and his administration.

This time most of the mordant criticism of the Buhari administration is coming from his strong base, the Core North, even from the President's home state of Katsina. We have witnessed protests over bandits coming from Katsina State and seen photos of protesters burning billboard with the large photo of the president.

Videos have emerged on social media with different notable Islamic clerics angrily criticising the president and blaming him for failing the masses, all of them noting the hunger in the land as food prices skyrocket out of reach of the masses, and the insecurity problem in the North West where bandits are on rampage killing and kidnapping people for ransome.

On top all of these scathing criticism, former President Olusegun Obasanjo finally buried his fang into the sore by hitting on Buhari when he made a statement in Abuja recently at the consultative dialogue attended by various socio-cultural groups which includes Afenifere, Middle Belt Forum, Northern Elders Forum, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, and Pan Niger Delta Forum. Mr. Olusegun Obasanjo said Nigeria is slowly becoming a failed, divided state, and the poverty capital of the world. He added that he has never seen a country in such a bad state, blaming the current state of the country on poor management of the nation's diversity. Prior to this Obasanjo had accused President Buhari of nepotism in his appointments of people working with him in a letter.

Despite Mr. Femi Adesina's attempts to wade off former President Obasanjo's statement by attacking his person and his administration, notable Nigerians have waded in supporting Obasanjo. Elder statesman, Playwrights and Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, issued a statement saying that even though he is not a fan of Obasanjo he cannot fault his statement.

President Buhari is not having it easy barely a year and four months into his second term in office. He can no longer hide under the 16 years underperformance of the People Democratic Party (PDP) in power that shielded him in his first four years in office. He can no longer hide under the cover of his late Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, who was his shock absorber, absorbing all the criticism and taking it with equanimity. Accused of misleading the president.

Mr. Femi Adesina's efforts to defend his boss is something he is paid to do, but nowadays it is becoming increasingly impossible to be believable. With hunger in the land, killings and kidnappings now the new normal, corruption within Buhari's people, with Magu, the anti-corruption boss getting busted and removed, unemployment, and more, no one in his or her right senses will take this administration seriously.
Egypt is dedicated to restricting the expansion of the military conflict in Libya and advocating a comprehensive political solution, FM Shoukry said

Egypt's foreign minister Sameh Shoukry told a conference in Athens on Wednesday that absolute adherence to international law is an essential prerequisite for regional relations, calling for pursuing political solutions in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Speaking at the Economists 24th roundtable, which is hosted by the government of Greece, Shoukry emphasised that maintaining security and stability and pursuing political solutions in the Eastern Mediterranean constitute the foundation for any meaningful debate on regional foreign policy.

The annual event, taking place on 15-16 September in the Greek capital, covers Europe and Eastern Mediterranean developments and is attended by officials from several countries and regional and international organisations.

Ankara's controversial moves to search for gas in the Eastern Mediterranean has escalated tensions with Greece and Cyprus, which charge that Turkey is violatiing their sovereignty over territorial waters.

A 2019 agreement between Turkey and Libyas Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) on demarcation of maritime boundaries in the Mediterranean Sea, was decried by Egypt, Greece, and Cyprus as illegal, a violation of international law, and an infringement on their economic rights.

The European Union has also called on Turkey to cease activities that violate Greek and Cypriot sovereignty.

Shoukry said that Egypt signed a maritime demarcation agreement with Greece to maximise the benefits from the wealth available in the Mediterranean.

"Egypt, Greece, and Cyprus established a trilateral cooperation mechanism in 2014,which demonstrates the strong political will to coordinate on significant projects," he pointed out.

Shoukry assured that the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum aims to provide a platform that ensures energy security and promotes cooperative projects.

Cairo is dedicated to restricting the expansion of the military conflict in Libya and advocating a comprehensive political solution to all components of the crisis through a Libyan-led dialogue, he added.

He stressed that comprehensive and collective solutions are crucial for combating terrorism and its sponsors, and for dealing with illegal migration and human trafficking.

"Prudent policy-making should guide us on how to best harness the huge potential and mutual benefit emanating from energy cooperation," he added.

The Egyptian minister affirmed that the influx of illegal migrants from Egypt to Europe has been terminated since September 2016.

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WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 15: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to members of the press prior to his departure from the White House on September 15, 2020 in Washington, DC. President Trump was traveling to Philadelphia to participate in an ABC News town hall event.(photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images/AFP)

The Geneva-based body has been caught in the middle of trade tensions between the United States and China, and has faced relentless attacks from President Donald Trump.

The tariffs, imposed in 2018, marked the beginning of the trade war between the world's two largest economies.

But a panel of experts -- set up by WTO's Dispute Settlement Body last year to review the US move -- ruled Tuesday the tariffs on Chinese goods were "inconsistent" with global trade rules, and recommended the US "bring its measures into conformity with its obligations".

The decision was met with ire in the US, with Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer saying it proved the WTO "is completely inadequate to stop Chinas harmful technology practices".

"The Trump Administration will not let China use the WTO to take advantage of American workers, businesses, farmers, and ranchers," he said.

But Beijing welcome the move as an "objective and fair ruling".

"China also hopes that the United States will fully respect the rulings of the expert group...take practical actions to meet China and other WTO members half way, jointly maintain the multilateral trading system, and promote the stable and healthy development of the world economy," a spokesman from the commerce ministry said.

- 'Blatant breach' -

Tuesday's announcement marks one of the first in a series of anticipated panel rulings over complaints filed by a long line of countries over Trump's decision to hit them with steep tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.

In a 72-page report, the panel said Washington had "not met its burden of demonstrating that its measures were provisionally justified" under international trade rules.

In particular, it rejected the US argument that the tariffs were applied to products it said had benefitted from practices that the US considers are contrary to "public morals", like theft, misappropriation and unfair competition.

"The United States had not met its burden of demonstrating how its restrictions contributed to protecting its public morals and did not extend beyond what was necessary," it said.

- 'No remedy' -

Lightizer said in response the US report had cited thousands of pieces of evidence showing China's unfair trade practices, which "have cost US innovators, workers, and businesses billions of dollars every year".

He said the WTO ruling showed that it "provides no remedy for such misconduct".

Usually parties unhappy with a panel decision can appeal within 60 days.

But that process has been complicated since the WTO Appellate Body -- also known as the supreme court of world trade -- stopped functioning in December after years of relentless US opposition.

Washington accuses the court of major overreach and has blocked the appointment of new judges, leaving it without the required quorum.

The European Union, China and a number of other countries have launched a temporary system for appealing trade dispute rulings, but the United States is not participating.

In its report, the panel stressed that it was "very much aware of the wider context in which the WTO system currently operates, which is one reflecting a range of unprecedented global trade tensions".

It called on the United States and China to "pursue further efforts to achieve a mutually satisfactory solution" to their dispute.
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Some workers are already going back home

JPMorgan Chase sent some of its workers home this week after an employee in its trading unit in Midtown Manhattan tested positive for the coronavirus, a person familiar with the matter told DealBook.

The timing isnt great. The news broke days after President Trump brought attention to the investment banks plan to bring some of its senior workers back to the office, inaccurately tweeting, Congratulations to JPMorgan Chase for ordering everyone BACK TO OFFICE on September 21st. Will always be better than working from home! (The bank had, in fact, only asked some senior employees in its sales and trading division to return.) Mr. Trumps tweet politicized a decision that JPMorgan, and other companies, would probably like to make without such fanfare.

Jamie Dimons reported comments about young people working from home didnt help either. JPMorgans C.E.O. told analysts with Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in a private meeting that working from home seems to have impacted younger employees, and overall productivity and creative combustion has taken a hit, one of the analysts, Brian Kleinhanzl, wrote in a note, according to Bloomberg. A spokesman for JPMorgan later clarified that the bank had noticed a productivity drop in all employees, though younger workers could be disadvantaged by missed learning opportunities.

The bigger story is how it highlights the calculations that companies are making as they bring people back to the office. The worries about productivity and weakening social ties are real, and so are the risks (including legal liability) of virus outbreaks in offices. The case numbers in New York are down, which could make people more comfortable with coming in; the same cant be said about London, for example. How much pressure should companies put on employees to return to the office? How will sporadic outbreaks affect workers attitudes toward coming in? When, if ever, will workers get used to the cycle of going to the office until a new case emerges and they are told to stay home? Is it better just to deal with the consequences of remote working until there is a vaccine?
New Delhi, Sep 16 : Construction major Tata Projects has won the bid to erect the federal Parliament's new building in place of the colonial-era structure here in the national capital. As per the available information, Tata Projects bid an amount of Rs 861.9 crore.

According to a company spokesperson: "We have emerged as the 'L1' in the comprehensive bidding process and are first in line to be awarded this prestigious contract to construct the new building of the Parliament." The new Parliament building will come under the Central Vista redevelopment project. It will be constructed in close proximity to the existing Parliament Building and it is scheduled to be finished in 21 months.

"Tata Projects is honoured to be associated with this project and to accelerate India's development," the spokesperson told IANS.

The new Parliament is going to be a ground plus two-storey triangular-shaped building. The work for it is likely to start after the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament. The new Parliament building will have a built-up area of a whopping 60,000 metre square.

In what can be good news post-COVID when social distancing is the norm, both the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha will have enlarged chambers in the new Parliament building. A parliamentarian today gets roughly 40 cm by 50 cm of space to sit while it will increase to 60 by 60 according to the new arrangement.

Last year August, both the Lok Sabha Speaker and the Rajya Sabha chairman urged the Modi government to modernise the present British Raj era-Parliament building. However, much before that, it was former Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan who had pitched for a new Parliament building. She had said back then that the colonial building was showing "distress".

In fact, Mahajan had written to then urban development minister and now Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu urging the same. In her letter, she had pitched saying, "On account of ageing of the Parliament House building and expansion in activities, staff etc, the building has shown signs of distress and over utilisation. Under the circumstances, there is an imperative need for the construction of a new state-of-the-art Parliament building." Interestingly, the matter was being talked about recently with certain members of the opposition questioning the funds required for this project. In fact, TMC leader Sougata Ray said, "You are ready to spend Rs 20,000 crore for Central Vista and you are taking away petty amounts from the MP".
Jesus Ruiz, the dean of the Lakeshore campus, said the library is one of several spots in the building where students can work on projects and get to know each other. The other centerpiece is the sixth-floor with a community room. It can be divided into as many as three rooms, or a single facility with a capacity of 300.
In Maharashtra, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh states badly affected by the virus, demand for oxygen has more than tripled.

Indias coronavirus infections surged past five million on Wednesday, piling pressure on hospitals grappling with unreliable supplies of oxygen that they need to treat tens of thousands of critical patients.

In the big states of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, that are also some of the worst-affected by the virus, oxygen demand has more than tripled, doctors and government officials said, prompting urgent calls for help.

Desperate patients have been calling me through the night but I dont know when I will get stock, Rishikhesh Patil, an oxygen supplier in the western city of Nashik, told Reuters news agency.

The health ministry reported 90,123 new infections on Wednesday, taking the total caseload to 5.02 million.

The death toll from COVID-19 is now at 82,066, the ministry said, with 1,290 fatalities recorded in the previous 24 hours.





India has the worlds fastest-growing novel coronavirus epidemic and added its last million infections in just 11 days. It is only the second country in the world to have more than five million cases, after the United States.

At least 6 percent of Indias nearly one million active cases need oxygen support, health ministry official Rajesh Bhushan told reporters. Supplies were adequate but state governments should monitor usage and flag shortages, he said.

The problem happens when at a facility level, if there is no inventory management. Every state should ensure this, Bhushan said.

Demand for oxygen cylinders surge

In the capital of Indias most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, the total requirement of oxygen cylinders stood at 5,000 cylinders compared with 1,000 cylinders in normal times, a government official said.

The worst-affected state of Maharashtra has decided to reduce supply to neighbouring states to meet its growing demand, a state government official said.

Vehicles carrying oxygen will get right of way and can use sirens to ensure they reach hospitals faster.

Ravindra Khade Patil, a doctor who manages two private hospitals on the outskirts of Mumbai, spoke of the stress he faces trying to ensure he can supply his patients with oxygen.

Two days ago, the supplier of oxygen to his hospitals did not turn up at his usual time.

Patil made frantic calls to the supplier and then to nearby hospitals and politicians, knowing that if the oxygen did not arrive on time, it would be too late for some of his most critical patients.

Finally, past midnight, thanks to pressure from a government official, the oxygen tanks arrived.

If they had arrived even a couple of hours late, we could have lost five or six patients. Every day, we are worried if we will be able to meet our requirements, if the oxygen will arrive or not, Patil told Reuters.
Germany's health minister, Jens Spahn, has expressed his concern about the situation with the pandemic in Spain.

At a press conference, he pointed out that there were "not many countries in the European Union which adopted such harsh measures to control the first wave", but declined to speculate as to why the figures have risen as they have in Spain. The German government has placed Spain on its list of countries to which it advises against travel.

"I cannot say what is happening," he observed, adding that it would be necessary to investigate the causes "in depth".

Current travel advice will remain in force until the end of September. Travellers returning to Germany from Spain and other risk countries must present a negative test for coronavirus or quarantine for fourteen days. The test needs to have been carried out, at the most, 48 hours before travelling. Free tests are available on return to Germany. These require quarantining until the results are known.
The ring of steel containing Melbourne during the coronavirus pandemic has been intensified ahead of eased restrictions in regional Victoria.

Regional parts of the state will progress to the third step in Premier Daniel Andrews' lockdown reopening roadmap at 11.59pm on Wednesday night.

Victoria Police and Australian Defence Force personnel have increased checks on cars at the city borders to curb the expected rush of exiting residents.

Authorities anticipate a wave of Melburnians will seek to leave the city in search of eased community restrictions, 3AW reported.

The ring of steel will tighten around Metropolitan Melbourne's city borders with increased police checks (police checkpoint pictured) as regional Victoria lifts coronavirus lockdown

Regional Victoria will enter the Third Step of Premier Daniel Andrews' lockdown reopening roadmap at 11.59pm on Wednesday night (Melbourne residents pictured on Monday)

One motorist, Eddie, who drives from Torquay to Melbourne daily, said he already noticed the change.

'Last night was the first time I've had a queue of over two kilometres going to Geelong,' he explained.

Police checkpoints have been set up around the Melbourne border and target main roads out of the city.

Chief Commissioner Shane Patton has previously warned motorists about a 'significant police presence' along the Hume Freeway, Calder Freeway and Princes Freeway heading to Geelong.

The four reasons to leave your home will no longer apply, most workplaces will reopen and schools will return with a staggered start in regional Victoria.

Gathering limits will also increase to 10 people outdoors and up to five nominated visitors from another household bubble.

Restaurants will operate with a cap of 10 seated patrons indoors and 50 outdoors.

Gathering limits will increase to 10 people at weddings, 20 mourners at funerals and 10 people plus one faith leader at outdoor religious gatherings.

Children can also return to community sport and adults will be able to take part in non-contact sport.

Melburnians (pictured at Elwood beach) are expected to flock to regional Victoria in search of eased restrictions as outdoor gathering limits are raised to 10 and restaurant dining resumes

Mr Andrews announced the eased restrictions for regional Victorians on Tuesday.

'There are no new cases in regional Victoria and that means there are just 43 active cases across regional Local Government Areas.

'I am absolutely delighted to be able to announce that regional Victoria from 11.59pm tomorrow night will be able to take the Third Step,' he said.

The premier commended regional Victorians for adhering to the tough lockdown.

'I am so, so pleased and proud of every single regional Victorian who has stayed the course, follow the rules and got tested.

Regional Victorians can also enjoy five visitors from a nominated household, a return to work and a staggered start to schooling in term 4 (residents at South Melbourne Beach pictured)

'There is no greater evidence to the people of Melbourne that this strategy, getting numbers low, is essential,' Mr Andrews explained.

The premier is expected to announced stricter checks at the Melbourne border and harsher penalties for city residents travelling without a permitted reason on Wednesday.

Victoria recorded zero COVID-19 deaths and 42 additional cases of the virus on Tuesday.

Melbourne also took its first tentative steps out of lockdown on Monday, with those living alone or single parents allowed to have one visitor, outdoor exercise extended to two hours and the curfew's start time extended an hour to 9pm.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Victoria Police for comment.
New York will begin allowing visitors to see loved ones at nursing homes that have been coronavirus-free for 14 days, up from 28 days under previous rules, the health commissioner said Tuesday.

The policy goes into effect Thursday, Health Commissioner Howard Zucker said. State health officials will monitor to ensure more visits dont increase COVID-19 cases, he said.

We understand how trying it has been for New Yorkers to not see their loved ones and the challenges theyve had to endure during this unprecedented pandemic, Zucker said.

The state halted most visits at care homes March 13, though visits that were medically necessary or for end-of life services were allowed.

In July, the state began to allow restricted visits at nursing homes and assisted living facilities without a COVID-19 case among residents or staffers for 28 days.

Visitors must present a verified negative test result within the previous seven days, and facility staffers must refuse anyone who fails to do so. Staffers must also turn away people who show symptoms or dont pass screening questions.

Visits will be limited to outdoor areas with weather permitting, though visits of no more than 10 people in an inside well-ventilated space can be allowed on a case-by-case basis. Visits will be prohibited in resident rooms or care areas, in most cases.

Nearly 6,500 residents have died or likely died of COVID-19 at nursing homes as of Sunday, according to state data. The data also includes at least 177 deaths among residents at adult care homes.
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THE Civic United Front (CUF) presidential candidate, Professor Ibrahim Lipumba, has promised to raise the ministry of health's budget by 15 per cent over the next ten years, if he is elected president.

Addressing a campaign rally on Tuesday he said that the budgetary increase will facilitate the acquisition of adequate modern infrastructure, specialists, medical equipment and tests for all diseases.

According to Prof Lipumba, the increase would facilitate the allocation of a special fund that would facilitate swift response to outbreaks such as Covid-19.

"The Government of National Unity will ensure 70 per cent of Tanzanians have health insurance by 2025, and 100 per cent by 2028. Special measures will be taken to ensure maternity services are available freely to pregnant women, so as to reduce the number of avoidable deaths," he asserted.

CUF launched its campaigns at Sabasaba grounds in Mtwara last Tuesday, where he said that among other things, they will invest heavily in women and children's health; ensuring high quality maternal health care with improved facilities for every woman and better care for their children.

"We will ensure provision of improved health care services especially on nutrition for women and children," he said, noting that most pregnant women had for a long time faced challenges during delivery due to poor nutrition they receive during pregnancy.

Prof Lipumba promised to ensure that the country's economy grows by 10 per cent annually, highlighting key areas that the party will focus on if elected, as including improvement of business environment, education, agriculture and health sectors.

He said they would improve the business environment through advancing local and foreign investment in the country and revive industries to curb unemployment among the youth.

"If elected to lead the nation on October 28 this year, the party will make major economic reforms in the country," he said.

Pro Lipumba said his party had the best policy suitable for improving and ensuring a favorable environment for investments, businesses and entrepreneurship activities in the country.

"We need to ensure that money supply meets the demand and this will be possible if we invest more and ensure the country's GDP grows by ten per cent per year and money supply advances to 20 per cent annually," he said.
The forthcoming budget is being prepared on the assumption that there will be a no-deal Brexit, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has said.

Mr Donohoe said events in the UK have left him with no option but to draft the budget on the basis of Britain leaving the European Union (EU) without securing a trade agreement.

During an online press conference, the minister said the central planning assumptions for his budget will be a no-deal Brexit and the continued presence of Covid-19 in the country next year.

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Both of these of course highlight to all of us the very high level of uncertainty that the economy is facing at the moment but it also reaffirms for Minister McGrath and myself and for the budget and for the country, the importance of putting together a budget that can respond back to the uncertainty that is there, and to help our economy and our society and make its way through a very volatile and changing environment, Mr Donohoe said.

Separately, Mr Donohoe revealed he plans to repeat the changes on carbon taxes introduced in last year's budgets which means they will go up by another 6 to 32 per tonne.

He said he will use funding raised from these measures to invest in climate action policies which will ensure increases in carbon tax do not impact on those who can least afford it.

The minister also confirmed he will not be increasing or decreasing any income taxes in the budget.

Mr Donohoe said he wanted to ensure income tax revenues remained very steady to allow him to respond back to the challenges posed by Brexit and Covid.

He said keeping income taxes as they are will also create economic confidence which will lead to international investment in Ireland. He said in previous years the Government would have economic forecasts at this stage of the year which would inform their decision making on the budget.

However, he said the uncertainty around Covid meant they have yet to receive official forecasts.

Public Expenditure Minister Michael McGrath announced that 9bn will be set aside in the budget for capital expenditure projects next year. He said the National Development Plan (NDP) for the next decade is still being reviewed and it will not be completed in time for the budget.

Mr McGrath said no decision on social welfare rates has been made ahead of the budget when asked if there was financial leeway for pension or disability payment increases.

The Minister said there will also be no changes to the pandemic unemployment payment which is due to be reduced again tomorrow.
The enrollment deadline for Spring 2022 semester has been extended to Friday, January 14.

We welcome students who choose to complete their bachelor's degree after attending a community college, as well as those who wish to transfer to MCLA from a four-year institution. MCLA enrolls close to 300 transfers annually. Admission is available for both fall and spring terms to over 80 programs of study.

Simple and Seamless

Transfer a maximum of 75 credits to MCLA

Credits accepted for all courses 100 level or higher with a C- or better

Applying for Transfer Admission

If you have completed 12 or more college-level credits at an accredited college or university, you should apply for admission as a transfer.

1. Submit an application in one of the following ways:

2. Send MCLA your Official college transcripts from each institution attended. Have official transcripts sent to:

admissions@mcla.edu

or

MCLA Office of Admission

Attn: Kolumbia Granger

375 Church Street

North Adams, MA 01247

Additional requirments for international students can be found here.

3. Get an Admission Decision!

Additional Documentation may be requested by your admission counselor. Admission for transfer students operates on a rolling admission basis for the fall semester. We encourage you to apply before March 1 for priority consideration for academic scholarships and financial aid. Applicants for the spring term should apply by December 1.









TRANSFER AGREEMENTS Expand All Collapse All Mass Transfer Program As a student enrolled in a Massachusetts State community college, MCLA honors all levels of the MassTransfer program. Students who complete associate degrees under MassTransfer may be eligible for: Guaranteed Admission (based on final transcript)

Full transfer of up to 75 credits

Will take in courses 100 level or higher with a D or Better

100% tuition waiver (based on final GPA)

Waiver of core requirements For more details visit: MASS.EDU/MASSTRANSFER Back to top New York Transfer Program New York students can expect a personalized admission process designed to maximize credit transfers. Program Requirements: Earned Associate s degree (A.A. or A.S.) from a State University of New York (SUNY) institution

Minimum 2.5 GPA Program Benefits Maximizes transfer credits to provide students with a clear plan to complete a general education transfer block.

Automatic satisfaction of most core curriculum requirements for the potential of 60 transfer credits. (MCLA will require completion of a senior level capstone class and a physical education course.)

Guaranteed admission to the major of your choice

NY Tuition Reduction (see Tuition Information) Back to top

QUESTIONS? CONTACT:
Courtesy Kori Sidaway By JACQUELINE LAUREAN YATES, ABC News



(NEW YORK) -- One Canadian journalist is speaking up against a viewer who tried to body-shame her.



On Twitter, Kori Sidaway of CHEK News in Victoria, British Columbia, posted a screenshot of an anonymous message sent to her attempting to "shame and police" her body.



The screenshot of the email was positioned as "breaking news," and the top line reads "too much cleavage can break a news story." The sender, who signed their name "Vancouver Island Cleavage Patrol," went on to advise Sidaway to dress appropriately.



As a response to the email, Sidaway said, "To the nameless computer warrior(s) who try to reduce women into an outfit or a body part -- this generation of women, doesn't stand for harassment."

This screenshot was sent to me and my colleagues in an attempt to shame and police my body. Well, Im taking my power back.



To the nameless computer warrior(s) who try to reduce women into an outfit or a body part  this generation of women, doesnt stand for harassment pic.twitter.com/fgGySbVTYy  Kori Sidaway (@korisidaway) September 7, 2020

"My first reaction was total shock," Sidaway told ABC News' Good Morning America. "I just couldn't believe someone put so much time and energy into policing my body."



What made matters worse is that Sidaway quickly found out that the email was not only sent to her, but to everyone from CHEK News' IT and advertising team as well as her boss and many others in the newsroom.



After the initial shock came feelings of shame. Sidaway worried that her colleagues would now be assessing her outfit and body.

"I felt as if someone had taken the power over my own body away," she said. "I felt completely defeated."



"Then came the anger," Sidaway added. "I didn't want to let this nameless keyboard warrior take my power away. I didn't want to give them the result they wanted."



Sidaway's boss responded to the email advising the sender that the company would be looking into anything criminal in the harassing message. The person on the nameless email responded, in short, "sounds good."



She responded as well, saying "to the nameless, anonymous computer warrior who decided to reduce the work I do into an outfit, or a body part. You consciously took time out of your day to police a woman's body, and you seem proud of that. I genuinely feel sorry for you. Next time, I hope you choose respect, and kindness."



Sidaway says she has received negative comments in the past from viewers about her clothing or body, but this message hit differently.



"The implication being, not only am I responsible for my own work, my own appearance, but now I'm responsible for the imagination of others," she said. "Let's be clear, I am not. No one is responsible for the actions or thoughts of others."



She continued, "And the extension of that line of thinking is even more frightening. At its root, saying that someone else is responsible for your imagination, is victim-blaming. No woman is responsible for the thoughts or actions of others, and I wanted that heard, not hidden. I wanted to shine a light on this terrifying thought process."



Sidaway was motivated to share her experience on social media because she didn't want to sit in shame. She also didn't want to internalize the harassment.



"The person who sent the email wanted to shrink me, instead I stood tall," she said. "I looked at the photo of myself they had sent. I look beautiful. I look powerful. So, I decided to flip the script this person wrote me into repurposing the photo into something powerful."



Struck by Sidaway's initial post, a flood of other messages came in from other women sharing similar experiences.



Journalist and TV host Camila Gonzalez also chimed in, saying, "I got an anonymous handwritten letter delivered to my network two weeks ago saying 'decent men don't want to see your 'low cut tops.' It shows poor taste in character. Hope you come to your senses and stick to doing your job.' I hate to hear it's happening across Canada."



Sidaway said that the reactions to her post have mostly been positive and have included commentary from mothers telling her she is a hero for their daughters. Others thanked her for standing up for women everywhere.



She hopes that other women learn this kind of harassment doesn't come with the territory.



"Yes, we put ourselves out there and yes we are in the public eye," Sidaway said. "But our bodies are not for consumption. Any harassment and shame is not yours to bear. We've been policing women's bodies for eons. Let's change that."



Copyright  2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
How much is your daughter worth?

It didn't take long after Mayor Greg Fischer announced Louisville has agreed to pay the family of Breonna Taylor $12 million to settle the family's lawsuit against the city for the attacks to start.

One person wrote on Fischer's official Facebook page this whole thing was "all about the money."

"Her mother looks a lot happier now that she won money," another disgusting person wrote after Tamika Palmer spoke and fought to hold back tears.

So, I'll ask those people who claim this was all about money and that her mother looks happier: How much is your daughter worth?

Policing the USA: I'm a licensed gun owner but I haven't carried in years. Why? I'm Black and I'm scared.

A bottle of Boone's Farm and a gift certificate to Bass Pro Shop?

What about a case of Budweiser and a couple of crisp Benjamins?

If $12 million is too much, how much would your daughter's life be worth?

Would you trade one of your children for a used Toyota?

What about a new BMW Z4 roadster?

"Money hungry people," one guy wrote on The Courier Journal's Facebook page.

How much would you take for one of your kids?

Would it be a paid-off mortgage for your house in the suburbs?

What about a stately old home in Cherokee Triangle? Or a mansion in Glenview?

"$$$$$$$$$$$ that's all that matters," wrote another person on The Courier Journal's Facebook page.

First of all, that's not true on its face. Palmer and her lawyers negotiated some significant police reforms along with the money for which they eventually settled.

But that's not even the point.

Attorney Ben Crump holds the hand of Tamika Palmer, the mother of Breonna Taylor, as they leave Metro Hall after the city of Louisville agreed to pay $12 million to the estate of Breonna Taylor. At Palmer's left is attorney Lonita Baker, who also represents Taylor's family. Sept. 15, 2020

If you think you're qualified to put a price tag on the life of another person's child, what would the price tag be on your own child's life?

Would it be a half-million dollars? Or a million?

Is $2 million the value of your little princess' life.

Or what about $3 million.

Come on, spit it out.

Story continues

"$$$$$ all they looking for," one pathetic individual wrote.

She was so intent on making her point that four minutes later, she commented again: "So it's all about $$$$."

If you can dismiss a mother's pain so casually by suggesting money is the only reason she sued, you must have an idea how much your daughter's life is worth.

Would you trade your daughter, or any of your children, for $12 million?

Handcuffed, unarmed and no threat: Yes, Rochester police, the death of mentally ill Daniel Prude is 'your guys fault'

The fact of the matter is, Louisville's police screwed up and Breonna Taylor died because of it.

They should have never burst into Taylor's apartment in the middle of the night on March 13 based on the information they had. They should have never been granted the warrant they obtained to begin with because the information used to get it was outdated.

And Breonna Taylor died because of it.

It doesn't matter that police, according to a document leaked a couple of weeks ago, believed Taylor was holding drug money for an old boyfriend, or that they thought she had been receiving narcotics for him.

She had not been convicted of that, and when they stormed her apartment on the night she died, they didn't find any evidence to support their beliefs.

And Breonna Taylor died despite that.

So, when you criticize Palmer for accepting a large settlement, ask yourself, how much is your daughter's life worth?

And if you come up with an answer, you've got even less of a soul than your hateful comments about Palmer exhibit.

Joseph Gerth is the metro columnist for the Louisville Courier Journal, where this column originally appeared.

You can read diverse opinions from our Board of Contributors and other writers on the Opinion front page, on Twitter @usatodayopinion and in our daily Opinion newsletter. To respond to a column, submit a comment to letters@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Breonna Taylor settlement: How much is your daughter's life worth?
Customers can now translate their legacy code to Snowflake and AWS RedShift in a self-service capacity

TORONTO, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - Next Pathway Inc. , the Automated Cloud Migration company, today announced that its industry-leading code translation technology, SHIFTTM Translator, is now available to customers through the AWS Marketplace. This listing empowers companies to leverage SHIFTTM Translator by subscribing to the tool through a software-as-a-service (SaaS) license directly from their AWS console.

This is a gamechanger for companies that are seeking an automated migration path to modern cloud platforms, from legacy technologies like Teradata and Netezza, to modern platforms like Snowflake and AWS Redshift. Through the SaaS offering, any company can start using SHIFTTM Translator immediately with just a few clicks, with the security, scalable compute and simplified billing that the AWS Marketplace provides.

SHIFTTM Translator on the AWS Marketplace allows users to quickly generate an analysis report on their legacy database code to accelerate migration planning, and translate complex code types, such as SQL, Stored Procedures, ETL, and others, without any intermediary. This self-service capability further accelerates the time to market for complex data warehouse migration projects.

"By launching our industry-leading SHIFTTM Translator on the AWS Marketplace, we are putting the power of automation directly in our customer's hands to accelerate their legacy to cloud migration projects", said Chetan Mathur, Chief Executive Officer at Next Pathway. "At Next Pathway we are intently focused on simplifying migrations to the cloud, and through our SaaS offering of SHIFTTM, we are equipping customers to start their migration projects faster and reduce their overall timelines and costs."

SHIFTTM Translator on AWS Marketplace is available immediately. You can learn more and subscribe to the service by clicking here.

About Next Pathway

Next Pathway is the Automated Cloud Migration company. Powered by the SHIFT Migration Suite , Next Pathway automates the end-to-end challenges companies experience when migrating applications to the cloud.

SHIFT Migration Suite consists of four apps that automate key steps in a migration lifecycle:

SHIFT CRAWLER automatically scans and catalogs legacy data sources, including ETL pipelines, scheduler jobs, and downstream consuming applications, to uncover actionable insights to plan your migration more effectively.

automatically scans and catalogs legacy data sources, including ETL pipelines, scheduler jobs, and downstream consuming applications, to uncover actionable insights to plan your migration more effectively. SHIFT ANALYZER assesses various code types within legacy applications to create inventories of all objects, define complexity, and provide automation rates in order to size your migration.

assesses various code types within legacy applications to create inventories of all objects, define complexity, and provide automation rates in order to size your migration. SHIFT TRANSLATOR automates the translation of complex workloads when executing your migration to the cloud  including SQL, Stored Procedures, ETL, and various other code types  for various source and target platforms.

automates the translation of complex workloads when executing your migration to the cloud  including SQL, Stored Procedures, ETL, and various other code types  for various source and target platforms. SHIFT TESTER automates key tasks in the testing lifecycle when executing and optimizing workloads within the cloud

Next Pathway accelerates the time to market for cloud migration initiatives. For more information, please visit nextpathway.com .

Connect with Next Pathway

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SOURCE Next Pathway

Related Links

www.nextpathway.com


State government workers have embarked on a one-week warning strike in Ogun over the refusal of the government to implement the new national minimum wage.

The strike was declared on Tuesday evening by Emmanuel Bankole, the state chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

The NLC had given a 14-day ultimatum to the state government on the implementation of the new minimum wage.

Following the expiration of the ultimatum, the workers protested at the governors office, Oke-Mosan, in Abeokuta on Tuesday.

While the protest was ongoing, the leaders of the NLC, Trade Union Congress and Joint Negotiating Council went for a closed-door meeting with the government. The meeting later ended at deadlock.

Speaking with journalists after the meeting, Mr Bankole said asides minimum wage, they were demanding the abolition of the pension reform bill, the payment of gratuities, payment of outstanding six years leave allowances, three years promotion and 134 months unpaid pension.

Unfortunately the negotiation ended in a deadlock. And so the one-week warning strike will commence at 12 midnight tomorrow (Wednesday).

With the facts before us, Ogun State is not the poorest in the South-West. So, we are saying no, all their excuses are unacceptable to us. The position of the government is unacceptable to us. What they said was that minimum wage will have to be delayed so that they can do certain things and we said no, enough is enough.

In a swift reaction, the Special Adviser to Governor Dapo Abiodun on Public Affairs, Remmy Hazzan, said the strike is unnecessary.

He said the state has no financial capacity to implement the minimum wage.

In October 2019, the federal government and the labour unions reached an agreement on consequential adjustments in salaries that must be implemented across all boards in line with the new minimum wage law.

Only 17 of the 36 state governments have begun the implementation of the new minimum wage.

They include Borno, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Lagos, Ondo, Sokoto, Yobe and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
One claimant, who asked not to be identified, said in an email that the only way my stuff was straightened out (and I was never given an explanation as to what the problem or hold up was) was by contacting Mr. Stewart and other officials. Thank goodness for them.
Is there one or not? What is the second wave of the coronavirus infection? When did the first wave end if the second has started? These are questions that we may not really have the answer to. Not now, at least.

Dr Randeep Guleria, member of Indias National Task Force on Covid-19, director of Delhis AIIMS and a leading pulmonologist told CNN-News18 about some parts of the country witnessing a second wave of infection.

While theres no clear definition of what constitutes an epidemic wave, a wave by definition would imply a rising number of sick individuals, a defined peak, and then a decline.

So has that happened in India? In some places, says Dr Guleria. In some areas, there is Covid-19 behaviour fatigue. People are now tired of taking safety measures and in Delhi, they can be seen without masks and gathering in crowds," he said. This has led to an increase in the number of Covid-19 cases.

Dr Guleria also said there will be a rise in the number of cases for some months before the curve is flattened, adding that although we will see a large number of cases in absolute numbers, per million cases will be low.

In June, Chief Scientist of the World Health Organization Soumya Swaminathan said a second wave of infection is a very real risk as the virus is still present in the community. We dont know if it will be a second wave, a second peak or a continuing first wave in some countries, she had said.

But India has ducked this, claims Professor Balram Bhargava, Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). US and countries of Europe had a peak, then they came down and there is a second wave occurring there. We took learning from that. We distributed the curve in a way that we didnt have many deaths. It was because we had an effective lockdown. We didnt have a huge peak at all, he told News18.

At the beginning of the pandemic, Joint Secretary in the ministry of Health, Lav Agarwal, claimed that in India, the peak may never come. Indias Covid-19 graph has indicated that cases have not technically plateaued as is expected in a virus. Not yet and the graph is only spiralling.

Things remain conjectures at best. Since India is a large country that consists of several states, many of which are at the varying stages of pandemic, it is quite likely that India will see its cases rising slow and steady for a very long time and might plateau. This is because even as current high burden states peak or plateau, there are new ones where cases are still rising exponentially. So it really doesnt make sense to talk about a peak for the country as a whole, says health economist Rijo M John.

The government, too, is on record to say that different places may see a peak at different times. But there is nothing to show that we are at a peak yet, claims the government. Clearly, no cases peaking also means no scope for cases to plateau either. On Tuesday, the government explained how different areas are behaving distinctly in India. Maharashtra rose from 6,000 to 21,000 cases per day between July and September. There is some stabilisation in Karnataka. Uttar Pradesh has seen an increase in cases from 829 to 6,477. There are initial signs of decline in Tamil Nadu, Rajesh Bhushan, Union Health Secretary, said.

The first wave has not completely subsided in areas with high transmission (from the beginning such as Mumbai and Delhi). Without touching the baseline or at a lower minimum, we cannot technically say there is a second wave. Depends on how one looks at the data. In my opinion, this is continuation of first wave, says Dr Giridhar Babu, epidemiologist and member of the National Task Force against Covid-19.

States and regions within each state are peaking at different points of time. This depends on temporal differences of introduction of infection in a region, population movement and compliance of using mask and distancing etc. Therefore, Indias total count might plateau for some time rather than one single peak in the form of an inverted V, he says

India is reporting close to 90,000 cases and more every day. The cases are increasing and so are the deaths that have been consistently well above the 1,000 mark for 15 days in a row. Even cities like Delhi that saw minor respite in reporting new cases have not seen significant decline in hospitalisation rates or cases plateauing. In that sense, the claim of a second wave from a section within the government and counter claims of distributing the curve have added intrigue to the debate around Covid-19 in India and what to expect in the days to come.

The Covid-19 pandemic is often compared to the 1918 H1N1 influenza pandemic, which had at least three waves over the course of a year. In that sense, Covid-19 is very different.
Nigerian financial service technology company, OPay has announced a partnership with leading global digital payments platform WorldRemit, to offer international money transfers directly into OPay mobile wallets in Nigeria.

The partnership between OPay and WorldRemit will provide Nigerians with a fast, easy and more affordable way to receive money from over 50 countries including the United States, United Kingdom and Canada directly into their mobile phones.

We are very excited about our partnership with WorldRemit. At OPay, our goal is to consistently drive financial inclusion across Nigeria, meeting the demands of the banked and unbanked. With this partnership, we will smoothen the process in which Nigerians receive money from friends and family abroad, says Kunle Olamuyiwa, Director of Remittance Service at OPay.

With our seamless technology, OPay provides Nigerians with a much more comfortable and faster option for customers to receive money in the comfort of their homes. Our 300,000 agent locations spread across the country makes cash withdrawals more convenient, Olamuyiwa adds.

OPay also offers an exciting opportunity for customers to save and invest their money in its FlexiFixed service, which offers up to 12% returns per annum.

The service which launches in September 2020, is immediately available to all OPay customers on KYC 2 level and above. New customers can download the Opay app from the Google Playstore or iOS store and upgrade to KYC level 2 to instantly access the service.

This partnership ensures that customers can continue to make affordable money transfers to their family and friends in the comfort of their homes. Together WorldRemit and OPay are disrupting traditional money transfer methods by delivering services that customers can access 24/7 via smartphones at their convenience. Im pleased to share that weve reduced prices in 48 corridors and passed the savings onto our customers. With communities across the world having to change their lifestyles due to the disruption caused by Covid-19, were proud to play our part in making sure our customers can continue to support their family and friends throughout this challenging time, says Gbenga Okejimi, Country Manager for Nigeria & Ghana at WorldRemit.

For more details, visit https://operapay.com/remittance/

About OPay

OPay is a leading mobile money (MMO) and financial technology platform in Nigeria. Currently, it has a network of 300,000 agents, 5 million registered app users, and an ever-increasing range of financial and related services for Nigerians.

OPay launched its mobile payment service in August 2018, creating an infrastructure on which the company is now also adding new services. The agent-centric mobile payment operation focuses on reaching the massive unbanked population of Nigeria.

About WorldRemit

WorldRemit is a leading international payments company that enables users to transfer money to countries, including the Philippines, Kenya, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, and India, as well as choose whether transfer is received as a bank deposit, cash pickup, mobile money, and airtime top-up. The company was founded in 2009.
The Fauquier Times is honored to serve as your community companion. To say thank you, we are excited to offer 4 weeks FREE Digital & Print access to all subscribers new and returning alike.

We are dedicated to continuing providing reliable, high quality journalism. This is possible with the trust and support of our subscribers in the community we are proud to serve.
Hotels for sale is reaching a record number in a decade in Vietnam.

The number of hotels for sale is reaching a record high in a decade in Vietnam as the Covid-19 pandemic has thrown the local tourism industry in abyss, according to real estate brokers.

Every day, dozens of hotels in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and coastal cities are for sale, but the number of properties hitting the market far outstrips that of buyers.

A hotel in Hai Ba Trung district, Hanoi. Photo: Saigondautu

In Hanoi, the Old Quarter is home to many hotels for sale due to the impacts of the second wave of Covid-19 infections. Located on Hue Street, a 200m2 hotel is offered at VND300 million (US$12,930) per m2. Also, a 5-story hotel on Hang Be street with 16 rooms and 5.5m main side is asking for VND69 billion (US$3 million).

Hang, who owns many hotels in Hanoi's Old Quarter, said that because of indebtedness, she had to sell her Emerald hotel.

Another hotel is posted on the online exchange Alonhadat stating "for sale for Covid-19" to attract the interest of the buyer.

From the beginning of September until now, a large number of hotels have hit the market in the cities of Danang, Nha Trang, Vung Tau, Phu Quoc and Quy Nhon. However, hotels for sale in coastal cities are mostly 2 to 3 stars, even mini hotels. Sales prices for these properties are also lower than in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, ranging from VND15 billion (US$646,516) to tens of billions VND for a hotel with less than 30 rooms.

Since Covid-19 broke out, the hotel business is the group that suffered the most and hit the hardest, Vo Quoc Phuong Trang, director of the Hotel Investment Division at JLL Vietnam, told VnExpress. Most hotels closed or took advantage of the closing period for repair and maintenance.

Due to the lack of a reliable forecast for the end of Covid-19, many hotels are still running at a loss and owners are considering selling to stop the burning of cash and pay off debt.

Still wait to see

A hotel in the Hanoi's Old Quarter closed due to Covid-19. Photo: VnExpress

In the three-star or lower category, most hotels are run by family-owned companies with a long history in the hotel business that have little or no debt, so they still try to keep assets. However, it is time for some small-scale hotel owners to review operating models and finances before deciding to pursue the longer-term strategy, JLL's Trang added.

Recently, JLL has received many requests from domestic owners to sell properties or seek capital support for hotels. There are more and more hotels for sale to "cut losses."

Although many properties are hitting the market, the volume of transactions is negligible and tends to decrease compared to previous years, as sellers and buyers are still waiting for new developments of the disease.

Mauro Gasparotti, director of Savills Hotels Asia Pacific, said that at the end of August, the Vietnamese market had not registered any divestment in the form of liquidation. Since the beginning of the year, there have been no merger and acquisition transactions of resort or hotel real estate projects. Because this is an uncertain period that is difficult for asset valuation, it is hard to predict the level of risks posed by the complicated developments of Covid-19, he added.

Currently, hotel and resort projects in the 4-5-star categories are still able to keep their operations. However, 2-3-star hotels or mini hotels are facing more pressure than the high-end ones.

Gasparotti predicted that the tourism and resort market may fully recover between now and the next two years and there is a possibility of asset liquidation if the recovery is slower. For example, in the next six months, if the situation continues to be bleak, resort and hotel projects would be forced to carry out a strong restructuring of capital flows.

However, there will not be many well-located and quality hotel and resort projects sold on the market. This will be the time period when asset sales will be discussed most frequently, but not to the point of actually selling them, Gasparotti said. Hanoitimes

Nhat Minh

Hotel rates down steeply as COVID-19 keeps away tourists The hotel industry is facing arguably its greatest challenge as the impacts of COVID-19 keep away foreign visitors from the country.
The WIMCC (West Island of Montreal Chamber of Commerce) has been hearing form its members that the coronavirus has been terrible for a lot of businesses but you can learn from a crisis. For example, some restaurants have told us that they are doing better business via home delivery than in house visits, said Executive Director and President Joseph Huza.
Learning Spaces

Purdue Shares Look Inside HyFlex Classroom

The HyFlex model is giving Purdue students the option to participate in class remotely in real time or physically attend on any given day. Photo: John Underwood/Purdue University

Nathan Mentzer, an associate professor in Purdue University's Polytechnic Institute and College of Education, got an early start with the HyFlex model just as the COVID-19 pandemic was starting to impact higher ed institutions across the country: He started blending both face-to-face and online instruction in his classrooms weeks before Purdue officially shifted to remote learning last spring.

Mentzer wanted his students to be able to participate in class remotely in real time or physically attend on any given day, according to a university news story. "Before spring break, I could see that we were headed in the direction of online learning," he said. "I wanted to help my students make that transition, knowing that the pandemic was likely going to have a long-lasting impact on how we approach teaching."

Together with graduate student Lakshmy Mohandas and Shawn Farrington, a continuing lecturer and course coordinator, Mentzer continued that HyFlex model in the summer. In his Design Thinking in Technology (Tech120) course, for example, Mentzer and his remote students attended online via Microsoft Teams while Mohandas taught face-to-face in the classroom. Online participants were displayed on a large screen at the front of the room.

The flexibility and versatility of the HyFlex model has been a key benefit, said Chantal Levesque-Bristol, director of teaching success at Purdue. "If students are unable to come to class for a period of time because they are in isolation or quarantined, they can complete the requirements online and continue progressing in the course," she noted. "When students are able to come back to the face-to-face class, they have not been delayed in the course progression. This also allows flexibility to the members of the instructional staff (instructors and teacher assistants) who need to teach remotely if needed."

Mentzer plans to continue the approach through the fall semester. In fact, all fall Tech120 face-to-face courses are incorporating the HyFlex model, and interest has spread to other departments.

"Faculty across the university are requesting the support materials we created, including student 'how to videos' and procedures for setting up the blended environment integrating Microsoft Teams for video/audio interaction at the whole- and small-group level (during and after class) and Brightspace (for course content)," said Mentzer. "We invested a significant effort this spring and summer in preparation for the fall, and students tell us it works for them. We are happy to share with others across campus and globally."
An Indian student claims his life has been ruined after he unknowingly committed fraud and became the focus of a police manhunt while working for Gumtree

Mr Singh, who does not wish to be identified, had his pictures posted online by South Australia Police in relation to two incidents about suspected 'fraudulently obtaining laptops' on September 5.

He had been employed over Gumtree to collect and dispatch parcels.

The statement showed Mr Singh as a buyer who picked up laptops from a parcel collection point at Melrose Park between July 14 and 30.

'Police are seeking assistance from the public to identify a man who is suspected of fraudulently obtaining two laptop computers,' the police statement said alongside two images of Mr Singh.

An Indian Gumtree seller had to plead his innocence after being shamed online and caught up in suspected fraud because police wrongly shared his photos

'Police are seeking assistance from the public to identify a man who is suspected of fraudulently obtaining two laptop computers,' the police statement said alongside two images of Mr Singh

It was late revised to say: 'Police have identified the man captured on CCTV at a parcel collection point at Melrose Park. Investigations are continuing'.

The 19-year-old then had to present himself at the Adelaide police station on Sunday to explain his 'innocence and ignorance'.

'My boss called me through an Australian phone number and paid me $60 per day for the days I collected and dispatched the parcels,' he told SBS.

Mr Singh said the incident has 'severely impacted' his life and his mental health has deteriorated as a result of abuse on social media.

He has received derogatory remarks about his appearance and his religion, and Mr Singh's reputation within the Indian-Australian community has been 'tarnished'.

'It has ruined my life. This news had gone viral within our Sikh and Indian-Australian community. While the police have removed this post, it is still impacting me and my life. Many people have shared screenshots of the post on social media and WhatsApp,' the 19-year-old said.

While he understands why he may have been be a suspect, Mr Singh said 'it doesn't give random people the right to judge me and call me a criminal'.

Mr Singh said the incident has 'severely impacted' his life and his mental health has deteriorated as a result of abuse on social media (pictured)

South Australia Police has confirmed that they spoke to a 19-year-old in relation to 'two separate incidents of deception'.

'A media release and Facebook post was published on 5 September with an image of a suspect and a request for public assistance to identify the man depicted,' said a police spokesperson.'

'A number of comments on the Facebook post were deleted due to breaches of their standards.'

The spokesperson said the media release and Facebook post were removed after Mr Singh was identified.

SA Police are still investigating the matter.
Invaders, pirates, warriors - the history books taught us that Vikings were brutal predators who travelled by sea from Scandinavia to pillage and raid their way across Europe and beyond

Invaders, pirates, warriors - the history books taught us that Vikings were brutal predators who travelled by sea from Scandinavia to pillage and raid their way across Europe and beyond.

Now cutting-edge DNA sequencing of more than 400 Viking skeletons from archaeological sites scattered across Europe and Greenland will rewrite the history books as it has shown:

Skeletons from famous Viking burial sites in Scotland were actually local people who could have taken on Viking identities and were buried as Vikings.

Many Vikings actually had brown hair not blonde hair.

Viking identity was not limited to people with Scandinavian genetic ancestry. The study shows the genetic history of Scandinavia was influenced by foreign genes from Asia and Southern Europe before the Viking Age.

Early Viking Age raiding parties were an activity for locals and included close family members.

The genetic legacy in the UK has left the population with up to six per cent Viking DNA.

The six-year research project, published in Nature today (16 September 2020), debunks the modern image of Vikings and was led by Professor Eske Willerslev, a Fellow of St John's College, University of Cambridge, and director of The Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Centre, University of Copenhagen.

He said: "We have this image of well-connected Vikings mixing with each other, trading and going on raiding parties to fight Kings across Europe because this is what we see on television and read in books - but genetically we have shown for the first time that it wasn't that kind of world. This study changes the perception of who a Viking actually was - no one could have predicted these significant gene flows into Scandinavia from Southern Europe and Asia happened before and during the Viking Age."

The word Viking comes from the Scandinavian term 'vikingr' meaning 'pirate'. The Viking Age generally refers to the period from A.D. 800, a few years after the earliest recorded raid, until the 1050s, a few years before the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. The Vikings changed the political and genetic course of Europe and beyond: Cnut the Great became the King of England, Leif Eriksson is believed to have been the first European to reach North America - 500 years before Christopher Columbus - and Olaf Tryggvason is credited with taking Christianity to Norway. Many expeditions involved raiding monasteries and cities along the coastal settlements of Europe but the goal of trading goods like fur, tusks and seal fat were often the more pragmatic aim.

Professor Willerslev added: "We didn't know genetically what they actually looked like until now. We found genetic differences between different Viking populations within Scandinavia which shows Viking groups in the region were far more isolated than previously believed. Our research even debunks the modern image of Vikings with blonde hair as many had brown hair and were influenced by genetic influx from the outside of Scandinavia."

The team of international academics sequenced the whole genomes of 442 mostly Viking Age men, women, children and babies from their teeth and petrous bones found in Viking cemeteries. They analysed the DNA from the remains from a boat burial in Estonia and discovered four Viking brothers died the same day. The scientists have also revealed male skeletons from a Viking burial site in Orkney, Scotland, were not actually genetically Vikings despite being buried with swords and other Viking memorabilia.

There wasn't a word for Scandinavia during the Viking Age - that came later. But the research study shows that the Vikings from what is now Norway travelled to Ireland, Scotland, Iceland and Greenland. The Vikings from what is now Denmark travelled to England. And Vikings from what is now Sweden went to the Baltic countries on their all male 'raiding parties'.

Dr Ashot Margaryan, Assistant Professor at the Section for Evolutionary Genomics, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen and first author of the paper, said: "We carried out the largest ever DNA analysis of Viking remains to explore how they fit into the genetic picture of Ancient Europeans before the Viking Age. The results were startling and some answer long-standing historical questions and confirm previous assumptions that lacked evidence.

"We discovered that a Viking raiding party expedition included close family members as we discovered four brothers in one boat burial in Estonia who died the same day. The rest of the occupants of the boat were genetically similar suggesting that they all likely came from a small town or village somewhere in Sweden."

DNA from the Viking remains were shotgun sequenced from sites in Greenland, Ukraine, The United Kingdom, Scandinavia, Poland and Russia.

Professor Martin Sikora, a lead author of the paper and an Associate Professor at the Centre for GeoGenetics, University of Copenhagen, said: "We found that Vikings weren't just Scandinavians in their genetic ancestry, as we analysed genetic influences in their DNA from Southern Europe and Asia which has never been contemplated before. Many Vikings have high levels of non-Scandinavian ancestry, both within and outside Scandinavia, which suggest ongoing gene flow across Europe."

The team's analysis also found that genetically Pictish people 'became' Vikings without genetically mixing with Scandinavians. The Picts were Celtic-speaking people who lived in what is today eastern and northern Scotland during the Late British Iron Age and Early Medieval periods.

Dr Daniel Lawson, lead author from The University of Bristol, explained: "Individuals with two genetically British parents who had Viking burials were found in Orkney and Norway. This is a different side of the cultural relationship from Viking raiding and pillaging."

The Viking Age altered the political, cultural and demographic map of Europe in ways that are still evident today in place names, surnames and modern genetics.

Professor Sren Sindbk, an archaeologist from Moesgaard Museum in Denmark who collaborated on the ground-breaking paper, explained: "Scandinavian diasporas established trade and settlement stretching from the American continent to the Asian steppe. They exported ideas, technologies, language, beliefs and practices and developed new socio-political structures. Importantly our results show that 'Viking' identity was not limited to people with Scandinavian genetic ancestry. Two Orkney skeletons who were buried with Viking swords in Viking style graves are genetically similar to present-day Irish and Scottish people and could be the earliest Pictish genomes ever studied."

Assistant Professor Fernando Racimo, also a lead author based at the GeoGenetics Centre in the University of Copenhagen, stressed how valuable the dataset is for the study of the complex traits and natural selection in the past. He explained: This is the first time we can take a detailed look at the evolution of variants under natural selection in the last 2,000 years of European history. The Viking genomes allow us to disentangle how selection unfolded before, during and after the Viking movements across Europe, affecting genes associated with important traits like immunity, pigmentation and metabolism. We can also begin to infer the physical appearance of ancient Vikings and compare them to Scandinavians today."

The genetic legacy of the Viking Age lives on today with six per cent of people of the UK population predicted to have Viking DNA in their genes compared to 10 per cent in Sweden.

Professor Willeslev concluded: "The results change the perception of who a Viking actually was. The history books will need to be updated."

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NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP >> Newtown Township will be applying for federal funding to bolster its career firefighting force. And its crossing its fingers and hoping the third times a charm. At its Jan. 12 meeting, the board of supervisors voted unanimously to resubmit its SAFER (Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response) grant application to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to...
In 24 hours a British convoy, the US embassy and US vehicles were targeted. Diplomatic sources report that paramilitary groups and militias close to Iran are behind the attacks. Retaliation against the Prime Minister's reformist and anti-corruption policies. Changes at the top of the Central Bank and the Anti-Corruption Commission.

Baghdad (AsiaNews / Agencies) - In the last 24 hours at least three different attacks in Iraq have hit foreign military or diplomatic installations, confirming an escalation of tension in the country exacerbated by the fight against corruption and armed groups launched by the current government.

Security sources report that there were no victims or injuries in the attacks, but the attacks confirm a growing climate of "pressure" on the executive. In recent days, the Chaldean patriarch himself had emphasized to AsiaNews the unity of purpose in this all-out fight against groups and militias that foment ill-dealings and divisions.

Yesterday morning a rudimentary device exploded as a British embassy vehicle passed, returning from the airport. The attack, the first in over 10 years against a British vehicle, took place near the Green Zone, the high-security area in the center of the capital that hosts diplomatic offices, international institutions and government offices.

During the night, two Katyusha rockets were launched against the American embassy, also within the Green Zone. The C-RAM missile defense system installed at the mission at the beginning of the year foiled the threat. The device warns of the possible arrival of ammunition or explosives and is activated, causing them to explode in the air hitting them with thousands of bullets per minute.

In the early hours of September 14 two explosive devices hit a convoy of US vehicles and supplies.

Intelligence sources say that there are para-military groups or militias linked to Iran behind the attacks. It would be retaliation against Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi's reform agenda, which would end up depriving these groups of funds in their struggle.

In recent days, the premier's cabinet has finally announced a substantial change at the top of some key sectors, including the central bank, the commission for the fight against corruption and that on investments.

The appointments aim to create greater transparency and rigor in the management of public funds and state coffers. Iraq is among the top 20 countries in the world for corruption according to Transparency International, with at least 340 billion in public funds that, since 2003, have ended up in the pockets of unscrupulous traffickers, politicians and entrepreneurs.
A young family were left devastated after discovering the house they purchased three months earlier was completely infested with termites.

Shaun and Sarah Sarson bought the Gold Coast home in late 2019 for $660,000 after a building inspector told them there were no issues with the property.

But soon after moving into their 'forever home' Mrs Sarson discovered the insects pouring out of a power point in the bathroom.

She said it looked like something 'out of a horror movie'.

'I've done a lot of crying, also we have little kids, they are two and three years old and just finding out that... it wasn't even safe to be in here, there are holes in the major beams,' Mrs Sarson said.

Shaun and Sarah Sarson (pictured) were forced to leave their Gold Coast home less than a year after buying it when they discovered it was completely infested with termites

The termites caused so much damage the family had to move out before they lodged an insurance claim, A Current Affair reported.

A second building inspector, Daniel Golin, was also hired to look over the home and told the young family it was one of the worst infestations he had ever seen.

Mr Golin said the damage to the home was so severe it was basically 'a write off'.

'It's a hard one to rebuild this, I think it's to the stage of demolish and rebuild, that's the only way out I can see at this stage,' he said.

He said he couldn't understand how the property was given the all clear because it was unlikely the level of infestation happened within three months.

Mrs Sarson was contacted by a man who had looked at buying the same home until a building and pest inspection uncovered evidence of termites.

The prospective buyer told the Sarson family he allegedly handed the property report to the real estate agent after deciding not to buy the house.

The real estate agent told the publication he was not obligated to tell potential buyers about possible issues with a property.

He also said if he receives evidence of live termites in a home he discloses it to possible clients.

Antonia Mercorella from the Real Estate Institute of Queensland confirmed agents and sellers weren't required to 'volunteer issues' about a property, saying it was a case of 'buyer beware'.
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Linkedin Tri Indah Oktavianti (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, September 16, 2020 09:10 492 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c450beea 1 National COVID-19-in-Indonesia,doctors,nurses,healthcare-workers,tribute Free

The Indonesian Nurses Association (PPNI) hosted an online gathering Tuesday to honor medical workers who have lost their lives during the battle against COVID-19.

Medical workers have vital roles in battling COVID-19. They dont even know when to feel tired, even though they are supposed to be tired [from the relentless work],PPNI chairman Harif Fadhillah said in Tuesdays event, entitled Pray for Nurses.

This event is to remember our friends who died because of the virus. We also want to honor their lives and provide a little solace to their families, he added.

Given the fact that one nurse can provide medical care to tens of sick people, losing thousands of competent nurses would be a huge loss to the country, Harif said, suggesting the government give more protection to medical workers.

According to data recorded by the PPNI, 78 nurses nationwide have reportedly died from COVID-19.

Its already a huge loss to all of us, especially to the PPNI, he said.

Read also: IDI urges better protection for medical workers as five more doctors die of COVID-19

Meanwhile, as of Sunday, the Indonesian Medical Association (IDI) had recorded 115 doctor deaths due to COVID-19.

Also speaking at the event, the state-owned enterprises minister and COVID-19 response and national economic recovery committee chairman, Erick Thohir, vowed to prioritize medical workers.

If a COVID-19 vaccine is found, medical workers will be prioritized. It is part of the states strategy to provide total protection for medical workers, he said.

He also said the government would come up with a better system in handling the COVID-19 pandemic, by involving doctors and nurses in the joint forces.

COVID-19 task force chief Doni Monardo also expressed his condolences to the families of the victims.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the nurses, our heroes, who died in their duties, he said.

Read also: COVID-19: Concerns mount as medical workers suffer pandemic burnout

He went on to say that the community-based Pentahelix circle  a model comprising businesspeople, the government, community, academics and the media  must be incorporated into the nations main strategy to curb the spread of the virus. Nurses, doctors and medical workers should be the last fortress in battling this pandemic, Doni added.

Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto, Coordinating Human Development and Culture Minister Muhadjir Effendy and Peoples Consultative Assembly Speaker Bambang Soesatyo also delivered their condolences to the families, calling medical workers heroes and applauding their efforts.
Sana Shakil By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The migration of a large number of migrant workers during the COVID-19 lockdown was triggered by panic created by fake news about its duration, the center told the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai stated this in the parliament while replying to an unstarred question from Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mala Roy, who sought the reason why thousands of laborers started walking home from big cities soon after the lockdown was imposed.

In response, Rai stated, "The migration of a large number of migrant workers was triggered by panic created by fake news regarding the duration of lockdown. And people, especially migrant laborers, were worried about an adequate supply of basic necessities like food, drinking water, health services, and shelter."

The minister, however, said that the center took all necessary measures to ensure that during the period of the inevitable lockdown, no citizen should be deprived of basic amenities of food, drinking water, medical facilities, etc.

Roy also sought to know the number of migrant laborers who died on the way home but the minister said that the center does not have the data as details are not centrally maintained.

During the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic, there were several deaths reported causing a countrywide outcry, forcing even the Human Rights Commission to sit up and take notice, demanding action by the Centre. On Monday, Union Minister of Labour and Employment Santosh Kumar Gangwar had said in the Parliament that the exodus saw over one crore migrant workers return to their native states.

Regarding Roy's question about steps taken to protect migrant laborers before the lockdown was announced, Rai said, in order "to contain the spread of Covid-19" in the country, the center took various measures, considered essential for the safety of people including migrant workers.

"From March 21, 2020, onwards, control room operations in the Ministry of Home Affairs were expanded by making their functioning 24X7 under the supervision of senior officers of the level of joint secretaries along with the representatives of key central ministries. These control rooms, inter alia, attended to the grievances of stranded persons, including migrant workers and promptly resolved these grievances relating to food, transport, shelter, etc. States and Union territories were also advised to set up control rooms with helplines and to appoint nodal officers," the minister said.

Rai further said that the center allowed states to use the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) on 28 March to make provisions for temporary accommodation, food, clothing, medical care, etc for homeless people as well as migrant laborers.

In response to another question on invoking the Disaster Management Act, the government justified imposing the lockdown and said India successfully blunted the aggressive spread of Covid-19 through the lockdown.

"It has been estimated that the decision of Lockdown, by slowing down the progress of pandemic in India, has prevented 14-29 lakh cases and 37-78 thousand deaths," Rai said.

Lockdown helped create additional health infrastructure, Rai said, adding that dedicated isolation beds went up by 22 times, and dedicated ICU beds increased by over 14 times from what existed in March 2020. The minister further said that the testing capacity for Covid-19 increased nearly10 times and limited indigenous manufacturing capacity for masks, PPEs, ventilators, etc at the time of lockdown, was also enhanced to attain self-reliance.
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Egypt is set to establish the first factory in the country for producing multiple unit trains, which use electric traction and diesel, for its railways and a monorail in East Port Said, Ministry of Planning and Economic Development announced.

The announcement came during a meeting held on Wednesday and attended by Minister of Planning and Economic Development Hala El-Said, Minister of Transport Kamel El-Wazir and the head of the Suez Canal Economic Zone Authority Yahia Zaki.

The meeting discussed the schedule of the projects implementation, its economic studies, and the expected production volume.

The factory is expected to be managed by the Egyptian Railways Services and Maintainance Company (ERMAS) in partnership with the private sector, the Suez Canal Economic Zone, Egypts Sovereign Fund and a number of international companies.

Minister El-Wazir said that Egypt has an ambitious plan to establish a local multiple unit train industry, which is part of a wider project to localise the railway industry and serve the domestic and African markets in light of growing demand in locally and domestically.

El-Wazir added that establishing factories that produce multiple unit trainswill benefit Egypts national economy, provide hard currency and job opportunities, in addition to fulfilling the needs of the railway and metro sectors.

He also said that the industry is expected to export its products to Arab and African countries and paves the way for founding other complementary industries.

For her part, Minister El-Said said that investing in the transport sector, under Egypts strategic vision 2030, has contributed to improving Egypts ranking in the international competitiveness index on road quality and infrastructure from 118th place in 2014 to 28th in 2019.

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Once the valet driver came in and the suspect got into the vehicle, we believe that the suspect realized the officers were pulling up, Warehime said. The officers turned their lights on, got out, announced to freeze, get out of the car. At the time, the driver of that vehicle crashed into the back of a police car that had its lights on.
"Trump has delivered destruction beyond their wildest hopes but the tragedy for them is that they worship a narcissistic property tycoon who is incapable of building anything." Across the Pacific, in China, "a malign alternative" is ready, rising to replace the diminished world power. Columnist Chris Uhlmann says there is mounting evidence China is a "scary place" under Xi Jinping. Credit:AP "The oppression of this autocracy is now radiating outwards, as Beijing steals the land and sea from its neighbours and punishes its critics," Uhlmann wrote. The column appeared to tap into a deep despondency among readers who, while facing numerous challenges at home, are keenly aware of the approaching US poll and recent developments in China.

Many readers praised Uhlmann's "no holds barred" approach. Loading PeteBrighton: "Brilliant piece Chris, frightening but brilliant. I hope you're wrong on this and the black vote carries the Democrats through." John: "This is one of the most incisive articles I have read in a long time. Brutally incisive and brutally disturbing." Impatiens: "'man with the instincts of a demagogue'. The most horrifying description of Trump ever. And the several paragraphs after this quote would and should strike terror into the heart of every caring world citizen. Well said, Chris Uhlmann!"

Aanasi: "Brilliant article, win or lose, it's going to be fascinating 4 years and a fascinating decade to ride out as most fascist regimes will start to collapse like dominoes ie. the '80s/'90s in Germany [and] Russia and the '10s with North Africa ie. Arab Spring." Wasimbari2429: "A good article, Chris. What scares me the most is the thought there could be another civil war in the US. I had never thought about it but suspect it could be on the cards." For Uhlmann it was clear why readers responded as they did: "Donald Trump frightens them, as he frightens me. "His disdain for his own institutions and the world architecture that America built and underwrote has real consequences for Australia and readers get it," he said. "More of the same will be disastrous." As for the developing situation in China, the journalist says Australia is walking in a minefield, "caught between a pathological narcissist despot wannabe and a true despot".

"If you wanted evidence that China under Xi Jinping is a scary place then add the flight of two Australian journalists this week to the militarisation of the South China Sea, the oppression of the Uighurs, the jailing of dissidents, interference in our democracy, economic coercion, industrial-scale cyber theft, wolf-warrior diplomacy etc." While many readers applauded the article, several objected to Uhlmann's conclusion that "while politicians are maligned worldwide", Australians have more reason to be optimistic. "In Australia part of the hope is close to the mark; most politicians do want to improve their community and attempt to do it guided by their own political lights," he wrote. Reader TrevorN wrote: "We can snot our noses at the American voters' complacency and willingness to be led by the vain and irresponsible so-called leadership class, but the fact is that when it comes down to it we are no better than our opposites across the Pacific."

Steve Carey: "And not a word about how ScottyfromMarketing is an emulator of Trump and never condemns him or even scolds him. Yuk!" Billnix: "The great outsourcing of Australia was backed by the Labor and LNP parties, so both became the enemy. One Nation Party was the outsider who challenged this bipartisan agreement in 1998. No surprise the big parties 'put them last, even until today'. The globalists are powerful and have the support of the MSM, but one day Australia will get its version of Trump. On that day we will see what happens. Politically speaking, Australia runs about 10 years behind America, so that day is closing in on us. So far no signs of who our National 'messiah' might be, but then nobody thought about Trump in 2015. Could it be Clive Palmer?" However cate replied: "Could it be Clive Palmer? No ... We don't have a history like the Yanks do. We don't have a social structure like the Yanks do. Bottom line is - we are not Yanks." bratman added: "The comparison between Palmer and Trump is reasonable. Self-obsessed billionaires playing up to jingoistic nationalism and prejudice, with no idea of how to run a country. The difference is that the Australian electorate, for all its faults, is smarter than that in the US and our electoral system is somewhat fairer, so such people will continue to be consigned to the fringes, as has One Nation. And globalism is inevitable; it's a question of how to manage it for the benefit of the majority." There was vigorous debate among readers on whether Trump would win in November.
Former Blue Heelers star Ditch Davey is set to join the cast of Home and Away.

The 45-year-old actor, who will play neurosurgeon Dr Christian Green, was last week spotted filming scenes with co-star Penny McNamee, who plays Dr Tori Morgan.

The pair, who portray love interests on the show, appeared to share a tense conversation while filming a scene in Sydney's Palm Beach.

Scroll down for video

Is everything okay? Home and Away's Penny McNamee and Ditch Davey appeared to have a heated discussion as they filmed scenes for the Channel Seven soap last week

Ditch looked sharp in a brown blazer and button-up denim shirt, which he paired with a black T-shirt, dark jeans and suede boots.

Penny dressed for the shoot in a floral-patterned jumpsuit and a denim jacket, and accessorised with a black envelope clutch.

Her long, blonde hair was styled in loose waves that cascaded down her shoulders.

Heated: The pair, who play love interests on the show, appeared to share a tense conversation

Intense: Ditch's character, Dr Green, appeared upset during the scene as Dr Morgan looked to be explaining something important to him

On set: Penny dressed for the shoot in a floral-patterned jumpsuit and a denim jacket, and accessorised with a black envelope clutch

As they rehearsed their heated discussion, Penny took off her jacket and held it in the crook of her arm.

It was then time to film the scene, at which point she put her jacket back on. Later, she and Ditch turned to their director for notes.

Ditch's character, Dr Green, appeared upset during the scene as Dr Morgan looked to be explaining something important to him.

Ready, set, action: Ditch looked sharp in a brown blazer and button-up denim shirt, which he paired with a black T-shirt, dark jeans and suede boots

In character: Ditch, who is best known for playing Evan Jones in Channel Seven cop drama Blue Heelers, is joining the cast of Home and Away as neurosurgeon Dr Christian Green

Ditch, who is best known for playing Evan Jones in Seven cop drama Blue Heelers, is joining the cast of Home and Away as neurosurgeon Dr Christian Green.

His character is set to arrive at Summer Bay's Northern Districts Hospital at the request of Dr Morgan, who wants him to help with her brother Justin Morgan's spinal tumour diagnosis.

A trailer for the soap hints at a romance between the two doctors, as they are shown passionately kissing in an elevator.

The doctor will see you! His character is set to arrive at Summer Bay's Northern Districts Hospital at the request of Dr Morgan, who wants him to help with her brother Justin Morgan's spinal tumour diagnosis

Steamy: A trailer for the soap hints at a romance between the two doctors, as they are shown passionately kissing in an elevator

Ditch told Digital Spy in June that he was thrilled to be part of the long-running drama.

'Home and Away has been such an institution to audiences in both Australia and the UK for such a long time and it's great to be a part of that now, but the people are what it's all about,' he said.

'The cast and crew are brilliant and have made me feel at home immediately.'

Remember him? Ditch is best known for his role as Evan Jones in Blue Heelers

Aside from Blue Heelers, he has also appeared in Black Box, Underbelly, Spartacus and 800 Words. Most recently, he has portrayed Julius Caesar in the Netflix series Roman Empire.

Ditch is married to actress Sophia Davey (nee Dunn), who has starred in several films and theatre productions across Australia.

They share two children, Eden and Taika.
China's Y-20 cargo planes hone strategic power projection capability in Russian drills

Global Times

Source: Global Times Published: 2020/9/15 17:43:40

China has deployed groups of domestically developed Y-20 large cargo aircraft for transporting heavy equipment including infantry fighting vehicles and self-propelled howitzers to Russia for the first time, as all Chinese forces that will participate in Russia's Kavkaz-2020 strategic military drills starting next week arrived in the country on Monday.

The long-distance aerial transport mission was done in two batches, and the second batch, featuring three Y-20s, arrived at a military airfield in Russia's Astrakhan Region on Monday, the China Central Television (CCTV) reported on Monday.

In this mission, the Y-20 crew members explored a new intercontinental air route, and Y-20s flew in a group formation for the first time, CCTV said.

This is the first time that the Y-20 has transported heavy equipment to a foreign country, the report said.

According to a separate report by CCTV on Friday, the Y-20s carried heavy equipment including the Type 04A infantry fighting vehicle and the Type 07A self-propelled howitzer.

The large-scale transport operation has enhanced the Y-20's strategic power projection capability, experts said.

Qiu Chao, the political commissar at a Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Western Theater Command aviation transport division, said in the Monday CCTV report that the flight required the troops to take into account not only complicated weather conditions and foreign airspace rules, but also the compatibility of the foreign airfield with the Y-20 in terms of logistical support standards.

Its ability to successfully accomplish this cross border aerial transport mission smoothly demonstrates the Y-20's airworthiness and reliability, Qiu said.

The six-day Kavkaz-2020 strategic military drills will start on September 21, and the PLA troops will join exercises including mobilized defensive elimination, joint live-fire strike, multidimensional assault elimination and battlefield situation control, according to a statement the Chinese Defense Ministry released on Thursday.

Russia's Defense Ministry said the Kavkaz-2020 will be Russia's largest training event this year, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

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Kolkata-based Bandhan Bank on September 16 said it has created a new vertical called Emerging Entrepreneurs Business (EEB) to focus on small businesses. The bank has appointed Kumar Ashish as Executive President and Head of the department, it said.

In addition to microloans, the vertical will also manage the newly-launched product lines  micro home loan, micro bazaar loan and micro enterprise loan, Bandhan said in a release.

Ashish has over 26 years of experience in setting up and managing businesses of significant scale in retail and business banking, rural banking, microfinance, agri banking and treasury, according to a statement from the bank.

Ashish spent about two decades at ICICI Bank, where in his last role he was Senior General Manager & Retail Business Head for North India with experience across Mortgage, MSME Loans, Auto Loans, CV & CE Loans, Personal Loans, Jewel Loans, Credit Cards, Deposits, Wealth Management, Fee Income and Branch Operations.

During the long stint with ICICI Bank, Ashish also led the Rural, Agri-business & Micro Finance portfolios for the bank as the Country Head for those lines of business. In his last assignment prior to joining Bandhan Bank, Ashish was Group Director, Airtel Money in Africa (a division of Airtel Africa), which runs mobile money operations across 14 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the bank said.
Salus masks are made from three layers of lightweight, breathable, nonwoven material, including a middle layer of melt blown fabric which provides an improved level of protection from tiny airborne particles and helps to reduce exposure to COVID-19 and bad air quality from wildfires.

The movement towards wearing masks during pandemics is well documented in history and why Giezentanner, along with two investors, took to the internet to buy a mask-making machine in March 2020. After finding a company based in China with a facility in California that made and sold mask making machines, Giezentanner secured a warehouse and ordered a machine and the necessary materials to start make the masks.

"Unfortunately, no one in America builds mask-making machines. Likewise, securing the nonwoven fabrics to make masks in America is almost impossible," Giezentanner continued. "For the past 25 years, it's been cheaper to import masks from China or other far east countries and as a result the PPE supply chain disappeared."

In July, Giezentanner hired a San Francisco-based electrician to help communicate in Chinese and calibrate his new machine. By late-August, the mask materials arrived, and Salus Supply was in business. The mask machine can produce up to 40,000 masks a day and 1 million masks per month.

"We're thrilled to be part of a national effort to re-establish the PPE supply chain in America," Giezentanner continued. "It's also been extremely rewarding to create local jobs, start a California-based supply chain in my hometown and make something positive happen in 2020."

Salus sells boxes of 50 masks or cases of 2,000. Masks can be purchased online at www.salussupply.com. For wholesale orders, please call us at 1-800-915-9160.

Salus non-medical, source control face masks are authorized by the FDA under an Emergency Use Authorization for use as source control by members of the general public as well as health care professionals in healthcare settings to help prevent the spread of infection or illness during the COVID-19 pandemic. For more information, please visit: https://www.fda.gov/media/137121/download.

B-ROLL: https://youtu.be/NJAcEyNNKfw

INTERVIEW: https://youtu.be/wzD3itX_94I

About Salus Supply

Salus Supply is the only company on the west coast manufacturing face masks in America. Salus Supply sells boxes of 50 non-woven face masks or cases of 2,000. Salus non-medical, source control face masks are authorized by the FDA under an Emergency Use Authorization for use as source control by members of the general public as well as health care professionals in healthcare settings to help prevent the spread of infection or illness during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Press Contact:

Nicole Johansson

530-990-0383

https://www.salussupply.com

SOURCE Salus Supply
The White House on Wednesday denied Donald Trump endorsed the controversial herd immunity concept as a way out of the coronavirus pandemic and that he shunned mask-wearing despite his own words during a town hall with undecided voters the previous night.

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany jousted with reporters during a combative briefing, saying the notion that Mr Trump or his advisers supported the notion of most Americans contracting the respiratory disease and becoming immune  even if hundreds of thousands more die  was merely something cooked up by the media.

Herd immunity has never been a strategy here at the White House. President was noting herd immunity [develops] over a period of time, she said.

Here is what Mr Trump said on Tuesday night at the Philadelphia town hall: Sure, over a period of time. Sure, with time it goes away. And you'll develop  you'll develop herd  like a herd mentality. It's going to be  it's going to be herd-developed, and that's going to happen. That will all happen. But with a vaccine, I think it will go away very quickly.

Thats not Dr Atlas view. Hes never proposed herd immunity as a strategy, and neither has the president, the White House press secretary told a reporter.

In one sharp exchange, Ms McEnany accused a reporter, and most media outlets, of selective editing of the presidents comments." She appeared, in this case, to have a point. One television reporter asked why the president seemed to discourage mask-wearing. His spokeswoman said he did not, but instead was noting improper usage can lead to unintended consequences. Ms McEnany, however did ignore Mr Trumps ho-hum attitude towards people covering their faces, including reporters and others at official events he has invited to remove their face coverings.

Now there is, by the way, a lot of people don't want to wear masks. There are a lot of people think that masks are not good, Mr Trump said on Tuesday night.

"I'll tell you who those people are: waiters. They come over and they serve you, and they have a mask. And I saw it the other day where they were serving me, and they're playing with the mask  I'm not blaming them  I'm just saying what happens," Mr Trump said. They're playing with the mask, so the mask is over, and they're touching it, and then they're touching the plate. 

That can't be good, the president concluded.

Whats more, Ms McEnany again said the White House hopes to deploy a coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year. She said several major US drug manufacturers are under contract to be producing the drugs by 2020s end.

That contradicts comments made earlier in the day on Capitol Hill by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield. He told lawmakers widespread deployment might take until the second quarter of next year.

Were still of the belief well have a vaccine by the end of the year, she said. We do think  widely available by the end of the year.
Premier Mark McGowan says he was not told about a plan by the Commonwealth to increase the number of Australians returning to WA from overseas before Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack told journalists.

Tens of thousands of Australians, including many West Australians, are stranded overseas as airlines cancel their bookings due to caps on the numbers of people allowed into the country.

West Australian Premier Mark McGowan. Credit:Trevor Collens

Mr McCormack said an extra 500 people would be permitted entry to WA every week.

But the Premier said he was unaware of any changes to the cap for incoming overseas visitors, which currently sits at 525 in WA.
The U.S. government on September 10 imposed sanctions on the legislator over his "efforts to influence the 2020 U.S. presidential election," branding him a "Russian agent."

Ukrainian MP Andriy Derkach claims millions of dollars were withdrawn from Ukraine to the accounts of a company affiliated with Hunter Biden, son of former U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden.

Speaking at a Kyiv press conference on Wednesday, September 16, Derkach said he was presenting "evidence of the siphoned through financial holes of millions of dollars stolen from the Ukrainian people, laundered with the help of banks and 'laundromats' in various jurisdictions, and with their subsequent transfer to the accounts of the Biden family's company," an UNIAN correspondent reports.

"Every word we have uttered is supported by documents with figures and records that have been provided to us by investigative journalists, as well as people with knowledge about corruption schemes," the MP said, adding the evidence of "international corruption" and "external control of Ukraine" will be submitted to Ukraine law enforcement.

Former Deputy Head of the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office Department of International Legal Cooperation, Kostiantyn Kulyk, who also spoke at the press conference, said he had been contacted by two foreign citizens, whom he didn't name, but who claim they "were engaged in laundering millions of dollars by [former minister of ecology and natural resources Mykola] Zlochevsky" with the "subsequent withdrawal of these millions to the accounts of Burisma and those of the Biden family's company."

At the press conference, a video was aired showing two people with their faces blurred, one of whom is allegedly is a Latvia national. He told how Mykola Zlochevsky had allegedly laundered money through offshore firms.

A "witness" from Latvia claims "Mykola [Zlochevsky] had a lot of unaccounted cash, about US$10 million per month. This money was transferred to non-cash abroad under fictitious contracts. The sums would flow through Latvian banks."

"Zlochevsky's money was put in hryvnia to the accounts of Ukrainian companies. Later, based on foreign economic contracts, it was converted into U.S. dollars. After that, the money was transferred to the accounts of the Latvian PrivatBank," the person said, adding that from November 2014 to October 2015, payments were allegedly made in the same amount, namely US$83,000 per month, from Burisma accounts to the account of the Rosemont Seneca, the U.S. company co-owned by Hunter Biden.

According to Kulyk, payments in favor of that company totaled over US$3.4 million. The money went from Rosemont Seneca Boa to the accounts in Morgan Stanley, he claimed.

According to one of the witnesses, money was transferred similarly to former President of Poland Alexander Kwasniewski. This is about EUR 1 million for "consulting services."

Derkach tapes: background
Facebook claims its aggressively stopping climate change misinformation on its platform, but scientists and environmentalists think the effort is too little. (Photo : Pixabay)

Facebook claims it's aggressively stopping climate change misinformation on its platform, but scientists and environmentalists think the effort is too little.









New Information Center on Facebook

Facebook has recently launched the Climate Science Information Center to connect users with climate information based on real science.

Facebook's announcement came only days after Pacific Northwest emergency responders responded to the fight against misinformation on the giant social media platform, while also fighting catastrophic wildfires.

Facebook's announcement appears as a precursor to Climate Week, the international non-profit organization Climate Group's conference held in partnership with New York City and the UN.

According to Chris Cox, chief Facebook product officer, they intend to provide correct climate change information.

READ: Climate Change Causes Ice Larger than Paris to Break Off from Greenland Glacier and Shatter





Scientists Not Impressed

Unfortunately, environmental groups and scientists are not convinced that the effort is significant enough to curb conspiracy theories and falsehoods.

They said that Facebook allowed entities to reject climate science to continue to peddle their disputed, misleading, and wrong information concerning climate change. Such misinformation includes the government's use of so-called chemtrails and all the conspiracy theories surrounding the issue.

Penn State Earth System Science Center director Michael Mann says that this is convenient for certain quarters who want to stop climate policies' progress. According to Mann, all social media entities should exert more effort to prevent the spread of wrong climate change information on their platforms.

He only named Facebook, however. He singled it out because he says that Facebook never took enough steps to deal with the matter, enabling entities to promote misinformation.

READ ALSO: Climate Change: Dire Effects and the Recommendations of Caribbean Experts





Environmentalists Unimpressed As Well

Various environmental organizations such as the Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth, and Greenpeace also accused Facebook of being half-hearted in stopping climate misinformation. They issued a joint statement saying that Facebook's new policy fails to address the broader crisis of disinformation.

George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication research assistant professor John Cook says that Facebook's success regarding COVID-19 information shows that they did not exert their will in pushing correct climate change information. Facebook provided timely information to over two billion users.

Cook says that they were slow to act against climate misinformation at best, and at worst, even actively reversed efforts by climate experts to fact-check information. This enabled climate change deniers to continue spreading falsehoods.

The climate science community began to distrust Facebook further when in September last year, the Carbon Dioxide Coalition got Facebook to label its misleading post as a mere "opinion" and did not block it. The Coalition believes carbon dioxide is good for the Earth.

However, Cox says that Facebook does its job of eliminating misinformation and that it works with 70 independent organizations that identify, fact-check, and reduce false information regarding climate change.

Cox says that Facebook also removes posts that threaten public safety. He says that Facebook teams pay closer attention when disasters strike. Facebook is working, he says, ensuring that it provides correct information during crises.





#OurPlanetChallenge

The new effort will be seen on top of Facebook news feeds and will provide authoritative climate change information worldwide. It will also promote the hashtag #OurPlanetChallenge to show people what they contribute to saving the environment.

The challenge, aside from discouraging climate change misinformation, also enables users to nominate others to participate. When 100,000 have joined, Facebook pledges to donate 100,000 dollars to the non-profit, tree-planting Arbor Day Foundation.

READ NEXT: Australian Scientists: Advice on Climate, Mining, and Logging Suppressed





Check out for more news and information on Climate Change on Nature World News.
West African leaders said they hope to see a civilian-led transition government installed in Mali "in days" after holding talks on Tuesday with the military junta that seized power in the fragile state last month.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) slapped sanctions on Mali after the putsch, including closing borders and a ban on trade and financial flows, and has called for elections within 12 months.

"We need a civilian leadership of the transition," Ghana President Nana Akufo-Addo, who currently chairs ECOWAS, told journalists after hosting the meeting.

"The minute that leadership is put in place through the processes they themselves have agreed upon in Mali, the sanctions that have been placed against Mali will be lifted by ECOWAS."

Akufo-Addo said that a mediator from the bloc would travel to Bamako in a week and that regional leaders wanted the process finished.

"I'm hoping that by the time he gets there these things would have been completed," the Ghanaian leader said.

"We're talking hopefully in days not in weeks."

ECOWAS had given Mali's new military rulers until Tuesday to name a civilian president and prime minister to head a transitional government.

The junta missed that deadline but its leader Colonel Assimi Goita, who was appointed interim head of state, attended the talks in Ghana on his first trip abroad since his seizure of power.

Ivory Coast's President Alassane Ouattara insisted the meeting had made progress by "confirming that the president and the prime minister must be civilians".

"As soon as they are designated, we will lift the sanctions," he told journalists.

Opposition criticism

The military junta over the weekend backed an arrangement for an 18-month transition government in which the junta would be given the leading role in choosing the interim president.

The head of the Malian military junta, Col. Assimi Goita, centre, arriving in Ghana for the ECOWAS summit. By Nipah Dennis (AFP)

But the document was rejected by Mali's protest movement.

It underscored its objections on Tuesday, while stressing it did not want to "break or get involved in a conflict" with the junta.

The communique said that consultations about the transition -- which culminated in a document published on Saturday after a three-day forum -- were marked by "intimidation (and) anti-democratic and unfair practices" and "the desire to monopolise and confiscate power to the benefit of (the junta)."

"Corrections must be able to be made to the national consultation documents," said Mountaga Tall, a leader of the so-called June 5 Movement, or M5, an alliance of political parties, trade unions, religious figures and NGOs.

Mali's former president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, 75, was toppled after months of protests by the M5 demanding his resignation.

He had been facing deep anger over an eight-year-old jihadist insurgency, economic problems and entrenched corruption.

The M5 wants to be given equal status with the junta during the transition.

Other criticism it has made of the junta-backed transition charter concerns the powers that would be given to the vice president, tasked with defence and security -- a job description considered to be tailor-made for Goita.

Unstable past

Mali's neighbours, who are anxious to avoid the fragile Sahel state spiralling into chaos, have not yet reacted to the transition roadmap.

Moussa Traore, who died on Tuesday, ruled Mali for 22 years, taking power and losing it in a coup. By FRANCOIS ROJON (AFP/File)

Last month's coup is Mali's fourth since gaining independence from France in 1960.

A further reminder of its chronic instability came on Tuesday with the death on Tuesday of Moussa Traore, who led the country for 22 years.

In 1968, Moussa Traore, then a lieutenant, was the main instigator of a coup that overthrew Modibo Keita, the country's first post-independence president. He stayed in power until he in turn was ousted in a coup in 1991.

Traore died aged 83 in the capital Bamako, his nephew Mohamed Traore told AFP.
A Florida-based chicken tender restaurant is expanding into South Carolina and other locations across the Southeast with plans to add eight locations in the Palmetto State.

Huey Magoo's proposes to open four locations each in the Charleston and Columbia metro areas while also adding five each in Georgia and Tennessee, the Orlando-based company announced this week.

Franchisee Don Bauer of Mount Pleasant said the physical locations in the Lowcountry and Midlands have not been determined.

"We are looking at sites across the area," he said. "Mount Pleasant for sure and suburban Charleston."

Bauer and business partner Philip Horn, of West Ashley, plan to open the first restaurant within a year and have the others operating within five years, if not sooner.

"It depends on real estate and timing," Bauer said. "We will look at existing restaurant sites that didn't make it and new construction from the ground up."

Investment amounts could range from $550,000 to $2.5 million to $3 million, he said.

Of the decision to bring the franchise to the Charleston and Columbia areas, Bauer said, "We just think the product is superior and tastes fantastic and will do very well in this market."

The expansion announcement comes on the heels of the chain reopening its doors for dine-in service at select restaurants in accordance with local and state health guidelines.

"In these challenging times, we feel incredibly fortunate that Huey Magoos is, in fact, thriving with positive comp store sales, 120 franchises sold, more leases signed and restaurant openings set," president and CEO Andy Howard said. "We look ahead with much anticipation and excitement for Huey Magoos continued expansion."

In addition to chicken tenders with no antibiotics, no hormones, no steroids and no preservatives, the restaurant offers salads, sandwiches and wraps. Ordering options include dine-in or out, takeout, delivery through a third party, drive-thru and curbside pickup at participating restaurants.

The company currently has 12 restaurants in Florida and one in Georgia, with one each opening soon in Florida and Mississippi.

Bauer and Horn also own 10 Papa John's Pizza restaurants in the Charleston region and eight others in Columbia, as well as eight Jersey Mike's Subs in Knoxville, Tenn., and three similar sub sandwich locations in Baltimore, Md.

What's cooking?

A new Italian restaurant is now serving in downtown Charleston. Mario's Italian Ristorante is now open at 487 King St. Its hours are 4-11 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday and 4 p.m. to midnight Thursday through Saturday.

On the way

Another Parker's Kitchen convenience store and gas station will soon open in the Charleston area.

The new shop will tentatively welcome customers Oct. 8 on Ashley Phosphate Road at Windsor Hill Boulevard.

Several other stores in the Savannah-based chain already are open in the Lowcountry. Others are planned as well.

Meanwhile, another Parker's Kitchen could be coming to the Ladson area. An affiliate of the company recently paid $1.05 million for 6 acres at Ladson Road and Limehouse Drive, according to Dorchester County land records.

Tricoastal Properties II LLC of Mount Pleasant sold the property, which is next to a housing development on Maryland Drive.

Prime response

Walmart's answer to Amazon's Prime membership is now available in South Carolina.

The Arkansas-based retail giant is offering a 15-day free trial period for people who sign up for Walmart+, the company's new membership option.

During the trial period, customers will be able to test the full array of benefits, including unlimited free deliveries from stores, fuel discounts and access to tools that make shopping faster for families.

Customers in South Carolina can sign up at walmart.com/plus. The membership costs $98 a year or $12.95 a month and includes a 15-day free trial period.
Et tu British Petroleum?

BP has joined a growing number of oil and gas companies that recognize the industrys best days are in the rearview mirror, anticipating that oil use will peak within 10 years. The companys new Energy Outlook asks not whether demand will drop, only how soon and how quickly.

The London-based energy company is not the first to plunge a dagger into the back of the oil industry. Royal Dutch Shell predicted in 2018 that oil demand would peak in the late 2020s. Smaller industry forecasters have also made similar predictions.

Stubborn industry loyalists should heed these warnings, even if U.S. oil producers still dream of oil markets growing indefinitely. Consumer demand is shrinking, which will leave companies with three options: expand market share, diversify the product line, or wind the business down.

TOMLINSONS TAKE: Oil companies following in coals footsteps to oblivion

The easiest way to grow market share is to slash prices below what competitors can match. OPEC leader Saudi Arabia and its partner Russia have adopted this strategy, keeping international oil prices around $40 for most of the year. Most U.S. companies cannot survive at that price point.

Some industry analysts, especially those contracted by U.S. firms, predict that once the Coronavirus Recession recedes and people travel again, the price of oil will shoot up. They even expect the price will rise high enough to grow demand for expensive fracked oil from American wells.

BPs demand outlook, though, argues otherwise. The companys economists say oil demand will barely surpass 2019 levels. OPEC and Russia are holding back 1.5 million barrels a day, more than enough to keep prices low if they choose.

Russian officials made it pretty clear in April that they want prices around $40 a barrel to keep the U.S. industry from making a comeback. Saudi Arabia and other OPEC nations are learning to live with these lower prices.

Most U.S. oil is simply too expensive compared with Saudi, Russian and other OPEC resources. And if BP is correct about a flat demand curve, OPEC nations with few other income streams will fiercely defend their market share.

In a declining market, low-cost producers will also scramble to sell as much oil as they can to make sure they are not left with an asset no one wants. In short, North American firms can no longer rely on international price gouging for their business plans.

I also like to remind people that these Energy OutlooksOPEC, Exxon, Chevron and others produce them tooare primarily tools to reassure investors that a companys strategy is sound. One reason BPs outlook is radically different this year is because the company is diversifying into a more climate-friendly focus on renewable energy products.

One of my major disappointments with U.S. oil companies is their fitful and over-hyped investments in cleaner forms of energy. Chevron spends millions telling the world about their green initiatives, but the actual percentage of their capital spending on them is very small.

If American energy companies want to survive, they need to join the Europeans in killing the fossil fuel business, just as Brutus helped assassinate Julius Caesar, whose final words I paraphrased above. Otherwise, they risk inadvertently taking the third option, which is to wind up their business.

Im looking at you Exxon Mobil.

The most famous, and some would say notorious of the oil supermajors is a shadow of its former self after years of stubborn denial about climate change, electrification and the future uses for oil. The Irving-based corporation will lose another $1 billion this year, mostly due to hubris, according to a great piece by The Wall Street Journal.

TOMLINSONS TAKE: U.S. oil and gas companies lag on climate pledges

Instead of recognizing that climate change and consumer preferences demanded a new business plan, Exxon schemed to pump an additional 1 million barrels a day when the world already has all the oil it can ever burn safely. CEO Darren Woods mocked companies looking for cleaner forms of energy and is letting the opportunity slip away.

The oil industry will have many Mark Antonys who will stand over the corpse and praise the enormous contributions fossil fuels have made to global society, and they will not be wrong. We will still need a petroleum industry, though in a much smaller form, to make lubricants and chemicals we need for modern life.

Climate change, though, requires us to stop burning petroleum and pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. We are making progress every day, and no matter how oil workers may feel about that, most of the world is rejoicing at the industrys demise.

BPs Energy Outlook should be a wake-up call for the entire oil and gas industry, their employees and most importantly, investors.

Tomlinson writes commentary about business, economics and policy.

twitter.com/cltomlinson

chris.tomlinson@chron.com
As Teresia Wambui sits, watching her children play around the compound in Thika, Kiambu County, she appreciates such small joys of life.

The fact that she can now make decisions such as going out for a walk, visiting friends or calling whoever she wants independently and without looking over her shoulder, excites her even more.

For about a decade, she lived a life of fear, far from home, in Beirut, Lebanon, where she was a domestic worker until September 4, when she arrived in Nairobi.

Ms Wambui has experienced sexual harassment, insults and slavery.

It had taken her nearly a year, seeking every possible way to get back home and not even the money she had saved could help her. When she finally breathed Kenyan air, her excitement was palpable.

"I may not have returned with anything from Lebanon, I've come back empty-handed but I'm happy. At least I returned alive and with my children," she says.

Work hard

When she left Kenya for Lebanon in 2011, she was determined to work hard, make enough money to send some back to her family for upkeep and save as much as she could. She would then return home, her life much better, she thought.

A naive young woman then, Ms Wambui never imagined she would return home nine years later, broke, and a mother of two.

The moment she landed in Lebanon, she realised things were not as she had imagined. Immediately she arrived, her passport was confiscated by her employer. She would later realise he did that because he had bought her.

"Then I started experiencing mistreatment, racism and inhumane conduct from my employer. I was not allowed to eat with them, touch their children with bare hands and I would work from 5am to 1am. It was exhausting and I was suffering," she says.

I told them I'd rather be killed than go back to that employer,"

When she complained, her employer became harsh and told her he had paid Sh400,000 to have her and she was expected to work for him for 10 years, she tells the Nation.

Then insults, sexual harassment and being denied basic rights such as going outside the compound, calling her family and friends or having time to rest, became the order of the day.

It was clearly not the Canaan she had anticipated.

At 4am one Monday in October 2011, seven months after arriving in Lebanon, she ran away from her employer. Her attempts to seek intervention from her agents in Kenya and Lebanon had failed. The agent in Kenya told her the only option was to run away.

She ended up at the Kenyan consulate in Beirut, where she sought help to travel back home. Her boss was forced to pass on her passport.

"I told them I'd rather be killed than go back to that employer," she says.

A few months after coming back to Kenya, she got a better job -- to assist the man who had been her agent in Lebanon, and in February 2012, she was back in Beirut.

This time round, she had better working conditions -- an eight hour-job daily, one day off and with some freedoms.

Then her employer moved to Kenya and she had to find another job. She found one at an organisation where she worked until last year, when the Lebanese economy started doing badly and she lost her job.

When things got too bad, she visited the Kenyan consulate, seeking to travel back home.

"The consul told me that I had to pay $2,000 (Sh216,000) in order to travel with my two children. I told him I did not have enough money and he told me to go look for it," she says.

Boiling point

Heartbroken, she left the office and sought menial jobs, going back to the hardships she had escaped seven years ago. She worked until last month, when the situation reached a boiling point.

Esther Kageha was a domestic worker in Lebanon for five years until two weeks ago, when she returned to Kenya. She is currently at her parents' home in Kakamega County.

As she helps her mother with chores and looks after her children, she draws her happiness from small things such as seeing they are together again, healthy and happy as a family even when "we don't have much".

After working in various homes, she has come to realise that dignity, peace and safety are critical. She has suffered sexual harassment, assault by employers and the Kenyan consulate officials in Lebanon and arrest by police.

"Working with Lebanese is not easy, they take you for a slave. At some workplaces, my employers called me a donkey," she says.

Mistreatment was slowly becoming part of the job and coming back home more impossible since her passport had been confiscated, but last year brought a new challenge from unexpected quarters -- Lebanon experienced an economic recession and employers started laying off workers.

Dealing with Lebanese employers before the recession was hell for the migrant workers and as expected, things could only turn uglier. With most employers now unable to afford domestic help, they resorted to firing them, many without pay, and throwing them out of their houses. Most found themselves homeless.

Ms Kageha visited the Kenyan consulate. She was asked to pay for a ticket and gave the $600 (about Sh60,000) she had, but was told the money was not enough.

"I was told to go back and look for more money. They did not return the $600 they had taken and have not [done so] to date," she says.

She was forced to go back to the life she was escaping. She rented a single room in Beirut, together with nine other women. She would live there for the next 10 months.

Dozens of other women living in Lebanon as domestic workers share similar stories of mistreatment by employers, police and officials at the Kenyan consulate.

World's attention

It's such tales that piled up, leading to protests outside the Kenyan consulate in Beirut last month and capturing the world's attention.

Many women who have spoken to the Nation said their attempts to seek the intervention of the Kenyan Embassy in Kuwait, which is in charge of the consulate in Lebanon, yielded nothing, as officials at the consulate continued to swindle money from domestic workers who had either saved at the office for a ticket back home, or were desperate to get back to Kenya after the economic recession and the Covid-19 pandemic struck.

The Kenyan community in Lebanon, in May this year, wrote to the Kenyan ambassador in Kuwait, Ms Halima Mohamud, expressing their concerns at the mistreatments, particularly by staff who were swindling money from the domestic workers.

Several sources told the Nation that the women had saved their money at the consulate, amounting to $4,000 (about Sh400,000), but when they went to ask for it, they were either insulted, beaten up or arrested.

But it was only after their plight was highlighted by international media that the embassy issued a statement, stating that it would investigate the allegations. The sources who spoke to the Nation last week, however, said embassy officials have never visited Lebanon to probe the matter and none of the staff at the consulate has been called to record statements on how they lost the money.

"... the embassy would look into claims of extortion and other abuses, which needed more time, owing to their seriousness and complexity. Embassy officials had planned to visit Beirut to probe the matter and obtain evidence. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic and restrictions on international travel, the team could not travel as hoped, but will do so as soon as possible," the embassy said in a statement issued on July 28.

Thousands of dollars

This was about two months after the Kenyans wrote to the embassy and 10 months since the women first sought help to travel back home.

By July, other countries were evacuating their citizens from Lebanon and, left on their own in a foreign country, the Kenyans' frustrations boiled over. In August they took to the streets to demand evacuation.

In the meantime, I'm just making sure that I don't upset people,"

They also wanted the consulate to return thousands of dollars its officials had taken from the women, return of their travel documents and removal of officials at the consulate for insulting and beating up women seeking services there.

"The embassy has informed all Kenyans in the region that since the airspace was open for commercial flights, those willing to return home should do so at their own cost, and as guided by travel protocols provided by the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA)," the embassy said on August 12.

By then, the women had been camping outside the consulate for some days.

The embassy is said to have facilitated the travel of just 12 women.

The women have been camping outside the consulate for weeks now, some pregnant and others with small children. Humanitarian organisations stepped in to provide them with basic necessities and get them tickets home.

A Lebanese activist whom many women cited as having helped them travel back to Kenya told the Nation she did so independently and that the Kenyan government did not play any part.

The Kafala system

"I realised there was no one addressing the urgent needs of the migrant domestic workers, so I stepped in to support them with food, clothes, shoes, underwear and other individual needs," Ms Dea Hage told the Nation.

Part of the reason many migrant domestic workers suffer in Lebanon is an administrative practice called the Kafala system, used to monitor migrant workers. An agency in another country (such as Kenya) uploads details of people seeking jobs, a potential employer in Lebanon pays through an agency in Lebanon to have the person they would like to work for them. The employer will be the worker's sponsor.

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The system denies the worker freedom of movement, where the employer confiscates the worker's passport so they cannot change jobs or leave the country until the contract period elapses.

'I was his property'

In reality, this has turned into slavery for many of the workers, who are usually ignorant of such arrangements.

The fact that Lebanese law is also silent on issues to do with migrant domestic workers has provided a loophole for many employers to mistreat them.

"I thought I was coming to do a normal job, only to realise that someone had literally bought me. He actually told me straight [to my face] that I was his property until the contract period elapses," says a domestic worker who sought anonymity for security reasons since she is still working in Lebanon.

Her passport was taken immediately she arrived at the airport and will only be returned in November next year when her contract ends.

"In the meantime, I'm just making sure that I don't upset people," she says. The Kenyan Honorary Consul in Beirut is a Lebanese national, whom the domestic workers have blamed for their woes -- loss of their money, assault and arrest -- when they visit the office.

A Kenyan woman who previously worked at the consulate backed the women's complaints, saying, the consulate threatens them whenever they complain.

The embassy in Kuwait has been of little help.

The workers told the Nation that a number of Kenyan women have died in the country since 2014, but it's they who see to it that the bodies get back home. Where finances don't allow, the dead have been buried there.

According to Amnesty International, Lebanon, with a population of seven million, is estimated to have about 250,000 migrant domestic workers, most of whom are women.

The country has been rocked by political and economic instability because of bad leadership and corruption, in the worst instances leading to two governments resigning within a year between October last year and last month, because of protests after the economic recession and a recent blast at the port that tore through Beirut.

The World Bank has warned that a majority of Lebanese nationals will be living below the poverty line by the end of this year, because of the near-collapse of the economy.

With this reality, the situation can only get worse for migrant domestic workers in the country.
Guardian Capital Partners Announces the Promotion of Evan S. Fisher to Vice President

Guardian Capital Partners is pleased to announce the promotion of Evan S. Fisher to Vice President. Mr. Fisher originally joined Guardian in 2019 as a Senior Associate and most recently helped lead Guardian's investment in Flat River Group, an eCommerce specialty distribution services provider. Mr. Fisher brings to Guardian a depth of knowledge in private equity and finance, and has a robust set of skills in data analytics, business diligence, and operations.

Most recently, Mr. Fisher worked for MPE Partners, a lower middle market private equity firm focused on investments in family- and founder-owned businesses in the high value manufacturing and industrial services sectors. While at MPE, he evaluated and closed numerous platform investments and add-on acquisitions, assisted on the sale of Polytek Development Corp., and served as a Board Observer at Bettcher Industries and dlhBOWLES.

Previously, Mr. Fisher worked for Wells Fargo (News - Alert) Securities in the Leveraged Finance Group, where he advised public and private companies on the structuring, underwriting, and execution of debt financings in support of leveraged buyouts, mergers and acquisitions, and recapitalizations.

Mr. Fisher earned his Bachelor of Science in Finance, cum laude, from the Pennsylvania State University, where he served as the President of the Smeal Student Council and was a Nittany Lion Fund Manager.

About Guardian Capital Partners

Located in the Philadelphia suburbs, Guardian Capital Partners is an operationally focused private equity firm that leads control-oriented investments in lower middle-market private companies with annual revenues generally between $20 million and $100 million and EBITDA generally between $3 million and $9 million. Guardian invests in three specific sectors: Consumer Products, Niche Manufacturing, and Specialty Business Services. For more information, please visit www.guardiancp.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200916005155/en/
A police officer in Salt Lake City, Utah, has been charged with aggravated assault after video showed him ordering a K-9 to attack a Black man in his own yard. The charge is a second-degree felony, according to the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office.

Video of the April 24 incident, during which officers were responding to a domestic disturbance call, surfaced in August. The video showed Officer Nickolas Pearce telling 36-year-old Jeffery Ryans to "Get on the ground or you're gonna get bit."

Ryans "did not express any intentions or engage in actions reflecting he was going to resist the officers," the district attorney's office said in a probable cause statement released Wednesday.

Three seconds after Pearce ordered Ryans to get on the ground, he kicked Ryans in the leg, according to the statement. Ryans dropped to his knees with his hands in the air. Seconds later, with Ryans still kneeling on the ground, video showed Pearce ordering the dog to attack.

"I'm on the ground, why are you biting me? I'm on the ground, stop," Ryans could be heard saying as the dog bit into his leg.

"Good boy, good boy," the officer was heard saying, as Ryans appeared to scream in pain, asking "Why are you guys doing this?"

Ryans' attorney condemned the incident. "Even when the dog starts to bite him, he's still just laying there," Dan Garner told CBS News in August. "Looks like someone took a chainsaw to his leg."

A photograph of Ryans' leg after the attack. / Credit: CBS News

The probable cause statement said that Ryans' medical records show he suffered "two lacerations described as approximately 4 inch wide by 3 inch long and approximately 5 inch long by 1 inch wide," and that the injuries resulted in "prolonged loss of the use of his left leg following surgery."

"Complications resulting from the dog bites have resulted in protracted impairment of his leg and permanent disfigurement of the leg due to visible scarring from the dog bites," the statement added.

Story continues

Police said that Ryans was violating a protective order from his wife. But Ryans claims the order was supposed to have been lifted.

The officer was suspended in August. Salt Lake Police said in a statement that they were aware of the new charges, and were finalizing an internal affairs investigation into the matter.

"If Internal Affairs finds that Officer Pearce committed a violation, the Chief's Office will follow the disciplinary process required under state and federal law," the statement said. "This can take some time, but we will carry this out as expediently as possible to bring a prompt conclusion to this matter."

Carter Evans contributed reporting.

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South Africa: Cape Town dam levels increase to 96.4%

The City of Cape is elated about its dam levels that have almost reached full capacity between 7 September and 13 September.

At the same time last year, dam levels were at 81.9%.

Seeing the dam levels draw nearer and nearer to the 100% mark is exciting because this has been the fullest they have been since 2014, said the Citys Mayoral Committee Member for Water and Waste, Alderman Xanthea Limberg.

Many have been keeping a close eye on the dam levels, which have reached 96.4% due to rainfall and the decrease in water demand, he added.

Meanwhile, water consumption for the same period decreased by 7 million litres per day from an average of 654 million litres per day the previous week to 647 million litres per day.

He said the City will review the status of dam and water restriction levels after the conclusion of the water year in October for planning and will make projections in consultation with the National Department of Water and Sanitation, municipalities and irrigation boards.

The City is currently on level 1 tariffs, which is the second-lowest tariff level and it will need to consider whether to move to the lowest tariff, being the no restriction, water-wise tariff.

The lowest tariff is not tied to a restriction level. Importantly, that decision is based on how much water is likely to be sold so that water services can still be paid for, rather than how much water is in the dams. Thus the decision on a possible change to the restriction level needs to take place first.

Limberg also thanked the residents and businesses for using water sparingly and paying for the service.

The water tariff, which includes a usage portion and a fixed charge, covers the cost of purchasing the bulk water, the treatment of the water, the delivery of the water to homes and businesses and the maintenance of all the infrastructure to deliver this service.

Residents who are registered as indigent are exempt from paying the fixed basic charge portion of the water tariff and continue to receive an allocation of free water.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2020-09-16. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
British Airways is expecting to cut as many as 10,000 jobs due to the Covid-19 pandemic even as the airline reached deals or agreements in principle with its various unions.

The flagship U.K. carrier has seen 7,200 people leave as of last Friday, Chief Executive Officer Alex Cruz told lawmakers in London on Wednesday. The company remains in discussions with some labor groups, he said, and has rowed back on a plan to fire and rehire staff on new contracts.

British Airways, part of IAG SA, has previously come under fire from parliamentarians and unions for its intiial plan to cut as many as 12,000 workers, with the House of Commons Transport Committee accusing the airline of using the coronavirus as an excuse to slash the payroll. The pandemic has reversed decades of growth in the aviation industry, shutting down flights and triggering a slump that could see traffic diminished for years.

BA is currently operating about 35-40% of its capacity, Cruz said, with ever changing quarantine rules around Europe having an impact on demand.

The carrier is seeking a resumption of flights between New York and London, with tests on arrival and five days later, to shorten self-isolation requirements and to spur travel across the Atlantic. IAGs most profitable route remains all but shut due to travel restrictions, depriving the company of a trip that generated about 7 million seat sales last year.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.

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Appeal in Babri demolition case to be taken after studying judgment says CBI counsel

Babri demolition verdict: All you need to know about the key figures

Babri Masjid demolition: Court to pronounce verdict on Sep 30

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Sep 16: A special court will pronounce its verdict in the Babri Masjid demolition case on September 30. Special judge, S K Yadav has directed all accused persons to remain present in the court when the verdict is being read out.

Babri Masjid verdict on September 30th, all accused to be in court | Oneindia News

In August, the Supreme Court extended by a month the deadline for completion of trial in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case involving 32 accused, including BJP veterans L K Advani, M M Joshi and Uma Bharti, and said that judgement should be delivered by September 30.

Proceedings over, Judge to start writing Babri Mosque demolition case verdict

The top court, which had earlier fixed August 31 as the deadline for completion of proceedings including pronouncement of the verdict, took note of the report filed by special judge S K Yadav in the high-profile case.

A bench of justices R F Nariman, Navin Sinha and Indira Banerjee said, Having read the report of Surendra Kumar Yadav, learned Special Judge, and considering that the proceedings are at the fag end, we grant one month's time, i.e., till September 30, 2020, to complete the proceedings including the delivery of judgment .

On May 8, the top court had extended by three months the time for completion of trial in the case and said that judgement should be delivered by August 31.

The special CBI court at Lucknow has completed the recording of statements of the 32 accused under section 313 of CrPC in the case.

The mosque in Ayodhya was demolished on December 6, 1992, by 'kar sevaks' who claimed that an ancient Ram temple stood at the same site.

Former deputy prime minister LK Advani and BJP veteran MM Joshi, who were among those leading the Ram temple movement at that time, had deposed before the court through video conferencing.

The court has also recorded statements of BJP stalwarts like Kalyan Singh and Uma Bharti, both of whom appeared in person.

Advani's statement was recorded barely days before the groundbreaking event on August 5 for a Ram temple at Ayodhya.

Last year, a five-judge Constitution bench of the top court had ruled that the 2.77-acre land claimed by both Hindus and Muslims would be handed over to a trust for the building of a temple.

The court had also ordered the allocation of a five-acre land at another site in Ayodhya for building a mosque.

The top court had in May asked special judge S K Yadav to control the proceedings in accordance with law so that the time-frame is no longer breached.

It had indicated to the special judge to avail the facilities of video conferencing to complete recording of evidence and hearing of applications that are filed during the course of trial proceedings.

The top court order was passed after the special judge had written a letter seeking an extension of time granted to him for completing the trial in the politically sensitive case.

On July 19, last year the top court had asked the special judge to deliver the verdict within nine months, which was to end this April.

It had also extended the tenure of the special judge at Lucknow till the completion of the trial and the delivery of the verdict in the case.

Besides Advani, Joshi and Uma Bharti, the accused against whom conspiracy charge was invoked in the case by the top court on April 19, 2017, include former Rajasthan governor Kalyan Singh, BJP MP Vinay Katiar and Sadhvi Rithambara.

Three other high-profile accused - Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaders Giriraj Kishore, Ashok Singhal and Vishnu Hari Dalmia - died during trial and the proceedings against them have been abated.

Kalyan Singh, during whose tenure as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh the disputed structure was razed, was put on trial in September last year after his tenure as governor came to an end.

Exercising its plenary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, the top court had directed the Uttar Pradesh government to pass appropriate orders in consultation with the Allahabad High Court to extend the tenure of the special judge, who was set to retire on September 30 last year.

On April 19, 2017, the top court had ordered a day-to-day trial in the high profile case and directed the special judge to conclude it in two years.

While dubbing the demolition of the disputed structure as a "crime" which shook the "secular fabric of the Constitution", it had allowed the CBI's plea on restoration of the criminal conspiracy charge against the VVIP accused.

The court had come down heavily on the CBI for the delay of over 25 years in the trial.

Issuing a slew of directions, it had said, "The proceedings (against Advani and others) in the court of the Special Judicial Magistrate at Raebareli will stand transferred to the Court of Additional Sessions Judge (Ayodhya Matters) at Lucknow."

"The court of sessions will frame additional charges under Section 120-B (conspiracy) and the other provisions of the penal code mentioned in the joint charge sheet filed by the CBI against Champat Rai Bansal, Satish Pradhan, Dharam Das, Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, Mahamadleshwar Jagdish Muni, Ram Bilas Vadanti, Vaikunth Lal Sharma and Satish Chandra Nagar," the apex court had said.

The court had termed the Allahabad High Court's February 12, 2001 verdict of dropping conspiracy charges against Advani and others as "erroneous".

Before the 2017 verdict of the apex court, there were two sets of cases relating to the demolition of the disputed structure on December 6, 1992, going on at Lucknow and Raebareli.

The trial of the first case involving unnamed 'Karsevaks' was going on in a Lucknow court, while the second set of cases relating to the eight VVIPs were going on in a Raebareli court.
Three days after the Delhi government asked 33 big private hospitals to reserve 80% of their total intensive care unit (ICU) beds for coronavirus disease (Covid-19) patients amid a surge in the number of infections, an association of healthcare providers said on Wednesday that it would challenge the order in the high court.

We will be filing a motion in the high court for striking down this order. We have already given a representation to the Delhi government as well as the Union health minister, Girdhar Gyani, director general of the Association of Healthcare Providers (India).

The order was suddenly given without any consultation with the private healthcare providers or even warning them beforehand, Gyani said.

On Sunday, Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain said the government of the city-state had ordered all Covid-19 hospitals in the city to increase their bed capacity by 30%, and 33 major private hospitals to reserve 80% of their total ICU beds for patients of the viral infection.

The move to augment hospital bed capacity came as Delhi experienced a record surge in confirmed infections. The capital on Wednesday added 4,473 new cases of Covid-19  the highest single-day spike in the city.

Delhi government did not comment on the issue, despite repeated attempts.

Gyani said hospital bed occupancy, which was just 20-25% in April and May, has risen recently almost 90% because patients who were suffering from other ailments had got themselves admitted for treatment of surgeries that they had delayed for fear of catching Covid-19.

Also read| Increase number of RT-PCR tests: Delhi High Court to Govt

Gyani said, These are the biggest hospitals in the city that specialise in surgeries like transplants; these patients have waited long enough. Also, in a big hospital 20 to 30% admission happens from the emergency department. Just because Covid-19 patients are there, the {victims of} road accidents, trauma cases, {people with} heart attacks and stroke will not stop coming in.

Staff shortage

A shortage of trained staff is the major hurdle for hospitals  both government and private  that have been asked to scale up their intensive care unit capacity for treatment of patients with the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). With the number of new cases and hospitalisations on the rise, hospitals across the city have started running out of ICU beds.

One, it will be difficult to increase the number of ICU beds. And, even if the hospital purchases everything needed to scale up the capacity, where will we find the intensivists and trained nurses needed to run these ICU beds?. Plus, the Covid-19 ICU needs at least 2.5 times the staff in a normal ICU, said a representative of one of the biggest private hospitals in the city, requesting anonymity.

Around 36.6% of the total ICU beds earmarked for the treatment of Covid-19 patients in all hospitals were vacant as of Wednesday evening, according to data from the Delhi Corona app.

With private hospitals handling a disproportionately large number of Covid-19 patients, the Delhi government chose to enlist the 33 biggest facilities in ramping up ICU bed capacity for people with the infection. 88% of the total ICU beds in 11 off the 33 big private hospitals are already occupied, according to data from the Delhi Corona app.

Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, one of the 33 that has been directed to reserve beds, already has a high percentage of beds reserved for Covid-19 patients; the problem is the absence of trained staff, hospital authorities said.

Hiring more

We had been asked to create a 100-bed ICU initially when we had met the health minister even before the June surge. So, we have been slowly able to ramp up our capacity. Now, we have 117 of 167 beds reserved for Covid-19 patients, but with almost all big hospitals doing so there will be a problem for non-Covid patients. For us, the challenge will be manpower; more staff is needed for Covid-19 ICUs so we are in the process of hiring more nurses, said Dr DS Rana, chairperson of the board of governors at the hospital.

A person aware of the situation at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, another of the hospitals that have been asked to increase Covid-19 ICU beds, said: We have already started the transition; however, reaching the capacity will take some time as our ICU beds continue to be full.

Government hospitals have their share of worries, too.

The 300 ICU beds are not really ICU beds, they are just ventilators that have been installed in various wards and are managed by doctors who have no clinical expertise in doing so. There are only about 50 actual ICU beds managed by trained resident doctors, said a doctor at the hospital.

There are just 33 resident doctors in the anaesthesia department who are currently managing the ICUs, going in for surgeries, as well as managing the OT{operating room} in our civil lines trauma centre, said a doctor at the hospital.

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CHAPLIN  Connecticut State Police are searching for a suspect after a liquor store on Wilimantic Road reported an armed robbery Tuesday.

Its the second time in recent days the store has been held up  both times at knifepoint

State police from Troop D were called to the Chaplin Package Store on 169 Willimantic Road Tuesday evening on a report of a robbery, Trooper First Class Pedro Muniz said.

It was reported that a male wearing a black sweatshirt and a black bandana face covering entered the store and displayed a knife, Muniz said.

The suspect fled on foot and state police are still investigating, he said.

Last week, state police asked for the publics help identifying a suspect in an almost identical crime.

Around 8 p.m. Thursday, police were called to the store after an employee said a white male in a green hoodie and blue surgical mask brandished a knife and demanded money from the employee.

Police said the suspect in that incident left with an unidentified amount of cash.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Detective Kimball 860-779-4957 or the Troop D Barracks 860-779-4900.
Ethiopia, which has 64,300 patients and more than a thousand deaths from Covid-19, has just inaugurated a factory to manufacture test kits made by a Chinese-Ethiopian company. This site should make it possible to strongly increase the number of tests in the country in order to contain the pandemic. Addis Ababa even plans to export the kits to the region.

Officially, the BGI Health Ethiopia factory will produce 10 million test kits per year. They will be used in Ethiopia but also exported primarily to Africa.

This local production will have a huge impact in building national capacity, says Yared Agidew, director of the main patient care center in Addis Ababa. After a sharp increase in the number of patients in August and peaking at more than a thousand cases daily, this commissioning is timely.

Ethiopia has conducted more than one million tests since the beginning of the crisis, the third highest figure on the continent. But, like most African countries, Addis Ababa is suffering from a shortage of tests that are imported in a saturated context where richer and more influential countries are imposing themselves.

Several nations have repeatedly stated that they are having difficulty obtaining them, slowing down the number of tests that are essential to prevent the spread of the virus. John Nkengasong, from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) Africa, had also made a strong statement in the journal Nature, denouncing the collapse of cooperation and the failure of international solidarity, thus excluding Africa from the diagnostics market.

Today, several countries have started or are close to making their own kits, such as Algeria, Senegal or Uganda, but none has a capacity equivalent to what the Ethiopians are announcing. Addis Ababa is planning to stop importing kits.
He confirmed his relationship with model Brooke Meredith last Friday, after they were spotted celebrating his 42nd birthday together.

And Dr Chris Brown had fans wishing he was still on the market on Monday morning as he paraded his muscular physique at Clovelly Beach, Sydney.

The hunky veterinarian was spotted emerging from the water wearing nothing but a pair of skimpy blue-and-red boardshorts.

Welcome to muscle beach! Dr Chris Brown, 42, paraded his Adonis-like physique while enjoying a shirtless dip at Clovelly Beach, Sydney, on Monday

With droplets falling from his Adonis-like frame, the I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! host looked refreshed and alert as he strode from the shore.

After drying off, Chris picked up his shoes and towel, slipped on a pair of tortoiseshell sunglasses and began making his way home.

The sighting comes days after the Living Room star was spotted on a stroll with girlfriend Brooke, dispelling rumours the pair had split after less than six months of dating.

Rejuvenated: With droplets falling from his chiselled frame, the I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! host looked refreshed and alert as he strode from the shore

In August, Woman's Day claimed that Chris was back on the market after cryptically hinting at his split from the 29-year-old model on Instagram.

'Over the last few months there's been no more dependable partner in the pandemic than a face like this,' he wrote alongside a photo of his cat.

However, Friday's sighting confirmed the pair are still very much an item.

Feeling fresh! After drying off, Chris picked up his shoes and towel, slipped on a pair of tortoiseshell sunglasses and began making his way home

Meanwhile, Chris is reportedly gearing up to film the upcoming season of I'm a Celebrity, following rumours the Channel 10 show will return in 2021 despite low ratings.

According to TV Tonight, the new season will be filmed in Australia due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.

The show will reportedly be filmed in Murwillumbah, in northern New South Wales, at a campsite normally used for the UK series.

What split? It comes days after the Living Room star was spotted on a stroll with girlfriend Brooke Meredith, dispelling rumours the pair had split after less than six months of dating
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 16)  The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) wants to resume operation of provincial buses before the end of this month, but most local officials are not keen on allowing public vehicles from Metro Manila into their areas, an official said.

LTFRB Chairman Martin Delgra said at the Laging Handa press briefing on Wednesday that this matter has been under consideration by the agency and the Department of Transportation for the past months.

Hopefully, we are looking at the timeline na within the month. We will be opening the provincial bus routes coming from Metro Manila or ending in Metro Manila, Delgra said.

However, only four officials out of 81 provinces were open to the idea, he said without elaborating.

Yung pag transport ng mga pasahero from Metro Manila papunta sa mga probinsya, we have to coordinate with the LGUs concerned kasi sila rin ang sasalo ng mga pasahero, Delgra pointed out.

[Translation: The transport of passengers from Metro Manila to the provinces, we have to coordinate with the LGUs because they will be receiving the passengers.]

Provincial bus operators are appealing for LTFRB to allow their partial operation, noting the need for their service by people stranded in Metro Manila, returning overseas Filipino workers, and other commuters.
DETROIT -- A standoff that began early Tuesday morning has ended after the gunman, who had taken hostages, killed himself inside his Detroit home Wednesday morning. According to Fox 2 Detroit, police confirmed the suspect, a 38-year-old man, died from a self-inflicted gunshot around 7:05 a.m. Wednesday.

The standoff began Tuesday after police in Redford Township attempted to stop the suspect for a traffic violation. The suspect fled the scene and led police to the home in the 15000 block of Iliad Street in Detroit where two people inside were taken hostage. As he entered the home, the suspect fired a shot, but not at police.

Attempts to negotiate with the suspect throughout the day to surrender were unsuccessful, however a female hostage was released Tuesday evening. A male hostage escaped from the home Wednesday morning while the suspect was sleeping. Shortly after that hostage escaped, the suspects body was found.

During a press conference Tuesday, Detroit Police chief James Craig said the suspect admitted he suffered from mental illness and had not been taking his medication. It was also indicated the suspect was under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

The gunman was also a suspect in a triple homicide that took place in the city in June. In that case, three bodies were found in a house that was set on fire. An autopsy of the bodies found they had all been shot prior to being burned. Police are not sure about the connection between the suspect and the victims of the homicide.

Police have also not identified any relationship between the suspect and the two hostages from the most recent incident. The hostages were examined by medical workers after they left the home.

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PITTSBURGH, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The 19th annual list of Military Friendly Employers has been released on www.militaryfriendly.com and will be officially published in the December 2020 issue of G.I. Jobs Magazine.

Humana earned the #1 Military Friendly Employer ranking in the largest company category.

"Humana is proud to serve the military community, as we have over the past 25 years, and is honored to be recognized as a Military Friendly Employer," said Chris Hunter, President of Humana's Group, Military and Specialty Segment.

Combined Insurance earned top honors in the one to five billion dollar annual revenue category, while Motel 6 / Studio 6 was number one amongst middle market firms.

The Home Depot and USAA have been rated as Military Friendly Employer in all 19 years since the list started. ManTech, Travelers, CDW, Dyncorp, Norfolk Southern, American Electric Power, Applied Materials, AT&T, BNSF Railway, Cintas, Schneider, Southern Company, State Farm, Southwest Airlines, GE, J.B. Hunt, Union Pacific Railroad and Lockheed Martin have been designated a Military Friendly Employer in at least 15 of the 19 years.

"We're grateful for this honor and proud to stand behind servicemembers and their families," said Erin Izen, Director of Workforce Development & Military Relations for The Home Depot.

Financial, banking and business services concerns led the way with 18% of Military Friendly designated companies, defense firms comprised 11% while health and pharmaceuticals came in third at 10%.

Geographically, Military Friendly Employers identified Texas as their top hiring region for veterans with California, Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Dakota, New Jersey and New York rounding out the Top 10.

For further information on the Military Friendly list, contact Kayla Lopez at [email protected].

About Military Friendly

Military Friendly is the standard that measures an organization's commitment, effort and success in creating sustainable and meaningful benefit for the military community. Only about 15 organizations competed for Military Friendly designation upon its founding in 2003. Today, that number is over 1,500. Military Friendly ratings are owned and produced by Viqtory, Inc., a service-disabled, veteran-owned small business founded in 2001. They are not affiliated with or endorsed by the U.S. Department of Defense or the federal government. The data-driven Military Friendly lists and methodology can be found at www.MilitaryFriendly.com . Data calculations are evaluated for completeness and accuracy by Ernst & Young.

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Joe Biden has accused Donald Trump and the White House of speeding up the coronavirus vaccine for political purposes, adding the American people should not trust the administration.

Speaking during a town hall event on Wednesday, the Democratic presidential candidate said: I trust vaccines, I trust scientists, but I dont trust Donald Trump. And at this moment, the American people cant either.

Scientific breakthroughs dont care about calendars any more than the virus does," he added. "They certainly dont adhere to election cycles. And their timing, their approval, and their distribution should never, ever be distorted by political considerations."

A reporter asked Mr Biden why the public should trust him if he were elected, as he has consistently called for voters to question the sitting presidents actions when it comes to the pandemic.

Im saying trust the scientists. Trust the scientists," he said. Its one thing for Donald Trump to say the vaccine is safe. OK. Then give it to the board of scientists. Have total transparency.

These comments come as Mr Trump and Republicans have accused the presidential challenger and the Democratic Party of boasting an anti-vaccine rhetoric in the last couple of months as multiple coronavirus vaccine trials enter Phase 3.

Mr Trump earlier this month called on Mr Biden and other members of the Democratic Party to immediately apologise for the reckless anti-vaccine rhetoric that theyre talking right now."

During his town hall, Mr Biden conceded that he would trust and take the coronavirus vaccine if the president could answer these questions to the American public: "What criteria will be used to ensure that a vaccine meets the scientific standard of safety and effectiveness? If the administration green lights a vaccine, who will validate that the decision was driven by science rather than politics? What group of scientists will that be? How can we be sure that the distribution of the vaccine will take place safely, cost-free, and without a hint of favoritism?"

Then, if the president were able to answer those questions, Mr Biden conceded that absolutely himself and the rest of the public should take the vaccine.

Distrust in the vaccine has emerged as Mr Trump has pushed for one to start its roll-out to the public prior to the November election, causing concern that politics was driving distribution decisions.

In an interview with Fox & Friends on Tuesday, Mr Trump claimed a vaccine could be ready in a matter of weeks.

Were going to have a vaccine in a matter of weeks, it could be four weeks it could be eight weeks  will it be before the election, it could be  well start delivering it immediately upon getting it, he said.

This only further increased speculation that politics was playing a role.

Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr Robert Redfield discredited the presidents timeline when speaking before a Senate subcommittee on Wednesday.

If youre asking me when is it going to be generally available to the American public so we can begin to take advantage of vaccine to get back to our regular life, I think were probably looking at third  late second quarter, third quarter 2021, Dr Redfield said.

At a White House press conference later that day Mr Trump contradicted Mr Redfield, saying the health chief was mistaken and confused and may not have understood the question.
On Tuesday, India walked out of the SCO meet after Pakistani representative projected a "fictitious map" that inaccurately depicted the borders of the two countries.

India on Tuesday walked out in protest from a virtual meeting of the national security advisers of member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) after Pakistani representative projected a fictitious map that inaccurately depicted the borders of the two countries.

The Ministry of External Affairs said what Pakistan did was in blatant disregard to host Russias advisory.

At the meeting of the national security advisers (NSAs) of member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), hosted by the chair of the SCO (Russia), the Pakistani NSA deliberately projected a fictitious map that Pakistan has recently been propagating, said external affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava.

This was in blatant disregard to the advisory by the host against it and in violation of the norms of the meeting. After consultation with the host, the Indian side left the meeting in protest at that juncture. As was to be expected, Pakistan then went on to present a misleading view of this meeting, he said.

Also read: Forces ready to protect sovereignty, Rajnath Singhs strong message to China from the parliament

Also read: Chinese troops movement in depth areas opposite Arunachal, Indian Army strengthens positions

Sources said India issued its strong objection to the use of this illegal map by Pakistan and Russian side, as the Chair, tried very hard to persuade Pakistan not to do so. Nikolai Patrushev, the Secretary of the National Security Council of Russian Federation has conveyed that he was personally very grateful to NSA for attending the SCO Summit, they said.

According to sources, Russia does not support what Pakistan has done and hopes that Pakistans provocative act will not affect Indias participation in SCO and definitely not cast any shadow on Patrushevs warm personal relationship for NSA for whom he has the highest regard. Patrushev also said he hoped to see NSA at forthcoming events, they said.

Also read: It is a shame: Jaya Bachchan slams Ravi Kishan over attempts to tarnish Bollywoods image
Bhopal/Sagar: Seven people, including three from a family, were killed on Tuesday evening when they were struck by lightning in Damoh district, which is located 264 kilometres (km) east of the state capital Bhopal, in Madhya Pradeshs (MP) Bundelkhand region, said police.

Five of the deceased belonged to Chhoti Lamti village under the jurisdiction of the districts Tejgarh police station. They were identified as Lakhan Yadav (35), his wife Savitri Bai (32), their son Narendra (7), Jalam Adivasi (31) and Prem Bai (50).

Tejgarh police station in-charge Vikas Singh Chauhan said, The deceased were working in their agriculture fields when lightning struck them. Another son of the Yadav couple, who is 12-year-old, was also struck by the lightning. He is undergoing treatment in the district hospital.

Similarly, lightning claimed two more lives in Kunwarpur and Sataria villages in the district, an official said.

MP Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and the leader of the opposition in the state assembly Kamal Nath have condoled the death of the lightning victims.
The Egyptian diplomat reviewed Egypts vision on solving the region's issues, particularly in Libya, Syria, Palestine, and Eastern Mediterranean

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi received on Wednesday the Egyptian ambassador to the Asian country, Tarek Dahroug, to discuss enhancing Egyptian-Pakistani relations in all fields.

The Pakistani minister voiced his appreciation for Egypt's prominent role on both the Islamic and international levels, expressing his country's desire to develop relations with Egypt, according to a statement released by the Egyptian foreign ministry.

The Egyptian diplomat reviewed Egypts vision on solving the region's issues, particularly in Libya, Syria, Palestine, and Eastern Mediterranean.

The meeting also covered the latest developments on a number of issues of common interest, the statement added.

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 16)  Retired Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio is joining the team suing Chinese officials including President Xi Jinping for illegal incursions in the South China Sea before the International Criminal Court.

Former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario announced Wednesday that Carpio, an expert on the law of the sea, will serve as lawyer in charging Xi for crimes against humanity for Beijing's illegal moves in the disputed waters.

Carpio retired from the Supreme Court in October 2019. Prior to that, he was a key member of the panel which haled Manila's complaint against China's sweeping territorial claims in the South China Sea to an international tribunal in The Hague, which the country won in July 2016.

In March 2019, Del Rosario and former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales filed a complaint before the ICC against Xi, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and former Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Zhao Jianhua over near-permanent environmental destruction in the West Philippine Sea, a portion of the South China Sea claimed by the Philippines as part of its exclusive economic zone.

The filing said China's encroachment on islands in the South China Sea, including the Spratly Islands, resulted in "environmentally destructive and illegal reclamations and artificial island building activities" in Scarborough Shoal and the Kalayaan Islands and deprived Filipino fishermen from livelihood as the Chinese blocked them from casting their nets in contested waters under Xi's reign.

READ: Gov't can seize China-owned assets to settle 200B marine damage in West PH Sea  Del Rosario

The group also wanted Beijing's top officials to answer for "atrocities" such as the reported swarming of Chinese militia vessels in the country's territorial sea.

Senior executives of China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), a state-run corporation, are also being charged for carrying out illegal reclamation activities. CCCC and its subsidiaries have recently been blacklisted by the United States for these incursions in the disputed waters.

However, the ICC flagged late last year that the case filed against Chinese officials may not be under its jurisdiction. Del Rosario and Carpio-Morales said the fight is not over.

READ: Carpio-Morales on ICC case vs Xi: 'This is just the beginning'

"If it is shown that the crimes described in the communication occurred not only in the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Philippines, but also within its territorial sea or landmass, the ICC has basis to proceed with our communication," Del Rosario said during a forum, touting the former Supreme Court magistrate as someone who "will surely bolster our efforts in the ICC."

Carpio-Morales added that their team has submitted a response to the ICC this week to push the case forward, where they point out that the massive illegal reclamation and artificial island-building approved by Chinese officials in the Spratlys. She said among those turned into artificial islands is Subi Reef, which is within the territorial sea of (or within12 nautical miles off) Pag-asa  an island the Philippines considers part of its territory and which is permanently occupied by a Filipino community.

"Chinese officials continue to enforce its hostile blockade within the territorial sea of Scarborough Shoal that prevents Filipino fishermen from pursuing their livelihood," Del Rosario added. "These fishermen live along the coast of Luzon and rely on their fish catch to survive. The effects of these Chinese criminal actions therefore extend to the Philippines coast of Luzon."

RELATED: Duterte says PH-China ties unaffected with ICC communication against Xi

They also cited the ramming and sinking of Filipino fishing boat Gem-Ver near Recto Bank in June 2019 as another incident that occurred within the country's EEZ, which should be covered by the ICC as the crime was committed against a Philippine-registered vessel. China directly put in danger 22 Filipino fishermen left to drown at sea until a Vietnamese boat came to their rescue, Del Rosario added.

The team argued that the facts of the case show that ICC has "strong basis" to proceed with the cases filed against China's leaders, saying they want to hold Xi and his men criminally liable and imprisoned under the ICC statute. If accepted by ICC, Del Rosario warned that warrants of arrest against Xi and Yi could ban them from visiting ICC state parties like South Korea, Japan, and Australia.

"They planned it, they implemented it, and they continue to commit their crimes against Filipinos and all the coastal inhabitants of the South China Sea," he added.

READ: Most Filipinos back ICC case vs. Xi  SWS

The Philippines has been citing the United Nations Convention for the Law of the Sea in insisting its control in the West Philippine Sea.
Two years ago, former state Rep. Matt Lynch unseated an incumbent Republican judge on the 11th Ohio District Court of Appeals in the primary, then went on to win in November. He still has more than four years to run on that term. Yet this year, in order to extend his time on the bench just a little bit longer, Lynch is challenging a 13-year incumbent on the same court -- the highly qualified and widely respected Judge Timothy P. Cannon. As Cannon pithily notes, if successful, Lynch will essentially displace an incumbent judge for an unknown judge to be identified later by Gov. Mike DeWine. In other words, the voters lose their voice on who will replace Lynch. Thats wrong in itself.

Lynch, a Chagrin Falls Republican, knows full well that the double game he is playing will, if successful, end up depriving the voters twice  first, of the extensive judicial experience of Cannon, a Painesville Democrat. And second, of a voice in who fills Lynchs current seat on the Warren-based 11th District appeals court, which handles appeals from Ashtabula, Geauga, Lake, Portage and Trumbull counties.

Our advice: The voters should tell Matt Lynch to pound salt.

Cannon, 65, is seeking his third, and likely final, six-year term: Ohio forbids a judge from beginning a new term on or after turning 70. Thats also the key to whats happening here, since Lynch turns 70 next year. So he is trying to leap-frog into a new six-year court term while hes still below the cutoff age.

Its a high-risk gamble for voters: Why should they unseat Cannon, a highly experienced judge with a good record, merely to give a far less experienced judge a two-year extension? And, as noted, if Lynch succeeds, DeWine will appoint a judge to Lynchs original term  without voter input.

Theres no substitute for experience in Ohios Courts of Appeals. They are the courts of last resort for most Ohio appeals, both civil and criminal. Judge Timothy Cannon has been the 11th District courts administrative and presiding judge. He is well-respected with a deep knowledge of the law, and a clear understanding of the challenges Ohios courts and litigants face.

Voters should reelect Judge Timothy P. Cannon to the 11th Ohio District Court of Appeals, Feb. 9 term, on the Nov. 3 ballot. Early voting begins Oct. 6.

About our editorials: Editorials express the view of the editorial board of cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer -- the senior leadership and editorial-writing staff. As is traditional, editorials are unsigned and intended to be seen as the voice of the news organization.

The two 11th Ohio District Court of Appeals judges running against each other for the seat currently held by Judge Timothy P. Cannon -- Cannon and Judge Matt Lynch -- were interviewed by the editorial board of The Plain Dealer and cleveland.com on Sept. 10, 2020. Audio of the endorsement interview is below:

Have something to say about this topic?

* Send a letter to the editor, which will be considered for print publication.

* Email general questions about our editorial board or comments or corrections on this endorsement editorial to Elizabeth Sullivan, director of opinion, at esullivan@cleveland.com.

Other resources for voters:

League of Women Voters vote411.org voters' guide.

Trumbull County bar association preference poll.

JudicialVotesCount.org website with information on judicial candidates' legal background and why they are seeking judicial office.
With elections still more than a month off and most local governments taking advantage of provisions that allow them to bypass changes to property tax code for another couple of years, many local meeting agendas are filled with various largely pro forma contracts and relatively little else.

However, there is one item on nearly every agenda that keeps coming back every week  possibly approving a disaster declaration, for coronavirus, Hurricane Laura or potentially both.

Earlier this week, a renewed state disaster declaration ruffled a few feathers when area residents misinterpreted language used by Gov. Greg Abbott to continue requiring most people in the state to wear masks.

The measures approved by local leaders every week rarely draw such attention, despite the need for such orders to be continually renewed in order to minimize the risk for communities on a challenging road to recovery. Theyre so important that some City Councils in the past several weeks have had to meet just to renew them.

Such declarations give emergency management officials certain powers during times of disaster, be it a global pandemic, hurricane or petrochemical plant explosion. They include the power to declare a curfew or order an evacuation.

But when the dust clears and the emergency subsides, those declarations carry almost as much importance to the recovery effort as the they did to the initial response.

For example, Hurricane Lauras expected destruction caused nearly every government official in Southeast Texas to declare a state of disaster and order residents out in advance of her arrival. Such declarations continue in the Orange County area, although evacuation orders have long been rescinded. The city of Beaumont let its order expire this week.

Top hits: Get Beaumont Enterprise stories sent directly to your inbox

When much of Jefferson County was hit by Tropical Depression Imelda a year ago, the countys disaster declaration for the storm was renewed at least through mid-January of this year - months after the initial devastation.

Continuing to renew an emergency declaration helps clear the way for local governments to quickly accept certain grant funding to use for recovery. It also allows the government body to bypass various purchasing statutes that require it go out for bid before buying an item.

Such actions must be directly related to the disaster, so the declarations dont mean all procedures are dropped.

But, should coronavirus test kits or personal protective equipment again be hard to obtain, the county essentially could enter a contract with a reliable supplier relatively quickly instead of taking several weeks to go through the purchasing process and lose valuable response time.

kaitlin.bain@beaumontenterprise.com

twitter.com/KaitlinBain
The Taliban were ousted from power in Afghanistan in 2001 by a U.S.-led coalition for harboring Osama bin Laden, the architect of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on America. The talks in Qatar were laid out in a peace deal that Washington brokered with the Taliban and signed in February, aimed at bringing American troops home and ending more than four decades of relentless wars following the 1979 Afghan invasion by forces from the former Soviet Union.
Michael Scheuer, the former senior CIA official once in charge of the hunt for Osama bin Laden, has spent the last few months calling for President Trumps enemies to be punished with violence.

For 22 years, Scheuer worked as an operations officer within the CIAs ranks. In addition to leading the first agency task force to hunt bin Laden, he authored the agencys Extraordinary Rendition program, which saw suspected terrorists kidnapped and tortured.

While his former colleagues tell the Daily Beast he has always been an extremist by nature, since retiring from the agency in 2004, Scheuer has undergone a sort-of self-radicalization.

In 2014, on his blog Non-intervention, Scheuer appeared to advocate for the assassination of then-President Barack Obama. Then last year he announced that he is a believer and follower of QAnon, a conspiracy theory that claims Trump is waging a secret war against a shadowy cabal of Democratic pedophiles.

But over the last few months, and amid national unrest spurred by the death of George Floyd, Scheuer has increasingly voiced belief that the war on terror is now a domestic fight and has called for violence against the left-wing insurgents he believes to be stoking the flames.

Michael Scheuer, the former senior CIA official once in charge for the hunt for Osama bin Laden, has spent the summer calling for the execution of President Trumps enemies

In 2014, on his blog Non-intervention, Scheuer appeared to advocate for the assassination of then-President Barack Obama. Then last year he announced that he is a believer and follower of the QAnon, a baseless conspiracy theory that claims Trump is waging a secret war against a shadowy cabal of Democratic paedophiles

According to Scheuer, Black Lives Matter is a terrorist organization and semi-human mob. On his blog and podcast he characterized nationwide demonstrations as rioting in the honor of felonious scum.

He also accused activists of destroying more property than al Qaeda, making them absolutely terrorists.

The 66-year-old said those responsible deserve a type of punishment... weve not seen before in this country.

All the while, Scheuer calls Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old charged for the murder of two demonstrators in Kenosha, Washington, a young hero.

In a blog post last week, Scheuer wrote that if the US is lucky, Rittenhouses necessary, patriotic, and constitutional actions will power the formation of militias across the United States.

Similarly, in July, weeks before the fatal shootings, he wrote: loyal Americans know their domestic enemies, as well as their locations, in detail, and will be able to act swiftly to eliminate them and the threat they pose.

Scheuer made his name in 2004, following the release of his best-selling book, Imperial Hubris. The book argued that America would need to wage a far bloodier war and destroy more civilian infrastructure than it was already if it hoped to get a firm grip on the Middle East.

But a decade-and-half on, Scheuers perceived enemies are now domestic. On his podcast in July, theorizing over the possibility of another US civil war, Scheuer said the only thing I would be upset about  is that not enough Democrats would get killed.

Scheuer has also said hes anticipating widespread Democratic voter fraud in the election, despite it being the president who has seemed to advocate Republican voters illegally voting twice  both by mail in ballot, and then later in person.

I just think its unreasonable for the Democrats to think that no one will respond to that kind of an attempt to take over the government, he said of the purported planned fraud.

According to Scheuer, Black Lives Matter is a terrorist organization and semi-human mob. On his blog and podcast he characterized nationwide demonstrations as rioting in the honor of felonious scum

All the while, Scheuer calls Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old charged for the murder of two demonstrators in Kenosha, Washington, a young hero

In a new report by the Daily Beast, the outlet said that a number of CIA alumni who worked closely with Scheuer at the agency has since sought to distance themselves from him.

Others have expressed their concern for him, but say theyre unsurprised by his fanatical turn.

Most of the sources interviewed as part of the report said they didnt remember him being as conspiratorial at the CIA as he is now, and they dont believe the agency wouldve had the grounds to spot any warning signs for his later radical beliefs.

But retired CIA operations officer, Glenn Carle, was apparently an exception, telling the outlet: Hes always been an extremist. Thats a psychological characteristic, not a political attribute of his.

Clearly and without exception hes derogatory, to the point of being grotesque, in his unfairness toward any political figure who shows any temperance.

Scheuer himself agreed with Carle. He said: My job at the CIA or my job in the little role I have now writing is to make sure the republic survives, in a republican small-r form of government, that the Constitution prevails, that theres equality before the law and I see all these things disappearing before my eyes.

I think its a direct line. I never gave a good goddamn about killing an enemy of the United States.

Many of Scheuers former colleagues recalled what they described as his rage during his two decades at the CIA, which manifested in two ways.

The first of those ways was seen in clashes with other counterterrorism officials that would often turn into a litmus test for who was and wasnt willing to protect Americans against al Qaeda, at whatever cost.

Secondly, colleagues recalled him expressing disinterest at civilian deaths resulting from strikes on al Qaeda targets. One told the Daily Beast he simply didnt care about collateral damage.

The anonymous colleagues' claim is substantiated in a number of his post-CIA writings and statements.

In Imperial Hubris, Scheuer wrote: [W]e will have to use military force in the way Americans used it on the fields of Virginia and Georgia, in France and on Pacific islands, and from the skies over Tokyo and Dresden.

Such measures would include a Sherman-like razing of infrastructure, leveled against the enemys support base of civilians, in an effort to destroy roads and irrigation systems; bridges, power plants and crops in the field; fertilizer plants and grain mills.

A number of CIA alumni who worked closely with Scheuer at the agency has since sought to distance themselves from him

Just prior to leaving the CIA, his colleagues said he developed an increasing and unsettling tendency voice support for so-called revolutionaries  such as bin Laden  who were willing to use violence in pursuit of their beliefs.

Americans would do well to recall that bin Laden, in Muslim eyes and hearts, is not unlike another manalso, ironically, pious, quiet and dedicatedwho strove for four extremely bloody years to destroy the United States, and, in doing so, evoked unprecedented loyalty and love from millions that endures even today, he wrote in one excerpt of Imperial Hubris, comparing bin Laden to Robert E. Lee.

In a later interview when asked about bin Laden, Scheuer said he was very willing to admire anyone who speaks his mind and speaks it with consistency and pointedness. Before the Jesuits became new-era fairies, thats what the Jesuits taught you to do: speak your mind, and if you believe it, speak it loudly and never back up. Thats why I admired Ron Paul. Thats why I admired Osama bin Laden.

In later years, Scheuer would voice disdain for elites who were unprepared to us the necessary violence that, in his opinion, would placate what he referred to in his book as much of Islam.

One such subject of his ire was President Barack Obama, who Scheuer believes surrendered in the war on terror, particularly after he brought an end to the CIAs torture program.

He also believed the Kenyan-born Obama was a tyrant, and wrote on his blog in 2014 that he was a viable target for assassination.

The following year, he wrote that enough is coming very close to being enough from a tyrannical government that allow[s] its citizens to be killed at home because of its refusal to wage war mercilessly.

But in Trump, Scheuer believes hes found a president that finally gets it. He believes the presidents clashes with intelligence leaders prove to him that Trump has the right enemies, and that hes fighting back against those who Scheuer says is responsible for denying the US a victory in the war on terror.

Just prior to leaving the CIA, his colleagues said he developed an increasing and unsettling tendency voice support for revolutionaries  such as bin Laden  who were willing to use violence in pursuit of their beliefs

But in Trump, Scheuer believes hes found a president that finally gets it. He believes the presidents clashes with intelligence leaders prove to him that Trump has the right enemies

In December, Scheuer became the most senior former intelligence official to embrace the QAnon conspiracy theory, that first emerged on forum 4Chan and paints Trumps political enemies as a part of a Satan-worshiping pedophile ring.

Those who do not believe QAnon will be mighty surprised, he wrote on his blog. There is so much accuracy, and well-proven accuracy, he continued, referencing a theory that John F Kennedy is still alive and secret indictments will soon imprison Obama in Guantanamo Bay.

QAnon is a very interesting person to me. I listen to it whenever I can. In intelligence operations, if you get one thing out of 10 to work, thats usually a pretty good deal, and I think that his information has been, to my mind and what Ive seen in terms of corroboration, about 60 percent, which is extraordinary in this day and age, Scheuer wrote.

The conspiracy targets the likes of Obama, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and a number of leading congressional Democrats and left-leaning celebrities.

Scheuer wrote that he would like to deal with those as the center of theory with immediate and lethal, post-trial punishment by loyal-citizen firing squads chosen by lottery.

There is no Constitutional protection for U.S. citizens who wage war against their country, especially those who enlist foreign governments to assist them, he said of the presidents opponents.

n December, Scheuer became the most senior former intelligence official to embrace the QAnon conspiracy theory, that first emerged on forum 4Chan and paints Trumps political enemies as a part of a Satan-worshiping pedophile ring

In recent months, Scheuer has begun to more openly endorse the kind of violence on Americans that he previously reserved for jihadists and their support base, the Daily Beast remarked.

Scheuer believes theres no such thing as a protester, only a sub-human insurgent threat that he believes are being funded and armed by the Democratic party and wealthy donors, such as George Soros.

He characterized nationwide demonstrations as rioting in the honor of felonious scum, accusing activists of destroying more property than al Qaeda, making them absolutely terrorists.

If you have enough loyal general officers to destroy the domestic enemy, arrest the disloyal generals and do so as soon as you can, and use as much violence as is necessary to terminate this threat forever, Scheuer urged Trump on June 5, in response to violent clashes outside the White House.

The following month on his podcast he said if Joe Biden wins the election, Democrats would be silly to imagine its going to preserve their lives.

After more than two decades in the CIA, Scheuer says he no longer holds hope in institutions to save the republic, rather with people inspired by individuals like Kyle Rittenhouse who shot Democrat terrorist[s] in Kenosha.

Scheuer characterized Rittenhouses actions as a gift, saying he showed his fellow citizens that no U.S. citizen is obligated to stand by and watch his home, car, or business being burned by Democratic swine, or to fail to inflict fatal consequences on the same scum when they seek to harm or kill him, his family or his neighbors.

He then urged Americans to form local and nationwide armed militias to stop any potential fraud in the upcoming 2020 election.

People seem to think that I say things I dont mean, Scheuer told the Daily Beast. I truly am offended by that. If I say something, it doesnt mean Im testing the waters. This is what I think, take it or leave it.
To hear conservative gadfly and attorney Larry Klayman tell it, the end of his legal career haranguing the Washington political establishment could be nigh.

For two contentious days this week, the Judicial Watch founder battled bar ethics charges of dishonesty, deceit and misrepresentation over his aggressive drive to join the defense team for Cliven Bundy in a criminal case stemming from the Nevada ranchers armed standoff with federal authorities in 2014.

D.C. Bar officials contend the famously litigious Klayman misrepresented facts, filed meritless legal pleadings and brought frivolous demands for recusal and an ethics complaint against a judge who rejected the hard-charging lawyers bid to join the defense team at Bundys request.

Klayman insists hes guilty of nothing more than zealous advocacy in the episode. But looming over this weeks hearing is a more epic fight between ethics officials, who say hes made a specialty out of using the legal system to harass his enemies, and Klayman, who contends hes the victim of a politically motivated crusade to end his decades as a legal pit bull for conservative causes and figures.

During the 1990s, as he headed Judicial Watch, Klayman became reviled by many in the Clinton administration for forcing aides into bizarre, almost post-modern depositions that often led the witnesses to incur tens of thousands of dollars in legal bills. His antics eventually inspired the writers of The West Wing to create a toxic, scandal-chasing character, Harry Klaypool of Freedom Watch. Klayman was thrilled and  after a rancorous break-up with other leaders at Judicial Watch  adopted the fictional name from the TV show as the name of his new organization.

While many on the Washington scene have been waiting for decades for Klayman to get his comeuppance in court, three different ethics cases he is now embroiled in raise questions about how to police a legal system that generally imposes few consequences for filing marginal lawsuits and complaints.

Story continues

That very tolerance opens the door to abuse or harassment, but Klayman contends he is simply using established mechanisms to press biased judges to recuse or impose sanctions on a wayward jurist. He also says that reining in his unorthodox practice would deny representation to clients who often have nowhere else to turn.

"Theres no lawyer in the country who will take on the cases I will take on currently, Klayman said. You have to keep trying until you succeed.

Freedom Watch attorney Larry Klayman leaves the Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse in Washington on April 2, 2015.

The prosecutor in the Bundy-related ethics case, Julia Porter of the D.C. Bar Office of Disciplinary Counsel, initially pressed for Klayman to be disbarred outright, but later pulled back to a recommendation to suspend him for a year and require him to prove his fitness to return to legal practice.

She says just a year, a reinstatement provision. Im 69 years old. You know how long a reinstatement provision takes? Klayman said. If the sanction that Ms. Porter is recommending goes into effect, Ill probably never practice law again.

The hearing  conducted via Zoom and streamed on the internet over about five-and-a-half hours Monday and Tuesday  was replete with vintage Klayman moments that highlight the no-holds-barred approach that has landed him in the trouble he currently faces.

This a character assassination. Just say it, Ms. Porter, Klayman exclaimed. This is about the way I practice law. She doesnt like my ideology. She doesnt like what I do.

Shes out for blood. She does not like me, he declared.

If you have an objection, you can state that, Porter lashed back. Its not a time for you to give speeches.

Porter, who sometimes bowed her head and ran her hand through her hair during Klaymans most energetic outbursts, argued that he has repeatedly crossed the line from vigorous advocacy to filing cases and complaints that are entirely devoid of legal or factual basis. But she reserved her harshest criticism for Klaymans practice of targeting judges and bar officials with suits, recusal motions and ethics complaints when he finds himself on the losing side of a legal decision.

They are consistent with Mr. Klaymans pattern of retaliation and intimidation of people who either act against him or rule against him, Porter said.

She should know. Hes filed at least three federal lawsuits against Porter and her office over their actions towards him. Two of the suits have been dismissed, although appeals are pending.

Officially, this weeks hearing was not about the substance of the accusation that Klayman bent the truth in his quest to join the Bundy case. Rather, the session was an opportunity for each side to present aggravating and mitigating evidence as the panel mulls what discipline to recommend.

For Klayman, that meant showcasing witnesses who would testify to his character. The result was a cavalcade of right-wing personalities, including two former presidential candidates: ex-Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.) and former Ambassador Alan Keyes.

Also singing Klaymans praises were conservative talk show host Armstrong Williams, author and conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi and no fewer than four members of the Bundy family, two of whom appeared to be testifying while sitting in farm equipment.

Jerome Corsi, left, speaks during a news conference in Jan. 2019 as his lawyer Larry Klayman stands behind him outside the federal courthouse in Washington.

A key element of Klaymans defense before the ethics panel was to downplay his Republican ties and emphasize instead that he has sued presidents and other political figures from both major political parties. The second and only slightly less explicit thrust of his defense was that he has many friends and clients who are African American.

Ive told people that if I had won, you would have been my choice for attorney general, Keyes told Klayman during the hearing, beaming in on Zoom from the anchor desk at a television studio.

You and I have never had an issue when it comes to character, integrity and your honoring your word, said Williams, who spoke sitting in front of a T-shirt from Dr. Ben Carsons 2016 presidential campaign. That I can absolutely say is true, yes. You always honor your wordeven as a lawyer, yes.

Steadman Graham, you actually were partners with him, that was Oprahs boyfriend for a while, right? Klayman asked Williams.

Yeah.I dont know why its relevant, but its true, Williams said, prompting a visible eye roll and chuckle from the lawyer overseeing the hearing, Buffy Mims.

Klayman also called Dallas police sergeant and GOP congressional candidate Tre Pennie as a character witness. He represented Pennie in an unsuccessful suit that sought to tie shootings of police officers to rhetoric from Black Lives Matter, President Barack Obama, Sen. Hillary Clinton and others.

How do we refer to each other? Klayman asked.

As brothers, replied Pennie.

At another point, Klayman called the panels attention to a recent success: a ruling he won in Manhattan federal court earlier this year allowing former U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore (R-Ala.) to proceed to discovery in a defamation suit against comedian and filmmaker Sacha Baron Cohen.

An Obama-appointed, African-American judge allowed the case to go forward, a very fair man, Andrew Carter. A very fine judge, Klayman told the committee.

Klayman never directly explained the relevance of the judges race or of Pennies, but two of the three members of the bar committee hearing the ethics case are African American and the online biography of the panels chairwoman, Mims, prominently describes her as the co-chair of the Diversity & Inclusion Committee at her law firm.

Klaymans effort to demonstrate his exemplary character took other unusual turns, as he read from jacket blurbs from his own books and from articles written by his supporters. As always, there was no understatement.

There were other men like Larry early in American history. Their names were Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Henry, conservative editor Joseph Farah wrote in a 2004 article Klayman read to the ethics panel Tuesday. They dont make em like that any more.

In his various ethics battles over the years, Klayman has also received some backing from figures closer to the political mainstream and  in one instance  at the other end of the political spectrum.

Ronald Rotunda, the late, widely respected legal ethics authority, wrote a detailed letter defending Klayman and testified on his behalf in one case alleging conflicts-of-interest. Rotunda, who served as Democratic counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee during Watergate and later as an ethics adviser to Whitewater Special Counsel Kenneth Starr, died in 2018.

U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth also took the highly unusual step of testifying on Klaymans behalf at a 2016 bar hearing. During this weeks hearing, Klayman entered into evidence a 2018 letter the Reagan-appointed judge wrote on Klaymans behalf supporting his efforts to gain temporary bar admission in a Texas federal court.

He has had a number of cases before me over my 30 years as a judge, almost from the beginning. Many were quite controversial as well as newsworthy, and some extended for length periods of discovery and motions, Lamberth wrote. There is no question that Mr. Klayman is a zealous advocate for his client and his cause, but I also have no question regarding his fitness to practice law.

A leading liberal constitutional law expert, University of California at Berkeley law dean Erwin Chemerinsky also testified on Klaymans behalf earlier in the ethics case stemming from the Bundy prosecution. The esteemed law professor concluded there was no ethical violation by Klayman in the Bundy case, Klayman told the panel. (Chemerinsky confirmed to POLITICO Tuesday that he testified for Klayman, but the professor said he could not recall the details.)

While many view Klayman as an early pioneer of the use of the legal system as a political weapon, he seemed to lament that phenomenon during this weeks session, rueing what he called the age of the politics of personal destruction in an ironic echo of a famous Bill Clinton line.

We live in an atmosphere that is so polarized that anyone who doesnt agree with you becomes an enemy of the state and should be removed from the practice of law, Klayman complained.

Klayman claimed repeatedly during the hearing that he is being targeted by liberal lawyers who are going after Trump supporters and conservatives. However, he also has engaged in pitched legal battles with top figures in Trump world, like Roger Stone and Health and Human Services spokesman Michael Caputo.

A deposition of Stone Klayman conducted in February in connection with a series of libel cases produced a slew of bitter, nasty exchanges between the two men, who worked together briefly on Klaymans unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate from Florida in 2004.

Stone, who seemed enamored of Klaymans tactics when they were directed at Democrats, was considerably less enthused about being interrogated by the former federal prosecutor.

Lets go, Stone said at one point, seeming to gesture at Klayman to fight him. I dont have to be badgered by this asshole.

The danger for Klayman at present is not so much the Bundy-related complaint but the series of ethics cases he faces taken together. Bar ethics officials say the record is mounting that Klayman is unfit to practice.

Theyre piling on, one after another, he complained Tuesday.

Klayman is currently serving a three-month D.C. bar suspension for pursuing cases against Judicial Watch, which he left in 2003, on behalf of several of its ex-clients. In July, another hearing committee also recommended a 33-month suspension for alleged misconduct involving pursuing a romantic relationship with a client. He has complained that the findings were politicized.

Klayman told the panel Tuesday that he would not handle some of the legal matters the same way if he had another chance, but he said he had no regrets about the tactics he used to try to get permission to represent Bundy in the criminal case. I tried to fight my way in, he acknowledged. You cant be a wallflower, particularly in todays world.

Klayman also asked for leniency by saying he serves as a lawyer of last resort for many of his clients. That seemed to strike a chord with Mims, the panel chairwoman, who asked one witness whether suspending Klayman from legal practice could limit some clients ability to find representation.

The other panel members, former Federal Trade Commission deputy general counsel Christian White and prisoner rehabilitation advocate Robin Bell, occasionally broke out bemused smiles at some of Klaymans antics but were generally silent during the hearing. The panel will vote on a proposed sanction for Klayman, but the case will then go to a larger bar board and eventually to the D.C. Court of Appeals for final resolution. Klayman stressed to POLITICO that such cases typically take years to resolve, that he expects to be exonerated and to be able to practice law in the meantime.

Porter suggested that Klayman was often providing poor quality counsel by missing court deadlines and filing meritless cases. She also said that being a zealous advocate was only one obligation of an attorney and Klayman was flouting many of the others.

Mr. Klaymans conduct not only in the underlying matter but in these discipline proceedings confirm that he is unable to comply with his ethical obligation as an officer of the court, she said. You cant use the litigation process of courts to retaliate and intimidate.  Politics really has nothing to do with it.

Klayman also repeatedly told the hearing committee that Porter is the subject of an "internal investigation" by the D.C. Bar for her handling of another contentious case where the accused lawyers were eventually cleared. A 2019 letter Klayman introduced Tuesday describes an ongoing administrative review of her actions in that matter.

Thats extremely rare for the D.C. Bar to do that and it does deal with a pattern or practice because thats the way Ive been dealt with as well, Klayman said.

Klayman stressed in a statement to POLITICO about the Bundy-related complaint that the committee sitting on [the] case could find no ethical violation. Ms. Porter, undaunted, still argued that Mr. Klayman should be disbarred.


Norfolk connections to 400-year-old Mayflower Norfolk connections to 400-year-old Mayflower

Exactly 400 years ago, a group of brave pilgrims sailed from England on a hazardous journey to North America on the Mayflower in search of a new life. The group included a dozen with Norfolk roots and the colonists influence on the future United States of America was profound. Keith Morris reports.

The Mayflowers passengers were in search of a new life  many seeking religious freedom, others a fresh start in a different land. They would go on to be known as the Pilgrims and their story became a central theme in the history and culture of the United States.



More than 30 million people can trace their ancestry to the 102 passengers and approximately 30 crew aboard the Mayflower when it landed in Plymouth Bay, Massachusetts, in the harsh winter of 1620.



The Mayflower, leaving on?September 16, 1620, took 66 days to cross the Atlantic in severe winter storms. When the pilgrims made landfall in New England, they knew they had no right to settle in the land and decided to draw up a document that gave them some attempt at a legal standing.



The Mayflower Compact, signed by 41 men on board, was an agreement to co-operate for the general good of the colony and was the first written constitution in the New World and laid the foundations for the American Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.



Among the group of pilgrims who left England to sail on the Mayflower, no fewer than a dozen were believed to have Norfolk roots. However, many of them died in the first harsh winter.



There was also a significant thirteenth Norfolk connection to the Mayflower Pilgrims.



John Robinson was the Pastor to the Pilgrims but never joined the Mayflower. He led many of the Pilgrims first to the Dutch town of Leiden, then helped to plan the pioneering journey of the Mayflower. He was instrumental in a planning a second Pilgrim voyage but tragically died before being able to live out his dream.



John became a fellow at Cambridge Universitys Corpus Christi College in 1599 and moved to Norfolk where he took charge of St Andrews Church in the centre of Norwich.



His radical views on religion meant he was suspended from this role and instead, he preached to a small Separatist congregation before going to Leiden.



Norfolk pilgrims

The Fuller family  Edward Fuller was the son of a butcher from Redenhall in South Norfolk. He sailed with his wife and 12-year old son Samuel. Edward and his wife both died in the first winter of 1620/21.



The young Samuel survived the winter of 1620/21 and became a freeman in Plymouth in 1634. He married Jane Lothrop in 1635 and is recorded as having 9 children. He moved to Barnstable and died there in 1683.



Edward had a brother called Samuel, also born in Redenhall, who travelled with him.



Samuel became a deacon in the Leiden Separatists church and was part of the group who decided to relocate to America. He trained to be a doctor before sailing on the Mayflower. Samuel's wife Bridget sailed over in 1623 and they had two children born in Plymouth  Samuel and Mercy.



Samuel was among other senior members of the group who bought the joint-stock company in 1626.



In 1629 and 1630 Samuel was sent to assist the colonists of Salem and Charlestown as they were sick and also needed help in organising their local Church. In 1633 Samuel fell ill himself and died.



John Hooke, born in Great Yarmouth in 1607, moved with his family to Leiden. After his father died, John was apprenticed as a 12-year-old to Isaac Allerton as a tailor. John accompanied Isaac and his family on the Mayflower but died in the first winter, aged just 13.



Thomas Williams was also born in Great Yarmouth, in 1582 and had moved to join the Leiden congregation. All that is known of Thomas was from historian William Bradford, who noted that Thomas Williams had died soon after their arrival in the general sickness.



Thomas Tinker, his wife Jane and son, from Thurne in East Norfolk, were among the Pilgrims who had lived in Leiden for a while. Thomas was listed as a carpenter. The whole family died in the first sickness, according to Bradford.



Edmund Margesson, a free man aged 34, was believed to have been baptised in Swannington near Reepham in 1586. He did sign the Mayflower Compact but died soon after his arrival in Plymouth.



Francis Cooke, born in Norwich in 1583, had moved to Leiden where he married Hester Mahieu, a French Protestant, and they had six children. Francis and his eldest son John travelled on the Mayflower. His wife and the rest of the children came out in July 1623 to join them. He died in 1663.



Desire Minter was believed to have been born in or near Norwich and travelled with her family to Leiden. After her father died she became a maid servant to John Carver who then took her with him on the Mayflower. After John Carvers death in 1621, Desire was one of the people who returned to England.



Much of the pilgrim details comes from contemporary historian William Bradford and more can be found on the www.mayflower400uk.org website from which some details for this article have come.



Pictured above is a replica of the Mayflower in Plymouth harbour, USA. Picture by wikimedia/GmaJoli.



Keith Morris, 16/09/2020
This is the moment a man was buried alive for three minutes under a pile of gravel before finally being dug out by his fellow workers.

The worker, from Nairobi, Kenya, was covered when a truck driver tipped the gravel at a construction site unaware he was standing directly behind it.

Colleagues fought tirelessly for three minutes to pull him from the gravel.

Colleagues drag the worker free after he was buried under tonnes of road chippings in Nairobi

A worker pulls the stricken man's legs while another shovels gravel off him in Kenya's capital

Within three minutes, the man is pulled free before being given first aid treatment and CPR

One man grabbed his legs - which were sticking out the gravel mound - while others used shovels to get to him.

Video footage shows the man unconscious after being pulled from the gravel, but came round after first aid treatment and CPR.

Geography teacher Dicken Muchena, 27, who filmed the footage, said: 'This team was transporting the gravel to a construction site when the driver of the tipper lowered the material without knowing that one of them was behind it.

'The victim was buried from the head and for more than three minutes all those around struggled to remove him from the material.

'I was shocked too, but decided to take the video amidst the agony.

'After a while he was removed and we conducted first aid on him. He finally regained his consciousness by God's grace.'

The incident happened on September 15, in the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya.
National University (NU) has launched an innovative and exciting partnership with Sabio Enterprises, Inc. to form a coding bootcamp. This venture will enable career-minded individuals to secure both a world-class technical education and earn up to 13.5 credits at National University toward a bachelors degree in information technology management or information systems.

The Sabio-National partnership will focus on a full stack web development technical training program frequently used in close to 1 million information technology jobs available in the U.S. today (1). Students nationwide will be able to remotely attend both Sabios technical training program and courses at National University, which offers relevant degree programs in engineering and computing.

The Sabio-National University Coding Bootcamp professional development program is designed for those looking to make a career change into the tech sector as software engineers. Prospective students will have two different part-time program options, as well as a traditional full-time, 13-week program, both geared toward enabling graduates to compete for software engineering roles.

Former TMZ Software Engineer Gregorio Rojas and Liliana Aide Monge, co-founders of Sabio Coding Bootcamp, are excited to collaborate with nonprofit National University, which offers more than 75 programs in a flexible online format to serve the countrys growing population of adult learners.

Sabios Full Stack Web Development Training Program is designed to create well-trained tech professionals for jobs in todays ever-expanding technology companies. Some of their successful alumni include employees at Microsoft, Google, USC, and Kaiser Permanente. At Sabio, fellows learn the latest technology such as ReactJS, C-sharp, .NetCore, and SQL Server. Training career-minded individuals in the latest and greatest technologies allows Sabio fellows to secure full-time coding employment with an 80% job-placement rate and an average annual starting salary of $72,500.

Students who participate in this joint professional development program will also secure 13.5 college credits upon successful completion of their challenge exam, providing an opportunity to complete an undergraduate degree at National University in approximately 18 months if they transfer in with a community college associate degree. This Sabio-National partnership marks one of the few coding bootcamp programs which allows students to acquire both real-world technical skills and earn college credit, making this partnership uniquely valuable for the career-and college-minded student.

Sabio is now accepting applications for both full-time and part-time bootcamp programs. For more information and to complete an application, visit Online Coding Bootcamp.

About Sabio Coding Bootcamp

Sabio is one of the oldest software development bootcamps and is taught exclusively by senior industry software practitioners. The current instructors are alumni of companies such as Fox, Gamefly, Stack Overflow, TMZ, and UCLA. Sabios software development program focuses on .NET/C# and trains across the full stack in mobile, front end, back end, source control, database and development platforms. Sabios alumni now work at amazing companies such as Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Tesla, Activision, MedMen, UCLA, and USC. Sabio has partnered with both Skills Fund and SallieMae to help students finance their education.

About National University

National University, a veteran-founded nonprofit, has been dedicated to meeting the needs of hard-working adults by providing accessible, affordable, achievable higher education opportunities since 1971. As San Diegos largest private nonprofit university, NU offers over 75 online and on-campus programs and flexible four-week classes designed to help students reach their goals while balancing busy lives. Since its founding, the NU community has grown to over 25,000 students and 175,000 alumni around the globe, many of whom serve in helping industries such as business, education, health care, cybersecurity, and law and criminal justice.

Learn more at NU.edu.

References

1) Information technology jobs available in April 2020 via LinkedIns available jobs database
The encampment started just a couple of days after I, alongside other Philadelphians, joined our collective voices in protest at one of the largest-ever gatherings of people in defense of Black lives like mine. I was so proud of the movement. I was proud that organizers, advocates, and community members banded together to fight for real, systemic change.

Then I was disappointed, though not surprised, to see the almost immediate reaction to the encampment from leaders of the Logan Square Neighborhood Association. I read their vague statements in various publications claiming that individuals living at the encampment were damaging residents' quality of life without offering concrete evidence to show that this is happening regularly, or that encampment residents were consistently involved.

 READ MORE: After deadline passes for homeless encampments to clear out, city wont say whats next on Parkway and at PHA

I looked around to see some of the supposed detrimental effects that Camp JTD had on the surrounding neighborhood. I didnt notice any differences. No extra trash or syringes, and not a single person at the encampment has done anything to make me feel unsafe. I live in the neighborhood and have never seen a discarded syringe on the ground.

Back in June, I wrote several messages to the Logan Square Neighborhood Association. I did not receive a response. Ive wondered if my observations were not taken seriously, because they did not fit the associations preferred narratives about Black people and people experiencing homelessness.

But when I went to the encampment to talk to its residents, I learned how they were thriving in community. I learned that thanks to the encampment, they ate meals regularly, were getting their immediate needs taken care of, were being treated with dignity and respect, and felt that because people were fighting for them, that they had a chance to see true housing justice.

So why are some neighborhood leaders in Logan Square ignoring those benefits? Why do they see the encampment as such a threat to their way of life? Why is the city looking to remove encampments in the middle of a pandemic, despite CDC guidance that says that is harmful? And the city knows it is potentially harmful  it evicted a smaller encampment back in March and residents who were sent to shelters were exposed to a COVID-19 outbreak.

 READ MORE: How Phillys summer of protests revitalized the affordable housing movement

Theres a long history of those with power doing everything they can to keep those without power from accessing it. This is why white parents fought so hard against integration in the South  but also in liberal cities like Philadelphia. This is why Black men, women, and children are stopped by police at such high rates that are not explained by a proportionate difference in crime rates. This is why, again, my Black life and the Black and brown lives of the folks in the encampments seem to matter less to those in power. And this is not the first time in recent memory that the city has fought to push people experiencing homelessness off the Parkway by dubiously citing public health and safety.

The city can make real change. The Camp JTD and Camp Teddy encampments have proposed solutions that, while perhaps not the most politically appealing, can be made possible with a real commitment from our leaders. They are asking the city to convert vacant properties all over Philadelphia into permanent, low-income housing for those in need. It is unconscionable that the city has such a large number of vacant properties, while tens of thousands of people wait years to get on low-income housing lists.

 READ MORE: My visit to the homeless encampment by the Art Museum both surprised and enlightened me | Jenice Armstrong

Moreover, just as cities have done in other jurisdictions, they can partner with the encampments to create better sanitation and hygiene systems. Again, the infrastructure is there  the political will is not.

Many people have implored the city to make necessary changes. But I also want to put a call out to my fellow neighbors. I want to shame those who believe the rent they pay or the mortgage they owe allows them to buy out of seeing others as human. A person or groups visibility does not make them threatening. If you screamed Black Lives Matter at a protest this summer, or adorned your windows with protest signs, then you must reflect on the ways your actions, or inaction, speak to how you show up for Black lives. We are watching and waiting.

Nia Holston is a human-rights lawyer originally from Philadelphia.
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Federal Refund Policy: We understand that sometimes you can't complete a semester. Refunds of financial aid are not disbursed until after the add/drop period of your last class during a term. This page is where you will find our policies on refunds.

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Code of Conduct: This code governs the education lending practices of Massachusetts public colleges in an effort to help ensure integrity in all aspects of the student educational loan program.
Abu Dhabis main sovereign wealth fund disclosed a 5.1 percent stake in Cheniere Energy., the largest U.S. exporter of liquefied natural gas.

Abu Dhabi Investment Authority disclosed its holding in a filing dated Monday, giving it an interest in Cheniere valued at $615 million. Its Chenieres fourth-largest shareholder, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The Trump administration has touted LNG exports as more than an economic boon for the U.S., viewing the shipments also as a foreign policy tool for spreading American influence abroad. Since the U.S. began shipping shale gas overseas in 2016, its vaulted into the ranks of the worlds top LNG suppliers. Houston-based Cheniere operates two export facilities: Corpus Christi in Texas and Sabine Pass in Louisiana.

ADIA has almost $580 billion in assets and is the worlds third-biggest government wealth fund, according to the SWF Institute.
ARCHIVED - Two crew of fishing boat which brought 79 Algerians to Murcia last week arrested



Normally smaller boats are used to bring irregular migrants to Spain

The two "pateristas" who brought 79 Algerians in a fishing boat to Cartagena last week have been arrested, after the Policia Nacional was able to formally identify them.



Initially several of those on board claimed to be the captain and it has taken some time to formally identify the men responsible; should the captain and his mate have remained anonymous, then the police would have no choice other than to release them along with the passengers, enabling them to make their way back to Algeria and undertake another run. The boat has been seized and sent to the police pound.



The two men are Algerian nationals aged 44 and 46 who are being linked by the National Police to a criminal organization dedicated to trafficking in human beings.



The boat was intercepted on the 11th September, six nautical miles out from the coast of Cartagena and as the boat was already in Spanish waters was escorted into the port rather than being turned back out of Spanish waters.



A large boat to transport 79 people

The normal type of boats used by the pateristas for transporting migrants to Spain are usually small in size, low or medium power engines, are generally not suitable for sailing on the open seas, and are occupied by an average of between 10 and 15 people crammed inside. However, on this occasion the organization used a fishing boat, approximately 20 meters in length, with a total of 79 Algerian citizens on board.



The boat was signwritten with Arabic text, but flew no flags, and questions have been asked as to how a vessel this size could have escaped the SIVE radar vigilance system as well as the aerial patrols flown by the Spanish coastguard and come so close to Cartagena before being detected and apprehended. It turns out that the boat was spotted when it was 24 nautical miles from the coastline, but the coastguard was unable to reach it for two hours, as the Rio Guadalentin patrol vessel was busy dealing with the arrival of two other smaller pateras at the time, containing 19 and 14 people.

Every migrant has to be tested for Covid; those who prove to be Covid-positive are being hospitalised and their travelling companions quarantined. Once they have completed quarantine, they are free to leave as there is no mechanism currently available to Spain to repatriate them to Algeria until borders re-open. This is fuelling the drive for the thousands of would-be migrants waiting for a chance to get to Europe to do so at the moment, with the weather calm and the authorities powerless to repatriate.

During the last few weeks the Region of Murcia has received multiple boatloads of irregular migrants from Algeria.

This year the number of migrations to Spain has been lower than normal, due prinicipally to the restrictions caused by Covid-19, but in recent weeks there has been an upsurge in activity as organised crime gangs take advantage of the opportunity to bring increased numbers of economic migrants into Spain.

The desire to seek a better life and try to find employment is understandable, as unemployment is high in Algeria, the country is suffering from severe economic problems, and opportunities, particularly for young people, are extremely limited. Political opposition against the current regime has lead to public protests and an increased level of dissatisfaction within the country, leading many particularly young people to look at Europe as potentially offering better opportunities.

A migrant we spoke to a short time ago stated that Spain was not the ultimate destination for the migrants and that many would continue their journeys to France and Belgium, although some would continue on to try and reach the UK.

Although the number of migrants targeting the Murcia region as an entry point has been more noticeable in the last 3 months, the overall totals of migrants entering Spain via the Western Mediterranean route has fallen considerably, mainly due to the almost complete absence of Moroccans making the journey to enter Europe via the Spanish coastline.

Frontex, the EU border force, reports that there were nearly 1 600 detections of illegal border crossings on the Western Mediterranean migratory route in August 2020, 7% less than in the previous month.

The total for the first eight months of 2020, was nearly half the figure from the same period in the previous year at 8,200, down 46%.

However, Algerians have accounted for nearly two-thirds of all detections on the route this year, and the August figure was six times the figure from a year ago, which ties in with the deteriorating economic and political situation in Algeria, and the border closure in Morocco, which is preventing many of the sub-Saharan migrants getting into Morocco in the first place.

The distance for Algerians to the Spanish coastline favours the Murcia Region and Alicante as chosen destinations, the increase in Algerians logically leading to an increased level of traffic to Murcia.

Earlier this week three boats containing 42 migrants reached the coast of Alicante province, arriving in Benidorm, lAlfas and Xabia.



NB: The migrants are referred to as irregular immigrants by the EU; the Spanish media tend to call them sin papeles meaning those with no paperwork entering the country illegally, others refer to them as illegal migrants. The phrase irregular migrants is used on MT in an attempt to convey that these are not refugees, but economic migrants, in this case from Algeria, entering Spain and the EU in an illegal fashion, without passports or documentation and without any legal right to enter the EU as Algeria is not an EU member and there is no migration agreement between the two countries.

Donate to Cruz Roja; Humanitarian work to ensure those arriving in Spain are treated with dignity is undertaken by the humanitarian organisation Cruz Roja. If you would like to donate, here is the link: Cruz Roja Espanola

Further reading

EU Action plan against Migrant Smuggling 2015/2020 Click to read

EU Directive f2008/115/EC Common standards and procedures in EU Member States for returning illegally staying third country nationals. Click to read

FRONTEX European coast guard and border control agency. This explains more about the migration issue and shows the different routes taken. Our routes here are the "Western Mediterranean" routes used principally by Moroccans And Algerians.Click Frontex
Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)

HCM City - Twenty-seven hotels will be used as paid quarantine facilities for people required to be quarantined after arriving in Ho Chi Minh City, along with other existing quarantine facilities, according to the municipal Department of Health.

Nguyen Tan Binh, head of the department, said that Vietnam would resume flights to China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, Cambodia and Laos, among others.

Nearly 20,000 people will be expected to enter Vietnam this month, he said.

The department is cooperating with the Department of Tourism to use the 27 hotels for these people. The hotels expect to admit quarantined people and will be assessed to ensure safe criteria in COVID-19 prevention and control by the city's Centre for Diseases Control (CDC) and district health centres.

The hotels will charge fees based on their room vacancies. Quarantined people can choose rooms with suitable fees.

The city is waiting for guidance from the Ministry of Finance on fees for its quarantine areas and those managed by the military.

Vice Chairman of the municipal Peoples Committee Le Thanh Liem has instructed the Department of Health and Department of Tourism to check the paid quarantine process at hotels. They should use more hotels if necessary, he said.

Binh said that the citys quarantine areas and 27 hotels could admit about 3,000 people. On September 12, the CDC said that the two latest COVID-19 patients in the city have been discharged from hospitals. The city has had 77 COVID-19 patients since the beginning of the pandemic. All of them have recovered.

The city currently has 875 people in its quarantine areas and 246 quarantined at home.
Company invites individual and institutional investors, as well as advisors and analysts, to attend real-time, interactive presentations on LifeSciencesInvestorForum.com

MELBOURNE, Australia, Sept. 15, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Starpharma (ASX: SPL, OTCQX: SPHRY), based in Melbourne, Australia, today announced that Dr Jackie Fairley, Chief Executive Officer, will present a pre-recorded presentation at LifeSciencesInvestorForum.com on September 17th.



DATE: Thursday, September 17th

TIME: 9:30 AM ET

LINK: https://bit.ly/30GjErk

If attendees are not able to join the event live on the day of the conference, an archived webcast will also be made available after the event.

It is recommended that investors pre-register and run the online system check to expedite participation and receive event updates.

Learn more about the event at www.lifesciencesinvestorforum.com .

About Starpharma

Starpharma Holdings Limited (ASX: SPL, OTCQX:SPHRY), located in Melbourne Australia, is an ASX 300 company and is a world leader in the development of dendrimer products for pharmaceutical, life science and other applications.

Starpharmas underlying technology is built around dendrimers  a type of synthetic nanoscale polymer that is highly regular in size and structure and well suited to pharmaceutical and medical uses. Starpharma has two core development programs: VivaGel portfolio and DEP drug delivery with the Company developing several products internally and others via commercial partnerships.

VivaGel: Starpharmas womens health product - VivaGel BV is based on SPL7013, astodrimer sodium, a proprietary dendrimer. VivaGel BV for bacterial vaginosis (BV), is available for sale under the brand names Betafem BV Gel (UK), Betadine BV (Europe), Betadine BV Gel (Asia) and Fleurstat BVgel (Australia and New Zealand) and a new drug application has been submitted to the US FDA. Starpharma has licensed the sales and marketing of VivaGel BV to ITF Pharma for the US; Mundipharma for Europe, Russia, CIS, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America; and to Aspen Pharmacare for Australia and New Zealand. Starpharma also has licence agreements to market the VivaGel condom (an antiviral condom which includes VivaGel in the lubricant) in several regions, including Australia, Europe, Canada, China and Japan (Okamoto). The VivaGel condom has been launched in Japan under Okamotos 003 brand, and in Australia and Canada under the LifeStyles Dual Protect brand. The VivaGel condom is approved in Europe.

Story continues

DEP - Dendrimer Enhanced Product: Starpharmas DEP drug delivery platform has demonstrated reproducible preclinical benefits across multiple internal and partnered DEP programs, including improved efficacy, safety and survival. Starpharma has three internal DEP products  DEP docetaxel, DEP cabazitaxel and DEP irinotecan - in clinical development in patients with solid tumours. Starpharmas partnered DEP programs include a multiproduct DEP licence with AstraZeneca, which involves the development and commercialisation of two novel oncology compounds, with potential to add more. In June 2019 Starpharma signed a Development and Option agreement with AstraZeneca for a DEP version of one of AstraZenecas major marketed oncology medicines.

About Life Sciences Investor Forum

Life Sciences Investor Forum is the leading proprietary investor conference series that provides an interactive forum for Life Sciences companies to meet with and present directly to investors.

A real-time solution for investor engagement, Life Sciences Investor Forum is powered by Intrado Digital Media and specifically designed for more efficient investor access. Replicating the look and feel of on-site investor conferences, Life Sciences Investor Forum combines leading-edge conferencing and investor communications capabilities with a comprehensive global investor audience network.

CONTACT: CONTACTS: Starpharma Holdings Limited Dr Jackie Fairley, Chief Executive Officer +61 3 8532 2704 investor.relations@starpharma.com Life Sciences Investor Forum John M. Viglotti SVP Corporate Services, Investor Access (212) 220-2221 johnv@lifesciencesinvestorforum.com




She rocked the chic belted yellow dress for a dinner outing with pal Addison Rae on Tuesday night.

But before her evening out, Kourtney Kardashian did a mini photo shoot from the comfort of her luxurious living room in Calabasas, California.

The 41-year-old put her long, toned legs on display in the slideshow as she posed in front of a large book on a stand, asking her followers the philosophical question: 'Turn the page or close the book.'

Impeccable style: Kourtney Kardashian did a mini photo shoot from the comfort of her luxurious living room in Calabasas, California on Wednesday afternoon

Kourtney donned a Jacquemus dress in a sunrise yellow town; the thigh-grazing number featured drawstring accents on the skirt and along her midriff.

The mother of three paired the stylish number with strappy yellow sandals, adding bold lipstick and center parted, pulled back hair.

She posed in front of a large book that sat on a book stand in the corner of her living room, with a pot of green moss beneath it.

The brunette beauty was seen rocking the gorgeous look with a mini Louis Vuitton handbag as she left Craig's restaurant in West Hollywood on Tuesday night with friend Addison Rae, a Tik Tok star and budding actress.

Vibes: The 41-year-old put her long, toned legs on display in the slideshow as she posed in front of a large book on a stand, asking her followers the philosophical question: 'Turn the page or close the book'

Wow factor: Kourtney donned a Jacquemus dress in a sunrise yellow town; the thigh-grazing number featured drawstring accents on the skirt and along her midriff

Dinner look: The mother of three paired the stylish number with strappy yellow sandals, adding bold lipstick and center parted, pulled back hair

This is not the first glimpse at her stunning living room; she has previously shared images from the elegant yet comfortable room at her Calabasas mansion on her Instagram page, as well as taking viewers on a detailed tour in an Architectural Digest video for a cover story she did for the magazine in 2016.

In the video, Kourtney and her interior designer Martin Lawrence Bullard spoke about items in her living room, kitchen and foyer.

On her living room, Kourtney said: 'It's really for special occasions. We celebrated Christmas morning and New Year's Eve here. It's really chic but practical.'

The room has a large limestone fireplace with plenty of seating, a large pool table and a Yamaha piano.

Luxurious: The brunette beauty was seen rocking the gorgeous look with a mini Louis Vuitton handbag as she left Craig's restaurant in West Hollywood on Tuesday night with friend Addison Rae, a Tik Tok star and budding actress

Immaculate: This is not the first glimpse at her stunning living room; she has previously shared images from the elegant yet comfortable room at her Calabasas mansion on her Instagram page, as well as taking viewers on a detailed tour in an Architectural Digest video for a cover story she did for the magazine in 2016

Kourtney said of the piano: 'This is my childhood piano, and all the kids are learning to play on it now, just like I did.'

In the clip, her designer said that she has wool sofas with silver-fox throw pillows; her brown leather chairs feature Astrakhan pillows.

Kourtney showed off her museum quality Oscar Niemeyer chair, which was designed in 1971, as well as her vintage lamp- a Von Sculptural Ribbon Lamp from Abate, and vintage 1960's candy box.

Staying warm: The room has a large limestone fireplace, plenty of seating, a large pool table and a Yamaha piano

Sentimental: Kourtney said of the piano: 'This is my childhood piano, and all the kids are learning to play on it now, just like I did'

She has an Alabaster ring chandelier with Edison light bulbs, an iron based, limestone top consul table, as well as a Damien Hirst diamond dust skull (which she revealed was a gift from ex Scott Disick for 'Christmas a couple of years ago').

The beauty also has a potted plant, constant fresh flowers in her large vases and plenty of books, including a gifted one from Kendall.

The coffee table has a lot of books as well; the curtains are made of wool in a neutral beige tone with a grid-style rug.

There's also a kissing vignette paper weight on my books on a side table, onyx and iron framed sconce, a Ruven Afanador photograph.

In the video, Kourtney pointed out her Assyrian inlaid game boxes that once belonged to her father, the late Robert Kardashian Sr., who passed away in 2003 at the age of 59 from Esophageal cancer.

Posing in her living room: In the video, Kourtney pointed out her Assyrian inlaid game boxes that once belonged to her father, the late Robert Kardashian Sr, who passed away in 2003 at the age of 59 from Esophageal cancer

Peek: She also gave a peek at her huge selection of designer handbags when she snapped an image for POOSH from her closet

Details: The star also posted pictures from her kitchen, showcasing the stainless steel appliances and gray painted cabinetry
Barbados has announced its intention to remove the Queen as its head of state and become a republic by November, 2021.

A speech written by Prime Minister Mia Mottley quoted the Caribbean island nation's first premier Errol Barrow's warning against 'loitering on colonial premises'.

Buckingham Palace has said Barbados' intention to remove the Queen as head of state and become a republic is a 'matter' for the Caribbean nation.

The Queen pictured with Governor-General of Barbados Dame Sandra Mason at Windsor Castle in 2018

The Queen inspects a guard of honour upon arrival in Barbados in 1977

Prince Charles attends a wreath laying ceremony in Bridgetown in March 2019

Reading the speech, Governor-General Dame Sandra Mason said: 'The time has come to fully leave our colonial past behind. Barbadians want a Barbadian Head of State.

'This is the ultimate statement of confidence in who we are and what we are capable of achieving.

'Hence, Barbados will take the next logical step toward full sovereignty and become a Republic by the time we celebrate our 55th Anniversary of Independence.'

Asked to comment on the Commonwealth country's plans a palace spokesman said: 'This is a matter for the government and people of Barbados.'

Downing Street said it was a 'decision for Barbados and the Government there' but that Britain would continue to 'enjoy a partnership' with the Caribbean island nation as members of the Commonwealth.

Left, Queen Elizabeth ll smiles with a young girl in Barbados on November 1, 1977. Right, Queen Elizabeth II on a walkabout during a visit to Bridgetown

A Number 10 spokesman said: 'We obviously have a shared history and remain united with Barbados in terms of history, culture and language, and we will continue to have and enjoy a partnership with them as members of the Commonwealth.'

The country gained its independence from Britain in 1966, though the Queen remains its constitutional monarch.

In 1998, a Barbados constitutional review commission recommended republican status, and in 2015 Prime Minister Freundel Stuart said 'we have to move from a monarchical system to a republican form of government in the very near future'.

Most Caribbean countries have kept formal links with the monarchy after achieving independence.

Barbados would join Trinidad and Tobago, Dominica and Guyana if it proceeds with its plan to become a republic.

The Queen and Prince Philip driving through Barbados waving to the crowds in February 1966

Jamaica has also flagged such a transition, with Prime Minister Andrew Holness saying it is a priority of his government, but has yet to achieve it.

Barbados took another step towards independence from the UK in 2003 when it replaced the London-based Judicial Committee of the Privy Council with the Caribbean Court of Justice, located in Trinidad and Tobago's Port of Spain, as its final appeals court.

Former Prime Minister Owen Arthur promoted the idea of a referendum on becoming a republic in 2005, however the vote was called off due to concerns raised by the Electoral and Boundaries Commission.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: As India's coronavirus case tally topped 50 lakh on Wednesday, the Congress asked the government to tell the nation how the pandemic will be controlled and if it will blame god to evade accountability.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala also compared the battle against COVID-19 to the Mahabharata.

"Mahabharata of coronavirus pandemic is on, but the Modi government is missing," he alleged.

The total number of coronavirus cases mounted to 50,20,359, just 11 days after it crossed 40 lakh, while the death toll climbed to 82,066 with 1,290 people succumbing to the disease in 24 hours, according to Union Health Ministry data on Wednesday.

In a series of tweets in Hindi, Surjewala asked, "Facts about COVID-19, will the PM answer-: 1.In coronavirus infections per day - India at number 1 in the world (90,123 infections). 2.Coronavirus mortality rate per day - India ranks first in the world (1,290 deaths) 3.Coronavirus infection rate doubling - India at number 1 in the world (double in 31 days) 4.In total coronavirus cases - India ranks second in the world."

He added that India ranks second in the world in terms of active cases (9,95,933 infections), while in terms of deaths it ranks third in the world (82,066 deaths).

Demanding that the government tell the country how the coronavirus pandemic will be controlled, he asked, "Or will the government blame god to evade accountability?" It was an apparent reference to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's 'Act of God' remark while talking about the economy.

Sitharaman had said the economy has been hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, which is an ''Act of God'', and it will see a contraction in the current fiscal.
TORRINGTON  The plea hearing of a Bethel man accused of threatening two New Milford men with a gun after allegedly killing his own brother last year has been continued once again  this time to Dec. 17.

Matthew ODell, 40, was charged with first-degree threatening, first-degree reckless endangerment, carrying a pistol without a permit, disorderly conduct, illegally carrying a firearm while under the influence and attempt to commit second-degree larceny following a Nov. 11 incident in New Milford.
Hurricane Sally lumbered ashore near the Florida-Alabama line with 105 mph (165 kph) winds and rain measured in feet, not inches, swamping homes and forcing the rescue of hundreds of people as it pushed inland for what could be a slow and disastrous drenching across the Deep South.

Moving at an agonizing 3 mph, or about as fast as a person can walk, the storm made landfall at 4:45 a.m. local time Wednesday close to Gulf Shores, Alabama, about 30 miles from Pensacola. It accelerated to a light jog as it battered the Pensacola and Mobile, Alabama, metropolitan areas encompassing nearly 1 million people.

It cast boats onto land or sank them at the dock, flattened palm trees, peeled away roofs, blew down signs and knocked out power to more than a half-million homes and businesses. A replica of Christopher Columbus ship the Nina that had been docked at the Pensacola waterfront was missing, police said.

Sally tore loose a barge-mounted construction crane, which then smashed into the new Three Mile Bridge over Pensacola Bay, causing a section of the year-old span to collapse, authorities said. The storm also ripped away a large section of a fishing pier at Alabamas Gulf State Park on the very day a ribbon-cutting had been scheduled following a USD 2.4 million renovation.

By the afternoon, authorities in Escambia County, which includes Pensacola, said at least 377 people had been rescued from flooded areas. More than 40 people trapped by high water were brought to safety within a single hour, including a family of four found in a tree, Sheriff David Morgan said.

Authorities in Pensacola said 200 National Guard members would arrive Thursday to help. Officials also announced a three-day dusk-to-dawn curfew in the county, where the storm turned some Pensacola streets into white-capped rivers for a time.

By early afternoon, Sally had weakened into a tropical storm, with winds down to 70 mph (110 kph), but the worst may be yet to come, with heavy rain expected into Thursday as the storm pushes inland over Alabama and into Georgia. For much of the day, it was moving at just 5 mph (7 kph), concentrating the amount of rain dropped on any one place.

Morgan estimated thousands more will need to flee rising waters in the coming days. County officials urged residents to rely on text messages for contacting family and friends to keep cellphone service open for 911 calls.

There are entire communities that were going to have to evacuate, the sheriff said. Its going to be a tremendous operation over the next several days. West of Pensacola, power poles leaned halfway over in Perdido Key, Florida, as Joe Mirable arrived at his real estate business to find the two-story building shattered, its contents scatted on the ground.

Digging through the ruins, Mirable pointed out a binder labeled Hurricane Action Plan. I think the professionals got this one wrong, he said before the wind blew away his hat.

More than 2 feet of rain (61 centimetres) was recorded near Naval Air Station Pensacola, and nearly 3 feet (1 metre) of water covered streets in downtown Pensacola, the National Weather Service reported.

Its not common that you start measuring rainfall in feet, said forecaster David Eversole. Sallys moving so slowly, so it just keeps pounding and pounding and pounding the area with tropical rain and just powerful winds. Its just a nightmare. It was the second hurricane to hit the Gulf Coast in less than three weeks and the latest blow in one of the busiest hurricane seasons ever recorded, so frenetic that forecasters have nearly run through the alphabet of storm names with 2 1/2 months still to go. At the start of the week, Sally was one of a record-tying five storms churning simultaneously in the Atlantic, strung out like charms on a bracelet.

Like the wildfires raging on the West Coast, the onslaught of hurricanes has focused attention on climate change, which scientists say is causing slower, rainier, more powerful and more destructive storms.

An emergency crew rescued two people on Dauphin Island, Alabama, after the hurricane ripped the roof off their home and the rest of the house began to crumble.

As things started to peel off and fall apart, they got scared and called for assistance, Mayor Jeff Collier said. He said no one was injured.

In Orange Beach, Alabama, the wind blew out the walls in one corner of a condominium building, exposing the interiors of condos on at least five floors, video posted online showed. At least 50 people were rescued from flooded homes and taken to shelters, Mayor Tony Kennon said.

We got a few people that we just havent been able to get to because the water is so high, Kennon said. But they are safe in their homes. As soon as the water recedes, we will rescue them.
More than 5,200 Indian nationals died in countries in West Asia and East Asia amid the Covid-19 pandemic between February and August, with the highest number of deaths recorded in Saudi Arabia, the government informed Parliament on Wednesday.

In a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha, minister of state for external affairs V Muraleedharan said, As per the information available with the ministry, during Covid-19 pandemic, from February 1 to August 15, 2020, 5,286 cases of deaths of Indian nationals were reported in the Gulf and East Asian countries.

It was not immediately clear from the reply how many of the deaths were due to Covid-19 infections. The questioner, Indian Union Muslim Leagues MP K Navaskani, had sought the total number of deaths of Indian people in Gulf and East Asian countries during the pandemic.

Also read: IMA publishes list of 382 doctors who died due to Covid-19

The external affairs ministry facilitated the transportation of 1,807 bodies of Indian nationals from West Asian and East Asian countries, while the last rites were performed locally according to the wishes of families in some cases, Muraleedharan said.

The highest number of deaths  2,360  were reported in Saudi Arabia, followed by the United Arab Emirates (1,441), Kuwait (694), Oman (336), Qatar (238), Bahrain (176), China (20) and Japan (14), according to figures provided by the minister.

In response to another question, Muraleedharan said eight resident Indians were under quarantine in the UAE, while more than 6,000 Indians were stranded in Iran due to the pandemic.

In Iran, as per available information, there are over 6,000 Indian nationals, including about 1,100 pilgrims mainly from the Union territories of Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir and the state of Maharashtra, nearly 300 students primarily from Jammu and Kashmir, about 1,000 fishermen, including from Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, and others who are on long-term stay in Iran for pursuing their livelihood and religious studies, he said.

The government made focussed efforts for the safe return of Indians stranded in Iran and as of March 16, a total of 389 Indians, including 205 pilgrims and 183 students, were repatriated in four batches on special flights of the Indian Air Force and Iranian airlines, he added.

Also read: AstraZenecas Covid-19 vaccine trial in US remains on hold pending FDA review

Our consulate in Bandar Abbas has reached out to Indian fishermen who are residing mainly in the southern provinces of Iran. They are in good health and have sufficient provision of essential supplies. Efforts are being made to facilitate early return of the Indian nationals stranded in Iran after testing them, Muraleedharan said.

Replying to another question, the minister said as of September 11, more than 1.3 million Indians had returned to India from various countries under the Vande Bharat Mission. India also assisted in the repatriation of more than 110,000 nationals of more than 120 countries who were stranded during the Covid-19 lockdown, he said.
The core truth at the center of Blackbird is Lilys agency in all of this: every choice her own. Sarandon is perfect in her embodiment of this fierce yet vulnerable woman, whose spirit never wavers, even as her body does. Shes buffeted by the performances around her, including Lindsay Duncan as her lifelong best friend, who gets one powerful monologue, as is required by law (or should be), while Neills presence bathes the atmosphere with an aura of calm decency. Blackbird is a simple tale, well-told, but its also the tale of all tales, of life, death and everything in between.
Why this Seven Springs clip grabbed the attention of 1 million people

The tweet has been seen by more than 1 million people so far. Many commenters asked if the clip was planned or fake.
Members of the group Horseracing Wrongs and their supporters hold a "Requiem March for the fallen horses," in Pasadena, Calif., on Nov. 30, 2019. (Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images)

Another Horse Dies From Racing Injury at Los Alamitos

CYPRESS, Calif. (CNS)Another horse has died at Orange Countys Los Alamitos Race Coursethe 25th horse to die from a racing or training injury at the Cypress track this year.

Bob E McGee, a 2-year-old gelding, crossed the finish line in fourth place in the fourth race on Sept. 13, but suffered a catastrophic injury in the cool-down and did a full somersault, throwing jockey Jairo Rangel.

The horses death was later confirmed by the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB).

Bob E McGee had run four races, all at Los Alamitos. He was owned by Bobby Simmons and trained by Paul C. Jones.

Los Alamitos Race Course was placed on probation by the CHRB in July in response to this years spate of horse deaths, essentially putting the facility at risk of having its racing permits suspended.

The CHRB later signed off on a plan aimed at bolstering safety and equine-oversight at the facility.

The plan included adding another veterinarian to be a roving observer of horses in training, while entering, exiting, or on the track, as well as a security steward who oversees veterinary and barn practices.

The new plan also included an entry review panel of experts who have the authority to scratch horses for races.

Since the probation, seven more horses at the track have died, five from racing injures and two from causes listed by the CHRB as other.

Nighttime quarter horse racing is continuing at Los Alamitos without fans due to the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus.

Santa Anita Postpones Opening Day Due to Bobcat Fire

The opening day of Santa Anitas autumn season will be pushed back a week until Sept. 25 due to the impact of the massive Bobcat Fire on air quality and the surrounding community, the operators of the racetrack announced Sept. 14.

The racetrack, located in Los Angeles County, is serving as an evacuation site for residents under mandatory evacuation orders.

Our local community has been deeply impacted by the Bobcat Fire burning for more than a week in the mountains behind us, said Aidan Butler, executive director of California operations for The Stronach Group.

The current weather pattern has kept the smoke in the valley and the air quality is quite poor right now.

The Red Cross is using Santa Anita as the evacuation zone for peopleincluding many of our horsemenwhose homes are less than two miles from here.

As excited as we are to welcome back live racing, we are first and foremost committed to safety. This is the responsible decision to make at this time so people can plan accordingly.

Nearly 900 firefighters, backed up by nine water and retardant-dropping aircraft, were battling the 36,366-acre fire on Sept. 14, working to protect communities in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, including Arcadia and Sierra Madre, where some residents were evacuated as flames burned downhill toward their homes.

The cause of the fire, which erupted on Sept. 6 near the Cogswell Dam and West Fork Day Use area, remains under investigation. U.S. Forest Service officials on Sept. 13 pushed back the estimated time for full containment from Oct. 15 to Oct. 30.

Steve Lym, Santa Anitas vice president and racing secretary, said the stakes races set for the weekend of Sept. 19 and Sept. 20 will be brought back the following weekend, with more than $2 million in purse money up for grabs.

The smoke has impacted some training schedules, so postponing until next weekend will allow everyone a chance to be ready to go, Lym said.

We are planning on filling extra races throughout the meet to give our horsemen the opportunity to run their horses.

The Chillingworth stakes race is now scheduled for Sept. 25; the Speakeasy on Sept. 26; and the Tokyo City Cup on Sept. 27.
International Student Application Requirements

First year applicants

If you are an international student studying or residing outside of the U.S., you can only apply to MCLA as a full-time student in a degree program. You need to provide the following by March 1st for the fall semester or by November 15th for the spring semester:

Common Application

Personal Statement/Essay (250 - 500 words)

Letter(s) of Recommendation

Official secondary school transcript and/or college transcripts formally evaluated course by course. The following organizations provide a course by course evaluation: CED (http://www.cedevaluations.com/), WES (https://www.wes.org/), and ECE (https://www.ece.org/ECE).

English Language Test Results: DuoLingo English Test (minimum 100) or TOEFL (minimum 79 on iBT or 550 on paper) or IELTS (minimum 6.0) or PTE (minimum 50) or LanguageCert (minimum 33 on B2 exam).

Certificate of Finances form or notarized bank statement (see additional information below)

TRANSFER APPLICANTS

If you are an international student studying or residing outside of the U.S., you can only apply to MCLA as a full-time student in a degree program. You need to provide the following by July 1st for the fall semester or by December 1st for the spring semester:

Common Application

Official college transcripts. If college is not in the USA, the transcripts must be formally evaluated course by course. The following organizations provide a course by course evaluation: CED (http://www.cedevaluations.com/), WES (https://www.wes.org/), and ECE (https://www.ece.org/ECE).

English Language Test Results: DuoLingo English Test (minimum 100) or TOEFL (minimum 79 on iBT or 550 on paper) or IELTS (minimum 6.0) or PTE (minimum 50) or LanguageCert (minimum 33 on B2 exam).

Certificate of Finances form or notarized bank statement (see additional information below)

Certification of Finances: As required by U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services, you must complete the Certification of Finances form to verify access to sufficient financial resources to attend the College. All international students (not permanent residents or citizens of the U.S.) are classified as "out-of-state" students for tuition purposes. Since the College is unable to provide financial aid to international students, you must demonstrate adequate resources to meet yearly estimated expenses.

Health Insurance: Massachusetts State Law requires that all full-time students participate in a health insurance plan.

Work: International students studying on an F-1 Visa in the U.S. are eligible to work in paid on-campus positions, but employment is not guaranteed. It is illegal for students on an F-1 Visa to be employed anywhere else. A student's potential earnings cannot substitute for, or be included in, financial documentation.

Financial Aid: Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts is unable, under any circumstances, to provide financial aid to international students. In addition, the enrollment fee cannot be waived.

I-20 Form: MCLA issues an I-20 form only after a student is accepted and has provided the required enrollment deposit.
MUMBAI : State-run Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd will invest over 60,000 crore in the next five years to build infrastructure, HPCL chairman Mukesh K. Surana said at the companys 68th annual general meeting on Wednesday.

HPCL will increase its refining capacity at the Mumbai facility to 9.5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) and at the Visakh refinery to 15 mtpa. These projects will improve the complexity of the refineries and add to the overall gross refining margins," he said.

In 2020-21, HPCL will invest 12,000 crore. The refiner said it has not revised its capex downward despite the covid-19 impact. Of the 12,000 crore, it will spend 7,000 crore to increase refinery capacity and 5,000 crore for marketing.

The company will also set up 500 retail outlets in FY21. In FY20, HPCL had commissioned 1,194 new retail outlets and 245 new liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) distributorships. It has 16,476 retail outlets and 6,110 LPG distributors.

HPCL exports petroleum products to 14 countries. It is further expanding its market through HPCL Middle East FZCO, a wholly owned subsidiary based in Dubai, to increase its presence in West Asia and African markets.

We have tied up with State Trading Corp. of Bhutan Ltd (STCBL) for setting up retail outlets and supplying motor fuels in Bhutan. I am delighted to state that the company commissioned its first retail outlet in Bhutan in 2019-20 under this partnership. The plans are to expand the overseas operation to 20 countries," said Surana. HPCL is also building a liquefied natural gasification (LNG) terminal at Chhara, Gujarat, as part of its strategy to expand in the clean energy space.

Expansion of the business portfolio with greater presence in the clean energy verticals of Natural Gas remains the focus area. HPCL, along with its joint ventures, has the authorization for City Gas Distribution in 20 geographical areas covering nine states. To promote the usage of cleaner fuels and for giving wider choices to customers, CNG facilities were provided at 166 retail outlets, taking the total number of retail outlets with CNG facilities to 471," Surana added.

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Software removes vendor lock-in to accelerate roll out of 5G and digital services

Telefonica Deutschland, a leading integrated telecommunications provider, has selected software from Blue Planet, a division of Ciena (NYSE: CIEN), to support the preparation of its network in Germany to adapt to escalating data traffic and bandwidth demands from users.

Telefonica Deutschland is preparing its transport network with open, software-defined network (SDN) orchestration and a partially disaggregated multi-vendor optical network architecture to transform network operations and improve the delivery of new services. Blue Planet will enable the service provider to lower its operating expenses (OPEX) while optimizing its network to offer services such as 5G, video streaming and online gaming.

Key Facts:

The deployment of Blue Planet plays a key role in Telefonica's iFusion program, which is focused on using SDN to transform its transport network in Germany to improve the customer experience.

Blue Planet Multi-Domain Service Orchestration (MDSO) software is an important first step for Telefonica Deutschland to rapidly create, deploy and automate end-to-end service delivery across its new multi-vendor transport network.

Open Rest Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) from MDSO simplify integration with other components of Telefonica Deutschland's Operations Support System (OSS) to align the network with needs of different applications. The upgraded network utilizes open standard models, including the transport application programming interface (T-API) and OpenConfig, with Blue Planet MDSO.

Executive Quotes:

"Telefonica is moving away from legacy single-vendor platforms to a model combining best-of-breed solutions from multiple vendors, enabling us to maintain diversity in our network and avoid depending on one vendor. In Germany, Blue Planet's software executes our SDN program to enable not only multivendor transport but also automation of our network."

Cayetano Carbajo Martin, Global Director of Technology, Telefonica GCTIO

"Telefonica Deutschland is taking strategic steps to support its users' demands for 5G, cloud services, artificial intelligence and more. Blue Planet's intelligent automation software differentiates, disrupts and transforms Telefonica Deutschland's network to adapt and deliver measurable business outcomes."

Rick Hamilton, Senior Vice President, Blue Planet, a division of Ciena

About Telefonica Deutschland

Telefonica Deutschland offers telecommunications services for private and business customers, as well as innovative digital products and services in the fields of the Internet of Things and data analytics. With a total of 50.4 million customer connections (as of 31 December 2019), the company is one of the leading integrated telecommunications providers in Germany. In the mobile segment alone, Telefonica Deutschland is responsible for more than 46 million connections no other domestic network operator connects more people. By 2022, the company aims to become the "Mobile Customer Digital Champion," meaning the preferred partner for customers in the German mobile service market that allows them mobile freedom in the digital world. Through its core brand O2 and various secondary and partner brands, the company sells postpaid and prepaid mobile telecommunications products including innovative mobile data services. The basis for this is a mobile service network based on a high-performance GSM, UMTS and LTE infrastructure. Telefonica Deutschland also provides telephony and high-speed internet products, such as VDSL, in the fixed network field. Telefonica Deutschland Holding AG has been listed in the Prime Standard on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (TecDAX) since 2012. In the 2019 financial year, the company generated revenue of EUR 7.4 billion with almost 9,000 employees. The company is majority owned by the Spanish telecommunications group Telefonica S.A., headquartered in Madrid. With operations in 14 countries and a customer base of base of approximately 345 million connections, the group is one of the world's biggest telecommunications providers.

About Blue Planet

Blue Planet, a division of Ciena (NYSE: CIEN), provides market-leading intelligent automation software and specialized professional services to help customers modernize their IT and network operations. Driven by policy and AI-based insights, Blue Planet delivers the closed-loop automation tools needed to align IT and networking processes-critical to facilitating digital transformation. For updates on Blue Planet, visit www.blueplanet.com.

Note to Ciena Investors

You are encouraged to review the Investors section of our website, where we routinely post press releases, SEC filings, recent news, financial results, and other announcements. From time to time we exclusively post material information to this website along with other disclosure channels that we use. This press release contains certain forward-looking statements that are based on our current expectations, forecasts, information and assumptions. These statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results or outcomes may differ materially from those stated or implied, because of risks and uncertainties, including those detailed in our most recent annual and quarterly reports filed with the SEC. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding our expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies and can be identified by words such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "should," "will," and "would" or similar words. Ciena assumes no obligation to update the information included in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200916005184/en/

Contacts:

Press Contact: Virginia Stratford

Ciena Corporation

+1 (410) 694-5761

pr@ciena.com

Investor Contact: Gregg Lampf

Ciena Corporation

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ir@ciena.com
New Delhi, Sep 16 : Despite encouraging progress in several areas, the natural world is suffering badly and getting worse. Eight transformative changes are, therefore, urgently needed to ensure human wellbeing and save the planet, the UN warns in a major report.

The report comes as the Covid-19 pandemic challenges people to rethink their relationship with nature, and to consider the profound consequences to their own wellbeing and survival that can result from continued biodiversity loss and the degradation of ecosystems.

The Global Biodiversity Outlook 5 (GBO-5), published by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) on Tuesday, offers an authoritative overview of the state of nature.

It is a final report card on progress against the 20 global biodiversity targets agreed in 2010 with a 2020 deadline, and offers lessons learned and best practices for getting on track.

"This flagship report underlines that humanity stands at a crossroads with regard to the legacy we wish to leave to future generations," CBD Executive Secretary Elizabeth Maruma Mrema said.

"Many good things are happening around the world and these should be celebrated and encouraged. Nevertheless, the rate of biodiversity loss is unprecedented in human history and pressures are intensifying. Earth's living systems as a whole are being compromised.

"And the more humanity exploits nature in unsustainable ways and undermines its contributions to people, the more we undermine our own well-being, security and prosperity.

"As nature degrades," Mrema continued, "new opportunities emerge for the spread to humans and animals of devastating diseases like this year's coronavirus. The window of time available is short, but the pandemic has also demonstrated that transformative changes are possible when they must be made." The report calls for a shift away from "business as usual" across a range of human activities.

It outlines eight transitions that recognize the value of biodiversity, the need to restore the ecosystems on which all human activity depends, and the urgency of reducing the negative impacts of such activity.

Inger Andersen, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director with the UN Environment Programme, said protecting nature is entirely within humanity's reach.

"The work must start now," she said.

"Governments and the wider society have acted to address the biodiversity crisis. Some nations have made some progress. However, as this Report Card on global progress demonstrates, we have not met the Aichi Biodiversity Targets. And we are not on track for the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity," Andersen added.

The Global Biodiversity Outlook 5 underlines the urgent need to act to slow and end further loss, and highlights examples of proven measures available to help achieve the world's agreed vision: "Living in harmony with nature" by 2050.

WWF's Living Planet Report, released on September 10, documenting the precipitous fall in monitored populations of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish between 1970 and 2016, further underlines the urgency to act.
Building Evacuation

If you hear a building alarm or are instructed to evacuate by a college official:

Do not panic but do not ignore the alarm or request.

Leave the building immediately in an orderly fashion. Classes, meetings, or events must be dismissed for evacuation. Do not take time to gather personal items. If you are the last person leaving a room close the door behind you; do not lock it. Follow the quickest evacuation route to the nearest marked exit. (See posted evacuation plans located near exits.) Be familiar with alternate routes and exits. Do not use elevators. If you are unable to use stairs or need assistance exiting, see these instructions. Proceed to the nearest evacuation assembly point (EAP) for your building. If the designated EAP is unsafe or blocked, proceed to an alternate assembly point via the quickest and safest route. Stay at the EAP until emergency personnel state that you can leave. Do not return to your classroom or office for any reason until emergency personnel say it is safe to go. Report any knowledge regarding missing people or people still in the building to emergency personnel.

Instructions for Mobility Impaired Individuals
Venezuela is preparing to ramp up its crude oil production using diluents imported from Iran, Reuters reports, citing unnamed sources and company documents.

State-owned oil company PDVSA produced just 336,000 bpd of crude last month, company documents showed, down from almost triple that a year earlier, as U.S. sanctions and the long-term deterioration of the industry stifled it. U.S. sanctions also significantly reduced the number of parties willing to buy Venezuelan crude and ship owners willing to provide the transport for this crude.

Yet besides the most obvious effects of the sanctions, they have also cost Venezuela its diluent supply. Lack of diluents for the superheavy crude in the Orinoco Belt was one of the main contributing factors to the slump in production, as Venezuela used to import most of its diluents from the United States.

Now, Iran has stepped in to help with this as well, after sending professionals to Venezuela to help it repair its ailing refineries. Now, it is sending to Venezuelan the superlight crude grade known as condensate to blend it with the heavy crude and produce exportable grades of crude oil. According to TankerTrackers.com, the vessel that delivered the condensate was Iranian-flagged.

Venezuela has been struggling with major gasoline shortages because of the slump in production. It has also seen delays in crude oil deliveries because of quality problems with its Merey blend, Reuters also reported. This has prompted PDVSA to try and replace these cargos with other crude blends, according to company documents.

Despite these problems, earlier this Venezuela managed to increase the amount of crude it exported. In August, PDVSA shipped abroad an average of 325,000 bpdthe highest in four months, with most of it coming from stockpiled crude as production hovered around 100,000 bpd. Most of the exports went to India, perhaps surprisingly, as China was until recently the biggest buyer of Venezuelan crude.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
The Lancaster County District Attorneys Office is trying to set the record straight after outrage erupted over the $1 million bail set for a number of people protesting in Lancaster Sunday night.

Criminal justice advocates and politicians took issue with bail set for seven of the 13 protesters accused of rioting and vandalizing downtown Lancaster during protests over the police shooting death of 27-year-old Ricardo Munoz.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania  demanding answers from the courts and District Attorney Heather Adams  took particular issue, describing the $1 million bail in a Tuesday statement as exorbitantly high.

The one million dollar cash bail orders for several young Black Lives Matter protesters last night is an egregious and unacceptable abuse of the bail system, said Reggie Shuford, executive director of the ACLUs Pennsylvania branch. Cash bail should never be used to deter demonstrators and chill speech.

The criticism didnt stop there. Lt. Gov. John Fetterman tweeted Tuesday that bail that high is blatantly unconstitutional.

The 8th Amendment of U.S. Constitution:



Excessive bail shall not be required



Ms. Enterlines bail amount is blatantly unconstitutional. https://t.co/jtWeDBLhJj  John Fetterman (@JohnFetterman) September 15, 2020

Prosecutors do not set bail, but they can offer input to the magisterial district judge who does, the district attorneys office said.

Lancaster County prosecutors said they did not get involved with setting bail for the protesters, but Lancaster police did out of concern for their officers and the publics safety.

The Lancaster County District Attorneys Office said bail is intended to ensure defendants appear at future court hearings, not as a means of punishment.

Prosecutors also noted that defendants can petition for modified bail.

We are in the process of gathering all applicable information for evaluation of all relevant factors should petitions be filed," prosecutors said.

Judges take into consideration the nature of the crime, the persons criminal history and ties to the community, according to the district attorneys office.

Tense protests started Sunday evening and continued overnight outside the Lancaster Bureau of Police station after an officer shot and killed Munoz during a domestic disturbance call.

The officers body camera footage showed Munoz lunged toward the officer with a knife around 4:15 p.m. outside a row home on the 300 block of Laurel Street.

Lancaster authorities including the mayor begged for calm, but more than a dozen people were later arrested for setting a dumpster on fire and throwing bricks through police station windows, among other offenses.

The police station has been closed to the public since it was damaged during the protests.

Arson and riot are violent acts, and offenses this office takes very seriously, the district attorneys office said Wednesday. Those charged were not engaged in peaceful protest."

The 13 defendants range from 16 to 43 years old and live in Lancaster and surrounding communities, as well as in York, Camp Hill and Mercersburg.

Not all face identical charges. Accusations include arson, rioting, vandalism and for one, carrying a concealed weapon without a permit.

The Lancaster County District Attorneys Office is investigating the shooting. Authorities said the officer who shot Munoz was placed on leave.

READ MORE:

You better kill me because Im going to kill you now: Harrisburg man charged in August shooting

36-year-old charged with assaulting Harrisburg Hospital staff: police

Top Pa. Republicans campaign sues journalists over public records costs
"It's pretty easy in each of our hospitals when someone comes in, but the reporting isn't always as clean and consistent when they're coming out," Bullock said "So, the hospitals provided the most updated information, did some cleanup on that. I wouldn't read that as a trend of all of a sudden, you know, we're going to continue to see a decline in hospitalizations, especially with the caseload. But it was more a reporting issue than it was a fundamental shift in what's happening out there in the communities."
Rome:

Several people have died after a ski hotel was buried by an avalanche in earthquake-hit central Italy, local media reported on Thursday quoting rescue services.

"There are many dead," Antonio Crocetta, the head of a group of Alpine police that was trying to reach the cut-off hotel, was quoted as saying.

Media reports said there had been at least 20 guests and seven staff at the Hotel Rigopiano on the lower slopes of the Gran Sasso mountain when the first of four powerful quakes hit the region yesterday morning.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Recent developments in the way the Covid-19 pandemic is playing out may force the Spanish government to update its economic forecasts.

While a May projection that Madrid sent to Brussels envisioned a 9.2% drop in economic output in 2020, the Bank of Spain on Wednesday released a more pessimistic outlook that places the decline somewhere between 10.5% and 12.6%.

This is down from the central banks own previous forecast, which had expected gross domestic product (GDP) to retreat by 9% to 11.6%.

Although the end of the lockdown in Spain had created hopes of a strong recovery, fresh coronavirus outbreaks and travel restrictions imposed in late July put the brakes on economic activity, particularly in the hospitality industry.

The short- and medium-term economic outlook continues to be highly dependent on epidemiological developments, in respect of which there remains a high degree of uncertainty Bank of Spain

The third quarter has gone from more to less, and that means that the beginning of next year will be worse, said Oscar Arce, the Bank of Spains director general for economics, statistics and research.

Under the two scenarios considered by the banking supervisor, in 2021 the economy could rebound either by 7.3% in the better situation, or by 4.1% in a scenario of more intense coronavirus outbreaks in the short term.

The main difference between these two scenarios stems from the assumptions regarding the course of the pandemic over the coming quarters, which, in turn, determines the degree of severity of the containment measures that may be necessary and their consequent impact on economic activity, said the Bank of Spain in a release.

Scenario 1 would only require containment measures of limited scope and affect mostly hospitality services, while in scenario 2 the restrictions required could have a greater impact on the service sector, but also affect other productive sectors.

It cannot be ruled out that, in the coming quarters, more unfavourable epidemiological developments than those considered in scenario 2 may materialize Bank of Spain

The outlook talks about more modest growth in activity in 2022. At the end of 2022, GDP would stand some two percentage points below its pre-crisis level in scenario 1, a gap that would widen to somewhat more than six percentage points in scenario 2.

As for the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on the labor market, the banking supervisor estimates that unemployment could reach between 19.4% and 22.1% in 2021 if the ERTE furlough scheme is phased out.

Meanwhile, public finances are also expected to do poorly, with public debt soaring this year by more than 20 percentage points in scenario 1 and by some 25 percentage points in scenario 2, to stand at 116.8% and 120.6% of GDP, respectively. The deficit will increase sharply in 2020, to stand at 10.8% and 12.1% of GDP in each of the two scenarios considered.

The Bank of Spain warns that the short- and medium-term economic outlook continues to be highly dependent on epidemiological developments, in respect of which there remains a high degree of uncertainty.

As a result, it cannot be ruled out that, in the coming quarters, more unfavourable epidemiological developments than those considered in scenario 2 may materialize. On the other hand, these figures do not take into account the European recovery funds that have been allocated to Spain, and which the Bank of Spain admits could have a relevant impact.

English version by Susana Urra.
Muscat, Sep 16 : An India expatriate nurse succumbed to Covid-19 at the Royal hospital here, registering the first coronavirus-related death among MoH health workers in Oman, the Ministry of Health said in a statement on Wednesday.

"With great sadness and sorrow, the Ministry of Health of the Sultanate of Oman mourns the passing away of nurse Blessy Thomas at the Royal Hospital ICU on Monday due to Covid-19. This is the first death among health workers in MoH. The deceased was a true hero and a role model of hard and sincere work. The Minister of Health, as well as the MoH personnel and all health workers in Oman express their heartfelt condolences to the family of the deceased," the statement said.

Blessy is survived by her husband and two young children. There was a previous case of the death of a health worker due to COVID-19 who was working in a private clinic, Gulf News reported.

Many friends and colleagues also expressed shock and dismay at the news.

Thomas of Al Maha Polyclinic said that the news was extremely shocking but given the extent of the exposure of the health workers to the pandemic, this is a situation that everyone in this field is aware about.

"The health workers are the true warriors now and their role is beyond what any of us can think of. When I see the doctors, nurses and lab technicians in my clinic tirelessly attend to the patients daily without taking a break, I am so grateful."
Rarely has the zapateado of tapping shoes met with honking horns and flashing headlights in such a cacophony.

When Ballet Folklorico de Los Angeles performed at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center in Fullerton, vibrant skirts flowed like waves and the audience was packed  with cars.

The company's show Thursday night was its first drive-in performance. Audience members pressed their tickets against car windows for admission and wore masks on their way to the restroom. Dancers smiled through their own transparent personal protective equipment (Disposable plastic masks were chosen because they clamped onto the performers' chins and could be firmly fixed during the dancing.)

Ballet Folklorico de Los Angeles dancers perform at a drive-in event at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center in Fullerton last week. (Julie Rodriguez)

In the midst of the isolating COVID-19 pandemic, the performance was intended for families, said Ballet Folklorico founder, director and choreographer Kareli Montoya.

With the whole theme of what's going on right now in the world, it's gotta be for family, she said. We're somehow safely together.

Safely together extended to the company's outdoor rehearsals this summer. For a month prior to the show, lines of men and women practiced traditional Mexican dances on four-by-four-foot wooden platforms to ensure proper social distancing in the studios parking lot  masks and face shields in place.

Montoya and her team drove the platforms to Fullerton, transferring the routines to the new setting. It was different, she said, but not difficult. After all, everything can be modified.

The venue, which had not hosted dancers before, originally hired only eight dancers to perform. Montoya, however, also runs Thee Academy , a Montebello-based school of folklorico, mariachi and floreo . Because of the pandemic, Thee Academys students hadnt been able to perform for in-person audiences this year.

Story continues

A student from Thee Academy performs floreo de soga, or traditional rope tricks. ( Julie Rodriguez)

The Muck eventually agreed to host 10 adult dancers and about 16 kids. Those kids  ages 7 to 16  had been taking online classes paired with occasional in-person, outdoor lessons.

Most of these kids are already taking who knows how many hours of class online, Montoya said. So having them come at least once or twice a week in person gets them out of the house.  And even though they are together, they're still separate, in a way.

When Montoya was a child, her mom took her to dance classes: hip-hop, ballet, cheer, you name it. But from the moment a 6-year-old Kareli took her first folklorico class in a community park, the genre stuck. Ballet folklorico, also known as baile folklorico, consists of traditional Mexican folk dances that have come to capture the diversity of Chicano culture in L.A.

Ballet Folklorico founder Kareli Montoya poses for a portrait in April. Montoya and her instructors continue to teach dance classes via Zoom during the pandemic. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Most people  want their kids to participate in one way or another in something that has to do with their culture, whether they're first generation, second generation  I even have dancers who are fifth generation, Montoya said. I think a group like the one that I have  it gives these families a chance to introduce children and families to their roots.

The choreographer was born in L.A. County to parents from the Mexican state of Sinaloa. Her choreography, inspired by music  she loves everything from mariachi to son jarocho, the Veracruz musical style of "La Bamba"  tends toward the traditional.

I do consider myself Mexican but also very much American, Montoya said. So that's why, even though it's on the traditional side, sometimes I like to go outside the box and do choreography to something that Mexican Americans will relate to.

Two dancers perform the "Tale as Old as Time" number from the Disney suite. (Julie Rodriguez)

Ballet Folklorico de Los Angeles feels like comfort food: wonderfully familiar, even nostalgic to audiences of Mexican heritage. But it leans into American identity too.

Like the Disney suite we're doing  I get it, because I've been to Disneyland many times, Montoya said. And I also have very Mexican parents. So I think that having that understanding is what really shapes the choreography that I do. I can relate to both sides.

In 2017, Montoya helped to re-create the  Tale as Old as Time  scene from Beauty and the Beast, mariachi style, for Latino media company mitu. Her husband, who co-owns the dance studio and directs the group Mariachi Garibaldi, crafted the music.

That number was performed at Thursdays show, Belles golden dress twirling through the night air.

Ballet Folklorico de Los Angeles may have gotten its widest exposure performing at the premiere of the Pixar movie  Coco  at the El Capitan Theatre and later at the 90th Academy Awards .

Brimming with nerves and excitement, Montoya worked alongside La La Land choreographer Mandy Moore to design the performance.

My job was to show her the authentic side of it so that it wouldn't become something completely different, Montoya said. I was able to come up with a good little task force for the Oscars. But even then, you only get one chance.

Montoya said she felt intense pressure because she was representing her culture in front of thousands at the Dolby Theatre and millions more watching at home.

For me, it was really, really nerve-racking  more on the side of how Mexican Americans and Mexicans were going to see the performance, Montoya said. Because it wasn't traditional, you know? Most people were like, Oh, this is great. We have something of ours on the stage, being seen by a lot of people.

Since then, her company filmed  A Celebration of the Music From Coco  at the Hollywood Bowl last November. The live-to-film concert was released on the streaming service Disney+ in April and marked a career highlight for Montoya, reflecting her love of tradition and her departure from it  ballet folklorico that pulses with Mexican and American energies.

The performance at the Muck came less than a week before Mexican Independence Day, which on Wednesday kicked off Latino Heritage Month. Of Thursdays show she said, The whole program is a celebration of my people. From beginning to end.
To the people in businesses down Milwaukee who refused to help the police, I need you to know one thing: It wasnt the police asking you for help, it was my fiancee, and you told her no, Alvarado said. If they didnt catch him because of the help of other good citizens, that would be on your head and you have to live with that.
BOSTON, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- One Way Ventures, the early-stage venture capital fund backing exceptional immigrant founders, has announced plans to open an office in the San Francisco Bay Area with AnchorFree Co-founder Eugene Malobrodsky joining the team as Partner to lead efforts to build out One Way's West Coast operations.

One Way Ventures invests in immigrant-founded pre-seed to Series A startups across a range of different sectors including fintech, digital health, and deep tech. One Way invests throughout the U.S. and Canada and has had success with investments in companies such as Brex, Chipper Cash, and Momentus. Malobrodsky originally joined the One Way team as a Silicon Valley-based Venture Partner in 2019 and will lead efforts to build out the firm's West Coast presence as a full-time Partner in the Bay Area.

Originally from Lithuania, Malobrodsky is the Co-founder of two US-based startups. His latest venture was consumer privacy and security company AnchorFree, which raised over $350 million from investors such as Bert Roberts (former CEO and Chairman of MCI), Doug Maine (former CFO of IBM), and Goldman Sachs, and had products downloaded by more than 600 million customers. Since its inception, Malobrodsky was responsible for business growth by managing engineering, operational expansion, and corporate strategy. In May 2018, AnchorFree was acquired by private equity fund WndrCo.

Malobrodsky serves as a Board Member and Advisor to two startups: Zero Cognitive Systems and Geozilla. He also received Silicon Valley's Best Tech Manager Award at the 2018 Timmy Awards.

"When I first immigrated to the US, I remember having this overwhelming realization about the sheer number of opportunities at my fingertips. I wasn't sure how to bring my ideas to fruition but was lucky enough to find mentors who guided me through it all. My own experience is the reason the One Way mission resonates with me so strongly. Now that I am able to, I am excited to empower other ambitious immigrant entrepreneurs working to bring their innovations to market and impact the world for the better," said Malobrodsky.

Malobrodsky will be joining the firm alongside Founder and Managing Partner Semyon Dukach, a refugee from the Soviet Union and the former Director of Techstars Boston (and famously a leader of one of the MIT Blackjack teams). He will also be joining One Way Ventures Partner Lex Zhao, an immigrant from China who was previously at Bridgewater Associates and Vestwell, a venture-backed fintech startup.

"We've enjoyed getting to know Eugene over the past year in his capacity as Venture Partner. His deep industry expertise and expansive network have been invaluable across a number of investments we've worked on together. We look forward to having him on board in a more meaningful role as we start to build our next fund," said Semyon Dukach.

Malobrodksy will join One Way Ventures this fall and will focus on SaaS, security software, consumer products, and IoT.

"America has been reaping the economic returns of immigrant grit for the past 250 yearsthis is just a new way to benefit from and highlight that fact," said Malobrodsky.

The One Way Ventures immigrant focus grew out of the Partners' own experiences with immigration, as well as the telling statistic that more than half of America's billion-dollar startups were founded or co-founded by immigrants.

Malobrodsky noted that "in a society that sometimes feels driven by division and exclusion, it feels good to be able to say 'you're welcome here' and 'we've got your back'.

About One Way Ventures

One Way Ventures is a Boston based early-stage VC firm backing exceptional immigrant founders. Founded on the premise that immigration naturally self-selects for the entrepreneurial-minded, One Way believes immigrant founders have a competitive advantage when building impactful, global companies. One Way is currently investing out of its first $28M fund and has backed more than forty immigrant-founded companies to date, including Brex , Chipper Cash , and Momentus . For more information visit https://onewayvc.com/ and follow us @onewayvc .

Contact Information

Annie Patyk

[email protected]

973-508-7442

SOURCE One Way Ventures

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The Nigeria Police has disclosed that it would have at least three police officers guarding each polling station during the Edo governorship election.

To achieve this, 7,881 police officers will be manning the 2,627 polling booths in Edo State during the Saturdays governorship election.

Adeleye Oyebade, the Deputy Inspector-General of Police (DIG) in charge of research and planning, said this in Benin during a press conference organised to announce the setting up of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES).

The ICCES, which is replicated at state and local government level, is to provide an enabling environment for a free and fair election that will remain a reference point in election security.

PREMIUM TIMES reports that the committee comprises the Nigeria Police, Armed Forces, Department of State Services, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Correctional Service, Federal Road Safety Corps, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, and the Independent National Electoral Commission.

Representatives of all the ICCES members were present at the briefing.

Mr Oyebade said the police officers to be deployed to the polling units have been cautioned to be apolitical, neutral, and professional in the conduct of their duties.

He said, The police officers have been properly briefed on their expected roles and conduct during the election, bearing in mind strict adherence to the principles and rules of the code of conduct for officers and men of the Nigeria Police Force.

All other security personnel deployed for the election must also adhere to the code of conduct and rules of engagement on election duty.

For effective manning of the polling booths, no fewer than three police officers and personnel of other security agencies will be deployed in each of the 2,627 polling booths.

Let me at this juncture assure the good people of Edo State that the officers deployed for this special assignment will be apolitical, neutral, and professional in their constitutional responsibilities. The police officers and other counterparts from sister agencies who are involved in this election will be posted to the polling booths by name, and would wear identifiable tags for easy identification.

He said as a prelude to the election, the police recently mopped up arms to curtail the proliferation of illegal arms.

Mr Oyebade, therefore, warned that the carrying of arms by persons, groups, or outfits by whatever name would not be allowed.

We want to sound a note of warning to would-be miscreants and other political thugs who might be holding clandestine, diurnal or nocturnal meetings to foment trouble with the motive to disrupt the election and scuttle the democratic process to desist from such act as the arm of the law will certainly catch up with them, Mr Oyebade added.

The DIG also disclosed that as from midnight on Friday, the restriction of movement would commence till the same time on Saturday, warning that no one is allowed to wear any cloth, emblem, or colour signifying any political party to the polling units on Saturday.

Mr Oyebade added, No person is allowed to move around with security personnel around polling units. Everyone is enjoined to vote and return to their respective houses or remain peacefully within the approved parameters of the polling centres.
According to information published by the French Newspaper website "La Tribune" on September 16, 2020, MBDA has received an order from Egypt to supply VL-MICA surface-to-air missiles for the four new Meko A-200 frigates of the Egyptian Navy.

According to information published by the French Newspaper website "La Tribune" on September 16, 2020, MBDA has received an order from Egypt to supply VL-MICA surface-to-air missiles for the four new Meko A-200 frigates of the Egyptian Navy.

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MEKO A-200 frigate. (Picture source savetheroyalnavy Website)

Previously, it was announced that Egypt ordered 96 radar-guided Umkhonto-R missiles and 32 infrared-guided Umkhontos manufactured by the South African company Denel for its Meko A200 frigates, but the deal was canceled, due to financial problems of Denel.

The MICA is an anti-air multi-target, all-weather, fire-and-forget short and medium-range missile system designed and manufactured by the company MBDA. MICA can also be employed as a short-range surface-to-air missile. It is available in a ground-based version, VL MICA, fired from a truck-mounted box launcher, and a naval version, VL MICA-M, fired from a ship-fitted vertical launch system

The Mica missile in Vertical Launch configuration has an operational range from 1 to 20 km and can reach a maximum speed of Mach 3.

In April 2019, Germany has announced a deal with Egypt for the delivery of three MEKO A-200 frigates produced by ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS).

According to information publish by ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, the MEKO A-200 follows the famous MEKO 200 series in a long line of general-purpose frigates. A fighting ship capable of full 4-dimensional warfare (AAW, ASW, and ASuW, BCW), the MEKO A-200 is also designed for sustained operations across the full spectrum of general missions and tasks: patrol and interdiction, support of special force operations, SAR, and humanitarian operations.

The Meko A200 frigate features the revolutionary CODAG-WARP (water jet and refined propellers) propulsion system: two CPP propeller shafts driven by cross-connectable diesel engines plus a center-line, gas turbine-driven water jet, combining the power of each drive in the water with no need for a combining gearbox. This arrangement allows for extremely quiet acoustic signatures, a high degree of propulsion redundancy, and damage survivability. In the diesel-only mode, this propulsion arrangement is also an extremely economic solution, as a single-engine can drive both shafts for speeds of up to 18 knots.
The presidents 90-minute appearance was one of the few instances during this campaign season when he has faced voters who were not already his committed supporters and a rare open-ended encounter on a network other than on his favorite, Fox News. From the start of the event in the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, he seemed defensive about his handling of the coronavirus and sought to change the subject to more comfortable terrain.

Some of the undecided voters in the hall, who were kept far apart in the interest of social distancing, challenged him on his positions not just on the virus but also on health care more generally as well as on racial injustice, immigration and aid to those who have lost jobs during the pandemic.

Even as he appeared sensitive about criticism, Mr. Trump seemed intent on not pushing back against the voters who questioned him in the same abrasive way that he does with journalists and politicians who challenge him. When a woman objected to his interruptions and asked him to let her finish her question, he deferentially fell silent.

But he made clear there was only so far he is willing to go. Mr. Trump rebuffed a man who voted for him last time and asked him to be more unifying. Sometimes you dont have time to be totally, as you would say, presidential, the president said.

As he often does, though, Mr. Trump repeatedly made false statements. He claimed to have fired Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, when actually Mr. Mattis resigned under protest. He claimed that stocks are owned by everybody, when in fact only about half of Americans have investments in the market. He claimed to have tremendous African-American support, when polls show it is in the single digits. He claimed that Winston Churchill misled Londoners during the Blitz in World War II by telling them youre going to be safe, when in fact the British prime minister famously leveled with the public about the ordeal they were facing.

Asked about the shootings or deaths of Black Americans at the hands of the police, Mr. Trump called them tragic, but he then quickly shifted gears to defend law enforcement officers, praising them as phenomenal and arguing that they should not be restrained the way critics are advocating.

You have to allow the police to do their job, he said. I agree with you, those events are terrible. But we have to allow the police to do their job. Otherwise crime is going to soar. He added, We have to give the police the respect that they deserve, and we have to give them their mojo.
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: A day after she was handed over to judicial custody, actor Ragini Dwivedi has been remanded in a quarantine cell as per the Covid-19 protocol. It is said that the actor cried till midnight and didnt sleep till early morning in the Parappana Agrahara prison where she is lodged.

The actor refused breakfast, according to the sources in the jail. She had back pain and had food around afternoon and slept. When she was brought to the cell, many inmates tried to talk to her since she was a celebrity, but she didnt wish to talk, sources said.

ALSO READ: CCB issues notice to star couple Diganth Manchale and Aindrita Ray

Security personnel have been deployed as a precautionary measure. Ragini has to be in the quarantine cell for ten days and after that she will undergo a test for Covid-19.

If the report is negative, she will be shifted to the common barrack of the women cell. Meanwhile, Raginis parents along with their lawyer came to meet her in the jail but the jail officer denied them permission and asked them to wait for a few more days.

ALSO READ: Actress Ragini Dwivedi remanded to 14 days judicial custody

Raginis mother Rohini who spoke to the media said her daughter was like a lion and knew how to face tough situations. She said Ragini has been in the film industry for 10 years now and that they have purchased a flat.

There have been reports in the media that we have three flats. We have shared the details of our assets with the Enforcement Directorate, Raginis mother said.
DKT WOMANCARE AND INCEPTA PHARMACEUTICALS INK STRATEGIC DEAL TO EXPAND MARKETS, SCALE UP ACCESS TO WORLD-CLASS INJECTABLE CONTRACEPTIVE IN 40 COUNTRIES

WomanCare Global Trading CIC (DKT WomanCare) and Incepta Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. signed a strategic agreement on July 1, 2020 to register, supply, promote and sell Medogen in 40 countries around the world. Medogen is a 3-month contraceptive commonly known as depot medroxyprogesterone acetate, or DMPA-IM.

This agreement leverages the capabilities of both partners; Incepta is a world-class pharmaceutical manufacturer supplying the world with over one thousand different human and animal products, with Medogen receiving Prequalification status from the World Health Organization (WHO) in February 2020. This credential provides an accelerated regulatory pathway in the 44 signatories of the WHO's Collaborative Procedure for Accelerate Registration. It also privileges Medogen for government tenders and procurement by multilateral agencies like the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

DKT WomanCare markets contraceptives products in more than 90 countries around the world and is part of DKT International, one of the world's largest providers of family planning, HIV/AIDS and safe abortion products and services. Both DKT International and DKT WomanCare use social marketing as a means to promote family planning, drive uptake of contraceptives, and shape the markets where they operate. Under the terms of the agreement, Incepta will also supply DMPA-IM to DKT country programs and DKT WomanCare under their own private brands, creating a richer and more diverse set of family planning options for women around the world.

The partnership comes at an opportune moment: the demand for 3-month contraceptive injections is increasing year after year while the pool of qualified suppliers remains the same. "The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted supply chains everywhere, and this impact is more severe in developing countries," said Jacques-Antoine Martin, Managing Director of DKT WomanCare. "Registering Incepta as another supplier in these countries will reduce waiting times for shipments and guard against stock-outs at pharmacies and clinics."

"This partnership is a triple win: it helps Incepta increase our footprint quickly with an experienced partner in DKT and its global network; it enables DKT to secure a steady and high-quality supply of contraceptive injectables at an affordable price; and most importantly, it increases the basket of choice so more women have control over their reproductive destinies," said Mr. Abdul Muktadir, Incepta's Chairman and Managing Director of Incepta.

"WomanCare is an ideal partner for this kind of market development and market-shaping work," stated Rodrigo Portugues, Commercial Director of DKT WomanCare. "Representing Incepta and Medogen aligns well with our mission and vision and puts us in a position to deliver significant impact and reach millions of women while expanding our portfolio and leveraging our global footprint."

The collaboration will begin in 10 countries, including Kenya, Ethiopia, Ghana, DR Congo, and Madagascar. As some of the largest injectable markets in the world, both Incepta and DKT WomanCare look to a fast start for their partnership. "This collaboration on Medogen is the first milestone in what we expect to be a fruitful and brilliant endeavor with WomanCare Global," mentioned Ms. Hasneen Muktadir, Incepta's Vice-Chairman of Incepta, to members of both organizations during a virtual kick-off meeting on July 29, 2020.

During the kick-off meeting, Incepta expressed their heartfelt gratitude to their partners and donors for their guidance and continuous support in this project. "We are proud of signing this agreement, but this is only the first step," added Ashraful Islam of Incepta. "The fun part begins when we start getting products to these markets and helping men and women live better lives."

For more information about this agreement, please contact the following:

From Incepta: Ashraful Islam at ashrafulislam@inceptapharma.com, Assistant Manager of Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

From WomanCare Global: True Overholt at true@dktwomancare.org, Marketing Director of DKT WomanCare.

DKT WomanCare Global is a globally integrated sexual and reproductive health company that helps women live their lives to the fullest. We make top-quality contraceptives and safe abortion products more available, accessible, and affordable in over 90 countries around the world. Learn more at www.dktwomancare.org.

Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd is one of the leading generic pharmaceutical product manufacturers in Bangladesh and was established in 1999. We are emerging ahead with a vision to become a trusted healthcare company to ensure better health for everyone, everywhere. To learn more please visit www.inceptapharma.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200914005666/en/

Contacts:

Jaimie Weiner

jaimie@gcomworks.com
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has flagged that the state could reopen to travellers from the ACT at the end of the month if concerns about their identification are settled.

On Tuesday, South Australia lifted its 14-day quarantine requirement for people travelling from the ACT.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr and Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. Credit:Elesa Kurtz/supplied

Mandatory quarantine will remain for NSW residents until health authorities are confident community transmission has abated.

Ms Palaszczuk and her deputy, Steven Miles, indicated Queensland would follow suit if there were no major outbreaks in South Australia in the next fortnight.
Pakistans Parliament has extended by four months an ordinance issued earlier this year to allow death row prisoner Kulbhushan Jadhav to appeal against his conviction and sentencing in court, in line with a ruling from the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The International Court of Justice (Review and Reconsideration) Ordinance was promulgated in May and was set to expire on September 17. The National Assembly or lower house of Parliament extended it through a voice vote on Monday.

Earlier, the Pakistan government had approached the Islamabad high court to appoint a defence lawyer to represent Jadhav for filing the appeal. The court heard the case for the second time on September 3 and directed the federal government to give India another opportunity to appoint a lawyer to represent Jadhav.

The case will now be taken up on October 3.

The Pakistan government has said only a lawyer allowed to practice in the country can be appointed as Jadhavs counsel, but India has been insisting that it should be allowed to select a lawyer of its choice. It has also sought legal documents related to Jadhavs case that it says Pakistan has so far failed to provide.

The Islamabad high courts direction came after attorney general Khalid Javed Khan informed a larger bench comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah and justices Aamer Farooq and Miangul Hassan Aurangzaib that the federal government hadnt received a reply from the Indian government on the issue.

Khan said Jadhav has maintained he doesnt want to benefit from the ordinance for a review of his case, and that he had requested his mercy plea, already pending with the Pakistan Army chief, should be considered instead.

On August 6, the Islamabad high court had formed a three-judge larger bench at the governments request to appoint a lawyer for Jadhav so that an appeal could be filed against the death sentence given to him by a military court.

At that time, the high court had also directed the Pakistan government to make another offer to India and Jadhav, through the Foreign Office, to hire a lawyer. The court also said it was refraining from appointing a lawyer for Jadhav, who should be informed by the Pakistan government about his rights under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.

Jadhav, 50, was arrested by Pakistani security agencies in Balochistan in March 2016 and charged with involvement in spying. India rejected these allegations and said he was kidnapped by Pakistani operatives from the Iranian port of Chabahar, where he was running a business.
The new European ambitions regarding digitization, sustainable development, foreign action, and economic and social consolidation are welcome if we desire a better future for Romanians in Europe, states the chairman of the Social Democrat Party (PSD), Marcel Ciolacu, as he hailed, on Wednesday, the "constructive discourse" of the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, regarding the state of the Union.

"The Social Democratic Party supports firmly: the protection of European employees, the creation of a European minimum wage and decent wages for those who work; a balanced digital transformation, the reduction of discrepancies between the urban and rural environment but also between European regions, the development of industrial production capacities and European innovation which, in our opinion, may help the development of Romania if we have a government with a vision; the creation of new European competencies in regards to healthcare and financing projects regarding medical infrastructure at the European level," Ciolacu wrote on Facebook.

The leader of the Social Democrats claims that "unfortunately, the current government has ignored this important moment which will guide European action in the coming period."

"Again the Liberals [National Liberal Party, PNL - e.n.] have showed their true face. They pretended to be interested in Europe, but their lack of reaction makes Romania count very little at European level. The new PSD desires to become again the party that took Romania into the EU, that is why together with our MEPs we will act coherently and actively in building a social and united Europe," Ciolacu also wrote.
Thieves broke into a cloth store on Hambran Road on Tuesday night and decamped with Rs 26,000 in cash and cloth material worth lakhs, police said on Wednesday.

The thieves gained accessed to the shop by making a hole in the roof.

The matter came to light on Wednesday morning when employees opened the store for the day and were shocked to find the premises ransacked.

They informed the store owner, Ashok Jain, who alerted the police.

Prima facie it appears that four or more thieves gathered in the vacant plot near the shop and thereafter scaled its walls with the help of ropes. They then dug a hole into the roof to enter the store around midnight, said Paramdeep Singh, SHO, PAU police station.

Jain complained that Rs 26,000 in cash and cloth material worth lakhs were missing, and the thieves also took away the CCTV camera and its and digital video recorder to impede investigation.

Police have registered a case of theft and are scanning CCTV footage from adjacent properties for clues.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 16)  Lawmakers called for a higher budget next year for the Commission on Audit for 2021 for the agency to be able to perform its duty as an independent constitutional commission.

During the House of Representatives budget hearing for COAs 2021 proposed budget, Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said support should be given to the agency especially during this time of the pandemic as immediate releases of funds happen.

Lawmakers also noted that as a constitutional commission, COA should be given a budget that is at least equal to the funding given to them in the previous year.

Based on the presentation of COA, its funding increased by 3.6 percent to P13.567 billion from last years P13.086 billion.

However, this was only reflected on personnel services that increased by 4.9 percent to P12.907 billion for the second tranche of the increased salary of government employees under the Salary Standardization Law.

Under COAs proposal, the original MOOE is at P651.452 million but Budget department revised this to P573.422 million. This allocation will serve as additional travel expense for auditors.

Meanwhile, bulk of the original P683.494 million CO was intended for the construction of provincial satellite offices especially in areas that have no regional COA offices. However, only the P86.916 million for ICT projects was considered by the Department of Budget and Management.

The original CO also includes the P173 million budget for 2020 that was unreleased due to the consolidation of remaining funds for COVID-19 response.

During the Senate budget deliberation on COAs budget on Monday, Senator Panfilo Lacson said that not releasing COAs fund violates section 5, article 9 of the Constitution.

Under the said provision, constitutional commissions like COA enjoy fiscal autonomy. Their approved annual appropriations shall be automatically and regularly released.

However, Budget chief Wendel Avisado clarified that the said fund is still available and was not included in the allocation for Bayanihan 1.

Meanwhile, COA chief Michael Aguinaldo said that the confidentiality of intelligence funds makes it difficult to audit. However, he noted that there could be a room for abuse given this.

To some extent you just have to think that at least the law enforcement agencies are using it properly. That they are actually able to stop certain events from happening, he said.
The tension between the two men centers on Espers sometimes futile efforts to protect the military in a hyperpartisan era  moves that have clashed with Trumps political agenda. Esper is aligned with Trump on reducing the military presence in the Middle East and Afghanistan and has helped execute Trumps more-divisive decisions, such as moving U.S. troops out of Germany and defunding Russian deterrence projects in Europe to pay for the border wall. But Esper has dug in when it comes to issues he believes threaten the apolitical tradition of the U.S. military.
IFC invests in Collectius as new minority equity partner

SINGAPORE, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Collectius, the leading Singapore-based pan-Asian pioneer in debt management have partnered with IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, to launch a US$60 million regional investment platform solely dedicated to acquiring and resolving unsecured debt in Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and soon Vietnam. IFC has also become a minority equity shareholder in Collectius, at a post money valuation of US$80 million, taking the company's total capital raised to USD$123 million over six years.

The new initiative is IFC's first in Asia and aims to sustain the financial stability of the economy by supporting regional banks to strengthen their balance sheets by outsourcing the management of their NPLs, assisting debtors with their credit requirements and rehabilitating the debtor's financial position. The collaborative IFC and Collectius NPL platform is expected to operate as a model for other investors, by way of demonstration increasing market competitiveness and integration.

Gustav A. Eriksson, Founder and CEO, Collectius expressed: "This is a momentous milestone in our journey as a company, and we are extremely proud to partner with IFC. The partnership strengthens our influence in the market and the capital increase means we can further support banks and finance companies that want to sell their NPL portfolios. Most importantly, the new platform allows us to not only assist individuals struggling with debt, but also move the industry towards higher standards in ethics and regulations."

With a shared vision of building and maintaining economic stability in the region, IFC's commitment as a minority equity shareholder in Collectius will see the two examining the industry with a view to designing best practices around debt monitoring and resolution to beneficially affect regulations in Asia.

Collectius is majority-owned by the two founders Gustav A. Eriksson and Ivar Bjorklund, with the remaining owned by Stena AB and Formica Capital.

Detailed press release can be viewed here.

For media enquiries please contact:

press@collectius.com

www.collectius.com

LinkedIn
President Donald Trump traveled to Philadelphia Tuesday night for a televised town hall with voters and the first question came from a Bethlehem man who supported Trump in 2016 and thought his initial coronavirus pandemic response was good.

But by May, Paul Tubianas faith in the Trump administrations response was waning, he said during the ABC News forum moderated by George Stephanopoulos. The president took questions for about 90 minutes from uncommitted Pennsylvania voters on topics ranging from the pandemic to social injustice and Tubiana kicked the evening off.

Im a conservative, pro-life and diabetic. Ive had to dodge people who dont care about social distancing and wearing face masks, Tubiana, who has lived in Bethlehem for almost 19 years, told Trump. I thought you were doing a good job with the pandemic response until about May 1st. Then you took your foot off the gas pedal. Why did you throw vulnerable people like me under the bus?

The president in mid-April began expressing support for protesters in Michigan and other swing states, who were urging their governors to lift coronavirus restrictions. Around the same time, Trump began to push for the economy to reopen as the country grappled with its largest decline since the Great Recession.

Trump told Tubiana his administration never relented in its response.

Weve worked very hard on the pandemic. Weve worked very hard. It came off from China. They should have never let it happen, Trump said. "And if you looked at what weve done with ventilators, and now, frankly, with vaccines --were very close to having the vaccine. If you want to know the truth, the previous administration would have taken perhaps years to have a vaccine because of the FDA and all the approvals, and were within weeks of getting it. You know, could be three weeks, four weeks, but we think we have it. Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, we have great companies and theyre very, very close.

Trump asked Tubiana if he was from New York and the local man said hes a New York native whos called Bethlehem home for nearly 19 years.

This is the longest place Ive ever lived, Tubiana said.

The president called Bethlehem a good place. (His late brother graduated from Lehigh University and the president has an honorary degree from the South Bethlehem school after a 1988 commencement speech.)

Trump then turned his attention back to Tubianas question laying out his administrations response to the pandemic.

"If you look at what weve done for various things -- we built hospitals. New York, we took the convention center, converted it to 2,800 rooms. We brought in the ships. I wish they would have used it, because, frankly, they would have saved a lot of people had they used it.

"But we really -- were starting to get very good marks. If you look at what weve done compared to other countries, with the excess mortality, the excess mortality rate, weve done very, very well.

When you see our testing, were going to be at 84 million tests, 84 million, think of that. And next would be India with about 50 million less testing programs, far greater, the president said.

The federal government supplied governors, including Pennsylvania with equipment like nobodys ever gotten, including ventilators, the president said.

So I feel that weve done a tremendous job actually, and its something that, I dont think its been recognized like it should, but when you look at our testing, when you look at our swabs, when you look at our ventilators, when you look at what weve done with hospitals -- and weve made a lot of governors look very good, and now some are in a shutdown and some arent. Wed like to see it open up and open up as soon as possible, Trump said. But were very proud of the job weve done, and weve saved a lot of lives, a tremendous number of lives.

Since the start of the pandemic, the U.S. has recorded 6.6 million cases of the virus and is approaching 200,000 deaths, the most out of any nation in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University. The nation currently ranks seventh in the world for the highest COVID-19 per capita death rate of the 20 countries most affected by the pandemic.

ABC News described Tuesdays town hall participants as uncommitted voters.

Pennsylvania is a battleground state in the 2020 presidential race. Trump won the state in 2016 by 44,292 votes and Northampton County voters played a big role in that victory. Trump supporters flipped the county red for the first time since 1988. Currently, Democrat Joe Biden is leading Pennsylvania by an average 4 percentage points.

One uncommitted voter was not impressed by Trumps response to his question.

Paul Tubiana of Bethlehem, PA was the first questioner at ABC's town hall. He said he voted for Trump in 2016. He asked about the pandemic.



"He didn't answer anything," Tubiana told me afterward. "He was lying through his teeth." https://t.co/FHtkTk0xyR  Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) September 16, 2020

This is one in a series of stories that are part of Swing County, Swing State, a collaborative project between lehighvalleylive.com and nj.com that explores Northampton Countys critical role in the upcoming presidential election. The project is being generously supported by a $25,000 grant from The John Farmer Memorial Journalism Fund. Read more about it here. And please consider supporting ambitious local news like this with a subscription to lehighvalleylive.com.

Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com.
Houston officials are spreading the wealth when it comes to street repairs by doubling preventative maintenance projects to get a little more life out of the citys baked and battered roadways.

Some details of how Houston Public Works will prioritize streets and how the program differs from current maintenance schedules will be outlined Thursday, when the city councils Transportation, Technology and Infrastructure Committee meets virtually. Houston Public Works still was finalizing some financial comparisons and briefing city council members, as Mayor Sylvester Turner announced the program Tuesday morning.

The mayor said he expects Public Works to use $80 million annually for the new program to repair around 300 miles of street, as the citys pothole program continues unaffected and major projects move through the capital budget. If city crews hit the 300-mile mark, that would be about double the miles of streets that received preventative maintenance in fiscal 2019, and four times what the city rehabbed in 2016.

Now Playing: Why are Houston roads so bad? Its one of the first auto-fill results when you search Why are Houston The roads here are notorious for potholes, lumps and bumps that scrape the bottom of your sweet ride. So, whats the deal? Why do Houstonians endure so much trouble when we hit the pavement? Multimedia producer Laura Duclos explains why in our new series, Hou Did This Become a Thing? Video: Laura Duclos

We did not get here overnight and we are not going to fix these streets overnight, but at least with this program we will get to these streets, Turner said at a Tuesday morning news conference at Jutland and Kenilwood in South Park where crews worked on one of the first projects. And we will do it much quicker and much sooner.

The additional money is coming from other sources within the Public Works budget, including the capital improvement program, the street fund tied to ReBuild Houston and the citys share of Metropolitan Transit Authoritys 1 percent sales tax. Turner also is urging officials to seek federal grants to help fund projects.

IDEA RAISED FOR HEMPSTEAD: TxDOT takes tolls out of plans, floats elevated lanes

The goal, Public Works Director Carrol Haddock said, is prolonging the life of streets by focusing maintenance where it can preserve surfaces so they do not deteriorate all the way to the clay beneath Houston, while giving drivers a smoother ride. Projects will vary, but many will call for crews to mill or shave off deteriorated top layers of the road, make minor repairs to the base and repave the surface. That refreshing could stave off total rebuilds.

Jon Shapley, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

Officials said it is a departure from previous pledges the city has made over 30 years, which later were criticized for relying too much on quick fixes that just made streets smooth for a single mayoral term.

Houston Public Works is not just making the surface of the streets look good, we are fixing the foundation so it will last when the new surface is put back on, Haddock said.

The latest initiative reforms repair plans by keeping the same funding in place for total road reconstructions where needed, using updated pavement assessments to find the true condition of the streets and setting a schedule in which streets get new surfaces where engineers determine that could give the entire street a little more life.

Haddock said while each repair need is different, officials expect to spend about $400,000 per mile on surface repairs to major streets and $160,000 per mile to fix neighborhood roads. That is far less, she added, than the $3.2 million average cost of a total rebuild.

We can do almost six-to-eight as many times of miles, Haddock said, meaning drivers see more improvements.

Turner said it also puts the city on a plan to touch 100 percent of Houston streets on a rotating basis  though that rotation will take years. At 300 miles per year, it would take the city 31 years to address the 9,500 miles of street in Houston. That would be a major improvement, however, to the 110-year average for street rebuilds Houston faced previously.

STUCK IN THE MUD: Harris County fires firm behind delayed $1 billion Ship Channel bridge

A cycle of routine maintenance, provided it can keep pace to protect streets, could be a better way to fix some of the obvious and immediate problems many motorists encounter, District G Councilman Greg Travis said.

I dont think there is a large enough pool of money to make a difference on these larger projects all at once, but weve got to keep that going, Travis said. But there are a lot of places we can touch without waiting years for the funding for those major projects.

Two other key differences will come with changes to how Houston re-prioritizes street repairs, officials said. From the outset, Public Works will coordinate with council members to choose two miles of local streets and two miles of major thoroughfares in each district annually for repairs. That guarantees all parts of the city receive some improvements, Turner said.

The other change, ordered by Turner, is that repairs not be limited to the driving surface. Projects also will include sidewalks, ramps at intersections and curbs so pedestrians, bicyclists and those using wheelchairs and other devices see improvements.

FREEWAYS VERSUS FAIRNESS: Bolstered by racial justice debate, critics of I-45 project call for protection of vulnerable communities

Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

Public Works has spent three decades in Houston racing time when it comes to street maintenance, shifting resources  and money  to focus on total road reconstructions for a time then pouring resources into routine repaving and back again. In the 1990s, led by Mayor Bob Lanier, the city went on an asphalt blitz that led to improved streets, for a while. By 2010 and with a drought settling in, Houston was in need of total repairs of many major streets. Officials paired many street repair needs with other projects for drainage, leading a litany of major streets such as Westheimer, Shepherd and Richmond to receive significant attention.

That has led to some feeling other roads not in line for major repairs are ignored, something officials said needs to change.

People do need to see what is being done and their tax money, what is being done with it, District D Councilwoman Carolyn Evans-Shabazz said.

dug.begley@chron.com
The Fairphone 3+ comes from a Dutch company called Fairphone. The company has been around since 2013, and its main goal is to make fairer electronics. This company announced the Fairphone 3 last year, and the Fairphone 3+ is a slight improvement compared to that phone. The design remains the same, basically, but an improved rear camera setup is included in the new model.

The trick is, you can buy this camera setup separately, and include it in the original Fairphone 3. That is not something you can do with other phones, which makes this phone special. The phone is extremely easy to disassemble, and its easy to repair as a result of that. Fairphone went out of its way to create a device like this. Well talk more about the design soon, but from the repairability standpoint, this point is at the very top.

The Fairphone 3+ might not offer the latest specs on the market, but its also not as expensive as a ton of other phones out there. If youre looking for a budget smartphone which will get support for the years to come, and help save the environment at the same time, even a little bit, the Fairphone 3+ may be worth checking out. Fairphone recycles a large portion of the plastic used to make this phone, which is a huge plus for our planet.

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Environmentally-friendly build brings modularity & repairability

From the design standpoint, this phone is either quite impressive, or quite underwhelming, depending on what youre paying attention to. If you look at the sheer look of the device, you may be disappointed. Not only is it made out of plastic, but it has rather thick bezels. Its really nothing special to look at. Fairphone did not make this phone to be appealing in terms of its looks, though.

The main appeal of the phone is its repairability, and its simplicity, not to mention the fact that a large portion of the plastic used here has been recycled. If you buy into the Fairphone 3+, youll do a small part to help the planet, and chances are youll be able to easily repair the phone if needed. The device also comes with a small screwdriver in the box, while the charger is not included. That is something to remember, as youll need to use your own charger, or buy one. The phone does have a Type-C USB port at the bottom.

A flat display is included on the phone, and well talk more about it in the next section. A capacitive fingerprint scanner sits on the back of the phone, rather far up, in fact, I would have preferred if it were a bit lower. Its not a big problem, though, not at all. A single camera is located in the top-left corner of the phones back, while youll find a physical button on the left. All the physical buttons are on the left, including the power / lock button, which is a bit odd, but there you go.

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The Fairphone 3+ does not feel squeaky, or anything of the sort. The phone is well-built despite being made out of plastic. You can remove its backplate by using your finger, and youll notice quite a few screws on the back once you do. Thats where the screwdriver (which is included in the box) comes into play. You can remove any of the phones components, which are arranged into modules. The Fairphone 3+ offers a simple, and at the same time very interesting design, though its not much to look at, to be quite honest.

Its display is good, but not amongst the best out there

The Fairphone 3+ does not feature an OLED display. That being said, it does come with an IPS LCD display which is not bad at all. You have to keep in mind that this is a budget smartphone, which is why of the reasons it includes an LCD panel. That display is quite vibrant, even though not as much as an OLED panel. Viewing angles are also really good, which is the case with the vast majority of newer LCD panels.

This phone does include a flat display, and it measures 5.65 inches in diagonal. Were looking at a fullHD+ (2160 x 1080) panel here. Cornings Gorilla Glass 5 protects this panel, by the way. The phone offers a 72.6-percent screen-to-body ratio. That may not seem as high in comparison to most modern smartphones, and thats because this handset does include quite thick bezels above and below the display.

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So, whats the gist when it comes to the display? Well, the Fairphone 3+ does include a good IPS LCD panel, which offers nice colors, viewing angles, and its quite visible outdoors. Its not the best LCD panel weve seen, but its quite solid nonetheless. Most people wont care if this is an LCD or OLED panel, as long as its good, and this one is, thats for sure.

The Fairphone 3+ performance will be enough for the vast majority of people

The Fairphone 3+ comes equipped with a processor from 2018, the Snapdragon 632. On top of that, the company also included 4GB of RAM: Now, that may not sound like a great combination for a 2020 smartphone. It certainly does not represent powerful internals, thats for sure. This phone does perform well enough for most people, though. What does that mean? Well, its not exactly fast, but it gets the job done.

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You can expect the same performance the Fairphone 3 had to offer, to be quite honest, considering how similar these two phones are. The phone will do basically everything slower than phones with much faster processors, but its not slow per se. If youre not used to the bleeding edge performance, this phone will serve you just fine. It may take a bit longer to load an app or something of the sort, but overall performance is good.

Android 10 comes pre-installed on the device, which certainly helps with the performance part. The best of all, Fairphone aims to provide this phone with five years of software updates. That is one of the main appeals of this smartphone, along with its repairability factor, of course.

Battery life is good, while the battery itself is easily replaceable

The battery life on the Fairphone 3+ is not bad, but its not great either. This phone is equipped with a 3,040mAh battery pack, while its display is fairly large. It does include a processor that is not exactly power-hungry, though, so thats a plus. If youre a power user, this phone is probably not for sure. You wont get great battery life here, and besides, this phone isnt exactly aimed at power users.

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I was able to get over 5 hours of screen-on-time consistently. Well, on one occasion, I came in just shy of 5 hours, but it usually crosses that mark before the phone dies. Thats more than good enough for the vast majority of people, thats for sure. Now, in terms of charging, do note that the phone does not ship with a charger. You will need to get one yourself, or use one of those you have at home.

The phone comes with a Type-C USB port at the bottom, and it does not support fancy fast charging. That is one of the more pronounced negatives here, as it will take a while to charge up its 3,040mAh battery pack. The good thing is, this battery is easily removable, as are most other components in the Fairphone 3+.

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Good for daylight shots, bad for nighttime ones

If youre shooting photos in good or medium light levels, the camera on the Fairphone 3+ will do a good job, for the most part. It falls apart in low light, though. These are the results we expected, to be quite honest, as the Fairphone 3+ is not exactly a camera smartphone. The camera upgrade it got over its predecessor is easily noticeable, though. The performance in this regard is much better than on the Fairphone 3.

Unlike its predecessor, the Fairphone 3+ does support object tracking and scene optimization. Even though there is no optical zoom, its digital zoom is good enough. The portrait mode is also not bad, as long as theres enough light in the scene. This camera setup offers better colors, more detail, and overall better performance than the setup in the Fairphone 3.

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Dont aim to use it much in low light, though. The camera does really fall apart in low light, and it doesnt have a special mode for low light photography. Theres a lot of grain in such photos, and noise is quite pronounced as well. Video content at up to 5K at 30fps was okay, though nothing to write home about. When it comes to shooting video in low light, well, thats not a great idea here, same as with pictures.

Passable audio, with poor bass

The Fairphone 3+ does bring some improvements when it comes to audio performance. Compared to the Fairphone 3, this handset does offer louder audio output. Thats not all, though, as its also crisper than the original. The phones speaker is still in a rather odd position, though. Its placed on the left-hand side of the phone. Thats not something you see every day, right?

Do note that, even though audio performance is better than on the Fairphone 3, its still not great. The bass is basically non-existent, while the sound does distort at high volumes. Sound via a pair of headphones is also nothing to write home about. Its good, but thats about it. Bass is on the weaker side in this regard as well.

Barebones Android is a good thing

The Fairphone 3+ software is barebones, thats the best way to describe it. Fairphone did add its app here, but thats pretty much it. Only the essential Google apps are pre-installed, the ones youd expect with vanilla Android. Its up to you to populate the apps list with whatever you need, you dont need to tolerate apps you dont plan on using. Thats the best route to go with for this handset, as its a budget phone, with budget internals.

The software does work well in combination with that hardware. As I already mentioned in the performance section, it works really well, but dont expect flagship-like performance. Even though this software is fairly light, theres only so much this hardware can power through. The UI does look quite clean on the Fairphone 3+, and if youve ever used a phone with stock Android, youll be right at home.

Speaking of which, Android 10 does come pre-installed on this handset. Considering that, youll have access to Googles new navigation gestures, and everything in between that you may need. As mentioned earlier, Fairphone does plan to support this phone (in the software sense) for 5 years. So you can expect quite a few more updates to come.

The Fairphone 3+ is a great offering for some people

The Fairphone 3+ is available in Europe, and its priced at 469. Now, Id argue there are better choices out there for that amount of money. And by better I mean those that are built out of more premium materials, and more powerful at the same time. Still, if you want a phone that is extremely easy to repair thanks to its modularity and plastic build, and a phone that saves the environment at the same time. This is the way to go. This phone will also have a lot of software support in the coming years, according to Fairphone, so it all depends on what youre looking for in a phone. The Fairphone 3+ sure is a unique smartphone.
By Trend

Over the past 24 hours, Armenian armed forces have violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops 34 times, Trend reports referring to Azerbaijani Defense Ministry.

Armenian armed forces were using large-caliber machine guns and sniper rifles.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on the withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

--

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
The Donald Trump administration has continued to play an active role in the World Trade Organisation, but many of Trumps biggest trade offensives over the past three years have bypassed the organisations rules

Washington: A World Trade Organisation panel said on Tuesday that the United States violated international trade rules by imposing tariffs on China in 2018 in the midst of President Donald Trumps trade war.

The panel of trade experts sided with a complaint that had been filed by China, which argued that Trumps tariffs violated several global rules, including a provision that requires all WTO members to offer equal tariff rates among the bodys trading partners.

Trump broke with that tradition. During his trade war with China, the president imposed tariffs on more than $360 billion worth of Chinese products, in an effort to persuade China to strengthen its intellectual property protections and make other changes to policies that Trump said put American workers at a disadvantage. The administration drew on an American legal provision  called Section 301  to impose the tariffs, which allows the president to restrict foreign commerce that unfairly burdens the United States.

The impact of the ruling remains unclear. The United States and China signed a trade deal in January, but the bulk of the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration remain in place, covering more than half of Chinas exports to the United States.

In a statement, Robert Lighthizer, the US Trade Representative, blasted the World Trade Organisation for trying to prevent the United States from helping its own workers.

This panel report confirms what the Trump administration has been saying for four years: The WTO is completely inadequate to stop Chinas harmful technology practices, Lighthizer said. Although the panel did not dispute the extensive evidence submitted by the United States of intellectual property theft by China, its decision shows that the WTO provides no remedy for such misconduct.

The United States must be allowed to defend itself against unfair trade practices, and the Trump administration will not let China use the WTO to take advantage of American workers, businesses, farmers and ranchers, he added.

The United States has 60 days to respond to the decision. But the ruling may have little practical effect, since the United States effectively crippled the WTO panel responsible for handling appeals of trade disputes, by refusing to appoint new members to it.

If the United States chooses to fight the organisations latest decision, the case will end up in a kind of legal limbo, with no resolution in sight.

Before the Trump administration came along and decimated the WTO Appellate Body, a case like this would be appealed, said Chad Bown, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

If the panel had enough members to function and its members upheld the ruling, the WTO could authorise China to retaliate if the United States did not change its policies or if the United States and China could not agree to some other form of compensation.

But since the Trump administration has refused to appoint new members to the Appellate Body, the US could appeal this panel report into the void, Bown said.

If the United States chooses not to appeal but also makes no changes in response to the ruling, China could ask for the World Trade Organisations permission to recoup some of its losses by imposing tariffs on the United States.

But Bown said the retaliation issue is largely moot anyway, since China responded to Americas tariffs with its own levies beginning in July 2018. Since China did not have WTO permission to retaliate against the United States, those tariffs, too, were arguably a violation of global trade rules.

The Trump administration has continued to play an active role in the World Trade Organisation, but many of Trumps biggest trade offensives over the past three years have bypassed the organisations rules.

While other countries have criticised the United States for weakening the global trading system, the Trump administration argues that the World Trade Organisation is largely ineffective and badly in need of reform, in part because of its failure to police Chinas unfair trade practices.

Ana Swanson c.2020 The New York Times Company
The run-off election saw a voter turnout of 10.22%, according to the NEA head

The head of Egypts National Elections Authority (NEA) Lasheen Ibrahim announced on Wednesday the results of the run-offs for Egypt's Senate elections, which saw 52 candidates competing for 26 seats.

During a press conference, Ibrahim said there were 28.817 million citizens eligible to vote in the Senate run-off elections, out of whom 2.834.750 voters participated, with a turnout percentage of 10.22.

The seats that were up for grabs in the run-offs are in 14 governorates: Qalioubiya, Menoufiya, Kafr El-Sheikh, Giza, Beni Suef, Assiut, Sohag, Qena, Luxor, Aswan, Damietta, Port Said, Ismailia and Marsa Matrouh.

Ibrahim said that the epidemic has not stopped [the Egyptian people] from performing their duty in casting ballots in the Senate elections," adding that the NEA worked day and night to ensure that the elections were administered according to the highest standards of integrity and transparency.

He also hailed the efforts exerted by all state bodies to successfully hold the election, including the Ministry of Justice, police and Armed Forces.

Some 174 senators representing different constituencies countrywide were officially named last month after securing votes during the first round of elections.

There are 63 million eligible voters out of the country 100 million plus population.

Only 8.95 million (14.23 percent) cast their ballots during the first round in August.

In the first round, the majority of seats were grabbed by the pro-government coalition "National Unified List", which is led by the Mostaqbal Watan Party (Future of Homeland), claiming, along with its allies, the majority in the newly reconstituted 300-seat upper house of parliament.

The pro-government Mostaqbal Watan Party won 118 (around 60 per cent) out of the 200 contested seats. Mostaqbal Watan won 68 individual seats and 50 party list seats in the first round, according to the NEA.

The Senate, which was created in accordance with constitutional amendments approved last year, will act as an advisory chamber to the House of Representatives. It will sit in place of the Shura Council, the upper house of parliament that was dissolved in 2014.

Two-thirds of the members are elected via the individual candidacy and the closed party list systems, and the rest will be appointed by the president.

The first session of the new body, when senators will be sworn in, is set to be held in October. The first five-year term of the Senate will end in 2025.

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On July 31, state leaders chose political expediency over public safety by signing to law harmful legislation known as the Police Accountability Act. It has been a few weeks since its passage, but the results are already clear - crime is rising, and our ranks are falling.

In New Haven alone, murders are up 50 percent, sexual assault 33 percent, robberies with firearms are up 85 percent, assault with firearm victims are up 66 percent and confirmed shots fired are up 50 percent (statistics from the New Haven Weekly Compstat Report for the last 28 days of August). These trends are not headed in the right direction. The increased crime rates have resulted in countless victims from our states cities and deteriorating public safety in surrounding communities.

The New Haven Police Union has made clear from the beginning that this legislation will discourage police officers from proactively addressing lawlessness. This threat is no doubt growing within the states 169 municipalities. The new law has also led to unprecedented premature retirements and made future recruitment nearly impossible. As an example, here in New Haven alone, 15 police officers have just retired with an additional seven giving their intent to retire by the end of the year. Three others have quit. In other cities across our state the numbers are even higher.

The New Haven Police Union had zero input on this legislation. Elected officials have piled on new burdens and second-guessing for police officers, demonstrating a dangerous distraction that will place not only residents of New Haven but residents of our surrounding towns in harms way. The new law also gives conflicting directives without regard for community impact.

Now the lawlessness and lack of safety and security within our neighborhoods fall squarely on the shoulders of those elected officials at the state level who voted in favor of this bill. It is almost unthinkable in our current environment that we would deter police officers from addressing crime.

The New Haven Police Union believes that this law places residents and police officers in jeopardy, and we urge state leaders to act boldly and vote quickly to amend this harmful legislation in the upcoming special session. A loud minority should not be allowed to dictate over the silent majority.

If you feel as a Connecticut resident that your safety and security are at risk thanks to this so-called Police Accountability Act, let your voice be heard by calling your representative today and asking them to amend Public Act 20-1 in the upcoming special session.

Florencio Cotto is president of the New Haven Police Union.
Evelyn Beatrice Hall, an English writer who wrote under the pseudonym S. G. Tallentyre, wrote the phrase: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it" as an illustration of the French enlightenment writer Voltaire's beliefs. This quotation  which is sometimes misattributed to Voltaire himself  is often cited to describe the core principle of freedom of expression. While this principle depicts the absolutionist version of free speech similar to the American jurisprudence on the subject, the Indian Constitution consciously imposes further restrictions on the free speech. The American absolutionist approach has been rejected at the outset by constitution benches in Babulal Parate and Madhu Limaye [apart from the stray reliance by a smaller bench Shreya Singhal], the Volatairian principle is often invoked to evoke the delicate sensitivities of popular conscience and to stoke the rhetorical weaknesses of the Courts. This Voltarian principle today faces a far more sophisticated challenge : labeling of expression as hate speech.

At a normative plane, the conservatives would justify restrictions on free exercise of speech and the liberals or progressives would scorn at such restrictions. However, curiously, almost across the globe, there is an increasing movement to label aspects of expression of individuals or groups, as hate speech. Specifically, Article 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966 and Article 4 of the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, 1965 hint towards explicit controls on expanse of free speech despite being purportedly rights enabling documents. What this has enabled are wide-ranging statutory prohibitions against speech of a particular nature across European nations dealing with ethnic, racial, religious or national security issues. The European Court of Human Rights has in fact, almost four and half decades back held that the "Freedom of expression...is applicable not only to 'information' or 'ideas' that are favourably received or regarded as inoffensive or as a matter of indifference, but also to those that offend, shock or disturb the State or any sector of the population". At the same time, the European Court has upheld laws framed by States curbing free expressions on the grounds that such restrictions may be proportionate to the legitimate aim of democratic societies seeking to prevent expression which spreads, incites, promotes or justifies hatred based on intolerance. In principle, such position would fit in rather comfortably in the limited free speech rights that the Indian Constitution provides, but the devil generally lies in the details. The curtailment of the expression right, and the mandate to define what constitutes hate speech within a particular society, is the sole prerogative of elected representatives who, as a legitimate state interest of maintaining harmony, may invade the free speech right in some limited form. The Courts however, would not delve in to an investigative exercise under writ jurisdiction, seeking to curtailing constitutional rights in absence of statutory/executive intervention.

In this manner, the hate speech laws are taking shape across the world, with certain pressure groups advocating for a wider range of curtailment of expression, especially aimed at shielding what such groups perceive as vulnerable sections of minorities or immigrants. While such protection, if within constitutional perimeters, may represent a laudable aim, aiming such protection to the sole protection of what are perceived by a particular section as a vulnerable group would not be appropriate. If expression is to be curtailed in the first place, it ought to be curtailed across the board, making it equally applicable to all communities and groups. On the other hand, if expression it is not to be curtailed, it is to be allowed across the board along with State protection. After all, speech is merely an incident of expression, and any selective coloring of the same as hate or love would be constitutionally irrelevant. Therefore, if at all hate speech is to be defined, it has to be community or group blind, if it is to apply neutrally and for it to further any legitimate state aim. This definitional hazard cannot give birth to a situation wherein expression against the integrity or sovereignty of a part of a country or derogatory depiction of a God adhered to by one community is seen as an incidence of free speech, and at the the same time, a similar expression is labeled as hate speech in other circumstances wherein certain favoured vulnerable groups are involved. The right to freedom of expression cannot be moulded conveniently to further one particular point of view over the other, or even to protect one particular expression of bigotry whilst censoring the other. The marketplace of ideas is function in a fair competitive manner and not to further one identifiable belief system over the other.

The history of Section 295A

In this context, the history of Section 295A of the IPC, has its own story to tell. In 1923, in response to a Hindu goddess being depicted as a prostitute, a publisher named Rajpal published an anonymous pamphlet titled Rangila Rasul, which allegedly contained some scandalous commentary. The pamphlet was authored by Pandit Chamupati of Arya Samaj who succeeded in the case under then Section 153A in Lahore High Court which ruled that although the writing was certainly offensive to the Muslim community, the prosecution was not legally sustainable because the writing could not cause enmity or hatred between different religious communities, which is the gist of the offence under Section 153(A) of the IPC. Subsequently, Pandit Chamupati was promptly murdered in cold blood by a man named Ilm-ud-din, who is now venerated in Pakistan. He was represented by none other than Mohammad Ali Jinnah, a prominent lawyer at the time, at the Lahore Sessions Court where he was sentenced to death. Despite the dastardly act and the subsequent conviction and execution in 1929, Ilm-ud-Din became an instant hero, so much so that a leader as tall as Allama Iqbal attended his last rites. In the same era, numerous other such incidents are said to have occurred, encapsulated by the legendary B.R. Ambedkar as under :

These are not the only things Mr. Gandhi has done to build up Hindu-Moslem unity. He has never called the Muslims to account even when they have been guilty of gross crimes against Hindus.

It is a notorious fact that many prominent Hindus who had offended the religious susceptibilities of the Muslims either by their writings or by their part in the Shudhi movement have been murdered by some fanatic Musalmans. First to suffer was Swami Shradhanand, who was shot by Abdul Rashid on 23rd December 1926 when he was lying in his sick bed. This was followed by the murder of Lala Nanakchand, a prominent Arya Samajist of Delhi. Rajpal, the author of the Rangila Rasool, was stabbed by Ilamdin on 6th April 1929 while he was sitting in his shop. Nathuramal Sharma was murdered by Abdul Qayum in September 1934. It was an act of great daring. For Sharma was stabbed to death in the Court of the Judicial Commissioner of Sind where he was seated awaiting the hearing of his appeal against his conviction under Section 195, I. P. C, for the publication of a pamphlet on the history of Islam. Khanna, the Secretary of the Hindu Sabha, was severely assaulted in 1938 by the Mahomedans after the Session of the Hindu Maha Sabha held in Ahmedabad and very narrowly escaped death. This is, of course, a very short list and could be easily expanded. But whether the number of prominent Hindus killed by fanatic Muslims is large or small matters little. What matters is the attitude of those who count towards these murderers. The murderers paid the penalty of law where law is enforced. The leading Moslems, however, never condemned these criminals.

On the contrary, they were hailed as religious martyrs and agitation was carried on for clemency being shown to them. As an illustration of this attitude, one may refer to Mr. Barkat Alli, a Barrister of Lahore, who argued the appeal of Abdul Qayum. He went to the length of saying that Qayum was not guilty of murder of Nathuramal because his act was justifiable by the law of the Koran. This attitude of the Moslems is quite understandable. What is not understandable is the attitude of Mr. Gandhi.

Clearly, there have been many Kamlesh Tiwaris through history and who have been carefully relegated to dustbin of history by the purportedly eminent historians of our times. In fact, the Paris Charlie Hebdo incident or the Sweden riots, are not very alien to the Indian context. Or maybe, the justice warriors of today would want to impose pre-censorship on the great B.R. Ambedkar as well.

Be that as it may, the Rangeela Rosool incident, ultimately led to the enactment of the Section 295A. The report of the Select Committee preceding the enactment of Section 295(A) stated that the purpose of the Section was to punish persons who indulge in wanton vilification or attacks upon the religion of any particular group or class or upon the founders and prophets of a religion. It however emphasised that ''an insult to a religion or to the religious beliefs of the followers of a religion might be inflicted in good faith by a writer with the object of facilitating some measure of social reform by administering such a shock to the followers of the religion as would ensure notice being taken of any criticism so made''. Therefore, the Committee recommended that the words ''with deliberate and malicious intention'' be inserted in the Section which have now become the standard defence against the overbroad application of the provision. The constitutionality of Section 295(A) was upheld by the Supreme Court in Ramji Lal Modi on the exact point of that requirement of deliberate and malicious intention balanced the provision under Indian constitutional free speech standard. On a similar footing is Section 153A which seeks to punish persons who indulge in wanton vilification or attacks upon the religion, race, place of birth, residence, language etc. of any particular group or class or upon the founders and prophets of a religion. The other set of laws, apart the religious sensibilities restrictions, which provide a restriction on free speech in India are, sedition [Section 124A of the IPC] and to an extent, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, both of which deal with a national security and integrity aspect as a reasonable restriction of free speech.

National security v. religious sensibilities

While examining the extent of hate speech regulation, it is necessary to test the two most commonly prevailing set of provisions regarding the same  the national security/integrity censoring and the religious/societal sensibilities censoring. The said exceptions to generic free speech rights, are segregated by a fundamental distinction - while the national security/integrity exceptions, are naturally to be adjudicated on a secular dispassionate view-point which depends on the intrinsic content of the speech, the religious sensibilities exception is dependent on the sensibilities, or the lack of it, of different religious communities or other identifiable societal sub-groups. The religious/societal sensibilities exception, by its very nature, is dependent on the tolerance of the different communities and automatically varies not as per the content of the speech, rather varies as the reactions of the different religious communities to the content of the speech. To illustrate : a particular religious community may be naturally having a high degree of tolerance to criticism and therefore, the application of the religious/societal sensibilities exception to such religious community would naturally be limited. On the other hand, a particular religious community or sub-group may be extremely sensitive and prone to volatile reactions and naturally, extremely prone to justify a religious sensibilities exception or even a public order exception. By basing the religious sensibilities exception on the tendencies of religious communities/groups, the law on the subject in its application, results in punishing the tolerant and rewarding the intolerant thereby manifesting in an arbitrary application. While the suggestions to altogether delete the religious sensibilities exceptions may not be the most realistic in a deeply religious country, the provisions ought to be suitably tweaked in order to ensure that this naturally and inherently variable and arbitrary application is curtailed.

Ideally, the standard to judge the alleged State excesses both broad sets of exceptions : the religious sensibilities exception and the national integrity/security exception, must be the same. However, even a cursory glance at the popular discourse surrounding such issues, would demonstrate something glaring. It is almost too easy to notice the stark dichotomy in how the two sets of exceptions are treated in consciousness of the commentariat. While the accused under the national security and integrity crimes are defended valiantly by certain pressure groups, often seeking and getting reliefs over and above the prevailing law, accused persons under the religious sensibilities law, not belonging to the same ideological background, are left in the lurch. It was not surprising that despite availing the same reliefs, the activist lawyer and the TV anchor reacted in a starkly different manner, largely ignoring the fact that the Supreme Court has previously, although on limited occasions, granted bails to accused persons facing FIRs in multiple States.

The silence being acquiescence

There is a newfound clamour to initiate legal or criminal proceedings against specific TV anchors. One would expect, that the pressure groups, in such a situation would be the first line of defence for the anchors. The truth however, could not be farther away from ideological consistency. It is in fact the same pressure groups, which rather than protecting expression rights, are advocating the restrictions, or welcoming this extra-constitutional rigmarole, with an eerie deafening silence - all at the holy grail of hate speech. In order to effectuate this dichotomy, the sophisticated approach of hate speech labeling, more fashionably called cancel culture is adopted. It is intriguing to note that the same pressure groups openly advocate curtailment of free expression if the individuals involved are not of a similar ideological inkling, often seeking a faux justification through a convenient description and definition of hate speech. The definition of hate speech, at least in popular understanding, is structured in a manner which seeks to shield only certain preference groups, which has enabled the silencing of numerous opposing voices. The hate speech allegations has, in the marketplace of ideas become the most important tool to curb personal freedoms by super-imposing a template ideology.

To illustrate, when any arrest is made under the UAPA, for either being directly involved in planned violence or being members of dreaded Naxal outfits, great eulogies are cited in free speech, chiding at the approach of the State for alleged thought control. For instance, while the call for partition of the country or the call for disintegration of the country, or the depicting of a Hindu Goddess in in burkha or the desecration of pious Hindu symbol in the name of protests, is defended at the altar of free speech, but the call by a politician to clear an illegal road blockade becomes hate speech inviting PIL ad-infinitum. The list of such incidents is endless where the exercise of free speech groups/persons of a particular ideological bent is celebrated and sought to be valiantly protected, whereas the exercise of the same right by someone else of the opposite ideological bent, is ignored, castigated or worse, coercively criminalised. This deep state of hate speech labelists, simultaneously make fashionable calls for dissent and at the same time, advocate the silencing of other inconvenient voices.

The pressure groups stoic silence or worse, active participation in the curtailment of freedom of expression because the speaker is not of a similar ideological bent, is not just hypocrisy, it is in fact, acquiescence. The principles of liberalism have been obliterated by a convenient coalition across irreconcilable groups, which would make even Harvey Two Face from the The Dark Knight blush. What we see today are smaller republics of university spaces, intellectual circles, lawyers groups or any other smaller community unit where such a majority is enjoyed by select pressure groups, turn in to echo chambers, where any contrary view is censored, derided and ridiculed. No real friend of free speech would stay silent merely because it does not agree with the ideological leanings of the Speaker. The most insidious threat to freedom of expression is not from State excesses, it is from the lopsided labelling of expression as hate speech. The Voltarian principles cannot becomes tools to utilize on chosen occasions rather they are words to live by. Free speech cannot be a concubine of a particular clique, as its poignant ideals are married to the Constitution of India.

Footnotes

1 Babulal Parate v. State of Maharashtra, reported in (1961) 3 SCR 423

2 Madhu Limaye v. Sub-Divisional Magistrate, reported in (1970) 3 SCC 746

3 Shreya Singhal v. Union of India, reported in (2015) 5 SCC 1

4 Handyside v United Kingdom (5493/72)

5 Erbakan v. Turkey, App. No. 59405/00

6 See https://nation.com.pk/10-Oct-2015/until-we-start-denouncing-ilm-ud-din-s-legacy-mumtaz-qadris-will-keep-sprouting-up-in-pakistan

7 Pakistan : Hindu Alternative To Pakistan, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings And Speeches Vol. 8, Pg 156-157 -

These are not the only things Mr. Gandhi has done to build up Hindu-Moslem unity. He has never called the Muslims to account even when they have been guilty of gross crimes against Hindus.

It is a notorious fact that many prominent Hindus who had offended the religious susceptibilities of the Muslims either by their writings or by their part in the Shudhi movement have been murdered by some fanatic Musalmans. First to suffer was Swami Shradhanand, who was shot by Abdul Rashid on 23rd December 1926 when he was lying in his sick bed. This was followed by the murder of Lala Nanakchand, a prominent Arya Samajist of Delhi. Rajpal, the author of the Rangila Rasool, was stabbed by Ilamdin on 6th April 1929 while he was sitting in his shop. Nathuramal Sharma was murdered by Abdul Qayum in September 1934. It was an act of great daring. For Sharma was stabbed to death in the Court of the Judicial Commissioner of Sind where he was seated awaiting the hearing of his appeal against his conviction under Section 195, I. P. C, for the publication of a pamphlet on the history of Islam. Khanna, the Secretary of the Hindu Sabha, was severely assaulted in 1938 by the Mahomedans after the Session of the Hindu Maha Sabha held in Ahmedabad and very narrowly escaped death. This is, of course, a very short list and could be easily expanded. But whether the number of prominent Hindus killed by fanatic Muslims is large or small matters little. What matters is the attitude of those who count towards these murderers. The murderers paid the penalty of law where law is enforced. The leading Moslems, however, never condemned these criminals.

On the contrary, they were hailed as religious martyrs and agitation was carried on for clemency being shown to them. As an illustration of this attitude, one may refer to Mr. Barkat Alli, a Barrister of Lahore, who argued the appeal of Abdul Qayum. He went to the length of saying that Qayum was not guilty of murder of Nathuramal because his act was justifiable by the law of the Koran. This attitude of the Moslems is quite understandable. What is not understandable is the attitude of Mr. Gandhi.

8 Soli J. Sorabjee, Insult to religion, Indian Express, Jun 25 2006 accessed at : http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/insult-to-religion-/7214/0

9 Ramji Lal Modi vs The State Of U.P, 1957 SCR 860

10 https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Legally-Speaking-TV-Anchor-and-activist-lawyer-avail-same-relief-yet-latter-slams-SC/articleshow/75526572.cms

11 https://main.sci.gov.in//supremecourt/2019/19777/19777_2019_5_46_14637_Order_02-Jul-2019.pdf
Watch: Boris Johnson and Sir Edward Davey during PMQs in the House of Commons

Boris Johnson has been accused of potentially breaking international law affecting the care disabled people have received since the coronavirus pandemic began.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Ed Davey, the newly elected Liberal Democrat leader, said the rights of disabled people had been reduced during the crisis.

He said: "Research by the Disabled Children's Partnership shows that three-quarters of families with disabled children had their care support stopped during lockdown.

"The Coronavirus Act is partly to blame as it relaxed the duties to asses and meet the needs of disabled people.

"As a father of a disabled child and the patron of the Disability Law Service, I have seen legal advice that suggests that this government broke international law in how the Coronavirus Act reduced the rights of disabled people."

Boris Johnson said he was not aware of this concern.

He said: "I am not aware of that particular allegation about the legal effect of the Coronavirus Act and I would be only too happy to write to him shortly to clarify the matter.

Protect the rights of disabled people

David Laurence, chief executive of the Disability Law Service, said the rights for disabled people had plunged to unacceptably low levels.

He warned: In certain circumstances the Coronavirus Act reduces the rights of disabled people to receive care to unacceptably low levels  in doing so, it breaches the United Kingdoms Treaty Obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been accused of breaking international law, reducing the rights of disabled people in the UK.

As we face the risk of a second wave of the pandemic, Disability Law Service calls on the government to think again and ensure that it lawfully protects the rights of disabled people.

MPs such as Davey have previously called for greater scrutiny of government policy relating to the pandemic. Emergency powers have been introduced by the government without parliamentary scrutiny and debate.

Story continues

In a letter to the Prime Minister today, Mr Davey wrote: The Governments 348-page Coronavirus Act was passed in March with just one day of debate in the House of Commons, two days in the Lords, and no votes in either House.

Many of the powers in the Act have serious implications for peoples wellbeing, rights and freedoms  such as the relaxation of duties on local authorities to assess and meet peoples care needs and the extra powers for police and immigration officers to detain people.

In March, legal experts expressed concerns about the speed at which the law was passed and Labour MP Clive Lewis, told the Guardian: This pandemic should not be used as cover for what could be described as an executive coup. There are real concerns about our right to protest through to care for the disabled.

Earlier this month, the Institute for Government urged the government to stop using emergency procedures to bring in new laws, unless it can convincingly argue that the circumstances are truly urgent.

Disabled people excluded

The warning comes after campaigners said the pandemic has exposed existing inequalities in the UK and excluded disabled people from society.

According to the Greater Manchester Disabled Peoples Panel Big Disability Survey in July, 76% of the 677 people surveyed said they were dissatisfied with the help provided by the government.

A third said they felt neglected by the government, citing a reduction in the number of health visits; a deterioration in their mental health; and difficulty sourcing personal protective equipment as reasons for their frustration.

When fully adjusted for factors such as occupation, region, area deprivation and socio-economic position, the data found that limited a lot disabled women are still 2.4 times more likely to die of coronavirus than non-disabled women, and limited a lot disabled men are 1.9 times more likely to die than non-disabled men.
These regulations provide a roadmap for ensuring a safe and healthy workplace, including guidance on mask wearing, distancing, engineering controls, training and other important protocols depending on the employers industry.

In communicating the return-to-work plan, and promising full compliance with the Virginia regulations, employers should also universally ask employees if they have any concerns about returning to the workplace and, if so, communicate those concerns with human resources or the organizations designated person to respond.

If an employee responds with an objection to returning to work, employers should carefully consider each request.

Of course, anyone who has symptoms of COVID-19 and who has been ordered by a doctor to quarantine should not return to work, but employers are entitled to medical documentation regarding the quarantine order.

Below are some suggested solutions to the concerns employers have heard from returning employees:

I have co-morbidities making me more susceptible to complications from COVID-19.
EDWARDSVILLE  Some District 7 students have tested positive for COVID-19 and several have been quarantined, according to Superintendent Jason Henderson during a board of education meeting on Monday.

Henderson reported a total of six confirmed COVID-19 cases at Edwardsville High School and 82 high school students quarantined, which is down from 107 last week.

We quarantine the kids because of safety, so there is no transmission, he said. People who come in close contact with a student or staff member who has tested positive for the virus will be asked to quarantine, he noted.

Henderson also said that there has been at least one confirmed outbreak at the high school. According to Henderson, an outbreak means that two students within the same class tested positive.

Within the elementary schools, one positive case was reported Monday at Columbus. A parent will be notified via email of any positive cases in their childs school, and calls will be made to inform people about quarantine.

Additionally, one staff member within the D7 has tested positive as of Monday.

To this point, we do not know of any transmissions that have occurred because of our school, Henderson said. He noted that though there is no evidence to support that the outbreak was linked to school transmission at this time, it is a possibility.

If a second outbreak occurs while the two students are on quarantine then the high school will shift to remote learning for a minimum of 14 days, Henderson said.

So, we have letters ready to go if that were to happen. If that were to be the case, we would let parents know, Henderson said. If it happened to happen on an A day, we would go ahead and do the B day before we would go into remote. If it were to happen on a B day, we would start the remote the following day.

Henderson said he is confident in the protocols in place and the high school is probably the toughest spot in terms of keeping confirmed cases low.

Class sizes within the elementary schools are around 20 students per class, while the high school and middle school classes host roughly 13 students each.
At a church event held in the Adelaide Hills in 1999, an old Wycliffe Australia missionary stood up the front of the room and said, It does not matter what you do, we can use you in the work of Bible Translation.

We had spent the day at a missionary simulation event, learning what the path is like for missionaries. I honestly dont know why I wentmaybe as part of my youth leader role--but I certainly didnt expect to look back years later and remember those words he spoke and how ironic his answer was.

I was a dog trainer. The Head Trainer for Lions Hearing Dogs Incorporated, training alert dogs for the deaf and hearing impaired. I liked my job. I was good at my jobso when he said, it does not matter what you do, we can use you in Bible Translation, a wry smile crossed my face, and my hand rose with a question. Im a dog trainer can you use me?

I never wanted to be a missionary you know. Had God showed me what was ahead, I would have run a mile but 21 years since the call, I can look back on a completely amazing journey and its only just begun! The best decision we ever made was to leave everything and follow Him.

The old missionary stopped and thought. Then he answered, clearly picking his words carefully. We cannot use you as a dog trainer, but we could use you somewhere else. I had it direct from the missionarys mouth God does not need dog trainers! I had my out clause, my Get out of Missions Free card! I thought no more about it, but the seed was sown deep.

I wanted to preach

I want you to preach, the youth pastor said some time later. Another wry smile. You know Im a dog trainer, right? I replied. Yes, he said, but I believe God has a word for us in you, and we want to hear it. So, I prayed, and sure enough, there was a message deep down inside. A message from Gods heart about the poor; a message of how God requires us to be His hands and feet; a message of choice.

It started with the Bible story of the Rich Young Ruler who asked Jesus how he could be saved. Jesus said, follow the 10 commandments and you are in. The young man (I imagine him also with a wry smile!) says, this I have done all my life what else must I do? Jesus looked at him and loved him (I love that bit!) and said, Go, sell everything you have, give it to the poor, then come and follow me.

Go, sell everything you have, then come and follow me. I dont remember if I heard that voice in an audible way, or just in my head, but it was like Jesus was standing beside me right then, asking me the exact same question! Obviously, I said no  and then proceeded to come up with every excuse under the sun to justify that no  and each argument I raised was settled with Scripture.

I felt a bit like Jacob wrestling with the angel. In my memory, it truly was an epic battleone that I was slowly losing. Finally, I had no excuses left, and surrendered to the voice. And that is a whole other story.

Wycliffe Bible Translators Australia

Ironically, we joined Wycliffe Bible Translators Australia several years later, after completing Bible College, and were asked to fill an administration role in Papua New Guinea. We sold all we had, used it to buy our tickets, and, in 2004, flew to PNG to begin our roles.

Based in Lae, we were assigned to run a missionary guesthouse, to oversee the maintenance and administration, providing a safe and clean base for the missionaries to come to and work from. Every job I had ever done before was used in this place.

One day, while driving through town, I spotted a brand-new police car. It was not the newness that got my attention though, it was the cage on the back. The cage had two dogs in it. Always wanting to develop new relationships and practice my new language skills, I stopped and started a conversation with the three policemen in the car.

They were the new Lae Police Dog Squad, fresh from basic training with their dogs. They lamented that their training was not enough. How do we know if the dog is sick, and how do we continue to train it? None of these men had ever owned or cared for a dog like this. Another wry smile crossed my face and the words of the old missionary from years before came back to me, we cannot use you as a dog trainer.

I then explained to these men that as well as being the head trainer for Lions Hearing Dogs, I had also trained in the USA as a Master Trainer for Police and Narcotics Detection Dogs. With the permission of the Provincial Police Commander, these three men ended up in our lounge room talking about dog training and sharing ideas and contacts.

We prayed together, developed good relationships and ended as friends. God can use a dog trainer and He can use anyone of us!

Family

Growing up in Adelaide provided a wonderful foundation in a lovely Australian city. After leaving school, Mark had a whole raft of jobs, all of which would serve him well on the mission field. Gas Station attendant, Bricklayer, Stone Mason, Computer Sign Engraver and a whole lot more. Lorene and Mark met in Highschool and were married in 1987. They have two grown children and one amazing grandchild.
The TIFF Tribute Awards may have gone virtual but the sentiments were authentic in an hourlong CTV broadcast from a near-empty TIFF Lightbox theatre Tuesday night.

TIFF Tribute Actor Award recipients Kate Winslet and Sir Anthony Hopkins  she was in the England, he in California  acknowledged those affected by the global pandemic in their video acceptance speeches.

My heart really goes out all of you who have battled and struggled and continue to struggle through these harsh and painful times, said Winslet, who stars opposite Saoirse Ronan in period romance Ammonite, which had its world premiere at TIFF. This award is yours, The Father star Hopkins told first responders and front-line workers.

Mohawk filmmaker Tracey Deer, whose Oka crisis-set drama Beans premiered at the festival, was presented with her TIFF Emerging Talent Award via video by director Ava DuVernay.

Deer became emotional as she thanked her mother for her support and dedicated her award to Indigenous youth.

Im here because of you, because of the belief in me that you had. My mother is always right and so if my mother believed I could do it, then I believed I could do it, Deer said. This is something all our Indigenous kids need to hear; their dreams are important and their voices and together we need to make a society that is safe for them and that they can thrive in.

At the inaugural TIFF Tribute Awards a year ago, celebrities including Meryl Streep, Antonio Banderas and Gary Oldman arrived on a red carpet outside a Fairmont Royal York Hotel ballroom. Later, 500 guests hoped to rub elbows with movie stars in between bites of beef tenderloin at a sit-down dinner.

Speeches were a mix of serious and humorous, veering more to the latter as the night went on.

Recipients Joaquin Phoenix (Joker) and Jo Jo Rabbit filmmaker Taika Waititi both went on to win Oscars months later.

This time, the awards honouring six creatives with films at TIFF were streamed on a movie screen facing rows of empty red seats in a TIFF Bell Lightbox theatre.

In other times, it would have been packed with festival goers. Only TIFF co-heads Cameron Bailey and Joana Vicente, along with show hosts Chloe Wilde and Tyrone Edwards of ETALK were in the theatre, all standing well apart from each other.

Director-screenwriter Chloe Zhao, whose drama Nomadland is generating Oscar buzz, accepted the TIFF Ebert Director Award from California by thanking organizers for putting on the festival during difficult times.

Im so amazed by the hard work you guys put in this year to bring the festival together and to give us a chance to take a break from all the craziness and just connect through movies is incredible, she said.

The hourlong show moved briskly, with presenters and recipients speaking via video in a more glamourous version of the now-familiar Zoom meeting vortex.

Most, like presenter One Night in Miami director Regina King, who wore vibrant yellow, dressed for the occasion.

Colin Farrell, who presented Zhao with her award with a heartfelt speech about her passion for exploring universal human themes onscreen, wore what most of us have been calling workwear for the past six months: a ripped T-shirt and colourful camo bandana.

Other presenters included Olivia Colman. She introduced her The Father co-star Hopkins by recalling his response after filming difficult scenes playing a man struggling with dementia: Arent we lucky? Isnt life beautiful?

Filmmaker Jodie Foster gave a spirited introduction for funny, charming and fiercely talented Kate Winslet, calling her the one who protects us all. Shes our lioness.

The awards were interspersed with shout-outs to Toronto and shared TIFF memories from Natalie Portman, George Clooney, Ben Affleck, Denis Villeneuve, Zhang Ziyi, Jason Reitman, Danny Boyle, Nicole Kidman and Sarah Polley.

Rosamund Pike looked into the camera and slowly repeated: TIFF, while Tatiana Maslany recalled her earliest memory of the festival was from the seat of her bike, as she rode past crowds outside theatres. The broadcast also included a performance by Pickering native Shawn Mendes, who sang Stevie Wonders Loves in Need of Love Today.

He also announced the Shawn Mendes Foundation Changemaker Award, a $10,000 award to support filmmakers who are making films with a social message.

Director Martin Scorsese opened the evening by saying movies are much more than a form of comfort food during difficult times, stressing the importance of celebrating their existence. We can never remind people enough that this remarkable art form has always been and always will be much more than diversion. Cinema, film, movies, at its best, is a source of wonder and inspiration, he said.

Director Mira Nair, whose mini-series A Suitable Boy, screens in part as TIFFs closing night film, received the Jeff Skoll Award in Impact Media.

A Suitable Boy star Tabu presented the award, followed by a series of clips from Nairs work, including Monsoon Wedding, Vanity Fair and Queen of Katwe. Nairs Maisha Film Lab, a Uganda-based non-profit film school and mentorship program, has trained 675 your creatives so far, including Queen of Katwe star Lupita Nyongo.

I have often said that if we dont tell our own stories, no one else will, said Nair.

Composer Terence Blanchard, recipient of the TIFF Variety Artisan Award, scored two films at TIFF2020, Regina Kings One Night in Miami and Halle Berrys directing debut, Bruised.

King presented Blanchard award, along with Delroy Lindo via a separate video, star of Da 5 Bloods, another Blanchard-scored film.

Man to receive this award in such a fashion is just something thats an honour that I cant even put into words, Blanchard said from New Orleans. I love the Toronto film festival, I love Toronto by the way, said Blanchard, adding to receive this award from a place that I love so much also warms my heart.

Linda Barnard is a former Toronto Star staff reporter who is currently a freelance contributor for The Star.
President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he had heard Oracle Corp was very close to a deal over ByteDances TikTok, even as sources said the Chinese company was seeking to keep majority ownership of the popular short video app.

Trump has ordered ByteDance to divest TikTok amid US concerns user data could be passed to Chinas Communist Party government. He has threatened to ban TikTok in the United States as early as Sunday if ByteDance does not comply.

Under ByteDances proposal, however, the Beijing-based company would keep a majority stake in TikToks global business and create headquarters for TikTok in the United States, the sources said. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Monday that ByteDance has also offered to create 20,000 US jobs with TikTok.

Also read: What does a deal between TikTok and Oracle mean?

Oracle would become ByteDances technology partner responsible for the management of TikToks data and take a minority stake in TikTok, the sources added.

I heard they are very close to a deal, Trump said, adding his administration would be making a decision soon on whether to approve it, and that he was a fan of Oracles Chairman Larry Ellison.

The ByteDance proposal calls for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), the US government panel that is overseeing the deal talks, to supervise how TikTok will be operated, one of the sources said.

Mnuchin, who chairs CFIUS, and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross were meeting at the White House on Tuesday to consider ByteDances proposal, two of the sources said.

It is unclear whether Trump will approve ByteDances proposal, the sources said, requesting anonymity because the deliberations are confidential. The White House, ByteDance and Oracle did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Signing off on a deal for TikTok that would allow ByteDance to retain majority ownership would represent a U-turn for Trump and the US government agencies and departments that comprise CFIUS.

Trump signed an executive order on Aug. 14 calling on ByteDance to divest TikTok in the United States.

In its lawsuit against Trumps previous executive order, dated Aug. 6, which calls on TikTok to be banned, the app said CFIUS had not identified any mitigation measures that would address the national security risks, despite TikTok proposing to bring in trusted US technology partners, as it has now branded Oracle.

Some CFIUS experts said the deals approval would signal a major departure from the traditional national security reviews of deals driven by US civil servants. Nothing about this transaction is usual. It appears to be in the hands of the politicians rather than the professional CFIUS staff, said Paul Marquardt, a regulatory lawyer at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP. What is extraordinary here is how public and political the process is, and the continuation of negotiations after the issuance of a divestiture order.

While TikTok is best known for dancing videos that go viral among teenagers, US officials have had concerns since last year about whether the personal information of its 100 million US users could be compromised under its Chinese owner.

ByteDances plan calls for restrictions in its control of TikTok, the sources said. It asks CFIUS to agree to operational arrangements similar to those it put in place when it allowed SoftBank Group Corp to acquire US wireless carrier Sprint in 2013, according to the sources. These could include the US government approving board directors at TikTok, as well as its relationships with major vendors, the sources said.

ByteDance is also hoping that Ellisons fundraising for Trump, as well as Oracle Chief Executive Safra Catzs backing of Trumps transition team four years ago, will boost its chances, Reuters has reported.

Deal does not envisage payment to US government

ByteDances top investors - General Atlantic, Sequoia Capital and Coatue Management LLC - have discussed taking minority stakes in TikTok, though their participation in the deal remains uncertain, one of the sources said.

Also uncertain is Walmart Incs participation in the deal, after Microsoft Corp, which the retail giant had aligned with, was rejected by ByteDance.

Walmart and the investment firms did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Trump said last month a very substantial portion of any proceeds ByteDance receives from selling a stake in TikTok should go to the US government because were making it possible for this deal to happen. ByteDances proposal, however, does not envision paying any such fee.

China also got involved in the process last month, updating its export control rules to give it a say over the transfer of technology, such as TikToks recommendation algorithm, to a foreign buyer. Chinese officials have said ByteDance should not be coerced by the United States into a deal.

Reuters reported last week that Chinas government would rather see TikTok shut down in the United States than see it be part of a forced sale.

The proposed deal with Oracle would not require ByteDance to apply to Chinese authorities for an export license for TikToks algorithm.
16.09.2020 LISTEN

September 15. Central Criminal Court, London. Today, witnesses appearing in the extradition trial of Julian Assange fleshed out some points touched upon the previous day: the fate awaiting the WikiLeaks publisher in the US prison system, and the political nature of process. Before commencing, Judge Vanessa Baraitser was a touch peeved. She noted that one defence witness who took the stand last week, Trevor Timm of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, had been drinking coffee during his testimony. Such behaviour was inappropriate and future witnesses would be disallowed to do so while her court was in session.

Coffee-less, defence witness and Reprieves board president Eric Lewis considered the timing of the Assange indictment significant. The Obama administration had grown cool on the subject; the Trump administration renewed interest. The case was dormant when the Trump administration began. The evidence hasnt changed. Witnesses havent changed.

The US Department of Justice had itself become politicised and could no longer be considered an independent arm, but rather the prosecutorial plaything of President Donald Trump. Both US Attorney Generals Jeff Sessions and William Barr had instituted a top-down structure condemned by former federal prosecutors for obstructing justice. Jeff Sessions pressured the Eastern District of Virginia to bring the case. Im not saying individual prosecutors are acting in bad faith, Im saying the department is highly politicised and many Americans would agree with that sentiment.

Eric Lewis also referred to a 19-page memo authored by Barr pointing out that the attorney-general and his lawyers are the presidents hand. Its the unitary executive theory. Its a fringe theory this attorney general has articulated that it is his job to follow the president.

Steep sentences for the Australian publisher were also suggested as probable outcomes, notably in light of the language used in the second superseding indictment. A base level estimate should he be convicted of the alleged offences was somewhere between eight to 10 years. His record, however, might come into play; Assange had previously pled guilty to 24 charges for hacking the Canadian telecommunications company Nortel.

Throw in matters of organisational skill and leadership of criminal activity that involved 5 or more participants, and we were looking at a rather expensive ledger. As the superseding indictment from the DOJ outlines conspiracy charges, adjustments might be made to lengthen the sentence. An example was offered: that of Sigurdur Siggi Thordarson, remunerated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to conduct surveillance on WikiLeaks and convicted in Iceland on multiple charges. Being both a minor at the time, and purportedly under Assanges direction, would add to the ledger.

Eric Lewis also noted that having special abilities that help [the accused] commit the crime would encourage a stiffer sentence. I would think, he ventured, that Mr Assanges technical proficiency would be adjustment. This could result in an increase of the sentence to 19 years and five months, if factoring the lower end, or 24 years and five months towards if the higher end of sentencing was applied.

Just to darken the prospects even more, the defence witness suggested that eluding the investigation of a crime and purportedly exposing the identities of intelligence sources or embassy officials both had a combined effect of a life sentence which, given the statutory maximum, would yield the grand total of 175 years.

James Lewis QC for the prosecution stayed on familiar terrain, the sort embraced by critics of WikiLeaks since its inception. His first notable, and dangerous proposition for the court, was that the First Amendment did not bar a journalist from being prosecuted for the unauthorised publication of classified information. The right to free speech and the publics right to know are not absolutes. Unfortunately for the prosecutor, no examples of doing so could be found.

Assange facing 175 years in prison on US soil was also said to be an arithmetical exaggeration, yet another fantastic claim on the part of the defence. Eric Lewis marshalled a few salient facts to disabuse the prosecutor. Consider which judge would be conducting the trial in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia: one Claude M. Hilton. Mercy was not his forte.

Hilton had already shown rough treatment towards Chelsea Manning, jailing her last year for contempt of court for refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating WikiLeaks. Doing so, as her lawyer Moira Meltzer-Cohen said at the time, was an act of needless cruelty. As for her medical treatment, Judge Hilton considered US marshals more than competent to handle it.

Eric Lewis also drew attention to the vengeful flavour of the US case against Assange: that the leaks by the publishing organisation were considered by officials the biggest in history, a boon for adversaries of the US. When compared to Mannings own trial  resulting in conviction for 10 counts under the Espionage Act, as against 17 for Assange, the picture was a gloomy one. The prosecution in Mannings trial had asked for 60 years; the eventual sentence was pared down to 35. Were things to go brilliantly for Assange, he might face a 20-year sentence.

Such comparisons irritated prosecutor Lewis. He suggested that other cases involving the Espionage Act had not resulted in heavy sentences for the whistleblowers in question. Former CIA employee Jeffrey Sterling, former FBI employee Terry Albury, and NSA contractor Reality Winner were cited as glittering testaments of a generous justice system. Sterling was unimpressed, tweeting that the prosecutions referral to his travesty case to assuage sentencing fears was more than a tad disingenuous. The prosecution was incensed I received 42 months, they wanted far more. Tell the truth. For good measure, Sterling also scorned the prosecution effort to powder the US prison system with caring credentials. My sentence was 42 months and I could have died because of conditions and horrible medical care.

In the LA Progressive, Sterling reiterated the deplorable living conditions, disregard for human life, and perpetual punishment that marked the US prison system. Only an intervention by a US senator on his behalf to receive the health care  quite possibly saved my life. With Assanges case, I fear there will be nothing reasonable with regard to any sentence to be imposed. Sterlings case should not serve as a benchmark of reasonable sentencing, as James Lewis argued, but a warning about how the perverse use of the Espionage Act started by the Obama administration and continued by the Trump administration to quell and silence dissent is a threat to free speech, not only in this country, and, as the extradition proceedings demonstrate, in the entire world.

The conditions of confinement awaiting Assange was also revisited in Eric Lewiss testimony. In the pre-trial phase, he faced the euphemistically termed treatment of administrative segregation in Alexandria Detention Center, Virginia. In his view, Special Administrative Measures (SAMs) would be applied during both pre- and post-trial processes, given Assanges standing as a national security defendant. Axiomatically, it followed that the defendant would be gagged and attorney-client confidentiality nullified. Throw in the Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA) impairing the defendants means to inspect classified documents, and the situation would look parlous. The combination of both administrative segregation and SAMs would be akin to solitary confinement and present a danger to Assanges psychological wellbeing.

The second witness called by the defence was Thomas Durkin, a seasoned criminal defence attorney hailing from Chicago. I do not think, he emphatically stated, [Assange] would be able to get what I would consider a fair trial in the US. Such formidable impediments as CIPA would obstruct Assanges access to classified documents necessary for his case. On this point, Durkin noted that US assistant attorney Gordon Kromberg had been in error in assuming otherwise. The testimony also served to underscore what has so far been said at this trial: that the resumption of interest by the Trump administration after the Obama administrations reluctance to pursue Assange indicated political motivation.

Durkins testimony painted a picture of the grim world of pleadings. An incentive, known as a trial tax, formed part of the sentencing guidelines. You get penalized for going to trial. Guilty pleas would be encouraged to reduce sentences, and along with that, the sort of seedy cooperation with authorities amounting to betrayal (the revealing of sources, contacts and so forth). The differences could be considerable: a 24-year sentence clipped by seven years; the difference between seeing ones partner and children privately before ones death or not. Any ensuing sentence was bound to be heavy; the prosecution had taken the position that Assange was more culpable than Manning, leading Durkin to conclude that something more than the 60 years asked for Manning awaited the WikiLeaks founder.

In his written submission, Durkin affirmed the position taken by other witnesses that the US justice system was woefully unprepared in dealing with the challenges of mental health. Along with Assanges reputation for having compromising information on powerful interests, the attorney had little confidence that Assange will be safe from harm  whether inflicted by himself or others.

Again, the sessions were plagued by issues of connectivity and clarity. The audio for Eric Lewis, for instance, was described by the tireless Kevin Gosztola as coming from inside a wrapping paper tube. Journalists observing Judge Baraitsers demeanour were also unimpressed. All that mattered to her, for a change, was that these problems were happening to others.

Dr. Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He lectures at RMIT University, Melbourne. Email: [email protected]
Tesla gets two price target hikes ahead of Tuesday's Battery Day

Published Wed, Sep 16 2020 9:57 AM EDT Updated Wed, Sep 16 2020 4:08 PM EDT
BEIJING, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage and the global economy undergoes severe setbacks, China is again calling for the strengthening of international sci-tech cooperation, an effective way to win an earlier victory over the global health crisis.

However, over the past few months, some hardliners in Washington have taken various measures aimed at China to suppress bilateral sci-tech exchange and cooperation, fully displaying their prejudice and narrow-mindedness.

Under their manipulative influence, the U.S. government has imposed increasingly onerous visa restrictions on Chinese scholars and students, launched witch-hunting investigations into Chinese-American scientists working in the high-tech sector, and blacklisted Chinese high-tech firms.

History has proved that U.S. sanctions will only provide China with further motivation to boost its ability to innovate. For example, having long been shut out of the International Space Station, led by the United States, China managed to develop its own space station. It has now launched two space labs into orbit.

Now China is accelerating the construction and improvement of a national innovation system. From artificial intelligence to digital economy, from probing space to exploring deep sea, from observing the universe to researching micro particles, China has made great progress in a variety of fields of science and technology.

By accelerating independent innovation, China aims to create a better platform for international sci-tech cooperation, for China has always adhered to the principle that sci-tech development is not only to meet the needs of its own development, but also to contribute to the benefit of mankind.

China has brought great benefits to the world with its achievements in exploring the space. It has opened its planned space station to international payloads and invited scientists around the world to participate in its future missions to explore the moon, asteroids and comets.

Advanced technologies from China also help to improve people's livelihoods in developing countries. Chinese agricultural scientists have bred new rice varieties named Green Super Rice with high and stable yields to help reduce hunger and increase local farmers' incomes in the developing countries of Asia and Africa.

China continues to pledge more efforts to integrate into the global innovation network through contributing its wisdom and strength to the world's forefront of science and technology.

It supports building the Square Kilometer Array (SKA), an international project to build the world's largest radio telescope. It also plays a significant role in ITER, the world's largest nuclear fusion experiment, and works with other countries to tackle challenges in this regard.

Science is not bound by national borders. It is imperative for all countries to share the costs and risks on major scientific issues, as well as pooling their talent, scientific findings and financial power, to better handle such challenges as pandemic, climate change and food security.
As the Philippines looks to mining its treasure trove of minerals to recover from the economic impact of COVID-19, various international organizations and human rights advocates have launched a global campaign to defend the Cordillera Region in Southeast Asian nation.

The immediate lifting of Executive Order (EO) 79, which is the moratorium on new mining projects imposed during the time of former President Benigno Aquino 3rd, can help the Philippine economy recover from the pandemic-triggered recession, a Department of Finance (DOF) official said.

DOF is the government agency leading the Duterte Administrations push for a new fiscal regime on mining.

In 2017, President Rodrigo Duterte has warned mining companies that he will tax them to death and even threatened to stop them from exporting minerals amid alleged violations of environmental laws.

The discussion on a new fiscal regime in the mining sector has been going on for years. It formally started in 2012 when Aquino issued EO 79.

When the Duterte administration took over, the government wanted to make sure that the Philippines, one of the most highly mineralized countries in the world, would benefit more from the mining sector.

The countrys mineral resources have an estimated value of around $1.4 trillion, but its total contribution to gross domestic product is only 0.85 percent.

Manila asserts that a profits-based royalty is the same structure used in other mineral-rich countries such as Canada, Peru, Chile and South Africa and that by adopting this, the structure will help sustain existing mining operations.

Not so fast says the global campaign to defend the Cordillera Region in the Philippines.

Supporters from the U.S., Canada, Australia, The Netherlands, and Hong Kong, Korea among others have expressed their commitment to denounce the mounting human rights violations and plunder in the Cordillera.

A Global Pact to Defend Cordillera has been opened for signing to organizations, indigenous peoples, and advocates from all over the world. According to the pact, development aggression and violations of indigenous peoples rights persist in the Cordillera. Their ancestral lands continue to be treated as a resource base for profit by the State working hand in glove with multinational corporations. Large-scale mining, dams, energy, and other foreign projects are masqueraded as development at the expense of indigenous peoples self-determination and human rights.

Bestang Dekdeken, Secretary-General of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA), stated: The Duterte administration has been using the COVID-19 response as a smokescreen to stifle our dissent over the intrusion of destructive projects and widespread militarization in our communities. We are being targeted, red-tagged, arrested, and killed by the State.

The Cordillera Region in the Philippines, as emphasized in the global pact, is blanketed with more than a hundred large-scale mining applications covering 978,664 hectares of land and more than 100 hydropower and geothermal projects awarded to private corporations. A good case in point is the Chevron Geothermal Power Project which covers more than 25,000 hectares in Kalinga province.

The Cordillera people are robbed of their life, land, culture, and worse, their future. If we dont act now this could mean ethnocide for our Igorot brothers and sisters, said International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) chairperson Peter Murphy.

The Igorots as a people have a long history of resistance and struggling peoples of the world have drawn and continue to draw inspiration from them. Today, in an act of solidarity we further intensify our support for the peoples rights in the Cordillera--a solidarity that knows no borders and nations, said journalist and human rights activist Brandon Lee who survived an assassination attempt in Ifugao, August 6 last year. Lee is still recovering from the incident and is now the spokesperson for Defend Cordillera in the US.

Last July 3, 2020, President Rodrigo Duterte signed the dangerous Anti-Terror Act of 2020 (ATA) despite the massive calls to junk the bill. Under the law, anyone who conspires or provides support to terrorists as defined under the act, could face life imprisonment without parole.

At the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous members of Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA), the biggest federation of indigenous peoples', and other sectoral organizations in the region reported the relentless red-tagging and widespread online smear campaigns.

Also stated in the pact, are cases of community leaders being pressured to surrender as members of the New People's Army. These attacks by the State in collusion with private corporations are endangering the peoples lives, security, and dignity while plundering the wealth of the Cordillera.

We will continue to fight for our ancestral lands, human rights, and right to self-determination. We are calling on to human rights advocates, to our indigenous brothers and sisters, and to all peace-loving peoples of the world to stand with the Cordillera people, Dekdeken added.

Globally-coordinated activities will be launched in response to the campaign starting September 12 in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.

We support the unified calls to condemn all forms of attacks against the land and lives of indigenous peoples in the Cordillera. We demand full accountability from the State, its agents, and the private corporations responsible, Murphy said.
Twitter has suspended the account of a Chinese virologist who has publicly claimed that COVID-19 was developed in a Wuhan laboratory.

Li-Meng Yan's account was taken down on Tuesday after she accused China of intentionally manufacturing and releasing COVID-19.

The Twitter account remained down on Wednesday and a message on the page now reads: 'Account suspended. Twitter suspends accounts which violate the Twitter Rules.'

Twitter has not commented on the suspension of Yan's account.

The social media giant started putting warning messages on tweets in May that contained disputed coronavirus claims.

Li-Meng Yan's account was taken down on Tuesday after she accused China of intentionally manufacturing and releasing COVID-19

It is not clear if there was one specific tweet from Yan that violated Twitter's policy.

In an interview with Fox News' Tucker Carlson on Tuesday night, Yan claimed she was suspended because 'they don't want the people to know this truth'.

Yan, who is a former researcher at the Hong Kong School of Public Health, said COVID-19 was 'man-made' and 'not from nature'.

'I have evidence to show why they can do it, what they have done, how (they did it),' she told Fox News.

'The scientific world also keeps silent... works together with the Chinese Communist Party, they don't want people to know his truth. That's why I get suspended, I get suppressed, I am the target that Chinese Communist Party wants disappeared.'

After the segment aired, the Fox News show also accused Facebook of censorship after saying they had been blocked from sharing the interview segment on the social media platform.

A video of the interview segment posted on the Tucker Carlson Tonight show's page now comes with a warning that reads: 'False Information. This post repeats information about COVID-19 that independent fact-checkers say is false.'

The Twitter account remained down on Wednesday and a message on the page now reads: 'Account suspended. Twitter suspends accounts which violate the Twitter Rules.' Twitter has not commented on the suspension of Yan's account

Yan appeared on Fox News' Tucker Carlson Tonight show on Tuesday night. After the segment aired, the Fox News show also accused Facebook of censorship after saying they had been blocked from sharing the interview segment on the social media platform

It comes as Yan published a report this week that she claims backs up her theory that China created the virus in a lab.

Some scientists have since said her report is 'unsubstantiated' and said it 'cannot be given any credibility'.

Yan's report has not been published in a scientific journal and has not been peer-reviewed - meaning it has not been checked and approved by fellow scientists.

Her report was posted on the website Zenodo.

The study was produced by the Rule of Law Society and the Rule of Law Foundation, sister organizations that former Trump strategist Steve Bannon founded with 50-year-old Chinese fugitive Guo Wengui.

Yan, who claims she fled to the US in April, says she was working at the Hong Kong School of Public Health - a reference laboratory for the World Health Organisation - before she was cut off after trying to alert people to human-to-human transmission of the virus in December.

The lab has denied that Yan ever 'conducted any research on human-to-human transmission' and said her assertions have 'no scientific basis'.

In her report released this week, Yan claims the virus was built by merging the genetic material of two bat coronaviruses.

She claims its spike protein  a structure on the surface of the virus which it uses to bind with cells  was edited to make it easier for the virus to latch on to human cells.

Other research papers have already determined the origin of the virus as bats, which has resulted in top experts dismissing suggestions the virus was created by humans.

Pictured is the P4 laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province, which has been the center of numerous theories that COVID-19 spread from this lab

ORIGINS OF COVID-19: THE THEORIES US state officials have given momentum to the idea that COVID-19 either leaked from a lab or was man-made by China as some kind of weapon against humanity. A Wuhan wet market was first thought to be the breeding ground of the virus, where the selling of live, wild animals would have given the perfect opportunity for it to naturally spread between species. It is thought the virus first developed in bats before passing on to a creature such as a pangolin that then came into contact with humans and transmitted the virus. Once it entered humans, the coronavirus is likely to have mutated to survive and then escalated out of control as a result of an unprepared population. There are also theories that the virus was genetically engineered by scientists, or that it has actually been around for years and even killed people in the past. Two high security laboratories in the city  the Wuhan Centre for Disease Control and the Wuhan Institute of Virology  have been the subject of many conspiracy theories. President Donald Trump claims he has seen evidence the virus, which he solely blames China for, came from Wuhan Institute of Virology  but he is not allowed to reveal it. The Institute has denied the claims from the early days of the outbreak. In April, Trump said: 'We are doing a very thorough examination of this horrible situation that happened.' Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, claimed in May there is 'enormous evidence' the coronavirus outbreak originated in a Chinese laboratory  but failed to provide any of the alleged evidence. Advertisement

Yan writes that her research discounts the theory that coronavirus evolved in the wild and was then transferred to humans, claiming it 'lacks substantial support'.

'SARS-CoV-2 shows biological characteristics that are inconsistent with a naturally occurring virus,' she wrote.

'The evidence shows that [the virus] should be a laboratory product created by using bat coronaviruses ZC45 and/or ZXC21 as a template and/or backbone.'

She alleges the virus 'should' have been built using stores of these bat viruses, of which she claims samples are kept in Hong Kong and China.

Yan also alleges that her work shows the virus could be built in just six months in the report's abstract but she does not return to the subject later in the paper.

Yan's claims are at odds with Dr Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who has previously disputed that the virus was made in a lab.

Dr Kristian Andersen, from the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, said the genetic material clearly pointed to a natural origin of the virus.

'There are lots of data and lots of evidence, as well as previous examples of this coming from nature,' he said.

'We have exactly zero evidence or data of this having any connection to a lab.'

Dr Angela Rasmussen, an infection and immunity expert at Columbia University, New York, said the site at which the virus binds to human cells has a 'sub-optimal' fit, suggesting it was not designed.

'Furthermore, there are no genetic similarities with other virus backbones used in any of the known (virus engineering systems),' she said.

'This suggest that this virus was not engineered.'

Yan wrote in her paper that theories the virus is from nature and the meat market in Wuhan are a 'smoke screen'. She alleges she was told this by CDC scientists working in China.

She has previously accused Beijing of lying about when it learned of the killer infection and engaging in an extensive cover-up.

US state officials have given momentum to the idea that COVID-19 either leaked from a lab or was man-made by China as some kind of weapon against humanity.

A Wuhan wet market was first thought to be the breeding ground of the virus, where the selling of live, wild animals would have given the perfect opportunity for it to naturally spread between species.

It is thought the virus first developed in bats before passing on to a creature such as a pangolin that then came into contact with humans and transmitted the virus.

Once it entered humans, the coronavirus is likely to have mutated to survive and then escalated out of control as a result of an unprepared population.

There are also theories that the virus was genetically engineered by scientists, or that it has actually been around for years and even killed people in the past.

Two high security laboratories in the city  the Wuhan Centre for Disease Control and the Wuhan Institute of Virology  have been the subject of many conspiracy theories.

President Donald Trump claims he has seen evidence the virus, which he solely blames China for, came from Wuhan Institute of Virology  but he is not allowed to reveal it.

The Institute has denied the claims from the early days of the outbreak.

In April, Trump said: 'We are doing a very thorough examination of this horrible situation that happened.'

Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, claimed in May there is 'enormous evidence' the coronavirus outbreak originated in a Chinese laboratory  but failed to provide any of the alleged evidence.

Pompeo's claims, made in an interview with ABC's This Week, came after he said the US was investigating the theory.

'There is enormous evidence that that's where this began,' later adding: 'I can tell you that there is a significant amount of evidence that this came from that laboratory in Wuhan,' he said on May 3.

He said the 'best experts so far seem to think it was manmade' by scientists, rather than it being a natural virus which escaped during research.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Locket Chatterjee on Wednesday compared West Bengal with Kashmir over the Telinipara communal clashes and trained her guns at the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in Parliament. Making a statement in Lok Sabha, the Hoogly MP said that "it is with regret I've to say that West Bengal is in danger as it is turning into Kashmir".

Raking up the communal clashes that erupted in May in Telinipara area of Hooghly district, she asserted that riots continued for three days. The MP said that during the lockdown period a particular community refused to undergo coronavirus COVID-19 test and then the dispute took the form of a riot.

She said, "People collected bombs from outside and rioted in the region. They robbed someone's house, burnt another's shop, raised hand on women and demolished a temple. BJP MP Arjun Singh and I tried to go there but we were not allowed. The DM commissioner was not found in his house. TMC leaders are involved in this... and if I take the name, that party will say that I am communal."

Pishi-Bhaipo (Aunty-nephew) are milking their cow but the common people are paying the hard price of their appeasement. My speech in Parliament on Telenipara, Hooghly Riot. pic.twitter.com/en2PCfgDx5  Locket Chatterjee (@me_locket) September 16, 2020

Taking a jibe at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee, Diamond Harbour MP, Chatterjee said that they are "milking their cow but the common people are paying the hard price of their appeasement". Taking to micro-blogging site Twitter, she said, "Pishi-Bhaipo (Aunty-nephew) are milking their cow but the common people are paying the hard price of their appeasement. My speech in Parliament on Telenipara, Hooghly Riot."

Live TV

Violent clashes erupted between two groups in Telinipara area after members of one community were allegedly addressed as "corona" by a handful of locals belonging to another group. The Hooghly district District Magistrate on May 13 had issued prohibitory orders imposing section 144 CrPC in the area and suspended internet services, including broadband, in Chandannagar and Shrirampur Subdivision till May 17.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had slammed a section of BJP leaders for allegedly instigating communal clashes and said that those found guilty will not be spared while addressing media in Kolkata. I have told the police to take the strictest action. Those who violated the lockdown and indulged in communal clashes will be tried under the National Disaster Management Act. None will be spared. We will not see whether the person belongs to A community or B community, Mamata had said.

Immediately after, strict action and raids in the area followed leading to an arrest of as many as 56 persons. A senior police official had said, Several senior officers from Chandannagar Police Commissionerate were at the spot till last night and the situation was brought under control. Raids continued throughout the night and 56 persons were identified who had not just violated the lockdown but resorted to vandalism and arson in the area. All of them have been arrested, further raids are on.
Westend61 | Westend61 | Getty Images

Retirement often seems like a far-off destination. But once you hit your 40s, it's no longer the distant country you once thought it was. On the plus side, you still have time to make some smart money moves with retirement savings. On the minus side, saving what you'll need may be a bit more challenging than it was when you were younger. The reason is the power of compound interest, says Elijah Kovar, co-founder of Great Waters Financial in Minneapolis. "You don't need to invest a ton of money if you start in your 20s but if you wait till your 40s, you have to invest so much more to make up for what you didn't invest in your 20s," Kovar said. More from Invest in You:

How to get more years for your retirement buck

Gen Z needs to know some hard facts about saving for retirement

Here's how to keep the well from running dry in retirement Here's the difference that 10 years makes: A 25-year-old and a 35-year-old both invest $6,000 a year. Each gets an 8% return. At age 65, the 25-year-old has $1,678,686. The 35-year-old has $734,075. Try this compound interest calculator to see what your own savings rate looks like. Since retirement is still 20 years off or more for 40-somethings, certified financial planner Mark Brown, president of Brown and Co. in Denver, tells investors in that age bracket not to be too conservative.



"You want to over-favor equities over bonds," he said. "You have the time to ride out the ups and downs." Here's a look at some different strategies to nail down a secure retirement.

Numbers matter

The amount you save, no matter where you save it, is the most important factor in whether you'll have enough for retirement, says Jean Chatzky, CEO and co-founder of HerMoneyMedia in New York. Under-saving is the top issue for people who hope to retire someday. The answer seems simple enough. "Figure out a way to get the savings rate up, and do it quickly," Chatzy said. Make sure your money is working for you by investing wisely. If you're not a pro when it comes to managing your money, use a one-and-done target-date fund, Chatzky advises. These funds automatically rebalance to an investment allocation that grows more conservative as you get closer to retirement or the target date. Otherwise you can put together your own portfolio and diversify it on your own. But the most important thing is to save an adequate amount. "People should be saving 15% of whatever they earn," Chatzky said. "If you do that consistently through your working life, you will generally have enough to get through." Keep in mind, though, that if you missed out on saving in your 20s and 30s, you may have to ramp that up to 20%  or at least try.

Ratchet up savings

Here's how to turn up the heat on your savings. "The way to get there is not to go from 20% to 30%," Chatzky said. That could feel like too shocking a difference in what you've got in your wallet. Instead, nudge yourself upwards in smaller increments.

Ditch your debts

Michelle Jackson's retirement savings journey started when she paid down more than $60,000 in debt. Source: Michelle Jackson

Michelle Jackson, a Denver podcaster and entrepreneur, shows how you can break some rules and still feel confident about retirement prospects. She left a university job of 10 years. She was deeply in debt  more than $60,000  when she went into business for herself. Jackson, who is in her 40s, also hopes to help support her mother. "Culturally, it's a conversation a lot of African-American families have," Jackson said. "It's not unusual to have to help your parents with retirement. "I want to make sure my mom has the best retirement ever."

Studies suggest you need 70% to 80% of your annual salary to have a comfortable retirement. Dan Herron principal of Elemental Wealth Advisors

Jackson calls her goals aggressive: She aims to save about half her income for retirement. "It's ironic, given where I started," she said. But leaving a job when she was ready for a change helped give her the energy to mow down debt and lower expenses she'd taken for granted. While working, she paid $1,200 a year for her cellphone. She now spends $400 a year. While working, saving 50% wasn't even a glimmer, she says. "Once you start working for yourself, you get it," she said, all the ways you can optimize your time and get the most bang for your buck. Jackson wants people to know it's not too late to start saving in their 30s or 40s  even their 50s. "OK, you haven't started," she said. "You made the decisions with the information you had." Ditch the regret and start saving.

Analyze this

You'll want to know how much you need to save for retirement, says CFP and CPA Dan Herron, principal of Elemental Wealth Advisors in San Luis Obispo, California. "Studies suggest you need 70% to 80% of your annual salary to have a comfortable retirement," Herron said. Next, figure out how much you'll need to save to provide that annual cash flow. Herron recommends using 90% to provide a cushion. Start by calculating your total income and total expenses.

If you are in the black, Herron recommends trying to allocate a portion to increase your retirement savings rate. If you truly want to play catch-up, you are looking at at least 20% more of your salary toward savings. Another possibility: Readjust your expectations for retirement. You may need to consider a lower amount of money for retirement so you don't have to save as aggressively, Herron said. "Look at working longer," Herron said. "The longer you work, the more time you allow your savings to compound."

Uncertain retirement

Alyson Duffey, 42, doesn't think she'll be able to retire.

"I set everything up when I started in my 20s and haven't touched anything since," said Alyson Duffey, 42, who works for a Boulder, Colorado, nonprofit. An advisor came to the organization and helped employees enroll in a 403(b) plan. Duffey isn't sure of the funds or how the money is invested. "I don't know what's normal," she said. One thing she does know: She doesn't have much saved. "I might have $28,000 in retirement funds," she said. "I think the retirement system is set up for a specific segment," Duffey said, meaning people in "the wealthier income brackets, people who are able to land certain jobs and aren't living paycheck to paycheck." "It's taken me a long time to get to this point, but I make $60,000 a year, and that is high for a nonprofit," Duffey said. The cost of living in Boulder is lower than San Francisco, she says, but it is still quite high. Duffey made one move she sees as a possible boon in retirement: She purchased a condo in Boulder through an affordable home ownership program and thinks it will be suitable for her later years.

The generations

Oliver Rossi | Stone | Getty Images
Bond set at $10K for man accused of stealing vehicle, breaking into home

Bond has been set at $10,000 cash for an Aberdeen man who is facing a host of charges in connection to Wednesday's incident with law enforcement.
UN Security Councils membership and its working methods must reflect the realities of the 21st century and reform of the 15-nation body is very important for the United Nations, according to the new President of the 75th session of the General Assembly.

Volkan Bozkir, who assumed charge as General Assembly President on Tuesday, told reporters that the Security Council reform is very important, not only for the member states but also to the United Nations as a whole.

Of course, it is a complex challenge that is closely linked to one of the main pillars of the organisation - peace and security.

There is no doubt that the membership of the Security Council as well as its working methods must reflect the realities of the 21st century. This process is an intergovernmental one and thereby member states-driven, the Turkish diplomat and politician said.

India will sit in the UN Security Council as an elected non-permanent member for a two-year term beginning January 1, 2021.

Earlier this month, India asserted that the Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN) on Security Council reform were being held hostage and used as a convenient smokescreen by countries that do not wish to see any reform of the top UN organ.

Also read: UN Assembly chief calls for global cooperation on Covid-19

Underscoring its abiding commitment to reformed multilateralism, India has said it will continue to voice its strong support for tangible action towards an expanded and reformed Security Council that reflects todays world and realities. We will also take steps to see how we can realise these goals in the 75th session of the UNGA.

India had also expressed disappointment that the IGN roll-over text had fallen well short of capturing the progress in the two IGN meetings held this year, particularly in the areas of the growing support for the Common African Position and other important issues.

New Delhi has been at the forefront of the years-long efforts to reform the Security Council, saying it rightly deserves a place as a permanent member of the Council, which in its current form does not represent the geo-political realities of the 21st century.

Bozkir, in response to a question on the long-pending Security Council reform, said that the 75th UNGA session will build on the meetings held during the previous sessions.

I hope that through active engagement of member states and pragmatic approaches, we will be able to make meaningful progress on this difficult issue, he said, voicing his commitment to support the reform process in an impartial, objective and open-minded manner.

He said that he will soon consult member states on appointing co-facilitators for the IGN.

Addressing the opening of the 75th session of the General Assembly, Bozkir said that confronting the effects of the coronavirus in all their dimensions will be an overarching priority for his presidency.

Outlining his other priorities, he said that the 75th year of the UN should also be a time to revitalise the spirit of cooperation that laid the foundation of this organisation.

In recent years, the trust deficit between nations has impeded the work of the United Nations. Member states fail to compromise. And when there is a compromise, it is based on the lowest common denominator.

At times, this has been the case for the General Assembly, and it has been the case for the Security Council, Bozkir said, adding that as the President of the General Assembly, which is the most representative and most democratic organ of the United Nations, he will endeavour to build trust between member states.

I will do my best to build consensus around the important and timely issues on our agenda from arms control, to human rights, to climate and sustainable development, he said.

Bozkir emphasised that during the 75th session, the General Assembly should reflect on its work and embrace reforms in order to be effective and relevant.

We need to enhance coherence by addressing gaps, overlaps and duplication where they exist. The pandemic-related restrictions could be an opportunity to streamline our agenda without compromising on substance, he said.

He also noted that in order to improve the delivery of UN mandates, the world organisation needs to hear from the people it serves.

I see this hall as the parliament of humanity. And I intend to use this platform to amplify the voices of the most vulnerable people in the world. Here in the chief deliberative, policy-making and representative organ, we must consider the concerns of all people in need or under oppression, he said.

Bozkir voiced his commitment to work with member states to ensure they have a voice and to use good offices to highlight the importance of impartial and unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid and full respect for international humanitarian law in conflicts and crises.

As the world enters the Decade of Action to implement the Sustainable Development Goals, Bozkir said it is clear that we are not on track and throughout his term, he will promote the use of emerging technologies, strengthened data, and result-oriented action to ensure that no one is left behind.

He said that he will also champion gender equality across the agenda of the 75th session in this seminal year for womens empowerment, as the world commemorates the 25th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in 1995.
A firefighter battles the Creek Fire as it threatens homes in the Cascadel Woods neighborhood of Madera County, Calif ((Noah Berger via AP))

Two victims of the California wildfires were packed and ready to evacuate the area, but decided to stay at their shared home after reading erroneous information about the spread of the fire.

The victims, 68-year-old Philip Ruble and 77-year-old Millicent Catarancuic, were found dead near their destroyed home in Berry Creek, California, last week, after wildfires ravaged areas in the state.

Mr Ruble was found inside a charred Toyota pickup truck by their home, while Ms Catarancuic was discovered in a nearby embankment, according to Butte County sheriff Kory Honea.

An evacuation order was sent out for Berry Creek in the afternoon of Tuesday 8 September and the information was posted on social media sites, the fire information line and was broadcast via ham radio.

Law enforcement officials also travelled through the area with evacuation sirens and went door to door when possible to make sure all residents were aware of the order, Butte County spokeswoman Megan McCann told CNN.

Mr Honea told reporters on Tuesday: After speaking to family members, it is believed the pair was aware of the fire in the area.

The sheriff added: They had packed their belongings in preparation to evacuate but later decided not to evacuate based on erroneous information that the fire was 51 per cent contained.

It is currently unknown where the couple read the fire containment figure, as that information is not generally released by the authorities.

The California wildfire has so far killed 15 people and injured one firefighter, while 13 more are still missing as the fire has decimated areas of the state for close to a month now.

More than 230,000 acres have been charred in the wildfires in California, as at least 780 structures have been burned to the ground.

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LINCOLN  Most blocked railroad crossings in Hall County should be resolved now that the Nebraska Public Service Commission has issued an order dismissing the Transportation Department complaint against the Union Pacific Railroad Company and Nebraska Central Railroad Company.

In June, the PSC order released its findings from its February hearing and closed the investigation into the railroads blocking crossings in Hall County and directed the PSC Transportation Department to file a a formal complaint against UPRR, NCRC and Burlington Northern Santa Fe.

The commissions action Tuesday dismisses the complaint against UPRR and NCRC, but BNSF still faces a complaint.

Our goal through this process was to find a workable solution to the problem of blocked crossings and we intend to keep close watch to assure the solution is long term, said Commission Chair Mary Ridder. By working together, UPRR and NCRC have found a way to keep these crossings open. We appreciate their efforts and believe this new process will provide long awaited relief to the citizens who need to safely cross to their places of work, school and family.

As for BNSF, Ridder said, We hope to be able to come to a workable solution with BNSF, as well.
On Sept. 22, two smart city projects will be presented by UTC students and staff at a city council meeting for approval. These projects, a roadway accident prediction model and a pedestrian safety tool, are the result of a collaboration between the Chattanooga Department of Transportation and the University of Tennessee at Chattanoogas Center for Urban Informatics and Progress. CDOT and CUIP frequently collaborate on smart city projects for the city, officials said.We reached out to CUIP in January to create two new smart city projects for our team, Chattanooga Smart City Director Kevin Comstock said.We work with CUIP on a near-daily basis, and these projects show how the city and the universitys work go hand in hand in making Chattanooga a safer place.Working with CDOT is always fruitful, CUIP Director Mina Sartipi said. Not only does our research contribute to the community in tangible, visible ways, but our students and staff are involved in our local government process. Its a win-win for everyone.The two projects will need city council approval before their implementation, as both projects will be funded by the City of Chattanooga.
CAIRO  Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly said in a press statement Sept. 4 that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi tasked the government to complete the construction of the Julius Nyerere dam and hydropower station in Tanzania to "the highest quality."

Madbouly noted that Sisi demanded that the dam's construction is of the highest quality in order to reflect the ability of the Egyptian contracting sector to implement huge projects.

In January 2018, Egypt and Tanzania signed a contract to establish a dam on the Rufiji River in Tanzania, which aims at generating electric power to supply Tanzanias power needs, in addition to controlling the water quantities during flood periods and providing the Tanzanian states water needs.

The Julius Nyerere dam is among the largest hydroelectric dams in the East Africa region. The project is being implemented at a cost of $2.9 billion through a partnership between the Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO) and two of the largest Egyptian companies in the construction sector  Arab Contractors and El-Sewedy Electric. The two Egyptian companies won the tender that several multinational companies bid on. The building of the dam aims to encourage the implementation of other projects between the two countries in the fields of electricity and renewable energy.

The project includes the construction of the concrete part of the main dam, in addition to four complementary dams that form the water reservoir with a capacity of 33 billion cubic meters, in addition to a hydroelectric power generation station with an output of 2,115 megawatts. The two partnering Egyptian companies began construction in mid-2019, and the project is scheduled to be complete by 2022.

Hani Raslan, founder of the Nile Basin studies department at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, told Al-Monitor over the phone that building the Julius Nyerere dam and hydropower station will boost Egypts presence in Tanzania, which is one of the Nile Basin countries that Egypt seeks to cement ties with.

He said that implementing such a huge project constitutes a powerful work precedent in Africa, and it helps Egypt to reclaim its soft power in the continent. He noted that Egypt has skills and experience allowing it to implement a project of this magnitude.

Raslan noted that Egypts real gain out of building the dam is to strengthen its relations with Tanzania, in the framework of its plan to support African countries.

Egypt and Tanzania have had strong ties since Tanzania was formally formed in 1964, and diplomatic relations between the two countries were established, according to Egypt's State Information Service.

On the political level, Tanzania has expressed its support for the June 30, 2013, revolution that opposed the Muslim Brotherhoods rule. Tanzania, represented by then-Foreign Minister Bernard Membe, also participated in Sisis inauguration ceremony in June 2014, while Sisis visit to Tanzania in August 2017 constituted a turning point in their relations, as it was the first visit of an Egyptian official since 1967. The two countries agreed to cooperate to fight terrorism and corruption during that visit, according to the State Information Service.

May Mahmoud, member of the parliamentary Committee for African Affairs, told Al-Monitor over the phone, Egypt is not expecting any benefits from the Julius Nyerere dam and station in Tanzania. Its main goal [throughout the project] is to help achieve development in Africa.

She said that Egypts implementation of the dam is part of Sisis plan to boost Egypts role in Africa and achieve development on the continent.

Egypt attributes special importance to Africa since it assumed the presidency of the African Union in 2019 for one year. It launched an initiative to treat 1 million Africans for hepatitis C on March 17, and, even after its term ended, it sent medical aid to African countries amid the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

Mahmoud noted that the Arab Contractors and El-Sewedy Electric have a long history in the implementation of major construction, power and energy projects inside and outside Egypt. She added that this has helped Egypt to handle the construction of the dam, noting that the project does not constitute a financial burden for Egypt.

Sisis instructions to complete the construction of Julius Nyerere dam and hydropower station coincide with the stalled negotiations between Egypt and Sudan (the Nile River downstream countries) and Ethiopia (the Nile River upstream country) over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which Addis Ababa started building on the Blue Nile River in 2011. Ethiopia considers the dam a crucial project for achieving economic development. Egypt, for its part, fears the GERD will affect its share of the Nile River, which supplies Egypt with more than 95% of its potable water and irrigation needs.

The director of the Arab Contractorss board, Mohsen Salah, said in a phone intervention on Aala Masouliyati show on Sada al-Balad satellite channel in October 2018, following the companys selection to implement the project, that the dam is not connected to the Nile River flow or the water coming to Egypt. It is built on the Rufiji River in Tanzania, and the purpose is to help achieve development and boost the infrastructure of Tanzania and Egypts presence in Africa, he explained.

Abbas Sharaqi, professor of geology and water resources at the University of Cairo, said in a Sept. 5 press statement to Mustaqbal Watan News that the Julius Nyerere dam is a powerful test that Egypt succeeded in at the technical and construction levels. The utmost goal is not related to investment, but rather cooperation and integration between the two countries. He noted that the project will be revolutionary for Tanzania by allowing it to control the flood water and rely on organized agriculture through storing water yearly, in addition to producing an amount of electricity equal to that generated from the High Dam.
Thinking a bit more about the Abraham Accords signing ceremony at the White House yesterday, I want to salute President Trump. Hearing Arab officials refer to Israel and Prime Minister Netanyahu in friendly terms before a worldwide audience is mind-boggling. Trump has done a good thing that continues his great undoing of the worst achievements of the Obama administration.

In order to arrive at this destination, the Trump administration had to swim upstream against the conventional wisdom of the liberal political/media establishment. The Washington Free Beacon video below compiles the higher wisdom condemning Trumps relocation of our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. This video frames the picture perfectly.

Thinking back to his appearance before the Republican Jewish Coalitions presidential forum in December 2015, I recall that Trump touted his pro-Israel bona fides and tried to connect with the audience, repeatedly referring to them as negotiators. He characterized himself as a negotiator like you folks, we are negotiators, drawing laughter before pivoting to how he would renegotiate the Iran deal. Is there anybody that doesnt renegotiate deals in this room? This room negotiates them  perhaps more than any other room Ive ever spoken in.

Which returns us to the great achievement of the Obama administration. The geniuses of the Obama administration thought it was a good idea to enter into an agreement that substantially funded the Iran regimes malefactions, including its nuclear program. The deal, such as it was, obligated the United States to protect Irans nuclear program while Iran proceeded on its merry way for the duration. President Obama, Secretary Kerry, and the rest of the gang made Neville Chamberlain look good and they cant wait to do it again.

The Hoover Institution has coincidentally just posted the late Fouad Ajamis essay The Saudi riddle. Ajami recalls that three months into its tenure, the Obama administration dispatched Dennis Ross to Saudi Arabia to lay out to King Abdullah the American policy toward Iran. Ajami quotes the telling narrative of the meeting provided by the New York Timess Roger Cohen:

[Ross] talked to a skeptical monarch about the Obama administrations policy with Iranand talked and talked. When the king finally got to speak, he began by telling Ross: I am a man of action. Unlike you, I prefer not to talk a lot. Then he posed several pointed questions about US policy toward Iran: What is your goal? What will you do if this does not work? What will you do if the Chinese and the Russians are not with you? How will you deal with Irans nuclear program if there is not a united response? Ross, a little flustered, tried to explain that policy was still being fleshed out.

The Obama administration resorted to deceit with Israel, assuring the Israelis they would secure Israel against Irans nuclear threat while it worked on the JCPOA. Recounting his own dealings with the Obama administration, Israel ambassador to the United States Michael Oren portrayed Obamas deal as a stab in the back. Although Michael Doran brilliantly reconstructed Obamas secret strategy leading to the deal, one still wonder why Obama thought it was a good idea to ally the United States with one of its foremost enemies and to strengthen that enemy.

Among the excellent commentary on the execution of the accords yesterday:

 The Wall Street Journal editorial Art of the Mideast peace deal. The Journal observes:

For all the talk of Mr. Trump scorning American allies, the achievement here was possible because he backed allies to the hilt, giving them confidence in U.S. support. He rejected Barack Obamas failed courtship of Iran and withdrew from the flawed nuclear deal. He showed the nerve to kill the leader of Irans regional aggression, Qasem Soleimani. Mr. Trump also moved the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, a gesture that was said to be the death-knell for peace but sent a signal that Israel will not be wished away. No other U.S. President had been willing to take that risk. The Administration also stood by Saudi Arabia in the war in Yemen. The Saudis havent normalized relations with Israel, but as the U.A.E. travel embargo ends they are allowing flights to and from the Jewish state to pass through Saudi airspace.

 Walter Russell Meads Wall Street Journal column The long road to Israels very good month. Mead writes:

Not since May 1948, when both the U.S. and the Soviet Union recognized the state of Israel in the critical weeks of its war for independence, has Israel had a diplomatic month like this. On Aug. 13, the United Arab Emirates and Israel signed an agreement to normalize relations, with the formal ceremony to be held Tuesday in Washington with President Trump. On Sept. 11, Bahrain followed suit. The Palestinian Authority, holding the rotating chair of the Arab League, introduced a resolution condemning the U.A.E. move at a Zoom session of Arab foreign ministers, but in a shocking departure from past practice, the motion failed to pass. On Sept. 13 another Arab nation, Oman, issued a statement of support for Bahrains decision to normalize relations. Meanwhile, defying pressure from the European Union and in exchange for Israeli recognition of Kosovos independence, Kosovo became the first Muslim-majority country in the world to agree to place an embassy in Jerusalem in another Trump-brokered deal. (The status of a similar pledge from Serbia isnt clear.) With Saudi Arabia allowing flights from Israel to the U.A.E. to pass over its territory and Morocco reported to be close to allowing direct flights to the Jewish state, something of a tipping point seems to have been reached in the Middle East. Resentment of Zionism and sympathy for the Palestinians will no longer be allowed to interfere with what embattled Arab rulers see as a vital relationship.

 Michael Goodwins New York Post column Art of the peace deal. Goodwin writes:

Obama knew best and coddled the mullahs, no matter that they used the money he gave them to spread terror far and wide. Their role in both Syria and Iraq, for example, has posed direct threats to our allies and interests. Trump, like a pendulum swinging in the opposite direction, deliberately reversed all those policies. He moved the US Embassy to Jerusalem, correctly predicting that threats of Arab violence were false. He approved Israels annexation of the Golan Heights, another American first. As he recounted Tuesday, the president thought funding the Palestinians also was wrong. Beyond the martyr payments, he noted that Palestinian leaders refused even to negotiate with his administration. Why, he asked, should we reward their bad behavior? He held Iran to the same standard. Trump pulled out of the nuclear deal, imposed harsh economic sanctions and eliminated Qasem Soleimani, the Quds Force general who played a role in the deaths and injuries of hundreds of American soldiers in Iraq.

President Trump has done good for the United States.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on the 2020 presidential campaign (all times local):

10:30 p.m.

Joe Biden says hes begun preparing for presidential debates that begin later this month by studying President Donald Trumps past comments.

"I havent been doing mock debates very much but Ive been just making sure that I understand all that he has said and hasnt said," the Democratic presidential candidate told reporters as he prepared to fly back to his home state of Delaware on Tuesday night, after an event marking the start of Hispanic Heritage Month in Orlando, Florida.

Biden said he didnt know who might play Trump when he does begin staging mock debates.

The former vice president said before his Florida visit that he wants to improve his standing with Hispanic voters ahead of Novembers election. But he said Tuesday night, "Were doing just fine."

Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks with reporters before boarding a plane at Tampa International Airport in Tampa, Fla., Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020. Biden is en route to Kissimmee, Fla., for a campaign event. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

"Here in Florida theres not a whole of Puerto Ricans that are going to vote for Donald Trump after what hes done for Puerto Rico," Biden said, referring to the slow federal response after Hurricane Marias 2017 devastation of the island. "So they know him but theyve got to know more about me."

He also said Hispanics in Florida and elsewhere wouldnt be deceived by Trumps attempts to portray him as soft on socialism and communism.

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HERES WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WHATS HAPPENING IN THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE:

President Donald Trump was in Washington on Tuesday for a White House ceremony celebrating Israel signing pacts with two Gulf Arab states. He is also scheduled to participate in an ABC town hall event in Philadelphia on Tuesday night. His Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, meanwhile, was in the battleground state of Florida on Tuesday for a roundtable with veterans in Tampa and a Hispanic Heritage Month kickoff event in Kissimmee.

Read more:

- Trump: Israeli pacts with 2 Arab states signal `new Mideast

- Biden seeks to woo Latinos in 1st trip to Florida as nominee

- Trump takes questions in TV town hall as debate warm-up

- Trump highlights foreign policy wins as he courts voters

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HERES WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

9:55 p.m.

President Donald Trump says he didnt downplay the coronavirus pandemic, even though he told journalist Bob Woodward that he did so intentionally.

Trump said during an ABC News town hall in Philadelphia on Tuesday: "I actually, in many ways, I up-played it in terms of action. My action was very strong." The answer came in response to a question from an undecided voter about why Trump would purposely downplay a pandemic that is known to disproportionately harm low-income families in minority communities.

Trump told the legendary Washington Post reporter that he always wanted to "play it down" because he didnt want people to panic. He also called the virus "deadly stuff." Trumps comments were captured on a recording Woodward made for his latest book, "Rage," which was published Tuesday.

Three days after delivering his "deadly" assessment in a private call with Woodward, he told a New Hampshire rally on Feb. 10, "Its going to be fine."

More than 195,000 people in the U.S. have died of the coronavirus, far more than any other country. More than 6.5 million coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the U.S.

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9 p.m.

Joe Biden is expressing his strongest support yet for Puerto Rican statehood, though he says the decision must be made by residents of the island.

Biden said Tuesday night at a Hispanic Heritage Month kickoff event in Kissimmee, Florida, that he believes statehood "would be the most effective means of ensuring that residents of Puerto Rico are treated equally." But Biden emphasized that "the people of Puerto Rico must decide, and the United States federal government must respect and act on that."

Biden had previously declined to take a position on the issue. During the last referendum on statehood, an overwhelming majority of Puerto Ricans voted in favor of becoming a state.

Bidens remarks came as part of a broader effort to appeal to Latinos in Florida and particularly Puerto Ricans, which make up one of the fastest-growing demographic groups in central Florida. Democrats have expressed concerns that Biden may be slipping in the state, particularly with influential Latino voters.

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7:45 p.m.

Joe Biden is calling President Donald Trump a "fool" for comments hes made questioning Bidens mental acuity and suggesting Biden takes performance-enhancing drugs.

During an interview with Tampas NBC affiliate Tuesday, Biden was asked about Trumps accusations that he is "mentally shot" and has taken drugs to boost his debate performance.

Biden dismissed the presidents comments, calling them "foolish" and declaring, "Im looking forward to the debate and hes a fool."

The Democratic presidential nominee continued: "Get ready, Mr. President. Here I come."

The two will meet for their first presidential debate on Sept. 29 in Cleveland.

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6:10 p.m.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is urging the campaigns of President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden to abide by the states guidelines for slowing the spread of the coronavirus when the candidates visit Minnesota on Friday.

In a letter to both campaigns Tuesday, the Democratic governor wrote, "Partner with us in the fight against COVID-19."

Trump has an airport rally scheduled for Friday in the north-central Minnesota city of Bemidji. Bidens campaign has not yet announced a city or venue for his visit.

Walz noted that Minnesota requires face masks inside public places and strongly encourages them for outdoor gatherings. Trump has largely shunned face masks, while Biden has encouraged their use.

The governor did not say in his letter how state and local officials will respond if either campaign fails to follow the guidelines for their events. Walz spokesperson Teddy Tschann said they hope to hear back from the campaigns soon, and that theyll comply voluntarily.

___

4:55 p.m.

Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris says ideology shouldnt play a role in the U.S. response to wildfires and climate change.

She didnt mention President Donald Trump by name on Tuesday, but her remarks came a day after he visited California and again cast doubt on the science behind climate change. He has often sparred with state officials over the response to fires and has advocated for raking forests.

The California senator is visiting her home state for the first time as Joe Bidens running mate. She joined Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom for a briefing about a wildfire that tore through the Sierra National Forest beginning Labor Day weekend.

Ash fell from the sky around her, and the air smelled strongly of smoke.

Dean Gould, forest supervisor for the Sierra National Forest, says officials have never seen a more aggressive fire in the area.

Harris and Newsom then walked through a burned-out property.

___

4:35 p.m.

Joe Biden is set to meet virtually with Senate Democrats for the first time since becoming the partys presidential nominee.

Thats according to a Democratic aide who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss Thursdays private session.

Biden represented Delaware in the Senate for 36 years before heading to the White House to serve as President Barack Obamas vice president. He tapped California Sen. Kamala Harris as his vice presidential nominee.

As vice president, Biden would occasionally visit the Capitol to join his colleagues for their weekly policy sessions. During Thursdays private session, he will join the Democrats caucus call to discuss priorities ahead of the November election.

- By Lisa Mascaro

___

2:40 p.m.

Joe Biden is tearing into President Donald Trump for his reported remarks referring to fallen soldiers as "suckers."

Biden held a roundtable in Tampa, Florida, focused on veterans in his first visit back to the battleground state since he became the Democratic presidential nominee.

Biden says Trump "doesnt seem to be able to conceive the idea of selfless service," referencing Trumps reported comments calling fallen World War I soldiers "suckers" and "losers." Trump has denied the comments, but many were confirmed independently by The Associated Press.

Biden went on to outline his commitments to the troops and his own experience supporting service members and their families as vice president. He spoke about his late son Beaus service in the Delaware Army National Guard, declaring that "hes no sucker."

Biden says troops "deserve a commander in chief who respects their sacrifice" and "will never betray the values they defend."

___

1:40 p.m.

Joe Biden's campaign manager is defending his travel schedule and voter outreach tactics as the former vice president campaigns in Florida.

In an interview with Politico on Tuesday, Jen OMalley Dillon says, "I welcome the bed-wetting," referring to worries among even some of Bidens supporters. She says it shows people "understand whats at stake."

But she insisted the campaign and Democratic Party infrastructure is reaching voters in battleground states, including Florida, even without knocking on doors or holding large in-person events. Further, she turned the question back on President Donald Trump and his open flouting of public health guidelines during the pandemic.

"I was horrified to see the pictures from last night," she said of Trumps indoor rally in Arizona, where masks were sparse and social distancing was not observed. "People will die because of these types of events, and thats from the president of the United States."

She says Trump's actions surrounding the coronavirus pandemic are "emblematic of his lack of leadership" and she says the campaign will stay focused on that.

President Donald Trump talks with ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos before a town hall at National Constitution Center, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Supporters react to music before President Donald Trump arrives at a Latinos for Trump Coalition roundtable at Arizona Grand Resort & Spa, Monday, Sept. 14, 2020, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., talk as they asses the damage during the Creek Fire at Pine Ridge Elementary, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020, in Auberry, Calif. (AP Photo/Gary Kazanjian)

Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during a roundtable discussion with veterans, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020, at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Complaints Erupt as OC Finalizes Leases for Small Plane Service at JWA

Despite some last-minute disagreements, Orange County Supervisors voted at a board meeting on Sept. 15 to finalize 35-year leases with two companies for small-plane service at the California countys John Wayne Airport.

The board voted 41 for Clay Lacy Aviation to replace Atlantic Aviation on the northwest side of the airport and 50 for ACI Jet to remain on the northeast side, both as full-service fixed-based operators (FBO).

The companies will provide hangar space, fuel, repair and maintenance, and charter flights for private planes and helicopters.

Jays Aircraft Maintenance Inc. was unanimously chosen in August as the third small plane FBO providing limited service. The final contract for the company is still being negotiated.

Before the vote, an attorney for Atlantic Aviation argued that the vote could not take place because Atlantic had filed a protest.

Due to the protest we filed yesterday, the board is unable to vote on entering the lease with Clay Lacy, Ted Allen, who represented Atlantic, said at the meeting.

Thats because the RFP [Request for Proposals] issued by the county provides that in the event of a timely protest, the county shall not proceed with the solicitation or the award of the contract until the deputy airport director of business development or the procurement appeals board renders a decision on the protest.

However, County Counsel Leon Page replied, This board is not legally bound by what was stated in the Request for Proposals.

Supervisor Don Wagner said the decision may be legal, but it is still wrong.

That is a terrible way for government to do businessput out an RFP, establish a process, and then just say were not bound by it, never mind, the supervisor said.

Wagner was the sole dissenting vote regarding the Clay Lacy lease. Supervisor Doug Chaffee had previously voted against both companies in August, but voted in favor of both at the Sept. 15 meeting.

The new leases may also block commuter jet company JSX from the small plane area of the airport starting Jan. 1, 2021, due to a clause that prohibits subleases with regularly scheduled commercial service.

Employees and supporters of the company spoke at the meeting, urging the board to allow JSX to continue operating as a hybrid charter service.

Alex Wilcox, CEO of JSX, brought 10 thumb drives with him and presented them to the board. He said the drives contained comments from customers and other supporters of the company, including more than 6,000 emails.

I was blindsided, frankly, when our landlord called and said  he may not accommodate services such as JSX at his property, and therefore he wouldnt be able to provide services to us, said Wilcox.

Employees of JSX said customers appreciated their smaller planes with a limit of 30 passengers, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as fast service that bypasses regular Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoints.

Supervisor Doug Chaffee said there would be space for the company in the commercial part of the airport, and they had already been invited.

I think that would be a rapid process should they choose to do that. Thats really where they belong, he said.

The city of Newport Beach, along with other local community advocates, had previously pushed for a ban on commuter and charter jets in the small plane area due to concerns about noise and air pollution.
document

The Security Council today decided to extend for one year the mandate of its integrated special political mission in Libya, listing a range of mediation and good offices tasks, while also charging the Secretary-General with conducting an independent review of its structure, priorities and staffing effectiveness.

Adopting resolution 2542 (2020) by a vote of 13 in favour to 0 against with 2 abstentions (China, Russian Federation), the Council decided to extend until 15 September 2021 the mandate of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) as an integrated special political mission. It outlined tasks to be conducted in full accordance with the principles of national ownership, including furthering the implementation of the Libyan Political Agreement; supporting efforts by the Government of National Accord to stabilize post-conflict zones; monitoring and reporting violations of human rights and humanitarian law; and providing support to Libya, upon request, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Mission will also be charged with helping to achieve a ceasefire and, once it is agreed by the Libyan parties, providing appropriate support to its implementation.

By other terms of the resolution, members decided that the Mission should be led by a Special Envoy of the Secretary-General with a focus on good offices and that, under the latters authority, an UNSMIL Coordinator will be in charge of the Missions day-to-day operations and management. Among other things, they requested the Secretary-General to assess the steps required to reach a lasting ceasefire in Libya  as well as UNSMILs possible role in providing scalable ceasefire support  to be submitted no later than 60 days after the adoption of the present resolution, and asked him to appoint his Special Envoy without delay.

The Council further requested the Secretary-General, in accordance with best practices, to conduct and submit a strategic review of UNSMIL no later than 31 July 2021. That review should include an assessment and recommendations for improving the efficiency of the Missions overall structure, prioritization of tasks and the capacity and effectiveness of staffing, including on mediation and peace process management; as well as an assessment of options for effective ceasefire monitoring under the auspices of the United Nations, including additional recommendations as necessary.

In addition, members requested the Secretary-General to include, in his regular reporting on the situation in Libya, United Nations efforts to address the coronavirus and the pandemics impact on the ability of UNSMIL to deliver on its mandated tasks.

Speaking in explanation of position, the representative of South Africa said his delegation voted in favour of the resolution as there can be no military solution to the conflict in Libya. All parties must commit to a political dialogue, he stressed, noting the African Unions concern with the continued stalemate in that regard. He welcomed cooperation between his bloc and the United Nations, as well as strong support from neighbouring countries, and praised the start of talks now being hosted by Morocco that will hopefully lead to a lasting peace in Libya.

The representative of Viet Nam said his delegation also voted in favour of the text, underlining that the only path forward is an inclusive, Libyan-led and Libyan-owned political process. He joined other speakers in spotlighting the crucial role of regional actors and welcoming the launch of the intra-Libyan dialogue in Morocco.

The representative of the Russian Federation, noting that his delegation abstained in the vote, said not all its views were reflected in the draft resolution. It is only Libyans themselves that must determine the future of the country, he stressed, adding that any ceasefire monitoring support must be carried out with the agreement of the Government. He hoped that a Special Envoy and a Head of UNSMIL will be appointed in the very near future.

Chinas representative said that, despite recent progress, the situation in Libya remains fragile. He expressed regret that several elements in todays resolution  especially those related to human rights, gender and ceasefire monitoring  were not properly agreed upon by all Council members. Any future ceasefire monitoring arrangements must be agreed by all the parties concerned, he stressed, adding that the concerns of all Council members must be heeded in future negotiations.

The representative of Indonesia said todays text translates to no more fighting, no more foreign intervention and provides the flexibility necessary for UNSMIL to support a ceasefire and protect Libyas people. He agreed with other speakers that it is time to appoint a Special Representative, adding: Let us continue the momentum and move forward towards a lasting peace.

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The representative of the United Kingdom expressed surprise that two delegations had chosen to abstain in todays vote, recalling that, as the resolutions drafter, his delegation was quick to address all concerns raised. The language referenced by the Russian Federation regarding ceasefire monitoring arrangements makes clear that consultation among all parties is required. Several references to human rights and gender were removed during the drafting process in response to Chinas concerns, but others were left in the text as a compromise solution. He expressed hope that all Council members will support the soon-to-be-appointed Special Envoy to help bring about much-needed peace in Libya.

The representative of Tunisia joined other speakers in expressing his thanks to the penholder and welcoming the texts adoption, which his delegation supported.

The meeting began at 12:05 p.m. and ended at 12:22 p.m.
A recent op-ed by Democrat leaders (Sept. 9, State must put public health above politics) purposely misleads the public with accusations that Connecticut Republicans put public health at risk by rejecting a five-month extension of some of Gov. Ned Lamonts emergency powers.

Those statements are not only completely false, but show how Connecticut Democrats, per their usual playbook in never letting a good crisis go to waste, are using a public health crisis and stoking fear to play politics instead of putting people first.

When Republicans voted against extending Gov. Lamonts emergency powers we asked for checks and balances. We argued that giving complete power to one person for nearly a year was never the intention of our states laws and set a terrible precedent. We asked for a seat at the table to represent the voices of the advocates and constituents and contribute to executive orders before they are issued, much like what occurred in the early days of the pandemic that had successful results. We asked for the ability to appeal executive orders moving forward, as a mechanism to encourage collaboration.

We then voted against extending the small portion of the governors emergency powers that legislators can vote on. Even if we were successful in getting Democrats to vote with us to cancel this extension, the much broader civil preparedness emergency declaration would have remained in place. That means no orders would have been overturned or automatically disappeared leaving us vulnerable, because the legislature did not have the power to make that happen. What rejecting the extension of the governors public health emergency powers would have accomplished is bringing attention to the need for collaboration.

Instead of acknowledging these facts, Democrats would rather fear monger and mislead the public on where Republicans stand in a typical an attempt to sway people when facts are not on your side.

Republicans believe our state would greatly benefit from having more voices, including those of experts, advocates and stakeholders, at the decision-making table. While Connecticut is doing much better than other states on overall infections, we cannot ignore that some of Gov. Lamonts decisions have also failed the most vulnerable. With those executive orders, Connecticut saw the rate of nursing home deaths nearly double what other states did and Connecticut has halted testing in nursing homes after 14 days of no reported infections, leaving the most vulnerable at risk of getting the virus from asymptomatic individuals  a warning even Gov. Lamonts own independent third-party investigator has raised.

Are Democrats OK with executive orders that have put the most vulnerable at risk? Do Democrats support Gov. Lamont no longer providing PPE to home health care workers? Are they in favor of Gov. Lamont extending legal immunity for nursing homes, despite some Democrat lawmakers calling to end it? Or is it that they are afraid of taking responsibility for making important decisions? Either answer is unacceptable.

If Democrats truly believe in the lip service they spout to constituents, they would be just as concerned about unfettered power for one individual as Republicans are. But instead they do nothing. They would rather run their mouths but let the governor make the tough decisions and avoid any blame or responsibility themselves. Republicans strongly disagree with that do-nothing attitude when the public and the most vulnerable need a voice.

Finally, I must address the Democratic leaders misleading comments on affordable health care. Connecticut Republicans have repeatedly proposed legislation to reduce the costs of health care, even the liberal AccessHealthCT agreed the GOP healthcare bill can reduce premiums by 20 percent. But for years Democrats allowed that bill to sit on their desk and do nothing because Republicans having a solution is simply unacceptable to them. The Affordable Care Act is not working today because it was only funded by Congress for three years and Connecticut Democrats never made it a priority afterward. Thats why premiums have skyrocketed. More people may be insured today because of Medicaid expansion, but Medicaid is not the quality care we were promised by the Affordable Care Act  ask anyone suffering in a nursing home from low Medicaid reimbursement rates; a fact confirmed by the governors independent third-party consultant. Democrats like talking about health care as an election issue, maybe thats why they have failed to pursue real solutions.

While Gov. Lamont continues to make unilateral decisions, Democrat lawmakers paralyzed with fear have failed to do anything except step aside, watch which way the wind blows and then comment. Republicans believe you cant lead from behind. We the people need to have a voice.

Len Fasano is Connecticut Senate Republican Leader. He represents the 34th Senate District including Durham, East Haven, North Haven and Wallingford.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, September 16, 2020 17:54 492 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c452e908 1 National Purworejo,Central-Java,Keraton,keraton-agung-sejagat,majapahit-kingdom,kingdom,royalty,Queen,Royal-Family,Empire Free

The Purworejo District Court in Central Java has sentenced a couple who earlier this year declared themselves the king and queen of the so-called Keraton Agung Sejagat (World Empire) to prison for spreading false information.

Forty-three-year-old Totok Santosa Hadiningrat was sentenced to four years behind bars while his wife, 42-year-old Fani Aminadia, was sentenced to one year and six months.

The two defendants were proven to have spread false information and deliberately caused a public disturbance, presiding judge Sutarno said in a hearing on Tuesday, as quoted by kompas.com.

The panel of judges ruled that the couple had violated Article 14 of the 1946 Criminal Law, which prohibits spreading false information that could cause mass hysteria and carries a maximum sentence of 10 years' imprisonment.

Read also: Purworejo man declares his kingdom 'mother of all states'

The sentence was lighter than the prosecutors demand of five years' imprisonment for Toto and three years and six months for Fani. Both the prosecutors and the defendants lawyers said they were still considering whether to appeal the sentence.

Both Totok and Fani proclaimed their royalty in January, inviting the press to their palace in Pogung Jurutengah village, Bayan district, Purworejo regency to announce the new kingdoms existence. The declaration quickly went viral on social media.

Totok claimed that his kingdom had around 425 followers back then, while his so-called royal advisor said the kingdom was a successor to the Majapahit kingdom that spanned much of Southeast Asia at its peak in the 13th century.

Days after the declaration, the Purworejo Police arrested the couple for spreading false news.
Motilal Oswal's report on Energy Weekly

Oil ended the week on weaker note tracking U.S. equities markets which were in a sell off mode for most part of the week along with strengthening dollar prices which kept the pressure on crude oil. Furthermore, the demand picture is getting hindered by a surge in Covid cases, now seen in India, Europe, and the US while recent economic indicators suggest a long and difficult recovery from the pandemic and ultimately oil demand.

Outlook

Brent for December settled at its biggest discount (Contago) to yearahead futures since May. In recent days, some of the worlds biggest oil traders have chartered supertankers that could be used for floating storage or for transport.

For all recommendations report, click here

Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts/broking houses/rating agencies on moneycontrol.com are their own, and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.

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Owner of car damaged in vehicle accident with Efremov challenges actors sentence

 Moskva city news agency, Denis Voronin

18:08 16/09/2020

MOSCOW, September 16 (RAPSI)  The lease company Stone-XXI, which had owned a car damaged in a traffic road accident involving Mikhail Efremov, filed an appeal seeking to overturn sentence given to the actor, the press service of Moscows Presnensky District Court told RAPSI on Wednesday.

The company in its appeal also asked to recognize it injured party in the case.

On September 8, the actor received 8 years in penal colony for and was banned Efremov from driving for three years. The court returned him his broken Jeep. The court found that victim Sergey Zakharov was killed in the accident due to the defendant's driving behaviour.

When delivering sentence Judge Elena Abramova said Efremov needed no compulsory psychiatric care. The defendant accepted the danger of his actions and did not suffer serious mental diseases, the judge stated. However, the court considered his guilty plea during the pretrial investigation and his three minor children as mitigating circumstances.

On September 3, a prosecutor demanded an 11-year imprisonment for Efremov and driving ban for 3 years. That day, the court heard the parties arguments. Before the beginning Efremov made a plea of guilty. Earlier, he refused to admit his guilt and said he remembered nothing.

On the evening of June 8, Efremov driving his car crossed into the oncoming lane in central Moscow and collided with a delivery service vehicle. He was arrested on the scene. Alcohol and drugs were reportedly found in his blood. Victim Sergey Zakharov was taken to hospital where he died early in the morning of June 9.

On June 9, Moscows Tagansky District Court ordered Efremov to be put under house arrest; the measure is still in force. In particular, he was banned from communicating with other case parties, using mobile phone and Internet.
A passenger uses hand sanitizer before boarding a train at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2020. AP



Prosecutors on Tuesday demanded a two-year prison term for a private academy instructor who lied about his job and whereabouts after testing positive for COVID-19.



The 24-year-old suspect tested positive on May 9 after visiting a club and an eatery that sells alcohol in the Seoul neighborhood of Itaewon.



During an epidemiological survey, he lied to health authorities and told them he was unemployed. He also did not disclose the fact that he had taught at a private academy in Michuhol Ward in Incheon, about 50 kilometers west of Seoul, only days earlier.



"The defendant visited a gym on the day of the epidemiological survey and later went to a coffee shop," the prosecution said in a statement during a hearing held at the Incheon District Court. "Due to the defendant's complacency, 80 other people tested positive for COVID-19, making the crime especially bad."



People whose infections were traced to the instructor included a taxi driver who drove him on May 4. Forty related infections were reported in Incheon alone, including many of his students.



The defendant broke down in tears as he spoke about his regret after lying and then trying to take his own life.



"I had no idea that something so serious could happen as a result of what I said," he said in court, bearing scars on his left arm. "After I saw that someone had written online that I should 'go and die,' I wanted to (take my own life)."



Judge Kim Yong-hwan urged the defendant not to blame himself too much, as time has passed.



The defendant's attorney said his client admits to all charges and has received treatment for depression. He asked that the judge allow for the fact that this was his first offense. (Yonhap)


Green Energy Support Internship, Copenhagen, Denmark

Organization: UNDP - United Nations Development Programme

Country: Denmark

City: Copenhagen, Denmark

Office: UNDP Copenhagen

Closing date: Wednesday, 30 September 2020

Green Energy Support Internship

Location : Copenhagen, DENMARK

Application Deadline : 30-Sep-20 (Midnight New York, USA)

Additional Category : Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction

Type of Contract : Internship

Post Level : Intern

Languages Required : English

Starting Date : (date when the selected candidate is expected to start) 04-Jan-2021

Duration of Initial Contract : 6 months

Expected Duration of Assignment : 6 months

Background

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Office of Information Management and Technology (OIMT) in Copenhagen is responsible for supporting UNDP Country Offices around the world with ICT and Green Energy solutions. Our vision is to develop smart UN facilities which are: Optimal and efficient in management and Sustainable, implemented to build modern age UNDP facilities around the globe that are fully aligned with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Our Unit offers a stimulating and versatile internship in an international environment with contact to various partners from some 166 countries with UNDP presence. We are a team who work in a dynamic and informal atmosphere, and we expect our interns to become vital members of the team.

As an intern, you will be given tasks and opportunities that have a direct global impact on the development efforts of the international community. The UNDP/OIMT Green Energy Support internship programme enhances the academic life experience of passionate students as interns and empowers them to become socially responsible, innovative, and environmentally conscious leaders of tomorrow. We bridge the gap between textbook learning and real-time industry experience by taking interns behind the scenes of the worlds leading clean energy and sustainability initiatives, while learning to take into consideration the local context. Furthermore, during the internship you will have the opportunity to obtain an official certification in project management in controlled environment. Being a part of our dynamic unit, you will also gain worldwide connections with other top-talented interns and UN staff from other agencies; our office is located at the UN City in Copenhagen, giving you the opportunity to interact with people outside the UNDP OIMT unit.

Duties and Responsibilities

To promote and implement green energy solutions to UNDP country offices worldwide, establishing Smart UN facilities. You are expected to take initiative in assisting our offices at each stage of the Seven Step Solar Solution process (recognized best practice for UNDP sustainable energy implementation) to size, procure and install solar systems worldwide.

1. Engineering and administrative support

Handle requests, data collection and data analysis;

Provide guidelines on energy efficient solutions to country offices;

Provide support to optimize usage of diesel generators in UNDP offices;

Facilitate deployment of gensets monitoring solutions;

Facilitate installation of Power Consumption Monitoring and Measuring (PCMM) units in country offices worldwide;

Chair and participate in global conference call with country offices around the world;

Support colleagues in administrative assignments and other ad hoc duties.

2. Feasibility analysis and procurement support for solar hybrid systems

Develop business cases and financial overview for renewable energy solutions (solar hybrid systems);

Liaison with service providers to facilitate procurement and site survey at UNDP Country Offices;

Facilitate and provide technical evaluation during the procurement of renewable energy solutions (solar hybrid systems) in country offices worldwide;

Engage with solar/green energy companies and do market research to develop sustainable and innovative green energy solutions.

3. Project management and development of good practices

Support in daily monitoring and operation of installed renewable solutions;

Support in developing best practices for gensets monitoring;

Enable project management support during the installation of renewable energy solutions (solar hybrid systems) in UNDP country offices worldwide;

Develop quality focused procedures, instructions and templates from best practice and disseminate through a Practice Community;

Promote green energy solutions through revamping intranet page, preparing pamphlets, procedures and information notes.

Competencies

Technological Awareness: Has interest and understanding of renewable energy engineering, sustainable development-oriented areas of work;

Innovation: Interest in developing sustainable solutions for UNDP country offices around the world, focusing on green energy and energy efficiency;

Problem Solving: Good analytical skills in gathering and consolidating data and research for practical implementation;

Teamwork: Communicates effectively when working in teams and independently;

Tags clean energy continuous improvement data analysis data collection electric vehicles electrical engineer electrical engineering energy efficiency good practices information management internship market research poverty reduction procurement project management renewable energy sharepoint solar solar system sustainable development sustainable development goals sustainable energy vehicles

Communication: Communicates effectively when working in teams and has a proactive attitude with a goal-oriented mind-set;

Planning and Organization: Good in organizing and structuring various tasks and responsibilities;

Collaboration: Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability and Interest and motivation in working in an international organization;

Commitment to Continuous Learning: Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude, responding positively to feedback and differing points of view;

Delivery: UNDP OIMT unit is ISO 9001:2015, ISO 20000:2011 and ISO 27001:2013 certified, thus all works shall be compliant with the international standard with focus on high quality, continuous improvements and customer satisfaction.

Required Skills and Experience

You must meet one of the following requirements:

You are currently in the final year of your bachelors degree;

or you are currently enrolled in a Masters degree;

or you have graduated no longer than 1 year to the deadline of the application from a masters degree or equivalent studies in the field of renewable energy engineering, electrical engineering or in a related field.

Experience or knowledge in the field of: Environment, Energy or Electrical Engineering,Climate Change, or other relevant fields is required; Technical knowledge of the main renewable energy technologies is a strong advantage; Experience in sizing Hybrid PV systems (with diesel generator) is a strong advantage; Experience in energy efficiency and/or electric vehicles is a strong advantage; Knowledge of gensets operation, synchronization and monitoring is an advantage; Knowledge of software tools for hybrid renewable energy systems is an advantage; Knowledge of HOMER and PV*Sol is an advantage; Knowledge and a proficient user of Microsoft Office productivity tools is an advantage; Knowledge or experience with specific Office 365 tools (or their consumer equivalents) such as Planner (Trello), Teams (Slack), Yammer (Workplace by Facebook), OneDrive (Dropbox, Google Drive), Power BI (Tableau), etc. is a strong advantage; SharePoint knowledge, preferably SharePoint Online is an advantage; Working with gathering, consolidating and analysing either quantitative and qualitative data from databases and reports is an advantage; Demonstrated experience presenting work to both technical and non-technical is an advantage; Demonstrated professional or academic experience in any of the UNDP Member States is an advantage; Fluent in written and spoken English is mandatory. Knowledge of French and other UN languages is an advantage.

Conditions

In accordance with the UNDP Internship policy, UNDP interns are eligible to receive a monthly stipend, with the rate that varies depending on the duty location. The stipend will be paid monthly, and part-time internship arrangements are prorated accordingly.

Where an intern is financially supported by an institution, government or third party, UNDP will, subject to the rules of such institution, government or a third party, pay the intern the difference, if any, between the external financial support provided and the applicable UNDP stipend.

Except for the stipend, all other expenses connected with the internship will be borne by the intern, sponsoring government or institutions.

Interns are not considered staff members and may not represent UNDP in any official capacity;

Interns are responsible for securing adequate medical insurance for the duration of their internship with UNDP and must provide a medical certificate of good health prior to starting the internship. UNDP will not reimburse the medical insurance of the intern. Any costs arising from accidents and illness incurred during an internship assignment will be the responsibility of the intern.

The purpose of the Internship Programme is not to lead to further employment with UNDP, but to complement an interns studies. Therefore, there should be no expectation of employment at the end of an internship.

UNDP accepts no responsibility for costs arising from accidents and/or illness or death incurred during the internship;

The intern is responsible for obtaining necessary visas and arranging travel to and from the duty station where the internship will be performed;

Interns are not eligible to apply for, or be appointed to, any post in UNDP during the period of the internship;

The intern must provide proof of enrolment in health insurance plan;

Interns are not staff members and may not represent UNDP in any official capacity;

You are expected to work full time, but flexibility is allowed for your education programme;

Eligibility for residency and undertaking internship in Denmark;

The intern will have to make his/her own arrangements for internship, travel, VISA, accommodation etc.

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.
The coronavirus has shattered the familiar routines of life and school for students and teachers across the country, and subjected millions to the stresses of illness, lost jobs, and isolation. But in 10 Western states, thousands of children and the adults who educate them are reeling from yet another layer of trauma: wildfires.

In some districts, children whod been chomping at the bit to see their friends at school have been told theyll be stuck at home learning on a computer, for the time being. In some places, schools have shut down entirely, unable to manage remote instruction or distribute grab-and-go meals. In the worst cases, families have had to flee as flames drew too near for comfort. Some have returned to intact homes; others only to ash and scattered belongings. Still others are living with question marks, unable to return home.

Added to the pandemics already derailed sense of normalcy, these new fire-driven disruptions have experts worried about how much stress children can handle.

When it comes to trauma, the old saying, What doesnt kill you makes you stronger, isnt true, said Robin Gurwitch, a professor of psychology at Duke University who studies the effect of trauma on children. Its a cumulative impact. The more trauma people experience, the more at-risk they are for health and mental impacts.

Laurie Combe, the president of the National Association of School Nurses, said her members in wildfire-affected areas are reaching out to families to check on their health and safety, but also to connect them with emotional support. Were really concerned about the multiplying effects of COVID-19 and the wildfires, she said.

Shifting School Plans

A huge swath of the country is contending with wildfires that could affect school plans. As of Monday night, 87 large fires have chewed through 4.7 million acres in 10 states, according to the National Interagency Fire Center . More than 30 people have died, and entire towns have been decimated. In California, Washington, Oregon, and Colorado, evacuation orders have driven families from their homes.

The effects of the fires are light in many regions, with only a pale gray haze in the air. But in others, that haze has thickened and grown yellow or orange, sending air-quality meters into unhealthy or hazardous territory.

Federal air-quality ratings range from 0 to 500 , with any rating over 150 unhealthy or worse. The air-quality rating in Spokane, Wash., near several large fires, hit 499 on Sunday, and the school district, which planned to offer families remote and in-person options, pivoted to all-remote instruction on Monday. News sites in Oregon post running lists of schools closing or shifting to remote instruction because of poor air quality or other hazardous fire-related conditions. Even some schools that reopened for in-person instruction decided to restrict children to indoor-only activities, a difficult decision when COVID-19 safety measures emphasize outdoor gathering and good ventilation.

Liz Pray, a school nurse in Moses Lake, Wash., 175 miles east of Seattle, said poor air quality led her district to switch from a hybrid model to all-remote learning on Monday, after only three days of instruction. But shes worried about how she and her colleagues will balance COVID-19 and wildfire-related health issues when schools bring students back to campus.

A lot of our return-to-school plan depends on open windows, going outside for breaks, said Pray, who described the gray sky outside her office window as apocalyptic even though the closest fire is 100 miles away. The air-quality rating there was 300. Were going to have to decide which is the lesser of two evils: wildfire smoke or the risk of COVID exposure.

Pollution from wildfires is risky for children with asthma and other respiratory ailments and allergies, and those with cardiovascular problems, experts said. The American Academy of Pediatrics has warned that children are more susceptible than adults to lung damage from wildfires smoky air because their lungs are still developing and their airways are narrower.

Triggers for Many Children

The effects of the wildfires will touch far more children than those who must flee their homes, experts said. Even if they live far from one of the fires, hearing their parents or teachers talk about the fires, or seeing images of charred homes online can upset children, experts said. Thats especially true for children who have experienced other wildfires, or pandemic-related traumas such as losing a loved one or having to move. Disasters mean there will be triggers, Gurwitch, the psychology professor, said.

That means parents and teachers can anticipate a range of responses in children, from temper tantrums and clinginess in the youngest to irritability and concentration problems in older children, she said. And teachers will have to adjust their expectations, recognizing that students will not be able to absorb lessons and assignments the way they usually do.

Melissa Brymer, who studies child trauma as the director of terrorism and disaster programs at the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress, a joint project of Duke University and the University of California-Los Angeles, said its important for teachers and parents to hold conversations with children to acknowledge their worries and correct any misinformation they might have. Adults can reassure children by describing the plans theyve developed to keep them safe. She also suggested that adults help children feel more hopeful by doing something positive, such as writing notes of thanks to firefighters or donating canned food to evacuated families.

Canceled Instruction

In districts hard-hit by wildfires, those kinds of considerations are a long way off. Brent Barry, the superintendent of the 2,500-student Phoenix-Talent school district, 15 miles south of Medford, Ore., said half of the families he serves and 10 percent of his staff members have lost their homes to a fire that ripped through 3,200 acres starting Sept. 8, the day before his schools were set to reopen. His school buildings, thankfully, were spared, but most are without water and electricity, so they cant provide remote instruction, Barry said. Nonetheless, the district managed to set up several meal-service sites, including one in a local Home Depot parking lot.

Our role right now is just to meet our families basic needs, he said.

Three hundred miles to the north, where a fire has charred 187,000 acres so far, Oregons Santiam Canyon schools had been set to begin Sept. 10, even as the fire burned at a safe distance. But the winds changed that, and the blaze roared down local streets, forcing families to flee in the middle of the night. Many have lost their homes.

Its traumatizing, the magnitude of whats happened in the blink of an eye, Todd Miller, the districts superintendent, said on a phone call from the cab of his white Dodge Ram pickup truck. As he drives the streets, sizing up the damage, hes got a chainsaw in the back, just in case a charred tree falls and blocks his way. He was relieved to find all three of his schoolsa K-5, a 6-12, and a brand-new middle and high schoolthick with smoke inside, but otherwise undamaged.

Hes not sure when he can reopen his schools, even for remote instruction. Right now, his focus is on his students and their families. Some are still fighting to save their homes or searching for lost loved ones. Others will return to homes without power or water, or too smoke-choked to live in.

Im just extremely concerned about my students mental health, Miller said. The COVID crisis alone, that isolation and lack of structure, the problems kids faced with abuse or [getting] food, were already huge challenges. And now weve got most of our kids with this new traumatic event. Its a hard thing to say as a superintendent, but I told my families, right now school is the least of your worries.
Gustavo Arellano on assignment in Catalina in March. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

I snaked my Yukon past funerals and tombstones at Pacific View Memorial Park in Corona del Mar. At its summit was my destination: the Alcove of Time.

There, in a small mausoleum niche on the bottom row of a wall full of them, were the cremains of pioneering Los Angeles Times reporter Ruben Salazar.

On Aug. 29, 1970, he covered the Chicano Moratorium, an anti-Vietnam War rally in East Los Angeles. Lawmen broke up what had been a peaceful afternoon with clubs and bullets; protesters responded with soda bottles and fists.

Salazar ducked into the Silver Dollar Cafe to wait out the chaos with a beer. Instead, a sheriffs deputy shot a tear-gas canister into the bar that hit the reporters head, killing him instantly.

Memorials soon sprung up for Salazar, whose reporting on Southern Californias Mexican American community gave voice to the voiceless and launched a new journalism genre.

But there is no hint of this legacy at Salazars final resting place.

A cast-iron plaque decorated with an hourglass and olive branches reads Ruben Salazar Beloved Husband and Father and lists the date of his birth and death. That's it. There is no nook to leave flowers or mementos or anything.

So I came with a gift: a bottle of Manzanilla wine.

Salazar was a bon vivant who enjoyed French food and good drinks, a reality far removed from the martyrdom fans have affixed on him. He was a man who defied expectations, even as his heart was always with los olvidados  the forgotten ones  of society.

I came to ask for a blessing. Earlier that day, The Times announced I would be its latest Latino news columnist  the first in nearly eight years, and only the sixth in its 139-year history.

This, in a city where were nearly the majority. In a state where were already the plurality.

The response was overwhelmingly positive; the expectations, rightfully huge.

Guide me, I asked Ruben. I offered a toast, poured a splash of the dry Spanish wine on the floor directly in front of his niche, and then took a swig myself.

Story continues

A sea breeze cut through the muggy morning air as I headed back to my Yukon. Then I remembered my good manners.

I returned to Rubens niche, wiped down the puddle of Manzanilla in front of him, and went off to work.

**

So, um, yeah. No pressure.

Hola! Im your latest Los Angeles Times Latino columnist.

A 2012 photo of Gustavo Arellano, then editor of the OC Weekly and author of the syndicated Ask a Mexican! column. (Arkasha Stevenson / Los Angeles Times)

For nearly 13 years, I wrote a column called Ask a Mexican!, where I mocked the very idea of a "Latino columnist." You know: those well-meaning scribes who try to convince white readers that if they just talked to Latinos, everything would be chido (Mexico City slang for "copacetic").

I felt such pundits were antiquated and too apologetic. Because I never thought of myself as a minority who needed to be understood.

Because I knew who I was.

Throughout my 20-year journalism career, Ive navigated a gantlet of editors and readers who tried to pigeonhole and tokenize me as they had too many Latino reporters past and present.

Instead, I tokenized myself.

I wrote about Latinos, yes, but in a way that centered us as the norm instead of some exotic interloper in the Southern California story.

And I also wrote about other things.

Because thats who I am.

Im the Southern California-born son of immigrants from the state of Zacatecas, the Iowa of Mexico. One picked garlic in Gilroy as a 9-year-old; the other came to this country in the trunk of a Chevy.

They raised a nerdy son who spoke Spanish when he entered kindergarten and is now the black sheep in a family of public-sector siblings  because I decided to become a writer.

But I'm also the schmear of Yiddish in my daily speech, a fan of Middle Eastern food and Cambodian acid rock, and all the other parts of Southern Californian culture that make our collective identity as deliciously jumbled as the chili cheese fries at Tommys.

Thats what I plan to bring to this column.

I want to show who we were, are, and becoming, as Californians. And I'm the right person in this moment to tell these tales as a columnist.

Precisely because I happen to be Latino.

Trouble paying rent? Keeping your hard-fought gains? With a fear that the good times can quickly end that now sways over your days like palm trees?

Welcome to the life that Latinos have been living in California since 1848.

But the flip side of that fatalism is resilience. Pluck. Manana as a promise, not an excuse.

And a willingness to fight for lo bueno  the good.

It's a battle plan that has guided and sustained Latinos in California for over 170 years.

So its about high time everyone else listens to us.

But not me.

You shouldnt care about what I'll tell you; you should care about what I'll show ustedes (that's "y'all" in Spanish).

So instead of pontificating from behind a desk, I'll be where the action is. At strawberry fields and downtown protests, classrooms and tejuino stands. In East Los Angeles, Riverside, Orange County and beyond. I'll talk to people whom I want to champion, people with whom Ill agree to disagree, and people who deserve an FBI investigation.

I want to do a bit of everything in this column, which will appear about once a week  sometimes more, sometimes less. Expect triumphs and tragedies. Long pieces. Profiles. Investigations. History. Politics. The economy. Even the occasional food review.

And Ill write with expectations.

But only mine.

To try and write as the voice for a particular group of people is a guaranteed failure and presumptuous. The world doesn't need another self-appointed savior.

To write as a voice gives you a shot to help those you truly care for.

So I write as myself.

A zacatecano.

A nerd.

A columnist. A reporter, always.

A Southern Californian, reporting for duty.

Think of me as a Mexican Tom Joad: Wherever theres a fight for our future, I'll be there  wearing a mask and socially distant for a while, of course.
You have to be the lion in the path of anarchy, he told the Washington Times in 1990. See, Im not going to submit to racism, I dont care whose version of it I happen to come in contact with; Im not going to submit to superficial thinking about people; Im not going to submit to any ideas that reduce the rich possibility of human life.
Belarusian opposition supporters gather for a protest rally in Minsk on Aug. 17, 2020. Strikes grew across Belarus, raising the pressure on President Alexander Lukashenko to step down after 26 years in power. (Dmitri Lovetsky / Associated Press )

A construction worker, a web designer, a college student, an engineer  these Belarusians had little in common, but human rights activists say they shared a similar fate: abuse, humiliation and, in some cases, outright torture at the hands of their jailers.

Largely peaceful protests erupted last month in the former Soviet republic after authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko claimed a landslide victory  a fraudulent win, according to the opposition. Thousands of demonstrators were swept up in a wave of arrests.

Now a leading human rights group has compiled one of the most detailed dossiers yet on the ill treatment of hundreds of detainees, some of whom recounted harrowing beatings, electric shocks, squalid jailhouse conditions and sexual abuse in the protests early days.

Is this leg really broken? a 35-year-old construction worker said jeering riot police officers asked him as they trampled on and poked his shattered limb.

A 28-year-old woman, who was trapped in a jail cell so tightly packed that the occupants could barely move or breathe, said guards responded to their pleas for more space by dousing them with cold water.

An 18-year-old college student said police broke his nose with a kick to the face, then sliced open his trousers and threatened to rape him with a grenade.

The report by Human Rights Watch, released Tuesday, comes as international agencies such as the United Nations Human Rights Council are preparing to debate events in Belarus, but activists are hoping to spur formal investigations. Although the European Union is readying sanctions, Lukashenko is defying opposition demands that he step aside.

Lukashenko, in power for 26 years, apparently hoped that a harsh crackdown in the protests initial phase would terrorize people into staying off the streets. That was a shock tactic that worked in the past, said Katsiaryna Shmatsina, a research fellow at the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies  but this time around, it seemingly backfired.

Story continues

The initial protest was not that massive, she said. But the more reports have emerged of abuse in detention centers, the more people go onto the streets and express solidarity.

She cited scenarios such as students being detained and beaten  and subsequent outrage over their treatment propelling their parents and professors into the streets.

Scattered accounts of abuse were at first shared among friends and family, or posted on social media. But their widespread and systemic nature quickly became clear, as did the realization that riot police and other law enforcement officers must have been given free rein to put down the protests by whatever means they wished, without fear of punishment.

The sweeping brutality of the crackdown shows the lengths to which the Belarusian authorities will go to silence people, said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

Now, as the opposition scrambles to channel international opprobrium into meaningful action to hold Lukashenko and his government accountable, meticulous documentation is helping to build a case that grave rights abuses have been committed.

Human Rights Watch said it interviewed 27 former detainees  21 men and six women  most of them arrested either just before or in the few days after the Aug. 9 election. The rights group said it also spoke with witnesses and healthcare workers and examined photographs, video and medical records.

The victims described beatings, prolonged stress positions, electric shocks, and in at least one case, rape, the report says. They had serious injuries, including broken bones, cracked teeth, skin wounds, electrical burns and mild traumatic brain injuries.

Half a dozen of the interviewees were hospitalized after their release, the group said. Some were still bruised, bloodied or in casts and bandages when the interviews took place.

Detainees reported that police  backed up by riot officers known as OMON, or special task force, and special forces, or Spetznaz  picked them up off the streets, in some cases using extreme violence, then beat them in dangerously confined spaces in vehicles, where they had trouble breathing.

Many of those arrested had never had any run-ins with police. A 31-year-old financial technology specialist named Kim Mazur told Human Rights Watch that he and a friend were dragged from their car in the capital. Taken to a prison outside Minsk, he was thrown into a truck already filled with detainees, he said.

You have to crawl like a worm on top of the others while the OMON guys are beating you to go faster, he said.

The reports time frame focuses on the protests early days, but as the demonstrations have continued, some observers cite a resurgence of violent tactics initially employed by riot police and other law enforcement authorities. At demonstrations last weekend, female protesters appeared to be more of a police target than previously.

Another ongoing means of intimidation, said research fellow Shmatsina, is grabbing random passersby, whether or not they are taking part in demonstrations. They detain simple strangers who were on their way from work, driving by, etc., to make people feel not safe and scared, she said. But she said it had the opposite effect.

Some of those interviewed by Human Rights Watch said they were determined to seek justice for their ordeal.

Pavel Pogartsev, a 20-year-old student, said he was beaten with truncheons and suffered a concussion. An officer crushed his hand, threatening to break his fingers and toes if he refused to say who had coordinated the protests.

The entire experience, he said, left him feeling braver.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Lord Keen is the advocate general for Scotland - Aaron Chown/PA

Lord Keen, the Scottish advocate general and justice minister, has resigned over the Internal Market Bill, which would allow the Government to break international law.

The lawyer was finding it "increasingly difficult" to reconcile Mr Johnson's bill with the law, the BBC reported.

Although his resignation was offered on Wednesday morning, Downing Street took until 5.30pm to confirm it had been accepted.

Asked at Wednesday afternoon's Liaison Committee whether Lord Keen had resigned, Mr Johnson said: "As far as I know, conversations on that matter are still continuing." It was later confimed by No10.

Lord Keen rose to prominence when he defended Mr Johnson in the Supreme Court last year when the triggering of Article 50 was challenged by campaigners.

He became the spokesperson for Ministry of Justice business in the House of Lords in July 2016.

The news comes after Lord Keen said Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland Secretary, had misspoken when he said the UK was willing to break international law "in a limited and specific way".

Mr Lewis told MPs the justice minister had been wrong to dispute his statement, which he said had been signed off by the Government's law officers.

Labour said that Lord Keens authority was shot because of the apparent division between him and other ministers.

Tory backbenchers have already rebelled over the bill, which breaks parts of the Withdrawal Agreement with the European Union signed earlier this year.

Former Cabinet ministers including Theresa May and Sajid Javid have opposed the bill, alongside former attorneys general Geoffrey Cox and Jeremy Wright.

Qualified lawyers in the Commons and Lords are said to be reluctant to support the bill in case it prevents them from practicing law after leaving politics.

Mr Johnson said the bill would ensure the UK's "economic and political integrity".
In a press conference to announce decisions made by the Council of Ministers, Spokesperson for Government of Nepal, Yubaraj Khatiwada announced measures to be followed by passengers as well as aviation service providers.

"Regular flights scheduled to start September 1, will be released by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation. Passengers who will be on board those flights would need an RT- PCR Negative report which shall be performed 72 hours before getting on-board. They should send it along with a form that they need to fill online over the website of CCMC and show either bar-code or printed copy or else confirmation about hotel booking where they will stay on mandatory quarantine for a week," Khatiwada said.

Expenses for one week's compulsory hotel quarantine are subjected to be paid on by the person whosoever is flying back to Nepal and the payment should be made prior to the arrival.

A list of hotels that would be converted into quarantine facility for a week will be released by the Civil Aviation Ministry soon, Khatiwada said.

Along with the commencement of International flights starting next month, the government also has decided to continue repatriation flights for stranded Nepali in those countries where the COVID-19 infection stands low. Also, it has clarified that only 500 passengers will be permitted to enter Nepal on a daily basis.

But the government has mentioned that the Diplomatic Staffs stationed inside the nations will be exempted in the due course of time.

"Regarding flights coming in, Countries and Cities which have easy access for RT-PCR Tests-Malaysia, UAE, South Korea, Thailand, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Australia, America, Canada and other European Countries, those with permission to come to Nepalwither Nepali or Foreign Diplomats or Staffs, UN, Development Agencies representatives only will be allowed to come to Nepal," Khatiwada said.

"Those countries where RT-PCR is not easily available such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, and other countries, regular flights will not be allowed to ferry passengers," he added.

"The Government has committed to conducting chartered flights to destinations where flights are required in co-ordination with concerned missions for evacuation flights. Earlier the government had cancelled on the evac. Flights which had mounted pressure and criticism on the government from multiple fronts," he added.

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Linkedin Adrian Wail Akhlas (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, September 16, 2020 16:06 492 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c4527060 1 Business SATRIA,investment,private-investment,PPP,digital-infrastructure,state-budget,Sri-Mulyani,ICT Free

Indonesia will seek private investment, both from foreign and domestic investors, to develop the countrys digital infrastructure, as the COVID-19 outbreak has accelerated the digital transformation, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said on Tuesday.

The government will seek more public-private partnership (PPP) schemes through the Communications and Information Ministry in a bid to speed up development, she said.

The investment will complement the governments budget allocation of Rp 30.5 trillion (US$2.05 billion) in the 2021 state budget to develop the information and communications technology (ICT) sector.

The development of digital infrastructure will not only use the state budget but also the PPP scheme between the government and private companies, both foreign and domestic, she told reporters in a press briefing. We will focus the development in regions that have not received connectivity services.

The government is planning to build cellular base transceiver stations (BTS) in more than 5,000 locations next year, including in villages with no internet connection, she went on to say.

We will also build a national data system and digitize the education system, among other plans, Sri Mulyani added.

Despite the large number of internet users, Indonesias internet penetration rate remains at 64 percent as of January, according to DataReportal, lagging behind neighboring Brunei, Singapore and Thailand, where internet penetration rates exceed 70 percent.

The Communications and Information Ministry said in June that approximately 12,500 villages in the country had no access to the internet.

The combined investment from foreign and domestic investors in transportation, warehouses and the telecommunication sector rose by 6.26 percent year-on-year (yoy) in the January-June period this year to Rp 76.3 trillion from the same period last year, according to Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) data.

Going forward, the Communications and Information Ministry will look for partners from the private sector, including foreign investors, to create and launch satellites, Sri Mulyani said, adding that these efforts would help open internet access to more Indonesians.

Earlier this month, the government saw the preparatory work agreement signing of the $500 million Indonesias Satellite (Satria), which is funded through a PPP scheme and expected to be operational by 2023.

The signing was between PT Satelit Nusantara Tiga, part of the consortium of PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara (PSN), and French-Italian aerospace manufacturer Thales Alenia Space (TAS).

The satellite is expected to boost connectivity in the country and provide free internet access for 150,000 public facilities, including schools, regional government offices and healthcare facilities.

Read also: US$550m satellite project to boost RI connectivity

There are still many investment opportunities in the telecommunication sector, as the country requires a satellite capacity of around 900 billion bits per second (Gbps) by 2030, Communications and Information Minister Johnny G. Plate said on Sept. 2.

President Joko Jokowi Widodo announced his intention to aid digital transformation in public services and to improve the countrys connectivity inclusion during his annual state of the nation address on Aug. 14.

The budget is to be used for accelerating digital transformation for governance and providing fast and efficient public services, he said, referring to the Rp 30.5 trillion budget.

Jokowi added that ICT development would provide internet access to around 4,000 villages and subdistricts in Indonesias outermost frontier and least developed areas.
President Trump defended his handling of the coronavirus pandemic during an interview with Fox News over the weekend, arguing that he took tremendous steps early in the outbreak, which saved probably two or two and a half million lives.

But much of the world appears to think otherwise. In a new poll of 13 nations released Tuesday, a median of 15 percent of respondents said the United States had handled the pandemic well, while 85 percent said the country had responded poorly.

The data, released by Pew Research Center, suggests that the international reputation of the United States has dropped to a new low in the face of a disorganized response to the novel coronavirus. The country leads the world in virus-related deaths. International affairs analysts say it may be difficult to repair the damage to the United States' standing overseas. Among some traditional allies like Germany, views of the United States have declined to the lowest levels since Pew began tracking them nearly two decades ago. (Washington Post)

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Senate Republicans on Wednesday voted to authorize subpoenas for several Obama administration intelligence officials, including former FBI director James Comey, as part of its broader probe into the origins of the Russia investigation.

The Senate Homeland Security committee voted to subpoena many names familiar to those who have been following the slew of investigations, including former CIA Director John Brennan and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, along with Comey and two former FBI agents who the repeated target of President Donald Trump's wrath.

Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, the chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, is a close ally of the president and leading the investigation

Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, the chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, is a close ally of the president and leading the investigation, which Trump has pushed for and encouraged.

The subpoenas were approved along party lines and are part of the panel's 'Crossfire Hurricane' probe.

Additionally, the panel is seeking information on the Justice Department inspector general's review of the origins of the Russia probe and the 'unmasking' of officials affiliated with the 2016 Trump campaign.

'Crossfire Hurricane' was the government's code name for its counterintelligence investigation into Trump's 2016 campaign.

Former FBI Director James Comey (left) and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper (right) were among those former Obama administration officials subpoenaed by Senate Republicans as part of their look into the origins of the Russia probe

President Donald Trump has repeatedly charged former President Barack Obama with 'spying' on his campaign

Trump has repeatedly charged former President Barack Obama with 'spying' on his campaign and used the existence of 'Crossfire Hurricane' to argue there was a 'deep state' working against his chances to become president.

Earlier this summer the committee authorized subpoenas for the majority of the individuals that were named on Wednesday. This vote was the final go ahead, leaving decisions on timing and scheduling to Johnson.

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT INTERNAL PROBE

John Durham, a U.S. Attorney, is heading a criminal inquiry into the Russia investigation for the Justice Department at the request of Attorney General Bill Barr.

Democrats have charged the probes are politically motivated and aimed at helping Trump's re-election chances.

The Senate panel wants to speak to witnesses and obtain documents related to Durham's probe.

OBAMA OFFICIALS SUBPOENAED BY SENATE former CIA Director John Brennan former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper former FBI Director James Comey Sidney Blumenthal former Obama chief of staff Denis McDonough former FBI counsel Lisa Page former FBI agent Joe Pientka former ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power former FBI director of counterintelligence Bill Priestap former White House national security adviser Susan Rice former FBI agent Peter Strzok former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmit James Baker former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe DOJ official Bruce Ohr FBI case agent Steven Somma former U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Teftt former deputy assistant attorney general Tashina Gauhar Stefan Halper Advertisement

Durham's investigation came about after a report by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz found 'significant inaccuracies and omissions' in the FBI's application to a court to obtain permission to monitor Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

Horowitz report found that the decision the FBI made to investigate the campaign had not motivated by political bias.

Durham, meanwhile, is completing a separate report into how the FBI's Russia investigation.

It's unclear when that report will be released. His work has been slowed by the coronavirus pandemic.

OPERATION CROSSFIRE HURRICANE

Comey, as FBI director, authorized Operation Crossfire Hurricane, which was the agency's counterintelligence investigation into whether Trump's 2016 campaign colluded with Russian officials trying to interfere in the president election.

It was a joint investigation by the FBI, the CIA and the National Security Agency.

It was sparked by information that George Papadopoulos, an adviser to Trump's campaign, claimed the Russians had damaging material on Hillary Clinton.

It would ultimately obtain surveillance warrants on Page, and intelligence gathered during it would be used by FBI agents to question former Trump national security advisor Mike Flynn at the White House during his short tenure. Flynn would later plead guilty to lying about his contacts with Russia's ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak.

It was eventually taken over by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, whose investigation cleared the Trump campaign of any collusion but came to no conclusion as to whether President Trump tried to hamper the special counsel's probe.

UNMASKING

Richard Grenell, in one of his last acts as acting director of national intelligence, declassified more documents tied to the origins of the Russia investigation into Trump.

Democrats have accused Grenell of using his position to play politics and only release documents that fuel Trump's beliefs and benefit his administration.

Grenell declassified several documents during his short tenure at DNI that fueled the 'Obamagate' conspiracy theory, including an email from Susan Rice, who served as Barack Obama's national security adviser, revealing her concerns about her successor in that position, Michael Flynn.

Rice sent to herself the email on President Trump's Inauguration Day, documenting a Jan. 5, 2017, Oval Office meeting with President Obama and others, during which Obama offered guidance on how law enforcement needed to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 presidential race.

Former FBI legal counsel Lisa Page and former FBI Agent Peter Strzok were among those subpoenaed by Senate Republicans

Former national security adviser Susan Rice and former U.S. Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power were also subpoenaed in relation to the 'unmasking' investigation

The declassified email revealed that then-FBI Director James Comey suggested to Obama that the National Security Council might not want to pass 'sensitive information related to Russia' to Flynn, due to the fact that he had been 'speaking frequently' with then-Russian ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak.

Grenell also declassified documents that showed which Obama administration officials asked to have Flynn 'unmasked,' which is when an anonymous name in an intelligence report is revealed. That list included Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

Unmasking is a common practice used by officials to help them understand intelligence reports better. It is not illegal.

The latest round of documents Grenell declassified also is believed to include transcripts of calls Flynn had with Russian officials.

Flynn's calls with Kislyak got picked up by U.S. intelligence intercepts during the transition process, and became part of the Russia probe.
NHK has learned that residents of a town in western Japan oppose a plan to build a cemetery for Muslims.

Muslims face a lack of burial sites in Japan, where the dead are normally cremated.

To help solve the problem, a Muslim group based in Beppu City, Oita Prefecture, purchased a roughly 8,000 square meter plot of land in neighboring Hiji Town. The group is preparing to apply for permission from the town to build a cemetery.

But residents of two districts near the site have submitted a petition signed by more than 100 people to the town office and the town assembly.

They cite concerns that drainage water from the cemetery would contaminate their irrigation and drinking water.

Eto Kiyotaka, who proposed the petition, says the Muslim group has said the cemetery plan would be canceled if water quality tests indicate problems. But Eto says if problems happen, it will already be too late.

Khan Muhammad Tahir Abbas, who heads the Beppu Muslim Association, says he's disappointed that local residents do not accept the group's explanation that burials are carried out around the world. He says his group will continue efforts to allay their concerns.

The town assembly plans to vote on the petition on Thursday after which the town office says it will consider its response.
CLEVELAND, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Theresa M. Lanese has joined McDonald Hopkins LLC as an associate in the Litigation Department of the firm's Cleveland office.

Lanese focuses her practice in the area of business litigation. Prior to joining McDonald Hopkins, she spent two years as an associate at a Northeast Ohio law firm. She also served as a law clerk for the City of Parma Law Department in 2016. Lanese is a member of the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association.

Lanese earned her J.D., magna cum laude, from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State University in May 2018. During her time at Cleveland-Marshall, she participated as an Articles Editor on Cleveland State's Law Review. She also competed for two years on Cleveland-Marshall's Mock Trial Team placing third in the 2017 Case Classic Mock Trial Tournament. Lanese received her B.S. in Criminal Justice, graduating summa cum laude, from Bowling Green State University in December 2014.

Lanese can be reached at 216.430.2021 or [email protected].

About McDonald Hopkins

Since 1930, McDonald Hopkins has thrived by building long-lasting relationships with businesses and individuals who share an entrepreneurial spirit. As the business advisory and advocacy law firm celebrates its 90th anniversary in 2020, it has a renewed commitment to providing exceptional client service and insight for the challenges at hand and on the horizon. To learn more, visit mcdonaldhopkins.com.

CONTACT:

David Carducci

McDonald Hopkins LLC

600 Superior Avenue, East, Suite 2100

Cleveland, Ohio 44114

Phone: 216.348.5814

Email: [email protected]

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YORK  Hunter R. McCuistion, 22, of Belvidere (and also listed in court documents as a transient), has been sentenced to a term of 4-8 years in prison for six counts of burglary and possession of a deadly weapon by a prohibited person.

All the burglaries took place in York between late October and late December, 2019.

McCuistion was sentenced this week by Judge James Stecker in the York County District Court.

Each count of burglary is a Class 2A felony.

The deadly weapon conviction stems from the fact he was found in possession of a knife, which is illegal because he is prohibited from doing so due to his criminal history. He was convicted of burglary in Jefferson County in February, 2019; burglary in Jefferson County in April, 2017; and burglary in Thayer County in December, 2016.

He was initially also charged with 12 counts of attempted burglary. Those charges were dismissed as part of an earlier plea agreement.

The burglaries, for which he has been sentenced, occurred at Offsides Tavern, Goodwill, Piepers Plumbing and Well Service, Subway, Velocity Auto Sales and the York County Historical Society.
The World Socialist Web Site spoke with Miles Driver from Cricklewood garage about the establishment of the London Bus Drivers Rank-and-File Safety Committee. Driver has worked in public transport for more than two decades and is a long-time member of the Socialist Equality Party.

The establishment of this committee is a significant step forward, Driver said. Sunday nights meeting was a powerful demonstration that change is coming in the working class. Bus workers who lost colleagues to COVID-19 spoke and the clear sentiment was enough is enough.

In just 12 weeks, from March to the end of May, 33 bus workers were killed by COVID-19. Yet despite crocodile tears from the media, Labours Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, and Transport for London (TfL), coronavirus has re-surfaced and our colleagues are falling sick.

A London bus driver wears a mask to try and protect himself from the coronavirus as he drives on his route

Driver explained how he and a group of colleagues had begun campaigning for a rank-and-file safety committee back in April, with political support from the WSWS. When the pandemic struck, workers were left defenceless. We only discovered our fellow drivers were dying [from COVID-19] because their relatives went to the media. Unite [the union representing drivers] actively colluded with management to conceal the extent of the health emergency, then sent us back to work.

The World Socialist Web Site was raising the alarm and exposing this cover-up. For example, WSWS uncovered information about the real number of infections and hospitalisations at Cricklewood garage. WSWS articles were read and shared by hundreds of bus drivers because we told the truth.

In May, after Boris Johnson announced the lifting of the lockdown, Unite supported the return to normal rosters and repeated TfLs lies that our buses were safe. These lies were recycled by the Socialist Party, whose members operate as a de facto PR agency for Unite. They concealed the unsafe conditions being enforced by the union to suppress any independent opposition from below.

At Sundays meeting drivers described the conditions they are facing--overcrowded buses, social distancing a dead letter, and a complete failure to track and trace. As one colleague said, Its a crime.

We had colleagues from Cricklewood where a driver on route 112 tested positive. Only a handful of drivers on that route were even notified. Its clear our lives count for nothing. On Monday, one of our committee members reported that an engineer at Cricklewood has been confirmed with COVID-19, yet none of the engineers he worked with have been tested, and one of the apprentices is sick but cant even get a test.

We believe workplace transmission is occurring, but Metroline and Unite are engaged in a cover-up. After so many deaths, the companies and the union cannot claim ignorance. Decisions are being made to prioritise profits and a continuation of service over our lives and safety.

Miles said the formation of the London Bus Drivers Rank-and-File Committee showed workers were starting to draw a balance sheet from their experiences over the past six months, As the resolution we adopted makes clear, our colleagues deaths were not inevitable. They were the outcome of actions of the Johnson government, TfL, and the bus companies, backed to the hilt by the union.

Unites collusion with management turned our workplace into a killing zone. Under their agreement with TfL and the bus companies, they were issuing joint letters with management telling drivers they didnt need PPE. When this was challenged by health and safety reps, they were suspended from the union.

Bus workers are confronting the reality that Unite, like all the trade unions, no longer represents them in any way. They are an industrial police force for the companies and the government. They defend capitalism. The formation of this committee will enable the working class to fight back.

Miles said there was strong support for the resolution at Sundays meeting, Colleagues described it as spot on and a great start in this fight. Drivers have joined from garages across London, sending messages including, We have to do something before its too late, and calling for united action against the imminent threat from COVID-19. We must build on this and I urge all my colleagues to join the committee.

The resolution we adopted makes clear this fight goes beyond the bus garages. We are preparing a united offensive by all workers against their employers, Boris Johnsons Tory government and Sir Keir Starmers Labour Party. They are all pursuing a murderous herd immunity policy which is being played out at workplaces and schools throughout Britain. Where is the duty of care? We have millions of kids travelling back to schools, piling onto buses and trains, and this policy is being defended despite more than 850 outbreaks of COVID-19 in schools. And its only mid-September!

The same is true all over the world. In New York City 146 transit workers have already died from COVID-19. And now the policies of Trump and the Democrats are leading to an even bigger disaster. This must be stopped. Regardless of your country, race or nationality, COVID-19 is disproportionately affecting the working class. Ours is an international struggle.

Motion to free Julian Assange

Sundays meeting also adopted a resolution demanding freedom for jailed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange whose extradition hearing is taking place in London. Miles said, I think it is highly significant that a meeting called over the threat to workers lives from the pandemic also passed a resolution calling for the defence of Julian Assange.

We have first-hand experience with victimisation and reprisals, whenever we call out the company over unsafe conditions or other grievances. We are classified as key workers, but we are reminded every single day that our rights and concerns are not important even though the pandemic has shown we are the ones who keep society moving.

Julian Assange is a case of victimisation writ large. He has acted as a true journalist, making war crimes known to the public based on hard evidence. Julian has pulled back the screen of official politics and exposed what governments really do in the name of the people.

The US and Britain have conspired to destroy Assange. He has been framed up on false charges, kept in a cell in a maximum-security prison and denied due process so they can ship him to America where he would not be heard from again.

This is happening on our doorstep and we must make a stand. Our fight is connected to the defence of democratic rights, such as freedom of the press and freedom of information. You cannot fight for a more equal and just society if you are made to wear a blindfold.

Like most workers, we recognise that its not Julian Assange who should be in the dock. It is governments responsible for illegal wars in Afghanistan and Iraq who should be on trial.
YEREVAN.  Hraparak daily of the Republic of Armenia (RA) writes: The NA [National] inquiry committee investigating the circumstances of the April [2016] war will soon publish the results of its one-year activity or the conclusion of its studies, and, as the committee members from the halls of power do not rule out, a criminal case may be initiated after that.

According to our sources, most likely, the key "hero" of the criminal case will be the Chief of Staff of the RA Armed Forces during the 2016 war, Yuri Khachaturov.

During its work, the committee found out that there was no written document, protocol or any document certifying the arrangements of Khachaturov, who left for Moscow for a ceasefire of the four-day [war]. Moreover, even after returning to Armenia, he was supposed to report to the Commander-in-Chief [then President Serzh Sargsyan] on as a result of what arrangement the ceasefire was reached, but there is no official protocol on the report in any archive.

A question arises: What did Khachaturov make arrangement on and with whom? This will be the main "conclusion-disclosure" of the committee.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 20:04:44|Editor: huaxia

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KATHMANDU, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- A mountaineering expedition team comprising of Bahraini Prince Sheikh Nasser Bin Hamad Al Khalifa arrived in Nepal on Wednesday morning to climb two Himalayan mountains, an official of Nepal's Foreign Ministry said.

"The team arrived Nepal at around 11 a.m. (local time) at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu where a team of Nepal's foreign ministry welcomed the expedition team," Suresh Adhikari, assistant spokesperson at Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who led the team of ministry officials for a courtesy call at the airport, told Xinhua on Wednesday.

According to the press release posted by Nepali embassy in Bahrain on its website on Wednesday, an 18-member expedition team comprising 15 members of Bahrain's Royal Guard and three British climbers had set out for Nepal in a private jet in early morning on Wednesday.

According to the Seven Summit Expedition, a Nepali company, which is organizing the expedition, the team plans to climb Mt. Manaslu and Mt. Lobuche. The 8,163m high Mt. Manaslu is the world's eighth highest peak lies in the western Nepal while Mt. Lobuche (6,619m) lies in the Qomolangma region.

But the team has not yet received permit from Nepal's Department of Tourism to climb these mountains because Nepal's Department of Tourism issues the permit at the presence of the team leader as per the mountaineering rules of the Himalayan country.

Mingma Sherpa, managing director of Seven Summit, told Xinhua on Wednesday that the permits could be received by Thursday as all the required documents have already been submitted to the department.

According to Sherpa, this team is climbing the two peaks in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic as a part of preparation to summit Mt. Qomolangma in the spring of 2021.

After arriving Nepal, the team is currently staying at Gokarna Forest Resort at the outskirt of the Kathmandu's city area where they will spend a week in 'hotel quarantine' in line with health protocol of the Nepali government, according to Seven Summit Trek.

"After a week, the team will first set out for Mt. Lobuche which the team plans to climb as a part of acclimatization to scale the Mt. Manaslu," said Sherpa. "The expedition team set out for Mt. Manaslu after scaling the Mt. Lobuche."

This team is expected to remain in Nepal for around two months. Even though Nepali government is yet to permit foreign tourists to Nepal visit, the Nepal's cabinet in late August had decided to permit the expedition team comprising of Bahrain prince.

Meanwhile, Nepal's cabinet early this week decided to allow foreigners who want to visit Nepal for mountaineering and trekking starting from October 17. "But, they should produce a medical report confirming that they don't have infection with coronavirus," said Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, Nepal's Foreign Minister and spokesperson of the Nepali government at a press meet on Tuesday. Enditem
TORONTO - The Ontario Cannabis Stores distribution centre is getting a new home.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 16/9/2020 (492 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A variety of vapes and threaded cartridges available for authorized retailers are displayed at the Ontario Cannabis Store in Toronto on January 3, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Tijana Martin

TORONTO - The Ontario Cannabis Stores distribution centre is getting a new home.

Ready, Pet, Go! Leesa Dahl looks at everything to do with our furry, fuzzy, feathered, fishy (and more!) pet friends. Arrives in your inbox each Monday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

The provincial pot distributor says it is moving its warehouse to Guelph and will eventually close its current Oakville location.

Spokesman Daffyd Roderick says in an email that the OCS decided to open a new warehouse in Guelph because of its proximity to Highway 401 and because the distributor needed more space to scale up its automation capabilities.

Roderick says the new centre will support the growth of retail stores in the province, substantially increase the OCS product catalogue and further new innovations.

After a transition period, he says the Oakville facility will shut down and the Guelph one will be left to serve the province.

Roderick says the OCS wants to have the Guelph facility operational by early October.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published October16, 2020.
Bella Hadid and Hailey Bieber were seen at the shoot in Italy for the Versace campaign in June amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

And the highly anticipated ads for the luxury brand's fragrances have finally dropped, featuring the two models rocking skimpy swimwear.

In the Versace Dylan Blue ad, Bella, 23, dazzled in a number of swimsuit looks - even going topless in the commercial.

What a gorgeous lady:Bella Hadid and Hailey Bieber were seen at the shoot in Italy for the Versace campaign in June amid the COVID-19 pandemic. And the highly anticipated ads for the luxury brand's fragrances have finally dropped, featuring the two models rocking skimpy swimwear

Sneaky: Bella revealed that she'd 'snuck a disposable' camera on set and was able to take the pics she shared to her social media

The sultry ad, which mainly features Bella with a brief appearance by Hailey, kicked off with Bella rocking a crop top and tiny string bikini bottoms - both in black.

Bella is the face for the Versace Dylan Blue fragrance, while Hailey is fronting the second parfum - the Versace Dylan Turquoise fragrance.

Hailey shared her campaign ad for the Turquoise scent to her Instagram on Wednesday.

In the Dylan Blue ad, Bella kicked off the video wearing large gold earrings with her brunette tresses slicked back into a bun as she posed in front of large rock.

The camera went up and around the rock as someone is heard saying 'the world turns around and around' as three other models lounging on the rock are seen.

It comes up to the other side and Bella is seen now lounging in the sand wearing a sheer chiffon blue dress with a gaping midsection - revealing her midriff and glimpses of her cleavage. She was also wearing a plunging bathing suit beneath.

She's got that It factor: The 23-year-old stunner looked incredible in the Versace Dylan Blue Fragrance commercial wearing a number of swimsuit looks and taking one off briefly in one part as she covered up with her hands

That's how it's done: She shared some candid BTS snaps

Cheeky: There were some suggestive poses with her fellow models too

Beauty: The sultry ad, which mainly features Bella with a brief appearance by Hailey, kicked off with Bella rocking a crop top and tiny string bikini bottoms - both in black

Quick change: And in one photo, Bella showed Hailey getting changed while shielded from view by several crew members holding up a blanket

She wore new gold jewelry as she had one leg up and her head back toward the sand, with 'I was dancing with you in an infinite loop' heard.

The camera looped all the way around her until she appeared upside down in the frame.

Bella then appears facing the camera and close up, back in the black cut-out crop top and bikini bottoms; the model was spraying herself with the Versace Dylan Blue Fragrance.

Wow: She had large gold earrings on with her brunette tresses slicked back into a bun as she posed in front of large rock

Beauty: Bella then appears facing the camera and close up, back in the black cut-out crop top and bikini bottoms; the model was spraying herself with the Versace Dylan Blue Fragrance

Very sultry: The next frame showed her standing behind several male models behind tapestry that hung fairly low as the camera swung around her in a circle

Sizzling: She was taking off her string bikini top in the scene and putting her hands on her chest as she turned around to face the camera

The next frame showed her standing behind several male models behind tapestry that hung fairly low as the camera swung around her in a circle.

She was taking off her string bikini top in the scene and putting her hands on her chest as she turned around to face the camera.

The next scene was Bella in a patterned bathing suit on the beach as she held on to a large magazine that said Versace on the front of it, with designer Donatella Versace on the front.

Bella looked to her left as the camera moved that direction, revealing she was looking at Hailey.

Views: The next scene was Bella in a patterned bathing suit on the beach as she held on to a large magazine that said Versace on the front of it, with designer Donatella Versace on the front

Looking amazing: Hailey, 23, was sitting in a gold and pink bikini with her hair down - partially pulled back with a barrette - as she read a book

Breathtaking lady: The camera did another loop, now with Bella underwater in another look - a high-cut blue bathing suit with gold jewelry and her hair down

Meet: She was met by a male model as they embraced under the waves before a montage of her getting in and out of the ocean is seen

Hailey, 23, was sitting in a gold and pink bikini with her hair down - partially pulled back with a barrette - as she read a book.

The camera did another loop going upside and around, revealing Bella standing up in the intricate swimwear.

The camera did another loop, now with Bella underwater in another look - a high-cut blue bathing suit with gold jewelry and her hair down.

She was met by a male model as they embraced under the waves before a montage of her getting in and out of the ocean is seen.

Hot: Bella sizzled on the shoot

Skin: The shoot aimed for maximum sexy

Sculpted: Bella is filmed lounging in her string bikini with a male model as they listen to music together and she grins ear to ear

Bella now lounges on the beach with the bottle in hand in her black bikini with Hailey striking a pose as well in a brief moment.

Bella is filmed lounging in her string bikini with a male model as they listen to music together and she grins ear to ear.

'I was far away but there you were, a cycle ever lasting,' the narrator says.

Another male model is with her at the beach - with Bella back in the sheer blue dress but with loose hair.

Crowded: It took a lot of people to create the intimate shoot

Center of attention: Bella clearly enjoyed herself

Chilling: She even found time to kick back in the sand

The duo gaze into each others eyes as she puts her arms around him intermixed with her lounging against the hips of a model holding his hand.

The narrator says: 'We are forever' as the final scene shows Bella in a blue and black patterned bathing suit with another gold jewelry look as she walks up to a shirtless male model before the bottle is seen and Bella is heard saying: 'Dylan Blue parfum by Versace.'

Bella also shared a number of images as well to her Instagram from the campaign, including a snap of herself rocking the sheer blue dress and plunging bathing suit beneath.

Mesmerizing: The duo gaze into each others eyes as she puts her arms around him intermixed with her lounging against the hips of a model holding his hand

The narrator says: 'We are forever' as the final scene shows Bella in a blue and black patterned bathing suit with another gold jewelry look

Gorgeous duo: She walks up to a shirtless male model before the bottle is seen and Bella is heard saying: 'Dylan Blue parfum by Versace'

Another snap showed off her backless blue dress as she gave a smoldering gaze to the camera.

Bella posed in the black crop top and bathing suit bottoms for a third image as well as a cheeky one of her laughing and taking a snap.

Bella rocked a black bikini with layers of jewelry as she held up the fragrance toward her eye.

The last picture she shared was of herself rocking the blue and black patterned bathing suit with the male model by the rocks.

Striking: Bella also shared a number of images as well to her Instagram from the campaign, including a snap of herself rocking the sheer blue dress and plunging bathing suit beneath

Wow factor: Another snap showed off her backless blue dress as she gave a smoldering gaze to the camera

What a lady: Bella posed in the black crop top and bathing suit bottoms for a third image

So cute: As well as a cheeky one of her laughing and taking a snap

Chic: Bella rocked a black bikini with layers of jewelry as she held up the fragrance toward her eye

Dazzling: The last picture she shared was of herself rocking the blue and black patterned bathing suit with the male model by the rocks

Bella captioned the slideshow with: 'My new @Versace Perfume 'Dylan Blue' tat we shot in Corsica. This is definitely one of those pinch me moments... a perfume campaign, let alone @Versace is a dream come true... thank you Dona @Donatella_Versace, thank you to this safe and incredible team' with a blue heart.

The brunette wrote: 'Shot by @harleyweir, makeup @isamayaffrench hair @sydhayeshair Art direction: @kevintekinel @charleslevai styling @kjeldgaard1. i love you all. madly!' adding a black heart.

Hailey previously shared another separate video for the Versace campaign - her ad campaign for her fragrance - Versace Dylan Turquoise.

The wife of Justin Bieber was rocking a blue sequin crop top and matching mini skirt, adding a gold belly chain, earrings and necklace in the ad.

The blonde beauty also showcased her stunning features in close up shots.

Hailey fronts the second parfum in the Versace Dylan campaigns - she is the face of the Dylan Turquoise fragrance while Bella is the face of Versace Dylan Blue.

Vibes: Hailey previously shared another separate video for the Versace campaign, rocking a blue sequin crop top and matching mini skirt

Flawless: Adding a gold belly chain, earrings and necklace

Perfection: The blonde beauty also showcased her stunning features in close up shots as well in the short clip

Versace baby: Hailey fronts the second parfum in the Versace Dylan campaigns - she is the face of the Dylan Turquoise fragrance
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 14:03:32|Editor: huaxia

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PHNOM PENH, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia warned on Wednesday of heavy rainfall and strong winds at sea from Friday to Sunday, advising travelers and fishermen to be on high precautions.

According to the weather forecast, the kingdom will suffer from the impact of tropical storm Noul that moved across the Philippines early Wednesday. It is forecast to track toward Vietnam's Da Nang coast on Friday, Lim Keanhor, Cambodian Minister of Water Resources and Meteorology, said in a statement.

He said Noul's impact will cause heavy rainfall at coastal provinces and moderate-to-heavy rainfall in plain and plateau provinces.

"For coastal areas, there will be heavy rainfall with strong winds and high waves that can result in flash flood," the minister said.

Keanhor called on the public, particularly sea travelers and fishermen, to be extra-vigilant in order to avoid any possible dangers. Enditem
Cllr Marie Moloney and Killarney Mayor Brendan Cronin at the Cleeny Roundabout where they have asked for safety improvements. Photo by Michelle Cooper Galvin

Killarney Municipal District Councillors have appealed for the local authority to address what are described as 'lethal' pedestrian crossings at roundabouts on the outskirts of the town.

Speaking at Thursday's MD meeting at the Coral Leisure Centre, Labour Councillor Marie Moloney has called for the roundabout at Curtin's Cross and at Cleeny to be immediately removed and relocated to a safer location.

She says that the request for Cleeny has come too late as a life has already been lost there.

"I can't understand the engineering behind a roundabout with a pedestrian crossing on it...it's so dangerous," she said.

Ms Moloney also called for the orange lights at Cleeny to be restored to working order as soon as possible. Cathaoirleach Cllr Brendan Cronin said that, generally speaking, roundabouts where pedestrian crossings are placed adjacent to, or as you exit, a roundabout are "lethal dangerous".

"I request the TII to reconsider options for the pedestrian crossing adjacent to roundabouts," he said. "Move them away or, like you might see in Dublin, use sloped ramps."

Cllr Donal Grady said that previous requests for crossings to be moved away from roundabouts have been turned down by Transport Infrastructure Ireland.

Kerry County Council has said that it will review such crossings. One of the locations is subject to a Garda investigation following a recent accident, and the local authority said this may feed into this review.
A teenage associate of gang leader Owen Maguire is the chief suspect in a terrifying petrol-bomb attack on a family home.

A woman and her three young children were lucky to escape from their Drogheda home alive.

The attack happened on Monday night while the 30-year-old mother and her children, all under the age of 10, were inside. The completely innocent family were forced to escape out of a first-floor window with the help of neighbours after a petrol bomb was thrown at the house.

At this stage detectives believe the house was targeted because a man known to the woman, but who is thought not to reside at the house, owes a 2,000 drugs debt.

Gardai are investigating whether the Maguire gang, one of the crime groups involved in the deadly Drogheda feud, were behind the petrol bombing.

A 17-year-old, who has previously been investigated for similar crimes, last night emerged as a chief suspect in the attack.

Investigators are also braced for further violence in the town after receiving "credible intelligence" that associates of Owen Maguire intended returning to Drogheda to carry out a fresh spate of fire bombings linked to drug debt-collection and intimidation.

Feud

One source said: "There is credible intelligence that criminals working for the Maguires are returning to Drogheda to ramp up their debt-collecting efforts. This may involve further petrol-bomb attacks, and gardai fear a fresh outbreak of violence."

Senior criminals on both sides of the dispute went to ground following the murder of teenager Keane Mulready Woods (17) last January.

It was the fourth murder connected to the Drogheda feud.

In recent months, gardai have had several significant seizures against both drugs networks in the town.

No arrests have been made in relation to Monday night's petrol-bomb attack in the Laurence's Park area and gardai have been reviewing CCTV footage in an attempt to identify those involved.

The blaze broke out at about 9.30pm when an accelerant, believed to be a petrol bomb, was thrown through the front door of the house.

Neighbours noticed the fire and helped the family escape from a top-floor window and avoid serious injuries.

Three units of the Louth fire brigade attended the scene and treated the family for smoke inhalation .

The woman and her young children only recently moved into the property, which suffered serious internal damage as a result of the fire.

A source said: "They are completely innocent.

"This incident isn't directly linked to feuding in the area but gardai are investigating the involvement of the Maguire crime group as part of their debt-collection efforts," the source added.

Yesterday, gardai remained at the scene as forensic experts carried out examinations of the property and the area around it.

A Garda spokesman said they responded to the incident around 9.40pm along with fire services and paramedics.

"The fire was quickly brought under control but considerable damage was caused to the property," the spokesman said.

"An investigation into all of the circumstances of the fire has commenced, the scene is currently preserved for forensic examination, no arrests have been made to date and enquires are ongoing," he added.
Barbados has announced that it will become a complete Republic and relieve Queen Elizabeth II of her duties as the country's head of state. Barbados, an independent British Commonwealth nation since 1966 in the Caribbean has said that it wants to part ways with the English monarch and become a Republic by 2021.

Read: Former Barbados PM, Caribbean Statesman Owen Arthur Dies

'Next logical step'

Barbados Governor General Sandra Mason, delivering a speech on behalf of the country's Prime Minister Mia Mottley, said that "Barbadians want a Barbadian head of state". Sandra said that the time has come to completely leave the colonial past behind adding that Barbados will take the next logical step toward full sovereignty and become a Republic by the time the country celebrates its 55th Anniversary of Independence in November next year.

Read: Did You Know That Royal Queen Elizabeth II Celebrates Two Birthdays?

According to Barbados Today, Sandra said, "Barbados has developed governance structures and institutions that mark us as what has been described as, 'the best governed black society in the world'. Since Independence, we Barbadians have sought constantly to improve our systems of law and governance so as to ensure they best reflect our characteristics and values as a nation."

Read: Queen Elizabeth Virtually Attends Unveiling Of Portrait At Britain's Foreign Office

As per Barbados Today, the idea of becoming a Republic was discussed in the 1970s as well. In 1979, a commission was established to study the feasibility of becoming a Republic. The commission, however, came to the conclusion that Barbadians prefer to remain constitutional monarchy and the idea was dropped.

The latest announcement has been welcomed by many, not just inside the country but also abroad. Kristen Clarke, President of the US-based Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, called the move "globalisation" of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Barbados to relieve the UK Queen of her duties by 2021.



Barbados will take the next logical step toward full sovereignty and become a republic by the time we celebrate our 55th anniversary of independence.



This is the globalization of #BLM. pic.twitter.com/gk7p5qn6mL  Kristen Clarke (@KristenClarkeJD) September 16, 2020

Read: Queen Elizabeth Confers Knighthood On 100-year-old Fundraiser Captain Tom Moore


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This year has felt like Im drowning around a sea of lifeboats.

In some ways, I am one of the lucky ones. I did not lose my job when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. But in other ways, what happened to me  and to millions of my fellow Americans  was just as bad. My employer cut my hours, and my pay, by more than 25 percent. So I couldnt qualify for unemployment, but I still lost the income I needed to cover my familys monthly expenses.

Many Americans found themselves in a similar situation in the spring. But most of them got help in the form of a check from the U.S. government  the CARES Act authorized $1,200 for each adult and $500 for each child in most U.S. households. Because my wife of 11 years is a Honduran citizen, she was not eligible for a check. And because of the way the CARES Act was written, that meant that I wasnt either, nor our 7- and 8-year-old daughters, both U.S. citizens.

A new bill called the American Citizen Coronavirus Relief Act would right this wrong. It would amend the CARES Act to allow U.S. citizens to receive pandemic stimulus funds for themselves and for their children who are citizens.

Because my wife doesnt have a Social Security number (she is in the process of applying for her green card), she uses an ITIN  an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number  to report her earnings from her part-time job at a local restaurant. Thats the number I put on our joint tax returns, and we pay taxes on her income the same as mine. However, it was this number that made us ineligible for COVID-19 relief.

I am a retired Marine. I know that sometimes decisions get made high up that make less sense to those of us on the ground. If the U.S. government wants to take the taxes paid by people like my wife and redistribute them to American citizens, thats its business. But I cant get my head around a policy that places a financial penalty on U.S. citizens simply for marrying someone who doesnt carry a U.S. passport, or, in the case of my daughters, for having a non-citizen as one of their parents.

This is not just an abstract policy to us. My family really could have used one of those stimulus checks. We are late with the rent. Our car has broken down, and I cant afford to fix it. Ive resorted to asking for help from those with little to give themselves: family members like my mother, and local veterans organizations. Ive lined up for food at church pantries.

Because I wasnt one of the many hurting Americans who received a stimulus check of up to $6,000, my story is atypical. But its far from unique. More than a million people found themselves in the same situation this past spring, denied government assistance because they fell in love with someone who is not American, married them and reported it on their taxes. And yes, many of them are Texans.

This new bill would provide a family like mine with $2,200 that we can use toward rent, food, car repairs and maybe more if Congress authorizes additional checks.

Texas Sen. John Cornyn has signed on to cosponsor the bill, and senators from Louisiana, Alaska, Maine and Arizona have already joined him. I hope Texas other senator, Ted Cruz, decides to support the measure.

After six months of trying to keep our heads above water, this fix would be a welcome lifeline for families like mine.

Rocha is a retired Marine and Texan.
The pub industry has accused the Government of breaking its commitment to get venues open again this month.

'Wet' pubs that do not serve food are set to remain closed in Dublin, after the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) advised that Covid-19 cases remain too high in the capital.

The Licensed Vintners Association (LVA) called it an "empty gesture, backed by hollow words from a Government that broke its commitment to non-food pubs again".

Donall O'Keeffe, chief executive of the LVA, said: "Where is the scientific justification for this decision? This isn't a remedy to the increase in infections in Dublin. This has all the hallmarks of wanting to be seen to take action when it does nothing to address the problem.

"But it does have the impact of further penalising publicans, staff, suppliers and all their families. That is the one actual outcome that will come from this decision."

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Tom Mulligan, owner of The Cobblestone, said he was left reeling with the unfortunate news that Dublin's wet pubs couldn't reopen next Monday.

"This is our fourth time we've been told we can't open. It's only five days before we were due to reopen that they told us we can't reopen, so we're devastated and frustrated," the owner of the Smithfield venue told the Irish Independent.

"I can't understand how eating a 9 sandwich would make it any safer to avoid Covid than somebody drinking a pint of beer. It doesn't really make any sense."

Daniel Smith, of Grogans pub in Dublin, said: "We are disgusted, upset, angry. This Government has shown time and time again that they don't care about us."

Mr Smith told RTE's Liveline that publicans had been told they wouldn't be treated differently with regard to restrictions, only to receive the closure news for the fourth time during the pandemic.

Noel Anderson, of the Lemon and Duke bar in Dublin, said: "I've had a number of publicans nearly in tears. This is the fourth time they've been led up the hill."
Social gatherings, whether parties, camping, weddings or other unorganized leisure activities, is a common thread running through the majority of positive coronavirus cases in Midland County, according to the county's health director.

And the current outbreak at Northwood University, with more than 50 confirmed cases, has been responsible for a good share of the numbers added to the Midland County tally over the last month, said Fred Yanoski, Midland County Department of Public Health director/health officer. But, he added, there have been new cases from other age groups in the community.

Midland County recorded five new cases on Wednesday, according to the state report, and since Sept. 1, it has added 102 confirmed cases. The local pandemic total is 436 cases.

Northwood, as of Wednesday morning, is reporting 21 current cases, nine pending tests and 34 recoveries, from the start of the fall semester that began Aug. 24.

It's important to note, Yanoski said, that most of the Northwood cases were not related to school activities but to social gatherings.

"This is very consistent with what is happening on other campuses around Michigan and the United States," he said.

There are cases unrelated to Northwood throughout the community that also point to social gatherings.

"We certainly still have other cases in the community as well from all age groups," he said. "And again, a common theme seems to be social activity. We must have our community staying on course with mask wearing and social distancing as our behaviors are driving the continuous spread of COVID-19."

Yanoski said the Northwood exposure has been kept to a minimum

"Fortunately, we have had a low number of contacts from most of those cases due to the cooperation with Northwood to quickly isolate and quarantine, which essentially has a role in keeping the outbreak on campus."

Any outbreak here can affect Midland County statistics greatly, Yanoski said.

"I have mentioned before that with a smaller county like Midland, our statistics/cases could change rapidly. The Northwood outbreak in the last few weeks has accounted for about 12% to 13% of our total county cases, so it is certainly significant."

Nearby Saginaw Valley State University recorded 12 active cases on Wednesday, and seven residential students are quarantined on campus.

Yanoski said it is important for people who test positive to be forthright with county health department personnel during investigations. All information provided is confidential, he added.

"We really need people to be cooperative with our investigators in identifying contacts'" he said. "Some of our new cases are hesitant to name their friends, so their friends are not 'mad at them.' The health department needs to have complete information from contacts if we are going to mitigate the spread of disease so please be cooperative  it is vital!"

Wednesday's five additional confirmed cases bring the Midland County pandemic total to 436 cases, 95 probable cases and 11 deaths.

Saginaw County recorded a death Wednesday. There were no deaths in the four other counties  Midland, Gladwin, Bay and Isabella  that the Daily News has been chronicling since the start of the pandemic.

Wednesday, Sept. 16 daily numbers

Bay County: 14 cases were added; pandemic total stands at 842 cases, 90 probable, 46 deaths.

Gladwin County: One case was added; pandemic total stands at 78 cases, nine probable, two deaths.

Isabella County: Six cases were added; pandemic total stands at 565 cases, 67 probable, 11 deaths.

Saginaw County: Eight cases and one death were added; pandemic total stands at 2,627cases, 194 probable, 134 deaths and four probable deaths.

The state on Wednesday added 680 new cases and 11 deaths. Overall, Michigan is at 113,863 cases and 6,623 deaths.

Testing

The state report shows as of Sept. 16, Midland County has performed 12,565 diagnostic tests and 796 serology (antibodies) tests, totaling 13361 tests. Gladwin County is listed as having administered 4,820 diagnostic tests and 132 serology (antibodies) tests, totaling 4,952 tests.

Midland Countys seven-day rolling positivity rate on Sept. 13 was listed at 5.25%, and medium risk of spread. Gladwin County was listed at 0.8% and low risk. The Saginaw region, which includes 12-counties including Midland, Gladwin, Bay and Saginaw counties, was listed at 2.8% and low risk and Michigan at 3.4%, a medium risk. A positivity rate of less than 3% indicates a lack of community spread, according to Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, Department of Health and Human Services chief medical executive.

Nursing Homes

Brittany Manor in Midland is listed in the state report as having four cumulative cases and one death among residents as of Sept. 15, and five cumulative cases and no deaths among staff. Midland Kings Daughters is reporting one cumulative case among staff and Medilodge of Midland is reporting three cumulative cases among staff. The other reporting facility, Stratford Pines, is reporting no cases.

Gladwin Pines Nursing Home is listed as having two cumulative confirmed cases and no deaths among residents as of Sept. 15, and one confirmed case and no deaths among staff. Gladwin Nursing & Rehabilitation Community, the other long-term health facility reporting to the state, is reporting one cumulative confirmed case among residents and three cumulative cases among staff.

Recovered

As of Sept. 10, the Midland County health department website lists 342 recovered cases and 35 hospitalizations since the pandemic start.

The state lists the total recovered at 85,513 cases, as of Sept. 11, which represents COVID-19 confirmed individuals with an onset date on or prior to Aug. 12, according to the state website, mich.gov.

Midland County Health Department data

People younger than 40 make up 56.7% of total Midland County cases, confirmed and probable, as of Sept. 10.

Of Midland Countys 499 confirmed and probable cases, 20.6% cases are in 0-19 age range; 22.8% in 20-29 age range; 13.3% in 30-39 age range; 12.3% in 40-49 age range; 14.1% in 50-59 age range; 8.!% in 60-69 age range; 5.6% in 70-79 age range, and 3.2% in 80+ age range, as of Sept. 10.

Of Midlands 11 deaths, five have been female and six male. One was between the ages of 50-59; four were between ages of 70-79, and six were 80 years and older.

As of Sept. 10, 82.6% of cases have fallen within the 48640 and 48642 (mostly Midland) zip codes. Next highest were 48657 (Sanford) with 7% of cases and 48618 (Coleman) with 6% of cases.

Cases by race, as of Sept. 10: 85.7% were listed as caucasian; 3.1% as Black; 2.9% as Asian; 0.8% listed as two or more races; and 6.2% were unknown.

MidMichigan Health statistics

Patient census: MidMichigan Health system is listed as having 13 COVID-19 patients, including one COVID-19 patient in ICU, and 56.90% bed occupancy, as of Sept. 14.

PPE days on hand as of Sept. 14: The health system reported 0-6 days for N95 masks; 0-6 days for surgical masks; 7-14 days for surgical gowns; 21+ days for shields and 7-14 days for gloves.

Recommendations for public

 Socially distance at least 6 feet from non-household members.

 Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth.

 Wash hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom, before eating and after blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing.

 If soap and water are not readily available, use an alcohol based sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.

 Always wash hands with soap and water if hands are visibly dirty.

 Wear face coverings in public.

 Stay home when sick.

 Covering coughs and sneezes.

 Throw used tissues in the trash right after use.

 Routinely clean frequently touched objects and surfaces using a regular household cleaning wipe or spray.

Where to get help

If you think you've been exposed to COVID-19 and develop a fever and symptoms such as cough or difficulty breathing, call your health care provider for medical advice. If he/she isn't available, call MidMichigan Urgent Care in Midland at 989-633-1350 or MidMichigan Medical Center's Emergency Department in Midland at 989-839-3100.

MidMichigan Health has a COVID-19 informational hotline with a reminder of CDC guidelines and recommendations. The hotline can be reached toll-free at 800-445-7356 or 989-794-7600. Michigan Department of Health and Human Services also has a hotline number for Michigan residents for questions about COVID-19. The number is 1-888-535-6136 and is available seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Residents can also e-mail COVID19@michigan.gov. E-mails will be answered seven days a week between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.

If you are feeling anxious, stressed, depressed and feel you need to talk to someone, reach out to Community Mental Health for Central Michigan by calling 800-317-0708.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 23:37:28|Editor: huaxia

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DAR ES SALAAM, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Tanzania's civil aviation watchdog on Wednesday announced the lifting of a ban it had imposed on Kenyan airline operators to fly into the country.

Hamza Johari, the director general of the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA), said in a terse statement that Kenyan airline operators were now free to operate in Tanzania, including Kenya Airways, Fly 540 Limited, Safarilink Aviation and AirKenya Express Limited.

The statement said the lifting of the ban on Kenya airline operators followed the Kenyan government's removal of 14 days mandatory quarantine for all passengers arriving from Tanzania.

"The resumption and restoration of flights for all Kenyan operators is with immediate effect and Kenya Civil Aviation Authority has been informed accordingly," said the statement.

It added that Tanzania will always strive to adhere to the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation and bilateral air services agreement between the two countries.

Last month, Tanzania nullified its approval for Kenyan airline operators into the country after Kenya had excluded Tanzania on the list of countries whose passengers were allowed to enter Kenya without being quarantined for 14 days amid the COVID-19 crisis. Enditem
Sharon Stone is one of Hollywood's most enduring and versatile sex symbols as she has managed to navigate her way from bombshell status in 1992's Basic Instinct to a bewitching role in the new Netflix series Ratched.

And the 62-year-old was happy to talk about her alluring public image with the October cover of Town & Country magazine.

In the wide-ranging interview, the former model talks about how she is still asked to take her clothes off, how she feels for what Marilyn Monroe went through and that time when a director sexually harassed her by insisting she sit on his lap.

Still on top: Sharon Stone discussed being a sex symbol in Town & Country, from still being asked to show off her body at 62 to being sexually harassed at the height of her career

Stone did not offer too many details about her sexual harassment story with the unnamed director - who denied the story to the publication - but she did convey the tension well.

'Hed tell me that I should sit on his lap to get direction for the scene,' said Stone.

'And when I told him that I was not going to sit on his lap, he would send me back to the trailer. And that is just the way it was.'

The incident took place when she was 'at the height of her earning power,' the magazine explained. Stone reportedly made her most money for Basic Instinct 2 in 2006 with over $13M.

An icon: When playing cunning author Catherine Trammel in 1992's Basic Instinct, Sharon showed off a cold, calculated sexuality

She feels for her: These days Stone looks at the frustrations Marilyn Monroe faced with her career; seen in 1960 for the film Let's Make Love

Her sex symbol image still lingers, which surprises the veteran.

'People still want to see my boobs. Im 62! Its like, "Really? Grow up!" But also, "Heres some boobs!"' she said with a theatrical gesture.

As far as how she came to fame in the early Nineties, she says the public wanted a pinup.

'People, I guess, really needed a sex symbol,' said the Pennsylvania native.

She had to deal with a lot of craziness: The star said she was sexually harassed on set by a director. It took place at the height of her success; seen here in Basic Instinct 2 in 2006 with David Morrissey

'I mean, I never thought I was that sexy... When I did Basic Instinct, I explored my dark side and made friends with my dark side. I got to not be afraid of my own self. I think people find that sexy.'

But having people expect her to be a sex symbol all the time is taxing.

'It was very difficult for Marilyn Monroe. She did movies that really mattered, like Bus Stop, The Misfits, but she still couldnt get completely out of being that thing. Its very hard to shake,' said the mother of three.

Still hot stuff: Her sex symbol image still lingers, which surprises the veteran. 'People still want to see my boobs. Im 62! Its like, "Really? Grow up!" But also, "Heres some boobs!"' she said with a theatrical gesture

There was also a time when Sharon was hardly employed because of the old Hollywood rules that still apply.

'You dont really get work between 40 and 60. It doesnt matter if youre at the height of your career, whether you just made Casino. Thats it: no work,' said the movie queen.

Casino came out in 1995.

And now Stone is not letting being 62 get in her way of landing jobs.

'I think you have to choose how you want to age. People look at me as a certain thing, and it gets in the way of them casting me as things I could play,' she said.

'But Im sure that I have my own destiny, and Im now trying to meet it with as much integrity as I can, and be as open to growth as I can be.'

A fabulous character: Playing Lenore Osgood in Ratched has been a thrill for her. 'Shes completely insane,' says Stone with a sly smile. 'And at the same time she thinks shes really a loving mother who has her sh*t together'

A criminal: To help with her role, Sharon thought out the character's back story. 'I thought she was probably Doris Dukes best friendshe was a showgirl who married some rich guy and knocked him off,' she said

Playing Lenore Osgood in Ratched has been a thrill for her. 'Shes completely insane,' says Stone with a sly smile. 'And at the same time she thinks shes really a loving mother who has her sh*t together.'

Stone has something very big to look forward to in 2021: she is releasing her memoir The Beauty Of Living Twice

To help with her role, Sharon thought out the character's back story.

'I thought she was probably Doris Dukes best friendshe was a showgirl who married some rich guy and knocked him off,' she said.

'She would try to be fancy, because the more fabulous she was the less people would know that she came from nowhere and was a complete criminal.'

Also in the interview, Sharon talked money.

She said she made less than $500,000 for her role in Basic Instinct and co-star Michael Douglas made much more; some reports say as much as $15M.

And even when her star rose, she had to fight to get a good paycheck.

'When I was a global phenomenon and I wanted to make $2 million [for a movie], it was like I wanted them to give me the moon, like Id lost all reason,' said the Sliver star.

'When I wanted four, they were like, "Were not going to pay you $4 million for this movie."'

Stone has something very big to look forward to in 2021: she is releasing her memoir The Beauty Of Living Twice as she discusses not just her career and marriages but also her near-death experience in 2001.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A violent stretch of 28 hours on Staten Island saw a flurry of gunfire that left three men dead between Monday and Tuesday afternoon in one of the bloodiest spans in recent memory on the borough.

The three fatal shootings  all of which remain without arrests as of Wednesday afternoon  account for the 11th, 12th and 13th homicides logged on the Island in 2020.
Burma Bangladesh Worried by Myanmar Border Deployments

Myanmar and Bangladeshi soldiers on joint patrols. / Syed Zakir Hossain

NaypyitawMyanmars military has beefed up security along the Bangladeshi border, citing increased activities by the Arakan Army (AA) and Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA).

There have been increased activities by the AA and ARSA in Buthidaung and Maungdaw. So we are carrying out more security work than normal. We have particularly increased security on the land border, military spokesman Major General Zaw Min Tun told The Irrawaddy.

The military has declared both the AA and ARSA terrorist organizations. The AA is currently engaged in ongoing fighting with Myanmars military in northern Rakhine.

ARSA launched a series of attacks on security outposts in northern Rakhine on Aug. 25, 2017, killing 12 security personnel. The attacks prompted the military to carry out clearance operations that forced an estimated 730,000 Rohingya into neighboring Bangladesh. Myanmar has since come under international pressure over the mass exodus of Rohingya.

On Sunday, the Bangladeshi foreign ministry summoned Myanmars ambassador in Dhaka and expressed concerns about the border deployments.

We have expressed our concerns over the movement of troops near the border, Delwar Hossain, the director-general of Myanmar affairs at the foreign ministry in Dhaka, was quoted saying by the Bangla Tribune on Sunday.

The Dhaka Tribune also reported that Myanmar deployed over 2,500 troops along the border. According to Bangladeshi intelligence, Myanmar deployed additional troops and weapons under the pretext of suppressing the AA.

We are just doing this for the security of our territory. As we are just carrying out security work in response to our intelligence about the enemy and I dont think it will affect bilateral relations, said Maj-Gen Zaw Min Tun.

Myanmars navy conducts regular patrols along the Naf River, which marks the border, and in nearby coastal waters. Land patrols have also increased.

According to information acquired by The Irrawaddy, the Bangladeshi Foreign Affairs Ministry invited Myanmars ambassador for a casual conversation but then issued the warning.

Myanmar has increased patrols and security work in response to intelligence. Perhaps they expressed their concerns in response to that, said Maj-Gen Zaw Min Tun.

Analyst and former military officer Dr. Aung Myo told The Irrawaddy: It is good that the Tatmadaw [military] has made it clear that the deployments are not to threaten the sovereignty of Bangladesh but to prevent the possible threats. The two countries do not need to end up in a dispute.

The Irrawaddy was not able to obtain comments from the Presidents Office or Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the Bangladeshi warning.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko

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KYIV. Sept 16 (Interfax-Ukraine)  Ukrainian MP Andriy Derkach reiterated that the Burisma group transferred funds to accounts connected with Hunter Biden, the son of former U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden, and Ukraine was under the external control of the United States.

At a press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday, he announced that he won a court case against Burisma last week. "By the way, if Burisma again wants to whiten Biden in court, I want to notify that I already won one lawsuit regarding payments from Burisma to Biden last week. By the way, Burisma's lawyers, trying to whiten Biden, did not dispute the fact of payments. They were embarrassed only by the indicated amount of payments to Biden. This fact was also noted in the court's decision," he said, presenting a photocopy of the decision of Kyiv-based Pechersky District Court.

Senior prosecutor of the Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) Kostiantyn Kulyk, who was responsible for the investigation of economic crimes of the Yanukovych regime in 2016-2019, said that the reform of optimization and recertification of its employees, which was actively implemented under Prosecutor General Ruslan Riaboshapka, was used to withdraw funds from the U.S. material and technical assistance, as well as to cleanse the Prosecutor General's Office of those who were not "in the cohort of loyal Western partners."

"In this regard, we transfer the documents we have to the law enforcement agencies, and we propose to the unlawfully dismissed prosecutors to defend their right to serve the people of Ukraine in court, using the materials we have," Derkach said.

He also announced the exposure of the scheme with the withdrawal of funds from the Thermal Power Plants in Chernihiv, Sumy and Cherkasy, and Darnytsia Thermal Power Plant in Kyiv, which was helped to uncover former Head of the security department of the Tekhnova company owned by Anatoliy Shkribliak Vitaliy Mykhailiuk.

Thus, he said that at the beginning of 2017, the National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission of Ukraine (NEURC), headed by Dmytro Vovk, checked the correctness of the calculation and use of tariffs for heat and electricity, and as a result of which UAH 232 million was removed from the tariffs of the above enterprises for the activities in 2015-2018, and more it was planned to withdraw UAH 516 million excluding VAT.

"At the beginning of 2017, an agreement was reached between Shkribliak and Ihor Kononenko. Shkribliak remains the legal beneficiary of the activities of energy companies, but at the same time, persons from the circle of Poroshenko's friend and business partner Ihor Kononenko are appointed to key positions in the management companies and at these TPPs. Closing all issues with the security forces became Shkribliak's personal responsibility. Within March-May 2017, Shkribliak transferred $10 million in cash in several parts to close issues with the law," the MP said.

Derkach said that Olena Mazurova "from the orbit of Zlochevsky and Burisma a month ago took out working capital from the Tekhnova group of companies, the money of our citizens stolen from the Sumy, Chernihiv, Cherkasy and Darnytsia CHPPs, and took them to NABU to close the criminal case in relation to Zlochevsky, this is the same high-profile bribe of $6 million, on which she was taken together with the chief lawyer of Burisma."

He also went to court with a statement of claim, demanding that the inaction of the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine be recognized as illegal. "Today I am filing a statement of claim with the court demanding to recognize the inactivity of the Foreign Ministry as unlawful and demand to oblige the Foreign Ministry to make an official statement (note) on the inadmissibility of the interference of certain U.S. Embassy officials in the internal affairs of Ukraine," Derkach said.
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe talks to reporters after the province released its budget at Saskatchewan's Legislative Building in Regina on June 15, 2020. (The Canadian Press/Mark Taylor)

Can Moe Lead Sask Party to Fourth Victory in Fall Election?

Saskatchewan will head to the polls before October ends, as Premier Scott Moe seeks to extend the Saskatchewan Partys 13-year reign. If he succeeds, itll be the fourth consecutive victory for his party.

Moe must call an election soon. Saskatchewans Election Act dictates a campaign of at least 27 days, and its fixed-date election law means Oct. 26 is the latest that ballots could be cast.

This will be Moes first time leading his party into an election, having gained the leadership in 2018 following Brad Walls resignation. It will also be the Wexit movements first chance to elect representatives from the Buffalo Party and will demonstrate how the group pushing for western independence from Canada will fare.

The Sask. Party is favoured to win, says University of Saskatchewan political studies professor Joseph Garcea.

Theres a sense that the outcome is a foregone conclusion. And the Sask. Party is campaigning very, very hard, with hard-hitting types of commercials already  aimed at two things, really. Number one is at the current [NDP] leader and number two is at the NDP legacy, Garcea told The Epoch Times.

The NDP also chose a new leader in 2018, Saskatoon physician Ryan Meili. The province stagnated during the partys previous reign from 1991 to 2007 and then grew in population and economic output during the Wall years.

There are seats in the two cities that, as in every election, they tend to be up for grabs. And thats where I think any kind of change one way or another might be noticeable, Garcea says, referring to Regina and Saskatoon, Saskatchewans two main cities.

An EKOS poll released Aug. 31 showed that the Sask. Party enjoyed 60 percent support among decided voters, compared to 28 percent for the NDP and 12 percent for other parties. In particular, the Sask. Party led the NDP by 12 and 13 points in Regina and Saskatoon respectively, and by 9 points among university-educated voters in the province.

Garcea says the NDP has many small messages but must find a big one.

Its got to be singular, its got to be clear, and its got to be big, he says. It has to be bold and it has to have resonance and it has to provide both a critique of whats going on and a vision of what should be going on. And theyve found it very difficult so far to get that and to articulate it.

The election would be held within one year after the federal Liberals were re-elected without any seats in Alberta or Saskatchewan. The Wexit Facebook page grew from a few thousand supporters to over 212,000 in the two days that followed the Oct. 21, 2019, federal election.

Wexit Saskatchewan registered as a political party in March this year but rebranded itself in July as the Buffalo Party of Saskatchewan. The name recalls the vision of Sir Frederick Haultain, the first premier of the Northwest Territories, who wanted the creation of one giant provincecalled Buffalobetween Manitoba and the Rockies, which would rival Ontario and Quebec in importance.

Garcea says the Buffalo Party will attract angry people who feel marginalized  but I do not think that there are many constituencies where it is likely to garner enough support to come in second.

Buffalo Party leader Wade Sira told The Epoch Times that his party will run competent and relatable candidates in one quarter of the provinces 61 ridings. He says six seats are winnable, and the other ones, I feel that we can take enough percentage away to make the other two parties realize that this is no longer a two-party province.

Sira claims many are disillusioned with the Saskatchewan Party, saying the red influence on the party grew after Wall left.

He admits the pandemic makes it harder to raise funds and reach voters, since many venues must limit gatherings to 30 people. Yet, People are still being interactive everywhere we do go. Theyre asking questions and they want to know more than whats being told out there, he says.

I drive truck right now, so I drive all over Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan.  Theres a lot of people unhappy. [The question is], can you turn that frustration into actual votes [for Wexit]?
Getting Here

MCLA is located in the northwest corner of Massachusetts, in the Berkshires. Were within three hours of New York City, Boston, and Burlington, Vt., and about an hour drive from Albany, N.Y.

Need directions or transportation? The College is easily accessible via a scenic drive and MCLAs main campus is located on the Berkshire Regional Transit Authority bus route.




Mali's former president Moussa Traore, who ruled the West Africa nation for more than 22 years, has died at age 83, according to his son Idrissa Traore. He did not give details on the cause of death.







Traore seized power in a military coup in 1968, eight years after Mali gained independence from France, and amid growing discontent with then-president Modibo Keita, the country's first president.







Traore and other officers set up the Military Committee for National Liberation, abolished the constitution and established a regime. Traore ruled the country as its military leader until 1979 when he installed himself as civilian president of a one-party state. He was the sole presidential candidate in elections held in 1985. Traore was eventually ousted in a coup in 1991 after days of violent protests killed at least 200 people following years of economic decline.







After the coup d'etat of March 26, 1991, Traore was imprisoned and sentenced to death in 1993. Alpha Oumar Konare, who was president from 1992 to 2002, commuted Traore's sentence to life imprisonment and finally pardoned him in 2002.







Traore's death comes nearly a month after military leaders in Mali staged a coup on Aug. 18, deposing President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who had three years left in his second term in office.







On Tuesday, the military junta currently ruling Mali met with a group of West African leaders in Ghana to outline a transition to civilian rule.







In the last five years, Traore became a mediator within Mali. Most recently he was visited by Col. Assimi Goita, who is heading the junta. (AP)


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Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) New York, United States  Wed, September 16, 2020 11:03 492 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c45147f0 2 Entertainment Kim-Kardashian,Celebrities,social-media,Instagram,Facebook,protest,disinformation Free

Celebrities including Kim Kardashian won't post on Instagram or Facebook for 24 hours from Wednesday as part of a protest to pressure the world's biggest social media firm to fight hate and disinformation.

Stars like Leonardo DiCaprio, Sacha Baron Cohen, Katy Perry and Michael B. Jordan have all expressed support for the freeze organized by "Stop Hate for Profit", a coalition calling on Facebook, which owns Instagram, to change.

"I can't sit by and stay silent while these platforms continue to allow the spreading of hate, propaganda and misinformation -- created by groups to sow division and split America apart", posted Kardashian, who has 188 million followers on Instagram.

Actress Kerry Washington, known for her role on drama series Scandal posted: "It's up to Facebook and other social platforms to stop the amplification of hate and the undermining of democracy."

Misinformation can be harmful. Its up to us to do our research and make sure what were sharing is correct information. Its up to Facebook and other social platforms to stop the amplification of hate and the undermining of democracy. #StopHateForProfit. https://t.co/BY2kGrYl7B  kerry washington (@kerrywashington) September 15, 2020

Facebook has come under heavy pressure from activists, governments and companies that advertise on its platforms for tougher action on promoting discrimination, hatred or violence.

The company has pointed to its efforts to take down accounts associated with extremist groups and its moves to fight misinformation ahead of the November 3 US presidential election.

Facebook was sharply criticized for its handling of the 2016 presidential election, when it failed to restrict disinformation from Russian operatives that spread conspiracy theories and discouraged voting in some cases.

The Stop Hate for Profit collective organizing Wednesday's freeze, which includes the Anti-Defamation League and the NAACP, was behind a push for advertisers to boycott the platform.

By July nearly 1,000 advertisers had joined, including VW and Adidas. Facebook still reported a $5.2 billion quarterly profit at the end of July, despite the protest.

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg met with coalition organizers in July, but they vowed to continue pushing the ad boycott saying the social media giant had failed to tackle hateful content.

In a statement on Wednesday's freeze, the Anti-Defamation League said "members of the public, corporations, nonprofits and social influencers are expected to join in the effort."

The collective, made up of nine associations, has demanded that Facebook increase the resources it puts into fighting online hatred and disinformation.
In a move that epitomises a new openness towards Cairo on the part of western Libyan political leaders a delegation of members of the Tripoli-based Higher Council of State (HCS) and House of Representatives arrived to Egypt on a three-day visit last week. They met with members of the Egyptian Committee on Libya and participated in a workshop organised by the Egyptian Centre for Strategic Studies.

In a statement issued at the end of the visit the Libyan delegation stressed the need to establish mechanisms to uphold the ceasefire under UN supervision and in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions. The statement also urged that the comprehensive political settlement process in Geneva be accelerated, called for elections to be held no later than October 2021 and for a constitutional framework for this purpose to be finalised.

The delegation, in its statement, supported the restructuring of the Presidency Council to include three members, a president and two vice presidents, and the formation of a new interim cabinet. The delegation also affirmed the underlying principles of the Libyan dialogue, especially those pertaining to the equitable distribution of power and wealth. Finally, they expressed their appreciation of Cairos efforts to promote a political solution to the Libyan crisis.

According to an HoR member of the Libyan delegation, Egypt officially notified them that it would lower the minimum age for visa-free entry to Egypt for Libyans from 45 to 40 and that Egypt would open its airports to flights from both east and west Libya.

HCS delegation member Saad bin Sharada noted the ties between the Egyptian and Libyan peoples date back thousands of years and accused the international Muslim Brotherhood of distorting Egypts role in Libya. He stressed that the delegations members wanted Egypt to intensify its contacts with Libyans in the west as part of its efforts to promote a political solution to the Libyan conflict. Underscoring Egypts economic, political and social interests in Libya, he said: We would like Egypt to play a bigger role in securing the ceasefire and the resumption of oil exports.

It is noteworthy that the HoR members of the delegation were among a group of western-based MPs who initiated a boycott of HoR sessions in Tobruk not long after the legislative elections of 2014. Their participation in this delegation is an important sign of a growing desire among western-based politicians to reunify the Libyan legislature.

According to one source, Egypt may host a Cairo-3 dialogue to reunify the Libyan parliament in response to a request from the western-based HoR members of the delegation. After all, he said, it makes little practical sense, now, for the parliamentary fissure to continue.

Cairo is currently focused on the long-awaited Libyan National Dialogue conference which will hopefully inaugurate a new interim phase, and is coordinating with the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) over individuals who could best represent recognised political entities, such as the HoR, in that conference. Cairo believes that any reservations and positions regarding the principles and formulas for the interim phase are best worked out in the framework of the dialogue. The substance of the recent visit by the delegation from western Libya is an indication of an emerging consensus on central issues related to this track as well as the other tracks of the Geneva process.

In the same context, a source who is a member of Libyas delegation to Geneva said that real progress is being made in Geneva in the UN sponsored talks between the delegations of the Tobruk-based HoR and the Presidency Council. He said the consultative meeting hosted by UNSMIL (the third of its kind) succeeded in overcoming differences, bringing an agreement on the framework for the Libyan National Dialogue conference within reach. He added that other committees with specialised technical, political, security and economic functions may emerge from the consultative meeting in advance of the anticipated national dialogue. The committees will serve as a means to sustain work on these issues on the basis of what was accomplished during the conference in Geneva.

Sources stressed that the fact Cairo hosted this meeting with the delegation from western Libya underscores the Egyptian governments impartiality and openness to all Libyan parties. Cairo has no objection to hosting any Libyan delegation regardless of its orientation. It welcomes all sides and all points of view, a source said, noting that Cairos basic rule on Libya is to restore stability in the framework of a political solution, and that this commitment is enshrined in the Cairo Declaration, based on the outputs of the Berlin Conference in January 2020.

In a related context, the Egyptian National Committee on Libya held separate meetings with Khalifa Haftar, commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA), and Speaker of the HoR Aguila Saleh in Benghazi on Monday. According to press reports, the two sets of discussions addressed issues of mutual concern to Egypt and Libya, and recent local and international developments. The meetings took place the day after the consultative meeting in Geneva in which participants agreed to resume the comprehensive political dialogue, and in light of developments related to the resumption of Libyan oil exports. The LNA General Command announced that it would resume pumping oil within the framework of guarantees that address concerns over the marginalisation of eastern Libya in the management of oil revenues and the lack of oversight on how oil revenues are spent.

Eastern Libyans claim that authorities affiliated with the Government of National Accord (GNA) are using oil revenues to promote their factional interests. In particular, they accuse them of diverting the revenues to finance the GNAs military agreements with Ankara, funnelling millions of dollars to Turkey in return for heavy weaponry from Turkish arms manufacturers and the foreign mercenaries Turkey has introduced into Libya.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 17 September, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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Almost 80 music festival revellers trampled in a crowd crush four years ago will finally be compensated as part of a multi-million dollar class action settlement.

Nineteen festival goers were hospitalised and another 76 needed first aid after they were caught up in a stampede that broke out between acts at the Falls Festival in Lorne in regional Victoria on December 30, 2016.

Falls Festival organisers will pay out almost $7million to 77 revellers after the 'lifechanging' settlement was recently approved by the Victorian Supreme Court.

A third of the most seriously injured victims will receive 'hundreds of thousands of dollars'.

Lead plaintiff of the class action Michela Burke (pictured) suffered nerve damage when she was injured in a crowd stampede at the Fall festival in Lorne in December 2016

'The compensation payments will enable group members to look to, and plan for, the future. In respect of some of the larger claims, we anticipate the compensation payment will be life changing,' Maddens Lawyers' Kathryn Emeny said.

She said many injured revellers are still dealing with the incident 'in one way or another' almost four years on.

Some have developed post-traumatic stress disorder.

Revellers were leaving Australian rock band DMAs' performance to see London Grammar on another stage when the overcrowded exit became congested, which resulted in revellers being crushed and trampled on.

Lead plaintiff in the class action Michela Burke suffered nerve damage to her left arm when she was caught up in the stampede.

'I am relieved that the matter is close to finalisation and we can finally begin to put the crowd crush behind us,' Ms Burke told ABC's Hack.

Dozens of festival revellers were injured in the crowd stampede between acts in 2016

She later told SBS 'that she still feels 'jumpy' when there's oncoming traffic.

'I remember being in a washing machine and someone trying to pull me out. Then I had a blank. I woke up on the grass somewhere and realised my arm was paralysed,' she told The Feed in 2018.

'You go to a festival thinking that you're going to have fun and feel safe. Thinking that you're in a situation where you could die is the last thing on your mind.'

Maddy (surname withheld), who suffered severe bruising around her eyes and a fractured pelvis was also pleased about the settlement.

She still bears long lasting emotional scars from the ordeal and can no longer listen to music from the band that was performing at the festival.

'It does reflect the pain and suffering that occurred. But it is just money as well. The most important thing that I've been trying to focus on is my my own mental state... just working through those things mentally,' Maddy told Hack.

Music fan Maddy (pictured) will be compensated for the physical and mental pain suffered

Festival organisers hope the the settlement will bring relief and closure for all those involved.

'We also want to assure the participants and all those who attend our events, that health and safety is our number one priority. We care deeply about the welfare of our patrons, and are continually improving and adapting our safety protocols on an ongoing basis,' they said in a statement.

A class action was launched after Worksafe Victoria declared in 2017 there was 'insufficient evidence to prosecute' event organisers, despite the mass injuries.

Revellers paid anywhere from $249 to $468 plus booking fees to go to the four-day camping festival.

Music fans were leaving Australian rock band DMAs' performance to see London Grammar on another stage when the overcrowded exit became congested

Also among the injured was Nick Moriarty, then 22, who was at the front of the crowd.

He tried to break free but was trapped under bodies but he saw men and women being carried off unconscious.

He sustained swelling to his knee and ankle in the stampede.

'It was just over and there was too many people in the first place. We were leaving and everyone starting pushing and pushing,' Mr Moriarty told Daily Mail Australia at the time.

'A lot of people helped and people that were just at the festival helped and all the security were helping. When we got sent to the medical room there were heaps of people in there. People required stitches and there was large gashes. There was a lot of blood.'

The iconic festival is traditionally held across multiple days over the New Year period in Byron Bay, Lorne, Fremantle and Marion Bay.

The popular event taking a hiatus this summer due to COVID-19 restrictions but has vowed to return bigger and better in 2021.
On the first day of classes, 69 students were expected to show up at Hunters Glen Junior Public School in Scarborough.

By the end of this week, about 250 will be back, with the rest of the students  about 180 of them  choosing to learn from home.

Strips of red tape marked spots on the pavement Tuesday morning at the school, near Midland Ave. and Lawrence Ave. E., so the children would know how far apart to stand as they waited for the bell. They were given squirts of hand sanitizer before heading into class and during the first announcements of the school year, their principal reminded them about good hand hygiene and keeping their masks on.

For now, the library is off limits in Toronto public schools. Gyms and cafeterias are now classrooms, and students will be spending as much time as possible learning outdoors.

For the Toronto District School Board  and the 71 other school boards across the province  returning to school is not a return to normal.

There will be a lot of differences and adjustments, said TDSB interim director of education Carlene Jackson, who was at Hunters Glen to greet parents and students as they arrived.

For teachers  many of whom only learned of their classroom assignments at the last minute  start-up will be a challenge for the most part, but Jackson said she is confident they will rise to the occasion.

However, she noted, everyone has to realize things are not going to be perfect. Were going to need to adjust as we go along. Theres a lot of learning we are still doing, so theres going to need to be patience.

As for the main concern of parents  class sizes  she said the board is working to make sure they are as small as possible.

In an ideal world, all of our classes would be the 12 to 15 that Sick Kids and everyone else has been recommending, Jackson said, but thats not possible with our current resources.

She said any larger classes should be temporary as the board is taking action as soon as possible to reduce class sizes as families now have to give a firm answer on whether their children will attend in person.

Jackson said the board anticipated a 70-30 split of students attending school to those learning at home, but at some schools, we are not seeing that split. We do need to look at those situations and make sure we put in extra resources to lower class sizes.

Hunters Glen principal Aldo Petrucci said he has lost 5.5 teaching positions this year because of the drop in in-person enrolment. Kindergarten classes are about 24 students or fewer, Grades 1 to 3 have up to 20 students and from Grades 4 to 8, classes can go up to 27.

In the schoolyard, four large white circles have been painted so that classes can be outside and remain far apart. The school already had an outdoor chalkboard with wooden benches.

Jeremy Jamieson and his son Travis 11, arrived early Tuesday and said they were a little nervous but glad that he is going back to class.

We started seeing the news about the case numbers going up again, so Im a bit apprehensive right now, said Jamieson. But he needs to go back  hes been away for six months.

The Toronto public board, among others, delayed the start of school for a week while it worked out back-to-school plans and schedules. High school classes begin Thursday. Toronto and the Peel District School Board have also put off the start of their virtual schools.

Wallace West, who dropped off his 5-year-old daughter Freyja at Hunters Glen  his son Wyatt starts Grade 2 on Thursday  said his family has taught their three children to use their masks, and every once in awhile they will pull it down, but thats to be expected I think.

He doesnt expect that younger children will be able to stay distanced, either.

Theyre going to be bumping into each other, running around like crazy, West said. I feel for the teachers.
CANBERRA, Australia - A Chinese-born adviser to an Australian lawmaker has launched a constitutional challenge in Australias highest court against laws banning covert foreign interference in domestic politics, citing a burden on free speech.

John Shi Sheng Zhang is also challenging the validity of search warrants executed by police at his Sydney home and offices in June as part of an investigation into illegal foreign interference, according to court documents seen by The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Zhang is an adviser to New South Wales state lawmaker Shaoquett Moselmane, whose membership in the opposition Labor Party was suspended after police raids on Moselmanes and Zhangs homes and business addresses in June.

Chinas foreign ministry on Wednesday rejected suspicions that Chinese diplomats had attempted to infiltrate the Labor Party and influence voters though Zhang.

The June raids were the first police investigation to grab public attention since the foreign interference laws came into force in 2018 and the government bolstered funding to security agencies late last year to enforce them.

The laws angered China and stoked increasing tensions between the nations.

In Zhangs court documents, filed in August, he said he was accused of acting with others on behalf of the Chinese state and party apparatus in a private social media chat group and other fora with Moselane to advance the interests and the policy goals of a foreign principal, being the Chinese government.

Zhang, a 62-year-old Australian citizen who immigrated from China in 1989, is also accused of providing support and encouragement to Moselmane for the advocacy of Chinese state interests.

It is also alleged that Zhang and others concealed from or failed to disclose to Moselmane that they were working with Chinese state and Communist party apparatus including the Ministry of State Security and the United Front Work Department.

The case will likely be listed for its first preliminary hearing before a judge within weeks.

Police have confirmed that search warrants were executed in Sydney in June, but have yet to give details about how many or who was targeted.

During the June raids, Australian police accessed the communications of Chinese diplomats and named a Chinese consul, Sun Yantao, in a warrant, Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported on Wednesday.

ABC said it has seen search warrants used in June that revealed police were investigating whether Chinas consulate in Sydney conspired with Zhang in a plot to infiltrate the Labor Party and influence voters.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin dismissed the allegation of attempted Chinese infiltration of the Labor Party as malicious slander made out of nothing.

We have never and have no need to interfere or infiltrate other countries, Wang said at a daily briefing Wednesday.

Some people in Australia are keen to instigate anti-China sentiments by smearing and attacking China to draw attention, he said.

We urge these people concerned in Australia to abandon the Cold War mentality and ideological prejudice, stop the practice of politicizing and stigmatizing the normal performance of the Chinese diplomatic missions in Australia, and do not create new troubles and obstacles to China-Australia relations, Wang said.

Australian Federal Police said in a statement that as the investigation remains ongoing, it is not appropriate to make any comment.

Zhang argues that the foreign interference offences that were the basis for the search warrants were unconstitutional because they impermissibly burden his freedom of political communication.

The Australian constitution doesnt include an equivalent of the U.S. First Amendment. But the High Court has held for decades that the constitution contains an implied right to free speech because such political communication is essential to a democracy. This right is not as extensive as that guaranteed by the U.S. constitution and is limited to government and political matters.

Zhang has also complained to senior Australian government ministers about a search by Sydney Airport officials of his familys laptops and phones in January when they returned from China after Lunar New Year, ABC reported.

The devices contained correspondences with Chinese diplomats, who have immunity under Australian and international laws, ABC said. The Australian government has declined to comment.

Chinas foreign ministry announced earlier that Australian agents had raided the homes of four journalists working for Chinese state media in anti-foreign interference investigations and seized their electronics. The four had since returned to China.

The revelation last week came a day after the last two Australian journalists working for Australian media in China left the country for fear of detention and the Chinese foreign ministry announced that an Australian citizen working as a Chinese state media journalist had been detained on suspicion of national security crimes.
Shimla, Sep 16: Devotees visiting the famous Chintpurni and Shiv Bari temples in Himachal Pradeshs Una district from outside the state no longer require a negative COVID-19 test report, an official said on Wednesday. The announcement comes a day after the Himachal Pradesh government decided to allow unrestricted movement of people in the hill state.

Una Deputy Commissioner Sandeep Kumar, in a video, said there would be no requirement of e-registration and a negative COVID test report for paying obeisance at Chintpurni and other temples located in the district. Earlier while issuing the standard operating procedure (SOP) on September 9 for visitors to Chintpurni temple in Amb tehsil from outside the state, the DC had said that a negative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test for COVID-19" would be a must.

Chintpurni temple and other religious places in Himachal Pradesh were reopened from September 10 after they had been closed for the public on March 16 to check the spread of coronavirus. The DC said interstate borders in Una district were completely opened for movement of people without any e-pass or e-registration after getting guidelines from the state government.

Una district shares its border with Hoshiarpur and Rupnagar districts of Punjab. No one will be stopped at the border now, Kumar added.

At the same time, he said healthy devotees should come to Una district for paying obeisance at Chintpurni and other temples. Advising symptomatic people not to come for paying obeisance at Una temples, the DC said they would be isolated and tested for COVID-19.

If they tested positive, they will be kept in isolation centre till they again test negative for novel coronavirus," he added. The DC said that all types of offerings, including prasad, coconut and flower would remain prohibited in the temple.

Chintpurni temple is one of the five Shakti Peeths located in the state. The other four are Jwalamukhi, Vajreshwari and Chamunda Devi in Kangra and Naina Devi in Bilaspur district.

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor
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Covid-19 cases are soaring among middle-aged people in England and have risen by upwards of 90 per cent in a fortnight as the outbreak continues to grow, official figures show.

Public Health England (PHE) data reveals 23.4 cases are now diagnosed for every 100,000 people aged between 40 and 49  up from 12.4 at the end of August. And coronavirus infection rates have nearly doubled in just a week for people in their fifties, jumping from 10.9 to 20.

The most up-to-date PHE data, which was released on Friday, clearly shows cases are increasing across every age group. People in their twenties  who aren't as vulnerable to the disease and are likely to escape death or serious illness  are driving the spike with an infection rate of 46, which has doubled in three weeks.

Fears of a second wave are growing as the number of Britons being diagnosed with Covid-19 each day has topped 3,000 for the first time since May. Ministers have also been spooked by spiralling outbreaks in Spain and France and rising hospital admissions on the continent.

Hospital admissions  another way of measuring the severity of the pandemic  have doubled in England over the past nine days. More than 150 newly-infected patients required NHS treatment on Sunday, up from a rolling seven-day average of 52 on the last day of August.

But government officials say a second wave of Covid-19 in Britain would not be nearly as bad as the first  which killed between 40 and 55,000 people  because we are better at containing the virus through local lockdowns and social distancing measures, and that medical breakthroughs have helped to slash the death rate.

Public Health England (PHE) data reveals 23.4 cases are now diagnosed for every 100,000 people aged between 40 and 49  up from 12.4 at the end of August. And coronavirus infection rates have nearly doubled in just a week for people in their fifties, jumping from 10.9 to 20

The most up-to-date PHE data, which was released on Friday, clearly shows cases are spiralling across every age group. People in their twenties  who aren't as vulnerable to the disease and are likely to escape death or serious illness  are driving the spike with an infection rate of 46, which has doubled in the last three weeks

Hospital admissions  another way of measuring the severity of the pandemic  have doubled in England over the past ten days. More than 150 newly-infected patients required NHS treatment on Sunday, up from a rolling seven-day average of 52 on the last day of August

How hospital admissions have changed over time: Data shows how they peaked at more than 3,000 admission a day at the start of April. Circled in red is the most recent four weeks worth of data

SECOND WAVE WON'T BE AS BAD, GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS CLAIM A second wave of Covid-19 in Britain would not be nearly as bad as the first because we are better at containing and treating the virus now, Government officials have claimed. One reason for this prediction is the fact that we now know so much more about the virus. This includes medical advances, such as the discovery that steroid treatment dexamethasone can cut the risk of death from coronavirus by a third. Officials also say that local lockdowns  and the beleaguered test and trace service  have successfully prevented recent outbreaks from spreading more widely. Nonetheless, they stress that it is wrong to assume that the virus is only circulating among the young. While many new cases are patients aged between 17 and 21, the latest statistics show infection rates for those in their 50s and 60s are now as high as they were for those in their 20s several weeks ago. Advertisement

PHE figures released on Friday, which offer the most detailed insight into the state of the coronavirus crisis in England, revealed how people in their twenties are driving the current outbreak.

The infection rate for those aged 20-29 has risen from 23.5 cases for every 100,000 people in the week ending August 16, to 46 in the most recent full week of data, which finished on September 6.

The rate is now 29.8 for people in their 30s, up from 19.6 the week before and 16.4 at the end of August. And it has jumped to 23.4 for 40 to 49-year-olds, up from 13.5 in the previous seven-day spell and 12.4 at the end of last month.

Infections rates have risen from 10.9 to 20 in the space of a week for people in their 50s, and have increased from 7.5 to 12.4 for those in their sixties.

Cases are also rising for people over the age of 70, who are the most vulnerable to the disease because of their age. Infection rates have jumped from 4.6 to 7.3 for those in their 70s over the lat week, and from 8.9 to 12.9 for those 80 or older.

For children, rates have jumped from 5.6 to 7.7 for those up to the age of four, and have risen from 5.1 to 8.1 among 10 to 19-year-olds.

Hospital admissions have also risen over the same time-frame, according to data published by the Department of Health.

Government statistics show 153 newly-infected patients needed NHS care in England on Sunday, September 13. Similar data has not yet been released for Monday or yesterday.

For comparison, 85 patients were admitted to hospital in England last Sunday.

The rolling seven-day average of hospital admissions  considered one of the best ways to analyse trends  shows the rate has risen from 52.43 on the last day of August to 127.57 on September 13. The rate topped 100 on September 10 and was 72 last Sunday.

Hopes of fighting a second wave are also high because vaccines could be available as early as next spring, with a 'long pipeline' of promising jabs being trialled.

In addition, early signs from the southern hemisphere indicate that any flu outbreak will be less severe than in previous years.

It comes as top Belgium scientist Jean-Luc Gala said Belgium's rising infection rate is 'completely normal' and ongoing lockdown measures should be relaxed. He told French-language newspaper La Derniere Heure that 'people no longer suffer from the coronavirus, but measures to stop it.'

He said people should not worry as the virus 'is circulating in a category that does not suffer from it, young people who will at worst have small symptoms, at best nothing at all'. He said people who the virus only midly affects becoming infected is beneficial as it contributes to wide-spread immunity.

Ministers had been concerned that a combination of flu and corona cases would prove catastrophic for the NHS this winter.

However, officials also expect that advice on hygiene and social distancing during the corona pandemic will suppress flu rates  as will the trend for working from home and avoiding public transport.

In Australia and New Zealand  which typically provide good indicators of how the flu will develop in the UK  cases have remained low compared with last year.

Officials still believe the next six months 'will be very tricky' for the NHS and the country as a whole  but their cautious optimism provides a marked contrast to recent warnings from doctors' unions and medical colleges, which have claimed that hospitals would be unable to cope with a second wave.

A survey by the British Medical Association this week found that 86 per cent of doctors expect coronavirus to surge again over the next six months.

When Spain, France and Belgium hit 18 cases per 100,000 (which the UK did at the start of September) they then saw admissions increase by up to four-fold. But Belgium was able to reduce its hospital rate by reintroducing tough measures

In August the hospitalisation rate in Belgium doubled from one per 100,000 to two per 100,000, but it has since been squashed

Hospitalisation rates remain low and falling in the UK, from a peak of more than 30 per 100,000 people to fewer than one per 100,000, but officials fear they will rise again soon

PARENTS, TEACHERS AND CHILDREN WILL GO TO THE BACK OF THE QUEUE FOR COVID TESTS Parents, teachers and children face being put to the back of the queue for Covid tests as Matt Hancock admitted yesterday swabs will have to be rationed. In a humiliating climbdown, the Health Secretary said a 'priority list' would ensure environments such as care homes and hospitals would have enough. However, it comes at the expense of millions of others, with warnings issued that the UK was being put into 'lockdown by default' as a result of the shortage of tests. Hundreds of schools have been partially or completely closed because of coronavirus cases - both proven and suspected - leading to fears of a domino effect, resulting in parents not being able to go to work and the return of empty offices. More than one in 10 children were not in classes last Thursday, figures show, as the National Governance Association claims the growing number of pupils and staff awaiting tests could cripple parent confidence in getting their children back to school. Advertisement

However, Government officials believe that while cases are on the rise again, the curve will be flatter when compared with March and April.

One reason for this prediction is the fact that we now know so much more about the virus. This includes medical advances, such as the discovery that steroid treatment dexamethasone can cut the risk of death from coronavirus by a third.

Officials also say that local lockdowns  and the beleaguered test and trace service  have successfully prevented recent outbreaks from spreading more widely.

Nonetheless, they stress that it is wrong to assume that the virus is only circulating among the young.

While many new cases are patients aged between 17 and 21, the latest statistics show infection rates for those in their 50s and 60s are now as high as they were for those in their 20s several weeks ago.

Figures from the Department of Health yesterday showed there were 3,105 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, compared with around 5,000 a day at the height of the crisis. There were another 27 deaths, up from nine recorded on Tuesday.

A special envoy from the World Health Organisation yesterday said the 'grotesque' global outlook was 'much worse than any science fiction'.

Appearing before the Foreign Affairs Committee, Dr David Nabarro told MPs: 'It's a terrible situation... a health issue has got so out of control it's knocking the world into not just a recession but a huge economic contraction, which would probably double the number of poor people, double the number of malnourished [and] lead to hundreds of millions of small businesses going bankrupt.'
Throughout the conversations around climate change, companies have been slow to transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. One company in Indiana, though, is now making waves as it switches out coal for solar. Though there have been conflicting opinions on this decision, renewable energy is a crucial part of global change. It starts on a company-wide scale.

Vectren's Plans

In Southern Indiana, Vectren dominates the energy industry. Throughout past decades, too, coal has been a primary source for power and electricity in the state. Now, with the global focus on the climate crisis, sustainable solutions are necessary.

In June, Vectren announced plans to contribute to these sustainable solutions. Moving away from coal usage and toward renewable energy in the next few years is the foundation of the company's changes.

According to Vectren's Integrated Resource Plans, the company aims for immediate switches in the coming years. By 2023, the company plans to get rid of 730 MW of coal in favor of renewables. Instead, solar panels up to 1,000 MW will operate with wind as the primary source of energy.

Aet the moment, the company is running on 78% coal. By 2025, though, company leaders hope to reduce this number down to 12%. Doing so may save customers up to a total of $320 million over the next two decades.

Additionally, with the switch to renewables, Vectren's greenhouse gas emissions will decrease by 75% by 2035.

The Reception

With Indiana having run on coal for so long, the switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy is receiving polarizing reactions.

Despite the environmental and economic benefits of solar and wind power, policymakers are still hesitant. Coal is cheap, which governments and energy producers aren't quick to let go of. The debate ultimately becomes helping the environment in contrast with lower fossil fuel prices.

Vectren introduced an almost billion-dollar plan for retiring coal production in 2018. The local Indiana government has been consistently opposed to transitioning from coal, though. In 2019, policymakers proposed an amendment that would make moving away from coal harder. This opposition is still present with Vectren's current plans.

However, environmentalists have praised the move. Acting against climate change in any form is a step in the right direction. They hope this transition will inspire more states and industries to make the switch from fossil fuels.

Vectren's plans come about two years after North Indiana Public Service Co. announced a similar plan for Northern Indiana. Getting the state's southern half on board is the natural next move.

Signs of Progress

The right transition could mitigate conflict. It will most likely require compromising on different levels, but it's necessary to bring about sustainable change.

A central aspect of this change is demographic interests. For instance, millennials largely support the transition to renewable energies. As millennials become the largest demographic in the workforce, these sustainable interests will become the norm.

Still, there are concerns regarding the workforce about job loss and energy decreases during the switch. However, with the gradual shutdown of Vectren's plants, jobs should transfer to the new form of energy production. Additionally, with the efficiency of solar and wind, energy fluctuations should not be an issue.

With the potential savings for customers and the beneficial impacts for the environment, Vectren's switch is the right decision. In the future, environmentalists hope it will inspire more progress across other locations and bring the United States to its full renewable potential.

Vectren's Impact

Due to the conflicting reception around Vectren's decision, a conversation has started  which is the first step in bringing about change. This dialogue must keep going to influence other companies and states. When words lead to action, residents, the economy and the climate will ultimately benefit.

Emily Folk is a conservation and sustainability writer and the editor of Conservation Folks.
Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun / Yonhap



The government warned Wednesday that it will take stern measures against any illegal rallies on the Oct. 3 National Foundation Day to prevent further spread of the new coronavirus.



Conservative activist groups critical of the Moon Jae-in government have applied to hold 435 rallies in central Seoul on the occasion of National Foundation Day, according to the police.



The move comes amid criticism that similar outdoor rallies by conservative activists in mid-August have so far resulted in 585 new cases of COVID-19 nationwide.



"The government has banned 87 rallies, which were either reported to be held in no-assembly zones (in central Seoul) or with participation of over 10 people," Vice Health Minister Kim Gang-lip said in a press briefing. "Should they press ahead with the rallies, the government will quickly take measures to disperse them and criminally investigate those who commit illegal acts."



The mass demonstrations pose a high risk of virus transmissions because a large number of people gather from across the country and droplets are produced when they chant, he added.



Health officials said both organizers and participants of the illegal rallies can be punished under the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act. Under the law, those who attend rallies knowing they are unlawful can face fines of up to 3 million won (US$2,556).



Under the country's law on assembly and demonstration, those who participate in illegal rallies can face up to six months in prison or a maximum fine of 500,000 won, while the organizers can be sentenced up to two years in prison or fines of up to 2 million won.



Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun also pleaded with the groups to withdraw plans to stage the massive rallies and vowed stern measures against any unlawful demonstrations.



"I request that the concerned groups roll back their rally plans," Chung said in a regular government COVID-19 response meeting. "If the (planned) rallies are pushed ahead, the government will respond sternly in accordance with law and regulations in order to protect the lives and safety of people," the prime minister said.



Some of the groups held a press conference in Seoul to announce their plan to push ahead with the large rallies in the city center on Oct. 3 in defiance of the Seoul city's ban on such rallies due to the recent resurgence of COVID-19 cases.



The rallies will draw about 1,000 participants, they said.



"The government should guarantee the freedom of assembly and association mandated in the Constitution," they claimed during a news conference held in front of the Jongno Police Station in the afternoon.



On Monday, the Seoul metropolitan government extended a ban on rallies of 10 or more people to midnight on Oct. 11, because early October, which includes five national holidays, is expected to be the biggest challenge to the nationwide efforts to curb COVID-19 cases. (Yonhap)


This is the horrifying moment that a car ploughed into a shop in southeastern Turkey, narrowly missing two children.

CCTV footage captured the moment the car slammed into the shop in Gaziantep after its driver lost control today.

The car barely misses two children whose parents were shopping in the area.

A white car slammed into a shop in Gaziantep, Turkey, today narrowly missing a young child and a pushchair

Three people were injured and rushed to the hospital, according to Demiroren news agency.

At the beginning of the clip, three adults can be seen standing outside a store with a young child standing near a second child in a pushchair.

A white car loses control, driving towards the shop on the pavement before slamming into its stock and store front.

The car ploughs into the front of the store as the young child runs away from the car

The car appears to hit the three adults as well as the stock on the pavement outside the shop.

It narrowly misses the pushchair and young child, who runs into the road away from the incident.

Pedestrians and passengers from passing cars who witnessed the incident run towards the car.

CCTV footage from inside the shop shows a worker helping someone hit by the car by removing glass surrounding him

One car passenger opens the door of the vehicle before it has stopped moving and climbs out.

One man pulls the young child and pushchair away from the crowd.

At the end of the clip, CCTV from inside the shop shows a worker serving a customer moments before the car ploughs through the window.

The worker then begins moving pieces of broken glass and rubble to free a pedestrian who has been hit by the car.
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Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, Robert Buckland arrives at Downing Street ahead of the Cabinet Meeting on September 15 - Leon Neal/Getty Images

Killers jailed for life will no longer be allowed out halfway through their sentence under a crackdown on soft justice unveiled by Robert Buckland.

Announcing the shake-up in an article for The Telegraph, the Justice Secretary proposes criminals jailed for life should in future serve a minimum two-thirds of their sentences in jail before they are even considered for parole.

It means the killers of Stephen Lawrence  Gary Dobson and David Norris  would have had to serve at least three more years before they could even apply for release beyond their current respective sentences of 15 years and 14 years and three months.

In a White Paper published on Wednesday, Mr Buckland will also announce that any offender sentenced to more than four years for serious crimes such as rape, manslaughter and GBH will also have to serve at least two-thirds of their sentence rather than becoming eligible for release at the halfway point.

No longer will rapists, terrorists or violent thugs be back on our streets after serving just half of their sentence in prison. Instead they serve at least two-thirds behind bars before being released and then strictly monitored, Mr Buckland writes in his Telegraph article.

He also confirmed The Telegraphs weekend disclosure that child killers and teenagers who murder, such as the 19-year old Manchester Arena terrorist Hashem Abedi, could die in prison under changes to allow courts to impose whole life tariffs on them.

Gary Dobson (left) and David Norris, were convicted under joint enterprise in 2012 for the 1993 murder of Stephen Lawrence, who was stabbed to death by a gang in a racially motivated murder in Eltham - CPS/PA Wire/ CPS/PA Wire

The White Paper will also seek to prevent criminals who committed murder as children to have their minimum term reviewed, such as Sean Mercer, the killer of Merseyside schoolboy Rhys Jones, a move seen by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) as gaming the system and tormenting victims families.

Mr Buckland will also take powers to halt the automatic release of offenders who become radicalised behind bars and pose a danger to the public.

Changes  dubbed Ellies law after Ellie Gould, 17, who was killed by her teenage ex-boyfriend, Thomas Griffiths  will increase the current minimum of 12 years jail for teenager murders to two-thirds of the equivalent starting point for adults.

Story continues

Boris Johnson has already said that the sensible reforms would end the ridiculous state of affairs whereby a criminal can just get back onto the streets even when its clear to everybody, including the court, that they pose a threat to justice and a threat to the British public".

To protect the public, Mr Buckland also announced plans to use GPS electronic tags on released burglars, robbers and thieves for the first time, so their movements can be tracked round-the-clock if they reoffend.

The White Paper will also raise the threshold for passing a sentence below the minimum term for repeat offenders. This would mean a burglar would face an automatic jail sentence of at least three years for a third offence, and a minimum six months in jail for a second knife offence.

The proposed longer sentences will, however, be balanced by new laws to help ex-offenders find jobs after prison by wiping lower level offences from their slates if they remain crime-free for seven years.

Offenders jailed for four or more years are currently required to tell any prospective employer of their criminal record for the rest of their lives.

Under the White Paper, they will no longer have to do so if they stay clean for seven years after completing four or more years in jail for offences such as burglary, theft and drug dealing.

Violent, sexual and terrorist offences will be excluded.

Mr Buckland asked: How can it be right that a 40-year-old with one conviction when they were 18, who has served their time, can't get a job despite living a life that is long since free of crime?

For lower-level crimes, the White Paper will also propose stricter community sentences, with greater use of GPS tags, diversion of addicts into treatment programmes, and a doubling in curfew restrictions to two years for more serious criminals released into the community.
"Venus is hell. Venus is kind of Earth's evil twin," Clements said. "Clearly something has gone wrong, very wrong, with Venus. It's the victim of a runaway greenhouse effect."

But that's on the surface.

Seager said all the action may be 30 miles (50 kilometers) above ground in the thick carbon-dioxide layer cloud deck, where it's about room temperature or slightly warmer. It contains droplets with tiny amounts of water but mostly sulfuric acid that is a billion times more acidic than what's found on Earth.

The phosphine could be coming from some kind of microbes, probably single-cell ones, inside those sulfuric acid droplets, living their entire lives in the 10-mile-deep (16-kilometer-deep) clouds, Seager and Clements said. When the droplets fall, the potential life probably dries out and could then get picked up in another drop and reanimate, they said.

Life is definitely a possibility, but more proof is needed, several outside scientists said.

Cornell University astronomer Lisa Kaltenegger said the idea of this being the signature of biology at work is exciting, but she said we don't know enough about Venus to say life is the only explanation for the phosphine.
March and April 2020 were months when the COVID-19 pandemic first became rampant in the United States, prompting many states to ban elective dental procedures. In May 2020, when states began to lift these bans, dental service utilization still declined compared to May 2019, but only by 27 percent. In June 2020, there was a one percent increase in utilization compared to June 2019.

In this study, FAIR Health delves into its database of private healthcare claims, the largest in the nation. FAIR Health compares dental service utilization in the first six months of 2020 to the first six months of 2019. The analysis is striated by age, state and procedure code, as well as by dental-related diagnoses in urgent care centers and emergency rooms (ERs). Among the other key findings:

In the period January- June 2020 , patients 22 years and younger accounted for a larger percentage of dental services than in the same months the year before. Patients younger than 14 and patients aged 14-22 each accounted for two percent more than in January- June 2019 .

, patients 22 years and younger accounted for a larger percentage of dental services than in the same months the year before. Patients younger than 14 and patients aged 14-22 each accounted for two percent more than in January- . From June 2019 to June 2020 , changes in dental service utilization varied greatly by age group. The youngest (22 and younger) and oldest (55 and older) age groups increased in utilization, while those in the middle (ages 23-54) decreased.

to , changes in dental service utilization varied greatly by age group. The youngest (22 and younger) and oldest (55 and older) age groups increased in utilization, while those in the middle (ages 23-54) decreased. All states in March and April 2020 exhibited some degree of decrease in dental service utilization compared to the corresponding months in 2019. The five largest decreases were in the Northeast and Midwest. The five smallest decreases were in the West in March and in the West and South in April.

exhibited some degree of decrease in dental service utilization compared to the corresponding months in 2019. The five largest decreases were in the Northeast and Midwest. The five smallest decreases were in the West in March and in the West and South in April. In June 2020 , many states showed an increase in dental service utilization from the previous June, while other states decreased. The five largest decreases were in the Northeast and Midwest, the five largest increases in the West and South.

, many states showed an increase in dental service utilization from the previous June, while other states decreased. The five largest decreases were in the Northeast and Midwest, the five largest increases in the West and South. From March and April 2019 to March and April 2020 , comprehensive oral evaluations for new or established patients (D0150 1 ) fell from 8th or 9th place among the most common dental procedures to 10th or 12th.

to March and , comprehensive oral evaluations for new or established patients (D0150 ) fell from 8th or 9th place among the most common dental procedures to 10th or 12th. Certain other procedures rose in utilization. Problem-focused, limited oral evaluations (D0140) rose from 11th place in March and April 2019 to 5th place in March 2020 and 4th place in April 2020 .

to 5th place in and 4th place in . One procedure that rose to an even greater extent was the unspecified preventive procedure, by report (D1999), which, during the pandemic, was recommended for use to seek payment for the cost of additional personal protective equipment. It rose from number 366 in June 2019 to number 4 in June 2020 .

to number 4 in . Dental procedures differed in how much of a rebound they showed in June 2020 as compared to June 2019 . For problem-focused, limited oral evaluations (D0140), all age groups increased above their June 2019 levels. For comprehensive oral evaluations for new or established patients (D0150), no age group recovered to the level of the previous year's utilization.

as compared to . For problem-focused, limited oral evaluations (D0140), all age groups increased above their levels. For comprehensive oral evaluations for new or established patients (D0150), no age group recovered to the level of the previous year's utilization. From January and February 2020 to March and April 2020 , dental caries (tooth decay or cavities) rose from fifth to fourth most common dental-related diagnosis presenting in urgent care centers and ERs.

FAIR Health President Robin Gelburd stated: "The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on the healthcare system, including the dental industry. As with past studies in our COVID-19 series, FAIR Health presents this information in the hope that it will be useful to stakeholders throughout the healthcare sector, particularly dentists and other oral healthcare providers, as well as payors, policy makers and researchers."

This is the fifth 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, the third the impact on healthcare professionals, and the fourth key characteristics of COVID-19 patients.

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 32 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.

Contact:

Dean Sicoli

Chief Communications Officer

FAIR Health

646-664-1645

[email protected]

1 The Code on Dental Procedures and Nomenclature is published in Current Dental Terminology (CDT), American Dental Association (ADA). All rights reserved.

SOURCE FAIR Health

Related Links

www.fairhealth.org


An esteemed Broken Arrow educator has received recognition from Gov. Kevin Stitt after being selected for the National Teachers Hall of Fame.

Donna Gradel is one of five teachers from across the country who will be inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame during a ceremony in Kansas next summer. The announcement was made during a YouTube Live broadcast Monday night.

Gradel taught environmental science at Broken Arrow High School from 1996 to 2020 before becoming dean of academic development and innovation at Summit Christian Academy, a private school in downtown Broken Arrow, this summer. She was named Oklahoma Teacher of the Year in 2018 and was a finalist for National Teacher of the Year in 2019.

State and national education leaders have praised Gradel for her hands-on work with students to develop a sustainable, low-cost, solar-powered, aquaponic system to help feed people living in poverty in Kenya. Many of her students have traveled with her to Africa during the summer to continue working on the classroom project, which also has provided safe, clean water for an entire village as well as a nearby elementary school and medical clinic.
The mining history in Tennessee is filled with labor disputes involving violence between employees and employers. Strikes occurred on issues such as low pay, safety and unionization.

The Coal Creek War was, however, primarily held on the question of the use of convict labor by employers instead of hiring miners. It was in the early 1890s that armed labor uprisings took place in the Southeastern United States with its principal location being Anderson County, Tennessee, when the owners of the coal mines in 1891 in the Coal Creek watershed attempted to replace free coal miners with convicts leased out by the State of Tennessee, called the convict lease system.

In addition to attempts to undermine union organizing, the systems perpetuated a form of slavery as the vast majority of the convicts were African-Americans who had often been imprisoned on false charges. For example, of 120 men brought into work in the mines for the Tennessee Iron Company at Coal Creek only five were identified as white.

For over a year the free miners burned and attacked prison stockades and mining company buildings. In the course of the war, hundreds of convicts were freed and dozens of miners and state militiamen were killed or wounded in small-arms skirmishes. Striking miners not only freed hundreds of convicts but in some cases provided the escapees with food and clothing.

Historian Perry Cotham described the Coal Creek War as one of the most dramatic and significant episodes in all American labor history.

October 31, 1891 is a particularly significant date because a group of miners seized the Knoxville Iron Stockade at Coal Creek and freed convicts. Most of the violence was located in two communities - Briceville, at the upper end of Coal Creek near its source and the town of Coal Creek which is now known as Rocky Top, Tennessee at the lower end of the creek where the body of water emerges from Walden Ridge. In the town of Rocky Top a Coal Creek Museum is maintained where visitors can learn more about the Coal Creek War.

Sympathetic miners came from surrounding communities such as Jericho and the state of Kentucky to join the uprising. At the same time of the war in Coal Creek a similar anti-leasing riot took place in Grundy and Marion counties on the Cumberland Plateau about 100 miles south of the Coal Creek area.

Although there were abuses by the owners such as requiring some miners to rent houses owned by them and to purchase groceries at the company store at inflated prices by the use of scrip (company currency) instead of cash, the demand for labor in the highly profitable coal industry kept things under control for a while.

When the miners started talking about forming a union, the owners, although they preferred free labor, would threaten to replace free miners with convicts.

The Tennessee Coal Mining Company (TCMC) rejected the various demands at its Briceville mine. On April 1, 1891, after a breakdown in negotiations involving the use of scrip and use of company check weighmen (the specialists who weighed the coal and determined how much a particular miner had earned) instead of the miners choice of check weighmen, the company shut down mine operations. On July 5, 1891, the company re-opened the mines using convict labor.

Governor John P. Buchanan, who was elected in 1890 with the support of the miners, was defeated for re-election in 1892. In an attempt to resolve the labor disputes, he sent 583 militiamen under the command of General Samuel T. Carnes to East Tennessee to restore order on August 19th. The blockades that housed convict labor in several communities such as Briceville and Oliver Springs were burned and convicts were freed.

The Coal Creek War ended when General Carnes made a sweep of the Coal Creek Valley. Chief Justice Peter Turney of the Tennessee Supreme Court later defeated Buchanan in the governors race.

Faced with a legal issue as to whether the companies had a valid contract allowing them to use convict lease labor before the agreement expired, the government and legislature let the contract expire and enacted legislation in 1895 to build Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary and purchased land in Morgan County to erect the now closed prison in 1896.

Under new legislation, convicts would mine coal directly for the state rather than competing with free labor. The Coal Creek War received national publicity by the New York Times and Harpers Weekly and many others as well as state newspapers in Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga that initially favored the miners but withdrew their support after the burning of the stockades in October, 1891.

The Coal Creek War lives on in music of the times as it provided inspiration for some of the Appalachian coal mining protest music. Other songs such as Coal Creek Troubles, Coal Creek March, and Buddy Wont You Roll Down the Line, are still popular with bluegrass performers.

* * *

Jerry Summers



(If you have additional information about one of Mr. Summers' articles or have suggestions or ideas about a future Chattanooga area historical piece, please contact Mr. Summers at jsummers@summersfirm.com
These Nebraskans need help

I am having difficulty understanding Gov. Ricketts refusal of emergency supplemental food aid. His statements as published in the Omaha World-Herald article from Sept. 10 are telling about his character. He says, Were going back to the program as it existed before the pandemic. We want people to get used to the idea that, hey, were going back to a more normal life. He goes on to say in regards to something he terms the cliff effect in which people will face a sharp drop-off in assistance at some point and that not having this aid would ease this transition.

These ideas are ridiculous. If you are poor and struggle with food insecurity, you would take any assistance you can get at any time. Thousands of Nebraskans were food insecure before the pandemic and will be so after the pandemic. Why refuse to help them when the pandemic has worsened their food insecurity? For them they will be going back to their normal life, one where they dont know where there next meal is coming from.

Gov. Ricketts demonstrates no understanding or empathy for their situation. These statements are incongruent with someone who touts himself as being pro-life. I doubt Gov. Ricketts knows what it is like to want for the basics.
He publicly threw his support behind Donald Trump in June.

But Pete Evans has revealed his admiration for the divisive president actually began in 2016, when he was still employed as a judge on My Kitchen Rules.

The anti-vaxxer, 47, said on his Evolve podcast on Monday that his colleagues used to tell him to 'f**k off' when he came to work singing Trump's praises four years ago.

Right wing: Pete Evans (pictured) has revealed that his colleagues on My Kitchen Rules would tell him to 'f**k off' when he came to work singing Donald Trump's praises back in 2016

'I was never interested in politics, I tell you. It wasn't until four years ago, that around this time Donald Trump was running for president up against Hillary Clinton, that's when I... got a little bit closer to what politics is,' Pete explained.

'There was such disdain against this man, and for months and months I would go into my workplace and the same people every day would be talking about Trump - this is before he was elected - saying the most vile, horrible things,' he continued.

Pete, who was a judge on My Kitchen Rules alongside Manu Feildel from 2010 to 2020, eventually decided to take a stand.

'I couldn't hold my tongue anymore': Pete (left) said on his Evolve podcast on Monday that his colleagues used to tell him to 'f**k off' when he came to work singing Trump's praises four years ago. Pictured with his MKR co-stars Manu Feildel (centre) and Colin Fassnidge (right)

'They basically said, "F**k off, Pete, you don't know what you're talking about"': Despite his best efforts to convince them to 'take Trump's personality out of the equation' and judge him on his achievements, Pete's colleagues weren't impressed. Pictured: Donald Trump on June 26

'After a month I couldn't hold my tongue anymore and I said to these people, "Why are you judging somebody on a job they haven't done yet, and may not get the job? Why don't you hold your opinions and your judgment?"'

Despite his best efforts to convince them to 'take Trump's personality out of the equation' and judge him on his achievements, Pete's colleagues weren't impressed.

'They basically said, "F**k off, Pete, you don't know what you're talking about,"' he said.

Loud and proud: Since being dumped by Channel Seven in May over his controversial views, Pete has been free to express his support for Donald Trump. Pictured with Manu on MKR

'I went, "Okay, well you guys are getting angry every single day. You're living in fear about something that you just have no idea what's going to happen."'

Since being dumped by Channel Seven in May over his controversial views, Pete has been free to express his support for Donald Trump.

He has recently taken to wearing MAGA hats, referring to the 'Make America Great Again' slogan used in Trump's 2016 and 2020 presidential election campaigns.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoan spoke with German Chancellor Angela Merkel Wednesday over the phone, urging for dialogue to come up with a solution for tension in the Eastern Mediterranean, Trend reports citing Daily Sabah.

According to a statement by the Turkish Presidency, President Erdoan stressed that disagreements over the Eastern Mediterranean could be resolved through negotiations and settlements, provided that a constructive approach, based on fairness, prevails.

Noting that European states ought to adopt a fair and consistent position on the issue, President Erdoan also said that he will decisively continue to pursue Turkey's rights with an active policy.

Foreign Minister Mevlt avuolu, National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, National Intelligence Organization Chairman Hakan Fidan, Communications Director Fahrettin Altun, Presidential Spokesman Ibrahim Kalin and Presidency Chief of Staff Hasan Doan were present during the call, according to the statement.

Germany has tried to mediate between Ankara and Athens in recent months, however, the attempts ended with Greece's move in August to sign a maritime delimitation agreement with Egypt, which Turkey says violates its continental shelf and maritime rights as well as Libya's, only exacerbating tensions between the two neighbors.
Mumbai: Bollywood actor Randeep Hooda, who was last seen in 'Extraction', was shooting for a film opposite Ileana D' Cruz when lockdown was announced. During the lockdown, the actor was involved in various initiatives to spread awareness and environment consciousness. He also recently underwent surgery for his ankle.

After a long gap due to lockdown, Randeep has resumed work and shared a picture while dubbing for Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai, in which he will play the main antagonist.

The actor will also finish shooting remaining parts in October and then resume shooting of his other lineup projects.

Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai is helmed by Prabhudheva. It features Salman Khan, Disha Patani in the lead.
After the personal data of millions of people across the world were allegedly swept up in the database of Chinese tech company Zhenhua Data, which is reportedly linked to Chinas military and intelligence divisions, the Indian government formed an expert committee to study the implications of the data leak and find out about the violations if any.

The committee will have to review all reports in detail, and submit a report with its recommendations in the next 30 days.

India has constituted an expert committee under the National Cyber Security Coordinator to study these reports, evaluate their implications, assess any violations of law and submit its recommendations within 30 days, ANI quoted sources within the government as saying.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar communicated the decision to constitute this panel to Congress MP KC Venugopal on September 16.

He was responding to Opposition questions on what steps have been taken by the government to protect peoples data, including that of Indian leaders, from spying by Chinese companies.

The information compiled by Zhenhua Data includes information on more than two million people. The database was assembled by tapping information available on public platforms such as social media profiles, the Guardian reported.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has supported the closure of the Novi Yarylovychi entry-exit

checkpoint on the border with Belarus in Chernihiv region, the press service of the Interior Ministry said, citing its head Arsen Avakov.

"The relevant decision was adopted today, September 16, during a government meeting. Such restrictive measures have been introduced due to the spread of coronavirus [COVID-19] disease," the ministry said.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs said that Hasidic pilgrims, who do not stop trying to get to Ukraine, are on the Novi Yarylovychi entry-exit checkpoint now. "People are provided with food and medicine," the ministry said.
China Installs Cameras Inside Peoples Homes, Expanding Its Surveillance Network

The world depicted in George Orwells 1984 and Animal Farm is often used as an analogy for totalitarian states, such as China. Recently, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is taking the big brother tactic of surveillance and control of citizens to a new level, building internet grids to watch and implicate the whole clan by association, sneakily monitoring private cellphones and even installing cameras inside peoples homes.

As shown in the internal CCP documents obtained exclusively by The Epoch Times, under the name of COVID-19 containment, the regime has been systematically expanding its already massive surveillance network, spending hundreds of millions of yuan, hiring a large number of personnel, and incorporating more governmental departments. The measures involved have become increasingly invasive, directly violating Chinas own constitution.

CCP Consolidates and Expands Surveillance System

The Epoch Times recently obtained internal documents from local governments showing that the CCPs surveillance of the people has expanded the internet and video surveillance systems of Skynet and Xueliang Project from the public security (Chinese police) department to the departments of urban management, environmental protection, transportation, and education. The regime is building a three-dimensional comprehensive monitoring system, drawing resources from various departments. Even private homes are not spared. This is a systemic invasion of privacy, as shown in the internal documents from various regions.

For example, the Cixian Political and Legal Committee of Handan city, Hebei Province has issued the Survey Report on Strengthening and Innovating Social Management. It stated in 2019 that the Xueliang Project was used to improve the standardized construction of the comprehensive management center, and required to share and gradually connect the monitoring resources of the public security, urban management, environmental protection, safety supervision, food and drug supervision, transportation, education and other departments to the monitoring platform of the countys comprehensive management center.

According to the 2020 Key Work Accounts for Informatization of the Dingzhou Municipal Government of Hebei Province, the focus of this years informatization work is to integrate the citys video surveillance resources, including integrating the video surveillance equipments of public security, urban management, traffic police, and environmental protection departments. Even the online car-hailing system is not spared, as the document required to activate the monitoring platform for online ride-hailing service.

If the Chinese people have long become numb to the privacy violations by the government, then the CCPs secret surveillance revealed below may exceed anyones bottom line. Even if one tries to hide at home, Big Brother is still watching.

Big Brother Inside Peoples Homes

Two years ago, when the Chinese regime installed cameras on the front doors of peoples homes, it caused a public outcry and attracted attention from international media for its brazen invasion of peoples privacy. Now the regime takes it to a new level by installing cameras inside peoples homes.

In the leaked document, the Committee of Comprehensive Management of Social Governance of Tangshan city, Hebei Province, the stability maintenance organization of the CCP issued the notice of Key Points for Comprehensive Management of Social Security and Safety Construction in Tangshan City in 2017. It is required to promote the construction of the Xueliang Project by extending video surveillance into peoples homes or using apps to access and check peoples mobile phones. The Xueliang Project refers to the video surveillance system built for the surveillance of rural areas, complementary to the Skynet Project which covers urban areas.

The video surveillance extended to peoples homes is not limited to Tangshan. Bitter Winter magazine, which has long been concerned about human rights in China, reported in April 2019 that it received feedback from people in many provinces, including Hangzhou and Zhejiang. The local landlords were ordered by the public security department to install cameras in the rental houses and apartments under the name of theft prevention, and must accept police surveillance.

Current affairs commentator Li Linyi said that this shows that the CCPs surveillance is becoming more and more rogue. After stability maintenance has been upgraded to this three-dimensional surveillance system, it has become more aggressive towards Chinese peoples privacy and human rights.

Invasive Surveillance Method Used in Persecuting Falun Gong

Such invasive and aggressive surveillance measures have been used in the CCPs persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. In February, during the nationwide lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Falun Gong practitioner Chang Xiuhua from Huanan county, Jiamusi city, Heilongjiang Province, was kidnapped by the CCPs national security police and sent to Jiamusi Detention Center. However, due to the lockdown, the detention center refused to take her in. Then national security police Li Xiaolin and other local officials decided to put Chang in forced quarantine at home for six months, with a camera installed inside her home for 24-hour real-time monitoring. But law experts say its totally illegal.

Chen Jiangang, a former mainland human rights lawyer and visiting scholar at the Washington School of Law of the American University, told The Epoch Times in an interview on Aug. 25: From a legal point of view, this is obviously illegal.  The police do not have the right to install a camera in a persons home to monitor her every move. What is reflected in this case is the complete deprivation of human rights, privacy rights, and other rights, such as individual freedom of movement. The CCP knows that it is illegal for them to do so.

Former mainland human rights lawyer Peng Yongfeng told the publication in an interview on Aug. 28 that according to Article 245 of Chinas criminal law, anyone who illegally does a body search or illegally does a search on private property shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention. Judicial personnel who abuse their powers and commit the crimes mentioned in the preceding paragraph shall be severely punished.

Peng said that the national security police in Huanan county violated the law. The police use equipment to monitor Falun Gong practitioners and even install cameras in their homes, which seriously violates citizens rights, violates citizens right to privacy, and infringes on personal information. These rights are protected by Chinas law.

The Epoch Times has revealed in previous reports that the CCP has used the excuse of fighting COVID-19 to expand its surveillance on mainland Chinese, including strengthening grid management to maintain the regimes stability. Grid management is a system recently adapted by Beijing to monitor and control individual residents. It was often used in Tibet. Local residents were put in groups and assigned to a grid manager who would obtain very detailed personal information from them.

Internet Grids Monitor Citizens

The CCP has spent a lot of money to build internet grids in each city to surveil citizens and punish them in groups as a modern day implication of the whole clan. These are directly done by the Party branches instead of governmental organizations. Its similar to that of Mao Zedongs era when cities were split into grids as socialist units tightly controlled by the Partys branches. Now its done through the internet, as revealed by internal documents obtained by The Epoch Times.

The Huangshan Municipal Law Commission spelled out in an internal document that one of the measures to strengthen safety construction (maintain stability) is to base itself on internet grids and extend its reach of social control in the city. Specifically, it includes building the Party branch on each grid to integrate the Party group grid with the social management grid, and using the dual network integration to strengthen the grid.

The CCP has also spent 300 million yuan in building a Skynet to cover both urban and rural areas, the document revealed.

The Bengbu Municipal Law Commission disclosed in the document, titled Strive to Improve the Modern Standard Support System for Municipal Social Governance, that Bengbu city recruited more than 1,000 full-time internet grid personnel with a college degree or above in 2017 and 2018. 80 million yuan were allocated each year for just keeping them to cover the whole city with the density of one grid staff per grid.

According to the leaked document Project Schedule of Wuhu city, Anhui Province, the Xueliang Project launched in August 2018 had a total investment of 290 million yuan; compared to the citys budgets of 1.65 billion yuan and 1.08 billion yuan on education and medical care that year. In 2018, Wuhus population was nearly 4 million.

The document also disclosed a special function of the comprehensive governance information system of the Anhui Provincial Political and Legal Committee, which is called peoples profile. When a persons ID information is entered, the computer system can bring out the relationship map of the person. The company iFlytek that helped the Anhui government build the information system was sanctioned by the United States in 2019.

Li Linyi analyzes that this function means that the CCP has included peoples relationship charts of relatives and friends into its stability maintenance surveillance system. This is actually the CCPs implementation of implication of the whole clan in the modern age, watching and punishing people and their families, friends and social relations.
An Indian-American president of a now-defunct New Jersey-based marble and granite wholesaler has admitted his role in scheming to defraud a bank in connection with a USD17 million secured line of credit, a US Attorney has said.

Rajendra Kankariya, 61, pleaded guilty by video conference before US District Judge Susan D. Wigenton to committing wire fraud affecting a financial institution.

He faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a fine of USD1 million.

Kankariya is scheduled to be sentenced on January 18.

According to court documents, from March 2016 through March 2018, Kankariya, the president and part owner of Lotus Exim Inc, conspired with other LEI employees to obtain from the bank a USD17 million line of credit by fraudulent means.

The bank extended the line of credit believing it to have been secured in part by LEI's accounts receivable. In reality, Kankariya and his conspirators fabricated or inflated many of the accounts receivable, ultimately leading to LEI defaulting on the line of credit, prosecutors alleged.

To conceal the lack of sufficient collateral, LEI employees, with the knowledge and approval of Kankariya, created fake email addresses on behalf of LEI's customers so they could pose as them and answer the bank's and outside auditor's inquiries about the accounts receivable.

The scheme involved numerous fraudulent accounts receivable where the outstanding balances were either inflated or entirely fabricated. The scheme caused the bank losses of about USD17 million, a statement issued by US Attorney Craig Carpenito said.

(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.)
Researchers in Barcelona, Spain have conducted a study showing that low birth weight seems to be an independent risk factor for severe illness among non-elderly adults with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Fatima Crispi (University of Barcelona) and colleagues say the inclusion of low birth weight could improve the performance of risk stratification algorithms.

The analysis of almost 400 patients infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) found that low birth weight was associated with a 3.61 times greater likelihood of being admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU).

The findings were replicated in an independent cohort, including 1,822 individuals who self-reported SARS-CoV-2 infection via a web-based survey.

Crispi and the team say that if the findings are confirmed in future studies, low birth weight should be included in the assessment of non-elderly adults with SARS-CoV-2 infection to help identify who may require early intervention.

A pre-print version of the paper is available on the server medRxiv*, while the article undergoes peer review.

Transmission electron micrograph of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles, isolated from a patient. Image captured and color-enhanced at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. Credit: NIAID

Predisposing factors among healthy young adults remain unclear

While COVID-19 generally presents as a mild or asymptomatic disease in most patients, it still causes severe illness and even death in up to two percent of people.

To date, the main risk factors described for severe disease are older age, male sex, and co-existing health conditions. However, a small fraction of young and apparently healthy adults also eventually require critical care, and the factors that predispose these individuals to severe COVID-19 remain unclear.

The identification of predisposing factors particularly in a priori non-high-risk subjects- might allow early therapeutic measures eventually preventing serious evolution to serious illness, say Crispi and team.

The link between low birth weight and poor adult health

The associations between low birth weight and adverse health effects in adulthood have long been recognized.

Defined as a weight of 2,500 grams or less, a low birth weight may be the result of fetal growth restriction or prematurity.

Fetal growth restriction has been linked to decreased lung function, cardiovascular morbidity, and respiratory disease in adulthood. Similarly, prematurity has been associated with suboptimal cardiovascular and lung development and an increased risk for heart failure and lung disease later in life.

However, despite the large number of studies on prognostic factors for severe COVID-19, to our knowledge, no previous study has investigated the predictive role of early life events as a risk factor for severe COVID-19 in adulthood, said the researchers.

What did the current study involve?

Crispi and colleagues hypothesized that low birth weight might increase the risk of severe COVID-19 among non-elderly adults.

To test this hypothesis, the researchers evaluated early life risk factors that are not usually considered in current clinical practices.

They analyzed a prospective cohort of 397 patients (aged 18 to 70 years) admitted to hospital with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, 60 (15%) of whom required admission to ICU.

Perinatal information and details of potentially predictive variables were collected for all patients.

On comparing the clinical characteristics of the 337 non-critically ill patients with the 60 patients who required ICU, the team found that the latter were more often older, more often male, and more likely to have a higher body mass index and high blood pressure.

Notably, the prevalence of low birth weight was also higher among ICU-treated individuals, compared with non-critically ill patients, at 18.3% versus 9.5%.

Multivariate analysis showed that those with a low birth weight had a 3.6 greater likelihood of being admitted to ICU than their counterparts with normal birth weight.

The results were reproduced in a validation cohort

To validate the results, the team conducted a web-based survey of 1,822 people (aged 18 to 70 years) who self-reported a laboratory-confirmed diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2.

Overall, 1,215 (67%) only experienced mild symptoms and did not require hospitalization, while 607 (33%) did require hospitalization, and 46 (8%) of those needed to be admitted to ICU.

On comparing the clinical characteristics of the 1,776 non-critically ill patients and those of the 46 ICU patients, the team again observed that the ICU patients were older, more often male, had a higher BMI and a greater prevalence of hypertension.

Notably, again, they also had a greater prevalence of low birth weight, at 26.1% versus 12.4%.

What are the implications of the study?

The team says the results suggest that a low birth weight increases the risk for severe COVID-19 among non-elderly adults.

This new information further supports the importance of early life events in adult diseases and should be considered in future risk stratification algorithms, they write. If confirmed that LBW [low birth weight] identifies high risk for complicated COVID-19, this should be included in the initial assessment of non-elder infected subjects and would offer opportunities for early interventions to prevent complications, concludes the team.

*Important Notice

medRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.
To the Editor:

National POW/MIA Recognition Day, a day to remember and honor our unrecovered prisoners of war, those still missing, and their families, is Sept. 18.

Nationwide, there are over 82,000 POW/MIAs who remain unaccounted for from World War I, World War II, Korea and Southeast Asia.

Connecticut has 80 unaccounted for POW/MIAs from World War I, according to Doughboy MIA Foundation of the World War I Centennial Commission.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) lists 945 World Wawr II unaccounted for POW/MIAs from Connecticut.

Connecticuts Korean War POW/MIA list includes 66 POW/MIAs, four of whom were on the list of 389 last known alive in Korea.

There are an additional 24 individuals listed as Killed in Action, Body Not Recovered (KIA/BNR). The remains of three POW/MIAs were returned in 2009, 2011, and 2016.

There are 27 unaccounted for POW/MIAs from Southeast Asia. Remains of 15 POW/MIAs from Connecticut were returned from 1989 to 2013. This includes individual remains and group burials with comingled remains.

Although the current pandemic has prevented many annual ceremonies from taking place, some may take place virtually. We ask that you remember our military personnel who answered the call to duty to preserve not only our freedoms, but those of other nations as well.

The sacrifices of our unaccounted for POW/MIAs and their families must not be forgotten. May they be returned home to their loved ones and a grateful nation.

Kathy Shemeley

President
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 23:49:17|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- China's Ministry of Education has rolled out policies to help Chinese students who are facing difficulties in studying overseas amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ministry has been encouraging international students to finish their courses online as organized by their universities. The policies make it clear that students' alternative learning experience will not affect the authenticity of their college certificates and degrees.

On the premise of ensuring educational equity, the ministry will allow a number of existing Chinese mainland-based cooperative educational institutions and programs between China and other countries and between the mainland and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan to admit more qualified students.

The enrolment is meant for students who have already been admitted to universities overseas and planned to pursue an undergraduate or postgraduate degree starting this fall semester, according to the ministry.

Meanwhile, the ministry will guide the communication between the Chinese embassies and consulates with the education departments and universities in the host countries to address the concerns of Chinese students.

China now has about 1.4 million students studying abroad, and many of them were forced to alter, delay and even cancel their plans due to various restrictions placed by the host countries on entry, visas and flights amid the pandemic. Enditem
Formula 1 appears unlikely to return to Mugello next year, despite the success of last weekend's race at the Ferrari-owned circuit.

Up and down the pitlane, drivers raved about the challenge of the high-speed and 'old school' layout in Tuscany, which was drafted onto the 2020 calendar at late notice due to the corona crisis.

"I would love to see the track on the normal calendar," said Charles Leclerc.

"To be honest, I was a little sceptical at first, but after the race it become clear that there was a lot of overtaking. In that sense, the track is surprisingly good."

Daniel Ricciardo added: "I think we were all afraid that it wouldn't be a good circuit for racing, but it wasn't boring at all. It was one of the most exciting grands prix of the year.

"I'd say a lot of the drivers would like to return. But we also love Monza, so I wouldn't want it to be at the expense of that," the Renault driver added.

"It would be great if we could have both."

Unfortunately, with a 'normal' F1 calendar bursting at the seams at 22 races, that appears unlikely.

It is also doubtful that F1's financial model for race promoters would work for Mugello. This year, some replacement circuits were even paid by Liberty Media rather than the reverse.

"That is of course not the basis of this business," said Felix Gorner, a journalist for Germany's RTL.

"The probability that Italy will get a second race is also very, very small," he added.

Nonetheless, Gorner thinks Formula 1 will miss Mugello in future.

"The circuit not only has charm, it has character. Not least because of the gravel traps that you can't get out of. That means you can't make a mistake, or if you do, your race is over," he said.

(GMM)
President Trump told author Bob Woodward earlier this year that the coronavirus was "more deadly than even your strenuous flu," but he wanted to "always play it down. I still like playing it down, because I don't want to create a panic." On Tuesday, he told undecided voters during an ABC News town hall that he "didn't downplay it. I actually, in many ways, I up-played it, in terms of action. My action was very strong."

the Trump up-played/downplayed remix pic.twitter.com/YnN1Dh4XLs  Peter Wade (@brooklynmutt) September 16, 2020

The town hall, called "The President and the People," was held in Philadelphia and moderated by George Stephanopoulos. Trump fielded questions from audience members, including one who asked why he would "downplay a pandemic that is known to disproportionately harm low-income families and minority communities."

Trump denied downplaying the virus and said one way he "up-played it" was by putting in place partial travel bans against China and parts of Europe in February and March. Stephanopoulos asked Trump to elaborate on his comments to Woodward, but Trump remained focused on the bans. "Whether you call it 'talent' or 'luck,' it was very important," he said. "So we saved a lot of lives when we did that."

Another voter asked Trump about his Make America Great Again campaign slogan, saying this "pushes us back to a time in which we cannot identify with such 'greatness.' You've said everything else about choking and everything else, but you have yet to address and acknowledge that it has been a race problem in America."

Trump responded, "Well, I hope there's not a race problem. I can tell you there's none with me because I have great respect for all races, for everybody. This country is great because of it." He added that he has been "bringing people together," and before the pandemic he ushered in "the best unemployment numbers they've ever had in the Black community, by far."

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Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden speaks during a roundtable discussion with veterans in Tampa, Fla. (Patrick Semansky / Associated Press)

If it's September in an election year, there's a good chance the action is in Florida.

On Tuesday, the campaigning came from former Vice President Joe Biden, who made his first trip to the perpetual battleground state as the Democratic presidential nominee, amid mounting concern from his party about lackluster support among Latinos.

In appealing to that crucial voting bloc, Biden portrayed himself as a champion of the community and accused his rival, President Trump, of doing "nothing but assault the dignity of Hispanic families over and over and over and over again."

"There's no separating out Hispanic heritage from American heritage. These stories are one and the same and growing more vibrantly and twined every single day today," Biden said at a speech in Kissimmee, a hub of Florida's Puerto Rican population. "It is no exaggeration to say that the future of the success of this country depends on Hispanics having the opportunities and the tools they need to succeed."

Recent polls have shown a neck-and-neck race, fitting for the Sunshine State, which has regularly been decided by the slimmest of margins. In 2016, President Trump won the state's 29 electoral votes by roughly 114,000 votes, an edge of 1.2%.

The most recent survey, released Tuesday by Monmouth University in New Jersey, found that Biden had between a 3- and 5-point lead over Trump in the state. Although Biden has a wide lead with voters of color overall, that advantage narrows when it comes to Latinos.

Bidens current lead among Latinos is similar to [Hillary] Clintons margin four years ago. One difference, though, is how Floridas Latino electorate has shifted since 2016," said Patrick Murray, director of the university's polling institute. "There has been an influx of residents from Puerto Rico and a growing number of young voters. These groups tend to be more Democratic, which actually suggests that Trump could be doing slightly better among older Latino voters than he did four years ago.

Story continues

In Florida, Latinos made up roughly 18% of the vote in 2016, and they sided with Clinton over Trump by a nearly 30-point margin. But the Latino community in Florida is anything but monolithic. Cuban voters that year were about twice as likely as non-Cubans to pick Trump, according to Pew Research Center.

Biden marked the start of Hispanic Heritage Month on Tuesday with an event featuring actress Eva Longoria, and musicians Ricky Martin and Luis Fonsi. After starting his remarks with a brief musical interlude  playing Fonsi's hit "Despacito" on his phone  Biden touted his just-released plan for Puerto Rico, which would provide debt relief and infrastructure investments for the island but will defer to local representatives on the question of statehood.

He listed a number of ways he would depart from Trump on issues pertaining to the island and the Latino community more broadly.

"I'm not going to steal the money that [was] desperately needed to reconstruct the island in order to build a wall along the border that does nothing to keep Americans safe. I'm not going to suggest that we sell or trade ... Puerto Rico. I'm not gonna throw paper towels at people whose lives have just been devastated by a hurricane," Biden said, recalling Trump's visit with victims of Hurricane Maria in 2017.

Republicans have repeatedly bashed Biden, portraying him as beholden to the far-left elements in his party, an attack that could have particular resonance for residents of Cuban and Venezuelan descent.

Jeanette Nunez, the state's lieutenant governor, said in a Trump campaign call that a Biden presidency would mean a return to the Obama administration's opening of relations with Cuba, a move that makes it easier for the island's leaders "to prop up socialist dictators like [Nicolas] Maduro in Venezuela."

While Biden aimed to shore up his base of Latino voters, his Florida trip also aimed to coax military voters away from Trump.

Though veterans are typically a GOP-leaning voting bloc, polling has found that Trump's lead with that group has dwindled. The Monmouth poll Tuesday found that Trump had a four-point edge over Biden among Florida's military and veteran households, which make up about a third of the state's electorate.

The president's appeal to those voters is particularly fraught in the wake of reporting by the Atlantic alleging that Trump privately disparaged wounded and fallen service members, including the late Sen. John McCain of Arizona, and questioned why people would serve in the military. Trump has denied the report, although the president has continued to speak about his clashes with McCain. Other outlets confirmed the report, which said Trump called soldiers "losers" and "suckers."

"Quite frankly, it makes me very upset, the way he gets in front of the camera and crows about how much he's done for the veterans and then turns around and insults our service members, our fallen heroes, when the cameras are off," Biden said at a roundtable for veterans in Tampa.

Biden spoke at length about how it felt to be a parent of a serviceman abroad; his late son, Beau, was deployed in 2008 as a member of the Delaware National Guard to Iraq. The former vice president also accused Trump of falsely taking credit for an Obama-era measure to expand healthcare options for veterans.

"President Trump likes to say he passed VA Choice. Just like everything else he seems to be saying, this figment of his imagination is a flat lie," Biden said.

In a Trump campaign call with reporters, Jennifer Carroll, a former lieutenant governor of Florida and retired naval officer, sought to undercut Biden's appeal to the military by pointing out incidents of long wait times at Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals during the Obama-Biden administration.

"The scandal of neglect and mistreatment of veterans at the VA hospital was a heartbreaking and scandalous story that happened under Joe Biden," Carroll said. "Joe Biden knows that his record on the military and veterans is one of failure."

The delays, which came to light in 2014, prompted reforms of the healthcare system; Veterans Choice, which pays for veterans to see doctors outside the VA system, was passed that year under Obama.

Trump has made multiple trips this year to Florida and has given his Palm Beach estate Mar-A-Lago the moniker "The Winter White House." His most recent visit to the state was July 31, when he rallied supporters on the tarmac of the Tampa airport.

For Trump, Florida is a near necessity in his campaign to clinch 270 electoral votes. Though Democrats say they can win the White House without it, the state also remains a high priority for Biden.

Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster working for Biden, told reporters Tuesday that Florida was "too close to call" and a "very, very volatile place."

"Winning Florida is like winning Western Europe," Lake said. "You have to win England and France and Germany and Spain, and they're all so different."

Times staff writer Janet Hook in Washington contributed to this report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Title III - Strengthening Institutions

In September 2016, MCLA was awarded a Title III grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The total award is $2.2 million over five years, or $443K per year. This award is designed to strengthen MCLA by increasing student persistence rates, particularly for students of color and for low-income students.

The following Institutional Goals are outlined in the MCLA Title III initiative:

Academic Programs

a. Increase the number of first-year, sophomore, and junior students persisting to the next year

b. Increase the number of students completing degree requirements in four years

c. Eliminate the achievement gaps between ALANA and non-ALANA students

d. Eliminate the achievement gaps between Pell and non-Pell eligible students

Institutional Management

e. Increase the percent of faculty and students utilizing Canvas for individualized advising

f. Increase the use of academic planning and degree audit utilities to improve retention and degree completion

g. Decrease the percent of students who graduate with 15 or more credits than are required for graduation

Fiscal Stability

h. Increase revenues through increases in student retention

This grant supports activities that have been shown to increase student persistence and to decrease the achievement gaps for both ALANA students and low-income students. Funds may be used for planning, faculty development, administrative management, and the development and improvement of academic programs. Other projects include joint use of instructional facilities and student service programs designed to improve academic success. Innovative and customized courses designed to retain students and move students successfully into discipline-specific courses and to degree completion are sought.

Title III Application for Funding Form
A Boston University professor has been crushed to death in an elevator accident in her apartment, according to reports.

Carrie OConnor, 38, was identified as the woman involved in the horrific accident on Monday in Allston, Boston, according to WFXT.

Ms OConnor was found in the elevator on the first floor and pronounced dead at the scene, CBS Boston reported.

Residents have said that the accident occured while the professor was trying to transport a package into the building.

I heard someone that was bringing in a package out in the hallway, and then I heard an ungodly scream, one resident told WCBV.

Then we ran out into the hallway, and we saw a gentleman who was obviously in distress. He was screaming and hyperventilating, saying, Shes dead! Shes dead! 

A man who witnessed the accident has reportedly been taken to the hospital for trauma, according to The New York Post.

Eric Carmichael told WFXT that his wife told him she heard a woman in distress and tried to help her out as a neighbor but also said that it happened so fast, there was nothing she could do to help.

Ms OConnor was a French lecturer in the schools Romance Studies Department, according to her faculty page on the universitys website. She had just moved into the building a few weeks ago according to neighbours.

Her cause of death has reportedly been ruled as traumatic asphyxia, and officials confirmed it was accidental. Boston Police and OSHA are still investigating the incident.

The building reportedly dates back to 1920 but had been recently been inspected and was certified. Residents have described the elevator as old fashioned.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  Republican President Donald Trump will return to Ohio on Monday for an airport hangar rally near Toledo, just more than a week before he is set to take the stage in Cleveland for the first presidential debate.

Per the campaign, Trump will be at Grande Air at the Toledo International Airport  technically in suburban Swanton  Monday night, with the event slated to start at 7 p.m. It marks his first campaign visit to Ohio since a January rally in Toledo, though he used an official White House visit to campaign in August.

The announcement comes just hours after Republican Gov. Mike DeWine gave Trump the go-ahead to defy state orders mandating masks and social distancing and limiting crowd size to help curb the spread of coronavirus, according to the Sandusky Register.

The campaign did not immediately respond to questions about what sort of precautions they would take. Attendees are required to submit a waiver saying the campaign is not liable for any coronavirus-related risks.

Republican Vice President Mike Pence was in Zanesville on Wednesday, with pictures from the outdoor event showed few wearing masks, though with space set up between chairs.

However, Trump  who before the pandemic thrived on live in-person events  recently held indoor events in Nevada that lacked any social distancing or facial covering enforcement. Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak, a Democrat overseeing one of the hardest hit states by the virus, condemned Trump for his callous disregard for our emergency directives.

Monday night marks Trumps first official campaign rally in Ohio since the beginning of the year when he visited Toledo. The Northwest Ohio location is beneficial to the campaign to attract voters in both Ohio and Michigan, two crucial states for Trumps re-election bid against Democratic former Vice President Joe Biden.
While much attention has been devoted to Australias problems dealing with the rise of China, too little is paid to the equally important dilemma raised by the strains in our relationship with the US.

The US is still our most important military ally and Australians feel a close affinity with much American culture.

Yet the US, under President Donald Trump, has suffered an unprecedented loss in prestige recently. The Pew Research Centre, which has polled attitudes to the US in 15 countries since 2003, found that just 33 per cent of Australians have a favourable view of the US, the lowest on record and down from 50 per cent a year ago.

Australians now have about the same opinion as the French about the US.

Chinas prestige suffered because of its cover-ups and mistakes at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic but the poll suggests that the USs failure to contain the virus has hurt it almost as much.
First Iranian condensate cargo reaches Venezuela in blow to US

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 15 September 2020 10:37 AM

The first Iranian condensate cargo for Venezuela has been unloaded at the South American country's port of Puerto Jose, a report says.

The ship on Saturday started discharging about 2 million barrels of South Pars condensate which the state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA is thought to blend with Venezuela's tar-like crude in order to prop up production in the Orinoco oil belt, the financial news provider said.

Iran has already shipped several cargoes of gasoline to Venezuela, but this is the first condensate trade between the two countries.

Most importantly, the shipment is apparently the first to reach Venezuela since Iran supplied 1.5 million barrels of gasoline and diesel fuel to the country in May and June despite US threats to stop them.

Last month, the US government went on a full-throttle propaganda campaign, claiming that it had seized 1.116 million barrels of Iranian fuel because it was bound for Venezuela.

Iran, however, put down its foot to assert that neither the ships were Iranian nor their owners or their cargo had any connection to the Islamic Republic.

When the New York Times first reported the seizure of the four cargoes in August, the newspaper headlined it as a "diplomatic doubleheader" which blocked Iran and Venezuela from evading American economic sanctions.

Iranian officials brushed aside the claim, with Iran's Ambassador to Venezuela Hojjat Soltani saying the report was an "act of psychological warfare perpetrated by the US propaganda machine" trying to compensate for the Trump administration's "humiliation and defeat by Iran using false propaganda."

"The United States is seeking to contrive a victory for itself. Neither did the ships nor the cargo belong to Iran," Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh told reporters in Tehran.

A legal challenge put up by the owners of the cargoes in the US last week appeared to confirm Iran's contention.

According to a filing with the US District Court for the District of Columbia last Tuesday, "at the time they were seized, the Defendant Properties were destined for Trinidad for sale to customers in Peru and Colombia."

United Arab Emirates-based Mobin International Limited said it was the owner of the cargo aboard the Bella and Bering tankers, UK-registered Oman Fuel said it owned the cargo aboard the Pandi and Luna tankers, and Oman-registered Sohar Fuel said it part-owned the cargo aboard the Luna.

The companies said they had sold the cargoes onwards to UAE-based Citi Energy FZC, but payment was due upon delivery, which was disrupted by the seizure, Reuters reported.

The legal challenge and the report of Iranian condensate cargo having reached Venezuela deal another blow to Washington's efforts to block trade between Iran and Venezuela  both subject to the most aggressive American sanctions.

In June, Iran sent a cargo of food to Venezuela to supply the South American nation's first Iranian supermarket.

Covering an area of 20,000 square meters, the store is selling more than 2,500 Iranian items including foodstuff, clothing, detergents, plastic, disposable products, nuts, and even tractors.

The store ushered in a new era of cooperation between Caracas and Tehran, hailed by political observers as a step in breaking the paradigm of US power to subjugate sovereign countries.

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A vehicle is seen abandoned in a flooded road after Hurricane Sally passed through the area on September 16, 2020 in Pensacola, Florida. Joe Raedle/Getty

Hurricane Sally made landfall as a Category 2 storm near the city of Gulf Shores, Alabama, at 4:45 a.m. local time Wednesday.

It has dumped 30 inches of rain on parts of Florida and Alabama, and soaking the Carolinas.

On Wednesday night, Sally weakened to a tropical depression.

Nearly 600,000 homes and businesses are without power across the southeastern US.

One person in Alabama died, and another was reported missing.

Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Just weeks after Hurricane Laura struck Louisiana as a Category 4 storm, the US Gulf Coast took another hit.

Hurricane Sally made landfall as a Category 2 storm near the city of Gulf Shores, Alabama, at 4:45 a.m. local time on Wednesday. Gusts of wind exceeded 100 mph.

The storm then drifted northeast, dumping more than 2 feet of rain in areas between Mobile, Alabama, and the Florida panhandle.

"We had 30 inches of rain in Pensacola  30-plus inches of rain  which is four months of rain in four hours," Ginny Cranor, chief of the Pensacola, Florida, Fire Department, told CNN on Wednesday.

Parts of downtown Pensacola were completely submerged amid "historic and catastrophic flooding," according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).

Steven Jagnandan braces himself against winds and rain from Hurricane Sally as it passes through the area on September 16, 2020 in Mobile, Alabama. Joe Raedle/Getty

By Wednesday evening, Sally had weakened into a tropical depression with 30 mile-per-hour winds.

But the NHC warns that a few tornadoes are still possible in parts of South Carolina on Thursday night as Sally moves northeast.

One Alabama resident died and nearly 600,000 homes and business were left without power

Hurricane Sally was the first hurricane to make landfall in Alabama since Hurricane Ivan in 2004.

The storm has left nearly 600,000 homes and businesses without power across the Gulf Coast, USA Today reported.

One Alabama resident died and another is missing, Orange Beach mayor Tony Kennon announced Wednesday.

In Florida, a chunk of the new Three Mile Bridge in Pensacola collapsed during the deluge when a barge smashed into it.

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Santa Rosa County Emergency Management (@SRC_EM) September 16, 2020

At least 377 people were rescued Wednesday after being trapped in flooded neighborhoods in Escambia County, which includes Pensacola, CNN reported.

Sally was moving very slowly when it made landfall Wednesday, trundling at speeds of 3 mph. That gave the storm more time to drop water, intensifying the resulting flooding.

A man walks through a flooded parking lot in Gulf Shores, Alabama as the outer bands of Hurricane Sally come ashore on September 15, 2020. Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Nearly 90% of hurricane-related deaths result from rainfall flooding and storm surge, according to Weather.com.

Sally is one of 3 named storms in the southern Atlantic right now

The NHC is tracking two other named storms in the southern Atlantic Ocean.

In addition to Sally, there's Hurricane Teddy: a major Category 3 storm 610 miles east of the Lesser Antilles islands. Tropical Storm Vicky, meanwhile, weakened to a tropical depression on Thursday morning with winds of 35 mph.

An infrared image of Hurricane Sally off the US Gulf Coast on September 15, 2020. Tropical Tidbits

Climate change makes hurricanes more frequent and devastating than they would otherwise be, since storms feed on warm water. Higher water temperatures also lead to sea-level rise, which in turn increases the risk of flooding during high tides and in the event of storm surges. What's more, warmer air holds more atmospheric water vapor, which enables tropical storms to strengthen and unleash more precipitation.

"Our confidence continues to grow that storms have become stronger, and it is linked to climate change, and they will continue to get stronger as the world continues to warm," James Kossin, an atmospheric scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told The Washington Post last month.

A warming planet also makes storms like Sally move more slowly, allowing them more time to lash an area with wind and dump more rain.

Climate scientist Michael Mann tweeted Wednesday that Sally was "moving slower than a turtle in peanut butter."

Over the past 70 years or so, the speed of hurricanes and tropical storms has slowed about 10% on average, according to a 2018 study. Over land in the North Atlantic and Western North Pacific specifically, storms are moving 20% to 30% more slowly.

Read the original article on Insider
W aitrose has put more jobs at risk as it shuts four unprofitable stores across the country.

The upmarket grocer is shutting its shops in Caldicot, Ipswich Corn Exchange and Shrewsbury, which will close on December 6 putting 124 of its staff at risk. They will now enter a consultation period.

A further store in Wolverhampton has been sold to Tesco with all 140 staff transferring from Waitrose to Tesco. The store will shut on December 31.

Waitrose said: The announcements form part of an ongoing review of the Waitrose store estate, which began in 2017. We have found trading challenging in these four shops and, despite the best efforts of Partners, we have not been able to find a way to make them profitable in the long-term.

Staff who have worked with the business for more than a year will receive two weeks redundancy pay for every year of service.

The grocer is part of the John Lewis Partnership, the mutual which also includes the eponymous department store chain. The group has been scaling back its store estate in the wake of the Covid lockdown, which forced its non-food business to close.

The Evening Standard revealed in July that chairman Sharon White has begun a revamp of the group leading to mass job losses, the axing of a London office and the prospects of no bonus for partners next year.

The company said it will provide support to those staff at the Caldicot, Ipswich Corn Exchange and Shrewsbury stores who are at risk of redundancy through a Retraining Fund, contributing up to 3000 towards a qualification or course for up to two years for any partner with two years service.

John Lewis Partnership director Berangere Michel: Closing any of our shops is always a last resort and is not a reflection on the dedication of our Partners in Caldicot, Ipswich Corn Exchange, Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton. Sadly, we have not been able to find a way to make these shops profitable in the long-term, despite the hard work of everyone involved.

Our priority now is the wellbeing and future of our Partners in these shops. We will do everything we can to support them and explore opportunities wherever possible for those who may wish to remain with the Partnership.
WELLESLEY, Mass., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Harvard Pilgrim Health Care announced today that it has signed a multi-year partnership with The Boston Red Sox as its official Health & Wellness partner. In addition to its partnership with the Red Sox, Harvard Pilgrim has also entered into a partnership with the Boston Globe to develop wellness and other important health care focused content for the Boston Globe's various distribution channels.

Mask Up, Red Sox Nation!

To kick-off its partnership announcement, Harvard Pilgrim has created a public service announcement entitled "Mask Up, Red Sox Nation!" featuring Christian Vazquez of the Boston Red Sox, to urge the public to mask up and wear face coverings to stop the spread of COVID-19. The PSA campaign, in both English and Spanish, will appear on New England television outlets as well as on Harvard Pilgrim's social media channels.

"We are proud to announce our partnerships with two of the most renowned organizations in the region," said Michael Carson, president and CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. "Our partnerships with the Boston Red Sox and the Boston Globe are designed to provide greater awareness of health and wellness, as well as health care access, by leveraging our combined expertise, resources and, most of all, our shared mission to be of service to our communities. Together, we will bring new and meaningful health and wellness focused events to Fenway Park, philanthropic initiatives to our communities in greatest need, and we will share important, timely and relevant health care related content with Boston Globe readers across New England and the nation. All of us at Harvard Pilgrim are excited to work closely with both organizations in the years ahead."

"We are so pleased to partner with Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and to be part of their Mask Up, Red Sox Nation! campaign," said Troup Parkinson, Red Sox executive vice president. "Now more than ever, we are looking to our health care providers for information and guidance and could not be happier to count Harvard Pilgrim as the newest member of our Red Sox family."

"We are extremely proud to be working with Harvard Pilgrim. Our complementary mission to both inform, guide and serve our communities couldn't be more fitting in these tough times, and we are honored to be partnering with such an exemplary leader in the health care space," Kayvan Salmanpour, Chief Commercial Officer, Boston Globe.

View the PSA here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AymKJjU-VCY&feature=youtu.be

About Harvard Pilgrim Health Care

Harvard Pilgrim and its family of companies provide health benefit plans, programs and services to more than 3 million customers in New England and beyond. A leading not-for-profit health services company, we guide our members  and the communities we serve  to better health.

Founded by doctors over 50 years ago, we're building on our legacy. In partnership with our network of more than 70,000 doctors and 182 hospitals, we're improving health outcomes and lowering costs through clinical quality and innovative care management.

Our commitment to the communities we serve is driven by the passion of the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation. Through its work, low- and moderate-income families are gaining greater access to fresh, affordable fooda cornerstone to better health and well-being. To learn more about Harvard Pilgrim, visit www.harvardpilgrim.org

SOURCE Harvard Pilgrim Health Care
PHILADELPHIA - Fielding compelling questions about voters real-world problems, President Donald Trump denied during a televised town hall that he had played down the threat of the coronavirus earlier this year, although there is an audio recording of him stating he did just that.

Trump, in what could well be a preview of his performance in the presidential debates less than two weeks away, cast doubt on the widely accepted scientific conclusions of his own administration strongly urging the use of face coverings and seemed to bat away the suggestion that the nation has racial inequities.

Well, I hope theres not a race problem, Trump said Tuesday when asked about his campaign rhetoric seeming to ignore the historical injustices carried out against Black Americans.

Face-to-face with everyday voters for the first time in months, Trump was defensive but resisted agitation as he was pressed on his administrations response to the COVID-19 pandemic and why he doesnt more aggressively promote the use of masks to reduce the spread of the disease.

There are people that dont think masks are good, Trump said, though his own Centers for Disease Control and Prevention strongly urges their use.

The event, hosted by ABC News George Stephanopoulos, was a warmup of sorts before Trump faces Democratic nominee Joe Biden in the first presidential debate on Sept. 29. Taped at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, it featured Trump taking questions from an audience of just 21 voters to comply with state and local coronavirus regulations.

Trump sought to counter his admission to journalist Bob Woodward that he was deliberately playing it down when discussing the threat of COVID-19 to Americans earlier this year. Despite audio of his comments being released, Trump said: Yeah, well, I didnt downplay it. I actually, in many ways, I up-played it, in terms of action.

My action was very strong, Trump added. Im not looking to be dishonest. I dont want people to panic.

Trump also insisted he was not wrong when he praised Chinas response to the virus in January and February, saying he trusted Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader. He told me that it was under control, that everything was and it turned out to be not true, Trump said,

Trump also suggested the virus would disappear without a vaccine, claiming the nation would develop a herd immunity with time, but he didnt mention the lives that would be lost along the way.

Its going to be herd-developed, and thats going to happen. That will all happen, Trump said. But with a vaccine, I think it will go away very quickly.

He concluded by praising his own handling the virus, saying it had enhanced the reputation of some governors and that weve made a lot of people look good that shouldnt look good, to be honest with you.

The questions from uncommitted voters were pointed and poignant: a diabetic man who said he felt hed been thrown under the bus by mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic; a Black woman with a disease that left her uninsurable until the Obama health care law came along who is worried that she could lose coverage again; a Black pastor who questioned Trumps campaign motto to Make America Great Again.

When has America been great for African Americans in the ghetto of America? the pastor asked.

Asked about what he was doing to address protests against racial injustice, Trump lamented a lack of respect and the absence of retribution for those who clash with or carry out attacks against police officers. Trump on Sunday called for the death penalty for the individual who shot and critically injured two Los Angeles Sheriffs Department deputies over the weekend.

Trump has been unusually mum on his debate preparations ahead of the first debate, set to take place in Cleveland. On Tuesday, he told Fox News that he believes his day job is the best practice for his three scheduled showdowns with Biden.

Well, I sort of prepare every day by just doing what Im doing, Trump said. He noted that he had been in California on Monday and had been to other states before that to make the point that hes getting out and about more than Biden.

One person likely to study the replay: Biden. Returning from a long day of campaigning in Florida, Biden said at his plane that he was preparing for the debates mostly by going back through what Trump has said in the past. But he suggested he had yet to initiate mock debates, saying he was unaware who would play the role of Trump in his preparations.

Trump, in the Fox interview, lowered expectations for his Democratic opponents performance, judging Biden a disaster and grossly incompetent in the primary debates. He assessed Biden as OK and fine in his final one-on-one debate with Bernie Sanders before clinching the nomination.

Trumps rhetoric on Biden marked a departure from the traditional efforts by candidates to talk up their rivals preparation for televised debates, in hopes of setting an unattainably high bar for their performance.

The second of the three scheduled debates, set to be held in Miami on Oct. 15, will feature a similar town meeting style.

Biden is to have his own opportunity to hone his skills taking questions from voters on Thursday, when he participates in a televised town hall hosted by CNN.

The visit to Pennsylvania is Trumps second to the battleground state in the last week, after he attended a Sept. 11 memorial event in Shanksville on Friday.



Miller reported from Washington. AP writer Will Weissert contributed from Orlando, Florida.

APs Advance Voting guide brings you the facts about voting early, by mail or absentee from each state: https://interactives.ap.org/advance-voting-2020
Luxury car shoppers in the Phoenix and Scottsdale area can save on opulent Genesis models at Earnhardt Genesis of North Scottsdale with budget-minded lease and finance incentives.

Scottsdale-area luxury car shoppers who are drawn to the style, performance and luxury of the Genesis brand may find the perfect fit at Earnhardt Genesis of North Scottsdale in September. To make key Genesis models more affordable for local car shoppers, the dealership features Genesis lease and finance incentives. Potential owners interested in Genesis sales incentives must be approved via Genesis Finance.

Built to deliver track-tuned thrills and premium luxury, the 2020 Genesis G70 is a popular entry in the luxury sedan class. Individuals who are qualified for financing can finance a Genesis G70 with a 2.9% Annual Percentage Rate (APR) for 36 months. Luxury car shoppers who prefer to lease the Genesis G70 3.3T may be eligible for a 36-month lease with $3,419 down and $309 per month. The 2021 Genesis G70 3.3T is available for lease with $3,449 due at signing and $379 per month for 36 months.

With an upgrade to the 2020 Genesis G80, drivers will enjoy a wealth of luxury amenities with an elite level of performance. Genesis G80 lease incentives include a 36-month lease with $4,149 down and $439 per month for select models. Finance incentives for the 2020 Genesis G80 include 2.9% APR with a 36-month contract.

The 2020 Genesis G90 represents the peak of automotive luxury and performance with an elegant style. Genesis G90 5.0L Ultimate models are available with 2.9% APR for 36 months and are available for lease with $7,469 down and $789 per month with a 36-month lease agreement.

Luxury car shoppers in the Scottsdale area who are interested in Genesis lease and finance incentives at the dealership can learn more online at http://www.earnhardtgenesisofnorthscottsdale.com. Those individuals who prefer a more personal interaction can call the dealership sales team directly by calling 480-368-6789.
For most vertebrates, losing a limb is permanent, but a lucky few species -- such as salamanders and tadpoles -- have the ability to completely regrow complex body parts. Understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying this phenomenon may be the key to developing new kinds of regenerative medicine, giving us the power to heal spinal cord injuries and other severely damaged tissues.

A new study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B from researchers at the University of Chicago and Universidade Federal do Para explores this regenerative ability in the tails of West African lungfish for the first time, and finds that the process shares many of the same traits as tail regeneration in salamanders. Their results indicate that this trait was likely found in a common ancestor - and provide a new opportunity for better understanding and harnessing the mechanisms of limb regrowth.

The inspiration for this research grew out of a postdoctoral fellowship in the Shubin Lab at UChicago. After completing his postdoctoral studies in evolutionary biology, Igor Schneider, PhD, accepted a faculty position in Belem, Brazil, where he found the diversity of the Amazon rainforest at his fingertips. He became interested in exploring evolutionary traits in new animal models and ultimately narrowed his focus to regenerative biology. He began exploring mechanisms of regeneration in the lungfish - first in South American species, and then in West African lungfish.

"When we're talking about how a salamander regrows a lost tail, we're talking about regrowing all sorts of tissues," said Schneider, an Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at the Universidade Federal do Para and a Visiting Associate Professor of Organismal Biology at UChicago. "Vertebrae, spinal cord, muscle, it's a very complex structure. Mammals, birds and most reptiles can't regenerate tissue like that, but salamanders can. We know some of the biology of how that happens, but we don't really know much about how it evolved, or when. Did our ancestors have the ability to regenerate a lost limb? Did we lose this capacity as mammals, or did salamanders get lucky enough to invent it later on?"

One way to answer this question is to determine whether or not the trait existed in the common ancestor between humans and salamanders. To do this, the researchers took a phylogenetic approach, looking for additional relatives that possess a similar regenerative trait. Lungfish are unique in that they are "our closest fish cousin," Schneider said. "They can regenerate their tails, but they are also our closest relative in the water. This lets us explore whether or not this regenerative ability was also likely to be present in our common ancestor, without having to go too deep into our phylogenetic tree."

Lungfish represent an ideal model for more reasons than one. "These animals have the right anatomy to study this question and can also be easily managed in the lab," said Neil Shubin, PhD, the Robert R. Bensley Distinguished Service Professor of Organismal Biology and Anatomy at UChicago. "Lungfish are much more closely related to humans than other common species that have regenerative abilities, like zebrafish. For instance, lungfish have a humerus in their fin, just like the bone in our upper arms. They have lungs that are similar to ours. There is a suite of characteristics suggesting that these animals are much more closely related to us than zebrafish."

The investigators were initially challenged with establishing the lungfish as a model from the ground up, learning how to care for the fish in a laboratory setting, sampling tissue and obtaining DNA sequencing data to get a clearer picture of the animal's genetics, and testing new antibodies and techniques in a brand-new species.

What they found was that the West African lungfish could not only fully regenerate a lost tail, but that the regeneration used similar molecular mechanisms to the limb regrowth seen in amphibians. This includes a critical signaling molecule, Shh, which plays a key role in the growth and organization of the brain and body during embryonic development. This provides support for the hypothesis that this type of regeneration was present in a common ancestor of these species -- and of humans.

But perhaps even more interesting than the similarities in regeneration processes are the differences. "What I found particularly intriguing were some of the aspects of tail regrowth that are unique to the lungfish," said Schneider. "These animals are known for having gigantic genomes -- up to 40 times as large as a human's -- because their genomes contain a lot of virus-derived DNA elements, called transposons. During regeneration, some of those genes turn on, but we don't know if it's just because they're close to other key genes in this process, or if it's because these genes are actively involved in regeneration. Some of this has been seen in amphibian regeneration as well, so it begs the question of whether or not these transposons play a particular role in regeneration."

In addition to providing insights on the evolutionary origin of this trait, the researchers say this new animal model will help further the field of regenerative medicine. "Often, when you have limited models, you'll try to understand a process very well in a given species, and then extrapolate what you learn to other species," Schneider said. "But you might encounter things that are unique to the species you're studying that won't always apply to other animals. Understanding phenomena like regeneration in a comparative way, looking at how other organisms are doing this, can help us find general themes in regeneration."

Further clarifying the evolution of limb regeneration in lungfish and other species, along with their underlying mechanisms, may uncover new treatments for severe wounds, spinal cord injuries and amputations. "Ultimately, we're trying to understand the ancestral tool kit used by these species to conduct the regeneration process," said Shubin. "This will help us figure out what parts of that tool kit we as humans have lost, at the genetic and cellular level, and more importantly, what parts can we recreate?"

The study, "Salamander-like tail regeneration in the West African lungfish," was supported by the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development Universal Program (Grant 403248/2016-7), the CAPES-Humboldt Foundation Fellowship, CAPES/DAAD PROBRAL (Grant 88881.198758/2018-01), MCTIC/FINEP/FNDCT/AT Amazonia Legal to I.S. This study was financed in part by the Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior - Brasil (CAPES) - Finance Code 001. Additional authors include Kellen Matos Verissimo, Aline Cutrim Dragalzew, Sylvain Darnet, Wainna Renata Barroso Mendes, Ciro Ariel dos Santos Neves, Erika Monteiro dos Santos, Cassia Nazare de Sousa Moraes, and Josane de Freitas Sousa of the Universidade Federal do Para; Louise Neiva Pereze of the Universidade Federal do Para and the Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science; Nadia Belina Frobisch of the Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science; Gayani Senevirathne of the University of Chicago; and Ahmed Elewa of the Karolinska Institute.

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About the University of Chicago Medicine & Biological Sciences

The University of Chicago Medicine, with a history dating back to 1927, is one of the nation's leading academic health systems. It unites the missions of the University of Chicago Medical Center, Pritzker School of Medicine and the Biological Sciences Division. Twelve Nobel Prize winners in physiology or medicine have been affiliated with the University of Chicago Medicine. Its main Hyde Park campus is home to the Center for Care and Discovery, Bernard Mitchell Hospital, Comer Children's Hospital and the Duchossois Center for Advanced Medicine. It also has ambulatory facilities in Orland Park, South Loop and River East as well as affiliations and partnerships that create a regional network of care. UChicago Medicine offers a full range of specialty-care services for adults and children through more than 40 institutes and centers including an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center. Together with Harvey-based Ingalls Memorial, UChicago Medicine has 1,296 licensed beds, nearly 1,300 attending physicians, over 2,800 nurses and about 970 residents and fellows.

Visit UChicago Medicine's health and science news blog at http://www.uchicagomedicine.org/forefront.

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Hyderabad police on Tuesday busted an alleged 'hawala' racket with the arrest of four persons and seized Rs 3.75 crore cash from them.

Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar said two cars were also seized from the accused.

Acting on a tip off, the Commissioner's Task Force (West) made the arrests. The arrested were identified as Eshwar Dileep Solanki (29), Harish Ram Bhai Patel (35), Ajith Singh (34) and Rathod Kanak Singh Natuba (42), all from Gujarat and residing in Banjara Hills in Hyderabad.

On credible information that four persons were moving in two cars with huge cash, police intercepted two cars on Road No 12, Banjara Hills. The four occupants were carrying Rs 3.75 crore cash without any valid documents.

Their interrogation revealed that they are working for P.Vijay & Company, Mumbai and its owner Kamlesh Shah, a native of Ahmedabad, has a branch office at Hyderabad.

Solanki and Patel came to Hyderabad on Monday in a Mahindra Scorpio to collect the cash from Dinesh and Giri working at the branch office in Banjara Hills. They collected the cash on Tuesday and all the four were proceeding in two cars to Solapur.

Police suspect the amount is part of a hawala transaction.

The Police Commissioner said the seized amount will be handed over to the Income Tax Department for further necessary action. The persons who are in possession of money will be examined by the Income Tax department.
A disgraced Victoria Police officer has been sentenced to more than four years in prison after she pleaded guilty to 10 fraud offences, including deceiving locksmiths, to dishonestly obtain six properties.

Former sergeant Rosa Catherine Rossi, 57, also defrauded Centrelink, accessed the police database LEAP without authority, and falsely claimed in statutory declarations that her name was Dianne Marshall and that she lived in Endeavour Hills.

Rosa Rossi outside court in June. Credit:AAP

Rossi is the state's first female police officer to be jailed for her crimes.

A former bankrupt, Rossi used a string of other aliases during her 18-month crime spree, including Kelly Randall, Elizabeth Turner and Kim Snowdon.
She moved her family back to her native Georgia to await the birth of her second child.

And on Tuesday, actor Josh Brolin's wife Kathryn shared an update on her pregnancy with a baby bump snap posted to her Instagram Story.

'26 weeks and counting,' she wrote on the image taken in the lavish and expansive bathroom in her new home.

'26 weeks and counting': Actor Josh Brolin's wife Kathryn shared an update on her pregnancy with a baby bump bathroom mirror selfie posted to her Instagram Story on Tuesday

Kathryn, 32, is a former assistant to the 52-year-old Hollywood star and became his third wife in 2016.

The couple confirmed back in July that they are adding to their family.

They welcomed their first child, daughter Westlyn, in November 2018.

In the latest photo, Kathryn bares her bump while wearing a cropped white tank top and black trousers with her long blonde hair flowing loose down around her shoulders.

Couple: Kathryn, 32, is a former assistant to the 52-year-old Hollywood star and became his third wife in 2016. They welcomed their first child, daughter Westlyn, in November 2018

Home: Last month, Kathryn revealed via her Instagram that she and her family had relocated from California to Georgia to be closer to her mother, a real estate broker in the Atlanta area

Last month, Kathryn had revealed via her Instagram that she and her daughter Westlyn had upped sticks and moved away from California.

Sharing a photo of herself and her child in a cavernous empty room in their new home, she shared: 'The rest of the year brings a new adventure. Decided to skip out on our beloved Cali and move across the country.'

She then tagged her mom Deborah Boyd-Brown, who is a luxury real estate broker in Atlanta, Georgia, suggesting that she has moved to be closer to her mother as she awaits the birth of baby number two.

A little while later, Josh joined his wife and daughter, an event Kathryn again celebrated on social media, posting a photo of her husband with the caption: 'Reunited with my person.'

Josh is also dad to two adult children from his first marriage to actress Alice Adair.

He is the son of actor James Brolin and his most recent big screen credits include Avengers: Endgame, Sicario: Day of the Soldado and Deadpool 2.

Nice digs: Kathryn and Westlyn moved first and she posted this photo of them in their new mansion where they will live until after the new baby's birth

'Reunited with my person': A little while later, Josh joined his wife and daughter, an event Kathryn again celebrated on social media with a photo of her husband
When the coronavirus shuttered the hospitality industry in March, Chicago bartender Garrett Collins moved back home to Edmond, Oklahoma, where he now lives with his parents and a grandmother.

"When I first moved in, I felt pretty guilty," said Collins, 27. "I felt like I was very lucky and privileged in a way to have the ability to move back in with my parents. I felt guilty that I didn't lock on to some career path that had made me able to look after myself on my own. When I moved back in, I had this kind of shame."

52 percent of people ages 18 to 29 are living with their parents because of the pandemic.

Collins' experience is part of the new normal. Across the country, the coronavirus has sent more than 2 million young adults back into childhood bedrooms, according to a Pew Research Center report released this month, altering family dynamics and changing their life trajectories. It's a dramatic sociological and economic shift.

The report found that 52 percent of people ages 18 to 29 are living with their parents because of the pandemic.

"The share of young adults living with their parents is higher than in any previous measurement (based on current surveys and decennial censuses). Before 2020, the highest measured value was in the 1940 census at the end of the Great Depression, when 48 percent of young adults lived with their parents," the report said.

Full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak

Indeed, the shift could change how we define adulthood, said Michelle Janning, a professor of sociology at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. "The criteria might change. There might be less emphasis on geographic independence to be an adult."

In Collins' family home, three generations ended up under one roof: Collins' 77-year-old grandmother, Carol, had moved in back in December. When Collins arrived three months later, he quickly butted heads with his grandmother, whom the family describes as a "far-right Republican," said his mother, Cindy.

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"We just don't talk about it," said Cindy, 57, referring to politics. "It's like a minefield walking around our house trying not to upset everybody. Our dinners are very quiet these days."

But sometimes, quiet wasn't possible. At the beginning of the pandemic, when President Donald Trump held daily news briefings, Carol would insist that the coronavirus was a "bad flu," Cindy said.

Garrett Collins, who has a biology degree from the University of Central Oklahoma, would implore his grandmother to take the virus seriously.

"He has stayed home and away from his friends this whole time, while she continues to sneak out of the house to have coffee and play cards with her friends," his mother said.

But while Collins and his mother have delicately navigated his grandmother's politics, their relationship blossomed in other ways. The grandmother and grandson bonded over "The Great British Baking Show" on Netflix, baking cakes for the family, and she even tasted his oat milk, a beverage she had never come across before.

While Collins experienced growing pains, other adult children who have moved home, like Leah Gay, 28, found the transition home remarkably smooth.

In March, when the coronavirus shut down New York City, Gay was "getting very little social interaction" and "feeling isolated" by social distancing. So she left her Manhattan apartment and returned home to Blacksburg, Virginia. It was her first time living at home in 10 years.

"I get my meals cooked for me. I have people to hang out with every night, so that's awesome," said Gay, who works as a senior social media coordinator for a nonprofit.

The pandemic has brought the family closer together.

Before the pandemic, Gay said, "I was coming home two to three times a year for a long weekend, so I see it as a blessing to be able to be with them for so long, when I don't know when or if that would ever happen, because I never lived close by."

Last month, she terminated her $1,410-a-month Manhattan lease. "Paying New York rent when I don't need to physically go into an office made no sense," she said.

Gay may have had the luxury of a choice to continue her lease or to let that expense go. Others have been forced to make that decision as the pandemic has aggravated economic problems for many in the demographic.

"One of the responses" for younger adults "is to move home in order to minimize the loss of lifetime earnings and opportunities," said Bill Rodgers, an economist at Rutgers University. Parents "act as insurance for those who can support it."

Jack Fitzpatrick, 26, a social media consultant, moved home from Minneapolis to save money and to be closer to his family in Marriottsville, Maryland. "I had two roommates. Now, I still have two roommates  they're just my parents," he said.

But like Gay's, his family has experienced minimal conflicts since he left his apartment at the end of August, Fitzpatrick said.

Sometimes the calculation is simply to get parents used to the idea that a visit home isn't a vacation but a new workspace.

Kyra Littlejohn, 27, works in public relations. In June, she left New York, where she had been living in Astoria, Queens, for Southfield, Michigan, to be with her mom, her stepdad and a grandmother. Recently, she had to ask her family to keep the noise down when she was on a work call.

Moving back was an adjustment for everyone, said Littlejohn, who moved out five years ago. But she "wouldn't have changed my decision at all to come back."

IMAGE: Kyra Littlejohn, Andrea Johnson-Smith and Ruth Love (Courtesy Kyra Littlejohn)

Sometimes it's just, well, awkward. Gay has taken up TikTok since moving back home, and her parents have walked in on her recording skits in her old prom dress, she said. "I heard my mom upstairs talking to my dad and saying, 'Leah's filming some kind of video in her old prom dress?' But they supported it and asked to see the TikTok when I was done," she said.

Back in Oklahoma Collins, the former bartender, is taking prerequisite nursing classes online and in person, but he misses his Chicago friends and some aspects of his old life. "It's a big change. It's a big difference," he said. "Being with my family 24/7 has been a big transition."

Janning, the Whitman College sociologist, said perceptions of adulthood could shift as a result of the transitions.

"I think there is going to be a context of forgiveness," she said, "of acceptance of this weird new version of transition to adulthood that doesn't have to include financial independence as much as it used to."
One person likely to study the replay: Biden. Returning from a long day of campaigning in Florida, Biden said at his plane that he was preparing for the debates mostly by going back through what Trump has said in the past. But he suggested he had yet to initiate mock debates, saying he was unaware who would play the role of Trump in his preparations.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- As our nation continues to struggle with the enormous impact of a global pandemic and an outcry for racial equity and social justice, Americans are more reliant than ever on journalists to gather, sort and report the news with accuracy and fairness.

"Reporters are witnesses," said National Press Club President Michael Freedman. "To silence the press is to silence the people, silence accountability, and silence the truth."

Yet, in a growing and alarming pattern, journalists have been attacked, injured and arrested without provocation by law enforcement authorities, in spite of following agreed-upon guidelines established to protect their constitutional right to pursue their jobs.

In the latest incident, confirmed in a video recording, Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies tackled, roughed up, arrested, detained and charged Josie Huang, a reporter with NPR affiliate KPCC Radio. Huang had been covering a press conference at a hospital where two police officers were taken after being shot in an ambush. Following the press conference, police clashed with a demonstrator, and Huang rushed to record the scene. Video of the incident shows police hurting Huang even after she tried to cooperate and clearly identified herself as a reporter. Scraped and bruised, she was held for five hours and charged with obstruction.

The sheriff's department later tweeted that Huang did not identify herself as press. But video of the event and Huang's account on Twitter say the opposite.

Huang's is the latest in a wave of assaults on journalists this year as they have covered unrest associated with America's 2020 racial reckoning. In May, freelance photojournalist Linda Tirado was shot in her left eye and partially blinded by a foam bullet fired by an officer while covering a Minneapolis protest following the killing of George Floyd at the hands of police. Tirado, wearing press credentials, was taking photos at the time.

According to the Press Freedom Tracker , such attacks number more than 800, and a substantial percentage of them have been committed by police.

In June, the National Press Club and the National Press Club Journalism Institute, the Club's nonprofit affiliate, penned an open letter to law enforcement signed by more than 30 other news and press-freedom organizations calling for a halt to police violence against the press and demanding accountability for those who have perpetrated it.

Club president Freedman and Institute president Angela Greiling Keane reiterated that call today.

"The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has told reporters that it is investigating the Josie Huang incident," said Greiling Keane. "The probe should be completed quickly and fairly. And we implore other law enforcement authorities across the country to deliver a message of zero tolerance for officers found to have interfered with journalists' First Amendment rights. When police assault journalists who are doing their jobs, those officers must face swift and severe consequences."

The National Press Club, the World's Leading Professional Organization for Journalists, represents more than 3,000 reporters, editors and professional communicators worldwide. The National Press Club Journalism Institute promotes an engaged global citizenry through an independent and free press, and equips journalists with skills and standards to inform the public in ways that inspire civic engagement.

Press Contacts:

John M. Donnelly, NPC Press Freedom Chairman: [email protected]; (202) 650-6738.

Lindsay Underwood for the National Press Club: [email protected]; (202) 662-7561

SOURCE National Press Club

Related Links

https://www.press.org


OMAHA, Neb., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Jet Linx , the leading private jet management and Jet Card membership company in the United States, today announced the renewal of their accreditation as a WYVERN Wingman Certified Operator for the fourth consecutive year, demonstrating the Company's strong commitment and assurance to safety. The announcement was made by Jamie Walker, President & CEO of Jet Linx.

"The safety of our clients, pilots and crew members has always been the cornerstone of Jet Linx. External safety audits from esteemed organizations such as WYVERN offer a credible third-party perspective," said Jamie Walker, President & CEO of Jet Linx. "As a leader in the industry, it is our responsibility to continuously invest in our safety operations and procedures to ensure we are not only meeting the highest safety standards but exceeding them. Now more than ever, individuals are seeking safe and trusted travel solutions and it is imperative our industry continues to prioritize their safety and wellbeing."

The WYVERN Wingman Certified Operator is a distinguished title granted only to operators that have completed an extensive audit as determined by WYVERN, the world's first business aviation audit company. To receive this designation, operators must undergo an extensive two to three-day audit ensuring the company has adhered to stringent reporting requirements that verify safety standards have been met through the entirety of the two-year certification term.

Jet Linx has continued to demonstrate its commitment to delivering the highest and most stringent safety standards in the private aviation industry through initiatives such as their annual Safety Summit, in which Jet Linx voluntarily grounds its fleet of 100-plus aircraft each year to connect all employees across the nation and advance the company's safety culture. The Company is the only airline to participate in such an initiative, as well as the first to host an industry-wide Aviation Safety Symposium that invited industry partners to share, educate and advance safety efforts in Part 135 operations.

In addition to an industry-leading safety program and national and international safety accreditations, Jet Linx is also the first aviation company to treat its fleet of aircraft and private terminals with the BIOPROTECTUs System from ViaClean Technologies. This non-toxic system disinfects and provides long term antimicrobial protection for up to 90 days. Recent studies by two Centers of Excellence of the Global Virus Network (GVN) have proven the product's efficacy against SARS-COV-2 for more than six weeks. Jet Linx is also the only operator in the aviation industry to provide BIOPROTECT Hydrating Hand Sanitizer dispensers in each of its 19 private, client-only Base terminals.

Jet Linx's dedication to safety has earned the Company numerous other third-party accolades, including the ARGUS (Aviation Research Group United States) Platinum Designation and the international IS-BAO (International Standard for Business Aircraft Operations) Stage 3 rating.

For more information, please visit www.jetlinx.com .

About Jet Linx Aviation

Jet Linx Aviation is a locally-focused private jet company founded in Omaha, NE in 1999 as a more personalized approach to national private jet companies. Jet Linx offers two different ways to experience private aviation  a guaranteed jet card and private jet management program  providing its clients with an all-encompassing, local solution to all of their private jet travel needs. Jet Linx is an IS-BAO Stage 3, ARGUS Platinum and Wyvern Wingman safety rated operator, an accomplishment earned by less than one percent of all aircraft operators in the world. In 2019, Jet Linx became the only Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star trained and accredited private aviation company in the world. In addition to establishing the independent global rating system's preeminent and unparalleled service standards for the in-flight experience, Jet Linx also collaborated with Forbes Travel Guide to develop their own customized, proprietary Jet Linx standards of service excellence. Jet Linx is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska and has base locations in Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Ft. Worth, Houston, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Nashville, New York, Omaha, San Antonio, Scottsdale, St Louis, Tulsa and Washington D.C. For additional information, please visit the Jet Linx website ( www.jetlinx.com ).

SOURCE Jet Linx

Related Links

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BRUSSELS, Sept 16 (Reuters) - The euro zone's unadjusted trade surplus jumped year-on-year in July, data showed on Wednesday, as imports fell more amid the economic slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic than exports.

The European Union's statistics office Eurostat said the trade surplus of the 19 countries sharing the euro with the rest of the world was 27.9 billion euros ($33.1 billion) in July, up from 23.2 billion a year earlier. Euro zone imports fell 14.3% in the July compared to a year earlier while exports fell only 10.4%.

Adjusted for seasonal swings the trade surplus in July was 20.3 billion euros, up from 16.0 billion in June as seasonally adjusted exports rose 6.5% month-on-month and imports rose only 4.2%.

The European Union's trade deficit with China grew in the January-July period to 104.8 billion euros from 92.5 billion in the same period of 2019, but the deficit in trade with Russia, Europe's main suppliers of oil and gas, fell sharply to 12.4 billion euros from 38.3 billion.

The EU's trade surplus in the first seven months of the year with the United States declined to 82.7 billion from 89.1 billion and with Britain to 55.7 billion euros from 75.8 billion. ($1 = 0.8425 euros) (Reporting by Jan Strupczewski; editing by Philip Blenkinsop)
ARLINGTON, Va., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Ostendio Inc., a leading provider of integrated risk management software, and Maloney + Novotny LLC, an accounting and business advisory firm, today announced that Maloney + Novotny is joining MyVCM Auditor Connect . This partnership increases the number of auditors in the groundbreaking marketplace which offers clients choices when selecting third party security and risk management audit firms. Maloney + Novotny will use the Ostendio MyVCM platform to guide customers through certifications including SOC 2, HITRUST, and HIPAA.

Maloney + Novotny

MyVCM Auditor Connect brings the auditor and customer together on one platform where they can share real-time evidence in a secure location. Unlike previous methods of conducting audits, the Ostendio MyVCM platform provides access to evidence and documents that are always available, easy to update and optimized for collaboration. Customers being audited can track progress in real time and the increased collaboration and efficiency can result in significant savings for both auditors and customers in the time and cost of an audit.

"We are pleased to welcome Maloney + Novotny to the MyVCM Auditor Connect marketplace and to connect them with customers who are looking for forward-thinking, professional security audit firms to handle their audit process," said Grant Elliott, CEO and chairman of Ostendio. "Organizations often hold multiple security certifications as a competitive advantage. Using MyVCM Auditor Connect to source an approved audit firm will help speed up the audit process and reduce the cost of an audit."

By joining the MyVCM Auditor Connect marketplace, Maloney + Novotny will be able to provide prospective customers clear and transparent pricing based on customer-specific needs and engage with customers directly on the platform. Throughout the entire audit process, Ostendio MyVCM will be used to manage relevant documents and simplify future audits by maintaining relevant company information securely.

"IT Governance and audit are becoming more important in today's business landscape. This is evidenced by the increased number of security questionnaires and audit requests customers are requiring of their vendors. Businesses need the ability to turn how they handle these requests into a competitive advantage to be successful. This is where the Ostendio MyVCM platform excels, it allows companies the ability to efficiently meet their customers' needs," said Steve Thomas, Shareholder, Maloney + Novotny.

"Joining the MyVCM Auditor Connect partner program will allow us to provide this advantage to our current clients and will introduce us to companies who are about to start an audit or certification process. We look forward to working with these new clients and using Ostendio MyVCM to streamline the process."

Businesses who complete security certifications show their commitment to data security standards and regulations. Certifications, such as SOC 2, HITRUST and FedRAMP, are gaining in popularity as they set standards for compliance and show commitment to keeping customer data safe. Holding these certifications can give companies a competitive advantage as they demonstrate their business is organized and takes data security seriously. The awareness of the need for data privacy has also become more important with the introduction of government regulations such as GDPR in Europe and CCPA in California. By preparing for a data security audit, companies often discover where their weaknesses lie, and they can protect against data breaches happening in the future.

About Ostendio

Ostendio's MyVCM is an Integrated Risk Management Platform that makes it easier to build, operate, and showcase your security program. Organizations of any size who need to demonstrate compliance to security standards internally and externally can benefit from Ostendio MyVCM. The platform provides a single solution that incorporates users and requirements from across the enterprise. Ostendio MyVCM helps companies: Identify and quantify enterprise risk; Quickly build and deploy security assessments; Manage and respond to security incidents and breaches; and Align vendors and suppliers to security and compliance standards.

For more information about Ostendio's MyVCM, please visit www.ostendio.com and follow us on Twitter , LinkedIn , and Facebook .

Media contact: Miranda Elliott [email protected] 1-877-668-5658

About Maloney + Novotny LLC

Maloney + Novotny LLC is one of Ohio's largest full-service CPA and business consulting firms and celebrates 90 years of helping clients achieve their goals and financial success. The Firm provides attest, tax and advisory services through a long-term relationship built on trust and service. Maloney + Novotny is a member of Nexia International, a worldwide network of independent accountants, business advisors and consultants.

For more information about Maloney + Novotny please visit maloneynovotny.com or socreport.com and follow us on Twitter , LinkedIn , and Facebook

Media Contact: Jon Ruple [email protected], 216-344-5263

SOURCE Ostendio

Related Links

http://www.ostendio.com


The International Criminal Court on Wednesday dismissed an appeal against a decision not to probe Israel over a deadly raid on an aid flotilla to Gaza in 2010.

Nine Turkish citizens died when Israeli commandos stormed the Mavi Marmara ship, which was trying to breach the embargo on Gaza. One more died in hospital in 2014.

The Hague-based tribunals prosecutor Fatou Bensouda found in December there was no basis to proceed with a full investigation.

The Comoros, the Indian Ocean nation where the ship was registered and which made the original complaint, had challenged that decision.

ICC judges said on Wednesday that the court rejects Comoros request for judicial review of the prosecutors decision not to open an investigation.

The judges admitted that Bensouda made errors in an original 2014 decision not to investigate.

They also said she did not genuinely reconsider that decision as the court had ordered, and then made further mistakes before she decided again, in 2019, not to probe the case.

But the judges said it was unclear what powers they had to ask the prosecutor to fix the mistakes, and so they were unable to ask her to further review the case.

The ICC was set up in 2002 to deal with war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Families of the Gaza flotilla victims have previously accused the prosecutors office of trying to safeguard Israel.

In December 2019, prosecutor Bensouda said she wanted to open a full investigation into the broader issue of war crimes in the Palestinian territories.
Joe Jaworski, a mediator and former Galveston mayor, is not a fan of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican first elected to statewide office in 2014.

I have always thought the attorney general should be the attorney for the people, not a particular political party or ideology, he told me Tuesday.

That may sound naive to Texans whove followed state politics in recent years. But Jaworski, a Democrat, has a unique vantage point as the grandson of the late Leon Jaworski, the Houston lawyer and one-time Nuremberg prosecutor who gained fame as the second special prosecutor during the Watergate scandal.

Jaworski said his grandfather  the Colonel, to family members  put country over party. A Democrat, he became disillusioned with the party after Lyndon Johnsons administration and voted for Richard Nixon twice. His legal clash with Nixon over Oval Office audio recordings culminated in Nixons resignation in 1974.

Leon Jaworski was always on the right side of history, and that is a meaning that I feel very strongly about, Joe Jaworski said of his grandfather.

Joe Jaworski announced his own bid for attorney general last week, getting an early start in a bid to unseat Paxton, a Republican, in 2022. Jaworski doesnt expect to be the only Democrat vying for the job.

But Paxton might as well be on the ballot this cycle, Jaworski argued. Some of Paxtons peers in statewide office have laid low this election cycle, or focused their efforts on fundraising for downballot GOP candidates. But the attorney general, who continues to fight his own five-year-old indictment for felony securities fraud, has vigorously inserted himself into the political fray.

Over the past week, for example, Paxton has continued to pursue his lawsuit against Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins over the latters plan to send every registered voter in the county an application for a mail-in ballot.

He also made time to appear on Fox and Friends over the weekend, where he touted his fight with the city of San Antonio over a 2019 City Council vote to deny a lease at its international airport to the fast-food chain Chick-fil-A. At issue is the company owners past financial support for anti-LGBTQ causes.

That question isnt particularly high-stakes or urgent, but the former is both, given that the new coronavirus has yet to be contained and the first day of early voting is Oct. 13, less than a month away.

State District Judge R.K. Sandill last week rejected Paxtons request for a temporary injunction to halt the ballot plan, dismissing Paxtons claim that Hollins was acting outside his authority. The Election Code, Sandill wrote, says nothing about how those who wish to vote by mail may obtain an application for a mail-in ballot.

Paxton immediately appealed the ruling, and on Tuesday petitioned the conservative-leaning Texas Supreme Court for an injunction. That request was granted, meaning Hollins plan remains on hold for now.

Fortunately, all vote-by-mail applications have already been delivered to Harris County voters aged 65 and above, Hollins tweeted Tuesday afternoon. My office is prepared to send applications and educational materials to remaining registered voters at the conclusion of this baseless litigation.

Clearly, the attorney general intends to keep up the fight even at the risk of sowing confusion among voters, which is precisely what hes accusing Hollins of doing.

Paxtons decision to pursue the issue is a controversial one, with some Republicans joining Democrats in opposition. Former Texas House Speaker Joe Straus, for example, penned an op-ed column in the Dallas Morning News calling on state leaders to focus on improving the voting process to secure against fraud, rather than fighting an expansion of mail-in voting outright.

In almost every part of life, we have made accommodations. Some have been merely inconvenient, and others have caused businesses and jobs to be lost. But we have learned to adapt to all sorts of changes in our daily lives, wrote Straus, who now serves as the chairman of the new Texas Forever Forward PAC. Why should voting be any different?

A state that refuses to recognize the unique circumstances of this moment is failing its citizens, he concluded.

From Jaworskis perspective, it doesnt have to be this way. He began his career in electoral politics in 2002, as a member of the Galveston City Council. Republicans had taken control of all statewide offices, and yet it was possible for local officials, including Democrats, to work productively with the state. Indeed, Jaworski continued, he felt great support from state leaders when he became mayor in 2010, when the city was still dealing with the aftermath of 2008s Hurricane Ike.

Todays Republican leaders, Jaworski argued, are doing Texans a disservice by abandoning the states tradition of local control, as in Paxtons fight with San Antonio over Chick-fil-A. The principle at hand protects conservative rural communities, after all, as well as major cities, most of which are led by Democrats. Cities and counties can, Jaworski added, can serve as incubators for new ideas.

What I would like to see is Texas restored back to some balance, said Jaworski, remembering his grandfathers reverence for the rule of law: Growing up, I always felt like he went all the way back to the Magna Carta. We could use him and that philosophy in great sums these days.

The attorney generals election is two years away, but Jaworskis call for less partisanship and more collaboration between state and local officials is a welcome one, especially as we all seek to emerge safely from a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic. Working together  is that too much to ask?

erica.grieder@chron.com
WASHINGTON, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- LATINA Style Inc., the premier company addressing the needs of Latina professionals and business owners in the U.S., announces the LATINA Style 50 Report for 2020. The LATINA Style 50 Report is the most respected evaluation of corporate America's career advancement opportunities for Latinas.

"Over the years the survey has also evolved to ensure more opportunities for Latinas are taken into consideration," says Robert Bard, CEO, LATINA Style, Inc. "With the mission to recognize the work corporate America is doing to advance Latinas, the survey not only reflects the opportunities provided to Latinas but it is also a reflection of the company's culture and overall focus on diversity and inclusion. It is our pleasure to announce that this year Bank of America has been selected as our Company of the Year."

"At Bank of America, we have a long-standing commitment to advance diverse representation across all levels of our company," says Bank of America CEO, Brian Moynihan. "This recognition from LATINA Style underscores our efforts to attract, retain and support the professional development and career growth of Latina talent."

LATINA Style is proud to recognize companies who support programs that encourage training, retention and promotion for Latinas within the company. Evaluations for the 2020 report is based on 2019 data.

The annual awards honoring the LS 50 companies will take place in February 2021 during the LATINA Style 50 Awards and Diversity Leaders Conference in Washington, D.C. For more information visit www.latinastyle.com

2020 LATINA Style Top 50 Companies



1. Bank of America 30. MetLife Inc. 2. Accenture 31. Northern Trust 3. New York Life 32. Dallas Fort Worth International Airport 4. Johnson & Johnson 33. Los Alamos National Laboratory 5. AT&T 34. Fannie Mae 6. JPMorgan Chase & Co. 35. McCormick & Company 7. Nationwide 36. State Street Corporation 8. Colgate- Palmolive 37. The Coca-Cola Company 9. CVS Health 38. Pacific Gas and Electric Company 10. Aflac 39. MGM Resorts International 11. Marriott International, Inc. 40. Consolidated Edison, Inc. 12. Wells Fargo & Company 41. Amazon 13. Raytheon Technologies 42. Cardinal Health 14. Intel 43. Merck 15. FCA US LLC 44. NEXCOM Enterprise 16. Comerica Bank 45. Army & Air Force Exchange Service 17. General Motors Company 46. American Airlines 18. Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey 47. Office Depot 19. Hilton 48. Asurion 20. USAA 49. Rackspace Technology 21. Kaiser Permanente 50. Claro Enterprise Solutions 22. Ford Motor Company

23. Morgan Stanley

24. State Farm

25. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority

26. 3M Company

27. PenFed Credit Union

28. JCPenney

29. Sodexo



About LATINA Style, Inc.

LATINA Style Inc., headquartered in Dallas, TX., is the publisher of LATINA Style Magazine, a national magazine for the professional Hispanic woman. For further information visit www.latinastyle.com.

CONTACT: Media - Gloria Romano-Barrera

[email protected]

SOURCE LATINA Style Inc.

Related Links

http://www.latinastyle.com


Justice Department Orders Al Jazeera Affiliate to Register as a Foreign Agent of Qatar: Reports

The Justice Department (DOJ) has designated a U.S.-based news network affiliated to Al Jazeera as a foreign agent of the government of Qatar and has ordered it to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), according to reports.

In a letter obtained by several media outlets, a senior DOJ national security official told the Qatari state-owned broadcaster that it had determined that its affiliate AJ+ is engaged in political activities within the United States and acts as a publicity agent within the United States, on behalf of the Government of Qatar and Al Jazeera Media Network.

Journalism designed to influence American perceptions of a domestic policy issue or a foreign nations activities or its leadership qualifies as political activities under the statutory definition, even if it views itself as balanced,' the letter signed by Jay Bratt, chief of the counterintelligence and export control section in the DOJs national security division, said.

DOJ spokesperson Marc Raimondi said in a statement to The Epoch Times that the department cannot confirm or deny the existence of such a letter. I can tell you that the FARA Units enforcement activities are based on following the facts where they lead and the applicable law.

Al Jazeera is based in Doha, Qatar, and says they are funded in part by the Qatari government. Its network includes multi-language websites, satellite, and digital channels. Al Jazeera America, a cable news channel, shut its operations in 2016 citing economic challenges in the U.S. media marketplace. AJ+ is one of Al Jazeeras networks that primarily produces online and social media content and videos. Its English office is headquartered in Washington.

The DOJ letter argues that AJ+ publishes articles that invite their audience to question what conduct constitutes terrorism; demonstrate a disdain for the term Islamist Terror; adopt a positive view of Iran; show support for the Palestinian cause and question U.S. support for Israel; reflect a critical position on the war in Yemen; and a Qatari-sympathetic view of the Saudi Arabian-led embargo against Qatar.

Al Jazeera said the DOJs move had helped the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which has severed diplomatic relations with Qatar, accomplish its goal of blocking the news outlet and Qatar. The letter was sent to Al Jazeera the day before UAE signed a diplomatic deal with Israel, which was brokered by the United States. A spokesperson for the news outlet suggested that the two events may be linked, without providing evidence.

The U.A.E. has confirmed it presented the United States with preconditions prior to announcing the Abraham Accords, and we received D.O.J.s letter the day before the U.A.E. signed the Accords, the spokesperson said in a statement to media outlets. Hobbling Al Jazeera was one of the top conditions of the UAEs blockade against Qatar and the Justice Department just gave the UAE what it wanted.

We are deeply disappointed by the Departments decision, which runs counter to the extensive factual record we provided demonstrating that FARA registration is not applicable to AJ+. The legal structure, editorial structure, editorial policies, budgeting process, and content of AJ+ clearly demonstrate its independence. We are reviewing the determination and considering our options, the spokesperson also said.

Al Jazeeras press office did not immediately respond to The Epoch Times request for comment.

UAEs ambassador the United States Yousef al Otaiba denied the claim to The New York Times, saying that Al Jazeera or Qatar was at no point part of the discussion of the deal.

In 2017, Arab powers UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Egypt, cut ties with Qatar, accusing the tiny peninsular nation of financing, adopting and sheltering extremists. They were later joined by other countries such as Yemen, Libyas eastern-based government, and the Maldives amid the deepening rift.

A Qatar official on Monday also ruled out that it would join its neighbors in establishing diplomatic relations with Israel until its conflict with the Palestinians is resolved.

FARA, which was enacted in 1938, requires agents of foreign governments and entitles who are engaged in political activities or other activities on behalf of the foreign entity to disclose their relationship and the details of the activities.

The DOJ in recent years has ordered several state-backed outlets to register as foreign agents under FARA. Some of these outlets include Kremlin-backed Russia Today, Sputnik, and RM Broadcasting, and Turkey-backed Turkish Radio and Television Corporation. Similarly, five Chinese state-run media were designated as foreign missions earlier this year: Xinhua News Agency; China Global Television Network which falls under China Central Television, CCTV; China Radio International; China Daily Distribution Corporation; and Hai Tian Development USA, which is the distributor for the Peoples Daily here in the United States.

DOJs move comes amid calls by lawmakers who have been urging the department to take steps to force AJ+ to register as a foreign agent. The most recent letter was led by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) and joined by Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) as well as Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), Brian Mast (R-Fla.), Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), Peter King (R-N.Y.), Jack Bergman (R-Mich.), and Ann Wagner (R-Mo.).

As a media outlet funded and directed by a foreign sovereign, Al Jazeera is undeniably subject to this FCC registration requirement, the lawmakers wrote in their letter (pdf). The lawmakers wrote similar letters in 2018 and 2019.
Students walk on the campus of University of CaliforniaLos Angeles (UCLA) in Los Angeles, Calif. on March 11, 2020. (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)

UCLA Reinstates Professor It Suspended for Rejecting Special Treatment for Black Students

The University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) has reinstated a professor who refused to give black students special treatment in their final exams amid nationwide protests.

Gordon Klein, an accounting professor at the Anderson School of Management, was placed on mandatory leave this summer after an email was shared on social media, in which he rejected a students request of special accommodations for black peers, in light of the protests over the death of George Floyd in custody of Minnesota police.

Do you know the names of the classmates that are black? How can I identify them since weve been having online classes only? Klein wrote in the email, according to an online petition calling for his dismissal. Over 21,000 supporters over the past three months signed the petition, which deemed Kleins behavior insensitive, dismissive, and woefully racist.

Are there any students that may be of mixed parentage, such as half black-half Asian? Klein continued. What do you suggest I do with respect to them? A full concession or just half?

Asking if any students in the class were from Minneapolis, Klein said he assumed that they probably are especially devastated as well, especially if theyre white, because some might think that theyre racist even if they are not.

One last thing strikes me: Remember that MLK famously said that people should not be evaluated based on the color of their skin,' he continued, citing the monumental I Have a Dream speech. Do you think that your request would run afoul of MLKs admonition?

According to Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), a non-profit advocacy group for freedom of speech on college campuses, Klein has returned to work as the UCLA closed an investigation against him in late July. It is not immediately clear why the university had not announced Kleins exoneration at that time.

A spokesperson for School of Management confirmed that Klein now continues with his regular duties, adding that the university has general procedures and principles that uphold freedom of expression and freedom of intellectual inquiry, and is willing to create a learning, working, and living environment that is free from discrimination, harassment, or retaliation.

Were happy to confirm that Gordon Klein is teaching once again, and hope that in the future UCLA will consider its constitutional obligations before throwing educators out of the classroom, said FIREs Katlyn Patton, who penned a letter to UCLA in June in defense of Klein. UCLA investigated his tone in an attempt to quell public backlash. But regardless of how many people demand his firing, UCLA cannot justify using that anger to erode Gordons rights.
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As soon as we all realized how momentous COVID-19 was going to be, I could see the fear rising among Americas faith-based nonprofits.

Leaders of the nations 1.5 million nonprofit organizations  many totally dependent on charitable giving  watched with dread as the storm quickly grew.

It was as severe a storm as can be imagined: an international pandemic of unprecedented scale, the highest level of unemployment since the Great Depression, and waves of uncertainty big enough to potentially swamp even the healthiest nonprofits.

I have some good news: the ship is NOT sinking.

But I also have a word of caution for faith-based nonprofit leaders: right now, you cant afford to be complacent.

Heres the encouraging news. In a recent national survey of the giving intentions of 1,079 donors across 44 states, 85 percent expect their giving to hold steady or increase in the second half of 2020.

The comprehensive study of mostly churchgoing mid-level and major donors  those giving anywhere from $1,000 to $1 million-plus per year  revealed six out of 10 expect their giving to stay the same as last years, and an additional one-in-four expect to increase their charitable gifts in the latter half of this year.

It gets better: only one-in-six donors expect to give less, and fewer than one-in-20 anticipate a substantial drop in their giving for the rest of the year.

Im confident the study paints an accurate picture. My consultancy firm, DickersonBakker (www.DickersonBakker.com), conducted the survey during the month of June in cooperation with some of Americas biggest faith-based nonprofit organizations.

Our report  titled Charitable Giving in the Wake of COVID-19  also has more good news for nonprofit leaders losing sleep over the possibility that the wave of giving for immediate COVID-19 relief will result in a decline in giving to their organizations. Fewer than one-in-10 donors plan to shift support to new or different causes because of the pandemic, and more than seven out of 10 who gave to COVID-19 relief consider those gifts to be over and above their regular giving.

Winners and Losers

There is a warning lurking beneath the surface of all of the good news contained in this report, however. This might be hard for nonprofit leaders to swallow but there will be winners and losers in the quest for donations during the upcoming fall fundraising season.

Competition for donor dollars is always fierce  but theres no room for complacency in a COVID-19 world. Todays donors are being more vigilant than ever in their giving. Our research shows 40 percent of donors giving is potentially fluid  and could go either way. Nonprofits with a dynamic donor outreach strategy will thrive in this environment. Nonprofits that fail to make a strong case for why people should give  or hunker down and simply keep doing what theyve always done  will likely pay a heavy price.

The landscape of year-end giving for 2020 has changed. More than four-in-10 major donors say they wont attend a big in-person gathering  such as a fundraising gala or banquet  until theres a COVID-19 vaccine. Nonprofits that rely on major events need to find other ways to engage these donors if theyre to meet their fundraising goals.

On the positive side, approximately eight out of 10 donors are willing to meet one-on-one with fundraisers, or attend a small event at their church or in someones home, as long as social-distancing and other measures are in place.

Nonprofit leaders, donors are ready and willing to give generously this fall. All you need to do is make your case compelling, and not be afraid to ask!
New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually indicated his government's inability to promulgate an ordinance on allowing Jallikattu noting that the matter is sub-judice as Tamil Nadu chief minister O Panneerselvam met him in Delhi on Thursday seeking Centre's intervention.

"While appreciating the cultural significance of Jallikattu, the Prime Minister observed that the matter is at present sub-judice," the PMO said after the meeting. At the same time, it said, "The Centre would be supportive of the steps taken by the state government."

As protests demanding the lifting of the ban on bull taming sport Jallikattu spread across Tamil Nadu, the chief minister rushed to the Capital on Wednesday night to meet the Prime Minister with a request for ordinance.

With regard to the drought situation in Tamil Nadu, Modi assured Paneerselvam that all possible assistance would be provided to the state. A central team would be deputed to Tamil Nadu shortly to assess the drought situation, the PMO said.

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When the coronavirus pandemic kept people at home, navigating the unknown, four Central NY food entrepreneurs baked up new business ideas.

In lieu of food trucks, farmers markets, or opening a traditional storefront, these business owners opted to launch on social media first. Using Instagram and Facebook to market their products and connect with customers, they have each forged a path into the food business world despite the challenges of 2020.

These bakers and candy makers dealt with ingredient shortages due to the pandemic and space limitations, but each of them expressed wanting to do more for their communities and to make people happy during this tumultuous time.

We may be able to walk into their storefronts in the future, but here is how to try these homemade goods now.

Big Als Vegan Bakery

Alexis Barney, owner of Big Al's Vegan Bakery started her business of vegan cakes and cookies during the coronavirus pandemic. Her Big Al's cookies are the "size of your face" and are one of her biggest sellers.Provided photos | syracuse.com

Alexis Barney, aka Big Al, has wanted to own her own bakery since she was a teenager. Her uncle, a life-long chef, taught her everything she knows about baking when he would take care of her.

Barney is a manager for the Wegmans bakery in Fairmount, but has long had a desire to open a vegan bakery of her own.

I think Syracuse has been lacking in a variety of vegan options. I decided during the pandemic that people could really use something to brighten their day. I should start my business and start doing deliveries, Barney said.

She had already acquired her business name before the pandemic started and it was a quick permit process. Before she knew it, Big Als Vegan Bakery was up on Instagram @bigalsveganbakery and she was delivering her vegan treats to the people of Central NY.

Instagram made it super easy. I knew who my audience was already and people were really receptive of it, Barney said.

She will post up items for sale in her feed or Instagram story as they become available, but people wishing to order any sort of treat can also send her a direct message and get details on pricing and delivery. Her hottest seller is the Big Als special, giant cookies the size of your face. Her funfetti cookies fly off the shelves by the half dozen.

Her three-layer vegan birthday cakes are also popular. Barney said she does the classic flavors of vanilla and chocolate, but she also offers funfetti cake, red velvet, champagne, strawberry and lemon, and more.

The limit is your imagination, she said.

Big Al's Vegan Bakery in Syracuse offers vegan sweets, including cookie cakes. Orders can be placed through their Instagram account @bigalsveganbakery.Provided photo | syracuse.com

Learning how to be a one-woman business during a pandemic is the biggest challenge, but she is tackling things a day at a time.

The diversity of her customers has been one of the most positive and surprising things to arise from this journey. She has received orders from vegans and non-vegans alike.

I want people to know vegan food doesnt taste bad. Its fun to be a vegan and you can eat anything you like. You can still get an awesome birthday cake and treat yourself. The goal is to make it taste like theres no difference at all, Barney said.

NICE Biscuit

The NICE Biscuit team includes (L-R) Dominic Furey, Cristen Crew, and Evan Furey. Their home baked vegan biscuits are available to order online.

A morning breakfast in May inspired Evan Furey to create and become co-owner of NICE Biscuit. Waking up earlier than usual one day, he created a vegan sausage and biscuit meal for him and his girlfriend, Cristen Crew. As they ate, they started to dream about giving Syracuse a biscuit-based business with a Southern influence.

By dinnertime the idea turned into a full fledged plan with business name and the beginnings of a logo. Furey said the goal of NICE Biscuit was to deliver hot breakfast, smiles, and comfort to people working hard from home during unprecedented and uncertain times.

Furey is no stranger to the food business after working in restaurants for over 16 years and being a co-owner of a food truck in Austin, Texas. The couple moved from Texas to Syracuse, NY in 2018 to allow Crew to finish an environmental science degree at SUNY ESF.

I was certain I was done with restaurants. I found work more in the corporate America setting and it wasnt bringing me the same satisfaction, Furey said. Ive always had that kind of revolving door of folks to see and greet, but it also allowed me to have a finger on the pulse of the community. Getting out of restaurants, I didnt realize how much I would miss that. Being in an office really took away from that social interaction that I had begun to take for granted.

Two weeks after that fateful plate of biscuits and gravy, the couple launched their online presence on Instagram @nicebiscuitsyr and teased their upcoming business to gain followers. NICE Biscuit made its first deliveries in June.

Since then the business has grown so rapidly that they had to quickly move out of their home kitchen into a commissary space to crank out biscuits at a faster rate. After a month and a half in that space, they are already planning for a new one where they can continue to grow.

Furey is now co-owner of NICE Biscuit with Crew and his brother Dominic Furey. Their Instagram account bio contains the link to their website nice-biscuit.com where people can place their orders from Monday through Friday for weekend delivery and their newly launched pick-up option at the commissary.

NICE Biscuit in Syracuse, NY offers vegan biscuits of both the sweet and savory variety. From L-R, are the BFG, the Chicky Baby, and the Buck with egg breakfast sandwiches.Provided photo | syracuse.com

The menu ranges from sweet to savory biscuits, and everything, including the honey, is vegan. Their vegan hunny" is a secret recipe made with apple juice, date syrup, dandelion root, and chamomile.

Despite being in restaurants in every position from dishwasher to manager and ownership, starting NICE Biscuit has still provided new experiences for Evan.

The thing that stands out the most is the community support. Not only from people online with excitement, questions, and tons of orders, but from other small businesses as well, Evan said.

Upcoming NICE Biscuit will offer new fall specials and the team is shopping around for a space for the company to keep growing.

Worth the Kavity

Kayla Johnson, owner of Worth the Kavity, started her online business during the pandemic. She specializes in cheesecakes, cookies, and chocolate covered strawberries.Provided photo | syracuse.com

Kayla Johnson was home in March during the state shutdown and like many, got into cooking and baking in her free time while waiting for her place of employment to reopen. When she posted her homemade treats online, her connections got excited and wanted to try them.

She had been going to school for hospitality management, but was more focused on managing a hotel or night club. Running a food business was not on her radar.

I really wasnt focused on cooking, even though I enjoyed doing it in my free time, Johnson said.

She learned a lot about cooking and baking from her father, but said she is also self-taught through lots of trial and error.

Her sweets started to gain a following and Johnson launched her desserts under the name Worth the Kavity. She posts her decadent creations on her Kayla Johnson Facebook page and those wishing to buy leave comments or private message her. Her work can also be see on Instagram at @worththekavity. Johnson is also available to hire for events or special orders.

Worth the Kavity offers pick-up and delivery; whatever is most convenient for the customer, Johnson said.

Her number one sellers are her cheesecake creations. Cheesecake flavors range from strawberry and mango to Snickers and Reeses. Other popular items include chocolate covered strawberries and cookies.

Worth the Kavity specializes in cheesecakes, cookies, and chocolate covered strawberries. These chocolate covered strawberries come with a shot of Hennessy.Provided photo | syracuse.com

I have grown to love being creative. I love trying things and experimenting. That has gotten me to play in the kitchen and do different things, she said.

Ice cream is Johnsons personal favorite dessert. She would love to own her own ice cream shop someday and she is currently learning to make her own homemade flavors.

Challah At Me 315

Maura Koenig runs Challah At Me 315 out of her home kitchen. Baking up classic challah and her own special flavor twists on the traditional loaf, Koenig delivers twice a week to people around Syracuse.Provided photo | syracuse.com

Maura Koenig was living in NYC and working for a non-profit when the novel coronavirus shut down many businesses and institutions in New York state. She lost her job and came home to Central NY to wait out what she thought was a temporary two-week hiatus in March. It was a confusing and depressing time, she said.

I didnt know what to do. I didnt know what day it was. The only thing that kept me sane was keeping the tradition of baking challah, Koenig said.

She would make the traditional loaf in her NYC kitchen to ring in the Jewish Sabbath every week and take it either to a Shabbat dinner or be the host herself. When she moved back to Syracuse, she continued to bake for her parents who then shared photos of the loaves on social media.

This sparked an interest in others to have her bake for them. Koenig said there isnt a place for people in Central NY to pick up Ashkenazi cuisine from Eastern Europe.

There is not really a Jewish bakery in Syracuse. If youre lucky you can buy a challah at Wegmans and sometimes other assorted things. At the beginning of the pandemic a lot of people said this is amazing, this is such an exciting thing, Koenig said.

She quickly applied and received her permit to be a home processor through the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets and launched her new home-baked business, Challah At Me 315.

Koenig said every challah is like a snowflake, no two are alike, but she wanted to make them as consistent as possible for her customers. This required some experimenting and new precision measures to scale up her baking to fulfill orders.

Current Challah At Me 315 flavors include what Koenig calls the OG challah, sesame, everything bagel, and her best seller: brown sugar cinnamon challah.

I add a little bit of cinnamon to the dough and then I stuff the inside with brown sugar and cinnamon. It tastes very similar to a cinnamon roll. French toast made out of that is unreal, she said.

Challah At Me 315 bakes up homemade challah loaves for delivery twice a week in Syracuse. This traditional round loaf is typically made to celebrate the upcoming Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah.Maura Koenig | Provided photo

With the upcoming high holiday of Rosh Hashanah, traditional round loaves and a honey raisin flavor are available. Koenig has experimented with different flavors like challah stuffed with caramelized onions, spiced with Zaatar, maple syrup added, and even a pepperoni pizza challah. Customer interest dictates what flavors will be added to the regular menu.

Continuing to bake weekly challah helps Koenig feel connected to her Judaism and said it gives her a feeling of wholeness while being separated from the Jewish community is a part of in NYC.

To order challah from Koenig, a Google order form on her Instagram account @ChallahAtMe315 and her Facebook page ChallatAtMe315. Or people can email her their orders at challahatme315@gmail.com. She offers free delivery in the Syracuse area on Wednesdays and Fridays and will also do pick-up orders.

For every loaf she bakes, Koenig donates a dollar to the Jewish Community Center of Syracuse.

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US President Donald Trump claimed on Tuesday that both Russia and China want his Democratic challenger Joe Biden to win the presidential elections as no other White House occupant has been tougher to them than his administration in the last four years.

Trump also said that Iran does not want him as the president but asserted that they will sign a deal with the US if he is re-elected.

"They are hoping that Biden gets in,...China is hoping that Biden gets in. Russia, probably they want Biden, because look, nobody''s been tougher to Russian than me, nobody. With the pipeline, with our big military, we''ve become the number one energy country in the world, we''re more than anybody -- we''re totally energy independent now, Trump told Fox News.

"What I''ve done with Russia -- and remember, Obama gave them pillows, and I gave them tank busters; there''s a big difference with Ukraine. So I think Russia would like it too. But here''s the thing, they want to wait until after this election because there''s nobody in the world that China would rather negotiate than sleepy Joe," he said in response to a question.

"If they got in -- if this crew got in; the same basic crew but they''ve gone far left, much further left than they ever were that''s why this is the most important election that we''ve ever had. If they ever got in, China would own the USA, China would own them, he charged against Democratic partys presidential nominee Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris.

Responding to a question, Trump alleged that Biden has been taking some kind of drugs.

"Mr. President you have suggested that Joe Biden should take a drug test, he was asked.

I do, I would take one too. Yes, I would say he should take a drug test, Trump replied.

"You think he''s taking some sort of drugs that pep him up? he was asked again.

"I do. I do. He''s taking something. He''s taking something that gives him so clarity or whatever,Take a look at him -- yeah, maybe had a lot of coffee. Maybe he had 15 cups of coffee, Trump said.

I''ll tell you what, I''ve seen him in the debate with the other people, including Kamala and nobody treated him worse than Kamala. He picked Kamala and nobody treated him worse...," said the president.

"Then he says, I''m going to pick Kamala. And Kamala has her own problems, I mean she went from 15 down to nothing. She dropped out before they got to Iowa, so I think she''s not a good choice. I think compared to Mike Pence who''s been a great vice president. He''s been a great vice president and you guys know that very well, Trump said.
Negotiations on the revision of the tax agreement between Russia and the Netherlands are difficult, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th September, 2020) Negotiations on the revision of the tax agreement between Russia and the Netherlands are difficult, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said.

"It is difficult to negotiate with the Netherlands, they are a bit stubborn, but we always have the right to unilaterally denounce this agreement. Therefore, I think that we will complete this work before the end this year," he told reporters.

He added that no proposals to revise the agreements had yet been sent to Switzerland and Hong Kong.

"We agreed to proceed in stages, and first of all in those jurisdictions, in which we have the largest flows from Russia, first of all, these are transit jurisdictions.

We will look at the rest further," the minister said.

In late March, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a 15 percent tax on income in the form of dividends and interest transferred to accounts abroad. This requires adjusting agreements with other countries to avoid double taxation. The president warned that Russia would unilaterally withdraw from such agreements with countries that would not accept its proposals.

The Russian Finance Ministry sent corresponding notifications first to Cyprus, and then to Luxembourg, Malta and the Netherlands. Earlier, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk said that proposals to revise tax agreements could be sent to Switzerland and Hong Kong.
T he boss of British Airways (BA) has admitted the airline is fighting for survival as he defended the airlines decision to cut up to 12,000 jobs.

Chief executive Alex Cruz told MPs people are still afraid of travelling as he said the coronavirus pandemic had devastated" the business.

Mr Cruz told the Commons Transport Select Committee on Wednesday: Fewer passengers means fewer flights, and fewer flights means fewer people required to actually service them.

As CEO of British Airways, I have to take responsibility. I cannot ignore the situation. I had to act incredibly fast.

I deeply, deeply regret that way too many loyal and hardworking colleagues of mine are having to leave our business, and I understand why MPs are concerned.

In April, the carrier announced plans to cut up to 12,000 jobs, representing nearly 30 per cent of its workforce.

Mr Cruz said: This is an impossible situation.

"Were having to make incredibly difficult decisions as a consequence of this pandemic and it is really only because of Covid-19 that we have had to go through such deep restructuring.

I have to make these difficult decisions at this time but I am completely dedicated and focused on protecting those nearly 30,000 jobs of those British Airways colleagues that will remain within the business.

He added: Of course, we are having weekly changes, as you know, to the quarantine list. We dont have a testing solution yet.

"And still our customers are paying APD (air passenger duty) even just to fly on domestic regional flights.

So the overall situation is quite challenging, and this is why we are taking every measure possible to make sure that we can actually make it through this winter.

Asked about whether he has optimism for the coming months, Mr Cruz replied: We do not see a short-term coming back of our passengers.

"All the feedback that we get, all the data that we get, all the companies we speak with, all the consumer groups that we speak with, are still pointing at a slow recovery process.

Alex Cruz appears via videolink before the Transport Select Committee / PA

Mr Cruz told the committee that BA always held very difficult and yet very constructive meetings with pilots union Balpa, which resulted in a package being agreed on job and pay cuts aimed at avoiding a larger number of redundancies.

But non-pilot unions chose different paths and decided not to engage with us, the chief executive added.

He said the airline sent the unions over 500 pages of proposals, ideas, potential mitigations and invited them to more than 520 meetings which they did not attend.

British Airways job cuts top 8,200

But an agreement has been reached with the non-pilot unions  such as those representing cabin crew  and staff are being balloted.

Trade union Unite had accused the airline of planning a fire and rehire scheme involving remaining employees having their terms and conditions downgraded.

Mr Cruz said: We have reached agreements, in principle, which will mean that there will be no need whatsoever to issue new contracts.

It will just be using the standard methodology of the union agreement which makes some amendments to the existing contracts, and we hope that the majority of that process will finish this week.

On the issue of coronavirus testing at airports as a way of reducing quarantine requirements, Mr Cruz said: It is incredibly important that we reach a testing regime of some sort as quickly as possible, so that we can reduce that quarantine time to the minimum possible.

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We are making a suggestion that we actually run a test between London and New York, so we can give authorities on both sides of the Atlantic an opportunity to test different ways in which a particular testing regime would actually work.

This is imperative, so that we can drive the confidence of travellers so we can get business going again.

"Were sitting here, were ready to go," he said.
The Bishops of Tombura Yambio Diocese and Juba Archdioceses, representing other Bishops in South Sudan, have met the countrys Head of State, Salva Kiir Mayardit in a cordial encounter.

Vatican News

A very productive and successful meeting, is how Barani Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala, the Bishop of Tombura-Yambio, defined the meeting with the President of the Republic of South Sudan, General Salva Kiir Mayardit. Bishop Kussala was accompanied to the meeting by the Archbishop of Juba, Stephen Amenyu,

Bishops ready to continue collaboration with Government

We met the Head of State to assure him of our closeness as leaders of the Church and as representatives of the Bishops Conference. We went on behalf of the people of South Sudan to assure him of our willingness to collaborate and to work with him and with the Government for the peace and growth of our people in the Republic of South Sudan, said Barani Kussala.

Commended the President for his role in the Sudan peace

The Bishop of Tombura-Yambio added that the two representatives of the South Sudanese Church commended the President for his role in the successful signing of the peace agreement reached on 31 August between the Sudanese Government and a series of rebel groups.

The country must stay the course of peace

The two Bishops also congratulated President Kiir on the formation and implementation of the ongoing South Sudan Government of National Unity. Another critical point, noted by the Bishops, was the Governments willingness and magnanimity to reach agreement on the reduction of South Sudans 32 States of the Federation to the original 10.

Bishop Kussala said they further encouraged the President and his collaborators and the Opposition to continue to implement the South Sudan Peace Agreement.

We told him that he is on the right path and that he should continue to work hard with his colleagues to consolidate peace in the country, said Bishop Kussala. We underlined the fact that although it is complex and difficult to implement the Peace Agreement, we must not give in to the temptation to return to war, but we must work tirelessly to restore peace in the Republic of South Sudan, reported the Bishop of Tombura Yambio.

President Kiir assured never to lead the country back to war

In reply, The President assured that he would never bring the Republic of South Sudan back to war, said Bishop Kussala. Lastly, the President is said to have expressed delight at the visit of the two Bishop-representatives.

Coronavirus: Churches to reopen

As for the coronavirus pandemic and closure of places of worship, President Kiir authorised the reopening of Churches but in compliance with precautionary health measures in place.

The President said that the Government could not do without the Church. 'We need it just as we did during the liberation struggle when the Church was there to unite the people', Bishop Kussala narrated.

(Agenzia Fides)
A white bar owner in Nebraska was indicted on Tuesday in the fatal shooting of a Black man during a protest in May, a case that a prosecutor had initially declined to prosecute after characterizing the bar owners actions as self-defense.

The bar owner, Jake Gardner, was indicted by a grand jury in Douglas County on four counts, including manslaughter, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, attempted first degree assault and making terrorist threats, officials said.

The authorities said that Mr. Gardner, 38, confronted a group of men outside one of his bars in Omaha on May 30 and was knocked to the ground. From there, he fired two warning shots and tried to get to his feet, prosecutors said. As he did, Mr. Gardner got into a fight with one man, James Scurlock, 22. The two scuffled before Mr. Gardner fired a shot that killed him.

Mr. Scurlocks killing drew widespread attention and quickly touched off large demonstrations in Omaha. The police arrested 75 to 100 people at a demonstration about two months after his death, KMTV reported at the time.
Xi Jinping once wielded total control over China and its institutions, the leader seemingly faced no direct challenges from within the CPC (Communist Party of China). However, of late, Beijing's problems have multiplied tenfold; this rattled the sleeping dragon so much that it was forced to trouble neighbours such as India, Myanmar and Vietnam with whom it has no ostensible beef in order to distract its people from the failures of Xi sticking out belligerently like a sore thumb.

Although everything did seem to be going according to plan until 2019, the COVID pandemic not only presented a plethora of challenges to all countries  with each one fighting a slightly different version of the same problem, it also generated a lot of bad blood and internal conflicts in China.

China is no different and just like all roads lead to Rome, all of Red Dragon's current problems directly lead to Xi Jinping. And this is starting to present a multitude of concerns for the "President for life". The Wuhan virus outbreak appears only to be a pitstop in the increasingly troubled reign of Jinping, here's why:

The Three Pledges

Xi Jinping became China's president in 2013 and although a Communist country, his politburo (parliament) which elected him to power did so based on the three promises he made to his party and his people and they are:

To end poverty by 2020

To position China as a tech superpower

To complete the Belt and Road Initiative

Read | Galwan Valley face-off: 5 reasons why China shouldn't underestimate India's strength

Poverty eradication - a distant dream

The Chinese president's legacy projects were upended primarily due to the COVID pandemic and it has led to him facing the biggest threats in his career so far. Not only is China falling behind in the race to end poverty, as Xi Jinping promised, but it is also nowhere close to fulfilling the founding principles of China's communist manifesto. According to local Chinese tabloid estimates, 80 million people were pushed to unemployment by the end of March this year. And its problems have only increased since.

China's poverty eradication foresight has been put on hold as more people are now unemployed and below the poverty line than anytime before in China's recent political history.

Tech powerhouse ambitions shattered

After setting out to challenge America on the back of decades of IP floutation, Beijing is now quickly on the back-foot with its tail tucked behind, with Chinese firms pleading with foreign countries for an opportunity to prove that its functions and operations are independent of the Chinese administration. As more countries start banning Chinese apps and gadgets, China's tech dream has been blunted and faces an insurmountable trust deficit.

Apps, phones, 5G monopoly have all been banned one after the other by multiple countries; either following the US or India's lead to sustain privacy, and ensure national security remains untethered. Why is this relevant? Simply because it will no longer dictate the terms of the internet, nor will it try to influence national policies in other countries.

Read | From 'President for life' to 'Xi Dada': How it's all gone downhill for China's Xi Jinping

Belt and Road Initiative or Belt and Roadblocks?

As the pandemic continues to threaten Xi Jinping's legacy, his most ambitious project, the crown jewel of his career has hit severe roadblocks. With countries one after the other pulling out of the pact or calling for reviews of loan structures, the weight of the pandemic is truly setting on Xi's shoulders. Egypt, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Tanzania, and Nigeria are just some of them threatening to pull out of the treaty or stall the BRI dream. China has so far granted over $145 billion dollars in loans to African countries, the African Union now wants Beijing to forgive this debt and is even in serious consideration of reviewing the agreement owing to China's reputation of debt trap hanging like a loose cannon. Djibouti, Tajikistan, Maldives, Madagascar, Pakistan, Montenegro, Sri Lanka and Iran are just some that have fallen prey to China's debt-trap diplomacy.

Notably, Xi Jinping took office when China was the fastest growing economy, he has not only effectively run it down to the ground but has also made foes of friends, neighbours, and allies alike, all due to vanity and misguided notion of self-worth. China now stands at the dock overlooking the bay, accused of exporting deadly viruses, swallowing foreign lands, claiming international waters illegally, and for lack of a better word, turning into a rogue nation that betrays and bullies allies, violates human rights and targets minorities. And in hindsight, all of this can be traced back to the president himself.

Read | From opposer to appeaser: 5 reason why China continues to lose global support

CPC's Big Red Purge

Xi Jinping has ordered a fresh round of purges in a major shake-up after the humiliating LAC defeat to India. Over two dozen police and judicial officials are being interrogated with dozens more reportedly fired from office, according to news agency ANI.

A Wall Street Journal report stated that a top aide to Xi Jinping was called in for a purge in July and was told that it was 'time to turn the blade of a knife inwards to cure the "poison".' Millions of party cadres are potentially being targeted and spied on, while several hundreds could be at risk for speaking against Xi Jinping.

In an opinion piece for Newsweek written by Gordon G Chang, a Chinese lawyer and political commentator, it was stated that the Chinese president has risked his future prospects and that of his country's with respect to the recent high-profile LAC incursion failure by the PLA. He noted that Chinas failure to push around the Indian troops in the LAC in political terms translates to the inability of Chinese President Xi Jinping to intimidate anyone. He further added that the 'architect of these aggressive moves has unexpectedly flopped.'

The repeated failure on the part of Xi Jinping and his leadership has been speculated to mean that the "Chairman" will renew his bid to launch another offensive against Indian posts along Pangong Tso and LAC sooner or later. Incriminating evidence attesting to this theory is already mounting with reports being circulated about underground cables being laid on the Chinese side to enhance internal Army communication. It was also reported that the Chinese authorities are closely monitoring over 10,000 groups and POIs (persons of interests) in India to understand the political, cultural and geographical landscape of the country better.

With all of this culminating as a cause for worry, Xi Jinping continues to stay sleepless in Beijing as tensions flare within the party with rumours of an internal purge or "cleanse" growing steadily.

Read | Why Chi*a banned the letter "n" and top 5 bizarre words censored by Xi Jinping's govt
Twenty-nine German police officers were suspended from duty today for sharing photos of Adolf Hitler and violent neo-Nazi propaganda showing refugees in gas chambers.

More than 200 police were deployed in western Germany today to swoop on colleagues accused of spreading 'repulsive' far-right propaganda in online chatrooms, state interior minister Herbert Reul said.

In the latest political scandal to rock Germany's security services, Reul, interior minister of Germany's North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), said the raids targeted 34 police stations and private homes connected to 11 main suspects.

The police officers are believed to have shared more than 100 neo-Nazi images in WhatsApp groups including swastikas, pictures of Adolf Hitler and a digitally altered image of a refugee in the gas chamber of a concentration camp.

German Interior Minister Herbert Reul (centre) said today that more than 30 police stations and private apartments have been raided and several mobile phones have been confiscated after right wing extremist police officers were found spreading Nazi propaganda in chat groups

'This is the worst and most repulsive kind of hate-baiting,' Reul told reporters, adding that he expected the investigation to turn up further chats with offensive content.

The suspects could face charges including incitement to racial hatred.

A total of 29 police officers are facing disciplinary proceedings connected to the case and have been suspended pending their outcome.

A spokesman for the federal interior ministry called the reports 'highly alarming' and demanded a quick and thorough investigation to determine the extent of any far-right infiltration of the police.

'It casts a negative light on police across Germany in our view and is a slap in the face for officers who demonstrate their great loyalty to the free democratic order every day under the most difficult circumstances,' the spokesman Steve Alter told reporters.

Reul said a probe against one police unit in the town of Muelheim an der Ruhr discovered the chats, which he called 'a disgrace for the NRW police force' as a whole.

He said he was appointing an ombudsman to investigate the extent of racist behaviour in the state's police ranks.

An exterior view of the Muelheim police department in Muelheim an der Ruhr, Germany, 16 September 2020. In North Rhine-Westphalia state, 29 police officers are suspected of having sent each other right-wing extremist messages in chat groups

'Right-wing extremists and neo-Nazis have absolutely no place in the North Rhine-Westphalia police, our police,' he said, adding that it was up to authorities now to show a 'crystal clear political profile' that rejected the far right.

Germany has been embroiled in a string of revelations of right-wing extremism within the ranks of the police and military.

In July, prosecutors announced the arrest of a former police officer and his wife who they suspect of having sent threatening emails to politicians and other public figures across Germany.

The anonymous messages were all signed 'NSU 2.0', a reference to the German neo-Nazi cell National Socialist Underground that committed a string of racist murders in the 2000s.

The so-called 'NSU 2.0' affair has already claimed the scalp of police chief Udo Muench of the state of Hesse, who resigned after it emerged that police computers were used to search for details about a far-left politician who subsequently received one of the threatening letters.

And in June Germany's defence minister ordered the partial dissolution of the elite KSK commando force over right-wing extremism.
As opioid overdose fatalities continue to increase in Niagara, Glen Walker is adding his support to an initiative he believes may stop the trend.

Walker said 56 Niagara residents have died as a result of suspected opioid overdoses in the first five months of this year, while Niagara Emergency Medical Services paramedics are responding to about 50 calls a month related to overdoses  putting 2020 on track to exceed the previous few years when it comes to drug overdoses.

We are seeing worse outcomes. There seems to be more deadly drugs out there, said Walker, Positive Living Niagaras executive director and co-chair of the Overdose Prevention Network of Niagara.

Were looking at exceeding the number of COVID-19 deaths very shortly, if not all ready in the region, he said, noting at least 64 people have died from the pandemic virus.

Its this hidden epidemic thats going on and it hasnt had much attention at all. ... This overdose crisis is really underground.

Walker is calling for the decriminalization of drug possession in the hope of combating the dangerous street drugs that are claiming the lives of Niagara residents.

Walker isnt proposing that opioids be sold alongside recreational drugs such as cannabis. He is, however, hoping new federal legislation can be developed that would give people suffering from addictions access to safe drugs through medical prescriptions  along with the health-care services they need to overcome those addictions.

We certainly are strong proponents of can we start offering a safe supply of drugs where people can actually get a prescription for an opioid so we know theyre not going to overdose, so we know theyre using it safely and, most importantly, theyre forming a relationship with someone so that they can perhaps move to a point where they want treatment and they want to get off of the substance, he said. That is critical.

Walker will take part in Thursdays regional council meeting to speak in support of a motion by St. Catharines Coun. Laura Ip, urging the federal government to decriminalize possession of all drugs for personal use and scale up prevention, harm reduction, and treatment services.

The motion, to be distributed to upper-tier government representatives and local municipalities if passed, also calls on the federal government to convene a task force to explore options for the legal regulation of all drugs in Canada, based on a public health approach.

Decriminalization has been a proven effective tool at reducing overdoses and deaths due to substance use, Walker said. Its also been proven to save hundreds of thousands in funds for emergency services, hospitals  all that as well.

By taking the focus away from arresting users, he said, decriminalizing the possession of the drug frees up police to instead focus resources on dealers and drug suppliers and making changes there.

Thats where were getting these tainted drugs from. Thats gotta change. Keeping this criminalized really doesnt allow for people to call for help when they overdose because theyre afraid of being arrested, he said.

I think for us, decriminalization in terms of not charging someone for minor possession is a great step in terms of working towards preventing overdoses as well as allowing the stigma to be reduced so people arent afraid to ask for help.

Walker said a similar motion was recently approved by St. Catharines city council, while Niagara Falls councillors will be considering the motion at an upcoming meeting.
Oil extended gains above $40 a barrel in New York as shrinking crude stockpiles and speculation that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates low raised hopes that an economy ravaged by the pandemic may be on the mend.

U.S. benchmark crude futures rose as much as 5.1% on Wednesday. U.S. equities climbed with the S&P 500 Index gaining as much as 0.6%, boosted by the expectation the central bank will keep rates near zero. U.S. government data showed crude inventories fell 4.39 million barrels last week. The Energy Information Administration report also showed gasoline supplies declined.

The Federal Reserve has been extremely dovish in all their previous meetings," said Phil Streible, chief market strategist at Blue Line Futures LLC in Chicago. Theyre going to do whatever they can do to kick start the economy and keep the economy going."

Further adding support, the United Arab Emirates signaled earlier that it will make up for pumping too much oil in the past two months. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., which produces almost all the UAEs crude, has indicated to refiners and traders that reductions in oil shipments for October will continue through November.

Oils recovery from Aprils price rout paused in the beginning of September amid a persistent pandemic that crippled demand. But prices are recouping some of those losses, with futures in New York set to erase last weeks drop. Steps the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies take to mitigate supply concerns could drive the momentum. A committee made up of some ministers from OPEC+ alliance will meet on Thursday to discuss if the groups production curbs are enough to prevent a glut.

The decline in U.S. oil inventories, along with rising demand suggests that the market is putting to rest much of the concern that demand is going in reverse," Bart Melek, head of global commodity strategy at TD Securities, said in a note.

Still, despite the headline crude draws in the EIA data, total stocks for crude and products combined rose by 2.17 million barrels, which is the first increase since July. Meanwhile, a build in distillate supplies comes as stockpiles remain stubbornly at their highest seasonal level in decades.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.

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As the market unlocks and Mumbai airport is witnessing reinstatement of premium travelers, Axis Bank has made the first move post unlock to embark on a trail of targeting affluent fliers at Mumbai International Airport.

Axis Bank in partnership with Times OOH, the advertising partner for Mumbai airport, choose the most prominent and premium location to place an eye-catching promotion display in the domestic departure retail area. Beautifully designed in banks brand colors the zone gives a feel of Axis Bank as soon as you enter the area. An ROI led campaign promoting the latest offers available on the credit card for the flyers including benefits like complimentary access to lounges. Advertising at the airport allows Axis Bank to target the right customers in the right frame of mind, hence, the promo location plays an important role in promoting the message.

We are proud to partner with Axis Bank in delivering such impactful activation exercise. It can help them in generating sales and profitability through such a targeted positioning to attract niche audience. It is our constant endeavor to understand our clients marketing objective and then provide them with appropriate solution, said Sumit Chadha, Times OOH.

Times OOH offers comprehensive media solutions across Airports, Metro and Street furniture in India and Mauritius.

Read more news about (internet advertising India, internet advertising, advertising India, digital advertising India, media advertising India)
Cowtown Covered In Smoke

Worsening wildfires lead to a smoky Kansas City California has really been hit hard with the wildfires this summer. So far this year, fires have burned over 3.2 million acres, destroyed over 4,200 structures and killed 25 people, according to California's Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The August Complex fire has burned 877,477 acres, making it the largest in the state's history!

NextGen Learns About Hunger

The Coronavirus Pandemic Is Driving Food Insecurity Among Young People Now, as many as 18 million children may be food insecure, and 38% of students at 4-year colleges said they have experienced limited or uncertain access to adequate food since the coronavirus struck.

Mayor Q Surrounded By Politicos Who Dont Really Care About Coronavirus

Kansas City mayor attends Jefferson City event where few wear masks or social distance Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas spent Monday night in Jefferson City at an event where attendees ignored social distancing guidelines meant to curb the spread of coronavirus - even as Kansas City remains under a mask mandate. Lucas attended the Missouri Times "30 Under 30" event.

Hottie Hypes Mech

Lucia Javorcekova Wears Nothing Under Open Shirt In Sexy New Update Lucia Javorcekova stunned many of her 1.7 million Instagram followers on Sunday, September 13, with her latest share. The Slovakian bombshell took to the social media platform to upload a sexy image of herself in which she oozed confidence and sex appeal while wearing an open shirt and a bikini bottom that showcased her feminine figure.

Science Picks Veep

Scientific American backs Biden for its first presidential endorsement in 175 years The October issue of Scientific American will carry what has never been seen in the magazine's pages in 175 years: a presidential endorsement. In an urgent and impassioned editorial first published online Tuesday, the editorial board endorsed former vice president Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee, calling him the candidate "who is offering fact-based plans to protect our health, our economy and the environment."

2020 Switcheroo???

Biden calls his campaign 'Harris-Biden' after she made the same slip Democratic nominee Joe Biden called his campaign 'Harris-Biden' during remarks in Tampa, Florida Biden echoed a similar gaffe made by his running mate, Sen.

Insult Interview Postscript

CNBC host Jim Cramer calls Pelosi 'Crazy Nancy' to her face during interview CNBC host Jim Cramer called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "Crazy Nancy" to her face during an interview on Tuesday morning - a taunt for the California liberal typically used by President Trump. The outlandish host of "Mad Money" and former hedge fund manager was interviewing Pelosi on stalled negotiations on a fourth coronavirus stimulus package when the insult appeared to slip out.

High Court Seyz Adios

Appeals court allows Trump administration to end humanitarian protections for 300,000 immigrants A divided federal appellate court allowed the Trump administration on Monday to move forward with plans to terminate several humanitarian programs that shield hundreds of thousands of immigrants in the U.S. from deportation.

USA Chokes On It

The Western US has the worst air quality in the world, group says Three major US cities being wreathed in smoke from massive wildfires now have the worst air quality of any big cities in the world, according to a monitoring group.

Season Of Booze Starts Now

Tap List | KC Bier Prepares to 'Prost in Place' for Oktoberfest With social distancing guidelines still in place, a constant flurry of openings and reopenings and mask wearing at an all-time high, the COVID-19 pandemic is anything but a thing in the past. The upcoming month of October will be particularly brutal for beer lovers. Why?

Po-Po Offer Royal Forgiveness

Video shows KC police checking on Royals' Danny Duffy before pitcher missed team flight to Detroit KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Kansas City Royals pitcher Danny Duffy won't make his scheduled start on Tuesday night against the Detroit Tigers after missing the team flight. The Royals are aware of the incident that caused him to miss the team flight and are investigating.

Weather Haze This Week

Warmer Wednesday on the way Hide Transcript Show Transcript BRYAN: A LITTLE BIT OF HAZE OUT THERE. IT'S NOT HELPING THE AIR QUALITY. BUT RAGWEED SEASON. SKY CAST IS LOOKING LIKE IT'S GOING TO BE IN THE MODERATE AREA AGAIN FROM THE FIRES RAGING OUT WEST.

Right nowand her promo goodness inspire this peek at pop culture, community news and top headlines.And this is thefor right now . . .
"The health and safety of our tenants has always been and always will be our number one priority," states Al Hartman, Chairman and CEO.

Hartman Income REIT Management (Hartman), a commercial real estate firm management based in Houston, TX, announces its Clean Air Initiative as an additional effort to help protect its tenants from Covid-19 and other air-borne viruses by installing the Needlepoint Bi-Polar Ionization system.

With more than 60 office buildings across Texas, Hartman once again demonstrates its commitments to the safety and wellbeing of its tenants with this investment. This is in combination with earlier launched initiatives such as additional cleaning protocols, social distancing measures, and awareness of CDC guidelines.

As one of the first office property owners leading the market with the installation of the GPS Bi-Polar Ionization devices, Hartman has installed the device on all ten floors of its property at 613 NW Loop 410 in San Antonio and is in the process of installation at three additional properties, 11211 Katy Freeway, 2909 Hillcroft, and 2040 North Loop West in Houston.

"The health and safety of our tenants has always been and always will be our number one priority," states Al Hartman, Chairman and CEO. "We are constantly looking for alternative ways to improve our tenants' experiences at our properties. This investment offers protection and peace of mind to our tenants and their patrons."

The technology of Needlepoint Bi-Polar Ionization implements an air cleaning process that eliminates over 96% of airborne pathogens, molds, and viruses. The compact air purification device can be directly attached to an AC unit and can clean up to 3,200 CFM (cubic feet per minute.) According to HVAC & Refrigeration Insider, the process is scientifically proven to destroy 84% of Coronaviruses within 10 minutes and can destroy up to 99.4% of the Coronaviruses within 30 minutes.

Hartmans Director of Operations for Property Management, Angel Gonzales, proudly stated, The fact that Hartman cares so much about our tenants that we are implementing leading edge technology like the ionization system is incredible. One of the most common questions we are asked by a prospective tenant is building health and safety. So, to be able to tell them about our clean air initiative is a very compelling advantage we have over other buildings they might be considering.

Vice-President of Leasing for San Antonio, where the first property had the devices installed, Kacie Skeen shared, "Hartman taking the proactive initiative to install Needlepoint Bipolar Ionization into the building, serves as a testament to the Companys core value of caring for the customer. We value our tenants, their employees, their patrons, and our team, so it comes as no surprise that Hartman is making this investment to procure a safe working environment and is helping businesses facilitate their return to work. "

Hartman views this addition to its health and safety precautions as a value-add for both current and future tenants at the implemented properties. Hartman is proud to pioneer a clean air movement and provide its tenants with the best conditions to run their businesses and find success.

About Hartman: Hartman is a premier property management company in the Houston, Dallas and San Antonio markets. Hartman has owned and operated commercial office properties since 1983, offering premium office space at attractive rates. With more than 37 years of commercial leasing expertise in Houston, San Antonio and Dallas, Hartman knows exactly what their customers require. For more information, visit http://www.hi-reit.com.

Contact:

Malori Bizzell

Marketing Manager

Hartman Income REIT Management, Inc.

214.432.3708

mbizzell@hi-reit.com
Covid-19 has seen businesses around the globe accelerate their digital transformations - making years of progress in a matter of days in some cases. During the early stages of the crisis, organisations had to prioritise their most mission-critical functions to stabilise and pivot. Digital transformation emerged as one of those high-priority areas.

Robin Fisher

Planning for the short- and long-term

Transforming the customer experience

Expertise, speed and empathy

Moving beyond coping

According to Salesforce research of C-level and senior business leaders in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), over four in five (82%) said their business has digitally transformed in response to Covid-19.However, three in five (60%) believe this transformation is only temporary. As businesses move into the recovery phase, the critical nature of digital will become apparent. Businesses that maintain a transformative mindset will be better prepared to serve customers, increase productivity and engage their workforce as we move into the next normal.Companies that rapidly shift to full, scalable, multi-channel digital transformation will better serve their customers, employees and partners and will be able to fully engage with their stakeholders through the pandemic. This will leave them in a strong position to capitalise on the new normal as we exit Covid-19.In the early stages of the crisis, the big challenge facing business leaders was the need to make important decisions quickly. The vast majority of businesses (87%) confirm that they have found planning for both their long- and short-term future challenging.As businesses enter the stabilise and recovery phases of the crisis, digital transformation will increase in importance. In the early stages, online became the frontline for many businesses  for some it presented the only channel on which they could safely engage with customers, employees and partners. In South Africa, for example, this has seen a relative boom in e-commerce for fast-moving consumer goods.Now it is about providing positive experiences across every channel available. For example, almost half (45%) of business leaders say they will focus on employee engagement as they recover from the pandemic. This involves delivering on the digital learning, virtual exercise and online mental health training programmes that so many employees benefited from during the lockdown period.Almost three in five (68%) businesses plan to make a greater investment in training and promoting employees permanently. This is vital at every layer of business to help businesses maintain their companys culture in the next normal; improve employee morale; and manage teams remotely.While some businesses are concentrating primarily on transforming their businesses to adapt to todays context, over half (55%) think an increased focus on online sales and services is a permanent feature of business. This was demonstrated as retail giant Mr Price Group announced that "online sales post lockdown were up 75%", while noting that average weekly online sales for the 20 weeks to 15 August were "above the levels reported in the week of Black Friday in 2019".A similar number of businesses believe online growth will be accompanied by a permanent shift towards flexible customer service. Given how quickly customers grow accustomed to new digital experiences and expect them as the norm, businesses that do not take a long-term view of digital transformation risk being left behind.For example, Salesforces Snapshot global research series shows that over half (57%) of businesses and organisations have provided surveyed consumers with personalised customer service. This is an interesting statistic considering that Salesforces State of the Connected Customer report, conducted pre-pandemic, shows that 52% of customers say companies are generally impersonal. If businesses are providing a higher level of personalised service in spite of the challenges faced during the pandemic, customers will expect this to not only continue, but to markedly improve.While personalisation is a key element of great customer service, the Snapshot research indicates that expertise, speed and empathy were the three most important customer service qualities during the pandemic. Again, comparing this to previous research, 71% of customers expect businesses to communicate with them in real time, with over half (55%) preferring digital channels over traditional ones. The digital customer experience is therefore fundamental.Businesses must focus on building 360-degree customer views that enable them to have more empathetic and contextually aware engagements. Furthermore, the information needed to provide a personalised service needs to be rapidly accessible. For context, over half (56%) of customers expect to find whatever they need from a company in three clicks or less. This margin for error, already small, is decreasing all the time.For business leaders, the process of stabilising businesses has been a challenging one, but for many it has led to build a greater understanding of what customers and employees need from them.The companies that are able to keep a transformative mindset will come out strongest. Businesses need to consult with their trusted digital advisors, and make honest assessments of their preparedness levels for the future of work.
Kevin Toland has been voted off the board of Aryzta following the groups extraordinary general meeting this morning.

Just over 62pc of shareholders voted in favour of his removal from the board.

The former head of the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA), who did not speak at the EGM, will remain in his role as chief executive of the Swiss-Irish food group.

Activist shareholders in Aryzta have spent a number of months campaigning for changes to the board of the company.

The activist investors  led by Switzerland's Veraison and Spain's Cobas - between them own more than 20pc of Aryzta.

Speaking at todays EGM Gregor Greber, head of Veraison, said it was a happy day for shareholders.

He added that shareholders had suffered and have not had too much to laugh about.

Urs Jordi, who was put forward by the dissident shareholders to join the board, was elected with just over 96pc of shareholder votes.

Yesterday Andreas Schmid, the board's nominee for the role of chairman, withdrew his candidacy after proxy votes had been cast.

Mr Jordi was today also elected chair of the baked goods company, with a two third majority.

Aryzta is best known in Ireland for its Cuisine de France brand and the company is a global supplier of burger buns to McDonald's. It also makes Otis Spunkmeyer cookies.

The company has been hit badly by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has led to profound changes in consumer eating habits as large numbers of employees worked from home.

In May it hired Rothschild to carry out a sweeping review of the business and has since said it has received a number of approaches.

Aryzta confirmed last Thursday that the company is in advanced talks with US hedge fund Elliott about a potential public tender offer for the entire company.

At Aryztas EGM Mr Jordi said the worst point in time to sell the company is right now.

This morning Annette Flynn became the latest board member to announce her resignation, following in the footsteps of Gary McGann, Dan Flinter, and Rolf Watter, all of whom had previously announced their intention to step down after the EGM.
Mark Ruffalo appeared on The Daily Show With Trevor Noah Tuesday night, where he discussed the recent protests in his hometown of Kenosha, Wisconsin. Protests erupted after the shooting of Jacob Blake in August. Ruffalo believes the subsequent protests have been misrepresented by the media and President Trump. The news I was seeing coming out of there didn't feel honest to me, said Ruffalo. It felt salacious. Later in the interview he said, The story coming out of the Kenosha news at the time, coming out of the media, that was coming out of the Trump campaign, that Kenosha was some kind of hell hole where black terrorists were terrorizing the community -- which is total and utter bull****.

Video Transcript

MARK RUFFALO: The news I was seeing coming out of there didn't feel honest to me. It felt salacious. It felt, you know-- of course, they're going to go for the worse things.

KYLIE MAR: "Avengers" star and Kenosha, Wisconsin native Mark Ruffalo appeared on "The Daily Show" Tuesday, where he discussed the protests following the shooting of Jacob Blake and how they are being misrepresented by President Trump and certain media outlets.

MARK RUFFALO: This kind of story that was coming out of the Kenosha news at the time, that was coming out of the media, that was coming out of the Trump campaign, that Kenosha Wisconsin was some kind of hell hole, where black terrorists were terrorizing the community, which is total and utter bull [BLEEP] as we all know.

KYLIE MAR: Ruffalo made it clear he supports the protests and calls for social justice in his hometown, and that he is fed up with people reportedly coming in and trying to create division and strife.

MARK RUFFALO: These protests have been, you know, predominantly peaceful. We don't hear about that, you know? We only see the guys like in Kenosha, Wisconsin they were provocateurs and they were, you know, trashing a town that they're not even from. That was what broke my heart, because that's not what I know about Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer reported no major safety problems on their COVID-19 vaccine trial after more than 12,000 people received their second of two doses.

During an online meeting with investors, Mikael Dolsten, Pfizer's chief scientific officer, said there has been "no safety signal reported" so far.

The trial has reached its initial goal of 30,000 subjects. It is now targeting at enrolling 44,000 people, according to Pfizer executives. The company has expanded its trial to include teenagers and people with certain medical conditions, such as HIV.

The trial compares two shots of the vaccine Pfizer is co-developing with Germany's BioNTech SE to two doses of a placebo. The doctors and subjects in the trial do not know who got the vaccine, which is a measure to avoid bias.

A committee of outside experts who know which people received the shot is reviewing safety data weekly, said Pfizer executives.

Kathrin Jansen, Pfizer's head of vaccine research, noted that they would be notified if these people had any safety concerns. She said the review team had not done that as of the moment.

Meanwhile, Pfizer's own scientists are looking for worrisome adverse events that have not appeared so far. Fatigue has been one of the most common side effects seen in the trial so far.

Pfizer also said that it expects to get conclusive data on the vaccine's efficacy by the end of October. The board responsible for the trial will do its first review of the data for efficacy when a total of 32 coronavirus cases have been reported among participants.

Pfizer also vowed to make its safety and efficacy data publicly available once they start seeking for an emergency authorization for the COVID-19 vaccine.

"What we are doing in terms of releasing data is very unusual. It is a must to release this data," Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said in a report.

The safety of the COVID-19 vaccines in the trial has been a huge concern after AstraZeneca paused its clinical trials of the vaccine co-developing with the University of Oxford.

AstraZeneca's U.K. has been continued, but its U.S. trial remains postponed. Once a preliminary analysis of Pfizer and BioNTech's vaccine data shows that it is safe, the companies could seek Food and Drug Administration's emergency authorization.

Jansen said the trial is designed to continue gathering safety and efficacy data even if an emergency authorization is granted. Top executives promised that distribution would immediately start once Pfizer receives an emergency authorization.

Pfizer's president of biopharmaceuticals, Angela Hwang, said there are currently three options for distributing the COVID-19 vaccine.

Distribution can be done with Pfizer's freezer, where the COVID-19 vaccine can have a shelf-life by six months.

On the other hand, Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine can have a 15-day shelf-life with the company's thermal shippers and dry ice. For a typical refrigerator, the vaccine can last for five days.

Hwang said these different options give a wide range of flexibility. But Pfizer's researchers are already looking for ways to make an improved version of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The company is looking for a new COVID-19 vaccine formula, which could be done in a single dose.

Want to read more? Check these out:
S taying up late hasnt been this exciting since we were kids. Gingerly taking a 6pm seat in the pub was already quite the thrill in July, but now its all about the all-nighters.

Bars and restaurants are opening for longer and later and a couple of speakers have been dusted down for music-lovers  Londons post-midnight scene is coming alive again.

Lingering until the wee hours is more important than ever: the rule of six means only seeing a finite number of mates at one time. To make the most of it, youll need to stay out longer.

All the hotspots below open until at least 1am on the days specified, but many open until earlier on other days, so check their websites.

Leave your watch at home, were going out-out.

Night caps

Open for business: New wine bar The Black Book has opened in Shoreditch

Soho built its good name on the kind of drinking that skips swiftly past midnight and barrels headlong into the dark. Trouble is, unless youre a member or can wangle your way into Blacks, the Groucho or  God forbid  Gerrys, or are one of the Soho House set, few places stay open late enough for that sort of fun.

Newly-opened The Black Book, from industry veterans Gearoid Devaney and Xavier Rousset, is hoping to change all that, with a high-end wine bar and brasserie. It is, they gamely say, for those with a nose for a party and will also serve cocktails (3am Thurs-Sat, 1am Tue-Wed, blackbooksoho.co.uk).

If that sounds too upmarket, head to nearby Trishas  technically the New Evaristo Club  where kohl-eyed boozers congregate in the basement for stories that tend to be forgotten by morning (1am, Tue-Sat, W1D, 020 7437 9536). Also downstairs in Soho and behind a hidden door warning there are no prostitutes at this address is Basement Sate, which is in fact warm, welcoming and full of wood and leather. Just go for a mixed drink, the wine is dreadful (1.30am Tue-Sat, W1F, basementsate.com). Not far is El Camion, which one-ups things by being squeezed in between two sex shops, for those who like a choice. Inside and down death-sentence stairs is its bar the Pink Chihuahua, where tequila seems to endlessly arrive, though they serve tacos, burritos and quesadillas until half an hour before closing (3am, Mon-Sat, W1F, elcamion.co.uk).

In Chinatown, basements are out and run-ups are in. Try Opium, the dim sum and drinks spot, which always feels like stumbling across a secret. Hard to go wrong here (3am Thur-Sat, until 2am Wed, 1am Mon & Tues. W1D, opiumchinatown.com).

Bowled over: All Star Lanes is open now / All Star Lanes

There are spots north and south of the centre, too. In Angel, Slim Jims Liquor Store has a suitably raffish reputation; come for a sound system heaving under the weight of Led Zep and Guns N Roses, lots of beer, and even more bourbon (3am ThurSat, 1am Sun, 2am MonWed, N1, slimjimsliquorstore.com). Trip down the Victoria line and in Brixton is Dogstar. Covid has changed things: no longer for the time being a DJ bar, its wound the clock back 20 years and is operating more as a traditional boozer, with beers, cocktails and pub quizzes. Still, its reputation as a late-night haunt remains (1am, Fri & Sat, SW9, dogstarbrixton.com).

In truth, its best to go east. Pop into Old Street haunt Nightjar, which helped start the speakeasy thing. While its imitators have mostly been forgotten, it still draws a loyal crowd who stay as long as they can (3am Fri & Sat, 2am Thur, 1am Wed & Sun. EC1V, barnightjar.com). Twenty minutes wander away is All Star Lanes in Brick Lane, which is open to toast bowling victories or drown gutter-ball sorrows (1am, Fri & Sat, E1, allstarlanes.co.uk). Out on Bethnal Green Road is the French-influenced Coupette, probably the areas best spot for a properly mixed drink. Its low-lit and cosy, one for long chats and the kind of dates you dont want to end (1am, Fri & Sat. E2, coupette.co.uk).

Close  though not at all in spirit  is the wonderful Bethnal Greens Working Mens Club, a favourite for its drag queens and cabaret. Presently open only for events, theyre taking things carefully, but will be partying into the dark on Fridays and Saturdays (approx 2am, Fri & Sat, E2, workersplaytime.net). Similar fun can be had at much-loved LGBTQ+ pub The Glory, in Haggerston, which is back with everything from drag make-up tutorials to stand-up, via some non-binary cabaret. Theyre being strict with the group-of-six rule, but the shows will still go on (2am, Fri & Sat, E2, theglory.co). If its a really, really late one  the kind to kill the following day  just make sure youre at The Dolphin in Hackney. If youve been, you know. If not... good luck (1am, Sun-Wed, until 2am Thurs, until 4am Fri & Sat, E8). David Ellis

Midnight feasts

Indulgence: old-world glamour at Bob Bob Ricard

Its not all 24-hour McDonalds and fluorescent-lit feasts  Londons post-midnight food scene can come with a side of glitz. Channelling the glamorous nightclubs of Thirties Shanghai, Mayfair hotspot Park Chinois serves luxury Chinese fare to a backdrop of live jazz upstairs, or eye-popping cabaret in the club below. Its lauded Duck de Chine comes with pancakes, baby cucumber and the optional addition of Oscietra caviar  for a cool 200 (2am Fri & Sat, between 12am and 1am Wed & Thur, depending on demand, W1, parkchinois.com). In Soho, Bob Bob Ricards heavily gilded dining room also summons Art Deco decadence. The Press For Champagne buttons function late into the night, with lobster mac and cheese or truffle humble pie to balance out any trigger-happy ordering (1am, Fri & Sat, W1, bobbobricard.com).

At Duck & Waffle, its less about gold furnishings, more about glistening views. Post-lockdown, the restaurant has swapped its 24-hour policy for a late-night close, but bar snacks of spicy ox cheek doughnuts 40 floors above the City are still a nocturnal treat (2am, Thur-Sat, EC2, duckandwaffle.com).

If your evening has been spent less quaffing champagne, more downing lager, London is home to plenty of relaxed dining rooms for a restorative (and quality) late-night snack. The Dalston outpostof pizza joint Voodoo Rays serves its New York-style pies in either 12-inch or massive 22-inch sizes until late. Varieties range from the meaty Porkys with Cumberland sausage and Stilton to the artichoke and green sauce-topped Queen Vegan, and can be enjoyed alongside craft beers and cocktails (1am, Fri & Sat, E8, voodoorays.com). Its much-loved sibling site may have switched 24-hour dining for an 11pm close, but Balans Soho No.60 is still open (almost) all hours at the weekends, serving burgers, enchiladas and even breakfast dishes way past bedtime (3am, Thur-Sat, W1, balans.co.uk). Down the road, the Soho House team run stylish hangout Cecconis Pizza Bar into the small hours, with a late-night menu of calamari fritti, buffalo mozzarella pizzas and tiramisu (3am Fri & Sat, 1am Thur, W1, cecconispizzabar.com).

If its a kebab youre after, head to Green Lanes. Harringays Little Istanbul is home to plentiful Turkish restaurants serving top-quality versions of the post-midnight favourite, including Gokyuzu (2am, Mon-Sun, N4, gokyuzurestaurant.co.uk) where lamb or chicken doner comes with rice and salad to dine in, or in a wrap to go. Ailis Brennan

Dancing in the dark

Soho icon: Ronnie Scott's is back in action this weekend

Remember when going out meant really, you know, going out? Raving it up until silly oclock has been an impossibility for months  now, however, while many gig venues and nightclubs are yet to reopen, a couple of spots now play music well into the night.

Ronnie Scotts, the Soho jazz club tucked away in Frith Street, will fling open its doors once again this Saturday. Regulars should find its Covid-secure vibe not too dissimilar to before  the tables lend themselves to social distancing and, according to the owners, the elegant screens that separate some seating areas actually compliment the decor. The music will be typically high-grade, with Liane Carroll, James Pearson and Soweto Kinch just a few of the artists scheduled to perform in the coming weeks and months. The famous late shows are set to run until 11pm on weeknights, stretching on until quarter past midnight at the weekends. Fancy hanging around for a nightcap? The upstairs bar doesnt chuck out until 2am (W1D, ronniescotts.co.uk).

Up in Camden Town, the Jazz Cafe is readying itself for a grand reopening this Friday. And while not all of its planned gigs will go on too late, a select group of artists  Afrobeat hero Dele Sosimi and funky fusion masters Osibisa among them  will play two sets in one night. The later performances will keep the good times rolling until 12.30am, with the upstairs restaurant seeing to anyone whos grown accustomed to a late-night supper over lockdown (NW1, thejazzcafelondon.com). Jochan Embley
BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 16

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On September 16, 2020, International media forum dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the permanent Neutrality of Turkmenistan and the election of Turkmenistan as Vice-Chairman of the upcoming 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly was held in the building of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Turkmenistan.

The session was held in the format of a video conference.

The International media forum was organized by the Turkmen side together with the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU).

The meeting was attended by the heads and representatives of a number of ministries of Turkmenistan, diplomatic missions and representative offices of international organizations accredited in the country, representatives of the national media, heads of authoritative foreign public and television and radio broadcasting organizations, as well as more than 300 correspondents of news agencies from over 65 countries of the world.

The participants especially noted the importance of the next delegation to Turkmenistan of the Vice-Chairmanship of the session of the United Nations General Assembly, where Turkmenistan has a positive experience, as the country took part in the 58th, 62nd, 64th, 68th and 71st sessions as Vice-Chairman.

Delegates from Turkmenistan and foreign countries who spoke during the meeting highlighted the status of the country's permanent neutrality, which was recognized by the United Nations by relevant resolutions. In this context, the participants expressed the success and effectiveness of Turkmenistan's foreign policy pursued under the wise leadership of President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov.

In particular, Ibrahim Eren, Acting President of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU), Director General and Chairman of the Turkish Television and Radio Broadcasting Corporation "TRT", stated during his speech that from the very beginning Turkmenistan has chosen this political course to promote global peace and stability, and to reinforce the importance of coexistence and sustainable development.

In his speech, Javad Mottaghi, Secretary General of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) noted that, being a new phenomenon in international legal practice, Turkmen neutrality became the basis for a new concept of cooperation and preservation of peace.

As part of his speech, Shashi Shekhar Vempati, Chief Executive Officer of the Indian Broadcasting Company Prasar Bharati, underlined that the neutrality of Turkmenistan is of great importance in the international arena and the policy pursued by the president of Turkmenistan fully coincides with the course of strengthening good neighborliness in the region and around the world.

Nedra Weerasinghe, director of MTV Channel (Ptv) Limited (MBC / MTV) from Sri Lanka, also shared her vision of the peculiar aspects of the positive neutrality policy and noted that neutrality will help to consolidate the position of the fairway in International forums that play an important role in protecting values and common interests of humanity.

Emmanuel Dupyi, President of the European Institute for Prospects and Security, paid attention to the important role of the neutral status of Turkmenistan in the region which can become a source of consolidation for the Central Asian countries and a platform for accelerated integration in the region.

During the speech of the Chairman of the National TV and Radio Company of Uzbekistan, A. Khadzhaev, it was noted that this Forum, without a doubt, was one of the important events, designed to reaffirm the aspirations of Turkmenistan to further strengthen stability and peace, socio-economic prosperity, as well as the development of diplomatic relations with the countries of the world and good neighborly relations in the region.

During their speeches, Neda Berger, Chairman of the Turkmen-Austrian Society, B.Amansaryev, Chairman of the State News Agency of Turkmenistan, A.Kakaev, Deputy Chairman of the State Committee of Turkmenistan on Television, Radio Broadcasting and Cinematography and K.Rejepov, editor-in-chief of the "Turkmenistan" newspaper also spoke about the uniqueness of Turkmenistan's permanent neutrality, its role in promoting international humanitarian cooperation, and it was noted that peacefulness, equality, non-interference in the affairs of other states, non-participation in military blocs, the implementation of mutually beneficial cooperation are integral components of the policy of positive neutrality.
ROME: The Vatican responded Wednesday to criticism that the title of Pope Francis upcoming encyclical on the post-COVID world is sexist, saying the document, Fratelli Tutti, (Brothers All") in no way excludes women.

In Italian, fratelli means brothers but it is also used as the inclusive, brothers and sisters. Since Francis takes pains to always address crowds as fratelli e sorelle (brothers and sisters) the absence of an explicit reference to sisters in the title was seen by some as another expression of exclusion in an institution long criticized for treating women as second-class citizens.

On Wednesday, the Vaticans editorial director, Andrea Tornielli, stressed that the title was taken from the words of St. Francis of Assisi, the popes namesake, and therefore couldnt be translated differently.

Writing in the Vatican newspaper LOsservatore Romano, he said an encyclical by its very nature is addressed to the whole world and that the title in no way excludes half the human race.

On the contrary, Francis chose the words of the Saint of Assisi to initiate a reflection on something he cares about very deeply: namely, fraternity and social friendship, Tornielli wrote. He therefore addresses all his sisters and brothers, all men and women who populate the earth: everyone, inclusively, and in no way exclusively.

The Vatican is expected to release the encyclical on Oct. 4, the feast of St. Francis, a day after the pope travels to the Umbrian hilltop town of Assisi to pray at the tomb of the saint and sign the document.

It is expected to articulate much of his preaching on the need for human solidarity and fraternity to both care for the planet and the population in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic and the social inequalities it has exacerbated.

Vatican encyclicals are the most authoritative form of papal teaching and they traditionally take their titles from the first two words of the document. In this case, Fratelli Tutti" is a quote from the Admonitions," the compendium of guidelines penned by St. Francis in the 12th century.

Writing last week in Religion News Service, the Rev. Thomas Reese, a church commentator, said the title was unfortunate and said he hoped the Vatican would at least translate it in English as Brothers and sisters all.

It is sad to see the church continue to suffer from self-inflicted wounds, Reese wrote. The concern about language in the title will increase the focus on the language of the entire encyclical.

Reese, an American Jesuit, dismissed the argument that fratelli in Italian was inclusive, even though many Romance languages use the male plural in such comprehensive ways. Couldnt the church get ahead of the curve for once? he asked.

Tina Beattie, a British theologian and Catholic womens rights campaigner, also dismissed the Vaticans explanation as disingenuous.

Sorry. When they say gender ideology is destroying society, and given the Vaticans gender politics, Im not willing to become a brother when it suits them to call me one, she tweeted Wednesday. Ill engage with what I know will be a brilliant vision, but Ill name this misnomer every time I do.

Tornielli, the Vatican editorial chief, said the themes of the encyclical, fraternity and social friendship, are precisely the themes that unite men and women.

For this reason, all readers should be able to understand the title Fratelli Tutti with the absolutely inclusive connotation that is intended," he said.

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor
MILWAUKEE, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- TKO Miller is pleased to announce the successful sale of De Pere Cabinet Inc. (DCI), a family-owned cabinetry manufacturer.

Based in De Pere, WI, DCI is a premier manufacturer of modular, semi-custom framed cabinetry for diverse uses in single-family residences. De Pere Cabinet prides itself on the quality and value of its Countryside Cabinets brand, which provides custom capabilities at an affordable price. Founded in 1975, the Company has been owned and operated by the Burkard family of De Pere, Wisconsin. Throughout its history, the Company has built a loyal following among distributors and kitchen and bath dealers throughout the Midwest.

The acquirer, Wellborn Forest, a portfolio company of HCI Equity Partners based in Washington DC, is a manufacturer of semi-custom framed cabinets serving the single-family residential market. Wellborn Forest is based in Alexander City, AL, and its core geography is in the Southeastern and Eastern United States. HCI also owns Regent Cabinets based in Lakewood, NJ.

"DCI is a market-driven company with deep knowledge and understanding of their customers' desires," said Erik Eidem, Director at TKO Miller. "The Company offers a unique blend of quality, craftsmanship, design, features, and prices that make them stand out among their competition."

"HCI Equity Partners is an ideal buyer for DCI," said Steve Yahnke, Managing Director at TKO Miller. "Not only have they demonstrated success in the cabinet market with their two existing portfolio companies, Wellborn Forest and Regent Cabinets, but they are also well-known in the industry for their focus on partnering with family-and-founder-owned businesses to execute growth strategies."

"I have always been a strong believer that De Pere Cabinet has the best products and workforce in the industry," said Kevin Andersen, Interim President at De Pere Cabinet. "Teaming up with Wellborn Forest and HCI provides great opportunities for our company, our employees, and our customers."

About TKO Miller

TKO Miller, LLC is an independent, advisory-focused, middle market investment bank. With over 130 years of collective transaction experience, TKO Miller provides merger and acquisition and financial advisory services for privately held and private equity-owned businesses, with a special focus on family-and-founder-held businesses.

TKO Miller aims to bring value to clients by combining outstanding people with a results-oriented, flexible approach to transactions. Our services include company sales, recapitalizations, asset divestitures, and management buyouts. TKO Miller has a generalist focus but has served clients in a wide range of industries, including manufacturing, business services, consumer products, and industrial products and services. For more information, visit our website www.tkomiller.com.

Contact: Katie Yde, [email protected]

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 14:16:39|Editor: huaxia

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NEW DELHI, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has ordered the Serum Institute of India (SII) to resume its phase 2 and phase 3 clinical trials of the Oxford University's Covishield vaccine along with pharma major AstraZeneca, local media reported Wednesday.

The DCGI, VG Somani, in a letter to the SII on Tuesday said the institute's reply has been "carefully examined" as also the recommendations of the Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) in India and Britain.

The drug controller last week put on hold the trials in the wake of AstraZeneca pausing the clinical trials in other countries because of "an unexplained illness" in a participant in the study.

Reports said the SII had submitted a summary of safety follow up of seven days post first vaccination, stating that no serious adverse events were experienced by any of the subjects till the date of the reporting, and the reported adverse events were stated to be mild, resolved on their own and did not have any sequelae.

AstraZeneca has already resumed trials in Britain for the vaccine.

India is in the grip of ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the cases are surging with each passing day. The country's COVID-19 tally surpassed the 5 million mark on Wednesday, with 90,123 new cases and 1,290 related deaths.

Globally India is the second worst-hit country due to the pandemic. Enditem
AILET admit cards 2020, nludelhi.ac.in: All India Law Entrance Test (AILET) 2020: National Law University has released the admit cards for All India Law Entrance Test (AILET) 2020. Here's the complete guide on how to download the admit cards and all the other details.

AILET admit cards 2020, nludelhi.ac.in: The admit cards for All India Law Entrance Test (AILET) have been released by the National Law University (NLU) Delhi on their official website, nludelhi.ac.in. Applicants who have registered for the AILET may now head towards the official website nludelhi.ac.in and download their admit cards. The exam is scheduled by the National Testing Agency (NTA), to be held on September 26, 2020. The exam is going to be held in online mode.

The official notice issued regarding the same said that in case of any difficulty, students can mail the authorities at nlu@nta.ac.in or call NTA Help Desk at 8287471852, 8178359845, 8882356803, 9650173668, 9599676953 from 9:30 am till 6:00 pm only.

Contents on AILET 2020 admit card:

The All India Law Entrance Test (AILET) admit card will comprise of applicants full name, Roll Number, Exam Dates, Exam Timings and the AILET guidelines. Aspirants are advised to check all the spellings and details mentioned on the admit cards very carefully.

Also read: JEE Advanced 2020: Two days left for online registration, know process here

Also read: Bihar B.Ed. admit card 2020 released @ bihar-cetbed-lnmu.in, exam on September 22, Download Bihar B.Ed CET 2020 hall tickets online

Steps to Download AILET admit card 2020 online:

In the URL bar of your browser, enter the official websites address, nludelhi.ac.in. On the landing page, click on the link that reads AILET 2020- Admit Card Notice You will be directed to a new webpage in the PDF format. On the page, find and click the click that directs to download AILET 2020 admit card. Enter your unique credentials and click on the Login button. Your AILET 2020 Admit Card will appear before you on your screen. Download and print your AILET Admit Card for future use.

Also read: PRSU 2020 time table released: Know how to check B.A., B.Sc, B.Com, B.Ed, M.A. time table
NEW YORK, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Iconic women's fashion brand ANNE KLEIN returned to the new New York Fashion Week today, presenting a timely and timeless video on CFDA's Runway360 platform and simultaneously on IMG's NYFW.com. The presentation highlighted the heritage of the ANNE KLEIN brand, narrated by actor, activist, and humanitarian, Ilfenesh Hadera who delivered a manifesto dedicated to women, celebrating the brand founder's visionary and timeless quote, "Clothes Won't Change the World. The Women Who Wear Them Will."

Iconic women's fashion brand ANNE KLEIN returned to the new New York Fashion Week presenting a timely and timeless video on CFDA's Runway360 platform. Anne Klein returns to New York Fashion Week with Fall 2020 collection.

"Every day I'm made proud by the strength, compassion, vision and selflessness of the women in both my community and around the world," said Ilfenesh Hadera. "I'm perpetually in awe of, though never surprised by, our ability to be the change we want to see in the world. Anne Klein was one such woman and I'm honored to be a part of this celebration of her legacy."

More than 50 years later, Anne Klein's famous words are still inspiring woman. Her legacy of not only purposefully styling designs, but her trailblazing spirit and vision of empowerment are more relevant than ever. Her Granddaughter, Jesse Gre Rubinstein, who now serves as the brand's Ambassador, opened the presentation to share her Grandmother's enduring imprint.

"Anne Klein was often first, and always put women first," stated Rubinstein, "Her first introduction of separates changed American Fashion and liberated the way women dressed forever. She was the first to create sophisticated styles in all sizes, for all ages, true today as the brand serves all women all over the world."

The See It Now, Buy It Now Collection shown in the five plus minute video introduced editors and consumers alike to a Fall 2020 capsule collection with bold prints and styles at accessible price points. The collection look book on the CFDA site is entirely shoppable and links directly to the new AnneKlein.com ecommerce website. New exclusives on the site beginning on October 1st, will also highlight Anne Klein's partnership with the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF), in tribute to the brand's late founder. Anne Klein unfortunately passed due to breast cancer in 1974. This collection is a celebration of her life, vision, and to power important science forward.

The full Fall 2020 Collection and video can be seen on Runway360.cfda.com. To learn more about ANNE KLEIN and shop the new collection, visit www.AnneKlein.com.

About Anne Klein

Anne Klein is an iconic legacy women's fashion brand founded in 1968, Anne Klein serves women around the world with classic American style. The brand, which is owned by WHP Global, has product distributed by best-in-class partners including Steve Madden for footwear and handbags, Kasper Group for sportswear, E. Gluck for watches, Herman Kay for outerwear, ONE Jeanswear Group for denim, Komar for loungewear, Marchon for eyewear, Centric for hosiery, Amiee Lynn for Accessories, Palm Beach for fragrance and cosmetics, Vandale for intimates and The Jewelry Group for jewelry. Anne Klein products are sold globally throughout North America, China, South Korea, The Philippines, and Mexico. For more information, visit www.anneklein.com, @AnneKlein on Facebook or @AnneKleinOfficial on Instagram.

About Ilfenesh Hadera

Ilfenesh Hadera is an American actor, activist, and humanitarian. A seasoned New Yorker, Ilfenesh was born in Harlem, where her love for the theatre began during her time at Harlem School of the Arts and eventually graduated from Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts. In 2010, Hadera made her acting debut in the film 1/20. A frequent collaborator with Spike Lee, she has also appeared in Da Brick, The Blacklist, Oldboy, Show Me a Hero, Chi-Raq, Chicago Fire, The Punisher, and She's Gotta Have It. She also had a recurring role in the Showtime Series, Billions. Ilfenesh's latest project is the Epix series, Godfather Of Harlem, based on the true story of 1960's crime boss Bumpy Johnson. In it, Hadera portrays Johnson's wife, Mayme and is the leading female actor opposite Forrest Whittaker. The show was nominated for 4 NAACP Image Awards and commissioned for Season 2, shooting beginning in October 2020. Hadera's father, Asfaha Hadera, an Ethiopian refugee, along with her mother, Kim Nichols, are Co-Founders and Co-Executive Directors of African Service Committee, a Harlem based NGO which seeks to aid refugees in establish themselves and find community in New York City. Hadera plays a major advocacy role for within the organization visiting Ethiopia sites and attends, promotes and advocates for the nonprofit.

About WHP Global

WHP Global is a New York-based firm that specializes in acquiring global consumer brands and strategically investing in high-growth distribution channels, digital commerce platforms, and global expansion. WHP Global owns the ANNE KLEIN and JOSEPH ABBOUD brands. For more information, visit www.whp-global.com.

Media Contacts:

WHP Global: Anne Klein EJ Media Group ATELIER Creative Services Jaime Cassavechia / Alexa Stark Colette Sipperly 212-518-4771 [email protected] [email protected]





Ilfenesh Hadera

The Lions Talent Management

Lucy Jackson

[email protected]



SOURCE Anne Klein
El presidente @MartinVizcarraC, junto al titular de la PCM, @WalterMartosR, y ministros de Estado, sostiene reunion con gobernadores regionales (ANGR) y alcaldes provinciales y distritales pertenecientes a la AMPE y a la Red de Municipalidades Urbanas y Rurales (Remurpe). pic.twitter.com/SDgQc1h58W
Dir: Antonio Campos. Starring: Tom Holland, Bill Skarsgard, Riley Keough, Jason Clarke, Eliza Scanlen, Mia Wasikowska, Robert Pattinson. 18 cert, 138 mins

Netflixs The Devil All the Time is a film of devastating isolation; the woods that surround these towns seem hungry, ready to close in. Theres thick dust in the air. The first thing we hear is a cracked, slow voice. It introduces us to the time, 1957, and the places; the exquisitely named Knockemstiff, Ohio, and Coal Creek, West Virginia. The voice belongs to Donald Ray Pollock, the American author who penned the mid-western Gothic tale Antonio Campos here adapts for the screen. Pollock is wise and strange, occasionally foul-mouthed (he suggests one of his characters smelled worse than a truck stop sh***er). You can imagine him spinning this tale while sitting in an old rocking chair, on the porch of a family home. But he meanders, too, as if he were trying to recollect some half-forgotten past.

The film follows several interlocking stories, stretched out between these two entirely unremarkable towns. The epicentre of events is the Russell family, outcasts in Knockemstiff for the simple reason that everyone else is connected by blood or by one godforsaken calamity or another. The father, Willard (Bill Skarsgard), a veteran of the Pacific theatre, has gained new zealotry for the Christian faith. He hopes it will protect his wife (Haley Bennett) and their son, Arvin (Michael Banks Repeta). Willards mother had once hoped hed wed Helen (Mia Wasikowska), a local orphan who falls for a local evangelist (Harry Melling), whose trick is to tip a bucket of spiders on his head in order to prove God has taken away his fears.

Robert Pattinson (right) revels in the role of Reverend Preston Teagardin (Netflix)

We meet Arvin when hes older (and played by Tom Holland), now the close confidant and protector of Helens child, Lenora (Eliza Scanlen), a pious, nervous girl whos utterly devoted to her mother. A pair of killers stalk the roads between the two towns. Sandy (Riley Keough), the bait, and Carl (Jason Clarke), the shooter, seduce hitchhikers, snap them in compromising positions, and then end their lives. Robert Pattinson makes a late appearance as a slimy preacher. With a sweaty lip and wheezed screams of delusions!, the actor knows how to make himself a truly unlikeable presence.

Campos, who co-wrote the script with his brother Paulo, flits between these stories  he reveals that a character will die, then suddenly abandons their story, only to return 20 minutes later to fill in the details. The effect is disorientating. He rushes through the first hour, treating it almost like a prologue so that he can squeeze in all of Pollocks book and stay faithful to its vision. But what the director may lack in pacing, he makes up for in heady, mythic atmosphere.

For these characters live under the eye of an uncaring god; they die for him, they kill for him, they use his name to protect their hypocrisies. This was the one true religion, Pollock says of Carls bloodlust. Only in the presence of death could he feel the presence of something like God. The shadow of the Vietnam War creeps into the frame. Camposs cast is a collection of Hollywoods most haunted-looking eyes. Skarsgard, Keough and Wasikowska all look like theyve fallen headfirst out of a Gothic chiller.

Skarsgards Willard is haunted by a wartime memory  a soldier on a cross, flies circling his flayed body, as he gasps for breath. In his later life, he finds a ghoulish way to replicate the image. But Campos never gives such horrors the space they deserve. Theyre dealt with quickly, almost casually brushed aside, so that the story can keep barreling forward. Its hard, too, to feel like youre staring into the heart of darkness when the films central character is played by someone like Holland. Hes a deeply charismatic actor having a stab at a darker role but who cant quite shake off his trademark earnestness. When The Devil All the Time does plunge into the moral abyss, its intoxicating  if only it did it more often.

The Devil All the Time is available to watch on Netflix now
Trump Warns Any Strike by Iran Against US Will be Met With Attack '1,000 Times Greater in Magnitude'

Sputnik News

03:18 GMT 15.09.2020(updated 05:37 GMT 15.09.2020)

Trump's statement came as he received reports on Tehran allegedly planning an assassination against the United States in retaliation for Gen. Soleimani, killed in a US targeted attack in January.

President Donald Trump has warned that any attack by Iran against the United States will be met with a response "that will be 1,000 times greater in magnitude".

Earlier on Sunday, reports emerged that Iran has been plotting an assassination of the US ambassador to South Africa in retaliation for assassinated General IRGC Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani.

On Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh dismissed the allegations and urged US officials "to stop resorting to hackneyed and worn-out methods for anti-Iran propaganda in the international arena".

Khatibzadeh described the claims as part of the "Trump administration's counter-intelligence campaign against Iran", slamming the Politico report as "custom-ordered, biased and purposeful".

The spokesman pointed out that it was "predictable" that Washington would "resort to anti-Iran accusations and falsification ahead of the US presidential election, coupled with that [American] regime's pressures to abuse the United Nations Security Council's mechanisms with the purpose of intensifying pressure on the people of Iran".

"Conversely, it is the United States and the incumbent regime at the White House that has ignored the basic diplomatic principles and has become a rogue regime in the international arena, [] masterminding and implementing tens of assassination plots, [] withdrawal from many international agreements, violating the territorial integrity of nations, and the cowardly assassination of General Qassem Soleimani, the honourable commander of the fight against terrorism", Khatibzadeh added.

Soleimani was killed in a targeted US drone attack on the Baghdad International Airport on 3 January. Washington has justified the strike with claims that he had been planning to attack US personnel in the region and that by eliminating him, they have saved "a lot of lives".

Washington, however, failed to provide any evidence of the alleged attack plans. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the US possessed no information about the date and place of an alleged attack.

In retaliation for its top commander, Iran conducted a missile attack hitting the US Ayn al-Asad Air Base in western Iraq and American facilities in Erbil. No US personnel were injured in the attack, the White House said.

Soleimani was a highly respected figure in Iran, praised for battling terrorist groups in the conflict regions and considered an "architect" of the Iranian security infrastructure.

A Sputnik

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Russia has launched a number of attacks against Idleb, their most comprehensive attack since March of this year reports Al-Masdar.

On Tuesday, the Russian Air Force have launched their biggest attack since March of this year over the northwestern region of Syria, with their warplanes hitting a number of sites inside Idleb Governorate.

According to a field source in Hama Governorate, the Russian Air Force launched several airstrikes over the northern region of Idleb, hitting a number of targets belonging to the jihadist forces.

The military source in Hama said the Russian airstrikes primarily targeted the area around the town of Maarat Misreen, located north of the administrative capital of Idleb Governorate.

This attack by the Russian Air Force was reportedly supported by reconnaissance planes that provided them with intel on the location of the militant groups.

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.
(Photo : REUTERS/Tingshu Wang) A man wearing a face mask, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, walks past a billboard with a map of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, ahead of a news conference, in Ganluo county, Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan province, China September 9, 2020 (Photo : REUTERS/Tingshu Wang) A booth displaying a coronavirus vaccine candidate from Sinovac Biotech Ltd is seen at the 2020 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS), following the COVID-19 outbreak, in Beijing, China September 5, 2020.

Chinese virologist and now a COVID whistleblower, Dr. Li-Meng Yan, claims a lot of info about the origin of SARS-CoV-2. This includes her revelation that the Chinese government military lab man-made the virus. However, for some scientists, these claims cannot be used as proof. In fact, they found the research as 'damaging' and 'highly speculative.'

COVID-19 as China's man-made virus

On Tuesday, Sept. 14, Dr. Li-Meng Yan, a Chinese virologist, made a shocking revelation about the origin of SARS-CoV-2. Her studies conclude that a Chinese military lab under the government created the virus to target humans.

Aside from that, Li-Meng mentioned that nature could not be the main source behind the pandemic.

Comparing both coronaviruses found in nature and today's virus, she and her colleagues found unmatched results. Thus, suggesting the virus was originally man-made than nature-made.

These claims weren't 'credible' enough

The controversy that these claims have been gone through for the past weeks was very strong. In light of the speculations, few scientists from the same field expressed their opinion about the matter.

Yahoo News interviewed some scientists to know their thoughts. Interestingly, they don't bite Li-Meng's statement about the matter.

Dr Michael Head, senior research fellow in global health at the University of Southampton, clarified that these claims were already proven false from past studies.

He mentioned that these claims were more 'damaging to public health' than helping for research.

"If people are exposed to and then believe conspiracy theories, this will likely have a negative impact on efforts to keep COVID-19 cases low, and thus there will be more death and illness than there needs to be," explains him.

Another scientist Dr. Gkikas Magiorkinis, assistant professor of hygiene and epidemiology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, repeated that enough studies were proving closely related to SARS-CoV-2 viruses came from bats and pangolins. This was said to be more likely than a laboratory manipulation.

"The paper by Li-Meng et al. does not provide any robust evidence of artificial manipulation, no statistical test of alternative hypotheses... and is highly speculative."

Meanwhile, Daniel Altmann, professor of immunology at Imperial College London, said the study is "interesting, but perhaps an outlier opinion."

China announces vaccine

As China is being bashed with the COVID-19 claims, a new COVID-19 vaccine is set to be released this year made from one of their companies Sinopharm.

This vaccine already received approval from the Chinese government in June. Surprisingly, CNBC reported that the United Arab Emirates had approved the same vaccine for emergency use for its frontline workers.

ALSO READ: Chinese Whistleblower Li-Meng Yan Gets Twitter Ban After Publishing 'Man-Made COVID-19' Report -Finds Support from US Army Doctor

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Jamie Pancho

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Lead investigator David Stamps, Ph.D., an assistant professor in strategic communication at the Manship School of Mass Communication and a Reilly Center Research Affiliate, took a deeper look at the personal stories surrounding Baton Rouge's communities of color during the COVID-19 epidemic. "The data is clearBlack Louisianians are seeing a disparate impact from the coronavirus pandemic," Stamps said. "But we hope this research will allow policymakers to better understand and engage with how communities, particularly Black essential workers, are navigating COVID-19 and tailor resources to address their needs."

E Pluribus Unum founder and president Mitch Landrieu said, "We are pleased to present this narrative-forward study with LSU. It is clear we are divided by design, and these findings underscore how this COVID-19 crisis has impacted Black communities, particularly in Louisiana. Part of our work includes changing narratives so we can create a more just, inclusive and equitable South. Lifting up the stories of these residents, many of them essential workers, is a critical part of that work."

View the full report , and view the executive summary and topline.

About LSU's Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs

The LSU Manship School of Mass Communication's Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs is partnership-driven, action-oriented and dedicated to exploring contemporary issues at the intersection of mass communication and public life. Its interdisciplinary approach draws together experts from diverse fields to advance research and dialogue. The intent is to inspire our communities to think deeply, take action, develop solutions and broaden knowledge.To learn more, visit www.lsu.edu/reillycenter .

About E Pluribus Unum

Founded by former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu in 2018, E Pluribus Unum (EPU) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization whose mission is to build a more just, equitable, and inclusive South, uprooting the barriers that have long divided the region by race and class. Incubated at Emerson Collective, EPU is focused on changing the divisive narratives that perpetuate systemic and interpersonal racism, cultivating and empowering courageous leaders who are advancing racial equity, and championing transformative policy change.

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The Syrian Democratic Council has responded positively following a meeting in Moscow and the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding reports North Press.

Ilham Ahmed, co-chair of the Executive Board of the Syrian Democratic Council (the representative body of the Autonomous Administration in Northern and Eastern Syria), described their meeting with the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow last week as fruitful.

In an interview with North Press, Ahmed expressed her hope that the position of the Syrian government will change regarding the Syrian crisis, adding that Russia supported the Memorandum of Understanding that they signed with the Peoples Will Party.

At the end of August, the Syrian Democratic Council and the Peoples Will Party signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Moscow, with articles related to the political roadmap to solve the Syrian crisis.

The two sides said that the articles of the memorandum came in accordance with UN Resolution 2254 and the drafting of the new Syrian constitution.

Ahmed stated that the meeting with the Russian Foreign Ministry is important due to the countrys important role in Syria.

She indicated that they understood from the Russian Foreign Ministry that the use of weapons had not yielded a result, and there must be a political solution to the Syrian crisis. She added that thus far, Russia has supported the Syrian government, but it is not yet clear as to whether this support will continue at the same level or if there will be a new political reality in the coming stages of the conflict.

Ahmed stated that the position of the Syrian Foreign Minister, Walid al-Muallem, in his conference with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, showed that there is a divergence of opinions between the Syrian government and Russia.

She added, It appears that Russia has informed them of the subject of the Memorandum of Understanding. We will wait for new understandings to happen between the Syrian government and Russia.

Ahmed said, We hope that there will be new developments in the Syrian position with regards to the Syrian solution and reaching a new consensus to end the Syrian crisis.

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 perfectly preserved remains of an Ice Age cave bear have been discovered in the Russian Arcticthe first example of the species ever to be found with soft tissues intact.

The astonishing find was made by reindeer herders on the Lyakhovsky Islands, which are part of the New Siberian islands archipelago in Russias Far North.

Prior to this, only the bones of cave bears had been unearthed, but this specimen even had its nose intact, according to a team of scientists from the North-Eastern Federal University (NEFU) in Yakutsk, Siberia.

The discovery is of world importance, a leading Russian expert on extinct Ice Age species said.

The bear could be as much as 39,500 years old. (Courtesy of North-Eastern Federal University Yakutsk)

In a statement released by the university, scientist Lena Grigorieva said: Today this is the first and only find of its kinda whole bear carcass with soft tissues. It is completely preserved, with all internal organs in place including even its nose.

Previously, only skulls and bones were found. This find is of great importance for the whole world.

The adult animal was found by a group of reindeer herders, who then transferred the right to research the specimen to the NEFU, which is at the forefront of research into extinct woolly mammoths and rhinos.

According to the team, the cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) is a prehistoric species or subspecies that lived in Eurasia in the Middle and Late Pleistocene period and became extinct some 15,000 years ago. Preliminary analysis suggests the bear is between 22,000 and 39,500 years old.

All the bears soft tissue is intact, including its internal organs. (Courtesy of North-Eastern Federal University Yakutsk)

Maxim Cheprasov, senior researcher from the Mammoth Museum laboratory in Yakutsk, said in the statement: It is necessary to carry out radiocarbon analysis to determine the precise age of the bear.

Scientists have not yet been able to visit the site of the discoverythe ancient carcass was found a long way from Yakutsk, which itself is more than 5,000 miles from Moscow.

Significant discoveries, including mammoths, woolly rhinos, Ice Age foal, several puppies, and cave lion cubs, have been made in Siberia in recent years as the permafrost melts.

CNN Wire contributed to this report.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex made a $130,000 donation to an African girls' education charity to mark their recent birthdays, it has been revealed.

Prince Harry, 36, and Meghan Markle, 39, pledged the money to CAMFED, which supports girls' education across the continent, and said there is 'no better way to celebrate what really matters'.

The couple made the donation yesterday after fans, who call themselves the Sussex Squad, launched a fundraising drive in honour of Harry and Meghan's birthdays on September 15 and August 4, respectively.

The campaign raised $129,000 and Harry and Meghan responded by matching the donations with their own $130,000 contribution.

Charitable donations are tax deductible in both the US and the UK. CAMFED is registered in both countries.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex made a $130,000 donation to a girls' education charity to mark their recent birthdays, it has been revealed. Pictured, the couple in Cape Town last year

In a message tweeted by the charity (pictured) the couple said: 'No better way to celebrate what really matters. Thank you to everyone who donated, Harry and Meghan'

The couple have a long-standing relationship with CAMFED, which is a partner of the Queen's Commonwealth Trust. Harry and Meghan serve as president and vice president of the Queen's Commonwealth Trust and were allowed to retain their positions after stepping back from official royal duties this year.

Prince Harry visited a CAMFED project in Zambia in 2018 and paid a separate visit to the organisation during his solo visit to Malawi on the Sussexes' African tour in 2019.

The Duchess of Sussex met one of the regional leaders of CAMFED at a Women's Day event in London in 2019.

The money raised from the Sussex Squad Birthday Fundraiser 2020 will fund higher education scholarships for young women across Africa.

In a statement tweeted by the charity, the Sussexes said: 'No better way to celebrate what really matters. Thank you to everyone who donated, Harry and Meghan'.

The couple, who recently signed a $150million deal with Netflix, supported two charities to mark their son Archie Mountbatten-Windsor's birthday in May.

Meghan and Archie appeared in a video to promote a Save The Children literacy programme and the Duchess later revealed she had sponsored a kennel at London-based animal charity Mayhew, of which she is patron, in her son's name.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex celebrated Harry's birthday privately yesterday at their $14million Santa Barbara home.

The couple have a long-standing relationship with CAMFED. Prince Harry visited one of the charity's projects in Zambia in 2018 (pictured) and paid a separate visit to the organisation during his solo visit to Malawi on the Sussexes' African tour in 2019

The royal family marked the occasion by sharing well-wishes on Instagram and Twitter, with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Charles and the Queen all posting in honour of Harry's birthday.

However royal fans were outraged that Meghan did not appear in any of the four photographs posted to mark the occasion.

In response to William and Kate's photo, which shows the Cambridges and Prince Harry in a 2017 running race, one fan noted: 'There must have been hundreds of photos you could have picked, but you chose to post one of Harry, William and Kate. Im sure not including Meghan wasnt unintentional.'

Another fan posting on the Cambridges' account said it was 'shady' not to include the Duchess of Sussex when there are photos of the 'fab four' together. Another said simply: 'Interesting photo selection... No Meghan.'

However some pointed out that it is common for royal family members not to include husbands and wives in birthday photos, as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge did for Princess Anne's recent 70th.

The Duchess of Sussex with Camfed Regional Director Angeline Murimirwa (right), model Adwoa Aboah, former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, and journalist Anne McElvoy at a Women's Day event in London in March 2019

It comes after the strain in relations between Prince William, 38, and Harry, who were once inseparable, were laid bare in the Duke and Duchess of Sussexes' biography Finding Freedom.

Co-author Omid Scobie later claimed the brothers went two months without speaking following the Sussexes' bombshell Megxit announcement.

The Duke of Sussex certainly has plenty to celebrate this year - his first birthday since he and Meghan quit the royal family and moved to California.

The couple recently signed a $150million deal with US media giant Netflix and paid back the 2.4million that was spent renovating Frogmore Cottage, their former home on the Queen's Windsor estate, further distancing themselves from the royal family.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have also recently stepped up their public and virtual appearances as Covid-19 restrictions ease, with Prince Harry last week sending a video of support to soldiers taking part in a charity trek. Over the weekend Meghan took part in a video call with clients from her UK patronage Smart Works.

And according to royal experts, the Duke is 'happier than ever' as he celebrates his 36th birthday, and 'doesn't miss his old life at all'.

Omid Scobie, who co-authored the controversial royal biography Finding Freedom which raised eyebrows for its gushing praise and intimate knowledge of the Sussexes, the Prince is 'very content' with his marriage and family and 'thriving' in his professional life.

He told Vanity Fair: 'This is the moment [Harry] can sit back and think, "I made it".'
Wirth will enhance the services and solutions of the employee benefits division through project management and data aggregation and analysis.

Alera Group today announced that Taylor Wirth has joined its Employee Benefits team as Employee Benefits National Project Manager and Data Analyst, effective September 8.

In this role, Wirth will enhance the services and solutions of the employee benefits division through project management and data aggregation and analysis. Her ongoing analysis will strengthen the service offerings of Alera Group firms across the United States, further enhancing the employee benefits client experience.

We are thrilled to welcome Taylor to the national employee benefits team. Her expertise will advance the services and solutions that support Alera Group firms across the country, said Sally Prather, Executive Vice President and Employee Benefits Practice Leader at Alera Group.

Prior to Alera Group, Wirth served as the Senior Client Operations Lead at Businessolver, managing health and life benefits administration for enterprise clients. Before that role, she was a Service Delivery Specialist at a national private exchange platform.

I am excited about the national platform I will help to expand as part of the Alera Group team, said Wirth. Alera Groups collaborative culture, combined with their industry excellence, makes them one of the leading insurance organizations in the country. I look forward to the impact of improved data analysis and project management on the employee benefits division.

Wirth joins Alera Group as the latest member of an industry-leading team of professionals across the United States. For more information about Alera Group, visit http://www.aleragroup.com.

About Alera Group

Based in Deerfield, IL, Alera Groups over 2,000 employees serve thousands of clients nationally in employee benefits, property and casualty, risk management and wealth management. Alera Group is the 15th largest independent insurance agency in the country. For more information, visit http://www.aleragroup.com or follow Alera Group on Twitter: @AleraGroupUS.
Baylor University labels conservative group's 9/11 flag display 'sensitive content'

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Baylor University in Texas received backlash from conservatives last Friday after it placed a sign in front of an annual on-campus 9/11 flag display, warning students of sensitive content in accordance with a standard process enacted last year.

The student group Young Conservatives of Texas at Baylor cried foul last Friday, telling supporters on Twitter that its on-campus display of the over 2,000 United States flags to memorialize those who tragically perished in the 9/11 attacks is now considered Sensitive Content.

In a tweet, Young Conservatives of Texas shared a video showing small American flags planted in the grass of a common area on campus with one white sign in the ground stating: Please be advised: sensitive content.

Displaying the American Flag to memorialize those who tragically perished in the 9/11 attacks is now considered Sensitive Content. Honoring those who died and first responders isnt Sensitive, its American. pic.twitter.com/0DHmY7h2sJ  Baylor YCT (@BaylorYCT) September 11, 2020

In a statement, Young Conservatives of Texas at Baylor Chapter Chairman Jake Neidert explained that his group places 2,977 Americans flags in the grass at Baylors Fountain Mall each year on Sept. 11 to honor the victims and first responders who lost their lives in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

The display only includes flags with no no signage or political messaging, according to Neidert.

Every year we do our best to ensure that this event is about America not politics, he said. Upon our initial request to place the memorial this year, we made it clear to Baylor Student Activities that this was not a political event.

Neidert stated that Baylors Department of Student Activities informed the student group about 24 hours in advance of the demonstration that it would place expression activity signs near the flags.

These signs amount to nothing short of a trigger warning for an event that should unite all Americans, Neidert argued. As Baylor students, this is incredibly saddening for us to see. 9/11 is a day that we can forget our political identities and come together to remember those who died and celebrate the triumph of our nation over evil.

In his statement, Neidert asked Baylor, one of the largest Baptist universities in the world, to apologize for displaying the warning signs.

On Twitter, Baylor University responded.

We fully support the 9/11 display of American flags, regret that the signage we used has taken away from the intent of the display, and apologize for any misunderstanding this may have caused, the tweet from the school reads.

Along with a tweet, the university included a photo of a three-paragraph statement calling the Young Conservatives display moving.

The university clarified that the 9/11 display is the only official student event that has been allowed since the start of the fall semester.

Out of reverence for the exhibit of flags and in knowing that its moving symbolism could evoke a wide range of emotions, signage was placed near the display notifying those who passed by of its potential impact, the school said. This is a standard part of our process regarding outdoor displays which we implemented last year based on feedback from our campus community.

Online, conservatives were quick to condemn the school.

Baylor University posted a trigger warning at a display of American flags honoring the fallen of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. What in the world is going on at Baylor? asked popular conservative columnist, author and radio host Todd Starnes.

Baylor University held its own 9/11 tribute on Friday. At 12:15 p.m., the on-campus bell tower, the McLane Carillon, began a 26-minute performance to honor the victims of 9/11.

Today, we remember those whose lives were changed forever on September 11, 2001. #NeverForget, a tweet from Baylor University on Friday reads.
In an apparent endorsement of a far-right conspiracy theory about wildfires on the West Coast, Donald Trump retweeted claims that far-left antifa arsonists were responsible.

It follows rumours spread by supporters of the far-right QAnon movement blaming far-left antifa members for deliberately causing devastating wildfires seen this month.

Despite the FBI and local police forces denouncing those theories this week, the US president appeared to endorse the claim with a video shared on Wednesday.

The 32-second clip showed the Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden speaking in Delaware earlier this week, as graphics depicting so-called antifa activists blow-torched the grassland behind him.

The two animated antifa men wore helmets with the main antifacist action logo, which is recognisable by its red and black flags.

An animated blaze then burns in the background, as Mr Biden addresses the climate crisis and wildfires across Washington, Oregon and California.

Trumps climate denial may have not caused these fires, said the Democrat, but if he gets a second term, these hellish events will continue to become more devastating.

After Mr Bidens voice is drowned-out by sound effects, the video ends with him asking Do you know what is actually threatening our suburbs?

An Antifaschistische Aktie logo then appears, in an apparent reference to the Communist militant organisation that operated in Wiemar Germany.

The video ends with a message saying: You just have to look it up, Mr Biden.

Authorities have been inundated with calls about those claims, with the Sheriff's Office in Douglas County, Oregon, warning that "Rumours spread just like wildfire".

In a statement, the office said dispatchers had been "overrun with requests for information and inquiries on an UNTRUE rumor that 6 Antifa members have been arrested for setting fires" in the area.

This is not true, said the post.
BEIRUT - The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees is experiencing a financial crisis that could force it to halt some services to an already impoverished population of more than 5 million people, the head of the agency said Wednesday.

Philippe Lazzarini also warned in an interview with The Associated Press in Beirut that the spread of coronavirus, an economic meltdown in Lebanon and a huge deficit in UNRWAs budget are deepening the hopelessness among Palestinian refugees, some of whom are trying to flee the Mediterranean nation on migrant boats.

UNRWA was established to aid the 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were forced from their homes during the war surrounding Israels establishment in 1948. It now provides education, health care, food and other services to 5.8 million refugees and their descendants in the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

UNRWAs financial crisis was sparked by the loss of all funding from the United States, its largest donor, in 2018. The U.S. gave $360 million to UNRWA in 2017, but only $60 million in 2018, and nothing last year or so far this year.

U.S. President Donald Trump said in January 2018 that the Palestinians must return to peace talks with Israel to receive U.S. aid money. He has since put forth a plan for resolving the conflict that heavily favours Israel and was rejected by the Palestinians.

I do believe that ceasing our activity in a context where there is such a level of despair, such a level of hopelessness, can only fuel the feeling that the Palestinian refugees are abandoned by the international community, said Lazzarini, who took office in March.

Lazzarini said supporting UNRWA is one of the best investments in stability in the region at a time of extraordinary unpredictability and volatility.

We cannot let the situation get worse in a highly volatile region, he said.

The Swiss humanitarian expert said UNRWA is facing an estimated shortfall of about $200 million between now and the end of 2020 if the agency wants to maintain all the services in its five fields of operations, including schools, health centres and social welfare.

Lazzarini said the coronavirus is having a huge economic and financial impact also on our donor base. He said most donor countries are in recession at a time when Palestinians need even more aid because of the pandemic and various lockdowns.

UNRWA has registered 6,876 confirmed cases among Palestinian refugees, most of them in the West Bank, where some 5,000 cases have been detected. Lebanon, which hosts tens of thousands of Palestinians, registered 430 cases in refugee camps.

We have people being more and more in despair expecting UNRWA to deliver more services, at a time UNRWA is already experiencing financial crisis, Lazzarini said. It makes it much, much harder to mobilize the necessary resources.

Lazzarini on Wednesday discussed conditions of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon with President Michel Aoun and outgoing Prime Minister Hassan Diab. Aoun called for the return of Palestinians who fled to Lebanon in recent years from Syrias civil war.

The U.N. official said he met with Palestinians in refugee camps during his visit to Lebanon who spoke about their hardships amid the countrys worst economic and financial crisis in decades. Lebanons local currency has lost 80 per cent of its value, wiping away the life savings of Lebanese and Palestinians alike.

There is a really deep sense of hopelessness and despair today in the Palestinian camps, he said, adding that some families have been forced to cut back on food purchases.

I believe that despair and hopelessness in a situation like this one can indeed lead to violence and to instability, he said.
Hurricane Sally brought raging winds and pouring rain as it cut a path through the Gulf Coast on Wednesday morning, and photos of the new Three Mile Bridge in Pensacola, Florida  or what remains of it  showcase the storms destructive power.

Hurricane Sally took a big chunk out of Three Mile Bridge in Pensacola, Florida.

Many of us, were beating ourselves up this morning, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said during a press conference.

Weather forecasts had promised a relatively mild battering, he said, but Hurricane Sally hit harder than anticipated.

I will tell you its bad, Morgan said. Its going to take a considerable amount of time to clean up from this.

Officials werent expecting the devastating effects theyve been witnessing.

Chief among those effects: The Three Mile Bridge, a brand new piece of Pensacola infrastructure, had a large section knocked right out of it, Morgan confirmed.

Strong winds toppled a nearby construction crane, the Pensacola News Journal reported, taking out a piece of the bridge as it went.

Officials say a construction crane, toppled by strong winds, knocked out the bridge.

This was Sallys second attack on the bridge, the outlet reported. On Tuesday morning winds broke loose a barge, which got lodged beneath the Three Mile Bridge, forcing it to close.

Teams are also working to stop another loose barge from drifting into a different bridge along I-10, the Associated Press reported.

Morgan urged residents to stay home unless they are in immediate danger. Many roadways are impassable, either flooded or washed out, and potentially dangerous.

Hurricane Sally made landfall early Wednesday as a Category 2 hurricane, with sustained winds of 105 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. The storm was north of Pensacola as of Wednesday afternoon, and is forecast to head through parts of Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina later this week.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced today that Fortune Food Product, Inc., an Illinois-based processor of sprouts and soy products, has agreed to stop production until it, among other things, undertakes remedial action and complies with the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

The action marks the first consent decree of permanent injunction against a firm or grower for violating public safety standards under the Produce Safety Rule enacted under the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011. The Produce Safety Rule requires, among other things, that covered sprout operations take measures to prevent the introduction of dangerous microbes into seeds or beans used for sprouting; test spent sprout irrigation water (or, in some cases, in-process sprouts) for the presence of certain pathogens; test the growing, harvesting, packing and holding environment for the presence of the Listeria species or Listeria monocytogenes; and take corrective actions when needed.

This action also follows several inspections conducted by the FDA, which found that the company failed to comply with Produce Safety and Current Good Manufacturing Practice regulations. In July 2018, the FDA sent a warning letter outlining food safety violations.

U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois entered the consent decree of permanent injunction on September 15, 2020 between the U.S. and Fortune Food Product, Inc., its majority owner Steven Seeto and its supervisor Tiffany Jiang.

Manufacturing foods in violation of the Produce Safety Rule and Current Good Manufacturing Practice regulations places consumers' health at risk. This action demonstrates the agency's commitment to pursuing and taking swift action against those who repeatedly disregard these food safety standards and distribute adulterated foods." Stacy Amin, FDA Chief Counsel

The consent decree prohibits the defendants from growing, harvesting, packing and holding sprouts and soy products at or from their facility, or any other facility, until certain requirements are met. The consent decree requires the defendants to, among other things, take corrective actions and notify the FDA before such operations may resume.

According to the complaint filed by the U.S. Department of Justice on behalf of the agency, the FDA conducted multiple inspections and documented insanitary conditions showing that sprouts and soy products may have become contaminated with filth or may have been rendered injurious to health.

The FDA is not aware of any confirmed illnesses related to Fortune Food's products. However, consumers who think they may have been sickened by these products should seek the assistance of a health care professional and contact the FDA to report problems with this or any FDA-regulated product.
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Researchers have compiled a new database of tweets from parliament members from 26 European countries and illustrated how this resource could help address challenges in the burgeoning field of Twitter research. Livia van Vliet of the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, and colleagues present the new database and findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on September 16, 2020.

In recent years, numerous studies have drawn on Twitter data to investigate a broad variety of social processes, including Twitter communication by politicians. However, most studies of Twitter use by politicians are "one-offs" that often focus on just one or a few countries at a time and use different methodologies, thus limiting opportunities to compare findings and surface new insights.

As part of research conducted for the ODYCCEUS project in an effort to improve research on politician Twitter research, van Vliet and colleagues have drawn on multiple sources to build a new database of tweets by parliament members in 26 European countries and the European parliament. Data sources include Twitter's streaming API and a number of existing sources of information on parliaments and political parties. The new database includes tweet IDs from as early as May 2017 through the present.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this new database of parliamentarians on Twitter is the most comprehensive of its kind, and it could open up new opportunities for analyses of Twitter use by politicians. In particular, it could address a lack of data availability that has previously limited cross-border research.

To illustrate the advantages of the new database, the researchers applied it to explore a variety of questions, such as how parliamentarians from different countries differ in their use of Twitter "retweets" and "mentions." They also examined how the use of hashtags differs between political parties and how parliamentarians from different countries interact with each other on Twitter.

This initial exploration suggests that the new database could help enable a more standardized approach to future research on parliamentarians' use of Twitter, both within countries and across borders.

The authors add: "The Twitter Politician Database provides a starting point for studying politician communication, cooperation and contention both within countries and across boarders for cross-country comparative and transnational research. As far as we are aware, the database is the most comprehensive database of parliamentarians on Twitter that is currently available."

Explore further Website that saves politicians' deleted tweets faces deletion

More information: van Vliet L, Tornberg P, Uitermark J (2020) The Twitter parliamentarian database: Analyzing Twitter politics across 26 countries. PLoS ONE 15(9): e0237073. Journal information: PLoS ONE van Vliet L, Tornberg P, Uitermark J (2020) The Twitter parliamentarian database: Analyzing Twitter politics across 26 countries.15(9): e0237073. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237073
Young Ghanaian Women are set to become major beneficiaries of an economic empowerment training project.

This follows a collaboration between CAMFED and the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) that is seeking to boost Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET).

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to this effect was signed in Accra on Tuesday, between the collaborating partners - CAMFED Ghana and GAEC.

The MOU was signed by Professors Shiloh D. Osae, the Deputy Director-General of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission and Mary Boadu, the Director of the Radiological and Medical Science Research, for GAEC, while Mrs Sally Ofori-Yeboah, the National Director, CAMFED Ghana and Mr Emmanuel Obeng-Adjei, the Head of Programmes, represented CAMFED.

Prof. Osae in an address, said the partnership with CAMFED Ghana, was a huge step towards bridging the gap between research institutions and the private sector, saying the three-year project, would adopt a market-driven approach to science, technology, and research through a competency-based training, to improve and empower young women between the ages of 18 and 35 years for socio-economic development.

The TVET project will also serve as an interface between the modern Technology Transfer and Marketing Centre of GAEC and CAMFED Ghana, where the beneficiaries will receive training in trade areas including consumer electronics, welding and fabrication, block moulding, floriculture, and composting.

The objective of the project, he said, was to empower young women to be self-reliant, enhance their capacities in meeting defined quality standards to be industry-oriented, and to identify trade areas (research) that may need support to the group of females in Ghana.

Prof. Osae recounted how the Commission had since its inception, peacefully applied nuclear technology in various fields including health, agriculture, water resources, environment, industry, and space science, to enhance Ghana's development.

He said the objective was to also build a core of highly skilled and professional Ghanaian personnel to match global standards, feed local industries, and ensure that Ghana had the required local expertise during the construction and subsequent operation of its Nuclear Power Plant.

Prof. Osae said over the years, our focus as a Commission has been on giving greater opportunities to men, leaving the women behind, but I believe our collaboration will change the narrative for the greater impact to be felt, adding that GAEC was opened for partnerships from both public and private sector institutions, locally and internationally.

Mrs Ofori-Yeboah, the National Director, CAMFED Ghana, said the current training was targeted at reaching 100 young females, who had the passion to learn a skill for trade in the various vocations outlined under the project and encouraged eligible persons to check the news media for the advertisement to apply for enrolment.

She said no academic qualifications were required for the training, targeted at women who were disadvantaged and would be provided with start-up kits and mentorship for a firm grounding in the chosen vocations after the training.

Mrs Ofori-Yeboah said accommodation had been arranged for trainees, two months, for each batch.

She said CAMFED Ghana was instrumental in supporting the Young Africa Works strategy in Ghana, which was an initiative under the MasterCard programme, to provide 30 million jobs for young females in Africa by 2030, and that Ghana alone was to benefit from three million, over 10 years.

Mr Ofori-Yeboah said CAMFED Ghana was, therefore, hoping to equip 150,000 young people (girls and boys) over the next three years with work-readiness skills to enable them to secure dignified employment, and in anticipation that 70 per cent of the jobs would be for women, with over 65 per cent, being newly created through young Ghanaian women entrepreneurship.

She explained that as a key player in the development space, CAMFED Ghana, believed in collaborations with other stakeholders to increase female participation in TVET, to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (4), which sought to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

---GNA
AUSTIN, Texas - Two cranes collided Wednesday at a construction site in Austin, Texas, causing one of them to partially collapse and injuring at least 22 workers who were sent scrambling for safety, authorities said.

The cranes collided and got tangled several stories above a building under construction a few miles north of downtown in a rapidly growing neighbourhood that includes residential, retail and office space. The development also includes a childrens hospital near the accident site.

Austin-Travis County EMS spokesman Darren Noak said at a news conference that 22 workers were hurt, including 16 who were taken to hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries. The cause of the accident was still under investigation.

Most of the injuries occurred when workers scrambled away from the accident scene, Noak said.

One of the crane operators was still inside the crane cabin about 150 feet above the ground more than an hour after the accident, though that crane didnt appear to be damaged. Authorities said the operator was safe and that rescuers would go get him if necessary, but that his presence was helping to stabilize the crane.

Hes fine, Fire Department Capt. Mark Bridge said. Theres no danger to him.

He said the cranes bases were stable and that investigators didnt believe they were in danger of falling over.

Diane Stewart, who lives near the construction site, said she heard the collision while out for a walk.

I heard a crash. It was like pipes falling, Stewart said. The police, first-responders were here in minutes.
New Delhi, Sep 16 (UNI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi will dedicate to the nation the historic Kosi Rail Mahasetu (mega bridge), through video-conference, on Friday, the Prime Minister's office said on Wednesday.



Apart from this, the Prime Minister shall also inaugurate 12 rail projects related to passenger facilities for the benefit of the state of Bihar. These include a new railway bridge on the Kiul River, two new railway lines, 5 electrification projects, one Electric Locomotive Shed and 3rd Line Project between Barh-Bakhtiyarpur.



The dedication of the Kosi Rail Mahasetu is a watershed moment in the history of Bihar and the entire region connecting to the North East.



In 1887, a meter gauge link was built in between Nirmali and Bhaptiahi (Saraigarh). During the heavy flood and severe Indo Nepal earthquake in 1934, the rail link was washed away and thereafter due to meandering nature of river Kosi, no attempt was made to restore this Rail link for long period.



The Kosi Mega Bridge line project was sanctioned by Government during 2003-04. The Kosi Rail Mahasetu is 1.9 KM long and its construction cost is Rs. 516 Crore. This bridge is of strategic importance along the India-Nepal border. The project was completed during the COVID-19 pandemic where the migrant labour also participated in its completion.



The dedication of this project will fulfil a 86 year old dream and a long wait of the people of the region. Along with the dedication of the Mahasetu, the Prime Minister shall also be flagging off the Saharsa- Asanpur Kupha demo train from the Supaul Station. Once the regular train service begins, this would prove to be highly beneficial to the Supaul, Arariya and Saharsa districts. It would also make it easy for long distance travel to Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai for the people of the region.



The Prime Minister shall also be inaugurating two New Line projects at Hajipur-Ghoswar-Vaishali and Islampur-Nateshar. Mr Modi shall also be inaugurating the Karnauti-Bakhtiyarpur link bypass and 3rd line between Barh-Bakhiyarpur.



The Prime Minister shall also be inaugurating the Railway Electrification projects of Muzaffarpur  Sitamarhi, KatiharNew Jalpaiguri, Samastipur-Darbhanga-Jaynagar, Samastipur-Khagaria, Bhagalpur-Shivnarayanpur Sections.

UNI AR SHK2127
Judges issue harsh sentences in land dispute that resulted in the death of an elderly man and three policemen. The death penalty imposed on the victim's two children, life imprisonment for the nephew. The court rejects the request to have local and national leaders of the Communist Party testify. Vietnamese activist: The government that wants to "impose its will" at the price of "atrocities".

Hanoi (AsiaNews) - Two death sentences, a life sentence and other prison sentences ranging from 16 years in prison to 15 months of probation. This is the sentence handed down yesterday by a Vietnamese court, in the context of a trial against 29 inhabitants of the village of Dong Tam (less than 40 km south of Hanoi), ended up in the bar for a dispute over the land with a violent drift. The verdict had been expected, as confirmed by a family member interviewed by Radio Free Asia (RFA) who comments: "I had prepared myself for the worst".

The court handed down the death penalty to the brothers Le Dinh Chuc and Le Dinh Cong, charged with murder for the death of three policemen. Le Dinh Doanh, son of Le Dinh Cong, will have to serve a life sentence while Bui Viet Hieu received a sentence of 16 years in prison; two other defendants, Nguyen Quoc Tien and Nguyen Van Tuyen, were given a sentence of 12 and 13 years each. Still others from five to six years or suspended sentence and probation; of the 29 defendants, at least 13 were found innocent.

On 9 January at least 3,000 policemen carried out a raid on the village, whose land has been seized to build a military airport and for building speculations. In the clash between the locals and the police, in addition to the three policemen, the village elder, Le Dinh Kinh, was killed - shot by the agents. The authorities, in response, accused the 84-year-old son Le Dinh Chuc and his grandsons Le Dinh Doanh and Le Dinh Uy for the murder. Along with them, 27 other local people are accused of complicity in the murder.

The president of the court Truong Viet Toan rejected the defence lawyers' request to have the president of the Hanoi section of the Communist Party, Nguyen Duc Chung, in prison for corruption in a different proceeding, and representatives of the Ministry of Defense testify. Sources inside the trial reveal that the widow of the village elder Du Thi Thanh, mother of the two death row inmates, was also unable to appear in court as a witness.

Interviewed by RFA, the activist and dissident Nguyen Quang A, based in Hanoi, attacked the Communist Party calling it "deaf and blind" to demands for justice. "The Vietnamese government - he added - only wants to impose its will, at the price of atrocities and inhuman acts against its own people". Phil Robertson, deputy director for Asia of Human Rights Watch, is also not surprised by the heavy verdict: "The rulers of Vietnam - he says in a statement - do everything to show their most ferocious face against the villagers of Dong Tam, because they fear that the challenge of this community could be contagious.
Joe Biden has ruled out any future trade accord between the US and the UK if Westminster does not respect the Good Friday Agreement, in the latest ramping up of concerns from US Democrats over Boris Johnsons proposal to override the Withdrawal Agreement he brokered with the EU.

In a tweet, the former vice president and current presidential candidate said: We cant allow the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland to become a casualty of Brexit.

Any trade deal between the US and UK must be contingent upon respect for the Agreement and preventing the return of a hard border. Period.

Mr Bidens concerns echo those of house Democrats, who have been vocal in their opposition to a trade accord between the two countries if the UK acts in a way that it believes will undermine the peace in Northern Ireland.

Any trade agreement between Washington and Westminster would require the Democrat-controlled Houses approval before being passed.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

The UK government is currently clashing with the EU over the Internal Markets Bill  a piece of legislation that the government has admitted will break international law and allow the government to override parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol agreed between Westminster and Brussels.

On Tuesday, the Houses Foreign Affairs Committee said it was disturbed to hear reports of Mr Johnsons efforts to undermine the Northern Ireland protocol.

In a letter to the prime minister, the committee said: Many in the United States and in Congress consider the issues of the Good Friday Agreement and a potential US-UK Free Trade Agreement inextricably linked, adding that if the UK governments reported plans went ahead it would be difficult to see how its conditions for a future accord would be met.

They concluded: We therefore urge you to abandon any and all legally questionable and unfair efforts to flout the Northern Ireland protocol of the Withdrawal Agreement and look to ensure that Brexit negotiations do not undermine the decades of progress to bring peace to Northern Ireland and future options for the bilateral relationship between our two countries.

Meanwhile, last week Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, said there was absolutely no chance of an agreement if the UK breached the protocol, adding in later comments How do you walk away from an international agreement?.

She said in a statement: Whatever form it takes, Brexit cannot be allowed to imperil the Good Friday Agreement, including the stability brought by the invisible and frictionless border between the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland.

The UK must respect the Northern Ireland Protocol as signed with the EU to ensure the free flow of goods across the border.

If the UK violates that international treaty and Brexit undermines the Good Friday accord, there will be absolutely no chance of a US-UK trade agreement passing the Congress.

The Good Friday Agreement is treasured by the American people and will be proudly defended in the United States Congress.
Big Narstie has had to pull out of a high-profile government scheme to attract visitors to Britain because he failed to quarantine after flying back from Spain.

The rapper, 34, was filming a promo video in the Yorkshire Dales for Visit Britain, when he realised he should have been isolation at home after his party holiday.

Big Narstie had been joined by a film crew in picturesque Malham, which featured as a location in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, for a government-funded advert.

Oops! Big Narstie has had to pull out of a high-profile Government scheme to attract visitors to Britain because he failed to quarantine after flying back from Spain

But after Big Narstie - real name Tyrone Lino - had been filmed praising the local attractions, such as a waterfall known as Janet's Foss, and dining in a local gastropub, producers realised that the rapper should have been in quarantine and promptly ended filming.

Visit Britain has had to bin the footage, while the agency behind the promo video Gravity Road are looking for another artist for a reshoot.

MailOnline has contacted Big Narstie's representatives for comment.

Oh dear: The rapper, 34, was filming a promo video in the Yorkshire Dales for Visit Britain, when he realised he should have been isolation at home after his party holiday

Having a blast: Just days before arriving in the Yorkshire Dales he posted a couple of videos on his TikTok profile partying in Spain

The grime artist and funnyman hosts the Channel 4 chat show The Big Narstie Show and as well as his musical achievements has appeared on Celebrity Juice and Would I Lie to You?

Just days before arriving in the Yorkshire Dales he posted a couple of videos on his TikTok profile partying in Spain.

Big Nastie commented on Instagram: 'Yo people Just to let everyone know that no matter what anyone tells you you HAVE to quarantine when you come back into the UK.

Apology: Big Nastie commented on Instagram: 'Yo people Just to let everyone know that no matter what anyone tells you you HAVE to quarantine when you come back into the UK.

'I made a mistake thinking that the corona test I took abroad and then took another one when I came back made me exempt from quarantining but I was WRONG and now I'm in quarantine for 2 weeks so the moral of the story is Quarantine is REEEAAALL even if you've had a corona test.'

A VisitBritain spokesperson said: 'We were made aware that an individual contracted by a creative agency for a VisitBritain campaign had not followed official UK Government guidance on self-isolating after returning from a country currently on the quarantine list.

'Our understanding is that this individual is now quarantining and no further filming is taking place with them on this campaign.

'As we are unable to use this footage in our campaign, the creative agency who is contracted to provide this film are now working to secure replacement footage.'
Nancy Pelosi is one of the most unpopular Democrats and those who are non-liberal are not too pleased. One Youtuber made waves by recording a video of him defecating at the Democrat's driveway.

Later on, he clarified that it was all about peaceful protest when conceived a liberal act in the driveway of her expensive San Francisco pad. He added it went about a bit too much with the Poop for Pelosi stunt and became a hit with more than a million views, the New York Post.

The identity of the individual is Mando that is used on all his channels on Youtube but asked to keep his last name for fear of the Democrats and their support going after him. He said that the whole poop for Pelosi was inspired by one of the comments from his live stream.

According to the 28-year old, explaining his videos are a niche that makes IRL or in real life. This is usually spontaneous and unfiltered videos live stream from actual and unscripted daily life. Or just scenes that are about boring and daily life.

The channel he started began six-years ago when he started life as a homeless man. One of the goals was to show how it was for homeless people on the street, from city to city.

He added the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns had made homelessness hard to bear, said Mando. The closure of businesses has kept customers out and bathrooms aren't accessible to them.

The Livestream event is titled Poopalosi, which he said is an act of protest when homeless people are on the streets every day. But the Democrat Pelosi and others can get haircuts in salons. Most of the time. Life goes one without a problem.

Also read: Joe Biden's Family Record Show Drug Usage, Drunk Driving, and Other Charges But No One Was Jailed

He added that in his streams, mentioning that a toilet was needed all week. One comment suggested go to Pelosi's house and take a dump there. That he just did, the proof is in the stream. Remarking that the idea was enticing and he went and done the deed. The poop had to be let out eventually too.

Scenes in the video show him looking in the streets of San Francisco, seeking the Democrat Pelosi's hope. When got there and set up his equipment on the opposite side of Pelosi's home.

Next he stands in the driveway for a few minutes.t Later, he salutes in the view screen and lets out to relieve himself on the driveway. But, before he was done, he says it was done for President Trump with a flourish too.

He told the outlet it was satire and admitted that political is not his thing. He admitted that he supports the incumbent Republican and fears how crime is getting worse, and what is happening in the U.S. too, noted KYR News.

Adding the fear of many that American is burning down, city by city.He was tracked by officers with the Bay Area Rapid Transit Police Department, at the request of Capitol Police that protected members of Congress from pooping vagrants.

Related article: Salon Gate: Hair Salon Owner Gets $120 K in One Day After Getting Accused by Dems Nancy Pelosi

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Earlier this year, when the Yes Bank crisis was at its peak just ahead of a bailout, there were strong speculations among banking analysts about an impending crisis at Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB). Analysts concerns were valid. They cited that the critical financial parameters of the banks, mainly capital adequacy ratios and non-performing assets (NPAs), were at alarming levels.

The bank needed capital to survive.

The uncertainty continued till June 12 when LVB informed bourses that it has received preliminary, non-binding letter of intent (LoI) from Clix Capital Services and Clix Finance India. This deal, however, was subject to due diligence and regulatory approvals, the bank said.

Cilix deal sealed?

On September 15, LVB gave the first confirmation to its investors that the bank may be past the worst phase and this time a deal may happen. The lender informed the stock exchanges that it and Clix Group have substantially completed the mutual due diligence for a merger. And both companies are now on to the next stage of discussions. The news enthralled the investors who rushed to buy the share of the bank on September 16 morning.

At the time of writing this copy, LVB shares were trading 9.8 per cent up at Rs 22.40 per share. Given that due diligence is complete between the two entities, the merger is likely to take place provided the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) gives final clearance to the deal, analysts interpreted.

The fact that due diligence is over shows that merger is a strong possibility now. The bank needs capital desperately to continue as a going concern. In this context, this deal is significant, said Siddharth Purohit, analyst at SMC Global Securities.

This is the second time LVB is in news for a potential merger. Last year, speculations were rife about LVB merger with Indiabulls. However the RBI had rejected the merger in October last year without citing a reason.

"This is to inform that the RBI vide their letter dated October 9, 2019, informed that the application for voluntary amalgamation of lndiabulls Housing Finance and lndiabulls Commercial Credit with LVB cannot be approved," the bank had said then.

But, this time the deal has progressed past the due diligence and investors are hopeful.

Pramod Bhasins Clix Capital is coming with deep pockets, has a track record in financial services sufficient enough to impress the regulator. Clix Capital is into financial services offering various types of loans. Bhasin had acquired the business in 2016 from GE Capital. Private equity firm AION Capital Partners is a significant shareholder in the company.

Worsening financials

LVB didnt really have any option but to agree for a merger to secure the much needed capital. The banks financials were in a precarious state requiring an urgent merger.

According to the March quarter figures, LVB has a capital adequacy ratio (CAR) as on 31 March 2020 as per BASEL III at just 1.12 per cent as against the RBI requirement of 8 per cent. Similarly, the Tier-I and Tier-II components of CAR stood at (-) 0.88 percent and 2 per cent, respectively.

Bad loans too are high compared with peers. Gross NPAs of the bank, as on March 31, stood at 25.39 per cent, compared with 23.27 per cent in the year-ago period.

In the absence of an immediate capital infusion, there is no way the bank could have survived, said a senior banker with a private bank. He didnt want to be named.

Auditors caution

In the March quarter results notes, under the head 'Material uncertainty related to going concern', the banks auditors had outlined the severe financial situation the company is going through and indicated that any chances of survival depend on capital infusion.

LVB has been incurring losses for the past 10 quarters and the RBI initiated Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) in September 2019, which inter alia prescribes the bank to bring in additional capital, restrict further lending to corporates, reduce NPAs, and improve the Provision Coverage Ratio to 70 per cent.

There has been a steady decline in the bank's deposit base since September 2019 and increase in the NPA ratios. The bank's Tier l Capital ratio has turned negative, at -0.88 per cent, as compared to the minimum requirement of 8.875 per cent. This requires the bank to take effective steps to augment its capital base in the year 2020-21. We were informed that the bank routinely evaluates capital raising options, the auditors said.

In the opinion of the bank, based on their internal assessment and the likely capital infusion, it will be able to realise its assets and discharge its liabilities, the auditors noted. The said assumption of going concern is dependent upon the bank's ability to achieve improvements in liquidity, asset quality and solvency ratios, augment its capital base and mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and thus a material uncertainty exists that may cast a significant doubt on the bank's ability to continue as a going concern, auditors said.

In October last year, rating agency CARE had downgraded LVB's bond programme of Rs 318 crore to BB+ with negative outlook from BBB-. LVB was put under the PCA framework by the RBI after high level of bad loans, insufficient CAR, negative return on assets (RoA) for two consecutive years and high leverage. The RBI took the decision after assessing the deterioration in FY19 numbers.

With the merger nearing, the bank may have got another chance to stay in competition. LVB needs to wait till the regulators final nod though.
Garissa County Governor Ali Korane finally took a plea on Tuesday denying various charges in a Sh233m graft case.

After spending Monday night at the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) cells, the governor and four members of his administration appeared before Anti-Corruption Magistrate Douglas Ogoti over alleged embezzlement of Sh233 million World Bank grant meant for Kenya Urban Support Program (KUSP).

They were charged with conspiracy to commit an offence of economic crime, willful failure to comply with laws related to management of funds and misappropriation of public funds.

According to investigators, funds channeled through the National Treasury to the Garissa County government were transferred to the Garissa Municipal Board and then to individuals accounts.

The suspects denied the charges at the Milimani Anti-Corruption Court. Magistrate Ogoti granted Governor Korane a cash bail of Sh 3.2 million or Sh 5 million bond and also barred him from accessing office.

The governors co-accused; Ibrahim Malow Nur, Mohamed Ahmed Abdullahi, Abdi Shale and Ahmed Abdullahi Aden were each granted a cash bail of Sh 1.2 million and also barred from accessing their offices.

The Magistrate also directed the five accused to deposit their passports with the court.

The case will be mentioned on October 23, 2020.
Abdel-Dayem emphasised the strength and depth of relations between Egypt and Spain, pointing to the richness of creativity in the European countries on the historical and modern levels

Egypts Minister of Culture Ines Abdel-Dayem met on Wednesday with the Ambassador of Spain Ramon Gil Casares and Spanish Cultural Advisor Candio Carbis Estrada to discuss reinforcing cultural and artistic cooperation in the coming period in light of COVID-19.

During the meeting, Abdel-Dayem emphasised the strength and depth of relations between Egypt and Spain, pointing to the richness of creativity in the European countries on the historical and modern levels.

She also stressed the need to support cultural and artistic exchange between the two countries during the coming period through the implementation of several innovative projects making use of the modern technological platforms to overcome the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic.

Moreover, the minister welcomed a proposal from the Spanish side to start joint cultural projects, saying, "This cultural exchange is considered an addition to the tremendous contributions provided by both countries to human civilisation in various fields, and it will also help illuminate the path of knowledge for coming generations."

Spanish ambassador Casares said that he is following up closely on the cultural movement in Egypt and the Egyptian achievements, praising the measures taken by the Ministry of Culture to continue performing its role of enlightenment, especially in light of the exceptional circumstances witnessed by the entire world because of COVID-19 pandemic.

He added that his country is always interested in cultural and artistic communication with Egypt with its plurality and cultural diversity.

He also expressed his desire to exchange artistic performances with Egypt by broadcasting a number of performances on the Egyptian Ministry of Culture's culture YouTube channel, in addition to participating in the Cultural Relations Initiative launched by the minister of culture to shed light on the cultural ties between Egypt and Spain and to promote the idea of the civilisational and cultural dialogue.

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The wait is almost over for gaming fans as the release of the PlayStation 5 draws closer. This Wednesday, 16 September, Sony will host its next showcase of the hotly anticipated PS5, where the price and release date for the next-gen console could finally be revealed.

Follow the live coverage of the PS5 showcase with new games, price and date of PlayStation 5

"Before PlayStation 5 launches this holiday, we wanted to give you one more look at some of the great games coming to PS5 at launch (and beyond!)," Sony said on the PlayStation Blog.

The event will be games-focused and could feature Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, which are both scheduled to be released around the time of the PS5's launch.

With Microsoft starting to take pre-orders for the Xbox Series X and Series S from September 22, it is anticipated that Sony will want to get information out regarding the price and release date to consumers before that important Xbox date.

What time will the PS5 showcase start?

The PS5 showcase will take place on Wednesday, 16 September, 2020 at 1pm Pacific Time -- 4pm Eastern Time.

UK: 9pm

Australia: 6 AM AET on September 17

Central Europe: 10pm

India: 01:30am IST on September 17

Nigeria: 9pm WAT

Qatar: 11pm

For everywhere else in the world, you can check what time the PS5 showcase event starts here.

Where can I watch the PS5 showcase?

Sony will broadcast the PS5 event live on its Twitch and YouTube pages, as well as the official PlayStation website.

We'll also be streaming the event for you to watch here on AS English, with our build-up coverage starting an hour before.
A seven-year-old sex abuse victim begged doctors to let her die while she was treated for horrific injuries allegedly caused by years of abuse at the hands of her parents and an uncle.

The child - named only as Yaz - has been in a serious condition in Hospital de Las Margaritas, in the state of Puebla in east-central Mexico, ever since she was admitted after being severely beaten on August 21.

The young girl told doctors 'I want to die, don't heal me anymore', as she was admitted, adding 'I don't want to go back to my parents so they can keep hitting me'.

A neighbour took Yaz to the hospital where she was diagnosed with internal bleeding, signs of rape, cigarette burns and a collapsed lung.

Her parents - Alejandra N. and Rafael N - are being investigated for the attacks after it was revealed the victim's 3-year-old sister died under suspicious circumstances in June 2020.

The girl's parents have since been detained and police are hunting one of her uncles who is wanted for allegedly raping her.

Rafael N and Alejandra N (left and right), are being investigated over the sexual abuse of their seven-year-old daughter Yaz,who is in a serious condition in Hospital de Las Margaritas, in the state of Puebla, where she reportedly begged doctors to let her die

The girl has previously been admitted presenting signs of trauma blows and serious injuries all over her body dating back to 2019, as well as in February, May and August 2020. Yet nothing was done.

In August she was admitted with burns to her buttocks that had destroyed part of the muscle that was so severe medics had to do a graft.

In February she presented with cut legs. Yaz's father, named by local media as 'Rafael N' told doctors that she had done it to herself.

Activist Frida Guerrera brought the case to Mayor Claudia Rivera Vivanco to get Yaz on the municipal Development of Family Integrity (DIF) programme that will now take the case and custody of the minor.

The DIF has also reopened the case of the death of the younger sister who was previously believed to have accidentally asphyxiated.

According to the prosecution, the father had requested custody of the girls, arguing that their mother had cut the girls, but the request was denied.

Frida Guerrera, however, believes the father took Yaz to live with him and denied the mother all contact with her, Mexican news outlet Proceso reports.

At first, the prominent woman's rights activist said she believed the initial reports that it was the mother who was the aggressor towards her daughter.

She changed her view upon learning that assumption was based on two witnesses - the girl's father and his current partner - who was previously Alejandra's neighbor.

When Guerrera interviewed the special prosecutor, she realised they were unaware that the father had reportedly taken Yaz to live with him since July 2019.

Frida Guerrera, a prominent woman's rights activist, has been vocal about the case, and used her following to bring Yaz on the municipal Development of Family Integrity (DIF) programme that will now take the case and custody of the minor

Guerrera reported that Alejandra was only told of her daughter's death, and raised questions against the Puebla government which she believes has not conducted the investigation thoroughly enough.

She also claims that the government's arrest of both the mother and father is an attempt to silence the criticism of the handling of the case, and over why they failed to act when concerns were raised about the girls' well being in February, May and August.

'If the Puebla authorities had done their job since January, which was the first moment that there were indications that the girl had suffered sexual violence, the girl would not be in the hospital now, and Mitzi (her little sister) would not be dead,' claimed the activist.

'Of course there is institutional responsibility in this,' she stressed.
Wilmington: Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden rejected President Donald Trump's charge that he is spreading fear about the safety of a potential coronavirus vaccine, urging Trump to defer to scientists and not rush its rollout.

"Let me be clear: I trust vaccines, I trust scientists, but I dont trust Donald Trump," Biden said, on Wednesday, local time. "At this moment, the American people cant either."

Democratic presidential candidate former vice-president Joe Biden speaks after participating in a coronavirus vaccine briefing with public health experts. Credit:AP

Biden warned against trying to rush out an unfinished vaccine ahead of the November 3 election.

Trump and his campaign have accused Biden of stoking doubt among Americans about the efficacy of a vaccine - something the Republican president has said could be made available within weeks.
Technology giant Oracle will invest as a minority shareholder in ByteDance-owned short video app TikToks global business, which will be placed in a new US-headquartered company, according to a report by the Financial Times .

As a part of the deal, ByteDance will remain the majority shareholder of the new entity, while Oracle will have a stake in the whole of TikTok and not just the US operations, the report added.

ByteDance had committed to create TikTok Global as a US-headquartered company", US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, had told CNBC on Monday.

US President Donald Trump had earlier issued an executive order, giving the company 45 days to sell its US operations to a company in that country, the deadline for which ends on 20 September. Reports say that the deal may be finalised by this Sunday.

That said, its still not clear whether this will be a solution to the companys troubles with the US government as lawmakers in the country are still looking over the deal.

ByteDance had rejected a bid from Microsoft earlier this week, leaving Oracle as the frontrunner for the deal. The Financial Times report also says potential investors include retail giant Walmart as well, which had entered a joint bid with Microsoft earlier. The exact details of the deal could still change, the report said.

The US deal has been in the spotlight for India as well, since the popular short-video app has also been banned here for similar reasons. Experts said that whatever happens in the US could turn out to be a blueprint for India, as it means there will be significant oversight from US authorities in ByteDances operations.

The Oracle-TikTok deal isnt a licensing operation as many had earlier expected. Instead, Oracle is expected to provide technology to TikTok, handling its US data through its data centers and more. By retaining a majority stake in the company, ByteDance can also fulfill the needs of the Chinese government, which recently put restrictions on Chinese technology being sold to other countries.

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Russia's sovereign wealth fund has agreed to supply 100 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine, Sputnik V, to Indian drug company Dr Reddy's Laboratories.

According to reports, upon regulatory approval in India, RDIF shall supply to Dr Reddy's 100 million doses of the vaccine.

Reuters

The Sputnik V vaccine, which is based on well studied human adenoviral vector platform with proven safety, is undergoing clinical trials for the coronavirus pandemic.

Deliveries could potentially begin in late 2020 subject to completion of successful trials and registration of the vaccine by regulatory authorities in India.

Also Read: Russian Health Minister Claims Mass Delivery Of Sputnik V COVID-19 Vaccine Will Begin In September

The agreement between RDIF and Dr Reddy's reflects the growing awareness of countries and organizations to have a diversified anti-COVID vaccine portfolio to protect their populations.



Reuters

Russia was the first country to license a novel coronavirus vaccine before large-scale Phase III trials were complete, stirring concern among scientists and doctors about the safety and efficacy of the shot.

Also Read: Ministry Of Health Confirms Being In Touch With Russia Over Sputnik V COVID-19 Vaccine

G V Prasad, Co-Chairman and Managing Director of Dr. Reddys Laboratories said, We are pleased to partner with RDIF to bring the vaccine to India. The Phase-I and II clinical trials have shown promising results. We will be conducting Phase-III trials in India to ensure safety and efficacy for the Indian population and to meet the requirements of the Indian regulators. Sputnik V vaccine could provide a credible option in our fight against COVID 19 in India.



AP

There was no detail about the price of the vaccine but RDIF has said previously it was not aiming at making a profit, just covering costs.

India is only the second country in the world to cross the grim milestone and said this week it is considering granting an emergency authorisation for a vaccine, particularly for the elderly and people in high-risk workplaces.

The RDIF has already reached vaccine supply deals with Kazakhstan, Brazil and Mexico. It has also signed a memorandum with the Saudi Chemical company.



All Inputs Reuters
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang ended speculation over his Arsenal future on Tuesday as the Gunners captain signed a new three-year contract with the FA Cup holders.

Aubameyang's contract saga had dragged on since last season amid speculation he wanted to join a club in the Champions League.

The Gabon forward revealed he had committed his future to Arsenal in a live Instagram stream at the Emirates Stadium.

"Arsenal fans, finally as you know I just signed the thing," Aubameyang said.

Arsenal confirmed the news themselves on their website in a statement that said: "Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has signed a new three-year contract with us!"

After scoring the goals that fired Arsenal to last season's surprise FA Cup semi-final and final victories over Manchester City and Chelsea respectively, Aubameyang had refused to confirm if he wanted to stay at the north London club.

At one stage last term, he admitted he faced a big decision over his future, fuelling reports that he was ready to leave amid interest from Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona.

But Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta remained confident Aubameyang was happy at the club and wanted to stay.

Over 100,000 people were watching the announcement via the official Arsenal Instagram account, with Aubameyang adding: "I signed the thing because I want to become an Arsenal legend, maybe leave a legacy, it is the time to work a lot.

"For sure, I will give my best, as always, so yes, I have just signed the thing. Hopefully you are happy and I can't wait to see you in this beautiful stadium again."

Aubameyang was joined on the call by former Arsenal striker Ian Wright and his current team-mate Alexandre Lacazette, who praised his decision to sign the contract.

Aubameyang moved to Arsenal from Borussia Dortmund in January 2018 and has scored 72 goals across 111 games in all competitions, including one in Saturday's 3-0 victory at Fulham on the opening day of the new season.

Acknowledging the significance of keeping Aubameyang, Arteta said: "It was important for Pierre-Emerick to stay with us.

"He's a superb player with an incredible mentality. Being the player to have taken the least amount of time to reach 50 goals with this club tells you everything you need to know about him and his way of working."
DULUTH, Georgia, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Omnico, the market-leading, cloud-based point-of-sale (POS) and customer engagement solutions provider for theme parks, destinations, casinos, hospitality and retail, is pleased to announce a significant new partnership with Gaming Hospitality Solutions (GHS), the casino, cruise and convenience store loyalty-enablement and offer management solutions experts.

This partnership delivers a timely solution for the ever-so-critical, integrated, social-distancing compliant, touchless customer journey while providing the new standard in seamless customer transactions and engagement across the whole casino enterprise.

Extending marketing and customer experience to any touchpoint including mobile apps, retail, F&B, entitlements, ticketing, and inventory, the casino industry now gains access to the innovation that has been servicing the world's largest theme park and destination venues for years. New customer journeys will integrate touchless order ahead and payment technology, along with other functionality that increases compliance with Covid-19 social distancing requirements, reducing lines and physical contact.

And in partnership with GHS, casino operators can seamlessly leverage their existing casino marketing and loyalty investments. Together the companies extend the operators' reach and provide almost-unlimited opportunities to innovate and automate customer engagement  driving incremental revenue across all business units.

"Our exciting new partnership with Omnico delivers on our core proposition of using technology to enhance the guest experience. Specifically, the ability to dynamically reward guests by tailoring outcomes to meet business goals," said Gary Kortz, GHS President.

"With Omnico and GHS, operators have access to a robust suite of tools to enable innovative loyalty marketing programs at all POS touchpoints. Leveraging GHS and Omnico provides the ability to create differential business advantage and measurable financial successes."

Mel Taylor, CEO, Omnico, said: "GHS has almost three decades of unrivalled expertise in creating loyalty programs and solutions in the tough casino market. Both companies share the same beliefs and approaches about how guest journeys should be shaped to provide a single, frictionless experience that uses loyalty triggers, entitlements and personalized offers to boost repeat visits and increase revenues."

The partnership between Omnico and GHS will supercharge the casino sector towards a more unified systems approach with few moving parts and access from any electronic touchpoint in the enterprise. The consumer is present a more integrated experience for earning and consuming rewards, entitlements, and behavior-based, personalized offers.

About Omnico:

Omnico is a leading global POS and customer engagement technology company providing solutions to the top brands in the theme park, hospitality, casino, retail and catering sectors.

Its integrated platform provides seamless and highly engaging customer experience, and is proven to increase spend, footfall and loyalty.

www.omnicogroup.com

About GHS:

Gaming Hospitality Solutions, Inc.(GHS) is a loyalty-enablement, marketing-automation and offer management solutions company delivering electronic marketing services to help grow brands by enhancing guest experience, increasing revenue and extending the reach of the GHS loyalty customers.

https://www.GHSLoyalty.com

SOURCE Omnico

Related Links

http://www.omnicogroup.com


On July 19, a gang of teenagers reigned terror in Nairobi's Kayole estate, leaving in their wake broken arms and neighbours cowering in their dwellings.

A band of violent and ruthless thugs that kill at the slightest provocation, they were on a rescue-cum-revenge mission following the capture of their leader after an earlier raid.

"Humanity isn't in their system; blood is nothing to them. I should be dead. I don't know how I survived. I thank God, it's a miracle," recalls Samir Oloo, one of the victims who was only saved by the quick action of a Good Samaritan.

Every time he stares at the scars on his body, events of the fateful day painfully replay in his mind.

"They stabbed me multiple times. They broke my arms; I had internal bleeding. I've been on medication ever since," recounts the father of three.

RUTHLESS GANGS

"They had attacked a lady, but as they fled the scene with her valuables, residents gave chase and captured the leader. He was, however, released. All was well, but as I walked home alone, they pounced on me from nowhere.

"They took away my cellphone, wedding ring, Sh30,000 chama money and silver chains then stabbed me multiple times. I was rushed to Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital by a Good Samaritan. I recognised some of them and reported to the police but no action was taken."

Such is life in most informal settlements; a daily dose of pain and misery. Teenage gangs that idolise hardcore criminals have taken over State functions from the authorities; they control the streets and alleys. They are brutal, vengeful and kill at will. They are the government, they are the law.

Portmore, Gaza, Kiarwana, Homeboyz, B3, Mad Lion, Mungiki, Kamjeshi, Jeshi la Embakasi, Kenya Youth Alliance, Kamukunji boys, Munyipi, Taliban, Superpower, Nubians, Siafu, Kamukunji Pressure Group, Yes We Can, J-10 and Ram Squad are some of the squads whose criminal acts know no friends, neighbours, parents, the old or young.

To them, anything goes, as long as it presents an opportunity to make some quick cash. With an average of 30 members aged 14-26, their specialties are muggings, carjackings, shoplifting, prostitution and rape. Guns, machetes, knives, axes and clubs are their weapons of choice.

"Although they look like normal teenage kids, they are extremely ruthless. We see them every day, some are my neighbours. They knew me well but still stabbed me," recalls Oloo, then offers in retrospect: "They are just lazy youths who do not want to engage in any lawful form of earning a living. All they want is fast cash to fund their drugs and alcohol."

SIGNATURE LOOKS

The struggle for survival in a 'man-eat-man' society encapsulates the inescapable gang violence that entraps thousands of people in Kayole and other informal settlements. A police officer privy to the operations of these gangs said Superpower, based in Eastleigh and Dandora, Gaza Boys (Kayole), the 40 Brothers (City Centre), Usiku Sacco (Umoja) and Msako Empire (Huruma) have signature looks.

"They put on heavy neck jewellery, flashy rings on their fingers, certain designer caps, T-shirts and jeans. They prefer putting on two pairs of jeans to help them secure their firearms," he offers. In some gangs, members have dragon tattoos with coded meanings.

A 2018 report by the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) revealed the existence of more than 100 gangs in the country, with women and children - some as young as nine years - being inducted into crime. Kayole, Kibera, Lunga Lunga slums, Jericho and Soweto are some of the most dangerous places in the city, according to the Security Research and Information Centre.

Makadara, Mukuru Kwa Reuben slums, Kariokor, Mlango Kubwa and Kongo section of Dagoretti Division are awash with guns for hire. Huruma, Lucky Summer, Kariobangi and Mathare are also crime hotspots.

*Steve Mwangi is a reformed member of a teen gang that used to operate in Dandora. He joined the gang because of peer pressure.

"I joined the gang because all my friends were in it and I did not want to be looked at as a snitch because I knew what they were doing," he says.

Because of their young age, they would mainly waylay mama mbogas and snatch their handbags.

"One day, we were not lucky; the mama mboga we had targeted did not let go of her bag. She held on to it while screaming, attracting passers-by. In no time, we had been surrounded. I only escaped because of my short stature as they assumed I was not part of the gang. I watched helplessly as my friends were lynched," he recounts.

Having survived by a whisker, his parents sent him back to school under the care of his grandmother at their rural home in Nyahururu and only returned to the city after his college education.

Susan Wangui's teenage son was not as lucky. Derrick Ndung'u, 19, was lynched in Komarock in May after robbing a woman of her cellphone. His accomplices escaped on a motorbike.

"He was a thief in Maili Saba (Kayole). I cannot defend him. He used to snatch cellphones. I had warned him but he did not stop. I tried my best," offers Wangui.

SLUM DOG'S LIFE

She once posted a Sh500, 000 bond and got him a business but with the lure of quick money, he loved the adrenaline rush.

"His uncle, aunts and grandmother pleaded with me to intervene and bail him out. I paid the Sh500,000 bond for his release. But what did he do? Instead of leading a better life, he went back into crime," she says. "I am advising his friends to reform or suffer a similar fate."

Kayole South has lost more than 1,000 youths while a sizeable number have just disappeared. For Oloo, if it were not for the death of his elder brother in 2005, who was among six criminals felled by police in Mowlem, he might have also ended up in the slum dog's life.

"After our parents died, he was the family's breadwinner. He was killed with five of his friends. They had just completed a highway robbery," he recounts.

The youth leader now hopes that through One Vibe, a community-based organisation, a wind of change will blow through the sprawling estate to transform lives.

"We have been preaching change, although many teenagers wrongfully believe we are being an obstacle to what they want to do. If we can change five, those are lives saved," he says with optimism.

Registered in 2013, the organisation helps the youth through clean income generating activities, such as car wash projects. Some have joined the Kazi Mtaani programme.

"We started with only six members but grew to 36; some got employed in county governments and other places. We are now 18. There are those willing to join, having seen how their friends have been empowered," he says.

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GANG VIOLENCE

A majority of Kenyans believe the government is either incapable or unwilling to enforce the law, enabling criminal networks to dictate the lives of thousands of people.

"There are allegations of collusion between some government officers with criminal gangs and that police frequently release them even when there is overwhelming evidence. About 49.1 per cent of the respondents were not aware of any arrests of members of organised criminal gangs in the previous three years even when serious crimes had been committed by them," states a report by the National Crime Research Centre.

Arbitrary police brutality and relentless corruption within the force, the judiciary, political influence, difficulties in identifying the members and fear of reporting are some of the factors that fuel gang violence.

Caroline Karimi Kariuki, who is in charge of the children's division in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, blames these miscreants on the high rate of unemployment, broken families and poverty.

"Poverty is the key driver for teenagers because they step up to become breadwinners early in their lives and the only way to do it is by joining the gang since they cannot be employed under the law. Those from unstable backgrounds run away from the toxic environment at home to try and find a safe place, which are the streets," she offers, adding that crime significantly shoots up during school holidays.

"Children do not choose to be criminals. There are always drivers pushing them in that direction. They see their peers who are into crime living a certain lifestyle, which they admire. These teenagers are controlled by hardened criminals. Whatever they steal is taken to the gang leaders, where they are given an allowance."
OTTAWA COUNTY, MI  Grand Valley State University students could face repercussions if they are found violating the stay-home order, which was issued Wednesday afternoon by the Ottawa County health department as a result of rising coronavirus cases linked to university students.

After first educating the student who violated the order, sanctions could reach suspension and even expulsion, university leaders said Wednesday.

In a press conference Wednesday, university leaders said they will focus primarily on educating students about the importance of following the stay-home order, but repercussions will follow if they see students continuously not following the order.

I would say the majority of our students are doing a great job following the guidance, so its really about finding those exceptions quickly and addressing them first with education and then with more compliance strategies, said Greg Sanial, GVSU vice president of Finance and Administration, in the virtual conference.

All GVSU students who live in Allendale Township are required to stay in their on- or off-campus residence beginning at 12:01 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 17, and ending at 11:59 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 1, the Ottawa County Department of Public Health ordered Wednesday afternoon. Health officials offered some exceptions, including attending in-person classes, for when students can leave their residences.

RELATED: Emergency stay-home order issued for Grand Valley State University students

Sanial, who is leading the universitys COVID-19 Action Team, said the university will use student ambassadors to monitor campus and remind fellow students to adhere to safety guidelines.

We have to keep reminding students that the stakes are high, that its about protecting each other, President Philomena Mantella said in the virtual conference.

The university added a section to the Student Code of Conduct this fall which addresses potential repercussions if a student hosts or attends a party or gathering that violates safety protocols.

University leaders address COVID-19 student conduct issues by first working with students to make sure they are educated about the safety guidelines.

We begin with presuming that most people are struggling, as we all are, with the requirements and life as we know it today, Mantella said. If we remind them and educate them, then we move very quickly and rapidly to the kinds of sanction-related issues that come with persistent non-compliance.

Those potential sanctions could include probation, suspension, and even expulsion, Mantella said.

Mantella said the university has issued sanctions for students this year for coronavirus-related issues, but did not provide a number of how many cases have resulted in sanctions. MLive has sought the amount from university officials, but has not heard back.

The novel respiratory virus has not spread through large parties at Grand Valley  as has been the case at some Michigan colleges  but rather through small gatherings at off-campus residences, school leaders said.

Its not activities with hundred-person events, those large gatherings  those are really becoming more rare in our community, Sanial said. What we found through contact tracing is a lot of the spread, it can be attributed to four, five or six people just getting together in a room just to hang out.

Most COVID-19 spread at Grand Valley has occurred between roommates in off-campus housing, health experts have found. The Ottawa County health department has found a number of small clusters in apartments or households with GVSU students, senior epidemiologist Derel Glashower previously told MLive.

Sanial said the university will focus on educating students that even small gatherings can be harmful in the spread of COVID-19.

I think our students are well aware of the dangers of gathering in a large group, but its maintaining that vigilance even in those small groups among friends," Sanial said.

Grand Valley also will work to address contact tracing issues among students, university leaders said Wednesday.

During contact tracing, many students have reported having no contacts or refused to disclose contacts, according to Ottawa County health officials.

When (health officials) do contact tracing with GVSU students, theyre usually getting one or less contacts, and when they do it with someone else from the public, theyre usually around three or four, Sanial said.

Part of that is just maybe understanding what exactly is a contact, and thats where weve ramped up and will continue to ramp up education about the importance of contact tracing, the importance of isolation and quarantine, and adhering to those restrictions to contain the spread.

As a result of the universitys rise in cases, GVSU has increased its self-assessed coronavirus level from Level 2: Moderate Level to Level 3: High Alert, according to the data dashboard. The Level 3 assessment means health officials have found many cases, including community spread with some undetected cases.

If cases continue to rise, GVSU could also move up to a Level 4: Very High Alert, which would mean widespread uncontrolled outbreak with many undetected cases. Under that level, the university would consider moving to all remote learning.

Ottawa County is one of eight Michigan counties coded orange, signaling heightened concern over COVID-19 cases, based on a metric developed by the Harvard Global Health Initiative to assess coronavirus risk levels.

Four of the eight counties house state universities with coronavirus outbreaks, including Ottawa (GVSU), Isabella (Central Michigan University), Mecosta (Ferris State University) and Houghton (Michigan Tech University).

RELATED: Wednesday, Sept. 16, coronavirus data by Michigan county: Ingham in crisis, health director says

Ottawa County COVID-19 data shows a sharp incline in positive cases since Aug. 27, when students moved onto GVSUs campus.

The county has reported a total of 2,861 confirmed coronavirus cases since its first case was found March 15, according to the countys COVID-19 data dashboard. There have been 60 confirmed deaths linked to the novel virus.

Data shows younger adults make up the largest portion of confirmed cases in Ottawa County. There have been 965 cases in residents ages 20-29. The second largest age group with confirmed cases is residents age 10-19, with 584 confirmed cases.

There have been 740 positive cases found within the GVSU community since Aug. 1, university leaders said in Wednesdays news conference.

Grand Valley has a total of 370 active cases within students, faculty and staff in the university community as of Sept. 16, according to the universitys data dashboard. But that number does not represent the universitys total cumulative cases  only those that are active, or positive cases reported over the past 10 days.

A positive case is removed from the universitys dashboard 10 days after it is first reported to the GVSU Virus Action Team, Sanial told MLive. He said once a case has passed the 10-day mark it is no longer relevant to the discussion of where the virus is and where the spread is currently in the university community.

The majority of GVSUs active cases are in students who live off campus in Ottawa County, university data shows. There are 273 active cases in off-campus students residing in Ottawa County, compared to 48 cases in students living on-campus, according to GVSUs COVID-19 data dashboard.

There are 25 active cases in off-campus students living in Kent County and 24 active cases in off-campus students who live somewhere besides Kent or Ottawa counties.

Four GVSU faculty have tested positive for the virus, according to the dashboard.

The universitys seven-day average of daily new cases has remained between 40-45 over the past week. Currently, 1.32 percent of the university community has tested positive for the virus, data shows.

Grand Valley partnered with Spectrum Health this fall to conduct surveillance testing on campus, which consists of randomized testing, regular testing of high-risk groups and invited testing of individuals connected to potential clusters, according to GVSUs website.

The university has conducted 5,903 tests since Aug. 21 and identified 144 positive cases in the Grand Valley community, resulting in a positive test rate of 2.47 percent. Another 70 positive cases were also identified through symptomatic or exposure tests administered by Spectrum Health.

COVID-19 PREVENTION TIPS:

In addition to washing hands regularly and not touching your face, officials recommend practicing social distancing, assuming anyone may be carrying the virus.

Health officials say you should be staying at least 6 feet away from others and working from home, if possible.

Use disinfecting wipes or disinfecting spray cleaners on frequently-touched surfaces in your home (door handles, faucets, countertops) and carry hand sanitizer with you when you go into places like stores.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has also issued executive orders requiring people to wear face coverings over their mouth and nosewhile in public indoor and crowded outdoor spaces. See an explanation of what that means here.

Additional information is available at Michigan.gov/Coronavirus and CDC.gov/Coronavirus.

For more data on COVID-19 in Michigan, visit https://www.mlive.com/coronavirus/data/.

More on MLive:

Its not worth it: GVSU students alarmed by off-campus gatherings as coronavirus cases surge

Grand Valley to do random campus coronavirus testing, shift most classes online after Thanksgiving

Grand Valley asks students to track temperature, coronavirus symptoms for 2 weeks before classes start
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 16)  Using web cameras should be optional for online classes to protect the privacy of students, according to guidelines from school representatives part of the Data Privacy Council for the Education Sector.

In a statement, the National Privacy Commission (NPC) released the suggested rules drawn up by officials from public and private universities and colleges that will cover virtual classrooms under the "new normal."

"Before webcam-supported online discussions are recorded, schools must consider getting the consent of the parent and legal guardian of students below 18 years old," the NPC said in a statement referring to the rules from the Data Privacy Council Education Sector.

The council drew up the guidelines and submitted them for NPC review. However, the measures are just considered recommendations for each school to adopt.

Most schools have opted to use virtual learning tools, including video conferences, to sustain formal education amid the COVID-19 crisis. Face-to-face classes are banned until a vaccine is available.

The rules also suggest having a guardian present during the recorded class sessions for pupils aged below 18. "Explicit consent of the student (or parent or legal guardian, in the case of minors) should be obtained prior to the conduct of online proctoring and the use of related tools or technologies," it added.

READ: Here's how you can avoid (and recover from) 'video call fatigue'

"An educational institution is accountable for all the personal data it collects and processes," the guidelines also read, noting that information about education is considered as sensitive personal education under the Data Privacy Act.

Any data that will be collected and processed by schools should only be for legitimate purposes, and must not be used for personal use. Institutions are likewise told to partner with a learning management system or online productivity platforms to provide virtual learning services, with enough features for data protection.

READ: Why Filipinos should care about their personal data online

The rules also warn against the posting of personal data or outputs on social media platforms as part of course requirements, adding that these should be removed or deleted online when the course ends.

The announcement of grades, assignment results, and other school output should likewise be disseminated in a way that may be viewed individually by concerned students. Portals for online submissions should be safe and secure as well.

The NPC previously reported a spike in data breaches among colleges and universities in July, as hackers seem to target the personal information of the youth. Official websites of select educational institutions have been defaced by hackers earlier this year.

Among the schools part of the council are San Beda University, De La Salle University, Ateneo de Manila University, University of the Philippines-Manila, University of the Philippines-Cebu, Technological University of the Philippines, De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, University of Perpetual Help-Dalta, University of Santo Tomas-Legazpi, Central Mindanao University, Laguna State Polytechnic University and Ateneo de Iloilo.
Testing costs were covered by the pilgrims.

Uman Mayor Oleksandr Tsebriy says that 10 of almost 400 Hasidic Jewish pilgrims who came to the town and tested for COVID-19 had positive results.

"We conducted polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing at the expense of the pilgrims, and 10 pilgrims tested positive for COVID-19. Of them, four had repeat tests and their results turned to be negative, which means they are now considered as the recovered. And six are COVID-19 positive," he said.

Read alsoCOVID-19 lockdown: Hundreds of Hasidim pilgrims amass at Belarus-Ukraine border (Video)

The mayor said the patients with a mild form of the disease had been accommodated in a hotel, which was provided by the Breslov (Bratslav) Hasidic group as a facility for COVID-positive pilgrims. Those with moderate and severe forms of the disease will be hospitalized.

According to the Interior Ministry and the Migration Service, there are 2,500 Hasidic pilgrims in the city, yet, the mayor said he did not know their exact number.

"I can't say exactly how many of them are here now  no one maintains record of them. I have no exact figure. Nobody has counted how many of them are in the town. I use the migration service's data," he said.

Background
Geneva  Morocco's strong commitment to international dynamics for the full consecration of human rights was highlighted, Tuesday in Geneva, on the occasion of the 45th Session of the Human Rights Council (HRC).

Presenting Morocco's statement under the Interactive Dialogue on the Annual Report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Morocco's Permanent Representative in Geneva, Omar Zniber, underlined the Kingdom's constant, constructive, voluntary and sustained interaction with the HCR, in particular with the Human Rights Convention Bodies.

Morocco, as co-facilitator, alongside Switzerland, actively participated in the Treaty Bodies' strengthening process, driven by the will to contribute to efforts meant to ensure the relevance, vitality, and transparency of these bodies, the Moroccan diplomat said.

He also pinpointed Morocco's unfailing attachment to the UN Human Rights architecture and its readiness to contribute to the preservation of the multilateral system.

As part of its support for UN efforts to promote inter-Libyan dialogue, the Kingdom hosted, last week, a meeting between the Libyan parties, with a view to reaching a peaceful solution, Mr.Zniber recalled.

"This initiative, which was unanimously welcomed by the international community, was followed by a Joint Declaration making important compromises and paving the way for a process of comprehensive political settlement to end years of chaos," he added.

In another vein, the diplomat expressed concern over "the rise of systemic racism and racial hate speech," which continues to be expressed in many countries and which goes against the commitments enshrined in the UN Charter.

According to him, the structural and immediate causes of racism as well as its impact on human rights should be addressed urgently.
Kabul, Sep 16 : Afghanistan police in the northern Takhar province have arrested two drug traffickers and confiscated illicit drug from their possessions, police spokesman for the province Abdul Khalil Asir said on Wednesday.

The alleged drug smugglers, according to the spokesman, have been detained during routine operations over the past couple of days and police have discovered a amount of heroin and hashish from their possessions, Xinhua news agency reported.

Both the arrested men were Afghans and investigation was underway to identify and locate the ringleaders of the drug smugglers in the province, Asir said.

Police would continue to target the drug traffickers in the restive Takhar province, he added.
TEL AVIV, Israel, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- QEDIT, a Privacy-Enhancing Technology provider, has announced its participation in a $12.6 million USD government-funded research project, geared towards harnessing advanced cryptography to preserve the integrity of complex software programs.

Funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the $12.6 million contract was awarded to R&D specialist firm Galois to lead Project Fromager, with QEDIT being awarded $2 million of the funding allocation. Project Fromager is one of 12 projects being funded in conjunction with DARPA's Securing Information for Encrypted Verification and Evaluation (SIEVE) program, which aims to use Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs) to enable the verification of capabilities relevant to the Department of Defense without revealing the sensitive details associated with those capabilities.

The SIEVE program also seeks to advance the performance and efficiency of ZKPs and broaden the accessibility of ZKP technology to new swathes of platform-agnostic developers.

Jonathan Rouach, CEO and Co-Founder of QEDIT, said, "QEDIT is delighted to partner with Galois and other esteemed academic institutions as part of this landmark research project on behalf of DARPA. This project underlines the pronounced value of ZKP cryptography as a means of delivering a new, more powerful standard of privacy at the highest levels of industry and government. We are proud to accelerate the global deployment of ZKPs for practical applications."

Project Fromager is expected to run through to 2024, and aims to use ZKPs to swiftly test the integrity of complex software programs to ensure that the code has not been compromised. It will be spearheaded by Galois, and will also leverage the academic resources of Denmark's Aarhus University, New York's Columbia University, and Belgium's Ku Leuven University.

Dr. Alex Malozemoff, Principal Researcher at Galois, said, "We at Galois are constantly striving to close the gap between research and real-world deployment. The current state of Zero-Knowledge Proof technology is right at this point. While Zero-Knowledge Proofs have seen wide deployment in cryptocurrencies, more general approaches are just now beginning to be seen as viable in commercial and governmental settings. We are excited to team up with QEDIT: their industry experience, alongside being leaders in the standardization effort around zero-knowledge, is invaluable to the maturation of these technologies."

QEDIT offers a suite of enterprise solutions based on ZKP cryptography and other privacy-enhancing techniques to help businesses mitigate risk and stay competitive through privacy-compliant, cross-organizational data collaboration. The company provides a platform that facilitates fraud detection between insurance competitors, intelligence-sharing among banks to identify financial crime, as well as more streamlined and efficient identity and certification management processes.

Aviv Zohar, QEDIT Chief Scientist and Co-Founder said, "Research is deeply ingrained in the fabric of QEDIT's DNA and our ongoing work with the global ZKProof standardization initiative is a measure of this. Project Fromager represents a tremendous opportunity to bolster our credentials as the standard-setter for ZKP solutions, but it's also a platform to explore the potential use of QEDIT's zkInterface, which is currently under review for standardization at ZKProof, to facilitate interoperability between solutions developed by various SIEVE teams. QEDIT's team of seasoned cryptographers and advisors have broad theoretical and practical experience when it comes to developing efficient ZKP systems and we can't wait to get started."

For more information, visit https://qed-it.com/

About QEDIT

QEDIT helps enterprises leverage third-party data through the use of privacy-enhancing technologies (PET). Founded by a world-class team of accomplished entrepreneurs, researchers, and developers, QEDIT empowers businesses by enabling them to safely share intelligence, without relinquishing data ownership and without violating local data privacy regulations. Through the use of Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZKP) cryptography and other cutting-edge, cryptographically-secure techniques, QEDIT's suite of enterprise solutions removes data-driven barriers to industry-wide privacy challenges in the fields of finance, supply chain, insurance, and human resources. For more information, visit https://qed-it.com.

This material is based upon work supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) under Contract No. HR001120C0085. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Distribution Statement "A" (Approved for Public Release, Distribution Unlimited)

SOURCE QEDIT
DES PLAINES, Ill., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- David Glawe, President and CEO for the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), issued the following statement in response to Governor David Ige signing Senate Bill 2384.

"We are pleased Governor Ige signed into law Senate Bill 2384 that stops rogue tow truck drivers from preying on unsuspecting accident victims, scamming them out of hundreds to thousands of dollars. In my previous role as the former Under Secretary of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) and Chief Intelligence Officer for the Department of Homeland Security, I had the opportunity to work with Governor Ige on combating criminal organizations and threats targeting Hawaiians. I look forward to working with the Governor to discuss other ways we can share information and defend against unfair or illegal practices that prey on the most vulnerable."

"We also want to thank Senator Rosalyn "Roz" Baker and Senator Karl Rhodes for sponsoring this legislation and ending a scheme responsible for taking thousands of dollars from the pockets of consumers across the state of Hawaii.

"Hawaii is one of several states where we have seen an uptick in rogue tow truck drivers arriving, unsolicited, at the scene of an accident and presenting themselves as an immediate solution to towing your vehicle. Many drivers, understandably shaken following an accident, might agree to the tow unaware they may be "on the hook" for thousands of dollars in towing and storage fees before you get your vehicle back.

"This is a big step in the right direction by setting towing fees for vehicles involved in an accident. Without set rates, some towers have been known to charge motorists or their insurers thousands of dollars for a few-mile tow, and hold the car hostage incurring storage fees until the owner can afford to get it out.

"NICB will continue to work with lawmakers in the House and Senate to stop this type of abuse on consumers."

REPORT FRAUD: Anyone with information concerning insurance fraud or vehicle theft can report it anonymously by calling toll-free 800.TEL.NICB (800.835.6422)or submitting a form on our website.

ABOUT THE NATIONAL INSURANCE CRIME BUREAU: Headquartered in Des Plaines, Ill., the NICB is the nation's leading not-for-profit organization exclusively dedicated to preventing, detecting and defeating insurance fraud and vehicle theft through data analytics, investigations, learning and development, government affairs and public affairs. The NICB is supported by more than 1,400 property and casualty insurance companies and self-insured organizations. NICB member companies wrote more than $526 billion in insurance premiums in 2019, or more than 82% of the nation's property-casualty insurance. That includes more than 95% ($241 billion) of the nation's personal auto insurance. To learn more visit www.nicb.org.

SOURCE National Insurance Crime Bureau

Related Links

http://www.nicb.org


Women embroider with babies on their backs at a workshop in Meigu County of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, on Aug 31. Authorities introduced embroidery businesses from Foshan, Guangdong Province, to help local women find employment close to home. [For China Daily/Hua Xiaofeng]

China's anti-poverty drive has made headway in empowering impoverished, rural women with assistance ranging from easy loans to health checks, said an official with the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF), as official figures have spotlighted women's susceptibility to extreme poverty.

Zhang Dongmei, Member of the Secretariat of the ACWF, said of the 93 million Chinese who have escaped absolute poverty since late 2012, about half are women.

Women's poverty is a major target of the nationwide poverty reduction efforts, and women are a major force in taming rural impoverishment, she said.

The central authorities have rolled out a host of tailored measures to curb women's poverty, including a 2015 resolution to offer rural women free health checks aimed at early detection of cervical and breast cancer, she added.

Cancer and other serious illnesses can lead to expensive medical bills and bankrupt less affluent families.

Figures offered by the federation showed women accounted for 45 percent of the rural impoverished, and 40 percent of them were impoverished because of crippling medical bills.

The federation said they have teamed up with the National Health Commission and rolled out 100 million tests for cervical cancer and 30 million tests for breast cancer.

A total of 160,000 women with the cancers have received financial aid.

The 2015 resolution also required stepped up efforts to hand out small loans to help rural women start family businesses and improve care services for left-behind children and women with limited incomes.

Zhang said the federation has moved to lead women to set up more than 300,000 homestays and rural cooperatives over the past five years and trained large numbers of women experts in e-commerce, rural tourism and domestic services, among other industries.

The poverty relief drive has boosted women's economic standing, and more importantly has led to changes in their "thoughts, spiritual outlook, lifestyles and health conditions", she noted.

According to the All-China Women's Federation, the women's impoverishment rate was 0.4 percentage points higher than their male counterparts in 2010. The gap has gradually closed over the years and had nearly vanished by 2019.

To end the poverty cycle, the federation also worked to bolster school turnout among girls, who are susceptible to dropping out when family finances are strained.

The Spring Bud Project, which was launched by a foundation overseen by the federation, said they have raised 200 million yuan ($29.4 million) in charitable funds and helped 200,000 schoolgirls from financially strapped families.

"Keeping girls in school has a huge positive impact on economic development because they have a high chance of getting a proper job and becoming productive in society," said Leslie Maasdorp, vice-president and chief financial officer at New Development Bank, a multilateral bank established by the BRICS countries Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

It has been proven throughout the world that investment in women and girls has a much bigger economic developmental impact, he said.

He noted that if women are provided with loans or other business opportunities, they are more likely to pay them back, as is evidenced by the experiment.

(Source: China Daily)
Men stand among coffins of unidentified human trafficking victims removed from a human trafficking camp in Wang Kelian, Malaysia, at a cemetery near Alor Setar, Kedah, June 22, 2015.

The government needs to release an official report delivered to Malaysias king one year ago on human trafficking camps and mass graves discovered near the border with Thailand in 2015, a human rights group urged on Wednesday.

No Malaysian has been charged in connection with the 139 graves discovered there, although four foreign nationals were convicted and jailed, Fortify Rights said in a statement on its website.

The Government of Malaysia should immediately release the final report and the recommendations of the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into the human trafficking and mass graves of Rohingya and Bangladeshis discovered in Wang Kelian of Perlis state in 2015, said Matthew Smith, CEO of Fortify Rights.

The RCI was mandated to help bring the perpetrators to justice and that hasnt happened, he said, adding, there have been no changes in policy and not even a formal public reckoning of the crimes committed.

In neighboring Thailand, prosecutors tried 102 people linked to 32 graves found on its side of the border. Of the 62 convicted, one was a three-star general, who is serving an 82-year sentence.

Arifin Zakaria, a former chief justice of Malaysia who led the RCI, said he did not know why its final report had not been released.

There was nothing to hide. We recommended for the government to make the report public and I was told they agreed, he told BenarNews.

[W]e did not get any instruction or further request from the then-government after the report was handed to the king and later to the cabinet. We have completed our task, he said, referring to the administration of former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

Then-Home Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced the formation of the RCI in March 2019 amid allegations of a cover-up. Arifin suggested asking the current government, which Muhyiddin heads, for information on the report.

BenarNews contacted the Home Ministry and the Prime Ministers Office to ask about the report, but did not hear back. Sept. 16 is a public holiday in Malaysia.

Cover-up?

In late May 2015, Malaysian police disclosed that they had unearthed 106 corpses from 139 graves at abandoned human-smuggling camps near Wang Kelian in northern Perlis state.

Earlier that month, officials in Thailand announced that similar graves of smuggled Rohingya Muslims and Bangladeshis were found at an abandoned camp in the jungle on the Thai side of the border.

At the time, Malaysian authorities arrested 12 police officers along with several foreign nationals on human trafficking and other charges, but the officers and most of the foreigners were released due to what officials at the time described as a lack of evidence.

Two Myanmar nationals, a Bangladeshi and a Thai were tried, convicted and given sentences ranging from three to ten years in prison.

Mahathirs government formed the RCI in February 2019, nearly four years after the camps were discovered, and gave its members six months to submit a final report and recommendations.

The probe was launched after the New Straits Times, a Malaysian outlet, published an investigative report alleging that Malaysian authorities had known about the graves and camps months before police publicly revealed the grim discovery.

In its report, NST claimed it found a massive, coordinated cover-up by Malaysian law enforcement authorities near the border, saying a team of investigative journalists had pored over scores of official documents, checked reams of reports and sought out witnesses during the past two years.

The six-member inquiry panel called 48 witnesses, including police and Rohingya survivors, during a 17-day hearing in Kuala Lumpur.

Arifin called the process challenging because of keen public interest in the case.

Not only that, but it was also of international interest too as it involved other countries. It was quite tough for us, he told BenarNews on Wednesday.

Truth, justice and accountability

In urging the reports release, Smith said it was about truth, justice, and accountability.

Fortify Rights noted Malaysias low ranking in the most recent U.S. Department of States Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report, which gauges how countries worldwide are performing in combating human trafficking. Malaysia was ranked in May as a Tier-2 Watchlist country, the reports second lowest ranking, over inaction on the Wang Kelian graves.

The Malaysian government should fulfill the right to the truth of the Wang Kelian survivors, victims and their relatives under international law and provide them and the general public with the RCIs full report so they can assess it for themselves, Fortify Rights said.

Between 2012 and 2015, transnational criminal syndicates trafficked at least 170,000 people to Malaysia, mostly Rohingya from Myanmar and Bangladesh, generating an estimated U.S. $50 million to $100 million (206.5 million to 413 million ringgit) annually, it said.

The groups call echoes those made by Malaysian human rights groups and lawyers.

Sevan Doraisamy, executive director of the rights group Suara Rakyat Malaysia, said the report needs to be released.

It should be made public, but the governments failure to publish it until now clearly raises many questions, he told BenarNews on Wednesday.

Nisha David in Kuala Lumpur contributed to this report.
The US and Germany are encouraging Greece and Turkey to dialogue ahead of the EU summit.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel would like the two countries to enter into dialogue ahead of a crucial summit, which will discuss the latest developments in the Eastern Mediterranean, Kathimerini reported.

Earlier Merkel spoke by phone with Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis. She agreed with his position, according to which dialogue can begin only if Ankara stops provocations and takes practical steps to reduce tensions. Mitsotakis noted that the de-escalation with the departure of the Turkish research vessel Oruc Reis last Saturday should not be artificial.

Athens is reportedly leaning towards initial consultations at the level of the relevant government advisers, as it did in Berlin in August. It is believed that if Turkey is not bluffing and things are indeed moving towards de-escalation, then a meeting at the level of foreign ministers may follow.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has called on everyone involved in the ongoing dispute over sea and energy rights in the Eastern Mediterranean region to reduce tensions. In an interview with France Inter radio, Pompeo said all parties should resolve their differences in accordance with international conventions, without the use of military force, but through the usual mechanisms for resolving international disputes.

Earlier on Tuesday, Mitsotakis said after a meeting with European Council President Charles Michel that Turkey still has time - before and after the summit - to continue the first hopeful step towards overcoming this crisis.

The de-escalation in the Aegean and Mediterranean seas must be continuous and consistent, he said.
On September 14, 2020, the U.S. District Court in Boston entered a final judgment against New York residents Frederick Mintz and Alan Fraade, whom the SEC charged with involvement in a scheme that used nominee shareholders to fraudulently register microcap company securities for public sale.

As alleged in the SEC's complaint against five individuals filed in June 2019, co-defendant Henry Sargent created BMP Holdings Inc. and issued BMP shares to friends, family, and co-workers for the purpose of creating free-trading shares to be sold later on public markets. Mintz and Fraade, who were licensed lawyers at that time, prepared false attorney opinion letters to help Sargent and others facilitate the merger of BMP into PixarBio Corporation, a private company that the SEC previously charged, along with three other individuals, in a separate action.

Mintz and Fraade consented to the entry of a final judgment that permanently enjoins them from violating the antifraud provisions of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, and the registration provisions of Sections 5(a) and 5(c) of the Securities Act. The judgment further prohibits Mintz and Fraade from providing legal services pertaining to federal securities law exemptions from registration. Mintz and Fraade have consented to pay, jointly and severally, disgorgement plus prejudgment interest for a total of $28,785.96. No civil penalty was imposed against Mintz and Fraade based on their financial condition.

In related administrative proceedings, the SEC yesterday issued orders permanently suspending Mintz and Fraade from appearing and practicing before the SEC as attorneys.
Ill tell you who those people are  waiters, he said. They come over and they serve you, and they have a mask. And I saw it the other day where they were serving me, and theyre playing with the mask  Im not blaming them  Im just saying what happens. Theyre playing with the mask, so the mask is over, and theyre touching it, and then theyre touching the plate. That cant be good.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 15:09:53|Editor: huaxia

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GUANGZHOU, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport (Baiyunport) in south China's Guangdong Province has reported a sustainable recovery in domestic air passenger throughput, according to the airport.

Baiyunport led the country in domestic passenger flow and flight movements in July and August amid the country's remarkable air travel recovery, said a source of the airport.

In August, the airport served 4.61 million passengers, up 12.6 percent from July. The volume indicated that its domestic passenger throughput has rebounded to the level before the epidemic outbreak.

Baiyunport handled more than 4.09 million passengers in July, up 31.9 percent from June.

Amid the reviving air travel, Baiyunport has seen a significant increase in the number of domestic travelers thanks to China's effective anti-epidemic measures.

The airport has been striving to help reopen suspended routes and enhance those connecting popular destinations in a bid to achieve stable air travel recovery, said the airport source.

Baiyunport has seen six consecutive months of stable increase in all major airport performance indices since March amid the nationwide work and travel resumption. Enditem
When we talk of Nordic history, it is all but impossible not to mention the Vikings. Stories about the Scandinavian warriors and their Old Norse Gods have long since travelled all around the world. But perhaps part of that narrative is only based on myths and brought to life by popular culture. At least, this is what is indicated by a new study from the University of Copenhagen.

The study is the biggest genetic study of Vikings ever. The researchers have sequenced the genome of 442 bone fragments from the Viking Age, from all over Europe, and they have made some rather surprising discoveries. Among other things, the Vikings may not be quite as Nordic as hitherto believed.

"The Vikings had a lot more genes from Southern and Eastern Europe than we anticipated. They frequently had children with people from other parts of the world. In fact, they also tend to be dark-haired rather than blond, which is otherwise consider an established Viking-trait," Professor at Lundbeck Foundation Center for Geogenetics at the GLOBE Institute at the University of Copenhagen, Eske Willerslev, explains. Peasants missed out on the Bronze Age

The new study also reveals that generally Vikings were a lot more genetically diverse than the peasant societies on the Scandinavian mainland. "The Vikings lived in coastal areas, and genetically speaking, they were an entirely different people to the peasant societies living further inland. The mainland inhabitants had a lot less in common with the Vikings than the peasants who lived in Europe thousands of years ago. You could almost say that genetically speaking, the peasants missed out on the entire Iron and Bronze Age," co-author of the study and Assistant Professor at the Center For Geogenetics at the GLOBE Institute, Ashot Margaryan explains.

However, the Viking's diverse genome stems not merely from people from elsewhere travelling to their settlements. In fact, they were themselves avid travellers, and historically, we know them best for their plundering and murdering raids abroad. But this genetic study sheds new light on who went where.

"The Danish Vikings went to England, while the Swedish Vikings went to the Baltic and the Norwegian Vikings went to Ireland, Iceland and Greenland. However, the Vikings from these three 'nations' only very rarely mixed genetically. Perhaps they were enemies or perhaps there is some other valid explanation. We just don't know," Ashot Margaryan says. A Viking on the outside, a Scotsman on the inside

The new study also discards what we think we know about who actually went on raids together. Researchers have been able to find out more about this at a gravesite in Estonia, where raiding Vikings were brutally murdered.

"Popular culture suggests that the Viking Chief would recruit the strongest warriors from neighbouring tribes or communities to join him on a raid somewhere. But at least five of the Vikings in this grave are closely related. So perhaps you just brought your family along when you went on a raid," Eske Willerslev explains.

Vikings were not always murdered though; they fared better in other places. In England, by way of example, it has been possible to trace an influx of people from Scandinavia by studying language and specific place names. And the new study shows that in some of those places, the inhabitants actually embraced the entire Viking culture.

"In Scotland there's a grave, which in archaeological terms would be classified as a Viking grave. Its swords and symbols reflect the Viking culture. However, genetically speaking, the man in the grave has nothing in common with the Vikings. He is an example of how the Viking culture was embraced in certain places," Eske Willerslev elaborates.

And the new study not only discards popular ideas about Vikings, from time to time, scientific circles have also discussed the Viking Age.

"Some researchers and intellectuals have been of the opinion that in the North, we have a tendency to romanticize the Viking Age, because it is our own, and a very specific history. They have argued that the Viking Age wasn't really an Age at all, but rather part of the Iron Age. However, with this new study we're able to establish that the Viking Age was indeed something special. The Vikings travelled much farther, had lots of Southern European genes and were very likely part of a much more extensive cultural exchange with the rest of the world than any contemporary peasant society," Eske Willerslev concludes.

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New Delhi, Sep 16: Amid reports of snooping on some Indian leaders by China-based companies, the government on Wednesday took up the issue with the Chinese envoy here, according to a letter by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to Congress leader K C Venugopal. The letter stated that the matter has also been taken up with the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

The matter was taken up by the Ministry of External Affairs with the Chinese Ambassador today. Our Embassy in Beijing also raised it with the Foreign Ministry of China. The Chinese side conveyed that Shenzen Zhenhua is a private company and had stated its position publicly," the minster told Venugopal. In their part, the Chinese Foreign ministry maintained that there was no connection between the company concerned and the Chinese government," he also said.

Jaishankars remarks came after Venugopal, during Zero Hour in Rajya Sabha, raised the issue that some Indian leaders were being spied on by Chinese companies and asked the government what it was doing in this regard. Jaishankar in his letter said that in their statement, a representative of Shenzen Zhenhua has stated that the data collected was from open sources and is no different from its peer organisations in western countries. The minster said they have denied accessing private information from confidential sources. The Government of India takes very seriously the protection of the privacy and personal data of Indian citizens. It is deeply concerned at any report that suggests that foreign sources are accessing or seeking to access the personal data of our citizens without their consent," the External Affairs Minister told the Congress leader.

Jaishankar said the government has constituted an expert committee under the National Cyber Security Coordinator to study these reports and evaluate their implications. The panel will assess any violations of law and submit its recommendations within 30 days, he said.

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor
B oris Johnson is pushing to pass a bill which would allow the Government to make changes to the Brexit agreement it negotiated with the EU earlier in the year.

The Withdrawal Agreement which was signed in January is legally binding with Brussels, but the Prime Minister could potentially make changes to it through the passing of a different bit of legislation which he said would create a "safety net" for the nation.

The UK Internal Markets Bill passed the second reading in the House of Commons on Monday, September 14, and looks at how England trades with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in a post-Brexit world.

If this bill is passed it will allow the Government to alter Brexit conditions regarding Northern Ireland which will break international law. Lots of people including Tory MPs have spoken out against doing this.

Boris Johnson's plans have proved controversial / PA

Why does Boris Johnson want to change the Brexit agreement?

The Withdrawal Agreement was passed on January 31 and, at this moment, Britain formally left the EU.

A transition period was created for both sides to work out the rules of their new relationship, but this will come to an end on December 31.

Mr Johnson said it was critical that the Internal Markets Bill was passed before this timeframe ended to create as a "safety net" if no trade deal was agreed with Brussels this year.

The Prime Ministers official spokesman said: The Bill will protect seamless trade and jobs in all four corners of the United Kingdom following the end of the transition period.

MPs discussing the Internal Markets Bill / UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor/PA Wire

It will also provide a vital legal safety net, it removes any ambiguity should an agreement not be reached at the Joint Committee on the Northern Ireland Protocol.

It protects the integrity of the UK internal market, it ensures ministers can always deliver on their obligations to Northern Ireland and protects the gains from the peace process.

It is therefore critical that we pass this legislation before the end of the year.

Why does Britain need a safety net?

Number 10 said the Prime Minister and UK chief negotiator Lord Frost had significant concern about the approach taken by the EU during trade talks, claiming Brussels had confirmed that a blockade of food goods travelling from Britain to Northern Ireland was a possibility.

But the Prime Ministers spokesman, when asked how the Bill would prevent a blockade, did not provide concrete examples, adding only that good faith was expected to be shown by both sides in resolving outstanding matters.

The Conservative Party leader has seen his Bill proposal criticised by all five living former prime ministers, with David Cameron making it a full set when he voiced his fears on Monday.

Mr Cameron said: Passing an Act of Parliament and then going on to break an international treaty obligation is the very, very last thing you should contemplate.

It should be an absolute final resort. So, I do have misgivings about whats being proposed.

Former chancellor Sajid Javid said he would not back the Bill at its second reading on Monday night.

Breaking international law is a step that should never be taken lightly, he said.

Having carefully studied the UK Internal Market Bill, it is not clear to me why it is necessary to do so.

Geoffrey Cox, Mr Johnsons former attorney general when the Withdrawal Agreement was signed, has also spoken out against the plans.

He told Times Radio that the Government knew what it was signing up to when it ratified the exit terms.

What I can say from my perspective is we simply cannot approve or endorse a situation in which we go back on our word, given solemnly not only by the British Government and on behalf of the British Crown, but also by Parliament when we ratified this in February, unless there are extreme circumstances which arrive involving a breach of duty of the good faith by the EU, he said.

In those circumstances, there are then lawful remedies open to us and it is those we should take rather than violating international law and a solemn treaty.

What will it mean for Britain if international law is broken?

Mr Cox said if the nation goes back on its word it will damage the country's reputation for future international deals.

The breaking of the law leads ultimately to very long-term and permanent damage to this countrys reputation and it is also a question of honour to me  we signed up, we knew what we were signing, he added.

The Brexiteer warned he would not back the UK Internal Market Bill unless ministers dispel the impression that they plan to permanently and unilaterally rewrite an international agreement.

Simon Hoare, Tory chairman of the Commons Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, said Mr Coxs condemnation of the Governments plans could not be ignored.

Meanwhile, Tory MP Rehman Chishti resigned as the Prime Ministers special envoy on Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) in opposition to the clauses in the Bill.

He tweeted: As an MP for 10 years and former barrister, values of respecting rule of law and honouring ones word are dear to me.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the Governments position was likely to cause reputational damage on the world stage and called on Mr Johnson to get on with securing fresh trade terms with the bloc.

Informal talks on a future trade deal with the EU were due to continue this week, with a meeting expected between chief negotiators Lord Frost and Michel Barnier and their teams due on Tuesday.
The UK Government has awarded Chevening scholarship to 49 Nigerians for the 2020/2021 Chevening cycle.

The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing, disclosed this at the pre-departure orientation programme in Abuja organised for the beneficiaries to commence their study programmes in the UK this September.

For the 2019/2020 Chevening application cycle, Nigeria recorded the highest number of applications globally, with 8000 applicants from Nigeria and about 6000 eligible applications.

Following this, a total of 49 Chevening scholarship and fellowship awards were made available to Nigerians this year, the High Commissioner said.

This selection for 2020 was particularly challenging because contrary to what used to be previously where applicants will be interviewed physically, we had to reschedule the interview from physical to virtual like two times before eventually coming to this stage where scholars are now being hosted for a pre -departure event, said Oluwafunmilayo Ladepo, Chevening Programme Officer in Nigeria, at the event

Chevening is a scholarship that emphasises leadership and networking and youre supposed to maximize the opportunities this award offers when you get to the UK because Chevening currently boasts of an influential global alumni network exceeding 45,000 members, of which over 1,100 are Nigerians, Ms Ladepo said.

Notable Nigeria alumni of the scholarship include John Momoh, Chairman, Channels TV; Simon Kolawole, Publisher, The Cable; and Mohammed Babandede, Comptroller-General of Nigerian Immigration Service.

In 2018, 53 Nigerians were selected for studies in the UK via the award while 57 Nigerians were selected for the award in 2019.

Excited Awardees

Some of the scholars, who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES, expressed their gratitude to the UK government for the opportunity to learn from some of the best universities in the world, broaden their horizons and acquire a skill-set that can help in driving Nigerias development.

I am looking forward to learning and experiencing the UK culture, That is, excelling academically and then experiencing UK volunteerism culture. All of which I will bring back to Nigeria and use for our advancement as a people, said Jewel Bright, who was awarded the scholarship to study media practice for development and social change at the University of Sussex.

Precious Ebere, while speaking to this newspaper, expressed gratitude to the UK government for funding her dream of studying in the UK.

ALSO READ: Over 90 Nigerians receive EU Scholarships to study in European universities

I will be studying social policy at Cardiff University and its an experience Im so enthusiastic about. I hope to network as much as I can and then return to Nigeria to internalize my experience to make an impact on Nigerias educational policy. I thank Chevening for the opportunity, she said.

Prestigious Scholarship

Chevening is the UK governments international awards programme aimed at developing global leaders and it is funded by the UKs Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

The recipients are personally selected by British embassies and high commissions throughout the world.

Chevening offers a unique opportunity for future leaders, influencers, and decision-makers from all over the world to develop professionally and academically, network extensively, experience UK culture, and build lasting positive relationships with the UK.

Since 1983, over 50,000 professionals have studied in the UK through Chevening.

Application is on for the 2021/2022 academic year and can be submitted online between September 3rd and November 3rd, 2020 on the Chevening website.
Navy Captain Kim Eun-a / Courtesy of ROK Navy



By Kang Seung-woo



A Navy officer and an Air Force sergeant have gained recognition for their donation of hair for children who have lost their own hair due to cancer treatment.



According to the Navy, Captain Kim Eun-a has given 40 centimeters of hair to a local charity, which accepts hair donations to make wigs for children cancer patients across the nation. The minimum donation length is 25 centimeters.



After finding that children with cancer have to pay millions of won to purchase wigs, the 28-year-old, who is now serving at the Naval Education and Training Command in Jinhae, South Gyeongsang Province, decided to donate her hair that she had grown over the last four years.



Kim's good deed was not a one-off act.



Influenced by her mother and older sister, both of whom are nurses, Kim often volunteered for hospitals and welfare groups and registered in 2016 as an organ donor.



"Since childhood, I have engaged in volunteer work and donated blood with my family, which led me to donate hair as well," Kim said.



"I am pleased that my donation can help those in need and I want to become a person who can spread positive influence among others."





Air Force Master Sgt. Jo Ah-ran / Courtesy of ROK Air Force
Photograph: Sashenka Gutierrez/EPA

As Mexicans prepared to mark Independence Day celebrations on 15 September, a different kind of commemoration was held at the headquarters of the countrys human rights commission (CNDH).

Under a fluttering purple anarchy flag, women in black balaclavas lined the upstairs balconies of the 19th-century building  and speaker after speaker expressed their fury at the countrys crisis of violence against women.

One middle-aged woman whose niece and sister have both disappeared brandished a fistful of documents from their CNDH case files. I did this correctly. I sat here for hours and nothing happened, she shouted, before shredding the papers and tossing them from the balcony.

The institutions can go to hell, because they dont respect peoples human rights.

Activist Yesenia Zamudio, whose teenage daughter was killed in a suspected femicide, speaks as demonstrators occupy the human rights commission building in Mexico City on 14 September. Photograph: Rebecca Blackwell/AP

The masked protesters stormed the building a week ago, and they have vowed to occupy it until the government of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador takes decisive action to stop the relentless toll of rape, murder and forced disappearance.

Until then, they say, the building will be repurposed as a shelter for female victims of violence.

Related: 'This is our feminist spring': millions of Mexican women prepare to strike over femicides

The occupation is the latest in a series of increasingly daring direct actions by activists who say they will no longer tolerate a wave of gender violence that last year claimed the lives of 3,825 women.

In August 2019, feminist protesters set fire to a police station and a bus terminal in the heart of Mexico City after news broke of rapes committed by police officers in the capital. Activists have also sprayed graffiti on the iconic Angel of Independence monument and staged months-long occupations at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

In March, the murder of Ingrid Escamilla, 25, by her boyfriend  and the subsequent publication of graphic photographs of her mutilated corpse  prompted Mexicos first ever national womens strike and fresh calls for a reckoning with the countrys femicide problem.

Story continues

Feminist activists demonstrate in Mexico City on 14 September. Photograph: Sashenka Gutierrez/EPA

Many of the protesters have focused their anger on the president, popularly known as Amlo, who has repeatedly downplayed the countrys human rights crisis.

Following the occupation of the CNDH, the president repeated allegations that feminist activists have a partisan political agenda, claiming  without offering any evidence  that they were backed by conservatives.

Amlo also expressed outrage that the protesters had defaced portraits of historical presidents in the building, taking particular offence over an image of the revolutionary leader Francisco I Madero, which was embellished with lipstick and a purple forehead tattoo spelling out ACAB (All Cops Are Bastards).

The response of one of the occupiers quickly went viral. Erika Martinez told reporters she had become an activist after her seven-year-old daughter was abused and authorities refused to investigate.

The president was indignant about a portrait  but why wasnt he indignant when my daughter was abused? she said.

A journalist stands amid signs calling for justice for victims outside the human rights commission building in Mexico City on 8 September. Photograph: Rebecca Blackwell/AP

For some activists, Amlos inaction has been particularly disappointing given his previous promises to victims of human rights violations. On Sunday outside the commission, relatives of forced disappearance from the state of Guerrero spoke directly to the president.

I voted for you, Amlo, said one woman whose husband was one of more than 73,000 Mexicans who have vanished without trace. I believed you when you said, I will be on your side, I will study and check every single file. Its not true. The files are covered with dust.

Related: Mexico: activists voice anger at Amlo's failure to tackle 'femicide emergency'

Inside the offices, women in balaclavas sort through piles of donated clothes and food. The women have painted the walls with colorful murals, and they have taken over the staff kitchen to take turns cooking meals.

They say we destroy and paint things, but its the only way to get the government to turn to look at us, said one woman. What a shame that the government wants us to destroy things.

Around the country activists have occupied local human rights commissions in cities including Puebla, San Cristobal, Villahermosa and Tampico. But while authorities in Mexico City have insisted that they will not use force against the occupiers of the CNDH police elsewhere have responded with violence.

On Thursday afternoon, a group of women in the city of Ecatepec took over offices of the human rights commission of the state of Mexico, which surrounds the capital.

Shortly after midnight, police entered the building and beat the women and children with them, before taking them away in unmarked vehicles to the prosecutors office in a neighboring municipality.

Police refused to give information to relatives of the detainees, and after protesters began to break windows of the prosecutors office, the police attacked the crowd outside with metal tubes and fire extinguishers.
Russian Fighters Escort US Strategic Bomber Over Bering, Okhotsk Seas

Sputnik News

11:28 GMT 15.09.2020(updated 11:30 GMT 15.09.2020)

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russian fighters were scrambled to escort a US Air Force's strategic bomber flying over the Bering Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.

Russia's airspace control means detected a target above the Bering Sea, which was approaching the Russian border, the ministry said. After that, the fighters were scrambled in order to prevent a violation of the border.

"A MiG-31 fighter of the Pacific Fleet's naval aviation and a Su-35S fighter of the Eastern Military District escorted the US Air Force's B-1 Lancer strategic bomber in the airspace over the waters of the Bering Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk," the Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement.

"The Russian fighters returned safely to the home airfield after escorting the foreign plane," the statement read on.

The announcement comes amid intensified NATO intelligence activity near the Russian border. NATO spy aircraft have been detected almost daily in the airspace close to Russia over the past month.

Moscow has warned that such regular flights by US and NATO aircraft near Russia's border poses the risk of accidental escalation. By comparison, Russian jets and bombers operate near US borders far less frequently, and typically stay at least 30 km away from the US border.

A Sputnik

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During Tuesday's Covid-19 task force press briefing, Nigerian Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire urged the Joint Health Workers Union of Nigeria (JOHESU) to end their strike action and seek negotiations with the government as this is the only way for their demands to be met.

JOHESU had a meeting with the government last Thursday where negotiations have met a dead-end which resulted in the union resuming its strike on Monday.

According to Premium Times, the union had earlier warned that health workers would go on a seven-day warning strike, in case their demands of providing better working conditions -including hazard and inducement allowance, had not been met by midnight on Sunday 13 September.

The union also mentioned that the warning strike will only involve federal institutions while the states and local government health institutions would be on red alert for possible entry into the fray if the federal government foot-drags in attending to our demands.

Elsewhere, Labour Minister Chris Ngige criticised the timing of the health workers' strike labeling it as unnecessary and even illegal. The minister added that he had apprehended the dispute during the reconciliation initiative launched last Thursday, which is still ongoing.

A statement released by the Minister of Labour's spokesperson on Sunday widely condemned the strike action, saying it is in clear breach of the International Labour Organisation Principles and Conventions on Strike and sec. 18 of the Trades Disputes Act, Cap T8, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

The statement also urged JOHESU not to attempt twisting the arm of the federal government that has shown a clear commitment to tackling the challenges in the health sector.
A runaway wife left behind a trail of clues before and after abandoning her husband and children to start a new life.

Daphne Hampstead suddenly walked out on her husband Sidney and their eight kids from their home in western Sydney in 1958.

New South Wales Deputy State Coroner Elaine Truscott ruled on Wednesday Daphne began several new lives after fleeing, then died in Queensland at age 89 without ever being found by her family.

The coroner's findings came as two ominous letters from beyond the grave were revealed - the most telling of the clues she left behind.

She also changed her last name several times - but kept her first - and worked at a restaurant which opened up her eyes to a world outside her own mundane farm life.

The disappearance of Daphne Pearl Hampstead (pictured) has been solved more than 60 years after she walked out on her husband and eight children. A coroner has found she had moved to Queensland and started several new lives before dying of cancer in 2007 aged 89

Two days after Daphne disappeared a letter in her handwriting arrived at his western Sydney home. 'My darling Sid,' the 39-year-old began the note. 'Oh darling what it is costing me to write this letter, you will never know.' The letter's words are reproduced in this image

Daphne caught a taxi from the family's dairy farm on Cowpasture Road at Bossley Park in the early hours of May 10, 1958, carrying photographs and most of her clothes.

Two days later, a letter in Daphne's handwriting arrived to the family's home, postmarked from nearby Fairfield.

'My darling Sid. Oh darling what it is costing me to write this letter, you will never know,' she wrote.

'I left work today, I just can't go on,' she wrote. 'I thought there was no love left at home for me at all. But I have realised how wrong I was over the last week.

'I think it has been a week I shall never forget. I am going away for a while (by myself) don't worry about me, I will be okay.

'I know now I can always come to you for understanding I do wish I had known that before dear.'

Daphne also sent a letter to her daughter Daphne Lillian asking her to look after her father and her younger brothers and sisters.

Five years later Daphne somehow learned one of her twin sons, 19-year-old Barry, was critically ill in hospital and wrote him a letter postmarked from Wyong on the NSW Central Coast.

She expressed concern for her son but indicated she could not visit him, although she signed off 'from someone who loves you very much'.

One of Daphne's granddaughters, Donna Gough, hired private investigator Luke Athens (pictured), who solved the six-decades-long mystery in just '12 billable hours'

One of Daphne's granddaughters, Donna Gough, hired private investigator Luke Athens, who solved the six decades-long mystery in just '12 billable hours'.

Mr Athens, who runs Heartbreakers Private Investigators, said Ms Gough 'had promised her mother on her death bed that she would never stop looking for Daphne Pearl'.

He told The Australian it took him 'really no time at all' to crack the mystery that has plagued the Hampstead family for 62 years.

Mr Athens found Daphne had changed her name to Daphne Pearl Onslow and modified her date of birth to make herself six years younger.

She moved to Queensland, was living with a plantation farmer called Roy Shaw from at least 1963 and began calling herself Daphne Shaw.

Mr Shaw died in 1972 and Daphne began a relationship with his close friend Raymond Charles Jones who had a daughter Diann.

Following a 'celebration' of her relationship with Mr Jones in 1973, Daphne became known as Daphne Jones.

The couple lived at many locations in Queensland before moving to Maryborough on the Fraser Coast in 2003, a year before Mr Jones died.

Mr Athens also raised speculation over whether a restaurant job Daphne took shortly before leaving her family held clues to her state of mind at the time of her departure.

Daphne began working at a restaurant in Sydneys CBD listed in court records as Carls Restaurant.

However, unconfirmed theories suggest the restaurant may have been Cahills - a successful eatery chain that exuded a lifestyle of glamour and opulence.

It may have opened Daphne's mind to a world outside of her humdrum day-to-day life on the farm, prompting her to start over.

Daphne began working at a restaurant in Sydneys CBD listed in court records as Carls Restaurant (pictured)

Daphne Hampstead was 39 when she vanished from an old dairy farm on Cowpasture Road at Bossley Park in Sydney's western suburbs. Pictured: Cowpasture Road

The warning signs of Daphne's dissatisfaction on the farm were apparent in her letters to Sidney.

'I left work today, I just can't go on,' she wrote. 'I thought there was no love left at home for me at all. But I have realised how wrong I was over the last week.

'I think it has been a week I shall never forget. I am going away for a while (by myself) don't worry about me, I will be okay.

'I know now I can always come to you for understanding I do wish I had known that before dear.'

Daphne was born Daphne Pearl Jones at Cootamundra in the NSW Riverina on July 13 or 15, 1918, and married local boy Sidney Hampstead in 1936.

The couple eventually had eight children: Leslie, Patricia, Marcia, Daphne, twins Barry and Clifford, Helen, and Janet.

They lived at Cootamundra, Tumut, Grafton, Taree, Oxley Island and Muswellbrook where they worked as share farmers before buying their own farm at Scone.

Financial difficulties forced the family to move to the Bossley Park dairy in 1956, by which time two of their daughters were married and living at Muswellbrook.

'Daphne was a loving mother who enjoyed cooking and was apparently social and engaging,' Ms Truscutt found.

'Daphne and Sidney are described to have had a loving relationship however Sidney was possessive and jealous and violent to Daphne.

'After leaving the farm in Scone and moving to Bossley Park the domestic violence became more frequent.'

Daphne worked in the city as a cook - under the name Daphne Hanson or Hamson - and would leave home in the early hours of the morning, returning about 4pm.

'However, as time went on her returning hours became later around 10pm and Sidney likely suspected she was having an affair and he became more obsessive,' Ms Truscott found.

Daughter Daphne Lillian found a letter from a man called Eugene who lived in Tasmania and it was speculated her mother had joined him, as he had promised to pick her up from the airport.

However, Ms Truscott heard the letter had been ripped into pieces; whether that was done by Sidney or Daphne was still unknown.

Mr Jones's daughter Diann and her husband Tyrone Green were listed as Daphne's next of kin when she died of cancer at Maryborough Hospital on November 7, 2007 aged 89

'Daphne's departure caused Sidney to be a broken man and he buried his sorrows in alcohol,' Ms Truscott found.

He lived with Daphne Lillian from 1963 and in early 1973 moved to Dubbo in the state's central west where he spent the last six months of his life with daughter Marcia.

A 2012 coronial inquiry into Daphne's disappearance found she was likely dead but it could not be determined how or when she died.

Mr Jones's daughter Diann and her husband Tyrone Green were listed as Daphne's next of kin when she died of cancer at Maryborough Hospital on November 7, 2007 aged 89.

After receiving the private investigator's report, Daphne's granddaughter Donna met with Diann and Tyrone.

The pair told Donna her grandmother had a 'magnetic, charismatic personality' and 'disliked talking about her past'.

The family compared pictures of Daphne Hampstead and Daphne Jones and agreed they were of the same woman.

Diann and Tyrone made statements to the coroner in which they said Daphne had talked of having twin sons but mentioned no other children.

'She was very guarded about her history,' Ms Truscott found.

On Wednesday NSW Deputy State Coroner Elaine Ms Truscott (pictured right alongside former homicide detective Gary Jubilen) found Daphne Hampstead, Daphne Onslow, Daphne Shaw and Daphne Jones were the same person

'Diann reports that in 2006 she saw that Daphne was using a paper shredder and remarks that this was consistent with her experience that Daphne would destroy all things about her past.'

On Wednesday Ms Truscott found Daphne Hampstead, Daphne Onslow, Daphne Shaw and Daphne Jones were the same person.

'I note that the notice of Daphne's death exhibited in the newspaper indicated that she was the beloved wife of the late Roy Jones,' she said in her findings.

'Loved mother and mother-in-law of Diann and Tyrone, Ted, Esme (deceased) and Theresa (deceased). The loved Nana of 7 and Great nana of 10.

'Added to that she was the mother of eight and grandmother and great grandmother from her NSW family.

'I hope having the record adjusted to reflect that Daphne's death is properly recorded in some way brings a sense of completeness to both Daphne Pearl's NSW and Queensland families.'
Vietnam's Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on Wednesday extended their congratulations to Yoshihide Suga on being elected as the new prime minister of Japan.

The Japanese parliament had voted Suga, 71, prime minister earlier the same day.

He took over from Shinzo Abe, who announced his resignation over health issues on August 28 after nearly eight years in office.

Suga served under [Abe] in the pivotal post of chief cabinet secretary, acting as top government spokesman and coordinating policies, Reuters reported.

Vietnam congratulates Yoshihide Suga on being voted the new prime minister of Japan, Le Thi Thu Hang, spokesperson of the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told reporters at a regular press briefing in Hanoi on Wednesday.

Vietnam always values its friendly and cooperative relations with Japan while standing ready to closely cooperate with Suga and his new government in taking the relations to a new height for the interests of both countries and for peace, stability, and growth in the region as well as the world, Hang added.

Vietnam's Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh, who is also the country's foreign minister, sent a message the same day to Toshimitsu Motegi, congratulating him on being re-appointed as Japans foreign minister.

In Sugas new cabinet announced on Wednesday, Abes younger brother Nobuo Kishi was named the defense chief in place of Taro Kono.

Kono takes charge of administrative reform, which he has done before, Reuters reported.

About half of the new cabinet are carryovers from Abes administration, the British news agency said.

Only two are women and the average age, including Suga, is 60.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
ST. HELENA  To Mike Nieman, the smell of his large Pratt & Whitney Wasp Major radial aircraft engine running is the smell of victory.

That smell is of a working engine that made this country free, said the St. Helena mechanic and owner of two large aircraft engines as well as Niemans Motorcycle Rentals, with his wife Jodie. Nieman said the Pratt & Whitney R-4360 is a powerful piece of history that is here for people to look at and to hear run. Once you hear it run, feel the rumbling of the earth, the power of 28 pistons putting out 4,300 horsepower is just unbelievable.

Peacemaker

Pratt & Whitney developed the R-4360 near the end of World War II  the last and largest radial aircraft engine ever built  to power the Convair B-36, designated Peacemaker, a large transcontinental strategic bomber. The Convair B-36 was built in Fort Worth, Texas and was designed to carry a 10,000-pound hydrogen bomb from bases in the eastern United States to Moscow and back without refueling.

The U.S. Army Air Corps used it to maintain the peace during the Cold War in the 1950s. The plane was powered by six of these piston-driven engines  three on each wing  with an additional four jet engines, two on each wing. It was in service from 1949 to 1959. More than 400 aircraft were built, but nearly all were scrapped and only four remain in aircraft museums. None are airworthy.

Nieman found his R-4360 on eBay. It was located in a little museum in Sisters, Oregon, near Bend. A friend of mine, John Montelli, and I drove all the way up there and we picked up this beautiful engine from a collector who couldnt keep it anymore. He broke his back in an airplane accident, Nieman said.

In 1959, the engine was going to be rebuilt by a shop in Los Angeles; instead they sold it to the collector, who was retired from the U.S. Air Force. He was an engine collector and this is a prize jewel for any aircraft engine collector, Nieman said. Eventually, it ended up in Oregon, where it joined a second R-4360, but that one was in pieces.

The aircraft engine cost $10,000. That was nearly a decade ago and it took Nieman two years to locate the parts and get the engine running again. I needed to find a propeller for it. Finally, I got one from a war museum in Tampa Bay, Florida, which cost me $3,500.

Starting the engine

Nieman has spent his adult life working on cars, engines and motorcycles, but aircraft engines were a bit different. He went on the internet to find information about the engines, sought out repair manuals and even found an older gentleman who worked at Travis Air Force Base, who actually came here to help me learn how to start it, Nieman said. Its not like starting a regular engine, since theres a two-stage supercharger on it. If you give it too much gas, youre going to foul the spark plugs, Nieman said.

The flight engineers on the airplane would never let the pilots start it because if they fouled the 56 spark plugs  two per cylinder  it would take a day and a half of maintenance to get it all back, ready to go again, Nieman said. And, if the spark plugs are fouled, you can overprime it and blow a piston through the block when the air chamber is filled with fuel.

Starting them is real tricky, Nieman said in an understatement. He posted a video of starting the engine on YouTube some seven years ago.

Niemans R-4360 is not the only one running. A friend of mine has one running in a downtown in New Jersey at a gas station, and another friend, Steve Phillips, has one in Petaluma that he starts once a year, during an event where he shows off his farm implements.

With Phillips, the two traded information and help. When I was putting it together, I could call Steve and ask him questions about ignition vibrators and stuff that I had no clue about. That was the fun part of it. Ive worked on cars all of my life. Being able to work on airplane engines has really helped me mentally keep going with the mechanics, he said.

Long checklist

Nieman estimates he has started the R-4360 about 20 times  he charges $200 each time he starts it  he has a long checklist to go through and the customers read the checklist while he does the work. They flip a coin to see who can start it. I actually let them take the controls, so they can set the throttle and feel the power when they start it up.

To get one of the aircraft engines started is exciting, and once its going, its loud and people are thrilled.

Not one person has wanted their money back, he said. Everyone in town has seen it run, one time or another, although he wont start either of his aircraft engines again until the COVID-19 coronavirus has ended, when it is safe for people to gather together.

He admits hes just a caretaker for the engine. We have to keep the history of this engine going, so young people can come and see this staff, see it run. Its a great attraction for St. Helena, I hope everyone enjoys it.

And, when hes done with the aircraft engine, Wont everyone be surprised to see the faces of those in the St. Helena Historical Society when I donate it? he said.

Are you going to do that? Niemans response: Well see.







Watch Now: Firing up the bomber engine in St. Helena

2020: Saluting our Napa County Veterans
Washington, Sept. 16, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Genesis Water Technologies, Inc. (GWT) has been named 2020 Small Business Exporter of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration. The Maitland, Florida-based company will be recognized during SBAs National Small Business Week, an annual event honoring the accomplishments and contributions of the best small businesses in the nation. This years National Small Business Week activities will include numerous educational panels providing retooling and innovative practices for entrepreneurs as our nations small businesses look to pivot and recover toward a stronger economy.

Genesis Water Technologies, Inc. owner and Technical Director Nick Nicholas, along with other national winners and finalists for the National Small Business Person of the Year, will be honored in a virtual event that will be held on September 22-24.

Genesis Water Technologies, Inc. has a tremendous impact in providing access to safe drinking water around the world. They are a great example of how a small business can flourish by entering global markets. We are proud that the SBA was able to assist them as they grew into an international company, said SBAs Office of International Trade Associate Administrator Loretta Greene.

Under Nicolas leadership, the companys revenues more than doubled in 2019, and GWT started tackling the water supply issues with sustainable water treatment systems. Nicholas is passionate about educating people about the impact that polluted water has on the world.

Genesis Water Technologies, Inc. began exporting industrial water filtration systems to Saudi Arabia in 2009. Today, the export business makes up 40 percent of the companys total sales and supports the workforce of 100 employees. GWT received a State Expansion Program (STEP) grant for $2,500, which provided a roadmap for the international expansion of GWT. The company launched a digital marketing campaign to include translating its website into 24 local dialects and invested in search engine optimization tools to increase traffic to its website.

The company now uses its expertise and solutions to serve municipalities and industrial clients in 43 countries, fulfilling its mission of providing water and wastewater reuse solutions to communities around the world. GWT believes it can make a difference in the worlds access to safe and clean water.

For registration and additional information on National Small Business Week, please visit sba.gov/NSBW.





About the U.S. Small Business Administration



The U.S. Small Business Administration makes the American dream of business ownership a reality. As the only go-to resource and voice for small businesses backed by the strength of the federal government, the SBA empowers entrepreneurs and small business owners with the resources and support they need to start, grow or expand their businesses, or recover from a declared disaster. It delivers services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. To learn more, visit https://www.sba.gov.

---

Cosponsorship Authorization #SBW2020. SBAs participation in this Cosponsored Activity is not an endorsement of the views, opinions, products, or services of any Cosponsor or other person or entity. All SBA programs and services are extended to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis.

Details and registration information will be posted on sba.gov/NSBW as events are finalized.
(Natural News) According to a report by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) and Princeton Universitys Bridging Divides Initiative, peaceful protests associated with the Black Lives Matter movement happened in 48 out of 50 major cities in the U.S. However, contrary to the report from Princeton that participants in these protests have not engaged in violence or destructive activity  reports of burning, looting and murdering that emerge after these demonstrations appear to debunk this claim.

Based on the report authored by Dr. Roudabeh Kishi and Sam Jones, nearly every major city in the U.S. experienced rioting and violence  with the only two exceptions being Fresno, Calif. and Mesa, Ariz.

It also pointed out that political orientation and biased media framing both played a big role in how people perceived the Black Lives Matter demonstration to be. However, the idea that a large percentage of urban areas experienced rioting will linger in the general publics consciousness for a longer period of time compared to the smaller number of more peaceful movements.

The report concluded by acknowledging the fact that rallies and demonstrations related to Black Lives Matter have erupted across the country  and state actors, non-government factions and counter-protesters are responding in kind. It also pointed out how the current administration is exacerbating the tensions in different ways which, in reality, is a response to the inaction of some city officials.

The May 25 death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis, Minn. police officers triggered Black Lives Matter protests against systemic racism and police brutality. Mobs of protesters started off from simple protests to toppling monuments and memorials of Confederate historical figures, the latter action being condemned by Republican lawmakers.

Violence in BLM protests cannot be simply ignored

Despite the blatantly hypocritical depiction of Black Lives Matter protests being peaceful, incidents that involve protesters hurting or killing civilians and damaging surrounding properties always accompany such movements  and these cannot simply be disregarded.

In Portland, considered the epicenter of Black Lives Matter protests, two notable instances of violence related to the protests were reported.

Former security officer and DJ Marquise Love, who attended Black Lives Matter protests in downtown Portland, was filmed on video beating Adam Haner in mid-August. The victim, who simply stepped in to stop an earlier assault, received serious injuries at the hands of Love. The perpetrator has since turned himself in to law enforcement custody.

Amid the protests in the city, 100 percent Antifa Michael Reinoehl shot and killed Trump supporter Aaron Danielson on Aug. 29  more than a week after Loves assault on Haner. U.S. Marshals killed Reinoehl a few days after the shooting as they were attempting to apprehend him for Danielsons killing.

Similar unrest caused by Black Lives Matter protests in some cities have gone out of control  prompting requests to deploy their respective State National Guard to help law enforcement. Take the case of Chicago, where a group of four aldermen have requested Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker to declare a state of emergency and send the Illinois National Guard to the city after increased unrest.

However, people have started fighting back against the violent Black Lives Matter mobs without having to wait for authorities.

The residents of Chicagos Englewood community have had enough of chaotic Black Lives Matter riots, so they told protesters to leave as they saw the arrival of the protesters into the area as a harbinger of even more chaos. The residents effort bore fruit as the crowd of protesters eventually dispersed before any damage to property occurred.

Seventeen-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, who was protecting businesses in Kenosha, Wis. from Black Lives Matter rioters, had to use his AR-15 rifle in self-defense. He shot and killed two of his assailants and wounded a third. Incidentally, the rioters shot by Rittenhouse were recidivists themselves  the two casualties were a pedophile and a domestic abuser, while the wounded one was a convicted burglar.

Find out more updates about the violent Black Lives Matter riots happening in major U.S. cities at Rioting.news.

Sources include:

Breitbart.com

ACLEDData.com

WashingtonPost.com

Reuters.com
Speaker Nancy Pelosi will keep the House in session to pursue another Covid-19 relief bill. (Getty Images)

Speaker Nancy Pelosi reportedly intends to keep the House in session until both parties and the White House strike a new coronavirus relief deal, bowing to pressure from some in her caucus to act again amid the public health crisis before Election Day.

"We have to stay here until we have a bill," Pelosi told House Democrats on a morning conference call, according to The Hill. A congressional source confirmed her comments to The Independent.

But that will be an uphill effort  with all parties involved carrying big asks into any negotiations.

That's if there are any new negotiations. Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill, as well as senior Trump administration officials, have not held any talks about an emergency package that could reach into the trillions of dollars.

Ms Pelosi, on that call and during a CNBC interview, again insisted she and other Democratic leaders would only accept a full-scale measure that resembles one House Democrats passed earlier this year. That bill, which was stifled in the Senate by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, would give state and local governments almost $1trn in emergency funding, and deliver another round of $1,200 direct payments to many Americans, while also extending a federal unemployment insurance program that ran out of money this summer.

She rejected one more time a "skinny" Senate Republican bill endorsed by the Trump White House.

"This is the opportunity. And the skinny deal is a Republican bill: That's not a deal at all," Pelosi told CNBC. "They're making a skinny, in fact, [Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer and I call it an emaciated proposal for a massive problem."

"We can fiscally spend the appropriate amount of money to meet the needs of the American people," she added. "And by the way: It's stimulus. We are a consumer economy and the more we have, whether it's food stamps or unemployment insurance ... that is stimulus to the economy. ... It all takes money."

Story continues

Lawmakers and the White House must also reach a government-funding deal by the end of the month. Both sides are eager to avoid a federal government shutdown during an election cycles final month. But those talks likely will take priority, and further stall any new Covid-19 bill.

Whats more, it remains unclear what either side might except.

Ms Pelosi and Democrats want a massive, $3trn measure but White House negotiators have talked about a smaller, $1trn measure.

And Donald Trump, who would have to sign it into law, continues saying the country is rounding the corner on the pandemic crisis.

Read more

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Contempt for the American people and science: Pelosi rips Trump for Woodward revelations he downplayed coronavirus

Hair salon at centre of Nancy Pelosi controversy shuts down after GoFundMe raises $300,000 for owner
Performance is based on up to 29 Community Checkup measures commonly considered to be indicators of strong primary care. These measures are grouped into domains that are combined and weighted to produce a single score that is used for comparison purposes. The domains include prevention and screening, chronic disease care, coordinated care, and appropriate (evidence-based) cost-effective care. On these measures, the following represent the highest-performing medical groups in the state (an * indicates more than 50% of patients are Medicaid-insured).

Commercially-insured Medicaid-insured The Polyclinic Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic* Virginia Mason Medical Center Northwest Physicians Network Kaiser Permanente Washington Swedish Medical Group Association of University Physicians, DBA UW Physicians Kadlec Clinic* University of Washington Medical Center Kaiser Permanente Washington

"The many medical groups whose performance on these measures is at or above the state average deserve recognition," says Executive Director Nancy Giunto, "but it's important to note that this ranking is not exhaustive of all aspects of care quality, nor is it inclusive of all providers across the state. It is, however, an important indicator of overall performance on important measures of primary care for the state's largest medical groups."

For many measures, Washington state's results are compared with the national 90th percentile performance with the Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) dataset published by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), one of the nation's most widely used health care tools for measuring health plan performance. Alliance members have set statewide performance at the 90th percentile as their goal. Unfortunately, Washington state continues to show performance below the national average on most of the HEDIS measures; for the commercially-insured, 86% of Washington's measure results fell below the national 50th percentile and for the Medicaid-insured, it was 85%.

Barbe West, Executive Director of the Southwest Washington Accountable Community of Health says, "Looking at Washington's performance compared to the national HEDIS benchmarks is disappointing and serves as a reminder of the challenges we need to address in order to provide care in the top ten percent nationally. Data is a critical component of the work of the Accountable Communities of Health and resources like the Alliance and the Community Checkup keep us on track to identify and make the improvements we need across the state."

The report includes a look at the wide variation in the average rate of adolescent well-care visits for the Medicaid-insured. While the overall statewide average of 37% is well below the national 90th percentile of 68%, which Alliance members seek to reach, some providers in Washington state highlighted in this section are meeting and exceeding that rate. There is also a special feature to assist health insurance purchasers and their members in using the Community Checkup for health care decision-making. The Alliance's Community Checkup website now provides six years of publicly available results that are searchable in many ways:

by provider type, such as clinic, medical group, or hospital;

by categories of care, such as diabetes, pregnancy, and surgery; and

by individual measures including generic prescriptions, colon cancer screening, and hospital readmission rates.

"There is no question that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on all sectors of the health care system, from providers on the front lines to consumers navigating a new world of health care concerns and care options, its effects will likely ripple for years to come," says Alliance Executive Director Giunto, "Now more than ever we need transparency and unbiased information to shine a bright light on opportunities to improve the delivery of health care in our state. To create a better and more affordable system for the people of Washington state, we must continue to analyze variations in care quality, seek to understand what drives those differences, and work together to eliminate unnecessary and unwarranted variation."

About the Washington Health Alliance

The Washington Health Alliance (Alliance) is a 501(c)(3) non-partisan nonprofit working collaboratively with its 185 member organizations to transform Washington state's health care system for the better. The Alliance believes strongly in transparency and offers trusted and credible reporting of progress on health care quality, price, spending, and waste. The Alliance couples that analysis with providing a forum for critical conversation and aligned efforts by health plans, employers, doctors, start-ups, consumers, and other health care partners. In addition to its Community Checkup website, the Alliance supports Own Your Health, a website designed to help consumers obtain high quality health care.

Contact: Leslie Bennett

Phone: (206) 454-2961

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Washington Health Alliance

Related Links

http://wahealthalliance.org


Celebrity The Daily Beast

Reuters/Arnd WiegmannTheatrical rock superstar Meat Loaf, whose Bat Out of Hell is one of the bestselling albums of all time, has died at the age of 74. Reports say the singer and actor had recently fallen sick with COVID-19.In an emotional statement posted to Facebook early Friday, the performers family said he was with his wife when he died and had said his final goodbyes to his two daughters in the past 24 hours. The star sold 100 million albums in his five-decade career and starred in movie
WORCESTER, Mass. - An Illinois man who impersonated an IRS employee and stole nearly $900,000 has been sentenced to three years in federal prison.

Ashokkumar Patel was sentenced Tuesday by a U.S. district judge to 40 months behind bars with a year of supervision after release, the Sprigfield Republican reported.

Patel, of Hoffman Estates, Illinois, and formerly of Worcester and Plainville, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in Worcester federal court to conspiracy, fraud and money laundering charges for the scam that the U.S. Attorneys Office says made $881,662.

Patel faces deportation and was ordered to pay restitution to his victims.

From December 2013 to October 2014, Patel was part of a conspiracy whereby victims in the United States were contacted by individuals, primarily in India, and falsely told that they owed money to the IRS, the U.S. Attorneys Office said. The victims were told that in order to avoid imminent arrest they had to purchase MoneyPak, or other types of prepaid stored value cards, load thousands of dollars onto the cards and provide the serial numbers to the callers.

According to prosecutors, the money was then used to buy prepaid cards that were used to purchase money orders that were deposited into various bank accounts, including Patels.
The containers, that were supposed to be each transporting about 25 tonnes of 99% copper-content blister, were inspected by customs personnel last week, according to photographs seen by Fastmarkets.Two industry sources told Fastmarkets that the containers had been filled with stacks of red cement bricks and have now been impounded at the port.The seals on the front of the containers were intact at the point of inspection, the sources said, while the copper is believed to have been stolen by thieves who broke in from the side of the containers.At current copper prices, the containers were carrying more than $500,000 worth of copper.The containers are said to have been booked by a major commodity trading house, who declined to comment on the incident when contacted by Fastmarkets.Approximately 75 tonnes of blister copper had been scheduled to be delivered to its Chinese copper smelter client via Lianyungang port to be processed into copper cathode.Chinese copper smelters that use Lianyungang port include Sanmenxia, Yuguang Gold Lead, Baiyin Nonferrous and Jincheng.The port authority of Lianyungang did not respond to inquiries from Fastmarkets at the time of publication.Fastmarkets reported a similar incident in August where containers of copper cathode from Africa were found to be filled with sand upon arrival in China.The containers of copper cathode, which belong to two parties - one Africa-based copper producer and one Asian trading house - were broken into at the port of Beira, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter at the time.And an Asia-based trader also mentioned hearing of a copper shipment from Pakistan containing iron slabs and cement among the ingots in the past two months.These reported incidents come after a copper price rally in recent months. The London Metal Exchange three-month daily official copper price was $6,800.50 per tonne on September 15, the highest since June 2018. It is up 47% from the lowest point this year of $4,626.50 per tonne on March 23.On higher spot availability, Fastmarkets copper blister 98-99% refining charge spot, cif China went up slightly to $135-160 per tonne on August 28, from $135-155 per tonne at the end of July.
A bird flies by in the foreground as a Southwest Airlines jet comes in for a landing at McCarran International Airport on May 25, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Southwest Airlines on Wednesday said it has logged a "modest" improvement in bookings through October, helping it trim its daily cash burn estimate for this quarter by $3 million to an expected $17 million.

Despite the uptick in bookings, the Dallas-based airline said in a filing that it expects revenue to drop 65% to 75% in October and capacity to be down 40% to 50% from the same month last year as the coronavirus pandemic continues to hurt travel demand. It forecast November capacity to drop 35% to 40% from 2019.

"Passenger demand and booking trends remain primarily leisure-oriented and inconsistent by region," Southwest said. "The Company remains cautious in this uncertain demand environment and continues to plan for multiple scenarios for its fleet and capacity plans."

Southwest said it would extend a policy that leaves middle seats open on its flights, except for travelers in the same party, through the end of November, an effort to calm travelers nervous about flying in a pandemic and better compete at the start of the end-of-year holidays. Delta Air Lines, for example, last month said it would limit capacity on flights through Jan. 6.

Southwest shares were up more than 3% in morning trading.
Investigators conduct pre-investigation probe into death of nationalist Martsinkevich

 RAPSI, Vladimir Burnov

14:10 16/09/2020

MOSCOW, September 16 (RAPSI)  Investigators conduct a pre-investigation probe into the death of the leader of the Restruct nationalist movement Maxim Martsinkevich in a Chelyabinsk detention center, the Investigative Committees press service reports Wednesday.

Currently, all facts are being established, medico-legal analysis to establish the cause of death is being conducted, according to the statement.

Early on Wednesday, Martsinkevich was found dead in a detention cell. He left a suicide note, a source familiar with the matter told RAPSI.

The man could bargain for release over the next year, his defense said earlier.

Martsinkevich, an infamous Russian nationalist, had a history of clashes with the law. In 2014, he was sentenced to five years in prison for publishing extremist content on the Internet.

He was also convicted of publishing online a video of staging a pretentious execution of a Tajik drug dealer and extremist statements and received 3.5 years in prison in two cases taken together.

In December 2018, Moscows Babushkinsky District Court gave Martsinkevich 10 years in prison for robbery and hooliganism. His associate, a leader of the St. Petersburg cell of Restruct movement established by Martsinkevich, Mikhail Shalankevich received a 6-year prison term but was released due to the time served in detention.

Besides Martsinkevich, nine members of the Restruct movement were involved in the case. According to case documents, under pretense of drug interdiction, the group attacked people who sell smoking mixtures in 2013-2014 in Moscow using electro shockers, gas sprayers and metallic pipes, leaving several people traumatized and one person dead.

The case was reconsidered as in May 2018 the Moscow City Court overturned a specific part of the defendants 10-year prison term concerning robbery and hooliganism and ordered the case review. The court also mitigated sentence for three associates of Martsinkevich, who were also defendants in the case. Dmitry Sheldyashev and Alexander Shankin were sentenced to 5 years and 10 months in a penal colony while Roman Maksimov received 4 years and 10 months.
Keanu Reeves has teased what fans can expect from The Matrix 4, calling it a 'love story' that will 'inspire' its audience.

The actor, 56, is returning to his role as Neo for the upcoming blockbuster and said on BBC's The One Show he is currently filming in Berlin, Germany.

Appearing on Wednesday's show via link, host Alex Jones asked the star: 'Can you tell our viewers why you're in Berlin?'

Project: Keanu Reeves, 56, has teased what fans can expect from The Matrix 4, calling it a 'love story' that will 'inspire' its audience

Keanu replied: 'Sure. I'm having the great fortune, thankfully, working on another Matrix film.'

'Number four!' Alex replied.

'Yes indeed,' Keanu said. 'So we are out here trying to make some magic.'

Ronan Keating, who was guest hosting for the day, said: 'Keanu, I'm not giving any spoilers but I remember at the end of number three it didn't look like you were coming back?'

Production: The actor is returning to his role as Neo and said on BBC's The One Show he is currently filming in Berlin, Germany (pictured in The Matrix Revolutions with Carrie-Ann Moss)

Keanu agreed, saying: 'No it didn't, it looked a little dire for Neo.'

The actor then discussed the film's script, saying: 'We have a wonderful director, Lana Wachowski, and she has written a beautiful script that is a love story, it's inspiring.

'It's another version, a call to wake up and it has some great action.' Leaning in close to the camera, he added: 'All will be revealed.'

Trying to get more information on the project, Ronan asked would the fourth film be a prequel to the original triology.

Keanu replied: 'No, no. No going in the past.'

Keanu said: 'I'm having the great fortune, thankfully, working on another Matrix film' (pictured with Carrie-Ann in 2017)

It comes after Keanu recentlby had nothing but praise for coronavirus safety measures on the set of The Matrix 4.

The actor said there were 'thoughtful, effective protocols in place' on set in a video chat interview with the Associated Press.

He said: 'Theres some really thoughtful, effective protocols in place, and the rhythm of filmmaking has not been really impacted or interrupted, in the sense of filming.

'Thats because of the hard work and organization, and again the thoughtfulness that has gone into the protocols.'

Interview: Keanu spoke to Alex Jones and Ronan Keating on Tuesday's episode of The One Show

Filming originally began in San Francisco, where some locals were angered by property destruction caused in the midst of action scenes.

The production then moved to Berlin in February but was quickly shut down due to the pandemic.

Back in June, Keanu told Empire Magazine that it was the quality of the writing that drew him to this installment of The Matrix, which hasn't gotten a finalised title yet. '

'Lana Wachowski wrote a beautiful script and a wonderful story that resonated with me,' he said. 'Thats the only reason to do it.'

The new working relationship seemed to still have some of the old magic, even though Lana's sister Lilly Wachowski sat out this installment.

Inspirational: Discussing the film's script, he said: 'We have a wonderful director, Lana Wachowski, and she has written a beautiful script that is a love story, it's inspiring'

'To work with her again is just amazing. Its been really special, and the story has, I think, some meaningful things to say, and that we can take some nourishment from.'

The Matrix was originally envisioned as a science fictionaction film starring Will Smith in the Neo role, though he turned it down, and Val Kilmer as Morpheus, who was eventually played by Laurence Fishburne.

The ground-breaking film went on to be one of the most successful films of 1999 and earned four Academy Awards, along with copious praise from critics.

Two sequels, Reloaded and Revolutions, were filmed back-to-back and released close together in 2003.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 08:56:47|Editor: huaxia

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LONDON, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Gabonese striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has signed a new three-year contract with Arsenal, the English Premier League club confirmed on Tuesday.

Aubameyang, 31, joined the Gunners from Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund in 2018 and has since made 111 appearances and scored 72 goals.

The Arsenal captain scored a brace in last season's FA Cup final as Arsenal came from behind to beat Chelsea 2-1. He also netted in Arsenal's 3-0 victory over Fulham last Saturday in their first game of the new Premier League season.

"Signing for this special club was never in doubt," Aubameyang told the club's website. "I believe in Arsenal. We can achieve big things together. We have something exciting here and I believe the best is to come for Arsenal."

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta described Aubameyang as "a superb player with an incredible mentality."

"He's an important leader for the team and a big part of what we're building. He wants to be up there with the best players in the world and leave his mark. He can achieve that here," said Arteta.

Arsenal will host West Ham United in their second match of the 2020/21 Premier League on Saturday.

The Gunners only finished eighth in the Premier League last season, but their FA Cup win secured them a place in the UEFA Europa League for the 2020-21 campaign. Enditem
In the popular imagination, Vikings were fearsome blonde-haired warriors from Scandinavia who used longboats to carry out raids across Europe in a brief but bloody reign of terror. But the reality is more complex, says SFU Archaeology Prof. Mark Collard.

Collard is a member of an international team of researchers that has just published the results of the world's largest DNA sequencing of Viking skeletons, in this week's edition of Nature.

Led by Prof. Eske Willerslev of the Universities of Cambridge and Copenhagen, the research team extracted and analysed DNA from the remains of 442 men, women and children.

The remains were recovered from archaeological sites in Scandinavia, the U.K., Ireland, Iceland, Greenland, Estonia, Ukraine, Poland and Russia, and mostly date to the Viking Age (ca. 750-1050 AD).

The team's analyses yielded a number of findings. One of the most noteworthy is that contrary to what has often been assumed, Viking identity was not limited to people of Scandinavian ancestry--the team discovered that two skeletons from a Viking burial site in the Orkney Islands were of Scottish ancestry.

They also found evidence that there was significant gene flow into Scandinavia from the British Isles, Southern Europe, and Asia before and during the Viking Age, which further undermines the image of the Vikings as 'pure' Scandinavians.

Another discovery that runs counter to the standard image of the Vikings is that many had brown hair, not blonde hair.

The analyses' results also shed light on the Vikings' activities. For example, consistent with patterns documented by historians and archaeologists, the team found that Vikings who travelled to England generally had Danish ancestry, while the majority of Vikings who travelled to Scotland, Ireland, Iceland and Greenland had Norwegian ancestry. In contrast, Vikings who headed east were mostly from Sweden.

Interestingly, says Collard, data revealed a number of close kin among the 442 individuals. Four members of a Viking raiding party interred in a boat burial in Estonia were found to be brothers, while two individuals buried 300 to 400 kilometers apart in Sweden were found to be cousins. Perhaps even more strikingly, the team identified a pair of second-degree male relatives (i.e. half-brothers, nephew-uncle, or grandson-grandfather) from two sites, one in Denmark and one in England.

"We have this image of well-connected Vikings mixing with each other, trading and going on raiding parties to fight Kings across Europe because this is what we see on television and read in books - but genetically we have shown for the first time that it wasn't that kind of world. This study changes the perception of who a Viking actually was," says Willerslev. "No one could have predicted these significant gene flows into Scandinavia from Southern Europe and Asia happened before and during the Viking Age."

Of all the team's discoveries, Collard is most intrigued by the identification of close kin.

"While the 'big picture' discoveries are great, I was blown away by the fact that the analyses revealed the presence of four brothers in the Estonian boat burial, and a possible nephew and uncle on either side of the North Sea."

"These findings have important implications for social life in the Viking world, but we would've remained ignorant of them without ancient DNA. They really underscore the power of the approach for understanding history."

###
On the Greek island of Lesbos, a human tragedy is playing out before the eyes of the world. The 13,000 refugees who have been left homeless and stranded on the island since the Moria camp burned down are being denied all assistance. They sleep in the open air on roads and have no access to drinking water or food. If they protest against this barbaric treatment, the police attack them with tear gas.

The EU always talks about human rights, but they are treating us like rubbish, Taheri, a youth who fled Afghanistan with his family, told Germanys Der Spiegel.

The inhumane treatment and humiliation of these despairing people cannot simply be explained as the result of indifference to their fate. It is a product of a deliberate policy pursued by the European Union (EU) and its member states. Refugees are being intentionally mistreated to deter others from attempting to reach Europe. For this same reason, the EU allows thousands of migrants to drown in the Mediterranean each year.

Migrants flee from the Moria refugee camp during a second fire, on the northeastern Aegean island of Lesbos, Greece, on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2020. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

The horrifying pictures from Lesbos expose the brutality of Fortress Europe. The worthlessness of the European values often invoked by Berlin, Paris, and Brussels to attack Russia and China, or wage war in defence of human rights, has been laid bare for all to see. The demands raised by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), Lega and other fascistic organisations are being implemented by the EU.

Europes ruling circles will use the same ruthlessness they are currently displaying towards refugees to suppress anyone who challenges their wealth and power. Under conditions of the deepest economic crisis since the 1930s, they are preparing for bitter class battles. The defence of the refugees is therefore not merely an elementary humanitarian obligation. It is necessary to defend the democratic rights and social achievements of the entire working class.

Leading European politicians have openly admitted that they welcome the deterrent provided by the images from Lesbos. We must now try to avoid sending out signals that could cause a chain reaction we could not control, stated Austrias foreign minister, Alexander Schallenberg, by way of justifying his governments refusal to accept any refugees from Lesbos.

The German government argued along similar lines. Berlin has warned about a pull effect, insisted that a new camp must be built on Lesbos and concealed its inaction behind demands for a European solution. But they know full well that this will never come to pass, since the Hungarian, Polish and other far-right European governments firmly reject accepting any refugees.

The German governments offer to accept between 100 and 150 children and an additional 1,500 refugees, most of whom are families, is a sham. Its aim is above all to contain the widespread outrage over what is happening on Lesbos. The government already promised to accept the children earlier this year. The same applies to families with children, whom the government are now allegedly seeking.

German responsibility

The reality is that the German government and its European partners bear chief responsibility for the misery and mass deaths on Europes external borders. German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer is supporting his party colleague, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who is doing all he can to make life a living hell for the refugees.

Mitsotakis has accused the refugees of setting fire to the camp themselves in order to be able to leave Lesbos. A Greek government spokesman declared, They thought if they just set fire to Moria, they would be able to leave the island. We tell them bluntly: they can forget it.

Even prior to the fire in Moria, life for the refugees was hell on earth. Jean Ziegler, the Swiss former UN special rapporteur for the right to food, described the conditions in February 2020 as follows: Everything I have seen in the slums around the world pales in comparison to what I experienced in Moria. Human rights are being violated in the camp at every turn, total despair is all-pervasive. The malefactors in Brussels are allowing conditions of survival to develop in the hot spots that recall the deplorable concentration camps and hope in this way to drain the flood of refugees.

The refugees are now literally left with nothing. They are forced to camp in the dirt without tents or blankets. The police fire tear gas at them. They are refusing to allow aid organisations to access the homeless refugees, who are desperately searching for food, and force volunteers to dispose of meals that have already been prepared for them.

Migrants sleep on the road near the Moria refugee camp on the northeastern island of Lesbos, Greece, September 10, 2020 [Credit: AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris]

This apocalyptic situation is impacting the refugees ever more severely. The aid organisation Mission Lifeline reported on Twitter of children with severe injuries and helpless parents. The Greek police fired fist-sized metal objects full of tear gas at children.

The Greek government has now begun constructing a new camp for the refugees at Kara Tepe, a former military training ground on Lesbos. However, only about 500 refugees have been accommodated there thus far. Many are terrified that they will experience the same inhumane treatment there as in Moria, and that they will be forced to spend the coming cold and wet winter in tents.

Surrounded by NATO barbed wire, the camp resembles a prison and conditions within are similar: curfews, inadequate medical services and the isolation of people who test positive for COVID-19. Even so, the threat of an uncontrolled spread of the coronavirus remains in Kara Tepe, just like in Moria. Seven of the first 300 refugees accepted into the camp have tested positive for COVID-19.

A product of the dirty deal with Turkey

The concept for the Moria camp was developed in Germany, and it was established and operated with the help of the EU. It is the direct product of the dirty deal negotiated by German Chancellor Angela Merkel with Turkey in 2016.

At the time, the EU obligated the Greek Syriza government to establish camps on Aegean Sea islands that were euphemistically referred to as hot spots. Their role was to capture, register and deport as soon as possible refugees who successfully made the sea crossing from Turkey to Greece. At the same time, the coastguard was significantly strengthened and NATO warships were sent to the eastern Mediterranean to deter refugees.

The agreement with Turkey intentionally violated the right of each person to have an individual review of their reasons for seeking asylum so as to facilitate the mass deportation of refugees. The German government and EU sent several liaison officials and employees of the EU border agency Frontex to Greece in order to swiftly process the asylum applications. Many of the rejections were so obviously unlawful that Greek judges subsequently overturned them.

At the same time, the EU refused to accept the same number of refugees from Turkey as had been deported, which was one of the conditions of the agreement. The agreement was thus reduced to the miserable core of Turkey blocking all refugees from reaching Greece and Greece refusing to allow any refugees to travel to other European countries.

The hot spots on the Aegean islands, which had originally only been intended for refugees to stay in for a week, were transformed into permanent internment camps in which living conditions became ever more life-threatening and inhumane. The number of internees grew. Already in 2018, the containers in Moria were no longer adequate to house everyone. In a neighbouring olive grove, wooden huts and tents were erected for the refugees. At that time, 6,000 refugees were living in a legal vacuum from which there was no escape.

The situation then worsened dramatically in Moria in late 2019. Around 30,000 refugees successfully reached Greece in dinghies during the autumn, and they were subsequently confined to the camps. By March 2020, around 20,000 people lived in and around Moria. Food and water became scarce and were rationed. Internees had to queue for hours to get a meal or go to the toilet. The power supply regularly collapsed, and the coronavirus pandemic was already threatening to erupt.

All experts clearly understood that the virus would spread among the camp internees uncontrolled once it emerged. But the Greek government did not respond by evacuating the camp. Instead, it reduced the number of active aid organisations and imposed strict curfews.

COVID-19 was then detected in one refugee in early September. The virus spread rapidly throughout the overcrowded camp. Shortly thereafter, 35 infections had been registered. The total curfew that was then imposed and the reduction of medical care to emergency ambulance services triggered unrest. Ultimately, a fire destroyed the entire camp.

EU toughens refugee policy

The German government and EU have responded to the self-made catastrophe in Moria by adopting an even harder line on refugee policy.

At a joint press conference on Friday, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer and EU Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas presented the key points of the EUs new refugee policy. According to them, refugee camps on Europes external borders should be funded and operated by the EU itself.

Moria no longer exists, said Schinas. Thats why it is clear that the Greek authorities must quickly establish a new institution that is modern, that is a centre with all of the necessary facilities to identify and process asylum cases.

This will see the accelerated implementation of plans presented by Seehofer to the EU last summer. They include extra-territorial internment camps on the external borders where legal proceedings and the Geneva Conventions for Refugees will be effectively suspended.

Instead of evacuating them, Seehofer is threatening the refugees with a Moria 2.0! The spiral of deterrence set into motion by the EU in its struggle against refugees is being pushed to a new stage. It can already be expected that in a relatively short period, the conditions in the newly established EU camps will be even worse than those in Moria.

The common European solution being sought by Berlin, Paris, Brussels and Rome is focused on intensifying the war on refugees and driving them out of Europe. There is no room for the millions of people fleeing war, hunger and poverty out of pure desperation.
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -- Sept. 15, 2020 -- Initial findings reported by the Arizona COVID-19 Genomics Union (ACGU) suggest that following Arizona's first reported case of COVID-19 in late January, the state experienced no cases that went undetected and was COVID-free until at least 11 distinct incursions occurred between mid-February and early April.

The published results appear in the scientific journal mBio.

Faculty at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), an affiliate of City of Hope, Northern Arizona University (NAU), University of Arizona (UArizona) and Arizona State University (ASU) launched the ACGU in April with the express purpose of tracking the causative agent of COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2: how it evolves and how it spreads into, within and out of Arizona.

The ACGU sequenced the SARS-CoV-2 genomes in as many virus-positive patient samples in Arizona as possible, and working with Arizona's public health officials, applied the results toward statewide efforts to test and track patients, as well as provide guidance for Arizona public policy makers.

Quick action by ASU and Maricopa County public health officials, ACGU scientists agree, likely kept the first identified COVID-19 patient in Arizona -- a student who had just returned from Hubei, the Chinese province where the disease originated -- from igniting an outbreak, and prevented Arizona from becoming an early epicenter for the contagion.

"This is a great example of how a rapid and thorough public health response can be successful in preventing the spread of this disease," said ACGU Director Dr. Paul Keim, Regents' Professor of Biological Sciences and Cowden Endowed Chair in Microbiology at NAU and Executive Director of NAU's Pathogen and Microbiome Institute.

"Similar steps could be taken when shaping future efforts to reopen businesses and schools, even though the virus continues to circulate and people remain susceptible," added Keim, who is also a Distinguished Professor and Co-Director of TGen's Pathogen and Microbiome Division.

Dr. Michael Worobey, an ACGU co-founder and the head of University of Arizona's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, agrees.

"It's a combination of the patient doing the right things to isolate himself and be aware that he possibly had this disease, and public health officials doing all the right things. Stopping an incursion of COVID-19 was a victory for the state of Arizona," Dr. Worobey said.

This bought Arizona valuable time for preparedness efforts. The first reported case of "community" transmission occurred in Arizona in early March descended from the Washington state outbreak that was discovered in February. More than 80% of the SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences from Arizona COVID-19 cases descended from at least 11 separate lineages that were initially circulating widely in Europe, and by travel have since dominated the outbreak throughout the U.S. None of the observed transmission clusters are epidemiologically linked to the original travel-related case in the Arizona, suggesting successful early isolation and quarantine.

The ACGU uses state-of-the-art sequencers, custom computational analysis workflows, and supercomputers to determine the sequence of the virus's RNA genome, which is just under 30,000 bases long. In contrast, there are nearly 3 billion bases in the human genome, which determine traits as simple as eye and hair color, and as complex as an individual's propensity for cancer and other disease.

TGen has so far sequenced SARS-CoV-2 genomes from nearly 3,000 COVID-19 positive samples for the ACGU, and additional sequencing was performed at ASU and UArizona, from among the more than 200,000 positive cases in Arizona, making it one of the most robust such efforts in the nation. ACGU receives Arizona samples collected by state, county, tribal and private healthcare systems.

ACGU scientists take advantage of small changes or mutations in the virus' genome, which naturally occur over time as the virus reproduces, to track the spread of the virus. By comparing mutations observed in Arizona to those present in strains circulating across the globe, they can determine when and from where the virus has been introduced to Arizona.

Using molecular clock analyses, researchers found that the majority of Arizona sequences are represented by two lineages -- and several sub-lineages -- most of which were likely introduced through domestic travel, but with some evidence for international importation.

"Through the ACGU, we are harnessing expertise in virology, genomics, evolution and bioinformatics from throughout Arizona in order to rapidly distill these genomic data into actionable insights that can complement the state's public health response," Dr. Keim said. "These results demonstrate the power of public health contact tracing and self-isolation following a positive test for stemming the tide of infections moving forward."

Dr. David Engelthaler, Director of TGen North in Flagstaff, which includes the institute's infectious disease branch, said the initial ACGU findings show how each community, each state is writing its own story for what is happing in the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We need to understand all of those plot lines that have led to where we are now," said Dr. Engelthaler, another of the co-founders of the ACGU. "Once this disease was detected in Arizona on Jan. 26, public health immediately jumped in to make sure that all contacts were identified, samples were collected and the patient was watched very closely for the next couple of weeks to make sure there were not any more cases."

In the coming months, he said, it will be necessary to track COVID-19 outbreaks and build epidemiological walls around each case, especially for those most at risk: persons older than 65, those in long-term care facilities, prisons, and those with pre-existing health problems.

"When you don't have eyes on this, when you don't have contact tracing, then it can really easily move from person-to-person," Dr. Engelthaler said. "It's really useful for public policy makers to be making locally-informed decisions."

Dr. Efrem Lim, a virologist who leads the ASU team, said the SARS-CoV-2 genome sequence data can give health care providers and public policy makers an edge in fighting the pandemic.

"Tracking the transmission of the virus and its mutations ensures that therapeutics and vaccines being developed are on the right course," said Dr. Lim, an assistant professor at ASU's Biodesign Institute. "We now have a handle on what the SARS-CoV-2 virus in our communities looks like at the sequence level."

###

This study -- An Early Pandemic Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 Population Structure and Dynamics in Arizona -- was supported by: The NARBHA Institute, Flinn Foundation, The Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Arizona, the National Institutes of Health, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the University of Arizona College of Science and Office of Research Innovation and Impact, and BIO5 Institute.

The authors acknowledge the critical role the Arizona Department of Health Services and multiple county and tribal health departments play in directing samples to the ACGU to be sequenced. Computational analyses were run on Northern Arizona University's Monsoon computing cluster, funded by Arizona's Technology and Research Initiative Fund (TRIF), administered by the Arizona Board of Regents. Additional analysis efforts also were funded by TRIF. Software development efforts were funded in part by the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The Cowden Endowment for Microbiology provided funds to support salaries.

About TGen, an affiliate of City of Hope

Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) is a Phoenix, Arizona-based non-profit organization dedicated to conducting groundbreaking research with life-changing results. TGen is affiliated with City of Hope, a world-renowned independent research and treatment center for cancer, diabetes and other life-threatening diseases: http://www.cityofhope.org. This precision medicine affiliation enables both institutes to complement each other in research and patient care, with City of Hope providing a significant clinical setting to advance scientific discoveries made by TGen. TGen is focused on helping patients with neurological disorders, cancer, diabetes and infectious diseases through cutting-edge translational research (the process of rapidly moving research toward patient benefit). TGen physicians and scientists work to unravel the genetic components of both common and complex rare diseases in adults and children. Working with collaborators in the scientific and medical communities worldwide, TGen makes a substantial contribution to help our patients through efficiency and effectiveness of the translational process. For more information, visit: http://www.tgen.org. Follow TGen on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter @TGen.

Media Contact:

Steve Yozwiak

TGen Senior Science Writer

602-343-8704

syozwiak@tgen.org

About Northern Arizona University

Northern Arizona University is a higher-research institution providing exceptional educational opportunities in Arizona and beyond. NAU delivers a student-centered experience to its 31,000 students in Flagstaff, statewide and online through rigorous academic programs in a supportive, inclusive and diverse environment. Dedicated, world-renowned faculty help ensure students achieve academic excellence, experience personal growth, have meaningful research opportunities and are positioned for personal and professional success.

Media Contact:

Diane Rechel

Communications Officer

928-225-0483

Diane.Rechel@nau.edu

About Arizona State University

Arizona State University has developed a new model for the American Research University, creating an institution that is committed to access, excellence and impact. ASU measures itself by those it includes, not by those it excludes. As the prototype for a New American University, ASU pursues research that contributes to the public good, and ASU assumes major responsibility for the economic, social and cultural vitality of the communities that surround it.

Media contact:

Joe Caspermeyer

Manager, Natural Sciences

Media Relations & Strategic Communications

480-727-4858

Joseph.Caspermeyer@asu.edu
YouTubers try every possible way to boost view counts, including posting clips with 'unhealthy' content, as they hope they can get big earnings from YouTube.

Five days after posting a clip on making soup with unplucked chicken, Nguyen Van Hung was fined VND7.5 million. Hungs clip not only was contrary to traditional habits and customs, but also promoted the waste of food.

Nguyen Van Hung clip on making soup and his clip on making soup with unplucked chicken

Hung is the son of Tan Vlog, also a well known YouTuber.

Tan became famous one year ago with clips on making super-big food, which helped her gain a YouTube yellow button just after a short time.

Prior to that, Tans elder brother  Hung Vlog  also got a yellow button for his channel.

Encouraged by the achievements of the mother and elder brother, Hau Troll, the second brother, and Thanh Luong, her adopted son, also decided to develop their own channels. Tan Vlog and her family members are often called the Vlogger family.

Hung, the owner of the clip about unplucked chicken soup, has 2.89 million subscribers.

He is a typical example of the Vietnamese YouTube generation which yearns to get rich on the platform at any cost.

Vietnamese YouTubers have found a lot of ways to make money.

They re-up others clips, exchange subscribers (show each others links on their channels to increase subs), buy views (boosting views with virtual clicks on black webs), backlink (posting clips on websites and forums for SEO), and do tool seeding (automatically posting clips on fanpages).

At that time, Vietnamese YouTubers even set up counterfeit channels which reported the real channels, fooling YouTube's censorship system.

Vietnamese YouTubers have found a lot of ways to make money. They re-up others clips, exchange subscribers (show each others links on their channels to increase subs), buy views (boosting views with virtual clicks on black webs), backlink (posting clips on websites and forums for SEO), and do tool seeding (automatically posting clips on fanpages).

Since YouTube has tightened control to stop dirty money-making ways, the YouTubers have found new ways of making money.

Video clips with unhealthy content are recommended since they draw more views.

There are numerous YouTube channels trying to attract viewers with odd things, such as pranks or challenges.

NTN Vlog of Nguyen Thanh Nam is the best known prankster. Born in 1994, he was once summoned by the police when he uploaded a clip on acting like ISIS bombing terrorists in 2016.

After that, Nam continued posting other clips of the same kind  challenges to climb a 100 meter electricity poll, drop 100 knives from above, or clips promoting wastefulness such as 'Burning hundreds of thousands of matches', or using thousands of straws.

The clips have been facing fierce criticism from people who believe that they dont bring any positive value to the community.

Nam has been warned by YouTube many times. They neutralized his monetization button, but he successfully appealed. After he came back, he continued posting clips with unhealthy content, ignoring the criticism.

The clip on dropping 100 knives from above has had 97,000 likes and 110,000 dislikes. Such clips can exist on YouTube thanks to a simple trick  setting limitations on the age of viewers.

Thanks to clips of this kind, NTN Vlogs now has 8.8 million subscribers, the fourth largest figure in Vietnam with 1.9 billion views, which is estimated to bring the NTN Vlogs owner $7,000 a month, according to SocialBlade.

Analysts said the actual figure could be lower because the CPM (cost per thousand) in the Vietnamese market is just 1/10 of that in the US.

However, the figure is enough to encourage many Vietnamese youth to follow his way and post dirty clips.

At present, to monetize on YouTubr, users just need 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watching hours in the last 12 months.

The permissiveness prompts them to make sensational clips to draw viewers, rather than high-quality clips with healthy content. The problem is that YouTube just turns off the monetization button, and it rarely erases the clips.

The increase in clips with unhealthy content is due to lack of control. Many parents allow their children to watch YouTube on their mobile phones. This means that the limitation on viewers age is insignificant, because small children use adults accounts.

One can easily find numerous clips with unhealthy content on YouTube: clips on pouring fish sauce on a mothers head, or making soup with an unplucked chicken.

Phuong Nguyen

Facebook, social networks abused by phishing attacks Social networks, including Facebook, have become the ideal environment for cybercriminals to seek profits by phishing.
TWIN FALLS  Since late July, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game has killed 41 elk to reduce crop destruction.

The Magic Valley elk population has been growing, and those elk have been eating more crops in the past few years. The uptick in elk-caused crop loss has gotten expensive for Fish and Game.

Fish and Game is required by state statute to compensate farmers for losses caused by big game, so as elk have eaten more crops, Fish and Games costs have skyrocketed. The Magic Valley region Fish and Game office paid out four claims in fiscal year 2015, totaling $69,000. That number jumped to 40 claims for $1.5 million in fiscal year 2019.

Fish and Game says paying out more than a million dollars in depredation claims every year wasnt sustainable. So the department tried new techniques to prevent the depredations. Attempts to haze the elk away were largely unsuccessful, so during the past two years Fish and Game has used nighttime sharpshooting to both change behavior and remove animals.

The department killed 206 elk last year. Of the 41 elk killed this year, 37 were antlerless and four were spike bulls. The Camas Prairie and Little Camas areas in Camas and Elmore counties have had the most elk depredations.

Nighttime sharpshooting has angered some Magic Valley hunters. Many said sportsmen should be used to kill more of the animals, instead of Fish and Game staff.

Fish and Game said its often impossible to use sportsmen, mainly because the elk only come into the ag fields at night  its illegal to hunt at night, Fish and Game needs a special permit to do the sharpshooting. Plus, the elk are mainly on private land. When the elk are on public land, its much easier for the department to use sportsmen.

Fish and Game has used hunters more this year. The department has offered five depredation hunts on public land for elk and one for deer. Fish and Game has also had better luck coordinating with Magic Valley landowners and offering hunts on private land. Those are called managed hunts, and there have been two in 2020, for six tags. Managed hunts had been virtually unprecedented in Idaho.

Landowners can get kill permits as well  landowners have taken six antlerless elk in 2020.

All of the elk killed by Fish and Game staff are processed and donated to Idaho Hunters Feeding the Hungry. The meat ends up in Magic Valley food pantries.

Big operation coming

This fall and coming spring, Idaho Fish and Game will use a helicopter and a long, funneled trap to capture 100 antlerless elk in the Little Camas region. Focusing on removing cows should prevent the population from bouncing back too quickly. The department will move the animals to central Idaho, outside of their home range.

They will be taken far enough away that were confident they will not return to the same area, Idaho Fish and Game Regional Communications Manager Terry Thompson said.

Those 100 individuals represent about a third of the depredating herd.

The department is trapping the animals in the fall and spring to ensure those are the specific elk that have gotten into the habit of eating local crops.

Its hard to know exactly how quickly the Little Camas herds population could rebound after the translocation.

(But) we wont know until we do it. Thompson said, adding that the department wants to reduce the number of elk throughout the northern part of the Magic Valley region. The ultimate goal is to have fewer elk in that area.

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According to a recent announcement, NVIDIA and SoftBank have signed a definitive agreement under which NVIDIA will acquire Arm Limited from SBG and the SoftBank Vision Fund in a transaction valued at $40 billion. The transaction reportedly is expected to be immediately accretive to NVIDIAs non-GAAP gross margin and non-GAAP earnings per share.

The combination brings together NVIDIAs leading AI computing platform with Arms vast ecosystem to create the premier computing company for the age of artificial intelligence, accelerating innovation while expanding into large, high-growth markets. SoftBank will remain committed to Arms long-term success through its ownership stake in NVIDIA, expected to be under 10 percent.

AI is the most powerful technology force of our time and has launched a new wave of computing, said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO, NVIDIA. In the years ahead, trillions of computers running AI will create a new internet-of-things that is thousands of times larger than todays internet-of-people. Our combination will create a company fabulously positioned for the age of AI. Simon Segars and his team at Arm have built an extraordinary company that is contributing to nearly every technology market in the world. Uniting NVIDIAs AI computing capabilities with the vast ecosystem of Arms CPU, we can advance computing from the cloud, smartphones, PCs, self-driving cars and robotics, to edge IoT, and expand AI computing to every corner of the globe. This combination has tremendous benefits for both companies, our customers, and the industry. For Arms ecosystem, the combination will turbocharge Arms R&D capacity and expand its IP portfolio with NVIDIAs world-leading GPU and AI technology.

Arm will remain headquartered in Cambridge, according to the release, and expand on the site to build an AI research facility, reportedly supporting developments in healthcare, life sciences, robotics, self-driving cars and other fields. And, to attract researchers and scientists from the U.K. and around the world to conduct groundbreaking work, NVIDIA said it will build a state-of-the-art AI supercomputer, powered by Arm CPUs.

Arm and NVIDIA share a vision and passion that ubiquitous, energy-efficient computing will help address the worlds most pressing issues from climate change to healthcare, from agriculture to education, said Simon Segars, CEO, Arm. Delivering on this vision requires new approaches to hardware and software and a long-term commitment to research and development. By bringing together the technical strengths of our two companies we can accelerate our progress and create new solutions that will enable a global ecosystem of innovators. My management team and I are excited to be joining NVIDIA so we can write this next chapter together.

As part of NVIDIA, Arm reportedly will continue to operate its open-licensing model while maintaining global customer neutrality, with 180 billion chips shipped to-date by its licensees. Arm partners will also benefit from both companies offerings from now on.

Following the closing of the transaction, NVIDIA said it intends to retain the name and strong brand identity of Arm and expand its base in Cambridge. Arms intellectual property will remain registered in the U.K. NVIDIA will build on Arms R&D presence in the U.K., establishing a new global center of excellence in AI research at Arms Cambridge campus.

Under the terms of the transaction, which has been approved by the boards of directors of NVIDIA, SBG and Arm, NVIDIA will pay to SoftBank a total of $21.5 billion in NVIDIA common stock and $12 billion in cash, which includes $2 billion payable at signing. The number of NVIDIA shares to be issued at closing is 44.3 million, determined using the average closing price of NVIDIA common stock for the last 30 trading days. Additionally, SoftBank may receive up to $5 billion in cash or common stock under an earn-out construct, subject to satisfaction of specific financial performance targets by Arm. NVIDIA reportedly will also issue $1.5 billion in equity to Arm employees. The proposed transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including the receipt of regulatory approvals for the U.K., China, the European Union and the United States. Completion of the transaction is expected to take place in approximately 18 months.

Edited by Ken Briodagh
Iran to sign $2.2 billion deal to develop Farzad gas field: Zangeneh

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 15 September 2020 1:10 PM

Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh says Iran will sign a deal worth $2.2 billion to develop the offshore Farzad B gas field.

Zangeneh, addressing an open parliament session in Tehran on Tuesday, did not give a date for the signing or the parties involved in the deal.

The field is estimated to hold 22 trillion cubic feet (tcf)of reserves, of which 16 tcf are deemed recoverable.

"The first phase of Farzad, worth $2.2 billion, will be signed in the future," Zangeneh said.

India, whose firms discovered the field in the Persian Gulf in 2008, had long coveted the project, but its dragged-out negotiations with Iran never led to a deal, either because of sanctions or differences over development rights.

The last plan by the Indians dates back to April 2018 when they were supposed to offer a $3-4 billion development package for the Farzad B gas field.

At the time, reports said Iran had reduced the scope of the development plan and asked India to submit a revised proposal. Indian companies had initially submitted a $11-billion development proposal that covered the development of upstream activities and downstream infrastructure.

Zangeneh has said the Indian were apparently fearful of US sanctions, refusing to join the project even after Iran offered an unprecedented level of flexibility.

"We gave them great concessions but it seems the Indians did not sign a contract for developing the field because of the sanctions," he said last year.

India was the second largest buyer of Iranian oil after China, but the country stopped imports after the Trump administration refused to extend exemption from Iran sanctions in May 2019.

Managing Director of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Masoud Karbasian said in July the operator of the Farzad B field had been determined and the deal for its development was about to be signed soon.

Zangeneh has said Iran's Patropars had been awarded the engineering, exploration and basic design contract for the field's development.

In January, Petropars was also awarded developing phase 11 of South Pars, the world's largest gas field, after the withdrawal of French oil major Total and the China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC).

According to the Iranian Ministry of Petroleum's Shana news outlet, the development of Farzad will cost $5.2 billion, including $2.2 billion in Farzad B's first phase, in order to produce one billion cubic feet a day of gas from the field.

US sanctions have been a boon to domestic manufacturers who have thrived under the new situation through mobilizing their resources to fulfill some of the tasks which were an exclusive competence of foreign companies.

In July, Petropars won a contract to develop South Azadegan, one of Iran's largest oilfields in the southwestern Khuzestan province, believed to have nearly 27 billion barrels of oil in place.

Zangeneh said on Tuesday Iran needs $200 billion of investment in its oil industry. "$120 billion of this will come from domestic sources and $80 billion from foreign sources."

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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a foreign arbitration award favouring Vedanta Ltd and Videocon Industries Ltd, allowing the two companies to recover $499 million spent in developing Ravva oil and gas fields off the coast of Andhra Pradesh.

The case had reached the SC after the petroleum ministrys petition against enforcing the award on the grounds that it went against Indias public policy was rejected earlier by the Delhi High Court. The HC on 19 February decided not to interfere in the arbitral award from a Malaysian tribunal. The government has claimed that the contract entitled the companies to recover a maximum of $198 million.

An SC bench headed by Justice S. Abdul Nazeer stated that the Malaysian court had rightly examined the issue and the award doesnt offend Indias public policy. The bench, also comprising Justices Indu Malhotra and Aniruddha Bose, said the enforcement court (HC) cannot reassess the evidence.

The judgement is a culmination of a decade of litigation, after the 2011 arbitration award went in favour of the oilfield operators.

Following the HC decision not to interfere in the arbitration award, the government filed a 144-page petition in the SC against Vedanta Ltd, Ravva Oil Ltd and Videocon Industries Ltd. The SC issued notices to all three parties on 17 June.

The petition chronicles the events from 1993 to 2020, starting with a production-sharing contract (PSC) between the government and Cairn India Ltd (later acquired by Vedanta) to extract oil and gas from an offshore field discovered and partly developed by ONGC. According to the petition, the PSC stipulated that the respondent should carry out the specified works including drilling 21 wells at a maximum cost of $188.98 million plus 5%, called the base development cost (BDC).

Under PSCs, development costs incurred by contractors such as Cairn are ordinarily and fully recoverable from petroleum production. However, this PSC set a cap on the amount of costs recoverable.

The BDC was a prime criterion in the bidding, on the basis of which the respondents were awarded the PSC. The BDC was based on an estimate of the costs that would have been incurred by the contractor for performing the work as mentioned in the PSC. As such, any cost recovery beyond the limit of BDC would constitute a wrongful loss to the public exchequer and would be against the financial interests of India. As per the government, the contractor unilaterally recovered $499 million on spurious grounds.

The dispute went into international arbitration, which ended with a tribunal under the Malaysian Arbitration Act, 2005, ruling in favour of Vedanta and Videocon on 18 January 2011.

After a series of appeals and challenges by the Indian government in various courts of Malaysia, the case reached the Delhi HC in 2018. In its final order, the high court refused to interfere in the award on the ground that the arbitral tribunal has the right to make both right and wrong decisions as these are errors which fall within their jurisdiction".

The government alleged that the contractor appropriated the entire amount of $198 million for drilling 14 wells instead of 21 wells undertaken under the agreed fixed price. On top of it, the arbitration tribunal awarded $212 million additionally for the remaining seven wells.

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Washington

Israel on Tuesday signed historic diplomatic pacts with two Gulf Arab states at a White House ceremony that President Donald Trump declared will mark the "dawn of a new Middle East," casting himself as an international peacemaker at the height of his reelection campaign.

The bilateral agreements formalize the normalization of Israel's already thawing relations with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in line with their common opposition to Iran. But the agreements do not address the decades-long conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, who view the pacts as a stab in the back from their fellow Arabs and a betrayal of their cause for a Palestinian state.

Hundreds of people massed on the sun-washed South Lawn to witness the signing of agreements in a festive atmosphere little marked by the coronavirus pandemic. Attendees did not practice social distancing and most guests didn't wear masks.

"We're here this afternoon to change the course of history," Trump said from a balcony overlooking the South Lawn. "After decades of division and conflict, we mark the dawn of a new Middle East."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the day "is a pivot of history. It heralds a new dawn of peace."

Neither Netanyahu nor Trump mentioned the Palestinians in their remarks, but both the UAE and Bahraini foreign ministers spoke of the importance of creating a Palestinian state.

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

Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the brother of Abu Dhabi's crown prince, thanked Netanyahu for "halting the annexation" of West Bank land claimed by the Palestinians in exchange for Emirati recognition. Netanyahu, however, has insisted that Israel has only suspended its plans to annex West Bank settlements.

In the Gaza Strip, Palestinian militants fired two rockets into Israe l, apparently meant to coincide with the ceremony. The Israeli military said the rockets were fired from Gaza and one was intercepted by air defenses. Earlier in the day, Palestinian activists held small demonstrations in the West Bank and in Gaza, where they trampled and set fire to pictures of Trump, Netanyahu and the leaders of the UAE and Bahrain.

Israel and the U.S. hope the agreements can usher in a major shift in the region should other Arab nations follow suit. That could have implications for Iran, Syria and Lebanon. Until now, Israel has had peace deals only with Egypt and Jordan.
Reliving precious moments and special memories. I have been receiving many old photos from various friends. I am sharing few such photos with a request- if you have such memories, kindly share them with me. Here is a good place to do so: narendramodi.in/memories," he said on Twitter. (Image: @narendramodi/Twitter)
Lucknow, Sep 16 : Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma has said that chances of the partial reopening of schools from September 21 were "very bleak" due to the rising number of coronavirus cases in the state.

"It is very unlikely that schools can be allowed to function partially. It is not possible to run schools, even partially, at least, for this month. Safety of the students is a big issue and it cannot be compromised," Sharma said.

The Centre in the Unlock 4.0 guidelines had issued SOPs (standard operating procedures) for a partial reopening of schools for students of classes 9 to 12 on a voluntary basis to seek guidance from teachers.

Sources, however, said that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will take a final call on whether schools will reopen this month or not.

The Uttar Pradesh government, however, has no such plans to allow partial reopening of schools.

Parents have also been strongly opposed to the idea of sending their children to schools during the pandemic.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has decided to close the Srinagar-Zojila-Kargil-Leh axis for only 45 days this year because of snow, from an average of 95 days in the past and also strengthen all bridges on the Darbuk-Shyok-Daulat Beg Oldi (DSDBO) road to bear the load of tanks and truck-trailers by next month -- both aimed at keeping a key supply route open as the Indian Army prepares for a long winter in eastern Ladakh, potentially face-to-face with the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) of China.

Hindustan Times has learnt from top government authorities that BRO, which functions under the defence ministry, will keep the new Darcha-Padam-Nimu-Leh road clear of snow throughout December and January so that the military supply route is operational round-the-clock.

The Narendra Modi government is now considering a shorter tunnel at Shinku La on Darcha-Padam axis so that the road can be snow-free round the year.

Given that China is showing no signs of abiding by the July 5 agreement between the Special Representatives on boundary issues and the September 10 agreement between foreign ministers on total disengagement to restore status quo ante on the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the Indian Army is rushing in supplies to eastern Ladakh, the site of a months-long military standoff.

The Indian Army began planning and preparing for retaining troops at forward locations in Ladakh sector of the LAC some time ago after it became clear that the Chinese side had no intention of moving forward with the disengagement process at key friction points, people familiar with developments said on condition of anonymity.

We already have considerable experience from forward deployments on the Line of Control (LoC), even though the weather conditions may not be as harsh as the LAC, and on the Siachen glacier, said one of the people cited above.

Also read| Hindi speeches to Punjabi pop: PLAs psy-ops at LAC

We also have built up experience over the decades on how to maintain a logistics chain for such forward locations during extreme weather conditions. We are prepared to hunker down for the winter but then we have been left with no other option, the person added.

The people further said the Chinese side has relatively less experience of operating at forward locations during winter months. Chinese troops usually move back from such locations during winter, when their patrolling too is less frequent than that of the Indian side, the people added.

While the eastern Ladakh sector is usually guarded by some 20,000 to 30,000 troops, the latest reports suggest the deployment has more than doubled amid the standoff.

BRO is ensuring that the 17,580-foot Chang La pass and 17,582-foot Khardung La, en route to the contested Pangong Lake, is kept snow-free throughout the year.

With the aim of keeping Indias weapons deployment in eastern Ladakh at par with the PLAs in occupied Aksai Chin, BRO is expected to strengthen all bridges and culverts leading to the Class 70 bridge on DSDBO road by October 15.

Class 70 means it can bear a load of 70 tonnes, which is more than the weight of a fully loaded tank trailer. In strategic terms, this means that in the worst-case scenario, the DSDBO road can be used to deploy T-90 tanks, infantry combat vehicles and surface-to-air missiles all along the LAC with Tibet in eastern Ladakh.

While BRO is expected to validate the Darcha-Padam-Nimu-Leh axis for heavy vehicular traffic this month, intense discussions are underway within the defence ministry on the length and alignment of the tunnel under the 16,000-foot Shinku La. The National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) has been tasked with studying the shortest possible alignment for the tunnel so that it can be readied in the next four years.

A majority of stakeholders, including the ministry of surface transport, are in favour of a shorter 4.5-km tunnel alignment on the current axis, rather than a 13-km alignment suggested by the Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment (SASE) of the defence ministry. The longer alignment will delay the project with a host of studies and detailed project reports needing to be completed. It has now been left to defence minister Rajnath Singh to take a final call.

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Onlookers watch from a harbour wall as the largest container ship in world, CSCL Globe, docks during its maiden voyage, at the port of Felixstowe in south east England (Reuters)

Tariffs imposed on China during Donald Trumps trade war violated international trade rules, a World Trade Organisation panel ruled on Tuesday.

In its ruling, the WTO panel ruled tariffs on $200bn worth of goods were illegal because they only applied to products from China and the US had not shown the products benefited from unfair practices including intellectual property theft and technology transfer, according to the Associated Press.

While the decision would theoretically allow China to impose tariffs on US goods in retaliation, in practice they would be unable to respond as the ruling could be appealed to a court that is not currently operating.

The Trump administration has blocked new appointments the WTOs appeals court, rendering it unfunctional, so it cant make the final ruling required for the panels decision to be binding.

Robert E Lighthizer, the United States Trade Representative, said the US must be allowed to defend itself against unfair trade practices that take advantage of American workers, businesses, farmers and ranchers.

This panel report confirms what the Trump administration has been saying for four years: The WTO is completely inadequate to stop Chinas harmful technology practices, Mr Lighthizer said in a statement.

Although the panel did not dispute the extensive evidence submitted by the United States of intellectual property theft by China, its decision shows that the WTO provides no remedy for such misconduct.

In September 2018, the US imposed duties of 10 per cent on $200bn worth goods before increasing them to 25 per cent eight months later. In June 2018, 25 per cent duties were imposed on Chinese goods worth $34bn, the AP reported.

They were justified under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, with the US arguing Chinas actions were a form of state-sanctioned theft and misappropriation of technology, intellectual property and commercial secrets.
The federal government is working on a fairly sizeable proposition that would help municipalities buy vacant properties that could be converted to supportive housing, said Liberal MP Adam Vaughan.

His comments follow a call from the city on Tuesday for $675 million in federal and provincial money in 2020 to help create 2,000 supportive housing units over the next two years  half through acquisitions and renovations, and half through modular construction. The city also requested $48 million annually for increased support services.

We are working on it, have been working on it, and expect to have details  Im not in cabinet, so I cant tell you when  but for me, its the sooner the better, said Vaughan, who represents SpadinaFort York.

While he declined to disclose exactly how much money would be involved, he said they were looking at costs per unit.

Supportive housing offers assistance to people with mental health challenges, addictions, or other difficulties who might otherwise end up in shelters.

A report this month by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, urging Ottawa to help rapidly repurpose on-sale private buildings as permanent, non-profit housing, offered a sort of ballpark for those costs, he said. It estimated acquisition costs would range from $170,000 to $400,000 per unit, plus between $40,000 and $90,000 per unit for repairs, renovations and energy retrofits.

Talks over federal support for property acquisitions had been ongoing for months, said Coun. Ana Bailao  the mayors advocate for affordable housing  but questions from Ottawa about the specifics of a potential assistance program seemed to have increased in recent weeks.

Theyre asking questions, from modelling and pricing and what we would need to see in the program, (to) how the program works, how it would be delivered, Bailao said. A key factor, in her view, was agility  they couldnt get caught in months-long approval processes for individual buildings without losing out on purchase opportunities.

Mayor John Tory, though, said he was optimistic that the pandemic had shown governments their ability to make decisions at wartime speed.

The city had already declared an intent to discuss purchasing some of the hotel sites they were leasing, he said, and he hoped they could move quickly. Id like to see us move forward the day after the program is rolled out, he said.

A report this week from Torontos Shelter, Support and Housing Administration with the United Way called on the city to develop an acquisition strategy for hotels, rooming houses, and other buildings, along with a redevelopment plan to turn no-longer-viable shelter spaces into permanent housing.

Moving 3,000 people from shelters to permanent housing with supports could save up to $15 million per month, the city said  as the costs to run shelter beds have doubled during COVID-19.

The Canadian Press, citing confidential sources, reported this weekend that Ottawa is ironing out details of a program to help secure vacant properties, and debating when to make an announcement.

A spokesperson for Families, Children and Social Development Minister Ahmed Hussen declined to comment on Wednesday on Vaughans comments or efforts currently underway.

Victoria Gibson is a Toronto-based reporter for the Star covering affordable housing. Her reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative. Reach her via email: victoriagibson@thestar.ca

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NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian airlines have sought interest-free credit of at least $1.5 billion from the government to enable them to cope with the loss of revenue from the coronavirus pandemic, the country's aviation minister said on Wednesday.

Airlines including IndiGo, Vistara, a joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, SpiceJet and state-run carrier Air India, also want the government's help to persuade aircraft lessors to ease leasing terms, as well as a deferment of taxes and abolition of excise duty on aviation fuel, Hardeep Singh Puri said in a written statement to the parliament.

The airlines are appealing to banks and other lenders to defer repayment of loans to the aviation industry by six months, the minister added.

India halted air travel in late March to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. In May, the government allowed airlines to resume domestic operations with a third of their capacity which was later increased to 60%. But demand has been slow to pick up.

Revenues of Indian airlines fell to around $500 million in the April-June quarter from about $3.5 billion in the same quarter a year ago, Puri said in his statement.

Puri said to help Indian carriers the government regularly engaged with foreign aircraft lessors and financiers to ensure there were no premature withdrawals of leased aircraft, and it established bilateral air travel links with countries like Canada, France, Germany, U.K. and the United States.

(Reporting by Aditi Shah;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
MNCs bullish on Chinese lab automation sector

From:ChinaDaily | 2020-09-16 09:28

Multinational corporations are accelerating their pace of bringing advanced laboratory automation to China to tap into the country's surging testing demand and enjoy the country's favorable policies in stabilizing foreign investment.

By shifting from manual to automated operations, laboratory automation reduces preanalysis faults, improves the level of biological safety protection, increases test efficiency, reduces labor costs and improves laboratory management competence.

United States-based healthcare company Abbott announced that its laboratory automation solutionthe GLP systemwill be launched in China by the end of this month.

Tony Chan, vice-president of Abbott Diagnostics China, said that many hospitals in China have a long history, however, clinical labs face various problems due to limited space and lack of personnel. Therefore, Abbott is bringing its fully automated clinical laboratory to China to offer more efficiency and convenience.

Chan said Abbott's GLP system is a new innovation for laboratory automation. The modulation concept of the system has enabled more flexibility and adaptation, allowing laboratories to have diversified operational models and programs to cope with challenges posed by new technologies and new procedures.

"At the same time, the system has optimized user experiences to make training and daily use simpler. This is a laboratory solution that can meet demand from both current and future needs," he added.

Swiss medical enterprise Roche Diagnostics has also launched its laboratory automation solution in China. With an intelligent information management system, automated laboratories increase testing efficiency and optimize test process.

The company said its laboratory automation solution is expected to open up the 2.0 era of laboratory automation, meet clinical, laboratory and patient needs for higher quality and more efficient medical services, and help promote China's healthcare system development.

The State Administration for Market Regulation estimated that 440 million copies of testing reports will come out this year, and the number will continue to grow robustly.

Pan Boshen, head of the clinical laboratory at Zhongshan Hospital, said that in recent years, with the continuous deepening of the country's medical reform, patients are showing growing demand for better healthcare services, which brings about a need for higher requirements for test quality and efficiency of clinical laboratories.

Xu Yingchun, head of the clinical laboratory at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, said: "Currently, there are 100,000 clinical laboratories and 300,000 laboratory technicians in China. However, the uneven development of inspection disciplines at all levels of medical institutions is becoming prominent. The test workload will continue to grow, but personnel and testing areas will not be able to maintain continuous growth. Laboratory automation will become a trend."

He said that with advances in hierarchical diagnosis and treatment, the volume of outpatient clinics will continue to be diverted to grassroots-level hospitals, and the workload of inspections will be greatly increased.

The National Health Commission said that last year total visits to China's primary medical institutions reached 4.5 billion, taking up 52 percent of the total. The visits increased by 120 million compared to 2018.

The surging inspection needs in primary medical institutions call for laboratory automation, Xu said.

Industry experts said that with the deep integration of emerging technologiesincluding big data and artificial intelligencewith clinical laboratories, traditional testing laboratories are evolving toward automation, information and intelligence. With the government's favorable policies to stabilize foreign investment, multinational corporations are expanding their layouts in the sector.

Wang Bingnan, vice-minister of commerce, said earlier during the China International Fair for Trade in Services that China will further lower market access for its services trade industry, continue to reduce the negative list of foreign investment access and accelerate the opening-up process of sectors including healthcare.

Chan from Abbott said: "We attach great importance to the Chinese market. We have noticed the country's growing population, surging chronic disease patients as well as the aging society. We are constantly paying attention to China's healthcare needs and the dynamic market. In the future, Abbott will bring about better automation solutions for China's clinical laboratories to help hospitals operate more smoothly and benefit more patients."
(CNN)  They say absence makes the heart grow fonder.

The world's most scenic airport approaches, as ranked annually by booking platform PrivateFly, are this year looking more glorious than ever.

More than 6,000 frequent fliers and aviation enthusiasts took part in the 2020 poll, with voting taking place in February and March, just before travel restrictions to fight Covid-19 were introduced around the world.

The winner, for the third year in a row, is Ireland's Donegal Airport. On the island's northwest coast, there are sweeping views of rugged coastline, pristine beaches and the steep slopes of Mount Errigal on the approach to this regional airport in Carrickfinn.

While the top spot was held by an old favorite, there are six new entries in this new year's top 10.

The highest new entry is Tanzania's Msembe Airstrip, in second place, which serves East Africa's Ruaha National Park.

Skiathos Alexandros Papadiamantis Airport, at number three, is also making its debut. The airport on the Greek island of Skiathos, in the Aegean Sea, is popular with planespotters thanks to its short runway and close proximity to a public road.

"Many of us have flown less frequently this year, but these ultimate destination landings are a welcome reminder of the uplifting power of travel and aviation -- and a jaw-dropping inspiration for some memorable future flights," Adam Twidell, CEO of the UK-based booking platform for private jet charters, said in a press release.

Florida's Orlando Melbourne International Airport was the only top 10 entry for the United States, holding onto its ranking as the fourth most scenic airport view in the world.

"First, you see the beautiful Atlantic Ocean and then pass over the Indian and Banana Rivers," one 2019 voter said of this descent.

"Then, there is a pass over the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, where you may get a glimpse of a rocket on a launch pad."

Scotland's Barra Airport approach, which offers stunning coastal views, slipped down three spots to fifth place, while Bora Bora's Motu Mute Airport is ranked sixth best in the world. It's built on a island on a crystal-blue lagoon in French Polynesia.

St Maarten's Princess Juliana International Airport, where planes swoop low over Maho Beach, is at number eight, and the Seychelles' Praslin Island Airport at number nine.

The top 10 was rounded out by two new entries: Dubai International Airport and Fiji's Nadi International Airport.

For the first time, the poll also revealed the highest-ranked airport by region. The Asian winner, Male (Velana) International Airport the Maldives, was the only one not to also break the top 10.

The airport is a base for Trans Maldivian Airways, the world's largest seaplane operator, which is famed for its unconventionally clad "barefoot pilots."

10 most scenic airport landings, according to PrivateFly

1. Donegal Airport, Ireland

2. Msembe Airstrip, Tanzania

3. Skiathos (Alexandros Papadiamantis) Airport, Greece

4. Orlando (Melbourne) International Airport, Florida

5. Barra Airport, Scotland

6. Bora Bora (Motu Mute) Airport, French Polynesia

7. St Maarten (Princess Juliana) International Airport, St Maarten

8. Praslin Island Airport, Seychelles

9. Dubai International Airport, United Arab Emirates

10. Nadi International Airport, Fiji

This story was first published on CNN.com, "World's 10 most scenic airport landings for 2020."
977pk.com scored 40 Social Media Impact. Social Media Impact score is a measure of how much a site is popular on social networks. 2/5.0 Stars by Social Team

This CoolSocial report was updated on 3 Aug 2013, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want.

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PAGE TITLE 977pk__-977pk DESCRIPTION 977pk,!,! KEYWORDS , 977pk, 977pk, pk, webgame, , , 3d, , , , ,  OTHER KEYWORDS 977pk, 977pk , 977pk81, 977pk, 977pk 977pk , 977pk , 977pk85



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Scott Briggs and Roman Quaedvlieg (right). Credit:Illustration: John Shakespeare

Scott Briggs, the former Liberal Party official, and Roman Quaedvlieg, former commissioner of Border Force, both know what it is like to face the blowtorch.

For Briggs, his friendship with Scott Morrison led to him quitting as head of a consortium bidding for a $1 billion visa processing contract. For Quaedvlieg, it was when he was sacked by the Governor-General on government advice for helping to get his girlfriend a job at Sydney Airport.

So the fact Briggs and Quaedvlieg are in business together was not a piece of news CBD expected.

Briggs (a partner at DPG Advisory Solutions, founded by another PM confidant, David Gazard) is chair of PACE First, the crisis security management company.
The Xayaburi dam in the lower Mekong River in Laos. Photo by CK Power/Handout via AFP.

Germany has provided equipment to the Mekong River Commission to monitor the environmental impacts of two mainstream dams on the lower reaches of the Mekong River.

The equipment, worth around $600,000, meant to help monitor the impacts of Laos's Xayaburi and Don Sahong dams, was handed over on Tuesday as part of the German governments support for the MRCs Joint Environment Monitoring of Mekong Mainstream Hydropower Projects (JEM) program, which is now in the pilot stage.

It includes sediment and discharge monitoring tools, microscopes, water quality loggers, algae torches, a boat, fish tags and traps, and GPS devices.

The equipment would be installed at three locations or more in each dam to collect data on hydrology and hydraulics, sediment, water quality, aquatic ecology, and fish and fisheries, the MRC said in a statement.

"While Germany acknowledges that hydropower development can offer high potential for economic growth, it also poses great challenges in terms of adverse transboundary impacts on the environment and peoples socioeconomic well-being," German ambassador to Laos, Jens Lutkenherm, said at the handover ceremony in Vientiane.

Germany supports the MRC in monitoring the impacts of the Xayaburi and Don Sahong dams and hopes to advise the governments of its four member countries, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, on measures to reduce the adverse effects, he added.

Xayaburi and Don Sahong are the first two dams built on the lower Mekong in Laos.

The former was built by Ch. Karnchang PCL, one of Thailands largest construction companies, in 2010. The 1,285-megawatt dam, 150 km downstream of the countrys capital, Luang Prabang, began commercial operation last October.

Don Sahong Dam, with a capacity of 260 MW, started operating last January. Malaysias Mega First company owns 80 percent of it and Laoss EDL-GEN public power company, the rest.

The Mekong flows 4,880 km from its origins in Tibet through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam before reaching the sea. The lower Mekong in Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, is home to an extremely rich inland fisheries ecosystem comprising hundreds of species.

But experts have blamed upstream dams for obstructing water flow, adversely affecting the ecosystem downstream.
Taking into consideration the situation and the painful loss that we suffered today after the battles in July, I would like to ask for all of us to respect the memory of our serviceman with a moment of silence. This is what Minister of Defense of Armenia Davit Tonoyan stated during a question-and-answer session with government officials in parliament today.

Azerbaijans armed forces are carrying out fortification works in order to neutralize the supremacy and advantage of Armenias border guards and military positions, and for that they are using weapons of different calibers. This has been going on for the past two weeks, but Armenia showed restraint in terms of the provision of information. Yesterday the Azerbaijanis suffered a casualty and sounded th alarm about this.

Information about all of these incidents is provided to the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, and the representative of the OSCE Secretary-General is aware of all this. Armenia has warned several times that there is no mechanism to reduce the risks of improper developments of this situation.

Today Armenia suffered a casualty and is taking appropriate measures. The Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan has expressed concern and is more alert. Armenia understands that Azerbaijan is concerned because there will be relevant operations, the minister said.
The Yelp report showed that almost 98,000 business closures are now permanent due to the coronavirus

When the coronavirus pandemic was first announced many hoped that the disruption to the U.S economy would be temporary. But this week Yelp released an Economic Impact Report that reveals more than half the business closures across the nation have ended up being permanent.

According to CNBC, Wednesday, Yelps September report was released, which marks six months since March 1, the date that the company considers to be the start of the current business crisis.

READ MORE: ESPNs Maria Taylor thanks team for support after white host fired for degrading comment

FREEPORT, NEW YORK  MAY 20: A general view of a shuttered Pier 1 store on May 20, 2020 in Freeport, New York. Pier 1 announced yesterday that they are going out of business and closing all 540 stores. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

While tracking business closures, Yelp also monitored how many establishments went out of business entirely. Over the last six months those figures have skyrocketed, now reaching 97,966, which represents 60% of closed businesses that wont be reopening.

Overall, Yelps data shows that business closures have continued to rise with a 34% increase in permanent closures since our last report in mid-July, Justin Norman, Yelps vice president of data science, told CNBC.

The latest report assessing COVID-19s economic toll also showed that, As of Aug, 31, 163,735 businesses have indicated on Yelp that they have closed. Thats down from the 180,000 that closed at the very beginning of the pandemic. However, it actually shows a 23% increase in the number of closures since mid-July.

READ MORE: WNBAs Maya Moore marries man she helped free from prison, Jonathan Irons

BROOKHAVEN, GA  APRIL 27: With some seats and booths marked off to adhere to social distancing protocol, customers enjoy dine-in and take-out service at a Waffle House on April 27, 2020 in Brookhaven, Georgia. Gov. Brian Kemp has allowed some non-essential businesses to start re-opening in Georgia amid the COVID-19 Pandemic. As of Monday, restaurants around Georgia are allowed to offer dine-in service. Non-essential businesses allowed to start reopening are restaurants, movie theaters, tattoo shops, salons, gyms and nail salons. (Photo by Jessica McGowan/Getty Images)

Despite the hard hit small businesses have certainly taken, weve seen that home, local, professional and automotive services have been able to withstand the effects of the pandemic better than other industries, Norman noted.

Due to social distancing mandates, many consumers are now confined to their homes, which has meant professional services such as landscapers, contractors and lawyers, are experiencing a much lower closure rate than retail outlets. Auto and towing services have also reported a comparatively low closure rate.

Story continues

Consumers still need these services, Norman said. Through the rise of virtual consultations, and contactless or socially distanced services, these businesses have been particularly resilient during this time.

Have you subscribed to theGrios podcast Dear Culture? Download our newest episodes now!

The post 60% of business closures due to coronavirus now permanent: Yelp appeared first on TheGrio.
A safety driver who was riding in an autonomous Uber vehicle when it struck and killed a pedestrian on a street in Tempe, Ariz., in 2018 has been charged with negligent homicide, the local authorities said on Tuesday.

The crash is believed to be the first pedestrian death caused by self-driving technology, and raised questions about who should be held responsible for such fatalities. In the aftermath, Uber temporarily halted testing for its self-driving cars. The vehicles returned to the road nearly a year later, at lower speeds and with greater restrictions.

Few state and federal laws govern liability for accidents involving autonomous cars. In 2019, an Arizona prosecutors office said Uber would not face criminal liability for the incident.

Rafaela Vasquez, 46, who worked for Uber and was overseeing the autonomous vehicle at the time of the crash, pleaded not guilty at her arraignment on Tuesday in Maricopa County Superior Court.
M anchester United opted against rivaling Tottenhams move for Gareth Bale, with the wingers injury record and personal terms convincing Ole Gunnar Solskjaer not to pursue a loan deal.

Bale was always seen as a back up to top target Jadon Sancho, whose proposed transfer from Borussia Dortmund has reached an impasse over the German clubs 108million valuation.

Wales international Bale is now set to rejoin Spurs on loan seven years after leaving them for Real Madrid in a world record deal.

United were prepared to discuss a short-term move for the 31-year-old after learning of Reals determination to offload him this summer.

But despite him being a long-term target for executive vice chairman Ed Woodward, its understood the Old Trafford club never drove negotiations - instead considering him one of a number of alternatives to Sancho.

Ivan Perisic and Douglas Costa remain under consideration, but Sancho is still Solskjaers overwhelming priority before the window closes next month.
Thomas Hunt, 56, who has lived in the area for about 16 years, also stopped by the scene. He said he was walking to the Morse Market when he passed by Jenkins and a woman. They were walking together on Morse and kissing. They were familiar faces on the block in recent years, Hunt said, though he didnt know them personally.
Chandigarh The Punjab and Haryana high court on Wednesday reiterated that farmers should follow all the norms and guidelines laid down by the administrations in view of Covid-19 outbreak and even otherwise, during their protests.

The high court bench of chief justice RS Jha was hearing a plea from one Mohit Kapoor, a Patiala resident, who had approached the court on Monday stating that All India Kisan Majdoor Sangharsh Committee, a body of around 250 farmer associations, has announced protests in different parts of the state against Centres farm ordinances and sought directions to them to comply with Covid-19 guidelines and other norms. Acting on the plea, the high court on Tuesday sought a status report from the state government.

During the hearing on Wednesday, the Punjab government gave details of protests organised by farmers in Patiala, Amritsar, Moga and Phagwara, among other places, and how administration swung into action after the high court order on September 14 and held deliberations with farmer leaders to make them follow the norms. Now, the protests have been called off by farmer unions, the government told the court.

The high court bench while seeking further report from state government has fixed the matter for September 29. However, detailed order is awaited. The farmer unions have been told to follow high court orders issued in 2019 whereby they have to seek deputy commissioners nod to hold a protest and further follow other norms put in place by the administration. They have also been told to abide by the guidelines notified by Centre in view of Covid-19 outbreak, senior advocate Puneet Bali said who had appeared for the petitioner.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 20:20:08|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- The 28th Chinese medical team departed for Guinea from Beijing on Tuesday to provide medical services to the African country, health authorities said.

The medical team consists of 21 members, including 19 from Xuanwu Hospital of the Capital Medical University and two professionals from the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Beijing Municipal Health Commission respectively.

The medical experts from Xuanwu Hospital specialize in areas including neurology, neurosurgery, cardiology, and orthopedics, according to the hospital.

Tong Xiaogang, one of the team members, said he hoped to bring more medical technologies to locals so that they can enjoy better medical services.

The team will work in the Sino-Guinea Friendship Hospital for 18 months. Upon arrival, the team will also join in the fight against COVID-19. Enditem
New Delhi:

As many as 85,000 paramilitary personnel have been made available to the Election Commission for deployment in the upcoming assembly elections in five states, including in politically-crucial Uttar Pradesh, beginning February 11.



At a high-level meeting recently, the Union Home Ministry has committed to provide 850 companies for the polls, official sources said.



A company of paramilitary force comprises around 100 personnel.



In addition to the central forces, a few lakh personnel belonging to state police forces and home guards of the respective state will also be deployed for election duties.



The Home Ministry is accumulating 150 companies, most of them from State Armed Police forces and India Reserve Battalions, from different states for election duties. Rest of the forces will be from central paramilitary forces, the sources said.



While majority of the forces will be deployed in Uttar Pradesh, where polling will be held in seven phases, a sizeable number will also be deployed in Manipur which continues to be on edge due to a blockade on a major national highway, the sources said.



Assembly elections in Punjab, Uttarakhand and Goa will be held in single phase and Manipur in two phases from February 11.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Five members of an alleged Chinese computer hacking gang that targeted more than 100 companies in the United States and abroad have been charged by the US Justice Department.

Federal prosecutors say the five Chinese citizens, along with two Malaysian businessmen, attacked social media companies, video game firms, computer manufacturers, software development companies and telecommunications firms.

The group, known as APT41, is also accused of hacking universities, nonprofits, foreign governments, politicians think-tanks and Hong Kong civil society members.

US officials did not go as far as claiming that the hackers were working directly for the Chinese Government, but Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen said that Beijing had at the least turned a blind eye to cyber crime.

"We know the Chinese authorities to be at least as able as the law enforcement authorities here and in likeminded states to enforce laws against computer intrusions," Rosen said.

"But they choose not to.

Rosen went on to claim that one of the Chinese defendants had told a colleague that he was very close to Chinas Ministry of State Security and was being protected unless something big happens.

No responsible government knowingly shelters cyber criminals that target victims worldwide in acts of rank theft," said Rosen.

The indictments against the group are part of a larger effort by the Trump administration to highlight Chinese cybercrime.

In July prosecutors accused China of working with hackers to target firms developing vaccines for the coronavirus.

The Chinese Embassy has not made comment but has repeatedly denied any involvement in hacking.

The five Chinese citizens remain at large but two Malaysian businessmen were arrested in their country and the US Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers says they are both likely to fight extradition to the US.

Wong Ong Hua, 46, and Ling Yang Ching, 32, were charged with conspiring with two of the hackers to profit from intrusions into video game firms in the United States, France, Japan, Singapore and South Korea.

The Justice Department says search warrants issued earlier this month allowed them to seize hundreds of servers, domain names, accounts and dead drop Web Pages used by the gang to allegedly steal data from victims.

And the department credited Microsoft Corp for playing a significant part in developing systems to block the hackers.

Microsoft has not commented.

Reuters
(HealthDay)Low-to-moderate alcohol consumption may be associated with better global cognition scores among middle-aged and older adults, according to a study recently published in JAMA Network Open.

Ruiyuan Zhang, M.D., from the University of Georgia College of Public Health in Athens, and colleagues used data from the Health and Retirement Study, which assessed cognitive functions in 19,887 participants (mean age, 61.8 years; 60.1 percent women) in 1996 through 2008 to assess associations between alcohol consumption and cognitive function. Participants were grouped into two cognitive function trajectories for each cognition measure assessed: a consistently low trajectory (representing low cognitive scores throughout the study period) and a consistently high trajectory (representing high cognitive scores throughout the study period).

The researchers found that low-to-moderate drinking (fewer than eight drinks per week for women and fewer than 15 for men) was significantly associated with a consistently high cognitive function trajectory and a lower rate of cognitive decline. A consistently low trajectory for total cognitive function, mental status, word recall, and vocabulary was less likely for low-to-moderate drinkers versus never drinkers. Furthermore, low-to-moderate drinking was associated with decreased annual rates of total cognitive function decline, mental status, word recall, and vocabulary compared with never drinkers. In White participants, low-to-moderate drinking was associated with lower odds of having a consistently low trajectory (odds ratio, 0.65; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.56 to 0.75); however, this was not so for Black individuals (odds ratio, 1.02; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.74 to 1.39). The investigators observed a U-shaped association between dosage of alcohol consumed and all cognitive function domains for all participants, with an optimal dose of 10 to 14 drinks per week.

"Our study contributed further evidence that among a nationally representative sample of middle-aged or older adults, low-to-moderate drinking was associated with the protection of cognitive functions that may decrease with age," the authors write.

Explore further A drink or two a day might be good for your brain, study says

Copyright  2020 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
The intellectual property law firm Panitch Schwarze Belisario & Nadel LLP is proud to announce that partner Jeffrey W. Gluck, Ph.D. participated on a panel for the Confronting Racism series, an event hosted by the Princeton University Class of 1982 on September 13.

The focus of the panel was a discussion of race inequalities in the delivery of healthcare through the use of artificial intelligence and other algorithms.

Gluck specializes in advanced electrical and computer-related technologies, but his practice includes other technologies, as well. He represents clients in a wide array of areas including patent counseling and opinions, licensing and transactions, interferences, patent prosecution and reissue, and reexaminations. He also helps with trial litigation and has been a lead attorney in appellate litigation.

Gluck has extensive experience, having worked as an engineer and researcher (including management), as a university professor and as a patent examiner, in addition to his experience as a patent agent and patent attorney. While focusing mainly on multi-user, digital, wireless and satellite communications, he has also worked in the areas of signal processing and control systems. A large part of his research centered on spread-spectrum/CDMA systems, including applications to cellular systems.

He received his Bachelor of Science in Engineering degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Princeton and went on to receive a masters degree from University of Massachusetts and a doctorate from the University of Maryland. He holds a law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center.

About Panitch Schwarze Belisario & Nadel LLP  Panitch Schwarze Belisario & Nadel LLP is a boutique intellectual property law firm with offices in Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware. The firms IP law practitioners provide strategic litigation, licensing, and counseling service relating to patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets, domain names, and internet issues domestically and internationally. The firms long-standing relationships with a network of associates worldwide enable its attorneys and advisors to provide clients with global intellectual property advice and protection.
The Bombay high court (HC) on Wednesday rejected the bail application of gangster Iqbal Mirchis close aide Humayun Merchant. Merchant, who has been lodged in Taloja jail since his arrest in October 2019, had approached the HC for bail on medical grounds after the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court rejected his bail application twice.

Earlier in May, the HC had dismissed a petition by Merchant wherein he had challenged the decision of the high-power committee (HPC) to exclude undertrials and convicts arrested and sentenced for serious economic offences. After his petition was dismissed, Merchant, who is over 70 years of age and suffers from various ailments, moved for bail on medical grounds.

The bench of justice Bharati Dangre while hearing Merchants bail plea, which was filed immediately after the special PMLA court denied him bail for a second time in February, was informed that his continued detention was against the doctrine bail is rule, jail an exception, and hence he should be granted bail.

While seeking bail in HC, Merchant had submitted that his detention was unsolicited and added that due to his health condition and the rising Covid-19 cases in jails, he should be granted bail.

ED, however, opposed the plea alleging that Merchant had planted tenants to purportedly usurp three immovable properties  Sea View, Marium Lodge and Rabia Mansion in Worli  belonging to Sir Mohammad Yusuf Trust. It also had also alleged that Merchant then facilitated the deal to develop these buildings. The probing agency had also submitted that as all health-related issues of inmates were being taken care of by jail authorities, he should not be granted bail.

The bench accepted the submissions and rejected the bail application.

In October 2019, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Merchant while investigating the property dealings of late gangster Iqbal Mirchi  a close aide of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim  in a money-laundering case. ED termed him a frontman who was given the power of attorney by Mirchi after the latter fled the country.
Speaking at a cabinet meeting, Rouhani said that Israel is 'committing more crimes in Palestine every day'

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday that the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain will be responsible for any 'consequences' resulting from their normalisation of relations with Tehran's arch-foe Israel.

The remarks came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the foreign ministers of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates signed agreements establishing full diplomatic ties at a ceremony at the White House.

Speaking at a cabinet meeting, Rouhani said that Israel is "committing more crimes in Palestine every day".

"Some of the region's countries, their people are pious Muslims but their rulers neither understand religion nor (their) debt ... to the nation of Palestine, to their brothers speaking their language," he said in televised remarks.

"How could you reach out your hands to Israel? And then you want to give them bases in the region? All the severe consequences that would arise from this are on you."

US President Donald Trump said similar Washington-brokered deals were close between Israel and several Arab countries.

Iran had previously warned Bahrain that its deal made it a partner to Israel's "crimes" and accused the UAE of betraying the Muslim world.

In 2016, Bahrain cut diplomatic ties with Iran and the UAE downgraded relations amid rising tensions between Saudi Arabia and the Islamic republic.

Sunni-ruled Bahrain has faced long-running unrest among its large Shia community that it has consistently blamed on Iran.

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A Jersey City man who was released early from Hudson County jail in March because of COVID-19 fears has been arrested on drug charges, authorities said.

This time, Antonio McNeill is staying put in the Kearny correctional facility. On Wednesday the 48-year-old was ordered detained through his prosecution on charges of two counts of drug possession and hindering apprehension by giving a false name and false identification.

According to the criminal complaint, McNeill was accused by his sister of stealing $300 while the pair was at the Rodeway Inn in Secaucus on Sept. 5. McNeill gave police his name as Andrew McNeill, but eventually told officer his correct name, the complaint said.

Police found that McNeill had two open warrants and during the course of his arrest found five wax folds of heroin and three vials of cocaine, the complaint said.

During his detention hearing, it was revealed that McNeills criminal history includes 18 felony convictions and 23 disorderly persons convictions, and he was free even though he has three open cases. He is also currently on probation, Hudson County Superior Court Judge Paul DePascale said at the hearing.

McNeill was 30 days into a 90-sentence at Hudson County jail in March when he was one of dozens of low-risk" offenders released because authorities feared a spread of COVID-19 among inmates in the jail.
The ridership of the Noida-Greater Noida Metro rose over 3,200, approximately five times in a span of one week, according to the Noida Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC).

The rail service, also known as the Aqua Line, had resumed operations on September 7 (Monday) and clocked approximately 600 passengers throughout the day.

Seeing a steady rise over the week, the Aqua Line had 3,237 riders on September 14 (Monday), an NMRC spokesperson said.

On second Monday, the Aqua Line ferried 3,237 passengers in more than 220 trips between Noida and Greater Noida, he said.

The overall ridership on first Monday was nearly 600 passengers, the official said.

Meanwhile, the NMRC conducted a workshop on Tuesday to sensitise its staff towards the transgender community.

The workshop was held by NGO Nazariya that works closely with the community in raising awareness about them and addressing their concerns.

The workshop was conducted primarily to sensitise the staff which is deployed at the Rainbow Station (Sector 50 Metro Station) with respect to roles and responsibilities and social behaviour of NMRC employees with respect to communicating with transgender persons, NMRC Managing Director Ritu Maheshwari said.

The NMRC had recently dedicated its Sector 50 Metro Station of the Aqua Line to the transgender community and had even named it as Rainbow Station. This is a first-of-its-kind initiative by any organisation in north India for the transgender community, she said in a statement.

The NMRC had recently come out with vacancies for persons of the transgender community to provide them with employment opportunities.

The metro operator plans to include the community into its system by engaging their services in various aspects of the functioning of the NMRC system, like ticket counters and other areas through NMRCs deployed contractors, according to the statement. PTI KIS SNE
NEW YORK, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Fitwel, the healthy building certification system operated by The Center for Active Design (CfAD), today announced the formal launch of its Viral Response module, with additional commitments for adoption from leading companies, including BentallGreenOak, Boston Properties, Brookfield Properties, DLC Europe, Hudson Pacific Properties, Kilroy Realty Corporation, Nuveen Real Estate, and The Tower Companies.

Today's formal launch of the module, which provides annual, third-party certification of policies and practices informed by the latest public health research on mitigating the spread of contagious diseases, reflects the quick progress Fitwel and its industry and academic advisors have made to prepare the module for widespread implementation. The module's comprehensive guidance and turnkey policies were designed to be efficiently implemented across commercial and residential portfolios or individual assets, helping companies to build trust with tenants and employees.

Unlike other products, Fitwel's Viral Response module requires that companies follow a set of baseline strategies  actions that are necessary to mitigate the spread of infectious respiratory diseases such as COVID-19. These minimum requirements cover indoor environments, behavioral change, and building occupant trust, and get as granular as specifying the chemicals that are needed in cleaning products. Fitwel and its advisors intend to update the module annually in accordance with the evolving science.

Joanna Frank, President and CEO of CfAD, said, "Fitwel was initially created to optimize built environments for chronic disease prevention. Companies can chart their own course within Fitwel Certification to address these long-term issues without minimum requirements. However, infectious disease mitigation is quite different, and the science shows there are baseline requirements that companies absolutely must follow to effectively reduce infectious respiratory disease transmission in buildings. The Viral Response module was developed to set the industry standard in response to COVID-19, and it represents an evolution of Fitwel's efforts to promote health and wellness in the built environment."

Fitwel's two-step certification process enables companies the flexibility to establish and implement viral response policies at scale. Users establish policies to cover any portfolio, selection of assets or individual tenant spaces that have consistent operational practices, then submit to have these policies certified by CfAD in a six-week, double-blind review process. Once Viral Response certification is achieved, companies can demonstrate application within specific assets. This step verifies that the strategies have been put into practice, and CfAD recognizes this achievement with a plaque that companies can use to convey to occupants that their spaces are optimized for viral mitigation.

"The built environment plays a crucial role in the health, wellness, and productivity of the people who live and work within the communities that we manage on behalf of our clients. BentallGreenOak's role as industry advisor and early adopter of the Center for Active Design's Fitwel Viral Response module provides us with an industry leading response to COVID-19 to better serve our tenants and community stakeholders, while equipping our property management teams with clear and informed guidance for implementation across our managed portfolio," said Anna Murray, Managing Director, Global Head of ESG, BentallGreenOak.

BentallGreenOak, Harrison Street, QuadReal Property Group, Tishman Speyer, Triovest Realty Advisors, and Vornado Realty Trust are among the companies that served as the industry advisors that prototyped the module. A group of highly respected public health experts from leading institutions such as Columbia University Irving Medical Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Queensland University of Technology served on the module's academic advisory board and advised on its strategies.

About Fitwel and the Center for Active Design

Fitwel is the world's leading certification system committed to building health for all. Generated by expert analysis of 5,600+ academic research studies, Fitwel is implementing a vision for a healthier future where all buildings and communities are enhanced to strengthen health and well-being. Fitwel was originally created by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention and U.S. General Services Administration. The CDC remains the research and evaluation partner for Fitwel. The Center for Active Design, a global not-for-profit organization, was selected as the licensed operator of Fitwel, charged with expanding Fitwel to the global market. To learn more about Fitwel, please visit: www.fitwel.org .

SOURCE Center for Active Design

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Water levels in the two largest man-made reservoirs in the US could dip to critically-low levels in the next five years, jeopardizing the steady flow of Colorado River water that more than 40 million people rely on in the American West.

After a relatively dry summer, the US Bureau of Reclamation released models on Tuesday suggesting looming shortages in Lake Powell and Lake Mead  the reservoirs where Colorado River water is stored  are more likely than previously projected.

Compared with an average year, only 55 per cent of Colorado River water is flowing from the Rocky Mountains down to Lake Powell on the Utah-Arizona line. Due to the below-average runoff, government scientists say the reservoirs are 12 per cent more likely to fall to critically-low levels by 2025 than they projected in the spring.

This is a pretty significant increase over what was projected in April due to the declining runoff this year, hydrologist Carly Jerla said.

The forecast could complicate already-fraught negotiations between Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming and Mexico over future shares of the river that supplies their cities and farms.

Those talks will draw up new agreements by 2026 over use of the river thats under siege from climate change and prolonged drought.

Some urban and agricultural water users have been forced to conserve water to secure the river long term, but it remains overtapped. And as cities like Phoenix and Las Vegas keep growing, the region is only getting thirstier.

We know that warmer temperatures have contributed to the drought of the last 21 years, and we know that they have exacerbated it, Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman said.

Unlike the 24-month projections that the agency uses to allocate water to the seven states and Mexico, the models released on Tuesday simulate various weather and usage patterns to help water users prepare for different scenarios.

Scientists use whats called the Colorado River Simulation System to project future levels of the two reservoirs. They employed stress testing techniques based on river flows since 1988 to determine potential shortages if drought conditions persist.

Arizona, Nevada and Mexico agreed to cuts for the first time under a drought contingency plan signed last year. The water level in Lake Mead sits at 1,083 feet (330 metres). When projections drop below 1,075ft (328m), Nevada and Arizona will face deeper cuts mandated by the plan.

Stress test models suggest a 32 per cent chance that Lake Mead will fall below 1,075ft by 2022 and a 77 per cent chance by 2025. The models median estimates indicate Lake Mead will drop by 35ft (11m) by 2026.

The water level in Lake Powell is at 3,598 ft (1,097m), and estimates suggest it could drop by 50 ft (15m) by 2026.

Burman said the models provide valuable information to cities and farms preparing for the future as drought persists and average temperatures trend upward. She said drought contingency plans are an effective mechanism to address the projected shortages  for now.

I think what the projections are showing us is we have greater uncertainty than we did last year, she said.
Seychelles has launched a new visitor management platform that will enable authorities to run rapid and efficient vetting procedures on information provided by incoming travellers in a bid to minimise the risk of COVID-19 transmission.

In a launch ceremony on Tuesday, Alan Renaud, Principal Secretary for Civil Aviation, Ports & Marine said that "by having all the passenger information submitted ahead of time, including passengers health certification, we eliminate inefficiencies."

He said that the new platform will also help streamline security clearance and simplify the process of entry resulting in "better performance and reduced risk, all of which comes together to improve the passenger experience, not only at airports but in our archipelago as well."

With the Travizory technology, travellers can apply from their mobile phone via Android or iOS apps or on the web in about five minutes. Travellers will receive a clear response on their eligibility to travel in the form of a secure barcode, also available as a wallet pass, which they can present at check-in and boarding.

Travellers will have to pay a fee of $50 or $150 when submitting their documents online. A fee of $150 fee will apply only for emergency and late submissions.

The technology will also allow health authorities from Seychelles to collect identity and health information directly from the traveller via easy to use web and mobile apps. The information is fed securely into a single system, providing advance information about all travellers wishing to travel to the Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean.

The Seychelles' Public Health Commissioner, Jude Gedeon, said that keeping Seychellois safe from the pandemic is the number one priority.

"However, we need to enable international travel to let in key workers and specialists and to allow tourism to restart and for our citizens to work again. With our current email and multiple forms, doctors and airport staff were struggling to keep pace with the number of arrivals. We have now given them a tool to focus their attention where it is most needed," he added.

The Health Authority will also roll out connected technology at approved accommodations to further enhance the passenger experience within the islands by avoiding unnecessary forms to be filled at various touchpoints.

The tourism minister, Didier Dogley, and chairperson of the re-opening of Seychelles Taskforce, said that "the new technology will allow us to balance the need for tourism to grow and sustain our economy without compromising the health of our citizens. It will have a very positive impact on tourism and the wider economy in the Seychelles, as well as clearly demonstrating Seychelles ability to deploy digital solutions."

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Renaud Irminger, CEO of Travizory, the company behind the new system, said the technology goes beyond just providing the Seychelles with a platform to efficiently perform health screening and help with border control.

"It is about providing the traveller with a positive experience. By making the whole process as painless as possible, giving people the assurance that they will be allowed to travel to the country and that the flight they are on is safe, the experience of visiting the Seychelles will now be even better," he added.

Travizory is a Swiss-based technology company founded by senior executives uniquely combining air transport industry, biometrics, mobile, border security and border management expertise.
Week after week, the coronavirus spread into nursing homes across Texas, infecting more than 26,000 residents and killing more than 3,700.

Its impact was so widespread that by late August, only four of some 160 licensed facilities in the Houston region reported theyd been untouched by COVID-19. The Meridian in Galveston and Woodland Manor in Conroe were the only standalone local facilities that, as of Aug. 28, hadnt reported a single staff or resident infection to the state.

Two other in-hospital skilled nursing facilities, at Oak Bend Medical Center in Richmond and Memorial Hermann in Houston, reported they had remained COVID-free, too.

The long slog of the coronavirus continued spread left Amanda Fredriksen, associate state director for advocacy for AARP Texas, feeling frustrated and speechless.

At some point is every facility faced with this? Fredriksen posed. Were pretty close now.

Statewide, nearly 90 percent of some 1,220 facilities had reported at least one confirmed resident or staff infection as of Monday. (The data is cumulative since March 31.)

COVID-19 has caused staggering numbers of infections and deaths in some nursing facilities, where residents tend to be older and have underlying medical conditions.

But spread in nursing homes has reflected spread in the community, and recently both have slowed, said Greg Shelley, program manager of the Harris County Long-term Care Ombudsman Program at Cizik School of Nursing at UT Health.

About 40 percent of nursing homes in the surrounding area were reporting actively infected residents Aug. 28, compared with 60 percent a month earlier when local infections had peaked.

Were just now collectively getting down to where its all moving in the right direction again, said Shelley, who hoped that meant nursing home staff were also getting better at preventing the spread of infection.

Charlene Offiong, healthcare associated infections coordinator for the Houston Health Department, who oversees the citys nursing home efforts, felt that improvement had occurred.

At the start, she said, most nursing homes may not have been as prepared as officials had hoped. But everyone now is familiar with the federal guidelines, and the department has been able to help implement what is now federally required regular testing.

Still, major outbreaks continued to appear, including one at Arden Place in Houston. The 200-bed facility reported 157 of its residents had been infected as of Aug. 28. Of those, 15 had died and 118 had recovered.

A facility statement online said that the new leadership, which took over March 13, was taking appropriate measures to prevent further spread. They did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

At Woodland Manor, where another new company took over operations Sept. 1, the streak of being COVID-free meanwhile came to an end. Last week, two staff members tested positive.

No residents were yet known to be infected, which could not have been achieved without the hard work and dedication by our extraordinary nurses, doctors, and staff, wrote Taylor Pittman, a spokesman for parent company SLP Operations, in an email.

Pittman explained how challenging it is to stop the virus from entering any facility. Like others, they were using personal protective equipment and screening employees at the entrance. They also had protocols ready in case a resident did test positive.

Nothing is more important than the safety and well-being of our residents at Woodland Manor, Pittman wrote.

At the Meridian  perhaps the last Houston-area facility outside of a hospital with no cases  the executive director did not return a message seeking comment.
Government adopted a memorandum for the signing of the contract regarding the design and execution of the fourth segment of the Pitesti-Craiova express way, said, on Wednesday, in Pitesti, Prime Minister Ludovic Orban.

According to him, the measure was adopted after one of the companies participating in the auction contested both at the National Council for Solving Complaints, as well as in the courts, the public acquisition procedure, thus delaying the investment.

"I have not seen such a thing, such a boycott, I repeat, unacceptable. I am sending a clear message that if they come to Romania and they imagine that this is the way they will have works in Romania on the path they've started they will do nothing but turn the Government, the institutions and especially the population hostile, which is why in the Government, because the law allows it, we have adopted a memorandum by which we have decided to sign the contract, after the rejection of the appeal with the National Council for Solving Complaints. From a legal point of view, we have this right and the contract for design and construction will be signed with the consortium that was declared the winner. I am very attached to this project. It's a very useful project for Pitesti, for Arges County, for Craiova, for Dolj County," said Orban.

The head of the executive has also conducted, on Wednesday, in Pitesti a visit to the construction site of the Polyvalent Hall, investment financed from the budget of the National Investment Company.
DIDCOT, UK / ACCESSWIRE / September 16, 2020 / Altus Strategies Plc ("Altus" or the "Company") (TSX-V:ALTS)(AIM:ALS), announces that it has signed a definitive Purchase & Sales ("P&S") agreement and Net Smelter Return ("NSR") royalty agreements (together the "Transaction") with TSX-V listed Stellar Africa Gold Inc. ("Stellar") in respect of Altus' Prikro and Zenoula gold projects ("Projects") located in the Republic of Cote d'Ivoire ("Ivory Coast").

Highlights:

Altus selling a 100% interest in two Ivory Coast gold projects

Altus to receive an initial payment of: A 2.5% NSR royalty on the Projects 2,500,000 Stellar shares with a current market value of C$125,000 2,500,000 share purchase warrants, each exercisable to purchase a Stellar share for 24 months at C$0.07

Subject to the progress of the Projects, Altus will receive further equity based payments

The Transaction remains subject to TSX-V approval

Steven Poulton, Chief Executive of Altus, commented:

"We are pleased to conclude this royalty and equity transaction with Stellar on our two prospective gold projects in Ivory Coast. Altus is focused on realising value from a high quality, diversified and precious metal focused portfolio of royalty assets. This transaction further underscores our royalty generation strategy and we look forward to Stellar's exploration progress on the Projects".

Transaction Terms

Stellar has acquired a 100% interest in Aeos Resources Ltd ("Aeos"), a formerly wholly owned Seychelles incorporated subsidiary of the Company. Through its Ivorian subsidiary Aucrest SARL, Aeos holds a 100% interest in the Projects. The Agreements have the following headline terms:

Part 1: Consideration

Upon signing of the Agreements by the Parties, Stellar will: Within 14 days and subject to any regulatory or shareholder approvals as may be required, issue 2,500,000 Units of Stellar to Altus. Each Unit will consist of one Stellar share and one 24 month share purchase warrant, with each warrant granting the holder the right but not the obligation to purchase one Stellar share at a price of C$0.07.



Part 2: Milestone payments

Upon the definition of a resource, confirmed by an independent NI 43-101 report, which exceeds 500,000 ounces of gold (including at least 250,000 ounces within the Indicated category), Stellar will (in respect of the first 500,000 ounces on each Project): Within 14 days and subject to any regulatory or shareholder approvals as may be required, issue Stellar shares valued (at the time of issuance) at US$250,000 to Altus.

Upon the completion of a definitive feasibility study on either Project, Stellar will: Within 14 days and subject to any regulatory or shareholder approvals as may be required, issue Stellar shares valued (at the time of issuance) at US$250,000 to Altus.



Part 3: Project Royalties

Altus will retain a 2.5% NSR royalty on each of the Projects.

Stellar will have the right to repurchase up to 1.0% of each NSR for US$0.5 million for each 0.5% repurchased.

Prikro Project

The Prikro project comprises a single 369.5km2 exploration licence in the Prikro and Koun-Fao Departments in eastern Ivory Coast, approximately 240km northeast of the capital of Abidjan. The project is located 40km north-west of the town of Agnibilekrou and 25km west of the town of Koun-Fao, both of which can be accessed by asphalt roads from Abidjan. The licence was selected due to the presence of historically reported gold occurrences, prospective geology, and the existence of artisanal workings in the surrounding areas including along strike of a major NE-SW trending shear zone which is interpreted to traverse the licence area. Birimian-age greenstone rocks reportedly crop out extensively across the Prikro licence and represent Paleoproterozoic meta-sedimentary units, with associated granite to diorite intrusives, which are the dominant host setting for gold deposits across West Africa.

Zenoula Project

The Zenoula project comprises a single 400km2 licence application which is currently pending grant in the Marahoue Department in central Ivory Coast, approximately 300km north of Abidjan. The project is located 100km north-west of the city of Yamoussoukro which can be accessed by asphalt roads from Abidjan. Zenoula is centred within a NNE trending Birimian age granite greenstone belt, 65km along strike from the Abujar project of ASX listed Tietto Minerals Limited. Mineralization hosted on this property is not necessarily indicative of the Zenoula project. Zenoula targets a 22 km long oblique ENE trending structure, interpreted by historic air magnetic data. Geologically, the project reportedly comprises metasediments, metabasalts and syntectonic granitoid intrusives.

Qualified Person

The technical disclosure in this regulatory announcement has been read and approved by Steven Poulton, Chief Executive of Altus. A graduate of the University of Southampton in Geology (Hons), he also holds a Master's degree from the Camborne School of Mines (Exeter University) in Mining Geology. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and has over 20 years of experience in mineral exploration and is a Qualified Person under the AIM rules and National Instrument 43-101 "Standards of Disclosure of Mineral Projects" of the Canadian Securities Administrators.

For further information you are invited to visit the Company's website www.altus-strategies.com or contact:

Altus Strategies Plc Steven Poulton, Chief Executive Tel:+44 (0) 1235 511 767 E: info@altus-strategies.com SP Angel (Nominated Adviser) Richard Morrison / Soltan Tagiev Tel: +44 (0) 20 3470 0470 SP Angel (Broker) Abigail Wayne / Richard Parlons Tel: +44 (0) 20 3470 0471 Yellow Jersey PR (Financial PR & IR) Georgia Colkin / Charles Goodwin / Henry Wilkinson Tel: +44 (0) 20 3004 9512 E: altus@yellowjerseypr.com

About Altus Strategies Plc

Altus Strategies is a London (AIM:ALS) and Toronto (TSX-V:ALTS) listed mining royalty company generating a diversified and precious metal focused portfolio of assets. The Company's focus on Africa and differentiated approach, of generating royalties on its own discoveries as well as through financings and acquisitions with third parties, has attracted key institutional investor backing. The Company engages constructively with all stakeholders, working diligently to minimise its environmental impact and to promote positive economic and social outcomes in the communities where it operates. For further information, please visit www.altus-strategies.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain information included in this announcement, including information relating to future financial or operating performance and other statements that express the expectations of the Directors or estimates of future performance constitute "forward-looking statements". These statements address future events and conditions and, as such, involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the statements. Such factors include without limitation the completion of planned expenditures, the ability to complete exploration programmes on schedule and the success of exploration programmes. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking information, which speak only as of the date of this announcement and the forward-looking statements contained in this announcement are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.

Where the Company expresses or implies an expectation or belief as to future events or results, such expectation or belief is based on assumptions made in good faith and believed to have a reasonable basis. The forward-looking statements contained in this announcement are made as at the date hereof and the Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information or any forward-looking statements contained in any other announcements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under applicable law or regulations.

TSX Venture Exchange Disclaimer

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organisation of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Market Abuse Regulation Disclosure

Certain information contained in this announcement would have been deemed inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 ("MAR") until the release of this announcement.

Glossary of Terms



The following is a glossary of technical terms:

"Artisanal" means local people conducting mining, often with rudimentary equipment

"km" means kilometre

"NI 43-101" means National Instrument 43-101 "Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects" of the Canadian Securities Administrators

"Qualified Person" means a person that has the education, skills and professional credentials to qualify as a qualified person under NI 43-101

"Shear zone" means a zone in which rocks have been deformed by lateral movement along parallel planes

"TSX-V" means the TSX Venture Exchange

SOURCE: Altus Strategies Plc

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/606269/Gold-Royalty-Equity-Deal-in-Ivory-Coast
Chinese Dissenters Who Were Helped by Geng Xiaonan Return the Support After Her Arrest

2020-09-15 -- Artist Geng Xiaonan for years quietly helped dissidents and liberal intellectuals who'd crossed China's Communist Party and lost their jobs or their freedom  most recently ordering online groceries for former Tsinghua University scholar Xu Zhangrun, who was blacklisted by vendors following his arrest in July.

So when Geng and her husband were taken away by police in Beijing's Haidian district on Sept. 9 on suspicion of running an "illegal business operation" after the film producer and publisher made public her support for Xu, it was the legal scholar himself who led the charge to publicize the couple's plight.

"Xiaonan is a brave woman Let's speak up for her; voice our concerns," Xu told RFA.

Since party general secretary Xi Jinping began an indefinite term in office in March 2018, his administration has stepped up a purge of liberal intellectuals from higher education institutions.

Authorities in Beijing detained Xu on July 6 after he had published strident critiques of Xi and calls for political reforms online, on allegations of "seeking out prostitutes."

He was released a week later, but 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.

Geng, the owner of a private art and culture salon in China and an independent film producer, has championed dissidents who have taken great risk in Xi's China.

Dissidents who have been aided by Geng include Xu Zhiyong, a legal scholar who called for Xi's resignation and was sentenced to four years in prison; Early Rain Covenant Church Reverend Wang Yi, who was sentenced to 9 years in jail for inciting subversion of state power and for running an illegal operation; and citizen journalist Chen Qiushi, who sneaked into Wuhan during its lockdown to report from epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic and has been missing for since March.

Blacklisted online

After his release, from detention, Xu Zhangrun was fired from Tsinghua University losing his livelihood, while an on-line blacklist stripped him of the right to receive donations from the public.

Geng Xiaonan began to order groceries online for Xu on August 26th to relieve his financial burden. She found that Taobao, TMall, and Hema -- the three grocery order apps owned by popular e-Commerce merchant Alibaba  had set "Xu Zhangrun" as a "prohibited" search phrase.

"She was arrested because of me!" Xu told RFA.

Xu said Geng had texted him last week, saying that police has arrested several employees of her husband's publishing company on Sept. 6, and two days later, authorities blocked her husband's his company's Weibo accounts.

Geng then told Xu early on Sept. 9 that she was out running errands, and went incommunicado, along with her husband, Xu said, calling it "definitely unusual."

Friends of Geng told RFA's Mandarin Service before her disappearance, a series of events pointed toward gathering trouble for her, beginning in early August with a police visit to her father's house in Sichuan.

On Aug. 14, police in Beijing's Haidian district visited Geng's home, checking on exit routes and the electricity breaker box. On Aug. 27, police secretly searched warehouses of the publishing company that Geng Xiaonan's husband runs in Beijing and neighboring Hebei province, warning the warehouse managers to keep the search secret from the couple, friends said.

Geng told RFA in early September that she thought these actions did not pose great danger and there was no need to report on these incidents

Intellectuals back Geng

Several well-known Chinese female intellectuals, including Tsinghua Professor Guo Yuhua, former China Party School Professor Cai Xia, and Hoover Institute visiting researcher Li Nanyang, have all taken up Geng's cause.

"Xiaonan is a good friend of mine for years. She's kind and righteous," said Cai, who was expelled from party's top training academy and stripped of her pension in August over speeches she made criticizing the country's direction under Xi.

"For many years she has been so kind to help senior political dissidents," she said, mentioning former Zhao Ziyang aide Bao Tong, who remains under house arrest since supporting 1989 student demonstrators, and other liberal figures.

"Her chivalrous courage is admirable. She has worked so hard to rescue Xu Zhangrun and other persons of conscience. She is a talented writer of remarkable style. Now that she is being placed in great danger. We call for her release. "

Analysts noted that 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. Xu has lodged a legal challenge, and denies the charges.

Rev Wang Yi was also jailed on charges that included "running an illegal operation"  the same accusations Geng and her husband are facing.

"Under the authoritarian dictatorship, the kind suffer while the wicked run rampant. Random citizens may lose their freedom for the sake of conscience and justice," said Xu.

"Geng Xiaonan spoke for justice. She cried for the political dissidents who lost their lives," he added.

"We cannot just sit back and let it be. We shall make our voices heard and call for her release," he told RFA.

Reported by Bei Ming for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated by Min Eu. Written in English by Paul Eckert

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Kuka robots work on Tesla Model X in the Tesla factory in Fremont, California, on Thursday, July 26, 2018. Mason Trinca | The Washington Post | Getty Images

"Excessive automation at Tesla was a mistake," Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted back in 2018 amid electric vehicle manufacturing struggles. "Humans are underrated." Amazon, for all it advances in automation with warehouse machines like Kiva robots, still can't find a robot that can pick a product with as much success as a human. Fears about the era of automation displacing human labor can seem old already, but the failures of automation are nothing new. Long before Tesla's attempt to "hyper-automate" Model 3 production at its Fremont, California, auto plant revealed how robots still struggle to deal with inconsistencies in assembly tasks  and that human worker flexibility remains a critical step in manufacturing  GM failed spectacularly with robotic manufacturing as far back as the 1980s. Four decades later, top researchers say most firms that bet big on automation will continue to be burned. That is in spite of the Covid-19 pandemic adding another argument, at least in theory, in favor of more automation: i.e. robots in the workplace can't contract a virus.

In an article written for the MIT Sloan Management Review, "Working with Robots in a Post-Pandemic World," published on Wednesday, Erik Brynjolfsson, director of the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, and Matt Beane, assistant professor in technology management at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a digital fellow at the Digital Economy Lab, write that most companies which investment in automation on a grand scale are likely to see their efforts fail, while those that succeed will be atypical. And while those rare successes should be studied closely, they argue that it is incremental investments  plug-and-play technology models for settings like warehouses  that remain wiser today. It is a conclusion they have reached that does not change based on the size of a company's balance sheet, or as a result of the coronavirus. While the march of automation will not reverse, it has a long, long way to go: only 1.3% of firms have adopted robotics to date. Brynjolfsson and Beane recently spoke with CNBC about their findings and ongoing research project on automation and the economy. The interview has been edited for clarity and length. CNBC: Were Tesla's stumbles with automation a prime example of the argument your research is trying to make? Brynjolfsson: It's hard to get it right, what level of automation to dive into. Elon was very ambitious. Most companies are being much more cautious. We did a survey of 850,000 plants [with partners including the U.S. Census Bureau] and found very little adoption of robotics, only 1% of plants are using them so far. Often things don't work out. There are so many processes that need to go along with robots. Technology by itself can't transform companies. Beane: Robots are a relatively advanced, relatively under-proven technology. Robots are a nice case study on how organizations struggle, and why they under-invest: because they have learned their lessons betting the farm on any one technology. Given the uncertainty of the Covid environment, some firms in our study have set up entirely new buildings and deferred any investment in new technology other than invert conveyors, for example. They just filled these greenfield sites with people because installing expensive automation requires a clear sense of demand in the mid-term. No one can predict that well right now.

Experimentation at Tesla or Amazon, sometimes leads to big, costly mistakes and sometimes it is wildly successful. It is hard to know, sitting in an office, what will work the way you want, and it is not unreasonable for companies to test and push concepts. ... but the tsunami of change is still very much in the future. Erik Brynjolfsson director of Stanford's Digital Economy Lab

CNBC: Amazon has stressed that it adds more human workers than robots. Does Amazon, and your research, teach us that even the biggest companies will fail if they bet too big on automation? Brynjolfsson: Amazon is constantly testing the frontiers of what machines can do. Humans and machines have different strengths and weaknesses, and it is always better to have some combination of humans and machines. Amazon's distribution system has some very sophisticated robots that move products inside the distribution centers, but for pick and pack tasks, they have not found a sufficiently dexterous robot to recreate what a human can do. They've also found that they can't scale up and down with robots as rapidly as they can add more people at times of demand spikes, like holidays. Robots have basically one speed and they are hard to ramp up during peak periods. Amazon is constantly innovating and working on better technology for manipulation and I am sure over time we will see more tasks done by robots. But they are being smart: regardless of the amount of money you have, you don't want to waste it if working with humans gives the company a better return. Beane: Large firms with lots of capital investing for their long-term sustainability and innovation will remain relevant. It would be naive to think otherwise. They have to try something new, and it wouldn't at all surprise me if firms that are making risky bets now did better in the long run  say five years from now  as a result. But for most firms in our study, in the midst of a pandemic, the headwind to experimentation is stronger. Now is a time to get immediate, more proven results from plug-and-play technology  think, for example, of a machine that folds cardboard boxes or pumps that can be repurposed to handle production of nail polish or hand sanitizer, useful for many jobs. There are a few examples of robotic technology that are extraordinarily reliable and easy to implement such as some materials transport robotics. You can buy those robots all day long and know exactly how to implement and they are reliable, and cost-effective.

An Amazon Robotics robot moves a rack of merchandise at an Amazon fulfillment center on January 20, 2015 in Tracy, California. Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

Amazon's Kiva is like this  not experimental. They can add 50 more Kivas and that is a plug-and-play activity. What makes it plug-and-play technology is that it is small, repurposeable, modular and interoperable, and you can get a return from it running right away, and change its use case next week. If next week, it's not sanitizer but jam or nail polish, you don't have to reconfigure an entire line. You don't have to shave steel bolts out of the floor. But an entirely automated storage and retrieval system moving massive amounts of products around, costing $10 million to install and that can take a year to get going is harder to justify right now. And robots picking items out of a box ... those are under-proven and require lots of effort and experimentation. If you are looking for a good place to get a representative, diverse sample of how an entire industry is dealing with a new class of technology, the whole distribution, packaging and shipping sector is an excellent case. CNBC: It sounds like you could be talking about co-bots, an idea that companies like as a feel-good narrative about man working with machine. Is that not just rhetoric, corporate PR, but the reality? Beane: I nearly did my dissertation on [now shuttered] Rethink Robotics' co-bot Baxter. There really is no accepted definition of what a cobot is, and, in fact, no widely accepted definition of robot or even AI. Typically, these are systems that are force-compliant: you can safely be in a space with them and they won't injure you. They have some mechanisms to operate safely on tasks with humans in the same space. But they are not deployed at scale for businesses yet. Brynjolfsson: There is a whole spectrum of having humans and machines work together. You can choose different points on the range in this division of labor, but in almost every case, you want humans doing some of the task. Some very repetitive tasks you are likely to automate, but there is a long tail of idiosyncratic tasks that humans can more easily handle. Trying to have a machine learn how to do an infrequent task is just not cost-effective. It is unreasonably expensive now. If robots are designed to work alongside humans, one way is to have them segregated, for instance with a wall or fence that separates humans from the machine. But before they can safely work side-by-side, machines need to be almost intuitive about where the humans are and need to be force-compliant so they don't injure them. CNBC: You write in your MIT Sloan Management Review article that the current supply is short of demand for plug-and-play technology, and vendors are likely to cater to existing customers rather than take on new ones. So what can firms do to overcome that challenge? Beane: Supply is a significant impediment on many fronts, especially now. We've seen firms switch from plexiglass barriers to cardboard, for example, because even plexiglass is in short supply. And that's an extreme example ... under supply constraint, the general move seems to be to less complex, more repurposeable technology. More complex technology is harder to scale, so vendors are struggling to meet demand. It is hard to say how long it's going to take for this imbalance to get cleared up, as these issues cascade through the supply chain. For example, some plug-and-play firms are struggling because social distancing has slowed their steel suppliers. CNBC: Where are robots getting better at tasks today? Beane: Part of the value proposition in this investment is doing the same task, say packing makeup samples into a box, 500 or 1,000 times a day, but with a bit of unpredictability. The samples could be slightly different, or the bar code might not be showing, or the lighting might change. So it is repetitive but variation in the conditions meant that most robots, until two to three years ago, could not handle it. But now that's changing and that's a place where the vendors in our study are commercializing technology and having some success. But systems like these are still under-proven. There is no firm that has solved things completely. Not even Amazon can handle pick and pack work reliably and with flexibility. It is a small fraction of companies even trying anything as forward-looking as systems that could handle the makeup sample example. Brynjolfsson: Amazon tried and tore it out, because they realized it wasn't working to their standards. That's happens sometimes and that's OK. That's the nature of progress. Experimentation at Tesla or Amazon, sometimes leads to big, costly mistakes and sometimes it is wildly successful. It is hard to know, sitting in an office, what will work the way you want, and it is not unreasonable for companies to test and push concepts. But we still don't have machines with the dexterity and flexibility humans have to do the full range of tasks. The idea we are in a robotics revolution is maybe true for a handful of companies around Silicon Valley, and elsewhere, but as the Census survey showed, the tsunami of change is still very much in the future. People underestimate how important it is for successful automation to have long production runs without lots of variation, and a controlled environment. People think a more powerful machine can do lots of things, but more than half of the answer is rearranging the environment. People can figure out how to overcome bad lighting and crooked components, but if you control those factors, you make it much easier for machines. The fastest race car is useless if you just plunk it down in the middle of a rainforest. It needs smooth highways and an infrastructure of gas stations, not to mention a trained driver, before it can reach 200 mph. CNBC: How about the the food service industry? We've heard in the past about the automation of the "french fry guy" and the front of the house, as it is called, is now adopting the order kiosks. Brynjolfsson: If you're willing to have a standardized production line then it gets easier, but if you want to deal with a variety of ingredients and fresh ingredients, the costs can become prohibitive. It's not a matter of buying some new robots and popping the things into the same old way that the rest of the organization makes money. Complementary investments, including new equipment, human skills, product mix and even marketing approach, will be required and could be 10x that of the cost of the robot itself.

Beane: As far as deployment in food service, there is no firm betting the farm on tech like this because it is unproven, but five years ago, to imagine a robot on a food service line doing some aspect of food prep was inconceivable. The fact that firms are even experimenting with this, with some reliability at all, is pretty amazing given the unstructured environment and target of manipulation [soft food items] about as unstructured as you can get. CNBC: How does a firm know where to draw the line between success and failure? Brynjolfsson: One classic goes all way back to GM in the 1980s when they had an earlier wave of technology and sought to aggressively automate factories. It was a catastrophic overshoot. We have seen that over and over again, but companies also undershoot when it comes to technology investment. Walmart and Amazon advanced because they used sophisticated information systems in the 1990s while their competitors hesitated. You can make mistakes in both directions. That's a pattern we see over and over. Beane: There are many ways to have success in the short-run with plug-and-play technology. But that might have nasty second order effects. One obvious one is a bunch of plug-and-play solutions might limit the capability for an organization to handle an external curveball. You can deploy automation that gets people and technology more specialized in a way of working that leaves them less cross-trained, less able to pivot to handle new customers and product lines. Some organizations in our study are paying lots of attention to this and rotating people and techniques in tasks so they are better able to handle the next surprise. They are explicitly aware they can't just have success by surviving today  they have to survive in a way that enables long-term success. That's much harder.
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LEAPROS also announced the release of its interactive 2021 Interactive Salary Guide and Online Hiring Toolkit. These industry-leading interactive online resources were developed to help employers and hiring professionals easily access salary data and hiring resources without the hassle of popup ads, cookies, and other intrusive (and annoying) technology. Christina Gonzalez-Hicks, Division Managing Director of LEAPROS' Human Resource Consulting Solutions, explained: "It is the go-to toolkit for Hiring and Human Resources managers alike. We wanted to provide a seamless interactive experience with tools and knowledge to help you with your next hire or existing employees. Our 2021 salary guide will give you up to date salary information along with job descriptions for over 400 positions."

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Taking exception to Health Minister Harsh Vardhan not mentioning the death of healthcare workers due to COVID-19 in his statement in Parliament, the Indian Medical Association on Wednesday published a list of 382 doctors who died due to the viral disease and demanded that they be treated as "martyrs".





On MoS Health Ashwini Kumar Choubey's statement that public health and hospitals come under states and so insurance compensation data is not available with the Centre, the doctors' body said that it amounts to "abdication of duty and abandonment of the national heroes who have stood up for our people".

"The IMA finds it strange that after having formulated an unfriendly partial insurance scheme for the bereaved families to struggle with the ignominy of the government disowning them altogether stares at them," it said.

According to the IMA COVID-19 data on September 16, as many as 2,238 doctors were infected with the disease and of them 382 lost their lives, a senior official of the doctors' body said.

Referring to Vardhan statement, the IMA said the 19th paragraph acknowledges the contribution of healthcare workers during this pandemic, but "conceals" the morbidity and mortality of doctors, nurses and healthcare workers.

Terming it "indifference", the doctors' body said, "No nation has lost as many doctors and healthcare workers like India. Doctors suffer four times mortality of ordinary citizens and private practitioners suffer eight times mortality on the same scale."

"To feign that this information doesn't merit the attention of the nation is abominable. If the government doesn't maintain the statistics of the total number of doctors and healthcare workers infected by COVID- 19 and the statistics of how many of them sacrificed their life due to the pandemic, it loses the moral authority to administer the Epidemic Act 1897 and the Disaster Management Act."

"This also exposes the hypocrisy of calling them corona warriors on one hand and denying them and their families the status and benefits of martyrdom," the IMA stated.

Publishing a list of 382 doctors who died in the COVID-19 pandemic, along with their addresses, it said, "We demand they be acknowledged and treated as martyrs."

Their families and children deserve solace and solatium from the government, the IMA stressed.

"The IMA also commends to the government they seek such data from the representatives of nurses and other healthcare workers," the statement said.

The doctors' body said it had shared with the health ministry hundreds of suggestions and feedback during this national health emergency.

"The prime minister deemed it fit to invite the national president of IMA to a meeting to share the concerns and seek suggestions and cooperation. The suo moto statement of the health minister preferred to ignore the national dimension of the war against COVID-19," it said in the statement.
Democrats Go All-Out for Israel

Joe is a Zionist and Kamala panders to Jewish donors

By Philip Giraldi

September 15, 2020 " Information Clearing House " - Those of us who have longed for an end to Americas military engagement in the Middle East have hoped for a candidate who was not tied hand and foot to Israel, which is the root cause of the badly-broken and essentially pointless U.S. foreign policy in the region. But the real tragedy is that in spite of Israels near-constant interference in government process at all levels in the United States, no candidate will mention it except in the most laudatory fashion. It will be praised as Americas best friend and closest ally, but the price the U.S. has paid for all that balderdash while it has simultaneously been turning itself into the slave of the Jewish state will never surface.

The Democratic Party leadership is owned by Israel through its big Jewish donors whose billions come with only one string attached, i.e. that the Jewish state must be protected, empowered and enriched no matter what damage it does to actual U.S. interests. Number one Israeli-American billionaire donor Haim Saban has said that he has only one interest, and that is Israel. How such a man can have major influence over American foreign policy and the internal workings of one of its two major parties might be considered the death of real democracy. At the Israel America Councils National Conference Nancy Pelosi explicitly put Israels interests before Americas: I have said to people when they ask me if this Capitol crumbled to the ground, the one thing that would remain is our commitment to our aidand I dont even call it aidour cooperation with Israel. Thats fundamental to who we are.

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Jews are not surprisingly considerably over-represented in the Democratic Party Establishment. The influence of powerful Jewish Democrats recently insured that there would be no criticism of Israel, nor mention of Palestine, in the party platform for Novembers election. So extreme is the virulence of some Jews against the Palestinians that a liberal Zionist Rabbi Mark Winer speaking at a Joe Biden rally in Florida recently denounced progressives as infected with the anti-Semitism virus over their support for Palestinian rights and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. No one even sought to challenge him. Another progressive Zionist Rabbi Jill Jacobs tweeted about how liberals have to embrace Israel to avoid offending Jews. She wrote: While Israel is likely the most divisive issue in the progressive world, setting a litmus test that one cannot consider oneself pro-Israel, or support two states, would divide the vast majority of Jews from the left. Not what we need when fighting white nationalism.

So-called white nationalists therefore appear to be the preferred enemies of progressive Jews, requiring one to close ranks even  or perhaps especially  when Palestinians are being brutalized. Joe Biden does not venture into that extreme-think zone, but he has made his loyalties clear. He has said that You dont have to be Jewish to be a Zionist. I am a Zionist. More recently he has denounced Trump as bad for Israel. And to demonstrate his bona fides, he kicked Democratic Party Palestinian-activist Linda Sarsour under the bus when she appeared on a DNC convention panel discussing how to appeal to Muslim voters. Bidens campaign office issued a statement saying that he has been a strong supporter of Israel and a vehement opponent of anti-Semitism his entire life, and he obviously condemns her views and opposes BDS, as does the Democratic platform. She has no role in the Biden campaign whatsoever.

With that lead in, it is difficult to imagine how Biden would suddenly recognize the humanity of the long-suffering Palestinians, to include those who are, like he claims to be, Catholic. Biden is close to AIPAC and has spoken at their annual convention a number of times. He is opposed to putting any pressure on the Jewish state at any time and for any reason, which presumably includes not even protecting U.S. interests or the lives and property of American citizens.

Biden also worked for President Barack Obama and was a colleague in office of Hillary Clinton. Both did the usual pander to Israel and neither was particularly well disposed to the Palestinians, though Obama talked the talk of a man of peace so effectively that he was awarded a Nobel Prize. Bear in mind that Obama personally disliked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but he increased the money from the U.S. Treasury going directly to Israel to $3.8 billion per annum and guaranteed it for ten years, an unprecedented move. The fact is that money was and is illegal under American law due to the 1976 Symington Amendment, which banned any aid to any country with a nuclear program that was not declared and subject to inspection under the terms of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Obama, who claims to be a constitutional lawyer, surely was aware of that but rewarded Israel anyway.

One can expect nothing from Kamala Harris. Her husband is Jewish and she has made her career in California by sleeping with power brokers and pandering to Israel. She, like Biden, has been a fixture at the AIPAC annual conference. She has already made her mark with the partys pro-Israel crowd by having a conference call with 1800 Jewish Democratic donors, during which she repeatedly assured them a Biden-Harris Administration will never resort to cutting current levels of aid over any political decisions that Israel makes, adding personally and I couldnt agree more. She promised to demonstrate what she described as unwavering support for Israel. She also reminded the donors that Joe Biden had been behind the largest military aid package to any country ever when President Obama signed off on the $38 billion package in 2016.

Optimists point to the fact that the Democrats have now elected a number of congressmen who are willing to criticize Israel and they also cite opinion polls that suggest that a majority of registered Democrats want fair treatment for the Palestinians without any major bias in favor of the Jewish state. In spite of a news blackout on stories critical of Israel, there is broad understanding of the fact that the Israelis are serial human rights abusers. But those observations matter little in a situation in which the top of the party, to include those who manage elections and allocate money to promising prospective candidates, identify as strongly and often passionately friends of Israel. That is not an accident and one can assume that major effort has gone into maintaining that level of control.

How exactly this fissure in the Democratic Party will play out after November is anyones guess and, of course, if Trump wins there will be an autopsy to find out who to blame. Israel certainly wont be looked at because no one is allowed to talk about it anyway, but some progressives at least will demand a review of a foreign policy platform that was heavy on intervention and global democracy promotion and light on getting along with adversaries, making it largely indistinguishable from that of the Republicans.

Israel for its part has played its cards carefully. It knows that either Biden or Trump will do whatever it wants, but it has deferred its planned annexation of much of the Palestinian West Bank, which will now take place after the election. It did that knowing that otherwise some liberals in the Democratic Party might try to turn Israel into an issue and split the Jewish community while also alienating Jewish donors and some Jewish voters if the annexation had taken place. After November 3rd, no matter who wins Israel will benefit and will have a free hand to do anything it wishes to the Palestinians. Or perhaps one should say the remaining Palestinians until they are all gone.
New Delhi, Sep 16 : In a bid to ramp up COVID-19 testing in the national capital, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the state government to convert community halls and Mohalla Clinics into testing facilities.

Noting that the Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) is only 60% accurate, a division bench comprising Justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad questioned: "Why are you waiting for the false negative report in RAT to proceed to the next step (RT-PCR)?" "We are of the firm view that RT-PCR is the way forward," the court said while also requesting an expert committee constituted by the Lieutenant Governor to hold a meeting immediately to consider ramping up of RT-PCR testing capacity.

The court directions came during a hearing on a Public Interest Litigation filed by advocate Rakesh Malhotra who sought increased COVID-19 testing and speedy results in Delhi.

The court was informed by Director General of Health Services Nutan Mundeja that mobile testing facilities have been started at a few Metro stations.

The court noted that one fourth of the total tests conducted last week were RT-PCR and the rest RAT.

In an affidavit filed through its counsel Satyakam, the Delhi government said that there are 79 mobile testing teams active in 11 districts of the national capital.

The government further said that Geospatial Delhi Limited (GSDL) has been requested to undertake the mapping of fixed-site testing facilities for COVID-19 in Delhi.

The High Court had earlier asked the Delhi government to get locations of various testing facilities displayed at prominent places, including entry and exit of Metro stations for public awareness.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
While more Gulf countries are expected to normalise their relations with Israel, Kuwaits political structure makes it an exception

If you have an ounce of dignity, get out of the hall, occupiers, child murderers!

Kuwaiti Parliamentary Speaker Marzouk Al-Ghanem became something of a household name across the Arab world three years ago when a video clip of his fiery anti-Israel speech during an International Parliamentarians meeting went viral.

Al-Ghanem was responding to an Israeli lawmakers address to the forum, which took place in Saint Petersburg in Russia.

You represent the worst form of terrorism, state terrorism, he said, as the hall erupted in applause, followed by the Israeli delegation storming out of the room.

Kuwaiti ruler Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah promptly sent a letter of praise to the countrys national assembly about Al-Ghanems stand, which truly embodies Kuwaits support for the Palestinian peoples quest to regain their legitimate rights.

Al-Ghanem, elected in 2013, is still speaker of Kuwaits 50-member assembly, the only elected legislative body in the Gulf region. His views, expressed on many occasions in response to developments that have followed, are in line with the small oil-rich countrys tradition of Pan-Arabism, resonating across the vibrant and opposition-majority parliament elected in 2016 and consisting of Islamists, Arab nationalists and liberals.

After the announcement that the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain would be normalising their relations with Israel, there has been speculation that other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries could follow suit, possibly Oman, known for its friendliness towards Israel, and possibly Saudi Arabia, which is undergoing seismic changes under the watch of Saudi Crown-Prince Mohamed Bin Salman.

Qatar, presently in a feud with the UAE, attacked the normalisation agreements despite Dohas informal diplomacy with Israel.

Days before Bahrain made its announcement, US President Donald Trump told a White House news conference that I will tell you that countries are lining up that want to go into it, referring to normalisation with Israel.

I think what ultimately will happen is youre going to have quite a few countries come in. The big ones are going to be coming in. I spoke to the king of Saudi Arabia, so were talking. We just started the dialogue. And youll have them come in, he said.

But among the Gulf monarchies openly seeking normalised relations with Israel, Kuwait, a constitutional monarchy and still ruled by a generation that has long opposed Israels occupation of Palestine, stands out.

Kuwaits political system is one reason why the country is the least likely to follow the UAE and Bahrain in normalising relations with Israel, said Kristian Ulrichsen, a fellow at Rice Universitys Baker Institute in the US.

The populist nature of Kuwaiti politics means that very few government ministers or MPs would be willing to openly support such a proposal out of concern at the political and electoral backlash that would likely come their way if they did so.

Kuwaits hybrid political system is divided between an appointed government and an elected parliament, which, unlike in the other Gulf monarchies, traces its power back to the tiny countrys foundational years.

Kuwaits national assembly has the constitutional right to approve or disapprove of the appointment of the countrys emir, including the authority to remove him from his post.

This was enforced in 2006 when it removed then ruler Saad Al-Sabah because he could not carry out his duties as ruler due to illness. While the emir also has the power to dissolve the assembly and has done so many times, some scholars consider the political system in Kuwait, through its assembly, its judicial system and its constitutional court, to be one of the most independent in the Arab world.

The other factor that makes Kuwait unlikely to normalise with Israel, said Ulrichsen, was the fact that both the countrys emir and crown-prince are from the generation that lived through every phase of the Arab-Israeli conflict going back to 1948, and their attachment to Palestine and to the Palestinian cause remains strong.

Kuwait therefore has not undergone a generational transformation in attitude as has, for example, the UAE with [crown-prince of Abu Dhabi] Mohamed Bin Zayed and, to some extent, Saudi Arabia with [crown-prince] Mohamed Bin Salman.

Kuwaits large Palestinian community is among the biggest in the Gulf region. Waves of Palestinian refugees fled to Kuwait after 1948 and 1967, where they were met with open arms by the pan-Arab Gulf monarchy.

Kuwaits Arab nationalist position was unique in the region following the death of former Egyptian president Gamal Abdel-Nasser in 1970 and Cairos historic shift under his successor Anwar Al-Sadat who signed a peace agreement with Israel in 1979.

In addition to hosting Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) figures, the oil-rich emirate was also refuge to Arab intellectuals from the 1960s to the early 1980s, including prominent Egyptian journalist Ahmed Bahaaeddin, editor of Al-Arabi, the Arab worlds most prominent cultural magazine at the time.

Kuwait was also home to Naji Al-Ali, an iconic Palestinian cartoonist in the 1960s upon an invitation from Palestinian author and journalist Ghassan Kanafani.

Kuwait was the first of the formerly British-protected sheikhdoms in the Gulf to gain independence in 1961, 10 years before Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE. It was also the first to modernise, launching the first university in the Gulf region in 1964.

As a founding member of the GCC, Kuwaits policy rested on regional cooperation and partnership. Throughout the recent crisis within the GCC caused by differences with Qatar, Kuwait has remained a bridge and mediator between the conflicting parties and has helped to hold the fractured GCC together.

With one third of the GCC now officially recognising Israel, some Kuwaiti voices fear the already volatile union might see more damage.

This will cause a lack of coordination and the loss of a single political compass exposed by the Qatar crisis, said Abdallah Al-Shayji, a Kuwaiti political scientist. The internal conflict within the GCC over Iran, Syria, Turkey and Libya has deepened the crisis, he added, which has been exacerbated by normalising relations with Israel.

The future of the GCC might now rest on how the UAE, a heavyweight political actor in the Gulf region, navigates its next move.

The UAEs and Bahrains announcements are unlikely to affect the rift in the GCC directly, but they may be used as leverage by the Emiratis in Washington should the UAE ever feel the need to pressure Kuwait or other GCC states that do not follow their lead, Ulrichsen said. But we have not yet seen any sign of this happening.

Saudi Arabia has remained silent about the decisions to normalise taken by the UAE and Bahrain, though these are unlikely to have taken place without Riyadhs endorsement.

Suspended between old and new-guard policies, Saudi Arabias slow pace towards normalisation with Israel will likely take more time, yet it puts it in the spotlight.

It also eases the pressure on Kuwait, for now, said Kristin Diwan, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.

If Saudi Arabia eventually comes on board, and ties with Israel begin to reshape the region, this will isolate and endanger Kuwait. But for now, the slower pace of Saudi normalisation gives them cover, she said.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 17 September, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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Two men have been stabbed on a busy street in Sydneys inner west.

Emergency services were called to Darling Street, Balmain, about 8.30pm on Tuesday following reports two men had been assaulted.

The victims, aged 18 and 22, were walking with a group of friends towards a bus stop near Gladstone Park when they became involved in a verbal altercation with another two men.

One of the attackers allegedly produced a knife and stabbed the 18-year-old in the stomach before fleeing.
Islamabad:

Pakistan on Thursday accused Hindu terrorist outfits of carrying out ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Muslims in Jammu region and claimed that the government is empowering such groups.

The Pakistan Foreign Office, in a statement, alleged that Kashmiris were being killed by security forces in fake encounters.

Many Kashmiris have been killed in fake encounters, house raids and custodial killings. We condemn continuous killing of Kashmiris, Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria said.

Hindu terrorist organisations...and the armed Village Defence Committees are committing ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Muslims in the Jammu region, he claimed.

He alleged that since the Modi government took over in 2014, the Hindu terrorists have been empowered with full support from the state machinery in Kashmir, causing displacement of scores of Kashmiri Muslim families by design.

Zakaria said Pakistan is constantly sensitising the world community on the grave violation of human rights of Kashmiris.

He said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who is currently visiting Davos to participate in the World Economic Forum, held bilateral meetings with various leaders on the sidelines during which he highlighted human rights violations of Kashmiris by Indian forces.

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At the invitation of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the WCO Secretary General, Dr. Kunio Mikuriya, spoke at the high-level opening session of the ICC Commission on Customs and Trade Facilitation (ICC Commission) on 15 September 2020 to underline the importance of Customs-Business Partnership.

The Chairperson of the ICC Commission, Mr. Norm Schenk, opened this first fully virtual session aimed at strengthening cooperation between Customs and Business and promoting trade facilitation. In his opening remarks, Secretary General Mikuriya emphasized the strong cooperation that existed between the WCO and ICC not only at leadership level, but also through the ICCs participation in and valuable input to WCO meetings. He gave some tangible examples of coordination between the two Organizations, including the joint letter issued by the Secretaries General of the ICC and WCO on 20 March 2020 promoting greater ATA Carnet facilities, as well as the Organizations respective publications supporting Micro-, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) during the COVID-19 pandemic to mark MSME Day on 27 June. Likewise, the ICC contributed to regular consultations with the WCO Private Sector Consultative Group (PSCG) that helped the WCO identify bottlenecks in trade processes and jointly explored potential solutions involving other international organizations. Dr. Mikuriya added that the ICCs continued support was anticipated for the further development of the WCO guidelines for business continuity planning during the COVID-19 pandemic and in other similar situations.

Secretary General Mikuriya also provided an insight into the ongoing work on the WCO E-Commerce Package and welcomed the ICC Commission Chairpersons contribution by co-chairing the WCO Working Group on E-Commerce. Additionally, the ICCs continuing commitment to the implementation of and future maintenance mechanism for the WCO Framework of Standards on Cross-Border E-Commerce was highlighted. Dr. Mikuriya concluded by stressing the enduring cooperation between the two Organizations with a view to moving towards more resilient supply chains, demonstrating the convergence between the ICCs interest in digitization and the circular economy and the WCOs theme for this year: Customs Fostering Sustainability for People, Prosperity and the Planet.

The opening session also featured remarks by the Secretary General of the International Transport Forum, Mr. Young Tae Kim, who advocated close cooperation between the ICC Commission and the transport sector. The Secretary General of the ICC, Mr. John Denton, expressed special thanks to the WCO for undertaking high-quality activities and for its collaborative work during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, he raised the prospect of further cooperation to achieve common goals.

This ICC Commission session is expected to spend three days focusing on restoring confidence in trade through close cooperation with the Customs and transport sectors. It brings together over 100 business representatives and key WCO Secretariat staff.
Calling it the most extreme" and "egregious display of knucklehead behavior, Gov. Phil Murphy blasted YouTube pranksters Wednesday whose presence in Seaside Heights on Monday night drew large, maskless crowds amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The governor shamed the group, the Nelk Boys, for having succeeded in getting the notoriety they wanted, but obviously dont deserve" after about more than 1,000 people crowded outside the Jersey Shore house after they told followers they would be making an appearance at the place made popular by the MTV reality show.

Murphy, at the same time, urged all the people who were in the crowd to get tested for COVID-19.

New Jersey was just the latest stop on their tour of willful negligence for public health in a pandemic, Murphy said his latest coronavirus briefing in Trenton.

That kind of gathering is how coronavirus spreads most easily, he said. It will be a couple of weeks ... before we know whether or not Seaside Heights unwillingly became a coronavirus hotspot because of these knuckleheads, who I hope dont come back to New Jersey and certainly arent welcome.

The Nelk Boys shared clips from their Shore trip on Instagram and Twitter on Monday.

By the evening, Seaside Heights Police, who had already closed the town to non-resident traffic because of the scene, said the crowd swelled to at least 1,500 people. Neighboring police departments responded as backup and eight men between the ages of 18 and 26 were arrested. Police said some people hurled glass bottles and rocks at officers.

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage

These so-called influencers need to be taken to task, Murphy said. The local police resources that were needed to disperse the crowd were substantial.

The owners of the home at 1209 Ocean Terrace  Dan Merk and his brother, Paul Merk  were issued four summonses, according to Mayor Tony Vaz. The brothers were cited for maintaining a nuisance and not having a certificate of occupancy. The mayor couldnt immediately provide information on the other summonses.

Vaz said the borough is also considering legal action to get reimbursed for the cost of clearing the scene. Seaside Heights police enlisted the help of five other departments and the Ocean County Sheriffs Office on Monday night.

Im so frustrated  its so annoying, Vaz said. Weve changed our image and then we have this  a night of 1,000 restless, bored kids causing havoc. Somebody has to pay for it  and it shouldnt be the taxpayers.

Vaz added that the Merk brothers have only a mercantile license for the house and that borough officials might attempt to get it revoked.

He and other borough officials met with the brothers Tuesday morning and received an apology.A Seaside Heights police spokesman couldnt immediately be reached.

The Nelk Boys, who hail from Canada, are Gen Zers Jesse Sebastiani, Kyle Forgeard and Steve Deleonardis. The trio, who lived in Los Angeles before they set off on travels across the country, are known for their visits to college campuses.

Last week, YouTube temporarily demonetized them after they allegedly threw parties at Illinois State University, creating a public health risk, BuzzFeed reported. Video they shared on Instagram showed students at on-campus parties not wearing masks or social distancing.

Younger people in the state make up the largest amount of new positive tests, according to state data. They are nearly three times that of the recent regular daily figures.

Just because youre young and seemingly invincible doesnt mean you actually are, or that you cant spread the virus on to someone who is particularly vulnerable, Murphy said.

As of Wednesday, there have been 197,792 documented COVID-19 cases in New Jersey.

The states death toll stands at 16,054 people, including 14,263 lab-confirmed deaths and 1,791 considered probable.

Thats roughly the same number of New Jersey service members who died in the six years the U.S. fought in WWI and WWII combined, which puts the coronavirus among the top killers in the state this year  even compared to chronic illnesses that consistently claim lives in the state and across the nation.

NJ Advance Media staff writer Amy Kuperinsky contributed to this report.

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Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here.
A bill aimed at preventing below cost sale of beef has made its way through the first stages of the Dail.

The Equitable Beef Pricing Bill was introduced by Aontu leader Peadar Toibin who says the bill would get rid of the 30 month rule and force the beef industry to discuss fair prices for farmers.

He said the bill would ban the below cost sale of beef, ensuring that farmers make at least a break-even price for their produce. It would do this for a year. It would force the Beef Barons to the table to discuss a real and fair price.

The bill, if enacted would also get rid of the illogical 30 month rule whereby farmers are paid a lower rate for an animal which is older than 30 months of age.

Toibin went on to say that only a fraction of farmers are making enough off their farms to support themselves.

He said many farmers are fighting for their family livelihoods and ability to survive. Of the 130,000 farmers in the state only 1/3 are making enough from the farm to support their families.

"Another 1/3 are surviving because the farmer is also working off the farm to supplement the family income. A full third of farmers are simply not earning enough to live at all. These farmers are being pushed into poverty, debt and off the land.

It is clear that the beef industry, as it currently constituted, is unsustainable. Beef farmers are selling their produce at below cost prices while a collection of processors and supermarkets multiples make astounding profits on the same product.

"The industry is structured in the most anti-competitive way. It operates as an oligopoly. A small number of producers exert enormous control over the sector. The beef barons and producers can control every aspect of the market, such as the price and all the conditions of sale."
The new brand reflects the global association's purpose - better contracts, better business, better society through their research, insight and advocacy to deliver better contracting and commercial practice worldwide.

LONDON, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- For 21 years, The International Association for Contract and Commercial Management (IACCM) has been home for those in the field of contract and commercial management - producing research, delivering learning and helping its members to develop their skills and raise their profile within their organizations. Today the not-for-profit association announces a re-brand to World Commerce & Contracting and launches a new website, member portal and learning management system.

The new name, branding and investment in new systems signifies the expanded vision of the association which includes a greater focus on advocacy for commercial and contracting practices that support a better world in this time of such disruption. Uniquely positioned, their global membership covers the full contracting lifecycle representing a diverse community of commercial and contract professionals, as well as procurement and legal specialists - the re-brand confirms their strong position as the leading commerce and contracting association.

Announcing the re-brand, Global CEO Sally Guyer said, "Commercial inspiration and innovation have rarely been as important as they are today. Not only is there a desperate need for economic recovery, but we all sense the urgency for social recovery - for a rebalancing of opportunity and inclusion. These changes and improvements depend on the work of every commercial and contracting expert. We believe there is no better time to make this progressive move as an association".

Founded by the association's President Tim Cummins, IACCM has grown to 70,000 members from over 20,000 companies across 180 countries worldwide.

Commenting on the expanded vision and re-brand, Tim said, "Our global community leads the way, driving better practice in contracting, and shaping commercial policy worldwide. World Commerce & Contracting will build on the work we have achieved over the last 21 years - with rigorous, pioneering research: we analyse, we advocate for change and we deliver practical insights for government, business and academia.

For further information on World Commerce & Contracting, visit www.worldcc.com

About World Commerce & Contracting

World Commerce & Contracting is a not-for-profit association dedicated to helping its global members achieve high performing and trusted trading relationships. With 70,000 members from over 20,000 companies across 180 countries worldwide, the association welcomes everyone with an interest in better contracting: business leaders, practitioners, experts and newcomers. It is independent, provocative and disciplined existing for its members, the contracting community and society at large.

www.worldcc.com

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Slovenia's Primoz Roglic once more prevailed on his toughest test yet to remain on course for Tour de France glory, while Miguel Angel Lopez soloed to a breathtaking stage win atop the highest mountain of the race.

With the Slovenian pair Roglic and Tadej Pogacar playing cat and mouse for the overall leader's yellow jersey, the cagey Lopez grabbed Wednesday's 17th stage by the throat with a surging burst for the line that also allowed Roglic to leave behind his 21-year-old rival.

Lopez's win at high altitude gave Colombia something to celebrate on the day 2019 champion Egan Bernal pulled out after he and his team Ineos failed to live up to expectations.

With two massive mountains the queen stage ascended to 2,304m altitude atop the Col de la Loze, where Tour rookie Pogacar lost just a handful of seconds to Roglic in their ongoing war of attrition.

Pogacar has however been racing virtually alone, and won plaudits challenging Roglic, who has appeared rock-steady with a powerful climb posse surrounding him in Jumbo's black and yellow outfits.

The Slovenians have been the story of the Tour and will likely square off for the overall win on stage 20's mouthwatering individual time trial.

As Lopez pulled away team Jumbo leader Roglic also showed too much power for Pogacar on the last agonising kilometre.

"That was hell," said the former ski jumper Roglic.

"I'm glad this is behind me," he added, merely needing to survive without a major incident to win this year's Tour.

"Every metre counts on a climb like that."

Shorn of Bernal Ineos co-captain Richard Carapaz produced a doomed solo bid as the Giro champion was caught on the ever-changing gradient of the final 7km above 2,000m as the top 10 experienced a slight shake-up.

A day after the race was cleared of Covid-19 to run all the way to Paris on Sunday, French President Emmanuel Macron was present as the peloton struggled through villages full of ubiquitous baskets of flowers hanging from Swiss-style ski chalets.

Story continues

In the rarefied air that suits the men from the Andes, the 26-year-old Lopez leapfrogged compatriot Rigoberto Uran and extended his lead over Adam Yates and Richie Porte.

Roglic now leads his young compatriot Pogacar by 57 seconds with just three real races left before the Tour gets to Paris.

- Colombian highs and lows -

Suffering from a bad back for a month now Bernal, his Tour defence in tatters, said a sad goodbye to the 2020 edition when Ineos decided to protect the long-term interests of their 23-year-old captain by withdrawing him.

But his compatriot Astana captain Lopez, who is known as "Superman" in his homeland after fighting off three thieves who tried to steal his bike, gave Colombia something to shout about.

Lopez had complained earlier in the race that Jumbo's dominance was suffocating the race, but saw his opportunity on a mentally challenging finale where the varying gradient called for constant adaptations.

"I felt strong coming into the race and on the Grand Colombier, which was the first big one (climb) of the race, like the ones I train on in Colombia, I felt good," Lopez said.

"I won many things in my life, but this is impressive and I worked so hard to get here," said the man who has previously finished on the podium at both the Giro and the Vuelta.

The long hard 14km struggle up the Col de la Madeleine to its 2,000m summit was at the halfway point of the race.

Lopez made the difference on the even higher Meribel mountain with a sudden turn of pace while Roglic and Pogacar were watching each other.

"I felt at home over 2,000m, as I live at 2,500m above sea level," he explained. "But I won't win, the others ahead of me are too good on time trials. I'm just going to enjoy myself."

The key remaining challenge is stage 20, the 36km individual time trial that runs over 30km of rolling terrain before tough 6km ascent up the fabled Planche des Belles Filles on Saturday.

The final day on Sunday is a kind of parade, except for the concluding eight laps of the Champs-Elysees, where Ireland's Sam Bennett will face a stern challenge for the green sprint jersey from seven-time winner Peter Sagan on a last-gasp dash for the line.

dmc/mw
The police in Lagos on Wednesday stopped members of the Joint Action Front who were protesting against the hike in fuel and electricity prices.

The protest was in alliance with other civil society and pro-labour groups in Nigeria.

The protesters, who defied the morning rain, called on the Federal Government to reverse the increase in fuel and electricity prices and also reject the privatization and deregulation policies of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The march took off around 10 a.m. at the Nigeria Labour Congress, Yaba, Lagos.

Achike Chude, the Vice-chairman of JAF, said the government keeps inflicting suffering on the people as a result of their gross failure.

Mr Chude said it is time for the Nigerian people to arise against bad leadership and say enough is enough.

Speaking on the role of the Labour Congress, Mr Chude said the NLC has historical duty to perform.

They need to stand on behalf of the people and not on behalf of the government that is tormenting them, that is the impression that is being given by the silence of Labour on the monumental hardship of Nigerians.

That they have taken sides with the government against the Nigerian people. I dont want to believe that is true but they are the only ones that can prove that it is not true, he said.

Malachy Ugwummadu, the former National President of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, said it is time for the people to rise up.

The strength on those who oppress you lies in your weakness. Today we have decided to shake off those weakness and tell everyone that Nigeria belongs to us, he said.

Stating their demands, the group asked for an unconditional reversal of hike in petrol price and electricity tariffs.

The government has a responsibility to make our refineries work and build new ones in order to ensure availability of Petroleum products at cheaper and affordable prices to all.

The group also demanded the implementation of new minimum wage across board and payment of all outstanding allowances and arrears to workers.

They sensitised people at Yaba market before marching to Ojuelegba, Ishaga and neighbouring communities.

Police action

While at Ishaga, the protesters encountered officers from the Area C Police Command who disrupted the protest and ordered many of them into their van.

The protesters were taken to Area C where their leaders were addressed by a senior police officer and subsequently released.

Mr Chude later told PREMIUM TIMES that the protest was peaceful until their march was halted by the police.

It was peaceful up to that point, there was some altercation, they didnt want us to move. I suspect it was because they did not have enough numbers to arrest us, so they called for back up. when the back up came they insisted on taking the leadership of JAF but everybody insisted they have to go with the leadership, Mr Chude said.

They took us to the area command, it was there that they let us go.

The JAF official said the police did not give them any reasonable explanation for stopping the protest.

There was nothing concrete they told us that made sense to us, he said.

JAF protest against hike in electricity and fuel price JAF protest against hike in electricity and fuel price

But they mentioned that they had orders from above and that they were acting on those orders. They said that we should have informed them so that they can give us back up, you know the usual thing they say about hijack of protest by hoodlums and area boys.

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But this is something we have done for so many years and not once has any of our protests been hijacked by anybody. The reality is that a lot of the people, even the area boys, are in agreement about the state of affairs in this country, nobody is happy with what is going on, with the increases in electricity and fuel.

Last week, the police disrupted a similar protest against the governments harsh policies, and arrested the protesters and the journalists covering the event.
In a further assertion by the Trump administration of quasi-dictatorial executive powers, the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Chad Wolf, notified the House Committee on Homeland Security on September 8 that he would not appear for testimony at a September 17 hearing on Worldwide Threats to the Homeland.

Wolf, along with the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Christopher Wray, and the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Chris Miller, were scheduled to testify at the annual hearing, which is meant to exemplify congressional oversight of the intelligence agencies. As of this writing, Wray and Miller are still set to testify.

On September 11, Representative Bennie Thompson (Democrat of Mississippi), the chairman of the committee, issued a subpoena for Wolf to testify at the September 17 hearing. In issuing the subpoena, Thompson included a statement that read: From the coronavirus pandemic to the rise of right-wing extremism to ongoing election interference, there are urgent threats requiring our attention. Mr. Wolfs refusal to testifythereby evading congressional oversight at this critical timeis especially troubling given the serious matters facing the Department and the Nation.

President Donald J. Trump listens as Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad F. Wolf delivers remarks at the White House Coronavirus Task Force coronavirus (COVID-19) update briefing Friday, March 20, 2020, in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)

Later that day, Wolf appeared as a guest on Fox News with Brett Baier and said he would not honor the subpoena.

Wolf has been serving as acting secretary of DHS since November 13, 2019. However, a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report from August found that Wolf and his deputy secretary, Ken Cuccinelli, were both part of an invalid order of succession and therefore not legally appointed to their positions.

Last Friday, a federal judge in Maryland, Paula Xinis, temporarily barred the enforcement of asylum restrictions Wolf put in place in August on the grounds that he was likely unlawfully serving as head of the DHS, the parent agency of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Wolf has played a central role not only in the Trump administrations vicious persecution of immigrants, but also in its fascistic attacks on demonstrators protesting against police violence, particularly in Portland, Oregon and Kenosha, Wisconsin.

In July, Wolf dispatched a militarized special operations unit of CBP known as BORTAC, or Border Patrol Tactical Unit, as part of a collection of federal police agencies under the DHS that essentially invaded Portland, in defiance of publicly stated opposition from the mayor and the governor.

Trumps federal police and paramilitary forces occupied a federal courthouse that had become a focal point of protests and brutally attacked peaceful protesters with CS tear gas, rubber bullets, pepper bombs, flash bang grenades and sonic weapons.

They carried out arbitrary beatings and arrests and deliberately sought to provoke a violent response from the demonstrators. This was the prelude to the Republican National Convention in August, during which Trump and other speakers portrayed the protests against police violence as mobs of rampaging anarchists and socialists looting, burning and terrorizing cities and wealthy suburbs.

Wolf oversaw the use of his uniformed thugs to kidnap people off the street, in the manner of Latin American police states, throw them into unmarked cars and secrete them in locations for hours of interrogation, all without charges or due process.

Similar tactics were employed in Kenosha last month following the police shooting of Jacob Blake. There, local police, backed by the National Guard and federal agents, coordinated with far-right vigilantes, leading to the fascist murder of two unarmed protesters.

The police-state operations culminated earlier this month in the targeted assassination of anti-fascist protester Michael Reinoehl in Portland by a task force led by US Marshals, one of the agencies under Wolfs DHS.

In previous congressional testimony, Wolf has defended the kidnapping of protesters as a common de-escalation tactic, necessary to put down mobs of lawless and violent anarchists, who, in his telling, have been enabled by local political leaders [who] refuse to restore order to protect their city.

On September 9, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (Democrat of California) announced that the committee would be looking into a complaint filed by whistleblower Brian Murphy, until recently the head of intelligence analysis at DHS, who accused Wolf, Cuccinelli and other Trump officials of pressuring him to alter intelligence reports to bolster Trumps domestic and foreign policies.

The complaint alleged that Wolf and Cuccinelli instructed Murphy to modify domestic terrorism threat assessments to downplay the threat from white supremacists and exaggerate the supposed threat from left-wing groups like Antifa. It also alleged that Trump officials ordered him to cease providing intelligence assessments on the threat of Russian interference in the United States and instead start reporting on interference activities by China and Iran.

The Democrats and the bulk of the media have played up the allegations of pro-Russian interference and downplayed the claims of shielding far-right forces and demonizing left-wing opponents of the administration.

Wolfs defiance of Congress is only the latest in a string of actions by the Trump White House asserting unlimited presidential powers and rejecting congressional oversight. In February 2019, Trump declared a national emergency at the US-Mexico border in order to override Congress and allocate $8 billion to build his border wall, in violation of the Constitution, which reserves to Congress the power of the purse. The Democrats not only offered no serious opposition, they eventually voted to provide funding for Trumps war on immigrants.

In October of 2019, the White House declared that it would not cooperate in any way with the House impeachment inquiry, asserting essentially unchecked presidential powers. Once again, the Democrats capitulated. The eventual articles of impeachment made no mention of Trumps unconstitutional power grabs and instead focused solely on his alleged cave-in to Russia in relation to Ukraine.
BAY CITY, MI  A Bay City man is accused of trying to kill another man in a shooting that followed a bar fight in Bay Citys Midland Street Historic District. His attorney, though, says his client acted in self-defense.

Jordan A. Ashton, 29, on the afternoon of Tuesday, Sept. 15, appeared via Zoom from the jail before Bay County District Judge Timothy J. Kelly for arraignment. The judge arraigned Ashton on eight counts  single counts of assault with intent to murder, assault with intent to cause great bodily harm less than murder, felon in possession of a firearm, and carrying a dangerous weapon with unlawful intent, plus four counts of felony firearm.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: In a bid to protect the interest of depositors, the Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed an amendment to the Banking Regulation Act to bring cooperative banks under the supervision of the RBI.

The Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2020 replaces an ordinance that was promulgated on June 26.

The bill, which comes in the backdrop of the PMC Bank scam, seeks to strengthen cooperative banks by increasing their professionalism, enabling access to capital, improving governance and ensuring sound banking through the RBI.

Replying to the debate on the bill in the Lok Sabha, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said this legislation is for depositors' safety and not for undermining powers of the Registrar of Cooperative Societies.

Powers of the Registrar of Cooperative Societies have not been encroached upon but banking activity of cooperatives will be regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), she said.

"I want to make it very clear that this bill does not provide for regulation of cooperative banks by the central government. We are not doing anything new, we are working in the interest of depositors," she added.

The amendment is not for the central bank to take over control of cooperative banks, she said.

Clarifying on the need for the ordinance, the finance minister said, "Absolutely there was a need for it. One was not sure when will be the next session of Parliament because of COVID-19 pandemic, and in the meanwhile, the protection of depositors is of critical importance."

Moreover, there was rise in non-performing assets (NPAs) of the cooperative banks, Sitharaman said.

As per the annual financial data made available before June, there was an increase in gross NPA ratio of urban cooperative banks to 10 per cent in 2019-20 as against 7 per cent in 2018-19, she added.

The finance minister emphasised that the government has not forgotten the success of the cooperative movement, but added if cooperatives are providing banking services, then several committees have recommended that there is a need to regulate them.

"It's not as if we have forgotten the success of the cooperative movement. We are not undermining, but we must face the truth that in the last two decades, 430 cooperative banks have been delicensed and they have gone into liquidation," she said.

"In contrast, not a single commercial bank in the same period whose depositors are protected by the banking laws have gone into liquidation. So it should not be construed as we are stepping into the terrains of the states," she added.

Opposition parties had protested against the bill, saying it infringed upon the states' rights.

"We don't undermine anybody, but if depositors are suffering we have to stand with them. We are bringing this law to safeguard interest of depositors," Sitharaman added.

The proposed law seeks to enforce banking regulation guidelines of the RBI in cooperative banks, while administrative issues will still be guided by the Registrar of Cooperatives.

It is aimed at bringing cooperative banks on par with developments in the banking sector through better management and proper regulation which protects the interest of depositors.

The bill assumes significance in the wake of a scam in the Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank affecting lakhs of customers who have been facing difficulty in withdrawing their money due to restrictions imposed by the RBI.

The PMC Bank was found to have given over Rs 6,700 crore loan to a single realty company HDIL through allegedly fraudulent means and also hid the exposure from the RBI by creating separate books of accounts.

There are about 1,540 cooperative banks with depositor base of 8.60 crore having total savings of around Rs 5 lakh crore.

The Congress and DMK on Wednesday opposed the Bill, stating that it infringes upon the rights of states.

Urging the government to withdraw the bill, Congress' Manish Tewari said resorting to the ordinance route to make laws "undermines the majesty of Parliament" and is an attack on the legislative institution.

At a point when the country's GDP growth rate has been in a freefall for seven quarters preceding the lockdown and when all economic activity during the lockdown had come to a complete standstill, there was absolutely no rationale for promulgating the ordinance, especially when the bill was under consideration in this House, he said.

"In a federal polity, this ordinance and the bill which seeks to replace (it), is a frontal assault on the federal structure of the Constitution and this will have long-term implications on the democratic polity of India," Tewari said.

He also said the "hair-splitting" which Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has attempted by segregating primary agricultural credit society, long term credit society and district cooperative banks is going to create "utter mayhem" in the agricultural economy, if not anarchy, because of the symbiotic linkages between these bodies.

The amendments proposed in the bill do not apply to primary agricultural credit societies or co-operative societies whose primary object and principal business is long-term finance for agricultural development, and which do not use the words 'bank', 'banker' or 'banking'.

Sitharaman, while moving the bill in the Lok Sabha, said, "We are not doing anything to touch state cooperatives, we are not doing anything to primary agricultural credit societies, we are not doing anything to touch cooperative societies whose primary object and business is providing long-term finance for agricultural development."

The amendments would be applicable only on those cooperative societies which are engaged in banking, she added.

Tewari further said if there have been instances of malfeasance in district cooperative central banks and urban local cooperative banks, there are also as many success stories.

"State governments are more than competent to discharge their functions," he added.

Strongly opposing the bill, DMK MP Senthil Kumar said this will be seen as infringement of the states' rights.

Kumar said he differed on the argument of the finance minister that many cooperative banks in the country are incurring losses.

Citing the example of Tamil Nadu, he said 128 cooperative banks are running successfully in the state .

"(The bill) will be seen as infringement of the states' rights and infringement of states' rights have constantly been seen by this government. This government is undermining the process of democracy for a very, very long time," he added.

Kumar also said the RBI is already overloaded with many other responsibilities and regulating cooperative banks will further increase its load.

"The incompetence of this government was seen in the lack of interest in recovering the bad loans from the likes of Mallyas and Modis, but to go after the agriculturist," he alleged.

He also said the country is undergoing a serious health and economic crisis "created by the government" and it is blaming its shortcomings on the COVID-19 pandemic and saying it is 'an act of God'.

Trinamool Congress member Saugata Roy said he supports the contention of the DMK MP regarding the success of south Indian cooperative banks and "where he said this bill is in infringement of the states' rights."

Roy further said the RBI has not been a successful regulator and it failed to take preemptive steps in the case of Yes Bank.

"Actually this government is hampering the cooperative movement. I do not think that such a bill was necessary. I do not think that RBI has proved to be the best regulator in the country, I do not think that the power of the states' cooperatives should be taken away," Roy said.

Trinamool Congress MP Nusrat Jahan Ruhi also opposed the bill, while TDP's Jaydev Galla welcomed the legislation.

Supporting the legislation, BJP's Shivkumar Udasi said passing the bill will boost depositors' confidence and also prevent further scams.

YSRCP MP Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu too supported the bill but added that "let us not make the RBI as one stop solution for every problem".

G Kirtikar of the Shiv Sena also spoke in favour of the bill.

BJP's Tejasvi Surya said from the perspective of a depositor, a bank is a repository of trust.

The moment a financial institution uses the word 'bank', the depositors presume that it is supervised and guided by RBI therefore his deposits are safe.

The depositor does not understand nor does he know that multiple legislations cover the field of banking and cooperative banks.

"This dual control regime therefore. Creates a peculiar practical as well as a constitutional problem," he said.

Nothing highlights this anomaly better than the recent redressal of Yes Bank, while depositors of Punjab & Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank as well as Sri Guru Raghavendra Sahakara Bank continue to be in distress, he added.

A M Arif (CPI-M), Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka (Congress) and Sunil Dattatray Tatkare (NCP) also participated in the discussion.
The union home ministry on Wednesday stated there had been no infiltration along the Indo-China border in the last six months, as the government looks to play down the reported incursions by the Chinese troops in Ladakh as attempted transgressions.

In reply to a question posed by Rajya Sabha MP Dr Anil Agarwal, Minister of State for home affairs Nityanand Rai stated, No infiltration has been reported along Indo-China border during the last six months. He did not give any further clarification. His reply listed 47 attempts of infiltration from Pakistan since February.

The statement has generated controversy in light of the constant conflict between Chinese PLA and Indian Army in eastern ladakh since May. Questions have been raised as to why India has been demanding the restoration of status quo ante as of April in diplomatic and military meetings if there were no incursions.

MHA officials, however, said the answer by Nityanand Rai is not in conflict with what defence minister Rajnath Singh has said. Infiltration as a terminology is associated with terrorists or action where a hostile element sneaks into our territory and moves to hinterland, a senior official said.

The official adding that defence minister Rajnath Singh had also spoken about attempted transgressions by Chinese troops in his address to the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

Singh in his speech on Tuesday had said that Chinese army had made several attempts to transgress the LAC in parts of the Western Sector and change the status quo, but was thwarted by Indian troops and responded to appropriately. However, his statement provided no clarity on where the Chinese are sitting on the LAC at present.

The government has earlier, too, been vague on transgressions by China into Ladakh. In August, a document on the ministry of defence website had admitted to Chinese intrusion into Indian territory in eastern Ladakh, but it was removed after two days. The document was the first acknowledgment from the central government of intrusion into Indian territory by the Peoples Liberation Army.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had in May categorically stated at an all-party meeting that neither is anyone inside our territory nor is any of our post captured, post which the PMO had to clarify that the observation that there was no Chinese presence on our side of the LAC pertained to the situation as a consequence of the bravery of our armed forces.

It was clearly stated that the violence in Galwan on 15 June arose because Chinese side was seeking to erect structures just across the LAC and refused to desist from such actions. The statement had raised eyebrows with observers pointing out that if the Chinese sought to erect structures on across the LAC, it would need to cross the de-facto border.
York Region police have charged a physician with seven counts of sexual assault over a nine-year period at a medical clinic in King township.

The investigation started in August after two victims came forward to report they had been sexually assaulted by their doctor, police alleged in a news release Wednesday.

After further investigation, police said the alleged assaults took place at the Schomberg Medical Centre at 17250 Highway 27 between 2008 and 2017.

The accused is also believed to be a practising physician at other clinics in southern Ontario and police said they want to ensure there are no other vicims.

Anyone with information is asked to call police t 1-866-876-5423, ext. 7071 or contact Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-TIPS.

Dr. Wameed Ateyah, 49, of Richmond Hill, faces seven counts of sexual assault.

Zena Salem is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Star's radio room in Toronto. Reach her via email: zsalem@thestar.ca

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Over 3.08 lakh returned from abroad as part of the Mission, the government said on Wednesday, asserting that not all of them had lost their jobs, but returned on account of the COVID-19 situation.

In a written response to a question in Lok Sabha, Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan said the Mission commenced on May 7 and since then, more than 13,74,237 Indians (as on September 10, 2020) have returned to India via air, land and sea.

"Of them, 3,08,099 were workers, not all of them had lost their jobs, but returned on account of COVID-19 situation," the minister said.

The minister also gave a break up of the workers who returned from various countries with the maximum of them returning from Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations.

A total of 84,497 returned from the UAE, 50,536 from Oman, 49,000 from Saudi Arabia, 44,248 from Kuwait, 30,509 from and 14,920 from Bahrain, according to the data provided by the minister.

"In recent months, Indians have started to return to the Gulf and other countries to rejoin their jobs or for family reunions," Muraleedharan said.

Asked whether the government has prepared any action plan for the workers who have returned, he said, "With the aim of making the best of our skilled workforce returning to the country due to the ongoing pandemic, the Government of India launched an initiative SWADES (Skilled Workers Arrival Database for Employment Support) to conduct a skill mapping exercise of the returning citizens under the Mission."



For facilitating employment opportunities, details of SWADES registrations have been integrated with Skill India's ASEEM (Aatmanirbhar Skilled Employee Employer Mapping) portal which was launched on July 10, 2020, he said.

"Further, all data regarding Indians returning under Vande Bharat Mission was also shared with relevant state governments, on a real time basis," Muraleedharan said.

In response to another question on Vande Bharat Mission, the minister said as on September 11, 2020, more than 13,85,670 Indians have returned to India under the Vande Bharat Mission from various countries.

He also gave a break up of Indians returning from various countries as well as the break up that 11,89,077 returned by air, 1,28,165 by land and 3,987 by sea under the Vande Bharat Mission.

In response to another question, Muraleedharan said of those repatriated under the Vande Bharat Mission, 85,348 were Tamilians.

(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.)
Apple

The new Apple Watch Series 6 measures blood-oxygen levels  a critical tool for flagging severe COVID-19 cases.

Doctors have become increasingly reliant on small medical devices called pulse oximeters that give the same measurement.

Knowing when blood oxygen is low could help a patient get to the hospital in time to save their life.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The coronavirus can be sneaky: Patients may feel fine one hour, then start gasping for air the next. And while some people feel sick within two days of being infected, COVID-19 symptoms can take up to two weeks to manifest.

So doctors have become increasingly reliant on a small medical device called a pulse oximeter that measures the level of oxygen in a person's blood.

Blood-oxygen readings can help flag serious cases even before a person has developed severe symptoms like shortness of breath. They can also signal to patients when it's time to go to the hospital.

Now they're one of the many features on the new Apple Watch Series 6, which launches Friday.

The watch is far more expensive than a pulse oximeter sold over the counter at drug stores: $400 compared about $30 to $50. Traditional oximeters also clip around the fingertip instead of the wrist. But there are advantages to having the tool on hand at all times.

A June study from the Swedish Hospital in Chicago found that pulse oximeters reliably flagged severe cases of COVID-19 among patients who consistently monitored their blood-oxygen levels throughout the day.

The study involved 77 COVID-19 patients, most of whom had recently been sent home from the emergency room. The patients were asked to check their blood-oxygen levels every day for a week in the morning, afternoon, and at night. If their resting blood-oxygen level dipped below 92%, patients were told to return to the ER.

Doctors typically look for a range of 95 to 100% for healthy patients. Oxygen levels below 90% signal a clinical emergency, according to the World Health Organization.

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Ultimately, less than 20 of the Chicago patients recorded blood-oxygen levels below 92% while they were at home. Almost all of those patients returned to the ER and were hospitalized. Of the 58 patients who had blood-oxygen levels at or above 92%, less than 20% returned to the ER.

That suggested that blood-oxygen levels were a strong indicator of when a person needed immediate medical attention  perhaps even a better indicator than a patient's physical symptoms.

Patients also reported that they were more comfortable not returning to the ER after seeing that their blood-oxygen levels were normal. That could help prevent sick patients from unnecessary exposure at the hospital.

Pulse oximeters can flag 'silent hypoxemia'

Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images

Of the 16 patients who returned to the ER with low pulse oximeter readings, only half of them had worsening symptoms. That could be a sign of "silent hypoxemia," where patients develop dangerously low levels of oxygen before they have trouble breathing.

"As oxygen levels drop in patients with COVID-19, the brain does not respond until oxygen falls to very low levels  at which point, a patient typically becomes short of breath," Dr. Martin Tobin, a professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine at the Loyola University Medical Center, told Medical News Today.

Patients with silent hypoxemia may still breathe heavily to supplement their lack of oxygen  an activity that can create more inflammation and collapse the tiny air sacs in the lungs. That's why it's important to treat patients as soon as their blood-oxygen levels start to dip.

The window is often short, since many coronavirus cases turn critical in a matter of hours.

"Pulse oximeters helped save the lives of two emergency physicians I know, alerting them early on to the need for treatment," Richard Levitan, an emergency physician, wrote in The New York Times. "When they noticed their oxygen levels declining, both went to the hospital and recovered."

Those who show up to the hospital early have a better chance of receiving noninvasive treatments like an oxygen mask, as opposed to ventilators, which require a breathing tube to be inserted through the windpipe. That decreases a person's risk of lung injury.

Like any technology, however, pulse oximeters aren't foolproof: Readings can be faulty if a person has jaundice, anemia, or another blood disorder. Even shaky hands can throw off a result. But doctors continue to recommend the tool for patients  especially in areas where hospital capacity is limited.

Read the original article on Business Insider
The proposed hate crimes ordinance also would cover the six protected classes named in the states hate crimes statute: race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin or disability.

None of the state level (law) considers any LGBT issues; those are not included, Patrick said. Sex in general is not considered.

The ordinance amendment would not only help ensure that all Tulsans feel safe and welcome in the community, Patrick said, but it also would help send that message to businesses and individuals considering a move to Tulsa.

One of the first things many corporations do is look at your policies and things of that nature, Patrick said. If we are really going to be a world-class city that competes on a world-class level, we have to have those kinds of ordinances on the books to know that if people move here to work or to play or to live that they are going to be protected.

Jose Emmanuel Vega, deputy director of Oklahomans for Equality, said he is proud of Tulsa for addressing the issue.I am extremely excited and happy to see that my hometown is going to have this ordinance in place, said Vega, a gay man whos had his own first-hand experience with a hate crime.
This 2021 50' Pardo Yacht is one of many options available at Prestige Marine.

Prestige Imports is an exotic automobile dealership located in North Miami Beach, Florida. The dealership specializes in new vehicles from some of the most iconic exotic brands on the market, including Lamborghini, Lotus, Pagani and Karma Automotive. In addition to the dealerships new inventory, it offers an extensive selection of pre-owned models from a multitude of exotic brands beyond the ones it typically offers new.

But the dealership has branched beyond the road with Prestige Marine, the newest member of the Prestige Imports family, which now provides exotic brands for land, air and sea. Prestige Marine specializes in high-end seafaring vessels such as new generation amphibious yachts and tenders, luxury day boats, limited edition performance yachts, water toys and much more.

Prestige Marine has established partnerships with several exotic marine brands in a similar fashion to Prestige Imports. The company is the official partner of Tecnomar for Lamborghini 63 Yacht, Iguana Yachts, Pardo Yachts, VanDutch, Midnight Express, SEABOB and Radinn Jetboards.

The new seaworthy wing of the Prestige Imports family provides the same philosophy as the rest of the group, which is to put the client first. Prestige Marine clients can expect the same great customer service the rest of the Prestige Imports family is known for.

Residents of the area that might be interested in what Prestige Marine has to offer are encouraged to reach out to Director of Sales, Kevin Fishman, at kfishman@prestigemarine.co or 305-947-1000, ext. 2235 for further information. Prestige Marine is located at 15050 Biscayne Blvd. in North Miami Beach.
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Optimal results are achieved when the patient takes an active role in the wellness plan. This is a phrase published in a brochure describing the details of my work. As a specialist in neuromusculoskeletal medicine and osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMT), patients often present with pain, which is usually multifactorial in nature. Given that the majority of evaluations result in the use of osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) to address mechanical dysfunction, there can be an expectation of fix me. This is rarely a successful, sustainable approach.

For me, the doctor-patient relationship is an active, intentional, and dynamic one. OMT is a procedure. It requires consent, an understanding of the purpose and intention, a mutual awareness of tolerance to techniques used, and established dialogue to assess the need for modification. The in-office treatment is largely a jumping-off point  nudging the boat into the current of health, but what will keep it from drifting into the banks, getting turned around, or even capsizing?

Staying afloat, moving forward, reaching a desired destination downstream requires participation, the right equipment, and cooperation with the entire treatment plan. Modern life is not often the gentle float I experienced in my youth up north in Michigan, where you could cross the river in a few steps and stand up at any point along the way. More often, it seems, we are faced with the class 5 rapids I have witnessed living in Oregon, powerful, able to throw you off course, out of the boat, with hidden currents and rocks beneath the surface.

It can be helpful, even life-saving, to have a knowledgeable guide in such circumstances. Physicians can serve in that role for their patients, providing information based on education and experience. In the boat and in the office, instructions must fall on receptive ears to be useful. There must be a willingness to participate, to paddle, to hold on, to work with others involved. Most river trips are taken as a group where the choices and actions of each individual impact the whole and vice versa.

This extends the active role beyond the individual to the collective and the concept of cooperation beyond the interaction of the physician and patient to the broader community.

What does it mean to be cooperative? How do we experience cooperation? Is it active or passive? Is it with an enthusiastic or resentful attitude? Are we interacting with people who will make the best decisions for only themselves or for the greater good as well?

Given the potential hazards along the river of life, when at all possible, electing to partner with a leader familiar with the surroundings, conditions, and safest course is wise. Collaborating with crewmates seeking a common destination and similar level of adventure with equally matched willingness to participate fully, to the best of their ability, for the survival of the group, is ideal. Within all of this, we can only control our own paddle, position, and approach in the experience.

May we be actively engaged, willing participants with cooperative support and confident leadership to successfully navigate the course of greatest health in the river of life.

Amelia L. Bueche is an osteopathic physician and founder, This Osteopathic Life.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden speaks to veterans in Tampa, Fla., on Tuesday. (Associated Press)

Asian American voters prefer Joe Biden to President Trump by 54% to 30% for November's presidential election, according to a survey released Tuesday by a coalition of Asian American civic engagement groups. It shows Democrats making another strong showing with one of the nation's fastest-growing but often-neglected voting blocs.

The survey of 1,569 registered Chinese, Indian, Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese and Filipino American voters across the nation was conducted by APIAVote, AAPI Data and Asian Americans Advancing Justice-AAJC, who argue that Asian American voters could play a critical role in increasingly diverse battleground states such as Arizona, Pennsylvania and North Carolina.

Even in highly competitive swing states such as Wisconsin, where political news coverage is often dominated by the potential preferences of white voters, there are Hmong farmers and voters out in the rural areas" whose votes could be critical, "especially if youre looking at a win where every vote really does count," said Christine Chen, executive director of APIAVote, a nonpartisan engagement group.

As with all voting blocs, basic racial identification only tells a small part of the story. Among the Asian American nationalities surveyed, Indian Americans were the most pro-Democratic group, with 54% identifying as Democrats and 16% as Republicans.

Indian Americans had already been a strongly Democratic demographic before California Sen. Kamala Harris, who is Indian American, became Biden's running mate in August. The survey was conducted from July 4 to Sept. 10.

Vietnamese Americans were by far the most pro-Republican group polled, with 38% identifying as Republicans versus 27% as Democrats, which is common for groups who arrived in the U.S. after fleeing communist countries.

Democrats held at least a 15-percentage-point party identification advantage with every other Asian American group polled, though Chinese American registered voters were the only group where self-identified independents outnumbered self-identified Democrats, 41% to 38%.

Story continues

The number of Chinese Americans identifying as independents rather than Democrats has grown recently due to stronger immigration from mainland China, while many previous immigrants came from Taiwan or Hong Kong, Chen said.

"The new Chinese immigrants from China, their viewpoint and understanding of Asian American history and how they view issues differ from the Chinese Americans who have been here longer," said Chen, who is Chinese American.

However, Chen said, independent Chinese Americans are "not necessarily" likely to shift their support to Republicans because of Trump's anti-China rhetoric and his racist references to the coronavirus as the "kung flu." Sixteen percent of Chinese American voters identified as Republicans, tying with Indian Americans for the weakest affiliation with the GOP among survey respondents.

But despite Trump's frequent anti-immigrant rhetoric, naturalized citizens  who are growing as a share of the U.S. electorate  were significantly less likely to support Biden than their American-born counterparts in the survey of Asian American registered voters. Naturalized Asian American respondents favored Biden to Trump by 48% to 34%, while American-born respondents favored Biden to Trump by 68% to 20%.

But both parties appear to have significant room for improvement in reaching Asian American voters. In separate questions asking whether they'd been contacted by the Republican and Democratic parties, about half of the respondents said no to each question.

Joe Biden knows how important the Asian American and Pacific Islander community is and hes committed to ensuring that every member of the AAPI community is treated with dignity and has a fair shot at the American Dream," Jason Tengco, the coalitions chief of staff for the Biden campaign, said in a statement. "We are not leaving any votes behind, weve put together a strong AAPI outreach program that recognizes the diversity within the AAPI community and were working every day to earn their vote.

Asian Pacific Americans, myself included, have consistently supported candidates who advocate for a safe and strong America, more of their hard-earned money in their pockets, the freedom to pick the best schools for our children, and lower taxes," Ken Farnaso, deputy national press secretary for the Trump campaign, said in a statement. "President Trump has delivered on all of that and more in just three years while Joe Bidens dismal five-decade-long record of failure speaks for itself.

The survey was conducted via phone and internet in English, Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese and had a 2% margin of error.
There's a familiar promise embedded in my head: You can become anything.

Parents, teachers, pastors, graduation speakers, and even melodically-gifted Sesame Street muppet characters repeated that promise to me when I was a child. But as a Black kid growing up in Oklahoma, I'd also hear another refrain, one that rebuffed "proper English": We can't have nothing. I knew I'd spend my life balancing the promise of endless possibility for personal achievement with the reality that Black folk in America can't seem to have anything  or at least, we can't have anything permanently.

My parents and grandparents came to America in the 1960s and '70s from Jamaica. By almost every measure, my parents have achieved the American Dream. My dad and mom, though they did not receive their college degrees until well into their 40s, have established themselves in their careers. My dad climbed rung after slippery rung to high levels of management in a company he has spent his life helping. And my mom is a nurse with nearly 30 years of experience. They forged their own paths in this country, moving far from the excitement of New York for the enduringly flat and predictable state of Oklahoma. They bought a home in which to raise their three kids. They did everything in their power to ensure their own children had access to opportunity.

And in many ways, it worked. All of us went to college. I went to grad school  twice  and picked up three degrees from institutions that made me look around wondering how I got there and if I was good enough to stay because so few of my fellow students looked like me.

One sibling, who finished college two years ago, is working actively in criminal justice reform and is considering law school. He actually has the time to take a break from college, which he attended on a full-ride scholarship, to work on changing the world, or at least a piece of it, before going to what will likely be a highly-ranked law school. My other sibling is still in school but studying for the GRE to prepare for a Ph.D., or perhaps a Master's degree, or perhaps time doing work elsewhere. But she has that thing that my grandparents immigrated here to achieve: optionality. My siblings each have a choice in their own destinies  or at least I hope they do.

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Jacob Blake likely thought that all the struggle and mire his ancestors and their counterparts endured gave him that same privilege. His grandparents, like my own, had survived far too much racism for their children to become anything but exactly what they desired. According to Blake's dad, "My father was there for the first march in Washington. He went through Selma to Montgomery. He went across the Edmund Pettus. He marched for open housing in Evanston, Illinois."

Yet Blake was nearly killed by police for making the relatively benign decision to leave his car and break up a fight.

You can become anything. But we can't have nothing.

I used to think that in my home, I'd be safe, so long as I didn't leave the house looking like the "threat" some white people fear I could be fine. But then Breonna Taylor did that. She chose to be in her house, yet she was the target of a deadly ambush by police officers.

The list goes on. And the longer that list grows, the more I'm convinced that, underpinning the resistance to our objection to being murdered is the not-so-subtle notion that we, Black folks, clamoring to leave the margins, are asking for too much. Some feel we have been given enough; how could we want more? They'll use stories of my family  Black folks "succeeding"  as a sign that we have enough and, more dangerously, that my family's trajectory is the pathway by which all Black people should be expected to "succeed."

It's worth saying that standing with Black folks  saying that we matter, acknowledging that we've endured more pain than we can bear  might rob you of your ability to become anything you want to be, too. This is what happened to three white protesters  Joseph Rosenbaum, Anthony Huber, and Gaige Grosskreutz  who were shot while standing against police brutality in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August. Two of them died. A 17-year-old white kid named Kyle Rittenhouse has been charged with their murder.

I still believe that if I live long enough, the adage my mother and father, my teachers and pastors, Big Bird and Elmo, and every other inspirational character seeded in my young mind, could, in fact, come true. But no matter how much I may accomplish, killing after killing after killing reminds me that I cannot become enough of a person to retain the ability to choose freely to live. Because, for Black people in America, the favorable promise of becoming anything is outweighed by the reality of having nothing.

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Minister of Railways and Commerce and industry has called for aiming for a target of $500 billion of service exports.

Addressing the inaugural session of CII's India-UK Annual Conference virtually on Tuesday, he said that this is doable.

"We are all confident that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, India will get back to our 5 trillion economy target, and it is time we leverage on this," said Goyal.

The Minister said that in the week from 8th to 14th September, the value of exports is $6.88 billion, up by 10.73 per cent over the same period of the previous year.

"This is indicative that India is in a move to get back. Our resilience is showing, our confidence is emerging, our can-do spirit is reflected in all these numbers," he added.

Goyal expressed the belief that the time is ripe to have an early harvest trade deal between India and the United Kingdom.

He said "We should start an engagement on FTA. It is the need of the hour. We should look at the preferential trade agreement so that we can demonstrate to the whole world sincerity and seriousness of UK-India engagement. In bilateral agreements between the two nations, we give some and get some. We are able to benefit businesses and create jobs on both sides of the table."

He added that we must look at taking it forward expeditiously. Talking about the initiative between Japan, Australia and India towards Resilient Supply Chains, he said that it holds good potential for us to take forward with other countries like UK, Europe, US and certain Latin American and African countries.

Goyal said that there are many industries which have huge potential to work with businesses in the UK, where the UK is a net importer in a big way and where India has a competitive and comparative advantage to be able to serve the UK's requirements.

"We have had a very good dialogue in terms of considering how we can prepare before January to see if engagement with the UK can be taken to the next level. The UK certainly can benefit significantly from India's healthcare offerings. India offers a huge potential to give quality medical support at affordable prices and at a speed which they will not get in the UK," said Goyal.

The Minister said that the confidence that CII has demonstrated in terms of India's ability to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic has truly been remarkable.

"We will rapidly recover, ensure businesses come back on track and we will back to the growth trajectory. We believe our manufacturing ecosystem will grow by $300 billion in the next 5 years. For boosting domestic consumption and exports, we are focusing on the 24 industry sub-sectors," said Goyal.

He added that India ensured that all its international commitments were met during the pandemic.

"This is the trusted partnership India offers to the world which has been recognised. All through the pandemic, our services exports were at 90 per cent of last year's level of the corresponding period. This has added to the credibility of India as a trusted partner world over. Under the leadership of Shri Narendra Modi, we have been able to earn the goodwill, friendship, trust of world leaders and countries," said Goyal.

(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.)
COLUMBUS, Ohio - With numerous colleges throughout the state implementing mandatory testing programs, the states average positivity rate has dipped to 2.4% -- a record low, according to the Ohio Department of Health.

The positivity rate was for Monday. There is a two-day lag in positivity rate reporting from the state. The seven-day average from Monday was 3.5%.

The positivity rate may be low because students at several universities have to take coronavirus tests to remain enrolled, even if they dont feel ill or are around someone who is sick.

At the same time, some Ohio college students who do have COVID-19 have been accused of spreading it through house parties at such high rates that theyre impacting the illness levels in the counties where they reside.

Cases and deaths

The number of newly reported deaths of people with coronavirus is up by 49 on Wednesday from the previous days report, well above the 21-day average of 24, according to the Ohio Department of Health.

This isnt as high as Tuesdays 87 deaths -- which ended up being third highest since the pandemic entered Ohio. But it brings total deaths with COVID-19 to 4,555.

The number of newly reported coronavirus cases increased Wednesday by 1,033 from the previous days report to a total of 140,518. The health department states 118,443 are presumed to have recovered from it.

Wednesdays new cases and deaths didnt necessarily all happen in the past 24 hours. There can be a lag of when they occur and when they are reported by local entities.

The cases and deaths of coronavirus are both those confirmed through testing and those the state and federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention consider probable, which means they are diagnosed by a physician, among other criteria.

Hospitalizations

As of Wednesday, 651 people who had tested positive for COVID-19 were in Ohio hospitals -- including 222 people in intensive care units and 133 people on ventilators, according to numbers the Ohio Hospital Association provided the state.

The numbers are relatively low and a number of beds and ventilators are still open: 5,865 hospital beds, 1,166 ICU beds and 3,715 ventilators.

Outside Ohio

Over 29 million people across the globe have had COVID-19. Deaths remain under 1 million, according to Johns Hopkins Universitys Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

In the U.S., 6.6 million people have had COVID-19 and nearly 200,000 people have died.

The top five leading countries in numbers of deaths, after the U.S., are as follows:

-Brazil, with 133,119

-India, with 82,066

-Mexico, with 71,678

-The U.K., with 41,773

-Italy, with 35,645

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COLUMBUS, OhioGov. Mike DeWine on Wednesday signed into law legislation curtailing his own powers to modify Ohios election plans or close houses of worship.

DeWines signing of House Bill 272 follows criticism of him for postponing Ohios March 17 primary election due to coronavirus fears. In addition, while DeWine didnt order houses of worship to close during the coronavirus, he said that holding in-person services would be a huge mistake, leading many congregations to halt such services.

The legislation, which takes effect in mid-December, states that no public official shall cause an election to be conducted other than in the time, place, and manner prescribed by the Revised Code. The only exception would be in cases of enemy attack.

HB 272 also bans any public official in Ohio from closing places of worship -- either statewide or in a particular part of the state.

DeWine signed HB 272 along with two other bills at his home in Greene County, according to a release from his office.

DeWine spokesman Dan Tierney said late Wednesday afternoon that the governor agreed to sign the legislation curbing his power to close houses of worship because he never even contemplated taking such a step.

As for changing Ohios elections, Tierney said that going forward, DeWine would not postpone the election again the way he did in March, as he now knows that state officials instead have to plan for potential spikes in coronavirus cases around voting times.

At that stage, remember, the pandemic was emerging in March, and the situation on the ground changed very rapidly and unexpectedly, Tierney said. That was certainly a unique situation."

He added: Moving forward, the virus will not have the element of surprise.

DeWine has resisted some previous legislative efforts to curb his administrations coronavirus powers. In July, he vetoed a different bill seeking to decriminalizing violations of public health orders.

The other two bills DeWine signed Wednesday are:

House Bill 203, which requires mobile dental facilities to provide certain information to patients and to notify state regulators when they move or permanently close.

House Bill 341, which makes a number of changes designed to reduce opioid-related overdoses, including allowing pharmacists to administer long-acting anti-overdose drugs and exempting people who assist someone experiencing an opioid-related overdoes from legal damages.

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New Delhi: The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday (September 16) passed the Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda Bill, 2020. The bill seeks to merge three institutes, which will be called the Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda, in Jamnagar, Gujarat which will be given the status of an institution of national importance. Notably, the bill was earlier passed in the Lok Sabha.

Speaking in the Upper House, Independent MP Subhash Chandra, Chairman of the Essel Group, said, "Germany and Switzerland have done more work on Ayurveda than us. It is a shame for us that even after independence, we did not bring Ayurveda back to its glory. Only in November 2014, the government made Ayush separate and I applaud the government for doing so".

Stating that China has taken 28 per cent market share of Ayurveda products globally, Subhash Chandra demanded that promotion of Ayurveda be made a national mission to cut on billions of dollars on western allopathic medicines and strengthen the Indian economy.

Subhash Chandra further said that Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, had once stated before independence that Ayurveda should be given first priority in the public-medical system after independence.

Addressing the House, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said, "It has been chosen without any bias, and in the most objective manner because it is the oldest Ayurveda institution created by the government back in 1956. This is the only collaborating centre for the WHO in the whole world for Ayurveda."

"In the last 20 years, students from 65 countries have come to this place. On every parameter we can say that it is the number one institution which deserves this status," he added.

He said there are 103 institutions of national importance in the country but not even one Ayurveda institute, and "this is the oldest collaborating centre with the WHO in Ayurveda" and qualified on every parameter to get such status.

The institute has imparted training to students from 65 countries in 20 years, he said and added that it has inked 30 pacts with different countries.

The minister, however, said that there is National AYUSH Mission to support other such institutions and government was ready to support them to get international stature when time comes.

"Not only me but the whole government led by Prime Minister is a strong supporter of Ayurveda to the extent" that after forming government in 2014, one of the first decisions was on promotion of Ayurveda.

Under the 'Atmanirbhar Bharat', the government has approved Rs 4,000 crore for the cultivation of medicinal plants and supporting farmers, he said and expressed appreciation for Ayurveda and its usefulness for the society and also for strengthening healthcare systems of the world.

The proposed institute at Jamnagar would have a 15-member committee including the Minister of Ayush, Secretary of Ayush and Secretary of Health & Family Welfare of the Gujarat Government, along with three MPs in which two would be from Lok Sabha and one from Rajya Sabha.

Lok Sabha has already approved the bill in the last session, in which three Jamnagar, Gujarat-based institutes -- Institute of Post Graduate Teaching and Research in Ayurveda, Gulabkunwerba Ayurveda Mahavidyalaya and Institute of Ayurveda Pharmaceutical Sciences --would be conglomerated.

Earlier, participating in the debate on the bill, Binoy Viswam (CPI) termed Kerala's Kottakkal Ayurvedic Shala as the pride of the nation and stressed the need for promoting Ayurveda in Kerala, describing it as the real Centre for Ayurveda.

K Keshava Rao (TRS) accused the government of being selective in selecting institutes of national eminence, saying Telangana too has many institutes eligible to be one.

K K Ragesh (CPI-M) sought to know why the government did not consider Kerala for the tag as the state has many ayurveda institutes and is also home to rare medicinal plants.

M Thambidurai (AIADMK) suggested that there should be an institute of national importance in each state.

Biswajit Daimary (BPF) demanded setting up of such an institute in the Northeast, while Dr Fauzia Khan (NCP) said there should be elections for selecting the head of the institute.

Narain Das Gupta (AAP) demanded proper infrastrucure in Ayurvedic institutes and added that its importance has been established during COVID-19.

Veer Singh (BSP) demanded that such institutes should also be set up Uttar Pradesh, while Ram Das Athawale (RPI) demanded the same for Maharashtra.

Manoj Kumar Jha (RJD) said new structures are always welcome. "But if you do not back it up with a coherent inclusive vision, the structures have a tendency to become a graveyard for innovative ideas." He pointed out that clause 6 of the bill provides for the composition of the institute in which 10 out of 14 members of the board are from the non-Ayurveda background.

The Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda (ITRA) is a cluster of highly-reputed institutions, namely Institute for Post Graduate Teaching and Research in Ayurveda, Shree GulabKunverba Ayurveda Mahavidyalaya, and Institute of Ayurvedic Pharmaceutical Sciences, Maharshi Patanjali Institute for Yoga Naturopathy Education & Research (to be made part of the Department of Swasthvritta of the proposed ITRA).

These institutions came up over many decades and together made a unique family of Ayurveda institutions existing in close proximity. The synergies among the different constituent institutions will help ITRA to demonstrate high standards of such education and to emerge as a lighthouse institution to the entire AYUSH sector.

The decision comes at a time when global interest in health solutions based on traditional wisdom is at an unprecedentedly high level and ITRA is poised to take Ayurveda education to new vistas, it added.
A Jackson County judge has assessed $52 million in damages against a notorious Kansas City landlord and one of its investors in what appears to be the largest judgment ever obtained on behalf of Missouri tenants. Judge Joel Fahnestock awarded the damages after KM-T.E.H.
B oris Johnson will face a grilling from senior MPs today when he is set to appear at the Liaison Committee.

He is expected to be asked about negotiations with the EU, days after the controversial UK Internal Market Bill cleared its first Commons hurdle.

Earlier, the Prime Minister faced Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner at PMQs amid the ongoing fallout over the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement.

Sir Keir Starmer was missing from the session because he was awaiting a Covid-19 test result for one of his children, which came back negative.

Read our latest updates below...
A Frenchman has been arrested after allegedly raping a British backpacker on a Thai island after the pair met for a Tinder date.

Elies Gunenez, 36, originally from Paris, was arrested on Wednesday on the island of Phuket after a 29-year-old Briton accused him of raping her on September 7.

The woman, who had arrived in Thailand as a tourist but was celebrating finding her dream job as an English teacher, told police that she had met Gunenez at a beach bar on the night in question after the pair got chatting online.

Elies Gunenez, 36, originally from Paris, was arrested in Thailand on Wednesday and accused of raping a 29-year-old British backpacker on the night of September 7

Police said that Guenez had been married to a Thai woman but had recently divorced after he lost his job due to coronavirus.

Later that evening the pair went back to her hotel room, where she alleges that she was raped three times by Guenez, using force.

The alleged victim contacted the British Embassy the next day, September 8, and was taken to hospital for medical checks for supporting evidence.

She showed doctors her wrists, which she said had been injured during the rape.

A police complaint was lodged on Friday, September 11, and officers issued an arrest arrant and began searching for the suspect.

Police began searching for Guenez, and on Wednesday received information that he was driving a white Nissan Juke towards the town of Chalong.

Officers set off to find him before noticing his car driving in the opposite direction, according to The Phuket News.

The Briton says she met Gunenez (pictured during his arrest) on Tinder before agreeing to a date in a beach bar. They then went back to a hotel, where she claims she was raped

They pulled a U-turn to follow his car, then radioed ahead to a police checkpoint and asked the officers stationed there to stop him and check his ID.

After confirming that the man was Guenez, police arrested him on suspicion of the 'rape of a person over 15 years old by use of threat or force'.

Police say that Guenez has admitted having sex with the woman, but has denied rape. He is being held in custody pending further investigation.

Lieutenant Colonel Chompunoot Anantayakul said: 'This is a serious case and we are gathering all of the evidence available, including from CCTV cameras and from the suspect's phone.

'The victim was travelling and came to Thailand as a tourist before looking for a job as a teacher. She finally found one in Nakhon Sawan province in the north.

'The tourist contacted the British Embassy after the incident, who assisted her with visiting the hospital and making a police report.

'We have a duty to take care of every tourist in Thailand and we will ensure that the case proceeds correctly.

'I want to thank the British media for their interest in the case and for showing the work that the Thai police are doing to ensure the safety of their citizens.'
In 2005, the Department of Education implemented Constitution Day and Citizenship Day, to be recognized each year on Sept. 17 -- the anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution. As we approach this years anniversary, we would do well to look back, way back, then forward again.

Over the past months, we have seen vandalism of monuments dedicated to American presidents and builders of our Constitution, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln. Spurred by supposed quests for justice, this vandalism has also touched historical figures who fought for racial equality, such as abolitionists Mathias Baldwin and John Greenleaf Whittier.

Is the conflict surprising? Not really, when one considers what many of our schools are teaching on American founding principles. In early September, students whose parents pay large sums of tuition at Vanderbilt University took a quiz with this question: Was the Constitution designed to perpetuate white supremacy and protect the institution of slavery? According to reports, if a student checked false, the answer was marked wrong. Vanderbilt described this class as the largest ever offered with over 800 students.

The Vanderbilt professors premise for the question demanded a certain answer, but the premise is false. For instance, escaped slave and abolitionist scholar Frederick Douglas said this: Abolish slavery tomorrow, and not a single sentence or syllable of the Constitution needs to be altered. It was purposely so framed as to give no claim, no sanction to the claim of property in man. If in its origin slavery had any relation to the government, it was only as the scaffolding to the magnificent structure, to be removed as soon as the building was completed.

George Washington, who was elected as president of the convention that drafted our 1787 Constitution, stated this: I can only say that there is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do to see a plan adopted for the abolition of it [slavery]. These descriptions, from an escaped slave and our first President, certainly do not bolster Vanderbilts narrative of our Constitution.

In a broader sense, we must answer the question: What was distinctive to Americas founding: slavery or abolition? A sincere study of our history provides the clear answer. Abolition, of course. While slavery was being practiced around the world, the distinction of Americas founding was the effort to end it (recognition is in order to Pennsylvanias Christian Quakers, who first birthed the movement).

Moving forward, we would serve our children -- and society -- well to teach the full story surrounding our Constitution: a document that granted no power to the institution of slavery, provided more freedom for self-determination than any other, and laid the foundation of upward mobility that attracted millions of people from around the world -- from all races, creeds and socio-economic statuses -- to call this land home.

(Christopher P. DeSanctis is head of school at Gateway Academy.)
The rally was held just days after recordings surfaced of the president admitting to journalist Bob Woodward that he downplayed the threat of COVID-19 as it began to spread in the United States. In the recordings, the president called the virus deadly stuff and more lethal than the flu. But he has publicly and repeatedly compared it to the flu to downplay the virus while arguing the country shouldnt shut down in response.
ROSTOCK, Germany, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- AIDA Cruises, the leading cruise line in Germany and a part of Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL;NYSE: CUK), will expand its range of cruises this autumn with new voyages visiting the highlights of Italy, starting on Oct. 17, 2020.

The new seven-day itinerary departs from Civitavecchia near Rome and travels to Palermo and Catania in Sicily, Naples and La Spezia. In Rome, an overnight stay is planned. The voyages are offered weekly until Nov. 28, 2020.

The AIDA health and safety program will be implemented on all cruises. Developed with leading medical experts, the program has been audited and confirmed by the renowned independent auditing company SGS Institut Fresenius and the classification society DNV-GL. The measures include a complimentary COVID-19 test, regular temperature measurements for guests and crew, physical distancing and increased disinfection measures. Further detailed information on the AIDA health and safety program can be found at www.aida.de/sichererurlaub.

The new Mediterranean cruises, as well as all other offers of AIDA Cruises, can be booked from Monday, September 21, through travel agencies, at the AIDA Customer Center under the telephone number 0381/202 707 07 or at www.aida.de.

SOURCE AIDA Cruises








Toyota City, Japan, Sept 16, 2020 - (JCN Newswire) - Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota), Dentsu Group Inc. (Dentsu Group), and Dentsu Inc. (Dentsu), together with Toyota subsidiary Delphys Inc. (Delphys), announced today their intention to launch a new business structure, effective from January 2021 (scheduled), for innovating marketing and creating mobility businesses.Due to the rapid proliferation in recent years of blogs, social networking services, and other forms of social media, the main conveyors of information now include not only members of the mass media but also a diverse range of entities such as individuals and companies. In tandem, the methods for information transmission are also diversifying. In response to these changes, Toyota, centered on owned media such as the Toyota Times, has been conveying "Toyota's true self" directly to its customers and other stakeholders, as it pursues initiatives to innovate communication out of a need to provide the utmost in trustworthy information.Furthermore, with advances in such areas as CASE (connected, autonomous, shared, electric) and Mobility as a Service (MaaS), and looking ahead to a society that gives birth to value by using information to link all things and services that support people's ways of life, Toyota has begun, through such initiatives as Woven City, the challenge of becoming a company that "mass produces" happiness.Toyota believes that it would be difficult to achieve such kind of business-model innovation on its own. It also believes that it is necessary to have the ability to quickly and accurately grasp customers' situations and demands, and to reflect such in new businesses. Furthermore, it recognizes the need to have the power to link with many like-minded partners who feel the same, and propose together with them mobility businesses to the world.First, based on this thinking, Toyota has decided to transform Delphys, which as a fully owned Toyota subsidiary has strengths in automotive marketing and in the domain of retail centered on automotive sales, into an entity that, going beyond the conventional framework of an advertising agency, can pursue: 1) innovation of communication toward brand-building that generates exceptional customer trust, 2) innovation of marketing that anticipates changes of the times, such as the advancement of a digital society, and 3) the challenge of executing business in a mobility society.Furthermore, because Toyota shares its aspirations with Dentsu, which has a long track record of successful marketing and business creation both in Japan and abroad, it was decided that the two companies would implement this initiative together. Toyota believes that Dentsu, providing its knowledge and know-how related to integrated marketing communications, as well as that related to the digital domain, will drive innovation speedily forward.Through the new business structure, without being bound by hitherto methodology, and by going beyond the domain of advertising agencies and beyond the domain of an automobile manufacturer, Toyota, together with Delphys and Dentsu, intends to consider what is best for its customers and to aim to provide them such.Outline of launch of new business structureIn September 2020, Toyota, Dentsu Group, and Delphys concluded an agreement on a capital and business alliance that included a capital increase in Dentsu Group by Delphys through third-party allocation. Based on the agreement, the companies will launch the new business structure.Going forward, after obtaining approval and such from the competition authorities in the countries concerned, Dentsu Group intends to invest in Delphys, with preparations being made toward the launch of the new business structure in January 2021 (scheduled).Operating company 1With Delphys's business as its foundation, operating company 1 will conduct: 1) innovation of communication toward brand-building that generates exceptional customer trust, 2) innovation of marketing that anticipates changes of the times, such as the advancement of a digital society, and 3) the challenge of executing business in a mobility society.Operating company 2Operating company 2 will engage in the creation of new mechanisms and businesses, as a research entity in the field of digital communications, through the advancement of digital transformation in the retail domain.Holding companyThe holding company will preside over operating company 1 (transformed from Delphys) and operating company 2 (newly established), and will conduct strategic decision-making related to innovation in the marketing domain.About Toyota Motor CorporationToyota Motor Corporation (TMC) is the global mobility company that introduced the Prius hybrid-electric car in 1997 and the first mass-produced fuel cell sedan, Mirai, in 2014. Headquartered in Toyota City, Japan, Toyota has been making cars since 1937. Today, Toyota proudly employs 370,000 employees in communities around the world. Together, they build around 10 million vehicles per year in 29 countries, from mainstream cars and premium vehicles to mini-vehicles and commercial trucks, and sell them in more than 170 countries under the brands Toyota, Lexus, Daihatsu and Hino. For more information, please visit www.toyota-global.com.Source: Toyota Motor CorporationCopyright 2020 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved.
A former manager of Insurance Company East Africa (ICEA) has been found guilty of stealing more than Sh62.7 million from his employer through collapsed Nyaga Stockbrokers.

Milimani Law Courts chief magistrate Francis Andayi said a former ICEA manager, Lincolin Kivuti Njeru, stole the money, dismissing his defence that "it was an investment loss."

Mr Andayi said that from the audit reports, evidence by the prosecution and the chain of cash transactions, it's clear Njeru stole the millions.

Mr Njeru, 58, received the Sh62.7 million through Nyaga stockbrokers for sale of ICEA share investments and channelled the proceeds to his personal accounts.

The millions were supposed to be wired to the insurance firm's accounts, but Mr Njeru who was then an investment manager at the firm said the cash got lost through erosion of share value at the Nairobi bourse.

"From the totality of evidence presented by the prosecution the losses experienced by ICEA were correctly linked to the accused person and not as investment losses as he purported," Mr Andayi stated in his lengthy judgment.

Mr Andayi said the accused could not explain the source of the millions of shillings he held in his bank accounts.

The magistrate ruled that Mr Njeru was guilty of stealing Sh62,704,835.60 from ICEA, and will be sentenced on Friday.

The court said the money deposited in the accounts of ICEA were withdrawn and deposited into the personal account of Mr Njeru.

The offence took place between January 17, 2003 and September 20, 2005.

Through defence lawyer Stanley Kang'ahi, Mr Njeru pleaded for mercy saying he has been out of employment for the last 12 years and that he is the sole bread winner for his family.

Mr Kang'ahi asked the magistrate to give the accused a second chance to redeem his life then continue serving his family as he is remorseful and regrets the loss.

He pleaded for a non-custodial sentence.

Mr Andayi called for a pre-sentence report from the probation department before pronouncing his sentence.

The court cancelled the accused bond then ordered he remains in custody until he is handed down a sentence.
When the Creek Fire exploded to 160,000 acres in just 72 hours, ripping through a jewel of the Sierra Nevada just south of Yosemite National Park, California and the world looked on in horror and surprise.

But the stage had long been set for the megablaze, one of a half-dozen transforming millions of acres of Golden State landscapes to ash. Droughts supercharged by climate change dried out vegetation, aiding its transition into fuel. And as observers ranging from foresters to Californians living in the wildland urban interface predicted, the state's zealous, century-long fight to suppress fires meant this flammable concoction grew to unstable levels.

"This is a situation many of us have been dreading over the past five years," said Chris Dicus, a professor of wildland fire and fuels management at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. "All it would take is a single spark to ignite these trees, and that's what we saw happen."

Droughts also exacerbated another variable that has devastated Western forests: the bark beetle. Although native to the region, the beetle wreaks havoc under the wrong conditions, including droughts. According to statistics from firefighting officials, between 80% and 90% of the Creek Fire's fuel  a full 2,000 tons per acre  came from beetle-killed timber.

Building damage: This map will help Fresno County residents monitor possible fire damage.

But was this truly what caused the Creek Fire to explode into something historic, an inferno that had consumed 278,368 acres in Fresno and Madera counties and was 25% contained as of 8:50 a.m. Sunday, even with more than 2,900 people battling its flames?

The answer's not that simple, experts say. While some researchers and government agencies believe beetle-killed trees are fuel that should be logged and removed, a number of scientists question whether those play a significant role in fires.

Cal Fire, for example, claims the one-two punch of drought and bark beetles convert forests to "dry fuel." But some researchers accuse land management agencies of bulldozing science and siding with the logging industry. Timber companies benefit from fire policies that encourage the private sector to thin forests, they say.

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Chad Hanson is a fire ecologist and director of the Earth Island Institute's John Muir Project, a nonprofit advocating for responsible forest management. He sees logging for wildfire prevention as an "insidious form of climate science denial."

Theyre calling it fuel reduction," he said. "Really what theyre doing is removing the least combustible material, the tree trunk.

Helicopter rescue: Scores of people were rescued from flames near Lake Thomas A. Edison.

Did Smokey Bear get it wrong?

Some academics estimate that prior to 1800, roughly 4.5 million acres burned across California each year, a significant portion of it sparked by Native Americans employing traditional burning practices. Ecologists call these "good fires"  blazes that are a necessary part of the Sierra ecosystem.

The difference between beneficial and harmful fires is a nuance that, they say, was all but erased in the era of Smokey Bear. Until recently, the U.S. Forest Service sought to prevent and contain wildfires at all costs. This included aggressive fire suppression even in remote areas that didn't pose an immediate threat to the public.

The result has been an overgrowth in California's forests. They're now two-to-three times thicker than at any time in recorded history. That birthed a smorgasbord for hungry fires that burn quickly due to the High Sierra's abundance of oxygen and the northern reaches of the strong Santa Ana winds.

"We do have a huge fuel problem," said Jon Keeley, a research scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey and an adjunct professor at UCLA. What were seeing is sort of the perfect combination of everything that could go wrong has gone wrong."

Locals have watched the forest of their youth transform into an overgrown tinderbox.

"You look out in the forest, and its a hedge. Before, you could easily walk through it. Now, it's nearly impossible ... There are too many trees," said Brother Chris Donnelly, Huntington Lake Volunteer Fire Department's chief of 17 years. "This was a disaster waiting to happen."

Ravages of the bark beetle

In the Sierras, these raging fires have ignited another debate: what to do with millions of dead trees.

California's historic five-year drought has killed numerous evergreens and left hundreds of millions vulnerable to bark beetles, which infest and prey on water- and nutrient-deprived pines. More than 102 million trees have died from these two factors alone since 2010, according to Cal Fire, in some places leaving forests 85% devoid of living trees.

"We saw an incremental growth in trees. Then, a super drought came along and kicked those trees in the teeth, causing mass mortality," Dicus said, adding that the problem is exacerbated by climate change bringing hotter and drier conditions across the region.

More than 129 million trees in total spanning nearly 9 million acres have died across the iconic range since 2010, with the southern Sierra Nevada being the most heavily impacted region, according to a 2017 report from the Forest Service.

To solve the problem of so much fuel, some of the same people who once cheered the dismantling of mills and the lumber industry across California's wildlands are now clamoring for the return of responsible foresters who can help reduce Sierra fuel loads, Dicus said. From the Fresno Bee's editorial board to conservative blogs and President Donald Trump, a chorus has demanded various levels of logging.

While standing dead trees contribute little heat to wildfires, once they crack and fall to the forest floor, they become a ticking time bomb, according to Scott Stephens, wildfire ecologist and UC Berkeley professor. Typically fires are hottest at their edges, where they are actively growing, with burned-through areas measuring cooler. Not so with the Creek Fire.

"For the first 36 hours, satellite imagery picking up heat showed the fire's interior was just as hot as its edge," he said. "It's really unprecedented and so scary. All that energy is what caused the 35,000-foot cloud to form that created its own weather."

A piece of tree bark showing burrowing marks from a bark beetle infestation, near Cressman, Calif.

But logging and removing dead trees is a hotly contested idea, with many experts and environmentalists saying it's no solution.

Hanson from the John Muir Project pointed out that the Creek Fire ripped through scars of the earlier French and Aspen fires, both of which had later been logged but didn't stop this blaze. He also disagreed with Stephens' thought that dead trees are a highly combustible problem, saying they actually soak up large amounts of soil moisture and are difficult to burn.

Without logging, the highly combustible oil in trees' needles dissipates within two years of a tree being killed by drought or bark beetles, while the needles themselves decay into dirt. Meanwhile, leaving upright dead trees in place maintains a degree of forest-cooling canopy as well as windbreaks.

Weather and climate  and therefore climate change  are the dominant drivers in wildfires, overwhelmingly," Hanson said.

Keeley, the USGS researcher, said fuel is still the major problem, but it's not the old growth trees targeted by logging companies. Young, small-diameter trees that burn more easily need to be cleared, but they don't produce useful timber.

Lacking a profit motive, that task falls to the government and is expensive. Logging also introduces easily ignited, invasive grasses when workers drive heavy machinery through forests.

You cant get a timber company that can make money cutting those trees down," Keeley said. "They cant do it.

What comes next?

California and the Trump administration  in a rare moment of accordance  recently signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly reduce fire conditions on 1 million acres annually by 2025.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., also introduced legislation that calls for the creation of a Prescribed Fire Training Center. A similar facility in Florida has found success, generating dozens of jobs and helping to preserve some of the region's wildlands. In 2019 alone, Florida set 750,000 acres ablaze with controlled burns. Neighboring Georgia burned a similar number.

Meanwhile, California has employed controlled burns over just 75,000 acres, not even a tenth of what was completed in the Southeast over the same period, Stephens said. The Berkeley researcher said rethinking the state's approach to fire suppression could help revitalize mountain and foothill communities where economies have been decimated by the timber industry's decline.

"I think that could create another workforce that could be used extensively. Once you begin to do this work, the maintenance goes on forever," Stephens said, adding that the initial investment in thinning and prescribed burns would be less expensive than the long-term firefighting costs.

Prescribed burns, though, also come with controversy, as they don't bring the varying levels of heat  a factor that is ecologically useful  that more naturally occurring wildfires do. Additionally, there are only small windows of opportunity when firefighting agencies can control such burns.

Another factor to consider, according to Cal Fire spokesperson Edwin Zuniga, is that dead trees pose a risk to firefighters on the ground. The husks can fall and injure or even kill firefighters, meaning crews have to approach these blazes more cautiously.

With this year bringing a degree of fire never before seen in California's recorded history, researchers believe that it's time to make decisions on wildfire management.

"This has only become normal because of the actions and inactions of the past hundred years," Dicus said. "It's going to take a lot of time and money to fix the problem."

Stephens fears the window to effect change and prevent the new normal from becoming reality is closing. He sees the next decade as pivotal to California's resiliency. "If things dont change in the next couple years, there will be an opportunity missed  probably some of the final opportunities that we have," he said.

Risking 'treasured places'

There's too much fuel in California's forests and not enough beneficial burning. Those are some of the major areas where there seems to be relative consensus among Western fire researchers.

We simply "got really good at putting out fires," said Dicus, who was a wildland firefighter for 10 years. He remembers being a frustrated 19-year-old on the front lines, thinking "I'm only exacerbating the problem. If I put it out now, it's going to grow up and burn hotter later."

The Creek Fire burns in the Sierra National Forest on Sept. 6, 2020, near Big Creek, Calif.

For Dicus, the Creek Fire is personal. He was hiking alongside Lake Thomas A. Edison with his wife and narrowly escaped the blaze. From a vantage point near their campsite, they saw smoke plumes billow above the only road out and decided to leave immediately. At least 50 other people didn't get out so quickly and had to be evacuated in a daring helicopter rescue executed by the U.S. National Guard, which used night-vision and infrared sensors to navigate the dark and smoke.

"I spent a lot of time in that area exploring this summer. I thought I had found a new treasured place to recreate in the future," he said.

Dicus believes that if drastic steps aren't taken to shift California toward a more proactive fire management approach, including more "good fire" and clearing the forest floor of dangerous materials, there may not be many "treasured places" to return to in the coming decades.

Others like Hanson are quick to remind that not all forms of forest clearing and fire mitigation are created equal. "We just need more what we call managed wildfire, he said. "Native wildlife and plant species in our forest have evolved to depend on a mix of fire intensity.

Researchers largely agree that California and the federal government must take steps to reduce certain fuels, learn to coexist with wildfires and aggressively address climate change.

"We've got to be proactive. We can't just wait to see what happens because that is what we're experiencing right now," Dicus said. "It's not good for people or the environment."

Joshua Yeager covers water, agriculture, parks and housing for the Visalia Times-Delta and Tulare Advance-Register newspapers. Mark Olalde covers the environment for The Desert Sun and can be reached at molalde@gannett.com. Follow them on Twitter at @VTD_Joshy and at @MarkOlalde. Subscribe today for as little as $1 a month to keep on all things Tulare County and Riverside County.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Creek Fire ignites fire management debate on beetles, climate change
Michelle Bachelet (L), the UN high commissioner for human rights, speaks with Elisabeth Tichy-Fisslberger (R), president of the Human Rights Council, during the opening of the 45th council session at the UN's European headquarters in Geneva, Sept. 14, 2020.

Myanmar on Tuesday rejected concerns raised by the top U.N. human rights official about recent government actions in Rakhine state, saying there had been no effort to destroy evidence of the military campaign that drove 740,000 Rohingya Muslims into neighboring Bangladesh in 2017.

Michelle Bachelet, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, told the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday that Myanmar had made little progress in investigating and achieving accountability for the terrible human rights crisis created three years ago by military operations in Rakhine.

The situation of many hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees and internally displaced people remains unresolved, she said. Bachelet had presented a report to the Council that detailed conduct which may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Bachelet pointed out reports that government administrators have reclassified areas in Rakhine state where Rohingyas once lived, removing the village names from maps  raising concern that evidence from the 2017 military operations is being destroyed.

This should end immediately, and the prior situation should be restored, she said, warning that the policy could prevent Rohingyas from returning to their homes.

I am also concerned that they risk destroying evidence relevant to determining legal responsibility for acts committed during military operations both before and after 2017, Bachelet said.

Chan Aye, director general of the International Organizations and Economic Department at Myanmars Ministry of Foreign Affairs, rejected the allegations on Tuesday.

Even if there have been crimes committed, those who changed the village names and structures did not do it intentionally as they have been accused of doing, he said.

They didnt intend to destroy the evidence and prevent them [the Rohingya] from returning.

The report Bachelet presented to the Council on Monday cast doubt about Myanmars pledges to hold military personnel accountable for their actions in Rakhine, noting that there has been little movement beyond the sentencing of a few soldiers and officers found guilty of atrocities during courts-martial.

While a U.N.-backed Independent International Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) on Myanmar found signs of genocidal intent in the 2017 mass expulsions, Myanmars domestic Independent Commission of Enquiry (ICOE) said that war crimes and serious human rights violations had occurred in Rakhine but did not have genocidal intent.

The available findings of the national commission either deny or reject responsibility, calling into question both the willingness of authorities to ensure genuine accountability and the independence of the national commission, the latest U.N. report said.

Military tribunal

Myanmar's military issued a statement in the military-run Myawady Daily newspaper on Monday that the findings of a court of inquiry it set up in July will result in a court-martial, expected to be begin before the end of the year.

A court headed by led by Major General Myat Kyaw examined alleged violations against the Rohingya in Chut Pyin and Maung Nu villages in Rakhines Maungdaw township during the crackdown in 2017.

The ICOEs report issued in January cited killings that had taken place in the two villages, where about 300 civilians are believed to have died at the hands of soldiers during clearance operations.

The Office of the Judge Advocate General now will investigate possible wider patterns of violations in northern Rakhine in 2016-2017 based on the findings in the ICOEs report, the statement in Myawady Daily said.

Allegations regarding Taung Bazar village in neighboring Buthidaung township are included in the scope of the Maung Nu investigation, it said

Two Myanmar Army deserters confessed to killing Rohingya women, men, and children, and committing rape in Taung Bazar village and surrounding communities in September 2017, according to a statement issued by Fortify Rights last week.

The two soldiers confessions had been recorded by the rebel Arakan Army and obtained by Fortify Rights.

Following the announcement of the new court-martial for some 2017 killings in Rakhine, Myanmar military spokesman Major General Zaw Min Tun said Monday that investigations are being conducted in line with recommendations from the ICOE report.

We are now releasing this statement to announce which organization is doing what kinds of investigations following our announcement in July, he said.

I cannot give any details on how far the investigation has progressed, he added. We are trying to hold a trial at a military tribunal before the end of 2020.

No one will say anything

Maungdaw township residents said no one has been summoned for questioning by the military yet, but if they are, it would be difficult for them to testify about what happened in the communities.

Even if they asked the civilians here to come for interrogations, no one would dare say anything against the government. They all fear it, said one local who declined to be identified out of fear for his safety.

No one will say anything that will upset the government, he added.

Other residents indicated that they would feel comfortable speaking freely only if an independent investigative commission led by international organizations probed the allegations.

The investigations need to gain the trust of the people and credibility from the international community, said Nickey Diamond, an activist with Fortify Rights.

If the military is conducting the investigation exclusively, it will not have international credibility, he said. It needs to work with independent human rights groups and domestic and international media to gain credibility.

Nandar Hla Myint, a spokesman for the opposition Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) said the government is handling the Rohingya issue the wrong way and that it should not bow to international pressure.

We need to tell the truth to the world about whats happening on the ground, he said. We have to tell them firmly. We should not be weak on an issue like this.

Reported by Waiyan Moe Myint and Kyaw Lwin Oo for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
"Having UniVista Insurance in the Top 4 in South Florida Business Journal's list of South Florida Insurance Agencies is a big milestone for us because our local customers and franchisees are the bedrock of our expansion throughout Florida," said Ivan Herrera, UniVista CEO. "The leadership of UniVista Insurance is thankful for the continued support of our South Florida customers and franchisees, who provide excellent feedback and serve as the foundation for the outstanding customer service and products we offer."

Additionally, UniVista Insurance was ranked in the Top 2710 on the 2020 Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in America. Inc. 5000's list spotlights "the private companies with the most proven track records." With this ranking, UniVista Insurance has joined an illustrious group of companies including Microsoft, Timberland, Oracle and Zappos.com .

Miami-based UniVista also recently was ranked in the Top 26 in the Insurance Journal annual list of Property/Casualty Agencies.

UniVista Insurance is a Top 54 Largest Private Company in the South Florida Business Journal, with more than $90 million in combined revenue last year. UniVista has also opened three offices in California.

In its role as innovator, UniVista Insurance has taken on TV as part of a new strategy to reach customers. It became the direct sponsor of its own Internet network, UniVistaTV, which recently celebrated a year of diverse and exciting programming.

UniVistaTV celebrated the one-year mark by having 130 million views and a reach of nearly 500 million people.

About UniVista Insurance

Launched in 2009 under Herrera's leadership, UniVista Insurance generated $87.3 million in 2019 P/C Revenue. The Miami-based company had $480.16 million in South Florida premium volume in 2019, up from $405.62 million in South Florida premium volume in 2018.

SOURCE UniVista Insurance

Related Links

https://www.univistainsurance.com


TOKYO (AP)  Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Cabinet resigned, clearing the way for his successor to take over after parliamentary confirmation later Wednesday.

Abe, Japans longest-serving prime minister, announced last month that he was stepping down because of health problems.

I devoted my body and soul for the economic recovery and diplomacy to protect Japans national interest every single day since we returned to power, Abe told reporters at the prime ministers office before heading into his final Cabinet meeting. During this time, I was able to tackle various challenges together with the people, and Im proud of myself.

He said his health is improving thanks to treatment and that he, as a lawmaker, will support his successor-to-be, Yosihide Suga, from now on. He also thanked the people for their understanding and strong support for the upcoming leadership under Suga.

Suga, chief Cabinet secretary for Abes government and long seen as his right-hand man, was chosen Monday as the new head of the governing Liberal Democratic Party, virtually guaranteeing his election as prime minister in a parliamentary vote Wednesday because of the partys majority.

Suga, a self-made politician and the son of a strawberry grower in the northern prefecture of Akita, has stressed his background in promising to serve the interests of ordinary people and rural communities.

He has said he will pursue Abes unfinished policies, and that his top priorities will be fighting the coronavirus and turning around an economy battered by the pandemic. He gained the support of party heavyweights and their followers early in the campaign on expectations he would continue Abes line.

Suga has been a loyal supporter of Abe since Abes first stint as prime minister from 2006 to 2007. Abes tenure ended abruptly because of illness, and Suga helped him return as prime minister in 2012.

Abe, 65, has ulcerative colitis and his current treatment requires IV injections. He said last month his condition has improved but, facing ongoing treatment and physical weakness, he decided to resign.

Suga has praised Abes diplomacy and economic policies when asked about what he would like to accomplish as prime minister.

Suga, who does not belong to any wing within the party and opposes factionalism, says he is a reformer who will break down vested interests and rules that hamper reforms. He says he will set up a new government agency to speed up Japans lagging digital transformation.

In a reshuffle of the ruling party key posts, however, Suga evenly allocated top posts to key factions, a balancing act seen as a return of favor for their support in the leadership race.

Suga said he will appoint reform-minded, hard-working people to the new Cabinet, to be launched later Wednesday. About half of the members in the Abe Cabinet are expected to be retained or shifted to different ministerial posts.

Media reports say some key ministers, including Finance Minister Taro Aso, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, Olympic Minister Seiko Hashimoto, and Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, the son of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, will stay. Abes younger brother, Nobuo Kishi, is reportedly tapped as defense minister, replacing Taro Kono who is expected be shifted to administrative reforms minister.

Compared to his political prowess at home, Suga has hardly traveled overseas and his diplomatic skills are unknown, though he is largely expected to pursue Abes priorities.

The new prime minister will inherit a range of challenges, including relations with China, which continues its assertive actions in the contested East China Sea, and what to do with the Tokyo Olympics, which were postponed to next summer due to the coronavirus. And he will have to establish a good relationship with whomever wins the U.S. presidential race.
The $6 plastic crown that The Notorious B.I.G. donned for his final portrait shoot in 1997 with photographer Barron Claiborne sold for an eye-popping $594,750 on Tuesday night.

The four-time Grammy nominee (born Christopher Wallace) was murdered, age 24, in a drive-by shooting just three days after sitting for the 'King of New York' cover shoot for Rap Pages.

The winning bidder, named Emily, received the plastic-jeweled headwear autographed by the Brooklyn rap legend himself along with a 36 x 40 chromogenic print of the image and the original contact sheet.

Sold! The $6 plastic crown that The Notorious B.I.G. donned for his final portrait shoot in 1997 with photographer Barron Claiborne sold for an eye-popping $594,750 on Tuesday night

Tragic death: The four-time Grammy nominee (born Christopher Wallace) was murdered, age 24, in a drive-by shooting just three days after sitting for the 'King of New York' cover shoot for Rap Pages

'[His label head] Sean "Diddy" Combs had accompanied Biggie on the shoot, and was reportedly unhappy with the concept, as he worried it made Biggie look like "the Burger King,"' the Sotheby's description revealed.

'Thankfully, Biggie was game to give it a try; the result is one of most stunning and iconic portraits.'

Biggie Smalls' son C. J. Wallace from his marriage to Grammy winner Faith Evans livestreamed the auction via Instastory and provided hilarious commentary throughout.

Iconic: The winning bidder, named Emily, received the plastic-jeweled headwear autographed by the Brooklyn rap legend himself along with a 36 x 40 chromogenic print of the image and the original contact sheet

The Sotheby's description revealed: '[His label head] Sean "Diddy" Combs (M) had accompanied Biggie (R) on the shoot, and was reportedly unhappy with the concept, as he worried it made Biggie look like "the Burger King." Thankfully, Biggie was game to give it a try'

'They going back and forth. Emily and Ella, two white girls love hip hop!' the 23-year-old heir laughed during the bidding.

'I'm tripping like, why?'

C. J.'s friend then reminded him that the crown was art and was one of a kind and autographed.

Wallace replied: 'I get it, but n***a that s*** plastic!'

Legacy: Biggie Smalls' son C. J. Wallace from his marriage to Grammy winner Faith Evans livestreamed the auction via Instastory and provided hilarious commentary throughout (pictured September 4)

The 23-year-old heir laughed during the bidding: 'They going back and forth. Emily and Ella, two white girls love hip hop! I'm tripping like, why?'
Virtual celebrations for Mexicos Grito de Independencia

Mexico City, Mexico  President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador led the commemoration ceremony of the 210th Anniversary of the Cry of Independence from the main balcony of the National Palace Tuesday night.

The president praised the heroes of the country, while dedicating the harangue to hope for the future, universal brotherhood, sovereignty, equality, democracy, justice, freedom, the cultural greatness of Mexico, its heroic people and indigenous communities.

Mexicos President and First Lady host the Grito de Independencia

The Chief Executive Officer and Dr. Beatriz Gutierrez Muller observed a minute of silence in honor of the victims of the COVID-19 epidemic. This tribute was accompanied by the lighting of the Flame of Hope in the Zocalo of Mexico City, symbolizing those who remain standing in the face of the global health crisis caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

A normally packed city square was empty this year as locals celebrated Mexicos national holiday virtually

The Banda de Musica and the Coro del Ejercito Mexicano interpreted the Mexican National Anthem and other pieces of popular music, while traditional fireworks framed the celebration in the first square of the city.

The ceremony was broadcast live from Mexico City across television and social media channels to avoid large crowds due to the ongoing Coronavirus epidemic.
by Nirmala Carvalho

Families cannot expect financial compensation. India so far has reported five million cases with more than 80,000 deaths. According to the authorities, more than 10 million migrant workers have returned to their villages. For Catholic bishops, migrants, tribal people and Dalits are being denied justice, equality and humanitarian care. To avoid discrimination, families and village leaders are refusing to disclose the cause of deaths in COVID-19 cases.

New Delhi (AsiaNews)  Since there are no data on the deaths of migrant workers from COVID-19, the question of compensation does not arise, Indias Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Santosh Gangwar, told parliament on Monday. This has sparked harsh reactions by opposition parties and civil society groups.

India has reported so far more than five million SARS-CoV-2 cases in the country, the highest number in the world after the United States. This coronavirus is spreading at great speed, with 90,000 new cases per day.

Amid shortages of Intensive Care beds and oxygen supplies, more than 80,000 people have died from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. However, despite these shortcomings, Indias COVID-19 death rate is lower than many countries with a high number of cases.

This upward trend comes at a time when the government is further easing restrictions in order to reboot an economy that has lost millions of jobs since March, when the pandemic crisis hit the country.

Against this backdrop, internal migrants are the group that suffered the most. The labour minister admitted that more than 10 million migrants have returned to their places of origin.

Fr Nicholas Barla, national secretary of Office for Tribal Affairs of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, notes that Indias COVID-19-related mortality is low at every level: country, state, district and village.

Nonetheless, For years, we have asked the authorities to provide data on internal migrants, even before the outbreak of the pandemic, he explained. Sadly, for migrants, tribal people and Dalits, there is no justice, equality or humanitarian care; all have to eke out a living for themselves.

Fr Anand Mathew, a missionary with the Indian Missionary Society in Varanasi, has helped many internal migrants with food and other basics. He too slammed Minister Gangwar's statement. In his view, In such a vast country, with a huge administrative system, is it possible that the government is unable to provide data on coronavirus deaths.

He complains that the government spends millions on frivolous things, and then does not want to compensate the families of poor workers. "We are facing a cruel and insensitive government that prides itself on not caring for the poorest people."

Goretti Xalxo, coordinator of Pahunch, an NGO that helps tribal migrants in the Vasai area, is less critical towards the authorities.

The coronavirus brings social discrimination with it. For this reason, many people have not disclosed the death of their relatives, she explained.

In the villages, the members of village councils (gram panchayat) do not register the deaths, so it is impossible to have reliable data. How can we now blame the government? People must be educated; it is their right, recognised in the constitution.
Halimat and her newborn held in hospital for non-payment of N220, 000 bill for delivery through Caesarian Section have been discharged following response from a well-meaning Nigerian who read about their ordeal on Vanguard last week Monday.

Vanguard got the hint from a Child Protection Network platform that Halimat was abandoned by her husband, Austin, and was held in hospital for two weeks with her child.

A Good Samaritan paid the bill after reading the report.

Vanguard visited the baby where she is now being taken care of by her grandmother in a small room in Mushin, Lagos alongside her mother.

The situation needs no soothsayer to know that Halimat needs urgent support to feed to be healthy and to also get accommodation.

According to Halimat, the father of the newborn refused to accept the pregnancy and told her to abort it if she wanted his relationship with her to continue.

"I did everything to abort the baby but it didn't work but when Austin gave me the option of Dilation and Curettage (D&C), I refused because of the fear of losing my life and I decided to keep it and face the consequence because I don't know maybe the child will be the one that will take me out of poverty in future", she said.

"I suffered throughout the pregnancy and was constantly begging to eat from people. Most times, it was my neighbor, the Chief Imam of the mosque in our compound, that was always giving me money to feed but it got to a stage that I couldn't ask again for fear of being a burden to him.

"Alhaji was the one who helped me to make the information about my situation public so that I could get help.

"I want to thank the man who paid my hospital bill. I am proud of my country because they are good people.

"I didn't know that people can be so caring like this. This is my first experience of this big favour in my life".

Like Oliver Twist, Halimat appealed to well-meaning Nigerians not to leave her alone especially at this time that she is not the only one who needed to feed.

She pleaded for help for accommodation and for the baby upkeep.

Halimat lives at No 54, Post Office Road, Muslim, Lagos. Donors can pay to Olawuyi Muinat Alake GTBank

ACCT. 0169830963
Opposition Congress led UDF and BJP workers were engaged in pitched battles with the police in Capital city and many parts of the state on Monday, demanding resignation of higher education minister K T Jaleel.

The epicenter of the opposition agitation was the state secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram where the agitators had gathered since morning holding demonstrations, protests and marches. A march led by youth congress workers to the secretariat turned violent when agitators tried to remove the barricades put in front of secretariat main gate.

The police used water cannons to disperse the protestors and resorted to mild lathicharge in which many Congress workers including K S Sabarinathan MLA were injured. The police also used stun grenades to disperse the agitators.

The agitation led by Youth Congress state president Shafi Parambil MLA continued for a couple of hours turning the city centre into a battle zone. The YC march protest was followed by a march of BJP and Yuva Morcha . The police used force to force against the agitators.

Similar agitations took place in Kozhikode, Kannur, Kasargod, Pathanamthitta, Ernakulam, Thrissur and Wayanad.

The opposition parties have been up in arms against Jaleel after the minister was questioned by ED in connection with the allegations regarding aid sought from the UAE consulate during Ramzan in violation of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act , 2010 (accepting foreign aid without Centre's permission), diplomatic baggage used to bring copies of Quran and gold smuggling accused Swapna Sureshs role in arranging the flood relief kits.

Meanwhile, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan has defended Jaleel saying he has committed no wrong. He said the opposition was resorting to violent agitation on a baseless issue, to create law and order problems in the state.

The chief minister said on Monday that there was no precedent of a person resigning on the basis of questioning by an agency. In this case the agency has received some complaints and they wanted certain clarifications from the minister.

There is no allegation against Jaleel. The opposition is trying to cook up a story. As far as the gold smuggling case is concerned, some of the accused have been caught and the investigations are on to get others who are involved .

Vijayan said the opposition was trying to link the Quran issue with the gold smuggling case. On what basis are they raising such allegations and demanding the minister's resignation? he asked. There is no need for him to resign on such baseless allegations.

The chief minister said there should not have been a controversy over getting copies of Quran from the UAE consulate. Jaleel is minister of Wakf and distribution of quran is normal during Ramadan period when zakat is given.

The chief minister said people of the state will reject the opposition stand on the issue.
The merchants who are dissatisfied with the new customs regulations in Armenia on Wednesday met outside the National Assembly (NA) with Babken Tunyan, Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on Economic Affairs, and MP of the majority My Step faction.

Subsequently, they told reporters that Tunyan on Thursday will give the answer to their question. "Tunyan said that he would contact the State Revenue Committee, but did not say that 100 percent everything of yours would be. The answer will be tomorrow," they added.

These merchants are dissatisfied with the new customs regulations in the country, and demand that they remain the same.

According to them, the duties for customs clearance of goods is increasing in Armenia as a result of the new regulations.

These demonstrators had had a meeting with chairman Edvard Hovhannisyan of the State Revenue Committee on this matter, but again they were dissatisfied.
Noa Goldman

goldmann@grinnell.edu

Writers@Grinnell kicked off this semesters event series, co-produced by Iowa Citys Prairie Lights bookstore, with an intimate and thought-provoking virtual conversation between writers and friends, Gabrielle Calvocoressi and Dean Bakopoulos, titled The Civic Imagination: In Search of A Healing Curriculum.

Bakopoulos is a Grinnell English professor and the director of the Writers@Grinnell program with Professor Alissa Nutting, English. Calvocoressi, winner of the 2018 Audre Lourde prize for Lesbian Poetry and author of three books of poems, is a professor of Creative Writing at UNC Chapel Hill. Calvocoressi met Bakopolous a decade ago when they both started teaching at the Warren Wilson MFA program in North Carolina. Last weeks event, held over the video conferencing application Zoom, made obvious their close friendship formed around writing and its teaching.

The webinar began with energized chatter. Calvocoressi and Bakopoulos discussed the melancholic beauty of students waving as they leave class Zoom calls, like disappearing stars, and voiced their excitement for the Golden Girls reboot. As audience members joined the webinar, Calvocoressi then addressed the 134 members of the audience, asking them to describe what they saw outside their window in the Zoom chat. The audience members were included in moments usually reserved for backstage, making a virtual medium that can often feel sterile warm and comfortable.

As the conversation continued, the fellow writers and educators discussed what it is like to be teaching classes when the world outside of the classroom is changing so rapidly and students are facing a myriad of social, political and personal challenges. The two discussed with admiration the students on Calvocoressis UNC campus who removed a confederate statue, as well as voiced their support for professors participating in the scholar strike at University of Michigan.

Bakopoulos then posed a question that has apparently been on his mind for some time, one that he and Calvocoressi had been texting about for the last few months: Do we really believe that workshopping a poem or a story is speaking to the injustice, the violence, the suffering?

Calvocoressi paused for a moment, and then replied: My job  is teaching students how to think about making choices, how to look at the world from every single different angle, how to take in the details of their everyday life. They asserted that teaching students to take a walk every single day would be much more important to [them] than having them learn to memorize a poem.

Both Calvocoressi and Bakopoulos, in this way, stressed the rigorous compassion they attempt to bring to their classroom, providing a space for students to think deeply and feel strongly.

Calvocoressi also read one of their poems, Hammond B3 Organ Cistern, which describes in bright joyful detail a day without suicidal thoughts:

Its like being / in the armpit of a Hammond B3 organ. / Just reeks of gratitude and funk. / The funk of ages. I am not going to ruin / my loves life today.

While Zoom Webinars make clapping ineffective, the thoughtful silence shared between Bakopoulos and Calvocoressi following the poem, as well as the comments of appreciation in the chat, felt pregnant with the desire to hoot and holler, and perhaps even share a hug.

Bakopoulos told The S&B that the intimate, conversational nature of this last event was not by accident, commenting that for anyone engaged with the world it is a lonely time. In putting together the program, he wanted to highlight friendship and solidarity among writers, and also friendship in general. When institutional and governmental bureaucracies are falling us, Bakopoulos said he believes that one thing we can do is nurture friendship among people who care, among creative people, among engaged people.

Grinnellians will have access to many more intimate conversations like this one in the upcoming semester. Writers and close friends Hieu Minh Nguyen and Angel Nafis will be virtually visiting on Sept. 17. Jenny Zhang will be speaking with her friend and Writers@Grinnell program coordinator Nutting on Sept. 29. During Fall Term 2, Dean Bakopoulos has even planned to interview his own sister, Natalie Bakopoulos, who published a novel this past July.

To attend these Zoom events, you must register on Prairie Lights website, this semesters Writers@Grinnell partner organization. This collaboration also allows audience members to purchase the visiting authors books from an independent bookseller. Writers@Grinnell also hosted a WebEx roundtable with Calvocoressi, and will do the same for future visiting authors, to provide an informal space open only to the Grinnell College community.

Bakopoulos said that his goals for Writers@Grinnell this semester were to make virtual events as good as they could be and to pay writers the same amount as he would have if they were coming to campus. Planning this semesters lineup Bakopoulos was particularly focused on inviting writers who do not hold academic positions, and whose income is reliant on events that have now been canceled due to the pandemic.

Writers@Grinnell is able to continue supporting the literary community because of endowed funds from alumni that are earmarked for literary events. During the pandemic, an anonymous donor gave the program 10,000 dollars to help transition its events to an online format. This endowment has allowed Bakopoulos to invite even more writers than usual, with Zoom conversations and WebEx roundtables occurring each week.

Although the format of this event series is casual and friendly, Bakopoulos said that they will not shy away from the inequality and racism of this moment. In the six months since the last Writers@Grinnell event held on campus, a global pandemic has arisen and activism against police brutality has sparked a major cultural reckoning with racial injustice. Not to mention, the November 3rd election is quickly approaching.

Do we really believe that workshopping a poem or a story is speaking to the injustice, the violence, the suffering?  Dean Bakopoulos

These events arent going to change a ton of minds, said Bakopoulos. Its not like people who are okay with a descent into fascism are going to go to an event and change their mind, but I hope it sustains people that are fighting.

Its this huge unknown that I think is starting to feel like its contributing to that ambient anxiety we are all feeling, reflected Bakopoulos. So, I want to make sure that we have spaces to gather.

For the foreseeable future, that space will be a Zoom webinar, made intimate by the friendship of writers as they discuss the personal and the political.
Shelby Wagenseller

Shelby Wagenseller, who was deputy COO of the 2020 Democratic National Convention Committee as well as senior communications advisor for the Milwaukee Host Committee, has been named vice president of Signal Groups communications practice.

Wagenseller was previously a senior communications manager at Signal. She has also served as deputy press secretary at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and worked on the 2016 Democratic National Convention Committee. Before that, she was at Joe Trippi & Associates and served as a field organizer in President Obamas 2012 campaign.

Shelby is a total pro when it comes to high profile brand and policy communications in Washington or around the country, Signal Group COO Jessica Rihani. She was an asset to our firm and went on to play several key roles at the Democratic convention where she helped rewrite the playbook for managing large scale events during these unprecedented times.
16.09.2020 LISTEN

As Ghana turns towards general elections in December, a new agreement by the government to sign away the countrys mining revenues is causing major controversy.

On August 14, President Nana Akufo-Addos government signed an agreement with Agyapa Mineral Royalties Limited, a state-owned company that will finance gold mines and other large-scale development projects in exchange for rights to all of Ghanas future gold mining revenues. The company will initially give the government $500-750 million in funding. As the country brings in hundreds of millions of dollars from gold every year, the move represents a short-sighted capital raising scheme by what is largely seen as an increasingly autocratic Akufo-Addo government.

The deal has drawn major criticism over its lack of transparency, including allegations of corruption. Civil society groups, advocates of sustainable development, and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) party have all come out against the agreement. Ahead of Decembers election, the Agyapa deal exposes cracks in Akufo-Addos government that threaten the legitimacy of Ghanas once-thriving democracy.

The Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF) could have played the same role of Agyapa if the Akufo-Addo-led government wanted to be transparent, said Ghanas opposition leader and former president John Dramani Mahama of the NDC party.

An emerging view is that the Akufo-Addo government is rushing the deal through before the December elections out of fear that it will lose power following the vote. Members of Parliament were reportedly given only four hours to review the deal, offering no chance for proper oversight. Though the governments Minerals Income Investment Fund will be the majority shareholder of Agyapa Mineral Royalties, the company will not be accountable to the national interest and the people of Ghana.

There has been no public transparency as to the terms of the deal and its possible impactsa recent statement by the NDC on the law offers Ghanaians one of the few pictures of what appears to have happened behind the closed doors of the Akufo-Addo government.

Under the Agyapa deal, Ghanas natural resources will be tied to unknown business interests as Agyapa Mineral Royalties is managed without oversight or accountability. The company, which is now 100% owned by the government, is incorporated in the UK tax haven of Jersey and will raise capital by investing in the London and Ghana stock exchanges. All future royalties from Ghanas mineral resources will be piped offshore, away from public scrutiny, and opening up the possibility of interactions with money launderers.

The process behind the Agyapa deal also points to Ghanas major challenges with nepotism under the Akufo-Addo government. The deal is the product of years of work by President Akufo-Addo, his cousin Finance Minister Ken Ofori Ata, and another cousin, Gabby Asare Otchere Darko, a businessman with a questionable track record and ties to the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).

The same problems are clear in the structure of Agyapa Mineral Royalties. The top managers of Agyapa, including the son of Senior Minister Yaw Osafo-Maafo, will exercise unchecked control over revenues from Ghanas mineral resources. The Agyapa deal also makes it impossible for future governments to replace managers of the company.

The agreement has already seen large-scale public opposition as citizens say the deal is another attempt by the Akufo-Addo government to shortchange the people of Ghana while extracting benefits for those in power and their associates.

A coalition of 15 civil society organizations is demanding that the agreement be suspended, citing a lack of transparency and openness around the process. The groups say the government failed to consult with the public or answer questions about Agyapa.

Regardless of the attempt to clarify some concerns, significant questions remain unanswered, said Dr. Steve Manteaw, communications director of the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC) and spokesperson for the civil society coalition. Are the managers and directors of Agyapa not politically exposed people? And were they not selected through an uncompetitive process?

Ghanaians are speaking out against the deal on social media under the hashtag #AgyapaRoyalThieves, denouncing it as looting and calling for fellow citizens to force the government to reverse the deal. The opposition NDC, for its part, has said that it would not honor the terms of the agreement if the party wins the December elections.

The controversy over the deal has major implications for the future of Ghana, as the public looks to the countrys leaders to see whether they step up to defend the countrys democracy. Investors will be put off by the deal, ultimately affecting Ghanas reputation, but it will also threaten Ghanas national finances. Akufo-Addo and his government pushed the deal through behind closed doors in part because it appears neither logical nor in the national interest. The agreement seems nothing more than an attempt by Akufo-Addo and his allies to increase their grip on Ghanas state resources before the electionsas civil society groups and opposition leaders have said, the deal is nepotism and state capture on display.
Members of a smuggling gang stand trial in HCMC on September 15, 2020 for sending Vietnamese to Taiwan to work illegally. Photo courtesy of Cong An Nhan Dan Newspaper.

A HCMC court on Tuesday sentenced 10 members of a gang to up to 10 years in jail for organizing for 128 people to go to work in Taiwan illegally.

Nguyen Viet Duc, 42, and Tran Van Danh, 31, the leaders, got 10 years each, and Ducs girlfriend, Le Dinh Hong Nguyen, got six years for "organizing and/or coercing for other persons to flee abroad," said Cong Ly, the news website of the Supreme People's Court.

Seven others aged between 28 and 60 were imprisoned for three to eight years for the same crime.

Knowing that Taiwans Kuan Hung visa program has simplified procedures for groups of five tourists or more and is free for Vietnamese, Duc and Nguyen set up a tourism firm called Vui Funny Tour in Hanoi in 2018 so that they could take Vietnamese to Taiwan and get them to illegally stay there to work.

The duo collaborated with Danh, director of a HCMC-based travel firm, to find customers.

Duc and Nguyen had the task of applying for e-visas for customers and organizing tours to Taiwan.

On December 21 and 23, 2018, they organized four tours and took a total of 148 people to Taiwan who disappeared upon arrival in Kaohsiung city in a shocking incident that made global headlines.

The missing Vietnamese tourists were then found by Taiwanese police and sent back to Vietnam.

Based on testimonies from the tourists, the police arrested five members of the gang by May 2019, and the rest later.

Last year, two Vietnamese and a Taiwanese were sentenced to between three months and three years in jail for helping to hide the 148 Vietnamese tourists and secure illegal employment for them in Taiwan.

Statistics from the Taiwan Tourism Bureau showed that a total of 225,702 foreign tourists arrived under the visa program between 2015 and 2019.

Of them 566 people have gone missing, with Vietnamese accounting for 72 percent of that number.

Ever since it lifted a 10-year ban on certain categories of Vietnamese workers in 2015, Taiwan has been a top destination for Vietnamese looking for jobs overseas.
China's economic recovery continued to gather steam with major economic indicators further improving last month as the country's efforts to boost growth amid the COVID-19 slowdown gradually paid off.



Retail sales of consumer goods, a main gauge of China's consumption, returned to growth for the first time this year, rising 0.5 percent year on year in August, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The measurement of consumption fell 1.1 percent in July.

Industrial output increased 5.6 percent year on year in August, accelerating from the rise of 4.8 percent registered in July. In the first eight months, industrial output expanded 0.4 percent from one year earlier, compared with a decline of 0.4 percent in the January-July period, NBS data showed.

Fixed-asset investment edged down 0.3 percent year on year in the first eight months, further narrowing from a fall of 1.6 percent posted in the January-July period.

Private sector fixed-asset investment, which accounts for more than half of total investment, fell 2.8 percent in the January-August period, compared with a decline of 5.7 percent in the first seven months.

Employment remained stable as the surveyed unemployment rate in urban areas stood at 5.6 percent in August, 0.1 percentage points lower than that of July.

Meanwhile, the country's exports in August rose at a faster-than-expected pace, increasing 11.6 percent year on year, though imports edged down 0.5 percent from one year earlier.

NBS spokesperson Fu Linghui said despite pressures from both the COVID-19 fallout and floods, the country's economy has sustained a steady recovery.

The rebound in major indicators in August came as the economy extended its recovery, but Fu said the growth of some indicators still lagged behind their 2019 levels.

The country's economic growth is likely to post "an evident acceleration" in the third quarter if recovery momentum continues in September, Fu said.

The country's GDP expanded 3.2 percent year on year in the second quarter, reversing from a contraction of 6.8 percent in the first quarter.

To shore up the economy against the shock of COVID-19, the government has rolled out a raft of measures, including more fiscal spending, tax relief, and cuts in lending rates and banks' reserve requirements to revive the coronavirus-ravaged economy and support employment.

Global credit rating agency Moody's has raised its growth forecast for the Chinese economy this year to 1.9 percent from 1 percent earlier, representing the firm's only upward revision for the 2020 growth of major economies.

Looking ahead, Fu warned about challenges from home and abroad, saying current economic recovery remained unbalanced and there were still unstable and uncertain factors from the external environment.

Wen Bin, chief analyst at China Minsheng Bank, said in a research note that macro-economic policies should continue to strengthen the recovery, enhancing support to major sectors and weak links.
Airlines in India are seeking at least $1.5 billion as an interest-free credit line from the government, civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri said, as lockdowns and restrictions linked to the coronavirus pandemic hit demand for air travel.

The carriers in what was until recently the worlds fastest growing aviation market are also seeking to defer loan repayments by six months, without these borrowings getting classified as non-performing, Puri said in a written reply in parliament. Local airlines have asked the government to include jet fuel in the South Asian nations goods and services tax, and abolish excise duty on aviation turbine fuel, the minister said.

Airlines from Africa to Australia have been hammered by the pandemic, as companies cut back on travel, holidaymakers defer trips and border restrictions dent international journeys. Unlike countries such as the US, which have offered financial assistance to carriers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has yet to announce any meaningful monetary package for the aviation industry, as the government struggles with the worst economic slowdown among major nations.

Indian carriers need as much as $2.5 billion to keep flying, according to estimates from Sydney-based CAPA Centre for Aviation, and one or more of the nations airlines are expected to fail in the absence of additional funding from the government or their owners. India was one of the most difficult places for the aviation industry even before the pandemic, with fares as little as 2 cents and some of the worlds highest fuel taxes.

However, the government is engaged with aircraft lessors and financiers to ensure there is no premature withdrawal of planes, Puri said. Local traffic has slumped almost 80% to just 12 million passengers in the five months to July 31, eroding airline revenues, he said.

Close to 3 million jobs in aviation and related industries as well as more than $11 billion in revenue could be lost in India this year because of the pandemic according to the International Air Transport Association. India is the worlds second-worst affected country from the pandemic, adding more than 90,000 cases each day and reaching more than 5 million confirmed infections on Wednesday.

IndiGo, operated by InterGlobe Aviation Ltd., dominates the local market with almost 50% share. SpiceJet Ltd., state-run Air India Ltd., and local affiliates of Singapore Airlines Ltd. and Malaysias AirAsia Group Bhd. also compete in the market. IndiGo is the worlds biggest customer for Airbus SEs best-selling A320neo jets, while SpiceJet is among the top buyers of Boeing Co.s now-grounded 737 Max planes.
LITTLETON, CO  Since Sept. 1, 13 new cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed in Littleton, and no new deaths have been reported, according to public health data. Since late July, coronavirus case rates have gone down in the city.

Since the outbreak began in Colorado, 329 coronavirus cases have been reported in Littleton by the Tri-County Health Department, and Jefferson County has reported 14 cases, bringing the total to 343. There have been 48 "confirmed and probable" COVID-19 deaths in the city.

Jeffco Public Health and Tri-County Health Department have updated their COVID-19 data to offer more accurate case counts in Littleton. Tri-County now offers a breakdown by Littleton neighborhoods, and both agencies have been able to assess which cases are linked to addresses within Littleton's municipal boundaries.

New cases since Sept. 1 Total cases since outbreak began New tests since Sept. 1 Total number of tests since outbreak began Case rate per 1,000 residents Northeast Littleton 6 144 280 1,904 10.69 Littleton North 3 62 129 949 8.75 Central South Littleton 3 34 101 723 5.16 Southwest Littleton 1 30 75 533 12.79 South Littleton 0 27 114

1,163 4.34

Since Sept. 1, more than 1,000 cases of the coronavirus have been reported in Arapahoe, Douglas and Jefferson counties, according to data posted by state health officials.



New cases reported since Sept. 1 COVID-19 cases since outbreak began COVID-19 deaths since Sept. 1 COVID-19 deaths since outbreak began Arapahoe County 457 8,553 0 369 Douglas County 218 2,222 0 60 Jefferson County 354 5,146 3 245





Don't miss the latest coronavirus updates from health and government officials in Littleton: Free Newsletters and Email Alerts | Facebook | Twitter

In early August, the state granted Arapahoe County an extension for its variance, which was set to be revoked if high case rates continued; however, the county has since seen a drop in coronavirus case rates. Around 96 percent of residents in the county have been wearing masks, according to public health officials.



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A variance is a leniency granted to businesses and churches that eases restrictions if the county proves that cases are under a certain level. If Arapahoe County loses its variance, some businesses would be forced to scale back their services, and others may have to close.

Over the past week, 2,425 new cases of the coronavirus have been reported in Colorado, according to public health data. The state has seen an uptick in cases over the past two weeks, which is partly due to college students returning to campuses, Gov. Jared Polis said in a news conference Tuesday.

"The worry is that the college transmission leads to community transmission," Polis said.

As of Tuesday, 62,099 people have been infected with the coronavirus in our state among 791,439 people who have been tested since the outbreak began, health officials confirmed. Around 7,262 people have been hospitalized, and the death toll has reached 1,905.





Graph courtesy of Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment. Data reported Tuesday, and may differ from Jeffco Public Health and Tri-County Health numbers as the state's reporting is a day behind.





This article originally appeared on the Littleton Patch
New Delhi: Bhojpuri star Dinesh Lal Yadav aka Nirahua tweeted to say that he supports actor-politician Ravi Kishan's statement on drug abuse in Parliament. "He hasn't said anything wrong," Nirahua shared on Twitter in Hindi, adding hashtags such as #IstandwithRavikisan #DrugMafiaOfBollywood.

Read his full tweet here:

Nirahua and Ravi Kishan are both superstars of the Bhojpuri industry. They enjoy a massive fan following and have some blockbuster films and songs to their credits. Ravi Kishan simultaneously worked in Bollywood too and later shifted his focus to politics. He is currently a BJP MP from Gorakhpur. Nirahua too is a BJP leader.

On Monday, Ravi Kishan in the Lok Sabha said that drug conspiracy is a big issue and has affected Bollywood, urging the government to take strict measures against the culprits. He even said that drugs come to India via China and Pakistan, as part of a larger conspiracy to target the youth of our country.

His speech was slammed by actress-politician Jaya Bachchan, who in the Rajya Sabha, without taking any names said, "I was really embarrassed and ashamed yesterday one of our members in the Lok Sabha, who is from the industry spoke against (I am not taking the name) the film industry. It is a shame 'jis thali mein khate hai usi me chhed karte hai', galat baat hai. I need the protection, this industry needs protection and support of the government."

Jaya Bachchan has found support in various of her colleagues and industry friends.
New Delhi: A day after reports in the media surfaced that Toyota Motors is not expanding in India, Vikram Kirloskar, vice-chairman of Toyota Kirloskar Motors, has clarified that the company is actually focusing on technology expansion and localization and is investing over Rs 2,000 crore for the same.

"Toyota's focus is on technology expansion & localization & is investing 2000+ crs for the same. I believe that a GST readjustment is required in the future to encourage green mobility. Carbon-based tax will also make the Indian industry more competitive," Vikram Kirloskar tweeted.

A Bloomberg report earlier, citing Toyota Kirloskar Motor vice chairman Shekar Viswanathan said that the companies are finding it hard to build scale, high tax regime. Viswanathan further told Bloomberg that though the company is not exiting India, it will not scale up either.

Meanwhile, Toyota in a response to Zee Media said, Toyota Kirloskar Motor would like to state that we continue to be committed to the Indian market and our operations in the country is an integral part of our global strategy. We need to protect the jobs we have created and we will do everything possible to achieve this. Over our two decades of operations in India, we have worked tirelessly to build a strong competitive local supplier eco-system and develop strong capable human resources. Our first step is to ensure full capacity utilization of what we have created and this will take time."

"In wake of the slowdown that has been exaggerated by the COVID-19 impact, the auto industry has been requesting the Government for support to sustain industry through a viable tax structure. We remain confident that the Government will do everything possible to support industry and employment. We recognize the strong proactive efforts being made by the Government to support various sectors of the economy and appreciate the fact that it is open to examine this issue despite the current challenging revenue situation," the company added.

"Our recent partnership with Suzuki in India on sharing technology and best practices are also in support of the Make in India initiative and Indian Governments policy, and aim to enhance the competitiveness of both companies, it said.
Transgender people should be able to change their gender without a medical diagnosis, the British Medical Association (BMA) has said. - REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Transgender people should be able to change their gender without a medical diagnosis, the British Medical Association (BMA) has said.

To legally change your gender in the UK, individuals must currently have a diagnosis of gender dysphoria and a report detailing any medical treatment from a registered doctor.

But on Tuesday doctors supported a motion at the BMAs annual general meeting which called on the Government to allow transgender and non-binary individuals to gain legal recognition of their gender by a witnessed sworn statement.

Requiring a witnessed statement, rather than a medical diagnosis, is seen as a simplified version of the process.

Such models are already in place in countries such as the Republic of Ireland, Malta, and Denmark, according to a background briefing on the motion published by the BMA.

In the Republic of Ireland, individuals must also have a settled and solemn intention of living in the preferred gender for the rest of their life, understand the consequences of the application, and make the application of their own free will.

Critics of the motion could argue doctors with experience working with those with gender dysphoria may enable discussions about emotional and physical wellbeing that may be helpful to the trans person, the BMA briefing added.

The BMA motion also affirmed the right of transgender and non-binary individuals to access healthcare and "live their lives with dignity" including having their identity respected.

Two clauses of the motion - which called on the Government to support the witnessed sworn statement model and to ensure under-18s are able to access healthcare in "line with existing principles of consent" - were both passed by narrow margins.

The motion also called for trans people to be able to receive healthcare in settings appropriate to their gender identity and ensure trans healthcare workers were able to access facilities appropriate to the gender they identify as.

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Dr Helena McKeown, chairman of the BMA representative body, said the passing of the motion meant that the union had a BMA-wide policy giving specific attention to the needs of transgender and non-binary people for the first time.

She added: "We oppose discrimination of all kinds and are committed to ensuring universal access to healthcare for all on the basis of clinical need.

"Receiving any medical treatment can be stressful for patients and so it is important for individuals to receive healthcare in settings they feel comfortable with. "This applies to transgender as well as cis individuals.

Under the Gender Recognition Act, to legally change their gender a person must also provide proof theyve lived for at least two years in their chosen gender, declare they intend to live as that gender until death, a payment of 140, and, if married, their spouses consent.

Under measures drawn up under Therasa Mays government, the act was due to be updated to make it easier for a person to legally change their gender.

But following a backlash from opponents, the current Government could allegedly be dropping the plans, as first reported by the Sunday Times, which caused widespread anger from LGBT groups.

The proposed measures by Mrs Mays 2018 consultation included removing barriers, such as the medical diagnosis requirement, to the process.

It would have also given recognition to non-binary people who do not identify as any gender. Commenting on the potential scrapping of the plans, Nancy Kelley, chief executive at LGBT rights organisation Stonewall said the changes would be extremely disappointing if true.
Mumbai: In a bid to curb the spread of COVID-19 in Mumbai, the city civic body has decided to seal an entire building if 10 or more coronavirus infection cases are found there. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporations (BMC) health department issued the revised protocols on Tuesday after civic chief Iqbal Singh Chahal held a meeting to review the the COVID-19 situation.

Earlier, the BMC in July said if there is a COVID-19 case in a society or building, only the particular floor will be sealed and the entire building need not be sealed. According to the revised BMC protocols, the whole building will be sealed if 10 or more cases are reported from two or more floors, and will be sealed partially if one or more cases are found in a single home.

The respective assistant municipal commissioner or medical health officer can take a call on sealing the entire building to prevent the spread of COVID-19, if sealing of a particular floor or wing is not sufficient, it said. On Tuesday, Mumbai reported 1,585 new COVID-19 cases, taking its tally to 1,73,534. The citys death toll increased to 8,227 with 49 more patients succumbing to the infection.

In the wake of the rise in COVID-19 cases, the number of buildings sealed in the city has also gone up. As per official figures, 8,763 buildings here were sealed as of Tuesday, as compared to 6,171 till August 31.

As of now, there are 592 COVID-19 containment zones in the city as compared to 567 in August end, according to BMC data.

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor
In a joint operation, security forces on Wednesday arrested two persons affiliated to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror outfit in Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir and recovered ammunition.

Sources in the Jammu and Kashmir Police said that on specific input that there was a terrorist activity planned in the general area of Baramulla, multiple checkpoints were laid by Baramulla Police, the local unit of the Indian Army and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

Live TV

In the afternoon, a white Maruti car moving in a suspicious manner was approaching the joint check posts at Singhpora crossing in Baramulla and was flagged by the security forces to stop.

On carrying out the search of the vehicle, two grenades, 100 rounds of AK-47, and two letter pads of the banned terror organisation LeT were recovered. Two persons in the car were also arrested. On preliminary enquiry, the accused accepted that they were working as Over Ground Workers (OGW) of the proscribed terror outfit.

In this regard, a case has been registered under the relevant provisions of the law in Baramulla Police Station and the matter is under further investigation.
It's too easy to miss brilliant streaming shows, movies and documentaries. Here are the ones to hit play on or skip.

Ratched

Netflix

What makes a monster, and do they know what they are? That's the underlying query, teased with vivid style and luscious suggestion, in Ratched, the new limited series from the prolific imprint of television auteur Ryan Murphy. A twisted origin story for the controlling head nurse who serves as the villain in Ken Kesey's 1962 novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and the subsequent 1975 Milos Forman film adaptation, Ratched is a twisty psychological thriller where respectable veneers invariably shatter.

Sarah Paulson as nurse Mildred Ratched in Netflix's new show Ratched. Credit:Netflix

After the (in) cold (blood) open of a killer launching a bloody rampage through a home for Catholic priests, the 1947-set story alights upon Mildred Ratched (Sarah Paulson), who arrives at the Californian coastal town of Lucia and its psychiatric hospital. Using a formidable front and false means, she faces off with the head nurse, Betsy Bucket (Judy Davis), and impresses the facility's head, Dr Hanover (Jon Jon Briones), securing a job as a nurse even as her machinations and flashbacks suggest that her identity is false and her trauma all too real.
LONG ISLAND, N.Y., Sept. 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Young Entrepreneur Scholars, an innovative new learning program created by high school junior Kailey Perkins, is helping children discover their business side through cooking, cupcakes, teamwork and fun. Kailey, 17, cooked up the program to give middle school kids in underserved New York communities a taste of what's involved in entrepreneurship by starting a bakeshop filled with delicious goodies.

Kids learn math while learning to bake.

Kailey, who attends The Chapin School, says motivating children has been easy despite the pandemic. "When you offer fun activities, like starting a bakery, kids are open to learning anything, even fractions," she laughed. "We're proud that 250 students have completed both our 'in person' program and virtual sessions during the pandemic."

Giving back isn't new for Kailey, who was volunteering to assist the elderly at 10-years-old. "With the support of my mom (Leslie), charitable work has always been super important to me." Which is why she began thinking about starting her own nonprofit. "I didn't know what type of charity I wanted to organize, then it struck me. I loved to bake and work with children, so why not combine baking with some key ingredients needed to start a new business."

Kailey threw herself into the project, developing a fun, interactive, team curriculum covering a variety of topics, including brainstorming, logo creation, pricing, advertising, community PR and market research, plus a dash of math to calculate bakery costs.

Next, she created and assembled colorful totes with generous portions of supplies needed for a bakery start-up, including opportunities for creative expression; a chef's apron ready for decorating, fabric magic markers, a bountiful supply of stickers, packages of icing and food coloring, homemade sugar cookies, candies and sprinkles for decorating. Every child also receives a Young Entrepreneur Scholars Certificate of Completion and a surprise gift.

While Young Entrepreneur Scholars focuses on underserved communities, Kailey has also been invited to teach the program as part of other organizations' educational offerings, including Southampton Fresh Air Fund, Little Flowers and Encourage Kids. Here's a sample of the feedback she's been getting: "The kids enjoyed the activities so much that all they talked about was about the designs on their aprons and whose cookies looked and tasted the best, and two members are interested in opening their own business."

Kailey says that Young Entrepreneur Scholars is poised for continued growth. "It means so much to see children having fun working together and learning on Zoom, so we'll be continuing the program throughout the school year. We may even start sending totes to various organizations nationwide and conducting our sessions virtually."

She added that when normalcy returns to New York, "We'll go back to teaching students how to bake in person, holding bake sales and participating in community activities. For now, we're thrilled that we can contribute to a child's education and enjoyment despite COVID-19."

For more information, go to http://young-entrepreneur.org or call 917-270-3206.

Related Images

children-baking.jpg

Children baking

Kids learn math while learning to bake.

SOURCE Young Entrepreneur Scholars

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A Longford pharmacist has been hailed a hero for helping to save a womans life after she raced into a pharmacy while suffering a potentially fatal allergic reaction.

Clodagh Victory, daughter of veterinary surgeon James Victory, came to the womans aid by administering epipen, or adrenaline, in a Dublin based pharmacy last Friday.

The Trinity College graduate provided the life-saving dose on the customer who entered the IFSCs Remedi Pharmacy complaining of swollen lips, a sore throat and breathing difficulties.

I was out the back of the shop dispensing prescriptions but I could see what was going on and I saw this woman come in looking for an antihistamine and very panicked, recalled Clodagh.

I just went over to her and asked her if everything was ok. She told me No, that she had a peanut allergy and had just eaten a piece of cake.

After asking the customer to remove her mask, Clodagh told of how she immediately noticed the womans swollen lips and throat as she struggled for breath.

The minute I saw her lips I knew how bad it was, said Clodagh, who was only in her second week in the job after returning from Australia.

Her body was going into a reaction and I realised then that it was life-threatening.

Staying calm throughout the entire process, the 25-year-old asked her manager to phone for an ambulance and tell them it was an anaphylactic emergency.

In the meantime, Clodagh brought the customer into a nearby consultation room where she gave her the vital injection.

The shot of epipen helped lessen the womans swelling and opened up her airways again moments before ambulance personnel arrived who then proceeded to administer IV steroids in an attempt to reduce inflammation to the rest of her body.

Shortly after being transferred to hospital, a paramedic returned to the pharmacy to personally thank Clodagh and of how she had likely saved the womans life.

The young lady, who had only returned to work from maternity leave the same day of the episode, phoned the pharmacy 24 hours later to extend her own appreciation.

For Clodagh and despite her life-saving exploits, it was an experience the modest Longford native was keen to downplay.

I couldnt believe when it all blew up I was down as being from Dublin, Im not, Im a proud Longford native and at the end of the day its my job revealed Clodagh, as she told of returning to work as soon as the ambulance brought the stricken woman away.

I had to do the prescriptions that were still there and I didnt really think too much about it. Its all part of giving the best possible care as a pharmacist. She just happened to be in the right place at the right time.
Childkillers will face the prospect of spending the rest of their lives behind bars under plans to toughen up prison sentences unveiled today.

Ministers want those convicted of slaughtering youngsters to face a whole life order (WLO) to keep them in prison until they die unless there is a clear justification for giving then a shorter term.

Under plans unveiled by Justice Secretary Robert Buckland today some of the UK's worst criminals, including young terrorists, rapists and other violent offenders will face extended prison sentences.

Sex attackers and brutal thugs will serve two-thirds of their prison terms instead of the current half before being considered for release under the shake-up of the criminal punishment system.

Mr Buckland also unveiled plans to give judges the power to hand 18 to 20-year-olds whole life sentences amid an outcry that one of the Manchester terrorist bombers avoided this sentence because of his age.

The revamp will also beef up non-custodial community sentences, including 20-hour-a-day curfews and the use of satellite monitoring for convicted burglars.

Childkillers are currently eligible for a so-called 'starting point' of a WLO if their crime involves abduction or a sexual or sadistic element. But under a white paper publiced today, it would apply to everyone convicted of the death of a minor.

In a speech this morning Mr Buckland said the public 'rightly expects child killers to feel the fullest and harshest extent of the law', adding: 'We will therefore ensure a Whole Life Order is not just available to sentencers in these cases but that it will be their starting point.

'In exceptional circumstances we will also give judges the discretion to impose a Whole Life Order on those aged 18 to 20, where currently only those aged 21 or over may receive this severest of punishments.'

Justice Secretary Robert Buckland announced a major overhaul of sentencing that will see all childkillers become eligible for whole life sentences

Hashem Abedi, the brother of the Manchester Arena bomber, was jailed for 55 years but the mass murderer could not face a 'whole life tariff' because he was under at the time the atrocity was committed

Whole life sentences: who is eligible? Currently a very specific set of crimes can attract a whole life order. These are life sentences where life means life. Life sentences are mandatory for all murders but they usually come with a determined length in years which must be served before a prisoner can be considered for release. The Government wants to add all childkillers to the list of those crimes whose perpetrators might never be released. It currently includes: Murder of two or more people involving 'a substantial degree of premeditation or planning, abduction of the victim or sexual or sadistic conduct'

Murder of a child involving the abduction of a child or sexual or sadistic motivation

Murder of a police or prison officer in the course of his or her duty

Murder done for purpose of advancing a political, religious, racial or ideological cause

Murder by an offender previously convicted of murder. Advertisement

A 'starting point' is the length of time a judge uses as a marker when sentencing a criminal. From there, time can either be added or subtracted depending on the specific aggravating or mitigating features of the case.

The White Paper notes: 'Although those committing the premeditated murder of a child will be expected to be given a WLO, judges will still have discretion to depart from this and impose a minimum tariff (ie a specific sentence in years) if they consider that to be the most appropriate and just sentence in all the particular circumstances of the case.'

But it added: 'The government proposes to legislate to expand this list of circumstances so that a WLO will be the default sentencing position for offenders who commit the premeditated murder of a child.

'We believe that it is only right that such offenders who commit the most serious offence against those who are the most vulnerable in society should potentially receive the harshest possible punishment.'

Adult offenders given life sentences in other circumstances would also spend longer behind bars before they can be assessed for release under the plans, he added.

But there must also be efforts to intervene to prevent low-level and repeat offenders from 'going back and forth to prison, for short custodial sentences that hold little rehabilitative value for them'.

He said: 'Offenders in this category often live chaotic lifestyles, sometimes driven by drug and alcohol misuse, or poor mental health. Their backgrounds are often characterised by entrenched poverty, absent role models, and a lack of any decent education. This makes for bleak prospects and many offenders believe they have few options but to get involved in criminality.

'There is no doubt that they deserve punishment but, if we are to have any chance of turning their lives around - and in the process preventing crime - then we need to divert them towards lives that hold the promise of the things we all want from life - a place to call home, meaningful work, a future that's better than the past.

'If we're going to offer offenders opportunities to work hard towards these things, then we must identify their individual needs and ensure the sentencing toolkit is able to meet them.'

The worst sex and violent offenders can already receive a life sentence. Today's change sees convicts sentenced to between four and seven years made to serve two-thirds of sentences behind bars instead of being eligible for release on licence at the halfway stage.

Last month the brother of the Manchester Arena bomber was jailed for 55 years - the longest minimum life term in history.

Justice Jeremy Baker told the hearing Hashem Abedi 'may never be released' but it was revealed the mass murderer could not face a 'whole life tariff' despite being found guilty in England's biggest terror trial because he was under 21 when he helped his brother plot the bomb attack.

Measures included in today's Sentencing White Paper Whole life orders for child killers, including the ability for judges to hand out this maximum punishment to 18-20 year-olds in exceptional cases. New powers to halt the automatic release of offenders who pose a terrorism risk or are a danger to the public. Ending the release of offenders sentenced to four-seven years at the halfway point, instead requiring them to serve two-thirds of their term. Longer minimum sentences for 15-17 year-old murderers. Prisoners sentenced to life will serve longer before being eligible for parole. Using 'sobriety tags' to clampdown on alcohol-related crimes. Using GPS to track burglars, robbers and thieves when they are released from prison. Advertisement

Former Victims' Commissioner Baroness Helen Newlove, whose husband was beaten to death by three teenagers in 2007, welcomed the bill, but called for more.

She told GMB this morning: 'It is something I will fight for in the House of Lords when this comes through, but we've got to ensure that there's legal rights for victims, survivors and their families.

'I think its been shown recently, with PC Harper's widow Lissie, that's shown how the system actually is broken.

'At the end of the day the Criminal Justice System is on its knees, sentencing is one stream of it, but it's after the event when you go back, we have to then try and live our lives

'It's the most loneliest time and it's the hardest time, that's why I welcome these tougher sentences, however I'm still on pause because it has to go right through Parliament.

'The one thing I do welcome, is actually 18 years of age in this country, you're seen as an adult and it's something I have always said about my daughter Zoe, who was 18 at the time of losing her father.

'She was treated as an adult, but one of the offenders in the dock who was 18, he didn't go to 'big boy prison,' as I put it.

'They had to look after him before they put him in an adult prison, so we have conflicting messages. It's important people understand this is just the beginning.

'Something that I really want is victim's law to ensure that legal rights we can follow this through and ensure we have a voice within that criminal justice system.'

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has already said the reforms will make it easier for 'judges to put dangerous offenders behind bars for longer'.

But the package, covering in England and Wales, will also include measures at the lower end of the sentencing spectrum.

Community sentences given to offenders instead of prison will be made tougher by doubling the length of time offenders can be subject to curfew restrictions to two years.

Baroness Helen Newlove, whose husband was beaten to death by three teenagers in 2007, has welcomed tougher sentences, but has called for a 'victim's law' to support families through criminal proceedings

The orders can be made more flexible to help offenders keep their jobs, for example by having fewer restrictions from Monday to Friday but then stricter curfews of up to 20 hours at weekends.

In an effort to tackle reoffending, for the first time GPS electronic location monitoring will be routinely used to track burglars, robbers and thieves when they are released from prison.

The technology will allow probation to monitor an offender's whereabouts and, if appropriate, share this data with the police.

For criminals who stay out of trouble, the requirement to routinely disclose offences to employers for non-sensitive roles will be reduced.

Custodial sentences of up to a year will become spent after a further 12 months without reoffending, instead of four years, while terms of one-to-four years will no longer be disclosed after four crime-free years - down from seven.

Sentences of more than four years will not automatically be disclosed to employers once a seven-year period of rehabilitation has been served, instead of for the rest of an offender's life.

Mr Buckland said: 'For too long our justice system has been beset by complex and confusing laws which the public often feel fail in their most essential aims - to keep them safe and properly punish offenders.

'That ends today. This White Paper is the first step in a fundamental shift in our approach to sentencing, towards one that is fairer, smarter and ultimately better protects the public.

'Our measures will ensure the most serious violent and sexual offenders get the prison time they deserve, while new community interventions and changes to rules around criminal records will help boost rehabilitation and cut reoffending - which means creating fewer victims.'

The Government has set a target of 20,000 extra police officers but Mr Johnson told the Cabinet on Tuesday that 'there's no point in catching the criminals if they are simply going to be let out early'.

He said: 'We have seen far too many cases recently of criminals being let out early and then offending again and the judges being unable to impose the stiff sentences that they want and that society wants because of the restrictive guidelines that they face.'

He told ministers that he wanted 'sensible approaches to sentencing, making it easier for judges to put dangerous offenders behind bars for longer'.

He promised to end the 'ridiculous state of affairs whereby a criminal can just get back out onto the streets even when it is clear to everybody  including the court  that they pose a threat to justice and a threat to the British public'.

'That includes longer sentences for child killers, lowering the age limit on whole-life tariffs for the worst offenders and locking (up) for longer more of the most violent criminals before they can apply for parole,' he said.
Vishwakarma Jayanti, also known as Vishwakarma Puja, marks the birth of the Hindu god, Vishwakarma, who is believed to be the creator of the world, and is referred to as the divine architect. Vishwakarma, the son of Lord Brahma, is believed to have created the holy city of Dwarka, Lord Krishnas ruling kingdom and also the Maya Sabha for the Pandavas, other than having created several palaces and weapons for several Hindu gods. He was called the divine carpenter as well as swayambhu, which means self-existent or to be created by ones own accord. The festival takes place every year in September or October on the day when the sun god leaves the Simha rashi (Leo) and enters Kanya rashi (Virgo), hence the day is also known as Kanya Sankranti Diwas. According to the Hindu Solar Calendar, the day falls on the last day of the month of Bhadra, which is why it is also referred to as Bhadra Sankranti. This year, Vishwakarma Puja falls on September 16. This day is celebrated with much gusto by architects, engineers, as well as skilled labourers including, mechanics, factory workers, smiths, welders, industrial workers and craftsmen. Often one can find pictures of Lord Vishwakarma adorning the walls of factories, industries and offices of such workers as he is considered auspicious by their respective working communities.

On this day workers dont do any professional work and only worship their tools, offering prayers to Lord Vishwakarma to protect them, keep their livelihoods secure and to bring them success. Vishwakarma Puja is celebrated with much fervour in the states of Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, and Tripura. Our neighbour, Nepal, also celebrates the day with much gusto. The Puja takes place at a particular time, and as per Drikpanchang, this year Vishwakarma Puja Sankranti starts at 7.23 pm on 16 September.

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A homeless man is being held in custody by police officers in Ho Chi Minh City for allegedly causing a fire that gutted a transaction office of Vietnamese lender Eximbank in Go Vap District on Monday.

At around 2:15 am on Monday, a fire broke out at two buildings on Nguyen Oanh Street in Go Vap District, including the Eximbank transaction office and an adjacent house.

The Go Vap District Police and the Ho Chi Minh City Firefighting Police Division deployed several fire trucks and dozens of firefighters to extinguish the blaze.

The flames were put out later the same day with no casualties reported.

A source confirmed to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that on Tuesday night Go Vap District police officers detained a homeless man, around 28 years of age, on suspicion of causing the fire after investigating the scene and reviewing footage from CCTV cameras.

At the police station, the man admitted to using a lighter to set fire to an electric wire, which caused a short circuit that led to the fire.

Eximbank made a formal announcement on Monday about temporarily suspending the operations of the transaction office, which is under its Tan Dinh Branch.

The office will be shut down indefinitely for rebuilding the damaged facilities, Eximbank said.

Customers are advised to visit the banks other transaction offices nearby such as those on Nguyen Thai Son and Ho Van Hue Streets or the Tan Dinh Branch headquarters on Tran Quang Khai Street in District 1.

Established in 1989, Eximbank, or the Vietnam Export Import Commercial Joint Stock Bank, is one of the first joint-stock commercial banks of the country.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
By Carolina Mandl

SAO PAULO, Sept 16 (Reuters) - UBS Group AG has partnered with Colombian independent investment bank Inverlink, according to a statement on Wednesday, in a move aimed at strengthening its dealmaking presence in Latin America.

The Swiss bank said the collaboration agreement with Inverlink, which was founded 30 years ago, encompasses investment banking services in Colombia, and in some cases in Central America and the Caribbean.

UBS's newest partnership in Latin America comes less than a year after it announced a joint venture in investment banking with state-controlled lender Banco do Brasil SA to boost its dealmaker capability in Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay.

The Swiss bank plans to expand its investment banking business by further connecting clients globally.

"This partnership, together with our strategic partnership with Banco do Brasil, broadens our coverage footprint in Latin America" said Ros L'Esperance, UBS co-head of global banking in the statement, adding the bank sees significant growth opportunities in the region.

Contrary to the deal with Banco do Brasil, in which UBS will hold a controlling stake in a new investment bank, the Swiss bank will not hold a stake in Inverlink or in a joint-venture, the bank said, without disclosing the agreement terms.

Banco do Brasil, Brazil's second largest bank by assets, offers UBS a strong balance sheet for deals that require credit and a vast client network. UBS, in turn, will provide the joint venture with international connectivity.

The joint venture is likely to be launched before year-end, as Brazil's central bank approved the partnership last month.

(Reporting by Carolina Mandl; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)
The Indian Army is geared up with all-weather accommodation and clothing for its jawans as the temperature is expected to drop till -50 degrees in the winter season. Lieutenant Colonel Monrak Sadh says every jawan, who is deployed in the high altitude area, will gets 21 items, including special clothing, equipment, etc.

Amid the ongoing tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh, the Indian Army is geared up with all-weather accommodation and clothing for its jawans even if the temperature drops to -50 degrees in the winters ahead. The Army has stocked up on every commodity which is essential to keep its personnel safe and alert during the winters.

The Army is providing the troops deployed in high altitude areas with multi-layered clothing. According to the Indian Army officials, these clothing will not only help the jawans to stay safe from the weather but also it will help them in hiding from the enemy.

These also come equipped with several types of equipment which the jawans need to climb on mountains or walk comfortably in the high altitude areas.

Also Read: India takes on Pakistan OIC, urges Turkey to understand democratic practises, at UN Rights Council

Also Read: NSA Ajit Doval walks out of SCO meet after Pakistan uses fictitious map

In the first layer of clothing, there are inner trousers and a dark-coloured jacket, while in the second layer a green colour jacket and another set of trousers are being provided to them. Similarly, on the third layer, which is also the outer layer, a jawan has to wear a white colour jacket and trouser along with specialised shoes. There are also multi-layered gloves for hands and socks which will keep them warm even during intense cold conditions.

Every jawan who is deployed in the high altitude area gets 21 items. This includes special clothing, equipment, etc which are displayed, Lieutenant Colonel Monrak Sadh said. On the other hand, for accommodation, the Indian Army has sufficient stock of tentages ranging from big to small. The bigger ones can hold almost a dozen jawans while the smaller ones are for a single jawan.

These tents have heaters and can keep jawans warm and safe even in -50 degree temperatures. These tents are made up of multiple layers, have a waterproof cover on the outside while the inside layer is made up of quilt fabric which helps in keeping the temperature inside high. Also, they also come equipped with solar panels through which the basic needs of electricity of the jawans can be fulfilled.

This is the biggest depot of Ladakh where we have special tentages, clothing, heating appliances, etc which we provide to jawans. There are different tents small and big for the high altitude. These have been provided to all our jawans, Sadh said.

Amid the tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh, the Indian Army has stocked up the oil depots in Ladakh to supply fuel to the troops and protect them from the biting cold ahead of the winter season. Multiple rounds of talks have failed to yield any significant result in defusing the tensions and now the Indian side has prepared itself for long term deployment in the high mountainous region.

Also Read: DCGI allows Serum Institute to restart Phase 2, 3 trials of Covid-19 vaccination
National Youth Organizer of the Conventions People's Party (CPP), Mr. Osei Kofi, has described the smaller political parties in the country as "concert parties".



According to him, there are only three (3) major political parties who have contributed to the socio-economic development of this country; namely, the CPP, New Patriotic Party (NPP) and National Democratic Congress (NDC).



"The other political parties do not show any sign of seriousness. They are just like concert parties who are entertaining Ghanaians.



"The CPP which is now the third force political party in the country has provided immense development for this country. The founder of the party who later became Ghana's first president, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah contributed immensely to the development of the country, he led the industrialization drive of this country.



"So when it comes to the development of this country, you cannot rule out the Convention People's Party," he told Kwame Nkrumah Tikese on Okay FM's Ade Akye Abia program.



Touching on the filing fees, he slammed the Electoral Commission for failing to extensively consult other interest groups in its decision to peg filing fees for the 2020 presidential and parliamentary polls at GHC100,000 and GHC50,000 respectively.



To him, the EC, per it's actions is creating the situation where "drug lords", because of their financial strength will run roughshod over others during elections.



"Even though the EC is not mandated to consult parties on the subject matter, it was prudent for the EC to have considered consulting the political parties," he said.



Per the common sense which makes political parties stakeholders when it comes to elections in this country, which has also informed the Electoral Commission to form an Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) and to an extension caused the EC to always meet and form a consensus with the political parties, the EC should have met with the parties to build a consensus on this issue. After all, political parties sponsor individuals who contest as presidential candidates and political leaders.



"The EC is setting precedent for a future where only drug barons and criminals with the financial muscles are the ones who contest elections in the country with its 100% increase in the filing fee of presidential candidates," he said.



Watch video below





Source: Isaac Kwame Owusu/Peacefmonline.com/[email protected]









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
Judge Emily Miskel's engineering degree was an asset when the pandemic forced her to explore the possibilities of virtual proceedings. Photo courtesy of Judge Miskel/Debra Malkiewicz

Finding a Virtual Courtroom

A Virtual Hallway

The First Remote Trial

Plexiglass shields have been installed in courtrooms in Collin County as safeguards for live proceedings. The judge's bench can be seen on the left, and the jury box on the right. Photo courtesy of Collin County.

Unanticipated Outcomes

The view from inside a newly configured witness box. Photo courtesy of Collin County.

Urgent and Important

Americas courts are gradually making their way back from the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. A recent survey by the National Center for State Courts found that public faith in courts is steady, still at the 70 percent average of the past eight years, but that willingness to set foot in a court is a different matter.For a majority, comfort with reporting to a courthouse in person or serving in person on a jury hovers around 5 on a scale of 10. Two out of three would be willing to appear remotely, up from two out of five in 2014. Given a choice, almost twice as many (44 percent) would prefer remote service to serving in person (23 percent).One of the pioneers of moving judicial functions from physical to virtual is Emily Miskel, who as the administrative district judge for 21 courts in Collin County, Texas, is responsible for sorting out their administrative challenges. Lucky me, she laughs about finding herself in this role during a pandemic.As it happens, Miskel has training, interests and skills that have served her courts well. A Harvard Law School graduate, she earned an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford. She is a member of the computer and technology council for the state bar and the author of a book on wiretapping. I have focused on technology since Ive been a lawyer, she says. When all this happened, I had the tech part lined up, and that made me brave enough to try things.Collin County, situated north of Dallas, might be just the seventh-largest county in Texas, but under Miskel it has emerged as a national leader in implementing technology to provide safe access to justice during a time of public-health restrictions.Collin County saw its first COVID-19 case on March 9. That happened to be during public schools spring break, so court activity was comparatively light, making it slightly easier for the county to consider the best way forward.District judges in the county each get about 2,100 new cases a year, says Miskel. If you break that down, that means that every judge needs to resolve between nine and ten cases every single business day. Court closures had the potential to put judges so far behind that they would never be able to catch up. Ramping up the courts use of video technology seemed the obvious way forward.We already had the capability to do video court appearances if there was a witness outside the country or something like that, but we hadnt done a hearing where everyone was remote, says Miskel. We didnt know what we would be able to accommodate.Miskel started by contacting the executive director of the Texas Office of Court Administration, David Slayton. He loves technology, and he was really quick to help find resources for us to test, she says. The team evaluated platforms including WebEx, Microsoft Teams, BlueJeans, Skype and Discord, eventually settling on Zoom. Within a week after the first Collin County COVID case, Slayton negotiated 500 Zoom licenses for judges around the state who wanted to explore how they might be able to use it.The judges in Collin County decided to cancel anything that wasnt an emergency, and to try to hear everything that was. We didnt want to delay such things as child welfare hearings, protective orders, cases involving family violence, says Miskel. We wanted those to be heard promptly, no matter what.The Texas Supreme Court gave the states lower courts the authority to compel people to appear remotely. With that order and other enabling ones in place and a platform available, Miskel and her colleagues began to address the details of conducting virtual proceedings.Pre-pandemic, Miskels normal practice was to set 10 cases for a daily court period beginning at 9 a.m. It was typical for some to cancel the night before if parties settled their disputes, or for some to be settled in the hallway as other cases were being heard in the courtroom.It wasn't clear how this kind of scheduling could translate to Zoom, so Miskel initially decided to set cases at four time slots during the day. That worked during the stages of the transition, but as operations picked back up and more cases were settled and canceled, Miskel adjusted the schedule accordingly, moving back to a 10-case docket.The number of cases that could be heard wasn't the only issue. Miskel also needed to find a way to re-create virtually that environment in which scheduled cases are settled outside the courtroom. Zooms breakout room function proved to be the answer. The 10-case docket was broken into morning and afternoon sessions. Parties receive a meeting ID and check in with the court coordinator, who makes sure audio and video are working, adjusts screen names if needed and moves them into a separate breakout room for each case. I sign on, go into the first breakout room and tell them Im ready to call the case, says Miskel. I invite them to the main meeting window and we take care of things.Zooms one-button feature makes it easy to stream proceedings to YouTube, enabling the court to meet the requirement for proceedings to be public, and judges were assisted in creating YouTube channels for their courts.Miskel notes that not all were technology natives, and calling on them to preside over a Zoom courtroom being broadcast to the internet was a big ask. I didnt believe any judge would do it, she says, but that concern proved to be unfounded. Im so impressed that our judges have been brave enough to make such a big shift.After operating this way for several months, Miskel found she was able to handle nearly as many cases as before the pandemic, and each of the judges in Collins County has disposed of more than 800 cases during the pandemic timeframe. I cant imagine how I would even go forward if I had taken five months off and still had those 800 on top of my normal 2,100, says Miskel.Given that experience, shes been asked to train judges in Texas and other states who want to conduct remote hearings, and believes those who have not adopted the practice face an uphill battle. But hearings and routine, non-jury cases are one thing. What about a jury trial?In mid-April, Slayton sent a text message to a group of Texas judges who had emerged as leaders with Zoom court, asking for their help in testing approaches to remote jury trials. Immediately, people responded with reasons that it couldnt work, says Miskel. They were legitimate concerns, but that didnt solve the problem that we had.Miskel realized that her docket included a type of case that would be ideal as a starting point. In cases where a jury trial that could take weeks is requested, the court first requires an attempt to settle the case through an alternative dispute-resolution process known as a summary jury trial. This trial includes all aspects of a regular trial, including selection of jurors. You put on an abbreviated one-day version of your case to the jurors, they deliberate and come to a verdict, and then you can talk to them about your case, says Miskel.The verdict is not binding, and the next day the parties go to mediation and attempt to settle the case, informed by what they learned from the events of the previous day and the response from the jury. If a settlement cannot be achieved, a full-scale trial is held.It seemed to Miskel that such a proceeding would be ideal for testing a virtual jury trial, the nations first. No. 1, the litigants were already expecting to go through the process, so it didnt add cost or burden, and No. 2, its a non-binding process, so if the whole thing went down in flames, nobody would be hurt, she says.To prepare, Miskel reached out via Twitter and connected with about a dozen trial lawyers willing to log onto Zoom and workshop a trial with her. We broke the trial down into every phase and talked through each one to make sure we were doing it in a way that would translate into the technological realm.Within a month of the email from Slayton, Miskel was ready, and on May 18 she presided over the nations first virtual jury trial. We did every phase  we did voir dire with a panel of 30 jurors and picked 12, says Miskel. We did opening statements, testimony, closing statements and jury deliberations in a breakout room.The verdict of the summary jury trial is confidential, but Miskel can reveal that every task was completed successfully. Using what she learned in developing her model, a growing number of judges in Texas and Arizona have since presided over their own virtual jury trials, including those with binding verdicts.While virtual proceedings can keep courts moving at a time when parties have more to fear from meeting in person than a bad legal outcome, they also proved to offer some advantages.Courtrooms are intimidating, not least because appearing in one can have life-altering consequences. Many people fear public speaking in any setting, much less in front of a judge, lawyers or a jury. Miskel has found that those who appear before the court are more at ease when speaking from home, work, their cars or the street.Parents who come to the courtroom after their children have been removed by the government are very scared, and typically, they dont speak up in a courtroom, says Miskel. When they participate remotely, they are more likely to talk and we get more information. Attorneys have had a similar experience when examining witnesses or interviewing potential jurors.Jurors say that the virtual format helps them get more out of testimony from witnesses. The jury box in a courtroom faces sideways relative to testifying witnesses, with witnesses 10 or 15 feet away. On Zoom, they got a face-front view of the witness and could really see their facial expressions, says Miskel. They thought they were more engaged with the witness and could better judge their credibility compared to an in-person courtroom.Exhibits, including videos, are displayed on screen when presented as evidence, giving jurors a much better view of their contents than they would get from the jury box. Even though they will have access to these materials while deliberating, there is value in being able to follow along in context.Translation is also greatly simplified. A virtual trial can have a channel for each language involved, and only one translator is needed for all parties. The translator does not have to travel to the courtroom, which can involve significant expense if the only qualified translator for a particular language lives in a distant part of the state. I have access to interpreters no matter where they live, says Miskel. Im excited about that.Many of the parents in the cases Miskel hears are indigent, and virtual proceedings are a significant benefit for them. They cant take a day off work, they dont have transportation to get to the courthouse, they dont have child care, they cant come and wait around for three hours in the middle of the day, and that excludes them from being able to participate, says Miskel. Now they can, and by lowering these burdens you increase the equality of the justice that everyone is receiving. Hearings can be accessed via telephone if no other option exists, but to date, even the poorest parents have generally found ways to connect to the video stream.Miskel began her return to the courthouse in August, one day a week, to accommodate those who prefer to appear in person. The courtroom has been fitted with plexiglass dividers to protect her, witnesses and the jury, though she has yet to preside over an in-person jury trial.Even live hearings generally include participants who appear remotely. The courtroom is equipped with a webcam and a large screen on which the Zoom participants can be seen. Those hybrid proceedings are more challenging than when everybody is on Zoom or everybody is in the courtroom, Miskel says.Its impossible to know what the coming months will bring in terms of public-health orders, and what restrictions regarding public gatherings will be lifted, added or reinstated. But whatever happens, some of the aspects of virtual court that have been piloted may become routine.Jury selection is one example. An online voir dire process could be more efficient and prevent potential jurors from having to spend half a day or longer traveling to the courthouse, then waiting to be picked or excused. Once youve picked the 12, they can come to the courthouse and we can continue with the rest of the trial, says Miskel.Remote trials also can give those in rural areas better access to justice. One of Miskels friends is a judge for six counties in west Texas, a jurisdiction that encompasses 20 percent of the U.S.-Mexico border and with no lawyers at all in some of the counties. If litigants dont have to pay a lawyer to travel to their town to represent them, that can both reduce cost and increase their access to well-qualified attorneys.For now, Miskels virtual courtroom is still open, and shes looking for ways to increase the role that others on her staff can play in virtual proceedings. For example, bailiffs, who play a role in moving people around in the physical courtroom, could be trained to help with checking people in for Zoom sessions, moving them to breakout rooms or assisting them with technical problems.In Miskels experience, even those most apprehensive about technology, worried about making mistakes or looking foolish, have an experience more positive than they expected when they go remote. The oldest judge in the county is now Zooming like a champ, she says. That kind of progress would have been unimaginable had not the pandemic created an urgent need to find new ways courts to conduct their business.If we had tried to do remote hearings in a normal time, this would have taken two years of committee meetings and judges still would have hated it, says Miskel. We were forced to figure out how to do it because we dont want to shut down our justice system. An emergency like a pandemic doesn't change a fundamental truth, she says: We have to have a place for people to resolve their disputes  its urgent and its important."
Church, family grieve after beloved pastor is killed in crossfire at Miami flea market

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Family members and churchgoers are reeling after Pastor Gregory Boyd, leader of New Birth Harvest Outreach Ministries Churches of Deliverance in Miami, Florida, was shot and killed while getting a bite to eat at a local flea market last Thursday. He was 54.

We are grieving the loss of our dear Overseer Gregory Boyd, his church said in a statement on Facebook Saturday.

Keep his wife, family, friends and congregation in prayer. His absence is truly felt in Miami-Dade County and possibly even further. We don't have many words currently as we're in shock still.

The church concluded by urging followers to spend time in prayer and show love to each other.

According to the Miami-Dade Police Department, Boyd was shot at approximately 6:05 p.m. in front of the Shoe Time store located on Northwest 27th Avenue. He was transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital Ryder Trauma Center and died a short time after arriving.

ABC News affiliate WPLG reports that the shooting stemmed from an argument between a woman and a group of men. A second group of men got involved in the dispute before the gunfire began. Police believe Boyd was caught in the crossfire.

WPLG reporter Terrell Forney was on the scene broadcasting a live report on the arrest of two men suspected in a drive-by shooting that killed a 7-year-old girl when the shooting erupted.

He described how the shots never seemed to stop.

Im waiting to wrap up the package before we go live again and all of a sudden I hear all of these shots, Forney told the news station. I hear, Pop! Pop! Pop!' ... and it feels like it never really stopped.

The pastors daughter Sharita Cooper said in a post on Facebook that the death of her father has devastated her family.

I keep thinking its a nightmare I cant wake up from. This is so hard to digest, she wrote. To the young people that shot multiple times at each other with no regard for life, I pray that you will see that you have not only took a great man of God but you took away my father, my hero, a Great husband to my mom and an even better friend/family member to countless others. Hes well known by many and justice will be served.

Church members told WSVN that Boyd had been their pastor for 20 years.

A GoFundMe campaign, which has since been suspended after the family said it "does not need money for funeral services," explains that Boyd and his wife, Pastor Dorothy Boyd, were married for almost 24 years at the time of his killing. He was a father of three and had many grandchildren.

The Boyds co-founded New Birth Harvest Outreach Ministries Churches of Deliverance in 2011, according to the church's website.
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Biofriendly Corporation expands its philanthropic efforts, donating to multiple organizations dedicated to global preservation and reduction of human impact on the environment. Biofriendly contributed funds to Well Aware, a Texas-based Non-profit, the World Wildlife Fund, Arbor Day Foundation and the Ocean Conservancy.

"Contributing donations to charitable organizations is a big priority at Biofriendly," said Noel Carroll, CEO of Biofriendly Corporation. "As a company, our main goal is to strive for a better planet, so contributing to foundations and organizations with the same goals and initiatives as us is really important. We are honored to support these groups in their quest for a better world."

With Well Aware, Biofriendly participated in the annual Shower Strike fundraiser presented by the Austin, TX based non-profit. The employees of Biofriendly raised money to help implement innovative water systems in East Africa to fend off contamination and water scarcity. This inspiring humanitarian initiative sparked a stronger altruistic commitment for the Los Angeles based company, as Biofriendly resolved to endorse the World Wildlife Fund, Arbor Day Foundation, and Ocean Conservancy through financial support.

This focus followed the company's determination to save and protect the endangered wildlife affected by the Australian wildfires earlier this year. In donating to WIRES  NSW Wildlife Information Rescue & Education Services, Biofriendly hopes to enable the organization to rescue and rehabilitate the animals that were affected by this tragedy.

By contributing funds to protect our species through World Wildlife Fund, advocating the planting of trees to absorb carbon through the Arbor Day Foundation, and continuing to support cleaner shores and oceans with Ocean Conservancy, these charitable donations are an investment in our planet's future and Biofriendly is devoted to bringing about a positive environmental change.

About Biofriendly Corporation

Biofriendly Corporation was founded with the express purpose of solving the world's air quality problems. To that end, the company introduced Green Plus smog reducer to the market. Twenty years later, Green Plus has cleaned over 11 billion gallons of fuel and removed enough pollution to take the equivalent of a 200-mile lineup of cars off the road every year. Biofriendly continues its commitment to reducing air pollution worldwide, but has expanded its purpose toward green education, investment and environmental solutions for the future of the planet.

For more information, visit www.biofriendly.com. For environmental information and green tips, visit Biofriendly's e-magazine at www.biofriendlyplanet.com and listen to the Biofriendly Podcast on YouTube. Follow Biofriendly Planet on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Matt Kovacs

[email protected]

(310) 395-5050

SOURCE Biofriendly Corporation
DCT

This autumn were not playing the famous fox and the grapes Aesop fable because Hyundai has made it easier to reach the goodies for its customers, especially if they are shopping for sporty derivatives.American fans of the new Elantra should enjoy upgrading to the N Line configuration, while folks in Europe will have an even broader choosing base  be it the funky Kona N Line or the soon to be unveiled i30 N facelift. Sure, you could also wait for the newly announced Tucson , but its still way too early to consider its possible N performance capabilities.So, we are left with the classic appearance of a compact hot hatchback , with the i30 N so non-mysteriously teased that all we have left to see during the official introduction is the interior design. While the exterior shots have been darkened for artistic purposes, we can certainly distinguish the most important design traits of the upgraded 2021 MY.According to the Asian carmaker, the i30 N is arriving soon with a fresh design that should exude dynamic performance, emotion, and statement. Supporting evidence comes in the form of newly redesigned front and rear bumpers with ever-larger air intakes for the former and large-diameter double exhaust tips adjoining the diffuser.The wide center grille with N badging is a given, and so are a few subtle modifications to the new LED head- (with updated V-shaped DRLs) and rear lamps. We can also distinguish the specific details of the new set of lightweight 19-inch forged alloy wheels.Hyundai has not revealed if the refreshed i30 N packs some performance enhancements as well, and has only announced the model will be the first car from the brands European roster equipped with a specifically N-developed high-performance eight-speed dual clutch transmission (N).
The Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission has ruled that there has been no breach on part of either the Mumbai Police or the Cooper Hospital in allowing Rhea Chakraborty inside the mortuary to see the body of her late boyfriend Sushant Singh Rajput.

The SHRC stated that all protocols were followed in allowing Rhea's morgue visit, based on the details of the waiting area, and therefore the matter is disposed off.

Earlier, Sushant's family lawyer Vikas Singh had raised concerns over Rhea's visit to the morgue on June 14, 2020, the day of Sushant's death. He had said, "Rhea going to the mortuary was definitely irregular because somebody has facilitated this visit. With the covid situation, how do you manage to get into there? So either the Mumbai police or the hospital authorities have colluded with her to give her access."

ALSO READ: Rhea Chakraborty Was Given Access To Morgue Where Sushant Singh Rajput Mortal Remains Were Kept?

The SHRC, which had reportedly objected to the fact that Rhea was given access to the mortuary, was probing who was responsible for giving her the access.

Rhea, her family and two others were accused of abetment to suicide by Sushant's family, in an FIR that they had registered with the Bihar Police, in late July. The matter of Sushant's death is being investigated by the CBI.

ALSO READ: Rhea Chakraborty On Her 'Sorry Babu' Comment: What Else To Say When Someone Has Lost Their Life?

Meanwhile, Rhea, her brother Showik Chakraborty and a few others have been arrested as part of a drug case which has emerged from investigations of Sushant's death. She was arrested by the NCB for allegedly financing and procuring marijuana for Sushant.

Many celebrities have raised their voice against the media trial and witch hunt that Rhea is being subjected and have reminded citizens of the country of the legal principle 'innocent until proven guilty'.

ALSO READ: Sonam Kapoor, Zoya Akhtar, Anurag Kashyap And Others Write An Open Letter To Media
He spent the previous day on a romantic PDA-filled outing with his new girlfriend Katie Holmes in New York City.

But Emilio Vitolo Jr. was back to work on Tuesday, when he was spotted outside his popular restaurant Emilio's Ballato in Manhattan.

The 33-year-old chef stepped out of the intimate restaurant to smoke a cigarette while chatting with his father Emilio Vitolo Sr., who owns the restaurant.

Daily grind: Emilio Vitolo Jr., 33, was back at work at his restaurant Emilio's Ballato in Manhattan on Tuesday, following multiple days with his new girlfriend Katie Holmes

The younger Emilio looked sleek in an all-black outfit featuring a thick black sweater.

He matched it with slim black jeans and tasteful black boots, while also wearing a black mask that he had slung under his chin so he could smoke.

His father sat at his regular chair outside the restaurant and wore a gray shirt with dark jeans and blue suede shoes.

In its positive review of Emilio's Ballato, New York Magazine noted the restaurant has a 'clubby' atmosphere, partly due to Emilio Sr., who decides which customers gets a table and in what order they'll be served fro his spot at the front.

Despite the insular style, plenty of celebrities have been drawn to the restaurants classic Italian dishes, including former President Barack Obama and Hollywood stars Tom Hanks and Bradley Cooper.

Family affair: Emilio looked sleek in a black sweater, black jeans and black shoes. His father Emilio Vitolo Sr., who owns the restaurant, wore a gray shirt with dark jeans and blue suede shoes

The restaurant has been described as clubby because Emilio Sr. decides where and when guests can sit from his spot at the front of the house. Barack Obama, Tom Hanks and Bradley Cooper have all dined there

The day before, Emilio Jr. enjoyed a ferry ride around New York City with Katie, who looked smitten with the chef.

Last week, DailyMail.com published photos of the chef and the 41-year-old Dawson's Creek star locking lips outside of his restaurant just feet away from his father, who kindly averted his eyes.

On Wednesday, DailyMail.com also revealed that Vitolo broke it off with his live-in fiancee Rachel Emmons, 24, via text when handsy photos of him and Holmes were first published, leaving the handbag designer shocked and forcing her to move back home.

Lovebirds: The day before, Emilio Jr. enjoyed a ferry ride around New York City with Katie Holmes, 41, who looked smitten with the chef; shown in November 2019

Katie and Emilio's friendship has been growing since October 2019, and she doesn't seem to have been bothered by his engagement.

Katie and Emilio first met when a mutual friend introduced them, and their passions have only intensified since she returned home to New York City following time quarantining with her family in Ohio.

An insider close to the Logan Lucky star said she's now behaving 'like a teenage girl in love' because Vitolo is 'openly affectionate with her, left his fiancee to be with her and gives her something [her ex-boyfriend] Jamie [Foxx] couldn't,' the source added.

The insider said Holmes had been devastated by her breakup last year with the playboy actor, who never seemed to give up his roving eye and was still too close for comfort with his baby mama.

Moving on: Katie previously dated Jamie Foxx in 2013, following her 2012 divorce from Tom Cruise, but they split in 2019 shortly after going public as a couple; shown in May 2019

The acting couple were first linked in 2013 hand-in-hand through Malibu, but they kept their relationship private throughout the years.

The couple finally split after they took their relationship public last year at the Met Gala.

Prior to coupling up with Foxx, Holmes was married to Hollywood icon Tom Cruise.

The couple began their whirlwind courtship in 2005 and were married in seven weeks.

Katie filed for divorce in 2012, which was finalized after only ten days.

She and Cruise had welcomed their daughter Suri in 2006, who now spends her time with Katie, who has primary custody.

You can watch Dawson's Creek on Stan in Australia.
An East Derry MLA has helped establish an Assembly group that will work on a cross party basis to improve outcomes for those suffering from addiction.

Local SDLP representative, Cara Hunter, alongside party colleague Paul McCusker, has established an All Party Group (APG) on Addiction and Dual Diagnosis.

The group held its first online meeting last week, with representatives from mental health groups across NI, as well as Mental Health Champion Professor Siobhan O'Neill, in attendance.

Ms Hunter said removing the stigma attached to addiction was one of the group's main challenges.

I am delighted to have established an All-Party Group on Addiction and Dual Diagnosis and I thank colleagues across the Assembly for their support, she said.

It is absolutely crucial that we destigmatise addiction and improve outcomes for the many people across our society who struggle with it.

Our hope for this All-Party Group is that we work with service users, stakeholders and charities to support learning.

As policymakers, it is incumbent on all of us to work together, to seek to create more health focused, harm reduction models, that provides support for those suffering with addiction.

Only by working together on a cross party and cross-departmental basis will we better support those struggling at their lowest. It is great we are now taking the first step.

I look forward to working with colleagues across the Assembly to make an impact on this important issue.

Related...

READ: County Derry professor relishing mental health role

WATCH: County Derry man urges awareness on suicide
Harare, Sep 16 : National airline Air Zimbabwe on Wednesday announced that it will be resuming flight operations on its domestic and regional routes with effect from September 23 and October 3 respectively, as nations open up the skies for domestic and international travel.

The airline had suspended all flights late March due to the Covid-19 pandemic, except a few international ones to repatriate Zimbabweans and other nationals who had been stranded abroad, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Zimbabwe government has over the past few weeks been relaxing Covid-19 regulations, including re-opening the tourism sector for which the airline industry is a major player.

Domestic routes to be serviced are Harare, Bulawayo and Victoria Falls, with flights between Zimbabwe and Tanzania initially operating every Tuesday and Saturday with an additional frequency expected towards the end of the year, the airline said in a statement.

It said the airline still awaits confirmation of the opening of South African airspace and airports.

Air Zimbabwe added that it would publish guidelines issued by the ministry of health, the World Health Organization, and IATA for air travel from time to time.
VP Road police booked a 51-year-old constable for allegedly sexually assaulting a 44-year-old Girgaum resident.

A first information report (FIR) was registered on September 15 after the police received a written complaint that the constable was exploiting the complainant since the past nine months under the pretext of marriage. The constable is yet to be arrested.

The accused is attached to Worli unit of the local arms branch. The survivor they became friends in January this year and that the accused had promised to marry her after divorcing his wife. The accused later sexually assaulted her on multiple occasions. He also took money from her by saying that his salary was not credited due to ongoing pandemic situation, a police officer said.

According to the survivor, the accused took around 1,70,000 from her citing various reasons such as purchasing mobile phone, shoes, clothes, fuel, and medicines. The accused allegedly physically assaulted her when she refused to give him money. Following this, the woman lodged the complaint.

An officer from VP Road police station said, We have recorded her statement and registered the FIR against the constable.

The accused has been booked under sections 376 (rape), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code.
Health workers collect a swab sample to test for COVID-19 in Mumbai, India, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2020. India's total of coronavirus infections passed 5 million Wednesday, still soaring and testing the feeble health care system in tens of thousands of impoverished towns and villages. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

India's confirmed coronavirus infections passed 5 million on Wednesday, still soaring and testing the feeble health care system in tens of thousands of impoverished towns and villages.

The world's second-most populous country has added more than 1 million cases this month alone and is expected to become the pandemic's worst-hit country within weeks, surpassing the United States, where more than 6.6 million people have been infected.

India's Health Ministry reported 90,123 new cases in the past 24 hours, raising the total to 5,020,359, about 0.35% of the nation's nearly 1.4 billion people. Its record daily high of 97,570 cases was reported on Sept. 11.

The ministry said 1,290 more people died in the past 24 hours, for a total of 82,066, which is the third-highest toll in the world. Experts warned that India's fatality rate could increase in coming weeks with lockdown restrictions relaxed except in high-risk areas.

But authorities ruled out imposing a second countrywide lockdown as recoveries were growing at more than 78%. Its fatality rate is 1.6%, far lower than 3% in the United States and Brazil, according to tallies by Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Gagandeep Kang, an infectious diseases expert from Christian Medical College in the southern Indian state of Vellore, said the increase in cases in India was inevitable. But she said the country still has a chance to limit the growth through a strategy of testing and isolating affected places.

Health workers collect a swab sample to test for COVID-19 in Mumbai, India, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2020. India's total of coronavirus infections passed 5 million Wednesday, still soaring and testing the feeble health care system in tens of thousands of impoverished towns and villages. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

She said "the goal was for India to do enough testing to bring down the test positivity rate, or fraction of tests that test positive to less than 5% or even less than 1%."

Most of India's deaths are concentrated in its large citiesMumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and Pune. But smaller urban centers in Mahrashtra such as Nagpur or Jalgaon have also reported more than 1,000 deaths.

Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said on Tuesday that only about 6% of the coronavirus patients in India were on oxygen0.31% on ventilators, 2.17% on intensive care unit beds with oxygen and 3.69% on oxygen beds.

Maharashtra state, with more than 1 million cases, remains the worst-affected region, followed by Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh. These states account for more than 60% of coronavirus cases in the country.

Referring to media reports that some hospitals in Maharashtra state are facing a shortage of oxygen cylinders, Bhushan said the supplies are adequate in the country, but state governments should monitor the situation.

Daily wage laborers wait to get hired for the day in Mumbai, India, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2020. Millions lost their jobs, and thousands, fearing starvation, poured out of cities to try and get back to their rural homes during India's lockdown of 1.3 billion people earlier this year. The economy shrunk by nearly 24% in the last quarter, the most of any major country. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

"The problem happens when at a facility level, there is no inventory management," Bhushan said.

The Health Ministry said 155 health workers, including 46 doctors, have died so far due to COVID-19.

India's meager health resources are poorly divided across the country. Nearly 600 million Indians live in rural areas, and with the virus spreading fast across India's vast hinterlands, health experts worry that hospitals could be overwhelmed.

Nationwide, India is testing more than 1 million samples per day, exceeding the World Health Organization's benchmark of 140 tests per 1 million people. But many of these are antigen tests, which look for virus proteins and are faster but less accurate than RT-PCR, which confirm the coronavirus by its genetic code.

With the economy contracting by a record 23.9% in the April-June quarter, leaving millions jobless, the Indian government is continuing to relax lockdown restrictions that were imposed in late March. The government in May announced a $266 billion stimulus package, but consumer demand and manufacturing are yet to recover.

A health worker collects a swab sample to test for COVID-19 in Mumbai, India, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2020. India's total of coronavirus infections passed 5 million Wednesday, still soaring and testing the feeble health care system in tens of thousands of impoverished towns and villages. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

A large number of offices, shops, businesses, liquor shops, bars and restaurants have reopened. Restricted domestic and international evacuation flights are being operated along with train services.

Schools will reopen for high school students for consultation with teachers next week.

Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have donated more than 100,000 to a female education charity to mark both of their recent birthdays.

Camfed (Campaign for Female Education) is a non-profit organisation that champions education for vulnerable girls and young women across Zimbabwe, Zambia, Ghana, Tanzania and Malawi.

In light of the duke and duchesss birthdays  which took place on 15 September and 4 August respectively  the Sussex Squad, the name given to their most dedicated fans, decided to donate to Camfed in their honour.

On 15 September, the date on which Prince Harry turned 36, the duke and duchess announced that they would be matching donations made by the Sussex Squad to Camfed by contributing $130,000 (100,795) to the organisation.

In addition to their donation, Meghan and Prince Harry also left a note for all who have donated to the charity.

No better way to celebrate what really matters. Thank you to everyone who donated, they said.

Since the fundraiser has been launched, over 200,000 has been raised, with the help of the Sussexes contribution.

Thats enough to support 113 young African women through a whole year of technical and vocational training, Camfed stated.

The webpage for the fundraiser features a message on behalf of the Sussex Squad, which explains that one of the great things about being fans of Harry and Meghan is never being at a loss for inspiration to celebrate them in purposeful and meaningful ways.

Meghan Markle returns to Grenfell Tower community kitchen Show all 16 1 /16 Meghan Markle returns to Grenfell Tower community kitchen Meghan Markle returns to Grenfell Tower community kitchen Getty Images Meghan Markle returns to Grenfell Tower community kitchen Getty Images Meghan Markle returns to Grenfell Tower community kitchen Getty Images Meghan Markle returns to Grenfell Tower community kitchen Getty Images Meghan Markle returns to Grenfell Tower community kitchen Getty Images Meghan Markle returns to Grenfell Tower community kitchen Getty Images Meghan Markle returns to Grenfell Tower community kitchen Getty Images Meghan Markle returns to Grenfell Tower community kitchen Getty Images Meghan Markle returns to Grenfell Tower community kitchen Getty Images Meghan Markle returns to Grenfell Tower community kitchen Getty Images Meghan Markle returns to Grenfell Tower community kitchen Getty Images Meghan Markle returns to Grenfell Tower community kitchen PA Meghan Markle returns to Grenfell Tower community kitchen Getty Images Meghan Markle returns to Grenfell Tower community kitchen REUTERS Meghan Markle returns to Grenfell Tower community kitchen REUTERS Meghan Markle returns to Grenfell Tower community kitchen Getty Images

Fundamental to their appeal is how earnestly they carry out their humanitarian work, serving and embracing young leaders around the world who, as they flourish, make sure that no one in their communities is left behind, it says.

Prior to Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsors birth in May 2019, fans of Meghan and Prince Harry set up a social media campaign called #GlobalSussexBabyShower, through which they donated to various charitable organisations.

Camfed was one of the organisations that benefited from a surge in donations at the time.

Many of you supported Camfed when the Sussex Squad called on the generosity of its members and followers during the #GlobalSussexBabyShower campaign, Camfed stated on its recent fundraiser.

You honoured the Duke and Duchess of Sussexs commitment to community-led change and social justice, and celebrated the imminent arrival of baby Archie by donating to causes that the Duke and Duchess care deeply about.

Now we are thrilled to have been chosen to benefit from your generosity as the Sussex Squad celebrate Meghan Markle and Prince Harrys birthdays.
Deviations in US society manifest themselves in a photograph that has been circulating on social media of 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse holding a gun with a childlike demeanour and an innocent smile

Today the US is grappling with staggering deviations in the backbone of its society. These deviations manifest themselves in a photograph that has been circulating on social media of 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse. In it, Rittenhouse has a childlike demeanour and an innocent smile; however, he is wearing a blue law enforcement uniform and has a semi-automatic long gun strapped over his shoulder, negating any positivity emanating from the image he projects. When a 17-year-old is totally at ease while holding a firearm, the photograph strikes one as wrong from many standpoints.

Lets give some background to this surreal photograph. On August 23, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, USA, a white police officer shot a black man, Jacob Blake, seven times in the backhis three children were in the back seat of his parked car. Chances are Blake will never walk again as he is paralyzed from the waist down. Kenosha responded with protests for several nights; vandalism and damage to city-property occurred, and protests and riots erupted in many other US cities, too.

Four days later, a white 17-year-old vigilante, Kyle Rittenhouse, whose photo we just highlighted, shot and killed two people and injured a third. In between shootings, he called a friend, told him he shot someone, and then went back to shoot two others amidst a scuffle of some sort. He also walked unnoticed passed a group of officers but was arrested later, 30 miles away.

Before the shootings, Rittenhouse encountered police officers, but they didnt detain the underage youth with the firearm. Quite the contrary, they tossed him a bottle of water and thanked him for his support. We appreciate you being here, an officer is heard saying to the group of bystanders, Rittenhouse amongst them, over a loudspeaker.

Even earlier, on Facebook, a local militia group posted the following message: Any patriots willing to take up arms and defend our city tonight from evil thugs? Not that we know that Rittenhouses act was in response to the call, it is clearly a sentiment amongst many in Wisconsin indicating not only upcoming dangerous confrontations but also the potential of further divisiveness.

In a brief interview shown on social media, Rittenhouse, himself, says, So people are getting injured, and our job is to protect this business And part of my job is to also help people. Around the world, a minor taking matters into his own hands while bearing arms would be considered a treacherous and threatening phenomenon.

Now had it been a young black man instead of a white one, the police force would have prohibited him from roaming around carrying a long gun in the first place, criminalized him on the spot, had his weapon confiscated, and then had him detained and charged. And yet, Rittenhouse passed between the officers unnoticed, or even if noticed, the image did not construe much worry; it is permissible in the eyes of the police force. The heart wrenching deaths and injuries of the young black men killed at the hands of police officers exemplify the state of the US today.

Kenoshas Police Chief told reporters, There was nothing to suggest [Rittenhouse] was involved in any criminal behavior; he continues, My officers did nothing wrong in allowing the teen gunman to walk away after allegedly killing two protestors. And when those in charge are on the defensive and dont see eye to eye with the harsh reality, something is very wrong. In case the Police Chief has forgotten, it is illegal for minors to carry a gun in Wisconsin.

Rittenhouses lawyers are citing the killings as a self defence act. One of his many attorneys, Lin Wood, said, "Kyle is an innocent boy who justifiably exercised his fundamental right of self-defense. In doing so, he likely saved his own life and possibly the lives of others." Even President Trump sided with Rittenhouse. He told reporters that Rittenhouse was trying to get away from them, I guess; also, I guess he was in very big trouble. He would have been, he probably would have been killed.

Kyle Rittenhouses episode epitomizes the tension and strain that the US society is facing. He juxtaposes youth and innocence with hatred and lawlessness. How does an underage youth access a deadly weapon and take pride in showing it off? Why was he allowed to go to a protest carrying a gun and pass unnoticed amongst the police force in the first place? Could a black man access a gun that easily? But most importantly, why has the American society become so fractured?

To onlookers these events are indicative of a society imploding upon itself, a society that resorts to vigilantes and militias to uphold the rule of the law, where the regular police force radicalizes some and empowers others.

The US is in bad shape. Looting and rioting is not peaceful protesting, but bringing a gun to a protest is not peaceful protesting either. Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, who is Black, said in an interview with the news program Democracy Now! that the shootings were not surprising and white militias have been ignored for too long, Barnes said. People treat that like its some kind of normal activity that people are walking around with assault rifles, which is the essence of disunity and dissent.

The US is at an all time low and and has a long way to go to return to what was considered the good old American way. Maybe President Trump, if re-elected, should work on this aspect of things so as to make America great again.

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Moderate Democrats Pressure Pelosi, House Democratic Leadership Over Pandemic Bill

Some moderate Democrats are now pressuring House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to pass another stimulus measure, suggesting that the criticism against GOP lawmakers and President Donald Trump might not be working with their constituents.

On Tuesday, the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus in the House unveiled a $1.5 trillion bill that would include stimulus payments.

Rep. Max Rose (D-N.Y.), one of the backers of the $1.5 trillion bill, said there is bipartisan consensus for a new deal.

The pressure is loud and forthright and it is bipartisan in nature, Rose told Fox News, calling on party leaders to agree to a real bill. Because that pressure is reflective of where the American people are. They are sick and tired of politics.

To the leadership, we said this very simple message: Its time for you to stop playing games, he said. Lets stop the charade. Lets stop this stupidity. Lets put the country first.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), in addressing the measure on Tuesday, told reporters that he welcomes the deal but leaders will reject it.

I think the Problem Solvers are lower than would be a responsible deal, Hoyer said. There are a lot of objectives that I think the Republicans have simply ignored. The Problem Solvers addressed some of them and I think thats useful and we need to move forward with that in mind.

Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.), a Problem Solvers Caucus member, said the $3 trillion HEROES Act passed in May probably wont be passed.

What the House put forward months ago isnt moving forward, Spanberger said, according to Fox News.

You are seeing a level of anxiety rise within the members for there to be a deal, Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.) said. For there to be progress toward getting the deal done. And, hopefully, with that increased pressure, we will start to see negotiations start anew and start moving our way towards that.

At the same time, President Donald Trump urged GOP members of Congress to try and pass a bill worth more than $500 billion and provide stimulus payments.

We hope Nancy Pelosi will work with us in good faith. There are many bipartisan proposals out there that have merit, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said, adding that Trump absolutely wants to get a stimulus deal done.

We are encouraged that after months of the Senate Republicans insisting on shortchanging the massive needs of the American people, President Trump is now calling on Republicans to go for the much higher numbers in the next coronavirus relief package, Pelosi said in a statement after Trumps call to action.
Several Raritan Valley Community College students have been recognized with the Presidents Volunteer Service Award, a civil honor bestowed by the President of the United States. Originally established by executive order from George W. Bush, the award recognizes volunteers who give hundreds of hours each year helping others.

The award, presented to both young adults (ages 16 to 25) and adults (age 26 and older), is given in three categories based on the number of completed service hours within a calendar year:

Bronze: Young adults (100-174 hours); adults (100-249 hours)

Silver: Young adults (175-249 hours); adults (250-499 hours)

Gold: Young adults (250 or more hours); adults (500 or more hours)

The following RVCC students were recognized for their service during the 2019-2020 academic year:

Gold

David Bilia of Bridgewater, who focused on education, volunteered a total 674 hours for the following organizations: FIRST Mid-Atlantic, FIRST Robotics Team 303, Somerset County Vo-Tech & Somerset County Office of Emergency Management.

Valeria Izeppi of Washington, who focused on environmental stewardship, volunteered a total of 250 hours for RVCC Environmental Club.

Silver

Nancy Portillo of South Plainfield, whose focus area was healthy futures, served 180 hours with South Plainfield EMS.

Jaime Stramaglia of Bloomsbury, who focused on healthy futures, gave 175 hours to the Midland School in Branchburg, the RVCC Food Pantry and the RVCC Student Nurses Association.

Bronze

Corey Briggs of Hampton, whose focus area was education, volunteered 200 hours to Project Horses for Forces in Long Valley and RVCCs First Year Experience Office.

Rachelle-Mae Flores of Green Brook, who focused on healthy futures, gave a combined 100 hours to Abingdon Care and Rehabilitation Center in Green Brook and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Somerville.

Nigora Ganieva of Bedminster focused her attention on education and gave 100 hours to RVCCs Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society.

Luong Ngo of Bridgewater, who focused on education, volunteered a total of 100 hours to RVCCs Admissions Office and RVCC Food Pantry.

Johanna Sailema of Plainfield, focusing on disaster services, gave 150 hours to All Hands and Hearts.

Sofio Tabutsadze of Manville focused on healthy futures and volunteered 188 hours with the Manville Fire Co. 3 Ladies Auxiliary.

Orland Vasquez of Plainfield, who focused on disaster services, volunteered 100 hours to All Hands and Hearts, Raritan Headwaters Association in Bedminster and the RVCC Enactus team.

The Presidents Volunteer Service Award is intended to encourages citizens to live a life of service through national recognition, honoring them for taking positive action that changes the world.
The world is still at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic and is not even at the middle, a WHO envoy, Dr. David Nabarro has told the U.K. Parliaments Foreign Affairs Committee.

Nabbaro not only defended WHOs conduct at the start of the Covid-19 outbreak, he also stressed the pandemics potential to undo development gains made in recent years.

According to a report by Devex, Nabbaro urged the United Kingdoms Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office to help low-income countries deal with the pandemic.

Foreign ministries  must take a global perspective because there is a real likelihood that this is going to massively increase poverty.

Were beginning to see what damage its going to cause to the world, and its getting nastier.  Its a terrible situation, Nabarro told the members of Parliament.

A health issue has got so out of control its [causing]  huge economic contractions which will probably double the number of poor people, double the number of malnourished, lead to hundreds of small businesses going bankrupt, and generally wreck the destination for a lot of young people who are not going to get education or opportunity, he said.

The pandemic has caused a severe schooling crisis, with millions of children expected to never return to the classroom, as well as massive unemployment.

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India's coronavirus infections soared past 5 million today, with a million of those recorded in just 11 days.

With the fastest rising outbreak of any country in the world, India's total coronavirus caseload is closing in on the US's highest tally of more than 6.6 million infections.

The health ministry reported 90,123 new infections on Wednesday, taking the total recorded in the last 11 days to 997,180.

Another 1,290 fatalities were recorded, taking the COVID-19 death toll to 82,066.

A medic fits a mask to a coronavirus patient in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Yatharth Hospital in Noida, on the outskirts of New Delhi, India, on Tuesday

In the big states of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, that are also some of the worst-affected by the virus, demand for oxygen has more than tripled, doctors and government officials said, prompting urgent calls for help.

'Desperate patients have been calling me through the night but I don't know when I will get stock,' Rishikhesh Patil, an oxygen supplier in the western city of Nashik, told Reuters.

At least 6% of India's nearly 1 million active cases need oxygen support, health ministry official Rajesh Bhushan told reporters.

But authorities ruled out imposing a second countrywide lockdown as recoveries were growing at more than 78%.

Its fatality rate is 1.6%, far lower than 3% each in the United States and Brazil, and similar to the UK's case fatality rate of around 1.5%.

Most of India's deaths are concentrated in its large cities - Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and Pune.

But smaller urban centres in Mahrashtra like Nagpur or Jalgaon have also reported more than 1,000 deaths.

In the capital of India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, the total requirement of oxygen cylinders stood at 5,000 cylinders compared with 1,000 cylinders in normal times, a government official said.

Community health volunteers check the temperature of a girl in a Mumbai slum on Wednesday

The worst-affected state of Maharashtra has decided to reduce supply to neighbouring states to meet its growing demand, a state government official said.

India resumes AstraZeneca vaccine trials Serum Institute of India has received Indian regulatory approval to resume local clinical trials of AstraZeneca's potential COVID-19 vaccine, a source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. The approval came from the Drugs Controller General of India, the source said. AstraZeneca has resumed British clinical trials of the vaccine - one of the most advanced in development for COVID-19 - after they were paused earlier this month following a serious side effect in a trial participant. Trials have also resumed in Brazil and South Africa. The trial remains on hold in the US, the FDA confirmed on Tuesday. Serum, the world's biggest vaccine manufacturer, did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. The DCGI did not return an email seeking comment. Advertisement

Vehicles carrying oxygen will get right of way and can use sirens to ensure they reach hospitals faster.

Ravindra Khade Patil, a doctor who manages two private hospitals on the outskirts of Mumbai, spoke of the stress he faces trying to ensure he can supply his patients with oxygen.

Two days ago, the supplier of oxygen to his hospitals did not turn up at his usual time.

Patil made frantic calls to the supplier and then to nearby hospitals and lawmakers, knowing that if the oxygen didn't arrive on time, it would be too late for some of his most critical patients.

Finally, past midnight, thanks to pressure from a government official, the oxygen tanks arrived.

'If they had arrived even a couple of hours late, we could have lost five or six patients. Every day, we are worried if we will be able to meet our requirements, if the oxygen will arrive or not,' Patil told Reuters.

India's meagre health resources are poorly divided across the country. Nearly 600 million Indians live in rural areas, and with the virus spreading fast across India's vast hinterlands, health experts worry that hospitals could be overwhelmed.

Nationwide, India is testing more than 1 million samples per day, exceeding the World Health Organisation's benchmark of 140 tests per 1 million people.

But many of these are antigen tests, which look for virus proteins and are faster but less accurate compared to RT-PCR, the gold standard for confirming the coronavirus by its genetic code.

With the economy contracting by a record 23.9% in the April-June quarter leaving millions jobless, the Indian government is continuing with relaxing lockdown restrictions that were imposed in late March.

A covid patient speaks to his family members via video call using a robot called Mitra at the ICU in New Delhi on Tuesday

The government in May announced a $266 billion stimulus package, but consumer demand and manufacturing are yet to recover.

A large number of offices, shops, businesses, liquor shops, bars and restaurants have reopened. Restricted domestic and international evacuation flights are being operated every day along with train services.

Schools will reopen for senior students from 9-12th standards for consultation with teachers next week.
BERLIN - The general commanding American troops in Bavaria met Wednesday with local officials in the Alpine town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen to reassure them of the U.S. militarys commitment to preventing the spread of COVID-19, after an outbreak at a troop hotel sickened dozens.

A total of 59 people in the town, including 25 staff at the U.S. military-run Edelweiss Lodge and Resort, tested positive for the new coronavirus after a 26-year-old American woman working at the hotel allegedly flouted quarantine rules by visiting several bars last week.

On Wednesday, German authorities said that further testing had found no additional cases, though they encouraged anybody who had frequented the affected bars and not yet been tested to come forward.

While there is still much work ahead, we are encouraged by the results returned from yesterday and todays testing, Brig. Gen. Christopher Norrie said in a statement after his visit.

Norrie noted that after learning of the outbreak on Friday, the U.S. military had deployed four helicopters to Garmisch-Partenkirchen carrying additional medical personnel and testing kits.

Employees who had close contact with positive staff members were placed in quarantine and the hotel was closed for two weeks, he added.

We are extremely grateful for Bavarias proactive response to keep our communities as safe as possible from this virus, Norrie said. We are part of this effort alongside our Bavarian hosts and friends, to act responsibly to limit the potential spread of COVID-19.

Norrie said his command  which includes about 51,000 soldiers, civilian employees and family members at seven locations in Bavaria  would ensure that community members who dont adhere to orders, including local ordinances, would be held to account.

U.S. Army personnel, including civilians and family members, are banned from visiting establishments that function exclusively as bars and nightclubs, he said.

We know that environments that are close, crowded and confined are conducive to the spread of the virus, Norrie said.

He added that while it may not be possible to find out how the virus entered the community, we all bear individual and collective responsibility in limiting the spread of COVID-19, and Im confident our community overall will continue to be a positive contributor to this fight.

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F.A.A. management came in for severe criticism over its response to the crashes. In December, the report said, Ali Bahrami, the F.A.A.s associate administrator for aviation safety, told committee staff members that he was unaware of an internal assessment produced after the first crash that had predicted 15 more over the lifetime of the Max fleet if MCAS was not fixed.

The report also said the agency was inexplicably slow in turning over records.

The F.A.A. was actually more frustrating than Boeing, Mr. DeFazio said on a call with reporters. Im not sure that we ever got all of the email chains we wanted. They claimed to have a very primitive old computer system.

The report faulted Boeing for a lack of transparency, driven in part by a desire to play down the need for simulator training for pilots. Under a 2011 contract with Southwest Airlines, for example, Boeing had promised to discount each of the 200 planes in the airlines order by $1 million if the F.A.A. required such simulator training for pilots moving from an earlier version of the aircraft, the 737NG, to the Max. That, the committee argued, created an incentive for Boeing to withhold critical safety information from the agency.

This report lays bare the lie that Boeing cares about safety or the hundreds of lives they have ruined, said Yalena Lopez-Lewis, whose husband, Army Capt. Antoine Lewis, died in the Ethiopian Airlines crash. Boeing cut corners, lied to regulators, and simply considers this the cost of doing business.

Democrats declined to provide details of prospective legislation, but said they were working on bipartisan reforms that could be passed before the end of the year.

We are working closely with Republicans in the hope of coming to an agreement on a reform proposal in the very near future, Representative Rick Larsen of Washington, the chairman of the aviation subcommittee, told reporters.

In a statement, Boeing said it had learned lessons from the crashes and had started to act on the recommendations of experts and government authorities.
Neil Patrick Harris opened up about his family's struggle with COVID-19 during an interview Tuesday on Today.

The 47-year-old How I Met Your Mother star revealed that he, his husband David Burtka, 45, and their nine-year-old twins Gideon and Harper all contracted the coronavirus in the spring.

All four have recovered now and are doing well, but the actor described their experience as 'not pleasant.'

On the mend: Neil Patrick Harris, 47, revealed Tuesday on Today that he and his husband David Burtka, 45, and their nine-year-old twins Gideon and Harper all contracted COVID-19 this year; shown in 2016

'It happened very early [in the pandemic], like late March, early April,' he explained. 'We were doing our best before, and I thought I had the flu, and I didn't want to be paranoid about it. And then I lost my sense of taste and smell, which was a big indicator, so we holed up.'

Although a loss of the sense of taste or smell wasn't initially believed to be a symptom of COVID-19, the CDC later added the sudden loss to its list of potential symptoms after many people reported it early in their illnesses.

From his vantage point months later, Harris sounded grateful that his family had recovered fully from the virus.

'It was not pleasant, but we got through it,' he added.

Months ago: 'It happened very early [in the pandemic], like late March, early April,' he explained. The How I Met Your Mother star said the first sign was a loss of taste and smell; shown in 2017

Temporary immunity: 'It was not pleasant, but we got through it,' he said, adding that the family now had antibodies to the novel coronavirus

Harris and his family have since gained a certain amount of protection from the coronavirus, as they all developed antibodies during their illnesses.

However, the science on immunity from COVID-19 is rapidly developing, and some people who initially developed antibodies after contracting the illness later lost them, presumably leaving them with no extra defenses.

'We want to make sure everyone's doing their best to slow this down every way possible, for sure,' the Doogie Howser star added.

Harris and Burtka welcomed their twins in 2010, and the couple tied the knot in 2014 after getting engaged years earlier.

Going strong: Harris and Burtka welcomed their twins in 2010, and the couple tied the knot in 2014 after getting engaged years earlier

Earlier this month, Harris and his family were spotted boating and spending time with friends in the Hamptons.

They wore masks during part of the gathering but removed them while chatting with friends aboard a boat.

Last week, Variety reported that a female-led reboot of Harris' old TV series Doogie Howser, M.D. had been picked up by the Disney+ streaming service.

The new and updated version, titled Doogie Kamealoha, M.D., will focus on Lahela 'Doogie' Howser, a mixed race 16-year who works as a doctor in Hawaii.

The lead actress hasn't been announced yet, but the 10-episode season will be written and executive produced by Kourtney Kang, who's best known for launching Fresh Off The Boat and working on all nine seasons of How I Met Your Mother, which also starred Harris.

You can watch How I Met Your Mother on Stan in Australia.
Pan African Resources PLC

(Incorporated and registered in England and Wales under the Companies Act 1985 with registered number 3937466 on 25 February 2000)

Share code on AIM: PAF

Share code on JSE: PAN

ISIN: GB0004300496

ADR ticker code: PAFRY

(Pan African or the Company or the Group)

(Key features are reported in US dollar (US$) and South African rand (ZAR))

Provisional summarised audited results for the year ended 30 June 2020 - SHORT FORM ANNOUNCEMENT

KEY FEATURES

The Group responded swiftly in implementing stringent policies and protocols to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its employees and operations

Gold production increased by 4.1% to 179,457oz after final refinery adjustments (2019: 172,442oz), exceeding the revised full-year production guidance of 176,000 oz

Industry-leading safety performance, both in terms of lost-time injury and reportable injury frequency rates

Revenue increased by 25.9% to US$273.7 million (2019: US$217.4 million )

(2019: ) Profit after taxation increased by 16.6% to US$44.3 million (2019: US$38.0 million )

(2019: ) Headline earnings increased by 93.0% to US$44.2 million (2019: US$22.9 million )

(2019: ) Headline earnings per share increased by 92.4% to US 2.29 cents per share (2019: US 1.19 cents per share)

per share (2019: US per share) Earnings per share increased by 16.8% to US 2.30 cents per share (2019: US 1.97 cents per share)

per share (2019: US per share) Net cash generated by operating activities increased by 42.7% to US$53.8 million (2019: US$37.7 million )

(2019: ) Net senior debt* decreased by 51.9% to US$62.0 million (2019: US$129.0 million )

(2019: ) Improved net debt to net adjusted EBITDA ratio of 0.7 (2019: 2.2)

Low-cost operations (including Elikhulu, BTRP and Barberton Mines' Fairview Mine) achieved an AISC of US$826 /oz for the Reporting Period

/oz for the Reporting Period The development of Evander Mines' Egoli project has commenced. The project's payback is estimated at less than five years from inception of construction, with funding provided on a non-dilutive basis by means of a dedicated debt facility

Production guidance increased to 190,000oz for the year ending 30 June 2021

The board has proposed a record final dividend of ZAR 312.9 million or approximately US$18.7 million , at prevailing exchange rates, subject to approval by shareholders at the annual general meeting (AGM)

(*Net senior debt includes senior interest-bearing debt and the outstanding gold loan balance, net of available cash)

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER'S STATEMENT

"Over the past year, our Group's operations demonstrated their resilience, with gold production in excess of the revised guidance for the year ended 30 June 2020 (Reporting Period). This operational performance was achieved despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant restrictions imposed to curb the spread of the virus - a testament to the robustness and operational flexibility of our diversified portfolio of assets.

Gold production from Elikhulu and the Barberton Tailings Retreatment Plant (BTRP), our low-cost surface retreatment operations, have contributed significantly to the profitability of the Group and demonstrated the benefit of multiple producing operations.

We are pleased to confirm that we remain firmly on track to deliver into our guided gold production of 190,000oz for the year ending 30 June 2021, a substantial increase compared to the revised production guidance of 176,000oz for the Reporting Period.

We successfully levered the Group's operational execution capability to bring Evander Mines' 8 Shaft (8 Shaft) pillar project and the Prince Consort (PC) Shaft's Level 42 development at Barberton Mines' New Consort Mine into steady-state production, and these operations are now an integral part of our strategy to further reduce costs and increase margins at our underground mines.

Our Group's safety performance during the Reporting Period is commendable and we will remain unrelenting in the pursuit of our ultimate goal of zero harm in the years ahead. We are deeply saddened by the fatality that occurred after the Reporting Period, as outlined in the subsequent events section further in the announcement.

Pan African's earnings for the Reporting Period were adversely affected by COVID-19. This impact was however largely offset by the robust gold price and by our ability to expeditiously ramp up gold production, in line with government directives, post the initial hard lockdown period. Despite the impact of COVID-19, we are pleased to report increased earnings for the Group this year.

We reduced net debt during the Reporting Period by 41.2% to US$76.4 million (2019: US$129.9 million), which resulted in a significantly improved net debt to net adjusted EBITDA ratioAPM of 0.7 (2019: 2.2).

Group all-in sustaining costs (AISC) of US$1,147/oz includes realised hedge losses of US$12.0 million. Excluding these realised losses, the Group's AISC decreased to US$1,078/oz (2019: US$988/oz), which is more reflective of the actual operational costs and in line with the Group's targeted AISC of US$1,000/oz. The AISC for the Group's low-cost operations, comprising Elikhulu, BTRP and Barberton Mines' Fairview Mine, was US$826/oz for the Reporting Period. We believe the Group is well on track to produce at an AISC of below US$1,000/oz for the 2021 financial year.

Our robust operational and financial performance over the past year, together with a positive outlook for the year ahead, has enabled the board to recommend a record dividend of ZAR312.9 million, or US 0.83582 cents per share, for approval by shareholders at the upcoming AGM.

The Group will continue to invest in our compelling organic growth projects, most notably the recently announced long-life Egoli project, which capitalises on the substantial existing shaft and plant infrastructure, and is also fully licenced and 'shovel-ready'. We are pleased to announce that following the successful completion of the feasibility study, the Group has obtained credit approval from Rand Merchant Bank for the full debt funding of the project's capital expenditure. Additional detail on the Egoli project's development and funding is provided further in the announcement.

We have prioritised our environmental, social and governance initiatives, as evidenced by the level of rehabilitation spend for the Reporting Period, and board approval for the implementation of a number of significant and sustainable development projects. These include the 10MW renewable energy solar photovoltaic plant at Elikhulu and a large-scale agriculture project at Barberton Mines. The merits of a similar solar photovoltaic plant are also being considered for Barberton Mines, as well as new agriculture projects on rehabilitated land at Evander Mines.

We are acutely conscious of the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and will continue to implement stringent preventative and precautionary measures to limit incidences of infection among our employees and in our host communities, and minimise the potential adverse impact of the pandemic on the Group 's operations.

In the year ahead, aligned to our strategy of delivering safe, sustainable and high-margin gold production, we will continue to direct our focus on creating shareholder value by optimising our operations, further de-gearing our balance sheet and increasing dividend distributions. Furthermore, we will also continue investing in our host communities to improve the living conditions of these critical stakeholders.

My sincere thanks and gratitude to all of the management and employees of Pan African for their contribution to the Group through this difficult time and for ensuring the sustainability of our operations, now and into the future."

PROPOSED DIVIDEND FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2020

The board has proposed a final dividend of ZAR312.9 million for the 2020 financial year (approximately US$18.7 million), equal to ZA 14.00000 cents per share or approximately US 0.83582 cents per share (0.65451 pence per share). The dividend is subject to approval by shareholders at the AGM, which is convened for Thursday, 26 November 2020.

In light of the robust results for the Reporting Period and the favourable financial prospects for the operations in the 2021 financial year, the board has applied its discretion and has proposed a dividend in excess of the Company's dividend policy's guidelines, which provide for a 40% payout ratio of net cash generated from operating activities.

Assuming shareholders approve the final dividend, the following salient dates would apply:

Currency conversion date Thursday, 26 November 2020 Annual General Meeting Thursday, 26 November 2020 Currency conversion announcement released by 11:00 (SA time) Friday, 27 November 2020 Last date to trade on the JSE Tuesday, 1 December 2020 Last date to trade on the LSE Wednesday, 2 December 2020 Ex-dividend date on the JSE Wednesday, 2 December 2020 Ex-dividend date on the LSE Thursday, 3 December 2020 Record date on the JSE and LSE Friday, 4 December 2020 Payment date Tuesday, 15 December 2020

The pound sterling (GBP) and US$ proposed final dividend was calculated based on a total of 2,234,687,537 shares in issue and an illustrative exchange rate of US$/ZAR:16.75 and GBP/ZAR:21.39, respectively. Shareholders on the London register should note that a revised exchange rate will be communicated before approval at the AGM.

No transfers between the Johannesburg and London registers, between the commencement of trading on Wednesday, 2 December 2020 and close of business on Friday, 4 December 2020 will be permitted.

No shares may be dematerialised or rematerialised between Wednesday, 2 December 2020 and Friday, 4 December 2020, both days inclusive.

The South African dividends taxation rate is 20% per ordinary share for shareholders who are liable to pay dividends taxation, resulting in a net dividend of ZA 11.20000 cents per share. Foreign investors may qualify for a lower dividend taxation rate, subject to completing a dividend taxation declaration and submitting it to Computershare Investor Services Proprietary Limited or Link Asset Services, who manage the South African and UK registers, respectively. The Company's South African income taxation reference number is 9154588173. The proposed dividend will be paid out of the Company's retained earnings, without drawing on any other capital reserves.

AUDIT OPINION

The Group's external auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP ("PwC"), have issued their opinion on the consolidated annual financial statements for the year ended 30 June 2020.

There have been two key audit matters identified by PwC which relate to the Impairment assessments of goodwill, intangible assets and property, plant and equipment and mineral rights - Group, and the Impact of COVID-19 - Group and Parent Company. Further details on these key audit matters can be found in the full auditor's report which is available on the Company's website https://www.panafricanresources.com/wp-content/uploads/Pan-African-Resources-integrated-annual-report-2020.pdf.

The audit of the consolidated annual financial statements was conducted in accordance with the International Standards on Auditing. PwC has expressed an unmodified opinion on the consolidated annual financial statements. A copy of the audited annual financial statements and the audit report is available for inspection at the issuer's registered office. Any reference to future financial performance included in this provisional summarised audited results announcement has not been reviewed or reported on by the Group's external auditor.

DIRECTORS' RESPONSIBILITY

The information in this announcement has been extracted from the provisional summarised audited results for the year ended 30 June 2020, but this short-form announcement itself has not been reviewed by the Company's auditors. The provisional summarised audited results have been prepared under the supervision of the Financial Director, Deon Louw. This short-form announcement is the responsibility of the directors of Pan African and is only a summary of the information contained in the full announcement.

Any investment decisions should be based on the full announcement and the group's detailed operational and financial summaries.

AVAILABILITY OF FULL ANNOUNCEMENT

The full announcement is accessible via the JSE link at https://senspdf.jse.co.za/documents/2020/jse/isse/pan/FYE2020.pdf

and via the Company's website at https://www.panafricanresources.com/wp-content/uploads/Pan-African-Resources-year-end-results-SENS-announcement-2020.pdf

Copies of the full announcement may also be requested by emailing ExecPA@paf.co.za

The Company has a dual primary listing on the JSE in South Africa and the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange (AIM) as well as a sponsored level 1 ADR programme in the USA through the Bank of New York Mellon

For further information on Pan African, please visit the Company's website at

www.panafricanresources.com
The leader of a vegan 'army' who break into farms to perform 'animal rescues' revealed her passion has resulted in receiving death threats.

Leah Ava Whetton appeared in Brisbane Magistrates Court on Wednesday where she pleaded guilty to unlawfully entering a piggery and an egg production factory.

The 30-year-old has previously been charged 22 times for similar offences.

The most recent charges relate to Whetton breaking into Cameron Pastoral piggery at Pittsworth in 2018, and Canningvale poultry farm Williams Eggs in 2019.

Leah Ava Whetton appeared in Brisbane Magistrates Court on Wednesday where she pleaded guilty to unlawfully entering a piggery and an egg production factory

Defence barrister Nathan Edridge told the court both Whetton and her mother had been subjected to abuse since the nature of her offending became public.

'My client... had death threats made to her and her mother and things like personal details being released,' he said before asking the court to consider the 'extra punishment' she has already received in public.

'One of these matters included a phone call where my client was threatened to have her fingers cut off and her jaw broken,' he said.

Prior to her sentencing, Whetton revealed she wasn't sure if she would receive a custodial sentence.

'The sentencing is still very important because I have been charged 22 times,' she said.

'My barrister and my lawyer will have to do an amazing job not to get me a conviction today.'

Ms Whetton (pictured at a BLM protest) is a prominent animal rights activist

The most recent charges relate to Whetton breaking into Cameron Pastoral piggery at Pittsworth in 2018, and Canningvale poultry farm Williams Eggs in 2019

On Wednesday, a group of Whetton's supporters accompanied her to court with posters and signs to protest

The court heard she disregarded clearly signed biosecurity procedures and handled piglets and laying hens.

The court was told Whetton had a history of similar offences and her offences were 'of a continual nature'.

But defence solicitor Lumme Rynderman told the court: 'Other than this offending which is grounded in her conscience, she has no criminal history.'

Whetton was fined $1,000 and managed to escape without conviction.

After the court appearance, she immediately took to Instagram to tell her 36,000 followers that she was 'happy' with the outcome.

'No conviction, no community order, no probation, I just got a fine... so I'm happy with that. Until next time, hey.'

'This isn't over until we are all free,' she wrote alongside the short video.

Whetton is the founder of 'Meat the Victims', a 'new generation of the growing community of citizens willing to disobey unjust laws together to abolish animal exploitation'

After the court appearance, she immediately took to Instagram to tell her 36,000 followers that she was 'happy' with the outcome

Whetton is the founder of 'Meat the Victims', a 'new generation of the growing community of citizens willing to disobey unjust laws together to abolish animal exploitation'.

The group is known for staging sit ins and protests at farms over animal rights.

'What is done in the dark will be brought to the light,' Whetton said.

'We arent going anywhere. There is an army of us and its only growing. We wont stop, until all are free.'

On Wednesday, a group of Whetton's supporters accompanied her to court with posters and signs to protest.

Several of the posters featured graphic images of slaughtered and dying animals along with several slogans including 'right to rescue', 'free range is a lie' and 'I wanted to live'.
Frenchman arrested in Phuket for rape of British woman

PHUKET: Patong Police yesterday arrested a 36-year-old Frenchman wanted for the alleged rape of a British woman in a hotel room in Patong last week.

crimesexpolicepatong

By The Phuket News

Wednesday 16 September 2020, 08:46AM

The suspect, who police named as Elies Guenez, registered as living in Rawai, was arrested after he was stopped at a police checkpoint specifically set up to take him into custody,Patong Police Chief Col Aganit Danpitaksat told The Phuket News,

Guenez was wanted on an arrest warrant issued by the Phuket Provincial Court, he added.

The arrest warrant was isused after police investigated a rape complaint filed by a 29-year-old British woman who was staying at a hotel on Sirirat Rd, at the southern end of Patong. The complaint was filed at 10:30am last Friday (Sept 11), Col Aganit explained.

The woman explained in her complaint that she had met Guenez online through the online dating app Tinder on Monday last week (Sept 7) and agreed to meet him at Surin Beach the next day. Later that evening, the two went to the hotel room in Patong, where the alleged rape occurred, he said.

Offices had been informed that Guenez had been seen travelling towards Chalong in a white Nissan Juke and mobilised to track him down, Col Aganit added.

While officers were en route, a white Nissan juke passed in the opposite direction, he added.

The officers in transit made a U-turn and followed the car, and radioed ahead for fellow police officers to set up a checkpoint to prevent the possible suspect from escaping.

Police at the checkpoint stopped the white Nissan and asked to see the drivers identification, and confirmed that Guenez was indeed driving the vehicle, Col Aganit explained.

Police presented the warrant and placed Guenez under arrest. He was then taken to Patong Police Station for legal processing, Col Aganit added.

Guenez has been presented a charge of rape of a person over 15 years old by use of threat or force of any means In which the person is in a state of being unable to resist, Col Aganit confirmed.

Guenez admitted to having sex with the woman, but denied raping her, he added

Additional reporting by Eakkapop Thongtub
ABURI, Ghana - West African leaders have emphasized that Malis junta should nominate civilian transitional leaders within days to lead the nation toward elections, Ghanas president said following a regional summit.

Six leaders from the West African regional economic bloc, ECOWAS, met with Malis junta Tuesday in Ghana, whose president now serves as the blocs new chairman. They agreed the junta must install a civilian president and vice-president.

ECOWAS insisted that the transitional leaders must be civilians, rejecting the juntas suggestion that the leaders could come from the military.

We need a civilian leadership of the transition, Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo said after the summit. From the minute that leadership is put in place, the regional sanctions on Mali will be lifted, he said. This should be accomplished within days, not weeks, he said.

The military junta staged a coup on Aug. 18, deposing Malis President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita who still had three years remaining in his second term in office. The military leaders held talks with various political and civil society groups to come up with an outline for a transition to civilian rule last week.

The regional leaders appear to have accepted the juntas call for an 18-month transitional period to new elections, instead of the one-year timeline that the regional bloc originally proposed.

Malis junta had earlier floated the idea of waiting three years before holding a new election, a proposal quickly rejected by both ECOWAS and former colonizer France, which maintains a large military presence in Mali where it has been fighting Islamic extremists.

ECOWAS also called for the dissolution of the National Committee for the Salvation of the People as soon as the transitional government is in place.

The regional bloc has already closed Malis borders with neighbouring countries and halted financial links in order to put pressure on the junta. Those sanctions could be lifted once a transitional civilian government is in place, ECOWAS said Tuesday.

Col. Assimi Goita, who leads the National Committee for the Salvation of the People, asked ECOWAS to allow him to consult his military comrades before giving a response to the recommendations.

Other leaders were pleased with the meetings outcome.

I totally agree with the ECOWAS proposals, which in reality coincide with the proposals that we made during the days of consultation on the transition last week, said Moussa Mara, former prime minister of Mali. Now the CNSP must move quickly.

Choguel Maiga, a member of the M5-RFP opposition coalition that staged anti-government demonstrations in the weeks leading up to the coup, said the pressure by ECOWAS to have civilians in charge is a good thing.

However, he said, there is a mediation commission that will be set up by ECOWAS which will monitor the situation in Mali, and it looks a bit like putting Mali under supervision. This, he said, was not acceptable and would need to be revisited once the transition begins.

There has been widespread concern that the ongoing political upheaval in Mali will set back efforts to contain the countrys growing Islamic extremist insurgency. After a similar coup in 2012, Islamic extremists grabbed control of major towns in northern Mali. Only a 2013 military intervention led by France pushed extremists out of those towns and the international community has spent seven years battling the militants.

The terrorists are taking advantage of the situation in Mali to flex their muscles even more, Ghanas president warned Tuesday.

___

Ahmed reported from Bamako, Mali. Carley Petesch in Dakar, Senegal contributed.
Nairobi  Garissa Governor Ali Korane has been freed on Sh3.25 million cash bail and barred from accessing office following his arraignment in court this morning over abuse of office and mismanagement of a Sh233.5 million World Bank grant.

Four other county officials charged alongside Governor Korane were freed on Sh1.25 million cash bail each.

Korane and the four co-accused persons appeared before anti-corruption Magistrate Douglas Ogoti on Tuesday where they were charged with conspiracy to commit a crime, willful failure to comply with laws related to management of funds and misappropriation of public funds.

Korane spend the night in custody after he presented himself at the Ethic and Anti-Corruption Commission on Monday following the Director Public Prosecution Noordin Haji's approval of graft charges against him.

Ibrahim Nur (Chief Finance Officer), Mohammed Ahmed (Head of Treasury), Abdi Shale (Chief Executive Officer, Municipality) and Ahmed Abdullahi (Head of Accounting, Municipality) were charged as co-conspirators in the alleged mismanagement of funds.

Korane had been questioned by EACC detectives on March 2 over the alleged embezzlement of funds under World Bank-funded Kenya Urban Support Program (KUSP).

An EACC investigation brief seen by Capital FM News at the time indicated funds channeled through the National Treasury to the Garissa County Government were in turn transferred to the Garissa Municipal Board and subsequently to individuals' accounts.

The money was, "withdrawn in cash by county officials associated with the Governor and used for some projects which could not be verified on the ground."

Under KUSP, the World Bank is undertaking a Sh23 billion five-year infrastructure project being implemented in 45 counties with the exemption of Nairobi and Mombasa.

Counties in the north east benefit form a significant chunk being historically underdeveloped.
Next CDS of India: Rajnath Singh to receive list of probables soon

India tells France, have the political will, ability to counter misadventure by China

Want to manufacture BrahMos so that no country has audacity to cast evil eye on us: Rajnath Singh

IAF chopper crash: Rajnath Singh likely to be apprised of probe team's findings in next couple of days

Rajnath Singh to address Rajya Sabha on India-China border issue tomorrow

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

New Delhi, Sep 16: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will address the Rajya tomorrow, issuing a statement on the border tussle with China at 12 noon.

Earlier on Tuesday, Singh in Lok Sabha said India is committed to a peaceful resolution of the current border stand-off with China in Ladakh but any attempt to unilaterally alter the status quo by the neighbouring country is unacceptable.

Making a statement in Lok Sabha, Singh also said the Indian Army has inflicted heavy costs including casualties on the Chinese side during the clash with the PLA at the Galwan valley on June 15.

India inflicted heavy casualties on Chinese Army, Rajnath says in Parliament

The defence minister said since April, buildup of troops and armaments by the Chinese side has been witnessed in the border areas adjacent to eastern Ladakh.

He said in early May, the Chinese side had taken action to hinder the normal, traditional patrolling pattern of Indian troops in the Galwan Valley area, which resulted in a face-off.

Singh said even as this situation was being addressed by the ground commanders as per the provisions of the bilateral agreements and protocol, in mid-May the Chinese side made several attempts to transgress the LAC in other parts of the Western Sector.

"This included Kongka La, Gogra and North Bank of Pangong Lake. These attempts were detected early and consequently responded to appropriately by our armed forces.

Indian Army: Ready for full-fledged war against China | Oneindia News

"We made it clear to the Chinese side both through diplomatic and military channels that China was, by such actions, attempting to unilaterally alter the status quo. It was categorically conveyed that this was unacceptable," he said.

After Singh''s statement, the Congress wanted to raise certain issues which was not allowed by Speaker Om Birla. Unhappy with this, Congress walked out of the House.
On the third day of the ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament, MP has given a short duration discussion notice in over 'the incursion of the Chinese army across the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and military standoff between the armies of the two countries on the LAC'.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will give a statement in on Wednesday over the developments along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

A day earlier, he gave the statement in Lok Sabha over the same subject.

The Opposition has been demanding a discussion on the issue. also walked out from Lok Sabha over the matter.

In his statement, Singh said India has conveyed to China that its attempt to unilaterally alter the status quo along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) was unacceptable and noted that the Chinese actions reflect a "disregard" of various bilateral agreements between the two countries.

The two countries have been engaged in a standoff since April-May and China has refused to vacate locations in the Finger area and other friction points in the Eastern Ladakh area.

Multiple rounds of talks have also failed to yield any significant result in defusing the tensions and now the Indian side has prepared itself for long-term deployment in the high mountainous region.

Meanwhile, various parties have given Zero Hour notice in the Rajya Sabha on several issues.

Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) MP Nazeer Ahmad Laway on Wednesday gave a Zero Hour notice in the Rajya Sabha over the issue of MPLADS funds and the poor condition of the highway from Jammu to Srinagar.

Earlier this year, the Union Cabinet had approved the temporary suspension of MPLADS (Members of Local Area Development Scheme) Funds of MPs for 2020-21 and 2021-22. These funds will be used to strengthen the Government's efforts in managing the challenges and adverse impact of COVID19 in the country.

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut has also given a Zero Hour notice in the Rajya Sabha over the proposed privatisation of the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), Maharashtra and concerns over security.

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Manoj Jha has given zero hour notice in Rajya Sabha over 'COVID-19 and its impacts on the migrant workforce'.

While Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MP Veer Singh has given zero hour notice in the Rajya Sabha over 'increase in unemployment due to lockdown and COVID-19 pandemic'.

Monsoon session of the began on September 14, under the shadow of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

(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.)
Boris Johnson swiped at Keir Starmer for failing to face him at PMQs today after the Labour leader revealed one of his children has tested negative for coronavirus.

The Labour leader said he was 'pleased and relieved' to be out of self-isolation after two days waiting for the result.

However, he skipped PMQs this lunchtime, with deputy Angela Rayner standing in.

She raised the case of 'Keir' at the despatch box, saying he had needed to miss work because he had not received the result of a test in time.

But Mr Johnson pointed out that Sir Keir was now out of quarantine. 'I don't know quite why he is not here.'

The premier defended the shambolic testing arrangements, despite warnings that schools are on the brink of becoming 'unsustainable' due to delays.

'Eighty-nine per cent of those that have in person tests get (results) the next day,' Mr Johnson said. 'We are working very fast to turn around all the test requests that we get.'

Sir Keir tweeted today: I'm very pleased and relieved that the test result for one of my children came back negative this morning.

'Thank you to the NHS hospital where my wife works for ensuring that their staff and family members have quick access to a test.

'However, I know the situation is desperate at the moment for thousands of families across the country who are struggling to get a test. They deserve answers and for this problem to be fixed.

Sir Keir tweeted today: I'm very pleased and relieved that the test result for one of my children came back negative this morning.'

Angela Rayner deputised for Sir Keir at the dispatch box against Mr Johnson today. The PM swiped that he was not sure why Sir Keir had not come himself

Sir Keir Starmer told the TUC conference by video link yesterday that he had only been screened because his wife works for the NHS.

Sir Keir delivered a stinging attack on the government's testing shambles from home yesterday.

Addressing the TUC conference via video link from his north London home, Sir Keir nsisted the only reason he had been able to be checked was that his wife Victoria works for the NHS, adding: 'for thousands up and down the country it is a very different story'.

And turning his fire on Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock, he said: 'It is not the British people that are to blame for these mistakes. It is not the civil service...

'It is the government that is holding Britain back.'

Mr Johnson and Mr Hancock have both suggested that the system is under pressure because people are seeking tests when they don't have symptoms.

Meanwhile, health officials have blamed the crisis  which experts fear will rumble on for weeks  on a staffing shortage in laboratories.

Desperate bosses have now admitted they may have to hire students to plug gaps in the rota in the face of sky-high demand.

Sir Keir announced he was going into self-isolation hours after taking a phone-in in the LBC radio studios yesterday.

He lives with wife Victoria and their son and daughter, thought to be aged 10 and eight respectively, in north London.

Mr Johnson tweeted his best wishes and said he had called Sir Keir.
Scientists from the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech), the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry (IBCh RAS) and Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU) undertook a detailed study on green-to-red photoconversion (light-induced conversion) of the Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP). Their research was published in Frontiers of Molecular Biosciences.

Initially found in jellyfish, GFP sparked off a technological revolution in biology and was the first genetically encoded tag making a wealth of cellular processes available for analysis and visualization. In 1997, GFP was noted to turn from green to red if exposed to light in an oxygen-free environment, offering the first evidence of its red fluorescence capability. However, the photoconversion mechanism remained poorly understood for a long while, as the conversion products were too unstable for researchers to apply standard structure identification methods, such as X-ray structural analysis.

In their recent study, a group of scientists from Skoltech, IBCh RAS and MSU defined intermediate spectral forms appearing in the course of GFP green-to-red photoconversion. Computational studies enabled the researchers to propose the structures of the corresponding states of the chromophore (a part of the molecule responsible for its color) and, for the first time ever, describe the molecular mechanism of photoconversion in detail.

According to Konstantin Lukyanov, Professor at the Skoltech Center for Life Sciences (CLS), photoconversion research has various practical implications: "First, redox photoconversions are to blame for fast photobleaching of GFP in microscopy, an effect strongly limiting the practical use of GFP. Second, photoconversion intensity can be indicative of the cell's oxygen saturation and oxidative stress caused by excessive reactive oxygen species. Finally, photoconversion research may be the key to understanding the primary functions of ancestral GFP-like proteins. As they emerged very early in the evolutionary process in the animal kingdom, no one around had eyes to detect fluorescence, which suggests that "ancient" fluorescent proteins performed other "basic" functions, such as protection from too much sunlight or transfer of electrons."

###

Skoltech is a private international university located in Russia. Established in 2011 in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Skoltech is cultivating a new generation of leaders in the fields of science, technology and business, is conducting research in breakthrough fields, and is promoting technological innovation with the goal of solving critical problems that face Russia and the world. Skoltech is focusing on six priority areas: data science and artificial intelligence, life sciences, advanced materials and modern design methods, energy efficiency, photonics and quantum technologies, and advanced research. Web: https://www.skoltech.ru/.
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...
Satellite image of storm Noul, in the morning of September 16, 2020. Photo courtesy of the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.

A tropical depression intensified into a storm early on Wednesday and entered the East Sea.

Storm Noul lay centered around 200 kilometers (124 miles) north-northwest of Palawan Island in the Philippines packing winds of 75 kilometers per hour, according to the National Center for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting.

On Wednesday the storm is expected to move west-northwest at a speed of 15 kph and further intensify.

At 4 a.m. on Thursday it will lay centered around 450 km to the southeast of Vietnams Hoang Sa (Paracel) Islands, off the central coast, with a maximum wind speed of 90 kph.

Weather forecasting centers in Japan, Hong Kong and the Philippines, and Tropical Storm Risk (TSR), a leading forecaster and mapper of tropical storm activity, predict the storm will keep strengthening until wind speeds reach 110-120 kph and head toward central Vietnam.

The Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control on Tuesday had warned localities along the central coast, including major tourist destinations Da Nang, Hue, Hoi An, Nha Trang and Mui Ne, to keep a close eye on the storm's movement to instruct vessels to leave areas of high risk and prepare to evacuate people.

Storm Noul is the fifth formed this year in the East Sea, known internationally as the South China Sea.

The years fourth storm, Higos, hit last month, making landfall in China.

Natural disasters like droughts, floods and landslides killed 133 people in Vietnam last year and caused losses worth around VND7 trillion ($302.6 million), according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

In the first half of this year they have claimed 47 lives and caused losses worth VND3.3 trillion.

The East Sea could see 11-13 storms and tropical depressions this year, half of them affecting the country, meteorologists have warned.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 15:54:05|Editor: huaxia

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HERAT, Afghanistan, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Ten militants including a Taliban key commander have been killed in Obe district of the western Herat province, provincial government spokesman Jilani Farhad said Wednesday.

The security forces, according to the official launched cleanup operations in parts of Obe district on Tuesday and so far 10 militants including key commander Mullah Naeem Mansoor have been killed.

No security personnel and civilians have been hurt during the crackdown, the official further said.

However, the official asserted the security forces would continue to pursue the insurgents in Obe and its vicinity to stabilize peace and security there.

The Taliban outfit has yet to make comment. Enditem
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As I studied the Bible, I found another truth, too. Theres opposition to the reign of King Jesus, a false kingdom controlled by the evil one. Paul put it this way: For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Eph. 6:12). It couldnt have been plainer. The evil one had his own political system, his own false kingdom, and it stood in opposition to the rule and reign of King Jesus. Those powers influenced so many in the world around us, people who lived as enemies of the Cross. What would their end be? As Paul wrote, Their destiny is destruction (Phil. 3:19).

I began to understand there was a spiritual war between the two competing kingdoms: the true kingdom of King Jesus and the false kingdom of the evil one. And that war was playing out in the world around me, influencing my friends, my family, my community, and my countrys politics. As a follower of the true King, shouldnt I do whatever it took to bring the kingdom of God to earth as it is in heaven? Shouldnt I do my best to bring love, life, peace, and spiritual prosperity to a world of chaos and death?



I continued learning about the competing kingdoms, and as I did, I shared with anyone whod listen. I shared it with my old running buddies, folks like Big Al Bolen, the redneck teacher from Arkansas whod become an atheist under the influence of his university professors. I shared it with men and women who were down and out, whod grown so dependent on government assistance that they refused to work. I shared it with women whod had abortions and the men whod paid for them. I shared and shared and shared. And as I did, I realized just how much the war between the kingdom of heaven and the false kingdom of the evil one was playing out in everyday politics in America.



Through the political process the government had removed God from the public schools and given people like Big Al atheism in its place.



Through the political process the government had legalized abortion in 1973, sanctioning the murder of millions and saddling the men and women who sought them with guilt and shame.



Through politics America had been given a welfare system that locked its people in hopeless poverty.



Through politics the government had liberalized sexuality, removed it from the confines of marriage. Through politics itd begun to call lawful what the Bible called lawlessness.

The more I paid attention, the more I saw it. The evil one  the power of this dark world was pushing his agenda down on the American people through the democratic process. The result? We were becoming more ruthless, more brutal, and more lawless. A nation of death headed for destruction.



So no matter what side of the political aisle you choose, know this: if you are a member of the kingdom, King Jesus makes demands on your life. This includes the political candidates you support, the political groups you give your money to, and the votes you cast.

Taken from Jesus Politics by Phil Robertson. Copyright  2020 by Phil Robertson. Used by permission of Thomas Nelson. www.thomasnelson.com.

This article is an excerpt from My Faith Votes influencer, Phil Robertsons new book, Jesus Politics: How to Win Back the Soul of America, available wherever books are sold. To learn more about voter registration and how to think biblically about elections, visit My Faith Votes.

My Faith Votes is a nonpartisan movement that motivates, equips and activates Christians in America to vote in every election, transforming our communities and influencing our nation with biblical truth. By partnering with national faith leaders, My Faith Votes provides resources to help Christians Pray, Think, and Act to create an America where God is honored in the public square. Learn more at MyFaithVotes.org.
Business groups, bankers and the likes of David Dodge are raising a deficit-red flag with increasing urgency these days.

Prorogation  a month of no Parliament  was meant to give the federal Liberals time to brainstorm and reset, but it has also served to galvanize a growing crowd of fiscal worrywarts who are increasingly uncomfortable with the silence around how Ottawa is going to pay for its very expensive pandemic response.

Its not the big spending on income support and emergency funding for businesses over the past six months that bothers them. Criticism on that spending is usually limited to program design and pacing rather than magnitude.

Rather, its the lack of a solid plan to keep spending in check going forward.

And they look at next weeks throne speech as a turning point at which the federal government will either choose to dive deep into debt without a second thought of the long-term consequences or seize the moment to impose some discipline.

Chances are, theyll get a taste of both  some signals of fiscal responsibility, but some signals of big and immediate spending, too. And they wont find any precise answers until the federal government issues a fiscal update of some sort later this fall.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland gave a preview of her approach on Tuesday, answering questions on fiscal discipline at a news conference meant to focus on aluminum tariffs but that quickly turned to how she can keep a lid on spending.

Her primary fiscal goal, she says, is to do what it takes to keep the virus under control. That could well mean big spending.

But she also gave a tip of the hat to fiscal hawks who are concerned her government will blow the bank.

We understand the value of wise and prudent fiscal management, she said. Canada has benefited from that approach in the past, she said, and she vowed to continue the tradition.

That kind of answer falls short of a firm target for spending, a cap on deficits or a rule for when the fiscal taps should be tapered or turned off. But for good reasons.

In part, its because Freeland is new to the job of finance minister. She now personifies how the federal Liberals deal with the biggest economic crisis of our lifetimes, and she is not about to start pontificating or making policy in public quite yet. Instead, she is in acute listening mode, on the phone with friends and foes and experts to see where they stand on the recovery.

She told reporters that she has been making calls across the country, around the world, and especially to former prime minister Paul Martin, who cut programs to square away rising deficits in the 1990s.

The lack of precision is also due to the nature of the pandemic. Cases are on the rise again, and theres talk of localized shutdowns  a mortifying scenario for small businesses and workers who fear their jobs will never return.

The single most important economic policy of our government and the best thing we can do for our economy is to keep coronavirus under control, Freeland said. I cant emphasize that enough.

What the worrywarts are mainly concerned about is that the big spending that was required during the confinement of the spring and continues to support unemployed workers and struggling companies will persist indefinitely, and even be added to as the Liberals use post-pandemic spending momentum to finance a broad range of social programs.

If theres no obvious rhyme nor reason for that spending, Canada risks losing any hope it had of attracting and maintaining investment, they argue. And at the same time, dampened growth will hurt Canadas ability to pay back the borrowed money over the long term.

If Canada is to fully recover from the COVID crisis, we need to articulate and promote a medium- and long-term plan to restore ourselves as a favoured destination for investment and to use that investment to enable forward-looking industries and entrepreneurs to make and sell what the rest of the world wants to buy from us, writes Dodge, the former Bank of Canada governor and right-hand man to Martin during the cuts of the 1990s.

This is the way to enhance the standard of living for Canadians,

There are myriad ways the federal government might do this.

Scotiabank suggests that Freeland commit to making sure the debt doesnt surpass 65 per cent of GDP  a cap that would force the government to gently taper its spending over a few years but still allow for significant deficits to finance a recovery.

Experts convened by the C.D. Howe Institute say the debt ratio should decline once the economy starts growing again.

But the advice for Freeland, solicited or not, emphasizes one key aspect: new spending should prioritize economic growth in a way that makes the country more prosperous. That way, the federal kitty grows over time, enabling generous social programs and environmental action alike.

Thats a message Freeland says she has heard loud and clear. But for now, theres little point in detailed commitments for the long term when the short term holds so much urgency and peril.

Read more about:
The Director of Elections for the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. Evans Nimako has disclosed that former President John Dramani Mahama basically failed to advise himself on his decision to contest again as flagbearer for the National Democratic Congress (NDC).



"If he did, I am sure he would not have contested again to be the party's flagbearer," he said.



Speaking on Okay FM's Ade Akye Abia programme, he explained that the former President has nothing new to provide for Ghanaians.



He said former President John Dramani Mahama having served as President and Vice President has paid his dues to this country and there is nothing left in him again to give so why the urge for a come back if not to plunge this country into hardship again.



He further added that the country has been left in the good hands of President Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo and 'Digital' Bawumia so there is no need for a change now.



Watch video below





Source: Isaac Kwame Owusu/Peacefmonline.com/[email protected]









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President Volodymyr Zelensky has invited Austrian investors to take part in the implementation of infrastructure projects in Ukraine, in particular in tunneling and the creation of ski resorts.

He said this during negotiations with Austrian Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen in Vienna on September 15, the press service of the head of state reported.

We need your highly qualified specialists in infrastructure projects. We have tunnel construction projects. I know that you are at a very high level in this area. I sincerely invite you to implement joint projects with Ukraine in our country," Zelensky said.

The President also spoke about the Great Construction program, under which more roads are being built this year than in the last decade.

Zelensky believes that the Austrian experience and investments would be extremely useful for the creation of ski resorts in our country.

The President of Ukraine informed the Austrian party about the steps taken by the Ukrainian authorities to improve business conditions and create opportunities for attracting foreign investment.

Zelensky spoke in detail about the project of the so-called investment nannies, due to which every foreign investor who is ready to invest $30 million receives favorable conditions for paying VAT, state guarantees and an individual manager.

At the same time, Zelensky recalled that Ukraine is implementing reforms, in particular land and judicial reforms, the reform of the Prosecutor General's Office, and the reform of decentralization which is at its final stage and is one of the most successful.

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Bollywood actor Sonu Sood, who became a real-life hero for helping the migrant workers during the lockdown, is all set to bring more people from Manila in the Philippines. The actor shared a post on Twitter while announcing about the fifth flight from the Philippines. In the post, the actor wrote that the fifth flight from Delhi- Manila - Delhi will leave on September 18 from Delhi.

Sonu Sood arranges another flight from the Philippines

Further in the post, the actor wrote that things get better with every passing time and similar is the case with the people. He added and wrote that once again he has started the preparation to bring back the people so that they can drink a cup of tea with their family members.hai. At last, the actor wrote that nothing can stop him from helping the people.

Read: Sonu Sood Launches Scholarship Program For Underprivileged Students In Late Mother's Name

Read: Surekha Sikri Is Doing Fine, Is In Able Hands, Confirms Actor Sonu Sood

Duniya chalti rahegi, hum badte rahenge.

Ek aur baar aapke ghar aane ki taiyaari ho chuki hai..phir se gharwalon ke saath chai peene ka waqt aane wala hai..

Announcing my fifth flight from Phillipines.

Delhi - Manila - Delhi on 18th September.

Jai hind   sonu sood (@SonuSood) September 16, 2020

Earlier, back in August, the actor shared his happiness of welcoming the first set of people from the Philippines to India. The actor shared the post on his Instagram story where he expressed his curiosity about seeing the people meeting their loved ones finally after a long time. Apart from this, the Dabangg actor wrote that those who are still stuck back in Manila; he is still making some arrangements for them to return back to their homeland and can meet their families as soon as possible. The actor had earlier informed that he will try to reach out to all in batches. At last, he wrote that he will work until everyone is safely back home. Apart from this, the 46-year-old actor also arranged flight from Bishkek in Kyrgystan to New Delhi in July fir the students stuck in Kyrgystan.

Meanwhile, on the work front, the Happy New Year actor who was last seen in the much-loved movie, Simmba, starring Sara Ali Khan, Ranveer Singh, and Sonu in the leading roles. Meanwhile, the actor was last seen in the Kannada film titled Kurukshetra, along with movies like Devi 2, Abhinetri 2, Sita, & Alludu Adhurs. His upcoming movies include like Prithviraj and Thamilarasan.

Read: Sonu Sood Has Rib-tickling Response For A Fan Who Painted His Face On SIM Card

Read: Sonu Sood Promises To Help A Person With His Father's Gallbladder Surgery
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Commitment 2020: Amanda Adkins says rival Sharice Davids pushing a 'shutdown culture' Amanda Adkins said Tuesday at the Johnson County Republican's monthly meeting that Kansas 3rd District campaign rival and Democratic incumbent Sharice Davids is driving a "shutdown culture."Davids is the first-term Democrat seeking reelection in the district that represents most of the metro on the Kansas side of the state line.Adkins told the Republican activists the "shutdown culture" includes restricting the economy, business and the schools."She says she's not interested in spending much more federal money on COVID relief unless it goes to specifics areas," Adkins said.

Kansas 3rd District Congressional Debate Over Coronavirus Shutdowns . . . The conservative contender hopes that voters weary of the pandemic will flip the district back to the GOP . . . It's a worthwhile argument about policy and perspective that makes the argument local rather than fighting over culture war issues that don't really impact local lives beyond cable news preferences . . . Checkit:
The Haryana Human Rights Commission has directed Panchkula civil surgeon to inquire into allegations of overcharging by a private hospital and charging for tests that were never conducted.

Congress leader Ranjeeta Mehta tested positive for Covid-19 and was referred to Paras Hospital on August 29 and discharged on September 1. She alleged that she was charged for PPE kits, N-95 masks and tests that were never done.

The complainant has levelled allegations regarding overcharging by Paras Hospital. And for redressal of her grievances, she should have filed a complaint before the consumer court, read the order of the Commission.

However, since she has also alleged charging for tests like ECG, which in fact were not conducted, a copy of both the complaints received on September 3 and 7 should be sent to Panchkula civil surgeon, with a direction to inquire into the matter and dispose of the same, the order further read.
The chief project engineer for Boeings 737 Max jet told House investigators that he approved a critical design change to software on the plane, even though he was unaware of key details about how it worked or of a previous warning from a test pilot that if the system malfunctioned, the results could be catastrophic.

That was what happened in October 2018, and again the following March, when the software forced down the noses of two of the new planes in a way their pilots could not overcome, causing crashes that killed 346 people.

The engineers acknowledgement is one of several revelations contained in a new report released on Wednesday by investigators from the House Transportation Committee. The document details myriad gaps in oversight that allowed federal regulators to certify the plane was safe to fly, even though officials at both Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration did not fully understand how it was designed.

After months of delays by the FAA, the investigators in May were allowed to view a draft oversight report written months after the initial Max crash in Indonesia. The February 2019 draft report considered Boeings actions in the years before the deadly incident, and its conclusions shocked investigators.

The FAAs examination did not reveal any noncompliance by Boeing, according to the document, meaning that the company was found to have followed federal safety regulations even though the result was a flawed plane.

About a month after that draft report was prepared, according to investigators, the second Max crashed, this time in Ethiopia.

Thats the bureaucratic word. It was compliant. But the problem is it was compliant and not safe. And people died, Transportation Committee chairman Peter DeFazio, D-Ore, said. Obviously, the system is inadequate.

Rescuers scour through the rubble of a crashed jet in Ethiopia in an attempt to find survivors (AFP/Getty)

The final committee report on the Max offers the clearest indication yet that Boeing  or the unit tasked with overseeing the certification process on the FAA's behalf  could have caught flaws in the Maxs flight control system during the airplanes design stage.

But it failed to act on concerns that were raised about the flawed manoeuvering characteristics augmentation system (MCAS), which was identified as a factor in both crashes. The Boeing employees were driven in part by what investigators concluded was pressure to get the new planes to customers quickly and without requiring their pilots to undergo extensive retraining  a goal symbolised by countdown clocks on the wall of a conference room, according to the report.

The House investigators concluded that the two crashes in less than five months were the horrific culmination of a series of faulty technical assumptions by Boeings engineers, a lack of transparency on the part of Boeings management, and grossly insufficient oversight by the FAA.

The facts laid out in this report document a disturbing pattern of technical miscalculations and troubling management misjudgments made by Boeing, investigators concluded. It also illuminates numerous oversight lapses and accountability gaps by the FAA that played a significant role in the 737 Max crashes.

Investigators said Boeing had multiple missed opportunities that could have shifted the trajectory of the Maxs design and development toward a safer course. The FAA had a series of its own missed opportunities, the report concluded.

Boeing 737 Max jets were grounded around the world after the two crashes in 2018 and 2019 (Getty)

The two crashes are clear evidence that the current regulatory system is fundamentally flawed and needs to be repaired, investigators concluded.

FAA officials have testified that the agency has learned lessons from the crashes and have defended the federal oversight system, saying it has helped produce a stellar safety record overall.

These tragic accidents should not have happened, FAA administrator Stephen M Dickson said in congressional testimony in June. We continue to work tirelessly to see that the lessons learned from these accidents will result in a higher margin of safety for the aviation industry globally.

But the extent of the agencys efforts to address its failures remains uncertain, and lawmakers in both the House and Senate are now considering ways to strengthen the FAAs oversight of Boeing and other aviation companies.

Defazio said he is seeking bipartisan agreement in the House on legislative fixes to the oversight process, and talks are ongoing. A Senate committee is scheduled to consider a bipartisan proposal at a meeting on Wednesday.

Boeing, in a statement, said it cooperated fully and extensively with the committee's inquiry.

We have been hard at work strengthening our safety culture and rebuilding trust with our customers, regulators, and the flying public, spokesman Bradley N Akubuiro said. The passengers and crew on board Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, as well as their loved ones, continue to be in our thoughts and prayers.

Lion Air Flight 610 crashed into the Java Sea 13 minutes after take-off (Getty)

Akubuiro noted that Boeing has incorporated many of the recommendations contained in previous reports from review committees, experts and governmental authorities, as well as from its own internal reviews, into the 737 Max and the overall aircraft design process. He said Boeing has set up a new safety organisation within the company to enhance and standardise safety practices and made internal changes designed to give engineers a stronger voice and a more direct line to share concerns with top management.

In addition, its board of directors now includes a permanent Aerospace Safety Committee, and it has expanded the role of the Safety Promotion Centre.

The revised design of the Max has received intensive internal and regulatory review, including more than 375,000 engineering and test hours and 1,300 test flights, Akubuiro said. Once the FAA and other regulators have determined the Max can safely return to service, it will be one of the most thoroughly scrutinised aircraft in history, and we have full confidence in its safety.

The FAA said in a statement that it was committed to continually advancing aviation safety and looks forward to working with the committee to implement improvements identified in its report.

We are already undertaking important initiatives based on what we have learned from our own internal reviews as well as independent reviews of the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines accidents. These initiatives are focused on advancing overall aviation safety by improving our organization, processes, and culture, the agency said.

The FAA said it has published a notice of a proposed rulemaking for an airworthiness directive that will mandate a number of design changes to the Boeing 737 Max before it returns to passenger service. The FAA continues to follow a thorough process, not a prescribed timeline, for returning the aircraft to service.

The Max remains grounded by aviation authorities worldwide, but it is expected to be cleared to fly again in coming months, following an overhaul of the MCAS software. The process of ungrounding the planes moved ahead Monday, when international regulators began meeting at Londons Gatwick airport to review training requirements for Max pilots.

Michael Stumo, whose daughter Samya died in the second crash, said the report showed that recertification of the Max needed to be stopped.

The FAA and Boeing hid information before and are doing it again, Stumo said in a statement, saying the victims families still did not have technical data on the fixes to the planes that they are seeking under the Freedom of Information Act.

Boeing missed multiple opportunities to make the 737 Max jet safer, US authorities said (Getty)

The report draws from interviews with key Boeing executives, top FAA safety officials and others with knowledge of the crashes. Investigators wrote that even months after two fatal crashes, officials at Boeing and the FAA still refused to acknowledge problems with the approval process.

Despite the sweeping and substantive problems that have been identified by this committee's investigation as well as various other investigations, both Boeing and the FAA have suggested that the certification of the 737 Max was compliant with FAA regulations, investigators found.

The House report highlights the roles of senior Boeing and FAA officials in the development of the jet and responding to the crashes, outlining interviews with Michael Teal, the Max project engineer, Keith Leverkuhn, Boeings former general manager for the Max, and Ali Bahrami, the head of the FAAs safety branch.

The report describes the Boeing officials as extraordinarily reluctant to acknowledge any missteps or mistakes and Bahrami as unphased by many of the revelations that have deeply disturbed many aviation experts and engineers about the Max.

Bahrami told investigators when he was interviewed in December that he could not recall any conversations with Boeing about the Max in the period between the two crashes, and that he was unaware of an FAA analysis concluding that the jet would continue to crash.

It was surprising to the committee that Mr Bahrami appeared to be largely disengaged from the aftermath and repercussions of the Lion Air accident, the investigators wrote, referring to the 29 October 2018 crash of a Max into the Java Sea off the coast of Indonesia that killed all eight crew members and 181 passengers on board.

Teal told investigators that while he didnt know some of the details of how the MCAS software worked, he relied on the advice of the engineers on the Max program.

The report also identified multiple incidents in which Boeing employees granted special authority by the FAA to represent the agencys interests and ensure that the 737 Maxs systems and designs are compliant with regulations failed to disclose critical information that could have made the 737 Max safer. It said the employees raised concerns internally that were never relayed to the FAA.

In June 2016, one of the employees was worried about MCAS countering the pilots commands during a test flight and the potential for faulty sensor data to cause problems with the system. The employees colleagues discounted the concerns, according to the report. But problems with the connection between the sensors and MCAS have been identified as a major factor in the two crashes.

Similarly, internal Boeing documents regularly referred to the test pilots delay of more than 10 seconds in responding to MCAS in a flight simulator, but the finding was not disseminated more widely.

The committee has found no evidence that Boeing shared this information with the FAA, its customers, or 737 Max pilots and Boeing has confirmed to the committee that it found no record showing it shared any of these MCAS Coordination Sheets with the FAA because they were not required to do so, according to the report.

The relationship between Boeing and its overseers at the FAA has been a particular focus for lawmakers, and there are signs that it continues to be troubled. Employees in the FAAs safety branch surveyed by an agency contractor said they continued to feel under pressure to meet the demands of Boeing and other companies, and said that too little had been done to impose internal accountability for the Max crashes.

One reason people distrust upper management is because of communications from leadership that our processes are fine, even after 340-plus people died, an employee said during a focus group.

The Senate legislation would give the FAA greater say over which Boeing employees are empowered to act on its behalf.
Yuri Milner was the first student from the Soviet Union to gain acceptance to a U.S. MBA program. In 1990, he joined Wharton and then dropped out.

A Wharton MBA dropout and self-made multi-billionaire Yuri Milner and his wife Julia, today (Sept. 15) made a $10 million pledge to create the Friends of Israel MBA Fund. The new fellowship will fund full-tuition financial support to Israeli MBA students at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Over the next decade, more than 60 students are expected to benefit from The Friends of Israel MBA Fund with a full ride on tuition over the course of the two-year MBA program. The fellowship is dedicated to Israeli students  including those who have completed Israeli military service, attended an Israeli undergraduate institution, or worked at an Israeli company. The school said that the term funding will provide immediate support, enabling the school to reach, welcome, and support exceptional international students through offering generous financial aid packages.

In 1990, Milner was the first student from the Soviet Union to be admitted to a U.S. business school. He applied on the advice of his father, an economist in Moscow. It was an eye-opening experience for someone who had been working two jobs to pay the rent on an apartment and who drove a car around Moscow selling gray market computers out of a trunk. Ultimately, Milner never completed his MBA program. He dropped out of Wharton. Some 25 years later, in 2016, he was invited back to give the commencement speech, during which he joked about having dropped out of university twice: at Wharton and from a Ph.D. program in the Soviet Union.

ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL SOCIAL MEDIA INVESTORS IN THE WORLD

Milner is Russias most influential tech investor, one of the most successful backers of social media, with an estimated net worth of $4.4 billion, according to Forbes. He is among the worlds billionaires who have taken the Giving Pledge to publicly commit to giving the majority of their wealth to philanthropy. A citizen of Israel, he was an early backer of Facebook and Twitter through his venture fund, DST Global. He has also invested in Spotify and Airbnb as well as such Chinese tech companies as online retailers Alibaba and JD. Com, and mobile phone maker Xiaomi. Milner and his wife Julia partnered with Sergey Brin, Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg, and Anne Wojcicki to launch the Breakthrough Prizes  the worlds largest scientific awards, honoring important, primarily recent, achievements in Fundamental Physics, Life Sciences and Mathematics.

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As a former international student myself, I know the transformative impact that an education in America and at Wharton can have, said Milner in a statement. Israel, too, has been an important home for me and my family, and our bond with the country remains strong. My hope is that this scholarship will support talented individuals to look beyond the horizon and pursue their vision of what the world can be, and that the state of Israel will benefit from the expertise in business and entrepreneurship that Wharton program graduates will bring back home.

The school called Milners commitment a historic investment in student aid, an area of focus for the Wharton Schools current fundraising campaign. Fellowship funding provides the means for Wharton to provide competitive financial aid to the worlds best and brightest students, breaks down barriers toward their attendance, and enables their full immersion into the Wharton MBA experience, according to the school. International students like those who will benefit from the Friends of Israel MBA Fund bring their global experience to enrich the student community and ultimately the Wharton alumni network and business community at large.

$10 MILLION GIFT CREATES THE FRIENDS OF ISRAEL MBA FUND

Yuris philanthropy has been as visionary as his distinguished business career. He is one of the founders of the acclaimed Breakthrough Prize, which recognizes pioneering achievements in the sciences, added Penn President Amy Gutmann in a statement. Now, with his exceptional gift creating the Friends of Israel MBA Fund, the foundation through Yuri and Julia has created another forward-looking philanthropic initiative. We are profoundly grateful to Yuri and to the foundation for supporting the graduate students who will become tomorrows global business leaders.

Israel has become a global center of innovation and Wharton has long helped train the top entrepreneurs and business leaders across the world. This is a perfect match, said Ron Dermer, Israels Ambassador to the United States. As a Wharton alumnus, Im delighted that other Israelis will benefit from this unique experience.

We are thrilled by the foundations commitment to supporting the best and brightest MBA candidates from the Israeli community, said Wharton Dean Erika James. As part of the Wharton family, Mr. Milners dedication to welcoming international talent advances the Schools mission to foster a diverse and inclusive student cohort benefitting the entire community.

In July 2015, together with Stephen Hawking, Yuri launched the $100 million Breakthrough Listen initiative to reinvigorate the search for extraterrestrial intelligence in the universe, and in April 2016 they launched Breakthrough Starshot  a $100 million research and engineering program seeking to develop a technology for interstellar travel. All these philanthropic initiatives are funded by the Breakthrough Foundation established by Yuri and Julia Milner. Mr. Milner was the keynote speaker at the 2017 Wharton MBA Graduation Ceremony.

DONT MISS: LARGEST GIFTS TO BUSINESS SCHOOLS or MEET WHARTONS MBA CLASS OF 2021

The post A Wharton Dropout Gives $10 Million For Full Rides To Israeli MBA Students appeared first on Poets&Quants.
London: Prime Minister Boris Johnson said a second coronavirus lockdown would be "disastrous" for the British economy, even as residents of north-eastern England prepared for more stringent restrictions in response to an uptick in cases.

Johnson also appeared to pour cold water on his earlier optimism for rapid, pregnancy-style coronavirus infectiousness tests by Christmas.

Appearing before the Commons Liaison Committee for only the second time since his elevation to Downing Street in 2019, Johnson said the science behind the so-called "freedom passport" tests was still some way off.

"I don't want a second national lockdown," Johnson said. "I think it would be completely wrong for this country and we are going to do everything in our power to prevent it."
His brother Robert said Mr. Jaffe died of complications of leukemia at his home in Harlem.

Mr. Jaffe was a fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, a conservative research group that studies urban affairs. He promoted some ideas that he called politically incorrect  that some people never recover from mental illness, for example, and that seriously mentally ill people are often violent.

He was also the author of Insane Consequences: How the Mental Health Industry Fails the Mentally Ill (2017). The book, an indictment of the system, said that while billions were spent on mental wellness for the general population, programs for those with the most serious mental health issues were vastly underfunded.

He further wrote that the criteria for involuntary commitment were being so narrowed that laws were essentially requiring people to become violent before they could be ordered into treatment. Mr. Jaffe espoused what he called treatment before tragedy.

Image Credit... .

In an op-ed article in The Washington Post, Mr. Jaffe pointed to the stark example of the young man who killed 17 students and staff members in Parkland, Fla., in 2018. Many people, including the shooters family, had known that he was seriously ill, Mr. Jaffe wrote, but the system had prevented anyone from getting him help before it was too late.

Don Lyle Jaffe was born on Nov. 21, 1954, in New Rochelle, N.Y., to Saul and Phyllis (Stohn) Jaffe. His mother was a stockbroker; his father owned a commercial photo lab. Mr. Jaffe, who went by DJ, grew up in nearby Edgemont, a suburb north of New York City. He graduated from New York University with bachelors and masters degrees in accounting in the late 1970s.

Mr. Jaffe was recruited by Coopers & Lybrand, the accounting firm, which later became PricewaterhouseCoopers, and he moved to Chicago. Only then, by his account, did he realize that he hated accounting. After putting out the word that he was available, he was recruited by an advertising agency and moved back to New York.
For National HBCU Week (Sept. 20-26) , Lifelong Learning , a nonprofit educational services organization that supports Learn4Life and FLEX High, is celebrating a new partnership with the 1890 Universities Foundation , that provides students opportunities for increased exposure and acceptance to HBCUs, with support services to be successful in college. The 1890 Universities Foundation serves a network of nineteen universities in the United States designated through the Morrill Land Grand Act of 1890 as a historically black college or university.

Click to tweet: HBCUs, @FLEXHighSchool & @Learn4Life do it right: develop learners through personalized learning & one-on-one support to increases access and success for at-risk students pursuing higher ed #HBCUWeek

FLEX High student Dreama Swanigan, 18, has always wanted to go to college. Although she had many struggles growing up  surviving cancer, the trauma of losing a sister and even being homeless for a time  she was eager to learn and determined to go to a university. At age 16, she enrolled at Learn4Life which offered a flexible schedule so she could take classes at a community college while earning her diploma. Dreama just graduated with honors and has been accepted to Central State University (CSU), an HBCU in Ohio. Because of COVID-19, Dreama will postpone going to CSU until the spring, and will instead attend Columbus State Community College for the Fall 2020 semester.

With this collaboration, students have access to 1890 Foundation college representatives at events such as College Fairs and FAFSA Nights (for federal student aid). Learn4Life and FLEX High help students with applications, student aid programs, dual enrollment and even provides transportation to exciting campus tours of their preferred college. Each year, four Learn4Life and FLEX High students will receive a $2500 scholarship to an 1890 Foundation member HBCU. Dreama is the first FLEX High student to be awarded the scholarship.

Learn4Life and FLEX High serve more Black students and graduate them at a higher rate than traditional public schools. Their model provides personalized learning and one-on-one instruction, which is highly effective for teens who need more attention and a program that fits their learning style. A flexible schedule is ideal for students who have fallen behind because they must deal with adult responsibilities, like caring for a baby or needing to work. For Dreama, she could adapt her high school schedule to include time for dual enrollment college classes.

Although HBCUs were originally founded to provide higher education opportunities for African Americans, they have enrolled and graduated many students, regardless of their ethnicity, race or income level. Recent alumni of Learn4Life and FLEX High are enrolled in 10 HBCUs. For more information about the schools and their partnership with the 1890 Foundation, visit www.learn4life.org/hbcu-partnerships or www.flexhighohio.org/hbcu-partnerships.

About Lifelong Learning

Lifelong Learning helps schools and districts focus on what matters most  the students. We are a nonprofit educational service organization dedicated to providing schools an array of services tailored to their needs. We work behind the scenes so they can concentrate on improving educational outcomes. For more information, please visit www.llac.org.

About Learn4Life

Learn4Life is a network of nonprofit public schools that provides students personalized learning, career training and life skills. Each school is locally controlled, tuition free and gives students the flexibility and one-on-one attention they need to succeed. Serving more than 49,000 students  including full-time and intersession students  we help them prepare for a future beyond high school. For more information, please visit www.learn4life.org.

About FLEX High

FLEX High's mission is to empower students to attain high academic achievement while empowering them to reach their post-secondary dreams and goals. We fulfill this by implementing a student-centered approach to personalized blended and remote learning. With schools in Ohio and Michigan, FLEX High is focused on helping students graduate to a better life beyond high school. For more information, please visit www.flexhigh.org.

MEDIA CONTACT

Ann Abajian, Learn4Life

(844) 515-8186

[email protected]

SOURCE Lifelong Learning

Related Links

www.learn4life.org


An Australian bookstore has banned the Harry Potter series to make the shop a 'safer space'.

Rabble Books and Games, in Maylands, Perth, announced on Wednesday it would cease stocking JK Rowling novels after she was accused of transphobia over her latest book.

Owner Nat Latter said on Facebook the store would 'not put books by transphobes on the shelves' and asked customers for suggested alternatives.

Rabble Books and Games announced on Wednesday the Western Australia store would cease stocking JK Rowling (pictured) novels

Rabble Books and Games owner Nat Latter said on Wednesday the store would 'not put books by transphobes on the shelves' (pictured)

'Whilst stocking a book isn't an endorsement (good grief, that would be a minefield), and we will always take orders for books that aren't in stock, there are more worthy books to put on the shelf, books that don't harm communities and won't make us sad to unpack them,' she wrote.

'We are always trying to make Rabble a safer space for our community, and part of that is trying not to put books by transphobes on the shelves, when we know about them.'

Rowling has been criticised for her views on transgender people since tweeting her support for a researcher who was sacked for her own views on the topic.

In June the bestselling author made headlines again after she mocked an online article on Twitter for using the words 'people who menstruate' instead of 'women'.

The 55-year-old was hit by what she described as 'relentless attacks' after writing: 'I'm sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?'

Her remarks sparked backlash from Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson and Eddie Redmayne, stars of the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts movies.

Rabble Books and Games in Western Australia (pictured) will cease stocking JK Rowling books, including titles under Rowling's pseudonym Robert Galbraith

The acclaimed novelist's remarks sparked backlash from celebrities including Daniel Radcliffe (centre), Rupert Grint (left), Emma Watson (right) and Eddie Redmayne, who all starred in Rowling's Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts movies

Rowling's viewpoints on transgender people came under fire after mocking an online article on Twitter for using the words 'people who menstruate' instead of 'women' (pictured)

Rowling became embroiled in another trans row on Sunday after an early review of the her latest novel, Troubled Blood, by The Telegraph revealed it featured a 'transvestite serial killer' who wore women's clothing while murdering his victims.

The review caused some social media users to label Troubled Blood as 'transphobic' and 'really painful' - and the backlash caused #RIPJKRowling to trend on Twitter.

Others said the book is not transphobic at all and over-eager detractors should read it before jumping to conclusions.

Mailonline columnist Piers Morgan added: 'The fact #RIPJKRowling is trending says all you need to know about the woke brigade - they're nastier and more viciously intolerant than anyone they preach about.'
A Pentagon spokesman pushed back on Tuesday on a claim by US Senator Ron Johnson that officials in Washington are considering a withdrawal of US forces from the Incirlik airbase in Turkey and looking to the Greek island of Crete as an alternative.

US Army Lt. Col. Thomas Campbell told the Anadolu Agency that the Pentagon has no plans to end our presence at Incirlik airbase.

Johnson told The Washington Examiner on Friday that US officials were considering shifting forces to Souda Bay on Crete, where the US Navy maintains a presence at the deep-water NATO port.

We don't know what's gonna happen to Incirlik, Johnson, a Republican of Wisconsin, said last week. We hope for the best, but we have to plan for the worst.

I dont think we want to make that strategic shift, but I think, from a defensive posture, I think we have to look at the reality of the situation that the path that Erdogan is on is not good, he told The Examiner.

The lawmaker called Erdogans policies disturbing, saying they are among the reasons the United States is beefing up its presence on Crete, because our presence, quite honestly, in Turkey is certainly threatened.

US relations with Turkey have weakened in recent years. The fissure was widened by US support for the Kurdish-led Peoples Protection Units (YPG)  which Ankara considers a terror organization  in Syria during the war against the Islamic State.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogans government agreed to purchase Russias S-400 missile defense system despite warnings from the United States. Washington then kicked Ankara out of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program.

Congress has pushed the Donald Trump administration to impose economic sanctions on Turkey for the S-400 purchase, but the administration has offered Ankara a potential way out of the sanctions if it does not activate the system.

Erdogan threatened late last year to close Incirlik and the base at Kurecik, where the United States also has military forces, if Washington imposes sanctions. In addition to the US Air Force presence, Incirlik also houses US nuclear weapons, considered an important deterrent against Russia.

The US State Department has been circumspect about criticizing its NATO ally, even as Turkey invaded northeast Syria to attack the YPG last year, sending US forces scrambling to get out of the way.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo took a rare jab at Ankara this week, saying only Turkey and Iran oppose a US-brokered agreement for Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates to recognize Israel.

Earlier month, the United States relaxed part of its decades-long arms embargo on Cyprus, allowing for non-lethal defense equipment to be sold to the island nation.

Ankara strongly condemned the move and threatened to take unspecified unilateral action if the United States did not reverse course.

US Ambassador to Cyprus Judith Garber said at the time the embargo modification had been in process for months as part of a growing [US] security partnership with Cyprus."

Garber said the decision was part of a push to get Cyprus to limit Russias naval access to the island. The United States has been increasingly concerned about Russia's expanding Mediterranean presence.
Queen Elizabeth Will No Longer Serve as Barbados's Head of State

"The time has come to fully leave our colonial past behind.

Queen Elizabeth II just endured a professional rite of passage we doubt shes had much experience with: getting fired. The monarch will no longer serve as Barbadoss head of state as the country moves to become a republic by November 2021, which marks the 55th anniversary of their independence from the British empire.

Sean Gallup/Getty Images

"The time has come to fully leave our colonial past behind, Barbadoss Governor-General said on Tuesday, reading from a speech written by Prime Minister Mia Mottley. Barbadians want a Barbadian Head of State. This is the ultimate statement of confidence in who we are and what we are capable of achieving.

In addition to the U.K., the Queen serves as head of state to 15 countries that were once under British colonial control, including Australia, Belize, Canada, New Zealand, and Jamaica.

RELATED: Whatever You Do, Don't Touch Queen Elizabeth's Purse

Fellow Caribbean countries and former British colonies Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Dominica all became republics in the 70s. The last country to remove the monarch as their head of state was Mauritius in 1992.
The National Park Service can be held financially responsible for failing to warn residents a raging inferno was headed toward Gatlinburg in 2016, a federal judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Ronnie Greer swatted down the NPS bid to escape a trial in lawsuits filed by victims and survivors of those who died in the Gatlinburg wildfires, which claimed 14 lives, damaged or destroyed 2,500 homes and caused $2 billion in damage.

Greer ruled Tuesday the NPS fell far short of its mandatory duty to warn Great Smoky Mountains National Park visitors and residents in nearby communities in the days and hours leading up to the fatal fires.

Based on the record, has the United States met its burden and showed that the National Park Service notified or informed Park Neighbors, Park visitors, and local residents of all planned and unplanned fire management activities that have the potential to impact them? Greer wrote.

No, he concluded.

The fire began on the remote Chimney Tops peaks inside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on Nov. 23, 2016, during a record-setting drought. Greg Salansky, the parks fire management officer, decided to try to contain the fire rather than attack it directly despite forecasts of high winds and critically dry conditions.

Salansky, Greers opinion stated, didnt warn Gatlinburg leaders for five days that the fire  originally an acre in size  was spreading fast and headed for residential neighborhoods surrounding the Smokies.

Even when a warning came, the opinion stated, it was about smoke, not fire.

Immunity stripped

Michael Reed, who lost his wife and two daughters in the Thanksgiving weekend wildfire that swept through Gatlinburg, and 211 other property owners are suing the NPS, arguing rangers left the town to burn as high-speed winds sent a wall of fire roaring out of the national park.

Greers ruling paves the way for a jury trial in the case, although the Justice Department likely will seek an appeal.

A Knox News investigation showed Salansky opted not to attack the fire directly, didnt immediately order containment lines to be dug and waited four days to order water drops by airplane and helicopter. Most of the fire crews staff was on vacation due to the holiday. No one called them in.

Local officials learned about the fire on Nov. 28, 2016, when a Gatlinburg fire captain called Salansky about the clouds of smoke hanging over town  and didnt learn until 12:30 p.m. the fire was headed their way.

When winds topped 60 mph around 6 p.m., the fire wrapped around the city on both sides. Most of the fires victims, including Reeds wife and daughters, died on the western side of town, where police and firefighters delivering evacuation notices failed to reach everyone in time.

Under governmental immunity law, citizens dont have the legal right to challenge discretionary decisions by government agencies even if those decisions are bad and lead to death and destruction.

But Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas Phillips last year ruled the Park Services duty to warn citizens about fires in the Smokies was mandatory. That ruling stripped the agency of legal immunity.

Press releases, web posts not enough

The Justice Department fought back, though.

At a hearing earlier this year, the Justice Department argued the NPS issued press releases, an E-blast mass email, and posts on social media and websites to update residents about the Chimney Tops fire.

But Greer ruled the notices fell short of satisfying the NPS own mandate on warning citizens about fire threats in the Smokies.

The information posted on the websites gave notice to the visitors of the Parks website, Greer wrote. The Instagram posts may have given notice to the people who follow the Park on Instagram, etc.

But posting information on websites and social media accounts is not the same as notifying Park neighbors, Park visitors and local residents ... of all planned and unplanned fire management activities that have the potential to impact them, Greer wrote.

Thanks to our friends at the Knoxville (TN) News Sentinel for allowing us to share this story with our readers. The original story can be found at https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/crime/2020/09/09/national-park-service-failed-warn-gatlinburg-wildfires-judge-rules/5752222002/

Email Jamie Satterfield at jamie.satterfield@knoxnews.com and follow her on Twitter @jamiescoop.
A memorial plaque to Hero of Ukraine, Ukrainian journalist Georgiy Gongadze has been unveiled on the facade of the building of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine in Kyiv.

"Today, the Cultural Heritage Protection Department [of the Kyiv City State Administration] has unveiled a memorial plaque to prominent Ukrainian journalist, Hero of Ukraine Georgiy Gongadze. Georgiy made a huge contribution to the development of Ukraine's independence, the development of independent media and freedom of speech. He laid down his life for Ukraine. The audacious assassination became a starting point in the Ukrainian journalism," said Oleksandr Nykoriak, director of the Cultural Heritage Protection Department of the Kyiv City State Administration at the unveiling ceremony, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

Chairperson of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine Serhiy Tomilenko noted that the vast majority of journalists currently working in the media work "under the sign of fate" of Georgiy Gongadze. According to him, Gongadze's fate shows how dangerous the profession of a journalist is.

"Dozens of incidents of physical aggression are recorded every year. Since the beginning of the current year, we have registered 49 such cases. Journalists are harassed, beaten, cameras are damaged, [offenders] try to impede journalists work," Tomilenko said.

The 20th anniversary of the disappearance of Ukrainian journalist Georgiy Gongadze is marked today, on September 16.

Georgiy Gongadze (1969-2000) was a Ukrainian journalist, founder and first editor-in-chief of the Ukrayinska Pravda online newspaper. He was born in Tbilisi. Gongadze started visiting Ukraine in the late 1980s as a representative of the information agency of the Peoples Front of Georgia. The journalist worked for the Lviv office of the People's Movement of Ukraine and cooperated with a number of Ukrainian media outlets after the USSR had collapsed.

In April 2000, Gongadze founded the Ukrayinska Pravda online newspaper. Six months later, on September 16, the journalist went missing.

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India is only the second country in the world after the United States to record more than five million cumulative cases.

Indias coronavirus cases surged past five million on Wednesday after the federal Ministry of Health reported a single-day jump of 90,123 cases over the last 24 hours.

India is only the second country in the world to confirm more than five million cumulative cases after the United States.

The countrys death toll from COVID-19 rose to 82,066, the ministry said, after 1,290 people died from the disease in the last 24 hours.

Indias caseload is closing in on the US, which has reported more than 6.6 million cases, and with the outbreak still spreading is expected to surpass it within weeks.

India reported a record daily high of 97,570 cases on September 11 and has added more than one million cases this month alone.

Experts warned that Indias COVID-19 fatality rate could increase in coming weeks with lockdown restrictions relaxed except in high-risk areas.

But authorities ruled out imposing a second countrywide lockdown as recoveries were growing at more than 78 percent.

Low fatality rate

Indias COVID-19 fatality rate is 1.6 percent, much lower than 3 percent each in the United States and Brazil, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

Dr Gagandeep Kang, an infectious diseases expert from Christian Medical College in Vellore in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, said the number of cases increasing in India was inevitable.

But the country still had the opportunity to try and restrict cases through a strategy of testing and isolating the affected places.

The Ministry of Health said 155 health workers, including 46 doctors, have died so far due to COVID-19 [File: Amit Dave/Reuters]

Kang said, The goal was for India to do enough testing to bring down test positivity rate, or fraction of tests that test positive to less than 5 percent or even less than 1 percent.

Most of Indias deaths are concentrated in its large cities  Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and Pune. But smaller urban centres in Maharashtra state like Nagpur or Jalgaon have also reported more than 1,000 deaths.

Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said on Tuesday that only about 6 percent of the coronavirus patients in India were on oxygen  0.31 percent on ventilators, 2.17 percent on intensive care unit beds with oxygen and 3.69 percent on oxygen beds.

Virus spreading across rural areas

Maharashtra with more than one million cases remains the worst affected state in India, followed by Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh. These states account for more than 60 percent of coronavirus cases in the country.

The Ministry of Health said 155 health workers, including 46 doctors, have died so far due to COVID-19.

Indias meagre health resources are poorly divided across the country. Nearly 600 million Indians live in rural areas, and with the virus spreading fast across Indias vast hinterlands, health experts worry that hospitals could be overwhelmed.

Nationwide, India is testing more than one million samples per day, exceeding the World Health Organizations benchmark of 140 tests per million people. But many of these are antigen tests, which look for virus proteins and are faster but less accurate compared with RT-PCR, the gold standard for confirming the coronavirus by its genetic code.

With the economy contracting by a record 24 percent in the April-June quarter leaving millions jobless, the Indian government is continuing with relaxing lockdown restrictions that were imposed in late March. The government in May announced a $266bn stimulus package, but consumer demand and manufacturing are yet to recover.

A large number of offices, shops, businesses, liquor shops, bars and restaurants have reopened. Restricted domestic and international evacuation flights are being operated every day along with train services.

Schools and colleges will remain closed till September 30.
The European Union will create its agency for biomedical research, Reuters reported referring to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

She also said that the EU will convene a global health summit in Italy next year to better prepare for future pandemics. Von der Leyen said she would propose strengthening the European Medicines Agency and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, and the creation of a European agency for advanced biomedical research and development.

And because this was a global crisis we need to learn the global lessons. This is why, along with Prime Minister Conte and the Italian G20 Presidency, I will convene a global health summit next year in Italy, she said told EU lawmakers in her annual state of the union address.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky met with President of the National Council (Parliament) of the Republic of Austria Wolfgang Sobotka to discuss bilateral relations between the countries and the ceasefire in Donbas.

Volodymyr Zelensky spoke in detail about the situation in the east and all the efforts Ukraine makes to achieve peace, the press service of the Head of State informs.

In turn, Wolfgang Sobotka stressed that Austria had a large Ukrainian diaspora and that official Vienna supported Ukraine on many international platforms. Austria wants to remain a reliable partner for Ukraine, he noted.

Zelensky and the President of the Austrian Parliament discussed in detail the issues of holding elections in the temporarily uncontrolled territories of Donbas. The President of Ukraine stressed the impossibility of holding these elections before the withdrawal of foreign troops and illegal armed groups, the return of Ukraine's control over these territories. In addition, elections must be fair and transparent and held in accordance with international standards, he stressed.

Zelensky also expressed a hope that Ukraine and Austria would resume bilateral cooperation up to the level reached before the COVID-19 pandemic. Wolfgang Sobotka thanked the President of Ukraine for the efforts made in overcoming the consequences of the coronavirus epidemic.

As reported, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and First Lady Olena Zelenska make a state visit to Austria on September 15-16.

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The agreements do not address the decades-long conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, who view the pacts as a stab in the back

(L-R)Bahrain Foreign Minister Abdullatif al-Zayani, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump, and UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan hold up documents after participating in the signing of the Abraham Accords where the countries of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates recognize Israel, at the White House in Washington, DC, September 15, 2020. - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the foreign ministers of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates arrived September 15, 2020 at the White House to sign historic accords normalizing ties between the Jewish and Arab states. (AFP)

Washington: Israel on Tuesday signed historic diplomatic pacts with two Gulf Arab states at a White House ceremony that President Donald Trump declared will mark the dawn of a new Middle East, casting himself as an international peacemaker at the height of his reelection campaign.

The bilateral agreements formalize the normalization of Israels already thawing relations with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in line with their common opposition to Iran. But the agreements do not address the decades-long conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, who view the pacts as a stab in the back from their fellow Arabs and a betrayal of their cause for a Palestinian state.

Hundreds of people massed on the sun-washed South Lawn to witness the signing of agreements in a festive atmosphere little marked by the coronavirus pandemic. Attendees did not practice social distancing and most guests didnt wear masks.

Were here this afternoon to change the course of history, Trump said from a balcony overlooking the South Lawn. After decades of division and conflict, we mark the dawn of a new Middle East.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the day is a pivot of history. It heralds a new dawn of peace.

Neither Netanyahu nor Trump mentioned the Palestinians in their remarks, but both the UAE and Bahraini foreign ministers spoke of the importance of creating a Palestinian state.

Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the brother of Abu Dhabis powerful crown prince, even thanked Netanyahu for halting the annexation of West Bank land claimed by the Palestinians in exchange for Emirati recognition. Netanyahu, however, has insisted that Israel has only suspended its plans to annex West Bank settlements.

Today, we are already witnessing a change in the heart of the Middle East  a change that will send hope around the world, al-Nahyan said.

Bahrani Foreign Minister Abdullatif al-Zayani said Bahrain would stand with the Palestinians. Today is a truly historic occasion, he said. A moment for hope and opportunity.

But in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian militants fired two rockets into Israe l, apparently meant to coincide with the ceremony. The Israeli military said the rockets were fired from Gaza and one was intercepted by air defenses. Earlier in the day, Palestinian activists held small demonstrations in the West Bank and in Gaza, where they trampled and set fire to pictures of Trump, Netanyahu and the leaders of the UAE and Bahrain.

Israel and the U.S. hope the agreements can usher in a major shift in the region should other Arab nations, particularly Saudi Arabia, follow suit. That could have implications for Iran, Syria and Lebanon. Until now, Israel has had peace deals only with Egypt and Jordan.

Other Arab countries believed to be close to recognizing Israel include Oman, Sudan and Morocco.

We are very down the road with about five different countries, Trump told reporters before the ceremony.

Many longtime Mideast analysts and former officials, among others, have expressed doubts about the impact of the signings.

In addition to the bilateral agreements signed by Israel, the UAE and Bahrain, all three signed a document dubbed the Abraham Accords after the patriarch of the worlds three major monotheistic religions.

The Abraham Accords and the bilateral agreement signed by Israel and Bahrain fell short of more detailed formal treaties that are the diplomatic norm. Both documents were made up of general statements pledging to advance diplomacy, mutual cooperation and regional peace.

The most detailed of the agreements was the one between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. The nations agreed to approve bilateral agreements on 15 areas of mutual interest, including finance, trade, aviation, energy, telecommunications, health, agriculture and water.

During the signing ceremony, the leaders were seated at a long table where President Harry S. Truman once held weekly luncheon meetings with his Cabinet. Discussions about the Truman Doctrine to restrain Soviet expansion during the Cold War and the Marshall Plan to send billions in economic aid to Western Europe after World War II were held at the table.

The stagecraft, including live music and flags was meant to evoke previous Middle East agreements. Trumps political backers are looking to boost his standing as a statesman with just seven weeks to go before Election Day. Until now, foreign policy has not had a major role in a campaign dominated by the coronavirus, racial issues and the economy.

Besides Republicans, a few House Democrats attended the event, a notable development at a time when their leader, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is barely on speaking terms with the president. Many Democrats, including presidential nominee Joe Biden, support the deal.

It is good to see others in the Middle East recognizing Israel and even welcoming it as a partner,. Biden said in a statement released Wednesday night. A Biden-Harris Administration will build on these steps, challenge other nations to keep pace, and work to leverage these growing ties into progress toward a two-state solution and a more stable, peaceful region.

Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., said she accepted the White House invitation immediately on receiving it over the weekend. It definitely was a monumental event, and the ceremony was very fitting for that, Luria, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said in a telephone interview afterward.

Like Luria, some other Democrats in attendance, such as Rep. Anthony Brindisi of New York, are freshmen in tough reelection races. Still others, such as Florida Reps. Ted Deutch and Stephanie Murphy hail from districts with large numbers of Jewish constituents.

Questions remain, however, about the significance of the agreements. Even in Israel, where the accords have received widespread acclaim, there is concern they might result in U.S. sales of sophisticated weaponry to the UAE and Bahrain, thus potentially upsetting Israels qualitative military edge in the region.

Trump said he is OK with selling military aircraft to the UAE. Pelosi also welcomed the agreements but said she wants to learn details, specifically what the Trump administration has told the UAE about buying American-made F-35 aircraft and about Israel agreeing to freeze efforts to annex portions of the West Bank.

The UAE and Bahrain have a history of suppressing dissent and critical public opinion, but there have been indications that the agreements are not nearly as popular or well-received as they are in Israel. Neither country sent its head of state or government to sign the deals with Netanyahu.

Bahrains largest Shiite-dominated opposition group, Al-Wefaq, which the government ordered dissolved in 2016 amid a yearslong crackdown on dissent, said there is widespread rejection of normalization.

The ceremony followed months of intricate diplomacy headed by Jared Kushner, Trumps son-in-law and senior adviser, and the presidents envoy for international negotiations, Avi Berkowitz. On Aug. 13, the Israel-UAE deal was announced. That was followed by the first direct commercial flight between the countries, and then the Sept. 11 announcement of the Bahrain-Israel agreement.
National Supply Associate (Supply and Logistics), Dushanbe, Tajikistan

Organization: Unicef

Country: Tajikistan

City: Dushanbe, Tajikistan

Office: UNICEF Dushanbe, Tajikistan

Closing date: Monday, 28 September 2020

National Supply Associate (Supply and Logistics), at GS 6 level, on Fixed Term, Dushanbe, Tajikistan (for Tajik nationals only)

Job no: 534420

Position type: Fixed Term Appointment

Location: Tajikistan Division/Equivalent: CEE/CIS

School/Unit: Tajikistan

Department/Office: Dushanbe, Tajikistan

Categories: Support: Operations, G-6

UNICEF works in some of the worlds toughest places, to reach the worlds most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child,

How can you make a difference:

The Supply and Logistics Associate performs highly skilled work on UNICEF supply chains and manages the more complex cases and client requests, which frequently requires the evaluation of difficult situations and adaptation of procedures and processes to resolve such cases. This is the senior GS level for specialized supply chain work and requires advanced specialized knowledge acquired through formal training and experience.

The function is characterized as highly independent and provides opportunities for Associates to lead and carry out responsibility for end to end supply chain management from the beginning to the end of the process and provide input into the design and development of improved supply chain services and delivery mechanisms.

Key functions, accountabilities and related duties/tasks

Supply Chain Service Delivery and Response

Planning:

In consultation with the supervisor, provide input to the Country Programme Action Planning and advise on Supply requirements for the Plan of Operations and Annual Work Plans. Participate in the forecasting, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the supply chain operations, including establishment of performance indicators, and assessment of fit for purpose of products and services.

Support supply emergency preparedness and response activities including establishment of Long Term Arrangements (LTAs), Logistics Capacity Assessment and Contingency Plan update, and pre-positioning of stock.

Procurement/contracting:

Provide input to and advice on the annual supply plan. Conduct data review and analysis for category management and development of procurement strategies. Conduct market research in relevant areas for UNICEF and advice on best approaches to obtain best value for money and sustainable procurement. Support product innovation and market shaping initiatives for specific categories of supplies and services.

Liaise with clients in planning procurement and contracting initiatives, supporting development of appropriate specifications, terms of reference, and logistics arrangements and timelines. Take into account opportunities to strengthen sustainability of supply chains.

Ensure establishment of Long Term Arrangements (LTAs) and act on specific procurement requisitions as might be required. Prepare and process Request for Quotations (RFQs), Invitations to Bid (ITBs) and Requests for Proposals (RFPs), as might be requested by the Supervisor. Organize bid openings, and conduct technical and financial analysis of offers as might be required. Conduct clarifications and negotiations with suppliers. Maintain highest level of integrity, ethical standards and accountability in the procurement of goods, contracting of services and construction work.

Prepare requests for award including submissions to Contract Review Committee. Prepare purchase orders and contracts in SAP (ERP - Enterprise Resource Planning system), and submit for relevant approvals, ensuring completeness of documentation in UNICEF systems.

Keep stakeholders/partners informed on the progress. Liaise with suppliers, ensuring timely follow-up on delivery schedules Implement appropriate vendor management practices e.g. supply performance reviews.

Ensure appropriate filing of procurement cases and maintain up to date records for future reference including for audit.

In-country logistics:

Provide logistics input to the supply plan, including advising on infrastructure constraints (e.g. customs clearance, port capacity, transport options and warehousing capacity) and different delivery mechanisms. Advise on budget requirements for various delivery modalities, and ensure establishment of budget with clients.

Liaise with supply colleagues as well as clients and using supply dashboards to ensure pipeline monitoring and establishment of appropriate logistics capacity. Monitor progress of offshore and/or regional procurement and take action to ensure timely customs clearance of supplies entering the country. Perform research, collect data and conduct analysis, produce reports and ensure information accuracy in corporate systems to enable informed decision-making.

Provide specialized support in the area of logistics, following standard processes and contributing, directly or indirectly, to the effective delivery of programme supplies. Liaise with internal and external stakeholders to support logistics operations management and contribute to effective service delivery.

Identify needs for contracting of logistics third party services (e.g. customs clearance, warehousing, transport, distribution) and manage contracting of such service providers including establishment of KPIs and performance monitoring mechanisms.

Manage documentation processing for execution of logistics operations (e.g. customs clearance, invoice verification), and take appropriate actions to resolve operational issues, escalating complex issues to the supervisor.

Warehousing and inventory management:

Manage UNICEF warehouse facilities and operations in line with UNICEF policies and procedures. Assess warehousing capacity including facilities, conditions of equipment, manpower, and processes. Propose corrective actions to supervisor. Assess new warehouse facilities when required. If necessary, implement and organize new warehouse facilities which may include installation and assembly of temporary warehouse structures (e.g. Wiik-Halls/Rub Halls).

Maintain appropriate warehousing and inventory management processes in support of the country programme implementation. Ensure accurate and complete accounting, reporting and internal control systems are in place, and relevant records are properly maintained.

Assess availability of space and prepare stacking and storage plans to ensure appropriate storage and optimize use of space.

Tags academic degrees cash transfer commodities emergency preparedness enterprise resource planning good practices logistics market research market shaping monitoring and evaluation performance management procurement programme implementation supply chain supply chain management tajik

Supervise receipt of consignments and dispatch of supplies.

Prepare stock reports. Monitor inventory to track trends and account for the inventory status from source to beneficiary. Carry out regular physical counts of inventory in the warehouse. Prepare documentation for commodity disposal through Property Survey Board committee.

Alternative delivery mechanisms and procurement services:

Support assessment of and collaboration with implementing partners including civil society, for establishment of Programme Cooperation Agreements (PCAs), and monitoring of supply components under Harmonized Approach to Cash Transfers (HACT).

Participate in events/meetings that build partnerships and collaborative relations with UN organizations to support harmonized and collaborative procurement and logistics arrangements.

Facilitate Procurement Services (PS) transactions in collaboration with programme sections and UNICEF Supply Division (SD). As appropriate, support CO counterparts on forecasting and costing of PS-channel supplies. Monitor the issuance of Purchase Orders (POs) and/or Copenhagen Warehouse Stock Transfer Orders on PS Sales Orders. Follow up with SD and UNICEF freight forwarders as needed on timely delivery/shipment of PS orders. Support communications and follow up with COs with regard to partnership requests and negotiations as required.

Maintain up-to-date files for all Procurement Service transactions, including a system for monitoring the different stages of each transaction.

Monitor the incoming pipeline of PS shipments. If required based on the division of responsibilities agreed in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Cost Estimate (CE), supervise the arrival, customs clearance, storage, packing and in-country distribution of PS commodities to the agreed delivery point.

In collaboration with Supply colleagues and Programme Sections, identify opportunities for capacity building of Government counterparts and improving the supply chain process to make it more effective.

Other duties/responsibilities:

In cases where the incumbent has managerial responsibility of lower level GS staff, the incumbent will ensure timely and effective performance management of staff, providing practical advice and guidance to ensure individual and team objectives are met.

In collaboration with supervisor, Supply Division, Regional Office and the global supply community, provide input to help ensure knowledge exchange and learning is prioritized to continuously build capacity of individuals and the team. Develop and facilitate training of newcomers, establish processes or manuals to support effective workflows.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have...

Education: Completion of secondary education is required, preferably supplemented by technical or university courses related to supply chain, business administration, contract/commercial law, or another relevant technical field. Experience: A minimum of 6 years of relevant administrative experience in supply chain management or a commercial context is required. Understanding of development and humanitarian work is an advantage. Language Requirements: Fluency in English and Tajik are required. Knowledge of another UN language or local language of the duty station is considered as an asset.

Skills required:

Thorough knowledge of a range of specialized topics, including the relevant supply chain policies, partnership mechanisms, rules and regulations.

High level of proficiency or skill is required in the interpretation and application of specialized rules and regulations to the particular circumstances of complex individual cases.

Experience using MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint and other UNICEF office tools.

Demonstrated understanding of the relevant supply chain processes and ability to consistently apply relevant policies, procedures and good practices in the daily work. Good judgement in order to handle complex cases including considerations for exceptions.

Ability to develop and maintain effective working relationships with clients, suppliers and colleagues and gain the assistance and cooperation of others in a team endeavor.

Ability to use supply related modules within UNICEF ERP system.

Ability to establish priorities and plan his/her own work and plan, coordinate and monitor the work of those under his/her supervision.

Ability to draft clear and concise reports or rationale for supply related decisions on key issues.

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEFs core values are Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability Core competencies: Nurtures, Leads and Manages People (1) Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (2) Works Collaboratively with others (2) Builds and Maintains Partnerships (2) Innovates and Embraces Change (2) Thinks and Acts Strategically (2) Drives to achieve impactful results (2) Manages ambiguity and complexity (2)

Functional Competencies: Analyzing (2) Learning and Researching (2) Planning and organizing (2) Following Instructions and Procedures (2)

View our competency framework at: http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf

Application: The link to review detailed Generic Job Profile would be available at the following links: www.untj.org/jobs, www.unicef.org/tajikistan/resources, www.facebook.com/uniceftajikistan.

Detailed Job Profile is attached: Supply and Logistics Associate G6 final.doc

The candidates, who are interested to apply for the position, should follow the electronic applications instructions. It requires the applicant to upload the detailed CV and academic degrees/diplomas. UN candidates should upload at least two latest performance evaluation reports.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.

Remarks: Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Advertised: Sep 14 2020 West Asia Standard Time Application close: Sep 28 2020 West Asia Standard Time
China's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday denied reports that the Chinese army is laying optic fiber cables at the China-India border flashpoint.

Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin also told reporters at a daily briefing that China hopes India can make concrete effort to help de-escalate border tension and meet half way with China.

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar in Moscow last Thursday for crucial talks about the border tension between the two countries.

According to Wang, the two sides had reached a five-point consensus to stop escalating current conflicts near the border. Both sides intend to push for negotiations about the border standoff through military and diplomatic channels to bring back peace and safety to the area, said Wang.

We hope India would fully implement the consensus reached by the two foreign ministers and meet China on the halfway so as to make concrete efforts in easing tensions, the spokesperson noted.
A roadside tool for law enforcement may one day fight in the war on COVID-19. A US company is working to repurpose the breathalyzer. Developers hope the hardware that today measures the presence of alcohol in a persons breath will soon detect the virus in those most likely to spread it.
Srinagar, Sep 16 : In an important decision that strengthens patient care in health institutions of J&K especially in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Administrative Council which met under the chairmanship of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha gave its nod to implementation of the World Bank-assisted project for strengthening of health care institutions.

The project aims to provide equipment for intensive care units/operation theatres, laboratories and power back up systems at the district level, manifold system and gas pipelines at Sub District Hospital (SDH)/ Community Health Center (CHC) level, besides critical care ambulances.

The Administrative Council also accorded sanction to procurement/installation of equipments including critical care ambulances for hospitals through J&K Medical Supplies Corporation Ltd and establishment of manifold and gas pipeline system in the proposed SDHs/CHCs of Jammu & Kashmir through Mechanical Engineering Department.

The World Bank project for strengthening of healthcare institutions is a part of Jhelum Tawi Flood Recovery Project (JTFRP), having seven components aimed at reconstruction and rehabilitation of the damaged infrastructure.

One of its components is Contingent Emergency Response meant for providing immediate response during any crisis or emergency in Jammu & Kashmir.

This component came into effect only during the prevailing situation due to the global Covid-19 pandemic when the National Disaster Management Act was invoked to deal with the humanitarian crisis emerging out of the spread of virus.

It was following the request of Jammu & Kashmir government and government of India that the World Bank agreed to finance $50 million for the project.

The J&K Medical Supplies Corporation has been incorporated as Project Implementation Unit (PIU) for implementation of this component.

With help of this new project approved under the World Bank, the health institutions of the Union Territory will be able to ensure availability of quality healthcare facilities through advanced equipment, besides better handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Photo: (Photo : Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels)

Learning how to make money as a teen provides a good foundation for success as an adult. The problem is getting a job as a teen is not easy because you are too young and inexperienced. However, thanks to advances in technology, teens nowadays can find ways to earn other than a "regular job."





Five ways to make money as a teen

Start a YouTube Channel

If you possess a bubbly personality and are confident enough to showcase your talent or skill, you can start your own YouTube Channel. Who knows, you could be the next internet sensation and get paid for generating views.

To make money by becoming a YouTube partner, you need to have a minimum of 1,000 subscribers. Also, your channel should have generated at least 4,000 watch hours in the previous 12 months. Then you need to set up an AdSense account and link it to your YouTube account.

Your channel will then be subject to review, so make sure you not only meet the threshold bu also follow YouTube Partner program policies and Community Guidelines.

Apart from being a YouTube partner, you can also earn money by selling products or merchandise, crowdfunding your project, licensing your content, or work with other brands as an affiliate or social media influencer.

Learn a new skill you can profit from

You can start learning a new skill that you can later make money from, such as bookkeeping, digital marketing, coding, copywriting, transcribing, freelance writing, and digital marketing.

Take surveys online

Doing online surveys is also a good way to earn money while you are stuck at home. All you need to start is to signup for the survey and then wait until you get a notification that you can start taking a survey.

Rewards vary depending on the online survey platform; for some, you will earn points that you can exchange for cash or other types of rewards, while some will remit the money directly to your PayPal account.

Start a photography business

If you have the skills and love photography, you can earn from taking portraits. You can also work as an assistant at a photo studio or as a second shooter, and polish your skills while earning some money on the side.

You can also sell stock photos online. You can take photos of almost any subject imaginable and then sell it to microstock websites such as Shutterstock, Getty Images, and iStockPhoto.

Start a blog

If you love writing, you can start a blog and monetize it. However, it will take plenty of hard work and a true passion for writing before you can reap the rewards of blogging. First, you need to find your niche and create quality content consistently.

Once you have established yourself as an authority in your niche, you can start monetizing your blog. There are a variety of ways you can make money from your blog, including placing ads on your blog site, selling private ads, affiliate marketing, selling digital products, and selling memberships.

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By Ayya Lmahamad

Russia was Azerbaijans largest trade partner among CIS countries during the first eight months of 2020, with the trade turnover between the two countries amounting to $1.7 billion, the State Customs Committee has reported.

In the reporting period, Azerbaijan exported to Russia goods worth $463 million, while the goods imported to Azerbaijan from Russia amounted to $1.2 billion. It should be noted that the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Russia amounted to $1.8 billion during the same period of 2019.

Russia was Azerbaijans third largest trade partner during the reporting period after Italy and Turkey.

Ukraine is Azerbaijans second largest trade turnover partner among CIS countries, with a trade turnover worth $555 million during the reporting period.

Azerbaijan exported to Ukraine goods worth $276 million, while importing goods worth to $279 million. The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Ukraine amounted to $576 million during the same period in 2019.

Likewise, Belarus is Azerbaijans third largest trade partner among CIS countries, with trade turnover amounting to $170 million.

Export of Azerbaijani goods to Belarus amounted to $98 million, while import to $72 million. It should be noted that the trade turnover between two countries amounted to $131 million during the same period last year.

The volume of Azerbaijans foreign trade turnover amounted to $16.5 billion during the period of January-August 2020. The value of export amounted to $9.8 billion or 59.6 percent of the total turnover, while the value of import amounted to $6.6 billion or 40.4 percent. Thus, foreign trade turnover resulted in surplus of $3.1 billion.

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A judge in Ohio ruled Tuesday that counties could deploy multiple drop boxes for absentee ballots in November, a victory for Democrats in a traditional battleground state that President Trump won easily in 2016.

Secretary of State Frank LaRose of Ohio, a Republican who supports President Trump, had attempted to limit to one the number of ballot boxes at each county office, leading to a lawsuit from the Ohio Democratic Party, which argued that the practice would disenfranchise voters in the states 88 counties.

On Monday, Mr. LaRose moved to block the installation of six drop boxes at libraries in Cuyahoga County, home to Cleveland and a substantial percentage of the states Black voters; Tuesdays decision likely clears the way for their placement.

Drop boxes have become a flash point in battles between Republicans and Democrats in several states because they provide voters with an option for casting absentee ballots without having to rely on mail delivery.
Mr. Kenan recalled thinking for a long time about how to bring the eccentric Hughes to Tims Creek, the type of odd juxtaposition that he reveled in.

I couldnt have him come looking for the love of his life, Mr. Kenan told the interviewer Jason Jefferies on his Bookin podcast last month. But, he said, he felt that an old and dotty Hughes might seek out the old woman whose cooking had long ago ignited his taste buds.

That idea made sense to me, he added. Even the most coldhearted person eats.

Randall Garrett Kenan was born on March 12, 1963, in Brooklyn to Harry Lee Kenan and Clara Dunn. As an infant, he was taken in by his paternal grandparents in Wallace, N.C., about 40 miles north of Wilmington, but their dry cleaning business left them little time for him. His great-aunt Mary Kenan Hall, a teacher who had doted on him at her home in nearby Chinquapin on weekends, raised him.

One weekend, she just didnt bring me back, Mr. Kenan told James A. Crank, the author of Understanding Randall Kenan, a study of his work published in 2019.

His parents, with whom he did not develop a relationship, are his only immediate survivors.

Ms. Hall kept young Randall reading books like Peter Cottontail, Robinson Crusoe and The Swiss Family Robinson. He studied engineering in high school and initially studied physics at the University of North Carolina, but he was drawn to writing fiction under the guidance of a teacher, Max Steele. When he was a senior, James Baldwin and Alex Haley, the author of Roots, spoke to one of his classes.

Mr. Kenan graduated in 1985 with a bachelors degree in creative writing and found work in publishing, joining Random House and rising to assistant editor at Alfred A. Knopf while working on A Visitation of Spirits. The novels central theme, he later told the arts and literature journal Image, was how hard it can be to reconcile a rational view of the world with the irrational reality of lived, hands-on experience, where a lot of things dont make sense.
Queensland has secured its own heavy water bomber, meaning the state will no longer have to borrow one from NSW to fight dangerous bushfires.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk confirmed on Wednesday the 10,000-litre capacity Large Air Tanker would be leased to Queensland from Canada on a five-year agreement.

"Waterbombing played a critical role at Peregian, Sarabah, Stanthorpe and Pechey last year," Ms Palaszczuk said.

"Several times we had to call on help from New South Wales and have the planes come up to Queensland, only to be turned around and called back to NSW.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / September 16, 2020 / BeMetals Corp. (TSXV:BMET)(OTCQB:BMTLF)(Frankfurt:1OI.F) (the "Company" or "BeMetals") is pleased to announce commencement of the Phase 2 underground diamond drilling program at the high-grade South Mountain Zinc-Silver-Gold-Copper Project ("South Mountain" or the "Project" or "Property") in southwestern Idaho, U.S.A. This year's program is designed to extend the mineralized bodies at the Texas Zone and infill drill key areas of the DMEA Zone to prepare for completion of both an updated mineral resource estimate and a Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") for South Mountain in 2021 (See Figure 1).

Highlights of the Planned 2020 Resource Expansion and Infill Drilling Campaign:

Complete 2,400 metres of diamond drilling for approximately 25 holes from at least three underground drilling locations this includes opening and enlarging the southeastern section of the Sonneman adit towards the Texas Zone;

The new Texas Zone drill stations will provide better locations for testing the newly defined high-grade copper-silver-gold targets (See Company's news release September 10, 2020) ;

Conduct infill drilling of the DMEA Zone to further evaluate the significant component of gold and silver intersections from the 2019 program that included;

Drill Hole ID, Zone & Interval From (m) To (m) Core Interval (m) Zn % Ag g/t Au g/t Pb % Cu % SM19-002: Interval 3 85.83 96.39 10.56 11.42 123.0 4.43 0.36 0.52 SM19-006 28.01 43.71 15.70 21.27 147.0 8.04 0.77 0.30 SM19-007 26.97 39.17 12.20 18.16 122.6 4.41 1.55 0.16 SM19-016: Interval 2 136.55 146.64 10.09 3.15 151.3 1.68 0.66 0.22 SM19-016: Interval 4 184.18 188.64 4.47 5.04 482.0 4.27 5.80 0.43

Note: Reported widths in table are drilled core lengths as true widths are unknown at this time. It is estimated based upon current data that true widths might range between 60-80% of the drilled intersection (See notes to table 1 below & QA/QC section).

Ultimately, all the drilling data collected during this 2020 campaign is to be incorporated into an updated resource estimate and a Preliminary Economic Assessment in 2021.

John Wilton, President and CEO of BeMetals stated, "Our work crews have mobilized to the South Mountain project site. We will commence with key infill drilling on the high-grade DMEA Zone mineralization that was successfully extended down plunge last year. The 2019 program returned increased gold and silver components to the polymetallic mineralization, specifically in the DMEA Zone (See Table 1) and this year's drilling will provide more information on the grade and distribution of this precious metal content. With the initial drilling at the DMEA Zone, our mine contractors have commenced work to access the far southeastern extent of the Sonneman level to prepare new drilling stations closer to the Texas Zone. Given the historical drilling and rib sampling results in connection with results from last year's Phase 1 program, we believe we can potentially add significant tonnage to the known mineral resource by focusing on the Texas and DMEA zones (See Company's press release dated September 10, 2020). Our site team has upgraded the underground electrical and ventilation systems in preparation for the commencement of the drill and mining activities.

All personnel at the property are receiving COVID-19 related training in addition to our standard procedural safety training, prior to commencing this season's program."

THE PLANNED 2020 SOUTH MOUNTAIN RESOURCE EXPANSION DRILLING AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

BeMetals has formed a Boise, Idaho-based project team that is focused on advancing South Mountain. This team includes key management of Thunder Mountain Gold Inc., Optionees of the Property, who have coordinated re-establishment of the Project site for the start of Phase 2 drilling. The team continues to build and maintain strong relations with local communities relevant to the South Mountain Project in southwestern Idaho. The Project is largely on and surrounded by private surface land with much of the permitting in place that would facilitate development of the project given favourable results of technical and economic studies.

This year, BeMetals has contracted Boart Longyear to drill a total of approximately 25 underground core holes for some 2,400 metres at the South Mountain project. During the 2019 drilling campaign at South Mountain, the Company identified and intersected multiple zones of high-grade zinc with significant gold and silver mineralization in projected extensions of the polymetallic DMEA zone (See Figure 1).

As of today, drilling has commenced from the Muck Bay #5 drilling platform while our mining contractor, Quimby Mining Services works on opening and enlarging the far southeastern section of Sonneman level to prepare drilling platforms closer to targets within the Texas Zone (See Figure 1). The historical far southeastern section of the Sonneman adit has not been accessed since the 1980s, subsequently little underground exploration has been conducted on this zone in the past four decades.

The Company has defined a number of compelling targets related to the Texas Zone from historical drilling, and underground sampling (See Company's news release dated September 10, 2020). These targets include both high-grade copper and zinc mineralization with a significant silver and gold component. A significant portion of this year's underground drilling are planned to test and extend mineralization in this zone which can potentially add significant tonnage towards updating a mineral resource estimate for South Mountain in the first half of 2021.

The infill drilling planned for the DMEA Zone area is designed to provide further information on the grade and distribution of both the gold and silver component to this polymetallic zone of mineralization. Table 1 below includes the complete results from the 2019 drilling of the DMEA Zone. Table 2 shows the azimuth, dip and collar co-ordinates for these drill holes.

Figure 1: 3D Perspective View inclined at 20 degrees looking NNE, showing locations of 2019 drill holes (SM19 Series), 2013 surface drilling (TX13 Series) in the area of the Texas Zone, rib-sampling of Texas Zone, and priority Texas Zone Target

Table 1. 2019 Program DMEA Zone: Analytical and Assay Results

Drill Hole ID, Zone & Interval From (m) To (m) Core Interval (m) Zn % Ag g/t Au g/t Pb % Cu % DMEA Zone SM19-002 Interval 1 46.88 57.39 10.51 17.81 226 2.41 1.59 0.16 Interval 2 67.85 71.63 3.78 5.45 145 8.39 0.58 0.15 Interval 3 85.83 96.39 10.56 11.42 123 4.43 0.36 0.52 SM19-003 Interval 1 51.18 75.35 24.17 11.12 267 3.44 3.75 0.29 Including 51.18 60.78 9.60 11.74 437 5.99 8.68 0.38 Including 62.09 75.35 13.26 11.77 169 1.88 0.54 0.25 Interval 2 77.60 81.24 3.64 9.74 331 1.94 1.11 0.34 SM19-004 (Did not intersect mineralization) SM19-005 75.13 86.37 11.23 7.97 128 1.20 0.91 0.24 SM19-006 28.01 43.71 15.70 21.27 147 8.04 0.77 0.30 SM19-007 26.97 39.17 12.20 18.16 122.6 4.41 1.55 0.16 SM19-014 Interval 1 105.31 120.40 15.09 9.59 127.1 1.50 0.69 0.28 Interval 2 138.07 143.88 5.81 4.88 76.9 2.55 0.21 0.12 Interval 3 155.17 158.95 3.78 14.49 145.5 0.37 0.25 0.48 Interval 4 184.40 189.56 5.15 0.28 79.9 2.08 0.15 0.06 Interval 5 250.65 258.94 8.29 8.11 178.7 0.48 0.57 1.73 Interval 6 266.33 268.16 1.83 1.32 158.9 2.56 0.56 0.11 SM19-016 Interval 1 112.33 132.05 19.72 0.07 8.39 1.52 0.01 0.002 Interval 2 136.55 146.64 10.09 3.15 151.3 1.68 0.66 0.22 Interval 3 158.27 163.59 5.32 0.59 46.8 1.81 0.11 0.04 Interval 4 184.18 188.64 4.47 5.04 482.0 4.27 5.80 0.43 Interval 5 227.32 230.83 3.51 8.85 136.2 0.17 1.25 1.67

Note: Reported widths in tables are drilled core lengths as true widths are unknown at this time. It is estimated based upon current data that true widths might range between 60-80% of the drilled intersection. Intervals cut offs are based upon visual contacts of massive sulphide units with no more than 1.75 metres of internal skarn. For SM19-016 (intervals 1, 3 and 4) a nominal 0.46 g/t gold cut off has been applied to determine the boundaries of the intersections with no internal dilution. (Note: See details below in QA/QC section).

Upon completion of the 2020 drilling campaign additional metallurgical and hydrology testing as well as rock mechanic and mine modelling will be scheduled to be done in 2021. A Preliminary Economic Assessment for South Mountain is expected to be completed by approximately mid-2021.

Table 2: Drill Hole Azimuth, Dip and Collar Co-ordinates

Hole ID Azimuth Degree Dip Degree Eoh Length (m) East (ft) North (ft) Elevation (ft) SM19-002 138 -28 102.41 231,176 394,120 6,868 SM19-003 152 -47 99.97 231,176 394,120 6,868 SM19-004 175 -58 119.79 231,176 394,120 6,868 SM19-005 175 -53 98.45 231,176 394,120 6,868 SM19-006 320 +61 58.67 231,148 393,978 6,860 SM19-007 313 30 74.07 231,1481 393,978 6,860 SM19-014 210 -61 271.79 231,1176 394,129 6,868 SM19-016 237 -58.5 267.61 231,1176 394,129 6868

QUALITY ASSURANCE AND QUALITY CONTROL PROCEDURES

The Project employs a rigorous QA/QC program that includes; blanks, duplicates and appropriate certified standard reference material. All samples are introduced into the sample stream prior to sample handling/crushing to monitor analytical accuracy and precision. The insertion rate for the combined QA/QC samples is 10 percent or more depending upon batch sizes. ALS Global completed the analytical work with the core samples processed at their preparation facility in Reno, Nevada, U.S.A. All analytical and assay procedures are conducted in the ALS facility in North Vancouver, BC. The samples are processed by the following methods as appropriate to determine the grades; Au-AA23-Au 30g fire assay with AA finish, ME-ICP61-33 element four acid digest with ICP-AES finish, ME-OG62-ore grade elements, four acid with ICP-AES finish, Pb-OG62-ore grade Pb, four acid with ICP-AES finish, Zn-OG62-ore grade Zn, four acid digest with ICP-AES finish, Ag-GRA21-Ag 30g fire assay with gravimetric finish.

THE SOUTH MOUNTAIN PROJECT

South Mountain is a polymetallic development project focused on high-grade zinc and is located approximately 70 miles southwest of Boise, Idaho (See Figure 2). The Project was intermittently mined from the late 1800s to the late 1960s and its existing underground workings remain intact and well maintained. Historic production at the Project has largely come from high-grade massive sulphide bodies that remain open at depth and along strike. According to historical smelter records, approximately 53,642 tons of mineralized material has been mined to date. These records also indicate average grades; 14.5% Zn, 363.42 g/t Ag, 1.98 g/t Au, 2.4% Pb, and 1.4% Cu were realised. Thunder Mountain Gold Inc. purchased and advanced the Project from 2007 through 2019 investing approximately US$12M during that period. The current mineral resource estimate of the deposit is detailed in Table 1 and the Company expects to provide a revised mineral resource update following a phase 2 drilling program in 2020.

The Project is largely on and surrounded by private surface land, and as such, the permitting and environmental aspects of the Project are expected to be straightforward. Permits are in place for underground exploration activities and BeMetals does not anticipate significant barriers to any future development at the Project. Rights to the Project are secured through an Option Agreement with Thunder Mountain Gold ("THMG"), optionees of the Property, a long established Idaho based company with strong local business relationships in the state. Key management of THMG form part of the Project team.

Figure 2: Project Location Map



Table 1. NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Statement for the South Mountain Project - April 1, 2019

Mineral Resources at 6.04% ZnEq Cut-off Classification Zinc Equivalent Resource Contained Metal Short Tons ZnEq lbs ZnEq % Zn lbs Zn% Ag oz. Ag opt (g/t) Au oz. Au opt (g/t) Pb lbs Pb % Cu lbs Cu % x1000 x1000 x1000 x1000 x1000 x1000 x1000 Measured 63.2 22,200 17.57 14,700 11.64 237 3.745 (116 g/t) 4.0 0.063 (1.96 g/t) 600 0.483 700 0.566 Indicated 106.7 37,800 17.72 21,500 10.08 576 5.398 (168 g/t) 7.0 0.066 (2.05 g/t) 2,100 0.983 1,600 0.766 Measured + Indicated 169.9 60,000 17.66 36,200 10.66 813 4.783 (149 g/t) 11.0 0.065 (2.09 g/t) 2,700 0.797 2,300 0.692 Inferred 363.2 120,800 16.63 70,500 9.70 2,029 5.585 (174 g/t) 16.3 0.045 (1.49 g/t) 8,700 1.202 5,200 0.696

The effective date of the mineral resource estimate is April 1, 2019. The QP for the estimate Mr. Randall K. Martin of Hard Rock Consulting, LLC, is independent of BeMetals Corp. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Inferred mineral resources that are part of the mineral resource for which quantity and grade or quality are estimated on the basis of limited geologic evidence and sampling, which is sufficient to imply but not verify grade or quality and continuity. Inferred mineral resources may not be converted to mineral reserves. It is reasonably expected, though not guaranteed, that the majority of Inferred mineral resources could be upgraded to Indicated mineral resources with continued exploration. The mineral resource is reported at an underground mining cutoff of 6.04% Zinc Equivalent ("ZnEq") within coherent wireframe models. The ZnEq. calculation and cutoff is based on the following assumptions: an Au price of US$1,231/oz., Ag price of US$16.62/oz., Pb price of US$0.93/lb., Zn price of US$1.10/lb. and Cu price of $2.54/lb.; metallurgical recoveries of 75% for Au, 70% for Ag, 87% for Pb, 96% for Zn and 56% for Cu, assumed mining cost of US$70/ton, process costs of US$25/ton, general and administrative costs of US$7.50/ton, smelting and refining costs of US$25/ton. Based on the stated prices and recoveries the ZnEq formula is calculated as follows; ZnEq = (Au grade * 43.71) + (Ag grade * 0.55) + (Pb grade * 0.77) + (Cu grade * 1.35) + (Zn grade). Rounding may result in apparent differences when summing tons, grade and contained metal content. Tonnage and grade measurements are in imperial units.

About BeMetals Corp.

BeMetals is a new precious and base metals exploration and development company focused on becoming a leading diversified metal producer through the acquisition of quality exploration, development and potentially production stage projects. The Company is searching globally for an entry-level precious metals project while progressing both its advanced high-grade, zinc-silver-gold-copper polymetallic underground exploration at the South Mountain Project in Idaho, and its tier-one targeted, Pangeni Copper Exploration Project in Zambia. BeMetals' growth strategy is led by our strong board and management, founders of the Company and significant shareholders, who have an extensive proven record of delivering considerable value in the mining sector through the discovery, construction and operation of mines around the world.

The technical information in this news release for BeMetals has been reviewed and approved by John Wilton, CGeol FGS, CEO and President of BeMetals, and a "Qualified Person" as defined under National Instrument 43-101.

On Behalf of BeMetals Corp.

"John Wilton"

John Wilton

President, CEO and Director

For further information about BeMetals please visit our website at www.bemetalscorp.com and sign-up to our email list to receive timely updates, or contact:

Derek Iwanaka

Vice President, Investor Relations & Corporate Development

Telephone: 604-609-6141

Email: diwanaka@bemetalscorp.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 news release

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

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 the plans for future exploration and development of the South Mountain and Pangeni projects, and the acquisition of additional base and/or precious metal projects. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "expects", "expected", "budgeted", "forecasts" , "anticipates" "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "aims", "potential", "goal", "objective", "prospective", and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "can", "could" or "should" occur. These statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. 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 expressed or implied by such statements, including but not limited to: the actual results of exploration activities, the availability of financing and/or cash flow to fund the current and future plans and expenditures, the ability of the Company to satisfy the conditions of the option agreements for the South Mountain Project and/or the Pangeni Project, and changes in the world commodity markets or equity markets. Although the Company 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. The Company disclaims any obligation to revise or update any such factors or to publicly announce the result of any revisions to any 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. Please refer to the Company's most recent filings under its profile at www.sedar.com for further information respecting the risks affecting the Company and its business.

SOURCE: BeMetals Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/606278/BeMetals-Commences-Phase-2-Underground-Drill-Program-At-High-Grade-South-Mountain-Zinc-Silver-Gold-Copper-Project
The project, by the first Black female faculty member at Princeton's School of Engineering and Applied Science, showcases Africans working in science, tech and engineering

Growing up in a trading town in Senegal, Adji Bousso Dieng loved school and had a particular talent for maths. But with a dearth of career role models, she had no idea which path to follow.

Some two decades later and a research scientist working on artificial intelligence at Google, Dieng wants to give young Africans the inspiring examples she missed out on.

"I didn't have a career role model to look up to and say, 'oh I want to be this'," said Dieng, who recently earned a PhD in statistics and will next year become the first Black female faculty member at Princeton University's School of Engineering and Applied Science.

"It was not obvious to stay in school, in the context in Senegal where you're supposed to get married," she said.

This month, Dieng launched a website called "The Africa I Know", which features profiles of successful African professionals working in fields such as science, technology and engineering.

Speaking by phone from her home in New York, Dieng said her mother had taught her to value education. The family business was selling fabric, and neither of her parents finished school.

"My father was polygamous, and so he had three wives which is very common in Senegal," Dieng told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"My mom was the only one who sent her kids to school."

Dieng went to the public school in Kaolack, a large town in the peanut-farming region of Senegal, where schools follow the French curriculum as a legacy of colonial rule.

Computer science, which Dieng will teach at Princeton, was not something she knew about as a teenager.

Her school had one room with old computers in it, and the instruction consisted of teachers saying "type this sentence" into Microsoft Word.

But the quality of education in other subjects was high, she said.

At the end of high school she was chosen to represent Senegal at an excellence camp for girls' education in Burkina Faso, part of a programme founded by the Malian astrophysicist and former Prime Minister Cheick Modibo Diarra.

From there, she won a scholarship to attend engineering school in France.

"It was really exciting," Dieng said. "I went from Kaolack to Paris."

But her dream had always been to move to the United States, and after learning English she went on to pursue higher degrees at some of the top U.S. universities - Cornell and then Columbia University in New York.

The idea for "The Africa I Know" took shape during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dieng said.

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"Everyone was like, 'it's going to be very bad in Africa'. I've found myself educating people and saying this is not true, we are doing well, Africans are capable," she said.

"There's this narrative that Africans need help. People don't get to see everything that I see."

The website, which launched on Sept. 1, is divided into three sections: inspire, inform, and educate.

Besides inspiring profiles of Africans working in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), the site includes informative examples of Africans using technology to solve problems.

The third section is dedicated to highlighting positive aspects of African history that are often overlooked.

"I took inspiration from, when I was growing up, what I would have wanted to see," Dieng said.

Now that she is setting precedents at Princeton - she will also be the first Black faculty member in the Computer Science Department, Dieng also hopes to encourage Black Americans and students of colour from any background in the field.

"I never had a Black lecturer since I left Senegal, so I really understand how they feel," she said.

"I'll be making sure that I admit students from everywhere, that they see representation."
The secret of how the Dantu genetic blood variant helps to protect against malaria has been revealed for the first time by scientists at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the University of Cambridge and the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kenya. The team found that red blood cells in people with the rare Dantu blood variant have a higher surface tension that prevents them from being invaded by the world's deadliest malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum.

The findings, published today (16 September) in Nature, could also be significant in the wider battle against malaria. Because the surface tension of human red blood cells increases as they age, it may be possible to design drugs that imitate this natural process to prevent malaria infection or reduce its severity.

Malaria remains a major global health problem causing an estimated 435,000 deaths per year, with 61 per cent occurring in children under five years of age. P. falciparum is responsible for the deadliest form of malaria and is particularly prevalent in Africa, accounting for 99.7 per cent of African malaria cases and 93 per cent of global malaria deaths in 2017*.

In 2017, researchers discovered that the rare Dantu blood variant, which is found regularly only in parts of East Africa, provides some degree of protection against severe malaria**. The intention behind this new study was to explain why.

Red blood cell samples were collected from 42 healthy children in Kilifi, Kenya, who had either one, two or zero copies of the Dantu gene. The researchers then observed the ability of parasites to invade the cells in the laboratory, using multiple tools including time-lapse video microscopy to identify the specific step at which invasion was impaired.

Analysis of the characteristics of the red blood cell samples indicated that the Dantu variant created cells with a higher surface tension - like a drum with a tighter skin. At a certain tension, malaria parasites were no longer able to enter the cell, halting their lifecycle and preventing their ability to multiply in the blood.

Dr Silvia Kariuki, of the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kenya, said: "Malaria parasites utilise a specific 'lock-and-key' mechanism to infiltrate human red blood cells. When we set out to explain how the Dantu variant protects against these parasites, we expected to find subtle changes in the way this molecular mechanism works, but the answer turned out to be much more fundamental. The Dantu variant actually slightly increases the tension of the red blood cell surface. It's like the parasite still has the key to the lock, but the door is too heavy for it to open."

The Dantu blood group has a novel 'chimeric' protein that is expressed on the surface of red blood cells, and alters the balance of other surface proteins***. In Kilifi, a town on the Kenyan coast, 10 per cent of the population have one copy of the Dantu gene, which confers up to 40 per cent protection against malaria. One per cent of the population have two copies, conferring up to 70 per cent protection. By contrast, the best malaria vaccines currently provide 35 per cent protection.

Because humans have evolved alongside malaria for tens of thousands of years, some people in the worst affected areas have developed genetic resistance to the disease. The most famous example is sickle cell trait, which confers 80 per cent resistance to malaria, but can cause serious illness in those with two copies of the gene. There is currently no evidence that the Dantu variant is accompanied by other health complications.

Dr Alejandro Marin-Menendez, of the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said: "The fact that we see the most protective adaptations in areas where malaria is most prevalent tells us a lot about how these parasites have influenced human evolution. Malaria is still an incredibly destructive disease, but evolutionary adaptations like sickle cell trait and the Dantu variant may partially explain why the mortality rate is much lower than the rate of infection. We've been fighting malaria parasites for as long as we've been human, so there may be other adaptations and mechanisms yet to be discovered."

Researchers suggest one of the most significant implications of the study stems from the fact that the surface tension of human red blood cells varies naturally, generally increasing during their approximately 90-day lifespan. This means a proportion of all of our red blood cells are naturally resistant to infection by malaria parasites, and it may be possible to develop drugs that take advantage of this process.

Dr Viola Introini, of the University of Cambridge, said: "The explanation for how Dantu protects against malaria is potentially very important. The red cell membrane only needs to be slightly more tense than usual to block malaria parasites from entering. Developing a drug that emulates this increased tension could be a simple but effective way to prevent or treat malaria. This would depend on the increase in cell tension not having unintended consequences, of course. But evidence from the natural protection already seen in Dantu people, who don't seem to suffer negative side effects, is promising."

###

Contact details:

Dr Matthew Midgley

Press Office

Wellcome Sanger Institute

Cambridge, CB10 1SA

Phone: 01223 494856

Email: press.office@sanger.ac.uk

Notes to Editors:

*For more information on these figures and the state of malaria in general, see the WHO World Malaria Report 2018 https://www.who.int/malaria/publications/world-malaria-report-2018/report/en/

** Further details of this study are available here: https://www.sanger.ac.uk/news_item/natural-resistance-malaria-linked-variation-human-red-blood-cell-receptors/

*** A chimeric gene is created when portions of DNA from two genes merge into one. Because the genes are related to each other, there is the potential for their DNA to be rearranged during recombination.

Publication:

Silvia N. Kariuki, Alejandro Marin-Menendez and Viola Introini et al. (2020). Red blood cell tension protects against severe malaria in the Dantu blood group. Nature. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2726-6

Funding:

This research was supported by Wellcome and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

Selected websites:

Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI)-Wellcome Trust Research Programme

The Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI)-Wellcome Trust Research Programme is a partnership between KEMRI, Oxford University and the Wellcome Trust. It conducts basic, epidemiological and clinical research in parallel, with results feeding directly into local and international health policy and aims to expand the country's capacity to conduct multidisciplinary research that is strong, sustainable and internationally competitive. http://www.kemri-wellcome.org

About the University of Cambridge

The mission of the University of Cambridge is to contribute to society through the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence. To date, 107 affiliates of the University have won the Nobel Prize.

Founded in 1209, the University comprises 31 autonomous Colleges, which admit undergraduates and provide small-group tuition, and 150 departments, faculties and institutions. Cambridge is a global university. Its 19,000 student body includes 3,700 international students from 120 countries. Cambridge researchers collaborate with colleagues worldwide, and the University has established larger-scale partnerships in Asia, Africa and America.

The University sits at the heart of the 'Cambridge cluster', which employs 60,000 people and has in excess of 12 billion in turnover generated annually by the 4,700 knowledge-intensive firms in and around the city. The city publishes 341 patents per 100,000 residents. http://www.cam.ac.uk

The Wellcome Sanger Institute

The Wellcome Sanger Institute is a world leading genomics research centre. We undertake large-scale research that forms the foundations of knowledge in biology and medicine. We are open and collaborative; our data, results, tools and technologies are shared across the globe to advance science. Our ambition is vast - we take on projects that are not possible anywhere else. We use the power of genome sequencing to understand and harness the information in DNA. Funded by Wellcome, we have the freedom and support to push the boundaries of genomics. Our findings are used to improve health and to understand life on Earth. Find out more at http://www.sanger.ac.uk or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and on our Blog.

About Wellcome

Wellcome exists to improve health by helping great ideas to thrive. We support researchers, we take on big health challenges, we campaign for better science, and we help everyone get involved with science and health research. We are a politically and financially independent foundation. https://wellcome.ac.uk/
The US state department has announced economic sanctions against Zineb Jammeh, the wife of Gambias former President, Yahya Jammeh.



Zineb is believed to have assisted or facilitated the corruption carried out during her husband's 22-year reign in the West African country, the department said in a statement.



"Zineb Jammeh is designated for her role in materially assisting, sponsoring, or providing support to her husband. She utilised a charitable foundation and charities as cover to facilitate the illicit transfer of funds to her husband," the statement said.



The former president ruled The Gambia for more than 20 years. He fled the country after losing the 2017 elections and now lives in Equatorial Guinea.

Source: BBC









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People line up to take a swab test during mass testing for the COVID-19 coronavirus in Beijing, China on June 21, 2020. (NOEL CELIS/AFP via Getty Images)

Over 3,000 Infected in Chinas Latest Bacterial Disease Outbreak

Nearly a year after an outbreak of brucellosis, a highly infectious bacterial disease, took hold in Lanzhou city, in Chinas northwest Gansu Province, the citys health commission said that 3,245 people have tested positive for the disease.

The citys announcement on Sept. 15 comes as an update after a review by the Gansu Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

According to the announcement, an investigation by provincial and local authorities found that the Lanzhou Biopharmaceutical Plant used expired sanitizers during its brucellosis vaccine production from Jul. 24 to Aug. 20, 2019, which led to inadequate exhaust discharge and sterilization.

The exhaust carried fermented broth which later turned into aerosol. Carried by the wind, the bacteria-bearing air spread to where the Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute was located. Staff developed antibodies from breathing in waste air in July and August last year.

Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease that mainly affects animals, including livestock and dogs that can transmit the bacteria to humans through direct contact. Symptoms include profuse sweating, and joint and muscular pain. The disease can last a few weeks, or months or even years.

Chinese outlet Caixin reported that ten neighboring residential communities were affected within a radius of 1 km.

Gao Hong (alias), a local resident of Yanchangpu, told Caixin that she and her familyher husband and their 10-year-old sonwere affected. She was misdiagnosed as having a cold, spondyloarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and damp fever last September until final results six months ago settled at brucellosis.

She was advised that she had missed the optimum time to treat the disease, and said she was extremely concerned about her young son.

Patients waiting at a Chinese hospital. (Fred Dufour/AFP/Getty Images)

Stress levels among patients have increased amid the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus outbreak, with a number having struggled to tackle the two illnesses at the same time. Some parents have been unwilling to tell the truth to their children.

The local authorities said it would penalize all organizations involved, by revoking vaccine production permits, among other actions.

No officials have been legally held responsible for the mass event.

Local authorities have used vague wording to describe the situation. As such, it is unknown what portion of patients continue to suffer from the illness since the onset of the outbreak last year.
The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain signed agreements on Tuesday to normalize ties with Israel, becoming the first Arab states in a quarter century to break a longstanding taboo, in a strategic realignment of Middle East countries against Iran.

U.S. President Donald Trump hosted the White House ceremony, capping a dramatic month when first the UAE and then Bahrain agreed to reverse decades of ill will without a resolution of Israel's dispute with the Palestinians.

In front of a crowd of several hundred people on the White House lawn, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed accords with Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan and Bahrains Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al Zayani.

The deals, denounced by the Palestinians, make them the third and fourth Arab states to take such steps to normalize relations since Israel signed peace treaties with Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994.

Meeting Netanyahu earlier in the Oval Office, Trump said, "We'll have at least five or six countries coming along very quickly" to forge their own accords with Israel.

Later Trump told reporters a third Gulf Arab state, Saudi Arabia, would strike an agreement with Israel "at the right time." The Saudi cabinet stressed in a statement the need for a "just and comprehensive solution" to the Palestinian issue.

Saudi Arabia is the biggest Gulf Arab power. Its king is custodian of Islam's holiest sites and rules the world's largest oil exporter. Despite its own reluctance, the kingdom's quiet acquiescence to the agreements was seen as crucial.

'Change the Course of History'

The ceremony provided Trump with valuable imagery as he tries to hold on to power in a Nov. 3 presidential election. Flags of the United States, Israel, the UAE and Bahrain were in abundance.

"We're here this afternoon to change the course of history," Trump said from the White House balcony.

Trump called the deals "a major stride in which people of all faiths and backgrounds live together in peace and prosperity" and declared that the three Middle East countries "are going to work together, they are friends."

The back-to-back agreements mark an improbable diplomatic victory for Trump. He has spent his presidency forecasting deals on such intractable problems as North Korea's nuclear program only to find achievements elusive.

Bringing Israel, the UAE and Bahrain together reflects their shared concern about Iran's rising influence in the region and development of ballistic missiles. Iran criticized both deals.

All three of the Middle East leaders hailed the agreements and Trump's role in glowing terms, with Netanyahu saying it gave hope to "all the people of Abraham."

But the UAE and Bahraini officials both sought to reassure the Palestinians that their countries were not abandoning them or their quest for statehood in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, despite the Palestinian leadership having decried the deals as a betrayal of their cause.

In a sign that regional strife is sure to continue while the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains unresolved, Palestinian militants fired rockets from Gaza into Israel during the ceremony, the Israeli military said.

Israel's Magen David Adom ambulance service said paramedics treated two men for light injuries from flying glass in Ashdod, and four others suffered shock.

"This is not peace, this is surrender in return for the continuation of the aggression," read a tweet posted on the Twitter account of the Palestine Liberation Organization. "There will be no peace before Palestine is free."

Trump's Evangelical Support

With Trump seeking four more years, the accords could help shore up support among pro-Israel Christian evangelical voters, an important part of his political base.

Another target of the White House plans, in addition to Saudi Arabia, is Oman, whose leader spoke with Trump last week. Oman sent its ambassador to Tuesday's ceremony, a senior U.S. official said. No Saudi representative attended.

Meeting the Emirati foreign minister before the ceremony, Trump thanked the UAE for being first in the Gulf to agree to ties with Israel and left little doubt the Iran issue was overhanging the event.

Trump predicted that Iran, under heavy U.S. sanctions, would want to reach a deal with Washington, which has been trying to get it to renegotiate an international nuclear accord. Tehran shows no sign of budging.

Netanyahu faces criticism at home of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and a corruption trial on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust that have led to frequent street protests.

Netanyahu denies any wrongdoing and describes his trial as a leftist political witch-hunt aimed at unseating a popular right-wing leader.

In a nod to the coronavirus, the White House encouraged but did not require participants to wear masks. It was left to the leaders whether to shake hands, and they did not do so in public. Most people in the crowd did not wear masks.

Some differences remain despite warming ties. Trump said on Tuesday he would have no problem selling advanced stealth F-35 fighter jets to the UAE, which for years has sought to obtain them. Israel, which has the F-35, objects to such a sale.

Frustrated by the Palestinians' refusal to take part in Trump's Middle East peace initiative, the White House has sought to bypass them in hopes they will see the deals with the UAE and Bahrain as incentives, even leverage, for peace talks.

Speaking to Fox News hours before the ceremony, Trump predicted the Palestinians would eventually forge peace with Israel or else be "left out in the cold."

The Palestinian leadership has long accused Trump of pro-Israel bias and denounced the Arab rapprochement with Israel, even though Netanyahu agreed, in return for normalization with the UAE, to suspend a plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank.

Although Israeli-Palestinian negotiations broke down in 2014, some Gulf Arab states and several other Arab countries have long had quiet, informal contacts with Israel.
Seoul

South Korea and Germany on Wednesday vowed to beef up their economic ties centering on the energy sector, which will play a significant role in the recovery of their virus-hit economies.

Seoul's energy and trade officials held a virtual meeting with their German counterparts and discussed a wide array of issues, including expanding cooperation in the education and green energy segments, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy, South Korean News Agency (Yonhap) reported.

The meeting came after the two countries agreed to launch working groups on the two countries' economic issues related to trade, industry, and energy in December last year.

In May, the two countries vowed to expand cooperation in developing sustainable energy technology and phasing out nuclear power plants.

Officials discussed ways to foster trade and investment between the two countries as well.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, South Korea said the country maintained close trade ties with Germany over the January-June period. Trade between the two countries came to $14.5 billion over the first half of 2020, rising 6 percent from the previous year.
V ictims of domestic violence today thanked our campaign partner the Felix Project for supporting them as they started their new lives in London.

A resident of the Iranian and Kurdish Womens Rights Organisations refuge in west London said: Felix delivers us food every week which helps me not struggle. I left all my clothes at my ex-husbands house.

The Iranian woman, who fled her home for her own safety a few weeks ago, is one of eight people living in the shelter, which specialises in counselling for vulnerable women from the Middle East and Afghanistan.

Women are referred to the shelter after fleeing dangerous situations, with many residents escaping honour-based violence, forced marriage, FGM and domestic abuse.
The smell of burnt vegetation and the red glow of flames welcome visitors these days to the Pantanal, the world's biggest tropical wetlands -- a biodiverse paradise that is now partly reduced to ashes by record wildfires.

In the northern Pantanal, in central-western Brazil -- a region that formerly had a thriving ecotourism industry -- hotel employee Felipe Maia is hosing down a wooden bridge, hoping to stop the nearby flames from igniting it.

There are scores of wooden bridges like this over the streams criss-crossing the wetlands along the dirt highway across the Pantanal, the 150-kilometer (95-mile) "Transpantaneira."

But amid the region's worst drought in 47 years, many streams have run dry, and the fires often set this time of year on farms and ranches to clear land have spiralled out of control.

"Every day we drive along the road, check which bridge is closest to catching fire and douse it in water," Maia told AFP after soaking the bridge, just meters (yards) from the flames.

The Pantanal sits at the southern edge of the Amazon rainforest, stretching from Brazil into Bolivia and Paraguay.

In normal times, it draws tourists from around the world with its lush landscapes and wildlife, including jaguars, jabiru storks, giant otters, caimans, toucans, macaws and monkeys.

A dead alligator lies beside the Transpantaneira park road in the Pantanal wetlands in Mato Grosso state, Brazil, on September 14, 2020. Photo: AFP

But this year, around 23,500 square kilometers (9,000 square miles) of the wetlands have gone up in smoke -- nearly 12 percent of the Pantanal.

There have been a record-shattering 14,764 fires in the Brazilian Pantanal this year, according to satellite data from Brazil's National Space Research Institute (INPE).

In less than nine months, 2020 has already broken the annual record for the number of fires, according to INPE, with an increase of 214 percent from the same period last year.

"It's sad. Just when we thought tourism was about to bounce back from the coronavirus pandemic, these fires have destroyed 10 to 15 percent of the Pantanal," said tour guide Roberto Carvalho Macedo, part of an informal brigade of firefighters, local residents, officials and hotel owners who have banded together to patrol the area's bridges day and night.

Tour guide Roberto Carvalho, 50, walks beside a buffalo carcass found inside a burnt area, while searching for signs of an injured jaguar at the wetland of Pantanal, Transpantaneira park road in Mato Grosso state, Brazil, on September 13, 2020. Photo: AFP

Animals in 'critical condition'

Fellow guide Eduarda Fernandes Amaral was traveling by boat up a river in Encontro das Aguas State Park, known as the home to the world's biggest jaguar population.

She and a team of veterinarians and biologists were looking amid the charred remains of trees and shrubs for a jaguar that had reportedly been wounded in a fire.

"All the animals we've rescued so far have been in critical condition. Some of them have died, some are burnt all the way to the bone," she said.

She set out drinking water and baskets of fruit for animals that survived the fires. They now risk dying of dehydration or starvation.

It is impossible to estimate yet how many animals have died, but she said she fears the losses are enormous.

"I hope this makes people open their eyes and understand that the biodiversity here is unique. We have to preserve it," she told AFP.

An aerial view showing damage from a fire at the wetland of Pantanal at the Transpantaneira park road in Mato Grosso state, Brazil, on September 13, 2020. Photo: AFP

Causes and effect

The scenes in the Pantanal are reminiscent of the wildfires devastating the US West Coast.

As with those fires, there is a complex web of factors driving the blazes.

The main cause in the Pantanal is drought.

From January to May, the usual rainy season, the region received just half the precipitation it normally does. As a result, many areas that are usually flooded this time of year are dry.

Exacerbating the problem, ranchers are increasingly introducing non-native plants for pasture land, weakening the region's natural resistance to fire, experts say.

A volunteer throws water to control a fire using a water tank truck to protect a wooden bridge - one of 119 bridges of the Transpantaneira Park Road - at the wetland of Pantanal at the Transpantaneira park road in Mato Grosso state, Brazil, on September 13, 2020. Photo: AFP

Ecologists also blame funding and staffing cuts at Brazil's environmental protection agencies under far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who took office in January 2019.

"There's a widespread sense of impunity" among farmers and ranchers who set fires to clear land for crops and pasture, said forestry engineer Vinicius Silgueiro of the Life Center Institute (ICV).

There have been 62,627 fires in the Brazilian Amazon so far this year, an increase of 10 percent from the same period last year.
MCLA Student Government

The Student Government is the representative body of students at MCLA that oversees and funds over 50 campus clubs and organizations and gives students a voice with the college administration while advocating for positive change on campus.

The Student Government consists of Senators, an Executive Cabinet, and Class Officers -- all of whom you elect to represent student needs. Since 1909, the Student Government at MCLA has been bringing student concerns to administrators and leading student initiatives.

MCLA Student Government is funded through the Student Activities Tax. Each MCLA student pays an activities fee of $150 per semester into the Student Activities Trust Fund, which the Student Government then allocates to the student body by funding recognized clubs, organizations, and other student-centered activities.

Did you know that Student Government also pays for MCLA students to have access to the Berkshire Eagle and USA Today? Print copies can be found in the marketplace on the first floor of the campus center and in the pod in Bowmen. Students can also use this link to access an online version of USA Today.

Meet your Student Government and Class Council Representatives and learn more about the next general election.

Drop by or make an APPOINTMENT!

Student Government general assembly meetings are held on Mondays at 7 p.m. in Murdock 218. Stop by if you would like to voice your opinion on a topic on this weeks agenda and check out our Facebook page for the latest information about meetings.

You can also visit the Student Government office on the third floor of the campus center (room 316) for resources on hosting events and using funding for your club or organization. Office hours are 9 a.m. - 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 12 p.m. - 3 p.m. on Saturday.

Check out our annual Sam Gomez Road Race that Student Government hosts every spring. Follow us on Facebook to get the most up-to-date information on all of our annual traditions and weekly meetings.

Club and OrganizATION RESOURCES

There are so many ways to get involved on campus, including 50+ Student Government sponsored clubs and organizations. Below are some resources for club leaders to utilize, including how-to videos for using essential club forms and and Presence.

Information about how to start new clubs and how to maintain club status according to the Student Government By-Laws and Constitution.

Resources from the Student Engagement team to help club leaders lead meetings, keep notes, and use Presence. This link includes videos for each leadership position in a club, and videos to help navigate MCLA's Presence website to keep attendance and advertise events. It also provides all of the necessary forms for club management, and the link to make an appointment in the Student Government Office with Office Manager Amanda Schuler or other office staff.

Quick Links

SGA Handbook 2.0 (pdf)

Executive Boards of Clubs & Organizations

Starting a New Club/Organization

SGA Constitution (pdf)

SGA By-Laws (pdf)

Student Engagement Guidelines (pdf)
Virtual: February: An Exploration Into Black History

Daily throughout 2022

What happens if February never ends?

february is a digital collage series by Lorenzo Baker that expands and explores the definitions of Black History. Looking at history from a unique vantage point, the daily project offers viewers insight into what is commonly known as Black History Month.

The push for celebrating Black History Month began in the 1920s, with the work of Historian Carter G. Woodson, who proposed in 1926 that, "It is not so much a Negro History Week as it is a History Week. We should emphasise not Negro History, but the Negro in History. What we need is not a history of selected races or nations, but the history of the world void of national bias, race hatred and religious prejudice". Motivated by the achievements Carter. G Woodson, february extends the argument that the achievements, moments, and record of Black people should be commemorated well beyond the standardized 28/29-day long window.

Sourcing from the principles of Afrofuturism, which override western approaches to time, space, and meaning, february began by addressing the question what happens if February never ends? Utilizing historical photographs, documents, illustrations, and images sourced from the internet, the artworks bend the viewers understanding of what is worth historizing. As a daily meditation on Black History, each artwork blends and incorporates new or obscure information and data into depictions of well-known and unfamiliar icons within the black historical cosmos.

See the project HERE.

Virtual: A TOURIST IN YOUR OWN HOME

Video Still, Glass Tower, Tania Zaidi, 2020

Opened February 13, 2021 @2pm EST

A Tourist In Your Own Home is an online exhibition curated by artist Shasha Dothan. Along with five artists Dothan invited, who are also immigrants to the United States, they created video works about their 2020 experience. This exhibition looks at each immigrants struggle and the notion of home. Is the new country you live in your home? Is the country you were born in your home? Being confined at home for the last year due to Covid 19, immigrant artists may struggle even more with the questions of displacement. Many questions about home and feeling like you dont belong become more difficult.



In this online video exhibition, the selected artists will represent different facets of immigrating to the US. Each artist comes from a different country and culture. Each has their own story. What they all have in common is living in the US in 2020, trying to build a future for themselves. The show will ask, will you become a tourist in the land you were born? And also, are you at home in the land you now live in? Finally, is the realm of art an alternative home for immigrants?



The artists Jisoo Chung, Marton Robinson, Shirin Bolourchi and Ali Azhari, Tania Zaidi and Shasha Dothan choose to look at this time in a different way, with a different perspective and in a different language. All these stories are connected to an individual experience but share a universal feeling of being lost in translation.

MCLA Gallery 51 is a program of MCLAs Berkshire Cultural Resource Center. Go to: www.mcla.edu for gallery hours & more information or call 413-662-5324.

Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) is the Commonwealth's public liberal arts college and a campus of the Massachusetts state university system. MCLA promotes excellence in learning and teaching, innovative scholarship, intellectual creativity, public service, applied knowledge, and active and responsible citizenship. MCLA graduates are prepared to be practical problem solvers and engaged, resilient global citizens. For more information, go to www.mcla.edu.
Republican lawmakers urge DOJ to investigate Netflix for distribution of child porn in Cuties

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Sen. Ted Cruz has joined other Republicans in Congress in urging the Department of Justice to investigate Netflix to find out whether it violated any federal laws by distributing the French film Cuties, that many say sexualizes underage girls and promotes the normalization of pedophilia.

The film sexualizes young girls, including through dance scenes that simulate sexual activities and a scene exposing a minors bare breast, notes the Texas Republican in his letter to Attorney General Bill Barr on Friday.

Cruz has urged the Department of Justice to investigate the production and distribution of this film to determine whether Netflix, its executives or the individuals involved in the filming and production of Cuties violated any federal laws against the production and distribution of child pornography.

The senator further warned, " ... it is likely that the filming of this movie created even more explicit and abusive scenes, and that pedophiles across the world in the future will manipulate and imitate this film in abusive ways."

The DOJ, Cruz added, has a significant role in preventing the sexual abuse of children. The Department enforces federal criminal law making it a serious crime to produce or distribute material involving the sexual exploitation of minors, including the filming of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

Also on Friday, Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, and Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana, also demanded an investigation by the DOJ.

Theres no excuse for the sexualization of children, and Netflixs decision to promote the film Cuties is disgusting at best and a serious crime at worst, Cotton told the Daily Caller. I urge the Department of Justice to take action against Netflix for their role in pushing explicit depictions of children into American homes.

Banks was quoted as saying: As a father of young daughters, I find it sickening. Not only is this movie fodder for pedophiles, it encourages very young girls to defy their parents wishes and share pornographic images of themselves with strangers. Our culture has come a long way in recent years, recognizing the power of television, movies and magazines to affect young girls.

On Saturday, Banks wrote on Twitter: Glad to join [Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.,] in calling on the DOJ to bring charges against Netflix for distribution of child pornography.

A Netflix spokesperson has defended the film.

Cuties is a social commentary against the sexualization of young children, the spokesperson was quoted as saying. Its an award winning film and a powerful story about the pressure young girls face on social media and from society more generally growing up  and wed encourage anyone who cares about these important issues to watch the movie.

In response, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., suggested Netflix executives testify in front of the U.S. Senate. Maybe @Netflix would like to come talk this over before Congress, Hawley wrote on Twitter Thursday.

Aja Romano, who's on the culture staff at the far-left site Vox, said last week that she considered the movie a wonderful, poignant, challenging and nuanced coming-of-age film, smartly crafted by a wonderful director and dismissed the controversy around it as propaganda fueled by QAnon types and anti-Semites.

Im frankly delighted by a bunch of bigots settling in with pitchforks to flame the pedophile movie and discovering this lovely subtle story about girls battling fraught gender roles, she added.

Many Twitter users have likened the film to child porn and said they would no longer subscribe to the online streaming service and urged others to do likewise, accompanied by a #cancelnetflix hashtag, which was the top trending topic on social media last week.

Last month, thousands of people urged Netflix to pull the film. It didn't pull the film and only apologized for the artwork it used to promote the movie.

Were deeply sorry for the inappropriate artwork that we used for Mignonnes/Cuties. It was not OK, nor was it representative of this French film which won an award at Sundance. Weve now updated the pictures and description, Netflix said in a statement posted on Twitter last month.

The apology came after more than 150,000 people signed a change.org petition, calling on Netflix to remove the film.
Lok Janshankti Party (LJP) president Chirag Paswan has called a meeting of all party MPs on Wednesday to discuss how to fight the Assembly elections in Bihar.

Paswan has made his discomfiture with the ruling Janata Dal (United), part of Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), known. His LJP is also part of the NDA.

The issues LJP has with the JD(U) were raised in the partys parliamentary board meeting on September 7. It was also decided that a list of 143 candidates will be prepared and sent to the central leadership.

Though he has been critical of the Bihar governments handling of a number of issues, including the Covid-19 pandemic and law and order in the state, Paswan has maintained that his party will support whoever the BJP backs as the chief ministerial candidate in the polls.

The BJP has already announced that chief minister Nitish Kumar will be the NDAs choice for the job in the assembly polls.

Paswan wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday to apprise him about the political situation in Bihar. Paswan said in the letter that people are unhappy with the functioning of the Bihar government which can have impact on assembly poll results.

The LJP has six members in the Lok Sabha from the state and one Rajya Sabha member is its founder and Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan.

Bihar has 243 Assembly seats and elections in the state are due and expected in October-November as the tenure of the current Assembly will end by last November this year. The Election Commission has not yet taken a final call on poll dates in Bihar.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 21:31:09|Editor: huaxia

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BRUSSELS, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday welcomed the recent return of Turkish exploratory vessels to Turkish ports in the Eastern Mediterranean.

In her first State of the Union address to the European Parliament, von der Leyen said the de-escalation in the Eastern Mediterranean is in the mutual interest of the European Union (EU) and Turkey, and necessary to create space for dialogue.

"Refraining from unilateral actions and resuming talks in genuine good faith is the only path to stability and lasting solutions," von der Leyen said.

The chief of the EU's executive arm assured that Cyprus and Greece, both EU member states, can always count on "the full solidarity of the EU" on protecting their legitimate sovereignty rights.

She said Turkey is an important neighbour of the EU. While acknowledging that Turkey is located in a "troubled neighbourhood" and is hosting millions of refugees, for which it gets "considerable funding" from the EU, von der Leyen insisted that none of this could serve as "justification for attempts to intimidate its neighbours."

Turkish seismic survey vessel Oruc Reis returned to Turkey last weekend after weeks of research in a disputed area near the Greek island of Meis, also known as Kastellorizo, where Greece claims lies within its continental shelf. Enditem
ANN ARBOR, MI -- A Hilton-branded hotel is expected to be build south of downtown Ann Arbor.

City council approved the development on Tuesday, Sept. 8 for a four-story, 71,662-square-foot Home2 Hotel, which is part of the Hilton brand. The hotel at 361 West Eisenhower Parkway is expected to hold 115 rooms, 115 parking spaces and four bicycles spaces, according to the developers plan.

115-room hotel proposed on Ann Arbors south side

2 hotels approved for former Michigan Inn site in Ann Arbor

The plans involve demolishing a one-story office building on the existing 2.6-acre site for the hotel that would include a lot that can be accessed from Signature Boulevard, an indoor pool, outdoor patio area, lobby and breakfast area, large meeting room and a conference room.

Ann Arbor Superior Hotel Group LLC, which is led by Detroit-based businessman Dante Bacall of Bacall Companies, Inc., purchased the site in December 2019 for $1.8 million, city records show.

Council also approved a separate hotel plan a four-story Aloft by Marriott with 128 rooms and a four-story Home2 by Hilton with 107 rooms at 2800 Jackson Ave., the site of the former Michigan Inn. The site is expected to hold 237 parking spots, bicycle spaces for each building and four electric vehicle charging stations. Ann Arbor Best Hospitality purchased the property for $3 million in 2017 from Michiginns Real Estate, LLC, city records show.

READ MORE:

Glazier Way, Green Road closing in Ann Arbor for resurfacing

Liberty Street to close in downtown Ann Arbor for DDA project

Local Eats: Try simple, honest food at Beezys Cafe in Ypsilanti
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 12:09:25|Editor: huaxia

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NICOSIA, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- China and the European Union (EU) share a profound common ground to "build a comprehensive strategic partnership with greater global influence," a Cypriot academic told Xinhua on Tuesday.

"The EU and China have much in common. They are the two main powers, two most important markets and two major civilizations in the world," said Kostas Gouliamos, the rector of the European University in Nicosia, commentating on Monday's video conference between the Chinese and EU leaders.

China and the EU will play a key role towards building a community with a shared future for mankind, said Gouliamos, who is also vice president of the Nicosia-based think-tank Promitheas.

"It is of paramount importance that the leaders of China and the EU announced the signing of an agreement on geographical indications. It is also very positive that they decided to accelerate the process on overlapping interests, especially in terms of negotiation on the investment agreement," he said.

The Chinese and EU leaders also decided to establish a high-level dialogue on environment and climate, and one in the digital field, to build their green partnership and digital cooperative partnership.

Gouliamos said that from an environmental standpoint, the EU and China share a commitment in global sustainable development, based on the implementation of the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement, which presents opportunities for closer cooperation.

"The Chinese model of a harmonious and balanced development has been perceived positive by the European citizens and opinion leaders," Gouliamos said, adding that Chinese President Xi Jinping's leadership improves China's peaceful development and cooperation with Europe and other world communities.

The analyst said that the four principles for developing China-EU relations put forward by Xi during the video conference -- peaceful coexistence, openness and cooperation, multilateralism, and dialogue and consultation -- are remarkable.

"President Xi Jinping appropriately called the two sides to decisively stimulate a vigorous and constant development of their comprehensive strategic partnership," Gouliamos said.

EU policymakers, diplomats as well as the European business community have noted that China stands ready to strengthen cooperation with the EU on important international and regional issues, and contribute to global health governance as humankind is standing at a new crossroads due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.

"It is worthy to note the fact that China is the first major nation returning to positive GDP growth in the post-pandemic period. Moreover, China's economy will surpass that of the EU by 2022," Gouliamos said.

The academic further noted that as this year marks the 45th anniversary of China-EU diplomatic ties, it is imperative to highlight the fact that the EU has been China's largest trading partner for 15 consecutive years.

He said that China contributed 22.5 trillion dollars, or 17.3 percent of the world's 130.1 trillion dollars in gross domestic product, according to estimates by the World Bank.

"In many ways, China's continual economic rise presents a rare opportunity for Europe," he said.

Gouliamos noted that the EU should strive to build a favorable Sino-European economic and diplomatic relationship. Enditem
LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday the effects of China's national security law were already beginning to be felt in Hong Kong.

Johnson, speaking to a parliamentary committee, said: "You're starting to see a chilling of free speech ... You're starting to see the effect of that security rule."

Johnson also said there had not been any request by Japan to join the "Five-Eyes" intelligence sharing arrangement.

(Reporting by William James, editing by Elizabeth Piper)
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz made it clear to supporters on a fundraising call on Tuesday night that he has no intention of becoming a Supreme Court justice.

A week after President Donald Trump put the Houston-area Republican on his shortlist of potential nominees, Cruz supporters pressed him on whether hed want to join the high court. Although Cruz has a new book about the Supreme Court coming out soon, he said it is not the right fit for him.

No, I dont want to serve in that position, said Cruz, 49.

While a principled judge is expected to stay out of politics, I dont want to stay out of political fights, Cruz said. I dont want to stay out of policy fights.

Instead, Cruz said he wants to have an impact on the issues he cares most through politics.

The right place to do it is in the political arena, Cruz said, adding he believes he can have a bigger impact in the Senate than on the Supreme Court.

TEXAS TAKE: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox

After graduating from Harvard Law School, Cruz was a clerk with the late Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist. Later Cruz would argue numerous cases before the Supreme Court while serving as the Texas Solicitor General.

Cruz was re-elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018 and would next be up for re-election in 2024. He has made clear that he has not closed the door on running for president, telling reporters last year I hope to run again.

Cruz ran for the White House in 2016 and became the last major challenge to Trump during the GOP nomination battle.

Cruz said he was deeply honored to be included on Trumps list of potential nominees and told his supporters he wants to be in a position to be intimately involved in nominating and confirming justices to the court in the future.
Hes amassed a fortune nudging 700 million, owns a luxurious villa in Mustique and yet still finds time to chair not only the National Portrait Gallery but also the Royal Opera House.

But it appears that, at 55, David Ross, co-founder of Carphone Warehouse, is preparing to share the burdens of office with the next generation.

He has, I can disclose, just appointed his son, Carl, to be the patron of Nevill Holt Opera, the opera house which Ross established at his Leicestershire estate in 2013.

Such an arrangement might not seem unusual for any self-made man intent on establishing a budding dynasty.

But it appears that, at 55, David Ross (right, pictured with Saffron Aldridge), co-founder of Carphone Warehouse, is preparing to share the burdens of office with the next generation

But the appointment represents a precocious advance for Carl  a lad of 17 whos still in the sixth form at the same public school where his father befriended Charles Dunstone, his Carphone Warehouse co-founder.

Observers point out that it coincides with Rosss recent appointment as the new chairman of the Royal Opera House.

David Ross has now gone to the Royal Opera House to raise money for opera, so who will be left to raise money for Nevill Holt? one of them muses.

A 17-year-old schoolboy with little, if any, experience.

A new 400-seat auditorium was built at Nevill Holt in 2018 with a loan of 6.5 million from the David Ross Foundation. Nevill Holt Opera has still to pay back all the money and has secured terms to extend a loan repayment schedule over 50 years, by which time Carl will be 67.

Observers point out that it coincides with Rosss recent appointment as the new chairman of the Royal Opera House (pictured)

But Ross, who earlier this year facilitated the holiday which the Prime Minister and Carrie Symonds enjoyed in Mustique, is unlikely to be perturbed by criticism.

His son is by his relationship with Shelley Ross, a pole-dancer who happened to share his surname but whom he never married.

Nevill Holt Opera describes Carl as an excellent musician, and says that he has been highly involved with its work since it began.

Nicholas Chalmers, its artistic director, adds that Carl has demonstrated his musicianship and talent on the Nevill Holt Opera stage on many occasions, singing in La Boheme and Carmen, as well as performing as a pianist at various Nevill Holt events.

Less than 6? No need for the Police, Sting!

The pandemic has provided Sting and his wife, Trudie, with creative inspiration.

The couple have been staying at their Tuscan villa this summer, as they do each year, but owing to social restrictions in Italy they are getting extra resourceful when it comes to entertaining themselves.

Film producer Trudie, 66, shared a picture of herself and Sting, 68, dining outdoors with a group of friends, all of whom playfully sport napkins on their heads  while Trudie adds a bowl on hers.

Still finding ways to have fun amongst friends, she explains, adding they didnt wear masks as they are in a bubble.

Sting and his wife, Trudie, are getting extra resourceful when it comes to entertaining themselves due to social restrictions in Italy

Maureen Lipman is feeling a little out of place among the cast of Corrie. The actress, 74  whose late husband, celebrated playwright Jack Rosenthal, penned many classic episodes in the Sixties  stars as outspoken battleaxe Evelyn Plummer, and says: The Coronation Street cast members are all gym bunnies who only eat pineapples and frogs legs and run 10k for charities, so Ive got to keep up somehow.

As a result, shes taken up dancing. I havent followed pop music for 30 years, but Ive quite enjoyed bopping around the flat on my own, she adds.

It provides a bit of exercise as well.

Screen star Jessica Brown Findlay is jumping for joy after marrying the man she met while playing a prostitute in the BBC drama, Harlots

Ziggy weds his scarlet Harlot..

Screen star Jessica Brown Findlay is jumping for joy after marrying the man she met while playing a prostitute in the BBC drama, Harlots.

The Berkshire-born actress tied the knot with fellow actor Ziggy Heath just days before her 31st birthday this week.

Jessica, who shot to fame playing Lady Sybil Crawley in ITVs Downton Abbey, met Ziggy in 2017.

She posted pictures from the intimate ceremony in London. She also shared one of herself energetically leaping onto a bed in a strapless red dress.

A weekend of dreams, she captioned it. Small celebrations felt HUGE.

She posted pictures from the intimate ceremony in London. She also shared one of herself energetically leaping onto a bed in a strapless red dress

Prince Charles is one of Britains most successful artists, and now hes seeking people to follow in his brush strokes. Charles, whose watercolours have raised more than 3 million for his charitable foundation since 1992, is advertising for the next generation of artists to join the Royal Drawing School for one-week stays in November and December at Dumfries House, his stately home in Ayrshire. Instead of the usual four places up for grabs, social distancing means there will be just two.

Dara scoots off to work for ex Edo

Princess Beatrices new husband, Edo Mapelli Mozzi, is continuing to enjoy a close relationship with his former fiancee, Dara Huang.

The property developer, 37, who married the Duke of Yorks 32-year-old daughter, in July, has enlisted architect Dara to help with his latest project in West London.

The 38-year-old mother of Edos son, Wolfie, four, shared a picture of herself on a scooter outside the office space owned by Edos company, Banda Property.

My new mode of transport and workwear visiting a gorgeous site, she captioned it.
The initiative builds on the prototype of The Yellow Bowl Project, an interdisciplinary exploration Berkshire Cultural Resource Center launched in the Fall of 2017. By centering multiple cultural activities and opportunities for reflection around the prompt what does it mean to be an American, we saw students develop the ability to synergize their experience with the art and the relationship to their personal understanding and relevance. Students across classes wrote responses to the prompt. A wide range of essays, poems and reflections were selected to be shared at a reading at Gallery 51 and were published on the SmartCommons Blog.

Erica Barreto '18, an English/Communications major, experiences the exhibit from the lens of three classes-a senior capstone course on race, a Writing in the Arts course that she TA'd and her Fundamentals of Arts Management course. Two of those courses also featured class visits with artist Setsuko Winchester.



Through the process, "I got to engage with faculty and students from different disciplines. Barreto said, "which was really rewarding. You get more out of something when you get to hear other voices and interact with different people [outside your major]."

Outcomes

This project has potential to:

Connect faculty with area offerings and cross disciplinary connections.

Engage students in current topics in the field through writing and experiential exploration.

Support student success through high impact engagement activities.

Activate relationships between MCLA and Berkshire County cultural resources.

Engage students with diverse artists, institutions and cultural resources as they explore/research/write in response to provocative questions.

Move towards creating a culture of participation amongst MCLA students and faculty.

Activities

Hardman Writing in the Arts Fellow

Aruna D'Souza writes about modern and contemporary art; intersectional feminisms and other forms of politics; and how museums shape our views of each other and the world. Her work appears regularly in 4Columns.org, where she is a member of the editorial advisory board, and has been published as well in The Wall Street Journal, Art News, Garage, Bookforum, Momus, Art in America, and Art Practical, among other places. Her book, Whitewalling: Art, Race, and Protest in 3 Acts will be published by Badlands Unlimited in May 2018. She is also editor of the forthcoming volume Making It Modern: A Linda Nochlin Reader, coming out from Thames & Hudson.



Aruna D'Souza writes about modern and contemporary art; intersectional feminisms and other forms of politics; and how museums shape our views of each other and the world. Her work appears regularly in 4Columns.org, where she is a member of the editorial advisory board, and has been published as well in The Wall Street Journal, Art News, Garage, Bookforum, Momus, Art in America, and Art Practical, among other places. Her book, Whitewalling: Art, Race, and Protest in 3 Acts will be published by Badlands Unlimited in May 2018. She is also editor of the forthcoming volume Making It Modern: A Linda Nochlin Reader, coming out from Thames & Hudson.



GALLERY 51

SPECTRUM: Exploring Gender Identification

Sept. 27  Nov. 18, 2018

Opening reception Thursday Sept. 27, 5pm  8pm

National Juried Exhibition

SPECTRUM brings to MCLA Gallery 51 a reflection and conversation on the gender continuumexploring cultural and social issues of gender roles, norms and identification. The work examines masculinity, femininity and gender identifications between and outside of this binary.



The exhibiting artist are: Bug Davidson, Samira Roostaie, Rora Blue, Kenneth Guthrie, Monica Velez, Rachel ODonnell, Felicita Maynard, Lou Eberhard, Shawn Rowe, Caitlin Rose OBrien, John Manion, Everett Hoffman, Keavy Handley-Byrne, Raul Gonzalez, Alexandria Deters, Aaron Cobbett, Katina Bitsicas, Elissa Rae Ecker, Kyle Quinn, George Lorio, Kate Hovencamp, Margaret Hart, Adam Atkinson, Brea Weinreb, Abby Taylor, Rachel Uhlir, Vaughan Larsen, Kiana Honarmand, Ana Cigon, Christopher Matthews.





CULTURAL PARTNER PERFORMANCES AND EXHIBITS

Jacobs Pillow Dance Festival: Guest Artist Kyle Abraham

MacArthur Genius Fellow and Jacobs Pillow Dance Award winner Kyle Abraham is a remarkable talent (San Francisco Chronicle). Abraham will be in residence at Jacobs Pillow developing a new choreographic work. His most recent work Dearest Home performed at the Pillow in 2017, is an interactive dance performance that explores cultural views and exchanges about love and the absence of love.

Kyle Abraham (Artistic Director) 2016 Doris Duke Artist Award recipient and 2015 City Center Choreographer in residence, Kyle Abraham (Pittsburgh, PA) is a 2013 MacArthur Fellow. Previous awards include being named a 2012 USA Ford Fellow, a Creative Capital grantee, and receiving a 2012 Jacob's Pillow Dance Award. In 2010, Abraham received a prestigious Bessie Award for Outstanding Performance in Dance for his work in The Radio Show and a Princess Grace Award for Choreography in 2010. The previous year, he was selected as one of Dance Magazine's 25 To Watch for 2009.

More information

Williams College Museum of Art Exhibit

Talk Together: Dance We Must

Enter the world of Jacobs Pillow founder Ted Shawn and visionary modern dancer Ruth St. Denis. Over 350 objects from the Jacobs Pillow Archives, including bejeweled and embroidered costumes pulled from the antique touring trunks, photographs, props, backdrops, and original artworks offer a glimpse into the early careers of this pioneering couple. The Denishawn Company, founded by Shawn and St. Denis in 1914, ushered in a new era of modern American dance. Breaking with European traditions, their choreography connected the physical and spiritual, often drawing from ancient, indigenous, and international sources. The exhibition covers the first three decades of the twentieth century charting the movements of St. Denis and Shawn from Los Angeles to Asia to Becket, Massachusetts. Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn transformed dance in America.

Borrowing from a variety of influences percolating through elite culture including Theosophy, the Occult, and Orientalism with specific interests in Buddhism and Hinduism, the two forged new territory in international dance after founding Denishawn, a dance school and performing company in 1915. Denishawn made contributions to what would become a recognizably modern and American style of movement by discarding traditions of European ballet.

St. Deniss and Shawns appropriation of non-Western and indigenous forms of movement was a search, in their eyes, for more authentic modes of self-expression than what many of their peers in their predominantly white and upper class circles believed existed in the industrialized West. However, it is not possible to separate Shawns Native American works from the continued marginalization of indigenous peoples in the United States and globally. Similarly, St. Denis darkening her skin with makeup to appear Southeast Asian can be interpreted as cultural imperialism that brings to the fore white performers privilegethen and nowto adopt at will the identities of people of color.

After separating from St. Denis in 1930, Ted Shawn purchased a rundown farm in the Berkshires known as Jacobs Pillow. There he laid the groundwork for his revolutionary company of Men Dancers and the now internationally-renowned dance festival. Shawns choreography placed men, rather than women, as the dominant bodies in dance, and provided insights into discourses of masculinity and queerness in early twentieth century America.



WCMA and Jacobs Pillow are jointly undertaking a project to conserve, research, and fully catalogue these archival materials. The elaborate costumes of St. Denis, Denishawn, and the Men Dancers, some of which date to the early 1900s, are emerging from the original company touring trunks for the first time in decades.

MASS MoCA: Allison Janae Hamilton exhibition Pitch

Allison Janae Hamiltons work, including photographs, videos, sculptures, and installations, is influenced by the sights and sounds of the southern landscape. Sustainability and the future of this verdant, balmy environment  and the environment at large  are significant themes in her practice. A mix of personal realities and epic narratives, the artists rich vision of the rural landscape is a lens through which she explores the intersection of agricultural, environmental, and social histories that continue to inform the present.

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Face coverings are "the most powerful public health tool" the nation has against the coronavirus and might even provide better protection against it than a vaccine, the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told lawmakers Wednesday.

"We have clear scientific evidence they work, and they are our best defense," CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield said. "I might even go so far as to say that this face mask is more guaranteed to protect me against Covid than when I take a Covid vaccine."

Redfield told the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies that a potential coronavirus vaccine, which will likely be available in limited quantities by the end of this year, may only have an immunogenicity of 70%.

Immunogenicity is the ability of a vaccine to build an immune response to the virus. Other top health experts, including White House coronavirus advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci, have said the likelihood of producing a highly effective Covid-19 vaccine  one that provides 98% or more guaranteed protection  is slim.

Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in August that scientists are hoping for a vaccine that's at least 75% effective. The Food and Drug Administration said it would authorize a coronavirus vaccine so long as it is safe and at least 50% effective.

A 50% effective vaccine would be roughly on par with those for influenza but below the effectiveness of one dose of a measles vaccination, which is about 93% effective, according to the CDC.

"If I don't get an immune response, the vaccine's not going to protect me. This face mask will," Redfield told lawmakers while holding up a blue surgical face mask. He urged Americans, particularly those between 18 and 25 years old, to continue wearing face coverings, reiterating they could help bring the pandemic under control in a matter of weeks if people wore them universally.

Earlier on Wednesday, the CDC outlined a sweeping plan to make vaccines for Covid-19 free to all Americans. Even then, Redfield predicted that it will take "six to nine" months to get every American vaccinated, saying the U.S. should have enough doses to return to "regular life" by the third quarter of next year.

The CDC and the World Health Organization now suggest people wear face coverings to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, which is spread through respiratory droplets when a person coughs, sneezes or talks. The CDC says face masks that cover the mouth and nose are "particularly important" when people can't maintain a 6-foot distance from one another.

Adm. Brett Giroir, an assistant secretary for health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, told the lawmakers that wearing a face covering "is one of the most important things we can do to prevent spread." That's because people who are infected and don't show symptoms could still be spreading the virus.

The comments came after Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., pressed the health officials on President Donald Trump's reluctance to wear a face covering while attending events. Trump made the announcement in early April that the CDC had changed its guidance in support of wearing a face covering in settings where social distancing isn't feasible, but he said, "I don't think I'm going to be doing it." In July, after months of reluctance, the president said wearing a face covering is "patriotic."

At a White House press briefing later on Wednesday, the president said Redfield might have "misunderstood" the question by lawmakers, adding that masks are not as important as the vaccine. Trump said "perhaps" face masks help.

"I hope that the vaccine's going to be a lot more beneficial than the masks," Trump told reporters. "As far as the mask is concerned, he made a mistake."

The CDC walked back some of Redfield's testimony after Trump's criticism, clarifying his stance on face masks.

"I 100% believe in the importance of vaccines and the importance in particular of a COVID-19 vaccine. A COVID-19 vaccine is the thing that will get Americans back to normal everyday life," Redfield said in a statement emailed to CNBC. "The best defense we currently have against this virus are the important mitigation efforts of wearing a mask, washing your hands, social distancing and being careful about crowds."

Dr. Robert Kadlec, assistant secretary for preparedness and response at HHS, told Reed and lawmakers on the panel that the president "can exercise his rights to do what he pleases as we see other Americans doing that."

 CNBC's Berkeley Lovelace Jr. and Kevin Breuninger contributed to this report.
The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday that there are now seven deaths linked to the COVID-19 outbreak involving a wedding and reception in the Millinocket area last month.

Maine CDC Director Dr. Nirav Shah said the two new deaths are at the Maplecrest Rehabilitation and Living Center in Madison.
Reporting by The Associated Press:



WASHINGTON, DC  Openly contradicting the government's top health experts, President Donald Trump predicted Wednesday that a safe and effective vaccine against the coronavirus could be ready as early as next month and in mass distribution soon after, undermining the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and calling him "confused in projecting a longer time frame.

Watch a video replay of Trump's Wednesday news briefing beginning at the 42-minute mark of the video player above.

Trump also disagreed with Dr. Robert Redfield about the effectiveness of protective masks  which the president recommends but almost never wears  and said he'd telephoned Redfield to tell him so.

Earlier in the day, the CDC sent all 50 states a playbook for distribution of a vaccine to all Americans free of cost when one is proven safe and effective  which is not yet the case. Redfield told a congressional hearing that health care workers, first responders and others at high risk would get the vaccine first, perhaps in January or even late this year, but it was unlikely to be available more broadly, again assuming approval, before late spring or summer.

Redfield, masked at times in a Senate hearing room, also spoke emphatically of the importance of everyone wearing protective masks to stop the pandemic, which has killed nearly 200,000 Americans. He floated the possibility that a vaccine might be 70% effective in inducing immunity, and said, "I might even go so far as to say that this face mask is more guaranteed to protect me against COVID than when I take a COVID vaccine.

Trump would have none of that from the CDC director.

Vaccine is much more effective than the mask," he declared.

As for vaccinating Americans, Trump said Wednesday, We think we can start sometime in October." One of his recently added advisers, Dr. Scott Atlas, said as many as 700 million doses could be available by the end of March.

Story continues

Trump made the prediction even though the vaccine is still being tested in human subjects, and some health experts have said they believe a safe and highly effective vaccine is several months way, if not much longer.

CDC sent a planning document on Wednesday to U.S. states, territories and some big cities. Adding to logistical complications, vaccines likely will have to be given in two doses spaced weeks apart and will have to be refrigerated.

Redfield said states are not ready to deal with the demand for such a distribution and some $6 billion in new funding would be needed to get the nation prepared.

Unswayed, Trump said, Were ready to move, and I think it will be full distribution."

Redfield said any vaccine available in November or December would be in very limited supply, and reserved for first responders and people most vulnerable to COVID-19. The shot wouldnt be broadly available until the spring or summer 2021, he estimated.

On Wednesday night, after Trumps comments, CDC officials initially sent an email claiming Redfield thought he was answering a question about when vaccination of all Americans would be completed. But then they called back that statement, and did not immediately provide additional comment.

The entire vaccine enterprise faces continued public skepticism. Only about half of Americans said theyd get vaccinated in an Associated Press-NORC poll taken in May. Since then, questions have only mounted about whether the government is trying to rush treatments and vaccines to help Trumps reelection chances.

The Health and Human Services Department announced Wednesday that political appointee Michael Caputo would take a leave of absence to "focus on his health and the well-being of his family. The news followed revelations that Caputo had tried to gain editorial control over the CDC's scientific publications on COVID-19, which he contended were hurting the Trump administration.

Redfield said the scientific integrity of his agencys reports has not been compromised and it will not be compromised under my watch. He also rejected questions about whether the CDC's timeline for states to be ready for a vaccine by Nov. 1 was politically motivated.

The worst thing that could happen is if we have a vaccine delivered and were still not ready to distribute, Redfield told Senate lawmakers. There was absolutely no political thinking about it.

Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the committees top Democrat, said political interference from HHS had damaged public trust in the governments health information.

The Trump administration needs to leave the science to the scientists immediately, Murray said.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said while campaigning that he trusts what scientists say about a potential vaccine  but not Trump.

Biden has said he would take a vaccine tomorrow if it were available but he would want to see what the scientists said first.

As for the planned vaccine campaign, Redfield said his agency will be working with state health officials to implement the preparations in coming days.

Among the highlights of the plan:

 For most vaccines, people will need two doses, 21 to 28 days apart. Double-dose vaccines will have to come from the same drugmaker. There could be several vaccines from different manufacturers approved and available.

 Vaccination of the U.S. population won't be a sprint but a marathon. Initially there may be a limited supply of vaccines, and the focus will be on protecting health workers, other essential employees and people in vulnerable groups. A second and third phase would expand vaccination to the entire population.

 The vaccine itself will be free of charge, thanks to billions of dollars in taxpayer funding approved by Congress and allocated by the Trump administration. The goal is that patients wont be separately charged for administration of their shots, and officials say they are working to ensure thats the case for all Medicare recipients and uninsured people as well those covered by insurance at their jobs.

 States and local communities will need to devise precise plans for receiving and locally distributing vaccines, some of which will require special handling such as refrigeration or freezing. States and cities have a month to submit plans.

 A massive information technology effort will be needed to track who is getting which vaccines and when, and the key challenge involves getting multiple public and private databases to link with each other.

Some of the broad components of the federal plan have already been discussed, but Wednesday's reports attempt to put the key details into a comprehensive framework. Distribution is under the umbrella of Operation Warp Speed, a White House-backed initiative to have vaccines ready to ship in 24 hours from when a version is given emergency use approval by the Food and Drug Administration.

[RECIRC]

This article originally appeared on the White House Patch
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Linkedin Andrew Marszal (Agence France-Presse) Los Angeles, United States  Wed, September 16, 2020 21:04 492 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c4533a82 2 Entertainment wuhan,China,film,coronavirus,COVID-19,Canada,76-Days Free

Back in February, when few Americans were aware of a distant and oddly named phenomenon called coronavirus, two Chinese filmmakers strapped on hazmat suits and embedded themselves in Wuhan's overrun hospitals.

There, they captured harrowing footage of terrified citizens hammering on hospital doors, medics collapsing from exhaustion, and relatives begging in vain to say goodbye to infected loved ones.

Now, those images have been edited together by New York-based director Hao Wu (People's Republic of Desire).

Premiering at the Toronto film festival Monday, 76 Days -- named for the duration of the central Chinese city's draconian lockdown -- is the first major documentary from the disease's original epicenter to hit theaters.

Shot in a claustrophobic, cinema verite style -- without voice-over or direct-to-camera interviews -- the film relies on the intimacy of the footage of doctors and patients grappling with a terrifying new reality.

Wu first contacted the two filmmakers, one of whom is anonymous for his own safety, after witnessing China's early lockdown first-hand during a family visit for Chinese New Year.

The footage they sent him revealed how, in the chaos of the disease's early weeks, they were able to get remarkable access -- but at considerable personal risk and suffering.

"It was a horrible, horrible shooting experience for them," Wu told AFP. "They were fainting, it was really warm. A few times [filmmaker Weixi Chen] wanted to throw up inside [his] goggles, but he couldn't because once you throw up, once you remove your PPE, you have to get out, you could not come back again."

"It was like shooting in a war zone," he added.

Wu also had a personal motivation for pursuing the project.

His grandfather died from cancer soon after the outbreak, unable to find a hospital bed as resources strained under the weight of COVID-19.

"In the beginning I was angry with the Chinese government -- I really wanted to find out who's at fault, what caused this," said Wu.

But once the pandemic spread -- with exponentially greater tragedy -- to other countries like the US, the desire to place blame was replaced by a desire to document how "as human beings live through this, how we can share this experience."

Read also: Idris Elba talks US racism as 'Concrete Cowboy' rides into Toronto

'Scar'

Ironically, despite Beijing's tight controls on information, access was in some ways easier in China. Privacy and litigation concerns proved far more of a barrier to filming in New York hospitals, Wu found.

Wuhan hospitals desperately lacking personal protective equipment initially welcomed coverage that could boost donations and volunteers, he added.

The film eschews politics and blame to focus on personal stories of tragedy and bravery, hope and despair, which repeated around the world after emerging in China.

Medics tenderly hold the hands of patients locked away from their families, and are distinguishable to viewers only by the colorful doodles they scrawl upon each other's head-to-toe hazmat suits.

But it remains unclear whether the movie will ever be seen in China, where news about the pandemic has been tightly controlled since day one -- leading to many in the West, including US President Donald Trump, accusing Beijing of a vast cover-up.

"I would love to show it in China, because I feel that for the entire country with Covid, it has been such a scar on the nation's psyche," said Wu, who hopes it could help his ancestral home to mourn its losses.

"Obviously right now most Chinese feel proud the country has been able to control it. But it is a trauma."
Guwahati, Sep 16 : A 100-year-old woman has been discharged from a hospital here after recovering from Covid-19 on Wednesday, officials said.

Health officials said that Mai Handique, a boarder of a Guwahati-based old-age home, had undergone treatment for coronavirus for the past few weeks at the Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Hospital (MMCH) here.

Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said in a tweet: "Steely resolve of 100-year-old Mai Handique is monumental. With brilliant support from doctors at MMCH, she defeated coronavirus, giving us a lesson in having right will power.

"As she gets back to Mother's Old Age Home, Hatigaon, Guwahati, I join my team in wishing her the best." Coronavirus cases have gone up to 1,46,575 in Assam, including 1,16,900 recoveries and 492 deaths.

Assam's recovery and fatality rates are now 79.80 per cent and 0.34 per cent, respectively.

The total number of samples tested in the state so far is 27,82,807.

According to the health officials, 930 recovered patients have so far donated plasma in five medical colleges of the state.
A United Kingdom-based company claims to have developed a saliva test for COVID-19, called Virolens that takes 20 seconds to process and produce results.

The test it claims requires a simple mouth swab which is dropped inside a black box fitted with a modified microscope lens attached digital camera that examines the sample and displays an answer within seconds, the Financial Times reported.

The obscure, four-employee British company set up 40 miles outside of London is called iAbra. While it is still early days, excitement over possible veracity of the claim proves the desperation for a silver bullet, it noted.

As per iAbra, Virolens uses microscopic holographic imaging and artificial intelligence (AI) to analyse the saliva samples and run data through a computer trained to identify the virus from other cells.

Greg Compton, 33, CEO of iAbra told the paper it only needs 10 viral particles in a sample to give a positive result. He was also positive everyone in Europe could be tested by January using the test.

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 device is manufactured by TT Electronics  a company listed in the UK, now valued at 439 euros after its share price rose 40 percent once the news broke last week.

Follow our LIVE Updates on the coronavirus pandemic here

Early supporters include Heathrow airport and $13 billion United States-based software company Leidos  and while both have not placed orders yet, Leidos said active negotiations are on, and Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said the tech was could potentially be more accurate than PCR tests. Compton also said the company also saw huge demand from Universities in the US.

If we made a slight miswording of [our release], I apologise for everybody, but fundamentally, were trying to do a good thing for humanity as quickly as possible, Compton was quoted saying, adding that he believed this is an important step in the battle against COVID-19.

There are however doubts surrounding around the seemingly unlikely company being the one to deliver such a product  notably, no employee has expertise in viruses or microscopy and Compton said the idea for the test emerged while he was at Dubai Airport.

He left school at age 17 but said he was always a computer kid having written his first program aged seven. He has held several IT jobs in Tiscali, Capita and BskyB without formal training.

Unsurprising, doubts have been raised over how reliable the technology is as it is yet to receive external regulatory approval and there is no external testing of data of the companys claims.

Also Read: Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine candidate's trial report finds no major safety issues

Further, the involvement of virologists at the University of Bristol seems to have been misinterpreted as University virologist David Matthews said they only provided samples of the coronavirus to iAbra and was not in any way involved in its validation.

Weve put out our analytical specificity trials, and were following up with clinical trials, but all this takes time. Ive taken huge personal risks from a financial perspective, in order to bring this to market, Compton said.

Among concerns raised by scientists, one said the wording of iAbras release which suggests the virus is another cell was concerning, while several have pointed out iAbras presentation on the product did not contain sufficient information to explain its conclusions; others in general have raised the alarm on the inherent dangers of COVID-19 tests that are not properly validated.

Peter Torok, professor of optical physics at Imperial College London and a specialist in digital holographic microscopy said iAbras claims are theoretically possible, but noted that scientific information provided was a mishmash of different things.

Compton, however, said the next step is to release detail around trials, adding: We understand that its important to get confidence around the system.

US tech giant Intel, which partners with iAbra on its AI engine had initially posted an article related to the product on its website on but removed it without explanation.

Another red flag for sceptics is iAbras connections to known Big Foot hoax-maker Lord Global Corporation (earlier known as Bigfoot Projects Incorporated), which is financing the project in Australia, Latin America and South-East Asia.
I nternational Trade Secretary Liz Trusss department has been accused of wasting 760,000 on a vanity project to open a swish headquarters for trade talks in the skyscraper shown in Lord Sugars The Apprentice.

Financial records at the Department for International Trade reveal the sum was blown on weighing up two prestige sites in central London as homes for a dedicated trade negotiation facility.

One of the sites was One Canada Square in Canary Wharf, best known to the public from exterior shots suggesting - misleadingly - that it is home to the boardroom where Lord Sugar fires the reality shows unlucky competitors.

The other was One Drummond Gate, Pimlico, which was HQ to the Office for National Statistics before it was relocated to Newport, Wales, in 2006.

A general view of the Canary Wharf skyline / PA

In February, the department reported it was handing back to the Treasury some 5.6 million of allocations for the project that had gone unspent because of the delays to Brexit.

Then, in July, the DIT was obliged to disclose a reportable loss of 760,000 spent on due diligence at the two sites earmarked for the project.

DIT accounts recorded that one of the sites was taken off the market, meaning money spent on it was wasted, while the other was deemed to offer poor value for money and rejected.

The locations were revealed by parliamentary questions from shadow trade secretary Emily Thornberry.

She said: This is all wrong. First, why is the government spending millions on a new facility when theyve got plenty of negotiating venues at their disposal already.

"Second, why are they wasting hundreds of thousands exploring options that even Alan Sugar only pretends to use.

Lord Sugars confrontations take place in reality at a studio in west London, although an image of One Canada Square is shown before each boardroom scene.

Ms Thornberry said a regional city needed the extra investment more.

One veteran Whitehall watcher commented: Its priceless to imagine Boris or Liz Truss imagining themselves negotiating with the Americans and Japanese over Sir Alans boardroom table. Talk about vanity projects.

A DIT spokesman said: We are exploring how a dedicated facility might support the UKs role as an independent trading nation, however, no decisions have been made.
Increasing dependence on digitization and reduce utilization of cash has led to the proliferation of retail banking. As the industry grows, players must be aware of the various trends in their market and must aim to capitalize on these trends efficiently. Therefore, Infiniti's industry experts advise and support banking companies by helping them identify and strategize for current and upcoming trends in the market.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200916005587/en/

Emerging Trends in Retail Banking (Graphic: Business Wire)

To leverage Infiniti's expertise in identifying and capitalizing on current and future trends in the retail banking industry, request a free proposal.

"Although many have predicted the doom of traditional retail banking with the rise of new entrants, especially in fintech that focuses on superior customer experience, we believe that traditional banking companies still have a bright future," says a retail banking industry expert at Infiniti Research.

With an increasing number of new entrants in fields such as fintech and an increased focus on customer experience, the predicted doom of retail banking may have been substantially offset. Traditional banking companies can rely on retail banking trends such as AI and RPA to enhance customer experience and match performance with innovators in the banking industry. Additionally, with an increasing dependence on online transactions and net banking, retail banking has become a necessity for consumers. Infiniti's industry experts have assisted multiple banking companies in adopting agile business strategies and surviving dynamic market conditions. In their recent article, our experts have discussed some of the emerging retail banking trends that players need to be prepared for, based on their observations and expertise.

Want to stay ahead of the competition and the curve? To stay updated on all recent retail banking trends and efficiently capitalize on them, request more information.

Infiniti's experts identified the following four influential trends in the retail banking industry:

Banks are gradually moving their focus from products and services to creating exceptional customer experiences.

Social media is expected to become an important platform where customers research banking products/services and make purchase decisions.

Top banking companies are investing heavily in preventing cyber-attacks and providing customers with the security of transactions.

Two-factor authorization is expected to become mandatory to avoid fraud through the replication of biometrics.

Gain in-depth insights into the major trends in the retail banking industry by reading the complete article here.

About Infiniti Research

Established in 2003, Infiniti Research is a leading market intelligence company providing smart solutions to address your business challenges. Infiniti Research studies markets in more than 100 countries to help analyze competitive activity, see beyond market disruptions, and develop intelligent business strategies. To know more, visit: https://www.infinitiresearch.com/about-us

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200916005587/en/

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(Alliance News) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday, fresh from sealing a trade pact with Japan, welcomed the possibility of Asia's second-biggest economy joining the US-led "Five Eyes" intelligence alliance.A

"It's an idea we are thinking about but we have a fantastic relationship with Japan, a very close defence and security partnership," he told MPs at a parliamentary hearing where he also chastised China over Hong Kong and Xinjiang.

"That might be a very productive way to build on it," Johnson said. "There's certainly a big opportunity for the UK to bring together like-minded democracies."

With Tokyo seeking to counter China's growing diplomatic and military assertiveness in Asia, then defence minister Taro Kono broached the Five Eyes idea with Japanese media last month.A

It would be the first non-English speaking member of the intelligence-sharing alliance grouping Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and the US.A

All of the Five Eyes countries have been growing more vocal about China, especially over Hong Kong.A

At the hearing, Johnson reiterated his concerns over the former British colony, and said China's crackdown in the region of Xinjiang was "objectionable".A

But he said it did not meet the legal definition of "genocide", as argued by some Uighur leaders and international rights lawyers.

source: AFP

Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
PHILIPSBURG:--- Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs announced on Wednesday Council of Ministers press briefing that she will be meeting with the French counterparts on Thursday to further discuss the border controls that have been extended to October 1st, 2020.

Prime Minister Jacobs said she along with other members of the Council of Ministers attended the protest march on Wednesday morning that was organized by the Soualiga United Movement.

Jacobs said despite trying to convince the Prefet Delegue Sylvie Feucher how discomforting the controls are against the people of St. Maarten/ St. Martin as well as the business community the Prefet Delegue is hell-bent on maintaining the border controls.

Jacobs also extends her gratitude towards the people that showed up on Wednesday morning for the protest march.

Asked if the Dutch side prepared to have a joint command center and use of rapid testing. Jacobs said that the Prefet has been making decisions unilaterally which is impacting the people negatively. Jacobs said that she will be meeting on Thursday with her counterpart and hopefully the requests of the French will be discussed. Jacobs also explained that she has been in contact with the Minister of Overseas Affairs where he highlighted the situation on St. Maarten and the impact the border controls have been having on the people as well as businesses.
The gunshots rang out around 10 p.m. Tuesday, and police found a pregnant woman shot in the neck and chest on the sidewalk.

As 6ABC reports, it happened on the 1900 block of East Somerset Street in the Port Richmond section of Philadelphia.

The 28-year-old victim, who was not involved in the shooting, was rushed her to Temple University Hospital where she remains in extremely critical condition, according to the 6ABC report.

The news station cites sources as confirming the woman is pregnant but were not sure how far along she is in the pregnancy or whether the baby survived.

Two suspects were arrested in the shooting, Philadelphia Chief Inspector Scott Small tells 6ABC, adding this detail:

Other responding officers who heard the shots got here so quickly, they saw a vehicle fleeing from the scene and they followed that vehicle and pulled it over at Allegheny and Aramingo and there were two males inside of that vehicle. Small said.

A witness told police the two males were at the shooting scene and that at least one of them fired a gun.

Police found two guns and said some of the rounds that were fired came from a long gun rifle.

The investigation continues.

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Pa. high school football games attract big crowds despite COVID-19 limits: I dont know how they expect schools to stop it

Couple dead, man injured, in shooting inside Pa. home - but cops are mum on details

Pa. man accused of raping 12-year-old after posting her naked pictures online: cops

3 charged in shooting, killing of 1-year-old Pa. boy

Job applicant at Pa. restaurant accused swiping tip jar right after applying

Pa. man, 21, slapped with 88-year sentence for rape, sexual assault at his moms day care

Pa. day care worker, 24, gets off with probation after fracturing 7-month-old girls skull

Missing mans body pulled from Pa. river

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SEOUL, Korea, Republic Of - It took a bombshell resignation before Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe heard anything nice from South Korea.

The rare praise came after years of diplomatic rows and testy confrontations between Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, and only after the Japanese prime minister said last month he would leave office after eight years because of ill health.

With Abe and Moon in charge, the relationship between the key U.S. allies sank to new lows, with grievances over wartime history spilling over into trade and military issues. Japans political shakeup could be an opportunity for South Korea, which sees Abes departure as a chance to clear things up between the rivals.

Senior South Korean officials during a recent national security council meeting vowed to advance stalled negotiations on pending issues once a new Japanese leader is in place. Yoshihide Suga, who was chief Cabinet secretary and Abes right-hand man, won Japans governing party leadership vote Monday, virtually guaranteeing parliament will choose him as the next prime minister.

Suga has also hinted at improving ties with South Korea.

China and South Korea are neighbours, and even though there are difficult problems between us, I plan to pursue diplomacy that can allow us to always communicate and develop strategic relations with them, rather than choosing one or the other, he said in a recent debate.

Good relations are crucial to both Japan and South Korea.

Despite their political conflicts, they remain closely connected economically and face similar challenges. Those include North Koreas growing nuclear arsenal and a rising authoritarian superpower in China.

They also share long-term uncertainties about their alliances with a less-engaging United States, a shift highlighted by President Donald Trumps America first approach and his complaints about the costs of stationing some 80,000 U.S. troops in South Korea and Japan.

Patching up differences with Tokyo would improve alliance co-ordination with the United States, help manage regional uncertainties concerning China, and provide Seoul leverage in dealing with North Korea, said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.

What remains unclear, however, is whether Abes exit will prove to be a diplomatic turning point. Mutual resentment runs deep and goes beyond individual politicians.

To South Koreans, Abe was less likable than even North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, according to a November Gallup Korea poll. Abe was often seen in South Korea as a right-wing nationalist intent on whitewashing Japanese colonialism and atrocities on the Korean Peninsula before the end of World War II.

Placing the blame for bad relations entirely on Abe, however, overlooks the broad public support he won at home for a tough policy toward South Korea.

Theres a widespread view in Japan that South Korea is violating international norms by repeatedly revisiting wartime issues that were supposed to have been settled, said Choi Eun-mi, a Japan expert at South Koreas Asan Institute for Policy Studies.

Abes resignation does offer a window for improved relations, but its unrealistic to expect significant changes, she said.

There will be chances to resume stalled talks between the countries leaders, including a possible three-way summit with China that South Korea hopes to host in November. But it will take longer for Seoul and Tokyo to rediscover their importance to each other beyond their interdependence in security and co-operation matters with Washington, Choi said.

South Korea and Japan have long differed over history, but previous political tensions were softened by vibrant trade and exchanges of pop culture and tourism.

That wasnt the case in 2019 when Japans move to place export controls on chemicals vital to South Koreas semiconductor industry sparked an outpouring of national anger in South Korea and sweeping boycotts of Japanese products.

Moon accused Abes government of weaponizing trade to retaliate against South Korean Supreme Court rulings in 2018 that ordered Japanese companies to offer reparations to aging Korean plaintiffs who had been forced into wartime slave labour.

Seoul later threatened to terminate a military intelligence-sharing agreement with Tokyo, a major symbol of their trilateral security co-operation with Washington. It eventually backed off after being pressured by the Trump administration, which until then seemed content to let its allies escalate their feud in public.

South Korea and Japans strained relations have hurt their ability to deal with the unpredictable foreign policy of Trump, who has questioned the value of U.S. alliances while raising tensions with China, a major trading partner for both, said Park Won-gon, a professor at South Koreas Handong University.

Ideally, strong co-ordination between South Korea and Japan would help steer the Trump administration into pursuing its regional strategies within international norms and rules, Park said.

South Korea will likely need to close the gap between its domestic court rulings and existing bilateral agreements to improve ties with Japan.

Many Japanese see the South Korean forced labour rulings as a challenge to a 1965 treaty between the countries that was accompanied by Japanese payments to restore diplomatic ties. Tokyo insists that all compensation matters were settled then.

Theres also frustration over Moons 2017 decision to walk back a 2015 agreement negotiated under South Koreas previous conservative government that attempted to irreversibly resolve a decades-long impasse over Korean women forced into sexual slavery by Japans wartime military.

The deal, which had Japan give $9 million to a foundation to help the victims, sparked huge protests in South Korea, where many accused their government of settling for far too little after failing to consult victims. There were claims that Abe was attempting to silence the women with money.

There has been little sign that either government is willing to budge.

Moon continues to demand Japanese respect for the South Korean court rulings. Suga, who is likely to be named prime minister later Wednesday, has pledged to inherit Abes policies and push them forward.

Theres a further complicating possibility that South Korean courts may order the liquidation of local assets of Japanese companies that have refused to compensate forced labourers.

A breakthrough may have to come from legislation, but that wont be easy, either.

Former South Korean National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang last year proposed a foundation created by private donations from both countries to compensate forced labourers. The bill, which eventually died, was heavily criticized by lawyers and activists representing victims, who said the foundation would sidestep the Japanese governments direct responsibility.

Regardless of who becomes Japans next prime minister ... there will be limits to how much bilateral relations can improve unless the countries find a solution to the forced labour issue, Park said.

___

Kim Tong-hyung has covered South Korea for The Associated Press since 2014.

___

AP reporter Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this story.
Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 16 : Putting the Pinarayi Vijjayan government in the dock, Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala on Wednesday said he knows that there is one more minister in the Cabinet who has close links with the prime accused in the gold smuggling case, Swapna Suresh.

Chennithala's statement has come hours after the state BJP leadership has gone on record to say that Vijayan's daughter Veena and Swapna know one another quite well.

"I know that there is one more minister who has close links with Swapna. At the moment I will not reveal who he is, instead let the state government disclose," said Chennithala.

At present State Higher Education Minister K.T. Jaleel's links with her have come out and by now he has already been questioned by the Enforcement Directorate, and reports indicate that he will be called in by the NIA also, soon.

Among the others who already have been questioned by the ED includes Bineesh Kodiyeri, son of the CPI-M state Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and reports indicate that he will be summoned again.

Another person who is all set to be called in for questioning is the son of the second in command in the Vijayan government -- State Industries Minister E.P. Jayarajan.

The name of the second minister is expected to come out soon, as the NIA is busy reviewing the maze of data, which they recovered from the mobiles and laptops of Swapna Suresh and her now arrested associates.

The Vijayan government has lost its peace of mind, when the Customs first arrested a former PRO -- P.S. Sarith of the UAE Consulate on July 5, following the recovery of gold in the diplomatic baggage of the UAE Consulate here.

Soon the NIA came into the picture and arrested Swapna and her business partner Sandip Nair from Benguluru and since then the going for the Vijayan government has been tough.
Kin Man Hui

Medical marijuana isn't legal for all medical conditions, but there's hope for some in Texas,

On Thursday Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller toured Compassionate Cultivation in Austin, one of the only three locations licensed to grow marijuana for medicinal use in Texas. Afterward Miller said he is in favor of expanding the limited use of the cannabis.
LONDON, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Beauty company Avon has launched a new brand campaign, 'Watch Me Now' calling on people to reconsider their views of the iconic company. Avon, which has been transforming women's lives by doing beauty differently, has evolved its positioning to better reflect the Avon of today  an innovative, bold and inclusive beauty brand.

Launched as Avon enters its 135th year, 'Watch Me Now' is a nod to the global beauty brand's heritage as a purpose-driven company  using the power of beauty to create opportunities for people to earn on their own terms, and support causes including domestic abuse and breast cancer for more than a century. It celebrates the success of the underdog and highlights the unexpected and underestimated aspects of the Avon brand, its people, activism, and products - for which Avon has been granted more than 750 patents and 300 awards.

'Watch Me Now' includes a new visual identity and update to the Avon logo, the first in decades, as well as a bolder more confident tone of voice that is more relevant for the brand's millions of beauty advisors and customers today. The new logo has already begun appearing on products and brochures and includes reference to the curves of the original 1930s Avon logo, with the new colour gradient based on the curves of a woman's face.

James Thompson, Avon's Head of Brand, Categories and Stores, said: "There is huge awareness and affection for the Avon brand, but we have allowed ourselves to become a bit underestimated. We are a dynamic, bold, modern and inclusive beauty company; we are a quality brand that is relevant for all; we fight for issues that matter, such as gender-based violence and breast cancer. We've been offering a flexible earning opportunity since before women had the right to vote. Watch Me Now brings to life the best of what the brand has always been and repositions it proudly in a way that calls to individuals and touches on collective concerns."

Angela Cretu, Avon CEO, said: "Watch Me Now signals the start of a new chapter for Avon. Avon has been doing beauty differently for 135 years and we aren't stopping now  we're just getting started. We are taking what we've learnt over the past 135 years about the power of relationships and social selling and applying that in today's context - using new digital tools that enable our beauty advisors to earn flexibly today across their social platforms.

"We're continuing to innovate and evolve, through investment in research, product development and people, to ensure beauty is democratic and accessible to all. And we will continue to speak out, drive change and positive impact on causes that affect women globally. The difference is that we are doing it in a more relevant, bold and confident way to Open Up Avon and grow our business."

With five million Representatives in more than 50 markets globally, Avon has been accelerating its innovation and business transformation over the past 12 months  through increased digital tools and support for Representatives, as well as new patent-led products. Their latest innovations include ProtinolTM, which helps to restore seven years of collagen loss in seven days and Adapt, a new collection coming soon, designed to reduce the impact of hormonal fluctuations on skin.

'Watch Me Now' will roll out globally across all of Avon's consumer touchpoints from September 2020. You can view the 'Watch Me Now' brand film here.

Think you know Avon?

Think again

We are the one you didn't see coming, and now you can't look away.

Avon. Watch Me Now.

Notes to editors

About Avon

Avon has been doing beauty differently for over 130 years. Avon is a company that connects people, using the power of beauty to transform lives for the better. Millions of independent sales Representatives across the world sell iconic Avon brands through their social networks, building their own beauty businesses on a full- or part-time basis. Avon stands for gender equality, and we believe in listening to women's needs, speaking out about issues that matter and creating positive change. Through Avon and the Avon Foundation we've donated over $1.1billion, with a focus on tackling gender violence and breast cancer. Avon is part of the Natura &Co Group. Learn more at www.avonworldwide.com.

SOURCE Avon Products, Inc.

Related Links

https://www.avonworldwide.com


It will probably take months if not years for the truth of the Covid-19 pandemic to emerge, but when it does will any politician take responsibility for the lies and disinformation or the damage this hoax caused this great nation? I dont think so, but what it did prove was what happens when the Democrats are in charge. They may not be in the White House but it is the House that wields the power over legislation and our money. Couple this power with the useful idiots in the mainstream media to promote the widespread hysteria, and we then had the total capitulation of a frightened nation that accepted an unprecedented total lockdown of its existence. Shame on us.

If the fourth estate had done its job or had any integrity left, it would have reported the actual figures of the coronavirus impact instead of what would generate the most fear. So what is the truth? Why did hospitals and doctors count practically all deaths, even motorcycle accidents and cancer deaths, as Covid-19 deaths? Could it be because of extra government funding for these cases?

The CDC released a very controversial report that the actual death rate due to the Covid-19 alone was miniscule compared to what was reported in the mainstream news. Reuters is listing 194,147 as covid deaths as of September 14, 2020.

In an August article by Leslie Eastman in Legal Insurrection.com, a chart was posted with CDC figures:

To begin with, it doesnt mean that the virus killed only about 9700 Americans. The data demonstrates that unless there is another underlying health condition, most people infected have very little chance of dying. This is especially true of young people who fall prey to the pathogen. Yet, those people who had heart conditions, kidney problems, or other medical conditions who died might still be alive except that they were infected with COVID-19. Since the inception of this pandemic, COVID-19 deaths have been lumped together into a category that included presumed deaths.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic hit the news, over 12,000 Americans had died in 2019 of the regular flu. This new virus was supposedly deadlier because it was highly contagious and no one was immune to it. But while the virus originated in Wuhan, China, progressives refused to name it the Chinese virus. Morons were even calling it the European flu. In January, Trump ordered restrictions on flights from China. In February, Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi was suggesting that we should go to Chinatown and hug a Chinese person to show were not discriminating against them.

Unless your source of news is only the mainstream press, then you probably have not heard this quote from a Chinese virologist Dr. Li-Meng Yan, who says she did some of the earliest research into COVID-19 last year. She escaped from Hong Kong and had been hiding in fear but has stepped out into the public eye again to make the explosive claim that she has scientific evidence to prove that Covid-19 was human-made in a lab in China.

When asked where the deadly virus that has killed more than 900,000 around the globe comes from, Yan  speaking via video chat from a secret location  replied, It comes from the lab  the lab in Wuhan and the lab is controlled by Chinas government. The first thing is the [meat] market in Wuhan  is a smoke screen and this virus is not from nature, Yan claimed, explaining that she got her intelligence from the CDC in China, from the local doctors.

BTW, Twitter just shut down her account. Quelle surprise!

The truth is that weve been lied to continuously since the media decided to scare us to death with bogus data, and our lack of common sense. Since I am high risk due to my age and health issues, I have been self quarantined for several months. My daughter and her husband who works for the MTA came down with the virus and recovered because they are young and had no serious health issues. In other words, the young and healthy are unlikely to succumb and should never have been locked down. The vulnerable, on the other hand, needed to take proper steps to quarantine voluntarily.

When the Covid-19 press conferences began with the medical experts dispensing their opinions and advice, Dr. Anthony Fauci became the so-called expert to go to, but I never cared or trusted him. Fauci would roll his eyes, bring his hand to head, and smirk while Trump was talking and once when leaving the room nodded in solidarity with the CNN reporter. The MSM made him a superstar in spite of the fact that he kept changing his opinion and hadnt seen a patient in over 35 years.

Twitter video screengrab

In previous severe flu seasons, there were much higher death rates yet there were no mandatory lockdowns. Why do I call this pandemic a hoax? The only reason why politicians, especially the Democrats in charge, pushed for shutting down the economy was because economic destruction was their ultimate goal. Trumps strong economy, low unemployment numbers for all Americans was a real obstacle to a Joe Biden victory. Democrats have seized on this pandemic because they never let a crisis go to waste.

Americans have been gaslighted. We cant take anything reported by the New York Times, Washington Post, Associated Press, Reuters, CNN, MSNBC, the Drudge Report and the Alphabet Networks as gospel because its all designed to frighten and delay the recovery. Dr. Fauci insists that things will not return to normal until 2021. Joe Biden if elected will mandate mandatory mask wearing for all. What a joke. Masks dont even work and I feel sorry for all those required to wear them all day at work because they are breathing in carbon dioxide and moisture.

There is one good thing about the pandemic. I wrote before about the new thrilling novel, Silent Strike, by Dr. Francis Bandettini and Matt Nilsen, about a deadly bio attack by Iran. What made it deadly was the fact that we were unable to handle the shortage of medical equipment needed to battle the epidemic of respiratory cases. This administration proved that it could produce whatever we needed in a short space of time. Kudos to our POTUS.

I hope and pray that if President Trump is reelected and the Democrats lose the House and the state legislatures in the states overrun by Antifa riots and BLM protests, normalcy will return swiftly and the economy will boom.

From my lips to Gods ears.
Peter Starkie, a founding member of Australian rock band Skyhooks, has died at 72 after falling from a ladder.

His brother, Bob, who was also a member of the group, confirmed the news on Wednesday, describing it as a tragedy and remembering the big brother he looked up to."He was still playing guitar, he was still very good," Bob wrote on Facebook. "Peter learned to play guitar while we were living in England, which was when The Beatles and The Rolling Stones were just starting, so by time we got back to Australia, he was kind of a bit ahead of his time."

Skyhooks original member Peter Starkie has died.

Music promoter Michael Gudinski, who signed Skyhooks to his Mushroom Records label in the early 1970s, remembered Starkie for the impact he had on the music scene in Melbourne at the time.

"He was actually a better guitar player than both [Skyhooks member] Red [Symons] and Bob," Gudinski said. "He was a very key figure in the Melbourne music scene around that time and it is just very sad."
On a Friday evening in late June, Liliana Quintero received a call from one of the Spanish interpreters working at a COVID-19 testing site in Goshen, Indiana. The area has one of Indianas higher Latinx populations and higher rates of COVID-19 cases, according to state data.

[He was] saying, Liliana I need to inform you that the nurse who is in charge of this site just told me that each time that she sees Hispanics coming to this site, shes going to call the police, recalls Quintero, director of the Northern Indiana Hispanic Health Coalition, an Elkhart-based health education and advocacy nonprofit.

That sort of racial profiling upset Quintero and was a serious threat to local residents. Local and state health officials quickly shut down the testing site and within days replaced it with one managed by the state.

Optum, the state contractor that provided testing, apologized to the Goshen community. In an emailed statement, Optum said it ended our relationship with this person upon learning of their behavior, which was totally inconsistent with our values.

We take seriously our responsibility to provide compassionate, quality care to all members of the communities we are privileged to serve, and we are committed to treating every person seeking testing for COVID-19 with respect, Optum said in its statement.

Quintero says the incident could have undermined her organizations work to build their clients trust in the local government.

We cannot be always there acting as a bridge, she says. That was the beginning of a lot of huge learning experiences for everybody.

The profiling incident is also part of a larger problem. Months into Indianas fight against COVID-19, some community health leaders say testing efforts dont always consider the Hoosiers they serve. That includes Black and Latinx Hoosiers, as well as undocumented immigrants and refugees. In general, theyre afraid of any government, says Margarita Hart, executive director for Esperanza Ministries, a nonprofit that provides health education and services to undocumented immigrants in the Indianapolis area. And in a pandemic, theyre not going to go and get the help because theyre too afraid.

The pandemic has taken an outsized toll on some Indiana Black communities. As of late August, state COVID-19 data show Black Hoosiers account for about 11% of cases and 14% of deaths, despite being about 10% of the states population. Hispanics account for about 10% of cases and 2% of deaths, despite being 7% of the states population.

Hart is also executive director of the Indiana Community Health Workers Association. She says more than 2,000 community health workers across the state have spent years building trust in these communities.

But that trust doesnt always extend to public health and medical institutions. Hart says the state should have reached out to more community health workers and organizations in building its pandemic response.

I think if we would have been invited to the table so that we could enlighten them with some background that would have been great, she says. Youre taking an asset and ignoring it. Its like hammering a nail with a rock instead of the hammer that you already have in your toolbox.

In an emailed response to written questions from Side Effects, the state department of health said it has worked extensively with representatives of Indianas minority communities and other partners around the state to build awareness of the need for testing and resources that are available.

The state also said that testing site employees do not ask any questions about citizenship or immigration status. Our priority is ensuring that individuals who may have COVID-19 are able to get tested so they can isolate and close contacts can be identified to quarantine and reduce the spread of illness.

But Hart says stories like the one in Goshen spread quickly on social media in undocumented communities. She isnt willing to tell the families she works with that they will be safe from immigration if they go to a testing site, because that could undermine her credibility.

She adds, It takes one nurse, one individual, one person in that testing site to simply call the police for them to then turn around and say, But Margarita, you said no one was going to come after us.

Community health leaders say the states COVID response has been more successful with local input. One example is a state study on how the virus spreads. In partnership with Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis Fairbanks School of Public Health, the study initially recruited participants by sending out postcards with instructions on how to make an appointment for a COVID-19 test.

The state said in an email that the postcards were sent in English, with additional instructions sent in Spanish or Burmese for participants who responded with their preferred language. We knew immediately that people of color would not respond to those postcards, says Sharon Tubbs, director of Health Visions Midwest, a health education organization in Fort Wayne, another area with higher Black and Latinx populations and higher rates of COVID cases.

The state asked Health Visions Midwest and other local organizations about the best location for a testing site as part of its study. Tubbs appreciated that the state wanted to include people of color in their research, and that they wanted to partner with trusted community organizations.

When you get organizations that serve people of color, then they can lend credibility to what youre doing, Tubbs says. They can legitimize it.

The problem was that the state only wanted to test the small group who responded to its postcards, not the community at large. Because of the history of mistrust of government and research, Tubbs didnt think members of the Black, Latinx and refugee communities in Fort Wayne would participate in the study. So she pushed for a more meaningful project with the state.

We felt that we needed some more collaboration, collaboration on the front end, Tubbs says. We did not feel confident at all that they would get the turnout that they had hoped for.

In a letter to the state, Health Visions Midwest said they would not facilitate a testing site for the study unless the state offered testing to everyone.

Historically, researchers have come into African American communities to do research, write their papers, and present at conferencesbut have left no benefits for the communities that they researched, the organizations letter stated. This again seems to be the intent.

The state agreed to an additional testing site, and Tubbs said more than 300 people were tested there in one day. Health Visions Midwest also provided Spanish interpreters and interpreters for Burmese refugees, which they hoped would draw in more people to be tested.

If you have them show up and they dont understand or if theyre not feeling comfortable, if they dont see someone who looks like them, then you may have wasted your time, Tubbs says.

The state also said in an email that proof of Indiana residence is not required to receive a COVID-19 test. But Quintero says their clients have been asked for IDs at local testing sites, where the nonprofit provides interpreters.

She says that adds stress for residents who might not have an ID, or whose documents are out of date because consulates like the one in Chicago suspended services at the start of the pandemic.

Some site workers also reportedly took pictures of IDs to correctly spell the name of the person getting tested, but Quintero asked the local health department to stop that practice.

[It] is to kind of make them think twice, Should I go to a test or no, even though I have all the symptoms, Quintero says.

Quintero also advocated for testing on days and during hours that were better for factory workers in the Elkhart area. That was helpful for the many workers who are undocumented immigrants  and a far cry from the earlier racial profiling incident.

The state says drive-through testing clinics in Allen County, where Fort Wayne is located, and other hard-hit Indiana counties are examples of successfully reaching Hispanic and Burmese populations.

Our goal is to always partner with the local health department to identify testing locations, but we also reach out to other partners to ensure clinics can be set up in the most accessible and appropriate locations quickly, the state said in an email.

Community leaders like Hart and Quintero say they would not want the states task of stopping the spread of a deadly virus. They hope the state continues efforts to build trust in the communities hardest hit by the virus.

Quintero says, Its an eye-opener and hopefully that is going to be helping everybody to be a little more caring, more empathetic about the reality of what we face.

This story was produced by Side Effects Public Media, a news collaborative covering public health.

Contact reporter Lauren Bavis at lbavis@wfyi.org or follow her on Twitter @lauren_bavis
By IANS

MUMBAI: Actor Sanjay Dutt, along with wife Maanayata, reportedly jetted off to Dubai on Wednesday. Taking to Instagram Stories, Maanayata posted a picture of her sitting next to Sanjay in a flight.

"Enroute life," she captioned the image, hinting that the two are going to Dubai to meet their twins, Shahraan and Iqra. In the image, Sanjay is seen making a victory sign. Maanayata and the kids were in Dubai during the lockdown, but she flew down to Mumbai after news of Sanjay's illness broke out.

On August 11, Sanjay, who was hospitalised a few days before that owing to breathing problem and chest discomfort, shared that he was taking a break for medical treatment. Although the 61-year-old actor or his family members did not reveal anything officially, trade analyst and film industry insider Komal Nahta soon confirmed that Dutt has been diagnosed with lung cancer.

"Sanjay Dutt diagnosed with lung cancer. Let's pray for his speedy recovery," tweeted Nahta on his official Twitter account on August 11.
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ICICI Direct's research report on Automotive Axles

Strategy

Buy Automotive Axles in the range of Rs 725.00750.00 for target price of Rs 870.00 with a stop loss of Rs 673.00. Time Frame: Six months

Technical View

The auto ancillary space is witnessing fresh momentum after the downtrend of the last two to three years as most stocks are witnessing a structural turnaround backed by accumulation pattern at the long term support zone, followed by breakout above key resistance area. The share price of Automotive Axles has generated a resolute breakout above the falling supply line joining the highs since November 2018. This signals a structural turnaround and offers a fresh entry opportunity. The 52 weeks EMA was acting as a major hurdle in the stock in the last two years. It has reversed its role and acted as a strong support during the recent breather (currently at Rs 684) as can be seen in the adjacent chart highlighting strength. We expect the stock to continue its positive momentum and head towards Rs 870 levels in the coming months as it is the 80% retracement of the previous major decline of September 2019 to March 2020 (Rs 1019-336) placed around Rs 870 levels.

Fundamental View

Automotive Axles (AAL), a joint venture between the Kalyani Group and Meritor Inc. (US), is the largest manufacturer of rear axle drive assemblies (primarily for CVs) and the second largest brake manufacturer in India. Its product profile includes drive axles, front steer axles, non-drive axles and drum & disk brakes for applications in the M&HCV, off highway and defence segments. The company has recently also ventured into manufacture of light duty drive axles. AAL has a diverse customer base and counts marquee OEMs like Ashok Leyland, Tata Motors, Daimler India, Volvo India, VECV, MAN, M&M, Escorts and Caterpillar in its clientele. Parentage of Meritor (leading global supplier in areas such as drivertrain, braking, mobility and aftermarket for CV and industrial applications) enables AAL to procure strong technological support for its products. The company derives ~90% revenues from the M&HCV space, with second largest domestic OEM i.e. Ashok Leyland alone comprising ~60% of its revenues (as of FY19). The domestic CV industry (M&HCV, in particular) has witnessed sharp deterioration in volumes from FY19 onwards (i.e. ~18 months of decline currently) amid a host of demand-side (slow economic activity, reduced freight movement, tighter credit availability, strain on public transport post Covid) and supply-side (overnight increase in installed capacity due to new axle load norms, high installed based) issues. Historically, it has been observed that the CV space is quite cyclical, with performance linked to overall economic environment in the country and 2-3 years of upturn followed by 1-2 years of downturn. On the balance sheet front, Automotive Axles is a net cash company with a history of profitable operations and robust return ratios with RoCE>20% over FY17-19. It also has a strong cash generation track record (CFO positive in each of the past five years, FCF positive in four of the past five years; present CFO yield at ~17%). With domestic M&HCV cycle expected to bottom out in the next three to six months, we expect the companys demand prospects to mirror the domestic M&HCV segment cyclical recovery, going forward, over FY22-24E. At the CMP, the stock trades at ~ 28x P/E and ~2.2x P/B on FY20 numbers.

For all recommendations report, click here

Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts/broking houses/rating agencies on moneycontrol.com are their own, and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.

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Since the May 25 killing of George Floyd after a Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee against Floyds neck, ignoring Floyds cries that he couldnt breathe, the country has seen massive protests against racism and police brutality. In Portland, ongoing protests became national news, after President Donald Trump authorized federal troops to police the federal courthouse in downtown, followed by Trumps frequent verbal attacks on the city as a haven for violent unrest.

A new documentary for the PBS series, Frontline," explores issues surrounding race and policing by focusing on Newark, New Jersey. In Policing the Police 2020, Jelani Cobb, a staff writer for The New Yorker who also teaches at Columbia Universitys Graduate School of Journalism, returns to Newark to see how the city is responding, after a 2016 Department of Justice order that called for police reforms to address a pattern of civil rights abuses.

As Cobb says in the documentary, the frustration of seeing unarmed Black people like Breonna Taylor die, and police not held accountable, has led many to ask whether policing can be done differently.

In Newark, Cobb talks with Mayor Ras Baraka, a college classmate of Cobbs, who doesnt support abolishing the police. Baraka says its instead necessary to divert funding to social services, and other methods that will allow treating violence more as a public health crisis than a problem to be solved only by policing.

Some experiments seem to be having a positive impact, including a community street team, in which former gang members work in the community to help provide mentorship and de-escalate conflicts. There is also footage of a city meeting, where community members and police officers talk to each other about their experiences.

Cobb also interviews the head of a local police union about a system that seems designed to exonerate police officers from any charges of misconduct. After watching a video of officers roughly handling a suspect, the police union official suggests the officers behaved appropriately, adding that, what with protests and anti-police this, anti-police that," its a difficult atmosphere to want to be a part of in 2020.

The challenges of dealing with systemic inequity go beyond controversy surrounding how police treat Black or Latino people, Baraka tells Cobb.

Every institution in America has the same values that the police department has in America," Baraka says. "The police just got guns.

Policing the Police 2020 airs at 9 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 15 on PBS; you can also watch it at the Frontline website: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/policing-the-police-2020/

Subscribe to our What to Watch newsletter. Email:



-- Kristi Turnquist

kturnquist@oregonian.com 503-221-8227 @Kristiturnquist
President Trump announced his intent to nominate Charles E. Atchley, Jr., and Katherine A. Crytzer to serve as U.S. District Judges for the Eastern District of Tennessee, nominations that were recommended to the president by Senators Lamar Alexander and Marsha Blackburn.

Senator Alexander said, Chuck Atchley is the First Assistant U.S.

Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee and has spent nearly 20 years working on behalf of East Tennesseans in the federal court system. He is a man of good character, good temperament, high intelligence, and he has a high respect for the law. Katherine Crytzer has served for the last six years at the Justice Department as the Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy, and, before that, as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky. I am grateful to the president for nominating individuals who will represent Tennessee and our country well, and I am hopeful the Senate will quickly consider their nominations.

Tennessee is fortunate that Senator Marsha Blackburn serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee and will be able to help shepherd both of these qualified nominations through the confirmation process. She and I have already discussed the importance of these nominations with the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, especially because of increasing caseloads in the Eastern District of Tennessee due to the two current vacancies. I look forward to working with Senator Blackburn to get both of these well-qualified individuals confirmed this year.

U.S. District Judge Harry S. Mattice, Jr. retired on March 10, 2020. Chief Judge Pamela L. Reeves passed away last week. Judge Reeves was the first woman president of the Tennessee Bar Association and the first female Chief Judge for the Eastern District of Tennessee.
Prisoners released on emergency parole from jails in Maharashtra will continue to enjoy the leave as long as the notification, issued by Maharashtra government on May 8 for decongesting prisons in the wake of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic, is in force.

The Bombay high court (HC) on Monday clarified that the emergency parole period would be automatically extended and the prisoners, who have been granted the leave, need not formally apply for getting it extended again.

Also Read: Covid-19 outbreak: Lawyers in Mumbai permitted to travel on local trains to attend hearing in Bombay high court

A two-member HC bench, comprising Justices TV Nalawade and MG Sewlikar, said the May 8 notification itself stated that the emergency parole would be initially for a period of 45 days and later would be extended by slabs of 30 days each.

The bench said that there would be an automatic extension of the parole period as the notification is in force, and the prisoners on leave would not be required to submit formal applications for getting it extended.

When there is automatic extension of the parole period, there is no need of giving application every time when it expires... No other interpretation is possible, said the bench.

The bench was hearing applications filed by six inmates of Paithan and Visapur open prisons in Maharashtras Marathwada region, seeking extension of the emergency parole granted to them by the HC earlier.

The bench clarified that even the prisoners to whom emergency parole was granted by the HC need not file applications for getting it extended and their leaves would also get extended automatically.

The bench said the court granted emergency parole to the prisoners on the basis of the state governments May 8 notification.

The notification is issued by the state home department to amend the Maharashtra Prisons (Furlough and Parole) Rules, 1959 in a bid to allow jail authorities to release certain category of prisoners on emergency parole and decongest jails following the raging Covid-19 pandemic.

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Deputy Nicusor Dan, the candidate supported by the Save Romania Union - Party of Liberty, Unity and Solidarity (USR PLUS) Alliance and National Liberal Party (PNL) for Bucharest's City Hall, announced on Wednesday that he will file a criminal complaint for "slanderous denunciation" against the Social Democratic Party (PSD) MPs who notified the prosecutors in case of the recordings appeared in the public space.

"I understand that some PSD parliamentarians have filed a criminal complaint against me at the DNA [National Anticorruption Directorate]. For these parliamentarians I will file a criminal complaint for slanderous denunciation, because in this country whoever makes a criminal complaint knowing that they lie are criminals and I will file a complain on them," Dan told a news conference.He added that he had already given explanations in the press regarding these "recordings and misrepresentations", noting that it was about no corruption."Everything that means recordings and misrepresentations of recordings I gave explanations yesterday, is an absolutely punctual issue, it is not about any kind of corruption and I urge the people of Bucharest not to go on these tracks that divert public attention from things that are important," said Nicusor Dan.The candidate for the Bucharest's City Hall added that Gabriela Firea will be sued in a civil court."She accused me of some facts falsely. For the civil lawsuit with Gabriela Firea, I will ask for damages that I will then pay to an association," Dan explained.
SAN DIEGO, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Students across the country who are interested in applying for college or graduate school overseas are invited to attend the upcoming webinar on "How to Apply for College or Grad School Abroad in the Midst of a Pandemic."

The webinar will take place Tuesday, Sept. 29 at 8 p.m. EST and will be hosted by College Apps Abroad, a San Diego-based educational consultancy that helps students and families navigate the application process for overseas studies.

Attendees will also hear from representatives of King's College London, Macquarie University and the University of Auckland, institutions all ranked in the world's top 250 according to the 2021 QS World University Rankings.

The speakers will detail how Covid-19 is currently impacting international admissions, the student experience and the student visa process in the UK, Australia and New Zealand specifically.

Sara Cavalieri, founder of College Apps Abroad, said that now more than ever, students from North America are taking a global view toward the application process, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

"With so much uncertainty around online classes, admissions requirements, testing and Covid-19, the current trend seems to be that students are applying to multiple countries and educational systems," she said.

And for those who hadn't thought about applying abroad before, the presentation will also discuss other reasons applying for a degree overseas may be worth considering.

"The universities participating in the webinar just happen to be located in three of the world's most dynamic and top-rated student citiesLondon, Sydney and Auckland. I've lived in two of them," said Cavalieri.

"But choosing to do a degree abroad is not just about travel anymore; it's also often about paying less in tuition, to gain a step up in employability and graduate faster, to name a few," she said.

"It's also a very immersive cultural experience, much different than just studying abroad for a semester."

Registration for the webinar is available here.

College Apps Abroad is an educational consultancy that provides application support and guidance for students and families across North America. Sign up for a free, virtual consultation today.

Media Contact:

Sara Cavalieri

College Apps Abroad, Inc.

619-919-4656

[email protected]

SOURCE College Apps Abroad

Related Links

https://www.collegeappsabroad.com


WASHINGTON  Attorney General William P. Barr told federal prosecutors in a call last week that they should consider charging rioters and others who had committed violent crimes at protests in recent months with sedition, according to two people familiar with the call.

The highly unusual suggestion to charge people with insurrection against lawful authority alarmed some on the call, which included U.S. attorneys around the country, said the people, who described Mr. Barrs comments on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.

The attorney general has also asked prosecutors in the Justice Departments civil rights division to explore whether they could bring criminal charges against Mayor Jenny Durkan of Seattle for allowing some residents to establish a police-free protest zone near the citys downtown for weeks this summer, according to two people briefed on those discussions. Late Wednesday, a department spokesman said that Mr. Barr did not direct the civil rights division to explore this idea.

The directives are in keeping with Mr. Barrs approach to prosecute crimes as aggressively as possible in cities where protests have given way to violence. But in suggesting possible prosecution of Ms. Durkan, a Democrat, Mr. Barr also took aim at an elected official whom President Trump has repeatedly attacked.


WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) Wednesday announced that it requires its passengers to wear face masks at all times.



Southwest Airlines' announcement comes after the airline recently booted a woman and her 2-year-old son from a flight in Florida because the kid wear a mask.



Jodi Degyansky said that she and her son were on a flight departing from Fort Myers, Florida, on Saturday when she was approached by airline staff after she said her son removed his mask for a snack.



Degyansky said she was repeatedly told that her son was required to wear a mask due to the airline's policy. The plane later returned to the gate and she and her son were escorted from the flight.



However, Southwest's mask policy on its website reads, 'We do acknowledge there may be times when a customer needs to briefly remove their face covering, for instance, to eat, drink, or take medicine, However, we expect these instances to be very brief, and customers should put their face covering back on as soon as possible.'



Later, the airline released a statement regarding the event, 'If a Customer is unable to wear a face-covering for any reason, Southwest regrets that we are unable to transport the individual. In those cases, we will issue a full refund and hope to welcome the Customer onboard in the future, if public health guidance regarding face coverings changes. Caring for others with our Southwest Hearts is at the center of everything we do, which is especially important during this pandemic. We appreciate the ongoing support and spirit of cooperation among our Customers and Employees as we collectively take care of each other while striving to prevent the spread of COVID-19.'



Meanwhile, Southwest announced it has also implemented physical distancing measures in airports and onboard aircraft, and maintains a stringent cleaning schedule of its facilities and aircraft throughout each day.



The carrier will also leave middle seats open through November 30.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan. Photo: PA

London mayor Sadiq Khan has called for new powers to cap private rents in the capital, sparking a backlash from landlords and the UK government.

The Labour mayor is demanding a two-year freeze on rent increases, as an emergency measure amid fears of rising evictions when a ban ends later this week.

Khan set out his proposals in a letter to housing minister Robert Jenrick. The mayor has called before for central government to hand City Hall powers to control rents for an estimated 2.2 million private renters.

If Berlin can freeze rents for five years, theres no reason London shouldnt be able to freeze rents for two years in these extraordinary times, he said.

A freeze is needed now to ensure no one is forced out onto the streets as a result of this pandemic, he added.

READ MORE: UK government eviction ban extension only a temporary reprieve

But the proposals are unlikely to be supported by the Conservative government, and landlords said they would be a disaster.

A spokesperson for the ministry of housing, communities and local government (MHCLG) hit back at the plans.

Rent controls could drive responsible landlords out, reduce investment in high quality housing and ultimately push rents up, she said.

Weve taken unprecedented action to support renters by banning evictions for six months, preventing people getting into financial hardship and helping businesses to pay salaries.

The spokesperson also highlighted the governments decision to increase the notice period landlords must give tenants for six months in England as a temporary crisis measure.

READ MORE: Virus could wipe 5.7bn off landlord incomes by 2024

The governments plans strike a balance between protecting vulnerable renters and ensuring landlords whose tenants have behaved in illegal or anti-social ways have access to justice, she added.

Chris Norris, policy director for the National Residential Landlords Association, also dismissed the proposals.

Rent controls would be a disaster for anyone looking for somewhere to rent. As history and experience elsewhere tells us, all they would do is drive landlords out of the market exacerbating an already serious shortage of homes available, he said.

Story continues

Rather than driving a wedge between landlords and tenants the Mayor should focus on using the powers he already has to boost the supply of available housing, including for private rent.

Norris said landlords backed the mayors calls for more financial help for tenants in arrears, however.

But the proposals were welcomed by tenant campaigners. Alicia Kennedy, director of Generation Rent, said some Londoners had been hit by rent rises even after telling landlords the pandemic had seen their incomes slashed.

Unwanted moves can leave struggling tenants with nowhere else to go, and contribute to the spread of coronavirus, she warned.

With the economy in recession and coronavirus cases on the rise, landlords should not be permitted to raise rents and force a tenant into an unwanted move.
Copyright  2020 Albuquerque Journal

A local attorney was sentenced this week to three years in prison for possessing and manufacturing child pornography.

Matthew ONeill, a former partner at the Whitener Law Firm, pleaded no contest to one count of possession of a visual medium of a child under 13 and one count of manufacturing a visual of sexual exploitation of children in March.

On Tuesday, 2nd Judicial District Judge Daniel Gallegos ordered that ONeill turn himself in to the state Corrections Department by 5 p.m. on Oct. 15, court documents show. He was previously released on his own recognizance.

ONeill faced up to 22 years in prison on the charges. Hell be required to register as a sex offender upon release.

ONeill appeared in commercials and on billboards for the firm. In January 2019, an employee from an information technology company that was hired by the firm found evidence of child pornography on ONeills work computer and called authorities, a search warrant affidavit said.

Attorney Generals Office agents seized a desktop computer, thumb drives, a camera and other items from ONeills office. He was charged with possessing child pornography in August 2019.

ONeill is being sued by Whitener Law Firm for the damage his crimes caused to the firms reputation. In June, the state Supreme Court suspended him from practicing law in the state, court records show.

No one should exploit and abuse children, and this case illustrates how possessing or making materials of child exploitation is not a victimless crime, state Attorney General Hector Balderas said in a statement. Our office will continue to fight to protect children, and put an end to child sexual abuse and exploitation.
Thousands of international students say they are unable to pay for food or rent after losing their jobs during the coronavirus pandemic, and many fear they will run out of money soon.

A national survey of more than 5000 international students and 1000 other temporary migrants conducted in July found 70 per cent had lost all or most of their work.

Lili Alzate, from Colombia, has lost three hospitality jobs since March. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

Thousands of international visa holders said they were unable to pay for food and rent and unable to qualify for social security. More than a third have relied on emergency support including charity to meet essential needs.

In the report As if we weren't humans: The abandonment of temporary migrants in Australia during COVID-19, authors University of NSW law Associate Professor Bassina Farbenblum and University of Technology Sydney law Associate Professor Laurie Berg said one in five surveyed said they were not able to return to their home countries because flights were unavailable or unaffordable or because international borders were closed.
A 26-year-old man from Brockton is facing several charges including assault to murder after police say he shot a pregnant woman in the head.

Police in Brockton announced on Tuesday multiple charges against Shaun Holiday in connection with a Sept. 8 shooting that injured a pregnant woman.

Holiday was charged with assault to murder with a firearm, assault and battery, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, felony possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a building and three counts of reckless endangerment of a child under 18, authorities said.

The charges stem from a shooting last week at 622 North Main St. in Brockton.

Officers responded shortly after 5 p.m. on Sept. 8 to a report of a woman shot in the head. Police found a woman and a man with gunshot wounds, authorities said. According to the Boston Globe, Holiday was the man injured in the incident.

Holiday was arrested on an unrelated warrant after the incident, the Globe reported.

The injured woman was driven by ambulance to a nearby hospital, where she was then flown to a Boston hospital via a MedFlight helicopter, according to police.

Police did not provide an update to the womans condition.
Lockdown has ended for aged-care homes on the Gold Coast and the Toowoomba region, and more people will be allowed to gather in their residences.

Queensland's Deputy Premier and Health Minister Steven Miles said restrictions placed on the Gold Coast and Darling Downs regions, which includes Toowoomba, Goondiwindi and Stanthorpe, would be lifted on Wednesday.

Visitor restrictions will be eased at hospitals in Gold Coast and Darling Downs. Credit:Glenn Hunt

"It is now 17 days since those confirmed cases on the Gold Coast and we have had no further cases on the Gold Coast nor have we had any contact tracing locations in the Darling Downs region," he said.

"That means we can now lift the additional restrictions that were applied [to those regions].
A bronze statue representing Melania Trump has been unveiled near her home town in Slovenia to replace a wooden one that was set on fire on US Independence Day.

The statue bears no obvious resemblance to Mrs Trump.

But a plaque next to it reads that the piece is dedicated to the eternal memory of a monument to Melania which stood at this location.

The original, by American artist Brad Downey, was set on fire on 4 July by an unknown arsonist after being labelled a disgrace by locals in the town of Sevnica, where the US first lady grew up.

Residents said the first statue looked like the Smurf character Smurfette because of its pale blue colour, representing the dress that Mrs Trump wore to her husbands inauguration.

The rustic figure was cut from a tree trunk and placed on the outskirts of her home town in 2019.

Mr Downey has since exhibited the burnt statue in Slovenia as a reminder of the political tensions that are erupting in my country.

Another statue, depicting Donald Trump, was unveiled in August last year in the town of Sela pri Kamniku.

The wooden statue is 8 metres tall and depicts Mr Trump with a square head and jaw, raising his fist in the air.

Its creator, Tomaz Schlegl, said at the time that it was meant as a comment on pupulism.

For the first time since World War Two, populism is prevailing: look at Johnson, look at Trump, our president or [Hungary's prime minister, Viktor] Orban. Where is this world heading? he said.

We want to open people's eyes about what democracy is.

Charred wooden statue of Melania Trump (AFP via Getty Images)

Mrs Trump was born in Novo Mesto, then part of Yugoslavia, in 1970.

When she was a teenager, she and her family moved to a two-storey house in Sevnica  a town of about 5,000 people, located about 50 miles east of the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana.

Since her husband became president, tourists have visited the town, eager to learn more about Mrs Trumps heritage.

Residents have brought out ranges of related merchandise, including slippers, cakes, and Trump-like burgers with cheese hair.

A Melania cake is also sold at the local bakery.
Dhaka, Sep 16 : A four-day conference of top officials from India's Border Security Force (BSF) and Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) began on Wednesday in Dhaka.

BSF Director General Rakesh Asthana is leading a six-member Indian delegation which includes top officials from India's home and external affairs ministries.

The conference started at the BGB's headquarters in Dhaka.

A 13-member Bangladeshi delegation, led by Major General Shafeenul Islam, DG of the BGB, is attending the border conference.

Officials from the BGB and the Bangladesh Prime Minister's Office, home and foreign ministries, joint river commission and land record and survey department are among the delegation members.

The BSF delegation is scheduled to leave Dhaka on September 19 after signing a Joint Record of Discussion.
More than one in four parents and guardians have admitted to leaving their car's engine running while waiting at the gates to pick up their children from school.

With vehicle emissions closely linked to respiratory and other health issues among children and adults, councils across the country have displayed 'no idling' signs outside schools with the threat of fines of up to 80 for those who flout the rules.

But as schools restart during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and more mums and dads admit they'll be driving their kids rather than using public transport, analysis suggests the problem could severely worsen.

Idle drivers: More than a quarter of parents say they leave their car's engine running while waiting outside school, despite the ongoing reports that vehicle emissions increase the risk of health issues for adults and especially children

Studies by charity Unicef has estimated that one in three children in the UK grow up breathing unsafe levels of air pollution.

That could intensify now that 62 per cent of parents say they are more likely to drive their children to and from school as a result of the recent pandemic, according to a new poll by French car maker Renault.

It revealed that of the 4,000 parents it studied 27 per cent leave their engines idling during the school run.

Many may not realise that by leaving the engine running for convenience or to keep the heater or air conditioning running that they are contributing to harmful particle emmissions that can damage children.

Dads are 50 per cent more likely to do it than mums, it found, with a third of men saying they don't switch their car engine off while waiting for their children, compared to one in five (22 per cent) of women.

Renault studies the habits and attitudes of school run parents as part of its new 'Be Mindful, Don't Idle' campaign to improve the dangerous air pollution levels measured outside more than 8,500 schools, nurseries and colleges in England, Scotland and Wales.

Renault has launched a campaign around engine idling after the French car maker found that 62% of parents say they are more likely to drive their children to and from school as a result of the recent pandemic

Of the reasons given for leaving their engines running nearly a third cited doing so because they are only stationary for 'a short while' and a quarter said they wanted to keep the heater or air-con going.

Some 23 per cent said they needed to be ready to move their car into one of the limited available parking spaces near schools.

Alarmingly, 60 per cent of all drivers are unaware that it is illegal to leave their vehicle's engine to idle under Rule 123 of the Highways Code.

Authorities can now issue fixed penalties of between 20 and 80 under Road Traffic Regulations 2002 and Section 42 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 in Scotland.

Councils can issue fines of anything between 20 an 80 in England, Scotland and Wales if drivers are caught with their engines running while they're parked up

The issue of idling is greatest within built-up urban and suburban areas according to Renault.

Half of those live in cities, yet 12 per cent of those in rural areas admit to doing it regularly.

By leaving their engines idling for just 10 seconds, drivers are wasting more fuel than restarting the car's engine, says a report by EDF Energy.

Half of those found to keep their motors running claim to do so for one to five minutes. Almost seven per cent estimate they can do it for up to 15 minutes on average.

A 2019 study by Kings College London revealed that children in London travelling to schools across the capital are exposed to air pollution five times higher than at any other time of the day.

Renault found that London accounted for the highest number of idling offenders, totalling 23 per cent.

A 2019 study found that children in London travelling to schools across the capital are exposed to air pollution five times higher than at any other time of the day

Matt Shirley, Renault's senior manager for electrification and new mobility, said: 'The fact that the majority of people don't realise that idling is illegal just highlights the scale of the problem.

'Every minute a car is idling it produces enough emissions to fill 150 balloons. It goes without saying, if the 27 per cent of school run journeys stop idling, there would be a significant improvement in the air quality for their children.

According to the study, a quarter of all school runs are less than a mile in distance. However, more than half (54 per cent) are between one and five miles.

'This is not about demonising the school run, our study underlines the importance, even more so since lockdown, of the car,' Mr Shirley added.

'We just want parents and guardians to be mindful of the detrimental impact of idling, and to alter their behaviours for their own children and those around them.'
Piers Morgan has hit out at Kim Kardashian for her participation in a protest against social media's attitude towards online hate speech.

The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star, 39, has joined a legion of stars in throwing support behind the #StopHateForProfit, which will see her freeze her Instagram and Facebook accounts to highlight the issue.

Yet Piers, 55, who has been very vocal in his disdain for the reality TV dynasty, insisted she 'spouts hate' online and urged her to 'quit permanently'.

Outrage: Piers Morgan has hit out at Kim Kardashian for her participation in a protest against social media's attitude towards online hate speech

Piers spoke on Wednesday's Good Morning Britain about the campaign, which is designed to highlight the inadequate action taken by social media bosses.

Facebook Vice President, Nicola Medelsohn, appeared on the show to discuss the freeze, which Kim highlighted with a new post.

Kim penned: 'I can't sit by and stay silent while these platforms continue to allow the spreading of hate, propaganda and misinformation  created by groups to sow division and split America apart  only to take steps after people are killed...

'Misinformation shared on social media has a serious impact on our elections and undermines our democracy.'

Frozen: The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star, 39, has joined a legion of stars in throwing support behind the #StopHateForProfit, which will see her freeze her Instagram and Facebook accounts to highlight the issue

Quit it: Piers, 55, who has been very vocal in his disdain for the reality TV dynasty, insisted she 'spouts hate' online and urged her to 'quit permanently'

On Tuesday, Kim's husband Kanye West launched a bitter feud with record bosses, in which he likened the disagreement to slavery.

Piers highlighted that due to this form of 'spouting hate', Kim was essential acting hypocritically as she is lobbying for the end of social media hate.

He then responded to her tweet to pen: 'Quit permanently if you care that much, but you won't because they make you too much money.'

On the show, he went on: 'Some of the people shouting the loudest about hate speech... turn a blind eye when it comes closer to home.'

Hitting back: Facebook Vice President, Nicola Medelsohn, appeared on the show to discuss the freeze, which Kim highlighted with a new post

His outburst is the latest in a string of venom poured upon the reality show dynasty, as last week he launched a scathing attack on the Kardashian clan following the announcement their reality show is coming to an end.

Discussing the news on Wednesday's episode of Good Morning Britain, the host did not hold back with his withering scepticism as he claimed that the show's poor ratings must be the reason for the cancellation.

The broadcaster went on to state that Kim would have been pleased by Kanye's recent mental health episodes as it would provide content for upcoming seasons.

Kim shocked fans last Tuesday by announcing that her family's iconic reality show, Keeping Up With The Kardashians, is ending after 14 years on air, but did not give a reason for the decision.

Happier times: His outburst is the latest in a string of venom poured upon the reality show dynasty, as last week he launched a scathing attack on the Kardashian clan following the announcement their reality show is coming to an end

Pretending to be in tears over the cancellation, Piers announced the news for GMB viewers as they looked back at a montage from the show.

As co-host Susanna Reid commented the Kardashian clan look different now to when the show started in 2007, Piers chipped in 'Could it be a plastic surgeon by any chance?'

He continued: 'A bunch of very average looking dumbo bimbos have taken us all to the cleaners and made billions out of prancing around and doing this. 'They have taken us to the cleaners. Not a brain cell between them.'
The Texas hotel industry suffered its worst decline on record in the second quarter as business and leisure travel ground to a halt in the early months of the pandemic.

Statewide hotel revenue plunged 64 percent compared with the year earlier to $1.2 billion, according to new data from San Antonio-based Source Strategies. Demand measured by number of room nights sold fell by nearly half as COVID-19 decimated the state's -- and country's -- lodging industry.
President Donald Trump will get a cash infusion from casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, with the GOP super donor ready to spend between $20 million and $50 million to keep Trump in the White House.

CNBC first reported Adelson's plans, with the multi-billionaire expected to give the bulk of the money to a new pro-Trump super PAC called Preserve America.

The Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee and other groups supportive of electing Republicans could also see some of Adelson's dollars.

Billionaire Sheldon Adelson will commit between $20 million and $50 million to Trump-aligned groups after news broke that the president and Republicans squandered their financial advantage to Joe Biden and the Democrats

Trump (left), photographed Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right), visited Las Vegas over the weekend as he makes a play for Nevada, but his campaign declined to comment on whether he and Adelson met

Adelson (left) and Trump (right) were photographed together at the 2019 Israeli American Council National Summit in Florida. Adelson has had significant clout in the Republican Party, donating millions to GOP candidates

Adelson's team has been in touch with Republican officials close to the president about where best to deploy the funds, according to a CNBC source.

Last weekend, Trump visited Las Vegas, Adelson's city of residence and where his Las Vegas Sands Corportation is headquartered.

The Trump campaign declined to comment to DailyMail.com on whether the two businessmen met while the president was on the ground.

The president is making a play for Nevada, a state he lost to Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016 by under 2.5 points.

But he also has to defend against Democratic gains in states he won in 2016.

On Sunday, billionaire Democrat Michael Bloomberg committed to dropping at least $100 million to help Trump's rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, flip the state of Florida.

That news comes after Biden's campaign announced a record-breaking fundraising haul of $364.5 million in the month of August - the month Biden announced Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate and headlined a virtual Democratic National Convention.

Meanwhile, the Trump campaign and the Republican Party raised $210 million in August.

Earlier this month, The New York Times published a deep dive on how the Trump campaign squandered its financial advantage, burning through more than $800 million out of the $1.1 billion the campaign had raised from the beginning of 2019 through July 2020.

The Times found that about $350 million, nearly half of all money spent, went to finding more donors - and the campaign spared no expense.

The report also documented some of the campaign's sillier expenses, including $156,000 for planes pulling aerial banners - a move often used to troll Democrats at their events.

The campaign also gave $110,000 to a company called Yondr, which provided magnetic pouches to the campaign for attendees of fundraisers to stow their cell phones in so no video or audio recordings could be made.
The National Science Foundation has awarded a nuclear physicist and the chair of the physics department at Lamar University a three-year $225,000 competitive grant, which will be used to continue groundbreaking research into the inner working of protons and neutrons, as well as supporting two undergraduate students to study and work at nuclear physics laboratories in Virginia and Germany.

Phil Cole, who has been at Lamar for about three years and has been studying nuclear physics since the mid-eighties, said the research that is being funded by the NSF, and supported by both graduate and undergraduate students at Lamar, is fundamental in discovering how matter is formed.

About 99.95% of all mass in the visible universe, Cole said, is made of protons or neutrons.

And yet we dont completely understand what is inside of a proton or a neutron, he said. So what my work is doing is trying to understand the structure of the proton, and where mass comes about within the proton.

Much of Coles ongoing research is conducted at two laboratories  the Jefferson Lab in Newport News, Virginia, and at the BGO-OD Experiment at the University of Bonn in Germany.

For several weeks a year, Cole and a team of scientists from around the world conduct highly-technical experiments using a piece of equipment called a particle accelerator, which brings particles to nearly light speed.

I direct  electrons (that are going nearly the speed of light) onto a bunch of protons, Cole said. And sometimes the electron will interact with the proton and will cause something to happen with the inner material in the proton  cause it to undergo changes.

The proton then decays into other particles; but Cole said by looking at those particles, scientists are able to determine what the structure inside is.

Research from those findings then occurs for years.

That is where student researchers, including those at Lamar, have a chance to study and contribute to piecing together findings and analysis to shed some light on the mystery of what makes up a proton.

The grant supports work at both labs, and provides funding for two students to work 19 hours a week.

Working with Cole and in the labs will give those students an advantage when they move into graduate studies.

My goal right now is to set up connections with other universities, including the University of Bonn, and I plan to send students there for their masters work, Cole said.

The research Cole is conducting is based on pivotal discoveries made in the 19th century.

Our understanding on the fundamental building blocks of atoms has come a long way, but we still have a long way to go, Cole said. Scientists discovered the electron near the very end of the 19th century. In 1911 the Rutherford Experiment established the existence of atomic nuclei. Not much later, the proton was identified in 1917, and it was only until 1932 that the neutron was discovered, incidentally in Rutherfords lab. We now know that the nucleus is made up of protons and neutrons bound together by some nuclear force.

In addition to chairing the physics department at LU, Cole teaches modern physics where his work in experimental nuclear physics is directly applicable.

In the past he has led a study abroad program to Bonn, where students learn theoretical and experimental basics of nuclear physics, and gather their own data using the particle accelerator at The University Of Bonn.

In 2014 and 2015, Cole was a Fulbright Professor at the University of Bonn.

The funds from the grant were made active on Sept. 1.

isaac.windes@hearstnp.com

twitter.com/isaacdwindes
NEW DELHI: The Centre on Wednesday (September 16, 2020) informed the Supreme Court that it would welcome any order for speedy trial of political leaders facing criminal charges and corruption cases. The central government said that the top court can fix a time frame for the competition of trials in pending cases against legislators, sitting and former.

The Centre had recently informed the top court that there are nearly 4,442 cases pending against sitting and former MPs and MLAs in different courts of the country. On behalf of the Centre, the amicus curiae had informed the Supreme Court that there is no uniformity in setting up of Special Courts for speeder trial of MPs/MLAs across the country.

The amicus curiae suggested the High Courts may be directed to prepare a blueprint for expeditious disposal of the cases not later than one year for the conclusion of the trial.

In the supplementary submission, senior advocate Vijay Hansaria, who was appointed amicus curiae by the top court, said the analysis of the pending cases show that there is no uniformity as to the setting up of Special Courts for MPs/ MLAs.

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"In the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and West Bengal there is one Special Court for all cases against MPs/MLAs. In the State of Telangana apart from Special Court for MPs/MLAs cases are also pending before Special Court, CBI. In all other States, these cases are pending in respective jurisdictional courts," a report submitted to the top court said.

The report was filed on an order passed by the top court on a PIL by BJP leader and advocate Ashwini Upadhyay, who urged the court to give directions for speedy trial of criminal cases against sitting and former lawmakers.

The report said that there is also no clarity as to the courts which are trying offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. For example, in Madhya Pradesh (where 21 cases are pending) and in Karnataka (where 20 cases are pending) all these cases are pending before a Special Judge (MP/ MLA) at Bhopal and Bengaluru respectively.

In Telangana, these cases are before the Special Judge, CBI at Hyderabad. In Delhi, cases under Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, registered both by Delhi Police and by CBI are before the Special Court MP/MLA. Similar is the situation with regard to offences punishable under Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.

The amicus also cited a peculiar issue with the location of courts, where witnesses have to travel hundreds of kilometres to depose in the matter. For example, a Special Court is at Bengaluru, which exclusively deals with all criminal cases related to MPs/ MLAs.

"It may be noted that Bengaluru is situated in the southern part of the State; and District Bidar which is in the northern part of the State is at a distance of 800 kms. Witnesses from all over the State are required to travel to depose in Special court and the appearance of the witnesses is one of the major reasons for the delay in the trial", said the report.

The matter has been taken up for hearing by a bench headed by Justice NV Ramana.

(With PTI inputs)
By PTI

NEW DELHI: The Uttar Pradesh government is charging Rs 20 per quintal in cash in the name of unloading and cleaning charges for wheat procured from farmers and has not reimbursed them in the last three years, an MP in Rajya Sabha alleged.

Raising the issue through a Zero Hour mention, Javed Ali Khan of the Samajwadi Party said the government has fixed a minimum support price of Rs 1925 per quintal for wheat but farmers are being paid only Rs 1905.

Narrating his own experience of selling wheat at a government-mandated procurement centre, he claimed that he was asked to pay Rs 20 per quintal in cash as cleaning and unloading charges.

"When I demanded so see the order to this effect, the official at the procurement mandi showed me an Uttar Pradesh government order mandating Rs 20 per quintal as a charge for unloading and cleaning," he said.

The order stated that this charge would be reimbursed to farmers once cleared by the Centre and approved by the chief minister, he said, adding farmers have not received any reimbursement in the last three years.

"They don't take cheque or do an (RTGS) account transfer. They take cash and do not give a receipt," he alleged.

He said 36 lakh tonnes of wheat was procured in Uttar Pradesh this year and Rs 72 crore has been collected from farmers as this charge.

At the national level, Rs 780 crore may have been collected as part of these charges from farmers on 90 lakh tonnes of wheat procured, he said asking under what account can cash be taken and no receipt given.

Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu asked the government to take note of the issue.

Leader of the Opposition and senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad raised the issue of abolition of self-help groups for engineers in Jammu and Kashmir which has rendered 15,000 people unemployed.

He said economic activity has come to a standstill and unemployment has risen since the time Jammu and Kashmir was downgraded to a UT 13 months ago.

In 2003, the Congress-PDP government had constituted self-help groups for unemployed engineers so they could take up contracts.

Initially, such groups could take contracts up to Rs 5 lakh and as they gained experience they could take up to Rs 1 crore of contracts.

This helped give employment to 15,000 engineers, he said, adding four days back the UT administration has abolished these self-help groups, rendering them jobless.

P Bhattacharya of the Congress sought that traditional system of medicines such as homeopathy should be encouraged alongside allopathy in the treatment of coronavirus.

Vandana Chavan (NCP) raised the issue of students of vulnerable sections of society being unable to take benefit of online education as 27 per cent of students neither had smartphones nor TVs, nor laptops.

She demanded that the government upgrade digital infrastructure and make available basic digital devices to such students.

Digvijaya Singh of the Congress raised the issue of a spurt in the price of oxygen cylinders across states such as Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Odisha, and Uttar Pradesh.

The price of oxygen refill has risen from Rs 10 per cubic meter to Rs 50, he said, adding the government should strictly enforce the Rs 17 ceiling fixed for the same.

Bhagwat Karad of the BJP too joined the issue, saying there was black marketing of oxygen.

Swapan Dasgupta (Nominated) sought central forces for the security of Vishwa Bharti University as the local administration was "unresponsive" to the demand of the institution.

The university, he said, has been closed since August 17 after vandalism on the campus.
V.Narayan Distinguished - BHPian

Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: Delhi-NCR Posts: 3,091 Thanked: 37,793 Times

re: Toyota halts India expansion, blames We Dont Want You taxes There are, in my opinion, more than one side to this matter. First, inconsistent tax policies and practices has been a sad characteristic of the Indian economy since the late 1990s when the need to start developing tax policies and practices that were at least somewhat in line with the developed world started being felt. The need for consistency and predictability is not understood either by the political class (of all political colours) or by the bureaucrats in general - mind you there are exceptions but they prove the rule. This inconsistency arises out of many factors three of which, in my limited experience, are - Ignorance e.g. Finance Minister in c.2009-2012; or Arrogance & I'll show you who is the boss attitude e.g. retrospective rules going back to 1962 being issued in c.2011/2012; or political compulsions arising out of the many priorities that need to be juggled which we as mainly private sector citizens simply do not appreciate.



India's steady GDP growth in the 6% to 8% per annum from 1999 to 2018 numbed the politicians and bureaucrats that this was a given and fiddling with policy levers and rules will not upset the apple cart. That assumption has been tossed out for good now.



So Toyota stating that tax policies are inconsistent is a fair statement. Saying that, that is the reason they won't invest is on less firm ground IMHO as Toyota must be dealing with similar situations in at least a dozen other large markets. But the decision to invest is theirs. They have taken a decision based on probably the stagnant market + likelihood that GDP growth here will take 2 or 3 or more years to come about in a meaningful way + their limited product mix in India. But having taken that decision they figured this is an occasion to give a message on unpredictable tax policies. No harm in that either. I would caution members not to assume that everything a private sector company says is the unvarnished holy grail and the Govt is always wrong. I say that as a dyed in wool capitalist. Recall the incentives controversy Nissan had with the Tamil Nadu Govt where most of us cursed the TN Govt only for it to emerge that Nissan had not fulfilled its own commitments needed to earn those tax incentives.



Policy is one matter. Practice is another. In the erstwhile Service Tax* and in Income Tax the approach of the tax authorities is to question each and every major point to extract more tax and use their punitive powers to force large companies to deposit a part of the disputed figure and then appeal. They do this only with medium and large companies. This I have witnessed personally ad nauseum for at least 18 to 20 years. The aim being to collect as much into the treasury and meet their quite severe & unrealistic targets. If you are a small business the harassment is less. Toyota I believe are really referring to these practices too and not just policies.



Making public statements of this kind is typical of an MNC. It doesn't help either them or in moving the needle. You have to talk and engage with the Govt in a balanced manner and do so consistently. And that brings change. And no you don't have to bribe to bring policy improvements. There are enough in the Govt that genuinely wish to do the right thing. Yelping in the press is the worst way to do this.



*Not covering GST here as it is too new and the full depth of issues is still only emerging. Last edited by V.Narayan : 15th September 2020 at 09:37 .
Zhang Yiqiong (L) watches a woman working in her batik workshop.

Zhang Yiqiong, a Miao woman in Sandu Shui Autonomous County (in Southwest China's Guizhou Province), has dedicated her life to developing and promoting the traditional batik craft. She has obtained a national patent for a new technology that prevents decolorization of batik works. Given the sound development of the business of her company, Guizhou Genlanmutu Miao Batik Development Co., Ltd., more than 5,000 local farmers have attained wealth by growing Indigowoad Root (used to dye cloth). During the past two decades, Zhang has promoted batik works, created by Miao women (in her hometown), globally, so the women can live better lives.

Returning Home to Start Business

When she was a little girl, Zhang began learning how to create batik items. After she graduated from junior-middle school (in 1998), Zhang left home to work in Guiyang, capital of Guizhou Province. Within a short time, she noticed batik works, created by the residents of Lianhe, her home village (in Sandu), were popular among Guiyang's residents. That inspired her to establish a batik plant in her hometown, to promote and develop the traditional craft.

Soon after she returned home, in 2001, Zhang set up a studio, in which she and several Miao women (in her village) created small embroidered batik items. Zhang made a special trip to Shanghai to promote the items. Within a month, she talked business with more than 30 textile mills (in Shanghai). Eventually, a textile company agreed to act as her distributor.

In 2012, Zhang established a batik plant in Chenguang, a village in Sandu. She employed many Miao women (in Chenguang and its neighboring villages) to work at the plant.

Zhang introduces the traditional batik clothes.

Expanding Business

Through repeated experiments, Zhang has innovated the technology (of using Indigowoad Root) to dye cloth in less time. The even-colored cloth will not fade easily.

To meet people's aesthetic preferences, Zhang during the past few years has put a lot of effort into creating various batik items (including handbags, scarves, pillows and umbrellas) with modern, fashionable designs.

In 2015, Zhang "upgraded" her plant to Guizhou Genlanmutu Miao Batik Development Co., Ltd., and moved the workrooms to Miaolong, another village in Sandu. As she expanded her business, Zhang employed more women and elderly residents in her village.

Zhang takes care of the Indigowoad Root.

Working for Farmers' Well-being

Given the rapid development of her business, there has been an increasing need for Indigowoad Root (used to dye cloth). So far, Genlanmutu has hired farmers to grow a combined 26,700 mu (1,780 hectares) of Indigowoad Root. As a result, 5,460 local farmers have escaped poverty by growing the plant.

So far, Genlanmutu has obtained 13 Chinese patents for its techniques. Given the sound development of its business, the company has been able to employ more than 250 rural residents, among whom 90 percent have been women. As they work near their homes, many women can take care of their elders and children.

Given the company's remarkable achievements in both sales and technological development, experts and technicians from textile mills in other countries, including the United States, Japan and France, during the past few years have visited Genlanmutu, and they have learned about the technologies from the company's experts and technicians.

Zhang told Women of China about her "blueprint" to develop her business. "We will establish a multifunctional cultural base, in which visitors can learn how to create batik items from our employees, and create 'artworks' under the workers' guidance." Zhang also hopes her company will create more job opportunities for local rural women.

Photos by Zhang Jiamin

(Women of China English Monthly April 2020 issue)
Emily Ratajkowski has been called 'vindictive' and 'sad' by photographer Jonathan Leder's publishing company after she accused him of sexually assaulting her during a nude shoot at his home in the Catskills in 2012.

In an essay for The Cut, the now 29-year-old said she remembers Leder's fingers suddenly being inside of her while they were sitting on his couch after she drank copious amounts of wine during the shoot, despite only being 20 at the time.

Leder vehemently denied the claims and has all but disappeared from social media, but Heather Tynan, the editorial director of his company, Imperial Publishing, released a statement attacking the model and accusing her of trying to drum up press for herself with the story.

Speaking out: Emily Ratajkowski has claimed that she was sexually assaulted by photographer Jonathan Leder during a nude shoot in 2012, when she was 20 years old

Accused: Ratajkowski, now 29, said that she remembers Leder's 'fingers suddenly being inside of [her],' recalling that it 'really, really hurt'

'We are all deeply disturbed to read Ms. Ratajkowskis latest (false) statements to NY mag in her never-ending search for press and publicity,' she said in the statement released on Imperial Publishing's website.

'Of course Mr. Leder totally denies her outrageous allegations of being "assaulted." It is grotesque and sad that she is so vindictive to lie in such a way to the press routinely.'

Tynan claimed Ratajkowski's sexual assault accusation against Leder was revenge for him publishing an $80 book of nude photos of her, titled 'Emily Ratajkowski,' years after their shoot in the Catskills.

In her essay for The Cut, Ratajkowski said that some of the images in the photography book were posted on Leder's Instagram and 'among the most revealing and vulgar Polaroids' he had taken of her.

The model recalled being 'livid and frantic' after learning of the book's publication, saying she was afraid of what it could do to her reputation as an actress. She explained that she had been warned to 'shy away from being "sexy" in order to be taken seriously.'

Ratajkowski contacted her lawyer, who sent a cease-and-desist letter to Leder and the gallery that was planning to exhibit his images of her to coincide with the release of the book.

'My lawyer argued that Jonathan had no right to use the images beyond their agreed-upon usage,' she said. 'When I agreed to shoot with Jonathan, I had consented only for the photos to be printed in the magazine they were intended for.'

However, the gallery went to the New York Times with a signed release that gave Leder the rights to publish the images in whatever capacity he saw fit.

Rebuttal: Leder denied the allegations to The Cut, saying, '...She bounced around naked in the Robin Thicke video (pictured)... You really want someone to believe she was a victim?'

Hitting back: Heather Tynan, the editorial director of Leder's company, Imperial Publishing, released a statement attacking the model, calling her 'vindictive' and 'sad'

Opinion: Tynan said the cease-and-desist letter Ratajkowski's lawyer sent to the company over Leder's book of photos from the 2012 shoot was a 'bullying scare tactic'

Allegation: Tynan suggested that the model had accused Leder of sexual assault as revenge because the company had 'had every legal right' to publish the books of photos

Ratajkowski maintains that she never signed a release, and her agent who arranged the shoot  who no longer works in the industry  also insists she didn't sign anything on her behalf.

The model was among a number of female stars who had their nude photos published on controversial site 4chan after an iCloud hack in 2014, and she said the idea of Leder having free reign over the shoot images 'terrified' her, particularly because of what that meant for all of the 'other thousands, maybe millions' of photos that she had posed for during her career.

But despite her lawyer's insistence that the signed model release 'must have been forged,' Ratajkowski was advised that pursuing a lawsuit against Leder and the gallery that eventually exhibited his work, would be 'fruitless,' and incredibly costly  which, she said, she couldn't afford.

'The problem with justice, or even the pursuit of justice, in the U.S. is that it costs. A lot,' she explained. 'For the four days of letters and calls for which I had enlisted my lawyers services, Id racked up a bill of nearly $8,000. And while I did have fame, I didnt have the kind of money Id told Jonathan I hoped to have one day.

'Id heard from friends that Jonathan was a rich kid who had never needed a paycheck in his life. My dad was a high-school teacher; my mom was an English teacher. I had no one in my life to swoop in and help cover the costs.'

She was also informed that a successful lawsuit would not necessarily prevent the publication of the books, but only give her the opportunity to try and claim some of the profits from their sale.

Leder has since published multiple editions of the book through his company, Imperial Publishing, while also sharing several 'unseen' Polaroids of Ratajkowski on his Instagram account, which has since been deleted following the publication of the model's essay.

Tynan later edited her statement about Ratajkowski's account, but she still called her 'vindictive' and 'sad' while discrediting her accusations.

Controversy: In 2016, Leder published a book of nude photos of Ratajkowski that were taken during the shoot, which the model and actress slammed as a 'violation'

Follow up: Leder has since published multiple versions of the book, including a special linen-bound edition (left) that was released in 2019 and a copy of first editions (right)

Publication: The photographer continued to share images from the shoot on his Instagram account (pictured), with the most recent photo (top left) shared in December 2019

'We were all deeply disturbed to read Ms. Ratajkowskis latest false statements to NY Magazine,' the new statement reads.

'While we understand that Ms. Ratajkowski no longer feels that the images represent her in the way she would like, and are probably detrimental to her career as an actress and celebrity, nonetheless, her recent accusations are based in fiction and not in fact, and the facts should matter.

'Mr. Leder completely denies her outrageous libelous allegations of being "assaulted." It is grotesque and sad that she is so vindictive about the publication of the photos.

'It is also not our first encounter with her wrath.'

Imperial Publishing has continued to sell books featuring images of Ratajkowski from the 2012 shoot, including first edition copies that were just 'found in storage' that cost $250 apiece.

Tynan called the cease-and-desist letter the company had received from Ratajkowski's lawyer a 'bullying scare tactic.' Along with the statement, the company shared a copy of its lawyer's response that proves they 'had every legal right' to publish the images of her.

'It is disheartening to us that NY Magazine would publish such a tawdry and baseless article, yet sadly not surprising,' the current statement reads.

Claim: The company shared a copy of its lawyer's letter saying they 'had every legal right' to publish a book of images of Ratajkowski. The model maintains that she never signed a release

'We believe in the work and know that it very popular amongst Emilys fans. It is unfortunate that Ms. Ratajkowski has been at odds with it ever since her career as an actress took off.

'We do not feel that we should be bullied by a celebrity though, and cease publication because she has decided that the photographs are no longer in her best interest,' the statement continues.

'We have every legal right to publish our books of Ms. Ratajkowski  despite what she has tried to maintain to the press.

'Ms. Ratajkowski knows that, and her lawyers know that. She knows she has no legal recourse to stop publication, so bad mouthing the photographer (again) with false and salacious, baseless accusations seems to be her newfound answer.

'We understand that she would like to 'control her image,' but this is not the way to go about it.'

In her essay for The Cut, Ratajkowski recalled traveling to Leder's home to pose for an unpaid editorial shoot arranged by her agent at the time.

She said she drank copious amounts of red wine during the shoot, and she noted that she was 'very, very drunk' by the end of the night. She was 20 at the time.

'I was cold, shivering, and huddled under a blanket,' she wrote. 'Jonathan and I were on his couch, and the rough texture of his jeans rubbed against my bare legs.'

Ratajkowski described how Leder began asking her about her 'boyfriends,' and she said she 'remembers talking a lot' about her dating history and the men she loved, while 'absentmindedly rubbing [her] feet against one another and against his for warmth.'

Upset: Ratajkowski recalls her desperate attempts to stop Leder from publishing his book, revealing she was told by her lawyer that 'pursuing [a] lawsuit... would be fruitless'

Fear: When the book was released, Ratajkowski (pictured in Gone Girl) was forging a career as an actress, and says she was afraid of what the book might do to her reputation in the industry

'He told me he liked "that foot thing youre doing," and I remember this moment more clearly than anything else,' she said. 'I hate that Jonathan commented on something Ive done throughout my life to comfort myself. I hate that sometimes, even now, when I rub my feet together because Im cold or afraid or exhausted, I think of Jonathan.

'Most of what came next was a blur except for the feeling,' Ratajkowski continued. 'I dont remember kissing, but I do remember his fingers suddenly being inside of me. Harder and harder and pushing and pushing like no one had touched me before or has touched me since.

'I could feel the shape of myself and my ridges, and it really, really hurt. I brought my hand instinctively to his wrist and pulled his fingers out of me with force. I didnt say a word. He stood up abruptly and scurried silently into the darkness up the stairs.'

When contacted by The Cut, Leder denied Ratajkowski's allegations, telling the publication that they were 'too tawdry and childish to respond to.'

Referring to nude and topless shoots that Ratajkowski has done in the years since he worked with her, Leder continued: 'You do know who we are talking about right? This is the girl that was naked in Treats! magazine, and bounced around naked in the Robin Thicke video at that time.

'You really want someone to believe she was a victim?'

In a statement made to DailyMail.com, Leder also denied Ratajkowski's claims about the shoot, saying: 'Ms. Ratajkowskis allegations are totally false. I feel bad for her that she is at the point in her career where she has to resort to tactics like this to gain press and publicity. It is shameful.

'I think it is also shameful for [New York Magazine] to publish such sordid and tawdry and unsubstantiated allegations against anyone.'

After the incident on the couch, Ratajkowski said she went to bed in the room where they had started the shoot, recalling that she was 'confused as to why Jonathan had left without a word and terrified that he would come back.'

'Later in the morning, I woke with a vicious hangover,' she said. 'I dressed quickly in the clothes Id been wearing the day before and noticed that my hands were shaking.'

Upon checking her Instagram, she noticed that Jonathan had already put up one of her Polaroids from the previous night.

Ratajkowski also detailed several instances during the shoot that Leder allegedly made comments about her body. She said he branded her first set of Polaroids 'boring and stiff,' and then asked the makeup artist to 'f**k up her hair' before she posed nude.

Dinner with friends: Ratajkowski was seen out on Tuesday night for the first time since Leder hit back at her sexual assault allegations

Outfit: The model-turned-actress stepped out in white sneakers, a long-sleeved top, and oversized black blazer with baggy pants

Chatting: Ratajkowski was photographed reacting during a conversation with a friend as she dined with several people at at Macquarie in New York City

Despite the fact that she had only been working professionally for a few years, she said she had no fears about posing nude, noting that she had been 'told by plenty of photographers and agents that her body was one of the things that made her stand out.'

'My body felt like a superpower,' she wrote. 'I was confident naked  unafraid and proud.'

However, she admitted that 'a part of her disassociated' when she undressed, and she said that she'd 'had so much wine that giant black spots were expanding and floating in front of her eyes' when she began to pose for Leder on the bed.

When the pair reviewed that second batch of Polaroids together, Ratajkowski said the photographer told her he thought she would be 'a big girl... big-boned, fat,' based on images of her that he had found on Google, in which she appeared curvier.

As they continued shooting, he picked out a particular image that he said he liked 'because of her nipples.'

'This one is so good because of your nipples,' Ratajkowski said he told her. 'Your nipples change so much from hard to soft. But I like them when theyre gigantic. I love when they're giant. Giant and exaggerated.'

She recalled being 'confused' by his comments, adding that she 'somehow felt that he meant to insult [her].'

After the images from the shoot were published in a magazine a few months later, Ratajkowski said she pushed the experience out of her mind, and 'never told anyone about what happened.'

Although the essay is the first time that Ratajkowski has made the assault allegations against Leder, she has previously spoken out about the shoot back in 2016, when the photographer revealed that he was publishing a book of the nude images he took of her.

At the time, Ratajkowski insisted that she had not given her consent for the images to be published anywhere other than the magazine they were originally taken for, and she slammed Leder's book as a 'violation' in a series of tweets.

In his statement to DailyMail.com about Ratajkowski's article in The Cut, Leder hit back at the model's criticism of his books, writing that he 'was totally within his legal rights' to publish them.

The photographer shared details from his shoot with Ratajkowski during an interview with Highsnobiety in February 2017. He described her as being 'one of the most comfortable models he had ever worked with in terms of her body.'

'She was neither shy nor self-conscious in any way,' he told the online publication. 'To say she enjoyed being naked is an understatement. I dont know if it empowered her, or she enjoyed the attention, but I can say, out of the 100 or so Polaroids we shot those two nights, only in a handful does she have clothes on.'

Leder recalled the experience as being a 'great shoot,' adding that they 'had a great time, good conversation, and worked late into the night.'

After the publication of her essay and Leder's startling response to the sexual assault allegation, Ratajkowski was seen dining with friends at Macquarie in New York City on Tuesday evening.

They took advantage of an outdoor dining set-up in Manhattan that has popped up amid the coronavirus pandemic in response to the indoor dining ban.

The model didn't give much away with her facial expressions, but she seemed to be engrossed in conversation, looking perplexed and surprised at times.
Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

The White House was festooned with the flags of four nations. There were trumpet blasts, multiple signatures on various pieces of paper, and much weighty talk about blood and history  everything you might expect from a peace deal.

And not just any peace deal. The agreements signed in Washington on Tuesday were titled the Abraham Accords, implying a epochal reconciliation between Judaism, Islam and Christianity, three faiths with shared Middle East ancestry.

Benjamin Netanyahu had brought the rhetoric to match, with lines for the occasion seemingly borrowed from a biblical blockbuster.

This day is a pivot of history. It heralds a new dawn of peace, the Israeli prime minister declared.

Related: Trumps battle with the American military is a fight hes likely to lose

The host and master of ceremonies, Donald Trump, also delivered his quotes with a cinematic ring, albeit from a quite different movie.

This is peace in the Middle East without blood all over the sand, the president said. Its been blood all over the sand for decades and decades and decades. Thats all they do, is they fight and kill people, and nobody gets anything.

Just whose blood might be involved was glossed over. The other signatories of the accords, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain, had never been at war with Israel. They are Gulf monarchies from the high-end enclaves of the Arab world, who have exchanged intelligence and technology with Israel as wall as a mutual fear of Iran, for several years already. The peace agreements involved three Middle Eastern governments putting an official seal on once furtive friendships, in a brash ceremony honed to benefit Trump, part of a broader diplomatic flurry that is part of his reelection campaign.

Israels real enemies, Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, had no less enmity as a result of the accords. By way of a reminder, as the documents were being signed, the sirens were going off along the Israeli coast, and six people were injured by rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.

Story continues

The conflicting Israeli and Palestinian claims on territory and security, the impasse which had prevented diplomatic breakthroughs in the past two decades, was overcome in Tuesdays White House deals simply by being ignored.

The UAE had claimed to have secured a pledge from Israel not to annex the West Bank, all least for the time being. There was no mention of that in its Abrahamic agreement, which focused on potential fields of economic cooperation.

Bahrains version was even thinner. The kingdom had agreed to join the spectacle a few days earlier, and its agreement to Israel amounted to a single page of vague aspirations, one of which was continuing efforts for a just, comprehensive, enduring resolution of Israeli-Palesitnian conflict.

Related: Woodward tells how allies tried to rein in 'childish' Trump's foreign policy

The loser here is definitely the Palestinian cause and the two state solution. Its a surrender of the Palestinians, Randa Slim, senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, said, adding that the accords stripped them of even the appearance of Arab solidarity.

I dont see how they can enter into negotiations and exact any serious concessions, now that they have been denied the one strong negotiating card they had at their disposal.

The Abraham accords was at least a docudrama loosely based on some real-life issues. A taboo, however tenuous, had been broken. Israeli journalists and diplomats mingled freely with their Gulf Arab counterparts, and there will no doubt be an upside from economic cooperation.

The same can not be said for the other peace deal inked recently at the White House. That involved actual former adversaries, Serbian and Kosovan leaders, but next to no substance.

Serbias president, Aleksandar Vucic, and Kosovos prime minister, Avdullah Hoti, walked away on 4 September with separate documents, which restated agreements already made between the two sides, such as infrastructure projects that were already under way.

The new element was a tie-in with the Middle East. Both parties agreed to move their embassies to Jerusalem, which appeared to come as a surprise to Vucic. On hearing Trump announcing it at the elaborate Oval Office ceremony (also cast as a breakthrough between two ancient rivals), the Serbian leader thumbed through the documents in front of him and cast a bewildered look to an aide standing off camera. A few days later, his office let it be known that Serbia would not be keeping its end of the Jerusalem bargain if Israel recognised Kosovo, which had also been part of the deal.

Trumps pre-election diplomatic offensive has not been all theatre, however. Talks started in Doha at the weekend between the Afghan government and the Taliban, a fraught discussion between real adversaries about very real issues, brokered by the US.

But the timing has been dictated by Trumps campaign calendar. His insistence on withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, no matter what the consequences, gave the Taliban what it had been seeking all along and presented the government of president Ashraf Ghani little choice but to negotiate, with a weakened hand. The talks can still collapse, or Kabul could be forced to negotiate away basic freedoms, including womens rights.

In some respects, the Afghanistan talks are the most substantial of them all, in war and peace terms, Daniel Serwer, senior fellow at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, said.

But you have to be realistic about what it is. Were losing that war and [the US negotiators] found a way to use withdrawal of troops as leverage on the government of Afghanistan. So if I were an ally of the United States, I might not be looking at that in a completely positive light.

The consequences, for good or ill, will play themselves out after the election. Meanwhile, the Doha dialogue is being deployed by the White House as yet another example of how Trump slices through problems that were beyond his predecessors. The reelection campaign is making much of his nomination for the Nobel Prize, skating over the fact that all that took, under the idiosyncratic rules, was the support of a single maverick right-winger in the Norwegian parliament.

Even though the resulting campaign advertisement misspelled the award as the Noble, the fanfare seems bound to help Trumps bid to stay in the Oval Office. It is foreign policy, reputed to be of little weight in a US election contest. But it is also show business, at which Trump excels.
4 | Chinese President Xi Jinping offers to cooperate with India, BRICS countries to develop COVID-19 vaccine: Chinese President Xi Jinping on November 17 offered to cooperate with India and other BRICS nations in the development of vaccines against the coronavirus and called for holding a symposium by the five-member bloc on traditional medicine to explore its role in the COVID-19 prevention and treatment.

Pfizers internal COVID-19 vaccine trial report has found no major safety issues with the vaccine candidate, taking into account 12,000 individuals who received their second doses.

Pfizers chief scientific officer Mikael Dolsten told investors in a virtual meeting that there are no safety signals reported so far, Bloomberg reported.

The trail also reached its 30,000 subject mark and is now targeting total enrolment of 44,000, which will include teenagers and people fighting medical conditions such as HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C. This was also stated by Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla on September 14.

The trial compares effects of two doses of the vaccine candidate jointly developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, to two shots of placebo. Further, the subjects and internal doctors are unaware of who got the vaccine shot  so as to eliminate bias when reviewing effects, the report added.

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

A committee of outside experts  with knowledge of which individuals were given vaccine shots, is also reviewing safety data on a weekly basis and are not notified of any safety concerns to date, Kathrin Jansen, Pfizers head of vaccine research said during the meet.

Follow our LIVE Updates on the coronavirus pandemic here

Worrisome adverse events havent appeared so far, but fatigue has been the most common side effect noticed during the trials so far, as per the company presentation.

The company expects conclusive data by October-end and promised to make public all its safety and efficacy data in case of emergency authorisation for the vaccine.

Bourla told the media that the company releasing data is very unusual but called it a must due to ongoing discussions with the US government and regulators. He had on September 14 said the Americans could get the vaccine by 2020-end if approvals come in.

Pfizer and BioNTech are expected to approach the US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) for emergency authorisation use, but Bourla said timing remains unclear.

On distribution, Pfizer said in case it receives emergency authorisation, the company has sufficient freezers and thermal shippers to transport the doses, which usually require ultra-low temperatures for long-term storage.

Pfizer is however also working on developing a version that would allow storage at higher temperatures for longer periods and exploring a new formulation for single dosage, the report added.
Commuters who travel by yellow-band maxi-taxis between Port of Spain and areas in West Trinidad will have to dig deeper into their pockets from Monday.

Chairman of the Yellow Band Route One Association Eon Hewitt told the Express yesterday the fares will go up by $1 across the board, and $2 for the Chaguaramas route.
At least seven people have died in connection to a coronavirus outbreak that continues to sicken people after a wedding reception that violated state virus guidelines, US public health authorities said.

The August wedding reception at the Big Moose Inn in Millinocket, Maine, is linked to more than 175 confirmed cases of the virus, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday (local time).

State authorities have identified overlaps between the wedding reception and outbreaks elsewhere in the state.

An employee of the York County Jail attended the wedding, CDC officials said.

Maine health officials have also said a staff member from a Madison rehabilitation centre, which is the site of six of the seven deaths, attended the event.

The August wedding reception at the Big Moose Inn in Millinocket, Maine. Source: The Bangor Daily News via AP

The virus cases stemming from the wedding have spanned hundreds of miles in a state that had largely controlled the spread of the coronavirus through the summer. Maine has reported less than 5,000 cases of the virus in total since March.

But the growing number of cases related to the wedding, which exceeded the states guidelines of 50 people or less at indoor gatherings, could undo some of that progress if it continues to swell.

Authorities have said more than 65 people attended the wedding.

The six people from the Madison rehabilitation facility who died were all residents of that facility and none of them attended the wedding reception, Maine CDC director Dr Nirav Shah said.

Maine CDC is concerned about where we are, and Im asking everyone else to share in that concern. COVID-19, right now, is not on the other side of the fence. It is in our yards, Dr Shah said.

The gains that Maine has made against COVID-19 are ones that could and unfortunately can be washed away.

The wedding was also officiated by pastor Todd Bell of Calvary Baptist Church in Sanford.

Authorities have said more than 65 people attended the wedding. Source: Big Moose Inn/Facebook

The Maine CDC is currently investigating to determine if an outbreak at the church is connected to the wedding outbreak. That outbreak has seen 10 people fall ill, Dr Shah said.

Story continues

Calvary Baptist Church issued a statement on Tuesday (local time) said a number of Calvary Baptist Church members attended the wedding reception.

The statement said the church was taking precautions to limit the spread of the virus and it would defend its right to continue holding services.

The Calvary Baptist Church has a legal right to meet. The authority of a local Christian church, a Jewish synagogue, or a Muslim mosque to gather for their respective religious services is a time-honoured part of our nations history since its inception, the statement said.

These religious activities are also fully protected under the First Amendment to our United States Constitution.

Pastor Bell has been critical of government attempts to control coronavirus and videos show he has held services without the use of social distancing.

He hired a lawyer known nationally for defending the religious rights of churches.

Neither Pastor Bell nor the attorney working with the church, David Gibbs of Florida, personally responded to a request on Tuesday (local time) for comment.

Maine CDC spokesperson Robert Long said the agencys investigations suggested multiple potential points of transmission related to the August 7 wedding and reception.

The agency is working to limit the spread of the virus and support people affected by it, he said.

Big Moose Inn (pictured) is where the wedding took place. Source: Big Moose Inn/Facebook

Big Moose Inn owner Laurie Cormier issued the following in late August confirming the establishment had received a citation from the state, but insisted all wedding guests had their temperature taken and had not shown any symptoms.

"The Big Moose Inn is aware that an outbreak of COVID-19 has been traced back to a wedding in the Katahdin Region in early August. Among the wedding-related events that weekend was a post-wedding dinner at our facility, she said.

Our hearts go out to the family, those affected by the virus who were at the wedding, and those who have been impacted since then.

There is no doubt that this virus is dangerous with wide-ranging impacts. We too are deeply saddened and frustrated by the many devastating impacts of COVID-19. This is a challenging time for all of us, Ms Cormier said, according to MSNBC.com.

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday that he wont ban trick-or-treating in New York this Halloween, but isnt sure its the best option in a pandemic.

I would not ban trick-or-treaters going door to door. I dont think thats appropriate," Cuomo told News 12 Long Island. "You have neighbors - if you want to go knock on your neighbors door, God bless you and Im not going to tell you not to.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, however, has said that he does not believe Halloween will proceed during the COVID-19 pandemic as it has in previous years.

In August, he told reporters that events like Halloween and Thanksgiving would likely take on a more virtual look with some "small in-person pieces.

Its not going to look at all, of course, like what we are used to," he said. But the important thing is that traditions will be kept in some way.

The mayor compared it to previous events held during the pandemic, like a city-wide virtual graduation ceremony and virtual Fourth-of-July events.

The mayors press office said the mayor had not changed his opinion as of Wednesday.

Cuomos statements come as states and localities across the country decide what to do about trick-or-treating. Last week, Los Angeles County banned trick-or-treaters, but walked that back less than a day later to say the practice wasnt recommended.

Im not gonna tell you you cant take your child to the neighborhood. Im not going to do that, Cuomo said. Ill give you my advice and guidance and then you will make a decision what you do that night.
KALAMAZOO, MI -- State Rep. Jon Hoadley, D-Kalamazoo, is considered the front-runner among those seeking to unseat U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, to represent Michigans 6th Congressional District.

The district has long been a Republican stronghold. Upton is seeking his 18th consecutive term in the November general election but Democrats think they can flip the seat.

In addition to the Democratic Party, members of the Libertarian and Green parties will also appear on the Nov. 3 ballot.

Libertarian Jeff Depoy, 35, is a machinist and veteran from Berrien Center. For more about his experience and campaign, visit facebook.com/jefffor6th

Green Party candidate John Lawrence, 31, is a medical dispatcher and logistics and courier transporter from Kalamazoo. For more about his experience and campaign, visit facebook.com/RapsRantsRamblings

Upton, 67, was first elected in 1986. In the August primary he secured 62.66% of the votes to defeat GOP challenger Elena Oelke.

The 6th Congressional District covers much of Southwest Michigan, including the counties of Kalamazoo, Van Buren, Cass, St. Joseph, Berrien and Allegan.

There is unfinished business we have to complete - Cures 2.0, fighting the opioid epidemic, immigration reform, and protecting the Great Lakes, among others, Upton wrote on Facebook in February when he announced he was seeking another term.

According to his campaign website, Uptons focus remains on passing important legislation to encourage job creation, protect taxpayers, help our community and enhance the quality of life for everyone in Southwest Michigan and throughout our country.

Prior to Congress, Upton worked for President Ronald Reagan in the Office of Management and Budget. For more information about the campaign and his background visit fredupton.com.

Hoadley, 37, is completing his third and final two-year term in the Michigan House of Representatives representing District 60, which encompasses the entire city of Kalamazoo and the majority of Kalamazoo Township. He was first elected in 2014.

His home turf of Kalamazoo County carried Hoadley across the finish line in the August Democratic primary. He claimed 61% of the Kalamazoo County vote and 52.24% of the overall vote.

I was really humbled that they would be willing to continue to support me on this next step that we could serve in Congress, Hoadley said after the primary. I think that as we look at the results all across the district it is clear people are ready for change.

MLive Media Group partnered with the League of Women Voters of Michigan to provide candidate information for readers. Each candidate was asked to outline their stances on a variety of public policy issues, which are listed below.

Information on all state and federal races and many of Michigans county and local races is available at Vote411.org, an online voter guide created by the League of Women Voters.

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.

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?

UPTON: Americans deserve access to high-quality, affordable health care. In 2016, we passed the 21st Century Cures Act to expedite the discovery and development of life-saving cures. Now Im working on Cures 2 to modernize how we treat diseases and deliver more cures. Regarding reform efforts, we need to lower costs and expand access. One recent success was Michigans expansion of Medicaid. In Congress, I fought to support states that expanded Medicaid eligibility. We also need to protect those with pre-existing conditions, let folks buy plans across state lines, and support telehealth services and community health centers.

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.

DEPOY: The Government has no business being involved with healthcare. We need to turn 180 and remove the federal government from any decisions that are rightfully only made between you and your doctor.

LAWRENCE: Medicare and Medicaid should be expanded immediately. Its unfathomable that neither the Democratic or Republican parties will pledge to support a Medicare for All system, in the middle of one of the worst pandemics in the history of the modern world. A public option is better than nothing, but the time for this was 12 years ago during Obamas first term. We are now in a crisis. Dont believe the mainsteam media; Medicare for All would actually SAVE the taxpayers $BILLIONS over the long-term. It is the fiscally conservative approach that actually works, and we should enact it immediately, before more people die

ECONOMY: What federal policies do you support for a healthy economy and to help the broader American public improve their economic positions?

UPTON: Last year we had one of the strongest economies in history. We can get there again by working on solutions that once again put us toward strong economic growth. During COVID, we worked to secure billions for small businesses through the Paycheck Protection Program. This bipartisan program helped protect more than 1.5 million Michigan jobs. Ive also introduced a bipartisan bill to expand broadband service in rural counties like here in SW Michigan. We need to ensure more Americans have access to reliable internet service. Its imperative both parties come together to work and focus on job creation and economic growth.

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.

DEPOY: I support ending federal income taxes on the American people. This in turn will immediately give every family a 12.5-25% raise on day one. You work hard for your money, keep all of it! With this additional disposable income, robust economic growth is sure to occur.

LAWRENCE: First of all, we have to accept as a society that the glory days of American economic exploitation of the world are not coming back. China is the worlds new economic powerhouse, and it will remain that way for the near future. I fully support an expanded jobs program to train Americans and get them to work, but this alone is not enough. We need to look at systems of universal basic income, as well as the restructuring of our economic system to decentralize the power of mega-corporations in our society. We need renewed investment in local shops, farms, family businesses to give our future a fighting chance.

ELECTIONS: What federal policies do you advocate regarding elections, campaign funding and voting rights? Do you support mailing ballots to all eligible voters?

UPTON: Ive supported many commonsense, bipartisan campaign finance and voter access reforms. I supported the Motor Voter law so folks could register to vote when they go to the DMV, the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform, and the Help America Vote Act of 2002. I also support Michigans No-Reason Absentee Ballot System. I support the Voting Rights Act and oppose all forms of voter discrimination. I have always been a vigorous defender of everyones right to vote. With the COVID-19 crisis, we must ensure folks can vote safely, which is why I voted for more resources for the USPS.

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.

DEPOY: Every citizen has the right to vote, every citizen has the right to an absentee ballot if they request one. I do not support mailing unrequested ballots.

LAWRENCE: Theres absolutely no reason why we cant mail ballots to every registered voter. And while were at it, every American citizen should be automatically registered to vote at the age of 18, end of story. If the Republicans care so much about encouraging Americans to vote in person, then why dont they support a Federal holiday for election day? I support this. In terms of campaign funding, Citizens United really screwed the American people, but times were bad even before this decision. Corporations shouldnt be allowed to fund political candidates. Its that simple. And it shouldnt take $MILLIONS to run a campaign.

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?

UPTON: Protests have demanded not to just dismiss racism but dismantle it. Systemic racism is too real for people of color in nearly every facet of society. Ive marched in protests and I certainly believe Black lives matter. I cosponsored the JUSTICE Act and voted to advance the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. Im working with my Problem Solvers Caucus colleagues on a bipartisan police reform bill. Defunding the police isnt the right answer. Law enforcement needs resources for better pay, training, and body cameras. We need to enhance community services like mental health, youth development, housing, and education.

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.

DEPOY: No, I believe that social injustice is an invention of the main stream media, in an attempt to sow division, and increase their profits at the expense of we the people. Americans by and large, are kind people. Turn off the tv and talk to your neighbor.

LAWRENCE: Clearly there are major economic and systematic injustices in this country, those arguing otherwise are burying their heads in the sand. Black and brown communities have suffered the worst from this, but in 2020 were all starting to feel the effects. Raising the minimum wage will help, but what we really need to do is tax the billionaire class and the speculators on Wall St. Cultural racism is real, but economic inequality is the fuel which feeds it. Black and brown communities lack the wealth they need to effectively fight the ruling establishment. Multi-generational poverty must end if our society is to prosper.

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?

UPTON: Ive always deeply appreciated our natural resources. I strongly supported the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and led the charge against storing nuclear waste near the Great Lakes. I helped pass the Great American Outdoors Act, a conservation bill that will protect and preserve national parks. I was one of the first members of the Climate Caucus and opposed our withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord. I believe in an all of the above energy plan that focuses on emerging clean energy tech like renewables as well as traditional energy solutions that keep costs low, energy affordable, and our environment clean.

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.

DEPOY: Nuclear, nuclear, nuclear. Safe, zero emissions, cost effective.

LAWRENCE: The fact that Republicans (and Democrats, for that matter) are fighting to protect the fossil fuel industry is not only abhorrent, but also incredibly stupid. Even within the free market, solar and wind is making coal and natural-gas obsolete at an expedient rate. Why are we subsidizing fossil fuel industries with no long-term future? Wind and solar expansion is vital to our national security interests. The sooner we become long-term self-reliant the sooner we dont have to rely on China or the Middle East for our energy needs. And yeah, clean water, land, and air -- how is that not vital to our national security?

IMMIGRATION: What policies do you support relative to immigration into the U.S.?

UPTON: Its beyond time to fix our immigration system. Im a strong supporter of legal immigration. I support Congressional action to help Dreamers. The number one issue for SW MI farmers is immigration reform. We need a reliable workforce for all farms. Thats why in 2019 we passed the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, which provides ag workers an opportunity to earn legal status through continued ag employment, improve the H-2A visa program, and establish a mandatory E-Verify for the ag industry. Ive been a supporter of border security funding and supported efforts to fight smuggling and human trafficking on our borders.

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.

DEPOY: We must grant permanent legal status to the DACA recipients immediately, and provide a possible path to citizenship for them. Then we dismantle the welfare state that makes illegal immigration so attractive, and begin an increase of merit based immigration.

LAWRENCE: The entire immigration discussion in the US is out of hand. Keeping people in cages and separating children from families is horrid and shameful. But beyond that, why is our discussion so focused on citizenship to begin with? Most refugees arent interested in citizenship (in the short term), they merely want legal protection to allow them to live and work within the US. This is the strategy I support. Fund the ability to process people across the border expediently, and give them legal status to live and work without fear of deportation. Take them out of the shadows. Then we can discuss eventual future citizenship.

Click here for more of MLives Election Day coverage from across the state, or here for full coverage of Kalamazoo-area elections.

More on MLive:

Democrats will need another blue wave to unseat Fred Upton, political expert says

Donald Trump offers total and complete endorsement of John James in Michigan

Joe Biden meets with Detroit-area steelworkers during campaign swing through Michigan
Opposition figures reacted angrily on Tuesday after Ivory Coast's top court rejected 40 candidates for upcoming presidential elections, validating the contested bid of head of state Alassane Ouattara but sidelining his predecessor, Laurent Gbagbo.

Tensions in the West African state are running high ahead of the October 31 polls -- more than 3,000 people died in post-election violence in 2010-11.

One of the four accepted candidates, former prime minister Pascal Affi Nguessan, said the country was "descending into a spiral of exclusion", a phenomenon he described as "the most consummate sign of the regime's tyrannical nature."

Nguessan, 67, served under Gbagbo and heads the party he founded, although he is struggling to win over loyalists who want the former president to be their flagbearer.

Gbagbo was forced out by Ouattara after a brief civil war following the elections in 2010 and was then prosecuted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of crimes against humanity.

He was released by the ICC in January 2019 and lives in Brussels pending the outcome of an appeal against the ruling.

But Gbagbo's application for the October 31 elections -- submitted in his name by followers -- was rejected by the Constitutional Council as he had been sentenced to a 20-year term in absentia last November over the looting of a regional bank during the post-election crisis.

Another notable rejection was an application by former rebel leader turned prime minister Guillaume Soro, 47, who fell out with Ouattara, and had been sentenced to 20-years in absentia over alleged embezzlement.

"The Constitutional Council missed a historic chance to show its independence," Nguessan said in a statement.

He referred to a constitutional change in 2016 that enabled Ouattara to argue that the two-term limit on presidential tenure had been reset to zero -- a rationale accepted by the court.

"It accepted the candidacy of the outgoing president, who is clearly ineligible, and refused those of Laurent Gbagbo and Guillaume Soro, who have been deprived of their civic rights out of purely political opportunism," Nguessan said.

Story continues

Violence fears

Ouattara, 78, had initially said in March that he would not seek a third term but was forced into a U-turn just four months later when his preferred successor, prime minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly, died of a heart attack.

Violent protests against Ouattara's candidacy left around 15 dead last month, reviving memories of the post-election bloodshed nearly a decade ago.

Clashes broke out in several Ivorian cities on Monday ahead of the announcement by the Constitutional Council, while on Tuesday, the police presence in Abidjan was beefed up and security forces reinforcements were sent out to other regions.

Soro, reacting on Twitter late Monday, called the Constitutional Council's ruling "unjust and baseless".

"It is an iniquitous decision, politically motivated, legally flawed, and part of a process of crushing democracy and the state of law," he said in a statement posted on Twitter and Facebook.

He said he would hold a press conference on Thursday in France, where he lives.

The Ivory Coast Democratic Party (PDCI), whose champion, 86-year-old former president Henri Konan Bedie, has been allowed to contest the polls, made no immediate response to the court's decision.

But it said it would boycott elections to the offices of local election commissions on September 15 -- a reflection of its long-running anger at what it says is a rigged electoral system.

(AFP)
In March, she and her family were supposed to depart for an 18-day trip across Japan, a plan that was, like so many, scrapped  much to her disappointment. Travel, she explained, is so much the foundation of not just my brand, but also my whole entire life. Instead, she satisfied her wanderlust in the studio, making garments from jewel-toned teal and lavender fabrics printed with cherry blossoms, azaleas and poppies, their silhouettes characterized by obi-style belts and origami-inspired pleats and folds. They appear in the collection mixed together with colorful skirts and tops hand-crocheted in Peru, brass and glass jewelry handmade in Kenya, and handbags  new this season and finished with macrame handles  from Italy. The clear imprint of craftspeople, especially those from overseas, is a hallmark of the brand (its previous collections have included references to West African mudcloth and quilting inspired by the intricate, handwoven Panamanian textile mola), but production challenges and workplace closures made working with artisans internationally more challenging than usual. Two-day shipping estimates turned into two weeks; on the morning of the show, a few pieces were still arriving from India.

Still, Johnson didnt want this collection to feel rooted abroad, but at home in New York. Theres always this sense of a transportive experience that Ive wanted to create, she said. This time, I really wanted to feel like I was here. And of course, she was. She witnessed the bruising the city sustained throughout the spring: the sounds of sirens permeating the air, the fear, the grief. But she also observed the resilience of its citizens, the ways people managed to show up for each other. Her three children accompanied her to the protests that followed George Floyds death in May, and it felt like this explosion that came on the heels of this isolation, she said. The sight of so many New Yorkers coming together was a beautiful thing.

Back on Roosevelt Island, the 11-hour day  Johnson arrived at 8 a.m.  culminated with a celebratory dinner, served at the parks waterfront. The chef Ioana Hercberg of the French-inflected Brooklyn restaurant La Cantine (who was formerly the manager of Johnsons store on Bleecker Street) had prepared a meal of miniature sandwiches, Spanish tortilla, salads of turmeric rice and shaved fennel, brown-butter chocolate chip cookies and a flourless hazelnut chocolate cake  and, of course, there was champagne. Two hours after the shoot wrapped, models still lingered, spending time with friends they hadnt seen in months.

Tuesday, Sept. 8, 1:05 P.M.
OMAHA  Doctors are encouraging people to get a flu shot now instead of waiting a month or two.

The goal is to help people  and the health care system  avoid a simultaneous run of flu and COVID-19, a possibility some are calling a twindemic.

I think its important this year to get it early so were protected during the fall and wintertime, said Dr. Renuga Vivekanandan, an associate professor at Creighton University and chief of infectious diseases at Creighton and CHI Health.

Any time you get it from now on is probably fine, said Dr. Jasmine Marcelin, an assistant professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and infectious diseases physician at Nebraska Medicine.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says September and October are good times to get vaccinated for flu. The agency recommends that everyone 6 months and older get the shot, particularly those who are at higher risk of complications should they get the flu. Those groups include people older than 65, those with underlying health conditions such as asthma and diabetes, and pregnant women.

Marcelin said those in such groups who may be thinking about putting off the shot should discuss it with their health care provider.

The sweet spot, she said, is trying to time it so right before the number of flu cases are starting to rise in your community, youll have two weeks of lag time to build your immunity.

Dr. Tom Safranek, Nebraskas state epidemiologist, said the Southern Hemisphere, now in winter, is seeing a milder-than-normal flu season. Some experts think that may be a result of the hand-washing and social distancing being done to mitigate COVID-19.

But flu seasons are hard to predict, Vivekanandan said, and its important that people get the flu vaccine not only to protect themselves but also to preserve the health care system.

Influenza kills between 12,000 and 60,000 people each year in the U.S., according to the CDC. Between 140,000 and 810,000 people are hospitalized with the flu each year.

If we are able to get vaccinated, and everyone does masking and distancing, I think were going to be in a good place, Vivekanandan said.

Getting the flu shot means that people are protected as much as possible from influenza. While the flu shot doesnt always prevent infection with the influenza virus, it typically results in a milder illness and in fewer hospitalizations and deaths.

If those vaccinated against flu do get COVID-19, Marcelin said, theyre less at risk of getting the flu on top of it. Such double whammies, which doctors call co-infection, occur occasionally with viruses.

In people with medical problems, they can have worse outcomes than people who just got one or the other, Marcelin said.

Safranek said he has not heard any concerns about shortages of flu vaccine this year, even with the added push for vaccination. According to the CDC, manufacturers expect to provide as many as 198 million doses, up from the record 175 million doses produced last season.

Cindy Ruma, a nurse with the Visiting Nurse Association, said the organization is seeing greater interest in flu shots this year.

Well adapt as needs change, she said.

As for the flu shot itself, there are plenty of options available this year, Safranek said.

The high-dose version recommended for people 65 and older will protect against four influenza strains instead of the three included last year. A version with an adjuvant, or immune booster, is also available.

Those who dont like needles can opt for the nasal spray vaccine, available for most peoples ages 2 to 49. But those with a cold or nasal congestion should not get the spray vaccine, Marcelin said, because it wont be as effective. An egg-free version of the vaccine is also available for those with egg allergies.
The weekend walking space of Hoan Kiem lake and the surrounding area would be resumed from September 18.

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After one and a half months of suspension, Hanois authorities have allowed the reopening of karaoke parlors, bars and discos from September 16, provided that these establishments comply with Covid-19 countermeasures.

Dao Duy Tu street in the city's Old Quarter. Photo: Nhu Y

On September 15, at the meeting of the Hanoi Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control, Mr. Ngo Van Quy, Vice Chairman of the city People's Committee, said all the services will be restored as the city has gone 27 days without new locally- infected case since August 19.

Earlier, on August 1, the Hanoi city government requested all bars, pubs and karaoke parlors to close and customers at restaurants and supermarkets to keep a safe distance since the novel coronavirus resurfaced in Vietnam on July 25.

Such measures had been in place in Hanoi in March and April when the pandemic broke out in the city.

Since the coronavirus re-emerged in Danang on July 25, Hanoi has confirmed 11 local infections, all linked to Danang.

To ensure the dual goal of disease fighting and boosting economic growth, Hanois authorities have decided to loosen the social distancing measures. The weekend walking space of Hoan Kiem lake and the surrounding area would also be restored from September 18.

Mr. Quy said that the risk of infection is still palpable, especially when the government has allowed the resumption of international air travel in the coming days. He, therefore, asked units and local people to take preventive measures such as wearing face masks in public places or on public transport, washing hands with soap or sanitizer, and keeping a safe distance in social interactions. Hanoitimes

Nhat Minh
BRUSSELS

The Commission President  increasingly known as by her initials, VDL, in Brussels  delivered her first landmark state of the union speech since she took office nine months ago.

She delivered a blunt warning to Boris Johnson on his moves to break an international treaty by changing the agreed EU-UK special trade status of Northern Ireland after Brexit.

Ms von der Leyen recalled one of Mr Johnsons predecessors, Maggie Thatcher. The one-time Tory idol had some epic clashes with Brussels  but always insisted a deal was a deal.

The EC president quoted Mrs Thatcher. Britain does not break treaties. It would be bad for relations with the rest of the world and bad for any future treaty on trade, she recalled Mrs Thatcher as saying.

Read More

Ms von der Leyen said the deal on the North was the best way of ensuring continued peace in Ireland. And there would be no going back on that deal, she added. She also warned Mr Johnson that time was running out to agree a post-Brexit EU-UK free trade deal before the end-of-year deadline.

EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier was this afternoon due to update the 27 EU member state ambassadors in Brussels on the trade talks.

WASHINGTON DC

UK foreign minister Dominic Raab is in the American capital for talks with key political leaders. US President Donald Trump has made very positive noises about a good US-UK trade deal to help Britain cope with the aftermath of Brexit.

But other key US politicians are keen to point out that granting such a trade deal is not in the gift of the President. Already, the speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi  who does have a key role in signing off trade deals  has publicly warned the UK that their latest move on Northern Ireland rules out any future trade deal.

Read More

Mr Raab will hear that first hand in a meeting with Ms Pelosi and other key American political leaders.

One Brussels diplomats said: Britain will be reminded that the Irish have some political clout in the US capital.

LONDON

The UK governments best-known foot-in-the-mouth man, the Northern Ireland minister Brandon Lewis, was unrepentant about his admission last week that his government were going to break the EU treaty. Mr Lewis had said the international breach would only be in a very specific and limited way.

Today he told a UK parliament committee that he stood by what he had said and held out the hope that Brexit negotiation problems  vastly worsened by that international law breach  could be overcome.
The Army is proposing limiting the number of burials in Arlington National Cemetery, and retirees may be the first to be affected.

A proposed rule published in the Federal Register seeks public comment on limiting interments, both burials and inurnments, in Arlington National Cemetery to only those who are retired, saw combat, received certain military awards, served as president or vice president or were family members of otherwise qualified individuals.

An inurnment is the placing of a deceased person's cremated remains in an above-ground columbarium or wall; a burial is the placement of a body or ashes into the ground. An interment can refer to either act. There are different rules for who can be buried and who can be inurned in the cemetery; generally, the rules for burial are stricter.

Military retirees and veterans would no longer be eligible for burial in Arlington unless they saw combat and received the Silver Star or above. Those who died on active duty would not be eligible for burial unless their death was related to combat or combat support.

For any veteran to be eligible for interment in Arlington National Cemetery, they may not have received a dishonorable discharge or been convicted of certain crimes.

Who Is Currently Eligible for Interment at Arlington National Cemetery?

Currently, any service member who dies on active duty, a former prisoner of war, highly decorated military member or retiree is eligible for burial in Arlington National Cemetery. Reservist or Guard members who died on active duty for training and all veterans are eligible for inurnment in Arlington.

See: Details about Arlington National Cemetery

Who Will Be Eligible Under the Proposed Rule?

Under the proposed rule, eligibility for burial in Arlington will be limited to:

Service members killed in action

Service members whose death resulted from preparations or operations related to combat

Any service member or veteran who served in combat and was awarded the Purple Heart, Silver Star or above.

U.S. presidents or vice presidents

Former POWs

Qualifying family members of any eligible person

Those eligible for inurnment would include:

Anyone eligible for burial

Military retirees, or those eligible for retirement

Veterans or service members with at least 24 months active duty with qualifying combat service (Combat service requires receipt of combat pay, imminent danger or hostile fire pay, or receipt of a qualifying medal.)

Some World War II and Korean War-era veterans

Qualifying family members of any eligible person

Politicians would not be eligible unless they are otherwise qualifying veterans or receive an exemption from the rules.

Military retirees would no longer be eligible for burial unless they saw combat and received the Purple Heart, Silver Star or above, and veterans would no longer be eligible for inurnment unless they served in combat. Those who died on active duty would not be eligible for burial unless their death was related to combat or combat support.

Why Is This Change Being Proposed?

Arlington is running out of space.

Without these changes, the Army says that the cemetery will run out of space for new interments by 2041, even if it expanded the size of the cemetery..

As a result of the cemetery running out of space, Public Law 115-232, the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for 2019, directed the secretary of the Army to come up with a plan to revise the criteria for interments at Arlington to preserve its status as an active cemetery well into the future.

The Army says that one percent of the veteran population is currently laid to rest at Arlington every year. In fiscal 2019, this equaled 3,691 new graves. The proposed changes would limit burials to around 700 and inurnments to 1,950 each year.

The Army also says that restricting the eligibility of active-duty members for burial in Arlington to those killed in combat or combat support operations would affect approximately 43 service members each year. Most veterans who have at least one day of active service would remain eligible for above-ground inurnment, and approximately 1,900 retirees who are no longer eligible for burial would remain eligible for inurnments each year.

The Army will accept public comments on this proposal through Nov. 16, 2020. You may submit comments here. See the proposed rule for more details.

Stay on Top of Your Veteran Benefits

Military benefits are always changing. Keep up with everything from pay to health care by subscribing to Military.com, and get access to up-to-date pay charts and more with all latest benefits delivered straight to your inbox.
Gaborone, Botswana (PANA) - Corruption has been blamed for stalling Botswanas progress into high income economy, an academic at the University of Botswana (UB), Professor Brothers Malema, said in an economic paper, dubbed: The Transformative Agenda: Rhetoric or Realism, which was released on Wednesday
Dubai-based dnata, one of the worlds leading air services providers, has commenced operations at its new catering unit in Dublin, quadrupling dnatas catering capacity in the Irish capital.



The state-of-the art facility enables the company to deliver 40,000 quality inflight meals a day for customers. Already serving six airlines from its existing facility in Dublin, dnatas continued expansion underlines its long-term commitment to Ireland and the local aviation industry.



Covering an area of 6,300 sq m, dnatas new facility is located in the Dublin Airport Logistics Park  near its existing operation. It is equipped with the latest technologies and has a capacity of over 30,000 meals a day.



dnatas expansion comes as a result of an agreement with Aer Lingus, which sees it now provide inflight catering services to the airline at four airports in Dublin, Shannon, Cork and Belfast. dnata is working closely with Aer Lingus and its other partners to flexibly meet constantly changing demand while ensuring the highest possible level of safety across its operations amid current global challenges.



Robin Padgett, dnatas Divisional Senior Vice President for Catering, said: It is great to be operational at our new, ultramodern catering centre, the 65th production facility in our global network. Despite the impact of COVID-19, our team and our partners have managed to deliver a quality operation on budget, as planned.



We look forward to serving more customers in Dublin, both in the air and on the ground, with a team of highly-experienced culinary professionals.



dnata entered the Irish market in 2010 when it acquired Alpha Flight Group, which included a facility in Cork. In January 2018 the company further expanded its operations in the country by opening a new catering unit in Dublin. Between its facilities in Cork and Dublin dnata currently serves six airlines.



dnatas multi-million Euro investment in Ireland in 2020 has spanned construction, facility fit-out, vehicles and staff training. In addition to its newest unit in Dublin, the company will shortly complete the fit-out of a brand new facility in Shannon and further enhance its operations in Cork.



Over the past 12 months dnata has also invested significantly in specialist catering equipment manufactured in Dungannon, Northern Ireland, purchasing more than 60 vehicles which are now in use across its global catering network.



Globally, dnata provides reliable and safe air services to over 300 airlines around the world. The companys catering division has a dedicated team of employees delivering high-quality catering, inflight retail and food & beverage solutions from 65 facilities in 12 countries. - TradeArabia News Service
After months of anticipation (and 31,000 submissions from the British public), the Duchess of Cambridges final selection of images for Hold Still is available to view on the National Portrait Gallerys website.

Designed to capture and document the spirit, the mood, the hopes, the fears and the feelings of the nation during lockdown, the project brings together 100 moving amateur shots of everything from at-home haircuts to make-shift classrooms; exhausted NHS staffers on duty to dedicated postmen in superhero costumes; pensioners FaceTiming with their grandchildren to mothers cradling their newborn babies.

Good luck making it past the first portrait without shedding a few tears.

Below, see 22 remarkable images from Hold Still  then head to the The National Portrait Gallery website for the full exhibition.

GLASS KISSES

My 1-year-old little boy and his 88-year-old great grandma, who miss each other so much at the moment. I captured this beautiful moment between them whilst dropping off groceries. Kisses through glass. Photograph: Steph James/Kensington Palace/National Portrait Gallery

AMANDA AND HER SON TERRENCE

During lockdown it was pretty much me and my son, as my partner worked days and days on end. We live in a communal flat block on the very top floor. The front door is almost locking us away from the world, when we went out we felt almost free. Free from being locked' in and free from lots of schoolwork! Ive felt more anxious than I ever have before. My stress levels rocketed. Home schooling was difficult, but our bond became really strong as we were in this together. Photograph: Zak Waters/Kensington Palace/National Portrait Gallery

BE SAFE DADDY X

This picture was originally a piece of work set for our daughter during lockdown. Poppy struggled with her dad having to go to work, as a paramedic throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and she worried about him each time he left to go to work. Poppy loves a cuddle and this happened to be a special moment between them just before my husband left to go on a night shift. Photograph: Ceri A Edwards/Kensington Palace/National Portrait Gallery

DADI'S LOVE

This photograph, taken on June 20, 2020, captures love and connection during lockdown. It shows my sister-in-law with her grandmother (Dadi in Punjabi) meeting after months of being apart. In this moment I felt the depth of love they feel for each other, captured by both the joy and longing in their eyes. Separated by a window but connected by love. Photograph: Simran Januja/Kensington Palace/National Portrait Gallery

EMPTY

This was just before lockdown happened, when I took my son shopping. I happily got a big trolley and was surprised at how easy it was to get a parking space, only to find the Sainsbury's superstore completely empty -- only a few oils, spices and clothes and toys were left. My son Leo had just turned three years old and didn't understand what was happening at the time. Although he did pick up that our shopping trip was very different on this day. As a parent, I probably experienced silent panic and a fear that this type of shopping would be the new normal. I decided to take the picture to remember a unique day that would be the start of a long and challenging time. Photograph: Julie Thiberg/Kensington Palace/National Portrait Gallery

SHIELDING MILA

We took the decision as a family to isolate Mila at home with myself in the week prior to lockdown. After trying to find an alternative solution we took the difficult decision to isolate in different households to protect Mila, who at this point was only 4 months into her chemotherapy journey for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. As Milas dad, Scott, had to continue to work and her big sister Jodi still attend school, we could not risk the possibility of infection being brought home, so they would visit every day at the window. At first Mila did not understand why Scott could not come inside, and would ask him why cant you come in Daddy? This photograph was taken on the first day of separation. After seven weeks of temporary separation and after being furloughed from his job, Scott was reunited with Mila. Looking back, Im so proud of my daughter and how far she has come, the level of resilience Mila has shown during this unprecedented time is truly remarkable. Photograph: Lynda Sneddon/Kensington Palace/National Portrait Gallery

PRAYERS FOR OUR COMMUNITY

When it was announced church buildings were to be closed to the public to reduce the transmission of the virus, I wanted to assure our community that although we couldnt gather physically, their photos in church were a symbol that they and their loved ones were still very much in our thoughts and prayers. Photograph: Reverend Tim Hayward and Beth Hayward/Kensington Palace/National Portrait Gallery

THIS IS WHAT BROKEN LOOKS LIKE

This is what broken looks like. This is operating for 3 hours in full PPE. This is dehydration. This is masks that make your ears bleed because the straps have slipped and you daren't touch them. This is fighting an invisible enemy that becomes more visible each day. This is a face I never thought I'd show the world, but one which I wear more and more. I took this photo to have as a reminder of how far Id been capable of pushing myself when I needed to. I sent it to my family to tell them what a hard day it had been and they were all so shocked by it. The person they know as being so well put together, always wearing a smile, was not the person they saw that day. Looking back on it now, I feel immensely proud of the commitment shown by myself and my colleagues to provide safe care for patients, even in the depths of a pandemic. We still wear full PPE for all of our cases, and you never get used to it, but I know well keep doing it for as long as it is needed. Photograph: Ceri Hayles/Kensington Palace/National Portrait Gallery

KEEP SMILING THROUGH

This is my darling Nan, my ray of shining light. She raised me to be strong and kind. I took this portrait when I wasnt allowed in the house. Her smile was still as bright even though I hadnt been able to cuddle her for months. Photograph: Jessica Sommerville/Kensington Palace/National Portrait Gallery

THE FIRST KISS

This is the moment that our third baby boy came into the world, in the middle of a pandemic, surrounded by medical staff in full PPE, and the first thing he did was try to give his mummy a kiss through the protective screening and Mummy's mask. This beautiful moment was captured by Daddy, Leigh, and it was love at first sight for all of us and we have been besotted ever since. Despite everything going on in the world, children and babies in particular have a way of keeping us grounded and focused (most of the time!) and we are so proud to have brought a new life into the world during the height of this pandemic. Photograph: Ali Harris and Leigh Harris/Kensington Palace/National Portrait Gallery

LOCKDOWN WEDDING

We had to cancel our wedding because it was obvious it would have been impossible for it to have gone ahead. It didn't feel right, though, to not enjoy the day when it came around. So we dressed up with our children and celebrated together. It was a fun and memorable day and it kept a positive spin on what could have been viewed as a depressing situation. Photograph: Donna Duke Llande/Kensington Palace/National Portrait Gallery

AT THE END OF A SHIFT

This is a studio portrait of Tendai, a recovery and anaesthetics nurse, who was born in Zimbabwe, and now lives in my local town -- Reading, Berkshire. I wanted to portray her caring side as well as a look of concern and uncertainty that many of us have experienced during this pandemic. Its why I chose a lower than normal angle and asked her to look off camera, placing her half way down in the frame. Photograph: Neil Palmer/Kensington Palace/National Portrait Gallery

JUSTIN, FROM THE OUTSIDE IN

Justin didn't know about my project when I turned up at his window with a camera. I just so happened to be across the road, capturing his daughter Safi and her family, who had volunteered to be a part of my 'Outside In' project, which documents my community living life in lockdown, through the window. Safi asked if I wouldn't mind popping over to capture a frame or two of her father and I am very grateful that I did. It was wonderful meeting this brilliant man albeit through the window. We spoke about this project, his art collection and how he manages to keep his plants so well. We talked about how surreal everything is right now, how the weeks have been for him isolating alone and his plans to jet off to France as soon as this madness is over. He finished up by telling me he had a spot of hay fever... A session that wasn't meant to happen, happens to be one of my favourites. Photograph: Sara Lincoln/Kensington Palace/National Portrait Gallery

OVER THE RAINBOW

The children of keyworkers at Sheringham Primary School, Norfolk created this huge rainbow for the NHS on their playground. Some of the children's parents are nurses who have been working on the Covid ward at the Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital. Photograph: Chris Taylor/Kensington Palace/National Portrait Gallery

HOME-SCHOOLING GOING GREAT

Trying to work and home-school when you have a 3-year-old and an 11-year-old is an exercise in tuning out the noise. One might say -- Let it go' Taken in our home, at the multitasking table. Photograph: Ania Wilk-Lawton/Kensington Palace/National Portrait Gallery

STOCKPORT SPIDER MEN BRINGING SMILES TO CHILDREN IN LOCKDOWN

The Stockport Spider Men was started by friends Jason Baird and Andrew Baldock who both took to the streets of Stockport right at the start of lockdown dressed as Spider Man to use their daily exercise time to keep the children smiling. This then turned in to a national phenomenon with over fifty other members of the general public joining dressed as various other characters. On top of visiting the community to bring 'social distancing smiles, as Jason called it, Jason also set up a Justgiving fund for the NHS Charities Together and in the four months of lockdown raised over 60,000 for the real superheroes, our wonderful NHS. Photograph: Jason Baird/Kensington Palace/National Portrait Gallery

YOU'RE IN SAFE HANDS

Hanna and her nurse heading to theatre for a procedure during the COVID-19 pandemic. During this uncertain time, I felt it was important to document this shared experience and capture a moment which highlights care, compassion and positivity. Photograph: Lisa Miller/Kensington Palace/National Portrait Gallery

JOE AND DUKE BROOKS, LOCKED DOWN

This was taken as I was visiting Joe and Dukes mother to collect the handmade masks she'd made for me and my husband (who I am shielding due to his being particularly vulnerable to the virus). They are identical twins and the sons of one of my dearest friends  Ive known them since they were very young. Duke has assisted me on shoots and wants to work in either the music industry or possibly in film or photography. Joe has always wanted to be a make-up artist and hairdresser (he already assists on large shoots and works in a salon ). I'm incredibly proud to call them my friends too. Those visits, at first through a window, and now masked and cautious sitting on their balcony, have been a godsend during this isolated period. It's always a joy to see them. Yet here I could feel the ennui and frustration of two young men who suddenly found themselves entirely housebound and trapped just as their lives were about to open up in the most exciting of ways with their 18th birthdays and their first adult summer. Photograph: Sarah Lee/Kensington Palace/National Portrait Gallery

BIRTHDAY LOCKDOWN

This was a hard day, not being able to see my family and it was my first time out due to shielding because of bowel disease. We had been in since March (my children had been taken out by their dad) but what an amazing day I had, and this picture taken by my talented friend Kate, captured my birthday with my amazing children...Thank you for choosing me to be a finalist, I actually cant believe it. Photograph: Kate Sargent and Rachel Scarfe/Kensington Palace/National Portrait Gallery

THANK YOU

Our little girl, Amelia, has Downs Syndrome and raises a lot of positive awareness on social media under Amelia May Changing Attitudes. On the 12 May 2020 I (mummy) made Amelia a very simple nurses outfit and then took the picture in our kitchen to celebrate International Nurses Day. Amelia's aunty and cousin (mother and daughter) are both amazing nurses and Amelia has seen a lot of nurses in her short life. Therefore we wanted to put a special post on her social media accounts recognising International Nurses Day and thanking all of the nurses for the amazing work they do every day and especially during the Covid-19 pandemic (throughout which Amelia has been shielding). Photograph: Wendy Huson/Kensington Palace/National Portrait Gallery

ONE TEAM

This is a photo of Jen, and her little girl, Florence. Jen worked through the pandemic, and Florence absolutely loves dressing up like her mum. Jen has described this photo as being one of her most treasured items because it represents a lovely moment in what was a pretty tough time emotionally and mentally. Its clear from this photo how much they love each other, and really are one team. Photograph: Matt Utton and Jennifer O'Sullivan/Kensington Palace/National Portrait Gallery

LONG-AWAITED CUDDLE
Davos:

Concerned over slowing pace of closing the gender gap, IMF chief Christine Lagarde on Wednesday said technology can probably help and there are some anecdotal cases from India where mobiles have helped women convey the harassment by their mothers-in-law.



Speaking at a World Economic Forum session alongside Lagarde, award-winning documentary filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy said mobiles have helped a lot of women in Pakistan whether for starting their own business or for reporting violence against them.



Lagarde said we have been talking about closing gender gap for so many years but things have not been moving forward fast enough.



Since 2008, we have seen a slowdown in the process for the gap to be closed, as per the research we are doing on this issue, she said. What has been done so far is not good enough to achieve the inclusive growth, the IMF managing director said.



Obaid-Chinoy said women are generally excluded from the decision making.

Also read | Demonetisation proves India ready for 4th industrial revolution under PM Modis leadership: Ambani



Men sit around a table and take decisions regarding the women, she said, while giving one example from Pakistan where some women decided to take up decision making and when that happened violence in their village began to see a drop.



PwC Global Chairman Robert Moritz said it is an issue for everybody and only way to do is at policy destruction level as it is not going to happen naturally.



They were speaking at an WEF session on disrupting the status quo of gender roles.



Costa Rican activist Cynthia Castro, Vice President at Reinventing Business for All, said that we have grown in a culture that is biased against women may be unconsciously.



Noting that she was not an expert on technology and its possible role in checking gender gap, Lagarde gave example of India where technology has helped women convey their concerns including in cases when they were being harassed by their mothers-in-law.



She added this was just an anecdotal episode that she was referring to and therefore would not lean on it and also gave examples of some women checking on their husbands through mobiles on whether they picking kids from school.



Obaid-Chinoy said she has stopped answering questions like how it feels like being a female film maker or how do you juggle between your career and family life.



Im a film maker. What is a female film maker? Similarly have your ever heard a male CEO being asked how do you manage between your work and your family life? she said.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Press Release

September 16, 2020 Hontiveros questions DBM, DOH on overpriced, China-made PPEs "Overpriced na nga, di pa pinagawa sa Pilipinas." This was the remark made by Senator Risa Hontiveros on Wednesday as she questioned the five million overpriced, China-made personal protective equipment (PPE) sets the Department of Budget and Management-Procurement Service (PS-DBM) purchased from April to May of this year. "Out of the 11 contracts of the PPE sets, seven were with China-based companies. Bakit inuna ang mga dayuhang kontraktor bago ang mga Pilipinong kumpanya? To make matters worse, in these 11 procurements we analyzed, it appears that the PPE prices were overpriced by at least P200 per unit or P1 billion in total," the senator revealed, explaining that the Philippine General Hospital estimates that PPE sets costs P1,200-P1,500, while PPE sets procured by PS-DBM range from P1,700-P2,000. "Isang bilyon ang nawala sa kaban ng bayan. This is one billion pesos that could have gone to more PPEs, especially during a time when an increasing number of our health workers were dying because of inadequate protection. Crucially, the one billion pesos could have also been allocated to increase the salaries of our health workers," the senator said. Hontiveros also lamented how China-based companies were prioritized. Of the five million PPE sets, almost 3 million of these were outsourced from Chinese companies, including Xuzhou Const. Machinery Group, Wen Hua Dev't Industrial Co., Ltd., Chushen Company Ltd., Pacific Field (Hong Kong) Ltd., and Shanghai Puheng Medical Equipment Co. Ltd. "Sa panahon na naghihingalo ang mga negosyanteng Pilipino, ang laking insulto naman na ang mga foreign companies pa ang nabigyan ng trabaho kesa sa kanila. Alam din natin na mas matindi ang quality assurance and control ng mga Philippine-made products, kaya nakakapagtataka kung bakit foreign-made ang inuna," she said. The senator also said that from DBM's list, the cheapest PPE sets  priced at P1,700 per set  were from Hafid N' Erasmus Corporation, a Philippine-based company, and yet only 30,000 units were acquired from them. On the other hand, more PPE sets from foreign firms were bought: 1 million sets for P1,898 per unit, and an additional 250,000 sets for P2,000 per unit from Xuzhou; 588,000 sets for 1979.56 per unit from Chushen; 200,000 sets for P1923 per unit from Shanghai Puheng; 42,000 sets for P1980.50 per unit, and an additional 800,000 sets for P1923 per unit, from Wen Hua; and 28,000 sets for P1,900 per unit from Pacific Field. "DBM should explain these suspicious transactions. The Department of Health should also have exercised its mandate to inspect these procurements, especially since this is a vital aspect of our overall COVID-19 response," the senator said. "Our government agencies should only answer one simple question: Bakit binigyan ng prayoridad ang Tsina bago ang Pilipinas? If they have a good answer to that, and I doubt they do, only then can they be absolved of this," Hontiveros concluded.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept.16

By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:

The value of trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan amounted to $86.03 million over the first seven months of 2020, compared to $81.3 million during the same period of 2019, Trend reports with reference to Kazakhstans Statistics Committee.

The share of Turkmenistan in the total value of Kazakhstans trade turnover stood at 0.2 percent during the reporting period compared to 0.1 percent during the same period of 2019.

Kazakhstans export to Turkmenistan amounted to $52.09 million over the period from January through July 2020, compared to $65.9 million during the same period of 2019

Turkmenistans share in the total volume of Kazakhstans export amounted to 0.18 percent during the reporting period of 2020 compared to 0.19 percent during the same period of 2019.

In turn, Kazakhstans imports from Turkmenistan amounted to nearly $33.9 million over the reporting period, compared to $15.4 million during the same period of 2019.

Turkmenistans share in the total volume of Kazakhstans import amounted to 0.2 percent during the reporting period of 2020 compared to 0.1 percent during the same period of 2019.

The total volume of Kazakhstans trade turnover amounted to $48.7 billion over the period from Jan. through July 2020 which indicates a decrease from $54.5 billion during the same period of 2019.

Kazakhstans export amounted to $28.6 billion during the reporting period of 2020 ($33.03 billion in the same period of 2019), whereas imports amounted to $20.1 billion ($21.5 billion in 2019).

During the reporting period, the main articles of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan trade turnover were food products, agricultural products, products of the chemical industry, textile, petroleum products, and so on.

---

Follow the author on twitter: @nargiz_sadikh
Beijing  China reaffirmed on Monday its support for all efforts that contribute to strengthening a political settlement for the Libyan crisis.

Last week in Bouznika, Morocco had hosted the inter-Libyan dialogue sessions between delegations from the High Council of State and the Parliament of Tobruk, with a view to maintaining the ceasefire and opening negotiations to end the conflicts between the Libyan parties.

At the end of these dialogue sessions, the two parties announced a comprehensive agreement on transparent and objective criteria and mechanisms for holding positions of sovereignty.

"We welcome and support all efforts to reach a political settlement for the Libyan crisis," spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry Wang Wenbin noted in a statement.

"The situation in Libya has been turbulent for many years, and we call on all parties concerned to put national interests and the well-being of the people at the top of their agenda and activate ceasefire negotiations as soon as possible", he said.

The Chinese diplomat called for moving forward with the political settlement process and restoring peace and stability in the country as soon as possible.

According to the final joint statement, the two Libyan parties agreed to continue the dialogue and resume meetings during the last week of this month in order to complete the necessary measures that ensure the implementation and activation of the announced agreement.
The gynecologist at the center of a whistleblower complaint about hysterectomies being performed on detained women in Georgia without their knowledge or consent has been identified by NBC News.

Lawyers for the detained women identified the man as Dr. Mahendra Amin, NBC News reported. Business Insider was not able to independently confirm.

Amin told the Intercept he only performed "one or two hysterectomies in the past two [or] three years," but did not specify if those procedures were on detained women.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Lawyers have identified a gynecologist at the center of a whistleblower complaint filed by a nurse alleging abuses, including hysterectomies, at an immigration detention center in Georgia, NBC News reported.

In a whistleblower complaint sent by Project South to the Department of Homeland Security and its inspector general, a nurse named Dawn Wooten accused Irwin County Detention Center of allowing an unusual number of hysterectomies to be performed on immigrants detained there, often, she alleged, without their consent.

Wooten said the women were sent to a doctor outside the facility, who chose to remove all or some parts of their uterus, or womb.

While Wooten did not identify the doctor, lawyers for detained women identified the doctor as Mahendra Amin who practices Douglas, Georgia. NBC News reported that Amin continued to see women from the facility for the past several years despite complaints from his patients. The Intercept also identified Amin through interviews with a detainee, two detainee advocates, and a former Irwin employee.

Video: Why medical treatments for transgender people is so expensive

"We've questioned among ourselves like goodness he's taking everybody's stuff out," Wooten said, according to the complaint, adding: "That's his specialty, he's the uterus collector. I know that's ugly  is he collecting these things or something ... Everybody he sees, he's taking all their uteruses out or he's taken their tubes out. What in the world."

Story continues

In 2o15, Amin was investigated by the Justice Department for making false claims to Medicaid and Medicare. He and another doctor involved paid $525,000 in a civil settlement.

Amin has ties to Irwin County Hospital, where some detainees at the detention center are taken for treatment.

Business Insider couldn't reach Amin for comment on Tuesday but he told the Intercept that he only performed "one or two hysterectomies in the past two [or] three years." However, he didn't answer whether those procedures were down on people detained at Irwin.

"Everything is wrong, and if you want to talk, talk to the hospital administrator," Amin told the Intercept about Irwin County Hospital.

He said the allegations are ruining his practice.

No one from Irwin County Hospital was available for comment when reached by Business Insider, but CEO Paige Wynn told the Intercept that consent was obtained for all surgical procedures.

"We do not do any surgeries that do not have prior consent from ICE and the patients," Wynn said. "We cannot specifically comment on any specific patient matter due to patient privacy obligations."

After the initial whistleblower report, ICE told Business Insider: "US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) does not comment on matters presented to the Office of the Inspector General, which provides independent oversight and accountability within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ICE takes all allegations seriously and defers to the OIG regarding any potential investigation and/or results. That said, in general, anonymous, unproven allegations, made without any fact-checkable specifics, should be treated with the appropriate skepticism they deserve."

One former Irwin employee told the Intercept that Amin is the only gynecologist who treats those who are detained.

"All I know is, if you go in for anything, the majority of the time, he's going to suggest surgery," the former Irwin employee said. "I don't know why. I just  I don't know why. He does a lot of surgeries."

The detention facility, which houses not only immigration detainees but also inmates from the US Marshalls and Irwin County, is operated by LaSalle Corrections, a private prison company, Law and Crime reported.

"LaSalle Corrections has a strict zero tolerance policy for any kind of inappropriate behavior in our facilities and takes all allegations of such mistreatment seriously," LaSalle said in a statement to NBC News. "Our company strongly refutes these allegations and any implications of misconduct at the ICDC."

A lawyer who worked with Southern Poverty Law Center between 2017 and 2019 and represented several women who were treated by Amin told NBC News she brought up their complaints to managers at the facility.

"Two to three years ago, I had a face-to-face conversation with (someone in management). I was so disturbed. I begged her to get my client treatment with a different doctor. I told her I had heard from multiple people that he was rough, that they were scared to go to him, that they didn't understand what he was doing," Elizabeth Mathren told NBC News.

Other lawyers including Benjamin Osorio said their clients had hysterectomies performed on them that they didn't think were necessary. One client said she was told she had the procedure because she had stage 4 cervical cancer. She later went to an oncologist who said she didn't have cancer.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Ukraine to receive about US$2 bln from Russian gas transit  Naftogaz CEO

14:25, 16.09.20 261

Gazprom is obliged to pay a fixed amount based on the "pump or pay" principle under the new gas transit deal.
The earliest known sample of sperm has been discovered inside a female crustacean that was preserved in amber shortly after mating some 100 million years ago.

Dubbed a 'spectacular find', the specimen from Myanmar's Hukawng Valley is an ostracod  a type of microscopic crustacean that resembles a mussel.

In fact, the specimen belongs to a previously-unknown species, which the researchers have named Myanmarcypris hui.

M. hui would have lived along the coasts and inland waters of prehistoric Myanmar, surrounded by trees that produced huge quantities of the resin that forms amber.

The discovery provides 'an extremely rare opportunity' to learn more about the evolution of the reproductive process in animals, the researchers said.

Before now, the oldest-known fossilised animal sperm was thought to have been found in a 50-million-year-old worm cocoon recovered from Antarctica.

The earliest known sample of sperm, pictured, has been discovered inside a female crustacean that was preserved in amber shortly after mating some 100 million years ago

In their study, geobiologist Renate Matzke-Karasz of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet in Munich and colleagues analysed 39 specimens of ostracods that had been trapped in a tiny piece of amber  using X-ray scans to reconstruct them in 3D.

The researchers identified ripe giant sperm stored in a pair of sperm receptacles inside the female ostracod  kept waiting ready for her eggs to mature, in what could also be the earliest direct evidence of a completed insemination.

While the majority of the male members of animal species  humans included  produce large quantities of very small sperm as to increase the chance of fertilisation, there are exceptions.

Some creatures  such as fruit flies and modern-day ostracods  produce a small number of oversized sperm, each of which sport tails several times longer than the actual animal itself.

In these cases, chances of fertilising an ovum can increase with the size of the sperm cell, the researchers explained.

Knowing more about how giant sperm cells evolved could shed light on what the researchers describe as an 'ancient and advanced instance of evolutionary specialisation'.

In their study, geobiologist Renate Matzke-Karasz of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet in Munich and colleagues analysed 39 specimens of ostracods that had been trapped in a tiny piece of amber  using X-ray scans to reconstruct them in 3D, as pictured

Myanmarcypris hui  two of which are pictured here mating in this artist's impression  would have lived along the coasts and inland waters of prehistoric Myanmar, surrounded by trees that produced huge quantities of the resin that forms amber

'The most significant part of our story is that we can now show that using giant sperm for reproduction is something that can last long in Earth history,' Dr Matzke-Karasz said.

'Previously, we were not sure if animals that 'switched' to using these giant sperm at a certain point in their evolutionary history [were] doomed to become extinct very quickly,' she explained.

'After all, these are enormous costs for the animals  large sperm must be produced, the reproductive organs are much bigger than in other species, they take up a lot of space in the animal and mating lasts long.'

'This is a lot of biological energy that must be allocated to reproduction  so you might think that this doesn't make sense from an evolutionary standpoint.'

'But in ostracods, it seemed to work for more than 100 million years,' she added.

'From an evolutionary point of view, sexual reproduction with the aid of giant sperm must, therefore, be a thoroughly profitable strategy.'

The full findings of the study were published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Dubbed a 'spectacular find', the specimen from Myanmar's Hukawng Valley is an ostracod  a type of microscopic crustacean that resembles a mussel
West Australian university leaders are calling for the borders to be reopened to ensure the state doesnt lose its hard-fought market share in the global international student sector.

With the majority of WAs five universities relying on international students to remain viable, Edith Cowan University vice chancellor Professor Steve Chapman said the states hard border needed to be lifted by the second semester of 2021.

Vice chancellors professor Amit Chakma (UWA), professor Selma Alliex (Notre Dame), professor Eeva Leinonen (Murdoch University), and professor John Cordery (Curtin University). Credit:Lauren Pilat

From April to July this year, fewer than 10 people arrived in WA on an international student visa, compared to almost 17,000 for the same time period in 2019, Australian Bureau of Statistic numbers show.

We have to have mass numbers of students back, and we have to have them back by July, next year, Professor Chapman said at a Committee for Economic Development Australia panel in Perth on Tuesday.
The Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) has started using some interesting weapons against Indian troops along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh -- Punjabi pop in the north bank of Pangong Tso, and Hindi speeches on how Indian troops were being deployed in harsh conditions at the whims of politicians.

After the Indian Army outflanked PLA on Rezang La- Rechin La ridgeline south of Pangong Tso on August 29-30 and repositioned its troops to dominate the heights of Finger 4 spur on the north bank of the lake, the Chinese Army first tried to flex its military muscle by moving in tanks and infantry combat vehicles. Rather than be cowed by the PLA, the Indian Army made it clear that there would be retaliation if the red line was breached on either banks.

While the Indian Army was not amused by Chinese military tactics, military commanders rolled in mirth after PLA troops on Finger 4 starting belting out Punjabi numbers to soften up the adversary into lowering its guard on the fiercely contested mountainous spur. If the north bank of Pangong Tso was jiving to Punjabi songs on PLA loudspeakers, a similar battery of loudspeakers were deployed by the Red Army at their Moldo Garrison in Chushul sector to remind the Indian troops of what the Chinese termed the folly of their political masters.

On the southern banks of Pangong Tso, the Chinese loudspeakers told Indian troops in chaste Hindi about the futility of being deployed at these heights in winter season on the whims of Indian politicians back in Delhi.

The idea seemed to be to bring down the morale of Indian troops and sow discord among soldiers that they do not always get hot meals and comfortable lodging. A snowy winter lies ahead of troops on LAC.

Also read: Army digs in for a long winter at LAC

According to a former Indian Army chief, PLA used the same loudspeaker tactics in the 1962 skirmishes in the western and eastern sectors as well during the 1967 Nathu La skirmish. But the Indian troops were foxed about the Punjabi songs on Finger 4. Maybe, the PLA thought that troops from Punjab were holding on to the higher heights of Finger 4 feature, added this person, who is familiar with what is happening along LAC, and asked not to be named.

While the Red Army is using psy-ops at Pangong Tso against the Indian Army, a Chinese Communist party mouthpiece has also been tweeting its heart out to remind the Indian political leadership about the loss of face in 1962, the need for India to revive its economy , and check the rampant spread of coronavirus in India without mentioning that the virus originated in Wuhan. The propaganda site also describes the Modi governments tough stance on Ladakh as a tactic to divert attention from domestic strife.

There is a school of thought that Chinese Communist party general secretary Xi Jinping initiated PLAs aggression in Ladakh as a way to divert attention from several local issues.

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SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Optimizely , the world's leader in progressive delivery and experimentation, today at Opticon20 announced several new products and partnerships, including integrations with enterprise platforms that make it easier for customers to leverage progressive delivery and experimentation to drive more agile, competitive business decisions.

"Businesses cannot survive in today's environment by guessing," said Claire Vo, Chief Product Officer, Optimizely. "Teams are prioritizing progressive delivery and experimentation practices to navigate today's unpredictable market and remain agile for future opportunities and challenges. Today's announcements illustrate the high demand for these critical tools and Optimizely's leadership in enabling smart, data-informed product development for the modern digital team."

Optimizely's enterprise-grade platform supports billions of events daily and has conducted more than 2 million experiments to-date. In the past six months, over 1,000 COVID-19 and coronavirus related campaigns and experiments have launched as customers aim to minimize business risk and stay more closely aligned with changing customer behaviors and purchasing habits during the pandemic. Based on customer feedback and these usage trends, Optimizely unveiled several new features and capabilities in its portfolio today at Opticon20.

Optimizely Unveils New Version of Full Stack with Enhanced User Experience, New Capabilities

A new version of Optimizely's flagship feature flag and in-code experimentation platform, Full Stack, includes new capabilities and flexibility to simplify deployment and speed time to value. Full Stack is available via 12 SDKs or as a microservice and powers brands including Alaska Airlines, BBC, Blue Apron, ClassPass, Compass, Lending Club, Sky Media, and StubHub, among many more customers.

The new Full Stack includes an enhanced user interface that makes it the industry's most robust enterprise-grade server-side platform to integrate progressive delivery and experimentation. The new design allows customers to create and manage feature flags, and set up experiments on those flags within one user interface for the first time, greatly streamlining how teams orchestrate flags, rollouts, and experiments. By uniting feature flags and experiments in a single progressive delivery and experimentation workflow, all flags become opportunities to experiment, and all experiments benefit from the safeguards flagging provides.

The new version of Full Stack also features Optimizely's new Decide API. Decide API replaces nine APIs with a simpler and more powerful API, helping reduce the complexity of individual Full Stack SDKs and make them easier for engineers to adopt. It unifies the implementation process for experiments and feature flags.

In addition, the new Flag Monitoring capability in Full Stack brings the power of Optimizely's data platform and analytics to the company's progressive delivery feature set. Flag Monitoring provides developers a direct line of sight into how the code they deploy behaves as well as audience analytics detailing how users engage with a flag, which in turn allows teams to make crucial time-saving decisions. Like experiment data, flag data will be available for export and to integrate with other platforms such as Snowflake or Datadog.

The new user interface in Full Stack will be available starting in October. Decide API and Flag Monitoring will be generally available within Full Stack starting in Q4 2020. To learn more about these new tools, attend the Opticon20 session on September 16 at 9:35 a.m. PT: " The Future of Optimizely for Technical Teams ."

Optimizely Unveils Stats Engine Service and Data Platform Enhancements

Optimizely has expanded its portfolio of data and analytics offerings to meet the increasingly sophisticated needs across product, engineering, data science, and growth marketing teams, and their ecosystem of data stacks. Optimizely is introducing enhancements to its experimentation data platform to drive higher standards of experimentation decision making.

The new StatsEngine Service allows customers to use Optimizely's proprietary model for A/B testing statistical analysis via an API. For the first time, customers can run Stats Engine on non-Optimizely datasets from external sources like a data warehouse or analytics tool. For example, users can join Optimizely decisions with private financial data and then run Stats Engine on anonymized metrics. They can also use Stats Engine to measure the impact of experiments on complex metrics like LTV, MAUs, and retention. In addition, customers can plot Stats Engine analysis charts in business intelligence (BI) tools like Tableau or Chartio. The Stats Engine Service will be available starting in Q4 2020.

Optimizely's Enriched Events Export , provides a new way to help teams integrate Optimizely Results data into their analysis workflows and data stack, and is generally available today. Customers with advanced analysis needs can now join Enriched Events with other data to develop machine-learning models and build custom reports and dashboards. Enriched Events Export supports event-level joins, with tags and metadata preserved so resolution is not lost. It features an intuitive schema, partitioned into decisions and conversions to make joins with internal data easier. It is enriched with useful information like session IDs and details regarding which experiments and variations were active when the event fired.

Optimizely introduced new data tools today that also help avoid data silos within businesses. The new oevents is an easy command-line tool for data scientists and other technical users to load just the data they need in the Optimizely platform, without a production ETL job in place. A new Snowflake integration automatically loads Enriched Events Export data into a Snowflake instance with zero engineering work needed. In addition, a new Fivetran integration automatically loads Enriched Events and other Optimizely data into a destination of choice. All three of these new capabilities are generally available today.

A new collection of integrations and tutorials for working with Optimizely data and APIs, called Labs , was also announced today. Labs is a collection of reference implementations and integrations for teams to extend Optimizely's platform. It includes recipes for integrating Optimizely SDKs for specific programming language frameworks, reference code for sending data between Optimizely and different data providers, and Jupyter notebooks to enable more complex experiment analyses. All materials in Labs are open-source and hosted on Github.

In addition, the company announced new partnerships and integrations that enable even more businesses to leverage Optimizely's enterprise-grade platform and embed experimentation where they are already working, including new Amazon Personalize , Microsoft Dynamics 365 Commerce , and Salesforce integrations.

Learn More During Opticon20, September 16-17

Hear more from Optimizely, its partners, and its customers regarding these announcements and best practices adopting progressive delivery and experimentation at Opticon20 North America , Optimizely's free, virtual user conference taking place September 16-17, 2020. Developers, technical product managers, and data analysts are also invited to attend Opticode , a one-day event on September 17 featuring technical sessions and hands-on workshops. Learn more and register here .

Additional Resources

Check out the Optimizely blog for news, industry insights, business best practices, and product how-to's.

for news, industry insights, business best practices, and product how-to's. Follow Optimizely on LinkedIn .

. Follow Optimizely on Twitter .

About Optimizely

Optimizely's leading platform offers a complete set of digital experience optimization technologies, including AI-powered personalization and experimentation, which encompasses A/B testing, multivariate testing, and server-side testing. We take out the guesswork to enable brands to deliver relevant experiences driven by data. The world's greatest brands choose Optimizely to win and compete in the digital economy, including Gap, StubHub, IBM, The Wall Street Journal, and many more. To learn more, visit optimizely.com . On September 3, 2020, Episerver, a leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Digital Experience Platforms, announced that it entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Optimizely. Read more here .

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Hurricane Sally continues slowly on her path along the Gulf Coast with three other storms and two disturbances in her wake and is expected to make landfall near the Mississippi-Alabama border on Wednesday. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) issued advisories for all five storms, warning of historic, life-threatening flash flooding along portions of the northern Gulf coast. Sally is a slow-moving, Category 1 hurricane moving at just 2 mph but generating sustained winds of 70-80 mph. Tropical-storm-force winds were spreading onshore along the Gulf Coast on Tuesday afternoon, the NHC reported.

Hurricane Sally expected to make landfall in the next few hours

According to the NHC, as of 4 p.m. Sally was about 85 miles south of Mobile, Alabama. Significant rainfall of 10-20 inches with isolated pockets of up to 30 inches of rain and a high expectancy of flash flooding is forecast from south east Louisiana to Florida Panhandle. Storm surge warnings are in place for the mouth of the Mississippi River to Okaloosa / Walton County Line, Florida and Mobile Bay. Storm surge may wipe out roads and buildings with the highest inundation along the Alabama coast.

Hurricane warnings are in effect for East of Bay St. Louis to Navarre, Florida while Tropical Storm warnings have come into effect for East of Navarre, Florida to Indian Pass, Florida and Bay St. Louis Westward to Grand Isle, Louisiana.

"Historic flooding" expected

Sally, the 18th Named Storm of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, formed on Saturday. She is one of five storms which the NHC are closely monitoring  including Paulette, Teddy, Rene and Vicky. It is the first time since 1971 that there have been five named storms at once in the Atlantic Ocean.

Sally is expected to be a dangerous hurricane when it moves onshore along the north-central Gulf Coast, the Hurricane Center warned. Forecasters expect Sally to turn northeast as it comes ashore and continues to inch across the Southeast later in the week producing widespread moderate to major river flooding through the week. There is going to be historic flooding along with the historic rainfall; if people live near rivers, small streams and creeks, they need to evacuate and go somewhere else, Stacy Stewart, Senior Hurricane Specialist at NOAA's National Hurricane Center in Miami said today.
Hyderabad: Satisfied with the assurance of the Telangana government, the college education wing, and universities in the state, which submitted that they will take the necessary precautions while conducting the final semester examinations in physical mode for undergrad and postgrad courses, the Telangana High Court refused to interfere with the decision taken by the government in holding the examinations through physical mode as it is the policy decision taken by the government. It observed that such policy decisions cannot be subjected to judicial review.

The division bench comprising Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy was dealing with two PILs filed by Balamuri Venkata Narsing Rao, the president of the National Students Union of India (NSUI), and Garib Guide, a voluntary organisation, seeking postponement of the examinations or seeking direction to conduct the examinations through the online method in view of a steep spike in Covid-19 cases.

Following the courts direction seeking clarity on the mode of the examinations to be conducted, the commissioner of college education on Tues-day submitted that the government has taken a policy decision that autonomous engineering colleges and autonomous degree colleges would be given freedom to hold the examinations in online or offline mode, but all affiliated engineering and degree colleges will hold examinations in physical mode.

The bench recorded the undertaking of the government that it will hold advanced supplementary examinations for students who could not able to attend the exams because of the pandemic. However, the court declined to give orders to the government on a specific time to conduct the supplementary examinations, as it was to be decided by the government, based on the feasibility.

It asked the state to hold the supplementary exams within a reasonable time, after declaring the results of regular examinations.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 23:27:52|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Developing a China-Japan relationship that features long-term stability and friendly cooperation conforms to the fundamental interests of the two peoples and the expectations of the international community, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Wednesday.

Spokesperson Wang Wenbin made the remarks at a news briefing when asked to comment on Yoshihide Suga's election as prime minister of Japan.

Yoshihide Suga was elected to succeed Shinzo Abe as prime minister and was inaugurated Wednesday.

China congratulates Suga on his election as Japan's prime minister and appreciates his willingness to build stable diplomatic relations with China and other neighboring countries, said Wang.

China and Japan are friendly neighbors to each other, and are both important countries in Asia and the world, Wang said, adding that developing a China-Japan relationship that features long-term stability and friendly cooperation conforms to the fundamental interests of the two peoples and the expectations of the international community.

China stands ready to work with Japan's new government, in accordance with the principles and spirit established in the four political documents between the two countries, to continuously consolidate political mutual trust, strengthen exchanges and cooperation in various fields, and jointly promote the new and greater development of China-Japan relations. Enditem
Infosys on Tuesday announced that it has been selected by US-based Essential Utilities as a strategic partner to drive its digital transformation.

Essential is one of the largest publicly traded water, wastewater and natural gas providers in the US, serving approximately 5 million people across 10 states under the Aqua and Peoples brands.

Infosys, along with SAP, will implement SAP S/4HANA and the SAP customer relationship management and billing for utilities package in an agile operating model to enable nimble and real-time decision making while transforming digital user experience and operations for Essential Utilities.

As a digital transformation partner, Infosys will help Essential Utilities redefine user experience, enhance knowledge and operations assets, and reduce costs while delivering service excellence.

Infosys's board will meet on 13 and 14 October 2020 to consider audited consolidated financial results for Q2 September 2020.

The company's consolidated net profit fell 1.45% to Rs 4,272 crore on a 1.71% rise in net sales to Rs 23,665 crore in Q1 June 2020 over Q4 March 2020.

Shares of Infosys rose 0.38% to Rs 985.60 on BSE. Infosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting.

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Ontario is reporting 12 additional active COVID-19 cases among students and staff in publicly-funded schools across the province for a total of 41.

A closer look at the numbers in the provinces latest update Wednesday morning reveals three more active cases in GTA schools for an overall total of 19.

None of the schools have been closed and the 35 with at least one case make up less than one per cent of the provinces total of 4,828 schools.

One epidemiologist told the Star earlier that these cases occurred too rapidly to be caused by in-school transmission.

The rising numbers arent a surprise to epidemiologists the Star talked to earlier in the week, saying the cases will be proportionate to the amount of COVID infections in the community.

Ontario hit another recent high overall in COVID-19 cases Wednesday the Ministry of Health said there were 315 new infections, the most in one day since early June.

According to the province, there were two more schools in Toronto with positive cases for an overall total of six  one staff member each at Brookhaven Public School and York Mills Collegiate.

According to the Toronto District School Board site Wednesday morning, theres one more case for a total of seven. a staff member at the School of Experiential Education (SEE)

The province reported one more case at Peel District School Board  an unidentified person at Valley Senior Public School  for a total of eight overall in Peel region.

In the rest of the province, the government reports that 12 schools in Ottawa have a total of 17 cases among students and staff.

Has your child been assigned to a large class or has your school kept class sizes low? We want to hear from you. Tell us about your familys experience with in-person school by emailing schools@thestar.ca . Please include your school board in the email.

Zena Salem is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Stars radio room in Toronto. Reach her via email: zsalem@thestar.ca
The US is one of leading trade partners of Vietnam with two-way trade value growing continuously over the years, especially in agriculture.

In the first seven months of this year, the total import-export turnover of agro-forestry-fishery products between the two countries reached US$7.53 billion, a year-on-year increase of 9%.

Vietnams main exports to the US are wood and wooden products, aquatic products, cashew nuts, coffee, rubber and vegetables. Meanwhile, animal feed, soybeans, wood and wooden products, vegetables, milk and dairy products, wheat and cotton are main products that Vietnam imports from the US.

In order to remove difficulties for enterprises, the MARD will continue to work with relevant agencies in the US to make the quarantine procedures from the two countries more flexible.

In addition, the two sides are proactively expanding markets for US products such as nuts, almonds and grapefruits to Vietnam and creating favourable conditions for Vietnamese pomelos in the American market.
Abductors of Jide Ijadare, a retired United States of America army officer, have reached out to his family and made a ransom demand of N20 million.

Mr Ijadare was kidnapped in Ekiti State on Tuesday at his palm oil factory.

He was taken around 2 p.m. on Tuesday, alongside one of his staff, at the factory located at Ijan Ekiti, Gbonyin local government area.

Another man, who is said to be a contractor with the factory, was shot dead by the assailants during the attack.

There were fears after the attack that the person killed was a corps member, but further clarifications by residents suggested otherwise.

The demand for ransom was confirmed to journalists on Wednesday by a member of the Ijadares family.

Yes, they contacted one of the family members this morning (Wednesday) and made that demand, said the family member, who would not want to be named.

Though, the matter had been reported to the police since life was involved and they are also doing their own bit to ensure that the abductees are released on time.

However, the police public relations officer, Ekiti command, Sunday Abutu, said the command was not aware of any ransom being demanded by the abductors.

We are not aware of any ransom being demanded by the abductors, he said.

But our men are in the bush combing everywhere to ensure his release.

The police commissioner, Babatunde Mobayo, has deployed different units of police operatives to the factory and the surrounding forests.

We are assuring the people that the abductees will be released safe and sound and in good health and we appeal to the public to give us useful information that can help our men and other local hunters we are working with.

Mr Ijadares abduction came a day after a director in the Ekiti State Local Government Service Commission, David Jejelowo was shot dead by unknown shooters.

Mr Jejelowo was killed at his residence at Igirigiri, Odo Ado area of Ado-Ekiti metropolis.
PHOTO: Getty Images

SINGAPORE  After his work permit was cancelled by his employer, he decided to remain in Singapore to find another job.

Song Yin, a 26-year-old Malaysian, was not successful in his job hunt. As his savings emptied, he turned to a life of crime to pay for his daily necessities.

On Wednesday (16 September), Song was jailed two months and seven weeks after he pleaded guilty to eight charges, including overstaying in Singapore for 190 days, and for stealing bicycles, a mobile phone, and debit cards. Another nine charges of a similar nature were taken into consideration for sentencing.

Song was also given three strokes of the cane, which is the mandatory minimum sentence for his offence under the Immigration Act. He was arrested by police officers on 22 July.

After his work permit was cancelled on 14 January this year, Song was not allowed to remain in Singapore. He decided to stay and find a job here.

By June, Song had not managed to find a job and had depleted his savings. He decided to commit offences to support his daily needs.

He stole bicycles from bicycle bays and sold them on marketplace platform Carousell for fast cash. He also stole a phone, ATM card, Passion card and 10 $50 notes, amongst other items belonging to a 66-year-old man, who was sleeping on a bench at an HDB void deck in Bedok North on 11 July.

The victim felt a tug on his bag and woke up to see Song walking away. He found his belongings missing when he checked his bag and made a police report.

Song also found a POSB debit card at Kembangan MRT Station and decided to make three unauthorised transactions. The owner of the card discovered the transactions when he checked his e-statement and made a police report.

He used another DBS ATM debit card which he found to make eight unauthorised transactions including buying five drinks at a vending machine. The owner of this card was making a purchase when she realised her card missing. She called the bank to cancel the card and discovered eight transactions not made by her on 22 July. She later lodged a police report.

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** Have you had problems getting a test? Contact 02036152973 or email katie.weston@mailonline.co.uk ** Advertisement

Thousands have been caught up in Covid-19 chaos while testing centres stand empty and ministers say one in four people who have booked slots turn out to be ineligible.

Parents in Bolton and Hull have complained of struggling to get tests for their children who have been sent home from school 'with a runny nose'.

Meanwhile, others have reported driving for two hours from West Sussex only to be turned away without a test and even being told to make a 280-mile round trip from Durham to Edinburgh.

Despite the struggle to get an appointment, pictures show empty testing centres across the country at Heathrow airport, Leeds and Cambridge.

An empty coronavirus testing centre pictured in Leeds today. Covid tests will be rationed as the Government struggles to get to grips amid soaring demand across the country

A quiet coronavirus testing centre in Cambridge today, despite the need for extra testing and complaints from parents on the struggle to get a test for children sent home from school

Members of the public use a relatively quiet coronavirus test centre that has recently opened in Bolton this morning. Around 25 per cent of those booking a test do not meet requirements

The NHS testing centre at London's Heathrow airport, pictured very quiet again. Meanwhile, others have reported driving for two hours from West Sussex only to be turned away

It comes as internal test and trace research by the Department for Health estimates that roughly 25 per cent of all those booking a test do not meet the requirements to do so.

Sammie Waudby, 32, from west Hull, said her 11-year-old son was sent home from school on Monday and has only just been able to get a test today after trying 'every hour', even during the night.

She told MailOnline: 'I'm not very happy when it's just a runny nose but he can't go back to school until then and he's already far behind.

'He's in year 7 so to me he should be there getting used to the school's surroundings and new people. I've been trying since Monday morning, even every hour during the night.

'The test is around 40 minutes away, it's the other side of Hull to where we are, but I got offered Doncaster on Tuesday so this is not as bad.

'I don't drive so it's a bit annoying.'

John Chivers, from Bath and North East Somerset, said he travelled 44 miles after getting a time slot for his daughter who was sent home from school on Monday.

He told MailOnline: 'We were told we could take her to the local testing site, Paulton Rovers Football Club, less than a mile from school.

'On arriving at the site we were told we had to apply online, but after trying we had no luck whatsoever.

'All the other local sites - Bath, Warminster and Bristol - none were available. We managed to get a time slot at Newport South Wales, even though we are meant to self isolate.

'To say we were not very happy would be a understatement. Thankfully my daughter got the all clear today.'

A specialist NHS nurse, who wished to remain anonymous, also expressed their frustration at the testing system.

The nurse told MailOnline: 'I have Covid symptoms and have been trying all day to get a test, in vain. Thank goodness its me not my kids as I would be beyond wild.'

Hasina Miah, 33, has been trying to book tests for her eight-year-old daughter and six-year-old son since Sunday so they can go back to school.

Hasina Miah (pictured), 33, from Bolton, who has been trying to book tests for her two children since Sunday, said: 'I've been trying every 30 minutes. There is nothing available'

Dr Claire Sillitoe, above, had to cancel appointments with patients on Monday as she was unable to get a Covid test. The GP said she was 'stuck in a really difficult position'

The self-employed mother from Bolton told Sky News: 'I've been trying every 30 minutes. There is nothing available.

'I have entered Bolton, Manchester, Wigan, Leigh, Bury and Chester postcodes but there are no tests available anywhere.'

Dr Claire Sillitoe, who lives in southwest London, was forced to cancel appointments with patients on Monday after her daughter fell ill and she was unable to get a test.

She said: 'I wasn't willing to put my patients at risk, so I was stuck in a really difficult position.'

WHO CAN GET A CORONAVIRUS TEST? Anyone can get a coronavirus test, whatever their age, but the Government insists only those with symptoms should apply for them. Symptoms include: a fever, a new continuous cough, or a loss of smell or taste. Care home staff and residents should now be getting tests regularly, whether they show symptoms or not. Some hospital staff get tested routinely, but this is not explicitly recommended by national guidelines. If you don't have symptoms, The government says those without symptoms should not apply for a test - unless they live in an area under local lockdown. Those prioritised for testing in England include all NHS social care staff, such as doctors, nurses, midwives, paramedics, social workers, care workers, and other frontline health and social care staff, including community pharmacists and their staff, volunteers and unpaid carers. Staff at essential public services staff, including those working for prisons, probation, courts, charities, and religious staff are also prioritised. Those working in public safety and national security sectors, such as police and Ministry of Defence civilians, contractors and armed forces personnel are listed by the Government as priorities as well. Employers can refer essential workers for testing if they are self-isolating because either they or member(s) of their household have coronavirus symptoms. In England, all registered adult care homes can apply for coronavirus tests. Advertisement

One father from Nottingham, Mahmoon Rasheed, had to book a test in Edinburgh, 279 miles away, after his daughter developed mild Covid-19 symptoms last week.

The 34-year-old told Nottinghamshire Live: 'On Friday morning I decided if I got an appointment I would just accept it as it had been far too long and her school did not want to take children back without a test.'

People have also taken to social media to share their stories of struggling to get a coronavirus test.

One disgruntled Twitter user posted: 'I have Covid symptoms, live in Co. Durham, Government website offered a free test in Scotland, would take nearly four and a half hours to drive there and back - for someone who is ill.

'Didn't book test - if I become more ill today, what happens if I am too ill to drive myself home?'

Another said: 'Just phoned 119 after the doctor said I have symptoms of Covid and need a test before I start steroids and antibiotics.

'119 said there are no tests anywhere for 3/4 days!! Brilliant'.

Craig Slattery wrote this morning: 'There are currently no tests available in West Sussex, yesterday we drove two hours and were turned away without a test.

'I'm pretty sure my son doesn't have Covid but without a test he can't go back to school. The system is on the verge of collapse.'

A fourth added: 'My son lives in Durham and was refused a local Covid test.

'He was told Edinburgh was his closest testing centre (280 mile round trip) and advised that where possible to cycle to his appointment!'

As of this morning, it was not possible to book a test in Preston, which has the third highest infection rate in the country, and Oldham, which has the fourth.

Tests were also not available on the Government website in Blackburn with Darwen, Burnley, Tameside, Warrington, Knowsley, Liverpool, Wirral, Bury and Salford.

In St Helens, a drive-through test was offered at Royal Blackburn Hospital, while a walk-through was offered at New Bury Community Centre car park in Farnworth, Bolton.

A drive-through test nearly 53 miles away at Uttoxeter Racecourse Stables car park was offered to those trying to book a test in Rochdale, as well as a walk-through at Railway Road car park in Darwen.

One woman who lives in Leicester, which recorded 306 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, one of the sharpest increases in any city in the UK, said she had been unable to book a test for her son.

Callan Glover said she had been seeking a test for six-year-old Arlo Schlupp, whose father is ex-Leicester City star Jeffrey Schlupp, and who had previously needed to shield for medical reasons, since Monday.

Callan Glover pictured with footballer Jeffrey Schlupp and their son Arlo Schlupp who, after being able to get a test on the government website, was tested privately for 125

The 30-year-old said the Government website was unable to provide her with a home test and offered her a test centre over 400 miles away in Aberdeen.

On Tuesday, she paid 125 for Arlo to be tested privately and he was seen within the hour, with results expected within 48 hours.

She said: 'I felt I had no choice as I am concerned for his health.

'He also has had five positive cases in his school over the last few days. I can only assume there are many more cases but we can't test our children.

'It's made me very frustrated. We knew the kids were going back to school ... we shouldn't be paying privately.'

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has urged the public to not 'game the system' by changing their postcodes when requesting a test.

People have taken to social media, above, to share their stories of struggling to get a coronavirus test in West Sussex and Durham

But a glitch, revealed by staff, meant that entering a postcode 400 miles away would help Britons book a spot in Twickenham stadium - while those who entered their real addresses were told to travel to sites much farther away.

Mr Hancock earlier told the House of Commons there are 'operational challenges' with testing which the Government is 'working hard' to fix.

Patients who believe they have coronavirus symptoms can only get a Covid-19 test by requesting an appointment at a government testing centre.

Applicants must register their details, including their address, and are then supposed to be offered appointment times at testing centre nearby.

But, according to the government's website, the service is currently 'very busy' and urges people to 'try again in a few hours' if they cannot book a test, or the location and times are not convenient.

A Government spokesperson said: 'Testing capacity is the highest it has ever been, but we are seeing a significant demand for tests. It is vital that children and school staff only get a test if they develop coronavirus symptoms.

'If a positive case is confirmed in a school, swift action is being taken to ask those who have been in close contact to self-isolate, and Public Health England's local health protection teams continue to support and advise schools in this situation.'

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: 'NHS Test and Trace is working, our capacity is the highest it has ever been and but we are seeing a significant demand for tests.

'New booking slots and home testing kits are made available daily for people with symptoms and we are targeting testing capacity at the areas that need it most, including those where there is an outbreak, and prioritising at-risk groups.

'Our laboratories are processing more than a million tests a week and we recently announced new facilities and technology to process results even faster.'

Have you had problems getting a Covid test? Call 02036152973 or email katie.weston@mailonline.co.uk
For these women, caregiving is not a job, its a calling, and they deserve recognition for their tireless work ethic and passion, especially during the pandemic as they care for our most vulnerable seniors like family.

They are the unsung heroes of the pandemic. Caregivers who selflessly go into the homes of our nations most vulnerable seniors to help them bathe, cook, get to doctors appointments, and stay socially active to survive the loneliness of isolation.

Now, Visiting Angels, the nations leading provider of in-home care, wants to say thank you to their most prized and cherished caregivers by awarding winners of the companys national Caregiver Of The Year Award.

Careers of Compassion

First-place winner is Debbie Moorefield, known as the Mother Teresa of the elderly. For more than 17 years, Debbie has lovingly cared for her Visiting Angels clients around the Mentor, OH area, rarely ever missing a shift. Debbie receives a $5,000 check and an award at an upcoming ceremony near Cleveland.

Since 2003, Debbies generous work has included:



Serving 225 seniors, for a total of 45,500 hours, and 5,760 shifts.

Caring for some of the most challenging cases, changing the elderlys clothing, bathing them, and painting their nails to make them feel like celebrities for a day.

Attending the funeral when one of her clients dies.

Once crawling through a window in the dark because she was locked out and she needed to care for her client with Alzheimers.

Bringing her clients fresh bouquets, hosting intimate tea parties, and when they wont eat, preparing gourmet meals, or whipping up a special breakfast with her famous home-made waffles. When seniors have trouble swallowing, she purees their food so that it looks like a chefs masterpiece.

An Angel Among Us

Debbie deserves this honor because she has a servants attitude and heart. Her resilience, patience, neatness, unselfishness, dedication, and tenderness shine through, says Mary Kay Brodnan, owner of the Visiting Angels office in Mentor, Ohio, outside of Cleveland, who nominated Debbie. Debbie chooses the most difficult seniors to keep herself challenged. She sees the person behind the odor, the soiled Depends, or the disability. She touches the untouchable and tackles the impossible. She truly connects heart-to-heart and cares for seniors like her own family.

Debbie, who lost her own mom two years ago, says serving seniors never feels like a job. Im so humbled by this award, and that people are saying such nice words about me, she says. Its truly my calling, a gift that I get to help people.

Second-Place Finalist is Sara Smith, who sings with her clients, reads scripture, takes them for lunch, dinner and ice cream in Salem, Ohio, outside of Youngsville. When her client was depressed, she drove him back to his hometown so he could reminisce about his school and business. When another client was dying, Sara would rub her back, and brush her hair and sing Precious Lord Take My Hand until the woman died. The womans daughter says with Sara there, her moms passing was beautiful and peaceful and something shell remember for the rest of her life.

Third-Place Finalist is grandma, Doris Carriere, who has 15 grandkids of her own, and loves to care for seniors in Mandeville, Louisiana, outside of New Orleans. Doris once laid down all night next to her elderly woman client who had bad hallucinations and wouldnt go to sleep. Doris never moved because she didnt want to wake the woman, and the family watched on camera, amazed at Doris dedication to their mom.

Both Sara and Doris will receive $2,500 checks and an award at their separate ceremonies.

We are proud and thankful for all our caregivers, but these women go above and beyond to help our clients live a life of dignity as they age gracefully at home, says Larry Meigs, president and CEO of Visiting Angels. For these women, caregiving is not a job, its a calling, and they deserve recognition for their tireless work ethic and passion, especially during the pandemic as they care for our most vulnerable seniors like family.

About Visiting Angels Living Assistance Services:

Visiting Angels began franchising in 1998 in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area. Today, Visiting Angels has more than 600 private-duty agencies throughout the United States. Visiting Angels agencies employ only experienced caregivers and conduct the most comprehensive background screenings to ensure that their caregivers meet or exceed the companys high standards. For companion care, Alzheimers care, dementia care, and the countrys best palliative care program, make Visiting Angels your choice in senior in-home care. For more information on Visiting Angels or to find a location near you, please visit http://www.visitingangels.com.
Virtual AARLCC is a specially curated exhibit, which "lives" online and features 3D models of African masks, carvings, figurines and other unique and significant artifacts. Visitors to Virtual AARLCC can take an online video tour, view and virtually interact with the items individually, and hear and watch curated information related to the objects, including country/region of origin, the ethnic group they belong to and a detailed physical description of the work. Viewing in Google Chrome browser is recommended.

Additionally, the collection is also available via Sketchfab.com/AARLCC, where visitors can download the 3D images free, and viewers with virtual reality devices can interact with the artifacts in virtual reality as well. The 20 artifacts are also now available in Merge Object Viewer app in the Apple or Google Play stores. The Collection is titled "Broward Library African Artifacts."

Broward County Library is the first library in Florida to offer virtual exhibition visits via three-dimensional (3D) modeling and augmented reality technology. This grant-funded initiative is led by Broward County Library Community Engagement Manager and includes collaborative efforts from the University of Arizona Center's for Digital Humanities and the library's digitization team. Virtual AARLCC is designed to expand access to the Special Collections using technology (3D modeling) that is the next best thing to live exhibits.

This project was funded under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Florida's LSTA program is administered by the Department of State's Division of Library and Information Services.

About Broward County Libraries Division

Broward County Libraries Division, named 2015 Library of the Year by the Florida Library Association, was founded in 1974 and is the largest library system in Florida by square footage and one of the busiest, with more than 7.5 million walk-in customers visiting its 38 locations annually. Broward County Libraries Division provides convenient access to a full range of innovative and cost-effective services that satisfy the changing needs of the people of Broward County for information, education and recreation. Visit our website, Broward.org/Library, or follow Libraries on Facebook and Twitter.

SOURCE Broward County Libraries

Related Links

https://www.broward.org/library


(Newser)  The House is back in session after the summer recessand Nancy Pelosi says it will stay in session until a deal on a new coronavirus relief bill is reached. Politico reports that the House speaker, who is holding out for a sweeping $2.2 trillion stimulus bill, is under pressure from moderate Democrats to reach an agreement with Republicans on a smaller bill or a series of targeted bills before the election. Sources say she told lawmakers Tuesday that "we have to stay here until we have a bill," although Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer later clarified that lawmakers would be allowed to leave as scheduled on Oct. 2 as long as they could return on a day's notice to vote on a relief bill, the Hill reports.

story continues below

Pelosi discussed the stalled negotiations with CNBC host Jim Cramer Tuesday morning. Cramer was slammed afterward for calling the speaker "Crazy Nancy," one of President Trump's nicknames for her, reports the Washington Post. In numerous tweets, Cramer apologized and said he was referencing Trump's "horrible" use of the term. "I made a very stupid comment, he said on Mad Money. It was a tongue-in-cheek attempt to make a point about the harsh tone of the negotiations in Washington. But it fell completely flat and I apologize for that .... I have an incredible amount of respect for both the speaker and the office she holds. (Read more Nancy Pelosi stories.)
'I could see ... demons': One womans shocking possession, exorcism story

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An Arkansas woman with no history of mental illness said she suddenly found herself in deep emotional turmoil in 2006, with doctors unable to diagnose her rapidly deteriorating condition.

Within months, overtaken by suicidal thoughts, Amy plunged from a second-story window, was paralyzed and nearly died.

Now, shes speaking out, explaining that she believes she experienced a dramatic demonic possession  and healing. Her experience is told in detail in the new book, Playing with Fire: A Modern Investigation into Demons, Exorcism, and Ghosts.

Ive never had any kind of mental problems, never been on medication for anything like that, Amy said in a recent interview, noting that, within days of her affliction, she went from a successful nurse to a person who couldnt think clearly.

Listen to Amy share her story on The Edifi Podcast With Billy Hallowell (download the Edifi app here for powerful Christian podcasts) at the 42-minute mark:

Amys personal drama unfolded one day while she was working at a hospital and dealing with a burn patient who had survived an explosion.

While I was in the ER giving [a] report, something wasnt right with me, she recalled. I went upstairs to do my chart and its like my mind went out the window.

Amy wondered what was unfolding; the mental duress continued to afflict her when she later went for a run and was unable to jog in a straight line.

GRAB A COPY: READ PLAYING WITH FIRE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THESE ISSUES

I told my husband, I think Im having a nervous breakdown. My mind is not right, she said.

As Playing With Fireexplains, doctors put Amy on antidepresents, but she said the drugs did nothing to curb her problems  and the situation further devolved.

They ended up putting me in a psychiatric hospital, she said, And the psychiatrist said, We dont know what were dealing with. Weve never seen anything like this.

As time went on, Amy was in and out of hospitals, with suicidal thoughts suddenly overtaking her mind and heart.

Nobody knew what was going on. And this happened in April and through the summer, she said. I was so messed up. I wanted to kill myself and I just could not think how to do it.

One day Amy found herself sitting in a second-floor window sill at her home, as thoughts of death once again flooded her mind.

I was sitting in the window and I thought to myself, If I fall out of this window, I bet Ill die, because its so far down and its a brick patio, she said. So I fell out of the window.

Amy said she doesnt remember much of what unfolded next, as she landed on her head on the hard patio two stories below.

Any person in their right mind  if youre falling youre going to brace yourself  thats a normal reflex, she said. My legs and arms were not broken. I did not brace myself.

The impact of the fall was sweeping, with Amy breaking the majority of her ribs, puncturing her lungs and breaking her back in three places; 14 years later, she is still paralyzed.

They didnt think I was going to survive, she said.

But while Amy lay in her hospital bed recovering, a stranger named Cindy felt compelled to visit. While there, Cindy performed what some Christians call a deliverance (similar to an exorcism).

She felt really led to come see me, Amy said. [She] said when they got there I looked at her and I had a male voice come out of my mouth saying, What are you doing here?

Amy believes Cindy cast a demon out, and that her life was transformed as a result. For her part, Cindy has also openly spoken about the experience.

I could see the demons, she told KATV-TV last year, noting that she uttered a simple command in that hospital room: Lord, in the name of Jesus, I command that these demons release her and come out of her and that she comes to her right mind, in Jesus' name.

In the end, Amy believes she was healed.

My family saw a difference and they were thinking, Somethings better, she said, noting, though, that there are still mysteries surrounding her story.

Amy, who was a churchgoer before the incident, isnt sure why she was afflicted. Regardless, she is now much closer to God, and is encouraging others to cling to their faith.

Its brought me so much closer to God and to know that his love for me. It wasnt Him that did that  of course, it was the enemy, she said. Gods love is amazing. Seek the Lord with all of your heart.

For more stories like Amys be sure to read Playing with Fire: A Modern Investigation into Demons, Exorcism, and Ghosts, a book that dives deep  through a journalistic and Christian lens  into the cultural discussion about spiritual warfare, demons, exorcism in the Bible and other related topics.

Billy Hallowell, author of "The Armageddon Code," has contributed to TheBlaze, the Washington Post, Human Events, the Daily Caller, Mediaite, and the Huffington Post, among other news sites. Through journalism, media, public speaking appearances, and the blogosphere, Hallowell has worked as a journalist and commentator for more than a decade.
NEW YORK, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Gideon Taylor, President of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference), today announced the release of the U.S. Millennial Holocaust Knowledge and Awareness Survey, the first-ever 50-state survey on Holocaust knowledge among Millennials and Gen Z. The surprising state-by-state results highlight a worrying lack of basic Holocaust knowledge, a growing problem as fewer and fewer Holocaust survivors  eyewitnesses to a state-sponsored genocide  are alive to share the lessons of the Holocaust.1

Nationally, there is a clear lack of awareness of key historical facts; 63 percent of all national survey respondents do not know that six million Jews were murdered and 36 percent thought that "two million or fewer Jews" were killed during the Holocaust. Additionally, although there were more than 40,000 camps and ghettos in Europe during the Holocaust, 48 percent of national survey respondents cannot name a single one.

The state-by-state analysis yielded a particularly disquieting finding that nearly 20 percent of Millennials and Gen Z in New York feel the Jews caused the Holocaust.

"The results are both shocking and saddening and they underscore why we must act now while Holocaust survivors are still with us to voice their stories," said Gideon Taylor. "We need to understand why we aren't doing better in educating a younger generation about the Holocaust and the lessons of the past. This needs to serve as a wake-up call to us all, and as a road map of where government officials need to act."

The study reveals that Wisconsin scores highest in Holocaust awareness among U.S. Millennials and Gen Z. Arkansas has the lowest Holocaust knowledge score1, with less than 2-in-10 (17 percent) of Millennials and Gen Z meeting the Holocaust knowledge criteria.

In what might be considered a disturbing sign of the times, 59 percent of respondents indicate that they believe something like the Holocaust could happen again.

The states with the highest Holocaust Knowledge Scores are: Wisconsin, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Maine, Kansas, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Idaho, Iowa, and Montana.

The states with the lowest Holocaust Knowledge Scores are: Alaska, Delaware, Maryland, New York, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Florida, Mississippi, and Arkansas.

For a state-by-state heatmap and all results please click here

1 We calculated our Holocaust "knowledge score" by using the percentage of Millennials and Gen Z adults who met all three of the following criteria: 1) have "Definitively heard about the Holocaust," AND 2) can name at least one concentration camp, death camp, or ghetto, AND 3) know that 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust.

Major Survey Findings

Camps and Ghettos

Nationally, 48 percent of U.S. Millennials and Gen Z could not name a single one of the more than 40,000 concentration camps or ghettos established during World War II. This number is reflected in individual state outcomes, with an astounding 60 percent of respondents in Texas , 58 percent in New York , and 57 percent in South Carolina , unable to name a single camp or ghetto.

, 58 percent in , and 57 percent in , unable to name a single camp or ghetto. 56 percent of national U.S. Millennial and Gen Z respondents were unable to identify Auschwitz-Birkenau, and there was virtually no awareness of concentration camps and ghettos overall. Only six percent of respondents are familiar with the infamous Dachau camp, while awareness of Bergen-Belsen (three percent), Buchenwald (one percent) and Treblinka (one percent) is virtually nonexistent.

Number of Jews Murdered

When asked how many Jews were killed during the Holocaust, 63 percent of Millennials and Gen Z nationally did not know six million Jews were murdered. The states with the lowest level of knowledge for the number of Jews killed are Arkansas with 69 percent, followed by Delaware with 68 percent, Arizona with 67 percent, Mississippi and Tennessee with 66 percent, and Hawaii , Iowa , Vermont , and West Virginia with 65 percent.

with 69 percent, followed by with 68 percent, with 67 percent, and with 66 percent, and , , , and with 65 percent. When broken down further, nationally 36 percent of Millennials and Gen Z thought that two million or fewer Jews were murdered. Arkansas ranks as the state with the greatest number of Millennials and Gen Z who believe two million or fewer were murdered (37 percent), followed by 36 percent in Georgia , Indiana and Ohio ; 35 percent in Minnesota ; and 34 percent in Arizona , Iowa , Kentucky and New Hampshire .

Responsibility for the Holocaust

In perhaps one of the most disturbing revelations of this survey, 11 percent of U.S. Millennial and Gen Z respondents believe Jews caused the Holocaust.

the Holocaust. The findings were more disturbing in New York where an astounding 19 percent of respondents felt Jews caused the Holocaust; followed by 16 percent in Louisiana , Tennessee , and Montana and 15 percent in Arizona , Connecticut , Georgia , Nevada and New Mexico .

Holocaust Denial

Also troubling is the percentage of Millennials and Gen Z that have witnessed Holocaust denial or distortion on social media. Approximately half (49 percent) of U.S. Millennials and Gen Z have seen Holocaust denial or distortion posts on social media or elsewhere online.

56 percent of respondents across all 50 states indicated that they had seen Nazi symbols on their social media platforms and/or in their community. The state with the greatest proportion respondents who have seen Nazi symbols on social media was Nevada with 70 percent. Other states with high exposure include: New York with 67 percent; Arizona and Texas with 64 percent; and Colorado , South Dakota and Washington with 63 percent.

Holocaust Education

80 percent of all respondents believe that it is important to continue teaching about the Holocaust, in part, so that it does not happen again.

A consistent bright spot across all the survey findings is the desire for Holocaust education. 64 percent of all U.S. Millennials and Gen Z believe that Holocaust education should be compulsory in school.

"We came to realize that, although a number of states already mandate Holocaust education which is an excellent first step, for the mandates to have a significant effect in classrooms there must be state funding to support the mandates," said Claims Conference Holocaust task force leader Matthew Bronfman. "The Holocaust is a broad topic. Specialized teacher training and a thoughtfully developed curriculum is needed for students to benefit."

"Quality Holocaust educations helps students think critically about how and why the Holocaust happened," said Gretchen Skidmore, task force member and Director, Education Initiatives, Levine Institute for Holocaust Education, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. "The study of the Holocaust engages students in understanding the fragility of societies, the dangers of antisemitism and hatred, and the importance of promoting human dignity. This history can inform our understanding of our own roles and responsibilities in the decisions we face today."

Claims Conference Executive Vice President Greg Schneider said of the survey, "Not only was their overall lack of Holocaust knowledge troubling, but combined with the number of Millennials and Gen Z who have seen Holocaust denial on social media, it is clear that we must fight this distortion of history and do all we can to ensure that the social media giants stop allowing this harmful content on their platforms. Survivors lost their families, friends, homes and communities; we cannot deny their history."

The Claims Conference recently launched #NoDenyingIt, a digital campaign in which survivors, in personal and moving videos posted online, appeal directly to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg imploring him to remove Holocaust denial from his platform. The survey findings underscore the importance the urgent need to understand that Holocaust denial is hate speech and to remove denial of this critical historic event.

Survey Taskforce

A U.S. Millennial Holocaust Knowledge and Awareness Survey task force led by Claims Conference Board member Matthew Bronfman, was comprised of Holocaust survivors as well as historians and subject matter experts from museums, educational institutions and leading nonprofits in the field of Holocaust education, including Yad Vashem, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Claims Conference and George Washington University.

Survey Methodology and Sample

The Holocaust Knowledge and Awareness Study was commissioned by the Claims Conference. Data was collected in the United States and analyzed by Schoen Cooperman Research, with a representative sample of 1,000 interviews nationwide and 200 interviews in each state with adults ages 18 to 39 via landline, cell phone and online interviews. Respondents were selected at random and constituted a demographically representative sample of the Millennial population across each state. For more information, please visit: www.claimscon.org

About the Claims Conference: The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference), a nonprofit organization with offices in New York, Tel Aviv and Frankfurt secures material compensation for Holocaust survivors around the world. Founded in 1951 by representatives of 23 major international Jewish organizations, the Claims Conference negotiates for and disburses funds to individuals and organizations and seeks the return of Jewish property stolen during the Holocaust. As a result of negotiations with the Claims Conference since 1952, the German government has paid more than $80 billion in indemnification to individuals for suffering and losses resulting from persecution by the Nazis. In 2020, the Claims Conference will distribute approximately $350 million in direct compensation to over 60,000 survivors in 83 countries and allocate approximately $610 million in grants to over 200 social service agencies worldwide that provide vital services for Holocaust survivors, such as homecare, food and medicine.

SOURCE Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany
Poisoned Russian Opposition Leader Posts Photo from Hospital Bed

By VOA News September 15, 2020

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny published a photo of himself in a Berlin hospital bed Tuesday as he recovers from a nerve agent poisoning last month in Siberia.

Navalny, surrounded by his family as he sat up in bed, said he was pleased to be able to breathe independently.

"I miss you all," Navalny wrote in the post on Instagram. "I can still hardly do anything, but yesterday I could breath all day on my own."

It is the first publicly shared image of Navalny since he was airlifted to Berlin's Charite Hospital two days after becoming sick during a flight in Russia on August 20.

Navalny's spokeswoman confirmed shortly after the photo's posting that the 44-year-old planned to return to Russia.

Germany, France and Sweden have concluded that Navalny was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent, a Soviet-era agent that Britain said was used on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, England two years ago.

Western countries have requested an explanation from Moscow, which says the accusations that it was involved in the poisoning are unfounded. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday that Moscow needs Germany to provide information about the case to clear up what happened.

Peskov said Russian authorities cannot understand why French and Swedish laboratories were allowed to test Navalny's medical samples and Russia was not.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused the West of using Navalny's poisoning as an excuse to impose new sanctions on Moscow.

Navalny's illness has further strained ties between Russia and the West. Relations deteriorated to a post-Cold War low after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and Skripal and his daughter were poisoned.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been pressured to punish Moscow by postponing work on a nearly completed natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany.

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Drilling Commences at Porvenir Project Testing Outcropping Surface Porphyry Copper-Gold MineralisationBISHOPSGATE, LONDON / ACCESSWIRE / September 16, 2020 / The Board of SolGold (LSE & TSX: SOLG) is pleased to provide an update on its 100% owned ... SolGold PLC

Drilling Commences at Porvenir Project Testing Outcropping Surface Porphyry Copper-Gold Mineralisation

BISHOPSGATE, LONDON / ACCESSWIRE / September 16, 2020 / The Board of SolGold (LSE & TSX: SOLG) is pleased to provide an update on its 100% owned Porvenir Project, held by Green Rock Resources S.A, a 100% owned subsidiary of SolGold.

Highlights

All scout drilling regulatory approvals have been received for the 100% SolGold owned Porvenir Project in Ecuador's Southern Copper-Gold Province.

Drilling commences at Porvenir Project with initial drill hole testing outcropping surface mineralisation that returned an open ended rock-saw channel result of: 147.8m @ 0.69% CuEq (0.43 g/t Au, 0.37% Cu) including, 82.63m @ 1.08% CuEq (0.71 g/t Au, 0.55% Cu) located in Cacharposa Creek.



Drilling operations underway with initial drill hole (PDH-20-001) at current depth of 16.7m, utilising one man-portable machine, as part of a planned 8000m initial drilling program.

Mineralisation at Cacharposa Creek is part of a 1000m-wide, 1700m long northeast trending corridor containing mineralisation styles, size and geometry consistent with surface exposure of a vertically extensive, well-preserved porphyry copper-gold system.

Surface mineralisation displays similar characteristics to the giant Alpala Porphyry Copper-Gold Deposit at Cascabel in Northern Ecuador with classical magnetic signature, coincident soil Copper-Gold-Molybdenum geochemistry, and a Gold:Copper ratio of approximately 1:1.

Commenting on the commencement of drilling at La Hueca, Regional Exploration Manager Chris Connell said: "We are very excited to see commencement of drilling at Target 15 in Porvenir because the hole 1 target is of very high quality. The coincident geophysical and geochemical anomalies over an extensive surface outcrop that returned an open ended ore grade intercept of over 140m at about 0.7% CuEq, is an extraordinary target that we believe potentially represents a large exposed porphyry copper-gold deposit and a second major porphyry discovery for the Company within Ecuador. The 13 high-priority regional targets covered by 75 granted tenements represent a significant pipeline of wholly owned quality assets. We look forward to updating the market with visual mineralisation estimates and core photos as drilling progresses at Porvenir."

Story continues

Commenting on today's new release, CEO Nick Mather said: "SolGold seized first mover advantage in copper gold porphyry exploration in Ecuador in 2014 and is now the dominant tenure holder, with the most active, well-funded, most qualified and best resourced exploration team in Ecuador. With a dominantly Ecuadorean workforce, endorsed by the Ecuadorean community at all levels of the social environmental and regulatory framework in Ecuador, SolGold is strongly placed to emerge as the resource mainstay of the Ecuadorean Copper gold mining industry in years to come, delivering extensive contributions to Ecuador's social and economic growth."

References to figures relate to the version visible in PDF format by clicking the link below:

http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/1455Z_1-2020-9-16.pdf

Further Information

SolGold is continuing to pursue its strategy to become a tier 1 copper producing company through aggressive exploration of its extensive tenement portfolio in Ecuador. The regional exploration program is fully funded to 2022.

The Porvenir Project is located in Southern Ecuador, some 100km north of the Peruvian border and is situated within the Jurassic segment of the Andean Porphyry Belt which hosts several of the world's largest and most significant copper and gold deposits in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Chile (Figures 1 and 2).

All scout drilling regulatory approvals have been received for the 100% SolGold owned Porvenir Project in Ecuador's Southern Copper-Gold Province.

Drilling operations are underway at Target 15 in the Porvenir Project utilising one HydracoreTM 5000 hybrid man-portable machine modified to drill NQ sized diamond drill core up to 1800m depth (Figure 3). Hole 1 is part of a planned 8000m initial drilling program at Porvenir.

Initial drill hole PDH-20-001 is at a current depth of 16.7m and is designed to test the depth extent of outcropping surface mineralisation in Cacharposa Creek that returned an open ended rock-saw channel result of 147.8m @ 0.69% CuEq (0.43 g/t Au, 0.37% Cu) including, 82.63m @ 1.08% CuEq (0.71 g/t Au, 0.55% Cu) (Figure 4).

Surface mineralisation at Cacharposa Creek is hosted within a dioritic to monzodioritic intrusive complex and forms part of a 1000m-wide, 1700m long northeast trending corridor. Soil and rock geochemistry displays coincident soil copper-gold-molybdenum geochemistry, a gold : copper ratio of approximately 1:1, and a chalcopyrite : pyrite mineral ratio of >1.0. (Figure 5). These features are often conspicuous at many world class porphyry deposits.

The exposed mineralisation at Cacharposa Creek comprises porphyry-style sheeted and stockwork B-type quartz-chalcopyrite-magnetite veining which occurs as three steeply dipping vein sets orientated northwest, east-northeast, and west-northwest. Field studies of the porphyry-related vein types and paragenesis at Target 15 are ongoing, and initial work indicates a sequential vein development typical of many significant porphyry copper-gold systems, such as SolGold's giant Alpala porphyry copper-gold deposit in Northern Ecuador. The mineralisation style, geochemical footprint and geometry are consistent with surface exposure of a vertically extensive, well-preserved porphyry copper-gold system.

The presence of potassic alteration (K-feldspar-magnetite) overprinted by intermediate argillic alteration (chlorite - sericite - clay) is associated with higher gold grades and surrounded by phyllic (quartz - sericite - pyrite) and extensive epidote-propylitic alteration. The size and strength of the geochemical anomalies and the zoning of the hydrothermal alteration assemblages are consistent with the presence of a preserved porphyry copper-gold system exposed at surface.

3D ground magnetics indicate a magnetic signature consistent with porphyry copper and copper-gold deposits with a central magnetic high surrounded by an annular magnetic low (Figure 6).

3D geochemical modelling suggests that mineralisation extends at least 550m below surface (Figure 7).

Figure 1: Location plan showing Porvenir Project in southern Ecuador.

Figure 2: Prospect locations at Porvenir showing Target 15 and Bartolo areas with concession outlines and highlighting soil copper geochemical results.

Figure 3: Hubbard Perforaciones drilling crew preparing commencement of Hole 1 (PDH-20-001) at Target 15, Porvenir, utilising a HydracoreTM 5000 hybrid man-portable machine modified to drill NQ sized diamond drill core up to 1800m depth.

Figure 4: Rock saw channel sampling results at Cacharposa Creek, Target 15, Porvenir.

Figure 5: Plan view of Porvenir Target 15 geology and the northeast trending mineralised corridor with coincident soil gold, copper and molybdenum anomalies centred upon Cacharposa Creek.

Figure 6: Plan view of RTP ground magnetics image, showing magnetic signature consistent with porphyry copper and copper-gold deposits with a central magnetic high surrounded by an annular magnetic low. The location of Hole 1 (PDH-20-001) is shown in black and planned locations of the remaining holes of the initial 12-hole 8000m diamond drilling program in red. Rock-saw channel sample locations are shown in blue at Cacharposa Creek.

Figure 7: Cross-section looking northwest, showing planned drill holes looking northwest with 3D magnetic inversion & 3D geochemical models under RTP ground magnetics in topography.

Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure

Certain information contained in this announcement would have been deemed inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 until the release of this announcement.

Qualified Person:

Information in this report relating to the exploration results is based on data reviewed by Mr Jason Ward ((CP) B.Sc. Geol.), the Chief Geologist of the Company. Mr Ward is a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, holds the designation FAusIMM (CP), and has in excess of 20 years' experience in mineral exploration and is a Qualified Person for the purposes of the relevant LSE and TSX Rules. Mr Ward consents to the inclusion of the information in the form and context in which it appears.

By order of the Board

Karl Schlobohm

Company Secretary

CONTACTS

Nicholas Mather SolGold Plc (Chief Executive Officer) nmather@solgold.com.au Tel: +61 (0) 7 3303 0665 +61 (0) 417 880 448 Karl Schlobohm SolGold Plc (Company Secretary) kschlobohm@solgold.com.au Tel: +61 (0) 7 3303 0661 Ingo Hofmaier SolGold Plc (GM - Project & Corporate Finance) ihofmaier@solgold.com.au Tel: +44 (0) 20 3823 2131 Gordon Poole / Nick Hennis Camarco (Financial PR / IR) solgold@camarco.co.uk Tel: +44 (0) 20 3757 4997 Andrew Chubb Hannam & Partners (Joint Broker and Financial Advisor) solgold@hannam.partners Tel: +44 (0) 20 7907 8500 Ross Allister / David McKeown Peel Hunt (Joint Broker and Financial Advisor) solgold@peelhunt.com Tel: +44 (0)20 7418 8900 James Kofman / Darren Wallace Cormark Securities Inc. (Financial Advisor) dwallace@cormark.com Tel: +1 416 943 6411

Follow us on twitter @SolGold_plc

ABOUT SOLGOLD

SolGold is a leading resources company focussed on the discovery, definition and development of world-class copper and gold deposits. In 2018, SolGold's management team was recognised by the "Mines and Money" Forum as an example of excellence in the industry and continues to strive to deliver objectives efficiently and in the interests of shareholders. SolGold is the largest and most active concession holder in Ecuador and is aggressively exploring the length and breadth of this highly prospective and gold-rich section of the Andean Copper Belt.

The Company operates with transparency and in accordance with international best practices. SolGold is committed to delivering value to its shareholders, while simultaneously providing economic and social benefits to impacted communities, fostering a healthy and safe workplace and minimizing the environmental impact.

Dedicated stakeholders

SolGold employs a staff of over 600 employees of whom 98% are Ecuadorean. This is expected to grow as the operations expand at Alpala, and in Ecuador generally. SolGold focusses its operations to be safe, reliable and environmentally responsible and maintains close relationships with its local communities. SolGold has engaged an increasingly skilled, refined and experienced team of geoscientists using state of the art geophysical and geochemical modelling applied to an extensive database to enable the delivery of ore grade intersections from nearly every drill hole at Alpala. SolGold has over 80 geologists on the ground in Ecuador exploring for economic copper and gold deposits.

About Cascabel and Alpala

The Alpala deposit is the main target in the Cascabel concession, located on the northern section of the heavily endowed Andean Copper Belt, the entirety of which is renowned as the base for nearly half of the world's copper production. The project area hosts mineralisation of Eocene age, the same age as numerous Tier 1 deposits along the Andean Copper Belt in Chile and Peru to the south. The project base is located at Rocafuerte within the Cascabel concession in northern Ecuador, an approximately three-hour drive on sealed highway north of the capital Quito, close to water, power supply and Pacific ports.

Having fulfilled its earn-in requirements, SolGold is a registered shareholder with an unencumbered legal and beneficial 85% interest in ENSA (Exploraciones Novomining S.A.) which holds 100% of the Cascabel concession covering approximately 50km2. The junior equity owner in ENSA is required to repay 15% of costs since SolGold's earn in was completed, from 90% of its share of distribution of earnings or dividends from ENSA or the Cascabel concession. It is also required to contribute to development or be diluted, and if its interest falls below 10%, it shall reduce to a 0.5% NSR royalty which SolGold may acquire for US$3.5million.

Advancing Alpala towards development

The resource at the Alpala deposit contains a high-grade core which will be targeted to facilitate early cashflows and an accelerated payback of initial capital. SolGold is currently progressing its Pre-Feasibility Study and is fully funded through to development decision following the Net Smelter Royalty Financing with Franco-Nevada Corporation for US$100million. Franco-Nevada will receive a perpetual 1% NSR interest from the Cascabel licence area.

SolGold is currently assessing financing options available to the Company for the development of the Alpala mine following completion of the Definitive Feasibility Study.

SolGold's Regional Exploration Drive

SolGold is using its successful and cost-efficient blueprint established at Alpala, and Cascabel generally, to explore for additional world class copper and gold projects across Ecuador. SolGold is the largest and most active concessionaire in Ecuador.

The Company wholly owns four other subsidiaries active throughout the country that are now focussed on thirteen high priority gold and copper resource targets, several of which the Company believes have the potential, subject to resource definition and feasibility, to be developed in close succession or even on a more accelerated basis compared to Alpala.

SolGold is listed on the London Stock Exchange and Toronto Stock Exchange (LSE/TSX: SOLG). The Company has on issue a total of 2,072,213,495 fully-paid ordinary shares and 113,175,000 share options.

Quality Assurance / Quality Control on Sample Collection, Security and Assaying

SolGold operates according to its rigorous Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QA/QC) protocol, which is consistent with industry best practices.

Primary sample collection involves secure transport from SolGold's concessions in Ecuador, to the ALS certified sample preparation facility in Quito, Ecuador. Samples are then air freighted from Quito to the ALS certified laboratory in Lima, Peru where the assaying of drill core, channel samples, rock chips and soil samples is undertaken. SolGold utilises ALS certified laboratories in Canada and Australia for the analysis of metallurgical samples.

Samples are prepared and analysed using 100g 4-Acid digest ICP with MS finish for 48 elements on a 0.25g aliquot (ME-MS61). Laboratory performance is routinely monitored using umpire assays, check batches and inter-laboratory comparisons between ALS certified laboratory in Lima and the ACME certified laboratory in Cuenca, Ecuador.

In order to monitor the ongoing quality of its analytical database, SolGold's QA/QC protocol encompasses standard sampling methodologies, including the insertion of certified powder blanks, coarse chip blanks, standards, pulp duplicates and field duplicates. The blanks and standards are Certified Reference Materials supplied by Ore Research and Exploration, Australia.

SolGold's QA/QC protocol also monitors the ongoing quality of its analytical database. The Company's protocol involves Independent data validation of the digital analytical database including search for sample overlaps, duplicate or absent samples as well as anomalous assay and survey results. These are routinely performed ahead of Mineral Resource Estimates and Feasibility Studies. No material QA/QC issues have been identified with respect to sample collection, security and assaying.

Reviews of the sample preparation, chain of custody, data security procedures and assaying methods used by SolGold confirm that they are consistent with industry best practices and all results stated in this announcement have passed SolGold's QA/QC protocol.

The data aggregation method for calculating Copper Equivalent (CuEq) for rock-saw channel sampling intervals are reported using copper equivalent (CuEq) cut-off grades with up to 10m internal dilution, excluding bridging to a single sample and with minimum intersection length of 50m.

Copper Equivalent is currently calculated (assuming 100% recovery of copper and gold) using a Gold Conversion Factor of 0.751 (CuEq = Cu + Au x 0.751), calculated from a current nominal copper price of US$3.30/lb and a gold price of US$1700/oz. True widths of rock-saw channel sampling interval lengths are estimated to be 100% considering the sub-vertical nature of intrusions at Porvenir Project.

See www.solgold.com.au for more information. Follow us on twitter @SolGold plc

CAUTIONARY NOTICE

News releases, presentations and public commentary made by SolGold plc (the "Company") and its Officers may contain certain statements and expressions of belief, expectation or opinion which are forward looking statements, and which relate, inter alia, to interpretations of exploration results to date and the Company's proposed strategy, plans and objectives or to the expectations or intentions of the Company's Directors. Such forward-looking and interpretative statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors beyond the control of the Company that could cause the actual performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from such interpretations and forward-looking statements.

Accordingly, the reader should not rely on any interpretations or forward-looking statements; and save as required by the exchange rules of the TSX and LSE or by applicable laws, the Company does not accept any obligation to disseminate any updates or revisions to such interpretations or forward-looking statements. The Company may reinterpret results to date as the status of its assets and projects changes with time expenditure, metals prices and other affecting circumstances.

This release may contain "forwardlooking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forwardlooking information includes, but is not limited to, statements regarding the Company's plans for developing its properties. Generally, forwardlooking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved".

Forwardlooking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forwardlooking information, including but not limited to: transaction risks; general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; future prices of mineral prices; accidents, labour disputes and shortages and other risks of the mining industry. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forwardlooking information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

The Company and its officers do not endorse, or reject or otherwise comment on the conclusions, interpretations or views expressed in press articles or third-party analysis, and where possible aims to circulate all available material on its website

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.

SOURCE: SolGold PLC





View source version on accesswire.com:

https://www.accesswire.com/606307/SolGold-PLC-Announces-Regional-Exploration-Update--Porvenir




BAY CITY, MI  Three decades ago, Hell visited the Saginaw River.

Thats how a report in The Bay City Times characterized the MV Jupiter freighter explosion and inferno in the final days of summer 1990. One firefighter later called it a once-in-a-lifetime blaze.
It showed up Tuesday night, 12 hours before the big test.

A masked crew received the white-coated, roughly 30-foot-long beam at the corner of Liberty Drive and Fan Pier Boulevard. A product of Canada, the hunk of iron spent its first night in Boston just feet from the harbor.

Around 8 a.m., a crane lifted the beam 17 stories above the ground alongside pieces nearly twice its size.

We always want to make sure everything fits perfectly, so you dont get it up there and go, this is half-an inch short, said Richard Martini, executive managing director of the Fallon Company.

It fit.

The long-awaited piece topping off MassMutuals office structure marked not only a step toward the companys expansion into Boston but a feat for a construction team that welded, poured concrete and fireproofed steel under the threat of COVID-19. The project marked a first for even the most seasoned tradespeople  their first build during a pandemic.

Its a little weird with the masks and stuff, but other than that its just like every other day, said Sean Clerkin, 32, a Boston native who was part of the raising gang on the construction site.

While COVID-19 has shaken up the local economy, MassMutuals presence in Bostons Seaport District continues to take shape after plans 15 years in the making. The Turner Construction Company crews were sidelined for nine weeks as Boston construction sites and businesses across Massachusetts shut down to reduce the spread of the virus.

Since returning to the site, construction workers have made up much of the work. As of Wednesday, they were roughly a month behind. Crews were fireproofing some of the iron beams before the topping off ceremony began, preparing the building for the installation of the stainless steel facade that will eventually encase the curvy building.

These workers have done a superb job, said MassMutual CEO Roger Crandall. Were still optimistic were going to open in the fall of next year and super optimistic well have a vaccine and well actually be able to have everybody at the office."

MassMutual CEO Roger Crandall signs the last iron beam before it is lifted up 17 stories to the top of the company's Boston building, which is expected to open in fall 2021.

When the doors open, the steel beam covered in autographs will be completely out of view. The 17-story tower will host 1,000 MassMutual employees and the startup accelerator MassChallenge. Employees will walk in and out of the building freely and enjoy the outdoor plaza facing the Fan Pier Marina.

On Wednesday morning, though, all eyes were on the white iron beam being christened signatures, stickers and messages. A small, bare evergreen tree stood fixed on the beam. The tree fitting is a tradition dating back to 8th century Scandinavia that symbolizes health and prosperity. The tradition has survived centuries of global power shifts, world wars, industrial revolutions and a recession sparked by a pandemic.

Topping off is to honor the workers; not investors, one person wrote in red marker.

Crew workers and company executives grabbed markers from the table on the right, usually returning to the table for hand sanitizer.

Its a big deal because its a tradition, said Jessica Devance, a second-year apprentice in the Iron Workers Local 7 Union. We helped put up that building.

Devance was hired two weeks before the city shut down workplaces due to COVID-19. When the construction site reopened, she and her colleagues helped with tack welds that hold metal in place, water runs, equipment sanitization and other tasks to get the project back on schedule  or as close to it as possible

Clerkin, the journeyman on the raising gang, signed his name and saw the beam through the rest of its journey. For him, the whole affair was business as usual.

Just means another job done, he said.

The beam carriers dozens of other names with him, including Crandall, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and the Haugh brothers.

Joe Haugh signed his name and slapped a memorial card of his brother, Paul Haugh. Paul, an ironworker and a combat veteran who served in Afghanistan for the Marines, died Feb. 14, 2019, in a motor vehicle crash, according to his obituary. He was 28 years old. RIP Paul and RIP the Sarge popped up in other parts of the beam.

The beam encountered one more test before Crandall, Walsh and other dignitaries took the stage at the edge of the site: a balance check. The workers lifted it a few feet, and again, it passed. The workers gathered round for pictures of the guest of honor.

Boston Strong  people say it, but this is an example of seeing it, Crandall said of the construction work as the topping off ceremony began, his first.

After his remarks, even Crandall couldnt help but stare up at the beam as it made its slow ascent to the Seaports skyline.

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Would you take up farm work? Images: Getty

Australians receiving JobSeeker payments would be able to also earn an income working on farms under a new recommendation designed to stem the shortage of agricultural workers.

The number of people on the Working Holiday Maker visa has fallen from 140,000 to 73,500 since Australia closed its borders in March, raising challenges for the agriculture sector which relies on backpackers to harvest crops.

An interim report from the parliamentary inquiry into the Working Holiday Maker program recommended that for the next 12 months, Australians on JobSeeker can retain the payments while taking on low paid agricultural and horticultural work, with the Government also providing a one-off payment to help workers relocating for these jobs with travel and accommodation costs.

Currently, Australians receiving unemployment benefits see those payments taper once they begin to earn beyond a certain threshold.

In its submission, the Australian Fresh Produce Alliance said the continuation of JobKeeper and JobSeeker acts as a really practical challenge, questioning why Australians would move to another location to work on a farm, with the National Farmers Federation (NFF) also raising the question.

While farm wages are as good as any other sectorABS data indicates that as much as $1,000 a week can be earned in entry-level positionsdisplaced workers with established careers in other fields may find entry-level salaries unattractive, the NFF said in its submission.

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Gap year at home and HECS/HELP discounts on the cards

The inquiry also suggested the Government urgently develop a Have a Gap Year at Home campaign targeting young Australians including school leavers and university graduates.

The campaign should appeal to young Australians patriotism and their sense of adventure, enabling them to see their own country and earn money, appeal to young people who had planned to take a year off to travel and work overseas [and] provide young people with work and work experience opportunities at a time when there are fewer casual jobs available to young people, the report read.

Additionally, the Government should consider discounting HECS/HELP loans for young Australians who take on the work.

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Certainly [regarding] the gap year, uni students aren't going to be able to go to Europe and South-East Asia the way they would have in previous years. Getting them to do a bit of adventure tourism within their own nation and go and experience rural life, we think is a positive.

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A Gap Year at Home scheme not only provides the chance to fill labour shortages but gives young people a greater sense of their own country, the chance to meet Australians from other parts of the country and the opportunity to learn more about industries which are vital to our national prosperity, the interim report read.

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-17 00:06:23|Editor: huaxia

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ACCRA, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- At least seven people were killed and several others injured in a road accident on the Accra-Cape Coast highway in south Ghana on Wednesday, local police confirmed.

The spokesman for the Central Regional Command of the Ghana Police Service Evans Ettie told Xinhua that the accident happened when a passenger vehicle traveling from Takoradi to Accra collided with a minibus traveling from the opposite way.

"Three persons died on the spot, two others died on arrival at the Apam Catholic Hospital, while two others died later on admission," Ettie said.

The injured, including two drivers, are receiving treatment at the Apam Catholic Hospital, he added. Enditem
On Sept. 6, The Canadian Press reported that a public inquiry into the death of Indigenous protester Dudley George at Ipperwash Provincial Park in 1995 concluded that then Ontario premier Mike Harris and the federal government were responsible. To clarify: while the inquiry found no evidence to suggest that either the premier or any official in his government was responsible for Mr. George's death, it also found the premier could have urged patience rather than speed, and that such decisions effectively foreclosed the possibility of finding ways to end the standoff peacefully. The report also found: The federal government, the provincial government and the OPP must all assume some responsibility for decisions or failures that increased the risk of violence and made a tragic confrontation more likely. The Canadian Press apologizes for any misunderstanding.
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Did Ohio legislators finally get their comeuppance for that sleazy bill they passed last year to let wealthy residents of a Stark County suburb get out of the school district they share with less wealthy people? A federal judge has struck down the law change, saying it violated the Ohio Constitutions ban against state legislators combining multiple unrelated topics into a single bill.

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Cochin Shipyard: Company has paid the bid amount of Rs 65 crore for Tebma Shipyards as per the approved resolution plan, making it a wholly owned subsidiary of company.

IRB Infrastructure Developers: Company's subsidiary VM7 Expressway executed Concession Agreement with NHAI for the project of eight lane access controlled Expressway of Vadodara Mumbai Expressway (Gandeva to Ena Section) in Gujarat.
New Delhi, Sep 16 : In could lead to a major crack in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Bihar ahead of the crucial state Assembly polls scheduled later this year, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leaders have demanded to field candidates on the seats contested by the ruling Janata Dal-United (JD-U).

The LJP also asked the BJP to contest on more seats than the ruling JD-U in the state.

According to a highly-placed LJP source, the demands were raised during the meeting of all the MPs and former MPs of the party at the residence of LJP supremo Chirag Paswan here.

A party source present in the meeting told IANS that all the MPs and former MPs of the LJP demanded that the BJP should contest more seats than the JD-U in Bihar.

"Former MP Kali Pandey demanded that the LJP should announce candidates on seats which are being contested by the JD-U in the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections," the source said.

The LJP and the JD-U have been trading barbs at each other over last few months. Chirag Paswan has openly criticised Nitish Kumar over the handling of the migrant workers' crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic and the floods in the state, besides writing to the Bihar Chief Minister on several occasions. However, Nitish Kumar has not responded to any of his letters.

During the September 7 meeting of the LJP parliamentary board, the party decided to draw up the candidates' list for 143 out of 243 seats in the state. Its leaders reportedly demanded that the party must not contest the elections under Nitish Kumar's leadership.

The party source said that during the meeting, the party leaders also hailed the projects launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Bihar in the last one week.

The LJP leaders also slammed the Bihar government over the rise of 'officialism' in the state, the party source said.

During the meeting, Chirag Paswan and all the other party members opposed the works being done by Nitish Kumar in Bihar and accused him of not fulfilling his poll promise of providing three decimal land to the poor in the state.

The party leaders also passed a resolution condemning the statement of JD-U MP Lalan Singh's on the Prime Minister.

They also welcomed the statement of JD-U General Secretary KC Tyagi that LJP did not have an alliance with his party.

The LJP source further said that Chirag Paswan had held a meeting with BJP President JP Nadda on Tuesday night, where both the leaders discussed the projects inaugurated by Narendra Modi in the poll-bound state.

The party source close to the LJP chief said that during the meeting, Chirag Paswan had asked Nadda to contest more seats than the JD-U. The source also claimed that the meeting of the two leaders ahead of the announcement of the poll dates was a positive sign.

The LJP, which fought the 2015 Assembly elections with the BJP as an ally partner, had contested 55 seats and managed to win just two.

The Election Commission had said earlier this month that the elections for the 243- member Bihar Assembly will be completed by November 29.

(Anand Singh can be contacted at anand.s@ians.in)
Disappointment about canceled trips goes beyond feeling sad. For many, travel  and anticipating travel  is a type of self-care. (Getty Images; illustration by Micah Fluellen / LA Times)

Chances are, youve had to cancel vacation plans in the last five months. You probably felt bummed about it  and guilty for mourning lost trips while the COVID-19 pandemic has caused others to lose much more.

It turns out that disappointment about canceled trips goes beyond feeling sad. For many, travel  and anticipating travel  is a type of self-care. We tend to use something to look forward to as part of our self-care routine, said Taisha Caldwell-Harvey, a psychologist and chief executive of the Black Girl Doctor.

Now, because of the unpredictable nature of the pandemic, would-be travelers are stuck in a holding pattern, said Caldwell-Harvey. It's always a struggle to keep yourself uplifted. [Now] it's like everyone's trying to do it with both hands tied behind their back.

Some use travel as a way to disrupt anxiety and racing thoughts  both before and after a trip. You've never been to the Hawaiian Islands, and you try to predict what its going to look like. That's the kind of soothing thought that puts you to sleep, said Tom Gilovich, a professor of psychology at Cornell University. And after your trip, youre able to compare your expectations to the reality you experienced, which can also feel gratifying, he added.

Why does anticipating travel enhance our well-being? And what happens when we no longer have trips to anticipate?

The emotional system is really geared toward steering people to engage with good things and to avoid bad things, said Leaf Van Boven, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Colorado at Boulder. This is why thinking about future events can elicit stronger emotions than reminiscing about past events. Have you ever felt as if your anticipation of a trip was more pleasurable than the trip itself? This is why, Van Boven added.

Some good news: A lack of vacation plans doesnt necessarily add stress to your life. However, with no trips to anticipate, you have less beautiful things to think about when youre feeling down, Van Boven said.

Story continues

Fortunately, there are ways to re-create the positive feelings associated with looking forward to a trip.

When were focused on day-to-day responsibilities and the latest tragedy in the news, it can be hard to be excited about the future. And yet, devoting attention to the future is key to receiving the benefits of anticipation, Van Boven said. We have to do that mindfully, because it doesn't otherwise happen naturally ... especially now that we're doing less extravagant vacations.

Planning day trips and other low-key getaways is a great way to get psyched for the immediate future. And it turns out that these smaller excursions can result in some of the same benefits as lavish travel abroad. The benefits of experiential consumption can be quite modest, said Gilovich. Hopefully, people are taking local trips and ... using hiking trails and bike paths in their communities that they didn't use before.

Take a moment and make a list of parks and attractions near your home that friends from out of town might like to visit. Have you experienced them all? It's a rare person that has really taken full advantage of all this around them locally, Gilovich said.

If you dont have many amenities around you, then perhaps theres something you can do. For example, if your area doesnt have hiking trails, Gilovich recommended mobilizing with others to advocate for more paths in your community. It doesn't have to be elaborate. This can be a local thing where you get a bunch of people in a hiking group, he said. Suddenly, you do have enough people that might make a difference so that you can get your local or state government to grant access and provide support for turning an old railroad bed into a hiking trail.

Besides the hiking opportunities you create in the process, you will have made more friends. There's so much evidence that when people are socially connected, they just feel better. And you don't have to go far to increase your social connection, Gilovich said.

You also dont need to leave your home to re-create some of the positives of a vacation. For Caldwell-Harvey, its all about creating as many moments of true joy as you can  like that feeling you get when you bust out laughing and get that burst of emotion in you that feels really good, she said. Anytime you can create that emotion, it impacts your overall well-being ... it actually compounds. And so it ends up leading to a happier life. And finding moments of joy in your day-to-day life can take the shape of something as small as a specialty tea you treat yourself with, Caldwell-Harvey said.

She recognizes that people, particularly Black and brown Americans who are confronted with news of racial violence, may feel invalidated by the near constant barrage of upsetting news  and guilty for finding ways to continue to enjoy life.

Still, she says, its critical to find moments of joy amid stress and pain  this may even help you avoid developing mental health challenges later in life, she said. You're ensuring your health and the health of your family down the road by taking care of yourself today.

Caldwell-Harvey has one last tip for anyone looking for a moment of joy amid the pandemic, courtesy of a colleague who plans four-hour vacations in her home. She orders her favorite food, she has her wine ... doesn't bring the phone in there with her, and she completely vibes out, listens to music and does whatever she wants to do.

So its worth remembering that the next time youre feeling stressed and could use a vacation to look forward to, a joyful escape could be closer than you think.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Biden has questioned whether Trump is pressuring agencies like the US Food and Drug Administration to sign off on a vaccine to boost his re-election prospects

Here's what you need to know about the coronavirus right now:

Biden to outline how he would oversee vaccine

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden will lay out on Wednesday how, if elected, he plans to develop and distribute a safe coronavirus vaccine, seeking to draw a contrast with US President Donald Trump's approach to combating the pandemic.

Biden will deliver remarks in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, after getting briefed by public health experts.

The speech is part of a delicate balancing act the former vice president has struck in recent weeks, as Trump has suggested a vaccine could be approved ahead of the Nov. 3 election.

Biden has questioned whether Trump is pressuring agencies like the US Food and Drug Administration to sign off on a vaccine to boost his re-election prospects.

UK testing in chaos

Amid growing anger over a bottleneck in Britain's creaking coronavirus testing system, the government promised to do whatever it takes to boost laboratory capacity that has left people across the land with no way to get a COVID-19 test.

In an attempt to slow one of the highest coronavirus death tolls in the West, Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised in May to create a "world-beating" system to test and trace people exposed to the virus.

But repeated attempts by Reuters reporters to get COVID-19 tests failed, while at a walk-in testing centre at Southend-on-Sea in eastern England hundreds of people were queuing to get a test - some from as early as 0500 GMT.

Russia to sell 100 million doses of vaccine to India

Russia's sovereign wealth fund has agreed to supply 100 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine, Sputnik-V, to Indian drug company Dr Reddy's Laboratories, as Moscow speeds up plans to distribute its shot abroad.

The deal comes after the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) reached agreements with Indian manufacturers to produce 300 million doses of the vaccine in India, which is a major consumer of Russian oil and arms.

Dr Reddy's, one of India's top pharmaceutical companies, will carry out Phase III clinical trials of the vaccine in India, pending regulatory approval, RDIF said in a statement. Deliveries to India could begin in late 2020.

The agreement comes as India's coronavirus cases surged past 5 million.

China inoculates before vaccine trials completed

China is inoculating tens of thousands of its citizens with experimental coronavirus vaccines and attracting international interest in their development, despite concerns among experts over the safety of drugs that have not completed standard testing.

Aiming to protect essential workers and reduce the likelihood of a resurgence of the pandemic, the vaccines are also grabbing attention in the global scramble by governments to secure supplies.

China's approach runs counter to that of many Western countries, where experts have warned against authorising the emergency use of vaccines that have not completed testing, citing a lack of understanding about longer-term efficacy and potential side effects.

Australia on track to relax extended hard lockdown

Australia's Victoria state on Wednesday said the daily rise in infections in its coronavirus hot spot of Melbourne has eased further, putting it on course to relax an extended hard lockdown in the city by the end of the month.

Construction sites, manufacturing plants, warehouses and childcare facilities can reopen, allowing more than 100,000 workers to return to their jobs, if the 14-day rolling average is under 50 cases as of Sept. 28.

From late Wednesday, in regional Victoria, outdoor gatherings of up to 10 people will be permitted, residents of a household will be allowed to visit one other home, and cafes will be able to seat up to 50 people outdoors.

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File photo shows the national flags of China (R) and the United States on the Constitution Avenue in Washington, capital of the United States. (Xinhua/Bao Dandan)

BEIJING, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese defense spokesman on Sunday expressed firm opposition to a recent report released by the U.S. Department of Defense.

Wu Qian, a spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense, said the report titled "Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2020" is further proof of the U.S. intent to smear China and its military.

China deplores and firmly opposes the action by the U.S. side, Wu said.

The report deliberately distorted relations between the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese military, misinterpreted China's national defense policy and military strategies, and hyped up the so-called "Chinese military threat," Wu said.

The U.S. side issued such reports in the past 20 consecutive years, Wu said, describing it as a blatant act of hegemony and provocation that has severely hurt bilateral and military-to-military relations.

China has lodged stern representations with the U.S. side, Wu added.

Stressing that the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the people's armed forces under the CPC leadership, Wu said upholding the Party's leadership is the soul of the PLA and the PLA is committed to whole-heartedly serving the people.

China follows the path of peaceful development and adheres to a national defense policy that is defensive in nature, said Wu, adding that China's military development is aimed at safeguarding the country's sovereignty, security and development interests.

"It does not target any country, nor does it pose a threat to any other country," Wu said.

Wu reiterated that there is only one China in the world, and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China.

He said tensions across the Taiwan Strait are primarily caused by the Democratic Progressive Party's attempts to bank on foreign support and use of force to resist reunification, as well as the external anti-China elements' attempts to use Taiwan to contain and divide China.

Citing the U.S. wars and military actions against countries such as Iraq, Syria and Libya over the past two decades, Wu said the United States has proven to be the one that instigated regional chaos, violated international order and destroying world peace.

Wu said the Chinese military will faithfully put to practice the vision of building a community with a shared future for humanity, firmly safeguard the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter, actively take part in regional security cooperation, and promptly provide international public security goods.

"The Chinese military is committed to safeguarding world peace, contributing to global development, and upholding international order," Wu said.
There are a lot of eligible contenders for Oustanding Short Form Variety Series, but "Jimmy Kimmel's Quarantine Minilogues" outshines everything else -- at least in our Emmys 2020 prediction.

Of course, the show is facing tough competition. After all, the nominees for the award include TBS' "Beeing at Home With Samantha Bee," Netflix's "Between Two Ferns With Zach Galifianakis: The Movie," Apple TV's "Carpool Karaoke: The Series," and Youtube's "The Randy Rainbow Show."

However, while seeing these titles from the biggest streaming networks and platforms can be intimidating, Jimmy Kimmel's quarantine program still has a distinct advantage over the others.

For Enstarz's Emmys 2020 prediction, we take a look at why "Jimmy Kimmel's Quarantine Minilogues" should win Oustanding Short Form Variety Series.

The Host Makes Viewers Laugh and Informed

People know how funny Jimmy Kimmel can be, but the 52-year-old host also uses his influence to spread awareness during the pandemic.

In one of the more remarkable episodes of "Jimmy Kimmel's Quarantine Minilogues," he addressed the health crisis in the most entertaining way by suggesting a "framework for your day."

His other guidelines include "Binge Responsibly" (or only watch three movies or five shows per day), "Scream in the Car" (when everything feels like they are already getting out of hand), and "Check in on Your Loved Ones" (which is pretty much self-explanatory).

While Kimmel delivered them in the most playful way possible, the fact that he reminded everyone that they are not alone in this battle certainly leaves a lasting impact that should help its Emmys 2020 bid.

It Supported Causes Amid the Pandemic

Many short forms continued to air during the pandemic, but only a few of them aired for a cause. Kimmel's show was one of the few.

When the late-night show host began shooting the episodes at home, the whole team chose to donate something to a cause every day during the quarantine.

"Hi, it's Jimmy. I hope you and your friends and your family are as well as can be expected in our new post-apocalyptic world," Kimmel said during one of the episodes. He then announced that "No Kid Hungry" would be receiving donation from the show as they start their charitable cause.

"No Kid Hungry" is an organization that aims to provide young people with healthy food, especially those kids who only depend on school meals.

Jimmy Kimmel Connects With its Audiences Naturally

For the sake of the quarantine minilogue, Kimmel gave up his suit to do some vlogging for the viewers.

Some celebrities in Hollywood find it very hard to show the other side of them. Even when they are vlogging, they make sure that they are presentable enough not to change people's perspectives of them.

But treat "Jimmy Kimmel's Quarantine Minilogues" different, as our Emmys 2020 prediction topnotcher offered genuine stories about Kimmel and those who are close to him.

With that said, the short form variety series proved that it is always the lessons that matter the most, not the production cost.

READ MORE: Emmys 2020 Prediction: 3 Reason Why Ted Danson Should Win Best Actor in a Comedy Series
Samsungs first phone under Galaxy F series will come with a triple-rear camera setup and rear-mounted fingerprint sensor. Here is what we know about the new Samsungs smartphone series for India.

After Galaxy M and A series of phones, Samsung is working on a new smartphone series for the Indian market. Called Galaxy F, Samsungs new series will focus on the budget segment. The Galaxy F is expected to debut in India later this month.

Ahead of the official launch, details of the first smartphone under the upcoming Galaxy F series have leaked online. Called Galaxy F41, the phone will look identical to the current premium Galaxy M and Galaxy A phones. A leaked user manual reveals the phone has a waterdrop-like notch on the front.

The back panel houses a triple-rear camera setup. It also has a fingerprint sensor on the back. There is also a 3.5mm headphone jack. The leaked manual also hints at a dual-speaker setup, reports GSMArena.

According to reports, the Galaxy F41 will sport a 64-megapixel primary camera sensor, USB Type-C, and dual-SIM support.

SM-F415F = Galaxy F31 (not a foldable phone *clear throat)

Priced under 30k in India

Release sometime in the last week of September or 1st week of October  Chun (@chunvn8888) September 14, 2020

Alongside the leaked manual, Samsung Galaxy F41 has made a pit stop at Geekbench benchmarking website. The listing hints the phone will run on Exynos 9611 processor, the same chip that powers the likes of Galaxy M51 and Galaxy M31s phones. The phone is also expected to come with 6GB of RAM.

The smartphone, sporting model number SM-F415F, scored 348 and 1,339 points on the single and multi-core tests respectively. The benchmark scores hint at its mid-range-level capabilities.

As said earlier, Samsungs Galaxy F series phones will be priced between 15,000 and 20,000. The phones will also focus on the camera. The first phone under the Galaxy F series is expected to be available via online retail channels only. The company may later make the phone available to offline channels as well.
The merchants of Armenia are again demonstrating in front of the main building of the government.

They are dissatisfied with the new customs regulations in the country, and demand that they remain the same.

These demonstrators had had a meeting with chairman Edvard Hovhannisyan of the State Revenue Committee on this matter, but again they were dissatisfied.

"We want a meeting with the Prime Minister [Nikol Pashinyan] to find a solution to the issue. Let the Prime Minister resolve our problem, let him not even meet [with us]," said one protester.
The Department of Human Resources & Payroll

The Office of Human Resources and Payroll at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts recognizes our most important resources are our faculty, administrators, and staff. Our office is here to support the entire community of MCLA employees.

In furthering this mission of the College as well as embracing the diversity and excellence of the Campus, we strive to provide our employees dedicated professional support encompassing job searches, benefits, professional development, and personal growth.

We ensure compliance will all College policies, state and federal laws, and applicable bargaining units.

Forms, Policies, Acc't Codes

Employment Opportunities
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept. 16, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GT Gold Corp. ("GT Gold" or the "Company") (TSX-V: GTT) today announced the appointment of Ms. Lana Shipley as non-executive director of GT Gold. The appointment aligns with the Companys continuous improvement strategy through the expansion of expertise and diversity of personnel at the Board of Directors (the Board) level. A corporate lawyer specializing in Indigenous and environmental law, Ms. Shipley will contribute significant expertise relevant to the Companys operations on and around the traditional territories in northwestern British Columbia, where the Tatogga property is located.



On behalf of the Board, I am thrilled to welcome Lana and look forward to working together in leveraging her insight and experience, commented Mr. Ashwath Mehra, Executive Chairman of GT Gold. Lana's experience and understanding of Indigenous and environmental law in relation to project development in the mining industry will be a huge asset for us as we as we build on the momentum of our maiden resource estimate and chart the future of GT Gold in this exciting new area of prospectivity in British Columbia.

Ms. Shipley has over 14 years of experience practicing corporate and commercial law in Canada. She is a Partner at Lawson Lundell LLP in Vancouver, working with public and private companies in a wide range of industries, including mining, energy and natural resources, and advising public companies on regulatory matters, continuous disclosure and corporate governance practices. Ms. Shipleys Indigenous and environmental law practice involves assisting with the negotiation of impact benefit and other agreements with Indigenous groups in relation to proposed developments, as well as permitting and regulatory matters that arise in the development of both large and small projects. Ms. Shipley holds both a B.A.Sc. and an LL.B. from the University of British Columbia.

The appointment is effective immediately. Ms. Shipley will be nominated for election at the Companys next Annual General Meeting.

Options Granted to New Appointee

In connection with the Board appointment, the Company has issued 300,000 stock options at an exercise price of $1.55 per option, and valid for a period of five years from the date of grant. The options vest in three equal tranches as follows: one-third at one year from the date of grant, an additional third at two years from the date of grant, and the final third three years from the date of grant.

About GT Gold

GT Gold Corp. is focused on exploring for base and precious metals in the geologically fertile terrain of British Columbias renowned Golden Triangle. The Companys flagship asset is the wholly-owned, 46,827 hectare Tatogga property, located near Iskut, BC, upon which it made two significant discoveries in 2017 and 2018 at its Saddle prospect: a precious metal rich vein system at Saddle South and a gold rich copper porphyry system at Saddle North.

For further information, please contact: GT Gold Corp. GT Gold Corp. Paul Harbidge Shawn Campbell President and Chief Executive Officer Chief Financial Officer Tel: (236) 427 5744 Tel: (236) 427 5744 Website: www.gtgoldcorp.ca info@gtgoldcorp.ca

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (together, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, are forward-looking statements. Generally, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of terminology such as "plans", "expects, "estimates", "intends", "anticipates", "believes" or variations of such words, or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors disclosed under the heading Risk Factors and elsewhere in the Companys filings with Canadian securities regulators, that could cause actual results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing these forward-looking statements are reasonable based upon the information currently available to management as of the date hereof, actual results and developments may differ materially from those contemplated by these statements. Readers are therefore cautioned not to place undue reliance on these statements, which only apply as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed times frames or at all. Except where required by applicable law, the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. 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.
DAVIS, Calif., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The University of California, Davis (UC Davis) opened the first phase of The Green at West Village student housing project, adding more than 1,000 beds to the University's West Village neighborhood. Once the entire project is complete, the housing complex will add nearly 3,300 beds to the campus, making it the largest student housing development currently under construction in the US. Students officially moved into Phase I on Sept. 15.

UC Davis welcomed its first students to the first phase of its new West Village community. Photo Image by Johnny Stevens.

The full $575 million in project costs will come from the proceeds of a tax-exempt bond sale, the largest bond sale ever in the US for a student housing project. The Michaels Organization, a national leader in residential real estate, is working with global design, architecture, and engineering firm Stantec, which is providing lead architectural, interiors, buildings engineering, and landscape architecture services for the project. CBG Building Company is the general contractor.

Once completed, the project will be comprised of nine four-story apartment buildings along with indoor and outdoor community space and recreational fields across 34 acres. A 10,000-square-foot community building will house a fitness center, multipurpose room, and support services. With its expansive solar electric arrays, The Green contributes to the overall neighborhood goal of zero net energy, which means the project is designed to generate as much energy as it uses within a year.

During Phase I, the team delivered the first three residential buildings, a utility building (including workspace for operations and maintenance staff), as well as outdoor courtyards between the residential buildings for students to gather. Each apartment building includes furnished bedroom and living spaces, full kitchen and common space, as well as social and study areas on each floor.

"This student housing community demonstrates what is possible when the public and private sectors form partnerships, leveraging the strengths of both," said Joe Coyle, president of Michaels Student Living. "We are thankful for the leadership of our University partners and honored to deliver this affordable, sustainable living environment for the students of UC Davis."

"We're excited to hit this critical milestone  on schedule," said Richey Madison, Stantec principal, West Coast Education. "This year has presented unprecedented obstacles with the ongoing impacts of the pandemic, and to see the first wave of students move into The Green is humbling for our entire public-private partnership team. This is a truly transformative project for the UC Davis student body, and one we are proud to help deliver."

The apartment community will be operated by Michaels Student Living Management. Collegiate Housing Foundation will hold the ground lease with the University of California. UC Davis Student Housing and Dining Services will be responsible for marketing, leasing, and on-site residence life support services.

The Michaels Organization offers full-service capabilities in development, property management, construction, and finance and is committed to crafting Communities that Lift Lives.

Contact: Laura Zaner; [email protected]

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the-green-at-west-village.jpg

The Green at West Village

UC Davis welcomed its first students to the first phase of its new West Village community. Photo Image by Johnny Stevens.

SOURCE The Michaels Organization
China is inoculating tens of thousands of its citizens with experimental coronavirus vaccines and attracting international interest in their development, despite expert concerns over the safety of drugs that have not completed standard testing.

China launched a vaccine emergency use programme in July, offering three experimental shots developed by a unit of state pharmaceutical giant China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) and U.S.-listed Sinovac Biotech. A fourth COVID-19 vaccine being developed by CanSino Biologics was approved for use by the Chinese military in June.

Aiming to protect essential workers and reduce the likelihood of a resurgence, the vaccines are also grabbing attention in the global scramble by governments to secure supplies, potentially helping reframe China's perceived role in the pandemic.

Beijing has not released official data on the uptake in domestic targeted groups, which include medical, transport and food market workers. But China National Biotec Group (CNBG), the Sinopharm unit developing two of the emergency use vaccines, and Sinovac have confirmed that at least tens of thousands of people have been inoculated. Additionally, CNBG said it had given hundreds of thousands of doses; one of its vaccines requires an individual receive two or three shots to be inoculated.

Also read: COVID-19 crisis: China's vaccine may be available for public use in November

Beijing has engaged a public, top-down approach to endorse the experimental vaccines and foster community support. Among those lining up for shots early on were the chief executives of Sinovac and Sinopharm and the military's research chief.

The chief biosafety expert at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed this week that she too had been injected in April as she announced the potential that at least some of the vaccines would be ready for public use as early as November.

"So far, among the people who who were vaccinated, no one has been sick with the disease," Guizhen Wu said on state TV. "So far, (the vaccination scheme) works very well. No side effect occurred." Wu's comments were broadly in line with comments by CNBG last week that none of tens of thousands of people who travelled to high-risk countries and regions after being vaccinated had been infected, and there was "no case of obvious adverse reaction".

SAFETY CONCERNS

China's approach runs counter to that of many Western countries, where experts have warned against authorizing the emergency use of vaccines that have not completed testing, citing a lack of understanding about longer-term efficacy and potential side effects. Anna Durbin, a vaccine researcher at Johns Hopkins University, described China's emergency use programme as "very problematic," saying it was impossible to judge efficacy without a clinical trial standard control group.

"You're vaccinating people and you don't know if it's going to protect them," Durbin told Reuters, adding recipients of the experimental vaccines could eschew other protective measures. Vaccine safety came into sharp focus last week when AstraZeneca Plc paused late-stage clinical trials of its COVID-19 vaccine, one of the most advanced in development.

Also read: China's Sinopharm rejects high prices for COVID-19 vaccine; not to cost over $144.2 for two shots

The company resumed British trials over the weekend after receiving the green light from safety watchdogs, and, along with other leading Western vaccine makers has pledged to uphold scientific study standards and reject any political pressure to rush the process.

Russia is one of the few other countries to authorise the use of an experimental vaccine, making its own "Sputnik V" vaccine mandatory for certain groups including teachers. India is considering emergency authorization for a vaccine, particularly for the elderly and people in high-risk workplaces.

FOREIGN BUYERS

The UAE authorized the emergency use of a Sinopharm vaccine this week, the first international emergency clearance for one of China's vaccines, just six weeks after human trials began in the Gulf Arab state. UAE officials reported mild and expected side effects, but no severe side effects, during those trials.

CanSino has been approached by several countries, a source familiar with the discussions told Reuters, adding the military's approval helped attract foreign interest. The person declined to name the countries engaged in talks.

Also read: COVID-19 vaccine: Novavax aims for 2 billion doses with Serum Institute deal

CanSino, which has trials planned in Pakistan and Russia for the vaccine developed with China's military research unit, did not respond to a request for comment. Zhang Yuntao, CNBG vice president told Reuters his company has received interest from foreign countries to buy about 500 million doses of its experimental vaccine.

"China clearly wants to reorient that narrative in a way that it is viewed as a solution rather than a cause of the pandemic," Yanzhong Huang, Senior Fellow for Global Health, Council on Foreign Relations, a U.S.-based think tank. "That narrative, ironically, may become more convincing when Trump's America First approach denies many countries opportunities to access the U.S.-made vaccines."

Also read: Serum Institute gets nod to resume clinical trials of Oxford COVID-19 vaccine in India

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday vowed to prioritise China and Russia in his country's global shopping for a vaccine, saying his government had already had talks with both. He said China was unlike other countries seeking a "reservation fee" or advance payment.

"The one good thing about China is you do not have to beg, you do not have to plead," Duterte said. "One thing wrong about the western countries; it's all profit, profit, profit."
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No day is dull on the National desk. We arrive at work  which now means striding a few steps from our beds to our laptops  and the barrage begins. Will it be a raging wildfire today that occupies us? Or another grim police shooting? Will coronavirus cases surge in a new part of America? Or will cars line up by the scores, their occupants in search of food? Reporting on all this, and making sense of it, is what we do.

Nobody who covers national news in 2020 is at a loss for meaning in the work. It overwhelms us all, coming by morning, by noon and by night. Earlier in the year, before we left the newsroom for our homes amid the coronavirus outbreak, we gathered as a staff to put our mission into words, part of an effort to focus our resources on what matters most.

How do you get a team of 45 busy journalists scattered around the country who do a wide range of jobs  breaking news, telling deep narrative stories, building ambitious visual articles, tracking coronavirus cases  to agree on a unified mission statement? In our roles as national editor and the desks director of operations, we held a few brainstorms with our colleagues in New York, Miami, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Boston, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston and Albuquerque, asking both serious and icebreaker questions:

What voice or tone should the National desk speak to you in?

What role could the National desk play in your family/friends lives?

What would be on the National desk tombstone? (Dont worry, were not going anywhere.)

Then we sifted through the answers to come up with some key themes that define us. Our mission statement, we believe, captures the essential work that Mike Baker is doing in the Pacific Northwest. He covered the virus outbreak at nursing homes in Seattle and then traveled to Portland, Ore., to cover the protests against police abuse.
Protesters in Belarus are seeking the resignation of Alexander Lukashenko, denouncing his landslide re-election in the August 9 vote as rigged and demanding an end to his 26-year rule.

The US and the European Union have criticised the election as neither free nor fair, and urged Mr Lukashenko to start talks with the opposition  a call he has rejected.

Sergei Naryshkin, director of Russias Foreign Intelligence Service, claimed in a statement carried by Russian news agencies on Wednesday that the US has funded the Belarusian opposition and encouraged the protests.



The US is playing a key role in the current developments in Belarus

It effectively amounts to a thinly-veiled attempt to stage another colour revolution and an anti-constitutional coup, the objectives and tasks of which have nothing in common with interests of citizens of Belarus, Mr Naryshkin said, in a reference to the colour-coded uprisings that swept out unpopular leaders in Ukraine and other ex-Soviet nations.

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Mr Naryshkin added that his agency has information that the US is playing a key role in the current developments in Belarus. He alleged that the US has earmarked tens of millions of dollars to finance Belarus opposition groups.

In a long speech to top Belarus officials on Wednesday, Mr Lukashenko accused the US and its allies of spearheading the push to unseat him through carefully prepared protests.

We had the vote and got the result, period, he said. Its time to stop stirring up society.

Mr Lukashenko did not provide evidence to back his claim that the US had any involvement in the demonstrations.

He charged that the Czech Republic, Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine all played a major role. All those countries have denied similar claims by Mr Lukashenko in the past.

The Belarusian 2020 scenario is a combination of the most effective colour destabilisation technologies that have been tested in various countries, he said. They obviously count on the scale and duration of protests to wear us down and exhaust our resources. We arent relaxing and stand ready to respond to any challenge.

His main challenger in the election, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, dismissed his comments as an attempt to divert public attention from rigging the vote and the violent crackdown on protests.

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There is just one reason behind the protests in Belarus and its known to everyone: Lukashenko has lost the vote, but he doesnt want to step down, Ms Tsikhanouskaya told The Associated Press in a written comment. People have denied Lukashenko their trust and support and demand that he leave.

On Mr Naryshkins comments, she added: Its an internal political crisis, and the protesters demands contain nothing regarding relations with other countries or a shift in Belarus foreign policy course. Mr Naryshkin should better understand that instead of airing dated propaganda cliches.

The pressure has pushed Mr Lukashenko to further cement ties with Russia, his main sponsor and ally. The neighbouring countries have a union agreement and maintain strong political, economic and military ties.

Russian president Vladimir Putin announced a new 1.15 billion loan to Belarus on Monday when he hosted Mr Lukashenko for four hours of talks in Sochi.

The Belarusian opposition has condemned Moscow for offering a financial lifeline, warning that it would tarnish future ties between the countries.

Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reaffirmed Wednesday that Moscow sees Mr Lukashenko as Belarus legitimately elected leader.

Mr Naryshkin charged that the US has taken Ms Tsikhanouskaya, who moved to Lithuania after the vote under the authorities pressure, and other Belarusian opposition activists under its close patronage to promote them as future leaders of the country.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 10:33:17|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- No new locally-transmitted COVID-19 cases were reported Tuesday across the Chinese mainland, the National Health Commission said Wednesday.

Meanwhile, 12 confirmed COVID-19 cases arriving from outside the mainland were reported -- four in Sichuan, and two each in Shanghai and Fujian, and one each in Zhejiang, Guangdong, Yunnan and Shaanxi, the commission said in its daily report.

No new suspected COVID-19 cases or new deaths related to the disease were reported, the commission said.

On Tuesday, 11 COVID-19 patients were discharged from hospitals after recovery, the commission said.

By the end of Tuesday, a total of 2,665 imported cases had been reported on the mainland. Of them, 2,522 had been discharged from hospitals after recovery, and 143 remained hospitalized. No deaths from the imported cases had been reported.

As of Tuesday, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases on the mainland had reached 85,214, including the 143 patients still being treated.

Altogether 80,437 people had been discharged after recovery, and 4,634 had died of the disease on the mainland, the commission said.

There were no suspected COVID-19 cases on the mainland, while 6,576 close contacts were still under medical observation after 569 were discharged Tuesday, according to the commission.

Also on Tuesday, 16 new asymptomatic cases, all from outside the mainland, were reported.

The commission said 361 asymptomatic cases, including 360 from outside the mainland, were still under medical observation.

By the end of Tuesday, 4,975 confirmed cases including 102 deaths had been reported in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), together with 46 confirmed cases in the Macao SAR and 499 cases including seven deaths in Taiwan.

A total of 4,646 COVID-19 patients in the Hong Kong SAR, 46 in the Macao SAR, and 476 in Taiwan had been discharged from hospitals after recovery. Enditem
Attorney General William P. Barr said in a recent interview that the United States would be irrevocably committed to the socialist path if President Trump was not re-elected, and he accused government workers of working to thwart the administration. The statements cast Mr. Trumps opponents, and possibly Mr. Barrs own employees at the Justice Department, as essentially un-American.

Theres now a clear fork in the road for our country, Mr. Barr said in a wide-ranging interview with Chicago journalists, an audio recording of which drew wider attention on Tuesday after it was published on Monday.

Mr. Barr has emerged as one of Mr. Trumps strongest defenders ahead of what could be a bitterly contested presidential election, one that Mr. Barr described as the most significant in a lifetime.

During the interview, he acknowledged that as attorney general, he is not supposed to get into politics, a norm that his predecessors have followed to preserve the appearance that in the United States, justice is meted out fairly, regardless of political affiliation.
New Delhi:

Different sorts of pulls and pressures regarding seat sharing seem to be delaying efforts to form a "grand secular alliance" in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh. In an indication to this effect was available on Wednesday with AICC General Secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad saying that it could "even take 100-hours" to declare the details about the anti-BJP combine.

"It can take 48-hours and it can even take 100-hours", Azad merely said in reply to a host of questions on the possible alliance from reporters at the AICC headquarters. He declined to answer further questions.The statement of Azad, who is General Secretary in charge of UP, was at variance with his Tuesdays remarks in which he had said that the nitty-gritty of the alliance would be decided in the next two days.

Also Read: UP Polls 2017 | Decision on alliance with Congress will be taken in a day or two but ties with father unbreakable: Akhilesh Yadav

On Tuesday, he had declared that the Congress has decided to tie up with Samajwadi Party and the shape of the formation would be announced in the next two days. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, who heads the Samajwadi Party, had also said on Tuesday that a decision on tying up with the Congress will be taken in a "day or two".

Also Read: UP Elections 2017: Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance 'almost done', Ghulam Nabi Azad says details will be announced in next two days

Hectic efforts are underway to hammer out such an alliance with Congress being offered 90 to 100 seats by the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party, which is also trying to rope in as a junior partner the RLD, which was once a stronghold of Ajit Singh. Uttar Pradesh has 403 Assembly constituencies where Akhilesh's party would be contesting the majority of seats.

The refrain in several opposition parties including Congress and SP was that the Narendra Modi-led BJP should be stopped in Uttar Pradesh as the electoral outcome would have a major bearing on the next Lok Sabha polls.

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To reach complete literacy in the state, the Uttarakhand government will soon start work on an action plan to find out where it lacks and what more needs to be done.

Uttarakhand stood third with 87.6 % literacy rate last week as per a report based on the National Statistical Office.

Following this, Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat during a meeting with senior government officials on Tuesday said that an action plan should be made to achieve 100% literacy in the state.

We should also link this phase of Covid-19 with literacy campaign. For this, efforts should be made to prepare complete data again. We have to focus on arrangements like Each One Teach One. We all have to work together in this direction to make our state 100% literate, said the chief minister.

Read More| International Literacy Day 2020: Kerala most literate state in India, check rank-wise list

Mukul Kumar Sati, additional state project director, Samagra Sikhsha Abhiyan, said that initiatives like Room to Read, help of NGOs, regular review classes are being undertaken in the state to ensure complete literacy.

In 2001, right after the state was formed, the gender gap in literacy stood at 27%. By 2011, the gender gap came down to 17%, due to various efforts of the state education department to ensure that more students are enrolled in schools and the dropout rate is less. We have various initiatives of interactive education now to keep the children engaged and also make sure that they go back home and educate their family members also in some or the other manner, said Sati.

He added that starting initiatives like Room to Read with the help of NGOs in the state has helped change the attitude of students a lot.

When the students see a colourful library full of books, they are inclined towards reading from a young age. We have learnt from our students only that when they go back home with these books, their family members are also interested to know more. The students in some manner are becoming the agent of change and educating their family members also, added the official.

District magistrates in the state have also started initiatives like installing sanitary pad vending machines in schools to promote personal hygiene among girl students and encourage them to come to schools.

Last month, Swati Bhadouriya, district magistrate of Chamoli district instructed officials to install the machines in schools which have a maximum number of female students.

There is no difference between boys and girls, the society will survive only when daughters are saved. This message needs to reach each and every village and it is important to make people aware on the balancing of the sex-ratio. Schools that have maximum number of girls in the district should be listed and sanitary pad vending machines should be installed in such schools, to encourage girls to come to school, said the district magistrate.

In January, while meeting all district magistrates as part of the IAS week, chief minister Rawat had said that all bureaucrats should set November 9, 2020, as the target for complete literacy in the state.

If every person decides that he will make an illiterate person literate, then the goal of complete literacy can be achieved. We should set the target of November 9, 2020 (state foundation day) for complete literacy in the state and work towards it in mission mode, said Rawat. The state will complete 20 years of states formation on November 9 this year.

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New Delhi:

US technology major Google is acquiring Twitter's mobile application developer platform Fabric, a move which could give some breathing room for the social network after charting an independent path without a suitor.

Terms of the deal were not announced.

Twitter last year was in talks to sell itself with several firms including Google parent Alphabet, but without a deal decided to continue on an independent path, cutting jobs and refocusing on its core services.

The sale of Fabric will shift to Google the platform used by developers for mobile apps.

"When we launched Fabric in 2014, our goal was to provide the best tools to help developers create amazing apps," the Fabric team said in a blog post.

"We enter the next chapter for Fabric and are pleased to announce that we've signed an agreement for Fabric to be acquired by Google and for our team to join Google's Developer Products Group, working with the Firebase team."

Google Firebase product manager Francis Ma said buying Fabric will "continue the great work that Twitter put into the platform," adding that "our missions align closely help developers build better apps and grow their business."

Twitter has been in a reorganisation phase as it seeks to hit profitability for the first time, and to boost user growth which has been stagnating in comparison with other social networks.
OXFAM India report paints grim picture of India's tryst with e-learning amid pandemic

Despite the hype about digital instruction in India's school education system, at least 80 per cent of the parents of children going to government schools and 59 per cent of the parents of students going to private schools said that absolutely no online education was imparted to their children during the COVID-19 lockdown.

These are just two data points from the many contained in a grim status report on state of government and private schools during the COVID-19 pandemic by OXFAM India. The report surveyed 1158 parents and 488 government school teachers across five of Indias poorest states: Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh.

While government and private schools across India jumped on the e-learning bandwagon after the lockdown, the survey results show that most government teachers were not able to adapt to the new mode of teaching. At least 84 per cent of the teachers in government schools struggled with delivering education via digital mediums. Two out of every five teachers lacked the necessary devices to deliver education digitally, with UP and Chhattisgarh faring the worst.

Several recent media reports have highlighted how innumerable teachers in government and private schools struggled to use a simple web cam or mobile phone to teach students. A government school teacher was also quoted by a newspaper as saying that she didnt even know to recharge her mobile.

Ankit Vyas, the author of the Oxfam India report, stressed on developing basic infrastructure of schools first  electricity connection, computer lab etc  and ICT training of teachers before proceeding down the path of digitisation. He added that 35.6 per cent of the countrys elementary schools lack an electricity connection and 63.2 per cent of schools have no functional computer.

Not just teachers, but also 80 per cent of the parents of children attending private school and 75 per cent parents of students enrolled in government schools complained that they had difficulty accessing online education. No or poor internet connectivity and expensive data packages were the two biggest impediments, as per the report.

While the Supreme Court in March instructed the states to ensure mid-day meals were given to students during school closure, the ground reality seems to be bleaker. As per the survey, 35 per cent of the children did not get the meals. The remaining 65 per cent were not really better off  only 8 per cent received cooked meals while 53 received dry rations, the report noted.

Uttar Pradesh fares the worst where 92 per cent children have been deprived of their mid-day meals (in any form) while Chhattisgarh fares the best where over 90% children have received mid-day meals, the report said. However, this observation, particularly about UP, was in sharp contrast with that of the Centre, which on Monday had placed the Yogi Adityanath-led government on top for disbursing Food Security Allowance to students.

The continued closure of schools, the issues surrounding mid-day meals and the excessive focus on e-learning could lead to at least a third of the government school students, especially from marginalised sections, quitting studies. Several previous studies had shown a positive relationship between mid-day meals and school enrolment. However, one health crisis could now strain Indias efforts towards achieving full school enrolment.

Despite struggling with digitisation issues, private schools moreover added the burden of hiked fees on parents. The report said that 39 per cent of parents reported paying hiked fees for the Academic Year 20-21 despite state governments urging schools to either defer or reduce the fees. In the case of Uttar Pradesh and Odisha, over half of the parents had to pay hiked fees, the report noted.

Particularly, in Odisha, where the CM only appealed to private schools over fee hike, 35 per cent respondents said they were pressurised to pay fees. To avoid such a scenario from repeating itself, the report rightfully stressed upon better regulation of private schools to protect the rights of parents.

The report also reiterated the non-inclusive nature of private schools, noting that boys were more likely to be more enrolled than girls. Amid the bleak economy scenario accentuated by the lockdown, the report also highlighted that at least 50 per cent of the respondents spent at least one-fifth of their income on private schooling. With the economy likely to post bleak numbers next quarter too, the shabby state of e-learning infra along with high data costs could probably deprive students coming under the Right to Education criteria of e-education.

With schools set to be re-opened in a phased manner, several stakeholders would get involved in ensuring a smooth transition to the post-COVID era. Batting for better Centre-states co-ordination for tackling the issue, Vyas suggested that both need to consult with civil society, teachers and community members to understand challenges on the ground and develop specific guidelines for schools.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has a narrow lead over President Trump in Wisconsin, and a significant lead in Minnesota, in two new polls from The Washington Post and ABC News.

Biden in the Wisconsin poll released on Wednesday leads Trump 52 percent to 46 percent among likely voters in the key state, while among all registered voters, he leads the president 50 percent to 46 percent. The poll's margin of error for likely voters is 4.5 percentage points. When registered Wisconsin voters were asked who they trust more to handle crime and safety, Biden and Trump tied at 48 percentage points. Biden, however, led Trump by 10 percentage points when voters were asked who they trust more to handle the "equal treatment of racial groups."

Previous polls have showed Biden leading in Wisconsin, which Trump narrowly won in 2016 by fewer than 25,000 votes, but the Post writes that this latest survey shows how Trump's "law-and-order message has so far failed to translate into significant support or change the dynamic of the race" in the state where the police shooting of Jacob Blake last month sparked protests.

The Wisconsin survey also finds "some shifting" since 2016, the Post reports, as Trump has a 10-point lead among white voters without degrees, a group he carried nationally by over 30 percentage points four years ago.

Meanwhile, another Washington Post-ABC News poll of Minnesota showed Biden leading Trump by 16 percentage points among likely voters, 57 percent to 41 percent. The margin of error in this poll was also 4.5 percentage points. The Post writes that Trump's "large deficit" here was "rooted in lukewarm support among" white voters without college degrees, although it notes that this poll's finding "warrants caution given his narrower lead in Wisconsin."

The Wisconsin poll was conducted by speaking to a random sample of 802 adults over the phone from Sept. 8-13, while the Minnesota poll was conducted by speaking to a random sample of 777 adults during the same period. Read more at The Washington Post.

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RALEIGH, N.C., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Rating agency A.M. Best has affirmed Curi's financial strength rating of "A" (Excellent) for a seventeenth consecutive year, along with a long-term issuer credit rating of "a+" (Excellent). Their outlook for these credit ratings is stable.

According to the independent rating agency, the "A" rating is assigned only to select companies that, in A.M. Best's opinion, have an excellent ability to meet ongoing insurance policy and financial obligations. The ratings reflect Curi's strong balance sheet and consistent operating performance, which has outperformed the industry and the medical professional liability composite. In addition, Curi has realized favorable underwriting performance and investment income.

"Seventeen consecutive years of 'A' ratings from A.M. Best are an important recognition of our consistent financial performance and strong foundation," said Curi's CEO, Dale Jenkins. "While many other companies are facing challenges, this foundation allows us to deliver on our commitment to serve and support our physician members and their practices, even in the midst of the unprecedented challenges facing the healthcare industry today."

For more information on A.M. Best's 2020 rating of Curi, click here. For more information on Curi's recent financial performance, see the company's 2019 Annual Report at curi.com/annual-report/2019.

About Curi

Curi (www.curi.com) is the premier provider of products, services, and experiences for physicians and those who support them. From professional liability and other lines of insurance, to wealth management and advisory services, the companybuilt by doctors for doctorshas been passionately curious about identifying new ways to meet the ever-evolving needs of physicians since it was founded as Medical Mutual Insurance Company of North Carolina in 1975.

About A.M. Best

A.M. Best is the world's oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

SOURCE Curi

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Taoiseach Micheal Martin, Tanaiste Leo Varadkar and Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, arriving at the unveiling of the Irish Government's blueprint for living with Covid-19 in Dublin. Photo: Julien Behal/PA

The Governments new plan for living with Covid-19 was plunged into chaos amid communication blunders and a virus scare that impacted the entire Cabinet.

Ministers were forced to restrict their movements while awaiting the outcome of Health Minister Stephen Donnellys coronavirus test.

With the rate of new cases continuing to skyrocket, Cabinet ministers were told to avoid contact with anyone from outside their household. Mr Donnellys test last night came back negative.

The development followed confusion over new restrictions for Dublin, where the number of new cases is continuing to spike, with 218 recorded in the capital.

Read More

The Cabinet decided against moving Dublin into a higher category of restrictions than the rest of the country.

However, it is understood the National Public Health Emergency Team will advise more severe measures as soon as tomorrow.

Official Government advice on the first phase of restrictions for Dublin were amended and updated on at least two occasions after the plan for Living With Covid-19 was published.

Speaking at a press conference, Taoiseach Micheal Martin failed to outline in detail the new restrictions in place for Dublin.

This includes a ban on more than two households meeting, a limit of 100 people at any outdoor sporting event, and the postponement of pubs that don't serve food from reopening next week.

The official advice also says that people living in Dublin should be "encouraged to limit travel outside the region, and only meet one other household when outside the county".

However, while the advice was being published online, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly told RTE's News At One that people living in Dublin could "absolutely" travel outside the county.

The Taoiseach then came under fire in the Dail, where Labour Party leader Alan Kelly accused Mr Donnelly of "contradicting" the new plan.

A new Dublin lockdown risks much more severe economic consequences than the lockdowns in Kildare, Laois and Offaly, economists have warned.

The capital is host to one-third of all jobs and accounts for 43 of every 100 generated in the economy.

Later yesterday afternoon, Mr Donnelly was advised to seek a test for the virus after he became unwell following the launch of the plan. Some ministers reported that their Fianna Fail colleague appeared visibly unwell at the Cabinet meeting.

Hours later, the acting chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn, who advised Mr Donnelly to consult with his GP, issued advice that those who attended the meeting should restrict their movements out of an "abundance of caution".

It was later confirmed that Dr Glynn was also restricting his movements having attended meetings with the Health Minister in recent days.

On a dramatic day for the coalition, it also emerged that Green Party leader Eamon Ryan was already restricting his movements at home as a family member was being tested.

European Affairs Minister Thomas Byrne was also self-isolating after developing a "mild cough".

A short time after the news of Mr Donnelly being unwell, at 5.15pm, Ceann Comhairle Sean O Fearghail informed the Dail that the Cabinet was being forced to "self-isolate" and that the House would be suspended for the rest of the week.

However, the Government later said senior ministers were being told to restrict their movements rather than self-isolate, meaning they have to avoid contact with others as much as possible rather than remain indoors and effectively quarantine.

The decision to suspend the Dail was reversed within the hour amid pressure from the Opposition. Alan Kelly rang the Taoiseach, who later confirmed that junior ministers would stand in for members of the Cabinet and speak on behalf of the Government.

The Dail was returning because "we believe Ministers of State can take certain issues and represent the Government", Mr Martin said.

The Cabinet was being cautious because there were a number of meetings Mr Donnelly attended, including when he briefed the whole Cabinet on the Living with Covid-19 plan.

Mr Martin stressed that he would continue to work, via Zoom and on the phone. "I will be at my desk," he said.

A spokesperson for Mr Donnelly said: "The Minister for Health began to feel unwell this afternoon.

"He contacted his GP and has been referred for a Covid-19 test."

Mr Donnelly, who had been due to take ministerial questions in the Dail last night, left the Department of Health and went home.

Later last night it was confirmed that the test result had come back negative for Covid-19.

One source close to the Minister said he would "hate the attention" caused by his becoming unwell and having to seek a test.

Justice Minister Helen McEntee was live on Drivetime on RTE Radio One when the news broke.

"I'm afraid that's the first I'm hearing of this," she said. "The last information I had to date was that Minister Donnelly had been informed he was to take a test."
Anna Vakili has discussed her one-year relationship with her mystery boyfriend for the first time.

In an exclusive interview with MailOnline, the Love Island star, 30, admitted that while the couple are in a 'serious' romance, they're 'not ready' to get married or have kids just yet.

The pharmacist also touched on what she's been keeping busy with during the pandemic, as she's joined her sister Mandi, 28, to launch their new FIYAR collection with clothing brand Peachland, catering to 'women of all shapes and sizes'.

EXCLUSIVE: Anna Vakili has discussed her one-year relationship with her mystery boyfriend for the first time

Curvaceous bombshell Anna first rose to prominence during her stint on Love Island, where she embarked on ill-fated flings with Sherif Lanre, Ovie Soko and Jordan Hames.

Shortly after leaving the Mallorcan villa last summer, the media personality embarked on a new relationship, but has kept mum on her partner's identity ever since.

'He's a private person who doesn't have Instagram', the TV star, who has teased her beau in her cheeky Instagram captions, told us.

She also admitted that while they're going strong, tying the knot and starting a family are not priorities for the pair.

'F**k society's stereotypical standards!' The Love Island star, 30, admitted the 'serious' couple are 'not ready' to get married or have kids just yet (pictured on his arm last month)

Impressive: The pharmacist has joined her sister Mandi, 28, to launch their new FIYAR collection with clothing brand Peachland, catering to 'women of all shapes and sizes'

Anna explained: 'I think I feel pressured to get married and have kids because of my age. I do want to marry him in the future. Coming from a Middle Eastern background, being married and having kids by 30 is very much pushed onto us.

'I don't care as I'm not going to give in to the pressure, I'm not ready to get married or have kids, I'm having too much fun. F**k society's stereotypical standards!'

Despite not wanting to be in the public eye, her cheeky man interrupted her interview to joke: ' I consider our relationship to be very serious, but if I go public, I'd have 300-400 girls messaging me as I'm so handsome.

'I don't want to create this drama, I want to preserve the love. I believe the Instagram lifestyle is for fashion mostly, it's not for me.'

Past: The curvaceous bombshell first rose to fame during her stint on Love Island, where she embarked on ill-fated flings with Sherif Lanre, Ovie Soko and Jordan Hames (pictured)

''He's a private person who doesn't have Instagram!' The media personality has kept mum on her partner's identity and only refers to him in her Instagram captions (one pictured above)

''I think I feel pressured because of my age': She also admitted that while they're going strong, tying the knot and starting a family are not priorities for the pair (pictured with her parents)

Elsewhere in the discussion, the influencer reflected on her experience on the ITV2 dating series and how it has produced a wide range of opportunities for her.

The Twickenham native said: 'I wish I didn't take it so seriously, I dealt with things in the villa like I would outside. If I could turn back time, I would have taken things more lightly.

'It's so surreal, I watched it for years and I'm grateful to have had that opportunity. It's paved the way for us to have our own collection together, it's like a dream come true.

'Success isn't all about the money, it's about being able to do things with my sister that I couldn't do before, creating things, and being content and comfortable.'

'It's a dream come true to have a collection with my sister': The influencer also shed light on how the ITV2 dating series has produced a wide range of opportunities for her

Blessings: 'We used to text each other from our different workplaces and would talk about how amazing it would be if we worked together, and now we can', her younger sibling added

'We used to text each other from our different workplaces and would talk about how amazing it would be if we worked together, and now we can. It's weird', her younger sibling added.

During the start of lockdown, Anna returned to work as a pharmacist to help out during the COVID-19 crisis.

On whether her comeback was a long-term plan, she said: 'I dip in and out of it. When Covid was at its peak, I went in on a consistent basis.

'As people we're coming back to work, I didn't feel like I was needed as much so I decided to put my focus on the collection. I'm still going to pop in and out of being a pharmacist as I studied for it for so long, so if I ever need it, I can always go back.'

'I dip in and out of it': During the start of lockdown, Anna returned to work as a pharmacist to help out during the COVID-19 crisis

The Instagram model has teamed up with her sidekick Mandi to launch their inclusive collaboration with Peachland, available from Wednesday.

Revealing the driving force behind their fashion edit, Anna said: 'We want the collection to embrace all women of all sizes. It's very inclusive.

'As Mandi and I are really tall and have really big boobs, it's really difficult to wear clothes from other brands as they have capped cup sizes. We want to give off powerful energy from or collection.'

The FIYAR collection with Peachland is available now and features 100 pieces, available in sizes 6-16 and priced from 10-40.
Parents are torn about whether they trust that schools will safeguard their childs health while they attend in-person classes during the coronavirus pandemic, as uncertainty continues to swirl about whether opening school buildings is the right move for districts.

Overall, half of parents responding to a survey conducted by the EdWeek Research Center said they had a somewhat-to-very high level of trust that schools will keep their children healthy. Thirty percent of parents said they had a low-to-nonexistent level of trust in their childs school. And about 21 percent said that they were on the fence, with equally high and low levels of trust. The results do not add up to 100 percent due to rounding.

But parental feelings on whether they trust schools varied based on their race, ethnicity, education level, and political affiliation. That aligns with a separate analysis in July by the Brookings Institution, which found that districts were more likely to be open to in-person learning if they were in communities that voted for President Trump four years ago, regardless of the local share of coronavirus cases.

The EdWeek Research Center survey found that Black parents, at 39 percent, parents who said they plan to vote for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, at 37 percent, and Latino parents, at 33 percent, were more likely than overall respondents to say they had low, or no, trust that schools could keep their children safe.

In contrast, parents who said they plan to vote for President Donald Trump in the upcoming presidential election and parents who are university graduates were more likely than other parents to report that they believe their childrens schools could safely handle in-person learning. Sixty-one percent of Trump voters reported high levels of trust, as did 56 percent of respondents with a bachelors degree or higher.

Shenetria Jackson, a mother of three elementary-age students who attend the Pasadena District in suburban Houston, is keeping her three children enrolled in remote learning. The district is offering the choice of remote or virtual instruction. Jackson, who is Black, is undergoing treatment for cancer. Shes also lost an aunt to coronavirus and has worried as local infection rates have risen.

You have all these elementary school kidsthey dont have patience for walking around with masks on for eight hours, Jackson said.

Zoila Carolina Toma, of Signal Hill, Calif., lives in an area served by the Long Beach Unified school system. The district has already planned to go fully remote, which matches what Toma already wanted to do for her family.

I cannot force teachers to go back to school, said Toma, who is Hispanic. I dont know what challenges theyre facing; I dont know if they have any underlying issues. If I want to keep my family safe, I need to make sure those teachers are safe.

The survey of more than 2,000 K-12 parents was conducted in late August. The margin of error is plus-or-minus 2 percent.

Longstanding Disparities

The pandemics impact has been felt in every part of the country, but some communities are far more likely to have been affected directlya possible explanation for the differing responses. Black, Latino, and American Indian people have been nearly three times more likely than white people to be infected with the coronavirus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Black people are twice as likely as white people to die from coronavirus-driven illness.

Another possible factor: The findings reflect pre-existing and longstanding problems that Black and brown parents have had with their school systems.

Its a function of being frustrated with how schooling was being done before, said Zakiya Sankara-Jabar, the national director of activism for Brightbeam, a network of educational advocates. They werent consulted as equitable partners in the education of their child.

Previous surveys conducted by other groups have found that Black and Latino people are less likely to want to return to in-person schooling. But Black and Latino people are also more likely to face challenges in accessing remote learning. The combination creates a profound equity challenge for families as well as school leaders.

But while Black parents were more likely to report having little trust in their schools, more than 4 in 10 still did.

Angela Davis, an African-American parent whose daughter attends 5th grade in Miamisburg schools in Ohio, said she understands the reservations that other parents may have about returning to in-person classes.

But she has sent her daughter back to school and happily so. The district has been overcommunicating with parentsin a positive wayand has offered a choice between in-person and remote learning, she said.

I get why some of the very large districts are more cautious. They have a lot more moving parts, Davis said. The smaller suburban districts have the ability to make more decisions like what were making. They have a small amount of kids in small buildings. Miamisburg enrolls roughly 5,000 students.

In the EdWeek Research Center survey, 12 percent of parents who said they will vote for Biden planned to send their children to full-time, in-person classes in public schools for the beginning of the 2020-21 school year, compared to 18 percent of respondents as a whole. Nearly half of Biden voters, 48 percent, said they would be enrolled in full-time remote, public school classes, compared to 39 percent of overall respondents. Among likely Trump voters, roughly 27 percent reported their children would attend full-time, in-person public school, 9 percentage points more than overall respondents. The same group was far less likely than respondents as a whole to report their children were attending full-time remote public school26 percent, or 13 percentage points less than the overall percentage.

Latino parents, Black parents and Asian parents were more likely than overall respondents to report their children would engage in full-time remote learning, at 42, 44, and 63 percent, respectively.

A majority of parents polled felt that schools had done an adequate job teaching them how to support their children academically and emotionally. Parents were more likely to say they had received sufficient assistance from their childs school on using educational technology66 percentthan for social-emotional support, at 54 percent.

Overall, education advocates say that parents are an important, and sometimes overlooked, partner in helping children overcome the upheaval of the pandemic crisis.

In the spring, Phoenix Union High School District in Arizona rolled out a plan to have staff members contact each of its 29,000 students every day, as part of supporting families through the transition to remote learning.

This is a mind shift away from viewing families as problems that needed to be solved, said Stephanie Parra, the president of the districts governing board and the executive director of the state advocacy group ALL in Education.

We view our community as an asset that must be engaged with, that must be invested in, that must be supported, Parra said.
Sushant Singh Rajput Death Anniversary: A Timeline of the of events that have transpired so far

At least 6 members of Sushant Singh Rajputs family killed in road accident in Bihar

HC notice to Centre over coverage of Sushant Singh case

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Mumbai, Sep 16: The Bombay High Court issued a notice to the Union government over a petition filed by an NGO seeking that the media be restrained from reporting on issues related to the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput and subsequent probe into the case.

This is the third such plea filed before the Bombay High Court.

A bench led by Chief Justice Dipankar Datta is already hearing two pleas, one filed by Pune-based filmmaker Nilesh Navlakha and two others, and another by eight former police officials from the state.

Sushant Singh Rajput drug probe: 3 accused in NCB custody till Sep 16

The court has now tagged all the three pleas together for a joint hearing on October 8.

The latest plea, filed by NGO 'In Pursuit of Justice', sought that the court widen the scope of the Contempt of the Court Act to include any obstructions that could hamper the administration of justice from the time an FIR is registered in a case.

It also sought that the "media be restrained from publishing or broadcasting" anything related to the case till the plea is decided finally by the high court.

"The recent spate of media reporting in the case of the untimely demise of actor Sushant Singh Rajput and the extent of media frenzy concerning all issues and non-issues involving the incident is quite disturbing," the plea said.

"It has given rise to an urgent need of finding an acceptable constitutional balance between free press and administration of justice," it said.

The plea also said the press has published Rajput's personal chats, statements of accused and hospital staff, and it has already "tried and convicted" the accused persons, called them names such as "murderer, gold digger and abettor".

Such reportage has transgressed rights of the parties concerned and is likely to prejudice the probe into the case, it said.

The court issued a notice to the Centre over the plea and said, "We'll hear all related matters together.
Ottawa, Sep 16 : Canada welcomed the US decision to drop tariff on Canadian aluminum imports.

At a press conference in Ottawa Tuesday afternoon, Canadian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland welcomed the decision. "This is really a day when common sense has prevailed." Freeland stressed that the US decision was not a negotiated agreement with Canada and the US government acted "unilaterally" and Canada does not accept the imposition of quotas.

"Should tariffs be reimposed, Canada will retaliate with perfectly reciprocal dollar-for-dollar tariffs," Freeland said.

Meanwhile, Canadian Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade Mary Ng said at the press conference that Canada did not concede anything in exchange for the US decision. "It is a testament to the Team Canada approach, as we all worked relentlessly to ensure these unjustified tariffs on Canadian aluminum were removed." US Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer announced Tuesday afternoon that the United States has dropped its 10 per cent tariff on Canadian aluminum.

"Average monthly imports are expected to decline 50 per cent from the monthly average in the period of January through July," he said. "Based on these expectations, the United States will resume duty-free treatment of non-alloyed, unwrought aluminum retrospective to September 1, 2020." "If actual shipments exceeded 105 percent of the expected volume for any month during the four-month period, then the United States will impose the 10 percent tariff retroactively on all shipments made in that month," he added.

The US statement was announced Tuesday afternoon before Canada was set to unveil retaliatory measures on US imports.

On Tuesday noon, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that his government will unveil its retaliatory measures against the US tariff later on Tuesday.

"We will be taking action to counter the unjust tariffs put on Canadian aluminum by the United States. As I've said many times we will always be there to defend Canadian workers, defend our aluminum sector," Trudeau said in a statement.

Last month, US President Donald Trump announced that he would impose a 10 per cent tariff on Canadian aluminum during a campaign speech in Ohio, citing national security concerns.

In response, the Trudeau government responded quickly by saying that Canada "intends to swiftly impose dollar-for-dollar countermeasures."
Dallas, TX, September 16, 2020 - Oberheiden & Bellhas opened a new office in Dallas, Texas. The practice will handle personal injury and related claims. The firm is expanding to meet the increasing demand for injury attorneys. Dr. Oberheiden, Founder of Oberheiden & Bell, stated, "I am delighted to announce the opening of our Dallas, TX personal injury office. I am positive we will make a significant contribution by attending to 
By Ayya Lmahamad

Turkish company "Bogazici Ventures" has opened a representative office in Azerbaijan, the Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies reported on September 15.

According to the report, representative office of the International Venture Fund, which finances startups and projects of the Agency for Innovations, has opened for the first time in Azerbaijan.

The company initially established an investment fund of $5 million for the development of Azerbaijani startups. It was also noted that it is planned to open several international venture funds in Azerbaijan.

During the ceremony to open the companys Azerbaijani office, Turkish Ambassador Erkan Ozoral noted that Azerbaijani is rapidly developing its non-oil sector, including information and communication technologies, adding that Turkey is ready to support the development of innovations in the country. Member of the Board of Bogazici Ventures Foundation and head of the Azerbaijani representative office Turan Almammadov also attended the opening ceremony.

It should be noted that "Bogazici Ventures" seeks to ensure rapid development of Azerbaijani startup projects and their entry into foreign markets by providing financial support, the report said. As a result of the active growth of local startups in recent years, it is expected that attracting attention to the region and launching a venture fund in Azerbaijan will play an important role in strengthening the economy of the region as a whole and turning country into a technological center.

Turkey is Azerbaijans second largest partner in terms of trade turnover. The trade turnover between two countries amounted to $2.8 billion during the first eight months of the year. At the same time, export amounted to $1.9 billion, while import to $983 million.

"Bogazici Ventures" invests in technological enterprises through its funds, ensuring their development in international markets. Thus, all startups that have passed the classification of startups compiled by the Innovation Agency and belong to categories A and B can apply to the investment fund Bogazici Ventures. The investment decision for startups will be made within the framework of international standards in accordance with the internal evaluation policy of the company.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
The following information, provided by the Fairfax County Police Department and formatted by The Post, shows selected incidents reported by police. Reported incidents did not necessarily occur, and they may be based on preliminary information that is subject to change as a result of further investigation. You can reach the police department directly at 703-246-2253.
A one-year-old infant who died from Covid-19 had a concentration of the virus in just a small part of the brain, suggesting it may have a limited ability to reproduce there, according to Brazilian researchers.

But it could still cause infection and trigger an excessive immune response that would damage brain tissue, according to the study, led by neuroscientist Stevens Rehen from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

The researchers concluded that the coronavirus does not efficiently spread into the brain, in a paper that has not been peer-reviewed posted on preprint server bioRxiv.org on Monday.

Get the latest insights and analysis from our Global Impact newsletter on the big stories originating in China.

Children are less likely to get infected with the virus or develop severe symptoms than adults  though much is still unknown about how it affects them.

However, soon after the first strain of the new coronavirus was identified, Chinese doctors found it could make some children seriously ill. The first child case was confirmed on January 20 in Wuhan, and by February 2 more than 700 children had been treated in hospital for the illness across China, according to a study by Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The youngest was just 55 days old.

Although symptoms in children are generally mild, in China about 10 per cent of infants under 12 months infected with Covid-19 have become critically ill or died from the disease.

In the case of the one-year-old, Rehens team found the strongest viral presence in the choroid plexus  the cells in the centre of the brain that produce a clear fluid to protect its tissues. It was not detected elsewhere in the brain, other than in trace amounts, indicating a limited reproduction ability, the paper said.

However, Covid-19 is known to be associated with a number of neurological symptoms, experienced by an estimated 30 to 60 per cent of infected patients, such as losing the sense of smell or taste, a burning or prickling sensation and a non-ordinary state of consciousness.

Story continues

There was also a sevenfold increase seen in the rate of stroke in patients aged under 50 in New York, according to a study over two weeks in March and April. Researchers writing in The Lancet Neurology this month said that was probably related to the presence of Sars-CoV-2 in these young patients, using the clinical name for the coronavirus.

To verify their observations, Rehens team challenged a cluster of artificially grown neural stem cells, or a neurosphere, with the virus. They found the viral strain could infect brain cells, but it could not replicate after entry.

Our data suggest that the human brain is likely a dead-end site for Sars-CoV-2, they said.

French doctors in Paris reported the worlds first case of a baby being infected in utero with the virus in July. The newborn suffered numerous neurological symptoms three days after birth, including muscle tension and spasms. The baby recovered and was discharged from hospital 18 days later.

Rehen and his colleagues said in the case of the one-year-old, while the infection appeared to be limited to the cells where fluid was generated, it could also have damaged a barrier that regulates the exchange of material in the brain. They said that would mean immune cells or signalling proteins such as cytokines could have then invaded the central nervous system, causing neuronal damage in the young brain.

But the Brazilian team cautioned that an unusually high viral load could be a factor in their findings.

There is still little direct evidence about the effect of the coronavirus on the brain. Researchers at the Yale School of Medicine in Connecticut found earlier that the virus could invade and reproduce in brain cells, while other studies have had negative results.

More from South China Morning Post:

This article Study on infant in Brazil suggests coronavirus does not efficiently spread into brain first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2020.
LONDON, N.H., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- For the second year in a row, Bobby Santos took home 1st place at the Musket 200 presented by Whelen. As he crossed over the finish line in his ThinkLite sponsored car, the Santos-ThinkLite bond was solidified as a partnership destined to win.

ThinkLite, a globally recognized LED technology company headquartered in Natick, Massachusetts, has evolved its offerings into indoor air monitoring and purifying solutions. The 12-year-old organization is teaming up with Santos to fight back against COVID-19 and bring clean air to schools across the country.

Bobby poses with the ThinkLite Flair Monitor in front of his winning car. (PRNewsfoto/ThinkLite) For the second year in a row, Bobby Santos took home 1st place at the Musket 200 presented by Whelen in his ThinkLite sponsored car. (PRNewsfoto/ThinkLite)

Schools have been a major area of concern throughout the COVID-19 pandemic for virus transmission, and like many other parents, Santos has been forced to navigate these unprecedented times for his own children. Santos and ThinkLite will be donating air quality monitors and clean air technology solutions to schools. This will allow students, parents and faculty to truly become aware and understand the level of pathogens and harmful germs in the air; thereby providing the opportunity to address it. The air purifying solutions consist of energy efficient lighting, combined with a photocatalytic cleaner that is sprayed on all surfaces. The two elements activate each other and continuously cleanse the air in real time as students and faculty congregate in an area.

In addition to ensuring safety, this is a valuable opportunity to provide education to students on what exactly is in their air.

"I'm so thrilled to be a part of this bond with ThinkLite," said Bobby Santos III. "Their mission to provide clean air to schools, and to ensure the safety of our students and next generation is admirable and inspiring. I'm excited to be a part of this mission, and to see the impact it makes on schools across the country."

With this commercial air quality monitor, school facilities will be able to see the pathogens that are in the air, including particulate matter that covers harmful viruses like influenza (flu), COVID-19 and its carriers. Along with monitoring, schools will have the option to target a high-risk area in their building and use the ThinkLite Clean Air Program to continuously cleanse their air of pathogens that could be dangerous for staff and students.

"We couldn't be happier about teaming up with Bobby," said Dinesh Wadhwani, CEO of ThinkLite. "As we have established ourselves as a leading technology company, we want to make sure we are always innovating to create high value solutions beyond energy efficiency. We are humbled to be able to offer our solutions to organizations that will truly benefit from our indoor air monitoring and purifying technology. We cannot wait to see the positive change our donations bring to students."

If your school is interested in connecting with ThinkLite to learn more about air safety and for air monitoring demonstrations, email [email protected]

Media Contact:

Lauren Ahern

[email protected]

1-781-964-2185

SOURCE ThinkLite
Protests comes in many guises.

Some involve enormous personal risk and sacrifice, like the unidentified Chinese man who stood in front of a column of tanks leaving Tiananmen Square in 1989, the day after Chinese military had suppressed student-led demonstrations by brutal, lethal force.

Or like the willingness of Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny to defy Putin's goons and risk lethal poisoning at any moment.

Others involve rather less courage and rather more gigantic dollops of pathetically hypocritical virtue-signalling.

Today, a large number of celebrities are boycotting Facebook and Instagram, which Facebook now owns.

Reality TV wastrel Kim Kardashian West led the 'movement' by posting the following message to her gazillions of followers: 'I love that I can connect directly with you through Instagram and Facebook,' she wrote, 'but I can't sit by and stay silent while these platforms continue to allow the spreading of hate, propaganda and misinformation - created by groups to sow division and split America apart  only to take steps after people are killed. Misinformation shared on social media has a serious impact on our elections and undermines our democracy. Please join me when I will be 'freezing' my Instagram and FB account to tell Facebook to #StopHateForProfit. Link in bio for more info on how to preserve truth.'

Kim Kardashian announced Tuesday that she will 'freeze' her Instagram and Facebook accounts because the platforms allow for hate and misinformation as a part of the #StopHateForProfit campaign

The 39-year-old reality star said that groups take advantage of the platforms to 'sow division and split America apart'. The effort is a part of the #StopHateForProfit campaign seeking to hold social media companies accountable for hate on their platforms

Comedian Sarah Silverman is also taking part in the boycott which will last 24 hours

Powerful words, and ones that were quickly embraced by scores of other famous names.

One of them was comedian Sarah Silverman who is also very keen to #StopHateForProfit.

Ms Silverman knows all about spreading hate on social media.

In the past few years she has tweeted that Donald Trump is a 'pathological nasty pig' and a 'c*nty fear monger', and called his father a 'racist c*nt.'

When the President mocked former democratic presidential candidate Amy Klouchar for talking about climate change while 'standing in a virtual blizzard of snow', Silverman tweeted him directly to say: 'No point in explaining how mind blowingly stupid this tweet is so I'm just gonna go with F*CK YOU, and also add that you are a smelly p*nis hole with balls that touch water. Eat sh*t, you greedy tw*t.'

Amy Schumer has also joined the boycott. The woman who once said: 'I used to date Hispanic guys, but now I prefer consensual'

Amy Schumer (left) and Kate Hudson (right) are among the celebrities taking part in the boycott

She expanded on her thoughts about Trump's genitalia after he criticized his predecessor Barack Obama.

'I'd love to see Trump say any of this sh*t he's saying about Obama to his face,' she tweeted. 'There's no way he'd have the labs to even do just that. He's an oozing shriveled p*nis hole of a man.'

It's not just Trump who annoys Silverman.

'I don't mean this in a hateful way,' she once tweeted, hatefully, 'but the new bachelorette's a f*ggot.'

On another occasion she tweeted a photo of herself in blackface with the caption 'I'm having minstrel cramps.'

And she posted this 'joke': 'I used to go out with a guy who was half black who totally broke up with me because I'm a f*cking loser. I just heard myself say that. I'm such a pessimist. He's half-white.'

Perhaps the real reason Silverman wants to get rid of 'hate for profit' is because she herself is a nasty foul-mouthed homophobic racist?

Another of the stars to join the boycott is film director Judd Apatow, who is also very active on social media, and has repeatedly called Trump things like a 'malignant narcissist', and a 'pig'.

Apatow once tweeted  and then deleted after it sparked outrage - footage of left-wing activists rioting violently outside University of California-Berkeley to stop far-right political commentator Milo Yiannopoulos making a speech - and said: 'This is just the beginning. When will all the fools who are still supporting Trump realize what is at stake?'

Hmmn, how does that open call for violence sit with wanting to stop violence?

Apatow also objected to People magazine, one of the world's least offensive publications, from running a positive story about Trump's family, raging on Twitter: 'F*ck People magazine. How disgusting. Selling their soul. Sell those mags! F*ck your employees.'

Lovely!

Movie star Amy Schumer has also joined the boycott. The woman who once said: 'I used to date Hispanic guys, but now I prefer consensual.'

And who tweeted: 'Enjoy skyfall f-gs. I'm bout to get knee deep in Helen Hunt #thesessions.'

It would appear that being a racist homophobe may be a specific requirement for stopping hate and division

As for Ms Kardashian West, perhaps she should focus on the constant stream of hateful guff that spews from the unhinged Twitter mouth of her husband Kanye West (he was at it again all last night) before lecturing the rest of us?

Even by the standards of celebrity virtue-signalling during this pandemic-ridden year, the new Facebook/Instagram boycott seems particularly pointless and self-serving.

On another occasion Silverman tweeted a photo of herself in blackface with the caption 'I'm having minstrel cramps'

Comedian Sarah Silverman shared on Instagram: 'Delete your Facebook account. Life is so much nicer without it. The only way to pressure Zuckerberg is his wallet'

These valiant crusading heroes are all doing this for  one day.

Yes, their sacrifice will last precisely 24 hours.

Then the fearless campaigners will go straight back to aggressively and cynically using Facebook and Instagram to boost their own profiles and profits, with many of them also going back to spewing the same vile hate that they profess to loathe in others.

Make no mistake, every single one of the big names taking part in this farce makes a fortune from those social platforms.

Leonardo DiCaprio wrote: 'I do use Instagram and Facebook, but I want it to be a force for good - not hate, violence, and disinformation.' Olivia Wilde wrote, 'These platforms are profiting off becoming a dangerous tool of discrimination'

Kardashian-West has ruthlessly exploited it to such a successful extent that she can now charge firms up to $1 million for a single Instagram post.

A one-day boycott will thus have zero impact on her ability to keep coining it in from the very same people she claims are failing the American people so badly by causing so much hate and disunity.

If she and her famous pals REALLY believe Facebook is such a malevolent force, then they should quit its platforms completely.

But they won't, because that would cost them millions.

CELEBRITY FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM BOYCOTT Amy Schumer, Ashton Kutcher, Ed Helmes, Isla Fisher, Jamie Foxx, Jason Alexander, Jennifer Lawrence, Judd Apatow, Kate Hudson, Katy Perry, Kerry Washington, Kim Kardashian, Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Michael B. Jordan, Naomi Campbell, Olivia Wilde, Rosario Dawson, Sacha Baron Cohen, Sarah Silverman, Scooter Braun. Advertisement

So, at the heart of this boycott lies an intellectual conceit based, in most cases, on pure commercial greed.

I also believe that their main target, Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg, is not the enemy here.

His only real 'crime' is that he believes passionately in freedom of speech, for everyone of any political persuasion.

That doesn't mean he wants unacceptable hate contaminating his platform.

Facebook now employs 35,000 people whose only job it is to remove hateful material. They're not going to stop it all, because that would be impossible, but they certainly can't be accused of turning a blind eye to it.

But what these protesting liberal celebrities really want is all material removed that THEY hate, not any hate that comes from their own mouths.

They demand Trump and his supporters be censored, for example, whilst reserving the right to be as viciously hateful as they wish towards them without any censorship.

And by publicly boycotting Facebook and Instagram like this, they're trying to use their celebrity power to bully and shame a company that defends free speech a hell of a lot more than they do.

If I were Zuckerberg, I'd call their sanctimonious bluff and announce that any of the stars involved who don't start posting again by 6pm tonight will be permanently banned from Facebook and Instagram.

Trust me, they'd all come scuttling back faster than Kim Kardashian-West rakes in dollars by posting topless bird-flipping selfies.
The 2020 election will be different in New Jersey.

Every registered voter will receive a mail-in ballot, but you still have the option to vote in person.

That means county boards of elections will still need to hire poll workers.

Some 26,000 poll workers are hired for a typical election, the states Division of Elections said.

But this year, the numbers are expected to only be between 15,000 and 17,000, the state said.

More than 1.5 million New Jerseyans have filed for unemployment benefits in the state since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, and poll workers get a $200 paycheck for the day.

But what will it mean for your unemployment benefits?

Nothing  for some. For others, the answer isnt quite clear.

If you worked on Election Day for a county Board of Elections, you do not have to report these earnings. Money earned from Election Day work does not reduce your weekly Unemployment Insurance benefit, the Labor Department website says.

The law is clear on this," Labor Department spokesman Thomas Wright said. "The Labor Department wont let paid work on behalf of our democracy at the polls on Tuesday, November 3rd impact an unemployment claim.

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage

When asked what happens for those who work more than just one day, as many will because of the need to count mail-in ballots, the Labor Department didnt clarify.

The Unemployment Compensation Law states that an unemployed individual, who is otherwise eligible, shall not be deemed unavailable for work or ineligible solely by reason of the individuals work as a board worker for a county board of elections on an election day, Wright said.

The law also states that an unemployed individuals weekly benefit payment should not be reduced by any monies paid to the individual by a county board of elections for work as a board worker on an election day, he said, adding, the Departments rules also use the phrase, an election day.

So it seems likely those who work on days other than Election Day may need to report those earnings when they certify for unemployment benefits.

If you want to work on election day, the counties are hiring. You can apply on the Division of Elections' website.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Karin Price Mueller may be reached at KPriceMueller@NJAdvanceMedia.com.
Wildfire smoke from the West Coast has now drifted as far as the East Coast, giving residents hazy skies and unusual sunrises.





According to a CBS News report, the West's wildfire smoke has spread all the way to Washington, D.C., taking over East Coast skies on Monday morning.

Mike Valerio of WUSA-TV caught the images of the hazy skies and the bright orange sun.

"NWS (National Weather Service) says this is smoke caught in the jet stream and moving overhead at about 20,000 to 25,000 feet," he said in a tweet on Monday.

The NWS Baltimore-Washington tweeted some satellite imagery of the smoke moving over the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions.

"This smoke is obscuring the sun, and will keep temperatures a few degrees cooler today than what would be observed if the smoke was not present," the agency said on Tuesday.

AccuWeather meteorologist Matt Benz told USA Today that a line could be drawn from California through Virginia with smoke.

He noted that pretty much every place north of that line had skies tainted with smoke, while areas in the south see less smoke because of air from the Gulf.

"Amazitraveledt wildfire smoke has travelled thousands of miles and finally has reached the East," Benz said. "It looks like clouds, but it is smoke. And we are stuck with this until the weather pattern changes."

Benz noted that a weak cold front from the East wouldn't be enough to clear the air in the coming days.

East is Safe, But West Still Sees Danger

The upside here is smoke on the East Coast is so high that residents do not breathe it. But that's not the case for the West Coast. Fires in there have already taken at least 36 lives and burned an area around the size of New Jersey.

The crisis forced over 220,000 people to flee their homes in California, Oregon, and Washington. Their return to normalcy could take weeks, as conditions in the states are still not safe for them to go back, the American Red Cross said Tuesday.

The National Interagency Fire Center said progress had been made against the fires. So far, six large fires were already contained, including two in Oregon.

Hazes Reported in Canada, Europe

The smokes from the fires have not just reached the far side of the country but also other parts of the world. There were reports of haze as far as Canada and Europe.

Images by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also showed smoke being pulled into a cyclone far out in the Pacific Ocean, reported The Guardian.

Dozens of wildfires have burned down some 4.5 million acres as of Tuesday. They have torn through towns in Oregon while also charring forests in California, Washington, and Idaho.

Ashes and smoke from the fires also resulted in dangerous air quality. California Governor Gavin Newsom compared the air quality to smoking 20 packs of cigarettes.

San Joaquin Air Pollution Control District Director Jonathan Klassen noted that smoke would come to the area no matter which way the wind is blowing.

"The valley is surrounded by fire, so no matter what happens, we will get smoke," he said.

Check these out!

West Coast Winds Seen to Fuel the Spread of Wildfires

Newsom Thanks Trump for Response to Wildfires

California National Forests to Close Due to Extreme Fire Threat
NORWALK  Surveillance footage released by the Norwalk Police Department on Monday shows a Norwalk officer interrupting a discussion between state Sen. Bob Duff and two other officers with a spitting gesture on July 24.

The captured moment depicts a key part of the incident in which the state Senate majority leader claims he was bullied by Norwalk police for his role in passing the police accountability bill in July.

The recently released footage, which has no sound and is about 35 minutes in length, shows Duff, and officers Mark Suda and Corey Vento speaking just outside a side door at the Norwalk Police Department.

Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut Media

Duff, leaning against a railing with his legs crossed, appears to be having a discussion with Suda and Vento when officer Mike Silva and an unidentified officer are shown coming outside.

The footage shows the unidentified officer looking in Duffs direction as Silva makes a spitting gesture near his own feet. The pair are then shown walking back inside.

Duff said he was invited to speak to the unions executive board on that Friday afternoon, two days after he hosted union leaders in his home to discuss the new legislation , which bans chokeholds and creates a decertification process that can end the hiring of officers fired from one department for law enforcement jobs in other Connecticut towns. It will also hold officers responsible for reporting fellow officers who violate standards.

On his arrival that day, Duff claimed he was greeted by officers using expletives demanding to know what he was doing there. Then, while discussing the legislation with the union leaders, others  rank-and-file members  entered the room in what Duff said was a show of force.

After the meeting ended, I was asked by an officer not on the executive board for a few minutes of my time. As we were talking, the single door opened and I saw one of your officers, and about twenty other officers behind him. He then looked at me in a menacing manner, and spit at me. Yes, spit at me, Duff said in an Aug. 20 letter to the Norwalk Police Union President David OConnor.

When reached for comment on Tuesday, Duff said he felt the video didnt adequately capture the incident.

OConnor admitted some officers were allowed into the meeting to ask pointed questions about the bill, but said the meeting was cordial in nature.

Right at the beginning of meeting, I told everyone to be respectful, OConnor said on Tuesday.

Duff also claimed that, as he drove away from the department that day, about 30 officers came outside and looked as if they were going to surround my car.

Whether that was their intention or not, I dont know, but it appeared to be another bullying and intimidation tactic, Duff said in his letter to OConnor.

Surveillance footage shows at least 13 police officers  including Silva  filing out of the Norwalk Police Department to stare down Duff as he drives out of the departments parking lot that day. In the video, Sgt. Salvatore Calise is shown directing the officers to remain on the sidewalk.

Moments later, the officers are seen walking back inside.

In an additional statement late Tuesday, OConnor said of the video, It is unfortunate that a misperception of a recent meeting with our officers has generated such division in our community. We hope that this footage helps to clarify some of these harmful misperceptions.

Our meeting with Senator Duff was not contentious, despite statements to the contrary, the statement continues. In fact, our meeting was cordial. ... No officer spit at Sen. Duff. After the meeting (as seen in the footage) an officer did make a spitting gesture on the ground on his way back in the building. He did not spit at Senator Duff as is made clear by the footage.

OConnor also said Duff left the parking lot safely and unobstructed.

Lets all temper our emotions during a time the public relies on leaders to forge solutions on their behalf, he said in the statement. Its time for everyone to work together and check their egos at the door on behalf of sound public safety and protecting our citizens.

Norwalk Police Chief Thomas Kulhawik, who is investigating Duffs complaints about the officers behavior, sat down with the state senator for a two-hour meeting last week. Though Duff called the meeting frank and honest, he said little was resolved.

Following the meeting, Norwalks police union voted unanimously to endorse a full slate Republican candidates running for the state legislature, including Ellie Kousidis, who is running against Duff.

Amid the fallout from the incident, local clergy members have called for a meeting with Kulhawik and Mayor Harry Rilling to discuss steps the city and the department are taking to ensure police accountability.
An ASX-listed property company has unveiled plans for Perth's first timber and steel office tower in Westralia Square.

GDI Property group, the same company that owns the Ikea building in Innaloo and several Perth office towers, has submitted a development application to the City of Perth for a $100 million hybrid 11-storey tower on the block between Mill Street and William Street.

Artists impression of the new steel and timber tower at Westralia Square.

GDI said because of the tower's lightweight construction it would take less time to construct that a traditional concrete tower at 20 months.

GDI managing director Steve Gillard said the investment would help boost the state's economic recovery and was an indication that there was strong business growth on the horizon.
Algerian journalist Khaled Drareni was jailed for two years on appeal Tuesday, a defence lawyer said, in a case seen as a barometer of press freedom in the North African country.

Drareni, 40, has been in custody since March and was sentenced in August to three years in jail for his coverage of Algeria's year-long anti-government demonstrations.

Although Drareni's sentence was reduced by a year from an August judgement, lawyers, colleagues and relatives of Drareni who had been hoping for a lenient judgement -- if not acquittal -- said they were shocked by the harsh verdict.

The journalist's brother, Chekib Drareni, said in a tweet that he was "disgusted, shocked and disappointed by the court's decision, which once again reinforces injustice in Algeria".

Lawyer Mustapha Bouchachi told AFP that Drareni's defence team "are going to appeal to the supreme court".

Drareni, editor of the Casbah Tribune news site and correspondent for French-language TV5 Monde, was found guilty of "inciting an unarmed gathering" and "endangering national unity".

He was also accused of having criticised on Facebook the "corruption and money" of the political system, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the press freedom watchdog for which Drareni also works.

The Minister of Communication Ammar Belhimer also criticised the journalist for working without ever having a professional press card, against a background of allegations of being in the service of "foreign embassies".

'Blind stubbornness'

The severity of the sentence triggered the indignation and anger of journalists who came to support him in court.

"We are outraged by the blind stubbornness of the Algerian judges who have just condemned (Drareni) to two years in prison," Christophe Deloire, RSF secretary general, tweeted after the verdict was announced.

"Khaled's detention proves the regime locks itself into a logic of absurd, unfair and violent repression."

Drareni was tried along with Samir Benlarbi and Slimane Hamitouche, two figures of the protest movement known as "Hirak".

Benlarbi and Hamitouche faced the same charges but were sentenced to four months in prison and released on time served.

The prosecutor had originally called for a four-year prison sentence for all three defendants.

Drareni has denied all charges against him.

"I am a journalist, not a criminal. I only did my job," he said.

'Won't give up'

The case of Khaled Drareni, photographed here in March, has become a barometer of press freedom in the North African nation. By RYAD KRAMDI (AFP/File)

Drareni, who appeared to have lost significant weight during the trial, has the support of a global solidarity campaign.

His supporters have demanded his "immediate and unconditional" release because of his "worrisome" health condition, according to RSF.

Drareni's trial comes in a context of increased repression against Hirak activists, political opponents, journalists and bloggers.

The Hirak movement broke out in February last year and led to the resignation of longtime president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, whose plans to run for a fifth term had sparked the protests.

Weekly demonstrations continued after Bouteflika's ouster to demand wholesale political change, but halted in March due to restrictions to end the novel coronavirus crisis.

Some journalists have been accused by the regime of sowing discord, threatening the national interest and being in the pay of "foreign parties", with several imprisoned and other trials ongoing.

Algeria ranked 146 out of 180 countries in the RSF's 2020 World Press Freedom Index.

According to prisoners' rights group CNLD, some 45 people are currently behind bars on charges related to the Hirak protests.

For Hakim Addad, a Hirak activist, "it is important to continue the movement, including media pressure but also political pressure, so that (the authorities) understand that we won't give up".
(Newser)  Outdoor clothing company Patagonia isn't beating around the bush when it comes to the upcoming election. The California-based brand is owning the message it quietly placed on the underside of the tag on newly made Regenerative Organic Stand-Up Shorts for men and women. It reads: "Vote the a--holes out," and it began attracting notice over the weekend. NBC News has this from Patagonia rep Tessa Byers: "We have been standing up to climate deniers for almost as long as we've been making those shorts," which were first released in 1973. However, Byers said the message isn't directed at the current administration.

story continues below

"It refers to politicians from any party who deny or disregard the climate crisis and ignore science  because their pockets are lined with money from oil and gas interests," Byers said, noting Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard has used the phrase for years. Back in 2017, Chouinard described the Trump administration as "evil." The following year, when Patagonia received a $10 million tax cut, Patagonia donated all of it to environmental programs, per CNN. Its website now spouts a call to vote against climate deniers in Senate races, noting "the strength of our nation's climate policies and the existence of our wild places" is at risk. Georgia state Sen. Jen Jordan, a Democrat, is on board. "As parts of our country are literally burning and being destroyed by the effects of climate change, this couldnt be more welcome," she says in a tweet. (Read more Patagonia stories.)
Unification Minister Lee In-young waves his hand toward North Korean soldiers observing his visit to the truce village of Panmunjeom, Wednesday. / Joint press corps



By Kang Seung-woo, Joint press corps



Unification Minister Lee In-young urged North Korea to put inter-Korean agreements into action, Wednesday, and return to negotiations amid a deadlock in bilateral relations.



He also called for an early restoration of consultation channels between the South and North, including a liaison office that was demolished by Pyongyang in June.



Lee's pleas came during his first visit to the truce village of Panmunjeom since his inauguration in July, and days ahead of the second anniversary of a summit between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang, Sept. 19, 2018, during which they signed agreements to reduce military tensions and bolster cooperation.



"Agreement must be kept and they can be completed by implementation," Lee said. "In order to complete the determination of the two leaders and restart the timeline for the South and North, joint efforts between the two Koreas should continue to move things forward."



He added: "I expect the North to respond to our call for the implementation of the joint agreements."






St. Catharines NDP MPP Jennie Stevens is appealing to Premier Doug Ford to address environmental hazards at the former General Motors site on Ontario Street.

Stevens penned a letter to the premier Wednesday requesting his government find a solution to ensure the site is immediately sealed to keep toxic materials from leaking off the site into the adjoining Twelve Mile Creek and neighbourhoods.

The St. Catharines neighbourhoods and residents across the region are alarmed and outraged to learn of potential toxic materials leaving this site, and that it has taken so long to address, Stevens wrote.

I join my constituents in requesting that the province act on containing potential toxic materials leaking out into the air and water and take all precautions necessary, to ensure compliance on the site.

Stevens sent a copy of the letter to Environment, Conservation and Parks Minister Jeff Yurek.

The letter is in response to a Ministry of Environment report from July which found February samples of surface water from Twelve Mile Creek and storm water runoff near the former GM plant had PCB and cadmium levels exceeding provincial water quality thresholds.

The findings were backed by independent consulting firm ELM for its client, Coalition for a Better St. Catharines, which released the August report this week.

The citizens group has been calling for a cleanup of the site and sent its own letters to two provincial ministries this week and Niagara Region Public Health.

Stevens said in an interview Wednesday the province has known since at least February about toxic leaking from the site and it needs to contain it and do whatever it has to do to get compliance.

We need the province and the minister to act now. Theyve been dragging their feet long enough.

Her letter asks the premier to provide assurances the province will expedite further testing and that the first consideration will be for the health of the environment and communities in St. Catharines.

Stevens, who contacted the ministry about clinker dust in Port Weller as one of her early acts as an MPP, said its important that residents, politicians and everyone in the area work together to ensure their voices are heard.

The Ministry of Environment is undertaking more water sampling this month to compare it to testing done during a February snow melt.

It conducted air quality tests around the plant in August. Results have not been released.

City council has requested the ministry present its findings to council when they are available.
If Joe Biden is going to rebuild the Democrats blue wall and win states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, and claim the White House, he will need to appeal to the working-class Democratic communities that put Donald Trump over the top in 2016. They include more than 200 counties that supported Barack Obama twice before voting for Mr. Trump.

Many of these places had long records of unbroken support for Democratic presidential candidates, some even stretching back to before the New Deal.

Mr. Biden needs to tune in to their cultural sensibilities if hes going to bring at least some of these pivotal former blue strongholds back into the Democratic fold. He is one of the few Democrats, as a child of working-class Scranton, Pa., capable of doing so.

We spent the past few years hanging out in bars, churches and town council meetings with these voters  whom we call Trumps Democrats. We interviewed nearly 100 people in three formerly blue strongholds that voted for Mr. Trump: Johnston, R.I., a suburb of Providence; Ottumwa, Iowa, a small industrial city and an inspiration for the setting of the Roseanne Barr show; and Elliott County, a tiny Appalachian community in northeastern Kentucky.
In a tragic accident, a Boston University professor was crushed to death by an elevator in her apartment building. The machine abruptly dropped, trapping her between the weight of the equipment and the floor.

A resident from the building, Eric Carmichael, told reporters that his wife was alarmed after seeing the woman's arms still holding a package.

Ungodly scream

Carrie O'Connor was a 38-year-old French lecturer from Boston University and was the victim of the horrific accident on Monday evening.

According to the New York Post, a man inside the building who saw the entire accident play out had to be taken to the hospital due to trauma.

Another resident of the apartment, Leanne Scorzoni, told reporters that she heard a person was carrying a package out in the hallway and instantly heard an "ungodly scream." She immediately went out to see what was happening and saw a man who was obviously hyperventilating and screaming "She's dead!"

The victim, O'Connor, had just recently moved into the apartment building which was located on Commonwealth Avenue a couple of weeks ago. She was going to the elevator while carrying a box on the first floor at around 5:15 p.m. when the machine instantly fell on her.

Resident Scorzoni told reporters that the traumatized man was trying to help O'Connor carry the box into the building. He noted that while he was on his way upstairs, he cautioned the victim to be careful because the lift was complicated to operate.

Also Read: Father Punches His Pregnant Wife Leading to Death of Newborn Child

Scorzoni said the elevator had a sensor that could be triggered if there something inside it, adding the machinery was quite old-fashioned. The man believes that whatever O'Connor was trying to place inside accidentally tripped the sensor, which led to the horrific event.

Other residents from the building said the roof of the elevator was visible from the lobby. Scorzoni added that the machine had gone down at least halfway through. Medical experts who performed the autopsy on the victim ruled her cause of death as "traumatic asphyxiation."

A similar tragic incident

Previously, a 46-year-old man was crushed to death under an elevator when he stepped into the machine's shaft Worli, Mumbai, as reported by Telegraph India.

The victim, Vishal Mewani, is the director of Kohinoor Electronics and was on his way to meet a friend inside the two-storey building. Mewani called for the lift, but when it arrived, he accidentally stepped into its shaft.

Mewani quickly realized his mistake and tried to get himself free from the machine. However, he was trapped, and as the elevator came down, he was crushed, said police officers.

Fire brigade officials who responded to the scene were able to pull Mewani out. They quickly brought him to the hospital where medical experts declared him dead on arrival.

Sukhal Varpe, the Worli police station's senior inspector, said Mewani was able to speak with his wife 30 minutes before the tragic accident and said that he was only there to meet a friend.

Related Article: Couple Beats, Starves, Imprisons 12-Year-Old Boy Who Died Covered in Feces Inside Filthy Room

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SINGAPORE, Sept. 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Collectius, the leading Singapore-based pan-Asian pioneer in debt management have partnered with IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, to launch a US$60 million regional investment platform solely dedicated to acquiring and resolving unsecured debt in Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and soon Vietnam. IFC has also become a minority equity shareholder in Collectius, at a post money valuation of US$80 million, taking the company's total capital raised to USD$123 million over six years.

The new initiative is IFC's first in Asia and aims to sustain the financial stability of the economy by supporting regional banks to strengthen their balance sheets by outsourcing the management of their NPLs, assisting debtors with their credit requirements and rehabilitating the debtor's financial position. The collaborative IFC and Collectius NPL platform is expected to operate as a model for other investors, by way of demonstration increasing market competitiveness and integration.

Gustav A. Eriksson, Founder and CEO, Collectius expressed: "This is a momentous milestone in our journey as a company, and we are extremely proud to partner with IFC. The partnership strengthens our influence in the market and the capital increase means we can further support banks and finance companies that want to sell their NPL portfolios. Most importantly, the new platform allows us to not only assist individuals struggling with debt, but also move the industry towards higher standards in ethics and regulations."

With a shared vision of building and maintaining economic stability in the region, IFC's commitment as a minority equity shareholder in Collectius will see the two examining the industry with a view to designing best practices around debt monitoring and resolution to beneficially affect regulations in Asia.

Collectius is majority-owned by the two founders Gustav A. Eriksson and Ivar Bjorklund, with the remaining owned by Stena AB and Formica Capital.

Detailed press release can be viewed here.

For media enquiries please contact:

[email protected]

www.collectius.com

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SOURCE Collectius

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http://www.collectius.com


One man has been charged and a second arrested following another night of disturbances in the Holyand area of Belfast on Tuesday.

Police have also issued four prohibition notices at properties hosting parties and two Community Resolution Notices for indecent behaviour.

A 20-year-old male was arrested and charged with disorderly behaviour, while an 18-year-old male was arrested just after 12.35pm on Wednesday on suspicion of a number of offences following an incident in the Jersualem Street area.

Since September 13, police have responded to 51 calls for service in the Holyland area.

It comes amid warnings that the situation is set to get even worse during Freshers' Week.

There area has historically been plagued by anti-social behaviour and that has continued this year despite the coronavirus pandemic.

Read More

Long-time residents campaigner Brid Ruddy said that "several thousand" young people were set to descend on the area next week for the beginning of the university term.

South Belfast MP Claire Hanna said that she would "reluctantly" call for enforcement action to be taken next week if the behaviour continues.

The Executive announced on Wednesday that new restrictions announced last week, including no mixing of households in private dwellings and no more than six people allowed to gather in a garden from no more than two households, were now legally enforceable.

Mrs Ruddy, who is a member of the Holyland Residents' Association, said she supported a call from Green Party leader Claire Bailey for Stormont Ministers and Chief Medical Officer Dr Michael McBride to visit the area at night and "see for themselves".

She said that residents were now scared to leave their homes due to the level of anti-social behaviour.

Mrs Ruddy said that a mother and her three children had been forced to go and stay with relatives due to the situation and no longer wanted to return to the area.

"The authorities have let it get completely out of control," she said.

Expand Close Resident Brid Ruddy / Facebook

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Mrs Ruddy said that residents had been shouted at in the street, threatened and intimated by young people in the area.

She said that it wasn't a matter of residents against students, rather issues of anti-social behaviour and criminality.

"If this behaviour took place anywhere else it wouldn't be tolerated," Mrs Ruddy said.

The residents campaigner said that she hoped young people would take the Covid-19 pandemic seriously, but this was not the case.

She said she was aware of instances of young people in the area recently returning from holiday, but not quarantining.

"I'm sure a lot of those young people already have the virus and they are spreading it, people just aren't taking it seriously and we are all going to be affected," Mrs Ruddy said.

"It's a killer pandemic, it should have made a difference, but it hasn't."

Residents are concerned the problem is only set to get worse with Freshers' Week beginning and 'wet' pubs and bars currently being allowed to open from next Monday.

"This is actually the calm before the storm. This is only a very small proportion, there will be several thousand more next week and I can't even imagine it," Mrs Ruddy said.

"How can you deal with 5,000 on the streets? It's a recipe for disaster."

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SDLP MP Ms Hanna said she had spoken to Queen's University who told her the situation was "as bad as it gets," with Freshers' Week yet to officially start.

"It's unacceptable. I'm the first to defend young people and their right to enjoy their time at university, but this is just completely unrealistic, It's a blatant breach of the rules," she said.

"No country can police what every single person does in their lives and in their homes. It starts with personal responsibility.

"We need to make sure the enforcement mechanisms are there for those who completely fail to engage, but it starts with personal responsibility and students realising they are risking the health of the people they love, but also access to university for students who are behaving."

Ms Hanna said the "worry" was recent scenes in the area were just a "preview" of what's to come.

"A lot of people will not even have arrived yet," the South Belfast MP said.

"It's a policing and enforcement scenario from next week because the engaging and encouraging has been done and if the breaches continue it has to move into the enforcement."

A Belfast City Council spokesperson said that their Safer Neighbourhood and Alcohol Enforcement Officers are currently working in the area and responding to requests for service, while their Night Time Noise Team would resume a full service from Thursday.

PSNI Chief Inspector Gavin Kirkpatrick said where police see breaches of the regulations or antisocial or criminal behaviour they will take action.

A large number of people are acting responsibly but there are a few who continue to behave recklessly and are causing disruption for the local community," he said.
Ready, a New Orleans-based on-demand healthcare service that bring medical care directly to patients in their homes, raised $54m in funding.

Backers included GV, Deerfield Management Company, City Light Capital, Town Hall Ventures, Frist Cressey Ventures and others, who have invested over $100 million across two funding rounds in less than a year.

The company intends to use the funds to finance the expansion of its operations and clinical programs and continue strengthening its operations.

Led by Justin Dangel, Founder and CEO, Ready an on-demand health service that delivers care to its patients in their homes or communities. Its care team consists of an on-demand network of Responders (trained EMTs, paramedics and nurses) who arrive on-scene combined with a multidisciplinary group of Clinicians (doctors and nurse practitioners) addressing patients needs via telehealth. The care model offers on-demand, non-emergent medical care for patients in the home, continuity of care for patients discharged from an acute facility and more longitudinal care for patients with complex or chronic conditions.

The company currently serves patients in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Maryland, Reno and Las Vegas, Nevada, and New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Shreveport and Houma, Louisiana.

FinSMEs

16/09/2020
Dido Harding walks to 10 Downing Street, September 16

As the testing fiasco threatens to shut down hundreds of schools, its the deafening question: what is the test-and-trace tsar Baroness Harding doing about the crisis?

There has been barely a trace of her. The former businesswoman, who was appointed in a blaze of publicity in May, has apparently largely gone AWOL.

She was spotted going into Downing Street yesterday, but she has not been seen in television studios nor gracing our airwaves to explain what has gone wrong. Instead, she has left the Health Secretary Matt Hancock to face the flak.

Humiliatingly, six months into the pandemic, Hancock yesterday had to admit that Covid tests will have to be rationed to the general public, to ensure frontline workers can get a test along with care home residents.

This is despite Boris Johnson in June pledging a world-beating service with all test results turned round within 24 hours. The crisis in testing dominated Prime Ministers questions yesterday. Yet Harding kept her head below the parapet eschewing interview requests.

On Twitter she has said nothing about testing since July.

Shes a cross between the Scarlet Pimpernel and Macavity the cat who was never around when there was trouble, said one exasperated Whitehall source. The test and trace system is imploding yet there is silence from the Baroness.

Despite increasing numbers of Tory MPs now criticising the testing system, Harding has so far ducked the chance to defend it in the House of Lords to which she was elevated in 2014. In fact, she hasnt spoken in the Upper House since March 24 when she talked about Covid for four minutes and emphasised the importance of expanding testing capacity.

The omens for her tenure as test and trace tsar were hardly auspicious. One of her first acts in July was to get rid of a chart showing the UKs progress on crucial coronavirus testing from daily Downing Street briefings. At around the same time, the much vaunted NHS test and trace app was delayed because the technology was not up to scratch.

Humiliatingly, six months into the pandemic, Hancock yesterday had to admit that Covid tests will have to be rationed to the general public, to ensure frontline workers can get a test along with care home residents

That same month Harding, who has no scientific background, made a disastrous appearance before the Commons health committee when she refused to say what proportion of tests were completed within the 24-hour time period the Prime Minister had pledged. Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt, who is the committees chairman, could not conceal his irritation at her refusal to answer questions. Youre telling me that you actually dont know how many tests come back within 24 hours and you are in charge of NHS test and trace, he said.

Ever since the bruising encounter, Harding seems to have retreated from public view. This does not mean, however, she is any less influential in Government circles.

In August, when the Government announced it was axing Public Health England, it emerged Baroness Harding  an Oxford contemporary of David Cameron  would lead the body that replaces it, the National Institute for Health Protection. Intriguingly, she is married to Tory MP John Penrose who is on the board of think-tank 1828 which has called for Public Health England to be abolished.

Dido Harding has locked herself away in the old Public Health England building setting up the new National Institute, claims the Whitehall source. The real priority should be getting on the front foot of test and trace but we cant prise her out of her hideaway.

Baroness Dido Harding pictured at a Downing Street press conference in July

Harding, a former jockey, is also on the board of the Jockey Club  which famously put on the Cheltenham Festival, attracting crowds of 250,000 people just as lockdowns were taking effect all over the world

While Harding was chief executive of TalkTalk in 2015 the company suffered one of the biggest data breaches in commercial history when 4million customers private details were hacked. That year she was paid 2.8million, an increase of 1million on the previous year. Despite calls for her to step down, she remained at the helm until 2017.

She then joined NHS Improvement, a body that oversees NHS trusts, for which she was paid 62,000 for a three day week. When the Commons committee on health examined her appointment, it remarked on her complete lack of experience of health issues.

Harding, a former jockey, is also on the board of the Jockey Club  which famously put on the Cheltenham Festival, attracting crowds of 250,000 people just as lockdowns were taking effect all over the world.

The granddaughter of Field Marshal Lord Harding, who became the most senior soldier in the British army, she grew up on a Somerset pig farm and went to catholic private school St Antonys Leweston. In a 2015 interview, she admitted: I have an enormously privileged position. I make a lot of money  a matter of public record  I have a huge amount of help, and Im more in control of the day and what I do than someone working shifts on the checkout.

Since she is up before a select committee today, perhaps shell explain why she has lost control of the test and trace system.
A surge in demand from the auto and white goods sectors and moderate activity in government infrastructure projects are driving the recovery of large Indian private steel producers, with some even beating last years numbers. However, small steel producers had to cut production because of severe shortage of raw material and higher input costs.

Indias largest steel producer, operated at 100% capacity for the first time in August since the nationwide lockdown, Tata Steels managing director and chief executive T.V. Narendran had said.

JSW Steel, the second largest producer, saw 15% growth in flat steel products at 980,000 tonnes in August, while crude steel production rose 5% year-on-year, and 6% sequentially to 1.31 million tonnes. Jindal Steel and Power Ltd sold 625,000 tonnes of steel in the domestic market in August, growing 18% month-on-month and 37% from the year-ago period.

According to our estimates, steel demand will fall 20-21% this calendar year compared to 2019," Arnab Hazra, deputy secretary general, Indian Steel Association, said in an interview. Last year, domestic demand for finished steel was about 102.6 million tonnes (mt) and this year, it is expected to be at 81-82 mt. From January to June, we lost about 15.3 mt of demand. We expect that from July to December, demand will fall by another 5-6 mt compared to 2019," Hazra said.

Even as the overall steel demand is expected to fall, large integrated players who have captive iron ore mines, downstream facilities and easier access to export markets are increasing production. This indicates that medium- and small-scale producers are the ones impacted the most by the pandemic. There is a severe scarcity of raw material in the open market and iron prices have shot up. Integrated steel producers are safe from the price rise," Ramana Kumar, secretary, Karnataka Iron and Steel Manufacturers Association, said in an interview. Because of the scarcity, the rise in prices, a reduction in manpower and problems with liquidity, secondary steel producers have cut down their production," said Kumar.

Small steel producers depending on electric arc furnaces have been hit hard by shortage of oxygen supply, Kalyani Steel managing director R.K. Goyal, said. Large steel producers use blast furnaces. Many states are now prioritizing oxygen supply for hospitals. So, steelmakers without a captive oxygen plant are going to be in severe distress," said Goyal.

There is a significant shift in demand patterns in July-August compared to April-June. Long steel products, used in construction, were expected to lead the recovery, but muted activity in private construction and real estate sectors due to the labour shortage and monsoon threw a spanner in the works. However, flat steel production stepped up to meet demand from consumer segments such as automotive and household appliances.

The trend is also borne out in data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, which recorded a 50% year-on-year fall in wholesale dispatches of passenger vehicles to 105,617 units in June. However, numbers for August show that passenger vehicle wholesales grew 14.16% year-on-year to 2,15,916 units.

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It starts with an out-of-the-blue phone call, email or text message and an offer to help with your pension: a plausible pitch explaining how you can enjoy a richer retirement in a few simple steps.

The promise sounds too good to be true, and it almost certainly is. Yet pension-scam victims are still losing millions of pounds to sophisticated cons.

The pension industry is now warning that savings worth 2.5 trillion are exposed to scammers because vital protections are not in place.

Fraud threat: The pension industry is now warning that savings worth 2.5 trillion are exposed to scammers because vital protections are not in place

This colossal figure is the cash that pension savers are now free to move out of their workplace scheme if they so choose.

In Money Mail's second special edition on fraud, we today expose how pension and investment scams are soaring during the pandemic  and tell you all you need to know to protect your nest egg.

Money cons have spiked this year as fraudsters exploit the panic caused by coronavirus.

We revealed last week how victims lost a devastating 356.6 million in July - nearly four times the 92.3 million lost in March when the crisis began.

And today we warn how pension and investment scammers have been left free to run riot online, using copycat websites and deceptive adverts hosted by web giants to lure you in.

We also look at how holiday and romance scams have boomed here.

The pension freedoms of 2015 gifted savers the power to access their pots from the age of 55 and do with them what they pleased, including withdrawing the lot.

But this has sparked a fraud frenzy, with scammers able to dupe retirees out of their life savings with ease.

Workplace pension scheme The People's Pension, along with think-tank the Police Foundation, is now calling on the Government to hand firms and regulators the power to put a stop to a scam if they spot it.

Investment companies are also saying internet firms should be forced to act over online scams.

Currently, pension schemes can only warn a customer if they spot a suspicious transfer request. The People's Pension found scammers last year targeted 54 million - 31 million of which was still moved to dodgy schemes after such warnings.

Internet risk: Pension and investment scammers have been left free to run riot online, using copycat websites and deceptive adverts hosted by web giants to lure you in

Yet High Street banks have the power to alert the police and freeze a money transfer if they suspect fraud, which has prevented 116 million worth of cons and led to 744 arrests in three years.

Phil Brown, of The People's Pension, says: 'Pension providers can flag a potential scam to a customer, but we can only stand by and watch if the individual chooses to proceed with a risky transfer that could lose them all their savings.'

A pension scam will typically see a saver contacted out of the blue and convinced to move their retirement savings from a regulated scheme to a risky investment, or directly into a fraudster's pocket.

Scammers will pressure you into moving money quickly, and will sometimes promise to unlock your pot early  without warning you of the destructive tax implications of doing so.

The scams themselves aren't new. It's just that the sudden arrival of billions of pounds in 'liberalised' pensions has created a big new market.

Yet there are no special protections for cash taken from a pension. In fact, victims will be unlikely to see their money again.

But police rarely investigate pension scams. Figures, from wealth management firm Quilter this week reveal that last year just two cases of pension fraud were passed to police to investigate every month, despite 400 reports to Action Fraud.

Meanwhile, pensions consultancy XPS, says half of all pension transfer requests in the pandemic triggered alarm bells.

Its scam detection system raised red flags in one in eight cases, but this spiked to one in two in July and August.

Fraudsters are cashing in

Scammers are easily parting desperate savers with their cash because interest-rate rewards have been so low for so long.

Pension experts have also backed calls to give providers more power to stop scams.

Former pensions minister Baroness (Ros) Altmann says: '[The law] is too balanced in favour of the scammers.

There are a lot of customers who do not understand pensions, who have had calls from people who sound so convincing. Especially now with Covid and people desperate to make the most out of their money, the sales job for the scammers is easier than it has ever been.'

She added that due to tax relief on pension savings, at least a quarter of all pension cash lost to scammers is taxpayers' money.

Another former pensions minister, Steve Webb, now a partner at consultancy Lane Clark & Peacock, says: 'The huge sums of money sitting in pension funds are an incredibly attractive target for scammers. Those who run pension schemes should be given the power to act on reasonable suspicion in order to protect members.'

Jon Greer, head of retirement policy at Quilter, says the lack of police action effectively hands fraudsters a 'get out of jail free card'. He says: 'If you are mugged, it's highly likely that the police will investigate; but lose your life savings to a pension scammer and your odds don't look good.'

Legal loopholes

Last year a Daily Mail investigation revealed hundreds of thousands of savers may have lost around 10 billion in unregulated pension schemes that had taken advantage of loopholes making it easier to register with HMRC.

The scammers took large fees to transfer the pensions, before reinvesting them in high-risk ventures without guarantees for savers' money.

Many of the victims had received a cold-call offering a free 'pension review'  a tactic that helps fraudsters find people of the right age with sizeable pension pots.

Once they spot a potential victim, they will pressure them to draw down a large chunk of their pension in cash, and then invest that in novel schemes promising a high annual return.

Pension and investment scammers have been left free to run riot online, using copycat websites and deceptive adverts hosted by web giants to lure you in

Retired sales manager Sue Flood says she and her company director husband worked 12-hour days to put away 250,000 for retirement.

But they lost it all after being duped into investing their pensions in the collapsed Ark scheme, which promised annual returns of 8 per cent.

Sue's husband later had a heart attack. 'Even if the money were returned tomorrow, it wouldn't be able to make up for what we have endured,' she says.

Now an active campaigner against pension scams, Sue says more needs to be done to prevent fraud in the first place: 'All the regulatory bodies need to come to the table and address the systemic failures which have led to people like me being cheated out of our savings.'

The Government has now banned cold calls about pension products, meaning that an unsolicited call is likely to be a con.

Disappearing trick

Tom Selby, analyst with AJ Bell, says thousands of savers could be unaware they've been scammed.

He says: 'Criminals might claim to be investing the money  often in an exotic overseas project  when in reality they have stolen, and possibly spent, the cash.'

As with investment fraud, many of the most effective scams aren't entirely fake; they're just mis-sold to investors who don't realise their entire nest egg is being staked on a high-risk venture.

They're also unregulated, which means that you won't be able to claim compensation from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (the Government-backed insurance scheme) should things turn sour.

To add insult to injury, victims aren't warned that anyone making significant cash withdrawals from their pension leaves themselves open to a large tax bill, with anything above 25 per cent subject to income tax.

For people aged under 55, this may result in being pushed into a higher income tax bracket, and potentially owing more than half of their pension cash to HMRC - even if that money has already vanished.

I'm 39, have lost my job and am in debt - can I unlock my 18k pension? With huge tax penalties and scam risks, our pensions columnist Steve Webb warns: DON'T do it!

The fact that you were scammed makes no difference to the taxman: it's the drawing down of your pension that brings the tax liability, and not how you spend it.

The Department for Work and Pensions has announced an inquiry into the impact of the 2015 pension freedoms. Experts are due to give evidence on scams before MPs today.

Minister for Pensions Guy Opperman says: 'Scammers who steal people's hard-earned savings are the lowest of the low. We have added new measures in the Pension Schemes Bill, presently going through Parliament, to empower trustees to take action where they suspect scam activity, and to require members to take guidance if they wish to make certain transfers.'

Savers should visit the Financial Conduct Authority's ScamSmart website at fca.org.uk/scamsmart before transferring any money.

A spokesman adds: 'Only coordinated action by the whole industry, including savers, will stamp out pension scams.'

The over-50s can also get free Government advice at pensionwise.gov.uk.

b.wilkinson@dailymail.co.uk
Editor's take: Podcasting is one of the fastest growing and easiest methods for getting your voice out to the public. So long as you've got some basic recording equipment and something interesting to say, you'll likely be able to find an audience and grow it from there.

Amazon on Wednesday announced it has added podcasts to Amazon Music across all tiers at no additional cost. Amazons new podcast library is much smaller than the competitions at just north of 70,000 titles. In comparison, Apple has over a million podcasts on offer and Spotify has more than 1.5 million in its catalog. But what it lacks in quantity, it hopes to make up for in quality.

The new section is populated with several well-known podcasts including Crime Junkie, Revisionist History, Stuff You Should Know, Planet Money and What A Day, just to name a few. And starting in February 2021, itll be the exclusive home to Disgraceland, a popular podcast about musicians behaving badly.

Amazon is also working on exclusive podcasts such as The First One from DJ Khaled and En la Sala from Becky G. Broadcaster Dan Patrick will put out a new show in collaboration with IMDb called That Scene with Dan Patrick in which he interviews some of Hollywoods biggest stars. Will and Jada Pinkett Smiths Westbrook Audio is also working on a project with Audible, were told.

Podcasts on Amazon Music are available in the US, Germany, Japan and the UK.

Image credit: microstock3D, LightField Studios
Supplier News

16 September 2020

After a short and lean summer for many in the hotel industry, we can expect that 2021 will bring more of the same. While there is no magic formula, in order to make the best of what is to come we must strive to lay the right foundations to help us navigate next year and "survive today to thrive tomorrow".

For some, this will even be the time to completely reassess old ways of working, reconsider the allocation of resources, streamline operations, and create new structures and protocols.

In our next webinar, we aim to help hotel and accommodation brands to make the best decisions today - from budget, to teams, to tech - so that you are ready for whatever the future may bring.

Register Now!

Photo: ReviewPro

We will be joined by a team of industry experts:

Brian Tapson, Cluster General Manager, Apex Hotels will talk us through strategic ways to create a lean and agile team that will best support your business.

Ramon Adillon Sastre, Quality & Environmental Management Systems Director, Paradores de Turismo, and a Member of the Spanish Hotel Managers Association will discuss budgeting and forecasting in difficult times: how can you find the balance between spending and keeping your business afloat?

Tim Towle, Founder, formerly ReviewPro, will be looking at how a solid tech stack can support your business today. Importantly, tech must be an intelligent investment, something that can see your business through the ups and downs to come.

Daniel Craig, Founder, Reknown will be our host and give us an overview of the trends, and an assessment of what we might expect of the landscape of next year.

Topics include:

The Outlook: What scenarios should hoteliers plan for in 2021?

What scenarios should hoteliers plan for in 2021? Planning: How hoteliers are managing labor, marketing, and budgeting in a volatile market

How hoteliers are managing labor, marketing, and budgeting in a volatile market Leadership: Building a leaner, stronger, and more agile team

Building a leaner, stronger, and more agile team Technology: Planning to meet the needs of hoteliers during and after recovery

Register Now!

Mark your calendar:

Hotel Leadership & Planning in Uncertain Times

One-hour webinar on Tuesday, September 29th, 2020

4pm GMT+1 (5pm Barcelona / 11am New York City)

Convert to my timezone
Canadian real estate continues to defy expectations with yet another record month for sales and average prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) says 58,645 homes were sold in August, a 33 per cent jump compared to the same month last year and 6.2 per cent month-over-month.

Its a record for August and the sixth-highest monthly total, despite an economy and job market that still have a long way to go before full recovery.

Spring is usually real estates busy season, but COVID-19 changed all of that.

It has been a record-setting summer in many housing markets across Canada as realtors and their clients play catch up following the loss of so much of the 2020 spring market, said CREA chair Costa Poulopoulos, in a release.

"Many markets dealing with inventory shortages have been seeing fierce competition among buyers this summer; although, that was something that had been anticipated for 2020 prior to COVID-19.

CREA says unlike the previous two months when sales were up across the board, they were up in 60 per cent of markets.

One change in August is that some regional disparity is starting to show again, after all markets were rebounding in unison in recent months. Month-over-month, sales were driven by gains in Toronto and surrounding markets, as well as Vancouver/Victoria, but others like Calgary and Regina have ebbed, said BMO senior economist Robert Kavcic, in a note.

And, while price growth is well into double digits in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa... prices in Calgary are still down from a year ago. We suspect this regional split will re-establish itself as the dust settles.

Average home prices dont tell the whole story

The national average price is up 18.5 per cent from the same month last year to $586,000. But sales of higher priced homes in the Greater Toronto Area and Metro Vancouver distort the figure.

CREA says its House Price Index is a better indicator of prices because it smooths out the distortions. But even it was up 9.4 per cent, the biggest jump since 2017.

Story continues

Kavcic says the hot market could be running out of steam.

The Canadian housing market has come back stronger than even the most hardened bulls imagined, and policymakers seem willing to let it run, he said.

That said, its looking like pent-up demand is just about running its course, and well see where underlying sales settle. Some areas of the country will probably stay quite hot. Others, not.

Jessy Bains is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Follow him on Twitter @jessysbains.

Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android.
AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Surterra Texas, a division of Parallel and one of three medical cannabis companies licensed in Texas' Compassionate Use Program, today announced an exclusive partnership with Heally, a leading telehealth platform, to provide Texans with easy access to doctors for online medical cannabis evaluations and prescriptions.

Through this partnership, Texans interested in natural, cannabis-based remedies for certain conditions can go through the Heally platform to connect with registered physicians via an online telehealth visit and, if qualified, obtain a Texas medical cannabis prescription online. While medical cannabis is legal in Texas, patients require a prescription before they can access medical cannabis products in the state.

"With our partnership with Heally, Surterra Texas can now offer Texans a convenient and confidential way to see doctors who can determine if cannabis is right for them and to participate in the Texas Compassionate Use Program," said Marcus Ruark, President of Surterra Texas. "We're committed to bringing natural and effective medical cannabis products to patients across Texas. Integrating Heally's innovative technology solution helps improve patient access to medical cannabis in Texaswhile connecting patients to medical experts to answer their questions without leaving their home."

Surterra Texas offers a range of products, including TranquilTM, a 19:1 CBD:THC ratio; SereneTM, a 4:1 CBD:THC ratio; and SootheTM, a 1:1 CBD:THC ratio. Each of the tincture blends has been formulated with proprietary terpene profiles to enhance the experience of the cannabinoid ratios and to help patients with the currently-approved treatable conditions of the Compassionate Use Program, including terminal cancer, spasticity, autism, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, and a wide range of neurological diseases.

"Heally is excited to partner with Surterra Texas to help improve patients' ability to connect with board-certified physicians throughout the state of Texas," said Greg Rovner, CEO of Heally. "Surterra's commitment to high-quality medical cannabis and an outstanding patient experience represents an ideal match to our mission of improving the quality of life of patients through natural remedies."

The board-certified doctors on the Heally platform specialize in a variety of disciplines, including internal medicine, neurology, pediatrics, and family medicine. Those who participate in the Heally telehealth program pay a fee for a prescription, which is only applicable if the physician deems medical cannabis is appropriate for the patient's condition. Heally doctors are available on-demand or for scheduling every day from 9am - 10pm Central Time.

Surterra Wellness, widely known for its line of tincture oils, lotions, topical patches, vaporizers, and theragels, is one of Parallel's leading cannabis retail brands for patients and customers aiming to improve their well-being. To access the Surterra Texas telehealth experience, patients should begin by visiting www.surterra.com/Texas. Surterra Texas offers convenient contactless delivery of its products across the state of Texas, as well as discounts for first-time patients and members of military families.

For more information on Surterra Texas and Surterra Wellness products, access www.surterra.com/Texas and www.facebook.com/SurterraTexas/.

Texas CUP License #0006.

About Parallel

Parallel is one of the largest privately-held, vertically-integrated, multi-state cannabis companies in the world, with a mission to pioneer well-being and improve the quality of life through cannabinoids. Parallel owns and operates retail dispensaries in four medical and adult-use markets: Surterra Wellness in Florida and Texas; New England Treatment Access (NETA) in Massachusetts, and The Apothecary Shoppe in Nevada. Parallel also has a license in Pennsylvania for vertically-integrated operations and up to six retail locations, in addition to a medical cannabis research partnerships with the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. The Company has a diverse portfolio of high quality, proprietary and licensed consumer brands and products including Surterra Wellness, Coral Reefer, and Float. Parallel operates approximately 50 retail stores nationwide, including cultivation and manufacturing sites across the four states. The Company conducts advanced cannabis science through Molecular Infusions (Mi), a cannabis-based biopharmaceutical company, and conducts R&D for new product development in its facilities in Texas, Massachusetts, Florida, and Budapest, Hungary. Parallel follows rigorous operations and business practices to ensure the quality, safety, consistency and efficacy of its products and is building its business by following strong values and putting the well-being of its customers and employees first.

Find more information at www.liveParallel.com, or on Instagram and LinkedIn.

About Heally





Launched in 2016, Heally is a software solution that brings Complementary and Alternative Medicine providers online to treat patients via telehealth visits. Heally's telemedicine platform has connected hundreds of thousands of patients with physicians, who provide advice and consultations around holistic treatment plans and benefits.

Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE Parallel
Although we see nothing but the sun, the stars and the moon, and the occasional planets in our sky, there are millions of floating space debris above us that could potentially hit the International Space Station (ISS) and cause irreversible damage to it. Thus, threatening the lives of our astronauts aboard as well as the future of human space exploration.

Because of this looming problem, the UK's Business Secretary, Alok Sharma, has announced seven space-cleaning programs and their funding via the U.K. Space Agency (UKSA).

UKSA Announced Funding for Space-Cleaning Programs

According to a Daily Mail report, there is a 1million (around $1.3million) funding for the programs.

Each of the program has its unique plan on tackling space debris, such as the "Life Me Off" project, which plans to create a powerful AI-powered algorithm that will help experts differentiate floating objects in near orbit, whether they are actual satellites or junk.

Another project is known as the Lumi Space, which uses lasers to track and map space objects.

Of course, there are also specific projects that will actively remove space junk from the Earth's orbit and make space a little safer for the ISS and its fellow spacecraft.

According to the UKSA, there are 26 proposals from various independent bodies, but these seven made the cut and, therefore, will receive a portion from the funding offered by the space agency.

Read Also: These Planets Could Make You Rich Since They're Made of Diamonds and Researchers Explain the Weird Phenomena

Millions of Floating Space Junks

Based on current estimates, around 160 million pieces of space junk are orbiting our planet now, ranging from large defunct satellites to tiny fragments of broken spacecraft or debris from rocket launches, as per The Telegraph.

Nevertheless, even the tiniest fragment could be incredibly dangerous for the ISS, especially as they travel at around 18,000 mph in space.

If experts here on Earth fail to track a single piece of junk and it hits the ISS or any other low-orbiting spacecraft, the damage would be so significant that the space station would have to be abandoned.

Moreover, experts have predicted that even a four-inch space junk could set off a chain reaction that would make space a "no-go zone for centuries" if it ever collides with a satellite.

The Dangers of Space Debris

Currently, astronomers from NASA and other space agencies are tracking these space debris and frequently communicate with the space station to help them adjust whenever something is in a collision path with the ISS.

Unfortunately, it's hard for them to track each and every piece of space junk.

"If we don't take action now, low-Earth orbit could become too perilous for satellites or even humans on the International Space Station," Sharma said, emphasizing that the projects are vital to assure human space exploration continues.

"The space debris expert Don Kessler predicted in 1976 that the space around the Earth could become so riddled with junk that launches would become impossible and vehicles that entered space would quickly be destroyed," the secretary continued.

Sharma even used Sandra Bullock's 2013 movie Gravity as an example.

Read Also: SpaceX's SN8 Starship Will Test Fly 60,000 ft. Sooner Than Expected!--Retro Spaceship in Stainless Steel Body Comes to Life!

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by: Nhx Tingson

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump welcome Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara to the White House on September 15, 2020

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the foreign ministers of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates arrived Tuesday at the White House to sign historic accords normalizing ties between the Jewish and Arab states.

US President Donald Trump was to meet in turn with the Israeli leader, UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan and Bahrain Foreign Minister Abdullatif al-Zayani, before a signing ceremony for the US-brokered peace deal.

"HISTORIC day for PEACE in the Middle East," tweeted Trump, trumpeting the imminent completion of "landmark deals that no one thought was possible."

"MORE countries to follow!" wrote the US leader, who hopes the peace deal will boost his reelection chances in November.

For the Mideast, the deals dubbed the Abraham Accords mark a distinct shift in a decades-old status quo where Arab countries have tried to maintain unity against Israel over its treatment of the stateless Palestinians.

The White House event will be the first time Arab nations have established relations with Israel since Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994.

Hundreds of people were invited to attend and a symbolic handshake between the Arab representatives and Netanyahu has not been ruled out.

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Al Maryah Island, Abu Dhabis business and lifestyle destination, has announced the launch of its Wellness Ambassador initiative, to welcome valued visitors back to its world-class retail, leisure and lifestyle facilities.

The new programme focuses on protecting the health and wellbeing of customers of The Galleria, guests of the Four Seasons Abu Dhabi and Rosewood Abu Dhabi hotels. The Wellness Ambassadors will also play an important role in enhancing customer experience whilst maintaining safety measures at all times.

The initiative was first launched in June by Etihad Airways, as part of its expanded health and hygiene programme in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, and is now being adopted by multiple customer facing entities around Abu Dhabi, in line with the wider initiatives across the Emirate to promote health and safety for members of the community.

Ali Eid Almheiri, Executive Director, Real Estate & Infrastructure at Mubadala Investment Company, commented: The teams across Al Maryah Island have demonstrated incredible resilience and dedication during this challenging time and we all owe a great deal of gratitude for their efforts. We want to encourage customers and guests to come back and enjoy the islands retail and hospitality offering in complete confidence that their health and safety is protected. There are a wide range of proactive measures in place, but the introduction of Wellness Ambassadors provides an added level of reassurance and a human face to our response. This initiative is a marker of the extraordinary efforts of everyone across Abu Dhabi in tackling the pandemic and we look forward to welcoming people back to the fantastic facilities on Al Maryah Island.

The programme is part of Abu Dhabis plan to ease restrictions across leisure, hospitality, and retail destinations in line with the receding profile of the pandemic. Each ambassador will undertake a training course via Capital Health Screening Centre, part of Mubadala healthcares network. The course will equip the ambassadors with specialised occupational health and wellness practices to ensure the safety of the community in line with the new normal. The training will be delivered live by expert clinical staff and will be tailored to the wellness ambassadors needs and requirements. The specialised training is designed to mitigate risks and will involve the implementation of specific hygiene policies, ensuring social distancing measures and preventive medical knowledge about the virus.

The Wellness Ambassadors will support visitors in staying safe by maintaining health guidelines in public places at each asset, helping to further build trust and encourage people to take advantage of the world-class retail, leisure and lifestyle facilities available on the island.

At all three destinations, ambassadors will also be tasked with ensuring that customers, guests and visitors are aware of Government guidelines and are adhering to best practice. They will also be trained in directing community members to the most appropriate resources for any further guidance or information they may need.-- Tradearabia News Service
MITO, Japan - Japans trade surplus widened in August as the pandemic pummeled a wide array of industries and sapped consumer demand.

The 15% drop in exports from a year earlier was outpaced by a more than 20% decline in imports, according to preliminary data from the Finance Ministry released Wednesday.

In one rare bright spot, exports to China rose 5%. But both exports and imports with the U.S. fell more than 20%, helping reduce the politically sensitive trade surplus by 20% to 373 billion yen ($3.5 billion).

Many Japanese manufacturers provide chemicals, equipment and components for products assembled in China. Robust exports have helped drive growth in recent years but suffered as Chinas economy slowed and the pandemic took hold.

The pace of the decline in exports has been lessening as pandemic-related shutdowns in China, the U.S. and Europe eased. Exports fell 28% year-on-year in May, 26% in June and 19% in July.

Exports in August totalled 5.23 trillion yen ($49 billion), outpacing 4.98 trillion yen in imports ($47 billion), leaving a surplus of 248 billion yen ($2.4 billion). That compared with a 152.2 billion yen deficit a year earlier.

Trade in most categories of products declined in August, with exports of transport equipment such as vehicles falling 23%. Imports have been falling in Japan for over a year.

Helping to boost the trade surplus, imports of oil, gas and other fuels plunged 45%, partly thanks to lower prices for many commodities.

Despite the latest weak data, surveys of manufacturers show new export orders are recovering, said Tom Learmouth of Capital Economics.

But while goods exports will continue to recover as activity picks up in Japans trading partners, exports of goods and services may not reach pre-virus levels until early-2022, he said in a report.

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Secretary of Defense Mark Esper announced Wednesday an ambitious plan to expand the US Navy with a range of unmanned and autonomous ships, submarines and aircraft to confront the growing maritime challenge from China.

The Pentagon chief said a sweeping review of US naval power dubbed "Future Forward" had laid out a "game-changer" plan that would expand the US sea fleet to more than 355 ships, from the current 293.

The plan, which requires adding tens of billions of dollars to the US Navy's budget between now and 2045, is aimed at maintaining superiority over Chinese naval forces, seen as the primary threat to the United States.

"The future fleet will be more balanced in its ability to deliver lethal effects from the air, from the sea, and from under the sea," Esper said in a speech at the Rand Corp. in California.

The expansion will add "more and smaller" surface ships; more submarines; surface and subsurface vessels that are optionally manned, unmanned and autonomous; and a broad range of unmanned carrier-based aircraft.

The plan is for a fleet of ships more able to survive a high-intensity conflict, to project US power and presence, and to deliver precision strikes at very long distances, he said.

An example, Esper added, is a new guided missile frigate program, producing ships with "increased lethality, survivability, capability and capacity to conduct distributed warfare."

He also said trials were underway on the Sea Hunter, a 132-feet (40 meters) trimaran drone that can autonomously survey the seas for rival submarines for more than two months at a time.

"These efforts are the next step in realizing our future fleet, one in which unmanned systems perform a variety of warfighting functions, from delivering lethal fire and laying mines, to conducting resupply or surveilling the enemy," Esper said.

"This will be a major shift in how we will conduct naval warfare in the years and decades to come."

Story continues

- Chinese navy larger -

Esper reiterated that China is the top US security threat and that the Indo-Pacific region is the "priority theater" for the US military.

"Not only is this region important because it is a hub of global trade and commerce, it is also the epicenter of great power competition with China," he said.

A Pentagon report on the People's Liberation Army released early this month said that Beijing has the world's largest naval fleet with 350 ships and submarines.

Still, Esper stressed, the Chinese navy lags in strength and capability.

"Even if we stopped building new ships, it would take the PRC years to match our capability on the high seas."

Esper said reaching the goal of 355 ships means the navy will have to grab a larger percent of the Pentagon budget, but also that the United States has to put more resources into expanding and modernizing shipyards, where China has a clear advantage.

sl/pmh/bfm
A 53-year-old mother admits it was a 'mistake' to sneak into an airman's quarantine hotel room after he gave her his number through the window.

The divorcee was caught in the 26-year-old RAAF member's room at the luxury Pier One hotel in Sydney at about 12.45am on Tuesday.

Daily Mail Australia understands the pair had been kissing in his room before the sound of a woman's voice aroused the suspicion of Defence Force guards.

'It was such a mistake, I didn't need to be there,' the woman told Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday afternoon.

A woman was caught in the quarantine hotel room of a RAAF airman who had just returned from overseas deployment

The tryst saw them both fined $1,000 for breaching coronavirus rules as the airman was in 14-day quarantine after returning from overseas deployment.

Witnesses said the woman, who was staying on the ground floor of the hotel - reserved for non-quarantined guests - was enjoying drinks with friends at Bar One, on the ground floor, on Monday night.

After knocking back five espresso martinis and two glasses of wine, she spotted the airman who was sipping a beer in his third-floor room.

She was seen 'dancing flirtatiously' to get his attention, and the airman held up a paper sign saying he was in quarantine.

He followed up with another sign with his phone number scrawled on it and after she texted him, told her how to get to his hotel floor.

The airman's room is said to be just above the red metal, on the third floor of the hotel

ADF personnel in charge of security at the hotel failed to initially see the woman when she went to level three to enter the officer's room.

Police were called and both were issued fines, with the woman immediately kicked out of the hotel and sent back to her home in Hornsby, in Sydney's north.

On Tuesday, police said the airman had 'entertained' the woman in his room and she was told to get a coronavirus test then self-isolate.

However, the 53-year-old claimed she was not told she had to self-isolate and was awaiting written directions.

She said the airman tested negative and police would keep her informed of whether he developed any coronavirus symptoms.

Pier One is one of Sydney's premier luxury hotels, sitting on the water right next to the Harbour Bridge. The third floor is being used to quarantine returned military

Witnesses said the woman, who was staying on the first floor of the hotel, was enjoying drinks with friends at Bar One, on the ground floor, before she spotted the airman

The woman was not at her Hornsby home for much of the day on Wednesday, according to neighbours, and was driving her flash black car when Daily Mail Australia contacted her by phone.

'I am cooperating with the police and they're trying to keep me as safe as possible and what I should do. I'm going to do what I'm told,' she said.

The self-employed businesswoman said she was at Pier One, overlooking the Harbour Bridge, to unwind after working hard to organise a charity event.

She said the cancer charity fundraiser featured recipes by former My Kitchen Rules chef Manu Feidel.

'I had a big weekend cooking and preparing for the guests, so I was taking a break in a hotel room to rest after a three-week effort,' she said.

'My mother recently passed away from cancer and I'm always looking for compassionate ways to deal with my grief.

'Raising money for this cause gives me a reason to go on without her.'

The woman was staying in this room on Monday night to relax after planning a charity event

Despite the airman's sign that he was in quarantine, the woman claimed she didn't know she was doing anything wrong by meeting him.

'I'm surprised that I was able to stay in a hotel that was being used for quarantine. It wasn't strictly defined as to what the restrictions were on other guests,' she said.

ADF personnel guarding quarantine hotels across Australia have been held in far greater regard than private security firms blamed for Victoria's outbreak.

However, questions are now being raised about their performance after failing to guard their own troops.

There was little visible ADF security seen at the hotel on Tuesday, but this was significantly beefed up on Wednesday after the news broke.
Crawley saw the biggest rise in unemployment in the UK. Photo: Eddie Keogh/Reuters

Unemployment has risen most in a string of towns and cities in southern England with strong local economies over the summer, according to new figures.

Analysis of official data shows the areas in the UK where joblessness has risen fastest, as well as the areas where unemployment overall is highest.

Research by the Centre for Cities found eight of the 10 towns and cities with the biggest recent increase in joblessness were in the south. Three of the four towns most affected are very close to airports, and could reflect rising redundancies in aviation  Crawley (Gatwick), Slough (Heathrow) and Luton.

It marks a contrast with the earlier stages of the crisis as Britain went into lockdown, when town and cities in the north saw a stark rise in unemployment-linked benefit claims. The latest figures suggest the unemployment rate in such areas has almost stabilised, with much smaller recent increases.

The analysis shines a new light on Office for National Statistics (ONS) labour market data published on Tuesday, which showed the official unemployment rate rise to 4.1% between May and July.

READ MORE: Chancellor says job done on furlough despite rising unemployment

Employers axed 695,000 jobs between March and August, according to the data. Meanwhile the number of people claiming unemployment and low-income benefits stood at 2.7 million in August, up 120.8% since March.

The UK government is under mounting pressure to hand employers another lifeline, as its furlough scheme is being gradually wound down and finishes altogether at the end of October.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak faced a flurry of warnings from economists, business chiefs and Labour on Tuesday that a wave of job losses would only continue this autumn without further action.

The latest analysis suggests the crisis facing aviation is spilling over into unemployment in local economies reliant on major airports. Crawley, Slough and Luton have seen the biggest rise in benefit claims not only in the July-August period compared to a month earlier but also since Britain went into lockdown

Story continues

The claimant count has increased by 5.4 percentage points in Slough and Luton since March, and 4.7 points in Crawley. Rising unemployment shows no signs of tailing off, with the rate edging 0.4 percentage points higher in Crawley and Slough in the most recent month alone, and 0.3 points higher in Luton.

READ MORE: UK employers have axed 695,000 jobs since March as unemployment rate rises

The coronavirus crisis appears to be quickly reshaping the grim league tables of areas with the highest unemployment.

Places with historically weaker economies continue to have larger numbers of people claiming unemployment benefits, but they are now joined by a handful of otherwise successful cities that have been hardest hit during the pandemic, said the Centre for Cities.

The claimant count in Sunderland was 75% higher than in Slough in March, but they now have the same rate, according to the think tank.

READ MORE: UK firms warn on triple threat of local lockdowns, Brexit and furlough wind-up

London, Brighton, Basildon, Chatham, and Cambridge were among the other southern areas which saw unemployment rising fast in the most recent period. Aberdeen and Birmingham also featured in the top 10.

The think tank highlighted the impact of remote working in a blogpost on its website. The unemployment rate may continue to increase in cities with strong economies while people continue to work from home  leaving city centre pubs, restaurants and shops without customers.
The president of the European Commission urged EU members to build a stronger health union on Wednesday, promising a biomedical research agency and a global summit.

In her first annual State of the European Union address, Ursula von der Leyen said the coronavirus pandemic had underlined the need for closer cooperation, stressing that people were still suffering.

For me, it is crystal clear -- we need to build a stronger European Health Union, she said. And we need to strengthen our crisis preparedness and management of cross-border health threats.

Addressing MEPs in the European Parliament, von der Leyen said her commission would try to reinforce the European Medicines Agency and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

And she announced the creation of a new agency for biomedical advanced research and development dubbed BARDA.

She said she would work with Italy during its presidency of the G20 -- a grouping of the worlds richest countries -- to convene a global health summit next year to share the lessons of the coronavirus crisis.

This will show Europeans that our Union is there to protect all, she said.

Health policy remains the responsibility of EU member states and, while Brussels has tried to coordinate the blocs response to the epidemic, national lockdowns and border rules have varied widely.

Von der Leyen, a doctor by training, also warned countries not to act selfishly when on vaccines, which are widely seen as the solution to end the crisis.

Vaccine nationalism puts lives at risk. Vaccine cooperation saves them, she said.

She also called for a reformed and strengthened World Health Organization so that we can better prepare for future pandemics.
Syracuse, N.Y. -- An Upstate New York man found dead in Rocky Mountain Park on Monday was a 2019 graduate of SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry and was remembered as curious with an adventurous, risk-taking spirit, according to Joseph L. Rufo, the colleges CFO.

Steven Grunwald, 24, of Greenville, was trying to climb an 11-peak route that spanned nearly 20 miles in Colorado when he died, park officials said Tuesday. Grunwald, who graduated from also graduated from Ranger School in 2016 had been out of contact with people since Aug. 28, according to Rufo.

He aspired to leave the world better than he found it by harnessing the collective power of the diversity of life he saw on this planet, Rufo said in a statement Tuesday.

When Grunwald attended SUNY ESF, he walked around campus with a contagious smile, a carefree attitude and a climbing helmet clipped to his backpack, according to Rufo.

In 2019, Grunwald gave a TEDx talk at Syracuse University in which he advocated for people breaking free of their daily routines and outlined his vision for a revitalized planet. In the talk, Grunwald said he hiked 2,200 miles, from Canada to Mexico.

A search and rescue team discovered Grunwalds body below McHenrys and Powell Peaks on Monday, park spokeswoman Kyle Patterson said in a statement.

According to ABCs affiliate in Denver, search efforts were hampered by conditions on Friday with winter-like conditions above 10,000 feet with up to 8-10 inches of drifting snow and 50 mph wind gusts. Park authorities said they werent sure if he was prepared for the weather that brought snow to the park last week.

In the TEDx talk, Steven also said that people often dont know the value of something until its gone," Rufo said. That may be true, but everyone who knew Steven was touched by the very real, meaningful value he brought to this world.

Got a tip, comment or story idea? Contact Chris Libonati via the Signal app for encrypted messaging at 585-290-0718, by phone at the same number, by email or on Twitter.
Health professionals have called for daylight saving time to be scrapped because of its impact on safety and wellbeing.

An Australian professor has warned that turning the clocks forward for half the year can lead to severe health risks that could be amplified during coronavirus.

Professor of Diabetes at Monash University, Paul Zimmet, said daylight saving was a 'major scientific debate' with worrying health implications, 3AW reported.

Australian health professionals have called for daylight saving time to be scrapped after warning that turning the clocks forward sees more heart attacks (file image pictured) reported

Professor of Diabetes at Monash University, Paul Zimmet, said more car and road accidents (car crash in Sydney pictured) occur after the switch to daylight saving time

'In terms of the scientific evidence, which we will want to stick with at the moment, there are more heart attacks just after daylight saving,' Prof Zimmet said.

'More road accidents and then you've got workplace accidents, car accidents and their implications.'

He explained the shift in time also had an impact on bodily functions.

'There is also cognitive dysfunction in relation to the daylight saving and the change in timing to our normal body rhythms,' Prof Zimmet said .

He urged the Victorian Health Department to consider the strain that had already been put on the health system and the economy by the coronavirus pandemic.

The professor suggested abolishing daylight saving time to avoid placing Australians in any further danger.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews brushed off the possibility of cancelling daylight saving after being asked about the proposal during his coronavirus briefing on Wednesday.

The professor warned that daylight saving also prompted more workplace accidents (construction site in Sydney pictured) causing both economic and physical harm

'I don't want to be disrespectful to the professor, who may be a very learned individual. No. Daylight saving will be proceeding,' Mr Andrews said.

Melbourne eased its draconian coronavirus restrictions on Monday with outdoor exercise extended to two hours and the 8pm curfew extended to 9pm.

'That's why the curfew changes, that extra hour is really important, well ahead of daylight saving,' Mr Andrews explained.

'People will be able to go out and enjoy the city, enjoy the state, enjoy being back at work, enjoy a sense of confidence as they go into 2021.

'This will be a summer like no other and daylight saving, I can confirm, will be a feature of it,' he said.

Victoria recorded 42 new coronavirus cases and eight deaths on Wednesday, taking the state toll to 737 and the national figure to 824.

Residents in NSW, Victoria, the ACT, South Australia and Tasmania will turn their clocks forward an hour at 2am on October 4.

The debate over daylight saving escalated last year when the European parliament voted to remove the measure from 2021 onwards.

Countries in the EU will elect to stay on 'permanent summer' or 'permanent winter' time in March next year.
A strong start-up ecosystem can propel investment, jobs, and demand creation, and for that, substantial growth capital is required.

A Parliamentary panel has strongly recommended abolition of long-term capital gains (LTCG) tax for investment in start-ups, besides other tax incentives, to drive a sharp post-pandemic revival.

This should apply to investments made through collective investment vehicles such as angel funds, alternate investment funds and investment LLPs, it said.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, headed by former minister of state for finance Jayant Sinha, said a strong start-up ecosystem can propel investment, jobs, and demand creation, and for that, substantial growth capital is required.

It also pitched for self-reliance in capital funding of unicorns to cut dependence on funding from China and US.

The committee also suggested that companies and LLPs should be allowed to invest in start-ups without being classified as non-banking financial companies by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to expand capital sources for start-ups.

The Committee would like to strongly recommend that tax on LTCG be abolished for all investments in start-up firms (as designated by DPIIT) which are made through collective investment vehicles (CIVs) such as angel funds, AIFs, and investment LLPs, said the report titled Financing the startup ecosystem.

This was submitted to the Lok Sabha Speaker last week.

At a minimum, this should be done for at least the next two years to encourage investments during the pandemic period.

After this two-year period, the Securities Transaction Tax (STT) may be applied to CIVs to maintain revenue neutrality.

Since, investments by CIVs are transparent and at fair market value, it is easy to calculate STT associated with these investments.

Thus, it can be done in lieu of imposing LTCG on these CIVs, it noted.

It also recommended that the exemption for income on investments made before March 31, 2024, subject to the investment being held for a period of at least 36 months as incentivised in the Finance Act, 2020, should be provided to long-term capital invested across all sectors.

With adequate risk capital backing them, start-ups can provide innovative new services which can have a multiplier effect on the economy, said the panel.

It pressed for adopting a more pragmatic approach on applying fair market value principles in transactions between independent parties as businesses are stressed for liquidity in the current environment and valuations of businesses have softened.

The pricing guidelines prescribed under the various laws should be made more consistent to provide a simple framework for facilitating large-scale investments, it said.

The panel also batted for self-reliance in capital funding for unicorns, which now mainly comes from US and China.

It said that the Small Industries Development Bank of India Fund-of-Funds vehicle should be expanded and fully operationalised or utilised to play an anchor investment role.

The term unicorn is used to describe a privately held start-up company with a value of over $1 billion.

Unicorns initially require seed capital of hundreds of crores, and then as they grow they need thousands of crores to build global scale businesses.

"The Committee note in this regard thatcapital going into Indias unicorns comes mainly from foreign sources such as US and China.

"The Committee believe that this dependence be reduced so thatIndia becomes self-reliant by having several large domestic growth Funds powered by domestic capital to support Indias unicorns, it said.
Jeffrey Epstein's mysterious wealth may lie with the father of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's alleged sexual procurer.

This week, a report suggested that Jeffrey Epstein may have accrued his millions of dollars through the help of Robert Maxwell.

The source of the massive $636-million fortune of Epstein, which includes a marvelous Upper East Side mansion in New York, has been covered in mystery for years that no one has ever seen how he made his millions. However, a new report from The Toronto Sun featured an informant explaining how the notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein may have received investment from Ghislaine Maxwell's father.

An insider has stepped forward with a lawyer sworn statement telling Epstein was bankrolled in secret by his rumored ex-girlfriend's father, disgraced media aristocrat Robert Maxwell, as claimed by U.K. Sun.

Prior to the newspaper magnate's mysterious death in 1991, he stole hundreds of millions from the pension of his company funds. His body was found floating in the Atlantic Ocean after being on his yacht named The Lady Ghislaine that was titled after his daughter.

Ghislaine Maxwell fled to New York soon after the death of her father and she becomes intimately linked to Jeffrey Epstein, leading to her detention just earlier this year for reputedly picking up girls for the financier.

Read also: Revealing Photos Show Bill Clinton Leaning Back, Grinning While Jeffrey Epstein Victim Massages Him

The possible monetary connections between Robert Maxwell and Epstein were reputedly disclosed by model scout Jean-Luc Brunel in conversations 20 years ago, according to The Sun.

One of the former associates of the Frenchman told the U.K. paper that Jean-Luc was telling how Robert Maxwell, father of Ghislaine Maxwell, was one of the reasons why Epstein had money, adding that he said Maxwell was one of Epstein's primary investment clients. And the source assumed that Maxwell had put money into Epstein, who used the money to make his own.

According to The New York Post, the claims was passed on to US lawyers who were investigating the crimes of Epstein and those who were his purported co-conspirators, in the form of promised under oath testimony.

In 2008, Jeffrey Epstein received a secret deal to avoid his federal prosecution and pleaded guilty to the state charges of touting an underage girl for sex.

Inside of that deal, it has been agreed by federal prosecutors not to charge any of Epstein's potential co-conspirators.

Jeffrey Epstein served 13 months in Palm Beach, Florida county jail, and entered as a sex offender. In the middle of his sentence, he was permitted to work from his office in most days.

On July 6, 2019, investigators of the FBI broke down the doors of $77-million worth home of Epstein in New York after he was arrested on his personal jet at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey after a flight from Paris.

In August 2019, convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein killed himself in his lockup in Manhattan while he was waiting for additional serious sex charges. Ghislaine Maxwell refused to admit the charges against her, and Brunel has also denied any connections to the sex crimes.

Earlier this year, US President Donald Trump found himself involved when he hoped for Maxwell's well-being during an interview.



Related article: Fact Check: Is Ghislaine Maxwell's Secret Husband a British Tech CEO?

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NAUGATUCK  Two longtime members of the towns police force have been identified by state police as the officers involved in a shooting Monday night.

State police said the officers involved were Officer Kevin Zainc, who has been with the department for 15 years and 3 months, and Sgt. Nicholas Kehoss, who has been on the force for 10 years.

Police said the investigation indicated Kehoss discharged his duty pistol. In accordance with Naugatuck police policy, Kehoss was placed on administrative assignment.

The officers involved in this incident were wearing body-worn cameras, state police said. Thus, there is video footage and dispatcher audio.

Those are expected to be released in the coming days.

State police said the investigation is still in its early stages and is ongoing.

Connecticut State Police Western District Major Crime Squad detectives were requested by Waterbury States Attorney Maureen Platt to investigate an officer-involved shooting in the area of Route 8 northbound at the Exit 27 entrance ramp in Naugatuck.

After taking statements from witnesses and police, and viewing video evidence, state police said the preliminary investigation indicated Naugatuck police tried to pull over the driver of a 2019 Dodge Charger with an Ohio plate.

Officers made contact with the driver  later identified as Roznovsky Antonio Machado, 24, of Waterbury  who fled, police said. The vehicle was found later in Waterbury and Machado remains at large, police said.

Naugatuck police said during the course of the traffic stop, an officer discharged his weapon at the vehicle while it drove at him. State police said the officer was taken to an area hospital where he was evaluated and released. Naugatuck police described his injuries as minor.

Neither law enforcement agency had any knowledge of the extent of any possibly injuries to Machado.

State police said the use of force investigation was turned over to Joseph T. Corradino, the states attorney for the district of Fairfield, to oversee the investigation.

Anyone with information is asked to call to the Connecticut State Police Western District Major Crimes Squad at 860-626-7900.
Brazzaville, Congo (PANA) - After seven years of medical training in Cuba, 250 Congolese graduates have returned to Brazzaville, the Congolese Ministry of Higher Education said on Wednesday


Space scientists have found what could be a possible sign of life in the atmosphere of Venus.

The finding comes from a study published Monday in Nature Astronomy.

The astronomers studied Venus with the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii. They confirmed their observations with the ALMA radio telescope in Chile.

The telescopes found evidence of the chemical phosphine in the thick clouds covering the planet. Phosphine is a poisonous gas. On Earth, it is only associated with life. However, the organizers of the study and other experts agree that the presence of phosphine is not proof of life on another planet.

David Clements helped to prepare a report on the study. He is with Imperial College London. Clements said of the evidence, Its not a smoking gun. But he added that it may be suggesting something.

As astronomers look for signs of life outside our solar system, one method is to look for chemicals that result only from biological processes. These processes are known as biosignatures.

After three astronomers met in a bar in Hawaii, they decided to look for biosignatures a little closer to Earth  the planet Venus. The three looked for phosphine, a molecule made up of three hydrogen atoms and a single phosphorous atom.

Phosphine can form only two ways on Earth. It can be created by an industrial process, or it can come from a biological process in animals and microbes that is not well understood. Some scientists consider it a waste product.

Clements said phosphine can be found in the bottom of ponds, the insides of animals like badgers and in the waste of penguins.

Sara Seager, also involved in the study, is a planetary scientist with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She said the astronomers carefully looked at all the possibilities for production of the phosphine: volcanoes, lightning strikes or meteorites falling into the atmosphere. Not a single process we looked at could produce phosphine in high enough quantities to explain our teams findings, she said.

Could life be responsible?

The astronomers debated how life could exist on a planet like Venus, where there is no water and the surface temperature is 425 degrees Celsius.

Venus is hell. Venus is Earths evil twin, said Clements.

But Seager noted that 50 kilometers above the planets surface, in Venus thick carbon dioxide clouds, it is about room temperature. The clouds are mostly made up of sulfuric acid. But they also contain droplets with very small amounts of water.

The scientists asked themselves if the phosphine could be coming from microbes living inside the sulfuric acid droplets. Seager and Clements suggested that, when the droplets fall to the ground, they might dry out but could collect in other droplets and reanimate.

While life is a possibility, several other scientists say more proof is needed.

Cornell University astronomer Lisa Kaltenegger said the idea of the gas possibly being a sign of a biological process is exciting. But she is not sure life is the only explanation.

Justin Filberto, with the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, told The Associated Press that the levels of phosphine might be explained by volcanoes. He said recent studies that were not considered in the new research suggest that Venus may have far more active volcanoes than scientists had thought. But Clements said that explanation would make sense only if Venus were at least 200 times more active than Earth.

David Grinspoon is an astrobiologist with the Planetary Science Institute. He wrote a book suggesting that life could exist on Venus. Grinspoon was excited, but cautious about the new studys finding. It almost seems too good to be true, he said.

Clements noted that his head tells him there is probably a 10 percent chance that its life. But he added, his heart wants it to be much bigger because it would be so exciting.

Im Mario Ritter Jr.

Seth Borenstein reported this story for The Associated Press. Mario Ritter Jr. adapted it for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

associated  adj. connected or linked with something else

solar  adj. involving the Sun

bar  n. a place where alcoholic drinks are served

microbe  n. an extremely small living thing only observed through a microscope

pond  n. a small body of water

meteorite  n. a rock or larger object that reaches Earth without breaking up in the atmosphere

hell  n. a place of destruction

droplet n. a very tiny amount of a liquid

reanimate n. to give new life or energy to something

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I just finished reading the Morning News for 9/11/2020; what a disappointment!

Not one word about the Terrorism on American soil and the killing of Americans on 9/11/2001. How could the Morning News forget what happened on this day 19 years ago?

The country came together after this attack on our way of life. These terrorists were identified and eliminated to a degree.

The division of Americans now saddens my heart. The socialist Democrats did not want to accept the election of our president. The political Democrat machine has done everything to disrupt his presidency. I have never seen such division of Americans like this before.

The hate the liberal media continues to spew is horrific. What really made me want to write my opinion letter is how the paper is losing touch in the way they report the news. I feel it's not based on facts. It's based on their opinions (shame on you).

I think your editors are not being truthful in reporting facts and hearsay from anonymous sources. What is really bad is how you allow Clarence Page to write his opinion on anonymous sources, then on your letter policy statement you say no letters would be printed if they were anonymous. Come on, man!
A five-year-old girl and her mom chased 67 waterfalls amid the pandemic and family struggles.

After the pandemic shut down her preschool, five-year-old Wynn Radke and her mom, Colleen, set out on an adventure that will take them to 67 waterfalls.

"I just thought of it in my brain," the little waterfall chaser answered when she was asked how she came up with the idea. Colleen told KARE 11 that she asked her daughter to pick an outdoor adventure while school is closed due to the pandemic.

She told her that they would not sit around and watch YouTube all summer while in quarantine. So when she challenged Wynn to choose an outdoor adventure, her little girl quickly answered, "67 waterfalls."

Wynn has always loved waterfalls

Wynn fell in love with waterfalls the first time she saw one two years ago, ABC News noted. It is not surprising then that Wynn answered, "67 waterfalls," when asked what outdoor adventure to pick. Colleen loved the idea, but in her mind, probably they will see six or seven.

Thus, they started chasing waterfalls last March 28, 2020. Their first stop was Fairy Falls and proceeded from there, enjoying each adventure one waterfall at a time. The mother and daughter visited waterfalls all over their home state, Minnesota, and some waterfalls in Wisconsin, including Willow Falls, Hidden Falls, Caron Park Falls, and Buttermilk Falls. They even had to camp overnight at some point and hiked miles and miles.

In May, after visiting Buttermilk Falls, Colleen was to be out work again after the jewelry store where she was working was looted. Colleen recalled that she was back at work for about ten days when their store was looted during the George Floyd protests.

Their adventure helped Mom and daughter bond and heal together

With her job on hold again, they hit the road once more to complete their goal. Still, more sad news followed the pair. In June, while they were at Big Falls in Eau Claire, Colleen got a call informing her that her divorce was finalized. Colleen said that it was a very difficult divorce.

The whole adventure would turn out to be an opportunity for them to take their minds off the struggles and stress that the family is going through. Colleen said that it took their minds off it all.

Wynn could feel her stress during everything, Colleen added, and their waterfalls adventure helped shield her little girl from the craziness going on. The pair just saw to it they will just have a great time bonding and healing together, Alive noted.

It was also therapeutic for her. "Mother Nature cleanses me," Colleen said, "makes me feel whole again."

Wynn and Colleen completed their goal at Winnewissa Falls in Pipestone County with Wynn proudly posing and holding her sign "67th." Wynn returned to school for hybrid learning after that while Colleen is now back at work.

Colleen said that they had so much fun while completing their 67 waterfalls adventure just "doing us, being us." And when asked what she thinks of this entire experience, Wynn said with pride, "I did it."
China denounces US bans on imports from Xinjiang

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 15 September 2020 10:06 AM

China says bans by the United States on imports of some products from the region of Xinjiang sabotage global supply chains.

China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Tuesday the US restrictions "violate the rules of international trade, and disrupt global industrial, supply and value chains."

"The so-called forced labor issue is entirely fabricated by some organizations and people in the US and the West," he said at a daily news conference in Beijing, referring to the US pretext for the imposition of the bans.

Wenbin stressed his country's determination to take all necessary measures to protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese firms.

The US administration on Monday announced bans on products from five specific entities, but pulled back from plans for a broad import ban on cotton and tomato from Xinjiang. The new restrictions were announced over the entities' alleged use of forced labor by Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang to make the products.

China rejects accusations of discriminating against the mostly Muslim-Turkic ethnic group of Uighurs  who make up about 45 percent of the population in Xinjiang  and accuses exiled separatist groups of planning attacks in the resource-rich region, which is strategically located on the borders of Central Asia.

The new US bans are likely to further inflame tensions between Beijing and Washington.

The US and China have been at odds over a range of issues; but recently, Washington has taken a markedly more aggressive posture against Beijing. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has openly called for regime change in "Communist China."

Washington's aggressive posturing against Beijing comes shortly before the US presidential election in November.

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As companies across the world race ahead with coronavirus vaccine trials, the most important question on everyone's mind right now is -- how soon will the vaccines be available for mass use?

Though Russia has already rolled out its COVID-19 vaccine, Sputnik V, for its citizens, the world is wary about celebrating its success considering various doubts over its safety, primarily because it got clearance even before completing phase 3 trials. The country is also planning to partner with India to conduct its phase 3 trials and further rollout for Indian citizens.

Meanwhile, countries like China, the United States and the UK are now coming up with claims that their vaccines will be ready before the year-end or even sooner.

An official working with the China Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has told Reuters that at least four Chinese coronavirus vaccines may be ready for use by the general public as early as November.

The United States President Donald Trump, during a recent interview by ABC News yesterday, said the first US vaccine could be out in just three to four weeks. "...previous administration would have taken perhaps years to have a vaccine, because of the FDA and all the approvals...we're withing weeks of getting it. You know, could be three weeks, four weeks."

While China has four vaccine candidates in the third or final stages of clinical trials, there are at least two companies from the United States and one from the UK and Germany, which are planning to rollout vaccine before the year-end, if everything goes as per the plan.

Let's take a look at all the prominent vaccine candidates in the fray:

The University of Oxford and AstraZeneca vaccine

University of Oxford/AstraZeneca's potential coronavirus vaccine is among the frontrunners in the race towards a safe and effective vaccine to stop the global pandemic. The company launched its late-stage trials at the end of August. Officials from the World Health Organisation had previously hailed AstraZeneca's vaccine candidate as one of the most promising candidates. However, the trials for the vaccine candidate were stopped last week after a participant showed an unexplained "illness".

Also read: 'Excited, looking forward to Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine,' says Adar Poonawalla

The trials were resumed last Sunday after reviewing the situation and getting clearance from the authorities concerned in the UK.

In India, Adar Poonawalla-led Serum Institute of India has patterned with AstraZeneca to develop the vaccine candidate. AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot last week said the company is still aiming for the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine to be ready by this year-end.

Also read: Who will get coronavirus vaccine shots in India first? Centre working on priority list

BioNTech/Pfizer

The US pharma giant Pfizer Inc and German pharma firm BioNTech SE last week sought permission from the US Food and Drug Administration to expand the enrolment of their Phase 3 COVID-19 vaccine trial to 44,000, and hopes to submit their vaccine candidates by the next month. "As stated previously, based on current infection rates, the companies continue to expect that a conclusive readout on efficacy is likely by the end of October," it added.

Also read: Pfizer, BioNTech to expand COVID-19 vaccine trial; final results by October

Moderna

Another leading candidate for coronavirus is US-based pharma company Moderna. It was the first US company to take its COVID-19 vaccine candidate to Phase 3 trials comprising over 30,000 people. The company aims to reveal the results of its vaccine candidate by the next month and hopes to roll out the vaccine before the year end. It is also talking to multiple countries for the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine. Moderna has said it is committed to 'equitable access' of its candidate. By 2021, Moderna aims to produce around 500 million doses of its vaccine candidate.

China's Sinovac

The Chinese company had received approval to conduct Phase 3 clinical trials in July. China-based Sinovac has received positive reviews for its efficacy. The vaccine is in Phase 3 of trials in Brazil, Mexico and Saudi Arabia. Brazil's Sao Paulo State governor said the vaccine has witnessed safe response, and that they are expecting it to be made available by early December.

China's CanSino Biologics

China-based CanSino was the first COVID-19 vaccine that received approval from its health authorities, though only for military use as an 'experimental vaccine candidate'. It started clinical trials way back in March, when COVID-19 was spreading its footprints across the globe, including India. The vaccine is at phase 3 trials right now.

The vaccine showed promise and produced safe immune response in phase 1 and 2 clinical trials. The company claims its vaccine can protect people from all kinds of mutation of the virus. CanSino is also conducting Phase 3 trials in Pakistan. Chinese health experts say the vaccine could be ready for mass rollout by November.

Also Read: Coronavirus vaccine: Govt plans to manufacture Russia's Sputnik V in India
Actor Sanjay Dutt is reportedly on his way to Dubai to meet his kids. The actors wife Maanayata Dutt shared a couple of pictures from their flight.

A selfie shows Maanayata posing with Sanjay in the business class of the airplane. Enroute life, she wrote with the picture. A second picture showed a cup of coffee with Sanjays face on it as latte art. Maanayata posted heart eyes emojis with the picture.

Sanjay, and Maanayata are left for Dubai on Tuesday evening, as per a Times of India report. Sanjay is doing well, and is expected back home in just a week or 10 days. He wanted to see his twins, who are still in Dubai. Theyre attending their classes from there,a source told the daily.

Sanjay was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer last month. Sanju will complete his preliminary treatment in Mumbai. We will formulate further plans of travel depending on how and when the Covid situation eases. As of now, Sanju is in the best hands of our esteemed doctors at Kokilaben hospital, Maanayata had said in a statement. Without specifying the nature of his disease, she had said their family was shaken up but determined to fight tooth and nail.

Also read: Akshay Kumar celebrates son Aaravs 18th birthday with throwback pic: Now youre taller, more handsome than me

The actor was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital on August 8 after he complained of breathlessness. After his discharge on August 10, the actor had tweeted about taking a short break from work owing to medical treatment. As rumours swirled around the actors health condition, Maanayata had requested well-wishers to avoid speculating about the stage of his illness.

I request everyone, with folded hands, to stop speculating the stage of his illness and let the doctors continue to do their work. We will update you all regularly with his progress, she had said.

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The longest stand against the Mountain Valley Pipeline will likely last at least two months longer.

A judge on Tuesday delayed a hearing on Mountain Valleys motion for an injunction that would force protesters from their tree stands in Montgomery County, where they have blocked the company from cutting some of the last remaining trees in the pipelines path.

Due to concerns about the growing spread of the coronavirus, Circuit Judge Robert Turk continued until Nov. 12 a hearing that was set for Thursday.

Since Sept. 5, 2018, pipeline opponents have positioned themselves about 50 feet off the ground, in a white pine and a chestnut oak. Supporters send up food and water while standing guard in a camp below the trees. A third tree stand went up in March.

A changing cast of characters  some masked and anonymous, others speaking openly  have taken to the trees off Yellow Finch Lane, not far from where the pipeline will burrow under the Roanoke River.

The tree-sit is the longest continuing blockade of a natural gas pipeline on the East Coast, according to Appalachians Against Pipelines.
Sana Shakil By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: As many as 100 personnel of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) have succumbed to COVID-19 with maximum casualties being reported from the CRPF, according to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). As on September 10, the seven central forces had together recorded 25,418 infections, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai said in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

Responding to questions on the issue by Congress parliamentarian Anumala Revanth Reddy, Rai shared a breakup of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the forces as on September 10. The most affected in terms of cases as well as fatalities is the largest paramilitary force --Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) with 8270 cases and 35 deaths.

The second highest fatalities have been reported by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) which has lost 24 of its personnel to the coronavirus infection. CISF, which guards airports and vital installations across the country, has also recorded a total of 1312 positive cases.

Like CRPF, the Border Security Force (BSF) has also recorded over 8000 infections. Mandated to guard India-Pakistan and India Bangladesh borders, BSF has lost 23 soldiers to the coronavirus infection and the force has seen a total of 8083 COVID positive cases.

The third-highest number of infections among the forces has been reported by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police with 3067 COVID positive cases. The mountain trained force that guards the India-China border has lost seven personnel to the disease. The Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), mandated to secure the Indo-Nepal and Indo-Bhutan borders has seen 2869 COVID-19 cases and six deaths.

Assam Rifles, tasked with the maintenance of law and order in the North East, has lost five soldiers to the infection. The oldest paramilitary force which also guards the Indo-Myanmar border in the North East has registered a total of 1605 cases of coronavirus. The specialized counter-terrorism force--National Security Guard has fortunately not recorded any COVID-19 death but has registered 1605 infections.

Reddy also asked the minister whether any special compensation was given to the family of CAPF personnel dying due to COVID-19.

In a written reply, Rai said, Yes Sir. In addition to normal benefits available to a CAPF personnel on death, it has been decided to provide Rs. 15 lakh to Next of Kins through Bharat Ke Veer Funds, in case CAPF personnel dies due to Covid-19 infection contracted while deployed on Covid- 19 related duties.
Opposition parties in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday questioned the Modi government's claim that the lockdown helped prevent over 29 lakh COVID-19 cases and thousands of deaths, and said it should have ensured better coordination with the states.





Members of the Upper House were participating in a discussion on 'COVID-19 pandemic and steps taken by the Government of India'.



Several opposition members, including from the Dravida Munnetra Kazagham and the Communist Party of India-Marxist, also pointed out that the government took almost two months to impose the lockdown after the first case came to light in January, and claimed the delay had proved costly.

Some of them also took a jibe at the government saying it was busy hosting United States President Donald Trump, who was on a two-day India trip in the last week of February.



Initiating the discussion, senior Congress leader Anand Sharma questioned the government's claims that the lockdown prevented up to 29 lakh COVID-19 cases.



He argued that the people of the country should know if the lockdown really helped in containing the spread of the disease and sought compensation for the migrant workers who died during the lockdown.



"He (health minister) has said that it has been estimated that this decision prevented approximately 14 to 29 lakh... and 37,000 to 78,000 deaths... The House must be informed as to what is the scientific basis on which we have reached this conclusion that but for the sudden lockdown, the number of cases could have risen up to 29 lakh," Sharma said.



He was of the view that the Centre should have taken the state governments into confidence so that they could have prepared better for the lockdown.



"Were we prepared for the lockdown? I am not levelling any allegation as nobody in the world was prepared, but you could have spoken to the states, alerted them ... to make preparations at the district level...



"This did not happen so what happened was that in four hours railways stopped. This led to painful scenes and the picture of the country which went out was not good," Sharma said, adding the sudden decision led to immense problems to the migrant labourers.



Sharma said that the government has in a reply stated that no compensation has been given because there are no figures regarding the death of migrant workers during the lockdown.



"This is such an unfortunate situation for the country. Why don't you have figures? Every state knows who died. They should be given compensation," the Congress leader said.



He said for the future the government should make a database regarding migrant workers in the country.

"There should be a register and those people who live in cities who did not get food security, ration, please find a solution for such exigencies," Sharma said.



Referring to an article in a leading medical journal which questioned the credentials of Hydroxychloroquine, Sharma said, "They had to take it back because it was completely fabricated... a case should be filed here as well because the pharma lobbies, as it is an affordable drug, want to discredit it."



Accusing the Centre of not consulting experts to draw a strategy to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, All India Trinamool Congress MP Derek O' Brien said that the central government should not use the pandemic "to convert democracy into autocracy".



"Did you consult global experts?... We set up a Global Advisory Committee with half a dozen people... The problem is that when things are going good, you want to take the credit and when things are tough, you start talking about the chief minister and bulldoze us in a serious speech like this," he said.



He asked if the Centre transferred funds to the informal sector and migrant workers, as demanded by the 12 opposition parties.

"You need humility... This government needs humility to work together with states. You don't know at all... Unless you have this one thing how will we go forward," O'Brien said.



He also took a swipe at the government over the PM CARES Fund.

"The most opaque and dark fund in the world is called the Prime Minister's couldn't care less fund. Oh! I said the name wrong," he said.



Tiruchi Siva of the DMK alleged late action by the government in tackling COVID-19.



"The first case was detected in January and the self-imposed curfew started from March 23," he said.



According to him, the lockdown was delayed for the "gala welcome" of the US President Donald Trump, who was here on a two-day visit on February 24 and 25.

Swapan Dasgupta, a nominated member, said the government should clear the confusion caused by claims that India is "under-reporting" its numbers and urged the health minister to come out with some clarification over the statistical robustness of the figures.



BJP MP Vinay P Sahastrabuddhe said that the Centre held discussion with state chief ministers and secretaries around 15 times and no one during their conversation even once said that the lockdown should not have been imposed.



He criticised the Maharashtra government over its handling of the pandemic, claiming ther is a lack of coordination among officers and political leaders in the state.



Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan said even her family members suffered due to the pandemic.



"The way people were being treated in hospitals, the way Mumbai roads are getting sanitised every hour, it is incomparable. There should be no politics on this subject," Bachchan said.



K Keshava Rao of TRS said that there was a need for better coordination between the Centre and the state governments for handling the pandemic.



RCP Singh of the Janata Dal-United said over 20 lakh migrant workers from Bihar were sent back by the states after the pandemic without recognising their contribution and now they are being called back by their respective employers



Elamaram Kareem of the CPI-M cited data from Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy to claim that around 15 crore people have lost jobs and alleged that the government has not taken any steps to address the situation.



While talking of the COVID-package, Kareem said that it is just one per cent of the GDP, while the packages from other countries are up to 21 per cent of their GDP.



Manoj Jha of the RJD also raised the issues of workers who were turned down by their employers during the pandemic.



Earlier in the day, Santanu Sen of AITMC recalled that in the initial days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when his party members were wearing masks they were asked to remove them by the Chair.



To this, Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu said: "At that time, the Chair was guided by the guidelines issued by ICMR. On that day, when this comment was made, there was no such thing."
I want to thank the swift work of our Office of Public Safety and other law enforcement personnel and first responders for the assistance they provided, Abraham said in a statement. Id also like to thank law enforcement, as well as our student services staff and so many others, who worked quickly to ensure our students' safety. Our thoughts are with our student who remains hospitalized and we pray for a speedy recovery.
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ARCHIVED - First clinical trial of Covid vaccine in Spain gets underway in Madrid



The Janssen trials involve two hospitals in Madrid and one in Santander

On Tuesday the vaccination of 150 volunteer participants in the phase 2 clinical trial of the first vaccine against Covid-19 to be trialled in Spain, made by pharmaceutical company Janssen, began in Madrid.



The Madrid hospitals of La Paz and La Princesa are, together with the Hospital Marques de Valdecilla in Santander, the three centers participating in this clinical trial, which seeks to find the most appropriate dose and regimen to achieve the best antibody response. This trial, authorized on August 28th by the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products, will analyze a vaccine at an early stage, which is not usual in Spain, but the need to urgently find a protective vaccine against Covid-19 is felt to outweigh the potential risks.



The 150 Madrid volunteers have been spilt into two groups,75 per hospital, 100 between 18 and 55 years old and 50 over 65 years, who will carry out the vaccination trials in the Clinical Trials Units up until September 22nd.



The phase 2 clinical trial will last between 14 and 16 months in total.



It is an early phase of the research, in which it is intended to evaluate which is the most appropriate dose and schedule in terms of activity to achieve the best antibody response (those that generate immunity against the virus), as well as to continue evaluating safety of the product under investigation.



Subsequently, phase 3, multicenter and multinational clinical trials will be necessary to demonstrate that the selected dose is safe and effective in preventing coronavirus infection.



The volunteers in whom the vaccine will be tested must be healthy people, without disease or undertaking any form of existing medical treatment, except in the group over 65s in which some type of mild disease that does not interfere with the possible results is permitted . Volunteers must not have had contact with people who are sick with Covid-19 or have had the virus themselves.



This is a randomized clinical trial in which different branches of treatment will be analyzed. In all cases, two vaccinations will be carried out in each patient, so that some patients will only receive a placebo, others one dose and others two doses of the product under investigation.



Furthermore, it is a double-blind trial in order to prevent that the results may be influenced by the placebo effect or by observer bias.



The follow-up of the patients will be carried out through several visits to the center, from the initial screening. After a first vaccination, a diary is given to the participants where they must note any adverse effects and the temperature recorded daily and go to the center weekly for the pertinent controls. After the second dose, visits as well as control calls and safety analyzes will be carried out.



The La Paz and La Princesa hospitals have modern Clinical Trial Units attached to their Health Research Institutes (IdiPAZ and IIS Princesa), accredited by the competent authorities with extensive experience in conducting clinical trials in healthy volunteers and patients.



In both cases, they strictly comply with the standards of Good Clinical Practice, ensuring the safety of the participants in the different studies at all times.





One in 7 volunteers of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine report side effects

The Moscow Times reported on Tuesday that one in seven volunteers have complained of side effects including weakness and muscle pain after taking Russias coronavirus vaccine, Russias health minister said on Tuesday.

Final clinical trials of the Sputnik V vaccine began in Moscow earlier this month amid questions over its long-term safety and effectiveness. Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said more than 300 out of the announced 40,000 volunteers have been vaccinated so far, according to the state-run TASS news agency.

Approximately 14% have small complaints of weakness, muscle pain for 24 hours and an occasional increase in body temperature, TASS quoted Murashko as saying.

Murashko said the symptoms level off by the next day.

The complications are described in the instructions and are predictable, he said.



Clinical trials resume of Oxford vaccine

On Saturday Oxford University reported that it will resume clinical trials of the Covid-19 vaccine, called ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, following an interruptionon the 6th September when a volunteer in the United Kingdom suffered an adverse reaction.

This possible vaccine, considered one of the most advanced developed worldwide, is in the final stages of clinical trials before receiving authorization from regulatory bodies to proceed with immunizing the population.

At the end of August, the EU closed a "first contract" with the British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca guaranteeing access to 300 million doses of the vaccine, so the suspension of the trials was a serious cause for concern in Europe and in all the world. Spain has pre-ordered 3 million doses.

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16.09.2020 LISTEN

The Member of Parliament for Ashaiman, Ernest Norgbey is insisting that the Electoral Commission (EC) furnishes him with details regarding the procurement process of the new Biometric Voter Management System (BVMS).

He says the Commission will face contempt charges should it fail to do despite a directive from the court.

The Human Rights Division of the High Court in Accra on Monday dismissed an application for stay of execution from the Commission after the court gave judgment in favour of the Ashaiman MP in July.

The EC initially refused to honour his request for information on the matter.

In an interview with Citi News, Ernest Norgbey said the EC has no option but to furnish him with the details.

The judgment was delivered in my favour for the Electoral Commission to furnish me with the documents. But they have appealed that judgment at the high court and entered into a stay of execution which means that they do not want the documents to be realized to me and enforce the judgment.

We also filed an affidavit and yesterday in courts upon hearing the arguments from the counsels on the constitutions of the various processes so far, the court held that the stay of execution and suspension of the case lacked merit the court dismissed same.

The court was of the view that the grounds of appeal to disclose any arguable points that will warrant a stay of execution which implies that the Electoral Commission is liable to furnish me with the necessary documents as soon as possible as directed by the court. Refusal to furnish me with the documents will amount to contempt of court, and so we are waiting for them and then my lawyers will determine the next line of action, he added.

Ashaiman lawmaker went to the Court in March 2020 for a judicial review when the Electoral Commission declined to provide him information on the Commission's procurement of the services of IT Consultant Dr. Ofori Adjei and a Procurement Consultant, Mr. A. Akrofi on the Commission's procurement of a new Biometric Voter Management System (BVMS).

The Commission had said it was unable to provide the information requested due to the unavailability of a fee system determined by Parliament.

Mr. Norgbey, however, said his fundamental right to information as guaranteed by the 1992 Constitution and the Right to Information Act had been violated by the Commission's refusal to provide him with the information.

The Court, presided over by Justice Gifty Agyei Addo, was of the view that Mr. Norgbey's right to information had indeed been violated.

She said the rights of citizens cannot be held in abeyance because of the inaction of Parliament.

She added that, the court under the circumstance had the power to prescribe a processing fee to enable Mr. Norgbey to enjoy his right to information.

---citinewsroom
What better way to learn than by actual hard experience? Every year, UCT's postgraduate management students who specialise in entrepreneurship are required to start a profitable business.

When and how was the brand born?

How did you come up with the name?

Whats your vision for the brand?

We developed our vision over a couple of months to ensure that we came up with a statement that resonated with each founder but more importantly with Collar4Africas identity

Tell us about your product offering.

Are the products locally manufactured/produced in South Africa? What has your experience been like?

We wanted to ensure that our business would provide some sort of stimulation for our microeconomy.

What other products will be manufactured locally?

Do you have any new products lined up?

How long have your products been in the market?

What are some challenges of getting your products out there?

How can consumers get their hands on your products?

Six determined students (Sisipho Graham, Alexia Abramson, Godfrey Ramaboea, Matthew Wicht, Sean Young and Anver Victor) who met through the well-known course at the University of Cape Town founded Collars4Africa and in June 2020 launched with a range of bespoke, handmade genuine leather collars.Sisipho Graham, co-founder of Collars4Africa, shares more about the sustainable business that aims to stimulate micro-economic growth and help to provide work and jobs for local communities in Cape Town.Collars4Africa was founded by a group of students who signed up to do the Postgraduate Diploma in Entrepreneurship at the University of Cape Town this year. We brainstormed many ideas, but all fell in love with premium pet accessories with the aim of sourcing inputs from local suppliers.We played around with quite a few names: AfriCollar, InjaAfrica, PawfectPets, and then we decided on Collars4Africa because it was simple and spoke to exactly what our identity was as a business is. We are a proudly South African startup that aims to embody what it means to live by the Ubuntu spirit.Our vision at Collars4Africa is to create a better life for proud pet families throughout Southern Africa by offering innovative and locally inspired premium pet accessories.We are focused on building a community where animal lovers and proud South Africans may come together to support local businesses.We are currently focused on dog collars. Our first collection is called The Genesis Range which is names after the course, in which we all met. The collar is made from genuine vegetable tan leather which is highly durable and ages well. The collars are embossed with one of our 3 designs: Proteas, Table Mountain and Ndebele and are a tribute to some of the beautiful aspects of the South African culture and landscape.Our second and most recent collection is called the African Beaded Range. These colourful leather collars are available in a variety of designs and are handmade with glass beads.They are! This something that we were adamant about before we had even designed our first product.The Covid situation made starting a business very challenging at times, but we had been in contact with a variety of local suppliers who were interested in developing a long lasting, mutually beneficial relationship with us. Our current supplier is incredible and is devoted to growing together and supporting each other, we have been very grateful for her dedication to our startup.In line with our vision, we strive to have all of our products locally made. We aim to support local businesses and establish mutual relationships with them. #supportlocal #localislekkerAs mentioned earlier us being a startup comes with its challenges but yes, we have many ideas in the works and are always on the lookout for exciting opportunities. Two main areas we have been interested in is leads and harnesses which are still in very early stages of development but have been on our minds.We officially launched our website, https://collars4africa.co.za/ on the 20 July 2020.Well, as a startup with limited capital I think we have done alright. We have been in contact with a couple of pet orientated retailers and boutiques in the Cape Town area who have shown interest. We are in the process of finalizing our agreements with them, however due to the social distancing regulations it has been difficult for us to really engage with consumers, especially in the developmental phase. We had to conduct focus groups and customer feedback sessions over Zoom with was quite challenging. However, we understand that adaptability and innovation is a part of the entrepreneurship game and we are to continue facing it head on.Customers can view and purchase our products on our website . We deliver nationwide and customers can sign up to our monthly newsletters for product specials and announcements.We also have social media accounts on Instagram and Facebook , where we share engaging content and have established a wonderful community of animal lovers. We welcome our customers to the Collars4Africa Woof Pack, by following us on social media or signing up to our monthly newsletters.We encourage our customers to share pictures of their pets in our collars via social media, or to email us with any feedback. It is important for us to use our platform to build a community of pet families.
India, Brazil, and South Africa on Wednesday reaffirmed and recalled the need for tangible reforms in the United Nations Security Council which includes expansion of both permanent and non-permanent seats.

IBSA Foreign Ministers Virtual Meeting, chaired by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, issued a joint statement where it emphasized the need for the international community to redouble efforts and bolster commitment to achieve tangible progress to an accelerated and comprehensive reform of the UNSC as the world body commemorates its 75th anniversary.

India is one of the aspiring candidates for a permanent, veto-wielding, seat at the top UN body, alongside Brazil, Germany, and Japan (the G4). New Delhi has so far received public support from all current permanent members  United States, Russia, Britain, France  barring China.

"We renew our commitment to work for the expansion of Security Council membership to include representation from emerging and developing countries of Asia, Latin America, and Africa, in both the permanent and non-permanent categories, for achieving a representative, inclusive, equitable, responsive, and effective UN Security Council. The legitimacy of the Security Council rests on whether its composition is equitable and reflective of the aspirations and perspectives of the UNs membership," the joint statement said, noting the urgent nature of the proposed measures.

The countries observed that the existing international governance structure is obsolete and cannot be fit-for-purpose to effectively address current peace and security challenges and the failure to reform the UNSC has serious implications for global peace and security.

Issued a Joint Statement on reform of UNSC. Expressed our collective frustration with the slow progress of reforms in the Inter-Governmental Negotiations. Time has come for substantive negotiations in a formal setting on a single comprehensive text.  Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) September 16, 2020

READ | India, Russia Discuss Partnership In Nuclear And Space Sectors, Agree To UNSC Cooperation

READ | Jaishankar Says 'global Street' Wants India As Permanent UNSC Member, Opens Up On Hurdles

'Move towards a result-oriented process'

The foreign ministers also reiterated their support for the representation of Africa in the Council in both the permanent and non-permanent categories and expressed their unequivocal support for the Common African Position, as stated in the Ezulwini Consensus and the Sirte Declaration. The Ezulwini Consensus calls for not less than two permanent seats for African countries with the right of veto and five non-permanent seats.

The IBSA leaders also expressed frustration with the slow pace of progress on Security Council reforms in the Inter-Governmental Negotiations process, which lacks transparency in its working methods. The Ministers insisted that the time has come to move towards a result-oriented process, with provision for substantive negotiations based on a single comprehensive text, in a formal setting.

Moreover, Brazil and South Africa congratulated India on its successful election as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the term 2021-2022. "As an IBSA member, India will be a strong voice in the Council and will continue to be a defender of a rules-based system in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations," the joint statement said.

READ | India Demands Tangible Action On UNSC Reform; Bats For Africa And Exposes Unnamed China

READ | 'We Support Indias Candidacy For UNSC': French Defence Minister At Rafale Induction
LONDON - Daniel Ellsberg, one of the most famous whistleblowers in living memory, came to the defence of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Wednesday in his legal fight to avoid extradition to the United States from Britain, arguing that the pair had very comparable political opinions.

The 89-year-old, who is widely credited for helping to bring about an end to the Vietnam War through his leaking of the so-called Pentagon Papers in 1971, told Londons Central Criminal Court via a video link that there are echoes of his experience in the way Assange is being treated by the U.S. government.

He told the court that he concluded after his several meetings with Assange over the past decade that they shared the same aspirations, to shine a light on the great lack of transparency in decision-making circles in the U.S., especially when it comes to matters of war.

The cables relating to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that WikiLeaks published had shown, he said, that torture had become normalized.

The American public needed urgently to know what was being done routinely in their name, and there was no other way for them to learn it than by unauthorized disclosure, he said in his written testimony.

I observe the closest of similarities to the position I faced, where the exposure of illegality and criminal acts institutionally and by individuals was intended to be crushed by the administration carrying out those illegalities, he added.

U.S. prosecutors have indicted the 49-year-old Assange on 17 espionage charges, and one of computer misuse, over WikiLeaks publication of secret U.S. military documents a decade ago, largely around the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq a decade ago. The dump, similarly co-ordinated at various stages with some of the worlds leading newspapers, was arguably the biggest single leak since the Pentagon Papers four decades before. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison.

Like Assange, Ellsberg faced the prospect of decades, at least, in prison.

After leaking over 7,000 pages of classified documents to the press, including The New York Times and The Washington Post, Ellsberg was put on trial on 12 charges in connection with violations of the Espionage Act. They were punishable by up to 115 years in prison, but the charges were dismissed in 1973 because of government misconduct against him.

Ellsberg, who had worked at both the State Department and the Pentagon, said Assange wont be able to provide a justification for his actions if he were to be extradited to the U.S. in the same way that he was denied the chance to raise a public interest defence for his leaking of the Pentagon Papers.

He said that Assange cannot get a fair trial for what he has done under these charges in the United States.

Pressed repeatedly by James Lewis, a lawyer acting on behalf of the U.S. government, about the consequences of the leaking of unredacted documents, Ellsberg said there was zero evidence that the actions of Assange and WikiLeaks had led to anyone being harmed. He also said that Assange took great care not to wilfully expose anyone to harm.

While noting the understandable anxiety of those revealed to have helped out the U.S., he said any threats had to be put into context. He told the court that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq had made refugees of millions as well as to the death of over 1 million people.

Ellsberg said it is extremely cynical for the U.S. government to feign concerns when it had spent much of the past 19 years showing contempt.

Ellsbergs testimony was interrupted by an outburst from Assange in the dock before the Australian was silenced by the judge, Vanessa Baraitser.

Assanges lawyers say the prosecution is politically motivated and that he wont receive a fair trial in the United States. They also argue that the conditions he would face in prison would breach his human rights.

Assange has been in a British prison since he was ejected from his refuge at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in April 2019.

The extradition hearing is due to last until early October.
'Criticism of Uddhav suits the NCP perfectly.'

'NCP members head key ministries in Maharashtra like home, finance and health, yet as chief minister it is Uddhav who is criticised for the state government's shortcomings.'

'Few hold NCP chief Sharad Pawar accountable for the performance of NCP ministers,' argues Sanjeev Nayyar.

IMAGE: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, right, with Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar. Photograph: Ashish Raje/ANI Photo

After Balasaheb Thackeray's death, the Congress and National Congress Party have been eyeing the Shiv Sena's loyal vote bank.

To crack it, they first propped up Raj Thackeray -- Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray's cousin and bete noire) -- tacitly and during elections.

However, the Marathi manoos was smart enough to realise that Raj was being used to split the Sena vote so they returned to Balasaheb's Shiv Sena, which was now Uddhav's Sena.

But the fractured results of the 2019 state assembly election and Uddhav's refusal to play ball with the Bharatiya Janata Party gave the NCP the opening it was looking for.

By making Uddhav chief minister, the NCP met many objectives. It kept Ajit Pawar, NCP chief Sharad Pawar's ambitious nephew, at bay.

Two, Uddhav became the face of the government, so brickbats, and praise, all went his way.

Thanks to the mismanagement of the COVID-19 crisis, the investigation into actor Sushant Rajput's death, drug allegations against Rhea Chakraborty and the spat with actor Kangana Ranaut, not to forget the attack on a retired naval officer, Uddhav and his Shiv Sena have been criticised harshly -- whether rightly or wrongly is for the voters to judge.

This criticism of Uddhav suits the NCP perfectly. NCP members head key ministries in Maharashtra like home, finance and health, yet as chief minister it is Uddhav who is criticised for the state government's shortcomings.

Few hold Sharad Pawar accountable for the performance of NCP ministers.

On the issues of Rajput's death and the Sena spat with Ranaut, Uddhav clearly bungled.

There was no need to be on the defensive over Rajput's death. Drugs are consumed across India (we all know that) and not in Mumbai alone.

Balasaheb's Shiv Sena would never have demolished an actor's office to settle scores. There are smarter and quieter ways to do that.

Perhaps Uddhav lacks the experience or emotions got the better of him. Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut did not make life easier for the chief minister either with his constant utterances against Ranaut.

Calling Ranaut 'haramkhor' was wrong. Please understand that Maharashtrians's exposure to Hindi is limited. What little Hindi they know is mostly from Hindi films.

Even though Raut clarified later what he meant, the damage was already done with his comments flying all over news teleision channels.

Meanwhile, while the Shiv Sena's battle with Ranaut was at full throttle, Maharashtra's Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said the state government would probe drug allegations against her.

The timing of this statement could be construed as adding to the Sena's discomfort. When the state home minister makes a statement on an individual case, the public senses something is afoot.

As if this was not enough came the news of a retired naval officer being roughed up by Shiv Sainiks for sharing an Uddhav cartoon -- on a housing society WhatApp group, not on Facebook or Twitter.

Has Uddhav's Shiv Sena become so insecure and intolerant that a mere cartoon (Uddhav's father Balasaheb was a cartoonist) cannot be taken in its stride?

Balasaheb's Shiv Sena was violent too, but Mumbaikars tolerated it because the causes that Balasaheb espoused in the 1990s were nationalistic. Uddhav does not have his father's personality and has not taken up similar causes strongly.

It is anybody's guess if Uddhav will lose the votes of traditional Shiv Sena supporters because of aligning with the Congress and the NCP to form the government.

This potential loss of votes by the Shiv Sena suits the NCP perfectly because this has been its goal for years.

Sanjeev Nayyar is a chartered accountant and founder, www.esamskriti.com.
COLONIE  A prisoner at the Albany County jail faces a felony assault charge for allegedly punching another inmate.

The sheriff's department said Ares Barreto, 29, was charged with felony assault for punching the other prison in his cell. Investigators said the victim suffered a cut to his eye.
Throughout the book Elliott sketches a broad-strokes map of Native brokenness, crisscrossed by rivers of blood  the genocide perpetrated by the U.S. government on Indigenous peoples. Midway, you think that youve read the worst that has happened to this author, but the floor drops yet again. Her book is a searing cry to stanch the bleeding.

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Toni Jensen is also the daughter of a Catholic mother and a sometimes violent Native father; like Elliott, she too can pass for white, though she is Metis. In Carry, Jensen scours language to find a new way of writing about how historical injustices seep into the present, and how the politics of racism and neglect poison bodies (Flint, Mich.) or choke them (police brutality). With a controlled voice like a Philip Glass composition, smooth, meandering yet repetitive, Jensen considers her troubled past and begins the work of stitching herself back together.

Her statistics on the American contagion of domestic violence (which she lived through at home), gun violence (which she skirted in the neighborhoods she lived in) and mass shootings (which one of her students experienced) anchor an unsettling account that creeps into your bones. Writing about the almost entirely unfettered access Americans have to guns, Jensen notes, We are no longer a civilized nation if ever we were.

Her childhood home was not a civilized place either. When she was 14, her father tried to throw her out a window. Three years later, after her parents separated, he locked her out of the house for a full night. Going to college seemed like a way out, until her advisers son attempted to sexually assault her  she escaped only because she was small enough to wiggle out of a gap in a futon. Jensen writes that her experience of everyday violence is so common that it is hard to see the campus as a hallowed space either.

The memoir glides from one setting to the next, from Colorado to Arkansas, recalling the movement-filled days Jensen savored with her best friend, a star athlete who died of an overdose. If reading this book feels at times like being on a train that doesnt stop winding, Jensen does eventually settle into one of her themes most emphatically. How all these men, then and now, take up their guns in anger is not entirely individual, she writes. It is at least in part structural. Jensen gives a brief, potent account of how the N.R.A. sprouted a political arm and latched on to Ronald Reagan, whose base she connects, convincingly, to Trumps.

Jensen taught on a reservation in South Dakota before moving to a leafy neighborhood in St. Paul, Minn., where she lived next door to a woman who would go on to murder a cousin. But this is America, she writes. Everywhere we live, our neighbors may commit gun violence. Everywhere we live, the police may commit gun violence on us or on our neighbors.

History hovers over these pages like a bitter, ghostly scent. Considering the recent Standing Rock protests, during which a private security firm used dogs and bear spray at close range on men, women and children, Jensen reminds us of the Sand Creek massacre in 1864, when American soldiers gunned down hundreds of Arapaho and Cheyenne women and children in their homes.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

A new study led by Dr. Matthew Rossheim at the George Mason University College of Health and Human Services provides important findings on how labeling of secondhand emissions from e-cigarettes can help more effectively communicate the harm from e-cigarettes and build support for tobacco-free campus policies. In the study "Aerosol, vapor, or chemicals? College student perceptions of harm from electronic cigarettes and support for a tobacco-free campus policy," researchers found that undergraduate students are more likely to see secondhand exposure to e-cigarettes as harmful when accurate labels like 'chemicals' or 'aerosols' are used rather than tobacco industry coined jargon like 'vapor.' The study was published this week in the Journal of American College Health.

When it comes to the harms caused by tobacco products, how information is framed and presented has important consequences for audience risk perception, individual behavior, and public policy-making. Tobacco marketers use a variety of framing devices to downplay the risks of cigarettes, e-cigarettes, and exposure to secondhand smoke.

Tobacco-free laws continue to play an important role in protecting everyone from harmful tobacco emissions and help reduce tobacco use in the general population. While overall rates of smoking continue to decline, e-cigarette use, particularly among youth and young adults has become very prevalent in recent years, including on college campuses. Tobacco-free campus policies have proven to play important roles in reducing the number of new users and in helping current users quit; however, one-sixth of smoke-free campus policies do not prohibit e-cigarette use. Despite mounting evidence on the harm posed by e-cigarettes (also known as "vaping") and their emissions, they are perceived to pose a lower risk than traditional cigarettes.

Researchers sought to better understand the association between the labels used to describe the secondhand emissions from e-cigarettes and young adults' level of perceived risks. The study aimed to determine if the terminology used to describe secondhand emissions from e-cigarettes influence undergraduate students' perceptions of its harmfulness and to examine whether perceived harmfulness of exposure to e-cigarettes was associated with support for tobacco-free campus polices that include e-cigarettes.

"This study is the first known investigation of whether the word used for e-cigarette emissions is associated with perceived harmfulness of secondhand exposure. It is also the first to identify an association between perceptions of harmfulness from secondhand exposure to e-cigarettes and support for the implementation of a 100% tobacco-free campus policy," said Rossheim, assistant professor in the Department of Global and Community Health.

Findings reveal that the words used to describe tobacco products and their secondhand emissions is critical in forming young adults' perceptions of e-cigarettes and their harmfulness, and that simple wording choices can have an important impact on perceived risk. The researchers conclude that due to the severe risks associated with e-cigarettes and secondhand smoke, that communications associated with e-cigarettes and tobacco-free campuses should accurately label their emissions as "chemicals" and "aerosols". They urge that legislation be passed to regulate the marketing practices of the e-cigarette industry so they cannot downplay the harmfulness of their products.

Students who were asked questions that used "chemicals" or "aerosols" to describe e-cigarette's secondhand emissions were twice as likely to perceive the emissions to be "harmful" or "very harmful", compared to students asked about e-cigarette "vapor." Students who did not use e-cigarettes were nearly five times more likely to see e-cigarette emissions as "harmful/very harmful" compared to those who do use e-cigarettes.

"Smoke-free and tobacco-free campus environments are always a common-sense public health measure, and are especially so at this time, given the strong link between tobacco use and COVID-19 transmission among young people," says Rossheim. "Colleges and universities are encouraged to urgently adopt tobacco-free campus policies to help prevent the spread of coronavirus."

The study was completed at a large, public university in Virginia that does not currently have a smoke-free campus policy and included data gathered from 791 undergraduate students.

More information: Matthew E. Rossheim et al, Aerosol, vapor, or chemicals? College student perceptions of harm from electronic cigarettes and support for a tobacco-free campus policy, Journal of American College Health (2020). Journal information: Journal of American College Health Matthew E. Rossheim et al, Aerosol, vapor, or chemicals? College student perceptions of harm from electronic cigarettes and support for a tobacco-free campus policy,(2020). DOI: 10.1080/07448481.2020.1819293
A meeting to commend role models in China's fight against the COVID-19 epidemic was held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on September 8. A total of 1,499 individuals and 500 groups across the country were commended for their outstanding contributions in fighting the epidemic.

Anti-epidemic fighters  including medical workers, scientific researchers and community workers  have received the country's most solemn praises, and their deeds demonstrate the great anti-COVID-19 combat spirit. Let's pay tribute to them and listen to the voices from the bottom of their hearts.

'Passing on Anti-Epidemic Spirit to Next Generation'

Zhong Xin, the widow of Peng Yinhua, a medical worker from the First People's Hospital of Jiangxia District, Wuhan City, who sacrificed his life during the battle against COVID-19 [China Women's News]

From the beginning of the epidemic outbreak, Peng Yinhua, a doctor from the First People's Hospital of Jiangxia District, Wuhan City, the city hit hardest by the epidemic at the time, had fought on the front line of the anti-virus battle and spared no effort to save patients. He was infected with the virus and died on February 20.

"Although Peng left me, he is always in my heart. Our baby was born on June 1, and I received much

sincere concern and kind help. When the child grows up, I will tell her about her father's deeds, passing his anti-epidemic spirit and strength on to the next generation," said Peng's wife Zhong Xin.

'Staying True to Original Aspiration to the End'

Yang Huili, deputy director of the nursing department of the People's Hospital of Xinjian District in Nanchang, capital city of East China's Jiangxi Province [China Women's News]

"I was lucky to have the chance to attend the national commendation conference for role models in the anti-COVID-19 battle in Beijing and to listen to General Secretary Xi's speech," said Yang Huili, deputy director of the nursing department of the People's Hospital of Xinjian District in Nanchang, capital city of East China's Jiangxi Province.

Yang said she felt full affirmation and ardent expectations for anti-epidemic workers from the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, and the commendation was the biggest honor in her life so far.

"In my mind, only by staying true to the original aspiration and keeping serious can we live up to the anticipations for us," Yang added.

'Continue to Serve Patients Steadfastly'

Yu Honglian, deputy head nurse and vice-chief

superintendent nurse of the urinary surgery of the No. 2 Hospital of Baoding City, North China's Hebei Province [China Women's News]

"I am excited to participate in this commendation. This dignified honor is not only for me, but also serves as recognition and encouragement for all the medical workers. As an ordinary nurse, I will continue to serve patients steadfastly and fulfill my duties as a medical worker in the future,"said Yu Honglian, deputy head nurse and vice-chief superintendent nurse of the urinary surgery of the No. 2 Hospital of Baoding City, North China's Hebei Province.

'Keep on Promoting Great Anti-Epidemic Spirit'

Ren Rui, a nurse-in-charge from Yulin No. 2 Hospital in Yulin City, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province [China Women's News]

Ren Rui, a nurse-in-charge from Yulin No. 2 Hospital in Yulin City, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, said she was privileged to receive this extraordinary honor.

"At the beginning of the epidemic, almost all the hospitals encountered the challenges arising from a lack of medical workers, beds and other medical supplies. However, with strong capabilities of social mobilization and coordination, our country has overcome many difficulties to curb the spread of the virus," Ren said.

She added that she will keep in mind the instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping, keep on promoting the great anti-epidemic spirit, and devote herself to the medical work and health care.

'Serving People with Meticulous Care'

Tang Shu, secretary of the general Party branch

of Xincheng Community in Yueyanglou District, Yueyang City, Central China's Hunan Province [China Women's News]

"I felt honored to participate in the commendation event and I was grateful to the CPC Central Committee for giving us such an honor. It will always stimulate my work," said Tang Shu, secretary of the general Party branch of Xincheng Community in Yueyanglou District, Yueyang City, Central China's Hunan Province.

"As a community worker, I should put the residents' difficulties in first place, and serve the people with meticulous care," she said, adding that she will continue to promote resuming work and production, and boost economic development based on regular epidemic prevention measures.

'People First, Life First'

Liu Yun, vice-president of Jiangsu Province Hospital and leader of the hospital's intensive care medical team to support Wuhan City, Hubei Province [China Women's News]

"This honor belongs to all the medical team members who have fought side by side with me and also our great nation," said Liu Yun, vice-president of Jiangsu Province Hospital and leader of the hospital's intensive care medical team to support Wuhan City, the city hit hardest by the epidemic at the time.

According to her, the victory of the hard anti-virus battle fully reflects the superiority of China's socialist system and the CPC's outstanding governance capabilities under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core.

"After this commendation meeting, I will continue to stay true to my original aspiration, bear my mission in mind, not rest on the previous achievements, and look forward to the future. Keeping the principles of 'people first' and 'life first' in mind, I will strive for China's medical cause and national rejuvenation," Liu vowed.

'Fulfilling Duty for People, Community Work'

Wang Yuebo, secretary of the general Party

branch and President of the Women's Federation of Binhe Community in Beijing's Pinggu District [China Women's News]

"I participated in the national commendation meeting and listened to the important speech of General Secretary Xi with excitement," said Wang Yuebo, secretary of the general Party branch and President of the Women's Federation of Binhe Community in Beijing's Pinggu District.

As head of a community's Party organization, Wang said she will continue to fulfill her responsibility for epidemic prevention, and lead CPC members and residents to implement regular epidemic control measures.

"Meanwhile, we will give full play to the role of grassroots Party organization in the process of community governance, fulfilling the duty for the people and community work," Wang stated.

'Fulfilling Doctor's Sense of Mission and Responsibility'

Lu Dingbo, director of the infection division of the Hubei Provincial Hospital of TCM (traditional Chinese medicine) in Wuhan City, Central China's Hubei Province[China Women's News]

"The medical workers in our hospital united and spared no efforts to save many patients by giving full play to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee and the coordination and deployment of the hospital's leaders," said Lu Dingbo, director of the infection division of the Hubei Provincial Hospital of TCM in Wuhan City, the city hit hardest by the epidemic at the time.

Lu said she and her companions felt a sense of accomplishment, and she will continue to fulfill a doctor's sense of mission and responsibility.

'Carrying Forward Volunteers' Enthusiasm and Love'

Hu Fang, director of a voluntary organization in Jinhua City, East China's Zhejiang Province [China Women's News]

"It was an honor to receive the title and be able to listen to General Secretary Xi's speech, for I just did my part within my power. For me, this award symbolizes responsibility and mission," said Hu Fang, director of a voluntary organization in Jinhua City, East China's Zhejiang Province.

Hu said she will lead her team to carry forward volunteers' enthusiasm and love, speed up the construction of the city's eye bank and blood donation station, and organize more activities to publicize first-aid measures.

'Upholding the Original Aspiration of Serving People with Heart and Soul'

Yu Jian, secretary of the Party committee of Nanhu Community in Nan'an District of Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality [China Women's News]

"I am grateful for receiving the prize, and felt excited as I listened to General Secretary Xi's speech. Nanhu District's achievements in the anti-COVID-19 fight can be attributed to all the efforts made by CPC members, volunteers and residents. It was a demonstration of the voluntary spirit," said Yu Jian, secretary of the Party committee of Nanhu Community in Nan'an District of Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality.

Yu vowed to uphold her original aspiration of serving people with heart and soul, and continue to lead CPC members and women in the community to build a beautiful community.

'Undertaking Social Responsibility of CPC Member and Entrepreneur'

Liu Xian, owner of a boxed meal restaurant chain in Chengdu, capital city of Southwest China's Sichuan Province [China Women's News]

"The volutionary tradition is deeply rooted in my mind. In my childhood, I listened to many stories of revolutionary fighters in Chinese history. When I grew up, I joined the CPC and tried to become an outstanding CPC member," said Liu Xian, owner of a boxed meal restaurant chain in Chengdu, capital city of Southwest China's Sichuan Province, who provided food for frontline medics in Wuhan City, the city hit hardest by the epidemic amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

"As a CPC member and also an entrepreneur, I should undertake social responsibility to contribute my own strength," Liu added.

'Demonstrating My Belief in Medicine with My Life'

Zhang Ping, director of pulmonary and critical

care medicine of Dongguan People's Hospital in Dongguan City, South China's Guangdong Province [China Women's News]

"As CPC members, my colleagues and I gave priority to the interests of the State and the people," said Zhang Ping, director of pulmonary and critical care medicine of Dongguan People's Hospital in Dongguan City, South China's Guangdong Province.

"We showed up wherever we were needed. In the face of the COVID-19 outbreak, we put aside our own well-being for the good of patients, and rushed to the front line immediately, demonstrating our beliefs in medicine with our lives. This honor belongs to all of our team members," Zhang noted.

'Keeping People's Life and Health in Mind'

Tang Ying, secretary of the Party committee of Cuizhulu Community in Xiangshan District, Guilin City, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region [China Women's News]

"It was the duty of a community's Party secretary to play the role of a guard. Actually, the initial victory of the anti-COVID-19 battle can't be divorced from lots of community workers across the country who stuck to their posts and dedicated themselves as they were needed," said Tang Ying, secretary of the Party committee of Cuizhulu Community in Xiangshan District, Guilin City, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

"The honor is more like a motivation. From now on, I will continue to concentrate on community work and better serve the people with heart and soul," Tang added.

'Demonstrating Medical Workers' Benevolence with Actual Deeds'

Hao Hui, deputy head of the first-aid station of the emergency center under the Urumqi Diwopu International Airport in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region [China Women's News]

"As a medical worker, I was greatly inspired by General Secretary Xi's speech at the meeting. We are supposed to be loyal guards of our people, race against time on the front line of the fight against the epidemic to ensure people's lives and health, and to demonstrate medical workers' benevolence and selflessness with actual deeds," said Hao Hui, deputy head of the first-aid station of the emergency center under the Urumqi Diwopu International Airport in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

'Focusing on People's Life, Health'

An Caixia, deputy director of the children's

emergency center of the Gansu Provincial Maternity and Childcare Hospital in Lanzhou City, Northwest China's Gansu Province[China Women's News]

"I feel honored to receive the title of outstanding individual in China's fight against COVID-19 epidemic. This award belongs to all the members of the fourth group of the medical team from Northwest China's Gansu Province to support Hubei and the children's emergency center of the Gansu Provincial Maternal and Childcare Hospital. It is a recognition of our work," said An Caixia, deputy director of the emergency center of the Gansu Provincial Maternity and Childcare Hospital in Lanzhou City, Gansu Province.

"I will take it as an impetus to further promote loyalty and sense of responsibility, focus on people's health and life, and make greater contributions to protecting children's physical and mental health," An added.

(Source: China Women's News/Translated and edited by Women of China)
(Alliance News) - Silicon Valley tech giant Oracle Corp is "very close" to sealing a deal to become the US partner to Chinese-owned video app TikTok to avert a ban in the US, President Donald Trump said Tuesday.

Trump's comments came a day after US officials confirmed that Oracle was set to make a deal with TikTok parent ByteDance ahead of a deadline set by the US president, who has called the app a national security threat.

"I heard they're very close to a deal," Trump told reporters, adding that "we're going to make a decision pretty soon" on whether to approve the tie-up, which would make Oracle a "trusted technology provider" for TikTok.

Shares in Oracle closed 2.5% higher in New York on Tuesday at USD60.94 each. The shares added 0.3% in after-hours trading.

source: AFP

Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
The new ETS unit will pursue strategic equity investments, growth partnerships, and mergers and acquisitions

PRINCETON, New Jersey, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- ETS, the world's largest nonprofit educational assessment and measurement organization, today announced the creation of ETS Strategic Capital, a new unit that will focus on growing the business and advancing its mission through strategic equity investments, growth partnerships, and mergers and acquisitions.

ETS Strategic Capital will broaden, expand and diversify ETS's offering in assessment, learning and development for K-12, higher education, and corporations. With this mandate, ETS Strategic Capital is actively seeking transactions to establish a global portfolio of innovative education companies that will have both a positive financial and strategic impact.

"We've reached a pivotal point in the ongoing evolution of education - there is a fundamental change in how educational services are delivered, how tools and assessments are structured, and how learners, schools, and companies are engaged and connected," said Ralph Taylor-Smith, the Managing Director of ETS Strategic Capital. "With our funding, expertise and experience in education, ETS Strategic Capital is well positioned to help emerging education companies that are addressing these gaps grow and increase their impact, while tapping into new opportunities. ETS brings value-add capabilities in assessments, research and development, global distribution, and innovative technologies to our portfolio and partner companies."

ETS Strategic Capital currently has a portfolio of five companies that bring technology, new business models and geographic coverage, and that complement and build out ETS's current business areas:

ApplyBoard : Guided by ETS Strategic Capital, ETS made an equity investment in Canadian-based ApplyBoard Inc., the world's largest platform for international student recruitment. As part of this investment, ApplyBoard and ETS's TOEFL business unit, which provides the world's premier English-language test for university study, work and immigration, are also developing a strategic growth partnership. https://www.applyboard.com/

: Guided by ETS Strategic Capital, ETS made an equity investment in Canadian-based ApplyBoard Inc., the world's largest platform for international student recruitment. As part of this investment, ApplyBoard and ETS's business unit, which provides the world's premier English-language test for university study, work and immigration, are also developing a strategic growth partnership. https://www.applyboard.com/ Pipplet: A start-up specializing in language assessment for businesses, Paris -based Pipplet helps companies assess job candidates' language fluency based on their practical, real-world ability to interact in a professional context. ETS's subsidiary, ETS Global B.V., acquired Pipplet S.A.S., guided by ETS Strategic Capital. https://www.pipplet.com/en-gb/home

A start-up specializing in language assessment for businesses, -based Pipplet helps companies assess job candidates' language fluency based on their practical, real-world ability to interact in a professional context. ETS's subsidiary, ETS Global B.V., acquired Pipplet S.A.S., guided by ETS Strategic Capital. https://www.pipplet.com/en-gb/home Capti (by Charmtech Labs LLC): Through the use of machine learning, artificial intelligence and natural language processing, Buffalo, N.Y. -based Capti, created by Charmtech Labs LLC, provides personalized literacy and learning support to K-12 students. Capti - dubbed a "AAA" for teachers - helps teachers accommodate, assess and accelerate reading for all their students. ETS Strategic Capital arranged a seed investment from ETS in Capti and established a strategic business partnership with ETS Research & Development (R&D) and New Product Development (NPD). Capti is licensing ETS's ReadReady intellectual property in internet-driven reading diagnostics, and will work closely with ETS's R&D and NPD teams to expand opportunities to positively impact K12 student reading success across the United States . https://www.captivoice.com/capti-site//

Through the use of machine learning, artificial intelligence and natural language processing, -based Capti, created by Charmtech Labs LLC, provides personalized literacy and learning support to K-12 students. Capti - dubbed a "AAA" for teachers - helps teachers accommodate, assess and accelerate reading for all their students. ETS Strategic Capital arranged a seed investment from ETS in Capti and established a strategic business partnership with ETS Research & Development (R&D) and New Product Development (NPD). Capti is licensing ETS's intellectual property in internet-driven reading diagnostics, and will work closely with ETS's R&D and NPD teams to expand opportunities to positively impact K12 student reading success across . https://www.captivoice.com/capti-site// EdAgree: Focused on the international student experience, EdAgree, Inc. is a newly formed spin-out company from ETS that will match international students with universities and support those students throughout their education journey. EdAgree plans to validate student profile information, package it for streamlined processing by admissions departments, and collaborate with universities to identify and deliver support that will optimize learning outcomes. EdAgree also will collaborate with partner universities on research efforts to optimize student success. ETS Strategic Capital arranged $1 million of seed funding from ETS to incubate the new start-up company and facilitated the spinout from ETS. https://edagree.com/

Focused on the international student experience, EdAgree, Inc. is a newly formed spin-out company from ETS that will match international students with universities and support those students throughout their education journey. EdAgree plans to validate student profile information, package it for streamlined processing by admissions departments, and collaborate with universities to identify and deliver support that will optimize learning outcomes. EdAgree also will collaborate with partner universities on research efforts to optimize student success. ETS Strategic Capital arranged of seed funding from ETS to incubate the new start-up company and facilitated the spinout from ETS. https://edagree.com/ Gradschoolmatch: Gradschoolmatch.com is an interactive internet-driven software platform that helps prospective graduate students match with potential graduate academic programs. The match-algorithm, search-engine and business-approach are modeled after successful "personal-dating" web-driven businesses; students can post biographies, research interests, career plans and academic profiles; they can also "bookmark" a graduate program profile to "signal their interest" in learning more or send "private messages" to graduate school recruiters. Both prospective graduate students and graduate institutions may subscribe, which allows them to search by location or academic interests, tracking prospects and making contact with simplified one-click interconnectivity for matching. ETS Strategic Capital arranged the purchase of the Gradschoolmatch.com platform, and it will be incorporated into ETS's offerings to the graduate school market. https://www.gradschoolmatch.com/

ETS Strategic Capital will serve as the private equity investment and M&A execution arm for ETS, its subsidiaries and its partners. It will source transactions both within the domestic United States and internationally. It will partner with the broader EdTech ecosystem, to identify and execute deals, coordinate with other ETS business units to identify opportunities and needs, network with professional services firms with education expertise, and build direct relationships with businesses internationally - especially within Asia Pacific, Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Middle East & Africa (MENA) regions.

More specifically, ETS Strategic Capital will target private equity investments that are typically in Series B, C or later, where companies already have a proven product and/or market fit, initial customers, and developed business-model, and are seeking further new growth capital to scale the business; in select situations, earlier-stage investment may be possible. Acquisitions will primarily focus on middle-market scale deals, though smaller or larger acquisitions may also be possible in certain situations. ETS Strategic Capital defines growth partnerships broadly and they might involve joint ventures (JVs), channel-partner or distribution agreements, Intellectual Property (IP) licensing and technology-transfer relationships, along with similar strategic value-add business partnerships.

Ralph Taylor-Smith, currently the Vice President of Corporate Development at ETS, will become the Managing Director of the new unit, bringing a wealth of experience in private equity investing, M&A and growth partnerships and joint ventures. ETS Strategic Capital has a growing bicoastal team based in offices in Princeton, N.J., Washington, D.C. and Silicon Valley, Calif. https://www.ets.capital/team/

About ETS

At ETS, we advance quality and equity in education for people worldwide by creating assessments based on rigorous research. ETS serves individuals, educational institutions and government agencies by providing customized solutions for teacher certification, English language learning, and elementary, secondary and postsecondary education, and by conducting education research, analysis and policy studies. Founded as a nonprofit in 1947, ETS develops, administers and scores more than 50 million tests annually - including the TOEFL and TOEIC tests, the GRE tests and The Praxis Series assessments - in more than 180 countries, at over 9,000 locations worldwide. www.ets.org.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1274809/ETS_Strategic_Capital_300_Logo.jpg
Chandigarh/Amritsar Around 10 farmer organisations have given a call for Punjab Bandh on September 25 as a mark of protest against the anti-farmer Bills being enacted by the Parliament. The decision was taken by the representatives of the farm bodies during a meeting in Ludhiana on Wednesday. All businesses, road and rail transport will be shut during the bandh, they said.

Farmer leaders said the ordinances related to the agriculture sector proposed by the Narendra Modi government, set to become laws soon, will sound a death knell for farmers and farm labourers. They said the struggle will continue till the ordinances were shelved.

To work out modalities for the bandh, a meeting of the farmer bodies has been convened on September 19 in Moga where representatives of organisations related to agriculture sector will chalk out a strategy to intensify the movement.

Ludhiana meeting was attended by leaders of Azad Kisan Sangharsh Committee; Jai Kisan Andolan; Punjab Kisan Sabha All India Kisan Sabha Punnawal, Punjab Kisan Sabha; Bhartiya Kisan Union (Dakonda) and Kirti Kisan Union, among others.

Meanwhile, a delegation of farmers led by general secretary of a faction of Bharatiya Kisan Union, Harvinder Singh Lakhowal, staged a dharna outside the Raj Bhawan in Chandigarh on Wednesday. They had sought an audience with the governor, which was denied. Lakhowal said farmer organisations will write messages on the walls in villages, urging villagers to not entertain politicians.

Blockades lifted from 3 Majha bridges

Farmers on Wednesday lifted the blockades on three main bridges of Majha region, taking cognisance of the inconvenience they caused to the people. Farmers, however, have announced to intensify their protest against the ordinances.

Thousands of farmers, under the banner of Kisan Sangharash Committee (KSC), had laid siege to the Harike bridge connecting Majha and Malwa, the Beas bridge on the Amritsar-Delhi highway and the Hargobindpur bridge in Gurdaspur on Monday afternoon.

Farmer leaders, while lifting the blockades, said since the Centre appears to be adamant on passing the anti-farmer ordinances in Parliament, they will scale up their protest and a decision will be taken in a high-level meeting on Thursday.

KSCs general secretary Sarwan Singh Pandher, who led the protest on Beas bridge, said, We have lifted the protest, but that doesnt mean our struggle has finished. Now, the protest will be intensified.

He said, Our further action plan may include barring the entry of political leaders, especially the Central ministers and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs, in Punjabs villages. We may also plan to launch rail roko andolan (stir), besides organising long protest marches in all cities and villages of the state.

KSCs Punjab president Satnam Singh Pannu held responsible both the ruling Congress in Punjab and the BJPs ally Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) for playing with the sentiments of the states farmers.
The first official mosque in Athens, the capital of Greece, which took about 14 years to build and caused great controversy, will be put into service in October, Euronews reports.

AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): The first official mosque in Athens, the capital of Greece, which took about 14 years to build and caused great controversy, will be put into service in October, Euronews reports.



The transformation of the Hagia Sophia Museum in Istanbul into a mosque after 86 years brought questions about whether the mosque would be opened or not.



The construction of the mosque in the Votanikos neighborhood of Athens was delayed for a long time due to the protests in Greece, where the majority of the people are Orthodox Christians. A local church donated 10 acres of land for the mosque.



Speaking to the Kathimerini newspaper, a government official said that the personal decision taken by Greek Prime Minister Kiryakos Micotakis in June was to finish the mosque.



The mosque, which is approximately 850 square meters and has a capacity to host 350 people, does not have a minaret.













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In May, as Europe was cautiously coming out of lockdown, Mr. Trump invited his fellow leaders to Camp David in June. In a phone conversation that fast turned sour, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany told him that she could not confirm she would be able to travel. Then Mr. Macron said the meeting could happen only if every leader was present.

Obviously irritated, Mr. Trump announced the postponement of the summit and suggested inviting leaders of other countries, including Mr. Putin. The Group of 7, he said, is a very outdated group of countries. Why not G10 or G11?

But Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada and his British counterpart, Boris Johnson, soon let it be known that they would not accept Russias return to the club. (Russias addition turned the G7 into the G8 in 1998, but in 2014 Russia was kicked out over its military intervention in Ukraine.) That sealed the fate of President Trumps proposal.

The reality is that his Group of 7 colleagues wanted to avoid being instruments in creating a friendly photo op that would be promoted, in the heat of Americas election campaign, as an allied front against China, when in fact the Trump administration had offered no agenda for the summit.

The administrations isolation is also on display at the United Nations, with China actively filling the void. Washingtons decision in 2018 to withdraw from the multilateral deal intended to limit Irans nuclear program  despite intense lobbying from the E3 (Britain, France, Germany) that had been instrumental in the deals success  is a perfect example of how Washingtons unilateral stance quickly became counterproductive.

Last month, when the United States asked the Security Council to approve extending a ban on the sale of conventional weapons to Iran, it came as a surprise to no one but Washington that, out of the 14 other Council members, only one, the Dominican Republic, came to Americas support. As unpleasant as it was to find themselves in the company of China and Russia, Europeans described the American move as incompatible with their efforts to salvage the Iran nuclear agreement. The E3 nations, whose resolve was hardened by Americas withdrawal, now lead the rest of the Security Council.

Three years ago, after a bruising NATO meeting with Mr. Trump, Ms. Merkel famously concluded that we, Europeans, must take our fate into our own hands. But her warning was not followed by action, and it took a virus to succeed where politicians failed.
LONDON, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- According to ABI Research, a global tech market advisory firm, worldwide shipments of smart Government ID credentials is set to fall from 617.6 million in 2019 to 547.5 million in 2020, in the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic. With most borders closed and governments placing priority on aid and support, many projects have experienced either a reduction in demand or postponement, which will result in a sharp market decline in 2020.

"The markets for passport and national ID have experienced an issuance downturn as governments prioritize healthcare and financial support for citizens," said Sam Gazeley, Digital Security Analyst at ABI Research. "The typical churn rates for passports have fallen by 50-60% in some countries as closed borders and safety concerns deter citizens from renewing the high end-user cost document. Smart national ID programs have also been delayed due to a shifting of attention and will likely not be seen until 2021 at the earliest. As one example, the deadline in the United States for Real ID has been extended a year as states shift priority for tackling the pandemic."

Smart National ID issuance is forecast to show a decline of -2.3% from 2019 to 2020, falling to 296 million units. Projects that have already begun issuance, such as in Turkey, Italy and, Bangladesh, will continue to issue, though at a slower pace. New programs in the Philippines, Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, and Nigeria have postponed enrollment and issuance until 2021.

Issuance of e-passports will be considerably lower in 2020 when compared to 2019 issuance levels. ABI Research is expecting a 2019 to 2020 year-on-year decline of -34.9%, falling to 119.0 million units. With most borders closed and almost no international travel, demand and thus replacement rates for the credentials have dropped significantly. Though e-passports will likely pick up again moving into 2021 as holiday destinations begin to open borders, issuance will still struggle to reach pre-COVID levels.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant effect on the Government ID market, and its recovery back to nominal issuance levels is heavily dependent on myriad factors. The passport market will depend on countries reopening borders and to which countries citizens can travel. National ID programs will depend on whether governments can spare capital for infrastructure in the wake of an economic downturn and could lead to further delays. "However, it is important to note that the investments and budgets remain available for credential programs, but delays are typically caused by manufacturer shutdowns and reductions on face-to-face interactions within the enrollment process. This could be an opportunity to leverage mobile credentials and digital ID wallets. Doing so will reduce issuance costs and create end-to-end touchless experiences and service access related to remote enrollment and onboarding, service consumption and digital transactions, leveraging contactless communication technologies, which have near-ubiquitous support within smartphones. The use of mobile credentials enables governments to further automate systems and services for citizens looking for a touchless, digitized approach and provides a way to "pandemic-proof" government service access and G2C (Government to Citizen) and C2G (Citizen to Government) communications," concludes Gazeley.

These findings are from ABI Research's Government and Healthcare ID Cards market data report. This report is part of the company's Digital Security research service, which includes research, data, and analyst insights. Market Data spreadsheets are composed of deep data, market share analysis, and highly segmented, service-specific forecasts to provide detailed insight where opportunities lie.

About ABI Research

ABI Research provides strategic guidance to visionaries, delivering actionable intelligence on the transformative technologies that are dramatically reshaping industries, economies, and workforces across the world. ABI Research's global team of analysts publish groundbreaking studies often years ahead of other technology advisory firms, empowering our clients to stay ahead of their markets and their competitors.

ABI Research 1990 

For more information about ABI Research's services, contact us at +1.516.624.2500 in the Americas, +44.203.326.0140 in Europe, +65.6592.0290 in Asia-Pacific or visit www.abiresearch.com.

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(FILE PHOTO) A sign welcomes visitors to the Los Alamos Laboratory after they cross over the Omega Bridge June 14, 1999 in Los Alamos, New Mexico. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Former US National Lab Scientist Sentenced for Lying About Participating in Chinese Job Program

A former physicist and materials scientist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) was sentenced to probation and fined for lying about his participation in a Chinese state-sponsored recruitment program.

Turab Lookman, 68, of Santa Fe, New Mexico, had denied he was recruited by the Chinese Thousand Talents program when, in fact, he was, according to a statement from the Department of Justice (DOJ).

He was sentenced on Sept. 11 to five years of probation and a $75,000 fine for making a false statement to the U.S. Department of Energy, which operates the lab. He had faced a maximum sentence of five years of imprisonment and a fine of $250,000, the DOJ said in an initial announcement that followed his guilty plea.

Under the terms of his probation, he isnt allowed to leave New Mexico, according to the DOJ.

Lookman not only lied, but he betrayed his country by collaborating with the Communist Party of China to undermine our nations national security, prosecutors said in a court filing.

He pleaded guilty in January, admitting that he lied to a counterintelligence officer who asked whether he had been recruited by or applied for a job with the Thousand Talents Plan on June 6, 2018.

Beijing rolled out the Thousand Talents Plan in 2008 to aggressively recruit promising science and tech researchers from foreign countries to work in China.

On July 7, FBI Director Christopher Wray warned about Chinas motives behind programs such as the Thousand Talents Plan during a speech at the Washington-based think tank Hudson Institute.

Through its talent recruitment programs, like the so-called Thousand Talents Program, the Chinese government tries to entice scientists to secretly bring our knowledge and innovation back to Chinaeven if that means stealing proprietary information or violating our export controls and conflict-of-interest rules, Wray said.

Federal prosecutors in recent months have charged a string of researchers who were Thousand Talents participants and failed to disclose those ties to their employers. Others have been prosecuted for stealing intellectual property.

Lookman, who has a doctorate in theoretical physics from Kings College at the University of London, joined LANL in 1999; he was fired shortly after the FBI arrested him in May last year. According to LANL, he has authored more than 250 publications and earned multiple awards for his research, including the laboratorys Fellows Prize for Outstanding Research.

LANL is best known for being one of the sites for the Manhattan Project in the 1940s, which designed and developed nuclear weapons amid World War II. The lab is now tasked with science programs that focus on areas such as energy, biotechnology, and advanced scientific computing.

Its unclear when Lookman signed on to the Thousand Talents Plan; the program offered him $75,000 in remuneration, according to court documents, citing his contract with the program.

Additionally, it was Xue Dezhen, currently a professor at Chinas Xian Jiaotong University (XJTU), who convinced Lookman to sign up for the talent program at a Chinese research center, according to court documents. XJTU is located in northwestern Chinas Shaanxi Province.

Xue was a visiting student at LANL from March 2012 to September 2012, when he was earning his doctorate degree at XJTU, according to his personal webpage on XJTUs website. From November 2013 to October 2015, he was a LANL directors postdoctoral fellow.

Lookman and Xue were co-authors for at least 20 scientific papers, according to a list of Xues publications on the XJTU website.

In 2017, Xue was selected by Shaanxi provincial authorities for its outstanding youth talent program. While it is unclear what benefits the program offers to individuals, the application for the program stated that applicants must support the principles and policies of the [Chinese Communist] Party.

Xue is currently a professor at the State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials at XJTU. Researchers and professors at this XJTU laboratory have often received grant funds from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, according to NSFCs website.

The foundation, established by Chinas cabinet-like State Council in 1986, states on its website that it follows decisions made by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

In March, the State Key Laboratory published a recruitment ad seeking to hire people from China and overseas to be the labs directors. One of the qualifications listed was: following the Partys education policies.
It is two weeks since schools were reopened for full teaching following the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. By the first week of September all children had to return, joining children of key workers who have remained in classes throughout.

The terrible consequences of this decision by the Tory government show the urgent need for educators and parents to act independently to protect themselves, their loved ones and the wider community.

By Tuesday evening coronavirus outbreaks were confirmed at 913 schools across Britain. There are 673 schools affected in England alone. In Scotland, where in-person teaching commenced on August 11, there have been 117 schools affected, 72 affected in Northern Ireland and 61 in Wales.

We know where this experiment in herd immunity is heading. In the US, since the widespread reopening of secondary schools, at least six teachers have died from COVID-19 over the past month, bringing the death toll among educators to at least 210. This is after it was revealed that President Donald Trump knew in January of the massive danger posed by the deadly new disease. The release by senior Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward of taped interviews between him and Trump, going back to February, has exposed a massive conspiracy by Republicans, Democrats and the media to cover up the grave threat.

Likewise, in the UK teachers, children and their families are being deliberately placed at risk in the interests of the corporate elite. Social distancing guidelines have been all but abandoned. The Johnson governments decision to restrict social gatherings to sixan arbitrary and meaningless figuremeans that nowhere is COVID-19 secure. Yet still the government, backed by the teaching unions, claims that schools are achieving what is impossible elsewhere.

With Labour Party support, the National Education Union (NEU), which boasts of being the largest teaching union in Europe, is complicit in abandoning its 450,000 members and those they teach to the governments policy of herd immunity.

On March 16one week before lockdownMary Bousted, NEU joint general secretary, endorsed the governments insistence on keeping schools open, because They are a major public service. For children on free school meals, they are a place where children get fed. Having your child at school allows parents to work ...

Bousted made no mention of schools having the responsibility to educate children. Her statement explicitly and deliberately repeated the governments line that schools were basically holding pens for the children of wage slaves.

One day later the NEU suggested that some schools might have to close. This was not out of concern for teacher/pupil welfare. That day, March 17, the government announced a 330 billion bailout for big businesses. Conscious of growing anger at this largesse for the super-rich while their members were being driven into unsafe conditions, the NEUs suggestion was intended to back up Tory/Labour claims that Were all in this together.

On April 14, the same day that the Office for National Statistics recorded that deaths due to COVID were 6,000 higher than the yearly average, the NEU launched a petition calling for schools to remain closed to wider pupil intake until safe. Signed by teachers, parents and doctors, it reached almost half a million signatures, indicating the immense social and political tensions the unions were seeking to suppress.

Throughout, the teaching unions were in talks with government advisers that had endorsed its herd immunity policy. No one knows what they said because, as in the US, this discussion was conducted in secret. Even before the pandemic, the government had made clear its intention to smash up and destroy the last vestiges of public education, painting teachers as the enemy within.

Having secured the financial interests of the oligarchs, the NEU joined in the government campaign to support a return to work. On May 1the day celebrated as international workers daythe union joined demands for schools and higher education to be open as soon as we can.

To cover for its alliance with government, the NEU set a 5-point criteria. These were much lower numbers of COVID-19 cases, national social distancing, testing, testing, testing, school protocols for outbreaks, and protection for the vulnerable.

Even as the UKs COVID death toll was rising exponentially to among the highest in the world, the NEU welcomed government plans to reopen schools, especially [Education Minister Gavin] Williamsons statement that his door is open for discussions with the union.

On May 20, Bousted tweeted, We are writing to Gavin Williamson today asking him to set up a working party to really examine the practicalities of wider school opening when it is safe to do so. Reopening schools is a question of logistics, not of risks.

Just as the ruling elite utilised the pandemic to furnish its selfish interests, so too have the trade unions. They are fully aware of the social explosion building up and signed on in the hope of being formally admitted as advisers, and protectors, of government.

This was underscored by the NEU and other unions endorsing government plans for a phased return on June 1. Any criticisms they made were only after four prominent members of the governments Scientific Advisory Committee (SAGE) called for a re-think. Even so, this was based on calls for the creation of a national COVID-19 education taskforce with government, unions and education stakeholders to agree statutory guidance for safe reopening of schools.

Popular opposition meant the schools did not fully reopen on June 1. But the teaching unions showed which side they were on, with the NEU calling on government to engage in talks  including the NEU, about how to open schools more widely once the contact tracing system is shown to be working.

This for the record opposition has been abandoned. Against all scientific advice, children are being returned to school and the NEU and teaching unions have abandoned all talk of meeting criteria for a safe return.

On June 11, shortly after Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the jobs furlough scheme would end October 31, the NEU followed with a 10-point programme for school reopening. This included so-called blended learning and hiring retired teachers to organise catch-up lessons. Little more than one week later, on June 19, it pleaded that it was not too late for the government to start engaging properly with unions before making further pledges which turn out to be unachievable.

On June 25, a government leak exposed that scrapping social distancing was being considered in schools come September. Instead of opposing this measure, the NEU pleaded to meet with you [Prime Minister Boris Johnson] and with your Secretary of State for Education ...

Throwing a lifeline to a widely hated government, Bousted called for government and unions to develop a coherent strategy that is workable for September. Its 10-point education recovery plan has been the government strategy ever since, as it seeks to step up the exploitation of the working class to fund its bailout for the super-rich.

All rhetoric opposing school re-openings has been abandoned by the unions. We oppose any re-opening of schools before it is safe to do so has been replaced with, We all want to see a full return for all pupils from September.

The NEU counsels the Johnson government that it has to be able to convince school staff that sufficient measures are in place to make it COVID secure for them to work in a class of 30 or more childrenwith neither social distancing nor PPE [personal protective equipment], and often with poor ventilation.

Thus, schools have reopened despite none of the NEUs tests being met. COVID-19 cases are rising, especially among the young. Research shows that children are just as vulnerable to infection and that the consequences can be deadly.

Social distancing has been scrapped with the drive to reopen workplaces. There is no viable testing system because responsibility has been farmed out to the major corporations. Thousands cannot get tests due to the privatisation of health and social care, which means there is no capacity. Unwell staff are having to teach. Where this is not possible, supply teachers are being brought inraising the risk of spreading the virus. Teaching Assistants, among the lowest paid in the education sector, are unable to shield themselves due to their specific role. Special Needs teachers are especially at risk, given the medical/health dimensions of their responsibility.

Instead of schools being closed, they are trying to manage with existing staff, with Higher Level Teaching Assistants (HLTAS) covering teachers or using supply teachersthus increasing the risk of infection. Parents are threatened with massive fines if they do not send their children to school and are under pressure to deregister to avoid this.

This must end and requires educators mobilising as part of the entire working class to defend their independent class interests. To take this fight forward, the Socialist Equality Party calls on all educators, teachers, and students to attend the next meeting of the Educators Rank-and-File Committee on Saturday, September 19, 24 p.m. To attend please register here.
A $1 million lawsuit filed against two big names in Oregons legalized marijuana industry -- married couple Travis and Leah Maurer -- has been dismissed.

The former business associate who sued them, Randy Quast, agreed to pay the Maurers $100,000 to settle the lawsuit, according to settlement papers provided last week to The Oregonian/OregonLive by the Maurers' attorney, Andrew DeWeese. Quast had originally sought seven figures from the Maurers, but the Maurers countersued and Quast ultimately agreed to pay them.

Lawyers listed as representing Quast didnt return requests for comment from The Oregonian/OregonLive. Quast also couldnt be reached.

The Maurers have been well-known advocates for Oregons marijuana industry. In 2014, they were big proponents of voter-approved Measure 91, which legalized recreational use.

In 2016, Quast sued the Maurers, alleging breach of contract, defamation and other claims over a venture to start a marijuana-growing operation and a dispensary that ultimately never opened.

The Maurers denied Quasts claims and countersued -- alleging, in part, breach of fiduciary duties and breach of contract. Quast filed bankruptcy in Minnesota just before trial was to begin in January 2019.

Last December, Quast and the Maurers signed a settlement agreement, and a federal judge dismissed Quasts lawsuit and the Maurers' countersuit in March.

As part of the settlement agreement, Quast offered this written statement:

Ive dropped my claims against Travis and Leah Maurer. After learning additional facts in discovery, I now realize that this dispute was based on a misunderstanding. I regret the hardship this matter has caused the Maurers.

The Maurers also offered this written statement: We regret the misunderstanding between us that led to the two lawsuits. Now we can return our full attention to the important social and political issues that are part of the fight to end the drug war in our country.

-- Aimee Green: agreen@oregonian.com; @o_aimee
The six-month inquiry will be conducted by an ad hoc commission of the National Assembly to be formed in the coming days. Although the commission will be headed by an opposition parliamentarian, most of its members will be named by My Step.

The two parliamentary opposition parties, Prosperous Armenia (BHK) and Bright Armenia (LHK), called for the creation of such a body in June as they accused the government of mishandling the coronavirus crisis. Leaders of the parliaments pro-government majority criticized the move at the time, defending the authorities response to the pandemic.

The Armenian parliament statutes enable the majority to block inquiries initiated by minority factions. It can do so by refusing to approve the size and composition of an investigating commission.

My Steps parliamentary leader, Lilit Makunts, made clear that the ruling bloc remains skeptical about the opposition initiative but will go along with it.

The My Step faction will not impede the creation of the commission and will nominate deputies who will be involved [in the commissions work,] said Makunts. At the same time, we do not think that it will be productive at this stage.

Consequently, the parliament decided that the commission will have 12 members. It will be headed by the LHKs Arkady Khachatrian. At least 7 of its members will represent Pashinians bloc.

Khachatrian expressed hope that they will act impartially during the probe. If there is no political will to work effectively, they can very easily obstruct and torpedo one or another decision, he told journalists. I hope that the authorities will not follow that path.

Arusyak Julhakian, one of the My Step deputies who will join the commission, said that while she disagrees with the strong opposition criticism she believes the authorities made some mistakes in their efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19. I think, for example, that the enforcement of the total lockdown [in late March and April] was not very efficient, she said.

The lockdown was lifted by the government despite a rapidly growing number of coronavirus cases in the country of about 3 million.

The Armenian Ministry of Health has recorded a total of 46,376 cases and 923 deaths caused by COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.

The daily number of new infections reported by the ministry peaked in June and has shrunk by more than half since then, leading the government to reopen all schools and universities on September 15. Government officials attribute the downward trend peoples and businesses greater compliance with anti-epidemic rules.

Wearing face masks in all public spaces -- both indoors and outdoors -- has been mandatory in Armenia since June. The government kept this and other restrictions in place when it lifted a coronavirus-related state of emergency on September 11.
Ned Gerard / Hearst Connecticut Media

BRIDGEPORT  A person was injured in a stabbing by a known party on Fremont Street Tuesday night, according to police.

Officers were dispatched to an area of Fremont Street around 8:15 p.m. for a preliminary report of an assault with a dangerous weapon.
Finding gluten-free skincare products can be challenging. No one understands this quite like Dr. Liia Ramachandra. As a result of her gluten-allergy, she teamed up with her husband, both having over thirty years of experience in pharmaceutical drug development, to create a line of gluten-free and anti-aging luxury skincare and cosmetics called Epilynx.

Epilynx provides an ethical, pharmaceutically designed line of gluten-free and allergen-free vegan skincare and cosmetics. They offer a series of serums, creams and other skincare products to help give you vibrant, healthy skin. Each ingredient has been selected based on scientific research and the final formulation of each line is based on what is known about various skin types.

Starting from scratch in research and development and quality manufacturing principles, based on decades of our pharmaceutical drug and medical device experience, was critical for us to feel proud of the products we offer you, says Dr. Liia Ramachandra, CEO of Epilynx. Your skincare needs matter to us. Were so excited to be expanding our audience by working with AsSeenOnTV.pro.

"Epilynx understands how important it is to take care of our skin  especially since its our largest organ," says Lisa Vrancken, Executive Vice President of AsSeenOnTV.pro. "Their clean beauty products help you achieve healthy and glowing skin."

As part of its DRTV campaign with AsSeenOnTV.pro, Epilynx will be appearing in 60 second spots set to air nationwide and feature the original Shark himself, Kevin Harrington. AsSeenOnTV.pro is comprised of an award-winning team of producers, writers, videographers, and editors as well as industry veterans dedicated to finding the latest, most innovative products and ideas, and putting them on the DRTV map.

About AsSeenOnTV.pro

Headquartered in South Florida, AsSeenOnTV.pro is a full-service production, branding, and marketing company that specializes in direct response television, short- and long-form commercials, and brand building. Based out of a 25,000+ sq ft, state-of-the-art studio, the companys creative team handles every aspect of production from script to screen to airing. For nearly two decades, AsSeenOnTV.pros veteran staff of writers, producers, videographers, and editors has amassed more than 50 Telly Awards, thousands of prestigious clients, and over $20 million in television placements.

About Kevin Harrington

As the inventor of the infomercial, founder of As Seen on TV, and one of the original Sharks on Shark Tank, Kevin Harrington has worked with some of the worlds biggest celebrities and launched some of the best-selling DRTV campaigns in history. Since producing his first 30-minute infomercial in 1984, Harrington has been involved in over 500 product launches that have resulted in over $5 billion in sales. Now, in his latest venture with AsSeenOnTV.pro, Harrington is on the hunt for the best new products and ideas, bringing them to homes everywhere through personalized DRTV campaigns featuring the Shark.

For more information on Epilynx, please visit http://www.epilynxcosmetics.com.
The Hasidic pilgrims who are now trying to enter the territory of Ukraine through the state border with Belarus were actually deceived by unknown persons who spread false information that it is possible to get to Ukrainian territory, Deputy Interior Minister Anton Gerashchenko has said.

"Those people who fraudulently lured representatives of the Hasidic religious movement to Belarus and promised them that they could be allowed into Ukraine, these people committed, in my opinion, an offense against those people. They were actually deceived and lured to Belarus. There is no reason to let these citizens enter Ukraine," he said on the air of the Ukraine 24 TV channel on Wednesday morning.

According to Gerashchenko, the Ukrainian side explains to such citizens at the border that they need to return to where they came from - to Israel or other countries.

"But at the moment the legislation does not allow us to let a large number of foreign citizens into the country without sufficient grounds for this. We need to respect the laws of our country," Gerashchenko said.
When close to half the companies in Australia have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") below 19x, you may consider Wingara AG Limited (ASX:WNR) as a stock to potentially avoid with its 24.1x 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 lofty.

For example, consider that Wingara's financial performance has been poor lately as it's earnings have been in decline. One possibility is that the P/E is high because investors think the company will still do enough to outperform the broader market in the near future. You'd really hope so, otherwise you're paying a pretty hefty price for no particular reason.

See our latest analysis for Wingara

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We don't have analyst forecasts, but you can see how recent trends are setting up the company for the future by checking out our free report on Wingara's earnings, revenue and cash flow.

What Are Growth Metrics Telling Us About The High P/E?

The only time you'd be truly comfortable seeing a P/E as high as Wingara's is when the company's growth is on track to outshine the market.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered a frustrating 16% decrease to the company's bottom line. This has erased any of its gains during the last three years, with practically no change in EPS being achieved in total. Accordingly, shareholders probably wouldn't have been overly satisfied with the unstable medium-term growth rates.

Comparing that to the market, which is predicted to deliver 21% growth in the next 12 months, the company's momentum is weaker based on recent medium-term annualised earnings results.

With this information, we find it concerning that Wingara is trading at a P/E higher than the market. It seems most investors are ignoring the fairly limited recent growth rates and are hoping for a turnaround in the company's business prospects. Only the boldest would assume these prices are sustainable as a continuation of recent earnings trends is likely to weigh heavily on the share price eventually.

Story continues

What We Can Learn From Wingara's P/E?

Typically, we'd caution against reading too much into price-to-earnings ratios when settling on investment decisions, though it can reveal plenty about what other market participants think about the company.

We've established that Wingara currently trades on a much higher than expected P/E since its recent three-year growth is lower than the wider market forecast. Right now we are increasingly uncomfortable with the high P/E as this earnings performance isn't likely to support such positive sentiment for long. If recent medium-term earnings trends continue, it will place shareholders' investments at significant risk and potential investors in danger of paying an excessive premium.

It's always necessary to consider the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 5 warning signs with Wingara (at least 1 which shouldn't be ignored), and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

If you're unsure about the strength of Wingara's business, why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals for some other companies you may have missed.

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.
The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in an economic collapse that district leaders fear will stretch their already worn social services for homeless, low-income students, and other vulnerable groups. That could have direct, long-term implications for these students mental and physical health and, ultimately, their academic outcomes.

Advocacy groups are urging districts to do everything in their power to keep these students needs front and center as they navigate this already tumultuous school year, including enhancing transportation, mental health and food services, ensuring access to digital devices and Wi-Fi, and being in constant touch with families about their housing situation.

Districts already have dispatched teachers, paraprofessionals, nurses, and social workers to childrens homes to conduct wellness checks, deliver digital devices, school supplies, food, toilet paper, and clothing and hygiene products, and to connect them with social services.

And they are finding an alarming number of disengaged youths, many of whom theyve lost touch with. In Texas alone, more than half a million youth were deemed disconnected this summer.

These kids arent disengaged because they dont want to go to school, Kerry Wrenick, Colorados coordinator for education of homeless children and youth, pointed out. Its sometimes because everyone in the house needs to work to survive. Or they had to move, or they were illegally or legally evicted, or parents are continuing to work so kids are going to stay during the day with an older caregiver who doesnt know how to log in to school. The unpredictability of this entire situation is whats causing the most distress for both parents and school districts.

Nonetheless, there are steps schools can and should take now to prevent worse outcomes down the road for students bearing the brunt of the economic fallout.

Surge in Homelessness

Economically speaking, things will get worse before they get better.

For example, advocates are bracing for the end of a national eviction moratorium which, they say, will cause homeless rates to skyrocket. As students become homeless and increasingly on the move in search of shelter, the risk rises that schools will lose touch with them.

Thats a tragedy because, for Americas 1.3 million homeless students, school is the one place in their lives where they can access a range of public services.

It truly is seven hours of stability, said Greta Hinderliter, a homeless liaison and certified teacher in Natrona County, Wyo., schools. For these kids, its food, its education, its some love and understanding, counseling  we cram as much as we can into those seven hours.

Districts are required by federal law to provide homeless childrentechnically, those without fixed, regular, and adequate housingwith a series of services, including transportation to their home school, access to food services, and automatic enrollment.

But many districts, especially those that serve a disproportionate number of low-income, Black, and Latino students, are under their own form of fiscal distress. States sales and income tax revenue has plummeted and many districts are laying off or reassigning staff members, many of whom were tasked with caring for low-income and homeless students.

What can schools do? Heres some advice from advocates:

1.) Enlist advocacy groups for support and training for regular educators on how to care for homeless students. Professional organizations and child advocates are scrambling to onboard new homeless liaisons, or appoint staff members tasked with assuring homeless students needs are being met, and dispatch professional development on how to care for homeless and low-income childrens needs for teachers and district leaders.

2.) Ensure that the students most in need of transportation get it. For schools conducting in-person learning, advocates worry that districts will fail to assure that homeless and low-income students have access to transportation to school and to after-school activities.

Some districts, in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, have changed their bus routes to prevent overcrowding on buses. Other districts, in response to budget cuts, have significantly cut back on transportation altogether. Schools must factor the transportation needs of homeless students into those decisions.

3.) Be more assertive this year about reaching out to families and informing all children and their parentsno matter their existing or perceived housing situationabout homeless students rights and the services available within and outside the district. Providing social services to migrant, foster, homeless, and low-income students for districts will be especially difficult for districts conducting all-remote learning.

Homeless-student liaisons, nurses, and social workers have historically used in-person learning to identify students needs, look for signs of abuse or distress, and make sure that children and teenagers are being properly served.

Even before the pandemic, students and their parents were reluctant to let teachers and administrators know about their housing situation, out of fear of embarrassment or bullying. Theyre even less likely to let teachers know via a Zoom call that their family is homeless.

No kid wants to go to school feeling and looking different than everybody else, Wrenick said. Theyre intentionally secretive for self-preservation and protection.

How can you help a family if you cant connect with them? Wrenick asked.

4.) Distribute digital devices and coordinate with shelters to ensure that students have access to learning during remote instruction. Many low-income and homeless families dont have adequate devices or access to the internet for students to log in to class for hours at a time.

When families cant afford to pay for food, spending money on the internet is out of the question, Wrenick pointed out.

Advocates also worry that homeless shelters wont be able to provide supervised rooms for school or the sort of broadband internet students need to log in to the computer. They are urging district leaders to frequently check in with local shelters to see what services they have available and what their students needs are. If possible, theyre urging shelters to set aside a supervised learning area for students.

If necessary, they said, districts should attempt to hand-deliver learning material to students without regular devices or access to the internet.

The more stable and routine you can make the students learning environment, the better, said Kenya Haynes, a program specialist for the National Center for Homeless Education.

5.) Find new ways to ensure students are fed. Another problem families in remote-only districts are running into this year is accessing free and reduced-priced meals. While many districts last year deployed paraprofessionals and bus drivers to deliver meals to pick-up points or even to families homes, many districts this year have laid those employees off en masse until school buildings reopen.

Some districts this year, she said, are giving families debit cards to make food purchases at grocery stores, or delivering boxes of food throughout the school day rather than just during lunch times.

As her districts homeless liaison, Hinderliter, along with her therapy dog Finnegan has spent the last few months delivering supplies, conducting wellness checks, and providing mentoring and tutoring to the districts several hundred homeless students. With the economic downturn, the local coal mines and oil rigs have laid off scores of employees, so Hinderliter is bracing this year for the states homeless rate to jump from 1,700 students to almost 2,400.

In this state, we have this saying, Cowboy up, be tough, work through it, she said. For many of my students, thats hard. But I see the potential in them changing their lives and getting ahead in life. Im here to be their cheerleader.
President Donald Trump told reporters on Wednesday he is not ready to approve a proposal from Chinese company ByteDance that would make Oracle a technology provider for ByteDance's popular video-sharing app TikTok.

ByteDance submitted a proposal to the Treasury Department over the weekend and is awaiting a response.

It must be "100% as far as national security is concerned," said Trump, adding that he would have to see the deal first before signing off on it. He said he would receive a report on Thursday morning.

Trump's stance adds complexity to a possible arrangement that could resolve a political disagreement between the U.S. and China, after Trump had taken steps to ban the app or have its U.S. operations transferred to an American company.

Trump said the U.S. government had been looking into the possibility of accepting a payment as part of a transaction.
Arrival caps limiting the number of Australians who can enter the country are set to increase, giving hope to Aussies who are stranded overseas.

Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack on Wednesday announced he is lifting the weekly cap from 4,000 to 6,000 on 28 September.

Asked what would happen if any state premier refuses to take more passengers, he said: 'They will comply'.

Sheree Richardson, from Perth, and her three young children were forced to sleep on the floor of London's Heathrow airport for three days after being bumped from flights because of coronavirus travel caps

Under the plan, New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia will take 500 extra passengers per week and South Australia will take an extra 360.

There are currently no commercial international flights to the ACT, the Northern Territory or Tasmania.

However, Mr McCormack warned that some Australians will still be left stranded because the caps are needed to protect the hotel quarantine system.

'Not every Australian will be able to get home by Christmas, I have always said that,' he said.

The transport minister said he would consider using federal facilities such as Howard Springs in the NT to house returned travellers but hotel quarantine is preferred at the moment.

Mr McCormack is also urging Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to consider Cairns and the Gold Coast as quarantine locations.

More than 25,000 Aussies are struggling to get home from countries including the UK, India and the Philippines because strict limits on the number who can enter Australia have led airlines to cancel flights.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese wants the prime minister to bring them home this month and has suggested using RAAF planes to help them.

Scott Morrison is being urged to send his private plane dubbed Shark One (pictured) and other RAAF VIP aircraft to fetch Australians who are stranded overseas due to arrival caps

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and wife Jenny board a RAAF aircraft in June 2019

The prime minister's private jet (pictured) is a converted Qantas A330 that was upgraded for a reported $250million in 2019

The prime minister's private jet, which he named Shark One after his NRL team the Cronulla Sharks, is a converted Qantas A330 that was upgraded for a reported $250million in 2019.

Mr Albanese said sending RAAF jets to bring home vulnerable Aussies is a 'practical' solution.

'There's something very practical that he can do because the RAAF VIP fleet is largely sitting idle,' he told reporters on Tuesday.

'We're hearing stories that are flooding electorate offices around the country, of desperate people. We have a woman with a one-year-old child told to go to a homeless shelter,' he said.

Shark One: Scomo's 100-seater private jet Named 'Shark One' after Mr Morrison's beloved NRL team the Cronulla Sharks, the KC30-A tanker is a welcome improvement for the PM and his entourage and can now travel from Australia to Russia in a single voyage. The plane is a previous Qantas and Jetstar commercial A330, which was bought in 2015 by Airbus and modified by Airbus into a freighter and air-to-air refueller. Shark One has a customised interior, and can comfortably carry more than 100 passengers in a lie-flat configuration. Advertisement

'We have women who are about to give birth, desperate to get home. The government has access to these planes.'

Mr Albanese said the RAAF planes are flying around empty as pilots train and they could be used for rescue flights to 'bring home one hundred at a time from Europe.'

He also said the government should pay Qantas and Virgin to fly people home.

'It is simply unacceptable that the Prime Minister continues to say that there's nothing he can do about it and he hopes to have these families home by Christmas.

'Well, I think those who are desperate to get home should be brought home in September,' he said.

The government is working with states and territories to increase the arrival caps which have led airlines to only offer first and business class seats to minimise losses.

The caps were brought in to ease pressure on states' hotel quarantine systems - but Mr Albanese said the government could use federal facilities.

He said: 'The only thing that is missing here isn't hotel space, it's leadership.'

Western Australia has joined calls for a federal quarantine facility for returning Australians after the Northern Territory said it was open to more international arrivals being housed near Darwin.

But Australian Border Force Commissioner Michael Outram said the proposal was not possible.

Early in the coronavirus pandemic, the federal government established quarantine centres on Christmas Island and at Howard Springs in the NT to house people returning from China and Japan.

Christmas Island is now being used as a detention facility.

And Mr Outram says Australian Medical Assistance Teams used to staff Howard Springs are tied up elsewhere.

He said the doctors, nurses and allied health staff were drawn from the states and territories.

'Quarantine facilities can't be run without medical professionals on the ground,' Mr Outram told ABC radio.

'At the moment the AUSMAT capability, I imagine, would be pretty stretched because of the need for the states and territories to be running their own health services, plus other things going on around the pandemic.'

Mr Outram said the ABF was working with the states to maximise hotel quarantine capacity, with about 12,000 beds available at any one time.

'But it's not enough if I'm being honest,' he said.

'As long as the caps remain with the hotel quarantine in place it's going to be difficult to envision a situation where the airlines will start bringing more passengers.'

Kate Biggers Smith (pictured right with a family member) is stranded in the United Arab Emirates trying to get on a flight back to Australia

On Monday Labor demanded the government lifts strict arrival caps.

Labor Home Affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally said the Commonwealth should provide charter flights and put Aussies in federal quarantine facilities in the Northern Territory or on Christmas Island.

Current caps on overseas arrivals Sydney  limit of 350 passenger arrivals per day; Perth  limit of 525 passenger arrivals per week; Brisbane  limit of 500 passenger arrivals per week; Adelaide  limit of 500 passenger arrivals per week; Canberra, Darwin  passenger limits on each flight to be discussed with jurisdictions on a case-by-case basis; Hobart  no international flights Melbourne - International flights suspended Advertisement

'It is Peter Dutton's responsibility under the constitution to ensure that citizens can cross the border and can come home. And if they need quarantine, then that is a federal responsibility,' she told the ABC on Monday.

'Let's remember, at the beginning of this health pandemic, the Commonwealth brought people home from Wuhan, and from the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan, they quarantined them in federal quarantine facilities.

'Now, if the Commonwealth Government is serious about getting a stranded Australian home, they need to step up, show leadership, put a plan in place.'

Senator Keneally said if she were in power it would be her 'number one priority' to bring home 3,500 overseas Australians who are medically or financially vulnerable.

Speaking on ABC show Insiders on Sunday, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said he 'would be happy to double the number of people tomorrow' if states agreed.

Senator Keneally said sarcastically: 'I missed the memo where we decided in Australia that international borders and quarantine responsibility were a state responsibility. They are the Commonwealth's responsibility.'

She added: 'Is he a minister, or is he a mouse? Take a plan forward. Come up with a plan to get these stranded Australians home.'

Health Minister Greg Hunt said: 'If we can lift hotel quarantine numbers, we can increase the number of Australians that can return home.

'We are working constructively with the states to that effect.

'We want to ensure that every Australian that wants to come home is home by Christmas.'
The Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei-Mensah, has sued Militant Publications Limited, thus the Insight Newspaper, for publishing a defamatory and untrue story about him.



A writ of summons seen by Peacefmonline.com states that the Minister (plaintiff) wishes that the Accra High Court places a GHC 10, 000, 000, 00 punitive damages on the Insight Newspaper over what he termed as a false and defamatory publication.



The said publication according to the suit sought to portray that the Ashanti Regional Minister and an astute member of the New Patriotic Party is a tribalistic and a divisive person who has no respect or regard not only for the people of the North but all other tribes in Ghana apart from Ashantis.



The action of the plaintiff follows a publication (Vol.27 No 870) by The Insight newspaper dated 28th August 2020, about Mr. Simon Osei-Mensah under the caption: Alleged Ethnocentric Comments: CSOs call for the dismissal of Minister.



"The above-mentioned publication has reduced his image and dented his reputation as a well-meaning Ghanaian," he added



Mentioned in the suit are the acting Editor of The Insight newspaper (defendant 2) Benjamin Akuffo and Strategic Thinkers Network, Nii Tettey Tetteh (defendant 3).



Again, he emphasized that most radio stations across the country reviewed the publication, and "unless the defendants are restrained by an order of this Honourable court, they would not cease further malicious and wicked publication about him. The Insight Newspaper is one popular Newspaper in Ghana and it is sold across the length and breadth of Ghana and it has an online portal too".



The plaintiff has appealed to the court for a perpetual injunction restraining the defendants either by themselves or their agents, assigns, privies, etc. from further publishing any such disparaging words about the plaintiff.



Quoting a section of The Insight publication to the court, the plaintiff asserted in his writ of summons: We have listened to the Ethnocentric comments made by the Honourable Minister for Ashanti, Hon Simon Osei Mensah against people from the North and find condemnable and completely unacceptable. The Honourable Minister for Ashanti region indicated that, and with the greatest respect, that Northerners are bereft of sense and added that Northern destroy everything they touch. Hon Simon Osei Mensah even runs down the influence of Northerners with regards to decision making by questioning the percentage of total votes of Northerners in Ghana in terms of Public election as well as Public referenda . . . "



"As a Greek school of thought opines, tribesmen are people that look everything from the point of view of their tribes. They are the people that believe in only their tribe and see the rest of the other tribes as lesser citizens. Could the Greeks be right about the description of tribesmen since the cap fits perfectly on Hon Simon Osei Mensah per his Ethnocentric cum tribalistic comments on the Northerner's people of Ghana?



He has, subsequently ask the court for an order to compel the defendants to retract the said words/publication stated in relief (a) supra with the same prominence they gave that story in The Insight Newspaper and website and to further write an unqualified letter of apology to the plaintiff.







Source: Isaac Kwame Owusu/Peacefmonline.com/[email protected]









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) talks to reporters in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 09, 2020. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

US Senator Introduces Bill To Promote Internet Freedom Amid Chinas Censorship

Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) has introduced new legislation aimed at promoting internet freedom, in particular to counter internet censorship imposed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The bill, named the Free the Internet around the Globe to Hack Tyranny and Censorship Act (FIGHT Censorship Act), would establish a clear U.S. policy on internet freedom. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), a branch of the U.S. Department of Commerce, would be required to communicate this U.S. policy around the world.

An international internet freedom policy will go hand-in-hand with our efforts to promote democracy and human rights around the world, said Gardner in a Sept. 15 press release from his office.

He added: And it will continue to hold bad actors like the Chinese Communist Party accountable for censorship and violations of basic human freedoms.

Chinas firewall blocks its citizens from accessing many international websites and platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and Google, while it maintains a censorship apparatus to monitor internet content and delete anything authorities disapprove of.

If the bill is enacted, the Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information, who is also the head of NIFA, would need to communicate the U.S. internet policy during meetings at international organizations, according to the bill.

In addition, the Secretary of Commerce would need to establish an Internet Freedom Task Force, comprising members from the NTIA, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the International Trade Administration.

The task force would then need to submit a report on the state of global internet freedom to Congress in less than 180 days after the bill is passed. In the four years afterward, the task force would be required to submit annually a similar report to Congress.

According to the bill, the Secretary of State would need to annually designate countries that do not provide sufficient internet freedom to their residents, such as unfavorable domestic laws that restrict the free flow of information.

Moreover, the state secretary would administer a grant program in the amount of $25 million to promote internet freedom policies worldwide, such as promoting anti-censorship technology.

In China, for example, netizens need to use a VPN, or virtual private network, to bypass the Great Firewall and access websites and content censored by the Chinese regime.

Finally, the state secretary would administer a new fund called Stop the CCP Initiative Fund in the amount of $20 million. According to the bill, the fund would be used to support developing technologies, including anti-censorship tech and secure communications tech, to counter Chinas internet censorship and promote human rights and freedoms on the internet.

U.S.-based rights group Freedom House, in its latest annual report on internet freedom, called China the worlds worst abuser of internet freedom for the fourth year in a row.

Censorship reached unprecedented extremes as the government enhanced its information controls in advance of the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre and in the face of widespread anti-government protests in Hong Kong, Freedom House stated.

In Hong Kong, the pro-democracy movement began in June last year, when millions took to the street in protest against the now fully-scrapped extradition bill. The movement has since evolved in calls for greater democracy, such as universal suffrage.

The Hong Kong protests are a taboo subject in mainland China. Most recently, activist Xu Kun was put on trial on Aug. 16, according to Radio Free Asia, after he was found to have retweeted about 1,000 tweets in support of Hong Kong protests. He was accused of slandering Chinas political system and the Chinese Communist Party, insulting Chinese leaders, and distorting major domestic news events.

Beijing also famously covered up the CCP virus, commonly known as novel coronavirus, when it silenced eight doctors, among them ophthalmologist Li Wenliang, for posting on Chinese social media about a new form of pneumonia in late December.
RTHK: Suga takes charge as PM, with 'continuity cabinet'

Japan's Yoshihide Suga was voted prime minister by parliament's lower house on Wednesday, becoming the country's first new leader in nearly eight years, as he readied a "continuity cabinet" expected to keep about half of predecessor Shinzo Abe's lineup.

Suga won 314 votes out of 462 cast by parliament's lower house members. The chamber takes precedence in electing a premier over the upper house, which was also expected to pick Suga because of a ruling bloc majority.

Domestic media said that roughly half of the new cabinet would be people from the Abe cabinet. There will be only two women and the average age, including Suga, is 60.

Among those expected to retain their jobs are key players such as Finance Minister Taro Aso and Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, along with Olympics Minister Seiko Hashimoto and Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, the youngest at 39.

"It's a 'Continuity with a capital C' cabinet," said Jesper Koll, senior adviser to asset manager WisdomTree Investments.

Abe's younger brother, Nobuo Kishi, is likely to be tapped for the defence portfolio, while outgoing Defence Minister Taro Kono will take charge of administrative reform, a post he has held before.

Yasutoshi Nishimura, Abe's point man on Covid-19 response, will remain economy minister, while Trade and Industry Minister Hiroshi Kajiyama, the son of a politician to whom Suga looked up as his mentor, will also retain his post, media reported.

Katsunobu Kato, outgoing health minister and a close Suga ally, is expected to become chief cabinet secretary.

"Suga will continue Abe's economic policies and there will be no short-term impact on markets," said Kensuke Niihara, chief investment officer of State Street Global Advisors Japan.

"In the longer term, because foreign investors' interest in Japanese stocks has been low, if he presses ahead with structural reforms and deregulations, that is a theme investors like and would be a positive surprise," Niihara added.

Clues as to whether and how Suga will push ahead with reforms could come from the lineup of government advisory panels such as the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy, Koll said.

Speculation has simmered that Suga might call a snap election for parliament's lower house to take advantage of any rise in public support, although he has said handling the pandemic and reviving the economy were his top priorities. (Reuters)

This story has been published on: 2020-09-16. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
New Delhi: Scientists from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) have found a new way to probe into supermassive black holes  detecting their properties like mass and spin by observing how they rip apart stars. They have found a model which can infer black hole mass, its spin by observing how the stars are ripped apart on coming to the vicinity of these astronomical bodies with high gravitational force found at the centre of some massive galaxies.

Most black holes lead to isolated lives and are impossible to study. Astronomers study them by watching for their effects on nearby stars and gas. Stars are disrupted when the black hole's tidal gravity exceeds the star's self-gravity, and this phenomenon is called tidal disruption events (TDE). This model, which can be applied after the star is observed to be tidally disrupted, and an accretion disk is formed, will help in expanding our understanding of the physics besides building valuable statistics of the black hole mass and stellar mass.

Supermassive black holes govern the movement of stars orbiting within their gravitational potential, and their tidal forces can disrupt or rip apart the stars that come to their vicinity.

The IIA scientists who had earlier calculated the rate of disruption and its statistics focused on the observations of a given stellar disruption event (TDE) in their new study and inferred the black hole mass, star mass, and the point of closest approach of the star's orbit.

T Mageshwaran (now at TIFR), as a part of his PhD thesis work at IIA with his supervisor, A Mangalam (IIA), developed a detailed semi-analytic model of the dynamics of accretion and outflow in TDEs.

Their research was published in the New Astronomy (2020).

The stars in a galaxy are captured and ripped apart about a few times in a million years. The disrupted debris follows a Keplerian orbit and returns with a mass fallback rate that decreases with time. The infalling debris interacts with the outflowing debris resulting in the circularization and the formation of an accretion disk  the temporary accumulation of matter outside the back hole before it dives into the black hole. This emits in various spectral bands from X-ray, optical to infrared wavelengths.

The transient nature of TDE luminosity makes it an ideal laboratory to study the physics of an evolving accretion disk that includes the gas dynamics of the inflow, outflow, and the radiation.

The team predicted the detection of stellar disruption by black holes and related emission via viscous accretion from the formed disk by simulating the evolution of luminosity for TDE disks in various spectral bands. They used the prediction to infer the mass and spin of the black hole.

The tidal disruption events are crucial and useful phenomena to detect and predict the mass of supermassive black holes in quiescent galaxies. This time-dependent model by IIA provides insights into disk evolution in a black hole gravity.

The scientists further explain that the infalling debris forms a seed accretion disk that evolves due to mass loss by accretion onto the black hole and wind but gains mass by fall-back of the debris.

The highlight of this model is the inclusion of all the essentials elements --accretion, fall back, and the wind, self-consistently, in a formulation that is numerically fast to execute and shows good fits to the observations compared to the earlier steady structure accretion models.

This time-dependent model simulates the luminosity, which along with the capture rate of stars for tidal disruption, black hole demographics (population distribution of black holes in the Universe), and instrument specification of survey mission, results in the expected detection rate of TDEs. By comparing the expected detection rate with the detection rate from observation, one can probe into black hole demographics. The fits to the observations yield parameters of the star and the black hole that are useful for the statistical studies and build the demographics of black holes.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / September 16, 2020 / MIRA BEAUTY, the world's first universal store and collaborative library for makeup and skincare, announces a $9 million fundraise and new achievements.

Founded by Stanford data scientists Jay Hack and Brandon Garcia, the company has gathered a group of investors spanning cosmetics conglomerates, technology, and consumer venture capital firms, as well as marquee brand founders. This round was co-led by Unilever Ventures and 14W, the venture capital firm behind Glossier and Goop, and underscores the combined power of machine learning and crowdsourced intelligence in retail.

Recognized as a disruptive innovation, MIRA BEAUTY reaches millions of beauty shoppers weekly, counts over 100,000 products from more than 3,000 brands, and translates over 10 million product pages, authentic reviews, photos, and videos into one clear, simple, and personalized shopping experience. Launched last October, mirabeauty.com's collective, retailer-agnostic and transparent approach to online beauty shopping has made it a company to watch in the rapidly evolving global cosmetics and skincare industry - expected to grow to $429.8 billion by 2022.

With this latest round of seed funding, Jay Hack, co-founder, and CEO, said the company is focused on taking a verticalized approach to beauty shopping in collaboration with its customers: "Our belief is that beauty should be a celebration of personal choice. We designed MIRA BEAUTY to improve the accuracy and relevance of beauty product searches and recommendations per individual. Beauty consumers increasingly want to interact with brands and purchase products online in a way that feels authentic, frictionless, and collaborative, and today's specialty retailers, direct-to-consumer stores, and marketplaces are ill-equipped to retrofit their businesses to this new reality. We are thrilled to partner with 14W, Unilever, and other like-minded investors who have track records of backing market-leading innovations."

Story continues

"MIRA BEAUTY is like Netflix: It rolls exactly what you want to see, and seamlessly," said Ally Tam, who led the partnership for 14W. "MIRA BEAUTY was quick to carve a niche for itself where all individuals can easily find the products that work for them, and we believe this new capital will help the company scale their services to meet the demands of a rapidly growing online audience."

"This round of funding is the result of impressive business fundamentals for MIRA BEAUTY, and it will help further the company's mission to impart the knowledge and experiences of the beauty community," said Stephen Willson, Investment Director at Unilever Ventures, the venture capital and private equity arm of Unilever. "MIRA BEAUTY is well-positioned to deliver cutting-edge technology to beauty e-commerce, alongside more simplicity and transparency."

One destination

As part of the company's effort to boost its digital roadmap and streamline e-commerce operations, the beta app will entirely be phased out and merged into the redesigned website. MIRA BEAUTY has unified the two experiences together under a bolder and more contemporary visual identity.

"We know our guests love the app, and we are bringing what has made the app a success to the website, as well as a brand experience that celebrates self-confidence and diversity," said Brandon Garcia, co-founder, and COO of MIRA BEAUTY. "With something as inspiring as beauty, we're making it easier than ever to shop for skincare and cosmetic products that work for you - shopping for beauty should be an empowering moment."

Inclusivity and consciousness

Powered by a proprietary technology that thoughtfully curates top-rated skincare and makeup products from the web, MIRA BEAUTY has developed unique categories and assortments that appeal to its audience tastes, needs, price points, and values. These include the industry's largest collection of female-founded and Black-founded brands, as well as the largest assortments of vegan, recyclable, and K-Beauty products.

The company plans to introduce new product categories and assortments by the end of the year to diversify the growing offering.

CONTACT:

Benjamin Lord

media@mirabeauty.com

SOURCE: MIRA BEAUTY





View source version on accesswire.com:

https://www.accesswire.com/606369/Personalized-Beauty-Marketplace-Closes-9M-in-Funding-to-Accelerate-Growth




Department of Public Safety - Campus Police

A Message from the Chief

The safety and well-being of our students, faculty, staff, alumni, and visitors is our top priority. We are committed to providing the highest level of professional police and public safety services to foster a safe learning and working environment for all. As we move forward, it is my hope that our services and outreach efforts will strengthen our connection to the community we serve.

Our devotion to being part of the community and building relationships, helps us to better understand the importance of cooperation, education, and police-citizen partnerships. Our commitment towards this style of policing allows us to be part of the fabric of the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and assists us in cultivating true partnerships with our community.

We welcome your comments, suggestions and ideas for making the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts an even safer environment. To share your ideas with the Department of Public Safety, please visit our facility located at 277 Ashland St. or call us at 413.662.5284 or give us your feedback here.

Sincerely,

Daniel J. Colonno

Chief of Police

About Our Department

The police officers and staff of the Department of Public Safety - Campus Police are dedicated to ensuring the safety of everyone on campus, at all times. We do this through a series of educational and training programs, emergency booklets and phones throughout campus, escort services, 24-hour patrols, and emergency alerts and other notifications as needed. We also provide student ID cards and parking decals, and are here to help if your car needs a jump start or you lock yourself out of your room or vehicle.

Our officers are sworn, warranted, armed police officers and certified First Responders, many of whom have specialized training in addition to their Police Academy and Field Officer training. All officers receive in-service training annually.

Safety is Everyone's Responsibility

Please help us make the campus as safe as possible. Always be aware of your surroundings. Should you sense a potential threat or witness suspicious behavior, call extension 5100 or 911 immediately. Here are some additional ways to keep you and others safe.

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FAX: 413.662.5512
Edison, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 09/15/2020 -- A new business intelligence report released by HTF MI with title "Global Ice Cream Bar Market Insights by Application, Product Type, Competitive Landscape & Regional Forecast 2025" is designed covering micro level of analysis by manufacturers and key business segments. The Global Ice Cream Bar Market survey analysis offers energetic visions to conclude and study market size, market hopes, and competitive surroundings. The research is derived through primary and secondary statistics sources and it comprises both qualitative and quantitative detailing. Some of the key players profiled in the study are Haagen-Dazs (United States), Magnum (Belgium), Unilever (United Kingdom), Yili (China), Mengniu (China), Friendly's (United States), Ben & Jerry's (United States), Mario's Gelati (Canada), LOTTE (South Korea) and Meiji (Japan) etc.



What's keeping Haagen-Dazs (United States), Magnum (Belgium), Unilever (United Kingdom), Yili (China), Mengniu (China), Friendly's (United States), Ben & Jerry's (United States), Mario's Gelati (Canada), LOTTE (South Korea) and Meiji (Japan) etc Ahead in the Market? Benchmark yourself with the strategic moves and findings recently released by HTF MI

Get Free Sample Report + All Related Graphs & Charts @ : https://www.htfmarketreport.com/sample-report/2834139-global-ice-cream-bar-market-1



Market Overview of Global Ice Cream Bar

If you are involved in the Global Ice Cream Bar industry or aim to be, then this study will provide you inclusive point of view. It's vital you keep your market knowledge up to date segmented by Applications, Product Types and major players. If you have a different set of players/manufacturers according to geography or needs regional or country segmented reports we can provide customization according to your requirement.



This study mainly helps understand which market segments or Region or Country they should focus in coming years to channelize their efforts and investments to maximize growth and profitability. The report presents the market competitive landscape and a consistent in depth analysis of the major vendor/key players in the market along with impact of economic slowdown due to COVID.



Furthermore, the years considered for the study are as follows:

Historical year  2014-2019

Base year  2019

Forecast period**  2020 to 2026 [** unless otherwise stated]



**Moreover, it will also include the opportunities available in micro markets for stakeholders to invest, detailed analysis of competitive landscape and product services of key players.



Enquire for customization in Report @: https://www.htfmarketreport.com/enquiry-before-buy/2834139-global-ice-cream-bar-market-1



The titled segments and sub-section of the market are illuminated below:



Top Players in the Market are: Haagen-Dazs (United States), Magnum (Belgium), Unilever (United Kingdom), Yili (China), Mengniu (China), Friendly's (United States), Ben & Jerry's (United States), Mario's Gelati (Canada), LOTTE (South Korea) and Meiji (Japan) etc



Region Included are: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific etc



Market Drivers

Increasing Popularity of Desserts is Fuelling the Market



Market Trend

Changing Lifestyle of Individuals

Introduction of New Flavors



Restraints

Changing Raw Material Prices



Opportunities

Increased Disposable Income and Increasing Promotional Activities is Boosting the Market



Challenges

Lack of Manpower Required for the Production



Important Features that are under offering & key highlights of the report:

 Detailed overview of Ice Cream Bar market

 Changing market dynamics of the industry

 In-depth market segmentation by Type, Application etc

 Historical, current and projected market size in terms of volume and value

 Recent industry trends and developments

 Competitive landscape of Ice Cream Bar market

 Strategies of key players and product offerings

 Potential and niche segments/regions exhibiting promising growth

 A neutral perspective towards Ice Cream Bar market performance

 Market players information to sustain and enhance their footprint



Read Detailed Index of full Research Study at @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/reports/2834139-global-ice-cream-bar-market-1



Major Highlights of TOC:

Chapter One: Global Ice Cream Bar Market Industry Overview

1.1 Ice Cream Bar Industry

1.1.1 Overview

1.1.2 Products of Major Companies

1.2 Ice Cream Bar Market Segment

1.2.1 Industry Chain

1.2.2 Consumer Distribution

1.3 Price & Cost Overview



Chapter Two: Global Ice Cream Bar Market Demand

2.1 Segment Overview

2.1.1 APPLICATION 1

2.1.2 APPLICATION 2

2.1.3 Other

2.2 Global Ice Cream Bar Market Size by Demand

2.3 Global Ice Cream Bar Market Forecast by Demand



Chapter Three: Global Ice Cream Bar Market by Type

3.1 By Type

3.1.1 TYPE 1

3.1.2 TYPE 2

3.2 Ice Cream Bar Market Size by Type

3.3 Ice Cream Bar Market Forecast by Type



Chapter Four: Major Region of Ice Cream Bar Market

4.1 Global Ice Cream Bar Sales

4.2 Global Ice Cream Bar Revenue & market share



Chapter Five: Major Companies List



Chapter Six: Conclusion



Complete Purchase of Latest Version Global Ice Cream Bar Market Study with COVID-19 Impact Analysis @ https://www.htfmarketreport.com/buy-now?format=1&report=2834139



Key questions answered

- What impact does COVID-19 have made on Global Ice Cream Bar Market Growth & Sizing?

- Who are the Leading key players and what are their Key Business plans in the Global Ice Cream Bar market?

- What are the key concerns of the five forces analysis of the Global Ice Cream Bar market?

- What are different prospects and threats faced by the dealers in the Global Ice Cream Bar market?

- What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?



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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- New Yorkers without health insurance will have the opportunity to enroll through the end of 2020, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday.

State officials extended the period in which uninsured New Yorkers can apply for coverage through NY State of Health -- the states insurance marketplace -- or directly through insurers.

Previously, the deadline had been extended through Sept. 15 as the state continues to provide services through the coronavirus pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic is far from over and its more important than ever for New Yorkers to have access to high-quality, affordable health insurance, Cuomo said.

On Wednesday, the governor said New Yorks statewide COVID-19 infection rate had dipped back below 1% after exceeding that benchmark earlier in the week.

Only .87% of the 75,087 tests reported to the state on Tuesday returned positive results, and in New York City the infection rate was about .8%, according to a media release from Cuomos office.

Our numbers continue to remain low, thanks to the hard work of New Yorkers, who rose to the occasion and ultimately flattened the curve, Cuomo said. We have been calibrating our reopening based on real-time data, and we will continue to make decisions based on science and facts, because this thing is not over.

New Yorkers who enroll in qualified health plans by October 15, 2020 will have a choice of coverage start date of either October 1, 2020 or November 1, 2020, those enrolling between October 16 and December 15, 2020 will have a choice of coverage start date of November 1 or December 1, 2020, and those enrolling between December 16 and December 31, 2020 would get a January 1, 2020, according to a media release.

New York has resources available to help those who need coverage during this difficult time, and anyone who doesnt currently have health insurance, regardless of the reason, should visit NY State of Health and enroll today, Cuomo said.
By PTI

MUMBAI: Swiss brokerage UBS Securities said it forecasts a GDP contraction of 8.6 per cent in FY21 as against its earlier prediction of 5.8 per cent, citing factors including the "modest" government response to the crisis for its estimate.

It said the country's potential rate of growth has also come down to 5.75-6.25 per cent as per its estimate as against 7.1 per cent, driven by factors including the weak government response to arrest the growth slide.

Some improvement is being observed in the high frequency data, but much of it is pent-up demand and economic recovery will be "gradual" after the September quarter, its chief economist Tanvee Gupta Jain told reporters.

It can be noted that the country's gross domestic product (GDP) shrunk by nearly a fourth in the June quarter as the COVID-19 pandemic fuelled lockdowns chilled all economic activity. The infections continued to increase, making India the second most affected country.

Jain said the modest recovery which we are seeing right now cannot be sustained because of the rising infections and also income uncertainty, which is holding back people from consumption in the economy that relies 60 per cent on consumption.

"We are a little bearish as against the consensus and feel that the GDP will contract by 8.6 per cent in FY21 before growing by 10 per cent in FY22," she said.

She also revised down the potential rate of growth in the economy, citing the permanent damage done by the pandemic because of the problems on company balance sheets and the "modest policy response" to the crisis.

She also warned that debt sustainability may become a challenge going ahead. The fiscal stimulus is of only 1.8 per cent and there is an urgent need for a second round of the same, she said.

"India needs a credible fiscal stimulus," she said, adding that the response has to be coupled with reforms.

The government needs to spend on infrastructure development and construction activities, undertake more employment generation act works in both the rural and urban areas and broaden the incentives for manufacturers shifting base to India as part of the global supply chain realignment, she said.

The country is among the few worldover where the brokerage has downwardly reviewed its growth estimate, she said, adding that in many other countries, it is an upward revision from the previous estimates given right after the pandemic began.

There is a rise in savings in the country despite the absence of a corresponding rise in incomes, she said, pointing out that these are "precautionary spendings" undertaken by cutting expenditure and may be temporary.
(TNS)  Houston in 2050 could save 148 lives, avoid 3,333 asthma attacks and reduce health costs by $1.7 billion annually by electrifying its entire transportation system, according to a report released Tuesday by the American Lung Association.The analysis, which concluded 582 lives could be spared each year in Texas, builds on other reports that say one of the most aggressive actions the nation can take to improve air quality is changing what is under the hood of Americans cars and trucks.We simply cannot address clean air for all Americans without transportation, said William Barrett, lead author of The Road to Clean Air and director of clean air advocacy for the American Lung Association.Based on various criteria compared by lung association researchers  such as total miles traveled, population and how electric power is produced for the region  Houston ranks eighth in the country among metro areas that could benefit from electric vehicles. Dallas ranks fifth, behind Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Chicago.Researchers based its estimates on total electrification of all private automobiles by 2040 and all heavy-duty trucks by 2045, then using 2050 air quality estimates as the metric.The report aligns with other studies on the effects of electric vehicle use. A report last year by a team including University of Houston researchers found complete conversion to electric vehicles could avoid the deaths of up to 240 people annually and eliminate up to 5,500 missed school days for children with asthma and other breathing issues in Houston.Proponents of electric vehicle use in the region estimate there are about 12,000 electric vehicles in the Houston area today  out of nearly 5.6 million vehicles registered in the eight-county area, meaning the region has a long way to go to see any of the benefits outlined in the report.A switch to electric vehicles should not make Houstonians who rely on the petrochemical industry nervous, said Deborah Gordon, a senior fellow at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University. Houston, a hub of the petrochemical industry, also has an opportunity and should view electric cars as a chance to innovate rather than a threat, Gordon said.First, nothing is happening overnight, Gordon said, noting gasoline will remain in demand even as the shift happens.As gasoline wanes, Gordon predicts the petrochemical industry, which is far larger than the fuel people put in their cars, will evolve.We are not talking about no refining, but remaking refining, she said, noting that new products made with petroleum could help address pollution.You dont only have to burn it, Gordon said.Not burning gasoline to get around could improve the quality of life for those with severe health problems, researchers said.Dr. Karen Jakpor, a physician who lives in Southern California and spoke with Lung Association officials during a discussion of the reports findings Monday, has severe health problems related to asthma.My friends often call me a barometer or canary in the coal mine, Jakpor said, noting how she checks air quality information for the Riverside, Calif., area constantly. It determines whether or not I can go outside.In Houston and elsewhere, the health effects of air pollution are especially damaging in minority and low-income communities. A 2017 study by the Houston Health Department and Rice University found children living in zones where transportation emissions were higher experienced more asthma attacks requiring an ambulance.We must target solutions so all communities and all people benefit, Barrett said.To achieve the results estimated in the report, lung association researchers said federal, state and local officials must work collaboratively, addressing challenges at each level of government. Federal and state officials must set reasonable but aggressive emissions targets and leverage their economic might via grants or tax incentives to spur change. Locally, researchers said, officials should lead by example and commit to cleaner fleets.Some efforts locally are in motion. Evolve Houston, a public-private effort to increase investment and implementation of cleaner transportation options, includes gasoline makers, notably Shell, while BP has worked with Houston elected officials on the citys climate action plan.Houston officials, in the plan released in April, pledged to convert all non-emergency municipal vehicles by 2030 to electric or low-emission alternatives, while offering incentives to private companies to go electric.
"First and foremost, I would like to extend an apology on behalf of the District and the Board of School Directors to the student who was involved and to his family. They did not ask for this incident to occur, nor do they deserve the negative attention that it has brought." - school board President Tina Stoll
Mumbai-based air-conditioner service person Wasim Ansari used to earn close to Rs 14,000 per month during the peak summer season in March-June.

But amidst the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Ansari was laid off in April by the platform he was employed with. Three months later, he found a job as a food-delivery person.

Initially, I had gone back to my native place in Uttar Pradesh. But it was not possible to survive without a proper income since my family is into farming. Hence, I came back to Mumbai in June. My food-delivery job is very hectic but the pay is good, he said.

With sectors like beauty, home cleaning/repair and travel/tourism still reeling under the impact of lockdown, workers there are now shifting to sectors like e-commerce and food delivery to look for gig roles. Gigs are short-term job roles that are offered based on seasonal demand.

55,000 gig roles on offer

Industry sources said that close to 55,000 jobs are on offer on a gig basis due to the expectation of demand surge from the upcoming festive season. Blue-collared workers who had lost their jobs are viewing this as an opportunity to get back into employment.

So far, while 10 million blue-collared workers are said to have lost their jobs, hiring firms estimate that 30-35 percent of them have moved to gig roles.

Sahil Sharma, CEO & Co-Founder of GigIndia, said that several individuals are also looking for these gig roles in their native towns.

Loss of jobs and reverse migration are two factors that are leading to a prevalence of gig roles. In fact, we have seen traditional companies which have never hired on gig roles before opting for it, he added.

In the last 3 months (May-July), Sharma said that GigIndia has been able to provide employment opportunities to over 2,000 gig workers.

Which are the firms offering gig roles?

Companies like Ola, Uber, Swiggy, Zomato, Flipkart and Amazon are among the large players which offer gig roles.

Big plans for hiring have already been announced by some of the firms. E-commerce firm Flipkart said that it will help generate over 70,000 direct and several thousand indirect seasonal jobs in the country ahead of the festive season and its Big Billion Days (BBD) sale.

The Bengaluru-based company said while direct job opportunities will be created across Flipkart's supply chain, including roles like delivery executives, pickers, packers and sorters, there will also be additional indirect jobs created at Flipkart's seller partner locations and kiranas.

Similarly, tech-enabled logistics provider Ecom Express said that it will be creating more than 30,000 seasonal employment through September and October across its fulfilment centres, hubs, sortation centres and delivery centres.

These seasonal positions have been created across the country with 3/4th of the hiring beyond metros as well as cities, including Ahmedabad, Surat, Vijayawada, Chandigarh, Indore, Patna, Lucknow, Kanpur, Bhopal and Jaipur.

Saurabh Deep Singla, Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resource Officer, Ecom Express, said that the company anticipates some of the hires to move into permanent roles after the festive season.

Which are the popular roles?

The topmost role remains delivery personnel. This is followed by logistics roles like sorting goods, packing and labelling. Drivers of large trucks are also popular.

At Ecom Express, for instance, the majority of hires will be delivery personnel, hub and sorting centre associates and workforce for warehousing activities.

GigIndia's Sharma explained that among the gig roles, there is a demand for flexible logistics and delivery.

Will gigs continue even post-pandemic?

Kolkata's Prajapati Naskar, who lost his job in May as a canteen staff in a consulting firm, had applied to almost 10 companies using online job portals. But he landed no job till July-end.

I decided to not wait for permanent job roles and have taken up a gig position of packaging at an online shopping firm. This makes more sense because I not only earn Rs 3,000 more but also stand a chance to be absorbed as a full-time staff," he added.

While gig jobs are contractually supposed to be short-term, several companies either extend the contract after every 3-6 months or absorb these workers into a permanent position.

Delhi-based human resource consultant Vinayak GuhaRoy said that the fear of losing jobs again has forced several workers in hospitality, tourism, construction and home services to look elsewhere.

"Close to 10 million migrant workers had gone back home once the lockdown was announced in March. Even now, only 60-65 percent have come back to cities. Drivers, housekeeping staff in factories, and electricians have been hit hard. Business revival will be very slow in traditional sectors, so gigs will be a good option for the next 2-3 years," he added.

GigIndia's Sharma also concurs. He said that unlike a permanent job role, gig workers are not bound to one company and work for multiple firms and earn more. Hence, he added that gig roles are here to stay.

The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) data showed that 91 million daily wage earner jobs were lost in April just after the lockdown was announced. This loss accounted for 91 million of the 121 million jobs lost during the month.

While by August, it recovered, close to 10 million of these job roles are still in deficit. This means that nobody has been hired and these roles will be classified as total jobs lost.
Robert Pattinson was seen for the first time since testing positive for COVID-19, forcing filming on The Batman to be halted.

The actor, 34, packed on the PDA with his partner Suki Waterhouse as they enjoyed a park date in London on Wednesday.

Production crew on The Batman are 'working round the clock' to try and film scenes without the screen star following his diagnosis.

Recovering: Robert Pattinson was seen for the first time since testing positive for COVID-19, forcing filming on The Batman to be halted (pictured with girlfriend Suki Waterhouse)

Looking as loved-up as ever, the couple cuddled and removed their face masks to share kisses on a bench.

TV and film star Robert appeared to be on the mend as he emerged from self-isolation.

In the UK, you are required to self-isolate for at least 10 days if you have symptoms or have tested positive for the virus.

The Twilight actor and the model have been dating for over two years and currently live together in the English capital.

Loved-up: The actor, 34, packed on the PDA with his partner Suki, 28, as they enjoyed a park date in London on Wednesday

In good spirits: TV and film star Robert appeared to be on the mend as he emerged from self-isolation

Smitten: Looking as loved-up as ever, the couple cuddled and removed their face masks to share kisses on a bench

Worrying: Sources claimed the screen star contracted the deadly virus just days after production resumed on the big-budget film (pictured in character as Bruce Wayne)

Amid fears that halting production for two weeks could cost as much as 5 million, the films director Matt Reeves is trying to film as much as he can at the Warner Bros. Studio in Leavesden, Hertfordshire, without his leading man.

Any of the 130-strong crew who did not have direct contact with Robert are being asked to return to work and sets that had been prepared are being moved from studio G to another studio.

Anything that can be shot and does not involved Pattinson will now go ahead, a set insider told MailOnline.

That includes scenes with his body double. The aim is to get as much done as possible before he returns and the hope is that none of the other actors get the virus.

Refreshing: The duo sipped on both iced and warm beverages as they treated themselves to a casual outing

Going strong: The Twilight actor and the model have been dating for over two years and currently live together in the English capital

Head over heels: The Misbehaviour actress and the Tent star continued to smooch during their romantic date

'Crew can be replaced as most are freelance and hired for the duration of the shoot but it would be disastrous if another major actor gets the virus.

Production staff are working round the clock to get things moving and allow some filming to take place.

Sources told Vanity Fair that the thespian contracted the deadly virus just days after production resumed on the big-budget film.

In a statement Warner Bros. told the publication: 'A member of The Batman production has tested positive for Covid-19, and is isolating in accordance with established protocols. Filming is temporarily paused.'

An insider at the studio in Leavesden added: 'We have been sent a memo telling us that a member of the crew has had a positive Covid-19 test.

'Everyone was talking on the set about it. We do not know who has tested positive, but it has caused chaos to the schedule.'

Filming of The Batman had only resumed earlier this month after being shut down in March due to the pandemic.

Production crews had gathered at the studios in Hertfordshire, in August to work on sets after most had been placed on furlough.

Cute: The pair whispered sweet nothings into each other's ears as they giggled amongst themselves

Close: They put on an incredibly cosy display during a brief appearance in the sun

Long-term: The couple were first linked in July 2018 when they were spotted leaving a showing of Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again at the trendy Electric Cinema in Notting Hill

How sweet: Blonde beauty Suki affectionately played with her man's ear as they engaged in conversation

The shutdown will cost Warner Bros hundreds of thousands of pounds and possibly even delay the release of the movie which is said to be a grittier take on the DC comic book hero.

When production was halted in March, Robert had to stay in the UK along with other cast members.

Others who live in Los Angeles have returned but had to stay in quarantine for two weeks before turning up on the set in accordance with Government guidance.

Director Matt still has three months of filming to complete with the eagerly anticipated film due to be released to theatres in October 2021.

Less is more: The Burberry star dressed down in a baggy grey T-shirt and black shorts

Tender moments: London native Robert embraced the accessory entrepreneur by her waist, while she stroked his leg

Legs for days: The Material Girl star's pins were on full display in her edgy cropped bottoms

Heading off: The catwalk queen threw on an oversized jacket as she and Robert made their way home

All smiles: The musician beamed with delight as he put his past health woes behind him

Doting: The Damsel star was every inch the gentleman as he held onto Suki's cup

Relaxed: Robert looked equally low-key is a black slogan hoodie, navy shorts and trainers by Nike

Filming at Leavesden, where the Harry Potter movies were made, is taking place under the working title of 'Vengeance'.

The crew member said: 'Everyone was looking forward to getting back to work and its come as a blow that production has stopped just three days after we began filming.

'We have all been told to stand down until further notice and we are not expecting to be back filming for at least two weeks.'

The source said many of the crew found it ironic that the Batman movie had been stopped by coronavirus as the killer virus is thought to have originated from bats.

Next level? Late last year, the pair sparked engagement rumours, after it was claimed they would be spending the festive season at her family home in west London

Tactile: They held hands as they walked down the street

Matching: The Hollywood star and the Laura Mercier model coordinated in dark shades

Effortlessly cool: The Chiswick-born bombshell scraped her tresses away from her face and into a high bun

Naturally radiant: Suki let her skin breathe by going make-up free

Sporty: The hunk maintained his typically minimalist look by rounding off his outfit with a baseball cap

'There is a irony to all this in that you would think Batman would be immune seeing as it all started from bats,' said the insider.

Robert, best known for his roles in the Twilight saga movies, took on the role of the caped crusader last year after Ben Affleck, who had been developing the ninth film featuring Batman, dropped out.

Irish star Colin Farrell plays The Penguin and his prosthetic make-up was so realistic that other castmates didn't recognise the actor when he turned up on set.

Jeffrey Wright, who plays Commissioner Gordon said on The Jess Cagle Show: 'I've worked with that makeup artist before and it's just incredible.

Halted: Sources on the 100 million blockbuster set said the cast and crew had been sent home after one of the team was struck by the virus

Back in business: Production crews had gathered at the studios in Leavesden, Hertfordshire, in August (pictured) to work on sets after most had been placed on furlough

Production: Filming of the new movie called 'The Batman' had only resumed earlier this month after being shut down in March due to the pandemic

'Colin walked on to set one day and I walked right passed him [laughs] I was like, 'OK, hey dude what's happening, where's Colin? Are we going to shoot?' It was, it's pretty remarkable.'

The transformation was revealed in a teaser trailer released last week by director Reeves at a fan event in the US.

The new film sees Batman pitted against his usual enemies with Paul Dano playing The Riddler.

Zoe Kravitz stars as Catwoman and John Turturro portrays crime boss Carmine Falcone.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 17) - Tropical storm Leon (international name: Noul) maintained its strength on Wednesday as it gradually moved away from the country, the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said.

PAGASA's 11 p.m. update said Leon will move west- northwestward of the West Philippine Sea. It is expected to exit the Philippine Area of Responsibility on early Thursday, it said..

As of 10 p.m., Leon was located 550 kilometers west northwest of Coron, Palawan, as it sustained winds of 85 km/h near the center and gustiness of up to 105 km/h, according to the state weather bureau.

No area in the country is under a tropical cyclone wind signal warning but intermittent gusts due to the southwest monsoon may be experienced over Batanes, Babuyan Islands, MIMAROPA, Western Visayas, and Zamoanga Peninsula.

Leon has also enhanced the effects of southwest monsoon over MIMAROPA, Western Visayas, and Zamboanga Peninsula, which will experience light to moderate with at times heavy rains.

PAGASA warned against flooding and rain-induced landslides which may still occur during heavy or prolonged rainfall especially in areas that are highly or very highly susceptible to these hazards.

Some barangays in Cebu City reported incidents of flooding and minor landslides due to heavy rains. No casualties were reported so far.

Leon is the second tropical depression to enter the country in September, after Typhoon Kristine.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 13:37:45|Editor: huaxia

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MONTREAL, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) president Witold Banka emphasized the importance of cooperation between WADA and the U.S. as the organization's Executive Committee (ExCo) held its third meeting of the year on Monday and Tuesday.

The relationship between WADA and the U.S. has been strained since the latter threatened in June to withhold funding if WADA doesn't make what the U.S. deemed sufficient reform. WADA later called the report "misleading and inaccurate" in a formal response.

Upon receiving an update regarding ongoing discussions between WADA and the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) at the ExCo meeting, Banka, who is also chair of the ExCo, said, "It is very important that WADA and the U.S. authorities work together to further strengthen anti-doping and again, I state my willingness to be part of constructive discussions in order to ensure collaboration between the U.S. and the global anti-doping community."

The ExCo also heard progress on its governance reforms approved by the Board in November 2019, which will see the Board appoint two additional independent ExCo members and discuss the ongoing development of a WADA Code of Ethics.

The ExCo approved the new List of Prohibited Substances and Methods for 2021, which will be published before October 1, 2020, and come into effect on January 1, 2021.

The revised International Standard for Laboratories and International Standard for the Protection of Privacy and Personal Information was also approved by the ExCo and was subject to public consultation. It will also come into force on January 1, 2021.

"As we continue to strengthen WADA's governance, the Executive Committee is showing real leadership in ensuring the Agency is equipped to do its job effectively for clean sport around the world," Banka concluded.

The ExCo meeting opened with a moment of silence in memory of former WADA President John Fahey, who passed away last Saturday in Australia at the age of 75. Enditem
A bit of personal news this week: This will be my final Mid-Valley Scam Alert. But dont worry, this column isnt going anywhere.
This article was written for Fethiye Times by Sian Midgley.

For this months article I thought Id write about the plight of the small corner shops in Fethiye and how theyve been coping during these testing times. So off I went to see Omer Faruk Abac from the Defne Market just around the corner from me in Tuzla, taking my friend Laura who had kindly set up the interview. I went armed with a box of tissues and a suitably sympathetic expression on my face preparing to hear about how tough things had been, how his family were barely getting by, how hed resorted to selling his mother in law just so he could afford to feed and clothe his wife and two daughters.

But I couldnt have been more wrong.

Omer has a cousin in Essex who runs a barber shop and an aunt in London who runs a kebab shop so entrepreneurial blood runs through his veins. Not to be outdone, he opened Defne Market ten years ago and has been going strong ever since, now employing two assistants.

His story of success during the pandemic is not a common one within the corner shop business so how exactly has he managed to not only survive but thrive over the last six months? The answer is actually very simple  he sells everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, that a person could need or want to keep their family fed, clean and happy. Just imagine if Aladdins Cave and the Tardis had had a child  that child would have looked exactly like the Defne Market. He sells all sorts of food items from avocados to yoghurt and all the alphabet in between, as well as cleaning materials and much, much more. Add to that the fact that he takes the Covid 19 required precautions very seriously and, voila, you have an environment that feels safe and fulfills your needs.





Because of this his customer base has expanded to include people that used to be quite happy to shop in the bigger supermarkets but now want to reduce their exposure to large numbers of strangers. Omer has been so busy that he didnt even have the time to offer home delivery services during lockdown like some of the smaller markets. He also has a great command of the English language, useful for his ever expanding foreign clientele who can never remember if cilek means flower or strawberry, or if havuc means carrot or swimming pool. (Disclaimer: he does not sell swimming poolsbut probably has a relative who does).

Internet Fame

Another measure of his success is that Google recently contacted him to ask for pictures of the market, some of which are included in this article, because in the space of just one month there has been over 6,000, yes thats right 6,000, Google searches for Defne Market. This staggering statistic has also led to Omer being approached by Ege TV in Izmir which has resulted in a seven minute interview that will be shown on seven different TV channels in the next month or so. I guess his new lucky number is seven!

Whats Next?

So what does the future hold for Omer and Defne Market? Well, for a start he doesnt think customer numbers will ever go back down to pre virus levels. He has every intention of running the market for at least another fifteen years  maybe even opening another one, who knows? After that he plans to sell or rent it out to help fund what will no doubt be a very comfortable and well deserved retirement. As for me, well Im just happy that this article has resulted in such a feel good story  just what we need at the moment, dont you agree?

If you want to pop in to Defne Market for a bit of shopping, heres the location for you.
In the first substantive discussion on the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in Parliament on Wednesday, the Opposition questioned the government on its handling of the pandemic, the manner in which the lockdown was announced and managed, the slide in the economy, the suffering of migrant workers, and the Centres approach towards states in the battle against the disease.

The opposition parties were responding to Union health minister Harsh Vardhans statement to Parliament on the pandemic, in which he outlined the governments achievements in managing the disease, defended the lockdown, spoke of the low fatality rate in India in comparison to the world, and highlighted the improvement in the health care infrastructure.

In a debate marked by almost all leaders seeking more time to express their views, Congress deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha, Anand Sharma, who initiated the discussion, acknowledged that the pandemic was unprecedented and that scientific understanding of the disease was still evolving. The opposition leaders also hailed the role of the front line warriors against Covid-19.

However, differences between the government and the Opposition on almost every element of the management of the pandemic was apparent.

On the Centres preparation in the first few months of 2020 and the subsequent lockdown, Sharma said that the announcement was sudden  there was only a four-hour notice  leaving people stunned. He said there must be an examination of whether the government was prepared or not, and the costs and benefits of the exercise.

Responding to the health ministers remark that the lockdown prevented almost 1.4 to 2.9 million cases and 37,000-78,000 deaths, Sharma said: This is a wide margin. What is the scientific basis for this conclusion? The day the lockdown was imposed, India had 600 cases. Today, as we speak, there are over 5 million cases and over 82,000 deaths. This is the true picture.

Derek OBrien of the Trinamool Congress alleged that through February and March, the government did not prepare adequately and got its guidelines on wearing masks wrong. Other opposition leaders, too, accused the government of squandering precious time in February  even though the first case in India was discovered on January 30  and alleged that this was the case because the government was busy hosting US President Donald Trump. OBrien called the lockdown announcement Demonetisation 2.0, while the Rashtriya Janata Dals Manoj Jha said: Was the lockdown an individual decision or a collective decision? If it was a collective decision of the Cabinet, what were the preparations?

In his intervention, the Bharatiya Janata Partys Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, however, defended the lockdown as well as the manner of the decision-making. He said that the Prime Minister, home minister, home secretary and cabinet secretary held 15 conversations with the states. No chief minister said the lockdown should not have happened. During discussions on the Goods and Services Tax (GST), many parties used to agree internally based on consensus and then go out and do politics. This is the same hypocrisy at play. The Opposition shouldnt do it. Many decisions were taken on the basis of inputs from the states.

On the subsequent impact of the lockdown, the Opposition centred its critique on the suffering of migrant workers. Sharma said that if the government had consulted states and told them to prepare down to the district and tehsil level, implement standard protocols, and track camps with migrant workers, the situation would have been different. He spoke of the images of Indian migrant workers walking home, published internationally, and called for a national database on migrant workers.

Also read| Over 5,000 Indians died in West, East Asian countries amid Covid-19 pandemic: Govt informs Parliament

Jha, who represents Bihar in the Upper House, a state which saw a high number of migrants returning home, said that while the upper middle class and middle class of the country thought they were fine, no one spared a thought for the poor and migrant workers. Workers are not statistics. They are someones father, mother, daughter, son. I propose that we should all apologise to workers about whom we did not think, who we did not even talk about in the first two lockdowns and only woke up to their fate during the third lockdown.

RCP Singh of the Janata Dal (United) said that during the pandemic, workers from Bihar, who have been working and contributing to the development of other states, were deserted.

The BJPs Sahasrabuddhe strongly defended the governments handling of the economic and humanitarian situation and said that its integrated approach was based on public participation; there was constant dialogue; there were a range of welfare programmes, including the extension of the distribution of free ration and cited examples from BJP-ruled states of efforts to assist migrant workers. An MP from Maharashtra, Sahasrabuddhe, however, spoke at length about the alleged mismanagement of the pandemic in that state.

On the economy front, Tiruchi Siva of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) said: The strictest lockdown was Indias. The lowest fiscal stimulus is Indias. The greatest GDP hit is Indias. The post-lockdown result is worse in India than anywhere else in the world.

On Centre-state relations, OBrien pointed out that out of a public expenditure of 100 on health, 63 was spent by states and 37 by the Centre. When things are going good, you want to take the credit. When things are tough, you talk about chief ministers... what was needed was picking up the best practices from all states... you need humility to know that we dont know everything. You need humility to work with states. O Brien, along with other opposition leaders, also criticised the government on the opaqueness of the PM-Cares fine.

Also read| Cant reserve 80% ICU beds for Covid-19 patients: Private hospitals

On data, Swapan Dasgupta  a nominated member who is aligned with the BJP  said that an element of confusion had crept in, and while it was agreed that India had a large number of infected people, there was a story that had gone out to the world about how Indian figures were underestimated.

Now, I do not know whether this is true or false but a lot of the mathematical model this is based on would suggest that the tally in India would go up to 700 to 800 million, which seems an absurd proposition. He said that the reticence of the government on the basis of the statistics had created confusion. I urge the government to give a clarification on the statistical robustness of the figures.

The debate will continue on Thursday.
Peace in the Middle East has always been elusive. Now its mysterious.

What to make of the White House ceremony that delivered both Bahrain and the Emirates to Israel this week? Everything and nothing.

Everyone who was anyone was invited  except the Palestinians. Unveiled to a mostly-unmasked audience of cheerleaders, the accords were hailed by Donald Trump as the dawn of a new Middle East.

Anytime Israelis and Arabs agree on anything it counts as progress. But in a region of perennial conflict, the signing seemed anticlimactic  if only because it underscored how little has changed in what now feels like a pretend peace process.

First, they arent peace treaties. Unlike neighbouring (and sometimes warmongering) Egypt and Jordan, the U.A.E. and Bahrain never came close to war with Israel and are nowhere near the Jewish state.

But with an eye on the presidential campaign trail, Trump boasted that he had reprised the peacemaking of his predecessors: Jimmy Carter brought Egypt and Israel together 42 years ago at Camp David; Bill Clinton presided over detente with the Palestinians, and then Jordan, in the early 1990s.

Yet neither of those seismic events were truly the precursors of this weeks signing ceremony. Rather, it was the political earthquake of Irans Islamic revolution in 1979  mere months after the Camp David Accords  that still generates aftershocks to this day, leading to the latest geopolitical realignment.

Then as now, the Palestinian cause that had always seemed so central to peacemaking has been pushed to the sidelines. Turns out it was less a prerequisite than a pretext.

The Palestinians were never more than a convenient crutch for Arab leaders in past decades  a distraction for restive citizens who could vent their anger at Israel instead of their own governments. Now, the Palestinians have once again been overtaken by the march of history  the Arab Spring of a decade ago that turned on domestic discontent instead of outside events; internecine conflict in Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Sudan and Yemen; and an alliance of antipathy between embattled Arab nations and Israel against Irans theocratic regime.

Yes, the Hundred Years War between Israelis and Palestinians continues by other means  rockets, missiles and balls of fire back and forth. But for all the death and disruption on both sides  which I covered during my four years based in the Middle East for the Star  the conflict is now little more than a war of attrition, a further dilution of Palestinian leverage and another reflection of lost opportunities.

The overarching negotiations and tensions are no longer between immediate neighbours (Palestinians, Egyptians, Jordanians, Syrians and Lebanese). The focus is now on more distant or deadly players in the Persian Gulf  Iran on one side versus tiny Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates on the other side  alongside Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, with Oman onside and Qatar on the fence.

Trump is claiming credit for bringing Bahrain and the Emirates together with Israel, boasting that Oman and Sudan may be next. Perversely, hes not wrong, because in the Middle East any ill-conceived action can produce unintended reactions.

If not for Trumps grudge match with Iran (motivated by his determination to undo the legacy of his predecessor Barack Obama)  which drove him to rip up a nuclear arms accord backed by the international community  tensions would not be so high today. If not for Trumps one-sided giveaways to Israel (lending more legitimacy than ever to expanded Jewish settlements), Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would not have been as emboldened to threaten annexation of so much of the occupied West Bank.

With Trumps wrong-headed reversals  on both Irans denuclearization and the annexation of Jewish settlements  the president inadvertently created the conditions for greater rapprochement between Israel and two tiny Gulf states that have their own self-serving agendas. The U.A.E. seized on Netanyahus annexation threat as a bargaining chip for weaponry  offering to normalize diplomatic ties with Israel (and give Trump a campaign boost) in return for the suspension of West Bank settlements and the expansion of stealth fighter jet sales from the U.S.

Far from peace in the Middle East, its more of a realignment of warring players and a recognition of the status quo. Pre-revolutionary Iran under the Persian Shah had a quiet understanding with Israel reflecting a shared fear of Arab antagonists; so too the sheikhs who rule the Arab Gulf countries have long had secret ententes with the Jewish state to keep the Islamic Republic of Iran at bay.

What was once unspoken is now unveiled. Underground alliances are out in the open, but so too are the underlying assumptions that have long paralyzed the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

The Palestinians under Yasser Arafat missed their best opportunity to reach an enduring deal at Clintons urging with left-leaning Israeli PM Ehud Barak at Camp David in 2000 (and in the years since). Today, however, Netanyahu couldnt even bring himself to embrace the lopsided offer made by Trump to grab one-third of the West Bank in exchange for other concessions to Palestinian statehood that he refused to fathom (opting instead for the unilateralism of annexation).

Such is the stark revelation in the latest iteration of the peace process: Rapprochement with two tiny Gulf countries, recurring hostility toward Iran and enduring indifference to the Palestinians  whose rejectionism is now reciprocated by Israel.

As to Trumps claim that this is The dawn of a new Middle East, it feels more like the same old same old New Middle East. Which explains why the signing ceremony got so little ink in a world more preoccupied by the curse of a pandemic than the Palestinian cause.

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New Yorks chances of getting a good result, even though it is a densely populated metropolitan area, are actually better than in many rural areas, where theyre not nearly as serious about trying to control the virus, he said.

School will look very different this September

Dont expect to see throngs of students rushing through the halls: Schools will be more sparsely and intermittently populated this year.

Students will only attend school in person between one and three days a week and study online on other days. Desks will be placed six feet apart, and most classes will only have nine or 10 children at a time, about a third of normal capacity. Hallways will be marked with signs to show where students should line up for social distancing, and windows will be open, even during inclement weather, to allow fresh air to circulate.

Officials plan to improve ventilation and filtration systems, and to distribute four million face masks, 3.5 million bottles of hand sanitizer, 80,000 containers of disinfectant wipes and use more than 3,500 electrostatic sprayers to disinfect surfaces.

Around 600,000 families intend to send their children back to school. White parents were more likely to say their children were returning than Black or Latino parents, according to a recent poll by the Education Trust, a research group.

Reopening school is especially important for students who have struggled with remote learning, like the citys large populations of poor, disabled and homeless students.

Even after the delay, challenges remain

Mayor Bill de Blasio agreed to delay reopening after an outcry from elected officials and after the citys formidable teachersunion threatened a strike.
Almost five persons died daily in custody in India during the financial year 2019-2020, according to data shared by the Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) with Parliament on Tuesday.

The total number of people killed either in police custody or jails between April 1, 2019 and March 31, 2020 stood at 1,697.

The maximum number of deaths in judicial custody at 400 was reported from Uttar Pradesh (UP) and most police custody deaths at 14 were reported from Madhya Pradesh (MP).

Out of the total 1,697 custody deaths, MHA said 1,584 and 113 died in judicial and police custody, respectively.

Tamil Nadu (TN) and Gujarat recorded 12 deaths each in police custody.

Also Read: J-K, Ladakh fully integrated into mainstream India, says Centre

Police are often accused of high-handedness in India while dealing with people taken into custody.

Tamil Nadu Police is under scanner for the killing of P Jeyaraj (58) and his son Benicks (37) inside a police station in Tuticorin on June 22.

At present, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is investigating the case.

According to the latest MHA data, while UP recorded maximum deaths (400) in judicial custody, which usually includes inside a jail or while taking an accused to a court, the second-highest such deaths were reported from MP (143), followed by West Bengal (115), Bihar (105), Punjab (93) and Maharashtra (91).

The MHA said in its reply that altogether 112 encounters were reported from all the states/union territories (UTs) during this period --- between April 2019 and March 2020 --- out of which the maximum took place in Chhattisgarh (39), followed by UP (26) and Jharkhand (6).

The ministry hasnt provided the reasons for these deaths in police or judicial custody.

Also Read: China actions sparked LAC standoff; India ready: Govt

However, officials, who didnt wish to be named, said usually such deaths take place due to torture by police, jail staff, suicides, illness, and gang rivalries inside prisons.

There are a total of 1,350 prisons across the country, which have a cumulative capacity to lodge 4,03,739 prisoners.

But almost all the jails are overcrowded, the MHA data revealed.

Currently, there are 4,78,600 inmates lodged in all the prisons. UPs 72 jails have the highest number of inmates at 1,01,297, while the capacity is 60,340.

In his written reply in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Union minister of state (home affairs) G Kishan Reddy said that the Centre has issued an advisory on July 13 to all the states and UTs requesting them to sensitise and direct all the functionaries of the state, district and below level to follow and adhere to law of the land and the guidelines issued by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on custodial deaths, and to act firmly against any abuse of law in respect of custodial deaths.

He added that members, special rapporteurs and senior officers from NHRC carry out periodical visits to various jails to evaluate the living conditions and make recommendations for better protection of human rights.

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Testing tsar Dido Harding is facing a grilling from MPs today with the system teetering on the verge of collapse.

The Tory peer is set to give evidence to politicians amid anger that coronavirus screening has turned into a 'chaotic disaster', with thousands of people struggling to get checked even though a rise in cases was predictable.

In a sign of the shambles engulfing the arrangements, the government has even stopped publishing figures on its total capacity - with claims that labs have been exaggerating how many samples they can process.

There are fears that the country could be plunged into a 'lockdown by default' because people with mild symptoms cannot prove they are negative and have to stay in quarantine.

Experts say that perhaps half a million people a day will develop Covid-like symptoms at this time of year, even in a normal times. Hundreds of schools are already believed to be partly or fully closed due to pupils and teachers having to self-isolate.

Politicians have questioned why Lady Harding was appointed, amid a public furore over the national shortage of Covid tests.

Politicians questioned why Baroness Dido Harding was appointed, amid a public furore over the national shortage of Covid tests

There have been long queues at some Covid testing sites, such as this one in Southend-on-Sea, but others have been deserted despite people struggling to get screened

The 52-year-old former TalkTalk boss is due to face MPs from the Commons' science and technology committee today.

She will appear alongside former Apple executive Simon Thompson, who was appointed to run the contact-tracing app project after the Government abandoned a previous attempt which failed to work properly on iPhones.

The committee will give MPs a first chance in months to grill Lady Harding following the summer recess.

Opposition MPs questioned the lack of apparent scrutiny over her role in test and trace, and her appointment to head Public Health England's successor, the National Institute for Health Protection.

Labour MP Barry Sheerman tweeted: 'What has Dido Harding actually achieved since she was parachuted into the House of Lords and [put] in charge of Johnson's NHS Test and Trace programme?'

Ian Lavery, the Labour MP for Wansbeck, questioned the decision to put her in charge of testing, and to outsource test centres to the private company Serco.

He said it was 'the perfect ingredients for a chaotic disaster... where decent folk pay the price'.

Her appointment was controversial because her professional background lay in business rather than public health, and her refusal to sit as a cross-bench peer rather than a Tory, given her role as a public official. She was put in charge of the Government's first attempt at a contact-tracing app, announced in April.

The 11million app was abandoned after the Government was forced to admit it had not worked.

The replacement app, using Google and Apple technology, is due to be launched in England and Wales next week, months after similar apps were rolled out in other developed countries.

Baroness Harding was chief executive at telecoms giant TalkTalk when data linked to 157,000 customers was accessed by hackers, including bank account details.

The breach cost the firm an estimated 77million, including a record 400,000 fine imposed by the Information Commissioner's Office.

ANDREW PIERCE: The testing fiasco is threatening to shut down hundreds of schools... so where on earth has Dido Harding been?

Dido Harding walks to 10 Downing Street, September 16

By Andrew Pierce for the Daily Mail

As the testing fiasco threatens to shut down hundreds of schools, it's the deafening question: what is the test-and-trace tsar Baroness Harding doing about the crisis?

There has been barely a trace of her. The former businesswoman, who was appointed in a blaze of publicity in May, has apparently largely gone AWOL.

She was spotted going into Downing Street yesterday, but she has not been seen in television studios nor gracing our airwaves to explain what has gone wrong. Instead, she has left the Health Secretary Matt Hancock to face the flak.

Humiliatingly, six months into the pandemic, Hancock yesterday had to admit that Covid tests will have to be rationed to the general public, to ensure frontline workers can get a test along with care home residents.

This is despite Boris Johnson in June pledging a 'world-beating' service with all test results turned round within 24 hours. The crisis in testing dominated Prime Minister's questions yesterday. Yet Harding kept her head below the parapet eschewing interview requests.

On Twitter she has said nothing about testing since July.

'She's a cross between the Scarlet Pimpernel and Macavity the cat who was never around when there was trouble,' said one exasperated Whitehall source. 'The test and trace system is imploding yet there is silence from the Baroness.'

Despite increasing numbers of Tory MPs now criticising the testing system, Harding has so far ducked the chance to defend it in the House of Lords to which she was elevated in 2014. In fact, she hasn't spoken in the Upper House since March 24 when she talked about Covid for four minutes and emphasised the importance of 'expanding testing capacity'.

The omens for her tenure as test and trace tsar were hardly auspicious. One of her first acts in July was to get rid of a chart showing the UK's progress on crucial coronavirus testing from daily Downing Street briefings. At around the same time, the much vaunted NHS test and trace app was delayed because the technology was not up to scratch.

Humiliatingly, six months into the pandemic, Hancock yesterday had to admit that Covid tests will have to be rationed to the general public, to ensure frontline workers can get a test along with care home residents

That same month Harding, who has no scientific background, made a disastrous appearance before the Commons' health committee when she refused to say what proportion of tests were completed within the 24-hour time period the Prime Minister had pledged. Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt, who is the committee's chairman, could not conceal his irritation at her refusal to answer questions. 'You're telling me that you actually don't know how many tests come back within 24 hours and you are in charge of NHS test and trace,' he said.

Ever since the bruising encounter, Harding seems to have retreated from public view. This does not mean, however, she is any less influential in Government circles.

In August, when the Government announced it was axing Public Health England, it emerged Baroness Harding  an Oxford contemporary of David Cameron  would lead the body that replaces it, the National Institute for Health Protection. Intriguingly, she is married to Tory MP John Penrose who is on the board of think-tank '1828' which has called for Public Health England to be abolished.

'Dido Harding has locked herself away in the old Public Health England building setting up the new National Institute,' claims the Whitehall source. 'The real priority should be getting on the front foot of test and trace but we can't prise her out of her hideaway.'

Baroness Dido Harding pictured at a Downing Street press conference in July

Harding, a former jockey, is also on the board of the Jockey Club  which famously put on the Cheltenham Festival, attracting crowds of 250,000 people just as lockdowns were taking effect all over the world

While Harding was chief executive of TalkTalk in 2015 the company suffered one of the biggest data breaches in commercial history when 4million customers' private details were hacked. That year she was paid 2.8million, an increase of 1million on the previous year. Despite calls for her to step down, she remained at the helm until 2017.

She then joined NHS Improvement, a body that oversees NHS trusts, for which she was paid 62,000 for a three day week. When the Commons' committee on health examined her appointment, it remarked on her 'complete lack of experience' of health issues.

Harding, a former jockey, is also on the board of the Jockey Club  which famously put on the Cheltenham Festival, attracting crowds of 250,000 people just as lockdowns were taking effect all over the world.

The granddaughter of Field Marshal Lord Harding, who became the most senior soldier in the British army, she grew up on a Somerset pig farm and went to catholic private school St Antony's Leweston. In a 2015 interview, she admitted: 'I have an enormously privileged position. I make a lot of money  a matter of public record  I have a huge amount of help, and I'm more in control of the day and what I do than someone working shifts on the checkout.'

Since she is up before a select committee today, perhaps she'll explain why she has lost control of the test and trace system.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine expresses its strong protest over the illegal decision of the court of Russian Federation on sentences to seven citizens of Ukraine, defendants of the "second Bakhchisarai group 'Hizb ut-Tahrir.'"

"The Russian Federation should cancel the court decision and immediately release Marlen Asanov, Memet Belialov, Server Zekiryaev, Timur Ibragimov, Server Mustafayev, Seiran Saliev and Edem Smailov, as well as all the citizens of Ukraine illegally detained," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a commentary published on Wednesday.

The department also calls on the international community to respond to "such a shameful decision of the occupying state, to condemn the use of the Russian illegal practice of prosecuting dissent, to demand that Russia stops violating international law." In addition, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs asks to continue active work to protect the rights and freedoms of residents of the Crimean Peninsula and to increase pressure on the Russian Federation, including sanctions.

The department reported that all these citizens of Ukraine were illegally detained on the territory of temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea, accused under Article 205.5 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation "Organization and participation in terrorist activities" and in violation of international law, illegally transferred to the territory of Russia in Rostov-on-Don.

Also, the pretrial investigation and trial took place with numerous procedural violations.

"The terrible terms of imprisonment on openly fabricated charges of terrorist activity are a vivid evidence of how the occupying state actively uses its anti-terrorist legislation to mask systemic political repression and religious discrimination against representatives of the Crimean Tatar people in order to intimidate and suppress any disloyal civil movements and initiatives on the temporarily occupied Crimea peninsula," the ministry said.

As reported, the Crimean Tatars, defendants in the case of so-called "second Bakhchisarai group "Hizb ut-Tahrir," received maximum sentences in a strict regime colony: Marlen Asanov - 19 years, Memet Belialov - 18 years, Server Mustafayev - 14 years, Edem Smailov - 13 years, Seiran Saliev - 16 years, Timur Ibragimov - 17 years, Server Zekiryaev - 13 years.
Most observers do not have many expectations from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc), and, indeed, the progress that the region has seen in bilateral or sub-regional cooperation over the last decade has not involved the association. But times are unprecedented, thanks to Covid-19.

Like last year, Nepal, the current chair of Saarc, plans to host a meeting (virtual) of the Saarc council of ministers during the 75th Session of the UN General Assembly in the third week of September. Is there anything that these ministers can meaningfully do through Saarc to help reduce economic hardship and, through some quick wins, create hope for greater stability in the region?

Despite its limitations, Saarc  if used effectively by Nepal and the council of ministers  may be able to add some value in the current turmoil, and, in the process, enhance its credibility and effectiveness.

Perhaps Saarcs most-important role right now would be to provide a platform for dialogue. South Asia is fraught with a trust deficit that runs across many bilateral relationships. Even convening can be treated with suspicion. When India convened a meeting of South Asian trade officials in April, Pakistan did not participate. On the other hand, when SAARC was involved in the convening, as in the leaders dialogue (proposed by India) in March, all countries took part. They were possibly more at ease than if India had convened. Similarly, when Pakistan took the initiative and organised a Saarc-convened meeting of health ministers, all members participated. So, the first order of business is for member states to use Saarc to convene an inclusive dialogue, because the dialogue is the starting point for any collaboration.

The low share of intra-regional trade and investment in South Asia penalises its workers, consumers, and exporters. This piece suggests four specific areas where Nepals initiatives through Saarc can address the larger issues at stake. All four can be tabled and pursued simultaneously. And whether or not Saarc can nudge things along, the issues will remain, and failure to resolve them will reduce the economic opportunities for the people of South Asia.

Direct trade between India and Pakistan has slowed to a trickle since India imposed 200% duties on imports from Pakistan in February 2019 (after the Pulwama attack), and Pakistan banned trade with India in August 2019 (after the passage of the J&K Reorganisation Bill). This has exacted a severe toll on the thousands of families dependent on bilateral trade, as documented by Afaq Husain and Nikita Singla of BRIEF.

Through Saarc, if Nepal can bring all countries to the dialogue table to discuss trade, India and Pakistan might be willing to consider face-saving trade resumption on pre-2019 terms. Such face-saving could take the form of resuming trade subject to an annual certification by both sides to the effect that the other party has not taken actions prejudicial to its neighbours interest (the exact terminology and content can be decided between India and Pakistan).

This is reminiscent of the United States annual renewal of Most Favoured Nation status (same terms as any other trading partner) to China, throughout the 1980s and 1990s. The resumption of trade between South Asias two largest economies will not only help the traders, porters, truckers and other stakeholders on the border, it will also impart some much-needed motivation to the rest of South Asia, which often feels weighed down by the acrimony between India and Pakistan.

Afghanistan has long demanded that Pakistan allow it to import Indian goods via the Wagah-Attari border. Its trucks can currently transit across Pakistan and export to India via the Wagah border, as part of the Afghanistan Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement. But these trucks cannot bring back Indian imports and have to return empty to Afghanistan.

In the spirit of a Covid detente, could Pakistan be persuaded to allow these Afghan trucks to take back Indian goods? To address its domestic constituencies, Pakistan could insist that the import load be no more than the export load, at least to begin with and review the experience after a few months. Still, it will nonetheless earn enormous goodwill from India and, especially, Afghanistan. Nepal could offer to appoint a neutral mediator via Saarc to resolve contentious issues. As in the earlier case, a solution here would have positive ramifications for the countries involved and Saarcs self-confidence, achievements that would go beyond the bilateral Afghanistan-Pakistan trade relationship.

E-commerce is a fruitful avenue to explore, given the Covid-19 induced increase in digitisation. A World Bank report (Unleashing E-Commerce for South Asian Integration) suggested ways of building on the informal intra-regional e-commerce that already exists. A practical and incremental approach is best suited to address the multiple hurdles. Issues include the lack of consumer access in some countries to foreign exchange for cross-border payments, and the absence of a predictable tariff regime for small value shipments, say up to a value of $100.

Nepal can suggest that Saarc be used as a forum for countries to thrash out the core issues between themselves; the World Bank reports suggestions can be a starting point. The goal would be to kick-start an e-commerce counterpart to the South Asian Free Trade Area, with preferences to products with an explicit local value-added content. The onus on certifying value-added should be placed on the e-commerce platforms. Should such digitally-enabled trade take off, it could help micro and small enterprises, among others, to access cross-border markets and thus gain a vital additional source of demand.

To minimise Covid-19 induced disruption to trade, many countries have advanced on digitally-enabled trade simplification  a simple example is acceptance of electronic rules of origin certificates. Nepal can table some suggestions and perhaps help broker some agreed principles for trade clearances and simplification, many of which are already being implemented by individual countries like India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. A recent paper by Prabir De for ESCAP has outlined some useful measures for digitising trade processes.

South Asia will always exist as a geographical entity. If it is collaborative, workers, consumers, and exporters in the region will benefit, irrespective of advances in other regional groupings. There is an existing institution - Saarc- that is mandated to facilitate regional cooperation. Making Saarc more effective will be a win for everyone, especially the people of South Asia. There are some significant trade issues that, if even partially addressed, can help Saarc become more credible and effective.

Is it wishful thinking? Perhaps. But times are not normal. That expands the boundary of the possible.

Sanjay Kathuria is senior visiting fellow, Centre for Policy Research, and former lead economist, World Bank

The views expressed are personal
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 16) Malacanang on Wednesday shrugged off Vice President Leni Robredos latest remarks on the supposed lack of system in the governments COVID-19 response, saying that she was entitled to her own opinion as a member of the political opposition.

Of course, as the leader of the opposition, we don't expect anything positive about this administration from her, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque told CNN Philippines The Source. We've accepted that.

She can say all the negative things about the administration, but people still support the President, he added.

Robredo, in a television interview on Tuesday, explained that she has not joined calls for the resignation of Health Secretary Francisco Duque as the country faces a bigger problem  the apparent lack of system in the government.

Iyong problema natin is so much bigger than Secretary Duque. Para sa akin, iyong problema talaga iyong national government, na parang walang sistema parang walang cohesive na plano, Robredo stressed.

[Translation: Our problem is so much bigger than Secretary Duque. For me, the problem is that our national government seems to have no system its like there is no cohesive plan.]

In previous pronouncements, Malacanang advised critics, including members of the opposition, to set aside politics while the country battles the health crisis.

Not politicking

Robredo's aide, however, said the administration should not dismiss the vice president's comments as mere politicking as all Filipinos have the common goal of fighting and surviving the pandemic.

Sa panahon na ito, hindi na dapat ang pag-iisip natin oposisyon o administrasyon. Ang pag-iisip natin dapat dito lahat tayo ay Pilipino, lahat tayo gustong makaahon ang buong bansa natin laban sa pandemyang ito, Barry Gutierrez, Robredo's spokesman, told CNN Philippines Newsroom Ngayon.

[Translation: During this time, we should not think this is the opposition or the administration. We are all Filipinos, we all want to beat this pandemic. We all want the country to survie this.]

He said the Vice President and her supporters hope the administration would listen to and consider their suggestions, as these may help strengthen the countrys policies against COVID-19.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Tuesday said China is set to achieve its main annual targets and register positive GDP growth in 2020.

Li made the remarks when addressing the Special Virtual Dialogue with Global Business Leaders hosted by the World Economic Forum, attended by more than 500 business leaders.

China has managed to quickly bring COVID-19 under effective control while ensuring people's basic living needs, Li said, stressing that this has not been easy for a developing country with 1.4 billion people.

"Such achievements have been made possible by the extraordinary efforts and sacrifices of the Chinese people," Li said.

As things stand, the economy has been on the upturn, with more than seven million new jobs created in urban and rural areas since the beginning of the year, he noted, calling for more hard work to overcome risks and challenges.
The boss of Priceline Pharmacy operator API Richard Vincent says he has contacted the Health Department on behalf of pharmacy wholesalers to offer expertise on how to roll out access to a COVID-19 vaccine successfully.

It comes as the pharmacy industry says its supply chains will be critical for the smooth deployment of a vaccine if it becomes available, highlighting the strength of its operations throughout the January bushfires and at the start of the pandemic.

API chief executive Richard Vincent says he has been in contact with the department of health to discuss how pharmacy wholesalers can help with a COVID-19 rollout. Credit:Peter Braig

"Once a vaccine has been approved for use, it will require a whole of healthcare solution to distribute it nationally, via avenues like aged care homes, hospitals, medical centres and pharmacists," Mr Vincent said.

"Pharmaceutical wholesalers like API have highly relevant expertise in delivering medicines requiring cold storage and we are ready to play our part in getting a vaccine into the community quickly and efficiently."
(Newser)  Paul Rudd, who still looks essentially the same as he did in Clueless, must be a millennial ... right? And as such, he is completely qualified to address his generation. Which is why New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo asked the actor to issue a PSA about mask-wearing amid the coronavirus pandemic. "He's like, Paul, you gotta help. What are you, like, 26? And I didn't correct him," says Rudd in the video, which features him using basically every bit of "young person" slang an old person might be able to come up with. Eventually, however, Rudd, who is in actuality 51 years old, gets amusingly fed up. Watch in full here or in our gallery.

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Reactions ran the gamut, with Los Angeles Times calling the video "cringeworthy" as Kottke, CNN, and many celebrities on Twitter went with "hilarious." In a radio interview Tuesday, Cuomo explained that the idea came to him due to his frustration with how to reach young people who think they're "invincible" and refuse to wear masks. "I call up Paul Rudd, and I'm a big fan of Paul Rudd, I had met him at an event. I call him up and I said, 'you know can you do a PSA, a video, that really gets to young people?' And he's respectful, he's listening to me, 'yeah, yeah, yeah I can do that.' I said, 'you know you're funny. I think humor might do it,' because I've tried everything. I've begged, I've pleaded, I've threatened. I don't know what else to say." And then the kicker: "I didn't know he was 51 years old. You know, he looks like a kid, doesn't he, Paul Rudd?" (Read more Paul Rudd stories.)
Itah:

At least 15 schoolA childrenA were feared dead while several others were seriously injured when school bus collided with a truck in Aliganj area of EtahA district, Uttar Pradesh on Thursday.A

The accident happened when the school bus collided with a lorry near Asadpur village on Thursday. The bus of J S Vidyaniketan was taking the students to school when it met with the accident, police said.

More than 50 school children wereA travelling when the bus met with an accident.

The victims were in the age group of 10-15 years.

Tragic road accident in Aliganj Etah. Over 15 school kids feared dead. Rescue of injured ongoing. a Javeed (@javeeddgpup) January 19, 2017

The cause of the accident is believed to be thick fog in the morning.A

"Tragic road accident in Aliganj Etah. Over 15 school kids feared dead. Rescue of injured ongoing," UP DGP Javed Ahmad informed through Twitter initially.A

Ahmad said, "School was open against the order of district admin to close schools due to cold. More than 2 dozen children died."

"Priority is to rescue trapped children. Rescue operation is underway. Strict action will be taken against the school," he added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the death of school children in the accident.

"Anguished by tragic accident in UPas Etah. I share the pain of the bereaved families and condole passing away of young children.A I pray that those injured in the accident in Etah recover at the earliest," ANI quoted PM Modi as saying.

Anguished by tragic accident in UPas Etah . I share the pain of the bereaved families & condole passing away of young children: PM Modi a ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) January 19, 2017

DM and SSP of EtahA have reached the spot.A

Many leaders expressedA condolences to those who lost their lives. A

Heartfelt condolences on loss of young lives in tragic bus accident in Etah; prayers for speedy recovery of the injured #PresidentMukherjee a President of India (@RashtrapatiBhvn) January 19, 2017

Deeply saddened by the news of tragic school bus accident in Etah(UP) Pray for speedy recovery of injured. a Sadananda Gowda (@DVSBJP) January 19, 2017

I pray for the speedy recovery of the children injured in the accident. (2/2) a Prakash Javadekar (@PrakashJavdekar) January 19, 2017

My thoughts and prayers are with the families who lost their kids in the tragic bus accident at #Etah. May the injured recover soon. a Harsimrat Kaur Badal (@HarsimratBadal_) January 19, 2017

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Schumer Praises Trumps Middle East Peace Deal as Welcome News

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Sept. 15 praised President Donald Trumps Middle East peace deal, saying that it is welcome news.

Normalization of the relations between Israel and other countries is welcome news, but I want to see the details of the agreement, Schumer told reporters during a press briefing Tuesday. Ive always said for a long time that its long past due for nations in the region to normalize relations with Israel.

His comments came after the president on Tuesday declared a historic day for peace as two historic Middle East peace deals were signed between several Gulf states and Israel.

(L-R) Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S. President Donald Trump, Foreign Affairs Minister of Bahrain Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, and Foreign Affairs Minister of the United Arab Emirates Abdullah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan wave from the Truman Balcony of the White House after the signing ceremony of the Abraham Accords on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, on Sept. 15, 2020. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Trump said the move will change the course of history, bring about a new Middle East, and create an era of peace and prosperity. He noted that the White House achieved two peace agreements in a single month.

Its an important day for peace, he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed deals with the Kingdom of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after the three nations agreed on the measure to normalize relations.

Thanks to the great courage of the leaders of these three countries, we take a major stride toward a future in which people of all faiths and backgrounds live together in peace and prosperity, Trump said Tuesday.

The agreements will serve as the foundation for a comprehensive peace across the entire region, he continued. Something which nobody thought was possible, certainly not in this day and age; maybe in many decades from nowbut one founded on shared interests, mutual respect, and friendship.

The deal will normalize commercial, security, and diplomatic relations between Israel and Bahrain, as well as Israel and the UAE. The other Arab countries that have normalized relations with Israel are Egypt and Jordan.

The president later told reporters that additional peace deals are in the works with eight or nine countries, without elaborating on which countries are in the peace deal pipeline, but mentioned that he has spoken to the king of Saudi Arabia.

President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of the Abraham Accords Signing Ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House, on Sept. 15, 2020. (Doug Mills/The New York Times/Getty Images)

Netanyahu said Tuesday it heralds a new dawn of peace between Jewish people and others, saying Trump has brought about a realistic chance of peace between Israel and the Palestinians. This was unimaginable a few years ago, the prime minister said.

The move represents another diplomatic victory for Trump, who has cast himself a peacemaker and has sought to end U.S. involvement in foreign warscoming two months before the November election.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), meanwhile, described the peace deal as a distraction amid the ongoing CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic.

Good for him [Trump] for having a distraction on a day when the numbers of people who are affected and the numbers of people who are dying from this virus only increases, Pelosi told CNBC Tuesday.

Pelosi also in said a statement that while it marked an important day, questions remain about the UAEs commitment to purchase F-35 fighter jets from the United States.

As we learn more about the full details of both agreements, questions remainspecifically, regarding the commitment that the UAE has received from the Trump Administration to purchase American-made F-35 aircraft. The U.S. Congress, on a bipartisan basis, will be watching and monitoring to ensure that Israel can maintain its qualitative military edge in the region.

It is also critically important that we fully understand the agreements details regarding the announced freeze of efforts by Israel to annex portions of the West Bank, she said.

Ivan Pentchoukov contributed to this report.
North Korea has tripled the amount of propaganda taught to pre-school children, forcing pupils to spend half their school day learning about Kim Jong Un under new orders handed down by his sister.

The new curriculum specifies that 'Greatness Education', which focuses on the upbringing of Kim Jong Un and his two predecessors, must take up half of the three hours preschoolers spend in class.

Previously, the children would only spend half an hour on the subject, but the leader's sister, Kim Yo Jong, has reportedly tripled the requirement under new rules brought in late last month.

North Korea has tripled the dose of propaganda taught to children, so now leader-worship makes up half of the school day, under new orders handed down by Kim Jong Un's sister. A North Korean school pictured above

The dose of propaganda taught to North Korean children has been tripled on the orders of Kim Jong Un's sister

A source in North Hamgyong Province, close to the Chinese border, said parents and teachers were concerned that kids would now begin their next level of schooling at a disadvantage.

'The kids are almost at the point of becoming elementary school students,' the source told South Korea's Daily NK newspaper.

'So parents tend to ask teachers to focus on studying the alphabet. 'The increase in time spent on the leaders, however, leaves less time for alphabet study, so parents will be unhappy.'

The source also revealed that schools had to shoulder the cost of 'sprucing up' classrooms so that the new curriculum could be taught in style. It's fuelled speculation that already-stretched parents will be asked to chip in for renovations.

A source in North Hamgyong Province, close to the Chinese border, said parents and teachers were concerned that kids would now begin their next level of schooling at a disadvantage

'Many parents are consequently wondering to themselves whether it might be better just to teach their kids at home,' the source said.

Ray Cunningham, from Homer, Illinois, has visited several North Korean schools over the course of several trips there.

Photos from these visits show that tanks and warplanes are made out to be fun, while school murals glorify missiles and depict graphic violence against US troops.

In a previous interview, Mr Cunningham described how the worst of the brainwashing seemed to be saved for the youngest kids.

'The younger school children are the ones that are given more of this indoctrination,' he said.

'They bring them in at age three to four and they really learn the litany.

'And there are parables that they learn about like the parable of the boot  that Kim Jong Il's friends didn't have boots, and his mother gave him a pair of boots, but he rejected those because his friends didn't have any, and now all the schoolchildren have boots.

'There are lots of little stories that are told that are so apocryphal they're crazy but you see them in every school that you go to.'

Under the new rules, the emphasis of classes is also said to have moved from the leader's father, Kim Jong Il, and his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, to the leader himself.

'What is being taught in Greatness Education has changed somewhat,' said the source.

'The amount of time spent on the Supreme Leader's childhood is now twice that spent on his father's and grandfather's childhoods.'

In the lessons, the children apparently learn that Kim Jong-un was a bright child who 'rode a yacht, did target practice, and liked to read', as well as learning 'revolutionary' music.

Kim Yo Jong, who is often touted as a potential successor to her brother, was not schooled in North Korea herself, but was instead sent to a school in Switzerland, like the leader.

In the lessons, the children apparently learn that Kim Jong Un was a bright child who 'rode a yacht, did target practice, and liked to read', as well as learning 'revolutionary' music

North Korean preschoolers typically attend from 9am to noon, and also have time set aside for physical education, play and studying the Korean alphabet.

But there's little hope that schoolchildren can escape the cult of personality which surrounds the leaders.

Even portraits of the leaders are revered  to the degree that people can be punished for not taking proper care of them.

For example, reports emerged earlier this year that a North Korean mum faced the gulag after saving her children from a house fire instead of two paintings of the leaders.
Fiona Bruce has blasted the BBC's gender pay gap as 'unacceptable', and insisted the corporation will have a female director-general in the next 10 years.

The Question Time presenter was this week revealed as having one of the biggest salaries at the BBC, but four of the top five highest earners are men.

Radio 2 presenter Zoe Ball is the only woman at the corporation to pocket more than Bruce, who herself has been something of a pioneer, becoming the first female presenter of the News at 10 back in 2003.

As well as Question Time, which returns tomorrow night, the 56-year-old also presents The Antiques Roadshow and Fake or Fortune and while she says the corporation has made progress towards equality in recent years, there is still plenty of work to do.

Fiona Bruce has blasted the BBC's gender pay gap as 'unacceptable', and insisted the corporation will have a female director-general in the next 10 years

BBC boss admits 'work to do' on diversity The lack of diversity in the top-10 list of highest-paid BBC stars means the BBC has more 'work to do' on the issue. The list includes Gary Lineker, Zoe Ball, Graham Norton, Steve Wright and Huw Edwards. Director-general Tim Davie said that 18% of all stars earning over 150,000 are from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds, compared with 12% in 2016/17. 'We made good progress, if you look across the industry we're in a good place, but we've got work to do,' he said. Earlier this year the BBC announced it will set aside 100 million for 'diverse and inclusive content' as part of its response to the killing in the US of George Floyd. The sum, from its existing commissioning budget, will be spent on TV output across all areas, including children's, education and current affairs, for three years from 2021/22. Last month, then director-general Lord Hall apologised for a news report which contained a racist term More than 18,000 people complained to the BBC over the broadcast, where social affairs correspondent Fiona Lamdin repeated a racial slur. Advertisement

She told the Standard: 'It is unacceptable for there not to be equal pay.

'The BBC has made great strides forward in that territory, especially in the last three years  there is now a representation of women that there wasn't three or five years ago but it still has a way to go.'

The corporation came under fire after it published its accounts yesterday, showing that staff pay had soared 3.5 per cent to 1.5billion this year - while bosses push ahead with plans to strip a million over-75s of their free TV licences.

It revealed that Ball is now the top earner after pocketing a 1m pay rise, knocking Match of the Day's Gary Lineker off the top spot.

The BBC has been trying to level up the pay of male and female stars to repair damage to the corporation's reputation and reduce discord among staff.

Equality issues led to the BBC handing out a settlement to former China editor Carrie Gracie in 2018 and then earlier this year losing an equal pay tribunal case to Samira Ahmed.

The publication comes barely a fortnight after new director-general Tim Davie took the reins and the corporation boss yesterday defended Ball's huge pay rise after she shed nearly a million listeners in the first year in her new role, saying it was a 'punchy' market.

Mr Davie's appointment, announced earlier this summer, came as something of a disappointment to those who were hoping a woman would be given the top job for the first time, with director of content Charlotte Moore having been in the running.

Bruce didn't go as far as to say that herself, but was adamant that he would be succeeded by a woman at some point over the next decade.

She said: 'Tim is a really, you know, a good fit for the job, actually. I am interested to see what he does. Of course we will have a female director general in the next 10 years. I am sure.'

Bruce said current director-general Tim Davie, pictured, was 'a good fit for the job' but said she was 'sure' he would be succeeded by a woman over the next decade

In July, the BBC announced a huge shake-up of regional TV news and local radio in England which will lead to 450 job cuts.

Changes will see one instead of two presenters fronting 6.30pm regional TV news bulletins as the corporation looks to make 25million in savings.

Inside Out, the regional current affairs magazine show made in 11 different regions, will be axed and replaced with a new investigative journalism programme from six hubs.

A 'simplified schedule' introduced on local radio during the pandemic, with single instead of double presenters and a reduction in the number of shows, will become permanent.

Other detractors have pointed to the BBC's shocking push to strip 1.5 million pensioners of their free TV licences as the BBC seeks to capture younger audiences in its war with Netflix.

Asked about the likes of Lineker still earning more than 1million, even after a pay cut, Mr Davie said he would expect 'people to come to the BBC at a significant discount to what they'd get in the open market'.

But he added: 'We will invest in very limited situations in particular markets to ensure we have got the best talent.'
A Philadelphia-based black pastor confronted President Donald Trump at Tuesday night's ABC News town hall telling him that the 'Make America Great Again' slogan is 'tone deaf.'

'When has America been great for African Americans in the ghetto of America? Are you aware of how tone deaf that comes off the African American community?' Pastor Carl Day told Trump.

He also pointed out that Trump hadn't acknowledged America's race problem, to which the president replied, 'Well I hope there's not a race problem.'

'I can tell you, there's none with me,' Trump said.

The town hall, pre-taped in Philadelphia and then broadcast several hours later, had undecided voters pose questions to Trump, with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos there to moderate the Q&A.

President Donald Trump (left) was told by Philadelphia-based pastor Carl Day (right) that 'Make America Great Again' was 'tone deaf' toward black Americans

President Trump (left) took questions from audience members in Philadelphia and the discussion was moderated by ABC News' George Stephanopoulos (right)

The studio set-up for Trump's town hall with undecided Pennsylvania voters moderated by George Stephanopoulos

Key quotes from Trump's Philadelphia town hall On coronavirus: 'Yeah, well I didn't downplay it. I actually, in many ways I up-played it in terms of action.' From a Pittsburgh voter: ''Why did you throw vulnerable people like me under the bus?' On coronavirus 'going away': 'It would go away without the vaccine, George, but it's going to go away a lot faster with it.' Asked what people think masks are not good: 'I'll tell you who those people are  waiters.' President Trump and George Stephanopoulos Blaming Joe Biden for lack of a national mask mandate: 'Well no, but he didn't do it. I mean, he never did it.' On his long-delayed health care plan: 'I have it all ready  I have it all ready.' What he learned from the pandemic: 'I learned that life is very fragile. I knew people that were powerful people, strong people, good people, and they got knocked out by this, and died  six people. It was five until about two weeks ago, now it's six.' On any regrets for handling the virus: 'No, I think we did a great job.' To grief-stricken questioner Flor Cruceta: 'Just take your time, that's fine. George has plenty of time, I hope, right?' After Cruceta mentioned her cancer-stricken mom was from the Dominican Republic: 'Did you say your mom got COVID?' On cancelled trip to cemetery for fallen troops in France: 'I said let me just go separately in a car in disguise, I don't care. I wanted to be there so badly.' Pastor Carl Day on Trump's MAGA slogan: 'Are you aware of how tone deaf that comes off the African American community?' On report he called fallen U.S. troops 'suckers' and losers: 'But the statements never happened, they were lies.' On Winston Churchill. 'He said, you're going to be safe. Be calm, don't panic. And you had bombers dropping bombs all over London. So I guess you could say that's not so honest, but it's still a great leader.' On dignified transfers of remains of U.S. soldiers: ''You know, I go to Dover and I greet, oftentimes, soldiers coming in, and they're dead' Advertisement

Day was identified as an undecided voter who voted for third party hopeful Jill Stein in 2016. After his interaction with Trump he went on CNN and said, 'I'm definitely not voting Trump, I will say that.'

Day wanted to hear Democrat Joe Biden's plans for black America before casting a vote that way.

When Day first called MAGA 'tone deaf,' Trump pointed to public opinion polls - which generally show him underwater with black voters compared to Democrat Joe Biden.

'Well, I can say this, we have tremendous African-American support,' Trump said. 'You've probably seen it in the polls. We've done extremely well with African-American, Hispanic-American at levels that you've rarely seen a Republican have.'

Recent polls in Florida show Biden in a slightly weaker position than Hillary Clinton did in 2016 among Latino voters.

'You look just prior to this horrible situation coming in from China, when the virus came in, that was the - probably the highest point, home ownership for the black community, home ownership, lower crime, the best jobs theyve ever had, highest income, the best employment numbers theyve ever had,' Trump continued.

Trump boasted that if Day went back six or seven months 'that was the best single moment in the history of the African-American people in this country, I think - I would say.'

Day again questioned why Trump would use Make America Great 'Again,' and then described the conditions of the 'ghettos,' with drugs and guns, which black Americans have historically been red-lined into.

'And we have not been seeing a change, quite frankly under your administration,' Day said. 'Under the Obama administration, under the Bush, under the Clinton, the very same thing happening.'

Day then pointed out that while Trump had talked about police officers 'choking' - often his explanation for why unarmed black Americans are being shot at a disproportionate rate - 'you have yet to address and acknowledge that there's been a race problem in America.'

Trump said he hoped there wasn't a race problem 'because I have great respect for all races, for everybody.'

'This country is great because of it,' Trump said.

After the town hall, Day told CNN that Trump had 'not got my vote.'

He said that he wanted to hear Biden's answers to similar questions and know what his 'plan' was for people who live in 'the hoods and ghettos.'

Other undecided voters at the town hall also gave him a thumbs down after his responses to their questions, with one voter saying she was now going to vote for Joe Biden and another accusing the president of 'lying through his teeth.'

In the 90-minute town hall meeting in Philadelphia, Trump dismissed his own quotes in Bob Woodward's book that he downplayed the threat of the coronavirus, claiming instead he 'up-played' and told a black voter he hoped there wasn't a race problem in the country.

Paul Tubiana of Bethlehem, Penn., who asked the first question to the president about his COVID response, told CNN after the town hall: 'He didn't answer anything. He was lying through his teeth.'

Tubiana described himself as a conservative and said he voted for Trump in 2016. The president, in his response to Tubiania's question, claimed he 'worked very hard on the pandemic' and blamed China for not doing enough to keep it from spreading.

Ellesia Blaque, an English professor at Kutztown University who asked the president what he would do to protect people like her with pre-existing conditions (she was born with sarcoidosis), said she was now going to vote for Biden.

During her time questioning the president, as she was describing her health struggles and noting how she was uninsurable, Trump kept interrupting her to the point she told him: 'Please stop and let me finish my question, sir.'

In his answer Trump said he would protect pre-existing conditions and pivoted to attack Biden, who he claimed wouldn't.

'He didn't answer my question,' Blaque told CNN.

She said she had been 'on the fence' about voting in 2020 but now: 'I'm going to vote for Biden.' Trump 'reanimated me to vote,' she added.

'Why did you throw vulnerable people like me under the bus': Diabetic man attacks Trump at town hall for 'downplaying' covid only for President to say he 'UP-PLAYED it' - and that it'll 'go away without a vaccine'

President Donald Trump defended his handling of the coronavirus during a town hall meeting that aired Tuesday night  including from a former supporter who asked him why he threw 'people like me under the bus.'

'Yeah, well I didn't downplay it. I actually, in many ways I up-played it in terms of action,' Trump said early in the town hall program broadcast on ABC.

Trump was responding to a direct question from a voter at the event in Philadelphia, where a series of uncommitted voters challenged him with pointed questions on the virus, race, policing and immigration.

The primetime special was the first of its kind in this election cycle and the first time in many months that Trump has come into contact with undecided voters. It was held in a virtually empty venue, with the small number of questioners the only audience, some of whom kept their masks on when they spoke.

It was moderated by George Stephanopoulos and saw Trump pressed repeatedly - both by questioners and by the GMA anchor - on his handling of the pandemic, race relations, and crime.

'If you believe it's the president's responsibility to protect America, why would you downplay a pandemic that is known to disproportionately harm low-income families and minority communities,' the voter, Ajani Powell, a woman from Pittsburgh asked.

Later, asked if he had any regrets, he said: 'No, I think we did a great job.'

Trump's response came days after Bob Woodward's book 'Rage' revealed Trump telling the author in a March 19 that he played down the virus to avoid 'panic.'

'I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down because I don't want to create a panic,' the president told Woodward, in an interview captured on tape.

President Donald Trump faced tough questions from voters at an ABC town hall in Philadelphia that aired Tuesday night

Why did you throw vulnerable people like me under the bus?' asked Paul Tubiana, who said he voted for Trump in 2016

Moderator George Stephanopoulos pressed Trump on his statements that the coronavirus will 'go away'

Host George Stephanopoulos challenged Trump on his administration's legal efforts to throw out Obamacare and his claim last year that he would produce a health care plan

Trump faced tough questions on his handling of the pandemic in a key battleground state he won in 2016

Trump faced some tough questions from the get-go, including from a man named Paul Tubiana who said he voted for him in 2016.

'I'm a conservative, pro-life and diabetic. I've had to dodge people who don't care about social distancing and wearing face masks,' he said  after Trump held rallies with mask-less supporters in the West.

'I thought you were doing a good job with the pandemic response until about May 1st. Then you took your foot off the gas pedal. Why did you throw vulnerable people like me under the bus?' he asked.

'Well, we really didn't, Paul,' Trump responded.

'We've worked very hard on the pandemic. We've worked very hard. It came off from China. They should have never let it happen,' he said.

Interviewer George Stephanopoulos challenged Trump on past statements that the virus would 'go away.'

'It would go away without the vaccine, George, but it's going to go away a lot faster with it,' Trump told him.

'It would go away without the vaccine?' Stephanopoulos asked him.

'Sure, over a period of time. Sure, with time it goes away,' Trump responded.

'And many deaths,' Stephanopoulos told him, as the nation approached 200,000 of them due to the coronavirus.

'And you'll develop  you'll develop herd -- like a herd mentality,' Trump said. 'It's going to be  it's going to be herd-developed, and that's going to happen. That will all happen,' he said.

During the event, Trump also claimed that a coronavirus vaccine would be ready in three or four weeks, despite public health officials warning about an accelerated timeline.

'We're very close to having a vaccine,' he said. 'If you want to know the truth, the previous administration would have taken perhaps years to have a vaccine because of the FDA and all the approvals. And we're within weeks of getting it  Could be three weeks, four weeks.'

It was not the first time Trump has claimed that a vaccine is imminent. Last week, he said that one could arrive 'during the month of October'.

Others have been more reserved with their predictions. US infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci told CNN earlier this month that a more realistic time-frame would be November or December.

'It is conceivable that you can have it by October, though I don't think that that's likely.'

'If you believe it's the president's responsibility to protect America, why would you downplay a pandemic that is known to disproportionately harm low-income families and minority communities,' Ajani Powell, a voter from Pittsburgh, asked.

Participant Laura Galvas asks about police brutality

In other remarks, Trump quoted comments from disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci early in the pandemic amid a shortage of protective gear  then noted that 'some people' say not to shut down businesses to spread disease transmission.

'But whether it's Dr. Fauci or anybody else, a lot of people got it wrong. They talked about don't wear masks, and now they say wear masks. Although some people say don't wear masks,' Trump said.

'I mean you have a lot of different ideas. Some people say just leave it the way it is and don't do any shutdowns, and other people say do shutdowns,' he said.

Another questioner told him: 'The wearing of masks has proven to lessen the spread of COVID. Why don't you support a mandate for national mask wearing?'

'And a good question is, you ask why Joe Biden -- they said we're going to do a national mandate on masks,' Trump said, referencing a comment Biden made weeks ago about what he might do once in office after consulting experts.

'He's called on all governors to have them. There's a state responsibility,' said Stephanopoulos.

'Well no, but he didn't do it. I mean, he never did it,' Trump said.

'I don't want to drive our nation into a panic. I'm a cheerleader for this nation. I'm the one that closed up our country. I closed it up long before any of the experts thought I should -- and saved hundreds of thousands of lives,' Trump claimed.

Trump also fielded a question from a woman who has sarcoidosis and said each year she pays $7,000 plus copays.

'From the day I was born, I was considerable uninsurable. That disease started in my skin, moved to my eyes, into my optic nerves, and when I went to graduate school, into my brain,' she said.

She told the president: 'And should preexisting conditions -- which ObamaCare brought into -- brought to fruition be removed ... within a 36 to 72-hour period, without my medication, I will be dead.'

When Trump tried to interject to say it would not be removed, she told him: 'Please stop and let me finish my question, sir.'

'We are not going to hurt anything having to do with preexisting conditions. We're not going to hurt preexisting conditions. And -- in fact, just the opposite,' Trump said.

'If you look at what they want to do, where they have socialized medicine, they will get rid of preexisting conditions,' Trump claimed. He did not note, as the questioner did, that Obamacare established protections for those with preexisting conditions.

Stephanopoulos jumped in to confront him: 'Number one, Joe Biden ... ran against Medicare for All in the primaries,' Stephanopoulos said.

'But much more importantly, Obamacare guaranteed people with preexisting conditions could buy insurance, guaranteed they could buy it at the same price as everyone else, guaranteed a package of essential benefits, guaranteed that insurance companies couldn't put a lifetime limit on those benefits,' Stephanopoulos said.

He also noted that the Trump administration was in court seeking to strike down the Obamacare law, which includes the preexisting conditions protections.

Trump pushed back claiming that he had a plan, after Stephanopoulos reminded him: 'I interviewed you in June of last year, you said the healthcare plan would come in two weeks.

'I have it all ready  I have it all ready,' Trump said.

'You've been trying to strike down preexisting conditions,' Stephanopoulos said.

'It doesn't matter, I have it all ready, and it's a much better plan for you  and it's a much better plan,' Trump responded, in reference to the woman.

Trump flew back and forth from Washington for the event and enjoyed a Philly cheese steak on the way home aboard Air Force One. Trump posted an image of the meal, reminiscent of his famous taco bowl image from his 2016 campaign.

The meal came from Philadelphia shop D'Allesandro's, a source told DailyMail.com Tuesday.

Trump says WAITERS don't like wearing masks as voter asks him at town hall: 'Why don't you wear a mask more often?'

President Donald Trump claimed 'waiters' do not like wearing masks as he was pressed on his own lack of mask-wearing - and asked to explain what he meant when he said there are people who don't like covering up.

He offered the claim after a voter asked him why he did not support a nationwide mask mandate and why he is so seldom seen in one.

At an ABC News town hall in Philadelphia with undecided voters, he was asked by Julie Bart, a former Hillary Clinton voter from Gibsonia: 'Why don't you support a mandate for national mask wearing? And why don't you wear a mask more often?'

Trump replied by first claiming that Joe Biden 'said we're going to do a national mandate on masks' and 'they never did' although Biden is not president.

Then he said: 'A lot of people don't want to wear masks. There are a lot of people think that masks are not good.'

Question: Donald Trump faced former Hillary Clinton voter Julie Bart who asked why he did not wear a mask more often himself and issue a nationwide mask mandate

Pressed by ordinary voter - then by anchor: When Donald Trump told Julie Bart that people did not like wearing masks, George Stephanopoulos interrupted to ask who, prompting Trump to reply: 'Waiters'

He was interrupted by ABC News' George Stephanopoulos, who asked: 'Who are those people?'

Trump replied: 'I'll tell you who those people are - waiters. They come over and they serve you, and they have a mask.

'And I saw it the other day where they were serving me, and they're playing with the mask -- I'm not blaming them  I'm just saying what happens. They're playing with the mask, so the mask is over, and they're touching it, and then they're touching the plate. That can't be good.'

It is unclear when Trump met, although he spent the weekend at his Las Vegas hotel. At the White House he is served by the staff of the East Wing and by military aides.

Trump went on to cite Dr. Tony Fauci and the Centers for Disease Control's change in their guidance earlier this year.

In April public health experts urged mask wearing, having earlier been against, partly because they feared that telling people to cover up would mean hospitals would be unable to provide masks to their own staff.

Fauci and other experts have since repeatedly urged everyone to wear a mask and said it is critical to beating the virus. They have also attributed falling infection rates to mask wearing.

But Trump said: 'There are a lot of people, if you look at Dr. Fauci's original statement, you look at a lot of people, CDC, you look at a lot of people's original statement, they said very strongly, George, don't wear masks.

'Then all of a sudden they went to wear masks. The concept of a mask is good, but it also does, you're constantly touching it, you're touching your face, you're touching plates.'

Questions on masks have grown since Trump resumed holding rallies - including an indoor one this weekend in Henderson, Nevada,

The masks claims came as he defended his handling of the coronavirus  including from a former supporter who asked him why he threw 'people like me under the bus.'

'Yeah, well I didn't downplay it. I actually, in many ways I up-played it in terms of action,' Trump said early in the town hall program broadcast on ABC.

Trump was responding to a direct question from a voter at the event in Philadelphia.

I hate to say it but I'm what you need,' President Trump told a cheering crowd of a few thousand supporters in Henderson, Nevada, at the weekend, where hardly any were wearing masks

'If you believe it's the president's responsibility to protect America, why would you downplay a pandemic that is known to disproportionately harm low-income families and minority communities,' the voter, a woman from Pittsburgh asked.

Trump's response came days after Bob Woodward's book 'Rage' revealed Trump telling the author in a March 19 that he played down the virus to avoid 'panic.'

'I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down because I don't want to create a panic,' the president told Woodward, in an interview captured on tape.

Churchill was 'not so honest' claims president as he tries to fight his corner on 'downplaying' virus

Donald Trump claimed Tuesday that Winston Churchill was 'not so honest' in what he told the people of Britain about Nazi bombings during World War II.

The president seized on the British prime minister's leadership again as he tried to defend his private admission that he 'downplayed' the coronavirus crisis, claiming he did not want to cause 'panic.'

Trump, at an ABC News town hall with undecided voters in Philadelphia, claimed Churchill told the people of London 'everyone's going to be safe,' adding: 'I don't think that's being necessarily honest, and yet I think it's being a great leader.'

In fact Churchill, as soon as he became prime minister, warned the British people of 'struggle and suffering' and went on to warn the nation there was a 'cruel, wanton, indiscriminate bombing of London' and said Hitler's campaign was 'killing large numbers of women and children.'

'When Churchill was on the top of a building, and he said everythings going to be good, everythings going to be  be calm, and you have the Nazis dropping bombs all over London, he was very brave because he was at the top of a building,' Trump told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos.

Churchill was not honest: Donald Trump launched a new defense of his handling of coronavirus by saying that he did not want panic - and claimed, wrongly, that the wartime British leader misled people during the Nazi bombardment of London

'Blitz.' The bombing of London by Hitler's forces in 1940 tested the leadership of Winston Churchill. Swathes of the city were destroyed, and St Paul's Cathedral, its most famous building was surrounded by fire on December 29. The picture by Daily Mail photographer Herbert Mason was taken from the roof of the newspaper's offices and became one of the enduring images of what London faced - and which Churchill said: 'We can take it!'

Trump has long sought to compare himself to Winston Churchill, the prime minister who led the United Kingdom during World War II

HE DIDN'T SAY KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON - HE DID TELL THE TRUTH: CHURCHILL'S WAR Winston Churchill did take to the rooftops of London during World War II to watch bombing raids but he never gave a speech from there. The famous Keep Calm and Carry On poster was not what he preached - in fact it dated from before the war, was never distributed and rediscovered in 2000. Churchill's message was not to keep calm - it was to brace for the worst and to sacrifice to fight back. 'We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering,' he warned the British people in May 1940, when the country stood alone as France crumbled. The next month, after the British army retreated from Dunkirk, France, in an improvised evacuation on civilian boats, he warned Nazi invasion was a real danger, summoning a fighting spirit with the words: 'We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.' Hitler began pounding Britain from the air in September in raids known as the Blitz, with London the worst hit but almost every British city suffering too. Churchill toured bomb sites with his trademark cigar, rather than hiding from the damage. He flashed his V for victory sign to keep up morale but he did not sugarcoat what was happening. On September 11 he told the nation there was a 'cruel, wanton, indiscriminate bombing of London' and warning Hitler's campaign was 'killing large numbers of women and children.' Historians say there had been signs of cracked nerves among the public but Churchill would not relent: 'We can take it!' Morale-raising messages did not shy away from the truth: 'All the world that is still free marvels at the composure and fortitude with which the citizens of London are facing and surmounting the great ordeal to which they are subjected, the end of which or the severity of which cannot yet be foreseen.' London took it; so did the country and by December Roosevelt was also leading a nation at war, with the UK no longer standing alone. Advertisement

'It was very well known that he was standing on buildings, and they were bombing. And he says everyone's going to be safe.'

Trump appeared to be suggesting that Churchill broadcast from London's rooftops during the bombing, known as the Blitz, which he did not.

Churchill did watch bombings from rooftops close to his underground bunker, but he did not broadcast from them. The fact was not in common circulation at the time and it appears unlikely to have been known by the Nazis at the time.

'I don't think that's being necessarily honest, and yet I think it's being a great leader.

'But he said, you're going to be safe. Be calm, don't panic. And you had bombers dropping bombs all over London.

'So I guess you could say that's not so honest, but it's still a great leader,' Trump said.

It was the second time in less than a week that Trump had compared his downplaying of the coronavirus to the actions of the great leaders of World War II, although this time he did not mention Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Trump has argued he was trying not to cause panic, which he repeated at the town hall.

After he compared himself to Churchill, Stephanopoulos said: 'So do you think it's OK to be dishonest?'

Trump replied: 'I'm not looking to be dishonest. I don't want people to panic. And we are going to be OK.'

Trump had first made the comparison to Churchill - and to Franklin Delano Roosevelt - last week on the day of the revelation from Woodward's book that Trump knew coronavirus was 'lethal' and told the Watergate reporter he 'liked to play it down.'

His first outing for the defense was at a rally.

'As the British government advised the British people in the face of World War II, 'Keep calm and carry on.' That's what I did,' Trump told the crowd in Freeland, Michigan, airport - a claim which was itself untrue; the phrase was never deployed by Churchill and only a handful of posters with the logo were displayed in wartime.

'When Hitler was bombing London, Churchill, great leader, would oftentimes go to a roof in London and speak.

'And he always spoke with calmness. He said, 'We have to show calmness.' No we did it the right way,' he said.

The president also repeated his argument that the United States has done the 'best job, certainly of any major country' on the pandemic. And invoked Roosevelt in his argument.

'America will prevail over the China virus. As Franklin Delano Roosevelt said 'the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.' That's it. We're doing well,' the president said.

Last week historian Jon Meacham, in response to Trump's remarks, pointed to this Churchill quote, tweeting it out: 'The British people can face any misfortune w/ fortitude & buoyancy as long as they are convinced that those in charge of their affairs are not deceiving them, or are not dwelling in a fool's paradise.'

And FDR's quote about 'nothing to fear' came from his inaugural address, when he went on to list the country's woes: mass unemployment, those in jobs struggling to survive, a banking crisis and a government with no money.

President Trump also quoted FDR's famous line: the only thing we have to fear is fear itself

'Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment,' he said, setting the tone for the fireside chats which went on to define his presidency.

IN THEIR OWN WORDS... WHAT WINSTON CHURCHILL TOLD THE BRITISH PEOPLE 'We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I will say: It is to wage war, by sea, land, and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalog of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be.' May 13, 1940 WHAT TRUMP TOLD THE AMERICAN PEOPLE 'It's going to be fine' February 10 'We have very few people with it. They're all getting better.' February 25 'Its going to disappear. One day, it's like a miracle, it will disappear.' February 28 'We've stopped it.' March 12 'It will go away, and we're going to have a great victory' March 30 'Coronavirus numbers are looking MUCH better, going down almost everywhere. Big progress being made!' May 11 2020 AND WHAT HE TOLD BOB WOODWARD 'It's also more deadly than even your strenuous flu. This is deadly stuff.' February 7 I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down because I don't want to create a panic March 19 'Now it's turning out it's not just old people, Bob. But just today, and yesterday, some startling facts came out. It's not just old, older. Young people, too, plenty of young people.' March 19 Advertisement

In contrast Trump has defended himself for 'downplaying' the virus, not denying what he told Woodward but instead arguing he was trying not to cause a panic.

'The fact is, there has to be a calmness. You don't want me jumping up and down screaming there's going to be great death. Really causing serious problems for the country,' he said at a White House press conference on Thursday before his rally.

Trump also denied he lied to the American people when asked about discrepancies in his conversations with Woodward and what he was saying in public at the time.

'This is deadly stuff,' the president told Woodward in February during one of their 18 interviews.

'You just breathe the air and that's how it's passed,' he said. 'And so that's a very tricky one. That's a very delicate one. It's also more deadly than even your strenuous flus.'

But while Trump admitted privately to the dangers of COVID, just three days later, he struck a far rosier tone in an interview with Fox Business: 'I think the virus is going to be - it's going to be fine.'

Trump said his public words were not a lie.

'There is no lie here. What we're doing is leading,' he said at his press conference.

But the phrase Trump cited during his rally - 'Keep Calm and Carry On' - while popular today was never used during World War II.

Trump, a longtime Anglophile whose mother was a British citizen, has long sought to tie his presidency to Churchill's tenure as prime minister.

One of his first acts as president was to restore the bust of Churchill to the Oval Office after President Barack Obama replaced it with a bust of Dr. Martin Luther King.

Obama moved the Churchill bust to a place outside the Treaty Room of the White House, a move that sparked outrage from the British across the pond and from many conservatives in America.

Churchill was given an honorary American citizenship, only one of eight people to receive one.

Trump brought the Churchill bust back to the Oval, placing it on the table near his desk and moving the King bust to a side table.

Additionally, White House staff have tied the president to the prime minister at other points in his presidency.

When Trump was criticized, during Black Lives Matter protests in June, for walking across Lafayette Square to St. John's Episcopal Church to hold up a bible in front of it as a photo-op, the White House said it was something Churchill would do.

The square was damaged during the protests that sprung up in the wake of George Floyd's murder and there was a small fire in the church basement ahead of Trump's visit. The church, which sits across from the White House, is known as the church of presidents.

President Trump and his family toured the Churchill War Rooms during the June 2019 state visit to London

'Through all of time, we've seen presidents and leaders across the world who have had leadership moments and very powerful symbols that were important for our nation to see at any given time to show a message of resilience and determination,' White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said at the time.

'Like Churchill, we saw him inspecting the bombing damage and it sent a powerful message of leadership to the British people,' she said.

Additionally, during his June 2019 state visit to London, Trump toured the Churchill War Rooms with his family.

It was in the labyrinthine bunker that Churchill and his war cabinet plotted war strategy that ultimately led to the Allies' victory. The underground location kept them safe from German bombing raids.

Donald Trump angrily slams report he called dead troops 'suckers and losers' as 'LIES' as he is challenged over the military at town hall with voters - but calls Jim Mattis 'disgruntled' and attacks John McCain again

President Donald Trump angrily slammed The Atlantic's report that said he called dead American soldiers 'losers' and 'suckers' after a voter at ABC News' Tuesday night town hall asked how he'd win back military support.

'It's easy,' he declared. 'Because I never made those statements. They were never made by me.'

The president also gave new information about one of the most memorable anecdotes from the piece - which claimed he skipped visiting an American cemetery in France because he didn't want to get his hair wet.

'I wanted to go anyway. I said let me just go separately in a car in disguise, I don't care. I wanted to be there so badly,' Trump went on. 'But the statements never happened. They were lies.'

President Donald Trump angrily slammed The Atlantic's report that said he called dead American soldiers 'losers' and 'suckers' and told a town hall audience he didn't need to build back support of military members 'because I never made those statements'

Alexandra Stehman asked Trump about the comments he reportedly made about American war dead and servicemembers, along with things he's said publicly about the late Sen. John McCain

Trump said his feelings about the late Sen. John McCain (left) were well known, while also blasting his former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis (right), saying Mattis was among the 'disgruntled former employees' who lied about him

The president tried to suggest it was a Democratic conspiracy.

'This magazine came up. They made up this quote. It was a made up quote and you know, the gloves are off with Biden - who I've never respected greatly - I've never respected him greatly,' Trump said, inserting the name of his Democratic opponent.

He asked the woman who posed the question, a Pennsylvania voter named Alexandra Stehman, 'Do you know what disinformation is?'

'That's what it was. They made up a phony quote, and then they went with it. It was a phony deal. And then one who started it was a big friend of President Obama and Clinton,' Trump continued. 'And it was a phony deal from a very - not very successful magazine.'

Trump added that both '25 people' and also '26 people' vouched for him.

When moderator George Stephanopoulos pointed out that former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly didn't come to Trump's defense after the article was published, Trump referred to them as 'people that I let go.'

'These are disgruntled former employees,' Trump said.

Stehman had also asked Trump about previous statements he's made about the late Sen. John McCain, which the president admitted to doing.

'As far as John McCain, I was never a fan of John McCain. I never thought he treated our vets well, he didnt do the job,' Trump said. 'I was never a fan of his. But - and I think that's fine and everybody knows that, and I said it to his face.'

The president then pointed to the peace deals the U.S. brokered as part of his commitment to get the country out of endless wars.

'You know, I go to Dover and I greet, oftentimes, soldiers coming in, and they're dead,' Trump said. 'And there's no sadder thing than to sit with a widow or a mother, and watch these big massive cargo planes, and that back opens up and these incredible Marines are walking off a casket and they were killed in the Middle East.'

'And in many ways nobody even knows why,' Trump said.

He called going into the Middle East the country's 'worst decision.'

'And, by the way, Iraq did not - you know, Saddam Hussein did not knock down the World Trade Center, in case you don't know and I'm sure you do know that,' the president said.

The president turned his attention back to Mattis before the end of his rant.

Mattis had been a source for journalist Bob Woodward's new book that came out this week.

Trump suggested that had Mattis remained at the Pentagon there would be no peace deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

'A guy like Jim Mattis could have never done it because they were all doing it the old-fashioned way,' Trump said. 'They were going in the wrong outlets and the wrong doors.'
Mobile will have a nighttime curfew for a few days as the city works to clear damage from the passage of Hurricane Sally, Mayor Sandy Stimpson announced Wednesday.

Stimpson said he expects the dusk-to-dawn curfew to be in place for two or three days. He and other local leaders expressed relief at a Wednesday morning press conference that the brunt of the storm had missed Mobile County, but encouraged people to stay home as crews work to clear downed trees and restore power.

Update: At a follow-up press conference held Wednesday afternoon, Stimpson said that the curfew would not apply to anyone headed to work during the night. He said anyone stopped by police could explain that they were on the road due to work, and that police would let them proceed.

The City of Fairhope also has put a curfew in place effective starting at 6:00 p.m. Wednesday.

A fallen tree blocks Oak Knoll Drive and holds down a power line near Mobile Infirmary in midtown Mobile on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2020. Widespread power outages, many cause by fallen limbs and trees, were the biggest challenge for the city after the passage of Hurricane Sally.Lawrence Specker | LSpecker@AL.com

All in all the outcome is much better than it would have been had in gone ashore on the Alabama-Mississippi line, Stimpson said.

The biggest thing were dealing with right now is power outages, he said. Stimpson said that power crews wouldnt hit the streets until winds died down to safe levels, but he expected that to happen by mid to late afternoon. He said Alabama Power reported it had 175 crews ready to go into action Wednesday and hundreds more on Thursday.

Alabama Power said via Twitter that as of 10 a.m., about 160,000 customers were without power in the Mobile area.

City crews were already at work clearing trees from roadways, he said. But many traffic signals were out throughout the city.

Stimpson said first responders had a busy night as Sally passed through, with the police department responding to 182 calls and fire-rescue personnel responding to about 250. Stimpson said storm-related challenges included multiple vehicles overturned on the Bayway. We actually had people stranded on the Bayway that Mobile Police had to lead on the causeway, he said. Fire-rescue action included 10 technical rescues, he said.

One big positive, he said, was that as the storm shifted to the east it had actually pushed water out of Mobile Bay rather than causing a surge. That meant tributaries didnt flood.

Stimpson acknowledged that there was a lot of work ahead to restore power and some had suffered significant property damage. From an overall city perspective, I feel very fortunate that we are where we are, he said.

County Commissioner Merceria Ludgood said that she had checked in with mayors of smaller municipalities in the county and said that at least in the northern part of the county, the consensus was similar: It could have been worse, and downed trees and power outages were the biggest immediate problem.

Mike Evans, deputy director of the Mobile County EMA, encouraged people to stay off the roads, partly for their own safety and partly so they wouldnt get into situations that required help.

If youre at home and youre safe and youre doing okay, please stay there, he said.
Irelands pubs have endured the longest lockdown in the EU. While we acknowledge the government's support for so-called 'wet pubs outside Dublin and are relieved that they will be permitted to reopen next Monday after six months of closure, we still have grave concerns for those left behind today.

Dublin publicans now face weeks and possibly months of additional uncertainty, with no indication of when they will be allowed to begin serving customers again. This uncertainty jeopardises hundreds of businesses and thousands of jobs, not just in the pub trade, but in the broader drinks and hospitality industry.

A statement from Drinks Industry Ireland said:Dublin pubs must be prioritised and reopened at the next review date in three weeks time. Any further delay will prove detrimental to the future of the industry. "

The statement said:Recovery thereafter, will be a long process, and the government needs to start thinking long term with a support strategy of practical measures. Action must be taken this year, in time for the Budget. 2021 will be too late."

The statement said:A 15% reduction in Irelands excise tax on alcohol, which is currently the second highest in the EU, will support recovery in the pub and wider drinks and hospitality trade by putting more money back in the hands of business owners, where it can be re-invested in jobs, stock, and other regular expenditure. Reopening is not enough. We must ensure that the industry now has the support needed to fully recover and maintain jobs."
BLM co-founder claims organization isnt trying to 'destroy Christianity,' slams Pat Robertson

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A co-founder of the Black Lives Matter Global Network has denied dangerous claims made by popular televangelist and television host Pat Robertson, who alleged last week that the activist group is trying to destroy Christianity.

In response to the outlandish comments made by televangelist Pat Robertson, we are here yet again being attacked for standing up against white supremacy, Patrisse Cullors, the organizations executive director, said in a statement Saturday.

To insinuate that our movement is trying to destroy Christianity is disgraceful and outright offends our Christian siblings who are a part of our movement against racial injustice.

The statement comes days after the 90-year-old Robertson said during last Thursdays episode of The 700 Club on the Christian Broadcasting Network that Black Lives Matter was seeking to use the cause of racial justice to promote an anti-Christian, anti-family, anti-capitalist, Marxist revolution.

Of course black lives matter, of course, we care about oppression against poor people. Everybody whos got any sense, they do that. They dont like police brutality or some of those things. But that legitimate thing has been hijacked by these radicals and theyre using that label to put forth an agenda. And people need to be aware of it, Robertson stressed.

Theyre talking about Marxist communism. Theyre talking about destroying the nuclear family. Theyre talking about destroying essentially Christianity as being racist. And all the way through, they want to upend the capitalist structure and destroy America.

Pat Robertson says Black Lives Matter is trying to lead a "lesbian, anti-family, anti-capitalist Marxist revolution" pic.twitter.com/nmg4zXJzWM  Jason Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) September 10, 2020

Of course we want to stand with oppressed people against police brutality, Robertson continued. Of course we do. But we dont want to go along with a lesbian, anti-family, anti-capitalist Marxist revolution. We dont want that for America.

Cullors, an organizer and educator who co-founded the organization in 2013 with Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi, contends that the statements made by Robertson are completely inflammatory and dangerous.

Like Robertson, many conservative Christians have endorsed the idea that black lives matter and they agree with the push for racial justice.

However, some vehemently disagree with including an LGBTQ agenda in with the push for racial justice as it goes against traditional Christian values.

Others have voiced concern about the co-founders past admittance that she and another co-founder are trained Marxists." Some have even accused Cullors and other Black Lives Matter leaders of "summoning dead spirits" and practicing "witchcraft."

Southern Evangelical Seminary in North Carolina warned Christians to avoid even the appearance of evil and find other ways to express their justifiable outrage at racial injustice rather than supporting Black Lives Matter. In a statement in August, the institution called many of the Black Lives Matter political positions explicitly anti-Christian.

In her statement, Cullors, who identifies as queer, acknowledges that while the organizations vision, which includes support for the LGBTQ community, may not be shared by everyone, it should not be interpreted as destroying a religion.

Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation recognizes that our vision may not be agreed upon by everyone. But to blatantly disregard our work and equate it to destroying religion is reckless.

Cullors said she hopes that Robertson will address his remarks and the countless lives his statements have offended.

We want it to be very clear that the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation intentions are continuing to disrupt those individuals that have consistently attacked our character, progress, and path forward, she continued.

Cullors contends that Black Lives Matter seeks to connect Black people from all over the world who have a shared desire for justice to act together in their respective communities.

She said Black Lives Matter also seeks to eliminate the constant betrayal of our poor and oppressed communities and foster a united country that works for everyone despite their actual or perceived sexual identity, gender identity, gender expression, economic status, disability, immigration status, or intergenerational way of life.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 14:48:54|Editor: huaxia

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DHAKA, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh has been elected as a member of the executive board of three United Nations bodies for the term 2021-2023, starting from Jan. 1 next year, Bangladesh's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Wednesday.

Bangladesh secured the highest votes (53 out of the 54 votes with one abstention) to become member of the executive board of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS).

According to the statement, 54 members of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations voted to elect members to eight of the ECOSOC subsidiary bodies at the United Nations headquarters on Monday.

Bangladesh's Foreign Ministry said the election is a demonstration of the trust and confidence that Bangladesh enjoys due to its strong legacy of working together with the UN entities and their Executive Boards towards socio-economic emancipation of the country under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Bangladesh is also a current member at the executive boards of UNICEF and UN Women, it said, adding that Ambassador Rabab Fatima, the permanent representative Bangladesh at the United Nations, is the current president of the executive board of UNICEF, it added. Enditem
With effect from 15 September 2020

Andrew Yule & Company announced that as per directives of the Department of Heavy Industry, Ministry of Heavy Industry & Public Enterprises, Government of India, Partha Dasgupta, Director (Finance) of the Company has relinquished the charge of the post of Director (Finance) of the Company w.e.f. close of business hours on 15 September, 2020 and as such, Dasgupta is ceased to be a Director of the Company.

Further, consequent upon his cessation as Director of the Company, Dasgupta, who was also the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the Company as per the provisions of Section 203 of the Companies Act, 2013, ceases to be a Key Managerial Personnel (KMP) of the Company under Section 203 of the Companies Act, 2013, with immediate effect.

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"Flower Of Evil" lead star Lee Joon Gi has been using the same profile picture for quite some time now.

If you're an avid fan of the actor, then surely you are quite updated with his social media accounts. In one particular social media platform called Instagram, we noticed that the actor has actually not changed his profile picture for a long time.

READ: These Korean Actors Impressed Everyone With Their Roles As Transgender Women

Yes! He still uses the photo from his hit film "The King and The Clown" as his instagram profile picture. The said film was broadcasted way back December 2005. The main reason as to why this photo remains as his Instagram profile pic is that Lee Joon Gi strongly believes that the film is indeed his best work!

In one of his interviews, the actor expressed that the historical movie will always be memorable to him, especially his character as Gong Gil. The actor added, asking himself if the same moment will come again, he considers that time as a very bright moment and will always remember it.

Lee Joon Gi also revealed that at that time, he was feeling down and looking negatively to himself, but thanks to the fans who were there supporting him all the way, he was able to come this far today.

Lee Joon Gi also actively interacts with fans through his Instagram Live. Last August 26, we were able to catch his live video, which he hosted for almost an hour! He was wearing a plain white shirt, and his stunning visuals made us hooked into watching his live video.

Moving forward, we were able to witness his real, cheerful, and playful side in the said live video, opposite from most of his characters, especially his role in his current drama "Flower of Evil."

READ: Gong Mi Ja Catches His Son Trying to Bury Lee Joon Gi in "Flower of Evil"

He was so happy, and it seemed like he couldn't stop talking and sharing with his fans with a lot of things. It shows how he loves and values his fans dearly. He even played some lively songs in the background and sang with it, partially dancing to the beat, also encouraging the viewers to listen and sing.

Lee Joon Gi spent the night bonding with his fans, making them happy.

He's just so adorable, and there is no doubt why many people love him as an actor and as s person. You can follow him on his Instagram account: actor_jg.

Nowadays, a lot of celebrities are actively using their social media accounts. They use it for the same reasons that regular people do: To connect with other people. But they also use the social media platform to promote and market their movies or their music or their concerts.

Through this platform, they can be able to express themselves a little bit for the meantime and also to form a bond with their fans.
U.S. Senators Introduce Resolution Calling For Sanctions Over 'Unconscionable' Crackdown In Belarus

By RFE/RL September 15, 2020

A bipartisan group of 13 U.S. senators has introduced a resolution calling for targeted sanctions on Belarusian officials responsible for a crackdown on peaceful protesters in the country.

U.S. Senator Jim Risch (Republican-Idaho), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a news release on September 14 that the continued violence and repression against the opposition in Belarus is "unconscionable."

The resolution declares the August 9 election that gave President Alyaksandr Lukashenka a sixth term in office "neither free nor fair" and declares the results announced by the Central Election Commission invalid.

It also demands the release of all political prisoners and those detained for peacefully protesting, including those arrested before the election.

The sanctions would be carried out in coordination with the European Union and other international partners, according to the resolution, which Risch described as a strong symbol of the United States' support for the people of Belarus and their right to freedom of assembly, freedom of expression, free elections, and the rule of law.

Senator Bob Menendez (Democrat-New Jersey) said he is "in awe of the courage shown by the people of Belarus." He also called on the international community to stand in full support of their aspirations for a free and democratic future.

"Mr. Lukashenka does not have a shred of legitimacy left and must step down," said Menendez, the highest-ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "The U.S. and our partners in Europe must move with urgency to hold him and his henchman accountable for crimes against the people of Belarus. Further delay only welcomes deeper entrenchment by the regime."

The resolution says more than 7,000 Belarusian citizens have been detained by government authorities, mostly for taking part in or observing peaceful protests, with many of these arrests followed by beatings and torture at the hands of Belarusian law enforcement.

It also says authorities in Belarus have consistently restricted press freedom as part of the crackdown, including the arrest of dozens of journalists, six of whom report for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

In addition, more than 50 news websites that were covering the protests have been blocked, two independent newspapers have been kept from publishing, and the accreditation of journalists working for foreign news outlets have been stripped.

The move came as Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on the UN Human Rights Council and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to "promptly open inquiries" into the postelection crackdown in Belarus.

Security forces "arbitrarily detained thousands of people and systematically subjected hundreds to torture and other ill- treatment" in the days following the August 9 election, the New York-based human rights watchdog said in a statement on September 15.

HRW said it interviewed former detainees who described "beatings, prolonged stress positions, electric shocks, and in at least one case, rape. They had serious injuries, including broken bones, cracked teeth, skin wounds, electrical burns, and mild traumatic brain injuries. Some had kidney damage."

"The sweeping brutality of the crackdown shows the lengths to which the Belarusian authorities will go to silence people, but tens of thousands of peaceful protesters continue to demand fair elections and justice for abuses," said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at HRW.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/u-s-senators-introduce- resolution-calling-for-sanctions-over-unconscionable -crackdown-in-belarus/30839355.html

Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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They provide services like recruiting, operations, engineering, technology platforms, and automated processes to help startups get to where they need to be successful.

Dennis Quaid, the actor from the 2019 psychological thriller "The Intruder," is known for the wide variety of roles he has taken on throughout the years. Now the actor is hosting the television program "Viewpoint" as well. "Viewpoint" is an educational program that highlights a broad array of topics to provide insight to its viewers about issues impacting individuals around the globe. In an upcoming episode, industry experts will dip into the world of business and will explore the benefits of incubator programs for up and coming companies.

More and more Americans see the value in an entrepreneur's career path. However, many entrepreneurs question if they have the capability for success and wish they had a support team to start their business.

For entrepreneurs who seek assistance, a small business incubator program may be the right solution. Business incubators are organizations that help young companies launch their businesses until they are successful enough to branch out on their own. They provide services like recruiting, operations, engineering, technology platforms, and automated processes to help startups get to where they need to be successful.

Establishing a business can seem to be a daunting task, but thanks to the help of incubator programs, young companies have the chance to hit the ground running and stay running. Further info about how incubator programs help young companies will be in the new episode of "Viewpoint."

"Viewpoint" with Dennis Quaid is cautiously inspected before airing to a public audience. The educational show has accepted several awards for its efforts.


Former Shiromani Akali Dal MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa, perhaps encouraged with the current conversation around Bollywoods alleged drug abuse problem, has once again raked up Karan Johars house party video. Sirsa has filed a complaint with the Narcotics Control Bureau, asking the agency to investigate what he has alleged was a drug party video from last year.

Sharing his letter to NCB chief Rakesh Asthana, Sirsa said that he met with him and asked him to launch an investigation into the video. I met Sh. Rakesh Asthana, Chief of @narcoticsbureauat BSF head quarter, Delhi regarding submission of complaint for investigation & action against film Producer @karanjohar & others for organizing drug party at his residence in Mumbai That party video must be investigated into! he wrote.

The attached screenshots of the letter show that he wants actors Deepika Padukone, Vicky Kaushal, Malaika Arora,Varun Dhawan, Arjun Kapoor, and Shahid Kapoor to all be investigated for consumption, possession, and allowing premises to be used for commission of offenses. Sirsa said in his letter that the actors were seen consuming drugs at the party. The video, however, doesnt show any participant consuming drugs.

I met Sh. Rakesh Asthana, Chief of @narcoticsbureau at BSF head quarter, Delhi regarding submission of complaint for investigation & action against film Producer @karanjohar & others for organizing drug party at his residence in Mumbai

That party video must be investigated into! pic.twitter.com/QCK2GalUQq  Manjinder Singh Sirsa (@mssirsa) September 15, 2020

Karan had previously clarified that no one was taking drugs at his party. There were achieving members of the industry who were having an easy night out after a hard week of work, having a good time. I took that video with all the earnestness... would I be putting out that video if there was anything happening at all, I am not stupid, he had said in the interview with Rajeev Masand.

#UDTABollywood - Fiction Vs Reality



Watch how the high and mighty of Bollywood proudly flaunt their drugged state!!



I raise my voice against #DrugAbuse by these stars. RT if you too feel disgusted @shahidkapoor @deepikapadukone @arjunk26 @Varun_dvn @karanjohar @vickykaushal09 pic.twitter.com/aBiRxwgQx9  Manjinder Singh Sirsa (@mssirsa) July 30, 2019

Discussing how the reflection of a light near Vicky was misconstrued as proof, he added, Apparently you are not allowed to scratch your nose. Apparently, you are not allowed to put your phone in your back pocket. Apparently, a shadow of light is perceived to be some kind of powder.

Also Watch l Sushant knew some dirty secrets, was killed: Kangana Ranaut on drugs angle

My mother, 5 minutes before this video, was sitting with us. It was that kind of a family, happy, social gathering, where friends were sitting and having a good time and we were listening to some music, having some good food and having good conversational energy there. There was nothing else going on, he had said.

Also read: Akshay Kumar celebrates son Aaravs 18th birthday with throwback pic: Now youre taller, more handsome than me

The NCB has so far arrest almost 20 persons in connection with the Sushant Singh Rajput death case. It had launched an investigation after it received official communication from Enforcement Directorate (ED), in which there were various chats related to drug consumption, procurement, usage and transportation in connection with the actors death case.

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The Government descended into an incredible shambles after the Dail was hastily recalled last night after the entire Cabinet was forced to self-isolate because Health Minister Stephen Donnelly became unwell.

Hours earlier, TDs were told the business of the parliament was suspended until next Tuesday as the Governments Living with Covid plan was branded as confusing and chaotic.

TDs were then recalled after Taoiseach Micheal Martin moved to ensure junior ministers would replace their senior colleagues in the Dail chamber to considerable acrimony last night.

Mr Donnelly was referred for a Covid test shortly after he became unwell in the wake of the Cabinet meeting and press conference at Dublin Castle. He received a test on Tuesday evening which came back as negative a few hours later.

A spokeswoman for the minister said at the time: "All who attended Tuesdays Cabinet meeting and Mondays meeting of the Covid committee should restrict their movements and avoid people outside their households," as a precautionary measure until Mr Donnelly's results came back.

Read More Daniel McConnell: Government effort to bring certainty causes more confusion

As a result, on foot of advice from the chief medical officer Ronan Glynn, all Cabinet ministers were advised to restrict their movements, pending the outcome of Mr Donnellys Covid test. Dr Glynn himself was also restricting his movements given his proximity to Cabinet members in recent days.

There was stinging criticism of the manner in which the Dail was suspended and then recalled with Opposition TDs fuming that political correspondents knew more than they did about what was going on.

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly TD arriving for the Dail at the Convention Center, Dublin. Picture: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie

Independent TD Michael McNamara described the days events as a shambles.

"We have a constitution in this country, three branches of government, one has barely functioned for the last three months, one is in self-isolation and we are sitting.

"The role of the Taoiseach is not to tell the Dail what to do, the role of the Dail is to hold the Taoiseach to account, he said.

"I am quite concerned, we must recognise this is a shambles and we must ensure it does not happen again."

Ceann Comhairle Sean O Fearghail said he has "absolutely no difficulty" with "legitimate questions" raised by Labour leader Alan Kelly and Sinn Fein whip Padraig MacLoughlainn who described events as an incredible shambles.

"I have no difficulty with how I acted, I don't think anyone else would have acted differently," the Ceann Comhairle told the Dail.

Read More Here's what the five levels of the Living With Covid plan mean for you

Earlier, the Government was accused of leaving Dublin "in limbo" after announcing a new plan for living with Covid-19.

Under the plan, the entire country will be listed at a level two out of five, meaning that life around Ireland will continue as it has been for much of the summer.

Ceann Comhairle Sean O Fearghail said he has "absolutely no difficulty" with "legitimate questions" raised by Labour leader Alan Kelly and Sinn Fein whip Padraig MacLoughlainn who described events as an incredible shambles. Picture: Maxwell Photography

However, there will be additional restrictions in Dublin, where Covid cases have been rising dramatically over the recent weeks.

It is tighter than level 2 but not quite level 3, said one source after a detailed discussion among ministers.

Several Cabinet sources have suggested a move to level three is likely either later this week or early next week, if the numbers remain high.

Wet pubs in Dublin are to remain closed and a limiting on the number of visitors to homes will come into force from midnight tonight, under new government restrictions.

Mr Martin said that the additional restrictions in Dublin  which limit home visits and force the continued closure of wet pubs  were needed as the rise in cases in Dublin were "worrying".

Responding to the plan, Social Democrats leader Roisin Shortall said: The new plan was supposed to provide clarity about the five levels of risk, yet on the first day of the announcement, the Government decided to muddy the waters by talking about level two and a bit."
on Tuesday described as an epicenter of terrorism and said no one deserves unsolicited lecture on from Islamabad that has consistently persecuted its ethnic and religious minorities including Hindus, Sikhs and Christians.

Exercising the Right of Reply to the statements made by at the 45th session of Council (HRC) here, the Indian representative said that it has become habitual for to malign with false and fabricated narratives for its self-serving malicious purposes.

"Neither nor others deserve this unsolicited lecture on from a country that has consistently persecuted its ethnic and religious minorities, is an epicenter of terrorism, has the distinction of providing pensions to individuals on UN Sanctions list and has a Prime Minister who proudly admits training tens of thousands of terrorists to fight in Jammu and Kashmir, the Indian diplomat said.

The diplomat said that it was not surprising that other relevant multilateral institutions have been raising serious concerns on Pakistan's failure to stop terror financing and lack of effective actions against all terror entities in Pakistan.

Highlighting the nefarious designs of Pakistan in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, the diplomat said, "the mass influx of outsiders has whittled down the number of Kashmiris to an insignificant number in Pakistan occupied parts of Indian Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Laddakh.

"In its zeal to reassert its theocratic ideology, it has ensured that ethnic and religious minorities have no future through systematic persecution, blasphemy laws, forced conversions, targeted killings, sectarian violence and faith-based discrimination," the diplomat said.

"Thousands of Sikh, Hindus and Christian minority women and girls have been subjected to abductions, forced marriages and conversions in Pakistan."



On the plight of people in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh, the Indian diplomat said, "Not a single day has gone by when a family in Balochistan doesn't find its members picked up or kidnapped by the security forces of Pakistan.

"Pakistan does well when it comes to intimidation and attacks against journalists, human rights defenders and political dissidents in particular by its state machinery. It is not without a reason that Pakistan has been highlighted by international organizations as a country where journalists are slain and their killers go scot free, the diplomat said.

India also slammed Pakistan for abusing various HRC mechanisms and platforms for raising issues, which are extraneous to the mandate of the HRC and which relate to internal affairs of India, with a view to distract the attention of the international community from serious human rights violations committed by it against its own people, including in Indian territories occupied by it.

India also rejected the reference made by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to Jammu and Kashmir, which is an integral part of India.

"The OIC has no locus standi to comment on internal affairs of India. The OIC has allowed itself to be misused by Pakistan to subverse its own Agenda. It's for the members of the OIC to decide if it is in their interests to allow Pakistan to do so, the Indian representative said.

India also advised Turkey to refrain from commenting on its internal affairs and develop a better understanding of the democratic practices.

(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.)
Subtitle Film Club is delighted to announce its year of debut, screening nine incredible films including the Academy Award winning Parasite, 2019.

The films will screen in the beautiful location of the Set Theatre on Johns Street, Kilkenny, getting under way this week and running right into November. As well as Parasite, there will be screenings of Les Miserables, 2019 which is the winner of four awards, including Best Picture, at this years Cesar French Film Awards.

Based on a true story, it follows police violence in the Parisian commune of Montfermeil. The film was also nominated for Best International Feature Film at the Academy Awards earlier this year. It is an unflinching look at social tensions in one of Paris most notorious neighbourhoods.

Winning the Grand Jury Prize at the Odessa Film Festival, And Then We Danced, 2019 is the Swedish entry for this years Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. The film has already taken a number of festivals by storm and features a superb, breakout performance from Georgian actor Lev Gelbakhiani whose world is turned upside down whilst dancing at the National Georgian Ensemble.

There will also be screenings of La Belle Epoque, 2019, One Last Deal, 2018, Capernaum, 2018, Papicha, 2019 and Headhunters, 2011 over the course of the three months.

DEMAND

Due to popular demand, the first and second screenings of La Belle Epoque on September 15 and 16 are now sold out. A third screening has been added on Thursday, September 17.

Second screenings of Parasite (Mon 28th Sep) One Last Deal (Mon 21st Sep), Capernaum (Wed 14th Oct), Headhunters (Wed 28th Oct) and Les Miserables (Wed 4th Nov) have also been added.

Booking now is recommended to avoid disappointment! Tickets are available via www.filmclub.subtitlefest.com and are 10 each. To stay up to date with further announcements and exciting giveaways. You can find Subtitle Film Club on Instagram as@subtitlefilmclub.
WA Police have charged a Perth daycare worker with aggravated assault after children suffered serious scratches on their faces.

The Child Abuse Squad was called in after daycare centre GoodStart Early in Banksia Grove launched its own investigation.

Up to six families had complained their children came home with severe scratches earlier this month.

Initially officers thought another child may have carried out the attacks but soon childcare worker Kerri Louise Wharf became the focus of the squad's probe and has been accused of harming youngsters she was paid to look after.
For years, QAnon was seen as a fringe right-wing phenomenon, populated by President Trumps most hard-core supporters. But in recent months, it has made inroads with groups outside Mr. Trumps base, including vaccine skeptics, natural health fans and concerned suburban moms. Its followers have hijacked the online #SaveTheChildren movement, and inserted QAnon messaging into claims about child exploitation and human trafficking.

These moves appear to have broadened the movements appeal. In a New York Times Op-Ed this month, Annie Kelly, a researcher who studies digital extremism, noted that QAnons ranks are populated by a noticeably high percentage of women. Conspirituality, a podcast about the intersection of New Age spirituality and far-right extremism, has compiled a list of roughly two dozen wellness influencers who have posted QAnon-related content.

Ms. Corn said that the wellness communitys emphasis on truth-seeking and self-improvement makes it particularly vulnerable to a conspiracy theory like QAnon, which is all about sowing distrust in mainstream authorities under the guise of doing your own research. She said that QAnons motto  where we go one, we go all  was classic yoga-speak, and that many of the QAnon-related posts she had seen, like a YouTube video that called President Trump a light healer, seemed to have been carefully made to appeal to New Age sensibilities.

Theyre using the same music we might use in meditation classes, Ms. Corn said. It does things to the body, it makes you more available and open.
Three BHP executives will face the federal inquiry launched following rival miner Rio Tinto's destruction of two 46,000-year-old Aboriginal rock shelters as calls for greater protection of other sacred sites spread across the mining sector.

Warren Entsch, the chair of the Joint Standing Committee of Northern Australia's public hearings into the blasting of the significant site, said the protection of Indigenous heritage was important for mining operators across the country. He said the parliamentary inquiry wanted to examine how BHP, the country's biggest miner, was approaching cultural heritage issues in the aftermath of the Rio Tinto disaster.

Indigenous leaders and some investors are urging miners to halt works at sacred sites. Credit:Michele Mossop

"The destruction at Juukan Gorge has highlighted the fact that, despite the best of intentions, Indigenous heritage areas lack adequate protection," Mr Entsch said.

The intense public and political fallout from Rio Tinto's decision to blast the ancient site  which culminated last week in the resignation of CEO Jean-Sebastien Jacques and two of his deputies  has put the entire mining industry on notice.
Some 15.5% of those polled would vote for the leader of the pro-Russian force Yuriy Boyko, and 14%  for ex-President Petro Poroshenko.

A recent survey says 29% of respondents would support the incumbent head of state, Volodymyr Zelensky, if presidential elections were set to be held in the near future

That's among voters who intend to cast ballots and have already made up their choice, according to a poll by the Rating Sociological Group.

Another 15.5% of those polled would vote for the leader of the pro-Russian Opposition Bloc Party Yuriy Boyko, and 14%  for former President Petro Poroshenko.

Another 9.3% would cast ballots for leader of the Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) Party Yulia Tymoshenko, 6.4%  for the leader of Syla I Chest' (Strength and Honor) Party Ihor Smeshko, and 3.6% each  for leader of the Radical Party Oleh Liashko, showman Serhiy Prytula, and former Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman.

Read alsoZelensky hopes COVID-19 vaccine to become available in 2021Other politicians have been rated below 3%. The number of those who have not made up their choice is about 14%.

At the same time, the dynamics show Zelensky is losing electoral ground.

It is also noted that 35% of those surveyed approve of Zelensky's performance, while 57% don't. Also, 23% approve of the actions of Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Dmytro Razumkov (55% disapprove and 23% find it difficult to assess). Meanwhile, only 14% approve Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal's performance (59% disapprove and 27% find it hard to assess).

The poll was run on September 3-6 via face-to-face interviews among the population aged 18 and older. Some 2,000 adult respondents were polled in all regions of Ukraine except Crimea and other Russia-occupied parts of Ukraine, namely certain districts in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The margin of error is no more than 2.2%.

Zelensky's ratings: background

A poll run in late June gave Zelensky 34.6% of support in potential elections.

The survey conducted in late August-early September showed 44% of respondents trusted President Zelensky, while 51% didn't. The trust level was higher than that in relation to President Poroshenko (25%) and Viktor Yanukovych (26%) after the same term in office.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Finseca, a transformative trade organization, launched today as the voice of the financial security profession. Finseca's sole focus is to serve the leaders and financial security professionals working to protect the dreams and promote the prosperity of the American people.

Finseca brings together the resources and tradition of the former AALU and GAMA. Finseca will unite the profession that serves 90 million American families into a powerful and growing community capable of rising to the challenge of increasing financial security for all.

"Too many Americans are plagued by financial insecurity. We know there is a better way to help people plan for the future so they can achieve their own personal American Dreams," said Marc Cadin, CEO of Finseca. "Everyone can benefit from conversations about money and having someone to turn to for personalized planning and advice. Today's launch of Finseca is the first step on a journey make our profession into a beacon for American financial and retirement security  and I see incredible opportunities ahead."

"I could not be more excited about what Finseca's future holds," said Kelly Kidwell, Chair of Finseca. "Together we will develop the outstanding financial security professionals, firms and client relationships of tomorrow. I urge you all to join our growing community  and help us take a stand for financial security for all."

Americans today are at a crossroads, as economic shocks of COVID-19 exacerbate financial and retirement anxieties. People who work with professionals are likely to have fewer debts, a safety-net fund, life insurance to protect them from hardship and lost earnings, and a strong path to retirement that includes a plan to create secure retirement income and a better life as they age.

Finseca will drive transformational change to elevate the value and purpose of financial security professionals, increase diversity in the profession, and broaden financial security to more communities and generations of Americans. We will accelerate the profession's impact by delivering professional development and leadership tools that help our professionals skillfully and ethically guide consumers towards financial security. Finseca will advocate for public policy that equips people with solutions and advice to create a better future with less risk and uncertainty in their lives.

"United, there is nothing we cannot achieve," said Cadin. "For too long, our profession has lacked a unified voice and collective action to overcome challenges and increase our impact. Finseca is building a community of financial security professionals who are united in a movement to elevate the noble work we do and steer a smarter conversation with policy makers, consumers and within the profession itself, so that we can serve more people and enhance financial security."

Elevate, Accelerate, Advocate  Three Pillars to Drive Transformational Change

Finseca will steer smart conversations with financial security professionals and key stakeholders and media on meeting challenges for the profession and for American financial security head on. The new organization will drive three transformational pillars: to elevate the profession by promoting its noble impact while ensuring it evolves to meet future needs and attract new and diverse talent; accelerate education and insights to deliver more personalized advice and solutions to a broad and diverse population; and advocate for effective public policy that puts more people on the path to financial security.

ELEVATE promotes the noble work of our profession to drive better outcomes. Americans are not well served by critics who promote one-size-fits-all approaches and diminish the value of financial security professionals as part of the solution. The profession's voice on these issues with policy makers, consumers and media has been diffuse. Finseca will change the conversation to build trust in holistic financial planning using life insurance and annuities. We will convene conversations on professional conduct to support this goal, promote the profession as a career opportunity to attract new talent, and advance diversity, equity and inclusion to foster a professional community as diverse as the people we serve.

ACCELERATE increases the market impact of the profession to reach more people. Better financial security professionals will produce better results for more consumers and enable us to serve more people. Finseca will educate, train, and provide professionals with tools to succeed in a changing market, embracing technology and promoting consumer insights to advance the profession and its opportunities to serve clients better. Finseca members will also be able to expand their professional networking opportunities to drive career development and business-building for professionals in all segments of distribution and at all stages of their careers.

ADVOCATE unifies our voices for public policy to increase financial security for all. The federal and state legislative and regulatory environment often makes it harder to help Americans protect and build a better future and access planning advice and solutions using life insurance and annuities. Finseca will unify the profession and raise our collective voices to advocate for effective public policy. Our advocacy agenda includes core tax treatment of life insurance, retirement policy, standards of conduct, and tackling the savings and liquidity crisis for American families. We will educate policy makers about the profession and the value of personalized professional advice for helping Americans become more financially secure.

"Financial Security for Me"  Meeting People Where They Are

In addition to new initiatives and benefits for members, today Finseca launched "Financial Security for Me," a digital activation to ensure that more consumers feel represented and included in conversations on personalized advice and planning. The effort will address the barriers to achieving financial security, the biggest misconceptions, and how to start planning for the future and ultimately move the needle towards financial security for all.

This conversation is especially important in today's environment. COVID-19 has created economic shocks that have intensified financial and retirement anxieties for American households. Finseca will help to build a bridge of trust between clients and financial security professionals  and this begins with a conversation to define financial security for each person's unique circumstances.

This activation will help identify underserved and unmet needs of Americans who need protection from hardships and losses, increased savings and guaranteed income and security, and finally a clearer path to retirement.

About Finseca

At Finseca we know that financial security improves people's lives and protects their livelihoods and future wellbeing. We are rising to the challenge of increasing financial security for all. Finseca represents the men and women of the financial security profession who dedicate themselves to delivering financial security to their clients every day. We are focused on three transformational pillars: Elevate the noble work of the financial security profession; Accelerate all professionals at any stage of their career in any marketplace, and Advocate for effective public policy that puts more people on the path to financial security. Finseca promotes the value and purpose of financial security professionals, unifies our voice, and broadens financial security to more communities and generations of Americans.

SOURCE Finseca

Related Links

https://www.finseca.org


Vice President Mike Pence said the Trump campaign is looking to turn Minnesota blue this year and see hanging on to Arizona and Florida as key to winning a second term.

But Democratic nominee Joe Biden leads in the polls in all three states with less than 50 days to go until Election Day.

'Florida's of great importance. Arizona's of great importance. We're going to make sure we continue to campaign in those states,' Pence told The Hill newspaper of the 'must-win' states for President Donald Trump.

'We're actually looking at expanding the map now. I've been campaigning in Minnesota. So has the president,' Pence said. 'We think Minnesota is in play.'

Vice President Mike Pence said the Trump campaign is looking to turn Minnesota blue this year and see hanging on to Arizona and Florida as key to winning a second term

Both candidates are spending more time on the campaign trail in the battleground states: President Trump will be in Minnesota on Friday while Joe Biden was in Florida on Tuesday

Pence's comments come as both presidential campaigns are working out the math to get their candidate on the path to the 270 electoral votes it takes to win the White House.

But Minnesota and its 10 electoral votes could be a tough win for the Trump team. In an ABC News/Washington Post poll out Wednesday, Biden led in the state by 16 points.

The Trump campaign has invested heavily in the state after coming within a point of winning it in 2016. President Trump will hold a campaign rally there on Friday evening.

A Republican presidential candidate hasn't won Minnesota since Richard Nixon took the state in 1972.

While Republicans seek to turn Minnesota, Democrats are eyeing Arizona as a state to put in their column this November.

However, except for Bill Clintons win in 1996, Arizona has voted Republican since 1952.

Republicans are throwing in the towel however. Ivanka Trump will hold a campaign event there in Wednesday afternoon.

President Trump held a Latinos for Trump roundtable there on Monday that more resembled a campaign rally.

'This is supposed to be a roundtable but it looks like a rally,' Trump told the whooping and cheering crowd of a few hundred people. There was no social distancing and few wore face masks.

President Donald Trump on Monday boasted his Latino roundtable in Arizona looked like a 'rally'

The crowd of over 300 at the president's Arizona event was not socially distanced and few wore face masks

Biden leads in the three states Pence named, which have a total of 50 electoral votes.

He is up by 10 points in Minnesota, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average. He leads by 4.7 points in Arizona, according to the RCP polling average.

But Florida is a much closer contest with Biden up by 1.6 points in President Trump's home state, according to the RCP polling average.

Florida is rapidly becoming Ground Zero in the 2020 campaign.

Biden made a rare in-person appearance in the state on Tuesday on the same day a Monmouth poll showed him leading Trump by five points in Florida.

And Michael Bloomberg announced this weekend he will spend at least $100 million of his own money to support Biden's campaign in Florida, mainly through television ad buys. With 10 media markets, Florida is one of the most expensive TV ad states in the nation.

If Biden wins Florida's 29 electoral votes, Trump's path to a second term is hard to see.

Its been almost 100 years since a Republican has won the White House without taking Florida.

And, in a show of competitive and contested it is, in six of the last seven presidential races, the Sunshine state has been decided by less than five points.

Biden's two events were focused on Latino voters and veteran communities, as he needs to firm up his support with Hispanic voters and is positioned to make gains from servicemembers after The Atlantic's report that had President Trump calling American war dead 'losers' and 'suckers.'

Democratic nominee Joe Biden campaigned in Florida Tuesday in an effort to boost his support among Latino voters and servicemembers

Biden participated in a socially distant conversation with veterans and military spouses at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, Florida on Tuesday

'Donald Trump has no idea about the ideas that animate women and men who sign up to serve: duty, honor, country. That's what service and patriotism is all about,' Biden said at the event.

Biden again went after Trump for those comments, which the president denies, while also showing off his stark style difference from Trump by providing tedious answers to veterans' questions during an hour-and-a-half long Tampa event.

'The bad news is I show up when I'm invited,' Biden joked, promising the socially distanced group of six that he would follow-up with them on anything unanswered. 'I'm like the poor relative. The poor relatives show up, eat all your food, stay longer than they should. The wealthy ones don't come.'
The family of a man killed by Asbury Park police last month have called on the Attorney Generals office to release audio, video and other information related to the killing of the 39-year-old after officers arrived to his home due to a reported domestic dispute.

Hasani Best was shot and killed by police after an hour long standoff outside an Asbury Park apartment on Aug 21. Since then, his family said they have received little information regarding the circumstances surrounding his death, prompting them to contact the Attorney Generals office last week with a list of demands.

The letter, which was signed by a group of family members and a number of local activists and advocacy organizations, demanded that Attorney General Gurbir Grewal release audio and video collected from the investigation and provide an update on when Grewal is planning to present the evidence to a grand jury.

The family is completely distraught and does not deserve to endure anymore anxiety over the loss of their loved one Mr. Hasani Best. To date, family members have received little to no information regarding the final moments of Mr. Hasanis life, the letter says.

Family members said in recent interviews that the only information they have received regarding Bests death is what the Attorney Generals office has released publicly, which is a brief narrative of the incident.

It is an injustice, said Kay White, the mother of Bests son. Its a racial injustice that they have put him on the back burner. They are treating him like an animal and he is a human. He deserves to have his story told.

Weve been left in the dark about everything, said Carol Sanders, who said she raised Best. It hurts me. It just hurts me.

Steven Barnes, a spokesman for the Attorney Generals office, said the office has been in contact with the family and made them aware that the video will be available to them once the investigation is complete. He did not respond to questions of when that may be or when evidence would be presented to a grand jury.

According to a preliminary investigation by the Attorney Generals office, multiple Asbury Park officers arrived on Aug. 21 to a two-family residence in the 900 block of 4th Avenue in the shore town due to a loud domestic dispute.

Upon arrival, authorities said, the woman was outside while Best barricaded himself in the upstairs apartment. Officers tried to negotiate with Best through the door, but Best reportedly opened the door at various times brandishing a knife, authorities said.

When authorities said Best wouldnt drop the knife, they attempted to use a Taser, but it was not effective. At around 10:10 p.m., an officer fatally shot Best, according to documents obtained by NJ Advance Media.

Best was pronounced dead at Jersey Shore University Medical Center.

They need to tell us why they decided to negotiate with him for 60 minutes and then decided to kill him, White said.

In July 2019, a similar situation unfolded in Asbury Park.

Police fatally shot James Manzo, 27, after they were called to a boarding home for a report of an emotionally disturbed person. Body camera footage, which was released a month after the incident, showed officers negotiating with Manzo before he emerged from the room and lunged at them with a pair of scissors. An officer fired multiple shots, killing Manzo.

Family members and advocates said the release of body camera footage of Bests encounter with police would help them better understand what unfolded.

All Asbury Park police officers have been outfitted with body cameras since June and are required to utilize them. The letter sent to the Attorney Generals office demanded the release of the footage, but it also called on the office to release information on if any of the audio or footage is missing because of failure to wear a body camera or to turn it on.

The Asbury Park police department did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Since January 2019, the Attorney Generals office has been required to investigate any civilian deaths that occur during an encounter with law enforcement.

According to a 2018 Attorney General directive, the office makes body-camera video and police dashboard camera footage available to the public once a standard use-of-force incidents investigation is substantially complete. The directive says this typically will occur within 20 days of the incident itself.

But in the letter, family members and advocates noted that those 20 days had passed and little information had been released.

Enough time has passed to release the videos and other requested information, the letter says.

The letter also indicates that video of the shooting of Maurice Gordon by a New Jersey state trooper over the summer was released in 17 days. Barnes said their policy is to release it as close to 20 days as possible. He added that outreach advocates have been in contact with the family also.

However, White said law enforcement did not contact Bests son to tell him about his fathers death. It was the funeral home who broke the news to Bests oldest son, she said. Additionally, the family has not received the results of the autopsy or Bests death certificate, White said.

Randy Thompson, the CEO of Help Not Handcuffs, a non-profit that advocates for criminal justice reform in Asbury Park, said the Attorney Generals office responded to their request Sunday, but didnt offer a timeline of when more information may be released.

Thompson said he appreciated the swift response, but he questioned whether the information would be forthcoming.

Ive lived in New Jersey my entire life. Ive worked in politics for 10 years, Thompson said. Everything tells me that we will not receive the information and justice."

I dont expect it with this," he added. Unless there is significant outrage.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Joe Atmonavage may be reached at jatmonavage@njadvancemedia.com.
There is increasing public concern that post-Brexit trade deals could lead to lower quality food, according to a government survey.

Ever since the UK voted in 2016 to leave the EU, farming leaders have been pleading with the government not to allow the import of lower standard foods in order to secure trade deals with the US and others.

Government ministers have continued to insist that they would not sacrifice food and farming standards in the pursuit of trade deals.

Despite this, the government refused to support amendments in the House of Commons that would have introduced the defence of such standards into law.

In September 2018 the government commissioned a UK-wide survey to examine public attitudes towards trade and to understand the publics priorities as they relate to trade policy and how these may change over time.

The latest update was published recently and it shows growing concern about food standards post-Brexit.

In the initial survey 12% of those questioned said they thought that increased free trade would lead to lower quality goods and services. In the latest updated survey this has increased to 17%.

However, two thirds of respondents (66%) said they were supportive of free trade agreements, and just under two thirds (63%) thought that signing free trade agreements outside the EU would have a positive impact on the UK overall.

Support for establishing free trade agreements with selected countries - Australia, New Zealand, US, China and India - remained broadly high, but declined for each country between five and seven percentage points since the first survey.

Mark Williams, chief executive of the British Egg Industry Council (BEIC) has warned that British egg products could not compete with lower priced and lower welfare imports from such countries.

Mr Williams, who says that a significant percentage of the cost of producing a dozen or a kilo of eggs in the UK came from legislation on food safety, animal welfare and environmental protection, has warned that pursuing a trade policy with the countries would result in British farmers being undercut.

A report from Wageningen University in the Netherlands, produced by egg industry expert Peter van Horne, highlighted the importance of tariffs.

Peter van Horne said in his report that, compared to the average level within the EU, the production cost of shell eggs in 2017 were 24% lower in the USA, 22% lower in Ukraine, 14% lower in Argentina and 11% lower in India.

Production costs of whole egg powder in 2017 were 21% lower in the United States, 20% lower in Ukraine, 13% lower in Argentina and 13% lower in India.

Peter van Horne said that, because the cost of transportation of powder was low, the offer price of whole egg powder from third countries was relatively low, but current import levies protected EU production.

Elizabeth Truss, the Secretary of State for International Trade and the minister responsible for securing new post-Brexit trade deals, has again insisted that the UK would not trade away food standards to clinch such deals.

Her assurances came in exchanges with opposition MPs in the House of Commons.

SNP MP Angus McNeill asked: "Will the Secretary of State take this opportunity to ease farmers anger and consumers anxiety and state categorically that there will be no changing of food standards or any compromise whatsoever in any trade deal on the high standards of the food that now goes on our supermarket shelves?"

The Secretary of State said she could "absolutely give such an assurance."

Labour MP Bill Esterson said NFU Scotland wanted the Trade Bill amended to ban food imports not produced to UK standards, but Ms Truss said: "The fundamental principle of our trade policy is that we will not allow our fantastic farmers, whether in Scotland, Wales, Wales or Northern Ireland, and their great produce to be undermined. What we want them to be doing is exporting more around the world."

She said that, in the EU withdrawal Act, all the import standards that the UK had as part of the EU had been transposed into UK law.

"Those import standards remain, and we will not be negotiating them away in any trade agreement. Furthermore, we have the Trade and Agriculture Commission, which is specifically involving organisations such as NFU Scotland, to ensure that British farmers get a fair deal and British consumers have products that they can have confidence in."

It comes as the government bowed to pressure and agreed to establish a trade and agriculture commission to look at potential trade deals.

In a letter to NFU president Minette Batters, Ms Truss said the commission would look at UK agricultural trade policy, animal welfare standards across the world and export opportunities for British farming.

The letter stressed that the commission's recommendations would be advisory only.
A growing number of people internationally are recognising China's selfishness and bid for global dominance, leading more countries to side with Washington's view of the world over Beijing's, America's top diplomat said Tuesday.

In recent months, as relations between the two superpowers have imploded, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo - known as the Trump administration's "attack dog" on China - has stepped up his verbal salvoes at Beijing's governance, state-led economic system, espionage activities and handling of the pandemic.

"The world has wakened and my view is that the tide has turned," Pompeo told the Atlantic Council, an international affairs think tank in Washington. "I think these are powerful shifts in the world view of the threat from the Chinese Communist Party."

Get the latest insights and analysis from our Global Impact newsletter on the big stories originating in China.

Even as the Trump administration has belatedly vied for global hearts and minds, it's been accused of squandering one of its greatest assets: America's history of working closely with allies in addressing shared frustrations with Beijing, including intellectual property theft; forced technology transfer; unbalanced trade; and island building in the contested South China Sea.

According to the Soft Power 30 index - which tracks countries' use of persuasion rather than coercion in achieving objectives - the US fell to fifth place globally in 2019, the latest data, down from third place in 2017 when Donald Trump became president.

China's soft-power ranking also declined to 27 in 2019, from 25 in 2017, according to the index, compiled by the Portland consultancy and the University of Southern California. France ranked first in both years.

And a Pew Research poll released Tuesday in 13 advanced European, Asian and North American nations found that just 15 per cent of respondents thought the US dealt well with the pandemic. This compared with 37 per cent who thought China handled the pandemic well and 64 per cent the World Health Organisation - both accused by the Trump administration of fanning the virus.

Story continues

Among Trump's first actions on becoming president was to pull the US out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a grouping aimed at working together on common challenges related to China. Since then, he has launched trade wars with Japan, South Korea, Canada and the European Union, among others, embarrassed their leaders publicly and too often viewed foreign relations as a zero-sum game, critics say.

"I've seen that critique," Pompeo said, but added that the administration's greatest priority has been helping Americans understand the threat that China represents to their economic and national security.

"Tens of millions of jobs have been stolen through the Chinese Communist predatory economic activity here in the United States," which cannot continue, he said.

Turning to the battle for telecommunications supremacy, Pompeo said that Western competitors to Huawei would strengthen and become the global industry standard.

"I am confident that there will be cost-effective deliverables from Western trusted vendors that can deliver the same services or better services," Pompeo said, even as he conceded that beating Chinese prices would remain tough, citing Chinese state subsidies.

"We always joke about the battle between Airbus and Boeing being state-subsidised," he went on, referring to the European and US aircraft manufacturers. "That is child's play compared to what the Chinese Communist Party does."

China's economic model has been built on state-backed companies "stealing American technology, bringing it back to the homeland, and then turning around and dumping it in the United States of America and around the world", Pompeo said.

Despite Trump's "America First" policy, however, critics say Beijing has often failed to capitalise. Global suspicion toward China has increased under President Xi Jinping as Beijing has ramped up territorial disputes with India and Japan, drilled for oil in contested Southeast Asian waters and tightened its grip over Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Tibet and Inner Mongolia.

In recent months, international criticism has increased over China's early handling of the coronavirus and its subsequent global distribution of sometimes flawed medical equipment, amid reports of Beijing's demands for praise and veiled economic threats. And a growing number of US allies, including Britain, Germany, Australia, Japan and India, have taken steps to limit Huawei Technologies equipment in their 5G networks, wary of data theft that the company denies.

The Chinese embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment, but foreign ministry officials in Beijing have repeatedly slammed Pompeo's volleys. "It is Pompeo's day-to-day work to lie about China," spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Friday. "No matter how they carry on bragging, facts will reduce them all to a laughingstock."

"It is Pompeo's day-to-day work to lie about China," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said last week. Photo: Reuters alt="It is Pompeo's day-to-day work to lie about China," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said last week. Photo: Reuters

As the US and China flex their economic and political muscles, some see a growing risk of a misstep as communication between the giants falters, suspicion grows and the US prepares for a presidential election that's seen both major political parties criticise China.

"It's the risk of a military clash, particularly between the US and China in the South China Sea, that might start with a conflict or contingency with the Philippines, or Vietnam," Greta Nabbs-Keller, a research fellow at Australia's University of Queensland said Monday at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. Even a relatively minor clash could have severe reverberations across the Asian region, she added.

Increasingly tense US-China relations and more warships and military aircraft leave less margin of error in potential flashpoints, said Amanda Hsiao, Beijing-based project manager with the Switzerland-based Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue.

"There is just a greater chance for an accidental collision or an incident that might accelerate to a point that neither side wants to see," Hsiao said, an "unintended incident that then escalates into something much greater".

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.
The International Monetary Fund said Tuesday the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo needed to be fully transparent with its mining contracts in order to access any new aid programme.

The comments by the IMF's representative in Kinshasa, Philippe Egoume, was the latest development in a long-running dispute over the corruption-plagued mining industry which is overseen by a public company.

"We have a disagreement with the authorities, who prefer to publish recent contracts but not the old ones," Egoume said during an online news conference.

"In our of view, all the contracts should be published."

DR Congo is one of the main producers globally of valuable minerals such as copper, gold, coltan and cassiterite.

Their extraction and export is handled by joint-venture contracts between the state company Gecamines and around 15 foreign businesses.

In 2012, the IMF suspended its programme with the country under former president Joseph Kabila because of what it said was a lack of transparency in Gecamines's contracts.

One of Gecamines' foreign partners, the Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler, has been under US sanctions since December 2017 for contracts which Washington says were obtained through "corruption and misconduct".

The IMF also called on Kinshasa to provide a "realistic budget" for 2021.

The government under new President Felix Tshisekedi has forecast a budget of 11 billion dollars in 2020, twice the amount set for the previous year.

Even before the coronavirus pandemic hit the world's economies, the IMF had described those figures as unrealistic.

Egoume said it was too early to say how much money the next IMF aid programme would involve.

He said the IMF had paid out 360 million dollars in December and 363 million dollars in April to help Congo cope with the coronavirus outbreak.
Minister for European Affairs, Thomas Byrne T.D., announces EU funding programme

Press release

Minister for European Affairs, Thomas Byrne, TD, today announced the award of a major contract to The Wheel, the association of community and voluntary organisations, charities and social enterprises. The contract is to publicise EU funding opportunities and to provide a support service to NGOs, community groups and local authorities to better access European Union funds.

This is envisaged to be a 3-year programme, valued at around 730,000.

On the announcement, the Minister said;

It is vitally important that civil society organisations are fully aware of the wide range of possible EU funding opportunities. The Wheel, as National Contact Point, will play a key role to publicise these and to also improve the capacity of civil society to apply for these funding opportunities.

Deirdre Garvey, CEO of The Wheel, added;

This is a very significant investment in civil society. The programme will give Irelands civil society organisations access to funding opportunities and a chance to engage in European affairs. The Wheel has a strong track record for delivering European programmes and we look forward to working with the Department of Foreign Affairs to deliver this project.

ENDS

PRESS OFFICE

16 SEPTEMBER 2020

Notes for Editors - The EU provides funding and grants for a broad range of projects and programmes covering a wide range of policy areas. EU funding can be managed jointly by the European Commission and national authorities, directly by the European Commission or indirectly by other authorities inside or outside the EU, depending on the nature of the funding concerned. - The July European Council agreed a new seven-year budget of 1.074 trillion with substantial funding for Cohesion, CAP, Erasmus, Horizon, migration and asylum, and the EUs Neighbourhood and Development Instrument. - The purpose of this capacity building programme programme is to assist civil society organisations (NGOs, community-based organisations, trade unions, professional associations, social movements and networks, media, academia as well as city and county councils and regional assemblies) to better access EU funding. This will be done including through website and social media channels and holding targeted training and information events. - The Wheel is Irelands national association of charities, community and voluntary organisations and social enterprises. With over 1,750 members, it is the largest representative body for the charity, community, voluntary and social enterprise sector. Visit www.wheel.ie for more information.

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I live in Victoria where every day Premier Daniel Andrews fronts a media conference to provide a COVID-19 daily update. Andrews informs the public how many cases of COVID-19 there are in Victoria, the daily increase in cases from yesterday, the number of Victorians whose lives have been taken by COVID-19 and the number of tests conducted in the last 24 hours. On occasion these media conferences make even bigger news than usual as the Premier unveils a series of new rules designed to limit movement and therefore limit the spread of COVID-19. This is a serious pandemic and we should take it seriously.

But you should turn off the news because its not doing you any good.

Im not suggesting you avoid all news related to the pandemic; its helpful to be aware of the key messages the authorities want us to know. Theres nothing wrong with digesting a few minutes of the news each day but thats not whats happening for most people. Many people are watching far too much news about COVID-19. People are following the daily case numbers in their state, keeping up to date with the current restrictions, reading articles speculating on future restrictions, reading about the spread of the disease in other nations, finding articles about the development of a vaccine and commenting on the many ill-informed opinions on social media. Christian, you should turn off the news, heres why:

Its making you anxious

The news headlines dont inspire hope; every day is a new disaster, a bigger catastrophe. If the news media simply reported the facts it would be bad enough but to add to the fear the news media then speculates about what might happen next. No sooner was Melbourne in stage 3 lockdown then media reports started speculating on when regional Victoria might enter stage 3 lockdown or when Melbournes restrictions would tighten or when border restrictions would tighten. One newspaper article helpfully speculated that Victorias borders could be closed for two years. Scary news headlines dont help us but they are very helpful to media companies seeking to drive internet traffic and television ratings. Christians do not need to take on anxiety by overdosing on bad news. Virus infect our bodies; they need not dominate our minds.

It doesnt give you any more control

Watching the news doesnt give you any control over whats happening. You will not get back to normal life any quicker by viewing every media conference. Jesus once said, Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? You and I have no control over the pandemic, the government restrictions or the home schooling. We can only choose how well respond to the circumstances we find ourselves in.

Youre missing the good news.

Are you spending more time consuming the news or consuming Gods news? Many Christians are watching and posting more about COVID than they are about Christ. This should not be. Turn off the news so you have some space in your life to read the good news and to spend time with him.

Youre conforming to the pattern of this world

Paul writes in Romans chapter 12, verse 2:

Dont copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know Gods will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

If Christians over-indulge in the news media we shouldnt be surprised when it starts to shape their thinking. Christians are to be disciples of Christ but many are being discipled by the media instead. Christians are not to conform to the pattern of this world, what does this mean? Does it mean we should reject government restrictions, put our masks in the bin and practice civil disobedience by having large Church gatherings? I dont think so.

Christians should follow government restrictions; they are designed for the health of the community. Christians should be different from the world by not buying into fear. Jesus followers really can live free from fear. We do not need to fear a lack of employment or money. Our God knows all our needs and provides everything we need as we seek first the kingdom of God. Coles may run out of toilet paper but God will not run out of everything we need. God will not run out of strength in your weakness and he will not run out of courage when you are afraid.

Youre forgetting eternity

Do you remember your first day of school? Im sure I was very nervous but it was over 30 years ago and I forget. It seemed like a bid deal at the time. By the time weve spent 10,000 years in eternity the COVID-19 pandemic will be a minor matter. Christians do not need to fear death; we will live eternally with God where there will be no more pain, tears or suffering. Christians need not fear death because Christ defeated death on the cross. Stop putting all your hopes in this fleeting life which is here today and gone tomorrow. Christ has conqueror death and set us free from fear. Thats the news the world needs to hear.
A schizophrenic who stabbed a young mother seven times in the face and neck in a random attack as she pushed her child in a buggy has been jailed for life for attempted murder.

Mark Brazant, 44, ambushed married mother Josephine Conlon, 36, narrowly missing her jugular vein as he slashed at her in Streatham on December 30.

He had been released from prison just six days before, having served a jail term for three counts of battery and one count of common assault on women.

Brazant was handed a life sentence today at the Old Bailey with a minimum hybrid hospital and custodial term of 11 years for attempting to murder the mother.

Despite his history of violence against vulnerable females he was previously free to prowl the streets after his supervisors failed to meet him at the prison gates.

Footage released last month captured Brazant and his victim walking past one another on Streatham Hill, before he stops outside a shop, turns and walks after her.

Mrs Conlon, pictured at the Old Bailey today, took the stand to tell the court how the attack had changed her life

Mark Brazant, 44, ambushed married mother Josephine Conlon, 36, less than a week after being released from prison

Josephine Conlon, 36, pictured with husband Greg, was ambushed by violent thug Mark Brazant, 44, in Streatham on December 30, just days after he had been released from prison

CCTV footage from December 30 showed the moment she crossed paths with Brazant in the street, prompting the defendant to follow her on her way home after meeting other new mothers at a local bakery.

Brazant - who the Judge said had a 'deep-seated' hostility towards women - shoved her to the ground from behind, stabbed her, and left her for dead as she let out blood curdling screams down the phone line.

Thug's history of attacking lone women Previously, the court had heard how Brazant, who has paranoid schizophrenia, had a history of attacking lone women for no reason and had a conviction for carrying a blade. In January 2017, he collided with a woman, swore at her, grabbed her arm and shoved her away. On November 26 last year, Brazent attacked four women on the same day, grabbing one by the neck after accusing her of smiling at him, and punching another for laughing. He pleaded guilty to three charges of battery and one of common assault, but was released on licence from Thameside Prison on Christmas Eve to spend a year on post-sentence supervision. Advertisement

He initially denied attempted murder, but later changed his plea during the trial.

Brazant had already pleaded guilty to one count of possession of an offensive weapon, and three counts of pointed/bladed articles at the beginning of the trial.

While he admitted stabbing her multiple times with a kitchen knife, the court heard he was 'acutely psychotic' - having suffered from schizophrenia and a personality disorder since his early 20s.

Today, he sat in the dock wearing a dark blue felt jacket and a disposable face mask as he was told he would not be released until he no longer posed a risk to the public.

Judge Angela Rafferty QC told Brazant: 'You are totally unpredictable, your hostility towards women is deep-seated and poorly understood by you.

'There is no prospect you being safely managed in the public for the foreseeable future.

'Just because you have mental illness does not necessarily relieve you of responsibly for your actions. In your case you have a very long history of non-compliance with mental health services.

'You are well aware of what the consequences of not taking your medication will be. You were thinking very clearly before, during, and after the attack. You chose her because she was small and vulnerable.

'You decide to 'get' a young, slight mother pushing a pram, you followed her to somewhere dark and inaccessible, selected a knife from you bag, and inflected seven wounds to her neck and face.

'I also find that, at time, you displayed deep hostility to women which is not explained by your diagnosis of mental illness. You have tendency to target women in the street.

'I accept that you mental illness played some part in your offending but in my judgement your culpability is high.'

Josephine Conlon can be seen pushing her daughter along Streatham Hill in a pram on December 30 - moments later she would suffer a vicious attack at the hands of Brazant

Seconds later, Branzant walks past, stops outside a shop with a cigarette and then walks after Conlon, who he stabbed seven times in the face and neck

Josephin Conlon, a mother-of-three, earlier told a court she only realised she had been stabbed when she felt blood across her body

She concluded: 'It is not possible to say when you will no longer be a risk.

'There are a number of factors relating to your illness and other personality traits which make it uncertain if ever you ill be safe to be released.

'This does justify a life sentence. No other sentence will provide adequate protection for the public.

Turning to Mrs Conlon, she said: 'The court commends both of you for the composure and fortitude you have shown throughout this case and proceedings.

'The court hopes that the effect of the trauma will fade in time and that your family will once again live a full and happy life.

'Mrs Conlon, your daughter will, it is certain, feel immense pride in the courage and fortitude of her mother who did not die that day but fought bravely.'

Brazant was handed two years each for the three knife possession offences to run at the same time and 22 years for attempted murder but was told he must serve at least 11.

Before his sentencing, defence barrister Oliver Renton described his treatment by the probation service as 'a potentially catastrophic failure.'

Referring to the comments made by Ben Omullo, a team leader at mental health facility, Enriched Care Limited, he said: 'The court will recall the evidence of Ben Omullo as to the expectations that he had as to what would happen upon Mr Brazant's release from prison.

'He expected Mr Brazant's care coordinator to assist Mr Brazant in taking a taxi from the prison to the hostel.

'That, the court may consider, in the case of a man who had gone into prison after a well evidenced descent into mental health crisis, would be the sort of pastoral care tailored to ensure that he had a decent chance of regaining an element of stability in his release from prison.'

Ms Conlon was attacked as she walked with her pram along Streatham Hill in December

He added: 'After all, this was a man well known to become paranoid and unreasonable by dint of his illness.

'A man who would be unusually likely to respond poorly to the difficult transition between institutional prison life and the more free and potentially chaotic existence outside of the walls of the institution.

'Yet, what in fact happened upon his release? Mr Brazant was left to make his own way back to the hostel. An appointment was booked with probation. To his credit, Mr Brazant did attend that visit.

'He was sent away. Told that they had no record of the booking. In retrospect, a potentially catastrophic failure to afford Mr Brazant some form of structure and supervision.

'To have realised that Mr Brazant, someone whose paranoia prior to being imprisoned was increasingly centred around the irrational belief that people at the hostel were trying to harm or kill him, had not returned there, but rather was wandering the streets, sleeping on buses.

'It was in that sleep deprived, psychotic daze that Mr Brazant decided to take out a knife and attack someone. That he chose Mrs Conlon.'

Mrs Conlon took the stand to tell the court how the attack had changed her life.

She said: 'I worked really hard to rebuild myself. Following the attack I was immediately stripped of my confidence and feared leaving the house.

'It took many months before I was able to go out on my own. I'm still unable to leave my house after dark.

'I'm a very positive and sociable person and I love being busy and hate being shut up at home. Before the attack I use to keep my weekends and evenings full. It took me six months before I could go back to work.

'The physical wounds have been hard to come to terms with being so visible on my face and neck. They act as a constant reminder every time I look in the mirror.

'The fact I came so close to losing my life has been hard to come to terms with. I feel I failed my daughter by walking her into such a dangerous situation.

'It could have been so different, the buggy could have rolled down Streatham Hill and into the road.'

She added: 'For the defendant to turn around and admit his guilt just a few weeks later shows how selfish and self-centred he is.'

In a separate statement, her husband, Greg, said: 'Jo will never be able to go out with the same confidence and freedom that she did before. She is always looking over her shoulder.

'Even I have to be careful where I stand in relation to her. Months after the incident if I were to fall behind her briefly and catch up she would feel shock.

'This is a part that I don't think will ever go away.'
MOSCOW - Russias intelligence chief on Wednesday accused the United States of fomenting massive demonstrations against Belarus authoritarian president that have entered their sixth week.

Protesters in Belarus are seeking the resignation of Alexander Lukashenko, denouncing his landslide re-election in the Aug. 9 vote as rigged and demanding an end to his 26-year rule.

The U.S. and the European Union have criticized the election as neither free nor fair, and urged Lukashenko to start talks with the opposition  a call he has rejected.

Sergei Naryshkin, director of Russias Foreign Intelligence Service, claimed in a statement carried by Russian news agencies Wednesday that the U.S. has funded the Belarusian opposition and encouraged the protests.

It effectively amounts to a thinly-veiled attempt to stage another colour revolution and an anti-constitutional coup, the objectives and tasks of which have nothing in common with interests of citizens of Belarus, Naryshkin said in a reference to the colour-coded uprisings that swept out unpopular leaders in Ukraine and other ex-Soviet nations.

Naryshkin added that his agency has information that the U.S. is playing a key role in the current developments in Belarus. He alleged that the U.S. has earmarked tens of millions of dollars to finance Belarus opposition groups.

The U.S. Embassy in Minsk had no immediate comment.

The Western pressure has pushed Lukashenko to further cement ties with Russia, his main sponsor and ally. The neighbouring countries have a union agreement and maintain strong political, economic and military ties.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a new $1.5 billion loan to Belarus on Monday when he hosted Lukashenko for four hours of talks in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi. The Belarusian opposition has condemned Moscow for offering the Belarusian strongman a financial lifeline, warning that it would tarnish future ties between the countries.

Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reaffirmed Wednesday that Moscow sees Lukashenko as Belarus legitimately elected leader.

Asked about the Kremlins view of a proposal from Belarusian main opposition challenger, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, to offer Lukashenko security guarantees if he agrees to step down, Peskov responded that Belarus leader doesnt need any.

Lukashenko is the legitimate president of Belarus, Peskov said in a conference call with reporters. I dont think that he needs any security guarantees in his own country.

Naryshkin charged that the U.S. has taken Tsikhanouskaya, who moved to Lithuania after the vote under the authorities pressure, and other Belarusian opposition activists under its close patronage to promote them as future leaders of the country.

In a bid to rally Moscows support, Lukashenko has engaged in similar rhetoric, accusing the West of fueling the protests in a bid to isolate Russia. During the Sochi meeting with Putin, he offered to plan more joint military drills to counter what he claims are hostile plans by NATO.

Earlier this week, Russian paratroopers deployed to Belarus for the drills that will run through Sept. 25 near Brest, on the border with Poland.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu arrived in Belarus Wednesday for talks on deepening military co-operation.

___

Karmanau reported from Kyiv, Ukraine.

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Bursts of bullets fired in the air near Finger 4 before Indo-China talks at Moscow

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Sep 16: There was a major escalation of tensions along the Line of Actual Control with Indian and Chinese soldiers firing bursts of bullets into the air last week on the northern bank of Pangong Tso. This took place when the Indian Army took control over key heights that overlook the deployments of the People's Liberation Army on the Finger 4 Ridgeline.

The firing incident took place at heights where Fingers 3 and 4 merge into the Sirijap Range overlooking the Pangong Lake in Eastern Ladakh, officials said. The Indian and Chinese soldiers are barely at a few hundred metre distance at friction points on both sides of the lake.

No infiltration along India-China border in last six months: Govt

The Indian Army had last week said that firing took place on the lake's southern bank as well. The Chinese troops fired their weapons into the air on September 7 to intimidate the Indian soldiers holding heights at the Mukhpari peak near Rezang La on the southern bank during a failed attempt to close in on a forward position controlled by India, the Army had said.

On Tuesday Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh made a statement in Parliament on the Indo-China issue. There was a face-off in Galwan Valley on June 15, in which the Indian forces inflicted heavy casualties on the Chinese forces, Rajnath Singh also said. The Indian forces will forcefully counter all Chinese aggressive actions along the border. Since April we have seen an increase in troops and weapon deployment along the LAC in Ladakh, Singh said.

Let no one have any doubt about our capabilities. We want peace and will continue to talk to China. Both sides should respect the Line of Actual Control Singh also said. All mutual agreements must be respected, he also said.

China does not accept customary and peripheral alignment of Sino-India border, Singh also said. There has been a massive build up by the Chinese along the LAC and this has led to several friction points, the Defence Minister also said.

Our Armed Forces will successfully thwart all threats and protect the borders. We should be proud of our forces, he further said.

These are challenging times and in the midst of the pandemic, our soldiers have protected our borders. This is also due to Border Infrastructure Management, Singh also said.

Violent conduct of Chinese troops is a violation of all past agreements. Our troops have done counter deployments in the area to safeguard our borders, the Defence Minister also said.

I have conveyed to the Chinese side that we want a peaceful resolution to the solution. I made it clear that we will not comprise on out territorial integrity. The External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar during the meeting with his counterpart also conveyed the same message, Singh also said.

China has mobilised a huge number of Army battalions and armaments along the LAC and inner areas. There are many friction points in Eastern Ladakh, Gogra, Pangong Lake's north and south banks. The Indian Army has made counter deployments in these areas, Singh also said.

On the other hand, China has deployed sizeable military assets in Eastern Ladakh that include 50,000 men, tanks, missiles and 150 aircraft. India has matched every military move made by the Chinese.

India describes Pakistan as an epicentre of terrorism | Oneindia News

The control of the Ridgeline positions by the Indian Army on the southern bank of Pangong Tso allows it to completely dominate the sector and also keep an eye on Chinese military activity. The most significant heights are being held by India on Rezang La and Reqin Pass where the PLA is making attempts to regain lost ground.
It is a strange time, but we have passed through tragic moments before, said Sergio Aguayo, a political analyst. Life goes on, even in emergencies. The Grito is not about the palace or the president. It is something we all carry around with us. If we look back 50 years, we can celebrate how lucky we are today, with more freedom, more democracy and a better chance to build our own destiny.
After seven dangerous and frightening months dealing with the highly infectious coronavirus, Oregon hospitals and healthcare workers are now facing a different hazard -- the thick layer of choking smoke blanketing the state.

From Portland to Medford, hospitals and health systems have closed facilities, moved patients and delayed procedures due to the smoke. Despite efforts to preserve air quality, hospital officials admit that some of their sites are visibly smoky.

All of our facilities have smoke inside the buildings, said Brian Terrett, spokesman for Legacy Health, which owns and operates Legacy Emanuel and Legacy Good Samaritan hospitals in Portland and several others.

Legacy moved patients out of its Silverton hospital last week when much of the area was under Level 3 evacuation orders. It has since reopened and is fully operational, Terrett said.

Legacys seven urgent care clinics, including facilities in Woodburn and Silverton, remain closed.

Nurses at Kaiser Permanentes Sunnyside campus in Southeast Portland demanded meetings with management to address the air quality problems.

This is a very serious issue for patients and nurses, said Rachel Gumpert, an official with the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals. Management didnt feel the urgency. Of course, many managers are working from home. Theyre not on site.

One Kaiser employee claimed on Facebook that the health system was conducting day surgeries at its Skyline facility in Salem despite smoke and ash visible in the operating room.

Kaiser spokeswoman Debbie Karmen said in a statement that the air inside Kaiser buildings was far better than the outside air and was always within acceptable levels.

Currently at Sunnyside Medical Center, for example, we are performing 90% above outdoor air levels, with an AQI (air quality index) of 100 or less, she wrote. We have directed patient care away from the most impacted areas.

Oregon has suffered some of the worst air quality numbers in the world since last weeks fires burned a million acres. Portland set a new record on Sept. 13 of 477 AQI, more than triple the previous historic high. Bends rating hit 500 on Saturday, a number that is literally off the AQI charts.

Portlands AQI typically is at 50 or below; the Environmental Protection Agency classifies any rating above 150 as unhealthy.

Numbers that high have serious health implications. The potential impacts have grown more serious as the very nature of wildfire pollution has changed. Large forest fires are increasingly expanding into populated areas, which means the smoke contains a brew of new and different chemicals and heavy metals, said Michelle Rosales, an expert in environmental health and industrial hygiene who specializes in wildfires.

The deadly 2018 Camp Fire in Northern California marked a new era in western wildfires, she said. The blaze traveled from wild lands to the small town of Paradise, killing 85 people and sending a toxic brew of new chemicals into the giant plume of smoke.

As wildfires hit neighborhoods, metals, plastics and chemicals that are more toxic are incorporated into the smoke, said Rosales, who works for Forensic Analytical Consulting Services, a Bay Area firm.

Oregon workplace safety laws do not address wildfire smoke. California adopted a new standard in 2018 that requires employers to provide workers with N-95 respirators and make workplace modifications if wildfire sends the local AQI higher than 150.

State health officials said this week that 10% of recent emergency room visits across Oregon have been for asthma-like symptoms.

Oregon Health & Science University said it has experienced few air quality issues but has "seen a slight increase in patients experiencing breathing difficulties, spokeswoman Tamara Hargens-Bradley said. We anticipate an increase in these cases over the coming days, or even weeks, until conditions improve.

Providence officials also reported an increase of emergency room visits at the majority of its hospitals, particularly at its facility in Medford.

The terrible air quality capped a devastating week for some heathcare workers.

Eighty employees of Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center in Medford lost their homes when the Almeda fire roared through the small Jackson County towns of Talent and Phoenix.

More than 700 employees at Providence were evacuated as wildfire neared and 30 had their homes burn. At PeaceHealths two Eugene-area hospitals, 160 workers were evacuated and, as of this point, the non-profit knows of 15 employees whose homes burned.

Hospitals and other operators of public buildings can take several steps to maintain interior air quality, Rosales said. They should limit the number of entrances and exits. If practical, they should stop inducting outside air into the ventilation system. Ventilation in general can be counterproductive as it can lift harmful particles that have settled to the ground and put them back into air.

Providence officials said its hospitals already have filters in place that clean the air and that air quality has always been within acceptable levels.

With hundreds of people coming in and out of the doors each day, smoky air does get inside the hospital, spokeswoman Lisa Helderop said. But we have filters made for hospitals that are efficient at cleaning the air and keeping particulate levels low.

As the Riverside Fire made its way down the Clackamas River and toward cities and towns, Providence moved some patients from its Willamette Falls hospital in Oregon City to other Providence hospitals. It also moved most residents out of the Providence Benedictine skilled nursing and assisted living facility in Mt. Angel to facilities farther from the fire.

Salem Hospital and PeaceHealths hospitals in Springfield, Eugene and Cottage Grove have all been hard hit, both by the fires and smoke.

PeaceHealth has installed additional air scrubbers to augment the existing HVAC system, spokesman Jeremy Rush said. It is also restricting the number of entrances and exits.

PeaceHealth made 80 hotel rooms available to displaced employees. It opened its parking lots to employees living in their RVs and also made its patient family guest house open to employees in need of temporary housing.

Jeff Manning

971-263-5164

jmanning@oregonian.com
Attorney General Bill Barr accused Democrats of encouraging mob violence in US cities as he railed against mail-in voting and mocked the idea that Trump will 'seize power and all that s**t' if he loses in November.

In a wide-ranging interview with WGN radio aired Monday, Barr claimed that Chicago is 'out of control' following a recent spike in violent crime, alleging that the city 'provides multiple opportunities for corruption'.

Barrr's harshest criticism came for mail-in voting, however, which he claimed eradicates the idea of a secret ballot, leaves voters open to influence and presents the opportunity for ballots to be bought.

Attorney General Bill Barr accused Democrats of encouraging mob violence in US cities as he claimed Chicago is 'out of control' in an interview with a local radio station Monday

Barr mocked the idea that Trump, pictured, would refuse to leave office if he loses the election

Barr called the recent uptick in violence in US cities 'another very disconcerting development', placing the blame with the Democrats. Pictured, a protester whose feet caught fire after a Molotov cocktail exploded on him in Washington on September 5

'Just think about the way we vote now,' Barr said. 'You have a precinct, your name is on a list, you go in and say who you are, you go behind a curtain, no one is allowed to go in there to influence you, and no one can tell how you voted.

'All of that is gone with mail-in voting. There's no secret vote. You have to associate the envelope in the mailing and the name of who's sending it in, with the ballot.

'There's no more secret vote with mail-in vote. A secret vote prevents selling and buying votes. So now we're back in the business of selling and buying votes,' he continued.

'Capricious distribution of ballots means (ballot) harvesting, undue influence, outright coercion, paying off a postman, here's a few hundred dollars, give me some of your ballots.'

The attorney general also accused liberals of attempts to create an 'incendiary situation' where there will be a 'loss of confidence in the vote' after some floated the idea that Trump will refuse to leave office in the case of a Biden win.

'You know liberals project,' Barr said. 'All this bulls--- about how the president is going to stay in office and seize power? I've never heard of any of that c**p. I mean, I'm the attorney general. I would think I would have heard about it.

'They are projecting. They are creating an incendiary situation where there will be loss of confidence in the vote,' he added.

'Someone will say the president just won Nevada. "Oh, wait a minute! We just discovered 100,000 ballots! Every vote will be counted!" Yeah, but we don't know where these freaking votes came from.'

Barr claimed Democrats are pushing the idea that there will be no end to violence unless Biden wins. Pictured, Oregon police wearing anti-riot gear march towards protesters on September 5

Pictured, Oregon Police wearing anti-riot gear march towards protesters

The idea that mail-in ballots will lead to mass voter fraud has been repeatedly pushed by Trump despite the dangers of coronavirus spread if voters must go to physically cast their vote.

There is no evidence to suggest that there is an increased risk of fraud with mail-in ballots.

Barr told the local station that he spent some time in Chicago when he first served as attorney general during the Bush administration but it is not now the city it was.

'I like Chicago, but things now seem very much out of control,' he claimed.

'There's certainly a culture here that seems to be unique and provides multiple opportunities for corruption. And the public integrity part of the U.S. attorney's office has never been at a loss for work,' Barr later added.

Barr also railed against mail-in ballots. Pictured, a protest to support the USPS in NYC. Americans are expected to vote by mail in large numbers due to the COVID-19 pandemic

'Many cities have sort of unique cultures (of corruption). L.A. has a different kind of corruption. New York has a different kind. Washington is corrupted by power in many ways. This (Chicago) is sort of, well, I'm not sure what I can say and get away with it.'

He called the recent uptick in violence in US cities 'another very disconcerting development', placing the blame with the Democrats, stating 'increasingly the message of the Democrats appears to be "Biden or no peace".

'As an attorney general, I'm not supposed to get into politics,' Barr added of the election, before declaring the the U.S. had reached a choice that could take them toward socialism if Trump does not win.

'I think we are getting into a position where we're going to find ourselves irrevocably committed to a socialist path. And I think if Trump loses this election, that will be the case. In other words, I think now there's a clear fork in the road for our country,' he continued.

'What's very strange that all the great thought that has inspired our country the principles and the thinking behind it have been forgotten by a large segment of the people.

'Not even forgotten, because they probably were never taught about it, they've never considered it.'
NEW DELHI (dpa-AFX) - Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. (RDY) and The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Russia's sovereign wealth fund, have agreed to cooperate on clinical trials and distribution of Sputnik V vaccine in India. Upon regulatory approval in India, RDIF shall supply to Dr. Reddy's 100 million doses of the vaccine. Deliveries could potentially begin in late 2020. The Sputnik V vaccine, developed by the Gamaleya National Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, is the world's first registered vaccine against COVID-19 based on the human adenoviral vectors platform. G V Prasad, Co-Chairman & Managing Director of Dr. Reddy's said: 'The Phase I and II clinical trials have shown promising results. We will be conducting Phase-III trials in India to ensure safety and efficacy for the Indian population and to meet the requirements of the Indian regulators.' Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) is Russia's sovereign wealth fund which allows to make equity co-investments, primarily in Russia, alongside reputable international financial and strategic investors. RDIF acts as a catalyst for direct investment in the Russian economy. 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.
PLEASANTON, Calif.  NextHome announces the newest addition to the franchise is NextHome Infinity Realty, based in Elko.

The brokerage represents the seventh office location in Nevada and the 510th nationally.

NextHome Infinity Realty will provide friendly residential real estate services to clients across Elko County, said a release from the company. Areas the brokerage will serve include Elko, Wells, Spring Creek, Lamoille, Carlin, Jiggs, and West Wendover.

NextHome Infinity Realty is owned by the husband and wife team of Cheryl and Robert Henning.

Cheryl has been a real estate professional since 2009. She obtained her real estate license after working more than 26 years in hospitality management.

Cheryl began her selling with a local boutique brokerage. She recalls that in her first years in the industry, her broker would ruthlessly review contracts with a red pen. The experience molded her into an exceptional Realtor with a sharp eye for contract details, NextHome said.

To this day, I carry on that tradition with my agents and encourage them to see it as an opportunity for growth when I get out my red pen, Cheryl said.

After five years with the boutique brokerage, Cheryl became a sales associate for a local property management company. A couple years later, she became an agent with a franchised brokerage. It was during these years that she became deeply involved with the Elko County Association of Realtors. She began volunteering for several committees, then she became co-chair for the associations community service committee. She has served on the board of directors for two years. Cheryl also has volunteered with the Soroptimist of Elko for the last four years.

It was also during this time that Cheryl became a broker/associate and stepped into leadership roles. As her experience and expertise grew, Cheryl began thinking about the next steps for her career.

As I thought about what my next step could be, my next challenge, I knew that it was time to own my own brokerage, she said.

Having the experience with both a boutique brokerage and a large franchise, Cheryl knew that she wanted the support that came with franchising. Although she interviewed with many franchises and did extensive research, nothing really clicked with Cheryl like NextHome did.

NextHomes entire culture seemed to be geared toward helping the clients, Cheryl said. It seemed like NextHome cared; they cared about me, they cared about what I wanted to do, and they cared about helping my clientele and what I wanted to do for them.

Today, she is using NextHomes branding and tools to elevate the real estate industry in Elko and beyond.

NextHome stands out, Cheryl said. NextHome is innovating, and I think as a new company doing new things, we will be very appealing to clients.

As agents join NextHome Infinity Realty, Cheryl aims to build an upbeat and positive office culture that puts people first.

Im excited to build my business and work with people who love working together, Cheryl said.

In addition to building her business, Cheryl will serve as the Elko County Association of Realtors president in 2021. She is currently the associations president-elect. Cheryl is also active on the associations various committees and served as her area MLS Chair in 2019. Cheryl is also a 2017 graduate of the Nevada Realtors Leadership Program.

In their spare time, Robert and Cheryl enjoy spending time in Elkos beautiful outdoors. They find opportunities to refuel their spirit by camping and fishing for bass at the South Fork and freshwater brook trout in the nearby Ruby Mountains. Last year, Cheryl became her husband Roberts hunting buddy and the two are looking forward to using their elk tags this fall.

Robert and Cheryl are celebrating 24 years of marriage this year, and together they are the proud parents of three adult children: Samantha, who is married to Lucky Luke; Sydney; and Matthew. They are also the proud grandparents to Tillman, named after hero Patrick Tillman.

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Hadi al-Bahra has said that a political solution must be reached in Syria and that the Constitutional Committee is the best hope reports Nadaa Syria.

The co-Chair of the Syrian Constitutional Committee, Hadi al-Bahra, talked about the particulars of the committees meetings, which took place late last month, and the developments of the Syrian political issue, during a roundtable event in the city of Azaz north of Aleppo. The event was attended by the Syrian Interim Governments ministers and officials on the local councils in the Aleppo countryside.

Bahra stated that the delegation of the Assad regime on the Constitutional Committee tried hard during the recent meetings in Geneva to give the impression that they are flexible in their dealings.

He said that the Assad regime is exerting great efforts to prevent the launch of the Constitutional Committees work, because this gives it independence, and the regime may become embroiled in a situation it cannot control. He also said that the regime is concerned that the committee might end up realizing political change.

Bahra pointed out that the next round of committee meetings will be pivotal, because the regime will have two options  either to seriously engage in discussing the constitutional reform process, or to continue to buy time, which creates a problem for Russia with the US, Turkey, and the European Union.

Bahra considered that Russia will not be able to reach common grounds with various countries on issues of interest, as it has become so involved in the Syrian issue that anything that happens in Syria would impact it. That will also prevent reconstruction and the lifting of sanctions on the Assad regime.

He emphasized the inability of any of the countries involved in the Syrian issue to resolve the situation militarily, and pointed out that a political battle seems currently more fair than a military one, and that fighting the political battle is an exercise in patience.

Bahra added that the military issue is about to end in Syria, as he expects talks to lead to a comprehensive ceasefire in all of the Syrian territories by the end of February, when better visibility about US policies will transpire after the elections, which will coincide with the end of the nations efforts to improve their military situation, stopping violence, and kickstarting the political process.

Bahra said, We are at a crossroads. Either states see an interest in ending the clashes between them by agreeing to implement Security Council Resolution 2254 or, and this is bad for us as Syrians, states agree to stabilize areas of influence, and rely on a long-term political process that would last for 10 or 15 years.

He explained that countries might think that the Syrian peoples are not yet ready to coexist, given the possibility of retaliations, chaos, and an inability to control matters. Moreover, states may see a necessity in grooming a new generation of Syrians that is ready to inherently accept a political solution.

Bahra believed that the only way to prevent this from happening is to build bridges with people in the areas controlled by the Assad regime, because the issues that the opposition are demanding are not restricted to it, but rather involve everything  such as the future of the young generation, economic opportunities, and ensuring freedoms are safeguarded.

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 exam will be conducted by the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Indore this year on 29 November

The online application process for IIM CAT 2020 has been extended till 23 September. Candidates can apply for the admission test at the official website - iimcat.ac.in.

The exam will be conducted by the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Indore this year on 29 November.

According to a report by Hindustan Times, the exam will be held in two sessions across various centres in the country. The results are expected to be announced by the second week of January 2021.

Applicants belonging to the general category will be required to pay a registration fee of Rs 2,000, while those from SC, ST, and PwD category will have to pay Rs 1,000. The admit card, or hall ticket, will be available for download from 28 October.

As per a report by Careers 350, while filling the application form, candidates must ensure that all the information provided by them is correct. Once saved, the information in the application form will not be changed.

They should also choose the exam cities according to the preference and make sure that it should be in proximity to their house.

Steps to apply for IIM CAT 2020:

Step 1: Visit to the official website - iimcat.ac.in

Step 2: Click on Register tab of the home page

Step 3: Fill the form entering required details

Step 4: An OTP on your registered mobile number will be sent

Step 5: Use the OTP to filling the application form

Step 6: Enter all the details and select the programmes you want to enroll for

Step 7: Pay the application fee.

Click here for the direct link to register for the exam

CAT is being conducted for admission to different management courses, including PGP, PGDM, PGPEM, EPGP, PGPBM, and PGPEX.
The 99 Cents Affordable Art Show

December 1 - 30, 2016

***MCLA Gallery 51 will be open from 10am to 2pm on Saturday, December 24 (Christmas Eve). The gallery will be closed on Sunday, December 25 (Christmas) as well as Monday, December 26.***

The 99 Cents Affordable Art Show celebrates the artwork of local and previously featured artists at MCLA Gallery 51 and includes sculpture, ceramics, watercolors, jewelry, paintings, postcards, collages, photography, printmaking, handmade books and stationary, and more! All artwork can be taken from the gallery when it is purchased. This year's participants include Derick Belford, Stephanie Boyd, Kathline Carr, Valerie Carrigan, Paul Chojnowski, Carrie Converse, Arthur De Bow, Zoe Doucette, Peter Dudek, John Estes, Richard Harrington, Sarah Haze, Jennifer Huberdeau, Ellen Joffe-Halpren, Amrita Lash, Corwin Levi, Larry Lorusso, Petrea Mannello, Jonas McCaffery, Julia Morgan-Leamon, Melanie Mowinski, Josh Ostraff, Wilma Rifkin and Mollie Trova.

Everything I Never Told You:

Secrets Too Beautiful to Keep

A collaborative exhibition by Shelley Chamberlin and Michelle Daly

September 29 to November 20, 2016

Opening Reception September 29, 5-8pm | Artist Reception October 27, 5-7pm

In Everything I Never Told You: Secrets Too Beautiful To Keep, Shelley Chamberlin and Michelle Daly explore themes of vulnerability, intimacy, relationality, nostalgia, memory, disruption, determination, absurdist humor, and hope. As longtime friends, artistic collaborators, and conceptual partners, the two artists have worked in tandem; their artistic trajectories gapping and converging, illuminating spaces and places for each to delve more deeply into their individual inquiries. This exhibition maps these moments, highlighting intersections and commonalities.

Conversation is the vehicle for change. We test our ideas. We hear our own voice in a concert with another. And inside those pauses of listening, we approach new territories of thought. A good argument, call it a discussion, frees us. Words fly out of our mouths like threatened birds. Once released, they may never return. If they do, they have chosen home and the bird-worms are calmed into an ars poetica. Terry Tempest Williams, When Women Were Birds

Chamberlin and Dalys Postcard Project is a visual artifact of this play of ideas in conversation between the two artists over the last year as the exhibition has developed. The postcards are numbered so that you may follow along in the chronology of their shared moments of exploration and dialog.

In Everything I Never Told You: Secrets Too Beautiful To Keep, the artists grapple with their individual and collective relationships with placemaking and home, ultimately reckoning with the very nature of vulnerability and risk. In Skyline #1, 2, and 3, Chamberlin plays with disruption and manipulation of space, using glitches in digital photography as source material for richly layered charcoal drawings. She pulls together traditional and contemporary ideas and methodologies of image-making, creating imagery that is simultaneously dislocating and elegiac, offering a new vantage point from which to understand selective erasure and passage of time. Similarly, in Re-imagined Landscape, Daly disassembles and reassembles maps and patterns, creating new and foreign landscapes. Both the play of scale and the juxtaposition of imagery tease the viewer into an alternate reality, an imagined space re-formed by the artists heart and hand. In this way, both artists are merging familiar and unfamiliar territories, manipulating visual cues of location and dislocation.

The artworks on view in this exhibition play with revelation and concealment. They are an invitation into the quiet places, the small daily intimacies, the hundreds upon thousands of whispered secretssecrets too beautiful to keep.

#toobeautifultokeep

See more of the artists' work at:

shelleychamberlinart.com

michelle-daly.com

and be sure to follow their instagram at @toobeautifultokeep

Press:

Collaborative Exhibition Comes to Gallery 51 - the Online Beacon

Wayfinding

A solo show by Melanie Mowinski

Wayfinding Star, Artist Book (Letterpress, pressure print, painted paper, gesso, ink and acrylic dots, Lotka paper, binders board, custom, enclosure), 2016

August 25 to September 25, 2016

Wayfinding is about trusting the way and understanding the many paths to get to the same destination literally and figuratively. Through installation, letterpress, book arts and collage, artist Melanie Mowinski presents an investigation of the motivations behind the paths taken in life. For more information about Melanie and her work please visit melaniemowinski.com.

MCLA Student Shows

Gallery 51 & ExPRESS

April 28- May 22

Opening Reception: April 28th 5-7pm

Bullet Points

A curated show by MCLA's Advanced Museum Studies Class

Taught by Professor Laura Thompson, MASS MoCAs Director of Education and Curator of Kidspace, MCLA's Advanced Museum Studies spent the semester exploring the many ways in which objects are arranged and interpreted in museums to influence viewers' understandings of art, history, and social concerns.

Featuring the 300 sq ft. installation of a golden, elaborately woven carpet made of bullets by artist, Raul Martinez, and interactive opportunities developed by students, Bullet Points is a means to open discussions about the complex nature of guns in BCRC's ExPRESS space on 49 Main St. North Adams MA.

Raul Martinez, Pigs, Bullet Casings & Hemp, 2015

Conviction

MCLA's Senior Art Projects Class

Featuring: Amber Coldwell, Angela Digennaro, Patrick Engle, Nathan W. Massari, Elaine Myers and Sarah Tefft

This exhibition will introduce the work of six MCLA senior art majors and the artistic achievements of their 'Senior Art Project' course, the cornerstone of the MCLA art major. Taught by visiting assistant Professor of Art Josh Ostraff, this year's students focused on the idea of conviction  defined as a firmly held belief or opinion.

Predominately working with two-dimensional work, using a wide variety of subject matter, the students work connects through the conviction of their artistic practices which have grown and developed throughout the semester. Work will be on view in MCLA's Gallery 51, on 51 Main St. North Adams, MA.

What's Next?

A solo show of recent work by Karen Moss

March 3- April 24

Opening Reception: March 3rd 5-7pm

Throughout her 40-year career, Karen Moss has created two-dimensional artwork that weaves a delicate line between narrative and social commentary. Often inspired by news items relating to problems in society  such as eating disorders, youth violence, homelessness, consumerism and environmental devastation  Moss engages her audiences through her use of pop imagery, delicate line, humor and fantasy. Moss has been inspired by stories and illustrations from childrens books and animal life since her childhood. Drawing has always been a strong component of her work, and paper is her preferred medium. Combining these interests and inspirations helped to shape her involvement with narrative, art history and the natural world for 'What's Next?' opening March 3rd.

Karen Moss, Strange Trio, collage and acrylic paint, 2015

Black Lives Matter

A juried show curated by MCLA Professors Dr. Frances Jones-Sneed & Melanie Mowinski

February 4-28

Opening Reception: February 4th 5-7pm

This mixed-media exhibition, inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, was curated by MCLA professors Dr. Frances Jones-Sneed and Melanie Mowinski.

#BlackLivesMatter first came to light in 2012 when a young, unarmed, black male, Trayvon Martin, was shot and killed. Martins death and the acquittal of his accused killer sparked protests and the Black Lives Matter movement. The movement  started by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi  challenges the anti-black racism that plagues society today, Mowinski said.

Artists were asked to submit works of all mediums to answer the question, What does #BlackLiveMatter mean to you? They were encouraged to explore from the literal to the conceptual underpinnings of Black Lives Matter and to examine the impact of state and national violence on black lives>, Mowinski said.

The exhibit strives to encourage and incite conversation about race relations, the importance of black lives, and proposals for what we each must do to make a difference in our society regardless of our gender, race or place in society.

The exhibit includes artworks from 30 artists from 17 states at varying stages in their careers: from emerging to established artists. The mediums of the artworks include traditional art forms like drawing, painting and sculpture, but also time-based mediums like video and artist books as well as participatory pieces.

Elena Wyatt, Johnson City, TN

Janet Goldner, New York, NY

Latasha Holley, Atlanta, GA

David Sharp, Salt Lake City, UT

Kaytea Petro, San Francisco, CA

Amber Doe, Bronx, NY

Michelle Thomas, Hartford, CT

Alan Wieder, Portland, OR

Melissa Maddonni Haims, Philadelphia, PA

Janet Braun-Reinitz, Brooklyn, NY

Karina Furhman, San Pablo, CA

Mary Joseph, Fort Lauderdale, FL

Kandy Lopez, Miami, FL

Celine Browning, Boston, MA

Kim Darling, Omaha, NE

David Brewster, Glyndon, MD

Kamal Al Mansour, San Jose, CA

Sally Sussman, Williamstown, MA

Randi Shenkman, Blechertown, MA

Therese Moriarty, East Longmeadow, MA

Sharbreon Plummer, New Orleans, LA

Vincent Romaniello, Brooklyn, NY

Donte Hayes, Kennesaw, GA

Suprina, New York, NY

Jerome Whitaker, Edmonds, WA

Ginger Ware, Reno, NV

Laura Sharp Wilson, Salt Lake City, UT

Emily Snell, Albuquerque, NM

IlaSahai Prouty, Bakersville, NC

Desmond Lewis, Brentwood, TN

Kandy Lopez, Where are the superheroes? Silkscreen and watercolor, 2013

see more images from the exhibition on our flickr page
Trump Says He Up-Played CCP Virus in Combating Its Spread

President Donald Trump said late Tuesday at an ABC News town hall that he has up-played the CCP virus pandemic via the actions he took to combat its spread, and that he doesnt think he could have done more to stop it.

He was asked by one prospective voter, If you believe its the presidents responsibility to protect America, why would you downplay a pandemic that is known to disproportionately harm low-income families and minority communities?

Trump said, I didnt downplay it. I actually, in many ways, I up-played it, in terms of action.

Did you not admit to it yourself? the voter said.

Yes, because what I did was, with China, I put a ban on, with Europe, I put a ban on. And we would have lost thousands of more people, had I not put the ban on, Trump said.

That was called action  We did a very, very good job when we put that ban on. Whether you call it talent or luck, it was very important. We saved a lot of lives when we did that, he added, referring to travel bans he issued against China and Europe earlier this year. The China travel ban led to an 86 percent drop in travel from China to the United States.

President Donald Trump sits with ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos for a town hall event at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 15, 2020. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

Trumps comments come after a number of media outlets characterized his comments to journalist Bob Woodward earlier this year as an admission of intentionally playing it down when speaking about the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus to Americans in the early days of the pandemic.

The Washington Post on Sept. 9 published an audio excerpt from Woodwards new book, Rage, in which Trump said, I still like playing it down, because I dont want to create a panic, which is similar to remarks he gave in public around the same time when he told Americans to stay calm, and said that he did not want to panic the country.

The White House said that the president was projecting calm in February when speaking about the CCP virus, in part due to concerns about a mass panic that could have left grocery store shelves bare and crash the economy.

Near the end of the town hall on Tuesday, Trump was asked what was the most difficult part of his presidency and what he has learned from it. He told the voter that it was without question  the whole COVID, the China virus.

Its been very difficult, its been so sad  I learned that life is very fragile. I knew people that were powerful people, strong people, good people, and they got knocked out by this, and diedsix people. It was five until about 2 weeks ago, now its six, Trump said.

These were strong people, and all of a sudden they were dead; they were gone, he added. And it wasnt their fault. It was the fault of a country that could have stopped it.

And I made a great deal with China  I feel so differently about that deal. Its a great deal. It was good for the farmers, good for the manufacturers, but I dont view it the same way. It was good for us, but I dont view it the same way because of the horror of this disease, that could have been stopped at the border.

Transmission electron micrograph of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles, which The Epoch Times refers to as the CCP virus, isolated from a patient. (NIAID)

ABC Newss George Stephanopoulos asked, Could you have done more to stop it?

I dont think so, the president replied. I think what I did by closing up the country, I think I saved two, maybe two-and-a-half, maybe more than that lives. I really dont think so. I think we did a very good job.

I dont know if thats been recognized; weve made a lot of governors feel good, weve made some reputationally weve enhanced their reputation. They didnt have anything, we got them the supplies, we got them the ventilators. Weve made a lot of people look good that shouldnt look good, to be honest with you.

Trump was also asked on the wearing of masks. The wearing of masks has proven to lessen the spread of COVID. Why dont you support a mandate for national mask wearing? And why dont you wear a mask more often? one prospective voter asked.

I do wear them when I have to and when Im in hospitals and other locations, Trump said, later adding: There is by the way, a lot of people dont want to wear masks. There are a lot of people think that masks are not good.

Trump provided an example of waiters who may touch the mask, then theyre touching the plate, that cant be good.

He went on: If you look at Dr. Faucis original statement, you look at a lot of people, CDC, you look at a lot of peoples original statement, they said very strongly, George, dont wear masks. Then all of a sudden they went to, Wear masks.'

The concept of a mask is good, but it also does youre constantly touching it, youre touching your face, youre touching plates. There are people that dont think masks are good.

Kate Bedingfield, communications director for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Bidens campaign, said in a statement in response to Trumps comments on COVID-19 that his mismanagement continues to badly worsen.

After almost 200,000 Americans lost their lives because of his failed response to COVID-19, Trump again suggested tonight that the virus would just go away. The American people are crying out for real leadership on this pandemic, but Trump just confirmed tonight, yet again, that even after 8 months of letting the worst public health crisis in 100 years spiral out of control that not only does he not have a planhe doesnt have a clue, she added.

Jack Phillips, Zachary Stieber, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Read More Editorial: Giving the Right Name to the Virus Causing a Worldwide Pandemic
I DONT mean to sound harsh, but the Conservative Party of Canadas recent leadership ballot-counting debacle was not exactly the way a party looking to revitalize itself wants to appear to the voting public.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 16/9/2020 (492 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

I DONT mean to sound harsh, but the Conservative Party of Canadas recent leadership ballot-counting debacle was not exactly the way a party looking to revitalize itself wants to appear to the voting public.

While were at it, though, lets be honest: this particular leadership contest was really a competition between B-team members. The real top-drawer Conservative leadership candidates  the likes of Rona Ambrose, Jean Charest, Christy Clark and Nicolas Mulroney  took a pass, for whatever reason.

Still, congratulations are in order for MP Erin OToole on securing the leadership of the federal Conservative Party. Believe it or not, that was actually the easy part  what with a little bit of help from his newfound friend Leslyn Lewis and her supporters.

But Mr. OToole, who labelled himself during the leadership campaign as a "True Blue" conservative, has a Stephen Harper problem. In addition, his corralling of social conservatives in the party creates an Andrew Scheer problem for him, too. Heck, he has a Joe Clark problem, as well  with one recent poll showing almost 70 per cent of respondents know precious little about him or what he stands for.

An admittedly early reading of the electoral tea leaves did show that OToole received critical support from the West and Quebec (not surprising, given Peter MacKays lack of proficiency in French). And it looks like the social-conservative bloc, once it departed the vessels of Lewis and MP Derek Sloan, navigated toward the OToole camp.

But styling himself ideologically and policy-wise along the lines of Harper, having served in his cabinet as veterans affairs minister, will not help him electorally in certain parts of the country. Quebec, for instance, will not be very receptive to OTooles right-leaning instincts on climate change, immigration and gun control.

Furthermore, an OToole-led Conservative Party  just as the Harper Conservatives found infertile electoral soil in Atlantic Canada  will be lucky to hold onto the few seats it has today in the region.

When you think about it, its also hard to really differentiate OToole from former party leader Andrew Scheer. Yes, there are some differences here and there in policy orientation. But like Scheer, is OToole not trapped by the high walls of the social-conservative box that he now finds himself in?

After having benefitted hugely from their backing, is he going to suddenly disavow social conservatives and declare himself staunchly pro-abortion, pro-immigration, anti-pipelines and anti-guns? I dont think so. And thats a major political problem for him in Ontario cities and the 905 area code suburbs, and even in parts of Manitoba and British Columbia.

The electoral reality is that the OToole Conservatives cant win the next election if they cant win the lions share of seats in vote-rich Ontario. However, it appears that party members from Ontario, including those of the old "progressive" conservative vintage, initially parked their votes with frontrunner Peter MacKay. This is precisely where his Harper and Scheer problems, unless he can somehow find a way to magically resolve them, will likely cost him the next federal election.

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Its also true that the Conservatives will need the votes of younger Canadians and millennials to have any chance of forming a government next time out. But is OToole suddenly going to embrace aggressive action on runaway climate change, LGBTTQ+ rights and social equity issues? By doing so, he would risk alienating voter support in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Perhaps none of this election prognostication will hold up. Maybe OTooles Ontario roots  recall that the Conservatives (and the old PCs) have not had a full-time party leader from that province since the late 1940s  will play well with Central Canada voters. Maybe his electoral cachet is much stronger than I and many others believe to be the case.

Maybe the electoral brand of Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party has been irreparably damaged by a slew of ethical scandals and policy miscues. It could be that Canadians are thinking hard about once again placing the federal Liberals in the political penalty box for an undetermined amount of time.

Maybe. But maybe not. A lot will depend on whether the Liberal governments forthcoming pandemic recovery (big-spending) plan, under the tutelage of newly minted Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, has any traction amongst Canadian voters.

In the meantime, allow me to give Mr. OToole some free advice: hold off on triggering an election at the end of September, put some serious effort into crafting a bullet-proof, regionally attractive and more moderate policy agenda, and take some time to dismantle those "Joe Who" comparisons by introducing yourself warmly and credibly so as to connect with Canadians.

Peter McKenna is professor of political science at the University of Prince Edward Island in Charlottetown.
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India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has exited from Sudan oilfields after the African nation refused to pay for oil it lifted from the fields.

ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), the overseas investment arm of the state-owned firm, as also its Chinese partner CNPC and Malaysia's Petronas have withdrawn from the block, a top company official said.

OVL had a 25 per cent stake in Block 2A&4 in Sudan while CNCP had 40 per cent and Petronet 30 per cent. Sudan''s Sudapet had 5 per cent interest.

Sudan had since 2011 not paid OVL and partners for oil it bought from the block. Sudan''s dues towards OVL totalled USD 430.69 million, the official said.

The company initiated arbitration proceedings against the Government of Sudan to recover the dues and has terminated the Exploration and Production Sharing Agreement (EPSA), he said.

OVL had also not been paid about USD 99 million for the 741-km-long pipeline it built from Khartoum to Port Sudan.

The project cost and rental of USD 254 million was to be paid by Sudan in 18 half-yearly equated instalments of USD 14.135 million each starting from December 30, 2005. The company got a total of 11 instalments (USD 155.48 million) till December 2010 and the balance seven instalments amounting to USD 98.94 million remained outstanding.

The official said falling to get the balance payment even after using diplomatic channels, OVL has initiated a separate arbitration to recover the outstanding dues.

OVL had entered Sudan in 2003 by acquiring a 25 per cent interest in the Greater Nile Oil Project.

GNOP consisted of the upstream assets of on-land Blocks 1, 2 and 4 spread over 49,500 sq km in the Muglad Basin, located about 780 km South-West of the capital city of Khartoum in Sudan.

Upon the secession of South Sudan from Sudan in July 2011, the contract areas of Blocks 1, 2 and 4 which straddle between Sudan and South Sudan were split with a major share of production and reserves are now situated in South Sudan.

Post-secession, as the government of Sudan''s share of total production from Sudan was not sufficient to meet the requirements of local refineries, foreign firms were asked to sell their share of crude oil to it.

However, the payment of dues on account of crude oil purchased by the government of Sudan was not received, the official said.

Sudan had denied ONGC and partners an extension of licence to operate block 2B after the initial contract expired in November 2016.

OVL had, along with state-owned Oil India Ltd, constructed and financed a 741-km multi-product pipeline from Khartoum refinery to Port Sudan for USD 194 million.

OVL''s share of the project cost was 90 per cent, while the rest was borne by OIL.

The pipeline was handed over to the government of Sudan in October 2005. The lump-sum price, together with lease rent was required to be paid to OVL in 18 equal half-yearly instalments effective from December 2005.

This amount totalled USD 254 million.

OVL has participating interest in 37 oil and gas projects in 17 countries spanning from Venezuela to Vietnam.

The official said oil production at Block 1, 2 & 4 in South Sudan was shut in December 2013 due to security reasons and production is now being resumed.
Israel has ordered a nationwide lockdown to deal with an increase in coronavirus cases. The new rules are to take effect Friday at the start of the Jewish High Holiday season.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the move on Sunday.

Schools, restaurants, market areas and hotels will close as part of the lockdown. Israelis will also face restrictions on movement and gatherings.

"I know that these steps come at a difficult price for all of us, Netanyahu told the nation. This is not the holiday we are used to."

The new lockdown will remain in place for at least three weeks.

Israel already had a lengthy lockdown in the spring. The move brought down infection numbers but also hurt the country's economy, with many people losing jobs.

Israelis usually hold large family gatherings and fill religious centers during the important holy day of Yom Kippur later this month. Officials feared that could fuel a rise in infections.

A consideration in Israeli discussions about the lockdown was what prayers would look like during the Jewish holidays. The details on prayer during the lockdown were not clear in the government decision. That led Israeli Housing Minister Yaakov Litzman, who represents the Orthodox Jews, to resign from the government.

Israel has had more than 150,000 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus and more than 1,100 deaths. With a population of 9 million, the country now has one of the world's worst outbreaks of the virus. More than 4,000 new cases are reported every day.

Israel earned praise for its early efforts in stopping the coronavirus. The country moved quickly to close its borders and appeared to bring infections under control. It has since been criticized for opening businesses and schools too quickly, permitting the virus to spread.

Much of the criticism has been aimed at Netanyahu. Thousands of protesters gather outside his Jerusalem home every week. The prime minister has appeared preoccupied by politics and personal issues, including his trial on corruption charges.

Netanyahu has also been criticized for seeming to surrender to pressure from interest groups, including most recently his Orthodox governing partners. They seemed to have persuaded him to ease a city-based lockdown plan that would have mostly affected ultra-Orthodox and Arab communities.

On Sunday, Netanyahu defended his earlier actions. He said Israel's economy had come out of the first lockdown in a better state than many other developed nations. And he said the country had had fewer coronavirus deaths than other countries with similar outbreaks.

The government, led by two opposing parties who joined forces reportedly to fight the virus, also has been denounced for the new outbreak. Critics say it has failed to deal with both the health and economic crises, leading Israel to its second lockdown.

But some government ministers are blaming the public for the spread. They accuse Israelis of violating rules on public gatherings and wearing face masks.

Im Caty Weaver.

The Associated Press reported this story. Caty Weaver adapted it for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

lockdown  n. a temporary condition ordered by a government (as during the outbreak of an epidemic disease) in which people are required to stay in their homes and refrain from or limit activities outside the home involving public contact

prayers  n. a religious service in which words are spoken to a god, or gods, especially in order to give thanks or to ask for something

mask  n. a covering used over the mouth and nose to protect against disease spread
The bridge connecting Matamoros to Brownsville used to be a symbol of hope for thousands of asylum-seekers. They made an encampment of tarp and garbage bags right next to it, their tents often facing the Rio Grande and the U.S.

But with court hearings postponed amid the pandemic, a lack of U.S. immigration lawyers in northern Mexico, fear of kidnapping and a recent hurricane, the migrants in Matamoros and all along the border have the slimmest of chances of getting into the U.S.

More than 43,800 cases have been completed for the migrants who were caught in the Trump administrations Migrant Protection Protocols, which requires them to wait in Mexico while they attend hearings on the U.S. side. The policy began in January 2019 but largely has been shelved. Most migrants now are quickly deported without asylum hearings.

Only 525 migrants  just over 1 percent  were granted asylum or another form of relief this year. The rest were deported, or their cases were terminated.

About 21,000 migrants still are stuck in the process, waiting for the courts to reopen to resume their hearings, according to the nonprofit Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.

I feel frustrated, I feel desperate. I cant go back, I cant go forward, said Perla, a Nicaraguan asylum-seeker who has been waiting for 13 months at the northern Mexico border.

More than 32,500 MPP migrants already have received orders of removal. And more than 28,000 of those orders were because the migrants missed their court hearings.

Its hard for me to take in because weve been hustling to get people to court, said Charlene DCruz, director of Project Corazon, a Lawyers for Good Government program. A lot of people missed hearings because they didnt have the right time, or cartels kidnapping them.

Since October 2019, 89 percent of the migrants who were allowed into the U.S. attended every court hearing. But only about 50 percent of migrants waiting in Mexico are attending all their hearings, TRAC found.

Though the MPP program was reduced this year, August showed an uptick in MPP cases, with about 770 migrants put into the program, compared with only 124 in May. The majority of the MPP cases in August occurred in El Paso, with nearly 500 migrants put into MPP, followed by the Del Rio sector at 74.

The MPP migrants who have received orders of removal were not deported to their home country. The migrants simply were sent back to Mexico and not allowed back in the U.S. Once deported, the tens of thousands of MPP migrants can make a choice to stay in Mexico, attempt to cross into the U.S. illegally or return to their home country.

More than 3,800 MPP migrants this year have attempted to re-enter the U.S., according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Meanwhile, thousands of migrants continue to languish in an open-air encampment and makeshift shelters along the border. The pop-up courts made for MPP hearings have been postponed until a set of criteria laid out by the Justice Department is met. Its unclear when these criteria will be reached.

In Matamoros, the encampment that once had held more than 2,500 migrants has dropped to below 1,000. A fence was placed around the camp, and no newcomers are allowed in.

Right now the mood is pretty somber. Theres very little hope, even more uncertainty than there was before, said Andrea Leiner, a spokeswoman for the medical aid nonprofit Global Response Management. Its like, how many setbacks can the human psyche take before you just cant take it anymore?

In June, the first coronavirus case was recorded at the camp. Since then, 84 migrants have tested positive.

In July, Hurricane Hanna hit. It flooded the southern part of the encampment that had been used to isolate migrants who were particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 - the disabled, young and elderly. The flooding also took down GRMs field hospital for the migrants. Rodents, snakes and mosquitoes invaded the camp for days afterward.

In August, Guatemalan migrant Edwin Rodrigo Castro de la Parra, 20, who was a leader at the camp, drowned in the Rio Grande.

I think it was just one event after the other that people no longer feel really secure, Leiner said. Theres really no pathway for them to get anywhere  right now its just day-to-day survival. And thats a pretty awful place to be in, particularly if you have a family and children. When the only thing you can hope for is that your children survive, thats pretty terrible.

Perla, the asylum-seeker, fled Nicaragua with her daughter and two granddaughters because of her activism in the political group Constitutionalist Liberal Party, which opposes the countrys government.

If we go back, theyll either imprison us or kill us, she said.

Because of the pandemic, her court date was rescheduled tentatively for November. She worries for her grandchildren, 7 and 9, who are not receiving formal education and arent living with a roof over their heads.

She said she doesnt understand why officials wont let her family continue with their court cases because of coronavirus concerns, when she sees hundreds of people going back and forth across the border every day.

Its just, were not bad people, Perla said. Were good people. Were families, were workers. Were professionals, too. Were just from another place.

Silvia Foster-Frau covers immigration news in the San Antonio, Bexar County and South Texas area. To read more from Silvia, become a subscriber. sfosterfrau@express-news.net | Twitter: @SilviaElenaFF
Youre never too old to learn how to code. Three years ago, Masako Wakamiya noticed the lack of fun game apps for senior citizens and created her own at the age of 81. Its called Hinadan, and its inspired by a traditional Japanese doll festival. We met Wakamiya, now 84, in Kanagawa, Japan, and learned how this IT evangelist and digital creator is empowering other senior citizens to make the most of technology.
RESTON, Va., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Mason Investment Advisory Services, Inc., a Reston, VA based registered investment advisory firm, is pleased to announce that four members of their team were recognized as "Top Financial Professionals" by Northern Virginia Magazine. This continues a streak of recognition for Mason in 2020. Earlier this year, Mason was recognized as a "Top Institutional Investment Consulting Team" by Barron's and as one of the top 300 registered investment advisors in the U.S. by the Financial Times.

Northern Virginia Magazine's list includes fee-only financial planners and fee-based investment advisors, among others. Survey respondents are asked to answer the following question: "When nominating your peers, please keep this question in mind: If you had a close friend or relative who needed financial planning advice, and you could not handle the case yourself, to whom would you refer them?"

Congratulations to Sarah Casey, Scott George, Brian Kelley, and Chris Schreiner for being nominated by their peers. Mason is very proud to be one of just a few firms to have four or more advisors included on these lists. Mason believes that this is a testament to their long heritage of service to clients in Virginia, D.C., Maryland and across the country.

Chris Schreiner, Senior Financial Planner and Chief Operating Officer at Mason, said "We are very honored to be part of Northern Virginia's Magazine's list. Sarah Casey, Scott George, Brian Kelley, and I are humbled to be nominated by our peers and know that this would not be possible without the dedication of Mason's excellent support staff and other Mason advisors."

Mason's private client practice includes wealthy individuals and corporate executives from across the country. Their private client practice includes investment management and financial planning services. http://masoncompanies.com/services/private-clients/

Mason's institutional practice includes foundations, endowments, retirement plans and other institutional portfolios. Mason's services for institutions are offered on a discretionary (outsourced chief investment officer/OCIO) and on a non-discretionary basis. https://masoncompanies.com/services/institutions/

Founded in 1982, Mason works with private individuals, families and institutions, (foundations, endowments, corporate funds and retirement plans) in more than 40 states, is independently held and does not create any proprietary products. Mason, an investment advisor registered with the SEC, has over $8 billion in assets under management. Please note that SEC registration does not constitute an endorsement of the firm by the Commissioner nor does it indicate that the firm's advisors have attained a particular level of skill or ability.

SOURCE Mason Investment Advisory Services, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.masoncompanies.com


If you've heard San Francisco's most famous ghost story, it was probably some iteration of this:

In the years before the 1906 earthquake, a beautiful young woman lived in the city with her infant child. One day, the woman decided to take her baby to Golden Gate Park for a jaunt around Stow Lake. While on their walk, the woman spotted a friend, and the two sat down on a bench to catch up.

After a few minutes, the woman turned to check on her baby. To her horror, the pram was no longer beside her. In a panic, she ran around the lake, screaming for her child. The last anyone saw of her  alive  was when, in a moment of horrid realization, she ran into the lake.

For the last century, people on foggy nights have reported seeing a distressed lady in a white gown stalking the rim of Stow Lake. Some say she approaches them, begging them to help find her baby. Others have only heard her moans. The story is so famous that Golden Gate Park even has a page dedicated to the legend.

It's a classic, haunting ghost story, so it's no surprise the tale has resonated with locals, and ghost hunters, for over 100 years. But is there any truth to the legend of the White Lady of Stow Lake?

----

The first mention of a phantom in Golden Gate Park is a front-page Chronicle story from Jan. 6, 1908. The article tells the tale of Arthur Pigeon and his automobile full of female party-goers. The vehicle was seen speeding through the park late at night before being apprehended by mounted police. Inside, the officer found a car full of terrified people, white as a proverbial ghost.

San Francisco Chronicle/Archives

Pigeon told the officer they'd seen a "thing" directly in front of their vehicle, "clad in a luminous white robe, and holding its arms extended as though to stop the progress of the machine."

"It was a thin, tall figure," Pigeon explained. "It seemed to shine. It had long, fair hair and was barefooted. I did not notice the face. I was too frightened."

The bemused officer asked if the party had previously visited "beach resorts [that] might produce ghosts or spirits." No, insisted the group. Very well, the officer said. Then you'll have to show me where the ghost was.

The women "shrieked" at the suggestion, leaving poor Arthur Pigeon to escort the officer back to the spot where he'd seen the apparition. Of course, it was gone.

"Captain Gleeson of the Park Station was informed of the affair," the Chronicle wrote, "and gave orders that any ghost answering this description is to be arrested on sight."

----

San Francisco history before the 1906 earthquake can be difficult to verify. The fire destroyed the city's police and coroners' reports, along with thousands of personal records kept by families. So if there was a police report about a woman and her baby drowning in Stow Lake, it's likely long gone.

Newspaper crime stories and death notices give a more complete, and surprisingly deadly, picture of Golden Gate Park in the late 1800s. The park, with its many dark corners, was a common spot for suicides. So common, in fact, that the San Francisco Call ran a Sunday feature in 1900 called "The Park Suicides."

"The park, with its luxury of trees, shrubbery and green grass, seems to appeal strongly to the troubled philosopher who seeks to rid himself of what he deems a burden," the Call wrote.

San Francisco Call/Archives

The story, accompanied by a complete list of suicides in the park since 1890, found that one in every 12 suicides in San Francisco took place there. The methods ranged from poisonings to self-inflicted gunshot wounds. There's only one suicide-by-drowning, however, and that death was later ruled a homicide. If the White Lady of Stow Lake died there, then it must have been after the 1900 article was written. Surely a suicide that dramatic would have warranted a mention.

----

If any single anecdote gave life to the ghost of Stow Lake, it is this small item in the July 10, 1906 Call.

More for you 12 unsolved Bay Area mysteries you've never heard of

Mary Cook and Nellie Gillighan, both 12-year-old earthquake refugees living the park, reported to police that they had "seen the naked body of a baby floating in Lloyd Lake," a pond near Stow Lake. Police made a full investigation but saw no sign of a body. Just in case, they planned to drag the lake. There are no subsequent newspaper articles on the subject, so that search must have come up empty too.

Coupled with the park's reputation as a suicide spot, the legend writes itself: A beautiful woman and her infant child, a tragic death in the park, a spirit that can't find peace.

But for those who believe in ghosts, there's no shortage of candidates for who could be the real lady of Stow Lake. The 1900 "Park Suicides" story offers tales of at least four women who took their own lives in the park, including one who name was never discovered.

"Who she was, where she came from and what her troubles were will never be known," the Call wrote. "For she was among the unidentified."

Katie Dowd is the SFGATE managing editor. Contact: katie.dowd@sfgate.com | Twitter: @katiedowd
China extends tariff exclusions for US imports by an additional year

Global Times

Source: Global Times Published: 2020/9/15 14:31:42

China extended tariff exclusions for US imports that are subject to China's counter measures against the US Section 301 action by an additional year from Wednesday, the due date, to September 16, 2021.

According to a Tuesday statement from the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council, China's cabinet, 16 products from the US including lubricants and fish meal for feed are under the extended tariffs exemption.

Imports from the US previously faced additional tariffs in retaliation for the US' Section 301 investigation covering Chinese imports.

"China's move is a reciprocal gesture toward the US," said Gao Lingyun, an expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing who closely follows the China-US trade friction.

In August, the US government extended China tariff exclusions for a wide range of goods, including smart watches and certain medical masks, through the end of 2020, rather than one-year extension mainly due to the upcoming US presidential election and following power transfer taking place in January.

"The exemption extension by China will benefit Chinese importers, US exporters as well as the downstream manufacturers," Gao told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Since September 2019, China has issued several exemption lists for US goods subject to China's retaliatory tariffs.

In May this year, China announced that a batch of imported products from the US will be excluded from punitive tariffs, which came just days after the US released a tariff exemption list for imported products from China.

The coordinated moves aimed at easing pressure on specific industries and companies in both countries showed that regardless of the souring China-US ties in a wide range of areas, both sides, having an interdependent trade relationship, are committed to the hard-won phase-one trade agreement, experts said.

In the latest sales activity, Chinese firms bought 664,000 tons of US soybeans, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said last week. That was the largest daily purchase since July 22, Reuters reported.

Additionally, China made a purchase of 101,600 tons of US corn, the USDA said.

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A 22-year-old Weymouth woman was arrested in connection with the Sept. 11 killing of a 24-year-old man in Quincy, authorities announced on Wednesday.

Alyssa Dellamano was arrested on a murder warrant issued Monday, the Norfolk District Attorneys office said. Police also arrested 24-year-old Samantha Perrier, who has been charged with misleading police during their investigation into the slaying of Cameron Nohmy.

Police said Nohmy was fatally stabbed after a short altercation in a parking lot near the intersection of Hancock Street and Woodbine Street in Quincy on Sept 11. Police were notified of the incident by associates of Nohmy around 10:45 p.m., authorities said.

Nohmy was taken to Boston Medical Center where he later died, police said.

A scholarship will be created in Nohmys memory for Laborers Local 22, according to a GoFundMe page. The scholarship will go toward furthering the education and training pursuits for those in need.

After being taken into custody without incident, Dellamano was processed at Quincy Police Headquarters. She is expected be transported to Quincy District Court for arraignment.
Britain's Covid-19 swab-testing system has been crumbling this week as cases are surging and hundreds of people say they can't get tests even though they are ill.

Faced with a dead-end online booking system or directions to tests hundreds of miles from home, many are losing faith in NHS Test & Trace altogether.

But there are other ways to get tested. Websites run by private firms are offering in-clinic and DIY home tests for people wanting to speed up the process.

They come with a hefty price tag, however, with the most costly coming in at an eye-watering 350 for a swab done by a medical professional.

Although they're likely to be very similar kits, the Health Secretary Matt Hancock has urged members of the public not to take private tests.

He said in Parliament yesterday: 'We dont recommend any private tests that are not signed off and verified and therefore were providing tests, as many tests as we possibly can with a growing capacity.'

A move away from the national testing programme could allow new cases to go under the radar and get missed from official data, while there is a risk of profiteers selling tests that give inaccurate results.

Some of the UK's top paid-for healthcare providers, BUPA, HCA and Babylon among them, are not offering swab tests to people unless they're going into hospital, with Babylon instead directing people to the NHS programme.

Below are some of the tests available online. All are nose-and-throat swabs the same as the ones used at drive-in test centres:

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has urged people in the UK not to turn to private testing and to use the national  free  system being run by the Department of Health, but many people are facing long waits, long drives or are unable to get tested at all (Pictured: A queue of people outside an official testing centre in Manchester yesterday)

London Doctors Clinic  189

London Doctors Clinic will send people a DIY swab test which is used to diagnose Covid-19 for 189 each, including postage.

The company says it is using the same nose-and-throat swab tests used by the NHS Test & Trace programme, and that they are 'approved by Public Health England'.

Official testing centres have used more than one type of test since setting up, with the biggest players those made by the companies Randox and ThermoFisher.

The company claims its test is 98 per cent sensitive  meaning it correctly identifies 98 out of 100 people who have coronavirus  and 100 per cent specific, meaning it does not wrongly diagnose people who don't have the virus.

It says the results are available within three days of the test being posted back to the lab.

Assured Screening  109

Assured Screening says its tests can detect more than 95 per cent of positive results

Assured Screening, a pharmaceutical lab based in County Durham, offers home testing or tests at a centre in the North East of England.

The test centre is located, aptly, in Barnard Castle  the Durham town where Government advisor Dominic Cummings was seen breaking self-isolation rules by going for a drive to 'test his eyesight'.

For people who live out of range of the lab, home tests can be done in a process that turned around within 24 hours of receipt seven days a week, the company says.

Its tests are more than 95 per cent sensitive and 100 per cent specific, Assured Screening says, and it uses machines developed by big-name testing companies Qiagen, Roche and Thermo Scientific.

Assured Screening, a company offering private coronavirus tests, is based in Barnard Castle, the County Durham town where Government advisor Dominic Cummings was famously caught breaking self-isolation rules

Private Harley Street Clinic  250-350

A website called Private Harley Street Clinic offers tests for up to 350.

Customers can order home test swab kits for 250, which are posted out, or have a home visit from a medical professional for 350.

The company, which has a clinic and laboratory on the famous medical street in west London, says it can provide people with test results the next working day, between 20 and 48 hours.

It says the tests are 'the same used by Public Health England' but does not name the kit. The website says they are 70 per cent sensitive  meaning 30 out of 100 infected people will be wrongly told they do not have the virus.

The tests are 100 per cent specific, the site claims, showing that the false positive rate is 'negligible'.

DocTap  129

Another London-based private clinic, DocTap, offers swab tests and 'fitness to travel certificates' for 129 but these can only be taken in person in the city.

DocTap says it can offer 'PHE approved' tests and get people their results within three days.

The swabs are done at one of seven testing sites around London or they can be sent by post  mail order kits may take up to a week to complete, from order to result.

The test is a DIY self-swab that people must use on their nose and throat themselves, or they can pay an extra 15 to have a medical professional do it for them.

DocTap's service appears centred around certifying people 'fit to fly' if they test negative for the virus, and offers certificates to prove someone's Covid-free status.

Some countries, such as Cyprus, now require these certificates to prove travellers do not have the virus before they are allowed into the country.

The company does not make clear the type of test it uses, nor how accurate it is.

Doctorcall  160+

Doctorcall claims its test is 'highly reliable'

Doctorcall, also a clinic based on Harley Street, offers swab tests for coronavirus for upwards of 160.

A home test, sent by post, costs 160 and is reportedly processed at 'the largest private accredited laboratory in the UK', with results returned within three days.

The company recommends people take the test within five days of starting to experience symptoms of Covid-19.

Doctorcall also offers in-clinic tests to people who do not have symptoms, and home visits from doctors. A doctor's visit is charged on top of the 157 test fee.

The website does not name the test it uses or say how accurate it is, other than to say it is 'highly reliable'.

CityDoc  175

CityDoc offers Covid-19 swab tests to people either by mail order or at clinics in London.

Tests done in clinics return results the next day, CityDoc says, while postal kits will take approximately three days after it is posted back to the lab.

People can order up to 10 tests at a time for 175 each and they are certified for proving people safe for foreign travel.

CityDoc says its test is 99 per cent accurate.

London Global Practice  315

London Global Practice, a private healthcare provider, offers same-day swab testing for 315 a go.

The tests can be ordered online and sent out by courier on the same day for people to do the swabs themselves at home. Each order includes a video consultation with a a member of staff who tells the customer how to do the test.

The company says test results can be confirmed on the 'same day' if the samples are received by 7am.

It does not reveal the accuracy of the test nor name the product.

Medinow  125+

Medinow markets its test with the fact the clinic is regulated by the Care Quality Commission

Medinow, a private medical services company, allows members of the public to buy home testing kits for Covid-19 or a visit from a health professional to do the test.

The home test costs 125, while the price for the visit is not advertised.

Medinow says its tests are 99.9 per cent accurate and its results will be produced around two days after the sample is received by the laboratory by post.

The firm requests that customers contact staff directly to discuss have a test done by a medical visitor to their home or office. The price is not advertised.

Private Coronavirus Tests  149

Private Coronavirus Tests's service claims to be 100 per cent accurate

Private Coronavirus Tests appears to be a website set up solely to sell swab tests.

The kits cost 149 each and claim to be 100 per cent accurate, although it is not clear what company they are produced by.

The company claims to be 'a laboratory set up by NHS registered GPs and consultants to provide easy access to pathology testing services'.

Results are returned within two to three days, the website says, and it offers discounts for NHS staff.
US Attorney General William Barr has urged federal prosecutors to bring heavy-handed charges against people accused of violence and property destruction during racial justice protests this summer, including possibly meting out indictments for attempting to overthrow the government.

Mr Barr warned prosecutors in a conference call last week that violence at demonstrations against police brutality  93 per cent of which have been peaceful this summer, studies have found  could intensify as the calendar creeps towards the 2020 presidential election between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, The Wall Street Journal reported.

To help deter an uptick in violence, Mr Barr suggested that DOJ prosecutors consider filing federal charges when state charges might cover suspects alleged crimes.

The attorney general mentioned the possibility of charging people with sedition, a seldom-used criminal statute that punishes citizens who conspire to overthrow, put down, or destroy by force the US government or use force to attempt to seize, take, or possess any of its property.

Mr Barr has made it a department priority to round up and prosecute violent demonstrators at the racial justice protests this summer, more than 200 of whom have been charged with crimes related to destroying property, assaulting law enforcement officers, or illegally wielding firearms.

Meanwhile, local law enforcement officials have expressed alarm at the increase in clashes between left-wing protesters and organised groups of right-wing counter-protesters such as the Proud Boys that confronted and scrapped with Black Lives Matter demonstrators in Oregon earlier this month.

The DOJs crackdown on the violent protests have provided a policy backdrop to Mr Trumps aggressive campaign rhetoric denouncing the violent pockets of mostly peaceful protests this summer and attempting to tie Mr Biden to their most radical elements.

Tensions between law enforcement and minority communities flared throughout the summer after the deaths in police custody of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville, as well as the officer-involved shootings of several other unarmed black men across the country.

Mr Biden has repeatedly denounced the violence perpetrated by both left-wing and right-wing elements on American streets in recent weeks, but that has not stopped Mr Trump from delivering unfounded forebodings about destroyed cities and suburbs of his Democratic opponent wins the election.

"No city, town or suburb will be safe," the president said at a campaign stop in Michigan last week, warning a raucous crowd that looters and anarchists from Antifa  the loose category of left-wing, anti-fascist demonstrators who have violently clashed with police and Trump supporters this year  would soon be their neighbours if Mr Biden is president.

The former vice president has condemned violent demonstrations across the board.
The Delhi Police has named fifteen people as accused in charge sheet filed over the violence that took place in national capital in February this year. The accused have been named for orchestrating the riots that killed at least 53 people and injured hundreds.

Out of the 21 persons arrested so far, police charge-sheeted 15 accused based on scientific, documentary and testimonial evidence gathered during investigation. The remaining 6 persons are expected to be charge sheeted in due course after collecting sufficient evidence and completing statutory and procedural requirements, police said in a statement.

The charge sheet filed by Delhi police special cell at Karkardooma Court is over 17,000 pages. Packed in steel boxes, 2,692 pages of the vast charge sheet specifies the charges against the accused whereas the rest pages include the annexure.

Among those named in the charge sheet are Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita, Asif Iqbal Tanha, Ishrat Jahan, Meeran Haider, Safoora Zargar and Khalif Saifi.

In February, Delhi was shaken up with communal riots, worst in at least three decade, with clashes between Hindu and Muslim groups in several parts of the city. Houses were burnt and broken into, while vehicles were set on fire.

It all started as clashes between pro- and anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act groups,but further escalated into communal violence with rioters from both communities, taking to streets armed with swords, stones and guns.

The fifteen people named in the charge sheet have been accused under sections of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, IPC and Arms Act. For the investigation in the case, the police on Wednesday said they are relying on WhatsApp chats and call records. Twenty-five Whatsapp groups were created for each of the protest sites, police said.

There was an impression that it was an anti- CAA protest but conspirators were being guided through the protest sites, said police.

The charge sheet filed by police on Wednesday does not name Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam as accused in Delhi riots case.

Umar and Sharjeel were arrested a few days ago and their names will be in the supplementary charge sheet.

- Delhi Police registered 751 cases -

In connection with the riots that took place in Delhi, police received over 16,000 PCR calls and registered a total of 751 cases.

Of 751 cases, 59 cases were assigned to SIT constituted in the Crime Branch, 691 cases were investigated by the district police and one case, which was registered on March 6, 2020 to investigate the larger conspiracy behind these riots, was assigned to the Special Cell, police said in a statement.

In order to investigate specific offences committed during these riots, police has seized 12 pistols, 121 empty cartridges, 92 live cartridges, 61 glass bottles filled with noxious chemicals and an assortment of sharp-edged weapons in the matter.

- Took 195 days to complete first phase of investigation -

Further in the statement, police said that it took 195 days for Delhi polices special cell to complete the first phase of investigation, during which, 747 witnesses were questioned.

Police has seized at least 75 electronic devices as part of the probe.

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Landowners have been left in a vulnerable position after it emerged a section of the Moyola River is 'undesignated' by the Department of Infrastructure.

The designation means the stretch of river, which runs through Ballinascreen, is outside the remit of the Rivers Agency.

Recent flooding in the area has brought the issue to the forefront, with local farmers left to pick up the pieces after the river changed course during Storm Francis.

Local MLA, Emma Sheerin, has called on the Minister for Infrastructure to take steps to address the situation.

"The famous song tells us that the Great Moyola River flows through Ballinascreen, where it is just a little stream, but unfortunately the song no longer rings true," she told Derry Now.

"Various factors have combined over recent years to ensure that this is now a very powerful water course, and the events over Storm Francis was evidence of this.

" As was well documented at the time, one household had to be evacuated when the Moyola burst its banks at the ford on River Road, but several other local farmers found themselves picking up the pieces after the river changed its course during the storm, wrecking laneways and disintegrating a corner of one landowners field.

"Ive contacted the local engineers from Rivers Agency who have agreed to meet at several of these sites to discuss the damage and what work can be done at points where homes are at risk to flooding, but this is a broader issue, one that may need ministerial direction to address.

"The river is currently undesignated, meaning that affected landowners are responsible for maintenance of the river bed.

"Given the size of the river, this is no longer acceptable, and to leave this part of the Moyola as such is effectively discrimination, in that it leaves a gap in the infrastructural network in this region.

"I have written to the Minister asking her to consider changing the designation, and have also asked for a meeting with Rivers HQ to discuss this, something that will be a follow up to my site visit with local engineers later this week," added Ms Sheerin.
Operations Associate, Lusaka, Zambia

Organization: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

Country: Zambia

City: Lusaka, Zambia

Office: FAO Lusaka, Zambia

Closing date: Thursday, 24 September 2020

2002012

Operations Associate (Temporary appointment)

Job Posting: 10/Sep/2020

Closure Date: 24/Sep/2020, 9:59:00 PM

Organizational Unit : FRZAM

Job Type: Non-staff opportunities

Type of Requisition : PSA (Personal Services Agreement)

Grade Level : N/A

Primary Location: Zambia-Lusaka

Duration : 5 months with no possibility of extension

Post Number : N/A

FAO seeks gender, geographical and linguistic diversity in its staff and international consultants in order to best serve FAO Members in all regions.

Qualified female applicants and qualified nationals of non-and under-represented member countries are encouraged to apply.

Persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply.

All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

Organizational Setting

The main aim of the FAO country offices, which are headed by an FAO Representative, is to assist governments to develop policies, programmes and projects to achieve food security and to reduce hunger and malnutrition, to help develop the agricultural, fisheries and forestry sectors, and to use their environmental and natural resources in a sustainable manner.

Under the 11th European Development Fund (EDF), FAO in Zambia will be partnering with the European Union, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) to implement a program on Sustainable Intensification of Smallholder Farming Systems in Zambia (SIFAZ). The project will focus on building demonstrable synergies between research and promotion of appropriate sustainable agriculture intensification practices.

Reporting Lines

The Operations Associate works under the overall guidance of the FAO Representative and the Chief Technical Advisor (CTA) in Zambia. The incumbent directly reports to the Operations Officer

Technical Focus

The incumbent will support provision of operation services to the project implementation. Provision of operational services to implementation of the SIFAZ program

Tasks and responsibilities

Support procurement and contract activities, in line with the program work plan and budget of assigned activities;

Support financial and budget monitoring of FAOs component of assigned projects using the FAO Corporate systems and tools, such as GRMS, the FPMIS Budget Module and the Transaction mapping tool;

Support up-to-date maintenance of FPMIS with relevant information (inserting/uploading reports, budget, budget revisions, extensions);

Contribute to the preparation of technical specifications and Terms of References (recruitments, workshops, LOAs);

Contribute to the preparation of briefs, progress reports and comprehensive reports for internal use as well for submission to donors;

Support accounts management and payments under the program. This involves: Verifying invoices and delivery notes against goods and services received; preparing payment requests ensuring appropriate FAO accounting and resource partner budget codes; performing periodic bank and petty cash reconciliations; updating records such as advances, expenditure and acquittals; generating financial status reports, financial statements and expenditure transaction listing and project from the corporate systems;

Contribute to budgetary monitoring involving: maintain records of the programme financial transactions, including field budget allocation, expenditure, advances and acquittals; regularly tracking expenditure on the programme and ensure that expenditure is within allocated budgets; following up of on Letter of Agreements issued locally with implementing partners;

Update programme inventory and effect disposal of assets as per regulations

Process travel authorisations and travel expense claims for personnel associated with the programme;

Assist with the management of the programme vehicle fleet, ensuring its maintenance and readiness for field missions.

Perform other related duties as required.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

University degree in agricultural economics, development studies, agriculture or any other related field

At least 3 years experience in working with/or in government departments, national and international NGOs and other UN agencies in Zambia

Tags agricultural economics continuous improvement farming systems financial statements fisheries food security government departments interpersonal relations knowledge sharing natural resources procurement project implementation reconciliation support accounts sustainable agriculture transparency wheat

Working knowledge of English

National of Zambia or resident in the country with a regular work permit.

FAO Core Competencies

Results Focus

Teamwork

Communication

Building Effective Relationships

Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Selection Criteria

Demonstrated experience in administration, operations and finance

Excellent communication skills, good writing skills including ability to write concise reports in English

Good interpersonal relationships and a strong personality; self-starter

Familiarity to FAO policies and programmes is considered a strong asset

Please note that all candidates should adhere to FAO Values of Commitment to FAO, Respect for All and Integrity and Transparency.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

FAO does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process (application, interview meeting, processing).

Incomplete applications will not be considered. If you need help, or have queries, please contact: Careers@fao.org

Applications received after the closing date will not be accepted.

Only language proficiency certificates from UN accredited external providers and/or FAO language official examinations (LPE, ILE, LRT) will be accepted as proof of the level of knowledge of languages indicated in the online applications.

For other issues, visit the FAO employment website: http://www.fao.org/employment/home/en/

HOW TO APPLY To apply, visit the recruitment website at Jobs at FAO and complete your online profile. Only applications received through the recruitment portal will be considered. Candidates are requested to attach a letter of motivation to the online profile. If you need help, or have queries, please contact: Careers@fao.org
The past six months have been among the most challenging in our history. All Canadians have seen their lives altered on a daily basis. Fortunately, our governments at every level have worked together and have responded positively and effectively to mitigate many of the worst impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. But we face some fundamental challenges if we are to emerge as a stronger and more compassionate society.

Over the past decade each of us was asked to carry out the first legislated reviews of Ontarios groundbreaking Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). During the course of our work, we had the opportunity to meet with a number of extraordinary people, all living with disability. Their insights, personal stories, and ideas for a more inclusive future remained with us long after our work was done.

The pandemic has brought us back together with a new sense of purpose. COVID-19 is having a disproportionate and devastating impact on Canadians with disabilities. This crisis deserves the attention of all Canadians and urgent action is required.

The disability community is often invisible or ignored. But in fact almost 25 per cent of Canadians live with some kind of disability. According to Statistics Canada, that population is more likely to be single, female, un-or-underemployed, and living in poverty with more than one type of disability. As our population ages, that percentage will continue to go up.

Since COVID-19 hit our shores, meaningful support has been extended to various parts of our society, including the unemployed, small and medium sized business, students, renters, and the health and social services sectors. These steps have been critical and necessary. But one key population has not received the focused support it needs: our fellow citizens who live with physical, mental and developmental disabilities.

They have disproportionately borne the brunt of this disease. Yet there is no overarching or comprehensive plan to address the needs of people with disabilities as a result of COVID-19. There is no targeted plan to ensure the thousands of students with disabilities are fully and safely included when schools reopen. Many with disabilities who qualify for disability benefits did not qualify for the more generous COVID-19 benefits such as the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB). Throughout the disability community, credit card debt is up; savings, if any exist, have been depleted.

Statistics Canada released a new report in late August that surveyed some 13,000 Canadians with disabilities. The fallout from the pandemic has negatively impacted their employment, income, housing payments, basic utilities and prescription medication. Simply put, the disabled face grave economic hardship.

Even a passing glance at social media reveals the deep despair and anger of many in the disability community.

Stories of near starvation on the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) are matched by increased militancy to the point of one group planning a mass, simultaneous wheelchair blockade of key downtown intersections in Toronto. On Twitter alone there are myriad examples of people going to bed hungry or forced to choose between paying the rent or buying food.

Others have flat given up on life, discussing how they are now seeking medical assistance in dying. Postings on the precise steps to get MAID are easily accessible.

This is simply unacceptable in 2020. We can and must do better. We need to fully implement the AODA by 2025 as originally promised; we need the broader public and private sectors to commit to hire more people with disabilities; and we need to bring in a national basic annual income for those with disabilities.

Over the past number of years, some key advances have been made in Canada to enhance the lives of those with disabilities but it is critical to accelerate the pace of change. Ontarios Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) was passed unanimously in 2005 to support social inclusion. To date, Ontario, Manitoba and Nova Scotia as well as the federal government are implementing accessibility standards for the broader public sector (e.g., provincial and municipal governments, educational and health facilities), the private sector and the non-profit sector.

When the AODA was passed there was great hope among the disability community that significant steps forward would be made within a short period of time. But the pace of change has been far too slow.

Key recommendations from the three legislated reviews carried out over the past decade have either been ignored or only partially implemented by both Liberal and Progressive Conservative governments. We asked the Ontario government to show stronger leadership on accessibility, to strengthen existing accessibility standards, to substantially increase enforcement of the AODA, and to create strong new accessibility standards in priority areas like the built environment, education and health.

A clear updated plan is now required to get Ontario back on track to ensure the province is accessible for people with disabilities by 2025.

Second, while there have been some advances by the broader public and private sectors over the past decade to hire more Canadians with disabilities, much more can and needs to be done. Numerous reports underline the positive economic impact that employing persons with disabilities can have not only for the individuals themselves but also for the companies and institutions that hire them. We need all governments (federal, provincial and local) to set out meaningful and measurable hiring objectives.

The national and provincial Chambers of Commerce should equally call upon all their members to set out clear plans to increase the number of disabled persons in their organizations. We need initiatives from the private sector to promote and increase the hiring of disabled Canadians, similar to what Bell Canada has done to raise awareness around mental health issues.

Third, while the AODA has been critical to help level the playing field in Ontario for those with disabilities, it was not intended to resolve the persistent financial disadvantages faced by this community. The glaring hole in Canadas treatment of its disabled population is the paucity of meaningful and appropriate financial support. Across all sectors, we need to raise our game by improving financial supports, focusing on hiring persons with disabilities, and ensuring timely and effective service provision.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has informed the country that our federal government will present a Throne Speech on Sept. 23. He underlined that the COVID-19 pandemic now required the government to set out new directions for the country to restore the economy and deal with the broad impacts that the virus has left in its wake.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has said we need to build back better. Better must include strong financial supports for the most disadvantaged in our society through a national basic income program for Canadians with disabilities.

Our suggested approach is that the federal government implement, after consultation with representatives from the disability community, a national basic income program for those with disabilities that would provide an income floor under which no one could fall. As a starting point, the eligibility criteria could follow that currently used for the federal disability tax credit.

Income supports as we know them today are meagre at best and Dickensian at worse. Single adults receiving support through ODSP can receive up to $1,169 per month. In Toronto, the average market rent for a one-bedroom apartment is $1,374. A single person receiving ODSP starts the month $205 behind.

In the 1960s, Canada introduced the Canada Pension Plan and medicare. These initiatives lifted thousands out of poverty and ensured that all Canadians regardless of socio-economic standing could access quality health care. In the 1970s, Ontario introduced the Guaranteed Annual Income Supplement in response to a 35 per cent poverty rate for seniors. The more recent Canada Child Benefit has protected thousands of children from poverty.

Indeed, the CERB is only the most recent example of governments of all political stripes acting to provide income support when people need it. We believe the implementation of a national basic income regime for those with disabilities will have a similar and immediate impact on the lives of the disabled.

COVID-19 has had a seismic impact on our society, comparable to that of the Second World War and the population explosion of the 1960s. Following those historic events, Canada responded with ambitious and innovative social legislation designed to meet the needs of a changing world. Those innovations gave birth to the broad social, health and education supports that Canadians enjoy today. The current crisis demands similarly bold solutions.

Let us fully implement the AODA. Let us set out clear goals to hire more people with disabilities. Let us implement a national basic income regime for those with disabilities. These steps will rival CPP, Medicare, the CERB, and other innovations with immediate impact on the lives of millions of people. Just as previous generations built these important programs, let us dedicate ourselves to building back better by improving the lives of one of our most vulnerable populations. The time to act is now.
C ast your mind back 15 years and the tech landscape was very different in the UK. There was no such thing as unicorns, co-working was yet to dominant the office landscape and the start-up dreams of Silicon Roundabout were still a few years off. Not to mention, cloud computing didnt exist back then.

The cloud is often seen as a hard to understand, niche area of tech but its integral to the way we live online, whether its watching Netflix or chatting to colleagues over Slack and Zoom. Its become even more important during the coronavirus pandemic too.

Amazon Web Services is one of the biggest cloud providers across the world and helped to pioneer the format in 2006. The e-commerce giant realised that it could run large-scale infrastructure off the back of its consumer business. It decided to use this infrastructure to support other customers which led to the start of the cloud computing era. Along with AWS, Microsoft and Google are also big players in the space with the Azure and Cloud platforms respectively.

So what is cloud computing, how does it work, and why is it such a big deal?

What you need to know about cloud computing

The way to think about cloud computing is like pay as you go computer services, says AWSs UK and Ireland general manager, Darren Hardman. In the same way at home you wouldnt install a power plant in your backyard to get electricity, instead you sign a contract with an electricity company which generates it and give you what you use. Cloud computing is very similar.

AWS tasked Public First with carrying out a quantitative study into the role cloud computing has played in the UK. According to the new report, out today, it estimates that AWS is generating 8.7 billion in economic value for businesses across the UK, more than the UKs music industry. In particular, companies which run on the cloud are nearly three times as likely to be growing over 5 per cent a year than those who are not.

Why has the cloud had this much of an impact? It helps that AWS counts 39 of the UKs 50 fastest-growing tech companies as its customers, including Babylon Health, TransferWise, and Monzo. Some of these companies have been using the service since they were tiny start-ups. Cloud can level the playing field, says Hardman. It allows the smallest start-ups to get access to all the kind of security, all the compute, all the artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Octopus Energy uses the cloud to power its energy tech platform, Kraken. CTO James Eddison describes Kraken as a giant robot that allows its operations team to service customers more easily. By building our company around a cloud-based platform we were able to look after more customers with up to 75 per cent less operating costs (compared to some incumbents), integrate tech into products that genuinely improves lives and train neural networks on billions of rows of smart meter data, allowing us to understand energy consumption at different times of the day, he explains.

The sustainability question

AWS has data centres across 77 bases, in 24 geographic regions around the world, whilst Google has 24. All these data centres use up an incredible amount of energy, which is why sustainability is a major focus for all three players. Since 2018, Microsoft has been testing an underwater data centre concept off the coast of Scotland - the grid in the Orkney Islands is supplied with 100 per cent wind and solar energy - as part of its renewable energy targets. Google teamed up with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation to find ways to make its data centres more environmentally friendly.

Google has worked with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation to make its global data centres more environmentally-friendly / Google

Amazon has a commitment to use 80 per cent renewable energy by 2024, and 100 per cent renewable energy by 2025. As part of that, it is investing in wind farms in Ireland and Scotland to support these sustainability ambitions. This is also helping AWS customers to achieve their sustainability aims - using AWS helps businesses to reduce their carbon footprints by 88 per cent and UK customers have saved over 200,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions a year.

This is one of the reasons Octopus Energy uses AWS. We need cloud computing to be able to drive a fully renewable grid of the future and support the race to net zero emissions by 2050, says Eddison.

Cloud connections

Even without realising it, you will be using many different platforms that rely on cloud computing every day. Half of the worlds 25 largest SAAS (software-as-a-service) companies run on AWS, including Zoom and Slack. These platforms have been integral to businesses to keep functioning in the era of remote working.

Using the cloud helped to keep many businesses going during the pandemic without issues, such as Monzo. Operating in the cloud, weve been able to continue work as usual with our platform engineers distributed across multiple countries. Had we been reliant on physical data centres, this almost certainly wouldnt have been the case, said Chris Evans, the challenger banks technical director for platform and reliability.

In the post-Covid world, flexibility and technology will become even more important. Rachel Wolf, partner at Public First which carried out the research, said its likely well see more small businesses consider cloud. Looking forward, cloud could play a key role in helping level up the productivity of Britains small business, Wolf told the Standard. Its not just about cost savings - but about engaging more flexible ways of working such as access to greater capacity, scalability, agility, and security, and the ability to innovate quickly and easily.

Reach for the clouds

If cloud is going to be the thing that keeps companies growing and scaling, then a lot needs to be done to spread the benefits across the UK. In London, about 52 per cent of businesses use the cloud, whereas in the East Midlands its about 25 per cent. According to Public First, if cloud prevalence in the North East matched London, it would help boost local productivity and wages by 2.6 per cent.

How long could it be until that happens? For many businesses, the question isnt if anymore, its really just how fast can we move? and what are we going to move to the cloud-first?, says Hardman. We're at what we consider the beginning stages of adoption although not surprisingly, there is no one size fits all approach.
After diplomatic tensions, Australia has decreased its reliance on China trade and has started increasing links with Asias other giant economy, India.

According to a report in Bloomberg, new enrollments of international students from India expanded 32% in 2019 from a year earlier and its the fastest growing major market for Australian services.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison held a virtual summit with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in June and the two signed a defence agreement and upgraded ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. The trade ministers of Japan, India and Australia recently agreed to work toward achieving supply chain resilience in the Indo-Pacific region.

Delhi wants to send lots of people to Australia on work visas and doesnt want to reduce tariffs, according to former Australian Trade Minister Craig Emerson, who initiated the Australia-India free trade negotiations in 2011, resulting in a two-way trade around just one tenth of China-Australia shipments.

Australias most valuable export, iron ore, hasnt been caught in Chinas crosshairs yet, perhaps due to a lack of alternative suppliers. Yet Beijing appears to be giving itself greater flexibility, with Emerson noting that China is buying ore carriers that improve the economics of long-distance shipping from Brazil and purchasing Guinea mines.
Iran Warns U.S. Of 'Decisive' Response After Trump Threat

By RFE/RL's Radio Farda September 15, 2020

Tehran has warned Washington against making a "strategic mistake" after U.S. President Donald Trump said that any attack by Iran would be met with a far greater response, in reaction to a news report said that Iran planned to assassinate a U.S. diplomat to avenge the killing of top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani in January.

Any "new strategic mistake" by the U.S. leadership would be met with a "decisive response from Iran," Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei told a news conference on September 15, hours after Trump tweeted: "Any attack by Iran, in any form, against the United States will be met with an attack on Iran that will be 1,000 times greater in magnitude!"

The two countries appeared to be on the brink of war after Soleimani, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps' (IRGC) elite Quds Force, was killed in a U.S. drone strike near Baghdad on January 3.

Trump's tweet came after Politico reported on an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate Lana Marks, a friend of the president who was sworn in as U.S. ambassador to South Africa in October.

"According to press reports, Iran may be planning an assassination, or other attack, against the United States in retaliation for the killing of terrorist leader Soleimani, which was carried out for his planning a future attack, murdering U.S. Troops, and the death & suffering caused over so many years," the president wrote on Twitter.

Rabiei said Trump should "refrain from fresh adventurism" ahead of a November election in which the U.S. president is seeking a new term.

Earlier, the Iranian Foreign Ministry denied the report of an assassination plot as "baseless" and part of efforts to "create an anti-Iranian atmosphere."

U.S. intelligence reports say the Iranian government is weighing an assassination attempt against Marks, according to Politico in a story published on September 13. The story quotes an unidentified U.S. government official familiar with the issue and another official who has seen the intelligence.

U.S. officials have been aware of a general threat against Marks since the spring, according to the official, but the intelligence about the threat has become more specific in recent weeks. The Iranian Embassy in Pretoria was said to be involved in the plot.

Marks, 66, has been made aware of the threat, the U.S. government official said. It is unclear why Iran would target her. She is one of several options U.S. officials believe Iran's regime is considering for retaliation against Soleimani's assassination, Politico reported.

In retaliation for Soleimani's killing, an Iranian ballistic-missile strike on January 8 targeted bases in Iraq housing U.S. forces, causing dozens of traumatic brain injuries among American troops. Hours later, Iran's armed forces shot down a Ukrainian airliner, killing all 176 people on board, in what Iranian officials said was an accident.

As the head of the Quds Force, Soleimani was a key figure in supplying weapons and explosive devices to Iraqi insurgents that killed or wounded U.S. soldiers in Iraq following the ouster of Saddam Hussein. He was also the main figure running Iran's policy in Syria and support for the Lebanese militant group Hizballah.

With reporting by AFP and Politico

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/trump-any -attack-by-iran-against-u-s-would-provoke-1-000- times-greater-response/30839297.html

Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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A man has been jailed for faking a DNA test so that he could avoid paying child support for his two sons.

Steven Dixon, 36, asked a friend to take a DNA mouth swab so he could send it to the Child Maintenance Service on July 6, 2018, the Crown Prosecution Service said.

Two women had applied to the Child Maintenance Service in 2015 and 2016 to request support, claiming that Dixon was the father of their sons.

After being contacted by the service, Mr Dixon ordered a DNA testing kit, which he asked a friend to then take.

The 36-year-old pleaded guilty on Tuesday to three counts of Making or Supplying Articles for Use in Frauds at Chester Crown Court.

He was then jailed for 18 months.

The 36-year-old pleaded guilty on Tuesday to three counts of Making or Supplying Articles for Use in Frauds at Chester Crown Court / Google Maps

Dixon had submitted the fake swab to the Child Maintenance Service with a form stating that the sample had been taken by Dr Jon Kisler at the Quays on Thelwall New Road in Warrington. The form appeared to be signed by the doctor.

In a witness statement, Dr Kisler said he had not taken the sample or completed the form and the signature on it was not his. He had also never worked at that surgery.

As a result of the fake test, the Child Maintenance Service contacted the mothers, saying that Dixon was not the biological father and could not be asked to provide financial support.

An investigation was launched after the two women contested the findings.

Meanwhile, a DNA test of the two boys showed them to be half-brothers.

Dixon wrote to the Child Maintenance Service in November, saying: The pursuit of myself from both you and my ex-partners is now becoming tantamount to harassment.

"This pursuit is now affecting my own life, as if it wasnt traumatic enough on both occasions to find out neither of these children were mine at the time, when I believed them to be, to now having to re-live it all again and even on having it proved by yourselves by DNA that they are not mine, to then still be being pursued.

"It is simply not acceptable to be allowed to continue.

Later that month, a speculative search of the National DNA database by police found the submitted mouth swab to match with the DNA of a man called Kenny Jones.

Jones was arrested and said that Dixon had asked him to provide the swab so that he could send it to his alcoholic father, to try and prove he wasnt his son.

No money was exchanged between the men.

Dixon was arrested in July 2019 and interviewed but initially denied the claims, saying the doctor and the GP practice manager were liars.

In custody, a DNA sample was taken which matched that of the two boys.

Senior Crown Prosecutor Maqsood Khan, of CPS Mersey-Cheshires Fraud Unit said: Steven Dixon is a liar and a cheat who has gone to extensive lengths to deny the parentage of his two sons.

Investigations showed that he had been at the birth of both of the boys and his signature was on their birth certificates. Indeed he seems to have played a part in their lives for a period.

But that changed and he has now turned to criminality to avoid his obligations to his children. His apparent indignation at the work of the Child Maintenance Service to get to the truth is audacious to say the least.

His deception has no doubt caused distress and hurt to the women and their children and he is now behind bars."
A woman was abducted and gang-raped in a moving car, and thrown out at a secluded place under Meeruts Medical police station area on Monday night, the police said. Two of four suspects in the incident have been arrested.

Devendra Singh, station head officer (SHO) of Medical police station, said,A case of gang-rape has been lodged against them on the complaint of the woman, said Singh.

Senior superintendent of police Ajay Sahni said once of the suspects and the woman frequently talked on the mobile phone. On Monday night, the suspect asked her to come to a place where he was waiting.

Sahni said the vehicle has been recovered and it has the logo of a media channel. An ID of the company has also been recovered from one of the suspects.

The woman, a resident of Bhawanpur, works in a private hospital.

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, September 16, 2020 15:36 492 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c45256ec 1 City COVID-19,covid-19-Indonesia,coronavirus,ICU,Bekasi-City,Bekasi,Bekasi-mayor Free

Bekasi, West Java is running out of available ICU facilities in its COVID-19 referral hospitals, an association has said, raising concerns amid the increasing number of coronavirus cases.

Eko Nugroho, the head of Bekasi Private Hospital Association, said 48 out of 57 ICU beds in the city were occupied as of Tuesday as the number of COVID-19 patients who needed intensive care, including those who required ventilators, kept fluctuating.

The risk of death will be high because hospitals will struggle to treat COVID-19 patients that require care in the ICU, Eko said as quoted by kompas.com on Wednesday.

He further called for the Bekasi administration to increase the number of intensive care facilities in the city.

ICU facilities were commonly used to treat coronavirus patients with severe symptoms or those with comorbidity factors, as well as those with dangerously low oxygen levels in their blood despite experiencing no usual symptoms of the disease, which medical workers have dubbed happy hypoxia, Eko said.

Aside from ICUs, he said the city was also running low on space at isolation centers, with 426 out of 550 units in use as of Tuesday to treat coronavirus patients with mild to moderate symptoms.

Bekasi city has seen a rise in its incidence rate since early September.

On Tuesday, Bekasi city reported 115 new infections, bringing the total to 1,338 cases. As of Wednesday, the city has 118 active cases, with 1,149 recoveries and 71 deaths.

Mayor Rahmat Effendi said he would soon enforce a curfew in Bekasi, ordering all businesses to close by 8 p.m. and limiting evening activities, to reduce the number of transmissions, following in the footsteps of neighboring Depok and Bogor, which have enforced similar policy amid an increase in COVID-19 cases. (mfp)
TAMPA, Fla., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- ProtoLytic, an innovative healthcare software development company, announced the appointment of Tedd Thomas as Chief Revenue Officer. Tedd brings over twenty years of executive management and sales experience in the workers' compensation healthcare industry.

"Tedd Thomas will be a tremendous asset to ProtoLytic to communicate the value that our company brings to the industry and to fuel growth. Tedd and I worked together at TechHealth for many years until its successful merger with One Call Medical, and I'm delighted to again be working with him in this new endeavor," said Tom Sweet, ProtoLytic Managing Director and CEO. ProtoLytic's executive team has a proven track record of delivering value to its shareholders with pioneering solutions.

"I'm excited to work with the ProtoLytic organization that is uniquely positioned in the claims processing market space. Customers who work with ProtoLytic have told me the company's software is a disrupter in the industry," Tedd added.

About Tedd Thomas

Mr. Thomas has served in key positions for fast growing industry leaders, including GENEX, One Call Medical and TechHealth, where he was EVP of Sales. Tedd holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from the University of South Florida.

About ProtoLytic, LLC

ProtoLytic, LLC was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Tampa, Florida. ProtoLytic's technology drives efficiencies for customers and integrates all the complex state rules and evidence-based medical guidelines to improve outcomes.

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(Natural News) There is now proof that there are very dark forces behind Black Lives Matter, and its not just the blatant Marxism of its founders and leaders. The darkness literally includes summoning dead spirits and allowing them to work through BLM leaders. Sound crazy? BLM bosses admit it.

(Article by Alex Newman republished from TheNewAmerican.com)

Clues about the true nature of BLM have been available for quite some time. Last month, Black Lives Matter activists terrorized church attendees in Troy, New York, while chanting hail Satan. They even shrieked at black families and young mothers trying to get in the building. Just this week in Kenosha, Wisconsin, a church with a Black Lives Matter sign on it was torched by BLM activists. In a video that went viral this week, a mob of white BLM activists shout at a couple at a D.C. restaurant for refusing to raise their fists, with one activist asking the confused victims, Are you a Christian?

Now, newly released audio recordings reveal the occult practices, ancestor worship, African paganism, and literal witchcraft of at least one of the national groups co-founders, as well as the founder of BLMs Los Angeles chapter. Apparently the entire George Soros-funded leadership of BLM is involved in these practices as well.

In the audio, BLM co-founder Patrice Cullors, who boasted in a TV interview of being a trained Marxist, revealed that she is also consulting spiritual entities and allowing them to work through her. Im calling for spirituality to be deeply radical, she said. Were not just having a social justice movement, this is a spiritual movement.

Of course, Christians, pointing to Ephesians 6:12 and its reference to spiritual warfare, have been making this argument since the fruit of BLM became more clear: destruction, hate, looting, burning, Marxism, division, riots, and more. But until recently, the spiritual nature of the struggle was simply inferred and deduced from the Bible and the news. Now, the proof is available to all.

In a recorded conversation with Cullors, BLM Los Angeles founder and California State University Professor of African Studies Melina Abdulla reveals more than she thought she should have. Maybe Im sharing too much, but weve become very intimate with the spirits that we call on regularly, right. she explained. Like, each of them seems to have a different presence and personality, you know. I laugh a lot with Wakisha, you know. And I didnt meet her in her body, right, I met her through this work.

Cullors echoes the sentiments of Abdulla. Its a very important practice, um, hashtags are for us, are way more than a hashtag, it is, um, literally almost resurrecting a spirit so they can work through us to get the work that we need to get done, said Cullors, one of the three founders of BLM. I started to feel personally connected and responsible and accountable to them, both from a deeply political place, but also from a deeply spiritual place.

Always, you know, in my tradition you offer things that that your loved one who passed away would want, you know, whether its like honey or tobacco, things like that, the trained Marxist and BLM co-founder continued. And thats so important, not just for us to be in direct relationship to our people whove passed, but also for them to know weve remembered them. Um, I believe so many of them work through us.

Cullors also admits that the very first thing BLM leaders do when they hear of a murder is to pray to the spirits and pour libation. Again, she emphasized, this is not just about racial and social justice. At its core, its a spiritual movement, she continued. You cant pretend like that work is just organizing work. Thats, you know, thats some serious stuff.

The whole say his name mantra also has deep spiritual significance, according to Cullors. When we say the names, right, so we speak their names, we say her name, say their names, we do that all the time that, you kind of invoke that spirit, and then those spirits actually become present with you, she explained, revealing something that virtually none of the useful idiots attending BLM rallies understand.

Spirituality is at the center of Black Lives Matter, and I think thats not just for us, I feel like so many, um, leaders and so many organizers, um, are deeply engaged and in a pretty, um, important spiritual practice, Cullors continued. I dont think I could I could do this work without that. I dont think I could do it as long as Ive done it, and as consistently. Um, it feels like if I didnt do that it would be antithetical to this work.

Talk-show host and Christian attorney Abraham Hamilton, III, first aired the audio recordings on August 19 during his show The Hamilton Corner. His conclusion is that the conversation proves top BLM leaders are involved in witchcraft, summoning the spirits of the dead, and engaging in other satanic practices that are firmly condemned and strictly prohibited in the Bible.

What they are describing is their adherence to the Yoruba religion of Ifa, to where they are summoning dead spirits, Hamilton explained before getting into more depth about the occult pagan practices. What Cullors revealed, Hamilton continued, is exactly what the Apostle Paul was referring to in Ephesians when he explained that Christians wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness.

Quoting the Bible, Hamilton also noted the link between those who sacrifice children to demon gods such as Molech (abortion) and summoning spirits (witchcraft). Interestingly, the Yoruba were known for practicing human sacrifice until Christianity became more prevalent in the region.

The Bible is very clear about what is happening here, as consulting spirits of the dead is strictly prohibited. In fact, under the Old Testament law revealed by God for Israel, necromancy  consulting the dead  was punishable by death. All those who do it are described as detestable to God. Multiple passages in the Old and New Testaments also suggest that the supposed spirits that necromancers and witches believe they are communicating with, or sacrificing things to, are in fact demons.

Professor Abdullas voice message machine said she was on sabbatical for the 2019-2020 academic year. Nobody answered any of the other phone numbers listed at the Pan-African Studies department, and messages seeking comment by The New American were not returned. Abdulla did not respond to an e-mail before press time.

Terrorizing Churches

Even before the audio became public, the true nature of BLM was becoming obvious for all to see. Last month, supposedly responding to a churchs giveaway of an AR-15, BLM activists terrorized black and white churchgoers alike in Troy. They literally beat Christian adults and harassed little children while shouting obscenities and chanting hail Satan.

A young mother and her very young children, as well as a black family, had to be escorted by church members through the screaming mob of BLM supporters. The mob threatened to call Child Protective Services on parents in the church and started shrieking save those kids as families walked by. At least one protester even threatened to torch the church.

While the scenes at Grace Baptist Church were captured on video and made headlines across conservative-leaning independent media, the establishments propaganda organs had a virtual black-out on the story. Only the local paper ran an article  a highly biased article against the church. No politicians rushed to condone the violence and hatred on display. The government official involved has not been fired.

The mob was angry about a variety of issues, especially the churchs decision to give away an AR-15 rifle. On several occasions over the last decade, the church has given away or raffled off the classic and highly popular AR-15 rifle, partly in response to unconstitutional government attacks on the right to keep and bear arms. The church said on social media that it had no regrets over its decisions.

Much of the barbarism was caught on video. One clip, for instance, shows violent BLM supporters physically attacking church members. At about 1:20 in the video, a protester can be seen grabbing a church attendee and putting him in a headlock after a verbal spat. Another BLM activist then begins savagely beating the victim, throwing punch after punch after punch. A man identified by the church as Alexander Contompasis was seen punching two church members from behind before pushing the pastor. Police eventually show up to stop the physical attacks on churchgoers.

Why is the mob beating church members in Troy, NY for trying to enter church and escort black members through the mob? No justice, no peace

Peaceful protest pic.twitter.com/qsE1kUvqnR  Grace Baptist Church (@realgbctroyny) July 3, 2020

In a statement to The New American, Pastor John Koletas said the church has stood firmly against communism and totalitarianism since it was founded in 1987. Too many Americans view the church as weak and apathetic to self defense and the biblical command to arm ourselves, he said, explaining the decision to give away a semi-automatic rifle in light of that and unconstitutional gun-control policies. We wanted to be an encouragement to lawful gun owners who had been vilified by the anti-Christian, socialist media and fake, phony, and fraudulent religious leaders.

When this years gun giveaway was announced, it brought out the God haters and devilish forces again, Koletas continued, adding that the reasons for the attack by the BLM mob included anger over the church continuing to hold services during coronavirus, the preaching, and the promotion of firearms ownership through the AR-15 giveaway. All were angry that we refused to back down on all accounts.

Koletas expressed shock about the screaming mob of BLM activists who mocked and jeered a black missionary family that was attending. Other videos recorded during the attacks showed a man, identified by the church as Lukee Forbes, berating a black man on the steps of the church. The reason: He dared to stand with the church instead of the communist detractors, Koletas said, adding that Forbes was a government employee of the City of Albany who did time in prison for nearly beating a homosexual to death after a Pride parade.

Making matters worse is that the police refused to intervene until the mob actually became physically violent, Koletas said. In fact, they even sent some church members away rather than protect their rights to religious liberty, freedom of association, and private property from the angry BLM mob. A black couple from our church were turned away by the police because of the mob: tonight might not be the best day to go to church, he continued.

The pastor responded to the hate and extremism by inviting the mob inside, hoping for peaceful dialogue and that the angry protesters would benefit from hearing about the Bible. Some went in, but when invited to receive salvation, they became disruptive, with some again threatening violence and bearing false witness against the pastor, he explained.

All of that evil should have been evidence enough to understand the reality of what is going on and what BLM is really about. But the true spiritual nature of the BLM mob was even more clearly evident throughout the mobs rampage. According to Koletas and other witnesses, as well as video evidence, an actual witch stood outside the church with candles and ritual drawings. Cries of hail Satan could be heard clearly, too.

The spiritual implications of the billionaire-funded BLM attack on America are becoming clearer. As The New American has been documenting for months, the Marxism and the hatred of the BLM has been beyond dispute for quite some time. Now, the occult connections of the leadership and the spiritual nature of the battle are beyond dispute, too.

BLM is not just an attack on liberty, property, statues of great Americans, history, and Western civilization. It is an attack on Christianity and God, too. Churches must take their rightful place on the front lines.

Read more at: TheNewAmerican.com
Iran key partner to UN nuclear watchdog: Grossi

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 15 September 2020 2:29 PM

Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi has hailed Iran's cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, describing Tehran as a "key partner" to the atomic agency.

Grossi made the remarks in a Tuesday meeting in Vienna with Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for International and Legal affairs Mohsen Baharvand, who is in the Austrian capital to attend a meeting of the Board of Governors of the IAEA, IRNA reported.

During the meeting, Grossef assessed as positive the level of verification activities of the IAEA in Iran.

Baharvand, for his part, referred to the extensive level of cooperation between Iran and the IAEA, underlining the need for the agency not to allow certain countries to influence its relations with Iran.

He said that mutual cooperation in a constructive atmosphere and away from influence of the third parties serves the interests of both parties and the integrity of the agency.

At the end of a trip by Grossi to Tehran on August 26, Iran and the UN agency reached an agreement to "further reinforce their cooperation and enhance mutual trust" to facilitate the full implementation of Iran's Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement (CSA) and the Additional Protocol (AP) thereto.

Grossi is expected to visit the second of two sites in Iran later in September for verification purposes based on the recent agreement.

He said Monday that the agency would continue to verify the non-diversion of nuclear material declared by Iran under its Safeguards Agreement, saying, "Evaluations regarding the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities for Iran continue."

Elsewhere in his Tuesday remarks, Baharvand pointed to Saudi Arabia's non-transparent nuclear activities, urging the UN nuclear agency to investigate the Saudi nuclear program and allay the security concerns.

He said that Riyadh is refusing to allow IAEA's inspectors to carry out verification activities in the kingdom.

Citing Western officials, The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Saudi Arabia, with Chinese help, has built a facility for extraction of yellowcake from uranium ore near the remote town of al-Ula.

The New York Times said American intelligence agencies had spotted what appeared to be an undeclared nuclear site not too far from the town of al-Uyaynah, located 30 kilometers northwest of the Saudi capital of Riyadh, and its Solar Village.

The agencies, the report said, are scrutinizing attempts by the kingdom to build up ability to produce nuclear fuel that could potentially lead to the development of nuclear weapons.

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A 20-year-old man was hit in the chest and taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in serious condition, police said. Another man, 27, was hit in the chest and shoulder and taken to the same hospital in good condition.
BOSTON, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Sappi North America, Inc., a leading producer and supplier of diversified paper, packaging products and dissolving pulp, today announced that its Spectro paperboard line has been certified as compatible with all HP Indigo Digital Offset Color presses. As part of the certification process, the company added new Digital substrates to its C1S and C2S lines to further expand its offerings for custom, short-run packaging and commercial printing applications.

The new Spectro Digital for HP Indigo C1S and C2S products obtained the highest three-star rating based on runnability, adhesion and blanket compatibility from the Rochester Institute of Technology's Printing Applications Lab as a part of the HP Indigo Media Certification Program. Each product exhibited a high percentage of ink adhesion and exhibited excellent runnability with a high level of blanket cleanliness during normal testing intervals. The adhesion levels for all calipers and sides of the board, both coated and uncoated, exhibited side-to-side consistency and tested at photo recommended levels.

"This certification from HP and the accompanying launch of Spectro C1S and C2S Digital grades is an exciting step forward for Sappi and our customers as we continue to provide unmatched printability," said Heather Pelletier, Director of Brand Management, Sappi North America. "Now, more than ever, we're able to help brands' paper products stand out and give their customers a unique and lasting experience, all while maintaining our commitment to a low carbon footprint."

Spectro paperboard, with its enhanced optics, is ideal for both packaging and commercial printing applications. Spectro C1S and C2S' smooth surfaces feature a proprietary coating engineered for brilliant color reproduction, sharper details and better ink hold-out. They also have the strength and durability to provide optimum convertibility for folding, die-cutting, gluing and other applications. Now, with the HP Indigo certification, customers have even more options to create striking, short-run and customized paper products. The Spectro line is certified for all HP Indigo presses including the HP 7000, 7500, 7600, 7800, 1000 and 12000.

To learn more about Sappi's Spectro paperboard line, please click here.

About Sappi North America, Inc.

Sappi North America, Inc., headquartered in Boston, is a market leader in converting wood fiber into superior products that customers demand worldwide. The success of our four diversified businesses  high-quality Coated Printing Papers, Dissolving Pulp, Packaging and Specialty Papers and Casting and Release Papers  is driven by strong customer relationships, best-in-class people and advantaged assets, products and services. Our high-quality Graphic Papers, including McCoy, Opus, Somerset, and Flo, are the key platform for premium magazines, catalogs, books, direct mail and high-end print advertising. We are a leading manufacturer of Dissolving Pulp with our Verve brand, a sustainable fiber, which is used in a wide range of products, including textile fibers and household goods. We deliver sustainable Packaging and Specialty Papers for luxury packaging and folding carton applications with our single-ply packaging brands, Spectro and Proto, and for the food and label industries with our specialty papers, LusterPrint and LusterCote. We are also one of the world's leading suppliers of Casting and Release Papers with our Ultracast, PolyEx and Classics lines for the automotive, fashion and engineered films industries. Customers rely on Sappi for high technical, operational and market expertise; products and services delivered with consistently high quality and reliability; and, state-of-the-art and cost-competitive assets and innovative spirit.

Sappi North America is a subsidiary of Sappi Limited (JSE), a global company headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, with more than 12,000 employees and manufacturing operations on three continents in seven countries and customers in over 150 countries.

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Lula Davis Boston Chatman was born on July 16, 1920, and closed her eyes and went to sleep peacefully on Friday, September 11, 2020. She was 100 years old.

Mother Boston was preceded in death by her parents, Josephine and Willie Davis of Birmingham , Alabama.

She was a faithful member of the Worlds Church of the Living God in Chattanooga, where she often spoke of her love for the members of the congregation.

She leaves to cherish her memory the brothers and sisters of the Worlds Church of the living God.

A graveside service will be held at 11 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 18. Interment will be in Chattanooga National Cemetery.

Arrangements are by John P. Franklin Funeral Home, 1101 Dodds Ave., 423 622-9995.
COLUMBIA, Md., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Movilitas announced that the Alter Pharma Group, a pharmaceutical group active in the distribution of pharmaceutical products to pharmacies, wholesalers, hospitals and retirement homes and in the development and licensing of generic drugs, adopted its Movilitas.Cloud software as a service solution to meet the many requirements in the (re)packaging process that are specified under the EU FMD regulation, while also benefiting from improved operational efficiencies throughout the product path and changes in packaging.

Under the EU FMD directive, repackagers and parallel distributors have unique responsibilities. Their medicinal product is often bought from regulated wholesalers and then medicine authenticity and product serial numbers must be verified and managed from geographically separated processing plants through the point of distribution.

"By leveraging Movilitas.Cloud technology, we now have a state-of-the-art system that provides transparency and ensures the integrity of our products as they move across the supply chain," said Stijn Vlaminck, IT Manager of the Alter Pharma Group. "The solution provides a single system to manage and track each pack in order to remain compliant with EU FMD regulations and deliver on the highest standard of quality and safety."

Movilitas.Cloud offers a set of services to maintain product integrity during changes in packaging:

Supports the complete receiving and verification process of original medicines

Sends automatic decommissioning requests containing all serial numbers grouped into SSCCs

Sends commissioning requests of the repacked products

Manages serial numbers between EU-Hub through QA functionality

Supports manual, semi-automatic and automatic processes

"We are pioneering an efficient way of managing the reporting of serial numbers during the repackaging process," said Marc Blekkink, global head of business development for Movilitas.Cloud. "We're committed to delivering IoT solutions that enable repackagers and parallel importers to deliver safe medicinal products while remaining compliant."

To learn more about Movilitas.Cloud for repackagers and parallel importers, please visit: https://www.movilitas.com/solutions/movilitas-cloud/repacker-eu-fmd-application/

About the Alter Pharma Group

The Alter Pharma Group is a Belgian group of pharmaceutical companies with headquarters in Anderlecht (Belgium) and offices in Ireland and the United States. Employing in total over 125 employees, the Group distributes a wide range of pharmaceutical products to pharmacies, wholesalers, hospitals and retirement homes. At the same time, Alter Pharma is a global player on the generics market, with around 15 molecules on the European and US market and a fully stocked pipeline of niche, complex and added value products.

To learn more about the Alter Pharma Group, please visit: www.alterpharmagroup.be.

About Movilitas

Movilitas is a technology leader delivering the next generation of solutions and consulting services across industries to advance smart supply chain ecosystems. We are recognized as a trusted SAP partner for digital supply chain transformation. Through services, such as Movilitas.Cloud, or accelerators for SAP solutions, our clients maintain compliance and unlock data to realize greater efficiencies. For more information, visit movilitas.com.

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Mumbai police on Wednesday beefed up security outside Rajya Sabha MP and veteran actor Jaya Bachchans house in Juhu after she defended the film industry against drug abuse allegations related to the Sushant Singh Rajput death case in the Parliament.

The police have called the security outside the Bachchans bungalow Jalsa as a precautionary measure after the MP faced an onslaught of trolls and criticism after her speech in the Rajya Sabha.

The Samajwadi Party MP had attacked BJP MP Ravi Kishan over his comments on drugs in Bollywood saying, Just because of a few people, you cannot tarnish the whole industry I was really embarrassed and ashamed that yesterday one our members in the Lok Sabha, who is from the industry, spoke against the film industry. Jis thaali me khaate hain usi me chched karte hain".

Without naming anyone, she said Some of the people who have got name and fame has said it is gutter," adding that they should not defame the industry. It is the film industry that gave name and fame to many people There is a continuous process to defame the industry for the things done by a handful."

Several members of Bollywood lauded the actors comment. Actor Tapasee Pannu and film director Abhishek Sinha praised Bachchans speech and came out in support of her on social media. However, several hashtags such as #ShameOnJayaBachchan also started trending on Twitter after speech surfaced on online.

Actress Kangana Ranaut who had been at the forefront of drug allegations against Bollywood took to Twitter and asked the veteran actor whether she would have said the same had her son or daughter were affected.

Which thali has Jaya ji and her industry given? We got one thali which had a two-minute role, item numbers and one romantic scene, that too after sleeping with the hero. I have taught feminism to this industry, decorated the thali with women-centric and patriotic films. This is my own thali, not yours Jaya ji," Ranaut tweeted in Hindi.
At least 11 dead as boat carrying over 45 devotees overturns in Rajasthan's Kota

India

pti-Madhuri Adnal

Kota (Raj), Sep 16: At least 11 people, including women and children, were killed after a boat carrying over 30 devotees to a temple in Rajasthan's Bundi district capsized in the Chambal river here on Wednesday morning, officials said.

Three people are still missing while 20 devotees were rescued, they added. Belonging to the KhatoliItawa area of Kota, they were going to the Kamleshwar temple in Indergarh of Bundi to offer prayers.

The accident took place around 8.45 am near Gotra village under the Khatoli police station, about 110 kilometers from Kota district headquarters. The depth of the river where the boat overturned is around 40-45 feet, an official said, adding a rescue operation was launched by the SDRF and the NDRF.

Former union minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh dies at AIIMS, Delhi

At least 11 people have been killed in the mishap in Khatoli while the search for three others is under way, District Collector Ujjaval Rathore said, adding that 20 people were rescued. According to local residents, 35-50 people were on board with 14 to 15 motorbikes when the accident took place, he added.

The district collector said prima facie, a weak structure of the boat caused the mishap. Area DSP Shubhkaran said the bodies were handed over to families after autopsy and they have lodged a case against the boats Sailor and owner. Describing the incident as sorrowful and unfortunate, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on his Twitter handle expressed condolences to the aggrieved families.

Indian Army: Ready for full-fledged war against China | Oneindia News

The chief minister announced a compensation of Rs 1 lakh to the kin of each deceased. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, who is an MP from the Kota-Bundi constituency of Rajasthan, too expressed grief over the incident.

Local Congress MLA Ramnarayan Meena expressed sorrow over the tragedy and demanded that the relief amount be increased.

I have written to CM Ashok Gehlot to increase the compensation, Meena told PTI, alleging that negligence by local officials resulted in the mishap. When local officials were aware of the movement of the boat, they should have informed their seniors, he said.
WATERLOO  Colourful new murals now adorn back doors in an uptown Waterloo laneway in an effort to make the otherwise banal space into one that is inviting.

Hughes Lane may just be an alley tucked away behind King Street South, but it is used often by people with vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists.

This public art project, also known as Hughes Lane Art Walk, adds colour and culture to a laneway that doesnt offer much to look at, said Tracy Van Kalsbeek, executive director of the Uptown Waterloo Business Improvement Area.

We wanted to put public art in areas where people wouldnt necessarily think to find public art, she said.

The new jazzed-up laneway comes at a time when more people are out in the streets.

This is a way people can explore Hughes Lane on their own time, in their own space, Van Kalsbeek said.

She hopes the art walk will draw more visitors to uptown Waterloo, as some local businesses are struggling to recover from the impacts of COVID-19.

Hughes Lane Art Walk is a collaboration between the City of Waterloo and uptown BIA, and is partially funded through a Regional Tourism Organization grant program. It was inspired by a similar project in Vancouver called canvas corridor.

There are eight different murals on the doorways of different businesses along Hughes Lane. Behind 21 Fir, paintings of a deer and an eagle created by local artist Luke Swinson can be found on garage doors.

Marbles back door features a fun and edgy celebration of Waterloos architecture created by artist Lucy Bilson.

They all put their own spin on what Waterloo means to them, said Sonya Poweska, culture program specialist at the City of Waterloo.

The city has a lot of interest in creating artistic spaces. It is really important for us to provide opportunities for art and for artists to be paid for their work, she said.

This project started earlier this year before the pandemic began. It was meant to be part of the citys Open Streets festival this summer, but the pandemic delayed the work to earlier this month.

Poweska and Van Kalsbeek hope more people will venture into the laneway to explore local art and learn more about the city, such as the fact that Hughes Lane is named after the citys first female councillor, Anna Hughes.

She served as one of eight Waterloo council members from 1951 until she retired in 1963.

Its about building a sense of place. Uptowns and downtowns are the cultural hubs of our cities, Van Kalsbeek said.

Hughes Lane runs parallel to King Street South and Regina Street. It runs from William Street and Willis Way and picks up again on the other side of the Uptown Parkade to Erb Street.
HOUSTON - (Sept. 16, 2020) - A simpler and more efficient way to predict performance will lead to better batteries, according to Rice University engineers.

That their method is 100,000 times faster than current modeling techniques is a nice bonus.

The analytical model developed by materials scientist Ming Tang and graduate student Fan Wang of Rice University's Brown School of Engineering doesn't require complex numerical simulation to guide the selection and design of battery components and how they interact.

The simplified model developed at Rice -- freely accessible online -- does the heavy lifting with an accuracy within 10% of more computationally intensive algorithms. Tang said it will allow researchers to quickly evaluate the rate capability of batteries that power the planet.

The results appear in the open-access journal Cell Reports Physical Science.

There was a clear need for the updated model, Tang said.

"Almost everyone who designs and optimizes battery cells uses a well-established approach called P2D (for pseudo-two dimensional) simulations, which are expensive to run," Tang said. "This especially becomes a problem if you want to optimize battery cells, because they have many variables and parameters that need to be carefully tuned to maximize the performance.

"What motivated this work is our realization that we need a faster, more transparent tool to accelerate the design process, and offer simple, clear insights that are not always easy to obtain from numerical simulations," he said.

Battery optimization generally involves what the paper calls a "perpetual trade-off" between energy (the amount it can store) and power density (the rate of its release), all of which depends on the materials, their configurations and such internal structures as porosity.

"There are quite a few adjustable parameters associated with the structure that you need to optimize," Tang said. "Typically, you need to make tens of thousands of calculations and sometimes more to search the parameter space and find the best combination. It's not impossible, but it takes a really long time."

He said the Rice model could be easily implemented in such common software as MATLAB and Excel, and even on calculators.

To test the model, the researchers let it search for the optimal porosity and thickness of an electrode in common full- and half-cell batteries. In the process, they discovered that electrodes with "uniform reaction" behavior such as nickel-manganese-cobalt and nickel-cobalt-aluminum oxide are best for applications that require thick electrodes to increase the energy density.

They also found that battery half-cells (with only one electrode) have inherently better rate capability, meaning their performance is not a reliable indicator of how electrodes will perform in the full cells used in commercial batteries.

The study is related to the Tang lab's attempts at understanding and optimizing the relationship between microstructure and performance of battery electrodes, the topic of several recent papers that showed how defects in cathodes can speed lithium absorption and how lithium cells can be pushed too far in the quest for speed.

###

Tang is an assistant professor of materials science and nanoengineering. The U.S. Department of Energy supported the research.

Read the abstract at https://www.cell.com/cell-reports-physical-science/fulltext/S2666-3864(20)30203-4

This news release can be found online at https://news.rice.edu/2020/09/16/fast-calculation-dials-in-better-batteries/

Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews.

Related materials:

Detours may make batteries better: http://news.rice.edu/2019/12/09/detours-may-make-batteries-better-2/

Not so fast: Some batteries can be pushed too far: http://news.rice.edu/2020/01/14/not-so-fast-some-batteries-can-be-pushed-too-far-2/

Mesoscale Materials Science Group: http://tanggroup.rice.edu/research/

Department of Materials Science and NanoEngineering: https://msne.rice.edu

George R. Brown School of Engineering: https://engineering.rice.edu

Images for download:

https://news-network.rice.edu/news/files/2020/09/0921_BATTERY-1-WEB.jpg

A graph that maps the capacity of batteries to cathode thickness and porosity shows a laborious search based on numerical simulations (black square) and a new Rice University algorithm (red dot) return nearly the same result. Rice researchers say their calculations are at least 100,000 times faster. (Credit: Fan Wang/Rice University)

https://news-network.rice.edu/news/files/2020/09/0921_BATTERY-2-WEB.jpg

Ming Tang. (Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)

https://news-network.rice.edu/news/files/2020/09/0921_BATTERY-3-WEB.jpg

Fan Wang. (Credit: Mesoscale Materials Science 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 3,978 undergraduates and 3,192 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. 1 for quality of life by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger's Personal Finance.
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 16, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijani ceasefire violations in the direction of the Tavush Province of the state border with Armenia are happening nearly twice as much as before since the Azerbaijani attack in the same section earlier in July 2020, Armenian Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan said in parliament in response to lawmaker Tatevik Hayrapetyans question.

Hayrapetyan asked the minister about the border situation in light of the latest cross border killing of an Armenian soldier by Azerbaijan.

After the relative suspension of the July actions the adversarys [ceasefire] violations in the same direction increased nearly twice. We are hopeful that as a result of the appropriate actions of our military the halt will be preserved and will contribute to the negotiations process, Tonoyan said, stressing that the countermeasures are appropriate.

He said that the Azerbaijani military units are carrying out reinforcement works in an attempt to neutralize the Armenian positions advantage and superiority. Thats why they are using various caliber weapons. This situation is happening for around two weeks now. We were displaying information restraint. The OSCE Co-Chairs are provided with information about all these cases, the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office is notified, and for several times we have cautioned that there is not a single mechanism in place to reduce risks of unduly developments of this situation. Today, unfortunately, we have a fatality. Appropriate measures are being taken. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry has expressed concern, raised vigilance, this concern was predictable for us because appropriate actions will be taken, Tonoyan said.

Junior Sergeant Hovik Tamazyan of the Armenian army sustained the fatal injuries while on duty at a military position in the northeastern part of the Armenia-Azerbaijan state border on September 16.

The Ministry of Defense of Armenia said in a statement that in recent days Azerbaijan has become active in this section of the border and attempted to carry out reinforcement works, which led to escalation.

With the purpose of suppressing the adversary activity and preventing future escalations the Armenian Armed Forces vanguard units were forced to take appropriate countermeasures. As a result of the adversarys provocation, Junior Sergeant Hovik Tamazyan sustained fatal gunshot and shrapnel wounds in the combat position of a military base in the northeastern section on September 16, the defense ministry said.

The entire responsibly for this situation and the border escalation falls on Azerbaijans military-political leadership, it added.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday at State House, Nairobi convened a leaders meeting to discuss the County revenue sharing stalemate at the Senate.

The meeting, which was attended by former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Chairman of the Council of Governors Wycliffe Oparanya, resolved that depending on the financial performance of the economy, the Government will, in the next Financial Year (2021/22), endeavor to allocate an additional Shs 50 billion to Counties as part of efforts to strengthen devolution.

With this undertaking, the President urged Senators to urgently resolve the revenue sharing stalemate at the Senate so as to avoid disruption of service delivery in the Counties.

The Senate was represented at the meeting by Hon Samuel Poghisio (Majority Leader), Hon Irungu Kangata (Majority Chief Whip), James Orengo (Minority Leader) and Hon Fatuma Dullo (Deputy Majority Leader)

Also present were Senators Hon Beatrice Kwamboka (Nominated) and Johnes Mwashushe Mwaruma (Taita Taveta).

By Kanze Dena Mararo, StateHouse Spokesperson.
(Natural News) The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which oversees the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), says the latter agency is corrupted with anti-Trump elements that exist to thwart the presidents agenda and eventually unseat him.

Describing these elements as a resistance unit during a recent Facebook livestream, HHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Michael Caputo chillingly advised Americans to stock up on ammunition before the November election because things are about to get really ugly.

According to Caputo, there are entire departments full of career scientists at the CDC who havent gotten out of their sweatpants except for meetings at coffee shops, during which they plot how theyre going to attack Donald Trump next.

There are scientists who work for this government who do not want America to get well, not until after Joe Biden is president, Caputo is further quoted as saying.

While pretending to be holy men of science who care about public health, these phony CDC scientists are rotten to the core, Caputo contends. Robert Redfield, however, is a good guy, according to Caputo, as is his scientific adviser Paul Alexander, whom he described as a genius.

To allow people to die so that you can replace the president, Caputo went on to chastise, is a grievous sin.

All of this stems from the greater Democrat agenda to unleash as much chaos as the left can get away with as we approach the November election  check out the below episode of The Health Ranger Report to learn more:

Trump says anti-Trump elements at FDA are impeding his fast-tracked COVID-19 vaccines

Caputos commentary parrots that of President Trump himself, who back in August made the suggestion that deep state officials at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are likewise working against him to slow down the trials of his Operation Warp Speed Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines.

The deep state, or whoever, over at the FDA is making it very difficult for drug companies to get people in order to test the vaccines and therapeutics, Trump rambled in a tweet, venting his frustrations about trying to get his warp speed vaccines to market more quickly.

Obviously, they are hoping to delay the answer until after November 3. Must focus on speed, and saving lives! Trump concluded.

Alexander, by the way, has lobbed numerous complaints at the CDC about its inconsistent messaging concerning the risk of Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) spread among children.

CDC to me appears to be writing hit pieces on the administration, he wrote, as reported by The Epoch Times.

CDC tried to report as if once kids get together, there will be spread and this will impact school re-opening  Very misleading by CDC and shame on them. Their aim is clear.

Following this report, Caputo himself issued a statement to CNBC claiming that the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs clears virtually all public facing documents for all of its divisions, including the CDC.

Our intention is to make sure that evidence, science-based data drives policy through this pandemic  not ulterior deep state motives in the bowels of the CDC, he further indicated.

In support of Caputo, the HHS followed up by telling The Epoch Times that Caputo is a critical, integral part of the presidents coronavirus response, leading the public messaging as Americans need public health information to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic.

As for his strange comments about Americans needing to buy ammunition over the next several weeks, Caputo explained that no matter who wins the election in November, violence will ensue  especially if Trump wins reelection, he insists.

The latest news about Trump and election can be found at Trump.news.

Sources for this article include:

TheEpochTimes.com

NaturalNews.com
New solution offers employer branding, automated bidding, and advanced job seeker analytics

AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 16, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Talroo, an award-winning job advertising platform, has launched a new premium pay-for-performance job advertising product, Talroo Pro , to enable companies to hire better job candidates more efficiently. Talroo Pro solves several common problems in todays job advertising landscape, including loss of control over candidate experience, poor candidate quality, and lack of a truly insightful job seeker analytics tool. After successful beta campaigns, the product is now available for all employers. Talroo Pro is ideal for talent acquisition leaders who focus on high-volume hiring, as well as recruitment advertising agencies.



One of Talroos core strengths has always been our direct connection to our candidates. That, combined with our AI-enabled engine powering 1.8 billion job seeker searches a month, allowed us to do something special to programmatically find the right candidates, said Talroo CEO Thad Price. "We were able to create a data-driven feedback loop that drives efficiency for both sides of our marketplace  the job seeker and the employer. This has shown a performance improvement up to 3x over Talroos basic job advertising service. At a time when the labor force is adjusting to a new post-COVID world, its more important than ever to match the right people to the right opportunities.

Talroo Pro provides three major features that drive better return on investment for recruiting budgets. The first is a branded candidate experience. Customers can brand their individual job ad, which supports consistent candidate experience across multimedia channels, and leads to increased employer brand recognition and application rates. Additionally, customers may activate virtual or in-person job-level hiring events on any Talroo Pro job. The second is automated bidding based on application cost or hiring goals. Every time a job seeker applies, Talroos AI algorithm learns and provides better job recommendations to similar job seekers, leading to higher-intent candidates for the employer. The third is recruitment marketing intelligence, which provides industry-leading job seeker analytics so companies can optimize their recruiting strategy with Talroos unique real-time talent market data.

Story continues

To learn more about the features and benefits of Talroo Pro, read our recent blog post . To join the list of clients who have seen increased quality and applicant flow using Talroo Pro, contact us at talroo.com/start .

About Talroo

Talroo is a data-driven job advertising solution that helps businesses reach the candidates they need to make hires. Through AI, unique talent audiences, and a pay-for-performance model, Talroo enables companies to find their ideal candidates and reduce cost-per-hire. Talroo has earned a spot on the Inc. 500/5000 list of fastest-growing companies for six consecutive years. To learn how Talroo can help your organization hire better, visit talroo.com .

Media contact

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On Sunday, September 13, night, student activist Umar Khalid was arrested under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

The Delhi police allege Khalid had a role in the Delhi riots in February.

last week, the Delhi police had accused Khalid, Communist Party of India-Marxist General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, Swaraj Abhiyan leader Yogendra Yadav, economist Professor Jayati Ghosh, Delhi University Professor Apoorvanand, and documentary film-maker Rahul Roy of asking anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protesters to go to 'any extreme'.

Nothing Umar Khalid said in his speeches before the Delhi riots was an incitement to violence, point out his many supporters on social media. He has always advocated conduct that adheres to the Constitution, a book the prime minister also swears by.

Dominic Xavier asks if the young intellectual's arrest is part of a fresh campaign to crush all dissent against the Modi government.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
By IANS

MUMBAI: Bigg Boss 14 is round the corner, and speculations have been rife over contestants in the house this season. Among early names being touted was YouTuber Ajey Nagar, popularly known as Carry Minati. On Wednesday, Minati took to social media to deny all such reports.

I am not going in Bigg Boss!

Don't believe in everything you read.  Ajey Nagar (@CarryMinati) September 16, 2020

"I am not going in Bigg Boss! Don't believe in everything you read," he tweeted. YouTube sensation Bhuvan Bam has a witty response. "Tu next year bhi jaayega. Jaise main pichle 4 saal se jaa raha hoon," wrote Bhuvan.

Earlier this year, Carry Minati made headlines with his "YouTube vs TikTok" video, in which he had taken a dig at TikTokers. However, the video was pulled down by YouTube a few days later. "Bigg Boss" returns with season 14 in October. Host Salman Khan has already shot several promos for the show.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court of B.C. rendered an unequivocal decision about health care in Canada: Access should be based on need, not on ability to pay. This has been the fundamental basis of universal public health care in Canada, and will continue to be.

As we reflect back on the four years of the Cambie Surgeries Corporation v. British Columbia trial, it is important that we learn from the outcome as well as continuously strive to improve the care that we all need at some point in our lives.

The 880-page decision is a superb summary of evidence and rationale for the judges decision to dismiss the plaintiffs entire claim. The plaintiffs stated that overturning the law would decrease wait times, but their claim was really about increasing income and profits for physicians and investors in private health facilities.

As a quick summary, what the plaintiffs wanted were three things that are currently not allowed by B.C.s Medicare Protection Act.

Firstly, extra billing, or allowing physicians to charge patients more than what they would be paid through the public plan.

Secondly, they wanted the introduction of private duplicate insurance, or private queue-jumping insurance that would allow healthier and wealthier people to get faster access to care.

And lastly, dual practice, to allow doctors to bill B.C.s provincial health insurance, and/or patients and/or private insurance and give preferential access to higher-paying individuals or private insurance.

The verdict was decisive: In page after page, the judge describes how the measures the plaintiffs wanted would introduce a second tier of preferential health care on the basis of ones ability to pay and not medical need. He stated that the changes being demanded would, discriminate against the poor and ill  [and] exacerbate existing health inequities.

Especially now, during a global pandemic, it is essential that we can all rely on access to care without worrying about how we will pay for it.

So, with the Cambie court case in the rear-view mirror, lets look forward and focus on federal, provincial and territorial policies that we know will improve the health of people across Canada  and there are many.

Universal pharmacare is at the top of the list. Pre-pandemic the federal governments own Advisory Council on the Implementation of National Pharmacare had put forward a strong argument  its time to implement it now.

This would be a welcome and concrete followup to Federal Minister of Health Patty Hajdus recent statement, all Canadians deserve universally accessible health care ... Patient charges  whether they take the form of charges at the point of service or payment for private insurance  undermine equity.

When it comes to wait times, we can look to success stories within Canada. B.C. has already taken important steps to reduce surgical wait times by increasing publicly funded surgical capacity and expanding the use of best practices, like centralized wait-lists so patients see the next available surgeon, increasing MRI capacity, and improving access to interdisciplinary teams.

Other jurisdictions, such as Saskatchewan, have employed similar methods to reduce wait times. E-consultation with specialists by both family doctors and patients has reduced the need for patients to wait for in-person specialist appointments and has decreased ER visits.

We also need a particular focus on reducing inequitable access to care, and the significant attention to virtual care during the pandemic can help do that. For those living in rural and remote communities, in many situations it can be an extremely effective way to reach appropriate care.

The same is the case with rural Ontarios Virtual Triage Assessment Centre, which promises same-day virtual access to family doctors in a county where 20 per cent of the population doesnt have a family physician.

The long-running Cambie case is an important win for our cherished Medicare system. Its now time to take what we learned from the trial in terms of how health care would be worsened from an increasingly privately funded model and move forward on delivering more equitable, effective health care for all Canadians.
India on Tuesday lambasted Pakistan, Turkey and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) at the 46th session of the Human Rights Council for their remarks on India's internal affairs. Responding to reference made by Turkey on Jammu and Kashmir, India in its right to reply advised Turkey to refrain from commenting on the internal affairs of India and develop a better understanding of democratic practices.

The democratic practices remark at Turkey appears to be well directed seeing as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is widely accused of cementing his power as a result of fixed elections and a clampdown on the opposition, having even faced a failed coup just a few years ago.

'The OIC has no locus standi to comment'

First secretary, Permanent Mission of India in Geneva Pawan Badhe who delivered India's right to reply said: "We reject the reference made by the OIC to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir which is an integral part of India. The OIC has no locus standi to comment on the internal affairs of India. The OIC has allowed itself to be misused by Pakistan to subverse its own Agenda. It's for the members of the OIC to decide if it is in their interests to allow Pakistan to do so."

Slamming Pakistan, the Indian diplomat said, "It has become habitual for Pakistan to malign my country with false and fabricated narratives for its self-serving malicious purposes."

"Neither India nor others deserve this unsolicited lecture on human rights from a country that has consistently persecuted its ethnic and religious minorities, is an epicentre of terrorism, has the distinction of providing pensions to individuals on UN Sanctions list and has a Prime Minister who proudly admits training tens of thousands of terrorists to fight in Jammu and Kashmir," he said.

India humiliates Pakistan at Human Rights platform

India also raised issues of state-supported persecution in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Highlighting the nefarious designs of Pakistan in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, the Indian representative said, "the mass influx of outsiders has whittled down the number of Kashmiris to an insignificant number in Pakistan occupied parts of Indian Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Laddakh.

READ | Disha Salian's fiance Rohan Rai may be summoned by CBI in Sushant death probe: Sources

"In its zeal to reassert its theocratic ideology, it has ensured that ethnic and religious minorities have no future through systematic persecution, blasphemy laws, forced conversions, targeted killings, sectarian violence and faith-based discrimination," the diplomat said.

READ | Def Min Rajnath Singh makes statement on LAC faceoff in LS, affirms faith in Armed Forces

"Thousands of Sikh, Hindus and Christian minority women and girls have been subjected to abductions, forced marriages and conversions in Pakistan." On the plight of people in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh, the Indian diplomat said, "Not a single day has gone by when a family in Balochistan doesn't find its members picked up or kidnapped by the security forces of Pakistan.

READ | BMC issues notice to Kangana Ranaut's housing society, seeks details of 'main members'

READ | NSA Ajit Doval leaves SCO meeting objecting to Pakistan's fictitious map; MEA busts lies

(With agency inputs)
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Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 19:56:40|Editor: huaxia

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Aerial photo shows fishing boats sailing to the East China Sea in Zhoushan, east China's Zhejiang Province, Sept. 16, 2020. Fishing boats departed from ports in Zhejiang Province at noon on Wednesday, marking the end of the four-and-a-half month summer fishing ban in the East China Sea. (Photo by Yao Feng/Xinhua)

NINGBO, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- More than a thousand fishing boats departed from the Shipu Port in east China's Zhejiang Province at noon on Wednesday, marking the end of the four-and-a-half month summer fishing ban in the East China Sea.

Local fishery authorities have cleaned up and dredged shipping channels in the Shipu Port and carried out safety inspections on fishing boats and crew members.

China's summer fishing ban, starting on May 1 annually, is part of China's efforts to protect marine fishery resources and the ecological environment.

No fishing activities were allowed in the Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, and the waters north to 12 degrees north latitude of the South China Sea during the moratorium period. Enditem
On September 14, the Trump administration issued a new import restriction against Chinese companies that are allegedly using slave labor. The administration claimed the products were from mass prison camps in China's western Xinjiang region.

Labor camps in China

One company in eastern Anhui province and five different companies in Xinjiang have been included in the list made by the United States Customs and Border Protection or US CBP. The companies make apparel, cotton, hair products, and computer products.

One of the vocational skills education and training centers in Xinjiang was also named in the order. The name "vocational skills education and training centers" is used by Beijing to soften the blow of what is really happening in the region, according to CNN.

The "training centers" are concentration camps where Muslim minorities are detained. The Muslim inmates are made to pledge loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party and forces them to work as free or low-cost labor in factories and nearby facilities.

Also Read: Chinese Hospitals Implement Horrific Late-Stage Abortions, Newborn Killings to Reduce Uighur Population

Ken Cuccinelli, the senior official performing the duties of the deputy secretary for the Department of Homeland, said that the "vocational center" is a concentration camp, and it is a place minorities are abused and forced to work in inhumane conditions with no freedom.

The agency issued "Withhold Release Orders" for all six Chinese companies. The agency's orders are intended to prevent goods suspected to have been made with forced labor from entering the United States.

The order allow Customs and Border Protection to detain shipments at US ports and gives companies the chance to export their shipments or demonstrate that the products were not produced with forced labor.

US action on Xinjiang

The US trade action is one of the numerous steps done by the Trump administration targeting Chinese businesses and authorities. These steps are done due to allegations of human rights abuses and modern-day slavery in the region of Xinjiang.

Up to 2 million Muslim minorities in Xinjiang have been imprisoned in mass re-education centers, including massive numbers of the Uyghur people, according to the US State Department, with reports emerging from the camps of abuse, indoctrination, and sterilization.

The Chinese government has described the vocational centers as "voluntary" and "part of a wide-reaching deradicalization campaign."

In July 2020, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on several Xinjiang officials, including Chen Quanguo, the region's Community Party secretary, stating that the US would not stand idly by as the Chinese Communist Party continues to violate human rights, as reported by CNN.

In June 2020, US President Donald Trump signed the Uyghur Human Rights Act into law. The law condemns the Chinese Communist Party for human rights abuses and modern-day slavery.

Recently, US CBP has stepped up its efforts targeting forced labor, and the agency issued 12 orders in 2020, including eight that are focused on products from China.

The new orders by US CBP targeted forced labor in China followed two years of investigation by the agency, according to the senior official performing the duties of the commissioner at the US CBP, Mark Morgan.

Cuccinelli said that 2020 had been the most aggressive year in using US CBP's authorities to fight forced labor.

Related Article: China Forces Traditional Medicine on Xinjiang Residents Amid Strict Coronavirus Lockdown Procedures





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Studio 10's former executive producer labelled the new-look show 'a piece of s**t' with 'the depth of a puddle' on his podcast on Monday.

But on Tuesday, Rob McKnight, who oversaw day-to-day operations of Studio 10 from 2013 to 2017, completely backtracked on his harsh comments.

He published an apology on his TV Blackbox website and admitted he'd 'gone too far', adding that his former colleagues were upset by his comments.

'Too far': Studio 10's former boss Rob McKnight has backtracked after making stinging comments about the new-look show hosted by Tristan MacManus (right) and Sarah Harris (left)

'In the cold light of day, I look back at those remarks and I have regrets,' McKnight wrote.

'It's one thing for me to disagree with the changes to Studio 10, but it's another to pour scorn on the people working hard behind the scenes to deliver four hours of television.

'You know you've gone too far when people you respect reach out to you to let you know.

'How arrogant people must think I am. Because I made those comments publicly, I am going to apologise publicly. To all those people who work their a***s off each and every day  I am sorry.'

Backtracking: McKnight (pictured) published an apology on his TV Blackbox website and admitted he'd 'gone too far', adding that his former colleagues were upset by his comments

McKnight explained he'd made the comments because he was feeling 'emotional' that the show he'd worked on for four years had changed its format.

After seeing his scathing remarks published by Daily Mail Australia, he realised he had been too judgmental.

He concluded his apology by saying it was time for him to 'move on'.

McKnight also praised longtime Studio 10 host Sarah Harris and her new co-anchor Tristan MacManus, saying they 'make a great team'.

Burning bridges: Rob said some of his former colleagues had reached out to him to tell him that he'd gone too far. Pictured: Sarah Harris

Rob's formal apology comes after he slammed the show on his TV Blackbox podcast on Monday.

'It was embarrassing. I swear to god, I wish that they had renamed the show because as far as I'm concerned Studio 10 is dead,' he said.

'A piece of s**t, no matter how much you roll it in glitter, is a piece of s**t. It was woeful.'
- The story of an illustrious Ghanaian professor has caught the eye of YEN.com.gh

- Professor Robert Hinson has shared his struggles through life and how he sailed through

- His story, just like many others we have highlighted would inspire you greatly

Our manifesto: This is what YEN.com.gh believes in

From a very humble beginning and a rather challenging break into the world of education, Robert Ebo Hinson would rise through the ranks to become a well-established professor.

In a recent capture of his struggles through life as a young chap, Professor Robert Ebo Hinson narrated what seemed like a story that was going to end in failure turning into a beautiful tale.

According to him, he was rather an average student while growing up and just like his own academic strengths then, managed to score average marks during his O-Levels.

Prof Robert Ebo Hinson. Source: Twitter/Prof Robert Ebo Hinson

Source: Instagram

READ ALSO: Matters of the heart: Lady gets dumped by guy she spent all her money on; chats leak online (photos)

As if everything was going to be okay with time, Professor Robert Hinson was then hit with a tragedy - the death of his dad.

The passing of his dad happened at a very crucial time in the life of the then young Professor Robert Hinson who was just days away from sitting for his A-Levels.

He went on to recount that he managed to come out with flying colours then by scoring 9As & B+.

Following that exceptional performance, he went on to attend the Univerity of Ghana at the age of 29.

Ten years after this, Professor Robert Ebo Hinson now boasts of two doctorate degrees and a full professorship.

He was highlighting his struggles through life and his beautiful ending now to motivate all those who had hit a snag and wanted to give up on life.

He went on to indicate that life had not been all rosy and that his own setbacks taught him great lessons that have propelled him to do exploits.

READ ALSO: Suzzy Nyame be tua wo ka - Man recounts how girl dumped him after selling his laptop for her (video)

After posting a nice photo of himself to go with his story, Professor Robert Ebo Hinson captioned it:

"O-Levels average. Lost Dad few days before A-Levels. 2nd Class Lower, but 9As & B+, 1st Year MBA. Joined UG at 29 without PhD, at 39, 2 doctorates + Full Prof. Though thy beginning be small, thy latter end shall greatly increase. I've been blessed with 2nd chances. U will 2!!"

He went on to add that:

"1 thing I have learnt - Setbacks matter little if you have a God to lean on & you learn from your mistakes. Our confession is single - Even though our beginnings may be small, our end will be great, never mind what pple think! Stay with the promises in God's word! Learn, move on!"

Meanwhile, Benjamin Sedem Ehlah has etched his name in the history books of the University of Winneba- Kumasi Campus after he was adjudged the best graduating student in his year group.

READ ALSO: Meet 60-year-old Elizabeth Yamoah Ghana's oldest BECE candidate for the 2020 batch

Benjamin Sedem Ehlah, who graduated in 2020, managed to defy all the odds and braved the storms of the rigorous education system in Ghana to achieve the feat.

The 27-year-old young record-setter studied Information Technology and managed to top all students on his campus with a CGPA that was only a few decimal points short of distinction.

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 U.S. State Department has warned Americans that they should reconsider any travel plans to Hong Kong in the wake of a draconian national security law imposed on the city by Beijing, citing a risk of arbitrary arrest on vaguely-defined offenses under the law.



"Since the imposition of national security legislation on July 1, [China] unilaterally and arbitrarily exercises police and security power in Hong Kong," the State Department said in updated travel advice on its official website.



It said the ruling Chinese Communist Party has a "broad range of activities" it defines as separatist, subversive, terrorist, and as collusion with foreign powers.



The National Security Law for Hong Kong also applies to words and actions by non-residents of Hong Kong anywhere in the world, it warned.



"[This] could subject U.S. citizens who have been publicly critical of [China] to a heightened risk of arrest, detention, expulsion, or prosecution," the advisory warned.



"[Chinese] security forces, including the new Office for Safeguarding National Security, now operate in Hong Kong," it said.



The advisory also warns U.S. citizens in Hong Kong to avoid demonstrations, as perceived participation can also be deemed an act of separatism, subversion, terrorism, or collusion with a foreign power under the new law.



"On July 1, 2020, as part of its color-coded system of warning flags, the Hong Kong police unveiled a new purple flag, which warns protesters that shouting slogans or carrying banners with an intent prohibited by the law could now bring criminal charges," it said.



The new advisory on Hong Kong brings it into line with current advice on travel to mainland China, which the State Department said "arbitrarily enforces local laws, including by carrying out arbitrary and wrongful detentions and through the use of exit bans on U.S. citizens and citizens of other countries without due process of law."



It said U.S. citizens traveling or residing in mainland China or Hong Kong could be detained without access to U.S. consular services or information about their alleged crime.



They could also be subjected to prolonged interrogations and extended detention without due process of law, the advisory warned.



"Security personnel may detain and/or deport U.S. citizens for sending private electronic messages critical of the [Chinese] government," it said.



The advisory came as news emerged that key figures in Hong Kong's democracy movement have fled overseas.



Fears for safety



Pro-democracy activist Sunny Cheung, 24, said he left Hong Kong in August after beginning to fear for his safety.



"As the situation between the US and China began to heat up, a pattern of hostage diplomacy [by China] started to emerge," Cheung said from the U.K., via his Facebook page. "I was being followed more frequently, and my partner and family were being constantly harassed."



"I felt the situation was escalating and so I took the advice of many and left Hong Kong unwillingly in August due to safety concerns," Cheung wrote.



Cheung was among two dozen Hong Kong pro-democracy activists prosecuted for participating in an "illegal assembly" on the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre on June 4, 2020, the first time the candlelight vigil was banned in Hong Kong since the 1997 handover to Chinese rule.



Twenty-six activists face charges linked to the event, including 2014 student leader Joshua Wong, media tycoon Jimmy Lai, and Nathan Law, who has also left Hong Kong due to the national security law.



Lee Cheuk-yan, who organizes the annual vigil in Hong Kong and is among those facing charges, told journalists that the court had recorded Law's departure from the city as being on June 27, before the summons was issued.



Lee said there was no crime in attending the vigil.



"It's ridiculous," he said. "It seems that the powers-that-be in Hong Kong have decided that we are all supposed to know this. Well, we didn't."



"It is not a crime to mourn. Is it likely that tens of thousands of people would all stand there holding a candle in the full knowledge that they were breaking the law?"



The defendants -- barring Cheung and Law -- appeared in West Kowloon Court on Tuesday, charged with organizing, inciting others to join, or taking part in an illegal assembly at Victoria Park, where thousands of people defied a police ban on public gatherings to commemorate those who died in 1989.



The case has been adjourned until Oct. 15.



Reported by Lau Siu-fung for RFA's Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
A public awareness campaign is underway this week to highlight the difference palliative care can make to patients, carers and families.

Palliative Care Week, led by the All-Ireland Institute for Hospice and Palliative Care (AIIHPC), is now in its seventh year and is running a series of online events from September 13 to 19.

Causeway Coast and Glens Councillor, Helena Dallat O'Driscoll, has lent her support to this year's campaign, which has 'in this together' as its theme.

Cllr Dallat O'Driscoll is the daughter of the late John Dallat, who passed away earlier this year.

As many know, I lost my father just months ago to prostate cancer. His final weeks were difficult and Covid-19 did not ease our situation, she said.

We were, and will forever remain, incredibly grateful for the input of our Northern Ireland Hospice community nurse, Ciara.

Thanks to our hospice nurse, we were able to care for dad at home and it is impossible for me to put into adequate words our gratitude for that outstanding end-of-life care.

This annual awareness campaign educates the public on the importance of palliative care and highlights the benefits of accessing such specialist care when needed.

The Kilrea councillor said the work of the hospice is 'invaluable' at a time when families are at their most vulnerable.

Dad was my first great loss and, after his terminal diagnosis, it was hard to fathom the magnitude of what we were about to face as a family, she said.

However, having a hospice nurse to walk us through that experience enabled us all to learn invaluable lessons.

With the help of our hospice nurse, we quickly learned about symptom assessment and pain relief but also the preciousness of life and how to let someone with so precious little time left live as fully as possible until the end.

Palliative care, whether provided in ones own home, a hospice, hospital or nursing home, is a vitally important part of our care system.

The hospice is an incredible movement that has had a profound effect on my familys life. I have made it one of my top priorities to ensure that all families that need palliative care services can continue to access high quality care when they are at their most vulnerable.

For more information on Palliative Care Week, visit the AlIHPC website, where details of the events can be found.
Former Weekend Sunrise presenter Simon Reeve has launched legal action against Seven in the Federal Court.

Reeve is reportedly suing Seven over unpaid entitlements he believes are owed. The Daily Mail reports the case centres around whether he was employee or a private contractor to the network, and follows similar reports in The Australian.

Reeve first began at Seven in 1979 on shows such as State Affair and Beyond 2000. After time overseas returned to Australia in 2001 working on Seven News, Sunrise, plus hosting on Its Academic, Million Dollar Minute and Weekend Sunrise, and narrating The Force.

He exited the network some months ago after redundancies were made within the network.

Seven declined to comment.
LOS ANGELESRepublicans in California are eyeing the controversial AB5 gig worker law, which requires that companies that now rely on freelance workers to hire those workers as employees, as a potential winning issue in the Democratically controlled state. And with both candidates at the top of the Democratic ticket  Joe Biden and California Senator Kamala Harris  supporting AB5, the law could play a role in the presidential race as well.

The law, which took effect in January of this year, is intended to prevent companies from saving a buck by misclassifying workers who may put in long hours for low wages as independent contractors when they should be treated as employees  complete with a minimum wage, payroll taxes, health benefits, paid time off and other benefits.

While the law was largely intended to force rideshare companies such as Uber and Lyft to treat their drivers as employees, it reached well beyond that industry, subjecting independent contractors in dozens of professions to a new, strict test to determine whether they should be allowed to work on an independent basis. As a result, some companies have simply refused to hire freelance workers at all.

The bill was authored and supported almost exclusively by Democrats  but it may have already cost one Congressional seat that was held by a Democrat. In May, Republican former Navy pilot Mike Garcia defeated Democratic state assemblymember Christy Smith in a special election in the 25th Congressional district.

The district centered in traditionally Republican Simi Valley had been flipped to the Democrats in the 2018 midterm elections by Katie Hill. But Hill resigned her seat after a leak of sexually explicit photos, and allegations that she engaged in a sexual relationship with a staffer.

While Smith was initially expected to hold the seat for Democrats in a district that voted for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, Garcias campaign made an issue of Smiths support for AB5, even claiming, inaccurately, that she had co-authored the bill.

In the 48th district, based in Orange County, Republican County Supervisor Michelle Steel has made AB5 a key to her campaign against the Democratic incumbent Harley Rouda, calling for the laws repeal. As Garcia did with Hill, Steel has sought to tie Rouda to the bill, even referring to the law in campaign ads as Roudas AB5. But the law was passed by the California legislature, not by the United States Congress where Rouda serves.

On a national level, prominent Democrats have also strongly supported AB5. While Biden and Harris initially took no position on the law, but in August of last year both announced their support for the bill. Harris even went so far as to state that all Democrats need to stand up and declare their support for AB5.

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren injected herself into California politics last year when she published an August op-ed in the Sacramento Bee, declaring that the AB5  which was then under debate in the legislature  would stop shameful exploitation of gig workers.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has introduced U.S. Senate legislation that would essentially make AB5 a nationwide law. The Democratically controlled House passed a bill last year, H.R. 2474 that would also require many independent contractors to be reclassified as employees.

Photo By Ilya Plekhanov / Wikimedia Commons
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 04:39:58|Editor: huaxia

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BRASILIA, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro dismissed on Tuesday the possibility of the implementation of the government program Renda Brasil, an initiative that would have replaced the Bolsa Familia resource transfer program which grants a monthly stipend to low-income families.

Through a video broadcast on social media, Bolsonaro spoke on the rumors of government's alleged intention to freeze pensions to guarantee resources for the Renda Brasil program.

"I have already said that I will never take money from the poor to give it to the poor. To anyone who proposes such a measure, I can only give him a 'red card'. They are people who do not have the minimum amount of heart, they do not have the minimum amount of understanding of how retirees in Brazil live," he said.

"Until 2022, in my government, it is forbidden to say the words 'Renda Brasil'. We will continue with Bolsa Familia and that's all," he said.

In June, Minister of Economy Paulo Guedes announced the government's intention to create Renda Brasil through the unification of several social programs to help citizens weather the economic fallout from the novel coronavirus pandemic. The economic team has since been analyzing possible sources of funding for the program.

Bolsa Familia was created in 2003 and benefits more than 14 million low-income families, according to official data.

The government program was strengthened and expanded as a result of the pandemic into emergency aid for the unemployed, self-employed workers, and micro business owners, with payments to be disbursed to about 70 million people until the end of the year. Enditem
Ty Simons phone began ringing the moment Premier Daniel Andrews announced hospitality businesses in regional Victoria could resume table service this week.

The owner of the Driftwood Cafe in Ocean Grove says people are desperate to enjoy a meal out.

Driftwood Cafe owner Ty Simons prepares to reopen in Ocean Grove. Credit:Jason South

From Thursday, restaurants, bars and cafes in regional Victoria can serve a maximum of 50 people outside and 20 people indoors across two separate sections.

"Theres been a mad rush today," Mr Simons said on Wednesday while preparing to open. "Were moving furniture and ordering products and prepping up for it."
HANOI, Vietnam, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, MobiFone and QD.TEK announced that the BroadForward Diameter Signaling Controller (BroadForward DSC) and BroadForward Diameter Firewall (BroadForward DFW) are now in full operation at several locations within the MobiFone mobile network. The BroadForward DSC and DFW were deployed by the leading Vietnamese technology provider and integrator QD.TEK. The Next Generation DSC provides MobiFone with the ability to integrate and apply intelligent Diameter signaling scenarios. The DFW enables MobiFone to block unwanted signaling messages as per relevant GSMA FS.19 recommendations. After assessing multiple Diameter router vendors, MobiFone selected QD.TEK to deploy the BroadForward DSC to replace the existing Diameter routers.

MobiFone is a major Vietnamese mobile network operator headquartered in Trung Hoa Nhan Chinh, Hanoi with close to 50 million subscribers. MobiFone were the first and only mobile network provider in Vietnam providing Telecom services to subscribers and enterprises. Today they are in the top 100 of the world's most valuable telecommunications brands in 2020 - according to a report by Brand Finance. In Vietnam they have been voted as the brand favorite by customers for 6 consecutive years and this year Forbes Vietnam ranked MobiFone as one of the top 6 most valuable brands in Vietnam.

The BroadForward Next Generation DSC (DRA, DEA and Interworking) provides MobiFone with an easy to configure, multi-protocol routing and interworking software solution, designed to orchestrate converged signaling services across 2G/3G, 4G/LTE, Fixed/Wi-Fi networks and ultimately 5G. The BroadForward DSC, often in combination with the BroadForward STP, is widely adopted by leading global Mobile Network Operators, MVNOs and IPX providers. The BroadForward Diameter Firewall (DFW) protects networks against potential attacks, unauthorized senders, malformed messages, overload situations and much more. The BroadForward DFW provides MobiFone with a path to gradual migration to a converged security architecture across Diameter, SS7 and eventually HTTP  required for 5G signaling operations.

Mr. Tran Viet Ha  Deputy Director, Network Development at MobiFone commented, "QD.TEK and BroadForward provided us with a powerful, integrated Diameter routing and multi-protocol interworking solution that includes extensive online and offline tracing capabilities. This Next Generation DSC and DFW solution offers much more flexibility compared to traditional signaling products, allowing us to independently configure signaling services across our networks and services and easily adapt to vendor-specific protocol implementations."

Mr. Nguyen Cao Phuong, Director Project Business at QD.TEK added, "MobiFone is a highly knowledgeable customer who were looking for a future proof Routing and security solution that offers unrivalled flexibility to integrate and configure. The deployment of the BroadForward DSC and DFW was achieved quickly in close cooperation with MobiFone, BroadForward. We are delighted that the switch-over from the legacy router to the BroadForward DSC was achieved as planned, and is now in full operation."

About MobiFone

MobiFone was established on April 16, 1993 with the original name of Mobile Information Company. On December 1, 2014, the Company was transformed into MobiFone Telecom Corporation, under the Ministry of Information and Communications, doing business in the fields of traditional telecommunications services, VAS, Data, Internet & transmission. TV IPTV / cable TV, corporate customer products, information technology services, retail and distribution and foreign investment. MobiFone is one of the three largest mobile networks in Vietnam. Currently, MobiFone has nearly 50 million subscribers with nearly 30,000 2G stations and 20,000 3G stations. MobiFone's total revenue in 2017 was approximately US $ 2 billion.

About QD.TEK

QD.TEK is a Vietnamese total security surveillance & information technology infrastructure products and solutions distributor. We distribute optimal products, solutions, technologies and infrastructure to help customers minimize Investment costs and achieve business goals.

About BroadForward

BroadForward is leader in intelligent signaling software for 2G/3G, 4G/LTE, 5G, IMS, Fixed, Wi-Fi, IPX and M2M/IoT networks. Five-time GSMA Best Mobile Technology nominee BroadForward delivers core network products for routing, interworking, security and number portability, designed for convergence across legacy and next generation networks. Our active 5G roadmap supports service providers with their network transition to 5G NG Core, with the Service Communication Proxy (SCP), Binding Support Function (BSF), Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), 5G EIR, 4G-5G interworking and multi-protocol signaling orchestration. All BroadForward products are hardware-agnostic and support network virtualization, OpenStack and cloud deployment. BroadForward's software development is entirely done in The Netherlands.

SOURCE BroadForward
When comments are made like that, it does create just a level of uncertainty for all the men and women that are the backbone of the horse racing industry, not just in Illinois, but everywhere there is horse racing, to plan for their future, Beiser said at Wednesdays meeting.
The lawsuit claimed that the denials were based on crabbed interpretation of the policies, as well as broad exclusions that were made with little or no investigation to back them.

But US District Judge Jon S. Tigar dismissed Mudpies lawsuit this week. The judge concluded that because the boutique has not alleged that COVID-19 is present or had directly contributed to its business losses, no physical force that would have triggered insurance coverage had occurred.

The judge further explained that Mudpies complaint is based solely on allegations that the government shutdown orders caused it to lose business  an argument that Tigar said was not enough. According to him, without some intervening physical force to prompt the shutdown orders, or Mudpies closure  and without permanent loss of property involved  the boutiques claims for breach of contract and breach of covenant fail.

While Tigar ruled that the shutdown orders did not cause any physical loss or damage, he rejected Travelers argument that physical loss or damage only relates to physical alteration of the property. The judge also allowed Mudpie to amend its complaint due to the constantly developing area of law over business interruption insurance related to COVID-19, Law360 reported.

Although there have been several cases where the courts sided with the plaintiffs, Bloomberg reported that most of the BI insurance cases adjudicated thus far have been ruled in favor of insurers.

Just last week, a Florida federal judge dismissed a dentists lawsuit against insurer Allied Insurance Company of America over business losses resulting from state-mandated business closures.
KERRVILLE, Texas, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- James Avery Artisan Jewelry, a family-owned jewelry retailer based in Texas, announces the opening of its newest store today in Terrell, Texas in the Crossroads at Terrell shopping center located at 608B American Way.

"I'm excited to announce that our new location in the vibrant community of Terrell is now open," says James Avery CEO John McCullough. "I invite guests to stop by and see our newest designs, classic charms and long-time customer favorites in this beautiful new store."

Putting customer and associate safety first, the Crossroads at Terrell store is following recommended COVID-19 health protocols and guidelines which have been implemented in all James Avery stores. Hand sanitizing stations are set up in store for customers and associates and all jewelry and high-touch areas of the store are regularly cleaned and sanitized. Additionally, the company asks customers to honor social distancing guidelines and to wear face coverings when in the store. James Avery associates undergo daily health screenings and wear facemasks.

Current operating hours are Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday, 12 to 6 p.m. and are subject to change. Store Manager Rhona Hunter and her team are ready to welcome customers to shop in the new store or use their Contactless, Curbside Pickup or Buy Online, Pickup in Store options at JamesAvery.com. The James Avery team will announce plans for a grand opening celebration after regular store operations resume across the company.

About James Avery Artisan Jewelry James Avery is a vertically integrated, family-owned company located in the heart of the Texas Hill Country. We offer finely crafted jewelry designs for men and women in sterling silver, 14K and 18K gold, gemstones and leather handbags. James Avery jewelry is designed by our own skilled artisans in Kerrville, Texas. We are a multi-channel retailer with 95 James Avery stores in four states. Our jewelry is also available in more than 220 Dillard's stores in Texas and 28 additional states, airport stores in Austin and Houston, Army and Air Force Exchange Service locations at Fort Hood and Fort Belvoir and nationwide through JamesAvery.com. James Avery crafts jewelry in Texas workshops in Comfort, Hondo and Kerrville, made of the finest materials sourced worldwide. For more information, visit JamesAvery.com or facebook.com/JamesAvery.

SOURCE James Avery Artisan Jewelry

Related Links

https://www.jamesavery.com


More than anyone else in Los Angeles, it was Cannick who owned the Buck story. It was mainly thanks to Cannick that anyone knew Gemmel Moores name. She followed Gierachs lead: Her first post on Buck included a link to his original article, and she echoed his description of Buck as a Democratic donor. Right-wing media showed an appetite, and Cannick, knowing she was abetting a political machine whose goals she did not share, but wanting to pressure the D.A.s office, began appearing on Fox News to talk about the case. The anchors exaggerated Cannicks story, casting Buck as a man of huge importance. Steve Doocy, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Dana Perino and Laura Ingraham spun a story of a megadonor sexual deviant who was shielded by blue-city hypocrites. He was protected, Ingraham said.

It was a clean, cold narrative. But it wasnt true.

Ed Buck was not a megadonor. Among California Democrats, he was marginal  and that was being generous. Nationally, he was a nobody. The photographs with Clinton and Ted Lieu, which illustrated countless television spots, were the kind that anyone can get by waiting in line at an event  even a free event, as the campaign manager for one of the states top-ranking members of Congress told me. Rather than a man of influence, they showed a man who wanted to seem influential. Thousands of Americans whose names you wouldnt recognize were bigger political donors than Ed Buck  though Buck, from his gray, rent-stabilized apartment on North Laurel Avenue, took pains to make it look otherwise.

West Hollywood is an insulated place. Its not a neighborhood of Los Angeles. It is a city the size of a neighborhood  population 37,000  that reaches west from La Brea Avenue to the Beverly Hills border at Doheny Drive. The population rises to 100,000 on weekends, because of the nightclubs. Incorporated in 1984, it was the first gay city in America, as the papers called it, not just because it was tolerant but because the City Council was majority openly gay, which was indeed a first. When the council convened, it focused on the issue that had persuaded most residents to vote yes on separating from Los Angeles: rent-control laws and better protections for tenants. Los Angeles was a city dominated by real estate power, with laws favorable to landlords. West Hollywood was a city of renters who had always been vulnerable to landlords caprices: gay men and lesbians but also Russian Jewish immigrants and retirees on fixed incomes.

Buck came there by way of Phoenix, but he was born in Ohio. In his late teens, he modeled clothing for European fashion rags. In his 30s, he was the face of a campaign to remove the anti-gay governor of Arizona, Evan Mecham, from office. Buck was a regular at Phoenix gay bars  the Sportsmans Lounge, Casa de Roma  and raised money for AIDS education. In the late 1980s, Buck bought a company in Phoenix that sold drivers-license data to auto insurers, made a few improvements and flipped it. He claimed he made over a million dollars in profit on the deal. Suddenly flush, he bought a hilltop house in an area that was then called Squaw Peak, furnished it with neon lights and almost nothing else and threw parties that choked the cul-de-sac with cars. It wasnt much to look at, but the houses view gave it value; when I visited this summer, you could see for miles from the backyard. The current owner, who works in Phoenix real estate, estimated it would have been worth about $250,000 in 1989. He bought it from Buck for $440,000 in 1999.

It was 1991 when he moved to West Hollywood, the twilight of the worst years of H.I.V. Reagan was gone. In the gay bars, the free condoms came in packages labeled with a double entendre: For the Man in You. Buck got into bodybuilding and enhanced his muscles with steroids. He told a friend in Phoenix he was paying $250 a month in rent. He said he was retired  at age 37. Whatever profit he had made from the business deal and the house, Buck told friends he invested in the market. If you put $300,000 in an S&P-tracking index fund in 1985, youd have $3.8 million in 2017 before taxes. Darden told me Bucks net worth was Well under $2 million. In any event, Buck lived on the cheap. By the time of his arrest, his rent-stabilized apartment on North Laurel Avenue cost just $1,031.17 a month; average rent for a West Hollywood two-bedroom was around $4,000. Donations, not real estate, seem to have been his indulgence, a way of buying himself a sheen. Everything else, he lowballed: Apartment 17 was the grayest, drabbest place youd ever seen, as a friend described it, with a table, couch, tool kit with drugs and sex toys and large mirrors on the wall. He drove a 16-year-old Acura.

In the 2000s, Buck made himself known among West Hollywood liberals as one of those retired people who throw themselves into causes. When the West Hollywood City Council convened for its twice-monthly meetings, Buck would come prepared with a monologue about social justice. Hed say, for example, that the sheriffs weekly police blotter was a half-truth because it overreported property crimes and underreported crimes against people. Missing seems to be the report of a gay man assaulted, the drag queen robbed at gunpoint. Or the woman victimized. As the city gentrified  the term WeHo got popular in the late 90s  Buck talked about evictions. Those of us who remain live with a constant threat that we may be next.
Growing up, my mother instilled in me the importance of being proud of not only my Mexican heritage, but my Costa Rican roots as well.

Sept. 15 marks the beginning of a month-long celebration to honor and recognize the many contributions of Latinos and Latinas to our country.

For me, Hispanic Heritage Month is a time to reflect and remember my ancestors, particularly my abuelitos, who laid the foundation on which my family has grown and flourished.

SHE SE PUEDE: Eva Longoria Baston helps launch `She Se Puede, inspiring Latinas everywhere

In addition to celebrating my Mexican culture, I am also proud to celebrate with my fellow Ticos  a moniker for Costa Ricans  as they acknowledge the 199th anniversary of Costa Rican independence.

I grew up learning about the popular catchphrase of Costa Ricans, "Pura Vida!" referring to the simple life, and the centuries-old tradition of "El Grito."

Even as a child, I always believed I had the best of both worlds. My abuelitos on my mother's side taught me about the value of believing in the American dream. They ran and operated a flower shop from their home in Houston.

As a little girl, I'd sit and watch my abuelita, her passion for her work clear, and realize that one day I wanted to feel that same kind of orgullo  pride in my work.

In Costa Rica, my family took pride in being entrepreneurs with a neighborhood restaurant and a bakery that my tia still runs today.

My mother built in me the confidence I carry today, allowing me to believe in my dreams and to get back up even when things get tough. To many, she was a reflection of strength and honor over the more than four decades she worked as a nurse.

There are many Latino legends that have made great contributions to our communities over the years, but for me, the people who left a lasting legacy for myself and my daughter were mi familia  my family. And this is why I celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with entusiasmo!
With her experience in the aesthetic business in the last eight years Fara Naomi Macias has been able to deliver tremendous results by launching the GCA brand in Mexico in 2014 with distributor Grupo Venta Internacional.

1. Congrats on your appointment. How do you feel about it?

2. When is/was the effective date?

3. What excites you most about the company and where its going?

4. What do you love most about your career in marketing?

5. Any career highlights youre particularly proud of?

6. Tell us a bit about your experience and how it has equipped you for your new position.

Do not settle. https://t.co/xH1GoH9Jsy

 Fara Naomi Macias (@FaraNaomi) August 30, 2017

7. What are you most looking forward to or enjoying so far?

8. Whats at the top of your to-do list (at work)?

9. What are you currently reading/watching/listening to for work?

10. Tell us something about yourself not generally known?

I was the first woman in my Mexican family to have a degree. Different circumstances as poverty, sexism and social structure had made it difficult for previous generations That is why I am so proud to be here today... I am trailblazing a path, while humbly and gratefully recognising those who paved the way.

11. Do you think the future of marketing will benefit from more female leadership?

Within just two years, Macias was able to achieve market leadership in a highly competitive environment. She was instrumental in driving demand generation, category creation and market recovery, as well as building customer and partner engagement across the region. Her extensive experience with GC Aesthetics products and other aesthetic adjacent products as compression garments, skincare or surgical tools will serve her well in this new position.Fara will be based in Barcelona, Spain overseeing worldwide marketing efforts and will be working in connection with all departments and particularly with the sales team in order to execute several upcoming product launches coming up at GC Aesthetics . Her capability in brand building, digital marketing and organisational leadership will be integral for GCA to continue its global growth.We caught up with Macias who shares with us more about her career journey and what it took to get to where she is today.Very proud and deeply humbled. It's exciting to be a part of a company that puts womens health first.I started in my new role on 20 July.There are a lot of exciting opportunities that come with this role. First, working with the world: different countries, languages, local custom and uses, but also, I'm excited about many launches in our pipeline, that will contribute to plastic surgeons and women having more options when it comes to aesthetic enhancement and breast reconstruction.Additionally, Im very excited about where the company stands... Over three million women across the world have our breast implants today, and we work tirelessly to keep safety on the top of our agenda. It just thrills me to be a part of GCA.I love that no two single days in my career have been the same. Its an everchanging world and an everchanging field I like the fact that you can never assume you are at the top of your game. I love the continuous learning, the new tools and finding new ways to connect to your community, customers and people.For starters, this new position! It feels like breaking the glass ceiling! I started out as a copywriter in a medical device company and worked my way up: hard work, commitment and believing in myself were key drivers.I started as a copywriter and in my quest for being the most experienced and knowledgeable person writing about medical devices, I found myself reaching out to the right people I wanted to understand the best way to 'sell' these products, so I took myself to the front line, hand in hand with the local sales team going door-to-door. I needed to understand not only who we were selling to, but how, and this is a key differentiator in marketing: you can say the right things and do the right things, but if youre not in the right place, 90% of what you say isnt getting to whom you need.The fact that Ive been eight years in the medical device business and have this experience will be and is a differentiator for me and how I envision getting things done. I have no fancy PhD I have field experience in launching the GC Aesthetics brand in Mexico and making it, with a fabulous and very talented team, the breast market leader. I always say my experience is about: passion, patience and persistence.Can I say absolutely everything?! I love the new life Im creating (I relocated from Mexico to Spain), the being able to start with a new team (that is, by the way, 100% female), the product launches in our pipeline This new role has a lot of exciting challenges. I look forward to excelling in all!A new product launch that is taking place in October! It has been quite a challenge in these last 50 days Ive been with GCA. Im so excited that everything is coming together. My main focus overseeing the final plans for execution.Currently between two books: The 5 AM Club: Own Your Morning. Elevate Your Life. by Robin Sharma and The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell. Both are great and have helped me these last couple of weeks. Recommended read!Not only marketing, but the world. First, I must say, gender shouldnt be a factor in whether or not someone can be a great leader  the leadership abilities should depend on individual strengths and personality traits. However, I truly believe women make great leaders, and there should be more! Nothing excites me more than seeing news about women being appointed CEOs, CFOs, heads of marketing, and seeing women succeed in their own companies The future is female.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday said he had full confidence that Britain and the EU would avoid a potentially disastrous cliff-edge no deal at the end of this year.

But he refused to back down on controversial new legislation that he openly admits will break international law and which has put his government at loggerheads with Brussels.

The proposed law, which overrides parts of the Brexit treaty relating to trade in Northern Ireland, could torpedo already fraught trade talks with the European Union.

The prospect of a no deal is looming larger with the talks deadlocked, and both sides insisting agreement must be struck by next month for it to be implemented at the end of the year.

Johnson told MPs that a no deal was not what this country wants and its not what our EU friends and partners want from us.

Therefore I have every hope and expectation that that will not be the outcome, he told a parliamentary committee during more than two hours of questioning.

The UK Internal Market Bill was put before parliament this week, despite EU calls for it to be withdrawn and stark reminders of the need to uphold treaty obligations.

Johnson has claimed the EU could blockade food and agricultural products heading to Northern Ireland from mainland Britain by imposing higher duties and tariffs.

Northern Ireland will have Britains only land border with the EU from January 1, and remains bound by some EU rules to ensure its border with Ireland stays open.

An open border was a key requirement of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement that brought an end to more than 30 years of violence over British rule in Northern Ireland.

Johnson said EU officials had signally failed to rule out preventing goods reaching Northern Ireland from Britain if no trade agreement is made.

Its always possible that Im mistaken and perhaps they will prove my suspicions wrong, he said.

The bill was designed as a belt and braces measure to regulate trade within the UK, and an insurance policy against any extreme action, he added.

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I prefer to have protections that guarantee the integrity of this country and protect against the potential rupture of the United Kingdom, he said.

Resignation and compromise

A no deal outcome to the talks would see tariffs imposed by both sides, and on Britains side, they would be quite formidable for some of their products, he added.

EU chief executive Ursula von der Leyen earlier said the divorce deal that allowed Britain to leave the bloc could not be unilaterally changed, disregarded or misapplied.

This is a matter of law and trust and good faith, the European Commission president said in a speech, warning the chances of securing a trade deal were fading.

EU leaders have dismissed Johnsons claims as spin, while the ramifications of the governments admission the bill would break the law rumbled on.

Several of Johnsons own Conservative MPs have spoken of their unease, while every living former prime minister has warned of the risk to Britains global reputation.

US Democrats said any US-UK trade deal would unlikely get through Congress if it was seen to threaten the Good Friday Agreement.

In another blow for the government, its most senior law officer for Scotland, Richard Keen, quit amid reports he opposed the plans to flout the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement.

Lord Keen has resigned as Advocate General for Scotland. The prime minister thanks him for his service, a short statement from Downing Street read.

Further votes on the bill are expected in parliament next week, but the government agreed to a compromise with Tory rebels.

It said it would allow MPs a vote before using powers which would break international law, according to a joint statement from Johnsons office, and two senior Conservatives.

(AFP)
The Health Minister has issued a stark warning to anti-vaccination and anti-mask campaigners to "put their tin foil hats back in the drawer".

Robin Swann was speaking out after it emerged that leaflets have been delivered claiming officials are not telling the full facts about Covid-19.

The leaflets state as fact that Covid-19 has been recorded "fraudulently" on death certificates.

"You're being lied to," it reads, while directing people to a range of websites that cast doubt on the validity of the pandemic.

Mr Swann said: "During this pandemic, I have repeatedly warned people not to get distracted by noise or conspiracy theories on social media or elsewhere.

"Keyboard warriors can sit safely at home and promote distorted agendas against vaccines and masks. I would ask to them to put their tin foil hats back in the drawer, but I doubt they would listen.

"I am confident the people of Northern Ireland will not fall for their attempts to create confusion and hysteria.

"The facts are clear. Covid-19 has claimed many lives and continues to do so. The Executive's response continues to be guided by expert medical and scientific advice. Governments in many other jurisdictions are following similar paths.

"It is very easy to criticise, very easy to spout conspiracy theories.

"The localised restrictions ministers announced last week have been accused of being both anti-business and pro-business. They have been depicted as being both too lax and too strict.

"My job is to do what's best for the people of Northern Ireland. My message to the public remains the same - keep following public health advice to keep yourself and others safe."

Alliance Party councillor Amanda Grehan echoed Mr Swann's comments and said "countless lives have been saved" as a result of people following Government advice.

"Now we have an unknown group spreading fear through the distribution of leaflets containing what they claim is an evidence-based analysis," she said.

"They are deliberately using the official government colours in order to cause confusion amongst the community. At this time of emergency, this action is reprehensible and must be condemned."
SAN DIEGO, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Concurrent, a partnership of elite independent advisors affiliated with Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. (RJFS) (member FINRA/SIPC), has adapted its transition and onboarding protocols to reflect the much-changed world. Since mid-March, when much of America started working from home, Concurrent has helped a total of eight new advisor teams (four in Florida, two in Virginia and one each in Maryland and Colorado) transition to the network. These newly recruited teams have boosted the total assets under management of the network's advisors by more than $900 million.

"How everyone is doing business may have changed, but that doesn't mean that entrepreneurial-minded advisors have given up their dream of owning their businesses," said Kevin McFarland, Founding Partner, Concurrent. "Americans need solid financial advice more than ever and top advisors realize that the independent space puts them in a much better position to meet that need."

Among the new teams joining Concurrent is GreenBridge Wealth Management of Clearwater, Florida, led by Jeffrey McDonald, a 35-year financial services veteran and a team of four. The group was most recently with Morgan Stanley where they managed and advised on approximately $200 million in assets.

John C. Buck, Jr. also formerly with Morgan Stanley, manages and advises on some $183 million in assets for clients in the Chevy Chase, Maryland area. This mark's Concurrent's first office in that state.

The father and son team of John and Richard Picone, of Picone Financial Partners in Bonita Springs, Florida, who were already with Raymond James Financial Services joins Concurrent with $122.8 million in AUM.

Also joining is The Cavanaugh, Foster & Sebastian Wealth Management Group, comprised of Mimi Cavanaugh, Bobby Foster and Olivia Sebastian. Formerly with Wells Fargo Advisors they have $115 million in assets under management and are headquartered in Colorado Springs.

Kerry Haines formerly with Wells Fargo in Ft. Myers, Florida ($86 million AUM), Matt Lindamood from Edward Jones in Lebanon, Virginia ($69.7 million), Dianna Burkholder from Edward Jones in Gretna, Virginia ($68 million), and Michael Jensen from Morgan Stanley in St. Petersburg, Florida (AUM $73M and AUA $60 million) round out the new additions to the Concurrent family.

"In the face of the most significant health crisis in a century Concurrent has been resilient," added Mike Hlavek, Founding Partner, Concurrent. "Independent advisors are joining Concurrent because they know they can rely on our open architecture platform and other resources to back them up while they help clients make the right choices to keep their long-term plans on track. We're still helping advisors transition to independence, but we're doing much more of it virtually."

Although less than five years old, the Concurrent network's 105 advisors in 45 offices around the country are entrusted with over $8.3 billion in assets under management. Concurrent continues to be the fastest-growing advisor organization within Raymond James Financial Services.

About Concurrent

Concurrent (concurrentadvisors.com) is an advisor-owned partnership of elite independent organizations working together to realize a common vision of creating a superior client experience while growing their own practices.

Headquartered in San Diego, Concurrent was founded in 2016 and currently serves 105 advisors in 45 offices with over $8.3 billion in assets under management (AUM) and approximately $9 billion under advisement (as of 8/27/2020). Drawing upon their individual and unified strengths, our financial advisors leverage their collective scale to provide an attractive value proposition to both clients and other independent-minded advisors in a highly competitive and constantly evolving wealth management landscape.

*Concurrent and its network of advisor teams are not registered broker/dealers or registered investment advisers.

About Raymond James Financial Services

Concurrent's network of financial advisors are registered representatives of Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., a financial services firm supporting independent financial advisors nationwide. Since 1974, Raymond James Financial Services Inc., member FINRA/SIPC, has provided a wide range of investment and wealth planning related services through its affiliate, Raymond James & Associates, Inc., member New York Stock Exchange/SIPC. Both broker/dealers are wholly owned subsidiaries of Raymond James Financial, Inc. (NYSE-RJF) a leading diversified financial services company with approximately 8,200 financial advisors throughout the United States, Canada and overseas. Total client assets are $877 billion. Investment advisory services offered through Raymond James Financial Services Advisors, Inc.

CONTACT:

Lisa Aldape

JConnelly

973 525 6550

[email protected]

SOURCE Concurrent Advisors
Three police officers have been injured while trying to arrest a man with a knife in Sydney's CBD. (Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

NSW Police Arrest 25 People in Firearms Crackdown

Thirteen firearms have been seized and 25 people arrested during a NSW Police operation after a string of shootings in southwestern Sydney.

Twelve shootings, including five in public places, have been reported in the region since the beginning of August.

NSW Police Minister David Elliott said Operation Clampdown, which has been underway since September 3, sends a warning that gun violence wont be tolerated.

Their reckless actions show a flagrant disregard for community safety and this government will not tolerate this vigilante behaviour, he said.

For the past week police have sent a powerful message to any person that continues to flout the law  you can expect to be arrested and you will be put before the courts, he said.

Police said on Sept 16 they had charged 25 people with 42 offences and executed searches at 54 properties.

Officers seized 13 firearms including seven pistols and a homemade gun.

They also seized cash, an electronic stun gun, knives, knuckle dusters, ammunition and outlaw bikie gang colours.

Sydney
Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Dendias will meet with Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry at 13:00 on Tuesday, 15 September.



Their talks will focus on bilateral and regional issues, with emphasis on developments in the wider Eastern Mediterranean region and Libya.



Following their talks, at about 14:15, they will make statements to the press.
The Edo state government on Wednesday launched a sex offender register to name and shame rapists and offenders of other forms of sexual and gender-based violence(SGBV) in the state.

Speaking at the launch, the Commissioner for Justice, Yinka Omorogbe, said that there is need for a register in view of the alarming increase in SGBV, especially in Edo.

The alarming rise of SGBV cases, especially in Edo, calls for the employment of drastic measures to adequately tackle SGBV and to ensure that perpetrators are not only made to answer for their crimes but are made to feel the full brunt of the law.

The sexual offender register is to serve as a tool to name and shame those convicted or reported to have engaged in sexual abuse or exploitation.

Would-be employers, especially those working with vulnerable citizens, such as children, young adults, and persons with disabilities, are encouraged to carry out background checks for would-be applicants.

She said the Edo sexual offender database is fully connected with the National sexual offender database which was launched by the UN Deputy Secretary-General and warehouse in NAPTIP, making Edo the first state to link up with the national database.

The register will basically contain information of reported, arraigned or convicted people involved in cases of sexual violation or abuse as defined by the Violence against Persons Prohibition !aw.

She said SGBV was a growing problem, a public health challenge and a barrier to civic, social, political and economic participation which has been occasioned by series of reported cases of domestic violence, sexual exploitation and rape among others.

With the spike in SGBV reports globally, it became imperative that Edo state rise to the fight to combat SGBV in the state thereby setting the pace for other states to follow suit.

Statistics have shown that an estimated one in three women worldwide has been coerced into sex, beaten or otherwise abused in their lifetimes.

 The tragic cases of victims, who have been brutally raped and murdered are examples of how this menace if not adequately dealt with, will continue to have devastating consequences in our society and the lives and well being of the people of Edo state. 

Mrs Omorogbe noted that the state governments decision to .roundly deal with SGBV dated back to 2019, when the office of the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, with the support of the Rule of Law and Anti Corruption Programme, reached out to Edo to commence an SGBV project through the establishment of the SGBV Response Team.

She expressed worry that SGBV cases were on the increase, especially with the coming of the COVID-19 pandemic, that had caused outrage and served as a catalyst to highlight the need to strengthen the present structure to combat SGBV in Edo, and Nigeria.

She said the launch of the state sexual offender register and service provider register and assault referral centre, was the state governments way of readiness to effectively address the menace that would ensure that  the streets of Edo are once again safe for our women and children. 

The attorney general said the SGBV-RT, being an integral part of this process since its inauguration in 2019, had been actively working on putting various initiatives in place to help increase awareness of the problem and its impact to improve the response services for victims and strengthen prevention strategies.

 The response team is composed of stakeholders drawn from government and civil society and headed by the attorney general and commissioner for justice.

 The response team is committed to providing referral services and monitoring the provision of quality forensic, medical psychosocial, legal and aftercare services to survivors of SGBV.

 The team also works to address the problem of stigmatization by ensuring that holistic and specific measures are taken to minimize same. It also raises awareness of SGBV issues among stakeholders, survivors and members of the public to ensure the effective prosecution of SGBV cases in Edo.

She said the efforts of the response team helped for the creation of the first-ever sexual assault referral centre (SARC) in Edo, named after Vivian Ogu, who was violently killed after her assailant was unsuccessful in raping her.

ALSO READ: Popular pornstar remanded for recording sex movie in Osun shrine

Mrs Omoregbe disclosed that while one SARC was being planned for Uromi, in Edo Central senatorial district of the state, two more centres would be established in other parts of the state soonest.

The SARC is a rise against the fate suffered by Vivian Ogu, Uwaila Omozuwa and many more; it is essentially designed to serve as one-stop for victims of SGBV in Edo State.

 It is a safe and confidential place with state of the art equipment and professionals armed with the requisite know-how to attend to the needs and complainants of victims, she said.
Reese Witherspoon is opening up about being a mom in the spotlight.

The Big Little Lies actress appeared on The Drew Barrymore Show on Tuesday in which friend and host Drew Barrymore asked about how Witherspoon felt when she became a mom at the start of her Hollywood career.

To be completely candid, I was terrified too, Witherspoon, 44, said of being a young parent. I got pregnant when I was 22 years old, and I didnt know how to balance work and motherhood, you just do it.

I didnt know if I was going to have steady work, too, she continued. I made movies but I hadnt established myself as someone who could demand that it shoot close to my kids school.

Witherspoon added that at the time she didnt have any real power or leverage within my industry.

I was just like every other mom and dad trying to figure it out, she said. Theres a lot of compromise. Every bit of that sacrifice is truly worth it. You feel like thats what makes me wake up on a Sunday, its not movies or my job, its my kids.

RELATED: Reese Witherspoon Calls Daughter Ava, 21, an 'Incredible Young Woman' in Sweet Birthday Message

Stefanie Keenan/Getty Reese Witherspoon with daughter Ava and son Deacon

Witherspoon has previously been candid about becoming a mother early on in life, sharing her parenting advice in a video posted by her media company, Hello Sunshine, in September 2019.

Ive been a mom since 1999, she said. I got pregnant when I was 22 and delivered when I was 23.

Witherspoon is mom to daughter Ava Elizabeth, 21, and son Deacon Reese, 16, with ex-husband Ryan Phillippe. The actress also shares son Tennessee James, 7, with husband Jim Toth.

While shes certainly gotten the hang of parenting now, Witherspoon admitted she was scared in the beginning.

I didnt know what it was going to do to my job, my career, she shared. The year Witherspoon gave birth to Ava, she starred in the films Election, Cruel Intentions and Best Laid Plans.

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It wasnt until after welcoming her daughter that she realized your entire life will change.

RELATED VIDEO: Celebrity Blended Families Who've Come Out Stronger As They've Come Together

Celebrity Blended Families Who've Come Out Stronger As They've Come Together

Celebrity Blended Families Who've Come Out Stronger As They've Come Together

Everything you believe. Everything you eat. Every piece of independence you have. You cant go out without thinking about another person, Witherspoon said.

You dont sleep anymore, Witherspoon continued, adding that this was her experience at the beginning, explaining it evolves from there.

The actress went on to admit that shes glad she had kids at a young age because having little kids is more physical and its really hard on your body.

Witherspoon gave birth to son Deacon at age 27 and had son Tennessee 10 years later.

Having a baby at 37 was so much harder, Witherspoon admitted. I depend on the kindness and support of my mom friends. Its really about your support system, your family structure.

Being a mom is really great, its a big part of my life. I would say its the biggest part of my life.
WASHINGTON: The Trump administration has agreed to provide in-person briefings on threats to the November election to key members of Congress, backing down from a decision last month to provide that information only in writing.

Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe has agreed to provide briefings to the Senate and House intelligence committees, according to the heads of those panels. The move comes after significant pushback from Democrats and some Republicans who said the briefings were more important than ever as the 2020 presidential election approaches and Russia signals it will try to interfere again as it did four years ago.

Acting Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the panel, said in a joint statement Wednesday that Ratcliffe had reaffirmed that the panel will receive briefings, including in-person, on all oversight topics.

Rubio told reporters that he expects a briefing next week on election security, though he said he wasnt sure of the timing. A person familiar with the briefing said Ratcliffes office had accepted an invitation to brief the panel behind closed doors. The person discussed the meeting on condition of anonymity because it has not been publicly announced.

House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff also said in a statement that Ratcliffes office had on Wednesday committed to the briefings after extensive public criticism. Schiff said the panel was working to confirm a date and time.

Still, Schiff said, these briefings for the intelligence committees must not obviate the need to keep all Members and the American people appropriately and accurately informed about the active threats to the November election.

Ratcliffe said in August that most briefings would be in writing instead of live, citing what he said were leaks out of all member meetings held earlier this year. Democrats said that would prevent members from asking followup questions and allow the administration to limit what information it allows.

Shortly after Rubio and Warner issued their statement, Ratcliffe claimed his position remained unchanged.

I will continue to provide congressional leadership and the intelligence oversight committees appropriate updates to keep Congress fully and currently informed, Ratcliffe said in his own statement. In order to protect sources and methods, the IC will not provide all-member briefings, but we will work to provide appropriate updates primarily through written finished intelligence products.

Ratcliffe met with congressional leadership and the heads of the intelligence committees earlier on Wednesday a group called the Gang of Eight that receives the highest levels of intelligence. He said in the statement that he had shared with them his proposal on how the intelligence community will share election updates in the future.

Over the summer, the nations counterintelligence chief, William Evanina, issued a statement saying U.S. intelligence officials believe that Russia is using various methods to denigrate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and that people linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin are boosting President Donald Trumps reelection bid.

U.S. officials also believe China does not want Trump to win a second term and has accelerated its criticism of the White House, Evanina wrote.

___

Associated Press writers Laurie Kellman, Eric Tucker and Deb Riechmann contributed to this report.

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor
A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Jodhpur ordered the registration of criminal cases against former Union disinvestment minister Arun Shourie, former disinvestment secretary Pradeep Baijal and three other people on Wednesday in connection with a case of alleged corruption in the sale of a government-run hotel in 2002.

The special CBI judge, Pooran Kumar Sharma, also ordered that the hotel in question -- the Laxmi Vilas Palace Hotel in Udaipur -- be handed over to the state government. The hotel -- earlier run by the Indian Tourism Development Corporation -- was sold to the Bharat Hotels Limited, which now runs the Lalit group of hotels, in 2002.

The judges orders came while hearing a closure report by CBI in the case of alleged loss of Rs 244 crore to the government by the sale of the hotel. The CBI report said that there wasnt evidence to launch prosecution against the accused in the disinvestment process.

But the court disagreed and even criticised the federal agency for presenting a closure report in the case.

Prima facie, it appears that the then minister Arun Shourie and then secretary Pradeep Baijal misused their offices and caused a loss of Rs 244 crore to the central government in the deal, the court said.

The CBI is a reputed agency of the country; closure report by it despite facts pointing towards criminality is a cause of concern, judge Sharma said .

The three other people accused in the case are Ashish Guha, then managing director of investment firm Lazard India Limited, Kantilal Karamsey Vikamsey, then head of valuation firm Kanti Karamsey & Co, and Jyotsna Suri, chairperson and managing director of Bharat Hotels Limited. The court ordered they be booked under section 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code and section 13 (1) D of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The court said that they should be summoned through arrest warrants. The date of the summons would be known once the warrants are issued.

None of the accused were available for comment despite attempts. They were not represented in the court by any lawyer.

The court directed the district collector of Udaipur to take over the hotel immediately.

We have enforced the courts order, said Udaipur collector Chetan Dewda. General manager of the hotel, Devendra Singh Parihar, said he was not authorised to talk to media.

The CBI registered first information report (FIR) on August 13, 2014 on the basis of a preliminary inquiry that alleged that Baijal abused his official position and entered into a criminal conspiracy in the disinvestment of Laxmi Vilas Palace Hotel.

According to the FIR, the hotel and land on which it was built was initially valued at Rs 252 crore. But it was finally disinvested for Rs 7.52 crore.

The CBI FIR said that Kantilal Karamsey Vikamsey re-evaluated the property and claimed it fell in red zone, where any construction is banned, and a lake and a high tension wire made the property unattractive.

But after its investigation into the FIR, the CBI filed a closure report before the court and said it didnt have enough evidence to prosecute the accused.

The CBI has not got any direct evidence to initiate prosecution against the accused, the CBI said in the closure report.

But the court did not accept this contention. The unknown officers and private persons indulged in this conspiracy from 1999 to 2002 to cause loss of money to the government, the court said. The value of the land was evaluated at Rs 45 per square yard. Even a spoon in the hotel would be costlier than that, the judge added.
As he has done repeatedly in recent speeches and campaign ads, Biden pointed to a report in The Atlantic that said Trump had privately referred to fallen American soldiers as losers and suckers.

Quite frankly, it makes me very upset the way he gets in front of a camera and crows about how much he has done for veterans, and then turns around and insults our service members and fallen heroes when the cameras off, Biden said.

A Monmouth University poll released yesterday found Biden with an edge of five percentage points over Trump among likely voters in Florida. That difference was within the margin of error, but nonetheless more encouraging for the former vice president than projections in some other recent surveys of the state.

In the Monmouth poll, he was nipping at Trumps heels among voters in military households  a key demographic in Florida, which has one of the highest concentrations of military recruits in the country. Trump had the support of 50 percent of voters in military households, and Biden had 46 percent.

When asked whether each candidate respected the military a great deal, 43 percent of those voters said Trump did, while 49 percent said Biden did.

The Monmouth poll provided a dose of reassuring news for Biden on another front: He was leading Trump by 26 points among Hispanic likely voters, roughly even with Hillary Clintons margin among this group in 2016, according to exit polls. That was a far better result for Biden than in other recent polls of Florida, which have put him and Trump roughly even among Hispanic voters.

Biden attended a Hispanic Heritage Month event in Kissimmee, Fla., last night, hours after his campaign had introduced a plan to support Puerto Rico, which has struggled to recover from a series of hurricanes and a prolonged economic downturn.
New Delhi:

A journalist alleged for unauthorisedly entering into the University of Hyderabad (UoH) campus on the first death anniversary of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula was booked by the Cyberabad Police on Wednesday.

The journalist Kumal S, working with an English magazine, was booked under on charge of trespass and other relevant sections of IPC following a complaint by the university security officials, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Madhapur Zone) P Vishwa Prasad said.

The complainant accused Kunal of secretly sneaking into the varsity and covering an event (protest) by a group of students in memory of first death anniversary of research scholar Rohith Vemula.

"We are investigating into the matter," the DCP said. Kunal, however, said he went inside the campus on official duty i.e. for collecting information with regard to the protest after being invited by a university faculty member.

"I was accosted by UoH security personnel and later taken to Cyberabad Commissionerate by local police where an ACP rank officer questioned me for hours together before being let off," he said.

Kunal said he had entered the varsity after showing his ID card and that the varsity was 'falsely' claiming that he was not having visitor pass for entering the campus.

In view of the programmes planned by JAC for Social Justice at UoH to mark Vemula's death anniversary today, the University had yesterday said that it has not issued any permission to hold such activities.

"The University cannot provide a platform for outsiders to participate in the activities called by insiders or outsiders when there is no permission for the same," a circular from UoH had said.

There is a ban on the campus on allowing outsiders into the campus and hence the University will not entertain any outsiders directly or indirectly to enter into the campus, it said.

The High Court has barred entry of all outsiders into the University campus, it added. The University came into light after research scholar Rohith Vemula allegedly committed suicide in a hostel room at its campus on January 17 last year.

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By now, it's the worst kept secret in the world that Joe Biden is having cognitive difficulties. He's tethered to a teleprompter, is fed only pre-approved questions, and speaks in short increments to friendly audiences. Rumors are floating about that his dementia is quite advanced. Rush Limbaugh came up with a theory that suggests that those rumors are correct.

On Sunday, Thomas Lifson reprinted a post that's been circulating on the internet. It purports to come from a former Biden staffer who quit the campaign and cannot keep quiet about Biden's mental incompetence. Briefly, it says Biden has advanced dementia and that the medicine he takes for it causes incontinence. Although the post accurately describes Biden's behavior and his brief appearances, an anonymous author means that it has dubious utility.

Rush Limbaugh, however, has noticed another piece in the puzzle, and this one yields to empirical evidence rather than firsthand knowledge. This is the fact that, other than the long-ago Democrat debates and his acceptance speech (which may have been live, rather than prerecorded), Biden is never seen at night. In that regard, he is the "un-vampire."

Indeed, most of Biden's appearances are early in the day. He may do this because he tires easily and, by afternoon, is running on empty. Rush, though, posits that Biden may be suffering from sundowning, something strongly associated with dementia in the elderly, especially with Alzheimer's. Sundowning is so named because it consistently appears as the sun is setting.

I've seen this firsthand with both my parents, neither of whom had Alzheimer's but both of whom sundowned badly as they developed age-related dementia. What I learned was that, for the people sundowning, the illusions are real. These are not nightmares from which they can awaken. You cannot "snap" them out of it. They cannot be perked up and trotted out with a little medicine. While sufferers are sundowning, they're gone.

And that gets us to Rush (h/t Ace of Spades):

People with dementia often, not always, but often get more confused and nervous in the late afternoon and the evening. If you have had someone in your family suffer from dementia or Parkinson's  not Parkinson's, but Alzheimer's to one degree or another, you probably have seen this. You've seen it with family members who had dementia. That as the day went on, as the afternoon grew later and then shifted into evening, you could see an obvious deterioration in the mental acuity of the family member who had dementia or Alzheimer's. I know people who have seen it with their own parents and grandparents. You'd have an average day where you would think, "Hey, grandma doing great today. Grandma's really cool today." And families are filled with hope when those days happen, and then on those same days, when you get to sundown and later, the deterioration picks up, and you can see it, and you get depressed because earlier in the day you thought, "Okay. This is gonna be a good day." I have heard Jill Biden say that her husband Joe was up early every morning on the phone with all sorts of people. And she says this as a way, "Hey, don't believe this stuff about Joe having mental problems. He's up, he's up every morning early, he's talking to countless people on the phone." That's not the time to look. You need to look at Joe Biden at sunset. [snip] I've been looking at this. I can't recall when Biden is out in public at night, save for the Democrat debates which were way earlier this year. You gotta go back to January, February, March, and even then there weren't very many. But of recent campaign appearances, I can't recall, I can't remember Biden out in public at night. And certainly not after a full day of negotiating world peace and having a helicopter ride to the hangar, two-hour speech and banter with 15,000 people and then going out and doing a debate. I haven't seen Biden engage in that kind of rigorous schedule.

Biden's not all there, and we all know it. It's an absolute scandal that the Democrats are trying to prop him up long enough to get him through the election so that Kamala Harris, a leftist's leftist, can be installed in the White House.

Image: Biden falls asleep during an interview.
A military transport aircraft took off from East Cairo Air Force Base Airport heading to Khartoum Airport laden with tons of foodstuff prepared by a number of NGOs in Egypt, in coordination with the Sudanese side.

The delivery of the relief assistance falls within the framework of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi's directives to maintain the airlift created to provide relief aid to the flood-stricken areas in Sudan.

Meanwhile, the Sudanese side hailed Egypt's continued support during the current crisis.
WINCHESTER  Lions Clubs International recently chartered the newest Lions Specialty Club Branch in Winchester. The branch, sponsored by the Barkhamsted Lions Club, is called Connecticut Educated Canines Assisting with Disabilities Lions Club Branch.

ECAD is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that provides service dogs for those with physical or invisible disabilities, such as MS, Parkinsons, PTSD, TBI and autism, so that they may have greater mobility and independence, according to ECAD.

This is another successful example of ECADs efforts to be part of its Litchfield County community and the community responding in kind, said Dale Picard, ECADs executive director. The Lions Club is an outstanding service organization, always has been, and we are so very proud that ECAD was deemed worthy of being a Lions Club Branch. We look forward in every way to the collaboration with other Branches.

The new Lions Club Branch has 8 charter members. ECAD Marketing Director Carrie Picard is serving as the branchs charter president. Barkhamsted Lion Jackie Martin is club liaison and Terryville Lion Sue Boilard is club advisor.

In August 2017, Lions Clubs International launched the Specialty Club program to create clubs and club branches in which members share a common interest or passion, allowing them to connect with one another on a deeper level, according to members. Forming a specialty club, with 20 or more members, or branch, with five or more members, allows people to turn their passions into rewarding service projects that directly benefit their communities, members said.

I have always been passionate about helping those most in need, said Barkhamsted Lions Club President Dave Roberts, who worked with District Governor Ev Lyons to charter this newest Lions Club Branch. My family has lived here for decades. Once we learned of ECAD from a friend and saw the great work they were doing for those in need by providing them with trained service dogs, we knew we wanted to start a collaboration with Lions Clubs International, the worlds largest service organization with over 1.4 million members.

ECAD was co- founded in 1995 by Lu and Dale Picard, who are initial charter Lions Club Branch members, according to members. When Lu Picards father suffered a stroke, she saw how much he hated being dependent on her. She taught their family pet to help him rise from a chair and retrieve some items, and noticed that her dad actually became more active and less depressed than when all his help came from a human. She saw first-hand how service dogs could change a persons life for the better. For the past 25 years, ECAD has placed Assistance Dogs with more than 300 clients in over a dozen states, according to the members statement.

ECAD has numerous volunteer opportunities which this Lions Club Branch will help support, including Home for the Weekend where trained volunteers can bring a service animal to their home for a weekend to help acclimate that animal to non-shelter life.

Lions Club Branch members were already contributing their time on the Friday leading into the Labor Day weekend, by offering six extra pair of hands in the necessary clerical work of helping ECAD staff to prepare the year end fundraising appeal by stuffing letters into envelopes, according to the statement.

Those interested in getting involved can look for future updates and support the newest Lions club branch, contact either Lion Jackie Martin at jmartin2101946@gmail.com or Advisor Sue Boilard at dsboilard@gmail.com. For more information on ECAD, visit www.ECAD1.org
US Sanctions Chinese State-Owned Firm Over Land Seizure, Corruption in Cambodia

The U.S. Treasury Department on Sept. 15 sanctioned a Chinese state-controlled firm for seizing land from Cambodians for projects aimed at advancing Beijings geopolitical ambitions.

Union Development Group Co., or UDG, is constructing a $3.8 billion resort called Dara Sakor, a state-backed investment zone spanning 90,000 acres and would cover around 20 percent of the countrys coastline.

The project, which would include the largest airport in Cambodia once completed, has been touted as a flagship project in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)the Chinese regimes massive global infrastructure strategy to pump up geopolitical power.

Cambodian government spokesperson Phay Siphan has said the resort could be converted into a military base, the Treasury Department noted.

The sanction on UDG was imposed under the Global Magnitsky Act, which enables the United States to target gross human rights abusers and corrupt foreign officials. The action would block any U.S. transaction with the firm and freeze property belonging to the company on U.S. soil.

Cambodian and Chinese workers dump garbage outside a construction site in Sihanoukville, Cambodia on Feb. 16, 2020. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images )

The Tuesday statement said that the Chinese company had falsely registered as a Cambodian-owned entity to acquire a 99-year lease, but then reverted to its true ownership and continued to operate without repercussions, adding that it conducted some of the activities through corrupt individuals, including Kun Kim.

Kim, a former Cambodian army chief, who was also placed on the Treasury Departments sanction list, was described as being instrumental in the UDG development and reaped significant financial benefit from his relationships with UDG.

Todays action demonstrates how the Chinese Communist Party co-opts companies to expand its influence, including by working through corrupt officials to use military force against innocent people in a blatant attempt to secure illicit financial gains, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a Sept. 15 statement.

The Dara Sakor resorts potential military use, he said, would go against Cambodias Constitution and could threaten Indo-Pacific stability, possibly impacting Cambodias sovereignty and the security of our allies.

The UDG and the Cambodian military had cleared the land through violent means, officials added.

UDG-funded activities have forced Cambodians from their land and devastated the environment, hurting the livelihoods of local communities, all under the guise of converting Cambodia into a regional logistics hub and tourist destination, the U.S. Treasury stated, adding that, like other BRI initiatives, the activities have disproportionately benefited the PRC, at the expense of the Cambodian people.

The sanction is part of a U.S. campaign to penalize firms aiding Beijings overseas military expansion.

On Aug. 26, the Trump administration took action against 24 Chinese state-owned companies involved in aiding Chinese military aggression in the disputed waters of South China Sea, where the regime has constructed more than 3,000 acres of artificial islands featuring military weapons such as anti-ship missiles.

Two days later, the Pentagon identified 11 other Chinese firms, including construction giant China Communications Construction Company, as backed by the Chinese military.
Press Release

September 16, 2020 Dela Rosa: Sponsorship Speech Bureau of Fire Protection Modernization Act Committee Report No. 111 Mr. President, my dear colleagues, magandang hapon sa ating lahat. Taong 1996, tinupok ng lumalagablab na apoy ang Ozone Disco na ikinasawi ng 162 katao; 1998, nang masunog ang Bahay Kalinga sa Paco, Manila kung saan 25 ang namatay --- karamihan ay mga ulila na nakatira sa ampunang iyon; 2001, 75 ang hindi nakaligtas sa sunog sa Manor Hotel sa Quezon City; 2015, 74 factory workers ng Kentex Slipper Manufacturing ang namatay sa nasusunog na pabrika; 2017, 37 nating kababayan ang hindi pinalad na umabot ng Pasko dahil sa sunog na nangyari sa NCCC Mall, Davao. Mr. President, these are only some of the deadliest fires in the Philippines in the past two decades. Walang pinipiling panahon ang sunog. Katulad ito ng bagyo na kahit sa kasagsagan ng tag-init ay maaring mamuo at magdulot ng mapaminsalang baha. Recently during the imposition of the community quarantine, fire razed the houses of around eight hundred (800) families in Addition Hills, Mandaluyong City --- one of the barangays with the highest number of Covid-19 cases in the city. Nakalulungkot na marami sa mga taga-barangay Addition Hills ang nawalan ng tirahan sa gitna ng kinakaharap nating pandemya. Nakalulungkot din na isa lang ito sa mga ilan pang naganap na sunog sa bansa habang tayo ay nasa community quarantine. Mayroon nga tayong malimit na marinig lalo na sa mga nakakatanda: "Mas mabuti nang manakawan kaysa sa masunugan." Kaya naman, lagi nating sinisiguro na hindi magkakaroon ng sunog sa ating mga bahay. Kung magkakaroon man ng mga di inaasahang sunog, umasa tayo sa gobyerno na masusugpo agad ito. Ang tanong ngayon, gaano kahanda ang ating Bureau of Fire Protection o BFP sa ganitong uri ng sakuna? It is in this light Mr. President that I stand today to sponsor Senate Bill No. 1832 under Committee Report No. 111 or the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) Modernization Act of 2020. This bill is in substitution to Senate Bills No. 204, 947 and 1017 authored by Senators Go, Sotto, and Revilla, respectively. The BFP is the country's primary agency responsible for fire safety, prevention and suppression, as mandated by Republic Act No. 6975. However, our valiant men and women of the BFP go beyond the duties and responsibilities of being firefighters. They perform a key role in rescue and retrieval operations in times of calamities and unforeseen disasters. According to BFP, they now cater to the public need for emergency pre-hospital care, act as the first line of defense in mass casualty incidents, hazardous material incident response, technical rescue/extrication, and participate in other specialized areas of responses to a variety of incidents that endanger lives and properties. With these colossal tasks given to our firefighters and officers, the BFP is considered as one of the most 'undermanned' and 'under-equipped' government agencies. In 2018, the BFP responded to 16,674 fire incidents in the country. Last year, there was an increase of 11.62% in fire incidents which surged the total number to 18,612 fires. These incidents brought about the destruction of properties and structures which is estimated at P4.56 billion in 2018 and P7.69 billion in 2019. But greater than any monetary loss are the deaths and injuries resulting from these incidents. The BFP reported that in 2018, there were 730 injuries and 216 deaths recorded, while in 2019, it increased to 1,055 injuries and 400 deaths. Now, Mr. President, let us take a look at the capabilities of the BFP on fire protection and suppression. Out of 143 cities and 1,488 municipalities in the country, we only have 1,368 which have fire stations and fire trucks. 242 cities and municipalities still do not have their own. What happened to the mandate of the BFP in establishing at least one fire station in every province, city, and municipality all over the country? Meanwhile, there are a total of 2,848 firetrucks nationwide - 2,358 are BFP- owned, while 490 are LGU-owned. Are these enough? The answer is no, Mr. President. We are far from reaching the ideal ratio of 1 fire truck for every 28,000 people. For a country with a population of 109 million, we must have at least 3,892 fire trucks. In the midst of this shortage and inadequacy in the number of fire trucks and firefighters, we are very thankful to our volunteer fire brigades, most especially in densely populated cities. Maraming salamat po! The augmentation of volunteer fire brigades is very much appreciated. However, this should not be the norm but rather the exception. They should only supplement the government fire fighters rather than complete our inadequacies. No less than the Chief of the BFP, Director Jose Embang, revealed that the Philippines is lagging in terms of personnel, training and equipment compared with the other fire departments of other countries. He expressed that it is crucial that the country maintain international fire safety standards. Mr. President, with these reasons alone, we need to help the BFP. We need to boost their capabilities and modernize their equipment. In line with this, your Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs includes the following on the committee version of the BFP Modernization Bill: First, the powers and functions of the BFP will be expanded. Sec. 54, Chapter IV of RA 6975 will be amended to authorize the agency to respond to fire incidents in economic zones, free ports and special economic zones, IT parks/centers, tourism economic zones and other similar entities. Furthermore the BFP is now mandated to respond to man-made or natural disasters and other emergencies such as rescue, hazardous materials (HAZMAT), chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive (CBRNE) materials and similar emergencies. To ensure public awareness, the BFP is required to conduct monthly fire prevention campaigns and information drives in coordination with the concerned local government units. Second, the bill specifies the establishment and the implementation of the BFP Modernization Program which shall be completed over a period of three (3) years. The program shall include the following: 1. Establishment of Fire Protection Service which includes the institution of rescue hotlines in every city and town; 2. Envision of the organizational structure and staffing pattern of the Bureau. At present, there are a total of 405 civilian personnel and 27,968 uniformed personnel in the BFP. Currently, the proportion of fire trucks to fire officers is 1 is to 10, compared to the ideal ratio of one (1) firetruck is to fourteen (14) fire officers. Clearly, we need to increase the number of personnel in the Bureau to effectively respond to fire incidents; 3. The existing fire protection equipment and services of the BFP will be upgraded and enhanced also in order to cope with the expanded functions. There will be an acquisition of additional fire trucks, fire boats, ambulances, rescue trucks, and other fire fighting equipment. In like manner, there will be procurement of fire helicopters, fire arson response vehicles, trucks for forest firefighting, emergency medical, hazardous materials or HAZMAT as well as chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive (CBRNE) materials for the establishment of the specialized fire protection services of the Bureau; and 4. Continued training for the BFP personnel and hiring of experts and consultants in order to accelerate their personal development. Lastly, the BFP is mandated under this measure to submit an annual report to Congress containing the priorities, schedules, phases and status of the implementation of the BFP Modernization Program for the appropriate review and monitoring of its implementation. Mr. President, this legislative measure is one of the priority measures mentioned by President Duterte during his 5th State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA) last July 27, 2020. This was the second SONA he asked the Congress to pass this legislation. Based on the reasons I mentioned, your Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs agrees with President Duterte -- there is a need to modernize our fire bureau to better save and protect the Filipino people. Mr. President, muli ko pong hinihiling ang inyong pagsuporta upang muling punuan ang KULANG sa ating gobyerno. I urge the body to immediately pass this long overdue legislative measure to help the BFP in pursuing its mandate of 'promoting public safety by saving lives and protecting property in times of emergencies.' Maraming salamat po!
Washington: The US Justice Department has charged five Chinese residents and two Malaysian businessmen in a wide-ranging hacking effort that encompassed targets from video games to pro-democracy activists.

Federal prosecutors said on Wednesday (Thursday AEST) the Chinese nationals had been charged with hacking more than 100 companies in the US and abroad, including software development companies, computer manufacturers, telecommunications providers, social media companies, gaming firms, non-profits, universities, think-tanks as well as foreign governments and politicians and civil society figures in Hong Kong.

The Chinese nationals were charged with hacking more than 100 companies in the US and abroad. Credit:AP

US officials stopped short of alleging the hackers were working on behalf of Beijing, but in a statement Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen expressed exasperation with Chinese authorities, saying they were  at the very least  turning a blind eye to cyber-espionage.

"We know the Chinese authorities to be at least as able as the law enforcement authorities here and in like-minded states to enforce laws against computer intrusions," Rosen said. "But they choose not to."
NEW DELHI : The central government has been taking the crowdsourcing route to support and encourage small new-age firms to innovate, grow and take the lead in their respective fields.

On Monday, it launched the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Solutions Challenge, inviting startups to develop solutions to challenges in healthcare, education, agriculture, smart mobility, transportation and natural language processing.

The top 15 startups will be given an opportunity to showcase their solution at a virtual global summit on AIRAISE (Responsible AI for Social Empowerment) 2020in October. The winner will receive a 20 lakh award. Besides, the government will also adopt their solution where applicable.

This is the latest among challenges launched by the government in the last few months. These include the Aatma Nirbhar app innovation challenge to promote existing apps and to develop new ones, and Chunauti next generation startup challenge to further boost startups and software products.

The larger idea is to make these startups self-reliant at a time when India has banned more than 118 Chinese apps over security concerns. Similarly, following privacy concerns over Zoom in April, the government announced an innovation challenge to develop an Indian videoconferencing platform.

Such challenges generate a lot of interest from the venture capital community and angel investors. It helps the smaller apps to get noticed and increase their user base. Some of these apps got massive traction after some [Chinese] apps were banned," Abhishek Singh, Chief Executive Officer of National e-Governance Division said.

Challenges such as these are now common in many countries and they are being widely used by various governments to solve problems by roping in young innovators. This AI challenge is a bit different as usually these challenges try to solve a particular problem. Still, this is a welcome step and will encourage start-ups to share their solution," said D.D. Mishra, senior director analyst at Gartner, adding that crowdsourcing solutions are going to be the next big thing in India.

We will see more such attempts to piggybank on a great solution and idea and use them to solve particular problems at a low cost," he said.

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The new campaign, "For Moments Like No Other," highlights the versatile beauty of natural diamonds.

NEW YORK, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Natural Diamond Council (NDC) announces the imminent launch of its first ever celebrity campaign, starring the actress Ana de Armas.

Ana de Armas is a rising Hollywood star. She recently received a Golden Globe nomination for her role in Knives Out, and she'll soon appear in the upcoming James Bond film, No Time to Die. Ana de Armas also shines throughout this new multipart campaign, which was developed to celebrate the myriad connections with which natural diamonds are worn or exchanged, and to bring awareness to the Natural Diamond Council's "Only Natural Diamonds" online platform. The Natural Diamond Council represents seven of the world's leading diamond producers, all of which must follow the group's ethical codes, with an emphasis on mindful and sustainable mining practices and the support of women and families in diamond-mining communities. The "Only Natural Diamonds" portal serves as a window of discovery into this natural diamond universe.

The campaign-which was lensed in coastal Portugal, directed by Manu Cossu and photographed by Camilla Akrans-will be released on September 20, 2020, during the first ever virtual Emmy Awards. Teasers will be dropped in the weeks leading up to the ceremony, and information about the campaign will appear on the NDC's website from September 16, 2020.

Ana de Armas was approached for the project as she radiates with poise and modernity, and she epitomises an ascendant, free-thinking generation. Her elegant, effervescent and easygoing demeanor reflects the next chapter in the history of natural diamonds; a mindset in which the traditional tenets of diamond-wearing and exchanging are dismantled, leaving an open playing field in their place. From a barefoot party in a fragrant vineyard to a tangerine sunset along the Portuguese coast-diamond baguettes catching and diffusing the glowing rays as the sun slides into the horizon-this new attitude is casual, fun, energetic, present, and, most importantly, driven by connection and experience. Whether heading to a reunion with loved ones after months of isolation, seeing your best friend for a glass of wine after a long day, or taking a twilight walk with a partner, each and every moment is its own-and every moment is like no other.

"I love thinking of diamonds this way, as special emblems of even the small personal moments in our lives," says Ana de Armas. "They represent joy and warmth and beauty."

The campaign's 30-second hero spot airing at the Emmys will be complemented by a series of shorter video segments, spotlighting the various relationships portrayed from the clip. She is seen in laid-back outdoor settings with friends, with a parent, and with a partner. In this, a fresh, opened-up association continues to be emphasised: diamonds are not solely the purview of romantic interests or formal occasions. They are meant for every type of connection.

This new campaign marks a number of firsts for the Natural Diamond Council, in addition to welcoming its first Hollywood headliner. It is the first celebrity-fronted campaign for a diamond group (brand agnostic), adding an important contribution to an industry that supports the livelihoods of roughly 10 million people worldwide. This is also the first campaign dedicated to NDC's "Only Natural Diamonds" platform, and the first marketing initiative by the NDC to showcase such a diverse roster of jewellery designers that work with natural diamonds in exceptionally modern ways.

"Ana is a true talent, and the dynamism she exemplifies is exactly what we seek to do daily in our support of the natural diamond industry," says David Kellie, CEO of Natural Diamond Council. "This campaign redefines traditional diamond moments, celebrating a variety of personal connections with these natural stones. It's a more contemporary approach to the diamond dream, for meaningful moments large or small."

A selection of the designers and brands featured in the campaign, all of which use diamonds from the Natural Diamond Council's producers, include: Anita Ko, KATKIM Fine Jewelry, De Beers Jewellers, Ana Khouri, Delfina Delettrez, Gabriel & Co, Zoe Chicco, Eriness, London Jewelers, Jade Trau, Lorraine Schwartz, Suzanne Kalan, Fernando Jorge, Vanleles, Foundrae, Marla Aaron, Nikos Koulis and more.

Following its Emmys debut, the campaign will be featured in print media, including Vogue and Vanity Fair's respective November 2020 issues, The New York Times, and at online publications ranging from Bustle to Who What Wear. It will, additionally, be featured on non-linear TV, from Hulu to Amazon Fire. The Natural Diamond Council will also distribute campaign materials through its owned channels, including its website, which will feature behind-the-scenes footage and an interview element with Ana de Armas, as well as comprehensive information about the brands and designers that are seen. The campaign will have a global presence, also running in the United Kingdom, China and India.

Press contact

Lisa Levinson

Head of Marketing and Communications UK

lisa@naturaldiamonds.com

+4478 2340 5888

The Natural Diamond Council (NDC) advances diamonds' desirability by publishing in-depth and engaging features and trend reports, and sharing resources and information with consumers on the ultimate timelessness and singularity of this remarkable natural stone. The NDC also works to support the integrity of the natural diamond industry, providing transparency, and insight on the ethics, sustainability and progress of this sector.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1274950/Natural_Diamond_Council.jpg
I was introduced to the stock market in my 10th standard and it was love at first sight. I would trade 2 or 3 shares of Infosys and it would give me satisfaction like none other, Neil Bahal - Managing Director - Negen Capital, said in an interview with Moneycontrols Kshitij Anand.

Edited excerpts:

Q) Negen Capitals SmallCap Emerging Fund outperformed other PMS across themes in August, according to PMSBazaar data. What is the core strategy of the theme which helps you pick winners?

A) We are predominantly value investors. But, lately, we are also paying a lot of importance on growth. A combination of value plus growth has been the reason for our stocks to do well.

Recently, we have also developed a system which enables us to pin-point sectors where there is a tailwind of earnings. Once you can identify a sector that is doing well, then the job becomes easier to identify the leaders in the space.

Q) Can you please elaborate further on the investment framework?

A) Mostly the same as above and the usual things like high RoIC, good promoters, long earnings runway etc. But, the real outperformance for us came due to position sizing.

If you like a company, it is important to back yourself and give a strong allocation to the company. That is the real key according to us.

Q) The Small-Cap Emerging Fund has given phenominal returns in the last three months as well, but on a 1-year basis the performance falls short of double-digit returns, and since inception it is negative. Do you think the trend is Smallcap and midcap has picked up again which will drive performance?

A) As fate would have it, we launched our fund at the absolute peak of the smallcap rally towards the end of 2017. Since we started our fund, the smallcap index had fallen -67% in the bottom during March 2020.

Even today, our benchmark smallcap index is negative 41.5 percent since the inception of our PMS while we have now nearly broken even. So there is considerable outperformance in that sense.

Also, a lot of funds just shut down and start new funds to mask bad performance. We are not like that. We will keep this PMS strategy active through bad and good times.

And yes, small-caps tend to give lumpy returns. We still have a long, long way for the smallcap index to go just to reach its 2018 high. We are probably still just reverting back to the mean. Hence, I definitely feel that small-caps will do very well going forward.

Q) A little about yourself  at what age you fell in love with equities or it just happened?

A) Ever since school, I have been doing some or the other business like selling old stamps, currencies, posters, etc. I was introduced to the stock market in my 10th standard and it was love at first sight. I would trade 2 or 3 shares of Infosys and it would give me satisfaction like none other.

I was never interested in studies and I just kept trading through college and tried some other businesses as well. I opened a restaurant and sold my stake.

Also, opened a pharmacy chain and sold my stake. At the insistence of my father, I joined FMB from SP Jain and it was a life-changing moment. Highly recommend this course to anyone.

It gave me access to thousands of business owners and helped me understand their way of thinking and a lot of contacts. It was after my time in SP Jain that I matured as a businessman and started my brokerage which later evolved into a PMS.

One regret was that I never took any work experience. It would have saved me many years of trial and error. I never worked anywhere.

Q) What was your earlier trading strategy, and how did you evolve as a trader?

A) In my early teens and mid-20s, I was a clueless trader and investor. I loved the markets but I never understood the market. It was more of gambling instincts instead of true investing.

I evolved as an investor after my younger brother introduced a new concept of investing to me which was special situation investing.

Special Situation Investing is nothing but Value investing but with a trigger. There has been no looking back since. We have kept adding more and more filters along the way but that was the starting point of everything.

Q) The first trade which you remember? And, any trade which went bad for you?

A) The Petronet and Yes Bank IPOs I will never forget. If memory serves right, they had come in 2004 at around 10-15/share and both were super hits. They really got me hooked on.

People often quote Warren Buffett saying dont invest in IPOs. I say that is not applicable in India where tremendous companies keep coming with IPOs.

The 2008 crash. I was 24yrs old and I entered 2008 thinking I am some sort of a market demi-god riding on some years of a bull market. Then came January 2008 and it was all over within days. It is something that I can never forget.

It was like seeing ghosts. I was literally frozen for months.

Q) What is the vision you have for Negen Capital any new products lined up in near future?

A) The vision is to grow without drawdowns now. The world is fast changing hence it is important to keep the ship steady and have consistent growth. We have planned accordingly.

No new products. For now, we want to be an alpha-generating emerging PMS for the years to come and grow our AUM doing the same things over and over again.

: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on Moneycontrol.com are their own and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
President Donald Trump said Wednesday he was not ready to sign off on a deal for Oracle to buy TikTok from a Chinese parent company, citing both national security concerns and wanting to ensure the U.S. government gets its cut.

'It has to be 100 percent as far as national security is concerned. No, I'm not prepared to sign off on anything. I have to see the deal,' Trump said. 'They going to be reporting to me tomorrow morning and I'll let you know.'

He also said he was surprised to learn that the U.S. cannot take a cut of the TikTok deal and he's going to have the government look into that.

'Amazingly, I find that you're not allowed to do that,' he said at his press conference when asked about payments to the Treasury Department for the sale, an idea he had pushed. 'There is no way of doing that from - there is no legal path to doing that.'

President Donald Trump said Wednesday he was not ready to sign off on a deal for Oracle to buy TikTok from a Chinese parent company

Trump will get briefed on the matter by Treasury officials on Thursday morning.

'They are willing to make a big payment to the government and we are not allowed to take their money? When does this happen? How foolish can we be? We are looking into that right now. I said no, I want a big chunk of that money to go to the United States government because we made it possible,' he complained.

'The lawyers come back to me and say there is no way of doing that. You know why?' he said. 'Because nobody ever said we will approve the deal but we want a lot of money to go to the government. Because by approving the deal we are making the deal valuable. They had never heard of that before. Okay? Can you believe that?'

Trump said he also didn't like that the U.S. purchasing company would have a minority stake in the Chinese venture.

'I don't like that. That hasn't been told to me yet. That has been reported but not told to me. It could be accurate reporting for a change. If that's the case I'm not going be happy with that. Assuming ByteDance is China and I think it is,' he said.

The president's words come after reports that Oracle's bid to buy TikTok from Chinese parent ByteDance has reportedly fallen short of requirements from the Trump administration to resolve concerns that the video-sharing app represents a national security concern.

The proposed deal has drawn continuing concerns from national security officials that could sway Trump's decision, people familiar with the deal told Bloomberg News on Wednesday.

Oracle announced on Monday it was part of a proposal submitted by Bytedance to the U.S. Treasury Department to serve as 'trusted technology provider,' to Bytedance, providing no further details on the terms of the deal.

Oracle's bid to buy TikTok from Chinese parent ByteDance has reportedly fallen short of requirements from the Trump administration to resolve national security concerns

Marco Rubio and five other Republican senators have called on the Trump administration to reject the deal if ties to Chinese owner Bytedance remain.

Rubio, the first senator to call on the administration to investigate TikTok over censorship concerns, said in the letter to Trump that 'serious questions' remained about Oracle's role, the technology it would provide to Bytedance, and the future of the application's algorithm.

'We remain opposed to any deal that would allow China-based or controlled entities to retain, control or modify the code or algorithms that operate any U.S.-based version of TikTok,' Rubio wrote in the letter, dated Wednesday.

'We are heartened that this deal still requires government approval, and if reports indicating this proposed deal will retain links to ByteDance or other Chinese-controlled entities, we strongly urge the administration to reject such a proposal on national security grounds,' he added.

The letter, also signed by Senators Thom Tillis, Rick Scott, John Cornyn, Roger Wicker and Dan Sullivan, is part of a growing chorus of lawmakers raising questions about the deal.

On Monday, Republican Senator Josh Hawley sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who heads a national security panel reviewing the proposal, calling for the deal to be scuttled, if it does not allow for the 'full emancipation of TikTok software from potential Chinese Communist Part control.'

Trump has also said he is a fan of Oracle's co-founder and Chairman Larry Ellison (right), one of few tech executives to openly support the Republican President

Trump had previously made clear he sought a full-scale sale of the app to an American technology company, amid concerns among national security officials that Bytedance could provide American user data to the Chinese government.

However, Trump may not want to alienate 100 million-odd American TikTok users weeks before a hotly-contested presidential election.

Trump has also said he is a fan of Oracle's co-founder and Chairman Larry Ellison, one of few tech executives to openly support the Republican President.

Meanwhile, China has updated its export control rules to give it a say over the transfer of technology, such as TikTok's recommendation algorithm, to a foreign buyer. Chinese officials have said ByteDance should not be coerced by the United States into a deal.
The NSW union movement has thrown its support behind moving public service jobs to the regions in an unusual alignment of Labor's support base with a long-term priority of the Nationals.

Rising automation in farming and manufacturing spurred Unions NSW, the state's peak trade union body, to make the call for the government to encourage public servants to move to rural areas with cash grants for relocation costs and rent subsidies.

Unions NSW secretary Mark Morey has urged workers to swap cities for the country. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

In a submission to a NSW parliamentary inquiry on the future of work, the unions argue relocating bureaucrats could help make up for the job losses caused by farms monitoring crops with machines and regional businesses pushing customers to internet services such as online banking.

"Push [public servants] out into the regions, generate jobs and cash flow in those areas," urged Mark Morey, the secretary of Unions NSW. "That's something the state government can do in those areas."
Brooks Hubbard with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers takes photos from the historic North Broadway Bridge over the Los Angeles River Tuesday morning as smoke and ash from the Bobcat fire cloak the area. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)

Smoke from the Bobcat and El Dorado fires continues to blanket Southern California, prompting the South Coast Air Quality Management District to issue its 10th straight day of advisories .

Some residents of Los Angeles County, growing weary of the thick, hazy air, say theyre at wits end.

You can barely see to the end of the block, Pasadena resident Stewart Pajares said Wednesday.

Pajares said he felt burning in his eyes and lungs, and when asked what concerned him most about the regions poor air quality, he said, breathing.

Onshore winds will probably begin moving smoke out of the South Coast air basin Wednesday afternoon, the South Coast AQMD said, but modest smoke impacts from Northern and Central California fires are likely to persist. Current air quality readings are still lingering in the 150-200 range , which is considered unhealthy by the Environmental Protection Agency.

EPA officials said they are working hard to keep people informed about the risks of the poor air.

We do need to learn to live with smoke, EPA air resource advisor Katie Stewart said. And its unfortunate, but we need to be smoke-ready every year.

Stewart said home improvements such as caulking windows and replacing worn-out weather stripping can help prevent smoke and poor air from entering houses.

She also said residents with HVAC systems can set the air to circulate so its not being pulled in from outside, and recommended that people without those systems use portable air filters to create  clean air shelters  in one or two rooms of their homes.

But after several days of smoky air, such filters are increasingly tough to come by: Local hardware stores have seen a run on customers looking for air purifiers.

We have some left, said Rosie Gonzalez of Virgil Hardware in Glendale, but its down to a really limited quantity.

Financial factors are also a challenge. Portable air filters  if you can get your hands on one  typically run between $100 and $150, Stewart said.

Story continues

That has left many low-income residents out of luck, particularly since the citys smoke relief centers opened for only one day last week and havent reopened since.

City of Los Angeles spokeswoman Rose Watson said the Department of Recreation and Parks is working with the Emergency Management Division to reopen relief centers this week, but locations and availability haven't yet been announced.

The Parks Department also said Eaton Canyon, Devil's Punchbowl and San Dimas Canyon Natural Area will be closed until further notice because of poor air quality. An earlier closure of all national forests in California has been extended through Monday.

The countys estimated 66,000 homeless residents also have limited recourse from the unhealthful air.

Its going to be worse for them in proportion to the amount of extra pollution they experience, said Suzanne Paulson, director of the Center for Clean Air at UCLA, because theyre not getting any sort of protective effects from being inside.

Yet staying indoors isnt a catchall for clean air. Smoke can make its way into buildings, and any exposure  whether for one day or 10  can increase adverse health effects.

There is no threshold, Paulson said. More is always worse.

In Mammoth Lakes, air quality was so bad Wednesday that it registered a 626, beyond the AQI's standard 0-500 scale. Stewart, the air resource manager at the EPA, said readings in that category are considered "above hazardous" and are typically seen in areas that are susceptible to smoke settling and surrounded by multiple fires.

The guidance for above hazardous numbers is the same as for hazardous ones, she said.

"Your best bet is to stay indoors with your doors and windows shut until the air quality improves."

But in the Bay Area, which saw some of the worst air quality in the world last week , residents are rejoicing as smoke from the nearby fires dissipates. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District showed readings in the 0-50 , or good, range Wednesday.

Southern California has yet to see such clean numbers.

Currently, a stench of fire fills the house, Mt. Washington resident William Shepherd said Wednesday.

Shepherd described the lockdowns  both from COVID-19 and the smoke  as a long journey, and noted that he hasnt seen or heard any children on his block for some time.

This event of climate change wont be the last of huge fires, he said. As a veteran, it was our duty to protect the people of America and our landscape. Tragically ... a smoke-filled sky is perhaps our global future.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
"Let's hope, for the sake of the country, that a presidential vacancy does not prosper," he said in remarks to Canal N.

As he explained, the vacancy scenario has not yet been analyzed by the Executive Branch, but Congress' decision will be closely followed, and the best way to defend stability with respect to the Constitution and regulations will be discussed.

"We do not rule out any legal tool that allows maintaining the political stability of the country, within the legal framework and the Constitution," he stated.

The high-ranking official reported that all ministers expressed their full support for President Vizcarra on Thursday afternoon and reaffirmed their decision to continue working in this situation marked by COVID-19, after some recordings were presented at a Congress' plenary session earlier that day.

Likewise, Martos said all ministers agree that the investigations must continue their course, within the framework of due process.

Nos preocupa profundamente el intento por desestabilizar al pais en medio de esta grave crisis sanitaria y economica. Respaldamos todas las investigaciones, pero respetando el debido proceso. Apelamos a la reflexion y responsabilidad del Congreso en estas dificiles circunstancias
TRAVERSE CITY, MI - The dark, crisp nights of October might be just the perfect time to be led slowly through one of the old brick buildings that are part of the former Northern Michigan Asylum - and hear stories about the people who used to live and work there.

The slightly creepy Cottage #30 will be home to the new Asylum After Dark tours, which will begin next month in part of the historic Village at Grand Traverse Commons development. Participants will be guided through four floors - from attic to basement - and get a taste of what life was like for residents of the old state hospital and those who cared for them. Vignettes from those years will be shared during the tour. And while we cant spill exactly what stories will be told, be sure to listen closely for a horrifying tale about a glass jar full of bats.

The tour is deliberately not being billed as a haunted experience to undertake during the month-long countdown to Halloween, but if you do happen to sense something otherworldly, your tour guides likely wont tell you that youre wrong.

The sights, sounds  and darkness will leave you wanting to explore more, according to the event description. Join us for a bonfire after your experience and take home an exclusive piece of asylum history.

The event is slated to run Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights in October. It includes:

30-minute guided experience  includes exclusive map and $5 off village merchandise

Cost is $45 per person or $80 per couple, (Ages 18 & over ID required)

Not wheelchair accessible

To reserve a ticket and see available dates and times, check the website here.

The original cream-colored brick work can be seen inside the now-empty buildings. Photo courtesy of the Village at Grand Traverse Commons.

Grand Traverse Commons runs a handful of historical and architectural tours year-round, taking advantage of several different buildings - and sometimes even tunnels - on the sprawling old hospitals grounds. The gorgeous cream-brick Victorian Italianate buildings were constructed as a state-run asylum that opened in 1885 with innovative programming. It later was named the Traverse City State Hospital, where staff cared for patients for a century before it closed in the late 1980s. Now a mixed-use development, the huge main building and its wings have been renovated into condos, apartments and a shopping district that includes restaurants, a winery and a bakery. Many of the buildings are still in their original state and can be walked through on the tours.

For some time, staff at the Commons has been looking for a historically-accurate way to create a tour for all those clamoring for an October event.

This is based in fact, stories that we have found from people who have worked here, said Krystal Fluette, an office manager who handles the tour planning. There are good descriptions. It stays true to the story of the Traverse City State Hospital.

Its always been something that I have been trying to move forward. Weve had a lot of interest in people wanting to do an October tour. Its a great year to give people what they want.

The main building and several others at the Village at Grand Traverse Commons have been renovated as part of a sprawling development. Photo courtesy of Loose Canon Photography .

Headed to Traverse City? Here are a few things not to miss:

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Afedzi Abdullah of the Ghana News Agency examines the era of digital news with this piece.

Read on....

The provision of Information in the era of the Information Age is crucial, but its dissemination comes with a huge task as more people crave for the ever increasing information on all platforms and mediums.

The task has become daunting for journalists because of the phenomenon of fake news, misinformation, hoaxes and disinformation which are significantly on the ascendancy.

This avails a key challenge to media practice, thus making it more imperative for journalists to be concerned in clamping down on it for patrons of authentic news to have the confidence that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Extent of Fake news problem in Ghana

Fake news, which knows no boundaries has become part and parcel of the news ecosystem and gradually gaining grounds in Ghana, particularly in the political sphere, where politicians use it as a tool to discrete opponents just in the name of securing power.

A study by Penplusbytes on the Media perspective on fake news in Ghana in 2018 revealed that the phenomenon is a growing problem in Ghana and however, concluded that the Ghanaian media landscape does not have systems, budget and trained personnel dedicated to combat the menace.

Another study that looked at Mobile journalism and the thriving culture of fake news in Pakistan and Ghana established that there is an increase in fake news culture from citizen journalism that is misinforming the media audience in Ghana.

According to a news publication on a Ghanaian online portal on January 19, 2019, Ghana's Information Minister, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah lamented the increasing spate of fake news describing it as a threat to journalism and called for urgent steps to check the circulation of fake news in the country.

A case in point is the numerous misinformation on the COVID-19 pandemic, where the right information needed by the public to be safe is being distorted through the dissemination of fake news.

Ever since Ghana recorded its first case of COVID-19 in March this year, several false messages have come out mainly through social media.

Digital technologies, social media and the spread of fake news

The findings from Penplusbytes study reinforced the challenges of many newsrooms in news production as more and more digital technologies emerge in addition to social media platforms such as Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others.

Social media has been identified as a major conduit for the spread of fake news in Ghana.

According to a recent Afro-barometer survey conducted from September to October 2019, social media is increasingly becoming a common source of news for many Ghanaians.

With the upsurge of social media, the core watchdog role of the traditional media in curbing misinformation and ensuring authentic content for public consumption, is now under siege.

This is simply because social media contents are not constrained by editorial decisions. People simply post whatever they feel like without any limitation.

In his article, the Science of fake news, Jason Socrates Bardi, a former News Director of the American Institute of Physics and a longtime science writer stressed the increased ubiquitousness of social media and online access.

Also, Mr Dapo Olorunyomi, a publisher with Premium Time says the pervasive skepticism against journalistic truth in complementary journalism practice must be a great source of worry for every journalist.

This, he lamented, was because the extent of fake news has left many people confused as they can no longer decipher the truth out there because there is doubt about what truth really is.

Mr Olorunyomi noted that in their haste to break the news, some journalists disseminate inaccurate information and bemoaned that practice.

To him, good journalism does not entertain unverified stories or statistics without cross checking, adding that integrity must drive credibility.

Journalism, he said is rooted in four core elements of truth and accuracy, verification, independent and accountability with the goal of public good and underscored the need for media practitioners to verify information before publishing.

By assessing evidence in a story to ensure reliability, we are able to achieve journalistic truth that strengthens the position of our readers, Mr Olorunyomi stated and emphasised that journalism truth is always provisional and never absolute, which helps readers to make pragmatic sense of their World.

Caroline Anipah, an editor with Dubawa Ghana also expressed the fear that journalists risk being manipulated by actors to mislead or be corrupted into spreading disinformation if they did nothing to address the information disorder ecosystem.

Journalists can find themselves becoming a target of lies, rumours and hoaxes designed to intimidate and discredit them and their work, especially when they expose those who are commissioning or spreading disinformation, she said.

The time for journalists to act is now

Information is such that once collected, processed and published, it is impossible to correct and polish it entirely, if it is fake. This is mainly because the audience or consumers of information are constantly on the move digesting other content and may not have the time or interest to follow up an old one.

The public may not know the difference between the truth and rumour and the job of the journalist as gatekeepers if not stepped up, will be meaningless and create chaotic scenes in society.

Putting credible stories out there must be of great importance to all news outlets especially in this COVID-19 period, where Fake news is spreading faster than the virus and resulting in the death of some people who downplayed the virus and all safety protocols or are self-medicating, says Jonathan Donkor, a journalist with the Ghanaian Times.

According to Jonathan, it is imperative for journalists to position themselves as the source that the public can trust and help draw deeper the thin line between truth and untruth from being blurred.

Indeed, the repercussions of fake news are grave and chaotic for public health, safety and life in general, since people make decisions based on information available to them, he added

Is there hope?

Despite the advent of numerous blogging sites and social media platforms, people still rely on the mainstream media to validate news stories.

Anytime I read any news on social media, or on any of the blogging websites, I try to compare it with the one in the mainstream media to be convinced if it's true, Isaac Arkoh, a journalist with the GNA in Cape Coast stated.

Arkoh's confession indicates that all hope is not lost and that journalists in the mainstream media have the responsibility to rise up to the task to save their own profession from collapse through countering the menace of fake news.

The onus therefore is on the professionals, whose duty include informing and educating the public with credible information.

Part of the cross Journalists carry is to crosscheck not only to check if their Ts' are crossed or 'I' dotted but if their stories are not fake.

Conclusion

Fake news continues to be a growing concern which is gradually creeping deep into the fiber of the mainstream media.

Government and other stakeholders are being called upon to put in place measures to deal with the menace. Journalists must admit that the continuous existence of fake news threaten the tenets of journalism and ultimately the journalism profession.

For this reason, they must be the ones to be more concern and the ones to be at the forefront to combat the scourge of fake news to save the image of the profession.

GNA
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 09:51:49|Editor: huaxia

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ISLAMABAD, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- China has proved that it is a great rising country of the world by lifting over 800 million people out of poverty in four decades, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said.

The prime minister made the remark while addressing the groundbreaking ceremony of the Ravi Riverfront Urban Development Project, a multi-billion-dollar environment-friendly residential settlement, in capital city Lahore of the country's east Punjab province.

Khan said that China has set an example for the rest of the world in terms of poverty alleviation, and now the whole world is impressed by the great economic progress of China.

Briefing about the project, he said that besides giving a great investment opportunity to the construction sector, it will also provide affordable housing for the poor, a step forward to his vision of lifting the underprivileged class out of poverty.

Talking about the environment-friendly aspect of the project located at the bank of Ravi River, he said that the model city to be built under the project will have six million trees and they will establish a wastewater treatment plant in it to treat the sewerage water before releasing it into the river.

Khan said that local and foreign investors have shown interest in the mega project, and directed the provincial government to speed up the execution of the project, assuring the federal government's full support in this regard.

According to Pakistan's ruling party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, the project will cover an area of 40,000 hectares, with 1.8 million housing units besides separate knowledge, sports, innovation, health and commercial settlements. Enditem
" " In a county as large as Los Angeles, the clerk is pretty much going to stick to filing vital records, since there are so many of them. David McNew/ Getty Images

If you've ever wanted to fill an elected civil service position bursting at the seams with responsibility, then consider working as a county clerk. The county clerk is responsible for filing vital records, or important documents related to a specific county's population, including birth, death and marriage certificates. Depending on the size of that population, the duties of the job can go a lot further than that. In counties with smaller populations, the clerk wears a number of different hats. It's one of those rare positions in which the more customers you have, the fewer responsibilities you hold.

Let's take Cook County, Illinois, for example. The county that includes Chicago and much of its metropolitan area has an estimated population of nearly 5.3 million people [source: Census]. Every time a Cook County resident is born, dies, marries, forms a domestic partnership or divorces, the clerk accepts and files the certifying legal document [source: Cook County]. Each of these is added to the millions of records that the Cook County clerk must maintain.

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That's a lot of records to file and keep track of, so it's not surprising that the Cook County clerk's duties are limited to those specific certificates. A typical day in the office of the clerk for Bergen County, New Jersey, which includes county seat Hackensack, can be slightly more varied. Bergen County had less than 900,000 people in 2008, so the county clerk does more than file birth, death, marriage and divorce certificates [source: Census]. The clerk's office also files and processes residents' passport applications and property deeds, issues county IDs, gives, and files licenses for local doctors and business owners. Residents seeking U.S. naturalization file an application at the clerk's office. Bergen County's clerk also confirms and licenses notary publics and sometimes officiates at wedding ceremonies [source: Bergen County Clerk's Office].

Bergen County is fairly typical in its clerk's duties. The state of Texas requires its county clerks to oversee local elections. In San Juan County, New Mexico, the clerk is responsible for compiling the minutes of the official meetings of the local board of commissioners. Some county clerks also serve as the clerk of courts for the county probate judge. This means they're responsible for compiling and maintaining the paperwork for each case the judge hears.

Whether the county clerk stays busy through the sheer volume of records or the addition of extra responsibilities, his or her office is often underfunded and understaffed.

Kathy Michael, clerk for McLean County, Ill., says that managers in the private sector are "often flabbergasted by the complexity of the challenge -- and the very limited resources the clerk has at hand to meet that challenge." But, says Michael, "It must be done for our community to operate smoothly" [source: Michael].

For more on civil service positions, please see the links on the next page.
A conversation about the Houston Rockets possibly trading star guard James Harden turned into a very heated argument Monday on ESPN Houston (97.5 FM) radio. And it concluded with several profanities, the audio being cut off, and a radio host walking out.

Jayson Braddock and Patrick Creighton were doing their weekday show Late Hits, when things escalated quickly.

Braddock called out a temper tantrum from Creighton, and kept telling Creighton to quit crying and shut up, do the show. Creighton then said that Braddock had checked out of a segment and wasnt paying attention, which led to Braddock responding, If you want me to leave, Ill cut off the mic and Ill leave. That was followed by plenty of yelling, Braddock calling Creighton a bitch a bunch, and some f-bombs being exchanged.

Heres video of the crazy scene, via Funhouse (@BackAftaThis):

? RADIO WARS ? Jayson Braddock and Patrick Creighton (ESPN 97.5 in Houston) get into a shouting match on air about the Rockets possibly trading James Harden. Braddock calls Creighton a bitch several times before walking out. Their producer eventually cut the audio. Wisely. pic.twitter.com/S5giL0jabW  Funhouse (@BackAftaThis) September 16, 2020

And our best shot at transcribing this (starting at the 18-second mark)

Braddock: No, youre having a temper tantrum on air, man. Like, youre on live air right now.

Creighton: Do whatever you want to do. Ill do the show. You dont have to pay attention, its cool. Well just do it like youre not here. So you can do whatever it is that you want to do. Just let me know when youre done and then well come back.

Braddock: Start doing the show. Shut up crying, and do the show. Youre live on air. Dude, youre live on air. Shut up and do the show.

Creighton: Really?

Braddock: Yes! Shut up and do the show! Youre live on air and youre crying! Do the show!

Creighton: So youre not doing the show?

Braddock: No! Youre the one telling me to leave! If you want me to leave, Ill leave! But just quit crying! You can talk about this during the break! Do the show! Do it!

Creighton: Alright, well if Im just going to do the show by myself, then, yeah, why are you here?

Braddock: Do it. Do the show. Just quit crying about it. Keep talk. Talk sports. And quit crying for two straight segments.

Creighton: Was that supposed to be funny?

Braddock: Yes, hilarious! Shut up crying and keeping this going on, and just do the show!

Creighton: Im waiting for the punch line.

Braddock: Oh good god, youre a child, man. Quit being petty and do the show. The show sounds horrible right now. It sounded horrible last segment.

Creighton: Youre right, it does! And youre telling me about being petty when you just checked out of a show for an entire segment!

Braddock: No, I started doing the research you asked me to do during the last segment.

Creighton: No, you checked out! Im sitting here talking to you and youre like, Huh, what? You didnt even have your microphone on!

Braddock: Its already been two segments that are horrible. If you want me to leave, Ill cut off the mic, and Ill leave. Just do the show. It sounds horrible.

Creighton: Ill do the show, you go to do what you want to do. Were good.

Braddock: Okay. God

Creighton: Dude, thats the most ridiculous thing

Braddock: Do the show! Youre still crying! Do the show! Ive already cut off the mic!

Creighton: Hey, Im doing the show! Youre not paying attention! Go do what youre doing! Go have a good time!

Braddock: Good god, man. Such a little bitch, man.

Creighton: You know, go do whatever the hell youre doing. It doesnt matter.

Braddock: Well do the show. Quit being a bitch.

Creighton: Whatever, Im the one doing the show. Youre the one checking out. Have a good day. See ya.

Braddock: Im going. Do the show, bitch!



Braddock: Come on, youre acting like a little bitch on this shit, dude! Thats the most embarrassing fucking radio I ever did! You acted like a little bitch right there, fuck!

Creighton: And are you not part of it?

Braddock: You asked me for the fucking numbers! I started giving you the numbers!

Creighton: Dont freaking yell at me, dude.

Braddock: Im going to yell at you because youre acting like a bitch today! Were live on air and youre acting like a bitch!

Creighton: Well, youre acting like a fucking asshole.
KALAMAZOO, MI  A month after the Proud Boys marched in Kalamazoo, the visit remains a source of public debate and yet a key question remains: why did they come here?

An expert who tracks far-right groups such as the Proud Boys pointed to the fact that Kalamazoo is a college town and has easy highway access, sitting at the intersection of I-94 and U.S. 131.

Kalamazoo has also had a number of marches and rallies in support of police reform and the Black Lives Matter movement.

Kalamazoo did nothing that really invited a hate group like this, said Carolyn Normandin, Michigan regional director of the Anti-Defamation League.

The group looks for communities that have had tensions over issues such as policing and Black Lives Matter, for instance, she said. Both issues have been on the agenda in Kalamazoo, though the city is not unique in that regard.

Proud Boys like to spoil for a fight, Normandin said. They look for places with discord and try to sew more discord, she said.

Steve Dorsy, a self described member of the leadership of the Proud Boys in Michigan who helped helped organize the Proud Boys march in Kalamazoo on Aug. 15, said group members were picking between Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo.

In both cities, there had been Black Lives Matters, Antifa rallies that resulted in some type of destruction of property or homes being burned down and things like that, Dorsy said, pointing to events in the cities in June.

Antifa is a loose organization of far-left, anti-fascists who have been active in protesting far-right organization such as Proud Boys.

Equating Kalamazoo with Antifa is conjured up rhetoric, Normandin said, and a justification for why the Proud Boys chose the city.

Their whole ideology likes violence, Normandin said.

Proud Boys use intimidation during rallies, she said. They have been described as a "right-wing fight club, she said.

Despite the fights that happened in Kalamazoo, Dorsy said the group does not want violence.

Coming to Kalamazoo

Group members also talked about previous run-ins with a member of the Kalamazoo community when deciding on the location, Dorsy said, alleging the person harassed members of the Proud Boys.

Ultimately, group leadership voted to come to Kalamazoo, said Dorsy, who lives in the Detroit area and said he is in his 40s. The Proud Boys arrived on Saturday, Aug. 15, and achieved their goal, Dorsy said.

Our mission was to show that you cant march down a street in Kalamazoo without being assaulted if you have an opposing view. And sure enough, thats exactly what happened, he said on Sept. 15, one month after the event that made national headlines.

Videos show a large group of several dozen Proud Boys marching down Water Street after they parked their vehicles in a downtown ramp where they gathered.

As they marched, they chanted, Whos streets? Our streets! Some members flashed an OK hand gesture, which the Anti-Defamation League says is a white-power signal. One member carried a sign that says, Racism does not exist.

Counterprotesters, anticipating the Proud Boys' arrival, were staged nearby at Arcadia Creek Festival Place.

Violence erupted when the Proud Boys and counterprotesters clashed on Water Street. A cup thrown into the Proud Boys crowd was one of the first acts of aggression, according to Dorsy and police. Soon after, according to Dorsy, Proud Boys were defending themselves from attacks.

The narrative from police and Dorsy differs from a version of events given by Kalamazoo citizens on the street. One account, from the Rev. Nathan Dannison, and another from resident, Andy Argo, said Proud Boys kicked off the violence by assaulting a homeless person.

KDPS Assistant Chief David Boysen said the citizens reporting the homeless person was attacked have an agenda.

I reviewed all of the video from the event and their version is not what happened, Boysen said.

KDPS Chief Karianne Thomas said a review of video evidence shows that counterprotestors repeatedly initiated contact with the Proud Boys as they marched through the city streets leading to several arrests.

Dorsy said the Proud Boys were not the aggressors, and only responded to attacks, defending themselves.

Several people were injured and punches were thrown from either side as police officers were absent from the scene, except for those watching from a distance. Police watched as a man was clubbed over the head. A U.S. Army veteran said he was swept into the crowd and punched again and again in the face by Proud Boys.

One thing that Proud Boys and Kalamazoo citizens agree on, according to Dorsy: Police dropped the ball.

The Kalamazoo police department absolutely, 100% failed, Dorsy said. He pointed out how police responded to Black Lives Matter protests in May and June wearing riot gear," in contrast to the Proud Boys event, when police were not present when violence began.

Officers were wearing the same tactical gear they wore in June whey they did respond to the Aug. 15 event.

Thomas has said they made a tactical decision to initially keep police largely out of view because they didnt want their presence to escalate the situation. Once fighting started, police moved in, Thomas has said.

The decision to keep police back initially has prompted harsh criticism of police actions that day still the subject of an ongoing investigation by city officials.

Dorsy said the Proud Boys received an influx of dozens of applications from Michigan people following the Kalamazoo event.

In response to the Proud Boys' claims that they were not in Kalamazoo to cause violence, Normandin said the way they behaved was threatening.

Theyre marching down the street looking very threatening, Normandin said. If a group is rallying in a peaceful march, theyre not typically carrying guns and wearing camo and acting as if they are going to come to secure things. There was nothing to be secured that day.

She described Proud Boys as a right-wing fight club."

Dorsy said one member of the Proud Boys was openly carrying a gun. Others were carrying concealed guns, he said. Others were carrying flags on sticks.

Police have noted that other armed citizens showed up nearby where the Proud Boys marched and other counterprotesters congregated.

Police documented counterprotesters carrying weapons. Proud Boys used pepper spray during the skirmish.

In response to questions from MLive, an official at the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks groups such as the Proud Boys, said it was noteworthy members were armed and carrying chemical irritants.

That they used some of those weapons against counter-protesters isnt surprising because this is a group with a long history of violent behavior targeted at leftist and antifascist protesters, Rebecca Sturtevant, associate media director of the center.

Sturtevant said it was concerning that police didnt attempt to keep the groups separated and instead allowed clashes to break out.

This failure allows the Proud Boys to continue to claim that they are needed on the streets to maintain law and order, a dangerous step toward normalizing the violence of the far right, Sturtevant said.

Who are the Proud Boys?

The Proud Boys were founded in 2016 by Gavin McInnes, who is the co-founder of Vice Media. In November 2018, McInnes announced he was disassociating himself from the group, The Guardian newspaper reported.

On its website, the Proud Boys describe themselves as a pro-Western fraternal organization for men who refuse to apologize for creating the modern world; aka Western Chauvinists.

Under the description, a dozen values are listed, including minimal government, maximum freedom, and anti-political correctness.

In a speech posted on YouTube in January 2018 and embedded on the Proud Boys website, McInnes explains that he set out to set up a mens club.

I started a mens club called the Proud Boys and we have one caveat and that is you have to be a Western chauvinist, McInnes said. Now liberals are lazy, so they hear the word chauvinist and they assume male chauvinist and thats why I use that word, because theyre too lazy to look it up. And it just means a nationalist, a patriot. And you have to think the West is the best.

During the speech, McInnes described an incident in New York in which Antifa members protested outside where he was making an appearance.

Im the only one allowed in and my guys are left to fight. And here is the crucial part: We do. We beat the crap out of them, McInnes said as the audience applauded. I couldnt see, I was whisked in but I talked to two of our guys who were arrested and I go, How was that? Are you OK.' And they go: It was really, really fun.

They said, Violence doesnt feel good. Justified violence feels great. And fighting solves everything, McInnes added. So, we said, you know what? Were not going to pick fights. But if they pick fights with us, were going to finish them.

In Kalamazoo, counter-protesters clashed with Proud Boys while a police over watch team watched from a building above the street.

City officials have pointed fingers, blaming different factors on the poor handling of the event. Officials have said the Proud Boys got started earlier than expected, and citizens were on the scene carrying guns, as some factors that played into the outcome.

The police department intentionally handled the event differently than recent Black Lives Matter protests in late May and early June, where the police response including tear-gassing citizens met harsh criticism, according to the city.

The Aug. 15 Proud Boys visit caused further fallout between citizens and police, because police were absent when violence broke out. Police officers arrested Kalamazoo citizens, including a working MLive journalist and a legal observer, and did not arrest any Proud Boys. The chief has apologized, in part, for the response and the city manager has admitted things should have been done differently.

The Proud Boys came to town and completed their mission by creating a divisive situation for the community then leaving, hopefully with the chaos continuing, which is their MO, KDPS Chief Karianne Thomas said following the event.

The city commission has formed a subcommittee to focus on police reform, and is working to hire an independent investigator to look into the police response of both protest events.

Dorsy and some other Proud Boys attended a more recent pro-police and Trump rally in Frankenmuth.

Kevin White, an independent journalist who goes by the name Kevin Live on Facebook, said he attended the Aug. 15 event in Kalamazoo, and also came across some of the Proud Boys in Frankenmuth this weekend.

They antagonize you to the point where any sane person is going to feel threatened, White said. And if you try to do anything, theyll hurt you because you know, they do have a lot of numbers. Or they will mace you.

Dorsy spoke at length about how the group has to fight against the label hate group and he doesnt agree with it. He talked about how members of the groups Michigan chapter have been banned for doing racist things, and racism is not accepted, he said.

Dorsy said the group does not support the Black Lives Matter organization, but he and other members believe Black lives matter.

Londa Gatt, a hairdresser who drove from Oakland County to Kalamazoo to support the Proud Boys on Aug. 15, said Antifa makes her sick.

They dont know how to make their voices heard without destruction," Gatt said.

She realizes she cant join because she is a woman, she said, but she supports them, and the Proud Boys gave her a flag signed by members.

Im tired of conservatives getting bullied, and the bad press has been written about them, to shut them up, to shut us up, Gatt, a Trump supporter, said.

Most of the members want to see Trump re-elected, though its not a requirement to join, like being born a male is, Dorsy said.

We just want like minded individuals we can hang out with it, Dorsy said. You dont have to be like-minded, we welcome again, anybody, but just want to hang out, have brotherhood.

The group has a centrally located dedicated meeting space in Michigan, he said, where they hang out, drink beer and have a good time.

And you have to agree with the ideology that the West is the best, Dorsy said. And the the culture of the West is, is you know, the culture that we that we lean on.

The group is talking about coming back to Kalamazoo, he said, though they know now is not the right time.

Read more:

Counterprotester aggression was catalyst for violence at Proud Boys event in Kalamazoo, officers report says

Why Black Lives Matter to those leading protests in Kalamazoo

Activists say Kalamazoo blew it with preliminary report on police response to Proud Boys rally

City review of police response to Kalamazoo Proud Boys rally finds areas for improvement

Critics continue calls for resignations over Kalamazoos response to Proud Boys event
Evangelical, Catholic voters in 5 swing states may shift 11% for Biden over Trump: survey

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New data commissioned by a left-leaning Christian activist group and compiled by several university researchers suggests that there could be an 11-point swing among evangelical and Catholic voters in swing states away from President Donald Trump and toward Democrat Joe Biden.

Vote Common Good, a voter mobilization nonprofit that has been holding events in swing states this fall in an effort to persuade evangelicals not to vote for Trump, released the results of the new survey called the Presidential Candidate Vice and Virtue Poll: Swing State Evangelical and Catholic Perceptions of Donald J. Trump and Joseph R. Biden.

The poll claims to be the largest survey of swing state faith voters in the 2020 cycle.

The data is made up of responses from 1,430 respondents who are registered to vote and reside in one of five swing states: Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania or Wisconsin. They were interviewed between Aug. 11 and Aug. 26.

The survey was designed and analyzed by a team of behavioral scientists representing institutions such as Duke University, the University of Maryland, the University of Southern California and the University of North Carolina.

The 2020 election is currently on track to produce an 11% swing towards Biden compared with 2016 among Evangelicals and Catholics, averaging across both Christian denominations and all 5 swing states surveyed, an analysis of the data states.

In 2016, exit polls indicated that 50% of Catholics nationwide said they voted for Trump, while only 46% said they voted for then-Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton. While 59% of Protestants surveyed in exit polls said they voted for Trump in 2016, only 36% said they voted for Clinton. As for white evangelicals, exit polls showed that 81% voted for Trump and only 16% voted for Clinton.

Among swing state Catholics, the new report suggests that 2020 is on track to produce a 16% swing toward Biden, who himself is Catholic. The report suggests that there will be a 7-point swing in favor of Biden when it comes to evangelicals in the five battleground states.

The poll comes after the Biden campaign said it planned to make more of an effort to reach out to voters of faith than the Clinton campaign had in 2016. Additionally, NeverTrump conservative groups have also spent millions on advertising in an attempt to convince voters of faith that they should not vote to re-elect Trump.

The poll also asked respondents how they evaluated Trump and Biden against seven biblical virtues and sins. According to the study, the perception that Trump lacks basic Christian kindness is the strongest driver of defecting from Trump in 2020.

The poll suggests that seven out of the top eight predictors of Trump 2016 voters defecting concern Trumps perceived absence of Christian virtues.

Furthermore, disaffected Trump voters may generally be willing to forgive the presidents perceived sins, but not his perceived lack of basic kindness, the analysis reads. This pattern was consistent across both Catholics and Evangelicals, as well as across males and females. It was also present for younger and older respondents alike, but especially strong among older respondents, who are especially likely to defect from Trump because of a perceived lack of Christian virtue.

About half of the respondents rated Biden as more virtuous than Trump while 39% rated Trump as more virtuous than Biden.

About 46% of evangelicals and Catholics said they have a more favorable opinion of Biden than they had of Clinton, while only 11% said they have a more favorable opinion of Clinton than Biden.

For Catholics, the biggest defections from Trump in the survey came in North Carolina (22% swing), Pennsylvania (20% swing) and Wisconsin (17% swing).

As for evangelicals, the data indicates the biggest defections from Trump in Florida (13% swing), North Carolina (9% swing) and Michigan (7% swing).

Trumps lack of kindness will likely cost him the election, Vote Common Good Executive Director Pastor Doug Pagitt, of Solomons Porch in Minneapolis and a prominent evangelical Trump critic, said in a statement. Four years ago, many religious voters decided to look the other way and give Trump a chance, but after witnessing his cruelty and corruption, some of them are searching for an off-ramp.

Some conservative Christians have shot down the argument that 2020 will see a percentage of Christian voters leaving Trump for Biden. Conservatives note that Trump has accomplished many of the promises he laid out to Christian conservative supporters before his 2016 election in regard to abortion, federal judges, Israel and religious freedom.

In 2016, then-candidate Trump was running purely on his rhetorical statements and never held office, so there was no track record to point to, Tim Head, executive director of the national grassroots organization Faith & Freedom Coalition, which is spending millions to drive conservative evangelical and Catholic turnout in 2020, told The Christian Post last week.

Some people thought that was smoke and mirrors and he was going to deviate from the stuff he was promising on the stump. But honestly, he has delivered. It's been one thing after another.

As far as Catholics go, Head acknowledged that the Biden campaign has been more proactive than the Clinton campaign in targeting faith voters.

That is not saying a lot because literally, the Clinton campaign did not have one single staff member that was dedicated to the faith vote, Head said. There has at least been a nominal effort to try to reach out to the faith vote, particularly the Catholic vote. But it didnt help when some Catholic bishops and priests have denied sacraments to Biden because of his stances on life and religious liberty. He is trying to make a better case at least than the Clinton campaign did, but it has yet to be seen how well that is going to be.

The survey also asked respondents who they think Jesus would vote for in the 2020 presidential election. The results were divided.

Across Evangelicals and Catholics, 28% say Jesus would vote for Donald Trump in 2020 and 27% say that he would vote for Joe Biden, the analysis states.

About 23% said Jesus would not vote and 22% said Jesus would be equally likely to vote for either candidate or they didnt know.
Om Birla says it pained him that Lok Sabha did not run smoothly during Monsoon session

Steady decline in Left Wing Extremism violence: Govt tells Parliament

India

oi-Deepika S

New Delhi, Sep 16: The government on Wednesday said there has been a steady decline in Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-related violence in the country and the number of deaths of civilians and security personnel has reduced consistently from 1,005 in 2010 to 202 in 2019.

Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy said in Rajya Sabha that to combat the LWE menace, Government of India formulated a national policy and action plan in 2015, which consists of a multi-pronged approach comprising security measures, development initiatives and ensuring rights and entitlements of local communities.

Monsoon session: Battle against coronavirus is far from over, says Harsh Vardhan in Parliament

India describes Pakistan as an epicentre of terrorism | Oneindia News

"There has been a steady decline in LWE-related violence and geographical spread of LWE influence in the country. The number of deaths (civilians and security force personnel) in LWE related violence has reduced consistently from 1,005 in 2010 to 202 in 2019," he said in a written reply to question.

In 2020, he said, till August 15, deaths have further reduced from 137 to 102 in comparison with the first eight months of 2019.
Gambling and casinos in Japan have not been legal for all that long. When looking at the history of casinos, it is easy to say that the future should be brighter than the past.

Gambling and casinos in Japan have not been legal for all that long. When looking at the history of casinos, it is easy to say that the future should be brighter than the past.

Japan is interested in a healthy future for casinos because the government hopes foreign tourists will also go to Japan to partake in the casinos, and drive up the local economy for businesses in Japan. Only in 2018 did Japan start to legalize casinos, so before then you could not legally go to a casino in that country.

This article by USA Online Casino does show that the future of casinos is back in jeopardy, but there is likely still a bright future once the hurdles get cleared. While there is some corruption to work through, it is likely casino licenses will be issued again in the coming years. Companies are still vying for coveted licenses.

Whether you are looking to play slots, poker, blackjack, or cards, there soon should be options for you in Japan, after the corruption issues are resolved. Be patient, and wait for the casino licenses to be issued. You should be able to visit a casino in Japan in the very near future and play any game you would like! gclub

Casino Licenses in Japan

There has certainly been some government red tape regarding the issuing of casino licenses in Japan. However, many companies remain interested in bidding on licenses, they just have to remain patient while restrictions are lifted. In reality, once the government clears up the issues, there is likely to be a bidding war for the licenses between the worldas top casino operators.

There is some good news. In 2018, Japan first announced that casino operators could bid for three legal licenses for a resort in Japan. While it has been slow going since then, in 2020, a Casino Administration Committee was established, which is going to manage all Japan resort operators and help with the license restrictions. Now that this committee is in place, some issues should be resolved sooner than later surrounding the legalities of casino licensing in Japan.

Anytime substantial new bills are passed in the government, it always takes a few years to iron out the red tape and put the laws into effect. The casino licenses are no different, but as the months pass, Japan is getting close to issuing the licenses and having casinos open full time with easy, legal access.

The 2018 bill and what it means for the Future

In 2018, lawmakers made casinos legal, almost. In other words, they approved a bill making casinos officially allowed in the casino. Now, operators must fight for the licenses. One of the reasons it took so long to pass the bill in 2018 was over the concern of Japan citizens getting addicted to gambling.

When licenses are issued, there will likely be restrictions on users of the casinos. Local Japan citizens will probably be restricted to a certain number of times per week in the Casino. And, foreigners will be charged a fee to use the casinos. These rules are to help make sure people do not get addicted to gambling. While it might seem annoying if you want to go out every day or if you are on a winning streak, in the long run these rules and restrictions were put in place to protect people from losing all their money.

While Japan has survived for centuries without legalized casinos, the legalization is mostly regarded as positive news for Japanese citizens and the local economy.

Casinos and the Economy

Many corporations are interested in applying for the coveted casino licenses. While it has been slow to obtain, the country of Japan is vested into the future of casinos in its country. Part of the reason Japan is going down the path of legalizing casinos is that the government has decided casinos will positively affect the economy.

The hope is that foreign tourists will enter Japan to use the casinos, and then spend money at other establishments in the country as well, thus increasing the overall health of the financial economy in Japan. Bars and restaurants can open strategic locations next to open casinos, and market themselves at casino goers, which could stimulate the profits of the restaurants.

By legalizing casinos, the Japan government not only created a new business industry, which stimulates many companies and individuals, but they also hope to but a jolt into the economy of the entire country. While it is taking some time to work out the kinks and get licenses issued, in the long run, the economy of Japan is going to benefit from the legalization of casinos.

Key Takeaways

Casinos in Japan are on the verge of being legalized. In a way they have, as casinos are now legal, but casino operators have been working on obtaining licenses since 2018. Once things resolve, there is liable to be a growth spurt in casinos over the next decade, as establishments work to capitalize on the new laws in Japan.

- There are some additional legal hurdles to pass through before people in Japan can rest easy knowing there is a future for casinos.

- Once licenses are issued, there will be restrictions in place that limit the amount of time people can spend in casinos, in order to dissuade individuals from becoming addicted to gambling.

- There is hope that the legalizing of casinos in Japan will help stimulate the local economy and even attract foreign tourists who will spend money in the country.

No matter your desire a cards, slots, or something else a there will soon be casinos in Japan where you can legally partake in these activities. When the casinos do open, they should have all of your favorite games readily available. Monitor the news, as the laws and licensing issues continue to clarify on an almost daily basis. It should soon be announced which casinos will get the sought after licenses.
BEIJING - Recent Chinese war games near Taiwan were a deliberate signal to the leaders of the island and its foreign backers that Beijing intends to make good on its vow to defend what it considers Chinese sovereignty, a government spokesperson said Wednesday.

Ma Xiaoguang of the Chinese Cabinets Taiwan Affairs Office said the exercises were a necessary measure because Taiwans leaders had been engaging in activities aimed pushing the islands formal independence from China. He said Taiwans leaders had sought support from abroad and were doing so in a bid to hamper Chinas development.

The situation between the sides at present is even more grave and complicated. The Democratic Progressive Party authorities and the Taiwanese independence forces are behind this, Ma said, referring to Taiwans ruling party, which renewed its hold on the presidency and parliament in elections earlier this year.

We have the determination and the capability to defeat all Taiwan independence activities and absolutely safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity, Ma told reporters at a regularly schedule briefing.

Taiwan said Chinese warplanes entered its airspace over two days last week during the large-scale war games that it called a serious provocation to Taiwan and a grave threat to regional peace and stability.

It said such actions by Chinas Peoples Liberation Army threaten the entire region and urged the international community to respond.

China has been stepping up its threat to bring the self-governing island under its control by military force with frequent war games and aerial patrols. That follows the apparent failure of its efforts to win over the islands 23 million people to the prospect of political unification under the one country, two systems framework in place in China, with a large majority of Taiwanese favouring maintaining the status quo of de facto independence.

China cut contacts with Taiwans government following the 2016 election of independence-minded President Tsai Ing-wen, who was re-elected this year, and has sought to isolate her diplomatically while ratcheting up political, military and economic pressure.

At Wednesdays briefing, Ma repeatedly side-stepped questions about the decision by Taiwans China-friendly Nationalist Party not to send a delegation to attend an annual cross-strait economic and cultural forum in the Chinese city of Xiamen following remarks by a Chinese television presenter seen as disparaging.

After repeated questioning, Ma said his understanding was the decision was dictated by Taiwanese internal politics, citing unidentified media sources in Taiwan.

Ma also denied reports that the Chinese presenter had been asked to apologize for her statement that the Nationalist delegation was coming begging for peace.

The Nationalists have lost badly in the past two presidential elections, largely as a result of perceptions that they are too close to Beijing and willing to sell out Taiwans interests for political and economic gain. The party had run Taiwan for decades, partly under martial law, after Chiang Kai-shek moved it to the island following the Communist takeover of mainland China in 1949.

China has sought relentlessly to isolate the Tsais government even while she draws closer to key ally the United States. Beijing has whittled Taiwans roster of diplomatic allies down to just 15 and blocked its representatives from attending international gatherings, demanding that Tsai agree to recognize Taiwan as a part of Chinese territory.

On Tuesday, Taiwanese foreign ministry spokesperson Joanne Ou protested British-based conservation group BirdLife Internationals move to exclude Taiwans Chinese Wild Bird Federation as a result of the Chinese governments intervention and suppression regarding ecological conservation activities.

BirdLife International co-operated with China to oppress the wild bird society of Taiwan. Its political consideration is an obstacle to international conservation activities, Ou said.

In a statement, the Chinese Wild Bird Federation said BirdLife had demanded it to sign a document formally committing to not promote or advocate the legitimacy of the Republic of China, Taiwans formal name, or the independence of Taiwan from China.

As an apolitical organization which has never taken a stance on any such issue, we felt it was inappropriate to sign such a document and were unable to comply. We are not political actors, we are conservationists, the federation said.

BirdLife International did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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Chandigarh Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Wednesday apprehended that enacting laws on the farm ordinances will lead to unrest in the border state, already a target of Pakistan to foment trouble. He led a delegation of his party to submit a memorandum to governor VP Singh Badnore, seeking his intervention in non-pursuance of the agriculture Bills in Parliament.

Flanked by state party chief Sunil Jakhar and other lawmakers, the CM told the governor that the party felt that any move to tinker with the present procurement system may deepen social unrest among the farmers of the state. It may not be conducive for the peace and development of the region, which faces serious challenges of public order due to a live international border, he said.

Pointing to Pakistans bid to disturb the states peace and stability through narco-terror and other anti-India acts, the chief minister later told mediapersons outside the Governor House that these anti-farmer legislations will lead to rise in the peoples anger. Why are we playing into the hands of Pakistan? he asked.

These Bills, one of which has already been passed in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, are against national interest, and particularly detrimental to Punjab, where the majority of the farmers tilled less than 5 acres of land and would be the worst hit, Amarinder said. He said the Centre had failed to take the interest of the farmers into account in introducing these ordinances and instead took a stand in favour of corporate houses.

The CM said he had written to the Prime Minister thrice on the issue but had not received any response to far.

Taking on the Akalis and Sukhbir Badal over their theatrics and U-turns on the issue, the CM pointed out that all, except the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), were on board at the all-party meeting he had convened on the issue. All were unanimously against the ordinances except the Akalis, who are now pretending to be opposing them, he said.

Terming the passage of one of the Bills in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday a black day in the history of Parliament, Jakhar said that under pressure from the farmer unions, the Akalis may even go to the extent of enacting the drama of resigning from the NDA government but it will be another farce on its part.

The delegation comprised cabinet ministers Manpreet Singh Badal, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Bharat Bhushan Ashu, MLAs Rana Gurjit Singh, Kuljit Singh Nagra and Dr Raj Kumar Verka and PPCC secretary Capt Sandeep Sandhu.
Massive and immediate aid will have to be made available to our farming sector in the case of a no-deal Brexit the ICMSA has warned in its pre-Budget submission.

ICMSA President, Pat McCormack, said that farmers fully realised the constraints that the Budget would be delivered within, but the ICMSA President stressed that several measures were needed to support the farming sector and boost the rural economy, particularly in light of Covid-19 and the Brexit threat.

Mr McCormack said that concerns were mounting as the atmosphere around the post-Brexit trade negotiations worsened.

While he was satisfied that the Government understood the imperative of securing a trade deal that allowed Irish food exports to continue being sold into their traditional British markets, he did stress that in the event of negotiations failing and the UK exiting on the basis of No Deal then what Mr McCormack described as massive and immediate aid would have to be made available to our farming sector as it grappled with the loss of up to 4 billion worth of exports.

In its submission, ICMSA has called on Ministers to consider adopting the Farm Management Deposit Scheme, which he said would help address the wild fluctuations in income that were, he said, battering family farms and eliminating any prospect of them being able to plan their business on the kind of predictable year-to-year basis that was the norm for every other comparable business.

The ICMSA President said the disparity between Earned Income Credit allocated to PAYE workers and self-employed individuals, like farmers was still a concern for the farm organisation.

He also asked for practical and uncomplicated measures that would smooth the transfer of family farms to the next generation including the retention of the current Stamp Duty Reliefs.

In terms of farm schemes, Mr. McCormack said that it is essential that a fully funded REPS scheme is in place for 2021, that TAMS continues to be available to farmers in 2021, and that a dairy calf-to-beef scheme should be introduced to better integrate dairy and beef production systems. Farm schemes are important economic drivers in the rural economy and it is vital that sufficient funding is available for 2021 providing a boost to the struggling rural economy, concluded Mr. McCormack.

IFA President Tim Cullinan said after the association's meeting that the shadow of Brexit is creating massive uncertainty for farmers and Government support for the sector was never more important.

While a 5bn contingency fund has been set aside at EU level, our Government will have to step up to the plate also, he said.

IFA Rural Development Chairman Michael Biggins said that farmers need certainty concerning vital farm schemes.

A lot of these schemes have an environmental component and are critical supports for farm incomes. We need a clear commitment from Government that these schemes will be maintained during the CAP transition phase, whether that lasts for one or two years, he said.

IFA also had the opportunity to raise the importance of an adequate budget to fund the proposed three-year cap on the Fair Deal Scheme, amongst other issues in our pre-Budget submission.
Trade unions and employers organisations in the private sector, are deeply concerned about the Commissions plans to present proposals on European minimum wages.

Martin Linder, President, PTK  the Council for Negotiation and Cooperation, Susanna Gideonsson, President, Swedish Trade Union Confederation, and Mattias Dahl, Deputy Director General, Confederation of Swedish Enterprise.

This Wednesday, EU Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, will deliver her first State of the Union address to the European Parliament. Ahead of the speech, in an opinion piece in Swedish daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter on Monday, von der Leyen pledged that the Commission will never ask Sweden to introduce a statutory minimum wage.

We work on the assumption that the Commission would not make such a request, but this statement was anything but reassuring. Representing trade unions and employers organisations in the private sector, we are deeply concerned about the Commissions plans to present proposals on European minimum wages at all.

An EU directive  an instrument that is legally binding for EU member states  is entirely unacceptable. And our position is not unique to Sweden: it is shared by employers, trade unions, and governments across Scandinavia.

Our labour market models are based on the understanding that social partners, unions and employers, enter into collective agreements on key issues such as wages, working time, and other working conditions. In Sweden, this model has contributed to a successful economy and strong welfare for decades. It means that the state does not get involved in wage formation. State involvement results in less flexible and less sector-adjusted wage setting, greater costs for employers, and undermines the bargaining power of workers.

Our labour market model is deeply integrated with other parts of society. The social security system and our welfare model are intertwined with the Swedish collective agreement model. This is why the issue of statutory minimum wages is much broader and more important than it might appear at first glance  it is a question that essentially affects our national identity and our sovereignty. A social welfare model is an intrinsic part of the social partner system.

The Commission lacks competence to propose a directive on minimum wages. The EU treaty, (article 153.5), states that the EUs legislative competence does not include pay, the right of association, the right to strike or the right to impose lockouts. Furthermore, a proposal for legally binding wage legislation is in breach of the EUs subsidiarity principle, that decisions should be taken at the lowest possible [administrative] level. It should also be noted that during negotiations on Swedens EU membership, we perceived it as a promise that the EU is not to get involved in the area of wage formation.

Von der Leyen writes that all shall have access to minimum wages either through collective agreements or through statutory and regularly updated minimum wages and that minimum wages shall be adequate and guarantee a fair standard of living. The implication is that it is the EUs regulatory framework and, ultimately, the European Court of Justice that will rule on wage formation, including in Sweden.

The proposals strike at the heart of our model for wage formation  under which it is the responsibility of the social partners to regulate wages through collective agreements. It is not possible to regulate this issue with the content announced by the Commission, to make it waterproof and at the same time claim to fully respect our model of self-regulation in which unions and employers share responsibility for wage formation.

In addition, von der Leyens proposals risk creating a parallel labour market regulation that risks undermining the self-regulation model. A directive, regardless of how it is framed, would severely disrupt our self-regulating collective agreement system.

A directive on European minimum wages would be in breach of the EU treaties and would represent an unacceptable infringement of the member states sovereignty, in a fundamental issue with far-reaching consequences for our societal model as a whole, and not exclusively in the labour market area.

We expect the Commission, as guardian of the treaties, to honour the EU treaties in line with the EUs motto United in Diversity. If the Commission instead regulates wages through legislation, the political premises on which Sweden joined the EU risk being eroded. It would risk undermining confidence in the EU in our country and inciting the EU-critical voices that have been on the rise in recent years.

Perhaps the Commission believes that an offensive reform agenda will boost popular support for the EU and strengthen ties between member states. As supporters of the EU and advocates of a well-functioning and strong EU, naturally we welcome the Commission striving to increase democratic support for the EU. However, we are concerned about the serious consequences the Commissions plans for the EU to enter into the domain of wage formation would have for the smooth functioning of the Scandinavian societal models and for EU public support in our countries.

We, the parties of the Swedish Labour Market Council for EU Affairs, have a clear message to the Commission: do not interfere with the Swedish collective agreement model. We would also like to extend a joint invitation to government and opposition representatives to create a national coalition against a minimum wage directive. We must stand united against the Commission: Social partner autonomy and the freedom of contract are such important matters of principle for our country that we will defend them using all available political and legal means.

Swedish EU membership is important for businesses as well as for workers and must be handled with the utmost care. The Commission should carefully evaluate the risks associated with making proposals that lack an EU legal basis.

Mattias Dahl, Deputy Director General, Confederation of Swedish Enterprise

Susanna Gideonsson, President, Swedish Trade Union Confederation

Martin Linder, President, PTK  the Council for Negotiation and Cooperation
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Alphabet Inc's Google faced a bipartisan buzzsaw of tough questions about its ad business in a hearing on Tuesday, with a particular focus on whether it misused its dominance in online advertising to drive profits. Senator Mike Lee, a Republican and chair of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee's antitrust panel, pressed Google's Don Harrison, who testified remotely, on the company's dominance of the interlocking businesses which connect advertisers with newspapers, websites and other firms looking to host them. "As that business has ...
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced that he and hundreds of other city employees will go on furlough for a week in an effort to save money.

The manoeuvre comes as New York City faces budget shortfalls caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The city is facing a $9bn two-year revenue shortfall resulting from the economic shutdown in March and April.

The New York Times reported that the furlough will affect nearly 500 mayoral staff members and generate $860,000 in savings for the year.

Mr de Blasio said that his office had no plans to implement pay cuts for himself or other staff members.

Recommended New York mayor Bill de Blasio turns back on bakery manager pleading for help after business hit by pandemic

"There are no plans for pay cuts for any New York City employees right now, whether it's City Hall or any place else, but we never know what the future brings," he said. "We're going to be in a horrible budget situation for years, so this borrowing capacity is to give us a fallback no matter what happens up ahead."

Mr de Blasio's salary is $258,750, which means a week-long furlough will cost him nearly $5,000.

"We have to make tough choices to move this city forward and keep our budget balanced," Mr de Blasio said during a press briefing.

The mayors office will face a 12 per cent decrease in its budget this year as a result of the economic shutdown.

Weve already had to make some tough cuts that have affected this city and the services we provide. Were tried everything we can to stop from those cuts becoming worse. We dont want to take away jobs from public employees, we dont want to take away services from communities that need [them]," Mr de Blasio said.

Andrew Rein, the head of New York's Citizens Budget Commission, told The Hill that the cut was long overdue.

Recommended New York mayor Bill de Blasio helps paint Black Lives Matter mural in front of Trump Tower

"It would be great if this helps dislodge that inertia," Mr Rein said. "It's hard to say if it will."

Earlier this year, Mr de Blasio announced the city would cut the New York Police Department's budget by $1bn in an effort to enact police reforms in the wake of the George Floyd protests.

I am excited to say that we have a plan that can achieve real reform, that can achieve real redistribution, and at the same time ensure that we keep our city safe, he said.
DETROIT, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Stratview Research announces the launch of a new research report on Expanded PTFE Market by Form Type (Sheets, Tapes, Membranes, Fibers, and Others), by Application Type (Gaskets, Filtration & Separation, Dielectric Materials, and Others), by End-Use Industry Type (Chemical, Ground Transportation, Medical, Industrial, Aerospace & Defense, and Others), and by Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest of the World), Trend, Forecast, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity: 2020-2025.

This strategic assessment report, from Stratview Research, provides a comprehensive analysis that reflects today's expanded PTFE market realities and future possibilities for the forecast period 2020 to 2025. The report estimates the short- as well as long-term repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic on the demand for ePTFE at the global-, regional-, as well as country-level. Also, the report provides the possible loss that the industry will register by comparing pre-COVID and post-COVID scenario. The vital data/information provided in the report can play a crucial role for the market participants as well as investors in the identification of low-hanging fruits available in the market as well as formulate growth strategies.

Expanded PTFE Market: Highlights from the Report

Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) was inadvertently discovered by DuPont in 1938. It has become the most widely used fluoropolymer in the world with its usages in various industries, such as oil & gas, electronics & telecommunication, automotive, food & beverages, and pharmaceuticals; as it offers excellent properties such as dielectric, low friction, hydrophobic, non-wetting, high density, and high-temperature resistance. With regards to the growing needs of the industry, such as lightweight, cost-effective, pliable; W.L. Gore & Associates experimented with PTFE, to increase its applications by improving its properties with the help of the heating process. Gore has implemented heating the PTFE rods and then gradually pulling it from either end. After many iterations, Gore had finally discovered expanded PTFE in the year 1969.

The expanded PTFE exhibits several properties and benefits over PTFE such as excellent resistance to cold flow and creep, high compressibility, low dielectric constant, low coefficient of friction, non-flammability, and a wide service temperature range of -240C to 250C. Owing to such fruitful properties, expanded PTFE has witnessed a remarkable growth in the market with an incessant increase in its applications in different end-use industries, such as medical, textiles, aerospace & defense, automotive, industrial, and chemicals.

Impact of COVID-19 on the Expanded PTFE Market

To assess the real impact of the pandemic on the expanded PTFE market in short term as well as long term is extremely challenging at the present scenario as the pandemic is still spreading, taking the major economies in its grip and further deteriorating the market conditions. It is difficult to state when the impact of the pandemic starts to fade away. However, the industry is still an optimist about the quick recovery, and it is anticipated that the market will log a V-shaped curve similar to previous downturns, such as the Great Recession. But the curve of the V-shape would be deeper than the ones registered in the Great Recession with huge short-term repercussions and minimal long-term impact.

Strong fundamentals of the market, such as expected recovery in the global GDP by 2021, incessant adoption of EVs in the world, and expected recovery in airline passenger traffic coupled with market entries of new aircraft programs such as B777X, C919, MC-21, A321XLR, and expected approval of B737Max; is likely to drive a healthy recovery of the market once the headwinds of the pandemic turns into tailwinds. Thus, the expanded PTFE market is projected to recover at a healthy pace over the next five years to reach an estimated value of US$ 0.7 billion in 2025.

Click Here and Run Through the TOC of the Report: https://www.stratviewresearch.com/toc/971/expanded-PTFE-(ePTFE)-Market.html

Based on the form type, membranes are likely to remain the most dominant as well as the fastest-recovering form type in the post-pandemic market scenario, owing to its extensive usage in the medical industry for applications such as ostomy bags, hearing aids, IV infusion filters, and surgical suction filters.

Based on the application type, filtration & separation is likely to maintain its dominance in the market during the forecast period. The dominance is majorly due to wide usage of expanded PTFE for filtering air, water, and other particles in turbine engines, drug discovery, and bioprocessing; filtering fogs from headlights of a vehicle; and venting gas from compression packings and medical applications, such as IV filter vent and ventilation, coupled with increasing penetration of ePTFE for filtration application in various industries, such as food packaging, pharmaceuticals, and metals & mining.

Based on the end-use industry type, the market is segmented as chemical, ground transportation, medical, industrial, aerospace & defense, and others. Among them, aerospace & defense and automotive are the-worst affected industries due to the pandemic, whereas medical is the least-affected one. The medical industry is also likely to remain the most dominant as well as the fastest-growing end-use industry type in the expanded PTFE market over the next five years. Expandable PTFE is widely accepted by medical device manufacturers in offering tailor-made properties with better biocompatibility than metallic biomaterials. Biocompatibility, chemically inert, and sterilizable are the three key properties of ePTFE due to which it is highly preferred for various applications in the medical industry.

Register Here for a Free Sample of the Detailed Report: https://www.stratviewresearch.com/Request-Sample/971/expanded-PTFE-(ePTFE)-Market.html

In terms of region, North America is projected to remain the largest market for expanded PTFE during the forecast period. The USA is not only the largest market of North America but also in the world, owing to the presence of large number of medical device manufacturers, aircraft OEMs, tier players, raw material suppliers, and expanded PTFE manufacturers. The country is also one of the most affected nations by the COVID-19 with having the largest number of positive cases in the world. It is also expected that the country to recover at a healthy rate, backed by the organic growth of the medical industry, expected recovery in the automobile and aircraft production, and advancements in medical devices.

Asia-Pacific is expected to be the least-declined market in 2020, followed by fastest expected recovery over the next five years, propelled by an expected recovery in air passenger traffic with early recovery in domestic travel and expected recovery in automotive production with a higher focus on adopting HEVs. China and India to be the growth engines of Asia-Pacific's market as they are the largest markets for automotive, chemical, industrial, electrical & electronics as well as owning a considerable share in the other end-use industries.

Some of the key players in the expanded PTFE market are W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc., Lenzing Plastics GmbH & Co. KG, Compagnie de Saint-Gobain S.A., Nitto Denko Corporation, Rogers Corporation, Donaldson Company, Inc., Markel Corporation, Parker-Hannifin Corporation, Teadit Group, and Zeus Industrial Products, Inc. The key end-users of these markets include medical device manufacturers, aircraft OEMs, automotive manufacturers, chemical industry, oil & gas manufacturers.

Report Features

This report provides market intelligence in the most comprehensive way. The report structure has been kept such that it offers maximum business value. It provides critical insights on the market dynamics and will enable strategic decision making for the existing market players as well as those willing to enter the market. The following are the key features of the report:

Market structure: Overview, industry life cycle analysis, supply chain analysis.

Market environment analysis: Growth drivers and constraints, Porter's five forces analysis, SWOT analysis.

Market trend and forecast analysis.

Market segment trend and forecast.

Competitive landscape and dynamics: Market share, product portfolio, product launches, etc.

Attractive market segments and associated growth opportunities.

Emerging trends.

Strategic growth opportunities for the existing and new players.

Key success factors.

This report studies the expanded PTFE market and has segmented the market in four ways, keeping in mind the interest of all the stakeholders across the value chain. Following are the four ways in which the market is segmented:

Expanded PTFE Market, by Form Type

Sheets (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Tapes (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Membranes (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Fibers (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Others (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Expanded PTFE Market, by Application Type

Gaskets (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Filtration & Separation (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Dielectric Materials (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Others (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Expanded PTFE Market, by End-Use Industry Type

Chemical (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Ground Transportation (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Medical (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Industrial (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Aerospace & Defense (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Others (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Expanded PTFE Market, By Region

North America (Country Analysis: The USA , Canada , and Mexico )

Europe (Country Analysis: Germany , France , the UK, Russia , and Rest of Europe )

Asia-Pacific (Country Analysis: China , Japan , India , and Rest of Asia-Pacific )

Rest of the World (Country Analysis: Brazil , Saudi Arabia , and Others)

Stratview Research has several high value market reports in the advanced materials industry. Please refer to the following link to browse through our reports:

https://www.stratviewresearch.com/market-reports/Advanced-Materials.html

About Stratview Research

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India said on Wednesday it had joined the Djibouti Code of Conduct (DCOC), a grouping on maritime matters aimed at countering piracy, as an observer as part of efforts aimed at enhancing maritime security in the Indian Ocean region. The move to join the grouping followed a high-level virtual meeting held on August 26, the external affairs ministry said.

The development comes at a time when India is shoring up its position in the Indian Ocean and nearby waters as part of its overall Indo-Pacific policy. India has signed reciprocal military logistics support agreements with Australia and Japan this year to increase interoperability with the navies of those countries.

The DCOC, which aims to repress piracy and armed robbery against ships in the western Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden, was adopted on January 29, 2009, by the representatives of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Maldives, Seychelles, Somalia, Tanzania and Yemen.

Comoros, Egypt, Eritrea, Jordan, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates signed on later, taking the total countries in the grouping to 20.

Also read: Indian, Chinese NSAs to join BRICS meet on Thursday; no bilateral talks on cards

The 18 member states are located in areas adjoining the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and the east coast of Africa and include island nations in the Indian Ocean. Besides India, the other observers in the grouping are Japan, Norway, the UK and the US.

As an observer at [DCOC], India looks forward to working together with... member states towards coordinating and contributing to enhanced maritime security in the Indian Ocean Region, the external affairs ministry said.

Under the code of conduct, the member states cooperate in countering piracy and armed robbery on the high seas and promoting the implementation of relevant UN Security Council resolutions.

They also cooperate in the investigation, arrest and prosecution of persons suspected of having committed acts of piracy and armed robbery against ships, the interdiction and seizure of suspect ships, the rescue of ships and people subject to piracy and armed robbery, and the conduct of joint operations.
New pictures have emerged of the GOP dinner at a bar that South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg attended before he reported hitting a deer on his 110-mile drive home when he actually struck and killed a man.

Photos posted on the Spink County Republicans' Facebook page show Ravnsborg sitting near the stage at the small Republican fundraiser at Rooster's Bar and Grill in Redfield Saturday night, hours before he hit 55-year-old Jason Boever with his vehicle on his drive home.

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem vowed Tuesday to add 'an extra level of transparency and accountability' to the case by having state investigators release their probe into the fatal crash.

Ravnsborg, who has eight traffic tickets since 2014, including six for speeding, has said he didn't drink any alcohol on the fateful night.

However, the victim's family have voiced doubts over the attorney general's version of events and said they are worried investigators won't get to the bottom of what happened.

Pointed questions are also being asked around how the AG could have mistaken a deer for a person, particularly given the prevalence of animal collisions in the area and Ravnsborg's tendency to make frequent, long trips along the state's highways for small political events.

The GOP dinner at a bar that South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg (circled) attended before he reported hitting a deer on his 110-mile drive home when he actually struck and killed a man

Photos posted on the Spink County Republicans Facebook page show Ravnsborg sitting near the stage at the small Republican fundraiser at Rooster's Bar and Grill in Redfield Saturday night, hours before he hit 55-year-old Jason Boever with his vehicle on his drive home

The attorney general was driving from the fundraiser in Redfield to his home some 110 miles away in Pierre on Saturday night when he hit something in the dark that he said he presumed to be an animal.

In a statement on Monday night Ravnsborg said he immediately called 911 and searched the area by flashlight along with Hyde County Sheriff Mike Volek, who responded to the scene, but they didn't find anything.

It wasn't until the next morning that Boever's body was discovered in a ditch when Ravnsborg returned to the crash site with his chief of staff.

Ravnsborg was pictured sitting at the front of the event which appeared to have been attended by only around two dozen people.

Photos show the group listening to speakers at the podium and tucking in to some food.

Witnesses at the fundraiser have vouched for the attorney general that they didn't see him drinking alcohol and that he did not seem 'impaired in any way shape or form'.

'The program concluded about 9pm, constituents stuck around for some personal questions with the legislators and officials still present, and AG Ravnsborg left shortly after 9pm in the evening,' Spink County Chairman Larry Nielson and Spink County Vice Chairwoman Jennifer Boerger said in a statement on the Facebook page.

'In our judgement he was not impaired in any way shape or form.'

This defense of the AG comes as Boever's devastated relatives called the fatal crash 'fishy' and expressed concern that authorities could bungle the investigation to protect Ravnsborg - the top law enforcement official in the state.

South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg (left) mowed down 55-year-old Jason Boever (right) with his car near Highmore on Saturday night and called 911 to report that he'd hit a deer

Ravnsborg was pictured sitting at the front of the event which appeared to have been attended by only around two dozen people

Photos show the group listening to speakers at the podium and tucking in to some food. Witnesses at the fundraiser have vouched for the attorney general that they didn't see him drinking alcohol and that he did not seem 'impaired in any way shape or form'

Boever's cousins, Nick and Victor Nemec, have now said they are worried that investigators might not make a complete effort to find out the truth about what happened to him.

The Nemecs criticized authorities for being tight-lipped about their progress and for taking so long to identify Boever, even though he had been reported missing by Victor 10 hours before his body was found.

'It just seems fishy,' Nick told South Dakota News Watch. 'It just seems like they're looking for an excuse to make it less than it was.'

Victor had contacted the Hyde County Sheriff's Office on Sunday morning and said that Boever was missing and may have been involved in the Highmore collision.

He notified officers that Boever's truck was in a ditch near the accident scene after he crashed it into a hay bale on Saturday morning.

Despite his report, Victor said authorities still haven't approached him for an interview.

'I believe they're more interested in getting their story straight before they actually ask me questions,' Victor told SDNW.

'I told them that I was probably one of the last people to see my cousin alive. I could make any kind of statement that they needed. And they really didn't acknowledge that.'

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem vowed Tuesday to add 'an extra level of transparency and accountability' to the case by having state investigators release their probe into the fatal crash. Pictured the bar where it all began

Ravnsborg, who has eight traffic tickets since 2014, including six for speeding, has said he didn't drink any alcohol at Roosters (pictured) on the fateful night

'It took them 10 hours from the time my brother essentially solved the unidentified body for them at 10 o'clock in the morning saying: 'We're missing our cousin, Joe, and we can't find him. And that's his pickup in the ditch,'' Nick, a former Democratic state legislator, told the outlet.

The Nemecs aired their concerns shortly before Ravnsborg released his own statement, revealing that he was the one who discovered Boever's body.

Michael Card, a political science professor at the University of South Dakota, told the Associated Press many were also asking questions over how Ravnsborg could have mistaken the victim for an animal.

South Dakota is ranked as one of the most dangerous states for animal-vehicular collisions, according to State Farm Insurance, with crashes involving deer on the state's highways common.

Card said the familiarity with deer collisions means many have cast doubt on how a human and deer could be mistaken by a driver.

Added to this that Ravnsborg would regularly make the drive hundreds of miles along the state's highways in his Ford Taurus to attend the small Lincoln Day Dinners and 'negative opinion' mounts, he said.

Tire tracks are seen on the side of US Highway 14 near the area where Ranvsborg struck Boever as he drove home from a Republican fundraiser on Saturday night. Ravnsborg said he and the Hyde County sheriff both searched the area with flashlights immediately after the crash but neither of them spotted Boever in the ditch until the following day

Boever's damaged pickup truck is seen in the middle of a field after he had crashed into a hay bale hours before he was struck and killed by Ravnsborg

'If this is people's lived experience, then he may be convicted in the court of public opinion,' Card said.

'If they form a negative opinion collectively, he may not be able to get past this.'

Gov. Noem promised 'transparency' over the investigation in a press conference Tuesday and announced outside investigators were taking over the case.

'We are adding an extra level of transparency and accountability that I think is necessary in this case,' Noem said.

Boever's cousin Nick Nemec (pictured) said: 'It seems like [investigators are] looking for an excuse to make it less than it was'

'We want to have a completed investigation that has integrity, that has been fair.'

She has not addressed whether Ravnsborg should be asked to take a leave of absence during the investigation.

Highway Patrol, part of the Department of Public Safety (DPS), is leading the investigation and will release its findings once complete, including all relevant 911 calls.

No timescale has been provided over when the investigation will be completed.

DPS Secretary Craig Price said the probe was taking 'very seriously' the need to avoid any conflict of interest and said it was 'all hands on deck'.

A crash reconstruction expert from Wyoming will also be assisting with the case.

The South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, which would normally be involved, is part of the attorney general's office.

It is standard practice to request an outside agency to conduct an investigation when there may be a conflict of interest.

Price said the Hyde County States Attorney Office will decide whether criminal charges should be filed and that State's Attorney Merlin Voorhees will recuse himself from the case if he has any conflict of interest.

Boevers autopsy was conducted Monday in Ramsey County, Minnesota, but the findings are yet to be released.

Boever's family have expressed suspicion that authorities could be working to cover up details of the incident to protect Ravnsborg. Boever is pictured second from right with relatives

Ravnsborg arrived at the Spink County Lincoln Day Dinner around 4:45 p.m. on Saturday, according to his statement.

He said he then left the event around 9:15 p.m. Witnesses also said he left soon after 9pm.

Ravnsborg said he hit 'something I believed to be a large animal (likely a deer)' soon after he passed Boever's hometown of Highmore.

'I didn't see what I hit and stopped my vehicle immediately to investigate,' he wrote, adding that he pulled out the flashlight on his cell phone and all he could see were pieces of his car strewn across the roadway.

The DPS said the crash occurred at 10:30 p.m. on U.S. Highway 14, one mile west of Highmore and along a stretch of road lit up with street lamps.

It takes one hour and seven minutes to drive from the restaurant to the crash site, reported Rapid City Journal.

After Ravnsborg called 911, Sheriff Volek arrived at the scene to assess the damage to his car and search for what he had hit.

He said they searched the area around the vehicle with flashlights but neither of them spotted Boever lying in a ditch.

'At no time did either of us suspect that I had been involved in an accident with a person,' Ravnsborg wrote.

Because Ravnsborg's car was too damaged to drive and a tow truck would take over an hour to arrive, Volek offered to let the attorney general take his personal car back to Pierre.

The following morning Ravnsborg and his chief of staff made the trip back to Highmore to return Volek's vehicle.

The pair stopped at the crash site on their way and discovered a man's body in the grass near the roadway.

'My chief of staff and I checked and it was apparent that Mr. Boever was deceased,' Ravnsborg wrote.

'I immediately drove to Sheriff Volek's home to report the discovery and he accompanied me back to the scene.

'Once there, the sheriff instructed me that he would handle the investigation, and asked me to return to Pierre.'

The South Dakota Highway Patrol was notified about the fatality Sunday morning and an investigation was opened.

Boever's family said they believe he was walking back to his car after he crashed it into a ditch earlier that day and that he had never met or interacted with the attorney general.

On Sunday night, Gov Noem and Department of Public Safety Secretary Craig Price announced that Ravnsborg was involved in the crash at a news conference.

Ravnsborg, who was alone in his 2011 Ford Taurus, insisted that he had not been drinking before he got behind the wheel and said he is 'cooperating fully with the investigation' by the South Dakota Highway Patrol and the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

Ravnsborg said he had not spoken out prior to Monday night because the investigation is ongoing, but that he decided to make a statement to dispel the 'many rumors and stories being told and reported which do not represent a full and factual account of what happened'.

Authorities have not confirmed the details included in Ravnsborg's statement.

Ravnsborg said at 'not time' did he or Hyde County Sheriff Mike Volek 'suspect that I had been in an accident with a person' in a statement he released Monday night

Traffic is seen on US Highway 14 as authorities launched an investigation into the fatal crash

The Highway Patrol has remained tight-lipped - refusing to say if speed or alcohol were a factor in the crash, when Ravnsborg reported the crash or if charges are pending against him.

Ravnsborg has agreed to a search of both of his cell phones, provided a blood draw and provided witnesses to law enforcement who can confirm he was not drinking at the event before the crash.

His Chief of Staff Tim Bormann said the attorney general is known to have an occasional drink, but has made it a practice not to drink at the Lincoln Day events like the one on Saturday night.

State Sen Brock Greenfield, who also attended the dinner, said of Ravnsborg: 'I didn't see him with anything but a Coke.'

Ravnsborg, who was elected to the post of attorney general in 2018, has received six traffic tickets for speeding in South Dakota over the last six years.

He also received tickets for a seat belt violation and for driving a vehicle without a proper exhaust and muffler system.

Read Jason Ravnsborg's full statement below:
By PTI

BILASPUR: A 19-year-old woman, a COVID-19 patient, was allegedly molested at a private hospital by a sanitation worker in Chhattisgarh's Bilaspur district, a police official said on Wednesday.

The accused, aged 19, was arrested on Wednesday based on a complaint filed by the victims father at the Tarbahar police station, he said.

The accused, employed as a sanitation worker at the hospital, allegedly committed the crime twice in as many days, D K Patle, Sub-Inspector, Tarabahar police station, said.

The victim, a resident of the Bilha area, was admitted to the hospital here on September 12 after she tested positive for coronavirus.

"She was allegedly molested by the sanitation worker on Monday and Tuesday," said Patle.

The woman on Tuesday evening called up her father and told him about the incident after which the complaint was filed, he said.

The accused was arrested and booked under section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the IPC, the police official said, adding further investigation was underway.
JOAN FEYNMAN: 1927 - 2020

Joan Feynman, who has died aged 93, was an astrophysicist who led the way in discovering what causes the aurora borealis and aurora australis, the cosmic light shows that illuminate the sky around the poles; encouraged by her brother, the Nobel laureate Richard Feynman, she overcame deep-seated prejudice against female scientists  not least in her own home.

Aurora australis viewed from Mawson Station, Antarctica, 28 August 2014 Credit: Lydia Jean Dobromilsky

"My mother warned me 'Women's brains can't do science', " she recalled. But Richard, older by nine years, was keen to encourage her, and when he built an electronics lab in his bedroom he "hired" Joan as his assistant for a few cents a week.

When she was 14 he gave her an astronomy textbook containing charts of data compiled by a female astrophysicist; then one night he got her out of bed in the early hours and took her to the local golf course, away from the city lights, to show her the aurora borealis. "No one knows how it happens," he told her.
By Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: COVID-19 patients in Kerala can now cast postal votes in the upcoming local body elections. The state Cabinet has issued its nod for an ordinance allowing postal ballots for COVID-19 patients and other bed-ridden individuals. The ordinance is being introduced to amend the existing Kerala Panchayati Raj and Municipalities Act.

The government also decided to extend the voting time by one hour. For those who test positive for the virus just before the election date, the State Election Commission can take an appropriate decision.

The State Election Commission had earlier proposed that the government allow postal ballots or proxy votes for COVID-19 patients and those in quarantine. However, there was stiff opposition from major political parties in the state to the suggestion of proxy voting. Taking this into consideration, the government decided to allow postal ballots.

In view of the prevailing COVID-19 scenario in the state, an all-party meet convened by the Chief Minister last week had decided to postpone the local body elections for a brief period. The State Election Commission meanwhile has called an all-party meet to discuss the electoral preparations on Friday.
TAIPEI, Taiwan - Shipbuilders in Shanghai have laid out the hull of China's first modern aircraft carrier, which could be launched into the water in the coming months as it enters the latter phases of construction, according to new satellite images and state media reports.

High-resolution photos recently obtained by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a non-partisan think tank in Washington, show for the first time sections of the carrier being assembled in the open at a dry dock at the sprawling Jiangnan shipyard. The vessel, which will be China's third carrier but the first to be equipped with modern technology, is likely to be larger than the previous two that were based on outdated Soviet designs. At the waterline, the new ship will be about 1,000 feet long and 130 feet wide, the photos show.

Matthew Funaiole, a researcher at the CSIS ChinaPower project, said it is not yet clear from the images whether the new carrier will have an electromagnetic catapult to efficiently sling fighter jets off its deck - the biggest question mark over current Chinese carrier technology. The USS Gerald R. Ford, commissioned in 2017, was the first carrier to include the cutting-edge feature.

Still, "the Chinese are showing tremendous capability of designing and fitting out vessels," Funaiole said. "It's moving along on pace. It's impressive the process they're going through to position themselves at the forefront of carrier technology."

The progress of China's third carrier has been of intense interest in rival capitals as well as inside China, where it is seen as a tangible symbol of the country's development into a global power boasting a modern, world-class military. China has commissioned two carriers in the past decade: the Liaoning was a retrofit of an old Soviet model and the second, the Shandong, was Chinese-built but mostly a reverse-engineered copy of the Liaoning. The Shandong entered service in December and the third carrier likely won't be combat-ready until 2023, Funaiole said.

After the hull of the third carrier is sealed, it could be put into water as soon as the end of this year to be fitted out, Chinese state media reported this week as similar photos surfaced on Chinese blogs and generated excitement among military hardware enthusiasts. The hawkish Global Times newspaper said the photos showed the carrier's construction appeared to be progressing "smoothly" and cited an unnamed military expert as saying it would "likely" include electromagnetic catapults.

Over the weekend, a well-known scholar affiliated with the Chinese navy, Li Jie, told a forum in Beijing that China was planning not only a third but also a fourth carrier group, Caixin, a financial news magazine, reported. Most international scholars estimate that China intends to build out a fleet of at least six carriers. The U.S. Navy has 11 nuclear-powered carriers in service and plans to introduce several more.

Collin Koh, an expert on the People's Liberation Army Navy at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said there is still a lively debate in China over the utility of carriers in modern warfare and how they would stack up against the threat posed by U.S. submarines. And both Chinese and U.S. officials have acknowledged in recent years that China's land-based power has already risen to the point where it may be able to keep U.S. forces out of the so-called "first island chain" surrounding China, including Taiwan, Japan and the Philippines, in the event of war over Taiwan, for example.

Geopolitical tensions in the region would suggest that any naval conflict involving China, such as over Taiwan, or disputed outposts in the East and South China Seas, is likely to occur relatively close to Chinese shores.

But Chinese military thinkers also increasingly argue that China needs to reach farther into the Pacific with carriers and contest the waters around the more remote "second island chain" - which include U.S. bases on Guam and Hawaii, Koh said.

"There's been a convergence of views around this in the last five years" as China rolled out its carrier fleet, Koh said. "They're seeing the potential of what they have."

China is currently the world's second-largest military spender and had a 2019 budget of $266 billion versus $718 billion for the United States. The spending rise budgeted for 2020 would be relatively small, the Chinese government announced in May, as the economy encountered structural headwinds, a trade war with Washington and a coronavirus pandemic.

Aside from carriers, the Chinese navy has invested heavily in amphibious landing ships and early warning aircraft to accompany the carriers, Koh said.

The newest satellite photos show the Jiangnan shipyard, hugging the Yangtze River north of Shanghai, has been rapidly expanded with a large basin and "purpose-built facilities for large military-type vessels," said Funaiole, who called it the future hub of Chinese naval shipbuilding.

The photos don't appear to reveal a fourth carrier under construction, he said.

"But it's something that we keep an eye [on]," he added. "I'm confident that's the place we'll see it."
Gurugram, Sep 17 : In a major breakthrough in the murder case of a 28-year-old man who was killed by two unknown miscreants in a 'road rage' incident during the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday in Gurugram the investigation team has managed to get some major clues about the culprits.

"While scanning the CCTV footage, we saw the scooty of the culprits near the spot," said Sub-inspector Surjeet Kumar, the investigation office of the case.

He said, "We have written to the DCP (east), to get the CD format of the CCTV footage so that we could get more information about the absconding miscreants. We will arrest them soon." Earlier, the deceased was identified as Pankaj of Mahendragarh district in Haryana. He was residing in a rented accommodation along with his friend Ajay (26) at Rajiv Nagar in Gurugram. Pankaj came to Gurugram a week ago in search of a job.

Pankaj's friend Ajay, who belongs to the same district, told the police that Pankaj had received a phone call at around 1 p.m.

"After the phone call, Pankaj told me that he has to go somewhere and asked me to accompany him on his motorcycle," Ajay told the police.

According to police, when the duo reached near Jharsa village service lane on the Delhi-Jaipur expressway they ran out of fuel so they started looking for a petrol pump while pushing the bike along.

"When the duo reached a park which was located a few meters away from the petrol pump on the expressway at around 2.30 p.m., two men came on a scooty approached the victims, threatened both of them and started beating both of them without any reason," the police said.

"During the incident Ajay ran away from the spot while the accused beat Pankaj mercilessly and ran away from the spot," the police said.

Pankaj was rushed to the hospital where he received the first-aid treatment. From there he was taken to the Gurugram civil hospital where he succumbed to the injuries.

An FIR has been registered against unknown people under relevant section of IPC including murder at Sector 40 police station.
India on Tuesday came down heavily on Pakistan, Turkey and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation at the 46th session of the Human Rights Council for their remarks on India's internal affairs.

Geneva [Switzerland], September 15 (ANI): India on Tuesday came down heavily on Pakistan, Turkey and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation at the 46th session of the Human Rights Council for their remarks on Indias internal affairs.



Responding to reference made by Turkey on Jammu and Kashmir, India in its right to reply has advised Turkey to refrain from commenting on the internal affairs of India and develop a better understanding of democratic practices. India also repeatedly emphasized and repeated its position on the comments made by the vis a vis Kashmir.



First secretary, Permanent mission of India in Geneva Pawan Badhe who delivered Indias right to reply said: We reject the reference made by the OIC to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir which is an integral part of India. The OIC has no locus standi to comment on internal affairs of India. The OIC has allowed itself to be misused by Pakistan to subverse its own Agenda. Its for the members of the OIC to decide if it is in their interests to allow Pakistan to do so.



Also read: NSA Ajit Doval walks out of SCO meet after Pakistan uses fictitious map

Also read: Lok Sabha passes bill to amend Essential Commodities Act

India also took on Pakistan at the Human Rights council and the First Secretary Badhe in Indias right to reply said, It has become habitual for Pakistan to malign my country with false and fabricated narratives for its self-serving malicious purposes.



Neither India nor others deserve this unsolicited lecture on human rights from a country that has consistently persecuted its ethnic and religious minorities, is an epicentre of terrorism, has the distinction of providing pensions to individuals on UN Sanctions list and has a

Prime Minister who proudly admits training tens of thousands of terrorists to fight in Jammu and Kashmir.



It is not surprising that other relevant multilateral institutions have been raising serious concerns on its failure to stop terror financing and lack of effective actions against all terror entities in Pakistan, the First Secretary Badhe said.



India also raised issues of state-supported persecution in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In its reply

India also highlighted the attacks on liberal voices and journalists in Pakistan. Badhe said: The nefarious designs of Pakistan continue in Pakistan Occupied parts of Indian Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. The mass influx of outsiders has whittled down the number of Kashmiris to an insignificant number in Pakistan occupied parts of Indian Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Laddakh.

Thousands of Sikh, Hindus and Christian minority women and girls have been subjected to abductions, forced marriages and conversions in Pakistan. The plight of people under its subjugation is well represented by the state of affairs in Baluchistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh. Not a single day has gone by when a family in Baluchistan doesnt find its members picked up or kidnapped by the security forces of Pakistan, he said.



Pakistan does well when it comes to intimidation and attacks against journalists, human rights defenders and political dissidents in particular by its state machinery. It is not without a reason that Pakistan has been highlighted by international organizations as a country where journalists are slain and their killers go scot free, Badhe added. (ANI)

Also read: 1993, 1996 agreements entail China, India to keep forces along LAC to minimum level: Rajnath Singh
ADAS

Take the new, 2021 Ferrari Portofino M, for example. The successor of the California / California T 2+2 grand touring hard top convertible was first showcased in the first days of 2017s autumn and renamed to Portofino, after a village in northern Italy.A little over three years later, we already enjoy the online reveal (as is customary these days) of its evolutionary sibling, the Portofino M. While the styling enhancements are nothing to write home about  the open-top brother of the Roma already looked as good as it gets  the same cannot be said about the technical upgrades.With this being a mere facelift, its not hard to understand why Ferrari chose the Portofino M name change  with the letter M standing in short for Modificata (Italian for modified) - and it internally signals a model that has undergone an evolution that has significantly boosted their performance.This is Ferrari speaking, because we dont take such changes for granted. Still, the acclaimed turbo V8 has been gifted with a 20 PS power increase to a Roma-matching 620 PS (612 hp) and 760 Nm (561 lb. ft.).Another important mechanical upgrade is the switch from the 7-speed to an 8-speed dual-clutch (8DCT) transmission. Its not the same unit as seen inside the SF90 Stradale, and the Maranello brand also includes a new 5-position Manettino with newly added Race mode inside the cockpit.Styling changes are very discreet  there's a new wheel arch air vent, aluminum slats in the grille, a slightly modified front bumper, a reworked exhaust system, a lightly reworked rear bumper, as well as a new diffuser. As is customary, the brand hasn't forgotten a new set of diamond-finished alloys Ferrari is also enhancing the cockpit safety and comfort, adding a roster of new features  including a wide array of optionally available advanced driver assistance systems (), as well as ventilated and heated seats, among others.
Grace Community Church, John MacArthur defy 'utterly impossible' restrictions on worship services

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Pastor John MacArthur and Grace Community Church defied a court order that directed them to refrain from holding indoor services amid COVID-19. The pastor argued that following the countys stringent guidelines would completely shut the church down.

On Sunday, Grace Community held a packed morning service, just days after a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge granted the countys request for an injunction prohibiting the Sun Valley-based church from holding indoor services in violation of county health orders.

MacArthur began the service by outlining why Grace Church does not just comply with the orders that have been laid down for churches.

I thought it might be helpful to give you the list of things that are required of us as a church so that you understand how utterly impossible that would be," MacArthur said.

He then read a long list of the county's requirements, including no singing, no hugging, temperature checks, no communion, using the bathroom exclusively during the service, shortening sermons, and maintaining six feet of social distance at all times everywhere, among others.

MacArthur said following all the rules would "completely shut the church down."

"Obviously, this is not constitutional, but more importantly, it goes against the will of the Lord of the church, who calls us together," the pastor said. So look at the person next to you and say, I don't know who you are but I'm so glad I'm sitting next to you.

The pastor went on to question whether or not the United States is truly a nation under God.

Nations are obligated to worship the true God, he stressed. Did you hear what I just said? They're obligated to worship the true God and there are dire circumstances that will come upon them if they fail to do that ... That is not an option; that is a divine command.

MacArthur argued that when any government separates from God and His law in Scripture and from His people and His church, it invites judgment on a personal scale and a national scale.

"Its unavoidable because God is immutable. He doesn't change," he said. "When [the] government thinks its only responsibility is for physical, material, social temporal needs and ignores the spiritual reality of the true God and people's spiritual needs, when a nation becomes indifferent to the true God and His Word and His law, it makes a grave mistake, which if not reversed, will lead that nation to its own destruction.

The notion of a secular state is a lie, he declared. Government is ordained by God.

County officials have repeatedly tried to get a court order to shutter the church, which has been holding in-person worship services since last month in violation of orders from Gov. Gavin Newsom.

On Thursday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff ruled that the church must not conduct any indoor worship services; as for outdoor worship services, the county allows them as long as attendees fully comply with the countys mandates relating to physical distancing and face coverings, according to the nonprofit law firm Thomas More Society.

In an 18-page ruling, Beckloff wrote that the county demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits of its claims and found that the balance of harms tips in its favor.

"The potential consequences of community spread of COVID-19 and concomitant risk of death to members of the community  associated and unassociated with the Church  outweighs the harm that flows from the restriction on indoor worship caused by the County Health Order," the judge wrote.

Previously, officials sent a cease and desist letter to the church and threatened MacArthur with fines and even possible arrest if his church doesnt comply with state orders.

In August, Los Angeles County terminated a lease agreement for a parking lot the church has used for over 40 years.

And last week, the county fined Grace Community $1,000 for violating a COVID-19 sign ordinance due to the placement of the sign.

Following Thursdays ruling, Thomas More Society Special Counsel Jenna Ellis said attorneys will continue to fight for Pastor MacArthur and Grace Community Churchs constitutionally protected right to hold church.

While the judge did go out of his way to repeatedly state that he is not ruling on the merits, only a ruling at this very preliminary stage, Pastor MacArthur is still harmed because he has every right to hold church," Ellis contended.

Church is essential, and no government agent has the runaway, unlimited power to force churches to close indefinitely. The Countys argument was basically because we can, which is the very definition of tyranny. Without limiting governments power in favor of freedom and protected rights, we have no liberty. We will fight for religious freedom, as our founders did when they wrote the First Amendment.
Annistons City Council voted once again Tuesday to remove a monument to a Confederate Army officer from the median of Quintard Avenue.

The measure passed 4-1, over the objections of one councilman who said the action violated the states law against disturbing monuments.

Is it legal to knowingly and willfully and intentionally violate a law? asked Councilman Ben Little.

The council earlier this summer voted to remove an obelisk that stands in the median of Quintard, the tree-shaded thoroughfare that carries much of the citys north-south traffic. The monument bears the name of John Pelham, a Jacksonville native who was killed in the Civil War.

The monument is inextricably intertwined with the Souths historical support of slavery and is being removed to create a more inclusive environment, reads the resolution the council passed Tuesday. The resolution authorizes the city to move the monument to Janney Furnace, a Civil War-themed park in Ohatchee.

Anniston has been a majority-Black city for nearly a decade. Theres a monument to Pelham in Jacksonville, and that citys main street is called Pelham Road.

Little, who is Black, has criticized the monument move as distraction from other issues that affect the Black community. He has also pointed out that Alabama in 2017 the Legislature passed a bill that blocks removal of some monuments without approval of a state-appointed monuments board. The resolution passed Tuesday sets aside $25,000 to pay the fine for removing the monument.

The council voted on the same measure in August, with the same 4-1 result, but Little later challenged the move on procedural grounds, saying the measure needed to be approved with a public reading followed by a vote at the following meeting. The Tuesday vote was held to address that concern.

At the Tuesday meeting, Little grilled city attorney Bruce Downey, asking whether the city could legally pass such a measure and whether it was legal to pay the fine with taxpayers' money.

You cant legally violate a law, said Downey, who spoke to the council by speakerphone. Downey said it was legal for the city to use city funds to pay a civil fine.

The rest of the council voted for the removal without comment.

2020 The Anniston Star (Anniston, Ala.)

Visit The Anniston Star (Anniston, Ala.) at www.annistonstar.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Japan's new Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga speaks during a press conference at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo, Japan. Suga, who was elected after gaining support for his pledges to pursue his predecessor Shinzo Abe's policies formed his 20-member Cabinet that retains many familiar faces, signalling continuation of Abe's line. (Carl Court/Pool Photo via AP)
TORONTO, Sept. 16, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- First Quantum Minerals Ltd. ("First Quantum" or "the Company") (TSX:FM) today provides an update on operations and continuing efforts to mitigate the impact of COVID-19.



Operational Performance

The Company expects to produce 725,000 - 770,000 tonnes of copper, 230,000 - 250,000 ounces of gold and 15,000 - 17,000 tonnes of nickel for the full year 2020, as previously stated. Operations continue to perform as expected despite the challenges presented by the current pandemic and the necessary heightened focus on health and sanitisation protocols. With the resumption of normal operations at Cobre Panama, the Company is not expecting any additional disruptions related to COVID-19 now that all precautionary measures have been put into practice.

Cobre Panama reached full production on the three SAG mill trains on August 8, 2020, slightly ahead of schedule after the operation had been placed on Preservation and Safe Maintenance in early April by order of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Panama ("MINSA"). With the cooperation of MINSA, the Company announced the resumption of normal operations in July with the ramp-up expected to reach full production levels in mid-August. This was achieved ahead of expectation in August during which Cobre Panama produced just over 25,000 tonnes of copper The focus is now on delivering consistent operational performance and maintaining the throughput rate of 85 million tonnes per annum for the remainder of the year. Production for 2020 is expected to be well within our existing guidance of between 180,000 and 200,000 tonnes of copper and 70,000 and 80,000 ounces of gold.

Kansanshi continues to operate as expected, delivering consistent production despite declines in oxide grades and recovery. The Company's recently updated Mineral Reserves and Resources at Kansanshi resulted in a 70% and 40% increase respectively over the last update in May 2015. This extended the the mine life to 24 years (see the Company's release dated September 14, 2020).

Sentinel has exceeded expectations so far in the quarter, achieving higher than average monthly production in July, with over 23,000 tonnes of copper production and in August, with over 25,000 tonnes of copper production. This strong performance is due to consistent milling rates and better than expected grades in August and positions the operation well to achieve guidance previously provided.

Continued COVID-19 Efforts

The Company continues to prioritize the health and safety of personnel and focus on measures to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 amongst the workforce and communities surrounding our operations. When COVID-19 was declared an international public health emergency by the World Health Organization in late January 2020, the Company moved quickly to introduce health and sanitation protocols across its sites in compliance with both local and international guidelines. These health protocols are regularly reviewed and adjusted as needed.

Specifically, Cobre Panama has undertaken a deep disinfection program and has developed heightened health protocols which are regularly inspected by MINSA. There have been no cases onsite since May 2020. In addition to the protocols in place throughout the operation, before any personnel is permitted to enter the site, they are tested and quarantined off-site in Company provided accommodation to ensure the site remain virus-free. These strict protocols and sanitary vigilance remain in place as a "new normal" way of working. The Company is also supporting the wider community in Panama, with donations of medical equipment and supplies, as well as responding to the Panamanian Government's request to support families in need with food and other supplies.

In Zambia, the Company has worked with Zambian Health Authorities to adopt and implement strict procedures at all of its mine sites to manage the COVID-19 risks. This has enabled normal levels of operations throughout the crisis. In addition to practicing social distancing and ensuring stringent hygiene practices, implementing self-isolation policies, utilizing alternate office space and working from home to limit interaction, establishing a comprehensive contact tracing protocol, increased capacity to generate therapeutic oxygen and building extensive isolation facilities with intensive care capability, Kansanshi and Sentinel have also procured their own serological testing equipment to ensure that both sites can monitor and manage the situation appropriately. The Company has also pledged financial support for the provision of medical logistics support in the Solwezi and Kalumbila districts of North-Western Zambia.

COVID-19 protective measures to minimize person-to-person transmission in the work place and protect business continuity have been implemented across all operations, in addition to increased medical facility resilience initiatives at the mine clinics in Mauritania, Zambia and Panama. The Company will continue to monitor the mitigation efforts at the operations and work with Governments and Health Ministries as new protocols are established or required.

For further information visit our website at www.first-quantum.com (http://www.first-quantum.com)

North American contact: Lisa Doddridge, Director, Investor Relations

Tel: (416) 361-6400 Toll-free: 1 (888) 688-6577



United Kingdom contact: Clive Newall, President

Tel: +44 7802 721663

E-Mail: info@fqml.com

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT ON FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

Certain statements and information herein, including all statements that are not historical facts, contain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. The forward-looking statements include estimates, forecasts and statements as to the Company's expectations of production and sales volumes, and expected timing of completion of project development at Enterprise and post-completion construction activity at Cobre Panama and are subject to the impact of ore grades on future production, the potential of production disruptions, potential production, operational, labour or marketing disruptions as a result of the COVID-19 global pandemic (including but not limited to the temporary suspension of labour activities at Cobre Panama implemented in April 2020), capital expenditure and mine production costs, the outcome of mine permitting, other required permitting, the outcome of legal proceedings which involve the Company, information with respect to the future price of copper, gold, silver, nickel, zinc, pyrite, cobalt, iron and sulphuric acid, estimated mineral reserves and mineral resources, First Quantum's exploration and development program, estimated future expenses, exploration and development capital requirements, the Company's hedging policy, and goals and strategies. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements or information can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate" or "believes" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved.

With respect to forward-looking statements and information contained herein, the Company has made numerous assumptions including among other things, assumptions about continuing production at all operating facilities, the price of copper, gold, silver, nickel, zinc, pyrite, cobalt, iron and sulphuric acid, anticipated costs and expenditures and the ability to achieve the Company's goals. Forward-looking statements and information by their nature are based on assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information. These factors include, but are not limited to, future production volumes and costs, the temporary or permanent closure of uneconomic operations, costs for inputs such as oil, power and sulphur, political stability in Zambia, Peru, Mauritania, Finland, Spain, Turkey, Panama, Argentina and Australia, adverse weather conditions in Zambia, Finland, Spain, Turkey, Mauritania, Australia and Panama, labour disruptions, potential social and environmental challenges (including the impact of climate change), power supply, mechanical failures, water supply, procurement and delivery of parts and supplies to the operations, the production of off-spec material and events generally impacting global economic, political and social stability.

See the Company's Annual Information Form for additional information on risks, uncertainties and other factors relating to the forward-looking statements and information. Although the Company has attempted to identify factors that would cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those disclosed in the forward-looking statements or information, there may be other factors that cause actual results, performances, achievements or events not to be anticipated, estimated or intended. Also, many of these factors are beyond First Quantum's control. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information. The Company undertakes no obligation to reissue or update forward-looking statements or information as a result of new information or events after the date hereof except as may be required by law. All forward-looking statements and information made herein are qualified by this cautionary statement.
Mumbai, India -- (SBWIRE) -- 09/16/2020 -- Prismane Consulting has published its Global Ion Exchange Resins Market Study Report and Market Model.



Asia-Pacific is the largest market for ion exchange resins mainly due to increasing industrialization in China and India. North America and Western Europe are the second-largest and third-Largest regions respectively in terms of demand for ion exchange resins. The industrial growth and increasing infrastructural activities in the emerging economies and developing countries like China, India, Indonesia and other countries have increased demand for ion exchange resins. The increasing power generation and nuclear power plants in countries like China, India, Poland and some other countries is expected to boost the demand for the ion exchange resins in the future.



- Global Ion Exchange Resin Market, By Type

- Strong Acid Cation Exchange Resins

- Weak Acid Cation Exchange Resins

- Strong Base Anion Exchange Resins

- Weak Base Anion Exchange Resins

- Mixed Bed Resins

- Global Ion Exchange Resin Market, By End Use Industry

- Chemical

- Nuclear

- Food & Beverages

- Power Generation

- Sugar Refining

- Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology

- Others



Market Data, Country Summaries & Product Review

- Global Demand & Market Analysis

- Ion Exchange Resins Market data in terms of volume and value for each end-use at regional and country level

- Ion Exchange Resins Market analysis for Capacity, Demand, at Regional and Country level

- Demand Composition, by Types and End Use Industries

- Latest Trends and market developments

- Key Players

- Strategic Issues and Recommendations

- Market / Product Outlook (Historical, Short, Mid and Long-term forecast)

- Business Opportunities & Challenges

- Strategic Analysis and High-level information on Market Entry, Best Strategies adopted



The Ion exchange resin market is segmented according to type such as strong acidification exchange resins, weak acid cation exchange resins, strong base anion exchange resins, weak base anion exchange resins and mixed bed resins. End-use applications of ion exchange resins include chemical, nuclear, food & beverages, power generation, sugar refining, pharmaceuticals & biotechnology and others.



For more information about this report Click Here



About Prismane Consulting

Prismane Consulting is a unique consulting and market research firm providing management, economic and technical expertise across the global Chemicals, Petrochemicals, Polymers, Materials and Energy value chain. The company has been advising clients on their key strategic issues solving their toughest and most critical business problems. We have helped some of the fortune 500 companies develop their strategic plans by tracking and interpreting market dynamics.



Prismane consulting has completed a number of multi-client studies and projects. It offers Market Studies, World Analysis and Strategy Reports related to Refining, Chemicals, Petrochemicals, Plastic & Polymers and Materials.For update on the annual subscription (monthly, quarterly and annually) on the chemicals industry, please write to sales@prismaneconsulting.com



Contact Us:

Mr. Tejas Shah

Chemicals & Energy, Prismane Consulting

Tel: +91-20-67277711/12

Email: sales@prismaneconsulting.com
Flor Cruceta, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic, recently went through the process of becoming a United States citizen with her mother in order to vote in this year's general election. The Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, resident participated in ABC News' town hall event, "The President and the People," a "20/20" special, where voters from around Pennsylvania asked President Donald Trump questions about his presidency.

Cruceta took the opportunity to ask a question on behalf of her mother, who died only 10 days after becoming a U.S. citizen, and said it was her dream to be able to vote in a U.S. election.

"She raised that question," Cruceta said of her mother. "Why would he keep more people like me [and] her [from] becoming a citizen? Because she became a citizen last month ... and she didn't have a chance to vote."

Cruceta's family came to the United States from the Dominican Republic in 2006. Her mother worked at a meatpacking plant and "worked there for many years," she said. "If she got sick she never went to the doctor, she didn't want to stop working."

Cruceta began her question to Trump by describing her mother, then she began to cry.

PHOTO: Flor Cruceta Munoz asks President Donald Trump a question at ABC News' town hall hosted by ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Sept. 15, 2020. (ABC News)

"That's all right -- just take your time," Trump responded.

"She had breast cancer but it made metastasis on her brain, bone and lungs," Cruceta told the president about her mother. "She passed on the 19th. One of her biggest dreams was to become a citizen to vote. And she did [become a citizen], ten days before she died. And I did it, too. She pushed me so hard to do it, and I did it this past 28th."

"I'm here because of her," Cruceta said. "She was supposed to be here and ask you and thank you for this -- if they should take -- during this epidemic, you made people closer. We lost our jobs but we learned how to love our family. So I'm saying that from her."

Story continues

PHOTO: Flor Cruceta and her mother, who recently died of breast cancer. (Courtesy Flor Cruceta )

"Very nice," Trump replied.

Cruceta then asked the president a question from her mom.

"Her question for you was -- because she wrote this question: What will you do for our immigration system? What will you change to make more people, like me and like her, become citizens and vote?

MORE: Trump, pressed during ABC town hall on downplaying pandemic threat, says instead he 'up-played it'

"Its a very sad story, but we want people to come into our country," Trump told her. "We want them to come in -- a lot of people but we want them to come in through a legal system. Through a system that -- they love our country. They work to come into our country."

The president also told her that his administration is taking care of the coronavirus pandemic, apparently misunderstanding the cause of Cruceta's mother's death.

"Well have it taken care of," he said of the COVID-19 pandemic. "Its going to get taken care of. The vaccines are going to make a big difference."

MORE: Trump's ABC News town hall updates: Uncommitted voters ask questions in Philadelphia

Afterward, Cruceta said she was thankful for the opportunity to ask the president a question and to represent her community.

"Mostly what I want to take in mind is, these people who are immigrants -- how are they going to help us?" Cruceta said. "How are they going to help more people to get their family here? Because everybody -- this is like a country, a home for anyone. That's the main theme for us, for the Spanish and Latin people right now," she said.

"It was a great opportunity to be open about what we think and what we want to hear about him," Cruceta added.

ABC News offered to host a similar town hall with Biden, but the two parties were not able to find a mutually agreeable date.

Town hall participant asks Trump immigration question her late mother wanted to ask originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
"Marc is a well-respected insurance executive with years of proven experience in underwriting and distribution leadership," said Ryan. "Under Marc's leadership, our field operations team will drive Liberty Mutual's North American business strategies by bringing our full suite of products to local markets and ensuring premier engagement with distribution partners and commercial clients."

Prior to his new position, Orloff led Liberty Mutual's GRS field distribution team, which includes retail and wholesale field organizations, national broker management, and private equity and construction practices. He will continue to oversee these areas, and will add Liberty Mutual's client engagement program, distribution strategy and analytics, and marketing and brand strategy to his portfolio.

"Liberty Mutual is exceptionally well positioned for growth," said Orloff. "Through our 2017 acquisition of Ironshore and subsequent creation of the GRS division, Liberty Mutual significantly expanded its product breadth and expertise in the Excess & Surplus space. That investment is paying off in today's challenging market. When all of our capabilities are brought to bear, we offer everything needed in a commercial and specialty partner: financial stability, comprehensive solutions, specialized resources, exceptional experience, and a winning culture."

GRS is Liberty Mutual's global commercial and specialty lines (re)insurance division, which provides a full range of traditional and specialty insurance, surety and reinsurance solutions to businesses around the world.

About Liberty Mutual Insurance

At Liberty Mutual, we believe progress happens when people feel secure. By providing protection for the unexpected and delivering it with care, we help people embrace today and confidently pursue tomorrow.

In business since 1912, and headquartered in Boston, today we are the sixth largest global property and casualty insurer based on 2019 gross written premium. We also rank 77th on the Fortune 100 list of largest corporations in the U.S. based on 2019 revenue. As of December 31, 2019, we had $43.2 billion in annual consolidated revenue.

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The European Solidarity party will support the current mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko, secretary of Kyiv Council and chairman of Kyiv city organization of the party European Solidarity Volodymyr Prokopiv said.

He announced this during the presentation of candidates for deputies for the next elections to Kyiv City Council from the political party European Solidarity on Wednesday.
Watch: Angela Rayner asks Boris Johnson if grouse shooting is his 'top priority'

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner attacks Boris Johnson at PMQs over exemption of grouse shooting in rule of six

We are staring down the barrel of a second wave... is this really your top priority?

Johnson hits back at Rayner over carping and raising tangential issues

Visit the Yahoo homepage for more stories

Angela Rayner has mocked Boris Johnson over his governments rule of six exemption for grouse shooting and hunting.

Labour deputy leader Rayner, stepping in for Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Ministers Questions on Wednesday, attacked Johnson over his record during the coronavirus outbreak before asking: Is this really your top priority?

On Monday, HuffPost UK reported Downing Street exempted grouse shooting and other hunting with guns from the rule of six law, which bans most social gatherings of more than six people in England.

Rayner also accused Johnson of incompetence as she referred to the governments recent woes with a rising COVID-19 infection rate and serious problems with its testing system.

We have the highest death toll in Europe and we are on course for one of the worst recessions in the developed world, Rayner told MPs.

This winter, we are staring down the barrel of a second wave with no plan for the looming crisis. People cant say goodbye to their loved ones, grandparents cant see their grandchildren and frontline staff cant get the tests they need.

And what was the top priority for the COVID war cabinet this weekend? Restoring grouse shooting.

A meeting on hunting and shooting exemptions was reportedly set to be chaired by senior cabinet member Michael Gove on Saturday before it was cancelled.

Angela Rayner asked Boris Johnson of grouse shooting: 'Is this really your top priority?' (Parliamentlive.tv)

Referring to Carphone Warehouse co-founder David Ross, who funded Johnsons 15,000 winter break in the Caribbean after the general election, Rayner went on: I suppose its good news for people like the PMs friend, who paid for a luxury Christmas getaway to a Caribbean island and funded his leadership campaign  and just so happens to own two grouse moor estates.

Story continues

So, PM, is this really your top priority?

Johnson hit back at Rayners carping from the sidelines and criticised her for raising a tangential issue.

We are getting on with delivering for the British public, Johnson said, while insisting the UK is testing more than any other European country.

Watch: How to remove a face covering correctly

He added: Its with the common sense of the British people that we will succeed, build back better and stronger than ever before.

The government has faced major issues with the coronavirus testing system.

Problems have included huge queues for tests, people reporting they have been unable to get tests, and others being offered tests hundreds of miles from their homes.

And health secretary Matt Hancock admitted in the House of Commons on Tuesday that the issues will take weeks to solve as he introduced a priority system for tests.

It comes amid reports Johnsons administration has given itself two weeks for the rule of six to reduce infections before it reimposes tougher lockdown measures.

Coronavirus: what happened today

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Portland, Me.

At least seven people have died in connection with a COVID-19 outbreak that continues to sicken people in Maine following a wedding reception that violated state guidelines, health authorities said.

The August wedding reception at the Big Moose Inn in Millinocket is linked to more than 175 confirmed cases of the virus, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday.

Maine authorities have identified overlaps between the wedding reception and outbreaks elsewhere in the state. Maine health officials have said a staff member from a Madison rehabilitation center, the site of six of the seven deaths, attended the event.

The virus cases stemming from the wedding have spanned hundreds of miles in a state that had largely controlled the spread of the coronavirus through the summer. Maine has reported less than 5,000 cases of the virus in total since March.

But the growing number of cases related to the wedding, which exceeded the state's guidelines of 50 people or fewer at indoor gatherings, could undo some of that progress if it continues to swell. Authorities have said more than 65 people attended the wedding.

The six people from the Madison rehabilitation facility who died were all residents of that facility; none of them attended the wedding reception, said Dr. Nirav Shah, director of Maine CDC.

The wedding was officiated by pastor Todd Bell of Calvary Baptist Church in Sanford. The Maine CDC is currently investigating whether an outbreak at the church is connected to the wedding outbreak. That outbreak has sickened 10 people, Shah said.

Calvary Baptist Church issued a statement on Tuesday that said it is taking precautions to limit the spread of the virus and will defend its right to continue holding services.
U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Township and Republican challenger John James outlined the differences in their approach to various issues during a virtual town hall Wednesday.

Peters, a longtime politician who served three terms in the U.S. House before being elected to the Senate in 2014, is seeking a second six-year term. James, a Farmington Hills businessman, is taking a second run at a Senate seat after unsuccessfully challenging U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, in 2018.

Peters and James joined an online town hall hosted by the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce and Detroit Public Television. Candidates appeared individually and fielded questions from moderators Stephen Henderson and Nolan Finley for 20 minutes each.

Polls of Michigan voters consistently find Peters with an edge over James, though the margin between the candidates indicates the race will be competitive. A new statewide poll released Sept. 8 by The Detroit News and WDIV found Peters and James are in a dead heat.

Peters is one of two Senate Democrats up for reelection in states President Donald Trump won in 2016. Trump won Michigan by the smallest margin of any state, making it one of the most closely watched states in the 2020 presidential election.

Meanwhile, the two candidates havent been able to agree on a schedule for debates with only 47 days left until the Nov. 3 election.

Economic recovery

Peters went first and was promptly asked about why he didnt support a $300 billion COVID-19 stimulus package that was blocked by Senate Democrats last week. Peters said the bill didnt go far enough and criticized Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for not negotiating with House Democrats who passed a $3 trillion bill in May.

Weve got to come together, and its got to be meaningful; its got to be in good faith, Peters said. Weve seen negotiations move forward and yet Mitch McConnell put out a proposal then he came back and had a vote on a proposal that would be even smaller than the one he had before. If hes serious about negotiations, we should go back to the table.

James said he would have voted in favor of the bill.

People need help now, James said. Our schools need help now, and that relief should be tied directly and only to COVID-related shortfalls.

Peters expressed concern about the growing cost of federal assistance to deal with the pandemic, which has killed 194,092 Americans, but said the spending is necessary in a time of crisis.

Peters said Congress must act in a bipartisan way like when it passed the CARES Act, a $2.2 trillion economic stimulus bill signed into law in March.

That was money that needed to be spent to get to keep the economy going," Peters said. We know if the economy had collapsed, it would be much more expensive. At a time of emergency, you do need to put money into the system.

Peters said Congress should remain focused on spurring economic growth and assisting small businesses and manufacturers.

When were dealing with the deficit, you have to look at spending, you have to look at revenue, and you have to look at economic growth," he said. "Right now our focus needs to be on economic growth.

James said economic recovery hinges on tearing down barriers to starting businesses. He also called for investments in infrastructure and transit to help Detroiters access job opportunities, highlighting his work on state task forces dealing with transportation and business development.

You look at the service-based jobs that are available in the suburbs but you have most people who can work those jobs in the city, and theyre isolated from that opportunity, James said.

James criticized Peters for voting in favor of tax increases during his career in Congress. He called for tax reforms to help businesses grow.

What the government needs to provide business is certainty, and I think we can do that with common-sense, science-based, tax reform, regulatory reform and tort reform, so that we can have positive, sustainable, inclusive economic growth that incentivizes businesses to come back and thrive in Michigan," James said.

Health care

James was challenged by moderators to describe his plan to improve health care. He had expressed opposition to the Affordable Care Act during his 2018 Senate bid, but more recently said he supports keeping the bill in place while making improvements.

Repeal and replace doesnt ever work in the real world, James said.

James, who is president of an auto supply chain business, said his employees have seen costs increase and choices reduced" after the ACA was implemented. He proposed a primary care provision that would allow people to visit their primary physician at not cost to prevent health issues before they become serious.

We need to have a market-based patient-centered approach that must be for pre-existing conditions, James said. " I think through tort reform and regulatory reform we can increase transparency in the health care industry, we can increase quality, we can increase choice and we can decrease costs."

Peters said hes been pushing the Trump administration to open an emergency enrollment period so people can gain insurance through the ACA during the pandemic. Peters said the ACA has helped 1 million Michigan residents secure coverage.

The senator expressed support to keep making improvements through legislation, citing lowering the cost of prescription drugs as one example. Peters said he does not support Medicare for All," but favors offering a public option to buy into Medicare and lowering the eligible age to 50.

People who say that well Ill still protect pre-existing conditions but have no plan, well you actually have to have a plan, Peters said. You cant have hollow words. Shallow talking points arent going to deal with the immensity of this problem.

Police reform, military funding

The conversation shifted to police reform, as moderators noted James is among a small group of Black Republicans. James said he has personal experience being targeted by police and knows what its like to fear for his safety during a traffic stop.

James said more funding is needed for police departments to improve use of force training, community policing, hire more officers who live in the areas they police and improve transparency in departments.

Our police in the law enforcement officers are doing great work but still, we need to have support so that our officers can be able to do their job and keep us all safe with the resources they need, James said.

Henderson, a veteran Black journalist moderating the conversation, noted that the Trump administration pulled back police reform efforts that were ongoing. When asked whether he supports the administrations approach to police reform, James pointed to a GOP Senate bill blocked by Democrats, including Peters.

Im running against a guy who has been calling for police reform for a couple of years, and then when he had the opportunity to vote for it, he chose his party, James said. He voted against a further debate on police reform to improve that bill.

James also warned of civil unrest in the streets.

If you look at one to 100, with 100 being close to civil war, were almost three-quarters of the way there, James said.

Police reform didnt come up during Peters' segment.

Peters, a retired U.S. Navy Reserve veteran and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Michigan could lead the country in the development of autonomous warfighting equipment.

Im working to get more resources into the research and development that occurs here in Michigan and making sure that kind of investment also translates into making Michigan a center for artificial intelligence and autonomy, Peters said.

James, a retired U.S. Army veteran who served in Iraq, called for a drawdown of U.S. troops in the Middle East. He said the U.S. is not built to be the worlds police force.

Osama Bin Laden is dead. Soleimani is dead. Al Baghdadi is dead," James said. "Its past time to wind down the global war on terror. I would work with the president to do that with a target date ... We need to end this war in the first part of my Senate term.

James also expressed support for autonomous combat equipment to keep American soldiers out of harms way.

GOP files complaint

The Michigan Republican Party filed a complaint Wednesday against Peters seeking an investigation into alleged campaign finance violations. The complaint states Peters is illegally coordinating with Senate Majority PAC by publishing talking points on his campaign website that later appeared in ads purchased by the PAC.

This is the second FEC complaint filed against Peters throughout the campaign cycle. Another complaint was filed in December 2019 along similar lines, alleging Peters published information, photos and other materials on his campaign website so outside organizations could create positive ads for him.

Peters' campaign did not respond to a request for comment on the new complaint.

Democrats accused James' campaign was of soliciting help from PACs in two instances. A spokesperson previously characterized the accusations as partisan attacks.

The Michigan Democratic Party filed a complaint in August alleging James allowed an internal memo to be published by the media in order to solicit advertising from outside groups. Michigan Democrats filed another complaint against James in March, alleging he coordinated with his former campaign manager to form Better Future Michigan Fund, a PAC supporting his Senate bid.

READ MORE ON MLIVE:

Jill Biden focuses on veterans issues, food insecurity in West Michigan campaign swing

Gary Peters starts motorcycle campaign road trip to tout achievements in U.S. Senate

Donald Trump offers total and complete endorsement of John James in Michigan

Michigan U.S. Senate candidate John James says GOP is the party of civil rights at Trump rally

Sen. Gary Peters and John James commit to separate debates in Michigan Senate race
We often see insiders buying up shares in companies that perform well over the long term. The flip side of that is that there are more than a few examples of insiders dumping stock prior to a period of weak performance. So we'll take a look at whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in Perpetual Resources Limited (ASX:PEC).

What Is Insider Selling?

It's quite normal to see company insiders, such as board members, trading in company stock, from time to time. However, rules govern insider transactions, and certain disclosures are required.

We would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing. But it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing. As Peter Lynch said, 'insiders might sell their shares for any number of reasons, but they buy them for only one: they think the price will rise'.

View our latest analysis for Perpetual Resources

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Perpetual Resources

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by Executive Chairman Julian Babarczy for AU$200k worth of shares, at about AU$0.015 per share. Although we like to see insider buying, we note that this large purchase was at significantly below the recent price of AU$0.042. Because it occurred at a lower valuation, it doesn't tell us much about whether insiders might find today's price attractive.

Happily, we note that in the last year insiders paid AU$286k for 17.98m shares. But they sold 1.25m shares for AU$25k. In total, Perpetual Resources insiders bought more than they sold over the last year. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

There are always plenty of stocks that insiders are buying. So if that suits your style you could check each stock one by one or you could take a look at this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

Story continues

Are Perpetual Resources Insiders Buying Or Selling?

Insiders bought just AU$5.2k worth of shares in that time. That's not much at all. So it is hard to draw any conclusion about how insiders are feeling about the stock, from these recent trades.

Insider Ownership of Perpetual Resources

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. It appears that Perpetual Resources insiders own 39% of the company, worth about AU$7.6m. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.

So What Do The Perpetual Resources Insider Transactions Indicate?

Insider purchases may have been minimal, in the last three months, but there was no selling at all. The net investment is not enough to encourage us much. On a brighter note, the transactions over the last year are encouraging. Overall we don't see anything to make us think Perpetual Resources insiders are doubting the company, and they do own shares. While we like knowing what's going on with the insider's ownership and transactions, we make sure to also consider what risks are facing a stock before making any investment decision. Our analysis shows 3 warning signs for Perpetual Resources (1 doesn't sit too well with us!) and we strongly recommend you look at these before investing.

But note: Perpetual Resources may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with high ROE and low debt.

For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions, but not derivative transactions.

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.
HOLYOKE - The state has published a survey to advance its rapid planning initiative for the Holyoke Soldiers' Home following a staggering loss of lives and amid public pressure.

The state posted the seven-question needs assessment to solicit public comment on the project, which include: Why is the Soldiers' Home important to you and the community? and What additional services do you think it would be helpful to provide on-site at the Soldiers' Home?

Gov. Charlie Baker last month announced the state retained a Boston architectural firm to revise a proposed renovation to the site following the loss of 76 veterans to the virus and a subsequent public outcry. In addition to those who died of COVID-19, dozens more veterans fell ill as well as many staff.

Following a blistering assessment of the facilitys response to the pandemic by former federal prosecutor Mark Pearlstein and commissioned by Baker, the long-term care facilitys top staff was gutted. The state called in an emergency response team to right the ship and establish stricter infection controls.

However, family visits have still been intermittently suspended as weekly testing has turned up sporadic COVID-positive results among staff.

The loudest collective voice on behalf of reforms and renovations at the home has come from a grassroots group called the Holyoke Soldiers' Home Coalition.

Comprised of former top administrators, veterans and families who lost loved ones to the the virus, the coalition has rallied public support around revamping the facility. Former Holyoke Soldiers Home Administrator Paul Barabani has said the state had ignored plans to update the facility since 2012.

The Baker administration said the eight-year-old plans need to be modernized, but he plans to accelerate renovations through governmental red tape.

There is no question that significant changes and updates are required to the building structure to safely meet the needs of the veteran residents. The Commonwealth is committed to making the capital investments required to support the right, necessary facility improvements for the Home, both for immediate fixes and long-term changes. This work must be done expeditiously, and most importantly, it must be done correctly, the state website reads.

The coalition has recommended increased funding and staffing, plus larger, modernized rooms for long-term residents and an adult day health program.
Bangkok, Sep 16 : Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on Wednesday said that the emergency decree will be extended for another three months in three southern provinces of the country.

They are Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani Provinces.

"The Royal Gazette had already published the announcement on its website after I signed the approval," confirmed Prayut.

The extension announcement was signed by Prayut on September 11 under the Emergency Decree on Public Administration in an Emergency Situation, Xinhua news agency reported.

The emergency extension had also been approved by the Cabinet.

The areas under emergency include all districts in the three provinces except Srisakhon, Su-Ngai Kolok and Sukirin in Narathiwat, Betong in Yala and Maikaen and Maelan in Pattani.

The announcement said the extension would enable officials to track down and arrest insurgents who aim to undermine national security through violence and terror actions, as well as ensure the safety of people in the areas.

The Prime Minister also said that all security units in the three provinces must build up public confidence by conducting a thorough assessment of the situation, taking the offensive in intelligence operations and ensuring justice in law enforcement.

Thailand's southern insurgency has been prevalent for 15 years.
THE prospect of a Brexit free trade deal with Britain is fading fast, the President of the European Commission has declared  while strongly backing Ireland over the latest gambit by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

"With every day that passes the chances of a timely agreement start to fade, warned Ursula von der Leyen in her State of the Union address to the European Parliament.

Read More

She said the Withdrawal Agreement  now being breached by the terms of the Internal Market Bill as it passes through the UKs House of Commons  is the best and only way for ensuring peace on the island of Ireland.

Ms von der Leyen vowed: We will never backtrack on that.

The Withdrawal Agreement had been ratified by the House of Commons, as well as the European Parliament, she pointed out.

It cannot be unilaterally changed, disregarded or dis-applied. This a matter of law, trust and good faith, she declared as MEPs erupted in applause.

And that is not just me saying it, she added, reminding them of the words of Margaret Thatcher.

The former Tory Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990 once declared: Britain does not break treaties. It would be bad for Britain, bad for relations with the rest of the world, and bad for any future treaty on trade.

Ms von der Leyen said: This was true then, and it is true today.

Trust is the foundation of any strong partnership.

On the wider talks on Britains future relations with the EU, with their huge implications for Irish exports, she said: Negotiations are always difficult. We are used to that.

The Commission has the best and most experienced negotiator in Michel Barnier to navigate the EU through the maze of discussions, she said, indirectly offering a reflection on the UK talks team.

Talks have not progressed as we would have wished. And that leaves us very little time, she said.

The Withdrawal Agreement had taken three years to negotiate, she said, and we worked relentlessly on it. Line by line, word by word.

Together we succeeded. The result guarantees our citizens rights, financial interests, the integrity of the Single Market  and, crucially, the Good Friday Agreement.

The EU and the UK jointly agreed it was the best and only way for ensuring peace on the island of Ireland.

And we will never backtrack on that, she added.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a bill named for Army Spc. Vanessa Guillen Wednesday that supporters believe could lead to reforms that will make it easier for victims to report sexual assault and sexual harassment in the military.

The bill is named after the 20-year-old whose disappearance and alleged murder by a fellow soldier at Fort Hood triggered a significant response among victims of sexual assault and harassment in the military after the family alleged that she had experienced sexual harassment at the installation but was hesitant to step forward with the allegations.

MORE: Army officials reveal new details in Vanessa Guillen case

A large number of sexual assault and sexual harassment victims stepped forward using the viral hasthag, #IAMVANESSAGUILLEN, to describe similar experiences where they did not report incidents because of the concerns they had about the military's reporting system.

PHOTO: Lupe Guillen, whose sister Army Spc. Vanessa Guillen, was murdered while stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, and their mother Gloria, makes a statement during a news conference announcing the 'I Am Vanessa Guillen Act,' on Sept. 16, 2020 in Washington (Tom Williams/AP)

Army criminal investigators were unable to prove that sexual harassment played a role in Guillen's case, but the Army continues to investigate the family's allegations.

Reps. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., and Rep. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., are the main sponsors for the bill that would reform how the military deals with sexual harassment in the ranks.

"The status quo is unacceptable. And we're not going to tolerate it anymore," Speier said at a news conference held outside the Capitol to unveil the proposed legislation.

"While we can never bring Vanessa back, we honor her memory with this bill," she added.

MORE: Army ready to begin broad review at Fort Hood in wake of Guillen murder

Mullin said it was the right time to implement the reforms called for in the bill, but "unfortunately, it took Vanessa's death to make that timing right."

"All of us have families and it became very personal to us, Mullin said.

"We're suffering a crisis of sexual harassment and assault in the U.S. military," said Lupe Guillen, Vanessa's Guillen's sister, who was among other family members on hand for the news conference.

Story continues

"Nothing justifies what is happening to people like Vanessa," she said. "Vanessa Guillen fought for us. And now it's time to fight for her."

PHOTO: Gloria Guillen, mother of 20-year-old murder victim U.S. Army Private First Class Vanessa Guillen, and her daughter Lupe attend a press conference to announce the 'I Am Vanessa Guillen Act' outside the Capitol on Sept. 16, 2020 in Washington. (Win Mcnamee/Getty Images)

The proposed legislation calls for third-party investigations of military sexual misconduct claims, a move that would sidestep the current system where unit commanders have a say as to whether a case should proceed to a criminal prosecution.

MORE: Congress probing soldier deaths at Fort Hood

It also calls for making sexual harassment, which is currently considered misconduct, to be listed as a separate crime under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Because they are under different policies, the reporting of sexual assault and sexual harassment cases in the military are handled differently by the U.S. military

In early 2019, the Pentagon announced that it would make sexual harassment a crime, but the process to make that a reality is still underway and will soon be in effect according to a Pentagon spokesperson.

The bill would also require the Government Accountability Office to review how the military services each handle the cases of missing service members.

MORE: Army secretary promises changes at Fort Hood following Vanessa Guillen's murder

Following the news conference Guillen's family met with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi who promised them that the bill would come to a full vote on the House floor.

"Justice is needed for Vanessa and for the many service members facing an epidemic of sexual harassment and assault in our armed forces, too often in the shadows," Pelosi said in a statement.

"I gave the family my commitment that this important first step to combatting sexual harassment and assault would come to the House floor for a vote, but the Congress will not stop until we have finally, fully ended this epidemic -- in the military, in the workplace and in all places," said Pelosi.

MORE: Army ready to begin broad review at Fort Hood in wake of Guillen murder

how various military branches handle missing servicemembers, and make sexual harrasment a crime within the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

Supporters of the bill hope Democratic leaders will schedule the vote for Sept. 30 -- what would have been Vanessa Guillen's 21st birthday.

"The I Am Vanessa Guillen Act is long overdue," retired Col. Don Christensen, the former chief prosecutor of the Air Force and president of Protect Our Defenders, said in a statement.

His organization has long advocated for removing the chain of command from prosecutorial decision-making.

"Military brass has given us no reason to believe they will address the sexual assault epidemic in the military on their own," his statement continued. "The time is now for Congress to act -- our service members cannot continue to wait."

Speier said it was time for Congress to force the military's hand to carry out additional reforms to the reporting of sexual assaults and sexual harassment.

"For the longest time the military was successful at suggesting that somehow if you were challenging their chain of command, their ability to hold everyone accountable that that was somehow unpatriotic," she said.

"What is unpatriotic is that we have a dead, young service member who didn't have faith in a system -- and I think over the years as we have focused on this issue, spent so much money on the issue -- and recognized that nothing has changed,' said Speier. "The fact that military brass would come to the Armed Services committee and say that they have zero tolerance for sexual assault and sexual harassment started to not ring true. "

Bill named for Vanessa Guillen would reform sexual harassment reporting in military originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Interview: 'The West . . . is Dealing With a Murderous Regime'

2020-09-15 -- Dissident author, poet, and musician Liao Yiwu fled China in 2011 to live in Germany after suffering harassment, imprisonment, torture, and abject poverty for years as a result of his criticism of the ruling Chinese Communist Party. He has published a string of books and article collections exposing the darker side of life under single party rule in mainland China, and continues to write and publish in exile. He spoke to RFA's Mandarin Service about his latest book about the emergence of COVID-19 in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, which is soon to be published in Taiwan:

Liao Yiwu: I wrote a book titled When the Wuhan Virus Arrives, which is a factual story about the pandemic. The story begins when citizen journalist Li Zehua goes to a top-security virology lab [in Wuhan] and is hunted down by the authorities. That takes us to the second story line, in which an exchange scholar from Wuhan returns to China from the U.S. for Lunar New Year, but finds the city under lockdown. By the time he gets home, his wife has died of the virus. Later, he gets detained by police for talking about the origin of the virus online.

RFA: You say there has been a change in attitude towards China in Europe, as evidenced by the recent trip to Europe by Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi. When did that change start happening?

Liao Yiwu: Probably around the death of [Nobel peace laureate and veteran dissident] Liu Xiaobo. In 2017, I helped to draft a document calling for the release of Liu Xiaobo [from a prison hospital]. We did the absolute best we could at the time, but Liu was still effectively murdered by the Chinese Communist Party in prison. They didn't make a single concession, and everyone could see that Liu Xiaobo died horribly.

RFA: What did the EU learn from that incident?

Liao Yiwu: I can't really comment on that. I can only record history as it happens. I think that the [1989] Tiananmen massacre provides a valuable lesson to Western countries in their dealings with China. From that point onwards, the West should have understood that it is dealing with a murderous regime.

Now, that process has continued, almost to the point where we are in the last battle. All kinds of blatant human rights violations have come to light, from the imposition of the national security law on Hong Kong, to Xinjiang and Tibet. If the West continues to do business with the Chinese Communist Party, then we could see the end of the world as we know it. It's terrifying.

RFA: You once said you were greatly inspired by meeting some of those who protested on Tiananmen Square in 1989. What do you see as the similarities and differences between the 1989 democracy movement and that of Hong Kong?

Liao Yiwu: On June 4, 1989, they used an old-fashioned method to suppress the protests, sending in more than 200,000 regular troops, tanks, and armored cars to attack civilians. Hong Kong had the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration ... and is a cosmopolitan city. But a key factor is terrain. It's harder to send in large columns of tanks, and it would take far longer to carry out such a massacre in Hong Kong. But the authorities have been killing people in the democracy movement. If you really investigate in detail, you will find that the numbers of dead and missing people is quite shocking. Where are these people?

RFA: Many of your books record details of torture and imprisonment. How do you deal with pain and suffering like that?

Liao Yiwu: I have myself served time as a political prisoner. During my time in prison, I came into contact with a large number of so-called thugs [former protesters on Tiananmen Square]. My book Bullets and Opium: Real-Life Stories of China After the Tiananmen Square Massacre, is partly set in Beijing and partly in Sichuan. It's about the people I was in prison with. I just invited them to make their voices heard. It was first published in Germany at that time, and the public was shocked. It was launched in the United States in 2019. Critics consider it to be the most important testimony since 1940, because most of these victims were in China, and some had been jailed several times, but the root cause was always the Tiananmen massacre.

RFA: And yet they continue to resist tyranny. What kind of people are they?

Liao Yiwu: They started out young and full of enthusiasm. Now, they have gotten old, like my friend Li Bifeng, who was nearly 60 by the time he got out the last time, and only in his 20s when he went in. They are unwavering in their beliefs in the face of such hopelessness.

RFA: The central metaphor of Bullets and Opium is that bullets were used to deal with unarmed civil unrest, while the opium of economic development was offered to numb people's pain. Has this model changed in the past 30 years?

Liao Yiwu: It has now been extended to Hong Kong, Xinjiang, Tibet, and Inner Mongolia, and it has even spread to some politicians in the West. It is as difficult for them to cut off their relationship with the Chinese Communist Party as it is to quit opium when you're addicted. Many Western countries have become deeply addicted [to China trade]. In the past, they have aided and abetted the murderous Chinese regime in return for pockets bulging with cash.

Right now we are going through a process of detoxification. All of this high-tech spying must be eradicated if we to truly quit our habit. Otherwise, nowhere will be safe. It'll be like Orwell's 1984.

RFA: So this book is also a kind of warning?

Liao Yiwu: Yes, that if you don't actively promote democracy, dictatorship will expand to engulf the West. This what we are seeing now. We will be hit by snowballing humanitarian crises. Dictatorships will continue to cause humanitarian disasters, because they will keep pushing their agenda until they have taken over all of the world's science and technology, and control the economy. This is called rule by human weakness; if they push enough opium on us, we won't be able to resist.

RFA: How do we deal with the backlash?

Liao Yiwu: You have to be firm. We must believe that a democratic system is the best system. Only democracy can bring the dawn to mankind. We cannot waver in this respect.

Reported by Jane Tang for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

Copyright  1998-2020, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content September not be used in a manner which would give the appearance of any endorsement of any product or support of any issue or political position. Please read the full text of our Terms of Use.

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SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Open Mainframe Project (OMP) , an open source initiative that enables collaboration across the mainframe community to develop shared tool sets and resources, today announces record growth with the launch of four new projects, a COBOL Working Group and welcoming Micro Focus as a new member. CBT Tape, GenevaERS, Software Discovery Tool and Mainframe Open Education have been accepted as new projects, joining existing projects such as Zowe, COBOL Programming Course and Mentorship.

"The Open Mainframe Project is a crucial pillar that intertwines the mainframe industry with the open source community," said John Mertic, Director of Program Management for the Linux Foundation. "We depend on our members to suggest new projects while we ensure a vendor neutral governance that helps breathe new life into traditional technologies like COBOL and CBT Tape. We look forward to continued growth in both the development and use of these technologies."

Opening Doors for Trusted Technologies

CBT Tape

The roots of the open source movement trace back to SHARE but much of that initial collaboration came together with CBT (Connecticut Bank and Trust) Tape in 1975. CBT Tape is an open library of free software distribution for the IBM mainframe Multiple Virtual Storage (MVS) and OS/390 operating system environment that continues to grow and get updated. With each iteration of these tapes, new and ingenious tools and examples became available.

"We were open before open source was a thing," said Sam Golob, current editor of CBT Tape. "We persevered to showcase our ambitious concept and extensive library. We are excited to learn more from the Open Mainframe Community and continue to be available for the next generation of mainframers."

COBOL Working Group

It is estimated that there are more than 200 billion lines of COBOL code in production and it has been a hot topic in recent months as there is a demand for program developers. In April, Open Mainframe Project launched a COBOL volunteer resource, Q&A forum and a Training Course , which offers introductory-level materials with Microsoft's Visual Studio Code editor (VS Code) and hands-on labs. Today, Open Mainframe Project announces the launch of a COBOL Working Group that aims to address misunderstanding about the technology and promote its continued usage, learning and discourse.

"If COBOL code stopped working, so would the global economy," said Cameron Seay, Chair of the COBOL Working Group and an Adjunct Professor at East Carolina University. "Most people don't realize that COBOL plays an important role in our digital future. We can build upon the success of the past and its vitality in the present. This group will help raise awareness of this in not only the mainframe world but everywhere."

Momentum continues with other new projects

At launch in 2015, Open Mainframe Project had one open source project under its wing. Today, CBT Tape, Education, GenevaERS and Software Discovery Tool join ADE, Ambitus, ATOM, COBOL Training Program, Feilong, Mentorship, Polycephaly, TerseDecompress, Zowe and Zorrow. Learn more about the new projects:

Software Discovery Tool

There are so many different open source software programs available on Linux for the mainframe that it is often overwhelming for developers. For those who don't know where to begin, Open Mainframe Project's Software Discovery Tool will help match developers with the best open source software that meets their needs. Developers can search through open source software for zArchitecture/s390x for any Z operating system from any source, any repo, anywhere, in one place.

Mainframe Open Education

For decades, a key priority for the technology industry has been the need to replenish an aging workforce with talented, skilled professionals. The Open Mainframe Project has helped fill the skills gap with its Mentorship project and will now go even further with the new Mainframe Open Education project. Spearheaded by Broadcom and IBM, it offers a simple platform through which experts share up-to-date materials and foster collaboration with the broader community. The result is a clear learning path that rejuvenates the workforce and drives access to business-critical systems.

"Today's mainframe talent is getting close to retiring, and the universities, with a few exceptions, have not traditionally taught mainframe technologies," said Robert Dahlberg, Open Mainframe Project Mentorship Coordinator and Assistant Professor, Virginia Commonwealth University, College of Engineering. "The Mainframe Open Education Project will address this challenge by providing easy access to curriculum and learning roadmaps to help train new talent for mainframe jobs. New innovations in software have forced a resurgence of the mainframe, which is silently running critical infrastructure and, because of its efficiency, taking over the running of our hybrid clouds and server farms."

GenevaERS

GenevaERS is the single pass optimization engine for extraction and reporting on z/OS. Originally developed by PricewaterhouseCoopers and acquired by IBM, GenevaERS offers businesses a high-level reporting solution uniquely tuned for big data scanning and improved financial transparency for better decision-making. This project assists in the full analytical data supply chain, from efficiently transforming data to updating reporting repositories to creating multiple analytical outputs in a single pass for enhanced high-level, scaled and integrated reporting. It can be an application development platform for high-volume ledger systems for some of the largest businesses in the world.

"The collaborative services approach to solving significant customer problems has always had a community aspect to it," said Kip Twitchell, GenevaERS Technical Steering Committee Chair and IBM Financial System Global Subject Matter Expert. "Open Source and the Open Mainframe Project is the natural next step in its development, renewing the power of the mainframe and transforming the world's significant business systems at the same time."

Open Mainframe welcomes Micro Focus into the ecosystem

Hosted by The Linux Foundation, the Open Mainframe Project is comprised of business and academic leaders within the mainframe community that collaborate to develop shared tool sets and resources. Today, the project welcomes Micro Focus , an information technology company that delivers enterprise application software globally, to its ecosystem.

"As long-standing vendors of robust mainframe technology, Micro Focus understands the mainframe world very well," Neil Fowler, General Manager, Application Modernization and Connectivity Product Group at Micro Focus. "We're delighted to join the growing community of practitioners at Open Mainframe Project who are looking at open source collaboration as a means to maximizing the value from their mainframe environment."

One of Micro Focus's first priorities will be to continue to drive the effort of the COBOL Working Group.

"COBOL's success over six decades is legendary, and its usage remains significant across thousands of organizations," said Derek Britton, Application Modernization Group, Micro Focus. "That value is not always fully understood. The new Open Mainframe Project COBOL Working Group aims to clarify and encourage the continued use of COBOL applications on the mainframe and beyond by providing insight, resources and information to help IT decision makers build their application, technology and training plans based on practical, factual input. COBOL's open and adaptable design makes the OMP working group a perfect platform to lead this discussion and Micro Focus are delighted to be able to lend our support to the group."

Open Mainframe Project celebrates its 5 year anniversary at the inaugural Open Mainframe Summit virtual conference on September 16-17. The event is made possible thanks to Platinum Sponsors Broadcom, IBM and Rocket Software; Gold Sponsors SUSE and Vicom Infinity and Silver Sponsor Micro Focus.

About the Open Mainframe Project

The Open Mainframe Project is intended to serve as a focal point for deployment and use of Linux and Open Source in a mainframe computing environment. With a vision of Open Source on the Mainframe as the standard for enterprise class systems and applications, the project's mission is to build community and adoption of Open Source on the mainframe by eliminating barriers to Open Source adoption on the mainframe, demonstrating value of the mainframe on technical and business levels, and strengthening collaboration points and resources for the community to thrive. Learn more about the project at https://www.openmainframeproject.org .

About The Linux Foundation

The Linux Foundation is the organization of choice for the world's top developers and companies to build ecosystems that accelerate open technology development and commercial adoption. Together with the worldwide open source community, it is solving the hardest technology problems by creating the largest shared technology investment in history. Founded in 2000, The Linux Foundation today provides tools, training and events to scale any open source project, which together deliver an economic impact not achievable by any one company. More information can be found at www.linuxfoundation.org .

The Linux Foundation has registered trademarks and uses trademarks. For a list of trademarks of The Linux Foundation, please see its trademark usage page: www.linuxfoundation.org/trademark-usage . Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

Media Contact:

Maemalynn Meanor

[email protected]

SOURCE Open Mainframe Project

Related Links

https://www.openmainframeproject.org


Its coming.

As sure as the mornings are getting colder, the sunrise later, and the green canopy of trees is beginning to turn gold.

A second wave of COVID-19 is unquestionably headed our way, and for some of us I fear it will be harder than the first time.

Ontario and Quebec are reporting the highest number of cases in months. Here in Waterloo Region, the number of active cases increased from 27 on Sept. 7 to 68 one week later. That is a 150-per-cent increase in just a week.

Part of the problem is, so many of us have decided the problem is over.

Weve gone back to the gym. We attend weddings. We go to parties, one of which in the university area of Waterloo attracted 100 students last week and resulted in three people being charged.

Were not paying attention to the rules of wearing masks and physical distancing outside our bubble of 10 selected people.

The last time I went grocery shopping, the masked store worker who handed me my freshly disinfected cart told me that people are done with the restrictions. Theres no way to make them keep two metres apart anymore, she said.

This tiny virus, described as a thousand times smaller than the width of an eyelash, managed to bring our social and economic network to its knees in a few weeks when it first hit.

But back then we knew it was an emergency. We were all afraid. We watched in horror as the disease ravaged the elderly in long-term care homes. Some of us banged pots and pans every night at 7:30 p.m. to thank health-care workers and emergency responders.

We all understood we had to do our part to limit the damage. We did what we were told. We stayed home.

And back then, too, we had summer to look forward to.

True, it was a summer without the usual festivals, sporting events, and live performances. But summer has many pleasures, and by then we knew it was relatively safe to be outside. We could still enjoy the sunshine and beaches and parks and long walks or bicycle rides.

But this morning, when I stepped outside, I could see my breath.

The cold weather is coming.

And not too many of us are going to dine out on restaurant patios for much longer.

That spells a deadly blow for the already beleaguered restaurant and nightclub sector.

Weve lost so many of these small businesses already, unique gathering places that enriched the community and were also a signature of the owners.

I think, for example, of Naranj, a Middle Eastern restaurant in Waterloo with exquisitely prepared food on beautifully decorated plates.

It was started by Alaa and Rasha Nafisa, refugees from Syria who came to Canada five years ago.

They had dreamed of opening a restaurant as a way of sharing with their new country the Syrian culture they had left behind with so much sorrow. At the end of December 2018, they made it happen. But in July, just a year and a half later, the restaurant closed permanently.

Its the same story all over the region: Gilt Restaurant and Rhapsody Barrel Bar in downtown Kitchener. Nanaz Kitchen and Timeless Cafe in Waterloo. The Crossroads restaurant in Elmira. And many others.

With a second wave coming, how long will the surviving businesses be able to thrive? What will our community be like without these precious gathering places?

Part of the reason some people are complacent as we face the second wave is that most new COVID-19 cases are in younger people who are healthier and recover more quickly. There arent any hospitalizations in Waterloo Region.

But unless theres a sharp change in behaviour, we will be in lockdown again soon. And then we will realize there is more than one way to kill a community.
MANAMA

Health Minister Faeqa bint Saeed Al Saleh, received Indian Ambassador to Bahrain Piyush Srivastava.

The minister praised the historical relations between Bahrain and India in various fields, wishing the ambassador success in carrying out his diplomatic mission.

She stressed the level of medical expertise and advanced treatment services provided in India, discussed ways of enhancing cooperation in the health sector.

The ambassador affirmed the advanced level of coordination, praising the Kingdoms efforts in combating the coronavirus pandemic.

He expressed his country's thanks for the care given to the Indian community in Bahrain, which reflects the Kingdoms care for Indian workers and its keenness to provide all necessary treatment for those who need it.
A porn star has been arrested for filming a 'sex movie' at a sacred Nigerian forest which is said to be the home of a fertility goddess.

Tobiloba Jolaosho, known in the Nigerian adult film industry as King Tblak HOC, has been arrested for allegedly recording a 'sex movie' at Osun Osogbo - a UN-designated World Heritage Site on the outskirts of the city of Osugbo.

The Yoruba people come to the grove from across Nigeria to offer sacrifices to their fertility goddess, Osun.

Mr Jolaosho, a popular adult movie producer, uploaded the clip to his social media accounts and website. In the scene, Mr Jolaosho is allegedly dressed in a white robe, which is usually worn by the goddess's followers, the BBC reported.

Statues are seen in the sacred grove of Osun-Osogbo during the Osun-Osugbo Festival in Osogbo, southwestern Nigeria, on August 17, 2018

Pictured: Arch at the entrance to the Osogbo temple compound courtyard in Osogbo, Osun State, Nigeria

Tobiloba Jolaosho (pictured), known in the Nigerian adult film industry as King Tblak HOC, has been arrested for allegedly recording a 'sex movie' at Osun Osogbo - a UN-designated World Heritage Site on the outskirts of the city of Osugbo

Police spokesman Opalola Yemisi told BBC Yoruba the movie producer's behaviour 'could have breached public peace' and that he will appear in court after an investigation is concluded.

Yemi Elebuibon, an Osun adherent, said that Mr Jolaosho had desecrated the sacred forest.

Mr Elebuibon added that the traditional worshippers in charge of the grove will decide what additional punishment Mr Jolaosho deserves after the police have finished their investigation.

Neither Mr Jolaosho nor his lawyer have commented on the case.

UNESCO describes the sacred grove as 'dotted with sanctuaries and shrines, sculptues and art works in honour of Osun and other deities'.

People sit in front of one of the shrines in the sacred grove of Osun-Osogbo during the Osun-Osugbo Festival in Osogbo, southwestern Nigeria, on August 17, 2018

'The sacred grove, which is now seen as a symbol of identity for all Yoruba people, is probably the last in Yoruba culture,' it adds.

According to Yoruba mythology, Osun was one of the three wives of Shango, a powerful axe-wielding deity in the Yoruba tradition.

Thousands of people attend the two-week Osun Osogbo festival each year, where followers dance, sing, play drums and dress in colourful costumes to please the goddess.

The celebrations attract worshippers from across Nigeria and the rest of the world.

Yoruba followers say the Osun Osogbo forest is one of the few places that spirits still reveal themselves to bless adherents.
Unfriended abroad, China's tech giants seek home comfort Huawei and TikTok parent ByteDance have been caught in the middle of the technology battle between China and the United States

China's tech titans can rely on their massive home market to ride out a Donald Trump-led campaign against them overseas, and in the long-term their global prospects remain strong, analysts say.

Tech firms from China have stormed to success in the global market with everything from video-sharing apps and mobile games to smartphones and sophisticated telecom infrastructure.

But the United States, Australia, Britain and India are among the huge markets where they have taken a hit because of espionage concerns or diplomatic feuds, tethering their international ambitions -- for now.

"Technology is increasingly becoming a geopolitical issue" and "a strategic priority" for a growing number of countries, Dexter Thillien, an analyst at Fitch Solutions, told AFP.

However, Chinese firms have a massive market at home to focus on even if they are unable to pursue international goals -- some 900 million users are up for grabs, more than the United States and Europe combined.

While the Chinese internet is tightly controlled with the "Great Firewall", the ecosystem provides companies the opportunity to roll out China-specific apps for potentially huge customer bases.

TikTok, for example, is one of the most popular Chinese-made apps in the world but is not available in the country.

Instead, its parent ByteDance offers a similar app called Douyin, which Bloomberg News said surpassed 600 million daily active users in August and yielded $6.1 billion in revenue over a 12-month period. And ByteDance China's CEO said it aimed to double that over the next year.

- 'Techno-nationalism' -

The Trump administration has claimed that the wildly popular short video-sharing app TikTok could be used by China to track users and conduct espionage, effectively forcing the sale of its US unit.

Washington has demanded that the next owner of TikTok's US operations satisfy security requirements.

Countries "see innovation and technology as having a direct impact on national security, the economy and social stability", said Alex Capri, a researcher for the Hinrich Foundation, an independent organisation that monitors world trade developments.

Story continues

He described the phenomenon as "techno-nationalism".

Trump has also targeted Huawei with sanctions and asked allies to shun the firm's 5G equipment, alleging it could be used as a spying tool by the Chinese government.

The campaign has had an impact, with Huawei frozen out of lucrative 5G rollouts in big markets like Britain.

Separate tensions between New Delhi and Beijing have also led to a ban on TikTok and other Chinese apps in India, a massive market with hundreds of millions of potential customers.

Huawei, TikTok and the Chinese government have all denied the allegations.

But while Chinese app makers and tech firms have complained about being unfairly targeted, they remain huge players on the global tech scene.

Despite the security allegations, TikTok was the most downloaded app in the world outside of video games last month, according to SensorTower, a research firm.

Huawei remains one of the biggest makers of smartphones in the world, and is one of the top manufacturers of sophisticated 5G equipment needed to build next-generation high-speed communication networks.

- 'Harsh reality' -

And like ByteDance and Huawei, other tech giants in China are eyeing growth areas within the world's second-largest economy, including autonomous vehicles, quantum computing and biotechnology.

ByteDance competitor Tencent, meanwhile, has been looking to create a game streaming service similar to the Amazon-owned Twitch, with potentially 300 million users in China, Bloomberg reported last month.

Tencent -- whose WeChat messaging app has been targeted by the US -- said Tuesday it was opening a new Singapore office to serve as a regional hub "to support our growing business in Southeast Asia and beyond".

International punishments and suspicion still hurt, however, with the large size of the Chinese market not enough to offset the damage.

The Trump administration has blacklisted Huawei, for example, from sourcing US technology, dealing a potential body blow to its supply chain, including for its smartphones.

China does not make its own microchips -- the key component of all electronics -- and Washington wants to choke off supply as it tries to kneecap the country's tech sector.

"The harsh reality is that these US measures have teeth and Huawei is having to fundamentally rewire its business to deal with them," said Trivium China, a Beijing-based research firm, in a recent note.

Further, loose intellectual property protection and corruption in China "hardly nurture the innovative energy necessary for cutting-edge success", said Larry Ong, senior analyst with risk consultancy SinoInsider.

burs-sbr/apj/qan/dan
Bengaluru, Sep 16 : Taking strong exception to the Centre's decision to constitute a 16-member expert committee to study Indian culture of the past 12,000 years, former Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Wednesday said that it should be reconstituted.

He said it was "very unfortunate" that the panel did not have any Kannadiga or south Indian who knew about Dravidian culture.

The Janata Dal-Secular leader said the committee needed to be reconstituted due to doubts about the objectivity of the proposed study as the panel is filled with those who appear to be holding prejudices over culture, history, and heritage, besides being "fully occupied by north Indians".

Kumaraswamy tweeted that the committee does not even have a woman member. "Is it possible to conduct a fair and unbiased study of Karnataka's culture and heritage without having Kannadiga representatives in the committee? How can we think of studying the history and culture of the entire country by keeping south Indians out?" he questioned.

"We are the people who compared the country to our mother and the holy cow. How is it that the committee to study the culture of a country that worships women does not have any place for a woman?" Union Culture Minister Prahlad Patel had informed Parliament on Monday about the panel.
MIAMI, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL;NYSE: CUK ), one of the world's largest leisure travel companies, today announced the appointment of Peter Hutchison as senior vice president, deputy chief ethics and compliance officer, effective Sept. 25, 2020. Hutchison will report directly to Peter C. Anderson, chief ethics and compliance officer.

Serving for the past three years as vice president, governance, at Carnival UK, Hutchison will play an integral role in supporting the overall implementation of the ethics and compliance program with primary responsibility for overseeing and further improving the investigative function for incidents involving health, environment, safety and security (HESS).

Drawing upon his broad experience, as the new deputy chief Hutchison will also oversee compliance risk activities, facilitate open communications across the company's cruise line brands, monitor local program implementation, advocate for appropriate systems and processes to improve program oversight, and will spearhead important program initiatives.

More specifically, as the new leader of Carnival Corporation's incident analysis group, Hutchison will be responsible for all efforts to investigate certain Health, Environmental, Safety and Security issues  including near misses. He will also manage the team of investigators, and assist in improving the investigative functions throughout the entire organization.

"Peter Hutchison has a rare combination of skills and experience that will enable us to further strengthen our investigations function," said Arnold Donald, president and CEO of Carnival Corporation. "Not only will he help us get better at identifying the root causes of incidents, Peter will also help ensure that the lessons learned will be shared broadly throughout our organization."

Anderson added, "This is yet another step in our continuing effort to build a world-class compliance program. We are thrilled to have Peter join our team."

Hutchison began his career as a deck cadet in 1996 with P&O Cruises, serving at sea for 14 years, including positions at Princess Cruises, P&O Australia and Cunard. Since 2010, Hutchison has served within various shore-side management positions in the areas of HESS compliance, including positions supporting the company's policy development, internal audits and investigations. He previously served as manager, investigations, at Holland America Line and director of marine investigations for Carnival Corporation. From 2013 to 2017, Hutchison worked at a maritime law firm and a ship management company, both based in London.

Since returning to Carnival UK in 2017, Hutchison has held the position of vice president, governance, at Carnival UK, leading the International Safety Management code (ISM) and HESS teams.

Hutchison is a master mariner and holds a diploma in nautical science from Glasgow College of Nautical Studies in Scotland and has attended the Applied Marine Accident Investigation course at Cranfield University, England.

SOURCE Carnival Corporation & plc

Related Links

www.carnival.com


The US health insurance industry is facing various challenges, although it is witnessing positive growth. Industry challenges such as the uncertainty of the ACA, the transition to value-based care, controlling costs, and rising difficulty in retaining members are severely impacting players. Infiniti's market intelligence solutions help companies identify ideal opportunities and successfully expand in this dynamic and challenging market. In their recent engagement, Infiniti's experts assisted a health insurance company to successfully expand into a new market and enhance sales substantially.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200916005719/en/

Market Intelligence Solutions for a Health Insurance Industry Client: Business Challenges (Graphic: Business Wire)

To leverage Infiniti's expertise in identifying ideal market opportunities, and exploring new avenues in the challenging and dynamic health insurance industry, request a free proposal

"Although the US health insurance industry is witnessing positive growth, several key issues are restraining the development of this sector. With the rising challenges, companies in the sector are finding it difficult to explore new avenues and markets for growth," says a health insurance industry expert at Infiniti Research.

Business Challenge:

The client is a health insurance company based out of Europe, and was eager to understand the prevailing market dynamics in the US health insurance industry, to create an efficient expansion strategy. They sought to examine factors such as the investment environment and industry development. Therefore, they chose to partner with Infiniti Research to leverage their expertise in offering market intelligence solution. During the seven-week engagement, the client also sought to understand US healthcare policies, analyze the business models of top health insurance companies, and carve out a niche to set themselves apart from competitors.

Our Approach:

Infiniti's market intelligence experts developed a comprehensive approach to assist the health insurance industry client. The approach included the following:

Market scanning and monitoring analysis to help keep tabs on target market segments and understand regional market developments

Market research study to understand US healthcare reforms, market innovations, and industry developments

Competitive intelligence study to review the business models and strategies of the top companies in the US health insurance industry

Offering market entry advisory solutions to help the client review macro and micro-economic environments, identify potential barriers to entry, and route-to-market strategies

Business Outcome:

With Infiniti's market intelligence solutions, the health insurance industry client devised its go-to-market strategy and route to entry. The client also gained detailed insights on the market demographics, and developed a detailed understanding of market opportunities in the US healthcare industry. The health insurance industry client also gained insights into the competitive scenario, and competitors' business models and strategies. These outcomes helped the client successfully expand in the US health insurance industry.

Additionally, the market intelligence solution enabled the client to:

Differentiate their brand with the right promotion and marketing activities

Expand from 1 office, to more than 74 offices within two years

Enhance their market share by 34%

Speak to industry experts to gain a more comprehensive understanding the benefits of leveraging Infiniti's market intelligence solutions in identifying ideal market opportunities and understanding the competitive scenario when expanding into a new health insurance industry.

About Infiniti Research

Established in 2003, Infiniti Research is a leading market intelligence company providing smart solutions to address your business challenges. Infiniti Research studies markets in more than 100 countries to help analyze competitive activity, see beyond market disruptions, and develop intelligent business strategies. To know more, visit: https://www.infinitiresearch.com/about-us

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200916005719/en/

Contacts:

Press Contact

Infiniti Research

Anirban Choudhury

Marketing Manager

US: +1 844 778 0600

UK: +44 203 893 3400

https://www.infinitiresearch.com/contact-us
K & J Organic Farms co-owner Kenny Bartee (left) with William Levin in Pittsgrove Township, N.J William and Malya Levin, a Jewish couple, own the land where K & J, owned by a trio of Black farmers, grows produce. In a sense their two families are carrying on the legacy of South Jersey's Jewish agricultural settlements in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when local Gentile farmers helped their new neighbors, who had fled persecution, learn how to farm -- and were helped in return. Read more

The 37 varieties of soil in Pittsgrove Township are excellent for the vegetable farming that has long defined the landscape of Salem County, N.J.

Also growing nicely there is a business and personal partnership between a Jewish family and a Black family, each with deep local roots. The organic farming operation the partners envision is an echo of the past, when Quakers and other Gentile neighbors helped urban Jewish refugees from Russia learn how to make a living from the land in South Jersey.

Weve been drawn back here, said William Levin, a Vineland native and animation instructor. In 1882, Levins great-great-grandfather, Moses Bayuk, established the Jewish agricultural settlement called the Alliance Colony in Pittsgrove.

Levin, his wife, Malya, and their three young children currently split their time between a Brooklyn, N.Y., apartment and a split-level house formerly owned by William Levins grandparents on Gershal Avenue in Pittsgrove. Gershal is the main street of the long-ago colony that is widely considered to be the first successful community of its kind in America.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a movement based in Europe enabled Jews fleeing violent persecution to start new lives in small, utopian-minded settlements in South Jersey and other rural areas in the United States.

Founded on 1,800 acres with 43 original settlers, by 1901 Alliance Colony was home to 151 adults, 345 children, 78 farms, and four synagogues. Many of the children of those early generations of farmers were able to attend college or enter professions other than farming, and within a few decades Alliance faded. The original farm families sold or rented their land or let it go fallow, and in the intervening years, there has been little development in the sparsely populated, now predominantly Black section of the township.

The Levins got the inspiration for what is now ACRe (Alliance Colony Reboot)  a nonprofit effort to renew the hamlet as a center of Jewish life and agriculture  after attending a retreat at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center in Connecticut in 2014. Given that their only hands-on experience tilling the soil occurred when a bumper crop of tomatoes seeded themselves in containers William tended on their Park Slope fire escape, they were determined to become, if not farmers, then farm stewards.

Now our neighbors" in New Jersey "are helping us, and were helping them, Levin said.

We had a lot of trouble getting local farmers interested in organic, added Malya Levin, a lawyer. Joe and Kenny were open to the idea.

 READ MORE: A new generation of Jewish farmers sees a fertile future in South Jersey

That would be Joe L. Bartee and his grandson Kenneth Bartee  who are the K & J of K & J Organic Farms. This is their second year working nearly 50 acres that the Levins either inherited or purchased along Gershal Avenue.

In lieu of rent, the Levins accept a portion of the crops, which they then sell to raise money for ACRe. To move more of what they produce, Joe and Kenny recently set up a stand on the Levin property; Bartee family members are selling tomatoes, greens, sweet potatoes, okra, carrots, beans, and other crops that have flourished this year despite the long, hot, too-much-rain summer.

The Bartees farm according to organic guidelines  a labor-intensive approach that avoids the use of synthetic pesticides and herbicides. Its a challenge, but the Bartees have been willing to give it a try.

The soil is better in some spots than others, but none of it is bad, said Kenny, who remembers sitting on his grandfathers lap as a child and driving the tractor on about 100 rented acres that Joe farmed for decades beginning in the 1970s.

Joe, Kenny, and family friend Andrew Swinton, who call themselves the trifecta, do pretty much everything but the picking, for which they hire seasonal workers. Joes the brains, and me and Kenny do the footwork, said Swinton, of Millville.

William [Levin] is a good guy," Kenny said. When we first started [K & J], funding was a little crazy, and he helped us out. And when he needs something, we help him out.

Recently, for example, Kenny cleared debris on a vacant field for William, and Malya sought buyers for a quantity of green beans Joe needed to sell quickly, before their freshness faded.

COVID-19 has put an end, for now, to the lively schedule of religious services and cultural gatherings the Levins organized through ACRe. They intend to eventually resume the religious and cultural programs, and have spun off the farm as a separate commercial enterprise.

We are working with the Bartees because they have the expertise to manage farmland on our scale, and are willing to [adhere to] organic regulations, Malya Levin said. Both of [the partners] need to create something that is economically profitable through this farming operation. That shared goal is the basis of our partnership.

Joe Bartee, 77, earned his expertise growing up in the third generation of a Georgia farming family. After moving to South Jersey in 1960, he worked two full-time jobs  auto mechanic and farmer  for 36 years. Hed been retired for 11 years before launching the new venture with Kenny, a father of seven who had held manufacturing and auto-related jobs and wanted to build something for his family.

Since we opened the stand, so many people are coming in, and coming from out of town, he said. We have a vision for the stand, having maybe a second location." As a lively new logo, bright orange T-shirts, and a sleek promotional video attest, K & J is building a brand. We want to see how far we can go with it, said Kenny.

His grandfather, whom family and friends call Bo, said: I like preparing the ground, and all the other aspects of farming, except the most important part  the marketing. I grow the nicest crops and take them to market and ask what theyre going to give me for it."

Joe is pleased that the Levins have helped find new markets for his produce  which can fetch far higher prices in Brooklyn than in Pittsgrove. The partnership has been good so far, Joe added.

 READ MORE: Down on Nate's farm

The Levins have friends among a new generation of Jewish farmers and food purveyors in New York and Philadelphia. Mordechai Schram, a kosher chef and the owner a pickling business called Hamutzim (Hebrew for pickles) in Philly, recently purchased 100 pounds of green tomatoes from the Bartees.

Pickled, the tomatoes were amazing, Schram said. The texture, the size, the flavor. Were hoping to do more business with them.

Nate, a.k.a. Farmer Nate Kleinman, who cofounded the Experimental Farm Network in Philadelphia and farms in Elmer, N.J., recently bought okra from the Bartees and pickled it, with delicious results. He sees the partnership as an updated version of the "little-known history of cross-cultural cooperation in South Jersey.

To Kenny Bartee, its the right way to grow.

If everybody is doing what theyre supposed to do and help each other, he said, the world would be a better place.
Thailand-based Dusit International, one of Asias fastest-growing hospitality companies, has announced its expansion into India with a plan to open at least two Dusit-branded hotels per year from 2021 onwards in Tier I and Tier II cities  such as Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore  as well as key leisure destinations throughout the country.

Alongside the signing of Dusit Princess Serviced Suites Kolkata, under a franchise agreement with the Jain Group, a leading real estate, hospitality and finance organisation based in Kolkata, Dusit is already in talks with other potential owners and is on course to conclude at least four more signings within the next 12 months.

Following a strategy to focus on quality hotel products that help owners maximise the value of their assets, Dusits planned expansion includes exquisite palace conversions where the company aims to uniquely combine its distinctive brand of Thai-inspired gracious hospitality with local customs and traditions to create luxury hotel experiences that deliver sustainable value for the wider community.

Dusit is already well-known in India for its rich hospitality heritage, and India is one of the top seven source markets for Dusit Hotels and Resorts worldwide.

As an Asian brand with more than 70 years of experience managing hotels and resorts throughout the region, and with a comprehensive guest loyalty programme that enriches every visit, Dusits service offering is well suited to the needs of discerning Indian travellers.

India and Thailand share many similarities in terms of culture and traditions, and Dusit believes this not only makes its brands a popular choice for Indian guests and customers, but also an attractive proposition for Indian hotel owners seeking to work with a company that truly understands their needs while linking them with a large pool of engaged customers.

With Indias fast-growing middle class expected to reach 583 million people  or 41% of Indias projected population  by 2025, Dusit also sees huge potential for its upscale and midscale brands in this burgeoning market.

While Covid-19 has brought immense challenges for tourism and hospitality worldwide, we remain confident that our resilient industry can and will bounce back, and we expect India to be a key player in international and domestic tourism in the brighter days ahead, said Suphajee Suthumpun, Group CEO, Dusit International. We are delighted and honoured that the Jain Group has selected our Dusit Princess brand for their property in Kolkata, and we now look forward to bringing more quality products to the market to generate long-term value for all our stakeholders.

Slated to open in Q2 2022 as part of Jain Groups high-end residential development project, Dream One, Dusit Princess Serviced Suites Kolkata will occupy a prime location near the green expanse of Eco Park, only five minutes by car from both the city centre and the airport, and just one minute from Kalakshetra Metro Station.

Comprising 42 three-bedroom units, the new property will provide an ideal base for both business and leisure travellers seeking extended stays. A swimming pool, an all-day dining restaurant, a speciality restaurant, and a fitness and wellness centre will be among the recreational facilities. Banqueting and meeting facilities will also be available for small and midscale events.

Shrayans Jain, Vice President, Jain Group, said: In the new normal following Covid-19, Indian travellers will be increasingly seeking brands they can trust to deliver the high levels of safety, comfort and convenience they deserve. Dusit has more than seven decades of experience delivering exceptional guest and customer experiences in key destinations worldwide, and the company already has a strong reputation in India for the quality of its offerings. Our companies shared values to deliver quality in all aspects will ensure Dusit Princess Serviced Suites Kolkata is perfectly placed to exceed guest and customer expectations, and we look forward to a long and successful relationship with Dusit.

Dusit Internationals property portfolio now comprises more than 300 properties operating under six brands across 13 countries. The company also has a strong background in hospitality education, operating internationally-accredited hospitality colleges in Thailand and the Philippines, as well as Le Cordon Bleu Dusit Culinary School in Bangkok, Thailand, in partnership with the renowned Paris-based institute.

Wellness is another area in which Dusit has rich experience. The companys award-winning Devarana Spa concept delivers a wide range of holistic therapies, adding even greater value to Dusits luxury and upper-upscale stay experiences.

The company is represented in India by Deepika Arora, who is part of the core team responsible for Dusits market growth and expansion in South Asia and Africa. She is based at Dusits offices in Delhi.-TradeArabia News Service
Solution supports requirements for traceability down to the single package level and optimizes the repackaging process for increased efficiency and safer medicine

COLUMBIA, Maryland, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Movilitas announced that the Alter Pharma Group, a pharmaceutical group active in the distribution of pharmaceutical products to pharmacies, wholesalers, hospitals and retirement homes and in the development and licensing of generic drugs, adopted its Movilitas.Cloud software as a service solution to meet the many requirements in the (re)packaging process that are specified under the EU FMD regulation, while also benefiting from improved operational efficiencies throughout the product path and changes in packaging.

Under the EU FMD directive, repackagers and parallel distributors have unique responsibilities. Their medicinal product is often bought from regulated wholesalers and then medicine authenticity and product serial numbers must be verified and managed from geographically separated processing plants through the point of distribution.

"By leveraging Movilitas.Cloud technology, we now have a state-of-the-art system that provides transparency and ensures the integrity of our products as they move across the supply chain," said Stijn Vlaminck, IT Manager of the Alter Pharma Group. "The solution provides a single system to manage and track each pack in order to remain compliant with EU FMD regulations and deliver on the highest standard of quality and safety."

Movilitas.Cloud offers a set of services to maintain product integrity during changes in packaging:

Supports the complete receiving and verification process of original medicines

Sends automatic decommissioning requests containing all serial numbers grouped into SSCCs

Sends commissioning requests of the repacked products

Manages serial numbers between EU-Hub through QA functionality

Supports manual, semi-automatic and automatic processes

"We are pioneering an efficient way of managing the reporting of serial numbers during the repackaging process," said Marc Blekkink, global head of business development for Movilitas.Cloud. "We're committed to delivering IoT solutions that enable repackagers and parallel importers to deliver safe medicinal products while remaining compliant."

To learn more about Movilitas.Cloud for repackagers and parallel importers, please visit: https://www.movilitas.com/solutions/movilitas-cloud/repacker-eu-fmd-application/

About the Alter Pharma Group

The Alter Pharma Group is a Belgian group of pharmaceutical companies with headquarters in Anderlecht (Belgium) and offices in Ireland and the United States. Employing in total over 125 employees, the Group distributes a wide range of pharmaceutical products to pharmacies, wholesalers, hospitals and retirement homes. At the same time, Alter Pharma is a global player on the generics market, with around 15 molecules on the European and US market and a fully stocked pipeline of niche, complex and added value products.

To learn more about the Alter Pharma Group, please visit: www.alterpharmagroup.be.

About Movilitas

Movilitas is a technology leader delivering the next generation of solutions and consulting services across industries to advance smart supply chain ecosystems. We are recognized as a trusted SAP partner for digital supply chain transformation. Through services, such as Movilitas.Cloud, or accelerators for SAP solutions, our clients maintain compliance and unlock data to realize greater efficiencies. For more information, visit movilitas.com.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1011119/Movilitas_Logo.jpg
According to a post published on September 15, 2020, by French blog Blablachars, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), users of the Leclerc Main Battle Tank (MBT) for more than 20 years, have decided to donate 80 of these tanks to Jordan. In 1993, the UAE has signed a contract with the French Company Giat Industries (now Nexter Systems) for the purchase of 436 combat vehicles, including 388 Leclerc MBTs, two driver training tanks, and 48 armored recovery tanks based on the Leclerc MBT chassis.

Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link



UAE Leclerc MBTs during a dynamic combat demonstration. (Picture source: Army Recognition)

This number should allow Jordan to equip two of the four tank battalions belonging to its 3rd Armored Division. This large unit is in fact made up of two brigades: the first one  the 40th Armored Brigade (King Hussein)  comprises the 2nd Tank Battalion (Royal Tank Battalion) and the 4th Tank Battalion (Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein); the second brigade  the 60th Armored Brigade (Prince Hassan)  comprises the 3rd Royal Tank Battalion and the 5th Royal Tank Battalion. These two brigades were transferred to the Jordanian central command in 2018, Blablachars recalls. All these units are equipped with older tanks such as the Tariq (Centurion), the M60 A1, the Al Khalid (Chieftain), or the Al Hussein (Challenger1).

This transfer from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Jordan could allow the creation of new synergies around the upgrading of the Leclerc MBT in the three user countries, which are now the United Arab Emirates with a little over 300 units, Jordan with these 80 tanks, and of course France with 200 tanks, Blablachars concludes.



The Leclerc MBT is the backbone of the UAE armed forces which is in service since 1994. In 2003, France's Giat Industries signed a contract to upgrade hundreds of Leclerc tanks it has supplied to the UAE within a $4 billion deal signed 10 years ago. In early 2011, French Company Nexter signed an agreement with the International Golden Group from UAE to supply Azur up-armour kits for the Leclerc MBTs of the UAE Armed Forces. The AZUR kit consists of additional protection in the form of side skirts of composite material, bar armor on the rear of the hull and turret to protect against rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), and extra protection for the engine.



Leclerc main battle tanks of the United Arab Emirates were deployed in combat operations in Yemen (near Aden) as part of the Saudi-led coalition. It is estimated that 70 Leclerc MBTs were deployed by the UAE in Yemen, 15 of them equipped with the AZUR package.



French-made Leclerc is one of the most modern main battle tanks in the world. The tank is armed with a GIAT (Nexter) CN120-26 120mm smoothbore cannon which has a chamber the same size as that of the 120 mm smoothbore gun fitted to the Leopard 2, M1A1 and M1A2. The turret is equipped with an automatic loader that contains 22 rounds of ready-use ammunition normally loaded from outside through a small hatch in the back of the turret bustle. With this system, the tank can fire at a rate of 10 to 12 rds./min.



The Leclerc MBT has a crew of three including a driver, commander, and gunner. The hull and turret of the Leclerc MBT are of welded steel construction to which the composite armor is added; this provides a very high degree of protection against both KE and CE attack. The armor package of the tank is of modular design so that it can be easily replaced or upgraded with the latest generation of new armor.



The Leclerc MBT is powered by a SACM V8X-1500 Hyperbar diesel developing 1,500 hp coupled to a SESM ESM 500 fully automatic transmission with five forward and two reverse gears and hydrostatic transmission. It can run at a maximum speed of 72 Km/h with a maximum cruising range of 450 km with internal fuel that can be extended to 550 km with external fuel tanks.
The new Huawei Mate 40 phones will be unveiled soon  interestingly, this news comes from the Huawei Mobile UK Twitter account. This is unexpected as just a couple of days ago we heard that a rumor the next-gen flagships wont come to Europe until 2021.

That is still the case, most likely. Leakster Roland Quandt reports that the phones will be unveiled in a live stream currently scheduled for mid-October. That would be for the Chinese market mainly, but the tweet is proof that Huawei hasnt given up on trying to launch its top phones in Europe, even if it takes longer than usual.

We've got some exciting news for you...

The next-generation #HuaweiMate is coming soon - Stay tuned! 1/2 pic.twitter.com/6QGgZFz1zJ  Huawei Mobile UK (@HuaweiMobileUK) September 15, 2020

Sources from inside Huawei are reportedly claiming that the Kirin 9000 that will power the Huawei Mate 40 Pro will be the first 5nm chipset with an integrated 5G modem. While Apple unveiled the first 5nm chip yesterday, its designs rely on an external modem.

Note that some leaks claim that the Kirin 9000 will be used by the Mate 40 Pro and Pro+ while the vanilla Mate 40 will have to settle for a pared-down chip called Kirin 9000E. Whatever chipsets Huawei has received so far are all that it will get as TSMC stopped shipments yesterday due to US sanctions.

Source (in German)
September 16 : While new information is surfacing almost every day in Sushant Singh Rajputs death case, today the late actors former manager Shruti Modi, who appeared before the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in the drugs-related case, was sent back as one of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) members tested positive for COVID-19.

NCB, which has already arrested 18 people related to the drug case linked to the late actors death case, had issued summons to Shruti and talent manager Jaya Saha on Tuesday. Enforcement Directorate (ED) had retrieved chats between Rhea, Shruti, and Jaya, where they were found talking about drugs.

Meanwhile, a Times Now report claims that according to a top Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) source, Sushant did not answer calls or check WhatsApp or messages since 2.30 pm on June 13, indicating that he was off the grid since that time. This was about 22 hours before his body was found on June 14. The report also suggests that while CBI is investigating the issue, it clearly hints at some mystery. The late actor received the last call from a talent manager at 2.22 pm on June 13.

CBI team leaves for Delhi

Meanwhile, a two-member CBI team has left for Delhi today to meet the AIIMS board. The cause of Sushants death will be revealed by a panel of doctors from Delhi's AIIMS hospital next week. CBI has sort assistance from the AIIMS panel, which is studying the actor's autopsy report. It is reported that AIIMS sources has revealed that their opinion will be conclusive and without any confusion or doubts, in the interest of truth and law. The viscera reports are expected by Friday.

Rhea and Showik to file bail plea again

It is also learnt that Rhea Chakraborty and her brother Showik are expected to file separate bail applications today before the Bombay High Court with a plea for urgent hearing. According to a Times Now report, the NCB is likely to call Sushants sister and brother-in-law to record their statement as well.

Latest updates on Sushant Singh Rajput Death Mystery
Shortly after the 2018 midterm elections, progressive groups looking at the 2020 Senate map alighted on one state where they had a chance to contest a safely Democratic seat against a centrist incumbent: Delaware.

But a bid to oust Senator Chris Coons never became a cause celebre on the left. Liberal groups instead focused on House races, where they won key primary victories over veteran congressmen in Chicago, St. Louis and the Bronx.

And today Mr. Coons, a 10-year incumbent, is the clear favorite in a primary against a progressive challenger, Jessica Scarane. A poll found him leading by 40 percentage points, a margin sufficient to dissuade groups from spending money to help Ms. Scarane.

Still, Mr. Coons has used an enormous fund-raising advantage to blanket Delawareans with television ads, spending nearly $800,000, compared with Ms. Scaranes $65,000. The only third-party organization to devote significant resources to the race has been the American Chemistry Council, which aired more than $200,000 in ads backing Mr. Coons.
General Electric Companys GE unit, GE Renewable Energy, yesterday announced to have received a contract to supply onshore wind turbines in Morocco. Notably, the contract has been extended by EDF RE and Mitsui & Co., Ltd MITSY. Financial terms of the contract were not disclosed by the parties involved.



It is worth noting here that General Electrics share price increased 3.4% on Sep 14, eventually closing the trading session at $6.15.



Mitsui & Co. has operations in various fields, including chemicals, iron & steel products, energy, food & retail management, mineral & metal resources, and others. The company is based in Tokyo, Japan, and has 132 offices in as many as 65 countries.



On the other hand, EDF REs solutions can help create renewable energy facilities from brownfields, environmentally sensitive sites, wastewater treatment plants and others. Its solutions are used in government, utilities, education & non-profits, municipalities & cooperatives, and others end markets.

Inside the Headlines

As noted, GE Renewable Energy will supply 27 units of 3.2-85 onshore wind turbines to the Taza onshore wind farm. With the help of the turbines, the wind farm will be able to generate energy equivalent to the requirements of 350,000 homes.



The 87MW Taza onshore wind farm is expected to begin operations in 2022. It will strengthen Moroccos efforts to build up its renewable energy capacity.



It is worth noting here that this contract strengthened GE Renewable Energys existing position in Morocco  having supplied equipment at the 200 MW Akhfenir wind farm.

Recent Contracts Won by GE Renewable Energy

In September 2020, GE Renewable Energy received a contract to supply 30 of its advanced Cypress turbines at PUSPOK Groups two wind farm facilities based in the Burgenland region. In the same month, GE Renewable Energy received two 30 MW deals for the delivery of an overall 12 units of its 5MW-158 Cypress wind turbines. This will support the construction of the Quoc Vinh Soc Trang and Lac Hoa Soc Trang wind farms in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam.



In August 2020, GE Renewable Energy received a contract from Wykes to provide a 25MW multiple hour duration Energy Storage Systems, which will be integrated with the latters Solar PV plant in the U.K. Also, the same month, GE Renewable Energy entered an agreement with Walcha Energy for the development of New South Wales, Australia-based Dungowan pumped hydro storage power plant. In addition, it received a contract to construct and operate Victoria, Australia-based Murra Warra II wind farm. As noted, it will provide 38 of its 5.5-158 wind turbines to the Australian wind farm.



Renewable Energy provides offshore wind turbines, high-voltage equipment, blades for wind turbines (onshore and offshore), and other products and services. Its revenues in the second quarter of 2020 decreased 3% year over year to $3,505 million. Organically, the segments sales increased 1% year over year, while orders were down 17% as orders of grids and onshore turbines were adversely impacted by the pandemic.

Story continues

Zacks Rank, Price Performance, Estimate Trend and Industry Players

General Electric currently has a market capitalization of $52.1 billion and a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). The company is facing headwinds in its Healthcare, Power and Aviation segments in the pandemic-stricken environment. However, measures to deal with the pandemic-related problems, restructuring actions and healthy liquidity might be helpful.



You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.



In the past 60 days, General Electrics bottom-line estimates for 2020 and 2021 have revised downward. Currently, the Zacks Consensus Estimate is pegged at a loss of 8 cents for 2020 and earnings of 29 cents, reflecting declines from the respective 60-day ago figures of earnings of 4 cents and earnings of 36 cents.

General Electric Company Price and Consensus

General Electric Company Price and Consensus

General Electric Company price-consensus-chart | General Electric Company Quote

The companys share price has decreased 17.6% in the past three months compared with 7.3% growth recorded by the industry.











Two companies in the same industry, 3M Company MMM and Honeywell International Inc. HON have recorded growth of 5.6% and 13%, respectively, in the past three months.

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The South Carolina Department of Insurance will no longer issue temporary producer licenses related to the COVID-19 State of Emergency, according to a bulletin issued by the department on Sept. 15.

SCDOI said as of the bulletins issuance, there is no longer any disruption to the ability of a producer to secure a license as testing centers are now able to test at full capacity and online proctoring of examinations is available. Temporary licenses that have already been issued will expire automatically 180 days after the issue date.

The bulletin modifies the temporary licensing section of an earlier bulletin that was originally issued on April 2, 2020 to all insurers, producers, surplus lines brokers, bail bondsmen, and other licensed or authorized persons transacting insurance business in the state.

Any active temporary producer license issued pursuant to this bulletin may be converted to a regular producer license by completion of all prerequisites for a license for the desired line or lines of insurance, including meeting all examination and fingerprint requirements pursuant to the applicable statutes, SCDOI said.

No additional fee will be required in association with the issuance of the regular producer license prior to the expiration of the temporary license. If an individual applies for a regular producer license after the expiration of the temporary license, they must pay the applicable fee.

Remote testing for South Carolina license examinations is available through SCDOIs third-party vendor. To register for an exam, individuals should visit home.psiexams.com or call 833-518-7457. Producers may contact SCDOIs Individual Licensing Office with any questions at 803-737-6095 or email agentmail@doi.sc.gov.

Source: South Carolina Department of Insurance

Topics COVID-19 South Carolina
I wish that I could have met Mildred Ratched before the world got to her.

These are the words of Gwendolyn Briggs (Cynthia Nixon), paramour of the title character (Sarah Paulson) of Netflixs Ratched. They are also a heck of a thing for somebody to say six episodes into an eight-episode season. After all, showing us what warped a young psychiatric nurse into the tyrannical antagonist of One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest is exactly what this series, arriving Friday, was supposed to have been doing.

Ratched tries, for a while, and it looks awfully good doing it. But it gets waylaid in spectacle and lurid melodrama. What starts as a psychological portrait becomes a Jackson Pollock spatter pattern of bloodletting and revenge tragedy. One plot flies east, another flies west; chaos and clutter claim much of the rest.

The premise is straightforward. As Mildred says of one of her early patients  a multiple murderer, Edmund Tolleson (Finn Wittrock), in whom she takes an interest  He wasnt born a monster. Somebody turned him into one.

This drama promises to show who or what Frankensteined her into the asylum authoritarian of Ken Keseys novel and Milos Formans film. In many ways, though, Paulsons Mildred Ratched starts off as already a version of the character made famous by Louise Fletcher: quieter and more guarded, but manipulative and starchily terrifying.
Joseph Kolapudi led a plenary at the 2020 young writer conference - Joseph is a young writer who currently serves with the international mission agency, ReachAcross. He also serves on the board of ARMCare, an initiative of the World Economic Forum's Global Shaper Hub in Brisbane. Additionally, he also serves on the State Youth Council for Multicultural Youth Queensland (MyQ), and works as a PR and Content Manager for the Business as Mission Global Congress (BAM) as part of the Lausanne Movement for World Evangelisation. He was recently named as a Multicultural Ambassador for the Mental Health Foundation of Australia (MHFA). In his spare time, he also serves as a creative contributor for the SAARI Collective.

The unknown is always a daunting reality, until you reach your destination. For many writers, penning stories, illustrations or thoughts about the future is a difficult task, especially when describing something that is relatively unknown. When presenting this to people who know the ins and outs of the writing scene, however, it can be an opportunity that many recognise and relate to.

For the Young Writers Conference in 2020, this year will see the Gold Coast be the host for the young writers, particularly with a focus on those who will be attending from Queensland and South Australia.

As always, there will be a range of different talks, presentations and awards to be presented as part of this years conference, and a keynote talk from Joseph Kolapudi, who will be speaking on the theme of leadership and how this influences Christian ministry collaborations and connections, especially from a local young writers perspective.

Joseph has been a young writer since 2016, and has been writing about his experience in cross-cultural mission, travelling overseas, and Christian service. He also has had the opportunity to interview a range of leading Christian authors, writers, leaders and professionals in recent times. He has also been able to use these stories, conversations and experiences to inspire others through his writing.

Since becoming a writer, he has also been involved in work in different countries, including in India; where he recently got married late last year. He also has been able to serve locally through a mission agency, which is currently located at his local church. He has been able to use his time serving overseas as a way to connect with other young people who wish to do the same.

Writing the unwritten story

For the keynote presentation at this years Young Writers Conference, the theme of writing the unwritten story will be the focus of his talk; which will explore how young writers can also have an influence on their readers beyond the written word. He will also illustrate how his own personal experiences, both in mission and in the business world, have assisted in his understanding of Christian service, especially in his view of vocation.

For many young writers, this will be an opportunity for them to identify how writing can impact others, how they can identify leadership opportunities, and the way that youth can have a positive impact on the world around them, especially with those who may not be believers. There will also be a time set aside for Q&A after the keynote presentation at the conference.

The international young writers will be able to tune-in using the wonders of Zoom.

As young writers, there are always different ways to identify personal potential, and how this connects to a greater purpose; but it often comes back to how we view our own identity and how this relates to serving others.

For those who look to be leaders, writing a story yet unwritten is not just a challenge, but an open opportunity.
The Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Mr Ignatius Baffour Awuah says the year 2020 marks the commencement of decumulation or the full payment of pension benefits under the Three-Tier Pension Scheme.



At a press briefing in Accra on Wednesday, September 16, 2020, the Minister said effective January 2020, the Three-Tier Pension Scheme begun the payment of benefits to retirees as and when due.



He said every pensioner from January, 2020 is to receive a monthly pension from SSNIT, past credit from SSNIT (accumulated value of contributions as of 31st December 2009) and Tier 2 lump sum benefit from the Occupational Pension Schemes.



The Minister added that, under Tier 3, Corporate Trustees are paying benefits to retirees as and when due.



One of the many important lessons we can learn from this pandemic is the urgent need to strengthen our social protection systems. The coronavirus pandemic coupled with governments partial lockdown exposed the weaknesses in our systems. A large proportion of workers and their families, particularly those working in the informal sectors, could not cope during the lockdown due to low or inadequate income. This is primarily due to the absence of alternative income sources, low coverage of social security or insurance.



Mr Baffour Awuah said in the current dispensation, the most common form of social security or insurance is pension. He said it is therefore important to give serious attention to issues relating to it.



The Minister disclosed that Ghanas pension industry has been impacted by the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. He said lay-offs, job losses and breaks in the operations of many businesses are expected to affect pension contributions for the year 2020 in all the Three-Tiers. NPRA has already begun an assessment of the effect of the pandemic on the industry, he said.



One of the major challenges of the sector, according to the minister, is the low coverage of pensions, as its coverage for workers continues to be very low. According to him, data from SSNIT indicates that about 1.6 million workers are enrolled onto the First Tier (SSNIT Scheme) as against the 11.2 million working population (GLSS 7, 2019). He said this is due to the fact that a majority of the 71.3 percent informal sector workers are not covered by any form of social security or pension.



Pension coverage of the informal sector is very low. The current enrolment from the informal sector is approximately 232,000 representing about 3 percent coverage of the sector.

Source: Graphiconline









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Featured Video
From left to right, actors Daryl Mitchell, Sam Rockwell, Jed Rees, Alan Rickman, Tony Shalhoub and Sigourney Weaver in a scene from the film 'Galaxy Quest', 1999. (Photo by Murray Close/Getty Images)

Galaxy Quest director Dean Parisot still hasn't "solved the problem" of how to put together a sequel to the cult 1999 comedy without the late Alan Rickman.

The film depicts the cast members of a fictional sci-fi series with a resemblance to Star Trek, who are inadvertently drawn into a very real space conflict. Rickman portrayed Alexander Dane, who played the role of hyper-intelligent alien science officer Dr Lazarus in the show.

In a new interview with Yahoo Movies UK to promote Bill and Ted Face the Music, Parisot said Rickman's death in 2016 "threw us for a loop" as the team were in the process of following up the film with a 10-part television series for Amazon Prime Video. The director said no decision has been made on whether Rickman would be replaced if a sequel ever did come to fruition.

Read more: Bill and Ted are ludicrous but relatable, says director

"I'm not quite sure. We haven't solved that problem," said the 68-year-old filmmaker.

"Part of it is also our love of Alan. He was a dear friend  not to mention brilliant  and everybody quite loved Alan. He's a hard person to replace."

1999 Alan Rickman stars as Doctor Lazarus in the movie "Galaxy Quest." Photo Dreamworks

In 2018, the writer of Galaxy Quests TV reboot Paul Scheer told The Wrap that the show would combine a new cast with the classic characters.

We want to create this kind of thing that feels like this epic sequel, but a continuation. I compared it to what The Force Awakens is to Star Wars. It is continuing a story but bringing in new characters, he said.

Galaxy Quest celebrated its 20th anniversary last year and received an outpouring of affection, having become a cult classic in the decades since it first hit cinemas to a fairly unremarkable $91m (70m) worldwide gross.

Read more: Radcliffe scared of Rickman on Harry Potter

The film also starred Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Sam Rockwell and Tony Shalhoub.

Parisot said he was "pleasantly surprised" to see so much love for Galaxy Quest among fans, particularly among those calling for a sequel.

Story continues

Characters from the movie "Galaxy Quest", Sigourney Weaver (L), Tim Allen (C) and Alan Rickman (R). (PJIM RUYMEN/AFP via Getty Images)

He added: "You make the film and then you move on to the next thing and it takes on a life of its own.

"It's certainly gratifying that it continues to play 20 years later. It's lovely to see.

"I enjoyed making that movie quite a bit and I've stayed good friends with everybody involved.

"It's nice to see something you worked hard to do still out there and not disappearing in one weekend."

Dean Parisot and Anthony Carrigan on the set of 'Bill and Ted Face the Music'. (Credit: Warner Bros)

Parisot went on to direct Jim Carrey comedy Fun With Dick and Jane and action-comedy Red 2 before nabbing the job at the helm of the belated third entry in the Bill and Ted trilogy.

The film skipped multiplexes in the United States in favour of a video-on-demand release due to the continued impact of the coronavirus pandemic, but it has now arrived in UK cinemas.

Critics have greeted Bill and Ted Face the Music warmly, with an 81% approval score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Watch a clip from Bill and Ted Face The Music - in UK cinemas now - below.
Almost five persons died daily in custody in India in 2019-2020, according to data shared by the union ministry of home affairs (MHA) with Parliament on Tuesday.

The total number of people killed either in police custody or jails between April 1, 2019 and March 31 was 1,697. Of this, 1,584 died in judicial custody and 113 in police custody.

The most deaths in judicial custody, 400, were reported from Uttar Pradesh (UP) while the most in police custody, 14, were reported from Madhya Pradesh (MP). Tamil Nadu (TN) and Gujarat recorded 12 deaths each in police custody.

Police are often accused of high-handedness in India while dealing with people taken into custody. Tamil Nadu Police is already under the scanner for the killing of P Jeyaraj (58) and his son Benicks (37) inside a police station in Tuticorin on June 22. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is investigating the case.

MHA informed the Lok Sabha that while UP recorded maximum deaths (400) in judicial custody -- this usually includes deaths inside a jail or while taking an accused to a court -- the second-highest number of such deaths was reported from MP (143). This was followed by West Bengal (115), Bihar (105), Punjab (93) and Maharashtra (91).

The ministry hasnt provided reasons for the deaths in police or judicial custody but government officials, who didnt wish to be named, said the causes usually include illness, gang wars, suicides, or torture by the police or jail staff.

Experts say the data doesnt reflect reality.

Senior lawyer and founder of Human Rights Law Network (HRLN) Colin Gonsalves said: These custodial deaths are not even a third of actual deaths. What they (police) do is that when a person dies, they take him to the hospital and then show on paper that he died inside the hospital. They make doctors write died in hospital in the report.

Raja Bagga, programme officer at Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), said: The government data t doesnt give exact reasons for deaths in many instances. For example, in certain deaths, the National Crimes Record Bureau (NCRB) records the reason as other. We asked NCRB not to classify any deaths as such. There is a need to analyse in detail why these 1,700 odd deaths are taking place in police and judicial custody.

Apart from deaths in custody, there were a total of 112 police encounters as well reported from various states between April 2019 and March, according to the MHAs reply in Parliament on Tuesday. Chhattisgarh recorded highest number (39), while Uttar Pradesh, saw 26 encounters.

Government data reveals that there are a total of 1,350 prisons across the country, which have a cumulative capacity to lodge 4,03,739 prisoners. But almost all the jails are overcrowded, the data revealed.

Currently, there are 4,78,600 inmates lodged in all the prisons. UPs 72 jails have the highest number of inmates at 1,01,297, while the capacity is 60,340.

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, union minister of state (home affairs) G Kishan Reddy said that the Centre has issued an advisory on July 13 to all the states and UTs requesting them to sensitise and direct all functionaries of the state, district and below level to follow and adhere to law of the land and the guidelines issued by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on custodial deaths, and to act firmly against any abuse of law in respect of custodial deaths.

He added that members, special rapporteurs and senior officers from NHRC carry out periodic visits to various jails to evaluate the living conditions and make recommendations for better protection of human rights.
Two weeks ago, we posted a review of Waiting for the Barbarians, the film directed by Ciro Guerra, from a screenplay by South African-born author J.M. Coetzee and based on the latters novel of the same title, published in 1980. The film, with important lead performances by Mark Rylance, Johnny Depp and Robert Pattinson, takes place on the borders of a 19th century Empire.

The central figure is a Magistrate, a middling, lifetime civil servant, who becomes a witness, against his will, to increasingly savage repression by security police and government forces against the local, nomad population. Ultimately, he speaks out and acts in opposition to the violence, with severe consequences for himself.

In our review, we suggested that Waiting for the Barbarians was a very strong film, painful at times to watch, and a thoughtful, devastating work of art, rare in our day. We added that there was no way to seriously interpret this film as anything but a searing indictment of imperialism, and American imperialism in particular. Indeed, it is hard to think of a more uncompromising indictment in recent decades.

Michael Fitzgerald (Photo creditFestival Internacional de Cine de Morelia)

I was recently able to speak with Michael Fitzgerald, one of the producers of Waiting for the Barbarians. As Fitzgerald explains in the conversation below, he has a history in movies extending back to the late 1970s. He first produced two films with John Huston, Wise Blood (1979) and Under the Volcano (1984), based on the 1947 novel by Malcolm Lowry, the latter of which was nominated for two Academy Awards.

Fitzgerald subsequently produced The Penitent (Cliff Osmond, 1988), starring Raul Julia, Mister Johnson (1990) with Academy Award-winning director Bruce Beresford, and Blue Danube Waltz (1992) with well-known Hungarian filmmaker Miklos Jancso.

A partnership with actor/director Sean Penn resulted in their production of The Pledge (2001), with Jack Nicholson. In 2005 he completed both Colour Me Kubrick (Brian Cook), starring John Malkovich, about a conman who impersonates director Stanley Kubrick, and The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, directed by and starring Tommy Lee Jones. At the 2005 Cannes Film Festival, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada received the Acting Award for Jones and the Screenplay Award for Guillermo Arriaga. Fitzgerald also produced In the Electric Mist (Bertrand Tavernier, 2009).

We spoke on the phone.

* * * * *

Michael Fitzgerald: First of all, I wanted to thank you for your piece, because it was really well thought through and delicately written, and a lovely look at the whole thing. I was very grateful to see it, and so there you are.

David Walsh: Thank you. Likewise, Im deeply appreciative of the film and your efforts.

Could you tell me something, if its not too daunting, about your life and background in film?

MF: Summarizing very quickly, I grew up in Italy. My father [Robert Fitzgerald] was a poetand translatorand he brought his family to Italy in the 1950s. All the children were sent to boarding schools to learn English, and I was sent off to a Benedictine Abbey in the west of Ireland called Glenstal Abbey. I went to University College Dublin for a year and then transferred to Harvard.

By then my father was the Boylston Professor at Harvard and the family moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the late 1960s. When I graduated in 1973, I went back to Italy to teach. I fell into screenplay writing and decided, along with my brother (who many years later wrote the screenplay for The Passion of The Christ), to strike out for Hollywood in 1975.

Buddy Guy and Tommy Lee Jones (right) in In the Electric Mist (2009)

That was a frustrating experience as you would imagine.

So I decided that instead of sitting by the telephone waiting for someone to react to what we were writingwe didnt know anyone when we went out thereI would try and pick something that I thought was extraordinary and go all the way through with it, just produce it, make it or get it made.

I picked the first novel of Flannery OConnor, Wise Blood [1952]. On the premise that I didnt know anything and therefore I should go and work with the person who knew everything, I managed to get in touch with John Huston who by then had 40 movies behind him, and had been something of a legendary figure in Ireland when I was growing up.

I somehow managed to find his number in Mexico, called him and he answered. I sent him the screenplay and he thought it was fabulous and asked me to come down to see him. I spent a week as his guest in Puerto Vallarta. Huston said he would stand behind me no matter what. And he did. It took me a couple of years to raise the money, frustrating years, but in the end I got the necessary amount to make the film, and he was there as he said he would be. Off we went. That started it all.

DW: How old were you then?

MF: When I first got to John Huston? 25.

DW: Was that filmmaking experience an interesting and valuable one?

MF: It was extraordinary. He was an extraordinary man. I decided then that I would never make a film with anyone else. If he had lived, I never would have. But he died [in 1987]. In the meantime, we had gone on to make Under the Volcano [1984], a few years later. We were going to make a film called Mister Johnson, which I ultimately made with Bruce Beresford [1990]. It was something that John had wanted to do all his life, but for most of his lifetime making a film with a Nigerian lead would just have been impossible.

Brad Dourif in Wise Blood (1979)

DW: How did you develop the association with Tommy Lee Jones?

MF: Oddly enough, Tommy Lee graduated from Harvard in 1969, the year I started there. He had done his senior thesis on Flannery OConnor. I knew that when I went to cast Wise Blood, and he was one of the people I called upon to play the leading character. But then John and I preferred to go in another direction. Ive known him since that time. We kept up with each other, and I had and have a great admiration for him as an actor and now as a director. I have produced two film which he starred in and directed, The Three Burials Of Melquiaeds Estrada and The Homesman [2014].

DW: You have a kind of family connection to Flannery OConnor.

MF: Yes, she lived with us in Connecticut while she was writing Wise Blood, oddly enough. She only went home when she had her first attack of lupus. She would have been about 21 years old at the time, and my parents eventually became her literary executors.

DW: Can you speak about your association with John Coetzee?

MF: It goes back a long time. Over the decades we became friends. I think he fully understands my devotion to his work, lets put it that way. I adore his work, theres no other way of putting it. It does something to me that very little, if anything else does.

I identify profoundly with the human beings he has pulled out of thin air. He wrote a book called Life & Times of Michael K. That I would identify with Michael K, who is essentially a disturbed and even retarded black man wandering around Cape Town, South Africa, that I would identify with such a figure strikes me as rather bizarre, but it is, nevertheless, true.

Ever since I read Waiting for the Barbarians I have wanted to make it into a movie. Its been a north star in my life for almost 30 years.

Director John Huston during filming of Under the Volcano (1984)

DW: Why that particular work?

MF: At the heart of the story is an ordinary man. A Magistrate. I identify with him. He wants to steer away from trouble, he can see it coming, but doesnt want any part of it. In the story, he rebels against the very empire he represents at great cost to himself. And I would wish for myself, as I would wish for most of us, that we too might have the courage to stand up, even at the cost of our lives, and say I wont do this anymore.

Someone said an interesting thing to me. He suggested that when the hammer comes up, and the Magistrate makes his quixotic move, that even the moment before he didnt know he was going to do that. All the events in the film that precede this are a preparation for that act of rebellion, but the extraordinary thing is that even he doesnt know what hes about to do.

Until that moment he rants and raves, he wants to clean everything up, he wants to get away from it all, all the things I imagine I would have wanted to do in his circumstances.

DW: But it is unusual, and admirable, that the book portrays someone who does make that kind of decision. The vast majority of works today tend to do the opposite.

MF: Its the only thing that makes it interesting.

DW: In 1980, what was Coetzee responding to, directly or indirectly? What was the driving force behind Waiting for the Barbarians?

Mark Rylance and Johnny Depp in Waiting for the Barbarians (2019)

MF: I think his is a wide-ranging mind and informed by many things. Neither the book nor the film, for example, have anything do with apartheid in South Africa in that immediate sense.

However, the remarks that are made by the young soldier to the Magistrate about what happened to the old man who attacks his interrogators and then is killed are the verbatim comments from the police report on the death of the activist Steve Biko in 1977. The police reported that Biko hit his head against the wall while he attacked them, that sort of nonsense. So the book and film are informed by that experience, by the behavior of empire, by all the things that governments have been doing since the beginning of time.

DW: You speak about a 30-year effort to make the film. Could you give some highlights?

MF: Well, it ranged from being very close to making it with Ben Kingsley and Tommy Lee Jones in 1993, to going with Werner Herzog to the Tian Shan mountains in 2000 above the Taklamakan Desert in western China, where we would have hoped to make the film with Werner directing it, to spending a month with John Box, the production designer of David Lean, from whom Ive learned a great deal, in Morocco looking for locations, many of which we would end up using 25 years later.

DW: Waiting for the Barbarians had a powerful impact and significance in 1980 or so, when it was written or when it appeared. Does it have a greater impact and significance, or a different one, in 2020, some 40 years later?

MF: I think its just gotten closer, basically. Of course, it had a resonance certainly in the more enlightened places in the West, a kind of an intellectual resonance perhaps. But now it seems to be in our backyard, or front yard, or basement, first floor, second floorand attic. It seems to speak to our best and worst angels very closely. We refer to the Other as barbarian, and we fear what we do not know, and we use that fear to keep control over others. There is little or no nuance to it, it is raw loathing and power-mongering, empire.

Many of us live like the Magistrate in a wary relationship to it that power. We have been living the sunny side to it, but the dark clouds are there, theyre frightening and theyre very close to us.

I spent a year at University College Dublin studying the Second World War and studying the history of Germany in the 1930sthat would certainly give one pause today.

DW: Coetzee made all the changes from the novel to the screenplay? They were all his ideas?

MF: My first thought when I met John was that I would never do this unless it was his writing of it. Thats what I was interested in. He wrote the screenplay in 1993. We only tweaked it very recently, but very little.

DW: Thats interesting. He was writing things in 1993 that spoke very strongly to what would play out over the next 25 years.

Mark Rylance in Waiting for the Barbarians (2019)

MF: The world has been too much with us for a very long time.

DW: I grant you, but that the last 25 years have witnessed a particular eruption of American imperialist violence.

MF: Thats right. But I think part of the point of the book is that its always there underneath, something to be wary of.

DW: Do you have any sense of how Coetzee views the present world situation?

MF: Hes an 80-year-old man, in very good condition, but hes slightly over 80.  I think he lives in his own world, I dont think he pays too much attention to the contemporary world. Various things appall him, of course.

DW: How did the film attract the cast that it did?

MF: The only answer Ive really got for you, is that it attracted them because its good.

DW: Fair enough, but not all good scripts attract good actors.

MF: Sometimes that is a failure of imagination on the part of the producer. Thats one of the things John Huston taught me. If you think youve got it, go for the biggest stars. Why not? As often as not, people love to be offered something they can sink their teeth into. In fact, its also really the best way to get actors for very little money, offer them something substantial.

As I say, this is something Ive done for years, and much to the joy of many actors who got to do things they wouldnt ordinarily do.

Mark Rylance is an incredible actor. I saw him in [Steven Spielbergs] Bridge of Spies, and I thought, this is the guy. He was mesmerizing, you couldnt take your eyes off him. I thought, I cannot fail to make this film while this guy is around. I have to do it with him.

Ive been thinking of Johnny Depp in the part of Col. Joll for, it seems, 20 years. Ive known him for 25 years. He is one of the finest actors around. There is something in the character of Joll as written in the novel that gives you the sense that the man is doing what he has to do, but he would much rather be at the opera, in a pair of soft slippers, in a dainty costume and not doing all this terrible stuff. I thought that Johnny had that sort of delicacy that would make the character even more horrifying. He will take on any challenge as an actor, if you offer it to him. He doesnt always have it offered to him.

For both Rylance and Depp, it was a sensational experience. Mark Rylance learned a great deal from Johnny Depp, and vice versa. That is the way it ought to be.

DW: What about the generally cool or even unfriendly critical reception?

MF: I was expecting it, you know. If you look at everything else thats being doneeverything is so distracted and distracting, theres a cut every two seconds, youre being constantly dazzled. That seems to be the objective. We made a very deliberate choice to forgo that, not because we didnt know how to do it, but because we didnt think it was appropriate.

We wanted to follow this man, to follow his awakening, to follow him right up until the moment he makes an irreparable choice. We needed to get him there, we couldnt do it with razzle-dazzle. We needed him to explore, we needed him to put his fingers where the torture had taken place, to question what was going on. That cant be done in two-second scenes.

DW: I understand, but I dont think it was only the stylistic issues that made the critics unhappy. It was also the content, the films anger, its outrage.

MF: Of course, this is very uncomfortable. Thats why I did it. Because the source material made me uncomfortable.

Im pleased that you thought highly of the film, and we shall see what happens.
HARRY CABLUCK, STF / AP

For the first time in two decades, the Texas State Board of Education is planning to revise schools' sex education policy.

The board voted last week to teach seventh and eighth grade students to "analyze the effectiveness and the risks and failure rates ... of barrier protection and other contraceptive methods in the prevention of STDs, STIs and pregnancy," as well as the importance of abstinence, as reported by Aliyyah Swabi for the Texas Tribune.
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / September 16, 2020 / Monterey Minerals Inc. (the "Company" or "Monterey") (CSE: MREY and FSE :2DK) is pleased provide a corporate and exploration update on activities at its wholly-owned Alicia high-grade gold and base metals project in Alicia Municipality, Philippines ("Alicia Project").

The Company mobilized its Technical Team to the project after the closing of the oversubscribed private placement (See press release dated July 28, 2020).

Highlights:

Acquisition of 100% of Greater Arc Pty Ltd (100% subsidiary of Greater Arc Resources Ltd, "Greater Arc" ) by Monterey (See Press Release dated August 13, 2020) Monterey issued 54 million Common Shares @ 8 cents (Canadian) for a total consideration of C$4.32 million (approximately A$4.10 million). The Monterey Shares will be held in escrow until February 9, 2021 and then distributed in specie to the 140 Greater Arc shareholders, following shareholder approval at a Greater Arc General Meeting of shareholders.

A contract with a Philippine-based drilling company, IndoDrill , has been executed for initial 3,000 metre drilling program. Personnel have been mobilized on site.

Drilling to target high-grade gold and polymetallic veins over 10 kilometers combined strike length identified over the last five or so years of exploration at Alicia.

Philippine-based geologist, Max Tuesley, has been appointed as Country Manager for the Philippines and is due on-site in late September. Max has over 25 years of multi-commodity experience including over 9 years in the Philippines.

The Alicia Municipality and local barangays continue to be supportive of the project and have supplied labour for exploration to date.

Figure 1 - Indodrill drill rig currently being assembled on site.

Drilling

IndoDrill, a Philippines based drilling company, has been awarded the initial 3,000 metre drilling contract. Personnel have been mobilized on site and the drill rig is currently being assembled, see Figure 1. It is anticipated that drilling will commence before the end of September.

Story continues

Strong Addition to our Technical Team

The Company appointed Max Tuesley as the Country Manager (See Press Release dated August 26, 2020).

Mr. Tuesley will oversee exploration activities at the Alicia Project. Max is a highly experienced project manager and has spent over 25 years in grassroots, advanced mineral exploration and mine production, predominantly in gold, copper and base metals. He has been working in the Philippines for nine years, including senior management positions at the Masbate Gold Project for B2Gold Corp. and the Runruno Gold Mine for Metals Exploration Plc.

Max has also managed start up gold projects in Central Asia and porphyry copper exploration in both Mongolia and Sudan. Mr. Tuesley holds an Honour's degree in Economic Geology from James Cook University in Australia and is a member of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.

Figure 2 - Recent sampling of the Baloy Vein

2020 Exploration Program

Trenching activity has continued, with a focus on the Pamaraw, Baloy, Sandi, and Quintilla veins. Priority samples are now being prepared for dispatch to the Intertek laboratory in Manila. Results are expected before the end of October. Further fieldwork, including sampling, will be ongoing in advance of the initiation of drilling.

Figure 3 - Additional sampling of the Baloy Vein.

The Company is also pleased to announce that Emma Jadoc is remaining as Exploration Manager at Alicia.

Figure 4 - Exploration Manager Emma Jadoc, undertaking trench mapping.

Figure 5 - Pamaraw Vein trench.

"With the addition of Max, we are able to explore the potential of how large the area of mineralization is at the Alicia Project. We would also like to thank our team members Emma Jadoc and Liza Neido for working tirelessly for the Alicia Project despite the COVID-related restrictions that are in place", stated James Macintosh, President and CEO.

Qualified Person

The technical information in this press release has been reviewed and approved by Martin Dormer, a consultant to the Company, who is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. Martin is a member of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM), the Australian Institute of Geoscientists (AIG). He is a West Australian geologist with over 22 years' experience and sufficient experience of relevance to the styles of mineralization and types of deposits under consideration to qualify as a Competent Person as defined by the 2012 Edition of the Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC) Australian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources, and Ore Reserves.

About Monterey Minerals Inc.

The Company owns 100% of the Alicia Project in the Alicia Municipality of the Philippines. The Alicia Project is a system of multiple, high-grade gold and silver veins with base metals over a strike length of greater than ten kilometres. The Company also owns the Cobalt Mountain Property (the "Property") in the Omineca Mining Division of British Columbia near the town of Smithers. The Company's NI 43-101 technical report, available on SEDAR, notes historic sampling on the Property that returned mineralized showings of gold, silver, copper, zinc and cobalt. The Company also owns 877 sq. km. of prospective Pilbara Basin tenements on the eastern flank of the Pilbara Basin in Western Australia, including a property that abuts Pacton Gold's tenement where gold-bearing conglomerates were identified.

For more information, contact investor relations at info@montereyminerals.com

On Behalf of the Board of Directors,

James Macintosh,

President and CEO

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its regulation services provider has reviewed or accepted responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release

This press release may include forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation, concerning the business of the Company. Forward-looking information is based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the management of the Company. Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking information is based on are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking information because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release. The Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, other than as required by applica.

SOURCE: Monterey Minerals Inc.





View source version on accesswire.com:

https://www.accesswire.com/606332/Monterey-Minerals-Provides-Corporate-and-Exploration-Update-at-Alicia-Project-in-the-Philippines




The 4+1 (Bachelor's/Master of Education) Program is designed as an accelerated pathway for those students who seek to earn a teaching license and undergraduate degree(s), a second Initial license in Moderate Disabilities, and a Master of Education (MEd).

Students in this program will first complete all the requirements for one or more undergraduate degrees, as well as requirements for an Initial teaching license in one of twelve undergraduate licensure programs. In the fifth year, including summers, students will complete the 33 graduate credits necessary to earn a Master of Education (MEd) and add a second Initial license in Moderate Disabilities.

In addition to an accelerated pathway to licensure and a Master of Education, students will participate in field experiences including Field Placement I and II, culminating in the Student Teaching Practicum - a full semester spent working alongside a skilled teacher in a public school classroom.

REQUIREMENTS

In order to qualify for the Bachelor's/Master of Education (4+1) program students must:

Meet all undergraduate admission requirements

Apply for formal acceptance into the Bachelors/Master of Education (4+1) program by January 1 of senior year

Application process includes:
This is an actual image of Hyundai's in-house hydrogen fuel cell product for use in non-automotive sector, which the Korean car manufacturer initially shipped four packs to Switzerland-based GRZ Technologies, Wednesday. Courtesy of Hyundai Motor





By Kim Yoo-chul



Hyundai Motor has begun exporting its in-house hydrogen fuel cell system to Switzerland's GRZ Technologies for non-automotive use, the country's trade ministry said Wednesday.



The move is in accordance with President Moon Jae-in and his Cheong Wa Dae economic team's ambitious drive to promote hydrogen fuel cell systems as part of efforts to find new growth engines other than legacy products such as conventional cars, ships and steel. In July, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy approved Hyundai's plan to export the system, which the government identified as one of the country's "core technologies."



"The mass exports of the system will be accomplished sometime in 2022," the ministry said, adding it will continue to assist companies that are developing various kinds of fuel cell vehicles and relevant systems to enjoy a "first-mover" advantage in the lucrative and promising markets.



Exporting the system for non-automotive use is in addition to shipments of hydrogen fuel cells for passenger and commercial vehicles. The European firm specializes in bulk energy storage using hydrogen and plans to use the Hyundai system to develop a stationary power supply system to provide electricity for buildings during peak use times. GRZ has the technology to store up to 10 times more hydrogen than in a normal hydrogen storage tank at a lower pressure of below 30 bars versus 200 to 500 bars.



Regarding the ministry's announcement, Hyundai officials expect the technology could be used in various ways through close cooperation with GRZ in the future.



Hyundai Motor is also in discussions to export the system to 20 unnamed companies. The Korean car manufacturer plans to expand its sales network to the United States and China.



In China, according to readjusted support policies for electric vehicles, local Chinese governments and companies are required to have a more stable and secure supply chain and detailed business models for the booming industry.



Hyundai Motor earlier said it aims to manufacture up to 700,000 fuel cell systems, on a yearly basis, for use in the passenger vehicle and non-automotive segments such as rail vehicles, drones and power generation by the end of 2030.


A tougher anti-Covid 19 crackdown on Dublin may be on the way amid forecasts cases could shoot up to 5,000 a day at the end of next month.

This could mean the loss of more post-lockdown freedoms and comes after weeks of pleas for action to curb the spread appear to have gone unheeded by too many.

Infectious disease consultant Dr Sam McConkey of Beaumont Hospital has cautioned that if the recent rate of infection continues it would lead to 5,000 new cases of a the virus a day by the end of October. So has valuable time already been lost?

Forecast

The figures for the rising levels of the virus in Dublin, since mid-August in particular, tell their own striking story. Cases have swollen ten-fold in the last two months.

The virus has been creeping up and taking hold. In the two weeks up to last Sunday there were 1,282 cases. This compares to the last fortnight of August when there were 717 cases.

Worst-hit

Dublin north west has the highest 14-day incidence rate of 131.5 per 100,000. Dublin south east is also badly affected with a rate of 113.2 per 100,000. Even Dublin south, which has the lowest rate at 42.6 per 100,000 is at worrying levels. Contrast that figure with the rate for Co Cork at 9.6 per 100,000.

Outbreaks in homes

There have been several outbreaks of the virus in people's homes, while cases have also been linked to socialising in groups where physical distancing has not been observed.

Community transmission is also a problem, with people catching the virus and unable to say what the source was.

New medicine

Dublin is being singled out for tougher restrictions than the rest of the country. Wet pubs cannot open, people are being advised to limit travel outside the county and if they do travel to only meet one other household.

No more than two households should meet at any given time. Visitors to people's home should be limited to six from one other household. If going to a pub or restaurant you should not meet up with someone from more than one other household in a group no more than six. There are those who think this is too "softly softly" although understandably the owners of wet pubs are clearly distraught.

Going a step further

Prof McConkey has said leadership and restrictions are needed but ultimately it all comes back to the individual - how we behave day to day, how business owners and managers operate, how people socialise. He suggested if people are going out to a restaurant to stick to members of your own household. Make the most of the outdoors.

The basic messages on physical distancing, handwashing, covering coughs and sneezes and wearing a mask were never more needed. The National Public Health Emergency Team will meet to review the Dublin figures and decide if more restrictive measures should be imposed.

Level 3

If Dublin moves up to Level 3 and ranks in a more serious zone it could mean more restrictions. Religious services would move online. Places of worship could remain open for private prayer. Museums, galleries and other cultural attractions would be closed.

Libraries will be available for e-services and call and collect. There would be additional restrictions for indoor dining. Visits to nursing homes would be mostly suspended.

Hospitals

The fear is that if the spread of the virus continues, more vulnerable people will fall seriously ill and deaths will increase.

The Irish Council of General Practitioners' Clinical Lead on Covid-19, Dr Nuala O'Connor, said: "Dublin numbers have increased ten-fold in the past two months.

"If this continues, we won't be able to continue to protect our older population and those who are medically vulnerable and run the risk of a more severe course and higher risk of dying from Covid-19.

"We will struggle to keep the virus out of hospitals, nursing homes, or direct provision centres or workplaces."
Q: Eighteen months ago, my in-laws stopped talking to us.

My husbands large family all live nearby, which includes his parents, two brothers, their wives, and a sister.

My children are now ages 12 and 10. Until five years ago, my in-laws were involved grandparents offering the children weekly sleepovers, stopping by unannounced, and spoiling the kids.

My husbands siblings often took our children for some fun or just visited. They now have families of their own.

Admittedly, we were slowly backing off from my in-laws (mostly my mother-in-law), feeling that toxic attitudes around politics/race/human decency were becoming too much for our kids to witness.

My mother-in-law and sister-in-law would gang up on me with rude comments. Ive been in this family for 22 years; my sister-in-law was six when I, at 16, started dating my husband.

Ive learned to cope without conflict. But at Christmas my sister-in-law crossed the line telling my ten-year-old your Moms a loser.

These past couple of years, theyve stopped greeting us, they ignore us when we speak, and exclude us from family functions.

Eighteen months ago, my sister-in-law started asking for all the money from an education fund wed started for her son, now seven (which we also set up for all our nieces and nephews).

Eventually, the bank told me we would lose all the interest and government bonuses if we withdrew it. So, I left it.

When my husband tried to explain this, she had a temper tantrum about her deep hate for me since she was 12, despite that I paid for her college admission fees when her parents wouldnt (she didnt go) and spoiled her when she was a teenager with shopping and road trips.

Ever since this rift, the family has shunned us. Recently, a big family baby shower was held for my brother-in-law and his expectant wife, but we werent invited.

My mother-in-law only came over once last Christmas, refused to speak to us and never again spoke to my kids, who ask, why dont they want to know us anymore?

What do I tell my kids? My husbands good at distancing himself from this, but I know hes really angry, too.

Family In Turmoil

A: This is a family tragedy, dividing siblings and young cousins with the astonishing support of complicit, negative grandparents who should be trying to bind their offspring together for everyones benefit.

Thats not going to happen, due to the weakness at both ends  your husbands mother and sister (fortunately he sees the harm theyre doing to you and the children.)

But his sister has taken nasty behaviour to an extreme. It begs the question whether shes resented you for taking away her big brother years ago and has remained angry and jealous ever since.

Unfortunately, she appears the least likely person to seek counselling about any of this. But I sincerely hope that you, your husband and kids, will have counselling to help yourselves come to terms with this pain.

For those who regularly read my columns, its well-known that I believe that whenever its possible, we should reach across the divide and try to mend family feuds.

We do this for the sake of the children attaining an understanding of how to solve problems and for the comfort of having the backup of extended family support.

However, this is one time where I dont believe the mother-in-law and sister-in-law will change. I hope Im proven wrong.

Ellies tip of the day

When a family rift extends even to ignoring young children, the bitterness will stain all members except those who recognize they must walk away.




By Do Je-hae







Koreans have a low level of confidence in U.S. President Donald Trump, according to a latest survey from the Pew Research Center.







The U.S. polling agency announced the results of a telephone survey conducted from June 10 to Aug. 3 of 13,273 respondents living in 13 U.S. allied countries, including South Korea, Japan, Canada, Australia, Sweden and France.







In the case of Koreans, only 17 percent said they have confidence in President Trump. The figure is a 29 percentage point drop from 46 percent last year, the largest drop among the surveyed countries.







Trump's remarks, which were seen to show his disregard for his allies, and his threat to withdraw U.S. troops from Korea amid deadlocked defense cost-sharing talks are seen to be the reason for the considerable drop in Koreans' support for the U.S. leader.







Another survey showed that many Koreans do not want to see Trump reelected and believe success for the incumbent U.S. president in the upcoming presidential election would have a negative effect on Korea. A Gallup survey published last week showed that 16 percent thought Trump should be elected as president for a second term, while 59 percent showed support for his Democratic rival and two-time vice president, Joe Biden, who served alongside Barack Obama.







But Koreans still retain a largely favorable perception of the U.S., despite its highly unpopular leader. The favorable sentiment toward the U.S. as a country was 59 percent in Korea, the highest among the 13 surveyed allies, according to the Pew Research Center's findings.


Motihari:

The three suspected ISI agents, arrested by Bihar Police, were on Wednesday questioned by sleuths of RAW, NIA and Railway Police in connection with the November 20 Indore-Patna Express mishap in Kanpur that claimed 150 lives and other train accidents.

The trio had provided some "positive lead" about the Indore-Patna Express derailment in Kanpur on November 20 last year during questioning yesterday after their arrest from Adapur police station area on Tuesday.

After the central agencies were alerted about these leads, teams of NIA, RAW, Railway Police and UP and Bihar ATS came here to extract more details from Moti Paswan, Uma Shankar Patel and Mukesh Yadav to ascertain ISI role in triggering train mishaps in India.

Meanwhile, a court of Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM), Raxual, S K Mishra sent the trio to six days in police remand.

Superintendent of Police of East Champaran district Jitendra Rana told reporters that they sought remand of the three in connection with murder of two residents of the district Arun Ram and Deepak Ram in Nepal on December 28 last year for failing to trigger blast on the track in Ghorasahan in East Champaran district on October 1, 2016.

The district police would intensively question the trio for details regarding Ghorasahan incident and killing of the duo in connection with which a case was registered with Adapur police station of the district. Rana said NIA, RAW, ATS and Railway Police quizzed the three in connection with Indore-Patna Express mishap.

Paswan, Shankar and Yadav had allegedly confessed to having worked for a Nepalese contact suspected to be connected to ISI to target the railways. They had revealed that they were paid Rs three lakh by a Nepali man Brajesh Giri, who allegedly had connections with Shamsul Hoda of Dubai who had links with the ISI.

The money was paid to them to plant a bomb on the railway tracks at Ghorasan in East Champaran district, bordering Nepal, on October 1 last year, Rana said.

Efforts are on to arrest, in this connection, two others identified as Gajendra Sharma and Rakesh Yadav, who are "hiding" in East Champaran, the SP had said.

While three persons were arrested from East Champaran district, three others were captured earlier at Tailaya in Nepal for targeting railways on behalf of suspected terror elements in India, the SP said. East Champaran is a district bordering Nepal. Indian Mujahideen chief Yasin Bhatkal was arrested from Raxaul in the district in August 2013.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 20:10:02|Editor: huaxia

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NEW DELHI, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Indian government said on Wednesday that the first phase of the Census 2021 has been postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak.

The government made the statement in parliament that is currently in session these days.

"The first phase of census operations and other related field activities have been postponed due to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic," India's federal junior home minister Nityanand Rai told the upper house (locally called Rajya Sabha) of parliament.

The first phase was supposed to be held from April 1 to Sept. 30.

According to the minister, a multiple-layered security approach has been adopted for the security and safety of the census data.

"Data collection is to be done on registered devices of the enumerators appointed by the state governments," the minister said. "Data is encrypted at the device, during the transmission and at servers/storage. The services of system integrators have been hired for developing the mobile Apps, management of census portal and related activities."

Rai said the publicity campaigns form a part of the census operations and all the enumerators are to be registered on the portal before undertaking the enumeration work.

On Wednesday the number of COVID-19 cases in the country has reached 5,020,359, including 82,066 deaths. Globally India is the second worst-hit country due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Census in India is a decadal exercise to enumerate the country's population. It is one of the largest administrative and statistical exercises in the world.

Officials say the exercise requires visiting every household across the country for the purpose of enumeration and involves services of 3 million employees. Enditem
But in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian militants fired two rockets into Israe l, apparently meant to coincide with the ceremony. The Israeli military said the rockets were fired from Gaza and one was intercepted by air defenses. Earlier in the day, Palestinian activists held small demonstrations in the West Bank and in Gaza, where they trampled and set fire to pictures of Trump, Netanyahu and the leaders of the UAE and Bahrain.
For more coverage, visit our complete coronavirus section here.

After 12 years of dazzling San Franciscans at its glamorous Indian restaurant, Dosa on Fillmore St. has permanently closed.

Its the last San Francisco outpost for owners Anjan and Emily Mitra who recently shuttered the business after months of financial struggle that was only partly brought on by COVID-19. The San Francisco Chronicle first reported the closure.

Since the shutdown, the Dosa location at 1700 Fillmore St. had remained closed and as its lease was coming up for renewal, The Chronicle reports that Anjan made the decision to hand over the keys. The space has since gone up for lease.

Given the nature of the business and the high risk of restaurants compounded by COVID, (the landlord) lost confidence in us, Anjan told The Chronicle. We were already struggling at Fillmore; once COVID hit, we didnt have a chance. Packing up was the better choice for us  really, the only choice for us.

SFGATE reached out to Anjan for comment but did not hear back by the time of publication.

ALSO: Dispute over rent forces Tribune Tavern in Oakland to close permanently

When Dosa on Fillmore St. first opened its doors, it offered guests South Indian cuisine with a California twist. Its cocktail program included spice-infused libations that included a turmeric mule and a Bengali gimlet. The setting offered an upscale dining experience with high ceilings, vast windows and a bar with ornate chandeliers.

But last year, Dosa filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy just a month after closing its original Valencia St. location. Reasons behind that closure were attributed to an increase in rent and labor costs that made it difficult to operate.

"While we strongly believe that these are necessary and excellent benefits for our staff, it places an unsustainable burden on San Francisco restaurants," Anjan told Eater of the Valencia St. closure in 2019.

ALSO: 'Business just hasn't been the same': SF brewery for sale following closure

After the filing, Anjan told Eater that he hoped it would provide them some relief with creditors and allow them to get their business back on track.

Its not a final goodbye for Dosa, however. Dosa by Dosa, the fast-casual version in Oakland, will remain open for takeout. Dosa will also continue to sell ready-to-eat meals at Whole Foods stores and operate a central commissary kitchen where itll prepare meals available for delivery in San Francisco, Berkeley, Palo Alto, San Jose, Daly City, and Belmont via third-party delivery apps.

The recent Dosa closure comes as other San Francisco businesses have shuttered in recent weeks. Beach Street Grill closed after 15 years and The Riddler, a stylish Hayes Valley bar closed after three years.

Dosa was located at 1700 Fillmore St. in San Francisco.

Susana Guerrero is an SFGATE digital reporter. Email: Susana.Guerrero@sfgate.com | Twitter: @SusyGuerrero3

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TOKYO, Sept 16, 2020 - (JCN Newswire) - Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501) today announced that it will end business operations on the nuclear power plant construction project in the United Kingdom (Horizon Project), which was suspended in January 2019 (1). Hitachi made this decision given that 20 months have passed since the suspension, and the investment environment has become increasingly severe due to the impact of COVID-19.The Horizon Project is a proposal by Horizon Nuclear Power Limited, which Hitachi acquired in November 2012, to develop nuclear power stations comprising of two units of UK ABWR(2) at Wylfa Newydd in Anglesey, North-West Wales, with the intention to develop Hitachi's nuclear business in the UK and contribute to the energy policy of the UK government, as well as maintaining the business foundation that supports the nuclear industry in Japan.Hitachi decided to suspend the Project in January 2019, from the viewpoint of Hitachi's economic rationality as a private company because it was clear that further time was needed to decide on a financing structure for the Project and the conditions for building and operating the nuclear power stations.As a result of this decision to end business operations on the Horizon Project, Hitachi will coordinate with the UK government and relevant organizations regarding its cooperation as the owner of ABWR licence(3) and the handling of the planned construction sites and other matters. This decision is not expected to have significant impact on Hitachi's business results as Hitachi had posted an impairment loss and other expenses of 294.6 billion yen on consolidated financial results for fiscal 2018, the year ending March 31, 2019 due to the suspension of the Project.Hitachi expresses its deepest gratitude to the UK government, the Wales government and residents, the Japanese government and other stakeholders for their continued support and cooperation. Hitachi will continue to contribute to improve social, environmental and economic value and people's quality of life through its Social Innovation Business, including the energy business.(1) January 17, 2019 "Hitachi Announces Suspension of UK Nuclear Power Stations Construction Project and Posting of Impairment Loss and Related Expenses on Consolidated Basis, Posting of Extraordinary Loss on Unconsolidated Basis, and Revisions to Full-year Consolidated Business Forecast"(2) A reactor adapted to UK requirements based on ABWR(Advanced Boiling Water Reactor)(3) December 14, 2017 "UK ABWR successfully completes GDA process"About Hitachi, Ltd.Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is focusing on Social Innovation Business that combines information technology (IT), operational technology (OT) and products. The company's consolidated revenues for fiscal 2019 (ended March 31, 2020) totaled 8,767.2 billion yen ($80.4 billion), and the number of employees was approximately 301,000 worldwide. Hitachi delivers digital solutions utilizing Lumada in five sectors including Mobility, Smart Life, Industry, Energy and IT, to increase social, environmental and economic values of its customers. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at https://www.hitachi.com.Source: Hitachi, Ltd.Copyright 2020 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 16)  Four people were killed after a Philippine Air Force chopper crashed in the province of Basilan on Wednesday, authorities said.

The casualties include two pilots and two crew members of the rescue helicopter, said Lt. Col. Aris Galang, spokesperson of the Air Force.

The police and military identified the crash site as a rubber plantation in Barangay Upper Manggas, Lantawan town. The chopper came from the Edwin Andrews Air Base in Zamboanga City and was bound for Jolo, Sulu for an emergency medical evacuation when it crashed at around 1:00 p.m.

The incident appears to have been caused by bad weather, authorities said, but investigation is ongoing.
One of the Government's chief legal officers has resigned over Boris Johnson's controversial Brexit plans.

Lord Keen of Elie, the Advocate General for Scotland, is said to have quit because he is deeply unhappy with Mr Johnson's proposals to tear up parts of the Brexit divorce deal which ministers have said will break international law.

Lord Keen, who served as the UK Government's law officer for Scotland, tendered his resignation to the Prime Minister this morning.

But it was not immediately accepted amid speculation that ministers were trying to persuade him to stay in his post.

However, a Downing Street spokesman said in a statement issued this evening: 'Lord Keen has resigned as Advocate General for Scotland. The Prime Minister thanks him for his service.'

The peer had told the Press and Journal newspaper this morning: 'I tendered my resignation to the Prime Minister first thing this morning, I've not yet heard back from the Prime Minister.'

Mr Johnson had appeared to confirm that ministers had battled to try to keep Lord Keen in the Government, telling the Liaison Committee this afternoon that 'conversations on that matter are continuing'.

Lord Keens decision to quit is likely to increase concerns among senior Conservatives who are dismayed at the idea that the UK could row back on its international treaty obligations.

The peer was thrust into the spotlight in September last year when he represented the Government in its Supreme Court case over Mr Johnson's decision to prorogue Parliament.

Lord Keen clashed with Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis this week over the legality of the Prime Minister's Brexit plans.

Lord Keen of Elie, the Advocate General for Scotland, has resigned over Boris Johnson's controversial Brexit plans

Lord Keen: The Government's go-to Brexit lawyer who lost Supreme Court battle over prorogation Lord Keen was thrust into the spotlight in September last year as he represented the Government during its bombshell Supreme Court case over Boris Johnson's plans to prorogue Parliament. The Advocate General for Scotland had argued that the Prime Minister's decision to suspend Parliament in the run up to Brexit was lawful and that judges should not interfere in political matters. But his arguments were rejected by the court as it ruled unanimously that the prorogation of parliament was illegal. The case had been brought by arch-remainer Gina Miller, who was represented by Lord Pannick QC. The arguments made by Lord Keen and Lord Pannick during the three day hearing gripped the nation as they battled it out in a court case which delivered a political earthquake. Lord Keen had previously represented the Government in the Article 50 Brexit court case in 2016/17. Advertisement

Mr Lewis told MPs last week that the measures contained within the UK Internal Market Bill will 'break international law in a very specific and limited way'.

But yesterday Lord Keen said the Northern Ireland Secretary 'answered the wrong question'.

Speaking in the House of Lords, the peer said that the legislation does not 'constitute a breach of international law or of the rule of law'.

He said: 'I have satisfied myself as to the correct legal position in this context.

'It is my view that the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland essentially answered the wrong question.'

But Mr Lewis hit back this morning as he gave evidence to the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee.

He told MPs: 'I have spoken to Lord Keen and I have to say looking at the specific question my honourable friend asked me last week, he agrees the answer I gave was the correct answer.'

Mr Lewis reiterated that the Government's official legal advice to ministers is that overriding key parts of the Brexit divorce deal would break international law.

He maintained that his assertion in the Commons last week was 'absolutely in line' with the views of top lawyers advising the Government.

The minister said: 'I gave a very straight answer to Parliament last week in line with the Attorney General's position.

'My position is absolutely in line with the legal advice that the Attorney General put out.'

Lord Keen's resignation comes one week after Sir Jonathan Jones quit as Treasury Solicitor and Head of the Government Legal Profession.

He reportedly resigned over Mr Johnson's plans to depart from parts of the divorce accord struck with Brussels.

Lord Falconer, Labour's shadow attorney general, said the resignation of Lord Keen capped a 'week of chaos' for the Government.

He said: 'This has been a week of chaos from the governments own law officers, whose legal advice has been renounced by its own government and the voice of the law officers has been muted, and their authority is completely shot.

'This has been a farce that shames the entire government.'
An independent review of the Texas Windstorm Insurance Associations rate inadequacy has come out in time for public comment ahead of a crucial committee meeting next week.

The Actuarial and Underwriting Committee will meet next Wednesday to review a report on TWIAs future financial stability ordered earlier in the year, and could possibly recommend a rate filing for the board of directors meeting in December

While the new estimates are better than what was found in a staff review this summer, the new report by Willis Towers Watson still forecasts that current rates would not be sufficient to cover losses in a worst-case disaster.

The report became public Monday, giving policyholders with the states windstorm insurer of last resort a chance to speak up before the next meeting.

Using slightly different methods to estimate the associations liability, the firm determined that current rates for TWIAs residential policies could fall 32% short of covering a maximum-loss scenario; commercial policies were determined inadequate by 42%.

The latest internal review completed by TWIA staff in July indicated a 44% rate inadequacy for residential coverage and 49% for commercial.

One of the largest differences in the Willis Towers Watson assessment is the use of a long-term view when predicting hurricane frequency. TWIA has traditionally used a near-term view in its models, at least since 2008, that takes historical hurricane frequency as a baseline and adds a five-year assumption of hurricane impact that takes into account the cycle of highly active and mild hurricane seasons in the Atlantic.

For the hurricane-loss ratio based on industry experience, we changed the frequency to be a measure of the frequency hurricane years and not of hurricanes, the report authors wrote.

More Information Windstorm rates Public comment is being accepted until Friday via email at PublicComment@TWIA.org See More Collapse

They made such other suggestions as removing the cost of storm surge loss from its rate filing and gathering more detailed data for its models like the age of roofs on insured homes. TWIA has operated under the assumption that it will end up paying for some damages caused by storm surge, but the independent report excluded this assumption.

TWIAs board has been exploring the need to address inadequate rates, but it has avoided any kind of large rate hike while it tried to answer questions about whether the associations self-assessment should be verified.

It voted to not seek a rate increase in August, though it could still request a rate increase later this year.

The latest study findings were released as Hurricane Sally bore down on the Gulf Coast, potentially bringing 30 inches of rain in some areas, and four other named storms were progressing across the Atlantic Ocean.

It also fell almost a month after Hurricane Laura dealt devastating wind damage and storm surge to southwest Louisiana and parts of Orange.

Jefferson County Judge Jeff Branick said he would prefer to see insurance rates for TWIA customers in his county stay the same.

There are some private insurers coming into the market, and it is getting less expensive, Branick said. But the reality still is a couple extra hundred dollars a month for a young couple buying their first house means they are more likely to settle in Hardin County.

If the next couple of years are relatively calm like a decade ago, he said, TWIA could build up its reserve fund to a safe level.

But, after the prediction of an extremely active Atlantic hurricane season in 2020 and more devastating storms possible in the years ahead due to climate change, that scenario seems less likely.

Branick said he worries a rate hike could result in low- and moderate-income families on the Gulf Coast to go uninsured.

He said he would ultimately like to see a system where coastal residents are able to have their costs shared across the state through private markets, noting that they bear part of the costs of hail storms and wildfires for other parts of the state.

Correction: A previous version of this report included the wrong date of implementation for a piece of legislation.

jacob.dick@beaumontenterprise.com

twitter.com/jd_journalism
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / September 16, 2020 / Monterey Minerals Inc. (the "Company" or "Monterey") (CSE: MREY and FSE :2DK) is pleased provide a corporate and exploration update on activities at its wholly-owned Alicia high-grade gold and base metals project in Alicia Municipality, Philippines ("Alicia Project").

The Company mobilized its Technical Team to the project after the closing of the oversubscribed private placement (See press release dated July 28, 2020).

Highlights:

Acquisition of 100% of Greater Arc Pty Ltd (100% subsidiary of Greater Arc Resources Ltd, "Greater Arc" ) by Monterey (See Press Release dated August 13, 2020) Monterey issued 54 million Common Shares @ 8 cents (Canadian) for a total consideration of C$4.32 million (approximately A$4.10 million). The Monterey Shares will be held in escrow until February 9, 2021 and then distributed in specie to the 140 Greater Arc shareholders, following shareholder approval at a Greater Arc General Meeting of shareholders.

(100% subsidiary of ) by (See Press Release dated August 13, 2020) A contract with a Philippine-based drilling company, IndoDrill , has been executed for initial 3,000 metre drilling program. Personnel have been mobilized on site.

has been executed for initial 3,000 metre drilling program. Personnel have been mobilized on site. Drilling to target high-grade gold and polymetallic veins over 10 kilometers combined strike length identified over the last five or so years of exploration at Alicia.

Philippine-based geologist, Max Tuesley, has been appointed as Country Manager for the Philippines and is due on-site in late September. Max has over 25 years of multi-commodity experience including over 9 years in the Philippines.

The Alicia Municipality and local barangays continue to be supportive of the project and have supplied labour for exploration to date.

Figure 1 - Indodrill drill rig currently being assembled on site.

Drilling

IndoDrill, a Philippines based drilling company, has been awarded the initial 3,000 metre drilling contract. Personnel have been mobilized on site and the drill rig is currently being assembled, see Figure 1. It is anticipated that drilling will commence before the end of September.

Strong Addition to our Technical Team

The Company appointed Max Tuesley as the Country Manager (See Press Release dated August 26, 2020).

Mr. Tuesley will oversee exploration activities at the Alicia Project. Max is a highly experienced project manager and has spent over 25 years in grassroots, advanced mineral exploration and mine production, predominantly in gold, copper and base metals. He has been working in the Philippines for nine years, including senior management positions at the Masbate Gold Project for B2Gold Corp. and the Runruno Gold Mine for Metals Exploration Plc.

Max has also managed start up gold projects in Central Asia and porphyry copper exploration in both Mongolia and Sudan. Mr. Tuesley holds an Honour's degree in Economic Geology from James Cook University in Australia and is a member of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.

Figure 2 - Recent sampling of the Baloy Vein

2020 Exploration Program

Trenching activity has continued, with a focus on the Pamaraw, Baloy, Sandi, and Quintilla veins. Priority samples are now being prepared for dispatch to the Intertek laboratory in Manila. Results are expected before the end of October. Further fieldwork, including sampling, will be ongoing in advance of the initiation of drilling.

Figure 3 - Additional sampling of the Baloy Vein.

The Company is also pleased to announce that Emma Jadoc is remaining as Exploration Manager at Alicia.

Figure 4 - Exploration Manager Emma Jadoc, undertaking trench mapping.

Figure 5 - Pamaraw Vein trench.

"With the addition of Max, we are able to explore the potential of how large the area of mineralization is at the Alicia Project. We would also like to thank our team members Emma Jadoc and Liza Neido for working tirelessly for the Alicia Project despite the COVID-related restrictions that are in place", stated James Macintosh, President and CEO.

Qualified Person

The technical information in this press release has been reviewed and approved by Martin Dormer, a consultant to the Company, who is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. Martin is a member of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM), the Australian Institute of Geoscientists (AIG). He is a West Australian geologist with over 22 years' experience and sufficient experience of relevance to the styles of mineralization and types of deposits under consideration to qualify as a Competent Person as defined by the 2012 Edition of the Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC) Australian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources, and Ore Reserves.

About Monterey Minerals Inc.

The Company owns 100% of the Alicia Project in the Alicia Municipality of the Philippines. The Alicia Project is a system of multiple, high-grade gold and silver veins with base metals over a strike length of greater than ten kilometres. The Company also owns the Cobalt Mountain Property (the "Property") in the Omineca Mining Division of British Columbia near the town of Smithers. The Company's NI 43-101 technical report, available on SEDAR, notes historic sampling on the Property that returned mineralized showings of gold, silver, copper, zinc and cobalt. The Company also owns 877 sq. km. of prospective Pilbara Basin tenements on the eastern flank of the Pilbara Basin in Western Australia, including a property that abuts Pacton Gold's tenement where gold-bearing conglomerates were identified.

For more information, contact investor relations at info@montereyminerals.com

On Behalf of the Board of Directors,

James Macintosh,

President and CEO

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its regulation services provider has reviewed or accepted responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release

This press release may include forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation, concerning the business of the Company. Forward-looking information is based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the management of the Company. Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking information is based on are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking information because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release. The Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, other than as required by applica.

SOURCE: Monterey Minerals Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/606332/Monterey-Minerals-Provides-Corporate-and-Exploration-Update-at-Alicia-Project-in-the-Philippines
Around a third of Belgrade has no connection to drainage systems and instead relies on the septic tanks that the trucks empty straight into the rivers

Just down the road from Belgrade's historic city centre, gates open for trucks to pass to the banks of the Danube, where they dump raw sewage into Europe's venerated river.

It's not a secret operation, but rather a business nobody likes to mention in the Serbian capitalthe only one in Europe to spew all of its unfiltered wastewater into the continent's second-longest river.

A heavy odour rises as the brown stream of faeces flows into the waterway, a far cry from the colours that inspired Johann Strauss to write his famous waltz "On the Beautiful Blue Danube".

For fishermen who live off the fruits of the Danube and the Sava rivers that join in a beautiful, broad confluence around Belgrade's old fortress, this daily practice is "disastrous".

"I want to cry, and nobody cares," Dragoljub Ristic, a 59-year-old fisherman told AFP.

Around a third of Belgrade, a city of 1.6 million, has no connection to drainage systems and instead relies on the septic tanks that the trucks empty straight into the rivers.

The rest shunt their unprocessed waste into the river through around 100 sewage drains.

Roughly 190 million cubic meters of wastewateror 60,000 Olympic-sized swimming poolsare poured into the rivers annually, according to estimates made by infrastructure minister Zorana Mihajlovic.

"No big city in Europe commits such a crime towards its rivers," claims Belgrade Deputy Mayor Goran Vesic, who has called for a proper wastewater treatment system.

The Danube begins in Germany and snakes through nine other countries over 2,850 kilometres (1770 miles) before draining into the Black Sea.

A group of Austrian scientists in 2019 noted a "critical" presence of E. coli bacteria in Serbia's strip of the river, which local experts say is a sign of the high levels of organic pollution.

If consumed, the bacteria can cause infections, said Igor Jezdimirovic, from the local NGO Environment Engineering.

'We have killed all our rivers, we will kill this one too,' lamented Mladen Jovic, a 59-year-old fisherman

Riverbed build-up

Thanks to its sheer size and power, the Danube mostly manages to "cleanse itself", said Bozo Dalmacija, a chemistry professor leading a water quality research team in Serbia.

For most of the year bacterial particles stay below 500 micrograms per millilitre, the level at which they pose a health hazard, he told AFP.

Those who spend their lives on the river say they have already seen it change, with a build up of waste shallowing out the riverbed.

While scientific studies are hard to come by, fishermen say the sewage has altered the variety of fish that end up in their nets.

Whitefish are harder to find whereas bottom feeders like catfish, which eat the waste, are more abundant.

"We have killed all our rivers, we will kill this one too," lamented Mladen Jovic, a 59-year-old fisherman.

"The Danube is a very strong and powerful river that manages (the pollution), but it can't do it forever," he added.

Promises to purify

Serbia is an EU candidate country which hopes to join the bloc by 2025.

Its environmental record is a major obstacle, with the country needing a five billion euro investment to build the necessary eco-friendly infrastructure.

Belgrade's deputy mayor pledged five years ago that a sewage system for the capital would be finished by 2020

The country has already stated it will not be able to meet the demands, proposing an 11-year transition period after it joins the bloc.

"It can't be done in five years. We are already late," Dalmacija told AFP.

In late July, President Aleksandar Vucic announced that 70 municipalities around the country will get "water purifying plants and sewage systems".

But there has been no news since, with the Ministry of Environmental Protection refusing to comment on the matter or clarify who would finance such a project.

"We can't do that with our current budget," said Dalmacija. "Maybe he (Vucic) has other information."

It wasn't the first such announcement. Belgrade's deputy mayor pledged five years ago that a sewage system for the capital would be finished by 2020a deadline that has since been extended twice, to 2025 and recently to 2029.

In January, Belgrade authorities signed an agreement with the China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC)to start work on a wastewater treatment plant for the city, but construction hasn't started as Serbia is yet to allocate money in the budget.

Jezdimirovic, from the environmental NGO, is waiting to see real results.

"As the old Latins used to saydeeds, not words."

Explore further Serbia to reintroduce virus lockdown after new case spike

 2020 AFP
The 49ers issued a statement Tuesday denouncing racist social-media messages a fan sent to Cardinals safety Budda Baker after Arizonas 24-20 win on Sunday at Levis Stadium.

Baker shared the messages, which are filled with racial slurs and profanity, on Twitter on Monday, saying: Im all good with opposing fans talking trash. But This right here man... All you can do is pray for ppl like this.

The 49ers said they are investigating who sent the messages to Baker and will ban the person from games.

The San Francisco 49ers unequivocally denounce the racist messages sent to Budda Baker. The individual who sent the messages does not represent the 49ers or the Faithful. Per team policy, we are working to identify this person and will ban them from all 49ers games and events. Incidents like this demonstrate how much work remains to be done to address racism and hate in our society. We remain steadfast in our commitment to that work.

Baker had a clean hit around the midsection on All-Pro tight end George Kittle in the second quarter when Kittle jumped for an overthrown pass. Kittle suffered a sprained left knee on the play.

Sadly, these incidents occur far too often, CEO Jed York said, via Twitter. Permitting these individuals to go unchecked allows racism and hate to spread. I urge other teams in the world of sport to consider our policy of banning those who seek to tear others down with racial slurs and threats of violence.

Eric Branch covers the 49ers for The San Francisco Chronicle. Email: ebranch@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Eric_Branch
BRIDGEPORT  Police continue to investigate the fatal shooting of a young woman and her unborn daughter, with more details of the homicide released this week.

Karla Bermudez, 22, who was 23 weeks pregnant, was killed in a hail of bullets in her Washington Terrace apartment on Aug. 31. Police said they believe her boyfriend, Sean Fyall, 23, was the target of the shooting.

Fyall, who is awaiting trial for prior charges of criminal mischief and failure to appear in court, has not been cooperative, police said.

Police Capt. Brian Fitzgerald on Tuesday said the case is an active investigation and provided no further information.

A search warrant affidavit obtained by Hearst Connecticut Media shows that 13 spent bullets were found in the area where Bermudez and her boyfriend were sleeping.

Bermudezs obituary states she was an extremely talented person blessed with the artistic ability to create masterpieces with makeup and was cultivating her skills at Oxford Academy of Hair Design. It states she also enjoyed modeling and photography and cared for animals, especially her dog.

She was born July 28, 1998 in Bridgeport.

She was an extremely friendly and outgoing person who was always the life of the party, and was usually the prankster, the obituary states.

Survivors include her parents, siblings, grandmothers, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins, according to the obituary. Her funeral was Sept. 6.

According to the search warrant affidavit, at 5:35 a.m. Aug. 31, ShotSpotter activated after nine gunshots in the vicinity of the Washington Terrace multi-family house where Bermudez was living. As officers were responding to the ShotSpotter activation, Bridgeport Emergency Operations received a call from the home stating the callers son and the sons girlfriend had been shot.

When officers arrived, they found Fyall standing on the front porch of the house screaming that he had been shot, the affidavit states. He was bleeding from his rear leg and buttock area.

The affidavit states that officers entered the apartment and spoke to Fyalls parents who told them their sons pregnant girlfriend was also shot. Bermudez was found unresponsive on the floor in the rear bedroom. She was taken to St. Vincents Medical Center where she and her unborn child were pronounced dead.

Fyalls parents, the affidavit continues, told police they had been sleeping when they were awakened by multiple gunshots hitting the house and their son screaming that he and his girlfriend had been shot. Police saw approximately 20 bullet holes in the back bedroom wall.

In the apartment police also found plastic folds they said are commonly used to hold narcotics, a black electric scale and rubber bands, the affidavit states.
A pair of dinosaurs were sleeping in burrows some 125 million years ago when a nearby volcano erupted, sending lava down the valley and trapping them in an underground grave.

The story has now been brought to life after farmers in China discovered the perfectly preserved creatures, which were an unknown species, in their final resting place.

Paleontologists noticed their eyes were closed when they were buried alive, naming them Changmiania liaoningensis  which means eternal sleeper in Chinese.

The dinosaurs are believed to have died from asphyxiation, toxins and infections, due to the posture of the skeletons.

Scroll down for video

A pair of dinosaurs were sleeping in burrows some 125 million years ago when a nearby volcano erupted, sending lava down the valley and trapping them in an underground grave

The fossils were uncovered by farmers working in Liaoning province in northeastern China.

It is tentatively hypothesized that both Changmiania liaoningensis specimens were suddenly entrapped in a collapsed underground burrow while they were resting, which would explain their perfect lifelike postures and the complete absence of weathering and scavenging traces, reads the study in PeerJ.

Researchers found the two were laying on the ground with their eyes closed, as if they died in their sleep.

Markings on their hip bones suggest they burrowed, leading experts to believe they were sleeping underground when the eruption occurred.

Paleontologists noticed their eyes were closed when they were buried alive, naming them Changmiania liaoningensis  which means eternal sleeper in Chinese

The dinosaurs are believed to have died from asphyxiation, toxins and infections, due to the posture of the skeletons

The dinosaurs were about three feet in length when alive and each had long, flexible tails, along with the ability to walk upright on its hind legs.

The creatures also had had shovel-shaped snouts, which would have helped with digging swiftly and efficiently.

The neck and forearm were short but strong, and its shoulder blades resembled those of modern burrowing animals.

The team note also that the tails of the dinosaurs had been stretched out due to stiffness.

The area is also covered with debris from an ancient volcanic eruption, along with fossils of other creatures that got in its way.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen gives her first State of the Union speech during a plenary session of European Parliament in Brussels, on Sept. 16, 2020. (Olivier Hoslet/pool via Reuters)

EU Must Be More Decisive in Calling Out Beijings Human Rights Abuses: EU Chief

The European Union must call out the Chinese regimes human rights abuses and must make decisions on sanctions more efficiently, the EUs chief executive said on Wednesday.

The European Commission, the EUs executive body, will come forward with a proposal for a European Magnitsky Act, which will enable the bloc to impose sanctions on human rights abusers around the world, said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in her first State of the Union speech.

We must always call out human rights abuses whenever and wherever they occurbe it on Hong Kong or with the Uyghurs, she said.

A 12-year-old girl is tackled to the ground by police in Hong Kong, on Sept. 6, 2020. (Mak Wai Kit/HKUST Radio News Reporting Team, Stand News/Screenshot via Reuters)

But what holds us back? Why are even simple statements on EU values delayed, watered down, or held hostage for other motives? she asked.

Currently, the EUs Common Foreign and Security Policy requires unanimity among all member states. As a result, EU policy on China has been repeatedly blocked by some small EU countries, such as Greece, Hungary, and Portugal, which can be easily swayed by Beijings influence.

Von der Leyen called for change to the decision-making process. When Member States say Europe is too slow, I say to them: Be courageous and finally move to qualified majority votingat least on human rights and sanctions implementation.

Police patrolling as Muslims leave the Id Kah Mosque after the morning prayer on Eid al-Fitr in Kashgar, Xinjiang, on June 26, 2017. (Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images)

Divide and Conquer

Under the proposed qualified majority rule, EU foreign policy proposals can be passed if 55 percent of member states vote in favor and it is supported by member states representing at least 65 percent of the total EU population.

This will prevent a small number of member states from blocking EU foreign policy, and address the EUs concerns over the Chinese regimes divide-and-conquer tactics.

In May, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell accused Beijing of playing on differences among EU member states.

Divisions within Europe have made it hard to adopt a unified strategy and response to challenges posed by China, according to a recent report by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), a London-based think tank.

High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell holds a press conference in Brussels, on May 26, 2020. (Pool/Getty Images)

Completing Our Toolbox

Von der Leyen made clear what she intended to achieve on the human rights front once the decision-making gridlock is solved.

This House has called many times for a European Magnitsky Actand I can announce that we will now come forward with a proposal, she said.

EU officials and parliamentarians have long called for a European version of the Magnitsky Act, a U.S. law that punishes foreign officials suspected of human rights abuses by freezing their assets in the United States and banning them from U.S. soil.

Flags of the European Union fly outside the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, on May 11, 2016. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

The calls have grown significantly louder this year due to the worsening human rights situation in Hong Kong and Xinjiang.

Beijings national security law for Hong Kong and the suppression of ethnic and religious minorities in Xinjiang and Tibet were among the issues discussed at an EU-China summit held on Monday, which was attended by von der Leyen, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, EU Council President Charles Michel, and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen gives her first State of the Union speech during a plenary session of European Parliament in Brussels, on Sept. 16, 2020. (Olivier Hoslet/pool via Reuters)

There have also been calls for the EU to impose sanctions on those responsible for the brutal crackdown of protesters in Belarus and the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

We need to complete our toolbox, said von der Leyen, referring to the available means by which the EU can punish human rights abusers.

Be it in Hong Kong, Moscow, or Minsk, Europe must take a clear and swift position, she said.

Nicole Hao contributed to this report.
US president says he mulled over assassinating the Syrian leader after a chemical attack on civilians.

Syria on Wednesday hit back at President Donald Trump and likened the United States to a rogue state after he said he wanted to assassinate Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Trumps admission of such a step confirms that the US administration is a rogue  state, Syrias foreign ministry said in a statement carried by state news agency SANA.

It pursues the same tactics as terrorist groups such as murder and assassination, it said, a day after Trump made the remarks to the morning show Fox & Friends.





The US president said his then-secretary of defence, Jim Mattis, opposed the assassination of al-Assad in 2017.

I would have rather taken him out. I had him all set, Trump said. Mattis didnt want to do it. Mattis was a highly overrated general, and I let him go.

Trump was reportedly mulling assassinating al-Assad after the Syrian president allegedly launched a chemical attack on civilians.

In April 2017, a sarin gas attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun killed more than 80 people.

Trump unleashed missile attacks against the regimes Shayrat airbase, from which the gas attack was allegedly launched.

Trumps remarks on Tuesday contradict other comments he made to reporters in the Oval office on September 5, 2018, when he said that killing al-Assad was never even contemplated.

In April 2018, the US, France and United Kingdom launched retaliatory attacks after another alleged regime chemical attack on the then rebel-held town of Douma, near Damascus.

After nine years of war, the Assad government controls some 70 percent of Syria.

The conflict has since 2011 killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced approximately half of Syrias prewar population.
From taking a tour of an aquarium to meeting beluga whales, penguins of Shedd Aquarium in Chicago are having quite an adventure for the past few months. Thanks to the Internet, people are witnessing those trips in the form of videos. Adding to those feel-good and cute videos is this clip of two baby penguins waddling around and making the most adorable sound with their feet. The clip will give you a tough time to hold back your awws.

Running into the weekend like the penguin chicks in the Abbott Oceanarium! Sound on for the flop flop flop of penguin feet, reads the caption of the post shared on official Twitter profile of Shedd Aquarium.

Take a look at the clip:

Running into the weekend like the penguin chicks in the Abbott Oceanarium!  Sound on for the flop flop flop of penguin feet. pic.twitter.com/pdf10AzwtB  Shedd Aquarium (@shedd_aquarium) September 12, 2020

Posted on September 13, the clip has garnered over 35,200 views along with more than 3,500 likes. Netizens were overjoyed to see the cute penguin chicks enjoying themselves and many reacted by sharing heart emojis. Some couldnt stop thanking the aquarium for brightening up their day with such a happy video.

Here are some of the reactions:

The one in front is sporting a "mohawk" do with what's left of his down feathers. Too cute!  LadyLetterCarrier (@LadyLetrCarrier) September 12, 2020

Flopflopflop Penguin Content.  Kevin 'Masks up, Gloves On' Healy (@kaminosabredart) September 13, 2020

They are so cute, and put a smile on my face everytime I watch them, thank you for sharing them with us.  Tracy (@Tracy28774684) September 14, 2020

I so love these little guys   Craig David Adams (@craigadams05) September 12, 2020

omg. the flop, flop, flop!!!

  LJ  (@noisybrooklyn1) September 12, 2020

What are your thoughts on these baby penguins?
A 30-year-old man was taken to a local hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening after an alleged assault in Niagara Falls Wednesday.

Niagara Regional Police said officers attended the area of Willmott Street and Second Avenue at about 12:30 a.m. for reports of an assault.

Police said when officers arrived they found a 30-year-old man with injuries.

The suspect was arrested.

Justin Yates, 33, of Niagara Falls, was arrested and charged with assault with a weapon and failing to comply with a probation order.

Police ask anyone with information to call them at 905-688-4111 ext. 2200.
A special venue showcasing cutting-edge technologies has opened in Budapest at the Uj Hidegkuti Nandor Stadium. This 'EDU & FUN Digital Experience Centre' was inaugurated on Tuesday.

The centre is a place to discover and try out the latest infocommunication and digital devices, Tamas Schanda, the parliamentary state secretary of the Ministry of Innovation and Technology, said.



Schoolchildren can try out 3D printing and other smart technologies such as robotics, he noted. He said Hungarian young people should be winners of the future.



Our future largely hinges on technological development and digitalisation, he said, adding that the 430 million forint (EUR 1.2m) complex was designed with developing digital knowledge in mind.



Address:

Uj Hidegkuti Nandor Stadion

1087 Budapest, Salgotarjani ut 12-14.

Infoline:

+3670 440 4400



Photo courtesy of Edu&Fun
DALLAS  The family of a woman who died after being held in an East Texas jail last year filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the company that runs the facility, claiming its staff neglected her care and ignored her pleas for help as her health deteriorated and she went blind.

Holly Barlow-Austins husband and mother filed the lawsuit in federal court against Bowie County, LaSalle Corrections, and several of the companys employees at the jail in Texarkana. They say LaSalle, which runs jails and immigration detention facilities in Texas, Louisiana and Georgia, violated Barlow-Austins rights and caused her death.

Police in Texarkana, a city that straddles Texas northeastern border with Arkansas, arrested Barlow-Austin in April of 2019 for a parole violation. The 46-year-old died two months later at a hospital  one in a string of deaths that have led to lawsuits and investigations of LaSalles operations.

What happened to Holly was not an isolated incident, said Erik Heipt, a Seattle-based lawyer whos representing Barlow-Austins family and has brought other cases against LaSalle. She is just the latest victim of a corporate culture that sees inmates as dollar signs and puts profits over peoples lives.

The company and a Texarkana law firm that has represented it in past cases did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

LaSalle also operates the Georgia immigration detention facility where a nurse on Monday claimed that staff had performed questionable hysterectomies. A top U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement medical official has vehemently disputed the lightly substantiated claim.

Barlow-Austin arrived at the Bi-State Jail with serious health conditions, including HIV, but normal vital signs and full mobility, according to the suits description of her medical records. She allegedly left blind, emaciated, and barely able to move.

The lawsuit claims that LaSalle guards and medical staff neglected her heath care, falsified records to cover their failure to check on her and ignored obvious signs that her condition was worsening. It says they didnt provide her prescribed medication, deprived her of food and water, and only took her to the hospital after it was too late.

After not getting some of her medication for days, Barlow-Austin began experiencing headaches and dizziness, according to the suit, and tests showed her immune system was failing.

Her condition continued to worsen and by mid-May she was placed on medical observation. The lawsuit describes hours of surveillance video of Barlow-Austin in her cell, growing sicker, writhing in pain and calling for help.

By June, Barlow-Austin was so weak and blind that she allegedly struggled to reach and find the food and water guards slid through a slot in her cell door. The lawsuit states that she began soiling herself and took on the appearance of a starving prisoner of war.

Despite this, over a period of days guards and medical staff didnt check on her or, when they did, ignored her calls for help and water, according to the suit. It says staff falsified observation logs  something state inspectors also found last year in another case.

A nurse finally checked Barlow-Austins vitals on the night of June 10, and she was taken to the hospital the next morning after medical staff found her pupils no longer reacted to light, the lawsuit states.

LaSalle never told Barlow-Austins family that she was in the hospital, according to the court complaint, and, after they found out from the sheriff, tried to stop them from visiting her.

According to the lawsuit, Barlow-Austin died of sepsis, meningitis, HIV/AIDS and accelerated hypertension on June 17.

Her death came two months after LaSalle reached an undisclosed settlement with the family of a man who died at the Bi-State Jail in 2015. That lawsuit, which was also brought by Heipt, claimed company employees deprived Michael Sabbie of medications and treatment for his heart disease, diabetes and other medical conditions.

Judge Bobby Howell, Bowie Countys top official, said he could not comment on pending litigation but praised LaSalle for keeping the coronavirus out of the jail. The county renewed its contract with the company in February.
With Islamic State and its various manifestations spreading base in 12 Indian states in recent years, the Sunni jihadists group is now most active" in these states across the country.

Apart from southern states like Telangana, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu  where the Iran and Syria-based terrorist outfit penetrated years ago  investigating agencies have found their links in states like Maharashtra, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir as well.

The Islamic State or ISIS, which has taken control over much of Syria and Iraq since 2014 and has branches in countries like Bangladesh, Mali, Somalia, and Egypt and links with other terror outfits like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Al-Qaeda, is using various social media platforms to propagate its ideology in India.

Many instances of individuals from different states joining the group have come to the notice of the central and state security agencies.

The information on IS was provided by Minister of State of Home G Kishan Reddy in the Rajya Sabha in a written reply to Bharatiya Janata Party MP Vinay P Sahasrabuddhes Unstarred Question.

The Minister said: The cyberspace is being closely watched by Indian agencies and action taken as per the law."

Reddy said that probes by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) have revealed that the IS is most active in Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir.

The NIA  Indias anti-terror agency  has registered 17 cases related to the presence of IS in Telangana, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. It has arrested 122 accused, Reddy replied.

Islamic State, or Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL), or Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), or Daesh, or Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP), ISIS Wilayat Khorasan, or Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham-Khorasan (ISIS-K) and its manifestations have been notified as terrorist organisations and included in the First Schedule to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 by the central government," the Minister said.

Asked whether the government has any information on how these group members are funded and whether they are getting any foreign funding for terror activities, the Minister replied in the positive.

However, Reddy did not explain what information the Ministry of Home Affairs  which is responsible for internal security and law and order in the country  has on the IS and which foreign country is funding for their terror activities.

MHA officials indicated the role of neighbouring Pakistan in such activities. In August 2014, the US and Iran started a campaign to conduct airstrikes on ISIS targets in Iraq.

Since then, 14 countries in a US-led coalition along with local Kurdish and Arab forces in the area have also executed airstrikes on ISIS in both Iraq and Syria. It has led to the killing of several top ISIS leaders, weakening their grasp on many of their strongholds.
Marnie-Jane Millard became the CEO of Nichols plc (LON:NICL) in 2013, and we think it's a good time to look at the executive's compensation against the backdrop of overall company performance. This analysis will also assess whether Nichols pays its CEO appropriately, considering recent earnings growth and total shareholder returns.

Check out our latest analysis for Nichols

Comparing Nichols plc's CEO Compensation With the industry

According to our data, Nichols plc has a market capitalization of UK463m, and paid its CEO total annual compensation worth UK587k over the year to December 2019. Notably, that's an increase of 17% over the year before. In particular, the salary of UK356.0k, makes up a huge portion of the total compensation being paid to the CEO.

In comparison with other companies in the industry with market capitalizations ranging from UK156m to UK622m, the reported median CEO total compensation was UK609k. From this we gather that Marnie-Jane Millard is paid around the median for CEOs in the industry. Furthermore, Marnie-Jane Millard directly owns UK131k worth of shares in the company.

Component 2019 2018 Proportion (2019) Salary UK356k UK325k 61% Other UK231k UK177k 39% Total Compensation UK587k UK502k 100%

On an industry level, around 46% of total compensation represents salary and 54% is other remuneration. According to our research, Nichols has allocated a higher percentage of pay to salary in comparison to the wider industry. If salary is the major component in total compensation, it suggests that the CEO receives a higher fixed proportion of the total compensation, regardless of performance.

A Look at Nichols plc's Growth Numbers

Nichols plc has reduced its earnings per share by 11% a year over the last three years. In the last year, its revenue is down 9.5%.

Overall this is not a very positive result for shareholders. This is compounded by the fact revenue is actually down on last year. So given this relatively weak performance, shareholders would probably not want to see high compensation for the CEO. Historical performance can sometimes be a good indicator on what's coming up next but if you want to peer into the company's future you might be interested in this free visualization of analyst forecasts.

Story continues

Has Nichols plc Been A Good Investment?

Given the total shareholder loss of 22% over three years, many shareholders in Nichols plc are probably rather dissatisfied, to say the least. Therefore, it might be upsetting for shareholders if the CEO were paid generously.

To Conclude...

As we touched on above, Nichols plc is currently paying a compensation that's close to the median pay for CEOs of companies belonging to the same industry and with similar market capitalizations. On the other hand, EPS growth and total shareholder return have been negative for the last three years. We'd stop short of saying compensation is inappropriate, but we would understand if shareholders had questions regarding a future raise.

CEO compensation can have a massive impact on performance, but it's just one element. That's why we did some digging and identified 1 warning sign for Nichols that investors should think about before committing capital to this stock.

Arguably, business quality is much more important than CEO compensation levels. So check out this free list of interesting companies that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.

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.
Rep. Ken Buck (R-Co.) at the US Capitol in Washington, on June 10, 2020. (Greg Nash/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

More US Lawmakers Demand DOJ Investigation Into Netflix Release Cuties

Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) joined a growing number of lawmakers calling on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to carry out an investigation into Netflix over the recent release of the controversial film Cuties on the video streaming platform.

In a letter (pdf) to the department on Monday, Buck and Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) expressed concern over the potential exploitation of children in the film, which was released by the streaming service on Sept. 9.

We join our Congressional colleagues in urging the Department of Justice (DOJ) to open an investigation to ensure the film and its production uphold federal laws protecting children from exploitation, the lawmakers wrote.

Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) testifies at a House hearing in front of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, in Washington on July 12, 2019. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

The film, titled Mignonnes in its original French, centers around an 11-year-old Senegalese immigrant named Amy who lives in Paris and joins a group of dancers called the Cuties at school.

According to a description of the film on the Sundance website, Amy and her friends enthusiastically embrace an increasingly sensual dance routine, sparking the girls hope to twerk their way to stardom at a local dance contest.

The description adds that director Maimouna Doucoure focuses tightly on her rowdy protagonists, crafting a spirited film that nimbly depicts the tweens youthful energy and vulnerabilities while exploring their fumbling eagerness to be identified as sexualized.

Throughout the film, young girls engage in sexually provocative dances, and the film includes at least one scene where a young girl is partially nude. Not only does this raise alarms that these girls may have been exploited in the production of Cuties, but the film also creates an environment where the sexual abuse and exploitation of children by pedophiles is normalized, Buck and Biggs wrote.

While the Constitution vigorously protects the freedoms of speech and expression, content that victimizes minors is not among these protected forms of content, they continued.

The lawmakers in their letter called for a DOJ investigation to ensure the children cast in the film were not exploited or taken advantage of during its production. They said that certain scenes in the film stimulates the child sex trafficking trade, such as the provocative dances shown throughout Cuties.

The sexualization and gross objectification of these girls on screen creates an environment that is ripe for individuals to take advantage of these innocent children, they added. As we have seen all too often, the inherent power structure of film production leaves these girls vulnerable to indecent and potentially abusive treatment.

Netflix has defended Cuties and said that people should watch it before opposing it. In a statement to The Epoch Times last week, a Netflix spokesperson said Cuties is a social commentary against the sexualization of young children and a powerful story about the pressure young girls face on social media and from society more generally growing up.

Wed encourage anyone who cares about these important issues to watch the movie, the spokesperson added.

The Epoch Times has reached out to Netflix for comment on Bucks and Biggss joint letter.

Director Maimouna Doucoure attends the Cuties premiere during the 2020 Sundance Film Festival at Egyptian Theatre in Park City, Utah, on Jan. 23, 2020. (Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images)

Doucoure defended her film this week, saying that it is a social commentary on the treatment of young girls.

Its because I saw so many things and so many issues around me lived by young girls, that I decided to make this film and sound an alarm and say we need to protect our children, Doucoure said at the Toronto Film Festival on French filmmakers. Its bold, its feminist, but its so important and necessary to create debate and try to find solutions, for me as an artist, for politicians and parents. Its a real issue.

Last week, Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) announced on Twitter that he was joining Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) in calling on the DOJ to press charges against Netflix for distribution of child pornography, amid a cancel Netflix backlash against the streaming service.

As a father of three young daughters, I find Cuties sickening, Banks wrote on Twitter.

Cotton announced on Sept. 12, Like any parent, I find @netflix decision to peddle child pornography disgusting. And its criminal. @TheJusticeDept should take swift action.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) last week also called on the department to probe whether the filmmakers violated any federal laws against the production and distribution of child pornography.

[I]t is likely that the filming of this movie created even more explicit and abusive scenes, and that pedophiles across the world in the future will manipulate and imitate this film in abusive ways, he wrote in a letter (pdf) to Attorney General William Barr.

Mimi Nguyen Ly contributed to this report.
In an unsent draft of that email, Warren excoriated Singletary for having grossly underplayed Prudes death by first describing it to her a drug overdose. In the draft, prepared with Deputy Mayor James Smiths help, Warren said she strongly believed Vaughn should be fired and that she would have asked for Vaughns termination in March, had she seen the footage then. She suspended Vaughn and six other officers last week.
Japan's new prime minister Yoshihide Suga, Prime Minister Narendra Modi: On Wednesday, Yoshihide Suga, the new leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, was elected Japan's prime minister by the powerful House of Representatives. India's Prime Minister Modi congratulated him on the same.

Yoshihide Suga, the new leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, was elected Japans prime minister by the powerful House of Representatives on Wednesday. According to Kyodo News, his immediate focus would be on reviving the battered economy while keeping the novel coronavirus under control.

Suga pledged to push forward with former prime minister Shinzo Abe policies such Abenomics, a mix of measures aimed at beating deflation and spurring growth in the worlds third-largest economy. The 71-year-old farmers son, who unlike Abe and many other lawmakers in Japan is not the scion of a political dynasty, has hinted at the possibility of additional steps to shore up the economy, Kyodo News reported.

Suga will be the oldest prime minister to take office since Kiichi Miyazawa in 1991. Many cabinet members such as Finance Minister Taro Aso and Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi are expected to be retained in Sugas cabinet. Indias Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated him on becoming Japans Prime Minister.

Also read: India takes on Pakistan OIC, urges Turkey to understand democratic practises, at UN Rights Council

Heartiest congratulations to Excellency Yoshihide Suga on the appointment as Prime Minister of Japan @kantei. I look forward to jointly taking our Special Strategic and Global Partnership to new heights. @sugawitter  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 16, 2020

Also read: NSA Ajit Doval walks out of SCO meet after Pakistan uses fictitious map

Health minister Katsunobu Kato is expected to succeed Suga as chief Cabinet secretary, a key post whose holder serves as both policy coordinator and the governments top spokesman. Defense Minister Taro Kono is slated to be named minister in charge of administrative reform, an area Suga has promised to focus on to reduce bureaucratic sectionalism. Earlier in the day, the entire Cabinet of former Shinzo Abe submitted their resignation on Wednesday.

Also read: Chinese troops movement in depth areas opposite Arunachal, Indian Army strengthens positions
A US student who 'stabbed an Italian cop to death' during a Rome drug bust wept in court today as he apologised to the officer's family, saying 'I will never be able to forgive myself.'

Finnegan Lee Elder, 20, read a statement in front of the Rome court in which he said the evening of July 26, 2019 was 'the worst night of my life', according to Italian news agencies at the hearing, which is closed to most media due to coronavirus restrictions.

Elder and friend Gabriel Natale-Hjorth, 19, face life sentences for murder.

Prosecutors say Mario Cerciello Rega was killed in an unprovoked nighttime attack after he and his partner, both in plain clothes, approached the two American friends on vacation in Italy, who had earlier tried to buy drugs.

Elder has admitted to stabbing policeman Mario Cerciello Rega several times with an eight-inch combat knife, but both he and Hjorth say they were jumped from behind by men they thought were drug dealers.

Finnegan Lee Elder, 20, (pictured appearing in a court in Rome today) has admitted to stabbing policeman Mario Cerciello Rega several times with an eight-inch combat knife, but both he and Hjorth say they were jumped from behind by men they thought were drug dealers

'I want to apologise to everyone, the Cerciello family and his friends,' Elder, in tears, told the court. 'To the whole world. That night was the worst night of my life and if I could go back and change things I would do it now, but I can't,' he added.

'I want to say that that night was the worst night of my life, not because I am in prison, away from everyone,' he said.

'There are other reasons: I took a person's life, I took a husband from his wife, I broke a bond between brothers. And I have taken a son from his mother. I will never be able to forgive myself for all this.'

Cerciello's death was front-page news last year due to an outpouring of public sympathy for the policeman, who had just returned to work after his honeymoon. But there was also widespread shock over leaked photos of Natale-Hjorth blindfolded and handcuffed inside a police station.

Natale-Hjorth fought with Cerciello's partner during the attack. Even though he did not stab Cerciello, under Italian law he faces the same charge of 'voluntary homicide' with a special circumstance of killing a police officer.

Elder and Natale-Hjorth, both from San Francisco, were 19 and 18 at the time of the killing.

The images in court show Elder with a partially missing middle finger. His mother told CNN last year that her son fell from a ladder in an industrial accident a few years ago.

This left his left hand partially paralyzed and his finger amputated, Leah Elder said. 'He was hospitalized for days while they attempted reattachment surgery of the finger twice and then it didnt take and he had to have amputation surgery.'

IN 2016, he was charged assault of a fellow high school classmate that resulted in severe injury

Natale-Hjorth (left) fought with Cerciello's partner during the attack. Even though he did not stab Cerciello, under Italian law he faces the same charge of 'voluntary homicide'

Defence attorneys have tried to show that police committed multiple errors the night of the incident. Pictured: Friends Finnegan Lee Elder (L) and Gabriel Natale-Hjorth (C) enter the Rome courtroom today

A confusing web of events led to the 32-second attack, beginning with the young Americans looking for cocaine earlier in the evening.

After an intermediary introduced them to a drug dealer who sold them aspirin instead, the teens stole the bag of the intermediary in retaliation, later demanding money and drugs to return it.

The dealer was actually an informant, who reported the bag's theft to police. Cerciello and his partner Andrea Varriale left their designated patrol area and showed up at the designated exchange point near the teenagers' hotel before the attack.

Defence attorneys have tried to show that police committed multiple errors the night of the incident - alleging lies by Varriale, a falsified police report and the withholding from the defence of evidence that the drug dealer was a police informant.

They hope these missteps will give credence to the young men's claim that the officers did not show their badges before the attack.

In July, Varriale testified that the two officers approached the young men from the front and showed their badges, although Cerciello's badge was never subsequently found.

Mario Cerciello Rega, who had just returned to work from his honeymoon, suffered 11 stab wounds and later died in hospital from his injuries

Elder, 20, and Gabriel Natale-Hjorth, 19, (right) are charged with stabbing Deputy Brigadier Rega to death in Rome. The pair are pictured here in a photo released by Italian Carabinieri

Varriale admitted to lying when he said following the attack that both officers had been armed, as they should have been while on duty, and that he conspired with a superior officer to lie about it.

In his statement in court, Elder said 'many mistakes were made that night. Mine was the biggest.'

'I would like to go back and change things, but I cannot. All I can say is that I feel remorse. I am in pain for the suffering I have caused. I am sorry and very sad for what happened to Cerciello'.

Last month, Varriale described to the Rome court how he desperately tried to stop up Cerciello's wounds until an ambulance arrived, but 'the blood was spurting out'.

'We approached the pair from the front and we pulled out our badges, saying we were police,' Varriale told the court, according to Italian news agencies.

'They had nothing in their hands. We just wanted to identify them. They immediately attacked us,' Varriale said.

The murder sparked a national outcry. The funeral was held in the same church where Rega had married just months before

'I was grabbed by Natale and we wrestled on the floor. At the same time I could hear Cerciello shouting "Stop! Police!" His voice was breaking,' he said.

'The whole thing lasted just a few seconds. I let my aggressor go because I was alarmed by Cerciello's shouts. I looked up and I saw him standing, and he said "they stabbed me", before collapsing on the ground.'

The court then heard the audio recording of the emergency call Varriale made

Natale-Hjorth initially told investigators he had not been involved, but his fingerprints were found on a ceiling panel in the hotel room where the students had hidden the knife.

Under Italian law, anyone who participates even indirectly in a murder can face homicide charges.

The pair have reportedly been held in solitary confinement at the Regina Coeli holding jail (above) in central Rome while detectives investigate the murder

The case has been marked by major blunders - especially the blindfolding of Natale-Hjorth during his police interrogation (pictured)

The day after the Americans were arrested, a photograph was leaked to the press showing Natale-Hjorth illegally blindfolded and handcuffed at the Rome barracks where he had been taken for questioning.

Varriale admitted he had not only been present, he had taken the photograph and had filmed the scene as well.

Varriale stuck by his story that he had been carrying his gun until August 9, when he confessed that not only did he not have his gun on him, but that he had conspired with a superior officer to lie about it.

The Americans had earlier that night stolen the bag of a man who had introduced them to a drug dealer.

They say the theft was revenge for the dealer having tried to rip them off. What they did not know was that the dealer was a police informant. When they set up a meeting to swap the bag in return for money, the police turned up instead.

While Varriale says he and Cerciello showed the Americans their badges, Cerciello's badge was never found, and in the chaotic aftermath of the stabbing, Varriale was not asked to produce his, or his handcuffs.
In 1830, when this painting first came to America, it was described as a Spanish family group. A century later, speculation grew that it depicted Murillos own family. That no longer seems credible. Since theres something sly and a bit lascivious in the picture, it could be a scene of sexual procurement. But it could also be more innocent. Some scholars have even wondered whether its an allegory representing the four stages of life.
ZUG, Switzerland and LONDON, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Landis+Gyr (Swiss: LAND.SW), a leading global provider of integrated energy management solutions for the utility sector, and Vodafone Business, a leader in IoT with over 100m connections worldwide, today announced a strategic global agreement.

Using Vodafone Business' IoT services, Landis+Gyr utility customers can benefit from Landis+Gyr's Gridstream Connect solution providing reliable and secure service accessing multiple carrier networks without the hassle of needing to manage multiple subscription contracts. The global nature of the agreement ensures seamless access to more than 400 networks in 180 countries using a single subscriber identity profile.

Building on IoT zero-touch capability, Landis+Gyr utility customers will benefit from improved deployment speed and management of cellular smart grid devices. In addition, the partnership delivers unprecedented low-power wide-area (LPWA) technology capabilities today, with the ability to seamlessly transition to 5G networks where and when these networks are available. Combined with a long-term services contract, the solution provides unprecedented coverage to ensure longevity matching the lifecycle of utility assets.

Werner Lieberherr, Landis+Gyr's Chief Executive Officer said: "The partnership between Landis+Gyr and Vodafone Business, a global leader in IoT communication solutions, will allow us to further elevate our offerings to meet the unique needs of our customers today and in the future. Together, we will be able to deliver longevity and quality of service to match utility asset lifecycles, creating the base for interactive smart grids with increasing intelligence embedded at the grid edge. This will enable our customers, energy consumers and entire communities to manage energy in a more informed way, making a positive impact on the environment."

Vinod Kumar, CEO of Vodafone Business, said: "IoT is key to the digitalization of the utilities sector. Connecting assets will help manage energy better and support the safe integration of renewable energy sources into power grids, helping to reduce carbon footprints. We believe advances in cellular networking technology will enable more and more companies to be not only more resilient and future-ready, but also more sustainable."

Landis+Gyr cellular solutions are designed to complement existing AMI networks or be deployed as primary networks to connect advanced meters, sensors and IoT devices. With its managed services model, Landis+Gyr provides a turnkey solution with the flexibility and IoT capabilities to support energy management and consumer engagement.

About Landis+Gyr

Landis+Gyr is a leading global provider of integrated energy management solutions for the utility sector. Offering one of the broadest portfolios, the company delivers innovative and flexible solutions to help utilities solve their complex challenges in smart metering, grid edge intelligence and smart infrastructure. With sales of USD 1.7 billion, Landis+Gyr employs approximately 5,800 people in over 30 countries across five continents with the sole mission of helping the world manage energy better.

More information is available at www.landisgyr.com

About Vodafone

Vodafone is a leading technology communications company keeping society connected and building a digital future for everyone.

Vodafone is focused on two scaled and differentiated regional platforms in Europe and Africa. We operate mobile and fixed networks in 22 countries and partner with mobile networks in 48 more. As at 30 June 2020 we had over 300m mobile customers, more than 27m fixed broadband customers and over 22m TV customers.

We connect for a better future. We are optimistic about how technology and connectivity can enhance the future and improve people's lives. Through our business, we aim to build a digital society that enhances socio-economic progress, embraces everyone and does not come at the cost of our planet. That is why we have committed to improve one billion lives and halve our environmental impact by 2025.

For more information, please visit: www.vodafone.com

SOURCE Landis+Gyr
Offaly's 14-day incidence rate for Covid-19 has crept above 60 per 100,000 of population for the first time since the county emerged from lockdown for a second time in August.

The figures are revealed in the latest Epidemiology of COVID-19 in Ireland report from the HSE Health Protection Surveillance Centre. The report, prepared on Tuesday and based on the first two weeks of September, shows that Offaly had 48 new cases of Covid-19 confirmed in that period.

That gives the county a 14-day incidence rate of 61.6 per 100,000 of population. However, this is still considerably lower than the rate recorded in Offaly when it was placed into a regional lockdown with Laois and Kildare in early August. In the first two weeks of August, 105 cases of coronavirus were confirmed in Offaly, giving the county a 14-day incidence rate at that time of 134.7.

In a month, Offaly has more than halved its incidence rate but the number has begun creeping up again in recent weeks with five cases confirmed in the county on Tuesday evening. Offaly's incidence rate of the virus is now the fifth-highest in the country.

Dublin is now the only county with a 14-day incidence rate above 100 per 100,000 of population, almost double that of every other county. The capital had 1,401 cases of the disease confirmed in the first two weeks of September, more than ten times higher than the next worst-hit county, Kildare, with 123 cases. Dublin's 14-incidence rate now stands at 104 and continues to climb dramatically with 218 cases confirmed in the county in one day on Tuesday.

The figures prompted the government into a number of slightly more restrictive measures on Dublin as part of its 'Living with Covid-19' plan. The plan provides guidance on five levels of Covid-19 restrictions with Level 1 being the most lenient and Level 5 being almost a complete lockdown. Ireland as a whole has been placed at Level 2, including Dublin, although their restrictions have been slightly modified. People in Dublin are being advised not to leave their region and to restrict social interactions and the numbers of people visiting their home.

Offaly's neighbouring counties have also seen a slight rise in the incidence rate of the virus. Westmeath's rate for the first two weeks of September was 46.2 with 41 confirmed cases; Laois had 37 cases confirmed with its rate now at 43.7; Kildare's rate is now 55.3 with 123 cases; Tipperary's rate stands at 18.8 with just 30 cases in the last two weeks.

You can read more about the government's new 'Living with Covid-19' plan and set of restrictions HERE.
Facebook today shared new initiatives to support small businesses in India as they continue to face economic uncertainties in the wake of the pandemic. The announcement includes approximately USD 4.3 million (INR 32 Crore) in grants for small businesses in India. To help small businesses impacted by COVID-19, today Facebook is also announcing that businesses on Facebook and Instagram now have the capabilities to drive the discovery and sale of Gift Cards that could help lakhs of small businesses across the country get cash flow when they need it the most.

The company also announced the findings of the State of Small Business Report, an ongoing research collaboration between Facebook, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the World Bank to survey small and medium-sized businesses around the world, including India, in the context of COVID-19. The aim of the survey is to provide a window into SMBs experiences amid COVID-19. According to the study, more than a third of operational SMBs on Facebook expect cash flow to be a challenge in the next few months.

Small businesses are a big priority for Facebook. The recovery of small businesses from the pandemic will be critical to the recovery of Indian economy, and we want to do everything we can to help. As part of our USD 100 million global grant for small businesses announced back in March, today we are announcing a grant of USD 4.3 million (INR 32 crores) for more than 3000 small businesses across Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Bangalore, where Facebook has offices, said Ajit Mohan, MD and VP at Facebook India in a blog post.

The India grant is part of the $100 million grant for small businesses across 30 countries that Facebook had announced in March. Applications are open from 15th September to 21st September. The grant includes both cash and ad credits, with cash constituting a larger share. Businesses do not need to have a Facebook presence in order to apply.They are also free to do what they wish to do with this grant.

Since the pandemic began, several small businesses have moved online to ensure business continuity and growth. The State of Small Business Report revealed that 41% of operational SMBs on Facebook India reported that at least a quarter of their sales are made digitally. As small businesses adapt to new businesses models that are built on digital, Facebook is looking for ways to make their offline to online journey seamless.

To help small businesses impacted by COVID-19, today were announcing that Facebook and Instagram have launched capabilities for businesses to drive discovery and sale of Gift Cards. Digital gift cards will help them reach more potential customers online. They will also enable small businesses to get cash flow when they need it the most, and even when physical stores might be shut, said Mohan in his post.

Configuring Gift Cards on Facebook and Instagram is free for businesses, and we have tied up with multiple partners to enable the issuance and management of Gift Cards.

The Report findings indicate green shoots for the sector. 53% of operational SMBs on Facebook India feel optimistic about the future of their business. The easing of lockdown measures has enabled SMBs to reopen, as India saw closure rates fall from 47% to 34%, according to the survey findings.

Equipping small businesses with the skills to adapt

These new initiatives come on the back of several other efforts by Facebook since the pandemic began to help entrepreneurs move from offline to online and adapt in real time. In May, Facebooks flagship global program for skilling young businesses, Boost with Facebook, went virtual in India, and saw four times more registrations than the on-ground events used to receive. India-specific VC Brand Incubator initiative, which works with venture capital funds to skill small businesses has also gone virtual. As part of this initiative, Facebook has started Campaign Lab to help direct-to-consumer businesses get creative solutioning support, and go live with mobile friendly creatives and strategy in under 72 hours. As businesses adapt to digital businesses models, Facebook will continue to support them, including the ones that get the grant, through timely skilling and training.

The real power of digital infrastructure gets unleashed as startups and small businesses come online, and new opportunities arise across verticals. What the pandemic has shown us is that digital is no longer just an alternate channel for brands to connect with consumers, but a fundamental driver of step change in business outcomes, added Mohan

For more information on eligibility criteria and how to apply for a grant, please visit: https://www.facebook.com/business/boost/grants
India, Brazil and South Africa on Wednesday called on the world community to redouble efforts and strengthen commitment for an accelerated and comprehensive reform of the UN Security Council.

The call was made in a joint statement issued after external affairs minister S Jaishankar chaired a customary meeting of foreign ministers of the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) grouping via video conference. The other delegations were led by Brazils vice-minister for national sovereignty Fabio Marzano and South Africas minister of international relations Grace Naledi Mandisa Pandor.

The ministers discussed ways to further IBSA cooperation and exchanged views on global issues such as security, countering terror, climate change, sustainable development, multilateral trading system, non-proliferation and South-South cooperation.

They also shared the experiences of their countries in countering the Covid-19 pandemic and appreciated the work done by the IBSA Fund for poverty alleviation and hunger.

Also read: China belts out Punjabi numbers for Indian soldiers at Ladakh. It is a 62 trick

The joint statement reiterated the IBSA joint ministerial statement of September 2019 seeking reform of the multilateral system and sought united efforts to create a more inclusive, responsive and participatory international governance architecture. The three countries said they remain committed to enhancing the voice and representation of emerging and developing countries in decision-making bodies of multilateral institutions.

In light of the increasingly complex and inter-connected international challenges, we emphasise that the existing international governance structure is obsolete and cannot be fit-for-purpose to effectively address current peace and security challenges, the joint statement said.

While there has been some progress in international efforts for a comprehensive reform of the UN system, advancing the reform of the Security Council should remain an urgent and key priority, it added.

The failure to reform the Security Council has serious implications for international peace and security, and accelerated reform is critical to ensure that the body is more representative, effective and responsive, the three countries said.

Also read: Rajnath Singh to make statement on LAC in Rajya Sabha tomorrow

The grouping also expressed frustration at the slow progress in inter-governmental negotiations on Security Council reforms, which lacks transparency, and said the time has come to move towards a result-oriented process, with provision for substantive negotiations based on a single comprehensive text, in a formal setting.

Brazil and South Africa congratulated India on its election as a non-permanent member of the Security Council for 2021-22. The ministers also agreed to enhance IBSA cooperation at multilateral forums.

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 00:56:07|Editor: huaxia

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A medical worker checks the temperature of a student at Gateway Secondary school in Harare, Zimbabwe, on Sept. 15, 2020. Zimbabwe has opened up most of its sectors including industry, commercial, aviation and tourism after months of closure due to the lockdown. In the education sector, only examination classes have been given the nod to reopen. (Photo by Shaun Jusa/Xinhua)

HARARE, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Zimbabwean government on Tuesday authorized the resumption of inter-city travel and reopening of the Registrar General's Office and the Immigration Department as it further opens up the economy.

Addressing a post-cabinet media briefing, Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said the resumption of inter-city travel would allow the smooth movement of examination candidates, citizens and visitors.

Inter-city travel was banned in March when government introduced the COVID-19 lockdown.

"Transporters who wish to ferry passengers should register with the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development to ensure that they strictly comply with Standard Operating Procedures for their sector which are compliant to the World Health Organization guidelines and all COVID-19 regulations," the minister said.

She said the Central Registry Office will also resume offering services such as issuance of birth and deaths certificates, national registration documents and passports.

Cabinet also further authorized the partial reopening of the Department of Immigration to process short-term investor work and student permits as well as visas at ports of entry, she said.

Mutsvangwa said the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe will also be re-opened to allow visitors access to national museums.

The minister reiterated the need for Zimbabweans to remain vigilant as the pandemic was not yet over.

"Cabinet reiterates that despite the measures taken to further open up the economy, the threat from COVID-19 is still real and citizens should continue to religiously adhere to the COVID-19 containment measures," she said.

Zimbabwe has opened up most of its sectors including industry, commercial, aviation and tourism after months of closure due to the lockdown.

In the education sector, only examination classes have been given the nod to reopen, with the British-run Cambridge examination classes starting on Monday this week while classes for the locally run Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council will resume on Sept. 28.
She's no stranger to changing up her look.

And on Wednesday, NRL star Josh Reynolds' ex-girlfriend Arabella Del Busso showed off her latest transformation after getting new hair extensions.

The 30-year-old model shared a photo to Instagram, after visiting Sake Hair Studio in Melbourne.

New hair, don't care! NRL star Josh Reynolds' ex-girlfriend Arabella Del Busso (pictured) showed off her latest look after getting long hair extensions on Wednesday

Arabella wore a full face of makeup for the picture, including foundation, rosy blush, and black eyeliner.

'Thank you Sake Hair Studio for the amazing weft extensions... they are safe for your natural hair and are applied without heat,' she wrote.

She explained: 'They last up to around 6-8 weeks... and they've given myself just that extra bit of thickness and length.'

Transformation: The lingerie model shared another photo showing the results after getting her extensions put in at a hair salon in Melbourne

Arabella's post comes after it was announced she'll be appearing on Channel Seven's upcoming series SAS Australia.

The military-style show will see the contestants having to endure sleep deprivation, interrogation techniques and physical challenges.

The lingerie model will be joined by a growing list of celebrities including convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby and publicist Roxy Jacenko.

Filming for SAS Australia begun earlier this year in Queenstown, New Zealand, but production was relocated to the NSW Snowy Mountains due to travel restrictions being enforced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

New show: Arabella's post comes after it was announced she'll be appearing on Channel Seven's upcoming series SAS Australia

Arabella last appeared on television in May, when she addressed her bitter split with Josh on Channel Nine's 60 Minutes.

During the interview, Arabella tearfully denied faking pregnancies and miscarriages during her tumultuous relationship with the footy star.

However, she did admit to passing off another woman's ultrasound scan as her own in order to 'spite' her then-boyfriend.

SAS Australia premieres in October on Channel Seven
- Some selected areas in Accra would soon be lit by streetlights by the government

- 14,287 energy-efficient streetlight would be installed and replaced at specified locations in Accra

- In addition, the ceremonial streets on the Independence Avenue, the Independence Square, Mallam-Kasoa highway, will also be covered

Our Manifesto: This is what YEN.com.gh believes in

Some parts of the greater Accra Region have been in the dark for quite a long time as most of its streets are poorly lit.

The Ministry of Energy has announced the commencement of the installation and replacement of some streetlights in Accra.

The Millennium Development Authority (MIDA)-funded project will see 14,287 energy-efficient streetlight being installed and replaced.

Accra to be lit again as Energy Ministery begins installing over 14,000 streetlights Source: globalledoled.com

Source: UGC

In a report filed by CitiNewsroom, the project is expected to help improve visibility at night in Ghanas capital.

Accra to be lit again as Energy Ministery begins installing over 14,000 streetlights Source: Citinewsroom

Source: UGC

Accra to be lit again as Energy Ministery begins installing over 14,000 streetlights Source: Citinewsroom

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Government suspends law of ban on importation of salvaged vehicle

At a meeting convened by the National Road Safety Authority on Tuesday, September 15, 2020, the ministry announced this project.

Accra to be lit again as energy minister begins installing over 14,000 streetlights Source: Citinewsroom

Source: Original

Aside adherence to road traffic regulations, street lighting is an important part of assuring road safety in Ghana.

In addition, the ceremonial streets on the Independence Avenue, the Independence Square, Mallam-Kasoa highway, will also be covered.

An earlier report carried by YEN.com.gh indicated that the Ministry of Energy would embark on a street lighting project to ensure that Accra, Ghanas capital, is properly lit, especially in the evening.

The move, YEN.com.gh understood was intended to help replace streetlights on major roads in the capital with smart and intelligent ones run by technology.

The deputy director in charge of power distribution, Sulemana Abubakari, noted that the lack of proper maintenance culture was the reason behind faulty lights along Accras streets.

In his opinion, the task of maintaining the street lights are not entirely the responsibility of the ministry, but a collective one for all Ghanaians.

READ ALSO: North Tongu: Okudzeto Ablakwa's constituents threaten to boycott December elections

In other news, government has disclosed that the ban on the importation of salvaged vehicles has been suspended.

The law, which was expected to take effect on November 1, 2020, is no longer operational.

Speaking on 3FM, the co-chair of the Abossey Okai Spare Parts Dealers Association, Clement Boateng, confirmed that government has suspended the law on the ban of importation of salvaged vehicles.

READ ALSO: 14 activities undertaken by Akufo-Addo on his Bono, Ahafo and Bono East tour

John Mahama's emotional moment on stage at the NDC's manifesto launch | #Yencomgh

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Your stories and photos are always welcome.

Get interactive via our Facebook page.

Source: YEN.com.gh
L: President Donald Trump at the Rose Garden of the White House on March 13, 2020. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images) R: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) makes a statement about a coronavirus aid package, on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 13, 2020. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)

Trump Calls on GOP to Pass Bigger CCP Virus Stimulus Package

President Donald Trump on Sept. 16 called on congressional Republicans to come to an agreement on a larger economic relief bill that includes direct payments to Americans, differing from what the GOP attempted to push through the Senate last week.

Trump alleged Democrats are heartless and dont want to give STIMULUS PAYMENTS to people who desperately need the money, and whose fault it was NOT that the plague came in from China.

Go for the much higher numbers, Republicans, it all comes back to the USA anyway (one way or another!), he wrote on Twitter.

Democrats such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) have both publicly supported stimulus payments. The HEROES Act, passed in May, included a broader amount of direct payments to Americans.

However, talks between Republicans and Democrats have stalled in recent weeks, with Republicans rejecting the more than $900 billion proposal in the HEROES Act to fund state and local governments. Republicans also didnt favor extending a $600-per-week unemployment program, while Democrats sought to extend the program until next year.

Trump has accused Pelosi and Schumer of not wanting to come to an agreement on a CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus relief measure because it could improve his chances for reelection in November. Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) have both said that because of the election battle, its not likely that a bill will be passed before then.

Senate Republicans last week attempted to advance a bill that wouldnt include stimulus payments or a number of other benefits. However, it failed to clear 60 votes and was not taken up on the Senate floor.

Pelosi several weeks ago said Democrats would attempt to offer a concession, bringing down the price of the $3.4 trillion HEROES Act by $1 trillion, which Mnuchin rejected.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin testifies before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Sept. 1, 2020. (Nicholas Kamm-Pool/Getty Images)

But on Sept. 16, Pelosi said she wants a bill that could receive bipartisan support. We could put a bill on the floor, but we want to put a bill on the floor that will become law, Pelosi said in a morning interview.

We have a number of schools of thought: those who want us to put $3.4 trillion on the floor, then come down in negotiation from there, those who say just put something on the floor.

But what we want is to put something on the floor that will become law. And so that requires negotiation.

Pelosi again signaled that a bill worth less than around $2.2 trillion would not garner bipartisan support in Congress.

We have come down, Pelosi said of negotiation efforts to reduce the spending measure by about $1 trillion. But the needs of the American peoplewe can only go so far.

Meanwhile, new provisions might have to be added.

This has accelerated since then, she said. We have additional needs for restaurants, airlines, and the rest, and those things have to be taken into consideration as well.
Veem to use funding to drive scale and global commercialization

Veem-StrategicFundingRound-2020 (1).png

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 16, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Veem , the fast-growing global payments network built for businesses, today announced the closing of a $31M capital raise, led by Truist Ventures, the corporate venture capital division of Truist Financial Corporation (NYSE: TFC)  the 6th largest commercial bank in the U.S. This investment will go towards the development of a robust channel partner program that will widen Veems geographic footprint. As the company focuses on its scaling efforts, Veem is also committed to further improving and expanding its product suite and capabilities.



This funding round builds on Veems already expansive global investor base, with participants from the United States, China, Japan, Australia, Indonesia, Canada, and the Middle East. Veem is supported by forward-looking banks and major venture capital firms who share Veems commitment to better enabling global commerce participation for small-to-midsize businesses.

Round participants include: MUFG Innovation Partners Co. Ltd., CVC of MUFG, the largest bank in Japan, as well as AB Ventures, the venture arm of Arab Bank, one of the leading financial institutions in the Middle East and North Africa, Paper Excellence and Myer Family Investments. Existing investors that participated in this round include: GV (formerly Google Ventures), Goldman Sachs, Kleiner Perkins, Silicon Valley Bank, National Australia Bank Ventures and Trend Forward Capital.

This funding round marks an important milestone for the company, putting us in an ideal position to build out our channel partner program and prepare for Veems next stage of global growth, said Marwan Forzley, CEO of Veem. Our channel partner network serves as our vehicle to better commercialize our product offering and further expand upon our market development efforts.

International transfers are built on an outdated, 40-year-old system based on processes and technology that have left small businesses underserved and overcharged. With more than 225,000 customers and counting, sending and receiving money in more than 100 countries, Veems proprietary technology combines the best of traditional systems with the flexibility and speed that blockchain technology and digital wallets can provide. Through world-class integrations with QuickBooks, Xero and NetSuite, Veem has built a path for business owners and their accountants to collaborate and build a global network.

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Our leadership in Veems strategic funding round marks our first investment as Truist Ventures; we cant imagine a better company to hit this milestone with. Veems management team is an inspiring group of innovators and visionaries that are solving a critical pain point for small- and medium-sized businesses, said Vanessa Vreeland, head of Truist Ventures. Were excited about this investment and the future opportunities it may bring. Veems strategic approach and commitment to constant improvement align well with how Truist sees the role of technology in shaping the client experience. Their proprietary multi-rail technology enables connections between businesses and their vendors, suppliers and contractors through a service that is easy to use and more cost effective than legacy cross-border B2B payment optionscapabilities that our clients need.

Truist Ventures invests in innovative companies with exceptional management teams that can enhance Truists ability to deliver unprecedented touch and technology to help their clients and communities thrive. In addition to stage-agnostic venture funding, they provide access to Truists deep domain expertise, executive-level talent and an extensive network of subject-matter experts in technology, investment banking, capital markets and innovation to help their portfolio companies realize growth opportunities and shape the future of finance.

Financial Technology Partners served as exclusive financial and strategic advisor to Veem on the transaction.



To learn more about Veem, visit https://www.veem.com/ .

About Veem

Veem simplifies the way businesses send and receive funds globally. Trusted by more than 225,000 businesses in over 100 countries, Veem offers a suite of payment services to establish and strengthen partner and supplier relationships. Veems secure, trackable transactions combined with seamless integrations with popular business applications enable businesses to save time and money, while mitigating risk generally associated with international funds transfers. Veem is licensed and regulated in each country and state it serves.

About Truist Ventures

Truist Ventures is the corporate venture capital division of Truist Financial Corporation (NYSE: TFC), a purpose-driven financial services company committed to inspire and build better lives and communities. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Truist Ventures delivers unprecedented touch and technology to Truist clients through partnerships with, and investments in, innovative companies and exceptional management teams with novel solutions to help Truist shape the future of finance. Truist Ventures investment focus stretches beyond traditional financial technology into adjacent, disruptive technologies that enable Truist to deliver a human touch in new ways. Leveraging Truists extensive network of executive-level talent and industry experts in technology, investment banking, capital markets and innovation, the Truist Ventures team helps portfolio companies fulfill growth opportunities through unparalleled access to exceptional support.

Attachment

Shannon Murphy

Veem

613-808-5939

shannon.murphy@veem.com

Niveen Saleh

5WPR

872-237-2345

nsaleh@5wpr.com




Jim Carrey is returning to "Saturday Night Live" to play former Vice President Joe Biden. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Alrighty then!

"Saturday Night Live" has recruited Jim Carrey to play former Vice President Joe Biden in its upcoming season, having the "Ace Ventura" and "The Mask" star go head-to-head with Alec Baldwin's Donald Trump.

The "Kidding" star, now an artist, bestselling author and two-time Golden Globe Award winner, has hosted the show multiple times since 1996 and made a cameo during a 2003 Foo Fighters performance on the NBC sketch comedy.

The Biden role was previously filled by "SNL" alum Jason Sudeikis during the Obama administration. Comedian John Mulaney and actor Woody Harrelson have also appeared on the show as the Democratic presidential hopeful.

Jim Carrey is our new Joe Biden! pic.twitter.com/hBJPRJl6Ja  Saturday Night Live - SNL (@nbcsnl) September 16, 2020

"Youll see the same people. Maya Rudolph is coming back, and Alec [Baldwin] will be back. And Jim Carrey is going to do Biden," longtime producer Lorne Michaels told Vulture. Presumably, Rudolph will resume her impersonation of Biden's running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris.

Michaels said the casting began with Carrey expressing interest in the part, and then it came down to discussions of what his take was."

"He and [co-head writer] Colin Jost had a bunch of talks. He and I as well. He will give the part energy and strength... Hopefully its funny," Michaels added.

After wrapping up last season with "SNL at Home" episodes, the Emmy-winning sketch series will be returning to Studio 8H in Rockefeller Center when Season 46 premieres Oct. 3. And it'll have a limited studio audience.

We need the audience, obviously. With comedy, when you dont hear the response, its just different," Michaels told Vulture. "With the kind of comedy we do, which quite often is broad, timing gets thrown off without an audience. And for me, what is most important is when youre absolutely certain of some piece on Wednesday, and then the dress-rehearsal audience sees it on Saturday and tells you youre wrong."

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The show will also work closely with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's team to ensure health and safety for the cast, crew and small audience during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Michaels is also slightly changing up the airing format to cover the presidential election. The new season kicks off with five consecutive weekly shows on Oct. 3, 10, 17, 24 and 31.

"I made the decision early on, or at least about a month ago, that we would do something we hadnt done before, which was five shows in a row," Michaels said. "Because there are four debates and then its Halloween, and thats the weekend before the election. And sadly, if the election gets extended, then well be doing six or seven shows in a row.

Also announced Wednesday, "SNL" has added three new cast members: Upright Citizens Brigade alum Lauren Holt, "Space Force" actress Punkie Johnson and "SNL" staff writer and comedian Andrew Dismukes. The show has also added Anna Drezen as a head writer.
A vast majority of kids who died from the coronavirus in the United States were children of color, a new study from the federal government found.

The study, published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday, found glaring racial disparities in deaths linked to the virus among those below the age of 21 and the presence of multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children, a severe illness that can arise from the viral respiratory infection.

Of the 121 people younger than 21 who were killed by COVID-19 between Feb. 12 and July 31, 44.6% were Hispanic, 28.9% were Black, 4.1% were Asian or Pacific Islander and another 4.1% were non-Hispanic, American Indian or Alaskan Native.

Although more than 75% of people in the United States are white, only 14% of the individuals in the study who died were white.

The CDC noted that the greater rate of adverse outcomes among racial and ethnic minorities is likely related to challenges in seeking health care for various reasons, including difficulty in accessing medical services due to a lack of insurance, child care, transportation or paid sick leave.

The agency pointed out that higher rates of people of color have been considered essential workers during the outbreak as well. Such individuals are unable to work from their homes, resulting in a greater risk of exposure to COVID-19 and transmission among household members, including infants, children, adolescents and young adults.

In addition, disparities in social determinants of health, such as crowded living conditions, food and housing insecurity, wealth and educational gaps and racial discrimination likely contribute to racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19, the CDC said in its study.

Dr. Preeti Malani, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Michigan, told NPR the findings were heartbreaking.

The 121 deaths are a tiny fraction of the more than 190,000 deaths that have been reported in the United States, Malani told the news outlet. But for a long time, it was believed that children didnt die from this.

Medical workers, public health officials and politicians have pointed out salient racial inequities during the pandemic for months.

Early on in the public health crisis, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Ayanna Pressley sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, calling for comprehensive demographic data related to the virus, as communities with large Black and nonwhite Hispanic populations started to become coronavirus hotspots.

At the time, the lawmakers claimed a lack of information would "exacerbate existing health disparities and result in the loss of lives in vulnerable communities, The Associated Press reported.

Decades of structural racism have prevented so many Black and brown families from accessing quality health care, affordable housing and financial security, and the coronavirus crisis is blowing these disparities wide open, Warren said in a statement.

Since March, numerous research studies have shown notable racial disparities in health outcomes and economic disadvantages due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Last month, data analyzed by the State House News Service showed that in Massachusetts, the state with the highest unemployment rate in the country, cities with more people of color were seeing disproportionate job losses.

In June, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health released data from its COVID-19 Health Equity Advisory Group, showing Black and Latino residents also have a positive COVID-19 case rate three times higher than white residents and significantly higher rates of hospitalizations.

As of last week, four of the 13 towns or cities in Massachusetts deemed high-risk for the spread of the virus were communities where a majority of residents are people of color. They included Chelsea, Everett, Lawrence and Lynn.

Framingham, Methuen, New Bedford and Revere, which were also labeled high-risk, have populations of color well above the statewide average as well at 35.2%, 37.4%, 38% and 45.5%, respectively, according to U.S. Census data.

Nationwide, research collected from Feb. 12 to May 18 found that the number of coronavirus-related deaths among those under the age of 65 is twice as high for people of color than for white people.

The high number of out-of-hospital deaths might reflect a lack of health care access, delays in seeking care or diagnostic delays, according to the CDC.

Health communications campaigns could encourage patients, particularly those with underlying medical conditions, to seek medical care earlier in their illnesses, the CDC said. Additionally, health care providers should be encouraged to consider the possibility of severe disease among younger persons who are Hispanic, nonwhite or have underlying medical conditions.

Related Content:
Western Security Surplus (WSS), a part of XPT Partners, has hired industry veteran Suzy Baird as senior broker/underwriter with Houston Surplus Lines (HSL), a division of WSS.

Baird is based out of the WSS Houston office.

Most recently, Baird held the position of production underwriter with Southwest Risk in Houston. Her previous experience includes serving as assistant vice president and branch manager with MJ Hall & Company in its California and Alaska offices. She began her career with AIG, later followed by Bowes & Company.

WSS is headquartered in Plano, Texas, with employees also located in California.

Source: WSS

Topics Agencies Excess Surplus Underwriting
(TNS) - Hurricane Sally hit Category 2 status shortly before anticipated landfall Wednesday morning, the National Hurricane Center announced around 1 a.m.Sallys sustained winds reached 105 mph, as measured by an Air Force Reserve reconnaissance aircraft and Doppler weather radar in Mobile, Alabama, the NHC said. Category 2 wind speeds are 96-110 mph.By 2 a.m., hurricane-force winds were beginning to spread onshore along the western coast of the Florida Panhandle and in Alabama.The NHC issued an additional advisory at 1:30 a.m. Wednesday that said Sally continued to strengthen and its eye was growing better-defined. The hurricane could peak at a sustained wind speed of around 109 mph before landfall, the NHC said.Hurricane Sally was still crawling north-northeast in the Gulf of Mexico near 2 mph. The storm was about 60 miles south-southeast of Mobile and 55 miles southwest of Pensacola at 1:30 a.m. Wednesday.Sallys winds began to pick up around midnight. They had been holding steady earlier at 85 mph then inched up to 90 mph Tuesday night.Landfall forecasts shifted Tuesday evening from the mouth of Mobile Bay east to Gulf Shores, with the current forecast calling for landfall near the Alabama/Florida border.Hurricane-force winds extend out 40 miles from Sallys center and tropical-storm force winds extend out 125 miles.Beaches on the Gulf of Mexico from Gulf Shores, Alabama, to Navarre, Florida were being pounded by strong winds and storm-surge flooding, with historic rainfalls of 10-30 inches expected.Strong winds and heavy rain also are expected in Jackson County, the National Weather Service in New Orleans said, with a flash-flooding remaining a threat. Minor coastal flooding along eastern-facing shorelines of Mississippi and southeast Louisiana also are possible.Waves measuring 23 feet were reported late Tuesday night offshore from Orange Beach.The National Weather Service in Mobile said rainfall had already exceeded 18 inches and torrential rains continued to batter the coast there.A spotter near the Naval Air Station in Pensacola recorded 18.25 inches of rain from Sally by late Tuesday night, the NWS said.At 2:45 a.m. Wednesday, the Hurricane Hunters announced on Twitter that they were beginning what should be their final flight into this colossal snail that has been Hurricane Sally.The tweet closed by saying, Please stay weather aware and keep safe!2020 The Sun Herald (Biloxi, Miss.)Visit The Sun Herald (Biloxi, Miss.) at www.sunherald.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Jihadists aligned to the Islamic State have killed 11 villagers in two separate attacks in Nigeria's northeast Borno state, militia leaders said Wednesday.

Fighters from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) in several pickup trucks opened fire on Wasaram, 90 kilometres (55 miles) from regional capital Maiduguri on Tuesday, killing eight villagers and injuring 20, they said.

Three villagers were also killed in a separate attack in Auno earlier that day.

"We recovered 11 bodies from the two attacks which occurred yesterday in Kaga district," militia leader Ibrahim Liman told AFP.

The insurgents had accused the villagers of alerting troops about their movement on their way to rob traders in the nearby town of Ngamdu, he said.

Soldiers intercepted the jihadists and engaged them in a gun battle, forcing them to retreat, said militiaman Umar Ari, who gave the same death toll.

"They (ISWAP) attacked the village on their way back, accusing residents of informing soldiers about their movement to rob local traders at the weekly market", Ari told AFP.

Earlier on Tuesday, ISWAP fighters slaughtered three farmers that they seized as they worked on their fields outside Auno village, 65 kilometres away, the militia leaders added.

ISWAP, which split from Boko Haram in 2016 and initially focused on attacking the military, has increasingly been targeting civilians, in particular abducting and killing motorists at bogus checkpoints on highways.

Meanwhile, eight people were injured late Tuesday when gunmen from a rival Boko Haram faction ambushed a civilian convoy under military escort outside the town of Banki near the border with Cameroon, security sources told AFP.

"Four of the victims were taken to a hospital in Mora on the Cameroonian side because of the severity of their injuries," said a security source, who asked not to be identified.

The decade-old jihadist insurgency in mainly-Muslim northern Nigeria has claimed 36,000 lives and forced two million others to flee their homes.

The conflict has spilled over to Cameroon, Chad and Niger, prompting a regional military force to be formed to fight off the insurgents.
Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu in his famous book Art of War wrote way back in 6th century BC that the supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting. It is to his credit that the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) and Communist party mouthpieces use the same weapons of psychological warfare against the Indian troops deployed in Ladakh and India even today.

After the Indian Army outflanked the PLA on Rezang La- Rechin La ridgeline south of Pangong Tso on August 29-30 and repositioned its troops to dominate the heights of Finger 4 spur on the north bank of the lake, the Chinese Army first tried to militarily muscle the adversary by moving in tanks and infantry combat vehicles. Rather than be cowed by the PLA strength, the Indian Army made it clear that there would be retaliation if the red line is breached on either banks.

While the Indian Army was not amused by Chinese military tactics, the military commanders rolled up in mirth after PLA troops on Finger 4 starting belting out Punjabi numbers to soften up the adversary into lowering their guard on the fiercely contested mountainous spur. If the north bank of Pangong Tso was jiving to Punjabi songs on PLA loudspeakers, a battery of loudspeakers were deployed by the Red Army at their Moldo Garrison in Chushul sector to remind the Indian troops of, what they claim, is the folly of their political masters.

Also Watch | Ladakh: Watch how Army, IAF are boosting troops, supplies amid China tension

Also Read: Road to Daulat Beg Oldi for tanks to be ready by Oct 15 as army preps for Ladakh winter

On the southern banks of Pangong Tso, the Chinese loudspeakers told Indian troops in chaste Hindi about the futility of being deployed at these heights in winter season on the whims and fancies of Indian politicians back in Delhi. The whole idea of PLA is to pull down the morale of Indian troops and create dissatisfaction among the soldiers that they do not always get hot steaming meals and logistics. A snowy winter also lies ahead.

According to a former Indian Army chief, the PLA used the same loudspeaker tactics in 1962 skirmishes in the western and eastern sectors as well during the 1967 Nathu La skirmish. But the Indian troops were foxed about the Punjabi songs on Finger 4. Maybe, the PLA thought that troops from Punjab were holding on to the higher heights of Finger 4 feature, said the former army chief.

While the Red Army is using psy-ops at Pangong Tso against the Indian Army, a Chinese Communist party mouthpiece has also been tweeting its heart out to remind the Indian political leadership about the loss of face in 1962, the need for India to recover its economy that, it says, has sunk to abysmal depth and to check the rampant spread of coronavirus in India without mentioning that the virus originated in Wuhan. The propaganda paper and its online site also describes the Modi governments tough stance on the Ladakh friction as a tactic to divert attention from domestic strife.

Incidentally, the same holds true for Chinese Communist party general secretary Xi Jinping who initiated PLA aggression in Ladakh to divert attention.

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Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - September 16, 2020) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today adopted amendments to Exchange Act Rule 15c2-11, an important component of the over-the-counter (OTC) market regulatory structure. The amendments are designed to modernize the rule, which was last substantively amended nearly thirty years ago, including to recognize advances in communications technologies. The amended rule enhances disclosure and investor protection in the OTC market by ensuring that broker-dealers, in their role as professional gatekeepers to this market, do not publish quotations for an issuer's security when current issuer information is not publicly available, subject to certain exceptions.

"These retail investor-focused improvements to Rule 15c2-11 are long overdue," said SEC Chairman Jay Clayton. "The technological advancements that have taken place since the rule was last amended enable us to require that information in the OTC market be more timely, enabling investors to make better informed investment decisions, and reducing fraud in these markets where retail presence is significant and, unfortunately, pump-and-dump and other frauds are too common."

"The amended rule represents another important step in our tireless and proactive efforts to protect retail investors from being victimized by microcap fraud," said Stephanie Avakian, Director of the Division of Enforcement.

Brett Redfearn, Director of the Division of Trading and Markets, said that "the amendments strike the right balance between promoting critically important investor protections while at the same time providing new exceptions that should make it easier for certain securities to develop a quoted market."

Securities that trade on the OTC market are primarily owned by retail investors. Because broker-dealers play an integral role in facilitating access to OTC securities and serve an important gatekeeper function, Rule 15c2-11 requires broker-dealers to review key, basic issuer information before initiating or resuming quotations for the issuer's security in the OTC market.

Prior to today's amendments, certain of the rule's previous exceptions permitted broker-dealers to maintain a quoted market for an issuer's security in perpetuity, in the absence of current and publicly available information about the issuer, and even when the issuer no longer exists. Recognizing the ease with which information sharing takes place today, the amendments generally prohibit broker-dealers from publishing quotations for an issuer's security when issuer information is not current and publicly available, subject to certain exceptions. Investors who have access to current and publicly available issuer information are better equipped to make informed decisions about how to allocate their capital and to counteract misinformation that can proliferate through promotions and other channels.

The amendments also are designed to enhance the efficiency of the OTC market and facilitate capital formation for issuers for which information is current and publicly available. Specifically, the amendments add new exceptions for certain OTC securities that may be less susceptible to fraud or manipulation, such as actively traded securities of well-capitalized issuers, and expand the scope of market participants that may comply with the rule's required review of issuer information.

* * *



FACT SHEET

Publication or Submission of Quotations Without Specified Information

Amendments

Rule 15c2-11 (the "Rule") governs the publication or submission of quotations by broker-dealers in a quotation medium other than a national securities exchange. Before a broker-dealer may initiate or resume quotations for a security in a quotation medium, the broker-dealer must review key, basic information about the issuer of the security. The Rule allows any qualified interdealer quotation system ("qualified IDQS") to conduct the required information review as well.

The amendments are designed to modernize the Rule to (1) provide greater transparency to investors and other market participants by requiring that information about the issuer and its security be current and publicly available before a broker-dealer can begin quoting that security; (2) limit broker-dealers' reliance on certain of the Rule's exceptions when issuer information is not current and publicly available; and (3) provide exceptions to reduce unnecessary burdens on broker-dealers to quote certain OTC securities that may be less susceptible to fraud and manipulation.

The amendments facilitate transparency of OTC issuer information by:

Requiring to be current and publicly available certain specified documents and information regarding OTC issuers that a broker-dealer or qualified IDQS must obtain and review for the broker-dealer to commence a quoted market in an OTC issuer's security ("information review requirement");

Updating the "piggyback" exception, which allows broker-dealers to rely on the quotations of another broker-dealer that initially complied with the information review requirement, to require, among other things, that issuer information, depending on the issuer's regulatory status, be current and publicly available, timely filed, or filed within 180 calendar days from a specified period; and

Requiring that issuer information be current and publicly available for a broker-dealer to rely on the unsolicited quotation exception to publish quotations on behalf of company insiders and affiliates of the issuer.

The amendments provide greater investor protections when broker-dealers rely on the piggyback exception by:

Requiring at least a one-way priced quotation;

Prohibiting reliance on the exception during the first 60 calendar days following the termination of a Commission trading suspension under Section 12(k) of the Exchange Act; and

Providing a time-limited window of 18 months during which broker-dealers may quote the securities of "shell companies."

The amendments reduce unnecessary burdens on broker-dealers by:

Allowing broker-dealers to initiate a quoted market for a security if a qualified IDQS complies with the information review requirement and makes a publicly available determination of such compliance; and

Providing new exceptions, without undermining the Rule's important investor protections, for broker-dealers to: Quote actively traded securities of well-capitalized issuers; Quote securities issued in an underwritten offering if the broker-dealer is named as an underwriter in the registration statement or offering statement for the underwritten offering, and the broker-dealer that is the named underwriter quotes the security; and Rely on certain third-party publicly available determinations that the requirements of certain exceptions are met.



The amendments also streamline and remove outdated provisions from the Rule. The Commission is also issuing guidance that provides basic principles and examples of red flags to facilitate compliance with the information review requirement.

What's Next?

The Rule will become effective 60 days following publication of the amendments in the Federal Register. The Rule will have a general compliance date that is nine months after the effective date as well as a compliance date that is two years after the effective date regarding provisions to require an issuer's financial information for the last two fiscal years to be current and publicly available.
Hurricane Sally made landfall early Wednesday near Gulf Shores, Alabama, threatening record floods more than 24 hours after it began dumping heavy rain on the Gulf Coast.

The National Hurricane Center warned Wednesday of "catastrophic" and "life-threatening" flooding along parts of the north-central Gulf Coast. Rainfall could last up to two days.

Sally made landfall as a Category 2 storm with sustained winds of 80 mph and even more powerful gusts that make lingering rainfall a major threat.

By 10 a.m. CT on Wednesday, a storm surge warning had been issued for the region between Dauphin Island, Alabama and the Walton County/Bay County line in Florida.

A hurricane warning was in effect between the Mississippi/Alabama border to the Okaloosa County/Walton County line in Florida.

And a a tropical storm warning was issued for areas east of the Okaloosa County/Walton County line in Florida to Indian Pass, Florida.

More than 150,000 customers in the area of Mobile, Alabama, woke up Wednesday to find they had lost power, Alabama Power Co. tweeted before 7 a.m. local time.

Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson begged his constituents to stay indoors  and of course, to stay away from fallen power poles.

"If you come across downed power lines, trees, or debris report it to 911 and do not try to touch or clear trees on your own," the mayor pleaded in a series of tweets on Wednesday.

"In the meantime, we are urging citizens in the City of Mobile to stay home. Please do not venture out unless its absolutely necessary."

Parts of interstates and highways were closed due to flooding and winds as officials warned people to just stay home and off any roads.

"Hurricane Sally is nothing to take for granted. We're looking at record flooding, perhaps breaking historic levels, and with rising water comes a greater risk for loss of life and loss of property," Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey warned on Twitter on Tuesday.

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Ivey urged residents to either prepare for possible evacuations or seek safe shelter, as the turbulent storm made headway.

Forecasters warned that areas from the western Florida Panhandle to southeastern Mississippi could see up to 35 inches of rain.

Pensacola, the westernmost city on the Panhandle, reported a storm surge Wednesday morning of about 5.5 feet.

Coastal areas near the Alabama and Florida border and east up to Florida's Okaloosa County could see storm surges of up to 7 feet, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis tweeted Tuesday that he had declared a state of emergency in 13 northwest Florida counties. "Floridians in these counties should prepare for strong winds and severe flooding," he cautioned.

Image: People play in a flooded parking lot at Navarre Beach, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020, in Pensacola Beach, Fla. (Gerald Herbert / AP)

On Monday, President Donald Trump issued emergency declarations for parts of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, ordering federal assistance.

Last month, Trump got a firsthand look at damage after Hurricane Laura pummeled parts of Louisiana and Texas, leaving at least 15 dead and wreaking havoc. His visit followed a Republican National Convention trip, days after the storm slammed the Gulf Coast.

The extreme weather follows historic wildfires that swept through parts of the West Coast this month, with California state officials and experts blaming climate change and a build up of dried-out vegetation for the dozens of fires that scorched the state.

Download the NBC News app for breaking news and politics

The storm, which will begin to pick up some speed, is expected to move inland across southeastern Alabama later Wednesday and into Thursday.

Sally is also forecast to bring heavy downpours to parts of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas later in the week.

"A hurricane moving at 2 mph is stalled for all intents and purposes," Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher at the University of Miami, told The Associated Press. "If they arent moving along and they just kind of sit there, you're going to get a ridiculous amount of rain."

Forecasters warned that tornadoes were also possible Wednesday across the Florida Panhandle and southern Alabama.

Earlier in the week, Louisiana and Mississippi were bracing for Sally, but as the hurricane slightly changed course, forecasters predicted they should largely be spared from the storm.

Sally had already deluged some areas Tuesday night with more than a foot of rain.

This year's hurricane season  which won't end for another 2  months  has already been one of the busiest on record. Forecasters have almost run through the alphabet of names.

Early Wednesday morning, another storm, Teddy, was rapidly upgraded to a hurricane, with sustained winds of 90 mph. The storm is still in the middle of the Atlantic, hundreds of miles from land but is forecast to become a catastrophic Category 4, possibly reaching Bermuda this weekend.
During a global pandemic, the United States of America is also nearing the end of its presidential election.

As one of the front-runners for re-election, current US President Donald Trump, has been trying to tap onto the patriotic side of Americans ahead of it.

But while the sentiment may be in the right place, the imagery didnt appear to be. A digital advertisement released by one of the fundraising units of the Trump campaign, Trump Make America Great Again Committee. The ad ran on September 11, which called on people to support our troops used a stock photo of Russian-made fighter jets and Russian models dressed as soldiers.

The ad featured silhouettes of three soldiers walking towards the viewer, as three fighter jets flew over them.

According the Google Transparency Report, the advertisement ran from September 8 to September 11.

The photo is originally a stock photo from ShutterStock and is captioned Military silhouettes of soldiers and airforce against the backdrop of sunset sky."

The owner of the photo suggests they are based in Andorra.

Pierre Sprey, who helped design US Air Force planes, told Politico the jet featured in the ad is definitely a MiG-29, as did the director of the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies in Moscow, Ruslan Pukhov.

Pukhov also pointed out that at least one of the soldiers in the image was also carrying Russian-made AK-74 assault rifle.

After the Politico article was published, the original creator of the photo, Arthur Zakiro who is a 34-year-old oil company analyst and hobbyist photographer based in the Russian city of Perm, reached out to them to confirm the photo was indeed taken in Russia.

He also added that the models of the soldiers in the photo, were in fact, Russians as well.

Data from the Google Transparency Report indicated that the image was viewed about 10,000 times and cost the Trump Make America Great Again Committee less than $100,000.
Actors and actresses re-create Bunian Tu , a renowned Tang Dynasty (618-907) painting by Yan Liben, also housed at the Palace Museum, of which shows Emperor Taizong receiving a Tubo envoy. [For China Daily]

Famous paintings are re-created to provide a contemporary twist for viewers.

What do you think when you look at an old painting? Maybe you consider its history, maybe the stories of the people featured in the frame, or the message delivered by the artist?

"A truly great painting with hundreds of years of history carries a sense of motion within it, whether in the gestures of the people portrayed in it or the emotion expressed," says Zhu Lexian, director of the documentary studio within Tencent Penguin Pictures.

"However, normally, the paintings don't actually move and we try to make it happen," Zhu adds.

That's right. Zhu and his team make art that moves. People act out the images in the paintings and bring them to life. This is living art, one of a kind.

They have created a program, entitled Chinese Paintings' Adventure, which transforms Chinese art history's most celebrated paintings into live pictures featuring real actors and actresses.

Actors bring the paintings to life by imagining the conversations that might have taken place between the featured characters. [For China Daily]

For any of the viewers, who have wondered about what was happening in those ancient Chinese paintings, the show provides an imaginative glimpse with humor and a connection to contemporary life.

Premiered on Aug 19, the 30-episode show, with each episode lasting around five minutes, has based its content on 14 famous ancient Chinese paintings, spanning from the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (907-960) to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

"Our goal is to popularize ancient Chinese paintings among the viewers and to make art education fun, simple and easy to comprehend. We want them to learn the history of, and the stories behind, the paintings in an interesting way," says Zhu, the program's executive producer.

The company released a seven-episode docudrama last year titled War of Seven Kingdoms, which introduced the history of the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC) and the Warring States Period (475-221 BC). It was a huge hit.

In an online program, Chinese Paintings' Adventure , real actors bring to life some artworks, such as Xihu Yinqu Tu by Qian Xuan of Song Dynasty (960-1279), which depicts a reclusive poet, his disciple and a crane appreciating plum blossoms, and the Portrait of Yunli , Prince Guo , believed to be the work of Mangguri (1672-1736), both of which are housed at the Palace Museum. [For China Daily]

The first episode of the program, Chinese Paintings' Adventure, features Court Ladies Preparing Newly Woven Silk by Tang Dynasty (618-907) painter Zhang Xuanthe existing copy of which is now housed in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. The painting provides a precious insight into the women working in the ancient royal court.

To make the painting come alive, the show has 12 actresses play the 12 characters depicted in the painting. These include women pounding silk with wooden poles and sewing and ironing freshly-woven silk.

The actresses also have conversations while working. They complain about the demanding job, talk about the different kinds of work assigned by the boss and make fun of one another's techniques.

"I learned about this painting from a textbook in school. The women in the painting are so vivid when they start to talk," commented one fan named Yu Guanghan on micro-blogging platform Sina Weibo.

"The actresses look exactly like the women in the painting. They talk and joke just like we do while working in the office, which is very interesting," commented another fan, Ma Da. "Though the conversation may not be real and was written by the scriptwriters, it's fun to watch."

According to Zhu, so far, the show has received over 26 million views online, which is beyond his expectations.

"It shows that the audience loves this creative way of introducing ancient Chinese paintings," says Zhu.

In an online program, Chinese Paintings' Adventure , real actors bring to life some artworks, such as Xihu Yinqu Tu by Qian Xuan of Song Dynasty (960-1279), which depicts a reclusive poet, his disciple and a crane appreciating plum blossoms, and the Portrait of Yunli , Prince Guo , believed to be the work of Mangguri (1672-1736), both of which are housed at the Palace Museum. [For China Daily]

The show's viewers are mostly people aged from 18 to 24, Zhu says. To appeal to the younger audience, scriptwriters of the program tried to connect the people depicted in the ancient Chinese paintings with contemporary life.

For example, from the famous paintings by Su Hanchen, viewers are offered an insight into the lives of children during the Song Dynasty (960-1279). One of the paintings, titled Jiaoyin Jiqiu Tu, or Children at Play in Summer  currently housed at the Palace Museum in Beijing  captures the lovely spirit and appearance of children playing a ball under the shade of a palm tree. Their mother is looking at them with a smile on her face.

The actress playing the role of the mother not only keeps her children company but urges them to finish their homework.

"Parents' role in homework is a common topic now," says Wu Zijuan, director of the show, Chinese Paintings' Adventure.

"The mother in the painting is characterized as a mother, who wants her children to play outside and, at the same time, feels the need to get her children to do their homework as soon as possible. This conversation between a mother and her children is commonly seen nowadays."

Adding modern elements that contemporary people can relate to in their own lives has turned out to be "an easy way for the audience to remember the ancient paintings".

According to Zhu, the creative team started to prepare for the show in July last year. They researched many ancient Chinese paintings and spent lots of time working on the costumes, makeup and scripts.

History of the paintings is also vital as each episode of the show opens and ends with the historical background of the featured artwork.

He notes that the second season of the show may shift its focus to paintings portraying natural scenery and works that are larger in scale. One subject under consideration is the masterpiece Along the River During the Qingming Festival by 12th-century painter Zhang Zeduan, currently housed at the Palace Museum in Beijing.

The 5.28-meter scrolled painting gives a panoramic portrayal of flourishing urban life, covering all social classes, in Bianliang (today's Kaifeng in Henan Province), which was the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127).

(Source: China Daily)
Grocery workers associated with UFCW Local 770 demonstrate outside a Food 4 Less store in Los Angeles on Aug. 5 after workers at the store had reportedly become infected with the coronavirus. (Los Angeles Times)

To the editor: I read with alarm the article by Maria Hernandez regarding Ralph's lack of concern for COVID-19 safety. I experienced it firsthand yesterday myself. Upon arriving, I asked if the carts had been sanitized. An employee grabbed a wet wipe and quickly wiped off only the main handle on the carts. The store was mobbed and 6-foot distancing was nonexistent.

At Trader Joe's, someone is always outside monitoring the number of customers who enter and exit. TJ's carts are sprayed individually and set apart inside the store. At Ralphs, I've never seen an employee clean the surface of the belt upon which the food is placed, nor sanitize any of the self-checkout stations, like they do at TJs.

Maria's complaints are well-founded; it starts at the top. Shame on Kroger for not enforcing safety standards.

Marilyn Simcox, Carlsbad

..

To the editor: Grocery workers are especially vulnerable to being exposed to COVID-19. Supermarket executives need to recognize that and to ensure the rules are enforced.

It would also help if our leaders running our country would stop acting like fools and take the virus seriously. Our president's pathetic response to the pandemic is the No. 1 issue in the upcoming election. With the virus infecting 6.5 million Americans and killing almost 200,000 of them, Trump earns an "F" grade.

Trump was asleep at the wheel. He continues to lie about the status of the pandemic. His incompetent team is now trying to squelch any facts that get in the way of the daily Donald spin.

Robert V. Zimmerman, Palm Springs

..

To the editor: Thank you for publishing the op-ed by Maria Hernandez in todays paper. Hearing from these heroes, workers on the front line, is important for all of us  especially Angelenos who sometimes think were leading the way in minimizing COVID-19 risks. Hernandez's story shows that we have much room to grow.

Stephanie Abraham, Pomona
Pulverized ancient bone can provide DNA to scientists for analysis. Credit: Xin Xu Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, CC BY-ND

The very first human beings originally emerged in Africa before spreading across Eurasia about 60,000 years ago. After that, the story of humankind heads down many different paths, some more well-studied than others.

Eastern regions of Eurasia are home to approximately 2.3 billion people todayroughly 30% of the world's population. Archeologists know from fossils and artifacts that modern humans have occupied Southeast Asia for 60,000 years and East Asia for 40,000 years.

But there's a lot left to untangle. Who were the people who first came to these regions and eventually invented agriculture? Where did different populations come from? Which groups ended up predominant and which died out?

Ancient DNA is helping to answer some of these questions. By sequencing the genomes of people who lived many millennia ago, scientists like meare starting to fill in the picture of how Asia was populated.

Analyzing ancient genomes

In 2016, I joined Dr. Qiaomei Fu's Molecular Paleontology Lab at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. Our challenge: Resolve the history of humans in East Asia, with the help of collaborators who were long deadancient humans who lived up to tens of thousands of years ago in the region.

Well-preserved DNA from ancient bones holds clues about how human beings spread into East Asia. Credit: Wei Gao, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, CC BY-ND

Members of the lab extracted and sequenced ancient DNA using human remains from archeological sites. Then Dr. Fu and I used computational genomic tools to assess how their DNA related to that of previously sequenced ancient and present-day humans.

One of our sequences came from ancient DNA extracted from the leg bones of the Tianyuan Man, a 40,000-year-old individual discovered near a famous paleoanthropological site in western Beijing. One of the earliest modern humans found in East Asia, his genetic sequence marks him as an early ancestor of today's Asians and Native Americans. That he lived where China's current capital stands indicates that the ancestors of today's Asians began placing roots in East Asia as early as 40,000 years ago.

Farther south, two 8,000- to 4,000-year-old Southeast Asian hunter-gatherers from Laos and Malaysia associated with the Hoabinhian culture have DNA that, like the Tianyuan Man, shows they're early ancestors of Asians and Native Americans. These two came from a completely different lineage than the Tianyuan Man, which suggested that many genetically distinct populations occupied Asia in the past.

But no humans today share the same genetic makeup as either Hoabinhians or the Tianyuan Man, in both East and Southeast Asia. Why did ancestries that persisted for so long vanish from the gene pool of people alive now? Ancient farmers carry the key to that answer.

Tianyuan Man, from near present-day Beijing, and Hoabinhian people, from present-day Laos and Malaysia, represent two very old lineages that are distinct from todays East Asians. Credit: OpenStreetMap contributors, modified by The Conversation, CC BY-SA

DNA carries marks of ancient migrations

Based on plant remains found at archeological sites, scientists know that people domesticated millet in northern China's Yellow River region about 10,000 years ago. Around the same time, people in southern China's Yangtze River region domesticated rice.

Unlike in Europe, plant domestication began locally and was not introduced from elsewhere. The process took thousands of years, and societies in East Asia grew increasingly complex, with the rise of the first dynasties around 4,000 years ago.

That's also when rice cultivation appears to have spread from its origins to areas farther south, including lands that are today's Southeast Asian countries. DNA helps tell the story. When rice farmers from southern China expanded southward, they introduced not only their farming technology but also their genetics to local populations of Southeast Asian hunter-gatherers.

Rice farmers, possibly from around the Yangtze River, moved south into Southeast Asia, while millet farmers from around the Yellow River moved north into Siberia. Credit: OpenStreetMap contributors, modified by The Conversation, CC BY-SA

The overpowering influx of their DNA ended up swamping the local gene pool. Today, little trace of hunter-gatherer ancestry remains in the genes of people who live in Southeast Asia.

Farther north, a similar story played out. Ancient Siberian hunter-gatherers show little relationship with East Asians today, but later Siberian farmers are closely related to today's East Asians. Farmers from northern China moved northward into Siberia bringing their DNA with them, leading to a sharp decrease in prevalence of the previous local hunter-gatherer ancestry.

Past populations were more diverse than today's

Genetically speaking, today's East Asians are not very different from each other. A lot of DNA is needed to start genetically distinguishing between people with different cultural histories.

What surprised Dr. Fu and me was how different the DNA of various ancient populations were in China. We and others found shared DNA across the Yellow River region, a place important to the development of Chinese civilization. This shared DNA represents a northern East Asian ancestry, distinct from a southern East Asian ancestry we found in coastal southern China.

The skeleton of a person who lived about 8,700 years ago in Xiaogao, Shandong, China near the Yellow River. This individuals northern East Asian ancestry can be found in the remains of people who lived up into the eastern steppes of Siberia. Credit: Jianfeng Lang, Shandong University, CC BY-ND

When we analyzed the DNA of people who lived in coastal southern China 9,000-8,500 years ago, we realized that already by then much of China shared a common heritage. Because their archeology and morphology was different from that of the Yellow River farmers, we had thought these coastal people might come from a lineage not closely related to those first agricultural East Asians. Maybe this group's ancestry would be similar to the Tianyuan Man or Hoabinhians.

But instead, every person we sampled was closely related to present-day East Asians. That means that by 9,000 years ago, DNA common to all present-day East Asians was widespread across China.

Today's northern and southern Chinese populations share more in common with ancient Yellow River populations than with ancient coastal southern Chinese. Thus, early Yellow River farmers migrated both north and south, contributing to the gene pool of humans across East and Southeast Asia.

The coastal southern Chinese ancestry did not vanish, though. It persisted in small amounts and did increase in northern China's Yellow River region over time. The influence of ancient southern East Asians is low on the mainland, but they had a huge impact elsewhere. On islands spanning from the Taiwan Strait to Polynesia live the Austronesians, best known for their seafaring. They possess the highest amount of southern East Asian ancestry today, highlighting their ancestry's roots in coastal southern China.

This individual, who lived about 8,300 years ago on Liang island in the Taiwan Strait, has the southern ancestry found in inhabitants of coastal mainland southern China. Credit: Hunglin Chiu, Institute of Anthropology, National Tsinghua University, CC BY-ND

People with different lifestyles who lived far apart in northern China near the Yellow River and along the southern China coast as far back as 9,000 years ago both passed their distinct DNA down to present-day East Asians and Southeast Asians. Austronesians are the closest descendants of the ancient population from coastal southern China. Credit: OpenStreetMap contributors, modified by The Conversation, CC BY-SA

Other emerging genetic patterns show connections between Tibetans and ancient individuals from Mongolia and northern China, raising questions about the peopling of the Tibetan Plateau.

Ancient DNA reveals rapid shifts in ancestry over the last 10,000 years across Asia, likely due to migration and cultural exchange. Until more ancient human DNA is retrieved, scientists can only speculate as to exactly who, genetically speaking, lived in East Asia prior to that.

Explore further Ancient DNA unveils important missing piece of human history

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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For each of the following RC II existing building descriptions, select Sufficient if the described building would be an acceptable tsunami refuge of last resort based on the information provided. Otherwise, select Not sufficient.

Sufficient Not sufficient Statements A 75-foot building in Cannon Beach, OR A 35-foot building in Newport, OR A 90-foot building in Haleiwa, HI

Show Spoiler Not sufficient, Sufficient and Not sufficient

Project IR Butler 2019-20 - Get one IR Question Everyday

Question # 330, Date : 27-Aug-2020

This post is a part of Project IR Butler 2019-20 . Click here for Details Question # 330, Date : 27-Aug-2020

The table provides select information for buildings designed to Risk Category (RC) II seismic design requirements functioning as tsunami refuges of last resort on the U.S. Pacific Coast. Equivalence between seismic capacity and the demand associated with tsunami inundation depth at a given location is termed the parity height. The maximum inundation depth is based on the tsunami hazard at the site, and the threshold height is the height of the building needed to provide adequate freeboard above inundation. In any given community, existing buildings that are taller than the required threshold height might be considered for vertical evacuation refuge. Locations in the table where the parity height is less than the threshold height are locations where taller existing buildings would be expected to be adequate for the loads associated with the anticipated tsunami inundation depth. At locations of extreme tsunami loading, RC II buildings are not recommended as refuges of last resort._________________
She is a model and body confidence advocate who welcomed a baby boy in April.

And, Iskra Lawrence, 30, exuded happiness as she displayed her post-baby body in a plunging bikini during her birthday getaway to Miraval Austin Resort & Spa, in Austin, Texas at the weekend.

Whilst sitting on a woven hammock in her swimwear set, the social media star tilted her head for the eye-popping snaps, which she shared to Instagram on Tuesday.

Loving life: Iskra Lawrence, 30, exuded happiness as she posed in a plunging bikini during her birthday getaway to Miraval Austin Resort & Spa, in Austin, Texas at the weekend

In addition to her hammock shots, Iskra struck the 'giraffe pose' while standing with the resort's swimming pools in view.

She captioned the series of shots: 'moments from my birthday weekend getaway with my king @philipapayne @miravalresorts. And yes this is the @aerie I mix n match all the time.'

The happy photographs come after Iskra left almost nothing to the imagination when sharing several nude snaps of herself in the shower on Monday.

Iskra, who turned 30 on Friday, tagged her boyfriend Philip Payne in the jaw-dropping photos, suggesting he took them for her.

Cute: Whilst sitting on a woven hammock in her mishmashed swimwear set, the social media star tilted her head for the eye-popping snaps, which she shared to Instagram on Tuesday

Looking good: In addition to her hammock shots, Iskra struck the 'giraffe pose' while standing with the resort's swimming pools in view

The model looked incredible in the shots as she protected her modesty with her right arm.

The social media star looked incredible as she struck a series of poses while fixing the camera with a sultry stare.

Wearing nothing but a gold necklace, Iskra posted a nature shot in between each snap of her in the shower.

Alongside the post, she wrote: 'Birthday suit' and then added: 'Thanks for the birthday love '.

Sizzling: Iskra left almost nothing to the imagination while sharing several nude snaps of herself in the shower on Monday

Stunning: The model looked incredible in the shots as she protected her modesty with her right arm

Iskra became a first-time mother back in April, when she and Philip welcomed the birth of their baby son.

The model recently admitted that her exercise regime hasn't been 'consistent' since giving birth but said she was 'in awe' that her body has given her the gift of motherhood.

It comes after Iskra detailed the 'pressures' of breastfeeding her baby son in another candid video.

Iskra admitted there have been times when she's had a 'screaming, hungry baby' while being a 'sobbing mess' as she opened up on her anxieties about the process via Instagram.

Partner: Iskra tagged her boyfriend Philip Payne in the jaw-dropping photos, suggested he took them for her

Birthday: Alongside the post, she wrote: 'Birthday suit' and then added: 'Thanks for the birthday love '

The body confidence advocate displayed the various different positions she uses to feed her son alongside a lengthy caption.

'Let's just get to the point. Breastfeeding is hard af!' she wrote. 'And it's not ok that so much pressure is put on women to be able to do it. Or that you won't have the same connection if you can't breastfeed - that is BS.

'It's not 'breast is best' it's 'fed is best'. As I shared before my milk supply dropped completely and it was awful. A screaming hungry baby and I was a sobbing mess.

Motherhood: Iskra became a first-time mother back in April, when she and Philip welcomed the birth of their baby son

'I wish I wouldn't have put so much pressure on myself surrounding breast feeding. I wish I had a formula ready that my baby liked, and not been afraid of using it.

'When I tried supplementing with formula it really was the biggest relief and will happily do it whenever we need to.

'So this video is me sharing the positions that have worked for us - best latching and most comfortable.'
ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently, Elizabethtown College's School of Continuing and Professional Studies (SCPS) launched the region's first five-week, 100 percent online accelerated RN to BSN program.

The new program is launching as the nursing profession is facing a national shortage. According to the American Nurses Association there will be far more registered nurse jobs available than any other profession, at more than 100,000 jobs per year by 2022.

"We're excited to offer this competitive program at Elizabethtown College during a transformative time in the nursing field among the worldwide pandemic amid an increase in retirements," Elizabethtown College Director of the RN to BSN Program Lisa Homa said. "Our program is designed to be flexible for practicing nurses to move at their own pace to earn a bachelor's degree, and most importantly we offer a supportive, motivating learning environment for our students."

A top-rated Best Value School by U.S. News & World Report, Etown's RN to BSN program advances the skills and knowledge of professionals within the high-demand nursing field through interactive and engaging courses taught by highly-trained professionals.

As the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) is becoming the standard entry-level degree for registered nurses, Etown's RN to BSN program was created for licensed registered nurses who have an associate's degree or nursing diploma (ADN).

Etown will hold informational sessions on the new program where participants can speak with admissions counselors on Thursday, Sept. 24 or Wednesday, Oct. 7 at 12:30 or 6 p.m. Discover more and register at etown.edu.

Elizabethtown College, located in southcentral Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, is a private institution offering more than 50 majors including health sciences, data analytics, public policy, technology, engineering, social media and media analytics, fine and performing arts, business, communications, education degrees and more. Experience Etown: etown.edu.

Contact:

Keri Straub

Executive Director of Marketing & Communications

Elizabethtown College

(717) 725-6907

[email protected]

SOURCE Elizabethtown College

Related Links

http://www.etown.edu


Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 16:31:20|Editor: huaxia

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SEOUL, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- South Korean Unification Minister Lee In-young on Wednesday expressed hope for the resumed talks with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) amid the deadlocked inter-Korean relations.

"I hope that consultation channels, including the South-North joint liaison office, can be restored as early as possible and (South Korea and the DPRK) can resume frank and candid dialogue," Lee said during his first visit to the border village of Panmunjom since he took office in July.

The visit by Lee came ahead of the second anniversary of a summit, held between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang on Sept. 19, 2018.

"The promise should be fulfilled and the agreements can be completed through implementation," Lee said.

To restart the "time of the South and the North," the minister said the South Korean government will begin with "a small approach" to the humanitarian and the exchange and cooperation areas which Seoul and Pyongyang can do immediately.

By doing it, South Korea will turn it into the time of faith and trust, Lee noted.

Moon and Kim held three summits in 2018, agreeing to completely denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, permanently achieve peace on the peninsula, stop all hostile acts near the inter-Korean border and increase exchange and cooperation.

All inter-Korean hotlines were restored, and a joint liaison office was set up in the DPRK's border town of Kaesong in 2018 for the round-the-clock communication.

However, the inter-Korean ties have been stalled since the second summit between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump ended without agreement in February 2019 at the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi.

The DPRK severed all inter-Korean communication channels and destroyed the joint liaison office this year in protest against anti-DPRK leaflets across the border released by South Korean civic groups. Enditem
Jamie Foxx and his daughter Corinne could barely contain their excitement after her Good Times reboot won a Creative Arts Emmy.

The 52-year-old actor shared a video to Instagram of the two celebrating the award with wine on Tuesday night.

The movie star previously played the role of George Jefferson in another episode of Live In Front Of A Studio Audience, an update of classic Norman Lear sitcoms, which was also honored with an Emmy.

Proud papa: Jamie Foxx, 52, was over the moon as he celebrated with his daughter Corinne Foxx, 26, after her special Live In Front Of A Studio Audience won a Creative Arts Emmy Award

'Celebrations, celebrations!' Jamie shouted as he lifted his stemless wine glass aloft.

'Somebody just won an Emmy!' he said as he clinked glasses with Corinne, 26. 'My beautiful daughter Corinne Marie Fox, she is all grown up and she is an Emmy winner for Live In Front Of A Studio Audience for Good Times!'

'Daddydaughter time, this is what love is all about,' he said before taking another sip.

The Oscar winner then shouted, 'You won an Emmy! You won an Emmy!' before ending the video.

'I would like to introduce to you my daughter Emmy award winning @corinnefoxx !!!! Congratulations on your Emmy award performance!!! in good times on live in front of a studio audience!!! You are my heart and I am so proud of you Keep elevating I love you!' the actor wrote in his caption.

Excited: 'Somebody just won an Emmy!' he said as he clinked glasses with Corinne, 26. 'My beautiful daughter Corinne Marie Fox, she is all grown up and she is an Emmy winner for Live In Front Of A Studio Audience for Good Times!'

Good Times: 'Daddydaughter time, this is what love is all about,' he said before taking another sip

Corinne did plenty of celebrating over on her own Instagram page with a selfie from the set of Live In Front Of A Studio Audience with her costar Tiffany Haddish.

'WE WON AN EMMY! Outstanding Variety Special (LIVE) congrats to all our amazing producers for putting this show together! Such a dream! @thenormanlear @jimmykimmel @kerrywashington @simpsonstreet @abcnetwork @thebrent_miller,' she wrote.

Though she was celebrating the show's win, Corinne technically didn't win herself, as only the show's producers are honored when a show wins.

The Emmy Rules and Procedures booklet states that three commemorative Emmys can be ordered by the studio, but they can't be for individuals.

The Beat Shazam DJ followed her post up with another video of her dancing and letting loose with her wine.

'What Emmy win celebrations look like in 2020,' she wrote, adding the hashtag, '#StillCelebratingTho.'

Over the moon: Corinne did plenty of celebrating over on her own Instagram page with a selfie from the set of Live In Front Of A Studio Audience with her costar Tiffany Haddish

Close enough: Though she was celebrating the show's win, Corinne technically didn't win herself, as only the show's producers are honored when a show wins

Live In Front Of A Studio Audience was originally broadcast in May 2019 and recreated two classic sitcom episodes from shows created by Norman Lear.

Woody Harrelson and Marisa Tomei starred as Archie and Edith Bunker in the episode Henry's Farewell, which originally introduced the character of George Jefferson (played here by Jamie).

The second half of the broadcast featured A Friend In Need, a restaged version of the first episode of The Jeffersons, with a cast featuring Wanda Sykes, Kerry Washington and Will Ferrell.

The idea to reboot the episodes came from Jimmy Kimmel, who also hosted the broadcast.

Star power: Live In Front Of A Studio Audience was originally broadcast in May 2019 and re-created episodes of All In The Family and The Jeffersons, all with celebrity guest stars; Jamie pictured with Fran Bennett

Back for more: A second broadcast in December 2019 redid episodes of All In The Family and Good Times. Corinne starred in the latter as Thelma with Tiffany Haddish, Andre Braugher and Viola Davis

The show's success, which was bolstered by many of its stars being unannounced, led to a follow-up that paired another All In The Family episode with another Lear sitcom, Good Times.

Corrine was featured as Thelma, one of the children of Florida and James Evans.

The new version featured Andre Braugher and Viola Davis as her parents, with Tiffany Haddish and Jay Pharoah rounding out the cast.

In addition to winning Outstanding Variety Special, the second special also picked up the award for Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video Control for a Special.

Jamie's celebrations come amid news that his ex-girlfriend Katie Holmes has moved on with chef Emilio Vitolo Jr., whom she's been showing off plenty of PDA with recently in New York City.

Foxx and Holmes dated secretively starting in 2013, shortly after her divorce from Tom Cruise.

The couple finally took their relationship public in the summer of 2019, only to break up shortly afterward amid rumors of his infidelities.
Former billionaire and co-founder of airport retail giant Duty Free Shoppers, Charles 'Chuck' Feeney is now reportedly broke after he gave away all his fortune to charity. The 89-year-old businessman has donated more than $8 billion to charities, universities and foundations across the world through his own foundation - The Atlantic Philanthropies.

Feeney had always said he believes in the idea of 'giving while living' and not have a foundation created in his name after his death. He kept his word and has given away all his money. The former billionaire has said that he could not be happier with his decision.

He told Forbes, We learned a lot. We would do some things differently, but I am very satisfied. I feel very good about completing this on my watch".

Also read: Japanese Fashion Billionaire Gives Away Rs 64 crore To People On Social Media, Here's Why

Reuters

Back in 2012, Feeney kept $2 million aside for his and his wife's retirement. He decided to donate the rest of the money.



Not just that but he gave all his money to charities anonymously. He is apparently so secretive with his donations, they call him the James Bond of Philanthropy.



However, his donations are not discreet anymore. His foundation was dissolved on September 14 after donating to bring peace to Northern Ireland and modernise the health care system of Vietnam. He also contributed significantly towards spreading education.



Also read: 11 Crazy Expensive Purchases By Tech Billionaires That Are Truly Out Of The World

Reuters

He donated $3.7 billion to education which includes $1 billion to his alma mater Cornell and more than $870 million to human rights and social change. He also donated more than $700 million as gifts to health causes like a $270 million grant to improvise healthcare in Vietnam to a $176 million gift to the Global Brain Health Institute at the University of California, San Francisco.



One of the last donations he made was a $350 million donation to Cornell so that the university can build a technology campus on New York City's Roosevelt Island.

He also advised other billionaires to take the Giving While Living pledge. He said, Try it, youll like it".

Also read: One Of The Most Expensive Breakups Ever? Costly Divorce Makes Woman In China A Billionaire

Reuters





Presently, he lives in an apartment in San Fransisco with his wife. He has a plaque that reads: 'Congratulations to Chuck Feeney for $8 billion of philanthropic giving'.
There is no designated meeting of the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan at this moment, but there are discussions. This is what Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan stated during a question-and-answer session in parliament today.

Talking about the latest statement by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, Pashinyan considered it constructive and stated the following: The statement complies with Armenias notions of continuation of the negotiations. Armenia has principles for negotiations, but it has also stated that those principles arent considered a precondition. Were not saying that we wont negotiate so long as the issues remain unsolved because if all the issues are solved, there wont be a need for negotiations.

Pashinyan also stated that Azerbaijan has set a precondition, that is, Karabakh has to be exclusively a part of Azerbaijan. I view the Co-Chairs statement constructive and logical, Pashinyan said.

Asked to what extent the atmosphere is fit for negotiations after the battles that took place in July, Pashinyan said the atmosphere is fit as much as it was before the battles. Before the events in July, we would hear Azerbaijans belligerent statements that werent in line with the logic of negotiations. I believe the international community has a clear position, that is, the Karabakh issue has only a peaceful solution. The battles in July changed the following logic: Armenia would say nobody can speak to Armenia and Artsakh in the language of force, Azerbaijan said it could solve the issue in 24 hours, but it turned out that Armenia was right, Azerbaijan was wrong.
NEW YORK, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- RedShield, specialists in web application shielding, has announced the appointment of industry thought-leader Kate Kuehn as a board director.

Based in Chicago, Kuehn's appointment is part of RedShield's strategy to accelerate growth in the U.S; a push made possible by RedShield's USD$10M Series B funding last September. Her appointment follows that of fellow industry veteran James Carrigan Jr. to Chief Revenue Officer (CRO), who recently joined the company from Verizon.

Kuehn joins RedShield from vArmour where she is currently Senior Vice President. Prior to this Kuehn was the U.S. CEO of Senseon where she focused on leading its business in the Americas. Over two decades, Kuehn has held roles including VP, CISO, and CEO at companies including BT Group plc, Verizon, and Wandera.

As a leader of some of the industry's first projects in DDOS, Ethernet as a network (CPA), SaaS and IaaS - and an active thought leader in Security and Advanced Network Technologies for nearly 20 years - Kuehn brings significant gravitas to the New Zealand-born business.

Commenting on her appointment, Kuehn said, "I have long been an admirer of RedShield, and am honored to be joining the board. The necessity for dynamic, relationship focused security has never been greater. As digital transformation rapidly becomes a reality for many organizations, the need for greater Application Resiliency has taken center stage and RedShield is a unique leader to shield our new connected world."

Andy Prow, CEO at RedShield commented, "Kate is a trusted advisor in the industry and we're delighted to welcome her to RedShield. As our business gains momentum in the U.S., her decision to join us further reinforces our confidence in our product and vision. Her connections and fresh perspective on emerging trends within cybersecurity will fuel our growth even further."



Kuehn is an experienced board director, holding positions on several boards including the Cyber Education Foundation, and as an advisory board member at Senseon, Wolf Hill Group, and CYR3CON.

For more information on RedShield www.redshield.co

About RedShield

RedShield makes vulnerabilities in web applications vanish without touching a single line of application code. Our software shields enable you to accelerate digital transformation initiatives and speed to market by removing the holes cybercriminals seek to exploit. Founded in New Zealand, owned and operated by an experienced team of penetration testers and security technologists, we have become known for taking on the security challenges that no one else will.

SOURCE RedShield
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 04:35:23|Editor: huaxia

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WASHINGTON, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer announced on Tuesday that the administration will resume duty-free treatment of Canadian aluminum based on the expectations that imports will decline sharply in the last four months this year.

In early August, U.S. President Donald Trump said in a presidential proclamation that he has decided to re-impose a 10-percent tariff on imports of non-alloyed unwrought aluminum from Canada, noting that imports surged over the past few months and threatens U.S. national security.

"After consultations with the Canadian government, the United States has determined that trade in non-alloyed, unwrought aluminum is likely to normalize in the last four months of 2020, with imports declining sharply from the surges experienced earlier in the year," Lighthizer said in a statement.

"Average monthly imports are expected to decline 50 percent from the monthly average in the period of January through July," he said. "Based on these expectations, the United States will resume duty-free treatment of non-allowed, unwrought aluminum retrospective to Sept. 1, 2020."

The USTR noted that six weeks after the end of any month during this period, the United States will determine whether actual shipments met expectations.

"If actual shipments exceeded 105 percent of the expected volume for any month during the four-month period, then the United States will impose the 10 percent tariff retroactively on all shipments made in that month," he added.

Citing national security concerns, the Trump administration unilaterally imposed a 25-percent tariff on steel imports and 10-percent tariff on aluminum imports globally in 2018, drawing strong opposition domestically and abroad.

In May 2019, Trump removed the tariffs on Canada and Mexico, in hope of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)'s ratification.

According to U.S. official data, imports of non-alloyed unwrought aluminum from Canada during June 2019 through May 2020 increased 87 percent compared to the prior 12-month period and exceeded the volume of any full calendar year in the previous decade. Enditem
Healthcare workers have raised concerns over the availability of adequate protective equipment during the pandemic

Women healthcare workers and medical staff with Asian heritage are less likely to be using face masks that fit them properly making them more vulnerable to infection, according to a report on Tuesday calling for more robust equipment testing.

The report published in the journal Anaesthesia looked at studies into different methods used to assess filtration masks like the N95 and FFP2 models, used by medical workers in high risk situations.

The authors said that to ensure a mask is not liable to leak it needs to adequately fit the face shape of the wearer, adding that this appears to be more important for protection from airborne viral spread than the filtration capacity of the mask itself.

But hospitals can sometimes lack the time and resources to perform the more rigorous tests, often leaving it up to staff to assess their own equipment.

"Satisfactory airborne protection will only be provided if the filtering facepiece respirators are properly fitted to the individual's face, providing a tight facial seal," said co-author Prof Britta von Ungern-Sternberg, from the University of Western Australia.

"Airborne protection is decreased in the presence of a leak as unfiltered air will be drawn inside the mask."

Their review drew on pre-pandemic research suggesting that in the highest level "fit test", only 85 percent of women could be fitted with a respirator, compared to 95 percent of men, while men were also more likely to find a suitable mask first time around.

They also looked at other research that showed higher initial fit-pass rates in Caucasians (90 percent) compared with Asians (84 percent) and said particularly low initial fit-pass rates were reported in Asian women, with a reported average of just 60 percent.

In the US the report said authorities use a fit-test panel to assess the suitability of the N95 masks provided to healthcare workers.

Story continues

But the authors note that the facial dimensions represented by the panel is based on a cohort of people in which women and Asians are "underrepresented".

In many countries around the world, women make up at least three quarters of all healthcare staff.

The report noted that the full testing of masks was often a standard requirement but suggested that equipment shortages and time constraints in the pandemic have further undermined healthcare authorities' ability to adequately test respirators.

Health workers have been shown to be at a far higher risk of infection.

Research published in The Lancet Public Health journal in July found that frontline healthcare workers were over three times more likely to test positive in Britain and the US than the general population early in the pandemic, with the rate rising to five times for ethnic minority medical staff.

That study also found that frontline medical staff who said they did not have sufficient protective equipment -- like masks, gloves and gowns -- were 30 percent more likely to test positive than those who said they had the proper equipment.

klm/pg/pma
The Special Economic Zone at Duqm (SEZD) is gearing up to hand over the main buildings in the customs station at Port of Duqm as part of ensuring readiness of all facilities to provide key services for export and import operations through the commercial berth at the Port.



Yahya bin Khamis Al Zadjali, In-Charge of Managing Operations of the Special Economic Zone at Duqm, said that the construction works in the customs building, agriculture and fisheries building and the clinic are nearing completion and they will be handed over to the concerned bodies in coordination with the Port of Duqm.



Oman Company for Development of Special Economic Zone at Duqm Tatweer, a fully-owned by the Public Authority for Special Economic Zones and Free Zones (OPAZ), is currently striving to accelerate the works in the buildings and getting the main gate of the Port ready for commercial use, Al Zadjali explained.



He also pointed out that Dr Ali bin Masoud Al Sunaidy, Chairman of the Public Authority for Special Economic Zones and Free Zones (OPAZ), paid a visit last week to the buildings established in the Port of Duqm.



The visit was aimed to witness the readiness of these buildings prior implementing Bayan System, as well as to meet with officials from Royal Oman Police and Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources.



The meeting highlighted the plan for launching the customs building and the agriculture and fisheries building in order to facilitate the process of customs inspection on exports and imports coming to Port of Duqm at the same location, as well as to release all agriculture and fish consignments.



The agriculture and fisheries building is highly equipped with different devices and facilities that are used for inspecting the agriculture and fish products and conducting veterinary quarantine tasks.



Al Zadjali remarked that the coordination is in progress with the Ministry of Health to operate the specialised clinic located in the customs station.



Al Zadjali also confirmed that the bids submitted for the tender for designing, manufacturing, supplying, installing, testing and operating container cranes for the commercial berth at Duqm Port are currently under review. There will be 12 rubber wheeled cranes (TRG) and 4 container cranes (STS) to shift containers from ships to the dock and vice versa.



The tender will be soon awarded to the selected company. The Port of Duqm is currently using mobile cranes until the new main cranes are installed during the coming 18 months Al Zadjali commented.  TradeArabia News Service
New Delhi Amid the dragging border standoff in Ladakh sector and the first use of guns along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) since 1975, the minister of state for external affairs wrote in response to a question to Parliament that Indias relations with its neighbours, including China, has not deteriorated recently.

No, was minister of state for external affairs V Muraleedharans written reply to a question from Trinamool Congress MP Sougata Roy in Lok Sabha on whether bilateral ties with neighbours such as Nepal, China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Myanmar had deteriorated recently.

The government accords highest priority to relations with neighbours and India is an active political and economic partner of its neighbours and is involved in various projects, including development projects, with these countries, the minister added.

Interestingly, the minister appeared to contradict himself; in response to another question he reiterated Indias position that there had been enhanced deployment of troops and armaments by China in border areas and along the LAC since April-May, and that the Chinese side attempted to transgress the LAC in several areas of the western sector since mid-May.

These attempts received an appropriate response from India, and China departed from the consensus for disengagement reached at a meeting of corps commanders on June 6 and tried to unilaterally change the status quo, he said.

This resulted in a violent face-off in Galwan Valley on June 15, in which both sides suffered casualties that could have been avoided had the agreement at the senior commanders level been scrupulously followed by the Chinese side, Muraleedharan said.

People familiar with developments said the minister of states answer was in response to a question about an overall assessment of Indias relations with all its neighbours collectively, and not on a particular bilateral relationship.

On the specific issue of India-China relations, defence minister Rajnath Singh had outlined New Delhis position in his detailed statement in Parliament on Tuesday, the people said on condition of anonymity.

Singh had said in his statement the current situation in the border areas with China was very different from past standoffs in terms of the scale of troops involved and the number of friction points. He also said the Chinese side had engaged in provocative military manoeuvres and violated agreements by amassing troops.

On September 11 following external affairs minister S Jaishankars meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Moscow on the margins of a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting, the ministry said that the Indian side had made it clear to the Chinese that maintenance of peace and tranquillity in the border areas is essential to the forward development of ties, and that recent incidents in eastern Ladakh had inevitably impacted the development of the bilateral relationship.

In a written reply to another question in Lok Sabha on whether India has started discussions with China regarding the recent tensions on the border, Muraleedharan noted the contacts between the foreign and defence ministers, military commanders and Special Representatives of the two sides and meetings of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on border issues since June.

He noted that Jaishankar and Wang agreed on a five-point roadmap during their meeting in Moscow on September 10, whereby both sides will take guidance from the consensus reached by the top leadership, work to quickly disengage troops, abide by all agreements and protocols boundary affairs, continue dialogue through various mechanisms, and expedite work on new confidence-building measures for the border areas.

Accordingly, it is expected that the two sides will continue to have meetings of military and diplomatic officials to implement the agreements reached between the two foreign ministers and ensure full restoration of peace and tranquillity in the border areas, Muraleedharan said.
The term "Karen" has risen in popularity over recent years. Regardless of what the individual's name actually is, the name Karen is often used to describe an entitled white woman who causes a scene over something she deems offensive. Urban Dictionary's top definition: "The stereotypical name associated with rude, obnoxious, and insufferable middle-aged white women."
By Junko Horiuchi, KYODO NEWS - Sep 16, 2020 - 14:17 | All, Japan, World

Lacking diplomatic experience, new Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is likely to take a cautious approach in the early stages of his foreign policy, eschewing steps that might inflame relations with Asian neighbors, analysts said.

Drastic measures are therefore unlikely, with little likelihood of swift diplomatic breakthroughs such as in ties with South Korea, they said.

Relations with Seoul remain a major diplomatic challenge after plunging to their worst level in years under the previous government of Shinzo Abe due to disputes over wartime labor compensation and trade policy.

Suga, meanwhile, who positioned himself as the continuity candidate in the race to succeed Abe, will face the task of pushing ahead with efforts begun under his predecessor to improve ties with China despite a territorial dispute in the East China Sea.

Such efforts, however, have become more complicated in recent months due to concerns over Beijing's introduction of a new national security law in Hong Kong. Tensions are also escalating between Japan's key ally the United States and China.

"Mr. Suga, a very domestic-oriented politician who has focused on revitalizing regional economies, is likely to rely on his foreign minister to promote Japan's diplomacy for the time being, and will not do anything that deviates from Abe's policies," said Go Ito, professor of international relations at Meiji University.

Abe, regarded as a hawkish conservative, made a visit to Yasukuni shrine, seen a symbol of Japan's wartime militarism by China and South Korea, during his second tenure, bringing a strong rebuke from the two neighbors.

But Suga is unlikely to make any such move to irk Beijing and Seoul given his relatively moderate political ideology.

"I think it is Mr. Suga's strength that China and South Korea will not be suspicious about his stance on historical issues," which have often been a source of tensions, said Ryo Sahashi, associate professor of international politics at the University of Tokyo's Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia.

"He could get off to a (good) start with the leaders of China and South Korea if their trilateral summit is held later this year," Sahashi said.

Related coverage:

FOCUS: Who is Yoshihide Suga, Japan's next prime minister?

Suga has been credited with coordinating domestic affairs and taking the lead in disaster response management at home but has little international experience after serving as chief Cabinet secretary under the Abe government for seven years and eight months before the former prime minister's resignation due to health concerns.

He was also in charge of handling the issue of past abductions of Japanese nationals by North Korea and taking measures to reduce Okinawa Prefecture's burden in hosting the bulk of U.S. military facilities in Japan.

He made only two overseas trips during his stint as top government spokesman. He made a three-day visit to Washington in May last year to discuss North Korea with Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Suga also visited Guam in 2015 to discuss the planned transfer of some of the U.S. Marines stationed in Okinawa amid intensified wrangling with local residents of the southernmost prefecture over a controversial plan to relocate a key U.S. base there.

"In the long term, he may show his own unique approach in diplomacy such as offering technological assistance to developing countries in areas of disaster preparedness, which would be him making an "export" of something he has been good at promoting in domestic politics," Meiji University's Ito said.

In the run-up to Monday's presidential election of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Suga refuted claims that his diplomatic skills remain his weak side.

"For instance, I have been present at all but one of around 37 telephone calls between the Japanese and U.S. leaders. I was also involved in all of the important policy decisions," Suga told a debate hosted by the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo on Saturday.

While acknowledging that "continuity is important in diplomacy," he said he would conduct foreign policy "in my own style," even if he couldn't match up to Abe's "great" diplomatic skills.

Suga has also said he will pursue his diplomatic policy in close cooperation with the Foreign Ministry and also seek support from Abe in promoting diplomacy "comprehensively."

"The fact that high-level officials such as Vice President Pence came to see him during the visit to Washington last year shows that the United States is well aware of the gravity of the role Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga has played in the Abe government," a senior diplomat at the ministry said.

Analysts said broad support for Suga within the LDP should help him promote his own diplomacy when he is ready. He cruised to victory in the LDP leadership race Monday, having secured the backing of the majority of the party's factions as well as most unaffiliated party lawmakers. Suga himself does not belong to a faction.

"His tight rein on the ruling party means that his credentials will remain strong among foreign leaders. His decisions will become trustworthy," the University of Tokyo's Sahashi said.
US President Donald Trump on Monday further proved that he has no idea how climate change or forest fires work.

In a new, false and unscientific claim, he said that trees just explode, on why the US wildfires which are raging on unabated, actually started.

Trump repeated his argument that wildfires are caused by poor maintenance of forest areas, making them more combustible.

There has to be strong forest management," he said.

With regard to the forests, when trees fall down after a short period of time, about 18 months, they become very dry. They become really like a match stick," he added. They just explode."

Infernos across California, Oregon and Washington state have burned more than five million acres (two million hectares) this year, killed dozens of people and forced hundreds of thousands from their homes.

Whole towns have been ruined by the blazes, which have pumped out tonnes of noxious fumes that have hung in the air for days, blocking out the sun and making breathing difficult.

But Trump, in Sacramento on the third day of a re-election campaign swing, pushed back against state officials arguing that a heating climate underlies the ever-stronger fires.

It will start getting cooler. You just watch," Trump said, offering no evidence for the theory.

I wish science agreed with you," responded Wade Crowfoot, the head of the California Natural Resources Agency.

I dont think science knows, actually," Trump said.

Reputable scientists around the world are almost unanimous in their belief that the world is getting warmer because of human activity.

This man-made climate change amplifies droughts, which dry out regions, creating ideal conditions for wildfires to spread out-of-control and inflict unprecedented damage.

Much of the West Coast has been blanketed in choking smog for days, with Portland on Monday the worlds most air-polluted city according to IQAir.

Washington state Governor Jay Inslee said it was crucial voters elect a climate president" come November 3.

This moment requires action, not denial," he said in a tweet. We must come together around science to build a better future for all Americans."

Most of the 35 deaths so far confirmed have occurred in California and Oregon, where the wildfires are the worst in decades and have been fueled partly by record heat.

More than 30,000 firefighters are battling the blazes, with wind gusts and drier weather on Monday threatening more destruction.

Residents of Arcadia, on the outskirts of Los Angeles, were ordered to evacuate Sunday as the nearby Bobcat Fire spread south through forested terrain toward the metropolis.

Two new deaths were confirmed from the North Complex Fire, which swept at unprecedented speeds last week into areas already ravaged less than two years ago by the Camp Fire  Californias deadliest ever blaze.

There are still active fires, power lines are down, trees are down, there are roads that are impassable," said Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea, warning evacuees it could take weeks and weeks" to return to their homes.

(With inputs from AFP)
The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has given permission to the Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) to resume the clinical trial of the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in the country.

The DCGI has revoked its earlier order of suspending recruitment of any new volunteer for the Phase 2/3 clinical trial.

The DCGI has asked SII to submit details of medication used in accordance with the protocol for the management of adverse events.

Besides, the drug regulating body of the country has told the Serum Institute to take extra care during screening, provide additional information in informed consent, and closely monitor participants for any adverse events during follow-up of the study.

Last week, pharma giant AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford resumed the clinical trial of its COVID-19 vaccine AZD 1222 in the UK, following the confirmation by the Medicines Health Regulatory Authority (MHRA) that the trials were safe.

The human trials in the UK resumed few days after getting paused after a participant reported illness.

In India, Serum Institute is conducting Phase 2/3 human trials for the COVID-19 vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca.

Consequently, the DCGI also directed SII to suspend the trial until further notice. The DCGI had issued a show-cause notice to SII on September 9 for not informing it about AstraZeneca pausing clinical trials of the vaccine candidate in other countries. On September 11, the DCGI directed the SII to suspend any new recruitment in Phase 2/3 clinical trials till further orders.

Yesterday, SII submitted the recommendations of the Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB), UK and DSMB, India, to the DCGI, requesting to restart enrolment in the clinical trial.

According to Tuesday's order issued by the DCGI, the DSMB, UK, recommended the investigators to recommence all immunisation in their clinical trials, subject to certain conditions. DSMB, India, has also recommended continuing the study and enrolment of the remaining participants in the clinical trial as per protocol subject to certain conditions.

The SII has submitted a revised participant information sheet, revised informed consent form, and an additional safety monitoring plan for the evolved participants.

The Pune-based firm on Tuesday submitted a summary of safety follow-up of seven days post first vaccination. SII assured that no serious adverse events were experienced by any of the participants until the date of the reporting. The reported adverse events were stated to be mild, resolved on their own, it added.

University of Oxford/AstraZeneca's potential coronavirus vaccine is among the frontrunners in the race towards a safe and effective vaccine that could put a dent in the global pandemic. The company launched its late-stage trials at the end of August. Officials from the World Health Organisation had previously hailed AstraZeneca's vaccine candidate as one of the most promising candidates, which are currently in development.

Also read: COVID-19 vaccine: Novavax aims for 2 billion doses with Serum Institute deal

Also read: Coronavirus vaccine update: What's the status of Oxford-AstraZeneca trials in India, other countries
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(Natural News) Since the pandemic gained momentum in March, there have been reports of people flouting face mask policies and even protesting against them in front of state buildings. Most critics thought nothing more of this behavior than childish tantrums  but recent research suggests it might be a bit more complicated than that.

In a major breakthrough, Brazilian researchers found that mask refusal is tied to sociopathic traits, including antisocial behavior. Moreover, these individuals are also more likely to trivialize risks posed by COVID-19, disregard personal hygiene and flout social distancing.

Editors note: This entire study may be nothing more than pro-mask propaganda, but we are publishing this to keep you informed of what the science community is claiming. This is the same kind of research that often claims people who believe in conspiracy theories are dangerous lunatics. Never forget that so-called science also now claim the climate is racist and the binary genders are colonization, whatever that means

Sociopathic traits linked to mask refusal

Researchers from the State University of Londrina (UEL) in Brazil asked some 1,600 participants to fill out questionnaires designed to assess empathy and expose possible personality disorders.

The group also asked them about their attitudes regarding COVID-19 public health policies and guidelines like the use of face masks and social distancing.

The researchers then divided the participants into two groups based on their responses: the empathy group and the antisocial group.

The former, which was comprised of about 1,200 people, had exhibited an interest in understanding the feelings and needs of others. This group was also more inclined to follow COVID-19 public health policies.

Meanwhile, participants in the antisocial group, comprised of some 400 participants, were seen to demonstrate almost the exact opposite.

In particular, people in this group scored higher than those in the other group in questions that measured for callousness, deceitfulness, hostility, impulsivity, irresponsibility, manipulativeness and risk-taking. They also had a harder time adhering to preventative measures.

These traits are typical of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), sometimes called sociopathy. ASPD describes a longstanding pattern of behavior marked by a consistent disregard for the feelings of others. Extreme versions of this condition could be characterized by an ongoing pattern of manipulating others and even violating their rights.

Sociopathy differs from psychopathy, another personality disorder, in terms of the ability to feel remorse. Psychopaths have little to no conscience at all. In contrast, sociopaths still have a limited ability to feel empathy and remorse, but this varies depending on environmental factors, such as childhood trauma.

In fact, the general consensus among experts is that psychopaths tend to be born, implying that being or becoming one depends largely on genetic predisposition. On the other hand, sociopaths are made, so to speak, by their environment.

Commenting on their results, the researchers said that exposing oneself and others to needless and preventable risk is a typical trait of those that have antisocial tendencies. But lead researcher Fabiano Miguel said that there needs to be some caution in approaching their research findings.

Although its possible that someone refusing to use face masks is a sociopath, its highly likely that there are also other factors involved in making that decision, said Miguel. Some people might also have sensitive health conditions or disabilities that make the prolonged use of face masks difficult.

Two earlier studies from Poland had similar findings after quizzing a total of 1,000 participants. In particular, the researchers behind those studies found that people with narcissistic traits were also predisposed to disregard COVID-19 restrictions and flout mask-wearing and hand-washing.

But the group had a different take on their assessment. Instead of pointing their fingers at mental disorders, the researchers suggested that those with narcissistic traits could also be doubtful of the merits of COVID-19 public health policies.

Taken together, recent studies like these offer valuable insight into human behavior that could better guide the creation of future public health policies in light of the ongoing pandemic. (Related: If you dont believe the official narrative on COVID-19, then you have a MENTAL ILLNESS, claim scientists.)

Deliberate disregard for pandemic public health policies linked to meanness, lack of restraint, say researchers

Miguel and his colleagues arent the first to look into possible explanations for some peoples disregard for public health policies amid the pandemic. Just last June, clinical specialist Pavel Blagov assessed 502 participants via an online questionnaire regarding their compliance with recent public health guidelines.

Blagov also asked personality-related questions in an attempt to determine each participants placement on scales that measured conscientiousness, cooperativeness, neuroticism, meanness, lack of restraint and risk propensity or the tendency to take risks.

These last four traits are common psychopathic traits, said Blagov. Psychopathy is a mental disorder marked by amoral and antisocial behavior. A diagnosed psychopathic individual is one that finds it difficult to express love or to establish meaningful personal relationships. He or she might also have little or no conscience at all.

The report indicated that people who scored higher on those four traits are less inclined to observe public health guidelines. According to Blagov, the said traits are linked to health risk behavior and health problems. I expected them to be implicated in health behaviors during the pandemic, he added.

Furthermore, those that reported disregarding policies appeared to respond to the questions in a manner that seemed to suggest they did so intentionally. For instance, some of the participants that had high scores on meanness and lack of restraint said that they also neither practiced social distancing nor personal hygiene.

In all, his findings suggest a disregard for pandemic public health policies and psychopathic traits are correlated. That being said, Blagov also reported that most of the participants said they adhered to coronavirus health guidelines.

From a public health perspective, these findings are concerning, he added. Moreover, the report introduces a possible implication that there are groups of people out there that fail to protect both themselves and others amid this pandemic due to their personalities.

This, in turn, could have a disproportionate impact on the pandemic, added Blagov. His findings are soon to be published online in the journal Social Psychology and Personality Science.

Read the latest articles about the coronavirus pandemic at Pandemic.news.

Sources include:

TheGuardian.com

DailyMail.co.uk

NHS.uk

PsychCentral.com

Insider.com

ScienceDirect.com
The World Trade Organisation has undercut the main justification for US President Donald Trump's trade war against China, saying that American tariffs on Chinese goods violate international rules

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has undercut the main justification for US President Donald Trump's trade war against China, saying that American tariffs on Chinese goods violate international rules.

A panel of three WTO trade experts yesterday said the US broke global regulations when it imposed tariffs on Chinese goods in 2018. Washington has imposed levies on $400bn (337bn) in Chinese exports.

The panel said in its report that "the United States had not met its burden of demonstrating that the measures are provisionally justified".

While the ruling bolsters Beijing's claims, Washington can effectively veto the decision by lodging an appeal at any point in the next 60 days. That's because the Trump administration has already paralysed the WTO's appellate body, a tactic that has rendered virtually toothless the world's foremost arbiter of trade.

"Although the panel did not dispute the extensive evidence submitted by the United States of intellectual property theft by China, its decision shows that the WTO provides no remedy for such misconduct," said US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in a statement. He added that the report has no effect on the phase-one agreement between the nations.

The dispute centres on the Trump administration's use of a 1970s-era US trade law to unilaterally launch its commercial conflict against China in 2018.

In a statement, China's Ministry of Commerce said the nation "approves of the objective and fair ruling of the expert group".

It repeated Chinese criticisms of unilateralism and described the WTO as the "core of the multilateral trading system which forms the cornerstone of multilateral trade".
A team of researchers from North Carolina State University has demonstrated a way to use low-energy, visible light to produce polymer gel objects from pure monomer solutions. The work not only poses a potential solution to current challenges in producing these materials, it also sheds further light on the ways in which low energy photons can combine to produce high energy excited states.

Polymer products - primarily plastics - are used in everything from water bottles to medical applications, with billions of pounds of these materials being produced annually. Select polymers can be produced via a process called free radical polymerization, in which a monomer solution is exposed to ultraviolet (UV) light. The high energy of UV light enables the reaction, forming the polymer. The advantages of this method include fewer chemical waste byproducts and less environmental impact.

However, this method is not without drawbacks. The high energy UV light used in generating these polymers can also degrade plastics and is unsuitable for producing certain materials.

Felix N. Castellano, Goodnight Innovation Distinguished Chair of Chemistry at NC State, had previously shown that it was possible to combine lower energy molecules' excited states to achieve more potent excited states. In a new contribution, Castellano and his team applied a process - called homomolecular triplet-triplet annihilation - to polymer production, by using lower energy yellow or green light to create polymer gels.

The team dissolved zinc(II) meso-tetraphenylporphyrin (ZnTPP) into two different pure monomers - trimethylolpropane triacrylate (TMPTA) and methyl acrylate (MA) - then exposed the solutions to yellow light. Energy from the light creates the homomolecular triplets in ZnTPP, and when those triplets combine, they create an extremely short-lived S2 excited state that has enough energy to power the polymerization process.

"While triplets are really long lived in chemical terms - they live for milliseconds - the S2 excited state only lives for picoseconds, which is nine orders of magnitude less," Castellano says. "One of the important facets of this work is demonstrating that if you have a pure liquid you can utilize this potent, short-lived excited state to facilitate important transformations. The neat liquid ensures that electrons are transferred efficiently."

The team conducted spectroscopic analysis of the solution, establishing the existence of the S2 excited state in the presence of yellow and green light. "We used ZnTPP because it allows you to see light emission from two different excited states and we could differentiate between lower energy S1 and higher energy S2 states," Castellano says. "We know that polymer formation is a direct result of the S2 excited state, but we can also show that's what happening spectroscopically."

###

The work appears online in CHEM, and was funded through BioLEC, an Energy Frontier Research Center supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DE-SC0019370). Castellano is corresponding author. NC State graduate student Nancy Awwad is first author. Anh Thy Bui, a former NC State postdoc currently at the University of Rennes, France and NC State IMAKS Lab Director Evgeny O. Danilov also contributed to the work.

Note to editors: An abstract follows.

"Visible-Light-Initiated Free-Radical Polymerization by Homomolecular Triplet-Triplet Annihilation"

DOI: 10.1016/j.chempr.2020.08.019

Authors: Nancy Awwad, Evgeny O. Danilov, Felix Castellano, North Carolina State University; Anh Thy Bui, Univ Rennes, Rennes, France

Published: Online Sept. 16 in CHEM

Abstract:

Polymerization reactions initiated by ultraviolet light are ubiquitous in scores of industrial applications but would markedly benefit from visible-light activation to overcome stability, energy consumption, light penetration, and sample geometry limitations. The current work leverages visible-light-driven homomolecular triplet-triplet annihilation (TTA) in zinc(II) meso-tetraphenylporphyrin (ZnTPP) to initiate facile free-radical polymerization in trimethylolpropane triacrylate (TMPTA) and methyl acrylate (MA) monomers through ultrafast electron transfer quenching. Selective Q-band (S1) excitation of ZnTPP in the green or yellow sensitizes TTA occurring between two 3ZnTPP* energized chromophores, ultimately generating the highly reducing S2 excited state on one ZnTPP molecule (Ered = -2.13 V versus SCE). Subsequently, this S2 state engages in electron transfer with TMPTA or MA, thereby initiating the radical polymerization process. Bimolecular electron transfer was confirmed through optically gated fluorescence upconversion. FT-IR and EPR spin-trapping experiments verified visible-light-initiated polymerization leading to the formation of well-defined macro- and microscopic objects.
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- The agreement to normalize relations between the UAE and Israel, two key American allies in the Middle East, is arguably President Donald Trumps most significant foreign-policy achievement. But it has a better chance of being fully realized if Joe Biden is elected in November.

The deal is the one instance in which Trump can plausibly claim that his personalized and transactional approach has achieved something traditional American diplomacy couldnt. It will have a cascading effect: Bahrain has announced a similar arrangement with Israel, and there are indications other Arab states are interested in following suit.

The Israeli-Emirati agreement hit an early hitch over weapons sales. This seems to have been papered over for now, but it could re-emerge as a major complication if Trump is reelected. The UAE was promised access to F-35 fighter jets, EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft, MQ-9 Reaper drones and other advanced American weaponry. It hasnt been allowed to purchase these in recent years because of an American commitment to maintaining Israels qualitative military edge, or QME, in the Middle East.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave both US and UAE officials the very strong impression in private that he wouldnt object to these sales in the context of normalization. But after this set off a political firestorm in Israel, he declared he would fight the sales.

Very quickly, however, Israeli officials realized the Trump administration is keen on the sales. QME isnt an Israeli veto on American weapons sales, as presidents as far back as Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan demonstrated by allowing Arab nations to buy cutting-edge aircraft such as F-15s, over Israeli objections.

So, the Israelis have come up with a solution: The Emiratis can have the weapons systems they want, if Israel gets even more high-tech weaponry, including the F-22 Raptor, which hasnt been sold to any other country.

Story continues

But even if Israel doesnt oppose the sales to the UAE, Democrats in Congress still might. Some on the far left of the party are skeptical about Israel, hostile to Gulf Arab countries and, more generally, highly suspicious of international weapons sales.

If Biden wins, centrist Democrats will be ascendant. He has welcomed the Emirati-Israeli deal, and will not hold up the sales. But if Trump is reelected, and Democrats keep their majority in the House of Representatives  and perhaps even take the Senate  the picture would be quite different.

The Democrats would have a partisan incentive to try and derail Trumps signature foreign-policy achievement, and the left wing will gain sway over the partys agenda. Already one senior Democratic lawmaker, Debbie Wasserman Schultz has vowed to block the sales.

Israel, keen to please its new Emirati friends, could conceivably lobby the Democrats not to stand in the way. But the partys left wing is less than enamored of Netanyahu. The issue could easily descend into a raw partisan and ideological fight based entirely on domestic considerations.

Depending on the balance of power in Congress, that could force Trump to again turn to esoteric loopholes he did in 2019 to push through weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE over bipartisan congressional objections. He had to protect that move with by exercising a rare veto.

Congress could again try to block him on new sales to the Emiratis, either with legislation or through the courts. This would set off a protracted and ugly standoff  one of many, no doubt  between a second-term Trump and an angry Democratic Congress.

So while the Israel-UAE deal is Trumps foreign policy baby, a President Biden would be in a much better position to deliver it.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Hussein Ibish is a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion

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Feelings of fear and anxiety are normal, especially when a person faces an impending danger. In some people, however, they feel anxious without any reason. Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is a condition that is characterized by persistent and excessive worry or fear about a multitude of factors, making a person overly concerned about work, family, health, and other issues.

A new report by researchers at the University College London shows that there has been a surge of anxiety cases in the United Kingdom over the past decade, with the financial crash, Brexit, social media, and climate change, and now COVID-19.

Anxiety in the U.K.

In the study, published in The British Journal of Psychiatry, the researchers aimed to analyze and examine the temporal changes in the recording of generalized anxiety in primary care and initial pharmacologic treatments.

To arrive at the study findings, the team calculated the annual incidence rates of GAD diagnoses and symptoms from 795 UK general practices contributing to The Health Improvement Network (THIN) database from 1998 to 2018.

The team has found that GAD has increased among young adults, affecting 30 percent of women between the ages of 18 and 24, and has increased across the board among both and women below 55 years old. For women, the increase was from 17 to 23 per 1,000 person-years at risk (PYAR), while for men, the rate increased from 8 to 11 per 1,000 PYAR.

Further, there has been a small increase in both genders aged 25 to 34 and 35 to 44 years old, while anxiety rates among older people remained stable.

We observed a substantial increase in general practitioner consulting for generalized anxiety and depression recently, concentrated within younger people and in particular women, the team concluded in the study.

Possible causes

The rates of anxiety levels increase from 1998, but had an explosion in 2008, especially among young women. Prof. Nick Freemantle, one of the study researchers, said that the study findings highlight the human cost of what was happening in the society in that year  a recession.

The sudden increase of anxiety diagnoses in that year may reflect the problems in the society, including unemployment, particularly in younger populations. These are young people who were just starting their careers, and they lose their jobs.

Freemantle also said that a mixture of many factors might have fueled the increase in GAD diagnoses, including recession, a vote to leave Europe, climate change, social media, and a change of attitude towards an anxiety disorder.

The researchers said that based on the findings, the U.K. has a growing problem with anxiety disorders, and this could impact the lives of people.

What is generalized anxiety disorder?

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a condition wherein people feel extremely worried or nervous about several factors, such as health, family problems, and money. On some occasions, they feel anxious without any reason. People with GAD find it hard to control their fear and anxiety, which may negatively impact their daily tasks.

The common signs and symptoms of GAD include persistent worrying or anxiety, which may be out of proportion, perceiving situations as threatening, overthinking, the difficulty of handling uncertainty, problems with concentration, and the inability to relax. The condition may also have physical symptoms such as nausea, irritability, sweating, trembling, trouble sleeping, and nervousness, or being easily startled.

GAD is treatable by medicines and therapy, and those who have the condition may need to consult with their healthcare provider.
ZAMBOANGA, Philippines: Gunmen seized a businessman in front of his wife and son Wednesday in the southern Philippines and government forces were trying to track down the abductors and their victim, police said.

Rex Triplet was riding a motorcycle with his wife and son on their way home in Sirawai town in Zambonga del Norte province at nightfall when four armed men blocked their path and forcibly took him away, a police report said.

The report identified Triplet, 64, as a Filipino American but a Sirawai police officer, Glen Banguih, said by telephone that he is a Filipino son of an American. Triplet buys and sells land for a living and lives a modest life in Sirawais rural outskirts, he said.

Armed with a rifle and pistols, the four men dragged the victim into a mountainous area and army troops and police were trying to locate them, Banguih said. The gunmen left behind Triplets wife and son, who sought the help of nearby villagers, he said.

Communist guerrillas and Muslim separatist rebels have a presence in the remote region but the identity of the gunmen and their motive were unclear, he said.

Ransom kidnappings by Abu Sayyaf militants and other armed groups have long been a problem in the south. Economic development in the resource-rich region has been hampered by decades-long Muslim separatist and communist insurgencies and other law and order issues.

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SHELTON  The Shelton Fire Department could soon be sporting some new trucks.

The Board of Aldermen Tuesday approved borrowing up to $1.35 million from Newtown Savings Bank to purchase fire trucks and equipment.

While the city and department continue to evaluate needs, Mayor Mark Lauretti said his plans are to buy two new trucks possibly within the next 60 to 90 days.

Deputy Fire Chief Paul Wilson said the department hopes to replace the tower truck at Echo Hose Hook and Ladder Company 1.

Wilson said the present tower is a 1996 KME 95-foot platform tower that has experienced many significant mechanical failures over the past five years.

The new tower the department is looking to purchase is a 2020 Pierce Accendant with a 100-foot platform, Wilson said. This truck is a demo and is used by the manufacturer to show departments what their product can do. Because it is a demo and not a custom truck, the price is significantly less where it normally has a starting price at around $1.5 million.

Lauretti said both the tower truck and the departments tanker are more than 25 years old and need to be replaced.

The pandemic has left a large surplus of fire trucks on the market, Lauretti said, which plays to the citys favor in finding lower priced equipment.

We are going to take advantage of that, Lauretti said.

The mayor also said savings comes from the city taking a bank loan, rather than going out for bonding, which can add $100,000 for legal fees. Lauretti said the bank loan the city is considering will be paid off in five years, rather than a traditional 20-year note.

brian.gioiele@hearstmediact.com
The Justice Department ordered a digital news network based in the United States and owned by Al Jazeera, the media company backed by the royal family of Qatar, to register as a foreign agent, surprising a high-level delegation from Doha just as officials from the two nations met to strengthen diplomatic and economic alliances.

Al Jazeera suggested the move was part of a separate deal, signed on Tuesday and brokered by the Trump administration, in which the United Arab Emirates, a Qatari rival, normalized diplomatic relations with Israel. The Emirates ambassador to the United States said that was not true.

In a letter dated Monday that was obtained by The New York Times, the Justice Department said that AJ+, a network that primarily produces short videos for social media in English as well as Arabic, French and Spanish, engages in political activities on behalf of Qatars government and should therefore be subject to the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

Qatar, the letter said, provides the networks funding and appoints its board of directors.

Journalism designed to influence American perceptions of a domestic policy issue or a foreign nations activities or its leadership qualifies as political activities under the statutory definition, said the letter, which was signed by Jay I. Bratt, the chief of the Justice Departments counterintelligence division, even, the letter added, if it views itself as balanced.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, speaking on Thursday (REUTERS)

In dueling campaign stops with the president in Minnesota, Joe Biden mocked Donald Trump for repeatedly saying he will reveal an infrastructure plan that never seems to materialize.

Mr Trump took particular exception to his opponent's continued reference of a Columbia University study showing implementation of coronavirus guidelines a week earlier would have saved 36,000 lives.

It was the second campaign event in as many days for Mr Biden after his CNN town hall appearance on Thursday night, in which he was mocked for breaking social distancing rules with host Anderson Cooper.

During the event, Mr Biden said he had benefited from white privilege and knew how it felt to be looked down upon because he was from working class Scranton and didn't go to an Ivy League university.

New polls showed Mr Biden well ahead of Mr Trump in Arizona and Maine. But in a call with Senate Democrats on Friday, the party's November contender said he takes nothing for granted and that he plans on appearing in key battleground states as the election enters the final bend.

Despite the continued advantage in the polling and only 46 days left before the public democratically elects the next occupant of the White House, Biden again called on the president to step down from his position in the Oval Office before his first term has expired.

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Traffic jam in Burrabazar, also spelt Bara Bazar, a neighbourhood in central Kolkata. Burrabazar expanded from a yarn and textile market into the commercial nucleus of Calcutta and one of the largest wholesale markets in India.

A young Indian startup that is taking on the countrys antiquated insurance industry with a digital-first product -- and which has already received backing from global giant Amazon -- today announced a new financing round.

Bangalore-based Acko said on Tuesday it has raised $60 million in its Series D financing round. Germany-based Munich Re Ventures, the investment arm of one of the world's largest reinsurers, led the financing round, while existing investors Amazon, RPS Ventures and Intact Ventures, corporate venture arm of Canadas largest property and casualty insurer, participated in it.

The new round, which brings Ackos to-date raise to $200 million, valued the three-year-old startup at about $500 million (up from about $300 million last year), a person familiar with the matter told TechCrunch.

Acko develops and sells bite-sized auto insurance products (aimed at drivers and others in transportation-related scenarios). The startup expanded its catalog six months ago to provide healthcare protections that it sells to businesses and employers. More than 150,000 employees are already covered by Acko's healthcare protection, the startup said.

Acko founder and chief executive Varun Dua told TechCrunch in an interview that the startup has amassed over 60 million customers and has issued over 650 million policies to date.

Offering a large catalog of bite-sized insurance policies is crucial for firms in India. Only a fraction of the nations 1.3 billion people currently have access to insurance and most cant afford sizeable policies.

According to rating agency ICRA, insurance products had reached less than 3% of the population as of 2017. An average Indian makes about $2,100 a year, according to the World Bank. ICRA estimated that of those Indians who had purchased an insurance product, they were spending less than $50 on it in 2017.

Were excited to join forces with one of the leading digital insurers in India, as well as other investment partners, to help support Varun and his impressive team as they continue their journey, said Oshri Kaplan, director at Munich Re Ventures, in a statement.

Story continues

As Munich Re Ventures first investment in India, we look forward to the positive impact that digitally native insurance solutions will have on the country with Acko leading the way.

Acko sells insurance policies directly to customers or through partners such as Amazon, which entered the insurance space in the country earlier this year in collaboration with Acko. (Amazon currently accounts for only a fraction of the insurance Acko sells, people familiar with the matter said.)

Ackos products have quickly gained popularity in India for three reasons. It does not rely on middlemen, who have proven to slow down innovation for the insurance industry at large, Dua explained. Having direct engagement with a customer allows Acko to offer more competitive and personalized policies, he said.

The second is Ackos underwriting technology, for which it comb through a range of data points to assess whether someone is eligible for a policy, he said.

Acko has also made it easier for people to access policies and then claim them. As everything is digital, sign-up does not require any paperwork and making a claim is quick, too -- factors that keep existing customers happy, Dua said.

Scores of startups and established banks in India have launched products to win this market. Paytm (Indias most valuable startup) and its co-founder and chief executive, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, announced in July they were acquiring insurance firm Raheja QBE for a sum of $76 million.

Dua, who has spent more than a decade in the insurance business, said he was not worried about the competition as the market is large enough.

The startup plans to use the fresh capital to scale its technology and data teams by at least 30% to 40%, Dua said. It also plans to use a portion of the capital to invest in branding to reach more customers, especially those living in smaller cities and towns in India.

The rest of the money will be used to finance the insurance policies. Unlike several fintech startups in India that work with banking partners to finance loans, current regulatory rules require insurance firms to underwrite risks themselves.

"We would love to be in a position where we always have a strong balance sheet," Dua said. (Avendus Capital was the financial advisor to Acko for the deal.)
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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Paris  Wed, September 16, 2020 10:08 492 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c450f222 2 World UN,forest,deforestation,World,New-York-City Free

The world has lost nearly 100 million hectares of forests in two decades, marking a steady decline though at a slower pace than before, a UN agency reported Tuesday.

The proportion of forest to total land area fell from 31.9 percent in 2000 to 31.2 percent in 2020, now some 4.1 billion hectares, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization.

It marks "a net loss of almost 100 million hectares of the worlds forests," the FAO said.

Deforestation has hit particularly hard sub-Saharan Africa and southeast Asia, where it has accelerated in the last decade, but also Latin and Central America, where it has nonetheless slowed down.

Forests are being cut down mainly to make way for crops or farm animals, especially in less developed countries.

In southeast Asia, forest now covers 47.8 percent of the land compared to 49 percent in 2015. In sub-Saharan Africa, it covers 27.8 percent compared to 28.7 percent five years ago.

In Indonesia, it is 50.9 percent, down from 52.5 percent. In Malaysia, it is 58.2 percent, down from 59.2 percent five years ago.

A country strongly focused on agriculture like the Ivory Coast has seen forests reduced to 8.9 percent of the total land area from 10.7 percent in 2015. Kenya, Mali and Rwanda have largely held firm against forest loss.

In Latin and Central America, forest covers only 46.7 percent of the total land, compared to 47.4 percent five years ago.

In Brazil, forests declined to 59.4 percent of the country's territory in 2020 from 60.3 percent in 2015. In Haiti, deforestation has continued apace - falling to 12.6 percent of the total land area from 13.2 percent in 2015.

In contrast, in many parts of Asia, Europe and North America forest area has increased or stayed the same in the last five years with policies to restore woodland and allow forests to expand naturally.

In China, forests make up 23.3 percent, up from 22.3 percent in 2015. In Japan, they account for 68.4 percent, the same as it was five years ago.

In France, forests cover 31.5 percent of the land in 2020, up from 30.7 percent in 2015. In Italy, they make up 32.5 percent of the national territory, up from 31.6 five years ago.

In Britain, they make up 13.2 percent, up from 13 percent five years ago.

In Canada, it is unchanged at 38.2 percent, and in the United States, unchanged at 33.9 percent.

In Australia the figure rose from 17.3 to 17.4 percent and in New Zealand from 37.4 percent to 37.6 percent over the five years.
WASHINGTON  Connecticut lawmakers on Tuesday joined a Democratic chorus of calls demanding the resignation of Health And Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and of Michael Caputo, an HHS official who accused government scientists of plotting against Donald Trump and urged the presidents followers to buy ammunition.

Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy agreed with Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer that Azar has failed to stand up to Trump in the response to the pandemic.

Sec. Azar is suppressing science & spreading chaos, Blumenthal tweeted. He is literally silencing lifesaving facts. He must goalong with flack Assistant Sec. Caputo.

Murphy said Michael Caputo has to go.

You cannot encourage the armed insurrection of Americans against the government and have a job in this administration, he said.

Caputo, HHS assistant secretary for public affairs, accused government scientists of sedition on a Facebook Live event, an incident that was first reported by the New York Times. Caputo also urged Trumps supporters to prepare for an armed insurrection after a contested election.

Also on that taxpayer-funded podcast, earlier this summer, Caputo accused Democrats and the media of not wanting a coronavirus vaccine until after the elections in order to defeat Trump.

There are people in the United States government on the Democrats side  (who) do not want a vaccine, he said.

Meanwhile, Politico has reported that Caputo and his communications team have sought to edit important scientific reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3, late Monday demanded Azar fire Caputo. The head of the House Appropriations panel with authority over the HHS budget, DeLauro had earlier this month demanded details from Azar about HHSs solicitation of bids for a $250 million advertising campaign to defeat despair and inspire hope about the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr. Caputo is not fit to spend one dime of taxpayers dollars, and I am still awaiting answers from Secretary Azar about how Mr. Caputo may have further misused taxpayer funding, DeLauro said in a statement. This country needs real leadership and governance by truth, not a propaganda campaign led by a conspiracy theorist. Michael Caputo must resign immediately. If he does not, Secretary Azar must fire him.

The Trump administration is standing by Caputo so far.

Caputo apologized to his staff Tuesday for his rant on Facebook, but he has become a a significant new problem for a White House that has struggled with its coronavirus response.

It has become abundantly clear that the leadership of the Department of Health and Human Services has allowed perhaps the most important federal agency right now to become subservient to the presidents daily whims, Schumer said on the Senate floor Tuesday. So today, I am calling on Secretary Azar to resign immediately. We need a Secretary of Health and Human Services who will look out for the American people, not President Trumps political interests.

Caputo joined HHS in April, a move that was considered an effort by the White House to exert greater control over the agencys messaging.

A disciple of dirty trickster Roger Stone, Caputo worked for Oliver North and Russian energy giant Gazprom before joining the Trump presidential campaign.
Trump admin. proposes expansion of Mexico City Policy banning abortion funding

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The Trump administration on Monday formally proposed a new regulation to broaden the Mexico City Policy barring foreign organizations that receive federal global health funding from promoting or performing abortions overseas even if they do so with other funding sources.

The Department of Defense, General Services Administration and NASA expanded the Mexico City Policy to apply to contracts and subcontracts.

The policy currently enacted and expanded by the Trump administration, a regulation that has been rescinded and reinstated along party lines by presidents since Ronald Reagan, already applies to grants and cooperative agreements between the U.S. and foreign organizations.

But the proposed rule would apply to contracts, a major avenue in which a large share of global health funding is doled out.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 40% of global health funding obligated to prime recipients in recent years was provided through contracts.

As President Donald Trump seeks to bolster support among pro-life voters and conservative voters of faith who care deeply about the abortion issue, an administration official told The Christian Post on Monday that the proposal is yet another great example of the Trump administration continuing to fight for the right to life as the most pro-life administration ever.

The proposal submitted to the Federal Register will undergo a two-month public comment period.

The Administrations action would mean even more US global health funding will be subject to the restrictions contained in the MCP [Mexico City Policy], wrote Jen Kates, senior vice president at Kaiser Family Foundation, in a Twitter thread.

In the past, when in place, it has required foreign NGOs to certify that they will not perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning, using any funding (including their own), as a condition of receiving US global family planning assistance.

Upon taking office, one of President Trumps first actions (on 1/23/17) was to reinstate the policy but he also significantly expanded it to apply to virtually all U.S. bilateral global health assistance, including PEPFAR, malaria, maternal and child health funding, and more.

According to Kates, the administrations expansion of the Mexico City Policy has brought the policy from applying to up to $600 million per year in U.S. assistance to more than $7 billion per year to the extent that funding was channeled directly or indirectly to foreign NGOs.

In 2019, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo vowed that the administration would cut down on loopholes within the policy to eliminate backdoor funding schemes as well as make clear that the U.S. government will refuse to provide assistance to foreign NGOs that give financial support to other foreign groups in the global abortion industry.

Kates explained that Pompeos expansion prohibits foreign NGOs that receive U.S. global health aid from providing any funding for any purpose (e.g., education) to other foreign NGOs that perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning.

The Kaiser executive added that the administration has been clear since 2017 about its intention to apply the Mexico City Policy to contracts, something that would require regulation to accomplish.

This is an area where there is a clear-cut difference between President Trump and VP [Joe] Biden, Kates noted about the 2020 election. Whereas Trump has continued to expand the MCP, Biden would rescind it if elected.

Abortion rights activists have condemned the Mexico City Policy as a global gag rule.

The pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute was quick to offer its opposition to the new proposal.

The #GlobalGagRule's harm extends well beyond family planning programs to a range of other health programs, the organization tweeted. The Trump admin's proposal to expand this policy further is especially cruel as the #COVID19 pandemic continues.



The proposed rule was praised by pro-life activists and abortion opponents.



This proposed expansion would prevent taxpayer funds from being used to bankroll the deaths of unborn children around the world, Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life, said in a statement Tuesday. "We thank President Trump and his administration for preventing taxpayer funds from being used to pay for abortions around the globe."




Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 20:02:09|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese mainland spokesperson Wednesday warned that those who attempt to collude with foreign forces to seek "Taiwan independence" are "treading on a single-log bridge over a deep abyss."

"While the ladder is kept in another's hands, they risk being dashed to pieces at any time," said Ma Xiaoguang, spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, while answering a question regarding the current cross-Strait situation at a press conference.

Ma said the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authority and the "Taiwan independence" elements on the island are the culprits responsible for the current complex situation in the Taiwan Strait.

He said the "Taiwan independence" elements had made a total miscalculation in believing that they could succeed in splitting the country by relying on foreign forces.

The spokesperson further stressed that the mainland is confident as well as capable of firmly maintaining the initiative in cross-Strait relations and that the DPP authority's decision will be key to the future of cross-Strait relations. Enditem
She is currently living it up in Ibiza after a lonely lockdown in London.

And Demi Rose set pulses racing with her latest Instagram snap as she posed topless while enjoying the sunshine on her holiday.

The model, 25, left almost nothing to the imagination as she showcased her ample assets while fixing the camera with a sultry stare.

Wow: Demi Rose, 25, set pulses racing with her latest Instagram snap as she posed topless while enjoying the sunshine on her holiday

The social media star protected her modesty with her arms as she displayed her incredible curves and sun-kissed tan.

Styling her brunette locks into an updo, Demi added a touch of glamour to her look with a smokey eye.

Demi is living in luxury on her trip to the Spanish island and is staying in the five-star Hacienda Na Xamena hotel.

It comes after the star was making the most of her time in the sunshine as she posed for her latest series of sexy snaps in a barely-there ensemble on Tuesday.

Fun in the sun: Demi is living in luxury on her trip to the Spanish island and is staying in the five-star Hacienda Na Xamena hotel

Demi looked phenomenal in a plunging lace number which showed off her eye-popping cleavage before she later changed into a skin-tight dress.

Demi's latest slew of snaps comes shortly after she admitted her world 'could have spiralled out of control' following the deaths of her parents, as she opens up about her grief in a brave interview about her experiences with grief.

She suffered the loss of her father Barrie Mawby at the end of 2018, with tragedy striking again soon after when her mother Christine passed away in June 2019.

And amid her heartache, the star also discussed her mental health, telling how it almost 'got the better' of her during lockdown, in a candid chat to mark World Suicide Prevention Day next week.

Beauty: It comes after the star was making the most of her time in the sunshine as she posed for her latest series of sexy snaps in a barely-there ensemble on Tuesday

Speaking to the Evening Standard, Demi shared how she's coping with her personal tragedy and reveals how her heartbreaking loss has in a way made her 'stronger'.

The star revealed how she was forced to 'grow up' from a young age after her mother was left disabled following a heart attack, resulting in a then 17-year-old becoming her carer.

She recalled that after losing her loved ones in quick succession left her 'angry, sad, bitter and lonely', but added that she was 'lucky' that she had a 'good support system' around her and didn't 'bottle up' her grief.

Beauty: Demi looked phenomenal in a plunging lace number which showed off her eye-popping cleavage before she later changed into a skin-tight dress

Admitting that she could have easily succumbed to her anger and grief, Demi said: 'When my parents died my world could have spiralled out of control but you have to hang on.'

She went on to say that she was helped greatly by doing a lot of self-care and reading books about 'spirituality' and 'enlightenment', while she tried to look at her tragedy as part of 'lifes plan'.

Demi added that though she's been through trauma, she's come out 'stronger' and tries to reflect her strength through her positive and 'confident' social media posts.
NEW DELHI: Indian airlines have sought interest-free credit of at least $1.5 billion from the government to enable them to cope with the loss of revenue from the coronavirus pandemic, the countrys aviation minister said on Wednesday.

Airlines including IndiGo, Vistara, a joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, SpiceJet and state-run carrier Air India, also want the governments help to persuade aircraft lessors to ease leasing terms, as well as a deferment of taxes and abolition of excise duty on aviation fuel, Hardeep Singh Puri said in a written statement to the parliament.

The airlines are appealing to banks and other lenders to defer repayment of loans to the aviation industry by six months, the minister added.

India halted air travel in late March to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. In May, the government allowed airlines to resume domestic operations with a third of their capacity which was later increased to 60%. But demand has been slow to pick up.

Revenues of Indian airlines fell to around $500 million in the April-June quarter from about $3.5 billion in the same quarter a year ago, Puri said in his statement.

Puri said to help Indian carriers the government regularly engaged with foreign aircraft lessors and financiers to ensure there were no premature withdrawals of leased aircraft, and it established bilateral air travel links with countries like Canada, France, Germany, U.K. and the United States.

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LONDON: London judges have ruled that some of the worlds biggest insurers were wrong to reject tens of thousands of claims from small firms battered by the COVID-19 pandemic, Britains Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said on Tuesday.

The FCA, which brought the test case against eight insurers, said the court had found in favour of policyholders arguments on the majority of key issues in a complex, 162-page judgment.

However, some of the insurers said the ruling meant they wouldnt have to pay out, or would have to pay out much less than modelled in a worse-case scenario, and Britains Federation of Small Businesses called the judgment a partial" victory.

The lawsuit has been closely watched because it is estimated to affect 370,000 businesses and billions in insurance claims.

The FCA brought the case against the insurers, including Hiscox , RSA , QBE and Zurich , in June to clarify whether 21 types of business interruption (BI) policy wordings should pay out for closures and disruption caused by the pandemic.

The regulator has estimated the case could affect more than 60 insurers and 700 different types of policies because many insurance policies have similar wording. It is also being watched overseas, the LIIBA insurance brokers trade body said.

Small businesses - from cafes, wedding planners and beauty parlours to events businesses - have said they faced ruin after attempts to claim compensation for business losses during the pandemic, which has prompted the most stringent government restrictions in peacetime history, were rejected by insurers.

FCA interim chief executive Christopher Woolard said the judgment was a significant step" in resolving the uncertainty faced by policyholders and called on insurers to reflect on the clarity provided", irrespective of any possible appeal, and consider how to progress claims.

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But the devil was in the detail.

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) said the judgment divided evenly" between insurers and policyholders on the main issues.

Zurich Insurance and Ecclesiastical [ELL.UL], a smaller insurer, said the judgment confirmed their disputed policies did not need to pay out.

Hiscox said fewer than one third of its 34,000 UK BI policies would have to pay out and that the net cost would be less than 100 million pounds ($129 million) - compared with initial guidance of up to 250 million pounds.

Shares in Hiscox and RSA, which restored its cancelled 2019 dividend and pointed out that some of its policy interpretations had been upheld by the court, leapt by 15% and 6% respectively, as the market welcomed the removal of uncertainty and a fresh focus on growth.

Australian-based QBE said it was considering its options to appeal the ruling, saying the decision overall was still largely in its favour.

It estimated its UK business interruption claims exposure at around A$170 million ($124 million) before allowing for recoveries under the groups catastrophe reinsurance protections.

Lloyds of London insurer MS Amlin [MITSID.UL] said it would communicate with affected clients in the coming days", while fellow Lloyds insurers Arch and Argenta did not respond.

The Lloyds of London commercial insurance market said it had strong enough capital to cope with the financial implications of the judgment.

IMPORTANT OUTCOME

But some policyholders were jubilant.

Justin Stead, CEO of accessories firm Radley London, said the judgment was an extremely important outcome to secure the future for Radley", adding insurers should pay out quickly to save as many businesses as possible".

Sonia Campbell, partner at law firm Mishcon de Reya, which represented two business action groups in the case, said the outcome was a resounding victory" for many firms.

The FCA lawsuit offered a new legal route by pooling together a group of company policies and taking insurers to court with minimal costs to businesses.

The case was designed to quickly clarify whether the pandemic and a government lockdown in March should trigger BI policies, which provide cover when insured premises cannot be used because of restrictions imposed by a public authority and in the event of a notifiable disease or infection.

Insurers have argued that most policies did not cover the pandemic, that they were paying out valid claims as quickly as possible and that being forced to stump up for all losses from the pandemic would be catastrophic for the insurance industry, and its backup, the reinsurance industry.

If the judgment is appealed it could leapfrog straight to the Supreme Court, the highest UK court, to reduce delay for buckling businesses, lawyers say.

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Seattle Landlords Sue Mayor, Governor to End Eviction Moratorium

Small landlords in Seattle are suing the city and Washington state over eviction moratoriums that prevent them from displacing residential tenants during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The lawsuit, known as El Papel LLC v. Inslee, was filed in federal court in Seattle. It names Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, both Democrats, as defendants in their respective official capacities.

The legal action comes after a second federal eviction moratorium took effect Sept. 4. The previous federal moratorium on evictions covered only tenants living in properties with rent subsidies or federally backed mortgages, but the new order by the Trump administration covers most renters across the United States, according to a Bloomberg summary. The new moratorium runs through years end.

Inslee issued an executive order, Proclamation 20-19, to implement a statewide eviction ban on March 18. The moratorium was intended to last a few months, but Inslee had repeatedly extended it. Its current iteration runs through Oct. 15.

On March 14, Durkan issued a civil emergency order preventing all landlords from initiating eviction proceedings, known in that jurisdiction as unlawful detainer actions, during the life of the order. It has been extended through Dec. 31. Seattles City Council supplemented Durkans eviction ban with its own, amending the citys just-cause-eviction ordinance.

Ethan Blevins is an attorney with the Sacramento, California-based Pacific Legal Foundation, a public interest law firm representing landlords in this case whose properties are occupied by tenants who stopped paying rent when the eviction bans were enacted.

The landlords have operating expenses, mortgages, insurance, property taxes, and all that, but they cant collect revenue to pay those costs, so we are asking the federal court to place an injunction that stops those bans so that our clients can get some relief by seeking to evict the tenants who arent paying the rent, Blevins said in an interview with The Epoch Times.

The landlords represented by Blevins are currently owed a total of about $60,000 in rent collectively, he said.

Tenants arent the only people experiencing economic hardships because of the pandemic, according to the legal complaint. The plaintiffs have in the past and continue to work effectively with tenants who fall behind on their rent, whether due to the pandemic or for other reasons.

The problem is the blanket eviction ban puts landlords at the mercy of tenants who do not pay rent or violate other lease terms, whether they face financial hardship or not, and deprives them not only of their income, but the ability to recover and re-let their property to tenants in need of new homes.

The bans have upended lease obligations and stripped landlords of one of their most basic of property rightsthe right of possessionleaving them with no bargaining power and no remedy against nonpaying tenants or tenants in breach of other material lease obligations. At the same time, tenants are still able to enforce all the landlords lease obligations.

The bans run afoul of federal constitutional protections against the impairment of contracts by state and municipal governments, and evade the governments constitutional duties to pay just compensation when private property is taken for public use, the plaintiffs argue in the document.

By forcing private landlords to give up their right to possession without compensation, the eviction bans lay the burden of emergency housing costs at the feet of private landlords to avoid imposing the true cost on the public, thus violating the Takings Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

These mom-and-pop landlords are just like any other small business, Blevins said.

We dont expect the small grocer down the street to give us free food, and we cant expect landlords  to provide an essential service for free and be able to survive that during a pandemic that everyone is suffering from.

Many landlords arent keen on evicting their tenants, he said.

The fear of an eviction tsunami may actually be overblown. Landlords, for the most part, arent going to be able to find somebody to replace the tenants theyre evicting in these circumstances. I think a lot of them just feel like it is better to stick with a partial paying tenant and hold out through the pandemic, he said.

A spokesperson for Durkan defended the eviction ban issued by the mayor.

The moratorium on evictions is one critical tool we have at the City to keep people in their homes and keep businesses afloat, she said in an emailed statement.

This Emergency Order was one of the first measures Mayor Durkan took to bring relief to our City and  it is critical to maintain [it] during this unprecedented time. Seattle and our local partners have taken extraordinary measures in this unprecedented emergency and crisisleading the nation in implementation of protections for residents and providing financial relief to renters, landlords, and small businesses.

Inslees office didnt immediately respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment on the lawsuit.
For Subscribers Farmers concerned about chemical costs, supply issues heading into 2022

Higher fertilizer and chemical costs are on the minds of farm groups as they look toward spring planting.
President Donald Trump is participating in an ABC News town hall in Philadelphia Tuesday night.

The president is answering questions from undecided voters. The 90-minute event is taking place at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.

The town hall began at 9 p.m. You can watch it on ABC News Live and on ABC News, which can be asked via fuboTV (click here) or Hulu (here).

The event offers yet another piece of evidence illustrating Pennsylvanias importance in the presidential election. Political analysts have long tabbed Pennsylvania as one of the key battleground states that could decide the election.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, the former vice president, leads Trump in polls in Pennsylvania, but some polls show him with an edge within the margin of error. In the RealClearPolitics average of polls, Biden holds a lead of 4.3 percentage points.

Trump narrowly won Pennsylvania four years ago, defeating Hillary Rodham Clinton by less than a percentage point, or about 44,000 votes. Trump became the first Republican presidential candidate to win Pennsylvania since George H.W. Bush did it in 1988. His victory in the Keystone State helped propel him to the White House.

A Scranton native, Biden is banking on a win in Pennsylvania to deny Trump a second term. The headquarters of Bidens campaign is in Philadelphia.

Both Biden and Trump have been repeatedly visiting Pennsylvania in recent months and are pouring a great deal of advertising in the commonwealth. Both Trump and Biden visited the Flight 93 Memorial in western Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, albeit a few hours apart.

Biden visited Harrisburg and Lancaster on Labor Day, while Trump made an appearance in Latrobe earlier this month. In December, Trump drew a capacity crowd to the Giant Center in Hershey, with hundreds more being turned away because the arena was filled.

On Wednesday, Donald Trump Jr. is slated to appear at the Blue Ridge Sportsman Club outside Harrisburg.

Ahead of Trumps town hall in Philly, Biden issued a statement denouncing Trumps leadership and handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

Long before COVID-19 spread to Philadelphia, President Trumps failed leadership was felt in every corner of the city, Biden said in the statement. Pennsylvanians deserve better. As President, I will restore the leadership that has been lacking in the White House for the past four years, and help working families recover from this crisis and build back better than they were before.

ABC News said it offered to host a similar town hall with Biden but couldnt reach an agreement with the campaign on a date.

More from PennLive

Trump supporters turn out strong but restrained for his visit to 9/11 memorial in western Pa.

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Britain has launched a new parliamentary enquiry into detention camps in Chinas Xinjiang province, where Uighur Muslims and other ethnic minority groups have been reportedly incarcerated.

Rights groups say that crimes against humanity and genocide are taking place against Uighurs in the remote region, where more than 1 million people are held in camps, which China describes as re-education centres, and allegedly used for forced labour.

The inquiry announced by the influential Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Commons on Wednesday will examine the ways in which the UK government can prevent British companies from benefiting from forced labour in Xinjiang, support the Uighur diaspora and strengthen the atrocity prevention mechanisms of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

Tom Tugendhat (Conservative), chair of the committee, said: The mass detention of Uighurs in Xinjiang has horrifying echoes of the 1930s. There have been similar atrocities since, and each time the world has promised to never allow such violations to happen again.

And yet, we now have clear, undeniable evidence of the persecution of more than one million people in these so-called re-education camps. This inquiry will focus on key questions about what the UK can do to exert its influence and the steps the new FCDO will take to fulfil its goal of making our country an active, internationalist, problem-solving and burden-sharing nation.

The committee, he said, would also examine what mechanisms the government can use to discourage private sector companies from contributing to human rights abuses.

The committee called for written evidence on themes such as how can the UK use organisations and agreements such as the UN Human Rights Council and the Genocide Convention to influence China towards better human rights practices, and how can the UK use its influence on countries other than China who are reportedly complicit in the persecution of Uighurs.

Other themes of inquiry include how UK-linked businesses with operations in Xinjiang be made accountable for any involvement in human rights abuses, and what is the best form of support to offer to members of the Uighur diaspora (and others) who experience persecution and harassment abroad.

The 11-member committee of MPs includes six from Conservative, four from Labour and one from the Scottish National Party.

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Press Release

16 September 2020

London, UK - Following extensive discussions with a number of governments around the world and a letter signed by 120 CEOs to the Heads of State of the G7, the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) believes an internationally coordinated plan to save Travel & Tourism is a step closer, and could be sealed before the middle of October.

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The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has been in talks with a number of governments regarding a globally coordinated plan of action to bring clarity for travellers on COVID-19 testing and reporting, and save the financially-damaged Travel & Tourism sector.

WTTC, which represents the global Travel & Tourism private sector, has been calling for international leadership to save the struggling sector and protect millions of jobs under threat due to border controls and quarantine measures, as well as lower demand from business and leisure travellers.

WTTC, which says an international consensus on traveller testing is urgently needed if confidence in travel is to be restored, is hopeful that an international agreement will be endorsed by the European Union at a meeting of EU Tourism Ministers on 28 September, and more widely by all of the G20 group of countries in early October.

The coordinated international plan is focused on:

Securing widespread international agreement on the standardised testing protocols on departure, including no quarantine for travellers

Each government guaranteeing protection for travellers and ensuring resources are set aside to repatriate travellers

Establishing agreement on a traffic lights system of reporting COVID-19 numbers to ensure global consistency, with reduced or removed quarantine periods based on cases above or below 25/100,000 of the population over a 14-day period

Piloting of air corridors to resume international and business travel.

The deals hope to reverse travel restrictions such as damaging blanket quarantines, which have seen international travel and visitor numbers collapse.

Gloria Guevara, WTTC President & CEO, said: "We are hugely encouraged by governments stepping up to the challenge of removing such damaging restrictions, and we fully support the recent pledge from the Spanish government which looks set to introduce a policy on testing travellers on departure in the Canary Islands to aid the creation of travel corridors."

"WTTC is working closely with global leaders to save the global Travel & Tourism sector by creating an international consensus on traveller testing, provide traveller certainty and consistent COVID-19 reporting and we are confident an internationally agreed plan could be in place by mid-October."

"Agreed international protocols on traveller testing on departure could be the key to removing economically devastating travel restrictions, which have crushed consumer confidence to travel and have hobbled the hopes of an economic revival, which is so desperately needed."

"Governments around the world need to align their policies to create the conditions necessary to ensure the introduction of a comprehensive testing programme with globally-recognised protocols."

"By countries working closely together, we hope we can look forward to an international accord by members of the G20 group of countries in October to revive Travel & Tourism and millions of jobs around the world."

International visitor spending in the UK alone has been predicted by WTTC to plummet by 78% compared to 2019 levels, with up to 22 billion set to be lost from the country's economy. This is putting three million UK Travel & Tourism jobs at direct risk of being lost in a 'worst case' scenario mapped out by WTTC economic modelling.

To restart business travel, WTTC has recently called for the reopening of flight 'city corridors', which could provide a significant economic boost to struggling economies.

Every year, inbound international business travel accounts for more than US$272 (215) billion. International airlines and businesses throughout the Travel & Tourism sector are heavily dependent on business travel for their profits, especially on highly competitive transatlantic routes.

It has advocated support for a pilot scheme, involving airport-based testing, followed by a second test just days later, to restore business travel between the financial hubs of London and New York and later other cities, such as Dubai, Washington, Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Hong Kong and Shanghai.

A WTTC analysis of Public Health England data suggested two tests in quick succession could be 80% effective in identifying passengers with COVID-19, and thus reduce the quarantine period down from 14 days to four to six days, or no quarantine at all.

In addition, information from medical experts from Stanford and Harvard School of Public Health validated that testing on departure, combined with wearing a mask and implementing the protocols, can significantly reduce the risk and allows safe travels.

WTTC has continually been at the forefront in leading the private sector in the efforts to rebuild global consumer confidence and encourage the return of Safe Travels.

The health and safety of travellers and those who work within the sector has always been its number one priority. It has urged the adoption of global health and safety protocols, through its 'Safe Travels' initiative, to provide assurance to travellers and those working within the sector.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 20:19:57|Editor: huaxia

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BANGKOK, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Thai Government House said Wednesday on its website that it would inject an approximate 6.17 billion baht (192.8 million U.S. dollars) to fix and alleviate problems regarding flooding and drought in Thailand.

The funds would be split between the Office of the Natural Water Resources (ONWR), the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation and the Royal Irrigation Department.

The ONWR will be granted 5.08 billion baht for its projects to deal with flooding and to boost water capacity.

The Natural Resources and Environment, Agriculture and Cooperatives as well as Interior ministries will take jurisdiction over ONWR's projects, such as boosting the potential of water diversion systems and 142 water sources, increasing 63 irrigation water sources and setting up 65 aquifers.

The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation would be granted 810 million baht to install 18 water pumps with capacity to pump at a speed of at least 35,000 liters per minute.

The Royal Irrigation Department would be given 284.86 million baht to procure new machines to deal with flooding.

Thailand suffers from serious flooding during the monsoon season and drought in the summer, taking a toll in agricultural produce.

The Thai government said it hopes that the budget injected into differing state sectors will help alleviate the farming sector, especially the rice paddy fields.

Thai rice is one of the country's major export items. Enditem
Recent media reports claim that a covert Kenyan paramilitary team is responsible for the unconstitutional killing of terror suspects in nighttime raids. The reports are based on interviews with US and Kenyan diplomatic and intelligence officials.

The team was trained, armed and supported by US and British intelligence officers.

It has been reported that since 2004, a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) programme has been operational in Kenya without public scrutiny. For its part, the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) has played a key role in identifying, tracking and fixing the location of targets.

This has drawn renewed attention to the reality of widespread foreign security operations in Africa.

Several African governments are hosting foreign military bases. This is despite the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council's ongoing concerns about the proliferation of foreign military bases on the continent. The AU is also concerned about its inability to monitor the movement of weapons to and from these military bases. Regardless, a host of bilateral agreements between AU member states and foreign powers underlie the spread of foreign military forces across the continent.

At least 13 foreign powers have a substantial military presence on the continent. The US and France are at the forefront of conducting operations on African soil.

Moreover, private military groups are active in several conflict zones on African soil. Northern Mozambique is the most recent case.

These dynamics coincide with claims that Russian MiG-29 and Su-24 warplanes have now conducted missions in Libya in support of Kremlin-backed private military forces to extend Moscow's influence in Africa.

Military base mapping

Currently, the US has 7,000 military personnel on rotational deployment in Africa. These troops carry out joint operations with African forces against extremists or jihadists. They are hosted in military outposts across the continent, including Uganda, South Sudan, Senegal, Niger, Gabon, Cameroon, Burkina Faso and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In addition, 2,000 American soldiers are involved in training missions in 40 African countries. American special forces operate across east Africa in so-called forward operation locations in Kenya and Somalia.

Like the US, France has either deployed military forces or established bases in a number of African countries. The country has more than 7,500 military personnel currently serving on the continent. Its largest presence is in the Sahel, especially in the border zone linking Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

The presence of foreign military forces in Africa is not limited to Western powers. China has been particularly active with its military presence in the Horn of Africa . It has become more engaged since 2008 when it participated in the multinational anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden.

Since then China has maintained an anti-piracy naval presence in the Horn of Africa and Gulf of Aden. Between 2008 and 2018, the Chinese Navy deployed 26,000 military personnel in a variety of maritime security operations.

In 2017, China inaugurated its first overseas military base in Djibouti . This came after the US established Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti in 2003 .

Lemonnier was established alongside French, Italian, Spanish, German and Japanese bases. China has developed a 36-hectare military facility to host several thousand Chinese troops and provide facilities for ships, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.

China's military base in Djibouti was set up to support five mission areas . These are counter-piracy in the Gulf of Aden; intelligence collection on other countries; noncombat evacuation of Chinese citizens in East Africa; international peacekeeping operations where Chinese soldiers are deployed; and counter-terrorism operations.

India is another Asian nation that has increased its naval presence in Africa. The country has established a network of military facilities across the Indian Ocean to counter China's rising military footprint in the region.

It also wants to protect its commercial sea lanes from piracy.

India has ongoing deployments that monitor developments in the Horn of Africa and Madagascar. The country also plans to establish 32 coastal radar surveillance stations with sites in the Seychelles, Mauritius, and other locations outside Africa.

When it comes to the Middle East, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are the two countries with a notable military presence in Africa.

Turkey joined the international counter-piracy task force off the Somali coast in 2009. In 2017, it opened a military base in Mogadishu, Somalia. The purpose is to train recruits for the Somali National Army. Turkey will also support the Somali navy and coastguard.

The UAE has had a military base in Eritrea since 2015. It comprises a military airfield with aircraft shelters and a deepwater naval port. The base has been used in operations against opposition forces in Yemen.

Foreign military motivations

It is clear that the Horn is the epicentre of foreign military activity in Africa. Foreign troops have been deployed there to counter threats to international peace, subdue terror groups and pirates, and support foreign security initiatives.

But there are other motivations to establish military bases in Africa. These include protection of commercial interests, aligning with friendly regimes, and expressing dominance on a continent that is the focus of rising global competition.

Of course, Africa is not the exception. The US, for example, also maintains a substantial military and security presence in the Gulf region. It has bases in countries such as Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and UAE.

For some observers it might seem like foreign governments are imposing their militaries on Africa, but, in fact, many African governments are keen to host them .

Bilateral agreements with major powers generate income for African states. The opening of China's military base in Djibouti is a case in point. Most of Djibouti's economy relies on Chinese credit .

The presence of foreign military forces has also played a significant role in fighting terror groups . These include groups like al-Shabaab in East Africa and jihadists in Mali. This explains why several African countries are willing to turn to foreign governments for advice, intelligence and support .

But there is a downside to the presence of foreign forces on the continent. For instance, the African security landscape has become overcrowded by a multiplicity of foreign security and military activities. These activities often function at cross purposes.

The competition among some of the world's powers has been heightened by the increasing presence of Asian powers. China's expanding presence in Djibouti has caused concern.

Its influence in Africa and the Indian Ocean has ruffled feathers within Japanese and Indian political and security circles . A Chinese monopoly could impede their engagement with the continent.

Finally, African countries are not agreed on how to regulate foreign security and military activities. The approach so far has been disjointed.

Though Africa's peacekeeping capacity has increased significantly, the AU is still highly dependent on external funding and resources for its peacekeeping operations. It does not have the freedom to take independent strategic, operational and even tactical decisions in its operations.

As long as these shortcomings exist in Africa's response to armed conflict , foreign militaries and intelligence services will continue to operate on the continent.

These are matters that have to be addressed before African states can heed the AU Peace and Security Council's concerns about extensive foreign military involvement on the continent.

Theo Neethling receives funding from the National Research Foundation in South Africa.

By Theo Neethling, Professor of Political Science, Department of Political Studies and Governance, University of the Free State
Iran warns US against making another 'strategic mistake' after Trump's military threat

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 15 September 2020 1:56 PM

The Iranian government warns the United States against making another "strategic mistake" after President Donald Trump threatened Tehran with a huge attack.

"We hope that they do not make a new strategic mistake. In that case, they will face our [and the] resistance [front's] response," Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei told a news conference on Tuesday.

In a tweet on Monday, Trump referred to "press reports" that Iran "may be planning an assassination, or other attack, against the United States" in retaliation for Washington's assassination of top Iranian anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani in Iraq early this year.

The claim was initially made in a report by Politico, which cited US officials "familiar" with the matter. Iran categorically rejected the allegations.

The US president then threatened, "Any attack by Iran, in any form, against the United States will be met with an attack on Iran that will be 1,000 times greater in magnitude!"

In response, the Iranian government official said, "We have witnessed, throughout the region's history, that the US initiated the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq based on bogus reports. This is an American tradition."

The current US president, he added, has nothing to do but jeopardize regional and international peace.

The spokesperson advised the US to "avoid new adventurism" because the creation of new insecurity in the region in order to win the presidential election is "unforgivable" and "a betrayal of humanity."

Rabiei expressed regret that "the president of a country who has claims to global management and order would make explicit, agenda-fuelled and dubious remarks based on such a weak claim."

He said the Trump administration assassinated General Soleimani who has been the "symbol of peace and fight against terrorism in the region," emphasizing that this stigma would never go away and the Iranian people would never forget it.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeid Khatibzadeh on Monday vehemently dismissed the "biased and agenda-driven" report published in the American media outlet, which cited the statements of a seemingly US government official in an effort to make it appear true.

The military assassinated General Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), along with Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy head of Iraq's Hashd al-Sha'abi, and their companions by targeting their vehicle outside the Baghdad International Airport on January 3.

The cowardly act of terror was carried out under the direction of President Trump, with the Pentagon taking responsibility for the strike.

General Soleimani is viewed by the world's freedom-seeking people as the key figure in defeating Daesh, the world's most notorious terrorist group, in the Middle East battles.

Any normalization with Israel 'big strategic mistake'

The government spokesman also reacted to recent decisions by some Arab states to normalize relations with the Israeli regime and said, "The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran regards any move to recognize relations with the occupying Zionist regime (Israel) as a big strategic mistake, which will certainly increase regional Muslim nations' awareness about the ominous goals of individuals who yield to such deals."

Rabiei added that the Iranian government warns against any Israeli move to sow insecurity in the Persian Gulf region and holds Bahrain and any other country that prepare the ground for the Tel Aviv regime to gain a foothold in the region responsible for all the adverse consequences.

"Iran believes that such relations have increased dangers in the region and will fail to help [promote] peace and stability," he said, emphasizing that the Israeli regime's interference in the region is dangerous.

"This is a fundamental mistake which is being made under the US pressure and will not be beneficial to the regional nations but will rather serve the interests of Trump's election campaign," he added.

Trump announced on September 11 that the tiny Persian Gulf state of Bahrain had struck an agreement to normalize relations with Tel Aviv, hailing the deal as yet another "HISTORIC breakthrough."

The agreement came roughly a month after Washington brokered another deal enabling a similar rapprochement between the United Arab Emirates and the occupying regime.

Bahrain has agreed to formalize the deal with Israel at a ceremony later on Tuesday at the White House, where the UAE would also sign off on its own thaw with Tel Aviv.

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COLONIE  On Siena College's socially distanced campus on Wednesday, masked students quietly padded in sweatshirts and Birkenstocks to assigned seats under a large white tent  their outdoor classroom.

Others sat at tables in the student center with laptops and headphones, studying or logging into virtual courses.

But some students say they are on edge after Siena College officials took sweeping disciplinary action following a Derby Day gathering that students say got out of control. And a recent email from campus safety to Siena students requesting photos of the weekend bash has some nervous that they could be next.

"There are kids taking pictures of you if youre congregating outside from their door rooms to send to the dean," one student wrote to the Times Union. "It is a paranoia going on here."

Several students told the Times Union that they have reported infractions of Siena's COVID-19 protocols, noting that most people had no trouble obeying the rules.

"The rules aren't that difficult," freshman Lilly Kronau, of Poestenkill, said. "That upsets me. I don't know why they wouldn't have the decency and care to make sure that we can all stay on campus."



Roughly 20 students at Siena College were "temporarily dismissed" from campus housing last week after school officials caught wind of the Sept. 5 event celebrating the Kentucky Derby horse race, which students say drew a crowd of 80 to 100.

Students, stunned by the crackdown, told the Times Union that they saw peace officers walking around the event and chatting with students.

Attendees of the party were cited for violations like failing to wear their masks, holding an impromptu gathering, and drinking alcohol outside. Administrators say investigations are ongoing.

At least five other students were sent home for holding gatherings in their dorm rooms since the beginning of the semester, school officials confirmed.

"We want all of our students  every single one of them  to be successful and happy," Siena President Chris Gibson said in an interview. "And that's how we are operating here to have a very safe and effective conveyance of the academic program. It's clearly challenging under these circumstances, but we are doing our best."

He emphasized that the dismissals were temporary and that most students would return when the investigation was complete.

"We want everyone here to flourish on our campus and even anyone who might be part of the disciplinary process, we look forward to welcoming them back once this rehabilitation period is over," Gibson said.

Students on the tight-knit campus  2,200 of 3,000 Siena students have elected to live in the dorms this year  had mixed feelings about the crackdown but many were glad to see administration was taking action.

"I have seen many people be sent home because they brought someone from the outside in," Angelee Carino, a freshman from the Bronx, said. "The fact that Siena is taking that precaution, it does make me feel safer."

Students are discouraged from leaving the sprawling campus and they must wear masks every time they leave their rooms. They signed a pledge before arriving on campus, but admit that the rules can sometimes feel arbitrary.

Meredith Buono, a freshman from Valatie, noticed that resident assistants walked around the dorms telling students to put masks on when they have guests over, even if they were seated six feet apart. During meals, she and her friends can eat together without masks.

"You'd think if you are in an open space with nobody around you, you can have your mask off outside, but they really don't want you to do that either, so it's been really restricting," Buono said. "I think some people are starting to get over it and not wearing their masks because they are tired of it."

Making friends under pandemic conditions is a challenge, so the college has organized virtual events for first-year students.

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

"It's more limited, there are fewer people gathering, but I have made a lot of friends, even though we are in a pandemic," said Miykael Locke, a chemistry major from Schenectady.

So far, Siena College has seen few COVID-19 cases, with its third since the start of the semester reported on Wednesday.

That's in contrast to other colleges and universities, like University at Albany, which have seen a recent surge in infections. Schools in the SUNY system risk having students locked down or sent home for the semester if they surpass the state's threshold.

Previously reported:

At SUNY Oswego, Greek life, athletic activities, eat-in dining hall meals suspended

SUNY Oneonta sends students home after hundreds diagnosed with COVID

In addition to closely monitoring student behavior, the college has ramped up its testing protocol. Officials strongly recommended students get COVID-19 tests before arriving on campus, but only 20 percent of students complied, according to Siena officials.

Siena College researchers have also been studying wastewater as a form of surveillance testing. On Tuesday, the college announced that it found traces  though an unquantifiable amount  of the RNA associated with the coronavirus in the water. They are zeroing in on specific buildings to see if the infection came from the campus community or an outside source.

"When we get a reading like this, which is close to the instrument  which means it's possible we have an infection ... we are dialing in and actually going to floors," Gibson said.

The college has also partnered with an outside lab to conduct random nasal swab tests on 2 percent of the campus population each week.

While the disciplinary measures may seem harsh to students, Gibson emphasized that the vast majority were following the rules and doing their part to keep the campus safe.

"The administration is just trying to follow the evidence and get it right," Gibson said.
Like her character on Sex and The City, Sarah Jessica Parker has shoes on her mind at all times.

The veteran actress, 55, and owner of SJP by Sarah Jessica Parker has been spotted all summer tending to patrons at her NYC flagship locations.

On Tuesday the businesswoman was seen arriving home from work at her Midtown store as she helped clients including the notable fashion designer, Christian Siriano, 34, try on shoes.

On the job: Sarah Jessica Parker, 55, was seen arriving at her NYC flagship store on Tuesday to help customers, including notable fashion designer Christian Siriano as she waived to the camera

For her day of work SJP rocked her usual stylish display.

Sarah showed off her slender frame in a pair of frayed ankle length denim jeans.

She wore a pair of her signature sparkly SJP shoes that had a victorian feel to them and a dark grey long sleeve shirt that she layered under a black leather jacket.

The blonde wore her long locks down and carried a backpack full of stuff as well as a crossbody black leather bag with a hot pink strap.

She wore her usual oversized headphones as she prepared to enter the store.

Headphones: Parker has been seen almost daily rocking oversized headphones with her mask

Casual: Parker kept it casual in jeans and a long sleeve shirt as she spent the day in Midtown helping customers at her store

Matchy: Parker matched her sparkling silver and black shoes to her face mask for a cohesive look

On the go: Parker ran back to help customers find different shoes and sizes of her designs

She switched up her masks, now rocking a black glittery face mask that matched her shoes as she walked the streets of New York in a pair of oversized black sunglasses.

Upon arriving to the store Parker got straight to work helping customers try on shoes.

Most notably, Project Runway alumni and fashion designer to the stars Siriano was seen trying on a pair of shoes as Parker assisted.

Options: Parker and Siriano surveyed the store looking for the perfect shoe options

Hands on: Parker held the pair of sparkling silver boots in her hand as she checked the sizing

Details: Parker helped fit the shoes once they were on trying to feel where his toe was to make sure they were not too tight

Chit-chat: The famous friends talked things NYFW as Parker has a daily shoe drop in honor of fashion week and Christian has a runway show that will be streamed virtually

Statement: Christian made a statement as he tried on the glamorous boots from her collection

Siriano had his tattoos on display and kept it casual in a Led Zeppelin t-shirt and jeans with a pair of industrial boots.

Parker and the designer chatted as she helped him secure a pair of knee high silver sparkling boots that he was trying on.

Sarah bent down to help her friend slide his foot into her designer shoes and checked to make sure of the size, feeling where his toe was to ensure they were not too snug.

The fashionable pair talked through face masks after Christian slipped her fabulous boots onto his feet.

All business: SJP helped Siriano take his shoes to the register as she walked chatting to other customers as well

Secure the bag: Siriano walked out of the store with his new purchases as SJP continued on helping customers

Customer service: Parker attentively helped another customer make a purchase as they talked at a safe distance

Siriano was seen leaving her store with a full bag as he went on with his day.

The edgy fashion designer is set to hold his fashion show on Thursday in the city as part of New York Fashion Week.

Though audiences have been barred from attending shows, they are being streamed virtually.

Parker herself is also doing fashion week things. She spoke to E! correspondent Zanna Roberts Rassi as she explained her store will be doing a 'daily drop' where they release one new shoe a day.

After helping a few more customers, Parker was seen heading on her way as she switched up her mask, closing the books on another day in the office.

Double duty: Parker carried a black backpack and a purse as she lugged her stuff home

Headed home: Parker looked relieved to be arriving back at her West Village townhouse after a long day

Recently SJP and her husband Matthew Broderick, 58, have been splitting time between their Hamptons property and the city due to the pandemic.

The chilled out couple have been married since 1997 share three children together, James, 17, and twin girls Marion and Tabitha, 11.

She has been balancing her shoe line and parenting, as she joked on Instagram a few days back that she would be at her store until her parent teacher conference.

Parker has been spotted almost daily checking her various stores though she is also getting back to television as she has been developing a dating show with Lifetime called Swipe Swap.
A graduate degree is required to advance in many careers today. Our department prides itself on preparing our students to successfully apply to graduate schools and then complete their programs. Some of our graduates specialized with advanced degrees in areas of Political Science, but many others have pursued their interests across a wide spectrum of fields.

Our senior course, Career and ePortfolio Workshop, provides students considering graduate study with information about the application process and supports them as they write application essays for a potential application to a school of their choice. Visiting alumni also share their advice in conversation as part of the course, giving students the benefit of real-world experiences.

Here are examples of programs that MCLA Political Science graduates are enrolled in or have recently completed:
Jamie Dimon says it's time to get people back to the office.

The JPMorgan Chase & Co. chief executive officer, who's been going into the bank's offices since June, said he sees economic and social damage from a longer stretch of working-from-home. Governments should be focused on cautiously reopening cities, learning from earlier mistakes made in hasty attempts, he said.

JPMorgan chief Jamie Dimon said that the bank has seen "alienation" among younger workers, and he worries about "a lot more damage by people staying home" in broader society. Credit:Bloomberg

"Going back to work is a good thing," Dimon said in a virtual panel discussion on Tuesday (US time) at the Singapore Summit. It makes sense to "carefully open up and see if we can get the economy growing for the sake of everybody."

Dimon told analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods that the firm has noted productivity slipping from employees working at home, the analysts said in a September 13 note to clients. That, along with worries that remote work is no substitute for in-person interaction, is part of why the biggest US bank is urging more workers to return to offices in coming weeks.
So gone are Nonninas white tablecloths, and the bar area has been given more prominence. New is Casa Nonnina, a tented outdoor space with tivoli lights and a small bites-and-cocktails menu created in collaboration with The Kitchen, the restaurant next door. Also new is Nonnina to Go, operating in a separate room adjacent to the restaurant entrance, offering Priolos pizzas and Italian sandwiches, among other items. The buildings lobby area has been equipped with tables for more indoor seating.
ANN ARBOR, MI - The University of Michigan Graduate Employees' Organization (GEO) believes it is entitled to a hearing before any temporary restraining order is issued seeking to end its strike on the Ann Arbor campus.

GEO on Wednesday filed a brief opposing UMs request for the temporary restraining order. The universitys request was filed Tuesday in opposition to the organizations continued strike.

GEOs attorney Mark Cousens argued in the brief that UMs alleging that individual members of the union are on strike does not support the issuing of an injunction.

With respect, the court should recognize that a hearing is neccessary to determine whether an injunction is appropriate, Cousens wrote. The courts inquiry should be guided by the need for (UM) to show that it is suffering an irreparable injury, that it is likely to prevail on the merits and that the balance of harm favors (UM). These findings cannot be supported without evidence and the opportunity to contest evidence.

Cousens asked that the court refuse UMs request for a restraining order and schedule a hearing.

The complaint, filed in Washtenaw Countys 22nd Circuit Court, alleges graduate employees are in violation of the of the Michigan Public Employment Relations Act and that GEO members are in violation of their collective bargain agreement, which includes a no-strike commitment. UM is asking the circuit court to order striking members of the GEO to return to work.

UM Spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said the university would like a decision on the temporary restraining order and its preliminary injunction as soon as possible.

UM argues the work stoppages and strike has significantly interfered with the operations and educational mission of the university, resulting in canceled classes for students. The university alleges it has suffered irreparable injury as a result of the strike.

In communications with its members, the GEO has admitted that it is engaging in an unlawful strike, but continues the strike in order to attempt to compel the University to accede to certain demands, UMs complaint states.

UM alleges many of GEOs strike demands are either non-mandatory or illegal subjects of bargaining under the Michigan Public Employment Relations Act including a demand to defund the universitys Division of Public Safety; that it cut all ties with police, including the Ann Arbor Police Department, and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency; and no retaliation against anyone who claims to be unable to work due to police presence.

Other non-mandatory or illegal subjects of GEOs strike demands include funding for additional international student support; rent freezes and flexible leases for on-campus housing and a promise to exert pressure on local landlords to extend the desired UM rent freeze across Ann Arbor, the university alleges.

Many of those issues were addressed in proposals made by GEO in proposals for the new collective bargaining agreement, the university alleges, but withdrawn after the GEO members received significant pay increases over the three year contract, the lawsuit states.

The strike began Tuesday, Sept. 8, as graduate students marched and chanted at five different locations on UMs campus. It has gained the support of undergraduate students; graduate student organizations from other colleges, such as Harvard and Western Michigan University; and even some construction workers on UMs campus who picketed with them in solidarity.

UM has since submitted an offer to GEO, but that offer was rejected.

The legal request for an injunction came a day after 80% of voting members of UMs Graduate Employees' Organization (GEO) voted to extend its strike for a safe and just campus for an additional five days after picketing all of last week.

Leadership from the union, which represents about 2,000 graduate student instructors and graduate student staff assistants, responded to the universitys complaint online Monday, noting it had a positive meeting with representatives from UM prior to its filing.

We are continuing to negotiate with the University of Michigan over our demands for a safer and more just pandemic. Those conversations started up on Sunday and have continued through yesterday and today, GEO Communications Co-Chair Leah Bernardo-Ciddio said. We are frustrated and disappointed to see that while President Schlissel claims he is open to dialogue on our core demands and to rebuilding trust with the broader campus community, he is simultaneously using legal channels to crack down on our efforts to fight for better protections for our members.

READ MORE:

University of Michigan graduate students, residential staff march in solidarity with dining workers

Full complaint details University of Michigans battle with graduate employees on strike

Residence hall staff on strike at University of Michigan, demand more coronavirus protections
INnate offers very effective and efficient fixation for metacarpal fractures, saving very valuable OR time, said Dr. Benjamin Kiesh of Herzliya Medical Center in Herzliya, Israel. My patients are surprised at how soon they can activate their hand immediately after surgery, with hardly any pain.

ExsoMed Corporation, a privately held U.S.-based medical device company providing orthopaedic surgeons with innovative solutions in hand surgery, announced that the first 25 INnate Intramedullary Threaded Nail cases for treatment of metacarpal fractures have been successfully completed in Israel.

INnate is an intramedullary threaded nail designed specifically for rapid and minimally invasive fixation of metacarpal fractures. The robust length offering with innovative dual crest height design provides optimal fit within the intramedullary canal to create stable fixation and precise reduction. INnate is the only non-compression option, constructed to avoid shortening of oblique and comminuted fractures, while providing simple fracture stabilization in minutes. All instrumentation is sterile-packed and single-use, for stream-lined use in the operating room.

INnate offers very effective and efficient fixation for metacarpal fractures, saving very valuable OR time, said Dr. Benjamin Kiesh of Herzliya Medical Center in Herzliya, Israel. My patients are surprised at how soon they can activate their hand immediately after surgery, with hardly any pain.

Based in Tel Aviv, Gad Medical is ExsoMeds exclusive distribution partner for the Israeli market. Founded in 2013 by local medical device executives formerly with Johnson & Johnson orthopaedic subsidiaries DePuy and DePuy Synthes, the organization has grown by more than 50% each year, representing some of the worlds most cutting-edge technologies and treatments in healthcare.

"ExsoMed is the latest, exciting addition to Gad Medicals unique portfolio," said Nir Gilat, Gad Medicals senior executive who is responsible for ExsoMed products in Israel. INnate fits perfectly in our offering, enabling real benefits to patients, surgeons, and the overall Israeli healthcare system, by improving patient outcomes and satisfaction, as well as reducing critical OR time and overall treatment costs.

Early success and adoption of INnate in Israel further validates our mission to raise the standard of care in hand surgery by providing surgeons with user-friendly surgical tools that reduce the global cost of care and get patients back to work and daily activities faster, said James Young Kim, ExsoMeds Managing Director of Global Sales and Marketing. As we continue experiencing strong growth in the United States, we are also increasing our international efforts. Gad Medical is just one of our many extraordinary international partners; we are honored that they are a part of the growing ExsoMed family.

About ExsoMed

ExsoMed is a privately held medical device company providing orthopaedic surgeons with innovative solutions in hand surgery. We believe that our solutions raise the standard of care in hand surgery by providing state of the art surgical tools that streamline use in the operating room, reduce the global cost of care, and enhance outcomes so that patients can get back to life faster. For more information regarding ExsoMed, please visit http://www.exsomed.com.

ExsoMed and INnate are trademarks of ExsoMed Corporation
NEW YORK, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Cura Foundation in collaboration with The Marcus Foundation, Sanford Health and Alliance for Cell Therapy Now, is supporting a clinical trial of human cord tissue mesenchymal stromal cells (hCT-MSC) to treat children with Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C). The trial is being led by Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg at Duke University to determine if infusions of hCT-MSCs are safe and can suppress the hyper-inflammatory response and positively impact the symptom course and duration, as well as the long-term effects of this life-threatening syndrome. The hCT-MSCs are manufactured in the Robertson GMP Cell Manufacturing Laboratory at Duke. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the Investigational New Drug (IND) Application, and Dr. Kurtzberg will proceed with a multi-site pilot study later this month.

As the school year is underway more children are being diagnosed with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the cumulative number of coronavirus cases diagnosed in children has more than tripled between July 2 and September 3 from 165,845 to 513,415. As of September 3rd, children represent at least 9.8% of diagnosed cases in the U.S. and in states such as Alaska, Minnesota, Tennessee, South Carolina, New Mexico and Wyoming, children account for more than 15 percent of total cases. Some of these children have developed very serious disease. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that as of September 3rd at least 792 children in 42 states have been diagnosed with Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) and 16 have died.

The Principal Investigator of the study, Joanne Kurtzberg, MD, is the Jerome Harris Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics; Professor of Pathology; Director, Marcus Center for Cellular Cures; Director, Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Program; Director, Carolinas Cord Blood Bank; Co-Director, Stem Cell Transplant Laboratory at Duke University School of Medicine/Duke Health and a leader in transplantation, cell therapy, and regenerative medicine in children. Clinical sites include Duke University (Durham, NC), Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (Atlanta, GA), New York Medical College (Valhalla, NY), and others as cases occur.

"We hope this is just the beginning of our ability to support the development of cell therapies to treat COVID-19 Related Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children," said Dr. Robin Smith, president of the Cura Foundation. "As students across the country return to in-class instruction, it is more important now than ever to ensure we are equipped with potential treatment options to care for children who develop this serious disease."

About the Sponsors

The Cura Foundation leads a global health movement with the goal to improve human health. Cura unites public and private sectors, partnering with doctors, patients, business leaders, philanthropists and thought leaders to create a collaborative network that tackles major health issues and accelerates funding to advance innovations in medicine. Cura believes that by encouraging interdisciplinary approaches to medicine, promoting preventative measures and advancing the development of breakthrough medical technologies you can improve access to care, streamline health care delivery and eliminate social disparities in health care. The Cura Foundation is a nonsectarian, nonpartisan, public and tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. For more information, please visit: https://thecurafoundation.org/

The Marcus Foundation was founded in 1989 by Bernie Marcus, co-founder and former CEO of The Home Depot, to support programs in Children and Youth Development, Community, Free Enterprise, National Security, Veterans, Jewish Causes, Healthcare and Medical Research.

Sanford Health, one of the largest health systems in the United States, is dedicated to the integrated delivery of health care, genomic medicine, senior care and services, global clinics, research and affordable insurance. Headquartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the organization includes 46 hospitals, 1,400 physicians and more than 200 Good Samaritan Society senior care locations in 26 states and 10 countries. Learn more about Sanford Health's transformative work to improve the human condition at sanfordhealth.org or Sanford Health News.

Duke Health conceptually integrates the Duke University School of Medicine, Duke-NUS Medical School, Duke University School of Nursing, Duke University Health System, Private Diagnostic Clinic (Duke physicians practice), and incorporates the health and health research programs within the Duke Global Health Institute as well as those in schools and centers across Duke University, including the Duke-Robert J. Margolis Center for Health Policy.

Duke Health is committed to conducting innovative basic and clinical research, rapidly translating breakthrough discoveries to patient care and population health, providing a unique educational experience to future clinical and scientific leaders, improving the health of populations, and actively seeking policy and intervention-based solutions to complex global health challenges. Underlying these ambitions is a belief that Duke Health is a destination for outstanding people and a dedication to continually explore new ways to help our people grow, collaborate and succeed.

Alliance for Cell Therapy Now (ACT Now) is an independent, non-profit organization devoted to advancing the availability of and access to safe and effective cell therapies for patients in need. ACT Now convenes experts and stakeholders to develop and advance sound policies that will improve the development, manufacturing, delivery, and improvement of regenerative cell therapies. See http://allianceforcelltherapynow.org/

Contact

The Cura Foundation

Robin Smith, MD, +1-212-584-4176

[email protected]

SOURCE Alliance for Cell Therapy Now

Related Links

allianceforcelltherapynow.org


Mayor Bill de Blasio on Wednesday announced that he was furloughing his own staff at City Hall, himself included.

The policy will cover 495 mayoral staff members, who will have to take an unpaid, weeklong furlough at some point between October and March 2021. The furloughs will apply to everyone from administrative assistants to Mr. de Blasio and the office of his wife, Chirlane McCray.

The mayor intends to work during his furlough without pay, his spokesman said.

Facing a $9 billion, two-year revenue shortfall because of the coronaviruss impact on the economy, Mr. de Blasio this year closed the citys budget with $1 billion in unspecified labor savings.

He warned that he would have to lay off 22,000 employees, a number that could be reduced depending on three factors: negotiated union givebacks, state approval for New York City to finance its operations with up to $5 billion in long-term debt and more federal assistance.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 23:42:36|Editor: huaxia

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WINDHOEK, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Namibia Airports Company (NAC) on Wednesday announced that the Lufthansa group subsidiary, Eurowings will resume their Frankfurt-Windhoek route and land in Namibia on Sept. 20 as the country's Tourism Revival Initiative during COVID-19 gains momentum.

NAC CEO Bisey Uirab in an announcement said the scheduled arrival follows the successful resumption of international flights at the Hosea Kutako International Airport (HKIA) which occurred on Sept. 11, with the first flight landing at the flagship airport being Ethiopian Airlines.

"Germany is part of Namibia's top source markets for tourists, and we are pleased that Eurowings is resuming its operation, thanks to the rich historical and bilateral relations between Namibia and Germany," he added.

Uirab said Ethiopian Airlines and Eurowings, have and will resume with their normal weekly scheduled respectively, and NAC awaits with confidence other airlines to follow suit in early October 2020.

"The commitment by these two airlines thus far is an indication of the confidence in the preparedness of HKIA and Namibia to welcome the world amid the COVID-19 pandemic," he added.

Meanwhile, Uirab said NAC continues to play its role in promoting Namibia as a tourist destination by stimulating economic development opportunities while complying to the COVID 19 protocols. Enditem
Donald Trump has suggested the coronavirus pandemic could end with some form of herd mentality" to the virus, appearing to attempt to refer to the concept of community immunity.

Speaking at a televised ABC News town hall in Pennsylvania on Tuesday night, the US president defended his administrations handling of the pandemic as he promised Covid-19 would go away.

Asked by ABC News George Stephanopoulos whether or not the coronavirus could disappear without a vaccine, the president replied: Sure, over a period of time. Sure, with time it goes away.

You'll develop  you'll develop herd  like a herd mentality, he told the host, who suggested there could be deaths from the approach requiring large sections of a population to contract a virus before herd mentality is developed.

Herd immunity refers to the point at which a virus is so widespread within a population, whether through natural spread or through a vaccination programme, that people become immune.

It's going to be  it's going to be herd-developed, and that's going to happen. That will all happen, said Mr Trump, who added: But with a vaccine, I think it will go away very quickly.

In an earlier appearance on Fox & Friends on Tuesday, Mr Trump had claimed to be within weeks of distributing a vaccine before election day on 3 November, fulfilling a previous pledge.

He then told the ABC News host on Tuesday night that it... Could be three weeks, four weeks" until that was possible.

But the presidents reiteration that so-called herd developed immunity to the coronavirus could end the pandemic, will likely have alarmed American scientists.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, a White House coronavirus task force member and the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned last month that herd immunity could lead to many more deaths.

"If everyone contracted it, even with the relatively high percentage of people without symptoms ... a lot of people are going to die," Dr Fauci told an Instagram live audience, CNN reported.

He added: If everyone got infected, the death toll would be enormous and totally unacceptable".

The presidents comments came as the US coronavirus death toll surpassed 195,000 on Tuesday night, with 6.6 million infections, according to John Hopkins university data.
D onald Trump had denied downplaying the severity of the coronavirus pandemic despite a recording of him admitting that he had done just that.

The US president clashed with ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos over the issue at a town hall special in the battleground state of Pennsylvania on Tuesday.

During the event, Mr Trump sought to counter his recorded admission to journalist Bob Woodward that he was deliberately "playing it down" when discussing the threat of Covid-19 to Americans earlier this year.

Mr Trump also told Mr Stephanopoulos that the virus would disappear without a vaccine, claiming the nation would develop a "herd mentality".

When questioned about telling Mr Woodward how he downplayed the pandemic, the president said: "With a leader of a great country, we want to keep it that way. I don't want to scare people. I don't want to make people panic.

US President Donald Trump sits with ABC New anchor George Stephanopoulos / AFP via Getty Images

"You're not going to go out and say this is going to be death, death, death. You have got to run a country."

Mr Stephanopoulos then said: "All through January and February, you were downplaying, by your own admission, the severity of the crisis as you didn't want to panic people."

Mr Trump began to interrupt to say: "Not downplaying" and the host protested that he was not letting him finish the question.

Trump suggests coronavirus will disappear because it'll be 'herd developed'

"Those are your words," Mr Stephanopolous interjected.

Mr Trump said: "I don't want to drive our nation into a panic. I'm a cheerleader for this country. I'm the one that closed up this country. I closed it up long before the experts thought I should."

Despite audio of his comments being released, the president also said: "Yeah, well, I didn't downplay it. I actually, in many ways, I up-played it, in terms of action."

"My action was very strong," he added. "I'm not looking to be dishonest. I don't want people to panic."

Joe Biden attacks Donald Trump over knowing about threat of Covid-19

During the town hall event, the president also claimed that Covid-19 would go away with herd "mentality".

He said: You'll develop, you'll develop herd, like a herd mentality.

"It's going to be herd-developed, and that's going to happen. That will all happen. But with a vaccine, I think it will go away very quickly."

On other topics, Mr Trump cast doubt on the widely accepted scientific conclusions of his own administration strongly urging the use of face coverings and seemed to bat away the suggestion that the nation has racial inequities.

"Well, I hope there's not a race problem," he said, when asked by an audience member about his campaign rhetoric seeming to ignore the historical injustices carried out against Black Americans.

While addressing questions on face coverings, the president said: "There are people that don't think masks are good."

This was despite his own Centers for Disease Control and Prevention strongly urging their use.

Mr Trump also insisted he was not wrong when he praised China's response to the virus in January and February, saying he trusted Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader.

"He told me that it was under control, that everything was and it turned out to be not true," Mr Trump said.

The event was a warm-up of sorts before Trump faces Democratic nominee Joe Biden in the first presidential debate on September 29.

Taped at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, it featured Trump taking questions from an audience of just 21 voters to comply with state and local coronavirus regulations.
It stands to reason you probably wouldn't throw a large house party if you tested positive for COVID-19. But that wasn't the case for some students at Miami University of Ohio.

When Oxford police arrived to break up a large house party hosted by students over Labor Day weekend, officers discovered one student had tested positive for COVID-19 and been ordered to quarantine a week prior. Bodycam video from the Oxford Police Department shows several students sitting on the porch, unmasked, drinking and listening to music, according to report from WOIO.

"I WILL NEVER FORGET THESE WEEKS": Houston ICU doc describes what it's like on COVID-19 frontlines

"How many people are in the house? Twenty people inside? You might want to start clearing out, please," one officer ordered the students in the video.

After running one student's identification, an officer calls him over.

"I've never seen this before, there's an input on the computer that said you tested positive for COVID?" The officer asked the student. The student then informed the officer that everyone at the party has coronavirus.

"How many other people have COVID?" the officer asked.

"They all do," the student answered, gesturing to other roommates.

After the incident, police fined the six men in the house and a guest $500 each.

"This particular case is egregious, but I think for the most part, by in large, the students have been very well behaved," Oxford Police Department's Lt. Lara Fening told WKRC.

According to Miami University of Ohio health officials, more than 1,243 students at the school have tested positive for coronavirus in cumulative cases since mid-August.

Miami University officials say they charge mass gathering citations under endangering public health and safety in the student code of conduct. This violation typically calls for suspension, according to WKRC.

"We take these matters most seriously, and students can face suspension or dismissal for these types of violations," a spokesperson for the university told CBS News.

According to the Miami University health officials, all students returning to campus for in-person learning must be tested for coronavirus before moving into dorms.

"We want to stay safe; we want to be healthy. We want everyone around us to be healthy. We want this town to be thriving. We don't want this town to be shut down again. We want the underclassmen to come back," Fening said.
(Reuters) - Novak Djokovic said he was relieved to turn the page on his contentious U.S. Open exit as he began his claycourt season with a solid victory in his first match at the Italian Open on Wednesday.

The world number one, who was disqualified in New York after accidentally hitting a line judge with a ball during his fourth round match, defeated Italian wildcard Salvatore Caruso 6-3 6-2 to move into the third round in Rome.

Djokovic's default in New York was met with heavy criticism by former players and fans on social media but the Serb said he was able to disconnect himself from the outside noise.

"I wouldn't say I recovered happiness... because I'm happy regardless of tennis," Djokovic told a news conference.

"I was actually looking forward to an official match as soon as possible after what happened in New York as I feel the sentiment on court needs to be positive."

Djokovic's frustration boiled over after dropping his serve against Pablo Carreno Busta in the opening set at Flushing Meadows but 10 days on in Rome he did not face a single break point in an imperious display against the unseeded Caruso.

"I didn't feel any emotional or mental blockages or any drama playing a match today. I felt very comfortable," Djokovic said.

"Caruso was a very good test for me. I was very pleased how I handled myself in important moments of the match."

On arrival in Rome, an apologetic Djokovic vowed to be "the best version" of himself on and off the court and he kept his emotions in check against local hope Caruso.

Four-times Rome champion Djokovic, who received an opening-round bye, broke Caruso's serve in the eighth game before serving out the opening set.

Caruso, who battled past American Tennys Sandgren in the opening round for his first ATP Masters 1000 match win, dropped his serve in a see-saw third game of the second set which lasted nearly 12 minutes.

With momentum firmly on his side, top seed Djokovic broke his opponent for a third time in the match before celebrating victory by blowing kisses into the empty stands at the Foro Italico.

Story continues

Having recorded 51 victories in 60 matches, Djokovic is the second most successful player in the tournament's history - just behind nine-time champion Rafael Nadal.

Djokovic has won 27 of his 28 matches this year and will resume his hunt for an 18th Grand Slam title at the French Open, which begins on Sept. 27.

"Regardless the change of surface I feel confident about the game," he said. "Hopefully I can build that stride more and more as I move deeper in the tournament and prior to Roland Garros obviously."

Djokovic will face either fellow Serb Filip Krajinovic or Italian Marco Cecchinato for a place in the last-16.

(Reporting by Hardik Vyas in Bengaluru; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Pritha Sarkar)
Drilling Commences at Porvenir Project Testing Outcropping Surface Porphyry Copper-Gold Mineralisation

BISHOPSGATE, LONDON / ACCESSWIRE / September 16, 2020 / The Board of SolGold (LSE & TSX: SOLG) is pleased to provide an update on its 100% owned Porvenir Project, held by Green Rock Resources S.A, a 100% owned subsidiary of SolGold.

Highlights

All scout drilling regulatory approvals have been received for the 100% SolGold owned Porvenir Project in Ecuador's Southern Copper-Gold Province.

Drilling commences at Porvenir Project with initial drill hole testing outcropping surface mineralisation that returned an open ended rock-saw channel result of: 147.8m @ 0.69% CuEq (0.43 g/t Au, 0.37% Cu) including, 82.63m @ 1.08% CuEq (0.71 g/t Au, 0.55% Cu) located in Cacharposa Creek.



Drilling operations underway with initial drill hole (PDH-20-001) at current depth of 16.7m, utilising one man-portable machine, as part of a planned 8000m initial drilling program.

Mineralisation at Cacharposa Creek is part of a 1000m-wide, 1700m long northeast trending corridor containing mineralisation styles, size and geometry consistent with surface exposure of a vertically extensive, well-preserved porphyry copper-gold system.

Surface mineralisation displays similar characteristics to the giant Alpala Porphyry Copper-Gold Deposit at Cascabel in Northern Ecuador with classical magnetic signature, coincident soil Copper-Gold-Molybdenum geochemistry, and a Gold:Copper ratio of approximately 1:1.

Commenting on the commencement of drilling at La Hueca, Regional Exploration Manager Chris Connell said: "We are very excited to see commencement of drilling at Target 15 in Porvenir because the hole 1 target is of very high quality. The coincident geophysical and geochemical anomalies over an extensive surface outcrop that returned an open ended ore grade intercept of over 140m at about 0.7% CuEq, is an extraordinary target that we believe potentially represents a large exposed porphyry copper-gold deposit and a second major porphyry discovery for the Company within Ecuador. The 13 high-priority regional targets covered by 75 granted tenements represent a significant pipeline of wholly owned quality assets. We look forward to updating the market with visual mineralisation estimates and core photos as drilling progresses at Porvenir."

Commenting on today's new release, CEO Nick Mather said: "SolGold seized first mover advantage in copper gold porphyry exploration in Ecuador in 2014 and is now the dominant tenure holder, with the most active, well-funded, most qualified and best resourced exploration team in Ecuador. With a dominantly Ecuadorean workforce, endorsed by the Ecuadorean community at all levels of the social environmental and regulatory framework in Ecuador, SolGold is strongly placed to emerge as the resource mainstay of the Ecuadorean Copper gold mining industry in years to come, delivering extensive contributions to Ecuador's social and economic growth."

References to figures relate to the version visible in PDF format by clicking the link below:

http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/1455Z_1-2020-9-16.pdf

Further Information

SolGold is continuing to pursue its strategy to become a tier 1 copper producing company through aggressive exploration of its extensive tenement portfolio in Ecuador. The regional exploration program is fully funded to 2022.

The Porvenir Project is located in Southern Ecuador, some 100km north of the Peruvian border and is situated within the Jurassic segment of the Andean Porphyry Belt which hosts several of the world's largest and most significant copper and gold deposits in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Chile (Figures 1 and 2).

All scout drilling regulatory approvals have been received for the 100% SolGold owned Porvenir Project in Ecuador's Southern Copper-Gold Province.

Drilling operations are underway at Target 15 in the Porvenir Project utilising one HydracoreTM 5000 hybrid man-portable machine modified to drill NQ sized diamond drill core up to 1800m depth (Figure 3). Hole 1 is part of a planned 8000m initial drilling program at Porvenir.

Initial drill hole PDH-20-001 is at a current depth of 16.7m and is designed to test the depth extent of outcropping surface mineralisation in Cacharposa Creek that returned an open ended rock-saw channel result of 147.8m @ 0.69% CuEq (0.43 g/t Au, 0.37% Cu) including, 82.63m @ 1.08% CuEq (0.71 g/t Au, 0.55% Cu) (Figure 4).

Surface mineralisation at Cacharposa Creek is hosted within a dioritic to monzodioritic intrusive complex and forms part of a 1000m-wide, 1700m long northeast trending corridor. Soil and rock geochemistry displays coincident soil copper-gold-molybdenum geochemistry, a gold: copper ratio of approximately 1:1, and a chalcopyrite: pyrite mineral ratio of >1.0. (Figure 5). These features are often conspicuous at many world class porphyry deposits.

The exposed mineralisation at Cacharposa Creek comprises porphyry-style sheeted and stockwork B-type quartz-chalcopyrite-magnetite veining which occurs as three steeply dipping vein sets orientated northwest, east-northeast, and west-northwest. Field studies of the porphyry-related vein types and paragenesis at Target 15 are ongoing, and initial work indicates a sequential vein development typical of many significant porphyry copper-gold systems, such as SolGold's giant Alpala porphyry copper-gold deposit in Northern Ecuador. The mineralisation style, geochemical footprint and geometry are consistent with surface exposure of a vertically extensive, well-preserved porphyry copper-gold system.

The presence of potassic alteration (K-feldspar-magnetite) overprinted by intermediate argillic alteration (chlorite - sericite - clay) is associated with higher gold grades and surrounded by phyllic (quartz - sericite - pyrite) and extensive epidote-propylitic alteration. The size and strength of the geochemical anomalies and the zoning of the hydrothermal alteration assemblages are consistent with the presence of a preserved porphyry copper-gold system exposed at surface.

3D ground magnetics indicate a magnetic signature consistent with porphyry copper and copper-gold deposits with a central magnetic high surrounded by an annular magnetic low (Figure 6).

3D geochemical modelling suggests that mineralisation extends at least 550m below surface (Figure 7).

Figure 1: Location plan showing Porvenir Project in southern Ecuador.

Figure 2: Prospect locations at Porvenir showing Target 15 and Bartolo areas with concession outlines and highlighting soil copper geochemical results.

Figure 3: Hubbard Perforaciones drilling crew preparing commencement of Hole 1 (PDH-20-001) at Target 15, Porvenir, utilising a HydracoreTM 5000 hybrid man-portable machine modified to drill NQ sized diamond drill core up to 1800m depth.

Figure 4: Rock saw channel sampling results at Cacharposa Creek, Target 15, Porvenir.

Figure 5: Plan view of Porvenir Target 15 geology and the northeast trending mineralised corridor with coincident soil gold, copper and molybdenum anomalies centred upon Cacharposa Creek.

Figure 6: Plan view of RTP ground magnetics image, showing magnetic signature consistent with porphyry copper and copper-gold deposits with a central magnetic high surrounded by an annular magnetic low. The location of Hole 1 (PDH-20-001) is shown in black and planned locations of the remaining holes of the initial 12-hole 8000m diamond drilling program in red. Rock-saw channel sample locations are shown in blue at Cacharposa Creek.

Figure 7: Cross-section looking northwest, showing planned drill holes looking northwest with 3D magnetic inversion & 3D geochemical models under RTP ground magnetics in topography.

Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure

Certain information contained in this announcement would have been deemed inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 until the release of this announcement.

Qualified Person:

Information in this report relating to the exploration results is based on data reviewed by Mr Jason Ward ((CP) B.Sc. Geol.), the Chief Geologist of the Company. Mr Ward is a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, holds the designation FAusIMM (CP), and has in excess of 20 years' experience in mineral exploration and is a Qualified Person for the purposes of the relevant LSE and TSX Rules. Mr Ward consents to the inclusion of the information in the form and context in which it appears.

By order of the Board

Karl Schlobohm

Company Secretary

CONTACTS

Nicholas Mather SolGold Plc (Chief Executive Officer) nmather@solgold.com.au Tel: +61 (0) 7 3303 0665 +61 (0) 417 880 448 Karl Schlobohm SolGold Plc (Company Secretary) kschlobohm@solgold.com.au Tel: +61 (0) 7 3303 0661 Ingo Hofmaier SolGold Plc (GM - Project & Corporate Finance) ihofmaier@solgold.com.au Tel: +44 (0) 20 3823 2131 Gordon Poole / Nick Hennis Camarco (Financial PR / IR) solgold@camarco.co.uk Tel: +44 (0) 20 3757 4997 Andrew Chubb Hannam & Partners (Joint Broker and Financial Advisor) solgold@hannam.partners Tel: +44 (0) 20 7907 8500 Ross Allister / David McKeown Peel Hunt (Joint Broker and Financial Advisor) solgold@peelhunt.com Tel: +44 (0)20 7418 8900 James Kofman / Darren Wallace Cormark Securities Inc. (Financial Advisor) dwallace@cormark.com Tel: +1 416 943 6411

Follow us on twitter @SolGold_plc

ABOUT SOLGOLD

SolGold is a leading resources company focussed on the discovery, definition and development of world-class copper and gold deposits. In 2018, SolGold's management team was recognised by the "Mines and Money" Forum as an example of excellence in the industry and continues to strive to deliver objectives efficiently and in the interests of shareholders. SolGold is the largest and most active concession holder in Ecuador and is aggressively exploring the length and breadth of this highly prospective and gold-rich section of the Andean Copper Belt.

The Company operates with transparency and in accordance with international best practices. SolGold is committed to delivering value to its shareholders, while simultaneously providing economic and social benefits to impacted communities, fostering a healthy and safe workplace and minimizing the environmental impact.

Dedicated stakeholders

SolGold employs a staff of over 600 employees of whom 98% are Ecuadorean. This is expected to grow as the operations expand at Alpala, and in Ecuador generally. SolGold focusses its operations to be safe, reliable and environmentally responsible and maintains close relationships with its local communities. SolGold has engaged an increasingly skilled, refined and experienced team of geoscientists using state of the art geophysical and geochemical modelling applied to an extensive database to enable the delivery of ore grade intersections from nearly every drill hole at Alpala. SolGold has over 80 geologists on the ground in Ecuador exploring for economic copper and gold deposits.

About Cascabel and Alpala

The Alpala deposit is the main target in the Cascabel concession, located on the northern section of the heavily endowed Andean Copper Belt, the entirety of which is renowned as the base for nearly half of the world's copper production. The project area hosts mineralisation of Eocene age, the same age as numerous Tier 1 deposits along the Andean Copper Belt in Chile and Peru to the south. The project base is located at Rocafuerte within the Cascabel concession in northern Ecuador, an approximately three-hour drive on sealed highway north of the capital Quito, close to water, power supply and Pacific ports.

Having fulfilled its earn-in requirements, SolGold is a registered shareholder with an unencumbered legal and beneficial 85% interest in ENSA (Exploraciones Novomining S.A.) which holds 100% of the Cascabel concession covering approximately 50km2. The junior equity owner in ENSA is required to repay 15% of costs since SolGold's earn in was completed, from 90% of its share of distribution of earnings or dividends from ENSA or the Cascabel concession. It is also required to contribute to development or be diluted, and if its interest falls below 10%, it shall reduce to a 0.5% NSR royalty which SolGold may acquire for US$3.5million.

Advancing Alpala towards development

The resource at the Alpala deposit contains a high-grade core which will be targeted to facilitate early cashflows and an accelerated payback of initial capital. SolGold is currently progressing its Pre-Feasibility Study and is fully funded through to development decision following the Net Smelter Royalty Financing with Franco-Nevada Corporation for US$100million. Franco-Nevada will receive a perpetual 1% NSR interest from the Cascabel licence area.

SolGold is currently assessing financing options available to the Company for the development of the Alpala mine following completion of the Definitive Feasibility Study.

SolGold's Regional Exploration Drive

SolGold is using its successful and cost-efficient blueprint established at Alpala, and Cascabel generally, to explore for additional world class copper and gold projects across Ecuador. SolGold is the largest and most active concessionaire in Ecuador.

The Company wholly owns four other subsidiaries active throughout the country that are now focussed on thirteen high priority gold and copper resource targets, several of which the Company believes have the potential, subject to resource definition and feasibility, to be developed in close succession or even on a more accelerated basis compared to Alpala.

SolGold is listed on the London Stock Exchange and Toronto Stock Exchange (LSE/TSX: SOLG). The Company has on issue a total of 2,072,213,495 fully-paid ordinary shares and 113,175,000 share options.

Quality Assurance / Quality Control on Sample Collection, Security and Assaying

SolGold operates according to its rigorous Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QA/QC) protocol, which is consistent with industry best practices.

Primary sample collection involves secure transport from SolGold's concessions in Ecuador, to the ALS certified sample preparation facility in Quito, Ecuador. Samples are then air freighted from Quito to the ALS certified laboratory in Lima, Peru where the assaying of drill core, channel samples, rock chips and soil samples is undertaken. SolGold utilises ALS certified laboratories in Canada and Australia for the analysis of metallurgical samples.

Samples are prepared and analysed using 100g 4-Acid digest ICP with MS finish for 48 elements on a 0.25g aliquot (ME-MS61). Laboratory performance is routinely monitored using umpire assays, check batches and inter-laboratory comparisons between ALS certified laboratory in Lima and the ACME certified laboratory in Cuenca, Ecuador.

In order to monitor the ongoing quality of its analytical database, SolGold's QA/QC protocol encompasses standard sampling methodologies, including the insertion of certified powder blanks, coarse chip blanks, standards, pulp duplicates and field duplicates. The blanks and standards are Certified Reference Materials supplied by Ore Research and Exploration, Australia.

SolGold's QA/QC protocol also monitors the ongoing quality of its analytical database. The Company's protocol involves Independent data validation of the digital analytical database including search for sample overlaps, duplicate or absent samples as well as anomalous assay and survey results. These are routinely performed ahead of Mineral Resource Estimates and Feasibility Studies. No material QA/QC issues have been identified with respect to sample collection, security and assaying.

Reviews of the sample preparation, chain of custody, data security procedures and assaying methods used by SolGold confirm that they are consistent with industry best practices and all results stated in this announcement have passed SolGold's QA/QC protocol.

The data aggregation method for calculating Copper Equivalent (CuEq) for rock-saw channel sampling intervals are reported using copper equivalent (CuEq) cut-off grades with up to 10m internal dilution, excluding bridging to a single sample and with minimum intersection length of 50m.

Copper Equivalent is currently calculated (assuming 100% recovery of copper and gold) using a Gold Conversion Factor of 0.751 (CuEq = Cu + Au x 0.751), calculated from a current nominal copper price of US$3.30/lb and a gold price of US$1700/oz. True widths of rock-saw channel sampling interval lengths are estimated to be 100% considering the sub-vertical nature of intrusions at Porvenir Project.

See www.solgold.com.au for more information. Follow us on twitter @SolGold plc

CAUTIONARY NOTICE

News releases, presentations and public commentary made by SolGold plc (the "Company") and its Officers may contain certain statements and expressions of belief, expectation or opinion which are forward looking statements, and which relate, inter alia, to interpretations of exploration results to date and the Company's proposed strategy, plans and objectives or to the expectations or intentions of the Company's Directors. Such forward-looking and interpretative statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors beyond the control of the Company that could cause the actual performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from such interpretations and forward-looking statements.

Accordingly, the reader should not rely on any interpretations or forward-looking statements; and save as required by the exchange rules of the TSX and LSE or by applicable laws, the Company does not accept any obligation to disseminate any updates or revisions to such interpretations or forward-looking statements. The Company may reinterpret results to date as the status of its assets and projects changes with time expenditure, metals prices and other affecting circumstances.

This release may contain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements regarding the Company's plans for developing its properties. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved".

Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to: transaction risks; general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; future prices of mineral prices; accidents, labour disputes and shortages and other risks of the mining industry. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

The Company and its officers do not endorse, or reject or otherwise comment on the conclusions, interpretations or views expressed in press articles or third-party analysis, and where possible aims to circulate all available material on its website

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.

SOURCE: SolGold PLC

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/606307/SolGold-PLC-Announces-Regional-Exploration-Update--Porvenir
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged his German counterpart Heiko Maas to abandon further politicisation of the suspected poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the Russian Foreign Ministry said after a phone conversation between the ministers.

The focus of the phone conversation on Tuesday was on the state and prospects of Russian-German relations, as well as building bilateral and cooperation amid the situation around Navalny, the ministry said in a statement, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Lavrov called on his colleague to refrain from further politicisation of the situation with Navalny," it said.

The Russian side confirmed its readiness for cooperation on the Navalny case, it added.

Lavrov and Maas also agreed to continue the dialogue on issues of the Russian-German and agenda, according to the statement.

--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.)
New Delhi: Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt and wife Maanayata left for Dubai a day back and were clicked at the airport by paps. This morning, Maanayata put up her Instagram story which has the duo inside the plane.

Take a look:

Reportedly, Sanjay Dutt and Maanayata have headed to Dubai for a brief break as their kids Shahraan and Iqra are there. Later, the actor, who has been diagnosed with cancer might leave for his treatment abroad.

Dutt was hospitalised sometime back after he complained of breathlessness. He had posted on social media about his medical break without divulging more on the illness.

Reportedly, Sanjay Dutt was diagnosed with Stage-3 lung cancer in August this year. He was expected to fly abroad. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, he is being treated in Mumbai.

The actor celebrated Ganesh Chaturthi with family in Mumbai recently and even wished his fans on social media.

Here's wishing him a speedy recovery!
Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas has fired back in a feud over it not paying rent to a San Antonio landlord during the pandemic.

The theater chain stopped paying rent on its Park North Shopping Center location after the business temporarily closed in mid-March.

The landlord, a company affiliated with Florida-based private equity real estate firm Sterling Organization, refused to accept the pandemic as an excuse for Alamo Drafthouse skipping more than $660,000 in total rent payments from April to August. So the landlord sued last month in state District Court in San Antonio.

On ExpressNews.com: Landlords take San Antono tenants to court over rent during pandemic

Now, Austin-based Alamo Drafthouse has filed its own complaint. It wants a court to enter a judgment declaring that the business is not obligated to pay rent from March until such a time as the court determines.

We dont think it has any merit contractually or legally, said John D. Fraser, a Plano attorney representing the landlord. Were going to pursue our position.

David Marmins, an Atlanta attorney for Alamo Drafthouse, couldnt immediately be reached for comment Wednesday. But he said earlier this month that his client cant pay rent if it has no revenue.

Theyre negotiating and theyre offering to do a lot of things short of not paying anything, but they havent been able to reach a deal with this landlord, Marmins said.

The Park North theater, at 618 NW Loop 410, was slated to resume operations this month but has not yet done so. The venue has eight auditoriums that can accommodate 986 movie goers.

The theater closed on March 17 following various local, state and federal directives intended to stop the coronavirus spread.

Gov. Greg Abbott allowed theaters to reopen May 1, but they could do so only at 25 percent capacity. They can now operate at 50 percent capacity. That hasnt helped, Alamo Drafthouse says.

Despite the easing of restrictions, it is impossible to operate a movie theater while following social distancing guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the chains counterclaim states.

It adds that the five major movie studios stopped releasing films until late last month, making it impossible to operate a movie theater.

On ExpressNews.com: Bubba Gump on San Antonio River Walk expects to reopen after lockout by landlord

Alamo Drafthouse argues it would have violated terms of its lease if it had operated from March through August. The lease states it cant use the space for any purpose which is forbidden by or in violation of any law, ordinance or governmental or municipal regulation, order, or certificate of occupancy, or which may be dangerous to life, limb or property.

The court document cites the more than 1,000 Bexar County deaths blamed on COVID-19.

The landlord further limits Alamo Drafthouse to permit any unlawful or immoral practice to be carried on or committed in the premises, the lease stated, according to the counterclaim.

Since March 18, 2020, (the theater) has not generated a single dollar of sales revenue as it is impossible and illegal to operate as contemplated by the lease, Alamo Drafthouse says. The Park North location generated more than $1.6 million in sales this year before it shut down.

Fraser, the landlords lawyer, noted that other Alamo Drafthouse locations are open right now. Indeed, the chains Stone Oak theater is operating, according to the website.

I dont know how they can say they are prevented from doing business at this time, Fraser said. These are novel arguments, which well address in the context of the lawsuit.

Alamo Drafthouse was founded by Tim and Karrie League in 1997 with a theater in Austin. Since then, the chain has opened 41 locations, including three in San Antonio and 21 in Texas.

Patrick Danner Patrick Danner covers banking, insurance, business litigation and bankruptcies. To read more from Patrick, become a subscriber. pdanner@express-news.net | Twitter: @AlamoPD
MBABANE  Do Members of Parliament (MPs) have the powers to overturn a decision made by the prime minister?



This will be the ultimate test today as the legislators are expected to move a Motion Without Notice where the Prime Minister, Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini, has been asked to consider rescinding or setting aside the one month extension of the ban on the alcohol industry within 48 hours.



The motion, according to the Order Paper, is expected to be moved by Mhlume MP Victor Malambe and seconded by Ndzingeni MP Lutfo Dlamini.



Interestingly, the petition which was delivered by the Swaziland National Liquor Association (SNLA) to Parliament over two weeks ago has not made it into the Order Paper which was issued by the Speakers office on Monday.

According to a source, the petition had been overtaken by events as by that time government had not made any pronouncement of the extension of the ban on the sale, manufacturing and distribution of liquor in the country.



Extended



The PM eventually made the announcement on the Saturday before last where he said the ban was extended for a period of about a month and that government would make a review before October 2020.

According to the Attorney General, Sifiso Khumalo, the MPs were within their right to ask the Executive to reconsider their decisions through a resolution.



Khumalo said the Executive, after giving due consideration to the matter, could come back and say whether it was doable or not.

Initially, the PM had issued a statement on June 23, 2020 where government stopped the wholesale and distribution of liquor with effect from July 1, 2020 for a period not exceeding two months.

Government, however, was silent after August 31, until a statement was issued by Government Press Secretary Sabelo Dlamini that alcohol remained banned.



According to The Coronavirus (COVID-19) Regulations, 2020 which were issued by the Deputy Prime Minister Themba Masuku, Section 32 gave the PM powers to issue guidelines.

Subsection (1) states that the PM may issue guidelines to address, prevent and combat the spread of COVID-19 in any area of the Kingdom of Eswatini.



Recruitment



It states that the directions may include the recruitment and training of human resources from the Ministry of Health, and other entities responsible for the handling of COVID-19 mortal remains and deployment of human resources from the department of Health to identified sites to render services.



The guidelines further state that the PM may issue guidelines on the sourcing of human resources from retired health professionals and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to render services in identified sites; provision of health equipment, sanitation materials and medical supplies.

Subsection (2) further states that the PM or a minister may vary the guidelines issued in terms of this regulation when the need arise.

One of the MPs, who spoke on condition of anonymity, stated that the fact that the guidelines read may instead of shall meant that the PM could not have the full authority to make any decisions which he chose and, therefore, he should consider Parliaments advice on the issue of the ban.



Another MP was of the view that the issue of the alcohol trade was not the responsibility of the premier, but the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade, Manqoba Khumalo.



He said Section 32 (8) of the guidelines gave Khumalo the power to issue guidelines to protect consumers from excessive, unfair, unreasonable or unjust pricing of goods and services during the national emergency; and to maintain security and availability of the supply of goods and services during the national emergency.



It further gives the minister powers to direct businesses to position systems for preventing the spread of COVID-19.

This could have been done by the minister responsible for Commerce, Industry and Trade and not the PM especially since this was the case at the start of the partial lockdown, said the MP.



Meanwhile, the sale of alcohol was not initially banned at the start of the partial lockdown as the initial regulations on Section 21 (1) only banned liquor consumption outlets including bars and clubs which it was listed, shall cease to operate at the commencement of the Regulations.



At that time premises which sell liquor and also operated as an accommodation establishment according to the guidelines were expected to provide adequate space and comply with all directives and guidelines issued by government and the World Health Organisations in respect of reducing chances of the infecting others with COVID -19.



At that time bottle stores were allowed to be opened and operated between 11:00 am to 6:00 pm from Monday to Saturday.

Since the ban on the sale of liquor there has been a lot of sale of the booze through the black market.

Some have argued that this was caused by a lot of job losses.



The PM when extending the suspension of liquor sales gave five reasons among which he stated that alcohol had long and short-term effects on every single body organ.



He said it weakened the immune system, altered ones judgment or decision or decision making while also increasing the risk of acute respiratory distress syndrome and that group drinking would result in imbibers failing to observe social distancing.
Senior BJP leader Kailash



Vijayvargiya on Wednesday accused the government in of working for the benefit of the 30 per cent population of the state, who belong to the minority community.

He alleged the state administration tries to create obstacles for any programme or ritual related to Hinduism.

"The state government works only for the 30 per cent population (minorities) of the state. The remaining 70 per cent (Hindu population) are left to fend for themselves.

"Why is this government against Hinduism and its rituals? Our party workers were stopped by the police from performing 'tarpan'. Later, we had to organise it somewhere else," the party's national general secretary said.

Vijayvargiya's comments came in the backdrop of the Kolkata Police preventing the BJP from organising its 'shahid tarpan' event and dismantling a stage erected for the programme at Baghbazar Ghat in north Kolkata, citing the prevailing COVID-19 situation.

The saffron party, however, changed the venue to Golabari Ghat near Bagbazar and performed 'shahid tarpan' for slain party activists a day before Mahalaya.

'Tarpan' is a ritual in which water is offered to the ancestors with prayers for peace to the departed souls. It is performed on occasions like Mahalaya, which marks the beginning of the Durga Puja festivities, and Makar Sankranti along the banks of Ganga.

Referring to the imposition of the state-wide lockdown on August 5, the day of 'bhoomi pujan' at Ayodhya for the construction of Ram temple, Vijayvargiya alleged the government creates obstacles for any programme related to Hinduism.

"After we are voted to power in next year, we will work for the entire population of the state and not just for a specific community," he told reporters after being prevented by the police from entering Bagbazar Ghat.

Assembly elections are likely to be held in in April-May next year.

The police said the BJP had not taken permission for the 'shahid tarpan' event, while the saffron party claimed it had sent an email to the police on Tuesday night seeking permission for organising the programme.

"Do we need permission to perform 'tarpan' for our slain workers? It is a Hindu ritual that is being performed for ages. But still, we had sent an email to the police last night seeking permission for the programme," Vijayvargiya said.

Since last year, the BJP has been performing 'mass tarpan' for party workers killed in political violence in West Bengal in the last few years.

J P Nadda, the then BJP national working president, had performed 'mass tarpan' for slain party workers in September last year.

(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.)
Brad Pitt's girlfriend Nicole Poturalski posted a cryptic quote to Instagram on Tuesday night.

The stunning model, 27, took to the social media platform to post a picture of herself posing in a tiny orange mini dress alongside the caption: 'Happy people don't hate,' followed by heart emojis.

It comes after it was claimed last week that 'tensions had escalated' between Brad, 56, and ex-wife Angelina Jolie, 45, with family therapy therapy no longer taking place.

Cryptic: Brad Pitt's girlfriend Nicole Poturalski posted a cryptic quote to Instagram on Tuesday

Quote: The stunning model, 27, took to the social media platform to post a picture of herself posing in a tiny orange mini dress alongside the caption: 'Happy people don't hate,' followed by heart emojis

In Nicole's stunning Instagram snap, shared to her 210K followers, the model showcased her svelte frame in a figure-hugging orange mini dress with ruched detailing.

Styling her caramel locks into a sleek straightened hairdo, she finished her ensemble with a pair of 90s-style brown sunglasses and a beige handbag.

It is believed that the pair may have been dating for the best part of a year, as they both attended a performance of Kanye West's opera Nebuchadnezzar at the Hollywood Bowl in November 2019.

The bombshell, who has a son, is married to Berlin-based restaurateur Roland Mary, 68, with whom she's allegedly in an open relationship with.

Tense? It comes after it was claimed last week that 'tensions had escalated' between Brad, 56, and ex-wife Angelina Jolie, 45, with family therapy therapy no longer taking place (pictured in 2015)

Stunning: In Nicole's stunning Instagram snap, shared to her 210K followers, the model showcased her svelte frame in a figure-hugging orange mini dress with ruched detailing

Nicole is currently signed to Next Management in Los Angeles and A Management in Germany.

Just last month, Brad and Nicole were spotted arriving in the South of France on a private jet where they visited Chateau Miraval, where he produces $390 rose Champagne.

The trip coincided with what would have been his and Angelina's sixth wedding anniversary, they married at the chateau on August 24, 2014.

The former couple had purchased the estate including the Chateau and vineyard in 2011 for $60 million after leasing it for three years.

History: The bombshell, who has a son, is married to Berlin-based restaurateur Roland Mary, 68, with whom she's allegedly in an open relationship with

The visit reportedly angered Angelina, with a source telling the Mirror: 'Angie is furious and utterly stunned Brad could stoop this low.'

While last week, it was claimed that relations between the former couple, who share six children, have deteriorated to the point where they are no longer engaging in family therapy ahead of a custody trial slated for next month.

'Tensions have escalated between Brad and Angelina, with family therapy no longer taking place,' a source told Us Weekly.

The former couple had appeared to reach a cordial understanding about co-parenting their kids, with the Once upon A Time... In Hollywood actor spotted leaving the actress' LA home in June after spending time with the children.

However, UsWeekly claims they are now at odds again over how much time they each get with Pax, 16, Zahara, 15, Shiloh, 14, and 12-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne.

Getaway: Just last month, Brad and Nicole were spotted arriving in the South of France on a private jet where they visited Chateau Miraval, where he produces $390 rose Champagne

Eldest child Maddox, 19, is allowed to choose his own timetable and is reported to no longer have any contact with his father.

'Brad wants 50/50 joint physical and legal custody of the kids. Angelina has been unagreeable to those terms,' a source told UsWeekly.

The insider added that Angelina 'will only agree to talk about an agreement if the home base for the children isn't Los Angeles. The younger kids are in school in Los Angeles, which Angelina has always been opposed to.'

It's previously been suggested that Jolie wants to relocate to the UK and base the children with her there.

MailOnline contacted both Brad and Angelina for comment at the time.

More drama: The trip coincided with what would have been his and Angelina's sixth wedding anniversary, they married at the chateau on August 24, 2014, with the actress reportedly left 'furious' (pictured in 2019)

The former couple, who enjoyed the moniker Brangelina during their time together, separated in September 2016.

The two had met on the set of the film Mr. & Mrs. Smith that was released in June 2005.

Several months before the movie's debut, Pitt and then wife Jennifer Aniston had announced they were separating after five years of marriage, with the Friends star subsequently filing for divorce in March 2005.

On January 11, 2006, Angelina finally confirmed the romance with Pitt when she revealed she was pregnant with his child.

Meanwhile, a trial has been scheduled for October in Los Angeles where a judge will adjudicate on the child custody and support issues that remain unresolved between Angelina and Brad.

Not ideal: While last week, it was claimed that relations between the former couple, who share six children, have deteriorated to the point where they are no longer engaging in family therapy ahead of a custody trial slated for next month (pictured in February)

The two had previously signed off on the appointment of retired Superior Court Judge John W. Ouderkirk to oversee the proceedings; he had presided over their marriage in 2014.

However, last month, Angelina requested he be removed from the case claiming she feared he would be 'biased' against her because he had failed to disclose an existing relationship between himself and Brad's lawyers.

Brad's legal team accused the actress of making a 'transparently tactical gambit' to delay matters, adding that it will be their own children who are 'hurt most' by the hold up.

Ouderkirk denied Angelina's request that he recuse himself, stating that he is within his rights to continue working as the celebrity divorce continues to drag on and declaring that he can and will be impartial.

The fairytale romance between Angelina and Brad came to an end in September 2016.

There was an alleged 'altercation' that involved Brad and Maddox aboard a private jet that was heading from Nice, France to Los Angeles, California; after they landed, Angelina 'kicked him out,' according to Vanity Fair.

Brad was cleared of any wrongdoing but the stage had been set for a very acrimonious divorce.

Angelina filed legal documents straightaway and sought custody of their six children. Brad countered by asking for joint custody.

In August 2018, the divorce battle between the pair exploded in public with Angelina accusing her ex of being a deadbeat dad and Bra revealing he has paid millions of dollars to the actress including money to buy a new home in LA.

A judge overseeing the case previously cautioned Angelina for allegedly not helping the kids have a relationship with Brad and threatening to reduce her time with them.

The two reached an interim custody agreement and have engaged in family therapy since then as they seek to find a way forward.
If three years ago somebody had mentioned to Rachel and Andrew Sabatine that a pandemic and apocalyptic fires were coming, they might have decided against launching a craft brewery. But nobody told them, so they went right ahead and dedicated their late 20s to Around the Horn Brewing Company, a Gold Rush-themed brewery they dreamed of opening 25 miles from Yosemite National Parks Big Oak Flat entrance.

Upon learning of the time and effort that the couple poured into their goal, one might assume that the events of 2020 have them regretting the endeavor. One would be wrong.

Thanks to a bit of luck and a lot of dedication, Around the Horn not only opened, but is thriving in 2020, providing tasty, original beer and a bit of levity to the residents and visitors to Groveland who kind of need it right now.

Ashley Harrell

The idea for Groveland's first brewery was hatched in 2014, when Rachel and her mom Shirley Horn went on a tour of a brewery in San Diego and joked that they should open one. They agreed that Groveland, where Horn had a home, was an ideal spot due to its close-knit community, pure Hetch Hetchy water and lack of any other craft brewery.

Over the next two years they found themselves joking about the idea more often, Rachel says, and by 2016, Rachels partner Andrew  whom she met in the beer line at a Chris Young concert  was also in on the joke. Rachel and Andrew had lived in Los Angeles too long, and they envisioned a future in a smaller, more laid-back place, with epic nature. In 2017, they got married and started talking seriously about opening a brewery, which felt exciting, so they went for it.

The couple quit unsatisfying jobs in real estate and tech, and identified Nashville as an ideal city to learn their business. Rachel took the GMAT and got accepted to Vanderbilt University for her MBA, where she studied entrepreneurship and marketing. She also interned at a local brewery and worked as a bartender at a beer bar and as a brand ambassador for Brooklyn Brewery. Andrew got jobs at three Nashville breweries (TailGate, Honky Tonk and Southern Grist), eventually becoming a taproom manager and then a brewers apprentice. He also completed a brewing and distilling technology program at Knoxville's Brewing & Distilling Center and scored a 104% on his final exam, for which Rachel labeled him a freaking nerd.

Ashley Harrell

After they graduated in 2019, Rachel and Andrew relocated to Groveland, and along with Horn found and purchased what locals referred to as the old Subway building at 17820 State Highway 120. The Sabatines hoped to close on the building in September, but soon learned it would take longer and cost more than they had anticipated.

We struggled for more than a year to secure our building, extending our opening time by months, Rachel wrote on an Indiegogo page she created to help fund the business. And with every vendor quote, permit and insurance bill, our expenses grow.

The deal finally closed in December, and in early 2020, the Around the Horn team began transforming the indoor area from a sandwich franchise to a community brewery  a costly process Rachel refers to as de-Subwaying. Meanwhile, the budding, meticulous brewmaster Andrew started on his first round of craft beers. Using a seven-barrel brewhouse and four fermenters, he began with Gateway to Gold, a Kolsch-style ale, and Im Fine, Everythings Fine, a New England pale ale. He also launched Tip Top Lollipop, a series of fruited sours brewed with more than 500 pounds of rotating fruits. The first one: passion fruit peach.

Ashley Harrell

On March 19, Around the Horn was still a couple of months away from opening, and that was the day Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a statewide stay-at-home order, shutting down all nonessential businesses and restaurant dining. Surprisingly, the timing ended up working to the Sabatines' advantage.

The fact that we missed the first wave of the shelter-in-place meant we could see how other businesses reacted and learn from them, Rachel says. We could be more agile and adapting.

Recognizing they would need outdoor space, the Sabatines converted much of their parking lot into a dining and drinking area. They created a front patio with bar seating and a charming side patio with tables spaced out beneath sun shades and fairy lights, along with an outdoor area for Cornhole. They also bought a machine that makes Crowlers (its like a growler and a can had a baby, Rachel explains) so that patrons could take the beer to-go.

In July, a few days before the grand opening, Newsom announced that all dining in California would need to take place outside. Luckily, the Sabatines had already applied for a temporary permit allowing the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages in outdoor areas like patios, parking lots and on sidewalks. They also displayed signs with instructions about mask-wearing and social distancing. Seriously it took us like five years to open this business, one says. Please help us keep it open by wearing your mask and following the state/county guidance. Thanks  we appreciate yall.

For the mid-July opening, the local community came out en masse: friends, families, tourists, everyone. Merch flew off the shelves, and the 500 Crowlers the Sabatines ordered sold out in a single weekend, with some folks buying as many as eight at a time. The couple has since placed two additional orders.

Theyve done such a good job accommodating all the new guidelines, said Jordan McLaurin, a Sonora resident who visited the brewery recently with her fiance. They have the space to do this right, and they can spread people out. It feels less COVID-y than other places, but it doesnt feel thrown together.

For a few weeks, state regulations required guests to purchase a meal with every beer. And while that certainly didnt hurt the brewery's bottom line, it did annoy some patrons. Once people tried the food, though  with items like spiced chickpea pitas, a Cuban sandwich with thick bacon and an adult ice cream float  they tended to stop complaining.

Ashley Harrell

Business was booming for Around the Horn right up until Aug. 20, when fires erupted all over California. The Moc fire broke out near Highway 49 and Highway 120, quickly spreading across 2,800 acres, threatening 1,500 homes and forcing Groveland to evacuate. Rachel didnt want to leave her new baby business behind.

It felt like that scene in 'Titanic,' when the captain is in the steering room and he goes down with the ship, she tells SFGATE.

California Highway Patrol officials told her the evacuation was mandatory, and she reluctantly packed her most important belongings. The evacuation lasted five days, and the power was out the whole time, which was long enough to spoil $5,000 of food, Rachel says. When the power and the internet came back, the Sabatines were able to see through cameras that their business and home were still standing. Best of all, our beer was fine, which was miraculous, Rachel says.

Salvaged beers included Pioneer Steam with Coffee  a field milk stout steeped with whole coffee beans  and Delicious Hot Schmoes  an ode to Buzz Lightyears mispronunciation of smores in "Toy Story 2." The imperial brown ale is brewed with more than 100 pounds of marshmallow, 100 pounds of crushed graham crackers and plenty of vanilla to round out all those flavors, and bring it home, Andrew says.

In gratitude to the first responders who protected the Groveland, Andrew brewed a lightly hopped golden ale called Fire Saga Strong. Half of the proceeds from that beer are going toward Wildland Firefighter Foundation, a nonprofit that helps the families of fallen firefighters. The other half will be put toward an effort to purchase fire warning sirens for Big Oak Flat, Groveland and surrounding areas, Rachel says.

Two weeks after the fire, PG&E conducted power outages to prevent more fires from starting in the area, and the Sabatines again stood to lose their food. Staff at Rush Creek, a relatively new lodge with powerful generators, stepped in and offered to store the food there.

Ashley Harrell

Theyre super nice, Rachel says. But its now painfully clear to me that we need a generator, and Im shopping for one.

Through all of the challenges, the Sabatines have found ways to adapt, working hard and powering through. Theyve got everything on the line, Rachel says, and that feels scary sometimes. But when customers come in, kick back with a delicious beer and have a moment to enjoy life, Rachel says all of her doubt disappears.

At least I know that everything we do, all the tears and frustrations and annoying phone calls, are so we could do something for ourselves, for our dream, she says. Not someone elses.

Around the Horn Brewing Company is located at 17820 Highway 120 in Groveland, California. Hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday through Monday.

Ashley Harrell is an associate editor at SFGATE who covers Californias parks. Email: ashley.harrell@sfgate.com | Twitter: @AshleyHarrell3
A Monmouth University poll of likely voters in Florida finds Democratic candidate Joe Biden ahead of President Donald Trump by 3 to 5 points, just squeaking by the poll's margin of error.

The poll, released Tuesday, shows largely unsurprising results for regional and demographic polls -- except for one: the president's support among military and veteran households.

"The current picture has Biden maintaining a typical Democratic advantage in southern Florida while making notable inroads in other parts of the state," said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute.

Veterans and military members make up more than a third of the state's voters, a bloc Trump easily carried along with military-veteran communities in other battleground states such as Ohio and North Carolina. Trump currently leads with those voters in Florida at 50% to Biden's 46%.

Nationwide, Hillary Clinton lost the vote among military members and veterans in 2016, 61% to 34%. She lost the vet vote in Florida by a double-digit margin.

According to the most recent poll, 56% of all Florida voters believe the president respects members of the military and veterans, but 70% say the same about Biden. When military and veteran households were asked whether President Trump respects service members, those numbers look better for the incumbent: 60% of military-veteran households believe Trump respects them, and 69% believe the same of Biden.

Monmouth University's pollsters don't know why military and veteran voters are shifting away from the president, but recent accusations of Trump making derogatory remarks about military members in recent days could be why.

Read: Report: Trump Disparaged US War Dead as 'Losers,' 'Suckers'

"Are the incumbent's alleged negative statements about the military responsible? We can't say for certain since we don't have a prior trend on this question. But it sure can't be helping," Murray said.

The president has a long history of making controversial public statements about military veterans, including former Arizona Sen. John McCain, Gen. Colin Powell and the Gold Star family of Capt. Humayun Khan, an Army officer killed in a suicide bomb attack in Iraq in 2004.

Clinton also maintained a five-point lead over Trump in September 2016. Florida is an important state because its 29 electoral votes are tied with New York for the third-highest in the country after California's 55 and Texas' 38.

The last U.S. president to win the office without winning in Florida was Bill Clinton in 1992. Before that, it was John F. Kennedy in 1960.

-- Blake Stilwell can be reached at blake.stilwell@military.com. He can also be found on Twitter @blakestilwell or on Facebook.

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Bengaluru, Sep 16 : To give a strong fillip to agricultural and rural economy, Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa on Wednesday announced that the state government is planning to pump about Rs 39,300 crore in this fiscal year to propel the agriculture related activities.

Speaking after launching 'Financial Response' scheme in an event that was organised by the Karnataka Cooperative department here, Yediyurappa said that the proposed grant of Rs 39,300 crore would be disbursed through cooperative institutions, and this will be done with the help of the Central government as well.

Reiterating that Karnataka was one of the foremost state in tackling Covid-19, the Chief Minister asserted his government was the first to announce the Covid relief package ahead of all other states in the country.

"The state government was the first to announce a relief package to tune of Rs 2,272 crore," he pointed out.

He further claimed that over 11.88 lakh farmers were provided over Rs 7,741 crore crop loan interest waiver for the year 2020-21 in the state by the Central government.

He added that the state government has already released about Rs 496 crore towards farm loan interest subsidy scheme, which shows that the ruling BJP cares for the farmers and poor in the state.
As the US election looms large, US President has pushed through the diplomatic deal in the Middle East between and two Arab states signed at the White House, while feverishly attempting a peace deal between the and Afghan government 7,000 miles away in Qatar to stake a campaign claim to statesmanship.

Asserting on Tuesday that it was a change in "the course of history", he presided over the signing of agreements between and the two Arab sheikhdoms, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, to set up diplomatic relations.

While representatives of the and the US-backed Afghan government were meeting for what Trump hopes will be an agreement to end the conflict in that country, his special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad was trying to assuage India and wrangle from Pakistan an assurance that the terrorist organisation it backed would make the deal.

The deal will allow him to announce that the US after 19 years would be able to extricate its military from the Afghan quagmire under his leadership and keep the promise made before his 2016 election.

Trump has pointed to his Democratic Party rival Joseph Biden's support for the disastrous invasion of Iraq and numerous other foreign entanglements over his 40-year political career and claimed to be a peacemaker and leader who brings troops home rather than commit to more military excursions.

The US military has announced that it would be withdrawing several thousand troops from and Iraq before November, leaving only the bare minimum force there.

Under Trump, Washington's relations with its closest allies in Europe has frayed because of his constant criticism, his demands for them to increase their share of defence spending and decision to move US troops from Germany.

Combined with his commitment to the NATO which was seen as wavering, his foreign policy was criticised by Democrats as well as some Republicans.

Trump's outreach to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un with much fanfare to end Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programmes ended in failure.

China has increased its aggressive posture across Asia, taunting Trump, who has not been able to directly confront it.

So that leaves the Middle East and where he can show results before the elections.

The Islamic State terror organisation that had once controlled vast areas in Iraq and Syria has been routed and its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi dead through suicide during a raid by US Special Forces.

Trump couldn't pull off a peace deal between Israelis and the Palestinians that he said his son-in-law Jared Kushner was pursuing.

So the agreement between and the two countries is a consolation prize - but it could pave the way for more Arab countries to break ranks with the Palestinians and recognise Israel, especially because it appears to have the approval of Saudi Arabia.

It may even get the Palestinians to resume talks with Israel.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres's Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Tuesday, "I think it's been very clear that he hopes these agreements will enable the Palestinians and the Israelis to renew negotiations. He also hopes, obviously, it will be a new opportunity to develop regional stability in the Gulf."

Tuesday's outdoor ceremony at the White House for Bahrain Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayan and United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan to sign the pact with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while Trump presided, was meant to signal to his base - especially fundamentalist Christians - what he pitches as his work to secure Israel.

He may even think this may appeal to Jewish voters, the majority of whom back the Democratic Party and do not view him favourably.

Driven more by Christian fundamentalists and Israeli leaders like Netanyahu, Trump ripped up the international agreement reached under President Barack with Iran to stop its nuclear proliferation.

It has isolated him internationally and brought criticism from European allies. But more importantly, it has left Iran free to pursue nuclear proliferation.

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter at @arulouis)

--IANS

al/in

(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.)
BETHESDA, MD  The number of new coronavirus cases in Montgomery County rose by 92 to 21,467, according to data released Wednesday by the Maryland Department of Health.

No new deaths linked to COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus, were reported in the last 24 hours. The countywide death toll remains at 795.

Another 40 people, according to health officials, may have died from COVID-19, but a laboratory test is still needed to confirm the cause of death. For now, they are considered "probable deaths."



The county, which is home to roughly 1.1 million people, continues to have the highest number of deaths in the state. It also has the second highest number of confirmed cases, after Prince George's County, which has 28,034, according to the latest figures.

Statewide, there have been 117,888 confirmed cases, 3,712 deaths, and 143 "probable deaths." Of the 347 people currently hospitalized, 86 are in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

The state has conducted more than 2,272,000 coronavirus tests to date. The positivity rate now stands at 3.44 percent. In comparison, Montgomery County's test positivity rate is 2.88 percent.

Here's a closer look:

Test Positivity Rate - Maryland vs. Montgomery County



Courtesy of the Maryland Department of Health

Percent of Population Tested

Courtesy of the Maryland Department of Health

This article originally appeared on the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Patch
It has been reported that plans have been put forward for women who are pregnant to have every ounce of alcohol they consume during pregnancy recorded.

The proposals have been introduced by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), in a move based on guidelines already in place in Scotland.

While the aim of the guidelines is to help better diagnose and prevent foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), they have been heavily criticised by several organisations for breaching the privacy of mothers.

What do the plans propose?

According to the plans outlined by NICE, every drop of alcohol consumed by mothers during pregnancy would be kept on file, including any alcoholic drinks consumed before a woman was aware she was pregnant - down to a single glass of wine.

This would mean that at every antenatal appointment a pregnant woman attends, she would have to provide information on any alcoholic beverages she has consumed during her pregnancy, the details of which would remain permanently on the medical records of her child.

Recommended NHS proposal to log all alcohol consumed during pregnancy criticised as privacy breach

The objective of this proposal is to help medical professionals detect fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), which NICE says is an umbrella term used to describe a wide range of disorders associated with alcohol consumption in pregnancy.

Alcohol consumption in pregnancy has the potential to affect the fetus in different ways and result in life-long physical, behavioural and cognitive difficulties, the organisation states.

Recommended Chrissy Teigen opens up about pregnancy anxiety and shares video of baby scan

In the briefing paper for NICEs Quality Standards on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, it states that all pregnant and postpartum women should be screened for alcohol use with validated measurement tools by service providers who have received appropriate training in their use.

However, the proposal has been criticised by several organisations who state that it is a breach of privacy for mothers to have to log any glass of alcohol they drink during their pregnancy.

The NICE briefing paper includes mention of this concern, stating: One stakeholder said that universal screening for maternal alcohol consumption has not been subject to ethical assessments and could adversely affect informed consent and the privacy interests of women.

Is it safe to drink alcohol when pregnant?

According to baby charity Tommys, it is uncertain what level of alcohol it is safe to drink during pregnancy.

Experts cant be sure exactly how much alcohol, if any, is safe during pregnancy. Thats why their advice is to avoid alcohol completely to reduce potential harm to your baby, the organisation says.

Tommys adds that if a woman drank alcohol before she was aware she was pregnant, the risk of harm to the baby is likely to be low if you were not binge drinking or regularly drinking over the recommended amount.

In 2017, a study conducted by academics at the Medical Research Councils Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol, the Universitys School of Social and Community Medicine, and University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust suggested that light drinking during pregnancy is unlikely to cause harm to a fetus.

However, the researchers recommended that pregnant women still refrain from drinking alcohol as a precautionary measure, stating that there was insufficient data to make robust conclusions.

What have maternity organisations said in response?

In response to the proposal put forward by NICE, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) stated that there is no compelling evidence that drinking lower amounts of alcohol is likely to cause harm to a fetus.

The organisation stated that if the plans are implemented, women are to be routinely questioned on alcohol consumption throughout pregnancy, with data shared without their consent being obtained.

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Laois PA UK news in pictures 6 January 2022 People walk through frost and mist alongside a frozen lake during sunrise in Bushy Park, London REUTERS UK news in pictures 5 January 2022 A skier jumps on the slopes at Allenheads in the Pennines to the north of Weardale in Northumberland PA UK news in pictures 4 January 2022 Freshly-fallen snow covers houses in Corbridge, near Hexham in Northumberland PA UK news in pictures 3 January 2022 Dean Morrison, 13, receives his Covid-19 vaccine from student nurse Anthony McLaughlin during a vaccination clinic at the Glasgow Central Mosque PA UK news in pictures 2 January 2022 Konastantinos Tsimikas of Liverpool with Chelseas Mason Mount during the Premier League match at Stamfrod Bridge Liverpool FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 January 2022 New Years Eve Lasers, drones and fireworks illuminate the sky in front of the Royal Naval College in Greenwich shortly after midnight in London EPA UK news in pictures 31 December 2021 Competitors in fancy dress run across the Pennine tops near Haworth, West Yorkshire, in the annual Auld Lang Syne Fell race which attracts hundreds of runners every year PA UK news in pictures 30 December 2021 Sunrise at Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland PA UK news in pictures 29 December 2021 The Very Revd Dr Robert Willis, Dean of Canterbury Cathedral, looks at Becket, a six month old red-billed chough as he visits Wildwood Wildlife Park in Kent on the anniversary of the murder of Thomas Becket PA UK news in pictures 28 December 2021 Troops of the Household Cavalry are seen reflected in a puddle during the changing of the Queens Life Guard, on Horse Guards Parade, in central London PA UK news in pictures 27 December 2021 A pedestrian walks past a winter sale sign outside a John Lewis store on Oxford street in London Getty UK news in pictures 26 December 2021 Riders take their bikes through the snow near Castleside, County Durham PA UK news in pictures 25 December 2021 Patrick Corkery wears a santa hat and beard as waves crash over him at Forty Foot near Dublin during a Christmas Day dip PA UK news in pictures 24 December 2021 People stand inside Kings Cross Station on Christmas Eve in London Reuters UK news in pictures 23 December 2021 Christmas shoppers fill the car park at Fosse Shopping Park in Leicester PA UK news in pictures 22 December 2021 The sun rises behind the stones as people gather for the winter solstice at Stonehenge. 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According to BPAS, the measure would needlessly categorise approximately a quarter of a million children as being at risk of FASD every year.

Clare Murphy, director of external affairs at BPAS, described the proposals as unjustified and disproportionate, with no basis in evidence.

Women do not lose their right to medical confidentiality simply because they are pregnant. Most women report drinking very little alcohol in pregnancy if any at all  even if they may have drunk before a positive pregnancy test, Ms Murphy said.

The risk of harm from this is likely to be low, and certainly does not warrant this staggering level of interference in a womans privacy. It is also hard to see how the vast expansion in the numbers of children deemed at risk of FASD in these proposals will lead to the support a small number of youngsters desperately need.

Rebecca Brione, research and partnerships officer at maternity charity Birthrights, said the organisation has serious concerns about NICEs failure to recognise the need for informed consent to screening and transfer of information to the childs health record.

It is unacceptable to propose such measures without any assessment of the impact on women and pregnant people, and their relationships with healthcare providers, Ms Brione said.
On Labor Day, Josie Silva reeled in a 9-foot female tiger shark.

The 37-year-old told mySA.com she caught the estimated 300-pound shark around 7:30 p.m. from the shoreline near Bob Hall Pier in Corpus Christi, close to mile marker 300 on the beach. Silva, who is from Orange Grove about 38 miles west of Corpus Christi, also said it was a personal record.

Watch: Man drives through group of downtown San Antonio protesters

The fisherwoman said the fight between her and the shark lasted about 45 minutes, adding it was a tough catch due to the weight of the shark.

"It was really hard. I'm not going to lie," she said. "She was really heavy. My rod was completely bowed over several times during the fight."

After Silva reeled in the tiger shark, she measured it and walked it back out to the ocean for release. Typically, anglers tag their catches for the Texas Shark Rodeo. However, Silva said it was too dark for her to tag her catch safely that evening.

Texas Shark Rodeo is a voluntary year-long competition that allows fishermen to gain points based on the sharks and species they catch. The data from each catch goes to the Harte Research Institute at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.

Silva, who is part of Team 3rd Coast Beach Bums, has been fishing for sharks for about a year and a half and says the feeling she gets when she makes a catch is one of the reasons she keeps doing it.

READ ALSO: 'We landed a river monster': San Antonio anglers catch 6 1/2-foot alligator gar at area lake

"When you hear that clicking sound from when a shark clicks on, it's a rush," she said. "Your adrenaline is going and your game face turns on. It's just an amazing feeling overall."

Silva said she caught the tiger shark from a rod she built herself, which made it even more special.

Priscilla Aguirre is a general assignment reporter for MySA.com | priscilla.aguirre@express-news.net | @CillaAguirre
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is running a tees per cent logon ki sarkar (a government that serves only 30 per cent of the states population), alleged Kailash Vijayvargiya, national general secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday, after the Kolkata Police stopped a religious programme of his party. The BJP leader added that the CM does not forget Friday rituals and Muharram.

VIjaywargiya did not specify as to which section he was referring to as 30 per cent. The rights of 70 per cent of the population have been taken away. Yeh tees per cent logon ki sarkar hai (this is a government of 30 per cent people). Cant we even hold tarpan (a Hindu ritual) in Bengal during Mamata Banerjees rule? said the BJP leader this afternoon after the Kolkata police stopped a religious programme of his party.

Mamata Ji does not forget Friday rituals and Muharram. But she is always against the Hindus. Is it a crime to observe Hindu rituals in West Bengal? added Vijayvargiya.

The BJP state unit had organised traditional Hindu rituals on the banks of the Hooghly river to pay homage to the souls of 32 party workers who the leadership said had died in political clashes in the last 12 months. A pandal was set up on the banks of the river at Baghbazar. BJP president JP Nadda was supposed to attend it virtually from Delhi. Children and widows of the dead BJP workers were brought to the city for the Vedic ritual called tarpan.

Earlier in the day, the Kolkata police removed the pandal, saying social distancing norms were being violated and the programme could not be allowed in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. This led to chaos. Vijayvargiya and other senior leaders had an argument with the police and left the spot. Around noon, BJP workers held the rituals at another part of the river bank but the leadership stayed away.

The police used the pandemic as an excuse to stop us. This is the first time we are seeing that people need permission from the police to hold tarpan. This government will surely be overthrown in the 2021 elections, said BJP national executive member Mukul Roy, who was present at the spot.

Our movement will not stop till this government is immersed in the river, added BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha.

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) defended the police action.

A religious programme was being politically used by the BJP. I was told the police did not allow it because social distancing norms were violated. This could not be allowed, said Saugata Roy, TMC Lok Sabha member and spokesperson.

On Monday, the chief ministers decision to give monthly stipend and houses to Brahmin priests triggered a debate, with the Congress, Left and BJP calling it a desperate move to secure Hindu votes before the crucial assembly polls next year.

Banerjee announced that her government will give a monthly stipend of Rs 1,000 to some 8000 Brahmin priests facing financial crisis and also provide houses to those who need one.
A newly built state-of-the-art Bulk Oil Terminal at the Takoradi Habour has been commissioned by the Vice President, Dr. Mahamoud Bawumia.

The project which costs $56.7 million can handle 60,000 tons of weight of liquid cargo.

The Bulk oil Jetty which was developed by Ibistek Limited through the Special Purpose Vehicle with financial support from the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund and Consolidated Bank Ghana Limited is expected to increase vessel traffic to the Habour and improve turn around time.

The Vice President said the Terminal positions the Takoradi Habour as a strategic and competitive port in the Maritime Industry.

I took interest in the project when IbisTek came to the Presidency to propose such a major project which didn't look possible. But we were very convinced as it fitted into the overall plans government had for Ghana's maritime objectives and our industrialization desires.

Today we are happy and appreciative to IbisTek for the magnificent work done which we are commissioning. It is important for the government to support local investors to help with the continuous expansion works at Takoradi and Tema Ports which we are committed to. It is expected to help the North and our neighbouring countries. This Bulk Oil Terminal can handle 60,000 and tons weight of liquid.

The Chairman for the IbisTek Group, Kwame Gyan said the IbisTek current investments at Takoradi Port expansion totals USD332.7M and the completed Bulk Oil Terminal is the most modern and state-of-the-art in the whole of West Africa.

What we have been able to accomplish in Takoradi over the last 3 years is ample testimony of the collective resolve and support of the President and the government. The brand new Liquid Bulk Terminal (Oil Jetty) here in Ghana's premier port, Takoradi, developed by Ibistek Limited through the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), Marshall Oil and Gas Services Limited with financial support from the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF) and Consolidated Bank Ghana Limited (CBG) at a cost of 56.7 million U.S Dollars is part of three major projects the IbisTek group is constructing within the Takoradi Port expansion costing a total of 332.7 million Dollars.

Ibistek Group has made investments in 3 out of the 6 ongoing Takoradi Habour expansion. The projects conclude the completed Liquid Bulk Terminal Oil Jetty which is a fully funded 56.7 million Dollars, the 2017 completed Takoradi Container Terminal, TACOTEL, fully funded at a cost of 70 million dollars as well as the under-construction container and multi-purpose Terminal On-Dock Project costing 474 million Dollars in Phases 1 and 2 total funding requirement is USD474.0M (including financing costs). Phase 1: cost is USD206.0M  ongoing and is expected to be completed and operationalized in November 2021. Phase 2: projected cost of USD268.0M  planned after completion of Phase 1.

Chairman of the Ghana Port and Habours Authority Board of Directors, Mark Manu, said the commissioning of the 16-metre birth Bulk oil Jetty forms part of the major development plans for Sekondi-Takoradi area.

The Liquid Bulk Terminal consists of a 14m-water depth berth, the deepest in-harbour berth in Ghana, at the moment (Yes, deeper than that of Tema oil berth), loading arms for 5 petroleum products (petrol, diesel, LPG-gas, bitumen, and other heavy fuels), full berthing structures including fenders on dolphins, bollards and hooking points. The berth facility is designed to support vessels up to 60,000tons of petroleum cargo carriers. We will need two or three of the current tank farm customers to share one of such cargo volumes.

The Western Regional Minister Kwabena Okyere Mensah on his part said the Liquid Bulk Terminal would enhance business at the port and also provide employment in Takoradi.

---CitiNewsRoom
Ex-Khabarovsk Region Governors appeal against extension of detention set for September 18

 Moskva city news agency, Sergey Vedyashkin

17:14 16/09/2020

MOSCOW, September 16 (RAPSI)  The Moscow City Court has set for September 18 an appeal against extension of detention of Khabarovsk Region Governor Sergey Furgal charged with organized murders of businessmen in 2004-2005, the courts press service has told RAPSI.

On September 3, the Basmanny District Court of Moscow extended detention of Furgal until December 9.

On July 10, Moscows Basmanny District Court placed Furgal charged with killing and attempted murders of businessmen in detention. The hearing was held behind closed doors. A judge took the decision granting a motion of investigators who said about threats against other defendants in the case.

Furgal denied his guilt and political nature of the case.

Governor of the Khabarovsk Region Sergey Furgal was arrested on July 9. According to investigators, crimes were committed by an organized criminal group allegedly led by Furgal in Russias Khabarovsk and Amur Regions in 2004-2005. Earlier, four alleged members of the gang were arrested and placed in detention.

Born in the Amur Region, Furgal worked as general physician at a hospital more than 6 years before the start of his political career. After being discharged from healthcare in 1999, he went in for business, according to his biography on the Khabarovsk Krai governments website. He was elected as the State Duma lawmaker three times.

In September 2018, he was elected as a Khabarovsk Region governor by popular vote.




By PTI

LONDON: Thousands of innovative new coronavirus-safe face masks created by an Indian-origin surgeon and his colleague based in the UK are being offered free to the state-funded National Health Service (NHS) clinics to stop patients from accidentally spreading COVID-19 to ear, nose, and throat (ENT) medics.

Dr Ajith George, who is based at the Royal Stoke University Hospital in Stoke-on-Trent, created the SNAP device along with fellow ENT surgeon Chris Coulson as a practical response to the COVID-19 crisis.

Their brainchild was then developed in a matter of months in collaboration with engineers at Aston University and specialist UK-based manufacturing firms.

"It's incredibly exciting to see this device going from concept to reality so quickly," said George.

"As working surgeons, our innovation work is driven by creating things we would want to use ourselves.

COVID-19 has led to heightened awareness about the spread of disease in clinical environments, so we see the SNAP device having practical applications during the pandemic and beyond," he said.

The SNAP device - comprising a two-part valve and speculum - clips onto either side of a standard surgical face mask, creating a hole for an endoscope to be inserted and for patients to keep their nose and mouth completely covered.

On withdrawal of the endoscope, a one-way valve closes the hole.

Any coughs splutters or sneezes during the procedure are caught within the mask, which is disposed of at the end.

ENT surgeons performing nasendoscopies, where a small flexible tube fitted with a camera is inserted into the nose, are at risk of contracting coronavirus because the procedure can make patients cough and sneeze.

Until now, patients have had to remove their own face masks for the endoscope to be inserted, leaving surgeons reliant only on their own personal protective equipment (PPE) gear.

"As surgeons ourselves, we were concerned about the safety of doctors but also about the risk of missed diagnoses and opportunities for treatment of patients.

So our aim has been to produce an easy-to-use, cheap device that would allow clinicians to return to their routine practice while minimizing the risk to themselves and other staff," said Coulson, who works at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.

He and George co-founded their spin-out company Endoscope-i in 2012, which specialises in making endoscopic adapters for smartphones that allow clinicians to carry out complex imaging work.

Earlier this year, the duo won a 50,000-pound grant from Innovate UK to help develop the SNAP device as part of the government agency's support for innovations designed to alleviate the impact of COVID-19.

In tests, the device has been shown to dramatically reduce the spread of particles when a patient coughs, compared to either no mask or a mask with a hole cut in it.

This reduction in particulate spread reduces the likelihood of COVID-19 being transferred to clinicians.

Currently, the NHS is only able to perform around 10 per cent of such procedures due to the risk of patients spreading coronavirus droplets around clinics, requiring deep cleaning between appointments.

Now an initial batch of 30,000 devices will be dispatched in the coming weeks, with 5,000 going out free to NHS ENT clinics across the country.

Mark Prince, a 3D printing expert from Aston University's College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, was seconded to Endoscope-i earlier this year and has led the design work.

Using an industrial-grade 3D printer borrowed from the university during the lockdown period, he created around 2,000 prototype versions of the device from his home at Kidderminster in the West Midlands region of England.

"It sounds disproportionate for something that is effectively such a simple idea, but each prototype had to be produced in multiples so they could be tested in clinics," said Prince.

"With something so important, it has to be exactly right. If it helps get the NHS back to a more normal service, even in just this one specialism, it will all have been worth it," he said.

The final design received a CE mark approval from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulation Agency (MHRA) and was then sent to Haverhill, Essex, based injection-moulding specialists, Form Moulds and Tooling for manufacture, before the finished SNAP products were passed on to DTR Medical in Swansea, Wales, for medical sterilisation.

There has since been interest in the device from as far afield as the US, Australia, Japan, the Netherlands and the Philippines.

Many hospitals have had to dramatically scale back the number of nasendoscopies they can perform.

In normal times, around 500,000 procedures are performed in the NHS each year, typically to diagnose and treat diseases affecting the nose and throat including cancer and serious infections.

The technique is also used in speech and language therapy, in which patients are often required to practise speaking with a tube inserted.

It is hoped that the new protective device will help address the scale-back in the procedures.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-17 05:17:35|Editor: huaxia

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MONTREAL, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Montreal-based Bombardier announced Wednesday that it has signed a definitive agreement for the sale of its rail unit to French train giant Alstom at a lowered price from a memorandum of understanding between the two companies earlier this year.

The price is 7.15 billion Euros (about 8.4 billion U.S. dollars) including debt, a downward adjustment of 300 million Euros (about 350 million U.S. dollars) from the original terms of the deal.

The lower price is offset to some extent by a more favorable exchange rate between European and U.S. currencies, the Canadian multinational said.

"Today's announcement marks a significant milestone towards achieving our near-term priorities and repositioning Bombardier," Bombardier President and Chief Executive Officer Eric Martel said in a statement. "The proceeds from this transaction will allow us to begin reshaping our capital structure and start addressing our balance sheet through debt paydown."

Bombardier now expects net proceeds of about 4 billion U.S. dollars from the sale, down from a range of 4.2-4.5 billion U.S. dollars. That amount includes 500 million Euros (about 585 million U.S. dollars) in Alstom stock.

The transaction is now expected to close in the first quarter of 2021, Bombardier said.

Bombardier is one of the world's largest manufacturers of rail equipment and continues to receive new orders, strengthening a backlog of 33.7 billion U.S. dollars. But Its business reportedly has been hamstrung in recent years by problems on contracts, including deals with Germany's Deutsche Bahn and London Overground, which have resulted in delivery delays and financial penalties.

The Canadian company took a charge of 435 million U.S. dollars on the train business in its latest quarter, which contributed to a net loss of 223 million U.S. dollars. Enditem
The victim was found guilty of trespassing and theft.

A 20-year-old man was on Tuesday flogged five lashes for stealing nine measures of sorghum in Jigawa State.

Abdullahi Ya'u was found guilty of theft and trespass by an Islamic Sharia Court sitting in Dutse, the state's capital.

The judge, Muhammed Adamu, also sentenced the victim to five months in prison with an option of N3,000 fine.

He ordered that the victim be flogged five times in public to serve as a deterrent to others without an option of fine.

The convict was, however, after receiving the lashes, freed because he paid the fine of N3,000

The judge said the action of the victim contravenes section 183 and 148 for trespass and theft contrary to the penal code law of Jigawa State.

Mr Ya'u was arrested and prosecuted on Tuesday last week by the police in the state for trespassing and theft.

The flogging exercise took place in the court premises after a prosecutor asked the victim whether he was satisfied with the judgement or if he wanted to appeal the judgement.

The victim, Mr Ya'u, said: "I'm satisfied with the court ruling and I will not appeal the judgement."

A court official then administered the flogging on Mr Ya'u.

Jigawa, like many states in Northern Nigeria, uses a penal code that leans heavily on the Islamic Sharia law. There are also sharia courts and judges in the Northern states to implement the law.
Abraham Accords Peace Agreement: Treaty of Peace, Diplomatic Relations and Full Normalization Between the United Arab Emirates and the State of Israel

September 15, 2020

The Government of the United Arab Emirates and the Government of the State of Israel (hereinafter, the "Parties")

Aspiring to realize the vision of a Middle East region that is stable, peaceful and prosperous, for the benefit of all States and peoples in the region;

Desiring to establish peace, diplomatic and friendly relations, co-operation and full normalization of ties between them and their peoples, in accordance with this Treaty, and to chart together a new path to unlock the vast potential of their countries and of the region;

Reaffirming the "Joint Statement of the United States, the State of Israel, and the United Arab Emirates" (the "Abraham Accords"), dated 13 August 2020;

Believing that the further development of friendly relations meets the interests of lasting peace in the Middle East and that challenges can only be effectively addressed by cooperation and not by conflict;

Determined to ensure lasting peace, stability, security and prosperity for both their States and to develop and enhance their dynamic and innovative economies;

Reaffirming their shared commitment to normalize relations and promote stability through diplomatic engagement, increased economic cooperation and other close coordination;

Reaffirming also their shared belief that the establishment of peace and full normalization between them can help transform the Middle East by spurring economic growth, enhancing technological innovation and forging closer people-to-people relations;

Recognizing that the Arab and Jewish peoples are descendants of a common ancestor, Abraham, and inspired, in that spirit, to foster in the Middle East a reality in which Muslims, Jews, Christians and peoples of all faiths, denominations, beliefs and nationalities live in, and are committed to, a spirit of coexistence, mutual understanding and mutual respect;

Recalling the reception held on January 28, 2020, at which President Trump presented his Vision for Peace, and committing to continuing their efforts to achieve a just, comprehensive, realistic and enduring solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict;

Recalling the Treaties of Peace between the State of Israel and the Arab Republic of Egypt and between the State of Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and committed to working together to realize a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that meets the legitimate needs and aspirations of both peoples, and to advance comprehensive Middle East peace, stability and prosperity;

Emphasizing the belief that the normalization of Israeli and Emirati relations is in the interest of both peoples and contributes to the cause of peace in the Middle East and the world;

Expressing deep appreciation to the United States for its profound contribution to this historic achievement;

Have agreed as follows:

Establishment of Peace, Diplomatic Relations and Normalization: Peace, diplomatic relations and full normalization of bilateral ties are hereby established between the United Arab Emirates and the State of Israel. General Principles: The Parties shall be guided in their relations by the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of international law governing relations among States. In particular, they shall recognize and respect each other's sovereignty and right to live in peace and security, develop friendly relations of cooperation between them and their peoples, and settle all disputes between them by peaceful means. Establishment of Embassies: The Parties shall exchange resident ambassadors as soon as practicable after the signing of this Treaty, and shall conduct diplomatic and consular relations in accordance with the applicable rules of international law. Peace and Stability: The Parties shall attach profound importance to mutual understanding, cooperation and coordination between them in the spheres of peace and stability, as a fundamental pillar of their relations and as a means for enhancing those spheres in the Middle East as a whole. They undertake to take the necessary steps to prevent any terrorist or hostile activities against each other on or from their respective territories, as well as deny any support for such activities abroad or allowing such support on or from their respective territories. Recognizing the new era of peace and friendly relations between them, as well as the centrality of stability to the well-being of their respective peoples and of the region, the Parties undertake to consider and discuss these matters regularly, and to conclude detailed agreements and arrangements on coordination and cooperation. Cooperation and Agreements in Other Spheres: As an integral part of their commitment to peace, prosperity, diplomatic and friendly relations, cooperation and full normalization, the Parties shall work to advance the cause of peace, stability and prosperity throughout the Middle East, and to unlock the great potential of their countries and of the region. For such purposes, the Parties shall conclude bilateral agreements in the following spheres at the earliest practicable date, as well as in other spheres of mutual interest as may be agreed:- Finance and Investment- Civil Aviation- Visas and Consular Services- Innovation, Trade and Economic Relations  Healthcare  Science, Technology and Peaceful Uses of Outer-Space  Tourism, Culture and Sport  Energy  Environment  Education  Maritime Arrangements  Telecommunications and Post  Agriculture and Food Security  Water  Legal Cooperation Any such agreements concluded before the entry into force of this Treaty shall enter into effect with the entry into force of this Treaty unless otherwise stipulated therein. Agreed principles for cooperation in specific spheres are annexed to this Treaty and form an integral part thereof. Mutual Understanding and Co-existence: The Parties undertake to foster mutual understanding, respect, co-existence and a culture of peace between their societies in the spirit of their common ancestor, Abraham, and the new era of peace and friendly relations ushered in by this Treaty, including by cultivating people-to-people programs, interfaith dialogue and cultural, academic, youth, scientific, and other exchanges between their peoples. They shall conclude and implement the necessary visa and consular services agreements and arrangements so as to facilitate efficient and secure travel for their respective nationals to the territory of each other. The Parties shall work together to counter extremism, which promotes hatred and division, and terrorism and its justifications, including by preventing radicalization and recruitment and by combating incitement and discrimination. They shall work towards establishing a High-Level Joint Forum for Peace and Co-Existence dedicated to advancing these goals. Strategic Agenda for the Middle East: Further to the Abraham Accords, the Parties stand ready to join with the United States to develop and launch a "Strategic Agenda for the Middle East" in order to expand regional diplomatic, trade, stability and other cooperation. They are committed to work together, and with the United States and others, as appropriate, in order to advance the cause of peace, stability and prosperity in the relations between them and for the Middle East as a whole, including by seeking to advance regional security and stability; pursue regional economic opportunities; promote a culture of peace across the region; and consider joint aid and development programs. Other Rights and Obligations: This Treaty does not affect and shall not be interpreted as affecting, in any way, the rights and obligations of the Parties under the Charter of the United Nations. The Parties shall take all necessary measures for the application in their bilateral relations of the provisions of the multilateral conventions of which they are both parties, including the submission of appropriate notification to the depositaries of such conventions. Respect for Obligations: The Parties undertake to fulfill in good faith their obligations under this Treaty, without regard to action or inaction of any other party and independently of any instrument inconsistent with this Treaty. For the purposes of this paragraph each Party represents to the other that in its opinion and interpretation there is no inconsistency between their existing treaty obligations and this Treaty. The Parties undertake not to enter into any obligation in conflict with this Treaty. Subject to Article 103 of the Charter of the United Nations, in the event of a conflict between the obligations of the Parties under the present Treaty and any of their other obligations, the obligations under this Treaty shall be binding and implemented. The Parties further undertake to adopt any legislation or other internal legal procedure necessary in order to implement this Treaty, and to repeal any national legislation or official publications inconsistent with this Treaty. Ratification and Entry into Force: This Treaty shall be ratified by both Parties as soon as practicable in conformity with their respective national procedures and will enter into force following the exchange of instruments of ratification. Settlement of Disputes: Disputes arising out of the application or interpretation of this Treaty shall be resolved by negotiation. Any such dispute which cannot be settled by negotiation may be referred to conciliation or arbitration subject to the agreement of the Parties. Registration: This Treaty shall be transmitted to the Secretary-General of the United Nations for registration in accordance with the provisions of Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations.

Done at Washington, DC, this day Elul 26th, 5780, Muharram 27th, 1442, which corresponds to 15 September 2020, in the Hebrew, Arabic and English languages, all texts being equally authentic. In case of divergence of interpretation, the English text shall prevail.

For the State of Israel: H.E. Benjamin, Netanyahu, Prime Minister

For the United Arab Emirates: H.H. Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation

Witnessed by: H.E. Donald J. Trump, President of the United States of America

ANNEX

Pursuant to Article 5 of the Treaty of Peace, Diplomatic Relations and Full Normalization between the United Arab Emirates and the State of Israel, the Parties shall conclude bilateral agreements in spheres of mutual interest, in furtherance of which they have agreed to the following provisions. Such provisions are annexed to the Treaty and form an integral part thereof.

Finance and Investment

Further to the Agreed Protocol signed between the Parties on September 1, 2020, in Abu Dhabi, the Parties shall cooperate to expeditiously deepen and broaden bilateral investment relations, and give high priority to concluding agreements in the sphere of finance and investment, recognizing the key role of these agreements in the economic development of the Parties and the Middle East as a whole. The Parties reaffirm their commitment to protecting investors, consumers, market integrity and financial stability, as well as maintaining all applicable regulatory standards. Recognizing also their shared goal to advance regional economic development and the flow of goods and services, the Parties shall endeavor to promote collaborations on strategic regional infrastructure projects and shall explore the establishment of a multilateral working group for the "Tracks for Regional Peace" project.

Civil Aviation

The Parties acknowledge the importance of ensuring regular direct flights between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, for passengers and cargo, as an essential means for developing and promoting their relations. They recognize as applicable to each other the rights, privileges and obligations provided for by the multilateral aviation agreements to which they are both a party, their annexes and any amendments thereof applicable to both Parties, particularly the 1944 Convention on International Civil Aviation, opened for signature at Chicago on the seventh day of December 1944, and the 1944 International Air Services Transit Agreement. Accordingly, the Parties shall as soon as practicable conclude all the necessary agreements and arrangements governing civil aviation, and consequently work towards establishing an international air corridor between their two States in accordance with international law. They shall also reach and implement the necessary agreements and arrangements with respect to visas and consular services to facilitate travel for the citizens of both States.

Tourism

The Parties affirm their mutual desire to promote tourism cooperation between them as a key component of economic development and of developing closer people-to-people and cultural ties. To this end, the Parties shall facilitate the exchange of information through advertisement spots, published and audiovisual promotional materials, and participation in tourist fairs. They shall also work together to promote joint tourism projects and packages between tourist operators so as to enhance tourism from third States. They shall work towards carrying out reciprocal study tours in order to increase knowledge in the development, management and marketing of heritage, cultural and rural tourism with a view to diversifying and deepening touristic links between them; and endeavor to utilize national marketing budgets to promote mutual tourism between the States.

Innovation, Trade and Economic Relations

The Parties shall enhance and expand their cooperation in innovation, trade and economic relations, so that the dividends of peace are felt across their societies. Recognizing that the principle of the free and unimpeded flow of goods and services should guide their relations, as well as the potential for diversification of bilateral trade opportunities, the Parties shall cooperate in order to enable favorable conditions for trade, and the reduction of trade barriers.

Science, Technology and Peaceful Uses of Outer-Space

The Parties acknowledge the important role of science, technology and innovation in the growth of multiple key sectors and shall strengthen joint action and mutual cooperation in scientific and technological advancement. This shall include furthering scientific cooperation and exchange, including between scientists, research and academic institutions, pursuing the establishment of joint research and development centers, and exploring the possibility of joint funding of research and scientific projects in select fields of mutual interest.

The Parties further express their common interest in establishing and developing mutually beneficial cooperation in the field of exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes, in a manner consistent with each Party's respective applicable national laws and international obligations. Such cooperation may include implementation of joint programs, projects and activities in the fields of science, space exploration, space related technologies and education, exchange of experts, information and best practices, and the promotion of cooperation between their respective space industries.

Environment

The Parties acknowledge the importance of protecting, preserving and improving the environment, and shall promote environmental innovation for the sustainable development of the region and beyond. The Parties shall endeavor to cooperate to develop environmental protection strategies on priority issues, including on biodiversity conservation, marine environment protection and climate change mitigation and adaptation, and on the possible establishment of a center for developing pioneering solutions to climate challenges in arid and semi-arid environments.

Telecommunications and Post

The Parties recognize the necessity of mutually beneficial cooperation for the continued development of telecommunications, information technologies and postal services. They take note of the establishment between them of direct communications services, including telephone lines, and agree to promote, in accordance with relevant international conventions and regulations, direct postal exchange, submarine cables and e-commerce solutions, as well as utilize available satellite systems, fiber optical communication, and broadcasting services. The Parties will strive to develop frameworks for innovation in ICT, including advanced fixed and wireless communications, collaboration on 5G networks, smart cities, and use of ICT solutions to foster innovation and the creation of best services.

Healthcare

The Parties welcome progress made in cooperation between them regarding the treatment of, and the development of a vaccine for, the Covid-19 virus, as a sign of the tremendous potential for cooperation between them in the healthcare sphere. Recognizing the importance of building ties in the fields of health and medicine, the Parties shall cooperate, inter alia, on: medical education, training and simulations, digital health and artificial intelligence innovation in the health sector, and emergency management and preparedness.

Agriculture and Food Security

The Parties recognize the great importance of sustainable agricultural development, recognizing its vital role in addressing food security concerns, as well as in the preservation of the environment. They shall cooperate to harness and maximize existing technologies, actively facilitate new collaborations, and share and develop knowledge, technologies and innovative approaches in the field of arid agriculture, irrigation technologies, mariculture techniques in shallow sea water, sustainable nutritious fish feed production, and seed enhancement in hot and humid climates.

Water

The Parties recognize the critical importance of sustainable water use and shall cooperate for their mutual benefit to address issues of water supply, water treatment and management, water security, efficiency, wastewater management and re-use, as well as water conservation and desalination.

Energy

The Parties take note of the strategic importance of the energy sector and in particular of their need to promote renewable energy, cooperation in the natural gas field, regional grids, alternative energy and energy security. They shall advance and develop mutual cooperation in energy projects, share best practices and discuss policies in energy forums that will help to promote and unlock the energy potential of the region, coordinating where appropriate with the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), headquartered in Abu Dhabi.

Maritime Arrangements

Each Party shall recognize the right of vessels of the other Party to innocent passage through its territorial waters in accordance with international law. Each Party will grant normal access to its ports for vessels and cargoes of the other Party, as well as vessels and cargoes destined for or coming from the other Party. Such access shall be granted on the same terms as generally applicable to vessels and cargoes of other nations. The Parties shall conclude agreements and arrangements in maritime affairs, as may be required.

Legal Cooperation

Recognizing the importance of a supporting legal framework for the movement of people and goods and for fostering a continuous business friendly environment between them, the Parties shall make best efforts to grant each other the widest measure of legal cooperation, including, inter alia, in respect of mutual legal assistance in civil and commercial matters, in accordance with their national laws and shall endeavor to conclude specific agreements and arrangements in this sphere.

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A solicitor caught in an undercover TV sting offering to arrange a sham marriage so a prospective client could flout immigration rules has been struck off.

Zulfiqar Ali told a reporter posing as a Pakistani immigrant that he would have to fork out up to 13,000 to pay off his new bride and stay in the UK.

He declared a fake marriage was a 'quick and easy way' of remaining in the country and even revealed he could help trick Home Office workers into thinking the marriage was real.

Mr Ali - who is on benefits after his law firm was forced to shut - has now been struck off following a hearing by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.

He was snared by an undercover reporter working for an ITV documentary who visited his London-based company ZA Solicitors Ltd complaining that his student visa was due to expire in six months.

Zulfiqar Ali (pictured in the undercover filming) has been struck off after he told a reporter posing as a Pakistani immigrant that he could arrange a sham marriage to flout immigration laws

The reporter said his parents wanted him to stay in the UK after a year and half in the country but he didn't 'really have any options' and thought it would be difficult renewing the student visa.

After hearing the bogus client didn't have a girlfriend, Mr Ali said his 'options' were to get a degree or claim asylum before 'moving straight onto' talking about a sham marriage.

In a recording, Mr Ali said: 'Whichever visa in your situation, the most reasonable way would be for to get married in a proper way.

'There will be no hassle, No doubt, you can find a girl - whether the girl wants to go to Pakistan or not. That is a relatively, a quick and easy way.'

He was also heard saying: 'I will tell you legal way in which you will seriously keep the marriage.'

The 'dishonest' solicitor boasted he knew questions the Home Office would ask and said he was one of 'five or six' solicitors who could help with fixing a fake marriage.

Mr Ali said: 'You will be helped in your documentations, application forms and in interview if you need to be interviewed. We will arrange all these documents. We will help you with everything.

'They will ask you that when you go to job, when you go to sleep and when you get up. So, they will ask you about all these.'

He added: 'We need to do it together we can do that. It's just simply getting all the paperwork, putting bills together, making name together making photographs.

He was snared by an undercover reporter working for an ITV documentary who visited his London-based company ZA Solicitors Ltd

'Where you live you have to understand where you live, you know the area, your house, I'm in this room somebody say what else is in the room you need to be able to explain this situation what is in the room, practice, with all these things.

'They don't ask the question something out the blue, something people don't know what they're talking about so it is definitely on small facts, where do you live, what kind of house it is, how many bedrooms, what colour the bath what colour is the bed sheet, if there is any extra furniture there.'

Mr Ali said up to 13,000 was needed so he could sort paperwork, the visa and marriage certificate, as well as pay the woman.

While the couple would 'technically' have to live together, they could divorce after three years and retain residency.

But they could get out of the marriage sooner if the man 'wished her to die after one year' by producing a death certificate, the solicitor claimed.

Mr Ali said: 'I've been dealing with this, doing these kind of applications every day.'

The tribunal heard Mr Ali is now on universal credit after his company went into voluntary insolvency and he is also three months behind in his rent.

He denied the allegations, claiming he advised on the legal options in 'good faith' and answered 'hypothetical' questions during two meetings with the undercover reporter in 2015.

Parts of the meetings were broadcast in 2015 as part of ITV documentary Exposure: The Sham Marriage Racket.

But a tribunal rejected his claims, banning him from working again and ordering him to pay 26,500 costs.

A report from the tribunal read: 'The tribunal had found that Mr Ali had advised on entering into a non genuine marriage, and offered to prepare the relevant paperwork, with a view to circumventing the UK immigration system.

'Mr Ali's conduct represented a serious departure from the probity required of all solicitors. Such conduct would inevitably have a significant harmful effect on the reputation of the profession.'
Aiming to provide the best customer experience, Azercell Telecom LLC makes digital services and the latest smartphones, which have become an integral part of our lives, even more accessible.

The leading mobile operator is pleased to launch a new campaign in cooperation with Samsung, well-known in the international market for the high degree of reliability and quality. Thus, starting from September 15th, the new Azercell subscribers purchasing Samsung smartphones or tablets will get a unique opportunity to enjoy 1GB internet pack for free within the next 12 months.

In order to benefit from the campaign, it is required to get a new Azercell number along with any Samsung smartphone/tablet from Azercell dealer or Exclusive stores until 30.10.2020.

Enjoy free mobile data from Azercell this autumn!

For more information about the campaign, please head to: https://www.azercell.com/en/personal/campaigns/monthly/samsung_kampaniyasi/

For more information, please contact [email protected]

The leader of the mobile communication industry, the largest taxpayer and the biggest investor of the non-oil sector of Azerbaijan Azercell Telecom LLC was founded in 1996. Currently, 5 million subscribers choose Azercell services. Mobile operator controls 49% of market share; while its geographical coverage constitutes 99.2% (excluding the occupied territories); and population coverage 99.8%. Azercell was the pioneering mobile operator to introduce a number of innovations in Azerbaijan, including GSM technology, advance payment system, mobile internet services, 24/7 call center service (*1111), 7/7 Front Office service, Azercell Express offices, M2M services, 4G technology, mobile and online customer care services and customer services through social media, mobile e-signature service ASAN Imza etc. Azercell tested 5G pilot network for the first time in the country in the frame of Bakutel 2019 exhibition. Rapidly increasing 4G network of Azercell covers nearly 60 regions of the country, including Baku and Absheron peninsula. According to the results of mobile network quality and wireless coverage mapping surveys by international systems, Azercells 4G network demonstrated the best results among the mobile operators of Azerbaijan. Azercell is the only company in Azerbaijan and CIS region which has been awarded Gold Certificate of International Investors in People Standard.

The mobile operator received the title of "The Telecommunication Company of the Year" among hundreds of organizations in the prestigious STEVIE 2020 competition. The company was ranked on the top in this nomination and won the Gold Award.

--

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
If we tell Americans that elections are a big mess, then theyre going to start to believe that and not want to participate, Mr. LaRose said in an interview this week. If I had one call to my fellow elected officials, its: Lets be more responsible with the way that we talk about elections.

Mr. LaRose, a Republican, has expressed concerns about the potential effect of mail-delivery changes on the election, but also described himself as cautiously optimistic about the Postal Services ability to handle a higher-than-usual volume of mail ballots.

Tensions between the states and the Postal Service began to escalate in July, when the Postal Service sent a letter that urged 46 states, including Ohio, to move their deadline for mail-in ballot requests earlier to accommodate the expected flood in mail-in ballots. Some Democrats ascribed political motivations to the request. And while Mr. LaRose said he thought it was sound advice, Ohio did not comply, a decision he blamed on the states legislature.

Even weeks after the agencys warnings, only a handful of states satisfy the Postal Services recommendations for deadlines to request a mail-in ballot. Twenty-two states still allow voters to request absentee ballots within the final week of the election, too close to Election Day to ensure they make it from the election board, to the voter and back in time to be counted.

Some election officials, rather than change upfront deadlines, sought permission to extend the length of time during which ballots that arrived after the election could be counted. Those deadlines vary by state, but all require ballots be postmarked on or before Election Day.

An internal Postal Service document stressed the importance of coordination between state election officials and U.S.P.S. to prevent significant issues the agency identified with mail voting efforts during the 2016 and 2018 elections, including unrealistic state statutory time frames for requesting a ballot, inconsistent approaches to election mail by local boards of election within states and other issues. The document, which was obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the watchdog group Protect Democracy, detailed an outreach plan to state officials to remedy the situation. It predicted that these issues will be magnified by the increased volume of election mail ballots expected for the general election as a result of concerns about Covid-19.

Missed deadlines are a key culprit in the rejection of ballots, the number of which surged as record shares of voters cast ballots by mail during primary elections this year, according to an analysis by Michael McDonald, a voter turnout expert at the University of Florida. It found that, in 24 primary elections this year, more than 500,000 mail-in ballots were rejected, or 2 percent of those returned by voters.
A Peruvian woman who has worked as a live-in nanny for a Toronto family for nearly eight years will get another chance at becoming a permanent resident of Canada after her application was twice rejected over immigration officials own mistakes.

A Federal Court judge has found that the immigration department tried to hold Lucrecia Garcia Balarezo accountable for its own error in twice issuing her work permits for which she was ineligible.

And Justice Nicholas McHaffie, in his decision last month, had little time for the immigration officer who called the prospect of her employers children  7 and 13  losing their longtime nanny good for their emotional growth.

Discounting the identified hardship to the children  on the basis that change is good for them as important for growth and that coping was a skill that would help them fails to be alert, alive and sensitive to the childrens interests and is unreasonable, McHaffie said.

It was the second time the court ruled in favour of Balarezo and sent the case back to immigration for reconsideration since 2017, when Ottawa refused to grant her permanent residence on the grounds that she did not arrive Canada initially as a caregiver but as a student.

Garcia, a former nursing assistant in Peru, came to Canada on a study permit, specifically to learn English to qualify for the live-in caregiver program, which then provided a pathway for permanent residence after an applicant completed four years of live-in employment.

The immigration departments own records confirmed the visa officer who issued her the study permit was aware of her ultimate plan and noted that in her file.

In 2012, Garcia secured an employment agreement with a Toronto couple to look after their toddler.

Although the law stipulated that a caregiver work permit shall not be issued to a foreign national unless they applied from outside Canada, immigration officials referred Garcia to a medical exam in Toronto (rather than abroad) and issued her a work permit in May 2012.

Those errors were made by immigration and they were trying to blame her because of that. Thats the unreasonableness of their decisions Alexander Munera, Garcias lawyer, told the Star. There has to be consequences for their neglect and incompetent actions.

Garcia worked for the same family for the next three years, as the couple welcomed their second daughter. She successfully applied to extend her work permit in 2015 in order to complete the four-year employment for her permanent residence.

In the remarks section of that work permit, the document said she is eligible to apply for permanent residence after completing employment requirements. See www.cic.gc.ca for details.

The departments notes again stated that the new permit was also issued by mistake and the remarks regarding Garcias eligibility for immigration were incorrect.

In 2016, Garcia submitted her permanent residence application under the live-in caregiver program, which was refused the next year on the grounds that she had not entered Canada under that program.

She appealed the immigration decision and a judge returned her application for reconsideration, concluding that the officer failed to consider the humanitarian and compassionate factors in the case.

Immigration officials again refused her application in January 2019, and a second appeal ensued.

In that refusal letter, the officer said Garcia could have inquired through the immigration call centre as the first 2 work permits had very clear notes on them that she was not part of the live-in caregiver program.

The very clear notes in question were not, however, notes visible on the face of the work permits issued to Ms. Garcia or in any other document sent to Ms. Garcia, McHaffie pointed out in his judgment released on August 20.

Rather  they were hidden notes that were available only to (immigration officers) in their own system.

While the onus is on immigration applicants to ensure they meet program requirements, the judge said it was unreasonable for the officer to have essentially required Garcia to proactively find out the source of errors by the department.

I am satisfied that the foregoing unreasonable aspects of the officers decision were sufficient to render their decision as a whole unreasonable, McHaffie concluded.

Garcia, a mother of two adult sons in Peru, said she welcomed the court decision but feels bittersweet that her legal saga is not over, now that the application is sent back for a third review.

Being blamed for doing something wrong without knowing and being misled made me angry, she said. It took all this work to be able to send the message that an injustice took place  I hope others wont have to go through that.

Garcia said its her faith in God that has kept her fighting in court and shes grateful for the support of the Church of the Holy Trinity and her employers, who have been by her side over the last few years after her expired work permit prevents her from working.

Father Maurice Francois, who has known her since she joined his church in 2009, said Garcia has been a tireless volunteer in the community and will be a great addition to Canada.

Ive seen so many cases in my 17 years working with immigrants. Its frustrating to see how shes treated, said Francois. We are happy with the (court) decision. It gives us hope when we see people persevere.

Lucrecia is a person of conviction and endurance.
Since the beginning of the year, 791 bodies of the victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi have been recovered in the buffer zone of Lake Mugesera, in Rukumbeli Sector, Ngoma District.

Particularly from August 26 to Sep. 14, at least 547 bodies were recovered from the shores, and the daily search is still ongoing.

Jean-Pierre Musafiri, Ibuka president in Ngoma District said that the first body of Genocide victim was found by a child who was tending to goats, who then showed it to an older person.

"It is just a few metres from Lake Mugesera, which is located between Ngoma and Rwamagana districts. That land was owned by genocide perpetrators and leaders at the time," he told The New Times.

Although it may not be easy to recognize a body of family member lost 26 years ago, recovering victims of the genocide is a "great" relief for survivors, according to Musafiri.

"At least you say, maybe he or she is among those I am according to a decent burial they deserve," he described.

None of the recovered bodies were given a decent burial since the beginning of 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

More than 40,000 Tutsis killed during the 1994 Genocide were laid to rest inside Rukumbeli Genocide memorial site.
(Reuters) - The top U.S. Food and Drug Administration official on Tuesday confirmed AstraZeneca Plc's U.S. COVID-19 vaccine trial is on hold, saying the agency is planning to do "very significant work" with the company as it conducts its investigation after an illness in a participant in Britain.

"We're here to protect the American public and we're going to do very significant work with the company to figure out if there's a significant safety issue or not," FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said during an Instagram Live interview with Republican U.S. Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina.

"We don't have all facts, so we don't know the causation per se of this, but we really need to look into it. And our prime responsibility is the safety of the American people," Hahn said.

Enrollment in the British drugmaker's global trials of the vaccine, which it is developing with researchers at Oxford University, was paused on Sept. 6, after a participant in its U.K. trial had a serious side effect thought to be a rare spinal inflammatory disorder called transverse myelitis.

The U.K. trial has resumed, as have the company's trials in Brazil and South Africa.

Reuters on Monday reported based on sources that the U.S. trial was still on hold pending FDA and safety panel investigations.

The U.S. government process for reviewing COVID-19 vaccine efforts is being closely watched as some scientists and public health officials fear President Donald Trump will rush to have a vaccine approved before the Nov. 3 presidential election to bolster perception of his handling of the pandemic.

(Reporting by Manojna Maddipatla in Bengaluru, writing by Caroline Humer; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Cynthia Osterman)
1 EVENT TO MARK ON YOUR CALENDAR

The 2020 Fall Wedding Show and Benefit will be on Sept. 20 from noon to 4 p.m. inside the Brazos County Expo. For more information, visit www.babv.org.

TUESDAY

EVENTS

Hotel Job Fair, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Texas A&M Hotel and Conference Center. www.facebook.com/TAMUHotelCC.

CLASSES

Christ United Methodist Church is hosting Lets Talk! Free English as a Second Language classes, 6:30 p.m. Zoom. The class covers conversation and pronunciation and is for ages 18 and older. Registration is required. Call 204-2337.

WEDNESDAY

EVENTS

Fiestas Patrias Drive-Thru Parade, 9 to 9:30 a.m. Johnson Elementary School in Bryan.
AXIS Re, the reinsurance business segment of AXIS Capital Holdings Limited, has announced the promotion of Camilo Rodriguez to head of international credit and surety in its Global Markets division. Rodriguez will continue to work from the Zurich office and report to Ann Haugh, president of Global Markets.

Camilo has been a vital member of the Global Markets team, Haugh said. His knowledge and expertise in the space makes him the perfect choice for the head of international credit and surety. We are excited to see him take on this leadership role in AXIS Re.
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is among the Rajya Sabha MPs who have sought the Upper Houses permission to remain absent for a part of or the entire monsoon session of Parliament

On Wednesday, Rajya Sabha chairperson M Venkaiah Naidu said the lawmakers had sought leave of absence for health reasons. The requests have come amid the Covid-19 pandemic..

Besides Manmohan Singh, two other senior Congress leaders -- Oscar Fernandes and P Chidambaram -- have also asked to be excused.

Other MPs who have sought leave include Parimal Nathwani of the YSR Congress Party; A. Navaneethakrishnan of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam; KG Kenye of the Naga Peoples Front; Banda Prakash and Lakshmikantha Rao of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi; nominated MP Narendra Jadhav; Hishey Lachungpa of the Sikkim Democratic Front; Trinamool Congresss Manas Ranjan Bhunia; Anbumani Ramadoss of the Paattali Makkal Katchi ; Sushil Kumar Gupta of the Aam Aadmi Party; and Mahendra Prasad of the Janata Dal (United).

On Monday, the House was informed that Subhasish Chakraborty and Sukhendu Sekhar Ray of the Trinamool Congress had also sought permission to stay away for the duration of the session, which ends on October 1, on health grounds.

Also Read: Covid-19: Fake news led to migrants exodus, says home ministry

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, both Houses of Parliament have made extensive arrangements to ensure that physical distancing and other health protocols in place for preventing the spread of the virus are adhered to.

Rajya Sabha proceedings are being held between 9am and 1pm; some of the members have to sit in galleries as well as the Lok Sabha chambers to follow the physical distancing requirement. MPs also had to undergo a mandatory Covid-19 test before being allowed to attend the session, which got underway on Monday.

Also Read: J-K, Ladakh fully integrated into mainstream India, says Centre

Rajya Sabha members raised the issue of an oxygen shortfall in several states. Congresss Digvijay Singh said oxygen prices had gone up from Rs 10 to Rs 50 per cubic metre. In Devas, Madhya Pradesh, four patients died due to the lack of oxygen; Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat have seen an increase in prices as well, he said.

The Essential Commodities Act is being amended. The heath minister did not address the issue of oxygen shortage in his statement, Singh said.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Partys Bhagwat Karad also stressed the need for adequate oxygen supplies.

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In the last four years, the Union Government has given administrative approval and financial sanction for construction of 12 nuclear power reactors of 9,000 megawatt (MW) capacity, the government has said. These include ten indigenous 700 MW Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) and two Light Water Reactors (LWRs).

In a written reply in Lok Sabha on Wednesday, Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region and Atomic Energy and Space, said two 700 MW PHWRs will come up at Chutka in Madhya Pradesh, two in Kaiga in Karnataka, four units in Mahi Banswara in Rajasthan, and two more at Gorakhpur GHAVP in Haryana. Two new 1,000 MW LWRs will be added to the four units at Kudankulam, in co-operation with Russian Federation, the reply further read.

ALSO READ: Discoms' liquidity package to be hiked to Rs 1.2 lakh crore this month

Presently, two public sector companies of the Department of Atomic Energy - Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Limited (BHAVINI) are involved in nuclear power generation, Singh informed. There is no proposal under consideration at present to permit non-government players in the area of nuclear power generation, he added. However, the private sector participates in the nuclear power sector by providing core reactor components, equipment, materials and services in areas that include construction, fabrication and erection of equipment, piping, electrical, instrumentation, consultancy, auxiliary and logistical services.

There are presently 22 reactors with a capacity of 6,780 MW in operation in the country, Singh told Lok Sabha adding that nine reactors, with a total capacity of 6,700 MW are presently under construction. The capital investment for the nuclear power projects is being funded with a debt to equity ratio of 70:30. The equity part is funded from internal resources of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and government budgetary support.

ALSO READ: Bill to bring cooperative banks under RBI control gets Lok Sabha nod

The present consolidated FDI policy of government puts atomic energy in the list of prohibited sectors. However, there is no restriction on FDI in the nuclear industry for manufacturing of equipment and providing other supplies for nuclear power plants and related other facilities, Singh said.

Government of India had amended the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 in 2015 to enable the licensing of NPCIL's joint ventures for setting up nuclear power projects. To boost domestic investment, joint ventures have been formed by NPCIL with public sector majors National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC), Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), and National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO).

ALSO READ: Essential Commodities Amendment Bill gets Lok Sabha nod
Faith vs safety in burials: COVID-19 remains in dead bodies for 9 days says Centre

Supreme Court agrees to hear PIL challenging use of EVMs in polls

SC directs states to reach out to 10,000 kids orphaned due to Covid-19, pay compensation

Daughters to inherit father's self-acquired property if no will: Supreme Court

Man sets himself on fire outside Supreme Court premises, rushed to hospital

TV programme vilifying minorities halted by Supreme Court

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Sep 16: There should be some kind of self-regulation in the media, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday while raising questions over a Sudarshan TV programme, claimed by the channel as a 'big expose on conspiracy to infiltrate Muslims in government service' in the promos.

Why is SC furious over Sudarshan TV show, stops telecast of remaining episodes | Oneindia News

The court, while hearing a plea which has raised grievance over the programme, said that the manner in which some media houses are conducting debate is a matter of concern as all kind of defamatory things are said.

Look at this programme, how rabid is this programme that one community is entering into civil services, observed a bench headed by Justice D Y Chandrachud.

Centre tells SC not to lay down further guidelines for mainstream media

See how insinuating is the subject of this programme that Muslims have infiltrated the services and this puts the examinations of UPSC under scanner without any factual basis, said the bench, also comprising Justices Indu Malhotra and K M Joseph.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the top court that freedom of journalist is supreme and it would be disastrous for any democracy to control the press.

Senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for Sudarshan TV, told the bench that the channel considered it as an investigative story on national security.

Your client is doing a disservice to the nation and is not accepting India is a melting point of diverse culture. Your client needs to exercise his freedom with caution, the bench told Divan.

The hearing in the matter would continue in the post-lunch session.
Walmart-owned Indian e-commerce platform Flipkart is preparing for an initial public offering (IPO) overseas as early as 2021, which could value the firm up to $50 billion, sources familiar with the company's plans told Reuters.

Bengaluru-based Flipkart, which vies with players such as Amazon.com's local unit in India and India's Reliance Industries, will be aiming for a valuation in the $45-$50 billion range, according to one source with knowledge of the matter.

If achieved, that would mean Walmart would have more than doubled its investment.

Flipkart is likely to choose between Singapore, or the US for the IPO, said two other sources, who asked not to be named as discussions are private.

"Flipkart is incorporated in Singapore, but listing in the US, where parent Walmart is headquartered, could give it access to a deeper pool of funds," one of the sources said.

Flipkart and Walmart did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.

The sources said the preparations and discussions have been largely internal for now, but the company is preparing to tap external advisers on the process soon.

The discussions come as India drafts new regulations that could pave the way for domestic companies to directly list overseas. Two other sources familiar with the plans said that work has begun to ensure compliance, legal and finance functions will meet regulatory standards ahead of a potential listing.

"Right now, the IPO target is more or less considered to be late 2021, or early 2022, but the current crisis has made things a little blurry," said one of these two sources.

The second person added that being "IPO ready" has become a constant refrain in top level meetings internally.

Bumper valuation eyed

Walmart acquired a roughly 77 percent stake in Flipkart for about $16 billion back in 2018. That deal remains the single largest foreign direct investment in India.

It turned Flipkart's founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal into billionaires, and confirmed Flipkart's status as the country's most successful start-up at the time.

Later that year, Bentonville, Arkansas-headquartered Walmart in a regulatory filing said it could take Flipkart public in four years.In July this year, Flipkart raised $1.2 billion in fresh funding with Walmart as its lead investor. That round valued Flipkart, which counts China's Tencent, US hedge fund Tiger Global, and Microsoft among its investors, at $24.9 billion.

Flipkart said it would use the funds, to be received in two tranches this fiscal year, to support the development of its e-commerce marketplace as India emerges from the COVID-19 crisis.

Like its rival Amazon, Flipkart began by selling books, but diversified rapidly into sell selling smartphones, clothing and other items. It now competes with Amazon in most categories.India's e-commerce sector is expected to be worth $99 billion by 2024, according to Goldman Sachs, as more Indians switch to online shopping.

That expanding market has attracted not only global giants such as Walmart and Amazon, but also India's oil-to-telecoms conglomerate Reliance, which has jumped into the fray. Mumbai-based Reliance this year launched an online grocery service, JioMart, with its billionaire boss Mukesh Ambani telling shareholders in July that deliveries will expand into lectronics and fashion products.
Respected international air transport rating agency Skytrax has begun assessing coronavirus safety measures at airports around the world - and Rome Fiumicino Airport is the first to be awarded five stars.

The three other airports rated so far all received three stars - London Heathrow, Malaga Costa del Sol Airport and Nice Cote d'Azur Airport.

The Covid-19 airport ratings, which were first issued in August, involve Skytrax audit teams physically visiting each airport and carrying out hygiene analysis.

Respected international air transport rating agency Skytrax has begun assessing coronavirus safety measures at airports around the world - and Rome Fiumicino Airport (pictured) is the first to be awarded five stars

The Rome audit was conducted over three days in September, Skytrax said, and was based on 'a combination of procedural efficiency checks, visual observation analysis and ATP sampling tests [surface cleanliness analysis], with the consistency of standards being a key determinant in the final rating applied'.

Skytrax said that at Rome Fiumicino, the airport has 'a visible presence of cleaning staff' in customer-facing areas and that the airport 'is testing several UV sanitisation methods which further enhance hygiene levels at high-contact points such as elevators and escalators'.

Analysis of frequently touched surfaces 'indicated that where staff are applying maintenance, this is to a good standard, and the airport continues to assess how this can improve'.

In addition, in high movement areas, the airport has an in-house 'Bio-Safety Team' of 40 staff that facilitate social distancing and ensure compliance with face mask usage.

Skytrax said: 'The Covid-19 systems and procedures put in place across Rome Fiumicino Airport are meeting a rigorous standard, and Skytrax verified the frontline success of the implementation for keeping airport staff and customers safe.

Rome Airport has an in-house 'Bio-Safety Team' (pictured) of 40 staff that facilitate social distancing and ensure compliance with face mask usage

'Skytrax identified that the general policies relating to Covid-19 procedures are well enforced at Rome Fiumicino Airport, with effective signage and information systems that have been implemented with excellent brand cohesion and intelligibility.'

It revealed that the daily passenger numbers are at approximately 30 per cent of the usual levels, but that the airport 'remains quite busy and vibrant'.

This, it surmised, was because operations have been consolidated to Terminal 3 for check-in and arrival, and Concourse Gates E for departure and transfer flights, coupled with Italy operating an open border and the country having fairly low Covid-19 rates.

The Rome audit was conducted over three days in September, Skytrax said. Pictured is one of Fiumicino's washrooms

Skytrax revealed that the daily passenger numbers at Fiumicino (pictured) are at approximately 30 per cent of the usual levels, but that the airport 'remains quite busy and vibrant' - this is partly because operations have been consolidated to one terminal

Edward Plaisted of Skytrax said: 'Rome Fiumicino Airport has done an excellent job in delivering Covid-19 protocols that enable a safe environment for customers and staff. In the core areas of hand hygiene and social distancing, the airport has robust procedures in place, and importantly, this is being reinforced by a high-level of attention to terminal sanitisation at high-contact points.

'It is the consistency of these measures that is also notable, and this is an essential factor behind Rome Fiumicino Airport being the first airport in the world to receive the Covid-19 5-Star Airport Rating.'

Rome Fiumicino Airport has done an excellent job in delivering Covid-19 protocols Edward Plaisted of Skytrax

Mr. Marco Troncone, CEO of Rome Fiumicino Airport, said: 'We are very satisfied with this new award as it once again is a significant international recognition of the efforts of the company.'

A Heathrow spokesperson said: 'Heathrow is always focussed on the safety of our passengers and colleagues. We are reviewing the findings to see what next steps we can take. Alongside extensive cleaning regimes and hand sanitising stations across the airport, we've taken a lead in mandating face coverings because we know it isn't always possible for our passengers to maintain social distancing in the airport.

'The next game-changer will be a form of passenger testing and we are continuing to work with the UK Government to establish this.'

Skytrax said that airports in the Middle East, Asia and North America are expected to be covered from October 2020, subject to border opening regulations.
Chrissy Teigen and John Legend celebrated their seventh wedding anniversary on Monday, with the couple getting a very special... and tasty gift from Kelly Clarkson.

Teigen, 34, took to Twitter on Monday, sharing a video of the massive pizza her and husband John Legend, 40, got from Big Mama's & Papa's Pizzeria in Los Angeles.

'Oh. My. God. @KellyClarkson Im screaming your name like steve carell Im dying!!' Teigen said, referring to Carell's infamous line in 2005's The 40-Year-Old Virgin.

Anniversary gift: Chrissy Teigen and John Legend celebrated their seventh wedding anniversary on Monday, with the couple getting a very special... and tasty gift from Kelly Clarkson

Pizza video: Teigen, 34, took to Twitter on Monday, sharing a video of the massive pizza her and husband John Legend, 40, got from Big Mama's & Papa's Pizzeria in Los Angeles

The brief video Teigen shared showed her opening the massive pizza box, which Teigen actually thought would be fake.

'Oh my God. I for some reason thought it would be fake, but it is not fake,' Teigen said while laughing.

She then showed her husband John Legend taking one piece as Teigen took one for herself, stating, 'Honestly this is the coolest thing ever.'

Big box: The brief video Teigen shared showed her opening the massive pizza box, which Teigen actually thought would be fake

Not fake: 'Oh my God. I for some reason thought it would be fake, but it is not fake,' Teigen said while laughing

Coolest thing: She then showed her husband John Legend taking one piece as Teigen took one for herself, stating, 'Honestly this is the coolest thing ever'

After taking a bite, Teigen continued laughing and added, 'We have so much garlic sauce too,' while wearing a stylish black leather jacket.

She then spoke seemingly directly to Clarkson herself, stating, 'I love you. Thank you so much,' as the video came to an end.

Clarkson also shared the video on her own Twitter account, stating, 'Happy Anniversary. I sent wine as well so it was a high/low kind of gift.'

Pizza love: After taking a bite, Teigen continued laughing and added, 'We have so much garlic sauce too,' while wearing a stylish black leather jacket

Love: She then spoke seemingly directly to Clarkson herself, stating, 'I love you. Thank you so much,' as the video came to an end

Big gift: Clarkson also shared the video on her own Twitter account, stating, 'Happy Anniversary. I sent wine as well so it was a high/low kind of gift'

Big Mama's and Papa's Pizza made a name for themselves in March 2014, when the Hollywood pizza place was picked by host Ellen DeGeneres to feed the hungry A-listers during the Oscars telecast.

The pizza Teigen and Legend were sent by Clarkson was their 54 inch by 54 inch Sicilian pizza, according to the Big Mama's and Big Papa's website.

The enormous pie has 200 squares, feeding approximately 50 to 70 people, starting at $299.99.

Big Mama's and Big Papa's: Big Mama's and Papa's Pizza made a name for themselves in March 2014, when the Hollywood pizza place was picked by host Ellen DeGeneres to feed the hungry A-listers during the Oscars telecast

Huge pie: The pizza Teigen and Legend were sent by Clarkson was their 54 inch by 54 inch Sicilian pizza, according to the Big Mama's and Big Papa's website

Teigen and Legend recently listed their massive $24 million home in Beverly Hills, which got the attention of Selling Sunset star Jason Oppenheim.

Teigen wondered on Twitter if Oppenheim was a 'real' agent because her agents haven't heard of him, but he proved his worth by actually showing her home.

There is no word yet if the house has sold quite yet.
For the first time, an intact, giant exoplanet has been discovered orbiting close to a white dwarf star. This discovery shows that it is possible for Jupiter-sized planets to survive their star's demise and settle into close orbits around the remaining stellar ember, near the habitable zone. This foretells one possible future for our own Solar System when the Sun ages into a white dwarf.

Astronomers have used the international Gemini Observatory, a Program of NSF's NOIRLab, and other telescopes around the globe and in space to find and characterize a giant planet, less than 13.8 times as massive as Jupiter [1], orbiting a white dwarf star [2][3]. The research is published in the journal Nature.

This is the first example of an intact giant planet orbiting close to a white dwarf star -- in this case a particularly cool and dim stellar ember known as WD 1856+534. "The discovery came as something of a surprise," according to lead author Andrew Vanderburg, assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "A previous example of a similar system, where an object was seen to pass in front of a white dwarf, showed only a debris field from a disintegrating asteroid." [4]

After detecting the planet with the TESS satellite, which observed it transiting its white dwarf star, the team took advantage of the tremendous light-collecting power of Gemini North's 8.1-meter mirror and used the sensitive Gemini Near-Infrared Spectrograph (GNIRS) to make detailed measurements of the white dwarf star in infrared light from Maunakea, Hawai'i. The spectroscopic observations captured the unique fingerprint of the star, but not that of the planet or any debris surrounding this system [5][6]. "Because no debris from the planet was detected floating on the star's surface or surrounding it in a disk we could infer that the planet is intact," said Siyi Xu, an assistant astronomer at Gemini Observatory and one of the researchers behind the discovery.

"We were using the TESS satellite to search for transiting debris around white dwarfs, and to try to understand how the process of planetary destruction happens," explains Vanderburg. "We were not necessarily expecting to find a planet that appeared to be intact."

"Additionally, because we didn't detect any light from the planet itself, even in the infrared, it tells us that the planet is extremely cool, among the coolest we've ever found." [7]. Xu adds that the precise upper limit of the planet's temperature was measured by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope to be 17 C (63 F), which is similar to the average temperature of Earth.

"We've had indirect evidence that planets exist around white dwarfs and it's amazing to finally find a planet like this," said Xu [8]. White dwarfs are extremely dense and very small, so the exoplanet is much larger than its tiny parent star, making the system extremely unusual.

The surprising discovery of this planet, known as WD 1856b, raises interesting questions about the fate of planets orbiting stars destined to become white dwarfs (like our Sun). Of the thousands of planets outside the Solar System that astronomers have discovered, most orbit stars that will eventually evolve into red giants and then into white dwarfs. During this process, any planets in close orbits will be engulfed by the star, a fate that WD 1856b somehow managed to avoid.

"Our discovery suggests that WD 1856b must have originally orbited far away from the star, and then somehow journeyed inwards after the star became a white dwarf," said Vanderburg. "Now that we know that planets can survive the journey without being broken up by the white dwarf's gravity, we can look for other, smaller planets."

"The study of planets in extreme locations is giving us new perspectives on the history and fate of the billions of worlds around other stars," said Martin Still, NSF Program Director for the international Gemini Observatory partnership. "Gemini's sensitivity was critical in following up the TESS space-based detection of this planet, revealing a more complete story of the exoplanetary system."

This new discovery suggests that planets can end up in or near the white dwarf's habitable zone, and potentially be hospitable to life even after their star has died. "We're planning future work to study this planet's atmosphere with Gemini North," concludes Xu. "The more we can learn about planets like WD 1856b, the more we can find out about the likely fate of our own Solar System in about 5 billion years when the Sun becomes a white dwarf." [9]

###

Notes

[1] The upper limit of the object's mass is 13.8 Jupiter masses. This mass is close to the dividing line astronomers use to distinguish between a planet and a brown dwarf.

[2] White dwarfs are common stellar remnants left behind by the deaths of low-mass stars like the Sun. Though they have a mass comparable to the Sun's, they are roughly the size of Earth, making them incredibly dense. White dwarfs generate no energy of their own and glow faintly with leftover thermal energy, slowly fading over billions of years.

[3] The discovery of WD 1856b relied on observations from facilities including Gemini North, NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, various professional telescopes around the world, and a handful of privately operated telescopes.

[4] Result reported by NASA.

[5] The light from a star is spread over many wavelengths, and not all these wavelengths radiate equally. The distribution of emission at different wavelengths makes up the emission spectrum of a star, and features of this spectrum act as very recognizable "fingerprints." When an orbiting planet gravitationally tugs at a star, it causes a star to wobble and these spectral fingerprints shift slightly. This technique is often used to gather information about exoplanets, but in the case of WD 1856, the stellar spectrum obtained by Gemini North showed no identifying features -- no "fingerprints" -- showing that the orbiting planet is intact.

[6] The first "polluted white dwarf" -- a white dwarf with planet debris in its outer layer -- was discovered in 1917 by Adriaan van Maanen using Mount Wilson observatory's 60-inch telescope. The star is known as van Maanen's Star and has an interesting backstory.

[7] The team was searching at a wavelength of 4.5 microns.

[8] In a result widely reported last year, a team using ESO facilities detected gas disk orbiting, and accreting onto, a white dwarf. The gas seems to have a composition similar to that of Neptune and Uranus, so it is hypothesized that the gas must have come from such a planet. The planet itself was not detected, only the gas debris.

[9] This could be the final fate of Earth and the other rocky planets in the Solar System. When the Sun expands into a red giant it will swell and become vastly more luminous, charring and then engulfing Mercury, Venus, and possibly Earth. However, there's nothing to worry about yet -- our Sun is only halfway through its 10-billion-year lifetime.

More information

This research was presented in the paper A Giant Planet Candidate Transiting a White Dwarf to appear in the journal Nature.

The team was composed of Andrew Vanderburg (University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of Texas at Austin), Saul A. Rappaport (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Siyi Xu (NSF's NOIRLab/Gemini Observatory), Ian Crossfield (University of Kansas), Juliette C. Becker (California Institute of Technology), Bruce Gary (Hereford Arizona Observatory), Felipe Murgas (Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias and Universidad de La Laguna), Simon Blouin (Los Alamos National Laboratory), Thomas G. Kaye (Raemor Vista Observatory and The University of Hong Kong), Enric Palle (Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias and Universidad de La Laguna), Carl Melis (University of California, San Diego), Brett Morris (University of Bern), Laura Kreidberg (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy and Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian), Varoujan Gorjian (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory), Caroline V. Morley (University of Texas at Austin), Andrew W. Mann (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Hannu Parviainen (Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias and Universidad de La Laguna), Logan A. Pearce (University of Arizona), Elisabeth R. Newton (Dartmouth College), Andreia Carrillo (University of Texas at Austin), Ben Zuckerman (University of California, Los Angeles), Lorne Nelson (Bishop's University), Greg Zeimann (University of Texas at Austin), Warren R. Brown (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian), Rene Tronsgaard (Technical University of Denmark), Beth Klein (University of California, Los Angeles), George R. Ricker (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Roland K. Vanderspek (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), David W. Latham (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian), Sara Seager (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Joshua N. Winn (Princeton University), Jon M. Jenkins (NASA Ames Research Center), Fred C. Adams (University of Michigan), Bjorn Benneke (Universite de Montreal), David Berardo (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Lars A. Buchhave (Technical University of Denmark), Douglas A. Caldwell (NASA Ames Research Center and SETI Institute), Jessie L. Christiansen (Caltech/IPAC-NASA Exoplanet Science Institute), Karen A. Collins (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian), Knicole D. Colon (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), Tansu Daylan (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), John Doty (Noqsi Aerospace, Ltd.), Alexandra E. Doyle (University of California, Los Angeles), Diana Dragomir (University of New Mexico, Albuquerque), Courtney Dressing (University of California, Berkeley), Patrick Dufour (Universite de Montreal), Akihiko Fukui (Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias and The University of Tokyo), Ana Glidden (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Natalia M. Guerrero (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Xueying Guo (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Kevin Heng (University of Bern), Andreea I. Henriksen (Technical University of Denmark), Chelsea X. Huang (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Lisa Kaltenegger (Cornell University), Stephen R. Kane (University of California, Riverside), John A. Lewis (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian), Jack J. Lissauer (NASA Ames Research Center), Farisa Morales (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Moorpark College), Norio Narita (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias and The University of Tokyo), Joshua Pepper (Lehigh University), Mark E. Rose (NASA Ames Research Center), Jeffrey C. Smith (SETI Institute and NASA Ames Research Center) Keivan G. Stassun (Vanderbilt University and Fisk University), Liang Yu (Massachusetts Institute of Technology and ExxonMobil Upstream Integrated Solutions).

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.

Science Contacts:

Andrew Vanderburg

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Cell: +1 512-484-8392

Email avanderburg@wisc.edu

Siyi Xu

NSF's NOIRLab

Cell: +1 808 765 9596

Email: sxu@gemini.edu

PIO Contacts:

Amanda Kocz

Press and Internal Communications Officer

NSF's NOIRLab

Cell: +1 626 524 5884

Email: akocz@aura-astronomy.org
Candidates who fulfill all criteria for admission to St Stephen's College will be required to appear for a written test followed by an interview

The cut-off list for admission to undergraduate courses at St Stephen's College, under the Delhi University has been released.

According to a report by MoneyControl, in comparison to last year, the cut-off criteria is higher this year. The cut off is more than 99 percent for admission to BA Economics and BA Programme. Last year, the cut-off for BA Economics for general category who had Commerce in school was 97.7 percent.

As per the report, St Stephen's 2020 cut-off evaluates the best four subject marks obtained in class 12. This includes one language subject, one core subject and the remaining two are based on the highest marks scored in the Class 12 board exams.

Candidates who fulfill all criteria for admission to St Stephen's College will be required to appear for a written test followed by an interview.

An NDTV report mentions that the BSc programme with Computer Science cut-off has gone up from 96.66 percent last year, to 97.67 percent in 2020 and, if studied with Chemistry, the cut-off has risen from 95 percent to 96.33 percent. All science courses, Honours and Programme have registered increases except BSc Mathematics.

For students of the Humanities stream in Class 12, the cut-off for BSc Mathematics has dropped from 96.75 percent in 2019 to 96.5 percent in 2020.

Cutoffs have also gone up from 96.66 percent to 97.66 percent in Physics and from 96.33 percent to 96.65 percent in Chemistry.

In the case of BSc Mathematics, there is an increase for Commerce students whose cut-off has increased from 97.5 percent to 98 percent; and for Science students, whose cut off percentage has risen from 97.75 percent in 2019 to 98 percent this year.

As per a report in The Indian Express, the biggest jump has been witnessed by Sanskrit Honours, where the cut-off has become 70 percent as compared to 65 percent for students of commerce and science streams. However, for students of humanities, it still remains 65 percent.

The report adds that this year Delhi University had received the highest number of applications in the last three years at 3,53,919.

To check out the course-wise cut off for St Stephens College, one can go to the link: https://www.ststephens.edu/notice-ug2020-cutoffs/
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 16, ARMENPRESS. Chairman of the State Revenue Committee Edward Hovhannisyan received Ambassador of Iran to Armenia Abbas Badakhshan Zohouri, the SRC told Armenpress.

A number of issues relating to the bilateral relations, in particular the necessity of implementing the program on upgrading and expanding the Meghri border checkpoint, the operation of the Meghri free economic zone were discussed during the meeting.

The meeting participants highlighted Armenias key role for Iran as a transit route ensuring entry to the market of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).

The sides highly valued the achievements recorded between the two countries as a result of cooperation and agreed to be consistent in further strengthening the mutual partnership.

The SRC leadership assured that all issues aimed at promoting the Armenia-Iran commercial relations and trade turnover are among the priorities of both the Committee and the Armenian government, and Armenia will make all efforts to further develop them.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
The orphaned daughters of a Polish couple who were killed in the Manchester Arena terror attack have paid tribute to their parents at the public inquiry into the attack.

Marcin, 42, and Angelika Klis, 39, had been waiting in the venue's foyer to pick up their daughters following an Ariana Grande concert in May 2017 when they were caught in the explosion which killed 22 and injured 119.

In a statement to the inquiry, their daughters Aleksandra, then aged 20, and Patrycja, then 14, described how the pain following the death of their 'amazing parents' was 'so hard to explain'.

Details of the couple's life and death were given during the commemorative phase of the public inquiry, where family members of each of the 22 murdered in the attack give tributes including statements, videos and photographs of their loved ones.

Marcin, 42, and Angelika Klisn (pictured together moments before they were killed), 39, had been waiting in the foyer of the Manchester Arena when they were killed on May 2017

The hearing in Manchester was told the parents were born in Slowno, a small town in northern Poland and grew up in another town, Darlowo nearby.

They had married in Poland in 1996 and divorced ten years later but only remained apart for a short time and though they did not remarry, were very much still in love, the hearing was told.

The daughters' statement read: 'I don't know an awful lot about their growing up and education. I'm not sure how my parents met but they met in the early 1990s and fell in love.'

'We think of our parents all the time, they are never out of our thoughts,' the sisters added.

In 2004, their father Marcin, a postman in Poland, moved to the UK, working initially for Tesco and latterly as a taxi driver after all the family moved to York in 2007.

Meanwhile their mother Angelika, who had studied economics in Poland, initially worked as a cleaner then as a shop worker for Tesco until she was killed.

They would go back to Poland once a year and also enjoyed family holidays in Rome and Egypt.

In their statement the daughters said: 'Every few weeks they would plan a family day because spending time with us made them both happy. We enjoyed every minute of time we spend together.

'Mum and dad's love was incredibly strong, they were so in love as if teenagers without a care in the world.

'Most of all they were happy. They were soulmates and did not want to be without each other.

'Mum and dad were amazing parents and kind people.

'Losing our mum and dad and the pain and loss we feel is so hard to explain.

Aleksandra Klis (pictured), from York, who was 20 at the time of her parents death, and her sister Patrycja, then 14, paid tribute to their parents at the public inquiry into the attack

Suicide bomber Salman Abedi (pictured entering a lift to the Manchester Arena) detonated his large Karrimor rucksack which contained the explosive on the day of the attack

'We are completely devastated by what has happened and our lives have been completely turned upside down.'

The final picture of the couple taken on the evening of the bombing as they waited for the concert to finish was also shown during the inquiry.

Following their parents death, the daughters received an outpouring of support, with Donna Kellaway, a neighbour of the family's home in York, setting up a GoFundMe page for the girls.

On the page Ms Kellaway wrote: 'Alex and Patrycia tragically lost both parents in the Manchester attacks. There are no words to describe what they must be going through.

'I know money will do nothing to ease their pain, but I hope the community can raise something for these girls that will help them financially at this terrible time.'

During the terror attack, suicide bomber Salman Abedi waited an hour in the City Room, the foyer outside the venue, before detonating his large Karrimor rucksack which contained the explosive at 10.31pm.

His body, which was recovered in four parts, was identified by his DNA and finger prints which were on the police database after he was arrested for shop lifting in 2012.

The forensic investigators recovered 1,675 nyloc nuts, 156 flanged nuts, 663 plain nuts and 11 fragments from the deceased, survivors, and crime scene.

It was previously revealed that the Arena bomber who had been studying for a degree in business and management at Salford University, had used his student loan to fund the terrorist attack with the help of his brother.

Pictured: Ambulances and police arriving to Manchester Arena following the explosion

In 2019, Aleksandra Klis urged Britain not to let Isis bride Shamima Begum return, during an interview on ITV's This Morning.

She said: 'I think she's comparing two things that shouldn't ever be compared. She's saying that there are fighters in IS that are getting killed.

'Those people go there knowing what to expect. People who went to the Manchester Arena, they went there to take their kids to a concert.

'She's out of order, comparing those two things She's made her bed. I think she should remain where she is. I don't think she's being honest.

'The only reason that she wants to come back is because she couldn't stay where she was. What is the point in coming back if you enjoy it so much there?'

The public inquiry into the circumstances of the attack is expected to last into spring next year.

The hearing continues.
The Benue State Government has approved Sept. 21, 2020 for the resumption of all schools in the state.

The Commissioner for Education, Dennis Ityavyar, a professor, told journalists on Wednesday in Makurdi that both public and private primary, secondary and tertiary institutions would resume on that day.

Mr Ityavyar explained that the resumption is for the first term of the 2020/2021 academic session, adding that the third term for other categories of pupils and students except JSS 3 and SSS 3 has been cancelled, including the payment of school fees.

Let me emphasise on the issue of school fees so there is no confusion because if the third term is cancelled, school fees for the term are also cancelled.

But in the case of JSS 3 and SSS 3, parents are expected to pay their third term fees. However, those who have not done third term, they dont need to pay fees and this applies to private and public schools, he said.

According to the education commissioner, it was the collective decision of stakeholders in the education sector in the state that all tertiary institutions be fumigated and COVID-19 protocols strictly observed.

He stated that parents are to provide face masks and hand sanitizers while the school authorities provide hand washing facilities and monitor compliance with social distancing in terms of sitting arrangement.

Mr Ityavyar also stated that schools with high population would have to operate morning and afternoon sessions to avoid congestion, adding that strict monitoring would be carried out to ensure compliance.

He said the first term will end on December 18, 2020 while the second term of the 2020/2021 session will commence on January 7, 2021 and end in March of the same year.

Mr Ityavyar commended the people of Benue for observing COVID-19 protocols.

He also urged Benue people with requisite qualifications to apply for the National Teachers Scheme under the Universal Basic Education Board, UBEC, adding that interested persons could contact SUBEB for details.
A time traveller from last year would probably think the billboard was fine, charming even.

Even a few months ago, they might have thought that the I (heart) JK Rowling sign in East Vancouver was expressing affection for one of the most popular authors in the world.

But the Harry Potter author is fresh off a summer of controversy in which her personal views about feminism and transgender issues have come under attack. In that light, the sign has been taken as a transphobic shot across the bow, and was removed over the weekend after a flurry of public criticism.

It was the latest flashpoint around Rowling who, over a busy few months, has emerged as one of the most high-profile voices to push back against the conflation of trans women and cisgender women.

Rowling says that she has no issue with people who are transgender, but maintains that the experience of biological females in our culture is unique. Critics say her words mask a more sinister message that excludes trans women and denies their experiences.

The controversy has left some fans in limbo, wondering whether its possible to love the art but not the artist.

Not entirley surprising

Amy Hamm was one of two people who paid for the billboard to be put up in East Vancouver  initially with the plan of it staying there for three months.

Hamm, a Vancouver writer who has been vocal in support of womens organizations that exclude trans women, said the pair did so after seeing pictures of something similar in Scotland. They wanted to show support for the author  and spark a conversation, she said.

We were hoping it wouldnt be taken down but are not entirely surprised, she said. J.K. Rowling is not transphobic, we are not transphobic and were not transphobic to stand up for the gender-based rights.

The billboard was taken down by Pattison Outdoor Advertising less than 24 hours after it was put up.

Florence Ashley, a doctorate student at the U of T Faculty of Law who writes on trans rights issues, said the billboard was a subtle way of communicating to trans people in Vancouver that they are not welcome.

Its a dog whistle in the sense that its not going to be understood by people who dont follow these debates, they said Tuesday. It will be seen as a show of solidarity not so much for J.K. Rowling, but for people who share her anti-trans ideas.

The backstory

Chatter about Rowlings beliefs began late last year, when Rowling, tweeted in support of Maya Forstater, a U.K. woman who was fired over comments she made about transgender people.

The controversy intensified in June, with a series of tweets and subsequent blog post in which Rowling said she supported trans rights but did not believe in erasing the concept of biological sex. Rowling said she refused to bow down to a movement seeking to erode woman as a political and biological class and offering cover to predators like few before it.

The statements led to an eruption of criticism, including from famous Harry Potter actors who distanced themselves from Rowlings comments. Rowling herself went on to challenge a B.C.-based trans activist online, and to return a human rights award in August.

The myth that Rowling is putting out into the world is that transwomen are secretly men in disguise, who are using their trans identities and their desire to have human rights as a way to sneak into womens spaces, said Hannah McGregor, an assistant professor in publishing at Simon Fraser University, who also co-hosts Witch, Please, a podcast that looks at the Harry Potter universe with a critical eye.

That myth is used to justify real violence against trans women.

McGregor said this has been particularly hurtful for fans  and she counts herself among them  of Rowlings Harry Potter books.

The Harry Potter books are so personally meaningful to so many readers because a lot of readers learned things about the world, or formed their own moral compasses around the values in the books, she said. People have had a tendency to turn Rowling into this kind of authority who is granted the ability to comment on things far beyond her books themselves.

Trying to separate art from artist

Dr. David DeCosse, who directs the campus ethics program at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University in California, said the question of whether its possible to appreciate a piece of art while disapproving of the artist has always been a challenging one.

At a certain point, we would say its too difficult to get past such egregious behaviour and appreciate their art, he said. But I think we have to think of it as a spectrum and not reduce our appreciation of art solely through a lens of a persons character.

He pointed out that many artists create work out of deep human experiences of pain, and that these same experiences could lead to the kind of behaviour of which others disapprove.

On J.K. Rowlings case in particular, DeCosse said the author has entered a public conversation that is deeply personal to trans people, and cuts to the core of their identity.

By insisting the term women be used to describe people born biologically female, shes not affirming the experience of many trans people, DeCosse said.

I feel like concerns over identity are so important that somehow they too often can get transformed into a demand, that other people affirm my identity as I insist it must be affirmed. I dont know if you can really ask that from other people, he said.

But what I have come to recognize a lot more deeply is the pain of profound disrespect that trans people ... are really calling to everyones attention. Theyre saying the language thats used  knowingly or unknowingly  is deeply disrespectful.

A fandom like few others

Over the years, the origin story behind the books became almost as well known as the best-selling novels themselves: Rowling has spoken often of the years in which she wrote the first Harry Potter, a time when she struggled as a single mother on government benefits. Then an agent took notice, and the first novel was published in 1997.

The rest, as they say, is history.

RELATED STORIES Books J.K. Rowling returns human rights award after controversy over transgender comments

The success of the Harry Potter books is near unparalleled: The Boy Who Lived now does so through an empire of worldwide bestsellers, blockbuster films, a play and an online fan site. A generation of kids grew up along with Harry, Ron and Hermione, and the babies born thereafter were increasingly named after the famous trio.

In 2004, Forbes declared Rowling the first billionaire author. Shes gone on to write other books but is still known worldwide as the creator of Harry Potter.

Choosing to continue as a fan of the Potter series is a personal decision, McGregor says. But the good news, according to McGregor, is that the global fandom has gotten so big that it can stand on its own.

We shouldn't, as critical readers, cancel books or just throw books in the garbage. We just have to think about how to read those books critically.

McGregor said the Harry Potter fandom has a long history of appreciating the books while also being thoughtful about their shortcomings  she points to fan fiction that celebrates gay or non-binary characters, who are absent in the series, or even her own podcast, which questions things such as why the first books villain wears a turban or all the banker goblins have hooked noses.

She pointed out theres even a podcast called the Gayley Prophet, which analyzes the series from a queer perspective.

I do think that there is a reason why, in particular, so many queer people love these books. I think that there is a lot of space to read ourselves into these books, she said.

A lot of those fans arent going away.

I think its a really interesting stance to say, Actually, no, this is this is my world and I get to hold on to it and I get to fill it with characters and ideas that excite me, and Rowling doesnt get to take that away from everybody just because her opinions are extremely bad.

With a file from The Associated Press
Jailed drug kingpin Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman reportedly lauded President Donald Trump for the way he confronted terror groups in the Middle East and thought former President Barack Obama was a 'coward'.

El Chapo's opinion was revealed by attorney Jeffrey Lichtman, who formed part of the defense team that represent the Sinaloa Cartel co-founder during his trial in New York.

'Believe it or not El Chapo is a Trump fan,' Lichtman claimed during his appearance on the Len Berman and Michael Riedel In The Morning show on WOR 710 radio Monday.

'He actually appreciated the fact that Trump was tough on Muslim terrorism and thought that Obama was a feckless coward.'

Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman reportedly holds President Donald Trump in high regards but isn't a huge fan of former President Barack Obama

According to Jeffrey Lichtman, one of the attorneys who represent El Chapo, the co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel 'appreciated the fact that Trump was tough on Muslim terrorism and thought that Obama was a feckless coward'

Unsurprisingly, Trump never reciprocated those feelings.

El Chapo was extradited from Mexico to New York on January 19, 2017, a day before Trump was sworn in as president.

'Trump hated El Chapo, El Chapo respected him from afar,' Lichtman added.

El Chapo was found guilty on 10 counts February 12, 2019, and is serving a life sentence at a supermax penitentiary in Colorado. He allegedly raked in $12.6 billion as the cartel's chief, money which federal New York prosecutors asked to be paid back.

Attorney Jeffrey Lichtman (pictured July 2019) appeared Monday on the Len Berman and Michael Riedel In The Morning show on WOR 710 radio and said that even though President Donald Trump 'hated El Chapo, El Chapo respected him from afar'

In the days following El Chapo's July 2019 sentencing, Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador indicated the United States was required to return the assets they had already seized from the Sinaloa Cartel leader. Republican leaders sought El Chapo's drug money to finance Trump's border wall.

El Chapo's defense team filed an appeal September 4, stressing that a judge made rulings allowing a jury to hear faulty evidence at Guzman's trial.

It also cites reports that before reaching a guilty verdict, some jurors sought out news accounts about sex abuse allegations against him that were barred from the trial.

'Chapo Guzman's prosecution was marred by rampant excess and overreach, both governmental and judicial  needless resorts if he was really the kingpin extraordinaire his adversaries insisted,' Guzman's lawyers said in the 245-page appeal, which was presented to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.
An explosion has spread terror in Afrin and killed nine people and injured, at least, a further 43 people reports Zaman Al-Wasl.

At least nine people were killed and 43 injured in a terror blast in northwestern Syria on Monday, according to the governors office of Turkeys southern Hatay province.

An explosives-laden small truck detonated in the opposition-held city of Afrin, Anadolu Agency earlier learned from sources on the ground.

An investigation of the attack to identify the people involved continues, said a statement from the governors office.

Turkeys military backed by Syrian opposition forces seized Afrin, a mainly Kurdish district, from the YPG in March 2018 in a major offensive.

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.
President Donald Trump rode to office in 2016 on a surge of skepticism toward international trade and globalization, the invisible forces that Trump described as bringing carnage upon American communities and sucking away all the good jobs.

Four years later, both Trump and Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential candidate, are pushing similar manufacturing plans that prioritize bringing industrial jobs back to the U.S.

And amid the coronavirus pandemic this year, both candidates have called to rebuild supply chains for things such as medical devices and pharmaceutical products in the U.S., claiming breakdowns among suppliers caused shortages.

But economists and Texas manufacturing executives cautioned against presidential policies that restrict international trade and shield domestic companies from foreign competition. The result, they say, could be companies that cant compete internationally and more expensive goods for consumers.

On ExpressNews.com: Commentary: Creative local strategies to blunt global protectionism

Manufacturing leaders said the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 spurred growth within the manufacturing industry, but other areas such as infrastructure and job training havent received enough government spending.

The change in the tax code has obviously shifted more manufacturing to the U.S. We decided a year and half ago that were building a brand new manufacturing facility in Milwaukee ... And without that confidence and that support from the state, I dont think that would've happened, said Rod Schrader, chairman and CEO of Komatsu America Corp., an industrial equipment maker that employs about 1,000 workers at facilities in Dallas and Longview.

A growing need is workforce development, Schrader said. As technology grows in our industry, the skill sets are changing.

Both Trump and Biden have been described as promoting economic nationalism and shifting away from globalization, which reshaped the world economy and made goods a lot cheaper for consumers.

Biden in July released a lengthy list of Made in America policies he says he plans to enact to boost U.S. manufacturing.

Some of Bidens headline proposals include spending $400 billion on government procurement of American-made products that his campaign says will unleash new demand for domestic goods and services and create American jobs.

Biden also calls for spending $300 billion on research and development projects in artificial intelligence, telecommunication and clean energy.

In addition, Biden has said he wants to raise the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent, and hes suggested funneling more money into job training and low-interest loans for small and mid-sized manufacturers, particularly those owned by women and minorities.

Trumps campaign has been light on economic policy proposals ahead of the 2020 election.

Trump in 2017 issued a set of Buy American, Hire American executive orders to increase the amount of domestic goods that federal agencies purchase. The order included an annual report recommending ways to strengthen the Buy American laws  though no such report has ever been issued.

The Trump administration in 2018 listed among its priorities a $200 billion investment into the nations infrastructure. That funding, in theory, would spur an additional $1.5 trillion in infrastructure spending by local governments and private firms, according to the administration.

Despite the proposal, an infrastructure spending bill has not materialized during Trumps presidential term.

Physical infrastructure  roads, bridges, waterways  is important for manufacturers because it allows businesses to get their products to market efficiently, a problem faced in large, lesser-developed nations.

But digital infrastructure, namely expanded rural broadband access, is also important for manufacturers that make high-tech farm equipment, executives said.

All the equipment nowadays is precision-operated, GPS-coordinated, and having broadband to move that information is important, said Todd Stucke, a senior vice president to Grapevine-based Kubota North America, a tractor and heavy equipment manufacturer.

The Trump administration in June was reportedly preparing a $1 trillion infrastructure package that would include an unspecified amount for rural broadband, according to news reports.

For his part, Biden has said hell put $20 billion toward building out rural internet access.

Both candidates are seeking to rebuild U.S. manufacturing as the industry emerges from factory shutdowns and supply chain problems earlier this year.

By the end of 2019, there were 913,000 manufacturing jobs throughout Texas, a high not seen since 2008, just before the Great Recession, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

During the first two years of Trumps presidency, manufacturing job growth in Texas outpaced the states total job growth. The sector added nearly 58,000 jobs in Texas over that time.

In 2019, however, the manufacturing industry stalled as Trump imposed tariffs en masse, spurring retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods from international trading partners and causing manufacturing output to decline for two consecutive quarters last year, according to the Federal Reserve.

Technically, that means the U.S. manufacturing sector was in a recession last year, even before the pandemic.

Manufacturers in Texas shed 50,000 jobs  or about five percent of the industrys statewide workforce  between February and April of this year during the economic crash. As of July, the industry had regained 13,000 jobs statewide.

In the San Antonio metro area, the manufacturing industry has lost just under 2,000 jobs since the onset of the pandemic, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

On ExpressNews.com: Wolff: San Antonio a quiet leader in advanced manufacturing

Manufacturing is the backbone of the economy, and offers a lot of people good security, Stucke said. One thing were finding now in some of our operations is its getting challenging to find the workforce with the training and the skill set. These factory jobs anymore, theyre pretty high-tech, high-paying, good jobs.

Biden has proposed spending $50 billion on skills training programs, including apprenticeships and partnerships between community colleges and businesses to identify in-demand skills.

Trump has long called to expand apprenticeship opportunities. Last summer, the administration announced it was awarding $183 million in funding for industry-recognized apprenticeships in sectors where apprenticeships are harder to come by.

No more tariffs

In 2018, the Trump administration began slapping tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of foreign goods, ranging from French wine to Chinese washing machines.

Given how large the (COVID-19) shock was to the economy, if someone asked me about policy recommendations, one of the first thing I would say is ... just say, No more tariffs. Roll them all back to where we were, said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM, a tax and consulting firm. We need to actively engage the global economy in order to provide another engine of recovery and then expansion.

The tariffs were meant to reduce trade deficit imbalances and establish more reciprocal trade deals between the U.S. and other nations. In turn, U.S. trading partners imposed tariffs on American goods, effectively closing off numerous domestic companies from global buyers.

For U.S. manufacturing to succeed, the incoming president will need to change the nations course on international trade, said Dennis Slater, president of the Wisconsin-based Association of Equipment Manufacturers.

Being in the world marketplace, both (Kubota and Komatsu) have grown their U.S. footprint in the last couple of years, so international trade and a world marketplace has actually allowed them to grow employment in the states, Slater said. You start putting tariffs against certain products overseas, and theres retaliation against us.

We do support the idea of more jobs in the U.S., but what will create more jobs is a healthy economy here, he said.

diego.mendoza-moyers@express-news.net
Wow, Steve Doocy just told the president of the United States, Dont call us, well call you. Imagine that  hes the most powerful man in the world and theyre treating him like hes a Jehovahs Witness whos also selling timeshares.  TREVOR NOAH

President Trump called into Fox & Friends this morning and announced he will now appear on the show once a week, though he didnt say exactly why hes cutting back.  SETH MEYERS

I think Trump just got Fox & Friend-zoned.  JAMES CORDEN

Thats right, itll only be one call a week and 168 hours per call.  JIMMY FALLON

Wow! That is cold. Thats like ending a date with, So Ill see you next Saturday, and every Saturday after that, and she says, Uh, you may want to see me next Saturday, but Katie is not committed to that. Well take it on a case-by-case basis.  STEPHEN COLBERT

But still, man, I want to give props to Steve Doocy for inviting Joe Biden on the show to make it seem like Fox & Friends is a balanced news show. That was pretty cool. Yeah, at the end he was just like: Just to be clear, we will also talk with Joe Biden; its only fair. All right, coming up next, are Democrats going to burn your house down while you sleep? Well discuss, but the answer is yes. TREVOR NOAH
Russias sovereign wealth fund said on Wednesday it has reached an agreement with pharmaceuticals major Dr Reddys Laboratories for clinical trials and distribution of its experimental vaccine Sputnik V in India, a process that is yet to be cleared by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI).

The Sputnik V has yet to complete large scale clinical trials but was approved by the Russian government last month, becoming the first Covid-19 vaccine to be cleared for human use anywhere in the world. Scientists have, however, cautioned against use of any shot that has not passed full safety and efficacy checks.

Upon regulatory approval in India, RDIF shall supply to Dr Reddys 100 million doses of the vaccine, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said in a statement.

Indian officials said approvals will be given only after a thorough review. We are yet to receive a formal application in this regard. And merely applying for approvals is not enough, clearances will be given only after experts of the subject concerned review the data thoroughly and are satisfied the with the results presented before us, said a senior official privy to the matter in the DCGI office, asking not to be named.

Also read| Covid-19: What you need to know today

The Sputnik V is among several vaccine candidates being considered by Indian authorities for the country. The director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Dr Balram Bhargava, earlier said that a high-level government committee was looking into the data coming from Russia on its Covid-19 vaccine.

Russia has a good history as far as manufacturing vaccines is concerned; they make good vaccines so we presume this vaccine is good. They have published first study of 76 patients in the medical journal The Lancet which is showing good effectiveness and good antibody immunity generation. Because they have not yet complicated a phase 3 trial; they have only started a phase 3 trial, and for us here to do a phase 3 trial of a product from outside of the country has to go through the regular processes of clearances from the regulatory agencies India, said Dr Bhargava.

According to phase 1/2 trial data published in The Lancet journal earlier this month, the vaccine did not lead to side effects and triggered adequate immune response in 76 volunteers. But the results have been disputed by some groups of scientists, who have sought a review of the data, citing what they said were striking similarities between patients.

The RDIF on Wednesday reiterated the vaccine is safe. The Sputnik V vaccine, which is based on well-studied human adenoviral vector platform with proven safety, is undergoing clinical trials for the Coronavirus pandemic. Deliveries could potentially begin in late 2020 subject to completion of successful trials and registration of the vaccine by regulatory authorities in India, a statement said.

We are pleased to partner with RDIF to bring the vaccine to India. The Phase I and II clinical trials have shown promising results. We will be conducting Phase-III trials in India to ensure safety and efficacy for the Indian population and to meet the requirements of the Indian regulators. Sputnik V vaccine could provide a credible option in our fight against Covid- 19 in India, said GV Prasad, co-chairman and managing director, Dr Reddys Laboratories.

Also read: AstraZenecas Covid-19 vaccine trial in US remains on hold pending FDA review

Russias envoy to India, Nikolay Kudashev, has held discussions with Indian officials in recent weeks on cooperation in the development of a vaccine, including joint development and production of Sputnik V.

The Russian side also formally shared modalities for cooperation on the vaccine with Indian authorities, which are yet to take a call on the matter, people familiar with developments said on condition of anonymity.

The vaccine is also believed to have figured in discussions held during external affairs minister S Jaishankars visit to Moscow last week for a meeting of the foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) states.

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Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham wears a mask with the words "2020 Census" as he is sworn in to testify before a House Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing on the 2020 Census on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, July 29, 2020, in Washington. Read more

This weekend, the Jewish people will celebrate Rosh Hashanah, marking the beginning of the year 5781. As I reflect back on the year that is ending and look forward to the year ahead, I think that recent years will be remembered for how much we counted: How many people have been infected with the coronavirus? How many people have died from it? How many days have passed since we last went to our workplaces, our schools, or our synagogues physically and not virtually? How many minutes did Officer Derek Chauvin hold his knee on the neck of George Floyd? How many fires are raging in California? How many days remain until the 2020 election?

This year also marks the 24th time in which the United States is counting how many people reside within our borders, now for the 2020 Census. Unfortunately, with little time remaining until the deadline, only 55% of Philadelphias households have responded to the Census. Thats potentially devastating not only to Philadelphias representation in Congress but, potentially more significantly, to the billions of dollars annually allocated to our communities by the federal government.

 READ MORE: Youve got 5 weeks left to be counted in the 2020 Census and shape Americas next decade

For the next 10 years, the federal government will rely on the collected 2020 Census data to guide distribution of $1.5 trillion in annual spending across 316 federal programs. For example, in the context of planning and funding for healthcare, Census results will affect programs such as Medicaid, Medicare Part B, State Childrens Health Insurance, and the prevention and treatment of substance abuse. Similarly, the 2020 Census count will impact the allocation of federal funds for critical programs and services for schools, students, and younger children, such as special education, Head Start, after-school programs, and classroom technology.

In the context of food insecurity, a priority for us at the Jewish Federation, Census data will control funds available under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program known as SNAP, as well as for free and reduced-price school lunches. The 2020 Census data will be particularly important because it will be used in determining the distribution of funds for pandemic recovery.

As the arm of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia devoted to public policy education and advocacy, government affairs, and community relations, the Jewish Community Relations Council which I chairfrequently reaches out to elected representatives about issues important to the Jewish community. That includes legislation to provide funding for our seniors, for our children, for our economically disadvantaged.

After the legislation for which we advocate has passed, it is the Census data that determines what share of the funds comes to our region. To illustrate, each additional person included in the 2000 Census resulted in an annual additional Medicaid reimbursement to most states of between several hundred and several thousand dollars depending on the state. Our legislative advocacy efforts will be multiplied by our success in making sure that everyone in our geographic area is counted.

 READ MORE: A census undercount hurts Pennsylvania and our growing Latinx population | Opinion

The Census form can be found at https://2020census.gov/ and completed online. The deadline for submitting the forms online or mailing them is now September 30.

Over the High Holidays, we will be repeatedly inspired by our liturgy and our clergys sermons to make every day count, rather than counting our days. Our communal efforts to assure that everyone residing in Greater Philadelphia responds to the Census is one way that we can make our days over the next few weeks count. As Jews, we have a long tradition of valuing every soul. Please do what you can to make sure that everyone living in your area gets counted in this decennial American Census.

Thank you in advance for your efforts. LShanah Tovah UMetukah.

Arlene Fickler is the Board Chair of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia.
New Delhi, Sep 16 : Union Minister of of Road Transport and Highways, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday said that he has tested positive for Covid-19 and has self-isolated himself.

Gadkari took to Twitter and said, "Yesterday, I was feeling weak and consulted my Doctor. During the course of my check up, I have been tested Covid-19 positive. I am at present doing well with the blessings and good wishes of all. I have isolated myself." Gadkari urged people who had came in contact with him recently, to be careful and follow the Covid protocol.

Last month, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had tested positive for Covid-19.

Before the commencement of the Monsoon Session of Parliament on September 14, 17 Member of Parliament (MPs) tested positive for coronavirus in mandatory tests conducted before the Monsoon Session of Parliament.

As many as 12 MPs from the BJP, the most from any party in Lok Sabha, were found infected with the disease during the test followed by the YSR Congress's two MPs and one each of the DMK, the Shiv Sena and the RLP.

The Lok Sabha members were tested at the Parliament House on September 13 and 14 -- during a mandatory test for those attending this year's Monsoon Session which will end on October 1.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
(Natural News) For nearly 20 years, the College Board, which administers the SAT to high school students, has been joined at the hip with communist China, a new report by the National Association of Scholars (NAS) claims.

Hanban, the Chinese government agency responsible for the creation of the infamous Confucius Institute, is said to have been working directly with the College Board all these years to embed government-approved Chinese teachers within high schools all across America, where they now indoctrinate students into communist Chinese thinking.

While the communist Chinese regime claims that the goal of the program is merely to teach students Mandarin, the truth is that the College Board has been helping Hanban to set up more than a dozen Confucius Institute classrooms in American schools, placing an organ of Chinese propaganda in the heart of some public school systems, writes Yuichiro Kakutani for Free Beacon.

The College Boards relationship with the Hanban appears to be unique  it is so deeply wedded to the Chinese government, warns Rachelle Peterson, the NAS scholar who helped compiled the report.

China has been especially aggressive in seeking Western partners who can lend to the Chinese government a veneer of credibility and respectability, and the College Board has received those offers with open arms.

College Board CEO: Hanban is sun that lights path of Chinese teaching in America

Petersons report highlights how Americas K-12 systems have been vigorously targeted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), just as Americas colleges and universities have been.

The types of teachers who are installed by China into American schools are also prohibited from speaking about certain sensitive topics such as the human rights abuses in Tibet and Xinjiang.

Back in 2003, Hanban paid the College Board $685,000 for assistance in developing its A.P. Chinese curriculum. Since that time, more than six additional partnerships have been developed between the College Board and the CCP.

The relationship between the College Board and Hanban is now so strong, in fact, that in 2014, College Board CEO David Coleman called Hanban the sun that lights the path to develop Chinese teaching in the U.S.

The College Board is the moon, he added. I am so honored to reflect the light that weve gotten from Hanban.

Even apart from the Confucius Institute programs, the College Board has kept busy setting up other partnerships that aim to inject more Mandarin education in American schools. A guest teacher program established by the College Board has already facilitated some 1,650 Chinese teachers being brought over to the U.S. to teach Mandarin to American students.

Hanban reportedly covers the costs of getting these teachers to the U.S., and together with the College Board co-hosts the annual National Chinese Language Conference, which is considered to be the preeminent conference for Chinese language teachers.

The College Board acts as a recruiter for the Chinese government, Peterson further claims.

The Chinese government runs these programs targeting students and teachers and funds them. And the College Board goes around and encourages people to join, using its name and appeal to quell any fears.

As we have come to expect, the CCP found yet another in into American society through the exploitation of the College Board, which has become one of the latest tools to be exploited for Chinas expansion of its national interest.

The Chinese government is aggressive, Peterson further explains. It exploits every opportunity to turn an institution against its own values and toward the interests of the CCP. We need to open our eyes to this and grapple with the reality that China is strategically targeting our institutions to try to work from within our own society.

For more news about the Chinese takeover of American society, be sure to check out Tyranny.news.

Sources for this article include:

FreeBeacon.com

NaturalNews.com
NTT Communications Corporation (NTT Com), the information and communications technology (ICT) solutions business within the NTT Group (TOKYO: 9432), announced today that it was recognized as the award recipient for 2020 Japan IoT Service Provider of the Year and 2020 Japan Data Center Service Provider of the Year by the Frost & Sullivan 2020 Asia Pacific Best Practices Awards program yesterday.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200915005025/en/

Celebrating its 18th year, the Frost & Sullivan Asia-Pacific ICT Awards are now combined to the Frost & Sullivan Asia-Pacific Best Practices Awards program and this recognizes companies in a variety of regional and global markets that demonstrate outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. To identify best practices in respective industries each year, industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research.

NTT Com was named 2020 Japan IoT Service Provider of the Year for the second year in a row. NTT Com supports the digital transformations of customers through its Things AdvisoryTM service for consulting on IoT implementation and data utilization/analysis, Things CoordinationTM service for designing and building IoT systems tailored to each customer, Things ManagementTM service for one-stop IoT system management based on NTT Coms unique know-how as an ICT services provider, and Things Cloud IoT platform service for customized visualization and functions/templates for IoT implementation.

According to Deepu Nair, an ICT Practice analyst for Frost & Sullivan: NTT Com offers a comprehensive suite of advisory services along with a full-stack of IoT solutions, supporting customers in planning, installing, and maintaining complex IoT systems. These efforts reflect NTT Coms continued focus on crafting effective partnerships to guide organizations through the various stages of their IoT adoption journey. It is the foundation of the companys success in the crowded IoT marketplace. This successful customer-centric strategy distinguishes NTT Com from its competitors.

2020 Japan Data Center Service Provider of the Year award is understood to acknowledge NTT Coms efforts to support customers with NexcenterTM data center services, managed services and Flexible InterConnect, secure connections to various clouds, as well as the companys newly opened Nexcenter LabTM where customers and partners can collaborate on new business creation.

Nishchal Khorana, an ICT Practice senior director for Frost & Sullivan, said: As the competition in the Japanese data center services market continues to intensify, NTT Coms strong growth strategy and operational focus have enabled it to create significant differentiation in the market. The service providers planned investments in new data centers also demonstrate its commitment to the market and business. NTT Com augments its colocation services with a portfolio of managed and security services, offering customers a broad spectrum of services from a single provider. Its strategy aligns with the transforming cloud environment by providing a direct connection to multiple public cloud environments. NTT Coms initiatives to promote open innovation are expected to create an effective platform to the co-creation of offerings with the partner ecosystem and strengthen value for enterprises.

For more information about NTT Coms awards, visit here.

About NTT Communications Corporation

NTT Communications solves the worlds technology challenges by helping enterprises overcome complexity and risk in their ICT environments with managed IT infrastructure solutions. These solutions are backed by our worldwide infrastructure, including industry leading, global tier-1 public and private networks reaching over 190 countries/regions, and more than 500,000m2 of the worlds most advanced data center facilities. Our global professional services teams provide consultation and architecture for the resiliency and security required for your business success, and our scale and global capabilities in technology world are unsurpassed. Combined with NTT Ltd., NTT Data, and NTT DOCOMO, we are NTT Group.

www.ntt.com | [email protected] Com | [email protected] Com | [email protected] Com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200915005025/en/
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 23:00:37|Editor: huaxia

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BAGHDAD, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- The total number of COVID-19 infections in Iraq on Wednesday reached 303,059, as health ministry's officials warned that the upcoming two months will be crucial to the spread of the pandemic.

Abdul Ghani al-Saadi, head of the ministry's al-Risafa Health Department in eastern Baghdad, told the official al-Sabah newspaper that "the epidemiological situation is still unstable in Iraq and the danger lies within the next two months."

Al-Saadi highlighted the importance of "preparing for a new wave of the pandemic due to climate fluctuations that are likely to lead to an increase in infections."

For his part, the ministry's spokesman Sayf al-Badr said in a press release that most the COVID-19 death cases were those who were too late to be hospitalized.

"All the protocols for treating coronavirus are available in Iraq and the ministry is prepared for all possibilities and has increased the number of hospital beds to about 8,000," al-Badr said.

He said that the ministry is expecting another wave of infections in the upcoming winter.

The officials' comments came as the health ministry reported 4,357 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the nationwide infections to 303,059.

The ministry also confirmed 82 new deaths from the infectious disease, taking the death toll to 8,248. Meanwhile, 3,895 more patients recovered from the disease, bringing the total number of recoveries to 237,241.

Despite the continuing resurgence in the pandemic, the Iraqi Higher Committee for Health and National Safety, headed by Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, has decided to ease the anti-coronavirus restrictions, by permitting people's movement among the country's provinces, reopening the border crossings, restaurants, tourist facilities of five-star hotels, and lifting the ban on sporting events.

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 also sent three batches of medical aid to Iraq. Enditem
A drawn out saga over replacing flammable cladding has soured relations between owners of a southern Sydney apartment building and imposed a large financial burden on them.

Yet almost 18 months after their local council ordered cladding to be removed, some owners of the Quattro Apartments at Gymea fear the material they plan to use to replace it won't comply in future because the state government is still to decide on suitable products.

Quattro apartment owner Rave Mawjee says there is a lack of clarity about suitable replacement products. Credit:Kate Geraghty

Their predicament is similar to owners of other buildings across Sydney, and has led the peak body for apartment owners to argue that people "remain caught in a surreal web of blame shifting" by authorities over combustible cladding.

Almost two years after testing showed aluminium composite panels on their building were a fire hazard, Quattro owners voted at a meeting last week for a $255,000 special levy to replace the cladding, costing them on average about $10,000 each.
Newest partners expand Trust Project's reach to Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America

PACIFICA, Calif., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Trust Project, a global nonprofit dedicated to transparency, accuracy and diversity in news, today announced the addition of six news partners, expanding its network of more than 200 news outlets to Argentina and Peru.

The following news sites have implemented the Trust Project's 8 Trust Indicators and earned the Trust Mark: El Comercio (Peru), The Highlands Current (US), inewsource (US), La Nacion (Argentina), Pocket-lint (UK), and YES! Magazine (US). El Comercio and La Nacion are the first news organizations to join the Trust Project in their respective countries.

"I'm heartened by the deep commitment to journalism with integrity shown by our news partners, especially amid the major coverage and financial pressures they're experiencing right now," said Sally Lehrman, Trust Project founder and chief executive. "Their work expands the reach of the 8 Trust Indicators into important new regions and deepens their presence globally, enabling people to know when their news comes from a source that puts the public's interests first."

The Trust Project has had a presence in Latin America since 2019 with the creation of the Brazilian chapter of the organization, Projeto Credibilidade, through which six news organizations now show the Trust Indicators on their pages.

The new partners underwent an extensive, five-month process to implement the Trust Project's 8 Trust Indicators  evaluating and updating policies, creating new procedures, and adding transparency to existing standards. The Trust Indicators, a widely accepted transparency standard developed by The Trust Project in collaboration with the public and news organizations worldwide, help news media hold themselves accountable and ensure reliable, dependable news sources.

The 8 Trust Indicators help people know who and what is behind a given news story through disclosures about:

Best Practices (Policies and Standards)

Journalist Expertise

Type of Work Labels

References

Methods

Locally Sourced

Diverse Voices

Actionable Feedback

The Trust Project is funded by Craig Newmark Philanthropies, the Democracy Fund, Facebook, Google and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

To learn more about The Trust Project and the 8 Trust Indicators, visit thetrustproject.org.

About the Trust Project:

The Trust Project is a global network of news organizations working to affirm and amplify journalism's commitment to transparency, accuracy and inclusion. The project created the Trust Indicators, which are a collaborative, journalism-generated standard for news that helps both regular people and the technology companies' machines easily assess the authority and integrity of news. The Trust Indicators are based in robust user-centered design research and respond to public needs and wants. For more, visit thetrustproject.org/faq/ .

Media Contact:

Nettie Reynolds

The Trust Project

[email protected] / 512-815-0520

SOURCE The Trust Project

Related Links

https://www.thetrustproject.org


Filmmaker Vikram Bhatt has praised Kangana Ranauts acting prowess while insisting that she has all the rights to voice her opinions. She must, however, be ready for responses to her opinions as well, the filmmaker added. This comes after Kangana blamed Mahesh Bhatt for Sushant Singh Rajputs death.

Sushant was found dead in his Mumbai residence on June 14 and agencies are probing the case. Meanwhile, Kangana has been issuing statements, sharing her views on the case. Soon after Sushants girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty appeared for her first interview after being named in an FIR filed by Sushants family, Kangana had tweeted, Only 2 things to take away from #RheaChakrobarty interview,first she said Movie mafia discredited and harassed him also planted organised smear campaigns which broke his mind,2nd she did not say that after that vultures like her and Mahesh Bhatt killed him again.

Only 2 things to take away from #RheaChakrobarty interview,first she said Movie mafia discredited and harassed him also planted organised smear campaigns which broke his mind,2nd she did not say that after that vultures like her and Mahesh Bhatt killed him again #ShameOnAajTak  Kangana Ranaut (@KanganaTeam) August 27, 2020

She also shared a video of Sushant paragliding and tweeted, Fact #Sushant had no fear of flying who came up with this tacky script? Mahesh Bhatt or Javed Akhtar ?

Fact #Sushant had no fear of flying who came up with this tacky script? Mahesh Bhatt or Javed Akhtar ? https://t.co/cSguoR5Bb4  Kangana Ranaut (@KanganaTeam) August 27, 2020

Kangana has been actively blaming movie mafia for sidelining Sushant. She has named Karan Johar and Mahesh Bhatt, accusing them of unfairly promoting industry people while ignoring talent that comes from outside the film industry.

Also Watch l Sushant death, nepotism row, Hrithik Roshan: How controversies follow Kangana

Asked if Bollywoods big production houses will work with Kangana, Vikram told Navbharat Times, Now the question is, is Kangana a good actor? I would say, yes, she is. She has proved it with her performances and you cannot take that away from her. Kangana can make her own films. I dont think Kangana has ever worked in a Yash Raj Films film. I guess she worked in a film with Karan Johar but now neither she will work with him nor will Karan work with her. However, she will get work and its not like she will completely be boycotted.

Explaining that Kangana is the kind of person who shares views with everyone, instead of keeping it to herself, Vikram also said that since she takes to political statements, she must be ready for people to respond in similar vein. This is independent India. How can someone be stopped from saying what they want to? But definitely, if you annoy someone, they will react to it and one should be prepared to face the reactions and the consequences. If you throw a loose ball then someone will definitely hit a six. If you make political statements then people will also play politics with you. He added that since she directs and writes her own films, there isnt much left for a person like him to do. If I work with her, then I have to give the clap during the shoot and work as a clapper boy, he said.

Also read: Kareena Kapoor posts rare throwback with granddad Raj Kapoor to wish cousin Riddhima: Sister sledge

Vikram and Mahesh worked together in early 90s after the former had gained some experience working with Mukul Anand and Shekhar Kapur.

Follow @htshowbiz for more

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(Natural News) Mention the term certified organic and images of fruits and vegetables grown without the use of harmful chemicals by small farmers using ethical practices would come to mind.

According to guidelines released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), fruits or vegetables can only carry the certified organic brand if they were grown in soil that wasnt treated with any synthetic fertilizers or pesticides three years prior to the harvest. Furthermore, the guidelines also indicate that any synthetic substance applied to plants for a particular purpose needs to be examined and approved  based on its possible effects on human health and the environment. As with all things organic, the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to grow organic fruits and vegetables is explicitly banned.

It is inevitable that a few questions will come up on what the certified organic label really means. Lets look at some of these.

Does organic mean free of any toxins?

Organic produce is not entirely devoid of toxins, as there are some naturally derived pesticides that may pose a threat to health when used in unnatural concentrations. A notable example of this is rotenone, a natural pesticide used in organic farming that is derived from the roots of Leguminosae plants. It proves effective at killing pests, but also kills fishes when introduced to bodies of water. Rotenones risk to marine life led to its removal from the USDAs list of allowable organic pesticides in Jan. 2019.

Does organic mean grown locally?

Despite organic produce making up around five percent of food being sold in the U.S., only about one percent of farmland in the country is organic. It follows, then, that the U.S. imports organic food from other countries to meet increased consumer demand for organic food. Local farmers find it difficult to meet the demand for organic food mainly because of the three-year no synthetic pesticides requirement. In addition, the carbon footprint generated in the process of bringing in organic produce from another country to the U.S. is not considered in the labeling of organic food.

Does organic mean topsoil is being restored in the process of farming?

The organic farming movement originally aimed to feed the soil by encouraging the growth of nutrient-producing microbes in the soil through minimal tilling and introduction of organic matter. However, organic farming still requires crops to be frequently cultivated to address weed growth. This has the side effect of loosening the topsoil in the process and making it more susceptible to erosion. The degree of topsoil erosion, however, varies with the type of farm growing organic produce: Small farms with different crops may not consider it a problem, but larger farms planting only one crop may address it yearly.

These different notions of what organic really means comes after schisms in the organic movement. One side is advocating for an assembly-line type of organic farming: Sprawling fields of a particular crop, which is harvested and sold in supermarkets. On the other hand, another side focused on the original ideals of organic farming is lamenting that the USDAs weakened standards for the certified organic label no longer reflects what it stood for. Unfortunately, the USDAs relaxed standards for organic produce has permitted the rise of fraudulent labeling  something that the department has vowed to stamp out through tougher enforcement and oversight.

Given these different definitions, a good way to define organic produce would be: Organic produce is farmed without the use of pesticides, whether naturally derived or chemically synthesized, and grown locally by small farmers using methods that maintain soil health.

Find out more about organically farmed produce and their benefits at Organics.news.

Sources include:

EcoWatch.com

USDA.gov

CHM.Bris.ac.uk

AgDaily.com

PRI.org

KerrCenter.com [PDF]

FoodBusinessNews.net
Mumbai, Sep 16 : Spelling huge relief for the Maharashtra government, the State Human Right Commission (SHRC) has concluded that in her much-publicised and controversial alleged visit to the Cooper Hospital Morgue, Bollywood actress Rhea Chakraborty was only in the permitted 'waiting area', a top official said here on Wednesday.

"We have accepted the contentions of the Mumbai Police and BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation after examining their detailed replies and all other supporting documents. The matter is now disposed of," Maharashtra SHRC Acting Chairman M.A. Sayeed told IANS.

As per the replies submitted to the SHRC by the BMC, there is a 'waiting area' where certain categories of people like relatives are permitted, the autopsy room and the main morgue is where the bodies are kept.

The autopsy room is barred for all except the doctors and their attending staff, while the main morgue is absolutely out of bounds for everybody except those specifically authorized to enter it.

"From all the records made available, the person concerned was only in the designated 'waiting area' and not beyond that point. This is the spot where she may have viewed the body of the late actor (Sushant Singh Rajput)," Sayeed added, throwing the shroud over the controversy.

Latest updates on Sushant Singh Rajput Death Mystery

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
WATERLOO REGION  Local COVID-19 testing centres are seeing a sudden surge in demand.

Our site is very busy. Its picked up really since the first week of school, said Sarah Sullivan, operations manager for Grand River Hospitals drive-thru site in Kitchener.

Be prepared to wait.

All four clinics in Waterloo Region  Cambridge, Kitchener and two in Waterloo  are exceptionally busy as numbers have climbed since Labour Day, and theyve added staff to deal with the recent spike.

An increase was expected in September, but the scope and timing caught the sites a bit off-guard.

It was a little bit larger and a little bit quicker than we anticipated, said Julia Ropotyn, co-ordinator for the clinic at Cambridge Memorial Hospital.

More than 300 calls came in on Tuesday to book appointments  about double the usual 150 to 180.

Previously, a lot of appointments were same-day but now theyre the next day.

I think people are more worried about whats going on. Theyre seeing the increased numbers provincially, Ropotyn said.

The Cambridge clinic is seeing more children, usually with their family members also getting tested. More asymptomatic people are coming in too.

Upwards of 165 patients were expected on Wednesday, compared to the previous average of 120 on weekdays. Thursday could bring as many as 200.

We are managing with the volumes, Ropotyn said.

A record 116 people came to the Waterloo testing clinic operated by St. Marys General Hospital on Tuesday.

We have seen a rise in volumes since earlier in September and are working hard to minimize waits for those who arrive without an appointment, said Stephanie Pearsall, program director of surgical services and emergency.

More families are coming for testing. It takes a little longer to swab children as we want to ease some of their potential fear and anxiety.

Testing is available with or without an appointment at the St. Marys clinic on Bathurst Drive. Appointments can now take up to two days. Waits for those without an appointment range from about 20 minutes to an hour, and generally are shorter on weekends when fewer people are getting tested.

Dr. Joe Lee, who provides oversight to the centre on Westmount Road in Waterloo, said the number of people being assessed and tested there is up too, likely due to the return to school and other activities.

Grand Rivers drive-thru testing site is seeing consistently high numbers  usually at least 500 people a day and some days reaching over 600. The daily average had been 400 to 450.

That means longer waits too. Instead of the usual 30 minutes to an hour, people are waiting two hours or longer.

Now were seeing a significant amount of cars in our overflow parking lot, said Sarah Sullivan, the centres site lead.

There are a lot of teachers, university students, people from outside the region, and those who need to prove theyre negative to travel by air. And those are on top of the many people the site tested previously, including some who need regular testing for work or to visit a long-term-care resident.

Sullivan thanks people for their patience, and says the hospital is doing its best to run efficiently to serve the increased number of people wanting to be tested for COVID-19 as the region continues to reopen.

Its reassurance. People want to know that theyre negative, she said.

The University of Waterloo is opening its own on-campus COVID-19 assessment and testing centre for students and employees. Its scheduled to start on Oct. 1, with plans to open more locations on campus in the near future.

Having testing available on campus will help with quickly responding to any positive cases of COVID-19 and aid efforts to contain the spread, said president Feridun Hamdullahpur in a notice on the universitys website.

Along with giving the campus community easy access to testing, the aim is to lighten the load on other testing sites. A referral is not necessary, but students and employees will need to make an appointment.
(CNN)  The US ambassador to Hungary announced Tuesday that he will step down from his post on November 1, two days before the US presidential election.

David Cornstein, a longtime friend of President Donald Trump, said in a statement that he had informed the US President and the Hungarian foreign minister of his decision "with a deep sense of pride, as well as some sadness."

"It has been an honor and a privilege to serve the country that I love in a country that I have come to cherish, but our bilateral relationship is more than just one person," Cornstein said. "Working with the entire team at U.S. Embassy Budapest, both Americans and Hungarians, I am proud of how much we have accomplished together in strengthening our countries' bonds as allies."

"While I will miss Hungary and all the wonderful friends and memories I have made here, my Embassy team, Hungary, and the Hungarian people will always remain in my heart," he said.

Cornstein's statement did not provide a reason for his departure.

A former businessman with no diplomatic experience, Cornstein was tapped by Trump for the role and arrived in Budapest in June 2018.

During his tenure, he courted Prime Minister Viktor Orban -- Hungary's far-right strongman who has suppressed civil society and implemented hardline immigration policies despite the disapproval and concern of the rest of the European Union. Freedom House, a Washington DC-based think tank, said in a May report that Orban's government had "dropped any pretense of respecting democratic institutions" and the country could no longer be considered a democracy.

Cornstein was instrumental in arranging a White House meeting between Orban and Trump in May 2019.

"It's a great honor to have with us here today, the Prime Minister of Hungary. Viktor Orban has done a tremendous job in so many different ways. Highly respected, respected all over Europe. Probably, like me, a little bit controversial, but that's OK," Trump said at the time.

Cornstein's announcement comes a day after the news that another political appointee ambassador -- US Ambassador to China Terry Branstad -- would be leaving his post.

The top US diplomat in Beijing is leaving his post before the November election in part because Trump urged the former governor of Iowa to come back and help him campaign, multiple sources told CNN Monday.

This story was first published on CNN.com US ambassador to Hungary to step down
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce recently came out with its report on promotion of our countrys agriculture and marine exports. A closer reading of the report quantifies extent of fall of Indian agro and marine exports.

It highlights problems faced by Indian exporters. Most export items have plateaued, others have been experiencing a negative growth. Some are falling due to availability of cheaper and better alternatives in international markets, others are negatively affected due to less or lack of quality production in India.

The report, beyond outlining problems, also suggests how to address these issues through direct intervention or sometimes through innovative solutions, such as export only tobacco farms and promotion of international marketing.

India is exporting a very small percentage of total agricultural products produced in quantitative terms. In 2018-2019 we exported just 0.2 per cent of our wheat, 1.3 per cent of our fruits and vegetables and 1.25 per cent of our pulses.

Export of agricultural commodities, with an exception to rice, is less than two per cent of total production with no significant increase for last three years, despite India being one of the largest producers of these commodities.

It is not a case of productivity of our soil needs to increased manifold so even after feeding our population we have a large surplus to export. India is already producing enough surplus, therefore, factors like inefficiency in supply chain, infrastructure development and a higher value addition for promoting agricultural export is needed.

India needs to leverage newly created goodwill in Central Asian countries into trade benefits to augment agro exports of wheat and rice. We must also work towards market exploration of new emerging trade destinations of Egypt, Mexico, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines for Indian rice.

On marine exports, report says there was a 5.8 per cent decline in value of marine exports during the April-December period and a 12 per cent quantity decline. Marine produce should be a profitable venture because of sheer number of people dependent on it, especially in coastal states like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

The parliamentary committee opined that special focus should be accorded to production, marketing and export of shrimp, which comparatively fetches a high price in the international market, especially the United States.

There is huge potential in export of tuna, which if caught in a certain manner with proper know-how can fetch 15 per cent higher revenue. A scheme has to be devised by Central Institute of Fisheries Technology for promoting tuna production and export.

Marine export is an infrastructure heavy sector, right from maintaining a cold-chain of the export items to ensuring proper storage and packaging.

We lost over a quarter of our total marine production was lost due to factors related to poor or non-existent infrastructure.

The potential of marine export is being hampered by inadequate post-harvest infrastructure and dilapidated fishing harbours.

Government must prioritise upgradation of infrastructure facilities and modernization of fishing harbours to augment marine production and export. Centre must ensure upgradation of two fishing harbours at Kochi and Nizamapattanam at the earliest.

Spices, for centuries, have been closely associated with Indian cultural traditions, preservation, medicine, cooking habits and embalming. Spices have been our historical basis of trade with the world, from Egypt to Persians or Europeans.

It is not surprising that India is the largest producer, exporter and consumer of spices in the world. India accounts for 47 per cent in quantity and 43 per cent in value of global spice trade.

Total production of spices, cultivated in all states, was 9.2 million tonnes in 2018-19. Of this, India exported over one million tonnes (12 per cent of total production), while the rest is domestically consumed.

We must ensure that spices with lesser exportable value are not given undue importance at the cost of other more significant spices like cardamom and chilli.

A controversial but important agricultural produce dealt was tobacco. India produces about 800 million kilos of various types of tobacco every year, mostly in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

India is third largest producer and exporter of tobacco in the world, which earned India over Rs 6,000 crore in foreign exchange. The land under tobacco cultivation in India has come down considerable.

With thousands of tobacco farmers dependent on its farming for their livelihoods, steps should be taken for exportable surplus production to enable farmers to earn income without affecting health of our country.

A step could be to have export only tobacco farms for promoting cultivation of tobacco, specifically for export and look at China, worlds largest consumer of tobacco for trade.

The Agricultural Export Policy in 2018 envisaged ways to double agricultural exports by 2022 from present $30 billion to $60 billion. We can achieve it because India has an advantage of huge landmass and varied climatic conditions and is a global leader in producing cereals, fruits and vegetables, spices and milk, but our share in international trade is very low (2.2 per cent).

We must have several ministries like commerce, agriculture, shipping, food processing, finance and external affairs work closely on mission mode to achieve the target. Exports shall be key to doubling income of the farmers and in making India a $5 trillion economy.
Amman/Cairo  Presenter Radwa el-Sherbiny has drawn praise and criticism for remarks on the sensitive issue of women's dress

An Egyptian TV presenter is being investigated by the country's media watchdog after she said women who wore the hijab were "100,000-times better" than those who shunned the traditional headscarf, sparking a fierce online debate.

Women's dress is a sensitive issue in the largely conservative Muslim nation, and while some praised Radwa el-Sherbiny for defending women who opt to wear the headscarf, critics accused the chat show host of fanning prejudice.

"(Commenting) whether against hijabi or non-hijabi women is hateful, refers to a lack of respect and acceptance of other people and incites violence," said Randa Fakhr El Deen, head of the NGOs' Union Against Harmful Practices on Women and Children.

Twitter user Yasmine Mohammed said Sherbiny's remarks smacked of "internalized misogyny".

"Cloth on a head does not make a person better or worse," she wrote.

Fakhr El Deen said Sherbiny's words reflected the views of many socially conservative Egyptians about non-hijab wearers.

However, she said women who use the hijab and particularly the niqab - the full face veil - face discrimination in certain environments where the head coverings are associated with poorer, less-educated social classes.

The country's Supreme Council for Media Regulation watchdog launched an investigation after receiving an unspecified number of complaints from viewers who saw Sherbiny's show.

Sherbiny, who does not wear a headscarf herself, later apologised and said she had not meant to offend women who do not wear the hijab.

The presenter, who could not immediately be contacted for comment, also received messages of support from social media users who adopted the hashtag #SupportRadwa and said her intention to defend hijab-wearers was noble.

"Wearing a hijab in (Egypt) is hard these days because they don't find as many job opportunities and they're banned from so many places let alone the constant judgment from people," wrote Twitter user Amira.

Some bars and pools popular with wealthy or middle-class Egyptians do not allow veiled women to enter.

In July, a video went viral of a woman in a burkini - a conservative swimsuit that women wear to cover their bodies - being asked to get out of the pool at a resort on the country's northern coast.
WASHINGTON - One tweet claimed coronavirus numbers were intentionally inflated, adding, "It's hard to know what to believe." Another warned, "Don't trust Dr. Fauci."

A Facebook comment argued that mail-in ballots "will lead to fraud for this election," while an Instagram comment amplified the erroneous claim that 28 million ballots went missing in the past four elections.

The messages have been emanating in recent months from the accounts of young people in Arizona seemingly expressing their own views - standing up for President Donald Trump in a battleground state and echoing talking points from his reelection campaign.

Far from representing a genuine social media groundswell, however, the posts are the product of a sprawling yet secretive campaign that experts say evades the guardrails put in place by social media companies to limit online disinformation of the sort used by Russia during the 2016 campaign.

Teenagers, some of them minors, are being paid to pump out the messages at the direction of Turning Point Action, an affiliate of Turning Point USA, a prominent conservative youth organization based in Phoenix, according to four people with independent knowledge of the effort. Their descriptions were confirmed by detailed notes from relatives of one of the teenagers who recorded conversations with him about the efforts.

The campaign draws on the spam-like behavior of bots and trolls, with the same or similar language posted repeatedly across social media. But it is carried out, at least in part, by humans paid to use their own accounts, though nowhere disclosing their relationship with Turning Point Action or the digital firm brought in to oversee the day-to-day activity. One user included a link to Turning Point USA's website in his Twitter profile until The Washington Post began asking questions about the activity.

In response to questions from The Post, Twitter on Tuesday suspended at least 20 accounts involved in the activity for "platform manipulation and spam." Facebook also deactivated a number of accounts as part of what the company said is an ongoing investigation.

The effort generated thousands of posts this summer on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, according to an examination by The Post and an assessment by an independent specialist in data science. Nearly 4,500 tweets containing identical content that were identified in the analysis probably represent a fraction of the overall output.

The months-long effort by the tax-exempt nonprofit is among the most ambitious domestic influence campaigns uncovered this election cycle, said experts tracking the evolution of deceptive online tactics.

"In 2016, there were Macedonian teenagers interfering in the election by running a troll farm and writing salacious articles for money," said Graham Brookie, director of the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab. "In this election, the troll farm is in Phoenix."

The effort, Brookie added, illustrates "that the scale and scope of domestic disinformation is far greater than anything a foreign adversary could do to us."

Turning Point Action, whose 26-year-old leader, Charlie Kirk, delivered the opening speech at this year's Republican National Convention, issued a statement from the group's field director defending the social media campaign and saying any comparison to a troll farm was a "gross mischaracterization."

"This is sincere political activism conducted by real people who passionately hold the beliefs they describe online, not an anonymous troll farm in Russia," the field director, Austin Smith, said in the statement.

He said the operation reflected an attempt by Turning Point Action to maintain its advocacy despite the challenges presented by the coronavirus pandemic, which has curtailed many traditional political events.

"Like everyone else, Turning Point Action's plans for nationwide in-person events and activities were completely disrupted by the pandemic," Smith said. "Many positions TPA had planned for in field work were going to be completely cut, but TPA managed to reimagine these roles and working with our marketing partners, transitioned some to a virtual and online activist model."

The group declined to make Kirk available for an interview.

The online salvo targeted prominent Democratic politicians and news organizations on social media. It mainly took the form of replies to their posts, part of a bid to reorient political conversation.

The messages - some of them false and some simply partisan - were parceled out in precise increments as directed by the effort's leaders, according to the people with knowledge of the highly coordinated activity, most of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect the privacy of minors carrying out the work.

One parent of two teenagers involved in the effort, Robert Jason Noonan, said his 16- and 17-year-old daughters were being paid by Turning Point to push "conservative points of view and values" on social media. He said they have been working with the group since about June, adding in an interview, "The job is theirs until they want to quit or until the election."

Four years ago, the Kremlin-backed Internet Research Agency amplified Turning Point's right-wing memes as part of Moscow's sweeping interference aimed at boosting Trump, according to expert assessments prepared for the Senate Intelligence Committee. One report pointed specifically to the use of Turning Point content as evidence of Russia's "deep knowledge of American culture, media, and influencers."

Now, some technology industry experts contend that the effort this year by Turning Point shows how domestic groups are not just producing eye-catching online material but also increasingly using social media to spread it in disruptive or misleading ways.

"It sounds like the Russians, but instead coming from Americans," said Jacob Ratkiewicz, a software engineer at Google whose academic research, as a PhD student at Indiana University at Bloomington, addressed the political abuse of social media.

To some participants, the undertaking feels very different. Notes from the recorded conversation with a 16-year-old participant - the authenticity of which was confirmed by The Post - indicate that "He said it's really fun and he works with his friends." The participant, through family members, declined to comment.

The users active in the campaign, some of whom were using their real names, identified themselves only as Trump supporters and young Republicans. One simply described herself as a high school sophomore interested in softball and cheerleading.

Noonan, 46, said "some of the comments may go too far" but cast the activity as a response to similar exaggerations by Democrats. "Liberals say things that are way out there, and conservatives say things that are sometimes way out there, or don't have enough evidence."

Those recruited to participate in the campaign were lifting the language from a shared online document, according to Noonan and other people familiar with the setup. They posted the same lines a limited number of times to avoid automated detection by the technology companies, these people said. They also were instructed to edit the beginning and ending of each snippet to differentiate the posts slightly, according to the notes from the recorded conversation with a participant.

Noonan said his daughters sometimes work from an office in the Phoenix area and are classified as independent contractors, not earning "horrible money" but also not making minimum wage. Relatives of another person involved said the minor is paid an hourly rate and can score bonuses if his posts spur higher engagement.

Smith, as part of written responses to The Post, deferred specific questions about the financial setup to a "marketing partner" called Rally Forge, which he said was running the program for Turning Point.

Jake Hoffman, president and chief executive of the Phoenix-based digital marketing firm, confirmed that the online workers were classified as contractors but declined to comment further on "private employment matters." He did not respond to a question about the office setup.

Addressing the use of centralized documents to prepare the messages, Hoffman said in written responses, "Every working team within my agency works out of dozens of collaborative documents every day, as is common with all dynamic marketing agencies or campaign phone banks for example."

The messages have appeared mainly as replies to news articles about politics and public health posted on social media. They seek to cast doubt on the integrity of the electoral process, asserting that Democrats are using mail balloting to steal the election - "thwarting the will of the American people," they alleged.

The posts also play down the threat from the novel coronavirus, which claimed the life of Turning Point's co-founder Bill Montgomery in July. One post, which was spread across social media dozens of times, suggested baselessly that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is inflating the death toll from the disease. (Most experts say deaths are probably undercounted.) Another pushed for schools to reopen, saying, "President Trump is not worried because younger people do very well while dealing with covid."

Much of the blitz was aimed squarely at Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee. The former vice president, asserted one message, "is being controlled by behind the scenes individuals who want to take America down the dangerous path towards socialism."

By seeking to rebut mainstream news articles, the operation illustrates the extent to which some online political activism is designed to discredit the media.

While Facebook and Twitter have pledged to crack down on what they have labeled coordinated inauthentic behavior, in Facebook's case, and platform manipulation and spam, as Twitter defines its rules, their efforts falter in the face of organizations willing to pay users to post on their own accounts, maintaining the appearance of independence and authenticity.

In removing accounts Tuesday, Twitter pointed to policies specifying, "You can't artificially amplify or disrupt conversations through the use of multiple accounts." That includes "coordinating with or compensating others to engage in artificial engagement or amplification, even if the people involved use only one account," according to Twitter.

On Twitter, the nearly verbatim language emanated from about two dozen accounts through the summer. The exact number of people posting the messages was not clear. Smith, the Turning Point field director, said, "The number fluctuates and many have gone back to school." Hoffman, in an email, said, "Dozens of young people have been excited to share their beliefs on social media."

The Rally Forge leader is a city council member in Queen Creek, Ariz., and a candidate for the state legislature.

Some of the users at points listed their location as Gilbert, Ariz., a suburb of Phoenix, according to screen shots reviewed by The Post. Some followed each other on Twitter, while most were following only a list of prominent politicians and media outlets.

One was followed by a former member of Congress, Republican Tim Huelskamp of Kansas, who is on the Catholics for Trump advisory board. Huelskamp said he could not recall what led him to follow the account and was not familiar with the effort by Turning Point. But he praised the group for "doing a great job of messaging, particularly with younger folks."

Several teenagers were using their real names or variations of their names, while other accounts active in posting the pro-Trump messaging appeared to be operating under pseudonyms. The Post's review found that some participants seem to maintain multiple accounts on Facebook, which is a violation of the company's policies.

Explaining why the users do not disclose that they are being paid as political activists, Hoffman said they are "using their own personal profiles and sharing their content that reflects their values and beliefs." He pointed to the risk of online bullying, as well as physical harm, in explaining why "we've left how much personal and professional information they wish to share up to them."

The accounts on Twitter posted 4,401 tweets with identical content, not including slight variations of the language, according to Pik-Mai Hui, a PhD student in informatics at Indiana University at Bloomington who performed an analysis of the content at the request of The Post. The analysis found characteristics strongly suggestive of bots - such as double commas and dangling commas that often appear with automatic scripts - though at least some of the accounts were being operated by humans.

While the messaging appears designed to seed pro-Trump content across social media, said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, a professor of communication at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication, the act of repeated posting also helps instill the ideas among those performing the activity. In addition, it familiarizes the users with the ways of online combat, she said, and makes their accounts valuable assets should different needs arise as the election nears.

"There is a logic to having an army locally situated in a battleground state, having them up and online and ready to be deployed," Jamieson said.

Turning Point Action debuted as a 501(c)(4) organization last year, with more leeway in undertaking political advocacy than is afforded to the original group, which is barred from campaign activity as a 501(c)(3). Both nonprofits are required only to disclose the salaries of directors, officers and key employees, said Marc Owens, a tax attorney with Loeb & Loeb.

Turning Point dates to 2012, when Montgomery, retired from a career in marketing, heard Kirk, 18 at the time, deliver a speech in the Chicago suburbs at Benedictine University's "Youth Government Day." He called the address "practically Reaganesque," according to a 2015 profile in Crain's Chicago Business newspaper, and urged Kirk, a former Eagle Scout, to put off college in favor of full-time political activism. Kirk became the face of Turning Point, while Montgomery was "the old guy who keeps it all legal," he told the business weekly.

The organization amassed prominent and wealthy conservative allies, including Richard Grenell, the former ambassador to Germany and acting director of national intelligence, and Foster Friess, who made a fortune in mutual funds and helps bankroll conservative and Christian causes. Both men sit on Turning Point's honorary board.

Its standing rose significantly as Trump came to power. Turning Point USA brought in nearly $80,000 in contributions and other funds in the fiscal year ending June 2013, according to IRS filings, a fraction of the $8 million it reported for 2017 and $11 million for 2018.

The group, which describes itself as the "largest and fastest-growing youth organization in America," claims to have a presence on more than 2,000 college and high school campuses. It hosts activist conferences and runs an alumni program. It also maintains a "Professor Watchlist" designed to expose instructors who "discriminate against conservative students, promote anti-American values and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom."

Kirk, the group's president and co-founder, has been embraced and promoted by Trump and his family. Speaking at Turning Point USA's Teen Student Action Summit last year, Trump hailed Kirk for building a "movement unlike anything in the history of our nation." A quote attributed to Donald Trump Jr., who has appeared at numerous Turning Point events, features prominently on the group's website: "I'm convinced that the work by Turning Point USA and Charlie Kirk will win back the future of America."

Kirk has returned the praise. In his speech at last month's Republican nominating convention, he extolled Trump as the "bodyguard of Western civilization."

Equally impassioned rhetoric marked the campaign on social media, with posts asserting that Black Lives Matter protesters were "fascist groups . . . terrorizing American citizens" and decrying the "BLM Marxist agenda," among other incendiary language.

Noonan said that his wife, a hairstylist, monitors the online activity of their daughters more closely than he does, and that their work is often a topic of conversation when the family convenes in the evening.

"We are Trump supporters, but one of the things my wife and I have been very consistent on is to always understand both sides and make decisions from there," the father said.
At some point, Metzger said, the driver hit a sign post and a tree, jumped a curb and got onto the sidewalk. She said the deliveryman was struck, followed by the woman and children, who were on 18th Street. It is not clear how close the man was to the other victims.
He's been enjoying the summer months embracing his passion for surfing after relocating to the West Coast during the COVID-19 pandemic.

And on Tuesday, Jonah Hill was spotted picking up some food to go in Santa Monica.

The Hollywood star, 36, rocked his signature Adidas Superstar trainers as he ran his errands.

Nifty footwear: Jonah Hill was spotted picking up some food to go in Santa Monica. The Hollywood star, 36, rocked his signature Adidas Superstar trainers as he ran his errands

Hill paired his sneakers with a baggy navy polo shirt and light blue shorts and added calf-length navy socks.

He sported a pair of spectacles and wore a blue Adidas cloth face mask.

The actor, producer and director, who was born in LA, has spent most of the past several years living in New York City.

However, late last year, he and fiancee Gianna Santos purchased a home in Santa Monica, that sits on the ocean to the west of Los Angeles.

On the go: Hill paired his sneakers with a baggy navy polo shirt and light blue shorts and added calf-length navy socks. He sported a pair of spectacles and wore a blue Adidas cloth face mask

Supporting a cause: The Wolf Of Wall Street and Moneyball star has pledged to donate 100 percent of his royalties from sales of his Adidas Superstar sneakers to Black Lives Matter

The multi-hyphenate is one of several celebrities to partner with Adidas to create their take on the brand's Superstar trainer.

The shoes were launched in July and Hill pledged on social media to donate 100 percent of his royalties from sales to Black Lives Matter.

Meanwhile, Hypebeast.com reports that Adidas will release Hill's take on its Originals Samba sneakers next month.

One pair will be a Samba in Green Night/Mineral Green/Ecru Tint and have the Wolf Of Wall Street and Moneyball star's initial on the heel tab.

There will also be a pair in Maroon/Noble Maroon/Ecru Tint with the handwritten branding in orange.

Hybeast reports that both Originals Samba sneakers with feature Hill's signature tiger emblem in a tonal shade of green or red and theyb will become available to purchase via the Adidas website on November 14.
Measuring whale sharks. Credit: Andre Rereuka / AIMS

A decade-long study of the iconic fish has found male whale sharks grow quickly, before plateauing at an average adult length of about eight or nine meters.

Female whale sharks grow more slowly but eventually overtake the males, reaching an average adult length of about 14 meters.

Australian Institute of Marine Science fish biologist Dr. Mark Meekan, who led the research, said whale sharks have been reported up to 18 meters long.

"That's absolutely hugeabout the size of a bendy bus on a city street," he said.

"But even though they're big, they're growing very, very slowly. It's only about 20cm or 30cm a year."

In conducting the research, scientists visited Western Australia's Ningaloo Reef for 11 seasons between 2009 and 2019.

They tracked 54 whale sharks as they grewa feat made possible by a unique 'fingerprint' of spots on each whale shark that can be used to identify individual fish.

AIMS marine scientist Dr. Brett Taylor said the team recorded more than 1000 whale shark measurements using stereo-video cameras.

"It's basically two cameras set up on a frame that you push along when you're underwater," he said.

"It works the same way our eyes doso you can calibrate the two video recordings and get a very accurate measurement of the shark."

Dr Mark Meekan, corresponding author, speaks about his research on whale sharks. Credit: AIMS

The study also included data from whale sharks in aquaria.

Dr. Meekan said it is the first evidence that males and female whale sharks grow differently.

For the females, there are huge advantages to being big, he said.

"Only one pregnant whale shark had ever been found, and she had 300 young inside her," Dr. Meekan said.

"That's a remarkable number, most sharks would only have somewhere between two and a dozen.

"So these giant females are probably getting big because of the need to carry a whole lot of pups."

Whale sharks are Western Australia's marine emblem, and swimming with the iconic fish at Ningaloo Reef boosts the local economy to the tune of $24 million a year.

But they were listed as endangered in 2016.

Dr. Meekan said the discovery has huge implications for conservation, with whale sharks threatened by targeted fishing and ships strikes.

Whale shark (Rhincodon typus), the world's largest fish species. Credit: Andre Rereuka / AIMS

"If you're a very slow-growing animal and it takes you 30 years or more to get to maturity, the chances of disaster striking before you get a chance to breed is probably quite high," he said.

"And that's a real worry for whale sharks."

Dr. Meekan said the finding also explains why gatherings of whale sharks in tropical regions are made up almost entirely of young males.

"They gather to exploit an abundance of food so they can maintain their fast growth rates," he said.

Dr. Taylor said learning that whale sharks plateau in their growth goes against everything scientists previously thought.

"This paper has really re-written what we know about whale shark growth," he said.

Explore further The size of a bus, rare and endangered whale shark spotted off Florida coast

More information: Mark G. Meekan et al, Asymptotic Growth of Whale Sharks Suggests Sex-Specific Life-History Strategies, Frontiers in Marine Science (2020). Mark G. Meekan et al, Asymptotic Growth of Whale Sharks Suggests Sex-Specific Life-History Strategies,(2020). DOI: 10.3389/fmars.2020.575683
ITBiometrics has a Regulation A IPO planned within the next twelve months, where even non-accredited investors will be able to invest and have publicly traded stock in our company.

ITBiometrics, a USA-based biometrics company that specializes in security for online financial transactions using biometric identity authentication, is announcing its Reg D offering, and can now accept investments from accredited investors with a minimum investment of $5,000. https://itbiometrics.com/investors/

Accredited investors can participate by investing in a convertible note that pays 8% per year and converts to ITBiometrics stock at a 50% discount just prior to a planned Regulation A IPO.

Founder Howard Prager states, ITBiometrics has a Regulation A IPO planned within the next twelve months, where even non-accredited investors will be able to invest and have publicly traded stock in our company.

ITBiometrics plans on strategically partnering with investors to help scale manufacturing and distribution of their OEM hardware products with biometric technology so more businesses, governments, and individuals can benefit from greatly increased security.

Our powerful new products, the ITBx, and the BCD, are poised to completely transform identity authentication. Funding means well be able to quickly penetrate the market, invest in product development, and move faster towards universal adoption, states Prager.

ITBiometrics team of veteran startup executives and visionary inventors has a singular vision, to provide biometric solutions to completely eliminate fraud and hacking. With an increasing need for crypto security and secure credentialing, the ITBiometrics team developed the ITBx Fingerprint Wallet and the Biometric Credentialing Device to tackle these problems.

The ITBx is a fingerprint hardware wallet that is specifically designed for those who want the security of knowing their data, encrypted by their fingerprint, cannot be lost even if they lose the ITBx. Since it is carried in their fingerprint, it can be restored with it, and the seed file that provides the decryption code, using another ITBx.

The Biometric Credentialing Device (BCD) simplifies and secures purchases, transactions, and logins with only a fingerprint. No need to worry about entering passwords or all of the information about your credit card account ever again. In 0.55 seconds you will be buying what you want.

These products have the opportunity to take advantage of biometrics in a way that expedites transactions, reduces theft, prevents fraud, and gives you an entirely new level of financial security. Investing in ITBiometrics means youre helping us create a more secure and stress-free world through biometric authentication," Prager explains.

To learn more about ITBiometrics products please visit ITBiometrics.com.

Investors interested in the ITBiometrics Reg D offering, please go to: https://itbiometrics.com/investors/

Howard Prager, Chairman

+1 (855) 461-1171

Media Contact:

Gene Massey

gene(at)mediashares(dot)com

1 (310) 871-3668

About ITBiometrics

ITBiometrics, Inc. is a USA corporation specializing in security for online financial transactions using biometric identity authentication. ITBiometrics manufactures OEM hardware products with leading biometric technology integration for use by businesses, governments, and individuals in high-security use cases. For more information visit https://ITBiometrics.com or follow us on Facebook @ITBiometrics or Twitter @ITBiometrics.
Khafy had been in the United Kingdom for the past six months due to the Covid-19 restrictions on international flights and Gedoni seems so excited to see her again.

In the video that is already making rounds on social media platforms, Gedoni was seen welcoming the British born with a bouquet of flowers and both of them were seen kissing and hugging endlessly.

Watch video below;
She's a busy mother-of-one who balances household duties with her demanding job as an Instagram influencer.

And on Tuesday, former Big Brother star Skye Wheatley, 26, announced on Instagram that she's on the hunt for a 'full time live-in nanny' to help ease the domestic workload and look after her son Forest, one.

Bizarrely, however, Skye said she refuses to hire anyone that follows her on Instagram or has any idea about her celebrity status.

'I don't really want them to know who I am': Instagram influencer Skye Wheatley, 26, (right) revealed on Tuesday she's looking for a live-in nanny to look after her son Forest, one, (left) - but refuses to hire anyone that follows her on Instagram

In a lengthy essay, Skye explained that she 'just needs help' with cleaning, cooking, house chores and looking after Forest.

'I don't really want them to know who I am which is why this is kinda stupid [of] me putting this on my Instagram,' the online model admitted.

'But if anyone knows any friend of a friend of a friend or if anyone knows anyone that isn't huge on social media please let me know,' she added.

Too busy for housework? In a lengthy essay, Skye explained that she 'just needs help' with cleaning, cooking, house chores and looking after Forest

Unusual request: In a subsequent post, Skye clarified that she won't be hiring a 'current follower', adding: 'I really want someone who doesn't know me or my business already'

The blonde, who boasts 616K followers on Instagram, claimed that while most Instagram stars 'keep this part of their lives super private', she wants to be transparent with her followers.

'I'm someone who loves working in a team and I've always needed extra help in my life,' she insisted.

In a subsequent post, Skye clarified that she won't be hiring a 'current follower', adding: 'I really want someone who doesn't know me or my business already.'

Busy work schedule: Skye spends her day promoting brands on Instagram to her 616K followers on Instagram

She welcomed Forest with her tradie boyfriend Lachlan Waugh back in 2018.

Last month, the Gold Coast glamazon hinted she's planning to welcome a second child by sharing sharing a very telling Instagram post.

Posing for a mirror selfie with Lachlan and Forest, Skye wrote in the caption: 'I asked Forest if he wanted or sister or a brother and he said 'yes''.
Customers can make a donation at the register September 16 through October 6 to help provide meals to seniors in need through Feeding America Member Food Banks

Food Lion Feeds Bagged Apple Campaign

Food Lion Feeds Bagged Apple Campaign September 16 - October 6, 2020

Food Lion Feeds Bagged Apple Campaign September 16 - October 6, 2020

SALISBURY, N.C., Sept. 16, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Food Lion is partnering with its customers to help end hunger in the towns and cities it serves. For every bag of specially-marked Food Lion gala apples purchased in-store beginning today, September 16, Food Lion Feeds will make a donation to Feeding America member food banks.



In 2019, the bagged apple campaign helped to provide one million meals to families and their neighbors in need across Food Lions 10-state footprint.

The bags will maintain an MVP sale price of $2.99 throughout the campaign. The number of meals* provided to each food bank will be based on the number of participating bagged apples sold in each member food banks service area.

Since 2014, customers have helped to provide more than nine million meals** through the sale of the specially marked apples. This years bagged apples are anticipated to help provide more than 1 million meals.

At Food Lion, we know that far too many of our neighbors in the towns and cities we serve are food-insecure, said Jennifer Blanchard, director of community relations at Food Lion. This gala apple bag campaign is a reminder that fresh and nutritious food is a critical component for food banks to fight hunger in the towns and cities we both serve. This campaign is one of the many ways that our customers can help nourish our neighbors in need and set them up for success.

Food Lion is working to create a better tomorrow by uniting with customers and partners to help eliminate the difficult choices many families are forced to make when they are struggling with hunger. Through Food Lion Feeds, the company has made a commitment to provide 1 billion more meals*** to individuals and families in need by the end of 2025. The company achieved its previous goal of donating 500 million meals in early 2019.

Story continues

For more information on Food Lion Feeds, visit www.foodlion.com/feeds.

*$1 helps provide at least 10 meals secured by Feeding America on behalf of local member food banks. Through the apple bag campaign, $0.50 (monetary equivalent of 5 meals) from each bag purchase will be donated to Feeding America and member food banks. Food Lion guarantees a minimum donation of $100,000 (monetary equivalent of 1 million meals) from September 16  October 6, 2020. For more information, visit www.foodlion.com/feeds.

**A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the Gala Apple Bags was donated to Feeding America. The 9 million meal equivalent includes financial donations made by Food Lion to Feeding America with the Apple Bag Campaign between September 2014October 2019 using the following calculations: 2014: $1 helps provide at least 10 meals; 2015: $1 helps provide at least 11 meals; 2016: $1 helps provide at least 11 meals; 2017: $1 helps provide at least 11 meals; 2018: $1 helps provide at least 10 meals; 2019: $1 helps provide at least 10 meals.

***One billion more meals will be provided through a combination of product, financial and equipment donations; disaster relief and recovery efforts; volunteer events; in-store retail campaigns; Food Lion Feeds retail food rescue program; and other sources.

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 Feeding America

Feeding America is the largest hunger-relief organization in the United States. Through a network of 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries and meal programs, we provide meals to more than 40 million people each year. Feeding America also supports programs that prevent food waste and improve food security among the people we serve; educates the public about the problem of hunger; and advocates for legislation that protects people from going hungry. Individuals, charities, businesses and government all have a role in ending hunger. Donate. Volunteer. Advocate. Educate. Together we can solve hunger. Visit www.feedingamerica.org , find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter .

CONTACTS: Emma Inman, APR

757-408-0110

Emma.Inman@foodlion.com



Kelly Powell

219-742-7053

Kelly.Powell@foodlion.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/92ef0335-0916-4b1f-8593-9fc328411da7




The Progressive Peoples Party (PPP) has promised to abolish the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) should the party be voted into power in the upcoming 2020 presidential polls.



This was made known by the partys flagbearer Brigitte Dzogbenuku in an interview on Citi TV.



Madam Dzogbenuku said the party will ensure that most Ghanaians are educated to the Senior High School level.



We will abolish BECE because every child must be educated at least to the SHS levelIf everybody is educated to the SHS level and at least can read and write, Ghana will have a different kind of society where people are more informed and are more empowered. Examinations are not the only way to check people.



There can be regular assessment of the school and of the systems of how the teachers are performing and then the exam becomes the ultimate. We cant use only exams to test kids because that is not the best test of a school or an education system.



Madam Dzogbenuku added that the PPP will ensure the compulsory implementation of Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) to increase access to education.



We will implement Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education to its fullest because the enforcers of that policy havent done their work well and that is why we see students loitering around without doing anything. We must also hold parents accountable so we can have the proper checks and balances in the schools to know which student is absent and why such a student is not in school.



First of all the government sectors must work. The education sector must also work and work efficiently to have an inspectorate board to make sure students who ought to be in school are in school and at the right time.



Brigitte Dzogbenuku pledges to restore hope to Ghanaians

Madam Brigitte Dzogbenuku has already promised to restore hope to Ghanaians. She has given assurances that the PPP will introduce bold ideas that will transform Ghana if voters welcome a third force.



We have been so disappointed and disempowered repeatedly with each subsequent election that we have lost hope and trust, even in our own capabilities, and in our own power to change things. I, as flagbearer of the PPP, Im here to restore that hope and give you trust again.





Source: citinewsroom.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State has asked the heads of the state-owned tertiary institutions to be responsible for the implementation of the new minimum wage for their workers.

The governor said the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted negatively on the states revenue generation capacity and demanded that whatever is given to these institutions as subventions should be augmented with the internally generated revenues across the campuses.

But some members of management of the affected institutions, who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES on the matter, described the directive as unrealistic. They said that the governor is not unaware of their lean purse, and that shouldering such responsibility would simply mean that nothing else can be done in the institutions apart from salary payments.

Members of various workers unions across the Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH), Lagos State University (LASU), Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education (AOCOED), Michael Otedola College of Primary Education (MOCPED), among others, had on Monday disrupted resumption activities on the various campuses.

The protesting workers under the umbrella of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU), Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnics (SSANIP) and the College of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU), among others, had accused the government of exempting them in the implementation of the N30,000 new minimum wage.

But responding to PREMIUM TIMES enquiry, the special adviser to the governor on education, Tokunbo Wahab, said the resolve of the administration is that the institutions should be responsible for the implementation.

According to a statement issued by the official and dated September 14, the government asked the institutions to pay workers salaries to avoid situations that look more like deliberate sabotaging of the efforts of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu-led administration as we prepare for schools resumption this week.

The statement further read; We wish to state categorically that Lagos State University, like other subvented MDAs, collects the sum of N450,000,000.00 (Four hundred and fifty million naira) every month from the Lagos State Government as subvention. The Government expects the institutions to also be responsible in the application of the funds and the staffing of the institutions. We must also have at the back of our mind that they have IGR which they generate and are not accountable to the government on how the same is expended.

Aside the subvention, the government is also responsible for the infrastructural developments (which include the recently approved 8,000 plus bed hostel in this same LASU) of the institutions and other ancillary things including payment for accreditation exercise for which the last one cost the government close to N500m.

Mr Wahab added that both the states polytechnic and AOCOED receive N210 million monthly while the Michael Otedola College of Primary Education receives N125 million monthly.

Institutions managements kick

In their separate reactions to the development, both the provost of MOCPED, Nasiru Onibon, and an official of the bursary unit of LASU, who craved anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, expressed their dissatisfaction.

According to Mr Onibon, out of the N125 million subvention received by the institution, N121 million is spent monthly as gross salary payment including workers taxes and deductions without the implementation of the new minimum wage.

The provost said; As an institution of just a little above 1,000 students that charges between N18,000 and N25,000 as fees depending on courses of study, we generate just around N30 million annually. Our degree programme with the University of Ibadan also fetches us between N70 million and N80 million annually which is shared between the two institutions. When you add this to the balance of roughly N4 million left from subvention, then we have a little above N100 million annually.

So when you compare the expenditure including capital and running cost, payment of allowances, conduct of examinations, purchase of diesel and facilities maintenance, you would realise that except we are not sincere with ourselves, there is no way we can run effectively if we should attempt to implement the new minimum wage.

In a similar development, the LASU official said he was surprised that the government was proud to announce a monthly subvention of N450 million to the university, saying workers salaries alone cost the university N560 million every month.

According to the source, though the understanding reached with the university was that the government would pay salary while internally generated revenues should be used to take care of running cost, allowances, maintenances, among others, but on a monthly basis, the university coughs out N110 million to augment the deficit.

The source said; It is understandable that times are hard as incomes for both government and institutions have been affected as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, but we must communicate appropriately to the affected workers. LASU only charges N25,000 for the regular students and how much do we generate monthly or even annually?

From ground zero, the new administration picked LASU up to achieve what we now have, which is a pride of the state and the country by extension. I strongly believe there is a need for us to iron this out properly. Our workers have a right to demand their pay, and we must engage them adequately, as authorities have been trying to do, and not engaging in buck passing.

Meanwhile, the acting rector of LASPOTECH, Olumide Metilelu, said he would respond to the development appropriately soon.

I have an appointment with the house of assembly today, once I am done, I will get back to you, Mr Metilelu said on Wednesday.

His response, however, did not come as of the time of filing this report.

Solution

Meanwhile, the provost has appealed to the government to reconsider its position, saying to resolve the matter, the government must jerk up the subventions allocated to each of the institutions.

Like a father to a child, we will still go to government to support us by increasing the subventions because that is the only way to address this matter, Mr Onibon said.

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Similarly, the source at LASU said the situation is not new. He said whenever there is a salary increase, the government usually intervenes by increasing subvention.

Without such intervention, there is no institution that can meet the new demands. For instance, instead of the N560 million we currently pay as salary monthly, we will need about 800 million every month to implement the new minimum wage, the source said.
The Government is in an absolute mess over its Covid communications, with new contradictory statements emerging from ministers, the Taoiseach was told in the Dail  as he promised an explanatory leaflet would be sent to every household in the State.

Taoiseach Micheal Martin hit back at his leading critic, Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald, accusing her of undermining public health advice through her attacks.

She then retaliated, saying: Instead of snapping at me, do your job and actually set the information out.

Ms McDonald said two ministers  Paschal Donohoe and Michael McGrath  had contradicted each other today on whether Dubliners could leave the capital under the new rules.

Mr Martin said: Those living in Dublin should limit travel outside the city. Theres not a regulation, there is not a legal restriction. That is the advice.

He told Ms McDonald: You knew that  but wanted to come in here and say: Confusion, chaos. I genuinely think you are doing a disservice. Your entire attitude is not to seek clarity, but to undermine public health advice.

Labour Party leader Alan Kelly called on Mr Martin to tell Dubliners whether they should go to weddings outside the capital or on staycations elsewhere in the country  Yes or no?

Mr Kelly said he didnt know what to tell people who contacted him and said there was real confusion. It was a disaster, he added.

Read More

The Taoiseach said: I have made it clear that people should not travel outside Dublin, if possible. Thats the advice. The Government followed Nphet [National Public Health Emergency Team] advice in relation to Dublin.

A leaflet is to be sent to every house in the country to explain the plan, he said.

Ms McDonald said there was chaos and confusion and it was causing very considerable anxiety for people.

She welcomed the news that Health Minister Stephen Donnelly had received a negative result within hours for his Covid test, but said his experience did not tally with that of others who had to suffer long delays in receiving results.

There should be a universal standard for a speedy delivery of tests and the turnaround of their results, she said, pointing out that two targets set out months ago  for a 100,000 test capacity per week, plus a 24-hour turnaround for results  had not yet been met. She asked when this would happen.

I think the people have lost confidence in your handling of this. People are not just confused  they are beside themselves, she said.

Mr Martin said the Sinn Fein leader was undermining genuine and significant efforts to improve the situation, and insisted there had been some successes.

The HSE had today surpassed a cumulative total of one million tests carried out, he said.

Last week saw a 70pc increase in community testing requests from GPs and they [the HSE] have managed to deal with that, Mr Martin said.

There is a daily capacity now of 15,000. It is more crucial than the 100,000 weekly figure.

Some 11,000 tests were for the community, with the reminder carried out in the acute hospitals, the Taoiseach added.

Lets acknowledge the significant ramping-up of the testing system, he said, adding that it had been invented in mid-flight.

The new national Covid plan called for 3,000 staff in the dedicated test-and-trace force, and recruitment was under way, Mr Martin said. There would be test facilities in every county.

The overall plan with five levels was a good one, he said, and added that Ireland was one of the first EU states to come up with a plan of this kind.

The advice on Dublin had been specific and Nphet may come up with further recommendations when it meets tomorrow.

Ms McDonald spoke about GPs complaining about the inability to get a speedy turnaround of results.

Your words today only add to the anxiety and confusion, she told the Taoiseach. And you havent been on your own. Your Ministers have added to it.

Instead of snapping at me, do your job and actually set the information out, she added.
While TikToks future in the US is starting to become clear, the weeks of uncertainty surrounding the app has undeniably helped one of its biggest rivals. Im not talking about Instagram, but music video app Triller, which has surged in popularity amid TikToks reckoning.

Now the app has nabbed TikToks biggest star: Charli DAmelio, who has 87 million followers on the app. She officially joined Triller Tuesday, along with her sister and parents, who each also has a massive audience on TikTok. As The Verge notes, its not an exclusive arrangement, so the DAmelio family likely arent abandoning their TikTok accounts any time soon, but its still a major get for Triller.

follow my triller teehee  charli damelio (@charlidamelio) September 15, 2020

The app has recently ramped up its outreach to influencers as it tries to expand its reach and build on its recent growth. Speaking today at TechCrunch Disrupt, Triller CEO Mike Lu said the company has begun to make deals with influencers, including the DAmelio, though he didnt share details of the arrangements. Up until a month ago, we had never paid anyone to make a video, Lu said.

Now the company is hoping its growing ranks of influencers will help the app expand its audience further. The app recently appointed Josh Richards, the 18-year-old TikTok star, its Chief Strategy Officer tasked with helping lure other social media celebrities. Every day youll see some really big names, Lu said of the companys efforts to win over creators.

Launched in 2015, Triller looks a lot like TikTok at first glance. The app features two feeds with an endless stream of videos, and has slick editing controls for users who want to shoot their own clips. The LA-based company has made a name for itself with artists, thanks to its early focus on music videos, but also has influencer-friendly features and allows the apps creators to monetize their content.

These features made Triller especially well-positioned to swoop in as questions mounted about TikToks future. (Lu also notes that Triller collects far less user data than TikTok.

Its not just Gen-Z, either. Triller also made headlines when Donald Trump and Donald Trump Jr. joined the app amid the presidents threats to ban TikTok. While its not yet clear how their presence on the app has affected the platform, just the threat of a ban has benefitted the app significantly.

The app reached the number one spot in the US App Store the day after Trump said he wanted to ban the service. It also hit the top spot in India after TikTok was banned in the country. Triller app has been number one more than 80 countries this summer, Lu said. Its been downloaded more than 250 million times around the world, the company told CNBC last month.

Its great to see that the world sees us as a natural successor to TikTok, Lu said. Were definitely on a rocket ship... and we dont see that slowing down any time soon.

Still, Triller could see some of its recent momentum slow now that TikTok has reached a deal to remain in the US. TikTok stars who may have once been worried about having to restart their careers on another service will no longer need to worry about their audience disappearing overnight.

But if the company can continue to win over influencers with paid deals and monetization features, it could become even more of a threat to TikTok.
(CNN)  Two passengers on separate flights were forced to disembark from flights in Japan this month after refusing to wear masks while on board.

One incident occurred Saturday and involved a Hokkaido Air System Company flight from Hakodate to the island of Okushiri, both of which are located in the northern province of Hokkaido. One man who was not wearing a mask was ordered off the plane by the captain, according to Matsuhiro Ohta, a public relations official with Hokkaido Air System Company, which is a subsidiary of Japan Airlines, delaying the flight by a half hour.

Ohta said that it appeared the issue stemmed from miscommunication -- the passenger claimed after he was forced off the flight that he was developing a rash while wearing the masks. However, Ohta said the passenger was unruly and uncooperative and that his refusal to wear a mask was only part of the reason he was not allowed to fly.

The other incident occurred on September 7. A Peach Aviation flight from the city of Kushiro in Japan's north to Osaka was forced to make what the airline called an "unscheduled stop" after a passenger refused to put on a mask despite repeated requests from flight attendants. Peach Aviation told CNN the flight was forced to land due to the passenger's unruly behavior and that the company is not ruling out taking legal action against the individual.

Ultimately, the flight made its way to Osaka after a 2 hour and 15 minute delay.

Public health experts say masks are some of the most important tools in the global fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, which to date has infected nearly 30 million people and killed more than 928,000 across the globe, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. In Japan, 76,670 people have been infected this year, 1,464 of whom have died, according to the country's health ministry.

Many planes have air filtration systems that can kill viruses, but those are likely not a replacement for wearing a mask, so airlines across the world are either asking passengers to wear masks or requiring them to.

Similar passenger-removal incidents have occurred in the United States, where mask wearing is not as widely accepted as the rest of the world, though some of them have involved confusion about how the regulations are applied to young children. Many airlines allow passengers to remove masks for eating and drinking, but ask that they do so briefly.

A representative at the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, a union representing American Airlines air crew, told CNN last month that "reports at our union of passenger misconduct have skyrocketed, and a lot of these are driven by mask compliance on the airplane."

This story was first published on CNN.com, "2 passengers forced off planes in Japan this month for not wearing masks."
The Stormont finance minister has said he is pursuing the London government to fund a compensation scheme for injured Troubles victims.

The long-awaited scheme for those who were severely injured has been delayed by political rows.

Sinn Fein refused to designate a Stormont department to administer it after objecting to Government eligibility criteria that would exclude former paramilitaries convicted of causing serious harm.

Deputy First Minister Michelle ONeill (Sinn Fein) eventually agreed to nominate a department last month following a highly critical court judgment that found she had been acting unlawfully.

According to the statement of funding policy from Whitehall, the party that proposes the policy, that legislates for it, carries the cost of implementation of that policy Conor Murphy

However, a separate stand-off involving the wider Stormont Executive over funding remains unresolved.

The scheme should have been open for applications at the end of May.

On Tuesday in the Assembly, finance minister Conor Murphy (Sinn Fein) said he is pursing the London government to pay for it.

According to the statement of funding policy from Whitehall, the party that proposes the policy, that legislates for it, carries the cost of implementation of that policy, he said.

Thats the Executives position, and the people who have done that are the British government and the Northern Ireland Office.

Mr Murphy said the current scheme is not what was agreed in 2014 at the Stormont House negotiations.

Therefore they own it, and its my clear view acting on behalf of the Executive, and its the clear argument I have been making to Treasury and to the NIO on behalf of the Executive, that they are responsible for paying, whatever, he said.

Justice Minister Naomi Long, whose department is administering the scheme, said the cost is estimated to be 800 million.

Mr Murphy said that figure differs from an estimate given to the Executive previously by the NIO.

Expand Close Thomas Buchanan ( Liam McBurney/PA) PA / Facebook

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DUP MLA Thomas Buchanan told Mr Murphy it was totally absurd of his party to seek to block the scheme, and asked for a commitment that he will do all that he can to secure the funding and ensure no further delays.

Mr Murphy responded: Well I can assure the member that is what I have been trying to do, to seek secure funding.

I have been attempting to secure the commitment from the British government to live up to their own statement of funding policy which is part of their own rule book that they created the policy and legislated for it, therefore they own the cost.

The real argument in relation to who pays for the scheme itself is still to be accepted by the British government and thats what I intend to pursue, and thats the what the Executive have asked me to pursue.
Incheon International Airport Corp. President and CEO Koo Bon-hwan speaks during a news conference held near the airport, Wednesday. / Yonhap



By Jun Ji-hye



Incheon International Airport Corp. (IIAC) President and CEO Koo Bon-hwan said the government's push to remove him from office was "unjust," Wednesday, claiming that there is no justifiable reason for his dismissal.



His comments came a day after reports of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport push to dismiss Koo, citing several instances of Koo's misconduct it claims to have found during its inspection.



It is rare for the government to push to dismiss the head of a state-run company during his tenure.



"Earlier this month, a high-level official from the transport ministry asked me to step down voluntarily. I was very embarrassed as the official told me that the ministry would propose a dismissal if I refuse to quit," Koo said during a media conference held near the airport, without identifying who the high-level official was.



"I have no intention to step down voluntarily as there is no reason to do so. There is no justifiable reason to dismiss me, either."



He said he will take legal action if the government approves his dismissal.



Koo, a career-long aviation bureaucrat, was inaugurated to head the IIAC in April last year, becoming the airport operator's eighth CEO. His term is scheduled to end in April 2022.



Koo has been under suspicion that he abused his authority over personnel affairs. He has also been facing accusations of inappropriate use of a company credit card.



The ministry's move, however, was seen by some industry officials as a means to settle controversy over the IIAC's decision to change the status of 1,902 contract and part-time security officers working at the airport to regular workers.



The decision, announced in June, has been drawing fierce criticism from young jobseekers and existing full-time workers who claimed the decision harmed fairness in the hiring process of state-run companies.



On Sept. 9, a conservative civic group composed of former and incumbent university professors filed complaints with the prosecution against Koo, Transport Minister Kim Hyun-mee and Labor Minister Lee Jae-kap for alleged breach of trust in relation to this issue.



Because of this, the government is facing suspicion that it is attempting to "cut off the tail" to remove the controversy, because the IIAC's decision was in accordance with President Moon Jae-in's election pledge of "zero irregular jobs" in the public sector.



Meanwhile, Koo has also been criticized for plans to change the IIAC's logo as one of the candidates for the new logo looked remarkably similar to the logos of Air China and Mir Foundation which was used as a fundraising vehicle by influence peddlers close to ousted President Park Geun-hye.




Just one fine has been issued and only one provider banned by the disability watchdog despite more than 8000 complaints being lodged in the past two years.

The scandal-plagued disability sector will get $22 billion from the federal government this financial year, but an independent review found the system left vulnerable people open to harm and neglect.

Just one fine has been issued by the disability watchdog despite more than 8000 complaints over two years. Credit:Joe Armao

New figures provided by the National Disability Insurance Scheme Quality and Safeguards Commission reveal the solitary $12,000 fine was handed to now-banned provider Integrity Care after its client Ann Marie Smith died in "appalling circumstances" earlier this year.

The South Australian woman, 54, died on April 6 from severe septic shock, organ failure, severe pressure sores, malnutrition and issues connected with her cerebral palsy.
A 28-year-old man ran to an East Side convenience store Tuesday night after being shot multiple times, San Antonio police said.

Officers found the man at the Walter Food Mart, 2106 Burnet St. at around 8:30 p.m. The victim had multiple gunshot wounds to his upper back, police said.

The shooting victim was transported to San Antonio Military Medical Center in critical condition, police said.

An abandoned car was later found with blood and gunshot holes two blocks away on Blue Bonnet St. Officers believe the man was shot there and ran to the convenience store.

According to police, there were no witnesses to the shooting and they had no information on a suspect.

An officer said the man wasnt saying much when they arrived at the store.

We dont have anything to go on right now, an officer at the scene said.
- Stakeholders in tissue paper market keen on price barrier of tissue-based products for a competitive branding strategy, where attention-grabbing packaging designs and sustainable sourced content are high on agenda

- Growth of avenues in Asia Pacific likely to surpass that in all other regions, opportunities in China to thrive on back of use of modern machinery

ALBANY, N.Y, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Manufacturers are constantly focusing on the troika of convenience, comfort, and hygiene across the entire spectrum of tissue-based products to make them skin-friendly and bactericidal. Their efforts toward value-addition in toilet paper and facial wipes and tissues to meet the needs of healthcare and medical industries drive new avenues in the tissue paper market.

Globally, the tissue paper market stood at a robust valuation of ~US$ ~43.1 Bn in 2019, and is projected to garner CAGR of ~5% during 2019-2027.

Asia Pacific leads the global market and is expected to expand at remarkable growth rate during the assessment period.

TMR analysts concur that numerous players in a bid to stay ahead in the competitive arc are focusing on innovative product lines, notably biodegradable toilet paper and bio-based dissolvable toilet paper. Tree-free facial tissues and wipes made of recycled content and paper scraps is an increasing trend.

Download PDF Brochure - https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php

Key Findings of Tissue Paper Market Report

Of all the applications, bath and toilet paper segment holds a prominent market share

The facial tissues and kitchen towels segment to show promising growth rate during forecast period

Globally, demand for recycled pulp tissue paper surpasses that of the virgin pulp

In terms of end use, residential is a promising segment

Commercial tissue paper leads the above segment

North America held a prominent share in 2018

held a prominent share in 2018 Asia Pacific currently leads the global landscape

currently leads the global landscape Opportunities in China to expand at rapid pace

to expand at rapid pace The global production in China was pegged at ~4,200 thousand tonnes in 2018

Explore 260 pages of top-notch research, incisive insights, and detailed country-level projections on Tissue Paper Market (Ply: 1-Ply, 2-Ply, 3-Ply and Above; Tissue Grade: Up to 20 GSM, 21 GSM to 40 GSM, Above 40 GSM; Application: Facial Tissues, Napkins, Towels, Bath and Toilet Tissues, Wrapping Tissues, Hygiene Tissues (Medical Tissues & Wipes); Material Source: Virgin Pulp, Recycled Pulp; End Use: Residential, Commercial (Hotels, Offices, Malls and Multiplexes, Hospitals, Schools and Colleges, Airlines and Railways, Others)) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2019 - 2027 at https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/tissue-paper-market.html

Tissue Paper Market: Key Driving Factors and Promising Avenues

The versatile applications of tissue-based products is a key factor driving the expansion of opportunities in tissue paper market.

Rise in uptake of tissue paper for hygiene purpose in medical and healthcare industry is boosting the market.

Earth-friendly brands are leaning on adopting sustainable production operations to produce tissue paper products, such as producing recycled pulp from waste paper, bamboo, and wheat straw.

Increasing spending on hygiene in urban populations has also been key to growing prospects in tissue paper market.

Strides in tourism sector is also opening new avenues for manufacturers of tissue-based products.

The COVID-19 pandemic has imparted a thrust to the demand in several countries.

The market has also gained momentum on the back of growing demand for tissue paper in away-from-home applications, such as while travelling where single-use tissue paper are extensively preferred.

Analyze global tissue paper market growth in 30+ countries including US, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Russia, Poland, Benelux, Nordic, China, Japan, India, and South Korea. Request a sample of the study

Tissue Paper Market: Competitive Landscape

Manufacturers in the tissue paper market are expanding their product lines to come out with innovative products and those with attractive packaging. For instance, the demand for facial tissues laced with almond oil and aloe vera extracts for skin care has risen.

Further, numerous players in the developed markets are keen on expanding their production lines. In the meanwhile, they are also focusing on the quality of tissue paper being produced by using state-of-the art machinery.

Responsible sourcing of the raw materials is one of the key winning imperative for many players in the global tissue paper market.

Request the Covid19 Impact Analysis across Industries and Markets at https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=covid19&rep_id=72882

The Tissue Paper market is segmented based on:

Global Tissue Paper Market: Segmentation

Tissue Paper Market by Ply

1 - Ply

2 - Ply

3 - Ply and Above

Tissue Paper Market by Tissue Grade

Up to 20 GSM

21 GSM to 40 GSM

Above 40 GSM

Tissue Paper Market by Application

Facial Tissues

Napkins

Towels

Bath and Toilet Tissues

Wrapping Tissues

Hygiene Tissues

Medical Tissues & Wipes

Tissue Paper Market by Material Source

Virgin Pulp

Recycled Pulp

Tissue Paper Market by End Use

Residential

Commercial

Hotels

Offices

Malls and Multiplex

Hospitals

Schools and Colleges

Airlines and Railways

Others

Tissue Paper Market by Region

North America

U.S.



Canada

Europe

U.K.



Germany



France



Spain



Italy



Rest of Europe

Asia Pacific

Japan



China



India



Australia



Rest of Asia Pacific

Latin America

Brazil



Mexico



Rest of Latin America

Middle East & Africa

& GCC Countries



South Africa



Rest of Middle East & Africa

Explore Transparency Market Research's award-winning coverage of the Global Packaging Industry:

Case Packers Market - There is growing demand for innovative packaging equipment that is easy-to-use and which can manage quick changeovers. Companies in the landscape are increasing efforts to fulfil the demand for case packers that can run more than one packaging design. The trend of multiple package formats is benefitting the production of shelf-ready packages.

Converting Paper Market - The growing adoption of digitalization is expected to reduce the demand for printing and writing paper. Digital media and paperless communication are replacing paper, and threatening the traditional market for newsprint and office paper. the market share of printing and writing paper is shifting to packaging paper owing to the growth of the e-commerce market and consumer preference for converting paper packaging formats.

Rigid Paper Containers Market - Rigid paper containers offer easy printability and hence are considered ideal for printing product information as well as branding & marketing information. The rigid paper containers market is expected to have a positive outlook over the forecast period due to the rising importance of visually communicative packaging.

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Transparency Market Research is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. Our experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyse information.

Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.

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Dir: Dean Parisot. Cast: Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, Samara Weaving, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Kristen Schaal, Anthony Carrigan, Holland Taylor. PG cert, 89 min

Can a song save the world? Its the oddly profound question at the heart of the otherwise dopey, rambunctious Bill & Ted Face the Music. But thats always been a part of the DNA of these films  an exquisite mix of philosophy, history, and the woah, dude cant of two Californian slackers. Bill & Teds Excellent Adventure, and its sequel Bogus Journey, didnt stand out as the funniest, wittiest or even most original films of the late Eighties and early Nineties, but there was always a stirring earnestness to the adventures of Ted "Theodore" Logan (Keanu Reeves) and Bill S Preston, Esq (Alex Winter).

As they rocketed through time, space and the afterlife, often with the aid of a rickety time-travelling phone booth, their motto of be excellent to each other and party on, dudes became its own kind of escapism. If only life really were that simple. Bill & Ted Face the Music, a long-brewing third instalment, doesnt change a single ounce of this formula. Its gloriously uncool, unmodern and uncynical.

When we last saw Bill and Ted, back in 1991s Bogus Journey, theyd finally achieved rock stardom  well-positioned now to write the song that would unite mankind, as a prophecy has foretold. But nearly three decades have since passed by, and the duo have failed to come up with the goods. These days, theyre playing to fraternity crowds more interested in the fact its two-dollar taco night. So far, so midlife crisis. Then an emissary from the future (Kristen Schaals Kelly, the daughter of George Carlins character from the original films) turns up with a dire warning: if they dont write the song in question by 7.17pm  77 minutes and 25 seconds from now  not only can utopia never be achieved, but reality as we know it will cease to exist.

Our heroes come up with the most brilliantly stupid of plans: why dont they just steal the song from their future selves? Who cares if that doesnt make any sense? Bill & Ted Face the Music is unfazed by sense or cinematic convention. Rapper Kid Cudi turns up to spout some scientific claptrap  a neat little parody of sci-fis tendency towards intellectual smugness (hello, Tenet). Winter and Reeves have fun with a whole string of future Bills and Teds. In one iteration, Bill is a washed-up divorcee in a Guy Fieri flame-shirt and flat cap. In another, Ted is a top hat-donning English fop. But the films greatest pleasure comes from just how easily these actors slip back into all the bodacious, most triumphant air-headedness of Bill and Ted. These characters are a rare example of two cinematic man-children, now deep in middle age, who come off as endearing rather than wildly irritating.

We could all do with a little dose of Bill and Teds optimism (AP)

Screenwriters Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon, who first created Bill and Ted back in their improv days, are now so familiar with the universe they created that they can play around within it as much as they like. Its a loose, shaggy tone thats heartily adopted by director Dean Parisot, who may be new to the franchise but already has a cult comedy under his belt in 1999s hilariously weird Galaxy Quest. Here, theres deliberate chaos to the way plots and subplots collide  Bill and Ted not only have to save reality, but their marriages (to two 15th-century princesses they picked up in their travels, here played by Erinn Hayes and Jayma Mays). Meanwhile, their identikit daughters (Samara Weaving and Brigette Lundy-Paine, the latter delivering a pitch-perfect recreation of Reevess bemused, blissed-out expressions) race through history to bring together the worlds greatest back-up band, enlisting the likes of Jimi Hendrix (DazMann Still) and Mozart (Daniel Dorr). One of Bill and Teds former bandmembers, Death (William Sadler), makes a grand return. Theres also a robot assassin riddled with insecurities (Anthony Carrigan)  its all in the anything-goes spirit of these films.

Sometimes things dont make sense until the end of the story, the heroes are told early on. Its true  Bill & Ted Face the Music is so carefree in its execution that its raison detre only really becomes clear in its final moments. Reeves may now be an action hero, thanks to The Matrix and John Wick. Winter is now the celebrated documentarian behind 2018s The Panama Papers. But theres something about the Bill & Ted films, shot so early in their careers, thats stood the test of time. This third instalment gives no room for doubt as to why. We could all do with a little dose of Bill and Teds optimism  the simple belief that kindness and camaraderie can bring us all together. Its not really a song that saves the world, but the hearts of those behind it.
Portland Mayor Ted Wheelers reelection campaign has its third campaign manager since December after its latest director left last week.

As first reported by Oregon Public Broadcasting, Amy Rathfelder as of last week was no longer part of Wheelers campaign, which has since hired Danny OHalloran to replace her as campaign director. He most recently worked as the campaign manager for U.S. Rep. Antonio Delgado of New York and as the New Hampshire political director for U.S. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jerseys presidential campaign, according to his LinkedIn profile.

In the last nine months, Wheelers campaign has lost at least three staffers: Rathfelder, communication director Lorien Seroka and previous campaign manager Jennifer Arguinzoni. Rathfelder and Arguinzoni both used to work in the mayors office at City Hall.

Arguinzoni left the campaign at the end of December. Rathfelder, then deputy campaign director, was promoted into the job.

Wheelers campaign and Rathfelder have not responded to messages. Seroka declined to comment.

The latest change comes two months before the Nov. 3 election and as recent poll numbers showed roughly two-thirds of Portland voters have an unfavorable view of Wheeler. His handling of the citys response to more than 100 nights of protests has drawn criticism from all directions, including from demonstrators, colleagues on the City Council and the union representing rank-and-file members of the Portland Police Bureau, which Wheeler oversees.

The campaign itself has come under fire as well. Wheelers campaign has been hit with 23 city election violations since April  far more than any other campaign this election cycle. This includes a $100 fine announced by the City Elections Office last week for not prominently disclosing campaign contribution and funding information on a June 11 email to voters.

Other violations include listing campaign donors on flyers in font too small for the average reader, not prominently disclosing funding information in emails to voters and not disclosing top donors on the campaigns website and social media accounts.

Wheelers campaign has been fined $13,550 thus far by the city, all but $500 since the May 19 primary. Some donations his campaign accepted have been deemed illegal for exceeding the $500 per person limit or because they came from an unregistered political committee.

Paul Pedreira, owner of marijuana business Portland Best Buds, was fined for giving more than $500 to Wheelers campaign. He wrote to the city elections office in August that he gave Wheeler $500 and his company contributed another $500.

I was not aware of this law as I watch large entities control politics in Portland and beyond, Pedreira wrote in an email. Pedreira was fined $2,000.

Wheeler faces urban policy consultant Sarah Iannarone in the general election. Iannarone finished third in the 2016 mayoral race that Wheeler won outright in the May primary that year.

Unlike Wheeler, she opted to take part in the citys public campaign finance program, which provides a 6-to-1 match for small campaign donations. Through the program, she has raised more than $605,000 in 2020, according to city records. This compares to close to $261,000 raised by Wheeler.

No publicly released polls indicate which Portland mayoral candidate has stronger support among likely voters. Supporters of community activist Teressa Raiford have also mounted a write-in campaign. Raiford received 8% of the vote as the third-place finisher in the mayoral primary, for which she was listed on the ballot. Iannarone received 24% and Wheeler 49% in the field of 19 candidates.

-- Everton Bailey Jr; ebailey@oregonian.com | 503-221-8343 | @EvertonBailey

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The Government decision for the people of Dublin was that they should limit travel outside the city and county, so the logic was that people should not come into Dublin he told RTE radios Today with Claire Byrne show.

The hospitality industry in Dublin remained open, the city remained open for business, but the Government was asking people to be cautious, he added. People had to use their judgement.

The Cabinet will not shirk from making public health decisions that will be unpopular, said Mr McGrath. There was a distinct possibility that Dublin will move to Level 3 by this weekend.

The Government needed to be adaptable and agile in its response. This is difficult, none of this is easy, were all weary. The Minister called on the public to bear with us, we all know the consequences if we dont.

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Mr McGrath said that the decision the Government had made on Dublin mirrored exactly what NPHET had recommended. This is messy, we're into nuance and detail here. But I don't accept the hyperbole and exaggeration from certain opposition voices in the past 24 hours. A lot of the reaction had been over the top, he said.

The Government had not asked for the Dail to be adjourned for a week, that had been excessive caution and had gone beyond public health advice. The adjournment was unnecessary, but had been rectified quickly. It was better than under-reacting.

Asked about the mixed messages from the Minister for Health on Tuesday who had said in an interview on RTEs News at One that travel out of Dublin was allowed, Mr McGrath said the Minister had a difficult day yesterday, the public was well capable of understanding the message about restrictions in Dublin, he said.
Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), speaks during a House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis hearing in Washington, D.C., July 31, 2020.

Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Wednesday he was "deeply saddened" by remarks by Trump appointee Michael Caputo, who reportedly said CDC scientists were engaged in "sedition" against President Donald Trump.

The Department of Health and Human Services announced later Wednesday that "Caputo has decided to take a leave of absence to focus on his health and the well-being of his family."

Caputo, a former Trump campaign official, made the "sedition" comment in a Facebook Live event broadcast on Sunday, The New York Times first reported. At a Senate Committee on Appropriations hearing, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., asked Redfield to respond to the comments.

Caputo was installed at HHS earlier this year as the top spokesman in an action seen as a move by the Trump administration to better align health messaging with that of the White House.

"The spokesperson for HHS claimed that there is a resistance unit at CDC and voiced concerns about ulterior deep state motives and President Trump has bolstered skepticism in the agency's death toll," Murray told Redfield. "Do you agree with me that there is no truth to all those claims?"

Redfield responded that "not only is it not true, it deeply saddened me when I read those comments."

"CDC is made up of thousands of dedicated men and women, highly competent. It is the premier public health agency in the world, dedicated 24/7 to using their skills to protect the American public and the world from the health issues," he continued. "And it deeply saddened me that those false accusations were made by a group of really unbelievably professional people that serve this nation."

At a meeting with HHS staff members on Tuesday, Caputo reportedly apologized for his remarks. Caputo's comments came after reports last week that he and his allies at HHS were interfering with internal CDC affairs, including the publication of CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports. Those reports serve as main channel through which the CDC communicates with physicians and public health specialists across the country.

"At no time has the scientific integrity of the MMWR been compromised, and I can say that under my watch it will not be compromised," Redfield said. "I'm willing to commit that we're going to continue to give Congress and the nation the best public health advice. We're not going to let political influence modulate that."

Despite the reports of interference by Caputo and his aides, CDC scientists have continued to publish important studies regarding Covid-19, including one last week that emphasized the risk of transmission at restaurants and another on the ability of kids to spread the virus even though they don't tend to get severely sick with the disease. Earlier this week, the CDC published another study that said Covid-19 has killed at least 121 people under age 21 across the U.S., nearly two-thirds of whom were Black and Hispanic people.

In Caputo's streamed remarks on Sunday, he said there is a "resistance unit" within the CDC, adding that scientists within the agency "haven't gotten out of their sweatpants except for meetings at coffee shops" to plot "how they're going to attack Donald Trump next," The New York Times reported. Caputo has since deactivated his Facebook account, deleting the video of the remarks.

In the 26-minute video, Caputo reportedly said his "mental health has definitely failed." Politico reported late Tuesday that Caputo is considering a leave of absence.

While Caputo has found himself at the center of concerns over political meddling within the CDC, Redfield has remained largely quiet as the nation's premier health agency loses public trust. STAT News reported Wednesday that current and former CDC insiders don't think Redfield is doing enough to protect the scientific integrity of the agency he leads.

"I think (Redfield)'s not showing the kind of leadership in defense of the institution and in defense of science that I would hope to see," said Mark Rosenberg, who was the first director of CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, STAT reported. "A reputation that takes 75 years to build can be destroyed in four months. That's horrifying."
UB visiting professor delivers Arts Collaboratory program titled Protest, Hope and Resilience through Black Arts

In times of distress, like were experiencing today, we can turn to the arts to better understand ourselves in one moment, and better ourselves in the next moment. 

BUFFALO, N.Y.  Michael Mwenso, a University at Buffalo visiting professor of the arts and leader of Mwenso & the Shakes, an internationally acclaimed troupe of musical artists, will expand what was initially planned as a succinct and tightly programmed residency into a semester-long, socially-distanced engagement with UB students.

The spirit of Buffalo and UB has drawn me such that Im thrilled to be able to spend more time here, enjoying the place and working with the people who make it special, says Mwenso, whose program titled Protest, Hope and Resilience through Black Arts is a personally curated curriculum of history and music that explores how people of color have been agents of positive change and inclusion.

Mwensos course, part of the second year of programming for the UB Arts Collaboratory working artists lab, is a collaboration with George Caldwell, an adjunct instructor in UBs Department of Music and director of jazz ensembles; Thomas Kolor, an associate professor in the Department of Music and director of percussion ensemble; and Maria S. Horne, associate professor, Department of Theatre and Dance, and director of IACE International Artistic & Cultural Exchange Program.

The working artists lab combines instruction, workshops and mentoring that expands the possibilities of music beyond the performance and listener appreciation aspects of an art form into arenas of social activism and awareness that can function to positively impact individual lives and entire communities.

We believe collaboration, not isolation, fosters creativity, said Bronwyn Keenan, director of the Arts Collaboratory. And if were going to change the world for the better, well need the best ideas, the most powerful voices and an entire army of creators and artists.

That type of holistic experience forms the basis of a dynamic imaginative approach that Mwenso brings to his art, as a performer on stage, as a teacher in the classroom, and as a creative leader in the communities where he shares his message and music.

I have always felt and try to teach music as something that emerges from an organic folklorist tradition, and to hear it universally, he says. Black music, American folk music, Irish fiddle music, or anything else we might be listening to, is part of a practice that has traveled through time and traveled through different peoples journeys.

For me to be in a position to share this with UB students is a blessing.

The curriculum for Protest, Hope and Resilience is available here.

Born in Sierra Leone and raised in London, Mwenso says it was in the UK that he was able to meet and hear many of the performers, such as B.B. King, Ray Charles, and James Brown, who helped him fully understand music and develop as an artist, first as a trombonist and later as a vocalist.

In 2010, Wynton Marsalis invited Mwenso to join Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. That experience, with its constructively intermingled elements of performance, outreach and education, inspired in Mwenso a sense of community and connection that contributed to the beginnings of Mwenso & the Shakes.

Mwenso says meeting Marsalis and being part of Jazz at Lincoln Center nurtured his music programming and curation skills, while personal tragedy taught him new ways to hear music.

Tragedy and sadness have always been the pivot for me to find joy in the world and try to curate it by bringing people together, he says. Developing the group over the last five years has been an expression of pride that allows us to present black music as part of a global tradition.

That goal has always been important, but our aim is needed now more than ever as we impact people with love, healing and education.

Those possibilities are the great assets found in all the arts, according to Mwenso.

The arts have been a function of humanity since the beginning of time from the ancient Egyptians to the people of the African diaspora, he says. In times of distress, like were experiencing today, we can turn to the arts to better understand ourselves in one moment, and better ourselves in the next moment.

The UB Arts Collaboratory is a strategic initiative of the universitys College of Arts and Sciences, designed to create an environment in which creative collaboration can flourish. The UB Arts Collaboratory brings UB and Buffalo-based artists together to spark innovation and share their art with the world.

Major support provided by M&T Bank. Additional support provided by Savarino Companies.
An immigrant from Lagos, Nigeria, Adefeso worked three jobs to self-fund his Harvard MBA, yet still had significant loans to repay. His passion to make college debt-free, especially for underserved students, inspired him to develop Sootchyan AI-powered digital platform to help families maximize 529 plans to pay education costs from K-12 to college.

To highlight his mission and the importance of diversity and inclusion in tech, Adefeso formally announced the $40K sweepstakes and the upcoming launch of Sootchy during TechCrunch Disrupt 2020. He sponsored the inaugural Include Reception at the conference, the first Include event as TechCrunch launches the program to promote diversity in the tech world.

During the virtual Include Reception, Adefeso spoke to the existing disparity in wealth, and lack of education funds, for underserved communities, and led a roundtable discussion on diversity in the tech industry.

With the Sootchy Sweepstakes, Adefeso hopes to make a lasting and life-changing impact in one student's life. To enter the Sootchy Sweepstakes, visit www.sootchy.com/sweepstakes. Follow two simple steps to enter the Sweepstakes*:

Sign up for the Sweepstakes by entering general contact info. Refer friends to increase chances of winning. Each referral earns another contest entry.

* NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT OF MONEY IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN THIS SWEEPSTAKES. A PURCHASE OR PAYMENT OF MONEY WILL NOT IMPROVE THE CHANCES OF WINNING.

The "Sootchy College Tuition Giveaway" Sweepstakes (the "Sweepstakes") is intended for legal residents of the United States of America ("USA") (excluding residents of Florida & New York) and shall only be construed and evaluated according to U.S. law and applicable state law. For additional Sweepstakes rules, visit the website.

About Sootchy: Sootchy is a simple, user-friendly fintech app that allows families to save money for their children's education by opening 529 college savings plans, within minutes, right through the app. With a built-in, enhanced gifting platform that lets family and friends contribute to children's 529 college savings plans and maximize them further, it can be especially helpful in underserved communities. Less than 30% of Americans know what a 529 plan is, and only 13% use them because they have traditionally been difficult to setup and manage, recent studies show. Sootchy's five-minute set up and easy-access money management tools simplify the process and make tech-enhanced financial planning, the power of community and tax-efficient incentives to combat student debt, now at a historic high of almost $1.7 trillion, accessible to all. Sootchy is a fully accredited and registered advisor with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).

Learn more at Sootchy.com. Get social and follow @sootchyapp on Instagram and Twitter, facebook.com/sootchyapp and linkedIn.com/company/sootchyinc.

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States that allowed bars to reopen during the coronavirus pandemic saw their COVID-19 cases double on average, a new analysis from the Washington Post found.

With patrons crowded together indoors and drinking and talking unmasked, cases in states like Louisiana, California and Arizona had doubled within three weeks of reopening, the Post found, using cellphone tracking data and COVID-19 case reports.

They found a statistically significant national relationship between foot traffic to bars one week after they reopened and an increase in cases three weeks later.

Nine states  Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Texas and Washington  all ended up closing bars and restaurants again due to a rise in cases soon after allowing them to reopen.

RELATED: Air Conditioning May Spread Coronavirus  9 People Were Infected at a Restaurant

Two of the states, Colorado and Louisiana, publicly share the contact tracing data that they put together after a person tests positive for the virus. Their data shows that around 20 percent of COVID-19 cases in each state came from bars and restaurants, the Post reported. And in Louisiana, a significant majority of those infections  480  occurred at bars, with 180 coming from restaurants.

In Minnesota, health officials have tracked 1,592 of the states COVID-19 cases back to 66 restaurants and bars in the state.

San Diego, California, had the highest amount of infections from bars and restaurants of any part of the U.S., with one-third of all cases coming from those businesses.

In all but eight states in the U.S., bars are once again open in some capacity, and health experts worry about another rise in infections, particularly as the weather cools down and outdoor dining and drinking becomes less feasible. A Centers for Disease Control study published Thursday found that in a survey of adults who had been tested for COVID-19, those who tested positive were twice as likely to have recently dined at a restaurant compared to those who tested negative.

Story continues

But the hospitality industries are struggling, with 2.5 million jobs lost since February and many businesses hovering on the edge of closing permanently without a federal bailout.

Winter is coming, and Im staring down the barrel of the gun of whats going to happen, Ivy Mix, the owner Leyenda restaurant in New York told the Post. Mix said that even with New York Citys plan to allow 25 percent capacity inside restaurants beginning Sept. 30, shes not sure if they can survive.

This is almost like being thrown a deflated life-jacket  the action and the symbolism is there, but the actual aid is not, she said.
WILMINGTON, Del., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --

IN THE UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF DELAWARE

------------------------------------------------------------------------------- x

In re: THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY HOLDINGS, LLC, et

al., Debtors.

Chapter 11 Case No. 18-10601 (MFW) (Jointly Administered) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- x



NOTICE OF DEADLINE FOR FILING OF PROOFS OF CLAIM SOLELY

WITH RESPECT TO POTENTIAL TORT CLAIMS HELD

BY POTENTIAL TORT CLAIMANTS

TORT CLAIMS BAR DATE IS OCTOBER 31, 2020 AT 5:00 P.M. (EASTERN TIME)

1. On March 19, 2018 (the "Petition Date"), the Debtors filed voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (the "Court").

2. Pursuant to an order of the Court entered on September 9, 2020 [Docket No. 2966] (the "Tort Claims Bar Date Order"), October 31, 2020 at 5:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) has been established as the deadline for entities or persons, including, but not limited to, (a) former employees or independent contractors of the Debtors (the "Employees"), (b) known parties to litigation with any of the Debtors relating to a Tort Claim (as defined below), and (c) known parties who have threatened the Debtors with litigation premised upon a Tort Claim (parties in clauses (b) and (c), together, the "Litigation Parties"), to file a proof of claim solely in respect of any Tort Claims (the deadline by which such claims must be filed, the "Tort Claims Bar Date").

3. IF YOU BELIEVE YOU HAVE A TORT CLAIM THAT IS SUBJECT TO THE TORT CLAIMS BAR DATE, PLEASE SUBMIT A PROOF OF CLAIM FORM. THE FORM IS ACCESSIBLE AT:

WWW.WEINSTEINCLAIMS.COM

4. BY FILING A TORT CLAIM, TORT CLAIMANTS ARE SUBMITTING TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE COURT TO ADMINISTER SUCH CLAIMS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY LAWS, BUT THE FILING OF A TORT CLAIM SHALL NOT CONSTITUTE A WAIVER OF TORT CLAIMANTS' RIGHTS TO A JURY TRIAL IN A COURT OF COMPETENT JURISDICTION AND SHALL NOT PREJUDICE IN ANY WAY ARGUMENTS TORT CLAIMANTS MAY RAISE DURING THE PLAN CONFIRMATION PROCESS.

5. Set forth below are the name and the case number of each of the Debtors:1

DEBTOR CASE NO.

DEBTOR CASE NO. Avenging Eagle SPV, LLC 18-10602

WTV Guantanamo SPV, LLC 18-10629 TWC Waco SPV, LLC 18-10603

TWC Fearless Borrower, LLC 18-10630 Small Screen Productions LLC 18-10604

DRT Rights Management LLC 18-10631 Small Screen Trades LLC 18-10605

WTV JCP Borrower 2017, LLC 18-10632 Twenty O Five Holdings, LLC 18-10606

TWC Library Songs (BMI), LLC 18-10633 Branded Partners LLC 18-10607

FFPAD, LLC 18-10634 W Acquisition Company LLC 18-10608

WTV Kalief Browder Borrower, LLC 18-10635 Spy Kids TV Borrower, LLC 18-10609

TWC Loop LLC 18-10636 Check Hook LLC 18-10610

WTV Scream 3 SPV, LLC 18-10637 WC Film Completions, LLC 18-10611

TWC Mist, LLC 18-10638 Team Players LLC 18-10612

HRK Films, LLC 18-10639 Weinstein Books, LLC 18-10613

WTV Yellowstone SPV, LLC 18-10640 The Actors Group LLC 18-10614

TWC Polaroid SPV, LLC 18-10641 CTHD 2 LLC 18-10615

InDirections LLC 18-10642 Weinstein Development LLC 18-10616

TWC Production-Acquisition Borrower 2016, LLC 18-10643 The Giver SPV, LLC 18-10617

InteliPartners LLC 18-10644 Weinstein Global Funding Corp. 18-10618

ISED, LLC 18-10645 Cues TWC (ASCAP), LLC 18-10619

TWC Production, LLC 18-10646 The Weinstein Company LLC 18-10620

MarcoTwo, LLC 18-10647 Weinstein Global Film Corp. 18-10621

TWC Replenish Borrower, LLC 18-10648 Tulip Fever LLC 18-10622

TWC Short Films, LLC 18-10649 Current War SPV, LLC 18-10623

One Chance LLC 18-10650 Weinstein Productions LLC 18-10624

TWC Untouchable SPV, LLC 18-10651 TWC Borrower 2016, LLC 18-10625

PA Entity 2017, LLC 18-10652 Weinstein Television LLC 18-10626

Paddington 2, LLC 18-10653 DRT Films, LLC 18-10627

PS Post LLC 18-10654 TWC Domestic LLC 18-10628

Scream 2 TC Borrower, LLC 18-10655

6. "Tort Claims" are any claims that arise out of or connect or relate in any way to, any actual or alleged conduct of Harvey Weinstein, which shall include, without limitation: (i) actual or alleged sexual misconduct, nonconsensual interactions, harassment (including sexual harassment), uninvited or unwelcome conduct, predatory conduct, inappropriate conduct, degrading conduct, coercive or intimidating behavior, humiliation, tort, hostile work environment, sexual assault, rape, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, negligent infliction of emotional distress, battery, assault, gender violence, false imprisonment, false arrest or detention, sexual abuse, sex trafficking or discrimination based on sex or gender or any similar or related actions, or (ii) defamation, witness tampering, mail fraud, wire fraud, negligent hiring, negligent supervision, negligent retention, negligence, failure to prevent harassment or ratification, whether based on direct or vicarious liability, whether domestic or foreign, whether based on breach of fiduciary (or other) duty or intentional or negligent conduct, including but not limited to allegations of failure to prevent or remedy, failure to disclose, aiding and abetting or efforts or conspiracy to prevent the disclosure, or cover up, of any of the preceding.

7. EXCEPT AS OTHERWISE SET FORTH HEREIN, EACH TORT CLAIMANT, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, FORMER EMPLOYEES AND LITIGATION PARTIES, THAT ASSERTS A TORT CLAIM AGAINST THE DEBTORS MUST FILE A PROOF OF CLAIM.

8. Notwithstanding the above, the following persons or entities need not file any proofs of claim:

a. any Tort Claimant whose Tort Claim is listed on the Schedules; provided that (i) the claim is not listed on the Schedules as "disputed," "contingent," or "unliquidated," (ii) the person or entity does not dispute the amount, nature, and priority of the claim as set forth in the Schedules, and (iii) the person or entity does not dispute that the claim is an obligation of the specific Debtor against which the claim is listed in the Schedules;

b. any Tort Claimant who already has filed a signed proof of claim on account of a Tort Claim with Epiq against the respective Debtor with respect to such, utilizing a claim form that substantially conforms to the Tort Claims Proof of Claim Form;

c. any Tort Claimant who holds a Tort Claim that has been allowed by order of the Court entered on or before the Tort Claims Bar Date;

d. any Tort Claimant whose Tort Claim has been paid in full; and

e. any Tort Claimant with a claim other than a Tort Claim for which specific deadlines have been fixed by an order of this Court, including the Initial Bar Date Order, entered on or before the Tort Claims Bar Date.

9. THE FACT THAT YOU HAVE RECEIVED THIS NOTICE DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU HAVE A TORT CLAIM OR THAT THE DEBTORS BELIEVE YOU HAVE A TORT CLAIM.

10. The following procedures apply with respect to preparing and filing of proofs of claim:

a. Proofs of claim must substantially conform to the Tort Claims Proof of Claim Form attached as Exhibit 1 to the Tort Claims Bar Date Order;

b. Proofs of claim must (i) be written in the English language; and (ii) be signed by the Tort Claimant under penalty of perjury;

c. Proofs of claim must be filed on or before the Tort Claims Bar Date either (i) electronically through Epiq's website at www.weinsteinclaims.com (the "Electronic Filing System"), or (ii) physically (a) by first-class mail at The Weinstein Company Holdings, LLC, Claims Processing Center, c/o Epiq Bankruptcy Solutions, LLC, P.O. Box 4419, Beaverton, Oregon, 97076-4419, or (b) by overnight mail, courier service, hand delivery, or in person at The Weinstein Company Holdings, LLC, Claims Processing Center, c/o Epiq Bankruptcy Solutions, LLC, 10300 SW Allen Boulevard, Beaverton, Oregon, 97005;

d. A proof of claim shall be deemed timely filed only if it actually is received by Epiq as set forth in subparagraph (c) above, in each case, on or before the Tort Claims Bar Date; and

e. Proofs of claim sent by facsimile, telecopy, or electronic mail transmission (other than proofs of claim filed electronically through the Electronic Filing System) will not be accepted.

CONFIDENTIALITY PROTOCOL

11. The following confidentiality protocol shall apply to Tort Claims:

a. TORT CLAIMANTS ARE DIRECTED NOT TO FILE TORT CLAIMS WITH THE COURT. INSTEAD, TORT CLAIMANTS MUST SUBMIT THEIR TORT CLAIMS PROOF OF CLAIM FORM CONSISTENT WITH PARAGRAPH 5(C) OF THE TORT CLAIMS BAR DATE ORDER.

b. Filed Tort Claims will not be available to the general public unless the Tort Claimant designates otherwise on its Tort Claims Proof of Claim Form. The Confidentiality Protocol is for the benefit of the Tort Claimants. Accordingly, Tort Claimants may elect to make any of the information contained in their submitted Tort Claims Proof of Claim Form public.

c. Tort Claims Proof of Claim Forms submitted by Tort Claimants shall be held and treated as confidential by Epiq, the Debtors, and the Debtors' counsel and upon request by the parties listed below (the "Permitted Parties"), subject to each Permitted Party, the Debtors, and their professionals executing and returning to the Debtors' counsel a confidentiality agreement substantially in the form attached as Exhibit 3 to the Tort Claims Bar Date Order by which they agree to keep the information provided in Tort Claims Proof of Claim Forms confidential.

12. The Permitted Parties include:

a. counsel to the Debtors;

b. Epiq;

c. counsel to the Committee;

d. the United States Trustee;

e. insurance companies that provide insurance that may cover the claims described in a Tort Claims Proof of Claim Form submitted by a Tort Claimant; and

f. upon notice and hearing before the Court, such other persons as the Court may direct.

CONSEQUENCES OF MISSING THE DEADLINE FOR FILING TORT CLAIMS :

13. Pursuant to the Tort Claims Bar Date Order and Bankruptcy Rule 3003(c)(2), any Tort Claimant, including former Employees and Litigation Parties, that holds a Tort Claim who is required to timely file a proof of claim on or before the Tort Claims Bar Date as provided herein, but fails to do so: (i) shall not be treated as a creditor with respect to such Claim for the purposes of voting and distribution in the Debtors' chapter 11 cases on account of such Claim; and (ii) forever shall be barred, estopped, and enjoined from asserting such Claim against each of the Debtors and their property (or filing a proof of claim with respect thereto), and each of the Debtors and their respective chapter 11 estates, successors, and property shall be forever discharged from any and all indebtedness or liability with respect to or arising from such Claim.

EXAMINATION OF TORT CLAIMS BAR DATE ORDER AND SCHEDULES:

14. Copies of the Tort Claims Bar Date Order, the Schedules and other information regarding the Debtors' chapter 11 cases are available for inspection free of charge on Epiq's website at http://dm.epiq11.com/twc. Copies of the Schedules and other documents filed in these chapter 11 cases may also be examined between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Prevailing Eastern Time, Monday through Friday, at the Office of the Clerk of the Court, 824 North Market Street, 3rd Floor, Wilmington, Delaware 19801.

QUESTIONS:

15. Questions concerning the contents of this Notice and requests for copies of filed proofs of claim should be directed to Epiq at The Weinstein Company Holdings, LLC, Claims Processing Center, c/o Epiq Bankruptcy Solutions, LLC, P.O. Box 4419, Beaverton, Oregon, 97076-4419. Please note that neither Epiq's staff, counsel to the Debtors, nor the Clerk of the Court's Office is permitted to give you legal advice. Epiq cannot advise you how to file, or whether you should file, a proof of claim.

A HOLDER OF A POSSIBLE TORT CLAIM, INCLUDING FORMER EMPLOYEES AND LITIGATION PARTIES, AGAINST THE DEBTORS SHOULD CONSULT AN ATTORNEY REGARDING ANY MATTERS NOT COVERED BY THIS NOTICE, SUCH AS WHETHER THE HOLDER OF SUCH A CLAIM SHOULD FILE A PROOF OF CLAIM.

Dated: September 9, 2020, Wilmington, Delaware

/s/ Paul H. Zumbro

CRAVATH, SWAINE & MOORE LLP

Paul H. Zumbro (admitted pro hac vice)

Lauren A. Moskowitz (admitted pro hac vice)

Salah M. Hawkins (admitted pro hac vice)

Worldwide Plaza

825 Eighth Avenue

New York, NY 10019

Telephone: (212) 474-1000

Facsimile: (212) 474-3700

Attorneys for the Debtors and Debtors in Possession

- and 

RICHARDS, LAYTON & FINGER, P.A.

Mark D. Collins (No. 2981)

Paul N. Heath (No. 3704)

Zachary I. Shapiro (No. 5103)

Brett M. Haywood (No. 6166)

David T. Queroli (No. 6318)

One Rodney Square

920 North King Street

Wilmington, DE 19801

Telephone: (302) 651-7700

Facsimile: (302) 651-7701

[1] Each Debtor's federal tax identification number may be obtained on the website of the Debtors' claims and noticing agent at http://dm.epiq11.com/twc.

SOURCE Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP

SOURCE Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP

Related Links

http://www.weinsteinclaims.com


The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, says Government, through the Administrator of the District Assembly Common Fund, is constructing ninety-eight (98) Courts and bungalows for Judges in all sixteen (16) Regions of the country.



According to President Akufo-Addo, Government has also taken note of the inadequate numbers of courts in various parts of the country, resulting in citizens traversing long distances in order to gain access to the countrys courts.



For example, there is no Court between Adjabeng and Amasaman in the Greater Accra Region, neither is there a Court between Adum in Kumasi and Asante Bekwai or Obuasi in the Ashanti Region. Indeed, it has been barely nine (9) months since I commissioned the three-storey Court Complex at Frafraha, in Adenta, Accra, and I am reliably informed that there are already some three thousand cases pending there, he said.



Swearing into office sixteen (16) new Justices of the High Court on Wednesday, 16th September 2020, at a ceremony at Jubilee House, the seat of the nations presidency, the President said there would be eight (8) courts and eight (8) bungalows in Greater Accra; eight (8) courts and eight (8) bungalows in Volta; four (4) courts and eight (4) bungalows in Oti; twelve (12) courts and ten (10) bungalows in Eastern; and seven (7) courts and eight (7) bungalows in Western.



Additionally, there would be four (4) courts and four (4) bungalows in Western North; four (4) courts and four (4) bungalows in Central; five (5) courts and five (5) bungalows in North East; twenty (20) courts and fourteen (14) bungalows in Ashanti; eight (8) courts and eight (8) bungalows in Ahafo; four (4) courts and six (4) bungalows in Bono; and five (5) courts and five (5) bungalows in Bono East.



There would also be three (3) courts and three (3) bungalows in Northern; three (3) courts and three (3) bungalows in Savannah; two (2) courts and two (2) bungalows in Upper West; and three (3) courts and three (3) bungalows in Upper East.



To the sixteen (16) Justices, the President reminded them that the dispensation of justice requires that application of the laws of the land must occur, in the hallowed words of the judicial oath, without fear or favour, affection or ill-will, that is, without recourse to the political, religious or ethnic affiliations of any person before you.



When a citizen falls foul of the law, that citizen, high or low, must be dealt with accordingly, and the law enforcement agencies, including you, our new judges, must ensure this is done. That is the true meaning of the concept of equality before the law, he said.



To assist them on this path, President Akufo-Addo stated that his Government, since his assumption of office, has, since my assumption of office, introduced a number of policy measures to help bridge the technology-gap, explaining that they are necessary to shore up the nations reputation as a country governed in accordance with the rule of law.



That is why, last year, I launched the e-justice system, which is designed to leverage technology in the delivery of justice. I encourage all of you to take full advantage of the e-justice system, to expedite the conduct of cases that come before you, and in the management of the Court. The transparent and efficient delivery of justice builds confidence in citizens, businesses and the investor community, he added.



New Justices of the High Court



The Justices of the High Court sworn in by the President are Her Honour Eva Bannerman-Williams, His Honour Emmanuel Bart-Plange Brew, His Honour Yaw Owoahene Acheampong, His Honour Samuel Boakye-Yiadom, His Honour Abdul Yusif Asibey, Mrs. Elfreda Amy Dankyi, Mr. Samuel Faraday Johnson, Ms. Sheila Minta, Her Honour Audrey Kocuvie-Tay, Nana Yaw Gyamfi Frimpong, Mr. Ernest Yao Gaewu, Mr. Solomon Oppong-Twumasi, Mr. Charles Bentum, Mr. Joseph Adu-Owusu Agyeman, Mr. William Osei-Kuffour, and Mr. Douglas Seidu.



With the High Court having jurisdiction in all matters, and, in particular, in civil and criminal matters, and such original, appellate and other jurisdiction as may be conferred on it by this Constitution or any other law, and also jurisdiction to enforce the Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms guaranteed by this Constitution, he noted that much of judicial work begins and ends there.



It is, therefore, critical for the growth of the nation that the High Court commands the respect of the people by the quality of its justice, as well as by the comportment of its judges, he added.











































Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Vishwakarma Puja 2020: Significance, how to worship 'divine architect' of gods

India

oi-Deepika S

New Delhi, Sep 16: Vishwakarma Jayanti is being celebrated across the nation on Wednesday. The day marks the birth of Hindu God Vishwakarma, the Devshilpi, or 'architect of the gods'.

The festival is celebrated primarily in Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam, Jharkhand, Bihar, Tripura, and Odisha. As per Drikpanchang, this year Vishwakarma Puja Sankranti starts at 7.23 pm on 16 September.

The day is calculated as per the 'Bisuddhasidhanta', and on the last day of Bengali Bhadra month, it is celebrated as 'Biswakarma Puja' in the eastern states of India like Odisha, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Tripura. In many places, it is known as 'Kanya Sankranti' or 'Bhadra Sankranti'.

Vishwakarma Puja falls on the last day of the Bengali month Bhadra which is also known as Bhadra Sankranti or Kanya Sankranti.

According to Hindu mythology, Lord Vishwakarma created the entire universe as well as heaven and earth. He also crafted the sacred weapons and chariots of all the gods. Vishwakarma is also known as the lord of engineers, artisans and craftsmen.

In the earliest days, Vishwakarma was used to be another name of Brahma. The story behind the universe was indeed being created away from the navel mirrors of Lord Vishwakarma which shows that Brahma was creating the universe. Later on, the name was used to credit other gods too. Vishwakarma has been considered as a divine architect only in the Puranas which come later in Hindu chronology. He is known for building the Heaven (Swarga), then the city of Gold - Lanka, which ruled by Ravana and diminished by Hanuman, and the city of Dwarka, ruled by Lord Krishna. All the architects, artisans and engineers worship him as the deity of their craft and trade.

How to celebrate Vishwakarma Day

Owners of shops, factories, offices and other professional establishments generally organise pujas at their workplaces. These places are exquisitely decorated with flowers. Lord Vishwakarma and His 'Vahan' (vehicle), the elephant is worshipped. His deity is installed in decorative pandals where the main puja ceremonies are conducted.

After the ceremonies are done, Prasad or blessed food is distributed among all the workers. Those who own the factories worship the tools as it is their tools that get them daily bread. This festival unites factories' owners and labourers as they all have meals together.

One can install prosperity Yantras at their workplace. It is said that Yantras attract the cosmic energies and drive away the negative ones. Also one can perform a Yagya puja on this day. It ensures overall prosperity of one's business.
Cargo moved on the 3,700-kilometre-long St. Lawrence Seaway through the end of August was down 8.4 per cent compared to the same time last year, figures released Wednesday show.

Thats a decrease of 0.45 per cent from figures released for the end of July.

The total number of vessel transits  lakers, tugs and barges, and ocean-going ships through the system  was down 13.26 per cent, or 305 fewer ships over the same period last year.

St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. said all cargo shipped dropped 1.77 million tonnes.

Year-to-date shipments of iron ore were down 23.15 per cent, liquid bulk down 22.62 per cent, and dry bulk 11.34 per cent.

Coal shipments also dropped, by 11.34 per cent, and general cargo was down 0.65 per cent.

Meanwhile, grain shipments were up 13.33 per cent.

A release from the Chamber of Marine Commerce said grain shipments were up due to continuing world demand for wheat and canola.

Year-to-date shipments of grain totalled 5.2 million tonnes, as ships transported Prairie wheat and canola and Ontario wheat and soybeans for both domestic use and export to markets around the world, the release said.

The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway serves as a key trade gateway for farmers in Ontario, Quebec and the Prairies, but also across the American Midwest, said seaway president and chief executive officer Terence Bowles, in the release.

He said seaway customers are expecting good harvests from all of the regions this year and the corporation is poised for a big push of grain exports right up to the end of the year.

In these precarious times, our binational transportation corridor will be more essential than ever to the economic recovery of both Canada and the United States.

Burlington-based shipping company McKeil Marine also reported that its grain volumes were up 13 per cent in August, and it announced this month that it had acquired a bulker vessel from Europe that will be delivered to Canada to add to its domestic fleet.

Built in 2012, Juliana will be reflagged as a Canadian vessel and be renamed Harvest Spirit.

Nationally, our grain markets continue to perform well. In fact, the demand for Canadian grain is booming, which is particularly encouraging news in these challenging times, said McKeil president Scott Bravener, in the release.

Bravener said grain exports are bolstering overall cargo shipment volumes in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway and Harvest Spirit will allow for McKeils continued growth in the market.
Noomi Rapace and Joel Kinnaman in "The Secrets We Keep." (Bleecker Street)

The Times is committed to reviewing theatrical film releases during the COVID-19 pandemic . Because moviegoing carries risks during this time, we remind readers to follow health and safety guidelines as outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local health officials .

Psychological thriller and domestic drama find common ground in the lean, well-acted The Secrets We Keep, starring Noomi Rapace, Chris Messina and Joel Kinnaman. Directed by Israeli filmmaker Yuval Adler from a screenplay he wrote with Ryan Covington, the film bears a loose resemblance to Ariel Dorfmans Death and the Maiden, and focuses on a Romanian war bride haunted by her past in post-World War II America.

Rapace plays Maja, who lives with her physician husband Lewis (the always soulful Messina) and their young son in a small Rockwellian town, far from the horrors of Europe. The night terrors have passed, but one bright, sunny day she hears the familiar whistle and voice of a man playing with his dog and suddenly shes rocketed back 15 years to the night a group of German soldiers terrorized her, her younger sister and other women.

That man, Thomas (Kinnaman), a pipe-fitter newly arrived in town with his wife Rachel (Amy Steimetz) and two small children, claims to be Swiss. But Maja, despite her fragmented memories, is certain he is a rapist and murderer named Karl. How Maja seeks retribution, the effect it has on her relationship with Lewis and the unraveling of the American dream drive the story, one that feels equally frantic and measured.

The film signals its influences via that old standby, the movie marquee  Alfred Hitchcocks North by Northwest (with the sci-fi 4D Man). The genre elements are nicely balanced by the adult drama embodied in the lead quartets performances, especially Rapaces turn that is part femme fatale, part damaged soul.

The stories we tell ourselves, the information we withhold from others and the threat of discovery that hangs over our misdeeds all shape The Secrets We Keep. In its modest package, it asks some interesting questions. Will the truth save us or haunt us and can we live with not knowing the answer?
When Apple announced iOS 14 at WWDC 2020 last month, it boasted about some notable improvements to Siri including being more aware of the on-screen content thereby making it smarter than before. Despite the improvements though, Siri is still nowhere near as good as Google Assistant. A video by In-Depth Tech Reviews has compared Siri in iOS 14 to Google Assistant in Android 11 which shows the former lagging behind in almost all areas.

At least one of the useful improvements with Siri in iOS 14 is that it now has a new compact UI that does not take over the entire display. The comparison starts with the YouTuber opening an image in the gallery app on his Pixel 4 XL and iPhone 11 Pro and then asking the respective virtual assistants to send it to a contact on WhatsApp. The Pixel 4 XL was able to do this relatively mundane task in just one simple voice command, while Siri on the iPhone 11 Pro running iOS 14 ended up asking multiple questions and still could not send the photo. Even in other scenarios where Siri worked, it required more interactions than Google Assistant to work properly.

One can use Siri to send voice messages in iOS 14, a feature thats currently not available on Google Assistant. However, while one can ask Google Assistant to help them sleep or relax and get it to play relaxing sounds, Siri does not do anything similar. One can also use Google Assistant to get remember birthdays of their loved ones, set various reminders, etc. where Siri in iOS 14 terribly fails. In all the different comparison rounds, Google Assistant managed to easily beat Siri which clearly shows despite the improvements in iOS 14, Apple still has a lot of work to do to improve its voice assistant.

We Want to Hear From You

Has your Siri experienced improved over the years? Or have you given up on it and stopped using it completely? Do you think Apple has made some meaningful improvements to Siri in iOS 14?
Hyderabad, Sep 16 : A woman was washed away while trying to save her children in a stream in Telangana on Wednesday.

The incident occurred in Shahpur Tanda in Vikarabad district when she along with her husband and five children were crossing the stream, which was overflowing due to heavy rains.

According to police, Anita Bai, 35, was washed away in flood waters. She along with her husband Dasrath and children were returning home after working in an agriculture field.

Dasrath first crossed the stream with three children while Anita Bai and two daughters who followed lost balance and fell into the stream. The woman was washed away while trying to save her daughters. Dasrath managed to save the daughters. Locals later pulled out the woman's body.

In another incident, a couple got trapped in flood water in Siddapur village in Nagar Kurnool district. Efforts were to rescue them.

Local MLA G. Balaraju spoke to Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao and Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, requesting them to send a helicopter for the rescue. However, the chopper could not be sent as it was already dark.

District collector and superintendent of police reached the village and were supervising the rescue work.

Parts of Telangana received heavy rains on Wednesday under the impact of low-pressure area. Rivulets, streams and lakes were overflowing at many places.

Zahirabad in Sangareddy district received highest rainfall of 13 cm. Many places in Rangareddy, Hyderabad, Medchal Malkajgiri and surrounding districts recorded about 10 cm rainfall.
Black Christian college offers students free online therapy amid rise in lockdown stress

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Students at a historically black Christian college in Texas, as well as several other colleges across the nation, will have access to free mental health therapy for one year as many struggle during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As students are now forced into a period of remote learning during the fall semester, Charles Smith, vice president of Student Services at Jarvis Christian College, explained that the school is seeing that some students are really dealing with some mental health problems.

They are just going through stress and all kinds of things with parents losing jobs and them not being able to return to school, he told The Christian Post. We have students who rely on us as a place for them to live. We have some students who have also been homeless and they are not able to return to residence halls. A lot of them are dealing with other issues of mental health.

Jarvis Christian College, which is affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in East Texas, announced this month that it received a grant from the Thurgood Marshall College Fund allowing it to give students struggling mentally during the pandemic access to licensed therapists through META Teletherapy.

META describes itself as an online wellness platform built specifically for students to connect with counselors for private and secure counseling via mobile platform.

The [United Negro College Fund] did a survey for schools that are part of UNCF. When we got our data back, our data indicated that 68% of our students had indicated that there had been a significant decline in their mental health and financial well-being, Smith said.

Jarvis Christian College was contacted by the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, a nonprofit organization that serves historically black colleges and universities. Smith said the organization provided a grant for the college to be able to partner with META to offer anonymous therapy for students.

For a year, they told us that this service would be free for our students until September 2021, Smith said. This service is 24 hours a day, seven days a week. META has put together a group of licensed therapists who are certified. They also have an app that students can download, allowing them to select a counselor that they feel comfortable with based on their background.

The students will be able to contact the counselors and make appointments through the video-based telemedicine app.

They are also taking care of the cost for the therapists time, the colleges vice president said of the grant. In addition to us using META through their platform, they are also paying for the time that the students spend with the therapist. They can have up to, I think, about five sessions.

Smith assured CP that all the costs have been taken care of through the grant. According to Smith, the grant from Thurgood Marshall College Fund was $50,000. He added that there are a total of eight HBCUs participating in the initiative.

The new partnership is expected to take a large load off the colleges lone counselor.

We have one counselor trying to service our 700-plus students, Smith explained. So we see this is another resource to where, if they cant get ahold of [the counselor], they can at least get online and find someone they can talk with.

The administration and staff were concerned about the escalation of suicide attempts and homelessness, Smith said, in addition to challenges faced by students who are having to get jobs to support themselves and their families.

During this time, mental health issues have just escalated.  We just felt that our counselor was just having a full caseload, he added. So META offered this opportunity for us and we just jumped at it.

Smith, who is trained as a counselor, appreciates that the META mobile app is available for students late at night since many people that age stay up late. He also likes that it offers an additional layer of confidentiality not available in the traditional in-person counseling setting.

A lot of students today are private and they have issues they are dealing with and they dont want to talk to mom or dad about it or their friends, he said. A lot of times, walking into the counselors office on campus is scary for some students. But now, they can talk to someone who may be on the other side of the country and they dont have to worry about seeing the person the next day.

In addition to mental health concerns, other challenges are making remote learning difficult for some Jarvis Christian College students.

We discovered that we have some students who live in places where they dont have access to the internet. We discovered that a lot of them didnt have their own computers, Smith explained. That was creating stress for them.

The college has also launched a program to provide students with laptops, Smith said.

We have hot spots so they can have instant access to the internet. It's difficult for all students because online learning has historically been something that is for people 24 years of age and older, he noted. Now, for all of our students to have all their instructions online and through Zoom and different platforms that we purchase for our faculty to use, it's just a difficult time.

The college also had to make adjustments to class schedules since some students needed to get jobs during the pandemic.

Our Zoom classes were set like regular classes as if they were on campus. We found out that students had difficulty with that because they're working because they had to go and get jobs, he said.

Most people know that you have to be very disciplined and have to be a great time manager when you're dealing with online instruction. You have your class hours, but it's not like you can leave your residence hall and go to class. It's a lot of stress for our students to deal with the classes and all the other factors they're dealing with at home.
Amid a spike in coronavirus cases, the state government has made wearing face masks mandatory for all sections of people under the Tripura Epidemic Disease Covid-19 Regulations, 2020. Those who violate the rule would be fined Rs 200 for the first time and Rs 400 on the second occasion.

In another step, the Tripura government would undertake a mask enforcement drive on September 18 and 19.

We have decided to conduct a mask enforcement drive on Friday and Saturday across the state. If anyone is seen violating the norms, they would be fined, said Law minister Ratan Lal Nath on Wednesday.

A three-member central medical team is on a 10-day visit to the state to take stock of the situation and suggest measures to curb the spread of the virus.

During their preliminary observation, the experts said most of the people violate social distancing norms and dont wear face-masks, said Nath.

The team comprises consultant Epidemiologist of National Centre for Disease Control ( NCDC) Dr Daisy Panna, Lady Hardinge Memorial College assistant professor of Respiratory Medicine Dr PK Verma from Delhi and Health and Family Welfare regional director Dr Satyajit Sen from Kolkata.

The team has already visited Govind Ballabh Panth ( GBP) hospital , lone dedicated Covid-19 hospital, Indira Gandhi Memorial hospital and Tripura Medical College in West district and hospitals of Dhalai, Unakoti, Khowai and North districts.

Total 10,560 persons have been arrested between March 24 and September 14 for violating curfew and lockdown guidelines. During this period, police seized 526 vehicles and collected Rs 2.57 crore as fine.

The state recorded a total of 20,172 Covid-19 positive cases out of which 12,956 have recovered. Total 222 patients died while another two died by suicide.

Referring to the rise in Covid-19 deaths, the minister said that 40% of the total people died within 24 hours of admission in the hospital between September 1 to 7. One of the main reasons are patients delay in taking admission in the hospitals, he added.
President Trump recently held a roundtable discussion with members of the Hispanic community in Las Vegas and as reported by One America News he stressed his belief in that community's values:

"Hispanic Americans embody the American dream very much, as much as anybody I can even think about," he stated. "They embody the American dreamwe've had tremendous support from the Hispanic Americans on the southern border because they understand the southern border better than anybody."

Looking south from Las Vegas, Nevada, one would see Mexico and Central American countries with a land connection to our southern border.

However, with the president's proven, dedicated, and successful focus on Hispanic outreach. President Trump would have been equally correct if he had said the same words in south Florida. Looking south for danger on both sides of America is appropriate, very prudent, and extremely important.

America's water connection, vice land, across the Caribbean, leads to two very dangerous communist countries on our southern border: Cuba and Venezuela.

Having flown combat missions as a Marine fighter pilot in support of free Cubans, I saw firsthand what bullies and cowards they really are:

The rules of engagement gave us pause. If challenged by a MiG, we had to first let them demonstrate an "offensive" action before we could shoot them down. In our first brief, our skipper, who had significant Vietnam combat experience, said simply that if you see MiGs, kill them because they are "offensive" and we can sort it out when you come back. Unfortunately the Cuban Air Force always ran away. Their patrol boats also would turn back inside Cuban legal limits before we ever got close. This was called deterrence on our part.

However, in this time of fake news, as to be expected, CNN misses no opportunity to ignore real news like that and with gross stupidity created some totally fake news about Cuban-Americans.

CNN tried to fact-check President Donald Trump's weekend claim that he received the "Bay of Pigs" award Sunday by reporting that no such award exists. "For those confused by Trump's claim he got the 'highly honored Bay of Pigs Award': He got an endorsement in 2016 from the Bay of Pigs Veterans Association. It's not an award," explained network fact-checker Daniel Dale.

Actually, it is an award, as this Federalist piece shows. What a nasty attack by CNN on the honor and integrity of proud, courageous Cuban-Americans who lost their country to communist dictators.

With respect to current events in Venezuela, the Bay of Pigs press release by president, Veterans Association-Brigade 2506, Colonel Juan (Johnny) Lopez de la Cruz (USA, retired) has a powerful insight: "We know what it is to live under socialism." That rings out so true today, with a huge warning for all Americans.

Looking from Cuba to Venezuela's Maduro, the current dictator, who is running a criminal enterprise disguised as a government strongly aided by Cuban state security that is also empowered by Russia, the PRC, and Iran, who has created vicious street enforcers known as "colectivos."

The Washington Post actually commits honest journalism in reporting on this essence of socialism, the colectivos:

Maduro's muscle: Politically backed motorcycle gangs known as 'colectivos' are the enforcers for Venezuela's authoritarian leader "I call on the colectivos; the hour of resistance has arrived, active resistance in the community," Maduro declared in the speech on Monday. The colectivos aren't nearly as big as Venezuela's armed forces  they number perhaps 5,000 to 7,500 members nationwide, most of them in cities, according to Alejandro Velasco, a history professor at New York University who has studied the phenomenon. But they help explain how Maduro has remained in power even as the country's economy and poorly maintained power grid have broken down. The paramilitary forces are nimble and committed  and they have an extraordinary ability to sow terror.

The time is drawing near for all American voters, and we will have a clear choice in November: do our fellow voters learn from the warning offered by proud Hispanics who came to our shores to build a safe life for their families, or do they vote for Democrats, who saw nothing wrong in historically embracing the vicious murderers running communist horror shows in Cuba and Venezuela?

If, tragically, the November vote empowers Democrats to lead our country, make no mistake: we would be empowering the American equivalent of colectivos. Their kindred spirits, Antifa, an organization currently running rampart and unchecked in the streets of many cities and towns today, are our coming colectivos and are a clear and present danger.

Image credit: Twitter screen shot.
The U.S. should have enough Covid-19 vaccine doses for Americans to return to "regular life" by the third quarter of next year, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday. CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield told a Senate panel he expects vaccinations to begin in November or December, but in limited quantities with those most in need getting the first doses, such as health-care workers. He said it will take about "six to nine months" to get the entire American public vaccinated. "If you're asking me when is it going to be generally available to the American public so we can begin to take advantage of vaccine to get back to our regular life, I think we're probably looking at third ... late second quarter, third quarter 2021," he told the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies. The CDC later walked back Redfield's testimony after President Donald Trump criticized him at a White House press conference.

The CDC said Redfield's timeline referred to when all Americans will complete their immunizations. "He was not referring to the time period when COVID-19 vaccine doses would be made available to all Americans," CDC spokesman Paul Fulton Jr. said in an email to CNBC. At the hearing, Redfield said the Trump administration's Covid-19 vaccine program Operation Warp Speed was unprecedented. He told lawmakers that a vaccine usually takes four to six years. There are no approved vaccines for the coronavirus. Three drugmakers are currently in late-stage testing for potential vaccines and expect to know if they work by the end of the year. Public health experts have previously said that most Americans likely won't get immunized with a coronavirus vaccine until the middle of next year. Whichever vaccine is authorized by the Food and Drug Administration, it will likely be in short supply once it's cleared for public distribution, medical experts warn. The vaccine will likely require two doses at varying intervals, and states still face logistical challenges such as setting up distribution sites and acquiring enough needles, syringes and bottles needed for immunizations. Earlier in the day, the CDC outlined a sweeping plan to make vaccines for Covid-19 available for free to all Americans. In the plan, the agency said it anticipates a coronavirus vaccine will initially be granted an emergency use authorization before a full formal approval. The U.S. government plans to transport the vaccine to distribution sites across the U.S. within 24 hours after the FDA grants an emergency authorization or approval, senior administration officials told reporters Wednesday morning. The government will use medical supply company McKesson as its main distributor for the vaccine.
Photo: (Photo : Facebook/Waterbury Police Department)

A Connecticut teen spotted an SUV on fire as he was walking along the street on Wednesday. People are praising his heroic deed after saving a mom and her three children that could have cost his life.

The Waterbury Police Department said that Justin Gavin was walking along a local street when he saw the car that was on fire. The teen explained to CNN that he started yelling at the driver to stop the car as it was on fire.

A woman with three kids trapped inside a burning car

The department had received many calls about a burning vehicle with a trapped woman during that time. Since there were no officers on the scene, Gavin ran to the car to help the woman open the door so that she could escape the fire.

Gavin explained to the outlet that he would want somebody to help him if he was in that same situation. His instincts took over so he headed to the burning car without thinking about his safety.

See also: Florida 911 Dispatcher Revives Baby and 71-Year-Old Man That Stopped Breathing

After he was able to let the woman out of the car, Gavin saw that there were still three children trapped inside. He was alarmed because he saw that the car was quickly being enveloped in flames.

In a video on the department's Facebook page, Captain Michael DaSilva explained what the teen did. He said that Gavin pulled all three of the children from the car even as the flames grew larger. He also said that the teen also managed to save a one-year-old baby that was securely attached in a car seat.

The 18-year-old teen was able to save a woman and her three kids, ages one, four, and nine before the fire burned the car. He told CNN that he got scared because he did not know whether he was going to save them all in time.

See also: Little Girl Saves Distressed Swan That Was Trapped [She Wants to Be a Veterinarian]

Teen receives "Challenge Coin" as a reward

Police Chief Fernando Spagnolo presented a "Challenge Coin" to Gavin to honor his heroic deed later that day. Usually, that coin is given to officers who showed an act of bravery. Spagnolo told Gavin that one of the things he recognizes is people's heroic feats or excellent work.

He explained that the coin was a token of his appreciation to the teen for being a great member of their community. The Police Chief is hoping that the coin would remind the teen of the day he saved lives selflessly.

See also: Louisiana Nurses Stayed in NICU Even After Hurricane Laura Hit to Care for 19 Babies

He is hoping that in the future, Gavin could reflect on all the good things he did that day. Spagnolo told the teen that he could look back at any time at this great moment in his life.

Gavin told CNN that he learned one powerful lesson from the experience. He said that it made him realize that life is short.
Getting a library card is easy and September happens to be National Library Card Sign-Up month.

Anyone looking to gain a Manistee County Library card, simply needs proof of a Michigan address and they can get a free card.

This means means books  both print and digital, movies, games, music and more are free also. Online registration is available on the library's website, manisteelibrary.org or patrons can set up an appointment to register curbside by calling 231-723-2519.

We have many books in the library and many about libraries as well.

 For children who enjoy history, Library on Wheels: Mary Lemist Titcomb and Americas First Bookmobile by Sharlee Glenn is a good choice. Manistee County had a bookmobile until branch locations were built in Arcadia, Bear Lake, Onekama, Kaleva and Wellston.

 Construction by Sally Sutton tells the story of a library being built.

 Gertrude Chandler Warner books have also long been a library staple. The 21st title in the mystery series is The Deserted Library Mystery."

 Property of the Rebel Librarian by Allison Varnes tells the story of an avid reader who is suddenly denied access to her beloved books until she discovers a little free library.

Our patrons love cozy mysteries. We have three series that are set in libraries.

 Library Lovers Mysteries by Jenn McKinlay follows head librarian Lindsay Norris through her days in Briar Creek Connecticut.

 Miranda James writes the Cat in the Stacks mysteries. Charlie Harris is accompanied by his Maine Coon cat as he works in the research library at Athena College and volunteers at the local library in Mississippi.

 The New York Public Library is the setting for Raymond Ambler and friends. Hes a librarian and sleuth in Murder at the 42nd Street Library by Con Lehane. All regular people who stumble over dead bodies and are unable to resist getting involved.

History also gives us many library-themed books.

 The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu and Their Race to Save the Worlds Most Precious Manuscripts by Joshua Hammer takes us along the Niger River to Mali to rescue ancient manuscripts.

 The Book of Thieves: The Nazi Looting of Europes Libraries and the Race to Return a Literary Inheritance by Anders Rydell tells the story of groups of librarians attempting to return stolen books to their rightful place. The process is still ongoing.

Books mean different things to different people.

 The Book That Changed My Life: 71 Remarkable Writers Celebrate the Books That Matter to Them edited by Roxanne J. Coady and Joy Johannessen shows many of the authors carried by Manistee County Library discussing many titles found in our libraries.

 For a look behind the scenes at a library, Quiet Please: Dispatches From a Public Librarian by Scott Douglas is a must read. Albert Einstein said The only thing you absolutely have to know is the location of the library.

Information on the Manistee County Library's hours of operation can be found at manisteelibrary.org or by calling 231-723-2519, or at each branch.
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan recovered from the Coronavirus last month after she, Abhishek, Aaradhya and Amitabh Bachchan were tested positive. The family has recovered and Amitabh Bachchan is back on the sets to shoot for the next season of Kaun Banega Crorepati. As for Aishwarya, talks about her having signed Pradeep Sarkars next did the round at the start of this year.

It's a biopic on Binodani Dasi, a popular courtesan from the 1800s who became popular as a theatre actor. But now we hear that the project has been pushed to next year due to the pandemic. Talking about the delay, director Pradeep Sarkar said that he'd narrated the script to Aishwarya and she'd given him the heads up but soon after the lockdown started. So he hasn't been able to work further on the project.





He also revealed that even though Aishwarya is on board, he has not been able to sign on other actors for the film. He's hoping that things will go back to normal by March 2021, so he can go back on sets. He said, The writing is in progress. While Aishwarya has given her nod, I have not approached other actors because I am waiting for the crisis to abate. I hope the vaccine is developed by March so that we can start shooting."

Pradeep Sarkar is also working on two other scripts but will only start narrations when he can meet the actors in person.

Binodani Dasi, also popularly known as Noti Binodani was a popular courtesan in the late 1800s. At the age of twelve, she played a role in a drama in Calcuttas National Theatre. The biopic will focus on her life and the men in her life.
Former President Jerry John Rawlings has urged the new leadership in Mali to use the transition period to exhibit exceptional leadership and usher the country into a prosperous era.



The former President made the call when a four-man delegation of the National Committee for the Salvation of the People (CNSP) led by its Chairman, Colonel Assimi Goita called on him on Tuesday in Accra. Also captured in photographs from the meeting was Mr Rawlings' daughter and the Member of Parliament for Klottey-Korley constituency in Accra, Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings.



A statement issued by the Office of Mr Rawlings said, he urged the Malian leadership to mobilise their people into taking up productive activity through a positive vision to boost the countrys development. He also advised them to empower and encourage the people to own their political climate and to improve on the quality of multiparty democracy that Western powers have hung around our necks.



The level of corruption that has become an integral part of multiparty democracy has created a general climate of stress and tension that may destabilize some areas in our region. It is unfortunate that the world is being forced into multiparty democracy with corruption and violence rather than other forms of democratic practices with none or minimal corruption. Unfortunately, the West appears to favour corruptible political tendencies in order to continue to dominate our security and economy, the former President stated.



Former President Rawlings also encouraged the transitional unit to govern with humility and diligence and inspire the people to fight and defy corruption and injustice.



He said he was dutifully passing on ECOWAS leaderships concerns while sharing his own political experiences and observations.



The meeting took place after ECOWAS leaders held an Extraordinary meeting with the Malian leadership at Peduase in Ghana, to discuss political developments in Mali.



Colonel Assimi Goita was accompanied by Colonel Ismael Wague, Major Talibe Konte and Captain Demba Ndaw. Also present was the Malian Ambassador to Ghana, Abdoul Kader Toure.









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WASHINGTON  The Justice Department said on Wednesday that a group of hackers associated with Chinas main intelligence service had infiltrated more than 100 companies and organizations around the world to steal intelligence, hijack their networks and extort their victims.

The United States government presented the allegations in a set of three indictments unsealed on Wednesday that showed the scope and sophistication of Chinas attempts to unlawfully advance its economy and to become the dominant global superpower through cyberattacks. The indictments also said some of the hackers had worked with Malaysian nationals to steal and launder money through the video game industry.

The Chinese government has made a deliberate choice to allow its citizens to commit computer intrusions and attacks around the world because these actors will also help the P.R.C., Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen said, referring to the Peoples Republic of China in a news conference where he announced the charges.

The acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Michael R. Sherwin, said some of the perpetrators viewed their association with China as providing free license to hack and steal across the globe.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has hinted at a possible return of the Malian government to civilian rule in a matter of days amid threats to impose restrictions should push come to shove.



President Akufo-Addo, who doubles as the Chairman of the bloc, after Tuesdays meeting explained that talks with the head of Malis new military junta, Col Assimi Goita was progressive.



An earlier ultimatum set by the leaders for a handover by close of day September 15 was not met as Col. Assimi Goita leaves the shores of Ghana for Bamako.



But President Akufo-Addo told the press after the meeting that the military leader has agreed to, upon his arrival in Mali, engage the National Committee for the Salvation of the People (CNSP) further as part of measures to implement its commitments agreed at the ECOWAS meeting.



I am hoping that by the time he [Col. Goita] gets there, these things would have been completed so that the sanctions will be lifted. Were talking, hopefully in days, not in weeks he said.



The ECOWAS Chairman further revealed that Col Assimi Goita participated in the discussion but we insisted that he goes back and do the consultation with those who are responsible for the decisions and get their buy-in.



The President made these comments at the gathering of West African heads of State in Ghana to deliberate on possible solutions to the political crisis in Mali following a coup to oust President Bubakar Keita in August.



ECOWAS also cautioned further sanctions if the military leaders fail to adhere to the conclusions reached at Tuesdays meeting.



Theses sanctions could range from closure of member states borders to Mali, restriction of financial inflows and sidelining from decisions concerning member-states among others.



This development comes amid calls for by ECOWAS issue calls for Mr Keitas reinstatement as President.

<iframe width="100%" height="300" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" allow="autoplay" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/893868874&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true"></iframe><div style="font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/user-387384220" title="JoyNews/AdomNews" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">JoyNews/AdomNews</a>  <a href="https://soundcloud.com/user-387384220/mali-coup-ecowas-orders-handover-to-civilian-rule-in-days-or-risk-sanctions" title="Mali coup: ECOWAS orders handover to civilian rule in days or risk sanctions" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">Mali coup: ECOWAS orders handover to civilian rule in days or risk sanctions</a></div>

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 00:40:49|Editor: huaxia

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Chinese Premier Li Keqiang attends the Special Virtual Dialogue with Global Business Leaders hosted by the World Economic Forum (WEF) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 15, 2020. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)

BEIJING, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Tuesday said China is set to achieve its main annual targets and register positive GDP growth in 2020.

Li made the remarks when addressing the Special Virtual Dialogue with Global Business Leaders hosted by the World Economic Forum, attended by more than 500 business leaders.

China has managed to quickly bring COVID-19 under effective control while ensuring people's basic living needs, Li said, stressing that this has not been easy for a developing country with 1.4 billion people.

"Such achievements have been made possible by the extraordinary efforts and sacrifices of the Chinese people," Li said.

As things stand, the economy has been on the upturn, with more than seven million new jobs created in urban and rural areas since the beginning of the year, he noted, calling for more hard work to overcome risks and challenges. Enditem
Belarusian opposition leader Maryya Kalesnikava has been officially charged with calling for action aimed at damaging the country's national security.

The Belarusian Investigative Committee said on September 16 that Kalesnikava is suspected of committing the alleged crime via the usage of media and the Internet.

The 38-year-old Kalesnikava has become a prominent leader of protests demanding the resignation of President Alyaksandr Lukashenka following an August 9 presidential election that the opposition says was rigged.

Crisis In Belarus Read our ongoing coverage as Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka continues his brutal crackdown on NGOs, activists, and independent media following the August 2020 presidential election, widely seen as fraudulent.

Lukashenka, who took just over 80 percent of the ballots according to official results, denies vote-rigging.

Kalesnikava was snatched from the streets of Minsk on September 7 by masked men along with two staffers. The three were driven early on September 8 to the border, where authorities told them to cross into Ukraine.

Security officers reportedly failed to deport Kalesnikava because she ripped her passport into small pieces after they arrived in a no-mans-land between Belarus and Ukraine. Her two associates continued on and are now in Ukraine.

A dozen human rights watchdogs based in Belarus have recognized Kalesnikava and two other associates also being detained as political prisoners and have demanded their immediate release from custody.

Lukashenka, who has led the country for 26 years, has refused to meet with the opposition or agree to a new election.

Weeks of regular protests have ensued since the vote, including demonstrations from some of the workers and other prominent groups the strongman president has kept in tight lockstep in the past.

Lukashenka has directed a brutal postelection crackdown that has included thousands of arrests, beatings and other mistreatment of peaceful protesters, and expulsions of foreign journalists.
In the video he hit his arms, legs and torso with a stick while dressed in the gear

He said it is necessary because it can 'take heavy handed treatment' from police

Nathan Glover, from Mt Eliza in Melbourne's south, masterminded P.A.T.I.R

An anti-lockdown coronavirus sceptic has launched a makeshift security force to 'protect' protesters from police.

Nathan Glover, from Mt Eliza in Melbourne's south, masterminded the 'protection and tactical incident response' group known as P.A.T.I.R when police shut down anti-lockdown protests in the CBD during Stage Four lockdown.

The 43-year-old is a regular at the demonstrations and has pledged his allegiance to future events, despite receiving large fines for flouting stay at home directives.

In a video released on Facebook on Saturday, the tradie modelled his new protective wear, which includes helmets, chest plates and motorbike vests.

Mr Glover said the armour is necessary because it could 'take the heavy handed treatment' from police.

'I am not there to attack anyone, or fight anyone. If the police want to be brutal, I am there,' he said.

'If you need care, P.A.T.I.R will be there. Our guys are highly trained. We're there for you guys to do what you do without getting messed up.'

The 43-year-old (pictured in protective gear) is a regular at the illegal demonstrations and has pledged his allegiance to future events

In the video, he is seen hitting his arms, legs and torso with a stick while covered in armour to demonstrate the strength of the gear.

He wrote on social media that the makeshift taskforce is necessary because police 'get pleasure out of hurting people and have the emotional range of a sack of potatoes'.

In subsequent video shared on Tuesday, Mr Glover introduced a long piece of metal wiring to add to his protective gear.

He said the metal had been donated by a screen door company that did not want to be identified.

In the video, he is seen hitting his arms, legs and torso with a stick while covered in armour to demonstrate the strength of the gear. A long piece of metal wiring also covers his mid-section

He said the makeshift taskforce is necessary because 'get pleasure out of hurting people and have the emotional range of a sack of potatoes'

Mr Glover also claimed the lockdowns in Melbourne ruined his music career and 'decimated' the live scene, according to the Herald Sun.

He added that he doesn't think COVID-19 is as much of a threat as leaders say.

'The fact they say it is contagious, this doesn't make any sense. It doesn't transmit through contagion,' he said.

A contagion is classified as an illness that can spread from person to person through direct contact.

Mr Glover also claimed the government turned the city into a 'prison', and risks a $1,652 fine if he is involved in a future protest

According Health Direct, run by the Australian government, the virus spreads through droplets transmitted by touching an infected person, or an object or surface where an infected person has been.

Mr Glover risks a $1,652 fine if he is involved in a future protest.

Victorian Police are preparing for another round of demonstrations this weekend.

On Sunday, up to 250 residents amassed at Queen Victoria Market for a second day of riots as tensions escalate over the city's tough stage four restrictions, which prohibit Melburnians from leaving home for non-essential reasons.

Protesters were outnumbered by a sea of police officers who flooded the scene to break-up the demonstration

A heavy police presence was seen at the Queen Victoria Market on Sunday as protesters organised a 'freedom walk' against coronavirus restrictions

Protesters chanting 'Freedom' and 'Power to the people' were outnumbered by officers, with some demonstrators throwing fruit at police after raiding market stalls.

Victoria Police arrested 74 people and issued at least 176 infringement notices for breaching the Chief Health Officer directions.

Officers said many protestors were aggressive and threatened violence towards officers, however no members of the force were injured.

'It was extremely disappointing to see people not just protesting, but putting the lives of other Victorians at risk despite all the warnings,' a Victoria Police spokesperson said.

'Our investigations into this protest will continue, and we expect to issue further fines once the identity of individuals has been confirmed.'

A man appeared to be in pain as officers restrained his arms as he laid on the cement

Victoria police warned that anyone caught breaching COVID-19 directives will be punished.

Melburnians will be fined almost $5000 if caught trying to sneak into regional Victoria under a tough new penalty.

Melbourne remains in a Stage Four lockdown, meaning residents cannot leave their houses without a valid reason, and restrictions are in place to limit movement more than 5km from a person's home.

The restrictions remain in place, and both a State of Emergency and State of Disaster, have been extended a further four weeks.

On Wednesday, Victoria recorded eight new coronavirus deaths and 42 infections. The state's active cases dropped below 1,000.
Lucknow, Sep 16 : The Lucknow Police has declared a reward of Rs 25,000 each on the two sons of Bahujan Samaj Party MLA and mafia don Mukhtar Ansari -- Abbas Ansari and Umar Ansari. Both the brothers are wanted in cases of illegal land grab.

Abbas Ansari has won gold medals in International shooting competitions and had unsuccessfully contested the 2017 Assembly elections from Ghosi on a BSP ticket.

Two days ago, the Ghazipur Police had booked Mukhtar's wife Afsha Ansari, her brothers -- Sharjil Raja and Anwar Shehzad -- under the Gangster Act for their involvement in grabbing confiscated lands, embezzlement and other criminal activities.

Lucknow Police Commissioner Sujeet Pandey said that cases had been registered against Abbas and Umar in connection with land grabbing and illegal construction.

Two buildings belonging to Abbas Ansari in the posh Dalibagh area had recently been demolished by the state government on August 27.

The police commissioner said that the police had asked the court to issue non-bailable warrants against the two brothers.

Meanwhile, the police are also preparing to bring Mukhtar Ansari to Uttar Pradesh. Mukhtar is presently lodged in the Ropar jail in Punjab.

The state government has already cracked down on the economic empire of the don and his income to the tune of Rs 48 crore per annum has been stopped, as per sources. His properties in Varanasi, Ghazipur, Mau and Jaunpur have either been seized or demolished.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
China plans to dominate the worlds digital infrastructure, Attorney General William Barr has declared. A truly Orwellian surveillance state is just around the corner, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo argues. In fields from facial recognition to artificial intelligence to 5G telecom technology, it often seems like China has already become the worlds technology superpower. But dig deeper and Chinas position looks weaker. Take Huawei, which the Trump administration argues exemplifies Beijings unfair state subsidies and corporate ...
Five more wild boars have tested positive for African swine fever in Germany as concerns grow over the situation's impact on the European pig industry.

Five new cases ASF have been detected in wild boar in the state of Brandenburg, six kilometres from the Polish border.

The German government announced the country's first ever case of ASF on 10 September.

Since then, China, along with Japan, South Korea, Singapore and others, have banned pork imports from Germany.

Chinas Ministry of Agriculture explained that the move was intended to 'protect the animal husbandry industry and prevent the spread of the disease'.

The new ASF cases in wild boars are now being tested at Germanys Friedrich-Loeffler scientific institute, Reuters reports.

On its website, the Brandenburg government said measures to combat ASF were consistently implemented in the state of Brandenburg.

After all farmers and hunters have been informed of the situation and the core zone with a radius of at least three kilometres from where the infected wild boar carcass was found was completely fenced off with an electric fence on Saturday, the search for further dead wild boars is being carried out in a targeted manner.

"Outside of this, the hunting of wild boar is significantly intensified, the local government said.

The UK's National Pig Association (NPA) said that the development, while unwelcome, was not unexpected.

"The carcase of the original wild boar that tested positive in the area last week was decaying and had probably been there for a fortnight before it was discovered in a harvested field," the group said.

But it added that the German ASF situation was 'very worrying' as it could have a 'significant impact' on the wider market.
The world has failed to achieve even one of

the 20 Aichi Biodiversity Targets signed by 170 countries and regions through the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), says the latest Global Biodiversity Outlook 5 (GBO-5) report released on Tuesday. The conservation targets, which aim to protect the worlds imperiled flora and fauna, were formulated in Japan in 2010. The convention is currently ironing out its post-2020 framework, which will be adopted at its next meeting in Kunming, China, in 2021. The new framework will create a new set of targets

to remedy the Aichi goals failures, and turn things around.

National governments failed to meet the CBD goals despite an earlier warning from United Nations that one million species could disappear within decades, widening the Holocene extinction: The planets sixth mass extinction event, driven by human activity. They failed because of two reasons. One, most countries struggled to balance conservation with the needs of their growing populations and economy (it is the same policy dilemma that is hobbling the fight against the climate crisis). And two, positive conservation steps were upended by perverse incentives which enable destruction  for instance, fossil fuels need mining and overfishing destroys coral reefs, all of which has an impact on preservation.

The GBO-5 comes out at a crucial time when, amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the world is being forced to rethink its development objectives and its relationship with nature. Business-as-usual will only plunge the globe into deeper crises, given the complex interdependence of all elements in nature. A stronger CBD framework must push national governments to act and avoid a natural catastrophe that can endanger human lives.

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Australian motorists will soon have access to apps which will allow them to search for the cheapest petrol stations in real time.

South Australians and Tasmanians will now reap the benefits of new legislation which requires petrol stations to report fuel prices to customers online.

Consumers will be able to log into the app and check fuel prices in their local area, which could potentially save hundreds of dollars a year.

Drivers will be able to check the map before filling up, and will be able to drive to the cheapest petrol station rather than the closest.

The premise is that a driver could check the map before filling up, and would be able to drive to the cheapest petrol station rather than the closest

Motorists in New South Wales, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland have already had access to the state-based apps, but Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory are yet to agree to the service.

'Sorry to kick Dan when he's down... Come on Dan, lets get on board,' Joel Gibson from Nine Saver told Today on Wednesday morning.

'It's a fantastic idea, it's happening already in NSW, the NT, Queensland is doing a trial... the hold out now is Victoria.'

According to the ACCC, fuel price transparency and giving consumers the opportunity to bargain hunt could save up to $275million annually.

In Sydney, a motorist could expect to save at least $343 per year, while the figure for Melburnians could be closer to $148.

Consumers will be able to log into the app and check fuel prices in their local area, which could potentially save hundreds of dollars a year

'Sorry to kick Dan when he's down... Come on Dan, lets get on board,' Joel Gibson from Nine Saver told Today on Wednesday morning after revealing that Victoria is yet to agree to the service

The apps have previously shown examples of a price difference up to 50c per litre in some cases

Brisbane drivers could expect to pocket an additional $229, those in Perth are expected to save $211 and those living in Adelaide will save $159.

These figures could change depending on the price difference between different petrol stations within a person's vicinity.

The apps have previously shown examples of a price difference up to 50c per litre in some cases.

The South Australian government reportedly agreed to get on board with the development after the Productivity Commission determined it could save consumers at least $5million annually within the state.

Griffith University, in Queensland, estimates the saves in southeast Queensland alone are about $14million.
Former Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum came out as bisexual in an interview with Tamron Hall that aired Monday, six months after he was found inebriated and vomiting in a Miami hotel room. Paramedics and police officers responding to a call about a possible drug overdose in that hotel room found crystal meth when they arrived. A male sex worker was there, too.

In a long, almost entirely somber interview, Gillum told Hall hes cried every day since that March incident. What was most hurtful was this belief that I was somehow living a lie in my marriage and in my family, he said. His wife of more than a decade, R. Jai Gillum, who participated in part of the interview, explained that Gillum had told her he was bi before they wed, though hed never been out to the public. So many people just dont understand bisexuality, she said. Bisexuality is just something different. I just believe that love and sexuality exist on a spectrum. All I care about is whats between us and what agreement we make to be in relationship with each other.

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Gillum, 41, served as mayor of Tallahassee from 2014 until 2018, when he came within a half of a percentage point of clinching the Florida governors seat. Since then, he said, the anguish of his loss sent him spiraling into deep depression and alcohol addiction, culminating at that Miami hotel. Hes received treatment for both conditions since and denies having ever used crystal meth. In the interview that aired Monday, Gillum insisted that he could still have a career in politics. There is not a thing that has happened in my life, scandalous or not, to cause me to believe that if I have service to give in elected office  that I couldnt do that, he said, pointing to politicians like Donald Trump, whose histories of sexual behaviorand, in Trumps case, alleged assaultdidnt stand in the way of political success.

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Still, media outlets already seem willing to write him off. In July, when Gillum released a vague video that mentioned his depression and alcohol addiction but nothing about his sexuality, the New York Times wrote of the stunning and swift fall for one of the Democratic Partys brightest young political stars, referring to the March incident as the night Gillums promising political career would begin to unravel. Last week, Good Morning America called him a former rising Democratic star in a preview of the Hall interview; BuzzFeed wrote that Gillum was once a rising star in electoral politics. In an email to press, Halls PR team referred to Gillums once-promising career.

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There is reason to believe that the parts of Gillums story that are presumed to be political poisonproximity to illegal drugs, closeted queer sexuality, possibly paying for sexare not the career-enders conventional wisdom once held them to be. Plenty of politicians have battled addiction. Being a bisexual Democrat is no longer a huge deal in many jurisdictions. Earning the trust of Floridas independents and socially conservative Democrats, which hed need to do if he ever made another run for statewide office, might be difficult, but Gillum is an exceptionally charismatic, talented politician. I wouldnt put it past him.

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Still, there is no existing example of a politician quite like Gillum, even without the complicating humiliation of the hotel room scene. The U.S. does have a few prominent bi elected officials: Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, for one, won her seat in 2018 as a centrist Democrat in the reddish-purple state of Arizona. But most openly bi politicians are women. Biphobia functions differently than homophobia, and it looks different for each gender. Men who are bi are often assumed to be gay and hiding it or deluding themselves, while bisexual women are often assumed to be functionally straight, going through a phase, or merely open to sexual experimentation. (This dynamic can become a self-fulfilling stigma, whereby each respective variety of biphobia makes it socially easier for both bi men and bi women to partner with men.) In politics and pop culture, bisexual women are far more visible than bisexual men, and gay men and lesbians are more visible than either of them, making it more difficult for a bi politician to translate his love life in terms straight people can comfortably understand. The American voter may find gay and lesbian sexualities more legiblejust like straight sexuality, but flipped!than bi or otherwise spectrum-straddling ones. Gillum will also have to contend with the heightened scrutiny and suspicion American culture directs at Black male sexuality.

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And theres another feature of biphobia that Gillum may find particularly difficult to overcome: the idea that bi people are somehow shifty or deceitful, not to be trusted about their own sexuality. The timing and terms of coming out are deeply personal, but by choosing to keep his sexuality from voters until it was forcibly exposed in a bout of public humiliation, Gillum didnt do himself any favors. I felt like the love that I have between my wife and my family, but most importantly the authenticity that Ive tried to lead with, was all in question at this point, Gillum told Hall of the public response to the hotel room report. It will take time for Gillum to rebuild a persona of authenticity after being caught in what many will view as a lie.

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But was Gillum really ever lying? I think hes found himself trapped in a cycle of shame that will look familiar to the many queer public figures whove come before him: Gillum remained closeted for personal or political reasons, unavoidably inflected by the pressures of being out and bi in a biphobic society. Then, by waiting until he was obliged to make his sexuality public, he made it look like bisexuality in the context of a straight-looking marriage is disgraceful and sordid, something requiring concealment from polite society. Gillums attempt to circumvent biphobia has fed into a biphobic public narrative that other bi men and aspiring queer politicians could easily internalize. However he feels about his own bisexuality, by coming out for the first time in the context of a remorseful discussion about addiction, depression, and marriage problemswe both gave up on each other over the course of 2019, he saidGillum reinforced the idea that queer sexuality is an unfortunate personal burden.

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Just look at the way Hall framed the interview. The level of shame that [Gillum] is feeling, the level of heartbreak and humiliation that his wife has been exposed to, reaches a depth of pain that I cannot imagine, she told People. This is probably a true description of events that transpired: The public revelation of your husbands involvement in a queer sex romp, when youve presented yourselves as straight and monogamous, has got to be embarrassing. But this framing (shame, heartbreak, humiliation) is also a really sad response to a mans coming out as bisexual. In a press release, Halls PR team referred to Gillums sexual preferences, as opposed to his orientation. Its no wonder Gillums coming out sounded more like a confession of bad behavior than the sharing of a lived-in identity.

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Part of the problem Gillum is facing is the way sex, not identity, has become the center of his story. Currently, queer politicians are best accepted when their identities are confined to the realm of love, with the sex part blotted out. (Think of Pete and Chasten Buttigieg, who often kissed on the cheek, rather than the lips, at Petes campaign events.) Consider the reaction to former Rep. Katie Hill, who resigned from Congress after her nude photos ran in several right-wing news outlets. An ethical violation (sleeping with a campaign staffer) was the real reason to scrutinize Hills behavior, but her bisexuality and nonmonogamy propelled a lot of the extensive rubbernecking that followed. Alex Morse, the gay Holyoke, Massachusetts, mayor who lost his recent congressional primary in the weeks after a bunch of college students attempted to shame him for dating their peers, has noted that accepting queer sexuality isor should bepart and parcel of electing LGBTQ politicians. The expectation shouldnt be that we have to be in monogamous, heteronormative relationships before we enter public life, he told the New York Times.

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From the outside, it seems like Gillum isnt as comfortable in his sexuality as Hill, Morse, Sinema, and other politicians whove been open about their queerness. Even in the midst of his coming out interview, he made several awkward attempts to obscure his behavior. When asked why he entered that Miami hotel room, Gillum stumbled around the obvious. I would say the reason why I went to that room is probably no different than how anybody might communicate with someone that they are in a friendship, relationship, whatever, with, he said. He also said hes been trying to get over shamenot that I did that, but that I am bad.

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In a way, this makes Gillum a fitting symbol of the current era of LGBTQ life. Queer and trans people have more legal rights and protections than ever, and the Trump administration is as committed as ever to dismantling them. There is an incredibly diverse and growing population of LGBTQ people in public office, and homophobic and transphobic hits on candidates are on the rise. A rising political star in the pro-LGBTQ party remained closeted until he was found naked with a male escort. But he returned to the spotlight, named his sexuality, and refused to abandon his hope of running for elected office again. Its not the triumphant, linear narrative many of us have come to expect from political coming out stories, but its progress.

For more of Slates news coverage, subscribe to What Next on Apple Podcasts or listen below.
Bob Woodward on Tuesday revealed how President Trump was surprised there was public outrage over his meeting with Kim Jong-Un, suggesting his other only option would've been to sit at home reading a book.

During audio played from one of 18 recordings for interviews related to Woodward's new book Rage, Trump boasted as he shows the legendary journalist how 'happy' the North Korean dictator was at one of their several meetings.

However when probed over the reaction stemming from Trump the first American leader to agree to talks with Jong-Un, the president sounded irritated.

'What the f***k? It's a meeting,' the 73-year-old leader hit back at Woodward, 77, on December 5, 2019.

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Trump told Woodward on December 5, 2019 about the shocked reaction to his meeting with Kim Jong-Un: 'What the f***k? It's a meeting.' Audio was played on Anderson Cooper 360

President Donald Trump meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un at the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, in Panmunjom, South Korea, June 30, 2019

... trump to woodward on the outrage over his meetings with north korea: what the fuck? its a meeting. pic.twitter.com/jo1aCoTOQn  fake nick ramsey (@nick_ramsey) September 16, 2020

The explosion came after Trump began by telling Woodward how Jong-Un 'is very smart.'

'You take over a country and you're 25 years old and you survive You've got millions of people who are all smart as hell and energetic,' he added about Jong-Un's country. 'You know the energy is incredible.'

Woodward interjected to say 'they show you those reports about those camps in North Korea' to which Trump responded, 'Oh.'

The journalist went on to recall how President Bush said he 'loathed' Jong-Un's father Kim Jong-Il 'because of what he's doing to his people.'

However Trump responded: 'And you know what? That attitude got him nothing.'

The president went on: 'They built a huge nuclear force during those last two administrations. They haven't done it during me.'

Trump continued that for 'three years I gave nothing.'

'You know they'd say, 'President Trump he agreed to meet... What the f**k? It's a meeting,' he added. 'He agreed to meet? What instead of staying home reading your book? I met?'

During Anderson Cooper 360 on Tuesday, the host suggested Trump was a hypocrite for saying in a March 19, 2020 recording that he 'doesn't have that much time' to think about the 'many people' who have called him a 'wartime president' because he's 'busy as hell.'

President Trump showed Woodward pictures of them meeting during the interview

Trump (R) and North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Un shake hands following a signing ceremony during their historic US-North Korea summit, at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore on June 12, 2018

Comparing it to an interview where Trump failed to come up with one Bible passage he liked, despite claiming it was his 'favorite book,' Cooper also pointed out that just recently he said in a briefing that he spent all day and night watching Fox News coverage about himself and Woodward's book.

In the same interview from six months ago Woodward asked Trump: 'Was there a moment in all of this, last two months, where you said to yourself -- you know, you're waking up or whatever you're doing and you say, 'Ah, this is the leadership test of a lifetime?' '

Trump responded: 'No.'

'I think it might be, but I don't think that,' Trump said. 'All I want to do is get it solved. There are many people that said that to me. They said, you're now a wartime President.'

On March 19, 265 Americans had been killed by COVID-19 and to date 195,000 lives have been lost while 6.6 million have been confirmed infected.

In that interview he admitted he knew it was 'not just old people' who are at risk.

In a February 4 interview Trump told Woodward coronavirus was 'deadly stuff' but failed to mention it at the State of the Union address three days earlier.

Among his interviews with Woodward Trump spoke about the dangers of the global virus and admitted he was playing it down to the American public after on January 28 national security adviser Robert O'Brien called coronavirus the 'biggest national security threat.'

Wood shared audio of how Trump complained critics would say: 'He agreed to meet? What instead of staying home reading your book? I met?'

When Woodward told Trump 'they show you those reports about those camps in North Korea' Trump responded, 'Oh'

'This is the moment a leader would say, "I got a warning: Trouble is coming. There are things we can do," ' Woodward told CNN about the February 4 event. The first reported American death from COVID-19 was on February 29.

'But then he goes on and says, 'Oh, I didn't want to tell the truth because I would panic people.' That's not what people in this country do when they're told the truth.'

The men had a 19th interview on August 14, a day where 1,300 Americans died and 168,000 were dead in total.

However Trump still denied any responsibility whatsoever.

'Nothing more could have been done,' he said when Woodward suggested the election was a battle between Trump, Joe Biden, and the virus.

Trump added: 'I acted early.'

Contrary to what the president said in the bombshell interviews that have been widely reported, on Tuesday Trump said about the virus that he actually 'up-played it in terms of action.'

In response to Trump's latest comments Woodward said: 'We are living in an Orwellian world, and this is not just about some political problem or some geopolitical problem.

'It's about the lives of people in this country, and he was told - he knew. He told me about it.'

While Woodward doesn't sound alarmed during his conversations with Trump, he explained why it's difficult to tell what he's thinking during the interviews.

'My job is not to be emotional and I've done it for 50 years and I tried to bleach the emotions out of it, but this is a story and unfortunately, it's not over,' he told Cooper.

'We're right in the middle of the damn pandemic and you talk to the doctors as I have and the experts and if we had received the kind of warning and this kind of 'this is what you as citizens can do,' this could be over.'
Vishwakarma Jayanti, also known as Vishwakarma Puja, Kanya Sankranti, and Bhadra Sankranti, marks the birth anniversary of Lord Vishwakarma, the son of Lord Brahma and the creator of the world. Vishwakarma is referred to as the divine architect and the divine carpenter as he is believed to have created the weapons, palaces and kingdoms of several Hindu gods. Every year, Vishwakarma Jayanti falls in September or October, and this year it falls of September 16. The festival takes place on the last day of the Hindu calendar month of Bhadra, when the sun god leaves the Simha rashi (Leo) for the Kanya rashi (Virgo). This day is celebrated with much pomp by members of architecture and engineering communities, as well as skilled labourers including smiths, artisans, craftsmen, etc. On this day, workers give themselves and their tools a rest and pray for protection and success. Photos and idols of Lord Vishwakarma are often spotted in the offices, factories and shop floors of such workers as he is very special to them. The festival is celebrated with much vigour in several states of India including and also in the neighbouring country of Nepal.

While the coronavirus pandemic has dampened the festive spirit of practically every holiday and celebration, one can always share positive wishes, thoughts and messages with ones near and dear ones while maintaining social distancing, and health and safety guidelines. Here are some wishes to share with your loved ones on the occasion of Vishwakarma Puja 2020:

- Jai jai shri Vishwakarma bhagwana, Jai jai shri vishweshwar krupa nidhaana. Shubh Vishwakarma Jayanti!

- Let us pray for success and skills to the creator of machine and tools, who is known to all. Happy Vishwakarma Jayanti!

- On this blessed occasion of Vishwakarma Puja, may you be blessed with skills and creativity. Happy Vishwakarma Jayanti!

- May Lord Vishwakarma  the creator of tools and machines, and deity of all craftsman and architects endow upon you his virtue and good will. Happy Vishwakarma Jayanti!

- On this Vishwakarma Jayanti, I pray for you to get success, protection and peace. Happy Vishwakarma Jayanti!

- Warm wishes on Vishwakarma Puja to everyone. Let us celebrate this day by offering prayers to Lord Vishwakarma and seek his blessings for a successful tomorrow.

- I wish that the auspicious occasion of Vishwakarma Jayanti be the new start of happiness, success and prosperity in your life. May you have a blessed year ahead. Happy Vishawakarma Jayanti!

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Flowers are left outside the house where the baby was mauled by a dog. (SWNS)

A man and woman have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter after a 12-day-old baby boy was mauled to death by a dog.

South Yorkshire Police said the youngster suffered serious injuries after being attacked by the dog, which police believe is a crossbreed, and died a short time later in hospital.

The man, 35, and woman, 27, have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter by gross negligence after the incident in Doncaster on Sunday.

Both have been bailed pending further inquiries.

Aerial view of the house where the baby boy was mauled by a dog. (SWNS)

The dog has been removed from the address, police said.

Local Sally Hooley, who saw the dog being removed, told The Sun: Police were struggling to get it into the dog van.

"It was strong enough to be dragging three officers into the road.

MORE: Former Conservative MP Charlie Elphicke jailed for sexual assaults

A South Yorkshire Police spokesman said: Police were called to an address on Welfare Road at around 3.30pm on Sunday following reports that a dog had attacked a child.

"On arrival at the property, emergency services discovered a 12-day-old baby boy had been bitten by a dog and suffered serious injuries.

South Yorkshire Police said the youngster suffered serious injuries after being attacked by the dog. (SWNS)

"The child was taken to hospital, but sadly died a short time later.

"A 35-year-old man and a 27-year-old woman have been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter. They have now been bailed while enquiries continue.

MORE: Matt Hancock says COVID test issues will take 'weeks' to fix

It is not yet known if the dog has been destroyed.
Dedza  Installationof an 86.4-kilowatt solar water plant is expected to reduce water problems which have hit Dedza district for a long time.

Speaking on the sidelines of a tour of the facility in Dedza by the Minister of Forestry and Natural Resources, Nancy Tembo, Central Region Waterboard (CRWB) Chief Executive Officer, Gift Sageme, said the installed solar water plant will increase production capacity.

He said the demand for water in Dedza is currently at 7000 cubic metres per day but at the moment they are producing only 2000 cubic metres.

"This facility has two submersible water pumps which are pumping water from 100 meters deep in the ground pushing it to Dedza waterboard treatment plants 4.5 kilometers.

"Due to intermittent power supply, the facility will combine power supply from Escom with solar power to ensure that water is pumped at all times while in the process increasing production capacity and reducing the problem of dry taps," said Sageme.

In her remarks, Tembo said government is committed to ending water problems by implementing projects that will be sustainable in the long run.

"We need to plan ahead because as you can see Dedza is growing and more people will need water in the future," she said.

She said projects like these will also attract investors in the district saying people invest in places where the environment is conducive and water is very essential.

The Minister also warned all contractors who are tasked with government contracts to build professionally so that money realised from a project should be used for expansion not repairs.

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District Commissioner for Dedza, Emmanuel Bulukutu, said the water plant will help in the growth of Dedza district which usually experiences spells of dry taps.

The project was implemented by the Malawi Government with funding from the World Bank to the tune of $1.2 million (approximately K900 million).

The foundation for Irrigation and Sustainable Development (FISD) limited company was awarded the contract to install the pumps for CRWB in Dedza, Ntcheu, Salima and Ntchisi.

According to FISD's Chief Construction Officer Raymond Mwenitete, the facility in Dedza which is at the testing phase is one of the biggest as it consists 320 solar panels which will power two water pumps producing 13 litres of water per second.
The situation remains calm at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) since the Moscow pact between Indian and Chinese foreign ministers but Indian Army is preparing for a long haul as winters are about to set in in the region. Top government sources told WION, "No major aggressive activity seen in last 5-6 days by Chinese at LAC."

Thursday will mark one week since Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi met in Moscow for over 2 hours. After the meet, both sides came out with a five-point joint statement that called for easing of tensions by disengagement, dialogue and keeping distance between the troops of both countries.

Last week ahead of the Moscow pact, on Monday shots were fired at the LAC by the Chinese troops, the Indian Army said in a statement. On Tuesday, the Chinese forces indulged in provocative action throughout the day.

Meanwhile, the Indian Army is getting ready with its operational logistics for a prolonged standoff as winters set in. The Indian Army has already stocked special fuel and lubricants for tanks and armoured personnel carriers, including spares for their maintenance.

Maj Gen Arvind Kapoor, Chief of Staff, Fire and Fury Corps speaking to reporters in Ladakh said, "We have enough equipment, state of the art facility--habitat, health and hygiene, best quality ration-- highly nutritional. Chief of army staff has visited Ladah and inspected frontline troops and formations."

The area where forces are on standoff receives 40 feet of snow in just November and temperatures can go down to minus 30-40 degrees. What makes the situation tougher is the chilly wind that often blows in this region at high speed.

Sources told WION,"Water points and tube wells have been established for the troops and animals like mules and yaks. The living barracks have also been prepared which are comfortable and warm. Facilities such as central heating system are some of the high points of these facilities."

Indian Army's logistic capability relates to mobility, special rations, repair, recovery, heating systems, high quality weapons, ammunition, quality clothing etc. While most of this existed earlier, sources explained, a lot has also been boosted since May this year when China showed first signs of aggression.

Asked about ammunition, sources responded, "various types including small arms, missiles and tank and artillery ammunition have also been adequately stocked. The medical system is also in place for any eventuality."

Indian forces have the advantage of serving in such climates given the experience of Siachen where conditions are much more demanding than the frontiers with China. This experience of "winter warfare" will come in handy as Chinese still have to disengage and drawdown at LAC.

When it comes to connectivity to Ladakh, there were two routes for moving in, one through Zojila and Rohtang Passes. India has now commissioned the third road from Darcha to Leh which is much shorter distance-wise. Completion of Atal tunnel on the Rohtang route has played as "force multiplied the logistic capacities."

Modern snow clearing equipment have been also been placed on the routes to keep them open beyond November so that daily requirements of the troops can be sent. Indian air forces bases will also give the additional advantage of supporting the army.
Visiting Parliament is about to become much more fun, for children aged seven and over.

At the south end of the Palace of Westminster, furthest from Big Ben, a 7.4m new building has sprung up in amazingly quick time  the diggers first arrived last September  for the new Parliamentary Education Centre, intended to help get schoolchildren interested in politics.

Inside, it is spacious and child friendly. There is a room where visiting school parties can munch their packed lunches. On its walls are coats of arms borrowed from Parliaments art collection, bearing instructive slogans like Bonne et Belle Assez (Good and beautiful enough) and Ubique patriam reminisce (Remember ones country).

There are four themed learning spaces  a modern term, I believe, for what used to be called a classroom, only these are more fun than normal classrooms, because of the clever things visiting children can do with specially provided iPads.

For instance, in the monarchy-themed learning space they can call up a picture of Charles I on the iPad and if they line it up with the kings portrait on the wall, he starts talking.

They can do something even weirder in the adjoining discovery room. They can turn the room into a virtual House of Commons debating chamber, and hear the voice of the Speaker, John Bercow, telling MPs off for behaving badly  just like in a real classroom.

An honourable mistake?

In the Commons chamber on 15 July, it was the turn of the Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond, to be ticked off by the Speaker.

While reporting to Parliament on the deal with Iran, Hammond addressed the venerable Labour MP, Sir Gerald Kaufman, as the Honourable Gentleman. Bercow was not having that. He pointed out: The Right Honourable Member for Manchester Gorton is not an Honourable Gentleman, but a Right Honourable Gentleman and the Father of the House.

Only in the mother of parliaments.

Critical time for Corbyn

Anyone who has any hope of ever living to see another Labour government will have been in despair upon reading the opinion poll, published by The New Statesman, showing Jeremy Corbyn on course to be the partys leader; but spare a thought for what it would do to the man himself.

All his political life, Corbyn has stood for the principle  I quote  that democracy depends on people being able to participate, check, balance and criticise what the leader does.

Criticising anything and everything the Labour leader does has been Corbyns single-minded mission for 32 years. But how do you fight for the right to criticise the leader when you are the leader? Would Corbyn check, balance and criticise himself? Will he mount a leadership challenge, against himself? Confusing.

Plenty of ifs about this Butt

Welcoming a Queen tribute act to the stage at a local festival, Conservative councillor Francis Purdue-Horan announced that he had arranged for them to perform the 1970s Queen hit Fat Bottomed Girls in honour of all the girls of Bingham in Nottinghamshire.

Binghams political establishment is divided over whether this was offensive or funny. I have no opinion on that. I just note that the place where the festival was held is called Butt Field.
The shortage of coronavirus test slots hitting outbreak hotspots across the UK is expected to last for weeks, the health secretary has admitted.

Matt Hancock was responding to an urgent question in parliament on Tuesday, amid reports people are being told to travel to the other side of the country to get checked, or that no test is available at all.

When Jeremy Hunt, the chair of the Health and Social Care Committee, asked whether the secretary of state was still confident that the problem could be solved next week, Mr Hancock replied: I think we will be able to solve this problem in a matter of weeks  we are managing to deliver record capacity, but as he well knows demand is also high.

Mr Hancock suggested that rationing might need to be reintroduced, telling MPs that the testing programme was having to prioritise once again.

His admission of a problem came as health leaders warned the test shortages were affecting the NHS with frontline staff forced to stay away from work because they couldnt get tested. There were also reports of patients facing delays because they could not get access to the testing needed before treatment.

The Independent has received a number of examples from nurses and doctors who have been told to self-isolate at home. In one case a doctor was told the nearest slot available for a test was more than 200 miles away.

Layla McCay, a director at the NHS Confederation (which represents 500 healthcare organisations), said: We are significantly concerned that some people with symptoms of Covid-19, including healthcare workers and their families, are having difficulty in accessing tests due to insufficient laboratory capacity.

We need to see concrete evidence that the promised further increases in testing capacity and faster testing are achievable, and we also need immediate action to prioritise testing for key workers.

In the Commons, MP after MP complained that people in their local area had been unable to get tested. Sarah Owen, MP for Luton North, said: "We've heard case after case of failure when it comes to testing.

"I've heard from parents, teachers, a vicar in Luton North all saying there are no walk-in tests, no drive-through tests, and no home kits available when they need it. The secretary of state talks about capacity but what we need to see is access to testing. Capacity is nothing without access to testing."

Mr Hancock claimed that the vast majority of people do get tested.

The backlog is thought to have been caused by a shortage of laboratory processing capacity for tests, which authorities say has created a critical pinch-point in the system. The failure has seen tests sent abroad to be processed, despite claims from the government that its system would be world-beating".

In mid-August, Mr Hancock promised mass testing, population-wide testing would come to the UK, but offered no timeframe.

Despite previously encouraging more people to get tested and blaming the public for not coming forward, the government has now switched to warning people not to get a test unless they have a good reason. Mr Hancock said last week the recent increase in demand was driven by people who arent eligible.

Jonathan Ashworth, Labour's shadow health secretary, told MPs: "There are no tests available in Covid hotspots including Rochdale, Pendle, and Bradford. Over the weekend in Bolton, where infections are highest in the country, a mobile testing centre failed to turn up. Meanwhile in Bury hundreds queued for five hours for a test. In Walsall, a father with his sick child travelled 76 miles to an appointment in Wales only to find on arrival that tests have run out.

"Increasing numbers of teachers and pupils are not in school; in hospitals, operations are cancelled while NHS staff are stuck in limbo waiting for tests, and he blames increased demand. But when tracing fails to reach 80 per cent of contacts, when less than 20 per cent of those with symptoms self-isolate properly and there is a lack of financial security, infections rise. When schools reopen and people return to workplaces and social distancing becomes harder, infections rise.

Coronavirus: Empty streets across the world Show all 29 1 /29 Coronavirus: Empty streets across the world Coronavirus: Empty streets across the world Saudi Arabia An eerie emptiness enveloped the sacred Kaaba in Mecca's Grand Mosque, Islam's holiest site, where attendance at Friday prayers was hit by measures to protect against coronavirus AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Empty streets across the world China An empty street in Wuhan. Hubei will relax travel restrictions to allow healthy people to move within the hard-hit province AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Empty streets across the world Thailand The Legend Siam theme park, usually attracts up to 20,000, mainly Chinese customers, a day in the high season, is temporarily closed due to the lack of visitors during the coronavirus outbreak AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Empty streets across the world Italy An empty Piazza Duomo in Milan Getty Coronavirus: Empty streets across the world US Aerial photo shows the Covid-19 isolation and monitoring site, where the first patient Joey Camp is being isolated at Hard Labor Creek State Park, about 50 miles east of Atlanta Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP Coronavirus: Empty streets across the world Spain Aerial view taken of the Ipurua stadium in Eibar while the Spanish league football match SD Eibar against Real Sociedad is played behind closed doors in light of the coronavirus outbreak AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Empty streets across the world Albania An aerial view of empty Tirana's outer ring. Albania has stepped up measures to contain the spread of Covid-19 caused by the novel coronavirus and banned circulation of all cars (except ambulances and supplies) for 3 days and urged people to stay home as the number of infected people increased to 33 AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Empty streets across the world Iraq An empty cafe during a curfew imposed by Iraqi Kurdish authorities, following the outbreak of coronavirus, near the castle in the old city of Erbil Reuters Coronavirus: Empty streets across the world South Korea An aerial view shows hygiene officials riding a vehicle disinfecting public buses at a depot in Gwangju EPA Coronavirus: Empty streets across the world Belgium A woman runs though the nearly empty historic center of Antwerp AP Coronavirus: Empty streets across the world China Jingyue bridge, spanning the Yangtze river, leading to Hubei province AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Empty streets across the world Vietnam Formula One Vietnam Grand Prix race track in Hanoi AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Empty streets across the world Spain Restaurant terraces remain closed at the usually overcrowded Plaza Mayor in central Madrid AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Empty streets across the world Thailand Tourist buses parked on a lot near Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Empty streets across the world Poland An aerial view of Jagiellonian University's new campus during the 2 weeks closure of universities, schools, museums and other public facilities in Krakow Getty Coronavirus: Empty streets across the world Italy A canal and the roads next to it are seen completely empty in Venice Getty Coronavirus: Empty streets across the world Greece An aerial view taken with a drone showing the yard of an empty school at Nafplio, Peloponnese EPA Coronavirus: Empty streets across the world Saudi Arabia An aerial view shows an empty white-tiled area surrounding the Kaaba in Mecca's Grand Mosque AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Empty streets across the world Italy Rome's office district EUR, at what would have otherwise been rush hour, virtually empty after a government decree has limited circulation AP Coronavirus: Empty streets across the world Italy Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in Milan Getty Coronavirus: Empty streets across the world Thailand Legend Siam theme park in Pattaya AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Empty streets across the world Belgium Empty shelves in a supermarket in Brussels AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Empty streets across the world Iran A satellite view shows Tehran airport Maxar Technologies via Reuters Coronavirus: Empty streets across the world Italy The deserted Via Manzoni street in Milan Reuters Coronavirus: Empty streets across the world Saudi Arabia AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Empty streets across the world Italy An empty street and canal in Venice Reuters Coronavirus: Empty streets across the world Thailand An aerial photo shows unused tourist buses parked on a lot near Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Empty streets across the world China An almost empty street in Wuhan AFP via Getty Coronavirus: Empty streets across the world Poland A view of the deserted Krakowskie Przedmiescie and tahe Old Town Square in Warsaw EPA

"Extra demand on the system was inevitable, so why didn't he use the summer to significantly expand NHS lab capacity and fix contract tracing?"

Mr Hancock replied that the good news was that capacity for testing is at a record high. He said 9,278 tests were processed on Monday in the top 10 local authority areas for infections.

Record numbers of people are able to get tests. I dont deny that it is an enormous challenge and when you have a free service, its inevitable that demand rises. The challenge is to make sure that we prioritise the tests we have as a nation  the backlog is actually falling and is less than one days test processing capacity," he said.

The problem with testing capacity came as the UK reported another 3,105 confirmed cases of coronavirus on Tuesday with a further 27 deaths.
Kannada film industry too seem to have joined the protest against Hindi imposition with actors Prakash Raj and Darshan Thoogudeepa registering their voices. Both the actors took to social media to raise their voice against imposing Hindi.

Raj, who has acted in South and Hindi films tweeted that he would work in all languages but his roots lie in Kannada. He also posted a picture of himself wearing a t-shirt with the writing nange Hindi baralla hograppa".

Actor Darshan who works in the Kannada film industry tweeted that Kannada is the national language for proud Kannadigas and it was wrong to celebrate Hindi Diwas with the tax money of Kannadigas.

Darshans tweet comes a day after a section of pro-kannada activists on Monday damaged the name board at KSR Bengaluru city railway station protesting imposition of Hindi.

The t-shirt campaign also follows Tamilians including actors sporting t-shirts with similar slogans - Hindi theriyaathu poda" and I am Tamil speaking Indian" that also extended to the political space.

Also, with increasing job losses locally, language protectionism campaigns have gained further ground in Karnataka - fuelled by groups that have a problem with the language of communication used by banks. The use of Hindi and English in rural areas has angered many. And now, with heavy job losses in many sectors over the last three months, it has given rise to a demand for reserving customer service jobs for Kannadigas.

Other than usual thing is all the workers has to be Kannadigas because they are daily conversing with people around. Because what happens is for example in banks, rural banks we are getting lot of complaints that they are not talking in the rural langauge. Because of that there is lot of problem arising. How can we have a customer relationship without knowing the local language?," said TS Nagabharana, chairperson, Kannada Development Authority.

With the lockdown, many returned to their native places. But locally, jobs are not that easy to come by.

Wherever we go for work, lot of migrant labourers from north Indian states are there. I was driver. No job now. We are from Hubbali, Karnataka. But we dont have jobs in Karnataka itself," says Suresh Hanumanthappa, a resident of Hubbali. Suresh who used to work in Bengaluru left to his native with family during the lockdown but when he returned he couldnt find a job.

The pro-kannada groups point to the new education policy as threatening prospects for the next generation as well.

The NEP is imposing Hindi on Kannada students. These students are forced to learn Hindi and it is injustice to them that Hindi is being imposed on them because tomorrow if they have to opt for a central govt job, they wont have a fair chance," said Gurudev Narayan Kumar, president, Kannada Chaluvali.
The Akufo-Addo-led government will not legalise the use of motorcycles for commercial passenger services popularly called Okada, Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has said.



I know that theres been a recent discussion about Okada in Ghana, I think that in the context of what we are doing we will rather encourage the okada riders to come in and try to lease these vehicles so that they can run businesses.



They need to graduate from this risky and less safe okada riding to a safer means of transportation.



Their problem will be a lack of capital but if you bring in new leasing policies and we have our national ID cards with our digital addresses we can have a credit system working and give you an option other than this risky job.



You dont want to finish driving school and then make a life in Okada riding.



You can have a better option and well give you a better option.



So, yes, we will not legalise Okada business. It may be a tough decision but it is in the interest of Ghanaians.



We have had discussions but we will stick to our decision to provide a better alternative to okada riding. Lets give them an opportunity to lease vehicles and pay over time, Dr Bawumia said at the strategic collaboration of Volkswagon & Blackivy to launch Volkswagons new assembled cars in Ghana on Wednesday, 16 September 2020.



The Ministry of Transport recently said it will hold final consultations on whether or not to legalise the Okada business in October this year, after which a report will be forwarded to Cabinet for consideration.



The second phase of the consultations is to engage stakeholders in the six (6) newly-created regions of Bono East, Ahafo, Western North, Savannah, North East and Oti Regions.



Other key interest groups and civil society organisations would also be consulted, the ministry announced in a statement, adding that they include the following:



i. Center for Democratic Development (CDD)

ii. Danquah Institute,

iii. Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG)

iv. Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC)

v. Centre for Policy Analysis (CEPA)

vi. Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA)

vii. And Political Parties



It said: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the final stage of the stakeholder engagement is expected to commence in October 2020, and a report presented before Cabinet for consideration.



The Okada issue became topical after the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), former President John Mahama, promised to legalise it in his next administration should he win the 7 December 2020 polls.



Speaking to the chiefs, people and party supporters at Kpando in the Volta Region on Friday, 21 August 2020, Mr Mahama said: I've been seeing young people who have finished school and they cant find a job and, so, they are looking for something they can do and many of our young people are riding motorcycles and transporting people from place to place, and we call them Okada.



But in our law, it says Okada is illegal but Okada is a reality, it has come to stay, you can't stop it, and, so, I've suggested and I say when we come into office, we will legalise Okada but we will regulate it, Mr Mahama said.



He explained further: We will regulate it and we will give them training so that they can do their business safely without causing the lives of people, they must obey all the traffic regulations in order that they be allowed to pursue their profession.







Source: classfmonline.com









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Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 15:23:11|Editor: huaxia

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KUNDUZ, Afghanistan, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Five militants and nine security personnel have been confirmed dead as clash erupted in Dasht-e-Archi district of the northern Kunduz province of Afghanistan on Wednesday, district governor Nasrudin Nazari Saadi said.

The clash broke out after the Taliban insurgents attacked security checkpoints in a local bazaar to gain ground but police returned fire, triggering gun battle which lasted for couple of hours and leaving 14 deaths including five insurgents and nine security personnel on the spot.

Nine more people including two civilians, five insurgents and two policemen had been injured, the official added.

Taliban militants haven't commented. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 12:48:17|Editor: huaxia

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WASHINGTON, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Tuesday made his first campaign trip to the key battleground state of Florida to court the state's veterans who have long leaned toward Republicans and the Hispanic community there.

"The men and women who served with him are not suckers," Biden told a veterans roundtable at the beginning of the trip, rebutting incumbent President Donald Trump's claims made in 2018 -- recently revealed by The Atlantic magazine -- that the U.S. war dead were "losers" and "suckers."

"And the service men and women he served with -- who did not come home -- are not losers. They're heroes," he said, adding that "it's a disgrace" for Trump to have said that.

The former vice president's trip came as a new poll released by Monmouth University showed that he held a 3- to 5-point lead over Trump in Florida, depending on a range of likely voter models. Among all registered voters in the sunshine state, the race for president stands at 50 percent for Biden and 45 percent for Trump, the poll showed.

"The current picture has Biden maintaining a typical Democratic advantage in southern Florida while making notable inroads in other parts of the state," said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute.

The poll also indicated that while Biden had a large lead among Latino voters over Trump, who appeared to have been gaining attraction from older voters in this group, Trump was ahead of Biden by 4 percentage points -- 50 percent to 46 percent -- among veteran or military households, a key bloc that made up of just over one-third of the state's electorate.

"Trump won the vet vote by double digits four years ago but isn't anywhere near that level now. Are the incumbent's alleged negative statements about the military responsible? We can't say for certain since we don't have a prior trend on this question. But it sure can't be helping," said Murray.

While in Florida, Biden told reporters he would explain "why it would be so much better for the Hispanic community, the Latino community if in fact Trump is no longer president."

"That case is an easy one. Education. Health care. Immigration. The whole notion of dealing with COVID in a way that doesn't so damage the Hispanic community, which is being hurt very badly much worse than the Caucasian community," he said before attending an event celebrating the Hispanic heritage.

Scheduled to coincide with Biden's Florida trip, the Biden campaign released a plan Tuesday calling on the federal government to offer debt relief to Puerto Rico in a bid to appeal to voters in the U.S. Territory that has long struggled under heavy debt burdens and strict austerity measures.

The plan included massive investments in Puerto Rico's infrastructure and economic development as well as significant financial relief for the territory. Enditem
A teenager has been arrested after he allegedly imported almost $190,000 worth of methamphetamine hidden in coffee sachets sent from Malaysia

The 19-year-old is now behind bars after being arrested at his home in Booragoon in Perth's south on Tuesday and charged with importing 93 grams of ice.

Australian Border Force officers allegedly found a white crystal-like substance hidden in the sachets in an air cargo consignment which allegedly returned a positive result to the drug.

AFP officers then swapped the contents of the package and after the delivery was made they searched the teenager's home, allegedly finding it in his bedroom.

A 19-year-old is behind bars after he allegedly imported 93 grams of methamphetamines into Perth from Malaysia

The teenager allegedly ordered the drugs that had been hidden in coffee sachets

The 19-year-old was charged with attempting to possess a marketable quantity of unlawfully imported border controlled drugs and could face a maximum of 25 years in jail.

At the end of last month another man from Perth was charged with importing 114 grams of meth from Malaysia.

The 35-year-old allegedly hid the drugs inside a bottle of cooling powder.

AFP Detective Superintendent Tim Underhill said the drugs seized both had an extremely high street value.

'These two seizures equate to more than two thousand street level deals of the drug, which are currently being sold for $200 each,' he said.

'This means the sale of 95 grams would have netted approximately $190,000 in street deals, while 114 grams was worth $228,000.

'Methamphetamine causes harm, not only to users and the people in contact with them, but to the broader community, because drugs are a key factor in a range of serious criminal offending.'

The 35-year-old is in custody and will appear in court on September 25.

The 19-year-old was due to face court on Wednesday.

At the end of last month another man from Perth was charged with importing 114 grams of meth from Malaysia after the drugs were allegedly found in a cooling powder container
https://www.aish.com/jw/s/Rosh-Hashanah-and-The-Abraham-Accords.html

The first historic Abraham Accord happened more than three millennia ago. It's no coincidence it's part of the Rosh Hashanah Torah reading.

There is probably no better way to describe the past year than by way of the words of Queen Elizabeth, looking back at a horrific time experienced by the United Kingdom some years back, when she famously said, This was an annus horribilis.

The Latin phrase for a horrible year hardly begins to capture what the world has gone through during this time of global pandemic. It is difficult to celebrate Rosh Hashanah with hope when our lives have become so accustomed to tragedy. Prayers come with great difficulty when accompanied by a seemingly never-ending plague; our faith is profoundly challenged by the prevalence of pain and suffering followed by untimely and unexpected mortality.

Rosh Hashanah will demand a great deal of spiritual trust in the ways of the Almighty. There is much that we cannot understand, and we find ourselves overwhelmed like the biblical Job who was powerless to make sense of lifes inequities and apparent irrationality.

Yet in spite of it all Jews around the world will find a way to come together - with social distancing, masks and prayer shawls - to reaffirm belief. Belief in God who created the world on this day. Belief in God who, according to the biblical reading for this day, heard the prayers of Sarah and blessed her with a child. And belief in God who most remarkably of all blessed us with the miracle of Jewish survival.

The end of the year, according to Jewish sages, carries within it great significance. It is a harbinger of what is to come in the year to follow.

Jews ought to not only see the hand of God writing the script of history but in even more dramatic terms acknowledge the prophetic aspect of the Torah reading for Rosh Hashanah.

Jewish sages long ago taught us that the selections from Torah we choose to read, be they on Sabbath or on holidays, have a hidden meaning. They are divine messages for the most important events of the day. Sometimes their intent is obvious; other times they only become clear when newspaper headlines unexpectedly echo biblical verses.

This Rosh Hashanah we suddenly understand why a strange story about Abraham is appended to the reading from the Torah we would have expected simply to recount the story of creation. And it came to pass, the Bible tells us in Genesis 21:22-27, that Abimelech and Phicol, the captain of his host, spoke unto Abraham and acknowledged his great success. It was time, in truth perhaps long past the time it should have happened, for former enemies to make peace. And together they made a covenant.

This was the historic Abraham Accord. It happened more than three millennia ago  and it happened again this past week.

On September 15, 2020, in the last week of the annus horribilis, the closing days of 5780, Israel, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States signed what were given the name the Abraham Accords  a historic event that even the New York Times admits leaves open the possibility that more Arab states will make peace with Israel.

Since its inception 72 years ago Israel hoped and prayed for normal relationships with its neighbors, for prioritizing peace over war, for mutual respect and a shared vision that will benefit future generations for years to come. For many it seemed a dream too unrealistic to ever be realized. Yet it always was the dream of the prophets. It is sobering to realize that the ideals of the United Nations, in the view of the organizations founders, are summed up by the vision of the prophet Isaiah of nations hammering their swords into plowshares and their spears into sickles, inscribed on the curved granite walk called the Isaiah Wall in the plaza in front of the UN building.

I do not believe at all that it is mere coincidence that the Torah reading for Rosh Hashanah just happens to be about the Abraham Accord. We always had the feeling that someday, as Mark Twain famously put it, History doesnt repeat itself, but it often rhymes.

So on Rosh Hashanah 5781 we will start the year not with any references to plagues but rather to an auspicious sign. As Jewish tradition puts it, may the curses of the past year come to a close; may the blessings promised by God for our future see speedy fulfillment  the kind of fulfillment already illustrated by the miracle that just took place at the White House.
The year was 2017, March 2017 to be exact. Season 3 of Rick and Morty was about to hit the airwaves, with RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 3 in full swing. Lorde had just released her first Melodrama single, the certified banger "Green Light." We could actually go to concerts and bars without wearing a mask. The good old days! Anyway, around this time, one of the world's most wholesome viral videos of all time skyrocketed to the front of our cultural consciousness --- a phenomenon known as "BBC Dad."

To give you a bit of a refresher, as it has been a VERY long three years, the heartwarming video depicts Professor Robert Kelly partaking in a video interview for BBC News about North Korea, when suddenly, an adorable little girl wearing a bright yellow shirt tosses open the door and confidently marches into the room. As soon as the news presenter points out his child in the background, yet another one of Professor Kelly's kids wheels in on a baby walker. We then see a very panicked Mom spring to action, bursting into the room at full speed, scooping up both kids and attempting to pull them from the shot, all while books fall from tables, and Professor Kelly, clearly mortified, profusely apologizes to the anchor.
HALES CORNERS, Wis., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Grassroots political organization American Police Officers Alliance announced their sponsorship of an upcoming event to support police officers and other first responders that is scheduled to take place on September 17th, 2020 in Hales Corners, Wisconsin.

The "Police and Fire Appreciation Party" will be hosted by the Wisconsin Conservative Digest and will take place at Clifford's Supper Club from 5:00 to 9:00 PM. Free beer will be offered for law enforcement and firefighters.

When asked why the organization was sponsoring the event, Executive Director Daniel Stuebs said, "Our police officers need to know that their communities support them. The anti-police rhetoric in this country is appalling, and the progressive minority that is calling for the defunding of police is so loud that they are drowning out the law-abiding majority that truly support our officers. We need to stand up and show that most Americans really do support and appreciate our police and other first responders. That's what this event is for."

American Police Officers Alliance is a national political organization made up of police, citizens, organizations and public supporters working together to ensure our nation's finest and our citizens have a unified voice in politics that truly represents sound public safety as well as respect and honor of those who serve.

The public is welcome to attend to show their support for police and other first responders.

American Police Officers Alliance is a nonprofit political organization, organized under Section 527 with the IRS. Contributions made to American Police Officers Alliance are not tax deductible. Not authorized by any candidate or any candidate's committee.

SOURCE American Police Officers Alliance

Related Links

http://www.americanpoliceofficersalliance.com/


Bilibilis satellite enters orbit

By:Zheng Qian | From:english.eastday.com | 2020-09-16 10:43

A video remote sensing satellite customized by Bilibili, a popular Chinese video-sharing platform that boasts the largest group of young Chinese fans of anime, comics and gaming, successfully entered its scheduled orbit on September 15.

The company describes their satellite as being akin to "eye" viewing the world from space.The satellite, the first customized one by an internet company for popular science education, was launched from the Yellow Sea area by Chinas Long March-11 carrier rocket. According to a person from Bilibili, it is low cost, light weight, has low power consumption and provides high resolution images.

Being able to look down on the Earth and observe celestial bodies from a sun-synchronous orbit 535 kilometers above the ground, it will send back massive pieces of remote sensing videos and image data before being broadcast on the Bilibili platform.

Moreover, the satellite is also expected to finish users customized shooting tasks through aerial photography in the future.
NEW DELHI: Almost four months into a tense military standoff with China, different arms of the Indian government seem to be responding in different voices to questions regarding China.

On Wednesday, the home ministry in a written response to a question in the Rajya Sabha said there has been no infiltration along the Sino-Indian border in the last six months."

The ministry also said that 594 attempts of infiltration into Jammu and Kashmir by Pakistani militants had been reported in the last three years, of which 312 were successful.

Generally, infiltration" is used to describe action by Pakistan to push in terrorists into India across the Line of Control or LOC.

And for issues at the Line of Actual Control (LAC)  as the India-China border is commonly referred to  the Indian officials have used the words transgression" or intrusion" ie Chinese troops entering into India and then returning either immediately or after some time.

"No infiltration has been reported along Indo-China border during last six months," Union Minister of State for Home Nityanad Rai said in a written response to a question on Wednesday  raising eye brows. Answering another question, Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy said 582 terrorists were killed in Jammu and Kashmir by security forces in last three years, while 46 terrorists were arrested during the period.

In a statement to parliament on Tuesday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh pointed out that there is no commonly delineated Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the border areas between India and China and there is no common perception of the entire LAC."

Referring to the present situation of tensions along the border, Singh said that in mid-May the Chinese side made several attempts to transgress the LAC in other parts of the Western Sector. This included Kongka La, Gogra and North Bank of Pangong Lake. These attempts were detected early and consequently responded to appropriately by our armed forces."

Meanwhile in response to a question in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, the Indian foreign ministry replied in the negative when asked if Indias bilateral relations with neighbouring countries like Nepal, China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afganistan and Myanmar" had deteriorated recently.

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs V Muraleedharan who responded to the questions also said that the Indian government accords the highest priority to Indias relations with our neighbouring countries. India is an active political and economic partner of its neighbours and is involved in various projects, including development projects with these countries. India also has extensive education, culture, trade and investment linkages with neighbouring countries. Indias relations with other countries stand on their own footing and are independent of the relations of those countries with third countries."

Responding to another question on India-China relations Muraleedharan said that from April-May this year, there has been an enhanced deployment of troops and armaments by the Chinese side in the border areas and along the Line of Actual Control (LAC)" in Ladakh.

Since mid-May the Chinese side attempted to transgress the LAC in several areas of the Western Sector of the India-China border area," he said adding that these attempts were appropriately responded to.

The response detailed the attempts at dialogue by India to sort out the matter at the military, diplomatic levels and ministerial levels including meetings that Rajnath Singh had with his counterpart Wei Fenghe in Moscow on 4 September and another by Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar with his counterpart Wang Yi also in Moscow on 10 September.

Singh conveyed that the two sides should resolve the ongoing situation and outstanding issues in the border areas peacefully through dialogue," Muraleedharan said.

Jaishankar had in-depth discussions" with his counterpart Wang and reached an agreement on five points that included that the current situation in the border areas is not in the interest of either side."

The two ministers also agreed therefore that the border troops of both sides should continue their dialogue, quickly disengage, maintain proper distance and ease tensions," Muraleedharan said.

India and China also concurred on the need to avoid any action that could escalate matters" and that as the situation eases, the two sides should expedite work to conclude new Confidence Building Measures to maintain and enhance peace and tranquility in the border areas."

Accordingly, it is expected that the two sides will continue to have meetings of military and diplomatic officials to implement the agreements reached between the two Foreign Ministers and ensure full restoration of peace and tranquility in the border areas," Muraleedharan added.

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Joseph Pohorly, a founding father of the Niagara wine industry and pioneer of Canadian icewine, was said to be passionate about two things: agriculture and education.

Having led a life that was exemplary in both, Pohorly died at Greater Niagara General Hospital on Sept. 12. He was 88.

Born in Vineland in 1932, his early life was rooted in agriculture, as the son of a farmer who worked 12 hectares of land in Virgil. At 14, he was already learning how to make wine.

He switched out of the field and into the classroom in his pursuit of education, earning an engineering degree in 1975 from Columbus University, and teaching for Lincoln County Board of Education for over two decades between 1959 and 1981.

At the beginning of his teaching career, Pohorly married Betty, with whom he would have three children: Joanne and twins Caroline and Barbara  who all survive him. Betty died in 2008.

Together, he and Betty purchased a four-hectare peach tree orchard. The peach trees were torn up and replaced by wine grapes.

He would open his first winery, Newark Wines (later Hillebrand Wines, and then Trius Winery), in Virgil, in 1979.

One frozen evening in 1983, he hand-operated a basket grape presser, squeezing from Vidal grapes, the juice that was made into one of Canadas earliest icewines.

It wouldnt be long before he once again left the fields behind, selling the winery in 1986. He would design and operate the Colonel Butler Inn in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

But history would repeat itself in 1990 when he purchased and then ripped up eight hectares of peach trees to plant a vast range of wine grapes.

He opened his second winery, Josephs Estate Wines, six years later, in 1996 which he later sold in 2014.

Kathy Reid, the winemaker at Josephs Estate, met him in the mid-1980s in a wine research lab. Shes been at the winery since its opening day.

He was very proud of his Gewurztraminer back in the 80s, Reid said. I think some of these pioneers that made these wines out of vinifera (grapes) really got the wine industry to where it is today.

The two also volunteered together at St. Davids Lions Club in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Reid said a lot of Lions Club members worked at Josephs Estate.

Joseph really loved the social aspect, and he loved doing the volunteer work, she said of the club.

He donated money for the clubs pavilion, which bears his name.

Joseph was a very social person, (he) loved being around people. Hed kind of be like the student who looked forward to lunch and recess, she said.

Since learning of his death, Reid said shes been in tears. To be honest, he was like a second father.

Not one for slowing down, he came up with the idea to turn pomace  the leftover waste from pressing grapes  into grapeseed oil and started Josephs Natural Products in 2003, which operates in Niagara-on-the-Lake today.

Using the idea for his thesis, he earned his PhD in environment engineering in his seventies from Columbus University.

His lifelong dedication to wine and agriculture made him no stranger to recognition.

As Niagara-on-the-Lakes businessperson of the year in 2004, he was given the Christopher Newton Award for Extraordinary Vision in Business, and the year before that, he was given the Regional Innovation Award for Sustainable Development. In 2018, he was presented with a Niagara Agriculture Lifetime Achievement Award.

In his later years, he remained active as an engineering consultant, and continued to travel the globe spreading lore of a special place, home to world-class wines.

In a recent Facebook post, his nephew Michael Pohorly memorialized him: He was an inspiration to me as a shining example of pursuing a life where all kinds of endeavours and interests are possible and a reminder that no matter what our age  our lives can be lived fully and we can enjoy every moment and never stop learning and challenging ourselves.

In addition to a private funeral for family only, there will be a public celebration of his life on Sunday at St. Davids Lions Club in Niagara-on-the-Lake, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Lynwood city manager Jose Ometeotl (pictured) has been placed on leave after controversial comments on Instagram

A California city manager who responded to the shooting of two LA sheriff's deputies with a Malcolm X quote about 'chickens coming home to roost' has been placed on leave.

Jose Ometeotl posted the quote on Instagram and said the shooting was 'to be expected in the society we live in today' after the two deputies were critically wounded in their parked police car in Compton, California.

After calls for Ometeotl's sacking, the city of Lynwood announced last night that he had been placed on 'paid administrative leave pending an internal investigation'.

The city has also distanced itself from Ometeotl's 'personal opinions' which 'don't reflect the position of the Lynwood City Council'.

Earlier, Lynwood councilman Salvador Alatorre said he would introduce a motion to discipline or fire Ometeotl.

'For some reason, he decided to go beyond his authority,' Alatorre said.

The LA sheriff's deputies, a 31-year-old woman and a 24-year-old man, were ambushed by an unknown attacker on Saturday night while they sat in their patrol car at a Metro Blue Line station.

Both officers were shot in the head and underwent surgery, although both are currently in a stable condition and expected to recover.

Police are still hunting the gunman and have offered $100,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.

Ometeotl shared a picture of Malcolm X in his post, using the civil rights campaigner's quote that 'chickens come home to roost' - said in reference to JFK's assassination

After calls for Ometeotl's sacking, the city of Lynwood announced last night that the city manager had been placed on 'paid administrative leave pending an internal investigation'

In response to the shootings, Ometeotl posted an image with the words 'chickens come home to roost' accompanied by a photo of Malcolm X.

In 1963, Malcolm X used the phrase to describe John F Kennedy's assassination in response to what he saw as the president's lack of action against violence.

'The hate in white men had not stopped with the killing of defenseless black people, but that hate, allowed to spread unchecked, had finally struck down this country's chief magistrate,' the civil rights campaigner said of JFK's death.

Ometeotl used the phrase to describe the Compton cops, saying that the neighborhood had been 'plagued by deputy gangs that inflict fear and violence in the community'.

'These deputies murdered, framed and stole from the community just because they could,' he said.

'Good deputies never turned on bad deputies for fear of retaliation and when caught most of these bad deputies kept their jobs and continued on their criminal career.'

The reference to 'deputy gangs' refers to an alleged group of 100 deputies at the Compton Station who are part of a gang called 'The Executioners'.

A whistleblower complaint filed with LA County claims that nearly all members have a matching tattoo to symbolize their status in the gang - comprised of a skull with Nazi imagery and an AK-47.

African-American deputies and women are not allowed to join the 'gang', according to the complaint filed in June.

Video released by the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department shows the moment that male suspect opened fire on two deputies at a Compton bus station

Ometeotl said: 'The shooting of anyone is a wholly unacceptable occurrence in society. I do not condone the type of violence seen in the shooting of the deputies yesterday in Compton.'

But he added: 'The fact that someone randomly opened fire on deputies is to be expected in the society we live in today.

'The political climate and leadership of Sheriff Villanueva has only sowed the seeds of anger and frustration in the community. I pray for the deputies and their families while still demanding justice for Andres Guardado, Breona Taylor, Tamir Rice, Ahmaud Arbery'

Alatorre said Ometeotl has put the city of Lynwood in an untenable position.

'He's not an elected official. He represents the city of Lynwood 24/7. He cannot make statements while he's employed by our city, especially when he jeopardizes public safety,' Alatorre said.

'Now what's going to happen? We have the top administrator against public safety, then what do they expect from the rest of us.'

A petition has been started urging him to resign, with more than 1,000 people having signed it so far.

'A city manager should not endorse violence on those very people who would lay their life on the line for his protection,' one supporter said.

'He needs to shut his mouth and manage the finances of the city he is sworn to protect as a city official.'

The shooting occurred in Compton, an area near South Los Angeles that has long been a flashpoint for racial tension and mistrust of police.

Hundreds marched on Saturday to the sheriff's department South LA station to protest the fatal shootings of a black man last month and a black teenager in 2018.

Both were killed by deputies from the station, which is about six miles from where the deputies were targeted on Saturday.

Sheriff Alex Villanueva said the angry rhetoric is making deputies' work more difficult.

'They're out there doing their job and yet we have people fanning the flames of hatred and just turning up the volume when we don't need it. We need to be turning it down,' Villanueva said.

Heavily-armed police officers were seen arriving on the scene in Compton

The two officers were shot as they sat in their patrol car shortly before 7pm on Saturday

Donald Trump on Sunday said the man who opened fire at the weekend should face a 'fast trial death penalty' if the deputies die.

Speaking at a rally in Nevada on Sunday night, he said: 'If you murder a police officer, you should receive the death penalty.'

To loud cheers, he continued: 'I just saw a video of that animal who went up to the car. They were unsuspecting, fine people - very fine people.'

Democratic nominee Joe Biden said that 'this cold-blooded shooting is unconscionable', saying the perpetrator 'must be brought to justice'.

'Jill and I are keeping the deputies and their loved ones in our hearts and praying for a full recovery,' the former vice president said.

Both deputies graduated from the academy 14 months ago. Neither have been officially named.

During a press conference, Sheriff Villanueva said that the two deputies initiated radio contact after they were shot. They were transported with the assistance of other deputies,' he shared.

'That was a cowardly act,' Villanueva added.

'The two deputies were doing their job, minding their own business, watching out for the safety of the people on the train.'

'Seeing somebody just walk up and start shooting on them. It p***es me off. It dismays me at the same time. There's no pretty way to say it.'

The sheriff's office later said that protesters were blocking the entrance and exit of the hospital emergency room and yelling 'we hope they died'.

The Los Angeles County board of supervisors has offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the gunman.
'Industry realises we cannot overly depend on imports from anywhere including China.'

IMAGE: Containers being stacked up at the Thar dry port in Sanand, Gujarat. Photograph: Amit Dave/Reuters

"Localisation gathered momentum after COVID-19 and it got precipitated due to the geo-political situation," Vinnie Mehta, director general, Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India, Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com in the concluding part of his interview.

There has been an unofficial ban on Chinese products when almost all the industries, including the auto industry, depend on China for many components. How much has this affected the auto industry?

Actually, for a week or so, there was some amount of disruption because of the geo-political situation. Thankfully, everything is restored.

At present, there is no disruption of imports coming from China.

Also, the industry realises that we cannot overly depend on imports from anywhere including China. So, there is a very big focus on localisation within the industry also.

Yes, localisation gathered momentum after COVID-19 and it got precipitated due to the geo-political situation.

How long will it take to be Aatma Nirbhar realistically?

We have to be practical. There is no point in having a knee-jerk reaction.

When you talk about Aatma Nirbharta or sourcing locally, you have to invest in the development of products and technology. That does not happen overnight. It takes 2-3 years to get into a new product cycle.

Realistically speaking, in 3 to 5 years you will see a very significant change in the sourcing pattern.

The other day, Maruti's R C Bhargava said that importing components from China was inevitable.

That's why I said, you should not get into a knee-jerk reaction. India does not have the capability of making certain electronic items. We have to realise that it takes time, and we have approach this practically.

In this globalised world without borders, is it possible to close borders for products?

Globally, the industry value chains are undergoing a change.

Post the pandemic and the disruption, every industry and every geography has realised that you cannot be dependent one country or one economy for all their requirements.

So, everybody has started thinking about alternate sources too.;

Even if you continue to deal with China, you also want to deal with it yourself and also an alternate source ready in case of a disruption of one source happens.

With the economy contracting 23.9% in the June quarter, is the auto sector the most affected?

I do not have the comparison with the sectors. But I can say that the auto sector contributes 7% of GDP.

In that sense, it is one of the key drivers of the Indian economy, and any shrinkage in the Indian economy will have direct impact on the automotive sector.

With the unlocking happening, I understand that people have started to restore pre-Covid level salaries. This is very heartening.

You also find labour returning to the industry. So, there will be money in the hands of people.

Would you say the pandemic will permanently change the auto industry?

There are some definite changes.

People will be very careful in cash management. It is a very important lesson learnt; that is, to conserve cash and stay capital light.

Even when production is almost returning to normal in the auto component industry, those who have corporate offices are not using the offices as they realise that it is a huge overhead.

Functions that can be done from home are allowed to be done from home.

The industry is also looking at automation very seriously.

In that sense, changes that are inevitable will be adopted. So, we have some positive lessons learnt from the disruption.

Experts predict that while some companies may emerge stronger after the pandemic, some may find it too weak to survive on their own, and many factories may shut down.

Survival will not be a problem for the companies that were cash rich.

So also companies that have invested heavily in R&D, companies that were open to assimilating newer technology, companies that were working with start-ups.

Such companies will have an edge compared to those who were not doing any of these as this is the age of technology.
SBS documentary strand Australia Uncovered is again calling for more documentary projects for 2022.

Australia Uncovered features prime-time single documentaries exploring diversity and equality in contemporary Australia. SBS is again welcoming proposals seeking production funding and post-production funding.

Joseph Maxwell, Head of Documentaries at SBS, said: We were thrilled with the high calibre of pitches submitted last year which has resulted in a strong selection of uniquely Australian stories set to air next year which showcase the ambition of the Australia Uncovered strand.

Single documentaries allow us to showcase diversity and tackle issues challenging our society in innovative and inspiring ways, through often untold stories and from a variety of voices with reflect contemporary Australia. Its been a challenging year for so many Australians and were looking forward to seeing the creativity and quality of our local sector come through in this years submissions.

Shortlisted proposals will participate in a live pitching session as part of the Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC) 28 February  3 March 2021, with successful teams receiving a share of development funding from SBS.

Alice Burgin, CEO / Conference Director, AIDC, said: The Australia Uncovered pitch was a genuine highlight of AIDC 2020. The combination of incredible stories and professional pitches, not to mention the pot of gold at the end, was extremely inspiring. As we move through a challenging year, we look forward to once again celebrating the diverse talent of the Australian screen industry next March.

Australia Uncovered will feature up to eight single documentaries ranging from one hour to feature-length. Filmmakers are encouraged to be creative in their approach to style, form and construct, and the uniting factor once again is that all submissions must have something compelling to say about Australia today and align with the SBS Charter.

SBS has a long history of supporting the broadcast of single documentaries with the financial support of Screen Australia who have also committed to support Australia Uncovered titles.

Further information is available at sbs.com.au/commissionedcontent.
The United States has updated its policy on marine scientific research, requiring foreign ships to request permission before entering U.S. waters.

It is the latest step by Washington to align U.S. law with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) as it seeks to champion a rules-based order despite criticism from China for not ratifying the convention.

The U.S. State Department published a notice Wednesday that foreign research vessels require advance permission from the U.S. government before they can enter and operate within the United States exclusive economic zone (EEZ) or continental shelf. The EEZ extends 200 nautical miles from the shore of any U.S. territory.

As a research nation, the United States recognizes the importance of [marine scientific research] and its valuable contributions to society, and we will continue to facilitate [marine scientific research] consent, the State Department said in a release. The change in policy is consistent with international law as reflected in the Law of the Sea Convention and with the practice of other coastal states and protects American citizens interests.

It is unclear why the policy has been changed now, but it follows increased international scrutiny on survey and research activity in disputed waters, especially in areas like the South China Sea  a zone of growing contention between the U.S. and China. Washington accuses Beijing of violating international law by claiming nearly the entirety of that sea on the basis of so-called historic rights, despite the overlapping claims of its neighbors in Southeast Asia.

China has often hit back at U.S. criticism of Chinese conduct in the South China Sea by pointing out the U.S. Senate has not ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS, and is thus not a member of the convention, whereas China is.

Policy shift

Greg Poling, a senior fellow for Southeast Asia at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the U.S. policy shift was a sign of it putting its domestic laws further in line with UNCLOS.

Poling noted that during the years-long negotiations over the final text of UNCLOS, which was completed in 1982, the U.S. actually fought those parts of the convention that required permission in advance before any country performed marine scientific research in the waters of another.

The U.S. believed that marine science outside the territorial sea should be unfettered, he said. The territorial sea refers to the 12 nautical mile boundary off a nations shores. This was reflective of the pretty substantial voice that marine scientists were given in the U.S. negotiating team and the interagency taskforce that coordinated U.S. law of the sea policy.

The U.S. ultimately lost that argument, but never ratified UNCLOS.

China operates the largest fleet of government-owned research and survey vessels in the world, and has stoked diplomatic tensions by regularly sends ships into the EEZs of neighboring Southeast Asian nations.

The deployment of two such survey ships at Reed Bank, a submerged feature in the South China Sea disputed between China and the Philippines, prompted the Philippines to file a diplomatic protest to Beijing in mid-August. Ship-tracking data shows that despite this protest, Chinas research fleet regularly intrudes into Philippine waters.

Occasionally, Chinas survey ships have traveled within 30 nautical miles of U.S. territories in the Pacific, such as Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, according to a report by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative.

However, such activities by China are not necessarily forbidden under the new policy.

According to the U.S. Office of Ocean and Polar Affairs, marine scientific research includes only those activities undertaken in the ocean to expand knowledge of the marine environment and its processes.

Hydrographic surveys  including those for military purposes  and resource exploration, which Chinas research fleet is known for, are instead considered marine data collection, and thus are not affected under the updated policy.

A woman takes a photo of Chinese research ship Xuelong as it departs a port in Shanghai in 2014. (AFP)

Rather, it points to a broader shift and closer embrace of provisions of UNCLOS by Washington.

The U.S. formally changed its stance on maritime claims in the South China Sea in early July, aligning its position with that of a landmark 2016 arbitration award from a case brought by the Philippines against China that decided Chinas claims to the disputed waters were inconsistent with UNCLOS.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo underscored that position in a speech last Friday to Association of Southeast Asians (ASEAN), which had published a joint communique stressing the importance of UNCLOS in guiding behavior and settling disputes in the South China Sea a day earlier.

Poling said the time is ripe for the U.S. to take the bigger step of ratifying UNCLOS, but concedes the chances of that happening, short of major change in the domestic political landscape in the U.S. Many Republican lawmakers, in particular, consider accession to such conventions an infringement of national sovereignty.

It is definitely time for the U.S. to ratify UNCLOS, Poling said. But it is unlikely without a Democratic majority in the Senate and a concerted push from the White House. A loud wing of the Republican Party just isnt interested in something with the word United Nations attached to it, no matter how important for US national interests, he said.
Young Australian an unlikely target for China's fury An Australian university student with a modest social media following and who has never visited China would seem an unlikely target for the Chinese government

An Australian university student who has never visited China and has only a modest social media following would seem an unlikely target for the Chinese government.

But when a foreign ministry spokesman personally denounced Drew Pavlou at a recent press conference, it was just the next phase in an extraordinary campaign against the 21-year-old that has fuelled concerns over China's targeting of critics overseas.

Pavlou first placed himself in the superpower's sights when he organised a small sit-in the University of Queensland, where he studied, in July last year to protest against various Chinese government policies.

Since then, the Global Times -- a nationalist state-run tabloid -- has published a series of articles branding him an "anti-China rioter" and portraying him as the face of alleged anti-Chinese racism in Australia.

Pavlou, a philosophy student, said he had also received death threats after one of China's envoys in Australia labelled him a "separatist".

The foreign ministry's targeting of Pavlou occurred last month when the spokesman was asked about a viral photograph showing a Chinese diplomat walking across people's backs in the Pacific island nation of Kiribati.

"There was a person named Drew Pavlou who revealed this photo. This person has always been anti-China out of political motives," the spokesman said, even though Pavlou neither took the photo nor was the first to share it.

Pavlou said he was playing Grand Theft Auto on his Xbox at the time and that he "was just absolutely shocked".

"It's very weird for a superpower to be focusing on one 21-year-old Aussie student, one Aussie bloke who fundamentally is pretty stupid and does a lot of dumb things," Pavlou told AFP.

- Demonstration and defamation -

At times, Pavlou's confrontational brand of activism has invited criticism, and made him a useful foil for Beijing.

He was accused of racism after posing outside his university's Chinese-funded Confucius Institute with a sign declaring it a "Covid-19 biohazard" early in the pandemic.

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He now regrets the stunt, but still does not understand why Beijing has kept him in its sights.

One explanation is that his activism has touched a nerve.

As well as criticising China's violent crackdowns in Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet, Pavlou has drawn attention to the cosy relationship between Australian universities and the Chinese state.

Those ties are now being investigated by several Australian authorities for fear the influx of Chinese cash may have jeopardised the national interest.

Elaine Pearson, Australia director for Human Rights Watch, said a "thin-skinned" Beijing had only drawn greater attention to Pavlou and his advocacy.

"It's pretty obvious from China's actions more broadly that it really has no tolerance for dissent or opposing views these days," Pearson said, adding the Chinese Communist Party's "long arm of authoritarianism" was now reaching across the globe.

Pavlou's antics also led the University of Queensland to amass a 186-page dossier of alleged disciplinary breaches against him, from incendiary social media posts to using a pen in a campus shop without paying for it.

After a closed-door hearing, Pavlou was suspended for two years, later reduced to the rest of 2020 on appeal.

Pavlou is suing the university, its chancellor and vice-chancellor for Aus$3.5 million ($2.5 million) for alleged breach of contract and defamation.

The university has faced high-profile criticism over its handling of Pavlou's case, including from former prime minister Kevin Rudd, who told local media the institution risked being seen as "bending the knee to Beijing".

Like many Australian colleges, the University of Queensland became highly dependent on tuition fees from international students to fund research and subsidise domestic student places.

About 182,000 Chinese students were enrolled in Australian universities in 2019, bringing an estimated $6.8 billion into the economy.

A University of Queensland spokeswoman denied any "political motivations" in pursuing disciplinary action against Pavlou.

"Neither of the findings of serious misconduct concerned Mr Pavlou's personal or political views about China or Hong Kong," she said, adding freedom of speech was "of utmost importance to UQ".

Pavlou said he "never set out to be a political activist" and just wanted to organise a single protest to "disrupt things on campus".

But while Pavlou said he was initially "naive", he does not appear to have been intimidated by China.

His Twitter bio now carries a cheeky reference to the spokesman's targeting of him: "Human rights and democracy activist. Youngest Australian ever denounced by the Chinese Foreign Ministry."

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Linkedin Adrian Wail Akhlas (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, September 17, 2020 08:17 491 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c45320d5 1 Business SOEs,capital-injection,Jiwasraya,ITDC,Hutama-Karya,PLN,Sri-Mulyani-Indrawati Free

The government has proposed providing Rp 37.38 trillion (US$2.5 billion) in capital injections for state-owned enterprises (SOEs) next year, some of which will be used to resolve the investment mismanagement scandal involving state insurer PT Asuransi Jiwasraya.

During a meeting with House Commission XI overseeing financial affairs on Tuesday, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said the capital injections were part of the governments investment plan for next year.

[The capital injections] will be used to finance the development of the Sumatra toll road, tourism development and [to fund] the opening of Batang industrial area, among other projects, she told lawmakers, referring to the Trans Sumatra toll road mega project and the development of the new industrial zone in Central Java.

The government plans to inject funds into eight SOEs, including Rp 20 trillion for financing firm Bahana Pembinaan Usaha Indonesia (BPUI), Rp 2.25 trillion for secondary mortgage market company PT Sarana Multigriya Finansial, Rp 6.2 trillion for construction company PT Hutama Karya and Rp 5 trillion for electricity giant PLN.

The injection for BPUI is related to the management of the Jiwasraya problem, she said.

The Central Jakarta District Court is currently overseeing a trial regarding the scandal involving Jiwasraya. The allegation of mismanagement came after Jiwasraya was unable to pay its policyholders claims worth Rp 18 trillion as it invested most of its premium revenue from its product JS Saving Plan into so-called pump-and-dump stocks.

In July, the SOEs Ministry announced a plan to restructure Jiwasrayas policies and carry them over to a new company. BPUI is expected to establish a new life insurance company, PT Nusantara Life, which will then hold all of Jiwasrayas restructured policies, according to Deputy SOEs Minister Kartika Tiko Wirjoatmodjo.

Furthermore, the government will also provide a capital injection of Rp 470 billion for the Indonesia Tourism Development Corporation, which is in charge of developing tourist facilities in Mandalika, West Nusa Tenggara.

It will also inject Rp 1.2 trillion into port operator PT Pelindo III, Rp 1.28 trillion into ship maker PT Pal Indonesia and Rp 977 billion into PT Kawasan Industri Wijayakusuma.

The allocated budget for capital injections next year is lower than this years roughly Rp 51 trillion, as the governments budget is focused on stimulating a recovery of the pandemic-battered economy.

Initially, the government allocated Rp 31.48 trillion for state capital injections this year, to be disbursed to eight SOEs, before earmarking an additional Rp 20.5 trillion, as part of the COVID-19 stimulus package of Rp 695.2 trillion.

The decision to allocate additional funds is intended to help cushion the impacts of the pandemic on state-owned companies. For example, national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia logged $712.73 million in losses in the first half of the year, compared to the $24.11 million profit it posted in the same period last year, as the COVID-19 outbreak dealt a crushing blow to the aviation industry.

Meanwhile, state oil and gas firm Pertamina also suffered a $767.9 million loss in the January to June period this year, after booking a profit of $659.96 million in the same period last year.

Indonesias economy contracted 5.32 percent in the second quarter this year and is expected to shrink 1.1 percent at worst this year or grow by 0.2 percent at best, according to the governments estimate.

Read also: State firm dividends rise as govt scrambles to rescue economy

Dividend payments made by SOEs to the government have far exceeded state capital injections, according to SOEs Minister Erick Thohir, who claimed the government had received Rp 255 trillion in dividends from SOEs since 2015 while injecting Rp 118 trillion into SOEs during the same period.

The government has collected more than Rp 40 trillion in dividends from five major SOEs alone this year, including from Pertamina.

Capital injections are usually considered bad [decisions], but if we look at the dividends and tax income from SOEs, the return is much greater, he said on Monday, after a meeting with House Commission VI overseeing trade, industry and SOEs, as reported by kompas.com.

The government is also considering injecting funds into state pharmaceutical holding company PT Bio Farma to strengthen the healthcare response to the coronavirus pandemic, Erick said on Monday.

Bio Farma is currently developing a COVID-19 vaccine candidate in cooperation with Sinovac Biotech of China.

Center of Reform on Economics (CORE) Indonesia research director Piter Abdullah told The Jakarta Post that the state capital injections for SOEs would help support the economy amid the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, he expressed concern about the governments handling of the Jiwasraya problem.

The governments failure to solve the Jiwasraya problem immediately has not only made the problem bigger but also increased the cost, Piter said. We think the government should spend more money and take the losses to solve the problems entirely.
San Francisco looks like a scene out of "Blade Runner 2049" as a result of smoke from Northern California fires. (Brittany Hosea-Small / AFP)

Smoke from California's current unprecedented siege of deadly, destructive wildfires is giving skies in the Golden State a Martian look. The unhealthy atmosphere is enough to make California residents gasp, if not scream, like the agonized figure in Norwegian artist Edvard Munch's iconic 1893 painting.

The red skies in California and the blood-red sunset in Munchs painting, The Scream, may have something in common.



One theory is that Munchs sunset was inspired by the eruption of the Indonesian volcano Krakatoa in August 1883. The massive eruption in the Sunda Strait spewed particles into the atmosphere that spectacularly colored sunsets around the globe for months.

The airborne ash particles caused such vivid red sunsets that fire engines were called out in New York, Poughkeepsie, and New Haven to quench the apparent conflagration, according to volcanologist Scott Rowland of the University of Hawaii, quoted on the NASA Science website.

"The Scream" by Edvard Munch, 1893. (National Gallery of Norway)

Like light-scattering particles from volcanic eruptions, smoke particles from Californias numerous fires are producing red skies.

How does this happen?

Only a small portion of the full electromagnetic spectrum is visible to the human eye. There are seven colors in the visible spectrum: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.

When sunlight enters the atmosphere, much of the violet and indigo light waves scatter at such high altitudes they are not readily seen.

Next comes blue light, which has a short wavelength, so it is scattered efficiently by small particles such as molecules of nitrogen and oxygen. When rays from the sun scatter off these particles, they give the sky its blue cast in daytime. This is called Rayleigh scattering, the dominant type of light scattering in Earths atmosphere.

Red and orange light have the longest wavelengths. (Paul Duginski / Los Angeles Times)

But the smoke particles that are clogging the air over California and the West  like the water droplets that make up clouds and particles from volcanic eruptions  are much bigger than molecules and similar in size to visible light. Such particles scatter colors uniformly, but preferentially absorb the blue and green, yielding a reddish hue to the sky, especially when the concentration is high. This is known as Mie scattering.

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In addition to scattering, smoke particles' absorption of light plays a role in darkening the sky.

Smoke from West Coast wildfires has been detected in the atmosphere around the globe, much as particles from Krakatoa were seen in the skies of Europe and North America after the 1883 eruption. Smoke and haze from California fires were reported on the East Coast this week, carried there by the jet stream, and forecasters there suggested the smoke would keep temperatures a few degrees cooler. Smoke from U.S. fires was also reported over Northern Europe.

A larger catastrophe than the volcanic eruption at Krakatoa occurred at Mt. Tambora, also in present-day Indonesia, in April 1815. Its aftermath is depicted in the tinted skies of paintings by earlier 19th century artists such as J.M.W. Turner, for example. That volcanic blast was 100 times larger than that of Mt. St. Helens, and is considered to be the most powerful volcanic eruption in recorded history.

Catastrophic volcanic eruptions affected skies and the climate throughout the world. (Paul Duginski / Los Angeles Times)

That event, like Krakatoa, produced a cloud of material that encircled the globe, but this time it blocked sunlight, leading to three years of planetary cooling, including the year without a summer in 1816. The eruption gave rise to freakishly unseasonable cold weather, crop failures and global pandemics.

Munch is said to have sensed an infinite scream passing through nature when he created his famous painting. Whether his blood-red sky was inspired by the eruption of Krakatoa or some other phenomenon, many Californians probably sense a similar scream coursing through the natural world as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, global climate change and record, apocalyptic fires up and down the West Coast.

Unhealthy, smoky conditions are likely to persist this week in California, so experts recommend staying indoors and using air conditioning or other air filtering devices. Avoid strenuous outdoor activity and keep informed about changing air quality. Generally speaking, if you smell smoke or the air looks smoky, air quality probably isn't good. You can check your local air quality at AirNow.gov.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
The concentration of mercury in the fish in Alaska's Yukon River may exceed the EPA's human health criterion by 2050 if greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming are not constrained, according to scientific research funded in part by NASA. This first of its kind research estimates potential releases of mercury from thawing permafrost under high and low carbon emissions scenarios. The researchers predict that by 2200, the mercury emitted into both the atmosphere and water annually by thawing permafrost will compare with current global anthropogenic mercury emissions. That's because higher carbon emissions lead to faster and more atmosphere and water, where it can accumulate in wildlife like fish. The team's results were published Sept. 16 in Nature Communications.

"If we can hit the Paris Accord target, we expect minimal impacts to mercury concentrations in fish and water. If we continue with unconstrained greenhouse gas emissions, however, it is likely that we will see large increases in mercury concentrations," said Kevin Schaefer, a scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) and lead researcher on the project. Mercury emissions of these magnitudes could have a global impact. "What happens in the Arctic does not stay in the Arctic," said Schaefer, "The mercury emissions from thawing permafrost could persist for centuries, impacting the environment both locally and globally."

In 2018, Schaefer and several of his colleagues found that permafrost soils store nearly twice as much mercury as all other soils, the ocean and the atmosphere combined. That work was funded by NASA as part of the Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE), a major effort to improve understanding of how climate change is affecting Arctic ecosystems, and how those changes ultimately affect people and places in the Arctic and beyond. Now, the researchers have created a model - which relies in part on data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument aboard NASA's Terra satellite - to predict how mercury emissions from thawing Arctic permafrost will change under different global emissions scenarios.

The new paper characterizes the release of mercury from thawing permafrost for high and low carbon emissions scenarios based on two of the four Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Fifth Assessment Report (AR5). The high carbon emissions scenario (RCP 8.5) assumes unconstrained "business as usual" emissions, while the low carbon emissions scenario (RCP 4.5) assumes carbon emissions consistent with the Paris Agreement global target of less than 2 degrees Celsius of warming above pre-industrial levels.

The results indicate minimal impacts to mercury concentrations in water and fish for the low carbon emissions scenario and large increases for the high carbon emissions scenario. At the global level, the high carbon emissions scenario would significantly increase the amount of mercury released into the atmosphere, where it would persist in the environment for centuries. At a local level, this would result in large increases to mercury concentrations in fish and water in the Yukon River. For the high emissions scenario, mercury concentrations could double in the Yukon River by 2100. The low carbon emissions scenario shows minimal mercury releases to the atmosphere and small changes to mercury concentrations in fish and water. For the low emissions scenario, mercury concentrations would likely increase by only about 14 percent and would not exceed EPA criterion by 2300.

"The thaw of permafrost due to climate change may release mercury as well as greenhouse gases like methane. We need to comply with the Paris Accord target of 2 degrees C. Otherwise, under a high emission scenario, a significant portion of mercury will be released to the environment, and it will continue for hundreds of years," said Yasin Elshorbany, a co-author on the study from the University of South Florida St. Petersburg campus.

The Yukon River is the fifth largest drainage basin in North America and home to one of the world's longest salmon runs. It serves as an important commercial and subsistence fishery.

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Sub-Saharan Africa must increase access to live-saving, laboratory-produced antibodies, writes Yolanda Moyo.

Scientific advances have transformed the prevention, treatment and cure of many diseases globally. However, millions of Africans continue to die, endure long periods of illnesses--- and suffer negative impacts of diseases for lack of affordable, good quality effective drugs and medical therapies.

It is not acceptable that we continue to lose lives to preventable or treatable diseases for lack of timely access to appropriate and affordable medicines, vaccines and other health technologies.

Time to turn to antibodies

Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are a group of powerful medical technologies that are largely inaccessible in Africa despite their promise in treating noncommunicable and infectious diseases. Antibodies work as soldiers of the human body by attacking foreign substances including germs that cause diseases.

Monoclonal antibodies are laboratory-produced versions of proteins that are designed to stimulate, enhance and imitate the body's defence system's attack on disease-causing agents. These medicines have the ability to bind directly to portions of viruses to prevent them from starting infections.

In the last 30 years, more than 100 mAbs have been licensed globally and are being used to prevent and treat diseases including cancers and autoimmune disorders. Monoclonal antibodies have also shown promise in the field of infectious diseases endemic to Africa.

There are currently monoclonal antibodies under development for preventive and therapeutic treatment of Ebola, Zika, HIV and more recently COVID-19. These products are considered the 'next frontier' in medicine because they are significantly more effective than previously available therapies and are often better tolerated.

But only 1 percent of monoclonal antibodies including biosimilars are registered in Africa with Nigeria having 10 registered and Zimbabwe only seven, compared with western countries, US, Canada and Europe that account for 77 per cent of registered mAbs, and 112 mAbs registered in the US and in Brazil 77 mAbs have been registered.

Barriers to accessing monoclonal antibodies

Millions of Africans continue to miss out on these products because few have been licensed for use on the continent, and for those that are available, the prohibitively high costs mean that African governments cannot afford to procure them for the public health sector.

This leaves the private sector as the only way to procure the drugs, and only those that can afford are able to access them.

For instance, trastuzumab is on the market to treat breast cancer, a growing problem in low-resource settings including Africa. With annual costs for a single patient ranging from US$5,712 to US$89,760, fewer than 5 per cent of breast cancer patients in the 14 African countries where it is available can afford this highly effective treatment that is in use globally.

In Kenya, the cost of a single dose of trastuzamab translates to more than 150,000 Kenyan shillings (almost US$1,400), while its similar version costs about US480 a dose, which is still too high for the average patient.

Lessons for African countries

The process of developing biologic medicines is long and costly, but the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us very harsh lessons on the consequences of not investing in health research and development.

African governments are not investing enough towards health research and development (R&D) but evidence shows that local investment in product development reduces the costs of health products and promotes equitable access by those who need them the most.

There are barriers to registration and launch of mAbs in Sub-Saharan Africa. The variation in registration requirements across national medicines regulatory authorities increases the cost, time and complexity for manufacturers interested in submitting their products for regulatory review, making the Sub-Saharan African market unattractive.

Thus, pharmaceutical companies prioritise high and upper middle-income countries' markets. An Access to Medicines Foundation report found that innovative products including mAbs and biosimilar are not even registered in 43 per cent of priority low- and middle-income countries, including 13 of 46 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The way forward

African governments must significantly increase their investments in research and innovations for medical products development. Governments must also increase local production of drugs.

Address the cost issues and reduce the time lag between availability of medicines in developed nations and availability in African health systems. Furthermore, the continent cannot continue to rely on the outputs of research based on markets with different disease priorities.

To lift the licensing barrier, countries in Sub-Saharan Africa should adopt harmonized regulatory and approval processes to remove the ambiguity of trying to adapt products to multiple country requirements.

A bigger guaranteed market would provide a greater financial incentive for drug manufacturers to invest in research and development of technologies that are specific to the continent's health priorities.

It is heartening that initiatives such as the Africa Medicines Regulatory Harmonisation and the African Union Model Law on Medical Products Regulation are already helping to reduce licensing barriers to accessing mAbs and other medicines.

However, bridging the gap between availability and access to mAbs in Africa will require quick action from multiple players such as the private, public sectors, regional bodies, philanthropists, development partners and national governments.

As the world battles COVID-19 and prepares for future pandemics, it is imperative that Sub-Saharan Africa does not get left behind by advances of modern medicine.
After a series of deadly wildfires in 2018 scorched California, President Donald Trump ordered his federal agencies to do a better job of managing the vast federal forests under their care.

The executive order, issued in the wake of a fire season that included a blaze that killed 85 people in Paradise, California, instructed the departments of Interior and Agriculture to harvest more than 4 billion board feet of timber, clear underbrush and take other steps to deny fuel to wildfires.

But critics say this year's voracious fire season -- which has destroyed homes, killed dozens and ruined air quality from Mexico to Canada -- illustrates the limitations of the strategy.

"This has nothing to do with fire management," Char Miller, a professor of environmental analysis and history at Pomona College in Claremont, California, said in an interview. "In truth, logging doesn't prevent forest fires."

During a visit Monday to California, where wildfires have burned more than 3.2 million acres, Trump again blamed the state for not properly managing its forests, while sparring with officials over the role climate change plays in the conflagrations.

Trump said California should cut more firebreaks through its forests, comparing California to European forests that he said are better managed.

"They also have to do cuts. I mean, people don't like to do cuts but they have to do cuts," he said. "So if you do have a fire and it gets away, you'll have a 50-yard cut in between so it won't be able to catch in the other side."

But the University of California estimates that about 57% of California forests are owned and managed by federal agencies. And the majority of the fires that have burned nearly 5 million acres this season in the U.S. have occurred within the forests managed by the federal government, according to data from the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday argued that flawed forest management practices of the past can't explain the state's worsening fire seasons. California has been stepping up its use of controlled burns to thin out vegetation and has accelerated cutting fire breaks around vulnerable communities, he said. Only 3% of the state's forests are on land management by the state government, he said.

Trump's 2018 order, which also called for removing dead brush and debris as well as treating for tree-destroying pests, has not affected the amount of land burned by forest fires this year, said David McWethy, an assistant professor and fire ecologist at Montana State University.

"We can't manage our way out of the current fire situation in the Western U.S. and what's projected for the future," McWethy said in a phone interview. "The scale of the problem is so large, with warming temperatures all of the projections are that we are going to have larger fires into the future."

The Interior Department said in a statement that it has treated 1.4 million acres of federal lands since the executive order, and 5 million acres since Trump took office.

"The Department continues to follow President Trump's action to help prevent catastrophic wildfires by promoting active management under Federal supervision and increase our state, local and Tribal partnerships," the department said.

Miller, with Pomona College, said intensive logging occurred about a decade ago in Butte County, California, which was home to the deadly Camp Fire in 2018. The county is again home to a wildfire that has burned about 260,000 acres, he said.

"Clearly forest management by itself doesn't stop fires. We are talking about much larger fires because of forces like climate change," Miller said. "And no amount of raking is going to change the conditions of the desecrated west."

The White House defended its strategy, saying in a statement that "decades of failed environmental policies that have blocked logging, controlled burns, and active forest management has to change."

"State and local officials have to take action to improve forest management and increase preparedness efforts," the White House said in the statement.
Tuscumbia police are looking for answers as to why the severed head of a familys pet goat was found in a cemetery after it disappeared from a pasture Sept. 6.

Tuscumbia Police chief Tony Logan said the goat was last seen on the Sunday before Labor Day around 7 p.m. in a pasture at feeding time.

A camera in the area captured an image of the goat, a four-month-old named Sushi belonging to Dr. Mark McIlwain.

It was more like a family pet, Logan said. They raised it and fed it with a bottle.

On Sept. 8, the head of the goat was found in Colbert Memorial Funeral Home cemetery, not far from McIlwains house. The goats body has not been located.

It was just laying out there in the cemetery, Logan said. It wasnt next to a grave, or displayed in any kind of ritualistic way. But the head had been cut off with a knife. It hadnt been attacked by an animal. It looked like a field dressed dear.

A search has continued for the goats body. Logan said anyone responsible could face charges including theft and animal cruelty. There is a $2,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.

Anyone with information is urged to call the Tuscumbia Police Department at (256) 383-3121.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 20:49:35|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. administration has been recently playing the "Taiwan card" more vehemently to challenge China's red line on national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Media reported that U.S. Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Keith Krach is planning to visit Taiwan in the name of economic and commercial dialogues. The visit would follow one by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar last month, regardless of the U.S. commitment to the one-China principle and provisions of three China-U.S. joint communiques which allow no official interaction between the United States and Taiwan.

The U.S. playing the "Taiwan card" in recent months also included Washington supporting Taiwan's attempt to join the World Health Organization, approving arms sales and sending a U.S. destroyer to sail through the Taiwan Strait.

The White House has grown increasingly desperate to ratchet up its anti-China campaign in the days leading up to the election amid rising public criticism of the administration's incompetent COVID-19 handling.

However, the U.S. politicians' challenge to the one-China principle cannot help resolve their domestic problems or bring benefits to the American people. Rather, the U.S. moves have revealed how the self-proclaimed champion of peace and order could break its promise, interfere in other countries' internal affairs, and violate basic norms governing international relations for political gains.

Their provocations on the Taiwan question have seriously damaged China-U.S. relations, posed serious threat to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, and may lead to a crisis of conflict in the region.

Washington should clearly understand that China will never compromise on its core interests. The country has the resolve, confidence and capability to thwart any form of interference by external forces and separatist acts of "Taiwan independence."

The People's Liberation Army conducted exercises this month. The drills were necessary and aimed at the current security situation in the Taiwan Strait and meant to safeguard national sovereignty.

The drills targeted the interference of foreign forces in China's internal affairs and "Taiwan independence" activities, not Taiwan's people.

For the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authority in Taiwan developing official relations with the United States in the guise of economic and commercial activities, the attempt will only hit a dead end. Taiwan's attempt to mobilise the strength of foreign influence to seek "independence" will only allow the United States to further exploit the island, impact the local market, and harm the economic interests and livelihood of the 23 million Taiwan compatriots.

Taiwan is an inalienable part of China. The reunification of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait is the trend of history. China is willing to create a vast space for peaceful reunification, but will not leave any room for any form of separatist activities.

It is time for Washington to ditch political calculations, abide by the one-China principle and the provisions of three China-U.S. joint communiques, and handle Taiwan-related issues properly and prudently. It is also time the DPP authority gave up the illusion of "Taiwan independence" and stopped acting as a pawn of anti-China forces. The old trick of "Taiwan card" can only lead to a high price. Enditem
After nearly 20 years of war, peace talks between the Afghanistan government and the Taliban have started in Qatar.

Doha, Qatar  Six members were waiting as the doors opened and their counterparts entered the room.

It was an awkward moment. After nearly 20 years of violence, Afghan leaders and the Taliban were meeting face-to-face, adamant to defend their agendas behind closed doors.

Assalam-o-alaikum (peace be with you), one said, as the silence was broken and hands and hugs extended.

The faces were covered with masks  as part of the coronavirus regulations  but the hospitable Afghan tradition of the hug  a sign of welcome and appreciation  returned to the room.

After the greetings, members from both sides surveyed the formally arranged chairs, deciding where to sit.

Lets just put down one of our chadors on the floor and sit in a circle, someone suggested, as smiles and laughs followed.

Member of the Afghan government delegation during the opening of Afghan peace negotiations in Doha, Qatar [Sorin Furcoi/Al Jazeera]

Some of those in attendance were jailed by the Taliban, some tortured by Afghan intelligence and then foreign troops. Some have had loved ones killed recently by the opposing side, others have spent their lives in prison in Afghanistan and abroad.

The woman, as part of the Afghan delegation, was no a stranger. She was part of the group, a small victory for not just making her presence felt in the first meeting but also as an ambassador for all Afghan women anxious about their future and freedoms as the Taliban formally begins the dialogue.

She pulled her sleeve over the bandage. Underneath it was a wound from when a bullet entered her upper right arm and left through the shoulder just a few weeks ago.

The conversation is formal but constructive. A quirky remark here and there keeps the conversation a bit more light-hearted.

A draft about the rules and procedures was put together in Kabul. In Doha, it was discussed, amended and trimmed by both sides. In just a couple of hours, new bonds were made.

But major issues, such as the future between a republic and a state, status of fighters and the army, rights of women and minorities, appear to be insurmountable challenges.

Pleasantries were exchanged and the two sides parted ways, taking with them the elephant in the room: Mistrust.

There is a trust deficit between the two sides who are still attacking each other in Afghanistan and then there is mistrust among each delegation with the government, within the Taliban, among the Pashtuns, Tajiks and Hazaras.

But that is not unexpected after 19 years of fighting which has ravaged Afghanistan and killed and displaced millions.

The intra-Afghan negotiations were expected to begin in March but were pushed back because of a disagreement over a prisoners exchange [Sorin Furcoi/Al Jazeera]

They met again to decide on the agenda of the talks aimed at charting out an agreeable version of their Afghanistan as the US gears up to leave.

With each meeting, the two sides are taking baby steps towards understanding and learning the art of agreeing to disagree.

Even the press releases were coordinated from the government-led delegation and the tightly compartmentalised Taliban.

It is no small burden, the future of millions of Afghan lives is at stake.


Washington

A Trump health appointee who is accused of trying to muzzle an important scientific report in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic apologized Tuesday for a separate video in which he reportedly says scientists battling the virus are conspiring against President Donald Trump and warns of shooting in America if Trump loses the election.

Michael Caputo, the top spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, apologized to his staff for the Facebook video, said an administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters.

The department is standing by Caputo so far in the face of calls by congressional democrats for his dismissal  and also for the resignation of his boss, HHS Secretary Alex Azar. But Caputo, a Trump loyalist and former New York political operative, has become a significant new problem for a White House that has struggled all year with its coronavirus response.

He can be heard on an HHS podcast asserting that Democrats don't want a coronavirus vaccine before the election in order to punish Trump. Trump has made the same assertion, with no evidence to support it, but such broadsides are not in a department spokesman's normal portfolio.

News reports alleged last week that Caputo's office tried to take over and muzzle a scientific weekly published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that publishes what is supposed to be authoritative, unvarnished information about disease-fighting efforts, including, most importantly at present, COVID-19.

Then on Monday came an account of the video on Caputo's personal Facebook page in which he accused government scientists of conspiring against Trump and suggested violence could break out after the election.

Caputo was named the top HHS spokesman in April, during a tense period in relations between the White House and HHS Secretary Alex Azar.

On a taxpayer-funded podcast earlier this summer he accused Democrats and the media of not wanting a coronavirus vaccine until after the elections in order to defeat Trump.

"There are people in the United States government on the Democrats' side ... (who) do not want a vaccine," he said.

"They don't want a vaccine until November 4th," he added, citing the day after the presidential election. It's highly unusual to use an agency communications platform for such a blatantly political message.

Over the weekend, Caputo made headlines when Politico and The New York Times reported that his office had tried to gain control over a CDC publication known as the MMWR, or Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. In previous administrations, political appointees in the HHS secretary's office maintained a hands-off policy with regard to the publication from CDC, which is under the department's umbrella.

The story took a strange turn on Monday, after the Times reported about a live video hosted by Caputo on his personal Facebook page. In it, Caputo reportedly accused government scientists of conspiring against Trump as part of a "resistance."

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

The message turned apocalyptic when Caputo reportedly predicted that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden would refuse to concede defeat to Trump in the election, and violence would break out. The Associated Press was unable to independently view the video.

HHS supported Caputo, with a statement that called him a "critical, integral part of the president's coronavirus response, leading on public messaging as Americans need public health information to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic."

There was no immediate statement from the White House.

Attempts to reach Caputo were unsuccessful.

On Capitol Hill, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., called on Azar to fire Caputo, accusing the spokesman of trying to interfere with CDC reports to the medical and scientific community, as well as the public at large. And Senate Minority leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., called on Azar himself to resign, citing interference with the CDC as one example of what he termed the administration's failures.

Officials at CDC have privately complained of recent efforts by political appointees at HHS to try to edit or change in the agency's weekly MMWR publications, a go-to resource for public health professionals.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  The middle of a pandemic is the best time to prepare for the next one. The Cleveland Clinics new Center for Global and Emerging Pathogens Research is taking on the challenge of ensuring the world is prepared for the next infectious disease to sweep through its cities.

The Center for Global and Emerging Pathogens Research studies emerging pathogens  such as Zika and COVID-19  and seeks to develop treatments and vaccines to fight the next public health threat.

With COVID-19, we learned how much we are unprepared for a pandemic, said pathogens research center director Jae Jung. We have to prepare for the next pandemic.

What makes you sick? What protects you? What cures you? This was the big idea behind the pathogens research center, said Lerner Research Institute chair Dr. Serpil Erzurum.

The research center focuses on the study of viruses, immunology, personal medicine, genetics, population research and more, Erzurum said. It seeks to understand the biological mechanisms that cause cancer and to investigate illnesses such as SARS, MERS and COVID-19.

Jung sees the pathogens research center as a place where multiple disciplines collaborate on major discoveries, bringing new drugs, vaccines and rapid diagnostic tests to doctors and patients.

It will all be done under one large umbrella, Jung said.

Jung is studying coronavirus infection and transmission in the hopes that his data will help hasten the development of a COVID-19 vaccine.

The Clinic is not participating in any COVID-19 vaccine trials, but it has taken part in trials for proposed drugs to treat the illness. The hospital system has attracted more than $5 million in COVID-19 grants to support Clinic research, Erzurum said.

Theres no way to know how soon the centers research will result in drugs that physicians can prescribe to their patients, Jung said.

The pathogens research center works closely with drug developers at Lerner Research Institutes Center for Therapeutics Discovery to take research data from the lab to life-saving drugs. The Clinics Populations Health Research Center will supply information about social determinants of health that affect risk of infection, the Clinic said.

The Clinics new Center for Immunotherapy and Precision Immuno-Oncology, which opened this month, also will collaborate with the pathogens research center. The Center for Immunotherapy and Precision Immuno-Oncology works to discover new immunotherapies, which enlist the bodys own immune system to fight cancer.

The pathogens research centers scientists will operate as two multi-disciplinary teams, one located at the Clinics Lerner Research Institute in Cleveland, and the other at the new Cleveland Clinic Florida Research and Innovation Center in Port St. Lucie, Florida.

Erzurum recruited leaders in various fields to work with Jung. I call them the dream team, she said. They saw the idea behind what we were building.

The pathogens research centers annual budget has not been set, but Erzurum noted that the Clinics research budget rose from $260 million in 2016, to $307 million in 2019. She expects the hospital systems research budget to show similar growth. Its too early to know how many researchers will work at the research center, Erzurum said.

Jungs appointment as the founding director of the Center for Global and Emerging Pathogens Research was announced in April. Erzurum recruited him for the position from his previous post at the University of Southern California.

She called Jung a world-class researcher who will propel the Clinics teams in Cleveland and Florida forward.

I told Jae, if he wants to make a difference, this is the place, Erzurum said.

Jung is also chair of the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institutes Department of Cancer Biology.

Jung is a leading global expert on viruses that cause nearly 20% of cancers, including cervical, liver and skin cancer. Unlocking the mystery of how cancer-causing viruses work could lead to cures for several types of cancers, he said.

Jung is also interested in mosquito and tick-borne viruses. He recently received a $2.8 million grant to develop a vaccine for a newly emerging tick-borne disease. The illness, called Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (SFTS), has killed five people in China and hospitalized 23 since April, according to press reports.

This new disease is an example of how threats to public health are constantly rearing up.

Tomorrow, there could be a new virus, Jung said. Well be prepared.
The university protest was well-organised, strategically planned but, in the end, wrong-footed by police.

Individual groups at a Sydney University demonstration kept below 19 in number, stayed apart and each was apparently protesting against slightly different issues, which included education cutbacks, job losses and Coalition moves to overhaul university fees.

Students and university staff protest at the government's proposed fee rises and the universitys staff cuts at the University of Sydney on Wednesday. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

About 100 uniformed and public order riot squad officers were also spread out and in small numbers.

Then they declared that the different groups had, in fact, a common purpose and exceeded COVID-19 separation recommendations.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 16) President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to decide on the fate of the new public transport distancing policy within the week, his spokesperson said.

Speaking to CNN Philippines on Wednesday, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the COVID-19 Inter-Agency Task Force has crafted its fresh recommendations on the much-debated transport protocol, with the chief executive expected to review and decide no later than Thursday.

The body came up with a recommendation to be submitted to the President, and it will be the President who will ultimately decide, Roque said in an interview with The Source. I think the President will decide no later than tomorrow.

Roque did not provide further details regarding the IATFs final recommendation, which he said was a result of Tuesdays six-hour meeting among officials and health experts.

He said that while parties had varying opinions on the matter, the task forces final report was ultimately based on science and medical advice.

In a televised briefing later in the day, Roque said he expects Duterte himself to announce the decision. He added the President will most likely address the nation on the matter.

From the one-meter distance recommended by the World Health Organization, the Transportation Department on Monday reduced the distance between commuters inside mass transit to 0.75 meter to accommodate more riders.

The distance will then be further reduced to 0.5 meter by September 28, and will decrease to 0.3 meter by October 12.

The IATF had vowed to review and reassess the policy after a physicians group earlier warned of a possible rise in COVID-19 transmission due to the easing of distancing rules.

But for now, Roque stressed the 0.75-meter distancing rule will stay unless the President revokes it.
TikTok might move its global headquarters to the US in order to avoid any troubles in the future. According to a recent report by the Financial Times, ByteDance is preparing to make TikTok a new US-headquartered company with Oracle investing as a minority shareholder.

After a months-long drama, ByteDance selected Oracle as its trusted tech partner in the US earlier this week. The partnership is yet to be announced officially but the details of the deal are now starting to emerge. Oracle will reportedly have a stake in TikToks global business and not just the US operations. ByteDance, meanwhile, will be the majority shareholder of the entity.

American TikTok users data will stay within the country, sources told the FT. Oracle will independently process TikToks data, at least that of the American users. Its unclear if the company will have access to TikTok data from across the globe as well.

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ByteDance, on the other hand, will manage TikTok at arms-length. This will allow the company to keep hold of the apps all-important recommendation algorithm. The Chinese government has blocked the sale of the algorithms to a non-Chinese company.

These arrangements also allow ByteDance to avoid the full sale of TikTok that the US government had desired, while addressing President Trumps security concerns. The Beijing counterparts have also reportedly shown support for the plan.

However, the deal still needs the approval of the Trump administration. So theres still some material left in this drama. President Trump has been vocal about his fondness for Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison. Both Ellison and CEO Safra Catz also openly support the Trump administration. These personal relations are likely to boost the chances of Trump accepting TikToks roposal.

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TikTok also promises to create 20,000 jobs

In addition to setting up its global headquarters in the US, TikTok is also promising to create 20,000 new jobs in the country. This offer is likely to win Trumps confidence in an election year. Many Americans have lost their jobs because of the economic recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Anyone would welcome new job opportunities during this unprecedented time.

Walmart, which was interested in acquiring TikToks US operations jointly with Microsoft, might also own a minority stake in the new, US-based TikTok, the report adds. The duo also wanted to takeover TikToks operations in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.

However, ByteDance was never willing to sell TikToks entire business. The company rejected the Microsoft-Walmart proposal and picked Oracle as its trusted tech partner in the US. Several other US investors may also own a minority stake in TikTok.
Pope Francis holds the weekly general audience at the San Damaso courtyard at the Vatican, on Sept. 16, 2020. (Yara Nardi/Reuters)

Italian Priest Killed by Mentally Ill Tunisian Immigrant

VATICAN CITYPope Francis on Wednesday paid tribute to an Italian priest killed by an immigrant suffering from mental illness.

Father Roberto Malgesini, 51, who cared for immigrants and other needy people in the northern city of Como, was found dead from a stab wound outside his residence on Tuesday morning.

A Tunisian immigrant who police said was mentally ill later turned himself in to authorities.

Speaking at the end of his weekly general audience, Francis said Malgesini was killed by a needy person who he himself was helping, a person who was mentally ill.

Francis praised the martyrdom of this witness of charity toward the most poor (and) all the priests, nuns, laymen, and lay women who work with needy people who are discarded by society.

He then asked the audience of about 500 people in a Vatican courtyard to observe a minute of silent prayer for Malgesini.

Matteo Salvini, leader of the anti-immigrant League party and a former justice minister who has sparred with the pope on immigration issues before, mentioned the priest at a political rally in northern Italy on Wednesday morning.

The fact that yesterday morning in Como a pastor was stabbed by an immigrant who should have been expelled is something that ought to make everyone cry out for vendetta, he said at the rally, according to the Italian news agency Ansa.

Nicola Frantoianni of the Italian Left party attacked Salvini, accusing him of exploiting the priests killing.

By Philip Pullella
In a sensational twist to the mysterious suicide of Disha Salian, former manager of late Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput, BJP MLA from Maharsahtra Nitish Rane has shot off a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday, requesting him to immediately provide security to Disha's live-in partner Rohan Rai, a budding Bollywood actor.

In his letter, Nitish Rane has revealed that Rohan Rai has inside information about the mysterious death of Disha as he was present in the house when Sushant's former manager allegedly fell from the Mumbai high-rise.

Talking to IANS, Nitish Rane confirmed that he has urged the Union Home Minister to provide security to Rohan as he holds crucial information relating to the mysterious death of his live-in partner.

"Rohan is very scared of some powerful people. I spoke to him and discovered that due to some pressure, he is not able to disclose information about the mysterious circumstances which led to Disha's death. Rohan needs assurance and security so that he can shed light on the mystery which is also linked with the death of Sushant Singh Rajput," said Rane, a member of the Maharashtra legislative Assembly and son of former Chief Minister Narayan Rane.

The letter said that after the alleged suicide of Disha, Rohan Rai had fled Mumbai or may have have been pressurised to leave Mumbai to avoid any scrutiny.

"I assume he is scared to return to Mumbai where the case is being investigated. This may be due to some pressure from influential people," Rane adds in his letter.

According to Rane, Rohan is the most crucial witness in the Disha Salian death case, though Mumbai Police did not question him.

The BJP MLA said that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probing Sushant Singh Rajput's death case can record Rohan's statement once he is given adequate security.

"Both the mysterious deaths (of Disha and Sushant) are linked. Being a crucial witness, Rohan can now give an insight into the sequence of events which led to both the deaths. I am also ready to give my statement to the CBI relating to the alleged suicides," Rane said.

Disha (28), who used to work for a talent management company and handled Sushant Singh Rajput's account, died on June 9 after she allegedly jumped from the 14th floor residence of her fiancee in Malad. Five days after Disha's death, Sushant allegedly died by suicide.
Former Vice President Joe Biden is heading to Florida on Tuesday amid major worries about his campaigns Latino outreach operation.

Florida is one of four battleground states with a substantial Latino population. Recent polls there have seen Bidens lead dwindle to just about 1 percent, in large part due to soft support among Latinos, including in the normally reliable Democratic stronghold of Miami-Dade County.

Some Biden supporters are concerned.

Not only am I surprised. Im shocked. Im aghast. Its perplexing, Florida pollster and Democratic strategist Fernand Amandi said in an interview with Yahoo News. There were plenty of times and plenty of opportunities to have addressed the situation earlier rather than trying to salvage it at the 11th down.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden speaks outside the Delaware Museum of Natural History in Wilmington, Del., on Monday. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

Florida, which has 29 votes in the Electoral College, is one of the biggest prizes on the election map. Donald Trump won the state by about 112,000 votes in the 2016 election against Hillary Clinton, and his campaign has repeatedly described it as their most important target this time around.

Trumps last Sunshine State victory came despite the fact that exit polls showed more than 60 percent of Latinos, who are over 15 percent of the states voters, backing Clinton. While recent polls have shown Biden doing better than Clinton with white voters in Florida, he is underperforming among Latinos.

A poll conducted by Amandis firm that was released on Sept. 8 added to worries about Bidens standing in Florida. It showed that he was winning Miami-Dade County by 17 points. But to put that number in perspective, Clinton won the county  the states most populous  by 30 points in the last election.

And that poll isnt the only one that spells trouble for Biden in the state. An NBC/Marist poll that also came out on Sept. 8 showed Trump and Biden effectively tied in Florida, with the former vice president losing the Latino vote there by four points.

The good news for Biden is that reinforcements are pouring in. Billionaire Mike Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor who briefly ran for the Democratic presidential nomination earlier this year, announced over the weekend that he would spend $100 million to boost Biden in Florida. But Bloombergs intervention, which comes less than two months before Election Day, also underscores Democrats anxiety about Bidens chances in the state.

Story continues

A polling center in Miami Beach during the Florida primary on Aug. 18. (Chandan Khanna /AFP via Getty Images)

Prior to the cash infusion, Amandi described Florida as being as competitive as it always has been and argued that Bidens team needed to do more.

If youre the Biden campaign  what you need to do is improve your performance with Hispanic voters, he added. If that doesnt happen  its going to be almost impossible for him to carry Florida.

Weakening support among Latinos is clearly an issue for Biden in Florida, but its also part of a larger problem. Polls show him slightly trailing Clinton among the Latino population nationwide. And Clinton already lost Latino support relative to President Barack Obamas 2012 performance.

While there is a particularly large Latino population in Florida and three Southwestern swing states  Texas, Arizona and Nevada  some strategists point out that Biden could also do more to target Latino populations in other battlegrounds. Chuck Rocha, a Democratic strategist, cited Wisconsin as another example of a state where Biden should capitalize on the Democratic Partys edge with Latinos.

I do know 60,000 Latinos on the south side of Milwaukee who would make a whole hell of a lot of difference that nobody's talked to, Rocha said.

As the 2016 election showed once again, a relatively small number of voters in swing states can prove decisive. Although Clinton handily won the nationwide popular vote, Trump secured an Electoral College win because he won Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania by just about 79,000 total votes.

Those three crucial swing states, which together deliver 46 Electoral College votes, are home to over 1.6 million Latinos.

Rocha was a senior adviser to Bernie Sanders and helped lead a Latino outreach effort that contributed to victories for the Vermont senator in the California and Nevada primaries. He went on to found Nuestro PAC, which is working to drum up the Latino vote for Biden. He attributed Bidens issues with Latinos to underinvestment by his campaign.

Presidential hopefuls Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders greet each other with an elbow bump at a Democratic debate on March 15. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

Nobody's talking to them, Rocha said, later adding, It doesnt matter what your message is if you dont spend money to go tell motherf***ers what your message is.

Rocha said he is regularly on strategy calls with other progressive strategists and organizations focused on Latino voters who share his concerns.

Everybody is extremely worried. Like, were even worried about Nevada now, which is supposed to be this easy state that everybody thought we were going to win, he said.

Rocha suggested that Biden should be devoting more resources to events and advertisements focused on Latinos. He also pointed out that Trump, who began running for reelection on his first day in office, had a head start compared with Biden, who won the Democratic nomination only last spring.

Joe Biden started that spending late. Donald Trump was up for two and a half months with no competition talking to Latinos in Florida while Joe Biden was dark, Rocha said.

Juliana Cabrales, a top official at the educational fund run by the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, said her group has found that most Latinos have not been contacted about the election by either campaign.

Latinos are listening, and they need to be engaged. Political parties must invest in outreach. In polling we conducted earlier this month, 60 percent of the individuals surveyed said they hadnt been contacted by a political party, campaign or other organization about registering or voting, Cabrales said.

A Latino outreach strategist who has worked with Bidens campaign said the Democrats team has stepped up its efforts in the community. However, the strategist also noted that the coronavirus pandemic has made traditional outreach methods like door knocking and rallies much harder.

The campaign has clearly had a blind spot with Latino outreach that theyre working to fix. These are communities that are difficult to organize under normal circumstances, and that much more difficult now. Theyre going to need a full-court press, the strategist said of Bidens team.

There are 5.7 million Latinos in Florida alone, and reaching them is an expensive and complex undertaking. Once overwhelmingly Cuban, the Latino population in the state now includes many people with origins in Venezuela and Puerto Rico, among other places. These communities have different priorities and dialects, meaning campaigns cant rely on a one-size-fits-all approach.

This diversification should, in theory, present opportunities for Biden. Floridas Cuban-American population includes many people who escaped Fidel Castros communist regime, and has for decades been a reliably Republican constituency. But polls indicate younger Cuban-Americans tend to be less conservative than their elders and open to voting Democratic.

Florida also saw an influx of hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans who moved to the mainland following the devastation of Hurricane Maria in 2017. A majority of Puerto Ricans disapprove of Trumps handling of the storm.

President Trump tosses paper towels into a crowd in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, on Oct. 3, 2017, after Hurricane Maria devastated the region. (Evan Vucci/AP Photo)

Mike Madrid, a veteran GOP operative who oversees political operations for the Lincoln Project, a group dedicated to swaying conservative voters away from Trump, argued that Biden has not taken advantage of the post-Maria opportunity to this point.

The Biden campaign has aggressively pushed back on the idea that they havent done enough to woo Latinos. A Biden campaign official pointed to the number of Latinos in senior leadership roles, Spanish-language radio ads recorded in multiple different dialects and numerous grassroots groups the campaign organized for different Latino communities.

We are not taking anything or anyone for granted, and our pathway to winning this state is earning the vote of everybody in that vote, the official said.

Nevertheless, the official admitted the campaign sees Florida as the battleground of battlegrounds that could go either way.

Weve been up and down and up and down so many times, there is no world  and because Donald Trumps our president now  in which we would even be close to thinking we havent anything on lock. Run scared, you know? the Biden campaign official said. I mean, I dont sleep anymore, because that is how we have to be. Especially in Florida.

Biden has also been giving the states Latinos his personal touch. His visit to Florida on Tuesday will include a Hispanic Heritage Month event in Kissimmee, the epicenter of the growing Puerto Rican community. On Sept. 10 his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, visited Florida and made a stop in Doral, Miamis largest Venezuelan-American neighborhood.

The Biden campaign said it has spent over $10 million on Spanish language ads and that there are eleven Latino vote directors on the team. It did not provide information about the total number of staffers dedicated to the effort.

For its part, the Trump campaign boasts of having dozens of Latino staff who have been on the ground in Florida since last year, 16 targeted field offices focused on the community and a slate of Spanish-language ads.

A sign directs voters to an official Miami-Dade County ballot drop box on Aug. 11. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Amandi, the Democratic strategist and pollster, said, It appears as of now the Trump campaign has just made Florida a greater priority.

Ali Pardo, a deputy communications director for the Trump campaign, described the president as well positioned with Florida Latinos in November. She accused Biden of taking Latino voters for granted as Trump gained their support.

The president has consistently delivered for our community, creating jobs, boosting income and standing up to socialism and communism, Pardo said of Trump.

Pardos comment echoed a core part of Trumps pitch to Florida Latinos  painting Biden, a relatively moderate Democrat, as beholden to his partys resurgent left wing. Its a tactic designed to appeal to Latinos  particularly those in the Cuban, Venezuelan and Nicaraguan communities  who fled socialist regimes. The Trump campaigns Spanish-language radio ads, for example, refer to Democrats as socialists and highlight liberal protesters waving flags bearing the face of the infamous leftist guerrilla Che Guevara.

Some Biden backers fear those messages are gaining traction. And these worries arent coming only from outside groups. Carmen Pelaez is one of the administrators of Cubanos con Biden, one of the grassroots Florida groups touted by Bidens campaign.

I don't think its that Biden is underperforming with Latinos. I think its that the Trump campaign is effective. Its cynically using Latino trauma, said Pelaez, who argued that Bidens economic and immigration policies would do more to benefit Latinos.

Pelaez said Trumps ads are everywhere in the community. She would like to see the Biden campaign release more radio commercials and hold more events in Florida.

Pelaez noted that Bidens campaign has been far more reluctant to hold in-person events than Trump in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly held outdoor rallies in defiance of local social distancing regulations, including a small one in Tampa on July 31. Pelaez described the situation as one where the bullies are running the sandbox.

A resident of The Villages, Fla., in a golf cart parade on Aug. 21 to celebrate the nominations of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. (Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)

We just need to see them in the community. We need to see them interacting, because the GOP is putting everybodys lives at risk by having these rallies, Pelaez said. We can have get-togethers where we can be safe. And I think we need to move out of the virtual space a little bit more.

As the race tightens in Florida, Biden does have some more help on the way. In addition to Bloombergs spending spree, Rochas Nuestro PAC announced it would be doing a seven-figure mail campaign in the state. And Madrid said his group, the Lincoln Project, which has already produced a slate of notable anti-Trump commercials, is working on an ad aimed to counter the presidents message to Latinos in Florida.

Theyre relying on a potential bogeyman that theyre going to equate with socialism and communism, Madrid said of Trumps ads. We will be going directly at the fact that we currently have a strongman who has dictatorial tendencies.  Making very direct comparisons with Donald Trump and Latin American caudillos, as theyre called.

Madrid also echoed a point made by many of the others  there are fewer than 50 days left until Election Day, which doesnt leave much room for further course corrections.

Theres no more time for missed opportunities, he said.

_____

Read more from Yahoo News:
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 19:24:47|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday sent a congratulatory message to Yoshihide Suga on his election as Japanese prime minister.

In his message, Xi pointed out that China and Japan are friendly neighbors to each other, and are both important countries in Asia and the world.

Developing a China-Japan relationship that features long-term stability and friendly cooperation not only serves the fundamental interests of both nations, but also contributes to peace, stability and prosperity in Asia and the world, Xi said.

He suggested that the two sides hold fast to the principles established in the four political documents between China and Japan as well as the four-point principled agreement, and actively promote the building of a bilateral relationship that meets the needs of the new era, so as to create benefits for both countries and their people and make positive contributions to safeguarding world peace and advancing common development. Enditem
New Delhi: Computer Age Management Services (CAMS) has announced that its initial public offering (IPO) will hit the primary market on September 21.

CAMS, which acts as a registrar and transfer agent (RTA) for mutual funds is targeting to raise Rs 2,240 crore from investors.

The company's chief executive Anuj Kumar said NSE decided to sell its entire holding in the company after capital markets watchdog Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) directing the top equity bourse to pare its holding in the company, PTI said.

Here is all you need to know about the CAMS IPO

The offer will see sale of 1,82,46,600 equity shares or 37.4 per cent stake by NSE Investments



NSE Investments is the subsidiary of National Stock Exchange (NSE).



The entire quantum of shares being sold to investors is NSE's holding.



There will not be any new issue of shares which may see money coming into the company.



The issue will open on September 21 and close of September 23.



Anchor investors' portion will open on September 18.



Half of the issue is reserved for qualified institutional buyers.



35 percent is reserved to retail investors, 15 per cent to non-institutional bidders.



1.82 lakh shares are reserved for employees, who will get the shares at a 10 per cent discount.



The price band has been set at between Rs 1,229-1,230 per share.



Company will raise Rs 2,242 crore at the upper end of the band.



The issue is being managed by Kotak Mahindra Capital Co Ltd, HDFC Bank Ltd, ICICI Securities Ltd and Nomura Financial Advisory and Securities (India) Pvt Ltd.

CAMS is a technology-driven financial infrastructure and services provider to mutual funds and other financial institutions. Headquartered in Chennai, CAMS is co-owned by NSE Investments, Warburg Pincus, Faering Capital ACSYS Investments and HDFC Group.
Finland will send material assistance to the Moria migrant camp in Greece following the fire that destroyed the reception facility, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday

HELSINKI (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th September, 2020) Finland will send material assistance to the Moria migrant camp in Greece following the fire that destroyed the reception facility, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.

A huge blaze burnt down the overcrowded facility on the island of Lesbos last week, leaving some 12,000 migrants without shelter. The fire broke out on the heels of reports about 35 camp residents having been diagnosed with COVID-19. Several Afghan migrants have reportedly been detained on suspicion of arson.

"Finland will send shower tents, sleeping pads, blankets and hand soap to Greece as material assistance. The Greek authorities have requested material assistance from other EU countries, because the fire caused extensive damage," the ministry said.

The aid will be provided via the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. The Finnish Red Cross will assist in the procurement and shipment of supplies. The European Commission will partially cover transport expenditures.

Earlier, Finland announced that it would take in 11 underage migrants from the burnt camp. In total, 10 EU member states committed themselves to relocating 400 minors from the Moria facility. Germany said that it would accept some 1,500 migrants on top of the 100 to 150 unaccompanied minors.
Copyright  2020 Albuquerque Journal

It didnt seem like a trend at first.

But Farmington Police Chief Steve Hebbe noticed that the number of suicides in his city began increasing more rapidly than normal, especially during the summer months.

We had a number of hangings that our officers were going to, he said. It appeared to be coming faster than Ive seen it in the past.

Eventually, he and other local officials realized they were witnessing a disturbing trend in Farmington, as the number of suicides in the community increased by 175% compared with the previous year.

This year, there have been 11 suicides in the city of around 45,000 people, compared with four during the same period in 2019.

To see your suicide rate at almost three times the normal rate, its obviously concerning to us, Hebbe told the Journal in a phone interview.

The last two weeks alone have seen three people kill themselves, including a man who first shot his wife before turning the gun on himself and a 14-year-old boy who shot himself.

Its the latter demographic that has officials most concerned. Out of the 11 suicides this year, four are juveniles, a statistic Hebbe said is not typical of the area. He said a young person committing suicide is the worst type of call his officers receive.

Theres really nothing we can do, he said. Thats the worst part for us.

Why so many are ending their life remains a mystery, as none of the cases seem to be connected, Hebbe said. Some, though, speculate environmental factors brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic might be a cause.

Suicide and crisis hotlines told the Journal in April that they were fielding an increase in calls across the state and that many callers had difficulty coping with long hours of isolation during the pandemic.

A Boston University study found that the number of adults experiencing depressive symptoms tripled to 27.5% after the start of the pandemic.

And Farmington, along with the rest of San Juan County, has been hit harder by the pandemic than many other New Mexico communities.

According to the state Department of Health, more than 1,100 people in Farmington have tested positive, with the neighboring Navajo Nation among the hardest-hit regions in the nation. The virus has killed nearly 200 in San Juan County. The local economy has taken a hit too, with San Juan County facing a 16% unemployment rate, greater than the statewide average of 13%.

Farmington Schools Superintendent Eugene Schmidt said three of the juveniles who took their own lives were of high school-age and noted that many of the districts students have had trouble adjusting to an online learning environment, where theyre physically disconnected from their peers.

Weve really tried to keep a close watch over kids, Schmidt said. Its just a little bit harder since kids are home.

The district has implemented suicide-awareness programs that highlight warning signs of suicide, but the school districts director of support services, Cody Diehl, said those signs are much harder to see on a computer screen.

Farmington police have also made social media posts encouraging those with thoughts of suicide to call emergency hotlines.

But without anyone reporting those warning signs, Hebbe said its difficult for his department to try to prevent someone from attempting to take their life, which leads to a lot of frustration.

I dont have the answer, he said. Im not really sure what more I can do.

Some have gone to the state for answers.

Farmington Mayor Nathan Duckett said he brought up the recent increase in suicides during a conference with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grishams office and mayors around the state. He told the Journal he wants the state to investigate the issue, including how COVID-19s impact on the economy might be related.

We believe the state should take some action of some kind and start analyzing what continued closures may be doing to our communities and to our people, he said.

Duckett said hes advocating for schools and businesses to reopen, arguing their closures can lead to poverty and undue stress on residents. He has previously criticized COVID-19 restrictions implemented by Lujan Grisham.

Whether suicides have increased statewide remains unclear, but those interviewed agree it is highly unlikely that only Farmington is experiencing a spike.

Its hard to believe Farmington stands out in the singular, Hebbe said. Probably, other communities are seeing this too.
El Bolillo Bakery has baked a variety of themed cookies and sweet breads to honor Mexico's Independence Day.

September 16 marks the 210th anniversary of Mexico winning its independence from Spain. It is a day filled with fiestas, music, food, fireworks, and of course, "El Grito" which kicks off the festivities the night before.

CELEBRATING HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH: Why celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month is important to me

While this year may be a little different due to COVID-19, you can still drop by one of El Bolillo Bakery's three locations to pick up a few beautifully decorated cookies and pan dulce sweet bread adorned with the Mexican flag to go with your cafecito coffee.

These "Viva Mexico" treats are only available today, Wednesday, September 16, according to El Bolillo Bakery's Facebook post.

Be forewarned, these will probably go quick, so be sure to call ahead to make sure they have some available to pick up.

Just another great way to commemorate Hispanic Heritage Month. How are you celebrating Mexican Independence Day today?
Riyadh

Saudi Arabia will allow its citizens to exit and re-enter the country through all land, sea, and airports after January 1, 2021, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said yesterday. This is provided that all coronavirus-related precautionary measures are followed, it added.

Completely lifting the restrictions on citizens leaving and returning to the Kingdom, and allowing the opening of ports for the crossing of all means of transport through land, sea and airports, after January 1, 2021, while adhering to the current coronavirus precautionary procedures, the SPA reported. It added: The specific date and time for lifting the suspension will be announced 30 days prior to January 1, 2021.

The Ministry of Health may, should it be required, request to put in place certain preventative health requirements for travelers and carriers during travel, and in the halls of airports, ports, and stations. GCC citizens and non-Saudis will be allowed to enter the Kingdom with valid work, residency, or visit visas, given that they adhere to coronavirus-related precautionary measures.

Only those with a negative COVID-19 result will be allowed to enter the countryone that is not older than 48 hours and had been conducted at a certified body. Meanwhile, Saudi also announced that it will allow certain categories of citizens and residents to exit and re-enter through all land, sea, and airports starting from tomorrow. This is also provided that all coronavirus-related precautionary measures are followed, SPA said yesterday. The same COVID-19 testing requirements are to be followed.
The Premier has set an ambitious goal of 18,750 additional elective surgeries across private and public hospitals in October, and an extra 10,500 surgeries in November. Elective procedures will go up from 50 per cent to 75 per cent of usual surgeries from Thursday as part of eased restrictions in country Victoria. In Melbourne, that is likely to increase to 75 per cent from September 28. Mr Andrews said regional Victoria would increase to 85 per cent capacity by September 28 before going back to a normal elective surgery schedule by late October. In Melbourne, as long as road map targets are met, surgery capacity will scale up to 85 per cent late in October with the introduction of stage two restrictions.

The announcement came as Victoria's total active cases of coronavirus dropped to 991. "That is very, very significant  it's been a long time since we've had less than 1000 active cases," Mr Andrews said. Mr Andrews said every patient would be tested for coronavirus before scheduled elective surgery. However, he said it was not always possible to screen patients for COVID-19 when they needed emergency surgery. "Obviously, in some situations that is not always possible. People come in and need to be operated on immediately." Professor Story said stringent screening of patients for coronavirus before and after surgery was critical, amid growing global evidence those infected with the virus were at heightened risk of dying or complications. "We are concerned about patients who may have coronavirus, but we have really good testing and screening happening for that at the moment," the medical college's safety and quality committee chair said.

"The really important thing is that it is gradually increased so it can be closely monitored and that it is done on the basis of need for patients." Loading A major global study of more than 1000 elective surgery patients, including those who underwent minor procedures, across 24 countries between January 1 and March 31 found the death rate for patients with COVID-19 was almost 19 per cent. Between 5 and 10 per cent of patients experience complications post-operatively, but Professor Story predicts this will rise as a result of the pandemic. The announcement was also welcomed by Australian Dental Association Victoria chief executive officer Matthew Hopcraft who said dentists had been inundated by patients presenting for emergency treatment for broken teeth, swollen gums and infected wisdom teeth.

"The main thing is being able to give certainty to patients around when they can receive treatment," Professor Hopcraft said. "The delays in treatment have caused a lot of angst among dentists and patients who have had their treatment delayed on and off since March." Among them is Jennifer Dorell, who has been anxiously waiting for upper and lower jaw surgery to fix an overbite so she could get her braces off this year. Ms Dorell was scheduled to have her jaw surgery in April, but it was cancelled as coronavirus infections soared. I am very over it, she said. "Anyone who has had braces knows how they cut into your gums and the pain you get with them as well. The uncertainty has been really difficult." Ms Dorell expects she will still have to wait up to six months to have her surgery.

"They will likely put patients needing more urgent care ahead of me, which I completely understand," she said. "I will have to keep my braces for another six months after surgery. That will mean I will have had my braces for almost five years. It has all been pretty disheartening." Melbourne man Terry Brown underwent a hip replacement earlier this year, but his rehabilitation has been hindered while he awaits a knee surgery. "My recovery has plateaued at the moment because both my knees are gone," the 65-year-old Pascoe Vale man said. "One of them is really bad and causes me a lot of pain. It makes your life very difficult because you don't sleep well because of the pain. I try to walk every day, but I come home and my knees are killing me after that." Mr Brown is hopeful the resumption of elective surgeries will mean he is able to get his left knee replaced before Christmas.

"It is a big relief," he said. Victorian Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said anyone awaiting category two or three surgery could have their case reviewed to determine their priority. She dismissed claims by the state opposition that the number of patients waiting had ballooned to more than 100,000 as made up. Category two surgeries are procedures that need to happen within 90 days and that cause pain or disability, but are unlikely to escalate to an emergency. This could be something like a standard heart valve replacement. Category three surgeries include procedures such as hysterectomies and hip and knee replacements. Australian Medical Association Victorian vice-president Roderick McRae said the process must be monitored closely and regularly audited.
Famous author JK Rowling is once again embroiled in controversy surrounding the transgender community after it was revealed that the villain in her new book is a male serial killer who dresses as a woman to kill his victims.

Rowling vs. the trans community

Rowling's new book, "Troubled Blood" is written under her pseudonym Robert Galbraith. The book is set to be released on September 15, and it is about a detective named Cormoran Strike, who will work out on what happened to missing GP Margot Bamborough.

Cormoran Strike fears that GP Margot Bamborough fell victim to Dennis Creed, who has been dubbed a "transvestite serial killer" for murdering his victims while wearing female clothing.

The Daily Telegraph did an early review of the 900-page book, in which the critic states that the book's moral seems to be "never trust a man in a dress." This immediately sparked a massive backlash online.

Also Read: J.K. Rowling Claims Society is On The Brink of Medical Scandal

Furious readers and the LGBT community rushed to Twitter to share their sentiments over the new book, and they made the #RIPJKRowling trend worldwide.

Meanwhile, others defended the author and said that the book is not transphobic at all, and the "over-eager" detractors should read it before jumping into conclusions.

Observer journalist Nick Cohen wrote on Twitter that he had read the latest novel and that the claim that it is anti-trans is not true. He said he couldn't elaborate on it because it may give away the ending, so it is best that people read it themselves.

However, netizens are not taking things lightly, with one user pointing out that if all of the negative stereotyping Rowling has done about trans women are combined, it shows a clear pattern. Some stated that Rowling's book might play into the fears that trans women are CIS males looking to spy on women.

TV anchor Piers Morgan added that the trending hashtag #RIPJKRowling says all that "you kneed to know about the woke brigade," adding that "they're nastier and more viciously intolerant than anyone they preach about."

Anti-trans stance

In June, the "Harry Potter" author hit the headlines after she mocked an online article using the words "people who menstruate" instead of "women," according to Independent.co.

The author was immediately hit by what she described as "relentless attacks" after she wrote on Twitter that "there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?"

The acclaimed novelist then wrote a personal essay to address the controversy, revealing that she was sexually assaulted in her 20s and said she still feels the scars of "domestic violence" in her first marriage.

Rowling's remarks sparked a massive backlash from the public and the stars who worked on the "Harry Potter" films such as Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe, and Eddie Redmayne.

Meanwhile, actor Robbie Coltrane, who played Rubeus Hagrid in the "Harry Potter" film franchise, told the Radio Times that he doesn't think that what the author said was offensive.

Coltrane said he does not know why, but "there's a whole Twitter generation of people who hang around waiting to be offended." Rowling has not responded to the resent hashtag under her name.

Related Article: J.K. Rowling Under Fire for Transphobia Again Over Comment About Menstruation

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Counting On fans and family friends have been bugging Jana Duggar about her relationship status since she turned 18. As the oldest Duggar daughter, many thought she would be the first of her sisters to walk down the aisle, yet she remains unmarried. But Abbie Duggar recently revealed that she sympathizes with Jana in terms of the constant questions  and that she once felt the same way.

Abbie Duggar and Jana Duggar | Jana Duggar via Instagram

Jana Duggar recently opened up about what its like being 30 and unmarried

Jana has chosen not to get married as a young adult. In the Duggar family, its common for the kids to wed by the time theyre in their early twenties. Some have even wed as teenagers. Still, despite the norm of getting married at a young age, Jana chose not to follow that same path. Now, shes 30 and still unmarried, and while thats normal in mainstream culture, the Duggars dont work the same way  leading many in Janas social circle to question why she hasnt tied the knot.

In a recent episode of Counting On, Jana took a trip to Knoxville, Tennessee with John and Abbie Duggar. And when Jana and Abbie took some time to go to the salon, Jana opened up about what its like to constantly be asked about her relationship status. Sometimes it gets a little old, she said. But when asked directly if she wanted to be in a courtship, she revealed that she wouldnt mind it, despite that shes enjoyed her time being single.

Abbie Duggar revealed that she sympathizes with Duggars single life

While Abbie and Jana were at the salon, Abbie also revealed that she understands what Jana is going through in terms of people constantly berating her about her love life. Abbie married John when she was 27, which, surprisingly, is considered a bit older in the Duggars social and church circles.

I can kind of relate [to Jana] just because I was the oldest single kid left in my house, Abbie said. I had younger siblings getting married, and I was still just left up at the top, plugging away at life. Abbie also said that she knew she was ready to marry John after only knowing him for a week.

Jana Duggars relationship status has always intrigued fans

Over the years, fans have become increasingly interested in why Jana hasnt started courting, leading to some interesting rumors. Some have suspected that Janas parents, Michelle and Jim Bob, dont want their daughter to court because she helps so much with the family. Others have questioned whether she is secretly attracted to other women, even suggesting shes in love with her best friend, Laura DeMasie. Jana has shut down any rumors of the sort.

Ultimately, people dont need to know why Duggar hasnt started courting. Duggar said that it simply hasnt been in Gods timing to meet someone yet, but that shes confident it will happen someday
Denmark is set to join Spain, France and Portugal on the UK governments no-go list, after a surge in new infection rates.

As holidaymakers and the travel industry wait nervously for the now-traditional Thursday afternoon announcement of nations to lose their quarantine exemption, Danish figures show one-third more new coronavirus cases today compared with the same day a week ago.

The status of each country is decided by the Department for Transport (DfT), and endorsed by the Foreign Office  which applies a double lock in the form of a warning against non-essential travel after the DfT has added a country or region to its quarantine list.

Following complaints from the travel industry about the lack of differentiation between parts of the same country, earlier this month the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, said: For the first time, we have the data and capacity to add or remove specific islands from quarantine, whilst providing maximum protection to UK public health.

The travel consultancy The PC Agency, has analysed Wednesdays data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and rates Denmark at 30.5 new cases per 100,000 people. The UK is currently at 32.5, but the threshold for losing quarantine exemption is 20.

Figures for Greece have been increasing slowly, and the national score stands at 17.7.

A requirements for holidaymakers to spend two weeks in self-isolation already applies for arrivals to England and Northern Ireland from seven Greek islands  of which some, including Santorini, Mykonos, Lesbos and Zante, have much higher rates than the average for Greece.

Wales applies quarantine for visitors to nine islands, while the whole of Greece is off-limits for Scottish travellers.

The hope among airlines, travel firms and Greek tourism officials is that low infection rates away from the named islands will mean there is no extension of quarantine.

 Coronavirus in numbers

Last week, Portugal was returned to the no-go list after just three weeks. Hungary also lost its quarantine exemption.

The only three major beach destinations with no self-isolation requirements for returning UK visitors are Italy, Cyprus and Turkey.

Cyprus, which demands proof of a negative Covid-19 test from arriving British holidaymakers, has only 3.3 new cases per 100,000 people.

Italy has seen steady increases in new cases, and is currently on 16.3. Turkey is at 13.8  though the reliability of its figures and the extent of testing has been questioned.

Neighbouring Bulgaria, currently at 12.9, has been well below the UK governments threshold for weeks, but has not yet been granted quarantine exemption.

Poland, which is at 9.5, is likely to present a tempting autumn alternative for city breaks since Amsterdam, Barcelona and Paris, are all quarantine destinations.

Paul Charles, chief executive of The PC Agency, said: Denmark has seen a significant enough jump in cases that it is very likely to be added to the quarantine list this week.

Luckily for many tourists, mainland Greece, Italy and Turkey have kept an impressive lid on their infection numbers, so they are avoiding going anywhere near the quarantine red zone for now.

Whats frustrating for many consumers, and the travel sector, is why there arent more countries being removed from quarantine, especially long-haul destinations such as Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia and Rwanda?

Removing these would be a major boost to confidence among travellers and enable airlines to increase their frequency to these destinations.

It is also now questionable why all of Africa is off limits unless you wish to quarantine on your return.

A government spokesperson said: We are taking clear and decisive action to slow the spread of the virus and save lives. We keep the data for all countries and territories under constant review.
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

The West African states of Guinea and Togo announced late Tuesday that they were extending exceptional measures to curb the spread of coronavirus.

Guinean President Alpha Conde, in a decree read on national television, said restrictions would be extended by another month from Thursday, while in Togo, Prime Minister Selom Komi Klassou said a "health state of emergency" would be carried forward for another six months.

Guinea imposed nationwide measures on March 26 that have been repeatedly rolled over since then.

Some measures, such as closures of schools and borders, have been eased but others, including restrictions on public gatherings, remain in place.

Critics accuse the authorities of using anti-coronavirus laws to gag protests and political rallies in the runup to tense presidential elections on October 18.

One of the world's poorest states, Guinea has recorded 10,111 cases of coronavirus, 63 of them fatal.

Togo's parliament gave the government a six-month approval for anti-coronavirus measures on March 30, and the latest extension was approved unanimously, Klassou said.

The country has registered 1,595 coronavirus infections, 40 of them fatal, but the tally rose after the country reopened its airports on August 1.

"With this extension, we have 180 days to provide further protection for our fellow citizens, their work (and) purchasing power, to preserve our children's school careers and remake our lifestyle while pursuing economic and social development," he said.

Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

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Shatyra Hamwright, Nurse Practitioner, takes a finger prick blood test for antibody testing of a passenger in their car at Longwood Gardens in Chadds Ford, Pa., on Saturday, May 9, 2020. Read more

After denying problems with their $13 million coronavirus antibody testing program, Chester County officials on Tuesday acknowledged that the tests, purchased from a local biotech start-up, produced potentially inaccurate results that the county concealed from the public  and even from the thousands who took the tests.

The county vowed this week to reach out to those who received the questionable test results in late May and to appoint a consultant to review the purchase of the antibody tests.

In hindsight, communication of the potential inaccuracies of the antibody tests should have been provided to test recipients who were tested on days when the results were in question, the county said in a statement.

The about-face follows an Inquirer report last week showing that Chester County spent $13 million in federal pandemic aid on a no-bid contract to Malvern-based Advaite at the suggestion of State Sen. Andy Dinniman (D., Chester County). Because of the public health emergency, governments can enter contracts without seeking competitive bids.

The testing program was intended to identify essential workers who had developed disease-fighting antibodies, which show up in the blood after COVID-19 infection. Ultimately, the plan was to pay $20 million to test all one million residents of Chester and Delaware Counties to better understand the scope of local infection, and how long antibodies might provide immunity to the deadly virus.

 READ MORE: Chester County spent $13 million on coronavirus antibody tests. Then it quietly shelved the program.

In the first few weeks after testing began May 7, Advaites product produced results that seemed accurate.

But suddenly on May 21, the percentage of people testing positive for coronavirus antibodies began spiking to levels far above what was plausible, based on the prevalence of the virus in the area, according to internal emails and interviews.

On June 2, the county quietly shelved the program.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says antibody tests should not be used to diagnose COVID-19. But Chester County health officials and their lab partner informed people who tested positive for certain antibodies that they could have a current infection, emailing them results that stated: You may have COVID-19. You are likely contagious. You should isolate yourself at home.

Some who received that alarming notification rushed to their doctor for a real diagnostic test  one that uses molecular analysis to detect the virus in nasal swabs  only to get a negative result. That could be because the antibody test was incorrect and they never had the virus, or because they had already recovered and the virus was no longer detectable by a diagnostic test.

Regardless, the county never informed those who may have received false alarms, nor did it disclose the questionable results  about 6,100 of the 19,425 tests it conducted  on its website.

 READ MORE: Coronavirus antibody testing is now easy to get. But its hard to be sure what youre getting.

Renee Cassidy ultimately resigned in July as the countys public health physician to protest the handling of the problem. She said her superiors resisted stopping the program and notifying people when accuracy became a concern.

They seemed very invested, like, We have to keep going. And Im like, No, we dont have to keep going if we dont know what were doing is accurate.' ... They were overly married to this tool, in my opinion," Cassidy said.

As recently as last week, the county continued to insist that the tests had worked as advertised.

Nothing went wrong with the antibody testing program, Chester County spokesperson Rebecca Brain said in a statement last Wednesday.

The tests were purchased from Advaite in April. The companys CEO, Karthik Musunuri, 26, is the son of Shankar Musunuri, a biotechnology veteran known to Sen. Dinniman. Shankar Musunuri had contributed $4,000 to Dinnimans campaign committee between 2012 and 2020, and the senator had hired Musunuris younger son as a summer intern.

Shankar is a most respected leader in the biotech field, Dinniman told The Inquirer earlier this month. Anything Advaite was doing, he was involved.

Shankar Musunuris company, Ocugen, notified the Securities and Exchange Commission in April that it had a collaboration with Advaite. Ocugen would be paid up to $375 an hour to work on projects for his sons firm, and it would also receive royalty payments based on sales of the test kit.

The Musunuris have not responded to requests for comment.

Chester County said on Tuesday that its three-member Board of Commissioners would appoint an independent legal consultant to review the process associated with sourcing and procuring the antibody tests so recommendations may be provided on how policies and procedures can be improved."

Emails show that the Advaite invoice stated the tests were non-returnable and payments non-refundable.

In the Tuesday statement, the commissioners said they were working to determine how to proceed regarding previous payments to Advaite for the antibody test kits, and we will pursue all available options to ensure the [federal] funding used to purchase the test kits is protected.
Nikkei - Jan 13

Yahoo Japan will allow its 8,000 employees to work from anywhere in the country and even commute by plane when they need to come to the office.
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will make a statement in Rajya Sabha at noon on Thursday on the situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China. An all-party informal meeting, convened on Wednesday to decide on the agenda of Parliament for the coming week, was apprised of this development.

Singhs statement will come two days after his address in the Lok Sabha on the same issue.

The government at the all-party meet was represented by Singh, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, Leader of the House Thawarchand Gehlot and ministers Piyush Goyal, Arjun Ram Meghwal and V Muraleedharan.

From the opposition bench, the Congress was represented by Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma. The other leaders present were Tiruchi Siva from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Derek OBrien from the Trinamool Congress (TMC), Ram Gopal Yadav from the Samajwadi Party, and K Keshava Rao from the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).

When asked if opposition MPs would be allowed to seek a clarification on Singhs statement as per rules, he told reporters that the decision lies with the Chair. Singh added that the statement would be an updated one.

Azad, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, who left the meeting early, told CNN-News18 it was not a meeting on China. Bills are being discussed. We had asked the government to agree to send some bills for scrutiny. It was just a meeting on that. Singh attended the meeting as Deputy Leader of the Lok Sabha and not as Defence Minister."

Joshi later said further discussion with Opposition leaders would be held to ensure smooth conduct of business. The government has listed 45 bills and 11 ordinances for passage in this session. During a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) on Sunday, opposition MPs had asked the government to hold an informal meeting to see what bills can be sent for parliamentary scrutiny.

Briefing the Parliament about the ongoing standoff between the two militaries in Ladakh, Singh on Tuesday had said that the Indian Army has repeatedly foiled Chinas attempts to change the status quo at the LAC and that Indian forces are fully geared and prepared to deal with all contingencies".

Singh had also spoken about in-depth discussion" with his Chinese counterpart on September 4 in Moscow, saying he had conveyed in clear terms our concerns related to the actions of the Chinese side, including amassing of large number of troops, their aggressive behaviour and attempts to unilaterally alter the status quo that were in violation of the bilateral agreements".
Natalina Angok was a sweet soul with a heart of gold, whose life was ended by a man she chose to love.

The 32-year-old, described as the light of her family, was strangled to death in a Melbourne laneway by her boyfriend in April last year.

Christopher Allen Bell, 33, had a history of family violence against Ms Angok throughout their nine-month relationship.

Natalina Angok was strangled to death in a Melbourne laneway by her boyfriend in April last year

Christopher Allen Bell, 33, had a history of family violence against Ms Angok throughout their nine-month relationship

A police officer is seen on Little Bourke St where Ms Angok's dead body was found on April 24, 2019

He pleaded guilty to killing her in the early hours of April 24 last year after an ice and alcohol 'bender' in the city.

When police confronted Bell about the discovery of Ms Angok's body in a Chinatown laneway he initially claimed 'I don't have a girlfriend', but told them he sometimes had blackout episodes.

He later admitted he 'choked the life out of her until she breathed no longer'.

CCTV captured their final evening together. Prosecutor Jeremy McWilliam told a pre-sentence hearing in Victoria's Supreme Court that Bell had tried to steal a bottle of wine from a liquor store and aggressively challenged a security guard to a fight after he was caught.

Ms Angok apologised to staff for his behaviour, and a taxi driver who picked them up said she had been angry and upset with him afterwards.

They went to a hotel and later walked through Chinatown, where they were shown having 'animated' discussions.

Bell (right) admitted he 'choked the life out of her until she breathed no longer'

Ms Angok's body was found in Little Bourke St (pictured) in Melbourne on April 24 last year

Ms Angok was strangled to death by Bell. She fought back during the fatal attack and Bell's DNA, from a scratch on his neck, was found under her fingernails

Just after 5am Ms Angok walked into Celestial Avenue, followed by Bell. Her body was found there by a member of the public at around 6.30am.

Bell described his memory of the incident as 'hazy like it was real but not real'.

His lawyer Rohan Lawrence said Bell was remorseful.

'He reports he immediately regretted what he had done and was weeping while berating himself,' he said.

But he then spent an hour gambling at Crown Casino and bought food, cigarettes, wine and an Anzac badge.

He had been released from prison shortly before meeting Ms Angok and was released from inpatient mental health care a week before the murder.

'You were supposed to love and protect her ... even if my life depended on it, I will never forgive you,' Ms Angok's sister said

Doctors believe Ms Angok had become part of his complex delusions and that he had suffered untreated schizophrenic illness for four to five years beforehand.

She had been encouraged to leave Bell by her sister in the days before her death, because of Ms Angok's concerns he would kill her.

'You were supposed to love and protect her ... even if my life depended on it, I will never forgive you,' she said.

Ms Angok fought back during the fatal attack. Bell's DNA, from a scratch on his neck, was found under her fingernails.

Bell has four children from two previous relationships, but no longer has contact with them.

Justice Lex Lasry said there appeared to be a 'well entrenched pattern' of violence by Mr Bell against partners, including before the onset of his schizophrenic symptoms in 2014.

The hearing is continuing.
Chairman of the National Party (PNL), Prime Minister Ludovic Orban, accuses PSD of "bankrupting Romania" by adopting certain amendments to the budget revision in the parliamentary committees that would generate expenditures of over 6.3% of GDP.

"Today PSD [the Social Democratic Party] (...) has bankrupted Romania. In the budget-finance committees, a majority of PSD of 20 delirious people, in my opinion, generated expenses of 6.3% of GDP through amendments submitted to the budget revision and, at the same time, at the proposal of the great financier Orlando, they adopted another amendment through which Romania can no longer borrow, because they reduced from 47% to 40% of GDP the maximum level of public debt," Orban said in Pitesti on Wednesday.

The Prime Minister stated that, if the amendments are adopted by Parliament, they will have consequences both on Romania's credibility on the international financial markets, and on the citizens' incomes.

"They have bankrupted Romania today. If Parliament does not wake up and does not block this outright imbecile report, which is against Romania, Romania risks being demoted by all rating agencies, Romania risks not having the capacity to cope with payments, Romania risks stepping off the map of civilized economies, societies. This is what PSD wants, the Government will no longer have money for salaries, pensions, investments, social benefits (...), this is what PSD wants, to leave Romanians poor, without money, and Romania outside the civilized world. Such a party no longer deserves to be voted by any Romanian," the PNL leader also said.

Ludovic Orban participated, on Wednesday, in the presentation of the programs of the Liberal candidates for the Arges County Council and the Pitesti City Hall.
KANSAS CITY, Missouri, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Five Elms Capital, a global investor in high-growth B2B software companies, today announced promotions earned by eight members of its team.

"I am excited to recognize the promotions earned by these highly talented and dedicated team members; they provide tremendous value to the firm, our portfolio companies, and our investors," said Fred Coulson, Managing Partner at Five Elms. "All eight are examples of Five Elms' culture of creativity, humility, and good judgment."

Five Elms also hired an additional eight team members in August bringing the team to 50 investment professionals. The firm has invested in more than 40 best-in-class software platforms globally and has built a unique skillset in helping European software companies land and dramatically expand in the U.S.

Stephanie (Brown) Schneiderearned the promotion to Principal. Stephanie serves on the Board of Directors of Crelate, DarkOwl, DeepCrawl, LaborChart, Panopta, Powwr, Saylent, Service Fusion, and Skynamo. Prior to joining Five Elms in 2015, Stephanie was in the Global Technology Investment Banking Group at Citigroup in New York. Before Citigroup, she was with Sterne Agee in its Financial Services Group. She holds a B.A. in Journalism and Advertising from Southern Methodist University.

Austin Gideonearned the promotion to Principal. Austin serves on the Board of Directors of ActiveProspect, Apptegy, Hubb, MemberClicks, Outfit.io, Passageways, Playvox, RFP360, and family owned Silver Lake Bank. Prior to joining Five Elms in 2016, Austin was an investor at The Stephens Group, a mid-market private equity firm, and with Harris Williams in Technology M&A in San Francisco. Austin holds a B.S.C. in Accounting and Business Administration from Washington and Lee University.

Michael Rockholdearned the promotion to Head of Capital Markets. Prior to joining Five Elms, Michael was an investor at Villhard Growth Partners, a private equity firm focused on B2B software. Michael holds a B.S. in Finance from Saint Louis University.

Pat McClainearned the promotion to Vice President in Five Elms' Financial Performance Team. Prior to joining Five Elms, Pat was with PwC and BKD performing due diligence for private equity clients. Pat holds a B.S. and Master of Accountancy from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Federico Sarcina earned the promotion to Senior Associate. Prior to Five Elms, Federico was an investor at Next Level Ventures. Federico started his career with Arma Partners in London. Federico was born and raised in Milan, Italy and holds a M.S. in Corporate Finance from Cass Business School in London.

Maren Hansenearned the promotion to Associate. Prior to Five Elms, Maren was with Credit Suisse in New York. Maren holds a B.S.B. in Finance and Accounting from the University of Kansas.

Tyler Hileman earned the promotion to Business Development Associate. Tyler holds a B.A. in Music with a Music Business emphasis from the University of Nebraska.

Renato Morais earned the promotion to Associate. Prior to Five Elms, Renato was a growth investor at McCarthy Capital. Renato was born and raised in Porto, Portugal and holds a B.S.B.A. in Finance and Economics from Creighton University.

About Five Elms Capital

Five Elms Capital is a global investor in high growth B2B software businesses that users love. Five Elms provides capital and resources to help companies accelerate growth and further cement their role as industry leaders. For more information, visit www.fiveelms.com.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-17 00:09:57|Editor: huaxia

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BLANTYRE, Malawi, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- As school reopens in Malawi, it has been a great concern that many girls are not returning to school because of early pregnancies and child marriages due to long COVID-19 holidays.

For instance, a standard eight student at Manja Primary School in Blantyre has fell victim to an early marriage situation due to the effects of early pregnancy. The 16-year-old girl is among many students in Malawi facing a similar challenge.

The young girl disclosed that she is willing to get back to school soon once her child grows, however, she said that tough circumstances has forced her to move in with her boyfriend who is currently working as a shop assistant in Blantyre city.

In trying to reverse such situations, the Malawi Girl Guide Association (MAGGA) has introduced several programs across the country with an aim of empowering young girls to get back to in their classes despite the fact that others have already found themselves in marriages.

In an interview with Xinhua, National Coordinator for MAGGA Mphatso Jimu stressed that efforts are being made to ensure that both the youth and the parents have relevant information that can help them to brighten their future successfully.

"Lately, we have observed reports in the local media that many girls have not returned to school, as of now, our team is on the ground doing several detailed research to find out better ways of reversing the challenge. Many young girls in our communities require special life skills because many of them lack such information, for this reason, we are also engaging the youth with such information in order for them to shun away from such practices," she said.

Meanwhile, the ministry of education has disclosed that the ministry is doing a nationwide survey to track all teenage pregnancies and child marriages in regards to a recess caused by COVID-19 pandemic. Enditem
New Delhi, Sep 16 : An all-party meeting called by the government to ensure smooth proceedings in Parliament concluded on Wednesday evening wherein bills and smooth operation of the already short session were discussed.

After the meeting, it has been decided that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will make a statement on the India-China border tensions in Rajya Sabha on Thursday at 12 p.m.

Singh, who earlier addressed the Lok Sabha, said that the Indian Army has repeatedly foiled China's attempts to change the status quo at the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

Setting to rest speculation, nothing on China was discussed in Wednesday's all-party meeting.

Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said after the meeting concluded, "It was not a meeting on China. Bills are being discussed and we had asked the government to agree to send some of the bills for scrutiny." Government sources told IANS that Singh attended the all-party meeting as the Deputy Leader of Lok Sabha.

Meanwhile, the Opposition has also believed to have pressed the government for a discussion on economy in the coming days.

Apart from Singh, Railway and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, and his deputy Arjun Ram Meghwal from the treasury benches were present in the meeting.

Social Justice Minister Thawarchand Gehlot and External Affairs MoS V Muraleedhar also attended the meet.

From the Congress, Anand Sharma and Azad were present along with other Opposition floor leaders.

The Monsoon Session of Parliament, the first since the pandemic hit India and the nation went for a lockdown late in March, will conclude on October 1.
PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Updated COVID-19 case projections released today by PolicyLab at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) forecast a stable or improving situation over the next four weeks for most of the counties that the model follows, including across the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic where case counts and test positivity rates had been high for some time. Still, the new forecasts hint that the effects of cooler weather on the spread of the virus may be starting to show as projections have worsened in northern Wisconsin, parts of Michigan and some New England counties.

With less than a week left of summer, PolicyLab's forecasts appear to show COVID-19 transmission risk is declining across much of the country. Following a period of concerning forecasts, several cities in the Midwest, including Chicago and Minneapolis, are starting to see lower test positivity rates, leading to projections of declining case counts over the next four weeks. Forecasts are stabilizing in counties across Virginia, Maryland and southeastern Pennsylvania, signaling schools could more safely reopen for in-person learning within the next month. Hotspots that caused the surge in case counts across the U.S. this summer, including California, Florida, Texas and Arizona, are also seeing improved forecasts for many of its communities. Finally, significant outbreaks on college campuses in Indiana and North Carolina are not projected to lead to increased community spread.

At the same time, though, the researchers noted increased transmission risk in parts of the country that are starting to see consistently cooler weather. This includes counties in northern and western Wisconsin, such as Brown (Green Bay) and Eau Claire. Transmission risk also increased slightly in projections for Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Hampshire, and the data shows Anchorage, Alaska will continue to see high weekly case counts of 100 cases per 100,000 individuals through mid-October. The research team's JAMA Network Open study published this July showed the virus spread more rapidly in wet-bulb temperatures below 60F, suggesting colder weather may facilitate greater respiratory transmission.

"We were encouraged to see some good news this week in our COVID-19 projectionsas transmission risk has declined in many communities across the country, a window is opening for many school districts to return children and teens safely to the classroom when just a few weeks ago that may have seemed unlikely," said David Rubin, MD, MSCE, director of PolicyLab at CHOP and a professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine. "However, as more schools across the country reopen, it becomes even more important that we maintain strong, consistent safety practicessuch as masking and social distancingso that we can minimize the risk of wider outbreaks as colder weather returns, which would only reverse the gains we are now making."

For additional comments from COVID-Lab's lead investigators Dr. Rubin, Dr. Gregory Tasian, and Dr. Jing Huang on their updated forecasts and findings, read this blog post: https://policylab.chop.edu/blog/covid-19-outlook-window-opening-more-safely-resuming-school-instruction

Background

Researchers at PolicyLab at CHOP and the University of Pennsylvania developed the model, known as COVID-Lab: Mapping COVID-19 in Your Community, which tracks COVID-19 transmission and test positivity rates across all U.S. counties, and projects case counts for 814 counties with active outbreaks, representing 82% of the U.S. population and 87% of all identified coronavirus cases. The researchers built their model to observe how social distancing, population density, daily temperatures, and humidity affect the number and spread of COVID-19 infections over time across a county, accounting for test positivity rates and population characteristics such as age, insurance status, crowding within homes and diabetes prevalence. COVID-Lab's projections forecast the number of coronavirus cases communities could experience over the next four weeks based on a three-day average of their current social distancing practices, defined by the change in travel to non-essential businesses as compared to pre-epidemic. This is just one tool in a toolbox of resources policymakers and decision-makers can use as they manage their COVID-19 response efforts.

The application of this model, which focuses on time-varying transmission rates during the early months of the pandemic in the U.S., was released on July 23, following peer review, in JAMA Network Open. You can read more about how the team validates their models for accuracy in this blog post. The data are publicly available in the form of interactive maps and graphs.

About PolicyLab at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia: PolicyLab at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) is dedicated to achieving optimal child health and well-being by informing program and policy changes through interdisciplinary research. Founded in 2008, PolicyLab is a Center of Emphasis within the CHOP Research Institute, one of the largest pediatric research institutes in the country. With more than 30 highly regarded faculty and 60 passionate staff who bring expertise from myriad of fields covering health, research and health policy, our work focuses on improving public systems, improving health care delivery and improving child health outcomes. For more information, visit http://www.policylab.chop.edu .

MEDIA CONTACT:

Lauren Walens, Strategic Ops & Comms Director

PolicyLab at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

[email protected] or (734) 904-2181

SOURCE PolicyLab at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Related Links

http://www.policylab.chop.edu


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Apple has introduced new gadgets, including a lower-priced Apple Watch and more powerful entry-level iPad, at a virtual event overnight.

While the company avoided talking about any new iPhones, its focus on fitness, productivity and affordability was timely considering much of the world is still locked down to some extent owing to the ongoing pandemic, and Apple also furthered its push for services with new subscriptions and bundles.

In addition to a new Apple Watch Series 6, which features a blood oxygen sensor and starts at $599, Apple introduced the Apple Watch SE at $429.

The main differences are that the less expensive watch utilises last year's processor, does not have an always-on display and is only available in an aluminum case. It is the same size as the Series 6, and maintains many features including heart rate notifications and fall detection.
Panaji, Sep 16 : In an order on Wednesday, the Goa Lokayukta has directed the Anti-Corruption Branch of the Goa Police to file an First Information Report (FIR) to probe a scam in which "ineligible persons", including local panchayat members were provided financial benefits meant for construction workers, who were stranded in Goa in wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In its order, Lokayukta PK Mishra has also said that if the police probe hints at involvement of politicians in the scam linked to the Goa Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Scheme, the investigation may be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

"An FIR shall be filed by the ACB, Goa against unknown persons for conspiracy to siphon out funds of the Goa BOCW Welfare Funds to members of the public with a view to distribute largesse by stuffing the beneficiary register of the fund with beneficiaries who are not building and other construction workers (BOCWs) with a view to securing benefits offered under the welfare scheme by falsely holding out that they are BOCWs when they were not," Mishra said in his order, following a complaint filed before the Lokayukta by member of a regional political party.

On March 28, the Labour Ministry of the Goa government had announced a one-time relief package of Rs 6,000 each for 15,000-odd construction workers, who were impacted by the restrictions imposed in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The package was announced under the Goa Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board Assistance Scheme.

However, the investigation conducted by local NGOs revealed that many of the beneficiaries were not construction workers, but elected and former panchayat members, house-wives, meat store owners, taxi drivers, etc. The scam was referred to as 'Labourgate' by the Goa Opposition.

Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had subsequently admitted that faulty data could have led to ineligible persons availing benefits of the scheme meant for construction workers and had promised an enquiry.

In its order, the Lokayukta has also advised that the ACB should take sample checks of beneficiaries of the scheme on a random basis for the purpose of investigation.

"Cases may be registered against fake applicants who have fraudulently represented themselves as BOCW," Mishra said in his order.

"...if the investigations point to the possible involvement of high officials and politicians, subsequent investigations can be entrusted to the CBI," the order also said.
Agra, Sep 16 : People have welcomed the Uttar Pradesh government's decision of changing the name of an upcoming Rs 170 crore museum project near the Taj Mahal, from "Mughal" to "Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj", and claimed that balance will finally be restored.

"The Mughal empire is only 500 years old but going back into history, we find a rich treasure of artefacts, structures, wall paintings dating to pre-historic times.

"From Bateshwar with 101 Shiva temples in a row along the river Yamuna, to Vrindavan, once the kingdom of Vasudev, father of Sri Krishna, 70 km from the city -- the whole area was called Braj, the land of Sri Krishna who has millions of devotees the world over.

"The Sri Krishna-Radha Leelas and the literature woven around them continue to inspire and loved by the Hindus. The new museum project will help conserve the real history of this Braj area," said eminent environmentalist Devashish Bhattacharya.

"The Mathura Museum has the best collection of Buddhist artefacts and Buddha statues in the world. However, they have no space, so the valuable antique pieces are carelessly lying around in the open. Now they will have a place and Buddhists from all over will throng the Agra Museum," Shravan Kumar Singh, vice president of the Braj Mandal Heritage Conservation Society, told IANS.

When former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav laid the foundation stone of the Agra project on January 5, 2016, the cost was estimated at Rs 140 crore, but now it's gone up to Rs 170 crore.

For want of funds, the construction work had come to a halt at the six-acre plot, some 1,000 metres away from the Taj Mahal.

Now with the UP Rajkiya Nirman Nigam giving the contract to the Tatas, 60 to 70 per cent work has been completed, an official at the site told IANS.

Pre-cast concrete structures are being fabricated to speed up the work on the project coming up according to the guidelines by eminent museum experts in France and the UK.

"Originally, it was to focus on the Mughal era weapons, dresses, culture, and related activities, but the Yogi Adityanath government has now widened its scope and so the museum will showcase the comprehensive history of the Braj Mandal.

"The museum will have indoor auditoriums and open-air theatres for programmes relating to the local culture.

"A library of books on archaeology and history will also be an attraction plus a cafeteria," a Nirman Nigam official told IANS.

The Mathura museum, which will be lending a lot of artefacts due its constrain of space, was founded in 1874 by the then collector FS Growse.

Mathura's collection includes artefacts, pottery, sculptures, paintings, coins plus a large number of collections by eminent colonial archaeologists. Statues from the Kushan and Gupta periods, from the 3 BCE to 12 AD are conserved here.

"Lack of resources and space have been major constraints for Mathura but now with the Agra Museum taking shape, this problem would be sorted out," said Surendra Sharma, founder president of Agra Hotels and Restaurants.

Some quarter are, however not happy with the new name, and have already raised the secular flag.

However, once ready, tourists will have another reason to extend their stay in Agra, say tourism industry leaders.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
The Ridgefield Press obituary writer must have been a bit flustered by William O. Seymours importance when he wrote on the front page Jan. 26, 1911: He was a man among men, a consistent Christian, a good citizen, one of the few whom our town could afford to lose.

Known for his calm and warm demeanor, Seymour might have smiled at the gaffe.

Born in 1833 in Ridgefield, William Oscar Seymour attended local schools and a private prep school in Amenia, N.Y. In his 20s, he established the High Ridge Institute, a prep school serving up to 40 boarding and day students at his home in the Peter Parley house  the childhood home of author Samuel G. Goodrich  on High Ridge.

By 1869, Seymour had changed careers to civil engineering, a subject hed previously taught to young men. Railroads were expanding rapidly  between 1871 and 1900, 170,000 miles of track were added in the U.S. In 1873, Seymour began working for the New Haven Railroad as a rodman  a menial job holding a rod used during the process of surveying for a line. By 1877, he was the railroads chief engineer.

In the early 1880s he headed west, spending five years designing and building railroads in Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota including a 104-mile line from Chippewa Falls, Wisc., to St. Paul, Minn, crossing the St. Croix River with a 2,239-foot long iron bridge.

In 1887, Seymour returned to town where Gov. Phineas Lounsbury, a fellow Ridgefielder, appointed him one of the states three railroad commissioners  an important post in an era when the state was served by two dozen railroads and streetcar companies. He remained a commissioner until his death 24 years later.

He was also a leading citizen in town, serving as a probate judge, a state representative, a borough warden, and a member of the Board of Estimate (predecessor to the Board of Finance). He was vice-president of the First National Bank of Ridgefield, which he helped found in 1900. In 1908, he headed the towns Bicentennial celebration.

When he returned to Ridgefield, Seymour built a sizable house on Parley Lane, a few hundred feet from the Peter Parley house he had earlier owned. The house is still standing, though it underwent a major rebuilding in the 1990s.

Seymour was 77 when he died. Writing a tribute the next week, Ridgefield historian George L. Rockwell said of Seymour: The welfare of the town was always uppermost with him. Office sought him and not he the office. In public meetings, when debate at times waxed to the point of bitterness, with a few chosen words would he pour oil upon the troubled waters.Jack Sanders
The U.S. government plans to transport a coronavirus vaccine to distribution sites across the U.S. within 24 hours after the Food and Drug Administration grants an emergency authorization or approval, senior administration officials said Wednesday.

The government will use medical supply company McKesson as its main distributor for the vaccine, Paul Ostrowski, who is overseeing logistics for the Trump administration's Covid-19 vaccine program Operation Warp Speed, said during a press call with reporters. "We will move [the vaccine] as fast as possible within a day or so."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention outlined a sweeping plan Wednesday to make vaccines for Covid-19 available for free to all Americans. In the plan, the CDC said it anticipates a coronavirus vaccine will initially be granted an emergency use authorization before a full formal approval.

Much of the guidance, but not all, described in the plan will overlap with many routine activities for immunizations and pandemic influenza planning, CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield said on the same call.

Redfield said the plan will be updated as new information becomes available, including Covid-19 vaccine use in pregnant women and in pediatric populations. He said the vaccine will initially be very limited and will likely go to those most in need, such as health-care workers.

When larger quantities of vaccine become available, the CDC said, there will be two simultaneous objectives: to provide widespread access to vaccination and to ensure high uptake in target populations, particularly those who are at high risk of death or complications from Covid-19.

"The CDC's goal is to have enough Covid-19 vaccine for all in the United States who wish to be vaccinated," Redfield said.

Earlier this month, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine released a draft proposal for distributing a vaccine in the U.S. if and when one is approved for public use. The report was requested by the National Institutes of Health and the CDC.

The vaccine would be distributed in four phases, with health-care workers, the elderly and people with underlying health conditions getting vaccinated first, according to the group. Essential workers, teachers and people in homeless shelters as well as people in prisons would be next on the list, followed by children and young adults.

The comments came a day after President Donald Trump said a vaccine against the coronavirus could be three or four weeks away, a much more optimistic estimate than from his own health officials. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading infectious disease expert, has said it's "conceivable" but unlikely the U.S. will have a safe and effective vaccine by October.

The CEO of Pfizer, one of the front-runners in the race for a vaccine, said Sunday that a vaccine could be distributed to Americans before the end of the year.

CEO Albert Bourla told CBS' "Face the Nation" that the company should have key data from its late-stage trial for the FDA by the end of October. If the FDA approves the vaccine, the company is prepared to distribute "hundreds of thousands of doses," he said.

There could be several vaccines from different manufacturers approved and available, the CDC said in its plan Wednesday. Many of the vaccines will require two doses at varying intervals that will need to come from the same drugmaker.

If necessary, the government's McKesson contract can cover rapid distribution of vaccine doses that need to be kept at cold temperatures, the CDC said. Some of the vaccines in development must be stored in very low temperatures, officials have warned. Pfizer's vaccine, for example, requires freezers that can store it at approximately 94 degrees below zero.

The U.S. government will determine the amount of vaccine designated to each state or region. The states will then be responsible for managing and approving orders from enrolled providers within their jurisdiction using this allotment, the CDC said. Supplies, such as needles and syringes, will be automatically ordered in amounts to match vaccine orders.

Americans will not be charged for the vaccine or its distribution, the CDC said. Additionally, various plans, supported by the CARES Act and the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, are under development to ensure no American will be charged out-of-pocket expenses for the administration of the vaccine, the agency said.
The National Law Aptitude Test (NLAT) 2020 final answer key has been released by the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore, on Wednesday. Candidates who have appeared for the exam can check and download the answer key from nls.ac.in.

The National Law Aptitude Test (NLAT) 2020 final answer key has been released by the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore, on Wednesday. Candidates who have appeared for the exam can check and download the answer key from nls.ac.in.

According to Careers 360, the answer key has been released after considering complaints submitted by the candidates based on the provisional answer key.

The final NLAT 2020 answer key will contain the questions asked in the entrance exam. Candidates can compare their responses with those mentioned in the answer key.

A report by Jagran Josh said that the candidates will not be able to challenge any the final answer key. After the release of provisional answer key, they were allowed to raise objections, if any, by 12 September.

The NLAT 2020 final answer key will help students calculate their marks and estimate the score in the aptitude test.

Steps to download answer keys

Step 1: Go to the official website - admission.nls.ac.in;

Step 2: Under the notification section, tap on the link to check final answer key;

Step 3: A PDF document will open that will have the correct Answers;

Step 4: Check and download the final answer keys

Direct link for NLAT Final Answer Key UG Batch 1-3

Direct link for NLAT Final Answer Key UG Batch 4

Direct link for NLAT Final Answer Key PG Batch 1

Direct link for NLAT Final Answer Key PG Batch 2

On 11 September, the Supreme Court gave its go ahead to the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) in Bengaluru to hold its separate entrance examination  NLAT 2020. The exam was conducted on 12 September.

The apex court, however, restrained the university from announcing the results and admitting any student till the pendency of the plea.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 16

By Jeila Aliyeva - Trend:

Turkmenistan and Russias Tatarstan have outlined plans for further expansion of cooperation, Trend reports, citing Turkmenistans State News Agency.

The plans were outlined during a telephone conversation between President of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, and President of Russias Tatarstan, Rustam Minnikhanov.

The parties noted that in several multi-faceted Turkmen-Tatarstan cooperation, a special place is occupied by trade and economic partnership, which has recently been given an impetus.

In addition to trade and economic partnership, the parties have established ties in the cultural and humanitarian sphere, including the fields of science and education.

The head of Turkmenistan expressed confidence in the continuation of a multi-faceted dialogue and joint work to increase cooperation.

The Turkmen president also congratulated Rustam Minnikhanov on his election victory and re-election as head of Tatarstan.

Branches of the leading companies of Tatarstan, such as KAMAZ, Tatneft, and IED-Holding, operate in Turkmenistan.

Meanwhile, Turkmenistan and Russia's Tatarstan Republic have discussed the construction of various types of ships aimed at the development of a merchant fleet on April 6, 2020.

In general, Turkmenistan devotes attention to cooperation with Russias regions and cities, in particular with Tatarstan, Astrakhan, and Saint Petersburg.

Foreign trade turnover between Turkmenistan and Tatarstan (Russia) amounted to $33.2 million in 1Q2020.

Tatarstan exported rubber products and land transport to Turkmenistan for the total amount of $26.5 million in the reporting period.

In turn, during the reporting period, Tatarstan imported plastic products for the total amount of $6.7 million from Turkmenistan.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @JeilaAliyeva
An undocumented immigrant from Cameroon, who was reportedly sterilized without her authorization, avoided being deported after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement stopped the order Wednesday.

The last second decision comes after Dawn Wooten, a former nurse at the Georgia immigration center where Pauline Binam was being held, alleged detainees had improperly received hysterectomies and other gynecological procedures.

Wooten's explosive revelations were included in a complaint filed to the watchdog, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Office of the Inspector General, on Monday by advocacy groups Project South and the Government Accountability Project.

U.S. immigration officials said on Tuesday a federal watchdog would investigate complaints made Wooten.

According to a online petition filed by advocacy group Mijente to stop Binam's deportation, doctors carried out a gynecological surgery and removed parts of her reproductive organs without her consent on August 23, 2019 during her stay at Irwin County Detention Center.

Pauline Binam was scheduled to be deported to Cameroon before U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement canceled the proceeding Wednesday. While in detention at Irwin County Detention Center, she reportedly had gynecological surgery and parts of her reproductive organs were removed without her consent on August 23, 2019

Dawn Wooten, a former nurse at the Georgia immigration center where Pauline Binam was being held, filed a complaint Monday alleging detainees at Irwin County Detention Center had improperly received hysterectomies and other gynecological procedures

Binam, who is the mother of an 11-year-old girl, had a follow-up appointed the afternoon of August 28, 2019, and according to a physicians note published by Mijente, she became concerned 'by the fact that she went into surgery expecting a D&C and ended up having a salpingectomy x 1. Upon her return, she was not continued on the opioid. She complains that they won't give her supplies to change her dressing.'

A D&C means dilation and curettage and involves removing tissue from the inside of the uterus. A salpingectomy involves having one or both of her fallopian tubes removed

Furthermore, the physician wrote that Binam at the time didn't 'feel that the medicine helped quickly but wore off after one and a half weeks. I explained the concept of a placebo and she seemed to understand. She is concerned about being deported because of civil unrest.'

Binam has been living in the United States since arriving with her parents at the age of two. Binam was taken into ICE custody after she was caught allegedly shoplifting with a group of individuals in South Carolina, according to her sister's Change.org petition calling for her release.

Binam, who briefly attended the University of North Carolina - Charlotte before dropping out to care for her ill father, is still dealing with 'health complications as a result of her surgery, and her ability to have children has been drastically reduced.'

Advocacy group Mijente published a note of Pauline Binam's follow-up after her surgery in August 2019 while in detention at Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia

Reuters interviewed Wooten but could not independently confirm the claims of improper hysterectomies, or surgery to remove the uterus.

Wooten worked full-time as a licensed practical nurse at the Irwin County Detention Center until July, when she was demoted to work as needed.

In her complaint, Wooten said that a gynecologist dubbed 'the uterus collector' performed hysterectomies on 'everybody he saw' at the facility.

'Everybody he sees has a hysterectomy - just about everybody,' Wooten said in her complaint. 'He's even taken out the wrong ovary on a young lady.

'She was supposed to get her left ovary removed because it had a cyst on the left ovary; he took out the right one. She was upset. She had to go back to take out the left and she wound up with a total hysterectomy.

'She still wanted children - so she has to go back home now and tell her husband that she can't bear kids she said she was not all the way out under anesthesia and heard him [doctor] tell the nurse that he took the wrong ovary.'

Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Georgia

Wooten said that the number of those who were having the procedure led her and her colleagues to question what the necessity was.

The whistleblower said: 'We've questioned among ourselves like goodness he's taking everybody's stuff out... That's his specialty, he's the uterus collector. I know that's ugly... is he collecting these things or something... Everybody he sees, he's taking all their uteruses out or he's taken their tubes out. What in the world.'

It was unclear to Wooten if women knowingly consented to the operations. Nurses raised concerns about the doctor, who is unnamed.

'These immigrant women, I don't think they really, totally, all the way understand this is what's going to happen depending on who explains it to them,' she is quoted saying.

The facility in Ocilla, about 200 miles south of Atlanta, houses men and women detainees for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as inmates for the U.S. Marshals Service and Irwin County.

The allegations caused an outcry among Democratic lawmakers including U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE] denied the allegations. Dr. Ada Rivera, the medical director of the ICE Health Service Corps, said in a statement that since 2018, only two individuals at the Irwin center in Georgia were referred for hysterectomies based on recommendations by specialists that 'were reviewed by the facility clinical authority and approved.'

LaSalle Corrections, the private contractor that runs the facility, said in a statement that it 'strongly refutes these allegations and any implications of misconduct' at the Irwin center.

Wooten told Reuters on Monday that women who complained of heavy periods or asked for birth control would be sent to outside gynecologists and sometimes receive hysterectomies but that many did not fully understand what medical procedures were being ordered.

'A lot of them said that they didn't understand what was being done to them. Nobody explained it to them,' she said.

Attorneys representing detainees at Irwin told Reuters several women had complained about gynecological treatment by an outside provider to the facility.

ICE said in its statement 'a medical procedure like a hysterectomy would never be performed against a detainee's will.'
The Duchess of Cambridge wore a set of new 85 earrings from Meghan Markle's favourite brand Missoma as she joined Prince William to meet with local business people in London yesterday.

Kate Middleton, 38, made several visits throughout the east-end of the capital yesterday and spoke with local people about the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on their businesses.

The mother-of-three, who has now returned to London having spent lockdown with her husband Prince William, 38, and their children, George, seven, Charlotte, six, and Louis, two, in Anmer Hall in Norfolk, selected a pair of drop earrings from London-based jewellery brand Missoma.

The brand, which is a favourite of Kate's sister-in-law Meghan Markle's, 38, describes the earrings online as featuring 'a heart-based healing crystal that radiates love, compassion and all-around good vibes' suspended from a 'texture gold vermeil hoop.'

Kate Middleton, 38, wore a new set of 85 earrings from Meghan Markle's favourite brand Missoma as she joined Prince William, 38, to meet with local business people in London

The mother-of-three kept her make up natural for the occasion and wore her hair in a bouncy blow dry, occasionally tucking her hair behind her ear to reveal the stunning set.

The earrings, which are for sale online for 85, are part of the company's Gemstone collection and are bejewelled with the rhodochrosite stone.

The pyramid hoops are described as 'using the power of precious stones, placing the highest quality hand-cut stones into our specially designed and unique shapes and cuts.'

It's not the first time the Duchess has been spotted wearing a piece by the popular brand.

Kate opted for a pair of drop earrings described online as 'radiating love, compassion and all-around good vibes'

The 85 earrings from Missoma are part of the brand's gemstone collection and feature a spiked hoop

She opted for the Gold Zenyu Chandelier Hoops during her tour of Pakistan in November last year.

Meanwhile sister-in-law Meghan has long been a fan of the brand and was first spotted wearing jewellery in a resurfaced post from her now inactive Instagram account.

As well as Meghan Markle Missoma has countless other famous fans, ranging from model Gigi Hadid to actress Margot Robbie - who wears their coin necklaces.

The brand was created by Marisa Hordern, who started it from her kitchen table, after sourcing gemstones from Hong Kong, Thailand, India and the US.

The brand is a favourite of Kate's sister-in-law Meghan Markle, who has worn the jewellery several times over the last few years (pictured, wearing a bracelet from Missoma)

In 2018, the company was named fourth on the Sunday Times Fast Track 100 list. Speaking to Harpars Bazaar in March she said about her celebrity clientele: 'It is generally good for the brand (when someone famous wears the jewellery) but we dont really see spikes as such.

'It tends to just show how versatile the pieces are in terms of who wears it and how it can be worn. For example, Margot Robbie has been seen wearing it surfing and on the red carpet.

'It's also great to see cross-generational support like recently when Kaia Gerber and Cindy Crawford both wore it  I loved that, it reminded me of how I started the business, with my mother around the kitchen table.'

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, both 38, appeared in high spirits as they stepped out for several engagements in London today and visited local businesses across the east-end of the city

The royals visited several businesses throughout the capital today as they met with local people to discuss the impact of the coronavirus crisis (pictured, at a job centre in London Bridge)

The Duke and Duchess travelled to London Bridge and Whitechapel yesterday, where they celebrated the traditions of Londons East End by making Jewish bagel snacks and meeting with Muslim volunteers supporting the community during the coronavirus outbreak.

The couple, who have not appeared together in public since July, appeared relaxed during the outing, and were said to be keen to shine a light on individuals and businesses who have gone above and beyond to help others during the pandemic.

Kate rewore a 550 pretty red floral gown by Beulah London for the appearance in the capital, with the dress featuring a bold white collar, and paired the stunning piece with nude heels and her floral mask.
In a recent tweet, Google unveiled a new feature for its Google Duo app. Additionally, Google Meet gets also gets a new feature that lets the user blue backgrounds during a video call.

This will help curb the background distractions during a video call. This new Google Meet blue backgrounds feature will intelligently pop you from the background, and blue your surroundings.

You will be kept in clear focus and in focus. This would enable high-quality video calling without any distractions. However, note that this Google Meet blur background feature is not similar to the portrait mode in our smartphones.

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This new feature works directly in the browser itself. Meaning that you do not need any extension or software to achieve background blur in Google Meet.

This new feature is supported by Google Meet on Windows, Mac on the Chrome browser. While this new feature will arrive for Chrome OS and Meet mobile apps in the coming days.

Besides, this feature combined with the ability to filter background noise would enable a distraction-free video calling experience.

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And looking at the current pandemic where everyone is working from home, this is a nice add-on by Google.

Google Meet blur backgrounds feature will be off by default

Note that this new feature will be disabled by default. In order to enable this feature during the meeting, you need to click More and then click on Turn on background blur option.

However, if you want to blur the background before the meeting, then head over to meet.google.com and then select the meeting. Right at the bottom of self-view click on Turn on background blur option. Here click Join Now.

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Google Duo screen sharing feature is making a comeback

Apart from the blur background feature for Google Meet, Google has also introduced the screen sharing feature for the Google Duo app.

This new Google Duo screen sharing feature will allow the users to hop onto a video call and side-by-side browse photos, videos, and more.

The update is available for all the Google Duo users. However, the other person on the video call will see the persons screen feed. Initiating screen sharing feature is currently limited to the Android app.

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But iOS and web users will soon be able to use this feature in the coming months. Notably, the feature is not yet live for the masses. Moreover, it is not clear whether an updated version of the app is required or a server-side update will do.
While temperatures hit record highs across much of the West in recent weeks and California was forced to curb electricity service, the power stayed on in New Mexico thanks to proactive energy efficiency and conservation measures.

Public Service Company of New Mexico on Aug. 19 did ask customers to cut back on power use during the peak demand time until 9 p.m., to offset energy supply issues due to the record-breaking heatwave that was one of the most severe to hit the West since 2006. But the Albuquerque Journals Aug. 28 editorial, PRC should see the light with record heat and blackouts, confuses the problem with the solution. Record temperatures fueled by climate change  not renewable energy  were to blame for the power challenges last month. And thanks to the Energy Transition Act, New Mexico is reducing climate change-causing pollution and better positioned to prevent the worst impacts of global warming.

During those August days, more than 80 million U.S. residents were under excessive heat warnings. As the Journals editorial pointed out, California experienced blackouts on Aug. 14 and 15 as wildfires swept across the state and temperatures rose. In fact, a recent report by the University of Chicagos Climate Impact Lab found the world has experienced record heat this summer due to climate change, and heat-related deaths will continue to rise in the future.

As the recent California energy incidents show, climate change is a threat to a reliable electricity system and our health as soaring temperatures and heatwaves strain our grid. Demand for electricity rises as people depend more on energy-intensive air conditioning. High temperatures also can decrease transmission line efficiency and cause power plant operators to scale back or even temporarily stop electricity generation.

Lobbyists for the fossil fuel industry may claim that the service interruptions and the conservation requests in New Mexico demonstrate the need for keeping fossil-fueled power generation for electricity reliability. But fossil fuel combustion still is subject to the factors that cause blackouts  while also driving climate change and making resulting heatwaves more common. After an investigation, Californias own energy agencies found no substance to the claim that renewable energy use was a factor in the situation there, and its not to blame in New Mexico, either.

New Mexicos Energy Transition Act is a bold, necessary step to limit the damage caused by climate change in the future. It creates a reasonable, cost-saving path to eliminating greenhouse gas emissions associated with generating electricity.

The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission properly applied this law when it recently voted unanimously to replace PNMs coal-fired generation at San Juan Generating Station with carbon-free solar energy and battery storage located in the Four Corners communities. The development will create jobs and provide resources for the local school district and help ensure a stronger economy and a healthier future for the region.

As we expand solar and wind energy here in New Mexico, we can help ensure reliable electricity service by building out greater battery storage for renewable energy resources. Expanding regional energy markets that can dispatch the lowest-cost energy from across the region to places where it is needed most would make renewable energy more available and reduce costs.

Energy efficiency and demand response are important when we are facing extraordinary conditions, so it is unfortunate that the Albuquerque Journal made the unsubstantiated claim that a stray cloud will put out the lights. It was hot, supplies were tight on the electric grid, and in those moments, we should conserve. We should not use those moments to turn our back on progress.
Elon Musk wants to settle humans on Mars with his rocket company SpaceX. Amazons founder, Jeff Bezos, wants a trillion people living in space. But the chief executive of one private space company is approaching space exploration differently, and now aims to play a part in the search for life on Venus.

On Monday, scientists announced the astonishing discovery of phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus. This chemical could have been produced by a biological source, but scientists wont know for sure without sending a spacecraft to the planet.

As luck would have it, Rocket Lab, the private small rocket company founded in New Zealand, has been working on such a mission. The company has developed a small satellite, called Photon, that it plans to launch on its own Electron rocket as soon as 2023.

This mission is to go and see if we can find life, said Peter Beck, Rocket Labs founder and chief executive. Obviously, this discovery of phosphine really adds strength to that possibility. So I think we need to go and have a look there.

Rocket Lab has launched a dozen rockets to space, putting small satellites into orbit for private companies, NASA and the U.S. military. It also has a mission to the moon in the works with NASA, called CAPSTONE, scheduled to launch in early 2021.

The company began looking into the possibility of a mission to Venus last year, before it knew about the phosphine discovery. Although its Electron rocket is much smaller than the ones used by SpaceX and other competitors, it could send a space probe to Venus.

The companys plan is to develop the mission in-house and mostly self-fund it, at a cost in the tens of millions of dollars. It is seeking other partners to defray the cost. The Photon spacecraft, a small, 300-kilogram satellite that had its first test flight to orbit this month, would launch when Earth and Venus align for the shortest journey, and arrive there in several months.

The spacecraft will be designed to fly past Venus and take measurements and 37 kilograms 82 pounds into the planets atmosphere, taking readings and looking for further evidence of life.

The probe would enter the atmosphere at about 10 kilometres per second, Beck said, falling through the skies of Venus with no parachute. As it travels through the region in the atmosphere where phosphine was discovered and airborne microbial life could be present, it would take readings and beam them back to Earth via the Photon spacecraft before being destroyed.

Rocket Lab is working with scientists on which scientific instruments the probe and spacecraft might carry, including Sara Seager from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the researchers involved in the discovery of phosphine. Although the probe could likely only carry a single instrument, there is a lot it could accomplish.

Seager said they could likely put an infrared spectrometer or some kind of gas analyzer on board to confirm the presence of phosphine and measure other gases.

Looking for other gases that arent expected could also be a sign of life, she said.

Seager is also part of a team working with Breakthrough Initiatives, which is funded by Yuri Milner, the Russian investor. Over the next six months, her team will study what sort of small, medium and large missions could be sent to Venus in the near future to look for life.

Rocket Labs modest mission is limited in what it can achieve. The probe will not survive long and it will likely not have a camera, meaning its scientific return will be brief even if meaningful.

NASA is considering a pair of larger missions to Venus, one called DAVINCI+, the other VERITAS, and each would have many more capabilities.

When you spend 100 times more on a payload, then you will get more science out of it, said Colin Wilson of the University of Oxford, who is part of a proposed European Venus orbiter called EnVision that aims to launch in 2032.

The tradeoff, however, is speed. Rocket Lab could rapidly develop their mission, and be ready to launch years before government space agencies. And although its small mission may lack sophisticated capabilities, it would become the first mission designed to enter the Venusian atmosphere since the Soviet Unions Vega 2 in 1985, yielding important new data.

Theres just so much good science to do that we cant do it all, said Mark McCaughrean, senior science and exploration adviser at ESA. So if other players come in and say we can go and do this, I dont see any problem with that whatsoever.

With yesterdays phosphine announcement, Rocket Labs mission now has the exciting prospect of contributing to a major scientific discovery, and changing how researchers conduct planetary exploration. NASA sent astronauts to the moon. SpaceX wants to land humans on Mars. Is Rocket Lab staking a claim for Venus?

No, Beck said, with a laugh. Venus is hugely alluring. But as far as claiming planets, thats not what Im interested in.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-17 00:20:07|Editor: huaxia

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Charge d'affaires of the Chinese embassy in Ghana Zhu Jing (1st L) hands over medical supplies to Ghana's deputy minister for health Bernard Okoe Boye (2nd L) in Accra, Ghana, on Sept. 16, 2020. The Chinese government on Wednesday presented the second batch of medical supplies to the Ghanaian government to support its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. (Xinhua/Xu Zheng)

ACCRA, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese government on Wednesday presented the second batch of medical supplies to the Ghanaian government to support its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The medical supplies presented through Ghana's health ministry included 20,000 N95 protective face masks, 350,000 surgical masks, 10,000 disposable coveralls, 15,000 medical goggles, 15,000 pair of disposable nitrile gloves, and 3,000 pair of disposable shoe covers.

Charge d'affaires of the Chinese embassy in Ghana Zhu Jing said at the donation ceremony that the pandemic respects no borders and it was important for all to stay together.

"The Chinese government and Chinese people, including the Chinese community in Ghana, will do our best to help. I believe that as long as all of us stay together as one, we will definitely win the battle against COVID-19," he added.

In his remark, Ghana's deputy minister for health Bernard Okoe Boye commended the Chinese government for the gesture and expressed optimism the partnership between the two countries will help the West African country overcome the virus quickly.

He said the Ghanaian government is pleased with the mutual relationship, adding that the partnership between the two countries will help Ghana win the battle against the virus in a quick manner.
Twitter Bans Account of Chinese Virologist Who Claims the CCP Virus Was Created in Lab

Twitter has suspended the account of a Chinese virologist who claimed to have evidence showing that the CCP virus was manufactured in a lab.

Dr. Yan Limeng, who fled Hong Kong to the United States in April, released a study on Sept. 14 claiming that the virus shows biological characteristics that are inconsistent with a naturally occurring, zoonotic virus and thus should be a laboratory product. The study has not been peer-reviewed.

Twitter quickly banned Yans account following her tweet announcing the study. The account, which Yan only opened on Sunday, had garnered over 59,000 followers in its short lifespan.

Yan said that the scientific community has kept silence and worked together with the Chinese Communist Party to censor studies that came to similar conclusions. They dont want people to know the truth, she said in a Fox interview on Tuesday. Thats why I got suspended; I got suppression; I am the target that the Chinese Communist Party wants be [sic] disappeared.

The Epoch Times has contacted Twitter and Yan for comments but did not immediately hear back.

The Twitter logo is displayed on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., Sept. 28, 2016. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters)

Some scientists have called the report unsubstantiated; Beijing and a high-profile laboratory in Wuhan, the city where the pandemic first broke out, have denied such assertions, which emerged as early as January in media reports.

The U.S. administration, citing intelligence, has said that the virus is naturally-occurring but that there is significant evidence suggesting the virus first leaked out of a Wuhan lab. Officials have called out Beijing for denying international researchers access to crucial data about the viruss origins.

The Twitter ban, however, has drawn criticism from prominent China critics and the overseas Chinese dissident community, who said Twitter could be helping the Chinese regime censor topics not to its liking.

Why would Twitter pull down Dr. Yans account? White House economic advisor Peter Navarro asked in a tweet.

A Chinese scientist is called in to investigate a deadly virus in Wuhan, finds troublesome facts, is muzzled by the CCP, flees for her life to the U.S., speaks her own truth, and then is muzzled by the free America social media. Wheres the outrage? he wrote in a subsequent post.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), commenting on the issue, said, now Twitter is openly on the side of Beijing.

Cai Xia, a retired Chinese professor whom the regime recently punished for remarks offending the Party, said Twitters decision is a matter of freedom of speech.

She also questioned why Twitter took such prompt action against Yan but ignored Cais repeated requests to take down accounts that impersonated her.

Han Lianchao, a Washington-based Chinese dissident, also called on Twitter to give an explanation for its decision.

What Dr. Yan published was a scientific paper, and people who hold a different view can raise questions and arguments, but to ban her after just a few tweets, this is simply confounding, he wrote in a tweet. He added that social media such as Twitter should have open and transparent rules to regulate company behavior, and shouldnt do as they please.

Yan, a Chinese virologist who formerly worked at a World Health Organization-affiliated laboratory at the University of Hong Kong, fled to the United States seeking asylum in April. She first went public in July with accusations that the Chinese regime covered up virus data during the outbreaks early stages.
Fishing communities of Pakistan's Sindh forced into destructive practices

by Muhammad Abbas Khaskheli

September 16,2020 | Source: Dawn

A father and son emptied their fishing nets. They had set them up the previous night in the Mir-Wah canal near Seerani, a small rural settlement about 18 kilometres south of the city of Badin, in Sindh. Their catch was entirely made up of trash fish: very small fish. They would earn about Rs300 ($ 1.80) for this.



We have hardly seen any big fish during the past 10-15 years in these inland water bodies, but we have to do this for the survival of our empty-stomached families. Who cares if it is prohibited or bad practice? said the 36-year-old father.



Abubakar Shaikh is an environmental researcher who has carried out several studies for the International Union for Conservation of Nature. He said, In June and July, the seeds [juvenile fish] of more than 17 species reach the freshwater bodies of Sindhs coastal belt, but the majority of that is hunted by fishermen.



Sindhs coastline contains 71 per cent of Pakistans fisheries resources  which includes the Arabian Sea, estuaries and inland lakes. Around 400,000 people in the province depend directly on the sector; the majority of them in the district of Badin. But natural disasters like cyclones and water shortages mean its people now live in one of the water-starved districts of Sindh.



In response, people have adopted destructive approaches like trash fishing, which is ruinous for fish populations as it prevents juvenile fish from reaching adult size and breeding. In 2010, Pakistan produced 257,973 metric tonnes of inland fish according to the countrys annual economic survey. For the 2019-20 financial year that figure was 227,701 metric tonnes.



The Sindh Fisheries Ordinance 1980 states that catching fish below a certain size is a crime. Offenders could be arrested for six months and have to pay a penalty of up to Rs10,000 ($60).



The nets used in trash fishing  Bullo, Gujjo and Katro  are made of fine mesh that do not allow small fish to escape. These nets have been banned by the government for use in both the inland and marine waters of Sindh. However, the practice continues.



Muhammad Talpur, assistant director of the fisheries department in Badin, told The Third Pole, We are at sixes and sevens because when we capture someone for trash fishing under the Fisheries Ordinance, his community members and local rights orgnisations start a hue and cry and pressure us to release him. We understand that people are poor and they do this not by choice, but they should understand that the law is law. We have increased patrolling and the number of surveillance teams in the coastal villages and hopefully the practice will decrease.



The scarcity of water in the region means land is unproductive, leaving people with few options to earn a living.



The Indus river used to bring a good quantity of water to the region, but this deteriorated when dams and barrages were constructed upstream.



About 12 years ago, canal water used to reach our village, said Ghulam Mallah, who lives in the last village of the district of Badin before one reaches the Arabian Sea. There were a lot of big fish of every variety to catch in nearby canals and lakes.



Mallah said that after disastrous flooding in 2010 the supply of freshwater stopped. Since then, every day we travel seven kilometres north to catch trash fish in Mir-Wah, sell it to a collection centre there and bring some flour and vegetables to our families.



Ameer Bux, a social activist from Badin, said, Sindhs coastal communities are the poorest in the province. Since the area has started witnessing water scarcity, the only source of their livelihood i.e. catching fish has also decreased and consequently they have adopted negative practices like trash fishing.



Muhammad Ali Shah, chairman of civil society organisation Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, told The Third Pole, The government has failed to advocate fisherfolks issues, which include water scarcity, illegal occupancy of wetlands/lakes by local feudal lords and meeting basic human needs in coastal areas of Sindh. Therefore fisherfolk have started to adopt what they shouldnt.



Two talukas, or sub-divisions, are the epicentres of trash fishing in the district: Badin and Golarchi. According to local trash fish dealers, for most of the year an average of 1,500 kilogrammes of fish is caught in these two talukas every month. But dealers say that this ramps up between August and October, and 20,000-30,000 kg of trash fish can be caught on a single day. This is because by then water carrying fish seed has reached almost all freshwater bodies. As a result, around 2.5 million kg of trash fish is caught annually in Badin and Golarchi.



The practice is linked to the poultry industry, as the fish is used to make chicken feed. There are over 20,000 poultry farms across Pakistan, and the industry has a 10-12pc annual growth rate. As it grows, so too does the demand for trash fish.

Theme(s): Fishing Craft, Gear and Fishing Methods.
RTHK: US announces charges over Chinese hacking operation

The US Justice Department on Wednesday announced charges against five Chinese nationals and two Malaysians who ran global hacking operations for at least six years to steal identities and video game technology, plant ransomware, and spy on Hong Kong activists.

Three of the Chinese suspects operated out of Chengdu 404, a Sichuan-based company that purported to offer network security services for other businesses.

They hacked the computers of hundreds of companies and organisers around the world to collect identities, hijack systems for ransom, and remotely use thousands of computers to mine for cryptocurrency like bitcoin.

Two other Chinese nationals who formerly worked for Chengdu 404, and the two Malaysians, were indicted for hacking into major gaming companies to steal their secrets and "gaming artifacts," likely tradable in-game chits and credits, and resell them.

Together the seven were long recognised by cybersecurity experts as the "APT41" hacking organisation, identified by their shared tools and techniques.

While some had thought that the group could be run by the Chinese government, the indictments did not identify a strong official connection.

But according to court filings, Jiang Lizhi, one of the Chengdu 404 hackers, boasted to a colleague in 2012 that he was protected by China's Ministry of State Security, and indicated they were protected if they did not hack domestically.

"Some of these criminal actors believed their association with the PRC provided them free licence to hack and steal across the globe," federal prosecutor Michael Sherwin said in a statement.

The charges did not indicate any direct political motivations behind the hackers' activities, though they did gain access to government computer systems in India and Vietnam.

But they said that in 2018, Chengdu 404 deployed a programme to collect information on people involved in Hong Kong's democracy movement, on a US media group reporting on the treatment of minority Uighurs in China's Xinjiang region, and on a Tibetan Buddhist monk.

The filings do not indicate how the information was used.

The seven face a range of charges including computer and wire fraud, identity theft, money laundering, and racketeering.

The five Chinese remain at large but the two Malaysians were arrested in Malaysia on Monday and the United States is seeking their extradition. (AFP/Reuters)

This story has been published on: 2020-09-16. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
WASHINGTON  The Trump administration health official embroiled in a furor over political meddling with the coronavirus response is taking a leave of absence, the government announced Wednesday.

The Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement that Michael Caputo was taking the time to focus on his health and the well-being of his family.

Caputo, the departments top spokesman, apologized on Tuesday to his staff for a Facebook video in which he reportedly said scientists battling the coronavirus are conspiring against President Donald Trump and warned of shooting in America if Trump were to lose the November election.

The Trump appointee also was accused of trying to muzzle a scientific weekly put out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Caputo, a fierce Trump loyalist who had no health care experience when he was appointed to the HHS job, had become a significant new problem for a White House that has struggled all year with its coronavirus response. Democrats on Capitol Hill had called for Caputos resignation.

His appointment at the health agency was seen as an attempt by the White House to exert more control over Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, whom other administration officials were trying to blame for the governments slow response in the initial weeks of the pandemic.

Caputo can be heard on an HHS podcast asserting that Democrats do not want a coronavirus vaccine before the election in order to punish Trump. Although Trump has made the same assertion, with no evidence to support it, such broadsides are not in a department spokesmans normal portfolio.

News reports alleged last week that Caputos office tried to take over and muzzle a scientific weekly from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that publishes what is supposed to be authoritative, unvarnished information about disease-fighting efforts, including, most importantly at present, COVID-19.

Then on Monday came an account of the video on Caputos personal Facebook page in which he accused government scientists of conspiring against Trump and suggested violence could break out after the Nov. 3 election.

On a taxpayer-funded podcast earlier this summer he accused Democrats and the media of not wanting a coronavirus vaccine until after the elections in order to defeat Trump.

There are people in the United States government on the Democrats' side ... (who) do not want a vaccine, he said. They dont want a vaccine until November 4th, he added, citing the day after the election.

Its highly unusual to use an agency communications platform for such a blatantly political message.
If you are interested in a career that connects with your passion for history, the field of public history offers many opportunities. Public history includes areas outside teaching such as local, state, and national historic sites, archives, and museums, and can be presented in person or exhibits but also through a variety of media, including digital history projects.

You might enjoy working with the public in a busy museum setting or perhaps the quiet of assessing and preserving items in an archive. A career in some areas of public history requires a graduate degree, but the combination of academic training and experience in the field offered in this minor will prepare you with a strong foundation and thorough knowledge as you consider your future options.

This minor draws on the strengths of the MCLA History and Arts Management programs to provide students with training in a variety of relevant subjects. The required internship provides an opportunity for students to tap into the many museums across the Berkshires or to work with a site close to home in the summer. Recent internships include Herman Melville's Arrowhead Museum, the Naval History & Heritage Command Museum in Maryland, the North Adams Historical Society, the North Adams Public Library, and the Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum.

The requirements of the minor are available on the Program Details web page.

For much more on public history, including career possibilities, visit the National Council on Public History web site.

For more information, contact Professor Kleintop.
In a recent video shared by Sri Reddy on her Facebook handle, the actress expressed her willingness to name top Tollywood actors who are drug abusers.

In the 8-minute-45-second video, the actress stated that she is ready to disclose the names of Telugu stars if given police security by the government. She also revealed about the rave and house parties, where celebrities were spotted abusing drugs. Sri Reddy further added that the children of the big Tollywood actors are also responsible for conducting such rave parties.

In the video, the Aravind 2 actress was seen requesting the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) to arrest a popular Telugu (also Bollywood) actress who was reportedly named by Rhea Chakraborty during interrogation in connection with the Bollywood drug scandal. She said, "The officials concerned should conduct an intense probe and punish the guilty, whichever industry it is, including Tollywood." Sri Reddy also heaped praises on BJP for handling Sushant Singh Rajput's case.

Notably, actress Madhavi Latha had also requested the NCB to take a close look at Tollywood too. During a media interaction, the Mithunam actress alleged that drug parties are common in the industry and therefore the NCB authorities of Telangana should keep an eye on celebrities associated with the same. Madhavi Latha had also said that though she has seen celebs abusing drugs, she didn't reveal about it because she believes that there is a huge mafia behind the illegal doing.

On a related note, the NCB has arrested Rhea Chakraborty, brother Showik Chakraborty and others in connection with the drug racket which is reportedly rampant in Bollywood. As far as Sandalwood is concerned, actresses Ragini Dwivedi and Sanjjanaa Galrani have been taken into custody by the Central Crime Branch wing of the Bengaluru police on drug-related charges.

Sri Reddy Takes A Dig At Nayanthara's Past Relationships

Sri Reddy's Controversial Remark On AR Murugadoss And Women Will Shock You!
Led by Yankees' third baseman, DJ LeMahieu, who went 4-for-6 with a home run and five RBIs, the New York Yankees won their first contest of the three-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays at the Bronx.

With this win, New York moved past the Blue Jays into second place in the AL East, which extended its winning streak to six.

A couple of weeks ago, I dont think teams were scared of us. And now were back to being the Bronx Bombers, Luke Voit said. I dont think people want to play us in the playoffs.

LeMahieu raised his batting average 13 points to .363. He also homered on a 48.7 mph offering from infielder Santiago Espinal leading off eighth, the slowest pitch hit for a home run since MLB started tracking velocity of pitches in 2008.

Giancarlo Stanton and Gio Urshela returned from the injured list, and the Yankees could get Aaron Judge back for the end of the series.

Stanton was 0 for 4 with a walk as the designated hitter, the only Yankees starter without a hit, after missing 32 games because of a strained left hamstring. On the other hand, Urshela had three hits and made several sparking defensive plays at third after missing 11 games with a right elbow bone spur.

New York scored its most runs since a 20-6 win at Atlanta back in 2015.
With festive season round the corner, around 100 tonnes of the Bangladeshi hilsa fish have already reached the market in West Bengal, while another 1,350 tonnes is expected to arrive in a phased manner till October 10.

Hilsa is often tagged as the Queen of Fish for its taste and the Bangladeshi-hilsa is considered to be tastier than its Indian counterpart.

This year they (Bangladesh government) are sending 1450 tonnes of hilsa, of which 100 tonnes have arrived since Monday. While around 20 tonnes arrived on Monday, another 40 tonnes reached on Tuesday. On Wednesday the remaining 40 tonnes have arrived, said SA Maqsood, secretary of the Fish Importers Association in West Bengal.

In 2012, Bangladesh had imposed a ban on export of hilsa to India. The Sheikh Hasina government in 2019 decided to allow 500 tonnes of the fish as a puja gift to Bengal. The festive season starts from Thursday with the Vishwakarma Puja and the Mahalaya.

The imported fish weigh between 600 grams to 1.2 kilos and costs around 600 to 1,300 per kilo. The Bangladeshi variety is tastier and more meaty and oily than the Indian counterparts, said Maqsood.

This comes at a time when millions of Bengalis are facing a crippling shortage of their favourite fish.

This year many had thought that with cleaner rivers post-lockdown there would be a big hilsa harvest. Experts had said that as pollution in the river Ganga and its tributaries was less this year because of the lockdown, there were chances that schools of hilsa would migrate upstream to breed.

But in reality the hilsa catch has gone down over the past three to four years. In 2016 there was a huge harvest of a few hundred tonnes. Compared to this we have been able to harvest less than 20 tonnes this year, said Pranab Kumar Kar, chairman of United Fishermen Association, one of the largest associations of fishermen in West Bengal.

Monsoon is the main season when these fish are available. Such is the craving for Bangladeshi hilsa that the item is often smuggled through the porous Indo-Bangla border in south Bengal. The BSF have seized a few hundred kilos of Bangaldeshi hilsa this year.
China's ByteDance has decided to place the headquarters of its popular video platform app TikTok in the US in order to escape President Donald Trump's ban, official media here reported on Wednesday.

As per the plan presented to the US officials by ByteDance, TikTok will remain the majority shareholder of the new US headquartered company, and tech firm Oracle will be a minority shareholder, state-run CGTN TV reported.

Other potential US investors such as the world's largest retailer Walmart, which had launched a joint bid with Microsoft, would own a minority stake, the report said.

People familiar with the negotiation process emphasised that specific details of the plan may change.

Independent third parties will serve as directors of the new company, and ByteDance will continue to control TikTok and its core algorithms.

In order to allay US concerns about "national security," TikTok's data from America will be stored in the US and Oracle will serve as the data service provider, the report said.

"There's also a commitment to create TikTok Global as a US headquartered company with 20,000 new jobs," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Monday in an interview with CNBC, adding that Oracle will be the trusted technology partner.

ByteDance on Monday said it will not sell TikTok's US operations to Microsoft or Oracle, nor will the company give the source code to any US buyers.

On August 6, Trump issued an executive order stating that TikTok's US business must be sold before September 20, and threatened to block the video app in the US.

TikTok was among the 59 Chinese apps banned by India in June this year saying they were prejudicial to sovereignty, integrity and security of the country. Later India followed up with ban on 118 more Chinese apps.

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Nigerias Minister of Transportation, Rt Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has been hailed as a beacon of development, following his efforts towards the realisation of the proposed Regional Maritime Bank.

The Regional Maritime Bank (RMB) is being established to serve as an instrument for Maritime development across West and Central Africa.

At the inaugural Stakeholders and Bureau of experts meeting held in Lagos, Tuesday, Representatives of member states present, under the umbrella of the Maritime Organisation of West and Central Africa (MOWCA), commended Amaechi's efforts and commitment to making sure the idea of the bank sees the light of day.

Speaking at the meeting, the Minister who sought for postponement of the initially planned inaugural meeting of the board of the RMB noted that all member states must be committed to the establishment of the bank to make it work.

He said, this is not an all Nigerian thing, it is a maritime bank for West and Central Africa, therefore, I would suggest that the board meeting should not hold now. Let the committee of experts attend to all concerns from member states. Once that happens, a virtual meeting should take place between the ministers of those countries. After that meeting, then we can carry on, because at the end of the day it is the ministers that would go to the cabinet and the cabinet will go to the parliament.

So my idea is, I need this speed, but these things must be organised in a manner that complies with the law. By the end of September, let's make sure that we have gotten all the countries to sign. Even if we dont get all the countries, if we get two third of the countries to sign it with commitment to bring in their funds, then we are good to go. After that, we can hold a virtual meeting and give ourselves a timeline to go to our different cabinets and National Assemblies to get approval.

Cameroon Consul general to Nigeria, Bessem Manga whose delegation from Cameroon were still in transit to the meeting, commended the Minister for his drive towards the actualisation of the project and held the same opinion that member states should be given more time to assent to the document.

Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Bashir Jamoh, while noting that the RMB would be a regional tool for maritime development, appreciated the Minister, for seeing to the realisation of the establishment.

He said, history will have it on record, you are not only leaving a legacy, but at the end of the day, a heritage for the maritime industry to use forever. It is very clear that the responsibilities given to an institution like NIMASA in terms of funding infrastructural development in the maritime sector may not be realised to the fullest without a private financial institutional support. So to me, the realisation of the regional maritime bank is a very good step ahead to the development of our own maritime industry. Again, I would like to thank our Honourable Minister of Transportation for seeing to the realisation of this meeting to ensure that we get to the final stage of establishing this regional maritime bank.

On his part, Chairman of the meeting and Director of Maritime Safety and Security at the Ministry of Transportation, Dr. Paul Adalikwu thanked the minister for ensuring that the idea of the RNB came to life in his administration after 10 years of incubation.

He urged all participants to be open minded to the deliberations in contribution to the realisation of the laudable project.

RT HON. CHIBUIKE ROTIMI AMAECHI MEDIA OFFICE

SEPTEMBER 15, 2020


Beijing: China's ByteDance has decided to place the headquarters of its popular video platform app TikTok in the US in order to escape President Donald Trump's ban, official media here reported on Wednesday.

As per the plan presented to the US officials by ByteDance, TikTok will remain the majority shareholder of the new US-headquartered company, and tech firm Oracle will be a minority shareholder, state-run CGTN TV reported.

Other potential US investors such as the world's largest retailer Walmart, which had launched a joint bid with Microsoft, would own a minority stake, the report said. People familiar with the negotiation process emphasised that specific details of the plan may change.

Independent third parties will serve as directors of the new company, and ByteDance will continue to control TikTok and its core algorithms.

In order to allay US concerns about "national security," TikTok's data from America will be stored in the US and Oracle will serve as the data service provider, the report said.

"There's also a commitment to creating TikTok Global as a US-headquartered company with 20,000 new jobs," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Monday in an interview with CNBC, adding that Oracle will be the trusted technology partner.

ByteDance on Monday said it will not sell TikTok's US operations to Microsoft or Oracle, nor will the company give the source code to any US Buyers.

On August 6, Trump issued an executive order stating that TikTok's US business must be sold before September 20 and threatened to block the video app in the US.

TikTok was among the 59 Chinese apps banned by India in June this year saying they were prejudicial to the sovereignty, integrity, and security of the country. Later India followed up with a ban on 118 more Chinese apps.
Ive got a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel, said Blackadders sidekick Baldrick in the BBCs brilliant historical comedy series Blackadder. In fact, he said I have a cunning plan in almost every episode, but the plans hardly ever worked, and it became a popular catch-phrase.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 16/9/2020 (492 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

"Ive got a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel," said Blackadders sidekick Baldrick in the BBCs brilliant historical comedy series Blackadder. In fact, he said "I have a cunning plan" in almost every episode, but the plans hardly ever worked, and it became a popular catch-phrase.

So the question in the United Kingdom today is this: if Prime Minister Boris Johnson is Blackadder, who is his Baldrick? Who actually put Johnson up to passing a new law that says Britain can unilaterally change the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement he signed with the European Union less than eight months ago?

Did he not understand what the treaty said? Unlikely. He negotiated it with the EU himself.

Does he realize that a treaty is a legally enforceable international agreement? Presumably, because even his own cabinet minister for Northern Ireland, Brandon Lewis, admits that plan "does break international law in a specific and limited way."

Did he plan from the start to break the treaty? Probably not. This is Boris Johnson  well, Al Johnson, really; "Boris" is just his stage name  and he regards worrying about next week as long-term planning.

Johnson was well aware that the problem that brought down Theresa Mays government last year and made him prime minister was the Irish border. Peace in Northern Ireland depends on there being an open border with the Irish Republic. EU trade with the United Kingdom, post-Brexit, depends on controlling that border so that there is not a massive smuggling problem. Square that circle, if you can.

May tried to square it by agreeing that the customs border would effectively run down the middle of the Irish Sea, between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. That way, no customs controls would be needed on the border between the two parts of Ireland.

She never got that through parliament, because so many MPs from her own Conservative Party saw it as an unacceptable breach of British sovereignty. Eventually her government fell, and Johnson won the Conservative leadership and a large majority in an election last December by promising to fix that problem and "get Brexit done."

But he couldnt fix it, of course. Instead, he just accepted the same withdrawal terms as May had when the negotiating time ran out, with a few extra concessions to the EU and the border still firmly in the middle of the Irish Sea. But he went around telling everyone in the UK who hadnt read the text that it wasnt true.

On the strength of that "victory" he won a big majority in last Decembers election. How could he imagine that this would not come back to bite him?

By following standard Boris operating procedure: bluster and lie to win time, and hope something magical turns up in the end to save the day. If that doesnt happen, then stage a disguised last-minute surrender, because without a trade deal with the EU, its biggest trading partner, the UK is heading for a massive economic crash.

Johnson has been on course for that surrender for some time now, but a new trade deal doesnt cancel the existing Withdrawal Agreement, so the border controls will still appear in the Irish Sea next January. His instinct would be to blame it all on Johnny Foreigner and his tricky ways, and maybe he could ride out the storm.

Instead, he has announced that he is going to tear up an international treaty with the EU. This is most un-Boris-like behaviour.

We are asked to believe that Boris Johnson  BORIS JOHNSON  has belatedly realized there will be a crisis in the Irish Sea next January, and decided to push through a highly controversial law right now to give himself cover for an illegal act next year. Its so out of character that it begs the question: who put him up to it?

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Not exactly Baldrick, but Johnsons senior political adviser is Dominic Cummings, whose passionate and scarcely concealed desire is to crash the United Kingdom out of the European Union with no deal at all.

The other man who truly wants that outcome is Michael Gove, the most powerful person in Johnsons cabinet, who used to be Cummings main patron in government. Together, they have somehow talked Johnson into doing something so stupid that it may make a trade deal impossible and end his prime ministership.

They probably just told him that such a grave threat would bring the spineless foreigners to heel. The EU would let Johnson have his way, forget about putting an Irish-UK border anywhere (even though the Irish Republic is an EU member), and all would be well.

And the poor mug believed them.

Gwynne Dyers latest book is Growing Pains: The Future of Democracy (and Work).
Maynooth University students residing on campus accommodation will not be allowed guests, says a statement from the University.

The University reopens for first year students on September 21, and for all students on September 28.It closed in mid March.

A statement from the University said: "Maynooth University recognises that this has been a time of loss and illness for many of our students, staff, graduates and the broader Maynooth community.During the past six months, Maynooth University has continued to deliver its academic programmes, examinations and student support services remotely."

The statement added: "The University is now preparing to fully re-open campus and will welcome first year students on 21 September for a week of orientation events, with most teaching resuming on 28 September. Both orientation and teaching will be delivered using a hybrid approach, with time spent both online and on campus."

The University statement said: "Given the evolving situation, the University is preparing to adapt to potential changes to public health guidelines as the year progresses. In order to meet public health guidelines for social distancing, the on campus teaching time for each student will be less than half what would be expected in a normal year. The University has released timetables and guides to help students understand how much time on campus to expect this year."

The statement said: "Over the summer, Maynooth University has done extensive work to prepare the campus for the return to teaching for staff and students. An individual risk assessment has been conducted for each department. Based on these assessments and the current public health guidelines, physical work has been done throughout the campus. This includes:

Signage in all buildings of the public health measures in place.

Sanitizing stations (including refill stations) throughout campus.

Floor markings as a guide on where to walk, and to encourage separation.

One-way systems in places, to increase separation.

Staggered class start and end times to reduce congestion.

The maximum capacity of any teaching venue has been reduced to 50 people, in line with guidelines.

Seats in lecture theatres and other teaching venues have been arranged to meet the social distancing requirements.

Students are expected to wear face coverings in classrooms, laboratories, the Library and anywhere maintaining 2m distance is difficult.

Perspex barriers installed in offices open to callers.

Reduced density of seating to enable separation in the Library, the Phoenix restaurant and other areas.

Teaching and Learning"

The statement said: "MU is using a blended approach to programme delivery, which means a combination of in-person and online teaching. The University has installed specialist software, so that lectures can be streamed from each of the lecture theatres on campus, to allow students to view the lectures online, either live, or later. In most modules, students will participate using a mix of on-campus and remote learning."

The statement said:"Laboratory work, practical sessions and small group teaching will continue, but the reduction in capacity will mean fewer sessions for each student in most cases."

The statement said: "In order to encourage a strong awareness of safe interactions with the wider community, the University, in conjunction with Maynooth Students Union, will run a student-focused communications campaign on how Playing My Part is key to protecting the wider community. The campaign will run throughout campus and online, as well as at bus stops and the train station in Maynooth."

The statement said: "One key message being delivered to students and staff is that they must avoid coming on campus if they have any symptoms which could indicate COVID-19 infection. Additionally, there will be reminders throughout campus to observe the social distancing protocols, wash hands frequently, follow appropriate respiratory etiquette when coughing or sneezing, and wear face coverings whenever 2m distance cannot be maintained."

The statement said: "The University will also reinforce the message that students should not attend house parties and should restrict all gatherings in line with the public health guidelines at the time. They should avoid shopping locally during hours designated for vulnerable people, and they should follow all guidelines related to public transportation."

The statement said: "Most student residences take the form of three to six people bedroom apartments with shared kitchen and living areas. No guests will be permitted to visit student accommodation and each apartment will act as a household."

The statement said: "Students will be required to complete an induction training prior to registering for courses and they will be shown videos on MU campus specific health and safety protocols at the beginning of the semester. There are rigorous precautions around wiping down desks and computers before and after use, as well as staggered start times to prevent crowding outside buildings."

The statement said:"The University has developed the Maynooth University Check in App in which students will be asked to scan a QR code at each new location or desk they attend around campus. The technology will be used to help the HSE identify close contacts in the event of a positive Covid-19 diagnosis. In addition, all students are asked to use the national Covid Tracker app."
New Delhi: The National Security Advisors (NSAs) of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) countries will meet on September 17 (Thursday) virtually and this will be the 10th such meeting of the BRICS NSAs. India will be represented by NSA Ajit Doval and the diplomat Yang Jiechi will represent the Chinese side.

Russia which is the host of the meet in a statement said, "BRICS countries will discuss threats and challenges to national security." Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Nikolai Patrushev will represent Russia at the meeting.

The Russian statement also said, "Meeting agenda comprises of challenges and threats to global, regional and national security in todays world."

Earlier in September, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar participated in the BRICS Foreign Ministers meet. The leaders' summit is expected to take place in October but no date has been announced yet for it.
Tesla has officially rolled out its Powerwall backup energy product to South Africa.

Powerwall is a home battery that stores excess energy for use when you need it, provides backup power to your home during grid outages, and keeps your appliances running in your home at night or during grid outages.

The company sent a mail to potential customers in South Africa, informing them they are now able to reserve Powerwall units through the official website, after which a representative will contact them to provide more information regarding their installation.

Customers for Teslas Energy products in South Africa can now find out more, reserve, or enquire through a new South African webpage at tesla.com/en_za/energy, Tesla said in a statement.

At tesla.com/en_za/Powerwall, customers can learn about Teslas rechargeable home battery and at tesla.com/en_za/Megapack, businesses and utilities can find out more about industrial and utility-scale battery storage in the form of Megapack.

According to the website, the Tesla Powerwall is priced as follows:

Powerwall  R143,300

Supporting hardware  R23,500

Total equipment cost  R166,800

When they visit the Tesla website, South African customers can select how many Powerwalls they would like to reserve, and they will need to complete a form detailing their type of residence and other pertinent information.

Benefits of Powerwall

Customers are now able to register for a Powerwall installation on the Tesla website, although this interface does not provide any information on how long it will be until they receive their order.

Once you place your reservation, a Tesla energy specialist will reach out to discuss your project, the website states.

The availability of Powerwall in South Africa comes as the country continues to struggle with load-shedding, with experts stating that rolling blackouts could continue for the next three to five years.

Many South Africans will be looking to purchase backup power systems as load-shedding continues, and the Powerwall may be an attractive option.

Teslas Powerwall provides 13.5kWh of usable energy and can be completely discharged without damage to the battery. It has a built-in AC inverter and can supply 5kW of continuous power to a home or office.

Since it has a built-in inverter, the Powerwall can be installed with new or existing solar panels, or without solar panels and used purely as a backup device in the event of a power outage.

Teslas Megapack is an enterprise-scale backup power solution which can be installed quickly where needed.

Each Megapack comes from the factory fully-assembled with up to 3MWh of capacity and 1.5 MW of inverter capacity, with an AC interface and industry-leading energy density to achieve significant cost and time savings compared to other battery systems and traditional fossil fuel power plants.

Using Megapack, Tesla can deploy an emissions-free 250MW, 1 GWh power plant in less than three months.
Europe has called on China to take down trade barriers and rebalance their economic relationship, following a virtual summit held Monday among EU leaders and Chinese President Xi Jinping. European leaders also raised human rights concerns, but Beijing has rejected what it calls interference in its affairs.

Monday's videoconference was a substantially downsized version of the original plan to hold a face-to-face summit among all 27 European Union heads of state and the Chinese president in the German city of Leipzig.

A resurgent coronavirus pandemic in Europe forced the change of plan. The virtual meeting was attended by Xi, along with European Council President Charles Michel; European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the council of the EU.

Speaking at a press conference after the meeting, Michel reiterated demands for China to open its markets. "Europe needs to be a player, not a playing field," he told reporters. "Today's meeting represents another step forward in forging a more balanced relationship with China." Von der Leyen was more direct. "We expect that the market access barriers in China will be removed," she said.

Europe has voiced frustration at its lack of access to Chinese markets and at having to compete with state-backed industries. Brussels sees the current trade relationship with China as deeply unfair, but is not seeking a trade war, said analyst Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute at the University of London.

"The reality is that the EU would want to be strengthening its economic relationship with China with some adjustments," he told VOA. "I think COVID-19 has changed a lot of things in terms of the relationship with China. Many of these countries have found China less than an entirely reliable trading partner or supplier of essential goods like medical supplies. So, some of that will change. But they really don't want to have an economic decoupling with China," Tsang said.
In his briefing this morning of the Standing Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chair of the Committee of Ministers Miltiadis Varvitsiotis reviewed the progress of the Greek Chairmanship of the Council of Europe and the upcoming Athens Declaration. He also responded to questions from MPs/members of the Assembly regarding the tension in the Eastern Mediterranean, the migration crisis, developments in Belarus and the Navalny case, and he also raised the issue of the conversion of Hagia Sophia and the Monastery of Chora into mosques.



The Alternate Minister stressed that the Greek Chairmanship has stepped up its preparations for the signing of the Athens Declaration in November, on the issue of protection of Democracy, the Rule of Law and Human Rights in times of pandemic. This is something we owe to the citizens of Europe, he said. He added that the Council of Europe must remain an active pillar of the European legal system and European values.



Regarding the developments in Belarus, on which the institutions of the Council of Europe focused during their meeting in August, Mr. Varvitsiotis expressed his concern regarding the protection of human rights in the country, highlighting the need to initiate a broad dialogue with the participation of citizens  a dialogue that will lead to peaceful resolution of the crisis and the necessary reforms.



In his address, Mr. Varvitsiotis, having expressed his regret that the Council of Europe didn't take a stand on the major provocation of the conversion of Hagia Sophia and the Monastery of Chora into mosques, he called these actions a profound affront to the identity of these two emblematic cultural monuments. He stressed that Hagia Sophia in particular is a symbol of religious freedom and tolerance that should continue to represent pluralism and multiculturalism. Monuments of global cultural heritage should not be used for religious acts, he underscored.



Responding to questions from Turkish MPs, the Alternate Minister sent a clear message for de-escalation of the tension with Turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean. He explained that Greece cannot return to the negotiating table with its neighbour when the other side, having put the gun on the table, has said, either you agree with me, or we go to war. This isn't the kind of dialogue we are waiting for. And nor is the presence of warships a sign of promoting stability, security and peace in the region, he commented.



Mr. Varvitsiotis also talked about the practice of utilising migrants and refugees  a practice Turkey is implementing for political reasons. He strongly condemned these practices as contrary to the principles and values of the Council of Europe and sternly demanded that these practices cease immediately. He categorically ruled out that Greece is carrying out pushbacks on its borders. He stressed that our country is implementing a policy of strict guarding of its borders, always in accordance with the dictates of the European legal framework. He insisted that Turkey has the obligation to guard its borders and not allow illegal influxes into the EU, in accordance with the provisions of the 2016 EU-Turkey Joint Statement, which Turkey, however, has not fully implemented up till now.



He also referred to the need for respect of the principles of Democracy, the Rule of Law and Human Rights in Turkey. He referred in particular to the detained mayors who are members of the Turkish opposition, as well as the case of the imprisoned Turkish entrepreneur/activist Osman Kavala.



Regarding the case of the Russian politician Navalny, the Alternate Minister asked that an independent investigation be carried out to reveal what really happened.



Finally, responding to a question on Moria, the Alternate Minister called the destruction of the camp a major humanitarian disaster, setting out in detail the efforts of the Greek state to immediately provide sanitary and safe shelter for those who had been staying at the camp. We are called upon to protect the human rights and sense of security of European citizens, he said. However, he also informed the members of the Assembly that the reluctance on the part of some migrants to enter the new structures is an attempt to exert additional pressure on Greece and the European Union.






There is a "strong possibility" Dublin could move to Level Three of restrictions by the end of the week, the Finance Minister says.

The capital was put at Level Two with the rest of the country when the government announced its new framework for living with Covid-19 yesterday, albeit with extra restrictions.

However, within minutes of the announcement, government sources had warned that Dublin would be in Level Three, which comes with a raft of extra restrictions, as early as next week.

Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast today, Minister Paschal Donohoe said that was a "strong possibility".

"I'm doing this interview at the moment in my home in Dublin, and the concerns that are guiding us regarding Dublin are about how - it's not just about the increase in the disease - it's about how the disease is spreading home to home.

"And that's a really serious development for us. And that's why we are asking in Dublin that gatherings of no more than six take place, and up to a maximum of two households in those. I think moving to level three is a possibility and a real possibility.

"If that happens, it will involve change, and if we get that advice from NPHET, it's something that government will obviously take very seriously. And that will be consistent with the framework that we launched yesterday."

Read More Gerard Howlin: Muppet Show politics is damaging to the national interest

Mr Donohoe accepted that there has been some confusion over the framework and said that if there is, it is up to the government to take responsibility for it.

"When you're launching any plan, you always have a look back and think 'are there things that we could have done differently?' And the fact that you're asking the question of me, emphasises for me the kind of issues I need to clarify. But I would say that the difficulty and need that we have to understand is how we communicate on a single day. We need to be very clear with our country for the next six to nine months, regarding what we're asking them to do.

"If there is confusion at the end of the day you have to take responsibility for that if you're in government."

He the country is being asked to do a lot by the Government.

"And in some cases we're asking our country to do things in different places, and in different ways to what we would have done before. And we need to all play our part in communicating it and then, in our country, keeping each other safe."

On the same programme, Labour TD Aodhan O Riordain said the unique approach for Dublin "didn't help".

"The five point plan makes sense to me, but when you take the capital city out of it and say 'you're in level two point five or three', that is confused."

Mr Donohoe also defended the decision by the Ceann Comhairle to halt Dail proceedings on Tuesday when Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly went for a Covid test.

The Dail was a workplace and was subject to the same guidelines as the public. It had been entirely understandable what had happened, he said. But it might have been more appropriate to have had a temporary adjournment.

Earlier on Morning Ireland, Duncan Smith, Labour's spokesperson on Climate Action, Communications Networks and Transport, had said that the Government should have placed Dublin clearly on either Level 2 or on Level 3 on Tuesday.

Mr Smith questioned why Dublin had not been placed on Level 3 immediately, the Government flew enough kites over Dublin in the last week and people had been expecting and would have accepted stricter measures in the capital.

The Government continued communicating itself into a cul de sac.

Many of his constituents were confused, he said and had contacted him to ask if they could leave Dublin for work or college, along with the couple, with a small wedding planned outside the capital, who had asked if it could go ahead.
Victorias Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton knew in April of the significant risks of hotel quarantine but was in the dark about how badly the system was run until media reports six weeks later revealed an outbreak that caused Melbournes second wave.

Professor Suttons evidence to the state hotel quarantine inquiry on Wednesday exposed that even those in charge of the Andrews governments pandemic response did not know who was responsible for key aspects of the program.

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton. Credit:Jamie Brown

Professor Sutton told the inquiry that it was clear from April 9, just two weeks after hotel quarantine was set up, that it carried considerable risk because it lacked a clear leader and line of accountability to the Deputy Chief Health Officer.

Professor Sutton gave evidence he was not involved in the decision to hire private security contractors to supervise hotel quarantine and did not find out about it until after the outbreaks. It was only in hindsight that he realised how dangerous it was for the state to use a highly casualised workforce with poor job security to fulfil the crucial role of guarding thousands of returned travellers from overseas.
Technicians work near the door of a 737 Max aircraft at the Boeing factory in Renton, Wash., on March 27, 2019. (Lindsey Wasson/Reuters)

Congressional Inquiry Blames Boeing and FAA for Serious Failures Leading to Deadly 737 Max Plane Crashes

A congressional inquiry into Boeings troubled 737 Max airplane blamed both Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for a series of serious failures that played instrumental and causative roles in two fatal crashes of the plane, which left 346 people dead, including eight Americans.

The House Transportation Committee on Wednesday released an investigative report (pdf) produced by Democratic staff, which concluded: The Max crashes were not the result of a singular failure, technical mistake, or mismanaged event. They were the horrific culmination of a series of faulty technical assumptions by Boeings engineers, a lack of transparency on the part of Boeings management, and grossly insufficient oversight by the FAA.

The committee, in the course of its 18-month investigation into the design, development, and certification of the 737 MAX, found that both Boeing and FAA share responsibility for the development and certification of an aircraft that was unsafe.

The report documents what it says is a disturbing pattern of technical miscalculations and troubling management misjudgments by Boeing, combined with numerous oversight lapses and accountability gaps by the FAA.

Lion Air flight 610 crashed in October 2018, and Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 crashed in March 2019. Both carriers were flying the Boeing 737 Max aircraft.

House Transportation Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) in a statement accused Boeing of placing profit ahead of safety.

Our report lays out disturbing revelations about how Boeingunder pressure to compete with Airbus and deliver profits for Wall Streetescaped scrutiny from the FAA, withheld critical information from pilots, and ultimately put planes into service that killed 346 innocent people, he said.

The issues highlighted in the report include production pressures that jeopardized the safety of the flying public, faulty design and performance assumptions, a culture of concealment, and excess influence of Boeing over the FAAs oversight structure.

On behalf of the families of the victims of both crashes, as well as anyone who steps on a plane expecting to arrive at their destination safely, we are making this report public to put a spotlight not only on the broken safety culture at Boeing but also the gaps in the regulatory system at the FAA that allowed this fatally-flawed plane into service, DeFazio said.

In a statement, a Boeing spokesman said the company has learned many hard lessons from the crashes and from the mistakes we have made. Boeing has made fundamental changes to our company as a result, and continue[s] to look for ways to improve, the statement added. Change is always hard and requires daily commitment, but we as a company are dedicated to doing the work, the company said.

The FAA, in a statement, said it is committed to continually advancing aviation safety and looks forward to working with the committee to implement improvements identified in its report.

The regulatory agency added that it has launched initiatives aimed at improving [its] organization, processes, and culture.

The FAA stated that it is also mandating a number of design changes to the Boeing 737 Max before it returns to passenger service.

DeFazio said the committee report lays out a road map for reinforcing regulatory transparency and aviation safety. Steps include restoring FAAs and Boeings safety focus and improving safety cultures.
MADISON, Wis.  It may be too early to know whether the adverse reaction reported by a subject in the AstraZeneca-led vaccine trial is linked to the coronavirus test vaccination itself or some other cause.

However, this much has always been known: Producing a safe vaccine for any disease or condition is hard and cannot be rushed for safety reasons, if nothing else.

Thats why all vaccines go through rigorous, phased reviews that usually involve thousands of subjects who are dosed or given placebos under carefully watched conditions.

Adverse reactions are not uncommon in early stage vaccine trials, and theyre often unrelated to the treatment being tested. In the end, only one in four vaccines that enter human trials reach the market.

In fact, with 47 coronavirus vaccines in either Phase 1 (safety and dosage), Phase 2 (expanded safety) or Phase 3 (efficacy) trials around the world, its almost surprising there havent been more reports of adverse reactions. It happens.

When it does happen, there is a well-worn path for dealing with it, with organizations such as the Centers of Disease Control, the National Institutes for Health and the Food Drug Administration all taking an interest in calling a time out.

Thats what is taking place in the AstraZeneca and Oxford University trial. Because the latest report happened during a combined Phase 2 and Phase 3 trial, the referees correctly blew the whistle  as did the British-based researchers themselves.

Serious side effects during a Phase 3 trial are not common, said Dr. James Conway, a UW-Madison professor and physician who has been leader over time in the American Academy of Pediatrics for immunization and infectious disease strategies.

The whole purpose of gradually advancing from Phase 1 to Phase 2 is to tease those things out, Dr. Conway added. The problem here is that they are essentially doing a combination (trial) in trying to speed things up. Because they are rapidly moving towards trying to immunize 30,000 subjects to simultaneously test efficacy and safety, this is a little more significant  and hence why all the studies have been put on hold.

Does this mean a vaccine for the SARS-CoV-2 (coronavirus) strain behind the worldwide pandemic is out of reach? Not at all. Experts such as Dr. Conway and others think a vaccine will eventually be available, in part because so many researchers and companies are taking shots on goal  with billions of dollars behind the collective effort.

Still at question is which vaccine or vaccines will emerge as solutions, given the billions of doses that will likely be needed if public confidence in the final products is upheld.

In a recent discussion hosted by the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, the president of the Medical College of Wisconsin said he plans to get whatever vaccine is available on the market first.

Thats because Dr. John Raymond trusts the process will weed out vaccines that arent safe or effective.

American vaccine makers make safe vaccines, he said. I dont believe that there would be significant problems with contamination.

Leading vaccines in trials today dont use the live virus, Dr, Raymond noted, so there wont be problems with the chemicals used to inactivate the virus or the incomplete inactivation of the virus itself. Some of the most promising vaccines in the pipeline use messenger RNA to induce antibodies that bind to potential pathogens, such as the real virus.

That still leaves plenty of unknowns, experts in Wisconsin and elsewhere agree. How many doses would be required? Very few vaccines are one-and-done, meaning repeated doses may be needed over time.

What are the long-term effects? Most subjects are taking part in trials measured in months versus years, which is more often the case.

The hold on vaccine trials isnt what anyone wants to hear, given the nearly 200,000 deaths in the United States thus far and nearly 900,000 reported fatalities worldwide.

However, getting it right is more important than getting it fast, even during a pandemic. Public confidence requires it.

Tom Still is president of the Wisconsin Technology Council. He can be reached at tstill@wisconsintechnologycouncil.com
TCN News

Concerning the rising hate crimes against minorities in India, fourteen US Senators have written to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stressing US Government to consider federal commissions recommendations on designating India among the Countries of Particular Concern (CPC).

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The letter, primarily endorsed by the Coalition to Stop Genocide in India (CSGI) has been signed by ten Republican senators and four Democratic senators, requesting the US Secretary of State that in case the Government decides not to accept the recommendations by United States Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), it must inform its reason in the US congress within a period of 30 days. The letter, also sent to US Ambassador for International Religious Freedom, Sam Brownback, has said that both the State Department and USCIRF play important roles in sustaining the States leadership in religious freedom across the globe and therefore the annual report is invaluable for Members of Congress, other governments and civil society groups, other than helping hold bad actors accountable. The Senators letter also states that by making India a CPC, both the Government and USCIRF can enable the international community to identify atrocities, encourage progress and develop solutions.

The letter is a follow up of USCIRFs annual report of 2019-2020 where it had designated nine countries as CPC  the countries being China, Korea, Burma, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and India. The CSGI, which is a united body of more than 100 US social welfare organizations and rights institutions, has repeatedly endorsed the inclusion of India in the list of countries of particular concern. It has also been consistently urging the State Department to accept the USCIRFs recommendations owing to the escalating levels of persecution against religious minorities in India.

Further in the letter, the Senators have urged the US Government to hold India accountable for engaging in and tolerating systematic, ongoing and egregious religious freedom violations, as defined by the International Religious freedom Act (IRFA). They have also demanded that the US government must quickly move to impose targeted sanctions against Indian agencies and officials responsible for severe violations of religious freedom by freezing those individuals assets and/or barring their entry into the United States.

The CSGI, reiterating its support for the Senators letter to the US Secretary of State, has said that the concern reflected through the Senators letter shows that there is a strong bipartisan Congressional support for holding India accountable for its escalating violence against its principal minorities, the Muslims and the Christians.

Ahsan Khan from the IAMC added that the US Government must designate India as CPC.
Mumbai: On Monday, during a PIL hearing for legalizing gay marriages in India, the solicitor general, Tushar Mehta, argued that our laws, our legal system, our society, and our values do not recognize marriage, which is a sacrament, between same-sex couples". Mehta, who was representing the government, raised objection to the PIL filed for legalizing same-sex marriages on two grounds. Firstly, the petition is asking the court to legislate. Secondly, any relief granted will run contrary to various statutory provisions. Unless court does violence to various laws, this cannot be done," said the Solicitor General.

While this opposition from the center is disheartening for the LGBTQA+ community members, it isnt surprising at all, said *Vidya, a Pune based LGBTQA+ rights activist. Even in 2018, when the Navtej Singh Johar case (which resulted in the decriminalization of all consensual sex among adults, including same-sex relations) was being argued in the court, the Centre had backed off from the main issue (of decriminalizing same-sex relations) at the time. But they had very clearly said that we want the court to legislate only on section 377, and not on the broader questions of queer rights. So, from then on, it was evident that even though they didnt oppose section 377 being struck down, they were not willing to let go of other things."

What they are saying now is not at all surprising. It is exactly the language that all the western conservatives use," she added and pointed out that there are not only references to homosexuality in historical and mythological texts but also in the recent history of India.

Many members of the LGBTQA+ community want the same marriage rights that heterosexual couples enjoy and denying same-sex couples the legal right to marriage or a civil union leads to stress, anxiety and sometimes depression in many of them," explained Balachandran Ramiah, who is a part of GayBombay, a group that works with the LGBT community in Mumbai. There is no need to oppose it because it doesnt affect anybody else, although for the longest time in many countries, including the United States, there was a feeling that if you give same-sex marriage rights, it will dilute the institution of marriage. This was obviously incorrect," added Ramiah.

He pointed out that in the absence of such a basic right as legally marrying someone they love, several LGBTQA+ community members mental well-being gets affected. The inability of a same-sex couple to lead a happy life together often time leads to mental health issues. There had also been so many cases of same-sex couple suicides. Recently, a gay couple died by suicide in Assam because they felt so hopeless that they couldnt see any future together. They thought they will never have any right to live together as a couple," said the activist. Ramiah added that the only silver lining from the Monday hearing of the PIL was that the Delhi High Court judges were progressive in observing that the country has to move ahead with time. The court also questioned the need for a PIL and instead stated that same-sex couples, who are themselves affected by the absence of a legal right to marry, should approach the court themselves.

Ramiah stated that while section 377 was the reason why no same-sex couple approached the court for marriage rights prior to 2018, it has changed in recent years. Earlier this year, a gay couple from Kerala moved the Kerala High Court challenging the provisions of the Special Marriage Act, to seek permission to register their marriage. The case is still ongoing.

Harish Iyer, a Mumbai based equal rights activist, said when we talk about marriage rights for same-sex couples, it is not just so that they can have a Hum Aapke Hain Koun-style marriage. The legalisation of same-sex marriages is of crucial importance because of all the other rights that individuals are entitled to receive after they get married.

Tomorrow, if I go and find a boyfriend, and get married to him, no one can stop me from doing that. But, it will not have legal sanction. If I am dying, my partner will not get to decide whether the plug can be pulled off," pointed out Iyer. He added that there are adoption rights, property rights, spousal support as well as divorce rights that can only become legitimate rights for individuals in same-sex marriages if same-sex marriages are legalized in India. Globally, many countries have granted marriage rights, as well as civil union rights to same-sex couples.

*Names have been changed to protect the identity of the individual.
A simple manufacturing technology based on chitin, one of the most ubiquitous organic polymers on Earth, could be used to build tools and shelters on Mars, according to a study published September 16 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Javier Fernandez of Singapore University of Technology and Design, and colleagues.

With plans to revisit the lunar surface and eventually send a crewed mission to Mars, future space exploration missions are likely to involve an extended stay. For such missions, or perhaps even settlements, survival requires meeting basic human needs. One material that could be used to meet those needs is chitin, which is produced and metabolized by organisms across most biological kingdoms. Chitin is a primary component of cell walls in fungi, the exoskeletons of arthropods, such as crustaceans and insects, and the scales of fish and amphibians. Due to its ubiquity, chitin will likely be part of any artificial ecosystem.

In the new study, Fernandez and colleagues used simple chemistry suitable for early Martian settlement to extract and manufacture a new material with minimal energy requirements and without specialized equipment. They made this material by combining chitosan with a mineral designed to mimic the properties of Martian soil. The authors then used the chitinous material to construct a wrench and a model of a Martian habitat, demonstrating that this material enables the rapid manufacturing of objects ranging from basic tools to perhaps even rigid shelters, which could support humans in a Martian environment. According to the authors, this approach may be the key to our development as an interplanetary species.

Dr. Fernandez notes "Against the general perception, bioinspired manufacturing and sustainable materials are not a substituting technology for synthetic polymers, but an enabling technology defining a new paradigm in manufacturing, and allowing to do things that are unachievable by the synthetic counterparts. Here we have demonstrated that they are key not only for our sustainability on Earth but also for one of the next biggest achievements of humanity: our transformation into an interplanetary species."

Fernandez goes onto further state "The technology was originally developed to create circular ecosystems in urban environments, but due to its efficiency, it is also the most efficient and scalable method to produce materials in a closed artificial ecosystem in the extremely scarce environment of a lifeless planet or satellite."

###

Citation: Shiwei N, Dritsas S, Fernandez JG (2020) Martian biolith: A bioinspired regolith composite for closed-loop extraterrestrial manufacturing. PLoS ONE 15(9): e0238606. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238606

Funding: This research has been supported by the Singaporean Ministry of Education (https://www.moe.gov.sg/) through the MOE2018-T2-2-176 grant to JGF. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

In your coverage please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS ONE: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0238606
As New Jersey gears up for an unprecedented Election Day, the state is warning voters not to get confused by a recent mailer sent by the United States Postal Service (USPS).

Gov. Phil Murphy, reiterating a tweet by state Secretary of State Tahesha Way, said the mailer is not specific to New Jersey and the instructions inside could leave voters unsure of what to do for mail-in voting.

First, you do not need to request a vote-by-mail ballot  one will be sent directly to you assuming youre registered, Murphy said Wednesday at his latest coronavirus briefing in Trenton. Second, you do not need to worry about return postage for your ballot. The ballot you receive will include a return-postage-paid envelope.

Murphy also noted you dont need to use the postal service to return your ballot.

NJ voters-

You may have recently received this mailer from the US Postal Service. Please note that this mailing is not state-specific and conveys certain information that does not apply to NJ voters. 1/4 pic.twitter.com/sH09uOwaMb  New Jersey Secretary of State Tahesha Way (@SecretaryWay) September 15, 2020

Instead, you can drop it a secure drop box in your county or you can hand your ballot to a poll worker on Election Day.

The final option is not to use the mail-in ballot at all, and instead, you can vote using a provisional paper ballot at your local polling place on Election Day.

We have done everything possible to make voting easier and safer given the challenges we are facing from this pandemic, Murphy said.

Earlier Wednesday, Murphy and 11 other Democratic governors called on President Donald Trump, a Republican and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to end their attacks on the United States Postal Service.

The governors also urged Congress to fund an additional $25 billion for the postal service to ensure a safe, secure election this fall.

The ongoing significant mail delays caused by the operational changes implemented by U.S. Postmaster General DeJoy as well as President Donald Trumps continuous attacks on the integrity of the service threaten every single need the USPS fulfills, the letter said. "We want to be very clear: any threat to the United States Postal Service performing its mission is a threat to every American, and this assault on one of our nations most cherished and vital institutions must end. Period. Full stop.

Asked at the briefing whether the governor believed the mailer was sent intentionally to confuse voters about mail-in voting, Murphy said: I have no evidence that the U.S. Postal Service did that deliberately to confuse people. I certainly hope they did not and if it ever comes out that they did, shame on them, but I havent got any evidence.

If youre not yet registered to vote, you can do it online at elections.nj.gov.

NJ Advance Media staff writer Brent Johnson contributed to this report.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Karin Price Mueller may be reached at KPriceMueller@NJAdvanceMedia.com.
The two leaders expressed their delight at the development of bilateral ties over the past 45 years as well as of the bilateral strategic partnership in the past decade.

PM Phuc affirmed that Vietnam treasures its strategic partnership with Germany, a country with a leading role and position in Europe and the world.

The two sides agreed to increase the exchange of delegations, especially those at high level when conditions permit, and work closely together to effectively implement the Vietnam  Germany strategic action plan adopted last year and further deepen the bilateral relationship.

The Vietnamese PM thanked the German Chancellor, Government, partners and friends for supporting the Vietnam  EU ties over the past years, especially pushing forward the signing and ratification of the EU  Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the EU  Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement, thus opening up opportunities and prospects for both sides to fuel growth after the pandemic.

He suggested the German Government encourage German firms to expand cooperation with Vietnam in fields of their strength and priority such as mechanical engineering, support industry, smart infrastructure, renewable energy, vocational training, and labour cooperation.

Vietnam always welcomes German investors to the country to seize opportunities amid the shift of supply and investment chains in the region, he said.

Expressing her delight at the taking effect of the EVFTA that marks an important milestone in bilateral ties in both economic and strategic terms, Merkel congratulated Vietnam on its success in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic and thanked the country for presenting masks to Germany.

PM Phuc thanked the German Government for supporting the textile industry of several countries hit by the pandemic, including Vietnam. He affirmed that Vietnam is ready to continue partnering with Germany in pandemic control and vaccine production while promoting trade, travelling and economic recovery.

The two government leaders spoke highly of the two countries close coordination and mutual support at international forums and organisations, especially at the United Nations when both countries are non-permanent members of the UN Security Council, based on their shared concerns and backing of multilateralism and enhancement of the role of the UN and other multilateral cooperation institutions.

Vietnam, as Chair of ASEAN in 2020, and German, as rotating Chair of the EU in the last half of 2020, pledged to continue bolstering collaboration and connectivity between the two regions, towards upgrading EU  ASEAN ties.

Appreciating the importance of the Indo-Pacific region in shaping the world order in the 21st century, Merkel affirmed that Germany will involve more actively in the region. She wished that Vietnam would upholding its role of linking Germany and the region together.

The Vietnamese PM spoke highly of Germanys recent issuance of strategic orientations for the region and the European countrys active and constructive role in the region on the basis of supporting ASEANs central role, boosting cooperation and maintaining rules-based order.

He also highlighted the significance of recent statements by ASEAN on related issues such as statements of the 53rd ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting and the ASEAN Regional Forum in September this year.

The two leaders stressed the importance of the settlement of disputes by peaceful means in line with international law and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in the East Sea/the South China Sea, as well as of joint efforts to ensure peace, stability, safety, security, maritime and aviation freedom in the region.

PM Phuc reiterated his invitation to Merkel to visit Vietnam. Merkel also invited the Vietnamese leader to visit Germany in convenient time.
The lawyer representing Fort Hood Spc. Vanessa Guillen's family will join lawmakers introducing the #IAmVanessaGuillen Bill on Capitol Hill Wednesday.

The bill will allow soldiers to report sexual harassment and assault to a third party if passed.

COVID-19 UPDATES: Houston ISD announces campuses with cases

"We all need this Bill to pass so we can help protect our men and women serving in the military," Attorney Natalie Khawam said in a statement. "Our soldiers deserve to have the same rights and protections we all have, especially since they are serving our country."

Khawam said California Rep. Jackie Speier (D) and Oklahoma Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R) are leading the bill.

Guillen went missing from Fort Hood on April 22. Her remains were located in June, and her funeral was held in Houston last month.

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

Investigators believe Aaron Robinson, another soldier at Fort Hood, killed Guillen on April 22. Robinson shot and killed himself when law enforcement officers confronted him on July 1. His girlfriend Cecily Aguilar is charged with helping dispose of Guillen's body, the Houston Chronicle reported.

Guillen reportedly told her mother and sister that an officer on the base was sexually harassing her, but did not report it, saying that nothing had been done when other women on the base had reported the issue.

"The IAmVanessaGuillen bill is a bipartisan bill," Khawam said. "It is not a political issue, it's a human rights issue."
Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis "answered the wrong question" when he said a move to override key parts of the Brexit divorce deal would break international law, a chief government legal officer has said.

The UK Internal Market Bill, which gives ministers the power to overwrite provisions in the withdrawal agreement relating to Northern Ireland, does not "constitute a breach of international law or of the rule of law", Lord Keen of Elie, the Advocate General for Scotland, told peers.

However, the Tory frontbencher's claim led to cries of derision from the opposition benches in the House of Lords.

In unusually strong language for the upper chamber, Lord Keen was accused of having talked "a load of rubbish".

The spat came after Mr Lewis sparked a backlash by admitting that steps being taken by the Government in relation to the withdrawal agreement would break international law in a "specific and limited way".

Lord Keen said: "In my opinion, the present Bill does not of itself constitute a breach of international law or of the rule of law."

But Labour's shadow attorney general Lord Falconer of Thoroton said: "The key characteristic for law officers is not brains - they can get all the advice they want from the English bar of lawyers - it is backbone."

The Northern Ireland Secretary had confirmed the legislation going through Parliament was a breach of international law, while Lord Keen had "produced a load of rubbish" to peers to claim it was not, said the opposition frontbencher.

Lord Falconer asked Lord Keen how he felt he could remain Advocate General.

He replied: "I have satisfied myself as to the correct legal position in this context.

"It is my view that the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland essentially answered the wrong question."

Lord Keen's words sparked groans of dissent. Lord Falconer could be heard to cry in exasperation: "For goodness sake, he is a Cabinet minister."
Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday said cases lodged against for protesting against the Centre's agriculture-related Bills will be withdrawn but urged them not to block roads anymore.

He in a statement said no case will be registered against them for violating Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code as they are fighting for their lives.

The provision, prohibiting an assembly of four or more people in an area, is in place across due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The chief minister also urged to take their protest to Delhi on the doorstep of the Union government, assuring that the Congress will back them in their fight.

FIRs already registered against protesting in violation of Section 144 will be withdrawn, said the CM here after submitting a memorandum to Governor V P Singh against the legislations on behalf of the state Congress.

Farmers are violating the law as the ordinances will ruin them and their families, he said in the statement.

The state Congress and his government are with farmers, the CM asserted, adding that the Centre's legislations will ruin Punjab and its agriculture, which was the backbone of its economy.

The legislations will pave a way for ending the MSP (minimum support price) regime, which will "spell doom" for Punjab and in fact the whole nation, he added.

Replacing the earlier promulgated ordinances, the Centre on Monday introduced the Farmers' Produce Trade And Commerce (Promotion And Facilitation) Bill, 2020; Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020; and 'The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill in Parliament.

Farmers are up in arms against the legislations and have held statewide protests against these.

(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.)
Income inequality and economic disparities were on the rise before COVID-19, but the pandemic has thrown gas on the fire. American billionaires have seen their wealth grow by nearly 20 percent since the start of the pandemic while women, immigrants, young adults and those with less education have been hit hardest by COVID-related job loss.

Job losses have been most severe among millennials and those with lower incomes: in the United States, 39 percent of working people whose household income was less than $40,000 lost their jobs or were furloughed in just the month of March due to the pandemic, compared to just 13 percent of people in households with an income of more than $100,000, according to a Federal Reserve survey.

The pandemic has highlighted and exacerbated these disparities. Its health and economic impacts are far from over and will leave a wide, long and devastating wake.

Bold solutions are urgently needed to prevent New York workers and families, many of whom are struggling to meet basic needs, from falling even further behind. It's time to expand and modernize New York's Earned Income Tax Credit to provide badly needed direct financial relief to New Yorkers.

The federal and New York EITCs are refundable tax credits available to low-income workers and designed to boost their incomes. The EITC has years of demonstrated and documented success in "making work pay" for low-income families. The credit amount varies depending on the tax filer's income, marital status and number of dependents.

Research has repeatedly cited EITC as one of the single most effective programs for lifting millions of low-income households out of poverty each year. In 2018, the federal EITC alone lifted a remarkable 5.6 million Americans out of poverty, including 3 million children. It is considered more effective at encouraging long-term employment than comparable social programs, as it rewards those who earn more income over time until a recipient reaches the maximum benefit limit. Research also shows that in communities where the state EITC is larger, low-income children have a greater chance of attaining a higher economic status than their parents.

As reported by the National Conference of State Legislatures, the EITC also stimulates local economies, as most EITC recipients spend their tax credits immediately on expenses. A report by the Brookings Institution shows local economies benefit tremendously from the EITC's infusion of cash to workers. So, in addition to being a boon for low-income workers and families, the EITC benefits communities.

Yet, New York's EITC could benefit low-income workers, families, and communities even more by:

Raising the overall dollar value of the state credit from 30 to 40 percent of the federal EITC amount.

Sign up for The Knick  Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter.

Making the credit available to immigrant earners who do not have a Social Security number, but who work and pay taxes.

Getting cash into workers' hands by authorizing quarterly payments instead of yearly payments.

Making eligible the childless New Yorkers who are younger than 25, yet currently excluded from the credit.

These proposals, which I've included in legislation (A.10775), would benefit hundreds of thousands of low-income New Yorkers, especially those who have borne the brunt of the economic upheaval and uncertainty. The EITC would still reward part-time work which, as the economy continues to struggle, is expected to grow as a harsh reality for millions of Americans  especially young people and our most vulnerable populations.

Working New York families, immigrants and young adults, including women, people of color, and part-time workers, need help  and they need it now. As we examine proven economic initiatives with the potential to bring real relief to those who are struggling the most, expanding and strengthening the state's EITC should be at the top of the list.
Trump sought to counter his admission to journalist Bob Woodward that he was deliberately "playing it down" when discussing the threat of COVID-19 to Americans earlier this year. Despite audio of his comments being released, Trump said: "Yeah, well, I didn't downplay it. I actually, in many ways, I up-played it, in terms of action."

"My action was very strong," Trump added. "I'm not looking to be dishonest. I don't want people to panic."

Trump also insisted he was not wrong when he praised China's response to the virus in January and February, saying he trusted Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader. "He told me that it was under control, that everything was and it turned out to be not true," Trump said,

Trump also suggested the virus would disappear without a vaccine, claiming the nation would develop a herd immunity with time, but he didn't mention the lives that would be lost along the way.

"It's going to be herd-developed, and that's going to happen. That will all happen," Trump said. "But with a vaccine, I think it will go away very quickly."
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Linkedin Nina Loasana (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, September 17 2020

The Health Ministry and UNICEF signed on Wednesday an agreement on the procurement of COVID-19 vaccine under the COVAX Facility, a global COVID-19 vaccine allocation plan co-led by the World Health Organization that aims to help buy and fairly distribute the vaccine.

Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi expressed hope that through the agreement, Indonesia could ensure access to COVAX's COVID-19 vaccines once they were available.

"Since the very beginning of the pandemic, Indonesia has consistently underlined the importance of safe, effective and affordable vaccines [...] We developed cooperation through bilateral and multilateral tracks [for vaccine procurement]," Retno said on Wednesday.

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The delayed annual town meeting was held at Hoosac Valley High School to ensure room for social distancing. Town meeting votes to move forward with design work for Cheshire School. Town officials are looking to turn the school property into town offices, a community center and public safety facility. PreviousNext

Cheshire Town Meeting Approves $6.6M Budget, Rejects Pot Bylaws



Carol Francesconi takes the gavel as moderator for the meeting. CHESHIRE, Mass.  Town meeting on Tuesday night rejected four citizens' petitions that would have greatly limited marijiuna facilities.

Voters did approve amended versions of the 16 other articles on the annual town meeting warrant during a nearly three-hour session held in the Hoosac Valley High School gym.

That included a revised fiscal 2021 budget of $6,640,131.64, authorizations for purchasing a number of vehicles and the redirection of $60,000 approved last year but unused toward a design work for turning Cheshire School into a municipal complex.

The marijuana bylaws would have required any growing facility to file a water usage report annually to the town; allowed only one non-retail cannabis facility in town; broadened the definition of "facility" to include accessories such as fences, plants and related items; set up a 24-hour odor control; and asked the Planning Board to revisit its approved bylaw.

Town Counsel Edmund St. John III cautioned that the petition did not appear much different than a similar one submitted last year that had not come with Planning Board approval and was rejected.

"There's a provision in the statute that governs all this, it says that if the zoning amendment was presented as something substantially the same as presented within two years, you're not allowed to go forward," he said. "This may or may not be a substantial change ... That's something that may be determined by the attorney general's office when they review itself. I tell you this because it's a concern to me."

Planning Board member Peter Traub read an email he had received from chairman noting the proposed bylaws had been only briefly discussed and they seemed to share the fundemental character of last year's citizen petition.

"Passage of the bylaws at town meeting is likely illegal at this time," he read.

Resident Gary Trudeau had been involved in the drafting of the articles and said their purpose was to protect property owners from future cannabis facilities. He and his neighbors have been adamantly opposed to Stafford Green, an outdoor cultivation business planned on Stafford Hill.

Trudeau said he wasn't against marijuana, he just thought it should be limited to specific areas that were not residential.

"Marijuana is not an agricultural product, according to state law. It is a commercial," he said, adding that these bylaws would rectify problems in the future. "None of these affect Stafford Green. What this does is give property owners some protection."

A number of town meeting members, however, saw the proposals as personal agendas rather than beneficial to the town. Several people thought the water and odor controls as unfair in an agricultural community  pot plants may use 6 gallons a day but dairy cows drink 30-50 gallons, said one man.

"I don't think we need a revision of our bylaws to protect someone's private interest," said Jan Kuniholm, he calling fines of $1,000 a day for subjective odor control "vindictive."

The proposed bylaws required two-thirds vote to pass: Article 17 on water usage failed 37-48; Article 18 on limiting facilities, which was amended by Town Administrator Edmund St. John IV to include buffer zones, failed 35-40; Article 19 on definitions was withdrawn; and Article 20 on odors failed 35-47.

Article 21, although advisory, was recommended by town counsel to have a two-thirds vote because of language stating that "outdoor cultivation shall be prohibited." The article failed 23-49.

This year's meeting was held at the high school to ensure proper social distancing because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Just more than 80 voters were separated out in groups of two or one in seats set out in the gym. Everyone wore masks although they often had to be removed briefly to ensure everyone could hear people speaking.

The meeting's first action was to elect a moderator and the town turned to former longtime Selectwoman Carol Francesconi, who had the town report this year dedicated to her.

"The past year has been exciting and terrifying all at the same time," said the town administrator in explaining the Cheshire's fiscal health. The town had been on a continuing budget for the past three months until the state Legislature ensured that local and school aid would be held level from fiscal 2020.

The town's spending plan has been affected by the novel coronavirus and its impact on state and local revenues but at the same time officials are embarking on initiatives to better the town's roads and services.

"What you will see in this budget tonight is a new and more aggressive approach to road repairs," St. John said.

Selectmen Chairwoman Michelle Francesconi said the main thing she and other board members have heard is dissatisfaction with the town's roads and the plan put forward  and subsequently approved by town meeting  would allow the town focus on long-term planning as well as short term needs in regard to its infrastructure.

The town is committing to spending $320,000 a year on road repairs of which two-thirds is expected to come from the state. Town meeting approved the reorganization of road funding through the creation of revolving accounts dedicated to specific needs.

Town officials had considered a Proposition 2 1/2 override as Cheshire is closing is only $1,977 below its levy limit but that option has been dismissed for the time being.

"We were really listening to any feedback over the last couple of weeks since the announcement of a 2 1/2 override scenario," Francesconi said.

Town officials had eyed putting more free cash into the stabilization fund to replenish those numbers. But St. John said the proposal on the table Tuesday night would be to use those funds to keep down the tax rate.

Finance Committee member John Tremblay made the motions to amend the amount of free cash to be used to reduce the tax rate (Article 3) from $235,000 to $376,000 and the amount of free cash to put toward stabilization (Article 7) from $201,573 to $60,573.

Both of these articles were tabled until after town meeting passed Article 12, which authorized the town to purchase a new highway truck with plow and sanding equipment for $130,000 pending a Proposition 2 1/2 debt exclusion vote.

Article 12 was also amended to remove language stating the older 2011 truck would be sold after Highway Superintendent Robert Navin said $20,000 had been invested in the vehicle and it could still be used.

"We put a lot of money into it we cannot get back," he said.

Several smaller amendments were made to the budget: The $8,000 "special projects" line for the Board of Selectmen was zeroed out and the water collector salary raised from $10,984 to $11,359 on motions by Town Treasurer Rebecca Herzog. She felt the special projects line was redundant since the town had a reserve fund and that the water collector had been overlooked when the board instituted 6 percent raises for a number of employees. (The town will next be looking at adjusting wages for all employees.)

Wire Inspector George Sweet also motioned to raise two line items in his budget that were inadvertently left out: raising his expenditures from $400 to $1,300 to cover certification costs and the assistant's salary from $533 to $556.

Also approved by town meeting was $58,000 from free cash to purchase a new police cruiser (the 2013 Ford Explorer Interceptor it is replacing will go to the Fire Department); $20,000 from free case for two used pickup trucks for the Highway Department; $60,000 from free cash for a new tractor and attachments for the Highway Department; and $10,000 from free cash for an actuarial report on the town's post-employment benefit liabilities.

Town meeting also gave the OK to use $60,000 appropriated last year to fix the Cheshire School's heating system to instead go toward design services to see how the school property could be used for community needs and public safety. Article 6 was amended by Tremblay include an oversight committee of not less than seven members to be appointed within 60 days.

Voters also approved adoption of property tax workoff programs for veterans and seniors and the transfer of $259,751 from the Water Department surplus account to fund the water main replacement project in and around Arnold Court.
NSW will accept an extra 500 international travellers per week on the condition that other states and territories double their own numbers to share the load.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian said it was a "fair response" to a request from Prime Minister Scott Morrison, "given the hardship that people are facing" overseas.

No place like NSW: Premier Gladys Berejiklian says there should not be a border closure with Queensland based on current COVID-19 levels. Credit:Louise Kennerley

I consulted my relevant ministers and the police commissioner, who is in charge of quarantine, and everybody said they could take on that extra load, Ms Berejiklian said.

The agreement would mean Queensland and West Australia would go from accepting around 500 travellers a week to 1000, roughly one-third of the present NSW intake.
As Ireland continues to grapple with the Covid-19 pandemic, one wonders how relentlessly the Government is pursuing all possible sources of information to help manage the situation. On September 9, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly tweeted that he had spoken with the Danish health minister about Denmarks experience of the pandemic. At the time of writing, Denmark has a total of 20,323 cases and 631 deaths (out of a population of 5.8m people). While the Danes have done better than Ireland, the difference is not enormous, and like Ireland, it pales in comparison with the island nation of Taiwan.

Taiwan has a total of 498 cases and 7 deaths (out of a population of 23.8m) and internally, the country is open for business. The countrys president, vice president, and digital minister are recently among the top 25 people in the world to be recognised by WIRED magazine as those who are making a difference and standing between us and species collapse.
More than 32 people died during recent Covid-19 outbreak at Wrexham Maelor Hospital

This article is old - Published: Wednesday, Sep 16th, 2020

Figures have been released showing there have been 138 deaths at the Wrexham Maelor Hospital connected to coronavirus, as per the Public Health Wales statistical definition, up to the 24th of August.

The first coronavirus death in Wales was confirmed locally on the 16th of March 2020, of a person who was being treated at the Maelor Hospital. Overall in March there were less than five deaths at the hospital.

Ongoing figures were not published due to concerns that the numbers were low enough to mean people could be identified if local information was made public. In the new figures that have been released that policy is continued, with any figure less than five not precisely disclosed, but given as less than five, and therefore some totals below could be higher.

In early August a North Wales MS claimed there had been 12 deaths in five days at the Wrexham Maelor Hospital, after he published information circulated in private high level bulletins, those five days covered days in late July.

After requesting data we finally got further firm figures from the Health Board in the middle of August, stating 13 people had died at the hospital.

We requested a further update on the 25th of August, however despite the Health Minister assuring the people of North Wales information should be released in a prompt manner, no data has been forthcoming. Yesterday, prior to the FOI response arriving, we re-asked for a fifth time as well as asking why validation is taking so long, and is there an issue being looked at specifically, with no response.

Due to the struggle to get information we placed a Freedom Of Information (FOI) request to get death data from the 1st March 2020 to FOI submission date, 10th August 2020. The response was delayed, and was finally released yesterday.

In an attempt to standardise the data, we requested figures for deaths that relate to Covid-19 as per the definition for inclusion on the Public Health Wales public dashboard for similar health board wide information.

On the figures released a month ago the Health Board offered wider context to that data, however no further information has been forthcoming on this release. One note from the Health Board did read, Due to the very low numbers involved we are unable to provide you with the level of detail you are seeking, as there is a potential risk of identifying the deceased. The Health Boards duty of confidence applies even after death, and is withheld under Section 41, Information provided in confidence. 

The figures from the FOI response shows that 138 people have died at the hospital, which is 33% of all deaths on the Public Health Wales figures (420 deaths) to date for Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board that covers North Wales, and 24% of the total figures ( 569 deaths) via the Office of National Statistics.

Figures released show that from the 1st of April through to May 3rd there were over 32 deaths at the hospital.

Up until the 24th of April death figures for North Wales had not been published, however 88 were reported in one day due to delays in the reporting process.

The FOI states that locally between May 4th through to May 31st there were 30 deaths at Wrexham Maelor Hospital.

Between June 1st to July 12th the FOI states there were over 27 deaths.

Figures from the FOI response show that there were zero deaths at the hospital in the week ending the 19th of July.

For the three weeks from late July into early August 32 deaths are recorded.

On the 22nd of July we asked Public Health Wales for their understanding of the situation inside Wrexham Maelor Hospital, and specifically how many confirmed cases are there compared to a week prior, and clarification on if they were new Covid-19 admissions or confirmed/suspected internal transmissions. We were told there was no published breakdown by hospital.

On Thursday 23rd of July during a streamed meeting the Chair of Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, Mark Polin referred to an increase of cases at the Maelor and asked for a review to be carried out on in hospital transmission, with references still being made to Rowan Foods in official statements. We also asked Welsh Government about the situation inside the Maelor, with no reply.

On July 25th the Health Board requested patients, the public and staff to wear face coverings or masks in public areas of all Health Board sites and to avoid visiting the Wrexham Maelor Hospital Emergency Department unless it is necessary.

The FOI states for the week from the 20th to 26th July there were five deaths at the hospital.

Up to the 27th of July the Health Board refused to say how many confirmed cases of coronavirus were at the hospital, with a u-turn taking place later that day to reveal there were between 60-70 confirmed cases. A day later that figure was stated as 70-80, with a Minister describing the situation in the hospital as an outbreak.

On the 31st July the Health Board stated there were 63 confirmed cases in the hospital, and asked people to think long and hard about whether a trip to the Maelor is necessary right now.

The FOI data states between the 27th July to 2nd August there were 16 deaths. This is the greatest number of deaths at Wrexham Maelor Hospital recorded during the pandemic so far.

On the 5th of August the First Minister said Events at the Maelor are now well under control and stated that all staff at the hospital being tested.

Between 3rd August to the 9th August the day before the FOI was placed, there are 11 deaths reported.

The full table of the data released is below, which covers past the requested information date through August.

On Friday the Health Board said in a statement, We have seen no new outbreak cases in the last 35 days among inpatients at Wrexham Maelor Hospital. As of this morning there are currently nine recovering COVID-19 cases at the hospital.
Alissa Azar stopped her car near Molalla, Ore. on Sept. 10, 2020 to take a photograph of this sign when she was confronted by men with guns who said they were trying to prevent looting and rioting. (Alissa Azar)

Alissa Azar, an independent journalist who spent the summer covering protests and political clashes in Portland, changed her focus after unprecedented wildfires broke out in western Oregon.

She wanted to cover stories about how people pitched in to help one another in a time of crisis.

Last week, she and two colleagues were near Molalla, a hamlet about 30 miles south of Portland. Fire authorities had just ordered the town evacuated, and Azar, along with journalists Justin Yau and Sergio Olmos, pulled over to take a picture of a fire danger meter, which was all the way in the red.

I was crouched down in the grass, Azar, 29, told me Monday evening. I looked up from my phone and before I knew it, there were three guys with guns. One was pointing at my face, one was pointing toward me, and one had his gun down. Assault rifles. They were huge.

The men began interrogating her, she said. Why are you here? Who are you? What are you doing?

They asked me if I knew about the looters and rioters. She was confused until she realized they were probably talking about rumors, all debunked, that left-wing radicals were setting fires around the state and then stealing people's possessions once they evacuated.

Azar noticed a few other vehicles pull up, which I realized was backup for them.

The encounter seemed to go on forever, Azar said, but probably only lasted a couple of minutes. They were so hostile that none of us could get a proper video, she said. We worried if we pointed cameras at them, the wrong thing could happen.

The men, who never identified themselves, ended the encounter brusquely: Get the f out of our town.

::

Azar isn't the only reporter who has encountered hostile citizen brigades.

Journalists venturing out of Portland to cover the wildfires are targeted by suspicious locals who have bought into conspiracy theories about the fires being set for political reasons.

Self-appointed vigilantes have set up highway checkpoints to look for radical militant insurgents, as one Facebook user put it, who might be carrying gas cans or explosive material to keep Oregon ablaze.

Story continues

Its really unfortunate, said freelance photographer Nathan Howard, 29, who was accused on Thursday of looting by gun-toting men after he parked in the driveway of an evacuated home in rural Estacada to take some pictures. There are large portions of the state that we feel we need to be covering, but we have to pull back because you dont know if people are going to offer you a cup of coffee or shoot you.

Authorities are working hard to rebut the rumors, with little success.

The Douglas County Sheriffs Office in southwest Oregon posted a plea on its Facebook page in big block letters: Stop Spreading Rumors.

Remember when we said to follow official sources only? the post said. Our 9-1-1 dispatchers  are being overrun with requests for information and inquiries on an UNTRUE rumor that 6 Antifa members have been arrested for setting fires in DOUGLAS COUNTY.

What followed, in hundreds of comments below the post, was a verbal civil war, pitting rumormongers and right-wing conspiracy theorists against more rational citizens.

Finally, a user named Debbie Cooley chimed in. Im so confused, she wrote. So are we with law enforcement or no? When we hear defund the police, we are with them. When the sheriff tells us Antifa isnt setting the fires, they are government and not to be believed.

::

The craziness in Oregon is not without context.

Left-wing protesters in Portland did throw rocks and set fires. Right-wing militia members and pro-Trump caravans did descend on the city armed with assault rifles.

There were, inevitably, clashes. And on Aug. 29, a member of the right-wing group Patriot Prayer, Jay Danielson, was killed by a suspect, Michael Reinoehl, who described himself as 100% antifa in social media. A few days later, Reinoehl was killed by federal agents when they tried to arrest him, something President Trump, ever willing to make a bad situation worse, described as retribution.

In a state with a Democratic governor and Democratic supermajority in the Legislature, moderate Republicans are a vanishing breed. The state GOP has drifted so far to the right that its candidate for the U.S. Senate, Jo Rae Perkins, is a proponent of QAnon, a convoluted conspiracy theory that links global elites and child sex trafficking, and casts President Trump as a savior. (The incumbent, Democratic U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, is expected to win.)

The Republican Party in Multnomah County (home to Portland), formally decided to hire two right-wing militia groups  Three Percenters and Oath Keepers  to provide security at its events, which seems analogous to the time the Rolling Stones hired Hells Angels to provide security at their Altamont concert. What could possibly go wrong?

Earlier this summer, the state was riven with false rumors that antifa would attack small towns, like Klamath Falls and Coquille. Consequently, said University of Oregon political scientist Joseph Lowndes, 100 guys show up with ARs and pistols and everything else to protect the town from an antifa that never shows up, because its not an actual thing.

In some of those towns, said Lowndes, who studies right-wing political trends, there were small Black Lives Matter protests, and it became very dangerous for these activists and organizers because they would be met with wild fantasies about what BLM is and what antifa is.

As for blaming the fires consuming the western part of the state on left-wing activists, said Lowndes, the real causes are complex and rooted in climate change. The irrational conspiracy theory is easier and more appealing to believe.

@AbcarianLAT
The Queen, shown receiving Barbados Governor-General Dame Sandra Mason at Windsor Castle, would cease to be the head of state of the Caribbean country if it proceeds with its plan (Steve Parsons/PA)

Buckingham Palace has said Barbadoss intention to remove the Queen as head of state and become a republic is a matter for the government and people of the Commonwealth country.

Governor-General Dame Sandra Mason set out the plan in the Throne Speech which traditionally marks the state opening of the Barbados parliament.

Dame Sandra referenced a famous comment by her countrys first prime minister Errol Barrow, saying he had cautioned against loitering on colonial premises adding That warning is as relevant today as it was in 1966.

The Queen has been Barbadoss head of state since it became independent in 1966 but the issue of becoming a republic has been discussed at national level during the following decades.

Asked to comment on the Commonwealth countrys plans, a Buckingham Palace spokesman said: This is a matter for the government and people of Barbados.

Dame Sandra, who is the Queens official representative in Barbados, said in her speech delivered on Tuesday: Since independence, we Barbadians have sought constantly to improve our systems of law and governance so as to ensure they best reflect our characteristics and values as a nation.

Barbadoss first Prime Minister, The Rt Excellent Errol Walton Barrow, cautioned against loitering on colonial premises. That warning is as relevant today as it was in 1966.

The speech, written by the Prime Minister Mia Mottley, set out the Barbados governments agenda for the second session of the 2018-2023 parliament.

The Governor-General added: Having attained independence over half a century ago, our country can be in no doubt about its capacity for self-governance. The time has come to fully leave our colonial past behind. Barbadians want a Barbadian head of state.

This is the ultimate statement of confidence in who we are and what we are capable of achieving. Hence, Barbados will take the next logical step toward full sovereignty and become a Republic by the time we celebrate our 55th Anniversary of Independence.

Downing Street echoed the words of Buckingham Palace saying the development was a decision for Barbados and the Government there but that Britain would continue to enjoy a partnership with the Caribbean island nation as members of the Commonwealth.

A Number 10 spokesman said: We obviously have a shared history and remain united with Barbados in terms of history, culture and language, and we will continue to have and enjoy a partnership with them as members of the Commonwealth.

Barbados will mark the 55th anniversary of its independence on November 30 2021, so the nation has 14 months to enact the major constitutional changes which could usher in an elected presidential-style head of state.

The Cox Commission was established in 1979 to examine the feasibility of introducing a republic but concluded people wanted the present system to remain.

In 1998, a Barbados constitutional review commission recommended republican status, and in 2015 prime minister Freundel Stuart said we have to move from a monarchical system to a republican form of government in the very near future.

Barbados is one of the Queens 16 realms  countries where she is head of state  and in the Caribbean region other countries include Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and St Vincent.

The Commonwealth country would join Trinidad and Tobago, Dominica and Guyana if it proceeds with its plan to become a republic. Jamaica has also flagged such a transition, with Prime Minister Andrew Holness saying it is a priority of his government, but has yet to achieve it.

Barbados took another step away from the UK in 2003 when it replaced the London-based Judicial Committee of the Privy Council with the Caribbean Court of Justice, located in Trinidad and Tobagos Port of Spain, as its final appeals court.

Downing Street echoed the words of Buckingham Palace saying the development was a decision for Barbados and the Government there but that Britain would continue to enjoy a partnership with the Caribbean island nation as members of the Commonwealth.

A Number 10 spokesman said:We obviously have a shared history and remain united with Barbados in terms of history, culture and language, and we will continue to have and enjoy a partnership with them as members of the Commonwealth.
Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria Sison and his supporters have ramped up their attacks on Dr. Joseph Scalice following his August 26 lecture, First as Tragedy, Second as Farce: Marcos, Duterte and the Communist Parties of the Philippines.

In a series of interviews, Sison has slandered Dr. Scalice as an agent of US imperialism and the Duterte regime. He also hailed Joseph Stalin, the mass murderer and grave-digger of the Russian Revolution, and regurgitated Stalinist lies about Leon Trotsky, the founder of the Fourth International which fought against the Stalinist bureaucracys betrayal of socialist internationalism.

Sisons denunciations of Dr. Scalice must be taken as serious threats, given the history of Stalinist and Maoist parties, including the CPP, murdering individuals they denounce as Trotskyites.

Sison has reacted with such fury because Dr. Scalice thoroughly exposed, to a large international audience, the CPPs support for fascist president Rodrigo Duterte. Moreover, the lecture placed the CPPs support for Duterte before and after the 2016 election in the context of the Stalinists backing for a whole series of capitalist politicians, including former dictator Ferdinand Marcos, whom Sison endorsed for president in 1965.

The CPP is desperately seeking to cover up its record of betrayals, as it attempts to forge a new alliance with Dutertes rivals in the political establishment, and to prevent rising anti-capitalist sentiment among workers and youth from becoming a conscious socialist movement, politically independent of the big business parties.

Despite churning out tens of thousands of words denouncing Dr. Scalice, Sison and company are unable to refute, or even seriously respond to the facts presented in his lecture. This is especially evident in Sisons September 9 interview with Anakbayan, a youth organisation that follows the political line of the CPP, entitled, On Trotskyites and other slanderers.

Sison declares: The Trotskyites are grossly lying when they claim that the CPP supported the presidential candidacy of Duterte. In fact it is Sison who is engaged in the strategy of the Big Lie: repeating again and again what everyone knows to be false. As Dr. Scalice explained to the WSWS, he is attempting to bludgeon the population into the belief that what they themselves witnessed never actually occurred.

Sison states: Before, during and after the 2016 presidential elections, nobody in his right mind believed Duterte when he said that he was Left and socialist. He says he and the CPPs allies in the national democratic movement limited themselves to diplomatic and tactful words and gestures to Duterte encouraging him to engage in peace negotiations.

These lies can be easily disproved by anyone with Internet access. After Duterte offered cabinet positions to three members of the national democratic movement, closely aligned with the CPP, Sison told CNN in an interview on May 16, 2016: I would like to thank president Duterte. I am very proud of him... He was once my student at the Lyceum of the Philippines, and I share in the joy of his success. I wish him to succeed in his mission as president. He promises to be the first left president of the Philippines and he will keep his socialist orientation. [emphasis added]

Jose Maria Sison on CNN, May 16, 2016: He promises to be the first left president of the Philippines

Sison wishes he could erase this statement, and many similar ones, from the historical record. Far from being a mere diplomatic gesture towards peace, it was a categorical endorsement of Duterte and an attempt to give him socialist credentials.

By this point, Duterte had already promised to conduct a murderous war on drugs and fill Manila Bay with 100,000 corpses. As Dr. Scalice explained, when the CPP-allied organisations promoted Duterte in 2015, and when, in Mindanao, they openly and vigorously campaigned for him in 2016, the leaders were well aware of his fascistic politics. For years as mayor of Davao he had operated extrajudicial death squads and had been a key ally of the national democratic movement.

Sison now claims that the CPP has always been for the solution of the drug problem as a health problem and for cracking down on the drug lords, especially at the top level In fact, the party and its allied organisations hailed Dutertes war on drugs, which targeted the poor.

Ang Bayan, the CPPs main publication, wrote on June 21, 2016: The people will completely support [puspusang susuportahan] the steps that Duterte will take to remove and punish the drug syndicates. Einstein Recedes, secretary general of Anakbayan, wrote on June 26: We believe that Dutertes war on dangerous drugs and crime is a boon to the poor.

Contradicting Sisons assertion that nobody in his right mind ever believed Duterte was progressive, his interviewer from Anakbayan, Anghelo Godino, stated: In the beginning of the Duterte administration, he seemed to be really bringing the change that he promised. Duterte appointed Leftist personalities in his cabinet such as Ka Paeng Mariano, Liza Maza, Joel Maglunsod, and Judy Taguiwalo. He asked Sison: Why did the left allow the appointment of these personalities?

Sison absurdly replied that although he had approved the appointment of these leading members of CPP-allied unions and other organisations, this did not mean that the CPP supported the government. He said he asked Duterte to appoint them not as CPP members, but on the basis of individual merits of being patriotic, competent, honest and diligent. Sison did not explain why supposed leftists should accept any positions in an extreme right-wing government.

Sisons incoherent answers will convince no one. As Dr. Scalice wrote in response to the Anakbayan interview: Sisons fundamental argument is: Stalin was right; I am always right; we never supported Duterte. He is not looking to win new forces to the party. No one will be won over by this sort of rhetoric.

The CPP is seeking to intimidate those who oppose its political maneuvers from the left, as the party positions itself for a possible alliance with Dutertes US-backed rival, vice-president Leni Robredo. Sison told Anakbayan he would be open to a coalition with Robredos Liberal Party if Duterte is overthrown. Sisons Facebook page is full of appeals to patriotic elements within the military to intervene against Duterte, who the CPP now denounces as a puppet of China.

As Dr. Scalices lecture reveals, unstable and continually shifting alliances with different factions of the bourgeoisie are nothing new for the CPP and other Stalinist and Maoist parties internationally. The party does not represent the interests of the working class and is bitterly hostile to the fight for world socialist revolution. It advocates a two-stage theory of revolution, in which the working class must subordinate itself politically to the so-called progressive wing of the bourgeoisie, and socialist revolution is postponed into the distant future.

The reality is that there is no progressive faction of the ruling elite, in the Philippines or anywhere else. Under conditions of profound social crisis, exacerbated by the governments disastrous response to the pandemic, and the growing danger of a US war against China, a Robredo government would be just as ruthless as Dutertes in suppressing opposition. The CPP is offering its services to the bourgeoisieonce againto provide a left cover for militarism, dictatorship and a deepening assault on the poor.

The author also recommends:

More statements defending Dr. Joseph Scalice against Stalinist attacks

[15 September 2020]

Dr. Joseph Scalice responds to Jose Maria Sisons Stalinist lies and slanders

[14 September 2020]

WSWS publishes Chinese translation of Dr. Joseph Scalices lecture exposing the betrayals of the Communist Party of the Philippines

[15 September 2020]
China is inoculating tens of thousands of its citizens with experimental coronavirus vaccines and attracting international interest in their development, despite expert concerns over the safety of drugs that have not completed standard testing.

China launched a vaccine emergency use programme in July, offering three experimental shots developed by a unit of state pharmaceutical giant China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) and U.S.-listed Sinovac Biotech. A fourth COVID-19 vaccine being developed by CanSino Biologics was approved for use by the Chinese military in June.

Aiming to protect essential workers and reduce the likelihood of a resurgence, the vaccines are also grabbing attention in the global scramble by governments to secure supplies, potentially helping reframe China's perceived role in the pandemic.

Beijing has not released official data on the uptake in domestic targeted groups, which include medical, transport and food market workers.

But China National Biotec Group (CNBG), the Sinopharm unit developing two of the emergency use vaccines, and Sinovac have confirmed that at least tens of thousands of people have been inoculated. Additionally, CNBG said it had given hundreds of thousands of doses; one of its vaccines requires an individual receive two or three shots to be inoculated.

Beijing has engaged a public, top-down approach to endorse the experimental vaccines and foster community support. Among those lining up for shots early on were the chief executives of Sinovac and Sinopharm and the military's research chief.

The chief biosafety expert at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed this week that she too had been injected in April as she announced the potential that at least some of the vaccines would be ready for public use as early as November.

"So far, among the people who who were vaccinated, no one has been sick with the disease," Guizhen Wu said on state TV. "So far, (the vaccination scheme) works very well. No side effect occurred."

Wu's comments were broadly in line with comments by CNBG last week that none of tens of thousands of people who travelled to high-risk countries and regions after being vaccinated had been infected, and there was "no case of obvious adverse reaction".

China's approach runs counter to that of many Western countries, where experts have warned against authorizing the emergency use of vaccines that have not completed testing, citing a lack of understanding about longer-term efficacy and potential side effects.

Anna Durbin, a vaccine researcher at Johns Hopkins University, described China's emergency use programme as "very problematic," saying it was impossible to judge efficacy without a clinical trial standard control group.

"You're vaccinating people and you don't know if it's going to protect them," Durbin told Reuters, adding recipients of the experimental vaccines could eschew other protective measures.

Vaccine safety came into sharp focus last week when AstraZeneca Plc paused late-stage clinical trials of its COVID-19 vaccine, one of the most advanced in development.

The company resumed British trials over the weekend after receiving the green light from safety watchdogs, and, along with other leading Western vaccine makers has pledged to uphold scientific study standards and reject any political pressure to rush the process.

Russia is one of the few other countries to authorise the use of an experimental vaccine, making its own "Sputnik V" vaccine mandatory for certain groups including teachers. India is considering emergency authorization for a vaccine, particularly for the elderly and people in high-risk workplaces.

The UAE authorized the emergency use of a Sinopharm vaccine this week, the first international emergency clearance for one of China's vaccines, just six weeks after human trials began in the Gulf Arab state. UAE officials reported mild and expected side effects, but no severe side effects, during those trials.

CanSino has been approached by several countries, a source familiar with the discussions told Reuters, adding the military's approval helped attract foreign interest. The person declined to name the countries engaged in talks.

CanSino, which has trials planned in Pakistan and Russia for the vaccine developed with China's military research unit, did not respond to a request for comment.

Zhang Yuntao, CNBG vice president told Reuters his company has received interest from foreign countries to buy about 500 million doses of its experimental vaccine.

"China clearly wants to reorient that narrative in a way that it is viewed as a solution rather than a cause of the pandemic," Yanzhong Huang, Senior Fellow for Global Health, Council on Foreign Relations, a U.S.-based think tank.

"That narrative, ironically, may become more convincing when Trump's America First approach denies many countries opportunities to access the U.S.-made vaccines."

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday vowed to prioritise China and Russia in his country's global shopping for a vaccine, saying his government had already had talks with both. He said China was unlike other countries seeking a "reservation fee" or advance payment.

"The one good thing about China is you do not have to beg, you do not have to plead," Duterte said. "One thing wrong about the western countries; it's all profit, profit, profit."

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A mind is a terrible thing to waste, warns the iconic slogan of the United Negro College Fund. That applies to social justice movements.

As the local Black Lives Matter movement goes about the task of dismantling systemic racism, it should not forget the Richmond 34, the Virginia Union University students who did that work six decades ago. Their marches and sit-ins ended segregation in department stores such as Thalhimers, where Black customers could neither dine nor try on clothing.

Taking to the streets to speak truth to power, then and now, is a tremendous act of courage not without consequences.

The Richmond Dispatch paper published all of our names a day or so after we were arrested  I mean, all of our names, our full names, recalled Dr. Anderson J. Franklin, one of the Richmond 34. We started getting letters. I remember getting anonymous letters from the Ku Klux Klan, saying that they know where we are, dont come off campus, we may come up on campus.

Franklin was among several Richmond 34 members who participated in Courageous Conversations, a virtual forum presented by the VUU National Alumni Associations Vice Admiral Samuel L. Gravely Jr. Capital Beltway Alumni Chapter. (I moderated.)
Infielder Matt Reynolds, whom the Royals designated for assignment over the weekend, cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Omaha, per a team announcement. That he was outrighted to Triple-A and not to the alternate training site is an important distinction, as it indicates that hes been removed from the teams player pool, thus rendering him ineligible to return to the Royals in 2020.

The 29-year-old Reynolds appeared in three games with the Royals this season after signing a minor league pact over the winter. The former Mets and Nationals infielder was hitless in 11 trips to the plate in his first taste of big league action since the 2018 season in Washington.

Reynolds, a career .212/.282/.323 hitter, has never seen more than 130 plate appearances in a Major League season but carries a solid track record at the Triple-A level, where hes batted .286/.361/.441 in parts of six seasons (2038 plate appearances). That includes a .295/.401/.521 showing last year. The 2012 second-rounder has appeared at every position on the diamond other than catcher, even pitching two minor league innings, over the course of his professional career. His outright by the Royals likely puts an end to his 2020 season, but his Triple-A track record and defensive versatility should create opportunities for him to sign a minor league deal with a new club in need of infield depth this offseason.
New Delhi, Sep 16 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached properties to the tune of Rs 11 crore belonging to several accused in the NH 74 scam case.

The ED in a statement said that it has attached properties worth Rs 11.62 crore of Barinder Singh, Balwant Singh, Ramesh Kumar, Vikramjeet Singh, Mandeep Singh, Harjinder Singh, their family members and Fibremarx Papers Pvt Ltd of Jasdeep Singh Goraya under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The ED said that the attached assets consist of 23 immovable properties, which include agriculture and industrial land, commercial plots and buildings situated in Uttarakhand's Udham Singh Nagar district, and movable properties comprising funds lying in five bank accounts.

The ED has registered a case on the basis of an FIR and chargesheet filed by the Uttarakhand Police against DP Singh and others, revenue officers, farmers and middlemen.

During probe by the Uttarkhand Police, it was found that DP Singh and Anil Shukla, the then SLAOs working in the capacity of competent authority of land acquisition, had entered into a conspiracy with other public servants, farmers and middlemen for misappropriation of government funds by way of granting compensation at non-agriculture rate when the compensation was much higher than the agriculture rate, on the basis of back dated order for changing the land use from agriculture to non-agriculture and their subsequent back dated entries in revenue records.

They projected the back dated documents as genuine at the time of distributing compensation, which resulted in the loss of Rs 215.11 crore.

The ED said, "During investigation, it was revealed that the farmers or land owners got higher compensation for their land at non-agriculture rate in connivance with revenue officials and utilised the excess amount to buy immovable property, making deposits in banks and giving commission to the revenue oofficials." It was also revealed that after receiving the compensation fraudulently, funds were diverted to the accounts of various individuals or entities.

"Barinder Singh and Balwant Singh diverted the proceeds of crime to the tune of Rs 9 crore and Harjinder Singh to the tune of Rs 1 crore to the accounts of Jasdeep Singh Goraya and Mehak Kaur, which was utilised by them in their company Fibremarx Papers Pvt Ltd," the ED said.

It was further revealed that Ramesh Kumar had created fixed deposits in the name of his family members out of the proceeds of the crime.

Earlier, the ED had attached properties belonging to DP Singh, land owners and middlemen to the tune of Rs 21.84 crore.
"This redesign is an important step forward on our sustainable packaging journey," said Katya Hantel, senior director of sustainable development at Conagra Brands. "We will adopt the recyclable cube design over the next several years, supporting Conagra's target to make 100% of its plastic packaging renewable, recyclable or compostable by 2025."

The new design reduces the package's carbon footprint by 98 metric tons each year due to less energy required to manufacture and transport the material. This is equivalent to avoiding the greenhouse gas emissions of driving a passenger vehicle 243,176 miles, which is further than the average distance from the Earth to the moon2. The new shape also allows Conagra to better utilize space in transit, saving more than 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel annually from fewer truck loads transporting plastic tubs.3

The new Swiss Miss package is the result of a cross-functional design process between Conagra Brands and Berry Global's Blue Clover Studios, including manufacturing, packaging and business stakeholders.

"The magic happens when the right people come together early and often, which saves time in the long run when launching a new custom package," said Scott Fisher, Blue Clover Studios design director.

"If your company is committed to sustainability, this package is a giant leap for many reasons," added Dave Weaver, vice president, product management at Berry Global.

For more information on Conagra Brands sustainability visit https://www.conagrabrands.com/our-company/corporate-social-responsibility.

For more information on Berry Global visit https://www.berryglobal.com/sustainability.

About Conagra Brands

Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE: CAG), headquartered in Chicago, is one of North America's leading branded food companies. Guided by an entrepreneurial spirit, Conagra Brands combines a rich heritage of making great food with a sharpened focus on innovation. The company's portfolio is evolving to satisfy people's changing food preferences. Conagra's iconic brands, such as Birds Eye, Marie Callender's, Banquet, Healthy Choice, Slim Jim, Reddi-wip, and Vlasic, as well as emerging brands, including Angie's BOOMCHICKAPOP, Duke's, Earth Balance, Gardein, and Frontera, offer choices for every occasion. For more information, visit www.conagrabrands.com.

About Berry Global Group, Inc.

Berry Global Group, Inc. (NYSE: BERY), headquartered in Evansville, Indiana, is committed to its mission of 'Always Advancing to Protect What's Important,' and proudly partners with its customers to provide them with value-added protective solutions that are increasingly light-weighted and easier to recycle or reuse. The Company is a leading global supplier of a broad range of innovative rigid, flexible, and nonwoven products used every day within consumer and industrial end markets. Berry, a Fortune 500 company, has approximately 47,000 employees and generated $12.6 billion of pro forma net sales in fiscal year 2019, from operations that span over 290 locations on six continents. For additional information, visit Berry's website at berryglobal.com.

For more information, please contact:

Tim Wrona

312-549-5400

[email protected]

1 GHG emission reduction related to manufacturing of the primary container was calculated using GaBi Packaging Calculator, courtesy of Berry Global, accessed February 2020; GHG emission reduction related to better pack out and reduction in truckloads of shipments was calculated using Berry Global's proprietary Carbon Footprint Calculator

2 Equivalency results for GHG emissions determined using the EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator

3 GHG emission reduction related to better pack out and reduction in truckloads of shipments was calculated using Berry Global's proprietary Carbon Footprint Calculator

SOURCE Conagra Brands, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.conagrafoods.com


analysis

Mali's political crisis deepened when the opposition rejected the junta-backed post-coup charter. The dangerous stalemate is about more than whether a civilian or a soldier should lead the transition.

The 15-nation West African Economic Community (ECOWAS) convened in Accra, Ghana on Tuesday to discuss the political stalemate in Mali and possibly issue further sanctions. The military junta has missed the bloc's one week ultimatum for a designated civilian leader that would head a one-year transition period. ECOWAS had stopped financial transfers into the country and closed its borders.

However, many Malians believe that ECOWAS did not play a constructive role in the conflict. They want to solve the problems on their own. The meeting in Accra were on the minds of many in Mali's captial Bamako.

"Mali is an important member of ECOWAS. When a coup occurs, it is normal for sanctions to be imposed," said Bamako resident Sadibou. "We expected this, but we ask ECOWAS to take all views into account. If we can reach an agreement, ECOWAS should support us."

"ECOWAS should support Mali," Maimuna, another city resident, says. "With everything that is happening, they should really support Mali and not impose any more sanctions, nothing at all."

Civilian or military leader?

Mali's military junta, which overthrew President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita on August 18, had backed a charter that outlined an 18-month transition government. According to the charter, the government will be in place for 18 months comprised of 25 members, along with a transitional council representing Mali's numerous ethnic groups.

The charter allows for a president -- as the head of state -- as well as a vice president. They cannot stand for reelection after the term of the transitional government lapses. Both will be selected by a council set up by the junta.

However, Mali's opposition M5-RFP coalition on Sunday rejected the junta's post-coup charter. "M5-RFP distances itself from the resulting document which does not reflect the views and decisions of the Malian people," said the coalition in a statement.

M5-RFP said the discussions took place in an environment of "intimidation, antidemocratic and unfair practices worthy of another era." The coalition includes opposition groups, religious leaders and civil figures who organized months of protests against the former president.

Power play in Bamako

After the coup, the military received strong backing from opposition and civil society. However, their paths increasingly began diverging after it became clear that each group wanted more than the mere ouster of President Keita, according DW's Bram Posthumus in Bamako.

"M5 is not happy about the level of recognition from the military," Posthumus says. "The Military has paid leap service to their existence. M5 and the military have never been singing from the same hymn sheet."

The charter was penned after three days of negotiations with M5-RFP and other political parties. A major discrepancies between the negotiations and charter was the majority pressure for a civilian interim president.

The negotiations agreed that the candidate would be a civilian, but when published, the charter said it could be a civilian or a soldier. "The desire to grab and confiscate power for the benefit of the CNSP does not justify the means," said the coalition's statement, referring to what the junta calls itself as the National Committee for the Salvation of the People (CNSP).

But not everyone in Bamako share the coalition's opinion. "The M5-RFP are making themselves too big," says 68-year-old truck driver Ibrahim Diallo. "It is undisputed that the movement brought about the change. I'm sure everyone agrees on that, even the military. It is best now if we try to unite so that our country can move forward, so that things can move forward." 16-year-old Mendy Berthe doesn't really trust the coalition either. "I think the military will be up to the task," she tells DW.

The M5-RFP claims to be representing the general opinion of all Malians. But a "recent opinion poll shows that the majority of Malians are in favor of a military-led transitional government because they do not trust politicians in the M5 movement," Posthumus says.

For Eveline Jacques of the Mali Emergence party, it is not so much the civilian or military profile that counts in leading the transition: "Civilian or military it doesn't matter. It just has to be someone who will get us where we are."

Breaking the stalemate

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A civilian leadership is just one of the range of major differences between the military CNSP and the opposition M5-RFP. The junta's main frustration has been the government's response to Islamist jihadists and several pro-independence uprisings. "The military are very unhappy with the kind of equipment they have to work with," Posthumus says. "The key issue for Mali to get of this situation is not so much the politics, it is the security situation. That means to put an end to the roadside bombs and terror attacks by jihadists, who have weapons far more superior to that of the Malian army."

Read more: Mali: Anti-government protests turn violent

Former Prime Minister Moussa Mara tells DW he is optimistic the junta and the opposition coalition can put their differences aside: "The aim is for us to succeed in bringing Malians together and also work with the international community. So we trust that the CNSP and all leading politicians will work to ensure that cooperation with ECOWAS takes place under the right conditions."

In contrast to Mara's optimism, Posthumus believes if ECOWAS tightens economic sanctions on Tuesday, Mali could descend into further political turmoil.
MEXICO CITY - Leona Vicario defied convention.

A financier and intelligence gatherer for Mexicos independence struggle two centuries ago, she broke gender barriers and publicly refuted an allegation that she made sacrifices for her country to win the man she loved.

As Mexico marks its independence holiday on Wednesday, the anniversary of revolutionary leader Miguel Hidalgos 1810 call for freedom from Spanish colonizers, some academics and activists think Mexico has yet to fully embrace Vicario and her forward-thinking positions on equality.

She didnt command rebel armies or die by execution like Hidalgo and successor Jose Maria Morelos. But Vicario challenged not just foreign rule, but also a society that deemed women unworthy of public roles.

This year, Vicario is in the official spotlight, even as Mexico endures high rates of violence against women and other contemporary afflictions.

On Aug. 21, a bronze statue of Vicario, fists on hips, was unveiled on the Paseo de la Reforma, a major Mexico City avenue. While Vicario also got a state funeral in 1842, her name is inscribed in Mexicos congress building and a town is named after her, some say more is needed.

Incorporate her into textbooks, make her story reach young people by every means possible, said Celia del Palacio, author of the historical novel Leona and a researcher at the communications and cultural studies centre at the Universidad Veracruzana, a Mexican university.

Vicario was born in Mexico City in 1789. She studied widely at a time when such an education was mostly denied to women, including those of means. Her parents died in 1807, leaving her a fortune with which she funded rebel activities. Spanish authorities discovered her secret role. Vicario fled, ended up on trial, escaped, had her property confiscated, married independence figure Andres Quintana Roo and had children, and returned to Mexico City in 1820 as crown authority crumbled.

After independence, a newspaper published her rebuttal to politician Lucas Alaman, who suggested Vicario campaigned against Spain to win the affection of Quintana Roo.

Love is not the only motive for the actions of women,? she wrote in 1831.

Vicario said her actions and opinions have always been very free, absolutely nobody has influenced them, Ive always operated with total independence on that point, and without catering to the opinions of people I have respected.

She continued: I think all women are like that, except for the very ignorant, or those who have become subservient because of their education. In both those groups, there are also a lot of men.

Historical documents testify to her spunk and downright defiance in the face of authorities attempts to control her or to tarnish her image, said Amy Wright, an associate professor of Hispanic studies at Saint Louis University in the United States.

In standing up for herself, Vicario was perhaps considered unworthy of emulation, and that dynamic circulates in many societies today, according to Wright.

How accepted is it for a woman to be openly defiant, to speak back loudly to authority? she said.

Mexicos official tributes to Vicario coincide with continuing anguish. Activists occupied the office of Mexicos Human Rights Commission this month to call for more investigations and prosecutions in cases of abused and missing women.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador says he welcomes legitimate concerns, but that political opponents are behind some protests.

Beatriz Gutierrez Muller, the presidents wife and a promoter of national culture, joined Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum in unveiling Vicarios statue.

Gutierrez Muller said Vicario risked everything for national independence. She also compared Vicarios donations to rebels with recently released videos showing a brother of Lopez Obrador receiving money years ago from an official. The president says the money was for his political movement and there was no corruption.

Vicario also gave money and she wasnt recorded, said Gutierrez Muller, implying her brother-in-law had done nothing wrong.

Activist Veronica Cruz, who has helped women imprisoned for having abortions, said the government is hostile toward some female campaigners and that its showcasing of Vicario is politically correct.?

In a progressive 1910 biography marking Mexicos independence centennial, intellectual Genaro Garcia countered perceptions of Vicario as an accessory to male independence leaders and said Mexico had not sufficiently honoured her.

The new statue inscription describes Vicario as a journalist, though there is little evidence to support that. Del Palacio, the historical novelist, said Vicario is known to have sent information to insurgents, but that she could not find a trace of Vicario in the eras insurgent publications, which tended not to carry bylines on articles.

Del Palacio speculated it was difficult for conservative generations to embrace the roving, outspoken Vicario. She said another defiant figure, Josefa Ortiz, has been widely presented as a woman who performed a heroic act from a domestic space, warning rebel conspirators, led by Hidalgo, from her home about a colonial crackdown.

Leona has a lot to keep teaching women and men, said del Palacio, listing three things: Dont conform, dont give up during adversity and confront power.

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Galveston Bays water quality improved, but a large oil spill caused pollution to worsen in the region, according to an annual report card evaluating the condition of the Bay released Wednesday.

The report, released by the Galveston Bay Foundation and Houston Advanced Research Center, examines the condition of Galveston Bay and surrounding communities spanning over 7,118 square miles.

Galveston Bay got an overall C, the same grade it has received every year since the report began in 2015.

The data in the 2020 report comes from researchers findings in 2019, which are divided into six categories  human health risks, wildlife, habitat, coastal change, water quality and pollution events and sources  that are graded on an A through F scale.

The reports pollution grade dropped because the Kirby Inland Marine barge collision in May 2019 dumped 599,682 gallons of gasoline blend stock into the Houston Ship Channel, according to the report.

As a result, Galveston Bays pollution grade dropped from a B to C on the annual report.

Bob Stokes, president of the Galveston Bay Foundation, noted the amount spilled into the bay caused the grade in the volume of spills category to drop. The grade for the total volume of spills went from an A to an F.

But he said the long-term number of oil spills continues to decline year to year. About 219 spills have been reported annually since 2005 in Galveston Bay, but most are small spills comprising less than five gallons, according to the report.

In this years report, the bay got a B for the total number of spills.

Even though we have more traffic, more facilities around the bay, the culture of safety and trying to avoid spills does show long-term improvement, Stokes said.

If residents see an oil spill, they are encouraged to report it to the Texas General Land Office.

The water quality also improved in the bay, with the grade rising from a B to an A, according to the report.

Erin Kinney, a research scientist with Houston Advanced Research Center, noted that often the grade for water quality can change based on rainfall. For example, in an extremely rainy year, theres often a lower nutrient concentration in water because its diluted.

The 2019 report showed that Galveston Bay had higher levels of the nutrient phosphorous than in past years.

Phosphorus is a vital nutrient for plants such as microscopic algae, seagrasses, and wetland grasses in the bay, but high concentrations can lead to algae blooms and oxygen depletion that can kill fish and other marine life.

Higher levels of phosphorous typically occur in bayous that get runoff and wastewater from human activity in residential, industrial, commercial and agricultural areas.

In this years report, Galveston Bay was given an A for phosphorous.

A combination of the Clean Water Act and residents using phosphate-free or reduced formulas for dish, laundry and car-washing soaps has caused concentrations of phosphorous to decline in Galveston Bay, according to the report.

Most of the phosphorous pollution still present in the bay comes from runoff, the report said.

One way for residents to reduce the runoff from land is to use less fertilizer by growing a garden with native plants.

This year, Galveston Bay got a D for the habitat category, which comprises saltwater wetlands, freshwater wetlands, underwater grasses and oyster reefs.

Kinney said that saltwater wetlands are doing pretty well in the region because of the restoration efforts of Texas Parks and Wildlife, the Galveston Bay Foundation and other groups.

But she said more restoration efforts are needed for freshwater marshes and wetlands. Kinney said that can be harder because sometimes the water supply to those areas is disrupted.

We need to take action if we want to continue to have wetlands in this area and the ecosystem services that they provide, Kinney said.

The report also shows the potential for oyster reef habitats in Galveston Bay, which Kinney said is an exciting prospect because after Hurricane Ike and Hurricane Harvey there was concern that reefs no longer could support oyster populations.

To help with restoration efforts, residents can join an area organization and can keep up to date on construction and dredging projects that affect natural habitats. Private landowners also can help by donating land or instituting conservation easements, according to the report.

The coastal change category kept a C grade. Within the category, the sea level rise also stayed at an F.

Lisa Gonzalez, president and CEO of Houston Advanced Research Center, said she hopes residents become more involved after reading the report.

No matter where you live in the Houston-Galveston region, youre connected to Galveston Bay, Gonzalez said. You do have an impact on the bay and its health, and its water quality now and in the future, whether its through our personal actions, or getting involved in regional activities or engaging with our local policy and decision makers.

Nick Powell contributed

to this report.

brooke.lewis@chron.com
Pakistan court indicts 4 close aides of Hafiz Saeed in terror financing cases

International

pti-Madhuri Adnal

Lahore, Sep 16: An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan on Wednesday indicted four top leaders of the banned Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD), including the brother-in-law of Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, in four more cases of terror financing.

"Terror financing charges were framed on Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki (brother-in-law of Saeed), Yahya Mujahid (JuD spokesperson), Zafar Iqbal and Muhammad Ashraf in four more cases, a court official told PTI after the hearing. The suspects were brought to the ATC-III amid high security from the Kot Lakhpat Jail.

Pakistan persecutes, Hindus, Sikhs, Christians: India at Geneva

The official said judge Ijaz Ahmad Buttar directed the prosecution to present witnesses on next hearing on Thursday. Last month, the ATC Lahore handed down over 16 years imprisonment to Zafar Iqbal and Hafiz Abdus Salam and one-and-a-half-year sentence to Makki in another terror financing case. In February, Saeed was sentenced to a jail term of 11 years on terror finance charges by the ATC of Lahore.

The court sentenced Saeed and his close aide Zafar Iqbal to five-and-a-half years each in two cases. A total of 11 years sentence will run concurrently. Saeed is serving his term in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat jail. He was arrested in July last year.

Indian Army: Ready for full-fledged war against China | Oneindia News

The Counterterrorism Department of Punjab police had registered 23 FIRs against Saeed and his accomplices for terror financing in different cities of the province.

Saeed-led JuD is the front organisation for Lashkar-e-Taiba which is responsible for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai attack that killed 166 people, including six Americans.

The US named Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, and the US, since 2012, has offered a USD 10-million reward for information that brings Saeed to justice. He was listed as a terrorist under the UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in December 2008.
Tropical Depression 22 formed Thursday afternoon over the western Gulf of Mexico, but it's still too early to determine its track, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Thursday's updated forecast: Tropical depression, maybe Tropical Storm Wilfred, could soon develop in the Gulf of Mexico

Showers and thunderstorms associated with a broad area of low pressure in the southwestern gulf became better organized Thursday, and the National Hurricane Center says the depression is likely to become a hurricane over the next few days.

As of 10 p.m., the system was churning northeast at 3 mph with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph. The current forecast track calls for it to meander over the western Gulf for the next few days.

While forecasters cannot predict its exact path, the latest models indicate the tropical system will move near the Texas coast, increasing the rain threat for the area, according to Space City Weather meteorologist Eric Berger.

J.R. Gonzales contributed
It was a phone call that saved 13-year-old Preeti from becoming a child bride. Just after the country-wide lockdown was imposed, in June, Preetis parents decided to get her married off, quietly. Preetis father, the only earning member in the family of five, thought this would be the ideal time he would be able to take the burden off one mouth to feed and it would be done, without drawing much attention. He couldnt have been more wrong.

The grooms family came to my house to finalise the date, the 13-year-old recollected. Preeti knew she had to act quickly, but she didnt have a personal phone to alert anyone. She used her brothers phone to attend the online classes; but was quite irregular as it depended on her brothers schedule. The day after her wedding date was finalised, she sneaked out the phone, stepped out of her house in Anoopshahr, a city in Bulandshahr district of Uttar Pradesh, and made a call to her school teacher. They are getting me married, please help me. I dont want to marry, she remembered telling her teacher.

Madhu Sharma, Preetis teacher, was able to immediately get in touch with her family and convince them to not get their daughter married off.

Preeti has now gone back to attending her online classes. She is still irregular because there arent enough phones at home but the conversation on her marriage has ended, for now.

The 13-year-old goes to Pardada Pardadi Educational Societys Inter College, an all-girls school in Uttar Pradesh that teaches its 1,500 students on how to be a feminist. The school is in Bulandshahr district, the place infamous for its low child sex ratio of 896, as compared to the national average of 940; poor health and low literacy rate for girls.

Preeti was 5 when she joined the school. Besides learning English and Maths, Preeti was told that she needs to demand her rights and not meekly accept her fate. The girls, in this school, are taught to ask uncomfortable questions at home: Why am I served less food than my brother? Why should I stop studying?

In Anupshahr, a town of about 350,000 scattered in dozens of villages, the environment isnt kind to women. Marred by poverty and notorious for its violent crimes, women here face routine discrimination, abuse and violence. Female illiteracy is widespread and only a small fraction of women there ever complete the eighth grade.

Pardada Pardadi Educational Society

The school is unique. Every morning, in their morning assembly, the girls take a pledge: Hum zaroor shadi karenge lekin dusvim pure karne ke bad (We will get married, but after completing the tenth grade). In rural Uttar Pradesh, at least 54% girls are married off before they turn 18.

Besides offering free education, Pardada Pardadi also provides study material, uniform, stationery, health facilities, transportation and 3 meals a day, free of cost. A daily scholarship of Rs 10 is transferred to each girls account per day of attendance from class 6th onwards for her higher education. From class 9, the amount is increased to Rs 15.

All the girls are from socially underprivileged society. That is why we offer these benefits so it acts as a driving force for parents to continue sending their daughters to school, said Renuka Gupta, CEO, Pardada Pardadi Educational Society.

At the entrance of the school, theres a hand-painted sign asking an important, yet ignored question, Have you loved your daughters today?

Bulandshahr is usually in the news for the wrong reasons, and most often, for crimes against women. Just last month, the Uttar Pradesh district was in the news after a 13-year-old girl was allegedly raped by four men in a village. A few weeks before that, a 15-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped by 10 youngsters in Chacheri village while she was returning from her cousins wedding. A few days before, upset over police inaction, an 18-year-old took her own life; she had reported of rape the previous year.

The school in the middle of Bulandshahr is one of the few places that offers safe, welcoming spaces. But then, the pandemic hit and all the girls were forced to remain inside the confines of their homes, many of them not so safe.

When the coronavirus pandemic hit India, forcing schools shut since the end of March, more than 1.5 billion children stopped going to school. The private schools started online education; some government schools followed. However, it meant very little to large parts of the country where digital India is still a dream, making difficult lives of young girls more challenging. The fear of school dropouts and early marriages soon started unfolding into a nightmarish reality.

A few weeks into the lockdown, a 15-year-old Rinki was forced to drape herself in a saree to meet her prospective in-laws. Later in the afternoon, she managed to sneak out and make a call to her teacher from her neighbours phone. Rinkis teacher immediately got in touch with the police and the Child Welfare Committee, who then met the parents and took an undertaking from them to not get their daughter married before she turns 18. A few days later, Rinki made another phone call to her teacher. Her parents were trying to get her younger sister married off to the family they had decided to marry Rinki off too. The CWC was monitoring Rinkis case closely, so the parents wouldnt be able to get away with marrying her off. They thought now that they had already met the family, they can get at least one of their daughters married, said Madhu Sharma, a teacher with PPES.

The increasing reports of child marriage arent surprising. There was a dramatic upswing in child marriages and trafficking following the Nepal earthquake in 2015. After the Ebola crisis, the number of girls who dropped out of schools almost tripled in countries that suffered. Following the 2004 tsunami, girls in Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka were forced into marriage with tsunami widowers and in many instances did so to receive state subsidies for marrying and starting a family. In Bangladesh and northeast India, theres enough evidence to show that increased extreme poverty provoked by river erosion and floods often push families to adopt child marriage as a survival strategy.

Pardada Pardadi Educational Society

Worldwide, an estimated 12 million girls are married every year before the age of 18, which amounts to nearly one girl every three seconds. The UN has warned that the pandemic could lead to an extra 13 million child marriages over the next decade. An additional four million girls are at risk of child marriage in the next two years because of the coronavirus pandemic, a report by global charity World Vision has warned, as deepening poverty is likely to drive many families to marry off their daughters. The report also warns that up to 85 million children face physical, sexual and emotional violence at home and in their communities over the next three months as the financial and emotional pressures of the pandemic worsen.

Also Read: Pulled Out of School, Pushed Into Marriage: What the Pandemic is Doing to Indias Teenaged Girls

The pandemic has made education a very tricky situation, said Gupta. Our schools girls are stuck inside their homes and it gets difficult for us to keep tab as most of them do not have access to phones, she said. The online classes are on, but without access to smartphones, many are simply dependent on the notes that PPES has started to deliver.

One of the biggest lessons that we give in our school is to support each otherand it is that lesson that brought forward many cases that teachers and school authorities would be unaware of, Gupta said, narrating how students looked out for their peers and reported at the slightest hint of any trouble at home. We kept in touch with some of them who had access to phones and encouraged them to reach out to their classmates, she said.

It was this support system that prevented many child marriages.

Days after the online classes began, 15-year-old Priyanshi was made the class monitor. When the teacher noticed that one of the girls, who earlier attended classes regularly, was missing for a few days, she asked Priyanshi to check on her. When I called her, she didnt tell me anything. She just said she didnt have time. But I suspected something was wrong. So I kept calling her, Priyanshi said over a phone call. A relentless Priyanshi kept calling her classmate till she finally confided in her about her parents wedding arrangements for her. Wasting no time, the 15-year-old informed their teacher who was then able to get police intervention and prevent the marriage.

The academic achievements of Pardada Pardadis students, too, is remarkable. All of them passed the tenth- and twelfth-grade exam, compared to only 85% students in Bulandshahr district and Uttar Pradesh in general. The schools attendance was at 82%, compared to 62% average school attendance for girls in the state. And the dropout rate was at 15.4%, compared to 47.3% of other students in the district.

Gupta, however, emphasises on their model of education and focus on human development. We teach them the idea of female empowerment and equality at a very early age. That has the effect of cultivating great power in girls.

At the bus stop next to the school, there are illustrations of a girl in a school uniform and who she might become: politician, doctor, athlete, scientist, teacher, and a policewoman. Preeti has picked her dreamshe wants to join the police when she grows up. I want to be a police so I can stop people from discriminating against girls, the 13-year-old said.

Priyanshi hasnt decided on her dream. But she knows she wants her name to be on the school wall that is dotted with photographs of Annie Besant, Kalpana Chawla and Yamini Krishnamurthy.

*Names have been changed to protect the childrens identities.
The GOP's 1994 embrace of Proposition 187, which sought to prevent immigrants who were in the country illegally from accessing public services, spelled the beginning of the end for the Republican Party in California. (Los Angeles Times)

The 50th Congressional District is one of the last Republican strongholds in California. Encompassing large swaths of San Diego County, its also where I grew up. As a student at Escondido High School, I got my first experience in politics, speaking out at local City Council meetings. I never imagined that Id end up in Washington, D.C., some years later, working for members of Congress who represented my community.

Its been more than 15 years since Ive lived in San Diego County, but I still think of it as home. With each election cycle, Ive watched the margin between Republican and Democratic candidates narrow. Mitt Romney won the 50th District by more than 20 points in 2012. Donald Trump won it by 15 in 2016. Voters registered as Republican still enjoy a double-digit advantage over voters registered as Democrats in the district, but a poll released this week found that Joe Biden has a three-point lead over President Trump. The survey also showed the race for the House seat vacated by former Congressman Duncan Hunter in a virtual deadlock, with Republican Darrell Issa (my former boss) in a statistical tie with Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar.

Whats happening in the 50th District should sound alarms throughout the Republican Party. It is both a harbinger of things to come and a continuation of things already underway. Orange County, that other GOP firewall, flipped blue in the 2018 midterm elections. Inexplicably, Republicans on the national stage dont see Californias shifting politics as a warning. Instead, they view it as cause for mockery.

Consider the attacks at the Republican National Convention. If you want to see the socialist Biden-Harris future for our country, just take a look at California, Kimberly Guilfoyle, a Trump campaign fundraiser and girlfriend of Donald Trump Jr., declared during her speech. Ironic when you consider that Guilfoyle, who was once married to Gov. Gavin Newsom, could have been Californias first lady. In his address, Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida characterized California as a horror film run by woke-topians.

Story continues

The speakers clearly took their cues from the president. California is one of Trumps favorite punching bags. In a recent tweet, he blamed the states rolling blackouts on liberal politicians and Democratic climate policies: In California, Democrats have intentionally implemented rolling blackouts  forcing Americans in the dark The Bernie/Biden/AOC Green New Deal plan would take Californias failed policies to every American!

You wouldnt know it from any of this rhetoric, but just 25 years ago, the Republican Party was thriving in California.

Pete Wilson, a Republican, had been decisively reelected as governor by 15 percentage points. Republican candidates for attorney general, secretary of state, treasurer and insurance commissioner had all won statewide races. Republicans even held a majority in the state Assembly. The governors mansion hadnt been occupied by a Democrat in more than a decade.

Today, Republicans occupy zero statewide offices. In the 2018 midterm elections, voters gave Democrats supermajorities in the state Assembly and Senate. Statewide, Republicans have fallen behind both Democrats and independents in voter registration. In 2 decades, the California Republican Party went from dominance to irrelevance.

Trump and other Republican leaders may want to note what precipitated their problem in Americas most populous state. The decline started with the partys embrace of Proposition 187, a ballot initiative that sought to deny immigrants who were in the country illegally from receiving a host of public benefits, including healthcare and education. Although the measure was approved by voters, it never became law. Still, the damage was done: Republicans positioned themselves against the fastest-growing demographic in the state. The party never recovered. By the middle of 2015, Latinos were the largest ethnic group in California.

Proposition 187 was to the California Republican Party of the 1990s what Build the wall! is to the Republican Party of 2020. The shifting demographic realities, too, are similar. According to projections by the Census Bureau, the U.S. will have a majority-minority population by 2045. And yet, as the country becomes more and more diverse, Trump and his party are doubling down on an anti-immigrant agenda.

To know how this story ends, all the GOP need do is look at its trajectory in California. Trump and his colleagues may think vilifying the state is an effective strategy, but their racist rhetoric and policies could soon alienate a majority of the national electorate, and permanently. In the long run, it is a guaranteed recipe for political failure.

The philosopher George Santayana wrote that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. Party stalwarts who are blindly following President Trump would be wise to consult some California Republicans  if they can find any.

Kurt Bardella is a senior advisor to the Lincoln Project. He previously worked as an aide to Congressmen Darrell Issa and Brian Bilbray and in the California Senate and Assembly. @KurtBardella
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 21:27:54|Editor: huaxia

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HARARE, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- National airline Air Zimbabwe on Wednesday announced that it was resuming flight operations on its domestic and regional routes with effect from Sept. 23 and Oct. 3 respectively, as nations open up the skies for domestic and international travel.

The airline had suspended all flights late March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, except a few international ones to repatriate Zimbabweans and other nationals who had been stranded abroad.

The Zimbabwe government has over the past few weeks been relaxing COVID-19 regulations, including re-opening the tourism sector for which the airline industry is a major player.

Domestic routes to be serviced are Harare, Bulawayo and Victoria Falls, with flights between Zimbabwe and Tanzania initially operating every Tuesday and Saturday with an additional frequency expected towards the end of the year, the airline said in a statement.

It said the airline still awaits confirmation of the opening of South African airspace and airports.

Air Zimbabwe added that it would publish guidelines issued by the ministry of health, the World Health Organization, and IATA for air travel from time to time. Enditem
OTTAWA  A dispute between two Indigenous groups has prompted the Trudeau government to pull the plug on a multimillion-dollar project to install broadband internet to northern Manitoba, considered the worst area outside the territories for internet connectivity.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 15/9/2020 (493 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA  A dispute between two Indigenous groups has prompted the Trudeau government to pull the plug on a multimillion-dollar project to install broadband internet to northern Manitoba, considered the worst area outside the territories for internet connectivity.

After two years of work, and likely millions of dollars spent, Industry Canada gave notice Tuesday it will not proceed with the $55.5-million Wekitowak project to connect First Nations.

The federal government argued a larger Internet fund, which will be launched soon, is a faster way for reserves to get connected to broadband. It rejected requests from the band council that's spearheading the project to try to get chiefs back on board.

"It's not the happiest day; thats for sure," said Jeremy McKay, a lawyer for Mathias Colomb First Nation in northern Manitoba, which was the driving force behind the Wekitowak project.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Premier of Manitoba Brian Pallister and Navdeep Bains, Federal Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development wear star blankets given to them by members of northern first nation community leaders at a news conference announcing funding by the governments for high-speed Internet infrastructure in the north, at press conference in 2018.

In 2018, Premier Brian Pallister joined federal Industry Minister Navdeep Bains to announce a joint $55.5-million fund to connect 72 remote communities across the province by March 2021.

Weeks before that announcement, Ottawa merged two competing bids; both had a mix of First Nations support. However, the partnership dissolved within two months.

One bid, Clear Sky Connections, had the endorsement of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, and the support of some reserves that felt theyd be beholden to a private Internet company under the Wekitowak project.

Ottawa favoured the Wekitowak bid, arguing it would be cheaper because it was partnered with RFNow of Brandon, which would cover construction costs in exchange for rights to provide broadband for the first decade.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Business partners of Clear Sky Indigenous Network company celebrate the joint venture of three companies, DIG (Distinct Infrastructure Group), CSC (Clear Sky Connections) and BCN (Broadband Communications North) that was to bring high speed internet to First Nations and surrounding communities across Manitoba at a press conference in 2018.

On Tuesday, Industry Canada told Wekitowak officials it had deemed the project no longer eligible for money from the Connect to Innovate fund.

Ottawa said reserves could instead be connected via the Universal Broadband Fund, a $1.7-billion grant program announced by the Trudeau government, which has yet to start.

The Liberals say they want to expedite the 10-year program, given how many Canadians are working from home due to the pandemic.

McKay said the Wekitowak bid is "inherently optimistic" it can be a part of the new plan.

A complicating factor is that the group may have lost the chance to lean on Manitoba Hydro.

The province had agreed to allow Wekitowak and Clear Sky Connections to use Hydros dormant optic-fibre cables, meaning they only had to link communities to Hydro's main lines.

However, a recent request-for-proposals for private access to those fibre-optic lines could suggest the arrangement is no longer valid.

This fall, the Free Press published internal records from Industry Canada that show the original 2018 plan was plagued by problems.

Firstly, chiefs were confused about which bids theyd endorsed, because two bids had joined forces, were renamed and then separated.

Officials had to continually get the consent of chiefs, who rotated during band elections over the two years. An attempt at mediation failed.

Secondly, Indigenous Service Canada separately gave Clear Sky funding for a smaller fibre-optic project near Thompson, prompting outcry from the Wekitowak bid.

As recently as two weeks ago, McKay said Wekitowak was urging Ottawa to get everyone back at the table to resolve the dispute.

"We acknowledged there were significant obstacles that needed to be navigated, before the Wekitowak project could truly be viable," said McKay. "From our perspective, (the federal government) participated in creating those challenges, and therefore they needed to be at the table, in terms of finding a solution."

For a year, the community pleaded to meet with Rural Economic Development Minister Maryam Monsef or her predecessor.

Instead, Ottawa kept asking Wekitowak this summer for documentation. It insisted it couldnt proceed until all reserves were back on board.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca
Healthcare leaders are envisioning a future after COVID that is very different from what they imagined before the pandemic. To compete and win in a marketplace driven by patient preference, healthcare providers must invest in the talent, systems and technology to connect with patients on new terms. - Kevin Fleming, CEO, Loyale Healthcare

The future for healthcare in America has been made a little clearer in the months since the COVID-19 crisis began. As healthcare providers, their patients and their communities adjusted to the new, COVID-enforced reality, the potential for better operating and care delivery models has been exposed. These models are already appearing as one of the enduring legacies of the pandemic, as healthcare resumes its focus on growth and sustainability.

In a recent Healthcare Dive story titled, 3 Key Takeaways from HCA, Tenets Latest Public Comments, reporter Samantha Liss notes the industrys near-term uncertainties saying, Questions remain about what the long-term effects this pandemic will have on providers, including pressure on payer mix as record job losses risk severing people from their commercial coverage, which providers prize for its higher reimbursement. Its also uncertain when volumes will return or exceed pre-pandemic levels, and whether systems can manage both high caseloads of elective care and COVID-19 patients.

Longer-term, however, the comments of executives William Rutherford, CFO, HCA Healthcare; Ron Rittenmeyer, CEO, Tenet; and Saum Sutaria, COO, Tenet, shed some light on the industrys plans for recovery. Both systems noted that as volumes have begun to increase, returning patients are higher acuity, with disease progression thats more than it should have been, according to Sutaria. Rutherford added that, higher acuity patients may have had more medically urgent conditions and felt the need to come in, while lower acuity patients continue to prolong care.

When asked how to prod those low acuity cases back into the system, Tenets Sutaria said health systems cant wait until patients are comfortable to return. Instead, hospitals need to think about how to create options for them. As an example, a telehealth option for the E.R. That additional step allows a provider to talk to the patient and, based on symptoms and conditions, alert them if they need to come into the physical location.

And even if a reduction in low acuity volume isnt necessarily a problem, as noted by HCAs Rutherford, adding Maybe were seeing lower acuity healthcare visits that [arent] going to be that big of an economic loss if we can maintain demand for higher acuity, it may also be true that higher acuity patients will face financial constraints that are at least as acute as their low acuity counterparts.

When asked about the two systems strategic portfolios, Tennets Rittenmeyer said that hes thinking about the systems portfolio more aggressively than he has in the past. Although he didnt elaborate, HCAs Rutherford said that HCA CEO Sam Hazen has been challenging his team to look for accelerants for growth, whether thats through acquisitions, new service areas or capital investments.

Achieving a Patient First Operating Model

These executives comments underscore three key strategic considerations for health systems as they emerge from the COVID crisis: 1) Changing patient behavior, 2) The criticality of creating options for patients and 3) The importance of investing to accelerate growth. All three support the industrys growing appreciation for the economic power of the patient, and the transformation that must occur to meet patients where they are.

No one would deny that patient behavior has been changing. Fairly dramatic change was documented for years before the pandemic. As the cost for premiums, deductibles and copays have gone up year after year, patients tendency to avoid or delay care had become widespread and their ability to pay became more problematic. In response, healthcare providers like HCA (a Loyale client) responded by investing to improve their patients financial experiences, so medical bills are easier to understand, plan for and pay.

As the executive comments above attest, growth-driving investments are not part of a post-COVID to-do list. Theyre happening now. In KaufmanHalls M&A Quarterly Activity Report for Q2 2020, the firm notes that We anticipated that COVID-19s impacts would affect M&A activity in Q2. But with two transformational deals announced in June, it seems that COVID-19 generates a much less dramatic decline in M&A activity, relative to underlying performance measures. If anything, the pandemic has demonstrated advantages of scale, coordination and innovation that are likely to strengthen the strategic rationale for future relationships.

The report goes on to note that COVID-19 is causing healthcare leaders to assess current care delivery models and reimagine how health systems could be better configured to meet needs that the pandemic has exposed. Quoting Steward Healthcare CEO Ralph De La Torre, This is a transformational moment for the healthcare industry, with new realities in a COVID-19 world that must be addressed with an equally transformational, patient-first approach.

The KauffmanHall Quarterly Report concludes by looking ahead, stating that We believe the COVID-19 crisis has only strengthened the healthcare industrys imperative for transformationAnd we look for a resumption, or even an acceleration, in the pace of new transactions as hospitals and health systems reposition themselves for the post pandemic future. At this point, it is important to point out that healthcares transformation imperative isnt driven by patients alone. In the midst of the COVID crisis, some formidable new competitors have been upping their games.

The Changing Playing Field

In addition to evolving patient behavior, new and emerging competitors are also threatening market share and prospects for growth for traditional healthcare providers. Aetna, the large commercial healthcare payer and owner of CVS, unveiled a plan that drives patients toward CVS health services. Under this plan, as described in a Fierce Healthcare story published Sept. 2, 2020, an Aetna care manager can schedule a HealthHub appointment with a patient to discuss their diabetes, and then refer then to a provider at a CVS MinuteClinic. The plan offers $0 copays for HealthHub and MinuteClinic visits, and it includes free prescription delivery and discounts at CVS pharmacies.

Similarly, in July, Walgreens and VillageMD announced that they will partner to open 500 to 700 full-service doctor offices within the next five years. The VillageMD press release, states that, the clinics will uniquely integrate the pharmacist as a critical member of member of VillageMDs multi-disciplinary team to deliver the very best healthcare to patients, and will be staffed by more than 3,600 primary care providers, who will be recruited by VillageMD. Like CVS, Walgreens is looking to capture market share in the treatment of chronic disease, which represents more than 85% of the three trillion dollars Americans spend on healthcare each year.

Adding to the fray, in late July consumer behemoth Walmart announced its intention to create healthcare supercenters. With pilot programs operating in four cities, according to a MedCityNews article, these centers arent like your usual walk-in clinics that might serve as a quick place to get vaccinated or get a cold checked out. Rather, theyre more like a one-stop shop for healthcare, with primary care, urgent care, diagnostics, x-rays, behavioral health and dental care. Just like CVS and Walgreens, Walmart is looking to leverage its customer relationships to grow a substantial and disruptive healthcare company.

Healthcares Call to Transformation

In just a little over eight months,



Patients have demonstrated that they will willingly engage with their healthcare providers virtually, using digital channels that healthcare providers have scrambled to scale in order to meet exploding demand and overcome operating limitations.

Large healthcare systems and other healthcare investors have ramped up their planning and portfolio strategies to enable transformation and accelerate growth.

And consumer-centered retailers with nationwide footprints and large customer bases have begun operationalizing their ability to compete for the largest part of Americas healthcare expenditures.

Now is not a time for healthcare providers to plan to get back to business as usual. The table stakes have changed. To compete and win in a marketplace thats driven by patient preference, healthcare providers must invest in the talent, systems and technology to connect with patients on new terms.

Hospitals and health systems must improve operating efficiencies, drive revenue growth and manage their margins. Our clients choose Loyale as their patient financial engagement platform because, by using Loyale Patient Financial Manager, they deliver their patients consistent, exceptional financial experiences that make the financial dimension of their care journey better. Were honored to be a part of that transformation.

Kevin Fleming is the CEO of Loyale Healthcare

About Loyale

Loyale Patient Financial Manager is a comprehensive patient financial engagement technology platform leveraging a suite of configurable solution components including predictive analytics, intelligent workflows, multiple patient financing vehicles, communications, payments, digital front doors and other key capabilities.

Loyale Healthcare is committed to a mission of turning patient responsibility into lasting loyalty for its healthcare provider customers. Based in Lafayette, California, Loyale and its leadership team bring 27 years of expertise delivering leading financial engagement solutions for complex business environments. Loyale currently serves approximately 12,000 healthcare providers across 48 states. Loyale is proud to have an enterprise-level strategic partnership with Parallon which includes the deployment of Loyales industry leading technology at all HCA hospitals and Physician Groups.
iStock/M_MUC1968BY: BILL HUTCHINSON, ABC News



(ATLANTA) -- Nearly a week after being pinned to the ground by two white members of a Georgia sheriff's department and beaten by one of them, a 26-year-old Black man remained in jail on Wednesday while his lawyers say the fired deputy who allegedly assaulted him is the one who should be locked up.



Roderick Walker is being held at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta on outstanding warrants following his arrest on Friday by two Clayton County Sheriff's deputies, including one who was immediately terminated for excessive use of force after witness cellphone video of the brutal beating was posted on social media and went viral.



The video shows Walker being held on the ground as one of the deputies repeatedly punched him in the face and body. Walker, who was a passenger in a car that was pulled over for allegedly having a broken tail light, was ordered out of the vehicle and arrested when he questioned why the deputies asked for his identification, his lawyers said.



The reason he is in jail is because of the stop in Clayton County that led to him being brutally assaulted by the officer," Walker's attorney, Torris Butterfield, told ABC News on Wednesday. "Although there may have been a warrant outstanding for him, he wasnt arrested for any kind of warrant."



Butterfield said he has filed an emergency motion, asking Judge Jane Barwick of the Fulton County Superior Court for a bond hearing, saying he believes Walker suffered a mild traumatic brain injury when he was knocked unconscious during the arrest and needs medical attention that jail officials cannot provide.



Walker is currently not scheduled to appear in court until Sept. 29.



We have medical experts waiting to see him as soon as we can get him out," Butterfield said.



Shean Williams, another attorney representing Walker, said he is calling for the now-fired deputy to be identified and charged with criminal assault.



Walker was initially booked at the Clayton County Jail on suspicion of two felony counts of obstructing officers and two counts of misdemeanor battery.



Butterfield told ABC News that the sheriff's department has not made public a report of the arrest and that officials have yet to grant his request to see the warrants against Walker.



We want the facts," Butterfield said. "Theres no good reason why we dont have this officer's name yet if hes been terminated and hes a public employee. Theres a lack of transparency."



After viewing the video of Walker's arrest, Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill said he immediately called in his agency's entire internal affairs unit to investigate. On Sunday, Hill released a statement announcing that the deputy seen in the video repeatedly hitting Waker was terminated for excessive use of force and that a criminal investigation of the incident was turned over to the Clayton County District Attorneys Office.



Hill said he got a $25,000 signature bond expedited for Walker, but added that Walker remains in jail because there was a felony probation warrant for him out of Fulton County for cruelty to children and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. There was also a warrant on Walker from Hapeville, Georgia, for failing to appear at a court hearing on an undisclosed charge, officials said.



"Mr. Walkers legal counsel will have to resolve these issues to secure his release," Hill said in his statement.



The sheriff said Walker received medical treatment, including X-rays that detected no fractures to his head, before he was transferred to the Fulton County Jail.



Williams, of The Cochran Firm in Atlanta, called the outstanding warrants found against Walker a "weak attempt to deflect from his (Hill's) lack of leadership" and an endeavor to distract attention away from the beating Walker endured.



"Mr. Walker would not be in jail if it were not for this unlawful arrest that violated his legal and constitutional rights," Williams said during a news conference with Walker's mother outside the Clayton County Jail on Saturday.



Butterfield said he and Williams have asked Clayton County District Attorney Tasha Mosley to drop the "frivolous" charges against Walker and seek an indictment against the deputy who beat the father of four.



During a news conference on Tuesday, Mosley read from a prepared statement, saying, "My office is collecting any and all pertinent information" about what transpired during Walker's arrest.



She declined to comment on details of the ongoing investigation, citing Georgia rules of professional conduct for prosecutors.



"As with any investigation, we encourage anyone who witnessed anything to contact my office," Mosley said. "We will not rush to judgment. Rather, we will be fair and thorough. That is what I have been entrusted to do for the citizens of Clayton County."



The incident unfolded about 7 p.m. on Friday in front of a Georgia Department of Public Health building near the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Williams said Walker, his girlfriend, Janita Davis, her 5-year-old son and their 4-month-old child were getting a ride to a hotel they were staying after dropping off a rental car.



The driver was pulled over by Clayton County Sheriff's deputies in an unmarked car for having a busted tail light, Williams said. During the stop, a sheriff's deputy asked Walker, who was a passenger in the vehicle, for his identification, according to Williams.



Walker informed the deputies that he did not have ID on him and that he didn't need any since he was not driving, Williams said. He said the deputies allegedly didn't like Walker's reply and ordered him out of the vehicle.



Williams said Walker complied with the deputies' orders, but the incident quickly escalated.



Cellphone videos of the incident taken by a witness and by Davis show two Clayton County Sheriff's deputies on top of Walker trying to handcuff him. One of the officers is seen punching Walker in the face and body and yelling, "He bit me."



Walker can be heard saying, "I can't breathe" and Davis screaming at the officers, "Don't kill him."



Walker's face appeared to be bloody and his body seemed to go listless as the deputies, with the help of a third colleague, handcuffed him. Walker was conscious as the deputies stood him up and placed him in a patrol car.



Williams said the ride-share driver of the vehicle Walker was riding in was not charged in the incident.

Copyright  2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
Antibodies play a fundamental role in medicine, and antibody-mediated immune response is the ultimate target in the quest for a vaccine to defeat the current pandemic. These minute proteins, also called immunoglobulins, are used by the body as a critical deterrent against invading pathogens.

They do this by recognizing and tagging foreign substances so that they can be identified by the immune system. They also help to destroy intruders with the help of other immune cells.

JAGN1 as a player on the immune system's team

Dr. Josef Penninger's group at IMBA and at UBC, where he is the director of the Life Sciences Institute and a professor in the Department of Medical Genetics, focused on the role of a specific protein called JAGN1 in the production of antibodies.

The gene JAGN1 had been previously identified as a player in the body's immune system by the Penninger lab in collaboration with the Klein lab at LMU in Munich among patients with severe congenital neutropenia (SCN)a disease caused by a mutation in the JAGN1 gene.

Patients with SCN have abnormally low levels of white blood cells called neutrophils, and suffer from serious infections because their immune systems cannot effectively kill off bacterial or fungal invaders.

In the current study, the researchers shed light on the role of JAGN1 in relation to B-cells, white blood cells that can develop into plasma cells when they recognize foreign substances (antigens) such as chemicals, bacteria, viruses and pollen.

In plasma cell form, B-cells can produce thousands of antibodies per second that target a specific antigen. This production occurs at a location within the cell known as the endoplasmic reticulum.

As a finishing touch on their production, the antibodies are "decorated" with sugar molecules on their Fc region, an area that interacts with other parts of the immune system. This process, called glycosylation, facilitates the antibody's ability to bind to other immune cells, thereby strengthening the body's defensive reaction.

Characteristic sugar structures that are attached to proteins are known to have an impact on protein stability and communication between cells and their environment.

"When we knocked out JAGN1 in B-cells of mice, we were able to measure a drastic reduction in the number of antibodies," says Dr. Astrid Hagelkruys, Senior Research Associate at IMBA and first author of the study. "In addition, their glycosylation pattern - the addition of specific sugar molecules - was altered on antibodies of JAGN1-deficient B-cells."

JAGN1 seems to influence the antibody factories in the cells. To our surprise, this change in the sugar structure also leads to a better ability of the antibodies to bind to other immune cells and strengthens the defense reaction." Dr. Josef Penninger, Director of the Life Sciences Institute and Professor, Department of Medical Genetics, Institute of Molecular Biotechnology

The scientists were also able to demonstrate this mechanism in human samples. "Rare genetic defects occur in only a handful of people," adds Dr. Penninger, "but they can sometimes help us decipher basic principles of biology. In this case, we were able to prove that a certain gene affects the endoplasmic reticulum and is therefore essential for the mass production of antibodies. At the same time, we also found out that the "sugar coat" of antibodies is changed, which has an important effect on how such antibodies actually work in the body."
City of Laredo Health Authority Dr. Victor Trevino confirmed in Wednesday's coronavirus media briefing that a positive COVID-19 case was recognized in a student at United ISD's Zaffirini Elementary School.

The exposure was limited to one classroom, and those who were in contact with the student were sent home immediately to quarantine. A contact tracing investigation is underway by the health department.

Trevino and the health department are closely monitoring COVID-19 infections in Laredo children due to their unique circumstances.

"Children have historically been drivers of infection of the influenza virus transmission," Trevino said. "We're awaiting to see if the same is true of COVID-19."

As of the data most recently provided by the health department, 927 cases  or 7%  have been found in children ages 0-9. And those between 10-19 years old account for 11%, or around 1,400 cases, bringing the two age groups totaling 18% of cases, which is mostly made of children attending local schools.

The combined age group would account for the second-most number of recognized of the virus in Webb County, with the 20-29 age group surpassing it with 23% of Laredo's cases.

Additionally, only one death due to COVID-19 has been reported in the 10-19 age group. None have occurred in those younger than 10. However, added emphasis will be placed on children due to their nature.

"Protective measures we expect adults to implement, for a variety of reasons, are simply not possible for children," Trevino said.

According to Trevino, children's symptoms tend to be more mild and much more similar to a cold. These symptoms include fever, runny nose, cough, fatigue, muscle aches, vomiting and diarrhea.

Though the data shows that 45% of pediatric patients recover from the virus without presenting symptoms, Trevino shared that a majority of children seen with the virus at his practice showed symptoms of fever, nausea, intestinal symptoms and headaches.

Children typically recover from the virus within 1-2 weeks, Trevino said.

lsanmiguel@lmtonline.com
Residents of Shahumyan rural community of Armenias Ararat Province have ended their protest. They will wait until Sunday and will come to a joint decision.

These farmers complain about the factories low procurement prices for grapes. According to them, the factories sign respective contracts with them for 150 drams, but carry out the procurement for 100 drams.

The farmers will meet with the directors of these factories and decide on the price the grapes shall be procured.

The demonstrators had closed off the Yerevan-Yeraskh motorway in protest, but they reopened it some time thereafter.
As revealed in a new study, brand loyalty to Samsung has dropped substantially in 2020. The study conducted by Brand Keys found that the smartphone brand had a bad year when it came to brand loyalty.

It has been quite a strange year for Samsung when it comes to the smartphone market. During the pandemic, the company lost its lead as the largest smartphone manufacturer in the world.

However, the company has since recovered as lockdowns come to an end. Although much of this relative recovery is due to the issues faced by main rival Huawei in the international market.

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This study, therefore, reveals some of the problems that Samsung has faced this year. As reported by SamMobile, the company has not been at the top of its game this year and this report reflects that.

COVID-19 had a big effect on brand loyalty

The study found that the Coronavirus pandemic has had a big effect on brand loyalty in the U.S. The study into brand loyalty found that industries worst hit by the pandemic directly performed the worst when in this study.

This means businesses that were forced to shut during lockdown by closing stores or having their products unavailable. Clothing outlets seem to be some of the worst-hit in this area but the same problem also extends to Samsung as well.

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Some of the companies that have beaten Samsung on brand loyalty this year include Dominos and newcomer Disney. Both of these companies managed to keep trading throughout the pandemic and hence rose in the rankings from last year.

Samsung was the third best company in the U.S. when it came to brand loyalty in 2019. However, the company has dropped seven places and now sits in tenth.

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Apples brand loyalty was not badly hit, it seems

Interestingly enough, Apple and Samsung went in opposite directions in this study. Apple began the year in eight and now sit in fourth. This demonstrates that the pandemic was not the only factor at play in Samsungs decline.

It is worth noting that this drop in terms of brand loyalty is not a total disaster for Samsung. Other companies such as Twitter and Uber dropped by over twenty places representing a much more heavy free fall.

Instead, Samsungs seven place fall should be looked at more like a blip rather than the beginning of the end. If the company can put together a stronger 2021 then this situation is more than recoverable for the smartphone brand.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: The Chinese army fired a barrage of "warning shots" in the air at the North Bank of Pangong lake in eastern Ladakh last week to "intimidate" the Indian troops ahead of the talks between foreign ministers of the two countries in Moscow, official sources said on Wednesday.

The incident took place on the ridgeline of Finger 4 where the Indian Army has been significantly increasing its deployment after occupying several strategic peaks on the southern bank of the lake, they said.

The sources said a sizeable number of troops from the Chinese People's Liberation Army(PLA) aggressively approached towards an Indian position but they returned sometime later as alert Indian Army personnel held on to their ground with firmness.

While going back, the Chinese troops fired 100-200 rounds of warning shots primarily to intimidate the Indian Army personnel, they added.

The incident took place ahead of a meeting between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi last Thursday on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) conclave in Moscow.

The first incident of firing of shots was reported on the evening of September 7 near an Indian position in Mukhpari area of Rezang-La ridgeline on the southern bank of Pangong lake.

Both sides accused each other of firing in the air.

The Chinese troops unsuccessfully attempted to close in on the Indian position and it was the first instance of shots being fired at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in 45 years.

At the Jaishankar-Wang talks, both sides reached a five-point consensus to resolve the over four-month-long border standoff.

The agreement included measures like quick disengagement of troops, avoiding action that could escalate tensions, adherence to all agreements and protocols on border management and steps to restore peace along the LAC.

In the Lok Sabha, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said the Chinese side has mobilised a large number of troops and armaments along the LAC as well as in the depth areas.

He said there are several friction areas in eastern Ladakh including Gogra, Kongka La and North and South Banks of the Pangong Lake.

ALSO READ | Indian Army fully geared to fight full-fledged war in eastern Ladakh: Northern Command

"In response to China's actions, our armed forces have also made appropriate counter deployments in these areas to ensure that India's security interests are fully protected," he added.

Meanwhile, both sides are yet to firm up a date for the sixth round of Corps commander-level talks.

Tension in eastern Ladakh increased manifold following the Galwan Valley clashes on June 15 in which 20 Indian Army soldiers were killed.

The Chinese side too suffered casualties, but it is yet to give out the details.

The situation deteriorated again after China unsuccessfully attempted to occupy Indian territory in the southern bank of Pangong lake on the intervening night of August 29 and 30.

India occupied a number of strategic heights on the southern bank of Pangong lake and strengthened its presence in Finger 2 and Finger 3 areas in the region to thwart any Chinese actions.

China has been occupying the areas between Finger 4 and Finger 8.

The mountain spurs in the area is called Fingers.

China has strongly objected to India's move.

However, India has maintained that the heights are on its side of the LAC.

India has also rushed in additional troops and weapons to the sensitive region following China's transgression attempts.

Following China's fresh attempts to change the status quo in the southern bank of Pangong lake, India has further bolstered its military presence in the region.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 20:57:28|Editor: huaxia

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HANGZHOU, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- China's tech giant Alibaba Group revealed its new manufacturing model on Wednesday -- the Xunxi Digital Factory.

Xunxi is a cloud intelligence-powered manufacturing levels playing field for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), enabling access to small-batch customization and agility in production, according to a press release of the company.

Powered by Alibaba's cloud computing infrastructure and Internet of Things, the Hangzhou-based factory offers SMEs a digitalized end-to-end manufacturing supply chain that allows for fully-customized, demand-driven production.

At an early stage, apparel was identified as the starting point for Xunxi -- a sector in which the lengthy production cycles and high inventory levels have long been a problem for small and large players alike.

With new technologies, such as real-time resourcing, process and cost planning, automated in-house logistics, and Xunxi's manufacturing operating system, the factory can produce small-batch orders at reasonable costs and with shorter delivery time, consequently increasing manufacturing efficiency from 25 percent to an average of 55 percent.

"Data is the core of new manufacturing, and harnessing data insights is key to capturing new opportunities in the shift in consumer preference for personalized rather than mass-produced goods. New manufacturing transforms traditional manufacturers with data-driven intelligence and technology to move towards a more agile model of production, based on real-time demand," said Alain Wu, CEO of Xunxi Digital Technology Company, Alibaba Group.

"This allows traditional manufacturers to improve profitability and reduce inventory levels while still being able to meet these personalization needs," Wu said. Enditem
Indias coronavirus cases pass 5 million

Less than a month after hitting the three-million mark, Indias overall caseload has surpassed five million, making it the worlds second-largest outbreak, behind only that of the U.S.

The countrys seven-day average of new daily cases surpassed 90,000 for nearly a week.

More than 82,000 of the countrys virus patients have died, far fewer deaths per capita than many other countries. Record-keeping varies across countries, so comparisons are uncertain, but doctors say the lower death rate reflects Indias younger and leaner population. Here are our live updates and maps of the pandemic.

In other developments:
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Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Washington, United States  Wed, September 16, 2020 13:30 492 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c451b7d9 2 Science & Tech Facebook,politics,united-states,disinformation Free

Facebook has fallen woefully short in stopping political manipulation of the platform by governments around the world, according to a data scientist fired this month by the social network.

A scathing memo written by Sophie Zhang on her last day at Facebook, obtained by BuzzFeed News, claimed the California giant ignored or was slow to act on fake accounts used to undermine elections and political affairs in numerous countries.

"I've found multiple blatant attempts by foreign national governments to abuse our platform on vast scales to mislead their own citizenry," Zhang wrote, according to BuzzFeed.

"I have blood on my hands."

In one example, the memo said Facebook took nine months to act on a campaign using "inauthentic assets" to boost efforts by Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez to mislead people in that country.

The more than 6,000-word memo cited organized efforts to harass, mislead or manipulate people in Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Bolivia, Ecuador, India and elsewhere, along with election manipulation efforts in the United States and Brazil.

The document offers new insights into the efforts around the world to manipulate content on the world's biggest social network, and Facebook's struggles to thwart them.

Read also: Kim Kardashian joins celebrities in social media 'freeze' against hate

Increased efforts

In response to the memo, Facebook said it has been stepping up its efforts to stop disinformation and manipulation.

"We've built specialized teams, working with leading experts, to stop bad actors from abusing our systems, resulting in the removal of more than 100 networks for coordinated inauthentic behavior," Facebook said in a statement to AFP.

"It's highly involved work that these teams do as their full-time remit. Working against coordinated inauthentic behavior is our priority, but we're also addressing the problems of spam and fake engagement. We investigate each issue carefully, including those that Ms. Zhang raises, before we take action or go out and make claims publicly as a company."

BuzzFeed said it did not publish the full memo because it contains personal information.

Zhang declined to be interviewed, according to BuzzFeed, which said she turned down a severance payment from Facebook that would have contained a "non-disparagement" requirement.

She wrote in her post that she did not want details of the memo to be public for fear of disrupting Facebook's efforts to protect the 2020 US presidential election.

"The last thing I want to do is distract from our efforts for the upcoming US elections, yet I know this post will likely do so internally," she wrote.
Omans Minister of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion Qais bin Mohammed Al Yousef, met with industrialists and investors at Al Rusayl Industrial City, today (September 14).

The meeting was attended by Dr Saleh bin Said Masan, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion for Commerce and Industry, Eng Ridha bin Juma Al Saleh,

Chairman of the Board of Directors of Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI), Hilal bin Hamad Al Hasani, Chief Executive Officer of the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates  Madayn, and Eng Said bin Nasser Al Rashdi, Chief Executive Officer of Oman Manufacturers Association.

The meeting aimed at discussing ways to enhance the Sultanates industrial sector, highlighting current obstacles facing the industrialists, and exploring mechanisms to advance the business environment in future and attract more local and foreign investments to be along the lines of the Manufacturing Strategy 2040.

Speaking at the meeting, Eng Mohsin bin Zahran Al Hinai, CEO of Al Rusayl Industrial City Company, stated that the total volume of investments in Al Rusayl Industrial City touched RO733,705,584 at the end of 2019, marking a growth rate of 0.16 per cent compared to 2018.

The number of the workforce at the industrial city increased to 21,725 during the same year, and the number of investing projects reached 334. Of these projects, 266 are operating, 47 are under construction and 21 have been allotted with spaces, Al Hinai said, adding: The total area of Al Rusayl Industrial City amounted to 10,864,310 sq m during the same period, of which 6,698,757 sqm have been developed.

Oman Investment and Development Holding Company (Mubadrah) is currently implementing several projects at Al Rusayl Industrial City. Phase (2A) at the industrial city was launched at a cost exceeding RO 32 million, in addition to the redevelopment and rehabilitation project of the entrances to Al Rusayl Industrial City and the introduction of new entrances at a cost of approximately RO 3 million. In addition, the logistics project has been completed at Al Rusayl Industrial City at a value of RO 1.5 million.

Moreover, the company has begun preparing technical and consulting studies for the development of phase (2B) and rehabilitation of the entire old area, which extends to nearly 5 million sq m.

Al Yousef then toured Areej Vegetable Oils and Derivatives, which was established in 1982 with a total production capacity of around 9,000 tonnes per year and with only one production line. Of recent, the production capacity of Areej reached more than 240,000 tonnes per year.

Al Yousef also visited Oman Fiber Optic, which was established to manufacture world-class optical fiber and optical fiber cables. He also visited the National Pharmaceutical Industries Company, which has been operating since 2001 by manufacturing world-class pharmaceuticals in its various facilities.TradeArabia News Service
EU-China Summit Has Some Germans Rethinking Relations With Beijing

By Natalie Liu September 15, 2020

A high-profile virtual summit among Chinese and EU leaders this week has spurred some influential Europeans to rethink their continent's relationship with Beijing, and especially whether economic considerations have been overemphasized at the expense of human rights.

Monday's digital get-together  led by Chinese President Xi Jinping and German Chancellor and current EU President Angela Merkel  concluded with several vague commitments to "enhance mutual trust, seek mutual benefits on a win-win basis and uphold multilateralism," according to China's Xinhua news agency.

But German politicians and news organizations were asking hard questions about Europe's relationship with China even before the start of the talks, which had been planned pre-pandemic as a gala affair in the German city of Leipzig. The summit also included European Council President Charles Michel and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

"How do we position ourselves towards #China? Is China only a huge market or do we as the EU want to play a role in shaping the world order?" Norbert Rottgen, chairman of the Bundestag foreign affairs committee, asked in a tweet hours before the meeting began.

"Did Germany get too friendly with China?" headlined a feature story published by Deutsche Welle.

While there is a growing consensus in the United States that the policy of "engagement" with China has largely failed, the question is still intensely debated in Germany. Calls for soul-searching  in some cases even a complete overhaul of status quo  appear to be getting louder.

"There are at least as many German lawmakers, German members of parliament that are strongly supportive of human rights, in particular human rights in China, as you'll find in the U.S. Congress," said German Green Party legislator Reinhard Buetikofer, head of the EU's Delegation for Relations with the People's Republic of China, in a telephone interview.

Gyde Jensen, representing Germany's northernmost region in the Bundestag, is just such a lawmaker. Considered a rising star, the 31-year-old chair of the parliament's human rights committee proudly pins a photo of herself with a Hong Kong activist on her Twitter account and believes Germany should keep Huawei out in its 5G plans.

Prominent members of the academic community have lent their voices to the cause.

"German governments, both past and present, have consistently prioritized trade with China over other enlightened German national interests, for example democracy and human rights," said Andreas Fulda, a German social and political scientist who launched a petition in May calling for a reappraisal.

For too long, foreign trade promotion has topped Germany's policy configurations toward China, Fulda said in an email interview. Corporate voices have been over-amplified in public discourse while "for decades hyp[ing] the significance of the Chinese market" in order to justify trade and investment "with an authoritarian China."

China, for its part, likes to remind Europeans of the economic advantages of the relationship. Ahead of Monday's meeting, Beijing conspicuously announced that the German auto industry continued to reap profits in China, while business interests elsewhere have been pummeled by the coronavirus pandemic.

"German car giants increased their sales in China, with Mercedes-Benz seeing a 21.6 percent increase in the second quarter compared with the same period last year, even as its sales in Europe dropped by 31.5 percent during the first half of the year," said a September 9 article published in the Global Times, an arm of Chinese state media.

Germany, for its part, declared China as its top single-country export destination in the second quarter of this year, surpassing the United States.

Some Chinese netizens suggested that Beijing's increased purchases from Germany were part of a strategic move to secure Berlin's friendship. Otherwise, one wrote, European nations "would all follow the footsteps of the Czech Senate leader" who recently led a delegation to Taiwan.

Senate President Milos Vystrcil led an 89-member Czech delegation to Taipei on a trip described as honoring the spirit of Vaclav Havel, the first democratically elected Czech president following the disintegration of the Soviet bloc 30 years ago.

"My view is that if we focus on money, we will lose [both] our values and money," Vystrcil said prior to embarking on the journey.

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This is the fifth consecutive year that Chubb Life Vietnam is ranked among the top 10 most prestigious life insurers, leveraging the companys financial strength, excellent business operations, exceptional product portfolio and customer service. Award-winning companies have to meet specific criteria, including financial capability, a media coding evaluation, and pass comprehensive surveys from customers, insurers, and industry experts.

Nguyen Kim Cuc, territory vice president, Executive Agency Management of Chubb Life Vietnam received the Top 10 Most Reputable Insurance Companies 2020 award

2020 also marks the third year running that Chubb Life Vietnam retains its FAST500 title, ranking second out of seven award-winning insurers and 79th of companies overall.

The results are based on Vietnam Reports independent research and assessment under the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) criteria in terms of revenue and business efficiency over the last four years.

Other features such as total assets, total employment, after-tax net profit, corporate reputation in the media, companys size, and market influence are also assessed.

Nguyen Van Thu, regional senior director, Agency Management and Development of Chubb Life Vietnam received the Top 500 Fastest Growing Enterprises in Vietnam 2020 (FAST500) award

Chubb Life Vietnam always prioritises a sustainable development strategy, focusing on business efficiency, strengthening corporate reputation, and continually improving product and service quality for customers, while delivering excellent benefits, said Lam Hai Tuan, chairman and country president of Chubb Life Vietnam.

Chubb Life Vietnams development strategy prioritises technology implementations to stay ahead and grow its market position in the digital age.

Being named as one of the top 10 insurers and top 500 fastest growing enterprises is proof of Chubb Life Vietnams outstanding leadership. It is also a recognition of our companys positive contribution towards the growth of the industry and Vietnams economic development, Tuan added.

According to the companys consolidated financial statements for last year, the company achieved double-digit growth across all business indicators. Specifically, its total gross written premium increased by 17 per cent and pre-tax profit was up 50 per cent on-year.

It also maintains a high solvency ratio of 246 per cent beyond the regulatory requirement. In addition, Chubb Life Vietnam has paid more than VND161 billion ($7 million) in tax and other obligations.

Chubb Life Vietnams development strategy prioritises technology implementations to stay ahead and grow its market position in the digital age.
 Alexander Weber

Investors unexpectedly raised their expectations for Germanys economy, in a sign of hope that the latest boost in fiscal support will help the country recover from the coronavirus slump.

A gauge measuring prospects for the next six months rose to 77.4 in September, exceeding all estimates in a Bloomberg survey. Current conditions also improved.

German 10-year bonds edged lower after the report, with the yield up 0.9 basis points.

Experts continue to expect a noticeable recovery of the German economy, ZEW President Achim Wambach said. Stalled Brexit talks and rising Covid-19 cases could not dampen the positive mood.

The government in Berlin expects the economy to contract by 5.8% this year, less than predicted in April. Economy Minister Peter Altmaier has said this was due to a successful stabilization of domestic demand and a decoupling from global developments to a great extent.

Germany recently allocated another 10 billion euros ($12 billion) to extend its enhanced furlough program, which provides job-preserving subsidies to firms, until the end of 2021. This adds to the 1.2 trillion euros it already made available to prop up the economy.

Manufacturers in the country continued to ramp up output for a third straight month in July. The pace slowed considerably however, underscoring that making up for all the ground lost during the pandemic will take time. On top of weak global demand, exporters are confronted with a strong euro thats making their products more expensive abroad.

The European Central Bank said last week it expects the recession in the euro area to be slightly less severe than initially feared, while cautioning that the strength of the rebound continues to be subject to significant uncertainty. Infections are rising in many parts of the region, raising the specter of stricter curbs on economic activity that could also dent consumer confidence.

ECB chief economist Philip Lane said Monday the region still has a considerable gap to close in terms of economic output compared to the situation before the pandemic.

: bloomberg.com
The Big Earth Data Science Engineering program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CASEarth) has been listed as a partner and one of the technical support institutions for the online platform of the Technology Facilitation Mechanism (TFM) to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations (UN).

The CASEarth office told Science and Technology Daily on Sunday that the Big Earth Data program shows China's support for the Decade of Action on the Sustainable Development Goals and technological contributions to global sustainable development.

The Big Earth Data, launched on Jan. 1, 2018, is a category-A strategic leading technology program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). The program takes the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as a core task and is committed to providing advanced and effective Big Earth Data technology support for the realization of SDGs.

After the professional evaluation of the online platform of the UN TFM, the program is now one of the 24 platform partners. Others include renowned international organizations and science and research institutions, such as UNESCO's World Science Forum, the European Space Agency (ESA), the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC), and the United Nations University.

On the 70th anniversary of the United Nations (UN) in September 2015, heads of state and delegates gathered at the UN headquarters in New York and adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This comprehensive sustainability framework was built on the basis of the historical experiences of human society and a shared expectation for the future. It presents a blueprint for countries to pursue global sustainable development in the next 15 years.

In order to achieve the SDGs and effectively assess their progress with the full strength of science, technology, and innovation, the UN has established the TFM. The online platform of the TFM was officially launched during the United Nations High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), held from July 7 to 16. As one of the three major components of the UN TFM, it aims to build itself into a dynamic platform for the realization of SDGs and provide scientific information for politicians, technology professionals, businesses and individuals all over the world.

Content in partnership with Science and Technology Daily.
MIAMI, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The sixth version of the Colombia Investment Summit this year will be virtual and is expected to attract between 1,200 and 1,500 attendees.

More than 550 investorscoming from markets in Europe, Asia, Latin America, and North Americawill participate in over 1,000 business meetings.

The meeting, led by the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Tourism and by ProColombia, has established itself as the most important event in the country for generating sustainable and responsible investment opportunities and promoting projects in sectors such as infrastructure, tourism, energy, agroindustry, and technology, among others.

"Foreign investment is one of the essential instruments for the current moment because it creates job opportunities and helps to boost the economy. Today we are working to promote the arrival of more investors and to facilitate new tools for increasing those flows and improving the business climate. In addition, we facilitate a good environment for the relocation of companies seeking to reorganize their supply chains and efficiencies as they exit other latitudes. In addition, we provide sectoral and regional incentives," said Jose Manuel Restrepo, Minister of Trade, Industry, and Tourism.

"The Colombia Investment Summit is an event that supports the country's economic reactivation, an opportunity to materialize more investment in the regions, creating quality jobs, technology transfer, development, and greater competitiveness. At this event we will present a portfolio of more than 75 projects to investors from around the world, in sectors such as infrastructure, technology, agroindustry, energy, and tourism, as well as our country's potential as a business destination and export platform," said Flavia Santoro, president of ProColombia.

The academic agenda will begin on the first day, October 7. On October 8 and 9, seven sectoral panels will be held on industries such as chemical and life sciences, infrastructure, tourism, metalworking, agribusiness, energy, and industry 4.0.

The event will enjoy the participation of Ivan Duque, president of Colombia, ministers and directors of government institutions, senior executives of national and foreign companies, special guests, and international investors interested in establishing business operations in Colombia.

In the 2019 edition, Colombia Investment Summit generated ten investment announcements, together worth over one billion US dollars, in projects related to agroindustry, infrastructure, chemicals and life sciences, energy, and investment funds.

Investors interested in taking part in this event can register and obtain more information at: https://colombiainvestmentsummit.co

SOURCE ProColombia

Related Links

http://colombiainvestmentsummit.co


Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy, and egg production in India has increased by 6 per cent, said Dr Trilochan Mohapatra, Director General of Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE).

The pandemic has not stopped the farmers who are busy in their farms and they have not allowed agricultural production to get affected, Dr Mohapatra said while addressing a three-day national e-conference organised by the Institute of Agricultural Sciences (IAS), faculty of agriculture of the SOA Deemed to be University, which kicked-off on Monday.

Stating that diversified agriculture was the measuring rod for the agricultural economy, he said there was a need for new scientific inputs for increasing production of pulses in the country.

The inaugural session of the conference was also addressed by Prof DP Ray, Principal Advisor to SOA's Founder President and former Vice-Chancellor of OUAT, Prof. Ashok Kumar Mahapatra, Vice-Chancellor of SOA and Prof. Premananda Mohapatra, Dean (PG) of IAS and Prof. Bijay Kumar Sahu, Dean, IAS. Prof. Bibudh Parashar coordinated the inaugural session.

Faculty members Suchismita Mohapatra and Bhubanananda Adhikari coordinated the two workshops which followed the inaugural function. Dr Jyoti Ranjan Das, SOA's Dean (Students' Welfare) was also present.

Over 200 delegates are attending the e-conference from different parts of the country.

(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.)
Friends and family will gather in Alabaster to remember slain Alabama State University student Adam Belle Dowdell.

The 22-year-old Dowdell was found dead Monday, nearly a week after he disappeared from campus. Police have not announced any arrests in his killing.

A candlelight vigil is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday at Buck Creek Park in Alabaster. The family asks that attendees bring red balloons to release in Dowdells memory.

Additionally, a GoFundMe has been launched to help with the students burial. Donations can be made here.

Dowdells body was discovered Monday afternoon, six days after he vanished. Central Alabama Crime Stoppers on Tuesday announced a reward starting at $1,000 for information leading to an arrest in the students death.

Dowdell graduated from Montevallo High School and his family lives in Alabaster. He was a sophomore at ASU.

His mother, Toya Cohill, said she last spoke with her son Monday, Sept. 7, and his siblings spoke with him on Tuesday. Early Wednesday, she started receiving messages from his friends that he had not returned to his dorm room and that no one had heard from him.

She said shes learned that on Tuesday night that he left with another student saying he was going to get cash from the bank. He was last known to be wearing a white shirt, checkerboard pants and Air Jordan 12 sneakers. Dowdell did not have a car with him at school, and his mother said if he had been planning to be gone long, he would have taken his book bag and a phone charger with him. Both were left behind.

Cohill and other family members rushed to Montgomery Wednesday and remained there until Monday. They werent able to track his phone because the location was turned off and the phone was dead.

On Monday, Sept. 14, Montgomery and ASU police about 2:45 p.m. responded to the 800 block of Hutchinson Street near the old Booker T. Washington High School after receiving a report of a possible body found. The body was transported to the Alabama Department of Forensic Science for an autopsy. After further investigation, the body was officially identified as Dowdell Jr., said Montgomery police Capt. Saba Coleman.

Authorities have not released any update on the investigation since Dowdells body was recovered.

Dowdell wanted to be a special education teacher. His GPA ranged from a 3.4 to a 4.0. "He was a very smart kid,'' Cohill said. Adam was a sweet, adorable kid. He was very mannerable. Everybody loved him and he loved everybody. This shouldnt have happened to him.

Police ask that anyone with information call Crime Stoppers at 334-215- STOP, Secret Witness at 334-625-4000 or Montgomery Police at 334-625-2831. Tips to Crime Stoppers can also be submitted via the P3-tips app.
Developer Abraham Atiyeh will need to consider Plan B if he wants to bring a grocery store to his property at Center Street and Dewberry Avenue.

City council Tuesday night rejected Atiyehs request to permit grocery stores on this property -- plus every other property citywide that is zoned Institutional.

Council President Adam Waldron and Councilman Michael Colon both labeled as an overreach Atiyehs request to change the Institutional zoning district citywide. It was rejected by a vote of 0-6 with Councilman J. William Reynolds absent from the live-streamed meeting.

Waldron suggested Atiyeh could still pursue the grocery store by bringing the plan before the citys zoning hearing board for consideration under the existing zoning as written.

The citys director of planning and zoning, Darlene Heller, also opposed the change to the institutional zone, saying that would open up grocery stores on similarly zoned properties including hospitals, places of worship, all city parks and open space, and Bethlehem Area School District and college/university land. The city planning commission last month recommended denying the request, and several nearby residents also opposed the idea.

Atiyeh has said hes had interest from German supermarket chain Lidl in opening up a location there. He has tried for more than a decade to develop the site as assisted living, a psychiatric hospital, drug treatment center and a 125-unit apartment complex.

Separately, Bethlehem City Council on Tuesday reviewed Atiyehs request to change the zoning from Rural Residential to Residential Retirement Complex on 10.48 acres he owns immediately northeast of the intersection of Creek Road and Freidensville Road.

That would permit Atiyeh to build a 40-apartment independent living facility comprising 20 one-bedroom and 20 two-bedroom units with 60 parking spaces. The development is within the 100-year floodplain, which Atiyeh proposes to mitigate by raising the elevation of the part he wants to develop by two feet.

Heller also recommended denial of that application, citing Bethlehem goals that include preservation of its natural and environmentally sensitive areas such as its floodplains and wooded areas. The planning commission back in March recommended rejecting the proposal.

Its really not an ideal location for that type of development, she told council.

Several neighbors and a representative of the Bethlehem Environmental Advisory Council also voiced opposition, with concerns raised about increased traffic on narrow Creek Road, impacts on views from the proposed four-story building and effects on the nearby Saucon Creek. That property is prone to flooding, they said, as is Creek Road itself.

Atiyeh argued his proposal fills a need in Bethlehem for senior housing that is more affordable than his competitors, with projected rents of $2,495 to $2,995 per month. He said the new complex could dovetail with his Saucon Manor assisted living facility nearby in Hellertown, and stressed the natural beauty of the Creek Road property for tenants.

Council took no action and scheduled an initial vote for Oct. 6 on his zoning change request.

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Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com.
Representative image

The US Justice Department on September 16 announced charges against five Chinese and two Malaysians who ran a global hacking operation for at least six years to steal identities and video game technology, and to spy on Hong Kong activists.

The operation, long known to computer security experts, was not run by the Chinese government, but one hacker boasted he was protected by Chinese security services, according to the charges.

"Some of these criminal actors believed their association with the PRC provided them free license to hack and steal across the globe," said Acting US Attorney Michael Sherwin in a statement.
Biden said Trumps response to the pandemic utterly disqualifying for the presidency.

In a White House news conference, President Trump forecast US vaccine approval by October.

Democratic candidate Joe Biden, in a speech in Delaware slammed Trumps coronavirus response while laying out his plan.

Vice President Mike Pence went to Ohio, where polls show a close race, despite Trumps eight-point 2016 victory.

Biden ramped up healthcare ads day after Trump was confronted on Obamacare at televised town hall.

Jill Biden headed to New Hampshire and Ivanka Trump went to Arizona with 48 days until November 3.

Here are the latest updates:

Wednesday, September 16

19:00 ET  President Trump predicts Saudi Arabia, other Arab nations will join UAE, Bahrain in recognising Israel

Four or five other Arab countries want to come in and normalise diplomatic relations with Israel following a deal signed at the White House with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, President Trump said at a news conference.

I talked to two of them yesterday and they are ready to try, Trump told reporters. Youre going to have a whole level of peace in the Middle East without blood all over the sand.

I think Saudi Arabia ultimately will come in too, Trump said. This is my feeling  its not based on knowledge other than a couple of conversations I had with the king.

While Saudi Arabia is not expected to follow the example of its Gulf allies anytime soon, a leading imam of the Grand Mosque in Mecca has recently softened their tone on Israel, a potential precursor to warming relations.

The United Arab Emirates, Israel and Bahrain signed historic accords normalising ties. [Saul Loeb/AFP]

18:15 ET  White House staff tested positive for COVID-19

A single White House staff aide tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, President Trump confirmed at a White House press conference.

The president said he was never in contact with the person whose identity was not disclosed. It was not anybody who was near me, Trump said.

It did not affect the event and press was not around, White House spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany said.

18:10 ET  Trump discounts WTO ruling against US on steel tariffs

President Trump dismissed the significance of a World Trade Organization ruling on Tuesday in favour of China that Trumps tariffs on steel imports violated global trade rules.

The WTO was created to suck money and jobs out of the United States to China, Trump said.

The multilateral organisation formed in Geneva through US leadership is a method of taking advantage of the United States, he said.

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters during a news conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, DC, September 16, 2020. [Leah Millis/Reuters]

18:02 ET  Trump considering action on forced labour camps in Xinjiang

Asked at a White House press conference about Chinas denials of forced labour camps in Xinjiang, President Trump said his administration is considering taking action on reports of human rights abuses.

Were getting reports in over the next two, three days. Well know very accurately what the story is and will then take action, one way or another, Trump said.

17:48 ET  Trump warns of fraud in US election from mail-in ballots

President Trump warned at a White House press conference against the potential for fraud in the November election from mail-in ballots, a theme he has pushed without concrete evidence.

The biggest problem we have is on the ballots, millions of ballots going out, thats the biggest problem, Trump said.

Our biggest threat to this election is governors from opposing parties controlling ballots, millions of ballots. To me thats a much bigger threat than foreign countries, Trump said.

US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters at a news conference in the White House in Washington, DC, September 16, 2020. [Leah Millis/Reuters]

17:35 ET  Trump: Coronavirus vaccine likely to be approved in October

Were very close to that vaccine as you know, closer than most people want to say or certainly than most people understand, President Trump said at a White House news conference.

Trump said a vaccine for the coronavirus could be announced as soon as October. White House virus adviser Scott Atlas said the first doses for high-priority recipients would come in January.

To get the vaccine in the hands of American people, were fully mobilizing the awesome power of American industry and also our military, Trump said.

Im calling on Biden to stop promoting his anti-vaccine theories because all theyre doing is hurting the importance of what were doing, he said.

Separately, the Trump administration released a sweeping plan to distribute vaccines free to the public when one becomes available. Congress had including funding for the plan in coronavirus legislation.

16:45 ET  Biden: Trumps virus response utterly disqualifying for presidency

Biden has said Trumps coronavirus response has been utterly disqualifying for the presidency, while reiterating he would sign an executive order for a national mask mandate if he has the power as president to do so.

The presidents first responsibility is to protect the American people, and he wont. And its utterly disqualifying, Biden said during a speech on his coronavirus response plan.

Biden also said that he did not believe his concerns over a vaccine developed under Trump would discourage citizens from eventually getting a vaccine, saying, instead, his suggested reviews would make people more confident.

He added that he thinks front line health workers and those at the highest risk should be the first to get the vaccine, while doubling down that he would seek to mandate a national mask requirement.

We all want a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible, but it needs to be based on science  not politics. Tune in as I discuss how we can develop and equitably distribute a safe and effective vaccine: https://t.co/KPxTaqAiVd  Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) September 16, 2020

16:30 ET  Biden says Trump, on his own, should not be trusted on vaccine

Biden has said Trump, on his own, should not be trusted on a coronavirus vaccine, but said he would trust a vaccine developed under Trumps watch if approved by non-partisan scientists.

Trump has repeatedly said a vaccine could be ready before the election, despite experts saying that developing a safe vaccine in that timeline is extremely unlikely.

Scientific breakthroughs dont care about calendars any more than the virus does, Biden said during a speech in Wilmington, Delaware. They certainly dont adhere to election cycles and their timing their approval and their distribution should never ever be distorted by political considerations.

Let me be clear. I trust vaccines, I trust scientists, but I dont trust Donald Trump. At this moment the American people cant either, Biden said, adding a vaccine developed by Trump would need to answer three questions: What criteria will be used to ensure that a vaccine meets the scientific standard of safety? Who will validate the development was driven by science and not politics? And how will safe distribution be assured?





16:15 ET  Biden slams Trumps town hall comments

Biden has slammed Trumps comments on the coronavirus made during Tuesday nights town hall.

During the Philadelphia event, Trump denied that he intentionally down-played the virus in the early days of the pandemic, as detailed in recorded interviews with reporter Bob Woodward. Trump instead told undecided voters he up-played the virus and hailed his administration as doing a tremendous job in responding to the pandemic.

This virus is still taking nearly 1,000 lives a day. Forecast show that those numbers are likely to climb this winter, but incredibly Donald Trump insists that he wouldnt have done anything differently, Biden said on Wednesday.

All President Trump had to offer last night was the same weak and feckless action, the same lies and empty promises that weve seen from the very beginning, he said.

Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks after participating in a coronavirus vaccine briefing with public health experts [File: Patrick Semansky/The Associated Press]

15:45 ET  New poll spells trouble for prominent Republican senators

A new Quinnipiac University poll spells trouble for Senators Lindsey Graham and Susan Collins, who are both running for re-election in November.

The poll shows Democrat Sara Gideon leading the race among likely voters in Maine 54 percent to 42 percent over Collins, who is seeking her fifth term and is considered one of the most moderate Republicans in the chamber.

Meanwhile, in South Carolina, Senator Lindsey Graham, who is seeking his fourth term and has largely tied his political fate to support for Trump, is tied with his Democratic challenger Jaime Harrison. Both candidates have 48 percent support of likely voters.

Democrats need to win four seats to claim a majority in the Senate if Trump is re-elected, and three seats if Biden wins. The vice president casts the tie breaking vote in the event the chamber is split.

Senator Lindsey Graham has tied his political fate to supporting Trump [File: Anjum Naveed/The Associated Press]

15:15 ET  Donor says some Trump allies fear he is overconfident on debate

A prominent Republican donor who supports Trump has said some in Trumps orbit are worried hes overconfident on the upcoming debates against Democrat Joe Biden.

Dan Eberhart says Trump came off as a little coarse when confronted by undecided voters at Tuesdays town hall in Philadelphia, according to the Associated Press news agency.

Eberhart said: Frankly, I expected President Trump to be better prepared to cajole undecided voters over to his side of the fence at the town hall.

He added: President Trump seemed unaware that he needed to downshift his rhetoric to something more moderate being as how his audience was undecided voters and not attendees of one of his rallies.





14:45 ET  The Take podcast: How will Black women voters affect the election?

Biden kept his vow of choosing a woman as his running mate, selecting Senator Kamala Harris.

Harris, the daughter of Indian and Jamaican immigrants, is the first Black woman on a major party ticket in US history.

This episode of Al Jazeeras The Take podcast explores the power of Black women voters  one of the most important slices of the American electorate in deciding who takes the White House.

14:30 ET  Romney says Senate Biden probe not legitimate role of government

Senator Mitt Romney has sharply criticised a Republican investigation Bidens son, saying its not the legitimate role of government to try and damage political opponents.

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Ron Johnson has said the panel will issue a report on Hunter Bidens activities in Ukraine before the November election. Johnson, a close ally of President Donald Trump, is leading the investigation into Burisma, a gas company in Ukraine that paid Hunter Biden to serve as a board member while Joe Biden was vice president.

Johnson insists that the investigation is not designed to hurt Biden. Democrats on Wednesday introduced a resolution to end the probe.

Romney, the former 2012 Republican presidential candidate, has repeatedly criticised the probe, saying at a committee meeting on Wednesday that the probe from the outset had the earmarks of a political exercise.

Senator Mitt Romney has again criticised his partys Senate investigation of Bidens son [File: Mike Segar/Reuters]

14:15 ET  White House sees decision in short order on TikTok

The Trump administration will make a decision soon on a proposed deal for Oracle to become a trusted technology provider for the US operations of Chinas social media platform TikTok, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany has said.

Well have a decision here in short order, McEnany said. I dont want to get ahead of the president but obviously we care deeply about protecting the data and security of American citizens.

Marco Rubio and five other Republican senators have called on the Trump administration to reject the deal if ties to Chinese owner Bytedance remain.

14:00 ET  Top Trump health officials say they are not aware of new health plan

Three top Trump administration health officials have said they are not aware of a Trump health care plan that would replace the Obama-era Affordable Care Act, as the president and his aides have said a new plan would soon be announced.

Trump has sought to overturn the Affordable Care Act, but has not introduced a plan that would replace it.

Testifying before a senate committee, Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary for health at the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Dr Robert Kadlec, the assistant secretary for preparedness and response said they were not aware of the new health plan the president has referenced. The officials all said developing such a plan was not part of their primary responsibilities.

Kayleigh McEnany just told @kaitlancollins to "come work at the White House" in response to her questioning on who's working on the Trump health care plan. Isn't the entire purpose of the WH briefing to find out more about what's going with WH policy?  Chris Johnson (@chrisjohnson82) September 16, 2020

When asked who was working on the new plan, if the top health officials in the administration are not, White House spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany said We have a wide array of people working on it.

When pushed, she responded: Im not going to give you a readout of what our health care plan looks like and whos working on it. If you want to know come work here at the White House.





13:30 ET  Biden receives virtual coronavirus briefing

Joe Biden is receiving a virtual briefing from a former US surgeon general and a collection of health experts on how best to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Bidens campaign created a virtual studio that connected the former vice president via video with former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and six other experts at a theater in downtown Wilmington, Delaware. Biden will give a speech on the topic later in the day.

David Kessler, board chairman and director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, stressed for Biden the important of requirements increasing universal masking but also increased testing and contact tracing. He suggested doing so could save thousands of lives and ultimately be more effective between now and early next year as vaccines are being developed.

Students wear protective masks as they arrive for classes at the Immaculate Conception School while observing COVID-19 prevention protocols in The Bronx borough of New York [File: John Minchillo/The Associated Press]

13:00 ET  CDC director denies agency altered publications on coronavirus

The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has told Senate lawmakers that his agency has not altered its scientific publications on the coronavirus.

That comes despite pressure from Trump officials who allege the agency has worked against the re-election of Trump.

Dr Robert Redfield testified that the CDCs scientific integrity  has not been compromised and it will not be compromised under my watch.

Last week news outlets reported that Michael Caputo, a Health and Human Services Department political appointee, tried to gain editorial control over CDCs weekly scientific report. In a separate online video last week, Caputo reportedly said some CDC scientists constituted a resistance unit conspiring against the Trump administration.

12:30 ET  Report: Group pays teenagers to pump out pro-Trump disinformation on social media

An affiliate of a prominent conservative youth organisation based in Arizona is paying teenagers, including minors, to pump out pro-Trump disinformation on social media, according to a Washington Post report.

The operation is similar to those used by bots to send out spam-like messages, but is carried out by people paid to use their own accounts, according to the newspaper. It is being bankrolled by Turning Point Action, which is an affiliate of Turning Point USA, a prominent conservative youth organisation. The posts to do not reveal any connection to the group.

The Post reported the operation had generated thousands of posts over summer on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, in what experts said was one of the most ambitious domestic election influence campaigns of this election cycle.

Twitter and Facebook suspended several accounts after being contacted by the newspaper, meanwhile, a field director for Turning Point Action said the comparison to a troll farm was a gross mischaracterisation, describing the the operation as sincere political activism conducted by real people who passionately hold the beliefs they describe online, not an anonymous troll farm in Russia.





12:00 ET  Billionaire Sheldon Adelson plans to spend up to $50m to support Trump

Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson is planning a spending spree that could total up to $50 million to help Trump beat Biden, according to CNBC.

A source told CNBC that Adelson was currently in touch with Republican officials over where to best deploy the money, amid reports that Trumps war chest is lacking following a free-spending approach early in the campaign.

Billionaire Mike Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City, said earlier this week that he would spend $100 million to help Biden win Florida, a state considered essential to any path to victory for Trump.

Businessman and Republican donor Sheldon Adelson is reportedly planning a spending spree to support Trump [File: Evan Vucci/The Associated Press]

11:30 ET  Democrat poised to become US highest ranking transgender elected official

Sarah McBride, a transgender rights activist, is set to become the countrys highest ranking openly transgender elected official after winning the primary for a State Senate seat in Delaware , according to the New York Times.

McBride, 30, is expected to easily win during the general election in November.

Right now in America, we are seeing voices that for so long were pushed to the margins and to the shadows finally being heard, she told the newspaper.

Biden wrote the forward to McBrides 2018 book, which detailed her work for transgender rights.

Tonight sends a powerful signal that candidates like me can win. Everyone deserves to see themselves in government, to follow their dreams, and to be accepted by their community. I will never take for granted the honor of carrying that mantle. https://t.co/B9ScJXddkF  Sen. Sarah McBride (@SarahEMcBride) September 16, 2020

11:00 ET  Twitter labels Biden video tweeted by Trump manipulated media

Twitter has labeled a video shared twice by US President Donald Trump of Democratic presidential rival Joe Biden as manipulated media.

The video, which appeared to show Biden playing rap group NWAs song, F tha Police, now displays a warning that links to collated tweets showing the actual event, where Biden pulled out his phone to play Luis Fonsis hit Despacito at a Hispanic Heritage Month event in Florida after being introduced by Fonsi.

Trump has cast himself as a law-and-order president during the campaign, in response to widespread protests, most of them peaceful, following the police killing of George Floyd, a Black man in Minneapolis. He tweeted with the edited video: What is this all about?

A Twitter spokeswoman said the video, which garnered more than 2.8 million views, was labeled based on its synthetic and manipulated media policy. The United Spot, self-described as making satirical videos, posted the original tweet.





10:30 ET  Delaware: Political firebrand wins Republican primary for US Senate seat

Political newcomer and firebrand Lauren Witzke, who campaigned on halting US immigration for 10 years, has won the Republican US Senate primary in Delaware, defeating the partys endorsed candidate.

In November, Witzke will challenge incumbent Senator Chris Coons, who easily won the Democratic primary and is expected to win handily in the deeply blue state.

Witzke, who worked as an Iowa field operator for President Donald Trump last year, defeated attorney James DeMartino, a former marine who has twice run unsuccessfully for the legislative seat held by Delawares Democratic state House speaker.

Witzke has tried to distance herself from accusations by some opponents that she supports QAnon. The far-right conspiracy theory centres on an alleged anonymous, high-ranking government official known as Q, who shares information about deep state enemies of Trump often tied to child sex trafficking.

America First beat the GOP establishment tonight! Lets get ready take it to Chris Coons next!! Thank you all so much for your support! Let's Make America Great Again!  pic.twitter.com/RqUYjWgfL9  Lauren Witzke for U.S. Senate (@LaurenWitzkeDE) September 16, 2020

10:00 ET  Biden campaign releases new healthcare advertisements

The Biden campaign has said it is increasing spending in battleground states, including two new advertisements that focus on healthcare.

Two of the advertisements feature parents, a mother in Texas and a father in Arizona, who recount their experience having a child with a pre-existing condition.

The advertisements come after Trump was confronted at a Tuesday town hall over the Obama-era Affordable Care Act, which Trump has repeatedly sought to repeal, without presenting an alternative plan.

09:30 ET  Biden to deliver speech on COVID-19 vaccine

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden will lay out on how he plans to develop and distribute a safe coronavirus vaccine, seeking to draw a contrast with Trumps approach to combating the pandemic.

Biden will deliver remarks in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, after being briefed by public health experts on the efforts to develop a vaccine for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Biden has continually attacked what he describes as Trumps mishandling of the pandemic. While he has said he wants a vaccine as soon as safely possible, he has questioned whether Trump is pressuring drug safety agencies to fast-track an inoculant before the November 3 election.

At a Philadelphia town hall on Tuesday, Trump again asserted a vaccine could be available within a month, despite health experts saying such a timeline is extremely unlikely.





09:00 ET  White House seeks to clarify Trump herd mentality statement

White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany has sought to clarify statements made by Trump during a Tuesday town hall in which he said the virus would go away over a period of time as herd mentality would develop.

McEnany, in an interview on Fox News, said Trump was referring to herd immunity.

Well, the term herd immunity is a medical term which means that when you have a certain percentage of a population with antibodies, you have herd immunity, McEnany said. It can be done via a vaccine or via prior illness that you develop the antibodies.

What the president said very clearly there is that a vaccine gets you there quickest, she said.

_______________________________________________________________

Hello and welcome to Al Jazeeras continuing coverage of the US elections. This is Joseph Stepansky.

Read all the updates from yesterday (September 15) here.
Windhoek (Namibia), Sept 16, 2020 (SPS) - The Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Namibia, Jenelly Matundu, has reaffirmed the unwavering position of her country in support to the just issue of the Saharawi people for their self-determination and total independence.

During her speech at the online conference organized by the Geneva Group of Countries to Support Western Sahara, Jenelly Matundu stressed the need to promote practical measures to accelerate the decolonization of Western Sahara, forcing the international community to comply with its obligations and strict compliance with UN resolutions.

She also recalled that the UN clearly recognizes the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination, and even defines Morocco as an occupying power.

Coinciding with the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of Resolution 1514 of the United Nations General Assembly, Namibian diplomacy reaffirms the testimony of solidarity with the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, noting in the same context that its country led a liberation struggle for 30 years and you know very well the meaning of colonialism and the suffering of the colonized peoples.

In the presence of diplomats, representatives of different countries and international organizations, the Vice Minister has called for more pressure to enforce Resolution 1514 of the United Nations General Assembly in the last colony of Africa.

Jenelly Matundu concluded her statement by praising this international symposium organized by the Geneva Group for Western Sahara, highlighting that this call constitutes a kind of solidarity with the Saharawi people and support for their liberation struggle.SPS

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-17 02:05:35|Editor: huaxia

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Video: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sept. 16, 2020 calls on the international community to come together to defeat COVID-19. (Xinhua)

"Many pin their hopes on a vaccine - but let's be clear: there is no panacea in a pandemic," says Antonio Guterres.



UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday called on the international community to come together to defeat COVID-19.

"The virus is the number one global security threat in our world today," the UN chief said at a hybrid press conference, noting that this is the moment when "the international community needs to come together to defeat the virus."

"Many pin their hopes on a vaccine - but let's be clear: there is no panacea in a pandemic," the secretary-general noted. "A vaccine alone cannot solve this crisis; certainly not in the near term."

Photo taken on Sept. 15, 2020 shows Russia's new COVID-19 vaccine named "Sputnik V" during the phase-3 clinical trials in Moscow, Russia. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr/Xinhua)

"We need to massively expand new and existing tools that can respond to new cases and provide vital treatment to suppress transmission and save lives, especially over the next 12 months," said Guterres.

The UN chief stressed that starting now, a vaccine must be seen as "a global public good, because COVID-19 respects no borders."

"We need a vaccine to be affordable and available to all - a people's vaccine," he noted. "That means a quantum leap in funding for the ACT-Accelerator and its COVAX Facility."

"For any vaccine to work, people across the globe need to be willing to take it," said the secretary-general, adding that "with the spread of the virus, we are also seeing a proliferation of misinformation about a future vaccine."

Photo taken on May 18, 2020 shows a logo in front of AstraZeneca's building in Luton, Britain. AstraZeneca, which is developing a possible vaccine against COVID-19 in partnership with the University of Oxford, on Wednesday put on hold the phase-3 trial of its vaccine following an unexplained illness in one trial participant in Britain. (Photo by Tim Ireland/Xinhua)

"This is fueling vaccine hesitancy and igniting wild conspiracy theories," he noted.

Guterres underscored that "mistrust in vaccines" is on the rise around the world.

"We have seen alarming reports of large segments of the population in some countries indicating their reluctance or even refusal to take a future COVID-19 vaccine," he elaborated.

"In the face of this lethal disease, we must do our utmost to halt deadly misinformation," said the secretary-general. 
The end of the UK government's Eat Out to Help Out scheme hasn't dampened Britons' taste for dining out, findings released today by Tripadvisor have revealed.

The travel platform found that in the first two weeks of September, the volume of UK users searching for places to eat was in line with 2019 levels of demand, in stark contrast to the lower levels of demand the restaurant sector had faced in the months preceding the introduction of the Eat Out to Help Out scheme.

Comparing year-on-year traffic volumes on Tripadvisor, traffic to UK restaurant pages in the first two weeks of September dipped slightly compared to the August peak, when the Eat Out to Help Out discount was introduced by the government to help kick-start spending in the hospitality sector.

Tripadvisor says the end of the UK government's Eat Out to Help Out scheme hasn't dampened Britons' taste for dining out

But it still gained 38 percentage points compared to the first two weeks of July and a whopping 67 percentage points compared to the first two weeks of June, says the travel website.

Martin Verdon-Roe, General Manager, Hospitality Solutions, Tripadvisor, said: 'The early signs are that Eat Out to Help Out may have had a lasting impact on diner confidence, with people returning to their favourite restaurants even after the government scheme ended.

'Some of that may be down to restaurants voluntarily extending the discount, but it is also likely a sign that once diners feel comfortable enough to take that first step back into a restaurant, they will keep coming back.'

The village of Bowness-on-Windermere has come second in a list of the 10 fastest-growing destinations in Europe for international tourists. Number one is Belek, Turkey

TEN FASTEST GROWING EUROPEAN DESTINATIONS FOR INTERNATIONAL VISITORS FOR AUTUMN 2020 1. Belek, Turkey 2. Bowness-on-Windermere 3. Marseille, France 4. Side, Turkey 5. Sochi, Russia 6. Adler, Russia 7. Killarney, Ireland 8. Scarborough 9. Llandudno 10. Windermere Source: Tripadvisor - based on year-on-year growth Advertisement

The restaurant data was revealed in Tripadvisor's Seasonal Travel Index, which combines search data with consumer survey analysis to track accommodation and dining trends across the globe during the Covid-19 pandemic.

It found that globally, domestic travel for the autumn season (September 1 to November 30, 2020) continues to gradually recover, with nearly two-thirds (65 per cent) of all travellers planning domestic getaways during that period.

Tripadvisor says that outdoor adventures, which have gained popularity since the beginning of the pandemic, are continuing to interest travellers this autumn.

It adds that nearly half (44 per cent) of UK travellers are more likely to consider outdoor or nature trips and more than a third (35 per cent) are more likely to consider a road trip now, compared to before the pandemic.

It also found that retreats to countryside and seaside destinations are on the rise.

And that British destinations are benefiting from a recovery in inbound tourism by international visitors (those visiting from outside the country).

Four British towns are among the 10 fastest-growing destinations in Europe for international tourists, with Bowness-on-Windermere second on the list, behind Belek in Turkey.

Scarborough takes eighth place, the Welsh town of Llandudno is ninth and Windermere is 10th.

Other European destinations in the top 10 are Marseille in France (third), Side in Turkey (fourth), Sochi in Russia (fifth), Adler in Russia (sixth) and the Irish town of Killarney (seventh).
As the saying goes, something cheap can turn out to be expensive. Unfortunately that is often the case for patients who undergo bariatric surgery for obesity in countries where such operations cost three or four times less than they would in a private hospital in Malaga, where the complete process is likely to range from 14,000 to 15,000 euros.

The problem is that bariatric surgery is complicated and should only be carried out by experienced surgeons who are authorised to carry out this type of operation. They also need to work as part of a multidisciplinary team so that they are able to immediately resolve any complications that may occur.

One of the reasons that morbidly obese patients go abroad for bariatric surgery is the long waiting list to have the operation on the health service in Malaga. The delay can be as long as six years, because these operations were not included in a decree which sets a maximum waiting time.

The situation has become even worse with the present coronavirus pandemic, because operations for obesity have been suspended for several months in health service hospitals in Andalucia.

Complications

While there is such a long wait here, there are clinics in Turkey offering to carry out these operations for 3,000 euros, and others in Lithuania for just over 6,000 euros, so some people decide to travel to these countries for surgery.

The problem is when complications arise and the patient has to stay in hospital longer than expected, because the hospital bill can then become much more expensive.

There can also be problems after the patient has returned home to Malaga and they have to be treated by the health service, or a private hospital if the patient can afford to pay for it.

"Surgery for obesity isn't something that any surgeon is able to do. It is a complicated operation and it requires a multidisciplinary team of professionals who carry out a complete study of each case before the surgery takes place. Health comes first.

"People need to be very careful in choosing where to have their operation, because their life is at stake," says Cesar Ramirez, who is the head of General and Digestive Surgery at the Quironsalud Malaga hospital.

Because these patients need complete care, they should be seen by endocrinologists, nutritionists, surgeons, psychologists, interventionist radiographers and intensive medicine practitioners, insists the head of the Gastroesophageal Surgery and Obesity Init at the Regional Hospital (formerly called the Carlos Haya), Javier Moreno.

He warns of the dangers of low-cost bariatric surgery abroad because of the risks associated with these operations, and says they need to be carried out in accredited and solvent hospitals.

"No patient needs to leave Malaga to undergo surgery for obesity, because in both the health service and the private sector there are highly-trained professionals and guarantees of quality," says Cesar Ramirez.

He stresses that with these patients surgery is a last resort and should only take place if an endocrinologist recommends it.

It must be carried out with very safe technology, and he says the surgeon who carries out the operation should be the person who monitors the patient afterwards. This is often not the case when the surgery takes place in a private clinic abroad.

Bariatric or obesity surgery is the final solution for people whose weight is so excessive that it is causing different health problems. Once other slimming methods have failed, and after being seen by an endocrinology specialist, surgery is sometimes considered the best option for a sufficient weight loss.
Luanda  Permanent Representative of Angola to the United Nations Offices in Nairobi Sianga Abilio attended the 151st meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives to the United Nations Environment Programme ( UNEP) held Monday the capital of Kenya.

According to a note from the Angolan diplomatic institution in Kenya, the meeting, which brought together around 300 participants, discussed the preparatory process for the 5th United Nations Environment Assembly the main global forum on environmental protection. environment, scheduled for February 2021, in Nairobi. Due to the limits imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the UNEP committee and Executive Director Inger Anderson agreed on the need to continue working on a multilateral consultation process to find an exact date for the holding. of this assembly.
With many Canadians now working from home, renovation projects are on the upswing as homeowners retrofit their properties to accommodate the new normal.

Were definitely seeing an uptick in home renovations, Scott McGillivray, star of HGTV Canadas Income Property, told Financial Post. Currently, I have about a dozen major home renovation projects on the go for the show and for personal investment properties.

According to McGillivray, a work-from-anywhere-future means that recreational properties probably have the best long-term opportunity for retaining and gaining value because of their potential to be renovated according to the new reality.
From life on the old railways to the War of Independence and the high society of the Big House, few key aspects of the modern history of Kerry have been left out, as ever, from the latest offering of Irish Life and Lore.

But this time historian couple Maurice and Jane O'Keeffe are delivering their work in a series of fascinating podcasts under the Irish Life and Lore brand online.

Fans of historic Ireland can simply access the podcasts -for free - from their preferred podcast source and download away for their listening pleasure.

The Covid-19 lockdown finally gave Maurice and Jane a chance to trawl their impressive archive of oral history to being putting the individual podcasts together.

"We've begun to produce podcasts using recordings from our archive of over 4,000 oral history recordings," they explained this week.

"Sound clips from recordings in many of the Irish Life and Lore oral history collections can be heard and each podcast is approximately an hour in duration."

It's amazing what can be squeezed into an hour. Among the episodes already made available are Irish War of Independence - Bloody Sunday, complete with eyewitness accounts of the 1920 slaughter in Croke Park; The Kilmichael Ambush featuring the testimony of West Cork Flying Column member Dan Donovan; Michael Collins - The Treaty and Beal na mBlath Ambush; the Kilmorna Visitors Book detailing the many fascinating personalities who paid visits to the big house of North Kerry and complete with interviews with local historians as well as descendants of the Mahony family who once held court there; the lives of Irish Racing People; The Civil War in Kerry and much, much more.

Just added to the series this week is the episode Links to the Great Irish Potato Famine featuring interviews with people just a few generations removed from the devastation.
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Linkedin Hugo Greenhalgh (Reuters) London, United Kingdom  Wed, September 16, 2020 12:08 492 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c4516ff9 2 Books jk-rowling,transgender,Book,author,Britain,Harry-Potter,Troubled-Blood Free

Best-selling Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has stoked anger in the transgender community by including a cross-dressing serial killer in her latest novel, published on Tuesday.

Penned under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, Troubled Blood is Rowling's fifth book to feature private investigator Cormoran Strike, the first four of which have been dramatized by the BBC.

Rowling has faced serial accusations of transphobia in recent months and trans activists said the new book appeared to take a deliberate swipe at the community.

"It's really sad to see this road J.K. Rowling appears to be on," said writer and trans advocate Ugla Stefania Kristjonudottir Jonsdottir, who quit Rowling's literary agency in June in protest at the writer's stance.

"It's one thing to have diverse characters, but when you write about a man dressing up as a woman in order to kill women, you are deliberately enforcing an awful trope about transgender people."

Admirers of the Harry Potter books were among those to express their anger.

the hardest part of being a Harry Potter fan is JK Rowling herself  RTGame Daniel (@RTGameCrowd) September 15, 2020

"The hardest part of being a Harry Potter fan is JK Rowling herself," one said on Twitter on Tuesday.

The trans rights row does not appear to have dented sales, however, with the various hardback, audiobook and Kindle versions of Troubled Blood all occupying top five positions in Amazon's best sellers' list on Tuesday.

The book revolves around the case of a woman missing since 1974 and presumed to be the unknown victim of a long-jailed serial killer.

In one scene in the novel, the murderer disguises himself as a woman in order to abduct his victim.

Read also: Disney, Google, Microsoft back trans rights amid fierce British debate

'This is fiction'

Rowling weighed into the trans rights debate in June, when she published an initial tweet criticizing a headline that said "creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate".

"'People who menstruate'. I'm sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?" Rowling tweeted at the time.

The writer, whose Harry Potter series has sold more than 500 million books, followed the tweet with a 3,600-word essay, in which she disclosed she had been a victim of domestic abuse and sexual assault.

Rowling's agent said the writer would not be commenting further.

But while many in the trans community were outraged by what they saw as further transphobia from the world's wealthiest author, others have defended her.

Robbie Coltrane, who played a recurring character in the Harry Potter film series, which has grossed a total of almost $8 billion, told a British magazine that people were "waiting to be offended".

"I don't think what she said was offensive really," the actor told Radio Times, despite the film series' three main leads, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, having publicly criticized Rowling's past trans remarks.

Bev Jackson, co-founder of activist group LGB Alliance, said many of the attacks, which saw the hashtag #RIPJKRowling trending on Twitter, amounted to "misogyny".

It was "extraordinary that people have opinions about a book they haven't read", she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation on Tuesday.

"There are thousands of thrillers published every year, many of them will feature people who dress up in disguises, and this is fiction."
MILFORD  Police and the state medical examiners office are investigating after human remains were found Tuesday in the burned wreckage of a boarded-up commercial building.

The fire has been extinguished and upon inspecting the building, a male was located deceased inside, Milford police spokeswoman Marilisa Anania said Tuesday.

Police have established a perimeter around the scene at 51 Roses Mill Road.

Milford police detectives and the city fire marshal are on the scene and investigating, Anania said.

The address sits just off the Boston Post Road in eastern Milford adjacent to the lot that holds the Homegoods and Marshalls department stores.

Photos of the building on Google Streetview show a three-story wood-framed structure with boarded up doors.

State medical examiner James Gill said one decedent was reported to his office.

An investigation is underway, he said.

Authorities have not publicly identified the body.

The Milford fire department was called to the scene around 10 p.m. Monday, according to initial dispatch reports.

A working fire was confirmed minutes later, and multiple units were called to the scene.

A video posted to the departments Facebook page showed flames and smoke engulfing the structure while multiple fire units and a ladder truck worked to extinguish the blaze.

Crews reported the first floor of the building was missing and the fire extended into the basement, forcing them to tackle the fire from the exterior of the structure.

The wood frame commercial building was built in 1990, according to Milford property records. It was sold in April last year to Milford Crossing LLC, a company with a mailing address in Las Vegas.

Staff writer Dan Tepfer contributed to this story.
The West Nile virus outbreak continues to claim lives in southern Spain. The latest victim is an 87-year-old woman who died after succumbing to meningoencephalitis at Puerto Real hospital in Cadiz province. She is the fourth person to die from the virus in the region of Andalusia, and the first victim reported in Cadiz, where five cases have been confirmed, including three patients who have been hospitalized and one who is in intensive care.

The West Nile virus, which is mostly spread by the common Culex mosquito, causes a death rate of 0.1% among those infected, inflammation of the meninges and the brain (meningoencephalitis) among 1%, and a controllable fever among 20%.

Although the West Nile virus outbreak appears to have stabilized, experts warn that it could continue to cause more fatalities

Last week, transmission of the virus began to be detected in Cadiz, with three patients admitted to Puerto Real hospital from different areas in the province. Until recently, all cases had been recorded in Seville province in municipalities on the banks of the Guadalquivir river, where mosquitoes are commonly found. In Seville there are 24 cases of the virus, with seven patients in hospital and three in intensive care.

The presence of the West Nile virus in Cadiz was the topic of the first videoconference between the government delegation in the province and local mayors in the area. At the remote meeting on Monday, authorities agreed to establish two risk zones, one situated in the municipal area of Puerto Real and another in the triangle formed by the towns of Alcala de los Gazules, Benalup-Casas Viejas and Medina Sidonia, and with the bordering municipalities of Vejer, Conil and Barbate, where the environmental conditions are favorable to mosquito larvae.

The next step will be to inform the public of what measures should be taken to prevent mosquito bites. Authorities will then move to eliminate the adult mosquito population and to control the insects larvae.

Up until recently, all cases had been recorded in Seville province

This second phase of the plan was launched on September 7 in Seville province, with drones used to fumigate the marshes and rice fields on the banks of the Guadalquivir river. The initiative was carried out by the Andalusian regional government, which fast-tracked a 100,000 contract to complete the fumigation work. At the beginning of the outbreak, the regional government was reluctant to assume responsibility for the disinfection work, despite calls from several mayors of the affected areas, such as Coria and Puebla del Rio. At their insistence, the Andalusian government agreed not only to take charge of the fumigation work this year, but also in the coming years, according to the action plan to control the mosquito population that was presented by the regional health department early this month.

Although the West Nile virus outbreak appears to have stabilized, experts warn that it could continue to cause more fatalities.

English version by Melissa Kitson.
Camper fire claims the life of two people in Marshall County
Distribution Realty Group ("DRG") is pleased to announce that Curran Darling has been named Partner over the Midwest Region after purchasing an equity stake in the firms holding company.

Mr. Darling joined DRG in 2016 as a Senior Vice President in charge of Acquisitions and Asset Management in the firms Chicago office. In that role, Mr. Darling oversaw the development, leasing, and disposition of over 1.5 million square feet in Chicago and spearheaded the firms efforts to enter the Indianapolis market with a large speculative development project in the Plainfield submarket.

Prior to joining DRG, Mr. Darling was at JLL, where we worked in the Industrial Capital Markets platform, performing investment sales, equity raising and recapitalizations for clients across the country. Mr. Darling graduated from Villanova University and is an active alumni member of the Dan DiLella Center for Real Estate, where he sits on the Nova Next Council board.

Distribution Realty Group

DRG was founded in 2013 as a private industrial real estate company with offices in Chicago and Nashville. The firm's complimentary investment approach blends institutional scale with local entrepreneurial focus. DRG has acquired and developed over 4 million square feet of industrial properties. For more information, please visit http://www.distributionrealty.com.
CEO and chairman of casino company Las Vegas Sands Sheldon Adelson (L) listens as US President Donald Trump delivers remarks at a Keep America Great rally in Las Vegas, Nevada, on February 21, 2020.

Casino magnate and Republican megadonor Sheldon Adelson is plotting a spending blitz to support President Donald Trump with just under 50 days to go until Election Day, CNBC has learned.

Adelson, CEO of Las Vegas Sands, is looking to spend around $20 million to $50 million in a last-ditch effort to help Trump overcome Joe Biden, according to people familiar with the matter.

Most of the money is expected to go toward the new pro-Trump super PAC, Preserve America, these people added. Other organizations, including the Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee and groups helping Republicans in Congress, could also see some of Adelson's money.

One of the people noted that Adelson's team has recently been in touch with GOP officials close to Trump about where best to deploy the cash. Another person noted that Adelson was a major donor who helped get Preserve America up and running. The people declined to be named as these efforts are private.

A person with Preserve America said the group would not confirm any donor information with anybody but the Federal Election Commission.

Representatives for Adelson did not return repeated requests for comment.

The development comes after Axios recently reported that Adelson's top advisor, Andy Abboud, told a group of Republican donors that Adelson and his wife, Miriam, are planning to jump in to help Trump.

"I just want to say that I just spoke to the Adelsons," Abboud reportedly said last month. "They are 110% behind the president. And that's going to become apparent shortly." Adelson, according to The New York Times, previously had a tense phone call with Trump, who accused the casino executive of not doing enough to help him.

Still, since their efforts to help Trump in 2016, the Adelsons have remained close to the president. Miriam Adelson received the Presidential Medal of Freedom two years ago, and Trump named Sheldon Adelson, along with several other business leaders, to the coronavirus-related "Opening Our Country Council."

Trump may need more fundraising support from a big donor like Adelson than he lets on. His campaign was behind Biden's in the overall amount they raised in August, with the former vice president and the Democratic National Committee bringing in $364.5 million last month. Trump and the Republican National Committee raised $210 million over the same period.

Democratic super PACs are combining to outspend many of the pro-Trump super PACs at the moment. Some Republican donors have been critical about the efforts being made by the pro-Trump PAC America First Action, which, as Politico reported, led to the creation of Preserve America and the expectation that Adelson would give to the PAC.

Trump trails Biden by 6.6 points, according to a Real Clear Politics national polling average.

The developments also come after Democratic billionaire Mike Bloomberg pledged to spend $100 million supporting Biden in swing state Florida. Bloomberg's money will go toward a mix of television and digital ads targeting voters in that state, plus money earmarked for Democratic super PACs, and other Florida election efforts already underway, an aide told CNBC.

Bloomberg has a net worth of just over $54 billion and Adelson has a net worth of $33 billion, according to Forbes.

Trump's Preserve America is in the midst of a $30 million ad blitz that, in part, is also targeting Florida voters.

Adelson's potential spending spree could end up surpassing the amount he put up during the 2016 presidential election. Data from the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics shows that he and his wife combined to contribute over $82 million to mostly Republican causes that cycle. They were ranked second that cycle behind Democratic donor Tom Steyer and his wife, Kathryn, who gave $91 million to Democrats.

The Adelsons have given just over $27 million this cycle, CRP data shows.

They were the top donors during the 2018 congressional midterms, giving over $120 million, as the GOP lost its majority in the House and expanded its edge in the Senate.
A discount car rental company accused by the state Office of the Attorney General of lying to and misleading customers agreed to pay $80,000 in penalties.

Drivo Rent-A-Car, which operates out of Newark Liberty International Airport and New Yorks John F. Kennedy International Airport, billed different consumers for the same damage to the same rental vehicle, falsified accident reports and failed to disclose to existing damage rentals, among other allegations, the state attorney general said.

Companies that employ shady tactics to unfairly profit from their customers will be held accountable, Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said in a statement. We want drivers of rental cars in New Jersey to be confident that they arent being taken for a ride.

Drivo agreed to pay $44,524.87 in civil penalties, $2,677.88 in restitution to consumers, $9,535.25 in investigative costs and $23,262 in the states attorneys' fees.

It didnt immediately respond to a request for comment from NJ Advance Media.

Investigators also alleged Drivo posted deceptive and misleading online advertisements and failed to honor rental rates customers agreed to when booking vehicles online.

Drivo agreed to arbitration to resolve customers' complaints and to change the way it does business to be more transparent, the Attorney Generals office said.

Consumers who believe they have been cheated or scammed by a business, or suspect any other form of consumer abuse can file an online complaint with the State Division of Consumer Affairs by visiting its website or by calling 1-800-242-5846 to receive a complaint form by mail.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. (TAK) announced Wednesday that it has entered into an agreement to divest its TachoSil Fibrin Sealant Patch to Corza Health, Inc. for 350 million euros in cash. TachoSil is a surgical patch trusted by medical professionals globally to deliver safe, fast and reliable bleeding control. Takeda recorded full year net sales for TachoSil of approximately $160 million in the year ended March 31, 2020. Under the deal terms, Corza Health will acquire the assets and licenses that support the development and commercialization of TachoSil, while Takeda will maintain ownership of the manufacturing facility in Linz, Austria. Takeda has entered into a long-term manufacturing services agreement, under which it will continue to manufacture TachoSil products and supply them to Corza Health. The agreement is expected to close by March 31, 2021, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. Upon close, approximately 60 Takeda employees will have the opportunity to transition to Corza Health. Corza Health, formed as a partnership between private equity firm GTCR and healthcare industry veteran Gregory Lucier, focuses on the broader medical technology and life sciences sector. Takeda intends to use the proceeds from the deal to reduce its debt. The company in May 2019 had entered into an agreement for the sale of TachoSil to Ethicon, a Johnson & Johnson company. Takeda and Ethicon agreed to mutually terminate the transaction in April 2020 as a result of anti-trust concerns raised by the European Commission. 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.
QUITO, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Cash-strapped Ecuador has reached a deal to delay a looming $474 million loan payment due this year and next year to China's state-controlled and trade-focused ExIm Bank until 2022, the South American country's government said on Wednesday.

Ecuador is restructuring its foreign debt after the plunge in the price of oil, the country's main export, hit government revenue earlier this year. Ecuador reached a deal in August with the China Development Bank, another state lender, to delay a $417 million payment by a year.

It also reached a deal to exchange some $17.4 billion owed to bondholders into new bonds with later maturity dates.

"We have reprofiled the debt with ExIm Bank," President Lenin Moreno wrote on Twitter. "We have now renegotiated $891 million with Chinese banks. We continue reducing strain on public finances, and attracting more resources."

During the boom in oil prices in the past two decades, Ecuador took on billions of dollars in loans from Chinese financial institutions. But as the price of oil collapsed in recent years, the South American country has struggled to pay off its debts.

Ecuador's bilateral debt to China currently exceeds $5 billion, official figures show.

The deal announced on Wednesday delays payments on four credits granted to finance hydroelectric dams during former President Rafael Correa's tenure, some of the largest Ecuador received from China's ExIm Bank, the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry added that capital repayments would resume in March 2022 and that the country would finish paying by 2029. (Reporting by Luc Cohen; Editing by Peter Cooney)
Vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., joined California Gov. Gavin Newsom Tuesday in her home state to survey the devastation left behind by the Creek Fire in Fresno County and show support for the victims and firefighters.

Surrounded by a charred landscape with a smell of smoke in the air, Harris said "ideology should not kick in" when responding to wildfires and the climate crisis, a veiled criticism of President Donald Trump, though she did not say his name.

Harris' first trip to California as the Democratic vice presidential nominee came a day after Trump stopped in the Golden State for a briefing on the fires near Sacramento on Monday. The president rejected the scientific consensus that climate change is exacerbating the state's wildfires.

"The people who are victimized by these, they could care less and their children could care less who they voted for in the last election. This is not a partisan issue," Harris told reporters of the fires.
Flight Centre's boss believes Queensland will soon have no choice other than to open borders regardless of the coronavirus infection rates, or the state will be isolated from the rest of the country.

Graham Turner issued the warning as the business community and airlines called for more clarity on Queensland's approach to border restrictions.

"I think it is already a done deal that the borders with New South Wales will be opened," he said.

Flight Centre CEO Graham Turner with one of their "captains" that greet visitors to their stores. Credit:Paul Harris

"As soon as the Northern Territory and South Australia are opened to the ACT and Sydney, Queensland won't have any choice but to open up regardless of the infection rates, or they will have to be closed to the rest of Australia."
Peter Dinklage, the actor who rose to international stardom thanks to his role as Tyrion Lannister in Games of Thrones, has been pegged to produce and star in the upcoming psychological thriller, Keith.

This is Dinklages second collaborative effort with Searchlight Studios, whos leading the way in the movies development. His first work with the company, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, garnered worldwide acclaim.

Peter Dinklage Set to Star in Upcoming Searchlight Thriller Keith https://t.co/cQOuU2hCoW  Bloody Disgusting (@BDisgusting) September 15, 2020

Not much is known about the films plot or other cast members. What is known is that the script will be written by Haley Z. Boston who has notably worked on the Amazon original series, Hunters. Her script will be based upon a treatment by Sacha Gervasi of the Portobello Electric production company, which is also lending a hand in the films creation.

Other members of Portobello Electric including Jim Garavente, Jessica de Rothschild, and Hassan Taher are also involved with the film.
Increased homecare hours and better access to diagnostics for GPs - as well as measures to keep as many patients as possible out of hospital - will be key measures in the HSE's 600m winter plan.

The service is facing into a winter that could pose the greatest threat to people's health "in living memory", warned Health Minister Stephen Donnelly.

The plan will see additional beds inside and out of hospital, supporting cancer screening and care, and the hiring of thousands of people to run the testing and tracing system.

There will be widespread use of new assessment hubs across the country to treat patients in the community and avoid hospital admissions, with a particular focus on treating older people and managing patients with chronic diseases.

He said the health service would need to adopt a "zero tolerance" approach to overcrowding in any care environment this winter because of the risks of Covid-19.

"Before Covid arrived, we had the longest waiting lists anywhere in Europe - and they are now significantly longer because it takes longer to care for people and a lot of the services were shut down for several months.

"The challenges we are facing this winter are unprecedented. The combination of winter and what Covid has done to our healthcare system means that this winter will probably be the most challenging time in healthcare in living memory."

The winter plan also promises more than 30 Covid-19 test centres, six pop-up fleets, and contact tracing centres.

Commenting on the plan, the Irish Hospital Consultants Association said: "We note today's indications from Government that the promised winter plan is now just days away.

"The Minister for Health has promised that the plan will include more funding, beds and services.

"To work, these promises all depend on one fundamental - healthcare professionals.

"As it stands, the deficit in hospital consultants is stark - with 500 permanent posts unfilled and our overall numbers 40pc below the EU average.

"Until we meaningfully recruit to address this deficit, waiting times will continue to grow and patients will not get the level of care they deserve this winter. We await the plan's publication with interest."

Meanwhile, the Asthma Society of Ireland in its Pre-Budget Submission is calling upon the Government to subsidise all asthma medications.

It said that currently 380,000 people in Ireland have asthma and 890,000 will develop the condition in their lifetime.

It is estimated that more than half of people living with asthma do not have their disease under control, putting them at a higher risk of asthma attacks or exacerbations, hospitalisations, absence from school and work, and even dying due to their condition.

One person dies from asthma every week and an estimated 90pc of these deaths are preventable.

Emily Blennerhasset, interim chief executive of the Asthma Society of Ireland, said without proper care or medication, there is a higher risk of becoming unwell.
Staff at Manitoba Hydro International are on pins and needles about the future of the enterprise that contributes millions of dollars to Manitoba Hydros bottom line.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 15/9/2020 (493 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Staff at Manitoba Hydro International are on pins and needles about the future of the enterprise that contributes millions of dollars to Manitoba Hydros bottom line.

In a leaked internal memo from the international consulting arm of Manitoba Hydro from last week, staff were told that for the Sept. 2-Oct. 7 period, "MHI is not to aggressively pursue new work. This means it is not to actively pursue bids or seek out new customers."

The memo goes on to say that all potential new work would require sign-off from senior management and any new work must have an end date of Dec. 31, 2021 or earlier.

The reason for the mandated work slowdown is not clear.

Crown Services Minister Jeff Wharton said the province has not ordered Manitoba Hydro International to restrict its business and that there is no plan to sell off or to wind down the international consulting arm of Manitoba Hydro. (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press files)

Senior management at MHI directed questions to Manitoba Hydro.

Manitoba Hydro spokesperson Bruce Owen said MHI was included in a recent strategic review of the utility's operations conducted by a third party.

"It's part of Manitoba Hydros long-term strategic planning process," he said. "The report is currently being reviewed by Manitoba Hydro. As part of this process, MHIs business areas were moved into a non-aggressive approach for new business development to allow the review to continue without complication. No decisions have been made."

MHI's cooling-off period ends a day before a scheduled Hydro board meeting on Oct. 8

A staff person from MHI who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there has been increasing uncertainty for some time about the future of the organization and that last weeks memo was the first official communique staff had received about current situation.

"This has all been absolutely insane," the staffer said. "They have not been giving us any information. Are they looking to dissolve the company? That is what we want to know."

"It's part of Manitoba Hydros longterm strategic planning process. The report is currently being reviewed by Manitoba Hydro. As part of this process, MHIs business areas were moved into a nonaggressive approach for new business development to allow the review to continue without complication. No decisions have been made."  Bruce Owen, Manitoba Hydro spokesperson

MHI has been in business for about 30 years. In addition to offering consulting work on every element of the electricity business to more than 120 countries, it is also the parent company of Manitoba Hydro Telecom (MHT). It also owns technology, including tools that it licences to detect transmission-line faults and planning tools to deal with blackouts, among other services.

One veteran in the electrical consulting industry in Manitoba who is aware of MHIs operations, said the company has a great reputation in the international market.

"The Canadian Trade Commissioner service will tell you all the great work it has done around the world and how strong the demand is for its services," the industry veteran said.

He said in the past other provincial Crown utilities from provinces across the country operated international consulting divisions and that MHI is one of the last remaining.

"The precedent for shutting these things down is there from other provinces," he said. "One of the main reasons is that they are not considered a core business and perhaps it is a nuisance to run a $50-million business, versus the utility at $2.5 billion."

The internal MHI memo was issued while the company is seeking third-party management for its Manitoba Hydro Telecom division. Submissions to a public request for proposals are expected to be closed sometime in October.

Another leaked memo, apparently from MHI senior managing director Wesley Mueller said, "(Manitoba Hydro) has a strategic and operating model review process underway and MHI is being assessed for its strategic fit."

It goes on to say that because of the telecom RFP the "non-aggressive approach" to new business from the remainder of MHIs business for the next while is to give the opportunity for the telecom matter to "be completed without further complication."

Over the past two years MHI has generated $109.1 million in revenue and contributed $15.8 million to Hydros bottom line.

It has about 125 employees, mostly highly skilled electrical, software and computer engineers.

On Tuesday, the Free Press reported that earlier this year the provincial government discouraged Manitoba Hydro Telecom from bidding on a lucrative data network contract.

It is not clear how that relates to the broader back-pedalling at MHI.

On Tuesday Crown Services Minister Jeff Wharton said the province has not ordered MHI to restrict its business.

"I can tell you that Ive never issued a directive to that matter," he said.

Wharton said there is no plan to sell off Manitoba Hydro International or to wind it down.

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"Theres no discussion of that right now," he said.

MLA Adrien Sala, the NDPs Hydro critic, said "there are very real indications" that Premier Brian Pallister is preparing to "privatize what is a valuable asset (MHI) that is currently making money for Manitobans."

Reacting to Whartons assertion that he had not directed Hydro to restrict MHIs business dealings in any way, Sala questioned whether the minister was even on top of his portfolio.

"It would appear that we have a minister of the Crown, responsible for Hydro, who doesnt seem to be aware of these directives (to) the organization that he is overseeing from the highest levels of government," Sala said.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca

Martin Cash

Reporter Martin Cash has been writing a column and business news at the Free Press since 1989. Over those years hes written through a number of business cycles and the rise and fall (and rise) in fortunes of many local businesses. Read full biography
Regional WHO director expresses concern about rising death rates in countries including Mexico, Costa Rica and Ecuador.

Latin America has started to open too soon, the WHOs Regional Director Carissa Etienne has warned.

India has now reported more than five million cases of the coronavirus, the second country after the United States to report so many cases.

Melbourne looks to be on course to ease out of a strict lockdown and curfew from September 28, as the average number of cases drops in the Australian city.

Nearly 29.7 million people around the world have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and 937,543 have died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. More than 20 million people have recovered from the disease.

Here are the latest updates:

Wednesday, September 16

20:23 GMT  Canada aims to triple daily coronavirus testing capacity to 200,000

Canada aims to more than triple its nationwide daily capacity of novel coronavirus tests to 200,000 and the federal government is providing $4.28 billion Canadian dollars ($3.25bn) to provinces to reach the goal, the government said.

The funds are part of the $19 billion Canadian dollars ($14.42bn) that the government allocated for Canadas Safe Restart Agreement reached with the provinces in July to help them restart their economies and contain the pandemic.

The money for testing can also be used towards contact tracing and sharing public health data.

Canada tested 56,695 people daily as of Tuesday, according to government data. Canada has the capacity to run more than 60,000 tests per day, chief public health officer Theresa Tam said on Tuesday.

19:10 GMT  WHO director warns Latin America is opening too early

Latin America has started to resume normal social and public life at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic still requires major control interventions, World Health Organization Regional Director Carissa Etienne said.

Speaking during a virtual briefing from Washington with other Pan American Health Organization directors, Etienne said coronavirus cases in Colombias border area with Venezuela have increased tenfold in the last two weeks.

Death rates are climbing in areas of Mexico, and similar trends are seen in Ecuador, Costa Rica and Bolivia, she said. Read more here.

18:50 GMT  French COVID-19 cases spike again, ICU figure at three-month high

The number of French people being treated in intensive care units for COVID-19 rose for the 20th straight day to a three-month high of 803, while the number of new daily cases was the third-highest on record.

French health authorities reported 9,784 new infections, just below the 10,561 daily all-time high reached on Saturday, bringing the cumulative number of cases to 404,888, the second-highest in Western Europe behind Spain.

France had reinforced mask-wearing to curb a resurgence of the coronavirus disease [Charles Platiau/Reuters]

The number of people in ICUs is still almost nine times lower than the April 8 peak of 7,148, but the upward trend is putting a renewed strain on the hospital system in certain parts of the country, such as Marseille.

The total figure for COVID-19 hospitalisations increased by 140, at 5,819, rising by more than a hundred for the third day in a row, a sequence unseen since April 14, when that number reached its record of 32,292.

The number of people in France who have died from COVID-19 infections rose by 46 to 31,045. That figure is higher than the seven-day moving average of 36, which itself is at its highest since the beginning of the month.

18:15 GMT  Irish COVID-19 modeling group warns of exponential increase in cases

The head of the Republic of Irelands COVID-19 modelling group said he was more concerned about the rise in cases of the disease in the country than at any time since its first peak in April and warned of exponential growth.

Case numbers appear to be growing exponentially and are likely to double every 10 to 14 days if every one of us does not immediately act to break chains of transmission of the virus, Professor Philip Nolan, Chair of the Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, told journalists.

Irelands health service on Wednesday reported 254 new cases and three new COVID-19 related deaths, bringing the total death toll since the start of the pandemic to 1,788.

17:45 GMT  Germany adds Vienna and Budapest to risk list

Germany has added Austrias capital Vienna and Hungarys capital Budapest to its pandemic risk list due to the rising number of coronavirus infections there, authorities said.

Germany also added the Hauts-de-France region in neighbouring France as well as the Fribourg canton in Switzerland to the list, the Robert Koch Institute for disease control said.

17:30 GMT  US CDC reports 195,053 deaths from coronavirus

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 6,571,867 cases of the virus for September 15, an increase of 34,240 cases from its previous count, and said the number of deaths had risen by 961 to 195,053.

The CDC figures do not necessarily reflect cases reported by individual states.

17:05 GMT  WHO warns of coronavirus momentum as winter looms in north

The WHO has warned that COVID-19 is spreading at a worrying pace in some parts of the northern hemisphere, a few months away from the winter influenza season.

We are starting to see worrying trends in some countries, Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO technical lead for COVID-19, said during a social media webcast.





We are seeing increases in hospitalisations in intensive care units, particularly in Spain, France, Montenegro, Ukraine and some states of the United States. That is worrying because we have not seen the flu season yet.

Van Kerkhove also said hospitalisations of people aged 15-49 infected with COVID-19 were increasing in several countries.

Dr

Mike Ryan, the WHOs top emergency expert, advised people at high risk for COVID-19 infections to get a flu vaccination.

17:00 GMT  US outlines sweeping plan to provide free COVID-19 vaccines

The United States federal government outlined a sweeping plan to make vaccines for COVID-19 available for free to all Americans, even as polls show many people are sceptical.

Read more here.

16:00 GMT  US Supreme Court extends pandemic-related restrictions

The US Supreme Court will remain closed to the public and will conduct its October oral arguments by teleconference as it extends coronavirus-related restrictions into its new term, a court spokeswoman said.

The courts announcement means that members of the public cannot tour the building and lawyers will present their oral arguments by phone instead of in the courtroom itself.





The court for the first time heard arguments by teleconference in May as a precaution against the spread of the coronavirus.

The coming term begins on October 5 and is due to run until June 2021.

15:50 GMT  New York mayor furloughs himself, staff for week to ease pandemic budget gap

Everyone in the New York City mayors office  including the mayor himself  will be furloughed for one week without pay starting from October 1 to close a budget shortfall created by the pandemic, Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced.

The coronavirus outbreak had caused the city to lose $9bn in revenue and forced a $7bn cut to the citys annual budget, de Blasio told reporters.

The furloughs will save only about $1m, the mayor said, but may serve as a useful symbol as he continues to negotiate with labour unions representing municipal employees over broader payroll savings.

De Blasio plans to work without pay during his own week-long furlough, The New York Times reported.

The policy will affect 495 staff members, the Times reported, and the week-long furloughs will be staggered among them between October and March 2021.

De Blasio has warned he may have to lay off 22,000 city employees if savings cannot be found in the negotiations with the labor unions.

15:30 GMT  British PM Johnson does not want second national coronavirus lockdown

United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he does not want to see a second national lockdown to combat the coronavirus pandemic, saying it would be completely wrong for the UK and be financially disastrous.





I dont want a second national lockdown, he told a parliamentary committee.

I think it would be completely wrong for this country and we are going to do everything in our power to prevent it  I very much doubt that the financial consequences would be anything but disastrous.

14:40 GMT  Coronavirus pandemic to cost football $14bn this year, says FIFA

FIFA has put the cost of the coronavirus pandemic on football around the world at $14bn in lost revenue.

That figure accounts for about a third of the games global economic value with the club and national game worth about $46bn worldwide.

The pandemic has already led to more than 150 football associations seeking financial help from the $1.5bn emergency relief fund set up by footballs governing body.

Read more here.

14:00 GMT  Perus coronavirus cases show signs of stabilising

Authorities in Peru have reported that coronavirus cases are stabilising in the Andean country, with some regions exhibiting a downward trend after months of lockdown.

Peru has recorded nearly 740,000 cases of the coronavirus, the fifth-highest caseload in the world, and 30,927 deaths as of Tuesday (September 15).

It has tracked one of the worlds deadliest fatality rates per capita, with 94 deaths per 100,000 residents.

However, authorities say positive results from lockdown are starting to come through.

12:46 GMT  Palestinian refugee agency warns of instability amid crisis

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) is experiencing a financial crisis that could force it to halt some services to an already impoverished population of more than five million people, the head of the agency said.

Philippe Lazzarini also warned in an interview with The Associated Press news agency in Beirut that the spread of the novel coronavirus, an economic meltdown in Lebanon and a huge deficit in UNRWAs budget are deepening the hopelessness among Palestinian refugees, some of whom are trying to flee the Mediterranean nation on migrant boats.

UNRWA has registered 6,876 confirmed coronavirus cases among Palestinian refugees [File: Adel Hana/AP]

12:20 GMT  Johnson says UK record on testing compares well with European peers

The United Kingdoms record on COVID-19 testing compares well with other European countries and the government is working hard to turn them around even more quickly, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said.

Most people looking at the record of this country in delivering tests across the nation will see that it actually compares extremely well with any other European country. Weve done more tests than any other European country, he told parliament.

11:48 GMT  Global economic outlook not as bad as expected  OECD

The global economy is not doing as badly as previously expected, especially in the United States and China, but has still suffered an unprecedented drop due to the coronavirus pandemic, an international watchdog said.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said in a report that the worlds gross domestic product (GDP) is projected to decline by 4.5 percent this year  less than the 6 percent plunge the OECD had predicted in June.

The global economy is expected to rebound and grow by 5 percent next year, the organisation said.

The global economy is expected to rebound and grow by five percent next year, said the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [File: Robert Galbraith/Reuters]

11:11 GMT  Lilly says antibody reduces need for hospitalisation for moderate COVID-19 patients

Eli Lilly and Company said its experimental antibody reduced the need for hospitalisation and emergency room visits for patients with moderate COVID-19 symptoms, according to an interim analysis of a mid-stage clinical trial.

The study tested three different doses of LY-CoV555, a manufactured antibody designed to recognise and lock onto the novel coronavirus, preventing the infection from spreading.

10:30 GMT  Russia to sell 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to India

Russias sovereign wealth fund has agreed to supply 100 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine, Sputnik-V, to Indian drug company Dr Reddys Laboratories, the fund said on Wednesday, as Moscow speeds up plans to distribute its shot abroad.

The deal comes after the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) reached agreements with Indian manufacturers to produce 300 million doses of the vaccine in India, which is a major consumer of Russian oil and arms.

10:13 GMT  Ukraine bars entry to 1,000 Jewish pilgrims over virus

More than 1,000 Hasidic Jewish pilgrims  including children  were massed at the Ukraine-Belarus border after Kyiv denied them entry due to coronavirus restrictions, the two countries said.

Tens of thousands of Hasidic Jews travel every Jewish New Year to the central Ukrainian town of Uman to visit the tomb of Rabbi Nachman, the founder of the Breslov Hasidic movement.

Jewish pilgrims visit the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov in the town of Uman, Ukraine [Marian Kushnir/Reuters]

09:45 GMT  Infections surge in Czech Republic

The Czech Republic has registered another steep rise in coronavirus infections, with the number of new confirmed cases surpassing 1,600 in one day for the first time.

The health ministry says the day-to-day increase reached a new record of 1,677 on Tuesday. The record was broken four times last week.

09:10 GMT  Vietnam to resume international flights, but not tourism

Vietnam will resume international commercial flights connecting the country to several Asian destinations starting from Friday, after a months-long shutdown to curb the coronavirus outbreak.

The flights, however, are reserved for Vietnamese nationals, diplomats, experts, managers, skilled workers, investors and their families. They are not yet available for tourists.

Vietnam has 1,063 coronavirus cases and 65 deaths [File: Bui Cuong Quyet/VNA/AP]

08:30 GMT  Philippines confirms 3,550 new coronavirus infections, 69 deaths

The Philippines health ministry recorded 3,550 additional novel coronavirus infections and another 69 deaths.

In a bulletin, the ministry said total confirmed cases had risen to 272,934, the most in Southeast Asia, while confirmed deaths have reached 4,732.

07:53 GMT  More than 300 Indian jails infected with COVID-19  NCAT

At least 351 jails across India, from a total of 1,350, have reported coronavirus infections, according to The National Campaign Against Torture.

Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra were the states with the most prisons infected.

India has more than five million coronavirus cases to date [File: Mansi Thapliyal/Reuters]

07:17 GMT  Serum Institute gets approval to resume Indian trial of AstraZeneca COVID vaccine-source

The Serum Institute of India has received Indian regulatory approval to resume local clinical trials of AstraZenecas potential COVID-19 vaccine, a source familiar with the matter said.

The approval came from the Drugs Controller General of India, the source said.

AstraZeneca has resumed British clinical trials of the vaccine  one of the most advanced in development against COVID-19  after they were paused earlier this month following a serious side effect in a trial participant.

06:45 GMT  Infographic: How coronavirus spread across India

06:10 GMT  Ukraine reports record daily high in coronavirus deaths

Ukraine has registered a record 76 deaths related to the new coronavirus in the past 24 hours, the national security council said on Wednesday, up from a record of 72 deaths registered last week.

The council said 162,660 cases were registered in Ukraine as of September 16, with 3,340 deaths and 72,324 people recovered.

Hello, this is Usaid Siddiqui in Doha taking over from my colleague Kate Mayberry.

05:30 GMT  China begins trials of world-first nasal spray vaccine: report

Caixin is reporting that China has begun human trials of a coronavirus vaccine delivered as a nasal spray that could provide an alternative to injections.

Its the first vaccine of its kind in the world to proceed to human trials, Caixin said, citing the WHOs latest list of vaccine candidates.

The vaccine is being developed by Hong Kong University, Xiamen University and a Beijing-based vaccine manufacturer.





04:40 GMT  Not comfort food: Scorsese speaks out at Toronto Film Festival

Oscar-winning film director Martin Scorsese has warned cinema is becoming marginalised and devalued as a form of comfort food during the coronavirus pandemic.

Scorsese made the comments in an introductory video to the Toronto Film Festival, where he praised the organisers for going ahead with the event, North Americas largest film festival.

Toronto is taking place mainly online this year, along with a handful of drive-in and limited capacity indoor screenings.

04:00 GMT  India cases exceed five million

Cases of coronavirus have passed the five million mark in India after the authorities confirmed 90,123 new cases on Wednesday.

India is second only to the US in the number of cases confirmed.

Its death toll is much lower, however.

The health ministry said on Wednesday an additional 1,290 people had died from COVID-19, bringing the death toll to 82,066. Nearly 196,000 people have died from the disease in the US.

You can read more on that story here.

The Ministry of Health said 155 health workers, including 46 doctors, have died so far due to COVID-19 [File: Amit Dave/Reuters]

03:30 GMT  UN could meet on pandemic, in-person, before year-end

The United Nations could hold an in-person meeting of the General Assembly New York as early as November to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic.

Assembly president Volkan Bozkir says discussions are continuing with some countries concerned about meeting so soon  especially in the United States, where the virus continues to spread widely.

Bozkir is keen to start in-person UN meetings, which have taken place via video conference since March, as soon as possible, saying such a summit should have happened in June.

02:55 GMT  Air New Zealand plans to fire more cabin crew

Air New Zealand plans to cut as many as 385 more cabin crew jobs because the coronavirus has forced it to reduce international routes.

The reductions would bring its COVID-19 related job losses to around 37 percent of its workforce, which is higher than both Qantas and Singapore Airlines.

in announcing the decision, Air New Zealand noted the decline in demand on North American routes. It now operates return flights to Los Angeles three times a week rather than daily and has converted its San Francisco flights to cargo only.

02:35 GMT  Japan commits $135m to WHOs global vaccine programme

Japan has committed 17.2 billion yen ($165 million) in funds for the WHOs global COVID-19 vaccine programme, known as COVAX.

The initiative is aimed at helping buy and fairly distribute a COVID-19 vaccine to countries around the world. But some countries which have secured their own supplies through bilateral deals, including the United States, have said they will not join.

Japan has also pursued independent arrangements with global pharmaceutical companies to secure vaccines, with the government pledging to have enough supply for the whole population by the first half of 2021. The COVAX programme has set a September 18 deadline for contributions.

02:30 GMT  Hong Kong wraps up mass testing programme

Hong Kong has wrapped up a mass testing programme that fuelled controversy because of the involvement of experts from the mainland.

About 1.78 million specimens were collected in the two-week exercise with 45 COVID-19 cases found as a result of the testing and associated contact tracing, according to the government.

The territory, which is home to about 7.5 million people, is to begin relaxing some of its coronavirus curbs from Friday.

Hong Kongs mass testing programme for COVID-19 began on September 1 [Anthony Kwan/EPA]

02:20 GMT  China suspends poultry imports from second US plant

China has suspended imports from an OK Foods poultry plant in Arkansas, because of coronavirus cases among workers, according to the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council.

Its the second US poultry factory to be blocked because of an outbreak among employees. We dont think that either one of these two are justified, especially considering the fact that the virus cannot be transmitted in poultry meat, said Jim Sumner, president of the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council.

Chinese customs authority GACC suspended imports from the OK Foods facility, he said. The Arkansas plant became ineligible to ship products to China on September 13, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

02:00 GMT  Trump quizzed on COVID-19 response at election town hall

US President Donald Trump has been questioned by voters on his coronavirus response at a town hall meeting in Pennsylvania.

Asked by one uncommitted Pennsylvania voter why he had played down a pandemic that was known to endanger low-income families and minority communities, he claimed he had done the opposite.

I didnt downplay it. In many ways I up-played it in terms of action, Trump said at the event, which was sponsored by ABC News.

You do not admit to it yourself? the voter, Ajani Powell, interrupted.

Trump continued, Yeah, because what I did is with China, I put a ban on. With Europe, I put a ban on and we would have lost thousands of more people had I not put the ban on. So, that was called action. Not with the mouth but in actual fact.

He also said a vaccine would probably be available soon. Were very close to having a vaccine, he told the audience. Were within weeks of getting it you know could be three weeks, four weeks.





01:00 GMT  Victoria on course to ease Melbourne lockdown by months end

Australias Victoria state looks to be on course to relax a strict lockdown in the city of Melbourne by the end of the month after the average number of cases over the last two weeks dropped below 50, which is within the target range for the state to ease restrictions from September 28.

The fall in cases in recent days  42 were reported across the state on Wednesday  from early Augusts triple-digit highs means some curbs will be eased in rural areas of the state late on Wednesday.

In these places, outdoor gatherings of up to 10 people will be permitted, residents of a household will be allowed to visit one other home, and cafes will be able to seat up to 50 people outside.

#COVID19VicData UPDATED: We have reissued today's data as there are 81 cases with unknown source in Metro Melbourne, not 82, as earlier tweeted. Yesterday there were 42 new cases reported and 8 lives lost. Info: https://t.co/eTputEZdhs pic.twitter.com/buI8b9yv7J  VicGovDHHS (@VicGovDHHS) September 15, 2020

Melbourne is moving closer to a relaxation of its strict lockdown and curfew with the average number of cases over the last two weeks below 50 [James Ross/EPA]

00:00 GMT  Poorly-fitting masks increase risk to health workers who are female or Asian: study

A new study has found female healthcare workers and medical staff with Asian heritage are more vulnerable to COVID-19 infection because they are less likely to be using face masks that fit them properly.

The analysis published in the journal Anaesthesia looked at studies into the assessment of filtration masks like the N95 and FFP2 models, which are used by medical workers in high-risk situations.

Their review looked at research that showed higher initial fit-pass rates in Caucasians (90 percent) compared with Asians (84 percent) and said particularly low initial fit-pass rates were found in Asian women, with a reported average of just 60 percent.

In the US, the report said authorities use a fit-test panel to assess the suitability of the N95 masks provided to healthcare workers, but they noted that the facial dimensions represented by the panel were based on a group of people in which women and Asians were underrepresented.

In many countries around the world, women make up at least three-quarters of all healthcare staff. The authors said that to ensure a mask is not liable to leak, it needs to adequately fit the face shape of the wearer, adding that fit appears to be more important for protection from airborne viral spread than the filtration capacity of the mask itself.

Female medical workers and people of Asian origin are more at risk from COVID-19 because their masks are less likely to fit properly, according to a new study [File: David Crosling/EPA]

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Hello and welcome to Al Jazeeras continuing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. Im Kate Mayberry in Kuala Lumpur.

Read all the updates from yesterday (September 15) here.
Peter Do

Peter Do, 29, New York

Growing up on a small farm in Vietnam, the fashion designer Peter Do owned roughly five pieces of clothing as a child. Today, he is known for creating a sharp and tailored uniform for the modern-day woman, one that is revered by the likes of Phoebe Philo, his first boss after he graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology. His eponymous line, currently in its second year, is produced by a small, close-knit team in New York that worked around the clock to bring this spring 2021 collection to life. The way we work is very physical; we do a lot of fittings to test each garment, to see how they wear on the body, and how they feel, Do told T. It wasnt until the pandemic that I realized how difficult it was to describe how a fabric feels. Do, who was already building an online showroom before Covid hit, believed it was crucial for buyers and editors to not only see the pieces through photographs and virtual appointments but also feel their textures, and so he and his team sent out boxes filled with fabric swatches from the collection, which debuted recently on Instagram TV. Some garments are made of silk and jersey, a departure from his usual structured fabrics, and can double as a dress or a reversible top. Others are hard to the touch: stainless steel-toed boots, workmanlike jackets and leather pants. Together, theyre a play on the idea of protecting a womans inner strength, hes said. See each look here.
For the second time in two years, federal officials are warning that Lake Mead could drop in five to six years to levels low enough to possibly warrant major Central Arizona Project water cutbacks to Tucson and Phoenix.

These warnings were ratcheted up significantly compared to forecasts made earlier this year. Thats due to the severely hot and dry weather that struck most of the West during the summer, including the hottest two months on record in Tucson and Phoenix in August and July, respectively.

The negative forecasts come despite 13 years of major government-run water conservation efforts in the Colorado River Basin. These have raised Lake Mead 40 feet higher by the end of 2020 than it otherwise would have been, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation says.

These forecasts are nothing new. In fact, predictions somewhat gloomier than this one were released by the bureau about two years ago, following another hot, dry summer.

Since then, the Colorado River has had one far-above-average year, in 2019, and one way-below-average year, in 2020, although it wasnt as bad as in 2018.
It's the time of the year where actors, actresses, and the production teams' hard work pays off. The Seoul Drama Awards 2020 (SDA), also known as Seoul International Awards, recently honored the stars of the best works on television from South Korea and around the world.

This year the MC's were Kim Soo Ro, GOT7's Jinyoung, and MBC announcer Park Ji Min.

The said event was broadcast on September 15 via a recording video through MBC. In restrictions for health safety protocols and social distancing guidelines, the ceremony was "non-face-to-face". No winners or presenters attended but it was a pre-recorded event with the smallest number of people present.

Brazilian TV series "Orphans of a Nation" won the Grand Prize, which tells the story of refugees and immigrants who have left their countries of origin for various reasons. The show premiered on April - September 2019.

KBS's "When The Camellia Blooms" continued to dominate as they took home five awards from the said event. This time, actress Gong Hyo Jin joined her co-star Kang Ha Neul as they bagged two acting awards. Son Ye Jin also took home a trophy from her character in "Crash Landing On You".

Here is the list of winners:



Grand Prize - Orphans of a Nation from Brazil

Serial Drama Golden Bird Prize - Bolivar from Colombia

Serial Drama Silver Bird Prize - Mr. Fighting from China

TV Movie Golden Bird Prize - The Turncoat from Germany

TV Movie Silver Bird Prize - Everything and Nothing from South Korea

Mini-Series Golden Bird Prize - World on Fire from United Kingdom

Mini-Series Silver Bird Prize - Itaewon Class from South Korea

Best Actor - Waleed Zuaiter in "Baghdad Central"

Best Actress - Gong Hyo Jin in "When the Camellia Blooms"

Best Screenwriter - Im Sang Choon in "When the Camellia Blooms"

Best Director - Adam Smith in "World on Fire"

Jury's Special Prize - The Cage from Czech Republic and XX from South Korea

Most Popular Foreign Drama - Snowpiercer from United States

Descendants of The Sun from Philippines

The New Pope from Italy

Excellent Korean Drama - When the Camellia Blooms

Outstanding Korean Drama - Crash Landing On You

Hot Stove League

Extraordinary You

Outstanding Korean Actor - Kang Ha Neul in "When the Camellia Blooms"

Outstanding Korean Actress - Son Ye Jin in "Crash Landing on You"

Best OST in Korean Drama - "When the Camellia Blooms"

Short - From Drama Golden Bird Prize - 18h30 from France

Asian Star Prize - Dingdong Dantes (Philippines) and Yokohama Ryusei (Japan)
A group of civil society activists on Wednesday condemned the Delhi Polices arrest of student activist Umar Khalid under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act (UAPAA) Act, 2019, calling it an inquisition of the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), 2019 protests and a witch-hunt against young minds.

Khalid has been arrested for his alleged role in orchestrating the north-east riots in Delhi in February, which had claimed 53 lives and injured over 400 people.

The press conference was attended by former member of the Planning Commission Syeda Hameed; Supreme Court (SC) lawyer Prashant Bhushan; Communist Party of India (MarxistLeninist) Liberation, or CPI (ML), leader Kavita Krishnan; senior journalist Pamela Philipose; and former Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) president Nandita Narain.

Also Read: Umar Khalid in 10-day custody, police to show him 1.1mn pages of data

Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Kanhaiya Kumar, who was also a speaker and had been arrested along with Khalid in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) sedition case in 2016, could not attend the event.

However, he released a statement on social media.

Questions must be raised over the investigation of Delhi riots as the purpose of this probe is not to ensure justice but to take political revenge, Kumar said.

He demanded questioning of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, who had incited the riots.

Those present at the gathering, including Khalids mother, wore masks with faces of arrested student activists. (Arvind Yadav/HT Photo)

Those present at the gathering, including Khalids mother and civil society activist Harsh Mander, wore masks with faces of other arrested student activists to show solidarity and also held placards of their names. The organisers played a pre-recorded video of Khalid before his arrest.

Also Read: Why no action against ruling party leaders, ask former top cops

I gave a 17-minute speech out of which 20-30 seconds is being made viral stating that I conspired in the north-east Delhi riots. The part, where I had talked about satyagraha, is nowhere to be heard. The ones who spoke up are being put behind bars but my message to everyone is that one must not be scared and speak out against injustice, he said in the video.

Bhushan said, Police said that the members of a WhatsApp group, organised with the objective to support the exemplary peaceful [anti-CAA] protests, are conspirators. But people like Kapil Mishra, who were instigating violence by saying goli maro, did not face any action.

Mishra, who had denied allegations of his involvement in the riots, on Monday released a video congratulating Delhi Police for arresting Khalid and people like him, and likened the February riots to the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

Also Read: Umar Khalids arrest: Activists, academicians, politicians express solidarity, call it a witch-hunt

Bhushan alleged that the Delhi Police was indulging in criminal conspiracy in the name of investigation. In the name of investigation, the Delhi Police is indulging in criminal conspiracy to frame innocent people who were protesting peacefully against an unconstitutional law. It is a conspiracy to let off those against whom unimpeachable evidence is available to show their involvement in these riots. Some of us wrote to President Ram Nath Kovind a few days ago that there needs to be a commission of inquiry (CoI) into the investigation by the Delhi Police itself as it had happened during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, he said.

We have gathered here today to express our collective anguish at the sheer brazenness with which the Delhi Police has turned the investigation into the February violence in the national capital into an inquisition of the anti-CAA protests, the attendees said in a statement.

We demand an immediate end to this outrageous investigation that is being conducted with prejudice and mala fide intent. We demand that activists booked under the UAPAA be immediately released; and a judicial enquiry commission be constituted to punish the real culprits and ensure justice for Delhi violence, it added.

Delhi Police had contended that an examination of witnesses revealed that Khalid was coordinating between protest sites in Delhi in connivance with other arrested accused.

Delhi Police had claimed that Khalid, along with some other prominent anti-CAA protesters, had used the protest sites to plan and orchestrate the riots.

Delhi Police has argued almost an equal number of Hindu and Muslims rioters were booked and it is conducting a free and fair investigation.

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This story is being written as wildfires ravage parts of the West  my state, California, in particular  and hurricanes leave Southeastern cities resembling war zones. My column has received dozens of emails and phone calls from readers in these areas, all facing the same nightmare:

We have homeowners insurance for our home and commercial property insurance for my business, but my agent has just told me that I will either be forced to pay an astronomically high rate to keep the insurance, or the company will just refuse to renew the policies, as I am in a high-risk area.

No doubt we will face similar environmental threats in the future, so is there any way of obtaining insurance without going broke?

Calls from Worried Policyholders in High-Risk Areas

Los Angeles-based insurance broker Karl Susman is receiving dozens of calls daily from his clients who live in high-risk areas and who have also been advised of the possibility of losing their property insurance. In addition to running his own brokerage, he also testifies as an expert witness in cases involving insurance coverage and agent malpractice.

What is a High-Risk Property?

Unfortunately, there is no one defining characteristic for a high-risk property, Susman says. Every carrier has its own definition and guidelines to follow. What one might declare unacceptable due to fire exposure, another will write a policy. Just because your next-door neighbor has a policy with a specific insurance company, this does not mean they will insure your property.

A common example making one home acceptable and a neighbors unacceptable would be the type of roof. Or, you might have identical homes on opposite sides of the street, but one of them is backing up to a brush-covered hill.

SEE MORE Trim Your Home Insurance Premium

Properties that are in obviously higher-risk areas will have premiums that reflect those risks. If you live near a forest (vulnerable to fire risks), then it is logical that your premiums will be much higher than someone who resides in a city. If your property is located in an area prone to severe weather, such as hurricanes, windstorms, tornadoes or hail, or you live in an urban area with high crime, vandalism and theft, this may be considered as high risk.

Story continues

So, lets assume that you get that bad news from your agent, go online and find insurance brokers who represent several companies  not just one  and still are being turned away or quoted mind-numbing rates that you just cant afford. You are biting your fingernails, thinking, This is so unfair! Now what? How am I going to get coverage?

And you just answered the question yourself with that one word, FAIR.

The FAIR Plan Provides Insurance in Many States

Recognizing the need to make insurance available to even the most difficult-to-insure properties, in the 1960s Fair Access to Insurance Requirements (FAIR) plans were created to make insurance available in areas that had abnormally high exposure to risks over which property owners had no control.

The FAIR plan was governments response to insurance companies refusing to insure inner-city properties and redlining. It was an example of what government can do when it gets its act together, and currently over 30 states and Washington D.C. have some type of a FAIR plan.

Susman explains, FAIR plans are state chartered organizations designed to provide fire and other types of coverage to people who cannot obtain insurance in the standard market.

FAIR plan policies might cost more than private insurance and offer less coverage, but still, it is protection where none would otherwise exist. All FAIR plans cover losses due to fire, and offer vandalism, riot and windstorm coverage.

Claims and premiums that the FAIR plan collects and pays out are backed by admitted insurance companies in the state, based on their percentage of market share. It is important to understand that a FAIR policy provides very basic coverage primarily for the peril of fire only.

For this reason it is important to obtain supplemental coverage for water damage, theft, liability, etc., through a private insurance company. Many offer this type of coverage  which is referred to as a DIC policy  as the FAIR plan does not, and the quote from FAIR plan gives you links (like this one offered by California) and states that you need to obtain this supplemental coverage.

FAIR Plan Rates

Please understand, cautions Susman, that FAIR plan premiums vary greatly, depending on the location and characteristics of the risk. If you are in the middle nowhere it will cost more, but generally will be much lower than rates charged by standard companies. Why do plans for remote locations tend to cost more? Just ask Rachael Ray after her home in the wilderness of Upstate New York burned to the ground. Far from fire hydrants, difficult for fire engines to get there, ambulance, first responders all increasing the potential payout for a claim by the insurance company for a loss or accident on the property. This makes the property far more difficult to insure, hence denials are common, and FAIR plans to the rescue.

In conclusion, Susman notes, The FAIR plan allows property owners to get coverage when no one else will provide it, and these days, nothing can be more timely.
The body of a Hamilton man wanted for being part of a hit team involved in two Ontario gangland murders in 2017 has been found in Mexico.

The lifeless body of Michael Graham Cudmore, 39, was found in a ditched car on the side of a road in rural Mexico at the end of June, Hamilton police said on Wednesday.

Cudmore is the second Ontario man tied to the murders of Hamilton mobster Angelo Musitano and Mila Barberi, a Vaughan veterinary assistant, to be found dead in Mexico.

Members of the multi-jurisdictional task force, which was formed to solve the two murders, have received limited information from the Canadian Embassy or Mexican authorities surrounding the circumstances of Cudmores death, Hamilton police said in a media release. What has been learnt is that his body was recovered in a vehicle which was abandoned at the side of a rural road.

Police earlier said that Cudmore went to Mexico in an attempt to connect with York Region underworld figure Daniele Ranieri, whose body was found in a ditch in Cancun, in March 2018.

Ranieri was considered a person of interest in the Angelo Musitano and Barberi murders, Hamilton police say.

Hamilton police say that Cudmores family has not heard from him since he fled to Mexico in May 2017.

Barberi, 28, was shot dead on March 14, 2017 as she sat in an SUV parked on Caster Avenue, in an industrial area in the Highway 7 and Weston Road area in Woodbridge with her 40-year-old boyfriend, who suffered minor injuries.

Police have speculated that she was an innocent victim and her boyfriend was the intended target.

Musitano, 39, was murdered in the driveway of his Waterdown home on May 2, 2017. His older brother Pasquale (Pat) was murdered in July in a Burlington parking lot.

No arrest has been made in that murder.

Investigators have been probing Cudmore as one of three suspects as the killers in the Barberi and Angelo Musitano attacks.

Police havent publicly said who they think hired the trio to do the murders.

Suspect Daniel Mario Tomassetti, 29, of Ancaster, fled to Mexico in January 2018 while Cudmore escaped to Mexico after the Musitano murder.

Suspect Jabril Hassan Abdalla of Hamilton had been in custody in Canada since his arrest in Sept. 2018 on charges of first-degree murder in both the Angelo Musitano and Barberi killings.

No trial date has been set for Abdalla. Tomassetti has not been located but is still believed by police to be in Mexico.

There is an Interpol warrant out for his arrest.

Investigators have been advised by the Tomassetti family that they are unaware of Daniel Tomassettis whereabouts but are aware that he is scared, Hamilton police said in a prepared statement on Wednesday

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On Labor Day, Josie Silva reeled in a 9-foot female tiger shark.

The 37-year-old told mySA.com she caught the estimated 300-pound shark around 7:30 p.m. from the shoreline near Bob Hall Pier in Corpus Christi, close to mile marker 300 on the beach. Silva, who is from Orange Grove about 38 miles west of Corpus Christi, also said it was a personal record.

The fisherwoman said the fight between her and the shark lasted about 45 minutes, adding it was a tough catch due to the weight of the shark.

"It was really hard. I'm not going to lie," she said. "She was really heavy. My rod was completely bowed over several times during the fight."

BIG GAR: Webb County Commissioner reels in monster alligator gar

After Silva reeled in the tiger shark, she measured it and walked it back out to the ocean for release. Typically, anglers tag their catches for the Texas Shark Rodeo. However, Silva said it was too dark for her to tag her catch safely that evening.

Texas Shark Rodeo is a voluntary year-long competition that allows fishermen to gain points based on the sharks and species they catch. The data from each catch goes to the Harte Research Institute at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.

Silva, who is part of Team 3rd Coast Beach Bums, has been fishing for sharks for about a year and a half and says the feeling she gets when she makes a catch is one of the reasons she keeps doing it.

"When you hear that clicking sound from when a shark clicks on, it's a rush," she said. "Your adrenaline is going and your game face turns on. It's just an amazing feeling overall."

Silva said she caught the tiger shark from a rod she built herself, which made it even more special.

Priscilla Aguirre is a general assignment reporter for MySA.com | priscilla.aguirre@express-news.net | @CillaAguirre
The Beaumont City Council on Tuesday selected a new company to run the public transit system, after the current operator declined to seek renewal of its contract.

The council approved a three-year contract, with a pair of one-year options, for Cincinnati-based First Transit Inc. to manage the local bus service. The company will be paid up to $220,000 per year over, accounting for yearly increases, over that span.

First Transit will take over in less than a month, as the city recently was informed by Beaumont Municipal Transit that the company would not seek to renew its contract. Owner Bill Munson didnt give the city a reason, and attempts by The Enterprise to reach him for comment Tuesday afternoon were not successful.

Beaumont Transit, which has run the citys bus system for several years, came under fire earlier this year when employees alleged the company wasnt doing enough to protect employees from coronavirus. At least three employees have tested positive for the virus since Beaumonts first case in mid-March.

The city holds a contract with the transit operator and subsidizes the program. But the system itself must be run by a private contractor because of a clash between state and federal laws regarding which government employees can unionize and what action the city can take.

Related: Beaumont Transit employees on edge as 3 more get COVID-19

On Tuesday, the City Council chose between First Transit, a national company with 65 years of experience that operates in more than 300 locations across the country, and a local bidder that has been in business moving freight, but not people, for 25 years.

Council members Robin Mouton and Audwin Samuel voted against the First Transit contract.

Mouton during the meeting expressed concern about a news story about transit services run by First Transit in Pasadena, California. According to a report from Teamsters Local 848, which represented a driver who was fired for refusing to drive a bus until he could see out of his drivers side mirror.

The worker was later rehired, received full back pay and his employment record was cleared of the issue.

Related: Councilmen Samuel, Getz clash on Jefferson County cuts

When reached after the meeting, Mouton said shes concerned for the safety of transit riders and the potential liability for taxpayers should anything similar happen in Beaumont and prompt a lawsuit.

A First Transit representative who attended Tuesdays meeting said he wasnt aware of the specific incident, but he stressed that the companys motto is, If you cant do it safely, dont do it.

Samuel said he wanted to postpone the vote by a week so he could ask additional questions and gather more information. Reached after the meeting, Samuel declined to give examples of the additional information he was looking for. He said the vote had been taken, and he was moving forward.

The First Transit representative said a transition such as this one generally takes about six weeks  or about twice as long as the time remaining before Beaumont Transits contract expires at the end of the month.

Top hits: Get Beaumont Enterprise stories sent directly to your inbox

Beaumont Planning and Community Development Director Chris Boone said Munson had informed the city that First Transit would not be open to continuing service to allow more time for the transition.

Ultimately, the contract the council approves run for three years with the opportunity to renew it twice, each for one-year increments. Its expected to cost the city between nearly $218,000 and $220,000, accounting for yearly increases, over the five allowed years.

The contract does not account for any immediate fare increases, although First Transit does agree to prepare or assist in the preparation of annual budgets and projections. The companys representative also told the council all current employees would be asked back, although they would have to reapply as a paperwork formality.

There was little discussion about Espree Johnson Enterprise, also known as Big Red Trucking, which was the local company to bid on the job.

Owner Phillip Johnson Sr. told the council that hes been in business moving commodities for 25 years. He acknowledged a lack of experience at transit but said he would have kept on all current employees to maintain institutional knowledge.

Related: Beaumont, Port Arthur get money for coronavirus response

But I have 25 years of managing with payroll and all the other duties of a manager and operator, Johnson said. Ive been doing that for 25 years.

First Transit also submitted a lower bid, and Boone said the company has committed to bringing in a consultant during the first six months to analyze the current transit system. That would include a look at passenger counts, an analysis of routes and fare-box revenue and a customer survey.

The company also would look at potential transit innovations, such as micro- and on-demand transit.

Councilman Mike Getz, whos already requested a similar study, says the proposal addresses all the concerns he previously had with the system.

I am thrilled that they are going to come in and do that, he said. It sounds like they have tremendous experience in running a transit system. They can look and see not only what our needs are but also compare it to other systems they are running to use best practices to give the citizens of Beaumont the best program we can have.

kaitlin.bain@beaumontenterprise.com

twitter.com/KaitlinBain
Accused Wife Killer Arrested in Mexico, Ends 14 Year International Manhunt

Brampton man will attend court hearing on Wednesday, police say

A Brampton man accused of killing his wife has been extradited from Mexico, ending an international manhunt that lasted 14 years.

Henry Stanley Morales, now 44 year-old, has been arrested in Mexico for an alleged murder of his wife, Malena Morales, inside their Brampton apartment in 2006.

The Peel regional police announced on Tuesday that Henry Morales has been brought back to Canada by Homicide and Missing Persons Bureau investigators. He is charged with murder and is scheduled to appear at the Ontario Court of Justice in Brampton on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Deputy Chief Nick Milinovich posted on his twitter showing a photo of the suspect being escorted by the investigators in Toronto Pearson International Airport, saying the suspect has to face justice.

This began with a tragic homicide. It was followed by an international manhunt lasting 14 years and was profiled on Americas Most Wanted. It ended today with @PeelPolice returning Henry Morales from Mexico to face justice. #policingexcellence https://t.co/cweZPliH8X pic.twitter.com/Xdtl6tLVaZ  Deputy Chief Nick Milinovich (@DC_Milinovich) September 15, 2020

Police found Malena Morales, mother of two, dead inside the couples home at Steeles Avenue and McMurchy Avenue in Brampton on July 13, 2006 at about 2.00 a.m.

There were obvious signs of trauma to the body, the police reported. Malena Morales was believed to be beaten and strangled by the suspect. She was 31 year-old.

She was a good, hard-working woman who loved her kids, the victims sister Lissette Franco told the Toronto Sun in a 2009 interview.

Franco said the victim wanted out of the marriage and was suffering physical abuse by the accused, but he didnt want that. Franco said she noticed bruises on her sister weeks before the homicide happened.

A Canada-wide search warrant was issued the day after the body was found for the arrest of Henry Morales for alleged homicide. He was 30 year old at the time.

Investigators believed Morales fled to Mexico, and at the time of the warrant said he may have escaped to Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, El Salvador or the southern United States.

In 2009, his case was featured on the television show Americas Most Wanted after years fruitless searching by the authorities.

Franco, however, did not give up hope of finding Henry Morales. In April 2009, she set up a Twitter account page for her sisters case for anyone having information about the suspects whereabouts to notify her and the family.

The twist of events comes after the accused was located in Mexico in 2019, after 13 years of eluding the police.

After a ten-month long extradition process, and with assistance from Mexican authorities, he was arrested on the outstanding warrant, Peel police said. Investigators immediately traveled to Mexico and escorted him back to Canada.

Deputy Chief Milinovich praised the investigators in tracking down Henry Morales over the years.

This case is a shining example of the level of determination by our officers, in their relentless pursuit of justice and to secure closure for the family of Malena Morales, the deputy chief said.

He added the case is a reminder to some members of the community that the threat of intimate partner violence is real.

Domestic violence does not discriminate between race or culture, and incidents like this terrible tragedy leave behind numerous victims in their wake. If you are a victim of domestic violence, or know someone who is, make the call. We can help, Milinovich said.
Japan's Yoshihide Suga was voted prime minister by parliament on Wednesday to become the country's first new leader in nearly eight years, appointing a new cabinet that kept about half of the familiar faces from predecessor Shinzo Abe's lineup. Suga, 71, Abe's longtime right-hand man, has pledged to pursue many of Abe's programmes, including his "Abenomics" economic strategy, and to forge ahead with structural reforms, including deregulation and shutting down bureaucratic turf battles.

Abe, Japan's longest-serving premier, resigned because of ill health after nearly eight years in office. Suga served under him in the pivotal post of chief cabinet secretary, acting as top government spokesman and coordinating policies. Suga, who won a ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leadership race by a landslide on Monday, faces a plethora of challenges, including tackling COVID-19 while reviving a battered economy and dealing with a rapidly aging society.

Also read: Japan PM Shinzo Abe quits, clears way for successor Yoshihide Suga

With little direct diplomatic experience, Suga must also cope with an intensifying U.S.-China confrontation, build ties with the winner of the Nov. 3 U.S. presidential election and try to keep Japan's own relations with Beijing on track. About half of the new cabinet are carryovers from Abe's administration. Only two are women and the average age, including Suga, is 60.

Among those retaining their jobs are key players such as Finance Minister Taro Aso and Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, along with Olympics Minister Seiko Hashimoto and Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, the youngest at 39. "It's a 'Continuity with a capital C' cabinet," said Jesper Koll, senior adviser to asset manager WisdomTree Investments. Abe's younger brother, Nobuo Kishi, was handed the defence portfolio, while outgoing Defence Minister Taro Kono takes charge of administrative reform, a post he has held before.

Yasutoshi Nishimura, Abe's point man on COVID-19 response, remains economy minister, while Trade and Industry Minister Hiroshi Kajiyama, the son of a politician to whom Suga looked up as his mentor, also retains his post.

Also read: Yoshihide Suga wins leadership vote for Japanese PM with landslide majority

ROUGH ROAD AHEAD?

Katsunobu Kato, outgoing health minister and a close Suga ally, takes on the challenging post of chief cabinet secretary. He announced the cabinet lineup. Tomoya Masanao, head of investment firm PIMCO Japan, said Suga's goal of a more digitalised society could widen the gap between rich and poor and would require political capital.

"Abe's administration built political capital for itself with loose monetary and fiscal policies, a balanced and skillful diplomacy with the United States and China, and implementation of flexible domestic politic," he said. "The new administration, on the other hand, faces a rough road ahead."

Also read: Japan PM Shinzo Abe steps down amid health concerns

In a move that resonates with voters, Suga has criticised Japan's top three mobile phone carriers, NTT Docomo Inc, KDDI Corp and SoftBank Corp, saying they should return more money to the public and face more competition. He has said Japan may eventually need to raise its 10% sales tax to pay for social security, but not for the next decade. Clues as to whether and how Suga will push ahead with reforms could come from the lineup of government advisory panels such as the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy, Koll said.

Also read: PM Modi invites Shinzo Abe, wife Akie Abe to visit India

"The ambition of Mr. Suga to speed up and reinvigorate the process (of reform) is absolutely clear, but the next layer of personnel will be interesting," he said. Speculation has simmered that Suga might call a snap election for parliament's lower house to take advantage of any rise in public support, although he has said handling the pandemic and reviving the economy were his top priorities.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 13:30:25|Editor: huaxia

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WASHINGTON, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer said Tuesday that the administration will resume duty-free treatment of Canadian aluminum based on the expectations that imports will decline sharply in the last four months this year.

In early August, U.S. President Donald Trump announced in a presidential proclamation his decision to re-impose a 10-percent tariff on imports of non-alloyed unwrought aluminum from Canada, noting that imports surged over the past few months and threaten U.S. national security.

"After consultations with the Canadian government, the United States has determined that trade in non-alloyed, unwrought aluminum is likely to normalize in the last four months of 2020, with imports declining sharply from the surges experienced earlier in the year," Lighthizer said in a statement.

"Average monthly imports are expected to decline 50 percent from the monthly average in the period of January through July," he said, setting monthly targets for the volume of aluminum imports from Canada for the remainder of 2020.

"Based on these expectations, the United States will resume duty-free treatment of non-allowed, unwrought aluminum retrospective to Sept. 1, 2020," Lighthizer said.

The USTR noted that six weeks after the end of any month during this period, the United States will determine whether actual shipments met expectations.

"If actual shipments exceeded 105 percent of the expected volume for any month during the four-month period, then the United States will impose the 10 percent tariff retroactively on all shipments made in that month," he added.

At a press conference in Ottawa Tuesday afternoon, Canadian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland welcomed the decision. "This is really a day when common sense has prevailed."

Freeland, however, stressed that the U.S. decision was not a negotiated agreement with Canada, noting that the U.S. government acted "unilaterally" and Canada does not accept the imposition of quotas.

"Should tariffs be reimposed, Canada will retaliate with perfectly reciprocal dollar-for-dollar tariffs," Freeland said.

Noting that such tariffs are "unjustified and unacceptable," Canadian Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade Mary Ng said on Twitter that "we fully retain our right to impose countermeasures if the U.S. decides to re-impose aluminum tariffs -- and are prepared to do so."

Citing national security concerns, the Trump administration unilaterally imposed a 25-percent tariff on steel imports and 10-percent tariff on aluminum imports globally in 2018, drawing strong opposition domestically and abroad.

In May 2019, Trump removed the tariffs on Canada and Mexico, in hope of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)'s ratification.

According to U.S. official data, imports of non-alloyed unwrought aluminum from Canada during June 2019 through May 2020 increased 87 percent compared to the prior 12-month period and exceeded the volume of any full calendar year in the previous decade.

During a campaign speech at a factory in Ohio in early August, Trump accused Canada of taking advantage of the United States and flooding the country with aluminum exports and killing U.S. aluminum jobs.

The decision to impose new tariffs on Canadian aluminum previously draw criticism from Canadian leaders, and also prompted backlash from U.S. industry groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Enditem
Thalassery (Ker):

A 30-year-old BJP worker was stabbed to death allegedly by CPI(M) cadres in the politically sensitive Kannur district.



In another incident in the district, a country-made bomb was hurled at the RSS Karyalaya at Thaliparamba this morning, police said, adding no one was injured in the incident.



The attack against the BJP worker, Santosh, took place when he was alone in his house at Andaloor in Dharmadam here late on Wednesday night.



Santosh was rushed to a hospital but he died on the way, Kannur Superintendent of Police KP Philip told PTI.



The situation in the area is tense, he said.



Santosh, the BJP booth president of Andaloor, had contested in the last local body elections.



Shops have downed shutters and vehicles are off the roads in Kannur, where the 57th state School Arts festival is presently on. Protesting the attack, BJP has called for a hartal in Kannur.

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Kate Gosselin has broken her silence in the wake of child abuse claims against her ex-husband Jon Gosselin.

The former couple's 16-year-old son Collin accused dad Jon of kicking and punching him during a violent altercation earlier this month, in a since-deleted Instagram post.

'Jon is a violent and abusive person,' Kate, 45, told People on Wednesday.

Kate Gosselin [L] has broken her silence in the wake of child abuse claims against her ex-husband Jon Gosselin [R, with son Collin]

Kate claimed she was notified by the County of Berks, Pennsylvania Child & Youth Services that Jon was under active investigation over the incident.

'If this doesnt qualify as assault, I dont know what does,' the Kate Plus 8 star said of the alleged encounter.

On September 3, Collin posted on Instagram that his father was a 'liar' who 'beat' him.

'He punched me in the face and gave me a swollen nose and I started bleeding,' wrote the teenager. 'He then continued to kick me in the ribs after I was on the floor.'

The post was subsequently deleted.

Jon meanwhile has vehemently shot down claims he's currently being investigated for child abuse, telling DailyMail.com exclusively: 'It's not true, I would never hit Collin, ever. I love him with all my heart'

Jon meanwhile has vehemently shot down claims he's currently being investigated for child abuse, telling DailyMail.com exclusively: 'It's not true, I would never hit Collin, ever. I love him with all my heart.'

But despite Kate's assertion that the County of Berks, Pennsylvania Child & Youth Services was still investigating the matter, CYS had previously told People: 'No charges or citations were filed as a result of that incident. We are not investigating at this point.'

Jon claims his son, who is dealing with behavioral issues, is troubled, and his report is untrue.

What's more his teenage daughter Hannah, also 16, witnessed the whole thing and has confirmed to DailyMail.com she told investigators her dad never hit Collin.

Upset Jon said: 'I really didn't want to have to come out and talk about this for Collin's sake, but when Kate is in the media attacking me, calling me a child abuser, I have to defend myself. I love my son and I would never hurt him.'

Jon Gosselin has shot down claims he's being investigated for child abuse, telling DailyMail.com exclusively: 'It's not true, I would never hit Collin, ever. I love him with all my heart.' Pictured: Jon with Collin, daughter Hannah and girlfriend Colleen Conrad

Collin Gosselin, 16, claimed in a now deleted Instagram post that his father Jon, 43, kicked and punched him during a violent altercation earlier this month

He wrote to his 21,000 Instagram followers: 'Yesterday he beat me up and thought nothing of it, he punched me in the face and gave me a swollen nose and I started bleeding. He then continued to kick me in the ribs after I was on the floor. He is a liar'

Jon found fame alongside Kate on the Jon & Kate Plus 8 reality show featuring their life with eight children; set of twins Mady and Cara, both 19, and sextuplets Collin, Hannah, Leah, Alex, Aaden and Joel, all 16.

Collin and Hannah live with Jon, while the other children stay with Kate.

Jon explained it started out as a typical day on September 2 and he had taken Collin and Hannah for a dental appointment.

But in the car on the way home the two teenagers began to fight in the back and the verbal spat escalated when the family arrived home.

'It was just like sibling rivalry stuff, but when we got home things escalated into something different,' Jon explained.

'Collin got very upset and started acting out so I intervened. He started throwing stuff at my car, denting it and shouting f**k you.

'I was angry and I confronted him and then he threatened to run away. We've had problems with Collin in the past running away and I was worried, he was upset so I restrained him.

'I didn't punch or kick him, I restrained him, which he obviously wasn't happy about. He's 16, he's a 16-year-old boy.

'I restrained him and then I backed away, because you never want to restrain your kids, it's the most heart-wrenching thing you ever have to do.'

Jon said soon after he drove away from the house to give Collin some space to calm down. But his daughter called minutes later.

'Hannah called me and said Collin's going to call the police. So I turned around, I came back and he called the police,' Jon recalled.

Upset Jon said: 'I really didn't want to have to come out and talk about this for Collin's sake, but when Kate is in the media attacking me, calling me a child abuser, I have to defend myself. I love my son and I would never hurt him'

On Thursday Jon's ex-wife Kate waded in telling People magazine she had been notified by the County of Berks, Pennsylvania Child & Youth Services that Jon was under investigation over the incident. Pictured: Kate with her and Jon's children, twins Mady and Cara (back row); sextuplets Collin, Leah, Hannah (l-r middle row), Aaden, Joel and Alexis (l-r front row)

'He told them I punched him in the face and kicked him in the ribs. And I was like, I didn't do any of that stuff.'

Jon says an officer arrived soon after and interviewed him and Collin and also Hannah who witnessed the incident.

'Hannah saw the whole thing and she gave her statement and I gave my statement,' Jon said.

[Collin] threatened to do an IG post if I don't give his stuff back... I said, 'I don't care, I'm still gonna discipline you'.

'Hannah told them I didn't hit Collin and the police could see there were no marks or bruises on him.'

Jon said the police officer accepted Jon and Hannah's version of events, but as a mandated reporter he was required to report the incident to CYS.

'I get it, the police have to do their job,' Jon conceded. 'The CYS came out and interviewed us and they also spoke to Collin's mother Kate and his other siblings and that was the end of it, the claims were unfounded.'

The former reality star says he was told by his lawyer the following day that any CYS investigation had been dropped and no further action would be taken by the police.

Berks County District Attorney John Adams has confirmed no charges or citations were issued as a result of the incident.

The morning after the incident, as a punishment for Collin's shocking behavior, Jon decided to take the boy's Xbox and some other stuff out of his room.

'You can't just go about doing things without consequences,' Jon said.

'But then he threatened to do an IG post if I don't give his stuff back. So now he's using leverage.

'I said, "I don't care, I'm still gonna discipline you". I told him I loved him, but it's just the way it's got to be.'

Jon explained it started out as a typical day on September 2 and he had taken Collin and Hannah for a dental appointment. But in the car on the way home the two teenagers began to fight in the back and the verbal spat escalated when the family arrived home. 'It was just like sibling rivalry stuff, but when we got home things escalated into something different,' Jon explained. Pictured: Jon with Collin and Hannah

In an exclusive interview with DailyMailTV in September 2019 Jon, who has sole custody of Collin, lambasted Kate, 45, as being the root cause of their son's troubles. He slammed her for sending Collin away to a special needs institution aged 11 when he didn't suffer from anything more serious than common ADHD. Jon claimed his ex-wife mentally tortured Collin and his sister Hannah. Kate seen here in 2015

Collin went ahead with the post anyway.

He wrote to his 21,000 Instagram followers: 'Yesterday he beat me up and thought nothing of it, he punched me in the face and gave me a swollen nose and I started bleeding. He then continued to kick me in the ribs after I was on the floor. He is a liar.'

Jon said his sister-in-law saw the post and immediately called Collin and told him to take it down, explaining how it could cause irreparable harm to the family.

'It was deleted about three minutes later, but obviously someone saw it,' Jon said.

Two days after the incident, Collin was in better spirits and updated his Instagram followers with a selfie of his new haircut and said he was 'better than ever'. But the damage had already been done.

A media storm around Collin's post erupted and on Thursday Jon's ex wife Kate spoke out in People magazine slamming Jon for the alleged abuse.

Jon hit back: 'The article was wrong, it said there was an ongoing investigation which there isn't and they only took Collin's words from the police report. Kate was fueling it, sticking the boot in.

'She hasn't seen Collin in five years and now she's going to try to come out as the caring mother when in fact the reason Collin is struggling with mental illness is because she abused him.

'He has PTSD because of her. So I'm not going to sit back and not defend myself or my family.'

Jon says Collin's troubles are such that the incident last week wasn't the first time he has had to restrain the teenager.

In an exclusive interview with DailyMailTV in September 2019 Jon, who has sole custody of Collin, lambasted Kate as being the root cause of their son's troubles.

He slammed her for sending Collin away to a special needs institution aged 11 when he didn't suffer from anything more serious than common ADHD.

Jon claimed his ex-wife mentally tortured Collin and his sister Hannah.

According to DHS documents seen by DailyMailTV at the time, multiple allegations of suspected child abuse against Kate were investigated.

But in follow up letters Jon was informed that the agency had determined the reports were 'unfounded' due to a lack of evidence, but the letters were vague, giving no details of the abuse or investigation process.

Kate has always denied claims of abuse against her children, calling them 'unfounded' in a 2016 interview with Good Morning America.

Collin has been living with his father full-time since February 2018, along with his sister Hannah. The other four sextuplets: Alexis, Aaden, Joel and Leah, and twins Mady and Cara, 19, live with their mother, Kate

Jon and Kate divorced in 2009 after 10 years of marriage, and found huge fame thanks to their reality series Jon & Kate Plus 8

He said that while Collin was 'caged' for three years at the institution, his mother only visited him three times for less than two hours total, all while refusing to tell Jon where Collin was being kept.

Jon has been dealing with the fallout ever since.

'Dealing with a child with mental health issues is taxing, I'm taxed,' the IT consultant admitted. 'But I love my son. I will not give up. I go to therapy, we all go to family therapy, to deal with having a son that has been traumatized and abused by his mother.

'It's very difficult for me. I'm trying to learn how to handle Collin, I have my own demons as well, but I never punched him or kicked him or anything like that.

Jon added: 'None of this is Collin's fault. He's 16. He's got a lot of issues to work through and we're here to help him.'

Collin has been living with his father full-time since February 2018, along with his sister Hannah.

The other four sextuplets: Alexis, Aaden, Joel and Leah, and twins Mady and Cara, 19, live with their mother, Kate.

Jon and Kate divorced in 2009 after 10 years of marriage, and found huge fame thanks to their reality series Jon & Kate Plus 8.

The former couple first welcomed their twins in 2001; the sextuplets followed in 2004. Most recently Kate starred in the reality dating series, Kate Plus Date, in 2019.
If you live in a COVID-19 hot spot, Doug Ford is about to shrink your world as Ontario hit another recent high with 315 new infections, more than triple the level of a month ago.

Ontarios premier said hes poised to lower the size of social gatherings allowed in Toronto, Peel and Ottawa  and to slap heavier penalties on scofflaws in a bid to slow what one of his top medical advisers called the frankly distressing trajectory of the pandemic.

Were going to act quickly on this and, yes, there will be fines, Ford said Wednesday before a cabinet meeting to discuss cutting the maximum crowd sizes of 50 indoors and 100 outdoors, including physical distancing of at least two metres.

The pending move follows multiple reports of the highly contagious virus spreading at weddings, funerals, family gatherings and other social events in private homes and backyards.

Theres going to be some severe, severe fines for people who want to ignore the regulations and the guidelines, Ford added, promising the penalties will be the highest in the country and under provincial jurisdiction.

Current fines for individuals range from $750 to $100,000 with up to a year in jail upon conviction, rising to a maximum of $500,000 and one year for directors or officers of a corporation and $10 million for corporations.

Action is long overdue given the sharp rise in cases since mid-August and a sudden increase in lines for COVID-19 tests, opposition parties said, pointing to frequent admonitions from the premier for people to stop having parties with people outside their social circle.

The premiers tough words and lack of action are starting to wear thin, said Green Leader Mike Schreiner.

Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown applauded any effort to slash crowd sizes.

There is no need for 100-person residential social gatherings during a pandemic, he wrote on Twitter, while Toronto Mayor John Tory said enhanced enforcement and expanded requirements for masks are also key to preventing a return to lockdowns.

We have to get the message across, Tory told a news conference. Those who do not want to get with the program should pay a price for that.

The 315 new infections reported by the Ministry of Health as of 4 p.m. Tuesday were the most in one day since early June and marked the second time this week cases have topped 300. There were 12 new infections of students and staff in schools. A new case linked to two previous ones at Fellowes High School in Pembroke prompted the health unit in Renfrew County to order it closed immediately to in-person learning.

Meanwhile, the province launched a detailed new self-assessment tool for students, parents, teaches and school staff to use every morning at ontario.ca/covid19

During the legislatures daily question period, Ford came under attack for long lineups at COVID-19 assessment centres and for the absence of public hearings by the commission of inquiry he appointed into the pandemics hefty death toll in nursing homes.

Health Minister Christine Elliott acknowledged many Ontarians are waiting inordinate lengths of time for tests and pledged to increase the number of assessment centres from the 148 now in operation or to increase the hours they are open, and to boost the capacity of labs to process 50,000 tests daily in the next month or so. Thats about 20,000 more than can be handled currently.

The long lines for tests show the Progressive Conservative government has failed to get ahead of the situation to better fend off a second wave, said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath.

We werent caught off guard, Ford insisted, saying thousands of new testing locations in will be open in pharmacies very soon. He stressed they are intended for Ontarians without symptoms, leaving assessment centres often located at hospitals for people with possible signs of the novel coronavirus.

With new cases rising in nursing homes that were devastated by COVID-19 last spring, Horwath said the commission Ford appointed to investigate the tragedy is doing its work in secret with no public hearings to sweep the corpses of these people under the rug.

Long-Term Care Minister Merrilee Fullerton replied the commission has only just started and said it is independent of government. We do not dictate and will not dictate what they do.

Provincial statistics Wednesday showed there were 20 outbreaks in nursing homes, an increase of two from the previous day, with 23 new infections among residents and three involving staff. There have been 1,854 resident deaths in long-term care.

On Twitter, Elliott noted 12 of the provinces 34 health units reported no new cases while another 13 had fewer than five. Toronto had 77 new infections, Ottawa 61, Peel 54, York 37, Durham 24, Halton eight and Hamilton four.

The number of active infections across the province reached 2,316 people, the highest since mid-June and up from 891 just over a month ago. There are 691 people in Toronto fighting the highly contagious virus, 525 in Peel and 391 in Ottawa.

Across the province, there were 44 people in hospital with COVID-19, including 20 in intensive care and 12 of them on ventilators.

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U.S. criminal regime

Trump Explains Why He Did Not Use Chance To Murder Syria's President By Oleg Burunov September 15, 2020 " Information Clearing House " - In 2018, POTUS rejected claims by veteran US journalist Bob Woodward that he had ordered the assassination of Syrian President Bashar Assad, adding that the issue had never even been contemplated. US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he once had an opportunity to eliminate Syrias President Bashar Assad, but that he does not regret not doing it. No, I don't regret that. I could have lived either way with that. I considered him [Assad] certainly not a good person. I had a shot to take him out if I wanted and [the-then Defence Secretary James] Mattis was against [] most of that stuff, Trump told Fox News on Tuesday, dubbing Mattis a highly overrated general. The 70-year-old resigned from his Pentagon position in December 2018, a day after Trump announced that he would withdraw troops from Syria, in a move that Mattis opposed. No Advertising - No Government Grants - This Is Independent Media Get Our Free Newsletter In his resignation letter, the-then Pentagon chief explained that he made the decision because President Trump had "the right to have a secretary of defence whose views are better aligned" with his own on issues, including a commitment to US alliances and the war against Daesh. POTUS Fox News interview comes two years after Trump dismissed allegations that he supported the assassination" of Assad, adding that the issue was never even contemplated. Not at all. No, the book is fiction. I heard somewhere where they said the assassination of President Assad by the United States. [] The book is total fiction, just like he wrote in the past about other presidents, Trump said during a White House briefing in September 2018. He was referring to the book by veteran American reporter Bob Woodward, which was titled Fear: Trump in the White House and was released earlier in 2018. The book, in particular, claims that Trump had ordered the Pentagon to arrange the assassination of Assad after a chemical weapons incident in Syria's Idlib province on 4 April 2017 that killed about 80 civilians and injured 200 more. While the Syrian opposition and a number of Western countries accused the Arab countrys government troops of carrying out the attack, Damascus denied the allegations, with Assad stressing that his government had never used weapons of mass destruction, including chemical weapons, against the Syrian people. The Idlib incident was used as a pretext for a US missile strike against the Syrian militarys Ash Sha'irat airbase on 6 April 2017. Trump described the attack as a response to the Idlib incident, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov denounced the strike as a violation of international law. - " Source " - Post your comment below See also Trump says he wanted to murder president Assad but Mattis was opposed to it The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.
The dive boat Conception smolders Sept. 2, 2019, in the waters off Santa Cruz Island. (Ventura County Fire Department)

Late on the eve of Labor Day 2019, as the crew of the Conception buttoned up the 75-foot dive boat, galley hand Ryan Sims plugged in his cellphone and saw sparks fly from the socket, just before he headed to bed.

He later told investigators that while still in a sleep-like state, he had heard a pop and then a crackle downstairs, followed by a crew member yelling, Fire! Fire!" according to National Transportation Safety Board records released Wednesday.

Sims and four other crew members who'd been jolted awake tried to make their way down from the wheelhouse atop the three-deck boat, but it was too late.

By then flames had engulfed the Conception's main deck, blocked stairways and trapped 33 divers and one crew member in the bunk room in the belly of the wood-hulled boat, killing all of them in one of Californias worst maritime disasters.

The only survivors were the five crew members who managed to jump into the water near Santa Cruz Island. They included Capt. Jerry Boylan, who apparently quickly realized the gravity of the situation.

"The second galley hand recalled that when the captain came to the surface of the water, he said, 'Oh my God, all those people,' the records state.

Autopsies later determined that all died of smoke inhalation.

The NTSB records, which include factual reports, transcripts of witness interviews and statements by the crew, provide the fullest account yet of the Sept. 2, 2019, accident off the Ventura County coast, but they do not pinpoint a cause of the fire.

"No physical evidence was recovered that could be identified as an ignition source or indicate a specific ignition location within that area," the NTSB said. "Therefore, the cause of the fire is undetermined."

The most intense area of the blaze appeared to be in the salon, on the main level of the boat, where "numerous electronic devices" were being charged, the records noted. Lithium-ion batteries commonly used for computers, cameras and other devices had caused other maritime and aviation fires, it said. The reports noted that crew members told investigators wet equipment was often placed next to the charging stations.

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"It is therefore reasonable to include lithium-ion battery failure as a possible ignition source in this fire scenario," the report stated. "Another potential source of ignition is the vessels electrical system in the salon compartment."

The NTSB reports also identified "potential fire safety issues," including flammable interior materials, size and accessibility of emergency exits, and the fact that both exits from the bunk room led to the same compartment  which was engulfed in fire.

The NTSB also has questioned the U.S. Coast Guards regulation of small boats, including not requiring smoke detectors.

The newly released records underscored the findings of an earlier preliminary investigation by the NTSB that determined all five crew members were asleep on the top deck when the blaze broke out about 3 a.m., despite a requirement that the boat have a roving night watch.

Glen Fritzler, the owner of Truth Aquatics Inc., which operated the Conception, has denied wrongdoing and insisted that the crew was awake when the fire was detected. His attorney has said that a crew member was in the salon less than half an hour before the fire was discovered.

Crew members offered harrowing accounts in handwritten statements to the Coast Guard the day it happened. Some said they tried in vain to reach the doomed passengers.

"I opened both doors and smoke filled the wheelhouse," Boylan wrote, noting that he made one mayday call before he was forced to leap into the water.

"Flames were coming up to the side doors," he said and recalled his view of the Conception from the water as he tried to climb back aboard. "I could see the entire inside of the galley, flames coming out all windows."

Galley hand Michael Kohls said he was asleep when he heard what sounded like a chair moving across the deck and then, about five minutes later, a scream.

I came out of my room and tried to enter the galley which was completely engulfed in flames, he said. I called out FIRE to everyone on board. I had to jump over the side railings to reach the galley because the flames had surrounded the wheelhouse.... We could not reach any of the passengers who were cut off to us on the other side of the galley."

Kohls said he and others then tried to break a window on the bow of the boat, "but the smoke and heat were too intense." He had no choice but to swim away, he said, "since the entire boat was in flames."

In his statement, Sims said he was awakened when someone yelled, Fire, but was unable to get to the wheelhouse.

Heard get off the boat, " he wrote. Jumped out of a window. Hit deck and broke leg.

Sims made it into the water and then joined other crew members on a skiff that headed to another boat for help. He recalled hearing a pop earlier from the main deck of the Conception  and something else.

Remembered plugging in cell phone at night and seeing sparks, he wrote.

Sims and other crew members said they were not trained to handle such an emergency.

Built in 1981, the Conception was one of three dive boats operated out of Santa Barbara Harbor by Fritzler. Its design was similar to other dive vessels: stacked bunks in sleeping quarters below deck, a main deck that includes a covered galley toward the bow with an open-air dive area at the stern, and the wheelhouse with the captains controls at the top.

The NTSB interviewed captains and crew members from other Truth Aquatics vessels, and all stated that the practices on their vessels were the same as those on the Conception. No roving watches were set while in port or at anchor, according to the report.

Last October, when the Coast Guard examined the Vision, a nearly identical vessel, it found 19 electrical deficiencies. The NTSB report noted on the Vision "cable runs were not enclosed in protective conduit, were often not supported, and did not have the appearance of a professional installation."

Interviews revealed that electrical work was sometimes done by Vision crew members, who were not licensed electricians.

"Although examination of the Conceptions electrical system was not possible, the examination of the Vision and the similarity of the two vessels would suggest similar electrical installations and condition," the NTSB reported.

Fritzler previously told The Times he suspects that lithium-ion batteries were a source of the fire. He said he was never warned about the potential dangers by the Coast Guard.

Fritzler's lawyer, Hilary Potashner, has not replied to a request for comment on the NTSB documents.

The disaster remains under investigation by the NTSB. It also is under criminal investigation by the Coast Guard and the FBI under the supervision of the U.S. attorney. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives told The Times this month it was completing its report on the cause of the fire.

After the disaster, Coast Guard criminal investigators and the FBI served a search warrant on Truth Aquatics as part of what a Coast Guard spokesman called a "potential seaman's manslaughter" investigation that carries up to 10 years in prison.

In July, Boylan met with federal prosecutors supervising the investigation in Los Angeles. They presented the captain with evidence from the investigation  a move usually done when "there is sufficient evidence to bring criminal charges," according to a recent civil filing by attorneys for the owners of Truth Aquatics.

Jeff Goodman, an attorney for nine of the families who lost loved ones in the fire, called it a "preventable tragedy" and said he would review the voluminous NTSB records.

"We will hold those responsible for this disaster fully responsible," he said. "It is premature to reach conclusions. We are going to be analyzing it in the days ahead with legal and technical experts."

Goodman's firm has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, alleging that the boat's owners and crew were negligent in their training and operation of the vessel.

The NTSB has said it will hold a public hearing Oct. 20 to announce its findings and recommendations.
Chinese officials are offering citizens financial rewards to snoop on "illegal religious activity venues."

Bitter Winter reports that officials in Gushi county, Henan province, have offered citizens 500 RMB (around $70 or 57) to provide evidence like photos, videos and audio recordings.

Rewards are reportedly being offered to residents in the cities of Mengzhou, Jiyuan and Shangqiu.

One local government employee admitted to the website that the Chinese government feels threatened by the growth of Christianity.

"The government exerts strict control not only to curb the development of Three-Self churches but also ban house churches, for fear that they will help topple the regime," they said.

China only recognizes the official Three Self Patriotic Church or the China Catholic Patriotic Association.

Many Christians refuse to attend these Churches because they fear government influence, and instead attend underground churches.

The crackdown on both official and unofficial churches in China has worsened under President Xi Jinping, with some churches ordered to display his picture in their buildings.

In one village in Shanxi province, Christians were told to display pictures of Chairman Mao or else have their welfare cut.

In Anhui, officials removed 250 crosses from churches between January and April this year.

The pastor of a Three Self Church in Hubei told Bitter Winter that government officials asked for a donation and when he informed them that they could not give any because it had been closed for months over coronavirus, he was instead told to spy on house churches.

He said he refused to do this on grounds of conscience.

"Officials told us that since we don't have money to give to the government, we should encourage believers to spy on unregistered ... venues and collect rewards for this. We would get enough money after several such reports, they said," the pastor shared.

"We do know who attends house churches, but we won't do things against our conscience. Everyone must have the right to practise their faith."

Reposted with permission from Christian Today
Tony Gutierrez / Associated Press

As third baseman Matt Chapman started rehab work Tuesday, a day after undergoing hip surgery, and team trainer Nick Paparesta said the third baseman is doing well.

Its not Matthews first surgery, Paparesta said, referring to Chapmans hand surgery two years ago. Hes got a pretty good sense of what it takes to get back.
(Philadelphia, PA) - Dynamic networks that specialize in the transmission of information generally consist of multiple components, including not only primary processors, like computers, for example, but also numerous support applications and services. The human nervous system is fundamentally very similar--neurons, like computers, process and transmit information, sending molecular signals through axons to other neurons, all of which are supported by non-neuronal components, including an array of cells known as glia.

Glial cells carry out a variety of support and maintenance functions, and one type in particular - the astrocytic glial cell - has the unique ability to form scar tissue around damaged neurons. The presence of scar tissue is associated with inhibitory effects on the regrowth of mature neurons that are damaged by spinal cord injury. Recent evidence suggests, however, that these inhibitory effects are reversible, and in new work, scientists at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University (LKSOM) and the University of Pennsylvania show that astrocytic glial cells can in fact play a major role in facilitating neuron repair.

"We found that glia have a metabolic switch associated with glucose metabolism that when triggered reverses inhibitory effects on growth and promotes axon regeneration," explained Shuxin Li, MD, PhD, Professor of Anatomy and Cell Biology at Shriners Hospital's Pediatric Research Center at LKSOM, and a senior investigator on the new study.

The research, published September 16 in the journal Cell Metabolism, is the first to establish a link between glucose metabolism in glial cells and functional regeneration of damaged neurons in the central nervous system.

In collaboration with senior investigator Yuanquan Song, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Dr. Li and colleagues set out to investigate how scar tissue formation induced by glial cells impacts axon regeneration, using both fly and mouse models of axon injury. In initial experiments, they confirmed what previous studies had indicated, that the negative effects of glial cell activity on axon regeneration are indeed reversible. But the researchers also found that the switch between positive and negative effects on axon regrowth is directly related to the glial cells' metabolic status.

In follow-up experiments in flies, the researchers focused specifically on glycolysis - the metabolic pathway responsible for the breakdown of glucose - and discovered that upregulating this pathway alone in glial cells was sufficient to promote axon regeneration. This same result was observed in mice. Further investigation in fly and mouse models led to the identification of two glucose metabolites, lactate and hydroxyglutarate, that act as key mediators of the glial switch from an inhibitory reaction to a stimulatory response.

"In the fly model, we observed axon regeneration and dramatic improvements in functional recovery when we applied lactate to damaged neuronal tissue," Dr. Li said. "We also found that in injured mice, treatment with lactate significantly improved locomotor ability, restoring some walking capability, relative to untreated animals."

Dr. Li and colleagues examined the specific pathway by which lactate and hydroxyglutarate act to enhance axon regeneration. Experiments revealed that when glial cells are activated, they release glucose metabolites, which subsequently attach to molecules known as GABAB receptors on the neuron surface and thereby activate pathways in neurons that stimulate axon growth.

"Our findings indicate that GABAB receptor activation induced by lactate can have a critical role in neuronal recovery after spinal cord injury," Dr. Li said. "Moreover, this process is driven by a metabolic switch to aerobic glycolysis, which leads specifically to the production of lactate and other glucose metabolites."

The researchers plan next to test the regenerative abilities of lactate and related molecules in larger animals and to determine which molecules are most effective for promoting regeneration. "The next phases of our work could set the stage for future translational studies in human patients affected by spinal cord injury," Dr. Li added.

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Other researchers contributing to the work include Feng Li and Jingyun Qiu, Raymond G. Perelman Center for Cellular and Molecular Therapeutics, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia; Armin Sami, Harun N. Noristani, Kieran Slattery, Thomas Groves, and Shuo Wang, Shriners Hospitals Pediatric Research Center (Center for Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair) and the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, LKSOM; Kelly Veerasammy, Yuki X. Chen, Jorge Morales, and Ye He, The City College of New York; and Paula Haynes and Amita Sehgal, HHMI, Chronobiology and Sleep institute, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania.

About Temple Health

Temple University Health System (TUHS) is a $2.2 billion academic health system dedicated to providing access to quality patient care and supporting excellence in medical education and research. The Health System consists of Temple University Hospital (TUH); TUH-Episcopal Campus; TUH-Jeanes Campus; TUH-Northeastern Campus; The Hospital of Fox Chase Cancer Center and Affiliates, an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center; Temple Transport Team, a ground and air-ambulance company; Temple Physicians, Inc., a network of community-based specialty and primary-care physician practices; and Temple Faculty Practice Plan, Inc., TUHS's physician practice plan comprised of more than 500 full-time and part-time academic physicians in 20 clinical departments. TUHS is affiliated with the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University.

Temple Health refers to the health, education and research activities carried out by the affiliates of Temple University Health System (TUHS) and by the Katz School of Medicine. TUHS neither provides nor controls the provision of health care. All health care is provided by its member organizations or independent health care providers affiliated with TUHS member organizations. Each TUHS member organization is owned and operated pursuant to its governing documents.

It is the policy of Temple University Health System that there shall be no exclusion from, or participation in, and no one denied the benefits of, the delivery of quality medical care on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity/expression, disability, age, ancestry, color, national origin, physical ability, level of education, or source of payment.
Heather Bordeaux and Mike Bordeaux look out at a flooded street in front of their hotel as Hurricane Sally passes through the area on September 16, 2020 in Pensacola, Florida.

Sally comes as the West Coast battles historic wildfires made worse by human-caused climate change. The blazes have wiped out entire communities in Oregon and Washington state, decimated a record number of acres in California and caused some of the globe's worst air quality.

The storm's incredibly slow pace, which at times was just 3 miles per hour, and its stalling over the Gulf represent a climate change effect that's triggered more destructive and frequent storms. Slower storms unleash more rain and long-lasting winds. As of Wednesday morning, Sally was heading northeast at about 5 mph.

Hurricane Sally stalled over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico before making landfall early Wednesday , bringing heavy rain to coastal communities in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.

Satellite image of Hurricane Sally making landfall along the Gulf coast of the US on Sept 16th, 2020.

The speed of tropical storms making landfall has slowed during the last several decades. The lingering creates worse rainfall and flooding. North Atlantic hurricanes specifically have been moving slower and stalling more frequently over the past seven decades, according to research by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Other research suggests that warming in the Arctic has weakened atmospheric circulation, which is likely affecting hurricane speed by causing a slowing of the jet stream.

"Our own work suggests that climate change is favoring precisely such jet stream behavior," said Michael E. Mann, a climate scientist at Penn State and an author of the report.

Sally's stalling is comparable to Hurricane Harvey in 2017, which flooded parts of Houston with 60 inches of rainfall after it stalled and was downgraded to a tropical storm. In 2018, Hurricane Florence also stalled over North Carolina's coast. And in 2019, Hurricane Dorian caused massive destruction and at least 70 deaths when it lingered over the Bahamas for more than a day.

Research also shows that global warming has intensified extreme rainstorms in the U.S. and other parts of the world.

"Rainstorms are getting measurably more intense as a result of global warming. Sally's rains will be devastating," Climate scientist Eric Holthaus wrote in a tweet. "We are in a climate emergency."

The U.S. is experiencing its worst hurricane season on record, with 20 named storms so far. Forecasters have nearly run through the alphabet of names for storms this season. Behind Sally, several more storms are developing in the Atlantic Ocean.

Scientists also say that climate change has made the hurricane season more dangerous by triggering more rapidly intensifying storms. For instance, Hurricane Laura, the fastest-intensifying hurricane ever in the Gulf of Mexico, devastated parts of Louisiana and Texas last month, leaving at least 15 people dead.

"What is more concerning is the recent trend in hurricanes rapidly intensifying to become much stronger right up until the time of landfall in the Gulf of Mexico," said Ryan Maue, who runs the website weathermodels.com. "Previous decades saw the opposite almost as a rule: storms moving toward the coast would weaken prior to landfall."
Charles Crohare

Charles Crohare joins UNCLE Credit Union to grow Business Banking Division with focus on local business needs

Charles Crohare joins UNCLE Credit Union to grow Business Banking Division with focus on local business needs

LIVERMORE, Calif., Sept. 16, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- UNCLE Credit Union, serving four counties in the eastern region of the San Francisco Bay Area and Central Valley, is proud to announce that Charles Crohare has been appointed to lead the organizations business banking initiatives. As AVP, Business Banking Manager, Crohare will focus on expanding the role of the credit union as a vital resource and trusted financial partner for local small businesses.



An industry veteran of over three decades and fourth-generation stakeholder of a family-operated agribusiness with deep roots in his Livermore Valley hometown, Charles brings a wealth of expertise as a banking executive and business owner to the program, said UNCLE Credit Union Senior Vice President of Member Services, Dree Johnson. His unique background has contributed to an exceptional ability to perceive and successfully address the big-picture financial needs and challenges of those whose livelihoods are based on owning or running a small business, whether they are just starting out, managing day-to-day operations or entering a growth phase.

Before joining UNCLE Credit Union, Crohare was VP, Relationship Manager for Heritage Bank of Commerce, a post he assumed following a 2018 merger with Tri-Valley Bank. Prior to the merger, he served as VP, Commercial Loan Officer of Tri-Valley Bank, where he worked for over 13 years. Crohare also held varied leadership roles at Bank of the West from 1983 to 2005, including VP, Branch Manager of the Livermore office.

Throughout his banking career, Crohare has maintained an active involvement in nearly all aspects of his familys ranch and olive oil operation, Olivina LLC. Established in 1939, the business is now the largest and longest-running producer of California extra virgin premium olive oil in the region. Crohares history of service and leadership also extends to his work with local nonprofits and initiatives dedicated to providing essential community services. He is Board Treasurer and Past President of the Rotarian Foundation of Livermore, as well as Board Treasurer for Las Positas College Foundation. In addition, Crohare has served as Chairman for Alameda Countys Partnership for Land Conservation and Stewardship, and has held principal roles on the boards of Hope Hospice of Dublin, California and CAPE, Inc.

Story continues

About UNCLE Credit Union

Established in 1957, UNCLE Credit Union is an over $541 million, full-service financial institution serving approximately 29,000 members. The organization offers the benefits of credit union membership and a full array of financial services to anyone who lives, works, worships, or attends school in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties. UNCLE has six financial centers located in the San Francisco Bay Area and the Central Valley, along with an additional 5,600 branches and more than 30,000 surcharge-free ATMs available through participation in the CO-OP Shared Branching Network. Members also have access to a full array of online and mobile banking services. UNCLE Credit Union is renowned for its community involvement, professional and personalized service and unwavering commitment to helping members achieve their financial goals. To learn more, visit www.unclecu.org .

CONTACT:

Jennifer Hall

408.406.6251

jh@stonemediaconsulting.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f638a802-aeaa-4b36-8dbc-1dfdc754bdcd




Human activities have led to depletion of the ozone layer which helps absorb the suns harmful ultraviolet rays and prevents them from reaching the surface of the Earth. Besides, it helps in keeping ocean currents on their natural course.

Rapid industrialisation, cutting of forest for infrastructure projects and setting up of factories and indiscriminate use of natural resources are some of the factors responsible for depletion of the ozone layer.

However, this protective layer has started healing itself. In April 2020, a report surfaced suggesting that a massive hole had developed in the ozone layer over the Artic. Scientists attributed this to climate change. Apart from this, they also asserted that cooler temperatures in the atmosphere above the north pole was responsible behind the opening up of a hole in the layer.

The hole covered an area of 620,000 square miles, becoming the largest one ever recorded in the Arctic region. Later, scientists observing the hole at Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service (CAMS) revealed that it had closed.

They stated that owing to low temperature in the Arctic stratosphere for several months at the beginning of this year, polar stratospheric clouds were formed. This resulted in developing a hole in ozone over the region.

As the ozone healed itself, the scientists said that would continue to monitor the region to see how the healed area would mix with the stratosphere.

Last year, on the occasion of World Ozone Day, which is observed on September 16, UN Environment Programme https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/09/1046452" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">informed that the discontinuing of controlled uses of ozone-depleting substances had helped replenish the protective layer.

The credit for the recovery of the layer went to the Montreal Protocol, signed in 1987 to minimize the use of ozone-depleting chemicals in refrigerators, air-conditioners and other products.

UNEP https://twitter.com/UNEP/status/1173631406532124672" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">said, The #MontrealProtocol has averted more than 135 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions going into the atmosphere from 1990-2010.

As per the UNEP, the Northern Hemisphere and mid-latitude ozone will completely replenish by the 2030s and it will recover in the Southern Hemisphere by 2050s.
The Assange hearing heard from two expert witnesses yesterday. US attorney Eric Lewiss questioning continued from the previous days proceedings and was followed by the testimony of Thomas Durkin, another experienced US attorney and a faculty member at the University of Chicago. Durkin has experience in multiple high-profile national security, domestic terrorism and civil rights cases.

Both witnesses focussed on the sentence Assange, a journalist, publisher and the founder of WikiLeaks, is likely to face if extradited to and convicted in the United States, and on the politically motivated nature of his prosecution.

The US government and its allies have attempted to dismiss the warning given by WikiLeaks and Assanges defence team that he faces a 175-year sentence. Prosecution lawyer James Lewis QC referred to the figure in the court as a soundbite and claimed the judge in Assanges case would be guided by recent sentences for national security offences of between 42 and 63 months.

Julian Assange's father John Shipton stands in front of his poster near the Central Criminal Court Old Bailey in London. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Eric Lewis rejected this argument. He explained that sentencing guidelines in the US are based on an offence level tablethe higher rating a crime is given on the table, the longer a sentence it attracts. The base level for charges under the Espionage Act that do not relate to top secret information (the highest classification) is 30. At that base level, the US sentencing guidelines indicate that Assange could be sentenced to between 8 years and one month and 10 years and one month per count.

This base level can be extended by specified adjustments. Lewis explained, I have gone through all of the adjustments. It is very common for there to be adjustments. The government asks for adjustments in many cases I do believe that some of the adjustments come in quite clearly under the second superseding indictment.

These include, firstly, if the defendant was the organiser or leader of a criminal activity that involved five or more participants or was otherwise extensive. Lewis noted that under the new indictment, you now have many other people who are included, referring for example to former WikiLeaks associates Sarah Harrison, Jacob Applebaum and Daniel Domscheit-Berg, who are listed in the new indictment as co-conspirators. This adjustment would take the offence level to 34.

Secondly, the additional conduct contained in the new indictment that relates to Assanges alleged involvement with Teenager is relevant in that you add two levels if a minor under the age of 18 is involved in the offence. This additional conduct could take the offence level to 36, or up to 19 years and 7 months.

Thirdly, an adjustment is available if the crime involve[s] a special skill I should think Mr Assanges technological proficiency  would add to the offence level and take us up to 38.

There are two other enhancements that could arguably apply, Lewis continued. One is obstruction and obstruction includes steps being taken to inhibit the investigation of a crime there is the suggestion that the attempt to prevent the identification of Chelsea Manning might be seen as qualifying for obstruction which would add two points.

The Old Bailey where Assange is being tried

And finally, regarding the disclosures of state department cables that disclose the identity not only of sources on the ground but also of US officials which would include people in the embassy There is an enhancement that says that if the victims of disclosure of information is a government employee that adds three levels.

In total, this amounts to an offence level of 43, equating to life imprisonment, which would exceed the statutory maximum for the charges and be reduced to 175 years. Lewis added that A court can exceed guidelines.

Thomas Durkin gave the same assessment, describing an effective life sentence for Assange as a very likely possibility. He added: based upon my experience of the guidelines and these types of national security cases, Im comfortable in saying that the rate [offence level] could be between 38 and 43 I think he does face the risk of a sentence in the range of thirty years to forty years. Assange is 49 years old.

Fitzgerald asked if it was true that the court could take into account relevant conduct of which Assange is not actually convicted, but which is nonetheless alleged by the government in deciding on a sentence. Durkin said this was correct. Even conduct that hes actually been acquitted of could be used as an aggravation. The US court, said Durkin, has almost unfettered discretion in determining what information it will hear and rely on in sentencing.

Durkin also explained that any plea bargain that might limit Assanges sentence would be dependent on full cooperation with the authorities. This would absolutely include the revelation of sources of informationnamely, WikiLeaks sources.

Both witnesses shared the view that the prosecution of Assange is politically motivatedwhich, if found to be true, would bar his extraditionfocussing on the fact that the Trump administration brought charges when the Obama administration had not.

Lewis referred to a statement from Matthew Miller, a former Department of Justice spokesperson, cited in a Washington Post article published in November 2013, which read, The problem the department has always had in investigating Julian Assange is there is no way to prosecute him for publishing information without the same theory being applied to journalists. And if you are not going to prosecute journalists for publishing classified information, which the Department is not, then there is no way to prosecute Assange.

The article goes on to refer to quotes from current (in 2013) justice officials who say that they looked hard at Assange but realised they had what they described as the New York Times problem.

In his testimony, Durkin stated that he felt this account was credible evidence of a decision against prosecution for the reasons given, noting that he didnt see any report contradicting it, and that the story was not corrected by the Justice Department.

The move to prosecute so long after charges had been initially considered, Lewis said, was the result of politically extraneous influence. All of the facts relied upon by the indictments were out and of record by 2010-2011, maybe some in 2012 The evidence hasnt changed, the witnesses havent changed, the First Amendment hasnt changed, the Espionage Act having never been used against a publisher hasnt been changed.

Describing the Department of Justice under Trump, Lewis said that things have changed in a way that they can bring a prosecution because the president tells the attorney general to do so. He referred to an article in the New York Times in April 2017 , which reported that senior justice department officials had been pressuring prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia to outline an array of charges [against Assange].

Lewis also noted that President Trump has said I can do whatever I want with the justice department and that Attorney General Barr has written a 19-page memo  in which he has said that all prosecutorial discretion rests directly in the president.

He concluded, If Mr Assange is extradited, he will be prosecuted by an agency led by an attorney general who has repeatedly ordered prosecutors to follow Trumps personal and political preferences.

Durkin likewise stated that it was More likely than not that there were political considerations that influenced the decision to charge [Assange].

The hearing continues today.
Francisco Medellin is a retired construction worker who lived with diabetes and had no other underlying health conditions. He contracted the virus in June and was on antibiotics for seven days. When his breathing continued to get worse and he began to turn blue, his family took him to the Emergency Center at Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Medical Center where he was diagnosed with COVID-19-induced pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), a condition that occurs when fluid buildup prohibits the lungs from filling up with enough air, restricting oxygen from reaching the bloodstream.

"Mr. Medellin's blood oxygen level was in the 60s, sometimes dipping into the 50s," said Dr. Soma Jyothula, associate professor of medicine with McGovern Medical School at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth). "A healthy patient's oxygen level is around 95. He was extremely ill and, at that point, very lucky to be alive."

Jyothula said for six weeks doctors tried unsuccessfully to treat him with steroids, Remdesivir  an investigational drug that is thought to stop the coronavirus from producing an enzyme that is needed to replicate itself, and convalescent plasma, a process where plasma is taken from patients who have recovered from COVID-19 and given to those who still have it.

"After all of these treatments he still needed 80 to 100 percent oxygen at rest," said Jyothula, who is also medical director of the lung transplant program at Memorial Hermann. "At that point, we determined that the only way he would survive was if he underwent a double lung transplant."

More than 2,700 lung transplants were performed in the United States in 2019 and approximately two-thirds of those were double lung transplants. Jyothula said that patients survive longer when receiving a double lung transplant as opposed to a single lung transplant. He added if a patient makes it to one year post-surgery, many times they have a lifespan of 10 to 12 years.

"The two main reasons a person would get a lung transplant are pulmonary fibrosis and emphysema. Now we can add COVID-19 patients to that list," said Dr. Manish Patel, associate professor of medicine with McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, surgical director of the lung transplant program at Memorial Hermann and the surgeon who performed Medellin's transplant. "The most common reason why patients are dying from COVID-19 is lung damage. I believe we are going to see even more patients needing lung transplants in the future because of this virus."

The United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS) determines who gets lungs first by using a lung allocation score (LAS) calculator for people over the age of 12. The calculator looks at factors like a person's blood tests, lung function, their need for oxygen, the medical urgency and how long the patient might survive post-transplant compared to others on the list. The higher the score up to 100, the quicker the transplant. Medellin was one of the sickest patients with a score of 78.4. He was listed for transplant on Aug. 26, 2020 and received his organs the very next day.

"Most double lung patients are in the hospital at least three weeks post-surgery. Mr. Medellin was released less than two weeks after surgery," Jyothula said. "He will spend two to four weeks in inpatient rehab to regain his strength, and then he will get to go home to his family."

Before his transplant, Medellin was the primary caregiver for his wife. He has nine children and 32 grandchildren, and he said he cannot wait to be with them again.

"To think that I was only a few days away from dying and now I have a second chance at life is truly a miracle," Medellin said. "I'm extremely grateful to the team who saved me and gave me the chance to get back to my family."

Media Contact:

George Kovacik

(281) 841-7119

[email protected]

SOURCE Memorial Hermann

Related Links

http://www.memorialhermann.org


London: Julian Assange has again interrupted his extradition hearing, claiming that he never put informants lives at risk, when he published hundreds of thousands of State Department documents on his WikiLeaks website.

The 49-year-old intervened in his extradition hearing for the second time since it's resumption at the Old Bailey in London last week, earning him another stern reprimand from the judge hearing his case.

Vietnam-era whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg in 2010. Credit:AP

Assange cried out from the dock after lunchtime during evidence being given by former military analyst Daniel Ellsberg who leaked the classified Pentagon Papers that revealed the US government knew it would not win the Vietnam War based on existing resources.

Ellsberg was pursed under the Espionage Act as is Assange. All charges against him were eventually dropped and he has become a vocal supporter of Assange as well as Chelsea Manning, who leaked to Assange the hacked files. Ellsberg also supports Edward Snowden who leaked classified documents he had access to as a CIA subcontractor.
Imperial Valley News Center

President Trump in a Ceremony Recognizing the California Army National Guard

McClellan Park, California - Remarks by President Trump in a Ceremony Recognizing the California Army National Guard:

THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much. This is a great honor. And this is a beautiful aircraft were looking at. Look at that beautiful, very expensive plane  for good reason.

Today its my profound honor to award seven extraordinary soldiers with the Distinguished Flying Cross for their remarkable courage to rescue their fellow citizens. I want to very much thank Major General Matthew Beevers for being with us today. Thank you, General. Thank you very much. Thank you, General, very much. Its a great honor to see you.

I want to welcome  and please, sit down. Families, please, sit down. Youre all very proud of these gentlemen, I think. Right? I think. Is anybody not proud of their husband? Is anybody not proud? No? Good. Then well proceed. (Laughter.)

Welcome to Chief Warrant Officers Joseph Rosamond, Kipp Goding, Irvin Hernandez, Brady Hlebain, Ge Xiong; and Sergeants George Esquivel and Cameron Powell. Thank you very much. And I will say that its such an honor to be in your presence. Youll hear a story shortly that was very inspiring to me and to everybody else, and thats why these are very important medals. And its great to be with you.

Joining us are also warriors, but warriors of a different type. Theyre called great congressmen, and theyre from your area. Doug LaMalfa. Thank you, Doug, very much. Appreciate it. Tom McClintock. Thanks, Tom. Doing a great job. And Greg Walden. And well miss you, Greg. I cant believe youre not going to be there. Hes retiring undefeated. Nobody would defeat him. And  but its a great honor. And you  its really been fantastic working with Greg. We worked on something in particular: Right to Try. Right, Greg? And we got it done. After 44 years, we got it done. So, thank you very much.

Just over one week ago, these brave pilots and crew members of the California Army National Guard embarked on a harrowing mission. As the sun set on September 5th, they boarded two helicopters that are behind me. Then, they flew into blazing flames, raging wind  and it was raging  and blinding smoke to rescue families who were trapped by the massive Creek Fire at the Mammoth Pool Campground.

While they were on the way to the campground, the crew received word from state and local officials and headquarters that it was far too dangerous to continue the mission. Turn back. But they decided to continue anyway, knowing they might not return. They knew that people were in danger  great danger.

As night set in, they could see almost nothing through the miles of dense smoke. Using their night goggles and their expert navigation skill, they reached the camp. They found the stranded families  many of whom were badly burned and injured  and they loaded them, as many as they could, onto the two helicopters. Then they made the perilous flight back to the base.

As soon as they unloaded the passengers, they again risked their lives and flew back into the blazing fire to rescue more victims. Their superior said, You cannot do this. You cannot do it again. They did it.

The smoke had become even more overpowering, yet they returned a third time. After 10 grueling hours, they completed their mission, having saved the lives of an astounding 242 people. We are proud of them. (Applause.) Wow. Thats inc-  thats an incredible story. And I spoke to some people that really didnt want you to do it. They didnt want you to go back on those flights.

To each of you: Your unyielding determination lifts our nation. Youre what makes our nation great. And we thank you very much. Thank you very much. Incredible job.

Over the last week, these devoted soldiers have continued to rescue more stranded individuals from danger. In fact, less than 48 hours after their rescue at Mammoth Pool, they flew to another treacherous mission. On the first two attempts, they were forced to turn around and they were advised to abort their mission. You must abort the mission. But they chose to try a third time, at great risk to their own lives. Through tremendous skill and incredible valor, they saved 50 people from absolute imminent danger.

Our nation is strong because of remarkable individuals like these service members. In the midst of our greatest trials and biggest challenges, America prevails because of the brave and selfless patriots who risk everything so that they may save lives of people, in many cases, that they dont know. They have no idea who they are. Its like law enforcement: They save the lives of people that, for the most part, they have no idea who they are, but theyre so determined to do it.

Today, our country honors their courage, and we are inspired by their example, and we thank God for the blessing and all of our blessings that youre safe. Our nation has really benefited by your bravery.

And on behalf of our great nation, I thank you very much. As your President, I thank you very much. Great job. (Applause.)

And now Id like to ask the military aide come forward and read the citations. Please.

Okay, thank you.

MILITARY AIDE: Attention  attention to orders: The President of the United States hereby awards the Distinguished Flying Cross to Chief Warrant Officer 5 Joseph Rosamond, Chief Warrant Officer 5 Kipp Goding, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Brady Hlebain, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Irvin Hernandez, Warrant Officer 1 Ge Xiong, Sergeant George Esquivel Jr., and Sergeant Cameron Powell of the California Army National Guard for distinguished acts of heroism and extraordinary achievement in aerial flight on September 5th, 2020.

The brave actions and superior airmanship of these soldiers resulted in the successful rescue of 242 adults and children from the rapidly developing Creek Fire in Central California. Their actions are in keeping with the highest military traditions of selfless service, honor, and personal  personal courage, and reflects a great credit upon themselves, the 40th Combat Aviation Brigade, the California Army National Guard, and the United States Army.

(The medals are presented.) (Applause.)
Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai on Wednesday inspected the functioning of a bio-decomposer developed by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, which will help convert crop stubble into manure.

The bio-decomposer , if successfully tested, could turn out to be a viable solution for Delhis winter pollution problem, which is worsened by crop stubble burning from neighbouring states of Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, Rai said.

Rai, who met with scientists of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute to understand this method, said he will discuss the technique, which involves spraying the decomposer liquid on crop stubble, with chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to work out a plan for its implementation.

Every year between October 15 and October 30, the national capital faces the threat of plummeting air quality as a result of thick smoke blowing in from neighbouring states, where farmers set fire to their fields to get rid of the crop stubble .

Punjab produces 20 million tonnes of crop stubble, out of which 9 million tonnes was burnt last year. In Haryana, 1.23 million tonnes, out of the 7 million tonnes of crop produce, was burnt, Rai said, quoting data submitted by the state pollution control boards.

Data shows that last year, stubble burning accounted for 44% of Delhis air pollution.

Rai said the Delhi government will provide the bio-decomposer to farmers free of cost and will also hold meetings with the governments of Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh to reach out to farmers in their respective states to adopt this method. Rai said the Delhi government will also write to the Union environment ministry for coordination in implementing the bio-decomposer technique.

The cost of spraying the decomposer in fields will be borne by the Delhi government so that there is no financial burden on the farmers and an effective solution to the problem of stubble burning can be developed, he said.

The minister also said the Central government has devised a scheme, under which subsidy is provided to farmers for using machines to clear crop stubble.

I believe that the money spent on the purchase of machines and the subsidy can be used for the decomposition of stubble in these states. If successful, the technique will reduce smoke and air pollution, which becomes a prominent cause of Delhis deteriorating air quality every winter, he said.

An official of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute said it has received an advance order from the Uttar Pradesh government to demonstrate the technique on 25,000 hectares of land.

He said around 10 companies are manufacturing the institutes bio-decomposer on a large scale.

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On Anniversary of China-Sweden Diplomatic Ties, No Messages Exchanged as Relations Sour

This year marks the 70th anniversary of Chinas diplomatic relationship with scores of countries, including Sweden. However, unlike past years, no congratulatory messages were exchanged between China and the Nordic country.

Shortly after the Chinese Communist Party took over China and established the Peoples Republic of China in 1949, it was hungry for recognition in the international community. Sweden became the first Western country to enter into a diplomatic relationship with the Chinese regime on May 9, 1950.

Chinas first ambassador to Sweden was Geng Biao. He later hired a young Xi Jinping as his assistant while Geng served as Secretary-General in the Central Military Commission in the late 1970s.

However, ties between the two countries have nosedived over recent years.

In particular, the case of Swedish citizen Gui Minhai caused an uproar. He was one of five shareholders in the Hong Kong-based Causeway Bay Books, a publisher of books that detailed scandals about the Chinese ruling elite. Gui was secretly abducted from his holiday home in Thailand and transferred to mainland China for trial in 2015 for a so-called traffic accident. Three years later, he was arrested again on charges of providing intelligence overseas. In February this year, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Members of the pro-democracy Civic Party carry a portrait of Gui Minhai (L) and Lee Bo during a protest outside the Chinese Liaison Office in Hong Kong on Jan. 19, 2016. (Bobby Yip/Reuters)

In 2019, Swedish PEN, a literary organization, bestowed its annual Tucholsky Award, a prize for writers living under threat or in exile, upon Gui, which was met with fierce objection from the Chinese Embassy in Sweden.

Chinas ambassador to Sweden, Gui Congyou, expressed his anger in an interview with a Swedish public radio station: We treat our friends with fine wine, but for our enemies we have shotguns. He also noted that China would surely take countermeasures if Amanda Lind, the Minister for Culture and Democracy of Sweden, were to attend the award ceremony.

Ironically, Sweden became the first country in Europe to close all its Confucius Institutes and classrooms in April 2020. Confucius Institutes are run by an agency of the Chinese regime headquartered in Beijing. They are branded as educational and cultural programs, but have drawn increasing scrutiny worldwide over their role in spreading Beijings propaganda and agenda, while suppressing free speech on school campuses.

Sweden is not the only country where relations with China have gotten frosty.

On Jan. 27, Danish daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten published a cartoon of the Chinese flag, with virus-like figures in place of the symbolic yellow stars. In response, the Chinese ambassador to Denmark demanded an apology from the agency. The next day, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen reminded China that we have freedom of expression in Denmarkalso to draw.
Invaders, pirates, warriors  the history books taught us Vikings were brutal predators who travelled by sea from Scandinavia to pillage and raid their way across Europe and beyond.

Now cutting-edge DNA sequencing of more than 400 Viking skeletons from archaeological sites scattered across Europe and Greenland will rewrite the history books as it has shown:

Skeletons from famous Viking burial sites in Scotland were actually local people who could have taken on Viking identities and were buried as Vikings.

Many Vikings actually had brown hair not blonde hair.

Viking identity was not limited to people with Scandinavian genetic ancestry. The study shows the genetic history of Scandinavia was influenced by foreign genes from Asia and Southern Europe before the Viking Age.

Early Viking Age raiding parties were an activity for locals and included close family members.

The genetic legacy in the UK has left the population with up to six per cent Viking DNA.

The six-year research project, published in Nature today, debunks the modern image of Vikings.

Co-first author Dr Daniel Lawson from the University of Bristol played a pivotal role in the international research, led by the University of Cambridge and University of Copenhagen.

Dr Lawson said: The Vikings have an image of being fierce raiders, and they certainly were. What was more surprising is how well they assimilated other peoples. Scottish and Irish people have integrated into Viking society well enough for individuals with no Scandinavian ancestry to receive a full Viking burial, in Norway and Britain. We studied two Orkney skeletons from Viking graves with Viking swords who share ancestry with present-day Irish and Scottish people, who could be the earliest Pictish genomes ever studied.

Work from the School of Mathematics at the University of Bristol specialised in separating out very similar ancestries.

People in Scandinavia during the Viking age were relatively similar, but we developed advanced methods to separate their ancestries. This showed that Norwegians predominantly went to Ireland and Iceland, whilst Danes came to England, said Dr Lawson, Senior Lecturer in Data Science.

But Vikings were often diverse, with ancestry from all over Scandinavia and the British Isles found in the same raiding party. The Vikings coming to Britain and Ireland were part of a wider migration spanning several centuries.

The word Viking comes from the Scandinavian term vikingr meaning pirate. The Viking Age generally refers to the period from A.D. 800, a few years after the earliest recorded raid, until the 1050s, a few years before the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. The Vikings changed the political and genetic course of Europe and beyond: Cnut the Great became the King of England, Leif Eriksson is believed to have been the first European to reach North America  500 years before Christopher Columbus - and Olaf Tryggvason is credited with taking Christianity to Norway. Many expeditions involved raiding monasteries and cities along the coastal settlements of Europe but the goal of trading goods like fur, tusks and seal fat were often the more pragmatic aim.

Lead author Professor Eske Willerslev, a Fellow of St Johns College at the University of Cambridge and director of the University of Copenhagens Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Centre, said: We didnt know genetically what they actually looked like until now. We found genetic differences between different Viking populations within Scandinavia which shows Viking groups in the region were far more isolated than previously believed. Our research even debunks the modern image of Vikings with blonde hair as many had brown hair and were influenced by genetic influx from the outside of Scandinavia.

The team of international academics sequenced the whole genomes of 442 mostly Viking Age men, women, children and babies from their teeth and petrous bones found in Viking cemeteries. They analysed the DNA from the remains from a boat burial in Estonia and discovered four Viking brothers died the same day. The scientists have also revealed male skeletons from a Viking burial site in Orkney, Scotland, were not actually genetically Vikings despite being buried with swords and other Viking memorabilia.

There wasnt a word for Scandinavia during the Viking Age - that came later. But the research study shows that the Vikings from what is now Norway travelled to Ireland, Scotland, Iceland and Greenland. The Vikings from what is now Denmark travelled to England. And Vikings from what is now Sweden went to the Baltic countries on their all male raiding parties.

Co-first author Dr Ashot Margaryan, Assistant Professor at the Section for Evolutionary Genomics, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, said: We carried out the largest ever DNA analysis of Viking remains to explore how they fit into the genetic picture of Ancient Europeans before the Viking Age. The results were startling and some answer long-standing historical questions and confirm previous assumptions that lacked evidence.

We determined that a Viking raiding party expedition included close family members as we discovered four brothers in one boat burial in Estonia who died the same day. The rest of the occupants of the boat were genetically similar suggesting that they all likely came from a small town or village somewhere in Sweden.

DNA from the Viking remains were shotgun sequenced from sites in Greenland, Ukraine, The United Kingdom, Scandinavia, Poland and Russia.

The teams analysis also found genetically Pictish people became Vikings without genetically mixing with Scandinavians. The Picts were Celtic-speaking people who lived in what is today eastern and northern Scotland during the Late British Iron Age and Early Medieval periods.

The Viking Age altered the political, cultural and demographic map of Europe in ways that are still evident today in place names, surnames and modern genetics.

Professor Sren Sindbk, an archaeologist from Moesgaard Museum in Denmark who collaborated on the ground-breaking paper, explained: Scandinavian diasporas established trade and settlement stretching from the American continent to the Asian steppe. They exported ideas, technologies, language, beliefs and practices and developed new socio-political structures. Importantly our results show that Viking identity was not limited to people with Scandinavian genetic ancestry.

Assistant Professor Fernando Racimo, also a lead author based at the GeoGenetics Centre in the University of Copenhagen, stressed how valuable the dataset is for the study of the complex traits and natural selection in the past. He explained: This is the first time we can take a detailed look at the evolution of variants under natural selection in the last 2,000 years of European history. The Viking genomes allow us to disentangle how selection unfolded before, during and after the Viking movements across Europe, affecting genes associated with important traits like immunity, pigmentation and metabolism. We can also begin to infer the physical appearance of ancient Vikings and compare them to Scandinavians today.

The genetic legacy of the Viking Age lives on today with six per cent of people of the UK population predicted to have Viking DNA in their genes compared to 10 per cent in Sweden.

Professor Willerslev concluded: The results change the perception of who a Viking actually was. The history books will need to be updated.
Pune, Sept. 16, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global electric fencing market is expected to showcase an exponential growth by exhibiting a CAGR of 5.71% between 2020 and 2027. This growth is attributable to the increasing adoption of this fencing by the farmers to protect their livestock from wild animals. Additionally, the adoption of technology by the companies is expected to boost the demand for these products globally. Fortune Business Insights, in its latest report, titled, Electric Fencing Market Size, Share & COVID-19 Impact Analysis, By Type (Permanent Fence and Portable Fence), By Application (Agriculture, Wild Animals, Pets, Security, and Others), and Regional Forecast, 2020-2027, mentions that the market stood at USD 349.6 million in 2019 and is projected to reach USD 438.4 million by 2027.





COVID-19 Impacts the Global Defense Budgets

According to the World Bank Forecast, the global economy is expected to shrink by 5.2% in 2020 that hints at the deepest recession since World War 2. Owing to the shrinking GDP and a falling economy as a result of the novel coronavirus, there is a major reduction in the defense budget across the globe. This is expected to hinder the market to some extent. However, collective efforts to contain the spread of the disease are expected to drive the market back to normalcy. Additionally, the growing concerns over territorial intrusion are driving the nations to upgrade their defense system that is expected to drive the market growth in the near future.





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Electric fencing is a type of barrier that prevents animals and humans to enter the restricted area. These fencings give a mild electric shock that causes discomfort to the subject and deters him from entering the prohibited region. Today, electric fences are majorly used for defense and agricultural purposes. Additionally, they are used for surveillance in high-security areas such as prisons and military installations. With the advancement in technology, the manufacturers are focusing on producing innovative products that include solar-powered electric fencing that is gaining popularity across the globe.







What does the Report Include?

The market report includes quantitative and qualitative analysis of several factors such as the key drivers and restraints that will impact growth. Additionally, the report provides insights into the regional analysis that covers different regions, which are contributing to the growth of the market. It includes the competitive landscape that involves the leading companies and the adoption of strategies by them to introduce new products, announce partnerships and collaborations that will contribute to the growth of the market between 2020 and 2027.

Moreover, the research analyst has adopted several methodologies such as PESTEL and SWOT analysis to extract information about the current trends and industry developments that will drive the market growth in the forthcoming years.





COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Major Companies Sign Contracts to Expand Their Product Portfolios and Boost Sales Revenue

The global electric fence market comprises of several small, medium, and large companies that are striving to strengthen their positions and gain a competitive edge over their rivals. They are signing contracts with the other companies to expand their electric fencing portfolio and further boost their sales revenue. The other key players are adopting strategies such as merger and acquisition, partnership, and collaboration to maintain their presence that is anticipated to contribute to the market growth in the forthcoming years.





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List of the Leading Companies Profiled in the Global Electric Fencing Market are:

Dare Products (U.S.)

Gallagher (U.S.)

High Tech Pet (U.S.)

Kencove (U.S.)

Mpumalanga (South Africa)

Parker McCrory Mfg Co (U.S.)

PetSafe (U.S.)

Premier1Supplies (U.S.)

Tru-Test Group (NewZeland)

Woodstream (U.S.)





DRIVING FACTORS

Increasing Adoption by Farmers across Farmlands to Favor Growth

The electric fencing works as a major deterrent for wild animals to enter the farmlands and destroy the crops and livestock. Farmers have been suffering huge economic losses owing to the destruction caused by the wild animals. To curb such wild animal attacks, the farmers are focusing on installing electric fences to prevent crop and livestock destruction. For instance, in 2019, the Forest Department in Kerala, India installed electric fences and dug trenches that run over several kilometers across the forest borders to prevent the entry of wild animals. The increasing adoption of fencing products to prevent economic loss by the farmers is expected to bode well for the growth of the electric fence market during the forecast period.





SEGMENTATION

Permanent Fence Segment Held the Largest Market Share

The permanent fence segment, based on type, held the largest market share and is expected to experience a significant growth owing to the increasing adoption of the electric type of fencing by the defense forces to protect the international borders.





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REGIONAL INSIGHTS

North America to Remain Dominant; Increasing Focus on National Security to Aid Growth

Among all the regions, North America is expected to remain at the forefront and hold the highest position in the global electric fencing market in the forthcoming years. This is attributable to the increasing focus on national security that is propelling the defense forces to install fencing to prevent intrusion. The region stood at USD 166.8 million in 2019.

The electric fencing market in Malaysia growing with high technological advancements. The market in Europe is anticipated to showcase a significant growth owing to the increasing demand for fencing products by homeland security between 2020 and 2027.





Detailed Table of Content:

Introduction Research Scope Market Segmentation Research Methodology Definitions and Assumptions

Executive Summary

Market Dynamics Market Drivers Market Restraints Market Opportunities

Key Insights Key Industry Developments  Key Contracts & Agreements, Mergers, Acquisitions and Partnerships Latest technological Advancements Porters Five Forces Analysis Supply Chain Analysis

Quantitative Insights-Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Global Electric Fencing Market Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Global Electric Fencing Market Steps Taken by Industry/Companies/Government to Overcome the Impact Key Development in the industry in Response to COVID-19 Pandemic Potential Opportunities due to COVID-19 Outbreak

Global Electric Fencing Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast, 2016-2027 Key Findings / Summary Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By Type Permanent Fence Portable Fence Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By Application Agriculture Wild Animals Pets Security Others Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast  By Region North America Europe Asia-pacific South America Middle East & Africa



TOC Continued!





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Key Industry Development

August 2020  AMAROK announced the launch of FORTIFEYE, the first-ever integrated electric fencing monitoring system. The technologically advanced system is designed to deter theft, detain criminals, and detect suspicious activity.





Have a Look at Related Research Insights:

Homeland Security and Emergency Management Market Size , Share and Industry Analysis, By System (Modeling And Simulation, Communication System, Rescue And Recovery Systems, Intelligence And Surveillance System, Detection And Monitoring System, Weapon System,), By End Use (Cyber Security, CBRNE Security, Aviation Security, Maritime Security, Law Enforcement and Intelligence Gathering, Critical Infrastructure Security), and Regional Forecast, 2020- 2027

C5ISR Market Size , Share and Industry Analysis, By Type (Land, Naval, Airborne, Space), By Application (Electronic Warfare, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, Intelligence, Command, and Control), By Solution (Product and Services), and Regional Forecast, 2019- 2026

Military Personal Protective Equipment Market Size , Share and COVID-19 Impact Analysis, By Product Type (Advanced Combat Helmet, Life Safety Jacket, Protective Eyewear, Body Armor, Tactical Vest, and Pelvic Protection System), By Application (Ground, Airborne, and Naval), and Regional Forecast, 2020-2027





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Read Press Release:
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 05:36:23|Editor: huaxia

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CAIRO, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Iran's total number of COVID-19 cases increased by 2,705 to 407,353 on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Iraq's total count of COVID-19 cases climbed to 298,702 after 4,224 new infections were added.

Iran, the hardest-hit country in the Middle East, also reported 140 more deaths from the virus, raising the death toll to 23,453, while the tally of recoveries rose by 3,811 to 349,984.

In Iraq, the health ministry also confirmed 80 new deaths, taking the death toll to 8,166. Meanwhile, 4,214 more patients recovered from the disease, bringing the total recoveries to 233,346.

Saudi Arabia confirmed 672 new COVID-19 cases and 33 more deaths, raising the tally of infections to 326,930 and the death toll to 4,338.

The total recoveries in the kingdom surged by 1,092 to 305,022, while there are currently 17,570 active cases, including 1,286 in critical condition.

Turkey's Health Ministry reported 1,742 new coronavirus infections, taking the tally of confirmed cases to 294,620, and 67 more fatalities, raising the death toll to 7,186.

A total of 1,202 patients recovered in the last 24 hours, raising the total recoveries to 261,260 in Turkey.

The total COVID-19 cases in Israel rose to 164,402 on Tuesday with 4,034 new cases, as the death toll rose to 1,147 with the addition of 11 new fatalities.

The number of recoveries in Israel increased by 2,157 to 120,727, while the active cases currently stand at 42,528.

Israel launched an international database for COVID-19 research on Tuesday at an online conference of science ministers from 19 countries, who discussed global collaboration in coronavirus research.

The database aims to share scientific and innovative research among the countries and to constitute a global knowledge center for coronavirus research.

Morocco registered 2,121 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, taking the tally of infections since the outbreak on March 2 to 90,324.

In addition, 34 new deaths were reported, pushing the death toll to 1,648, while the total recoveries increased by 2,077 to 71,047 in the last 24 hours.

In Kuwait, 829 new COVID-19 cases and five more deaths were recorded, raising the tally of infections to 96,301 and the death toll to 568.

The Kuwaiti health ministry also announced the recovery of 718 more patients, raising the total recoveries in the country to 86,219.

Qatar's Health Ministry on Tuesday reported 239 new infections, bringing the total COVID-19 cases in the Gulf state to 122,214.

The total number of recoveries rose by 213 to 119,144, while the death toll increased by one to 208, the ministry said in a statement.

Lebanon's total COVID-19 cases increased by 592 to 25,449 on Tuesday, while the death toll went up by six to 252.

Caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan announced that the ministry is working on securing the vaccine against COVID-19 at a reasonable price, adding that Lebanon is in contact with the Russian embassy to secure studies that assess the importance of the vaccine produced by Russia.

Palestine on Tuesday reported 1,118 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of infections in the Palestinian territories to 41,416.

Palestinian Health Minister Mai al-Kaila said that six new fatalities from the COVID-19 were recorded, bringing the death toll in the Palestinian territories to 261.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced 674 new COVID-19 cases and two more deaths, bringing the total confirmed cases to 80,940 and the death toll to 401.

At the same time, 654 more patients recovered from the virus, taking the tally of recoveries in the UAE to 70,635, the UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention said.

In Oman, the health ministry confirmed 438 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total number of confirmed cases to 90,660, including 797 deaths and 84,113 recoveries.

Algeria on Tuesday reported 238 new COVID-19 cases, the lowest daily count since June 29, bringing the total infections to 48,734.

The death toll in Algeria rose to 1,632 after 12 new fatalities were added, while the total number of recoveries in the North African country increased by 154 to 34,358. Enditem
Are These People That Stupid?

Folks in Jefferson County appear to be vying for the gold medal in pandemic ignorance. The latest entry is Ian McFarlands Modern Weapon Systems gun shop, which posted a sign last month declaring, Masks are for cry babies, Democrats and robbers.

Reasonable people trying to fight the pandemic succeeded in getting an ordinance passed two weeks ago requiring masks to be worn in public, only to revoke it one day later amid loud complaints. Ahead of that vote, a protester gained national infamy for carrying a sign that read: Hitler required compliance too.

McFarland rationalized the mask ban inside his store by saying he couldnt identify gun buyers, as required by law, unless he could see their faces. (He never considered asking buyers just to pull down their masks?)

Referring to mask advocates, McFarland posted on Facebook, Are these people that stupid? I have to ID everyone. To answer the question for him: No, the mask-wearers arent the stupid ones.

Boo to Kansas City Fans!

Before the opening game of the NFL season, between the Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texans, players on both teams spanned the field, locking arms for what they termed a display of unity. There was no political message there, only Black, white and brown players standing in a silent gesture that simply said: We are one.

Apparently, some among the 17,000 attending have an argument with that, erupting in boos. Which would make them, what, pro-divisiveness? That wouldnt be a big surprise considering how hard some people seem to be working to worsen the racial and political tensions.

Too bad the Chiefs rewarded fans with a 34-20 victory, delivering satisfaction to people who clearly didnt deserve it.

Fauci Refuses to Tell a Lie

Email exchanges obtained by Politico indicate a political appointee at the Department of Health and Human Services tried to muzzle the nations top infectious disease specialist, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and dictate that Fauci lie about the coronavirus transmission risks posed by children.

Senior adviser Paul Alexander insisted in an email that Faucis press team ensure Dr. Fauci indicates masks are for the teachers in schools. Not for children. Alexander wrongly asserted: There is no data, none, zero, across the entire world, that shows children especially young children, spread this virus to other children, or to adults or to their teachers. None. And if it did occur, the risk is essentially zero.

Fauci ignored the directive, saying, No one tells me what I can say and cannot say. I speak on scientific evidence.

Stupid Human Tricks

Anyone with a nose in smoky California is aware of how dangerous conditions are right now for wildfires. So what did one expecting couple in Northern California do when they wanted to reveal the gender of their baby? They set off blue-smoke fireworks, of course.

The result was a blaze that spread across more than 10,000 acres and darkened the noontime skies of San Francisco. Doubly dumb is the fact that this isnt even the first time a gender-reveal party has resulted in a big fire. In 2017, 47,000 acres burned in Arizona. The expectant father in that case was sentenced to five years probation. His restitution bill was more than $8 million.

Crazy Is Coming to Congress

How crazy will it be to have an adherent of QAnon in Congress? This crazy: Marjorie Taylor Greene, the conspiracy gadfly and shoo-in House Republican candidate from Georgia, posted an image of herself wielding a rifle with photos of three liberal congresswomen of color and vowed to go on the offense against them.

QAnon is the wacky right-wing online conspiracy theory that believes Trump is heroically battling Satan worshippers and child-sex traffickers who have supposedly infiltrated the Democratic Party.

Greene posted the photoshopped image of three progressive members of Congress, labeling herself the Squads worst nightmare. Facebook later removed the posting, saying it violated their policy against incitement to violence.

Finally, Fair and Balanced

It wasnt surprising that a veteran national security reporter for a major cable network was able to verify key parts of the bombshell piece in The Atlantic about President Donald Trumps contempt for military sacrifice. What was surprising is that this particular national security reporter works for Trump cheerleader Fox News.

Reporter Jennifer Griffin confirmed, via two former Trump senior officials, that Trump disparaged veterans for serving in Vietnam and that he didnt want to honor American World War I dead at a cemetery outside Paris.

Trump, being Trump, has called for Griffins firing. But many of her Fox colleagues are defending her work.

Journalism Without the Newsroom

Reporters for the Capital Gazette, the Annapolis newspaper that was attacked by a mass shooter two years ago, faced a different kind of attack this week. The newspapers owners had announced they are permanently shuttering the newsroom and will have the reporters work from home from now on. The reporters decided to stage a rally in support of saving their newsroom, only to find it already locked when they arrived.

After staffers proved they were able to keep producing the paper while working from home during the pandemic, owner Tribune Publishing decided it liked what that did to the bottom line. The Gazette and four other Tribune papers were ordered to close their newsrooms permanently and have the reporters continue working from home.

You watched people die while you hid under a desk ... , features reporter Selene San Felice told The Washington Post, referring to the June 2018 shooting that killed five staffers. Then you take that desk away from me. Thats how this feels.

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A computer damaged by a ransomware attack at a public library in Wilmer, Texas. A ransomware attack hit the Newhall School District over the weekend, forcing the district to disable its server and email. (Tony Gutierrez / Associated Press)

A different sort of virus  ransomware  has taken down the computer system at the Newhall School District, forcing a shutdown of distance learning for some 6,000 elementary school students, officials said.

The weekend attack disabled the districts server and email, which affected all online learning in the district's 10 elementary schools.

The Los Angeles County Office of Education defines a ransomware attack as a form of malware that often targets both human and technical weaknesses by attempting to deny an organization the availability of its most sensitive data and or system.

This obviously came at a difficult time for us since were 100% digital learning, Newhall Supt. Jeff Pelzel said Tuesday.

Pelzel believes the attack took place between the late hours of Sunday and early Monday morning.

When Pelzel arrived at the district office Monday morning, he noticed that no emails were being pushed to his smartphone. He then received error messages when he attempted to log into the districts email server through Outlook and then through a web browser.

According to Pelzel, he consulted the districts director of IT and the assistant superintendent of business to confirm the attack.

We noticed there were some error messages on the server and then at the same time we were receiving messages from [schools] saying, hey my screen has this bitlocker, said Pelzel, referring to staff members being locked out of their own computers.

At about 7:30 a.m. Monday, the district shut down its servers and sent messages to parents via an emergency notification system and on Instagram that they should avoid the district website, downloads and even emails.

Pelzel informed parents that Monday would be treated as a non-instructional day for all students and that the district was working on a resolution.

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Later that evening, the district used Instagram to announce a return to pencil, paper and textbook learning that included 180 minutes of activities for preschoolers and kindergartners, 230 minutes for first- through third-graders and 240 minutes for fourth- through sixth-graders.

The youngest students were asked to spend 30 minutes reading with their family as one exercise, for instance, while first- through third-graders were slated to spend 30 minutes handwriting a letter to a friend and fourth- through sixth-graders were to participate in 30 minutes of step-counting, marching in place or dancing.

Pelzel said similar instruction was being developed between the administration and teachers union for Wednesday, but he was uncertain how long the independent learning would continue.

The district has hired an outside forensics team to investigate the cause of the attack, survey the damage and offer an estimate of when normal online learning could resume. Pelzel said he hoped to have more information by Wednesday evening.

Greg Lindner, the county Office of Education's chief technology officer, believes this is the first such ransomware attack of a county school district this year, although thats with a disclaimer.

County districts are not obligated to tell us, Lindner said of cyberattacks. If they need help, theyll ask us or, in this case, if we hear about something, well contact them.

Last month, the Rialto Unified School District in San Bernardino County, suffered a malware attack.

Lindner said four Los Angeles County districts reported attacks to the Office of Education last school year, which pushed the governing body to create a county cybersecurity committee in March. The group's goal is to provide training in cyberattack prevention.

We have to be prepared because these attackers want money, Lindner said. Its big business.

Lindner said about two-thirds of attacks take place through email and phishing scams, while downloads and hacking are also involved.

As of Tuesday, Pelzel said there has not been any monetary demands.

While the district backed up its server, Pelzel said its uncertain if it, too, was compromised.

"There's a lot more information we need to find out before we can move forward," he said.
The world is soon likely to confront a serious new challenge to the fight against COVID-19: vaccine hesitancy.

Many people distrust vaccines in general. Credit:Peter Braig

In the US and UK, large numbers of people  at least 30 per cent  have said in recent surveys that they would hesitate to take or refuse a vaccine that could protect them from the coronavirus and slow its spread. These numbers probably understate the problem. People might tell a researcher that they will get vaccinated even if they won't. And the problem might be even worse if a vaccine is made available under a speeded-up "emergency use" exception to the usually lengthy approval process, amplifying public concerns about rushing it out.

What can be done? To answer that question, we need to understand why some people are reluctant to take vaccines. Research explores the influence of three factors, often known as the three Cs.

The first is convenience. Human beings suffer from inertia, and they also procrastinate. If it's not so easy to get vaccinated, many people won't do it.
By Express News Service

BHOPAL: Madhya Pradeshs Women and Child Development Minister Imarti Devis commitment to provide eggs to children at the Anganwadi centres has failed to find favour with CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

The CM said on Tuesday that from Sept 17, along with other nutritious food, milk will be distributed at all Angawadi centres in the state. Milk, and not eggs, will be served to combat malnourishment, he said.

The CMs statement was an apparent snub to the Jyotiraditya Scindia loyalist Imarti Devi, who while heading the same portfolio in the Kamal Nath government, had proposed it.

Imarti Devi had recently stuck to her proposal, saying she still wanted that eggs to children and pregnant women should be served to combat malnutrition. She said it would not be a compulsory affair, but would be available only for the willing. The others could be offered milk and banana.

Last year after the Congress returned to power after 15 years, Devis proposal had triggered a political controversy in the state, where a significant population is vegetarian. The BJP had raised a hue and cry over the matter with the then leader of Opposition Gopal Bhargava (who is now PWD minister) saying that if the kids are served eggs since childhood, then they might turn into cannibals later.

As per the NFHS-4 data, around 43% of kids aged up to 5 years in MP are underweight, the growth of 42% kids was stunted (low height for age) and 25.8% had low weight to height ratio.
We understand that some sectors have been disproportionally impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and will do everything we can to support businesses grow in these uncertain economic times. Taimour Zaman, CEO of LinesofCredit.AI

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We will continue to protect the growth of businesses across North America during economic uncertainty.

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To further support businesses, Line of Credit.AI will:



Not require any personal guarantees on projects. Just a GSA (some restrictions will apply).

Will provide funding programs across Canada and USA for Startups, Real Estate Development, Technology, Oil/Gas

Provide 80% project funding when 20% or more of the project has been secured.

Provide competitive rates and terms of 12-48 months

No longer charge a penalty for early loan repayment

Provide tailored made funding opportunities to suit the projects funding requirements

These new steps will help businesses across North America get the credit lines they need to continue to grow and prosper immediately.

We understand that some sectors have been disproportionally impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and will do everything we can to support businesses grow in these uncertain economic times. Taimour Zaman, CEO of LinesofCredit.AI

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After years of controversy and delay, Dwight D. Eisenhower this week officially joins six other former American presidents with a major monument near the National Mall in Washington.

The $150 million tribute to the country's 34th president, Republican icon and supreme Allied commander during World War II will be completed and dedicated on Thursday, nearly 60 years after Eisenhower left office.

"He joins the greats: Washington, Jefferson, in terms of founding our country; Lincoln; the two Roosevelts; the Kennedy Center is actually a presidential memorial," said Victoria Tigwell, deputy executive director of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission.

PHOTO: The Dwight D. Eisenhower in Washington is pictured on Aug. 9, 2020. (Michael Brochstein/Sipa USA via AP)

"His legacy is cemented in American history through this memorial," she said.

The memorial is also inviting comparisons in leadership style and accomplishments with the current Republican president, Donald Trump.

MORE: DC, Trump administration clash over slavery, famous names on city monuments

Members of the Eisenhower family and the memorial commission said the unveiling -- in the midst of a pandemic, recession and divisive political campaign -- is an opportunity for the nation to reflect on a half century of American progress and what's needed now to shape a better future.

PHOTO: World renowned architect Frank Gehry designed the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial in Washington, D.C., his first memorial constructed in the nation's capital. (ABC News)

"It's possible that there are people like (Eisenhower) living with us that can rise to the occasion, given the opportunities," said architect Frank Gehry of the message he hopes his design conveys. "It can come from anywhere, from any race or culture. And it's special when it happens suddenly."

The memorial charts Eisenhower's rise from Abilene, Kansas, to a five-star wartime general and, later, two-term U.S. president.

PHOTO: The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial is under construction in Washington, Sept. 4, 2020. (Susan Walsh/AP)

A steel mesh tapestry depicts the coast of Normandy, France, where Allied forces under Eisenhower's command stormed the beaches on D-Day in 1944.

ABC News Live got an early look at the memorial, situated along Independence Avenue in southeast Washington within view of the U.S. Capitol and flanked by offices of the Federal Aviation Administration and Departments of Education and Health and Human Services, each created during the Eisenhower presidency.

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"It's not bombastic. It's quiet," Gehry said of the structure.

PHOTO: The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial, located near the National Mall, south of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington is pictured on Aug. 9, 2020. (Michael Brochstein/Sipa USA via AP)

First authorized by Congress in 1999, the memorial was completed under budget this month -- a fitting tribute to a president for whom fiscal and personal responsibility were hallmarks, Tigwell said.

"If you look after the pennies, everything else falls in line," she said.

Eisenhower, who was popularly known as "Ike," won the White House in a landslide in 1952. He presided over eight years of prosperity and peace in America.

While some of his critics saw him as a "do-nothing" president, Eisenhower is widely credited with dramatically shaping public life. He appointed five justices to the U.S. Supreme Court; greatly expanded the Interstate Highway System; and created NASA and the FAA.

PHOTO: David Eisenhower, director of the Institute for Public Service at the Annenberg School for Communication, is the grandson of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. (ABC News)

"He was in a society where we would find people who could make a difference at the right time, and he happened to be there," said grandson David Eisenhower, director of the Institute for Public Service at the Annenberg School for Communication.

Eisenhower oversaw desegregation of the U.S. military and public schools, sending troops into Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957 to enforce integration. He also signed into law early protections for voting rights.

But critics say his push for equality could have been stronger. Eisenhower favored an incremental approach to racial justice that was later overtaken by an eruption of racial unrest after he left office.

MORE: George Mason University's 1st black president tackles racism, COVID-19

And toward gay and lesbian Americans, Eisenhower officially authorized discrimination, in 1953 signing an executive order to ban them from the U.S. government.

"I know he was disappointed that he could not bring the Cold War to an end by the end of his eight years," granddaughter Susan Eisenhower said when asked of the late president's shortcomings. "In terms of his personal flaws, he certainly, I guess would say he had a temper which he learned to bring under control over the years."

PHOTO: Susan Eisenhower, granddaughter of Dwight D. Eisenhower, is the author of 'How Ike Led,' which explores the former president's leadership style. (ABC News)

The memorial focuses squarely on Eisenhower's leadership and accomplishments, inviting fresh contrasts between a bygone Republican president and the current one.

MORE: DOJ arrests man for alleged vandalism of Andrew Jackson statue

Dwight Eisenhower even recently appeared in a 2020 presidential campaign TV ad produced by The Lincoln Project, an independent Republican group, that suggested Trump doesn't measure up to Ike.

"I'm not sure how useful comparisons are, but I do think that comparisons are inevitable because people are looking to the past to show some guideposts and to understand how we got to this position," Susan Eisenhower said.

"I do think, however, that the Eisenhower leadership style was much more effective for this country," she added.

PHOTO: The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial was authorized and funded by Congress in 1999 (ABC News)

The Eisenhower style put a premium on unity. In that spirit, the family and memorial commission invited Trump and the four other living former presidents to come together for the memorial dedication. None were able to attend, organizers said.

"The dedication of it was originally scheduled for May 8, 2020, which would be the 75th anniversary of VE [Victory in Europe] Day. So we would have been celebrating a past achievement," said David Eisenhower. "But the circumstances that we're in now really require us to look for something deeper."

Tigwell said she hopes young visitors to the open-air memorial will be prompted to reflect on their future and personal potential.

PHOTO: The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial in Washington is pictured on Aug. 9, 2020. (Michael Brochstein/Sipa USA via AP)

"I hope for a child who comes here, they'll see that statue of young Ike and maybe they'll wonder how did this kid who came from Abilene, Kansas, with, you know, no advantage socially or economically ... figure out how to make his life into what it was," Tigwell said.

"Because that is what we all hope the American story is: that freedom gives you opportunity," she added. "And with opportunity, you can paint your own canvas."

ABC News' Erica King contributed to this report.

Dwight Eisenhower's leadership in spotlight after new memorial unveiled in DC originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Teenagers have been paid to flood social media with pro-Trump material in a strategy compared to a Russian trolling campaign, it has emerged.

The Twitter and Facebook campaign is funded by Turning Point Action, a sibling of conservative youth group Turning Point USA, according to a Washington Post report which says that thousands of social media posts have emanated from the group.

Some of the posts have echoed Trump's claims about fraudulent mail-in voting or criticized America's top virologist Dr Anthony Fauci, while others describe Joe Biden as a puppet for 'dangerous' hard-left socialists.

Turning Point did not deny the claims but said the youngsters were engaged in 'sincere political activism' and rejected comparisons to a Russian 'troll farm'.

Donald Trump (pictured at the White House on Tuesday) is having his re-election bid backed by an army of teenagers paid to flood social media with pro-Trump material

Twitter has already taken down 20 accounts since the Post gathered evidence of the online blitz, while Facebook has also deactivated some accounts.

According to some of the people involved, the messages were scheduled and directed by Turning Point activists in a highly co-ordinated campaign.

The youngsters posted from their own accounts, with some of them identifying themselves as Trump supporters and others giving no such details.

Teenagers were told to reply to posts by Democratic politicians with messages that promoted Trump and the Republican point of view.

Some posts played down the dangers of coronavirus despite the death of Turning Point USA's co-founder Bill Montgomery from complications linked to Covid-19 in July.

People familiar with the campaign described a shared online document of language which could be used in pro-Trump posts on Twitter and Facebook.

However, they were told to alter the language slightly and limit their number of posts to avoid some of Twitter and Facebook's detection measures to crack down on bots and trolls.

The teenagers are paid an hourly rate and can earn more money if their posts do particularly well, it is claimed.

'It sounds like the Russians, but instead coming from Americans,' said Google software engineer and researcher Jacob Ratkiewicz.

A company working with Turning Point confirmed that there were 'independent contractors' paid to work online, but did not give further details.

Austin Smith, a Turning Point field director, told the Post that the group had 'transitioned' to online activism after the 2020 campaign was disrupted by the pandemic.

'This is sincere political activism conducted by real people who passionately hold the beliefs they describe online, not an anonymous troll farm in Russia,' Smith said.

He added that young people were 'excited' to share their views on social media over the summer, although some have since gone back to school.

Some of the online posts attacked Democratic nominee Joe Biden (pictured campaigning in Florida last night), describing him as the puppet of hard-left socialists

The father of two girls involved in the campaign said the content was no worse than that posted online by Democrats and their supporters.

Another expert, University of Pennsylvania communications professor Kathleen Hall Jamieson, said the campaign would familiarize youngsters with online activism.

Many of the activists are based in Phoenix, Arizona, in a state seen as one of the key battlegrounds of the 2020 election.

Trump won the state narrowly against Hillary Clinton four years ago, but recent polls have shown Biden narrowly ahead there.

Turning Point USA, founded by Charlie Kirk in 2012, describes itself as a non-profit organization with a 'mission to identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of freedom, free markets, and limited government'.

The group talks openly of its aim to 'saturate social and traditional media markets' with its conservative views.

Social media 'influencers' sympathetic to Turning Point have a combined following of more than 20million people, according to the group's website.

President Trump has previously spoken at Turning Point USA events, including at a rally hosted by the group in Phoenix in June this year.

Earlier this month, Facebook announced a series of new measures to 'secure the integrity of the US elections' - after previously admitting that accounts linked to Russia had spent up to $100,000 trying to influence the 2016 race.

The site announced during the Democratic primary campaign that it had blocked Russian and Iranian accounts trying to boost Bernie Sanders at Biden's expense.

A report said the accounts reused messages from the Internet Research Agency which targeted US audiences in 2016. Russia has always denied interference.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg (pictured) announced a series of new measures to 'protect the US election' earlier this month

Facebook's new measures include the removal of posts which exploit the fear of catching Covid-19 to discourage people from voting.

Posts about the legitimacy of mail-in voting will also come with an 'informational label', Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg said.

'We've invested heavily in our security systems and now have some of the most sophisticated teams and systems in the world to prevent these attacks,' he said.

'We've removed more than 100 networks worldwide engaging in coordinated inauthentic behavior over the past couple of years, including ahead of major democratic elections.

'However, we're increasingly seeing attempts to undermine the legitimacy of our elections from within our own borders.'

Twitter says it has introduced a tool allowing users to report misleading information about voting methods.

Both Facebook and Twitter have posted disclaimers on controversial posts by Trump in recent months, including about mail-in votes.

Postal voting has come under far greater scrutiny this year because of the pandemic and resulting social distancing rules.

Trump has frequently raged at 'fraudulent' mail-in ballots, in what critics say is an effort to delegitimize the results of an election that he appears on course to lose.

However, Trump has also been accused of playing down the Russian threat to the election.

In 2018, Trump caused an outcry after accepting Vladimir Putin's denials at a summit in Helsinki, before later backtracking.

Special counsel Robert Mueller warned after publishing his report on the 2016 election last year that Russia was already meddling in the current campaign.
Anil Kumar Gupta, 59, a resident of Dharamshala Bazar in Uttar Pradeshs Gorakhpur is not able to forget the nightmare he went through while under treatment at the Covid ward of BRD Medical College, Gorakhpur for 19 days and wants to write to chief minister Yogi Adityanath to draw his attention to the state of affairs at the above mentioned hospital, said Gupta.

For 19 days, it seemed, I was not in a hospital, but in a virtual hell where patients are tormented. But with Gods blessings and my inner strength, I fought the infection to return home, said Gupta, who is the president of India-Nepal Friendship Association.

Recounting his days in the ward, he said: On August 18, I had symptoms of Covid infection - high fever, dry cough and breathlessness. Family members took me to the medical college. After a sample test, staff told me that I have tested positive for SARS- CoV-2. As I was facing problems in breathing, instead of home isolation, I preferred admission to a designated Covid facility.

The doctors put me on ventilator support in the ICU, later I was put on an oxygen support system. A nurse came to collect my blood sample. After pricking my finger, she did not even press it with cotton or apply antiseptic lotion and the blood continued to flow on the bed sheet, he recalled.

After three days, a doctor told me to get an injection from the open market as it was not available in the hospital. The price of the injection was Rs 41,000. The doctor told me that my health condition was not good and I should take assistance from the ward staff to go to the toilet but when I called for assistance in the night, the doctor on duty started shouting at me, said Gupta.

Gupta said there was a complete lack of hygiene at the hospital. He recalled that he was forced to use an extremely dirty and unhygienic toilet since there were only 4 portable urine containers to be used among 40 patients. He added that the bed sheet was not changed for a week despite requests and the quality of food served to patients was substandard at best.

Recounting perhaps the most dangerous of the callous act by the medical staff, Gupta said: The nurse told me that the doctor has prescribed me insulin injections to control diabetes. I told her that I have no history of diabetes and the sugar test was also normal, yet she gave me an insulin injection. For 10 days, I was put on insulin, added Gupta.

Also Read: $1 trillion economy, herculean task: UP govt tells to-be-consultant in revised RFP

On September 4, the medical staff shifted Gupta to another ward, where the medical officer in-charge asked the nurse why Gupta was given insulin injections and pulled up the staff. I started praying for my well-being, said Gupta recalling the traumatic experience.

Gupta said his family finally managed to get him discharged from the hospital after he tested negative for the disease and didnt let his stay get extended as was being advised by the hospital.

I wish to write a letter to chief minister Yogi Adityanath, drawing his attention towards the mismanagement in the BRD Medical College, Gupta said.

Also Read: Possibility of partial reopening of schools in UP looks bleak: Deputy CM Dinesh Sharma

During his visit to Gorakhpur in August and September, the chief minister had directed the medical college and district administration officers to provide quality health services to patients admitted to Covid facilities. The state government had released funds for the care of patients, supply of quality food, procurement of equipment and life-saving medicines.

There is a need to check the stock supplied in the medical college stores, senior administrative officers should conduct surprise checks in Covid wards as well as the kitchen running in the hospital, said Gupta.

HT tried to contact officers of the BRD Medical College for their version, but there was no response.
New Delhi, Sep 16 : An all party meeting called by the government to ensure smooth proceedings in Parliament was underway, sources said on Wednesday.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Railway and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, and his deputy Arjun Ram Meghwal from the treasury benches were present in the meeting, apart from Social Justice Minister Thawarchand Gehlot and External Affairs MoS V Muraleedhar.

From the Congress, Anand Sharma and Ghulam Nabi Azad were present along with other opposition floor leaders.

The sources said the meeting agenda included discussion on important Bills that need to be passed in the Monsoon Session of Parliament that concludes on October 1.
Kim Kardashian West, Katy Perry, Michael B. Jordan and more celebrities are boycotting Instagram today to protest its parent company Facebook's policy towards hate speech on its platforms. In a post Tuesday, Kardashian West wrote she was joining the #StopHateforProfit movement, a campaign that attempts to hold Facebook and other social media companies accountable for the rise of bigotry and misinformation propagated on their platforms.

Related: WSJ: Mark Zuckerberg Used a Private Trump Meeting to Hurt TikTok

In a recent incident, Facebook refused to take down a page for a militia group in Kenosha, Wisconsin, despite it being reported for violating the site's policies more than 450 times. The page was only removed after a shooting that left two protestors in Kenosha dead, which Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg called an "operational mistake."

Related: Facebook to Slap Labels on Newsworthy, But Rule-Breaking Posts From Politicians

Stop Hate for Profit is calling on Facebook to take stronger action against groups and messages promoting hate, bigotry, racism, anti-Semitism and disinformation.

"I love that I can connect directly with you through Instagram and Facebook, but I cant sit by and stay silent while these platforms continue to allow the spreading of hate, propaganda and misinformation  created by groups to sow division and split America apart  only to take steps after people are killed," Kardashian West wrote to her 188 million followers. "Misinformation shared on social media has a serious impact on our elections and undermines our democracy. Please join me tomorrow when I will be 'freezing' my Instagram and FB account to tell Facebook to #StopHateForProfit."

The celebrity boycott, which also includes Ashton Kutcher, Leonardo DiCaprio, Naomi Campbell, Sacha Baron Cohen and Amy Schumer, follows a similar corporate boycott earlier this summer. Starbucks, Verizon, Coca-Cola, Ben & Jerry's and a slew of other advertisers vowed to pull their ads for the month of July to protest Facebook's lack of action regulating hate speech on its platform.

Related: Ben & Jerry's Joins Facebook and Instagram Boycott, Pushes for Transgender Rights

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Though export bodies have been asking the government to reconsider its decision to cap the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS), the government is in no mood to relent and would be keeping a close eye on companies trying to avail the benefits by routing claims through their subsidiaries.

"There is a concern that big exporters would be trying to claim benefits by routing claims through their subsidiaries. We are keeping an eye out and would clamp down on any company that attempts to do this. Digitised data on all companies is available with us," a senior government official said.

Earlier this month, the government capped export incentives under the MEIS at Rs 2 crore per exporter on outbound shipments made during the period from September 1 to December 31, 2020.

The move comes after the Department of Revenue asked the commerce ministry to review the coverage of MEIS so that the fiscal benefits under the programme can be brought down to Rs 9,000 crore in the current financial year.

Industry experts and analysts have pointed out that the government's decision would affect large exporters, two-wheeler companies like Bajaj Auto and TVS Motor, and also those that export engineering products.

Export bodies have been trying to convince the government to reconsider its decision, as according to them, September-December exports have been made factoring in the benefits under the MEIS as part of the negotiations.

The MEIS was introduced in 2015 by merging five reward schemes. The scheme was brought to incentivise merchandise exports of over 8,000 items.

The government provides duty benefits depending on product and export destination. Exporters earn duty credits at fixed rates of 2 percent, 3 percent, and 5 percent.

The Department of Revenue had requested the commerce department to calibrate the MEIS incentives in a manner that it promote exports.

The liability under the scheme ballooned to about Rs 45,000 crore in 2019-20. However, exports remained range bound. In 2014-15, the exports were $310 billion and in 2019-20, it was $313 billion.
(L) A parking meter damaged by rioters, and (R) weapons found on some of those arrested, in Seattle on Sept. 15, 2020. (Seattle Police Department)

11 Arrested for Rioting in Seattle Following Anti-Police Rally

Eleven people were arrested in Seattle on Sept. 15 after an anti-police rally turned into a riot, law enforcement officials said.

A few dozen people gathered near Denny Park for an anti-police rally around 3 p.m. before moving along 5th Avenue North, smashing windows and spraying graffiti.

What began as an anti-police rally/demonstration turned into property damage against businesses, the Seattle Police Department said in a statement.

As police officers began to arrest the people responsible for the damage, others tried to intervene, and also were arrested.

A livestream from downtown showed police officers on bicycles arresting some of the crowd. A number of the crowd members were dressed in the style favored by the far-left Antifa group: all-black, with faces obscured.

Officers used pepper spray during the tumult.

They recovered bear mace, a knife, and a collapsible baton from the rioters.

Ten of the rioters were booked into King County Jail on felony property damage and obstruction charges.

One person complained of an injury and was taken to the hospital for treatment, police said. The extent of the injury wasnt clear.

Weapons and other items found on some of those arrested for rioting in Seattle on Sept. 15, 2020. (Seattle Police Department)

A separate demonstration outside the Grand Hyatt hotel was sparked by a fake press release. The statement from the activist group 350 Seattle claimed that the hotel was offering the homeless a place to stay away from the smoky conditions due to wildfires.

The group later posted two pages they said came from an anonymous, ad hoc collective of diverse organizers explaining that the release was a ruse.

We knew the Hyatt wasnt opening rooms and that neither Seattle City nor King County Councils were funding emergency shelter, the anonymous group said.

It may surprise you but we dont like to lie. In the age of misinformation, we value truth more than ever. But right now, the truth is far less believable than the lies we told.

The group is among those who are pushing for city officials to override Mayor Jenny Durkans veto of a homeless strategy called JumpStart Seattle.

Hyatt told Newsweek that the hoax was an unethical, illegal attempt to try to get the government to act.

Hyatt cares deeply for the Seattle community and for all the communities in which Hyatt hotels operate, the Hyatt spokesperson said. We are outraged that an anonymous group earlier today issued a fake press release that misled and tried to lure many of Seattles most vulnerable individuals to expect hotel accommodations.
Scientists have hailed the discovery of a gas known as phosphine in the clouds above Venus. It's the first time the rare molecule has been found on a rocky planet other that Earth, which has sparked excitement that it could lead a step closer to proving the existence of extraterrestrial life.

The atmosphere of Venus contains a gas that on Earth "can be attributed to living organisms", scientists said in a report published in the science journal Nature Astronomy.

Phosphine is a flammable gas that can only come from the breakdown of organic matter or man-made processes.

"The detection of phosphine molecules, which consist of hydrogen and phosphorus, could point to this extraterrestrial 'aerial' life," says the report.

The research provided evidence "for anomalous and unexplained chemistry" which may be a stepping stone towards other projects on Venus.

Exciting findings

Lead author Jane Greaves, from Cardiff University's School of Physics and Astronomy told AFP that the presence of phosphine alone was not proof of life on one of Earth's closest neighbours.

"I don't think we can say that  even if a planet was abundant in phosphorus, it might lack something else important to life  some other element, or conditions might be too hot, too dry," she said.

However it is the first time phosphine has been found on a rocky planet other than Earth, and the only way to know more would be to send a spacecraft to collect samples, Greaves added.

To collect the data, the astronomers used telescopes in Hawaii and Chile's Atacama Desert to observe Venus' upper cloud levels, around 60 kilometres from the surface, where temperatures are around 20-30 degrees Celsius.

Venus' daytime temperatures of up to 400 degrees Celsius are hot enough to melt lead and its atmosphere is comprised almost entirely of carbon dioxide.

The clouds of the planet are incredibly acidic  around 90 percent sulphuric acid  posing major issues for microbes to survive there, astronomers said.

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States provided some extra research into how phosphine is produced in nature to better understand the research, as explained in this video.

However, the group warns that some information is lacking  and that the only other study of phosphorus on Venus came from one lander experiment, carried by the Soviet Vega 2 mission in 1985.

NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine reacted on social media, calling the Cardiff group study the most significant development yet in building the case for life off Earth," and "it's time to prioritise Venus."

Will Venus steal Mars's thunder?

Until now, Earth's other closest neighbour Mars has attracted more attention in terms of space exploration, with several unmanned probes launched by the US and China in the bid to find proof of life.

In one of the latest projects, Nasa at the end of July launched the 'Perseverance' rover which is due to land in February 2021.

But Alan Duffy, an astronomer from Swinburne University and Lead Scientist of The Royal Institution of Australia, said the Venus find was "one of the most exciting signs of the possible presence of life beyond Earth I have ever seen".

But he admitted: "We have to rule out all possible other non-biological means of producing it.

Professor Emma Bunce, President of the Royal Astronomical Society of the UK said the breakthrough "makes a strong case for a return space mission to Venus".
A television programme relating to the civil services exams gives an impression that it is being aired with the objective of vilifying the Muslim community and bringing it into disrepute, the Supreme Court observed on Tuesday, issuing an injunction barring the channel Sudarshan News from televising the programme for the time being.

A three-judge bench headed by justice DY Chandrachud took strong exception to the contents of the show, Bindas Bol, which spoke of UPSC jihad, observing that the claims made by the channel appeared to be insidious and also cast aspersions on the credibility of the Union Public Service Commission exams.

Prima facie (at first sight), it does appear to the Court that the intent, object and purpose of the episodes which have been telecast is to vilify the Muslim community. An insidious attempt has been made to insinuate that the community is involved in a conspiracy to infiltrate the civil services. The drift, tenor and content of the episodes is to bring the community into public hatred and disreputeAny attempt to vilify a community must be viewed with disfavour by this court as a custodian of Constitutional values, said the bench, which also comprised justices Indu Malhotra and KM Joseph.

The court reconsidered its stance of August 28 when it had declined to impose a pre-broadcast ban on the controversial programme, citing freedom of speech and expression.

It noted on Tuesday that there has been a change in circumstances because the tone and tenor of the programme emerged only after four episodes were telecast from September 11 to 14.

The hearing also saw a lengthy discussion on regulating media, particularly the electronic media. The court suggested the appointment of a committee of five distinguished citizens to frame standards for regulation of the electronic media.

The case will be heard again on Thursday.

Justice KM Joseph said that freedom granted to the media was not absolute and the manner in which certain television channels conduct news debates left a lot to be desired.

Certain channels mute panelilsts when they express views which go against the anchors views. This is unfair. No freedom is absolute, not even journalistic freedom, justice Joseph said.

He asked solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for Central government, to explore options for disclosing the shareholding pattern and revenue model of media houses in the public domain.

Mehta said the freedom of a journalist was supreme and any regulation of it would need extensive debate.

Tuesdays order was passed in the face of vehement opposition by Sudarshan News lawyer, senior counsel Shyam Divan, who said such an order would amount to prior restraint on publication of news and would violate free speech.

I reserve my right to fair criticism of the order after the hearing of the matter is over... Arguments were contrary to facts and records. My client has never said anything about Muslim community. We are concerned with the issue of national security, advocate Vishnu Jain, who also represented Sudarshan News, told HT.

The court was hearing a petition by advocate Firoz Iqbal Khan, who submitted that the programme contained statements which were derogatory about the entry of Muslims into the civil services.

In the programmes trailer, which was widely shared on social media platforms, the anchor and editor-in-chief of Sudarshan news, Suresh Chavhanke was seen questioning how there had been a sudden increase in the number of Muslims succeeding in Indian Administrative Service and Indian Police Service exams.

Chavhanke went on to ask about what the consequences would be if Jihadis from Jamia (Millia Islamia) would hold positions of authority and power like those of collector and secretary.

The court, while hearing the matter, on August 28 issued notices to central government, Press Council of India, Sudarshan News and News Broadcasters Association, but had declined a stay on its telecast.

In a case related to the same show before the Delhi high court, notices were issued on September 11, but no stay was granted. Sudarshan News then proceeded to telecast four episodes of the show.

Chandrachud said every single person who applies to take the UPSC exam goes through the same selection process and the insinuation that one community was trying to infiltrate civil services does great disservice to the nation.

What has been happening does not do credit to our democratic system. We are a melting pot of cultures, civilizations, religions and languages, said justice Chandrachud.
Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) (C) is joined by Republican members of the House while talking to reporters outside the White House West Wing in Washington on March 26, 2019. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Buchanan Slams Cuties For Catering To Predators, Introduces CREEPER Act Banning Child Sex Dolls



Republican Florida Rep. Vern Buchanan slammed Netflixs Cuties Monday, the same day he introduced legislation banning the sale of child-like sex dolls used by pedophiles.

A film that shows girls as young as 11 engaging in highly sexualized dance routines is inappropriate, the congressman said in a statement provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation. I support artistic expression in film but this is exploitative, dangerous and borders on child pornography.

Child abuse and exploitation is a vile crime. The controversial new Netflix film Cuties depicting pre-teenaged girls in sexually explicit dance routines is offensive and exploitative. (1/3) https://t.co/kdtBLPQoKw  Rep. Vern Buchanan (@VernBuchanan) September 14, 2020

Buchanans CREEPER 2.0 (Curbing Realistic Exploitative Electronic Pedophilic Robots) Act is modeled after a bill introduced in Congress in 2017 that banned both the transport and import of sex dolls that resemble children. The bill did not pass the Senate.

The Florida representatives CREEPER 2.0 Act takes this 2017 legislation a step further by adding language banning the sale or possession of the dolls.

We need to stop catering to predators and start paying more attention to protecting children, Buchanan said in the statement.

The National Center on Sexual Exploitation agrees, saying the film adds to the problem of child sexual exploitation. We need to be protecting children from predators, not exploiting them. (2/3)  Rep. Vern Buchanan (@VernBuchanan) September 14, 2020

The Child Rescue Coalition started a petition in September calling for lawmakers to make the sale of child sex dolls illegal in the United States, citing an incident wherein a mother discovered that producers of child sex dolls had used her 8-year-old daughters face to create sex dolls.

I knew it right away. I knew it the one site, I saw her and zoomed in on her face and her hair. I was just, I couldnt believe it, the mother, identified only as Teri, told NBC Miami. The high quality sexy dolly live dolls for men were for sale on Amazon and other websites for $559, according to the publication.

When I saw the one that looks just like my daughter, I clicked on it, and when I saw the face, the poses  I was just, I couldnt stop. I started crying. I was just completely in shock and angry, she said.

The tearful mother continued, I cant sleep sometimes because thats all I can think about, men who have sex with those dolls, and I cant get them back. I just want to burn them.

Child sex dolls are currently illegal in only three states, NBC Miami reported: Florida, Kentucky, and Tennessee.

At Child Rescue Coalition, we believe that those who possess these dolls demonstrate a dangerous sexual interest in children, the Change.org petition says. We know that suspects have already been identified in possession of illegal child sexual abuse material along with these dolls, in the same household.

By Mary Margaret Olohan

From The Daily Caller News Foundation
MCLA/ SVC Teachout

Radiographic Sciences Program

2019-2020

Program mission, goals, student learning outcomes and philosophy:

Mission:

The BSRS degree prepares students to meet the needs of the medical imaging community through an advanced level of education with a broader knowledge base that meets the demands facing the healthcare industry today. With a foundation in the liberal arts, the competency-based program fosters excellence by expanding the curriculum in the application of current, developing, and advanced imaging technologies.

The BSRS graduate will use appropriate interpersonal skills, think critically, embrace diversity, employ healthcare research, and apply appropriate radiation safety measures becoming ethical professional leaders dedicated to the health and safety of their patients.

Goal: Students will demonstrate communication skills.

Student Learning Outcomes:

Students will learn to communicate effectively with diverse populations.

Students will write effectively.

Students will demonstrate proper oral communication skills.

Goal: Students will become clinically competent.

Student Learning Outcomes:

Students will utilize appropriate radiation safety techniques.

Students will position patients accurately.

Goal: Students will utilize critical thinking skills.

Students Learning Outcomes:

Students will perform non-routine procedures.

Students will select appropriate technical factors for variations in body habitus.

Students will be able to analyze images.

Goal: Students will display professionalism.

Student Learning Outcomes:

Students will be knowledgeable of advanced imaging modalities.

Students will display proper professionalism.

Program Effectiveness Data
A sustained dialogue must be established between molecular ecologists, policymakers and other stakeholders for DNA-based approaches to be adopted in marine monitoring and assessment, according to KAUST scientists and colleagues.

New tools able to solve some of the challenges facing this field aren't getting the attention they most likely deserve, explains KAUST molecular ecologist, Eva Aylagas, the article's corresponding author. "This is because it is common practice for researchers, policymakers and other stakeholders involved in marine environmental management to act independently," says Aylagas.

DNA barcoding and metabarcoding are molecular techniques used to identify species by comparing small fragments of their DNA against a reference database. Traditionally, assessing the health of a marine ecosystem involves identifying organisms from samples based on their morphological characteristics. This requires the involvement of specialized taxonomists and is often very expensive and time consuming. DNA barcoding and metabarcoding could save monitoring programs a lot of time and money.

Aylagas and her colleagues propose a roadmap for developing meaningful collaboration between stakeholders with the aim of implementing molecular approaches in marine monitoring. The roadmap was based on lessons from several successful projects.

For example, DNA metabarcoding is being tested in New Zealand for the purpose of monitoring the impacts of the country's extensive aquaculture farms on the surrounding marine environment. Aquaculture can cause environmental damage through the accumulation of organic matter from fish excretions and nutrients from uneaten food, causing low-oxygen conditions for animals and plants that inhabit the marine sediment, while also generating toxic conditions for aquaculture fish.

The New Zealand government has funded a multiyear project to compare traditional and DNA-based approaches for monitoring marine sediment in the vicinity of a large number of aquaculture farms in several regions of the country. This involved extensive collaboration between government, monitoring agencies, industry and researchers.

Having aquaculture farmers and relevant government agencies directly involved from the outset was critical for helping scientists develop a protocol that resulted in a product that satisfied everyone involved. "Currently, DNA metabarcoding is in its final phase of validation and will be established in environmental legislation in New Zealand for routinely monitoring the effects of aquaculture activities. The approach provided reliable, faster and ultimately cheaper results than the methods previously used," says KAUST co-author and marine ecologist Susana Carvalho.

Another example comes from the European DEVOTES project that developed innovative tools and indicators for assessing the impacts of human activities on marine biodiversity. A large number of stakeholders were involved in comparing traditional taxonomic methods with DNA metabarcoding approaches for monitoring macroinvertebrates living in marine sediment, such as small crustaceans and worms. The diversity of these organisms in the sediment is considered a robust indicator of marine ecosystem health. DNA metabarcoding yielded very positive results in this effort as well, and the technique is proposed for improving ecological assessments within Europe.

"The main lesson learned from this and other projects is the need to establish robust and solid networking between researchers and policymakers to effectively develop, test, validate and standardize novel monitoring tools," says Aylagas.

KAUST's researchers and their colleagues recommend a roadmap that encourages interaction and engagement, communication and commitment, and finally they stress the need for decision framing for the successful integration of new molecular methods into routine use.

On the home front, KAUST researchers have been in discussions with representatives from governmental agencies in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and with other stakeholders to present the potential of DNA-based tools for enhancing marine monitoring in the Red Sea region.

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The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has threatened to shut down the economy if the federal government refuses to reverse the recent hike in petrol price and electricity tariff in 14 days.

The NLC president, Ayuba Wabba, said this at the end of the NLCs central working committee (CWC) meeting on Wednesday in Abuja.

Mr Wabba said workers and Nigerians are disappointed that the government decided to increase both the price of fuel and electricity tariff at a time other countries across the world are giving palliatives to their citizens to cushion the effect of COVID-19.

Issues

PREMIUM TIMES had reported that electricity distribution companies had hiked their tariffs from about N30.23 to about N62.33 per kWh for Nigerians after the federal government said it would no longer subsidise electricity consumption.

Also, the price of petrol increased from about N145 to about N161 per litre.

PREMIUM TIMES also reported how Trade Union Congress (TUC) and civil societies issued a seven-day ultimatum to the federal government to reverse the increases in petroleum products, electricity tariff and other social services, or prepare for an indefinite industrial action and national protest starting from September 23.

In an effort to resolve these issues, President Muhammadu Buhari directed the minister of employment and productivity to hold a meeting between the federal government, labour unions and the CSOs.

However, the meeting, held on Tuesday, ended without an agreement.

The parties later resolved to further consult and reconvene at a latter date, which has not been communicated

Labours position

According to Mr Wabba, the CWC identified that COVID-19 and the socioeconomic situation of the country has caused Nigerians enough suffering, and now the hike has reduced the purchasing power of Nigerians.

Also, it has brought about high cost of goods and services and we saw that it has eroded completely the gains of the N30,000 minimum wage, he said.

He said the CWC and the NEC also took reports of the meeting that took place between the federal government and organised labour where NLC was represented by 14 of its leaders.

He said the CWC issued a two-week ultimatum to the federal government to reverse the fuel price hike or face industrial action and peaceful Assembly.

In furtherance to this, the Central Working Committee resolved also to convene a meeting of the national executive council in line with our constitution, on September 22, 2020, Tuesday, to also give effect to this decision because the proposed action, will commence on Monday, September 28, 2020, if those issues are not addressed, he said.

Mr Wabba said the NLC central working committee will also mobilise its members, civil societies and other social partners to try to resist these policies because it has driven many Nigerians into poverty.

This afternoon, the Central Working Committee members were sharing their aims and experiences arising from the exploitative nature of these policies where it is very evident even in some cases the N30,000 minimum wage cannot actually pay for the electricity, he said.

The experience we have here is that somebody actually loaded a credit of N30,000, it could not take him two weeks and this has been the experience all over the country. It is really a decision that is biting at every worker and every family and I think it is a decision that certainly requires reversion, he said.
Hats off to Donald Trump for finally getting the gang at Scientific American to gather the gumption to endorse a presidential candidate. Its their first endorsement in the magazines 175 years.

The endorsement though isnt for the tweeter-in-chief who has badly damaged the U.S. and its peoplebecause he rejects evidence and science, according to SA.

The editorial board wants Joe Biden in the White House because of his fact-based plans to improve the nations health, economy and environment."

It rips Trump for his dishonest and inept response" to the COVID-19 pandemic that has cost the lives of more than 190K Americans and for attacking environmental protections, medical care, researchers and public science agencies that help this country prepare for its greatest challenges.

The SA editors write:

Trump repeatedly lied to the public about the deadly threat of the disease, saying it was not a serious concern and this is like a flu when he knew it was more lethal and highly transmissible, according to his taped statements to journalist Bob Woodward. His lies encouraged people to engage in risky behavior, spreading the virus further, and have driven wedges between Americans who take the threat seriously and those who believe Trumps falsehoods. The White House even produced a memo attacking the expertise of the nations leading infectious disease physician, Anthony Fauci, in a despicable attempt to sow further distrust."

The presidents reaction to America's worst public health crisis in a century has been to say I don't take responsibility at all.

Instead he blamed other countries and his White House predecessor, who left office three years before the pandemic began.

Trump has repeatedly tried to get rid of the Affordable Care Act while offering no alternative, proposed billion-dollar cuts to the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and want the US out of the World Health Organization.

The president keeps pushing to eliminate health rules from the Environmental Protection Agency and replacing replaced scientists on agency advisory boards with industry representatives.

SA editors write: In his ongoing denial of reality, Trump has hobbled U.S. preparations for climate change, falsely claiming that it does not exist and pulling out of international agreements to mitigate it. The changing climate is already causing a rise in heat-related deaths and an increase in severe storms, wildfires and extreme flooding.

Though Trump and his cronies are trying to create obstacles that prevent voters from casting their ballots, SA urges Americans to overcome all challenges and vote.

It's time to move Trump out and elect Biden, who has a record of following the data and being guided by science, concludes the editorial.

Will the president retaliate by cancelling his sub to SA?
Madhya Pradesh government has banned transportation of bovines, their sale and mingling in animal fairs and mating without a test for the next two months as a viral disease - lumpy skin disease - has affected at least 15,000 such animals in at least 10 districts of the state bordering Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra. Measures are being taken to contain the spread of the disease, government officials said.

The animal husbandry department and Nanaji Deshmukh Veterinary Science University, Jabalpur, has ordered isolation of infected bovines for 12-14 days and also put a ban on their inter-state and intra-state transportation, as per officials.

Animal husbandry departments additional chief secretary, JN Kansotia, said, Spread of the virus was limited to some districts but we have issued instructions to district officers of animal husbandry department of all the districts to contain the disease.

Nanaji Deshmukh Veterinary Science University, Jabalpur, dean RK Sharma said, The disease is spreading very fast due to four main factors- contact, secretion of dung and urine, flies and mating with affected bovines. Isolation and proper medication are the only ways to contain the disease.

The first case was reported in Anuppur in the second week of August when some cows showed the symptoms of the viral disease. The tested samples from Anuppur confirmed the presence of the virus from family Poxviridae which causes lumpy skin disease, said PK Solnaki, a senior veterinary surgeon of animal husbandry department, appointed as nodal officer for disease containment efforts.

In just one week, we came to know that it had spread to at least six districts. In less than one month, it spread to more than 10 districts and affected over 15,000 cattle-- mainly domestic. The worst affected district is Balaghat where 8700 cases were reported, said Solanki.

The local municipal bodies and panchayat officials of all the 52 districts have been asked to remain on alert and ensure isolation of stray cows if found infected. Owners of bovines have been asked to make a separate shed for infected ones and not leave the infected ones for grazing in an open ground, said the officer.

Also Read: MP assembly session truncated to one day; minimum number of MLAs to attend

Solanki says that the ban on organising animal fairs, which were on hold due to Covid-19, will continue for the next two months. The bovine owners have also been asked to mate their animals only after testing.

To create awareness among people and to provide medicines to infected bovines, camps are being organized in more than 500 villages of 10 districts of east and south east of MP, said JN Kansotia.

Also Read: Struck by lightning seven killed in Madhya Pradesh

Lumpy Skin Disease or the LSD was first reported in Zambia in 1929. Over the next 85 years, it steadily spread throughout the majority of Africa and into the middle-east. In 2015, it entered mainland Europe in Greece and spread to Russia. In 2019, the first known LSD infection in India was reported from Odisha. The disease then reached MP from Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh. It normally spreads through insects or ticks.

The disease has a very rare chance of mortality but the morbidity rate is very high. It causes secretion of milk in affected cows and buffalos. There is no report of transmission of the disease from animals to humans so far, said RK Sharma, dean of the university.

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Peloton's market valuation can double by 2024 with growth similar to Apple and Netflix, says Stifel

Published Wed, Sep 16 2020 1:19 PM EDT
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 22:58:02|Editor: huaxia

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WUHAN, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Central China's Wuhan, a city once hit hard by COVID-19, saw the landing of its first international passenger flight Wednesday morning after more than seven months of suspension due to the epidemic.

Departing from Seoul, the flight TW615, operated by T'way Airlines, landed at the Wuhan Tianhe International Airport at 10:48 a.m., marking the resumption of the regular passenger air route between Seoul and Wuhan.

The 60 passengers on the flight were transferred to designated hotels for 14 days of medical observation after completing temperature tests, epidemiological investigations, blood tests, and nucleic acid tests at the airport.

According to the Hubei Airports Group Company, the 3-hour route is flown by a Boeing B737-800 every Wednesday.

The resumption of the Wuhan-Seoul route shows the anti-epidemic achievements of the people of Wuhan and Hubei Province, which will also help promote the resumption of work and production in Wuhan, said Li Yizhuo, an official of Wuhan's transportation bureau.

So far, Wuhan Tianhe International Airport has resumed passenger routes bound for 73 domestic destinations, with about 500 inbound and outbound flights a day. The daily throughput of domestic passengers has returned to more than 90 percent of that of the same period last year. Enditem
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden stepped up his reach to Latino voters in Florida, a key voting bloc, as polls showed his struggle to gain support.

Since securing his presidential nomination, Biden's first campaign event took place near Orlando on Tuesday. It was tied to the beginning of Hispanic Heritage Month, noted Wall Street Journal.

Trump won Florida by a slight margin of only one percentage point in 2016, and polls on the state also show a tight race between him and Biden this year.

Latino voters make up about 20% of Florida's voting body according to Pew Research Center.

Biden is looking for ways to make his case on education, health care, immigration and COVID-19. He's looking for ways to appeal to Latino voters and their community, as they were badly hit by the virus.

Despite his efforts, a poll from NBC News/Marist showed that Trump is earning more support at 50% compared to Biden who is lagging at 46%.

A Quinnipiac poll also showed that Trump is leading Latino voters compared to Biden across the state.

A Bendixen and Amandi poll showed that Trump has 47% support of likely Latino voters, while Biden stands at 46%. It was conducted from September 1 to 4 in left-leaning Miami-Dade County.

Biden is looking forward to an uphill battle in attracting Cuban voters. But he also seeks strength in support among Puerto Ricans, said CBS News. Puerto Rican voters make up a large portion of Florida's voting population.

Miami-based pollster Fernand Amandi said Biden should not have had trouble with Florida. In fact, it is the largest county for Democratic votes in Florida.

But Amandi stressed that if Biden does not perform well in Miami, it could hurt his chances of winning in Florida. Amandi added that this is the likely case unless there is a "massive white voter exodus in other parts of the state.

Both Trump and Biden are now in the final stretch to win Florida. But most public statewide surveys still show that Biden is either overpowered or is leading by a small margin.

In recent elections, Latino voters have shown themselves as a key swing bloc. So getting them on a candidate's side does help sway their numbers.

Biden Is Not Doing Enough

Other people have questioned Biden's campaign in reaching out to Latinos. Many believe that Biden is not doing enough to help up his votes in the swing bloc.

Chuck Rocha, a former senior adviser in Senator Bernie Sanders' campaigns, said that Biden was lagging behind because of "lack of money." He did not have enough funding from his campaign to reach Latino voters.

"The fact of the matter is there's just not money going to take that message to Latinos as there needs to be," he said.

Javier Fernandez, who is running for the state Senate, also noted that there isn't much enthusiasm for Biden. This is most true among Latino voters in Florida.

"I don't know that they're super excited about Joe Biden," Fernandez said.

The past few weeks have been Trump's time to appeal to Latino voters. He took part in a Latinos for Trump roundtable in Phoenix on Monday.

Biden has likewise faced criticism when it comes to anti-immigration issues. During the Obama administration, there was a high number in deportations.

But Biden said he regrets deporting migrants without criminal records under Obama.

Check these out!

Biden Struggling to Get Latino Voters in Florida

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(Newser)  Yoshihide Suga, a self-made politician and the right-hand man to his predecessor, was officially elected by Parliament on Wednesday as Japan's new prime minister and leader of the world's third largest economy. The 71-year-old head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party replaces Shinzo Abe, who resigned due to ill health, reports the AP. As the chief Cabinet spokesman under Abe, the straight-faced Suga offered bland commentary at twice-daily news briefings. But behind the scenes, Suga is known for his stubbornness, an iron-fist approach as a policy coordinator and influencing bureaucrats by using the power of the prime ministers office, leading political watchers to call him the "shadow prime minister." Some bureaucrats who opposed his policies have said they were removed from government projects or transferred to other posts. Suga himself recently said he would continue to do so.

story continues below

His parents' eldest son, Suga defied tradition by leaving for Tokyo rather than taking over the family strawberry farm in Akita prefecture. He worked at a cardboard factory before entering university, paying his tuition while working part-time jobs. He was a secretary to former trade minister Hikosaburo Okonogi for 11 years before becoming a Yokohama city assemblyman in 1987. Suga was elected to the lower house in 1996 at age 47, a late start compared to political heirs like Abe, the third-generation political blue-blood elected to parliament at age 29. Suga was a loyal Abe supporter and his cabinet will include many former Abe appointees, reports CNN. Suga has said his top priorities will be fighting the coronavirus and turning around a Japanese economy battered by it, with an emphasis on foreign tourism. He will also have to decide what to do with the Tokyo Olympics, postponed to next summer.

(Read more Japan stories.)
Salvation Army pushes to Rescue Christmas early as millions reel in pandemic

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Facing a possible drop of up to 50% in fundraising from its iconic Red Kettle Campaign and a 155% increase in demand for its social services, The Salvation Army is launching its annual holiday fundraising campaign early for the first time in 130 years as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The pandemic has brought about just incredible crises for families all across America. Many of the families we serve, some of them have lost their jobs, some of them have been impacted and have had COVID in their own families. And when you lose income and youre sick and you cant afford basic necessities for your family like food, rent, utilities, it puts you at a crisis that youve never experienced before, Dale Bannon, The Salvation Armys national community relations and development secretary, told The Christian Post Tuesday.

We have had waitresses, I think of one in Indiana  She said ,Im a single mom. I have two kids and Ive been doing very well until I was laid off from my job. She said, This is the first time Ive had to ask for help and I just need food for my family. That story is amplified by the thousands,  millions that weve seen all across our country.

Since March, Americas largest social services organization has provided more than 100 million meals, 1.5 million nights of safe shelter, and emotional and spiritual support to over 800,000 people through 7,600 centers of operation across the country.

As they look forward to Christmas, The Salvation Army is now being forced to get creative in its fundraising work as the pandemic threatens giving through the Red Kettle Campaign, which raised $126 million through about 30,000 red kettles last year alone.

With many retailers shuttering and studies showing more consumers moving away from cash and coins toward e-commerce, The Salvation Army is hoping consumers will help them recoup the anticipated shortfall through a variety of electronic means so they can help an estimated 7 million at-risk people this Christmas.

On Sunday, the Christian organization, whose founders sought to bring salvation to the poor, destitute and hungry, released its Help Rescue Christmas campaign video to the soundtrack of two-time Grammy Award-winning and multi-platinum selling artist Lauren Daigles hit Rescue, which was described as the anthem for the campaign.

Were anticipating just with the shortage of cash, theres also less retail stores than there were last year, weve got to do something and do it early to communicate to the American public. Help us meet the needs of people this Christmas. Our Christmas assistance program provides food, we also provide toys for parents who are struggling between maybe paying the rent or keeping their lights on, Bannon said.

It used to be you could come into our pantry and select items to help sustain your family for food. We immediately knew we couldnt do that due to social distancing and we started doing drive-thru pantries where you just come with your car, put the food right in the trunk of your car. Then we started getting unique calls where people say, I dont have transportation but I still need food, he explained.

We had a donor of ours, many of our donors give us $25 a month.  We had a donor in New York, she was elderly. We just asked how she was doing and she said, 'You know, I dont have any family near me. The governor tells me I really shouldnt go outdoors and I dont know how to order groceries online. Can The Salvation Army just bring me some food?

And then we move from drive-thru pantries to delivering boxes of food on peoples doorstep. Weve had to be agile and adapt because the need has been so great. And thats one thing that were concerned about as we move into Christmas, is that the pandemic is still impacting millions of families.

One of the biggest concerns the organization has is ensuring that families remain in their homes over the holidays.

While President Donald Trumps executive order provides an eviction moratorium for renters, which started on Sept. 4 and runs until the end of 2020, evictions have continued for some, according to Forbes.

Citing a recent report by Popular Information, a news and politics newsletter, it was found that proving the executive orders requirements may be too onerous for people who are disproportionately affected by the pandemic and who may lack access to legal help. It was also found that even some landlords have been filing eviction proceedings against tenants, challenging whether or not they meet the criteria to benefit from the moratorium.

In order to be protected from eviction under the executive order, in the absence of other state protections, individuals must earn $99,000 or less, $198,000 for a couple filing a joint tax return or must have received a stimulus check.

They must also prove that: they have made best efforts to get all available government assistance for rent or housing; they are unable to pay full rent or make a full housing payment because of lost income, being laid off, or had out-of-pocket medical expenses; made partial payments wherever possible; and that if they were to be evicted, they would likely be homeless, need to move into a homeless shelter, or share a new residence in close quarters with multiple people.

Moratoriums are starting to expire on rent for evictions. And so if youve been unemployed for six months but your landlord hasnt been able to evict you, as the states release those moratoriums, we have families who are going to be in major jeopardy in staying in their homes and so The Salvation Army has been a leading provider of cash assistance for rent and utilities support, Bannon said.

We really believe that we prevent homelessness when we can keep a family intact in their homes so all across the country we already provide rent and utility assistance.  We know that families are going to be struggling with those basic necessities. If youre trying to stay in your home by paying the rent and utilities and keeping your family warm in cold states, you might not be able to think about what your kids need for Christmas or what youre going to have on the Thanksgiving table in terms of a meal. Youre just going to need that extra support and so thats why were asking the public to join us early in this Rescue Christmas effort.

The Salvation Army is urging donors who want to help to enlist in its Loves Army with a sustaining monthly gift of $25 per month or donate through the red kettles. Digital donations are also being accepted through Apple Pay or Google Pay at any red kettle across the country. Donors can also give any amount by texting KETTLES to 91999 or through Amazon's Alexa by saying, Alexa, donate to The Salvation Army, then specifying the amount. Other ways to donate can be found at The Salvation Army's website.

When asked if he thinks the Red Kettle Campaign might someday become obsolete as consumer behavior shifts toward more digital platforms, he said he doesnt believe it will.

I think weve had to be agile and flexible with the Red Kettle campaign. The Red Kettle campaign this year celebrates 130 years. Its remarkable. Its iconic. When you think of Christmas, you see the red kettle and the bell ringer, you know that its really time to think about others and to support your neighbors in need. We hope and pray that the red kettle never leaves because I think it brings out the spirit of generosity in communities, he said.

Weve had parents say to us and grandparents, generations, say, I first learned how to give to others through putting money in the red kettle. But at the same time we know that when people carry less cash we have to be more agile and flexible and provide more options to give so online options are critical.

I think its more, not that the red kettle will go away, but expanding the red kettle so that we think not just in front of the store with a bell ringer, but that we can encourage giving in all platforms at all levels.
Wang Huning, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and a member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, speaks at a symposium attended by Party members and primary-level officials with outstanding performance in fighting COVID-19 in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 15, 2020. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)

BEIJING, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- A senior Chinese official on Tuesday called for promoting the spirit of combating the COVID-19 epidemic at a symposium attended by Party members and primary-level officials with outstanding performance in fighting COVID-19.

Wang Huning, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and a member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, called for thoroughly studying the speech made by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, at a meeting to commend China's COVID-19 battle role models.

Xi, in his speech, spoke highly of China's major strategic achievements in the battle against COVID-19, and required efforts to continue breaking new ground in developing the cause of the Party and the country, said Wang.

Wang commended CPC members and primary-level Party organizations for their roles in the country's COVID-19 response and urged efforts to strengthen the leadership of the CPC and Party building.
Leading controls technology provider Proserv Controls has unveiled two new cutting-edge facilities in Mussafah, Abu Dhabi and Cumbernauld, near Glasgow, Scotland as it seeks to drive forwards its expanding service support business.

Despite the on-going global challenge of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Aberdeen-based firm has proactively pursued the establishment of the new sites in recent months as it continues to win significant orders amid the general slowdown.

Michael Purkiss, Proservs Abu Dhabi based Vice President, Services stated: Both Service Centres of Excellence in Abu Dhabi and Cumbernauld offer dedicated, larger spaces to support our clients needs. We made our commitment to these facilities before the pandemic arrived, and our team has skilfully harnessed their dynamic designs to make them safe and entirely fit for purpose within the current requirement for socially distanced work environments, with reduced physical contact.

Both locations provide dedicated factory acceptance testing (FAT) studios, which currently also have the flexibility to carry these out remotely for our customers, via live video conferencing links. Similarly, once life returns to normal, these new sites will then transition very smoothly back to their original plans. But, moreover, they give us the necessary scale and size to ramp up our expanding activities and enhance our efficiencies even further.

Proserv Controls new facility in Abu Dhabi is an upgrade on its previous base in the city, boasting a dedicated service workshop of more than 1,000 sq m, 400 sq m of office space and encompassing a total footprint of almost 3,000 sq m.

The Mussafah site delivers a wide range of Proservs service and production capabilities including the build, repair and upgrade of all brands of hydraulic control systems, pressure testing facilities, as well as the provision of the firms bespoke AEGIS maintenance optimisation solution and remote asset monitoring.

The firms Abu Dhabi General Manager (GM), Angus Rodger, commented: This investment in a new site in Abu Dhabi strengthens our ability to support the operation and maintenance of a broad spectrum of Proserv legacy brand equipment that is located in the Middle East, as well as supply newly designed hydraulic and electrical control systems.

Our improved Centre of Excellence will further allow us to continue to deliver rapid, locally based expertise to our valued customers, who include some of the regions biggest operators.

Meanwhile, Proservs new site in Cumbernauld, Scotland represents the firms Service Centre of Excellence for Measurement and replaces its location in Coatbridge. The facility offers almost 800 sq m of space, including a testing laboratory, workshop and office provision. The base will be the teams global headquarters for its growing activities, with a capability to design, build and install independent fiscal and custody transfer metering systems.

The centre houses Proservs in-house technical and design teams with their expertise in system modification and upgrade.

But Proservs measurement and metering offering will also look to ramp up its presence in the Middle East, utilising the new Abu Dhabi space as a launchpad for further operations in the region.

Proservs Cumbernauld GM, James Holt, remarked: We regard the Middle East and North Africa as a key growing market for us. We are presently delivering contracts in Libya and we regularly work on the Arabian Peninsula.

In these times of lower prices and reduced expenditure, operators are looking more at brownfield opportunities and you need to be locally positioned to be part of that. The Abu Dhabi service team is well established and works with key regional outfits.

Purkiss added: Our life-of-field service support business has gone from strength to strength and that has taken time and effort as we have built up relationships with some of the biggest players in the industry.

These facilities demonstrate that even during a pandemic, we are growing and moving forwards. Strategically, there are strong synergies between these sites in Scotland and the UAE that will ultimately assist in expanding our global footprint through enhanced capacity and scale. Tradearabia News Service
What will be its impact on the banks's balance sheets?

Since banks need to provide for 10 per cent of the loans restructured, they would need Rs 50,000 crores to Rs 80,000 crore for this purpose, notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.

Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com

In the last week of March, the Reserve Bank of India asked all lending institutions to offer a three-month moratorium to their borrowers, affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, on payment of loan instalments between March and May.

Later, the banking regulator extended it by three months, till August.

What's next?

While the moratorium has ended, a new window is being opened for restructuring those loans that the borrowers are unable to service because of their businesses being affected by the pandemic.

The loans can be restructured by funding interest, converting part of debt into equity and giving the borrowers more time -- as much as two years -- to pay up.

In percentage terms, the number of borrowers availing of the moratorium has been progressively decreasing over the past months, but there is no clarity yet on how many would seek restructuring of their loans and the impact this exercise would have on the banks' health.

As of August 14, the commercial credit portfolio of the Indian banking system was a little over Rs 101.5 trillion. Everyone and her aunt is busy offering guesstimates of how much bank loan will be restructured.

The banking community estimates that between 5 per cent and 8 per cent of its loan assets can knock at the restructuring window.

This means, around Rs 5 trillion to Rs 8 trillion worth of loans will be restructured.

What will be its impact on the banks's balance sheets?

Since the banks need to provide for 10 per cent of the loans restructured, they would need Rs 50,000 crores to Rs 80,000 crore for this purpose.

A few may need capital for credit growth after this, but overall the operating profits of most banks should be able to cushion the shock of this provision.

On the positive side, many of the banks have already taken care of the provision required for their legacy bad loans.

The so-called provision coverage ratio of the State Bank of India in the June quarter was 86.3 per cent.

For IDBI Bank, it's even higher -- 94.71 per cent.

Most public sector banks have provided for around 80 per cent, or more, for the bad loans already recognised.

Besides, most banks have started setting aside money to provide for COVID-19 affected loans, beginning the March 2020 quarter.

Let's take a closer look at the composition of loans that are likely to be restructured. Very few corporate loans (typically Rs 100 crore and above) are likely to be restructured, primarily for two reasons.

One, only those loans that were standard in banking parlance as on March 1, 2020, can be restructured.

Two, they need to be restructured within two years.

These norms rule out deep restructuring, which some of the corporate loans require.

Those loans, which had turned bad by March and need longer timeframe for recast, cannot be covered by this scheme.

For such loans, I suppose the banks will insist on a change in ownership of the borrowing companies as outlined in RBI's June 2019 restructuring guidelines.

They will be taken to the insolvency court or there could be out-of-court settlements between the bankers and the borrowers.

Simply put, those corporations that were already sick before the COVID-19 attack on their business cannot gatecrash into the new restructuring scheme.

That leaves us with two sets of loans that could be restructured on a large scale: Retail loans such as mortgage and auto loans, among others; and loans given to micro, small and medium enterprises.

Typically, retail borrowers are careful about their credit score/ratings as any default will close the door for bank loans on them forever.

Hence, there is unlikely to be any wilful default (where they have money to service the loans but are not doing so).

There could be cases of customers losing jobs or self-employed persons going through a rough patch.

Some of them may quit their vocation and close the loans, while others will look for restructuring.

The most complex piece is the MSME segment.

Till the government redefined such enterprises in May 2020, there were about 63.05 million micro, 0.33 million small, and about 5,000 medium enterprises -- the second biggest employer in the country with a 31 per cent share in India's GDP.

Even in normal times, they have problems with cash flow as they are forced to wait to collect bills and, quite often, the government is the culprit, holding back payments.

The MSMEs do not have the capacity to carry such receivables.

The pandemic has played havoc with many of them.

Under the Rs 3 trillion, four-year, fully government-guaranteed loan scheme (with one-year moratorium), the bankers have already sanctioned Rs 1.58 trillion by August-end and disbursed at least Rs 1.11 trillion.

Even this may not be of great help to all the MSMEs. A simple extension of moratorium will not end the woes of those who have eaten up their capital.

The Rs 20,000 crore sub-debt scheme with a 90 per cent government guarantee, part of the Atmanirbhar Bharat package, may come in handy for them.

Under this scheme, the MSME promoters can be given money equal to 15 per cent of stake in the company or Rs 75 lakh, whichever is lower, for a maximum period of 10 years, with a seven-year moratorium on principal payment.

This means interest has to be paid only for the first seven years and the principal amount is to be repaid within three years after the moratorium ends.

Some of the MSMEs and retail customers were not paying banks back till August as they preferred to conserve cash in uncertain time.

After the moratorium lifts, they may start servicing the bank loans. Clarity will emerge in October but one thing is for sure that the latest restructuring of loans is very different from past such schemes.

Since 2001, the RBI has come out with a string of schemes at regular intervals -- CDR, S4A, 5/25, SDR -- till it withdrew them in February 2018 to stop their rampant misuse.

There are enough filters in the COVID-19 loan restructuring scheme to prevent misuse, both by the borrowers and banks.

Still, is it a tool to delay the growth in banks' bad loans?

We will have to wait for two years to find out.

Tamal Bandyopadhyay, a consulting editor with Business Standard, is an author and senior adviser to Jana Small Finance Bank Ltd.
VanMoof, a Dutch e-bike brand, raised $40m in Series B funding.

Backers in the round, which brought total funding raised to date to 61.1m/$73m, included Norwest Venture Partners, Felix Capital and Balderton Capital.

The company intends to use the funds for further global expansion in North America, Europe and Japan and to build a suite of rider service solutions.

Founded in 2009 by Taco and Ties Carlier, VanMoof is a maker of the S3 & X3 e-bikes which feature an updated motor, automatic electronic gear shifting, and integrated anti-theft tech.

The companys brand stores can be found in Amsterdam, Berlin, London, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Seattle, Taipei, and Tokyo, with riders across the globe buying online. Operating as a fully integrated end-to-end company, VanMoof takes complete ownership of everything from design to production, from sales to after-service.

FinSMEs

16/09/2020
congregation of St Matthew's Catholic Church celebrate Mass in the church car park grounds - Sam Mellish / Alamy Live News

The Archbishop of Canterbury has signalled his deep concern over the Government's "rule of six" restriction and its impact on family life.

Urging ministers to stop controlling people's lives from Westminster, the Most Rev Justin Welby warned that living with coronavirus over the winter months "will only be sustainable  or even endurable  if we challenge our addiction to centralisation and go back to an age-old principle: only do centrally what must be done centrally".

Writing in the Telegraph, the most senior bishop in the Church of England urged the Government to follow the clergy's centuries-old commitment to "localism" rather than "determining the daily details of our lives".

A source close to the Archbishop said he was "deeply concerned about Christmas and the impact of the 'rule of six' (watch Boris Johnson announcing the measure in the video below) on the vulnerable, the needy, the poor and the elderly".

"He is concerned about families being kept apart and the knock-on effect that has, particularly on people who are on their own," the source added. "The heart of the Christian faith is to love thy neighbour, which is increasingly difficult when strict rules are imposed by the centre."

It follows mounting criticism of the ban on social gatherings of seven people or more amid fears the new rules will "cancel Christmas" by preventing larger family gatherings.

Indicating his preference for a localised approach rather than a blanket national ban, Archbishop Welby said: "We are not immune to the temptation to pull more decisions into the centre, to feel that 'something is being done'. But it is a temptation that should be resisted. Often that 'something' might not be as effective as what could be done locally.

"When it comes to Covid-19, the importance of local networks and communities becomes even greater. Scotland and Wales have shown that local public health is the best qualified to deal with local outbreaks.

Story continues

"Local government, schools and voluntary agencies  including churches  can communicate well, act swiftly and measure risk and consequences on the ground."

Writing with Sarah Mullally, the Bishop of London, Archbishop Welby added: "What began as a national  and international  crisis has been the top priority of Westminster, Whitehall, Holyrood and Cardiff, and will remain so for some time to come.

"But in many ways the 'on-the-ground' response has been the most vital. Let's place our trust in the local, and make sure it is resourced, trained, informed and empowered."

Archbishop Welby's intervention came as Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, warned that families would be breaking the "rule of six" if they "mingle" in the street (see video below).

The regulations say it is against the law to "mingle with any person who is participating in the gathering but is not a member of the same qualifying group as them".

Asked whether it was a breach if two families of four stopped to chat to each other on their way to a park, Ms Patel said: "It's mingling  I think it is absolutely mingling."

It prompted the Liberal Democrat peer Lord Scriven to tell the House of Lords: "For the first time since the 1300s, mingling is an offence under English law."

Ms Patel also said she would report gatherings of more than six people, but the Police Federation of England and Wales called for guidance over enforcement of the measures.

The Police Federation chairman, John Apter, said officers on the front line were "trying to interpret" the rules, which came into effect on Monday (watch the chairman of the National Police Chiefs' Council reacting to the new measures in the video below).

He said: "Maybe we should have guidance, because we haven't had any yet... my colleagues who are on the front line trying to interpret this law, trying to educate and work with the public, are now being accused of asking [people] to snitch on their neighbours."

Tory grandee Lord Dobbs suggested "Covid marshals" announced by Boris Johnson could become "busybodies, score settlers and simply social gunslingers".

Meanwhile, Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, said he was "keeping an open mind" about the possibility of relaxing the rule to exclude children, which would bring England into line with Scotland and Wales.

It came as seven local authorities requested tighter controls that would see social freedoms restricted further.

Councils in the north-east have urged the Government to give them more powers to reduce opening hours for pubs and restaurants and limit the number of people allowed to meet outside their household.

What would you like to see as an alternative to the 'Rule of six'? Let us know in the comments section below.
Tim L./Yelp

The railroad-inspired two-story building that was once home to Southern Pacific Brewing is now on the market, reports Eater.

Located on 620 Treat Ave., the 8,500-square-foot brewery and restaurant shuttered on Sept. 6 after nine years in the Mission District. Despite reopening last month, business just hasnt been the same in the city, the brewery wrote in an Instagram story. Like many bars and restaurants around the country, were having really tough conversations about our future.
Winter is coming. So are changes to the New York Mets' front office.

The New York Post reports new owner Steve Cohen is considering several options as he looks to restore the club to its former glory.

The source indicated there is a sense of optimism among (Brodie) Van Wagenens staff that Cohen will give this front office at least into next season before considering changes. That especially holds true if Cohen isnt approved until November, when teams are already formulating offseason strategy. But even if Cohen were approved in October, his timeline would be tight to install a new front office. The expectation is Cohen would hire a team president to oversee the daily operations of the club. Those duties are presently handled by Jeff Wilpon.

Newsday reports MLB owners could vote on Cohen well before the mid-November owners' meetings" and that while the Wilpons will remain in control of the Mets until the vote, Cohen is allowed to consult on decisions between now and then.

Introducing Yankees Insider: Get exclusive news, behind-the-scenes observations and the ability to text message directly with beat writers

Cohen, a billionaire hedge fund manager, sealed the deal Monday to purchase the Mets in a transaction which puts the value of the franchise at more than $2.4 billion.

Cohen entered into exclusive negotiations last month to buy the Mets, beating a bid from the power couple of former New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez and fiancee Jennifer Lopez, as well as an offer from New Jersey Devils and Philadelphia 76ers owners Josh Harris and David Blitzer.

Buy Alex Rodriguez Yankees gear: Fanatics.com, MLBShop.com, Lids

As for Cohen, this is the second time hes tried to close a deal to buy the Mets. He agreed in December to buy the Mets for $2.6 billion, but the deal collapsed in February when Cohen pushed for immediate control of the team while the Wilpon family wanted to remain with the club for five more years.

Last week, Forbes released its updated list of the 400 wealthiest people in the U.S. Cohen is No. 36 with $14.5 billion.

Get Yankees text messages: Cut through the clutter of social media and text during games with beat writers and columnists. Plus, exclusive news and analysis every day. Sign up now.

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

Mike Rosenstein may be reached at mrosenstein@njadvancemedia.com. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here.
CCM Presidential candidate Dr John Magufuli has promised that, if re-elected in the coming October 28 polls, his government will continue throwing its weight into improving marine transport.

Speaking at Kemondo township in Kagera Region on Tuesday in the continuation of his campaign trail, Dr Magufuli underscored the importance of a maritime-focused economy.

He said one of his government plans to reinstate Kagera's lost glory is to upgrade Kemondo and Bukoba ports to facilitate transport and trade between Kagera and neighbouring regions and countries.

Kemondo Bay, a port that covers an area of 47 hectares, has infrastructures that support the use of ferry wagons, meaning that cargo can be transported from Dar es Salaam by railway up to Mwanza where the wagons can be transferred into the ferries before being shipped to Bukoba, Musoma, Port Bell in Uganda and Kisumu in Kenya.

Bukoba Port, which like Kemondo, is connected to roads in the country and neighbouring countries, plays a vital economic role, handling both passenger, containerised and loose cargo ships plying on Lake Victoria.

President Maguli told Kemondo residents that the expansion of Kemondo and construction of a new vessel will enable wananchi to benefit from trading with neighbouring domestic and foreign markets, hence improving their lives.

He said over 20 years after the MV Bukoba accident, the people of Kemondo have suffered due to the absence of reliable marine transport in Lake Victoria.

He said the revival of MV Victoria means a lot to the Lake zone economy and that his government is working hard to ensure all water transport challenges are resolved. He said the government is currently constructing a new vessel that will ply in Lake Victoria, thus boosting more business and social activities.

Dr Magufuli said he was aware of the challenges facing wananchi in the area and that they will all be resolved in the coming five years.

"We want people from Kemondo to move to Mwanza, Jinja in Uganda, Kisumu in Kenya and Musoma in Mara region and back to their home smoothly after the coming of the new ship," said Dr Magufuli.

Dr Magufuli also promised to work on a request by CCM candidate for Bukoba Rural constituency, Mr Jason Rweikiza to connect Bukoba rural District to the national grid.

Dr Magufuli expressed sadness that despite sitting just on the shores of Lake Victoria, Kemondo had no safe drinking water.

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He promised that upon re-election he will address the water blues as he challenged his aides to work on challenges that affect the wananchi.

He said his government, upon re-election, will appoint people in the ministry of water who will quickly address water challenges in the region and other areas with similar problems.

Dr John Magufuli, on the other hand, promised to curb challenges facing coffee, a strategic cash crop for Kagera region so that the produce could benefit growers and the country at large.

Dr Magufuli said if re-elected in the October 28, polls, his government will continue improving agriculture and farmers welfare by finding markets and setting good prices for crops.

"I know there are challenges facing Coffee growers in this region; we are going to address them soon after the October election. I have called the Minister for Trade and Industry as well as his permanent secretaries for the purpose."

Dr Magufuli said it is time to address all the challenges facing the crop which is the main source of income for the region adding that his government was committed to ensuring that farmers in the region were benefiting from it.
In August, the civil aviation ministry said that negative PCR test, required of all travellers, including Egyptians, must be conducted 72 hours prior to the scheduled flight

Head of Egypt's Civil Aviation Authority Ashraf Noweir decided on Wednesday to allow some travellers arriving at the countrys airports to present a negative PCR test result if it was taken within 96 hours of the travellers arrival, rather than the previous 72 hours, a statement by the Ministry of Immigration and expatriate affairs said.

In August, the civil aviation ministry said that negative PCR test, required of all travellers, including Egyptians, must be conducted 72 hours prior to the scheduled flight.

Wednesday's statement said that those coming from Japan, China, Thailand, North and South America, and Canada, as well as from London's Heathrow, Paris, or Frankfurt airports, can present PCR test certificates conducted up to 96 hours prior to their scheduled flights.

The authority said in the statement that the 24 hours extension came due to the "long travel and transit times at those airports," stressing the necessity to adhere to all precautionary measures during the travel period.

Minister of Immigration and Expatriate Affairs Nabila Makram hailed the decision and thanked the health and aviation ministers for the new facilities put in place for those coming from abroad, the statement said.

On 1 September, Egypt allowed travellers entering Egypt at any of four airports in the Red Sea governorate and South Sinai to take a coronavirus test upon arrival, which would exempt them from submitting negative PCR test results taken before they boarded their flights.

The four airports are the Sharm El-Sheikh and Taba airports in South Sinai, and the Hurghada and Marsa Alam airports in the Red Sea governorate.

Passengers arriving at these airports can take the coronavirus test for $30 if they do not already have their own PCR test result, a statement by the Egyptian civil aviation ministry said.

Egypt announced in July the gradual resumption of international flights at its airports nationwide in line with the resumption of beach tourism in the South Sinai, Red Sea, and Matrouh governorates.

More than 600 hotels nationwide have been allowed to reopen after adhering to the safety protocols announced by the authorities and at a reduced occupancy of 50 percent.

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Earl McKinney

Dr. Earl McKinney believes a teaching philosophy should have results and that he should have results in his own life that demonstrate his own self-learning and passion. Those beliefs fueled his decision to apply for a Fulbright Scholar grant to teach and do research in Austria.

If the assignment proceeds for this year, McKinney will teach two graduate-level courses at Salzburg University of Applied Sciences as a Visiting Professor next spring. He will also be working on a research project titled Analytics in Ambiguity: Finding an Answer When the Answer is Expected.

Along his personal scholarship path, he has learned new analytic software and techniques to teach his students, and he has embarked on learning Chinese, demonstrating his passion to continue learning and his willingness to be awful in the process, he said, adding that his faltering Chinese language skills also help me to be a better ambassador who is sensitive to cultural differences and challenges.

He has taught in the United States and China, but he wanted to expand his experiences. He thought interacting with students and faculty in a European educational culture would be beneficial. Adding this third culture will allow him to test and improve the survey and case studies of his research topic with a very different group.

His teaching and research are in the area of analytics, and currently with a focus on being informed with analytics in ambiguity. With new data flooding the world on a daily basis, we are drowning in data, he said. Analytics helps us make sense of all this data.

In many analytics settings, there is clearly a best answer, one best interpretation of the data, he said. However, many problems do not have a single best answer.

This ambiguity, that offers multiple interpretations of data is at the heart of McKinneys research.

I plan to evaluate awareness of ambiguity, suggest methods for applying analytics in ambiguity and provide cases where the applications can be taught. Learning to address ambiguity provides great opportunities for students, including building curiosity, taking responsibility for their own learning and keeping an open mind.

He plans to share his research to help professors in many different cultures better understand their students outlook on ambiguity, he said. It will also provide some examples of cases teachers can use in the classroom to help students understand how to analyze data without right answers, he added.
Clutter breakers are the need of the hour in this rapidly evolving Hindi film industry. With the advent of OTT platforms, democratisation of content, and the emergence of new-age production houses like Yoodlee Films, we are now seeing a new version of stardom not dependent on numbers but content. We take you through a list of actors who have chosen the offbeat path and proved that a dynamic story and some impressive acting is what the audience really wants to see.

Take Sayani Gupta, who held her own in Shonali Boses Margarita With A Straw opposite Kalki Koechlin, Leena Yadavs feminist narrative Parched, Anubhav Sinhas Article 15, and a much-discussed Amazon original series, Four More Shots Please! Not to forget mainstream films like Jolly LLB 2, Fan, and Baar Baar Dekho. But her breakout film is the recently released Axone. Directed by filmmaker Nicholas Kharkongor, this Netflix film is produced by Yoodlee Films. It not just makes important points about racism and cultural stereotypes in society but also gives Sayani enough room to be a feisty protagonist with agency.

What makes the film even more important is that it is arguably the first mainstream Hindi film based on the life of an ordinary North-eastern citizen who deals with subtle and overt racism every day. The movie premiered at the BFI London Film Festival, debuted in India at the 21st Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival last year, and also stars Dolly Ahluwalia, Vinay Pathak, Tenzin Dalha as well Northeastern actors like Lin Laishram, Asenla Jamir, and Lanuakum Ao. Sayani chose the script for the way it questions ignorance and privilege and subtly appeals for a more diverse idea of India.

Jitendra Kumar is another unusual success story who had no prior connection with films. An IIT Kharagpur alumnus, he started exploring theatre, began to trend in The Viral Fever (TVF) shows like Kota Factory, the acclaimed Amazon original Panchayat, and played a significant role opposite Ayushmann Khurrana in the comedy Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan.

His latest release that got him rave reviews everywhere was Apurva Dhar Badgaiyanns Netflix release, Chaman Bahaar. The film has Jitendra portraying the aspirations and forbidden desires of a small-time paan-waala in love with a young girl. The film drew mixed reviews because of its disconcerting subject but his performance was acclaimed widely.

One more actor who has carved a niche in the industry with his choice of roles is Aparshakti Khurana. With the 2019 film Kanpuriye directed by Ashish Aryan, he has finally come full circle. Khurana has been a lawyer, an RJ, a TV host, and has played supporting roles in many blockbusters like Dangal, Badrinath ki Dulhaniya, Stree, and Street Dancer. It is in Kanpuriye (streaming on Hotstar) though, that he finally played a lead role along with Divyendu Sharma, and Harsh Mayar. His character Jaitun Mishra is a mix of a Basu Chatterjees naive heroes and Anurag Kashyaps cynical, worldly-wise protagonists and he does this fine balancing act seamlessly.

Then there is Rasika Dugal who is fast becoming the face of alternative storytelling on the big screen and OTT platforms with powerful performances in films like Kshay, Qissa, and Manto as well as Amazon favourites Mirzapur and Made in Heaven. Her starring role in Hotstars Out of Love and performance in the Netflix series Delhi Crime also impressed the critics and fans.

This mathematics graduate and FTII alumnus has risen to this point in her career through a long journey. In 2018, she played the role of helpless wife and mother in the National Award winning film - Hamid. Directed by Aijaz Khan, the story showcased not only shone light on the deeply problematic politics of war in strife ridden Kashmir, but also gave Rasika Dugal a chance to showcase her range of acting talent

This moving adaptation of the play, Phone No. 786 by Mohd. Amin Bhat went on to win the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Urdu at the 66th National Film Awards.

Vinay Pathak  another stalwart who has done a wide variety of work in film, Tv and theatre, has delighted us always with his choice of unusual roles. Starting as a Channel V VJ, he went on to etch memorable performances in films like Khosla Ka Ghosla and even pulled off leading roles in offbeat offerings like Dasavidaniya, Bheja Fry, and Gaur Hari Dastaan.

In Chappad Phaad Ke, an incisive film (the first Hotstar original film) directed by Sameer Hemant Joshi, Vinay Pathak again displays his versatility. With great insight, he plays Sharad Gupchup, a protagonist emblematic of middle-class ambivalence towards money and moral uprightness.
Highlighting his "great efforts to circumvent the sanctions," Islamic Republic Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh disclosed that he had sought assistance from Khatam al-Anbia Headquarters (KAH) to export Iranian oil.

KAH is an Iranian engineering firm controlled by the Iranian Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC).

Speaking at a public session of Iran's Majlis Parliament on Tuesday, September 15, Namdar Zanganeh lamented Iran's "capillary oil export," and admitted, "Whatever we export is not under Iran's name."

However, the veteran minister did not elaborate on the role that the Iranian military elite and intelligence entities could play in exporting the country's crude oil.

Namdar Zanganeh complained that the government had run out of money, adding, "To carry on and develop oil projects, we need $200 billion of investment, but the government is deprived of resources to move the country forward."

In a desperate tone, Namdar Zanganeh asserted that his ministry supports "any proposal for selling Iranian crude."

Without selling oil, he argued, the country would not have resources to develop and progress.

Earlier, on August 11, Saeed Mohammad, the Commander of the IRGC-affiliated Khatam al-Anbia Headquarters, had revealed that the government owes nearly 500 trillion rials (approximately $11.9 billion) to the powerful conglomerate.

Mohammad explicitly demanded receiving crude oil and state-owned assets to settle the case.

In recent weeks, Majlis members have harshly criticized the Iranian oil minister's performance. Earlier, in a letter to the heads of the three branches of power, 114 legislators called for an investigation into Namdar Zanganeh's record.

Namdar Zanganeh, who did not engage in the debate about his performance, urged lawmakers to set aside criticism and address the sanctions and engage in what he described as an "all-out economic war. Despite the U.S. sanctions imposed on the nation, je claimed that Iran's exports of petroleum products and petrochemicals have increased, and that oil and petrochemical products had been exported through the stock exchange.

The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) announced on September 5 that the Islamic Republic managed to export $29 billion of crude oil, gas condensate, oil products, and natural gas in 2019, which was less than half of 2018 when the figure was closer to $70 billion.

The U.S. withdrew from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal with world powers in May 2018, subsequently reimposing batches of devastating economic sanctions on Tehran and suspending its oil waivers in May 2019, which banned countries from buying Iranian crude oil.

In recent months, there have been different reports on the amount of Iran's oil exports.

While some sources have reported that Iran's oil sales have fallen to less than 100,000 barrels per day (BPD), an official from the international information company' Kpler told Radio Farda on September 2 that the average Iranian oil export in the first eight months of the current year was 287,000 BPD.

On the other hand, the international Tanker Trackers company, which observes ships' movements across the globe, recently published a report showing images of sixteen tankers secretly loading Iranian oil into other vessels in the middle of the seas and oceans.

In its report, Tanker Trackers says that Iran's crude oil exports are twice what is estimated.
In the midst of the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, TDS and Aesculap, Inc. are launching the innovative Aesculap Aeos Robotic Digital Microscope to also offer potential improvements to safety and efficiency during surgeries, as the heads-up display can be viewed simultaneously by all healthcare workers in the operating room while wearing PPE.

The innovative Image Modes feature of the Aesculap Aeos Robotic Digital Microscope delivers augmentation capabilities without the need for an overlay, and the platform also includes 3D details with outstanding depth-of-field, fluorescence backlighting capabilities and a 10x optical zoom that delivers full resolution regardless of magnification level. As an exclusively digital microscope platform, it can be customized with simple software updates.

"We are proud to bring the fully-digital Aesculap Aeos Robotic Digital Microscope to market, with breakthrough technology that we like to say can 'see beyond the tissue' and provide a solution to the limitations of conventional surgical microscopes, especially during this challenging time for the global medical community," said Aidan Foley, Chairman and CEO, True Digital Surgery. "This platform was developed with True Digital Surgery's unmatched experience in 3D visualization and vivid imagery, coupled with the invaluable insights and global sales and support capabilities gained from our strategic partnership with Aesculap."

Approximately four out of five neurosurgeons report pain after a day of surgery, in part owing to conventional microscope technology that requires contorting their bodies in unergonomic postures for many hours. This often leads to debilitating pain which has been found to affect the performance of surgeons.1

The Aesculap Aeos Robotic Digital Microscope is powered by TDS, the California-based leader in digital microscopy with a nearly 20-year legacy of creating new technologies that are designed to meet the precision needs of surgeons today. The company's technology is utilized across multiple disciplines, including ophthalmology, neurosurgery, ENT and spinal surgeries, by prominent medical device partners under a variety of brands and private labels. TDS closed a Series B funding round raising $16 million in December 2019.

"We are thrilled to collaborate with TDS and offer this unparalleled technology to U.S. surgeons and medical systems," said Chuck DiNardo, President of Aesculap, Inc. "The Aesculap Aeos Robotic Digital Microscope is a strategically important addition to our U.S. portfolio, which provides healthcare providers with industry-leading advancements developed through a responsive approach that is focused on innovation, efficiency and sustainability."

To develop the Aesculap Aeos Robotic Digital Microscope, TDS partnered with Aesculap, Inc., a subsidiary of B. Braun, a global company with an over 150-year legacy in developing, manufacturing and marketing innovative medical products and services to the healthcare industry. In addition to the U.S., the Aesculap Aeos Robotic Digital Microscope is also approved for use and available in the European Union and further markets.

"Advances in healthcare are based on a very close cooperation with our customers, and require a willingness to face change with innovative solutions, shaping the future of medicine," said Andreas Knapp, Vice President Global Marketing and R&D Neurosurgery and Power Systems, Aesculap AG. "Together with True Digital Surgery, we have developed such an innovative solution with the new Aesculap Aeos. Through this strategic partnership, we are pleased to market this fully digital surgical microscope platform globally, fulfilling the most important requirements of our surgeons with regards to superior visualization capabilities, robotic-assisted positioning and improved ergonomics."

About True Digital Surgery

With a nearly two-decade legacy of creating cutting-edge medical devices, True Digital Surgery is advancing its innovative 3D surgery digital platform through the integration of optics and robotics with augmented reality and machine learning that result in life-extending outcomes for both surgeons and patients.

To learn more, visit: https://www.truedigitalsurgery.com/solutions/

About Aesculap, Inc.

Aesculap, Inc., a B. Braun company, is part of a global organization built on meeting the needs of the changing healthcare environment. Through close collaboration with its customers, Aesculap provides advanced technologies and services for general surgery, neurosurgery and sterilization. Aesculap continues a proud heritage of leadership and responsiveness as we strive to deliver products and services that improve the quality of patients' lives. For more information, call 800-282-9000 or visit aesculapusa.com.

References

Davis WT, Fletcher SA, Guillamondegui OD. Musculoskeletal occupational injury among surgeons: effects for patients, providers, and institutions. J Surg Res . 2014;189(2):207-12 e6

SOURCE Aesculap, Inc.; True Digital Surgery
DUBLIN, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Female Technology (Femtech) Market: Analysis and Forecast, 2019-2030" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global Femtech market generated a revenue of $820.6 million in 2019 and is estimated to grow over $3.04 billion by the end of 2030.



The market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 12.65%, during the forecast period. There are multiple factors that drive the market such as increasing representation of women in the technological community, raising awareness of women's health, growing prevalence of infectious diseases among females in low to middle-income countries, and a surge in funding activities, among others.



Despite having huge potential, the Femtech industry is still immensely underfunded accounting for only 1.4% aggregated capital that flows into healthcare. Also, a large number of healthcare venture capitalists are yet to invest in this sector. Indeed, the amount of investment received by the Femtech industry is on a rise but at a surprisingly slow pace considering the potential of the market.



However, the signs of future growth are also quite evident. Five years ago, the amount of funding received by this sector had barely reached about $100 million. The Femtech industry witnessed more than $500 million funding (till 2019). The number of women-centric startups have significantly multiplied in recent years. This surge is also primarily attributed to the launch of the fertility tracking app by PayPal co-founder Max Levchin in 2013. The app also witnessed high profile VC funding from agencies such as Andreessen Horowitz and Founders Fund.



Today, a large number of start-ups could be seen in the market offering fertility tracking apps, as well as those focused on egg freezing and fertility treatments, women-centric clinical care, and even subscription-based tampons. Some of the top-tier VCs have also entered this field. For example, Kleiner Perkins, has backed a fertility platform called Progyny with a funding of $49 million, while NEA has backed a sexual wellness start-up called Nuelle offering financial support of $23 million.



Currently, the Femtech industry comprises over 200 start-ups globally, and a significant number of such companies are being led by women. Some of the major areas of women's health that are being catered to with the help of technology are menstruation care, sexual health, fertility, and pregnancy care. Within these areas, companies are either developing new solutions such as Flex Disc, Thinx absorbent period underwear, or the Glow fertility and ovulation tracker or focusing on technology-based platforms using subscription-based model to democratize existing products such as birth control products and period products.



Research Highlights:

The services segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR of 15.58 percent during the forecast period. The growth in this segment is primarily due to the emergence of a plethora of start-ups catering to fertility management and support services, egg retrieval and egg freezing services, among many associated services. Some of the companies include Kindbody, Modern Fertility, and Prelude Fertility.

Apps such as pregnancy and fertility tracking apps form the major component of the femtech market currently accounting for an estimated 62.28% of the entire femtech market. The apps segment is expected to reach a value of $1.78 billion by the end of 2030, growing at a CAGR of 12.05%, during the forecast period.

by the end of 2030, growing at a CAGR of 12.05%, during the forecast period. As of 2019, reproductive health is the largest area of application for the femtech market. The segment accounts for an estimated 56.13% of the overall market. There are a plethora of apps for tracking periods and the menstrual cycle, such as Clue and Flo.

From an end user perspective, individuals women account for an estimated 66.09% of the overall market. However, during the forecast period, fertility clinics followed by hospitals are expected to grow at the highest CAGRs of 13.38% and 13.31%, respectively. The growth from the fertility clinics is anticipated considering the huge funding of start-ups providing fertility-related services such as IVF and IUI to get pregnant, or for egg preservation.

Industry Analysis



Industry Trends

Underrepresentation of Women as Decision Makers

Pricing and Branding Strategies

Femtech in Emerging Economies

Growing Emphasis on Holistic Women Healthcare

Smart Medical Devices and Wearables

Destigmatizing Menstrual Health and Menopause



Femtech Innovation Tracker

Wearable Devices for Fertility Tracking

Vaginal Sensor for Fertility Cycle Monitoring

Leveraging Genomics and Big Data for Fertility Tracking and Menstrual Health

Wearables for Breast Cancer Screening



Funding Analysis

Femtech Received More Than $1 Billion Over the Last 5 Years

Over the Last 5 Years Notable Private Funding in Femtech

Market Dynamics



Drivers

Growing recognition of Women in the Domain of Technology

Economic Burden of Women's health is more than $500 Billion

Explosion of wearable devices and increasing smartphone penetration among women

Challenges

Lack of women decision makers

Societal taboos surrounding women's health issues

Absence of awareness among women in rural areas

Lack of scientific studies to back industrial claims

Opportunities

Investment in product development for maternal, pre- and neo-natal care

Investment in sub-Saharan Africa

Product development for menopause management

Companies Mentioned



ALYK, Inc.

Aytu BioScience, Inc.

Biowink GmbH

Bloomlife

CORA

Flo Health, Inc.

Glow, Inc.

Inne

Kasha

NaturalCycles Nordic AB

Ovia Health

Plackal Tech

Sustain Natural

The Flex Company

Thinx, Inc.

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/k3p9c1



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Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



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OTTAWA COUNTY, MI  All Grand Valley State University students living in Allendale Township are ordered to stay in their on- or off-campus residence at all times, with some exceptions, for the next 14 days as a result of escalating coronavirus cases tied to the university.

The Ottawa County Department of Public Health issued a mandatory stay-at-home order for all GVSU students in Allendale Township beginning at 12:01 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 17, and ending at 11:59 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 1, according to a news release issued Wednesday afternoon.

Students cannot return to their home address unless for an emergency, health officials ordered in the release.

There have been more than 600 coronavirus cases tied to Grand Valley since Aug. 23, when many students returned to campus, according to the health department. The school of about 25,000, which began the fall semester Aug. 31, is offering a mix of in-person and virtual classes this fall.

Control of the COVID-19 pandemic is necessary to protect the health of Ottawa County communities, said Lisa Stefanovsky, Ottawa County public health officer, in a released statement.

Based on epidemiological data and the expertise of public health officials, the increased numbers of GVSU cases may adversely impact other communities, services and businesses in the county. This could include the Ottawa County Court system and K-12 education based on the states mandated thresholds for in-person interactions.

Gatherings or group activities are prohibited under the order. There are some exceptions under the order when students are allowed to leave their residence, including:

Attend in-person classes, including labs and physical education classes with strict adherence to preventive measures.

Leave their room or residence to pick up food and other basic needs, go to medical appointments, pick up medication, attend religious practice activities or to obtain COVID-19 testing with strict adherence to preventive measures.

Attend work with the approval of the employer if the work is essential and cannot be done remotely with strict adherence to preventive measures.

Have clinical rotations, student teaching or other off-campus experiential learning assignments to continue only with approval from the college dean and disclosure to the organization of placement and renewed approval by that organization with strict adherence to preventive measures.

Leave their room or residence for purposes of physical activity in groups of no more than two with strict adherence to preventive measures.

Although strongly discouraged by health officials during the term of this order, if GVSU specifically authorizes students who are associated with intercollegiate varsity sports, they may attend practices provided a currently licensed physician is present during the entire process, actively supervises the teams COVID-19 mitigation activities during the practice and has the final authority to suspend the practice if he or she believes COVID-19 mitigation practices require that result.

The majority of cases tied to the university have been found in off-campus students, health officials said. The county health department has found that most spread occurred through congregate living and gatherings of students.

During contact tracing, many students have reported having no contacts or refuse to disclose contacts, according to the news release.

In a prepared statement by GVSU President Philomena Mantella, university leaders pledged to keep the university community safe.

GVSU remains committed to following all public health guidance and to stopping the spread of this virus, and I want to thank all of our students who have been acting responsibly," Mantella said.

"The university has partnered with the county department of public health from the beginning, and we ask our students to cooperate with this two-week order and do their part for their friends, family and the greater community. We can slow down the spread if we work together.

Data shows younger adults make up the largest portion of confirmed cases in Ottawa County. There have been 965 cases in residents ages 20-29. The second largest age group with confirmed cases is residents age 10-19, with 584 confirmed cases.

Ottawa County COVID-19 data shows a sharp incline in positive cases since Aug. 27, when students moved onto GVSUs campus.

Ottawa County has reported a total of 2,861 confirmed coronavirus cases since its first case was found March 15, according to the countys COVID-19 data dashboard. There have been 60 confirmed deaths linked to the novel virus.

There have been 1,797 recoveries in Ottawa County, defined as those who are alive 30 days after their onset of symptoms. The countys hospitalization rate is 4.8 percent, data shows.

Ottawa County is one of eight Michigan counties coded orange, signaling heightened concern over COVID-19 cases, based on a metric developed by the Harvard Global Health Initiative to assess coronavirus risk levels.

Four of the eight counties house state universities with coronavirus outbreaks, including Ottawa (GVSU), Isabella (Central Michigan University), Mecosta (Ferris State University) and Houghton (Michigan Tech University).

RELATED: Wednesday, Sept. 16, coronavirus data by Michigan county: Ingham in crisis, health director says

Allendale has more positive COVID-19 cases than any other area in Ottawa County, according to a data map breaking down cases by ZIP code. The ZIP code 49401, where Grand Valleys Allendale campus is located, has a total of 859 cases.

The ZIP code with the second most cases is 49424, where Holland is located, with 549 cases.

Grand Valley has a total of 391 active cases within students, faculty and staff in the university community as of Sept. 15, according to the universitys data dashboard. But that number does not represent the universitys total cumulative cases  only those that are active," or positive cases reported over the past 10 days.

A positive case is removed from the universitys active case count 10 days after it is first reported to the GVSU Virus Action Team, Greg Sanial, GVSU vice president of Finance and Administration, told MLive.

Sanial, who is leading the universitys COVID-19 Action Team, said once a case has passed the 10-day mark it is no longer relevant to the discussion of where the virus is and where the spread is currently in the university community.

So a positive case from July, obviously thats been resolved one way or another by now, so we dont show that as a current or an active case, he said in a Sept. 15 interview.

Those people are no longer in isolation, so to continue to display it, youd never see your numbers go down, they would only go up if you carried every case youve ever had on your dashboard.

The majority of GVSUs active cases are in students who live off campus in Ottawa County, university data shows. There are 290 active cases in off-campus students residing in Ottawa County, compared to 46 cases in students living on-campus, according to GVSUs COVID-19 data dashboard.

There are 27 active cases in off-campus students living in Kent County and 24 active cases in off-campus students who live somewhere besides Kent or Ottawa counties.

Four GVSU faculty have tested positive for the virus, according to the dashboard.

The universitys seven-day average of daily new cases has remained between 40-45 over the past week. Currently, 1.38 percent of the university community has tested positive for the virus, data shows.

Grand Valley partnered with Spectrum Health this fall to conduct surveillance testing on campus, which consists of randomized testing, regular testing of high-risk groups and invited testing of individuals connected to potential clusters, according to GVSUs website.

The university has conducted 5,793 tests since Aug. 21 and identified 143 positive cases in the Grand Valley community, resulting in a positive test rate of 2.47 percent. Another 70 positive cases were also identified through symptomatic or exposure tests administered by Spectrum Health.

COVID-19 PREVENTION TIPS:

In addition to washing hands regularly and not touching your face, officials recommend practicing social distancing, assuming anyone may be carrying the virus.

Health officials say you should be staying at least 6 feet away from others and working from home, if possible.

Use disinfecting wipes or disinfecting spray cleaners on frequently-touched surfaces in your home (door handles, faucets, countertops) and carry hand sanitizer with you when you go into places like stores.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has also issued executive orders requiring people to wear face coverings over their mouth and nosewhile in public indoor and crowded outdoor spaces. See an explanation of what that means here.

Additional information is available at Michigan.gov/Coronavirus and CDC.gov/Coronavirus.

For more data on COVID-19 in Michigan, visit https://www.mlive.com/coronavirus/data/.

More on MLive:

Its not worth it: GVSU students alarmed by off-campus gatherings as coronavirus cases surge

Grand Valley to do random campus coronavirus testing, shift most classes online after Thanksgiving

Grand Valley asks students to track temperature, coronavirus symptoms for 2 weeks before classes start
Portland, Me.

At least seven people have died in connection with a COVID-19 outbreak that continues to sicken people in Maine following a wedding reception that violated state guidelines, health authorities said.

The August wedding reception at the Big Moose Inn in Millinocket is linked to more than 175 confirmed cases of the virus, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday.

Maine authorities have identified overlaps between the wedding reception and outbreaks elsewhere in the state. Maine health officials have said a staff member from a Madison rehabilitation center, the site of six of the seven deaths, attended the event.

The virus cases stemming from the wedding have spanned hundreds of miles in a state that had largely controlled the spread of the coronavirus through the summer. Maine has reported less than 5,000 cases of the virus in total since March.

But the growing number of cases related to the wedding, which exceeded the state's guidelines of 50 people or fewer at indoor gatherings, could undo some of that progress if it continues to swell. Authorities have said more than 65 people attended the wedding.

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

The six people from the Madison rehabilitation facility who died were all residents of that facility; none of them attended the wedding reception, said Dr. Nirav Shah, director of Maine CDC.

The wedding was officiated by pastor Todd Bell of Calvary Baptist Church in Sanford. The Maine CDC is currently investigating whether an outbreak at the church is connected to the wedding outbreak. That outbreak has sickened 10 people, Shah said.

Calvary Baptist Church issued a statement on Tuesday that said it is taking precautions to limit the spread of the virus and will defend its right to continue holding services.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI  The race to replace U.S. Rep. Justin Amash, L-Cascade Township, in Congress features two political newcomers: Republican Peter Meijer and Democrat Hillary Scholten.

Neither Miejer, a 32-year-old Army veteran and former analyst, nor Scholten, a 38-year-old attorney, have held public office. But both candidates say they have what it takes to effectively represent Michigans 3rd Congressional District.

Heres a look at the candidates:

Meijer, of Grand Rapids Township, is the great grandson of Hendrik Meijer, who started the Meijer supermarket chain. He is a U.S. Army veteran, and most recently  from April 2018 to January 2019  worked as an analyst at Olympia Development of Michigan.

Scholten, of Grand Rapids, served as a judicial law clerk and attorney adviser for the U.S. Department of Justice Board of Immigration Appeals from 2013 to 2017. She left the department after President Trump took office, returned to West Michigan, and later took a job as a staff attorney for the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center.

The 3rd Congressional District includes the city of Grand Rapids, a large portion of Kent County, part of Montcalm County, as well as Ionia County, Barry County and Calhoun County, which is home to Battle Creek.

MLive Media Group partnered with the League of Women Voters of Michigan to provide candidate information for readers. Each candidate was asked to outline their stances on a variety of public policy issues listed below.

Amash has represented the district since 2011. He was elected in 2010 as a Republican but left the party last year after becoming the first GOP member in the House of Representatives to call for impeachment proceedings against Trump.

In April, the five-term lawmaker announced that he was considering running for president as a Libertarian and shortly thereafter joined the Libertarian Party. But he abandoned the exploratory committee less than a month later. Amash says he does not intend to run for reelection to the 3rd Congressional District as a Libertarian.

Information on all state and federal races and many of Michigans county and local races is available at Vote411.org, an online voter guide created by the League of Women Voters.

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.

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?

Meijer:

Notwithstanding coronavirus, the largest driver of the deficit and government spending is our entitlements system, and its largest expense is healthcare, which has tripled relative to GDP in the past fifty years. I believe everyone deserves access to high quality, affordable healthcare but spending billions of federal tax dollars every year to serve healthcare expenses is not a policy that can last in its current form. We must ensure that our entitlements system is strengthened so it is sustainable and effective in the long-term and keep the promises made to our seniors.

Scholten:

COVID-19 and the related recession show that our healthcare system is broken. Millions have lost their jobs, and therefore their coverage, while a virus threatens their health, our hospitals, and our frontline workers. First we need to shore up the ACA, not end it. This administrations attempts to dismantle the ACA have always been reckless, but doing so during a health crisis is dangerous. We also must increase our investment in Medicare and Medicaid, and let people buy into these programs by creating a public option. We should also let these programs negotiate with drug companies to lower the cost of perscriptions.

What federal policies do you support for a healthy economy and to help the broader American public improve their economic positions?

Meijer:

The heart of society is our economy, and businesses sustain livelihoods and drive economic growth. The federal government must minimize frivolous regulations that hurt small and local businesses, especially in the post-coronavirus world, to ensure a healthy economy continues to provide for Americans in West Michigan and across the country. Reducing the cost of compliance through streamlined permitting and tax structures will level the playing field for small businesses and ensure they remain competitive in the modern economy.

Scholten:

To have a healthy economy you need to have a healthy country. We must get COVID-19 under control. We also need to continue supporting folks who have lost their jobs or businesses in this crisis. We must invest in our country again. Our infrastructure is crumbling and our educational system is underfunded-that makes us less competitive. Infrastructure and educational investments make us stronger economically, create millions of jobs, and propel the next generation. I would also support policies that bring manufacturing, especially of healthcare products, back to the United States.

What federal policies do you advocate regarding elections, campaign funding and voting rights? Do you support mailing ballots to all eligible voters?

Meijer:

The reality is, absentee ballots may be the only way for many voters to exercise their voting rights this cycle, although we must ensure that rolls are updated frequently so that our system does not allow room for voter fraud. I believe in no-reason absentee voting laws but to ensure the integrity of elections those ballots must be requested, like the laws passed in Michigan in 2018, and want an election process that allows every citizen an opportunity to vote and exercise their voting rights.

Scholten:

Yes I support mailing ballots to all eligible voters. I support anything that makes it easier for people to vote, because voting is at the core of our democracy. I also support a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Courts decision in Citizens United, to get billions of corporate money out of our elections. I support stronger campaign finance laws that promote transparency and accountability. I support the reinstatement of the Voting Rights Act, and I would also support legislation to end partisan gerrymandering.

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?

Meijer:

The events following the murder of George Floyd have exposed the persistence of deep racial inequality in this country. No one in this country should feel unsafe in their skin, and it is a tragedy that the legacy of racial discrimination endures to this day. I support initiatives to build trust at the neighborhood and community level between law enforcement and those they have sworn to protect, additional emphasis on de-escalation training for police, and expanding economic opportunities, school choice, and entrepreneurial training for communities that have faced historic marginalization

Scholten:

Yes, Congress has a role in addressing systemic racism, economic disparity, and other social injustices. The economic disparity in our country has been widened by the 2017 tax cuts which would when, fully implemented, give 83% of its benefits to the top 1% while costing taxpayers $2 trillion. Congress should keep the tax cuts for working families while eliminating them for large corporations. This will help to ensure resources are allocated to our communities, particularly those that have long been ignored. We also need to restore the Voting Rights Act and pass protections for LGBTQ individuals.

What policies do you support to meet U.S. energy needs while protecting our water, air and land for current and future generations?

Meijer:

I strongly believe that it is the duty of conservatives to act and legislate in order to conserve and protect the environment for future generations. All-the-above energy platforms are a key solution to help fight climate change, one which we can utilize to minimize emissions while continuing to deliver quality and affordable energy to all American families. I will fight to support policies that protect the Great Lakes, which are essential to our identity as Michiganders and sustain our thriving fishery and tourism industries.

Scholten:

Addressing climate change and driving new jobs in the clean energy sector will be one of my priorities in Congress. We urgently need to pass the PFAS action plan into law and replace lead-laden pipes to protect drinking water. In Michigan, the lakes and our outdoor resources arent only important to our quality of life, but theyre also major economic drivers and must be protected. Part of the reason I got into this race was to make sure our water was safe to drink. This administration has destroyed important environmental protections designed to keep people from getting sick. Ill fight to strengthen those policies.

What policies do you support relative to immigration into the U.S.?

Meijer:

I support building a physical barrier at the southern border to ensure our country has the ability to vet those who want to enter. I also support strong immigration policies as a means to foster and promote legal immigration through a safe, effective and reasonable process. To that end, I also support eliminating arbitrary and antiquated components of Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 to shift to a less onerous and convoluted process that emphasizes economic imperatives and creates more flexibility than either short-term visas or citizenship pathways.

Scholten:

I worked for both the DOJ enforcing immigration laws and on behalf of immigrants trying to navigate those laws, so I know all too well how dysfunctional the system is--and how to fix it. We need comprehensive immigration reform that is focused on safety and security, the rule of law, and restoring the U.S. as a welcoming home to immigrants. These things are not mutually exclusive. Ill work to invest in the right solutions to keep our borders secure while expanding opportunities for individuals to come to the US legally. We need to pass the DREAM Act and create new opportunities in the agricultural sector.

Read more on MLive:

1 teen shot, another arrested at house party with over 100 underaged people

8 to 12-foot waves forecast for Lake Michigan amid Gale Warning

Lost car ferry discovered 110 years after sinking in Lake Michigan
Since Wednesday midnight, Russian Federation's armed formations have opened fire once.

Ukraine has reported three violations of the latest ceasefire agreements by Russia-controlled armed groups in the Donbas warzone on Tuesday, September 15.

"In the past day, September 15, Russian Federation's armed formations three times violated the ceasefire agreements reached on July 22," the press center of Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation (JFO) Command wrote on Facebook in an update as of 07:00 Kyiv time on September 16, 2020.

In particular, the enemy fired an under-barrel grenade launcher near the village of Prychepylivka.

At the same time, the enemy violated the truce by commencing engineering works near the village of Kalynove toward the Ukrainian positions near the town of Popasna. An enemy UAV was also spotted crossing the contact line near the village of Vodiane. The drone was suppressed by Ukrainian electronic warfare means.

What is more, a Ukrainian soldier was injured amid engineering works after he had stepped on an explosive device near Vodiane. Also, two servicemen were injured in a booby-trap blast near the village of Shumy.

"All the injured were taken to a hospital, their state of health is stable and satisfactory."

Since Wednesday midnight, Russian Federation's armed formations have opened fire once using an under-barrel grenade launcher near the village of Katerynivka.

No casualties have been reported since the beginning of the current day.

"However, unfortunately, a serviceman was killed near the village of Novotoshkivske as a result of careless handling of a grenade. Circumstances of the incident are being clarified. The Command of the soldier's military unit and military law enforcers are working at the scene," the report says.

Donbas ceasefire: background
US Justice Department charged them with hacks targeting more than 100 companies and institutions in the US and abroad.

The Department of Justice has charged five Chinese citizens with hacks targeting more than 100 companies and institutions in the United States and elsewhere, including social media and video game companies, as well as universities and telecommunications providers, officials said Wednesday.

The five defendants remain fugitives, but prosecutors said two Malaysian businessmen accused of conspiring with the alleged hackers to profit off the attacks on video game companies were arrested in that country this week and face extradition proceedings.

The indictments announced Wednesday are part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to call out cybercrimes by China. In July, prosecutors accused hackers of working with the Chinese government to target firms developing vaccines for the coronavirus and stealing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of intellectual property and trade secrets from companies across the world.

Officials say the hacking scheme was wide-ranging and targeted various business sectors and academia and was carried out by a group known as APT41. They say it resembled other hacking schemes by China that are carried out at the behest of the government, or at least with its approval.

One of the five defendants told a colleague that he was very close to the Chinese Ministry of State Security and would be protected unless something very big happens, said Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, who criticised the Chinese government for what he said was a failure by Beijing to disrupt hacking crimes.

We know the Chinese authorities to be at least as able as the law enforcement authorities here and in like-minded states to enforce laws against computer intrusions. But they choose not to, Rosen said.
Mamata to resume district tours after six months in the new normal . (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News

Kolkata, Sep 16 (IANS) After six months, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee will once again kick-start her district tour with an eye on the state assembly polls scheduled in 2021. Image Source: IANS News

Kolkata, Sep 16 : After six months, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee will once again kick-start her district tour with an eye on the state assembly polls scheduled in 2021.

The four-day district tour will begin on September 21 as the CM will reach Bagdogra by air. She will hold a series of administrative meetings with senior state government officials and political representatives to take stock of the overall situation, especially in the Covid-hit 'new normal'.

During her stay in north Bengal, Banerjee will cover five districts meeting officials from districts, such as Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Cooch Behar, Jaipaiguri and Alipurduar.

The timing of Banerjee's proposed visit to north Bengal district seems interesting, especially in run-up to the high-voltage electoral battle next year, as her party, Trinamool Congress, had failed to win any of the eight Lok Sabha seats in north Bengal.

Out of total eight Lok Sabha seats in the region, seven seats went to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates while only one seat went to the Congress.

The CM's proposed visit to north Bengal is being seen as a crucial attempt to win back the vote bank in the region that has gone against her government in the last LoK Sabha polls.

According to state government sources, on September 23 and 24, the CM will hold meetings with senior administrative officials and MLAs at Uttarkanya, a new state secretariat building in Siliguri.

On the first day, she will hold meetings with officials from Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar and the next day, meetings will be held with officials from Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Cooch Behar districts.

Banerjee will be stationed in Siliguri during the visit. She will return to Kolkata on September 24 via Bagdogra, sources at the state secretariat Nabanno said.
WOMEX 2020 Goes Digital

Annual world music conference WOMEX is going digital. Some elements will still be happening live and streamed online from Budapest in cooperation with local partners.

Full details of the online program will be released soon.

All current registrations for WOMEX 20 will be canceled, and all registration fees and stand booking fees will be fully refunded. The WOMEX Registration team will process all cancellations and get in touch with registered Delegates within the next days.

From WOMEX

Please bear with us as we go to our digital drawing boards, ready to promote, support and connect artists and delegates in the virtual space. We will be exploring all possibilities of streamed conference sessions, webinars, showcases, films, Awards and more aspects of the new WOMEX 20 Programme.

We understand the disappointment of skipping this years personal reunion in Budapest. We have already agreed with our local partner Hangveto to discuss our mutual aim to revisit Budapest with a physical WOMEX edition as soon as circumstances allow.

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KANSAS CITY, Mo., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Five Elms Capital, a global investor in high-growth B2B software companies, today announced promotions earned by eight members of its team.

"I am excited to recognize the promotions earned by these highly talented and dedicated team members; they provide tremendous value to the firm, our portfolio companies, and our investors," said Fred Coulson, Managing Partner at Five Elms. "All eight are examples of Five Elms' culture of creativity, humility, and good judgment."

Five Elms also hired an additional eight team members in August bringing the team to 50 investment professionals. The firm has invested in more than 40 best-in-class software platforms globally.

Stephanie (Brown) Schneider earned the promotion to Principal. Stephanie serves on the Board of Directors of Crelate, DarkOwl, DeepCrawl, LaborChart, Panopta, Powwr, Saylent, Service Fusion, and Skynamo. Prior to joining Five Elms in 2015, Stephanie was in the Global Technology Investment Banking Group at Citigroup in New York. Before Citigroup, she was with Sterne Agee in its Financial Services Group. She holds a B.A. in Journalism and Advertising from Southern Methodist University.

Austin Gideon earned the promotion to Principal. Austin serves on the Board of Directors of ActiveProspect, Apptegy, Hubb, MemberClicks, Outfit.io, Passageways, Playvox, RFP360, and family owned Silver Lake Bank. Prior to joining Five Elms in 2016, Austin was an investor at The Stephens Group, a mid-market private equity firm, and with Harris Williams in Technology M&A in San Francisco. Austin holds a B.S.C. in Accounting and Business Administration from Washington and Lee University.

Michael Rockhold earned the promotion to Head of Capital Markets. Prior to joining Five Elms, Michael was an investor at Villhard Growth Partners, a private equity firm focused on B2B software. Michael holds a B.S. in Finance from Saint Louis University.

Pat McClain earned the promotion to Vice President in Five Elms' Financial Performance Team. Prior to joining Five Elms, Pat was with PwC and BKD performing due diligence for private equity clients. Pat holds a B.S. and Master of Accountancy from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Federico Sarcina earned the promotion to Senior Associate. Prior to Five Elms, Federico was an investor at Next Level Ventures. Federico started his career with Arma Partners in London. Federico was born and raised in Milan, Italy and holds a M.S. in Corporate Finance from Cass Business School in London.

Maren Hansen earned the promotion to Associate. Prior to Five Elms, Maren was with Credit Suisse in New York. Maren holds a B.S.B. in Finance and Accounting from the University of Kansas.

Tyler Hileman earned the promotion to Business Development Associate. Tyler holds a B.A. in Music with a Music Business emphasis from the University of Nebraska.

Renato Morais earned the promotion to Associate. Prior to Five Elms, Renato was a growth investor at McCarthy Capital. Renato was born and raised in Porto, Portugal and holds a B.S.B.A. in Finance and Economics from Creighton University.

About Five Elms Capital

Five Elms Capital is a global investor in high growth B2B software businesses that users love. Five Elms provides capital and resources to help companies accelerate growth and further cement their role as industry leaders. For more information, visit www.fiveelms.com.

SOURCE Five Elms Capital

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London: Prime Minister Boris Johnson last week unveiled Operation Moonshot, an audacious plan to test 10 million people daily for the coronavirus and restore life to normal by December. Four days after his announcement, the reality of earthbound life in a pandemic was dictating that the strategy was crashing on lift-off.

Before a second wave of the virus had even crested, unprocessed samples overwhelmed England's labs and people waited in desperation for tests while the reopening of the country's schools and businesses hung in the balance.

Boris Johnson banned groups of more than six people meeting in England. Credit:Getty Images

"We are sleepwalking into a second surge of the pandemic without really having learned the lessons from the first," said Dr Rinesh Parmar, the Doctors' Association UK chairman. "We are set for a perfect storm of problems heading into the winter."

Britain has suffered 41,664 coronavirus-related deaths, although some estimate the toll is more than 57,000 in reality. But as new cases receded over the summer, Johnson's government created incentives for people to dine out, urged them to return to their offices and dithered over whether to require face masks before mandating them in mid-July for enclosed spaces.
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Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Rome, Italy  Wed, September 16, 2020 07:05 492 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c4504cf6 2 Science & Tech Venice,Italy,research,flood,digitalization Free

What if Venice was doomed to disappear for eternity, submerged by water?

After Venice faced historic floods last November, a team of European scientists began digitizing several monuments of the Italian city in July. The goal? To preserve Venice's cultural heritage by creating a digital version of the City of the Doges.

Researchers from the Factum Foundation got this ambitious project (which is supported by the Fondazione Giorgio Cini, the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne and the start-up Iconem) off to a start with the digitalization of the mythical Basilica of San Giorgio Maggiore.

Located on a small island of the same name, this basilica is one of the most visited monuments in the Italian city, which is visited by between 25 and 30 million foreign tourists every year.

Scientists used drones and the laser remote sensing technique, known as LiDAR, to photograph and capture the island of San Giorgio Maggiore in great detail. It took them a full day to map the interior of the famous basilica and its bell tower in this way.

Read also: No Hollywood ending for flood- and virus-haunted Venice

Laser sensors deployed via portable units allowed the researchers to map San Giorgio Maggiore in its entirety, using data recorded in more than 600 different locations throughout the island. They were then able to reconstruct a 3D copy of the Venetian destination with the help of photogrammetry software.

"The aim was to demonstrate that technologies such as aerial and ground-based photogrammetry and LiDAR recording could eventually be used to record the whole of Venice," explained the Fondation Factum.

While the global health crisis has made such endeavors more complicated, Italian authorities are continually investigating ways to preserve the architectural treasures of Venice, which are threatened by increasingly frequent "acqua alta."

For instance the MOSE project (acronym for Module Experimental Electromechanical Experimental Module) would consist in installing 78 floating floodgates that would close the Venice lagoon in the event of a rise in the Adriatic Sea. However, problems of extra costs and workmanship issues have considerably slowed down the progress of the project's construction work, which is now set to be completed in 2021.

Topics : Venice Italy research flood digitalization
Representative image

Palestinian militants fired rockets from Gaza into Israel, wounding two people, on Tuesday at the same time as Israel and two Gulf Arab states signed normalisation agreements at the White House in Washington.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack from the Hamas Islamist-run territory.

Palestinians, who seek an independent state in the occupied West Bank and Gaza view the U.S.-brokered deals between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain as betrayal of their cause.

Warning sirens sounded in the coastal cities of Ashkelon and Ashdod as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S. President Donald Trump and the UAE and Bahraini foreign ministers held the signing ceremony on the White House lawn.

Automated rocket alerts on TV screens in Israel during live broadcasts from Washington were a graphic reminder of on-going conflict along the restive Gaza border, even as Tel Aviv's city hall was lit up with the word "peace" in Arabic, Hebrew and English.

Israel's Magen David Adom ambulance service said paramedics treated two men for light injuries from flying glass in Ashdod, where a rocket exploded outside a shopping centre, blowing out storefront windows.

An Israeli military spokesman said two rockets were fired from Gaza and the Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepted one of them

In Gaza, which Israel blockades, citing security concerns, dozens of Palestinians rallied outside a U.N. office to condemn the normalisation deals shortly before the signing ceremony began.

"Palestine isn't for sale," protesters chanted.

Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, said the Bahrain and UAE agreements would not bring Israel peace in the region.

"Peoples of the region will continue to deal with this occupation as their true enemy," he told Reuters, speaking from Turkey. Hamas did not claim responsibility for the rockets.

In the West Bank city of Ramallah, there was a small, muted protest at which 200 people gathered in a central square.

Some carried a banner reading: "The UAE-Israeli normalization agreement is a reward for the state of occupation and for settlements, and is a stab in the back of Jerusalem and of Palestine."

The normalisation agreements are the first signed between Israel and Arab states since the peace accords with Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994.

"This is not peace, this is surrender in return for the continuation of the aggression," read a tweet posted on the Twitter account of the Palestine Liberation Organization. "There will no peace before Palestine is free."
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Linkedin Andrian Bagus Santoso (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, September 16 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit global demand for most products, including crude palm oil (CPO). The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in its oilseed report predicts that global consumption of CPO will decline by 2.3 percent year-on-year (yoy) in the September 2019 to October 2020 period. The USDA also predicts that CPO consumption will recover in the next period by 4.2 percent yoy. In a more detailed view, CPO demand actually began to normalize since June 2020.

One of the indicators that show improved demand is export volume from major producing countries, such as Indonesia and Malaysia. Indonesia's CPO export volume in June and July 2020 were 2.1 and 2.4 million tons respectively, the same volume as Indonesias CPO exports in June and July 2019.

Similarly, Malaysias CPO export volume in June and July were recorded at 1.7 and 1.8 million tons, respectively, higher than the export volume for the same months in 2019. However, Malaysia's CPO export volume in August of 1.6 million tons was slightly lower than in August 2019. Both Indonesia and Malaysias CPO export volumes recovered after many countries began to gradually relax their lockdown measures.

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Barely 24 hours after the United States imposed visa restrictions on politicians who perpetrated electoral violence in Kogi and Bayelsa states, the United Kingdom has threatened stiffer penalties for individuals involved in similar crimes in the September 19 and October 10 governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states, respectively.

The UK threatened to, among other things, deny such persons access to their assets in Britain in addition to visa restrictions and possible prosecution under international law.

This was contained in a statement titled, UK statement on the upcoming Edo and Ondo governorship elections, on its Twitter handle on Tuesday.

The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing, in the statement, said she held meetings with the leaders of the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party on the Saturdays governorship elections in Edo State.

The statement read The UK takes a strong stand against election-related violence and just as we did in the general election in 2019, we will continue to take action against individuals we identify as being responsible for violence during elections.

This could include restrictions on their eligibility to travel to the UK, restrictions on access to UK-based assets or prosecution under international law.

The Peoples Democratic Party has commended the US for its fresh imposition of visa ban on those undermining Nigerias democracy and electoral process.

The party gave the commendation in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, in Abuja on Tuesday.

Ologbondiyan urged the US Department of State to include family members and assets of such anti-democratic agents who had destroyed the credibility of Nigerias electoral process.

He urged the US to invite the European Union as well as other nations, particularly the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, to impose similar sanctions on electoral violators, who were bent on destroying Nigerias democracy.

He said: The PDP further demands an extension of the ban to families as well as confiscation of assets of such individuals.

This is to serve as stronger deterrent to protect innocent Nigerians who are left to bear the brunt of the misdeed of such unpatriotic persons.

Ologbondiyan said the visa ban, if taken across the globe, would be a final warning to political leaders as well as compromised security and electoral officials being used to perpetrate electoral violence and manipulations.

He added that it was instructive to note that the announcement by the US was an unambiguous cautionary to those plotting to use violence to undermine the sanctity of the Edo and Ondo States governorship elections.

Ologbondiyan added that the US ban was, therefore, a firm support to PDP stiff resistance to plots by those who had been overheating the polity in Edo State with serial attacks on other political parties.

He said it was a warning on those assembling thugs, cultists, fake policemen, who had been instructed to invade polling centres to unleash violence and undermine the electoral process in Edo and Ondo States.

Ologbondiyan advised the Independent National Electoral Commission and all security agencies to note that the world was watching, thereby the need for them to act by the rules.

He said: The PDP, in commending the U.S., urges Nigerians, particularly in Edo and Ondo states to remain at alert and strengthen their resolve by voting and firmly defending their votes from the polling and collation centres to the final declaration of results.

This should be done with the determination to unbridle the instrument of resistance to anybody at all who attempts to undermine their will at any level of the process.

It promised to continue providing support for the polls and urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the police and other agencies involved in the electoral process to deliver free, fair and credible elections.
For nearly two centuries, Scientific American, the oldest continuously published magazine in the United States, did not support any candidate for US president. This Tuesday that changed, when we endorsed Joe Biden over Donald Trump.

Why? We are not a partisan publication. We do not favor Republicans or Democrats because of their party affiliations. We did this because the editors of the magazine believe that policies should be based on good evidence, and that for the big issues facing the country and planet today, science provides that evidence.

Donald Trump has repeatedly ignored evidence and science, and because of this he has severely damaged the US and its people. His inept response to the Covid-19 pandemic is the most agonizing example, and 190,000 people have died in the country as of mid-September. But it is far from the only instance. His contempt for fact-based policies includes repeated attempts to weaken healthcare, attempts to remove environmental protections, and refusals to cope with climate change. The results cost lives, and have placed the US in tremendous peril. Bidens record and his campaign policies, in contrast, show he has the best chance to reverse this devastating direction. He offers ideas based on sound science to protect health and stimulate the economy.

Weve weighed in on national politics and policies before, arguing against aggressive nuclear weapons postures and in favor of air pollution safety regulations, and always because the science pointed the way. The decision to support Biden over Trump is very much in line with that thinking.

Over the past four years, it has become quite clear that the Trump administration has ignored scientific evidence for most of its decisions, and has actively tried to suppress it. Political appointees recently admitted, for instance, that they have tried to change and delay medical reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, simply because those reports did not align with false ideas that Trump wanted to promote. His administration has removed references to climate change from government scientific reports, and replaced reputable researchers on scientific agency advisory boards with industry representatives. This week in California, looking at the disaster of wildfires raging through forests dried by a changing climate, Trump falsely claimed that scientists did not know that climate played a major role. They do, in fact.

The current pandemic plight in the US is in large part due to Trumps rejection of science and his dishonesty about it. Early on, the consensus research advice was to deploy widespread virus testing but Trump never did it. Medical workers should have had protective equipment but the administration did not help them get it. He flouted rules about wearing masks. The research showed that premature reopenings of activities would lead to a resurgence of cases, but Trump pushed for that anyway. And the resurgence happened, and led to re-closings of businesses and further crippling of the economy. He lied about the deadly nature of the virus to the public, even as he acknowledged it in private. This encouraged people to engage in risky behavior, therefore spreading the virus further, and has driven wedges between Americans who take the threat seriously and those who believe Trumps falsehoods.

So the awful consequences of these rejections of evidence and data made it clear to us that science was on the ballot this November in a way that it has never been before. And Bidens candidacy presented us  and gives the country  a positive choice. He comes prepared with evidence-based plans to control Covid-19, revitalize healthcare, reduce carbon emissions and restore the role of legitimate science in policymaking. His plans include a national testing board, a body with the power to command public and private resources to supply more tests and get them to all communities. Biden also wants to take thousands of people, many of whom have been forced out of work by pandemic closings, and employ them as contact tracers and in other public health positions. And he plans a $2 trillion investment in low carbon emission technologies, a push that could result in two million jobs for US workers.

When the Scientific American editors considered these contrasting positions, and the catastrophic results of actions Trump has already taken, we all agreed that in this unprecedented time we had to take an unprecedented position and endorse a presidential candidate. That person is Biden, because he is guided by science at a time when science matters more than ever before.

Josh Fischman is a senior editor at Scientific American magazine, leading coverage of medicine, earth sciences, and science policy from Washington DC
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UPDATE Sept. 17, 4:21 p.m. National Park Service officials have announced temporary closures for Kings Canyon and Yosemite National Parks for 5 p.m. tonight.

--

With wildfires burning across California, National Park Service officials are closing all or some sections of the states most popular parks. Sequoia National Park is now completely closed, while Pinnacles National Park is partly closed.

In response to the massive Sequoia Complex Fire Complex in Tulare County  which has burned more than 107,000 acres in Sequoia and Inyo National Forests as of publication  the National Park Service has temporarily closed Sequoia National Park. (Kings Canyon remains open.)

All entrances to Sequoia National Park are now closed as of Tuesday morning. Campgrounds have also been closed, and reservations canceled. Those with cancellations can also expect refunds. The SQF Complex fire has also shut down lodging and other services at Wuksachi Lodge, beginning Tuesday. The closure is in effect through this Thursday, but park officials say it will be re-evaluated daily.

Evacuations are also under way for park staff. With Three Rivers and the park headquarters under an evacuation notice, staff is focused on preparing to evacuate, Acting Superintendent Lee Taylor explained on the NPS website. To ensure any pending evacuation goes as smoothly as possible, we are closing the park to visitors.



Parts of Pinnacles National Park were also temporarily closed because of the fire threat posed to the park, including the western side of the park. All trails have also shut down, with the exception of Bench and the Sycamore trails.

We are taking preemptive safety measures for the protection of our visitors, staff, and the incredible resources under our care, Superintendent Blanca Alvarez Stransky told KSBW.

Last week, all of Californias National Forests were closed due to fire danger. However, Yosemite National Park, the crown jewel of California's national parks system, remains open despite heavy wildfire smoke, with the exception of Mariposa Grove.

Fiona Lee is deputy managing editor at SFGate. Email: fiona.lee@sfgate.com | Twitter: @moderntime
(Natural News) September 15 is the International Day of Democracy  a day when those of us fortunate enough to live in a democratic society celebrate breathing the air of free speech, freedom of religion, self government, and the rule of law.

(Article by Reggie Littlejohn republished from LifeSiteNews.com)

Too often, socialism is held up as an ideal, even in the United States. My colleague, Jennifer Zeng, is a courageous survivor of a Chinese labor camp. She describes the truth about socialism. The Chinese Communist Party forcibly aborted Jennifers second child under the One Child Policy. Then, they burst into her home in the middle of the night and detained her. When she asked why, the police officer answered, Because of your thought.

Jennifer, a survivor of socialism with Chinese characteristics  communism  tells the story of being detained and tortured brutally in a labor camp because of her religious beliefs. On her first day, she and others were forced to squat with their hands behind their heads, looking at their feet, for 15 hours, in the baking sun. Anyone who fainted was shocked awake with electric batons.

Jennifer says that Every day was a struggle between life and death. She says that the slave labor in the camp was used to make products sold all over the world, including in the United States. She says that she and others were forced to submit to blood tests, the results of which would go into a database for forced organ donation, in which innocent people were killed to harvest their organs for transplant.

Anyone who thinks socialism is a good idea should watch this video. It is just four minutes long. Socialism makes promises that sound noble, but in reality, it delivers crushing pain. Man-made famines, thought police, inescapable surveillance, forced abortion and sterilization, forced organ harvesting, and so many more crimes against humanity have brutalized the Chinese people for more than 70 years. Those of us who live in democracy must commit ourselves to never let this evil form of government take hold of our land.

I have met Jennifer. She combines true humility and sincerity with intellectual brilliance and inexhaustible courage. Thanks to Breitbart for producing this powerful video, and providing subtitles.

Read more at: LifeSiteNews.com
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 16

Trend:

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan sent a congratulatory letter to the Jewish community of Azerbaijan.

"Dear fellow countrymen,

I cordially congratulate you on the New Year Holiday of the Jewish people - Rosh Hashanah - and extend my best regards and sincerest wishes to each of you.

Jews, along with representatives of various ethnic and religious groups, have for centuries lived in Azerbaijan, a country with rich historical and cultural heritage and centuries-old traditions of tolerance, in peace, tranquility, mutual respect and trust. Azerbaijan is one of the few places where ethnic and religious intolerance, xenophobia and anti-Semitism do not exist.

The state of Azerbaijan, which attaches great importance to coexistence based on democratic and constitutional principles, promotion of high tolerance and multicultural values, pays a great deal of attention and care to the preservation of cultural and spiritual values, development of language and culture of all ethnic minorities, including the Jewish community.

It is commendable that our compatriots of Jewish origin, who are actively involved in the socio-political, socio-cultural life of our country, always demonstrate their love and loyalty to Azerbaijan, making significant contributions to communicating the truth about Azerbaijan to the world community, regardless of where they live.

Dear friends,

On the occasion of Rosh Hashanah, which epitomizes kindness, spiritual revival and renewal, I once again extend my sincere congratulations to all of you and wish prosperity to your families and abundance to your homes.

Happy holiday!" the letter said.
Marin County moved from the purple tier to the less restrictive red tier in California's new reopening structure Tuesday, state officials said.

The county's new status provides a path for several sectors of business to reopen including indoor gyms with 10% capacity and museums, movie theaters, churches and restaurant dining rooms at 25% capacity.

Personal care services  such as nail salons, skin care boutiques and tattoo parlors  can welcome back customers indoors with modifications. Indoor retail and malls can operate at 50% capacity, up from 25%.

The state allows counties that maintain the red-tier status for at least two consecutive weeks to reopen schools to classroom-based learning, with modification. For Marin, this could come as early as September 29.

Weve made a lot of progress, and this gives us more choices as residents, said Dr. Matt Willis, Marin County Public Health Officer. But more freedom also brings more risk. Our challenge is to move forward without increasing transmission. Were at a critical juncture.

For a county to move into the red tier, it must report fewer than seven daily cases per 100,000 residents and a test positivity under 8% for 14 consecutive days.

Analysis from SFGATE showed that Marin County did not appear to meet the case requirement for the red tier, but in a Tuesday press release, county officials wrote that the health department "successfully appealed" to the state to let the county move out of the purple tier.

Last week, Marin County health officer Dr. Matt Willis said that smaller counties can be negatively impacted by the the reopening system's strict criteria.

One cluster of cases in a facility leads to a clear spike in countywide case rates," he said. "These are some of the factors well be discussing with the state.

The state's color-coded system sorts counties into four tiers  "purple" (widespread), "red" (substantial) "orange" (moderate) or "yellow" (minimal)  that measure the spread of COVID-19 and dictate what types of businesses and activities are allowed to open.

Each county will be assigned its tier every Tuesday, and a county must remain in a tier for 21 consecutive days before moving to the next one. To move forward, a county must meet the next tier's criteria for 14 consecutive days.

On each day of assessment, the case counts are calculated by taking a seven-day average of daily cases per capita lagged an additional seven days to account for reporting delays.

A county can move backward by failing to meet the criteria for two consecutive weeks, or if state officials see a rapid rise in hospitalizations.

Newsom's plan allows counties to be more restrictive than the state, and some counties such as San Francisco have opted to reopen businesses on a slower timeline than the state's.

MORE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE:

Sign up for 'The Daily' newsletter for the latest on coronavirus here.

Whats an R0? Everything to know about the most important coronavirus indicator

Coronavirus update: 5 Calif. counties move from purple to red tier

Lawyers explain how to cross-examine coronavirus deniers

The coronavirus may have been in California before China announced outbreak, study suggests

These are the riskiest activities to do during the coronavirus pandemic

SFGATE Reporter Eric Ting contributed to this story. Amy Graff is the news editor for SFGATE. Email her: agraff@sfgate.com.
Despite additional funding and new financial incentives for school bus drivers, Hamiltons school boards are still experiencing a significant shortage of drivers and have warned families that bus routes may be cancelled as a result.

The Catholic school board emailed families about the possibility of route cancellations Tuesday afternoon, and Hamiltons public board is expected to follow suit.

We have not as of yet cancelled routes so as to mitigate against the bus driver shortage. Saying that, we may have no other alternative to do so if this situation does not improve, said the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board in its letter to parents.

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The boards have struggled significantly to attract drivers as fears of COVID-19 spreading within the vehicles have dissuaded potential workers from getting behind the wheel. While all students are required to wear masks on buses and drivers are tasked with cleaning the vehicles three times a day, many buses are expected to be packed with students unable to maintain physical distance from their peers.

Hamiltons boards announced last week that they need between 59 and 67 more drivers to take students to school and reduce serious delays among several transportation routes across the city.

The boards typically experience a shortage of 20 to 30 drivers, but the numbers have increased significantly this year.

In a meeting on Monday, the public board said it will begin consolidated routes on Wednesday to try to improve the situation, though delays are expected to continue.

Stacey Zucker, associate director of support services, said that pickup and drop-off times may change as a result of the reorganization and that families should check the Hamilton-Wentworth Student Transportation Services website for updated times.

Once we have a better understanding of whos taking the bus, and we actually have the ridership, we may be able to consolidate further, Zucker said.

The boards say that an incentive program to recruit drivers has not helped.

Despite measures implemented to date, including the ongoing driver incentive programs and unprecedented recruitment, we do not see this matter improving in the near future, the Catholic board wrote on Tuesday.

The boards have not specified what is offered in the driver incentive program.
Hyderabad, Sep 16 : The COVID-19 pandemic forced an early end to the Telangana Assembly session as both the Houses were adjourned sine die on Wednesday, 12 days before the scheduled time.

Both the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council were originally scheduled to have the session till September 28 but a sudden spurt in COVID cases among the staff on duty is believed to have forced the presiding officers to cut short the session.

Assembly Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy and Council Chairman G. Sukhender Reddy adjourned the Houses sine die after completing the day's agenda.

The decision was taken after a member of Assembly and over 50 others including policemen and legislature staff on duty reportedly tested positive.

While adjourning the Council sine die, the chairman said the mood of the house at large was that there is a possibility of spread of the pandemic. Sukhender Reddy said as 1,200 people including legislators, police, media and others were attending the session there is general apprehension about the spread of COVID.

Srinivas Reddy had on Tuesday held a meeting with leaders of various political parties and discussed the issue after it was brought to his notice that some members of legislature staff, police personnel and journalists tested positive. He reportedly conveyed the decision to cut short the session due to fears of virus spreading among legislators and Assembly staff on duty.

Member of Legislative Assembly Jaffar Hussain Meraj of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) had tested positive on Monday, when the session resumed after weekend break.

The speaker had directed all legislators, legislature staff, policemen, media persons covering the session to undergo COVID test again before the session resumes.

All of them had undergone the test before the session began on September 7. Finance Minister T. Harish Rao had tested positive a day before the start of the session.

Unprecedented arrangements were made for conduct of the session amid the pandemic. Negative test report was made mandatory for all the legislators and those on duty at the Assembly premises.

Wearing of masks was also made compulsory while special seating arrangements were made to ensure social distancing.

The Assembly and Council passed 11 Bills and amendments to various Acts during the session which lasted for eight days. On the first day, both the Houses were adjourned after paying tributes to former President Pranab Mukherjee and TRS MLA Ramanlinga Reddy, who passed away recently.

The Bills passed during the session include Bills for new Revenue Act and TS bPASS Bill. The House passed a resolution seeking Bharat Ratna for former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao and another resolution urging the Centre to withdraw the proposed Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2020.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Luanda  Angola Development Bank (BDA) and United Arab Emirates (UAE) signed Monday a cooperation agreement on acquisition of tractors that will be manufactured in Luanda-Bengo Special Economic Zone (ZEE).

The Memorandum open doors for BDA to finance the acquisition by Angolan peasants of tractors produced in Luanda-Bengo ZEE by the United Arab Emirates.

The investment in assembling unit, with the capacity to produce 3,000 machines per year, aims to support the economic diversification process in the country.

The Memorandum enables the two countries to consolidate a strategic partnership of 16 year, which took shape in 2004 at a time of the opening of the general consulate, that four years later raised to the status of Embassy.

Strong economic cooperation between the two States yielded last June USD 1.9 billion (1.6 million euros), in export and import volumes.
US President has made inroads into the Indian-American vote bank, the biggest ever by a Republican president, according to a survey which has sent worrying signals to the Democrats that the support of this influential ethnic community can no longer be taken for granted.

The survey by Indiaspora and Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders (AAPI) Data on Tuesday showed that a majority of Indian-Americans still favour former vice president Biden, the Democratic Party's nominee in the November 3 US presidential election.

It found that 74-year-old Trump, seeking re-election, is making a big dent into the Indian-American vote bank despite the fact that Biden has a strong relationship with the community and played a key role in bilateral ties over the past few decades. Biden, 77, also scripted history last month by selecting Senator Kamala Harris, 55, as his running mate.

According to the survey, 66 per cent Indian-Americans currently favour Biden and 28 per cent favour Trump while six per cent were undecided.

Notably in the 2016 presidential election, 77 per cent voted for former US secretary Hillary Clinton, and 16 per cent for Trump. In 2012, as many as 84 per cent Indian-Americans voted for Barack Obama.

Dr Karthick Ramakrishnan, professor of public policy and political science at University of California, Riverside and founder of AAPI Data who is author of the survey, said that the Indian-Americans' support to Trump, in case of a swing of the undecided Indian-Americans, would probably reach the 30 per cent mark.

Democrats absolutely should be concerned about making sure that they conduct sufficient outreach to the Indian-Americans," Indian-American Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi said.

"The Democrats should conduct sufficient outreach to the different groups that comprise Indian-Americans, because every vote is going to count, especially in those battleground states as the survey result indicated, he said.

There are a lot of Indian-Americans, for instance in key battleground states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Florida and North Carolina, among others and they in conjunction with other Asian-Americans could certainly be a part of the tipping factor, he said, asserting that the Indian-Americans would finally come home to the Democratic Party.

Seema Nanda, visiting fellow, Harvard Law School Labour and Worklife Programme and former CEO, Democratic National Committee, said: It is a vote (of Indian-Americans) that this research shows, absolutely, cannot be taken for granted.

While the support for Biden has dropped as compared to Clinton in 2016, the support for the Republican Party has dropped from 19 per cent to 16 per cent in these four years.

Given the Indian diaspora's increasing political importance in the US, it's no surprise they are being courted by both sides of the aisle, said MR Rangaswami, founder of Indiaspora.

It's great that both major political parties have begun to realise just how critical it is to reach out to Indian-Americans our impact is only going to increase over time, he said.

Milan Vaishnav, director, South Asia Programme, at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said: The Trump campaign has made a lot of efforts, frankly, to reach out to Indian-Americans, including putting together a nice video advertisement featuring Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi and Howdy Modi in Houston last November, showing the camaraderie between the president of the United States and Prime Minister of India.

Describing Trump as a polarising factor, Representative Niraj Antani from the Ohio State Assembly said that there are a lot of reasons for this swing of votes.

The President's outreach (to the community), (him) going to India and standing with the Prime Minister (Modi in Houston and Ahmedabad). (His) neutrality on issues like Citizenship (Amendment) Act, abrogation of (Article) 370, as opposed to Vice President Biden's opposition has polarised the community, Atani said.

The swing of Indian-Americans from the Democrats towards Trump for the first time was reported by New York-based Al Mason, co-chair of Trump Victory Indian American Finance Committee.

Mason, who conducted a survey in battleground states of Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia and Texas, said the results show as many as 50 per cent of potential Indian-American voters, the vast majority of whom traditionally have voted for Democrats in past presidential elections, will defect from the Democratic Party and vote for Trump in 2020.

This mass defection could add tens of thousands of new Trump voters in key battleground states and could very well end up helping to secure the president's reelection, Mason said as he challenged the results of the latest survey, asserting that the swing of Indian-Americans towards Trump is much greater than reported by the survey of Indiaspora and AAPI Data.

Indian-Americans are positioned to make a difference in several swing states that may be close in this election, such as Florida (87,000), Pennsylvania (61,000), Georgia (57,000), Michigan (45,000) and North Carolina (36,000) and perhaps even Texas which has 160,000 Indian-American voters, said Ramakrishnan.

Currently, there are 1.8 million Indian-Americans in the US who are eligible to vote.

(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.)
BOSTON  Mitchell Garabedian, whose law firm has obtained countless clergy sexual abuse settlements or arbitration awards on behalf of clients, has made public the names of three priests contained in a recent settlement with the Archdiocese of Boston.

The three names were posted on the firms website.

Survivors want me to post the names of their perpetrators as part of the healing process, said Garabedian in reference to the list he posts related to monetary awards in which the accused may maintain their innocence as such compensation is not an admission of guilt.

Survivors and their advocates have long called for more transparency and comprehensive from the church on clergy accused of sexual abuse, with some law firms publishing lists of accused clergy related to settlements. Some dioceses publish some data when allegations are found credible. In Massachusetts, Worcester and Fall River have no such listing, while Springfield and Boston do.

The Boston archdiocese does list the names of priests who have been sentenced or sanctioned on such charges either as the result of criminal or church proceedings, as well as those living archdiocesan clergy with such publicized cases not yet resolved.

It does not list deceased clergy who have not been publicly accused and had no church proceedings conducted or completed on sexual allegations against them even when the archdiocese gives compensation in a case involving such allegations made after their death.

In his explanation of why his archdiocese does not list such priests accused after their death, Cardinal Sean OMalley has written that it is extremely difficult to determine the credibility of these accusation, given that they involve matters that typically occurred decades ago, and that the deceased has no chance to address the allegations begin brought against him.

A negotiated settlement does not involve an admission of guilt.

The allegations of indecent assault and battery on a child as reported in Garabedians three separate recent claims with the archdiocese date back decades, and Garabedian said were brought forth in the last two years.

He said one claim involved the Rev. Sylvio Ruest who was alleged to have sexually abused a male child at least five times, who was then approximately 13 to 14 years old, when Ruest was assigned to Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Bellingham.

Another claim involved the Rev. T. Raymond Sullivan, who was alleged to have sexually abused a male child at least two times who was then approximately 14 years old, when Sullivan was assigned to St. Thereses Church in Dracut, Garabedian said

In the third claim, Garabedian said the Rev. John Salvucci was alleged to have sexually abused a male child at least 20 times who was then approximately 15 to 17 years old, when Salvucci was assigned to St. Marys Church in Billerica.

Ruest and Sullivan are now deceased, said Garabedian, adding he had no information on Salvucci.

The archdiocese did announce this week that the Rev. James E. Gaudreau, who was placed on administrative leave by the archdiocese in 2012 for an allegation of sexual abuse against a minor in 2006, had been found guilty of such abuse and a sanction of a life of prayer and penance affirmed by the Vatican.

It was unclear what church process was involved and whether Gaudreau, the former pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Lynn, had appealed any decision at any point.

Bishops generally, with the aid of review board, investigate allegations and may then send documentation to the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican looking for how to proceed in terms of further investigation and sanction.

Gaudreau, who once served on the board of trustees at Bostons St. Johns Seminary, had come to St. Joseph Parish in 1984 to serve for several years as the Spanish apostolate in the Lynn area. He became church pastor in 1993.

The archdiocese placed him on administration leave and notified law enforcement when it said it learned, in 2012, of the sexual abuse allegation of a minor reported to have occurred in approximately 2006.

In 2013, the Essex County District Attorneys Office said Gaudreau was not being charged after a year-long investigation and, through his attorney, Gaudreau issued a statement saying that he knew that he was innocent of any wrongdoing and would be thoroughly exonerated.

The archdiocese said at the time that the conclusion of the criminal investigation would allow it to move forward with the ecclesiastical process.

In a 2014 posting on Facebook, Gaudreau, who is now in his late 70s, had told supporters his resignation as pastor of St. Joseph had been requested and that the investigation process had been referred by Rome to another diocese.

Sometimes in such cases, the priest found guilty is removed from the clerical state or sanctioned to a life of prayer and penance. The later sanction, under which Gaudreau is now listed on the archdiocese website, enables the Church to continue financial support.

Survivor groups have called for the permanent removal from the clerical state of any priest determined to have sexual abused a minor.

The archdiocese also announced this week the dismissal by the Vatican from the clerical state of John Lyons, a former Rochester priest who was placed on administrative leave by the archdiocese in 2002 after two men field a lawsuit charging he had sexually abused them in the 1970s and 1980s in a Brighton church.

Lyons was acquitted in 2005 by a Brockton Superior Court jury of raping a young parishioner in the 1980s, who had reported the allegations to law enforcement in 2002 and for which Lyons was arrested.

The parishioner did receive a settlement based on those allegations from the archdiocese.

Lyons is listed on the archdiocese website as dismissed from the clerical state.

Related content
As missions like NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, TESS and Kepler continue to provide insights into the properties of exoplanets (planets around other stars), scientists are increasingly able to piece together what these planets look like, what they are made of, and if they could be habitable or even inhabited.

In a new study published recently in The Planetary Science Journal, a team of researchers from Arizona State University (ASU) and the University of Chicago have determined that some carbon-rich exoplanets, given the right circumstances, could be made of diamonds and silica.

"These exoplanets are unlike anything in our solar system," says lead author Harrison Allen-Sutter of ASU's School of Earth and Space Exploration.

Diamond exoplanet formation

When stars and planets are formed, they do so from the same cloud of gas, so their bulk compositions are similar. A star with a lower carbon to oxygen ratio will have planets like Earth, comprised of silicates and oxides with a very small diamond content (Earth's diamond content is about 0.001%).

But exoplanets around stars with a higher carbon to oxygen ratio than our sun are more likely to be carbon-rich. Allen-Sutter and co-authors Emily Garhart, Kurt Leinenweber and Dan Shim of ASU, with Vitali Prakapenka and Eran Greenberg of the University of Chicago, hypothesized that these carbon-rich exoplanets could convert to diamond and silicate, if water (which is abundant in the universe) were present, creating a diamond-rich composition.

Diamond-anvils and X-rays

To test this hypothesis, the research team needed to mimic the interior of carbide exoplanets using high heat and high pressure. To do so, they used high pressure diamond-anvil cells at co-author Shim's Lab for Earth and Planetary Materials.

First, they immersed silicon carbide in water and compressed the sample between diamonds to a very high pressure. Then, to monitor the reaction between silicon carbide and water, they conducted laser heating at the Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, taking X-ray measurements while the laser heated the sample at high pressures.

As they predicted, with high heat and pressure, the silicon carbide reacted with water and turned into diamonds and silica.

Habitability and inhabitability

So far, we have not found life on other planets, but the search continues. Planetary scientists and astrobiologists are using sophisticated instruments in space and on Earth to find planets with the right properties and the right location around their stars where life could exist.

For carbon-rich planets that are the focus of this study, however, they likely do not have the properties needed for life.

While Earth is geologically active (an indicator habitability), the results of this study show that carbon-rich planets are too hard to be geologically active and this lack of geologic activity may make atmospheric composition uninhabitable. Atmospheres are critical for life as it provides us with air to breathe, protection from the harsh environment of space, and even pressure to allow for liquid water.

"Regardless of habitability, this is one additional step in helping us understand and characterize our ever- increasing and improving observations of exoplanets," says Allen-Sutter. "The more we learn, the better we'll be able to interpret new data from upcoming future missions like the James Webb Space Telescope and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope to understand the worlds beyond on our own solar system."

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Donald Trump capped off a town hall broadcast in Philadelphia last night by uploading a celebratory snap to Instagram of him enjoying one of the city's world-famous cheesesteaks aboard Air Force One.

'Great to be back in Philadelphia,' Trump wrote accompanying the image of him beaming next a sandwiches after the ABC event Tuesday. 'Thank you Pennsylvania, see you again soon! #MAGA'

The image, which has since gone on to garner more than 1.5 million likes, was quickly inundated with comments from supporters in the state who were delighted to see Trump enjoying one of Pennsylvania's most beloved delicacies.

'Aw I am glad you have a Philly cheesesteak! We love you in Pa! You are the best,' one user wrote.

But a fierce debate also broke out among Philadelphia natives who demanded to know where the president bought the sandwich from, whether it be from Pat's, or its rival Geno's  two legendary haunts located across the street from one another on Passyunk Avenue.

Donald Trump capped off a town hall broadcast in Philadelphia last night by uploading a celebratory snap to Instagram of him enjoying one of the city's world-famous cheesesteaks aboard Air Force One

'Pat's or Geno's?' dozens of responses read on both Instagram and Twitter.

Even the president's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., demanded an answer, tweeting his father: '2 cheesesteaks. Is that one Pat's one Gino's???'

Alt-right political activist Jack Posobiec responded: 'Bun is way too dry to be Pat's. Looks more like Geno's.'

Others voiced hope the president had ventured out to lesser known, yet apparently superior spots.

'Not wading into the politics, but apparently Trump and co. have sparked a cheesesteak debate claiming Pat's and Geno's are the best,' one user said. 'They are not, they are tourist garbage. D'Alessandro's or [get out]'.

'That better be from Jay's on South Street or it ain't no good to us!' another added.

DailyMail.com has since learned the president actually ordered the cheesesteak from Dalessandro's Steaks, which would have set him back around $10.

Trump previously paid a visit to Geno's during a stop-over in the city in September, 2016, but appears to have changed his go-to preference.

The Pat's and Geno's cheesesteak debate is one of Philly's greatest food rivalry's, according to Phillybite.com.

Pat's founder, Pat Olivieri, claimed to be the original inventor of the cheesesteak and opened up shop on 9th Street and Passyunk Avenue, in South Philadelphia in the 1930s.

Geno's launched their cheesesteak shop directly across the street 36 years later and claimed to have mastered the sandwich.

Both of the eateries allegedly use the same bread and the same cheese, though consumers are most commonly divided over the steak itself: Pat's chops it's steak, while Geno's serves its meat sliced.

Dalessandro's, meanwhile, claims to serve a cheesesteak 'like no other' on its website.

The eatery, which opened in the 1960s, has won various awards, year-on-year, crowning it as the best place to go for one of Philly's finest, and even offers patrons free toppings.

DailyMail.com has since learned the president actually ordered the cheesesteak from Dalessandro's, located on Wendover Street

The Pat's (left ) and Geno's (right) cheesesteak debate is one of Philly's greatest food rivalry's, according to Phillybite.com

While the source of the sandwich  or sandwiches - remains unclear, Trump did previously pay a visit to Geno's in person during a previous visit to the city in September, 2016

The president's daughter, Ivanka Trump, started a debate of her own on Twitter, uploading the picture of her father with his cheesesteak next to one of him posing with a taco bowl in 2016.

'Taco Bowl VS Philly Cheesesteak? Retweet for Taco Bowl, Like for Cheesesteak,' she wrote.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the cheesesteak photo-op was winning by a landslide of 28,000 likes to 5,300 thousand retweets.

The taco bowl picture - showing Trump with one hand giving a thumbs up, and the other hand holding a fork - stirred up a great deal of controversy when it was first uploaded to the president's official twitter page on May 5, 2016.

In captioning the snap, the president wrote: 'Happy Cinco De Mayo! The best taco bowl are made in Trump Tower Grill. I love Hispanics!'

It was later discovered that Trump Tower Grill didn't even serve taco bowls at the time, and users mercilessly mocked the un-appealing looking dish and its apparent lack of traditional ingredients, such as tomatoes and avocados.

Then presidential opponent Hillary Clinton also responded to Trump's claims that he 'loves Hispanics' on Twitter.

'I love Hispanics!' Trump, 52 minutes ago,' wrote Clinton. ''They're gonna be deported.' Trump, yesterday,' she continued.

The president's latest uploaded has stirred considerably less controversy, though not all bought the idea that he actually even ate the sandwich in the first place.

'Pandering with a Philly cheesesteak that you probably threw into the garbage can right after the contrived photo-op,' wrote Euguene Gu.

'Show us video of you eating a cheesesteak sandwich. I double dare you,' added Tom Joseph.

One Trump supporter blasted back: 'So Trump eating a Philly cheesesteak is pandering, but Biden playing Despasito [sic] at his rally isn't?'

The president's daughter Ivanka Trump started a debate of her own on Twitter, uploading the picture of her father with his cheesesteak next to one of him posing with a taco bowl in 2016

As of Wednesday afternoon, the cheesesteak photo-op was winning by a landslide of 28,000 likes to 5,300 thousand retweets.

Hours earlier, Trump took part in a socially distanced ABC town hall broadcast in Philadelphia, in which he took aim at New York City's recent shooting surge, before vehemently defending law enforcement, arguing they 'should be allowed to do their job' in Democrat-led areas around the country.

The primetime special was the first of its kind in this election cycle and the first time in many months that Trump has come into contact with undecided voters. It was held in a virtually empty venue, with the small number of questions the only audience, some of whom kept their masks on when they spoke.

'If you're going to stop crime, we have to give the respect back to the police that they deserve. They've done a fantastic job in so many locations, but then bad things happen,' Trump said.

'Look at New York. New York was a very safe city. Rudy Giuliani did a fantastic job. The city was safe, and then all of a sudden we have a mayor who starts cutting the police force and crime is up 100 percent, 150 percent. I saw one form of crime up 300 percent,' he continued.

The president's appearance in Philadelphia appeared to garner mixed reviews.

While many voiced delight at the president's pit-stop in the City of Brotherly Love, others urged him to 'get out of my town'.

'A Philly cheesesteak on Air Force One with the greatest president everPRICELESS!,' one user wrote. 'Thanks for loving our country back sir.'

'Mr. President you did well yesterday With ABC you held your head up high and were fearless. Keep going Mr. President your hard work will pay off,' opined another.

However, in contrast one user said: 'Don't hurry back seems to be the message coming out of Philadelphia.'

'I don't think eating a cheesesteak will erase your horrendous record,' another user wrote, to which a second responded: 'Counterpoint: A cheesesteak could run the country better tho.'
The Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) has condemned the portrayal of Shiites in a yet-to-be-released Nollywood movie titled, Fatal Arrogance.

Pete Edochie plays the lead role in the film, which was shot in Enugu and produced by Anosike Kingsley Orji.

Although the movies official trailer is yet to be released, its behind-the-scenes and a 12-minute-clip from the set are already generating controversy on social media.

IMN maintained that the movie is a propagandist portrayal of its detained leader Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky and the Shiite followers.

The group linked the movie to a book of the same title as the movie, Fatal Arrogance written by Kuanum Terrence, launched in Abuja on February 19. They had accused the author of being a military apologist.

In a statement published on their official Facebook page on Tuesday, the group said they were shocked by the film where the popular Islamic Movement in Nigeria and its leader Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky are being depicted and badly portrayed as terrorists.

Describing the social media clips of the film which surfaced on the internet as bizarre, they added that they have petitioned the Films and Censorship Board as well as the Inspector-General of police over the matter.

Criticism

The group added that they believe that the movie is being sponsored by the Nigerian Army and is especially worried that Edochie is lending it some credibility.

Their statement partly read, In a normal circumstance, this kind of clips can be dismissed but not at times like these when Buhari regime is sponsoring a contractor/activist for, and supported by, the Nigerian Army like Kuanum Terrence and security operatives to launch offensive on the Islamic Movement that has a reputation for upholding peace even at the peak of unprovoked attacks.

They also condemned Edochie for taking on the role.

He would not have accepted to appear in a movie tarnishing the image of an oppressed personality like Sheikh Zakzaky and still think he did nothing wrong because the Sheikh was not mentioned by name.

Edochie has thrown his professionalism to the winds as he chose to be paid to distort historical facts, yet claiming not to refer to anybody, when clearly the cast bears all the telltale signs of mischievous attempt, at not only demonizing IMN, but also Islam as a whole.

Peaceful protesters of the Movement are mischievously depicted as armed protesters, with guns and knives tasty for the blood of the innocent. Yet, Edochie would rather that we waited for him and his perpetrator sponsors to complete their denigration and manipulation before we complain, even as we have seen enough to convince us of their wicked intents, they maintained.

Threats

Edochie has reacted to the groups remarks and has alleged that he has been receiving threats since clips and photos from the movie set surfaced online.

In a 12-minute video, published on Facebook, the veteran actor said that he was not aware of the films theme before he accepted to take on the role.

Clarifying his role in the film, he said, I am supposed to have played a role that ridiculed their boss, chief, whoever is in charge of their group.

He also asked Nigerians not to condemn the movie until its final release.

I dont understand what the IMN is driving at. The film we shot is not even out, it has not been edited, the production is not complete. If they have complained to the Inspector-General of Police, and the IGP says give me a copy of the film, what are we going to do because the film is not in existence yet, it is not in circulation, he said.

I am suggesting that you wait, keep your gunpowder dry, when the film is released, you can now make your grumbles known to the Inspector-General of Police. Whatever is being done now is premature, it is not proper.

He added, I did not write it, the film was produced by Kingsley Orji Anosike. If you want to express resentment over the production, which you have not watched, direct your grievances to the producer of the film not to Pete Edochie who is a mere actor, it does not concern me.

I thank all those people who out of concern informed me of the campaign of deliberation of my person, the organised threat of my person by IMN, I thank you all. Im a free born of Nigeria, I was born and raised in Nigeria. Im not going to run away from Nigeria because a few individuals think they want things done in their own way.

Regrets

On Tuesday, a Kannywood actor, Yakubu Muhammed, expressed regrets for appearing in the film, in an interview with BBC Hausa.

According to him, he tried to persuade the filmmakers to correct some things in the movie.

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He said, I asked them to explain to me why they took the film to Enugu as the people there were not Muslims and it was difficult for them to play the right role with the right interpretation in the film. I looked like I was interfering.

Then there is another place that every Muslim, if he sees it, must be concerned. There is a photo of Mr Pete Edochie walking around in a Muslim dress, with a bottle of beer in his hand and with a girl.

The producer of the film has yet to react or respond to the outcries.
The logo of Swedish payment provider Klarna. Photo: Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty

Swedish payment and shopping service Klarna has become Europes most valuable private fintech after raising $650m (505m) in its latest funding round for a valuation of $10.65bn.

The round was led by Silver Lake, Singapores sovereign wealth fund GIC, and funds managed by BlackRock and HMI Capital. They join current investors including Sequoia Capital, Bestseller, Dragoneer, and Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

Klarna said it will use the new funding to invest in its shopping service and grow its global presence, particularly targeting expansion in the US, where it said it now has more than 9 million customers.

Klarna offers an app-based buy now pay later service, allowing users to shop online and pay in interest-free installments, while Klarna pays the seller. Its competitors include Revolut, Checkout, US-based Affirm, and Australias Afterpay.

The shift to online retail is now truly supercharged and there is a very tangible change in the behaviour of consumers who are now actively seeking services which offer convenience, flexibility and control in how they pay, said Klarna CEO and co-founder Sebastian Siemiatkowski in the deal statement.

READ MORE: COVID-19 will permanently change how we shop, says Klarna CEO

The online lender, which has an EU banking licence and offers debit and savings accounts in Germany and Sweden, said it has more than 90 million global consumers and 12 million monthly active users of the app.

Klarna is one of the most disruptive and promising fintech companies in the world, redefining the ecommerce experience for millions of consumers and global retailers, just as ecommerce growth is accelerating worldwide and rapidly shifting to mobile, Silver Lake chiefs Egon Durban and Jonathan Durham said in a statement.

The company, which was founded in 2005, raised $460m in its previous round in August 2019, which valued it at $5.5bn.

Chief executive Siemiatkowski told Reuters last month that the value of transactions on its payment platform surged by 44% in the first six months of the year  the bulk of that in the US  as the coronavirus pandemic pushed shoppers online.

Siemiatkowski also told the news agency that the company was considering an IPO within one to two years, and would likely list in the US.
In brief: Sony has denied reports that it will be producing four million fewer PlayStation 5 units at launch than originally planned, leading to speculation that the next-gen consoles would face shortages upon release.

Bloomberg yesterday reported that Sony was cutting its estimated initial production run for the PS5 by four million units to around 11 million by the end of March. The company had reportedly been looking to produce 10 million units in 2020 alonea result of the gaming industry boom caused by the coronavirusbut the publication's insider sources claimed problems with SoC production had scuppered these plans.

Bloomberg wrote that production yields for the chip, designed alongside AMD, were as low as 50 percent at one point, cutting the number of usable parts by half. And while those yields were said to be improving, they were still "yet to reach a stable level."

Most companies like to push the "we don't respond to rumor or speculation" line when it comes to reports like these. Sony, however, has responded directly to this onepossibly due to the threat to its stock price, which fell by 3.5 percent following the news.

"While we do not release details related to manufacturing, the information provided by Bloomberg is false," Sony told GamesIndustry.biz. "We have not changed the production number for PlayStation 5 since the start of mass production."

Sony still hasn't confirmed the price or release date of the PS5, but that's likely to change today when its "PlayStation 5 showcase" livestream takes place at 1 pm PT / 4 pm ET. We've heard the main console could be as low as $459 or, if a Spanish retail outlet is to be believed, as high as $594, while the discless version could be anything from $399 to $475. The Xbox Series X, for comparison, will be $499, and the all-digital Series S is $299.
Roy Rochlin/Getty; Central Press/by Hulton Archive/Getty Ethan Hawke; Paul Newman and Joanna Woodward

Ethan Hawke is bringing one of Hollywoods iconic love stories to life.

The actor will direct an authorized documentary about the lives and careers of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, according to Deadline.

In a statement obtained by the outlet, Hawke said he would deliver a rare and exclusive look at the careers of both actors and a complex 50-year relationship that ultimately managed to beat incredible odds.

Woodward, 90, and Newman met in 1953 while they were both working on the Broadway romantic drama Picnic.

They worked together again in the 1957 film The Long, Hot Summer. A year later, Newman had divorced his first wife Jackie With and married Woodward.

Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone/Getty Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward

RELATED: Remembering Paul Newman 10 Years After His Death: 'His Real Heart Was About Philanthropy'

The couple built their life outside of Hollywood, settling in Westport, Connecticut, where they raised their three daughters together, Elinor, 61, Melissa, 58, and Claire, 55. Newman also had three children by Witte: son Scott, who died in 1978, and daughters Susan, 67, and Stephanie, 69.

The two were known for their balance of work, family, their involvement in politics and charity, including the creation of Newmans Own, the famous salad dressing, which directs all its contributions to charity.

The actors remained married for 50 years before Newmans death in 2008 at 83 after a long battle with cancer.
In the new Peacock original series Brave New World, as well as the 1932 Aldous Huxley novel its based on, happiness in the fictional society of New London is mandated by the powers that be.

Everyone in New London is genetically engineered and psychologically conditioned to be suited to, and satisfied with, a specific role in their society. Theyre encouraged to the point of compulsion to engage in every kind of hedonistic indulgence imaginable. There are no difficult decisions to be made. And for those pesky times when discomfort or anxiety rear their ugly heads, the perfectly effective, perfectly side-effect-free drug Soma is there to smooth it away.

Everyone is happy.

Except that theyre not.

But why? Why, when every physical need is amply satisfied and every pleasure available and every discomfort eased, would people not be happy? Why would a worker kill himself in the opening act? Why would some citizens need the occasional reconditioning in order to bring them back in line? Why do the residents of New London feel the need for so much Soma?

Especially given that the fictional world of New London that Huxley imagined back in the early 1930s rather closely resembles the fantasies of luxury communism that have been recently proposed, its an important question.

Happiness is weird, which may seem weird to say. After all, we all know what happiness is. Dont we?

Broadly speaking, we can define happiness as a general state of contentment with ones circumstances. Generally, people who are happy know and pursue their lifes purpose, they smile a lot, theyre meeting their basic needs for survival, theyre able to give and receive gifts and attention without resentment, and are free of strife.

But thats not all that we need to be happy. For many people, not having to fuss with making decisions about difficult thingsor even easy thingssounds pretty relaxing. Never having to hear, see, or otherwise experience activities or ideas they find objectionable feels comforting. A place for everyone and everyone in their place with no worry about whether its what they want to be doing with their life appears neat, clean, and ideal. Surely, this can be a way to happiness.

And maybe, just maybe, it would be nice, for a little while. Just like a vacation is nice, for a little while. When bills are due and stress levels are high and the kids are asking whats for dinner, yes, I certainly understand the appeal.

But I wouldnt want to live my entire life that way. And in practice, highly controlled societies like the Soviet Union or modern-day North Korea, where what you do, who you do it with, what you consume, and where you go is decided by someone else, happiness tends to be in pretty short supply.

This is because happiness is intrinsically tied to personal choice and autonomy. Its about feeling like you have control over your own life. Material comforts are nice, but they dont seem to have that big of an impact on peoples happiness levels. Studies have shown that autonomy is actually the number one predictor of happiness.

And its autonomy thats conspicuously missing from the fictional society of New London and from real-life command-and-control societies around the world.

But maybe having an easy, cushy life would still be better, if we were able to arrange it so that a certain measure of autonomy could be accommodated. After all, its distressing to worry about bills and dealing with people who dont agree with you. Life is filled with anxiety and pain. Wouldnt we be better if we could eliminate those things?

No, not really.

And it isnt as though we havent tried. We have. Certain portions of American society have worked very hard to eliminate psychological discomfort with intellectual coddling, safe spaces, and a hyper-focus on self-esteem.

The result is millions of people who dont know how to handle adversity or discomfort. The result is fragility. Our society, broadly speaking, is wealthier, healthier, and more comfortable than its ever been, and yet more people are struggling with anxiety than ever before. Suicide rates are rising among younger and younger people.

The human psyche doesnt actually do well with perfect comfort and zero difficulty. It isnt particularly pleasant, but distress, discomfort, and disorder can be good for us. Adversity actually makes us stronger. Author Nassim Nicholas Taleb coined the term antifragile to describe this phenomenon. He says:

Some things benefit from shocks; they thrive and grow when exposed to volatility, randomness, disorder, and stressors and love adventure, risk, and uncertainty. Yet, in spite of the ubiquity of the phenomenon, there is no word for the exact opposite of fragile. Let us call it antifragile. Antifragility is beyond resilience or robustness. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better.

And the human psyche is antifragile.

Even if it were possible to perfectly control our social environment to shield ourselves from conflict, and experience only pleasurable interactions like in New Londonand, to be clear, it emphatically isnt possibleour world itself is a chaotic, largely unpredictable place. As we are all too keenly aware right now, disease and natural disasters are always a possibility, even if nothing else were at issue.

Disruptions to supply lines, changes in our understanding of the natural world, or simply growing up are all shocks to our systems. If we dont allow ourselves to experience and become accustomed to the discomfort of change, not only will we as individuals and as a society stagnate, we will become so fragile that a single hammer-blow of unanticipated hardship could shatter us.

Happiness cannot be engineered. Humans cannot have allor even a slim majorityof their choices made for them and still be happy. Autonomythat is, freedomis necessary for human happiness.

While the psychological research on this might be relatively recent, this wisdom didnt escape early 20th-century economists. Economics is, after all, at its core, the study of human behavior and interaction. Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises wrote in his book Liberalism in 1927:

It is impossible, in the long run, to subject men against their will to a regime that they reject. Whoever tries to do so by force will ultimately come to grief, and the struggles provoked by his attempt will do more harm than the worst government based on the consent of the governed could ever do. Men cannot be made happy against their will.

The tendency of so many generally well-meaning people, from academics to helicopter parents, to socially engineer a perfectly happy society with no strife, no discord, no struggle, will always have the opposite effect. The attempts to fix the problems with human nature will always backfire.

People cant be forced into being better. People cannot be forced into being happy.

And while freedom is no guarantee of happiness, it is essential if we are ever to be able to find it on our own.
- Large scale implementation of barcode readers among a plethora of end-users and the expanding eCommerce sector is inviting tremendous growth prospects for the global barcode readers market

- Considering the extent of influence of barcode readers, the global barcode readers market is predicted to record a CAGR of ~4 percent during the assessment period of 2020-2030

ALBANY, N.Y, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Barcode scanners assist in storing information of a particular product such as manufacturing date, supply date, and selling price that is printed on the packaging of the product in the form of a barcode. This function proves beneficial and convenient for the end-user. Therefore, the barcode readers market may gain good growth based on this prominent benefit.

Considering these factors, the global barcode readers market is prognosticated to expand at a CAGR of ~4 percent across the forecast period of 2020-2030. The global barcode readers market may attain a valuation of US$ 10.1 bn by 2030.

The advent of barcode technology has reduced the overall burden on the retailers in terms of tracking and supply of the products. This aspect has proven to be the best advantage for the barcode readers market to flourish over the years. Furthermore, cutting-edge features and technological advancements are inviting good growth through the forecast period.

Download PDF Brochure - https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php

Barcode Readers Market: Transparency Expert Diagnosis

The analysts at Transparency Market Research (TMR) highlight the growing demand for barcode scanners in the healthcare sector due to the novel coronavirus outbreak.

New technologies are being developed by players in the barcode readers market to assist in handling the COVID-19 outbreak. The analysts point out that apart from hands-free scanning devices, various players in the barcode readers market are developing mobile scanning apps that assist the healthcare professionals to scan barcodes of COVID-19 test samples. Therefore, this aspect may serve as a prominent growth aspect according to the analysts.

The analysts also suggest the players in the barcode readers market to enable smooth integration of software and hardware technologies for combining a hassle-free and structured inventory data.

Request the Covid19 Impact Analysis across Barcode Readers Industries and Markets

Barcode Readers Market: Key Revelations

The fixed barcode readers segment is estimated to record notable growth in terms of form factor

On the basis of type, the wired barcode readers may bag the title of the fastest-growing segment across the forecast period of 2020-2030

North America may serve as a prominent region during the assessment period

may serve as a prominent region during the assessment period The U.S., Mexico , and Canada may prove to be prominent growth-contributing countries during the forecast period

Explore 234 pages of superlative research, current market scenario and extensive geographical projections. Gain insights into the Barcode Readers Market (Form Factor: Fixed and Handheld; Type: Wired Wireless; and End User: Retail & e-Commerce, Transportation & Logistics, Warehouse, Courier & Postal Services, Manufacturing, Healthcare, and Others) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 2020-2030 at https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/barcode-readers-market.html

Barcode Readers Market: Growth Boosters

The escalating need for reducing human errors in terms of keeping track of the inventory may serve as an important growth factor for the barcode readers market from 2020 to 2030.

The healthcare sector may bring tremendous growth prospects for the barcode readers market

Patient tracking with the help of barcode readers, especially during the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak may prove to be a game-changer for the barcode readers market

The magnifying ecommerce sector may also invite expansive growth opportunities for the barcode readers market

Penetration of advanced technology such as AI (Artificial Intelligence) may help the barcode readers market to harness exponential growth

Public distribution system across various countries are also implementing barcode readers, thus boosting the growth prospects of the barcode readers market greatly

Analyze global barcode readers market growth in 30+ countries including US, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Russia, Poland, Benelux, Nordic, China, Japan, India, and South Korea. Request a sample of the study

Barcode Readers Market: RFID Readers Proving Major Growth Restraint

RFID-based barcode readers prove a threat to barcode readers. RFID readers are cheaper than barcode readers and can perform the same functions with fewer complications. RFID readers also display greater operational efficiency.

Furthermore, the lack of awareness among a considerable populace is also a prominent growth obstacle that may dampen the growth of the barcode readers market.

Access TMR Press Releases - https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/press-releases.htm

Global Barcode Readers Market: Segmentation

By Form Factor

Handheld

Fixed

By Type

Wired

Wireless

By End User

Retail & e-Commerce

Transportation & Logistics

Warehouse

Courier & Postal Services

Manufacturing

Healthcare

Others (Aviation, Port, etc.)

By Region

North America

Asia Pacific

Middle East and Africa

and Europe

South America

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RF-Microwave for 5G Market - The global RF-microwave for 5G market is projected to reach value of ~US$ 5 Bn by 2027. The RF-microwave for 5G market is projected to expand at a CAGR of ~20% from 2019 to 2027. Expansion of the RF-microwave for 5G market can be attributed to increase in investments for 5G, and growing requirement to boost communication signals.

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South Africa: Strategy to protect rail infrastructure bolstered

Government has developed an integrated plan, incorporating all law enforcement and prosecution authorities, to police and secure the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa's rail infrastructure.

The re-imagined safety strategy is built on the foundation of a seamlessly integrated value chain that incorporates all the law enforcement and prosecution authorities, and takes a holistic view of safety across modes. These include the South African Police Service (SAPS), the Hawks, the National Prosecuting Authority, Metro Police and the Railway Regulator, Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula said.

He was addressing the launch of the PRASA Ministerial Security Plan on Wednesday, which follows the appointment and insourcing of 3 100 PRASA security personnel as part of the plan.

The plan is anchored on five pillars including intelligence gathering, analysis and coordination; a proactive approach; combat approach; reactive approach through detection, and communication and liaison.

This is an intelligence-driven plan that will enable us to find these criminals wherever they hide. We will equally increase the visibility of the SAPS and protection services officers at identified hotspots, the Minister said.

The PRASA Integrated Security Plan has been in operation since mid-August and has already recorded successes.

In August, SAPS and PRASA protection services arrested six men in possession of copper cables and signalling equipment worth over R5.5 million.

None of our efforts will yield tangible results if we dont pay closer attention to the scrap metal industry and second-hand dealers. These people create the market for the proceeds of crime. We will uproot those who continue to buy these stolen goods, he said.

The Minister said the prevalence of crime in the rail environment has reached alarming levels.

Theft and vandalism of critical infrastructure on our railways not only place the lives and livelihoods of those who rely on trains in danger, and it has dire consequences for the economy, the Minister said.

With government tightening its grip in fighting this scourge, the Minister has called for prosecution-guided investigations and adherence to the principle of opposing bail.

This has already proven to be a success in the recent matter of two current and former PRASA employees, who were caught with the rail agencys assets worth over R2 million. One of the accused, a current employee, was refused bail, Mbalula said.

The Minister said South Africans must become partners in the protection of public infrastructure.

The plan is a product of a collaborative effort with the Ministers of Police, State Security, Justice and Correctional Services, and the National Prosecuting Authority.

There will be no mercy for criminals who think they can continue stealing and vandalising public assets with impunity. We will throw the book at them and ensure they are charged with economic sabotage, Mbalula said.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2020-09-16. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Pakistan: Fishing communities of Sindh forced into destructive practices

by Muhammad Abbas Khaskheli

September 16,2020 | Source: Dawn

A father and son emptied their fishing nets. They had set them up the previous night in the Mir-Wah canal near Seerani, a small rural settlement about 18 kilometres south of the city of Badin, in Sindh. Their catch was entirely made up of trash fish: very small fish. They would earn about Rs300 ($ 1.80) for this. We have hardly seen any big fish during the past 10-15 years in these inland water bodies, but we have to do this for the survival of our empty-stomached families. Who cares if it is prohibited or bad practice? said the 36-year-old father. Abubakar Shaikh is an environmental researcher who has carried out several studies for the International Union for Conservation of Nature. He said, In June and July, the seeds [juvenile fish] of more than 17 species reach the freshwater bodies of Sindhs coastal belt, but the majority of that is hunted by fishermen.



Sindhs coastline contains 71 per cent of Pakistans fisheries resources  which includes the Arabian Sea, estuaries and inland lakes. Around 400,000 people in the province depend directly on the sector; the majority of them in the district of Badin. But natural disasters like cyclones and water shortages mean its people now live in one of the water-starved districts of Sindh. In response, people have adopted destructive approaches like trash fishing, which is ruinous for fish populations as it prevents juvenile fish from reaching adult size and breeding. In 2010, Pakistan produced 257,973 metric tonnes of inland fish according to the countrys annual economic survey. For the 2019-20 financial year that figure was 227,701 metric tonnes.



Illegal practice continues



The Sindh Fisheries Ordinance 1980 states that catching fish below a certain size is a crime. Offenders could be arrested for six months and have to pay a penalty of up to Rs10,000 ($60). The nets used in trash fishing  Bullo, Gujjo and Katro  are made of fine mesh that do not allow small fish to escape. These nets have been banned by the government for use in both the inland and marine waters of Sindh. However, the practice continues. Muhammad Talpur, assistant director of the fisheries department in Badin, told The Third Pole, We are at sixes and sevens because when we capture someone for trash fishing under the Fisheries Ordinance, his community members and local rights orgnisations start a hue and cry and pressure us to release him. We understand that people are poor and they do this not by choice, but they should understand that the law is law. We have increased patrolling and the number of surveillance teams in the coastal villages and hopefully the practice will decrease.



Driven by desperation



The scarcity of water in the region means land is unproductive, leaving people with few options to earn a living. The Indus river used to bring a good quantity of water to the region, but this deteriorated when dams and barrages were constructed upstream. About 12 years ago, canal water used to reach our village, said Ghulam Mallah, who lives in the last village of the district of Badin before one reaches the Arabian Sea. There were a lot of big fish of every variety to catch in nearby canals and lakes. Mallah said that after disastrous flooding in 2010 the supply of freshwater stopped. Since then, every day we travel seven kilometres north to catch trash fish in Mir-Wah, sell it to a collection centre there and bring some flour and vegetables to our families.



Ameer Bux, a social activist from Badin, said, Sindhs coastal communities are the poorest in the province. Since the area has started witnessing water scarcity, the only source of their livelihood i.e. catching fish has also decreased and consequently they have adopted negative practices like trash fishing. Muhammad Ali Shah, chairman of civil society organisation Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, told The Third Pole, The government has failed to advocate fisherfolks issues, which include water scarcity, illegal occupancy of wetlands/lakes by local feudal lords and meeting basic human needs in coastal areas of Sindh. Therefore fisherfolk have started to adopt what they shouldnt.



Two talukas, or sub-divisions, are the epicentres of trash fishing in the district: Badin and Golarchi. According to local trash fish dealers, for most of the year an average of 1,500 kilogrammes of fish is caught in these two talukas every month. But dealers say that this ramps up between August and October, and 20,000-30,000 kg of trash fish can be caught on a single day. This is because by then water carrying fish seed has reached almost all freshwater bodies. As a result, around 2.5 million kg of trash fish is caught annually in Badin and Golarchi. The practice is linked to the poultry industry, as the fish is used to make chicken feed. There are over 20,000 poultry farms across Pakistan, and the industry has a 10-12pc annual growth rate. As it grows, so too does the demand for trash fish.



Subhan Mallah, a local trash fish dealer, said, All fishermen of the coastal belt have our contact numbers and we have vehicles for collecting trash fish from different locations. We pay Rs800 ($5) per 40 kg and sell it to different chicken feed-making factories in Karachi and Hyderabad for Rs1,200 ($7) for 40 kg. The Pakistan Poultry Association declined to respond to a request for comment.



Extinction of indigenous species



A long list of freshwater fish have vanished, including Mundhi, Khagho, Chhelri, Sinri, Dayo, Popri, Ghaner, Dhendh, Luhr, Jharko, Ghullo and Jhar. Many folk songs sung by women from coastal fishing communities at festivals and marriage ceremonies mention these missing species. Mukhtiar Ahmed Mahar, director of the Centre for Coastal and Deltaic Studies (CCDS) at the University of Sindh, said Overfishing of undersized fish, mixing of poisonous industrial waste in inland water bodies and shortage of water have been the prime causes behind the disappearance of many fish species in Sindhs coastal areas. About 15 years back, there were 176 fish species reported in Sindh but now there are only 35 to 40 species. The practice has wider implications. Baradi Waryani, associate professor at the University of Sindhs Fresh Water Biology and Fisheries Department, explained that many migratory birds visit Sindhs freshwater bodies. These birds depend on fish, he said, adding that the number of such birds is 70pc of what it used to be. The quantity of fish has fallen drastically, and migratory birds avoid these areas now.



Government needs to take action



Activist Ameer Bux said, The government should understand the seriousness of the matter and provide [local people] with alternate sources of livelihood. The youth of these communities are very much involved in this activity; they should be given training so that they can earn their own livelihood without damaging any species. He also said the government can help establish fish nurseries in villages and settlements, providing fish fries and technical assistance for free. There is also a need for proper government research on this matter. The district governments of Sindhs three coastal districts receive marine research and coastal area development fee/funds, from oil and gas exploration and production companies working there.



Mukhtiar Ahmed Mahar, from the University of Sindh, said the oil and gas companies provide this funding as a royalty/production bonus, but that the concerned district governments have never utilised those funds for research purpose. He added that the marine research fee at least should be utilised to conduct a research study on conserving the threatened fish species of this belt. Abubakar Shaikh, the environmental researcher, said that both the government and the fishing community are to be blamed. [The fishers] are cutting off their own feet because they have adopted this shortcut to earn income. For the time being this looks effortless to them, but they dont want to understand how much devastation it will bring. They are sowing the seeds of unemployment, hunger and deprivation for future generations.
New Parliament building cost likely to go up by Rs 200 cr, CPWD expected to get approval

Tata Projects Limited to build new parliament building for Rs 861.9 crore

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

New Delhi, Sep 16: Tata Projects Ltd has won the contract of contructing the new Parliament building at a cost of Rs 861.9 crore, according to a report.

The Central Public Works Department had opened financial bids for the construction of the new Parliament building.

Tata Projects Ltd has given a bid of Rs 861.90 crore and Larsen and Toubro Ltd has submitted a bid of Rs 865 crore.

The government had narrowed the list of choices for building a new Parliament complex to three Mumbai-based construction companies -- Larsen & Toubro Limited, Tata Projects Limited and Shapoorji Pallonji & Company Private Limited -- after disqualifying four other entities that bid for the contract, bringing it a step closer to tendering out the project.

A housing and urban affairs ministry official said that the design with the state emblem has been finalised for the construction tender.

Indian Army: Ready for full-fledged war against China | Oneindia News

Steady decline in Left Wing Extremism violence: Govt tells Parliament

Construction of the new Parliament building, which will comprise halls with a bigger seating capacity for the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, offices for members of Parliament, as well as a courtyard, dining facilities and a lounge for lawmakers, is likely to begin after the ongoing Parliament's winter session and is expected to be completed by the end of 2022.

CPWD has specified that the existing Parliament building shall continue to function during the execution of this project.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 22:47:43|Editor: huaxia

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TEHRAN, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Iran reached 410,334 on Wednesday, after an overnight registration of 2,981 patients, the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education announced.

Sima Sadat Lari, the spokeswoman for the ministry, regretted at her daily briefing the deaths of 179 people over the novel coronavirus, which raised the death toll from the virus in the country to 23,632.

Out of the new cases in the past 24 hours, 1,726 patients had to be hospitalized, she added.

Meanwhile, 352,019 patients have already recovered and been dispatched from hospitals in Iran and 3,827 remain in critical condition in intensive care units, according to the spokeswoman.

The risk of infection is high in 13 out of 31 Iranian provinces, and 15 others remain in alert over the virus.

Iran announced its first cases of COVID-19 on Feb. 19.

Iran and China have offered mutual help in combating the COVID-19 pandemic.

In mid-February, at the early stage of the coronavirus outbreak in China, Iran lit up the Tehran Azadi (Liberty) Tower to show its solidarity with China, and donated 3 million masks to China.

In return, China delivered several shipments of medical supplies to Iran. On Feb. 29, a five-member Chinese medical team visited Iran for a month-long mission to help Iran fight the pandemic. Enditem
New Delhi, Sep 16 : A 60-year-old man was killed after he was pushed off the third floor of a building by his neighbours during a scuffle over the installation of an air conditioner in Farsh Bazar area of Shahdara, Delhi Police said on Wednesday.

According to police, Dharampal was shoved by Dharmendra in NSA Colony, Vishwas Nagar, on Tuesday. He fell to the ground below and sustained serious injuries. The victim was rushed to the hospital where he died.

A case under Sections 302, 452, 323, 341, 506, 109, and 34 of the IPC has been registered.

Dharmendra was arrested and police investigation revealed that he had instigated other persons also during the scuffle. "A team has been constituted to arrest the remaining accused," a senior police officer said.
KYIV -- The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine has called on Kyiv to investigate all crimes against journalists as the country marked the 20th anniversary of the day when prominent reporter Heorhiy Gongadze disappeared and was later found dead.



The video statement in Ukrainian by the U.S. Embassy's Counselor for Public Affairs Walter Braunohler was posted on Facebook on September 16.

"Today we commemorate Heorhiy Gongadze, a brave journalist who was killed for seeking the truth. No member of the press should be threatened, attacked, or arrested for doing his or her job, and crimes against journalists should be thoroughly and promptly investigated so that those responsible are held accountable. Independent media are an important part of successful democracies," Braunohler said.



Gongadze, who exposed high-level political corruption, was kidnapped on September 16, 2000. His decapitated body was later found in a forest outside the Ukrainian capital.



Then-President Leonid Kuchma was accused of involvement in the murder based on audio recordings secretly made in his office.



Prosecutors charged Kuchma in 2011, but a court dropped the charges later that year.



In 2008, three former police officers were sentenced to lengthy prison terms for the Gongadze killing.



Then, in 2012, former top police official General Oleksiy Pukach was handed a life sentence after being convicted of strangling Gongadze to death.



Investigators said at the time that former Interior Minister Yuriy Kravchenko, who was found dead in his apartment near Kyiv in 2005 and whose death was ruled a suicide, had ordered Gongadze's murder.



Gongadze's relatives, however, have said they believe the real perpetrators of the crime have yet to be named.



Gongadze was buried on March 22, 2016, in a Kyiv cemetery.
Paul Alexander, the adviser to one of Trumps allies and a McMaster University professor due to appear before congress for alleged interference with public health reports, has left his post at the White House.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced Wednesday that Alexander would permanently leave his senior policy adviser role with the department, effective immediately.

Alexander  a part-time professor of health research methods, evidence and impact at McMaster since 2015  moved from Hamilton to Washington, D.C., in late March to serve as a leading aide to top HHS spokesperson Michael Caputo on pandemic policy.

Caputo, who told The Spectator in July that Alexander was his first hire as assistant secretary for public affairs, will also be taking a leave, the department said.

HHS said Caputo will be on medical leave for the next 60 days to focus on his health and the well-being of his family.

Caputo and Alexander could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

The news of the departures comes after a week of controversy over alleged concerns that they meddled in federal public health reports and downplayed the dangers of coronavirus.

Caputo urged President Donald Trump supporters to prepare for an armed insurrection and accused government scientists of sedition in a Facebook Live event this past Saturday.

Alexander is alleged to have sought to revise, delay and prevent the release of reports by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on COVID-19. He is due to appear before a congressional subcommittee on Sept. 24.

McMaster said in a statement Tuesday that Alexander does not currently teach at the school and is not on its payroll. They said he does not speak on behalf of the university as a consultant.

Emails originally obtained by Politico show Alexander demanded the CDCs weekly scientific newsletter, known as the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), be halted until he could personally make edits.

In one August email to CDC director Robert Redfield, Alexander accused the federal health agencys scientists of trying to hurt the president with the reports.

The MMWR has a publication process that dates back to the 1960s and is renowned for its objectivity and freedom from political influence.

Joshua Sharfstein, an expert in public health communication at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, likened the reports to a journal of record for public health experts in an interview Wednesday.

This is how the CDC speaks to the community about public health in America, Sharfstein told The Spectator, adding Alexanders attempts to edit the reports under a political lens is extremely concerning.

The fact youre a professor doesnt give you licence to do political editing of a scientific publication. Thats not academic freedom. Its political interference.

The unlikely relationship between Alexander and Caputo dates back at least to 2015.

Caputo said Alexander  a decorated academic with over 60 peer-reviewed published works  would frequently appear as a guest on his Buffalo, N.Y., radio talk show to chime in on scientific topics.

From there, a friendship blossomed.

The two met five times a day while they were in the White House, Caputo said, often talking late into the night and through the weekend. He said he didnt know if I could do my job without Alexander.

An HHS spokesperson told The Spectator in July that Alexander considered the opportunity to work in the U.S. government a significant privilege and honour.

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With their announcement this week of subsidies for a major new gas plant in the Hunter Valley, Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Energy Minister Angus Taylor have made it clear: whatever the roadmap, there's only one destination  gas.

It is dressed up as a measure for job creation, cheaper gas for consumers and energy security. But instead of gearing the country towards investment in industries that will shape our long-term future and create jobs to get Australians back to work, throwing public money at gas will benefit only one sector  the gas industry.

A Santos project near Narrabri ... ... the government insists gas is part of a greener energy solution. Credit:Rob Homer

Let's be clear: manufacturing needs a secure, reliable and affordable energy source. Gas does not fit the bill.

Globally, gas prices are at unsustainably low levels. Gas companies simply cannot make money at these prices and are going broke. Yet Australians are paying way too much for their own gas. That's because a handful of companies on the east coast controls the price and they fix it at levels above international parity pricing.
After recently revealing that she drinks alcohol, Jill Duggar has admitted that drinking was 'not encouraged' when she was growing up  and her parents would 'not be happy' to know that she's partaking.

Earlier this month, the 29-year-old shared a picture from a date night out with her husband Derick Dillard, 31, and confirmed to fans that the frozen drink in front of her was, in fact, an alcoholic pina colada.

Now Jill is spilling the beans on her booze intake, explaining that while she drinks 'socially,' she never drinks to the point of drunkenness  but she knows that even the little bit she imbibes would not thrill her very strict parents.

Oh well! Jill Duggar says that her parents 'would not be happy' that she drinks alcohol

'Growing up, the whole idea of drinking was not encouraged,' she told People.

'I know my parents would not be happy with it, and I know that my siblings, some more than others, would probably have an issue with it. Other ones would probably be like, "Whatever's good for yall, that's fine. Live your life."

'So far nobody's said anything to us about it,' she added.

But even though the mother-of-two isn't abstaining from alcohol, she's hardly getting sloppy and doing shots at the bar.

'We have boundaries,' she said. 'In our faith, we believe like we're not supposed to get drunk.

'So, with drinking, it's not like we're just like going crazy. Its more socially here and there, or at home, for a date or something. Our kids are pretty young right now, but I think it's good for them to see a healthy balance.'

Jill also acknowledged how she has drifted from quite a bit of her parents' teachings since marrying Derick.

'Growing up, the whole idea of drinking was not encouraged,' she said. Even though she drinks now, she never gets drunk

'I think we've grown a lot as a couple, and Im OK with people not being OK with it,' she said.

'Sometimes it's a good thing. I'm very much a people pleaser, so not doing something because I was afraid of what other people would think. Or keeping my opinion quiet because I don't want to have to worry about conflict.'

She and Derick elaborated on their alcohol consumption in a new YouTube video in which they answered fan questions.

'We try and practice what the bible says about anything, and as far as alcohol, the scripture is pretty clear that drunkenness is absolutely sinful,' Derick said.

'Neither one of us has ever drank to drunkenness and don't ever plan to. But that doesn't mean that Jill wouldn't have a pina colada at dinner or something.'

'We also just want to be careful and sensitive to other people, too. You just have to know yourself and your boundaries,' added Jill.

'Even with our kids and stuff, eventually  obviously, they're really young right now  but eventually, I think it's good... for them to see, like, a healthy balance in our lives,' she went on.

Freedom! Jill was pictured enjoying a pina colada while out for a date night with her husband Derick Dillard earlier this month

Good for her! She confirmed that it was a 'regular' alcoholic version of the drink in the comments

Jill's healthy attitude about alcohol in moderation has been a surprise to fans, who expected her to abstain completely like the rest of her family.

In early September, she shocked social media followers when she and Derick enjoyed dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Arkansas and shared a picture showing a tasty-looking frozen drink in front of her.

When commenters asked what she was sipping, she told them it was a pina colada  and further confirmed that it was a 'regular' one, not a virgin one made without alcohol.

'Date night with my favorite person @derickdillard,' Jill wrote, captioning a photo of herself and Derick sitting side-by-side.

'Weve missed our regular date night outings during covid and have had lots of in home dates, but we were able to swap childcare with friends last night for a date!'

In the comments section, she responded to inquisitive fans asking about her drink choice, confirming that she was, in fact, having an alcoholic beverage.

Even a single cocktail is a major departure from Jill's upbringing in a strict evangelical Christian family, where she and her siblings were raised to stay away from alcohol.

Go, girl! In July, Jill and Derick visited a whiskey and cigar lounge owned by her cousin Amy's husband Dillon King

Snark? Amy, 33, said their new favorite word was 'freedom' on Instagram  and Jill's husband Derick Dillard thanked them for 'good food, drinks, and company'

For some very religious Christians, even wine is off-limits  and they believe that references to wine in the Bible actually mean grape juice.

There had been some speculation that Jill had opened up to the occasional cocktail, but this was the first time that she has explicitly said so.

In July, the mother-of-two was pictured out at Wellington's, a whiskey and cigar lounge in Springdale, Arkansas owned by her cousin Amy's husband Dillon King.

Jill wasn't actually photographed partaking in either vice, but Derick Dillard did thank the other couple for treating them to 'good food, drinks, and company.'

Amy shared a photo of them together on Instagram after the visit, taking a dig at Jill's parents and her restrictive upbringing in the caption.

'Our new favorite word: Freedom!' she wrote.

While Jill didn't comment on the snarky caption, Derick did chime in, writing: 'Thanks for treating us! We had a great time! Good food, drinks, and company (not necessarily in that order.)

Yum! Though Jill wasn't pictured with alcohol at the time, she did share a photo of a tasty cheese and charcuterie plate

No big deal! Her 'rebel' cousin Amy has no problem with alcohol, and seems to be supporting Jill while her relationship with the rest of her family is strained

Though the picture didn't show Jill or Derick actually drinking  or smoking cigars for that matter  Jill did post some snaps of the cheese and charcuterie plate they enjoyed  which seemed to be a perfect pairing for a glass of wine.

Jill, however, has been stepping away from a lot of her parents' stricter teachings  and her husband has hinted before that they may not mind a drink here or there.

In 2018, when a Twitter user asked Derick why they didn't drink wine, he seemed to deny it.

'Where did you read that?' he said. 'I dont think weve ever said that.'

Jill has 'rebelled' against her parents' rules and teachings countless other ways, too, wearing pants and even shorts, cutting her once-long hair, taking relatively openly about sex (within the confines of marriage, of course), piercing her nose, and  some fans speculate  using birth control (the couple has not confirmed this; though Derick did say that his own parents used birth control).

This summer, she shared a sponsored Instagram post for a modest swimwear company, modeling several of their outfits.

Branching out: This summer, she shared a sponsored Instagram post for a modest swimwear company, modeling several of their outfits

Big boy time: Jill Duggar's oldest son Israel started kindergarten two weeks ago

Off they go! The whole family went with Israel to drop him off at the school - and all four of them donned face masks per the school's new regulations

And on August 24, she dropped her oldest son, Israel, off at his first day of kindergarten in public school after she and her siblings had all been homeschooled.

The proud mom seemed thrilled to be sending her five-year-old off on an adventure she herself never got to have.

Unfortunately, some of this  and the couple's refusal to film for the family's TLC reality show anymore  has led to strained relationships with Jill's parents.

Derick has claimed on numerous occasions that Jill's father, Jim Bob, restricts her visits to their home  and that Jill has to ask permission to come over, especially if Jim Bob isn't there.

Jill even reportedly had to get permission from Jim Bob to go do her sister Jessa's house when she gave birth to daughter Ivy last year.

Down with the tyrant! Meanwhile, Derick has been calling out Jill's dad Jim Bob for restricting their access to the rest of the family

Enabler: Jim Bob reportedly restricts Jill's access to the family home, and she is unwelcome at some family gatherings  but Jill's abuser, sex pest Josh, is inexplicably welcome

Derick has had some truly scathing words for his father-in-law, who doesn't seem to place similar restrictions on older son Josh, who admitted molesting four of his younger sisters, including Jill, as well as a fourth child when he was a teenager.

In July, he even went so far as to compare Jim Bob, 55, to Jeffrey Epstein, accusing him of placing a higher importance on money than following Jesus.

'[Counting On is] is still under his control. And he will attack the victims if they threaten his show.

'We were humiliated and threatened when we first tried to not film,' he added.

'We have to break this culture, that cares more about money and ratings than protecting the most vulnerable.

'Jeff Epstein already showed us that if you have enough money, power, and influence, you can get away with anything. Sadly, it doesnt stop with him. There are many more stories in this world that are not too different, existing in a culture where it can still thrive.'
The teen has also been stopped by police while walking home. His dad, who asked to only be identified by his first name Danny, said he told his son that they were just trying to do their job and stop the violence. He said he had also been pulled over before after circling the block a few times at night looking for parking.
Ontarios response to COVID-19 depends upon a legion of largely unheralded local public health officials.

While the spotlight has been on hospitals and seniors homes taking care of the pandemics sickest patients, it is public health that holds the front line against the spread of the virus.

The pandemic laid bare the importance of these public services that we take for granted, said Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition.

Yet local public health services have been left out of provincial decision-making, said Niagaras acting medical officer of health Dr. Mustafa Hirji. He says no local unit is part of the provinces COVID-19 command table despite being expected to carry out the groups decisions. Responsibility for some issues normally under the mandate of public health has been given to Ontarios chief coroner who already faced criticism earlier this year over the controversial closure of Hamiltons forensic pathology unit.

Locally Ontarios 34 public health units trace the source of COVID-19 cases, manage outbreaks, work to improve infection control in hard-hit seniors homes, arrange testing at assessment centres and advise local politicians on policy. These agencies are already stockpiling needles and other equipment to rapidly deploy a vaccine when and if one is available.

One would think shoring up public health and making it as strong as possible would be the first priority in the middle of a pandemic, Mehra said.

Instead, public health units face an uncertain future because of Premier Doug Fords sweeping changes to Ontarios health-care system, including amalgamating the 34 units down to 10 and significant cuts to funding.

Throughout January, February and into March, we could not believe the public health cuts were still being planned as the epidemic was spreading around the world, said Mehra.

Even as the World Health Organization warned COVID-19 was a public health emergency of international concern at the end of January, the provincial government marched on with consultations regarding the controversial merger plan which would have seen an amalgamation of the units in Hamilton, Niagara, Brant and Haldimand and Norfolk.

As the epidemic was spreading through Southeast Asia and ultimately to Iran and Italy, the entire attention of public health was on restructuring, said Mehra. I think that really did have a big impact on the response, especially at the beginning. The public health units and their leadership had to completely pivot from a plan for wholesale restructuring to how to ramp up for this epidemic and it should have happened months earlier.

While facing the possible demise of his health unit  and perhaps his own job  Hirji got ready for the inevitable arrival of the novel coronavirus.

In that last week of January, we did activate our emergency operations centre locally to start preparing for COVID-19, and that included starting to develop scenarios of how the outbreak could happen and what would be our response for those. That was some of the local preparation that had already started there, he said.

But he could not stay entirely focused on the virus. The Progressive Conservatives 2019 budget slashed public health funding by decreasing the provinces 75 per cent share of the cost and upping the 25 per cent paid for by municipalities.

For large health units, like Niagaras, the cut could have deeply wounded the ability to respond to the pandemic. The loss of $400,000 from the units budget had to be covered by raising local property taxes.

The need for public health to focus on its work without distraction was made clear by the Association of Local Public Health Agencies in a March 6 letter urging Minister of Health Christine Elliott to pause the restructuring consultations until the COVID-19 emergency is declared over.

The letter talked of the chronic inadequacy of resources being brought into stark relief as they were diverted to the pandemic.

We see this test of public health as an important opportunity to take a collective step back and reconsider the approach that is being taken toward Ontarios public health sector, as a keener understanding of its purpose is re-entering the public and political discourse, states the letter from association president Carmen McGregor.

The cuts did not come, at least not on schedule. But it wasnt until mid-March when the government finally postponed its plan, amid widespread outcry, and provided one-time funding.

At the onset of COVID-19, we made clear that we would continue the mitigation funding for municipalities to ensure there would be no increased cost, the Ministry of Health said in a statement to The Spectator in July. At the same time, provincewide consultations on public health modernization  have been paused while we can ensure our priority remains ensuring we stop the spread of COVID-19.

Infectious disease experts say the worth of public health is often underestimated in the lull between one crisis and the next. Its only when public health is desperately needed that the necessity of properly funding it becomes evident again.

Part of the problem with these things is when you are in an interpandemic period people forget about planning, said Dr. Mark Loeb, infectious disease physician and professor at McMaster University. You need a very strong public health system. It requires more funding.

Funding cuts

But public health has been losing ground for years as the ministry put caps  often at zero per cent  on budget increases as the cost of programs soared and new services were required. Public health is responsible for a wide range of services from restaurant inspections to parenting support to vaccination surveillance to sexual health clinics to mental-health services and much more.

They were locally under resourced, said Michael Hurley president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions which is part of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). They certainly were not equipped to deal with a pandemic like this one.

In June, Hamiltons public health department raised the alarm that its essential programs put on hold for the first three months of the pandemic needed to resume. At the same time, it had to keep enough capacity to respond to COVID-19.

Rather than cutting the budget, the only thing we can  and have to do  at this point is increasing the budget to have enough resources for our local public health unit to continue to drive our response to COVID-19, said Dr. Dominik Mertz, associate professor of infectious diseases at McMaster. From my perspective, the pandemic probably told us very well that public health is the wrong area to save money.

At the height of the first wave, a total of 304 public health staff in Hamilton and 69 city staff were deployed to the COVID-19 response. In addition, seven retirees were brought back and the unit hired a public health infectious disease expert.

Public health is the front line, said Mehra. Its as vital as those fighting the cuts have been saying.

Merging health units?

But its not just the funding cuts that would have been potentially disastrous before a pandemic. There is also the question of the mergers.

The decision to put several public health units together would have affected us locally very significantly, said Mertz. I havent heard any voices that anyone was disappointed that this hasnt happened prior to the pandemic. I think people probably appreciate more now than ever before all of the connections and local expertise that public health has.

One voice in favour of amalgamation is the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario and the pandemic only strengthened that view.

You had a very uneven performance on public health, said CEO Doris Grinspun. We need less public health units so they have more expertise and they can work more coherently.

The problem with having 34 units is that each approached the pandemic differently. There were vast divides in how numbers were counted, what information was made public and what safety measures were in place. One example was that Halton reported cases by location from the beginning, while Hamilton didnt have a breakdown until three months into the pandemic.

There wasnt even a uniform approach as to how key data was reported, calling all of Ontarios numbers into question.

For example, Hamilton and Niagara counted everyone who died while infected with COVID-19 as a pandemic death. In contrast, Haldimand and Norfolk required COVID-19 to be the cause of death before it was included in the toll. As a result, people who were infected with COVID-19 when they died  even in one of the provinces worst long-term care outbreaks at Anson Place in Hagersville  were not included in the numbers.

Its huge because you can not really put the picture together of what is going on, said Grinspun. How costly is that when everything is different and why? What is the rationale for it.

While Grinspun wants to see the mergers, she is firmly against axing public health dollars.

No cuts in funding should take place, she said. But we have way too many units and they all perform differently. Public health could have performed a lot better.

However, Hirji said the notion that a completely centralized Ontario health system would have performed better because it is a centralized system is a claim that probably needs some examining.

While each public health unit took its own path on COVID-19 data, there was little direction from the province, its health minister and its nascent health care super agency Ontario Health.

Public health units are not participants in the provinces COVID-19 command table, said Hirji. Despite those units being responsible for managing many of the governments decisions on a local level, they often have no greater insight into the hows and why of Fords choices than the average person on the street.

The table is led by Ontarios chief medical officer of health Dr. David Williams, deputy minister of health Helen Angus and Ontario Health CEO Matt Anderson and it includes representation from a number of provincial ministries. It also includes external experts who serve voluntarily but the Ministry of Health did not name them in a statement to The Standard.

In addition, the province looks to the Public Health Measures Table which includes representation from local units including Dr. Andrea Feller, an associate medical officer of health in Niagara. But Hirji says this table has no decision-making powers.

Even in areas that are squarely within the mandate of the public health units, such as a testing strategy for the virus and managing outbreaks in schools, medical officers of health have little input in decision-making, said Hirji.

The province has placed responsibility for both issues into the hands of Ontarios chief coroner Dr. Dirk Huyer, who has worked as a coroner since 1992 and was appointed to his current post in 2014. A professor of pediatrics, Huyer has not held a key public health role until this pandemic, according to his government biography. The office of the chief coroner was found to have serious deficiencies in a scathing review contained in the 2019 annual report of the provinces Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk and further issues were identified in recommendations from the Death Investigation Oversight Council (DIOC) in response to complaints against Huyer and chief forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Pollanen launched by the former director of the Hamilton Regional Forensic Pathology Unit. The Hamilton unit was shut down by Huyer and Pollanen in the midst of the DIOC investigation into the complaints.

Hirji said the more traditional role for the provinces top coroner is to examine how and why people die rather than craft public health strategies. Given the newness of COVID-19, learning more about how the virus kills people is vital.

Its also unfortunate that they are pulling him away from the opioid crisis and overdoses, which is still ongoing, and he is not focused on that absolutely important work, Hirji said.

In June, Ontarios public health units, as a group, presented the government with a data-based strategy to measure pandemic progress. It used four key indicators with measurable thresholds that could determine if a region could move forward with further economic reopening, or take a step backwards to get a surge of infections under control.

While the province paid lip service to those metrics  they are named in both the official Stage 2 and Stage 3 reopening documents complete with logos but with no data attached to them  the Health Ministry has refused repeated requests from Torstar to explain what data it is using, how it is measured and how it informs decision-making.

Hirji also points out that one of the key recommendations coming out of the 2003 SARS outbreak was to strengthen local public health units, rather than amalgamate them, because they are best able to respond to local issues and work with local health-care agencies, provided the units are properly funded.

A lot of what came out of SARS was public health capacity needed to be improved. We have done some of that, but I think not completely. Looking at Ontario, the recommendation was that every local public health agency should have at least one medical officer of health and one associate medical officer of health. Weve seen actually much of the problem is they only have a solo medical officer of health who, in many cases, isnt even a full-time medical officer of health, Hirji said.

He pointed to the spike in COVID-19 outbreaks among migrant farm workers in Windsor-Essex, a region without a full-time medical officer of health, as an example of a health unit left unable to cope as well as it could have.

Their board of health municipalities decided that they wanted to save some money, so they eliminated the associate medical officer of health. And I think part of what theyre challenged by, is that they dont have that actual capacity of someone who can dive deep into looking at these outbreaks and managing them, said Hirji.

By contrast, he said, Niagara was able to manage its farm outbreaks more effectively.

We were really able to analyze what was going on, come up with all kinds of measures that really limited the outbreak from the point that we identified it, said Hirji. We had enough capacity in terms of staff because were large enough that we had some of that scalable capacity.

Uncertain future

Its unclear what the future holds for Ontarios public health units. The ministry didnt answer questions about whether the mergers and cuts will still go through after the threat of COVID-19 has subsided.

Whats been made abundantly clear through this pandemic is the clear need for there to be improvements made to the public health-care system, the ministry said in a statement.

CUPE believes the original plan will go ahead despite the lessons learned during the pandemic.

Im afraid that I believe there will be significant cuts coming, said Hurley. I would be surprised if this particular government provincially turned from austerity in any permanent way.

The Ontario Health Coalition said there is some indication that more than 10 units will remain after the pandemic, but the exact number is unknown.

Theres been no official anything, said Mehra. I cannot believe they would go forward with it. But the fact that there is no new plan for public health is very problematic. It needs to be addressed.

Infectious disease experts say it will take additional resources to public health over the long term to keep COVID-19 at bay.

In the next few years, the investments in public health are going to be probably the most important in our response to COVID, said Dr. Zain Chagla, infectious disease physician at St. Josephs. Theyre front and centre as part of this. From the community standpoint, I hope that people understand what they do is monumental for health and safety.
Leader of Libya's U.N.-backed government wants to hand over power: The head of Libya's U.N.-supported government said he wants to hand over power to a new administration in October amid talks on ending the country's conflict. Fayez Serraj made the announcement in a televised speech from the capital, Tripoli. Libya's rival factions are expected to convene soon for peace talks. They agreed this month to hold elections within 18 months and appoint a new government. Libya was plunged into chaos when a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 toppled longtime ruler Moammar Gaddafi, who was later killed. The country has since been split between rival east- and west-based administrations.
Police involved shootings such as the separate incidents that happened in Lancaster and Reading over the weekend have state lawmakers looking into the training that Pennsylvania officers receive to prepare for those split-second decision-making occurrences.

The House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday spent a couple of hours being briefed by representatives of the law enforcement community on training officers receive for those times when use of force is required, among other issues related to police departments.

This wide-ranging discussion came just two days after the fatal shooting by police of a 27-year-old Lancaster man whose family said he suffers from mental illness and police involved shooting of a transgender woman in Reading that left her critically wounded.

Both incidents as well as others elsewhere in the state and nationally have sparked questions about racial disparity in policing and lethal use of force.

Rep. Chris Rabb, D-Philadelphia, asked representatives from the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association what additional training or resources need to be provided to officers to remove them being afraid for their lives as a defense, should a police-involved shooting case go to court.

They put aside all the training that accredited agencies provide them and they use that as an excuse to do things that they were not trained to do, particularly when some of that fear is borne of unarmed children most of whom happen to be Black, Raab said.

An Allegheny County police chief John English, who is president of the police chiefs association, responded that officers receive a lot of training to help them make those split-second decisions in life and death situations but still any officer that says that hes never been afraid out there is lying to you.

He said theres no one-size-fits-all response to those situations, each of which tend to be unique requiring different responses.

You cant put it all in one basket and say from now on you are going to do this, this and this. You have to adjust, English said.

While he had lawmakers' attention, English brought up his concern about the dearth of individuals applying to police academies.

Ill use the Allegheny County Police Academy as an example," English said. "In the past there was a waiting list to get into this academy. Now I think the last number I heard was 13 in the academy class. That is a fraction of what it used to be and this is a concern. Theres not a whole lot of people that are signing up to take the positions of the officers [who] are basically escaping. They are getting out of the profession. We need some help in that area.

Les Neri, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Pennsylvania Lodge, said the way Pennsylvania is set up from a policing standpoint with nearly 1,100 police departments, many of them staffed with part-time officers who work for multiple departments, is problematic. Money is often the reason why so many have part-time officers and also why few can offer officers training beyond the 12 hours of continuing education they are annually required to receive.

Neri added those 12 hours dont leave much time to focus on issues that Rabb raised in his questioning such as implicit bias training, cultural diversity and profile of behaviors.

The FOPs answer to address the many of the problems that have put police reform on lawmakers' radar is police regionalization. Neri said it would make police services more affordable to communities, allow for more officer training, and encourage agencies to employ more full-time police officers.

So I think we have to look at the whole structure of policing when were looking at the component factors that affect training, Neri said.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rob Kauffman, R-Franklin County, shared that the committee will be visiting the state police academy in Hershey to witness police training first hand as the committee continues its look at police reform laws that are needed.

Emanuel Kapelsohn, president of The Peregrine Corporation, who said he has provided expert testimony in police-involved shooting cases nationally, applauded that decision. He said lawmakers need to have some knowledge about what a police officer has to know and understand before passing laws that affect how those officers do their job.

Jan Murphy may be reached at jmurphy@pennlive.com. Follow her on Twitter at @JanMurphy.
(Newser)  The day after a crowd of people, many not wearing masks, sat close together at a signing ceremony at the White House, officials declined to discuss a report that staff members had tested positive for the coronavirus. "I don't comment on any health-related issues as it relates to the White House ever," Mark Meadows, the chief of staff, told press reporters on Wednesday, KYW reports. A Brazilian journalist had tweeted that reporters were summoned late for their standard coronavirus tests earlier in the day because, she was told: "It was a very busy morning. We had a couple of positives today." Asked about that, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany also declined to answer. "I don't share people's personal medical information," she said, per a CSPAN tweet.

story continues below

Neither President Trump nor the leaders of other nations who attended the ceremony Tuesday on the South Lawn wore masks, per CNN, and social distancing wasn't in evidence. Before the ceremony, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, and Trump met in the Oval Office, with few masks in use. Vice President Mike Pence and a number of Cabinet and senior staff members were seen without masks. The invitation to the ceremony suggested masks but didn't require it, an official said. Israeli officials especially were troubled at the failure to follow the pandemic rules in force at home. Still, Netanyahu was not spotted with a mask. Israeli news reports said several White House employees tested positive, per the Jerusalem Post. (Read more coronavirus stories.)
U.S. President Donald Trump takes the stage with ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos for a town hall event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., September 15, 2020.

The president's assertion that "in many ways I up-played it in terms of action" came less than a week after the release of audio from a March interview with veteran journalist Bob Woodward , in which Trump said of the coronavirus: "I wanted to always play it down ... I still like playing it down, because I don't want to create a panic."

Trump, speaking at an ABC News town hall event with voters in Philadelphia, also said he didn't regret anything about his response to the pandemic. He repeated his refrain that the virus will "go away" even without an effective vaccine, saying that over time Americans will develop "a herd mentality."

President Donald Trump on Tuesday denied that he had downplayed the threat of the coronavirus, claiming he "up-played" the danger of the disease through his actions  despite privately admitting months earlier that "I wanted to always play it down."

That clip was recorded more than a month after Trump reportedly told Woodward that he understood the virus was "more deadly than even your strenuous flu."

Woodward reported in his new book "Rage" that Trump national security adviser Robert O'Brien had warned him in late January that the coronavirus "will be the biggest national security threat you face in your presidency."

In Tuesday's town hall event, the president claimed that his moves early on in the Covid crisis saved lives and demonstrated "action, not with the mouth but in actual fact."

Trump was asked by a student, "If you believe it's the president's responsibility to protect America, why would you downplay a pandemic that is known to disproportionately harm low income families and minority communities?"

The president responded, "Yeah, well I didn't downplay it. I actually, in many ways I up-played it in terms of action."

The student appeared to reference the president's recorded comments with Woodward as she began a follow-up question: "Did you not admit to it yourself, saying that you..."

But Trump cut her off. "What I did was, with China I put a ban on. With Europe I put a ban on. And we would've lost thousands of more people had I not put the ban on," he said.

"So that was called action, not with the mouth but in actual fact, we did a very, very good job when we put that ban on. Whether you call it talent or luck, it was very important. So we saved a lot of lives when we did that."

ABC's George Stephanopoulos, who hosted the town hall, said, "There were holes in the ban, and the European ban didn't come for another month."

The president replied, "Well, they were Americans, I mean the holes in were if you have somebody in China that's an American citizen, we had to let them in."

Multiple fact checks of Trump's claim that he imposed a "ban" on China note that thousands of foreign nationals had continued to come into the U.S. in the months after the policy took effect in early February. The Associated Press in July noted that "more than 27,000 Americans returned from mainland China in the first month after the restrictions took effect."

When pressed on the contradiction between his private statements and his public assurances about the pandemic, Trump likened himself to Brtiain's World War II prime minister, Winston Churchill, and appeared to reference the controversial "herd immunity" approach to fighting the virus.

"He said, 'You're going to be safe. Be calm, don't panic.' And you had bombers dropping bombs all over London," Trump said. "So I guess you could say that's not so honest, but it's still a great leader."

"So do you think it's OK to be dishonest?" Stephanopoulos asked.

Trump replied: "I'm not looking to be dishonest. I don't want people to panic. And we are going to be OK. We're going to be OK, and it is going away. And it's probably going to go away now a lot faster because of the vaccines. It would go away without the vaccine, George, but it's going to go away a lot faster with it."

The president added, "With time it goes away  and you'll develop  you'll develop herd  like a herd mentality. It's going to be  it's going to be herd-developed, and that's going to happen. That will all happen."

Many public health experts, including White House coronavirus advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci, have warned that without a vaccine, herd immunity could only be achieved by accepting a dramatic rise in deaths.

Letting the virus spread uncontrollably to achieve herd immunity would bring the death toll to a level that's "totally unacceptable," Fauci said in August.

Stephanopoulos later noted the devastating U.S. death toll  nearly 195,000  and asked Trump if he has any regrets about his administration's handling of the pandemic.

"No," Trump replied. "I think we did a great job."

ABC's 90-minute town hall, hosted at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia in accordance with Pennsylvania's social distancing rules, came just seven weeks before the presidential election between Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden.
The Kano State government has spent N159 million on the rehabilitation of Tsangaya (Almajiri) integrated boarding schools in the state.

Sanusi Kiru, Kano State Commissioner for Education in Kano, said this in a statement issued by the Public Relations Officer of the ministry, Aliyu Yusuf.

Mr Kiru, who inspected the ongoing rehabilitation, said that the schools are located in Madobi, Bunkure and Bagwai Local Government Areas of the state.

The rehabilitation of the boarding schools was sequel to the earlier visit by Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje to the areas.

ALSO READ: Kano govt orders reopening of six colleges for NABTEB Exams

The works will cover connecting the schools to the National Grid, construction of mosques, boreholes and mattresses among other things, he said.

He said that as a committed and determined leadership, the government will continue to do more to ensure integration of the Almajiri system of education.

Kano State will continue to take the lead in improving the Almajiri system of education in the country. 
AMSTERDAM, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Fintech company Factris has recently concluded a EUR 5M Series-A equity funding round led by AB Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of the Arab Bank. Current investors participating in the round included Speedinvest and Optima Investments, along with high networth investors. Factris is now at various stages of onboarding other factoring companies to become Factris brokers or partners, thus further extending their financing impact throughout the EU.

The additional equity, as well as the scale and reach via the partnerships, will help create more opportunities for Factris to finance businesses during this challenging economic climate brought on by COVID-19. Factoring, which is Factris' primary form of financing, continues to help its customers by providing working capital using their unpaid invoices. This alternative form of financing has proven to be substantially faster in getting the needed cash flow to businesses in comparison to the more traditional forms of financing, such as businesses applying for a bank loan.

The Factris' FAB (Finance Automation for Business) technology platform is now available to support other factoring companies in mitigating risk and help them to serve better struggling SMEs in need of working capital. Combined with the new financing facility, Factris is providing a stable, secure solution for funding SMEs.

CEO Brian Reaves explains the importance of partnering, "Factris is determined to help SMEs in this difficult environment either directly or via our partners. Factris is happy to be working with AB Ventures and is looking forward to providing financing services in partnership with them in selected markets."

"AB Ventures is excited to be part of the Factris journey and is looking forward to closing cooperation with Factris in developing receivables based financing solutions in Europe and beyond," commented Faisal Hakki, MD of AB Ventures.

About Factris

Factris is a European fintech company on a mission to provide low-cost working capital to SMEs utilizing the FAB technology platform, deep receivables management know-how combined with strong partners with local knowledge.

About AB Ventures

AB Ventures was set up in 2018 as the independent Corporate Venture Capital arm of the Arab Bank. AB Ventures demonstrates the bank's commitment towards embracing digital innovation by investing directly in the next wave of innovative financial solutions, and  integrating them where relevant - into the financial services' value chain across multiple markets.

SOURCE Factris
Highlights Redmi K40 Pro has been teased ahead of launch.

The Redmi K40 Pro could get a Snapdragon 875 SoC.

The phone could support a big screen and super-fast charging.

Redmi has been on a launch spree over the last few weeks, and now it appears the company could be all set to announce a new smartphone in its home country again. The company has teased a new device that looks likely to be Redmi K40 Pro.

Redmi officials have started teasing the launch of an upcoming smartphone, which Redmi has teased to be built on a 5nm architecture-based processor. The information was shared by the company's CEO, Lu Weibing who recently hinted at the launch of an upcoming Redmi device, which will be making use of a 5nm processor.

The information was shared by Weibing as he took to Weibo. Apart from this teaser, the information was also corroborated by Digital Chat Station, who has predicted that the Redmi K40 Pro could be powered by the upcoming Qualcomm Snapdragon 875 5G mobile platform.

Apart from this, the tipster also claims the K40 Pro will feature a full-screen, support for fast charging, and a large camera sensor. However, the report does not mention anything about the kind of display or the camera resolution of the lenses. For now, little else remains known about the upcoming Redmi K40 Pro, but with teasers already being shared by the company, we think the phone could make way to the markets quite soon now.

But the launch of the phone, for now, is expected to be in China only, with India release still appearing to be a few months away. For now, Redmi is focusing on introducing budget segment devices in India, with the company recently announcing new Redmi 9 series devices in the country.

We at India Today Tech will be following the story closely, so watch this space for all the latest updates on Redmi K40 and other things related to Redmi and Xiaomi.
Flexible regulation of dairy contracts will help ensure the sector's sustainability and improve the way farmers and processors work together, the NFU has said.

The union submitted its response to the landmark government consultation on the future of dairy contracts, which closed for responses on Tuesday (15 September).

It said the consultation had presented the dairy industry with its 'most important conversation in a quarter of a century'.

The consultation was launched following a review by the Grocery Code Adjudicator which found an uneven distribution of power within the supply chain.

As part of its response, the NFU called for changes to 'buyers discretion', describing it as an 'archaic' system which is used rarely in other countries or sectors of agriculture.

In effect, 'buyer's discretion' gives the buyer ultimate discretion to set whatever price they like for the milk they purchase from a farmer.

Instead, the NFU said farmers should have transparency and influence over the mechanism which sets their price rather than it being dictated to them.

Farmers should also have the option to supply more than one milk buyer. For many, the NFU said this may not be of interest, but for others it could become a valuable tool.

The union added that it would like to structure similar to the Grocery Code Adjudicator for the dairy sector, which would be 'independent and effective'.

NFU dairy board chairman, Michael Oakes said the UK dairy industry needed to become 'commercially focused, innovative and resilient' post-Brexit.

"Dairy farmers have borne the brunt of contracts that are weighted heavily in favour of the milk buyer who can change contract terms and pricing mechanisms."

He said buyers can even introduce retrospective penalties and price cuts without negotiation: We want to see freely negotiated and flexible contracts which are tailored to the needs of buyers and farmers.

"Fairer contracts should increase transparency and trust, that benefits both sides, and mean that any changes need to be mutually agreed.

"We believe this vital consultation can help the industry find a successful way forward, Mr Oakes said.
An international hunt is under way for a mother and her two-year-old son who are believed to have left the UK for Spain, police said.

Zivile Jokubonyte, 29, and her son Saliamonas are thought to have flown on a Ryanair flight from Bristol Airport to Valencia on August 31.

The mother and son live in Bridgwater, Somerset, and police said Ms Jokubonyte, who is a Lithuanian national, has not been in contact with her mother since September 4.

Zivile Jokubonyte, 29, and her son Saliamonas are thought to have flown on a Ryanair flight from Bristol Airport to Valencia on August 31

An Avon and Somerset Police spokeswoman said: 'Officers believe she and her son travelled to Valencia on August 31 and are liaising with the Spanish authorities.

'Her departure is unexpected, and she has not been in touch with her mother since September 4, which is out of character.'

The force is urging Ms Jokubonyte to either contact police or her mother to confirm they are both safe.

The spokesman added: 'Officers would like to hear from anyone who is in touch with Zivile and can help to confirm that she and Saliamonas are safe and well.'

Ms Jokubonyte and her son are believed to have used the A2 airport bus service and caught the Ryanair flight FR4440 on August 31.
Washington

A Trump health appointee who is accused of trying to muzzle an important scientific report in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic apologized Tuesday for a separate video in which he reportedly says scientists battling the virus are conspiring against President Donald Trump and warns of shooting in America if Trump loses the election.

Michael Caputo, the top spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, apologized to his staff for the Facebook video, said an administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters.

The department is standing by Caputo so far in the face of calls by congressional democrats for his dismissal  and also for the resignation of his boss, HHS Secretary Alex Azar. But Caputo, a Trump loyalist and former New York political operative, has become a significant new problem for a White House that has struggled all year with its coronavirus response.

He can be heard on an HHS podcast asserting that Democrats don't want a coronavirus vaccine before the election in order to punish Trump. Trump has made the same assertion, with no evidence to support it, but such broadsides are not in a department spokesman's normal portfolio.

News reports alleged last week that Caputo's office tried to take over and muzzle a scientific weekly published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that publishes what is supposed to be authoritative, unvarnished information about disease-fighting efforts, including, most importantly at present, COVID-19.

Then on Monday came an account of the video on Caputo's personal Facebook page in which he accused government scientists of conspiring against Trump and suggested violence could break out after the election.

Caputo was named the top HHS spokesman in April, during a tense period in relations between the White House and HHS Secretary Alex Azar.

On a taxpayer-funded podcast earlier this summer he accused Democrats and the media of not wanting a coronavirus vaccine until after the elections in order to defeat Trump.

"There are people in the United States government on the Democrats' side ... (who) do not want a vaccine," he said.

"They don't want a vaccine until November 4th," he added, citing the day after the presidential election. It's highly unusual to use an agency communications platform for such a blatantly political message.

Over the weekend, Caputo made headlines when Politico and The New York Times reported that his office had tried to gain control over a CDC publication known as the MMWR, or Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. In previous administrations, political appointees in the HHS secretary's office maintained a hands-off policy with regard to the publication from CDC, which is under the department's umbrella.

The story took a strange turn on Monday, after the Times reported about a live video hosted by Caputo on his personal Facebook page. In it, Caputo reportedly accused government scientists of conspiring against Trump as part of a "resistance."

The message turned apocalyptic when Caputo reportedly predicted that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden would refuse to concede defeat to Trump in the election, and violence would break out. The Associated Press was unable to independently view the video.

HHS supported Caputo, with a statement that called him a "critical, integral part of the president's coronavirus response, leading on public messaging as Americans need public health information to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic."

There was no immediate statement from the White House.

Attempts to reach Caputo were unsuccessful.

On Capitol Hill, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., called on Azar to fire Caputo, accusing the spokesman of trying to interfere with CDC reports to the medical and scientific community, as well as the public at large. And Senate Minority leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., called on Azar himself to resign, citing interference with the CDC as one example of what he termed the administration's failures.

Officials at CDC have privately complained of recent efforts by political appointees at HHS to try to edit or change in the agency's weekly MMWR publications, a go-to resource for public health professionals.
Hong Kong: $6.8m set for flood victims

The Government today approved $6.827 million in grants for two relief agencies to help flood victims in Bangladesh.

The grants, $2.972 million for World Vision Hong Kong and $3.855 million for Habitat for Humanity Hong Kong, will be used to provide food and shelter.

The fund will also provide hygiene kits and household items for around 63,750 flood victims.

To ensure the money is used properly, the relief agencies must submit evaluation reports and audited accounts after the relief projects are completed.

This story has been published on: 2020-09-16. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
By Finian Cunningham



September 15, 2020 " Information Clearing House " - The wildfires ravaging the entire west coast of America seem an allegory of the nations demise. Whole towns are being evacuated in a hurry before an unstoppable wall of fire. The country is going up in smoke.

Whats particularly remarkable is the dearth of consensus about the wildfires. Theres no doubt that the blazes this year have reached new records of devastation compared with previous years. The entire west coast seems engulfed with fire or choking smoke.

Yet the explanations differ wildly for the phenomenal crisis. An ecological cause seems the most convincing. Detrimental climate change and years of cumulative drought have cascaded to create inferno conditions.

President Donald Trump and his supporters are deniers of climate change. So, in order to avoid a glaring contradiction between their views and the physical world, Trumps political base have come up with an alternative explanation for the wildfires  its the work of arsonists belonging to nebulous leftist groups like "Antifa".

This is denial compounded with delusion. Firefighters and law enforcement officers have largely dismissed social media claims of arsonists as "malicious rumours" which are only undermining efforts at bringing the crisis under control by peddling confusion and diverting scarce resources.

Nevertheless, Trump-supporting conspiracy networks like QAnon have continued to promote the notion that the US west coast is being burned down by leftwing "domestic terrorists".

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To even conceive of such an enormous disaster  with over 100 massive fires scorching the three states of California, Oregon and Washington  being the result of arsonists is a sign of delusional thinking. At least seven other states, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming, are also reportedly fighting wildfires. Are we to believe this national phenomenon is the work of subversives? Therein lies a propensity for paranoia, which is not an uncommon trait in US politics.

However, that kind of "explanation" is a convenient way for Trump supporters to avoid the issue of discussing climate change. For his part, the president hasnt publicly talked about wanton acts of arson. He has blamed the fires on "poor forest management" which still has the effect of avoiding acknowledgement of climate change as a factor.

The Antifa arsonists narrative also plays conveniently into Trumps campaign to turn the forthcoming election into a law and order referendum. Trump has accused Democrat rival Joe Biden of appeasing domestic terrorists while putting himself forward as saving America from "socialist revolution".

The way Trump and his rightwing supporters tell it, the widespread public protests against allegations of police brutality and racism are all demonstrations by violent mobs. This is in spite of the fact that the vast majority of protests across the US in recent months have been documented as peaceful.

Like the wildfire rumours, it is easier and more politically expedient to blame public protests on violent radicals belonging to "Antifa" and Black Lives Matter. In that way, dealing with underlying systemic causes are avoided: climate change in the case of wildfires, and police force racism in the case of protests.

The Trump camp definitely has a defect of engaging in "alternative facts" and "post-truth politics". This is not to claim that the Democrats have solutions, far from it. But the latter do seem to retain a cognitive ability to at least acknowledge objective realities. They may not do much about fixing it, but at least some modicum of discussion is possible, which is a start. Not so with Trump and his followers. They seem to increasingly live in a feverish fantasy-world which is taking on fascist features.

The American house is burning down indeed, not just literally. But there seems little chance for a working consensus to stop the consuming flames.

The wildfires, the protests against policing  and we could add the denials of a public health danger from the coronavirus pandemic  show that America is a place of parallel universes. That makes politics almost impossible to function.
New YorkSeptember 23- This years Equator Prize Award Ceremony will honor 10 outstanding indigenous and local groups from 10 countries, each showcasing innovative, nature-based solutions for tackling biodiversity, climate change, development, and poverty challenges. The event highlights concrete responses and practical solutions to the environmental crisis by indigenous peoples and local communities all over the world. The winners show that even during a global pandemic, local action for the environment is a crucial element to secure well-being and livelihoods.

The high-profile virtual event, associated with the UN Biodiversity Summit, will feature award presentations by celebrities from the winning countries, videos on winning initiatives, community statements and government commitments, as well as musical and cultural performances. The event will be part of the Nature for Life Hub, a 4-day series of virtual events designed to raise ambition for nature-based solutions in global biodiversity and climate policy.

Countries featured in the ceremony include Canada, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, Guatemala, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mexico, Myanmar, Thailand. For a full list of winners please visit https://www.equatorinitiative.org/2020/06/02/meet-the-winners-of-the-equator-prize-2020

What: Equator Prize 2020 Award Ceremony

When: Tuesday, 29 September, 9.00 AM  10.30 AM EDT

Where: streamed live on the virtual Nature for Life Hub at https://www.NatureForLifeHub.org and at https://www.learningfornature.org/en/topic/session-1-equator-prize-2020/

Who:

 Henry Golding, Actor

 Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE, Founder, Jane Goodall Institute and UN Messenger of Peace

 Lila Downs, Grammy Award-winning Musician and Actor

 Ricky Kej, Grammy Award-winning Musician, Composer, and Environmentalist

 Sofi Tukker, Grammy-nominated Musical Duo

 Achim Steiner, Administrator, UN Development Programme

Award presentations by celebrities from the winner countries include:

 Clara Hughes, Olympic Champion and Humanitarian (Canada)

 Trudie Styler and Sting (for Ecuador)

 Nicholas Saputra, Actor and Producer (Indonesia)

 Margaret Atwood, World-renowned Author and Environmental Activist (for Kenya)

 Prof. Raymond Ranjeva, Judge and former Vice President of the International Court of Justice (Madagascar)

 Lahpai Seng Raw, Founder, Metta Development Foundation (Myanmar)

 Khemupsorn "Cherry" Sirisukha, Actor (Thailand)

For press interest in attending the event, please contact: Sangita Khadka, sangita.khadka@undp.org, phone +1-212-906-5043.

PLEASE NOTE  This is a virtual event. A #NatureForLife Newsroom (held on Zoom) will be open to all credentialed media during both the Equator Prize event and for the full Nature for Life Hub. Interested reporters/bloggers should RSVP to adeline.thompson@undp.org for access and the full schedule of speakers for the week. Interviews with Equator Prize winners and select speakers are available on request (both in advance and in the Newsroom). Summaries of Equator Prize 2020 winners are available at https://www.equatorinitiative.org/.
Youre going to have to write about Kim Kardashian this morning, said my editor.

Hold on a sec, said I. OK, Ive got the rusty nails and Im banging them into my hands.

Wait, you can spare yourself a tetanus shot, this is a serious story. Shes joined an army of clebs boycotting Facebook. Theres also Leo DiCaprio and Katy Perry and Sacha Baron Cohen and Ashton Kutcher and Jennifer Lawrence. Theyre coming off Facebook and the gram for a whole day.

Bang, bang, bang, OWWWWWWW.

But perhaps Im being a little unfair. The boycott is part of a campaign led by #StopHateforProfit and there are some good people and organisations behind it. Worthies such as the USs National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, for example.

The work theyre doing in keeping the spotlight on Facebook is important given the foulness that can easily be found on the social network - that is if its algorithms dont actively push the stuff down your throat, as they do to too many people who then get dragged into deep, dark swamps.

Pedlars of falsehoods and hatred towards disadvantaged groups, racists, bad actors, rogue governments; theyve formed an unholy alliance thats helped to turn social media into a throbbing bile-filled pustule.

They may yet tip the scales in whats shaping up to be an era-defining election in the US, the politics of which they have helped to poison (although the Republican Party was doing fairly well without their help).

A one-day boycott involving a group of celebrities wouldnt appear capable of moving the Facebook needle very far. Its a mosquito bite on the companys right shoulder at best.

Wall Streets reaction was illuminating. The shares wobbled a bit when it was announced, exciting some reporters who noted that $7.6bn (5.9bn) was knocked off boss Mark Zuckerbergs fortune at their low point during the days trading.

That looks like a lot until you realise $7.6bn to him is basically the same as the cost of a cup of one of Starbucks fancier coffees to you and me. And the shares soon recovered to finish the day before the boycott, buying Zuckerberg enough pumpkin spiced lattes to fill Lake Superior in the process. In other words: investors said meh.

 Nancy Pelosi slams Facebook for Trump's fake Census ads

Not that their opinions count for much given Zuckerberg has voting control of the company and can basically do whatever the hell he wants. By far the more significant action aimed at Facebook was taken by companies like Unilever; a big advertiser which was among several to suspend their use of the platform for the same reasons, but for a rather longer time period than did the celebs.

Even that scarcely troubled this financial behemoth. Facebook functions as a de facto monopoly. History tells us that its very hard to move monopolies, much less hurt them.

The only people who have a realistic shot are regulators and lawmakers.

The former take their lead from the latter and right now theres too many of the latter who profit from the hate, bile and venom spat out by the pustule. Donald Trump and his party have formed an unholy alliance with the rabid fringe of its nether regions.

There is an argument that holds his re-election would suit Zuckerberg, which could explain Facebooks seemingly limp and woolly response to date.

So back to the boycott: worthless when set against all this? Not necessarily. CEOs, especially high-profile CEOs who are celebrities themselves, dont much like being portrayed as Darth Vaders running corporate Death Stars. Even if you have enough money to buy a small country, or a large one in Zucks case, it isnt much fun if youre a pariah in polite society.

So loud and noisy campaigns like this one arent without value. By keeping the debate alive, they can also ultimately serve to fortify those who are in favour of reform, real reform. People like Senator Elizabeth Warren, for example.

So yes, much as it pains me to say it, this could yet prove to be a worthwhile act on the part of Kardashian and her celebrity pals. Now. Wheres that rusty nail. OWWWWWWW.
Vedanta rose 1.79% to Rs 133.65 after the company reportedly won a case in the Supreme Court pertaining to a $499 million international arbitral award, which was challenged by the government.

A three-judge Superme Court (SC) Panel headed by Justice S Abdul Nazeer, reportedly rejected the government's petition challenging the enforcement of a Malaysian arbitral award passed in favour of Vedanta in relation to the Ravva oil and gas fields. SC held that the enforcement of this award will not go against the public policy of India.

The Centre had moved the Supreme Court challenging the decision of the Delhi High Court which allowed Vedanta (erstwhile Cairn India) and Videocon Industries to recover $499 million instead of $198 million capped by the government for development of Ravva oil and gas fields in the state of Rajasthan.

This contract was for a period between 2000 and 2007. When the dispute arose in the year 2008, a foreign award was passed by a Tribunal in Malaysia which ruled in favour of the company. This award was challenged by the Indian government before Malaysian courts, but to no avail. When Cairn moved the Delhi High Court for enforcement of the award, the same was allowed, prompting the Ministry to approach the Supreme Court in appeal.

Vedanta, a subsidiary of VRL, is one of the world's leading diversified natural resource companies with business operations in India, South Africa, Namibia and Australia.

On a consolidated basis, Vedanta reported a net loss of Rs 12,521 crore in Q4 March 2020 as against net profit of Rs 2,615 crore in Q4 March 2019. The profit was impacted by exceptional loss of Rs 17,132 crore in Q4 FY20 due to impairment of assets at oil & gas, copper and iron ore business.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
ST. JOHNS, N.L.Newfoundland and Labradors legislature is opening its doors to new faces  very tiny faces.

Members of the legislature voted unanimously on Wednesday to permit parents to bring their infants into the House of Assembly when its in session.

Deputy Premier and Finance Minister Siobhan Coady introduced the proposed change to the rules Wednesday morning on behalf of the standing orders committee. Noting that Liberal member Sarah Stoodley is pregnant, Coady said, We want to be able to make sure that we could welcome the baby to the House of Assembly.

The room erupted in applause. The committee also recommended doing away with the requirement that members have to stand in their place, uncovered, to speak.

Coady said removing that rule helps the legislature be more welcoming to members who might wear face or head coverings or who may not have the ability to stand. She said the rule has been unchanged since 1951 and is no longer relevant.

Nobody in the legislature voted against the two proposed changes.

Progressive Conservative member Lela Evans was audibly emotional as she commented on the proposed changes and how they could help support women.

Presence leads to acceptance, she said. We talk about diversity, but we have to make sure that if we want women in government, we have to find a way that women can be present in government. And that leads to acceptance.

Evans paid tribute to the women shed looked up to throughout her life and her career, such as her aunt, Ruth Flowers, who won a Governor Generals Award in 1995.

She also spoke about her former employer, Penny Allderdice, a renowned geneticist who identified Allderdice Syndrome, which is a chromosome irregularity found in residents of a rural Newfoundland town called Sandy Point. Evans said there is a lot of work to do before women are properly supported and represented in government and in the workforce.

Stoodley told the floor shes looking forward to bringing her son to the legislature after hes born in a few weeks.

We wont be too disruptive  I promise, she said.
If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this





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OMAHA, Neb. - A white business owner who fatally shot a Black man during civil unrest in downtown Omaha this spring has been charged with manslaughter and other charges.

A grand jury announced its decision Tuesday in the May 30 shooting of 22-year-old James Scurlock on Tuesday.

Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine initially declined to file charges against Jake Gardner in the shooting, saying he had reviewed witness statements and video and believed the bar owner acted in self-defence. But Kleine was criticized for his decision and asked the grand jury to review the case.

Special Prosecutor Frederick Franklin said Tuesday that the grand jury reviewed additional evidence that Kleine didnt have, including texts from Gardners phone, messages on his Facebook profile and his interactions with bystanders before coming into contact with Spurlock. He declined to provide specifics of what the new evidence shows except to say it undermines the self-defence theory.

There was significant evidence that was consistent with there being an intentional killing by Jake Gardner, and that evidence comes primarily from him, Franklin said.

Gardner was also charged with attempted assault, making terroristic threats and using a gun to commit a felony.

Gardner and his attorney didnt respond to efforts by the Omaha World-Herald to seek comment late Tuesday.

Attorney Justin Wayne, who represents Scurlocks family, said the family continues to mourn the loss of their loved one and that the months of waiting for the grand jurys decision have been difficult.

While this family is thankful, Wayne said, this family is also frustrated that it took this process to occur.

Scurlocks shooting happened as protests and civil unrest unfolded in Omaha and around the world following the May 25 death of George Floyd in the custody of Minneapolis police. Floyd, who was Black and handcuffed, died after a white police officer pressed his knee on Floyds neck, even as Floyd pleaded for air.

Authorities have said Gardner shot Scurlock outside his bar in downtown Omaha as he sought to ward off any theft or property damage.

Kleine later showed reporters some surveillance video that seemed to show Gardner, his father and protesters exchanging words before Gardner, flashing a gun, backed away. Gardner was shoved to the ground by two people before he fired two shots, sending people scrambling. Scurlock then jumped on Gardners back and Gardner shot him. While there was no audio with the video, Kleine said Gardner warned Scurlock to get off of him several times before he fired the fatal shot.

Critics of the initial investigation said Scurlock was trying to stop Gardner from hurting anyone.

Franklin said he hopes the charges wont ignite new protests in Omaha.

This is not a time for celebration or exurberance. These are simply charges, Franklin said. Jake Gardner is a man presumed innocent as I stand here before you right now.
Becoming a CPA in Massachusetts

A Profession on the Move

Forces such as technology and globalization have drastically changed the business world. More and more, businesses need the expertise that CPAs, as trusted business advisors, can provide. The CPA profession is also changing to ensure that CPAs of the future have the skills and knowledge needed to meet ever-changing client demands. To learn more about the CPA Exam visit The National Association of State Boards of Accountancy and download the CPA Candidate Bulletin.

MCLA Business Faculty work to prepare students for careers in Accounting. Our program is designed so that graduating students are qualified and prepared to take the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) Exam. Through our strong relationship with the Massachusetts Society of CPAs we are able to provide students with access to additional Scholarships, Free Mock Exams, and a variety of events and resources. Accounting students are encouraged to join both the AICPA and MSCPA when entering the Accounting Concentration.

For additional information regarding CPA Licensure email Professor Tara Barboza, CPA.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The NYPD is alerting the public to an alarming scam where disturbing pictures have been used in attempts to extort money from victims on the South Shore of Staten Island.

Victims are being sent texts with bogus threats to kill family members if money isnt paid.

Perpetrators sometimes send photos of the victims children that previously were posted on social media by family. Images of dismembered bodies also have been shared by the scammers, according to a post by the NYPDs 123rd Precinct on Twitter.

Police are urging parents to upgrade their privacy settings on social media.

SCAM ALERT: We have numerous reports from victims receiving texts with FAKE threats to kill them or family if they don't pay money. Some even included pics of their kids or dismembered bodies. Be careful with posting and privacy settings, photos are often lifted from Social Media pic.twitter.com/4GlLkcaLmJ  NYPD 123rd Precinct (@NYPD123Pct) September 15, 2020

I am going to kill you and your family if you do not send $1,000 NOW, said one text message shared by the NYPD on Twitter. See this picture of your kids. I know where you live.
The UN children's agency Unicef has "expressed deep concern" over the imprisonment and treatment of a 13-year-old boy convicted for blasphemy.



In August, Omar Farouq was sentenced to 10 years in prison with menial labour by a Sharia court in the northern state of Kano.



The sentencing "is wrong... it also negates all core underlying principles of child rights and child justice that Nigeria - and by implication, Kano State - has signed on to," said Peter Hawkins, Unicef representative in Nigeria.



The sentence is in contravention of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Nigeria ratified in 1991, Unicef said in a statement.



Unicef called on the Nigerian federal and state authorities to urgently review the case with a view to reversing the sentence.



Several states in northern Nigeria introduced Sharia after the country returned to civilian rule in 1999.



The Sharia courts only try Muslims but if a case involves a Muslim and a non-Muslim, the non-Muslim will be given the option of choosing where he/she wants the case to be tried.



The Sharia court can only hear the case if the non-Muslim gives written consent.

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.

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Atos ranks among the top 4% of companies in its industry in Morgan Stanley Capital International's (MSCI) Environment Social Governance rating 2020

Paris, September 16, 2020 - Atos, a global leader in digital transformation, today announced that it has received the highest score - triple A - in the ESG.

Atos has held a triple A score from MSCI, on a rating scale ranging from triple C to triple A, since 2017. Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) is one of the leading rating agencies that analyses the ESG practices of thousands of companies around the world and aims to measure the resilience of companies to long-term ESG financial risks. These valuations are used by more than 1,400 investors worldwide.

Philippe Mareine, Chief Digital & Transformation Officer, Head of CSR at Atos said: "This year, the world is experiencing an unprecedented global crisis that accelerates the emergence of a more responsible era. For Atos, this means achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2035, beyond the demanding recommendations of the Paris Agreement, promoting an inclusive and secured digital workplace along with our 'raison d'etre', and helping our customers in their decarbonization and corporate digital responsibility journey. We welcome the MSCI recognition, which further demonstrates our efforts in this space."

This distinction complements and confirms other awards which Atos has received in 2019/2020:

Atos is ranked N1 in the DJSI World and Europe indexes in the IT and software services sector,

World and Europe indexes in the IT and software services sector, Atos has been awarded "gold" level by EcoVadis for its performance in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR),

for its performance in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Atos is ranked in the top 10% of its sector by ISS Oekom .

. Atos published its 2019 Integrated Report (https://atos.net/en/lp/integrated-report-2019) in strict compliance with the recommendations of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), option "comprehensive", and the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC).

****

DISCLAIMER STATEMENT

THE USE BY ATOS OF ANY MSCI ESG RESEARCH LLC OR ITS AFFILIATES ("MSCI") DATA, AND THE USE OF MSCI LOGOS, TRADEMARKS, SERVICE MARKS OR INDEX NAMES HEREIN, DO NOT CONSTITUTE A SPONSORSHIP, ENDORSEMENT, RECOMMENDATION, OR PROMOTION OF ATOS BY MSCI. MSCI SERVICES AND DATA ARE THE PROPERTY OF MSCI OR ITS INFORMATION PROVIDERS, AND ARE PROVIDED 'AS-IS' AND WITHOUT WARRANTY. MSCI NAMES AND LOGOS ARE TRADEMARKS OR SERVICE MARKS OF MSCI.

About Atos

Atos is a global leader in digital transformation with 110,000 employees in 73 countries and annual revenue of  12 billion. European number one in Cloud, Cybersecurity and High-Performance Computing, the Group provides end-to-end Orchestrated Hybrid Cloud, Big Data, Business Applications and Digital Workplace solutions. The Group is the Worldwide Information Technology Partner for the Olympic & Paralympic Games and operates under the brands Atos, Atos|Syntel, and Unify. Atos is a SE (Societas Europaea), listed on the CAC40 Paris stock index.

The purpose of Atos is to help design the future of the information space. Its expertise and services support the development of knowledge, education and research in a multicultural approach and contribute to the development of scientific and technological excellence. Across the world, the Group enables its customers and employees, and members of societies at large to live, work and develop sustainably, in a safe and secure information space.

Press contact Atos:

Marion Delmas | marion.delmas@atos.net | +33 6 37 63 91 99







1 MSCI ESG Research provides MSCI ESG Ratings on global public and a few private companies on a scale of AAA





Attachment
BJP MLA Nitesh Rane has written to Union home minister Amit Shah, requesting security for Rohan Rai, fiance of the late celebrity manager Disha Salian. Rane speculated that Rohan is scared to return to Mumbai because of pressure from influential people and said that his testimony could be crucial in establishing a link between Dishas death and Sushant Singh Rajputs. Disha briefly managed Sushant and their deaths were less than a week apart.

In his letter to Shah, Rane wrote, I am writing to draw your attention to the ongoing investigation in the death of Sushant Singh Rajput and his former manager Disha Salian, both of whom have died in mysterious circumstances. It is surprising that Rohan Rai, a young budding actor who was Dishas live-in partner has not ever been questioned by the Mumbai police for details on what could have led to Dishas death on June 8, 2020 when she was found lying on the ground on her building compound in Malad-Malvani in Mumbai.

Rohan was present in the house when she allegedly fell from the high rise building but despite that, it is said that he went down to the spot only 20 or 25 minutes later, which points to suspicious behaviour, he added.

Disha fell to her death from the 14th floor of a high-rise building, with the Mumbai Police ruling it as a suicide. The police have said that her death has no connection with Sushants death, but many conspiracy theories claim otherwise.

Also read: Swara Bhasker calls Kangana Ranauts rebuttal to Jaya Bachchans speech sickening, says abuse me if you want

In his letter, Rane wrote, Rohan has subsequently fled from Mumbai or may have been asked to leave Mumbai to avoid any scrutiny. I assume he is scared to return to Mumbai where the case is being investigated. This may be due to some pressure from influential people on him. I request you to kindly provide him with security so that he is safe when he returns to Mumbai. His statement to the CBI will be crucial to the ongoing investigation and a key link to unraveling both deathsof Disha and Sushant since it is my strong belief that both these deaths are linked.

Earlier, Dishas father Satish Salian wrote to the Mumbai Police, saying that the family does not suspect any foul play in her death and were satisfied with the investigation. He also sought action against journalists, influencers, politicians and media spreading misleading news about her involvement with politicians, attending parties with big names from the film fraternity, rape and murder.

If you need support or know someone who does, please reach out to your nearest mental health specialist. Helplines: Aasra: 022 2754 6669; Sneha India Foundation: +914424640050 and Sanjivini: 011-24311918

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Boris Johnson is facing fresh warnings from senior US politicians to abandon plans to unilaterally override the Brexit withdrawal agreement, or jeopardise the prospect of a future trade deal with Washington.

The joint comments from four congressmen, led by the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Elliot Engel, came as the prime ministers proposed legislation cleared the first hurdle in the Commons on Monday evening.

Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis conceded last week that the Internal Markets Bill breaks international law in a very specific and limited way  leading to condemnation from across the political spectrum.

Highlighting the potentially fatal impact of the bill on the prospect of a free trade agreement with the US, the congressmen wrote in a letter to the prime minister: We were so disturbed by the reports about your governments efforts to undermine the Northern Ireland protocol of the withdrawal agreement that, if true, could have disastrous for the Good Friday Agreement and broader process to maintain peace on the island of Ireland.

We appreciate the challenges that your country faces as it stares down the 15 October deadline for a negotiated agreement  but an Ireland divided by a hard border risks inflaming old tensions that very much still fester today and undoing decades of progress that the United States, Republic of Ireland, and United Kingdom achieved together.

On the prospect of a future agreement, the senior US politicians said they agreed with the Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, who last week claimed there would be absolutely no chance of a trade deal with Washington passing Congress should the government imperil the Good Friday Agreement.

The letter, which was also signed by Mr Engels fellow Democrats Richard Neal and William Keating, as well as Republican Peter King, added: If these reported plans were to go forward, it would be difficult to see how these conditions would be met.

They added: "Many in the United States and in Congress consider the issues of the Good Friday Agreement and a potential US-UK Free Trade Agreement inextricably linked.

With the issues raised in this letter in mind, we therefore urge you to abandon any and all legally questionable and unfair efforts to flout the Northern Ireland protocol of the Withdrawal Agreement and ensure that Brexit negotiations do not undermine the decades of progress to bring peace in Northern Ireland and future options for the bilateral relationship between our two countries.

Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, is currently on an official visit to Washington, and is expected to meet with his counterpart Mike Pompeo and Ms Pelosi, in an attempt to reassure her over the governments controversial Brexit plans.

In response to the letter, a Downing Street spokesperson said: The PM has been clear that were taking these steps to make sure that the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement is upheld in all circumstances and harmful defaults do not inadvertently come into play which could jeopardise the huge gains of the peace process.

We are absolutely committed to no hard border and no border infrastructure between the Republic of Ireland and N Ireland. This is about a legal safety net and not having east-west checks suddenly imposed which run directly counter to Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement.

We will continue to engage with our US partners on a bipartisan basis to ensure that our positions are understood and to ensure we agree a trade deal with widespread support in the US.

US speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi (AFP/Getty)

The congressmens remarks also came amid signs of a compromise between rebel Conservatives and No 10 over the legislation, with the prime minister reported to have met with MPs threatening to add amendments to the bill.

Robert Buckland, the justice secretary, said the government was working to ensure there was a balance should the powers in the Internal Market Bill ever need to be used, as senior Tory MP Bob Neil called for ministers to create a parliamentary lock, meaning MPs would have to approve use of the powers.

The issue is this  we want to make sure that if we hit a situation where we have this kind of dislocation, this kind of crisis if you like, then we can act swiftly to bring into power the necessary regulations," Mr Buckland told BBC Radio 4s Today programme.

And I think while, absolutely we have got parliamentary procedures to allow secondary legislation to come into force with debate and scrutiny, we have to get the balance right.

I want to make sure we are fleet of foot when it comes to the crunch but that at the same time to make sure MPs have their say. Thats what the prime minister wants, thats what he said in parliament, and Im sure well find a way to do that in a manner that is acceptable to all Conservative colleagues.
The U.S. is the only superpower of the world. However, some American politicians are making troubles at the backing of the U.S. dominance, and even abusing state power regardless of possible self-damage, to push for antagonistic policies against China.

They arbitrarily slandered China, violently interfered in China's domestic affairs, escalated political suppression against Chinese enterprises, and even tried to undermine China's normal exchanges and cooperation with other countries. Such practices are irrational, immoral and have no credit at all.

With constantly swelling Cold War mentality and ideology-driven extreme pressure, they proved to the world that unlimited desire for supremacy will finally lead to a destruction of public support.

Due to the frequent provocation of these U.S. politicians, China-U.S. relations are facing the most severe situation since the two countries established diplomatic ties. However, the development of China-U.S. ties will not be manipulated by them.

The time of the Chinese allowing others to tread on its neck is gone forever, and so is the time when hegemonists could do anything they wanted. When dealing with the U.S., China has never taken the lead to make troubles or lost its principles. Experiencing numerous ups and downs in the history, China has the capability and composure more than ever to cope with risks and challenges.

China is a responsible major country that firmly safeguards international justice. It is the U.S. side that unilaterally provoked economic and trade friction, frightened China with tariffs, and exerted extreme pressure to force China to accept its unreasonable demands.

For the good of the common interests of the two countries and global trade order, and in a strenuous effort to push for equality and mutual respect, China remains committed to resolving issues through dialogue and consultation, responding to U.S. concerns with the greatest patience and sincerity, properly handling differences while seeking common ground. After over ten rounds of high-level consultations between China and the U.S., the two sides finally reached a phase-one deal over economic and trade issues.

No one shall fantasize about undermining the core interests of China. China has sent a clear signal to firmly take countermeasures: it will never trade its core interests, or sacrifice its sovereignty, security and development interests for a moment of tranquility. Because history tells it, compromises will only lead to worse situations.

China-U.S. ties shall be underpinned by coordination, cooperation and stability, which is a responsible decision. China has always remained clear strategically, dealing with U.S. anxiety with calmness and rationality. Though some U.S. politicians are pushing for "America first" policies, China is always grasping the trend of time, and committed to building a win-win situation with global partners for mutual growth. While some U.S. politicians are trying to separate the global economic and scientific innovation systems, China adheres to expanding opening-up and building an open world economy. They attempted to confront China by establishing so-called alliances, but China is resolute to build with global countries a new type of international relations and a community with a shared future for mankind, based on mutual respect, equality, and seeking common ground while reserving differences.

Undoubtedly, the arrogance and prejudices of the U.S. will only lead to isolation, while China's circle of friends will be constantly expanded for unlimited space of common development.

China and the U.S. belong to a community with shared interests, so by undermining the interests of China, the U.S. will also hurt its own. Since this year, American firms, including Exxon Mobil, Honeywell, Tesla and Walmart, have all expanded investment in China. American research provider Rhodium Group also pointed out that foreign enterprises were spending more energy on the expanding consumption potential in China. The Wall Street Journal said China has become a refuge for U.S. companies after economic recovery. These facts, which might sting those U.S. politicians clamoring for "decoupling" with China, indisputably explain the widely existing and significant common interests between China and the U.S.

From a global point of view, the process of U.S. undermining other countries' interests with hegemony is also one that damages the international system. When the White House is going all out for its egoism, unilateralism and hegemonism, any country has the reason to doubt whether it will be the next target of suppression, bullying and robbery. Facing the economic frictions provoked by the U.S., all countries concerned have launched countermeasures. Besides, more and more countries are disgusted with the U.S. that forces others to choose sides.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that Europe needs to reassess its relationship with the U.S. if the latter is not willing to shoulder its responsibilities as a global power. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that the U.S. has recently stripped off its pretence and was ready to threaten or wield sanctions against others, and Russia opposes unilateralism in international affairs.

Those who share common interests with the world will be helped. China-U.S. relations will never be shaken by a small part of U.S. politicians. Only adhering to peaceful co-existence and win-win cooperation is the right choice that conforms to the interests of both countries.

(Zhong Sheng is a pen name often used by People's Daily to express its views on foreign policy.)
A Russian navy ship launches a cruise missile in the Caspian Sea on Oct. 7, 2015. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

Directed Energy Weapons Are a Near-Reality on the Battlefield

Directed energy weapons are finally set to play a serious role on the battlefield.

The idea of the death ray was proposed as long ago as 1935. But inventors dismissed the idea after calculating it needed vast energy impossible to muster at the time. Their research instead spawned a different electromagnetic device: radar.

Eighty-five years later, and the technology for what is now known as directed energy weapons has matured enough for them to start playing roles normally filled by artillery and missiles.

The military has been developing directed energy weapons of one kind or another since the 1960sbut only now is the missile-zapping technology envisioned by President Ronald Reagans Star Wars a near-reality.

The original 1935 vision of the anti-personnel death ray has been explored from time to time, but now has generally been put aside in favor of machines that target other machines.

In May, an operational laser mounted on a Navy ship shot down a drone during a test over the Pacific.

A video capture shows a drone being targeted and disabled by a Solid State Laser-Technology Maturation Laser Weapon System Demonstrator (LWSD) onboard the USS Portland on May 1, 2020. (Department of Defense/Navy)

The breakthrough isnt just from technology that can focus so much energy at one point in space. The beam also has to precisely track the same spot, within inches, on a target moving at 500 miles an hour several miles away, for about five seconds.

Another type of directed energy weapons use microwave radiation like a mini-pulse bomb to disable the electronic components of targets, instead of causing physical damage like the lasers.

Lasers are being matured right now within the Department of Defense. There are several programs for doing so, Bryan Clark, a senior defense technology analyst at the Hudson Institute, told The Epoch Times. The Navy has a laser on one of its ships right now.

That 60-kilowatt laser is designed to take out drones, or perhaps rockets, according to Clark. It wouldnt really be useful against cruise missiles or ballistic missiles.

Missile Killers in the Pipeline

The idea is that this is a stepping stone to a more powerful laser, he said.

The USS Ponce conducts an operational demonstration of the Office of Naval Research (ONR)-sponsored Laser Weapon System (LaWS) while deployed to the Arabian Gulf on Nov. 17, 2014. (U.S. Navy/John F. Williams/Released)

Starting next year, the Navy plans to mount lasers on its latest class of destroyers with a 150300 kilowatt output.

Once you get up into the 300-kilowatt range, those lasers would have capability against cruise missilesdepending on which cruise missile it is and how fast its going, Clark said.

Missile defense is a priority for U.S. generals who are trying to counter Russia and Chinas large array of missiles built up over the past decade.

China, in particular, has amassed the largest arsenal of long-range missiles in the world over the past decade specifically to neuter the supremacy of U.S. aircraft carriers and their jets in the Pacific.

At one point, it was thought that one answer to countering missiles might lie with the development of the rail gun, which uses electromagnetic energy in place of explosives to launch projectiles.

A HEL-MD demonstrator laser system mounted on a standard Army heavy expanded mobility tactical truck (HEMTT) goes through testing at White Sands testing facility in New Mexico on Oct. 31, 2014. (Jose Salazar/DoD)

But Clark says that the railgun hasnt turned out to be as much of a game-changer as was hoped. Rail guns wear out quickly, have a similar rate of fire to a regular artillery gun, and cost more.

The only benefit is that the projectiles go out faster and potentially could hit different classes of targets, he said.

(The Pentagon is instead adapting the hypersonic projectiles developed for the railgun to work as regular artillery rounds.)

When it comes to missile defense, Clark says directed energy weapons have turned out to have more potential than the rail gun, but still have limitations.

He says they provide new options, but they wont be as much of a game changer for future battlefields as autonomous systems.

What directed energy does is simply replace what is done today with surface-to-air missiles or replaces a gun-type weapon.

Of course, directed energy weapons have the advantage of not running out of ammunition. But unlike projectiles or missiles that can maneuver and arc around the curvature of the earth, lasers can only shoot in the line of sight.

Clark notes that aircraft mounted lasers wont have such problems.

Another way of avoiding the line-of-sight problem for missiles defense would be to mount weapons on satellites, he says. But that raises the problem of how to charge up a power-hungry weapon in space.

Satellite power generation systems are designed to provide low levels of voltage or low levels of current over a very long period of time, not large amounts of current over a short period of time. That was one of the challenges that Star Wars ran into.

A Star Wars Spin-Off

Brent Sadler, a defense analyst at the Heritage Foundation, agrees that directed energy isnt a panacea.

Some traditional or rail gun capability will be needed if atmospheric, range, or system maintenance requires a secondary armament that is not directed energy.

On the whole, however, Sadler says that the advent of directed energy weapons will be big and alter the design of future warships.

Directed Energy (DE) weapons have different power requirements, so ships of the future will need to consider this in their design, as well as maintenance requirements, he said.

That said, not having to carry hundreds of rounds of ammo frees up space and weightthink faster ships that are potentially smaller with some reduced manning.

Sadler says the development of directed energy weapons goes back to Reagans Star Wars initiative, which produced AEGIS BM intercept ability and interceptors.

He says that directed energy technology has been held back by difficulties to produce the power levels and also in being able to mitigate atmospheric impacts.

I think what you are seeing is the culmination of better processing power, new material breakthroughs for power level, as well as increased investment in these systems.

The USS Ponce conducts an operational demonstration of the Office of Naval Research (ONR)-sponsored Laser Weapon System (LaWS) while deployed to the Arabian Gulf on Nov. 17, 2014. (U.S. Navy/John F. Williams/Released)

Power supply is not really an issue for design, but an engineering question for how you distribute power in a ship.

Sadler says ship-mounted lasers, for now, are most likely to be used in the field to defend against drones and small boats like the Iranians use in the Strait of Hormuz.

But he says the military is very close to being able to shoot down missiles, but must first get the power up to the 300 kilowatts to make missile defense viable.

That isnt to say that systems with less power couldnt be paired with multiple platforms sooner to have an additive effect in shooting down missilese.g. three ships with 150 kilowatt lasers focusing fire on a single missile.

An Extension of Electronic Warfare

In addition to lasers, directed energy weapons also include microwave emitters.

Unlike lasers, these are designed to essentially stun targets or fry their circuits, rather than creating physical damage.

Its basically a mini EMP, said Clark. It damages the electronics inside of a computer or inside of a guidance system. So it could be used offensively against infrastructure, damaging their electronics, or you could use it against an incoming cruise missile to damage electronics and hopefully make it crash.

Its possible to harden equipment against these weapons with an onboard Faraday cage, says Clark.

Russia and China have been throwing money at directed energy weapons, says Clark, and some are concerned that they may be ahead of the United States.

But even if they have pushed a little further with the underlying technology, he says they lack operational capability.

Russia and China tend to field the latest military tech more as a messaging tool, he says, before they have put in place any military doctrines, training, logistics, or maintenance.

The U.S. military takes longer, but when eventually these things show up, theyve got a whole support infrastructure behind them.

When these lasers start showing up on Navy shipsevery new DDG-51 Destroyer is going to have a laser on itthey are going to have a whole logistics and support infrastructure behind them, a new training program for people to learn to operate them.
A notorious Russian antigay ultranationalist, Maksim Martsinkevich -- also known as "Tesak" (Machete) -- has been found dead in the cell of a detention center in the Chelyabinsk region.

The Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) said on September 16 that it has started a preliminary investigation after the 36-year-old Martsinkevich, who was serving a 10-year prison term, was found dead earlier in the day.

Some media reports quoted unnamed law enforcement sources in the Chelyabinsk region as saying that Martsinkevich had committed suicide in his cell.

Martsinkevich's lawyer, Ivan Sidorov, rejected the reports, saying his client had no reason to kill himself, adding that if suicide is officially announced as the cause of death, "it will mean that somebody assisted him" in dying.

According to Sidorov, Martsinkevich was in transit in the Chelyabinsk region on his way to Moscow, where he was expected to testify in an unspecified case dating back to 1999.

A leader of the neo-Nazi organization Format 18, Martsinkevich founded a homophobic group, Occupy Pedophilia, whose aim was to "cure" homosexuals.

Russian authorities opened an investigation after several videos showing Martsinkevich and his followers humiliating and beating gays circulated on the Internet in 2013.

After a criminal case was opened against him in 2013, Martsinkevich fled to Cuba, but Cuban authorities arrested Martsinkevich for a visa violation in January 2014 and deported him to Russia.

In late December 2018, a court in Moscow found Martsikevich guilty of robbery and hooliganism and sentenced him to 10 years in prison

Before that, Martsinkevich was convicted three times on extremism charges.

Kremlin critics have said the government used Martsinkevich's group to counter opposition protests.

With reporting by TASS and Interfax
By PTI

MUMBAI: Filmmaker Sudhir Mishra's upcoming feature "Serious Men", headlined by Nawazuddin Siddiqui, will premiere on Netflix on October 2. Writen by Bhavesh Mandalia, the film is based on a 2010 novel of the same name by Manu Joseph.

Siddiqui said "Serious Men" brings to end his long wait to collaborate with Mishra. "I am excited about this film as I waited almost 20 years to work with Sudhir Mishra. It's a dream come true. I can't wait for the audience to watch 'Serious Men' and join this journey with me, this Gandhi Jayanti," the actor said in a statement.

The film chronicles the story of an ambitious underachiever who capitalises on his son's newfound fame as a boy-genius to improve his family's fortunes.

Produced by Bombay Fables and Cine Raas, "Serious Men" also stars Aakshath Das, Shweta Basu Prasad, Nassar, and introduces actor Indira Tiwari. Siddiqui was last seen in Netflix's crime-thriller "Raat Akeli Hai", directed by Honey Trehan.
The minister made the remarks in a speech at the opening of the 112th session of the Executive Council of the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) in Tbilisi, Georgia

Egypt's Antiquities and Tourism Minister Khaled El-Anany suggested on Wednesday that the international community form a committee to unify anti-coronavirus precautionary measures for the travel and tourism industry in light of the different policies adopted by each country, a statement by the ministry said.

The minister made the remarks in a speech at the opening of the 112th session of the Executive Council of the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) in Tbilisi, Georgia.

The session was attended by Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Gakharia, Secretary-General of the UNWTO Zurab Pololikashvili, and 170 ministers and officials responsible for tourism from 24 countries.

According to the statement, El-Anany's proposal was praised by the attendees and the secretary-general of the World Tourism Organisation.

El-Anany began his speech by thanking Pololikashvili for his visit to Egypt in August, which was his first outside Europe after the emergence of the coronavirus, the statement said.

The Egyptian minister also told the UNWTO council about the precautionary measures and health safety protocols taken by Egypt to ensure the safety of tourists, citizens and workers in the tourism sector, in addition to reviewing Egypt's successful experience of resuming tourism.

On 1 July, Egypt announced the gradual resumption of international flights at its airports nationwide in line with the resumption of beach tourism in the South Sinai, Red Sea, and Matrouh governorates.

More than 600 hotels nationwide have been allowed to reopen after adhering to the safety protocols announced by the authorities and at a reduced occupancy of 50 percent.

El-Anany concluded his speech by calling for using and activating the slogan "Travel Today," instead of the organisation's current slogan "Travel Tomorrow," in order to preserve this important industry, which provides tens of millions of job opportunities to the world's citizens.

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Notice periods for evictions extended through to next year

This article is old - Published: Wednesday, Sep 16th, 2020

The temporary increase in notice periods for eviction will now be extended to 31 March 2021, it has been confirmed.

The Housing and Local Government Minister Julie James announced this yesterday, 15 September, with an inclusion to notice periods announced in July.

The notice periods were set to return to their pre-COVID position after 20 September but will now be set at six months unless it is relating to anti-social behaviour or domestic violence, to which they will revert to the pre-COVID position.

This extension is part of a wider package of Welsh Government funded measures to protect both tenants and landlords from the effects of the pandemic.

The measures include a new interest loan for tenants in rent arrears or struggling to pay rent arrears due to COVID-19 and a private rented sector helpline run by Citizen Advice Cymru for tenants struggling with rent, income, or housing benefits.

The loan will be paid directly to landlords or agents, which can be repaid over a period of up to five years, and the helpline has a view to helping tenants pay their rent if they can and hold on to their tenancies.

Addressing the Senedd, Minister Julie James said: The coronavirus pandemic is continuing to have a significant impact on daily life and is still posing major challenges for all of us.

I have therefore acted to give additional protection to renters by extending the current six month notice periods for eviction, other than the notice periods for possession grounds relating to anti-social behaviour and domestic abuse which will revert to the pre-Covid position.

I am committed to ensuring we continue to protect renters whilst at the same time mitigating impacts on landlords and protecting communities from the harmful effects of ongoing anti-social behaviour.

Where rent arrears have accumulated due to Covid-19, private rented sector tenants will soon be able to apply for a loan through the Tenancy Saver Loan scheme when it opens for applications at the end of this month.

The Minister added: While these changes offer greater protection to tenants, they are not an excuse for people not to pay their rent if they are able to and address any financial problems they are experiencing.

Having an early conversation with landlords to work out a way forward is vital, as is getting the right debt advice. This is why we have recently invested an extra 1.4m in advice services to ensure people have the help they need to build financial capability and to claim the benefits they are entitled to.

In addition, eviction proceedings will not take place for properties in areas affected by local lockdowns and there will be a pause on eviction proceedings over the Christmas period.
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The U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies is holding a hearing Wednesday to question top health officials from the Trump administration as the nation prepares to distribute a potential Covid-19 vaccine.

Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Health Adm. Brett Giroir and Dr. Robert Kadlec, assistant secretary for preparedness and response, will appear before lawmakers to discuss the country's Covid-19 response efforts.

Earlier on Wednesday, the federal government rolled out its plans to begin distributing a Covid-19 vaccine to Americans to begin as early as January. HHS and the U.S. Department of Defense, as part of Operation Warp Speed, released a "interim playbook" for states and localities on how to "plan and operationalize a vaccination response."

"As part of Operation Warp Speed, we have been laying the groundwork for months to distribute and administer a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine as soon as it meets FDA's gold standard," HHS Secretary Alex Azar said in a press release.

Read CNBC's live updates to see the latest news on the Covid-19 outbreak.
S cientists are customising London's most powerful telescope to hunt for traces of life-supporting gases far, far away across the universe.

A 320,000 remote-controlled robot telescope at UCL's Mill Hill observatory will soon be fitted with a new spectrometer able to measure oxygen and nitrogen in other galaxies.

But astronomers fear their view of the night sky risks being polluted by thousands of satellites launched by ventures such as Elon Musks Starlink, which plans a constellation of orbiting transmitters beaming down broadband.

The new 40,000 spectrometer attachment measures the mass and energy of particles but requires calibration on to its host telescope.

It is due for delivery this month before being ready for use by students early next year at the teaching facility sandwiched between the M1 and Watford Way.

The Perren telescope is the most powerful in London - and will become even more sensitive with the fitting of a custom spectrometer (UCL Observatory) / UCL

Its blue host telescope, called Perren, is controlled by computer and already captures moving objects such as near-Earth asteroids to help understand the evolution of exoplanets - planets outside of our solar system.

The observatorys two other telescopes - including a bronze and brass model dating from 1862 that would be at home in a Jules Verne novel - have also produced images of spiral and bar galaxies 30 million light-years away, double the size of our own Milky Way.

Professor Giorgio Savini, the observatorys director, said: Finding the capability to support life is not something you can do with a simple telescope, you need to detect the presence of oxygen and nitrogen.

We need spectroscopy to start doing those kinds of measurements.

This M1 "crab supernovae" shows remnants of an explosion in 1054 - 12 years before the Battle of Hastings (UCL Observatory) / UCL

London students are also able to remotely capture even higher resolution galactic images via super-powerful optical instruments on a mountainside in Chile as part of the Telescope Live project.

But Professor Savini is among astronomers concerned about increasing levels of light pollution from commercial satellites in low-Earth orbits, which produce streaks in images due to reflections off the devices body and solar panels during long-exposure photographs using colour filters.

Photographing distant galaxies can take hours of exposure, meaning the slightest movement ruins the shot.

Musks Starlink project is launching scores of satellites in batches using SpaceX rockets with aim of providing blanket broadband access, with plans to launch around 12,000 of them in a constellation.

Professor Giorgio Savini with the Fry telescope, which was built in 1862 using brass and bronze components / Matt Writtle

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos also plans to launch more than 3,200 satellites for a similar internet project.

Professor Savini said: Astronomers and astrophotographers are all generally worried.

The concern is that the pictures we take for studying and teaching purposes will be contaminated with streaks of satellites.

The M8 "lagoon nebula" is about 5,000 light years away and was captured by London students using a remote-controlled telescope in Chile (UCL Observatory) / UCL

Its great to have the capability of having thousands of satellites and internet available to everyone.

"But there is a worry because the night sky is an asset, something which should be protected.

Were so much in a hurry we dont know if theres animal species that use the starry sky for certain purposes, is it going to confuse insects or birds?

Centaurus A, an edge-on galaxy, has a super-massive black hole at its centre equivalent to 50 million suns. This image was captured by UCL students using a remote telescope in Chile (UCL Observatory) / UCL

SpaceX has been discussing with astronomers how to mitigate the effect.

Painting certain parts of a satellite black, they say, will reduce the reflection but in astronomy we observe things that are one part in 10 million, so even if you reduce it by 90 per cent that's not going to make a huge difference.

Professor Savini added that Londoners are able to glimpse planets with the naked eye and a clear-ish sky, including Venus at dawn or twilight and potentially Mercury if it is in the right position.
Senator Susan Collins (R., Me.) is trailing by 12 points in her reelection campaign, according to a Quinnipiac poll released on Wednesday.

Collins, a moderate Republican, faces a significant challenge from her opponent Sara Gideon, a Democrat who is currently Maines House Speaker. Maine voters have chosen Democratic presidential candidates since 1988, although some statewide elections have been won by Republicans including Paul LePage, who served as governor from 2011-2019.

While Collins was previously popular among Maine residents, her stock seems to have fallen during the Trump administration. Collins has attempted to distance herself from many of Trumps statements on coronavirus and other issues, but has also voted in favor of the presidents position during the impeachment trial and the confirmation of Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh.

For the Quinnipiac poll of likely voters, 54 percent of respondents said they preferred Gideon to 42 percent for Collins. Gideon held a positive 49  37 point approval rating, while Collinss approval was negative at 43  51. A previous Quinnipiac survey from August found that Gideon led Collins by 47  43 points among registered voters.

The tide has turned on Senator Susan Collins, who was so popular in Maine that she won nearly 70 percent of the vote the last time she ran, Qunnipiac University polling analyst Mary Snow said in a statement. Likely voters are sending the message that theres no middle of the road when it comes to President Trump, who is deeply unpopular in the state.

Gideon on Monday called for Collins to say if she would vote for Trump in the November elections, however Collins declined to say who she would pick.

More from National Review
Ana Maiques has always been attracted by the mysteries of the human brain. "To unlock it is like a crusade of humankind" she says.

Therefore, twenty years ago Maiques decided to use her economic professional background in the neuroscience field. Nominated by IESE as one of the most influential entrepreneurs under 40 in Spain, winner of the 2014 EU Prize for Women Innovators - to mention some of the awards achieved - she has proved that high-risk research can become a business model.

In 2000 Maiques founded the Barcelona-based company Starlab, together with the physicist and mathematician Giulio Ruffini, to study computer-controlled brain stimulation. "The objective of the company was to do brain science and then take it to the market. Giulio is a pure scientist and I am a business person. This helped to create both cultures in the company."

The following step was the creation of the US and Spain-based spin-off Neuroelectrics that has developed wireless telemedicine platforms and medical devices for brain monitoring and stimulation. They designed a head cap with 32 electrodes, capable of treating many neurological disorders such as epilepsy, Parkinson's, Alzheimer, anxiety and depression.

The electrodes can pick up brain signals. As neurons communicate electrically, we can make an electroencephalogram (EEG). Moreover, the electrodes can inject current into the brain. So the technology has the potential to both make a diagnosis and provide therapy through electrical brain stimulation. Another advantage is the absence of major side effects, compared to drugs. For example, in pathologies like epilepsy it is a very big issue." Ana Maiques, Spanish Innovator

Telemedicine has been crucial during the coronavirus emergency and the restrictions to avoid the spread of the infection. Maiques says: "When the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, patients couldn't go to hospitals to receive depression treatment. So here in the US, we asked the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to make clinical trials to treat this pathology at home. And they decided to run the risk and gave us the green light. Because of the coronavirus, I think our research has jumped at least five years ahead for our home therapy."

Such long-term research involves high-risk investment. This is why public support of the EU Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) programme has been essential to help Maiques' activity and career to take off.

"When we started we had a lot of ideas and little money. The FET support for our projects HIVE and LUMINOUS has been really important. Without it, the results described above wouldn't exist. In 2006 we had only developed the technology to read the brain. When we had the opportunity to submit a project for FET, we started to think big: what is the potential to interact with the brain? If you can read the brain, can you write on it? And the EU programme allowed us to put together a really long-term visionary proposal: can two brains communicate?"

"They told us: 'Shoot for the moon, because even if you fail, you will land among the stars.' So we aimed really high and we ended up developing the brain stimulation technology, which is already helping patients." While waiting to enter the market, the device to treat brain diseases is currently being tested in hospitals.

Today Maiques is one of the experts of the European Innovation Council (EIC) advisory board, who recently published its Vision document. The EIC aims to offer an advanced science-and-technology research programme and an accelerator for start-ups and SMEs. It will therefore integrate FET, now EIC Pathfinder, and the SME Instrument, now EIC Accelerator.

She says: "What the EIC wants to do is to transform hi-tech science into successful business. For the first time it has created a blended finance mechanism, allowing the European Commission to provide both grants and direct investments to companies."

"The generation of companies we want to support in Europe should address deep-tech solving problems. If you want this, you need relevant investment, high-risk research and preparation to failures. That was the FET spirit and we are so happy that the Pathfinder is included in the EIC: it will grant founders the visibility of their deep-tech companies and potential companies that emerged based on European funding. The EIC should create a lighthouse where all the entrepreneurs in Europe can look at."
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Tralee publicans John OSullivan of the Munster Bar Tralee (right) and Aidan Turner of Turners Lounge at the protest at the gates of Leinster House last week

Education Minister and Kerry TD Norma speaks to the protesting Kerry publicans outside Leinster House during last Wednesdays demonstration

Publicans from across the county travelled to Dublin last week to let the Government know the devastating impact ongoing Covid restrictions are having our their trade and their communities.

The group of Kerry VFI members visited Leinster House on Wednesday to protest the death of rural pubs.

The Kerry publicans trip to Kildare Street is part of an ongoing campaign by the Vintners Federation of Ireland which has seen publicans from different counties staging protests outside the Dail on successive days.

While, so called, 'Wet Pubs' are now expected to open on September 21 the Kerry publicans say that more must be done to help them cope with the massive losses they have suffered while shut down for the last six months.

They say that unless the Government brings forward meaningful supports for the industry Ireland's famous pub culture - the foundation on which much of our tourist trade is built and promoted overseas - will all but disappear.

Wearing Kerry jerseys the publicans carried a coffin to the gates of Leinster House to symbolise the death of the rural pub, while supporters from Kerry looked on.

Tralee publican Aidan Turner of Turner's Lounge, who took part in the protest, said the trade need Government support if it's to survive.

"We organised this protest to highlight the fact we've been closed for six months with little or no support from Government. Until a vaccine is found we will have to trade at half capacity, which for many pubs is not viable," said Mr Turner.

"Pubs are central to our culture and if Government is serious about protecting our sector they will have to increase the grant aid to pubs over the next 12 months, increase the duration of the commercial rates waiver until next summer and commit to enhancing the employment wage support scheme," Mr Turner said.

"Kerry pubs are loved by tourists from around the world and when they return, which they will, we need to ensure there are pubs here for them. This is about survival until this pandemic is over. Today's protest is a clear message to all the politicians that publicans, their families and staff demand more support," Mr Turner concluded.

The protesters also included Independent Killarney County Councillor Niall 'Botty' O'Callaghan who owns the Failte Hotel in Killarney.

Cllr O'Callaghan said it "beggars belief" that some 3,500 Irish pubs that don't or can't serve food still remain closed.

He added that politicians and health officials have to recognise that the situation in Dublin and the other cities is very different to that in rural Ireland.

"You have to trust publicans to run their bsuinesses safely" he said. "You can't live in your bubble above in Dublin and think that every pub is to blame for this COVID - it is not."

"I really sympathise with the people who really suffered with COVID and I would like to thank the front-line staff - but, at some stage, the publicans need to be given a chance to trade," Cllr O'Callaghan said.

The Killarney councillor and publican added that the 16 million Government support package for pubs was an "absolute insult to publicans all over the country."

"It sounds great but it's not. It works out at 64 a day and most of the pubs that are closed don't get any of it," he said.

"Then they reduce the vat from 23 per cent to 21 per cent - it is like insult after insult after insult. The likes of Leo and Paschal and Micheal Martin, they are living up in some sort of an ivory tower and they don't want to listen," said Cllr O'Callaghan.

"I understand that people might say we might turn the public against us - but maybe the people might understand that this is our last straw," he said explaining that many publicans now feel they have no option but to protest

During their three-hour demonstration the protesting Kerry publicans were met at the Leinster House gates by all five of Kerry's TDs including Kerry Government members Minister for Education Norma Foley and former Tourism Minister Brendan Griffin; Independents Michael Healy-Rae and his brother, TD and publican Danny Healy-Rae and Sinn Fein's Pa Daly.
William H. Gates snr, a lawyer raised in the Great Depression who helped his son give away an immense fortune, has died. He was 94.

He died on Monday at his beach home on Hood Canal, Washington, according to Bill Gates III's family office. The cause was Alzheimer's disease.

Gates saw his middle child grow from a headstrong boy to one of the most admired business leaders of his generation who became the world's second richest person, with a net worth of more than $US123 billion ($168 billion), according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. When Bill Gates started giving away the billions he'd made as co-founder of Microsoft, he turned to his father to advise his charitable foundation.

"Without me, you wouldn't even be here", Bill Gates snr quipped to his billionaire son. Credit:AP

"I never imagined that the frequently argumentative little boy I faced each night at dinner, the one eating my food and using my name, was to be my future employer," Gates said in a 2003 speech to fellow members of Rotary International, a worldwide service organisation.
The All-China Women's Federation holds a symposium to emphasize family work in Beijing on September 10. [Women of China/Fan Wenjun]

The All-China Women's Federation (ACWF) held a symposium on September 10 to discuss how to implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's instructions on stressing families and family education and traditions, and how to enhance the effectiveness of the family work in a more targeted way.

Shen Yueyue, President of the ACWF, presided over the meeting and delivered a speech, emphasizing the continuous efforts to improve services for families with different characteristics and needs, while taking the promotion of family work as a long-term task.

Huang Xiaowei, Secretary of the Leading Party Members' Group and Vice-President and First Member of the Secretariat of the ACWF, gave a speech at the symposium.

Experts and representatives of the women's federations at the grassroots level exchanged ideas and offered suggestions at the symposium.

Shen noted it is necessary to have a deeper understanding of the importance of family work and the rich connotation of family work in the new era, making continuous efforts in promoting regular family work while focusing on families, family education and family traditions.

Shen stressed the need to deeply analyze the current situation and new issues that are arising, especially to understand the need, expectations and difficulties of the impoverished families, those with veterans in need or elementary and middle school students, and to take targeted measures, enhance favorable policy support and offer them care and assistance according to their diversified demands.

Shen urged grassroots women's federations to increase service awareness and enhance the service capabilities.

Meanwhile, a sound mechanism is expected to be established to learn about the demands of families, provide professional voluntary services, and strengthen links and coordination.

Cai Shumin, Member of the Secretariat of the ACWF, introduced the ideas and measures formed by the women's federations to strengthen family building and family education and traditions.

Experts and representatives of the women's federations at the grassroots level share their ideas at the symposium. [Women of China/Fan Wenjun]

Shen Yueyue, President of the All-China Women's Federation, delivers a speech at the symposium. [Women of China/Fan Wenjun]

Huang Xiaowei, Secretary of the Leading Party Members' Group and Vice-President and First Member of the Secretariat of the All-China Women's Federation, gives a speech at the symposium. [Women of China/Fan Wenjun]

Cai Shumin, Member of the Secretariat of the All-China Women's Federation, speaks at the symposium. [Women of China/Fan Wenjun]

(Source: China Women's News/Translated and edited by Women of China)
Canadas largest private retirement home operator says Ontario should loosen restrictions on retirement homes, but health experts and seniors advocates warn such a move could put vulnerable seniors at greater risk of exposure to COVID-19.

A spokesperson for Chartwell Retirement Residences says the company believes new residents of its retirement homes shouldnt have to be quarantined for 14 days.

We believe with the right protocols in place, including the existing requirement in Ontario for a negative test prior to move-in, along with enhanced move-in processes and socially distanced protocols, new move-ins need not be forced to isolate in their suites for 14 days, said Chartwell spokesperson Sharon Ranalli.

York University professor Tamara Daly, chair of the universitys Centre for Aging Research and Education, said its no coincidence Chartwell wants the 14-day quarantine for new residents eliminated: Its cutting into the companys bottom line.

This is a business thats heavily reliant on bricks and mortar buildings, and getting more residents in. So not being able to maintain that occupancy level is a threat to the business, said Daly.

In its second-quarter earnings report, Chartwell said it had 67 per cent fewer people moving in than it did in the same quarter last year. (It also had 28 per cent fewer moving out). The company also had a second-quarter loss of $1.9 million, up from $1.5 million a year ago. It continues to pay unitholders a distribution of 5.1 cents per unit (the financial equivalent of paying a dividend).

Getting rid of the quarantine requirement would be a mistake, Daly said.

Policy-makers need to be very clear about whether theyre protecting dollars and cents, or peoples health. If the government lifts the quarantine requirement, that would show its about dollars and cents, she said.

The head of a seniors advocacy group agrees with Daly that the business rationale for wanting the quarantine requirement lifted is clear.

For owners and investors, do I understand it? Yes.  Were seeing private enterprise do what private enterprise does, said Laura Tamblyn Watts, CEO of CanAge.

The suggestion from Chartwell isnt aimed at the more tightly regulated long-term-care homes that saw a wave of COVID-19 deaths during the spring and early summer. (Roughly 80 per cent of Canadas COVID-19 deaths have occurred in long-term-care homes. An investigation by the Star found that for-profit homes account for fewer than 60 per cent of long-term-care homes in Ontario, but account for 16 of the 20 worst outbreaks.)

Instead, Chartwell is arguing that retirement home residents are less vulnerable than people living in long-term-care homes, so a 14-day requirement for new residents isnt necessary.

Retirement residences have had vastly different experiences with outbreaks than long-term-care homes. In our retirement residences we serve more independent and healthier residents in a physical setting similar to that of an apartment, with a range of services available, with the residences layouts also being more conducive to adapt to social-spaced dining and activities, added Ranalli, who insisted Chartwell hadnt lobbied any governments for the change.

Watts says while there once may have been a major distinction between the type of care given in retirement homes and long-term-care facilities, that has largely been erased, as seniors and their families come to terms with a massive shortage in long-term-care spaces.

Retirement homes have become something they were not designed to be. Theyve become a de facto substitute for long-term care, because of the consistent shortage of long-term-care beds. ... Functionally, theyve become equivalent, said Watts.

Dr. Abdu Sharkawy, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Torontos School of Medicine, argued that the distinction between the two types of homes is so small that its almost immaterial when it comes to eliminating quarantine requirements.

The distinction between retirement home and long-term-care residents isnt nearly enough to warrant getting rid of the protection a quarantine gives. Just because you can feed yourself and are able to use the bathroom independently doesnt mean youre any less vulnerable, said Sharkawy. .

At a time when were on the cusp of a second wave, this would be highly questionable. It would almost certainly lead to more outbreaks, said Sharkawy.

A spokesperson for seniors minister Raymond Cho said the Ontario government is doing its best to keep seniors safe from the global pandemic.

Throughout this pandemic, the advice of the Chief Medical Officer of Health has guided our reopening policy. Since we first learned of COVID-19, the government has been diligently monitoring and taking deliberate actions to contain the spread of this new virus. Our government is also allocating $20 million over two years to protect seniors in licensed retirement homes through increased infection control and active screening procedures, said Elric Pereira.

In an email, Dr. David Williams, the provinces Chief Medical Officer of Health, said his office hadnt been contacted by Chartwell, adding theres no change planned.

At this time, there are no plans to eliminate or reduce the 14-day self-isolation requirement, said Williams.

In 2010, there were 19,000 people on the waiting list for long-term care. Last year, there were 38,000.

Some long-term-care facilities and retirement homes are in the same buildings, Watts said.

In some buildings, there are different floors subject to different regulations, but offering largely the same services, Watts added.
On Tuesday, President Trump welcomed to the White House Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the foreign ministers representing the UAE and Bahrain. They gathered there to sign the Abraham Accord, a history-making agreement that sees two Muslim nations formally normalize their relationship with the world's only Jewish state. Trump also hinted that several more Muslim countries would follow, including Saudi Arabia. Trump is doing what everyone said was impossible: bringing peace to the Middle East. Democrats, however, responded by downplaying and attacking the agreement.

The participants were excited because they recognized that they are the first in a cascade of peace agreements coming. By sidelining the Palestinians, Trump was able to make the UAE and Bahrain  and will be able to make other Sunni states  see that a relationship with Israel is beneficial for them. The UAE isn't hiding its pleasure with the new status quo:

In a historic moment, the UAE and Israel sign a peace accord and look forward to cooperation on multiple fronts. #UAEIsrael #PeaceAccord pic.twitter.com/EYtP53PPcM      (@MoFAICUAE) September 15, 2020

The UAE is so delighted and privileged to play a role for peace. Ahead of todays #UAEIsrael #PeaceAccord signing ceremony, UAE Foreign Minister HH Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed highlights the positive impact of the agreement on the region. @MoFAICUAE @OFMUAE pic.twitter.com/n7C8bmW10I  UAE Embassy US (@UAEEmbassyUS) September 15, 2020

A few honest people in the media are excited, too. I'm no fan of Geraldo Rivera, but he understands the extraordinary thing that Trump is doing:

Trump is proving to be a master of thinking out of the box and reframing perspectives in a way that provides new avenues to resolve old issues. This is a form of genius...but the Democrats are resolutely unimpressed.

Keep in mind that if Obama had done this, it would have been different. Democrats would have been as enraptured as if Obama had walked on water and then turned the water into wine. Obama didn't bring peace, though. Instead, Democrats stayed mum while he reduced Libya to a hellhole, opened a path for ISIS, and presided over the disintegration of large swaths of the Middle East.

With Trump, it's always different. Nancy Pelosi set the tone a few days ago when she snidely remarked that the deal was inadequate because the Palestinians didn't get their state, making the accord a mere "distraction" from the Wuhan virus:

.@SpeakerPelosi says that #BahrainIsrael peace agreement was a "distraction" from the coronavirus increased number of deaths...



Do you agree with #Pelosi? pic.twitter.com/3nsMol7PjU  Trish Regan (@trish_regan) September 13, 2020

Biden, who seems to think he's still a vice president (although he doesn't know whether he's working for Obama or Harris), praised the accord as a good first step. He then praised all of the Obama administration's efforts  which got exactly nowhere  and promised more of the same.

The New York Times downplayed the accord, saying in the subheading to an article it buried on its home page that "some analysts said claims were overblown." The Times quoted Clinton's Middle East peace negotiator for the faux 1993 deal between Israel and the Palestinians. He acknowledged that the event was significant but then said it was not really a big deal because the UAE and Bahrain were not openly at war with Israel. He forgot to mention that the 1993 agreement he negotiated was meaningless because the Palestinians never stopped being at war with Israel.

And then there was the Times' sneering, as the article described the four men sitting down at the table to "the sound of portentous horns[.]" The Times also complained that many of the estimated 800 people in attendance at the outdoor event "did not wear masks." That's just petty.

The CNN analysis held that Trump is presiding over a fait accompli that had little to do with him and everything to do with the way the UAE and Bahrain already had backdoor dealings with Israel. The analysis also complained about sidelining the Palestinians.

What CNN doesn't recognize is that the deal happened because Trump sidelined the Palestinians. Since 1967, Americans have been allowing them a place at the table, and those whiny Palestinians have consistently pressured the Sunni nations to walk away. By showing the Sunni nations that the Palestinians are yesterday's news, Trump finally broke the logjam preventing normalization.

MSNBC published an opinion piece explaining that the accord has nothing to do with peace. Instead, it's a charade to quash democracy in the Middle East by promoting arms deals, all at the expense of the noble Palestinians. Noura Erakat, a "human rights attorney" who also teaches at Rutgers, hates the only pluralist, liberal democracy in the Middle East. She sides firmly with the Palestinians whose brutal, corrupt leaders have always enriched themselves by keeping their people in perpetual hatred, ignorance, and squalor.

Tuesday marks the beginning of something extraordinary, and that's the last thing the Democrats want to see happen in an election year.

Image: Abraham Accord signing ceremony. C-SPAN screen grab.
After weeks of relatively good news in Canada on the COVID-19 front things are taking a turn for the worse.

Positive cases have jumped considerably in a few regions, including Toronto, Peel and Ottawa. Some health experts are warning were on the brink of losing the gains made to contain the virus that were achieved through so much personal and economic sacrifice.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he has no doubt the dreaded second wave is about to hit. Its coming, he said on Monday. As sure as Im standing here.

And Health Minister Christine Elliott warns this wave will be more complicated and more difficult to deal with because it will coincide with flu season.

Thats a lot to take in, especially at a time when schools are struggling to reopen and more people are planning their return to work. With lineups at some COVID-19 testing centres snaking around the block and thousands of parents pulling their kids out of school before theyve even opened their doors, nerves are clearly at an all-time high.

But none of this should come as a surprise to public health officials or the leaders they advise every day.

Indeed, Ford says the second wave is a scenario that weve been preparing for all summer long.

So why on earth does his government seem to be so thoroughly unprepared?

Whats the plan for tamping down the worrisome rise in cases and keeping it from accelerating with so many students now returning to school and colder weather sending everyone indoors, where the virus spreads more easily?

We dont know. The governments fall preparedness plan is still a work in progress.

Ford says hes prepared to take every step necessary, including further shutdowns if needed. But what will trigger government action? Is it case counts, hospitals admissions, ventilator capacity, something else?

Again, we dont know because no one is providing that necessary information to the public.

Last week, Ford and Toronto Mayor John Tory started fighting over who has the power to reduce bar hours, as British Columbia has done to curb the spread there.

This week, Ford said its not the bars per se that are the problem; its private social gatherings that are the big concern for health officials.

If thats really the case, why are they wasting time arguing about bars?

Its ridiculous. And its the latest reminder that its long past time that all governments were much clearer with Ontarians about where the real COVID-19 risks lie and where the cases are actually coming from.

Right now, the public gets the overall numbers and a hodgepodge of anecdotal claims by politicians that are rarely backed up by evidence.

Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown, for example, has suggested his city is one of Ontarios COVID-19 hotspots because of people returning from trips to India and Pakistan, the number of people who work at Pearson airport, or those with jobs in the trucking industry. Wheres the data to support any of that?

Meanwhile in Toronto, another provincial hotspot, Tory has unveiled a program to encourage people to dine out to support local businesses. So eating dinner in a restaurant is safe but a private dinner in someones home is not?

If theres data to back this up  and there certainly should be given the need to contact trace positive cases  the government needs to start sharing it with the public.

Six months into the pandemic we should all have a better understanding of where things stand. Without that, its much harder to have faith in government plans  once they get around to telling us what they are.

Its not enough for leaders to tell us to keep our distance, wear masks and wash our hands. Certainly we must do those things. But we deserve to know the bigger picture, too.

We need to know where were at, where were going, and the goalposts  good and bad  along the way.

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The cost for assisted living will range from $5,000 to $8,000 a month, depending on the market rates, and the cost to live in the memory care wing will be about $8,000 a month, Erickson said. Independent living will range from $4,000 to $8,000 monthly depending on market rates and the size of the unit. Unlike some senior facilities, residents will not have to pay a large fee upfront to move in, he said.
MCLA Mission and Values Statement (Adopted 2013)

Our Mission

Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) is the Commonwealth's public liberal arts college and a campus of the Massachusetts state university system. MCLA promotes excellence in learning and teaching, innovative scholarship, intellectual creativity, public service, applied knowledge, and active and responsible citizenship. MCLA prepares its graduates to be practical problem solvers and engaged, resilient global citizens.

Our Values

Our mission guides the strategic goals that advance MCLA: Excellence in Teaching and Learning; Supportive and Inclusive Community; Responsive and Intentional Stewardship; and Public Purpose and Engagement. These goals reflect the interplay of the shared values that shape our commitment to students, faculty, staff, and our community:

Access: We believe a high quality liberal arts education should be available and affordable to all who aspire to it and are prepared for its challenges. MCLA is committed to providing this opportunity.

Critical Thinking: Through MCLA's role as leader, convener, and partner, we cultivate critical thinking and analysis in our learning and teaching. We promote a spirit of informed and open-ended inquiry. Our community members demonstrate consideration, deliberation, and planning in addressing challenges and opportunities in our society.

Discovery and Understanding: We understand intellectual disciplines and specific courses of study interact dynamically in academic and co-curricular experiences. We believe in strengthening student, faculty, and community interaction through engaging coursework, shared research, and service.

Global Awareness: We know that a liberal arts education affords students an appreciation of the wider world, both as a subject of intellectual discovery and through engagement with our society. We work to create and sustain the breadth of curriculum, experiences, and opportunities that lead us all to understand our active roles as knowledgeable global citizens.

Inclusive Community: MCLA is committed to creating a campus climate and culture of mutual respect that represents and honors diversity in our society. We celebrate this diversity and affirm the dignity and worth of all people. We intentionally integrate topics of social, cultural, and physical diversity in the curricular, co-curricular, and work life of our community.

Innovation, Experimentation and Creativity: We promote creativity and inquiry, and the role of a liberal arts institution to provide students with the freedom and means to explore ideas and take intellectual and creative risks.

Leadership: We believe that leadership is a shared responsibility, and encourage all members of the MCLA community to develop their affinity for leadership through formal coursework, professional development, co-curricular training, and practical application. We cultivate leadership opportunities and development programs to further these goals.

Lifelong Learning: We empower learners to develop habits of learning that have integrity and engender respect for tradition. We deploy 21st century tools for learning in our academic and co-curricular programs that prepare students to be informed, engaged, and capable learners.

Practicality and Application: We believe that the disciplines of arts, sciences, and professional studies empower individuals with broad knowledge and transferable skills, and a strong sense of values and ethics. In its programs and initiatives MCLA forges the connection among academic study, experiential learning, civic engagement, and future success.

Stewardship: We manage our resources responsibly and sustainably, and offer a variety of educational, cultural, and recreational experiences for the campus and local communities. We provide unique resources for the greater Berkshire region. We encourage a spirit of service among students, faculty, staff, alumni, and trustees, and to serve as stewards of the future.
Booker Prizes on Tuesday released a shortlist for this years nominations. But, people witnessed something unusual when they opened the website of the Booker Prizes. What happened was one of the shortlisted authors, Brandon Taylor, was shown as the winner.

A Twitter user brought this to the attention of the Booker Prize and other netizens, saying, Are @TheBookerPrizes aware that their website currently announces the winner of this years prize, on the day the shortlist was announced!? He even congratulated Taylor on his win.

Are @TheBookerPrizes aware that their website currently announces the winner of this year's prize, on the day the shortlist was announced!? Double congratulations to @blgtylr!! pic.twitter.com/3pTvGHKz8L Adam Clay-Croome (@ClayCroome) September 15, 2020

Responding to his tweet, Taylor said that it must be a mistake, adding that he does not think that the Booker Prize have even chosen a winner as of now. He has been shortlisted for his book Real Life.

lmfao, that must be a mistake. I don't think they've even picked a winner yet. Brandon (@blgtylr) September 15, 2020

The Booker Prize cleared the air, stating that it happened due to a technical glitch. They even informed that the jury has not yet met to select a winner, asserting that the error has been rectified.

On posting the 2020 Booker Prize shortlist on the Booker Prize website, due to a technical error the author Brandon Taylor was listed as the winner. The judges have not yet met to decide the 2020 winner so this information is incorrect and has now been rectified. The Booker Prizes (@TheBookerPrizes) September 15, 2020

A user said that he thought that the surfacing of Taylors name due to a technical error has doomed his chances.

Another person said, Now the winner is definitely going to be La La Land. Take a look at other reactions:

Y to the ikes. I love literary prize drama! https://t.co/ZcsB13I01B Heidi Waechtler (@HeidiWaechtler) September 15, 2020

You're forgiven because it's 2020 https://t.co/cnFJQvtXCX Jairaj Singh (@JairajSinghR) September 15, 2020

The prize is given every year to any fiction writer whose work is published in the United Kingdom or Ireland and written in English. Initially, only English-language writers from the UK and Ireland were shortlisted. However, from 2014, English-language writers from worldwide became eligible for this award.

This years shortlist includes Dubai-based Indian origin author Avni Doshi and Zimbabwean author Tsitsi Dangarembga. Doshi has featured on the list because of her fiction Burnt Sugar. On the other hand, Dangarembga has been shortlisted for This Mournable Body.

The other books on the list are The New Wilderness by Diane Cook, The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste and Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart.

The winner will be announced on November 17.
Left: Actor Ishaan Khatter seen on the red carpet during the LUX Awards on Nov. 18, 2018 in Mumbai; Right: Actor Ananya Panday at Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone's reception on Dec. 1, 2018 in Mumbai Credit - Azhar KhanSOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images; Milind ShelteThe India Today Group/Getty Images

The upcoming Bollywood rom-com Khaali Peeli, starring actors Ishaan Khatter and Ananya Panday, isnt set to be released until Oct. 2, but one of the musicals songs is already famousfor all the wrong reasons.

After an outcry on social media over a song lyric perceived to rely on colorismprejudice or discrimination against people with darker skin tonesthe filmmakers announced that they will be changing the song slightly. The lyric in question, which roughly translated to by merely looking at you, oh fair lady, Beyonce will feel shy, will be replaced with the world will be shy after seeing you dropping the fair lady and Beyonce mentions.

We have made the film to entertain audiences and not to offend or hurt anyone, Maqbool Khan, the director, said. Since our lyrical arrangement did not go well with few people, we thought why not keeping the essence the same while changing the song a little bit.

Additionally, the songs title has been changed from Beyonce Sharma Jayegi to Duniya Sharma Jaayegi (meaning the world will feel shy, instead of Beyonce will feel shy). Earlier, the song title was simply tweaked to Beyonse Sharma Jayegi, changing the spelling of Beyonces name for legal reasons. But though the original lyric used the Hindi word goriya, which translates to fair or light-skinned lady, the filmmakers and lyricist have said that it was not meant to be taken literally. The term goriya has been so often and traditionally used in Indian songs to address a girl, said Khan, that it didnt occur to any of us to interpret it in the literal manner.

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WTF is this use of word "Goriya" this is racist. Even bigger problem that Beyonce usage.  Cinema Therapy (@moviesadmirer) September 7, 2020

Though his stated intention did not match the lyrics reception, Khans statement does get at a deeper truth: the idea of a fair lady being a stand-in for a beautiful woman dates back centuries in South Asian culture, as it does in many others. But just in the last year, colorism in South Asian culture has come under fire in a number of ways. In recent months, instances such as Bollywood stars promoting skin-whitening creams while championing Black Lives Matter and the casual colorist statements in the reality dating show Indian Matchmaking have resulted in a heated discourse surrounding the topic, which, at times, has spurred change. Radhika Parameswaran, a professor in the Media School at Indiana University, Bloomington, spoke to TIME about that context.

TIME: What are some different ways in which colorism manifests itself in Bollywood?

Parameswaran: One of the biggest visual reminders and symbols of colorism is who is cast. In Bollywood, the prevalence of the star system is hugemovie stars make the movie. They become national idols, and people are their fans. Not that you dont have those types of visual cultures and fans in the U.S., but in India, there is a large population who cannot read or write; films transcend those barriers of literacy, and in a country thats in the Global South, the role that films can play is huge. The movie stars that have been idealized in Bollywood, particularly in terms of women, have been very, very light-skinned, and that continues today. The settings theyre in are usually very lavish, so light-skinned beauty gets tied to issues of class and upward mobility.

What is the underlying message you get from the lyric by merely looking at you, oh fair lady, Beyonce will feel shy?

Its the hero addressing the heroine, saying, not only are you white and beautiful, but you would put a transnationally beautiful star to shame, arguing that the Indian light-skinned beauty is even more powerful than a celebrity force coming from America. On a more complicated note, its nationalist as well as colorist. It suggests a sort of resistance to American supremacy, but on the other hand, it doesnt get rid of the problem of local hierarchies of skin color.

If colorism has such a deep history in Bollywood, why do you think this particular moment has caused such an outcry?



There are various reasons. One is that there has been an activist movement against colorism thats been building momentum over the last ten years I would say, getting more and more amplified. Barkha Dutt, the famous Indian journalist, used to host a show called We the People. She had two episodes, years ago, that talked about colorism and racism, and this discussion made the national stage. Nandita Das, a celebrity example, has been speaking up against colorism. Women of Worth is an on-the-ground charity that has been trying to go into schools and ordinary peoples lives, just engaging the public in this pedagogy of how to get rid of colorism. There are also ordinary people making fun of skin-lightening ads by creating spoofs of them. So there has been a societal contestation of colorism coming from various points of view and various agents.

Then you have Black Lives Matter, which went to India in a way it might not have 20 years ago thanks to social media and the Indian diaspora. All of this combined, it is even surprising that this song was composed, performed and made public. It is quite shocking that these movie-makers didnt realize this.

In general, what is the role of the diaspora in the colorism debate?

I think the diaspora have been quite active. In India, colorism, even 10 years ago, was easily brushed off as of course light skin is beautiful. There was an unquestioned solidity to that claim. It was simply not challenged. And theres the connection to caste too, so these were all just sort of taken at face value.

The diaspora grew up in a different environment where discrimination is being spoken about, its not going awaybut it has been spoken about through the language of race. I also think the diaspora, who may have gone to schools and participated in other kinds of experiences in institutions, where perhaps they were a minority and faced racism, are very quick to see this and understand it in a way that perhaps in India, it has taken some time for people to grapple with and understand.

How does colorism move from the screen into the everyday lives of people?

Media messages are not like a hypodermic needle, where you inject it into peoples bodies, and it just becomes part of them. I think its a more subtle process and depends on class, education, all of those factors. Its not to suggest that lower classes and less educated people are more susceptible and practice more colorism, its not that simple. I do think in some ways upper classes may be doing it more. But still, it does shape the norms of society. Women in particular keep getting measured against these norms. Can there be cracks in the norms? Sure, but those will be unusual.

The filmmakers decided to change the lyric entirely. Is it rare for backlash to cause such a change?

In some films, theres nothing to be done. The film is out, its released, like Bala, which was a story that featured a dark-skinned heroine, but the actor cast was light-skinned and wore brownface. But I do this is going to be more of the trend, especially with issues surrounding skin color. This type of colorism, its going to get challenged.

Do you think this continued challenging of colorism will result in deeper change?

Here is the thing. Its one thing to lose the language of goriya and the reference to Beyonce. But does this mean the heroines are going to start being dark-skinned? No. In terms of casting and representation, its going to take a long, long time for that to change. Changing a word is fairly easy to do, and cosmetic, and makes the film producers look socially responsible, but changing how the heroines look, that will not be immediate.

This incident comes not long after the skin-whitening cream Fair & Lovely changed its name to Glow & Lovely, though it kept its product the same, again following a social media fallout tied to Bollywood. Do you think companies will begin to make changes even before a controversy comes up?

I think they will tend to wait until an outcry happens first. Bollywood is a mass, popular industry, so theyre going to count on catering to what they think are mass, popular tastes, and Im sure theyre going to consider whether protests from what they view as a small, elite population that may not even go to their movies are worth it. If a movie is going to be broadcast in the Hindi heartland and all sorts of rural areas and small towns, how much is this type of issue going to be contested in those spaces? We have to ask, who has access to the English language internet, given Indias vast class divisions and rural-urban divisions? Is this a small minority speaking to themselves? In [that] case, Bollywood is going to make cosmetic changes, and I dont think theyre really going to take this into account in a careful way.

With reporting by Arpita Aneja
During a bipartisan questioning in the Senate, a Google Executive claimed that the company does not monopolize the digital ad market. However, the answers given did little to convince those listening, as reported by NPR. This hearing formed a preview of arguments the tech giant is likely to soon face from antitrust regulators.

It was back in May, news first emerged that Google may face antitrust litigation. Over the proceeding months, more news has gradually dripped out on the case with progression being relatively slow.

This hearing was nothing to do with any lawsuit. However, the companys search and advertising business tend to be at the heart of almost all state attorney general. Supposedly the department has begun readying itself to file a lawsuit against Google in the coming weeks.

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Google antitrust practices grilled in Senate hearing

On September 15, Donald Harrison, Googles president of global partnerships and corporate development, was pressed by a Judiciary subcommittee. It mainly concerned, the scope and scale of the companys digital advertising business.

Harrison was first asked whether he knew of any other company that had a similar concentration and dominance across the ad market. This refers to the tools linking advertisers to publishers.

The senator continued to point out that Googles dominance in the ad market ranges from 40% to more than 90%. Harrison responded by noting that publishers and advertisers had choices other than Google. He was here trying to make the point that Google does not monopolize the ad market.

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Harrison also pointed to the fact that advertising prices had fallen in the last few years. He saw this as evidence of robust competition.

Google questioned over data use

Unsurprisingly, senators also pressed Google on its use of users data from other services to benefit its ad business. Senators asked Harrison whey he though the advertising market should not be regulated.

Harrison responded extolling the virtues of the current ad market. He noted that I dont see the market failure that would require regulation.

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Much of the hearing focused on the technicalities of the digital ad market. However, senators were able to question whether Google is biased against conservatives. This has been a long-running complaint of the right-wing.

Harrison was asked about allegations that Google had banned a conservative website from its ad network. The question stated, isnt this behavior evidence of market power?

Harrison responded by pointing out the website had made comments that violated Googles policies against racism. He went onto to say that, our ads cant show up next to that kind of commentary.

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This all comes amid broader concerns that big tech firms have stifled competition and harmed consumers. How this episode plays out could have a massive impact on the technology industry going forwards.
(Newser)  Jon Stewart, long a passionate advocate for compensating 9/11 first responders, was in Washington Tuesday on behalf of a cause that he says has many similarities. Stewart is lobbying Congress for legislation that would assist Iraq and Afghanistan veterans exposed to burn pits, the Hill reports. More than 200,000 veterans say they have suffered illnesses including cancers from exposure to the open-air pits at military bases, in which everything from human waste to chemicals to surplus munitions were burned, reports the Military Times. Advocates say that since the Department of Veteran Affairs demands that veterans prove a link between the toxic fumes and their illnesses, only a fraction of victims have received aid.

story continues below

"The parallels are incredible. I'd say the only difference between what happened with the 9/11 community and what's happening with the veteran community is the 9/11 community was injured by toxic exposure from an enemy attack," Stewart tells Fox News. "The veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan have been injured by the United States. We did this to ourselves. The smoke, the toxins, those pits were dug by contractors hired by the DOD. They knew about it." Stewart spoke Tuesday at a press conference with Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Democratic Rep. Raul Ruiz, co-sponsors of a bill that would extend benefits to veterans exposed to toxins at bases in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. "Today, we plant a flag on this," Stewart said. I cant imagine anybody wouldnt be on board with this cause. (Read more Jon Stewart stories.)
(Natural News) An international team of researchers found evidence of a gas on Venus that could indicate the planet may harbor life.

The gas in question is phosphine, a colorless chemical compound that smells like garlic or decaying fish. It is commonly produced by microorganisms on Earth in the absence of oxygen or by the breakdown of organic matter.

The team detected spectral signatures that are unique to phosphine in the atmosphere of the planet, which is estimated to contain about 20 parts per billion of the gas.

Phosphine could originate from unknown photochemistry or geochemistry  or, by analogy with biological production of phosphine on Earth, from the presence of life, wrote the researchers.

The details of the discovery were published in the journal Nature Astronomy.

Phosphine detected on Venus

For Jane Greaves, the lead researcher of the study and an astronomer at Cardiff University in Wales, the finding came as a surprise. She has been looking for signs of life on Venus in 2017, using the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope at Hawaiis Mauna Kea Observatory, but phosphine was not a chemical she expected to detect.

Together with her colleagues, Greaves set out to confirm the finding using a bigger telescope, the Atacama Large Millimeter Array in Chile. This time, they found not just signs of phosphine, but indicators that suggested that theres a lot of it in Venusian atmosphere. At five to 20 parts per billion, atmospheric phosphine on Venus is thousands of times greater than atmospheric phosphine on Earth.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administrations (NASA) Cassini spacecraft had previously detected phosphine in the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn. But life is not needed to form the gas on these faraway planets; the immense heat and pressure on those planets can jam phosphorus and hydrogen together to form phosphine.

However, smaller, rocky planets, such as Earth and Venus, do not have enough energy to produce great amounts of phosphine through that process. Instead, the chemical is produced by anaerobic life, microorganisms that thrive without oxygen.

Phosphine can be found in human intestines, animal dung, deep-sea worms and other biological environments where anaerobic microbes exist. It can also be produced synthetically. In fact, it was previously developed for chemical warfare and was later used as an agricultural fumigant.

Life on Venus? Not so fast, say researchers

Scientists dont usually turn to Venus when searching for life in outer space. The planet, which is the second closest to the Sun, is characterized by intense surface temperatures that reach more than 850 degrees. Atmospheric pressure levels on the planet are also 92 times higher than on Earth.

However, its likely that environmental conditions on Venus were once milder. NASA Scientists found that Venus likely harbored liquid water for two to three billion years, potentially supporting life. But a massive outgassing event about 700 million years ago could have possibly triggered a runaway greenhouse effect. This event was posited to be responsible for the planets transformation to the hot-house that it is today.

While Venuss surface is a searing hellscape incapable of supporting life, its upper cloud deck, which is about 33 to 38 miles aboveground, is more temperate in comparison. Temperatures in this region reach 120 degrees and atmospheric pressure is closer to that of Earth.

Meanwhile, Venuss clouds are also highly acidic, which means that phosphine is broken down easily and, therefore, must be continually replenished. Greaves team speculates that, if phosphine on Venus is indeed produced by life forms, these organisms retreated into this region of the atmosphere after the outgassing event. (Related: NASA says that aliens live on Venus, but theyre only microbes.)

However, they noted that abiotic explanations cannot be ruled out yet. According to the researchers, Even if [the presence of phosphine is] confirmed, we emphasize that the detection of phosphine is not robust evidence for life, only for anomalous and unexplained chemistry.

The existence of life on the planets atmosphere is only one possible explanation for the phosphine. The team say that further studies are required to validate this theory. To do so, scientists needs to get their hands on data taken directly from the planet.

Space.news has more on the search for alien life.

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk

NYTimes.com

Space.com
4,000 tonne warship came within 600 yards of Dutch fishing boat in North Sea

shut a 'blackout curtain' so she could get on with work due the next day

A Royal Navy warship nearly crashed into a fishing boat - after Lt Rebecca Stanley shut her look-out curtains and couldn't see where she was going

A Royal Navy warship nearly crashed into a fishing boat - after the officer on look-out closed the curtains and couldn't see where she was going.

Lieutenant Rebecca Stanley shut a 'blackout curtain' so she could get on with other work during the night shift on type 23 frigate HMS Sutherland, a court martial heard.

Lt Stanley even told a surprised colleague on the ship's bridge that if anyone asked 'she wasn't behind the curtain'.

The court heard that as she couldn't see outside, the frigate was being operated by an officer who could not keep a visual look out and had 'an extremely limited picture' of where other vessels were.

As a result, the 4,000 tonne warship came within just 600 yards of a 36 metre-long Dutch fishing boat in the North Sea, which had to change direction at the last minute.

Bulford Military Court in Wiltshire heard Lt Stanley, 31, had been asked to plan the pilotage for a boat transfer in Portland, Dorset that was due to take place the next day.

However, due to a delay the ship's arrival off the south coast was pushed back by almost 24 hours.

Unaware of this, the 'anxious' officer decided to do her planning for the manoeuvre, which she had never done before, during her night time watch, from around 1am to 4am.

As a result, the 4,000 tonne warship came within just 600 yards of a 36 metre-long Dutch fishing boat in the North Sea, which had to change direction at the last minute

Prosecuting, Lieutenant Solomon Hartley told the court Lt Stanley's poor judgement led to a 'near miss' with the Jan Cornelis fishing vessel as they headed towards the Dover Strait.

He said: 'She conducted the planning during her period as officer of the watch - this was not necessary or sensible. She closed a blackout curtain while conducting her task...

'She thought she had it all under control. She didn't have things under control and had things turned out differently she could have collided with the Jan Cornelis.'

Although she was able to view a radar screen, the court heard Lt Stanley had 'an extremely limited picture' of where other vessels were around her.

Bulford Military Court in Wiltshire heard Lt Stanley, 31, had been asked to plan the pilotage for a boat transfer in Portland, Dorset that was due to take place the next day

At one point another sailor asked her what she was doing behind the curtain.. She explained she was planning for the transfer and said if anyone asked 'she wasn't behind the curtain'.

Lt Hartley told the hearing 'fishing vessels' can be extremely 'erratic' and for that reason greater care is required when sailing near them.

During the middle of Lt Stanley's watch she noticed the Jan Cornelis was around 1400 yards away and reported this to her navigator before returning behind the curtain.

A short while later she noticed the ship's lights just 600 yards away and was 'shocked' by how close the vessel was.

Lt Stanley was ordered to pay a fine of 4,000 and told her she would also be severely reprimanded

Mitigating, Commander Kay Chadwick, said Lt Stanley had told colleagues on the bridge she was 'nipping behind the curtain to do some work' but had not been 'sleeping or using her phone'.

Lieutenant Stanley, who admitted a charge of 'negligently hazarding a ship', told the court martial: 'It was wrong and foolish of me to put the ship in that situation* I let myself and the ship's company down.

'Words cannot justify how sorry I am for the damage I almost caused.'

Sentencing her, Assistant Judge Advocate Alan Large, said: 'You shut yourself away at the back of the bridge. You shut the blackout curtain behind you and carried on with your planning.

'The most important thing is you weren't able to keep a visual look out - your bridge team had to prompt you about fishing vessels.'

He ordered Lt Stanley to pay a fine of 4,000 and told her she would also be severely reprimanded.
With 15 days to go before the 2020 census closes, the Korean Community Center held an event to educate area residents and spread awareness about its importance.

Among the people in attendance at the Sept. 15 event at Korean Community Center  which is located on the west side of Hollister Street just north of Long Point Road  was Consul General from the Republic of Korea, Myung-Soo Ahn.

Spring Branch is home to Houstons largest Koreatown district. The census response rate for the neighborhood so far is just under 55 percent, according to the Center for Urban Research, at the CUNY Graduate Center, which studies census data in "hard to count" communities. A decade ago the census tract hit 61 percent.

Last push: 'Most have not responded': Scramble underway in Houston area to finish census count before deadline

I want to register everybody in the community to be counted, said the events Master of Ceremony Hyunja Norman  a board member of the Korean American Association and the Korean Community Center as well as the president of the Korean American Voting League.

The 2020 census closes on Sept. 30.

Norman said she is putting a big focus on senior citizens, many of whom live alone, dont have children and may not be computer savvy.

The community center has a big outreach program where organizers call everybody they know and check with them to ask if they have filled out the census. People at the community center also help people complete the paperwork.

These kinds of things only we can do because they know us  they trust us, Norman said.

She also said that many Koreans living in the country are either expats or students who may not even know about the census, which is why education and awareness is important.

Opened in 2011: Korean Community Center opens in Spring Branch

Part of Normans presentation about the 2020 census was dedicated to dispelling myths, such as the fact that it is only for citizens or that it asks any questions about citizenship, as well as listing ways to identify a census worker if one comes to your door.

Our Korean community is not large compared to the Chinese community or other communities, but we still exist, she said. We are still a part of this great Houston, Harris County, Texas and United States. We are part of America.

elliott.lapin@hearst.com
Class 70 bridges: India preps for long haul with China

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Sep 16: While there has been no escalation of tensions in the past couple of days, China has however shown no signs of abiding by the agreements between the Special Representatives and foreign ministers on total disengagement.

India has sought for the restoration of status quo ante on the Line of Actual Control. With China showing no signs of disengagement, India is rushing supplies with the Border Road Organisation to ensure that the Chang La pass and Khardung La on route to contested Pangong Tso is kept snow free through this year.

Bursts of bullets fired in the air near Finger 4 before Indo-China talks at Moscow

The BRO is also expected to strengthen all bridges and culverts to Class 70 by October 15. Class 70 would mean that the bridge can bear a load of 70 tonnes. This would mean that the road could be used to deploy T-90 tanks, surface to air missiles and infantry combat vehicle along the Eastern Ladakh Line of Actual Control.

On Tuesday Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh made a statement in Parliament on the Indo-China issue. There was a face-off in Galwan Valley on June 15, in which the Indian forces inflicted heavy casualties on the Chinese forces, Rajnath Singh also said. The Indian forces will forcefully counter all Chinese aggressive actions along the border. Since April we have seen an increase in troops and weapon deployment along the LAC in Ladakh, Singh said.

Let no one have any doubt about our capabilities. We want peace and will continue to talk to China. Both sides should respect the Line of Actual Control Singh also said. All mutual agreements must be respected, he also said.

China does not accept customary and peripheral alignment of Sino-India border, Singh also said. There has been a massive build up by the Chinese along the LAC and this has led to several friction points, the Defence Minister also said.

Our Armed Forces will successfully thwart all threats and protect the borders. We should be proud of our forces, he further said.

These are challenging times and in the midst of the pandemic, our soldiers have protected our borders. This is also due to Border Infrastructure Management, Singh also said.

India describes Pakistan as an epicentre of terrorism | Oneindia News

Violent conduct of Chinese troops is a violation of all past agreements. Our troops have done counter deployments in the area to safeguard our borders, the Defence Minister also said.

I have conveyed to the Chinese side that we want a peaceful resolution to the solution. I made it clear that we will not comprise on out territorial integrity. The External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar during the meeting with his counterpart also conveyed the same message, Singh also said.
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By Kim Bo-eun





Korea Development Bank's headquarters on Yeouido, Seoul / Korea Times file

The Moon Jae-in government has emphasized the importance of gender representation at public institutions, but three years in, state-run banks still have some of the lowest numbers of female executives.



The Korea Development Bank (KDB) and the Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) have no female executives, according to the government's classification of executives as being board members.



This is the poorest representation among the eight institutions under the Financial Services Commission  women make up 10 percent of the executives at the institutions.



This compares with the 21.1 percent at all 129 state-run and quasi-government institutions.



State-run lenders show poor representation despite growing movements around the world to improve gender representation.



Citigroup stated last week it appointed retail banking head Jane Fraser as the group's next CEO, becoming the first among the top 10 U.S. banking groups to appoint a female chief.



Korea's financial sector has also begun seeing increasing appointments of female executives, but public institutions lag behind private firms.





Industrial Bank of Korea headquarters in central Seoul / Yonhap
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today congratulated Japan's new prime minister Yoshihide Suga on his appointment. Yoshihide Suga was formally elected as Japan's new prime minister in a parliamentary vote today. Suga is replacing Shinzo Abe , who resigned earlier in the day because of ill health.

Taking to Twitter, PM Modi said that he looks forward to working with him and taking their global partnership to new heights.

"Heartiest congratulations to Excellency Yoshihide Suga on the appointment as Prime Minister of Japan. I look forward to jointly taking our Special Strategic and Global Partnership to new heights," PM Modi tweeted.

Heartiest congratulations to Excellency Yoshihide Suga on the appointment as Prime Minister of Japan @kantei. I look forward to jointly taking our Special Strategic and Global Partnership to new heights. @sugawitter  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 16, 2020

Suga, who was chief Cabinet secretary and long seen as Abe's right-hand man, is to launch his own Cabinet later today.

Suga has stressed his background as a farmer's son and a self-made politician in promising to serve the interests of ordinary people and rural communities.

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One of Scotland's top performing state schools has been urged to change its name - after its founder was linked to the slave trade.

Nearly 600 people have signed a petition calling for James Gillespie's High School in Edinburgh to be renamed.

Born in 1726, Gillespie was a wealthy tobacco merchant in 18th-century Edinburgh and was one of the richest men in the Capital.

When he died, he left some of his fortune with a request for a school for underprivileged children to be built.

Nearly 600 people have signed a petition calling for James Gillespie's High School in Edinburgh to be renamed because of its founder's links to the slave trade

The high school, founded in 1803, has been attended by comedian Ronnie Corbett and novelist Dame Muriel Spark.

But now there are calls for the school to be renamed because Gillespie, who died in 1797, made his money in the slave trade.

A petition read: 'For those who don't know, James Gillespie became one of the richest men in Edinburgh by selling Virginia tobacco and snuff - products of slave labour.

'This makes him a direct contributor and benefactor of the slave trade. It is possible that Gillespie may have owned slaves himself.

The high school, founded in 1803, has been attended by comedian Ronnie Corbett (left) and novelist Dame Muriel Spark (right)

'It is time that we change the name of our school to something that truly values the diversity that exists within it.

'This is not an attempt to cover up our history, rather a way of saying that we don't believe that this man is someone who should be celebrated anymore.

'Education on our school's history should part of our curriculum, but a man who made his wealth at the expense of others' lives is not something we should be proud of.

'Our main building is named after Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai - an activist and truly inspiring woman, who's defiance and bravery represent our school values far better than Gillespie.'

Now there are calls for the school to be renamed because Gillespie (pictured is a bust of Gillespie), who died in 1797, made his money in the slave trade

The school said on its website: 'We acknowledge the connections to the North Virginia slave-owning tobacco plantations which this trade had.

'We teach children about chattel slavery and about modern slavery.

'We are currently updating our curriculum to take more account of this history and of the Black Lives Matter movement.'

A City of Edinburgh Council spokesperson said: 'We are aware of the petition and all our schools are committed to addressing racism and inequality in all its forms.

'Edinburgh has historical features such as street names and architecture which relate to the city's involvement in the slave trade.

'Our schools have a vital role in tackling racism through strong anti-racist leadership and teaching.

'It's important that we all critically examine the historical evidence around us, ensuring that black history and its role in our city are a core part of a decolonised and inclusive curriculum.

'By doing this we will understand the wrongs of the past and dismantle their harmful and persistent legacy in present day racism and structural inequalities.'
New Delhi, Sep 16 : Amid border tension at eastern Ladakh, Chinese construction activities were observed near the border at Uttarakhand. "Hut-like structures on the Chinese side, very close to Tinkar-Lipu pass of Nepal, were observed," sources said on Wednesday.

"It was also found that China is engaged in construction activities in Chinese side of the General Area of Jojo village, Champa Maidan. The Jojo village is approximately seven to eight kilometres from Tinkar-Lipu pass of Nepal," said sources.

Indian security agencies are now keeping close watch on movements of Chinese People's Liberation Army troops near Uttarakhand borders touching Nepal.

With escalation in India and China border tension, Indian intelligence had flagged earlier that the Nepal government has directed its forces to "closely monitor" the activities of Indian Army at Lipulekh area.

Lipulekh is a tri-junction between India, Nepal and China situated atop the Kalapani Valley in Uttarakhand.

Nepal government's Ministry of Home Affairs issued directions to Nepalese Armed Police Force (NAPF) to closely monitor Indian Army activities in the general area of Lipulekh.

Further at Lipulekh, 44 battalion of the NAPF have been deployed.

It was also found that China has increased its troop deployment at Lipulekh.

China has deployed 150 Light Combined Arms Brigade. The brigade was moved in August from towards the Lipulekh tri-junction. They have reinforced troops in Pala, around 10 km from the border.

It was India's road construction to the Lipulekh area at 17,000 feet that had sparked a diplomatic row between India and Nepal as Kathmandu claimed the area to be its territory.

The road was aimed at shortening the travel time for pilgrims visiting the Kailash Mansarovar.

Following this, Nepal brought out a new political map showing the contested area as its own. Nepal is also constructing more than 200 new border posts at Indo-Nepal border. Currently, Nepal has 130 permanent border posts.

India and China are locked in a more than four-month-long standoff at multiple points, hitherto unprecedented along the border.

China had changed the status quo on the Line of Actual Control at various places, moving inside Indian territories. India has objected to it and is taking up the matter with China at all levels.

(Sumit Kumar Singh can be reached at sumit.k@ians.in)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Defending champion Egan Bernal has withdrawn from the Tour de France ahead of stage 17.

After struggling with back pain in addition to a knee complaint, Bernal has abandoned after conceding more time to overall leader Primoz Roglic.

Ineos Grenadiers chief Sir Dave Brailsford is adamant his star rider is best served saving himself for future races.

Brailsford said: We have taken this decision with Egans best interests at heart.

"Egan is a true champion who loves to race, but he is also a young rider, with many Tours ahead of him and at this point, on balance, we feel it is wiser for him to stop racing.

Egan Bernal has withdrawn from the Tour de France (AFP via Getty Images)

The Colombian meanwhile admitted his disappointment, but insisted he was determined to return to the sports iconic race in years to come.

"This is obviously not how I wanted my Tour de France to end, but I agree that it is the right decision for me in the circumstances," said a dispirited Bernal.

"I have the greatest respect for this race and I am already looking forward to coming back in the years ahead."

Bernal admitted he felt empty after conceding more than seven minutes to Roglic in Sunday's Grand Colombier climb, to all but rule himself out of contention.

And after seemingly hiding his injury until stage 15, Bernal coughed up another 10 minutes in a gruelling stage 16 to Villard-de-Lans following a rest day.

"Today I was suffering all day, with back pain and it was increasing," Bernal said. "In the last climb it switched to my knee. I'm screwed up on all sides.

"If I continue like this, it will be difficult to fight for the stage in the Col de la Loze, which is a very hard climb, with a lot of steep gradients."

Roglic has a 40-second lead over Tadej Pogacar heading into the final week of the race.
The Trump administration is open to a major part of a bill designed to break the deadlock holding up another round of coronavirus stimulus payments, a top official said Wednesday.

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said the Trump administration might be able to support aid to states and localities if there were assurances that the money solely could be spent to make up the losses in tax revenue due to the coronavirus.

Thats part of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus proposal released Tuesday, which would limit state and local governments to using $500 billion in federal aid to pay coronavirus expenses and to make up for the loss in tax revenue.

There was a caveat there that was based on real revenue losses, and that caveat gives me hope that, if were willing to look at real facts and real losses, that hopefully we can get to something that actually makes sense, Meadows told reporters at the White House Wednesday, according to pool reports.

Meadows' comments were even more significant in that President Donald Trump and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have opposed additional state and local assistance, which they call a blue-state bailout even as GOP-run states like Texas and Florida face severe drops in tax revenue.

The biggest stumbling block is if we use this pandemic as a bailout mechanism for poorly run states that perhaps have not been as fiscally responsible as some others, Meadows said. I think that would be a very difficult hurdle to overcome.

U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, a co-chair of the Problem Solvers Caucus, told NJ Advance Media the spending restrictions were included precisely to address those objections and get Republican lawmakers to support it.

You have to prove the expenditures were COVID-related, which we think meets meets Meadows benchmark," said Gottheimer, D-5th Dist.

The bipartisan proposal also includes $1,200 stimulus payments to individuals, extra unemployment insurance payments of $450 a week climbing to as much as $600, a renewed paycheck protection program for small businesses, and more money for coronavirus testing, health care, food stamps, rental payments, the Postal Service, and the extra costs of expanded absentee voting.

McConnell continued Wednesday to blame Democrats for the delay in passing another stimulus bill,. He waited even more than two months after the House approved a $3.4 trillion bill before countering with a $1 trillion proposal that didnt have enough support to pass his chamber. McConnell then offered a $500 billion measure that also failed.

None of the Senate GOP measures included any state and local aid, even as Democrats made it clear that they would not support a stimulus bill without it.

The intransigence seems to be coming from Mitch McConnell and the Senate, said Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-11th Dist. Weve already passed our version.

Rep. Tom Malinowski said that bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus decision to including state and local assistance reinforces the Democratic position.

Its helpful to show that there are Democrats and a significant number of Republicans in the House wiling to meet in the middle and that middle ground includes the most important thing New Jersey needs, the state and local relief, said Malinowski, D-7th Dist.

What this shows is that there is a large group of Democrats and Republicans in the House that are willing to go where McConnell will not and that are wiling to support generous relief for our state and local governments.

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage

Still, Gov. Phil Murphy, who said the state and its localities need $20 billion in federal aid through the end of 2021 due to the coronavirus, expressed some concern Wednesday that the restrictions would be too onerous.

We need wide latitude, Murphy said at his latest coronavirus press briefing in Trenton.

The Democratic governor said earlier restrictions hindered New Jerseys ability to spend the $2.4 billion it received under the $2 trillion stimulus law known as the CARES Act.

As one example, chief counsel Matt Platkin said the state was blocked from spending some aid on equipping schools for remote learning.

The problem solvers bill would give states more flexibility on spending the earlier CARES allocation, but that, too, would be restricted to coronavirus-related expenses.

The pandemic already has cost New Jersey 56,900 jobs in state and local government, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive research group. Thats an 11% decline, behind only Wisconsin, New York, Virginia and McConnells Kentucky in the percentage of public sector jobs lost.

Meadows also called Speaker Nancy Pelosis pledge to keep the House in session until a deal is reached another encouraging sign to obtaining an agreement.

Theres a growing sense that theres still some real needs that need to be addressed, he said. "And Ive tried to express the willingness on behalf of the White House to openly address them.

And while Trump continued his criticism of Democrats on the stimulus, both Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer welcomed the presidents call to go for the much higher numbers.

Democrats are heartless. They dont want to give STIMULUS PAYMENTS to people who desperately need the money, and whose fault it was NOT that the plague came in from China. Go for the much higher numbers, Republicans, it all comes back to the USA anyway (one way or another!).  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 16, 2020

We look forward to hearing from the presidents negotiators that they will finally meet us halfway with a bill that is equal to the massive health and economic crises gripping our nation, the two Democratic leaders said.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com.
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Linkedin Rizki Fachriansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, September 16, 2020 15:09 492 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c45220c9 1 National Jokowi,Wiku-Adisasmito,national-COVID-19-committee,covid-19-task-force,COVID-19-mitigation,COVID-19,pandemic,Luhut-Binsar-Pandjaitan,Terawan-Agus-Putranto,doni-monardo Free

President Joko Jokowi Widodo has appointed several of his Cabinet members and agency heads to directly supervise the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic mitigation efforts in regions considered to be the countrys primary coronavirus hot spots.

National COVID-19 task force spokesperson Wiku Adisasmito said in a press conference on Tuesday that Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Pandjaitan, Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto and National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) head Doni Monardo were among those tasked with the job.

The government is focused on flattening the COVID-10 infection curve in nine provinces with the highest transmission rates in the country: Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, East Java, North Sumatra, South Kalimantan, South Sulawesi, Papua and Bali.

Our goals include reducing daily case counts, increasing the number of recoveries, as well as reducing the number of fatalities, Wiku said in a statement.

He added that Jokowi expected the aforementioned goals to be achieved within the next two weeks.

To arrive at that point, he said the government had devised a strategy that entailed  among other things  synchronizing regional databases with the central governments statistics for a swifter decision-making process.

So the mitigation [efforts] are more region-specific, Wiku said, while calling on all regional heads to coordinate with the central government to ensure that the COVID-19 emergency remained under control.

Data from the Health Ministry show an upward trend in COVID-19 cases over the past week, he said. As of Tuesday, the number of active cases has increased 24.4 percent, while the number of fatalities has also increased 4 percent.

However, he said the government had also recorded a 14 percent increase in the number of recovered patients across the country.

Wiku also urged districts and subdistricts to immediately impose micro-scale social restrictions (PSBM).

Such measures, he said, could help break the infection chain and therefore stem the spread of the disease to other areas.

The high-priority provinces are expected to be able to keep the situation under control by cooperating with local authorities, including the National Police and the Indonesian Military, Wiku added.
A familiar refrain from the spring has returned: Thousands of students arent showing up for remote learning as a new school year begins, and schools are continuing to scramble for short- and long-term solutions.

As of Sept. 2, 73 percent of the 100 largest U.S. school districts had chosen remote learning only as their back-to-school instructional model, affecting more than 8 million students, according to Education Weeks school reopenings database . Many more districts are offering hybrid instruction, a mix of in-person and online learning.

More than 3,600 public school students in Cincinnati have been missing from virtual learning so far. Schools in Flint, Mich., are tracking down hundreds of students who werent showing up for virtual instruction. More than 40,000 students were missing during Houstons first week of fully remote instruction . And many of New York Citys 114,000 students living in shelters or doubling up with family and friends are experiencing difficulty logging on as they get ready for school to start next week.

What accounts for all these missing students? Many still lack the basic technology they need at home to access virtual school.

Thousands of laptops are on back order due to supply chain shortages and federal government-imposed sanctions on Chinese computer manufacturers that have used child slave labor.

The countrys response to millions of students lack of home internet access, meanwhile, has been chaotic and patchwork, with school districts, states, private companies, and the federal government offering some relief while falling short of a comprehensive nationwide solution. In West Virginia, for instance, schools are using grant funds to purchase hotspots because between 30 and 50 percent of the states students dont have internet access at home, the Wall Street Journal reported .

The tech shortages prompted some districts, including Pittsburgh and Greensburg Salem in Pennsylvania, to push back the first day of school from Aug. 31 to Sept. 8. Others have forged ahead, supplementing virtual instruction with paper packets and face-to-face opportunities.

For some schools, getting students connected isnt as simple as distributing devices and hotspots. The Augusta district in Maine is unable to hand out more than 5,000 Chromebooks sitting in storage because of a licensing glitch between the vendor and Google, the Kennebec Journal reported .

In Cleveland, district officials last month told school board members that many students with home internet access still cant access learning opportunities because their download speeds cant accommodate the heavy data load. The local internet provider Cincinnati Bell has partnered with the district to offer free internet to all students, but families have to jump through several logistical hoops before they can access the service, district officials said.

Months of disrupted school experiences and persistent tech inequities threaten to leave students from low-income families, students of color, and rural students at a steep disadvantage . The NAACPs Legal Defense and Educational Fund has described its advocacy for getting students connected as school desegregation work.

Its one of those problems that we have known was an equity issue since way before COVID, said Elizabeth LeBlanc, co-founder and CEO of the nonprofit Institute for Teaching and Leading, and the curriculum and data coordinator for the Taos Academy Charter School in New Mexico. Really it was just a collective failure of will to resolve it while the stakes were lower. Now the stakes are higher and were really behind.

Heres how four districts are working to keep students learning despite the challenges and complications.

Denver: Identifying Needs and Redistributing Resources

In July, Denver school district officials began notifying districts in the state and nationwide that many digital devices likely wouldnt be available until well into the fall. Denvers schools were potentially up to 6,000 devices short, said Amber Elias, the districts lead operation superintendent.

During the first week of school, school leaders urged families to return any school-issued devices they didnt need, particularly if they already had working personal devices they could use instead. The district also established a buy-back program, reimbursing individual schools for devices they had purchased this spring before the district took over laptop acquisition efforts, and then carefully redistributing those devices to families who needed them most.

We had to make sure families that had been issued devices for learning werent feeling pressure to turn devices back in or share devices across students, Elias said.

Virtual attendance in the district was around 90 percent late last week, a district spokesperson said.

Elias said shes hopeful that more live virtual instruction and fewer confusing technology platforms this school year will mark an improvement over the chaos of the spring. The district has also developed a more sophisticated attendance tracking system that will highlight daily attendance rates among specific student groups, so that we continue to understand who is accessing remote learning and who is not.

When the 6,000 devices eventually arrive, theyll serve as useful backups, Elias said: Were going to need a natural stock in the building of devices [for students] who may forget their device at home.

Brea Olinda, Calif.: Bringing Students to School, and School to Students

When the Brea Olinda district in northern Orange County, Calif., shut down in March, about 1,000 device requests came in from among the districts 6,000 students. Those numbers slowly crept up as the long-term reality of distance learning set in, said Kerrie Torres, the districts superintendent.

The district has now distributed 1,700 Chromebooks and 150 hotspots. The latter have been particularly useful for low-income families and households with as many as six or seven children sharing the connection, Torres said.

The districts proximity to a canyon means some families cant access the internet at home whether they have a hotspot or not, even on a smartphone. Some students have made arrangements with the district to do virtual school, including Zoom meetings, outside on campus during the school day, supervised by a teacher or principal who can give them help and answer questions.

But not all families have the time or means to transport their students to the school building each day. To keep them from falling behind, the district is planning to take advantage of its state mandate to keep bus drivers employed by sending homework packets on buses to students homes.

Martinsville City, Va.: Hotspots Are Only a Temporary Solution

At Martinsville City schools in Virginia, 77 percent of households answered an internet access survey in July. Roughly 16 percent who responded said they either dont have internet access or its not strong enough to stream live instruction.

As in the Brea district, homework packets have been filling the gap, said Steve Tatum, the districts director of instructional technology. Tatums team has also helped teachers load digital content from online courses onto flash drives, which parents can pick up at the school building each week.

Obviously, you cant do that with a video, you cant do a hard copy with a video, but you may be able to do a hard copy of a PowerPoint presentation, Tatum said.

Tatum considers those measures a temporary solution, and believes providing working internet access is an urgent priority. This week, the district began making appointments with families to test Wi-Fi hotspots with the schools tech team on campus so they can be sure the devices will work at home. The instructional technology team has also set up separate help desks for elementary and middle/high parents and students to call when they encounter issues.

Finding every family remains elusive, though. Some didnt have a phone number on file with the school, or the phone number that was on file no longer works. We had to build this airplane as we fly it, Tatum said.

Taos, N.M.: Uniting the Community

In the rural New Mexico community of Taos, hotspots alone wont close internet access gaps. Elizabeth LeBlanc from the Taos Academy Charter School helped establish a working group of families and community organizations that have pledged to set up or identify 100 places in the areachurches, libraries, town facilities, grocery stores, gymswhere K-12 students, regardless of which school they attend, can go for internet access.

Taos Ski Valley, a village resort that has seen fewer tourists than usual due to the pandemic, has offered its facilities for schools to set up academic support and learning labs for students. The University of New Mexicos Taos campus has also been accommodating, LeBlanc said.

LeBlancs school has designed the academic year with the possibility for tech glitches in mind. Students are required to log in at least twice a day, two days a week, but were not following our bell schedule, so theyre not logging in five times a day, LeBlanc said.

More broadly, with prospects dimming for additional emergency federal funds for schools, LeBlanc is concerned about school budgets that were supplemented with CARES Act funds this summer but simultaneously faced cuts from state and local governments. Getting students technologically capable of engaging in remote instruction is of the utmost importance, she said, but schools cant shoulder that burden on their own.

Its something that should be up there with food, water, and having shelter, LeBlanc said. It takes outside funding. It takes thinking about it in an entirely different way.

Photo: Spencer Hollers at the Southside Independent School District in Texas works to equip buses with Wi-Fi to help students without access to the internet. (Eric Gay/AP)
As far as Im concerned, he deserves at least two more terms.

No, hes not perfect, but hes done his best and I have no doubt that he sincerely wants America to prosper and be great. Maybe the media should try to be a little more supportive and a lot less critical. They sound like they want Trump to fail. If Trump fails, America fails.

Kevin Fields

Winston-Salem

Stand with Biden

It is said that if you do not stand for something you will fall for anything. I will stand with folks who will vote for Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris to lead this country. Let me be clear: to lead without drama, bluster, half-truths and most importantly, by example and hope in these days of COVID-19. We especially need someone who has the courage and foresight to realize that the Earth is our common home.
Visitors queue to enter the Singapore Zoo. (PHOTO: Roslan Rahman/AFP via Getty Images)

SINGAPORE  Singaporeans aged 18 and above will each receive $100 SingapoRediscovers vouchers to encourage them to support the countrys tourism businesses.

In a media factsheet released on Wednesday (16 September), the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) said that these vouchers will take the form of credits in denominations of $10, and will be accessible via SingPass.

They may be used to purchase tickets for local tourist attractions and tours, as well as for accommodation bookings at licensed hotels.

There will also be a $10 subsidy for child/youth tickets for attractions and tours. Each user is eligible to purchase up to six child or youth tickets at subsidised prices for the duration of the scheme, which will last from December 2020 to the end of June 2021.

The STB said that the voucher scheme will complement the SingapoRediscovers campaign, which was launched in July to encourage Singapore residents to explore different precincts and aspects of life of Singapore, and support the local tourism businesses, which have been badly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The government had announced on 17 August that $320 million would be set aside in the form of such vouchers.

The STB said that the redemption process for the vouchers will be digital by default, but it will provide support for those who have difficulties using digital modes. Specific details of the redemption mechanisms will be announced in November.

More capacity for tourist attractions

From Friday, tourist attractions that have received approval to resume operations can apply to the STB to increase their operating capacity from 25 per cent to up to 50 per cent, subject to approval by the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

They can also apply to STB to scale up the capacity at their outdoor shows to a maximum of five zones, with 50 people per zone, subject to the implementation of safe management measures.

Each zone should provide sufficient space for at least 1m distancing between individuals who are not from the same group. Zones should be clearly demarcated with a separation of at least three metres between zones.

Story continues

Previously, outdoor shows were subjected to a maximum capacity limit of 50 people.

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BRIDGEPORT  An officer with the citys police force for nearly a decade shot a suspect allegedly assaulting another individual early Wednesday morning, according to police officials.

During an 11:45 a.m. press conference at the police memorial, Acting Police Chief Rebeca Garcia said Bridgeport police responded to the 300 block of Clinton Avenue around 1:10 a.m.

Upon arrival, officers found the alleged suspect  identified as 27-year-old Juan Villa  making stabbing motions toward the victim, Garcia said.

The officers  identified by Garcia as Eliud Henry and Sean Curran  deployed a Taser to interrupt the assault, Garcia said, but it didnt work. She said thats when Henry, who joined the force in 2011, shot the suspect once.

The suspect was shot one time by the officer in an attempt to stop the violent attack against the victim, Garcia said.

Curran, who joined the department in 2016, did not fire his weapon.

Once the victim was removed from the situation, the officers turned to the suspect, who then became combative with the officer, Garcia said. Medics took Villa to the hospital, where he underwent surgery.

Villa was shot once in the upper right side. Garcia said the wound was not life-threatening and he was in serious condition in the hospital.

Villa has not been charged pending an investigation, Garcia said.

Garcia also said the victim of the alleged assault thanked the officers for saving his life.

I want the community to know that the officer involved in this incident acted heroically to save the life of another, Brad Seeley, president of the Bridgeport police union, said in a statement. As the investigation unfolds, its important that we stand behind our police officers who are protecting our neighborhoods.

As is standard practice when a weapon is discharged, Henry and Curran were each put on administrative leave with pay pending an investigation by the state police, which will be overseen by the Stamford States Attorney.

Its one of the most difficult things an officer can face, Garcia said of an officer-involved shooting.

Capt. Brian Fitzgerald, who oversees the departments Detective Bureau, said his division is only acting as a liaison to state police at this point in the investigation, providing internal or personnel records and helping download body camera footage.

Connecticut State Police Trooper Josue Dorelus said body camera footage of the incident will be released as soon as practically possible.

This is the second officer-involved shooting in Connecticut in less than a week.

In Naugatuck, police said Sgt. Nicholas Kehoss discharged his duty weapon on Monday after the driver of a vehicle pulled over on a traffic stop apparently drove at the officer. Another officer, Kevin Zainc, was identified as having been at the incident. He did not fire his gun.

The driver who allegedly drove the vehicle at the sergeant was identified by police as 24-year-old Waterbury resident Roznovsky Antonio Machado. He fled the incident and remained at large as of Wednesday morning.
Staff working at a Covid centre at the heart of a coronavirus hotspot are also caring for vulnerable patients, a whistleblower has revealed.

Health bosses are putting lives at risk by letting the employees also work in hospitals, surgeries and in the community, she said.

It comes as the Health Minister said Covid-19 centres had seen a near doubling in referrals in just one week.

A total of 733 people attended earlier this month compared with 427 the week before, Robin Swann announced.

According to the whistleblower, student doctors and nurses have been working in her unit and helping to assess patients suspected of having the virus throughout the summer.

They are now beginning clinical placements around across the province, potentially exposing staff and patients to the virus.

At the same time, nurses are working shifts at the centre, in GP treatment rooms and in the community, visiting patients too frail to leave their homes.

"It's absolutely nuts. It's so dangerous. You could have someone doing a shift in the centre one day and going out taking blood from a vulnerable patient, doing a vaccination clinic in a treatment room, or caring for a cancer patient the following day," the whistleblower said.

"I would be livid if it was one of my relatives. People need to know that it's happening because someone is going to die."

The nurse started working at a Covid centre after health officials appealed to medics for help in handling the coronavirus outbreak. The centres are specialist facilities for patients who need to see a GP but may have Covid-19.

The centre is one of the areas where local restrictions, such as people not being allowed to visit each other's homes, have been imposed because of an increase in the number of Covid cases.

The nurse said she was particularly alarmed by the situation at the coronavirus centre because of the number of patients being referred there.

"We've become so busy over the last couple of weeks. I've never worked as hard in my whole career as I have over the last four weeks," she added.

"The other day we had 25 appointments and five home visits. We're seeing a lot more very sick people who have Covid. We're seeing people across all age groups. It's affecting so many."

Mr Swann confirmed the rise yesterday in the Assembly. He also acknowledged that some doctors had expressed reticence about the centres but said the majority supported them.

He added: "It shows that they are providing a service that keeps the rest of GP practices open to those presenting with non-Covid symptoms."

One area of localised restrictions saw 65 suspected Covid patients in a recent week compared to 20 the week before, he said

A spokesman for the Department of Health said staff in Covid centres must follow robust infection control procedures. They are also provided with proper personal protective equipment.

"These procedures seek to protect staff whilst they are working in the centres while also protecting colleagues and patients when they are working in other settings," he added.

Yesterday there was one further death from Covid-19 reported in Northern Ireland, bringing the death toll recorded by the Department of Health to 571. There were also 79 new confirmed cases in the previous 24 hours.
Overall, scientists from 24 countries and regions contributed, including the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands, the United States, Greece, Germany, Brazil, Pakistan, Malaysia, Australia, Argentina, Georgia, Romania, Armenia, Chile, China (with Hong Kong as a separate participant), Turkey, Italy, and Mexico. Overall, 5,320 students have been polled. Associate Professor of the KFU's Department of Pedagogical Psychology Olga Lopukhova was one of the participants.

"It's well established that men and women differ in their self-perception, values, and personality traits, as well as stereotypes held with regards to representatives of one or the other sex," she explains. "Men typically find themselves more active, whereas women think of themselves as more sociable. The paper pays attention to how such effects differ between cultural groups with the focus on self-construal and depressive symptoms."

It turns out that women are more depressive, especially in societies with low gender equality rankings. Furthermore, the research showed a slightly different picture of sex differences in self-assessment among students than could be inferred from previous such polls.

"In all sampling groups, we cannot find proof of sex differences in a culture as a whole. Instead, we can see that women see themselves as more interdependent in the conditions of low gender equality and more independent in high gender equality. Men self-assess as more closed, whereas women feel more connected with others. There are no noticeable sex differences in the other two parameters of self-construal or in depressive symptoms," continues the interviewee.

In the Russian version, the researchers added the interaction of the congruence of students to the culture type and their inclusion into social groups with their psychological wellbeing.

"The problem of psychological wellbeing and its factors becomes more and more popular in Russian and overseas research in light of the ever complicating conditions of personality adaptation to the fast-changing values, social norms, types of behavior, and interaction," says Lopukhova. "Students are such a social group prone to the risks psychological non-wellbeing because of age factors, their changing social standing, and exposedness to adaptation and information overloads."

Becoming is a student is often inextricably linked with a change in cultural environment, be it moving to another country or city or moving from countryside to an urban dwelling. In any case, a student needs to go through adaptation and acculturation processes while starting their studies.

The Kazanian part of the poll comprised 488 respondents, 249 of whom were female and 239 male, aged from 18 to 28 years, from various universities of the city. The results showed that students with median congruence-to-culture ratios showed better psychological wellbeing. About a third of students had pronounced depressive symptoms and unsteady self-esteem, which calls for more attention to psychological support.

As KFU researchers found, the congruence (internally non-contradictory acceptance) of the normative values of the cultural environment is a cultural predictor of subjective wellbeing. Conversely, non-congruence, i. e. non-acceptance of behavioral norms, is a predictor of non-wellbeing and heightened depressive symptoms. Inclusion in social groups is also a predictor.

Overall, the presence of depressive symptoms is highly dependent on cultural congruence, whereas self-esteem is not.

###
Simon Coveney described the decision by the British Government to vote through controversial legislation designed to override key elements of the Brexit deal as pretty shocking.

The Foreign Affairs Minister said the deliberate strategy of the British Government damages its reputation internationally.

The UK Internal Market Bill cleared its first Commons hurdle on Monday despite deep misgivings by some senior Tories.

Boris Johnsons controversial plan to use domestic law to supersede elements of the Withdrawal Agreement he signed with Brussels passed its second reading by 340 to 263  a Government majority of 77.

Mr Coveney said the unwelcome distraction has eroded trust on both sides of the negotiating teams in the search for a trade deal.

For many people its pretty shocking that the British Government is voting through its parliament a Bill that breaks international law, Mr Coveney said.

I dont ever remember a time that has happened before.

Lets wait and see what happens to this Bill because I think there is certainly an awful lot of division within Westminster as to whether it is acceptable or not to do that.

We only saw the first round of debate on that yesterday and the first vote.

We need to ensure that we dont obsess with what is happening in the House of Commons and instead we need to focus on how we can rebuild some trust in the relationship between the EU and the UK in a way that actually can provide, through negotiations, solutions to outstanding issues that concern both sides.

The big prize here is to get a deal on a future relationship, particularly on a trade agreement, that avoids tariffs and quotas being implemented on trade crossing the Irish sea which is worth about 80 billion euros a year.

He criticised the move by the British Government and its impact on the trade talks.

Mr Coveney said the talks have been made more complex, adding it has been a deliberate strategy of the British Government.

The big challenge for politicians involved in this process is can we resolve issues that effectively make this legislation irrelevant so we can focus on agreeing a partnership that the UK can accept and EU can accept, he added.
One year after he was re-appointed as the Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, has been rated below average by key players in the water sector.

Mr Adamu, who has been the minister of water resources since 2015, after the emergence of Muhammadu Buhari as the President of Nigeria has little or no achievements or success stories in the water sector, experts opine.

Mr Adamu was one of the 43 ministers appointed to head federal ministries on May 29, 2019.

One year after his reappointment, the ministers performance was described as woeful by an expert in the water sector. Other experts, who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES said they were unable to rate him high, due to his dismal record.

Promises

Following his return as the minister, Mr Adamu said he would focus on consolidating on the gains during his first tenure, which rested on access to safe and potable water by Nigerians, and good sanitation and hygiene in the sector.

Reeling out his focus for his second tenure, Mr Adamu promised to develop and device plans, projects and programmes that will allow viable access to safe and adequate water to meet the various needs of Nigerians.

He also promised to put in place all necessary water development regulations and make sure all relevant policies are active and up to date.

Meanwhile, there were some promises that the minister carried over from his first tenure. These are:

 To ensure that, through the urban water sector reform programme, every Nigerian will have access to potable and sufficient water by the year 2030.

 To reform the 12 river basin development authorities.

 To regenerate irrigation projects across the country.

 To put an end to open defecation in Nigeria before the year 2025.

Achievements

The ministry focused more on advocacy visits to states across the country to campaign against open defecation in the last one year. An industry expert said it was difficult to point any achievement in one last year.

On the bright side, the ministry under the leadership of Mr Adamu said it constructed 106 sanitation and hygiene facilities in the North-east, North-central, and South-west regions.

The minister also achieved the domestication of the manufacture of hydrogen sulphide vials at the National Water Quality Reference Laboratory.

Failures

The biggest failure of the Ministry of Water Resources is the inability to provide potable and sufficient water to many Nigerians. Despite the goal to have 100 per cent water provision by 2030, water production level in many states is below average.

Nigerians, in local communities still scrounge for water at filthy streams.

The minister has also not been able to achieve the reform of the River Basin Development Authority, while the partial commercialisation which was a way of the revitalisation of the River Basins is still at a pilot stage and yet to yield any results.

There has been no new irrigation project since the return of the minister, while the projects under execution before the end ministers first tenure are yet to be completed. These includes Hadejia, Kano, and Bakolori irrigation projects.

Rating

Some experts that PREMIUM TIMES reporter contacted said it is difficult to point out what the minister has achieved.

Other, however, said they are yet to assess the ministry at large and will be unable to make comments.

But Akinbode Oluwafemi, the Executive Director of Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) said the ministry doesnt seem to know what they are supposed to be doing and it is difficult to talk about their performance.

I think it is a tragedy when one is asked to evaluate a ministry that doesnt seem to be on track for whatever mandate it has. Because for me, you want to see a ministry that dissects overacting policy for water management, sustainable use of water resources in the country, doing the act of promoting human right with water, protecting our water bodies from pollution but I just have not seen the ministry in that direction.

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Mr Oluwafemi is an environmental rights activist, who has spearheaded many campaigns in the water sector in Nigeria. He also led the campaign against the privatisation of water in Lagos.

Mr Oluwafemi said asides from the audio declaration of emergency in the water sector in 2018, no visible action has been taken.

There is a need for serious policy direction in the management of our water resources, what we now see is a minister that is now introducing total anarchy in the water sector by way of the current jammed water bill. If that bill comes to pass then what you see is anarchy and commodification of water in Nigeria, he said.

Speaking on the River Basins authority, Mr Oluwafemi said the minister is now proposing that Rivers and all water bodies across Nigeria suddenly belong to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

Some of us would not score him, we dont even think there is anything to score, he said.

Mr Oluwafemi said the minister performed below average and even woefully.

All I can see is a desperate effort to introduce World Bank policy in the water sector forgetting that water is a human right as declared by United Nations. What you hear from that Urban water reform are things like water can no longer be for public service that it is for the private sector (privatization of water) when several cities across the world that have tried privatization of the water sector is turning back.

Many cities across the world are doing what is now called real municipalization of the water infrastructure, and the minister now is promoting what has randomly failed across the world causing problems in countries.

Mr Oluwafemi said there is a need for the minister to be called to order and be properly aware of what the sector is all about.
aoiseach Micheal Martin speaking in Dublin at the unveiling of the Irish Government's blueprint for living with Covid-19.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has tested negative for COVID-19

It's after cabinet ministers were told to restrict their movements in the coming days.

The Dail has also been recalled having earlier been dramatically suspended for the week by Ceann Comhairle Sean O Fearghail who said the entire Cabinet had to self-isolate.

Cabinet ministers were advised to work from home, while restricting their movements, but are not required to self-isolate.

A Government source said the move was taken out of an "abundance of caution".

It was announced that the acting Chief Medical Officer, Dr Ronan Glynn, was also restricting his movements.

Mr Donnelly felt unwell earlier following this morning's Cabinet meet in Dublin Castle and sought a test for the virus following discussions with acting chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn.

A Government spokesperson said: "The Minister contacted his GP and he has been referred for a Covid-19 test. He has gone home and will restrict his movements."

The communication has gone to all ministers to restrict their movements pending the outcome of that test, Taoiseach Micheal Martin said on the Six-One News.

The CMO had used the phrase an abundance of caution, while giving his advice he said. The Chief Whip had then informed the Ceann Comhairle and he had suspended the Dail, he said.

But the Dail was returning because we believe Ministers of State can take certain issues and represent the Government.

The Cabinet was being cautious because there were a number of meetings Stephen Donnelly attended yesterday, including when he briefed the whole Cabinet on todays plan.

Earlier, Mr Martin stressed that he would continue to work, via Zoom and on the phone. I will be at my desk.

Cabinet Ministers were taken by surprise by the announcement on Tuesday afternoon. Earlier it emerged that Green Party leader Eamon Ryan was restricting his movements as one of his family was being tested for the virus, while junior minister Thomas Byrne was also self-isolating.

A spokesperson for Mr Donnelly said: "The Minister for Health began to feel unwell this afternoon. He contacted his GP and has been referred for a Covid-19 test. As per public health guidance, he is now self-isolating."
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Kamala Harris joined Gavin Newsom for a tour of a wildfire-ravaged California town Tuesday - a day after accusing Donald Trump of climate denial.

The Democratic vice presidential nominee and California Governor surveyed the devastation at the site of the Creek Fire in Auberry that forced thousands to evacuate last week.

Their joint visit came a day after Trump visited the sites of fires in Sacramento and rejected claims that climate change is exacerbating California's wildfires, insisting the climate would 'start getting cooler, you just watch it'.

Speaking after visiting the site of fires in Sacramento, the President instead blamed Newsom's forest management for causing the devastation.

He said: 'There has to be good strong forest management. So hopefully they'll start doing that.'

Yesterday, Harris said America's leadership must 'take seriously these new changes in our climate' as she toured the wildfire damage in her home state.

Joe Biden's running mate said 'ideology should not kick in' when responding to wildfires and the climate crisis, in a veiled criticism of President Donald Trump.

The California Senator spoke in front of a charred elementary school playground in the small foothill community of Auberry.

Harris was joined by Governor Gavin Newsom in her first trip to California as the Democratic vice presidential nominee, while Joe Biden attended a campaign event in Florida.

Kamala Harris said America's leadership must 'take seriously these new changes in our climate' as she toured the wildfire damage in her home state of California yesterday with Governor Gavin Newsom

Harris said 'ideology should not kick in' when responding to wildfires and the climate crisis' as she and Newsom assessed the damage of the Creek Fire in Auberry

The California senator and Governor look into a charred car as they assess the damage of the fires. Harris said 'ideology should not kick in' when responding to wildfires and the climate crisis, in a veiled criticism of President Donald Trump

At a grassroots fundraiser on Monday, Harris said: 'We have a president in Donald Trump who has pretty much denied the science and even today, could not with the full voice, speak to the fact that we have to address this and we have to address it around projection of what's predictable, in terms of not only drought, but electrical fires based on lightning, which is part of what we saw in California.

'The fact is that we are in the midst of an incredible crisis, because our climate is changing in drastic form, which is leading to California burning in many places, which is leading to storms hitting our Gulf Coast repeatedly year after year and getting worse,' reported ABC.

Trump has repeatedly sparred with Newsom over the state's response to the fires, but he has never made good on his threats to withhold federal disaster funding.

Speaking in front of a burned and melted playground at Pine Ridge Elementary yesterday, Harris told reporters: 'The people who are victimized by these, they could care less and their children could care less who they voted for in the last election.

'This is not a partisan issue. It is incumbent on us, in terms of the leadership of our nation, to take seriously these new changes in our climate, and to do what we can to mitigate against the damage.'

California Governor Gavin Newsom and Democratic vice presidential candidate Senator Kamala Harris talk as they asses the damage during the Creek Fire at Pine Ridge Elementary yesterday

Mark Johnson (left) unit chief for Cal Fire in Fresno, watches as Harris and Newsom are briefed on the damage during the Creek Fire at Pine Ridge Elementary

Newsom repeated his frequent remark that anyone who denies climate change should come to California while he toured the town with Harris

California has already set a record with more than 3 million acres (12,140 square kilometers) burned so far this year.

The small community where Harris spoke is within the Sierra National Forest, where a fast-moving wildfire was sparked over Labor Day weekend.

State fire and forest officials described the status of the fire to Harris and Newsom before they addressed reporters.

Dean Gould, the forest supervisor, told Newsom and Harris that he had never seen such an aggressive fire in the area.

The two then briefly walked around a burned-out property where a charred truck, a washer and dryer, and a brick chimney remained standing.

Harris said such chimneys remind her of tombstones.

Newsom repeated his frequent remark that anyone who denies climate change should come to California.

He took a sharper tone than he did with Trump on Monday, when he said the two could 'agree to disagree' on climate change while asking the president to respect the difference of opinion.

The small community where Harris spoke is within the Sierra National Forest, where a fast-moving wildfire was sparked over Labor Day weekend

Speaking in front of a burned and melted playground at Pine Ridge Elementary yesterday, Harris told reporters: 'The people who are victimized by these, they could care less and their children could care less who they voted for in the last election'

Harris bumps elbows with first responders as she was briefed on the Creek Fire at Pine Ridge Elementary in the wildfire-ravaged town

Harris's return to California marked her first time staying overnight at her Los Angeles home since March, when the pandemic limited travel.

She has mostly been staying at her residence in Washington, D.C., though she has ramped up campaign travel in recent weeks.

Later Tuesday, she visited Las Vegas and met with five Hispanic community members who discussed the impact of COVID-19 on their families.

Harris said the climate crisis can't be detached from the other crises of public health, the economy and systemic racism.

She often speaks about all four as the major issues facing America. But she didn't directly answer a question about how she and Joe Biden would prioritize the four if they win the White House.

'Were it not COVID, we'd still be probably wearing masks right now,' she said, herself wearing a black mask.

'This air is potentially toxic. When we are talking about the climate crisis, we are talking about a public health crisis.'

Harris's return to California marked her first time staying overnight at her Los Angeles home since March, when the pandemic limited travel

Newsom took a sharper tone than he did with Trump on Monday, when he said the two could 'agree to disagree' on climate change while asking the president to respect the difference of opinion

In Las Vegas, City Councilwoman Olivia Diaz spoke emotionally about answering telephone calls from 'people at the end of their rope.'

'Not everybody was included in the (coronavirus recovery) package ... even though they worked hard every single day up until the shutdown,' Diaz said.

She also cited difficulty conveying to people who speak Spanish the assistance programs available to them.

'We sometimes dont get the information at the same rate that we need it,' she said.

Harris cited recent revelations that Trump knew in January how bad the coronavirus outbreak would become and said he 'played politics' instead of responding.

Trump is trying to create fear and distrust, 'particularly in immigrant communities,' she said.

'He knows that when people vote things change,' she said.
ORANGE, Calif., Sept. 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Plethora Businesses, an M&A advisory firm headquartered in Orange County, CA, is pleased to announce the sale of Automated Gate Services, Inc. to Westcoast Gate & Entry Systems, a platform company of Kian Capital. Plethora Businesses was the exclusive sell-side advisor for the selling shareholders.

Automated Gate Services is a leader in perimeter security for commercial and public properties, specializing in the installation, repair, and servicing of automatic gated entry systems. The Company has been in business over 40 years and its clients include major transportation hubs, utility providers, government institutions, airports, and business complexes.

"AGS is a company with an outstanding legacy and even brighter future. It was our pleasure to have negotiated a deal that rewarded the sellers for their decades of hard work," said George Lanza, President of Plethora Businesses.

"There was strong enthusiasm and energy amongst all parties to see this union take shape. Everyone is excited to see what these two companies can accomplish together," added AGS founders Steve and Carrie Johnson, who will remain involved in the business.

Automated Gate Services will continue operations from its headquarters in Corona, CA, while working in tandem with Inglewood, CA based Westcoast Gate. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

About Plethora Businesses:

Plethora Businesses is a boutique M&A Advisory firm, providing sell-side and buy-side M&A, corporate strategy, valuations and consulting services to middle market businesses. For more information, visit plethorabusinesses.com or call 714-255-8862.

Contact:

SOURCE Plethora Businesses

Related Links

https://plethorabusinesses.com


Equine Guelph has announced that its new online courses on TheHorsePortal.ca have received 100 per cent positive feedback.

The new TheHorsePortal.ca online courses, which have been developed exclusively for Ontario racing industry members. The respiratory health, lameness prevention and gut health courses have proven to be a priority, and AGCO licence holders that completed the first three free courses on those topics are eagerly awaiting the final three offerings this fall, which include: Fire and Emergency Preparedness, Horse Care and Welfare, and Sickness Prevention in Horses.

In 2016, Equine Guelph conducted a major Ontario horse racing industry survey and learned that the top three health issues of concern were: #1  respiratory issues, #2  injuries, #3  gut issues. As a result, Equine Guelph developed three new free racing-exclusive online courses on TheHorsePortal.ca/RacingPilot as part of the AGCO-funded 'Ontario Training Pilot Project for the Ontario Horse Racing Industry' in 2019-20. To date, a total of 716 AGCO licence holders have registered for racing-exclusive and general course offerings.

The following are examples of some of the rave reviews from students in the Ontario racing industry  mainly trainers, grooms and owners  who completed the end-of-course survey for the three new racing-exclusive courses: Racehorse Respiratory Health, Lameness/Injury Prevention and Care and Gut Health and Colic Prevention. Equine Guelph looks forward to welcoming participants back this fall to take the final three offerings, free to AGCO licence holders.

General Comments:

One hundred per cent of the students said the courses met or exceeded their expectations, and many of these students had never participated in an online course before.

I have never taken an online course before. I thought it was well set up and easy to follow. I liked that you could work at your own pace and it was OK to get behind or go ahead. I also liked that you could delve more deeply into topics that interested you. It was great to have access to experts to ask personal questions, or about something in the course work that brought up a question."

I found the course facilitators, guest experts and industry ambassadors to be very knowledgeable and easy to understand. Everything was well organized and easy to follow along. The videos chosen were very helpful.

I was so excited to discuss questions with the guest expert and get great feedback. The course facilitators were very attentive and responded quickly to questions.

Everyone was beyond excellent. The communication and responses were wonderful and provided additional learning resources.

Comments from the Racehorse Respiratory Health Course:

I learned so much in this course. As a racehorse owner, you not only need to have knowledge about how to help your horses respiration and avoid respiratory issues, but more importantly, you also need the correct, and factual information and knowledge. This course provided that.

I enjoyed the entire course!! I found it very interesting.... as I believe any horseperson interested in helping their horse breathe better, feel better and all around stay healthy, would find this course a must. I have downloaded it all to have at my fingertips for future reference.

"I have learned 'in depth' of the way a horse breathes and eats.... how the soft palate and epiglottis works. The practical advice, really things one should know and do already, like keeping the dust down and keeping the windows open.... reading all of this makes me more inclined to put my foot down in my barn to make sure the dust is at a minimum.

I enjoyed every aspect of this course. From the written material, to the videos, and resources and even the discussions. This course was one of the best courses I have enrolled in and completed.

I thought the inflating of the lungs on the dissected horse was amazing. I have been around horses all my adult life and never did comprehend the size of the equine lung until having that visual. Our racehorses are really nothing short of a miracle!

Comments from the Lameness/Injury Prevention and Care Course:

I think everyone at the racetrack should take this exact course with these same people orchestrating the course.

How to notice the small, subtle changes which signify there is something going on before they become a large, noticeable lameness, at which point irreparable damage could have already occurred."

It is better to put workload on horses starting at a young age than leaving them and starting them at an older age. There are more break downs in babies when given joint injections than when given to an older horse.

This was by far the best short course I have taken. I registered for the course along with my employees who all felt it was exceptional. Everyone learned and retained a lot of knowledge from this course. There were so many readings and extra material provided. My only suggestion would be to extend the length of this course with the amount of material provided. Given the extension I felt comfortable to finish it, but having that extra time was a definite benefit given all of the extra resources, I didnt want to miss one thing!

This was an excellent course! I believe all horsepeople in all disciplines should take it. The amount of excellent, scientific resources exceeded my expectations. I especially commend you for the amount of scientific resources and experts used. As a member of the veterinary medicine community I gravitate towards facts substantiated by science and wish more people in the horse industry would also. The video resources portray an abundant amount of useful information for everyone. By far my most favourite course yet! I will highly recommend this course to everyone.

Comments from the Gut Health & Colic Prevention Course:

This course was very informative and truly interesting. There was a lot of information covered on the subject and it was broken down in sections each day. Was very enjoyable to take.

I have learned a lot by taking this course. I am grateful and appreciate The Horse Portal and Equine Guelph in developing and offering this course. I now have a better understanding of what to look for and ways to prevent colic in my horse. I would highly recommend this course to anyone who owns or cares for horses!

FANTASTIC COURSE!!! Ive already shared my sentiments with a few Woodbine staff members and others in the backstretch. Highly recommended! Thank you so much for offering it!

Fall Course Lineup:

In conclusion of the Pilot Project, the final three more general courses are now open for registration, free to AGCO licence holders:

 Fire & Emergency Preparedness: Oct. 5  13

 Horse Care & Welfare: Oct. 19  30

 Sickness Prevention in Horses: Nov. 16  27

For further information and to register, head to TheHorsePortal.ca/RacingPilot.

Equine Guelph would like to thank the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) for providing education, training and awareness project funding in support of AGCO licensees.

(Equine Guelph)
During a launch ceremony Sept. 16, 2020, both TUV SUD, a world authoritative testing organization; and the China Automotive Technology and Research Center Co., Ltd.  the country's national internal combustion engine testing organization  awarded Weichai certificates for brake thermal efficiency of 50.26 percent. The engine was jointly unveiled by Ling Wen, vice governor of Shandong Province and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering; and Tan Xuguang, chairman of Shandong Heavy Industry Group and Weichai Group.

An internal combustion engine's brake thermal efficiency is a measure of its fuel efficiency. Engines with higher brake thermal efficiency rates have lower fuel consumption, higher energy savings, and reduced emissions. Since the development of the first diesel engine in 1897, the engine's brake thermal efficiency of the diesel engine increased from 26 to 46 percent, where it remained until now. Although brake thermal efficiency evolved over the past 100-plus years, global development statistics and increasingly stringent emission regulations made improvement more difficult in recent years.

To solve this technical problem, Weichai drew on its more than 70 years of experience in the internal combustion engine industry as well as its technical expertise in manufacturing, researching, and developing diesel technology. For the past 10 years, the company invested $4.4 billion USD in R&D, which includes recruiting more than 200 doctors, more than 300 global high-end talents, and more than 3,000 graduate students to its staff.

Weichai's R&D and production base in Weifang, China, has annual manufacturing and sales of more than 1 million units. The center has achieved technological breakthroughs in commercial vehicle powertrains, CVT powertrains and hydraulic powertrains, complementing China's core technical shortcomings in these areas and promoting the country's diesel engine industry chain to continue to move forward.

Technological Breakthroughs

Since 2015, Weichai's special technical research team has conducted a large number of simulations and bench tests to improve the efficiency of its engines, eventually leading to this historic breakthrough. Weichai credits the high brake thermal efficiency rate to five proprietary technologies: advanced fields synergy combustion technology, harmonious design technology, exhaust energy distribution technology, subzone lubrication technology, and WISE control technology. Together, these technologies help achieve high-efficiency combustion with low heat transfer, high PFP with high reliability, low friction loss, low emission pollutants, intelligent control, etc., attaining a brake thermal efficiency exceeding 50 percent.

Weichai's advanced fields synergy combustion technology optimizes the design of the air passage, fuel injection, combustion chamber profile and other systems to make the relationship between the velocity field and concentration field in the combustion chamber more harmonious, increasing combustion speed by 30 percent. Harmonious design technology enables the diesel engine body's to withstand high PFP, which greatly limits combustion improvement, by about 60 percent. The technology also strengthens the engine's overall structure.

The company's exhaust energy distribution technology, developed in response to the increased difficulty of emission control caused by improved combustion, pioneered reconstruction of the exhaust system design. The technology adapts to the demand for exhaust gas recirculation while ensuring the efficiency of turbines, meeting regulations and standards, and achieving a 1 percent increase in brake thermal efficiency.

Subzone lubrication technology, developed based on the different characteristics of the friction pairs of the system, uses several friction reduction technologies to reduce the overall friction by 20 percent. WISE control technology takes advantage of Weichai's self-developed ECU by creatively developing a series of more precise control predictive models, making every part of the diesel engine more efficient.

Making History

Weichai's achievement is a historical moment in the development of internal combustion engines. Several domestic and international institutions and experts including Bosch Group, AVL List GmbH, FEV, SAE, China Machinery Industry Federation, China Internal Combustion Engine Industry Association, and China-SAE congratulated Weichai on this breakthrough and praised the company for setting a new benchmark for the brake thermal efficiency of global diesel engines and making new contributions to the energy-saving and emission reduction capabilities of internal combustion engines.

Weichai not only launched the world's first base diesel engine with a brake thermal efficiency of over 50 percent, but also easily met China VI/Euro VI emission requirements. The engine is the first of its kind ready for mass production and commercialization. According to industry experts, increasing brake thermal efficiency from 46 to 50 percent reduces diesel consumption by 8 percent and carbon dioxide emissions by 8 percent. If all 7 million heavy-duty diesel engines now in use in China were replaced with diesel engines with 50 percent brake thermal efficiency, 33.32 million tons of fuel and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 104.95 million tons can be saved annually - a significant contribution to solving energy shortages and global warming problems.

The launch of the engine solidifies China's position as a world leader in heavy-duty diesel engine technology. Weichai has received strong support from Bosch Group and other global suppliers and R&D consulting institutions in the development of this program. Weichai's future plans include partnering with more global companies to move toward a goal of 55 percent thermal efficiency, Chairman Tan Xuguang announced during the Sept. 16 ceremony.

SOURCE Weichai America; Weichai Group

Related Links

https://www.weichaiamerica.com

https://en.weichai.com/


The fate of Akshay Kumars upcoming film Laxmmi Bomb has been debated ever since the nationwide lockdown led to movie theatres being shut. There were speculative reports as to whether the film would wait for theatres to reopen or release on an OTT platform.

Akshay has finally put to rest all speculation by announcing on Wednesday that the film will be releasing this Diwali on a streaming service. Iss Diwali aapke gharon mein laxmmi ke saath ek dhamakedar bomb bhi aayega. Aa rahi hai #LaxmmiBomb 9th November ko, only on @disneyplushotstarvip! Get ready for a mad ride kyunki #YehDiwaliLaxmmiBombWaali," he posted on Instagram, alongwith a teaser video of his transformation from Laxman to Laxmmi in the film.

While some reports had claimed earlier that the film was initially supposed to release on an OTT platform on September 9 to coincide with Akshays birthday. Recent news from earlier this month suggested that it has been postponed to Diwali 2020. Other reports suggested that the makers had put a stop to the digital release of the film altogether, and would wait for theatres to reopen.

While the film was supposed to hit theatres in May on the occasion of Eid, the lockdown paused that plan. Disney+ Hotstar had announced in the end of June that Laxmmi Bomb would be releasing on the platform, though an official release date was not revealed.

The horror comedy, starring Akshay Kumar and Kiara Advani, is directed by Raghava Lawrence and produced by Cape of Good Films, Tusshar Kapoor, Shabinaa Khan and Fox Star Studios.

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Pope Francis hails murdered priest as "witness of charity."

A 51-year-old Italian priest was stabbed to death by a homeless man on a central street in the northern city of Como at around 07.00 on 15 September.

Fr Roberto Malgesini, who was well known in Como for his dedicated work with the homeless and migrants, died after sustaining serious stab wounds, including to a fatal injury to his neck, as he began his morning routine of delivering breakfasts to the homeless.

A 53-year-old man from Tunisia admitted to the stabbing, turning himself in to police shortly after the attack which occurred near the priest's parish rectory at the Church of S. Rocco, reports Italian news agency ANSA.

Fr Malgesini reportedly knew the man - who is believed to suffer from mental problems - and they had been on good terms.

Pope Francis, during his weekly audience on 16 September, prayed for Don Roberto, stating: "I praise God for the witness, that is, for the martyrdom of this witness of charity towards the poorest," reports Vatican News.

The bishop of Como, Oscar Cantoni, said that Don Roberto was "truly a father to the poor, adding: "He had a vocation within a vocation."

News of the priest's death has caused shock in Como, particularly among the migrants and homeless people he helped, with many sharing their stories of his kindness with the Italian media.

Roberto Bernasconi, director of the Como branch of Caritas, said of Fr Malgesini: The city and the world did not understand his mission.
Donald Trump falsely claimed he did not downplay the coronavirus pandemic at a town hall Tuesday night, saying, Actually, in many ways, I up-played it, in terms of action.

His remarks came in response to an uncommitted voter at the ABC News event, who asked Trump why he would downplay a pandemic that is known to disproportionately harm low-income families and minority communities. The president said he did not minimize the threat of the virus: My action was very strong. Im not looking to be dishonest. I dont want people to panic.

Trumps misleading response comes one week after the investigative journalist, Bob Woodward, revealed that the president explicitly admitted to downplaying the virus in interviews with him. Woodward has reported that, although Trumps national security adviser gave him a jarring warning in January about the virus, calling it the biggest national security threat of his presidency, Trump continued to understate the risks in public statements.

Related: Five key revelations in Bob Woodwards Trump book, from Covid to Kim 'love letters'

On 27 February, Trump said publicly: Its going to disappear. One day  its like a miracle  it will disappear. On 9 March, he compared it to the flu, tweeting, Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on.

By 19 March, Trump declared a national emergency. But at the same time, he told Woodward: I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down, because I dont want to create a panic.

In an interview with CNN on Tuesday, Bob Woodward said of Trump: I dont know if hes got it straight in his head, to be honest, what is real and what is unreal.

At the ABC town hall, the president also said the virus would go away, with or without a vaccine. This would happen because of herd mentality, he said. It is unclear whether he meant herd immunity, because he repeated the phrase several times.

It would go away without the vaccine, George, he told ABC journalist George Stephanopoulos. With time it goes away. And youll develop like a herd mentality. Its going to be herd developed, and thats going to happen. That will all happen.

Story continues

TRUMP: It is going away



STEPHANOPOULOS: Without a vaccine?



TRUMP: Sure. Over a period of time



S: And many deaths



TRUMP: It's gonna be herd developed pic.twitter.com/dtJRE7XwFX  Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 16, 2020

Trump also responded to the voters question by repeating misleading claims about his early travel restrictions during Covid, falsely calling them bans on China and Europe.

The president made other questionable claims about the virus on Tuesday night. Asked by one uncommitted voter why he doesnt do a better job promoting mask usage and why he doesnt wear masks more often, the president again cast doubts on the scientific consensus of his own administration, which has strongly urged the use of face coverings.

There are people that dont think masks are good, Trump said, adding that masks cause problems for waiters.

Asked why he doesnt support a national mask mandate, the president suggested the voter could ask that question to Democrats and to his rival Joe Biden, saying, He didnt do it. They never did it. Its unclear what the president was referring to, given that the former vice-president is not currently an elected official and has no authority to implement any mask policy.

The president further defended his early praise of Chinas handling of Covid-19 at the start of the pandemic. He said he trusted Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader, at the time: He told me that it was under control, that everything was and it turned out to be not true.

On the campaign trail, Biden has repeatedly criticized the president for misrepresenting the threat of the virus at the start of the crisis. At a recent event in Michigan, the Democratic nominee said: He knew how deadly it was. It was much more deadly than the flu. He knew and purposely played it down. Worse, he lied to the American people. He knowingly and willingly lied about the threat it posed to the country for months.

The president has had a number of campaign events that have defied state orders on Covid, with large crowds indoors, not practising social distancing.

Biden will take questions from voters on Thursday when he participates in a televised town hall hosted by CNN. Trump and Biden will meet for the first presidential debate at the end of September.
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A judge has grounded a flight due to take asylum seekers to Madrid after lawyers raised concerns that passengers could end up destitute in Spain.

The legal team representing the three men, who arrived in Britain on small boats during the summer, had mounted a High Court challenge in a bid to halt the flight, which had been chartered by Home Office officials.

They said the three men should not be flown to Madrid until more investigations had been carried out into Spanish immigrant reception facilities.

Lawyers representing Home Secretary Priti Patel had argued that the flight should be allowed to leave and said Spanish authorities could be trusted to comply with their obligations to asylum seekers.

The legal team representing the three men, who arrived in Britain on small boats during the summer, had mounted a High Court challenge in a bid to halt the flight, which had been chartered by Home Office officials. Pictured: a migrant father was photographed walking with his wife and two children along the coastal path at Kingsdown Beach in Deal yesterday

Sir Duncan Ouseley on Wednesday ruled in favour of the three men, and said the flight should not leave, after considering rival arguments at a High Court hearing in London.

The three men, a Syrian and two from Yemen, had travelled to Britain from north Africa, but had first set foot on the European mainland in Spain, the judge heard.

Spanish authorities had agreed they should be returned and make asylum claims in Spain.

Other immigrants due to be on the flight scheduled early on Thursday are thought to be in a similar position.

Lawyers representing Home Secretary Priti Patel (pictured) had argued that the flight should be allowed to leave and said Spanish authorities could be trusted to comply with their obligations to asylum seekers

Lawyers representing three men, who arrived in Britain on small boats during the summer, had mounted a High Court challenge in a bid to halt the flight, which had been chartered by Home Office officials. Pictured: migrants arriving in Kingsdown, Kent, on Monday

Lawyers representing the three men said there had been criticism of Spanish reception facilities, with reports of asylum seekers being forced to sleep rough because the border post at Madrid Airport had been "overwhelmed by demand".

The three men were vulnerable and had mental health issues, lawyers said.

Sir Duncan said the men's lawyers had raised a serious issue related to immigrant reception facilities in Madrid.

He said the charter flight should not leave until that issue had been fully investigated at a trial.

The judge said that trial should be staged in the near future.
Today many life events are being significantly impacted by the pandemic. We watch as graduations are canceled, weddings postponed, and funerals attended virtually. For many, the sting of not supporting one another in person through those life events can be painful.

Particularly affected are our U.S. military families, who face unique hardships compounded by COVID-19. Living far away from family, uncertainty in the job market and not knowing when your next move will be, are all things that can feel overwhelming. However, support is available.

From Canceled to Reimagined

This year, the American Red Cross in Missouri scheduled a baby shower to support active duty, veteran and military spouse moms-to-be. Then COVID-19 struck. Plans were changed, postponed and then cancellation was pending. Keeping every mom safe at an indoor shower seemed impossible.

However, thanks to the quick thinking of some incredible Red Crossers, the shower quickly pivoted to an outdoor, curbside event. According to Sandy Vaughn, Service to the Armed Forces regional director, every single detail was covered by volunteers, and it was great to be able to support so many families.

More than 50 volunteers came donning face masks and following social distance protocols to set up items in the parking lot. Arriving moms didnt even have to leave their cars, as each volunteer loaded their items into trunks and back seats as participants drove through.

Supporting the Whole Military Family

The shower provided for more than 75 military families in financial need (identified as having the lowest military pay grades). Each recipient received over $1,200 worth of baby materials such as play pens, car seats, bottles, diapers and other essential supplies.

We got so much more than we anticipated, Scott Air Force Base Airman Staff Sergeant Jonathan Hazelwood said. We appreciate everyone who is out here making this event happen. He and his wife, Samantha, recently had a baby girl.

I feel blessed and grateful to receive this support from the Red Cross, Danielle Shea said. She and her husband both serve in the Coast Guard and are expecting a girl in October.

Two volunteers who went above and beyond the call of duty were, Scott and Sheila Reed. Sheila is on the Missouri Red Cross Service to the Armed Forces committee and she says her husband, Scott, is her right-hand helper. Both were integral in making this event run smoothly. We worked in various positions throughout, we opened and inventoried gifts, organized the storeroom, arranged transportation and worked out details for making a curbside shower work, shares Sheila. They even traveled over three hours to deliver baby items to a Missouri military mom who couldnt attend because she had just given birth. To keep her safe, they dropped the items at her doorstep, waving to her through the glass door before driving back home.

From Anheuser-Busch to American Red Cross Volunteer

Scott Reed spent 26 years working at Anheuser-Busch and traveled extensively. He shares that volunteering to help others has been one of the greatest joys of his life. Through his work at Anheuser-Busch, he saw firsthand how companies can make an impact in their local communities by supporting the Red Cross. Scott noted that companies supporting our military families through the Red Cross is crucial. The need is great and so is their appreciation. They protect my freedoms all while being separated from their own support systems. Its the least we can do.

Anheuser-Busch has been a supporter of the Red Cross for decades and in recent years has been a dedicated member of our Service to the Armed Forces (SAF) Giving Program. Members of this program stand with the Red Cross as we help military members, veterans and their families prepare for, cope with and respond to the challenges of military service.

In addition to encouraging employees like Reed to volunteer, Anheuser-Busch has continued to go above and beyond. Because of their commitment to the mission of the Red Cross, including their tremendous support to SAF, they recently were recognized as a Mission Leader. Mission Leaders are elite companies and organizations who step up in times of need and make vital commitments to help the Red Cross help those who need it most. Mission Leaders drive innovation through donations of cash, products in kind, and through skills and expertise at all levels. The Reeds noted that they believe other companies should step up and follow suit. The need is great and the Red Cross is there to alleviate suffering each and every day, but they need the support of individuals and corporations to continue that work.

Volunteer at the Red Cross

In the face of disasters like COVID-19, the Red Cross works to ease peoples suffering. Find out how you can volunteer at home and across the globe at redcross.org.
Imperial Valley News Center

President Donald J. Trump is Promoting Peace and Stability in the Middle East

Washington, DC - "Today, nations across the region and throughout the world are joining together, united in their determination to build a better future." ~ President Donald J. Trump

SECURING HISTORIC AGREEMENTS: President Donald J. Trump hosted the official signing ceremony for the historic peace agreements between Israel and Arab nations.

Monday, President Trump presided over the signing ceremony at the White House to establish the foundation of the peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.). Bahrain also accepted the Presidents invitation to participate in the ceremony, following their agreement with Israel last week.

In August, the President secured an agreement to normalize relations between the U.A.E. and Israel  the first such agreement between Israel and a major Arab country since 1994.

The countries have committed to the exchange of embassies and ambassadors, and to begin cooperation across a broad range of fields including education, healthcare, trade, and security.

This deal is only the beginning of normalized relations between Israel and its neighbors, with many more likely to come.

PROMOTING PEACE AND SECURITY: These agreements are leading to peace between Israel and the Middle East, as well as increased security in the region.

The deal between Israel and the U.A.E. will strengthen peace in the region by giving Muslims increased access to the Al Aqsa Mosque for peaceful prayer. This will counter the extremists who use the false narrative that the Al Aqsa Mosque is under attack and that Muslims cannot pray at this holy site.

The Israel-Bahrain agreement further enhances the security of both nations while creating opportunities for them to deepen their economic ties.

Both agreements are a result of President Trumps efforts to rebuild trust with our regional partners and move them away from conflicts of the past.

Thanks to the Presidents bold foreign policy vision and his deal-making ability, nations across the region are realizing the benefits of his thoughtful approach.

FACILITATING A REGIONAL TRANSFORMATION: President Trumps policies are leading to the most rapid geopolitical transformation of the Arab world in more than a generation.
Lebanese political factions failed to meet a mid-September dateline set by President Macron to name a new cabinet.

France regrets that Lebanon has been unable to form a new government after a mass resignation in the wake of a deadly explosion in Beiruts port last month, President Emmanuel Macrons office said on Wednesday.

Its not too late, the French statement said, after the expiry of a mid-September dateline set by Macron, who has set himself up as a broker for finding common ground among Lebanons rival political factions.

The statement called on officials to help the prime minister-in-waiting, Mustapha Adib, form a government that is up to dealing with the gravity of the situation.





Macron is pushing for a revamped cabinet that will address urgently needed overhauls to get Lebanons economy back on its feet, and address the deep public anger over the August 4 port blast that killed 191 people.

For many Lebanese, the disaster resulted from long-standing corruption and ineptitude among a political class that has failed to establish a functioning state or uphold the rule of law.

The French president has visited Beirut twice since the disaster to try to forge a working consensus for a reform-minded government, warning he will block recovery funds from donors if no progress is made.

We are continuing to closely follow the situation and pursue our contacts with Lebanese political leaders to renew our insistence in this matter, Macrons office said.

Internal division

Adib has been seeking to appoint ministers so they can begin work on a French road map. Sources say he has sought to switch control of ministries, many of which have been held by the same factions for years.

But major Shia Muslim and Christian players in the sectarian power-sharing system have complained that Adib, a Sunni Muslim, has not been consulting them.

It appears that some did not understand or did not want to understand that the French initiative is the last opportunity to save Lebanon and to prevent its disappearance, Walid Jumblatt, the leader of Lebanons Druze community, wrote on Twitter.





He echoed comments by French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who last month said Lebanon could disappear without critical reforms.

Simon Abi Ramia, a legislator in the Christian Free Patriotic Movement, said on Twitter Lebanon faced a critical 24 hours in which either the logic of reason would win and a government would emerge, or Adib would step down.

The French road map set out milestones for a new government, ranging from resuming stalled talks with the International Monetary Fund to fixing the broken electricity system.

But the plan has stumbled at the first hurdle as Lebanons political elite, who have overseen years of industrial-scale state corruption, have bickered over how the cabinet is formed.

The most significant objections have come from Shia Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, an ally of Iran-backed Shia group Hezbollah. He has insisted on naming the finance minister, a post he has decided on since 2014.

Hezbollah, a heavily armed group backed by Iran, supports his position, telling President Michel Aoun on Tuesday that Shia ministers must be approved by Shia parties and the finance minister should be a Shia, sources say.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, a Sunni whose support was critical to Adibs nomination, said no sect had the exclusive right to the finance ministry or other portfolios.

In a tweet, Hariri said rejecting the idea of switching control of ministries was frustrating the last chance to save Lebanon and the Lebanese, referring to the French initiative.








Michael Caputo accused CDC scientists of sedition against President Trump

The top spokesman at the Department of Health and Human Services is taking a leave of absence after apologizing for going on a viral rant lambasting Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scientists.

According to CNN, the department announced today that Michael R. Caputo will take a leave after spreading baseless conspiracy theories over the weekend that CDC scientists are working to undermine President Donald Trump and accused them of sedition.

Read More: Trump health official goes on Twitter rant about conspiracy theories, armed revolt

WASHINGTON, DC  JULY 14: Former Trump campaign aide Michael Caputo arrives to testify before the House Intelligence Committee during a closed-door session at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center July 14, 2017 in Washington, DC. Caputo resigned from being a Trump campaign communications advisor after appearing to celebrate the firing of former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. Denying any contact with Russian officials during the 2016 campaign, Caputo did live in Moscow during the 1990s, served as an adviser to former Russian President Boris Yeltsin and did pro-Putin public relations work for the Russian conglomerate Gazprom Media. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

In the Facebook live obtained by Yahoo News, Caputo, who is a political appointee of Trump, can be heard making the unfounded claims.

These people cannot, cannot allow America to get better. Nor can they allow America to hear good news, said Caputo. It must be all bad news from now until the election. Frankly, ladies and gentlemen, thats sedition.

He goes on to say, They are sacrificing lives in order to defeat Donald Trump. Ladies and gentlemen, thats sedition. Its also  you know, call it what you want, but when they let somebody get sick and die, theres one word for that.

WASHINGTON, DC  MAY 01: Former Trump campaign official Michael Caputo (R) arrives with attorney Dennis C. Vacco at the Hart Senate Office building to be interviewed by Senate Intelligence Committee staffers, on May 1, 2018 in Washington, DC. The committee is investigating alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

He also said that if Trump wins the election, Joe Biden will refuse to concede and cause political violence.

But on Wednesday, Caputo was singing a new tune. He apologized for his rant and says he has learned.

Ive learned so much in friendship with the doctors of the Presidents Coronavirus Task Force, said Caputo. Sometimes we disagree, but we work in unity to defeat the virus and we care for one another.

Read More: Coronavirus killing more Black and Hispanic kids: CDC study

He continued, I want to thank Dr. Tony Fauci for conferring with my personal physician as we get the health care I long needed, and yet neglected, through the pandemic.

The Department of Health and Human Services also released a statement in regards to the rant.

Story continues

Today, the Department of Health and Human Services is announcing that HHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Michael Caputo has decided to take a leave of absence to focus on his health and the well-being of his family. Mr. Caputo will be on leave for the next 60 days.

Reports say during the leave Caputo will be seeking treatment for a lymphatic issue.

Have you subscribed to theGrios podcast Dear Culture? Download our newest episodes now!

The post HHS official to take two-month leave following conspiracy rant appeared first on TheGrio.
Distance Learning and the Digital Divide

Watch the complete panel from Streaming Media East Connect, Education Video Takes Center Stage, on the Streaming Media YouTube channel.

Learn more about EDU streaming at Streaming Media West 2020.

Read the complete transcript of this clip:

Liam Moran: The digital divide, the homework gap, the last mile issue with network connectivity: How do we help students whose school shut down and they don't have internet at home? I know Comcast has a $10-a-month service for people that are on SNAP program, and things like that. At our university, we have a bus system that drives a shuttle from, from Champaign-Urbana to Chicago, and it has high-speed Wi-Fi in it. So we moved those buses and parked them in poorer parts of town to provide internet access. And also the park district added Wifi to a lot of the parks where students can go to study online. So, Justin, do you have any any reports from Columbus about the response to digital divide issues?

Justin Troyer: Pretty early on--being the huge size that we are--we added Wi-Fi to several of the parking lots on our main campus, and then also at each of our regionals. So they still need to physically come to campus, but the students can come park in any of the designated parking lots and have Wi-Fi that's as fast as they would get in the dorms or any of the rooms. That's as far as we can reach for the last mile, but we've made that available to any of the students that need to get connectivity. They can come to campus and still remain physically distant by parking and staying in their car. That's assuming they have their own laptop or some sort of physical device like that, but we've also implemented a digital flagship initiative where we're giving iPads to the students. So they should have connectivity and a device to utilize that connectivity.

Liam Moran: There's also more general advice of using an encoding ladder where you've got some low-bitrate streams that are offered for people that just have bad networks. And then, for firewalls and things like that, you know, our advice is always, "Don't use YouTube because YouTube is blocked in China and military bases, a lot of corporate firewalls, that sort of thing."

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Syndicated and guest columns represent the personal views of the writers, not necessarily those of the editorial staff. The editorial department operates entirely independently of the news department and is not involved in newsroom operations.
The 126 images with content punishable by law were shared in five WhatsApp chat groups that were exclusively or predominantly used by police officers. The officers  25 of whom worked for the police force in the city of Essen  were asked to hand in their badges and weapons on Wednesday.
United Nations, Sep 17 : UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called upon India and Pakistan to move in a positive way to resolve their differences.

He sidestepped a question by a Pakistani reporter at a news conference on Wednesday about what the journalist asserted were demographic changes India was making to Kashmir, and instead referred to a statement he made last year and said, "It is absolutely essential to move forward in a positive way according to what I expressed then and I maintain today." In that statement issued last year soon after India rescinded its special constitutional status Guterres had referred to the Simla Agreement of 1972 which, he said, "states that the final status of Jammu and Kashmir is to be settled by peaceful means, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations." "The position of the United Nations on this region is governed by the Charter of the United Nations and applicable Security Council resolutions," he had also said while expressing concern over reports of restrictions on movement "on the Indian-side" which "could exacerbate the human rights situation in the region." On Wednesday he said, "I will make exactly the same statement I made in that moment" last year in August.

The Simla Agreement between India's Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who held the office Pakistan's president at that time, laid down that disputes between the two countries would be settled bilaterally without third party involvement.

The main Security Council resolution on Kashmir requires Pakistan to withdraw from there as a precondition for a plebiscite for which Pakistan and its supporters clamour.

Resolution 47 adopted on April 21, 1948 demands that the Pakistani government "secure the withdrawal from the State of Jammu and Kashmir of tribesmen and Pakistani nationals not normally resident therein who have entered the State for the purpose of fighting, and to prevent any intrusion into the State of such elements and any furnishing of material aid to those fighting in the State." (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
A Baptist university in Texas placed a trigger warning near a 9/11 campus makeshift memorial displaying American flags to commemorate those who were killed in the 2001 terrorist attacks.

Baylor University in Waco has come under fire after a sensitive content sign was placed near the display that marked the 19th anniversary of the hijackings that killed nearly 3,000 people.

As Baylor students, this is incredibly saddening for us to see. 9/11 is a day that we can forget our political identities and come together to remember those who died and celebrate the triumph of our nation over evil, said Jake Neidert, the head of Baylors chapter of Young Conservatives of Texas.

The group has set up the display every year on September 11 to pay tribute to the victims of the attack.

Baylor University in Waco, Texas, has come under fire after a sensitive content sign was placed near the display that marked the 19th anniversary of the hijackings that killed nearly 3,000 people

Honoring those who died and first responders isnt Sensitive, its American, the Baylor chapter of Young Conservatives of Texas tweeted in response

This was the first year that the university decided to place a trigger warning sign next to it.

Neidert said: For several years, the Young Conservatives of Texas at Baylor have carried the tradition of setting up a 9/11 memorial on Baylors campus.

2,977 American flags line Fountain Mall every year to honor the victims and first responders who lost their lives during the tragic terror attacks against the United States.

The memorial traditionally only includes flags and no signage or messaging.

Every year we do our best to ensure that this event is about America not politics.

Baylor YCT posted a video on its Twitter feed showing the sensitive content sign near the flags.

Honoring those who died and first responders isnt Sensitive, its American, the tweet stated.

Baylor YCT also tweeted: This isnt about politics. This was not a political event. In our event application, we actually opted to not have a sign attributing the display to us in order to be apolitical. However, Student Activities put the sign out attributing the display to us + the trigger warnings.

In another tweet, YCT wrote: We went through every effort to make this display apolitical because this isnt about Party or Politics, its about the foundational American identity we all share'

Baylor YCT also tweeted: This isnt about politics. This was not a political event.

In our event application, we actually opted to not have a sign attributing the display to us in order to be apolitical.

However, Student Activities put the sign out attributing the display to us + the trigger warnings.

In another tweet, YCT wrote: YCT stands for Principles over Party.

We went through every effort to make this display apolitical because this isnt about Party or Politics, its about the foundational American identity we all share.

That shouldnt be a Sensitive issue.

The university issued a statement in response to the uproar, saying: 'We fully support the 9/11 display of American flags, regret that the signage we used has taken away from the intent of the display, and apologize for any misunderstanding this may have caused.'

The university acknowledged that it was a moving display, though it defended the decision to place the sign since the flags might evoke a wide range of emotions.

The school said the sign was part of a new standard that will be applied to other outdoor displays on campus.

Conservatives have long argued that college campuses have clamped down on free speech so as not to offend those who disagree with certain messages or viewpoints.

The university issued a statement in response to the uproar, saying: 'We fully support the 9/11 display of American flags, regret that the signage we used has taken away from the intent of the display, and apologize for any misunderstanding this may have caused.'

Colleges and universities are also being criticized for showing bias and favoritism toward liberals.

The University of Chicago's English Department is being slammed for bias and racism in deciding that it will only accept graduate school applicants interested in 'working in and with Black studies' for its 2020-2021 cycle.

Staffers say they've been inundated with hate mail and angry backlash following the decision.

The department shared a statement on its website in July announcing their commitment to the 'struggle of Black and indigenous people, and all racialized and dispossessed people, against inequality and brutality'.

'For the 2020-2021 graduate admissions cycle, the University of Chicago English Department is accepting only applicants interested in working in and with Black studies,' the statement said.

The University said in a statement that it is only accepting a limited number of PhD students due to the pandemic and at the moment there are only spaces for five additional students.

Given the movement for justice by the black community this year, the school believed it was best to award additional scholarships with a focus on black studies.

Pictured: The University of Chicago, where the English department has ruled that only graduate applicants interested in Black Studies will be accepted for its 2020-2021 admissions cycle

In a statement uploaded to the English department's website in July (pictured) , the faculty announced their commitment to the 'struggle of Black and indigenous people, and all racialized and dispossessed people, against inequality and brutality'

'Currently, there are 77 PhD students studying a wide variety of disciplines within the English Department, and the department is admitting five additional PhD students for 2021. The English department faculty saw a need for additional scholarship in Black Studies, and decided to focus doctoral admissions this year on prospective PhD students with an interest in working in and with Black Studies,' the university said in a statement to Fox News.

'As with other departments in the University, the departments faculty will decide which areas of scholarship they wish to focus on for PhD admissions in future years,' it added.

The statement was written in July as protests against police violence tore across the US.

Earlier in the statement, the faculty says they believe that 'Black Lives Matter, and that the lives of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and Rayshard Brooks matter, as do thousands of others named and unnamed who have been subject to police violence.'
But several diplomats have said their countries are hesitant to meet so soon  especially in the United States, where the virus that causes the disease continues to spread widely.

United Nations officials anticipate an in-person General Assembly meeting in New York to discuss the Covid-19 pandemic before the end of the year, the body's president Volkan Bozkir said Tuesday.

The special session could be as soon as the first week of November, the former Turkish minister said during a press conference.

But several diplomats have said their countries are hesitant to meet so soon  especially in the United States, where the virus that causes the disease continues to spread widely.

Negotiations were underway to push the date to the first week of December, according to those same diplomats.

Bozkir is keen to start in-person UN meetings  which have taken place via video conference since March  as soon as possible, saying such a summit should have happened "in June."

"Political timing is important," he said.

"As long as the health conditions allow, I intend to continue physical meetings of the General Assembly, taking the necessary mitigation measures to protect the health and safety of delegates and UN staff," Bozkir said.

"In our business of diplomacy, there is no substitute to meeting counterparts face-to-face, to build a long-term understanding of each others' positions and forge compromise," he added.

According to Bozkir, a dozen heads of state  including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan  had planned to come to speak at the UN in person next week.

But US quarantine rules "made it impossible for any leader to come and physically be present in the General Assembly," Bozkir said.

He said he did not know whether US President Donald Trump -- who had said he wanted to speak in-person
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / September 16, 2020 / Phoenix Rising Addiction Center is a rehabilitation center taking the lead in providing treatment services and programs for people suffering from alcohol addiction, drug addiction, and video game addiction. The center also provides mental health therapy programs. The center aims to provide a safe space for people suffering addiction problems while equipping them with the right tools to help them rise above their circumstances and ensure lifelong recovery.

The various treatment programs at Phoenix Rising Addiction Centers were carefully designed by experts and licensed professionals with years of behavioral health experience. Overall, the center provides a full range of programs, including detoxification, treatment, and aftercare.

Sitting as the head of the treatment team is Benjamin Kaneaiakala III, who is also the CEO of Phoenix Rising Addiction Center. He is a licensed advanced alcohol and drug counselor (LAADC) certified by the California Consortium of Addiction Programs and Professionals (CCAPP). He has more than 31 years of addiction and recovery experience, which fuels his passion for helping others. Recently, Benjamin launched a Youtube channel where he discusses the 12 Steps Program designed to help people overcome their addiction problems.

To start the process, Phoenix Rising Addiction Center makes sure that the patient is fully engaged and willing to participate in the recovery process. Hence, undergoing withdrawal and detoxification is an essential step. But it does not stop there; treatment continues through cognitive or dialectical behavioral therapy. These are powerful tools for sustained recovery as these types of therapy make sure that new, healthy, and productive thoughts and behavior patterns take the place of the old ones, which are associated with the addiction.

Benjamin takes pride in the center's day and evening outpatient rehabilitation programs. The center offers Intensive Outpatient Treatment Programs (IOP), which covers a comprehensive evaluation and assessment of the patient, individual and group therapy sessions, and life skills support.

Phoenix Rising Addiction Center also works closely with sober living homes or accommodations for IOP Clients, which serves patients best at the early stage of recovery. In these homes, the patient stays "immersed in a recovery community and environment that increases accountability and sobriety success."

Phoenix Rising Addiction Center also helps people suffering from other mental health issues on top of its addiction treatment programs and resources. The center offers an integrated health program tailored to each individual's specific diagnosis and associated features to help ensure a successful recovery.

Benjamin hopes to offer a toolbox that will help people deal with the relentless voices in their heads that keep them in pain as they suffer from addiction, anxiety, stress, depression, and other mental illnesses.

Today, Phoenix Rising Addiction Center continues to pursue its mission of "providing the best clinical care rooted in safety, security, attachment, and including current industry standards." This rehabilitation center is a firm believer that mental health challenges, whether addiction or something else, can completely "upend" one's life and make them feel lost, alone, and hopeless. Determined to help those suffering in silence, Benjamin hopes that these people will have the courage to reach out to them and take refuge in his recovery programs.

Learn more about Benjamin Kaneaiakala III and Phoenix Rising Addiction Center by visiting their official website.

Company: Phoenix Rising Addiction Center

Email: ben@phoenixrisingbehavioral.com

Phone number: 877-299-5694

Website: www.phoenixrisingbehavioral.com

SOURCE: Phoenix Rising Addiction Center

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/605548/Phoenix-Rising-Addiction-Center-Provides-Tools-for-Lifelong-Recovery
For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL  September 16, 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: NVIDIA Corporation NVDA, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. AMD, Intel Corporation INTC, Apple Inc. AAPL and QUALCOMM Incorporated QCOM.

Here are highlights from Tuesdays Analyst Blog:

NVIDIA-Arm Deal Revs Up Chip Industry: 4 Stocks in Focus

The coronavirus crisis has compelled companies globally to alter their spending strategies, and SoftBank Group isnt immune to the trend. Recently, NVIDIA inked a deal to acquire Arm Holdings for $40 billion from its existing owner Softbank Group.

Also, semiconductor companies need to be significantly large in scale in order to compete effectively in this coronavirus induced volatile environment. Therefore, resorting to massive M&A in a bid to grab more market share, cut costs, boost productivity and improve investment returns through scale economies is a compelling proposition.

Nevertheless, NVIDIAs Arm acquisition is not just another semiconductor M&A deal. In fact, it holds potential to guide the chip industry to new highs. To quote NVIDIAs CEO, Jensen Huang Were uniting NVIDIAs leading AI computing with Arms vast ecosystem.

Investor excitement following the deal was palpable with shares of NVIDIA gaining 5.8% on Sep 14, closing at $514.89. The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

The transaction, which has been approved by the boards of directors of NVIDIA, SoftBank and Arm, is expected to be immediately accretive to its non-GAAP gross margin and non-GAAP earnings per share. (Read More: NVIDIA Stock Is Cheap and Arm Is a Big Deal)

Are AMD & Intel at Risk?

The massive consolidation with far reaching effects has caused ripples across the semiconductor industry.

Story continues

Previously, NVIDIAs limited scope to provide full stack CPU-GPU offering had impeded prospects and enabled Advanced Micro Devices to gain market share. NVIDIA is now well poised to upscale its inference technology, robust drivers, and accelerators by utilizing Arms robust architecture and chip designs.

Arm acquisition is expected to aid NVIDIA in offering end-to-end ecosystem of technology across the data center, IoT, autonomous vehicles and mobile domains.

With continued innovation over the decades, the enhancement of inference capabilities of chips has gained prominence. Additionally, momentum in Internet of Things (IoT), fueled by accelerated deployment of 5G, is believed to add an extraordinary volume in sales of electronic devices, which in turn favors the prospects of NVIDIA.

Ongoing momentum of Arm-based devices coming to the market and synergies from NVIDIAs AI expertise are likely to intensify competition in the mobile segment, which is a headwind for AMD.

Nevertheless, robust adoption of 7 nanometer (nm) based Ryzen, Radeon and latest second-generation EPYC server processors, courtesy of increasing proliferation of AI and ML in industries like cloud gaming and supercomputing domain, favors prospects of AMD. The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #3.

Moreover, Intel has been witnessing stiff competition in the server, storage and networking markets. Arms strengthening position in the fast-growing micro server segment and solid uptick of its advanced designs at several Intel competitors, is a constant risk.

Also, NVIDIAs alliance with IBM poses stiff competition in the high performance computing (HPC) accelerator segment. The company has been also facing the brunt of delay in 7 nm process-based chips.

However, robust mix of high-performance second-generation Xeon Scalable processors and solid demand from Cloud service providers are expected to boost Intels growth. Further, strong momentum for 10 nm mobile CPU bodes well for this Zacks Rank #3 stock.

Whats in Store for QUALCOMM & Samsung?

Arm is a notable supplier of designs and intellectual property to most of the global semiconductor industry, licensing its technology to customers including Apple, Intel, QUALCOMM and Samsung.

Although NVIDIA has stated that it will maintain Arms customer neutrality, it is likely that the deal will see strong opposition from the companys rivals, including Intel, QUALCOMM and Samsung.

QUALCOMM, currently carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), utilizes Arm-based CPU design architecture to offer customers advanced levels of compute performance at low power. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Samsung, meanwhile, leverages Arms designs to power Exynos chipsets and boost performance of its Cortex CPU and Mali GPU. The Korea-based tech biggie was reportedly looking to acquire a small stake in Arm, in 3- 5% range.

It remains to be seen how dynamics with customers evolve over time, especially whether Arms customers look for alternatives in RISC-V. Notably, RISC-V is a royalty free open standard instruction set architecture based on established principles. Moreover, if or whether NVIDIA raises royalty fees also remains a concern, and might invite hindrance to the acquisition process.

Further, the acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including the receipt of regulatory approvals from U.K., China, the European Union and the United States. Markedly, within hours of the deal's announcement, there have been murmurs of protest emerging in South Korea and China. Completion of the transaction is expected to take place in approximately 18 months. (Read More: NVIDIA Clinches Deal to Acquire Softbank's Arm for $40B)

Biggest Tech Breakthrough in a Generation

Be among the early investors in the new type of device that experts say could impact society as much as the discovery of electricity. Current technology will soon be outdated and replaced by these new devices. In the process, its expected to create 22 million jobs and generate $12.3 trillion in activity.

A select few stocks could skyrocket the most as rollout accelerates for this new tech. Early investors could see gains similar to buying Microsoft in the 1990s. Zacks just-released special report reveals 8 stocks to watch. The report is only available for a limited time.

See 8 breakthrough stocks now>>

Media Contact

Zacks Investment Research

800-767-3771 ext. 9339

support@zacks.com

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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/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.



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WORCESTER, Mass., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Insurance outsourcing firm, Covenir has unveiled a new brand identity and website to better reflect its role in helping insurers defy their limits in the ever-changing world of insurance.

"We like to say that we help insurers color outside the lines  expanding into new markets and seizing emerging opportunities," President and General Manager, David Squibb says. "When we started the creative rebranding process, we were naturally drawn to bold, unexpected designs that reflect our culture of boundary-breaking innovation," he adds.

The mark of Covenir's new logo is a modern and colorful interpretation of a pie chart, which represents the many segments of an insurer's business. The purple slice illustrates Covenir seamlessly plugging into an insurer's business model to engage policyholders and execute on brand promises.

The company's colorful new website was designed to instill the idea that anything is possible  and within the world of insurance outsourcing, it almost is. The company is known for customizing its suite of back office insurance services to accommodate nearly any need. While perusing the site, visitors will discover:

Covenir's core suite of back-office insurance capabilities, which include FNOL & Claims, Customer Service, Print/Virtual Mail Room, Premium Services, Underwriting and Product Advisors/Sales

Featured case studies, which bring those services to life by illustrating exactly how the firm has helped insurers capture new markets and efficiencies

Enlightenment  a collection of thought leadership articles, penned by Covenir leaders

Of course, the site and thought leadership will continue to evolve to provide an engaging and informative experience for all who visit.

"In the current environment of rapid change, insurers are challenged to be more agile than ever before. It's clear to me that we have an important role to play in helping forward-thinking insurers tackle the future," Squibb says. "That's the spirit that drives our people and our new brand."

ABOUT COVENIR

Covenir powers insurance potential by helping insurers and MGAs bring their growth plans to life. Outsourced insurance services include customer service, premium services, FNOL and claims, underwriting, policy advising/sales, print and distribution, and virtual mail room services. Covenir's customers include insurance carriers, MGAs/brokers, insuretechs, and state insurance government agencies. To learn more, visit https://www.covenirbpo.com/

Media Contact:

David Squibb

978-595-8949

[email protected]

SOURCE Covenir
Former Employee At Los Alamos National Laboratory Sentenced To Probation For Making False Statements About Being Employed By China

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, September 15, 2020



Turab Lookman, 68, of Santa Fe, New Mexico, was sentenced on Sept. 11 to five years of probation and a $75,000 fine for providing a false statement to the Department of Energy. Lookman is not allowed to leave New Mexico for the term of his probation.

On June 6, 2018, Lookman, then an employee at Los Alamos National Laboratory, falsely denied to a counterintelligence officer that he had been recruited or applied for a job with the Thousand Talents Program, established by the Chinese government to recruit individuals with access to or knowledge of foreign technology and intellectual property. Lookman pleaded guilty to the charge in January.

The FBI investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys George Kraehe and Jon Stanford prosecuted the case.

Component(s): National Security Division (NSD)

Press Release Number: 20-933



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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on the Austrian authorities to consider the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from the point of view of energy security, in particular for the whole of Europe.

He said this after negotiations with Federal Chancellor of the Republic of Austria Sebastian Kurz in Vienna on September 15, the press service of the head of state reported.

"At the same time, I understand that there are serious challenges related to Nord Stream 2. I believe that in the future it will be a matter of energy security for the whole of Europe," the President said.

Zelensky called on Austria to take into account Ukraine's position when considering the Nord Stream 2 project.

"How else can Austria help Ukraine? For example, it can pay a little more attention to the issue of Nord Stream 2. I understand that it is difficult but look at this issue from our side," the Ukrainian President noted.

In his turn, Sebastian Kurz said that Vienna at the political level always pays attention to Ukraine's interests in matters concerning it.

At the same time, Kurz admitted that he and Zelensky have different positions on the gas pipeline project. But he assured that different views on Nord Stream 2 do not affect "positive and good relations between Ukraine and Austria."

ish
Canadas federal government is facing the biggest challenge in recent history as it prepares to release a speech from the throne in the thick of a pandemic.

The speech will broadly outline the governments strategy in dealing with the pandemic and with a just and equitable recovery. It must also chart a clear course toward a greener economy, while balancing the competing needs of regions and people who have vastly different expectations when it comes to things like the oil and gas sector and climate change.

The speech wont be an economic blueprint, nor should it. Thats the role of budgets and economic statements. The throne speech is more like a strategic plan that offers a macro view of the governments intended policy objectives. Rarely, if ever, has that been such a complex challenge.

Canada is not just dealing with one crisis. Arguably, its more like three. Theres the pandemic itself, with new cases rising and increasing risk of further economic and social lockdowns. Strategies to ensure adequate pandemic tracking, national health standards and PPE provision are all part of that.

Then there are the huge systemic inequities COVID-19 has laid bare. Women, particularly Indigenous, Black and other racialized women, have been hit especially hard. Youth unemployment sits at around 23 per cent.

Not only must the government figure out how to support these workers as CERB winds down, it must offer a recovery plan that targets those workers and economic sectors. That plan must include child-care support so that women, who are the main caregivers in most families, can afford child care and to return to the workforce.

Then there is the third crisis: climate change. Its not something we can ignore or put off for another day. Its here. Deadly wildfires, flood and drought are all happening with increasing frequency and intensity. In California, where wildfires are causing devastating and historic damage, Gov. Gavin Newsom, put it bluntly: If you do not believe in science, I hope you believe in observed reality. The hots are getting a lot hotter and the wets are getting a lot wetter ... The science is absolute. The data is self-evident.

Canada is far from immune with brutal fire seasons in Alberta and British Columbia and flooding in Manitoba and Quebec. Parts of B.C. and Alberta are blanketed in thick smoke from the American fires. These things are why Canadians, even when occupied by the pandemic, still have an appetite for a greener and less carbon-intensive economy.

Is it possible that some solutions to these crises can overlap? Leaders at an environmental think tank called the Smart Prosperity Institute think so. Institute director Mike Moffatt and researcher John McNally are suggesting some innovative approaches that serve more than one master. For example, they propose using the proceeds of the carbon tax to fund new child-care spaces and infrastructure.

They also suggest the government help finance energy efficiency refits of low-income housing, helping reduce the environmental impact and adding new housing stock at the same time.

They suggest ecotourism as a new economic driver, especially for places like Alberta where the oil and gas sector has shed thousands of jobs  jobs that are probably not coming back as the world turns its back on carbon-based economies.

These are innovative ideas that can help fuel an equitable recovery. The government needs these and hundreds more like them. Simply fixing a fraying social services net wont be enough. By necessity, this speech from the throne must be visionary, and the government must have the will and mandate to turn the vision into reality.

Read more about:
We are extremely pleased to have the Comprehensive Counseling team on board. Their experience with teletherapy enables LearnWell to offer virtual counseling, so districts have convenient access to high-quality mental health care for students.

LearnWell, a leading mental health services company in K-12 education, announced it has expanded its services through an agreement with Comprehensive Counseling LCSWs, a New York-based counseling practice. The addition of the counseling practice allows LearnWell to offer a more holistic set of services, including virtual counseling, to partners in school districts, hospitals and treatment facilities in support of students and their families. LearnWell will initially offer the new services in New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts.

Comprehensive Counseling is a community-based mental health private practice with offices in Queens, Long Island and the Bronx. Its practice areas include child, adolescent and family therapy, with a focus on depression, anxiety and relationship issues. Comprehensive Counseling practitioners are experienced in providing teletherapy services (virtual counseling) to patients.

The asset purchase transaction, backed by an investment from 424 Capital and Eagle Private Capital, enables LearnWell to support the continued growth of Comprehensive Counseling as an affiliate company and independent counseling services practice. James Hickey, president of Comprehensive Counseling, has joined LearnWell as Vice President of Counseling Services. Kellye Hickey, the former marketing manager for Comprehensive Counseling, is now LearnWells Director of Counseling Operations. Mary Butner, who was administrator for the practice, has also joined the management team as Director of Counseling Administration. These three are leading the counseling business and supporting the 90 clinicians currently serving patients. Eight of the practices other administrative team members have also joined LearnWell.

Mental health challenges will affect nearly half of all students at some point before age 18. While these struggles can have a significant impact on academic performance, classroom behavior, absenteeism and dropout rates, far too few students are receiving the support they need, said LearnWells CEO, Collin Earnst. We are extremely pleased to have the Comprehensive Counseling team on board. Their experience with teletherapy enables LearnWell to offer virtual counseling, so districts have convenient access to high-quality mental health care for students.

With LearnWells virtual counseling platform, traditional barriers to treatment such as proximity and availability of qualified therapists, inclement weather and transportation difficulties can easily be addressed. Delivered through secure telehealth video conference, treatment is available in nine languages, including English, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Hebrew, German, Creole, French, and Farsi. Therapists will offer verbal therapy, psychological evaluations, and medication management, when appropriate. In-person counseling sessions will also be available in certain locations.

For school districts, LearnWell Counseling Services provides support to school psychologists, social workers, and guidance counselors and offers a convenient and flexible way for students to access the help they need, with parental consent. Clinicians who partner with LearnWell accept many insurance carriers, including Medicare, which means the virtual counseling services will be a low- or no-cost solution for school districts.

We are very excited about embarking on this new chapter with LearnWell, said James Hickey. By becoming an affiliate company, well have even more opportunities to address the needs of students with emerging mental health issues and to provide therapeutic support for discharged from mental health treatment.

LearnWell also offers virtual and in-person academics during mental health treatment as well as one-to-one virtual tutoring services following mental health treatment.

About LearnWell

LearnWell partners with hospitals and treatment facilities, K-12 school districts, and families to support mental health wellness. Its integrated set of academic and mental health services are offered throughout the continuum of care to address emerging mental health needs, promote academic wellness during treatment, and support the transition back to the school environment following treatment. For more information go to: https://www.learnwellservices.com
Federal Trade and Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham has blasted Qantas' move to start a bidding war between state governments over the location of its headquarters as a blatant appeal for corporate welfare.

Qantas on Tuesday said it would look for state government financial support to help it decide whether to move its headquarters from Sydney's Mascot and relocate Jetstar's office from Melbourne and its heavy aircraft maintenance base from Brisbane Airport.

The airline on Tuesday said it was looking to shrink its physical footprint. Credit:

Senator Birmingham told ABC Radio Adelaide on Wednesday that Qantas trying to auction off its head office jobs to the highest bidder was a "blatant attempt to extract taxpayer dollars from the states and territories".

"Id have to urge caution from the states," he said. "This bidding war won't create one extra job in Australia; it just shuffles jobs around Australia and certainly our focus federally is how we save jobs across the country and try to start to grow those numbers again."
Cotonou, Benin (PANA) - Benin imported less goods from its partners of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) during the first quarter this year, the National Statistic and Economic Analysis Institute (INSAE) said here Wednesday
Amid the dragging border standoff in Ladakh sector and the first use of guns along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) since 1975, the minister of state for external affairs wrote in response to a question to Parliament that Indias relations with its neighbours, including China, has not deteriorated recently.

No, was minister of state for external affairs V Muraleedharans written reply to a question from Trinamool Congress MP Sougata Roy in Lok Sabha on whether bilateral ties with neighbours such as Nepal, China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Myanmar had deteriorated recently.

The government accords highest priority to relations with neighbours and India is an active political and economic partner of its neighbours and is involved in various projects, including development projects, with these countries, he said.

Responding to another question, also from Trinamool Congress MP Sougata Roy, on whether China has good relations with any of Indias other neighbours, Muraleedharan said the countrys relations with other countries stand on their own footing and are independent of the relations of those countries with third countries.

People familiar with the matter said the minister of states answer was in response to a question about an overall assessment of Indias relations with all its neighbours collectively and not on a particular bilateral relationship.

On the specific issue of India-China relations, defence minister Rajnath Singh had outlined New Delhis position in his detailed statement in Parliament on Tuesday, the people said on condition of anonymity.

Singh had said in his statement that the current situation in the border areas with China was very different from past standoffs in terms of the scale of troops involved and the number of friction points. He also said the Chinese side had engaged in provocative military manoeuvres and violated agreements by amassing troops.

The stand taken by the government in Parliament comes days after the external affairs ministry statement on September 11 following external affairs minister S Jaishankars meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Moscow on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting.

According to the statement, the Indian side had made it clear to the Chinese that maintenance of peace and tranquillity in the border areas is essential to the forward development of ties, and that recent incidents in eastern Ladakh had inevitably impacted the development of the bilateral relationship.

In a written reply to another question in the Lok Sabha on whether India has started discussions with China regarding the recent tensions on the border, Muraleedharan noted the contacts between the foreign and defence ministers, military commanders and Special Representatives of the two sides and meetings of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on border issues since June.

He noted that Jaishankar and Wang agreed on a five-point roadmap during their meeting in Moscow on September 10, whereby both sides will take guidance from the consensus reached by the top leadership, work to quickly disengage troops, abide by all agreements and protocols boundary affairs, continue dialogue through various mechanisms, and expedite work on new confidence-building measures for the border areas.

Accordingly, it is expected that the two sides will continue to have meetings of military and diplomatic officials to implement the agreements reached between the two foreign ministers and ensure full restoration of peace and tranquillity in the border areas, Muraleedharan said.

Muraleedharan reiterated Indias position that there had been enhanced deployment of troops and armaments by China in border areas and along the LAC since April-May, and that the Chinese side attempted to transgress the LAC in several areas of the western sector since mid-May.

These attempts received an appropriate response from India, and China departed from the consensus for disengagement reached at a meeting of corps commanders on June 6 and tried to unilaterally change the status quo, he said.

This resulted in a violent face-off in Galwan Valley on June 15, in which both sides suffered casualties that could have been avoided had the agreement at the senior commanders level been scrupulously followed by the Chinese side, Muraleedharan said.
business 3-Point Analysis | How soon can we expect law banning cryptocurrencies? Moneycontrol's Sakshi Batra does a 3-Point Analysis to find out how soon can we expect the law and what will be the impact when it gets enforced.
EU says ties with Turkey at turning point

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 15 September 2020 2:15 PM

The European Union (EU)'s top diplomat has warned that the bloc's relations with Turkey are at a "watershed moment in history," urging Ankara to defuse tensions with neighboring Greece over maritime boundaries in the eastern Mediterranean.

Josep Borrell, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, made the remarks in a speech he delivered to the European Parliament in Brussels on Tuesday, warning that the EU-Turkey relations would "go to one side or the other, depending on what happens in the next days."

His comments come as Turkey and Greece, both of them NATO members, are at loggerheads over hydrocarbon resources and naval influence in the eastern Mediterranean.

For the past month, Turkey had been sailing a seismic research vessel and escorting warships through an area in the sea that is disputed by Athens to map out possible oil and gas drilling prospects. Greece had dispatched its own naval ships to monitor the Turkish vessels.

Member states of the EU, particularly France, have supported Greece in the dispute and threatened Ankara with sanctions.

On Sunday, Turkey returned its vessels to waters near the southern province of Antalya. The Turkish government said the research vessel had been returned for maintenance, but the move was seen as a stand-down. Athens had demanded that the vessels be withdrawn for any attempt at a peaceful resolution of the dispute to go ahead. Ankara had said formerly that while it was open to dialog, it would accept no preconditions.

Elsewhere in his remarks on Tuesday, Borrell pleaded with EU leaders for more dialog with Ankara, even though he acknowledged that "the situation has worsened."

EU leaders are set to meet next week to discuss Turkey.

"The time has come for our leaders to take difficult decisions" at an EU summit on September 24-25, Borrell said.

Relations with Turkey will be a main topic in an EU summit next week, with France supporting Greece on the possibility of slapping sanctions on Ankara.

Borrell said, however, that "there is not yet an agreement on sanctions."

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As the US presidential election enters its final seven weeks, the Trump administration is intensifying its incitement of violent and extraconstitutional actions.

On Sunday, Michael Caputo, Trumps assistant secretary of public affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), posted a video on Facebook in which he urged Trump supporters to arm themselves and accused government scientists of sedition for criticizing the administrations response to the coronavirus pandemic.

If you carry guns, buy ammunition, ladies and gentlemen, because its going to be hard to get, Caputo declared. He went on to state that if Biden refused to concede in November, Trump supporters should prepare for armed violence. And when Donald Trump refuses to stand down at the inauguration, the shooting will begin, he said. The drills that youve seen are nothing.

Democrats have downplayed Caputos threats, dismissing them as the rants of a mentally unstable individual. On Tuesday, Caputo announced that he was considering taking a leave of office from the HHS.

Caputos video, however, is in line with other comments by leading Trump supporters and the president himself. On September 10, Roger Stone, the veteran of Nixons dirty tricks operations whose prison sentence Trump commuted this summer, told the fascistic Alex Jones that Trump should declare martial law if he loses the election, seize ballot boxes and arrest his political opponents. Stone declared that the Daily Beast should have its staff taken into custody and their offices shut down for publishing a story about protests against Trump should he try to stay in power.

At his campaign rallies, Trump has glorified far-right vigilantes, called for extralegal retribution against protesters, charged that ballots are being rigged, and openly stated that he will not accept the results of an election that goes against him.

In an interview with Fox News over the weekend, Trump again threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act, as he threatened in June, to deploy the military against domestic opposition. Asked how he would respond to protests following election night, he said, Well put them down very quickly if they do that, adding, We have the right to do that, we have the power to do that if we want.

This is the language of civil war.

Trump does not have a mass fascist movement at his command. However, he is seeking to use the election in order to develop such a movement, whatever happens on November 3.

Within the ruling class, in the US and internationally, there is a growing recognition that the political institutions of the United States are breaking down. The Economist writes that November could herald not a smooth exercise of democracy but violent discord and a constitutional crisis.

The Financial Times wrote over the weekend of a nightmare in Washington if Trump loses the election but refuses to concede. With the stage set for a dramatic showdown in the event of a close-run result, a constitutional crisis could play out against the backdrop of violent unrest in the streetssomething that has flared in several US cities in recent months. Behind the scenes, the Financial Times noted, top military officials are discussing possible scenarios, including the direct intervention of the military itselfeither on Trumps side or against him.

Writing in the Washington Post on Tuesday, Greg Sargent drew attention to the calculated effort of Trump to paint any scenario in which he is not declared the winner to be inherently illegitimate. This comes, Sargent notes, even as Trump has also suggested to his supporters in every which way that they should prepare to resist such an outcome as well... It might not matter to the actual outcome what he tells them to think. But it certainly makes political violence or other deep civic damage more likely.

Trump gives unvarnished expression to concerns of the financial oligarchy that historic levels of social inequality, compounded by the response of the ruling class to the pandemic, are generating mass social discontent with potentially revolutionary implications.

The Democratic Party is the second wing of the capitalist two-party system, whose main purpose is to paralyze popular opposition to Trump. The Democrats seek to mobilize broader sections of the upper-middle class on the basis of identity politicsthe obsessive fixation on race and gender. They advance no program that addresses the real interests of the vast majority of the population.

While Trump is carrying out the election as an episode in a civil war, the Democrats are always on the defensive, balancing any mild criticism of the right with a more ferocious denunciation of the left.

The principal social base of the Democratic Party is sections of Wall Street and the military who see in a future Biden administration a more effective representative of the ruling class in both foreign and domestic policy. This week, billionaire Michael Bloomberg pledged to spend $100 million to support Bidens campaign in Florida, part of a flood of money from wealthy donors into the Democratic Party.

To the extent that the Democrats have a message, it is that the removal of Trump will return everything to normal, that Trump is an aberration in an otherwise healthy society. But how did this aberration take place?

The breakdown of the political institutions of bourgeois democracy is a product of more fundamental and interrelated causes: decades of social counterrevolution that have created staggering levels of social inequality; forty years of unending war, which is now being transformed into great-power conflict; the massive growth of the military-intelligence-police apparatus, directed at both imperial conquest abroad and domestic repression at home; the criminalization of the ruling class, from the utilization of torture to domestic spying and corporate-financial manipulations.

Trumps rise to power in 2016 already gave expression to these underlying processes. The pandemic, however, has served as an enormous accelerant.

The great danger is that all opposition to Trump will be constrained by what is acceptable to the Democratic Party, which means what is acceptable to the financial aristocracy and the military. There are many historical lessons on how fascism came to powerin Germany, Italy, Spain, Chile and other countries. All of them center on the catastrophic consequences of politically disarming workers by channeling social anger behind one or another faction of the ruling class.

American and world capitalism has reached a breaking point. The working class is being radicalized. The bourgeoisie is moving ever more directly to unconstitutional, anti-constitutional and overtly fascistic forms of rule. This will persist regardless of who is in the White House after November 3.

The issues raised in this election cannot be resolved on the basis of an electoral strategy. They can be resolved only through the independent and revolutionary movement of the working class to take state power and reorganize all of social and economic life.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.  Purdue Universitys Military Family Research Institute and the Purdue Center for Regional Development recently announced that the Four County Joining Community Forces Military Supportive Communities Initiative (MSCI) Pathway Project proposal was accepted.

The group will receive a $2,000 grant that will be used to strengthen the capacity of military/veteran families in accessing local resources within the region. Another aspect of the Pathway Project is to engage team members in outreach, both to identify rural veterans and families and to connect these individuals to resources and organizations.

The Four County Joining Community Forces group, previously called the East Central Indiana Military Network, was established in 2011 for Howard, Miami, Cass and Pulaski counties, said Phil Turner, facilitator of the Four County group. Fulton County was added to the group in 2014. The Four County Joining Community Forces group is one of 16 meetings across Indiana sponsored and supported by the Indiana National Guard Family Assistance Program and the Military Family Research Institute at Purdue. The purpose of the group was to involve military members, veterans and their families as stakeholders to be a force multiplier for the entire Indiana network.

The Four County group focuses on military/veteran employment, education, mental wellness, homelessness, financial literacy and legal issues. They started the MSCI process in March 2019 and submitted their Pathway Project application in June 2020.

Members of the team will continue to study demographic and economic data on their region and have developed the skills needed to identify and act on priorities designed to benefit military and veteran families.

The group would help sponsor and support mental wellness seminars, annual veteran stand-downs, homeless and housing establishment promotions, the Reaching Rural Veterans program, outreach to emergency food pantries and veteran treatment courts. The group has over 60 stakeholders meeting bimonthly at various sites within the region.

About MFRI

The Military Family Research Institute (MFRI) at Purdue University conducts research on issues that affect military and veteran families and works to shape policies, programs and practices that improve their well-beig. Founded in 2000, MFRI envisions a diverse support community that understands the most pressing needs of military and veteran families. To achieve this, MFRI collaborates to create meaningful solutions for them. This internationally recognized organization is located at Purdue Universitys College of Health and Human Sciences, in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies.

About the Purdue Center for Regional Development

The Purdue Center for Regional Development (PCRD) seeks to pioneer new ideas and strategies that contribute to regional collaboration, innovation and prosperity. Founded in 2005, the Center partners with public, private, nonprofit and philanthropic organizations to identify and enhance the key drivers of innovation in regions across Indiana, the U.S. and beyond. These drivers include a vibrant and inclusive civic leadership, a commitment to collaboration, and the application of advanced data support systems to promote sound decision-making and the pursuit of economic development investments that build on the competitive assets of regions.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a top public research institution developing practical solutions to todays toughest challenges. Ranked the No. 5 Most Innovative University in the United States by U.S. News & World Report, Purdue delivers world-changing research and out-of-this-world discovery. Committed to hands-on and online, real-world learning, Purdue offers a transformative education to all. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue has frozen tuition and most fees at 2012-13 levels, enabling more students than ever to graduate debt-free. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap at https://purdue.edu/.

Media contact: Matthew Oates, 765-586-7496 (cell), oatesw@purdue.edu, @mo_oates

Sources: Rena Sterrett, Military Family Research Institute, 765-496-3655, rsterret@purdue.edu, @MFRIPurdue

Phil Turner, Four County Joining Community Forces, turne188@purdue.edu

Journalists visiting campus : Journalists should follow Protect Purdue protocols and the following guidelines:
Wizz Air is further reducing its network from its base in Skopje this coming winter season, with the airline to temporarily suspend another seven routes. The carrier will not be resuming flights to Barcelona, Bremen, Hannover, Laranaca, Sandefjord, Skavsta and Vaxjo until late March 2021. It follows the budget airline's decision to suspend flights from Skopje to Salzburg until the spring of next year. As a result, Wizz Air currently plans to maintain services from the Macedonian capital to 23 destinations during the winter, however, this is likely to change. The airline will run flights from Skopje to Basel, Baden Baden, Brussels, Bratislava, Berlin, Beauvais, Budapest, Copenhagen, Cologne, Dortmund, Eindhoven, Friedrichshafen, Gothenburg, Hamburg, Hahn, Malta, Malmo, Memmingen, Milan, Nuremberg, Rome, Turku and Venice. A number of these routes are temporarily suspended and not due to resume before the start of the 2020/2021 winter season.





Skopje has been Wizz Airs biggest and busiest base in the former Yugoslavia. The carrier stationed its fifth aircraft in the city last year with some jets upgraded from the 180-seat A320s to the 230-seat A321s, although this winter saw its entire Skopje-based fleet uniformed to the A320s. During 2019, the airline accounted for over 60% of all passengers from the Macedonian capital. Late last year, the Macedonian government outlined plans to invest 1.7 million euros into the countrys aviation sector during this year. The majority of the funds were to be directed towards Wizz Air for the upkeep of new routes launched in 2019 based on a three-year subsidy agreement.





Following its reopening on July 1, Skopje Airport has had to deal with significantly reduced demand, not only due to the coronavirus pandemic, but also an entry ban for the majority of Macedonian nationals to most European Union member states, as well as a flight ban from certain markets. Currently, the airport is served by seven airlines, which is expected to grow to ten over the winter when Flydubai, Qatar Airways and LOT Polish Airlines are expected to restore their operations. However, Skopjes traffic was down 16% in early September compared to late August, as Wizz Airs temporary route network suspensions began to impact on the airports performance.
NEW YORK, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Manhattan attorney Jon Norinsberg of Norinsberg Law today filed a $100 million civil rights action in the District of New Jersey on behalf of his client, New Jersey pain management Doctor Terry Ramnanan.

The suit was filed against the New Jersey Attorney General (NJAG), several employees in the NJAG's Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor, the Union County Prosecutor's Office (collectively, the "State Defendants") and two New Jersey chiropractors.

For over 38 years, Dr. Ramnanan was a highly respected pain management doctor who practiced in Paramus, New Jersey and enjoyed a stellar reputation among the medical community and with his patients.

The complaint declares that on August 1, 2017, Dr. Ramnanan was charged in a "kickback scheme" for allegedly paying a Totowa chiropractor for patient referrals to Dr. Ramnanan's pain management facility in Paramus between 2012 and 2016. However, there was no evidence that Dr. Ramnanan had engaged in any kickback scheme whatsoever, and the State Defendants cheated, lied and manufactured evidence against Dr. Ramnanan in their misguided, utterly baseless prosecution.

The complaint contends that after forcing Dr. Ramnanan to defend himself against fabricated charges for nearly two years, and completely destroying his reputation and career in the process, the State Defendants' sham case finally ended on May 23, 2019, when New Jersey Superior Court Judge Robert Vinci dismissed the entire ten count indictment against Dr. Ramnanan.

The complaint states that Judge Vinci concluded that the "the State [had] intentionally subverted the grand jury process resulting in grand jury presentation that was fundamentally unfair." By engaging in such misconduct, "[t]he State lost sight of its obligation to do justice and instead sought to indict the defendant on the most serious charges it could present. Had the State not misled the grand jurors regarding the law applicable to the charges and had the State not charged [the] defendant improperly...and had the State not and misled the grand jury...the Court is not convinced the grand jury would have indicted the defendant."

The complaint asserts that Dr. Ramnanan was completely innocent of the crimes charged, as Judge Vinci confirmed: "There were no fraudulent claims, there was no over-billing or overcharging. All of the amounts paid by the insurers were for medical procedures needed by and performed on their insureds, amounts that the insurance companies were obligated to pay pursuant to their respective insurance contracts." In arguing otherwise, the State Defendants' had engaged in deceptive conduct that was "improper[]," "intentional[]," "extremely misleading," "flat-out wrong," "incorrect[] and misleading[]," and "patently false." "By hiding the ball from the grand jurors and not advising them of a fact that was critical to the grand jurors' evaluation, the State intentionally subverted the grand jury process."

The complaint also avers that the State Defendants publicized Dr. Ramnanan's indictments for their own political agenda by issuing false, defamatory and highly sensationalized press releases. Specifically, NJAG Gurbir S. Grewal deliberately publicized the false charges against Dr. Ramnanan in order to enhance his own power and prestige. He not only issued a press release boasting about this "high profile" case his office was handling, but also bragged about Dr. Ramnanan's indictment on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. These stories were picked up by other news outlets and caused further substantial harm to Dr. Ramnanan's reputation and practice. As a result of the State Defendants' publicity, the news about Dr. Ramnanan's indictments was broadcast locally, nationally and internationally.

Dr. Ramnanan's attorney Jon Norinsberg said, "This case is a shocking example of prosecutorial misconduct. I have never seen such fraud, dishonesty and deception by state officials in my entire career. We will fight vigorously and with passion to fully vindicate Dr. Ramnanan's rights, and to hold these lawless state officials accountable for their gross misconduct."

Norinsberg added, "Dr. Ramnanan has suffered, and continues to suffer, severe and irreparable harm to his reputation. His medical practice and income have been destroyed. We are confident that when a jury hears his story, they will be truly outraged by what happened to this innocent man."

The lawsuit seeks $100 million in compensatory and punitive damages as well as litigation costs and expenses.

The case caption is Ramnanan v. Keiffer, et. al, 20 Civ. 12747 (DNJ).

Norinsberg Law is built on a core philosophy that success comes only from meticulous preparation and hard work. The firm believes very strongly that civil rights cases are not won by "showmanship" but rather by relentless and time-consuming preparation outside of court. The firm is committed to fighting passionately and aggressively for each and every client who walks through our doors, no matter who the client is or what the size of their case may be. Visit https://www.norinsberglaw.com for more information or call 212 JUSTICE (212-587-8423).

SOURCE Norinsberg Law

Related Links

http://www.norinsberglaw.com


They say you cant take it with you, and Santa Fe artifact collector and author Forrest Fenn lived by that motto  leaving behind a million-dollar-plus treasure chest to one stranger and an unmatched thrill-seeking legacy still shrouded in mystery.

Fenn, 90, died last week at his Santa Fe home surrounded by his family, including his wife of 66 years, Peggy. His death came just three months after he confirmed a man from back East had sent him a photo proving he had found the antique copper treasure chest filled with gold nuggets, gold coins, pre-Columbian gold figures, rubies, sapphires, emeralds and diamonds.

Fenn promised in 2016 he wouldnt reveal where he hid the chest in the Rocky Mountains. He also vowed never to identify the person who found it, leaving those details up to the finder. In late July, Fenn confirmed only that the treasure chest had been recovered in Wyoming.

Unless the treasure finder comes forward, the treasures once-hidden location may remain unknown forever, leaving open the door for skeptics to still question whether there ever really was a treasure. But those unanswered questions keep the mystery alive  something Fenn obviously embraced.

Fenn was always a a thrill-seeker. He enlisted in the Air Force in 1950. He flew missions during the Cuban Missile Crisis and piloted 328 combat missions in Vietnam, getting shot down twice and earning the Silver Star. For most people, that would have checked off the bucket list for thrill-seeking. But not Fenn, who wanted to share his love for adventure and devised a method to get people to explore the outdoors.

It worked. In the past decade an estimated 350,000 people worked to decipher the nine clues in his Treasure Poem, published in his 2010 memoir. At least five tragically lost their lives in the hunt. Fenn cautioned there was no need to take perilous risks, telling NPR, The treasure is not hidden in a dangerous place. I hid it when I was about 80 years old.

A decade later, while only one found it, thousands of other serious and amateur treasure hunters explored the great outdoors.

Fenn said in 2013 he had no desire to be buried. He said he preferred to go into the silent mountains on a warm sunny day, sit under a tree where the air is fresh and the smell of nature is all around, and let my body slowly decay into the soil.

RIP Forrest Fenn, wherever you chose your final resting place.

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.
Blindsided premiers say the Commonwealth must help to expand quarantine capacity to take more Australians returning from overseas if they agree to lift the weekly arrivals cap from 4000 to 6000.

Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack has asked Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia to double the number of people they take in weekly by the end of September, with NSW agreeing to continue taking the bulk of arrivals.

Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack has asked states and territories to raise their caps on international arrivals. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Tens of thousands of Australians are stuck overseas as airlines cancel their bookings due to caps on the numbers of people allowed into the country.

"There's 4000 returning at the moment, we want to make that six, we want to make that eight, we want to make that 10, we want it increasingly, exponentially available so more Australians can come home and be home with their loved ones by Christmas," Mr McCormack said.
She welcomed a baby girl named Raine with her millionaire boyfriend Tony Keterman in July.

And Lauren Pope appeared besotted as she tenderly held her two-month old daughter, who playfully grabbed her hair on Wednesday.

The former TOWIE star, 37, looked chic in an oversized mint sweatshirt as she captured the amusing 'Instagram vs Reality' snap of her life as a new mother.

'Instagram vs Reality': Lauren Pope shared an idyllic picture as she cradled baby Raine on Instagram on Wednesday, before uploading a slightly more 'real' snapshot

Lauren paired her look with black bottoms as she perched on the sofa with her baby nestled in her arms.

The mother-of-one opted for a neutral makeup look that highlighted her stunning beauty.

Raine was seen wearing an adorable floral onesie as she playfully tugged Lauren's hair and disrupted her perfect 'do.

What really goes on: She shared a hilarious snap of her little one playfully pulling her hair

Lauren captioned the image: 'Insta vs Reality,' accompanied by laughing emojis. 'In all seriousness how strong are babies btw, her grip is TIGHT!!

'On a daily basis my hair is either being pulled or puked on, anyone else?!'

Her TOWIE pals commented on the heart-warming snap as Chloe Sims said: 'Stunning,' accompanied by a heart-eye emoji.

Nicole Bass- who returned to The Only Way Is Essex for the new 2020 season- and Georgia Kousoulou also sent emojis to show their love for the mother and daughter duo.

Lauren captioned the image: 'Insta vs Reality,' accompanied by laughing emojis. 'In all seriousness how strong are babies btw, her grip is TIGHT!'

Lauren recently shared another sweet clip cradling her newborn daughter on Instagram as she declared that she 'could stay like this all day'.

The reality star reflected on what her life is now like as a mother, declaring that her days and nights now consists of 'alarms, feeds, nappies & no sleep'.

The new mum looked simply radiant as she serenely gazed at the camera while stroking little Raine's back, who was dozing peacefully on her mother's chest.

Lauren appeared completely at ease as she lay peacefully with the tot as her dog, Cookie, watched on curiously.

Baby bliss: Lauren recently shared a sweet clip cradling her newborn daughter on Instagram as she declared that she 'could stay like this all day'

Captioning the clip, Lauren penned: 'Could stay like this all day.

'My days & nights are full of alarms, feeds, nappies & no sleep & then I sneak in as many of these cuddles as possible which makes me instantly love every minute of it.

'I even love my 3am feed alarm because it means I get to hold her & look at her little face...Its real love!  Any other new mums out there, how are you finding it all?'

It comes after Lauren admitted that it feels 'surreal' that she's a mum after welcoming her first child into the world.

So sweet: The new mum looked simply radiant as she serenely gazed at the camera while stroking little Raine's back who was dozing peacefully on her mother's chest

What's going on here? Lauren appeared completely at ease as she lay peacefully with the tot as her dog Cookie watched on curiously

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline recently, the beauty spoke about the 'tough' birth of her baby girl, but insisted she now feels at her 'most content.'

Lauren also said she's in no rush to snap back into her pre-pregnancy shape, and joked that her tummy still looks like she's 'five months along.'

She said: 'It's still so surreal that she's finally here after all these months, I just can't stop staring at her beautiful little face.

'The birth was tough of course but she is worth every bit of pain, tears, sickness and exhaustion.

'I now feel at my most content, I may have painful sore parts of my body and a belly that still looks five months pregnant but I don't even care, all I care about is being the best possible mum I can be and to soak in every minute of every day with her.'
By Tina Olson

In our present day access to media overload, especially with the upcoming presidential election, the only time youll read about the Green Party is from so-called liberal journalists hell-bent on assuring that Joe Biden is our next president. The tainted version of the Democratic Partys imposed legal challenges against the Green Party come from a source of both authoritarian assumptions and dismissive overreach.

They believe, wrongly, that if they kick the Greens off of the ballots that we will vote for their unworthy and inadequate candidate. In one exchange over the past two months, one Democrat involved told a Green Party member that they didnt think we had the gumption to fight the charge.

The Green Party does have the gumption, but as a smaller political party that does not take super-PAC or dark money, it does not have the enormous amounts of money the Democrats have to sit in court over clerical errors and ridiculous signature validations. The average donation to the Green Party of PA is $9. Spending tens of thousands of dollars to fight the anti-democracy Democrats has resulted in a serious crunch of resources to support our candidates. This money can not be replaced no matter the outcome of these ludicrous and unfounded the charges.

After losing the first case, Democrats filed an appeal last week. This is why Pennsylvania ballots are not being printed, dont let anyone fool you to think otherwise. It is the Democrats who are speaking from both sides of their mouths when they talk about voter suppression and encourage mail-in ballots.

I want every Democrat to absorb that fact whenever they donate to Act Blue. It is your money going towards the suppression of thousands of voters in Pennsylvania that will never consider voting for your party again.

Thats the sum of this nonsense. The Green Party is a hub of progressive politics, the home of grassroots, and a beacon for the disenfranchised voter. With this affront to our civil rights, we can no longer support their progressive candidates hailing from such factions as Democratic Socialists, Working Families Party, or volunteer for common causes. That bridge has been burned.

In other things I did not have on my bingo card, the Republicans who have gotten involved in this mess have stood with our voting rights. That tells you how fundamentally disturbing the actions of Democrats have been. Republicans do not generally like eco-Socialism, but apparently they support our right to vote.

Lets take a moment to reflect on meeting the moment. As American citizens we have the right to our own thoughts of how to improve our lives and future. We definitely dont agree on how that should be done, but we can get on the same page about exercising our freedom to express ourselves at the voting booth. Democrats need to drop their act and learn to be more tolerant and accepting.

Tina Olson is an organizer for the Lehigh Valley Green Party. She lives in Hellertown.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 16)  The Commission on Higher Education has issued a show cause order against Isabela Colleges, Inc. after a student who tested positive for COVID-19 attended a face-to-face class orientation.

CHED chair Prospero de Vera confirmed in a budget hearing at the House of Representatives on Wednesday that the college had been ordered to stop its face-to-face classes after holidng an on-campus orientation for post-Baccalaureate students last month.

"As of now, no one is allowed to do face-to-face classes. That's why the college in Isabela, we ordered them to stop and we issued a show cause order for them to explain why they should not be penalized," he said.

The student reportedly from a private school in the city of Cauayan in Isabela province had attended the orientation for students enrolled in a second degree last August 29. The student is an employee of the city government taking a professional education course.

In a separate statement, CHEd said that city health officials were tracing up to 45 people that the student had contact with following the incident.

Isabela Colleges was given ten days to explain why its officials should not face sanctions for their failure to comply with CHED's advisories and the guidelines of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.

During the hearing, De Vera said they his office is still considering limited in-person classes in areas under low-risk modified general community quarantine.

"We have completed the guidelines for possible limited face-to-face classes in low-risk MGCQ areas starting January," De Vera said, noting that consultations will still be made with local government units, as well as public and private universities.

In May, CHED issued an advisory prohibiting mass gatherings in higher educational institutions, including in-person graduation ceremonies and other school activities until the prohibition for mass gathering is limited.
Metra LeBlanc walks her dog "Lea" pass a bouquet of flowers on a fence at the Gold Star Park in South Philadelphia. A South Philadelphia dog walker was killed in front of his fiancee in January 2019 after a dispute with another dog walker at Gold Star Park. Read more

The Point Breeze man who fatally punched another man while both were walking their dogs in a Southwark dog park in January 2019 was sentenced Wednesday to two to five years in state prison.

Matthew Oropeza, 25, who in March pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, a misdemeanor, broke down while addressing Common Pleas Court Judge Glenn Bronson near the end of a two-hour hearing. Seventeen relatives and friends gave emotional victim-impact statements about the death of Drew Justice, 38.

I let the community down, I let this family down, said Oropeza, who called himself a lover, not a fighter.

Theres good in me. I love my son more than the world, and I know they loved Drew equally if not more. ... Im sorry. Im wrong, and Im trying to do the best I can to make things right, he added, alluding to his guilty plea.

Bronson questioned whether Oropeza had been charged with a lesser crime than his conduct warranted. This behavior in my opinion is not typical of that charge, he said, noting that four days before the defendant punched Justice, he had threatened another man in the same dog park.

That really just shows a sense of entitlement, antisocial, aggressive behavior of someone who could not take the fact that someone had the temerity to ask him to abide by the law, Bronson said.

The judge bemoaned the fact that the crime has left some with the feeling that they cant enjoy a public park without some outrageous thing like this happening.

As part of the plea deal, the District Attorneys Office dropped charges of making terroristic threats, simple assault, and reckless endangerment.

Oropeza, of the 1600 block of South 16th Street, had been free on $75,000 bail since his arrest on Jan. 10, 2019. After the hearing, he was taken into custody by the Philadelphia Sheriffs Office.

His deadly clash with Justice happened Jan. 5, 2019, in Gold Star Park. Authorities said Oropeza punched Justice after Justice complained that Oropezas two dogs were unleashed. The punch caused Justice to fall backward and hit the ground. He died shortly afterward.

Days before the fatal punch, Oropeza had a verbal spat with another man at the same park, also about his dogs not being leashed, Assistant District Attorney Danielle Burkavage told Bronson.

Had the defendant followed the rules, Drew Justice would still be here, she said. After landing the blow, he went about his life with his family that night as if nothing happened, she said.

Burkavage also cited a 2016 incident in which Oropeza was charged with disorderly conduct after he shoved a man outside a bar on MacDade Boulevard in Delaware County. That victim suffered facial injuries.

Oropeza was arrested there on drug charges after police found six small baggies of a substance suspected to be cocaine. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a nonconfinement diversionary program, according to court records.

Among those who spoke on behalf of Justice, most via Zoom, were his parents, three brothers, sister, three sisters-in-law, a cousin, and friends. They said Justice loved the outdoors, Italy, and his large and tight-knit family and circle of friends. He was a great grill master who dreamed of opening a food truck, they said, and was three months shy of getting married and moving to the suburbs.

Sadness and depression follows me each day," his father, Roger, said. Parents are not supposed to bury their children.
John Edwards (pictured) shot dead his estranged children Jack and Jennifer in Sydney in July 2018

A senior supervisor of the NSW firearms registry has defended a decision to grant evil father John Edwards a gun licence before he killed his kids.

Edwards, a 67-year-old pensioner with a history of domestic violence, shot dead his estranged children Jack and Jennifer before taking his own life in Sydney in July 2018.

Six months after the murder-suicide, the children's mother Olga Edwards tragically killed herself.

An inquest into the deaths has heard NSW Firearms staff granted Edwards a gun licence in June 2017 without looking into entries on his main police profile.

As of June 2017, 15 of the 18 entries on related to either apprehended violence orders, stalking allegations, assault allegations or adverse interactions in relationships. The most recent charges were laid in 1998.

But Edwards was granted a Commissioner's Permit by firearms officials in 2017, giving him approval to train at a gun club before applying for a licence.

Jack (pictured left) and Jennifer's (pictured right) body were found under his bedroom desk with multiple gunshot wounds

He was refused membership at the Kuringai Pistol Club due to his aggressive and strange behaviour, but was able to bypass the rejection to gain membership at another club.

This information was readily available to the public servants at the NSW firearms registry, but a decision was still made to grant Edwards a gun licence.

The boss of the employees who approved the permit told the inquest on Wednesday the registry had been 'traumatised' after hearing of the children's deaths.

She said it was obvious in hindsight staff could have placed more weight on the domestic violence incidents.

'But based on the information at that time - and things have changed since then - I probably would have granted him a licence as well,' the registry veteran said.

Edwards then turned the gun on himself at a rented home near Normanhurst, northern Sydney (pictured)

The manager said she and those working under her believed in 2017 they should only refuse licences if they found a 'mandatory' reason outlined in legislation, such as the applicant being subject to a final AVO in the past decade.

Six months after the murder-suicide, the children's mother Olga (pictured) took her own life

Legislation says a licence cannot be granted unless the decision-maker is satisfied the applicant is 'a fit and proper person' and can be trusted to possess firearms without endangering public safety.

'Back in 2017, obviously our reasoning had some flaws in it,' the supervisor told the NSW Coroners Court.

The inquest has heard the registry - overseeing the state's 230,000 gun owners and one million firearms - didn't have formal training procedures and relied on new staff learning over the shoulder of longer-term clerks.

The clerk adjudicating on Edwards' pistol licence told police in August 2018 she had been handling 80 to 100 applications a day.

'Do you agree that ... because nothing is written down, you really have no idea about how people are being trained to do their job?' counsel assisting Kate Richardson SC asked.

'Yes,' the supervisor replied.

She agreed a four-line policy could have clarified that staff needed to thoroughly check applicants' police profiles but she didn't think it was necessary.

'Some of them, they'd been here for 15 years at that time and I thought they were experienced,' the supervisor said.

She said the adjudication process had changed 'dramatically' since the deaths in 2018 with entirely new guidelines and a new decision-making tool that focused on identifying risk and staff being accountable.

Flowers and tributes lay outside the property in West Pennant Hills, Sydney in June 2018 after the murder suicide of the Edwards family

Applications involving false or misleading statements or a history of domestic violence are escalated to 'senior adjudicators', the supervisor said.

The registry also now uses the more-user-friendly WebCOPS interface to access the police database and its automatically generated report of relevant events on applicants' police profiles now targets more information.

Superintendent Anthony Bell, who took over as Firearms Registry commander in September 2018, is expected to face the inquest on Thursday.

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On Sunday, McConnell and his support team met at Lighthouse Beach in Evanston around 7:30 a.m.; he swam south and finished over seven hours later near the Feinberg School of Medicine, close to Navy Pier, at about 2:45 p.m. To replace the calories he was burning, about every 30 minutes he stopped for a blended drink from his team. Following rules established for competitive long-distance swims, he did not touch the boat following him or anyone on the boat.
NEW DELHI : In a huge relief to Indias toy industry, the Union government has extended the enforcement of compulsory Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certification for toys, which will now come into effect from 1 January, 2021.

This assumes significance given that Indias toy industry was in a bind with the government rejecting additional time sought by manufacturers, importers, and retailers for the enforcement of the Toys (Quality Control) Order, which came into effect on 1 September.

The order mandates that all toys and materials designed or intended for use in play by children below 14 years of age shall be certified by BIS. This is necessary to do business in the domestic market dominated by Chinese imports, given that the absence of such certification entails criminal liability, including imprisonment and substantial fines.

In a Tuesday order reviewed by Mint, Commerce and Industry ministry said, It shall come into force with effect from 1st January, 2021."

The earlier February order was aimed at maintaining quality standards for toys to be used in the Indian market that is estimated at $38.1 billion by Statista, a German markets data portal.

A commerce ministry spokesperson in an emailed response said, Yes. The QCO (Quality Control Order) implementation date has been extended to 1 Jan 21."

This is a welcome move. Though it should have been ideally extended for 6 months, the 4 month extension is a huge relief to the industry which was staring at criminal prosecution for being non-compliant or partly compliant. The aim should be to help and not hassle the industry and government has taken the right call," said Abhixit Singh, partner at ASP Advocates, a New Delhi based law firm.

The All India Toys Federation (AITF) said that the deadline extension aside, the industry body that represents scores of small and large toy manufacturers, is also seeking that manufacturers be given the option to get their products screened for quality standards under the earlier processes wherein they can use BIS-accredited laboratories to test product samples.

"We request the Commerce and Industries ministry, to think beyond simply extending the BIS window. Most of our toy manufacturers are small-scale producers who cannot afford to set up laboratories. We implore him to allow a Scheme II, where we will still adhere to the IS9873 standards, but have an easier process. Here, small manufacturers can get their samples tested and verified through BIS accredited laboratories," said Rehan Dhorajiwala, spokesperson, All India Toys Federation (AITF).

This comes in the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his monthly 'Mann ki Baat' radio programme, talked about making 'toys for the world' and highlighted the ability of India to become a 'toy hub. While the global toy industry is over 7 trillion, India's share is very small.

India has also restricted the import of tyres and other auto components from China, and barred hundreds of Chinese apps, including Blueholes PUBG, Bytedances TikTok, and Alibabas UC Browser, citing national security concerns.

BIS that works under the Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution ministry has been turning the screws on certification of Chinese products. A case in point being delays in certification and testing approvals for imported solar equipment from China, Mint reported earlier.

This comes in the backdrop of fresh tensions with China, with 20 Indian soldiers and an unspecified number of Chinese soldiers dead in a mid-June border clash in Ladakh.

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Several Chattanooga parents from multiple districts voiced their approval of an amended budget that would give money to the Education Connect initiative that would provide internet to low-income families. However, the first speaker was local activist Marie Mott, who said she supported this amendment to the budget.

We have children who may not have access to internet in their neighborhood, Ms. Mott said, and regardless of some rather ridiculous remarks made by certain council individuals, they deserve to have access to these services originally promised to them by our mayor.

Another speaker was Sunnny Burden, a mother from Red Bank who said her family has benefited greatly from the free and reduced-cost internet. She said having internet has helped her family in ways that go beyond education.

I am most certainly thankful for how it has helped us, and without it I believe we would be in dire need of other help, Ms. Burden said. We use it for schoolwork at home, and other household reasons like paying our bills, doctor visits, and talking to family and friends during quarantine.

Another mother told the city council that the Education Connect program has been a savior for her. She said her child is autistic, and that having cheaper internet has allowed her to work from home, thus giving her an opportunity to help her child with schoolwork.

Danielle Jones was another mother who addressed the council. She said her daughter goes to school on two days, and then does online school on two other days of the week.

She has to answer whatever question the teacher may put on one of the programs she has at the school. If she didnt have internet, she wouldnt be able to do that, Ms. Jones said, who also echoed Ms. Burdens statements by saying internet has helped with paying bills and communicating with family.

After those constituents addressed the council, Councilwoman Demetrus Coonrod brushed against what Ms. Mott said at the very beginning of the open forum.

No one on council said kids dont need access to internet. What we said, and I was the council person who said it, was that everybody needs access to internet, not just inner-city kids, Councilwoman Coonrod said. Everyone within Chattanooga who has free or reduced-fee lunch needs to have access to the internet. We have to not allow people to mislead us with the wrong information.

Toward the end of the council meeting, some citizens spoke more generally about the council amending the budget as a whole. One man did say he supported giving city workers raises and giving families free internet, and that he believed now was a good time to look into changing policies and the budget.

Now that we are revisiting certain budget items, as Mr. Byrd put forward, this would be a good time to re-examine those questions and where we want our city to go.

Another speaker said that the last time people floated the idea of changing the budget, the council said the budget was like a contract, and could not be altered.

I find it especially interesting the budget is being reamended against that contract, he said. That line of rhetoric has aged rather poorly, and I urge the council to readdress and review how better the public funds can be spent.

Other speakers also voiced their support for divesting from the police and into other areas of Chattanooga. After the hour-long meeting was over and the registered speakers had a chance to be heard, the meeting was adjourned.


The fiery claws of a wildfire burning through the mountains of California's Big Sur coastline have left behind paths of scorched trees in two state parks.

The Dolan Fire has been burning for a month and tore through the wildlands of both Limekiln and Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Parks.

Officials are receiving preliminary information on damage, though final reports on burn areas could be weeks away with a shortage of firefighters to conduct damage assessments amid a record-breaking wildfire season.

"The crews are picking up and leaving," said Marcos Ortega, California State Parks Big Sur sector superintendent. "Those efforts will have to be done at a later time. It creates some worry for us. Once the rains come, there's concern about erosion and sediment control. Our hope is to have evaluation done as soon as resources are available."

California State Parks

The Dolan Fire was sparked by a suspected arsonist on Aug. 18 near Dolan Road and Highway 1 in the Los Padres National Forest and currently stands at 122,178 acres acres with 40% containment.

The blaze entered Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park during the fourth week in August and crews saved two staff residence buildings, one of them historic. Damage to the park's trail system and its bridges is "substantial," Ortega said.

"It will be some time before Julia Pfeiffer Burns will be able to be open," he said. "It would not be out of the realm of possibility that that park wouldn't be open for the rest of the year."

He added: "There are a lot of fallen trees, and trails slipping away. Even if we did repairs right away, as soon as we get rains, there will be slides. We need time for the land to stabilize."

In Limekiln, the kiosk and campground infrastructure have all survived the fire. "We should be able to open up pretty quickly," Ortega said. "Unless there was damage to water tanks, which I don't think there was. Maybe there's damage to the trail into the canyon."

With containment increasing on the Dolan Fire, Andrew Molera State Park and Point Lobos State Natural Reserve finally reopened this week. The Soberanes Canyon Trail in Garrapata State Park is also welcoming visitors.

Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park remains closed as a staging area for fire crews; Point Sur State Historic Park and John Little State Natural Reserve are also both closed.

The Dolan Fire leveled a sanctuary for the endangered California condor. The 80-acre sanctuary founded in 1997 is used to release captive-bred condors into the wild. The Ventana Wildlife Society recently learned one of the condors and a chick are alive: Read the full story on SFGATE.

Find updates on Big Sur State Parks here.

Amy Graff is the news editor with SFGATE. Email her: agraff@sfgate.com.
All Creatures Great and Small

Rating:

Flying for Britain with David Jason

Rating:

When the current series of All Creatures Great and Small (Ch 5) started it was impossible to stop images of the characters in the classic BBC original from popping into your head.

Three episodes into this remake, its a tribute to the producers and cast that it no longer happens.

After taking some time to settle into his new job, James (Nicholas Ralph) was finally feeling confident. He correctly diagnosed a calf with heatstroke, and was called out to examine a racehorse with suspected colic.

No ordinary racehorse either  it was Andante, the favourite to win the Darrowby Classic and owned by the pompous Hugh Hulton, Jamess love rival in the battle for the affections of the lovely Helen.

And so tensions threatened to boil over when James determined Andante had a twisted bowel and euthanised the animal. When Hulton found out, he went on the warpath, insisting Herriot had made a mistake.

Gossip soon spread and it wasnt long before locals started referring to James as eriott the orse killer.

CLAUDIA CONNELL: Three episodes into this remake, its a tribute to the producers and cast that it no longer happens

A post-mortem revealed James was correct in his diagnosis. It formed a bonding moment with his boss, Siegfried Farnon, who refused to do business with anybody who doubted James.

As Siegfried, Samuel West has made the role his own and there was a touching scene as he revealed how he was made to shoot military horses at the end of World War I because it was cheaper than shipping them home. He considered the horses he healed at his Yorkshire practice a way of making amends.

From the gorgeous shots of the Dales to Mrs Halls mouth-watering cooked breakfasts, All Creatures Great And Small has become a joyous, essential weekly watch  just like the original.

It was equally joyous to see the expression of wonder and delight on the face of actor David Jason when Spitfires, Hurricanes and Lancaster Bombers took to the skies in Flying for Britain with David Jason (ITV).

Ten years ago, David made a documentary, marking the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, where he met some of the pilots who had flown the planes.

Last night he visited RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire, home to The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) to mark the 80th anniversary. Sadly, none of the pilots he spoke to a decade ago were still alive but the airmen at Coningsby were all determined to pay tribute to them.

These men, all volunteers from the RAF, were in the middle of rehearsing a spectacular series of displays and flypasts when Covid-19 struck, devastating the schedule. While many events were cancelled, some still pushed ahead. One was the flypast tribute paid to Captain Tom Moore on his 100th birthday in April featuring a Spitfire and a Hurricane.

In May, following a Daily Mail campaign, a Spitfire display soared over the skies of England, including a nominated care home and NHS hospital.

Today, only one Spitfire that fought in the battle remains  but she was still in perfect working order thanks to the efforts of the ground staff engineers.

As well as marvelling at the beauty of the planes and the skill of the pilots and engineers, it was wonderful to see the genuine enthusiasm of David, a pilot and plane enthusiast.

Get in there! he shouted as they took off, patting and stroking them like the family dog as they safely landed.

n CHRISTOPHER STEVENS is away.
New Delhi, Sep 16 : The menace of illicit trade will be dealt with in a systematic manner with concerted efforts by central and state enforcement agencies along with the paramilitary forces, said Debajyoti Dutta, Secretary, Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Assam.

"The criminals who are indulging in smuggling and counterfeiting activities are promoting crime and economic instability and the consumers are bearing the brunt of it. It is important that we instil pride for Indian brands and goods amongst the consumers. This will play a pivotal role in putting counterfeit and smuggled products out of the market," he added.

Dutta was addressing a webinar 'Combating Counterfeiting and Smuggling during the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond', organized by FICCI's Committee Against Smuggling and Counterfeiting Activities Destroying the Economy (CASCADE).

Pabitra Khaund, Secretary, Department of Industries & Commerce, Government of Assam, said that the Prime Minister's call for 'Vocal for local' will be a potent tool in the fight against counterfeiting and smuggling. It will create a conducive environment for the economy of the state and play a major role in strengthening India.

He added that the government of Assam has launched several schemes in this direction, which has immensely benefited local artisans and small enterprises.

G.M. Kamei, Commissioner, Commissionerate of Customs, northeastern region, highlighted the role of Customs in addressing this menace in the northeastern region. He said, "The custom officers are working in close coordination with DRI, Assam Rifles and State Police to make the task of a smuggler a difficult one". The commissioner shared that during the Covid period they conducted 710 seizures of goods worth Rs. 110 cr.

Congratulating the Assam government and the enforcement agencies, Anil Rajput, Chairman, FICCI CASCADE said, "The enforcement officials have relentlessly pursued the smugglers and counterfeiters in the northeastern region and over the last few months seized contraband and illicit cigarettes, liquor, drugs, currency and consumer goods."
Srinagar, Sep 16 (UNI) Alert troops foiled yet another infiltration bid by militants from Pakistan-occupied- Kashmir (PoK) in Gurez sector in the north Kashmir district of Bandipora, a defence ministry spokesman said.

He said that acting on a specific input of Jammu and Kashmir police that some militants will try to infiltrate into this side from PoK, patrolling was further intensified.

However, suspicious movement was detected by alert troops guarding the Line of Control (LoC) on September 14 in Gurez sector, which is surrounded by PoK from three sides.

Col Rajesh Kalia said that contact was established and the suspected militants were fired upon by the security forces.

Aggressive and timely action by security forces foiled an infiltration bid from PoK, he said.

He said during the joint operation in the area war like stores, including one assault rifle with four magazines and 135 rounds of ammunition, three pistols with five magazines and 120 rounds, one GPS, four meters of Cortex and four rucksacks were recovered.



Senior Army officers and Director General of Police (DGP) have said that a large number trained militants are waiting in launch pads to sneak into this side before the infiltration routes are closed due to heavy snowfall during the winter.

They said Pakistani troops are violating ceasefire at the LoC only to help militants to sneak into this side.

However, they said, troops guarding the LoC are always on high alert to foil these infiltration attempts.

UNI ABS SB 0953
With all the tragic fires and evacuations in Oregon, especially in Clackamas County, an interesting question comes to mind: Where would we go? I live in Milwaukie, which had been on a Level 2 evacuation notice; we were supposed to be packed and ready to leave at a moments notice, to get out now if we were declared Level 3.

After reading about the plight of a Beavercreek couple who spent five hours getting to the Clackamas Town Center parking lot (Oregon wildfires evacuees spill from Clackamas County, seeking refuge in RVs, shopping malls, Sept. 11), a journey of 18 miles  thats an average of 3.6 mph  it dawned on me, where would we go? If Milwaukie were declared Level 3, all the roads and bridges to the west side of Portland would be gridlocked beyond comprehension. As the Beavercreek couple reported, all the motels were full or seemed to be price gouging. I have not heard any of our leaders discussing or confronting questions about routes or options available.

We are constantly reminded about the big one coming. From the lack of preparedness and evacuation guidance from our state and local leaders, this does not bode well given the earthquake zone we live in. There are many urban planners and emergency situation agencies throughout government and in our universities who get well-paid to plan for horrendous situations we find ourselves in. Wheres the plan?

Dennis E. Larson, Milwaukie
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Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 12:42:09|Editor: huaxia

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JERUSALEM, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Israeli aircraft struck the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, as warning sirens of rocket fired from the Palestinian territory sounded in southern Israel, local media reported.

Witnesses said that the Israeli air strike hit a training base of the Islamic Hamas movement, ruler of the Gaza Strip.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The Israeli military, which did not immediately confirm the attack, said rocket-warning sirens went off in Israeli communities bordering Gaza.

Hours earlier, a rocket fired by Palestinian militants in Gaza struck the coastal Israeli city of Ashdod, injuring two people, while in Washington Israel signed agreements to normalize diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Enditem
TIDE2020 We have worked with Teklink for many years and TekLinks Innovation Day (TIDE) has been a great way to get insights on technology trends and how business leverage them. Its been amazing to see this event grow in content and popularity, expressed Mark Morris, CIO of Ball Horticultural, Inc.

TekLink International Inc., a respected leader in Enterprise Performance Management, Cloud Platforms and Data Analytics, will be hosting its 9th Annual TekLink Innovation Day Event (TIDE). This insightful event will be hosted virtually and run throughout the month of October to make it easy on its attendees in the wake of COVID19.

Many of our clients will be leading key technology enabling sessions this year, said Michael Svolos, Vice President  Delivery Management at TekLink International Additionally, we will be showcasing a wide variety of solutions all during the month of October. These sessions will be highlighting how corporations and public entities can continue to invest in lean and agile analytics and planning solutions provided by TekLink in this age of COVID19. We have a dearth of proven solutions that should cause excitement when unveiled at this years TIDE.

TekLinks Annual Innovation Day features business solutions sessions leveraging the latest world class technologies in Analytics and Planning. With over 30 plus sessions including over 9 client led sessions over a 4-week period from October 6th through October 30th, TekLink continues to be an innovative thought leader in the data analytics and planning space. On average, there will be 4-5 sessions per day and weekly attendee led networking sessions on topics such as Cloud Analytics, Business Planning, Big Data, Advanced Analytics and Data Science.

We have worked with Teklink for many years and TekLinks Innovation Day (TIDE) has been a great way to get insights on technology trends and how business leverage them. Its been amazing to see this event grow in content and popularity, expressed Mark Morris, CIO of Ball Horticultural, Inc.

We are very pleased to offer our Innovation Day this year over the course of the month of October this year. Many of our clients have inquired as to how they can still participate, network, and learn while being remote. We at TekLink take great pride in this event to showcase the latest innovations of how IT enables the business in the Analytics and Planning space. As such, as part of our 9th Annual TIDE, we are excited for our clients and prospects to participate in these insightful and forward-looking sessions. By hosting over the four-week period, we are enabling them to seamlessly participate over a longer period of time and assisting with their remote work life balance. Like every year has shown to date, TIDE continues to grow larger and larger, and this year is no different as we expect this to be our largest and most successful TIDE to date, said Douglas Heck, Senior Vice President of Sales at TekLink International.

Look for upcoming announcements from TekLink International on its website or on its LinkedIn page for details on how to register for TIDE2020.

For additional details and registration to the event, please visit http://www.teklink.com/tide-2020/ or contact TekLink at tide@teklink.com.

About TekLink International, Inc.:

TekLink International, Inc. headquartered in Warrenville, Illinois, is a leading implementer and thought leader offering services in support of Microsoft, Anaplan and SAP solutions to many Fortune 500 companies, public agencies, and universities. Founded in 2003, TekLink specializes in services in support of business intelligence, planning, analytics, and data warehousing. TekLink has international offices in Asia, Europe, and North America. TekLink is Gold Partners to Microsoft and SAP as well as partners to Theobold Software, Anaplan and Tableau. TekLinks implementation services enable enterprises to harness the power of Business Intelligence, Cloud Analytics, and Business Planning and Forecasting across an organization providing invaluable insights in order to drive critical business decisions across many lines of business. TekLinks track record of over 1,400+ projects underscores its commitment to excellence in technology and consulting services

To learn more, visit us at: http://www.teklink.com/

Or, visit us on LinkedIn and follow: https://www.linkedin.com/company/teklink-international-inc

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Cars and a motorcycle are underwater as water floods a street in Pensacola, Fla., on Wednesday. Read more

PENSACOLA, Fla.  Hurricane Sally lumbered ashore near the Florida-Alabama line Wednesday with 105 mph winds and rain measured in feet, not inches, killing at least one person, swamping homes and forcing the rescue of hundreds as it pushed inland for what could be a slow and disastrous drenching across the Deep South.

The death happened in Orange Beach, Ala., according to Mayor Tony Kennon, who also told The Associated Press that one person was missing. Kennon said he couldnt immediately release details.

Moving at just 3 mph, or about as fast as a person can walk, the storm made landfall at 4:45 a.m. Central Standard Time close to Gulf Shores, Ala., about 30 miles from Pensacola. It accelerated to a light jog as it battered the Pensacola and Mobile, Ala., metropolitan areas encompassing nearly 1 million people.

Sally cast boats onto land or sank them at the dock, flattened palm trees, peeled away roofs, blew down signs, and knocked out power to more than 540,000 homes and businesses. A replica of Christopher Columbus ship the Nina that had been docked at the Pensacola waterfront was missing, police said.

Sally tore loose a barge-mounted construction crane, which then smashed into the new Three Mile Bridge over Pensacola Bay, causing a section of the year-old span to collapse, authorities said. The storm also ripped away a large section of a fishing pier at Alabamas Gulf State Park on the very day a ribbon-cutting had been scheduled following a $2.4 million renovation.

By the afternoon, authorities in Escambia County, which includes Pensacola, said at least 377 people had been rescued from flooded areas. More than 40 people trapped by high water were brought to safety within a single hour, including a family of four found in a tree, Sheriff David Morgan said.

Authorities in Pensacola said 200 National Guard members would arrive Thursday to help. Curfews were announced in Escambia County and in some coastal Alabama towns.

Sally turned some Pensacola streets into white-capped rivers early Wednesday. Sodden debris and flooded cars were left behind as the water receded.

By early afternoon, Sally had weakened into a tropical storm. It was downgraded to a depression late Wednesday night with 35 mph sustained winds. The National Weather Service said the system was still forecast to dump 4 to 8 inches of rain in southeast Alabama and central Georgia by Thursday night, with up to 1 foot in some spots.

At least eight waterways in south Alabama and the Florida Panhandle were expected to hit their major flood levels by Thursday. Some of the crests could break records, submerge bridges and flood some homes, the National Weather Service warned.

Morgan, the Escambia County sheriff, estimated thousands would need to flee rising waters in the coming days. Escambia officials urged residents to rely on text messages for contacting family and friends to keep cellphone service open for 911 calls.

There are entire communities that were going to have to evacuate, the sheriff said. Its going to be a tremendous operation over the next several days.

West of Pensacola, in Perdido Key, Fla., Joe Mirable arrived at his real estate business to find the two-story building shattered. Digging through the ruins, Mirable pointed out a binder labeled Hurricane Action Plan.

I think the professionals got this one wrong, he said before the wind blew away his hat.

More than 2 feet of rain was recorded near Naval Air Station Pensacola, and nearly 3 feet of water covered streets in downtown Pensacola, the National Weather Service reported.

Its not common that you start measuring rainfall in feet, said forecaster David Eversole.

Sally was the second hurricane to hit the Gulf Coast in less than three weeks and the latest to blow in during one of the busiest hurricane seasons ever. Forecasters have nearly run through the alphabet of storm names with 2 months still to go. At the start of the week, Sally was one of a record-tying five storms churning simultaneously in the Atlantic basin.

Like the wildfires raging on the West Coast, the onslaught of hurricanes has focused attention on climate change, which scientists say is causing slower, rainier, more powerful and more destructive storms.

An emergency crew rescued two people on Dauphin Island, Ala., after the hurricane ripped the roof off their home and the rest of the house began to crumble. Mayor Jeff Collier said no one was injured.

In Orange Beach, the wind blew out the walls in one corner of a condominium building, exposing at least five floors. At least 50 people were rescued from flooded homes and taken to shelters, Mayor Tony Kennon said.

We got a few people that we just havent been able to get to because the water is so high, Kennon said. But they are safe in their homes. As soon as the water recedes, we will rescue them.

Sallys crawl made it hard to predict where it would strike. Just two days before landfall, the storm was forecast to hit New Orleans  140 miles west of where it came ashore.

So Robert Lambrisky and his husband were caught somewhat off guard when the hurricane shook their door before daybreak and forced rainwater inside their home in Sanders Beach near Pensacola.

We had some warning, but this was just such a strange storm, Lambrisky said. So all of this preparing that you do, when you know the storm is coming, was something we only half did because we were convinced the storm wasnt going to hit us.

Sallys effects were felt all along the northern Gulf Coast, affecting low-lying properties in Mississippi and southeastern Louisiana.

Hurricane Laura pummeled southwestern Louisiana on Aug. 27. Thousands of people were still without power from that storm, and some were still in shelters.

Meanwhile, far out in the Atlantic, Teddy became a hurricane Wednesday with winds of 100 mph. Forecasters said it could reach Category 4 strength before closing in on Bermuda, which took a direct hit from Hurricane Paulette only days ago.

Wang reported from Mobile and Martin, from Marietta, Ga. Associated Press contributors include Russ Bynum in Savannah, Ga.; Sudhin Thanawala and Haleluya Hadero in Atlanta; Bobby Caina Calvan and Brendan Farrington in Tallahassee, Fla.; Rebecca Santana in New Orleans; and Julie Walker in New York.
51Talk also continued to maintain a high gross margin of more than 70% and record high gross billings of RMB676.4 million. Operating cash flow was RMB172.1 million, a year-over-year increase of RMB72.9 million while net revenue was RMB493.5 million, a 40% increase year-over-year.

51Talk maintains leading position in market share

China's K-12 Online English Development Blue Book 2020 ("Blue Book"), released by Southern Weekly, a well-known Chinese media, and the big-data research center of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, shows that 51Talk ranks first among its industry peers at 46% market share, with the next two peers coming in at 18% and 16%. The Blue Book also shows that Chinese parents believe 51Talk provides the most superior service offering when it comes to improving their children's English listening and speaking skills. The parents also noted that their children's speaking skills improved significantly after enrolling in 51Talk.

According to K-12 Online English One-on-One User Trend Research released by CTR Market Research, 51Talk enjoys total brand leadership with its cumulative 100 million classes delivered since its establishment in 2011. Its customer satisfaction rating also ranks first in the industry.

Strong market penetration in China and the Philippines fueled consistent profitability

In the second quarter of 2020, 71.3% of gross billings from the K-12 one-on-one mass market courses are from non-tier-one cities while 28.7% are from first-tier cities. Over the past two years, the growth of users in non-tier-one cities has exceeded that of first-tier cities. The success of this continuous downward market penetration has enabled 51Talk to attract customers with its competitive pricing, which further contributed to revenue growth.

51Talk's strong market growth has made it possible for its online teachers, a bulk of whom reside in the Philippines, to enjoy better profits with their one-on-one courses. In the three most recent financial quarters, 51Talk has maintained a high gross margin of 70%. Instead of allocating a big chunk of its resources in traditional advertising and marketing, 51Talk focused on teaching quality and effectiveness as well as word-of-mouth referrals, to greatly reduce operating costs.

Since 51Talk started its operations in the Philippines, it has developed programs and campaigns to create awareness about the benefits of being an online English teacher. This year, the company welcomed Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach as its brand ambassador to attract more Filipino teachers.

Philippine teachers now more popular in China

In China, parents prefer Filipino teachers compared with counterparts from Europe and United States, according to the CTR Market Research. Although Filipinos are not native English speakers, the Philippine education system as well as businesses, use the English language, and thus the country consistently maintains top English proficiency ratings. Filipino teachers have been studying and learning English as a second language for years, so they are equipped with a deeper and more technical understanding of how to teach the English language.

Filipinos also take pride in their strong customer service. They are generally mild-mannered, modest, passionate, enthusiastic, cheerful and patient, which are ideal qualities to possess in order to effectively teach English to young kids. In addition, there is no time difference between the Philippines and China, so students and teachers can easily connect with more flexible class schedules. With all these advantages, Filipino teachers have gradually become the face of online English teachers in China.

51Talk's "Education for All" strategy, its downward market penetration approach, and its high-quality "Filipino Teachers' One-On-One Model" have helped the leading platform achieve excellent results in the second quarter of 2020. Brighter prospects also await the online English education industry as studies have shown that the scale of China's K-12 online education market is expected to exceed RMB304.5 billion in 2020. 51Talk, which leverages "Filipino Teachers' One-On-One Model" with a cost-effective and sustainable strategy, will surely continue to improve profitability in the future.

SOURCE China Online Education Group
They are known to mingle with high society at swanky bashes.

And Amber Le Bon and Lady Sabrina Percy were up to their old tricks once again on Tuesday as they attended a Dolce & Gabbana bash at Annabel's members club, to m mark the iconic location collaborating with the brand for London Fashion Week.

The superstar offspring, 31, looked incredible in an elegant floral gown with a plunging neckline while the illustrator and model, 29, wowed in a chic gown in one of the brand's trademark colourful prints.

Stunners: Amber Le Bon and Lady Sabrina Percy were up to their old tricks once again on Tuesday as they attended a Dolce & Gabbana bash at Annabel's members club, to m mark the iconic location collaborating with the brand for London Fashion Week

Amber, who is the daughter of hitmaker Simon Le Bon and model Yasmin Le Bon, was putting on an elegant display in the chic chiffon number.

She wore her hair in loose lengths and went for natural make-up to best showcase her pretty good looks while also oozing glamour in the gown.

Lady Sabrina meanwhile let her dress do the talking as she wore her hair scraped back while opting for a wholly fresh-faced look.

She wore a colourful dress with a pussybow neckline and all the classic trimmings of a gown from the iconic designer.

Elegant: The superstar offspring, 31, looked incredible in an elegant floral gown with a plunging neckline

Chic: The illustrator and model, 29, wowed in a chic gown in one of the brand's trademark colourful prints

Radiant: Amber, who is the daughter of hitmaker Simon Le Bon and model Yasmin Le Bon, was putting on an elegant display in the chic chiffon number

Amber and Lady Sabrina are known to mingle together, with the former attending the latter's engagement party at Chelsea's No. Fifty Cheyne in March.

Sabrina, who is a distant relation of the Duke of Northumberland and his daughter, Hogwarts heiress Lady Melissa Percy, celebrated her engagement to beau Phineas Page with a swanky bash prior to COVID lockdown.

At the event, she was the belle of the ball in her 3,300 frothy pink boudoir-inspired dress by Dolce & Gabbana.

My place! Annabel's owner Richard Caring was attending with his wife Patricia

Party people! Amber and Lady Sabrina are known to mingle together, with the former attending the latter's engagement party at Chelsea's No. Fifty Cheyne in March

A vision: Jemima Cadbury was joining in the festivities

The brunette beauty, who has modelled for the Italian fashion label on a number of occasions, took to Instagram to thank the designers for the 'incredible piece', calling it the 'dress of her dreams'.

It appears the label was also behind the dazzling necklace and chandelier earrings worn by the bride-to-be, who added a thanks for the 'jaw-dropping jewellery set that came with it [the dress]'.

Despite being blue-blooded - the Percys' ancestral seat is Northumberland Castle, where Harry Potter was filmed - Sabrina is known for being down-to-earth and used to pull pints in a Chelsea pub in order to pay her way through college.
REDWOOD SHORES, Calif., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- To support growing customer demand, Oracle today announced a major expansion of the Oracle Government Cloud with the addition of National Security Regions for US Intelligence Community (IC) and Department of Defense (DoD) customers.

These regions were developed to address IC and DoD needs at DISA Impact Level 6, Secret and Top Secret security levels, with capabilities including strong encryption, in-depth auditing, and robust security controls. Oracle National Security Regions support both ICD 705 and ICD 503 requirements. Oracle's Cloud Network Operations Center (CNOC) is accredited for Secret and Top Secret data and is operated by appropriately-cleared personnel.

Oracle Cloud provides customers with a compelling array of advanced technology, including high performance data analytics at massive scale, machine learning-enabled applications, integrated security tools, automated analytics, and Oracle Autonomous Database. Oracle's EverythingEverywhere  initiative drives technical and operational parity across commercial and Government regions.

"Oracle is proud to offer National Security Regions to the DoD and IC to help securely run their most-demanding, mission-critical classified workloads. These cloud regions offer the industry's fastest growing suite of IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS in a highly-secured classified cloud environment," said Glen Dodson, senior vice president of Oracle's National Security Group.

These National Security Regions augment Oracle's five unclassified Government cloud regions which are FedRAMP High and DoD Impact Level 5 authorized, as well as Oracle's 20 global cloud regions spanning five continents. Oracle Cloud Infrastructure-Government Cloud has achieved dozens of certifications and attestations for key security standards around the globe, including SOC, ISO, PCI, and HIPAA. These compliance programs, validated by independent third-party auditors, demonstrate Oracle's commitment to security and to addressing the needs of government customers.

Oracle is a long-standing strategic technology partner of the U.S. Government. Many federal, state and local customers are using Oracle to deliver critical government services. Oracle's cloud services are used by 8 of the top 10 federal agencies by budget, all 4 branches of the U.S. military, and 36 states. Globally, more than 1,000 public sector organizations take advantage of Oracle's industry-leading technologies and superior performance.

Additional Resources:

About Oracle

The Oracle Cloud offers a complete suite of integrated applications for Sales, Service, Marketing, Human Resources, Finance, Supply Chain and Manufacturing, plus Highly Automated and Secure Generation 2 Infrastructure featuring the Oracle Autonomous Database. For more information about Oracle (NYSE: ORCL), please visit us at www.oracle.com.

SOURCE Oracle

Related Links

www.oracle.com


A day after Defence Minister made a detailed statement on the LAC and said China had occupied 38,000 sq km of Indian territory illegally, the has alleged that government is not speaking in one voice. Two revelations expose the lies, double-speak, hoodwinking and hypocrisy of the Narendra Modi-led government on the issue of the ongoing border tensions with China on the eastern border in area such as South Pangong, Razun La and the finger area, says the Opposition party.

Rajya Sabha MP Naseer Hussain and Spokesperson Pawan Khera, jointly addressing a press conference,said,"The shocker comes in the form of an answer by MOS in the Ministry of Home Affairs Nityanand Rai to an unstarred question, in which the honourable minister categorically denies any infiltration by China during the last six months. This is a shameless insult to the martyrdom of our brave soldiers on the night of June 15 in the Galwan valley."

The party questioned whether the government was trying to say that the Galwan clash happened in the Chinese territory? By saying so, is the government blaming the Indian army of trespassing into the enemy territory?

The alleged that the government has accepted in the House that India took two loans amounting to Rs 9,202 crore from a Beijing-based multilateral development bank called the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. The second loan of $750 million was taken on June 19; just four days after the Galwan massacre where India lost 20 bravehearts. Incidentally, it was also the same day when Prime Minister Modi said that no one had entered our territory.

The party asked External affairs Minister S. Jaishankar whether he still stands by his statement where he said that "There cannot be business as usual in the face of Chinese attempts to unilaterally changing the facts on the ground along the border".

"The nation is shocked at such brazen duplicity of the Modi government in handling China's territorial aggression," said Khera

The Congress said the government must come clean on the "factual situation on the eastern border. A clear message should go across the world that India and its government stand with the Indian army wand will not legitimise China's claims over our territory," added the party.

--IANS

miz/ash

(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.)
Rights watchdog Amnesty International has called for an independent probe into the killing of a naked pregnant woman by men in military uniform in Mozambiques restive north, an atrocity the government blamed on armed rebels.

Video footage emerged this week showing men in army uniform beating a woman they accused of being a member of an armed group and then shooting her in the back as she tried to flee.

Four different gunmen shot her a total of 36 times with a variety of Kalashnikov rifles and a PKM-style machine gun, Amnesty said, demanding an impartial investigation into the extrajudicial killing.

One of the uniformed men hits her in the head and body with a stick before others shoot and, they say in the video, kill her on the side of the road.

It was filmed in the northernmost province of Cabo Delgado, where soldiers are fighting an armed rebellion.

This horrendous video is yet another gruesome example of the gross human rights violations and merciless killings taking place in Cabo Delgado by the Mozambican security forces, said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty Internationals director for East and Southern Africa.

But Interior Minister Amade Miquidade on Tuesday said the killers were armed fighters dressed in uniforms identical to that of government troops.

The video showing atrocities against a pregnant woman is propaganda by terrorists, he said in an audio statement.

The video was made by terrorists  to confuse the public and it is not the first time that this has happened.





In the footage, circulated on Monday, the group refer to the woman as al-Shabab  the name of an armed group that has been operating in the north of the country since 2017.

Reuters news agency said it was able to verify the location of the video by comparing landmarks to those visible in satellite imagery taken in June 2020. These include three trees side by side, posts in the ground, a path connected to the road and two white buildings, one with a blue roof.

Reuters was not able to independently verify the date of the footage, or who the perpetrators were. Amnesty International said it was likely to have been filmed on September 7, citing sources.

The Mozambican army, engaged in a battle with rebels in the province which is also home to gas projects being developed by oil majors such as Total, said it considered the images shocking and horrifying, and above all, condemnable.

The FDS [Defence and Security Forces] reiterate that they do not agree with any barbaric act that substantiates the violation of human rights, it said in a statement, calling for an investigation into the videos authenticity.

It did not specifically deny that government troops were responsible.

After an escalation in the armed uprising, which saw the capture of the port town of Mocimboa da Praia in August, and the security forces response, reports and videos of beatings or other army abuses have become increasingly common.

Amnesty, citing a local military source, said the men in military uniform killed her because she had cast a spell on the army, and refused to show them the rebels hideout.

Last week, the rights group said it had verified videos showing attempted beheadings, torture, the dismemberment of alleged opposition fighters and possible extrajudicial executions.
KEEP THEM FREE

The public treasures that are the state parks of Pennsylvania under the DCNR must remain free. A week ago, I marveled at the diversity and number of families experiencing nature in all its glory on the trails at Ricketts Glen State Park in Sullivan County. If our state parks charge entry fees then, like so many other signs of wealth, these treats will be reserved for only those who can afford to pay the price. Especially during this time of COVID-19, I see families of all backgrounds and economic levels getting a respite from this crushing pandemic from a walk in the park. The state parks must remain free! They are the legacy, and the best part, of our commonwealth.

FLAKY JOE

Joe Biden cant be trusted. Hes as flaky as pie crust. A vote against him is a must. Hes as old as the nail with rust to be presidential. He would be a bust.

WHAT CONSTITUTION?

Does anyone else find it ironic that Donald Trump is coming to the Constitution Center since his entire administration has created the Constitution like it doesnt even exist, like theyre above the Constitution and do not have to follow the Constitution? They have violated the constitution on numerous occasions, too numerous to count, yet he actually is going to the Constitution Center. More hypocrisy by the Trump administration  not surprising.

GET WOLF ON THE CASE

Id like to ask people to contact Gov. Wolf about impeaching Mr. Smith as a Darby Township commissioner, if Delaware County Council says thats the only way he can be removed. And as far as I know he is still sitting as a commissioner. He was only removed as police commissioner. Then lets do it. I sent a form off to Gov. Wolf and believe it or not I was able to contact someone this morning from his office. If you wait a long long time, maybe someone will answer and again express your desire.

WE ALL KNOW

In California, when told that climate change was responsible for the massive wildfires in California, Donald Trump said that science doesnt know. Donald Trump said some really stupid things in his four years as president. But that has to be the most moronic thing I think Ive ever heard in my entire life. Science doesnt know? Imbecile.

NO WALK IN THE PARK

My township needs to update their parking code. There should be no overnight parking along another residents property line because many times it encourages storing the vehicle for days (and yes even months) which interferes with the owners property rights. We pay taxes for trash removal, street sweeping, leaf removal and snow removal. Its not up to your neighbors to determine if the township can perform maintenance that you paid for. The township should stop letting residents do away with parking spaces on or in front of their own property and making their parking problem become everyone elses problem. The township should also address the mobile billboards (aka work vehicles) that are parked/stored along another neighbors property line. Rudeness is not neighborly.

DISAPPOINTED NEIGHBOR

A SAD NEW DAY

What kind of world are we living in when two police officers sitting in their car are ambushed and then while they are at the hospital the mob comes to the hospital, screaming outside, We hope you die? What a disgrace what is happening to the America that I was born into and love. That is sad, so sad, so sad.

TIME TO GO

For the same reason you got rid of the Media police officer, we should get rid of the Darby Township commissioner.

PAUL

GET READY, GRANNY

I had to chuckle at the sound off from Grandma. Talk about drinking the Kool-Aid. If shes a grandmom, Im wondering if she collects Social Security or even Medicare or Medicaid. Talk about socialism! I hope you live beyond 2023 when the Social Security system will be depleted because of this bozo of a president.

ANGRY ON ACRES
The boyfriend of a 22-year-old Jersey City woman has been charged with fatally shooting her last month, Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez said Wednesday.

The late August death of Francis Villa was initially reported as a suicide by her boyfriend, 26-year-old Jaishawn Gaston.

On Aug. 31, Gaston originally told police that he returned home and found her dead. But four days later, the Hudson County Prosecutors Office announced that it was investigating the death, which the agency deemed suspicious.

Villas family agreed that there was more to her death than it initially appeared, saying that suicide was not in her character. Earlier this month, Andre Villa described his sister as bubbly.

She was always the person that not just loved to help others, she loved to see her progress in helping others, he told The Jersey Journal Sept. 6.

And the Villas said the circumstances of her death were suspicious as well. The prosecutors office said in a press release that Villa had been shot in the upper body. But Villas family said she had a gunshot wound in the middle of her forehead, as well as bruises on her face and arms, which they viewed as signs of violence.

Who shoots themself in the head, like, dead on to the head? said Andre Villa, Francis' brother. Shes got to have elastic arms and a real powerful ... wrist.

The state regional medical examiner ruled her death a homicide on Monday. A day later, Gaston turned himself into the prosecutors office and was arrested.

He is charged with first-degree murder, second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and second-degree unlawful possession of a weapon.

17 Family of Francis Villa talk about her suspicious death

Villa, the youngest of four siblings, worked at the post office and at her brother Andres pet grooming and supply store, Pit Bull City.

She has three children, including a son with Gaston. Andre Villa said they hoped to gain custody of the child.

The news of Gastons arrest was small comfort, Villas family said.

It was not something big off my shoulder, Andre said. But it felt good. It felt real good knowing that the prosecutor actually stepped in.

Another family member, who declined to be identified, said she felt empty, even after the arrest.

We feel a little better, but we still dont feel complete, I guess you could say, she said.

Angelise Villa, Francis' mother, said she wants legal justice for her daughter.

I (dont) feel satisfied, Angelise said. My daughters not here. Nobody can bring my daughter back.
THE company proposing to build a renewable biogas facility at Ballyduff, Tullamore, has promised it ''will design, maintain and operate the AD [Anaerobic Digester] plant to very high standards.'' Paul Carson spokesperson for Strategic Power Limited said the plant ''will be heavily regulated by numerous government departments including CRU, [Commission for Regulation of Utilities] Gas Networks Ireland, Dept for Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency.''

Mr Carson was responding to concerns among residents along the Rahan road and other areas who are worried in relation to the potential for odour, vermin and an escalation in traffic and noise from the plant.

Paschal Fox, Chairman of the Rahan Road, Residents Association says, ''It concerns all of Tullamore, it concerns schools, hospitals, businesses, everybody who was hoping to continue to breathe clean air in Tullamore, that's what's on the line. If this goes through, we will fight tooth and nail to turn it around. People in Tullamore run the risk of breathing polluted air from that monstrosity. It's practically in the urban area, there must be loads of countryside that wouldn't be near any home,'' he commented.

Laois Offaly TD Barry Cowen has added his name to a list of submissions on the proposal. Also included on the published Offaly county council website list of submissions are, Fianna Fail Councillors Declan Harvey, Tony McCormack and Danny Owens, Fine Gael Councillor Neil Feighery and Independent Councillor Sean O'Brien.

Mr Carson said it is the company's ambition to transparently communicate with all stakeholders involved through this process. ''We have reached out and have had conversations with several public representatives including the chairman of the Rahan Road residents group. While it has been disappointing that the chairman of the residents group refused our offer to meet, our door remains open. We have also tried on numerous occasions to secure a meeting with Barry Cowen TD, however he has yet to accept our invitation.''

A statement from the company said it has, ''gone above and beyond in the design of the Tullamore plant to include key elements such as a feedstock reception hall with an advanced odour filtration system which gives local residents additional security. This site will be an exemplar for the fledgling AD industry in Ireland which Strategic Power is pioneering,'' the company added.

The statement continued: ''The site in Tullamore was carefully selected after a rigorous exercise which considered all planning criteria. The site is zoned industrial land in the Offaly Development plan and that zoning allows for such projects to be developed  the plan was open to public consultation and subsequently signed off by local Councillors as suitable.''

The statement said it ''is working in partnership with farmers in Tullamore and across the country to develop multiple AD plants which brings significant and widespread benefits to the agriculture industry and rural economy.

''2020 has been an incredibly difficult year. The strain of Covid-19 has put significant pressure on the Irish agri-food industry. Furthermore, the coalitions Programme for Government on Climate action in addition to specific EU climate change targets requires our Irish farmers to be more sustainable. Agri AD will play an important role in helping the industry meet these demands whilst producing renewable gas,'' added Paul Carson. A decision is due today Wednesday August 16 on the development.
Ex-President and NDC Presidential candidate, John Dramani Mahama has once again used the word ''sakawa'' to qualify the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).



The former President first used the word when he shared an article authored by Bolgatanga Central Parliamentarian, Isaac Adongo which described Akyem people as ''sakawa boys and grandpas''.



Mr. Mahama, speaking at the NDC Town Hall meeting in Kumasi on Tuesday, September, 15, once again called President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his government's sod-cutting of projects as sakawa.



If they come to your town to cut sod for a project ask them two questions, let them tell you if the project were captured under the 2020 budget or whether parliament has approved a loan for the project. If theyre unable to answer then it means the sod cutting is a scam, its because of the elections. It is sakawa or 419, he said.



The word ''sakawa'' is commonly used to define people who's trade is to scam or engage in cyber fraud.



Although in this instance, the former President referred to the government's sod-cutting behaviour, his apparently consistent use of the word has aroused sentiments and one of the people who have been tickled by the Mr. Mahama's comment is seasoned journalist Abdul Kweku Baako.



Mr. Baako's interest in knowing why Mr. Mahama keeps came to bear while he was discussing the NDC Town Hall meeting on Peace FM's ''Kokrokoo'' on Wednesday, September 16.



He had one answer for the mind-boggling question; why does Mahama keep using sakawa as his catchword?



Kweku Baako offered a simple answer saying "President Mahama has now fallen in love with the word 'sakawa'".



"He used it (sakawa) quite often in a very interesting way but he related it more to the ongoing sod-cutting and I think appealed to the Chiefs and people that when someone promises to cut sod, they should raise questions," he expounded.



Going by Kweku Baako's comment, it might therefore not be out of place to say sakawa is gradually becoming a political talk with Mr. Mahama being the originator.





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
Residents of Madrid wear face masks as they sit by a fountain in the Spanish capital on Wednesday - Anadolu

Madrid has announced new coronavirus restrictions that could include the return of total lockdown in some areas.

Antonio Zapatero, the deputy health minister, said zones with the "highest incidence" of the virus would go back into lockdown by the weekend, including restrictions on mobility and the potential "confinement" of citizens in their homes. "We must act as quickly as possible," he said.

Spain had one of the strictest lockdowns in Europe, and hospitals in Madrid are again under intense pressure amid a second wave of coronavirus in the country (see graphic below).

However, there were signs of a backtrack immediately after the announcement as sources from the administration briefed local media organisations to deny that any decision on new restrictions had been taken. The customary press conference after the regional government's weekly cabinet meeting was cancelled at the last minute.

"This is a decision that is going to affect daily lives," said Angel Gabilondo, the leader of the Socialist opposition party in Madrid. "We need more information."

Health sector organisations have pointed to growing pressure on intensive care units, where coronavirus patients are now taking up 90 per cent of capacity.

According to Tuesday's health ministry figures, Madrid reported 115 of 303 deaths nationwide over the past week, with a positivity rate from testing higher than any other Spanish region at 21.4 per cent. The Spanish health minister, Salvador Illa, said on Wednesday he was "worried" about the situation in the capital.

Usera, with virus transmission standing at 1,155 positive cases per 100,000 inhabitants over the past 14 days, is among the worst hit areas. Its numbers are almost double the Madrid average and close to five times the figure for the whole of Spain.

In the neighbourhood on Wednesday, Pepe was busy serving lunches at Bar Mariblanca but did not know how much longer he would remain in business.

Story continues

"We survived the three-month closure thanks to a loan from the [state-owned bank] ICO, and have been running at 50 per cent capacity since. Now they say we are going to be shut down again. Who knows if we will get through this time?" he said.

David Castillo, a 34-year-old unemployed Madrid resident, said he feared another lockdown would see him trapped inside his house virtually 24 hours a day because he has no workplace to go to.

"I would be very upset, and also very indignant at peoples lack of responsibility, which is making things get worse," he said of the possible return to confinement.

Spain registered 239 deaths from Covid-19 on Wednesday, up from 156 the previous day, the largest single-day toll since May.
NEW YORKMichael Cohen, former lawyer for U.S. President Donald Trump, says he was moved to tears after he received a letter from talk show host Rosie ODonnell while he was in prison.

Speaking on his new podcast Monday, Cohen said he received a beautiful six-page note from ODonnell  a longtime adversary of Trump  last December during his stay at the Federal Correctional Institution near Otisville in upstate New York.

Im not ashamed to admit that I sobbed when I read it, and so did others that were reading it with me, said Cohen during the first episode of his Mea Culpa podcast.

Here was a woman who I had helped attack and vilify on behalf of Donald J. Trump, and she reached out to me full of kindness and empathy, Cohen, 54, continued.

In late 2018, Cohen was sentenced to three years behind bars after pleading guilty to campaign and financial offences. He is currently serving the remainder of his sentence at his home in New York.

ODonnell was the first guest on his new podcast. The former co-host of The View said she was always interested in learning more about Cohen when he worked for Trump because the lawyer seemed familiar to her.

You sound like everybody I went to high school with, ODonnell said on the podcast. You look like all the people I grew up with on Long Island.

Cohen hasnt worked for Trump since 2018 and has been outspoken against the president, including comparing him to a cult leader during a recent interview with NBCs Lester Holt. Cohen recently released a tell-all book, Disloyal: A Memoir, that includes his experiences working for Trump.

He said on his podcast that he thought his life was over when he went to prison, and that the support he received from ODonnell made a big impact on him.

That letter was a turning point for me, Cohen said during the 64-minute episode. In Rosie, I saw a better way forward. A way to change, and a way to grow as a human being.

ODonnell, 58, also visited Cohen while he was in prison.

Cohen got an early release from prison in May due to concerns stemming from the coronavirus pandemic. He was briefly taken back in July, but was released again after a federal judge ruled he had been returned in retaliation for declining to agree not to release his book while serving.

Read more about:
CLEVELAND, Ohio  Most Northeast Ohio cities have adopted a wait and see attitude toward trick-or-treating, though some leaders plan to still go forward with the event during the coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, others are taking a more creative approach to making sure kids in their community still experience the Halloween fun -- and the candy -- with limited exposure to the coronavirus.

Cleveland.com canvassed towns in seven counties to find out from city leaders what their plans are for trick-or-treating.
Ballinamore woman Kathrina Ruddock made it to the final of National Brown Bread Baking Competition tun by Aldi.

Marie McCarthy from Carrigaline, Co. Cork has been announced the winner of The National Brown Bread Baking Competition, run by Aldi and in association with the National Ploughing Association (NPA) and the Irish Countrywomen's Association (ICA). Marie will receive a guaranteed cash prize of 15,000 and her bread will be available in store in the coming weeks!

Relaunched six years ago by the NPA, the event this year was a huge success with entries from all over Ireland submitted into Aldi stores. This year, over 700 entries were submitted making it the most successful year to date. Open to all members of the public, all entrants were asked to drop their freshly baked bread to Aldi stores on certain dates, with the breads then judged by a panel, and 4 contestants making it through to the final.

The four finalists were:

Marie McCarthy from Carrigaline, Co. Cork

Aisling OToole from Monasterevin, Co. Kildare

Marie Doherty from Ballymote, Co. Sligo

Kathrina Ruddock from Ballinamore, Co. Leitrim



The final was held this week at Cooks Academy in Dublin where Marie McCarthy from Carrigaline in Cork rose to the challenge and emerged victorious, commended by the judges for her Brown Breads overall appearance, texture, and all important taste. The bread is sure to be popular with Aldi customers nationwide.

Also read: #Ploughon2020 Quiz - How well do you know your tractors?
A court here on Wednesday stayed an order directing Police to unlock the residential portion of the Nizamuddin Markaz, which was locked after a case was registered against several people attending a religious congregation in violation of COVID-19 guidelines in March.

Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Sandeep Yadav passed the direction on a plea by police, which approached the sessions court against an order passed by a magisterial court on September 11.

The magistrate had directed Police to inspect the premises within five days and hand over to the family of Tablighi Jamaat chief Maulana Saad, the keys of the residential portion of the Nizamuddin Markaz.

The period was expiring today.

The sessions court also issued notice to Saad's mother Khalida, on whose application the magisterial court passed the order, and asked her response to police plea by October 8.

An FIR was registered against Saad and six others on March 31, after thousands of people, including foreign nationals, participated in the Tablighi Jamaat congregation at Nizamuddin Markaz and later many of them tested positive for COVID-19.

The Matropolitan Magistrate had directed Khalida and her family members to give an undertaking on an affidavit that they would not obstruct the investigation in any manner and the residential portion of the property shall only be used for residing purpose and they would not enter into any part other of the Markaz and its premises for any other purpose.

The court had said that every person, who is a citizen of India, is entitled to the right to life and liberty under the Constitution and the right to access to residential property would fall within one of the sacrosanct rights.

An FIR was registered against Tablighi Jamaat leader Maulana Saad Kandhalvi and six others on March 31 on a complaint of the Station House Officer of Nizamuddin under sections of the Epidemic Diseases Act, Disaster Management Act (2005), Foreigners Act and other relevant sections of Indian Penal Code.

(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.)
The Community Alliance 4 Youth Success, a coalition coordinated by The Legacy Center, and Midland County Department of Public Health have joined forces to launch a new campaign to educate the community on the laws, responsible use of and prevention of underage use of marijuana. The campaign, Good to Know, addresses issues such as driving under the influence, pregnancy and marijuana, underage use and safe storage.

Under Michigans new law, the legal age to consume marijuana recreationally is 21. A recent survey conducted by the partnership found that 25% of youth and 15% of adults were unaware of the legal age to use. In order to reinforce this important part of the law, the Good to Know campaign will launch Sept. 21. The survey also revealed that about half of the adult and youth respondents did not know that medical marijuana and adult-use marijuana have the same effects.


(Photo : TIPS TO PROPERLY DRESS FOR CAMPUS LIFE)

Attending university is the most fun and exciting period of a student's life. Today's time is indeed the best for any student to be on campus as they have access to everything under the sun. Undoubtedly, style doesn't always come naturally to all but with the help of social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube one has a glimpse of some of the dos and don'ts of fashion. Below are a few simple yet amazing style tips to help a student dress impeccably while on campus;

1. KEEP IT SIMPLE YET TRENDY. The rule of thumb when it comes to dressing well is to always keep it simple. The last thing a student wants is to seem as if they are trying too hard to fit in. Let your outfits be simple, trendy and more important, comfortable. Being too complicated or adorning outfits that aren't of your style will only make you look like a clown. While on campus, choose a set of clothing that is minimalist and easy to carry around. Most times, being clean and simple is way classier than being heavily adorned with all kinds of clothes and accessories.

2. INVEST ON WARDROBE ESSENTIALS. As a student, it may be difficult to always be abreast on the latest trends in the market. This is because they don't have a lot hence need to spend the available funds on the most necessary of things. Every student should seek to have some wardrobe essentials that match well with other outfits. Some essentials for a student could be a pair of blue denim jeans, neutral coloured tees, black pants, official blazer and a stylish Canada goose parka for the chilly times.

3. ACCESSORIZE WELL. Dressing well in university is not always about wearing new clothes on the daily. Dressing well is all about how and what you wear. You can wear the same thing in different ways to make it seem new and fresh each day. It's therefore more meaningful to invest in accessories than breaking the bank buying every other dress in the market. Accessories accentuate basic outfits to the next level of sophistication. The basic guideline for wearing accessories is 'less is always more.'

4. DRESS WITHIN YOUR BUDGET. Being a student comes with its own set of challenges, especially when it comes to money. With plenty to spend on, a student may want to try to keep the spending within a budget without compromising on looking fashionable. It's quite possible to dress well without splurging on brands. You simply need to know the right places and time to shop at a reasonable price. The right choice at the right time will make you stand out from the crowd.

5. SELF CARE IS PARAMOUNT. Dressing well isn't only about adorning the best of clothes. Beauty comes both from what is on the outside as well as the inside. With sometimes hectic schedules, it may seem impossible to find time to look after yourself, nevertheless, some basic needs have to be met. A daily shower is a must for every student for great body odour, radiating skin and clean hair. It's important to prioritise some 'me' time to learn and know your body needs. Find a good body wash and shampoo that fits your skin and smells heavenly to encourage you to take that regular wash.

6. GET THAT DECENT HANDBAG OR BACKPACK. As a student on campus, you are always on transit with books and stationery to carry around. It's advisable to find a decent backpack or handbag that can accommodate your belongings. With plenty of new and elegant bag designs in the market, one may be tempted to buy a bunch of bags. However, buying all the bags you may want may not be possible. A simple backpack will embellish and match your simple campus attire.

7. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF SALES AND DISCOUNTS. A student crunched on finances should always be on the lookout for discounts and sales especially if it's their favourite brands. The internet is a good resource where one can look out for upcoming season sales and deals such as Black Friday, Christmas and New year sales. The outfits that you get during sales is something that you will not find at the price all year round.

8. EMBRACE LAYERING UP. Layering is a simple fashion hack that is popular among students. Adding layers to your clothes is a simple way to make you look fashionable in no time as well as to adapt to different weather conditions. For instance, you can complement a basic tee with a leather jacket or a denim jacket for a fresh and classy look.
Tech startup Ordenado Labs has seen strong growth in usage of its indigenously developed app, Kaagaz Scanner in the weeks following the ban on Chinese apps, and is confident of its user base touching about 15-20 million users over the next few months.

The company launched the document scanning app on June 14, just days before the Indian government banned 59 with Chinese links - including Kaagaz's rival, CamScanner - on June 29, terming these apps prejudicial to sovereignty of the country.

"(The ban of) CamScanner has left a huge void for about 100 million users in India. We are of course targeting that number. It will be very difficult to achieve that number in one year but on a conservative side, we look to achieve at least 15-20 per cent of that market soon," Ordenado Labs co-founder Gaurav Shrishrimal told PTI.

Ordenado Labs - a startup founded in July 2019 by Snehanshu Gandhi, Gaurav Shrishrimal and Tamanjit Singh Bindra - is building a suite of artificial intelligence-powered utility tools to help users manage their day-to-day tasks seamlessly.

Kaagaz Scanner is the second product that has been developed by the company and it plans to bring more products in coming months.

Kaagaz Scanner, which has already crossed 1.2 million downloads on the Google Play Store, is an offline app that allows users to scan documents. The iOS version will be made available by the end of the year.

"Given that the data is stored on the user's phone itself, it is safe to use. Additionally, users can also lock on the app to secure it further against any unauthorised access," Shrishrimal said, highlighting the privacy focus of the app.

Asked about monetisation plans, Shrishrimal said the company is currently focussed on building a world-class scanning and storage app.

"We will be introducing a premium version in the future which will be around features like extra data storage capacity, AI features such as auto document categorisation and many more features. We feel that a simple cloud storage is a basic requirement that every user should have for free but we plan to offer a smart storage to our users that would be a game changer," he added.

Shrishrimal said building awareness among Indian users, including various institutions to use an Indian scanning app is very important right now.

"Having received a special mention in #AatmaNirbharBharat App Challenge and recognitions from Education Ministry and MeitY, we will definitely plan to work with such institutions to build this awareness. We are increasing the quality of the product at a fast pace to enhance product experience which is very important," he said.

The company had raised angel funding from First Cheque and was a part of the Axilor Ventures Accelerator programme in Winter 2019-20. It is looking at raising funds in the next 3-4 months as it expands its team and reaches more users.

(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.)
NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE U.S.



TORONTO, Sept. 15, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- IBI Group Inc. (the Company or IBI) (TSX:IBG) is pleased to announce that, due to strong demand, it has entered into an agreement with CIBC Capital Markets and National Bank Financial Inc., on behalf of a syndicate of underwriters and agents, respectively, to increase the size of its previously announced offering of 6.50% senior unsecured debentures (the Debentures), and to exercise the over-allotment option thereunder, so that the total gross proceeds of the Offering (as defined below) amount to $46 million. $23,175,000 principal amount of the Debentures (including the Debentures issued in accordance with the over-allotment option) will be issued to the public on a bought deal basis (the Public Offering), and $22,825,000 principal amount of the Debentures will be issued to select institutional investors on a private placement basis (the Private Placement, and together with the Public Offering, the Offering).

The Offering is expected to close on or about October 2, 2020, and closing of each of the Public Offering and Private Placement will be conditional upon the concurrent closing of the other.

The Debentures will bear interest at a rate of 6.50% per annum, payable semi-annually in arrears on June 30 and December 31 of each year, commencing December 31, 2020. The first payment will include accrued and unpaid interest for the period from closing of the Offering to, but excluding, December 31, 2020. The Debentures will mature on December 31, 2025 (the Maturity Date).

The Company intends to use the net proceeds of the Offering to fund the redemption of the Companys 5.50% convertible debentures due December 31, 2021 (2021 Debentures), for which the Company expects to deliver a notice of redemption as soon as practicable following closing of the Offering, with redemption to be effective 30 days following the date of the notice of redemption. Prior to redeeming the 2021 Debentures, the Company may use the net proceeds of the Offering to repay existing indebtedness under the Companys credit facility, which amount will then be available to be drawn, as required, to fund the redemption of the 2021 Debentures.

The Debentures will be direct senior unsecured obligations of the Company and will rank (i) subordinate to all existing and future senior secured indebtedness of the Company, (ii) subordinate to all existing and future secured indebtedness that is not senior secured indebtedness, but only to the extent of the value of the assets securing such other secured indebtedness, (iii) pari passu with each debenture issued under the indenture under which the Debentures will be issued (the Indenture) and with all other present and future unsubordinated indebtedness of the Company that is not senior secured indebtedness, including trade creditors, (iv) senior in right of payment to indebtedness of the Company (if any) that by its terms is subordinated in right of payment to the Debentures, and (v) structurally subordinated to all existing and future obligations, including indebtedness and trade payables, of the Companys subsidiaries. The payment of principal and premium, if any, of, and interest on, the Debentures will be subordinated in right of payment to all senior secured indebtedness of the Company, as will be set forth in the Indenture. The Indenture will not restrict the Company or its subsidiaries from incurring additional indebtedness or from mortgaging, pledging or charging its properties to secure any indebtedness or liabilities. None of the Companys subsidiaries will guarantee the Debentures.

The Debentures will not be redeemable by the Company before December 31, 2023 (the First Call Date). On and after the First Call Date and prior to December 31, 2024, the Debentures will be redeemable, in whole or in part, from time to time at the Companys option at a redemption price equal to 103.25% of the principal amount of the Debentures redeemed plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any, up to but excluding the date set for redemption. On and after December 31, 2024 and prior to the Maturity Date, the Debentures will be redeemable, in whole or in part, from time to time at the Companys option at par plus accrued and unpaid interest, if any, up to but excluding the date set for redemption. The Company shall provide not more than 60 nor less than 30 days prior notice of redemption of the Debentures. The Company's ability to effect a redemption as specified above is subject to compliance with the terms of its credit agreement.

The Debentures issued pursuant to the Public Offering will be offered by way of a short form prospectus to be filed in each of the provinces and territories of Canada. The Debentures issued pursuant to the Private Placement will be offered by way of an exemption from the prospectus requirements of applicable securities laws and will be subject to a statutory hold period under Canadian securities legislation for four months and one day following the closing of the Private Placement. The Offering is subject to customary regulatory approvals, including approval of the Toronto Stock Exchange.

The securities offered pursuant to the Offering have not been, nor will they be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, (the 1933 Act) and may not be offered, sold or delivered, directly or indirectly, in the United States, or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons (as defined in Regulation S under the 1933 Act), except pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of the 1933 Act. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction

Cautionary Statement Regarding ForwardLooking Information

Certain statements in this news release may constitute forward-looking statements which involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company and its subsidiary entities, including IBI or the industry in which they operate, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. When used in this news release, such statements use words such as may, will, expect, believe, plan and other similar terminology. These statements reflect managements current expectations regarding future events and operating performance and speak only as of the date of this news release. In particular, this news release includes forward-looking information relating to the proposed timing of completion of the Offering, the anticipated use of the net proceeds of the Offering and the terms of the Debentures. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including those related to: (i) the impact of general economic conditions; (ii) industry conditions; (iii) stock market volatility; and (iv) the failure or delay in satisfying any of the conditions to the completion of the Offering, many of which are beyond the Companys control. For an augmented discussion of the risk factors and uncertainties that affect or may affect the Company, the reader is directed to the section entitled Risk Factors in the Companys Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2019. New risk factors may arise from time to time and it is not possible for management of the Company to predict all of those risk factors or the extent to which any factor or combination of factors may cause actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those contained in forward-looking statements. Given these risks and uncertainties, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management believes to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements.

About IBI Group Inc.

IBI Group Inc. (TSX:IBG) is a technology-driven design firm with global architecture, engineering, planning, and technology expertise spanning over 60 offices and 2,700 professionals around the world. For nearly 50 years, its dedicated professionals have helped clients create livable, sustainable, and advanced urban environments. IBI Group believes that cities thrive when designed with intelligent systems, sustainable buildings, efficient infrastructure, and a human touch. Follow IBI Group on Twitter @ibigroup and Instagram @ibi_group.

For further information:

Stephen Taylor, CFO

IBI Group Inc.

Tel: 416-596-1930

stephen.taylor@ibigroup.com

Media:

Julia Harper

IBI Group Inc.

Tel: 416-596-1930

julia.harper@ibigroup.com
Germany tried to dissuade the United States from following through on its threat to impose additional sanctions on the Russia-led gas pipeline project Nord Stream 2 by telling the U.S. that it would support the construction of two liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals with US$1.2 billion (1 billion euro), German weekly Die Zeit reported on Wednesday.

According to Die Zeits investigation, German Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister, Olaf Scholz, wrote a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in early August, promising a massive increase of public support for the construction of the LNG terminals, including by making 1 billion available, if the United States allowed Nord Stream 2 to be completed unhindered.

Germany, the endpoint of Nord Stream 2, has been looking at the economic benefits of the project, while the U.S., including President Donald Trump, have been threatening sanctions on the project and even on Germany over its support for the project.

The U.S., several European countries, including the Baltic states and Poland, as well as the European Union (EU), have expressed concern about Russia using gas sales and its gas monopoly Gazprom as a political tool.

The United States views Nord Stream 2 as further undermining Europes energy security by giving Gazprom another pipeline to ship its natural gas to European markets.

In July, the United States warned companies that were helping Russia with Nord Stream 2 that they should get out now or face the consequences, as the Trump Administration steps up efforts to stop the construction of the controversial Russia-led pipeline in Europe.

In recent weeks, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has come under pressure from some of her coalition partners to drop the German support for Nord Stream 2 after the poisoning of Russian opposition leader and Putin critic, Alexei Navalny, who is now being treated in a German hospital.

According to experts who spoke to CNBC earlier this week, Germany is unlikely to pull the plug on the Nord Stream 2 project, at least not yet.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Illustration a: Graphic showing the three materials combined to form the new material. Al is aluminum  the superconductor, EuS is the new addition, europium sulfide  the ferromagnet, and InAs is indium arsenide  the semiconductor. In combination they allow for the existence of the desired Majorana zero modes, enabling the quantum wire device to be an integral component in a topological quantum computer. Illustration b: Electron micrograph showing the wire (blue/gray), between gate electrodes (yellow). The gate is necessary for controlling the density of the electrons, and electrons tunnel through the wire from the source (bias). The greatest advantage to this system is the fact that a large magnetic field has been made superfluous, as a magnetic field could have potential negative effects on other components close by. In other words, this result has made actual application much more likely. The length of the wire in the illustration is 2 micrometers = 0.002 millimeters and thickness 100 nanometers = 0.0001 millimeter. Credit: University of Copenhagen

Researchers at the Microsoft Quantum Materials Lab and the University of Copenhagen, working closely together, have succeeded in realizing an important and promising material for use in a future quantum computer. For this end, the researchers have to create materials that hold the delicate quantum information and protect it from decoherence.

The so called topological states seem to hold this promise, but one of the challenges has been that a large magnetic field had to be applied. With the new material, it has become possible to realize topological states without the magnetic field. "The result is one of many new developments needed before an actual quantum computer is realized, but along the way better understanding of how quantum systems work, and might be applied to medicine, catalysts or materials, will be some of the positive side effects to this research," Professor Charles Marcus explains. The scientific article is now published in Nature Physics

Topological states are promisingbut there are many challenges along the way

Topological states in condensed-matter systems have generated immense excitement and activity in the last decade, including the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics. There is a natural fault-tolerance of the so called Majorana zero modes, which makes topological states ideally suited for quantum computing. But progress in realizing topological Majorana zero modes has been hampered by the requirement of large magnetic fields to induce the topological phase, which comes at a cost: the system must be operated in the bore of a large magnet, and every topological segment must be precisely aligned along the direction of field.

The new results report a key signature of topological superconductivity, but now in the absence of an applied magnetic field. A thin layer of the material europium sulfide (EuS), whose internal magnetism naturally aligns with the axis of the nanowire and induces an effective magnetic field (more than ten thousand times stronger than the Earth's magnetic field) in the superconductor and semiconductor components, appears sufficient to induce the topological superconducting phase.

Professor Charles Marcus explains the progress this way: "The combination of three components into a single crystalsemiconductor, superconductor, ferromagnetic insulatora triple hybridis new. It's great news that it forms a topological superconductor at low temperature. This gives us a new path to making components for topological quantum computing, and gives physicists a new physical system to explore."

The new results will soon be applied to engineering the qubit

The next step will be to apply these results in order to get closer to realizing the actual working qubit. So far the researchers have worked on the physics and now they are about to embark on engineering an actual device. This device, the qubit, is essentially to a quantum computer what the transistor is to the ordinary computer we know today. It is the unit performing the calculations, but this is where the comparison ends. The potential for the performance of a quantum computer is so large that today we are not even really able to imagine the possibilities.

Explore further Quantum research unifies two ideas offering an alternative route to topological superconductivity

More information: S. Vaitiekenas et al, Zero-bias peaks at zero magnetic field in ferromagnetic hybrid nanowires, Nature Physics (2020). Journal information: Nature Physics S. Vaitiekenas et al, Zero-bias peaks at zero magnetic field in ferromagnetic hybrid nanowires,(2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41567-020-1017-3
Bollywood is standing divided after Kangana Ranaut spoke about the drug cartel in the industry. She went on to tweet that everyone should give a drug test and she is on a mission to clear the gutter of Bollywood. With each passing day, we think its getting uglier and there seems to be no end to it. Now, Urmila Matondkar has joined the dialogue and has hit back at the Manikarnika actor with three strong and sensible statements.

In an interview with India Today, Urmila raised these valid points in response to Kangana's remarks about Bollywood

1. Urmila said that Kangana also needs to acknowledge the state of drugs in Himachal Pradesh.

The entire country is facing the menace of drugs. Does she (Kangana) know Himachal is the origin of drugs? She should start from her own state,

she told India Today.

2. She also questioned Kangana for always playing the victim card. She said,

If one person shouts all the time, doesnt mean the person is speaking the truth. Some people want to crib all the time and play the victim card and if all that fails, they play the woman card.

3. She also questioned why Kangana was quiet all the time and why didnt she give all the information she had to the police.

Why did this person who has been given Y-security from the taxpayers money didnt give information about the drug nexus to the police?

she added.

For the uninitiated, Kangana had claimed that she feels unsafe in Mumbai and even compared the city with Pakistan occupied Kashmir which created a big controversy. Do you agree with what Urmila said in her statement? Let us know in the comments section below.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-17 00:54:13|Editor: huaxia

Video Player Close

BEIRUT, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of Palestinians in Lebanon organized on Wednesday a rally in Rashidieh and Beddawi camps in protest against the peace agreements of Israel with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain, the National News Agency reported.

Protesters burned photos of U.S. and Israeli leaders in addition to the flags of the United States, Israel and the countries that have normalized ties with Israel.

The Palestinians slammed the Arab states for normalizing ties with Israel, adding that Arab populations will not allow such ties to take a regular path.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday joined foreign ministers of the UAE and Bahrain at the White House to sign peace agreements between Israel and the two Arab countries. Enditem
OTTAWAWith two federal Opposition party leaders in self-isolation due to close contact with the coronavirus, growing testing backlogs in several urban centres and fears of a second wave, its now all COVID-19, all the time.

For a brief month, it looked like the Liberal government would shift its sights to an ambitious governing agenda with next weeks throne speech, even if it triggered an election.

But Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ended three days of cabinet meetings here on a more cautious note, saying his immediate and near-term priority is ensuring the health and economic well-being of Canadians.

Trudeau announced Safe Restart Agreements with all the provinces and territories were completed, deals that will finally push $19 billion out the door for a range of pandemic responses by lower levels of government.

We must stay focused on the task ahead, he told reporters. Healthier Canadians will mean and have already meant a healthier and stronger economy.

Gone was his talk from Aug. 18 of the unprecedented opportunity presented by COVID-19.

Thats when the prime minister shuffled his cabinet, suspended Parliament, and shut down committees looking into the pandemic response, racism in policing and ethics questions about the WE Charity-run student volunteer program.

At that time, Trudeau primed Canadians to think beyond the short-term swath that COVID-19 was cutting. This is our moment to change the future for the better. We cant afford to miss it because this window of opportunity wont be open for long.

By Wednesday, four weeks later, after hearing from experts, ambassadors abroad, the German chancellor, and cabinet colleagues, Trudeau said his government has not abandoned plans to support a clean and green relaunch of the economy, but repeatedly underscored his governments focus is squarely on the challenge of the moment.

We have to remember we are not out of this pandemic yet and the actions we take every single day, not just as a government but as individual Canadians matters in how we keep each other safe and how were able to get the economy going again.

Trudeau adamantly insisted he does not want an election, but he turned aside suggestions that it might be reckless to have one, saying its irresponsible to suggest as much. Trudeau said Canadas democratic institutions are strong enough to adapt to the challenges of COVID-19, and he pointed to the New Brunswick election held Monday.

Still, the need for all parties to focus on the immediate crisis was sharpened when federal Conservative Leader Erin OToole revealed he, his family and other staffers are in self-isolation, after a member of his staff with whom hed travelled to Quebec, had tested positive for COVID-19.

It comes a day after Bloc Quebecois leader Yves-Francois Blanchet, and his entire caucus, went into isolation after a Bloc staffer tested positive.

Trudeau said their situations demonstrate that it would not be responsible for Parliament to fully reconvene with a full complement of 338 MPs and advocated the Liberal proposal of a hybrid model with remote voting for MPs.

Later Trudeaus House leader Pablo Rodriguez said the Liberals are prepared to agree to up to 86 MPs in the Commons  as recommended by House of Commons administrative staff.

For the Conservatives, OTooles isolation is unquestionably a setback.

The party had been arguing for a more regular resumption of parliament including having up to 86 MPs in the Commons, and votes in person, not via an electronic voting system.

My family and I are feeling well, but we take COVID-19 very seriously, said OToole in a statement. Today was going to be Jacks first day back at school, but instead we will be getting tested and self-isolating per public health guidelines. The health and safety of my family and all Canadians is my top priority.

OToole, who had received a government briefing on the pandemic the night before, cancelled a Western Canada trip, and hoped to be tested Wednesday, although long lineups in Ottawas testing facilities have left many families without access to COVID-19 tests as schools reopened.

Premier Doug Ford vowed the province would ramp up testing quickly, and promised to move mobile testing units to Ottawa and London, and to launch a couple of thousand additional testing areas in the days ahead at retail locations like pharmacies and large retailers.

Trudeau said he knows Canadians are still very worried about the coronavirus and their jobs, and said he will still present plans in his throne speech to build back better with the level of ambition Canadians expect and to drive the most important economic recovery of our generation.

Canadians deserve an ambitious plan for a healthier and safer Canada, a Canada thats fair and inclusive. A Canada thats clean and competitive, and with the speech from the throne on Sept. 23 thats exactly what our government is ready to do, he said.

However, cabinet minister after cabinet minister insisted that even after the pandemic crisis passes, there will still be a climate change crisis that Canada must deal with.

Environment and Climate Change Minister Jonathan Wilkinson insisted the government remains absolutely committed to exceeding its Paris emission reductions target by 2030.

The Pembina Institute has said that as of the end of 2018, Canada had only achieved 0.4 per cent of the progress needed to hit its current 2030 target to reduce national emissions 30 per cent below the 2005 level.

Wilkinson downplayed the prospect of a specific announcements next week, however, saying a speech from the throne will set out broad priorities and be an important signal to public servants, but its not a budget, its not a funding mechanism.

Wilkinson promised a comprehensive energy framework would be ready before the next UN climate change conference. That conference had been set for November this year, but was postponed due to COVID-19 to November 2021.

The agreements released Wednesday by Ottawa outline specific details of funding, and commitments by the federal and provincial governments to tackle everything from transit to vulnerable populations.

One of the main goals going forward will be to ramp up testing so that 200,000 COVID-19 tests are being done each day across the country.

The federal government will divvy up $4.3 billion between the provinces and territories over the next six to eight months and it will go to bolstering contact tracing, data management and testing capacity.

Under the deal, each jurisdiction pledged to use the funds to help boost the amount of testing being done in their respective jurisdictions, with some pledging to double and even triple the number of tests being done daily.

Canada is now reporting 138,803 total COVID-19 cases, with 9,188 deaths, and 7,775 active cases.

The Public Health Agency of Canada has not released updated modelling or forecasts since Aug. 14.

With files from Kieran Leavitt

Read more about:
EAST HANOVER, N.J., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Today the Novartis US Foundation announced a total commitment of USD 25 million to develop partnerships and fund community organizations and programs that address health inequities, with a focus on diversity in clinical trials, in the United States. This commitment reinforces the Novartis US Foundation mission to improve health in underserved communities in the United States by creating innovative and sustainable solutions to expand access to healthcare and build trust within the healthcare system.

"In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and heightened attention on racial injustice in the US, there has been new and significant recognition of disparities in care in minority communities. We have accelerated our commitment to create innovative and sustainable partnerships that have the potential to improve health equity in underserved communities, including African American/Black and Hispanic communities," said Tom Kendris, US Country President, Novartis Corporation, Chairman, Board of Trustees, Novartis US Foundation.

Since re-focusing its mission last year, the Novartis US Foundation has committed more than USD 10 million to develop partnerships to enable healthcare systems to better meet the needs of their patients by addressing barriers to care, or by identifying changes needed to address the underlying causes of health disparities. This support included signature partnerships with New Jersey Primary Care Association, The CDC Foundation, Institute for Healthcare Improvement and USD 5 million to support COVID-19 response efforts, including 40 grants to support local communities.

A key area of focus for the additional commitment will be in addressing the vast underrepresentation of minorities, including Black Americans, in clinical trials. In 2019, African Americans/Blacks made up 13.5% of the US population, but only 9% of clinical trial participants1,2. Diversity in clinical trials is critical to understanding how medicines will work in all patient populations impacted by the disease.

"We believe the Novartis US Foundation can serve as a catalyst for change through a multi-year, multi-million dollar commitment. As part of this effort, we will collaborate with partners and support industry-wide programs to improve diversity in clinical trials through systemic and policy-driven solutions that go beyond calls to study sponsors to be more inclusive," continued Kendris.

There are several barriers to clinical trial participation reflective of other systemic issues leading to disparities in health such as, mistrust of the healthcare system, a lack of comfort or understanding of health systems, including clinical trial processes, as well as time and resource constraints associated with participation3. The US Foundation is in the exploration phase to identify all dimensions of these issues and to identify new collaborators from the public, private and advocacy sectors.

About Social Determinants of Health and Health Disparities

CDC defines social determinants of health as the conditions  social, economic and physical  in places where people live, learn, work and play that influence health outcomes of people2. These conditions may include safe and affordable housing, access to education, food security, and clean environments2. When health outcomes are better or worse from one population to the next, there is disparity. Health disparities have impacts reaching far beyond those directly affected by limiting advancements in care and resulting in avoidable costs3. For example, the American Public Health Association found racial disparities in health led to an estimated $93 billion in excess medical care costs and $42 billion in lost productivity4.

About the Novartis US Foundation

The Novartis US Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable foundation established by Novartis to support philanthropic efforts in the United States. The mission of the Novartis US Foundation is to improve health in underserved communities in the United States by creating innovative and sustainable solutions to expand access to healthcare and build trust within the healthcare system. We do this by supporting sustainable programs and partnerships that strengthen health systems, eliminate barriers to quality health services, and enhance local communities.

About Novartis

Located in East Hanover, NJ Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation  an affiliate of Novartis  is reimagining medicine to improve and extend people's lives. As a leading global medicines company, we use innovative science and digital technologies to create transformative treatments in areas of great medical need. In our quest to find new medicines, we consistently rank among the world's top companies investing in research and development. Novartis employs about 15,000 people in the United States. For more information, please visit https://www.novartis.us.

Novartis and Novartis US is on Twitter. Sign up to follow @Novartis at https://twitter.com/novartisnews and @NovartisUS at https://twitter.com/NovartisUS.

For Novartis multimedia content, please visit https://www.novartis.com/news/media-library

For questions about the site or required registration, please contact [email protected].

References

US Food and Drug Administration. 2019 Drug Trials Snapshots Summary Report. Available at: https://www.fda.gov/media/135337/download. Accessed August 27, 2020 . US Census Bureau. Quick Facts. Available at: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/RHI225219. Accessed August 27, 2020 . Clark, LT, Watkins, L, Pina, IL, et al. Increasing Diversity in Clinical Trials. Current Problems in Cardiology. 2019; 44(5):148-175. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Social Determinants of Health: Know What Affects Health. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/socialdeterminants/index.htm. Accessed August 20, 2020 . Turner, A. The Business Case for Racial Equity. WK Kellogg Foundation. Available at: http://ww2.wkkf.org/2018/bcfre/BCRE-National-Report.pdf, Accessed February 13, 2020 . American Public Health Association. Health Equity. Available at: https://www.apha.org/topics-and-issues/health-equity. Accessed February 13, 2020 .

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Four people have been jailed in connection with the Essex lorry tragedy last year in which 39 Vietnamese citizens died.

Defendants appear in court on Monday for sentencing in connection with the lorry tragedy that left 39 Vietnamese citizens dead.  Photo congan.com.vn

Three others were also given suspended sentences at Ha Tinh Peoples Court on Monday.

They were prosecuted in connection with the death of Pham Thi Tra My, 26, who sent a number of harrowing text messages to her family when she was trapped in the refrigeration unit of the lorry as it entered the UK in October.

Nguyen Quoc Thanh, born in 1994, of Can Tho City was sentenced seven and half years in jail, fined VND20 million and had US$ 3,000 revoked; Nguyen Thi Thuy Hoa, born in 1984, of Nghe An Province sentenced to six years in jail and fined VND15 million, Tran Dinh Truong, born in 1985, of Ha Tinh Province, sentenced of five years in jail and fined VND10 million and Nguyen Xuan Trieu, born in 1996, sentenced to two and a half in jail plus fine of VND10 million.

Le Van Hue, 53 years old, Vo Van Ky, 58 years old and Vo Van Ho 68 years old, all from Nghe An Province, were given between 12 and 18 month suspended sentences and fined VND5 million each.

The trial was first opened in August, but was adjourned due to the absence of the majority of witnesses.

On Monday, the seven accused were found guilty of "organising and brokering illegal emigration".

The defendant Vo Van Ky was absent from the court as he is being treated for cancer.

The court was told the defendant Truong asked Hoa to arrange to send Pham Thi Tra My, of Ha Tinh Provinces Can Loc District, to France in order to enter the UK.

The price to smuggle her to England was $21,000 and Hoa sent My to China on a tourism visa and then using false documents she flew to France.

Hoa, Thanh and Thanhs sister - Nguyen Thi Thuy Diem, 31 years old, of Can Tho City together made the fake documents which facilitated Mys trip.

On October 19, 2019, on the way from France to UK, My was found by UK police and expelled from UK, returning to France.

But just four days later she made the journey again, this time hidden in the refrigerated container with 38 other Vietnamese nationals.

When they arrived in Essex, their lifeless bodies were discovered in the back of the lorry.

The judges said the defendants had engaged in dangerous violations of immigration and labour export laws, but recognised the fact that they had cooperated with the investigators and been willing to address the consequences.

Seven people involved in trafficking My and tens of others to the UK were arrested by Ha Tinh police in February.

The defendant Nguyen Thi Thuy Diem, was identified as the ring leader but he has since fled away and is wanted internationally.

Between May and October 2019, Diem allegedly instructed Thanh to work with Hoa, Ky, Ho and Hue to prepare documents for many people who wanted to go to Europe to work.

They proposed two routes: via China or Greece at the cost of $17,000-20,000 per person. When their clients reached their destinations, they would be given fake identification documents and moved on to another country.

Investigators found that from May to October 2019, Hoa, Thanh, Truong, Hue, Trieu, Ho and Ky organised and brokered to send 22 people to China and then fled to UK. Hoa and Thanh each earned $3,000, Truong and Hue each earned $1,500, Trieu $1,000, Ho VND20 million and Ky earned VND18 million.

Truong told investigators that he had worked in the UK.

He had only instructed My, his cousin, to go to France, he told authorities, insisting that he had nothing to do with her journey to the UK.

It was "inappropriate" for the authorities to conclude that he caused her death, he said. Truong also said he "does not clearly remember" how many people hed helped get to Europe.

Thanh was identified as one of the kingpins who helped 71 people to enter Europe illegally.

Of the 39 victims in the truck tragedy, 21 were from Nghe An Province and 10 from Ha Tinh and the rest from the provinces of Quang Binh, Thua Thien-Hue, Hai Duong and Hai Phong City.

In June, a court in Nghe An Province sentenced a local woman to 15 months in jail for helping a friend enter the UK. The friend was among the 39 truck tragedy victims.

Meanwhile, in UK, 40-year-old Irishman Ronan Hughes pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges last month and Northern Irishman truck driver Maurice Robinson pleaded guilty in April for causing the deaths of 39 Vietnamese people.

A charity in England that rescues and supports migrant workers smuggled into the UK, on Monday welcomed the sentences handed down to a gang jailed in connection with the death of one of the Essex lorry victims.

On Tuesday, Patricia Durr, Chief Executive of ECPAT UK, said: The sentencing is a stark reminder that the tragedy of 39 Vietnamese men, women and children found dead in a lorry here in the UK nearly one year ago demands justice. Our thoughts remain with the family and friends of all the victims.

Criminals worked together across borders to exploit the desperation of young victims, including 10 teenagers.

In our work to support children and young people who have been trafficked here in the UK we see time and time again the impact of insecurity and trauma on them and the visceral human need for safety and protection, care and stability to help them to recover, heal and contribute. VNS

Essex lorry deaths: Ha Tinh police charge seven with organizing, brokering illegal emigration Police in the central province of Ha Tinh said on February 20 it has issued decisions to start criminal proceedings against seven suspects on the charge of organizing, brokering illegal emigration under Article 349 of the Penal Code.

Ninth suspect arrested in connection with Essex lorry deaths: Police Nghe An police chief said yesterday that another person has been detained in connection with the people smuggling ring involved in the tragic deaths of 39 people found in Essex, UK, two weeks ago.
By AFP

ASHDOD (Israel): Israel bombed Gaza on Wednesday morning after rocket fire from the territory coinciding with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's signing of normalisation deals with the UAE and Bahrain in Washington.

At least two rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip the previous evening, one of which was intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system.

The other crashed into the southern coastal city of Ashdod, lightly wounding at least two people, emergency services said.

READ | Dawn of new Middle East, says Trump as Israel, UAE, Bahrain sign Abraham Accord

The Israel Defence Forces said their fighter jets responded with airstrikes on military targets belonging to Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the rocket fire from the various Palestinian factions operating in Gaza.

But the IDF levelled blame at Hamas and warned that it would "bear the consequences for terror activity against Israeli civilians".

The rocket attack came as the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain signed accords establishing diplomatic relations with the Jewish state, prompting demonstrations in the Palestinian territories.

Clutching Palestinian flags and wearing blue face masks for protection against coronavirus, demonstrators rallied in the West Bank cities of Nablus and Hebron and in Gaza.

Hundreds also took part in a demonstration in Ramallah, home of the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas warned that the deals would "not achieve peace in the region" until the US and Israel acknowledged his people's right to a state.

"Peace, security and stability will not be achieved in the region until the Israeli occupation ends," he said.

The normalisation by the UAE and Bahrain breaks with decades of consensus within the Arab world that an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal is a prerequisite for establishing ties with the Jewish state.

Abbas warned that "attempts to bypass the Palestinian people and its leadership, represented by the Palestine Liberation Organisation, will have dangerous consequences".

In Gaza, protesters trampled on and set fire to placards bearing images of the leaders of Israel, the UAE and Bahrain.

That latest rocket fire came after a month in which militants in the strip had stepped up incendiary balloon attacks against Israel, which responded with nighttime air strikes against Hamas.

The two sides last month reached a Qatari-mediated deal to end hostilities and revive a fragile 18-month truce.

Hamas has joined the PA in condemning the UAE and Bahraini accords as a "betrayal" of their cause.
The UAPA and other special laws like CSPSA are called black laws because the crimes they seek to cover could be dealt with under IPC and because these laws give special, unaccountable power to the police. PTI Photo

It is obvious that the threat of the coronavirus, a communicable disease, is worst in places of high population density. The prison is one such place. About half a million persons are incarcerated in more than 1,300 jails scattered all over India. More than two thirds are undertrials.

While most prisoners are charged under some section of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), many are also incarcerated under special laws. Some, like the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act 1967 (UAPA), are all-India laws, but many states also have their own special laws, such as the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act 2005 (CSPSA).

Large numbers of undertrials have been incarcerated under these laws as part of the so-called war on terror, without due process.

Most of them are ultimately acquitted. For example, in the Jagdalpur central jail of Bastar subdivision in Chhattisgarh, the conviction rate is less than three per cent. Meanwhile, however, these undertrials often remain in prison for as long as seven-eight years or even more, because court trials are notoriously slow.

Those who are convicted are unable to appeal with ease because the high court is too far and the lawyers are too expensive. In any case they would be joining a long waiting list since the high court is currently attending to its backlog of pending cases (the last time I enquired, it was hearing cases filed in 2012).

As a human rights lawyer in the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Sessions courts in Bastar, I have witnessed the anguish and frustrations of undertrials and their families whose cases do not move for years.

These Naxali cases may be under various sections of the IPC as well as under the UAPA or CSPSA. Many undertrials are prima facie innocent villagers who were picked up after a Maoist action in or around their villages (e.g. an IED blast or attack on a contingent of security forces).

Sometimes, a single incident involves many accused. Most of them are not named in the FIR because habitually the FIRs of such incidents are made out against known Maoist leaders or cadres of the area, plus unknown persons.

So these are the unknown persons who, after being picked up when they were sleeping, in the market or forest, or attending to other needs like a visit to the hospital, get labelled as Naxali for many years, until their trial is over.

There are many such cases involving a group of villagers. A particularly startling example is that of 120 villagers who were arrested from various villages in Sukma district after the Burkapal incident in which 25 CRPF were killed by the Maoists in 2017.

That incident is being tried in the NIA court in Jagdalpur and it is still at the initial stage of framing charges.

The UAPA and other special laws like CSPSA are called black laws because the crimes they seek to cover could be dealt with under IPC and because these laws give special, unaccountable power to the police.

It is only high-profile cases like those of Binayak Sen, Varavara Rao and others incarcerated in the Bhima Koregaon case that attract national or even international attention. While this attention is justified, most people do not realise that thousands of powerless, impoverished people face similar or worse injustice.

These people remain invisible, while their families, fleeced by local lawyers who squeeze them to the maximum, are forced to sell their land, trees or part with their savings to get them out of jail. No campaigns are organised for these people because they are largely invisible to the public eye.

It does not require much intelligence to see that this is the way in which the state troubles ordinary people to get back at the Maoists. For every actual Maoist, dozens of ordinary villagers get caught in this vicious web of harassment, lies, revenge and ruin.

In Naxali cases, bail is routinely denied in the sessions and NIA courts.

As per procedure, it is only after a bail is refused there that the accused can approach the High Court for bail.

In reality, as explained earlier, that option can be exercised by only a few. Bail is even more elusive during the lockdown, when its importance for the life and safety of the prisoner is greater than ever. They remain stuck in prison with mounting fear that the virus will get them as Covid-19 cases spread in Chhattisgarh prisons.

Ever since the lockdown started, family members and lawyers of the prisoners have also been denied mulakat (visits). There was a time, in the past few months, when the jails were not even accepting parcels from the families for the inmates.

In March 2020, the Supreme Court ordered state governments to consider releasing selected categories of prisoners during lockdown under parole or bail. In Chhattisgarh, however, only a small minority of prisoners (barely 20 per cent) have been released. Chhattisgarh jails are among the most crowded in the country.

More humane provisions are needed for prisoners, including political prisoners and those charged under special laws. For example, the 120 people charged in the Burkapal case could easily be in their villages (and report to the local thana if required) during this period.

They are likely to be safer in the villages, where the density of population is far less. Likewise, it is not clear what the state gains by continuing to incarcerate the disabled professor G.N. Saibaba, 81-year old Varavara Rao, now ill, or others incarcerated in the Bhima Koregaon case.

All these individuals have been working in full public view for decades and could be allowed to stay at home during the lockdown and beyond.

Ultimately, we need to do away with these authoritarian special laws. They have no place in a democracy. Greater attention should be paid to the rights and wellbeing of prisoners during the lockdown, the end of which is nowhere in sight.

As far as bail is concerned, it is time to return to the principle underlined by Justice Krishna Iyer in a Supreme Court judgement in 1977: The basic rule may perhaps be tersely put as bail not jail.
BERLIN  A police force in Germany on Wednesday suspended 29 officers suspected of sharing images of Hitler and violent neo-Nazi propaganda in at least five online chat groups, adding to concerns about far-right infiltration in Germanys police and military.

Herbert Reul, the interior minister of the western state of North-Rhine Westphalia, where the chats were discovered, called them a disgrace. At a news conference on Wednesday, he described the images that were shared among officers as far-right extremist propaganda and the ugliest, most despicable, neo-Nazi immigrant-baiting.

The 126 images shared included swastikas, a fabricated picture of a refugee in a gas chamber and the shooting of a Black man, officials said.

The number of cases of far-right extremists in Germanys police and military, some of whom hoard weapons and keep lists of enemies, have multiplied in recent years. On Monday, the authorities raided the home of a 40-year-old soldier in connection with an investigation of a suspected far-right terrorism plot.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 09:47:24|Editor: huaxia

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TOKYO, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- The outgoing Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet resigned en masse Wednesday morning, marking an end to Abe's record-long tenure of nearly eight years.

Yoshihide Suga, the new leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), is set to take office as Japan's new prime minister later Wednesday after the parliament formally elects him as the new premier.

"I have spent every day putting my all into the economic recovery and diplomacy to protect Japan's interests," Abe said at the prime minister's office.

"It is my honor to have been able to work on a range of issues along with the people during this time. I want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart," he said.

After announcing the members of his cabinet, Suga will be formally inaugurated at a ceremony at the Imperial Palace later Wednesday and hold a press conference in the evening.

Suga's tenure will last through the remainder of Abe's term as LDP leader until September 2021.

Along with their junior coalition Komeito ally, the LDP dominates in both chambers of Japan's bicameral parliament. Enditem
Jon Hamm has a new furry friend.

The former "Mad Men" star adopted a rescue dog named Splash, according to I Stand With My Pack, a nonprofit animal rescue organization in Culver City, California.

According to information provided by ISWMP, the puppy's name is Splash.

"He was returned twice at the shelter because of his puppy energy. We rescued him and found him the best home. He lives a fairy tale life now," the caption read. "Happy adoption Splash. We are over the moon for you."

Hamm, 49, has long been an advocate of animal rescue. The actor told People magazine five years ago that his last rescue dog, Cora, who died in 2017, "changed my life."

"I wish more people would take advantage of pet rescue," Hamm said. "It's easy to do and inexpensive. Cora provides me with pure joy and love -- and those are two pretty nice things to have in your life."

Meet Jon Hamm's new puppy, Splash originally appeared on goodmorningamerica.com
Algerian journalist Khaled Drareni was jailed for two years on appeal Tuesday, amid a crackdown on dissent following a year of anti-government demonstrations.

Drareni, 40, was sentenced in August to three years in jail for his coverage of the mass protest movement that toppled the North African country's longtime president Abdelaziz Bouteflika last year.

Although Drareni's sentence was reduced by a year, his lawyers, colleagues and relatives who had been hoping for a lenient judgement -- if not acquittal -- said they were shocked by the verdict.

The journalist's brother, Chekib Drareni, said in a tweet that he was "disgusted, shocked and disappointed by the court's decision, which once again reinforces injustice in Algeria".

Lawyer Mustapha Bouchachi told AFP that Drareni's defence team would appeal to the supreme court.

Drareni, editor of the Casbah Tribune news site and correspondent for French-language TV5 Monde as well as press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF), has been in custody since March.

He was found guilty of "inciting an unarmed gathering" and "endangering national unity".

The Minister of Communication Ammar Belhimer also criticised the journalist for working without ever having a professional press card, against a background of allegations of being in the service of "foreign embassies".

'Blind stubbornness'

The severity of the sentence triggered the indignation and anger of journalists who came to support Drareni in court.

RSF head Christophe Deloire said: "We are outraged by the blind stubbornness of the Algerian judges who have just condemned (Drareni) to two years in prison.

"Khaled's detention proves the regime locks itself into a logic of absurd, unfair and violent repression," he tweeted.

Drareni was tried along with Samir Benlarbi and Slimane Hamitouche, two prominent activists in the Hirak protest movement.

Benlarbi and Hamitouche faced the same charges but were sentenced to four months in prison and released on time served.

The prosecutor had originally called for a four-year prison sentence for all three defendants.

Drareni has denied all charges against him.

"I am a journalist, not a criminal. I only did my job," he said.

'Won't give up'

The case of Khaled Drareni, photographed here in March, has become a barometer of press freedom in the North African nation. By RYAD KRAMDI (AFP/File)

Drareni, who appeared to have lost significant weight during the trial, has been supported by a global solidarity campaign.

His backers have demanded his "immediate and unconditional" release because of a "worrisome" health condition, according to RSF.

Drareni's trial comes in a context of increased repression of Hirak activists, political opponents, journalists and bloggers.

The Hirak movement broke out in February last year and led to the resignation of Bouteflika, whose plans to run for a fifth term had sparked the protests.

Weekly demonstrations continued after Bouteflika's ouster to demand wholesale political change but halted in March due to restrictions to end the novel coronavirus crisis.

Some journalists have been accused by the regime of sowing discord, threatening the national interest and being in the pay of "foreign parties", with several imprisoned and other trials ongoing.

Algerian protesters call for the release from jail of journalist Khaled Drareni. By RYAD KRAMDI (AFP)

Amnesty International denounced the "outrageous" ruling against Drareni, saying it reflected "an alarming pattern of prosecutions targeting journalists and activists" calling for democracy.

"Today's prison sentence... is a mockery of justice in a country supposedly undergoing political change and transformation following mass protests," said the rights group's regional deputy director Amna Guellali.

Algeria ranked 146 out of 180 countries in the RSF's 2020 World Press Freedom Index.

According to prisoners' rights group CNLD, some 45 people are currently behind bars on charges related to the Hirak protests.

For Hakim Addad, a Hirak activist, "it is important to continue the movement, including media pressure but also political pressure, so that (the authorities) understand that we won't give up".
ABC NewsBY: KENDALL KARSON



(WASHINGTON) -- Jaime Harrison, the first Black chairman of South Carolina's Democratic Party, is facing a tall order this cycle.



Competing to unseat Sen. Lindsey Graham, a three-term incumbent who is now tethered to President Donald Trump, Harrison remains adamant that the race is close, pointing to a recent Twitter tit-for-tat with Graham over releasing tax returns to suggest his rival is "flailing." Recent polling shows the two locked in a tight race, with Graham and Harrison tied at 48% among likely voters in a new Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday.







"It's a desperate ploy by somebody who understands that he's in a fight for his life," Harrison said of Graham in an interview with ABC News' Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl and ABC News Political Director Rick Klein on the "Powerhouse Politics" podcast Wednesday. "I almost feel a little sad for him. Not enough that I'm going to relent."



After the incumbent Republican released 11 years of state and federal tax returns last week, he urged his rival to do the same. Graham sought to call out Harrison for not yet releasing his tax returns on Monday, but Harrison responded one day later, "Done. Now do President Trump" -- underscoring the irony of Graham's pressure campaign.



The president's own tax returns have been at the center of a protracted legal fight for years with Democrats, who are eager for Trump to publicly disclose his tax returns. But the president has repeatedly refused, aggressively shielding his tax returns and other financial records from prosecutors, Congress and the public as the election looms.



Graham's effort to coerce his opponent into releasing his financial records appeared hypocritical coming from a key Trump ally -- and ultimately backfired on him.



Harrison, who is fully aware of his uphill climb over the final stretch to November, cast the race as a battle between "David versus Goliath." Trump won the state by 14 percentage points over Hillary Clinton in 2016 and is expected to capture South Carolina once more against Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee.



"I was born into long odds," Harrison said. "I know what the David versus Goliath story is. My life has been that."



"It's the David versus Goliath race of this cycle but we know how that race ended," he later said of the Senate contest.



Graham, once known for his bipartisan nature and criticism of Trump, has become one of the president's staunchest allies on Capitol Hill as the prospect of his tough re-election loomed.



Six years ago, Graham won re-election to a third term by roughly 16 points. But now he is facing a different reality.



For the first six months of this year, Harrison outraised Graham, with $14 million between April and June, -- the most recent reporting period -- which surpassed Graham's roughly $8.4 million in the same period. Graham still held a $5 million cash-on-hand advantage.



Harrison said he saw a path to a win when he entered the race, conceding that may not have been a possibility before Graham's conversion to Trumpism.



"There's Lindsey Graham 1.0 and then there's Lindsey Graham 2.0. I could not beat Lindsey Graham 1.0," Harrison told the co-hosts. "That was the John McCain-Lindsey Graham. This is a different man, this is a totally different person. This Lindsey Graham is vulnerable."



Harrison argued that Graham's troubles in South Carolina stem from the shift in his focus away from the state and to appearances on Fox News.



"You've got to focus on home," he said, "and Lindsey has failed to do that."



He also criticized Graham for not failing to "stand up" for his friend, the late McCain, who he said Trump has attacked "viciously."



"Folks here in South Carolina want someone with a backbone, with a spine. Someone who's going to stand up for them and their families, regardless of who's in the White House," he added.



The former Washington lobbyist dipped into the debate over confidence in the safety of a vaccine approved by the end of this year, after another Democratic challenger slightly up north, Cal Cunningham, who is competing against Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said he would be "hesitant" about taking one as politics intervenes in the process.



Harrison said he needed "the Dr. Fauci stamp of approval" for a vaccine, instead of solely Trump's, since he views the nation's top infectious disease expert as "above the political fray."



"If Dr. Fauci said, 'here it is,' and I believe it, and I think it's safe for folks to take, yes, I will definitely do that," he said. "It's not about politics, it's about what is in the best interests of the health of the American people. And so I believe in him and I believe and have confidence in him and what he says."



Despite his lack of confidence in Trump, Harrison still sought to paint himself as someone who is willing to work across the aisle, particularly with the other senator from South Carolina, Tim Scott, who unveiled a policing reform proposal in June, which was voted down about a week later.



"I applaud Sen. Scott for coming up with some legislation to begin to have the discussion," he said of the criminal justice proposal. "Of course, I would work with Tim on this because this is so personal to me."



"What we see with Lindsey Graham is that he just wants to have a discussion in front of the cameras and say he did something, and give lip service to it, and doesn't really care whether or not you actually get a result out of it. I do care because it has an impact on my community ... and it has an impact on me as a Black man," he added.



Harrison cautioned his own party, though, against quick fixes, such as eliminating the filibuster, to get things done if they were to win back control of the chamber in the fall.



"I'm very hesitant to tinker with some of the structures and institutions that have lasted over generations, just for short-term political gains," he asserted. "A lot of progress has been stalled but at the same time, had we gotten rid of the filibuster in the midst of this pandemic, we would have millions of people in this country right now that would not have health insurance under the Affordable Care Act."



If Harrison were elected, it would mark the first time in American history that a single state is represented by two African American senators. The country came close once, Karl pointed out, in the late 19th century, when Mississippi sent Hiram Revels to the Senate, the first African American senator in 1870. He left after his short term ended in 1871, and just three years later, Mississippi elected Blanche Kelso Bruce to the Senate.

Copyright  2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
The district court here on Wednesday dismissed the bail application of a Hallo Majra resident accused in a snatching case.

Also, looking at the increase in number of snatching cases in the city, the court added Clause A to 379 (punishment for theft) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Snatching incidents have become rampant in Chandigarh. Considering this scenario, Section 379-A was added, making snatching a non-bailable crime. The accused if found guilty will get a minimum of 5 years in jail, which may extend up to 10 years, said advocate JP Singh, a public prosecutor.

On August 23, an FIR was registered under sections 392 and 411 of the IPC at Sector 31 police station after Chandigarh resident Renu (31), who is a security guard at Elante Mall, reported that the accused snatched her mobile phone and purse while she was returning home from work.

Suraj Sharma (26) was caught by the people, following which police recovered the womans phone and purse from him.

Surajs application was opposed by the police stating that he may jump the bail and threaten the witness. Following this, his bail was dismissed by the court with the addition of rigorous punishment under Section 379-A of the IPC.

Following this, the bail was dismissed and section 379 A was added.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates paid a heartfelt tribute to his father William Henry Gates II, who died on Monday in the United States. He was 94.

In a blog post, Gates said his father lived a long and meaningful life and his passing away is a tremendous loss for our family.

I never stopped learning from his wisdom, kindness, and humility. Melinda and I owe him a special debt because his commitment to serving the community and the world helped inspire our own philanthropy, Gates wrote in the blog post.

As Ive said many times before, my dad was the real Bill Gates. He was all the things I strive to be, he further said.

Gates saw his middle child grow from a headstrong boy to one of the most admired business leaders of his generation who became the worlds second richest person, with a net worth of more than $123 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. When Bill Gates started giving away the billions hed made as co-founder of Microsoft Corporation he turned to his father to advise his charitable foundation.

I never imagined that the frequently argumentative little boy I faced each night at dinner, the one eating my food and using my name, was to be my future employer, Gates said in a 2003 speech to fellow members of Rotary International, a worldwide service organization.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which his father helped set up, has committed more than $50 billion to expand childhood immunisation, eradicate polio, provide seeds to African farmers and improve American public schools, according to its website.

The cause of Henry Gates death was Alzheimers disease, his family said in an announcement on Tuesday. He was born November 30, 1925, in Bremerton, Washington.

In addition to his son, Bill, he is survived by his wife; his daughters, Kristianne Blake, who is known as Kristi, and Elizabeth MacPhee, who is known as Libby; and eight grandchildren.
NORMAL  Police are investigating reports of gunfire near the Illinois State University campus.

Normal police at about 9:30 p.m. Monday responded to a report of shots fired in the area of the 700 block of Franklin Avenue, where a single shell casing was later found. No injuries or damage to property was reported.

A witness told police a white vehicle was seen leaving the scene, but no other suspect information was available.

In a crime advisory released to the campus community, ISU police said this is believed to be an isolated incident.

Anyone with information related to this incident is asked to contact the Normal Police Department at (309) 454-9535. To remain anonymous, call McLean County Crime Stoppers at (309) 888-1111.

The latest Crime Stoppers of McLean County cases:

Contact Kelsey Watznauer at (309) 820-3254. Follow her on Twitter: @kwatznauer.

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Participating in an online ADIPEC Energy Dialogue Webinar, Chikezie Nwosu, CEO of WalterSmith in Nigeria, a world class integrated energy solutions provider said that although the oil and gas industry has previously experienced similar shocks to supply and demand, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is being felt over a much shorter period and far more aggressively than before.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly shown us that oil price is not in control of any oil and gas company or country, as even the largest oil-producing countries such as Saudi Arabia and Russia are ill-equipped to adjust to what we are experiencing today," Nwosu explained. "The focus for companies now is to control their costs to ensure business continuity for when the oil prices eventually recover. This can be done by continuing with the structural costs changes that were made during the pandemic."

However, Nwosu warns that bad habits often return when oil prices show signs of recovery, something he has seen happen on numerous occasions in the past.

Discussing the role of technology in navigating the unfamiliar economic conditions, Nwosu said that WalterSmith has been able to successfully continue operations using a combination of effective logistics planning for maintenance and operations, and the use of technology for remote monitoring of assets.

"Reliance on technology in field operations in Nigeria is slowly continuing to grow and, while drones were already being deployed for surveillance in the field operations before the COVID-19 outbreak, many previously manual tasks will now be automated or can be remotely accessed," he said.

Turning the dialogue towards the specific challenges faced by oil and gas companies in the time of a pandemic, Nwosu highlighted several issues including the lack of direct access to field operations, managing expectations for restricted community access to operations, not having expert personnel in the field to do necessary production optimisation, in addition to dealing with skeletal services from regulators and government partners which means that all approval processes are taking much longer.

Looking into the future, WalterSmith will no longer be an oil and gas company; but rather an Integrated Energy Company where the focus is on delivering energy from cleaner sources. As part of this process, Walter Smith has partnered with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) to build a 500-hectare Eco-Industrial Park in which the company will transition from 300 MW of gas power, first to 500 MW, then 1,000 MW of solar power by 2025/2026. By this time, all the power that the company requires for operations and consumer distribution will be through solar energy.

Nwosu believes that while international energy companies are taking the energy transition extremely seriously, the advantage for WalterSmith is that as an independent, small player in the market, the company can be more nimble than the oil giants by making the right changes now, and driving the energy transition forward with the right partners.

"The energy transition is simply good business which is being driven by our respect for humanity and the environment, rather than all the tensions around financing for oil and gas," Nwosu added.

The ADIPEC Energy Dialogue is a series of weekly online thought leadership events created by dmg events, organisers of the annual Abu Dhabi International Exhibition and Conference. Featuring key stakeholders and decision-makers in the oil and gas industry, the dialogues focus on how the industry is evolving and transforming in response to the rapidly changing energy market.

With this year's in-person ADIPEC exhibition and conference postponed to November 2021, the ADIPEC Energy Dialogue, along with insightful webinars, podcasts, and online panels continue to connect the oil and gas industry, with the challenges and opportunities shaping energy markets in the run-up to and following, a planned four-day virtual ADIPEC conferences, exhibition and awards ceremony taking place from November 9-12.

The ADIPEC 2020 virtual conferences and awards ceremony will bring together energy leaders, ministers, global oil and gas CEOs as well as the engineering faculty to assess the collective measures the industry needs to put in place to fast-track recovery, post COVID-19.

To watch the full ADIPEC Energy Dialogue go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUhSD3uDmeY&t=154s.

ADIPEC is the world's foremost meeting place to identify innovative ideas, exchange knowledge, launch revolutionary new products, strike diverse partnerships and do business.

About ADIPEC

Held under the patronage of the President of the United Arab Emirates, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed AL Nahyan, and organised by the Global Energy division of dmg events, ADIPEC is the global meeting point for oil and gas professionals. Standing as one of the world's top energy events, and the largest in the world, ADIPEC is a knowledge-sharing platform that enables industry experts to exchange ideas and information that shape the future of the energy sector. The 36th edition of ADIPEC Virtual will be hosted by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and supported by the UAE Ministry of Energy & Industry, Masdar, the Abu Dhabi Chamber, the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism, Abu Dhabi Ports and the Department of Education and Knowledge. dmg events is committed to helping the growing international energy community. To know more, visit: www.adipec.com .

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Never admit more than five Jews, take only two Italian Catholics, and take no Blacks at all. These were the instructions of Milton Winternitz, the dean of Yale Medical School, from 1920-1935. Racial quotas have a sordid history. And yet 100 years later, California still hasnt learned.

Not long after Dean Winternitz imposed racial quotas at Yale, but not soon enough, the civil rights era ushered society into an era of equality before the law. The Supreme Court famously struck down segregationist policies, and civil rights legislation was passed. The concept of equality affirmed by these events required the rejection of racial quotas even when used to purportedly benefit minorities. In 1978, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the University of Californias racial quotas for college admissions were unconstitutional because they treated applicants not as individuals, but simply as members of a racial or ethnic group. Quotas soon became a thing of the past.

Or so we thought. Shockingly, in 2020, the California Legislature has reverted once again to racial balancing. If the governor signs AB979 into law, every publicly traded corporation that is headquartered or incorporated in California will be subject to an underrepresented community quota. All corporations must have at least one member who belongs to a certain racial group or the LBGT+ community; the exact number depends on the boards size. Corporations between 4 and 9 members must fill two seats. Corporations with more than nine members must fill three.

Like Californias Woman Quota, enacted in 2018, AB979 gets the concept of equality all wrong. Its based, of course, on remedying disparities in representation among groups. But when disparities arise, they are cause for investigation so that we can find the root cause. They are not a reason to resort to racial quotas. Nobodys skin color or sex, or sexual orientation should determine their job opportunities, regardless of the states noble intentions.

Like the discriminatory quotas of the past, Californias board quotas tell some people they need not apply. If you belong to a certain race, sex or sexual orientation, you are eligible for certain seats on the board. If you do not share these immutable characteristics, you are categorically disqualified. Thats lamentable regardless of who its meant to benefit.

Californias new law is almost certainly unconstitutional. When the Woman Quota was signed, former Gov. Jerry Brown acknowledged that the laws potential flaws  that is, the fact that it used an explicit quota  could prove fatal to its ultimate implementation. If thats true for the Woman Quota, its even more the case for AB979s racial quota, which is subject to the most rigorous form of judicial review available under the Constitution. All race-conscious laws are subject to strict scrutiny, which requires the government to prove that its actions are narrowly tailored to further a compelling state interest. The Supreme Court has rejected the idea that racial balancing, for its own sake, qualifies as a compelling governmental goal. And while the government may sometimes engage in policies aimed at remedying discrimination, quotas are strongly disfavored.

After all, quotas flip equality on its head. The point of equal treatment before the law is to ensure that people are treated as more than members of the group they were born into. Quotas, by contrast, elevate group membership above all else.

There is still time for Gov. Gavin Newsom to do the right thing and to reject AB979, even though doing so may prove politically difficult in this fraught environment. The governor should recognize that the quota is patently unconstitutional and will undoubtedly embroil the state in extensive litigation that will prove fatal to its ultimate implementation.

But more importantly, Gov. Newsom should recognize that outright race quotas are a relic of the past that California should not seek to revisit.

Anastasia Boden and Daniel Ortner are attorneys at Pacific Legal Foundation, which litigates nationwide to achieve court victories enforcing the Constitutions guarantee of individual liberty.
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump on Wednesday called on congressional Republicans to support a massive economic relief bill with "much higher numbers" and stimulus payments for Americans, abruptly proposing an entirely different plan from what the Senate GOP sought to advance in recent days.

His Twitter post and subsequent comments at a news conference could reframe talks that have stalled for more than a month, and put new pressure on leaders in both parties. They come at a moment when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is facing a backlash from some House Democrats, including lawmakers in tough reelection races, over congressional inaction on new economic relief.

Speaking at the White House on Wednesday evening, Trump expressed support - but not an explicit endorsement - for a $1.5 trillion plan unveiled Tuesday by the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus in the House. The proposal includes a new round of $1,200 stimulus checks to individual Americans, a provision omitted from an approximately $300 billion plan Senate Republicans tried unsuccessfully to pass last week.

"I like the larger amount, I've said that," Trump said. "Some of the Republicans disagree but I think I can convince them to go along with that because I like the larger number. I want to see people get money."

Trump stopped short of saying he would approve every detail of the Problem Solvers plan but said, "Something like that," and, "We're getting closer."

Congressional leaders in both parties have already rejected the Problem Solvers proposal - Republicans because it costs too much, and Democrats because it doesn't go far enough.

It wasn't immediately clear how Trump's comments would affect the state of play on Capitol Hill, where bipartisan talks have been stalled for more than a month. But it seemed possible that his renewed interest in a generous aid deal could open the door to a new round of talks.

"We should have an agreement," Trump said. "People should be helped and they should be helped as rapidly as possible. And I think it's going to happen."

There were some additional signs of movement Wednesday. Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had their first phone conversation in more than two weeks about coronavirus relief legislation, although it was not extensive, according to Pelosi's spokesman.

A growing number of House Democrats continued to expressed the desire for action on legislation of some kind before Congress goes on recess early next month through the election. And Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., seized on Trump's new position and suggested it validated their approach.

"We are encouraged that after months of the Senate Republicans insisting on shortchanging the massive needs of the American people, President Trump is now calling on Republicans to 'go for the much higher numbers' in the next coronavirus relief package," Pelosi and Schumer said in a statement. "We look forward to hearing from the president's negotiators that they will finally meet us halfway with a bill that is equal to the massive health and economic crises gripping our nation."

In his Twitter post Wednesday, Trump mischaracterized Democrats' position by saying they were "heartless" for not wanting "to give STIMULUS PAYMENTS to people who desperately need the money, and whose fault it was NOT that the plague came in from China. Go for the much higher numbers, Republicans, it all comes back to the USA anyway (one way or another!)."

Democrats had, in fact, supported these additional stimulus payments, which were part of a $3 trillion bill the House passed in May. That measure never became law because the White House and Senate Republicans rejected many other parts of the legislation, including aid to states. In the Senate, Republicans were unable to unify around a $1 trillion bill in July that also included another round of stimulus checks, because so many of their members opposed spending even that much.

Last week, the Senate GOP tried to advance an approximately $300 billion bill without stimulus checks, but Senate Democrats blocked it, calling it inadequate.

The framework produced by the Problem Solvers caucus, which is made up of 25 Democrats and 25 Republicans in the House, includes some provisions the White House would likely reject, including $500 billion in aid to cities and states - although that is less than the nearly $1 trillion Democrats had supported. In addition to new stimulus checks, it would renew a lapsed $600 weekly enhanced unemployment benefit, while adding a stipulation important to Republicans that no one should receive more than 100 percent of their previous wages.

And, the $1.5 trillion proposal includes automatic "boosters" and "reducers" based on covid hospitalization and vaccine metrics, that could potentially add $400 billion to the cost of the bill, or reduce it by $200 billion.

"There's some things I disagree with but I'm sure they could be negotiated," Trump said.

Rep. Tom Reed, R-N.Y., a leader of the Problem Solvers, had kept the White House in the loop on the proposal.

"I think our proposal triggered a change in conversation," Reed said in an interview earlier Wednesday. He noted that the coronavirus talks were "stuck in gridlock and at least now we see folks both at the House, Senate and White House individuating they're willing to have a conversation and get back in the room."

However, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told reporters Wednesday of the plan's $1.5 trillion price tag: "I think it's difficult."

And on Tuesday, eight Democratic House committee chairs released a joint statement saying the proposal "falls short of what is needed to save lives and boost the economy."

Nevertheless some lawmakers saw signs of hope. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said a deal could be reached but that lawmakers probably needed an agreement by the end of September.

"We need to get busy finding out what we can all agree on," he said, acknowledging it would have to be higher than the $1 trillion bill Senate Republicans released in July.

Blunt pointed to the provisions in the Problem Solvers plan allowing it to get smaller or larger depending on certain metrics.

"Maybe the escalator clause concept gives everybody a little something to brag about," Blunt said. "There's a deal there. I think it would be really a shame if we don't figure out how to grab hold of it."

Congress is scheduled to be in session through early October, and it must also pass a spending bill to avert a government shutdown Oct. 1.

Multiple efforts to revive the economic relief talks have failed in the past, but Pelosi has recently come under pressure to take new action.

"I am hopeful that as leadership registers the anxiousness of members, both Democrats and Republicans, to get something done, that they will be responsive to that," Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., a leader of the moderate Blue Dog Coalition, told reporters Wednesday.

Trump senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner on Tuesday said a deal might not come together until after the November election. Trump's comments Wednesday suggested he wanted the matter dealt with urgently, however.

Congress passed, and Trump signed, the $2 trillion Cares Act in March, which sent $1,200 checks to millions of Americans as a way to try to contain some of the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. Those checks went to more than 100 million Americans, and Trump signaled Wednesday that he wants to send another round of such checks, something Democrats have long supported.

Pelosi has said repeatedly that Democrats would offer concessions to their May proposal and agree to a more narrow package that was around $2.2 trillion. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said earlier this week that $2.2 trillion was still too high.

Despite the pressure Pelosi is now confronting, she has indicated no willingness thus far to back down and agree to a lesser deal.

"We have come down, but the needs of the American people - we can only go so far," Pelosi said Wednesday on MSNBC. "We cannot have a Sophie's Choice of feeding some children and not others, housing some people and not others."
press release

Nearly 720,000 people are affected by flooding in Sudan, according to the Government. This represents an increase of 160,000 people in just four days.

To date, 102 flood-related deaths have been reported. More than 71,000 homes have been destroyed and over 72,000 more damaged. More than 3,300 livestock have been killed.

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) weather centre has issued a heavy rain and flooding alert up to 15 September, although monitoring stations on the Blue Nile River have recorded a slight decrease [3 mm] in water levels over the weekend.

The Government, UN agencies and non-governmental organizations are assisting affected people.

UN and humanitarian partners have reached an estimated 200,000 people with health, food and other assistance.

The Sudan Humanitarian Fund has allocated US$3.2 million  about half of which is for emergency shelter and non-food items, health and water, sanitation and hygiene supplies that were prepositioned across the country ahead of the floods  while the rest of the funds are for further humanitarian assistance in response to the crisis.

Sudan's Humanitarian Response Plan for 2020, seeking US$1.6 billion, is less than 45 per cent funded. More funding is urgently required.
GREENWICH  There were several cries of Viva Mexico  with a Viva Greenwich added for good measure  as a small crowd gathered outside Town Hall on Wednesday to raise the Mexican flag and mark that countrys independence day.

The flag flew beside the town and American flags throughout the day after it was raised while the Mexican National Anthem played.

The town of Greenwich is very proud of all the many people that have come here from all over the world and called Greenwich their home, First Selectman Fred Camillo said. Its what makes Greenwich and our country the special place that it is.

The ceremony commemorated what is called the Dia de Independencia, which is when the cry of independence was first heard on Sept. 16, 1810, triggering the revolution against the Spaniards who controlled Mexico at the time.

Rita Vargas Torregrosa, deputy consul general of the Mexican consulate in New York City, also attended the ceremony and spoke to Greenwich Time about how much she appreciated the local celebration.

This is very important for the government of Mexico, she said. There are many Mexican workers living here and many of them are essential workers in this area. They are working here with all of you.  They are working as first responders and doing all of the important jobs to support the economy and the people of this country. This is a celebration not just for the country of Mexico but for all of the Mexicans living here.

The annual ceremony to celebrate Mexicos independence was the idea of town residents Ann Blumensaadt and her husband Robert Genna. Blumensaadt grew up along the border in El Paso, Texas, and has said she wanted to bring the celebration to Greenwich.

Hopefully we will be doing this for many, many years to come, Camillo said.

The honor of raising the flag, as it has in years past, went to Byram resident Leoncio Flores.

Nearly 30 people attended the ceremony, including state Sen. Alex Kasser, D-36, and state Rep. Stephen Meskers, D-150. Both delivered messages of support and celebration in Spanish to the crowd.

Kasser became emotional when she spoke about the climate in the U.S. on immigration, mentioning the policy under President Donald Trump to separate children from their parents at the border and reports from a whistleblower alleging that a doctor working for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency was performing hysterectomies on migrant women.

Calling it a time of danger in the country, Kasser said, Forced sterilization of immigrants is not American. Putting children in cages is not American. Separating families is not American. I am appalled by the way this president has disrespected Mexican people and our American values.

Kasser, who is facing a reelection challenge from Republican Ryan Fazio, pledged to do everything in my power to ensure that every person is treated with respect and dignity.

Due to safety measures because of the coronavirus, everyone at the ceremony wore a mask and there was no reception afterward, as there has been in previous years.

kborsuk@greenwichtime.com
(Alliance News) - The boss of British Airways told UK MPs people are "still afraid of travelling" as he defended the airline's decision to cut up to 12,000 jobs.

Chief Executive Alex Cruz said the coronavirus pandemic has "devastated our business" and the carrier is "still fighting for our own survival".

He told the Commons' Transport Select Committee: "Fewer passengers means fewer flights, and fewer flights means fewer people required to actually service them.

"As CEO of British Airways, I have to take responsibility. I cannot ignore the situation. I had to act incredibly fast.

"I deeply, deeply regret that way too many loyal and hardworking colleagues of mine are having to leave our business, and I understand why MPs are concerned."

British Airways is a part of International Consolidated Airlines Group SA.

By Neil Lancefield, PA Transport Correspondent

source: PA

Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
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(The following is excerpted from Wallace B. Henleys new book, Two Men From Babylon: Nebuchadnezzar, Trump, and the Lord of History)



The battle raging in the heart of America brings to mind the vision of destroyers that the Apostle John saw in the Revelation:

They have as king over them the angel of the abyss;

his name over them in Hebrew is Abaddon,

and in the Greek he has the name Apollyon. Revelation 9:11

Which side does this describe in the present struggle?

Is Donald Trump the angel of the abyss, or the antichrist, the destroyer of the fragile order that sustains a high quality of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?

Or is Trump a God-given deliverer protecting America from the ravaging mobs who seem to relish the destruction of statues and monuments that hold the memory of the nations history before us for good or bad?

Are the protestors now streaming over the barricades of city-centers the heroic crusaders who will overthrow what they see as an exploitive civilization that they believe has built itself upon the pain and blood of others? Will they be the deliverers of a new future based on socialist values and principles?

Whatever the case, a close study of history shows that as there are motifs in a great musical composition, so there is a motif running across the opus of time: the recurring Destroyer-Deliverer manifestations.

Throughout history, just when the destroyer is about to overthrow the cities and make the world a wilderness (Isaiah 14:16-17) by crushing civilization, God brings a deliverer on the scene. Thus,

For every Cain there is a Seth

For every Lamech there is a Noah

For every Nimrod there is an Abraham

For every Pharaoh there is a Moses

For every Nebuchadnezzar there is a Daniel

For every Goliath there is a David

For every Antiochus there is a John the Baptist

For every Nero there is a Constantine

For every slave holder there is a Lincoln

For every Hitler there is a Churchill

For every Stalin there is a Solzhenitsyn

... and so on across history until the Consummation of all epochs of finite time.

Above all in the biblical vision, standing against Apollyon is Jesus Christ, the Messiah, Redeemer, and Lord of history, who brings the New Jerusalem and its sparkling civilization (Revelation 21:10-21), of which dark Babylon is the antithesis.

The Destroyer-Deliverer theme repeats in our day. Whenever any new leader arises anxious people wonder whether he or she is a destroyer or a deliverer.

Joe Biden thinks he knows about Donald Trump: Joe Biden Is Worried Donald Trump Might Destroy Western Civilization... But its Nothing Personal, heralded a Vanity Fair headline in 2017. Writer Abigail Tracy reported on a Biden speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Biden told the group he was concerned Trump would accelerate Russias plot to collapse the liberal international order.[1]

However, a reader of a Wisconsin newspaper saw it otherwise: Western civilization will perhaps be saved by Donald Trump.[2]

Trump himself crashes in with one of those statements that demolishes or confuses, or inspires and challenges, depending on ones perspective.

In an address in Poland that Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan described as a grown-up speech that said serious things,[3] Donald Trump showed awareness of the importance of sustaining civilization:

Each generation must rise up and play their part in [their culture's] defense. Every foot of ground and every last inch of civilization is worth defending with your life... I declare today for the world to hear that the West will never, ever, be broken. Our values will prevail. Our people will thrive. And our civilization will triumph.

Trump described his view of the ideals of that civilization:

We write symphonies. We pursue innovation. We celebrate our ancient heroes, embrace our timeless traditions and customs, and always seek to explore and discover brand-new frontiers.

We reward brilliance. We strive for excellence and cherish inspiring works of art that honor God. We treasure the rule of law and protect the right to free speech and free expression.

We empower women as pillars of our society and of our success. We put faith and family, not government and bureaucracy, at the center of our lives. And we debate everything. We challenge everything. We seek to know everything so that we can better know ourselves.

And above all, we value the dignity of every human life, protect the rights of every person, and share the hope of every soul to live in freedom. That is who we are. Those are the priceless ties that bind us together as nations, as allies, and as a civilization.

Trumps opponents accuse him of trashing everything from Christianity to the Constitution. Yet the mobs besetting cities are demolishing the structures and enterprises that symbolize the hopes of people living in a culture that has in the past encouraged and applauded their ambition and hard work.

In fifty years of observing and participating in American politics I have several times heard the claim that the next election is the most important in our history. The failure of past hyperbole makes us cynics. However, the presidential election that now careens toward us truly is the most crucial since the founding of the nation. Upon it hinges the destiny not only of a country, but of an entire civilization.

Voters this fall will themselves decide who are the destroyers and who are the deliverers.

God help us to vote the big picture and not just our narrow existential interests.

[1] Retrieved from https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/01/joe-biden-donald-trump-davos, July 12, 2019.

[2] Retrieved from https://www.gazettextra.com/opinion/letters/your-views-trump-trying-to-save-civilization-as-the-left/article_2bb2004f-098c-5782-8415-eb4138a51616.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=user-share

[3] Peggy Noonan, The Wall Street Journal, July 6, 2017.
Chennai, Sep 16 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami on Wednesday said the state government has decided to increase jail terms in cases of crimes against women and girls.

Speaking in the Assembly, Palaniswami said the revised prison terms will be brought in by amending the laws with the consent of the central government.

He said the minimum jail term for deaths due to dowry harassment would be increased by three years to 10 years under Section 304-B of IPC.

Palaniswami said the minimum jail term for disrobing women would be five years as against the current term of three years under Section 354-B of IPC and the maximum prison term would be increased to 10 years from the current seven years.

The Chief Minister said for second-time offenders for stalking women with criminal intention, the prison term would be increased by two years to seven years.

For those involved in trafficking of girls aged under 18 and pushing them into prostitution the minimum prison term would be seven years and the maximum will be life sentence from the current 10 years.
A North Carolina man was arrested Monday after footage showed an SUV running over a Black Lives Matter protester during a rally in Tennessee on Saturday.

Jared Benjamin Lafer, 37, handed himself in to police and was charged with one count of aggravated assault, officials said.

A clip posted to Facebook over the weekend had shown the moment demonstrator Jonathan Bowers, 31, was hit standing in a crosswalk in Johnson City.

The driver of the Ford Expedition, later identified by police as Lafer, heads straight at the protester, knocking him to the ground before driving over him and leaving the scene.

Lafer's attorney confirmed his wife and his three young children under the age of six were all in the car with him, adding: 'He did what he felt was necessary to get out of a situation that he felt was dangerous to his family.'

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Jared Benjamin Lafer, pictured, has been charged with one count of aggravated assault

Footage shows as the demonstrator was hit in Johnson City on Saturday. The driver of the SUV, later identified as Lafer by police, heads straight at the protester, knocking him to the ground before driving over him and leaving the scene

In the clip the protester is seen standing in front of the SUV, along with at least one other demonstrator.

It is not known what led up to the incident but the driver then mows the demonstrator down.

After knocking the protester to the ground the motorist drives over his legs before fleeing the scene.

A second protester with a dog can be seen standing just yards away.

The person recording the footage says 'o my god' as other protesters then rush to helped the man mowed down.

Lafer, who was released on $20,000 bond, is from Bakersville, which is an hour from Johnson City. Online profiles for Lafer show he is a real estate agent

More than 1,000 people have since signed a petition to see the driver charged with attempted vehicular homicide.

Posting the footage online, Brent Chaffin said: 'Tonight at a peaceful protest for #BlackLivesMatter a car brutally ran over a photographer and a crowd of protesters who were lawfully in a crosswalk.'

Lafer, who was released on $20,000 bond, is from Bakersville, which is an hour from Johnson City.

Online profiles for Lafer show he is a real estate agent who had worked for Coldwell Banker King. Owner Terri King told News 11: 'Mr. Lafer was an independent contractor with Coldwell Banker King. He is no longer affiliated with our company. We have no relationship with Jared Lafer.'

Lafer's attorney Mac Meade said: 'This is not a case about racism. This is a case about a man who found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time, faced with what he perceived as a dangerous condition, dangerous situation.

'His entire family, his wife and his three young kids under the age of six were all in the car with him. And he did what he felt was necessary to get out of a situation that he felt was dangerous to his family.'

The driver of the Ford Expedition, later identified as Lafer, heads straight at the protester, knocking him to the ground before driving over him and leaving the scene

Victoria Grace Hewlett, a spokeperson for the New Panthers Initiative which helped organize the protest, said: 'The driver could have turned left at the intersection, avoided the occupied crosswalk and easily taken another route, but chose to drive their car through a crowd lawfully using a crosswalk.

'The driver was clearly in no danger and had no right to put other peoples lives in danger. After running the individual over, the driver proceeded to speed away showing no regard for the person they injured.'

Hewlett confirmed the victim was left with two broken legs.
Copyright  2020 Albuquerque Journal

Cleaning up groundwater contamination is slow, complicated and expensive.

And specific remediation at three military sites in New Mexico is also hindered by state budget constraints and limited staff, state Environment Department officials told lawmakers during a virtual briefing last week.

The agencys Hazardous Waste Bureau is operating on a shoestring, with 10 of the bureaus 35 positions still vacant, said Stephanie Stringer, director of the Resource Protection Division at the New Mexico Environment Department.

NMED estimates the agency needs a $10 million budget increase to be fully functional.

Rep. Angelica Rubio, D-Las Cruces, noted during the meeting that slow cleanup is the result of years of New Mexico underfunding its environmental and natural resource agencies.

It actually costs us more not to be able to figure out solutions to many of these issues, rather than just investing in these issues, Rubio said during the Radioactive and Hazardous Materials committee meeting.

Cleanup of the Kirtland Air Force Base jet fuel spill has been stuck in the facility investigation phase for years, Stringer said.

Its a lot of scientific data collection and analysis to determine the nature and the extent of the contamination, while also concurrently exploring ideas and pilot tests about how the contamination can be addressed, she said.

Kirtland first discovered a pipeline leaking jet fuel into groundwater in 1999. The leak, which occurred over decades, contained ethylene dibromide (EDB).

The Air Force uses extraction wells to pump and treat the plume. Since 2015, cleanup has focused on the area north of Ridgecrest Drive.

The wells had treated more than 808 million gallons of water as of February. The strategy has reduced the EDB plume by 91%.

Kirtland has, however, yet to submit a final cleanup strategy to the state. NMED wants to start selecting a permanent remedy by the end of 2021.

Limited resources also have slowed cleanup of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in groundwater at Cannon and Holloman Air Force bases.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency links the PFAS chemicals, used in firefighting foam on base, to low birth weights, high cholesterol and some cancers.

Contamination forced a Clovis dairy to stop selling milk and euthanize its cows.

Were not even anywhere near getting into figuring out how to truly clean up PFAS contamination, as we have to first figure out where it is, Stringer said.

The responsible party, in this case the Air Force, has not gathered or shared enough data about PFAS at the sites, so the state is stepping in, she said.

NMED received $1 million from the state Legislature this year to assess the contamination.

The Environment Department last week reached a settlement with the Air Force for not including PFAS chemicals in a Cannon groundwater discharge permit.

But the $250,000 settlement is for a permit violation and does not include a cleanup mandate.

New Mexico has sued the Department of Defense over the groundwater contamination.

Theresa Davis is a Report for America corps member covering water and the environment for the Albuquerque Journal.
Josie Norris /Staff Photographer

H-E-B is hosting a large drive-thru flu shot event at the Freeman Coliseum from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26, the grocery store chain announced in a news release Wednesday.

Dozens of H-E-B pharmacists will be set up in the parking lot of Freeman Coliseum, located 3201 E Houston St., to administer the flu shots, the release said. Most major insurance will be accepted, and flu shots will be available at no cost for those without insurance, according to the release.
At least seven people have died from coronavirus in an outbreak linked to a Maine wedding, including a nursing home patient who did not attend the reception.

Maine officials say that 176 COVID-19 cases have emerged related to the August 7 wedding that violated state guidelines.

The latest death was reported at the Maplecrest Rehabilitation and Living Center in Madison, Maine, a spokesman for the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday.

Five other deaths also connected to the wedding were reported there.

An 88-year-old woman linked to the wedding also died at a hospital in the Millinocket area on August 21.

None of the people who died attended the wedding or reception itself.

The wedding is now linked to outbreaks at the Maplecrest nursing home and the York county jail, both located more than 100 miles away from the venue, affecting people who made secondary or tertiary contact with an attendee.

On August 7 a wedding ceremony took place indoors at the Tri Town Baptist Church in East Millinocket and the reception was held at the Big Moose Inn Cabins and Campground in Millinocket (above). Now seven deaths and 176 COVID-19 cases are linked to the gathering

Six of the seven COVID-19 deaths linked to the August wedding happened at Maplecrest Rehabilitation and Living Center in Madison, Maine (pictured)

The ceremony took place indoors at the Tri Town Baptist Church in East Millinocket and the reception was held at the Big Moose Inn Cabins and Campground in Millinocket.

In total about 65 people attended the event  which violated Gov. Janet Mills' executive order limiting indoor gatherings to 50 people.

One of the wedding attendees was an employee at the York County Jail, where 72 cases have emerged and been linked to the wedding, officials say.

At the Maplecrest Rehabilitation and Living Center six people have died, all of them residents of the facility and none of them attended the wedding or reception, said Dr. Nirav Shah, director of Maine CDC.

The center also has 39 active COVID-19 cases linked to the wedding - at least 24 residents and 15 workers.

Officials say that an employee of the facility lives in the same household as a person who attended the wedding.

The only death to take place outside the facility was 88-year-old Theresa Dentremont who died at Millinocket Regional Hospital on August 21 after contracting the virus.

Detremont did not attend the wedding, but hospital staff believed she may have been infected by someone who did.

Officials said Theresa Detremont (pictured) did not attend the Millinocket wedding before she was infected

At York County Jail 72 cases have been linked to the August wedding

Now the state is investigating whether an outbreak at Calvary Baptist Church, whose pastor Todd Bell officiated the wedding, is linked to the wedding. That church is tied to at least 10 cases.

The church said that some of its members attended the wedding reception.

Despite the outbreak, the church said it will continue to hold services and is taking precautions to limit the spread of the virus.

'The Calvary Baptist Church has a legal right to meet. The authority of a local Christian church, a Jewish synagogue, or a Muslim mosque to gather for their respective religious services is a time-honored part of our nations history since its inception,' a statement said.

'These religious activities are also fully protected under the First Amendment to our United States Constitution,' the statement added.

Pastor Bell is a big critic of the government's attempt to control the virus.

Videos show that he held services at the church without social distancing.

He hired a lawyer known nationally for defending the religious rights of churches.

Now the state is investigating whether an outbreak at Calvary Baptist Church, in Sanford whose pastor Todd Bell officiated the wedding, is linked to the wedding. That church is tied to at least 10 cases

Pastor Todd Bell (pictured) has continued to hold in-person services at Calvary Baptist Church in Sanford, Maine, even after he officiated a wedding that was linked to cases and deaths

The virus cases stemming from the wedding have spanned hundreds of miles in a state that had largely controlled the spread of the coronavirus through the summer.

Maine has reported less than 5,000 cases of the virus in total since March.

'Maine CDC is concerned about where we are, and I'm asking everyone else to share in that concern. COVID-19, right now, is not on the other side of the fence. It is in our yards,' Shah said.

'The gains that Maine has made against COVID-19 are ones that could, and unfortunately can, be washed away.'

Maine CDC spokesperson Robert Long said the agency's investigations suggest 'multiple potential points of transmission related to the August 7 wedding and reception.'

The agency is working to limit the spread of the virus and support people affected by it, he said.

Shah said the state's percent positivity rate has ticked up to 0.63 percent for the previous seven days.

At one point, the rate was less than half a percentage point. The rate remains well below the national average of about 5 percent, Shah said.
Queensland's Opposition Leader has called on the Premier to override the advice of the state's Chief Health Officer and allow people from COVID-19 hotspots to bypass quarantine and attend funerals.

On Tuesday, the state LNP announced a plan in which people could visit the terminally ill and attend funerals while "wearing PPE and [under] strict requirements not to mix in the community".

Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington. Credit:Matt Dennien

The plan has not been endorsed by the Chief Health Officer, Jeannette Young.

Ms Frecklington said everyone had the right to go to a loved one's funeral.
President Donald Trump said the U.S. government could start distributing a coronavirus vaccine as early as October, a much more optimistic estimate than his own health officials have publicly advised.

"We're very close to that vaccine as you know and I think much closer than I think most people want to say," Trump said during a White House press briefing Wednesday. "We think we can start some time in October. So as soon as it's announced we'll be able to start. That will be from mid-October on. It may be a little bit later than that."

He said the U.S. has manufactured all of the necessary supplies and health officials will be able to distribute at least 100 million vaccine doses by the end of the year. The vaccine could be distributed starting in October or November, but he said "I don't think it's going to be too much later than that."

Earlier in the day, Dr. Robert Redfield told lawmakers at a Senate hearing he expects vaccinations to begin in November or December, but in limited quantities with those most in need getting the first doses, such as health-care workers and the elderly. Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said it will take about "six to nine months" to get the entire American public vaccinated and that the U.S. would be able to resume "regular life" by the third quarter of next year.

The CDC also outlined a sweeping plan Wednesday to make vaccines for Covid-19 free to all Americans. In the plan, the CDC said it anticipates a coronavirus vaccine will initially be granted an emergency use authorization before a full formal approval.

Trump said Redfield was mistaken when he said the vaccine wouldn't be widely available to the general public until next summer or early fall.

"I think he made a mistake when he said that. It's just incorrect information and I called him and he didn't tell me that and I think he got the message maybe confused, maybe it was stated incorrectly," Trump said. "We're ready to go immediately as the vaccine is announced and it could be announced in October, it could be announced a little bit after October but once we go we're ready."

Trump said he got the "impression" Redfield "didn't realize" what he said.

"I didn't see him say it, but if that's what he said then it's a mistake because ... we're ready to distribute immediately to a vast section of our country and then beyond because we want to help other countries also but we're ready to distribute immediately," Trump said.
Chron.com is following the latest headlines on the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on the Houston area

4:30 p.m. update:

A new study by experts at Johns Hopkins University found that COVID-19 tests can be as expensive as $14,000, according to the Houston Chronicle.

The study found that, in Texas, the average test costs between about $100 to $150, while antibody tests cost around $56.

In other headlines, a man at a hospital in The Woodlands was cured of the virus after undergoing a double lung transplant. Francisco Medellin, a 69-year-old who contracted the virus in June, was one of the first in the country to have undergone the procedure, according to the newspaper.

10 a.m. update:

Confirmed COVID-19 cases jumped by nearly two percent in one day, according to a Houston Chronicle analysis.

Between Sept. 14 and 15, total Houston region cases are up to 172,268, an increase of 3,202 cases. Deaths increased by 21, bringing the Houston region's total to 3,248.

In Harris County, authorities added 2,768 new cases for a total of 120,336.

Statewide, cases increased by 6,629 to 693,658. Officials also reported 139 new deaths statewide, bringing the total to 14,582.

The positivity rate in Houston is now at 6.79 percent.

In other headlines, a top Houston doctor warns that the fall could bring trouble for COVID-19 in the city.

"In the fall, all schools will be in full swing. I suspect that a lot of businesses will start increasing their activity," Dr. Bela Patel, director of critical care with UTHealth and Memorial Hermann-TMC said. "We will also have flu and other respiratory viruses on top of what our normal hospitalizations are. I'm hopeful that as we continue to pay attention to our practices that we'll have a light flu season, but regardless any flu hospitalization on top of COVID-19 will continue to stress our systems."

NOTE: The numbers included in this report represent a one-day change in data from Monday, Sept. 14 through Tuesday, Sept. 15. 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. The Houston Chronicle's analysis of COVID-19 case data now includes probable and pending cases. This change is based on interviews with multiple public health officials and epidemiologists, as well as in line with CDC guidelines on reporting. DSHS is now using death certificate data for its counts of COVID deaths, leading some Texas counties to have dramatically higher counts than others and some counties to have higher numbers than state figures.
By Richard Porton

September 15, 2020 " Information Clearing House " - Sonia Kennebeck begins her documentary Enemies of the State with an epigraph from Oscar Wilde: The truth is never pure and rarely simple. By the conclusion of Kennebecks film, which premiered this week at the Toronto International Film Festival, the convoluted series of events she recounts reveal that nothing is straightforward about the case her documentary dissectsthe strange saga of Matt DeHart, a man hailed by his supporters as a whistleblower and denounced by his detractors as a sex predator. Instead of assuaging the audiences curiosity and providing a clear-cut resolution to this murky scenario, Kennebeck, whether courageously or perversely, leaves her viewers hanging. Perhaps the opaque nature of the DeHart controversy, replete with unyielding positions from partisans on both sides, leaves her no choice.

The legal and ethical quandaries posed by DeHarts case seemed tailor-made to polarize opposing political factions, even though the terms of the debate reflect a pre-Trump era when the FBI and CIA were still mistrusted by liberals and Julian Assange and WikiLeaks were not presumed to be linked to Russian disinformation schemes.

The frequently mind-boggling details of DeHarts plight are intrinsically disorienting inasmuch as they easily inspire diametrically opposed interpretations. In 2009, DeHart, at the time an intelligence analyst for the Air National Guard, claimed to have discovered explosive evidence of a CIA plot to implement the anthrax attacks of 2001, ostensibly designed to draw the United States into a war with Iraq that was promoted years earlier by the Bush administration. A hacktivist allied with the group of online guerrillas known as Anonymous as well as WikiLeaks, DeHart became understandably paranoid and, in early 2010, his Indiana house was raided by law enforcement authorities and he soon takes flight, first unsuccessfully seeking asylum in both the Russian and Venezuelan embassies and then finding refuge in Quebec as he decides to prepare for life in Canada by studying French. Meanwhile, prosecutors in Tennessee claim that investigations have produced evidence that DeHart solicited child pornography from two victims. DeHart has always strenuously denied these accusations and claims they are being weaponized as subterfuge by U.S. intelligence to deflect from his efforts to expose the malfeasance of the American government during the post-9/11 era.

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Kennebeck does her best to be scrupulously objective about the dizzying twists and turns of an inevitably confusing narrative and interviews both diehard DeHart sympathizers and a Tennessee prosecutor and policeman convinced of his guilt. Of course, the waters become even more muddied when DeHart attempts to renew his Canadian student visa in 2010 and is quickly arrested by U.S. authorities when he crosses the border. He maintains that he was then drugged and tortured by the FBI and suffered a near-psychotic episode as a result. This vertiginous series of events repeats itself subsequently when, in 2013, after pre-trial deliberations, DeHart, accompanied by his supportive parents, once again applies for asylum in Canada, and, after an unpleasant sojourn in prison, is championed by journalistsespecially National Posts Adrian Humphreys, as well as Courage, an organization that vigorously defends the free speech rights of whistleblowers such as Julian Assange and Edward Snowden. Yet when the Canadian authorities fail to find sufficient grounds for granting DeHart asylum in 2015, he is deported to the U.S. and eventually accepts a plea deal for the child pornography charges and is sentenced to a term of seven and a half years. Nevertheless, after his sentence was recalculated, he was released from prison in 2019.

Kennebeck, despite her best intentions, cannot help but fall down a certain rabbit hole in which the bewildering, uncertain nature of all of these accusations and counter-accusations cannot be resolved and the viewer is forced to conclude either that DeHart has been the victim of a nefarious smear campaign spearheaded by American intelligence, which benefits from Americans gullible assumptions concerning the supposedly ubiquitous presence of pedophilia in our midst (which has only increased with the recent burgeoning popularity of deranged conspiracy theories such as QAnon), or is attempting to camouflage his involvement with child porn by emphasizing the unsavory motivations of both the FBI and CIA.

Even the established facts in this tangled web of conflicting narratives are undermined when the most steadfast DeHart defenders interviewed in the film appear to shift their positions when evidence of unsavory images unearthed by the Tennessee authorities (although how can one be sure this evidence isnt tainted by government manipulation?) appear to confirm DeHarts guilt. His parents, Paul and Leann, never waver in their insistence that their son has been framed. Other interviewees, particularly Humphreys and Gabriella Coleman, a professor at McGill University in Montreal and author of Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy: The Many Faces of Anonymous, while refusing to condemn DeHart, seem more ambivalent about the young hackers previous status as an unblemished hero by the films end.

Its certainly no coincidence that Errol Morris signed on as Enemies of the States executive producer. The film reflects many of the strongest and weakest attributes of Morriss work. Morriss best documentaries, especially his landmark investigative film The Thin Blue Line (1988) and Wormwood (2017), his more recent Netflix series, skillfully create an eerie ambiance by intermingling interviews, re-enactments, and an ominous musical soundtrack to enshrine heroic victims. Unfortunately, these stratagems, at their worst, become hollow gimmicks.

Perhaps through no fault of her own, Kennebecks efforts as a Morris epigone flounder because the facts prove unreliable, and DeHart remains as much of an enigma at the end of her documentary as he was at its beginning. Its also arguable that her unwillingness to come down on one side or another of the DeHart imbroglio is something of a copout. Leaving conclusions up to the viewer can occasionally serve as a rationale for abdicating directorial responsibility. Its also quite possible that Kennebeck finds it impossible to assess the contradictory evidence wrought by DeHarts legal entanglements, and can only invite viewers into an ethical purgatory where uncertainty is inevitable.
Security forces foiled infiltration bid at Line of Control (LoC) in Gurez sector of Jammu and Kashmir's Bandipora district on Tuesday (September 15).

Acting on specific inputs, search operations were launched by security forces in forward areas of LoC during which suspicious movement was detected by forces. The suspected terrorists opened fire on the security forces before running away from the area.

Security forces have recovered huge amount of arms and ammunition from the spot. The recovered items include one assault rifle with four magazines and 135 rounds, three pistols with 5 magazines and 120 rounds, one GPS set and four rucksacks. Search operations are still going on in the area.

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Meanwhile, the Border Security Force (BSF) has foiled an infiltration bid by five terrorists from the Pakistan side in Jammu and Kashmir's Samba on the intervening night of September 14-15.

As per the reports, the movement of a group of five terrorists was noticed in Pakistan side of International Boundary of Samba sector which was tracked by the BSF troops.

"At about 0030 hours, the group of heavily armed five terrorists were seen by BSF troops close to International Boundary on Pakistan side where they reached taking advantage of undulating ground and thick wild growth," said the BSF.
Woodbury, NY, Sept. 16, 2020, the only vehicle buying program exclusively for the U.S. military community serving overseas, has partnered with TrueCar, Inc. to offer those based in the U.S. with a car buying program designed with them in mind.

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For 15 years TrueCar has been a leader in driving a more transparent and customer-centric car buying experience. Their nationwide network of dealer partners stands ready to serve our military through this unique program that features additional value and benefits available exclusively to our armed forces, including active duty, veterans and retirees.

For close to 60 years, Military AutoSource has enabled our military stationed and deployed overseas to purchase a U.S. specification vehicle for delivery to select overseas duty stations, or stateside in coordination with their rotation back to the U.S.. In partnership with The Exchange and NEXCOM, Military AutoSource operates facilities on military bases around the world providing our service members with a unique buying experience and benefits not available anywhere else; all designed with consideration to the unique demands and realities of military life.

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Overseas Military Sales Corp. (Military AutoSource) is headquartered in Woodbury, New York, with operational offices in Germany, the United Kingdom, Korea and Dubai. For close to 60 years, Military AutoSource has been serving the military community by providing U.S. specification cars, motorcycles and off-road vehicles to active duty military, civilian, DOD employees and the diplomatic community stationed on U.S. installations outside the United States. The on-base division of Military AutoSource is authorized by The Exchange (AAFES) and Navy Exchange (NEXCOM) and maintains operations in close to 70 locations in over 20 countries, with an additional 15 locations off base in Europe and a global e-commerce team to support eligible service members deployed to inaccessible areas overseas.

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TrueCar is a leading automotive digital marketplace that enables car buyers to connect to our nationwide network of Certified Dealers. We are building the industry's most personalized and efficient car buying experience as we seek to bring more of the purchasing process online. Consumers who visit our marketplace will find a suite of vehicle discovery tools, price ratings and market context on new and used cars - all with a clear view of what's a great deal. When they are ready, TrueCar will enable them to connect with a local Certified Dealer who shares in our belief that truth, transparency and fairness are the foundation of a great car buying experience. As part of our marketplace, TrueCar powers car-buying programs for over 250 leading brands, including AARP, Sam's Club, and American Express. Nearly half of all new-car buyers engage with TrueCar powered sites, where they buy smarter and drive happier. TrueCar is headquartered in Santa Monica, California, with offices in Austin, Texas and Boston, Massachusetts.

For more information, please visit www.truecar.com, and follow us on Facebook or Twitter. TrueCar media line: +1-844-469-8442.
By Nidhi Verma

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's oil imports from Africa jumped to their highest in 10 months in August as refiners switched out more expensive crude from the Middle East, shipping data provided by trade sources showed.

The world's third biggest oil importer shipped in about 3.95 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil in August, the highest volume since April, with African nations accounting for about 17.5%, or an eleven month high of 688,000 bpd, the data showed.

"Spot prices of west African oil versus Brent were down in the most part of July compared with June. That along with lower freight offered an opportunity to buy Nigerian oil," said Ehsan Ul Haq, analyst with Refinitiv.

He said in order to raise revenue, Nigeria was supplying more oil in July than it pledged under a production cut agreement between OPEC and its allies, while Angola was scouting for a new market after the Chinese cut purchases.

"And the new home was India."

An internal OPEC report showed Iraq and Nigeria were the least compliant over the May-July period.

Strengthening diesel cracks also prompted Indian refiners to buy African grades, while an increase in official selling prices by key gulf producers including Saudi Arabia deterred them, Haq said.

India also shipped in Venezuelan oil in August after a gap of two months as Reliance Industries obtained permission from the U.S. to swap diesel for oil.

Higher intake of Nigerian and Venezuelan oil lifted the share of OPEC's oil in India's overall August imports to 77.6%, the highest since January, from 67.2% last month, the data showed.

OPEC's share was, however, at a record low over the April-August period, the first five months of the fiscal year.

Graphic: Opec's share of India's oil imports drop to record low https://graphics.reuters.com/INDIA-OIL/xlbvgjnmjpq/anand1.JPG

The share of Middle Eastern oil shrank to 62.4%, the lowest in three months, from 71.3% last month, while that of Latin America rose to 9.7% from 6.3%.

Graphic: Share of various regions in India's oil imports https://graphics.reuters.com/INDIA-OIL/rlgvdjwqxvo/anand3.JPG

Story continues

During the month Iraq remained the top oil supplier to India followed by Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. Nigeria, which was the 8th largest supplier to India in July, rose to No.4, pushing the U.S. to fifth position.

Kuwait stayed at No. 6 while Venezuela, replaced Colombia, as the seventh top supplier.

Graphic: India's oil imports from key suppliers https://graphics.reuters.com/INDIA-OIL/jbyvrmjbqpe/anand2.JPG

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
S oap bosses has confirmed that Jake Woods will be leaving EastEnders when his contract expires.

The 48-year-old, who joined Walford with the rest of the Branning's in 2005, will be leaving Albert Square in part of a big upcoming storyline.

However, Branning will be waltzing out of Walford most likely in the back of a black cab as opposed to a coffin, as bosses are planning on leaving the door open for Woods to return.

Speaking about his upcoming departure, Woods said: Ive had 15 wonderful years at EastEnders and have made some truly great friends.

Woods' character has been at the centre of numerous huge storylines / BBC

Ill of course miss everyone there but Im grateful they have left the door open for Max and Im excited to see what the next chapter holds.

The soaps executive producer John Sen added: Jake is a truly wonderful actor and EastEnders have been extremely lucky to have him for so long

We have a big storyline for Max that starts in the coming weeks and we are all very excited to see that play out.

Woods character, who has been involved in some of the soaps biggest storylines, including an affair with Stacey Slater in 2007 and the death of his daughter Abi Branning in 2017, is likely to have an typical EastEnders-style dramatic departure, complete with doof-doofs.

A BBC insider revealed: Sometimes in soap land big characters have to leave. Bosses are staying tight lipped about what they have planned for Max but considering he has played a major part in the show for over 15 years they are clearly planning something big and he will not be departing Walford quietly.

Everyone will be sad to see Jake go as he is not only a great person to have on set but hes also a fantastic actor.

EastEnders has recently returned to screens after it returned to production, following lockdown restrictions halting filming of any further episodes.

Additional reporting from PA
One of the most disturbing developments for the Biden campaign is the impending release of his dealings in Ukraine. Sen. Ron Johnson remarked that the Democrat should quit the race after the report is publicized.

This is the current development from the Senate Homeland Security Committee last Monday, that he chairs. The soon to be released report will outlay every detail that will not be favorable for the candidate. Since the Ukraine incident, there have been many questions about it, especially Hunter Biden's part in it, reported New York Post.

He also mentions that in a week there will be more to know, reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

One of the finer points in the investigation is a fine-tooth look at the employment of Biden's son Hunter at the Ukraine energy company. This is when Joe Biden was the lead in Obama's Ukraine policymaking.

In the interest of transparency, President Trump asked that Ukraine should delve more into the activities of the ex-V and his son had resulted in an impeachment proceeding in December. But the GOP decided that Trump had the involvement of any power abuse and stop Congress. This is stopped one of the major swipes the Democrats took at the incumbent Republican, cited the BBC.

Biden went on the offensive with his representative Andrew Bates who criticized Johnson for wasting time on the Ukraine investigation when there was the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, he pushed on further to say that it was an act of subsidizing an attack on election using tax money.

Bates accused Johnson of his motives for linking the sacking of Ukraine prosecutor Victor Shokin with an exchange deal worth $1 billion in US loan guarantees. Also, objected to insinuations of Joe Biden's infuence on the hiring of Hunter by by the Ukrainian firm too.

Also read: Joe Biden's Family Record Show Drug Usage, Drunk Driving, and Other Charges But No One Was Jailed

He even called the exercise a hardcore rightwing conspiracy, aimed at Joe Biden himself. Democrats shot back accusations of corruption of Shokin with an inactive probe too. Bates incepted that Johnson signed a document forcing out the Ukrainian for prosecution.

Though the president did not say anything directly, he did retweet what the radio host Joe Pagliarulo's post. Pagliarulo said Sen. Johnson was trending because of what he had on the Democrat Joe Biden.

Stating that the left is going all out and do not want anyone to know what skeletons are in the closet, Joe Biden hides, or how bad he is. And adding the left are furious over this. The radio host tweet had these contents.

The President would mention that Hunter Biden is busy dealing in shady contracts that were linked to his father's position as VP. On one occasion, he used Air Force Two for personal use in flying to china, not a commercial flight. He is rumored to have accepted Chinese money for investments.

Hunter Biden, 50, got a monthly sum of $83,333 from the Burisma Holding energy firm without any relevant experience. A rumored former addict and had a paternity test to prove he did not father a child with an exotic dancer. Even dating the widow of his brother, who died in combat.

One interesting point in the last Trump impeachment is that defense attorney Pam Bondi cited that suspicions of Burisma's crookedness and connecting Hunter's father influence his hiring. On April 16, 2014, Devon Archer met VP Biden in the White House, two days later Hunter was hired.

If Ron Johnson proves the Ukraine report, then Joe Biden needs to step out but anything can happen.

Related article: Biden Makes a Mistake Saying 6,000 US Servicemen Died From COVID-19

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 16, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- First Liberty Institute today sent a letter to Los Angeles (CA) County officials urging them to reverse their policy barring Jewish residents from observing the High Holidays with other families inside private homes.



You can read First Libertys letter here .

After Los Angeles county has allowed political gatherings of up to 100,000 attendees, it is outrageous that the county would publish a policy threatening to crack down on extended family sharing a meal for Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur, said Stephanie Taub, Senior Counsel at First Liberty Institute. It is simply beyond the pale to threaten to police the homes of observant Jews during the High Holidays under threat of criminal penalties. The county should immediately remove all language from county policy threatening to police small, religious gatherings at family homes.

First Liberty client Rabbi Yisrael Gelb said, Los Angeles policy is profoundly disrespectful and disappointing. I plan on honoring the High Holidays as I do every year, by sharing a table with a local family in my congregation. We urge the county to reverse its policy and allow us to celebrate our most holy days in peace and safety.

Los Angeles county has already once changed the language of its policy. The policy prohibiting gatherings originally included as an example having dinner with extended family and friends to honor the High Holidays (Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur). The policy has since been changed to prohibit having a meal with extended family and friends for a religious or cultural holiday. Although now hiding behind obscured language, the threatened enforcement remains. Violations of local health orders are a crime, punishable by fines or imprisonment.

The High Holidays fall between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. These days represent the holiest days of the Jewish calendar and usually include a series of meals in the family home with a small gathering of friends or family.

In its letter, First Liberty states, Los Angeles County has not vigorously policed its stated ban on small gatherings with friends or extended family. Yet, despite the countys lack of enforcement, the countys policy threatens enforcement against the upcoming holiday of a religious minority faith.

About First Liberty Institute

First Liberty Institute is a non-profit public interest law firm and the largest legal organization in the nation dedicated exclusively to defending religious freedom for all Americans.

To arrange an interview, contact Lacey McNiel at media@firstliberty.org or by calling 972-941-4453.
By Azernews





By Akbar Mammadov

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is a major threat to security in the OSCE area and must be kept on the agenda of Sweden's upcoming chairmanship within the OSCE, Azerbaijans Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov while receiving a copy of the credentials of the newly appointed Ambassador of Sweden Christian Kamill on September 15.

During the meeting, Bayramov spoke about Armenias cross-border military provocation near Tovuz region on July 12-16, saying that the Armenian leadership has increased tensions in the region and engaged in provocative actions. The minister said that the international community must send decisive messages to the aggressor Armenia. Thus, the minister stressed the importance of keeping the issue of settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which is a major threat to security in the OSCE area, on the agenda of Sweden's upcoming chairmanship within the OSCE.

In his turn, the ambassador stressed that Sweden supports the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and advocates for the peaceful resolution of the conflict.

Christian Kamil said that he is pleased to be appointed as an ambassador to Azerbaijan, and stressed that the upgrading of Sweden's diplomatic representation in Azerbaijan is an indicator of the importance attached to Azerbaijan.

He also noted that he will spare no efforts to further expanding the cooperation between the two countries during his diplomatic tenure.

During the meeting, the sides discussed existing bilateral cooperation between the two countries, including the development of relations in the political, economic, trade, cultural and tourism spheres, opportunities for expanding inter-parliamentary cooperation.

The sides also exchanged views on active representation and contacts on multilateral platforms.

Furthermore, it was noted that prior to the chairmanship of Sweden in the OSCE in 2021, a visit of the Swedish Foreign Minister to the region is being considered.








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Inc. and Hello Alice Partner to Host Hispanic Small Business Town Hall Series

Just seven weeks before the presidential election and days after the U.S. Senate gridlocked over extended relief for small businesses, American business magazine Inc. and digital platform Hello Alice are stepping in to help. Together they are launching three Hispanic Small Business Town Halls that will cover topics from getting funded to customer outreach.

Hispanic entrepreneurs own one of every seven small businesses in the United States, and they need more help now than ever. With this town hall series, we hope to support these small businesses by providing vital information from experts, helping them not only survive but also thrive beyond the pandemic. --Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc.

"The pandemic has presented unparalleled challenges for the small business community, specifically for Hispanic founders, where an alarming two-thirds say they will be out of business in six months if current trends continue, said Carolyn Rodz, CEO and co-founder of Hello Alice. Hello Alice and Inc. are dedicated to making expert insights, credible resources, and necessary tools accessible for all entrepreneurs.

The first virtual session will take place on Wednesday, September 16 at 2 p.m. ET, and will feature several investors including Eli Velasquez of VentureWell, Juliana Garaizar of Rising Tide Fund, and Lolita Taub of the Community Fund. During the one-hour session, moderated by Carolyn Rodz, co-founder of Hello Alice, they will discuss the current funding landscape, federal rescue programs, and specific opportunities for Hispanic small-business owners. They will also talk about the most effective cash-flow strategies and ways to obtain growth capital during an economic downturn.

The second session, on Friday, September 25 at 2 p.m. ET, will cover creative ideas to find new customers, retain existing customers, pivot a business, and successfully shift to e-commerce. And the third town hall, on Wednesday, September 30, will highlight the topic of leadership in these trying times. Experts including Mark Madrid of the Latino Business Action Network (LBAN) will discuss leading through a crisis, creating and maintaining excellent company culture, mental health and wellness, and managing a remote team.

ABOUT INC. MEDIA

The worlds most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools, connections, and community to build great companies. Its award-winning multiplatform content reaches more than 50 million people each month across a variety of channels including websites, newsletters, social media, podcasts, and print. Its prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The global recognition that comes with inclusion in the 5000 gives the founders of the best businesses an opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers, and the credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent. The associated Inc. 5000 Conference is part of a highly acclaimed portfolio of bespoke events produced by Inc. For more information, visit http://www.inc.com.

ABOUT HELLO ALICE

Hello Alice is a free multichannel platform that helps businesses launch and grow. With a community of more than 200,000 business owners in all 50 states and across the globe, Hello Alice is building the largest network of owners in the country while tracking data and trends to increase the success rate for entrepreneurs. Our partners include enterprise business services, government agencies, and institutions looking to serve owners of small- and medium-size businesses and ensure increased revenue and promote scale. Co-headquartered in Houston and San Francisco, and founded by Carolyn Rodz and Elizabeth Gore, Hello Alice believes in business for all by providing access to all owners including women, people of color, veterans, and everyone with an entrepreneurial spirit. To learn more, visit http://www.helloalice.com, as well as Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
Signage is displayed outside Kodak Tower at the Eastman Kodak Co. headquarters complex in Rochester, New York, U.S., on Saturday, Aug.1, 2020.

Securities transactions made by Eastman Kodak Chief Executive Officer Jim Continenza around the time the photography equipment maker learned it could receive a $765 million government loan did not violate internal policies, a law firm hired by the company's board said on Tuesday.

However, an investigation found "gaps" in Kodak's insider trading processes where certain individuals were not included on insider lists, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld said in a report to a special committee of independent directors at Kodak's board.

Shares of Kodak surged more than 40% in premarket trading following the report.

Kodak's General Counsel was found to be overwhelmed and running on outdated policies, resulting in board members not being fully advised on relevant internal policies regarding options grants, the law firm said.

Last month, the U.S. government put on hold its loan to Kodak to produce pharmaceutical ingredients at its U.S. factories, over concerns about the company granting of options for 1.75 million shares to Continenza and other securities transactions made by executives.

Initial news of the loan had driven shares 1000% higher, generating a windfall for executives, some of whom had received options one day earlier.

U.S. lawmakers have cited "serious concerns" about the transactions and asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate the circumstances surrounding the matter.

"It is clear from the review's findings that we need to take action to strengthen our practices, policies, and procedures," Continenza said on Tuesday.

Akin said Continenza and board member Philippe Katz obtained preclearance to trade from Kodak's General Counsel, who had concluded it was appropriate as the company's loan application process was at a "highly uncertain" stage.

CNBC contributed to this report.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 10:32:56|Editor: huaxia

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BRUSSELS, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- The China Chamber of Commerce to the European Union (CCCEU) on Tuesday hailed the video meeting between the leaders of the European Union (EU) and China as one that has given impetus to the world economy already weakened by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The meeting has achieved substantive results. The Chinese and EU leaders announced the official signing of the China-EU agreement on geographical indications, stated their commitment to speeding up the negotiations of the China-EU Bilateral Investment Treaty to achieve the goal of concluding the negotiations within this year," CCCEU Chair Zhou Lihong told Xinhua in an interview on Monday.

In their meeting on Monday, Chinese and European leaders also decided to establish a high-level dialogue on environment and climate, and one in the digital field, to build their green partnership and digital cooperative partnership.

"These achievements and consensus have injected stability and certainty into the early recovery of the world economy from recession," Zhou said.

Hailing Monday as a historic day for Sino-EU relations, the chairperson believed the leaders sent clear messages that China and the EU should unswervingly promote the sound and stable development of their comprehensive strategic partnership, adhere to peaceful coexistence, openness and cooperation, multilateralism, as well as dialogue and consultation.

The EU has been China's largest trading partner for 15 consecutive years, although the place was taken by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the first half of this year due to Brexit and COVID-19.

Despite the decline in trade, both China and the EU show strong willingness to cooperate and invest, Zhou said, noting that the two-way goods transportation has grown consecutively and the number of China-Europe freight trains was in high demand in July.

The railway transportation amounted to 1,232 trips, shipping 113,000 TEUs of goods, up 68 percent and 73 percent year-on-year respectively, with double-digit growth in five consecutive months, he added.

Zhou highlighted the importance of implementing the results made at the summit on the basis of mutual understanding, respect and trust.

Founded in 2018 and representing 1,000 Chinese enterprises in the EU, the CCCEU is a non-profit organization which aims to promote China-EU trade partnership and protect the interests and legitimate rights of the Chinese-funded enterprises.

As of Tuesday, the Brussels-based umbrella group has 65 members. Enditem
By Associated Press

LONDON: Unemployment in the U.K. edged up in July even though large parts of the economy reopened after the coronavirus lockdown, a signal that the jobless rate is set to spike higher when a government salary-support scheme ends in the autumn.

The 104,000 rise in the number of people unemployed during the three-month period to July took the total to 1.4 million, and raised the unemployment rate by 0.2 percentage points to 4.1%  the biggest increase since the pandemic began.

The rise in unemployment came even after the reopening of the hospitality sector in early July, following the reopening of shops selling items deemed as nonessential, such as clothes and books, a few weeks earlier. The reopening of key sectors in the economy meant many people could return to work following months at home.

To prevent an immediate spike in unemployment when the lockdown was announced in late March, the government introduced the Job Retention Scheme, which saw it pay the bulk of the salary of workers that firms kept on payroll rather than making them redundant.

At the height of the lockdown, around 30% of the British workforce was on so-called furlough. The reopening of the economy in recent months has reduced that to around 13%, according to the Bank of England.

Analysts worry that unemployment will start to rise more markedly in coming months as the package, which was used by more than a million companies to keep nearly 10 million employees on payroll, ends on Oct. 31.

The unemployment figures show that some firms have started laying off staff ahead of the program's end. The statistics agency said another 36,000 people fell off the payroll of private companies in August, taking the number to 695,000 since the imposition of the lockdown in March.

The furlough scheme has been very effective in cushioning the blow from the pandemic to the labour market," said Debapratim De, senior economist at Deloitte. But cracks are beginning to show, with unemployment rising, particularly among younger workers, and redundancies hitting their highest level in almost eight years.

Most economists think the unemployment rate could more or less double by the end of the year to around 8%.

With many sectors of the economy struggling to return to normal business because of ongoing social distancing requirements, and parts of the country in localized lockdowns, there are calls for the government to provide additional support when the furlough program expires.

The government has announced a bonus for employers keeping workers on, but unions and employers think more targeted help is required in sectors like the hospitality industry and the performing arts, which are likely to struggle during the winter.

Frances O'Grady, the general secretary of the umbrella Trades Union Congress, called for urgent action. That means building on the furlough scheme by setting up a new job retention and upskilling deal, to keep people employed at firms that have a viable future," she said.
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany speaks at the White House in Washington, on Aug. 31, 2020. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

Trump Wants Greater Than $500 Billion Stimulus Bill, McEnany Says

Pelosi, Schumer say they're 'encouraged' by Trump call

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said President Donald Trump wants a COVID-19 relief bill worth more than $500 billion and also wants direct stimulus payments to Americans.

Trump absolutely wants to get a stimulus deal done, she told reporters.

Earlier on Wednesday, the president called on the GOP to try and pass a broader stimulus measure, coming about a week after the GOP-controlled Senate failed to advance a skinny bill.

McEnany clarified that Trump was referring to the GOP bill that didnt include direct payments and hes very keen to see these direct payments.

We hope Nancy Pelosi will work with us in good faith. There are many bipartisan proposals out there that have merit, she said.

Trumps call earlier in the day drew praise from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who released a joint statement.

We are encouraged that after months of the Senate Republicans insisting on shortchanging the massive needs of the American people, President Trump is now calling on Republicans to go for the much higher numbers in the next coronavirus relief package, Pelosi and Schumer said.

We look forward to hearing from the Presidents negotiators that they will finally meet us halfway with a bill that is equal to the massive health and economic crises gripping our nation, the top Democrats added.

After the statement, it still is not clear when White House negotiators will meet with Schumer and Pelosi

Trump said that Democrats did not support sending out more $1,200 stimulus payments. However, top Democrats have expressed a willingness to include them, although its not exactly clear what the president meant.

Americans desperately need the money, and whose fault it was NOT that the plague came in from China, Trump wrote. Go for the much higher numbers, Republicans, it all comes back to the USA anyway (one way or another!).

Over the past month, the White House and Democrats have not been able to reach an agreement on another stimulus package. The primary sticking point has been whether to provide federal funding to cities and states.

House Democrats in May passed a $3 trillion bill called the HEROES Act that would include new $1,200 stimulus checks. The measure never became law after the White House and Senate Republicans rejected numerous other provisions in the bill, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) describing it as a socialist manifesto in July.

Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) told the Washington Post on Wednesday that based on Trumps Twitter post, I assume he wants to make a deal.

Im not sure what higher numbers, what that means. That probably needs to get translated for us, Thune added. But I know kind of what the threshold is for what we can get Republican votes for in the Senate, and I think if the number gets too high anything that got passed in the Senate would be passed mostly with Democrat votes and a handful of Republicans, so its going to have to stay in sort of a realistic range.
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Linkedin Julia Suryakusuma (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, September 16, 2020 09:29 492 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c450c8c8 3 Opinion Tilik,short-movie,stereotypes,gender-inequality,Islam,Pancasila Free

Are there some movie characters you love to hate, e.g. Maleficent, the Joker, Darth Vader? After all, antagonistic characters are what make the protagonist look good right?

Indonesian netizens are currently transfixed by one such character, Bu Tejo, from the 32-minute short film Tilik. First released in 2018, the producers uploaded it on YouTube on Aug. 17 this year. It went viral, became a trending topic on Twitter, tweeted 28,000 times, while #BuTejo was tweeted over 61,000 times. In less than a week since it was first uploaded on YouTube, it had been viewed more than 5.2 million times.

The story line: A group of hijab-wearing emak-emak (housewives) from a village in Bantul near Yogyakarta, ride in the back of an open truck to visit their Bu Lurah (female subdistrict head) who is sick in hospital (see Short film Tilik grabs netizens attention with ghibah, emak-emak, The Jakarta Post, Aug. 22). The title of the film means to visit in Javanese.

During the ride, the women gossip. Bu Tejo leads by casting doubts about Dian, a young, single attractive female office worker, insinuating that she is an immoral woman. When one of the other women in the truck chimes in and says that she saw Dian with a middle-aged man (assumed to be her sugar daddy), it encourages Bu Tejo to provide more proof that Dian is a bad woman by saying that she saw Dian on the internet in revealing, compromising poses. After all, the internet doesnt lie, does it?

Another character, Yu Ning, Bu Tejos antagonist, feels uncomfortable with Bu Tejos badmouthing Dian, and tries to tell the latter to watch what she says. They end up arguing.

When they finally reach their destination, they discover that they cannot visit the Bu Lurah as she is still in intensive care. By chance they meet the Dian that Bu Tejo had been gossiping about, and she is with an older man, which is taken by the women as confirmation of Bu Tejos suspicions about her.

It is curious how such a film like Tilik could go viral, given there is nothing exceptional about it. According to Kevin Alloca in a 2012 TED talk, it has to do with the presence of a tastemaker, unexpectedness and community participation. The tastemaker is the endorsement of well-known film makers such as Joko Anwar and Ernest Prakasa; the unexpectedness is possibly the ending, and participation is of course all the views, reviews and discussions about the film.

Many people have praised it as being so realistic, the acting is very natural and many can identify with the characters, especially Bu Tejo. Its true that there is often a Bu Tejo in our midst.

Feminist activists however, have tended to view the film in a negative light, saying it reinforces gender stereotypes. For example Faiza Mardzoeki, a feminist playwright, said it stereotypes women negatively [] it does so in a conceptually deliberate way, clearly taken from a very male perspective: the camera angles, big close ups of the womens faces, with the aim of highlighting their character defects. Without realizing it, the film director is actually putting women down.

Faizas observation is spot on about the way the camera constantly focuses on the cynical, gossipy facial expressions of Bu Tejo. Faiza adds that the technique adopted in Tilik reminds her of how Gerwani women were depicted in the New Order propaganda film G30S/PKI as being evil. Gerwani was the womens wing of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), which was annihilated in 1965 after the alleged Communist coup, which many academics believe was actually an internal Army coup. The portrayal of the Gerwani was one of the ways by which the Army and later the New Order regime, discredited the PKI.

If the portrayal of women in Tilik is liked by so many, perhaps the majority of viewers, what does that say about Indonesian society? It certainly implies that in our collective consciousness, we do not respect women. In fact, it is almost as if we idealize women like Bu Tejo, who I find extremely annoying and grating on the nerves. Sure, it is a tribute to her acting that she becomes the character that you love to hate. But at a subconscious level, it is also an endorsement of the stereotype.

And why are the women traveling in a truck? Symbolically, does this mean that women are seen as cattle or objects that can be trucked around?

What nobody seems to mention also is the fact that all the women are wearing the hijab, the Islamic headdress. If this film were made 20 years ago, this would not have been the case.

There is a common consensus that Muslim attire is the indication of a good woman. How shallow, naive and wrong is that? Bu Tejo is a case in point, but there are many other real women, who engage in corruption and other illegal acts, while wearing the hijab. There are women who have never worn a hijab, who because they want to run for office, suddenly start wearing one. How hypocritical and politically expedient! Even worse, is the fact that making women wear the hijab is one of the ways that Islamic fundamentalism attempts to encroach on democratic space in Indonesia.

The fact that a film like Tilik has gone viral should make us all very worried about our collective sanity, the future of Islam, Pancasila and the Indonesian Constitution.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.
Africa has the youngest population in the world  its average age is just 19 years.

At African Enterprise, we know that the key to the continent is its youth; this is how the dream for the Foxfires, the youth arm of AE, was born. Foxfires play a vital role in AE city-wide and university missions each year, as they reach their fellow youth with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The programs name comes from Judges 15  where Samson ties torches to the tails of foxes and releases them into the fields of the Philistines. The name is symbolic of youth who, set ablaze with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, carry His fire into the world.

AE currently has Foxfires teams in Kenya, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Malawi, with each team made up of around 10 young Africans. Many of our Foxfires come from difficult backgrounds, but they have a passion for the Gospel, and they choose to devote a year of their lives to Christian ministry.

After 2 months of training, the Foxfires visit schools, childrens homes and youth groups, using energetic dance and drama performances to share the Gospel message. They also mentor younger leaders and present programs that help young people to contribute positively to society, while navigating issues such as peer pressure, drug abuse, crime, poverty and HIV/AIDS.

Julie Kibie, a social worker at Bro Beausang Education Centre, was overwhelmed by the effect that the Kenyan Foxfires have had on pupils at the school, describing the Foxfires as the change agents that we so need for this generation! One of those pupils, Lizzy, lost her mother at birth, and suffered from low self-esteem due to ongoing rejection by her stepmother. Speaking of the Foxfires, she describes:

I have learned that my background does not dictate my future or how I should view things Furthermore, my decision to welcome Christ in my life has had a difference since I can now speak my heart to God. I am forever grateful for the new me that the Foxfires program has carved.

With COVID-19 having affected the Kenyan Foxfires schedule this year, the team are determined to continue shining their light in the midst of dark and seemingly hopeless circumstances. One team member, Brandon, encourages fellow youth around the world not to lose hope during this challenging season:

Have hope and be positive. See the best that can be done to improve your skill as a young person during this period. Let your dreams keep hope alive. God honours his childs hearts desires. He will ensure that it happens in due time. Focus now on the talent, the gifting or the strength you have always passed over or ignored Be that unmoved change agent for a better life tomorrow. God bless!
Assuming that this logistical headache can be managed at scale, people will need two shots 21 days apart. Even in the best of all worlds, this leaks well into 2021. The question then is how many agree to be vaccinated. A Deutsche Bank survey found that three quarters of US residents think the process has been politicised. Almost half the French are anti-vaxxers. Sceptics are not necessarily wrong to be suspicious of a rushed vaccine. An early hopeful for the original SARS coronavirus made it even more lethal in mice. Richard Hatchett, head of the global vaccine alliance CEPI, fears disaster if one producer (Russia perhaps?) jumps the gun and releases a bad product that shatters confidence. There is always the worry of random stochastic deaths, the grim reaper syndrome. Three people died in one day during the US swine flu vaccination campaign in 1976. Later investigation concluded that cases had nothing to do with the vaccine but by then the damage was done. The campaign collapsed. And that was before the era of fake news, Twitter and cyber hysteria - that is to say, before the breakdown of civilisation. "None of these vaccines has been tested in children yet, as far as I am aware, and there is a lot to understand about what role children play," said Professor Lipsitch. "So before we go back to normal we are going to have to start testing for safety in children." The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has high credibility and may be our best bet, despite the short hiccup after neurological side-effects in one volunteer. It uses a non-replicating viral vector from chimpanzees that infects cells, a better known method than mRNA. It produces both a strong antibody response and, crucially, a longer-lasting T-cell response.

The UK government says it could be ready by the end of the year in the "best case scenario". Cranking it up for distribution is another matter. Immunologist Peter Openshaw, from Imperial, warns that it may take until September next year before reaching the general public. Yes, there is much to celebrate. We will undoubtedly get several workable vaccines from the 200 trials currently going on across the world - with 14 more in Phase 2 and 25 in Phase 1 - even if some only offer partial protection. The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has lowered the approval threshold to 50 per cent efficacy, enough to cut the "R" infection rate to manageable levels and take the sting out of the pandemic. But that does not get us through the next four or five months. Cases are bubbling across Europe, though thankfully clinical experience, contact tracing and the lower viral loads - linked to the reductive effect of masks - have slashed the case fatality rate. Global numbers crunched by Goldman Sachs suggest that generalised use of indoor masks is worth 5 per cent of GDP in positive reopening and confidence effects, so mask-resisters raise the likelihood of a second full lockdown and a double-dip recession. Pick your trade-off.

Pockets of the Western world - London, Madrid, New York - may have reached COVID sero-prevalence of 15-20 per cent but we do not know how long those antibodies offer protection. "I don't think anywhere in the industrial world is even close to herd immunity," said Professor Lipsitch. To let rip again would be to court fate. Governments are condemned to pursue a whack-a-mole strategy of targeted controls, mini-lockdowns, and quarantines, all disrupting economic recovery, and that is before the transmission season begins and mixes with seasonal flu. The UK is winding down its furlough support and will end the scheme next month, with much ill-judged talk of zombie companies and the need for Schumpeterian tough love. The US has yet to regain half the jobs lost since the pandemic hit, but the weekly $US650 ($890) support cheque to 30 million people unable to work expired in July. There is no deal yet in Congress for further stimulus and the window is closing before the presidential election. Spain is preparing austerity measures. France and Germany are keeping support for longer - though not as much as double-counting headlines might suggest. Bank of America says the eurozone needs fiscal stimulus of 10 per cent of GDP to prevent hysteresis and lasting damage: the national plans amount to just 4 per cent. The EU Recovery Fund does not kick in until mid-2021.

Loading In the meantime, the industrial rebound is petering out some 8 per cent below last-year's level in the eurozone and 12 per cent in Germany. The currency bloc is sliding into a deflation trap even with a currency at fair value. There is little sign of a capex thaw. Ominous restructuring plans have become the daily news feed in the European business press. The mobilisation of global science and the superb cross-border co-operation of the pharmaceutical industry has been the great redeeming feature of this pandemic. Will we have a vaccine at scale in a 10th of the time it normally takes for such a novel virus. But to suppose that medicine will save us this year and therefore that it is safe to wind down emergency economic support is becoming the next great error in this error-strewn saga. There is no instant shortcut. We have to tough it out with calibrated controls for a few months more. Patientia.
Responding to a writ petition, the Indore bench of High Court on Wednesday directed the Maharashtra government to ensure uninterrupted oxygen supply to Madhya Pradesh.

As per an order dated September 9, the Public Health Department of Maharashtra had discontinued oxygen supply to other states including Madhya Pradesh following which the state-run MY Hospital approached the court.

The Advocate General Purushendra Kaurav on behalf of the state government informed the court that there cannot be any discrimination with Covid-19 patients of one state with those from the other. On the basis of this, the divisional bench of the Madhya Pradesh HC ordered the Maharashtra government to ensure an uninterrupted supply of oxygen to the state.

Last Wednesday, the Principal Secretary Health of Maharashtra, Pradeep Kumar Vyas had issued an order saying the oxygen produced in Maharashtra will be used for the state only.

Reacting to it, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan called up his counterpart from Maharashtra and later told the media that Thackeray has assured him to look into the matter. We will be bridging the shortfall with the help from Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, Chouhan had said that the state will ensure that oxygen supply increases to 150 tonnes by month-end.

The state government had also asked to produce oxygen from the existing 50-60% to 70-80% capacity to meet the growing demand amid surging cases of Covid-19 in the state.
Nine newsreader Peter Overton received an Order of Australia medal on Wednesday.

And his wife Jessica Rowe shared a sweet photo of the couple after the ceremony to Instagram and said she's 'so proud' of her husband.

'My heart is full today! I'm so proud of my darling Petee. Today he received his AM for significant service to broadcast media and to the community,' she wrote.

'My heart is full today!' Jessica Rowe (left) said she's 'so proud' of her husband Peter Overton (right) for receiving an Order of Australia medal on Wednesday

Jessica, 50, added: 'He does so much, for so many, but he's so humble about what he does. I however will shout about his achievements from the rooftops!'

In the photo, the proud media personality couldn't wipe the smile off her face as she stood alongside Peter, who wore his medal.

Jessica's post comes after she shared photos to Instagram that showed her getting a mammogram on Tuesday.

Jessica wrote: 'My heart is full today! I'm so proud of my darling Petee. Today he received his AM for significant service to broadcast media and to the community'

She explained that it was her first time getting the test as she encouraged women to continue to get their health check ups throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

'Today I had my first ever mammogram!' Jessica wrote.

'Not enough of us are doing our regular health checks especially during this COVID times. We must!'

Baring all: Jessica's post comes after she shared photos to Instagram that showed her getting a mammogram on Tuesday

As an ambassador for the Sydney Breast Cancer Foundation, Jessica added that she is passionate about 'preventing breast cancer and supporting women, men and their families'.

Accompanying the powerful message were two pictures of the mum-of-two in a blue medical robe undergoing the mammogram.

One image showed Jessica's back as the radiographer attended to her while another image featured a side view of the x-ray in process.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen quoted Margaret Thatcher as she delivered the annual state of the European Union speech in Brussels today.

The Brexit withdrawal agreement, which UK prime minister Boris Johnson intends to revisit less than a year after it was signed by the EU and UK, took 3 years to negotiate, line by line, word by word, von der Leyen reminded her audience.

She said the EU would never backtrack and that it could not be unilaterally changed, declaring This is a matter of trust and good faith. Von der Leyen then quoted former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher speaking in 1975 to members of her own party: Britain does not break treaties. It would be bad for Britain, bad for relations with the rest of the world and bad for any future treaty on trade we may need to make.

Brexit was just one subject in Von der Leyen's speech, in which she laid out her vision for a European Union, after a first year in office that was engulfed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

'Ambitious' target for reduced emissions

In line with the so-called Green Deal which she announced last year, von der Leyen outlined a new proposal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2050, a target that she said was ambitious, achievable and beneficial for Europe.

Poland, which is heavily dependent on coal has already expressed concern about the new proposed target.

Von der Leyen said she hoped other countries would follow Europe's lead, noting that young people are pushing for change and that what's good for the climate is good for business.

On the economy, the commission president reiterated the importance of strengthening the single market and supporting small businesses in the difficult economic times ahead, using the so-called NextGenerationEU funds, while noting where the bloc had already succeeded in mitigating the economic impact of Covid by loosening rules on state aid for businesses and chanelling EU funds towards protecting livelihoods.

EU brought stranded citizens home

Advertising a Europe that protects generally, she talked of the 600,000 EU citizens stranded abroad during the crisis who were brought home but pointed to a need for more co operation in health matters to strengthen crisis-preparedness and management of cross-border health threats.

Health policy is the responsibility of member states and responses to the Covid-19 pandemic varied considerably among the different EU countries.

Cheering European efforts to try to produce a vaccine, she made clear the EU's intention would be to make any such vaccine available to countries around the world, declaring that vaccine nationalism puts lives at risk vaccine co operation saves them.

Dublin Regulation to go

On the long running question of migration and asylum-seekers, von der Leyen announced the end of the Dublin Regulation, which governs which member state handles a new arrival's asylum claim.

A new system would have common structures on asylum and return and a new strong solidarity mechanism and a new strategy for the Schengen area. The aim is to relieve pressure on Greece and Italy where large numbers of migrants arrive seeking asylum within the EU.

Among plans to build a Europe fit for the digital age, the commission president announced plans for legislation for a trusted and secure European e-ID

Von der Leyen conveyed a Commission prepared to face the enormous challenges which lie ahead, strengthened by a renewed sense of unity and usefulness, borne from crisis - as is so often the case with the bloc.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) speaks during Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee to serve as Associate Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court at the Capitol in Washington on Sept. 4, 2018. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Republican Senator Calls on Joe Biden to Release His List of Supreme Court Picks

Former Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) called on Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden to release a list of his supreme court justice picks, following President Trumps example from last week when the president revealed his list of 20 supreme court picks.

I hope that Vice President Biden will agree with me that the American people deserve this information before the election, not after, Grassley said in a statement, obtained by The Hill. I call on Vice President Biden to release the list of names from which he would nominate to the Supreme Court, no later than September 30.

Grassley continued, the Biden-Harris ticket owes voters the same transparency President Trump has demonstrated along with the same commitment to nominate from that list should there be a vacancy.

Theres no reason to hide something as consequential as who would be named to our highest court, Grassley added.

Grassleys request to Biden comes in the wake of the president releasing last week his list of 20 people to potentially serve as Supreme Court justices.

President Trump read off the names on his list at a White House press conference, which included Daniel Cameron, the Kentucky attorney general who spoke at the Republican National Convention, along with Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.).

During the announcement at the White House, the president criticized Biden for not releasing his list of potential nominees saying, I think its a very important thing for our country that he do that.

Unfortunately, there is a growing radical left movement that rejects the principle of equal treatment under the law, he said. If this extreme movement is granted a majority on the Supreme Court, it will fundamentally transform America without a single vote of Congress.

Radical justices will erase the Second Amendment, silence political speech, and require taxpayers to fund extremely late-term abortion, he said. It will give unelected bureaucrats the power to destroy millions of American jobs. They will remove the words under God from the Pledge of Allegiance. They will unilaterally declare the death penalty unconstitutional, even for the most depraved mass murderers.

In June Biden said he would release names of his picks for the Supreme Court, at a later date.

I hesitate to do anything the President does because he usually does it wrong. We are putting together a list of a group of African-American women who are qualified and have the experience to be in the court. I will not release it until we get further down the line.

The oldest of the current Supreme Court justices are, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 87; Justice Stephen Breyer is 82; Clarence Thomas is 72, and Justice Samuel Alito is 70.
Iran has warned the UAE and Bahrain they will be responsible for 'severe consequences' caused by the signing of an historic peace deal with Israel.

Hassan Rouhani, the Iranian President, blasted leaders of the two Arab states over the deal and accused them of forgetting 'their debt to the Palestinian people'.

'How could you reach out your hands to Israel? And then you want to give them bases in the region? All the severe consequences that would arise from this are on you,' he said in televised remarks.

Rouhani spoke out on Wednesday, hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan and Bahrain Foreign Minister Abdullatif al-Zayani met in Washington to sign a peace deal.

Hassan Rouhani, president of Iran, has warned the UAE and Bahrain that they are facing 'severe consequences' after signing an historic peace deal with Israel

Donald Trump hailed the deal as 'a new dawn in the Middle East' as it was signed in Washington, saying he believed more Arab states would sign up soon

As the signing took place, two rockets were fired at Israel from Gaza, prompting the Israeli air force to strike targets it said belonged to Hamas (pictured), which controls the Gaza Strip

The pact normalises diplomatic and economic relations between the three states, and breaks with years of consensus among Arab countries that a deal recognising Palestine is a necessary precursor to any accord with Israel.

Egypt and Jordan are the only other Arab states to have recognised Israel.

Palestinian leaders bitterly oppose the deal, fearing that it will prompt Israel to give up on the peace process, destroying their hopes of statehood.

Iran, a staunch supporter of the Palestinian people, also opposes the deal.

In his Wednesday address to the nation, Rouhani accused Israel of 'committing more crimes in Palestine every day'.

'Some of the region's countries, their people are pious Muslims but their rulers neither understand religion nor (their) debt ... to the nation of Palestine, to their brothers speaking their language,' he added.

The deal signing - which took place in Washington on Tuesday - has sparked protests across Gaza, the West Bank and Ramallah, home of the Palestinian Authority.

While no group claimed responsibility for the attacks, the Israeli Defence Force laid the blame at the feet of Hamas, accusing it of 'terrorism against Israeli civilians'

Hundreds of protesters burned pictures of Donald Trump, along with the leaders of Bahrain, Israel and the UAE in fury at the deal

Israeli men remove the shattered glass window of a laundry shop in the southern coastal town of Ashdod following a rocket attack from the Gaza Strip

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair's involvement in the Israel-UAE peace deal Former British PM Tony Blair was a key figure in laying the early groundwork for a peace deal between the UAE and Israel. Between 2015 and 2018, Blair held a number of secret meetings with lawyer Yitzhak Molcho, a former special envoy for Benjamin Netanyahu, and a junior Emirati minister. At first, the meetings involved Molcho relaying messages directly from Netanyahu to the Emirati envoy. Blair attended the early meetings, which were held in London, Nicosia, and Abu Dhabi, but the relationship between the two countries was soon 'renewed' and they continued to speak on the phone and meet alone. Blair's project led to direct telephone conversations between Netanyahu and the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohammed Bin Zayed Bin Sultan Al-Nahyan. Advertisement

It also saw two rockets fired overnight from Gaza towards Israel, which were timed to coincide with the ceremony.

Two missiles were fired from Gaza, one of which was intercepted by the Iron Dome defence system, and the other of which landed in the southern city of Ashdod.

At least two people received non-life-threatening injuries, emergency services said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the rocket fire from the various Palestinian factions operating in Gaza.

But the IDF levelled blame at Hamas and warned that it would 'bear the consequences for terror activity against Israeli civilians'.

Meanwhile, hundreds of protesters took to the streets in the West Bank cities of Nablus and Hebron, and in Gaza, to protest the signing of the peace accord.

Hundreds also took part in a demonstration in Ramallah, home of the Palestinian Authority (PA).

The deal states that the UAE and Bahrain officially acknowledge the existence of the Jewish state, and will establish diplomatic and economic ties with it.

The deal breaks with decades of consensus among Arab nations that a peace deal between Israel and Palestine is a precursor to further peace deals in the region.

Egypt and Jordan are the only other Arab states to officially recognise Israel.

Palestinians oppose the deal, fearing that it will prompt Israel to abandon the peace process and with it their hopes of establishing an independent Palestinian state.

Bahrain Foreign Minister Abdullatif al-Zayani, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Donald Trump and UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan sign the Abraham Accords to normalize relations between the Israeli state and Arab nations

Abbas warned that the deals would 'not achieve peace in the region' until the US and Israel acknowledged his people's right to a state.

'Peace, security and stability will not be achieved in the region until the Israeli occupation ends,' he said.

In Gaza, protesters trampled on and set fire to placards bearing images of the leaders of Israel, the UAE and Bahrain.

That latest rocket fire came after a month in which militants in the strip had stepped up incendiary balloon attacks against Israel, which responded with nighttime air strikes against Hamas.

The two sides last month reached a Qatari-mediated deal to end hostilities and revive a fragile 18-month truce.

Hamas has joined the PA in condemning the UAE and Bahraini accords as a 'betrayal' of their cause.
The head of the Victorian police union says a "broken" mental health system has led to an alarming increase in the number of police called as first responders to incidents involving mental illness instead of trained health professionals and clinicians.

Officers are attending mental health incidents every 10 minutes when they should be the "last people called to support the community in these situations", Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt told The Age.

Police surround a man armed with a knife in Lilydale on Tuesday.

"We are effectively the first people called when it comes to mental health crises in the community. But in the context of clinical skills, we are the least equipped. That's the reality," he said.

"Police officers aren't street-corner psychiatrists, they are police. The escalation and indeed reliance on policing to fill the gap simply highlights what is a broken system that is not in any way coping with the surge in mental health illness in the community."
SAN DIEGO, Sept. 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Beckage, a leading technology and privacy law firm, announced today the opening of a new office in San Diego, CA. The California location, which joins Beckage's Buffalo and New York City offices, solidifies the firm's coast to coast expansion.

"Opening a San Diego office was in direct response to Beckage's growing California client base and reflects California's role as a state which leads the nation in data privacy law and regulations," Beckage's Managing Partner, Jennifer A. Beckage, explained. "We have a growing team of California attorneys devoted to data privacy and information security compliance, and that team will only continue to expand." Beckage's California client base includes cloud technology providers, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and retail manufacturing businesses.

"Our team handles privacy and data breach litigation matters in federal and state courts throughout California," said Myriah Jaworski, Beckage's California Office Managing Director. "We have obtained successful outcomes for our California client base, and for clients who find themselves subject to suit here."

In addition to opening a new office this month, Beckage continues to expand with the addition of two new members: Michael McCabe and Jeffrey Batt.

Joining Beckage's Privacy Litigation Team, Michael McCabe, Esq., Certified Compliance & Ethics Professional (CCEP), is a veteran trial attorney and certified compliance professional who specializes in data privacy and cyber protection. Prior to joining Beckage, Mike had a distinguished career in both the private and public sectors, having served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and Deputy Chief in the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of New York, and as Vice President, Chief Compliance Officer, and head of litigation for a global hospitality company. "Mike is a tremendous addition to Beckage's Privacy Litigation Team, and Beckage is fortunate to have someone of his caliber and with his distinguished federal and state court career join our team," said Jennifer Beckage.

Jeffrey Batt joins Beckage's Information Security practice as a Senior Risk Advisor. Jeffrey has 15 years of experience advising multinational clients and the U.S. government on cybersecurity, cyber insurance, privacy law, and national security matters. Jeffrey joins Beckage from a national bank where he was the Cyber Insurance Practice Leader and focused on providing cyber insurance and risk consulting solutions and developing new products and quantification tools. He has also worked as a VP at Marsh's Cyber Center of Excellence and served as an Associate Deputy General Counsel at the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). Jennifer Beckage says: "We are excited to have Jeffrey assist our clients with risk mitigation practices as it relates to cybersecurity and data privacy matters."

Beckage is poised to continue its role as a trailblazer and one of the country's leaders in the technology, data security, and privacy space. Additionally, Beckage is proud to be a NYS Certified Women-Owned Business Enterprise (WBE).

About Beckage:

Beckage advises clients nationwide on strategic business growth, privacy, technology, cybersecurity, data breach response, risk management, and regulatory matters. Its attorneys and other professionals include former federal regulators, in-house counsel of international companies, technology entrepreneurs, business owners, public-company executives, former Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and current Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), and Certified Compliance & Ethics Professional (CCEP). Beckage's offices are located at 420 Main Street in Buffalo, New York, 3 Columbus Circle in New York, New York, and 600 W Broadway in San Diego, California. More information is available at Beckage.com and its professionals may be reached at 844-502-9363.

*Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee future outcomes.

Media Inquiries:

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Mr. Malatras, who officially became chancellor on Aug. 31, said he was unsure why SUNY did not mandate every campus to require negative tests before classes began.

In a statement, a spokeswoman for the school said the decision to not test asymptomatic students was based on C.D.C. guidelines.

We asked students to quarantine for seven days and 14 days if they were traveling from a hot state or out of the country, the statement said.

Oneonta did not make Barbara Jean Morris, the school president, available for comment.

As the dust settles, families, students and staff members said they had been left confused and disappointed. Jacob Adler, 20, said the college relied too heavily on students maintaining social distance on their own.

The administration expected many things from the students that went undelivered, but instead of reacting in a way that was proactive, they chose to downplay the severity, said Mr. Adler, a senior.

This summer, colleges in New York were tasked with creating reopening plans that aligned with the state Department of Healths standards.

While SUNYs 64 schools also were given protocols to follow, they had the option to make their plans more strict. Some required negative test results. Others, like Oneonta, did not. Throughout the system, no two plans were exactly alike, especially when it came to testing.
The Thomas Cook brand has been reinvented as an online travel company (Jonathan Brady/PA)

The Thomas Cook brand has been reinvented as an online travel company.

Chinese firm Fosun Tourism Group acquired the brand for 11 million after the 178-year-old travel company collapsed in September 2019.

The new version began selling holidays online and over the phone on Wednesday but does not have any stores.

It employs around 50 people and retains the brands logo.

We have reinvented one of the most recognisable names in British travel Alan French, Thomas Cook UK chief executive

Alan French, who was group strategy and technology director at Thomas Cook when it collapsed, has been hired as UK chief executive of the new travel agency and described the relaunch as an honour.

He said: What happened last year was a tragedy at a personal level for many thousands of my former colleagues, our business partners and of course our loyal customers.

The resilience and affection still felt for the Thomas Cook brand reflects the huge commitment and professionalism of those former colleagues. We are very much in their debt and hope to have their backing as we look to take the brand into a new era.

The failure of Thomas Cook led to 9,000 jobs being lost and the repatriation of around 150,000 holidaymakers who were overseas.

Mr French pledged that the new travel agencys customers can be reassured their money is protected due to its robust financial structure.

Thomas Cook only offers trips to destinations from which UK holidaymakers can return without entering quarantine, such as Italy, Turkey and parts of Greece.

The travel industry has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, with the self-isolation requirement causing demand for foreign breaks to plummet.

Mr French said: We have reinvented one of the most recognisable names in British travel. Our new business will combine fantastic UK-based customer service with an updated operating model protected by Atol and with the backing of a multibillion-dollar organisation.

We are launching now clearly aware of the short-term challenges posed by the pandemic. We and our Fosun backers are taking the long view and we want to offer choice, customisation and 24/7 on-holiday customer care to families who wish to travel now and in the future.

We know Brits are keen to travel but feel nervous about safety and any changes to Government rules on quarantine. We are only selling destinations on the travel corridor list and all the hotels are flexible. We also wont charge customers a fee to change their holidays if Government rules change.

Jim Qian, chairman and chief executive of Fosun Tourism Group, said: Thomas Cook has a proud heritage and after acquiring the brand last year we wanted to quickly return it to its home in the UK.

Supporting the growth of the brand in China and its relaunch in the UK is a big step in our plan to turn Thomas Cook into a global success story and a key milestone in the development of the Fosun Tourism Groups strategy.
Russias sovereign wealth fund on Wednesday said it had reached an agreement with Indian pharmaceuticals major Dr Reddys Laboratories to cooperate on clinical trials and distribution of the Sputnik V vaccine for Covid-19 in India.

Upon regulatory approval in India, the RDIF shall supply to Dr Reddys 100 million doses of the vaccine, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said in a statement.

The Sputnik V vaccine, which is based on well-studied human adenoviral vector platform with proven safety, is undergoing clinical trials for the Coronavirus pandemic. Deliveries could potentially begin in late 2020 subject to completion of successful trials and registration of the vaccine by regulatory authorities in India, the statement added.

Russias envoy to India, Nikolay Kudashev, has held discussions with Indian officials in recent weeks on cooperation in the development of a vaccine, including joint development and production of Sputnik V.

The Russian side also formally shared modalities for cooperation on the vaccine with Indian authorities which are yet to take a call on the matter, people familiar with developments said on condition of anonymity.

The vaccine is also believed to have figured in discussions held during external affairs minister S Jaishankars visit to Moscow last week for a meeting of the foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) states.

Also read: China, UAE report positive results in phase 3 trials | All you need to know

RDIF said its agreement with Dr Reddys reflects the growing awareness of countries and organisations to have a diversified anti-Covid vaccine portfolio to protect their populations.

The CEO of RDIF, Kirill Dmitriev, said, We are very pleased to partner with Dr Reddys in India. Dr Reddys has had a very well-established and respected presence in Russia for over 25 years and is one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in India.

India is amongst [the] most severely impacted countries from Covid-19 and we believe our human adenovirus dual vector platform will provide a safe and scientifically validated option to India in the battle against Covid-19, he added.

Dmitriev said the RDIFs partners will receive an effective and safe drug and the platform of human adenoviral vectors, which forms the core of the Russian vaccine, has been tested in more than 250 clinical studies over decades, and it has been found safe with no potential negative long-term consequences.

GV Prasad, co-chairman and managing director of Dr Reddys, said the phase I and phase II results have shown promise, and we will be conducting phase III trials in India to meet the requirements of the Indian regulators.

Russias health ministry registered the Sputnik V vaccine developed by Gamaleya National Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology on August 11. A research paper on the results of phase I and phase II clinical trials of Sputnik V published in The Lancet, a leading international medical journal, on September 4 said it had demonstrated no serious adverse effects and a stable immune response in 100 percent of participants.

Also read: No central data on death, injury to people during Covid-19 lockdown - Govt in Rajya Sabha

Post-registration clinical trials of Sputnik V, involving 40,000 volunteers, are currently ongoing, the RDIF said. More than 55,000 volunteers applied to join the post-registration trials and the first results of these trials are expected to be published in October-November, it added.

The Serum Institute of India is also working with Oxford University and AstraZeneca on another Covid-19 vaccine.
By Sam Richards

Bay City News Foundation

WALNUT CREEK (BCN)

There was more than enough frustration to go around at the Walnut Creek City Council Tuesday night, with both city officials and some two dozen public commenters expressing growing impatience with the slow pace of local police reforms.

Four of five council members said they are angry at how long it has taken the Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office to finish its investigation of the June 2, 2019 death of Miles Hall, a 23-year-old man killed by police officers as he was experiencing a mental health episode.

Completion of the report, city officials said, will both improve transparency to the public and help the city move ahead with its own reforms.

It's a report city leaders said they had hoped to get months ago.

"This (delay) has hurt everybody in the city associated with Miles Hall's death, and I hope the DA's office has heard that loud and clear," an angry Mayor Pro Tem Kevin Wilk said.

Added Councilwoman Cindy Silva, "Everyone is frustrated -- we're all frustrated."

Those comments came after about 25 callers told the council via Zoom they were disappointed with what they believe to be the glacial pace, and lack of aggressiveness, with which the moves toward police reforms are happening.

The council received, and accepted, a report Tuesday night outlining various steps the city and its Police Department have taken to improve response to use-of-force situations and police calls involving people having a mental illness-related episode.

The various changes were spurred mostly by the killing of Hall, and also by police response to local demonstrations following the death in late May of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.

Walnut Creek Police Capt. Jay Hill said among the measures taken by the city include modifications in officers' use of force, including banning the use of "carotid restraint" holds on suspects, designed to restrict the flow of blood to the brain; acquisition of more non-lethal options for helping stop suspects, including 33 beanbag shotguns and two "BolaWraps" that can tie up suspects from a distance and immobilize them.

"We do training on de-escalation on a regular basis, and de-brief on national events on a regular basis," said Hill, adding that his department is open to scrutiny of how it responds to various situations.

Hill and City Manager Dan Buckshi also referred to a Sept. 3 presentation at the Contra Costa Mayors Conference about a countywide discussion around forming a new 24-hour social service crisis response team involving Contra Costa County's Behavioral Health Division.

This response team was also discussed Tuesday by the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors; Supervisor John Gioia said that the response team concept was supported by city managers throughout Contra Costa County, even if they expressed concern about possible costs (Walnut Creek has committed $100,000 in "seed money" to the response team). A more firmed up proposal is expected back at the Mayors Conference in February.

Hill also told the council the Walnut Creek Police Department continues to invest in crisis intervention and mental health response training. Also, an additional $100,000 is included in the city's 2020-2021 budget to further expand training. The department is also hosting implicit bias training for its staff in December.

Also in process, Hill said, is expansion of an existing police program in partnership with the county and with officers from Concord, Martinez and Pleasant Hill for advanced crisis intervention training for response to non-violent calls.

City officials have met several times with members of the community group "Friends of Scott, Alexis and Taun Hall," composed of friends of Miles Hall's family, and others, and plan six to 10 more such meetings about mental health responses in the next few months. Assistant City Manager Teri Killgore also said recruitment of members for a new Diversity and Inclusion Task Force will begin shortly.

But supporters of the Friends group pummeled the council with criticism that the city has moved too slowly with reforms, and, in their opinion, isn't necessarily planning the right reforms.

Barbara Pennington, speaking for the Friends group, said her group was disappointed in the council's "lack of leadership" on the whole issue, and wondered why the city was moving ahead with some changes before input from the listening groups or the diversity task force could be used to inform those changes.

Gigi Crowder, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Health Contra Costa County, agreed with Pennington, and said she believes the process hasn't been sufficiently transparent.

"I thought we were finally starting to get somewhere," Crowder said. "It's very disheartening."

Hill said Tuesday the city expects to see the district attorney's report by the end of this year, if not sooner. The Walnut Creek Police Department's own internal review of the Miles Hall shooting, Buckshi said, will be released when the DA's report comes.

The two reports taken together, Buckshi said before Tuesday's council meeting, "will paint a fuller picture of what happened that day."

Also, the state attorney general's office will review the DA's findings after they are completed, Hill said.

Buckshi said improvements in police response has been an "extremely high priority" for the city, and along with COVID-19-related issues has taken up a large chunk of city staff time in recent months.

And though they said they wish things were moving faster, council members Tuesday night defended the amount of groundwork that's been laid already for meaningful police reforms, especially given the disruptions the COVID-19 pandemic brought.

"We're working with a lot of different entities, and these types of changes take time," Buckshi said.

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL  September 16, 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: Vestas Wind Systems A/S VWDRY, Azure Power Global Ltd. AZRE, Bloom Energy Corp. BE, Equinor ASA EQNR and ReneSola Ltd SOL.

Here are highlights from Tuesdays Analyst Blog:

5 Winners in the Race to a Greener Economy

Climate crisis in recent years has pushed governments and businesses to shift focus to reducing carbon footprint for a cleaner environment. The coronavirus pandemic has deepened focus to the pressing situation. But the most relevant question in these trying times is that, can economies afford to tackle climate change and the pandemic at the same time?

Well, certain activities during the pandemic did underscore the needs for a green transition. Per a National Climate Change journal report, the coronavirus-led lockdown had brought down global carbon emissions by 17% in early April, compared to 2019 level. In fact, the study highlighted that emissions were reduced by 31.6% in the United States during the aforementioned period.

Additionally, coronavirus-led lockdowns in April resulted in a 17% drop in daily emissions of carbon dioxide. The daily emissions dropped to as low as what was witnessed in 2006. Given the current scenario, annual emissions in 2020 are likely to witness the largest single annual decrease in absolute emissions since the end of World War II.

Renewables for a Cleaner Future

Over the last decade, the climate crisis has also put financial strain on governments and businesses. The costs involved in repairs and recovery after wildfires, storms, droughts and floods weighs over insurance and mortgage markets, pension funds and other financial institutions. This has pushed businesses to fulfill the agenda of green transition to fit into a greener global economy.

Story continues

In the green transition drive, adoption of clean energy plays a massive role. And thanks to advancement in technology and years of research, costs of renewables have drastically reduced. Cost-wise, renewables can now compete with older power generation assets, especially fossil fuels. This lends support to organizations as it ticks off the criteria of cost reduction.

Per a MarketsandMarkets report, the global renewable energy market size is projected to rise from $184.3 billion in 2020 to $226.1 billion by 2021, at a CAGR of 22.7%. Meanwhile, per the International Energy Agency estimates, demand for oil in 2020 will be 99.9 million barrels a day globally, which suggests a drop of 90,000 barrels per day from 2019 levels.

The renewable energy sector has not only turned up as an environment-friendly alternative to oil, it has also been less impacted by COVID-19.So far this year, the iShares Global Clean Energy ETF (ICLN) has moved up 41.6% against the iShares U.S. Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETFs (IEO) decline of nearly 49%.

The shift toward a cleaner and greener future has already begun with companies adopting policies in reducing carbon footprint. Recently, Uber launched the Uber Green projects in 15 U.S. and Canada cities that emphasize on the use of hybrid or electric vehicles.

The company offers drivers who use hybrid or electric vehicles to pick up passengers with an extra 50 cents per ride and an additional dollar for using specifically battery-electric vehicles. The company now aims to achieve 100% rides via electric vehicles by 2030 in the United States, Canada and Europe, and the rest of the world by 2040.

Similarly, the aviation industry that is responsible for generating 12% of carbon dioxide emissions globally has also shifted focus to sustainable aviation fuels (SAF). On Sep 14, more than 13 airlines signed a new joint commitment for net-zero emissions by 2050. Top airlines including British Airways, Qantas and American Airlines have jointly signed on to invest in more fuel-efficient aircraft, sustainable aviation fuels and carbon offsetting to bring their net emissions footprint to zero by 2025.

Meanwhile, this change to green trend has boosted companies like ON Semiconductor. This chipmaker has made deals to bolster its footprint in the automotive, power management, and image sensors sectors. ON Semiconductors chips are now used to power electrification in electric vehicles and charging products for those vehicles. Hence, the chipmaker has product depth in the alternative energy industry and is making progress in this field.

5 Stocks to Buy

Given the push to transition into a greener global economy, the demand for renewable energy and related projects is likely to increase in the near future. Hence, we have shortlisted five stocks that can make the most of this boom.

Vestas Wind Systems designs, manufactures, installs, and services wind turbines. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has climbed 2.9% over the past 60 days. Vestas Wind Systems currently flaunts a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Azure Power Global engages in the development, construction, ownership, operation, maintenance and management of solar power plants. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has moved up 38.3% over the past 60 days. Azure Power carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Bloom Energy designs, manufactures and sells solid-oxide fuel cell systems for on-site power generation. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has climbed nearly 12% over the past 60 days. Bloom Energy holds a Zacks Rank #2.

Equinor develops wind, and carbon capture and storage projects as well as offers other renewable energy and low-carbon energy solutions. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has climbed 35.3% over the past 60 days. Equinor carries a Zacks Rank #2.

ReneSola develops, builds, operates and sells solar power projects. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current-year earnings has moved up 62.5% over the past 60 days. ReneSola holds a Zacks Rank #2.

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Israel, the UAE and Bahrain signed a normalisation agreement yesterday. For its backers, it represents an historic moment. But the UAE and Bahrain rulers were noticeable by their absence. For Palestinian Presidents Mahmoud Abbas, there is no peace without an end to occupation. In the background, the two-state solution remains unresolved. Netanyahu has also not disowned his annexation plan.

Jerusalem (AsiaNews)  The signing of the so-called Abraham Accords yesterday in the White House has been hailed as a new era of peace for the Middle East by their supporters.

However, the leaders of the Arab countries that signed it, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, did not want to expose themselves in person, and so sent loyalists to ink the anti-Iranian pact, which is based on a number of economic and military relations between governments that are far from the will and interests of the peoples involved.

Indeed, tensions are already mounting. Palestinian groups, at home and in the United States, took to the streets in protest, whilst rockets were fired into southern Israel from the Gaza Strip, injuring two people.

The signing ceremony took place in the presence of US President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, Abdullah bin Zayed and Abdullatif al-Zayani.

Without citing names, the US leader said that seven or eight other Arab countries are ready to normalise relations with the Jewish state and establish official diplomatic relations, including some big countries. Others might quickly follow.

The official agreement was signed in the presence of scores of people, not all social distancing, in the South Lawn of the White house where the Oslo Accord was signed in 1993.

For Israel, this represents two more Arab countries after Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994: an internationally-binding peace treaty with the UAE, and a Declaration of peace with Bahrain.

Thanks to these agreements, Muslims around the world can now visit historic Islamic sites in Israel and Palestine and pray at the al-Aqsa mosque, the third most important Islamic site after those in Makkah and Madinah.

During the ceremony, Bahrain's Foreign Minister Abdullatif al-Zayani used the occasion to call for a "two-state solution", noting that Today is a truly historic occasion," and "A moment for hope and opportunity."

UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed stressed that the normalisation of relations with Israel will allow the UAE to better help the Palestinians build their state. He also thanked Israel for "halting the annexation of Palestinian territories.

For his part, Israeli prime minister said "This day is a pivot of history, heralding a new dawn of peace that could end the Arab-Israeli conflict once and for all.

However, for the Israeli leader, the issue of settlements and the frozen annexation project remain ambiguous and nothing in the Accords suggest that Netanyahu is prepared to give up on either.

Meanwhile, whilst the Abraham Accords were being signed in Washington, sirens sounded in southern Israel as rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip, injuring two people.

Israel responded immediately with attack helicopters striking a dozen Hamas terrorist sites, according to Israeli military sources.

Protests also broke out in Gaza and the West Bank. In Nablus and Hebron demonstrators with Palestinian flags and blue masks rallied against the Accords.

In Gaza, protesters trampled and set fire to pictures of Netanyahu, the King of Bahrain Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa and the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan.

Shortly after the official ceremony, the President of the Palestinian National Authority Mahmoud Abbas issued a statement calling for respect for the rights of the Palestinian people and warning that "peace, security and stability will not be achieved in the region until the Israeli occupation ends".

A poll released on Tuesday found that most Palestinians believe the normalisation agreement with the UAE does not serve their interests. The Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research surveyed almost 1,300 Palestinians, finding that 86 per cent believe that only Israel benefits from the deal.

Many Israelis are also concern, most notably about US sales of sophisticated weapons to the UAE and Bahrain, undermining Israel's current military superiority in the region.

Finally, whilst people in the UAR appear indifferent to the Accords, in Bahrain opposition remains strong to the deal.

In an attempt to silence dissent, the Bahrain government o adopted a law banning MPs from making speeches that "criticise the country's interests." For their part, many opposition and pro-Shia groups have announced protests and rallies.
Faced with the twin climate crises of historic wildfires and spiraling insurance costs, California on Wednesday laid out new rules to make insurance more affordable in fire-prone areas. But the changes could backfire, experts say  pushing insurers to stop offering insurance in those areas and further imperiling communities on the front lines of climate change.

The changes are the latest round in the struggle between California regulators and the insurance industry, which has experienced huge losses starting with the wildfires of 2017 and 2018. In response, insurers have begun refusing to write new coverage for homes in fire-prone areas and dropping existing customers, leaving private insurance hard to get in some places.

That battle has made California into a test case for the financial dangers of climate change, and the political fights that can result. Losing access to private insurance can be devastating, hurting home values and making the homes harder to sell. The state has a high-risk pool for people who cant get regular insurance, but costs are higher and coverage is limited.

California has struggled to respond to the erosion of its insurance market. Last December, the states insurance commissioner, Ricardo Lara, for the first time banned insurers from dropping people in or near areas hit by fires in recent years. But that ban lasts only one year  it expires this coming December  and cant be renewed. The state legislature, facing a further exodus of insurers, considered a proposal that would have allowed insurers to seek bigger rate increases in those areas, but that measure collapsed.
In a significant development, the government September 16 said that no infiltration has been reported along the India-China border in the last six months. When asked whether cases of infiltration from Pakistan and China has increased during the last six months, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), in a written reply, said, "No infiltration has been reported along Indo-China border during last six months."

This comes in the wake of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's statement in the Lok Sabha. On September 15, Singh had said that China was in illegal occupation of about 38,000 sq km of Indian land in Ladakh, besides laying claim to around 90,000 sq km of territory in Arunachal Pradesh.

Also read: China illegally occupying 38,000 sq km in Ladakh: Rajnath Singh in Lok Sabha

"As the House is aware, China continues to be in illegal occupation of approximately 38,000 sq km in the Union Territory of Ladakh. In addition, under the so-called Sino-Pakistan 'Boundary Agreement' of 1963, Pakistan illegally ceded 5,180 sq km of Indian territory in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, to China. China also claims approximately 90,000 sq kms of Indian territory in the eastern sector of the India-China boundary in Arunachal Pradesh," the union minister said during the ongoing session in Lok Sabha.

About the infiltration bid from Pakistan, MHA stated that there have been 47 attempts from the neighbouring country since February 2020.

Opinion: LAC Stand-off | Lets not talk to China for the sake of talking

Asked about what steps are being taken by the Centre to deal with this problem, the ministry, headed by Amit Shah, said, "The government has adopted a multi-pronged approach to contain cross border infiltration, which inter-alia include multi-tiered deployment along the International border/ Line of Control, improved intelligence and operational coordination, border fencing, deploying technological solutions and taking pro-active action against infiltrators."

Addressing the Lok Sabha on September 15, Singh had said that it has been conveyed to China, through diplomatic and military channels, that such actions on its part are being seen as attempts to unilaterally alter the status quo in the region.

"India's position is that while bilateral relations can continue to develop in parallel with discussions on resolving the boundary question, any serious disturbance in peace and tranquillity along the LAC in the border areas is bound to have implications for the positive direction of our ties," Singh said in the Lok Sabha.

Referring to the Galwan Valley clashes on June 15, the Defence Minister said Indian soldiers "inflicted costs including casualties on the Chinese side", adding the House should have "full confidence" that the armed forces will always rise to the challenge and make the country proud.

Also Read: India shows the way in checkmating a rampaging China

"I will not hesitate to share with this august House that we are facing a challenge in Ladakh and I urge the House to pass a resolution in support of our armed forces who have been defending our motherland at great heights and most inclement weather conditions," he said.

The Indian Army and the Chinese People's Liberation Army(PLA) have been locked in a tense standoff in multiple areas along the LAC in eastern Ladakh since early May. Shots were fired across the LAC on Monday for the first time in 45 years with the two sides accusing each other of firing in the air.

Also Read: Govt says decision on discussion to be taken keeping in mind 'national security'

In the five rounds of corps commander-level talks, the Indian side has been insisting on immediate restoration of status quo ante in all areas of eastern Ladakh prior to April. The face-off began on May 6.
I n little more than a month this spring 6,000 Londoners died of Covid.

Those terrible days saw lockdown at its height, businesses wrecked and families kept apart. But London pulled through. The NHS coped magnificently. Infection rates dropped, and so did deaths, which have stayed low. Last week, in the city, only five people who had tested positive died  unchanged on the week before. Infections are going up but the crisis we endured in the spring has not returned.

At least, not yet. Because as Kevin Fenton, the London Director of Public Health England, warns in a significant interview with the Evening Standard today, indicators in the capital are not good.

He praises the phenomenal collective effort which saw our city crush the first wave of the virus. Since then, even as London has opened up, rates have been lower than in some other urban areas elsewhere in Britain.

Mr Fenton emphasises that the Tube is safe  although as anyone who uses it knows, too many people are ignoring rules on mask-wearing.

But he points out that around 500,000 students are set to arrive as universities reopen. Infection rates in some care homes are going up. Around 10 of Londons 32 boroughs are now averaging more than 30 cases per 100,000 people.

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The fear is that what seems controllable now might seem very different in a month  a repeat of the awful explosion in infections we saw back in the spring. By the time we could see what was happening it was too late to regain control.

So what should happen now? Thats the dilemma facing Mr Fenton, the Mayor and ministers. You really dont want to use a lockdown if you can avoid it, he says.

There are some tools which could help that fall short of that  local curfews on late-night bars for instance. But in a city as big and joined-up as London, local lockdowns cant really work.

One thing thats essential is knowledge of what is actually going on  and for that we need quick and easy testing. Instead, the system for booking tests is imploding.

Another is a set of rules that people understand and are prepared to follow  the rule of six, which means many families are kept apart, may not work.

Ministers might need to think again on counting young children in the limit on gathering. The truth is that we cannot yet know what will happen next with the virus in London, only that our success in beating it once does not mean the battle is over.

Death on the streets

Covid is not the only threat London faces. More people have been murdered in the capital in the past six days than have died from the virus.

Yesterday a young man, stabbed in daylight outside a nursery in Stockwell, became the sixth victim.

The roll call of stories is bleak: an inspirational engineering graduate killed outside his home and an 18-year-old chased and stabbed to death in Islington among them.

Overcoming this will take more than good policing.

The return of schools may help give some structure to young lives. But many community services have been restricted by Covid rules.

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We need to remember that the virus is not the only emergency which threatens lives.
September 16 : After being diagnosed with lung cancer, Sanjay Dutt took a short break from work for his initial treatment. Later, he resumed work for two days to complete his pending work on Shamshera, directed by Karan Malhotra. Now, it is reported that the actor has taken a break for a family vacation.

Before the lockdown was announced, Sanjays wife Maanyata was in Dubai with their twin children Shahraan and Iqra. They couldnt return to Mumbai due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Sanjay was alone in the city. After Sanjay was diagnosed with cancer, Maanyata flew down to Mumbai to be with him as he underwent chemotherapy sessions, while the children stayed back in Dubai and are attending their classes from there.

After the chemotherapy sessions went well and the tests too were positive, the Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. actor decided to take a 10-day break for a family vacation in Dubai, as he wants to meet the children and have some we-time with his family before he returns to Mumbai and starts work on KGF 2 and Bhuj: The Pride of India. Sanjay and Maanyata took a chartered flight to Dubai on Tuesday evening.

The actor has procured a five-year visa for USA for treatment. But due to the pandemic, he would decide when to go to USA for further treatment.

Last month, the actor was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. Since then, the actor has undergone advanced tests at a private hospital in Bandra. He underwent chemotherapy in another hospital in Andheri.

On the work front, Sanjay has Bhuj: The Pride of India, Torbaaz, Prithviraj and KGF Chapter 2 in the pipeline, which are in various stages of completion.
The Rajya Sabha is set to hold the first debate on the coronavirus pandemic outbreak and COVID-19 management on September 15, although it remains unknown how much time has been allotted for the same. According to a Hindustan Times report, the Congress party has demanded a four-hour slot for the same.

Among a host of other issues, the Congress party has demanded a separate slot to discuss the loss of livelihoods due to the coronavirus outbreak in India and how the economy contracted by a whopping 23.9 percent in the June quarter.

For live updates on coronavirus, click here

In a letter addressed to Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said: If we cannot have a full-fledged discussion on the COVID-19 situation without being circumscribed by the ministers statement what is the point of having this session of Rajya Sabha in the first place?

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

Objecting to Naidus decision to combine the debate with clarifications on Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhans statement on the COVID-19 pandemic, he said it runs contrary to what V Muraleedharan, Junior Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, had assured me this morning that the two will be taken up separately.

Speaking on behalf of the Congress party, Ramesh pushed for a minimum of four hours to debate Indias COVID-19 crisis management. He reminded the V-C that he had said on September 13 at the Business Advisory Committee meeting that a discussion on the countrys prevailing public health situation is imperative. And if the two discussions are clubbed, it will go against the spirit of your own statement, the Congress leader said.

The Centre is expected to justify and defend how it tackled the coronavirus situation and highlight how it succeeded in keeping the death rate remarkably low. However, the opposition parties, especially Congress, has been constantly attacking the BJP governments flawed measures, claiming the COVID-19 tally could have been scaled down otherwise.

Indias current coronavirus tally is more than five million with 91,136 new cases being reported in the past 24 hours, while COVID-19 deaths have risen to 82,091.

Follow our coverage of the coronavirus crisis here
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Coronavirus cases have been increasing across NE England

The North East is set to have new coronavirus restrictions enforced, including pubs closing at 10pm and households banned from socialising with anyone outside their home.

The new rules are expected to come into force just after midnight tonight after a dramatic rise in the number of Covid-19 cases in the area.

Newcastle City Council leader Nick Forbes said 'additional, temporary' measures are being planned to prevent another full lockdown. He said he expected Health Secretary Matt Hancock to make an announcement later this morning.

The restrictions will reportedly apply to Newcastle, Northumberland, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, Gateshead, County Durham and Sunderland - which have all seen rises in cases, according to the latest weekly rates.

The lockdown measure will include a 10pm curfew on pubs, restaurants and other licensed premises and people will be banned from socialising with anyone outside their household, as reported by ChronicleLive.

Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick told ITV's Peston on Wednesday: 'The number of cases has been rising rapidly in many parts of the country, but in particular in the and so a decision has been made to impose further restrictions there.

'And a full announcement will be made tomorrow and so people living in that part of the country should watch out for that. And the measures will come into play at midnight on Thursday evening.

'So, over the course of the day a full briefing will be made available to everybody including the councils and business community.'

Other possible restrictions include people being told not to go on holiday with different households and spectators advised not to attend sporting venues.

Care home visits could be restricted to essential visitors, and people will be advised to avoid public transport at peak times except for essential journeys, and to avoid car-shares.

Mr Forbes tweeted: 'Some additional, temporary restrictions are being planned to prevent another full lockdown.'

One Twitter user asked when the announcement would be made, adding that the 'uncertainty creates lots of anxiety for people'.

He replied: 'We are waiting confirmation from Government on the final version of the regulations; I am expecting an announcement by the Health Secretary at 11am [on Thursday].'

The most recent figures show Newcastle to have recorded a sharp increase in its weekly rate, up from 51.2 to 64.1, with 194 new cases in the seven days to September 13.

It comes after local measures in the likes of Greater Manchester and Birmingham have been put in place in a bid to address rising rates of infection. And ministers and government officials insist they are ready to take more draconian steps to stop the spread, despite a wave of criticism.

In other coronavirus developments yesterday:

Matt Hancock and Boris Johnson were warned the testing fiasco is on the brink of dooming the country to a de facto lockdown with keeping schools open 'unsustainable'

Covid-19 cases are soaring among middle-aged people in England and have risen by upwards of 90 per cent in a fortnight as the outbreak continues to grow, official figures show.

The boss of British Airways defended his decision to cut up to 12,000 jobs and said the pandemic has left the national carrier 'fighting for survival'

One hospital in Manchester accounted for a third of all Covid-19 deaths in England last week, it was revealed amid fears the life-threatening disease is spreading between wards.

Boris Johnson failed to rule out a second national lockdown as he admitted the government's coronavirus testing system cannot cope.

The most up-to-date PHE data, which was released on Friday, clearly shows cases are spiralling across every age group. People in their twenties  who aren't as vulnerable to the disease and are likely to escape death or serious illness  are driving the spike with an infection rate of 46, which has doubled in the last three weeks

Public Health England (PHE) data reveals 23.4 cases are now diagnosed for every 100,000 people aged between 40 and 49  up from 12.4 at the end of August. And coronavirus infection rates have nearly doubled in just a week for people in their fifties, jumping from 10.9 to 20

Curfews, pub closures and small gatherings only: how the UK could throttle second wave Britain could follow the example of Belgium in taking steps to throttle the rising number of coronavirus cases. Brussels was able to curtail a second wave of coronavirus by limiting the number of people who could socialise together and imposing a nationwide curfew. The European country experienced a resurgence of the virus in mid-July that was comparable to the UK's current trajectory. On July 29, officials there brought in new rules reduced the number of people who could socialise together from 15 to five and introduced a 10pm curfew on the entire population. Coronavirus infections started to rise in Belgium in mid-July, with the weekly case rate going over 35 per 100,000 by August- the level currently being felt in Britain - and daily infections breaching 1,000. The numbers have fallen over recent weeks, with only 194 new cases reported on September 1. Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty is among those who have praised the actions of the Belgian Government to tackle the outbreak. Last week he said Belgium was a 'clear indication that if you act rapidly and decisively when these changes are happening, there is a reasonable or good chance of bringing the rates back down under control.' Such a move would allow people to go still go to work and school but would place curbs on nightlife, which could place high pressure on the hospitality industry, with pubs and restaurants forced to close early. Advertisement

Options on the table could range from curfews to closing pubs - although there is a determination that schools will stay open.

This is despite warnings today that schools could be forced to close by default in coming weeks because of a massive shortage of tests across the UK.

'Lockdown is the only thing that we know works, to be frank,' one government science adviser told ITV.

The dire prospect has been raised amid fears that the disease is on the verge of spiralling out of control again.

Although cases have spiked over 3,000 a day, it had been mainly among younger people, who are less likely to be badly affected.

But now Covid-19 cases are soaring among middle-aged people in England and have risen by upwards of 90 per cent in a fortnight as the outbreak continues to grow.

Public Health England (PHE) data reveals 23.4 cases are now diagnosed for every 100,000 people aged between 40 and 49  up from 12.4 at the end of August. And coronavirus infection rates have nearly doubled in just a week for people in their fifties, jumping from 10.9 to 20.

Boris Johnson faced MPs this afternoon, telling the Liaison Committee that steps to avoid a complete national lockdown were needed.

The Prime Minister told the committee: 'I don't want a second national lockdown, I think it would be completely wrong for this country. We are going to do everything in our power to prevent it.

'Can we afford it? I very much doubt that the financial consequences would be anything but disastrous, but we have to make sure that we defeat the disease by the means that we set out.

'When I see the people saying, arguing against the rule of six of saying that the government is coming in too hard on individual liberties and so on, I totally understand that, I sympathise with that, but we must, must beat this disease.'

Downing Street did not deny reports that curfews were being considered to slow the spread of coronavirus.

Asked about reports that a curfew could be introduced in London, a Number 10 spokesman earlier said: 'We will continue to keep the transmission rate under review.

'We've introduced the rule of six to try and bear down on the transmission rate given that it has risen recently.

'But as I say we will keep that data and the scientific evidence under review.'

However, alarm has been sparked by early signs that hospitalisations are on the rise again, and infections are becoming more common among older people.

The problems have been exacerbated by the testing system descending into chaos after schools returned, with high demand for children to be checked.

The area of Rhondda Cynon Taf in south Wales will be placed under a local lockdown following an increase of coronavirus cases, the Welsh Government announced this afternoon.

Health minister Vaughan Gething announced that the measures, which will be reviewed within two weeks, would come into force at 6pm on Thursday.

Rhondda Cynon Taf, which has a population of around 240,000, has seen a rolling seven-day case rate of 82.1 per 100,000 people.

Under the measures, people must not enter or leave the Rhondda Cynon Taf council area without a reasonable excuse.

People will only be able to meet outdoors and will not be able to meet members of their extended household indoors.

All licensed premises will have to close at 11pm.

Pictured: A demonstration was held in solidarity for Iranian/Kurds however police officers were helpless in stopping the new government rules on groups of no more than six people meeting at one time

British Health Secretary Matt Hancock, right, and Chief Whip Mark Spencer give each other an elbow bump greeting in Downing Street in London

The 'Rule of Six' imposed by Boris Johnson on Monday makes it illegal to have larger gatherings, although in Scotland and Wales children under 12 do not need to be counted in the numbers.

Ministers have suggested they are following the example of Belgium, where a surge appears to have been tackled using tight limits on gatherings and curfews.

A senior member of the government told ITV's Robert Peston that there was 'no possibility of us waiting for the death rate to rise before we act'.

They added that the government will reassess whether the Rule of Six has been enough to control the situation in fortnight - but there is a widespread view that schools should not be shut again.

A leading scientific advisor reportedly said: 'I think that if we want to keep schools open, we probably have to give serious consideration to a wide range of other measures to stop a major second wave.

'And we have to think about doing that right now - which we are starting to do.'

The Red Lion pub in Westminster, just yards from the Houses of Parliament, was surrounded by drinkers last night despite the introduction of the Rule of Six on Monday.

The 'Rule of Six' imposed by Boris Johnson (pictured today at PMQs) on Monday makes it illegal to have larger gatherings, although in Scotland and Wales children under 12 do not need to be counted in the numbers

Second UK pub bans under 25s over social distancing Another British pub has temporarily banned under 25s due to what its landlady claims is a lack of social distancing among young drinkers. The Red Lion in Whinmoor announced the move on Facebook on Monday, confirming those in the age bracket will be unable to enter between Friday and Sunday. The landlady, who wished to remain anonymous, said the decision was made in order to protect staff at the establishment alongside its regular customers from coronavirus. She added the Red Lion has some 'good young customers' who follow the social distancing guidelines, but a minority 'spoil it for others' as they have to keep reminding them to respect the guidelines in place to stop the spread of the virus. Advertisement

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was forced to miss Prime Minister's Questions because of a delay in receiving a coronavirus test result for one of his children, his deputy said.

Angela Rayner, standing in for Sir Keir at the despatch box on Wednesday lunchtime, told Boris Johnson that she had a message from 'a man called Keir'.

She told the Commons: 'Keir wasn't able to go to work today and his children couldn't go to school because his family had to wait for their coronavirus test results despite the Prime Minister's promise of results within 24 hours.

'Keir was able to do the right thing and self-isolate and work from home, but other people aren't in this position - many of them are the very people getting us through this crisis.'

Mr Johnson said he understood a negative test had been returned for Sir Keir's child, adding: 'I don't know why he is not here.'

The Labour leader was advised to self-isolate on Monday while awaiting the result of a test for a member of his household who showed possible symptoms of Covid-19.

Less than half an hour before PMQs was due to begin, Sir Keir said he was 'very pleased and relieved that the test result for one of my children came back negative this morning'.

A decision had been made on Tuesday for his deputy, Ms Rayner, to take his place at the question session.

The possibility of a harsher crackdown comes despite a major Tory backlash at the restrictions on everyday life.

Justice Secretary Robert Buckland this morning denied that the 'rule of six' would effectively cancel Christmas, following criticisms from a source close to the Archbishop of Canterbury about the social restrictions imposed this week to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Archbishop of Canterbury warns 'rule of six' is damaging family life The Archbishop Bishop of Canterbury has warned against coronavirus restrictions being imposed centrally and said he is 'deeply concerned' about the impact of the 'rule of six' on family life. The Most Rev Justin Welby said the Government had 'determined the daily details of our lives' during the coronavirus lockdown in a way 'few of us have experienced', as he argued instead for localism. He said Britain has an 'addiction to centralisation' and argues that the country should take on the attitude: 'Only do centrally what must be done centrally'. The Archbishop is also said to be concerned about the impact of the 'rule of six' - banning gatherings of more than six people indoors and outdoors - on 'the vulnerable, the needy, the poor and the elderly' in Britain. Advertisement

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, the Cabinet minister said: 'Archbishop Justin (Welby) makes an important contribution to this debate and he is right to point to the huge spiritual and social significance of Christmas.

'I don't think any of us in Government want to be Oliver Cromwell-esque about this - we want to see families celebrate Christmas in a safe and happy way and we want to see our churches and indeed our other places of worship joining in that celebration.'

Mr Buckland added: 'We are not going to cancel Christmas but the 'rule of six' is something that is clear and important and I do think we've committed to that and we need to stick to it.'

Health Secretary Matt Hancock yesterday batted away furious demands for young children to be exempted from the rules in England to save Christmas.

He was repeatedly pressed on the 'unfair and inflexible' restrictions as he made a statement in the Commons.

But while Mr Hancock insisted he understood the 'impact' the rules were having, he said 'simplicity' was crucial for them to be effective.

Senior Conservatives lined up to urge the government to copy the Scottish and Welsh administrations, which have said that children aged under 12 do not count towards the limit on gatherings.

Home Secretary Priti Patel warned yesterday that two families bumping into each other on the street would be breaking the new law.

She said more than half-a-dozen people stopping to chat after accidentally meeting up would constitute 'mingling'.

Lawyers questioned whether that was the case - but No10 offered backing, saying: 'You can expect the police to ask you to disperse.'

Ms Patel also said she would report her own neighbours for any behaviour she believed was 'inappropriate' and risked spreading the virus.

The comments came as police complained that they had been left in the dark on how to enforce the tough restrictions, with no guidance and widespread anger among the public.

A TIMELINE OF COVID-19 TEST AVAILABILITY IN THE UK January  Sick travellers: During the early days of the pandemic, before the virus was known to be spreading in the UK, people could only get tested for coronavirus if they had symptoms of the disease  at the time a cough and/or a fever  and had travelled to an at-risk area or been close to someone who had. To begin with, this at-risk area began with the city of Wuhan - the pandemic's ground zero - then later expanded to include China as a whole and other countries including Thailand, South Korea and later Italy. March  Hospitals only: Testing was stopped for members of the public on March 12. This now-controversial move came because the virus was so out of control and rife among travellers returning home from February half-term ski trips in the Alps that there weren't enough tests to have a meaningful impact. The only people who could get a Covid-19 test were hospital patients  those who were seriously ill  and staff working in the hospitals. April  Key workers: In April swab testing for the public returned. Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced on April 23 that key workers and their families (excluding children under five) could get tested if they had symptoms  a new persistent cough or a fever. People who were not key workers and didn't live with one, or who didn't have one of those two symptoms, were still not allowed to get tested. Later April  Over-65s: At the end of the month, on April 29, testing was expanded to allow anyone over the age of 65  with symptoms  to get tested. This age group has accounted for the vast majority of coronavirus deaths in Britain and is far worse for them than for younger people. May  Anyone with symptoms: On May 18, three weeks after the Department of Health claimed to have hit its target of doing 100,000 tests in a day  a claim that later turned out to be false  testing was expanded again. Now, the Health Secretary said, anyone over the age of five with symptoms of Covid-19  this list was expanded on the same day to include lost or changed senses of smell or taste  could be tested. Later May  Under-fives: The rule was expanded again on May 27 to include under-fives, meaning anyone of any age in the UK was eligible for a test if they had Covid-19 symptoms. This rule is still in place now  anyone with symptoms can get a test. It has never been the Government's policy to offer tests to people who don't have one of the three symptoms, but there are some exceptions, such as people taking part in studies or who have been officially referred by their employer. July  Tests for care homes: The Government pledged to offer routine swab testing to care home staff and residents on July 3. Care homes, in which more than 14,000 people have died, suffered badly during the height of the crisis because they did not have access to tests on a large scale. Care homes now use up around 100,000 tests per day  about half of the national capacity  as part of a scheme to test all staff once a week and residents once per month. This system is still fraught with problems, however, and Care England's chief executive Martin Green told The Times: 'There are delays in the couriers not coming to take swabs and problems with the labs getting the results back in time... 'The testing regime needs a thorough root and branch review.' August  Tests for schools: As schools prepared to return to class after a six-moth break through lockdown and the summer, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson pledged all schools would have access to DIY tests to send home for pupils with symptoms. But teachers say they have not been given enough tests and that pupils and staff, unable to get tests through the buckling national testing system, are languishing at home in self-isolation without knowing whether they do or don't have Covid-19. Jim Blakely, head at Garstang St Thomas' School in Preston, told the Today programme: 'That's what we need really urgently... a 24 hour turnaround on tests ideally, so families can get back to work and children can get back to school.' August  'Please get a test': Baroness Dido Harding, chief of NHS Test & Trace, urges members of the public to get tested. Concerned that cases were not falling because people were avoiding using test and trace, she said: 'Please do play your part to stop the virus from flaring up again  this system will only work if you come forward for a test and help us to trace your contacts. So if you have symptoms, however mild, get a free test immediately.' September  'Stop getting so many tests': In September Health Secretary Matt Hancock issued a plea for people to stop getting tested if they didn't have coronavirus symptoms. He said a surge in 'ineligible' people was putting strain on the testing system, which was by now buckling under the pressure of processing 200,000 swabs per day. The Department of Health estimates that one in four tests are now taken by people who shouldn't be taking them. Mr Hancock said on September 9: 'We have seen an increase in demand including from people who are not eligible for tests, people who don't have symptoms.' The number of people getting tested for coronavirus has surged from below 20,000 in April to more than 200,000 per day now Advertisement

In a sign of the mounting chaos, the government has stopped publishing daily capacity figures - with the data now marked 'N/A'. Testing tsar Baroness Harding is also facing questions, with ministers demanding that schools are made a 'priority' and have 'swift' access to checks.

Despite previously boasting of 'Moonshot' plans to carry out 10million tests a day, Health Secretary Matt Hancock is now rushing to create a 'priority list'.

However, putting hospitals and care homes first raises the prospect of schools being left in limbo, with teachers saying 740 have already been forced to close or send children home because so many have cold or cough symptoms.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said headteachers were obliged to order that the 'bubble has to stay at home' if a pupil or teacher could not get a test to prove they were negative.

'This will feel I think like lockdown by default  it will be more frustrating for parents because you can't predict whether it is going to happen,' he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

The ASCL demanded that Mr Johnson 'personally take charge of this situation in the interests of keeping our schools and colleges open, and protecting pupils and staff'.

Asked whether there was enough testing capacity, Mr Johnson replied bluntly: 'No, we don't.

'We don't have enough testing capacity now because, in an ideal world, I would like to test absolutely everybody that wants a test immediately.'

He promised that there would be capacity for 500,000 tests a day by the end of October.

But he urged people without symptoms to stay away from testing centres  although he acknowledged the reasons why they may want to find out if they had Covid-19.

'What has happened is demand has massively accelerated just in the last couple of weeks,' he told MPs.

Professor Andrew Hayward, one of the government's SAGE experts, said around half a million people every day could be expected to display symptoms similar to coroanvirus at this time of year, even before the pandemic appeared.

That would be far above the government's current claimed testing capacity of around 375,000 - although they have never carried out that many in a single day.

Prof Hayward, director of University College London's Institute of Epidemiology & Health, said: 'The background to this of course is that we would expect the demand and the capacity to need to rise quite rapidly over the autumn and winter as the number of people who develop symptoms that could be Covid increase.

'Some of our research has shown that at least in the winter, you would expect about half a million people a day to develop symptoms that are typical of Covid  and that would be in a winter when there was no Covid  so you can see that the capacity requirements will have to increase dramatically if we are going to keep up.'

Hundreds of schools have been partially or completely closed because of coronavirus cases - both proven and suspected - leading to fears of a domino effect, resulting in parents not being able to go to work and the return of empty offices.

More than one in 10 children were not in classes last Thursday, figures show, amid fears the growing number of pupils and staff awaiting tests could cripple parent confidence in getting their children back to school.

It comes as teachers will today hold a protest outside the Department for Education, arguing that the lack of tests, and the inability of staff, pupils and parents to get to the front of the queue, is stopping schools returning to normal.

One told the i that they had been unable to book a test for their daughter on Sunday either online or on the phone despite trying on an hourly basis.

Her efforts involved driving to a local test centre, which proved to be closed, and then to Gatwick, where there were no queues but she was turned away as for not having booked.

The public had been told to seek tests 'if in doubt'. But checks by the Mail found that 46 of the 49 virus hotspots  including Bolton, Bradford and Oldham  had no swabs to offer.

Preston, one of the three areas providing tests said they were not available until January  and 22 miles away.

There have been reports that Mr Hancock is considering making GPs 'gatekeepers' for the system.

However, that could put surgeries under massive strain, with complaints that appointment are already extremely difficult to access in many areas.

Long queues were seen outside testing centres today , involving many desperate people who had failed to get an online appointment but turned up anyway.

Lines formed in Southend  but in a sign of the general chaos  other test centres such as in Leeds were nearly empty.

Dr Patrick Roach, general secretary of the NASUWT teaching union, has called on the Government to prioritise the education sector for the allocation of tests.

In a letter to the schools minister, Dr Roach said the union had heard of approximately 600 pupils being told to self-isolate in Bury and the situation was 'increasingly out of control'.

'Teachers, support staff and children and young people are unable to access tests where they have Covid-19 symptoms,' he wrote.

'Employers are struggling to deal with the implications and consequences.'

He added: 'We have reports that schools are unable to cope with a situation that is becoming increasingly out of control.'

The founder of Oasis Community Learning, which is responsible for 31,500 children at 52 academies across England, said 1,200 pupils had been sent home over the first six days of the new school year.

Writing in The Sun, Steve Chalke added: 'The reason is either pupils or teachers have symptoms and can't return until they get a negative test result.'

Concerns are growing about the Government's seven 'lighthouse labs' and their ability to process results, due to shortages of staff and equipment.

One MP said her constituents in Twickenham, south-west London, had been told to travel to Aberdeen to book a test.

The UK has announced a further 14 Covid-19 deaths in the preliminary count, although the final figure can sometimes differ

Munira Wilson, Lib Dem health spokesman, said: 'We were promised a world-beating test and trace system but what we have at the moment is an utter shambles.'

Mr Johnson swiped at Keir Starmer for failing to face him at PMQs today after the Labour leader revealed one of his children has tested negative for coronavirus.

The Labour leader said he was 'pleased and relieved' to be out of self-isolation after two days waiting for the result.

'740 schools forced to shut or send pupils home' Some 740 schools have been forced to shut or send pupils home due to suspected coronavirus cases, it was claimed today. Steve Chalke, head of the Oasis Academies Trust chain, told The Sun he had been given the number - equivalent to around three per cent of the total. It underlines problems being caused by delays in getting tests and results that can allow teachers and pupils to stop self-isolating. Advertisement

However, he skipped the showdown in the Commons this lunchtime, with deputy Angela Rayner standing in.

She raised the case of 'Keir' at the despatch box, saying he had needed to miss work because he had not received the result of a test in time.

But Mr Johnson pointed out that Sir Keir was now out of quarantine. 'I don't know quite why he is not here.'

The premier defended the shambolic testing arrangements, despite warnings that schools are on the brink of becoming 'unsustainable' due to delays.

'Eighty-nine per cent of those that have in person tests get (results) the next day,' Mr Johnson said. 'We are working very fast to turn around all the test requests that we get.'

Struggling to explain the causes of the problems, Mr Johnson said: 'The British people, quite understandably, are responding to that system, with a huge, huge surge in demand.'

He insisted it was 'important that everybody follows the guidance about when they should be getting a test'.

Ms Rayner called on the Prime Minister to 'get some skates on' in delivering testing and PPE to care homes ahead of winter.

'The Prime Minister has put his faith in Operation Moonshot, but meanwhile on planet Earth there are no NHS tests available for several high-infection areas,' she said.

She asked: 'Can the Prime Minister confirm yes or no, do all care homes in this country have weekly tests?'

Mr Johnson replied: 'Yes, to the best of my knowledge care homes in this country should get weekly tests for all staff members and tests every 28 days for those who are in the care homes, the residents in the care homes.'

Another testing centre in Leeds stood virtually empty today amid criticism of the systems

The premier also complained that Labour was 'carping from the sidelines' while the government tried to deal with 'one of the most difficult dilemmas' ever faced by any administration.

Appearing before the education select committee today, Gavin Williamson revealed he had met the government's Test & Trace tsar Baroness Harding this week to insist there must be 'swift' screening available for schools.

Covid cases rise among the middle-aged The most up-to-date PHE data, which was released on Friday, clearly shows cases are spiralling across every age group. People in their twenties  who aren't as vulnerable to the disease and are likely to escape death or serious illness  are driving the spike with an infection rate of 46, which has doubled in the last three weeks Covid-19 cases are soaring among middle-aged people in England and have risen by upwards of 90 per cent in a fortnight as the outbreak continues to grow, official figures show. Public Health England (PHE) data reveals 23.4 cases are now diagnosed for every 100,000 people aged between 40 and 49  up from 12.4 at the end of August. And coronavirus infection rates have nearly doubled in just a week for people in their fifties, jumping from 10.9 to 20. The most up-to-date PHE data, which was released on Friday, clearly shows cases are increasing across every age group. People in their twenties  who aren't as vulnerable to the disease and are likely to escape death or serious illness  are driving the spike with an infection rate of 46, which has doubled in three weeks. Fears of a second wave are growing as the number of Britons being diagnosed with Covid-19 each day has topped 3,000 for the first time since May. Ministers have also been spooked by spiralling outbreaks in Spain and France and rising hospital admissions on the continent. Hospital admissions  another way of measuring the severity of the pandemic  have doubled in England over the past nine days. More than 150 newly-infected patients required NHS treatment on Sunday, up from a rolling seven-day average of 52 on the last day of August. Advertisement

'We've always been conscious that with children coming back into schools there was going to be a situation where people would need more access to testing. That is why we ensured those deliveries of tests to every school in England. That is why this morning we opened the ordering system, for schools to be able to order new tests, for them to be able to get those directly from the NHS,' he said.

Mr Williamson said he had stressed to Lady Harding that testing for schools must be a 'priority'.

'Just this week I met with baroness Harding from test and trace and the NHS, highlighting some concerns that schools have had in terms of the turnaround and to ensure that teachers are able to get tested as swiftly as possible, and they are able to be in a position to be back to teaching at the earliest possible stage.'

Mr Williamson dodged questions over whether the government could guarantee testing results for schools within 48 hours, but added: 'The reason I had my meeting with Baroness Harding, as you can imagine, is to continue to emphasise the importance and the priority that we have to put on all our schools and education settings, about how vital it is that we always ensure there is swift testing available.'

Committee chairman Robert Halfon told BBC Radio 4's World at One later that he had been told schools would be a priority under Mr Hancock's new scheme.

'As I understand it, schools will be on the priority list,' Mr Halfon told the programme.

Department for Education sources said they had little control over the provision for schools, suggesting it was a 'problem in the labs'. 'We don't run testing. We don't oversee testing. It is a DHSC thing,' one source said.

An ally of Mr Williamson told MailOnline they had doubts about whether schools were the main part of the extra demand, pointing out that 1.6million children went back in June and July and 'we didn't see any of this'.

The ally added: 'There is definitely frustration there.'

Ministers first faced a crisis over testing early on in the first wave of Covid when a campaign by the Mail led to Mr Hancock vowing to deliver 100,000 tests a day.

That pledge was later raised to 200,000, then 500,000 by the end of October and now four million by next February under the ambitious 'Operation Moonshot'.

However, the system has been thrown back into chaos in recent days because demand for tests has massively increased, overwhelming laboratories.

The surge has resulted from a rise in daily cases, the return of schools, the rolling-out of regular swabs to care homes and an increase in outbreaks.

There have also been rumours of logistical problems at laboratories.

As a result, there has been a deluge of complaints that people cannot access tests locally or that they have to wait too long to find out if they are positive or negative. Schools have been closed while teachers wait for results on sick pupils.

NHS leaders warn of a crisis in hospitals, with medics forced to stay away from work and operations cancelled.

Figures today showed that, including antibody and surveillance screening, 221,192 tests were carried out across the UK in the previous 24 hours.

That was down from 227,075 yesterday, 231,969 on Monday and from 250,839 on Sunday.

The last time it was lower was September 9, when just 209,609 were conducted.

However, the government has not published a figure for the overall capacity since September 10, when it was claimed to be 374,917.

The Department of Health has refused to reveal how many people are trying to get swabs.

The number of people actually getting tested has gone up by 23 per cent since the end of August while capacity has increased by 12 per cent - although it is now not known.

Sodexo, which runs the centres, has posted job adverts for people to staff the drive- and walk-in sites as the UK scrambles to prepare for surging numbers of cases as infections are now on the rise in people of all age groups in England.

Labour MPs have called the testing fiasco a 'farce' and 'unacceptable', while scientists admit they are seriously concerned that the Government hasn't prepared for what they've known for months would eventually happen.

Heads look to ban teachers from going aboad at half-term Headteachers could stop staff from travelling abroad during the half-term, it has emerged today. Law firm Stone King said it had received about 20 calls from state schools seeking advice over whether they can ban teachers from leaving the UK in school holidays, according to The Times. This comes as more than 1,000 teachers across Scotland have been forced to self-isolate because of Covid symptoms. Meanwhile official school attendance records have shown that while 99 per cent of schools have reopened since the coronavirus pandemic, one in 10 pupils have not returned. Approximately 88 per cent of state school pupils were back in class on September 10, meaning 12 per cent were marked absent, according to Department for Education figures. This equates to around 960,000 students not attending school - some 400,000 fewer than usual. Advertisement

Professor Alan McNally, a geneticist at the University of Birmingham who helped set up a Government lab in Milton Keynes, told BBC Breakfast yesterday there were 'clearly underlying issues which nobody wants to tell us about'.

He said: 'I think there is a surge in demand [and] I think our stated capacity is very different from actually how many tests can be run in a given day.'

Dr Joshua Moon, from the University of Sussex Business School, added: 'One of the deeper issues is why we are seeing an acute shortage when total tests per day currently sit at two thirds of the government's claimed testing capacity.

'I am particularly worried about why the claimed capacity was so much higher than it actually was.

'Without proper understanding of the system's capacity, there is a fundamental weakness in ability to plan for the future.'

In a round of broadcast interviews this morning, J ustice Secretary Robert Buckland said testing capacity was 'ramping up' to deal with the demand. He said Mr Hancock would put forward the 'priority' list 'in the next few days'.

Speaking to Sky News, Mr Buckland said: 'I'm not shying away from the current issue but what I'm trying to explain is that rather than us sitting back and pretending all is well, we have accepted the scale of the challenge, we're ramping up the test centres, we have increased laboratory capacity, new labs coming on-stream so we can get that quick turnaround.'

He added: 'The fact the Government kept on saying about the dangers of a second wave, at all times the Prime Minister, all of us, were absolutely focused on the dangers of the second wave  we have seen what's happening in France.

'We absolutely are onto this in terms of understanding that through the autumn, if we are to get the balance between getting the economy back on track and getting children into school, then all of us now have a special responsibility to follow all those guidelines and do whatever it takes to beat this virus.'

The testing meltdown has come in the context of a spike in coronavirus cases, with fears that the situation is on the verge of spiralling out of control again.

Britons could face an even tougher lockdown within two weeks unless the Rule of Six brings down coronavirus cases, it was claimed today.

Ministers and government officials insist they are ready to take more draconian steps to stop the spread, despite a wave of criticism.

Options on the table could range from curfews to closing pubs - although there is a determination that schools will stay open.

Testing tsar Baroness Dido Harding was in Downing Street today amid mounting questions about the government system

'Lockdown is the only thing that we know works, to be frank,' one government science adviser told ITV.

The dire prospect has been raised amid fears that the disease is on the verge of spiralling out of control again.

Although cases have spiked over 3,000 a day, it had been mainly among younger people, who are less likely to be badly affected.

Downing Street did not deny reports that curfews were being considered to slow the spread of coronavirus.

Asked about reports that a curfew could be introduced in London, a Number 10 spokesman today said: 'We will continue to keep the transmission rate under review.

'We've introduced the rule of six to try and bear down on the transmission rate given that it has risen recently.

'But as I say we will keep that data and the scientific evidence under review.'

Mr Hancock was yesterday summoned to the Commons to answer an urgent question from Labour on the fiasco. Asked whether the issue would be sorted this week, he replied: 'I think we will be able to solve this problem in a matter of weeks.'

Britons 'could face curfews within weeks' Britons could face an even tougher lockdown within two weeks unless the Rule of Six brings down coronavirus cases, it was claimed today. Ministers and government officials insist they are ready to take more draconian steps to stop the spread, despite a wave of criticism. Options on the table could range from curfews to closing pubs - although there is a determination that schools will stay open. 'Lockdown is the only thing that we know works, to be frank,' one government science adviser told ITV. The dire prospect has been raised amid fears that the disease is on the verge of spiralling out of control again. Although cases have spiked over 3,000 a day, it had been mainly among younger people, who are less likely to be badly affected. However, alarm has been sparked by early signs that hospitalisations are on the rise again, and infections are becoming more common among older people. Advertisement

Last night former health secretary Ken Clarke accused ministers of 'irritating' the public and spreading 'disillusion' by making impossible promises on testing.

Citing testing problems, Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle said: 'This is completely unacceptable and totally undermines track and trace so I have raised my concerns with ministers to push for action to be taken as a matter of urgency.'

Dr Layla McCay of the NHS Confederation, which represents healthcare organisations, said: 'Our members are telling us that lack of access to testing for staff is a major barrier to them delivering services and achieving targets set to restore services.

'We seem light years away from the world-beating test-and-trace system that we were promised. Every week we wait for these problems to be resolved is a week of some NHS staff not being able to go to work, and a week that makes it harder to identify and contain Covid-19 surges.'

Mr Hancock is preparing to publish a 'priority list' within the next few days which will be used as a rulebook for testing centres in determining who is offered a swab.

Currently anyone, in theory, should be offered one regardless of whether they are a key worker or even have symptoms.

But the list will spell out to centres that if there are shortages of testing capacity, priority will be given to NHS and care home staff as well as to patients, key workers and school pupils. Anyone else faces being refused a test until the capacity is ramped up.

Ministers are also planning to open up two huge lighthouse labs to process test results.

Seven are in operation  in Cambridge, Milton Keynes, Newport, Glasgow, Alderley Park in Cheshire, Loughborough in Leicestershire and Antrim in Northern Ireland.

The increase in demand has been largely driven by schools going back as children spread coughs and colds. Anxious parents are booking the whole family in for tests to avoid lengthy self-isolation.

The surge in virus cases has sparked worry among the public, and ministers have claimed people are booking tests before going on holiday even though they don't have any symptoms.

At the same time, experts believe testing capacity has been hit by a shortage of equipment and staff, including postgraduate students who have gone back to university.

Last night a leaked memo obtained by The Guardian claimed that the lighthouse labs were stretched to capacity even in late August.

Dido Harding: Tory peer hailed by Hancock for 'fantastic leadership' skills has overseen months of farce Baroness Dido Harding was hailed for her 'fantastic leadership' skills by Health Secretary Matt Hancock when she was appointed in May. But after the Tory peer was put in charge of implementation of the new NHS app, mass testing and contact tracing programme in May it has become a national embarassment. Baroness Harding is a former jockey, though she quit racing after hitting 40 and promising her husband she'd stop The app has been massively scaled back in scope and it may be next year by the time a full mass testing scheme is in place. The Government's reaction to her failures has been to give her another job. Last month she was put in interim charge of the replacement body for Public Health England. Experts said making her interim chief of the new National Institute for Health Protection (NIHP) made as 'much sense as Chris Whitty [England's chief medical officer] being appointed a head of Vodafone'. That was a reference to Harding's lack of public health experience and her previous stint as chief exec of telecoms giant TalkTalk - where she oversaw one of the worst data breaches in the UK that saw hackers to steal bank details from 157,000 customers. Baroness Dido Harding of Winscombe, 53, was raised on a Somerset pig farm and is the granddaughter of Field Marshall Lord Harding, the commander of the Desert Rats who became the most senior soldier in the British army. A former jockey, she is married to John Penrose, the Conservative MP for Weston-super-Mare. She studied Policy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University, alongside David Cameron and upon graduating, she held a slew of roles at Thomas Cook, Woolworths, Tesco and Sainsbury's. Baroness Harding was appointed CEO of TalkTalk in 2010, serving in the role for seven years, during which the company was the victim of a cyber attack that saw the personal and banking details of 157,000 customers accessed by hackers. She was subjected to repeated blackmail attempts after the hack, with demands for Bitcoins in exchange for stolen data, which included customers' names, email addresses, mobile numbers, home addresses and dates of birth. In the aftermath, TalkTalk was fined a record 400,000 for security failings which allowed the data to be accessed 'with ease' in one of the biggest data breaches in history. TalkTalk is thought to have lost 60million from the fallout with an estimated 100,000 angry customers leaving, mainly to BT, while 2015 profits halved to 14million and shares lost nearly two-thirds of their value. Baroness Harding faced repeated calls to step down over the breach, but stayed on until 2017, when she resigned to focus on her 'public service activities'. Later that year, she was appointed chairwoman of NHS Improvement, responsible for overseeing all NHS hospitals. A powerful figure, she refuses to believe her gender has ever held her back, nor will she endorse female quotas on company boards, which she sees as political meddling. She also thinks that workers have too much maternity leave, despite admitting being the boss has allowed her to successfully juggle her own career with spending time with the two daughters she has with her husband. Earlier this year she was criticised over her role on the board of Cheltenham Festival organiser the Jockey Club. Scientists have dubbed the festival which went ahead in March a 'disaster' and claimed it accelerated the spread of coronavirus in the UK after 260,000 people flocked to the racecourse just days before lockdown began. Advertisement

Covid-19 cases among people in their 40s and 50s have risen by 90% since the end of August - while the number of patients being admitted to hospital has DOUBLED in just nine days, official figures show

Covid-19 cases are soaring among middle-aged people in England and have risen by upwards of 90 per cent in a fortnight as the outbreak continues to grow, official figures show.

Public Health England (PHE) data reveals 23.4 cases are now diagnosed for every 100,000 people aged between 40 and 49  up from 12.4 at the end of August. And coronavirus infection rates have nearly doubled in just a week for people in their fifties, jumping from 10.9 to 20.

The most up-to-date PHE data, which was released on Friday, clearly shows cases are increasing across every age group. People in their twenties  who aren't as vulnerable to the disease and are likely to escape death or serious illness  are driving the spike with an infection rate of 46, which has doubled in three weeks.

Fears of a second wave are growing as the number of Britons being diagnosed with Covid-19 each day has topped 3,000 for the first time since May. Ministers have also been spooked by spiralling outbreaks in Spain and France and rising hospital admissions on the continent.

Hospital admissions  another way of measuring the severity of the pandemic  have doubled in England over the past nine days. More than 150 newly-infected patients required NHS treatment on Sunday, up from a rolling seven-day average of 52 on the last day of August.

But government officials say a second wave of Covid-19 in Britain would not be nearly as bad as the first  which killed between 40 and 55,000 people  because we are better at containing the virus through local lockdowns and social distancing measures, and that medical breakthroughs have helped to slash the death rate.

Hospital admissions  another way of measuring the severity of the pandemic  have doubled in England over the past ten days. More than 150 newly-infected patients required NHS treatment on Sunday, up from a rolling seven-day average of 52 on the last day of August

Hospital admissions  another way of measuring the severity of the pandemic  have doubled in England over the past ten days. More than 150 newly-infected patients required NHS treatment on Sunday, up from a rolling seven-day average of 56 the week before

PHE figures released on Friday, which offer the most detailed insight into the state of the coronavirus crisis in England, revealed how people in their twenties are driving the current outbreak.

The infection rate for those aged 20-29 has risen from 23.5 cases for every 100,000 people in the week ending August 16, to 46 in the most recent full week of data, which finished on September 6.

The rate is now 29.8 for people in their 30s, up from 19.6 the week before and 16.4 at the end of August. And it has jumped to 23.4 for 40 to 49-year-olds, up from 13.5 in the previous seven-day spell and 12.4 at the end of last month.

Infections rates have risen from 10.9 to 20 in the space of a week for people in their 50s, and have increased from 7.5 to 12.4 for those in their sixties.

Cases are also rising for people over the age of 70, who are the most vulnerable to the disease because of their age. Infection rates have jumped from 4.6 to 7.3 for those in their 70s over the lat week, and from 8.9 to 12.9 for those 80 or older.

For children, rates have jumped from 5.6 to 7.7 for those up to the age of four, and have risen from 5.1 to 8.1 among 10 to 19-year-olds.

Hospital admissions have also risen over the same time-frame, according to data published by the Department of Health.

Government statistics show 153 newly-infected patients needed NHS care in England on Sunday, September 13. Similar data has not yet been released for Monday or yesterday.

For comparison, 85 patients were admitted to hospital in England last Sunday.

The rolling seven-day average of hospital admissions  considered one of the best ways to analyse trends  shows the rate has risen from 52.43 on the last day of August to 127.57 on September 13. The rate topped 100 on September 10 and was 72 last Sunday.

Hopes of fighting a second wave are also high because vaccines could be available as early as next spring, with a 'long pipeline' of promising jabs being trialled.

In addition, early signs from the southern hemisphere indicate that any flu outbreak will be less severe than in previous years.

It comes as top Belgium scientist Jean-Luc Gala said Belgium's rising infection rate is 'completely normal' and ongoing lockdown measures should be relaxed. He told French-language newspaper La Derniere Heure that 'people no longer suffer from the coronavirus, but measures to stop it.'

He said people should not worry as the virus 'is circulating in a category that does not suffer from it, young people who will at worst have small symptoms, at best nothing at all'. He said people who the virus only midly affects becoming infected is beneficial as it contributes to wide-spread immunity.

Ministers had been concerned that a combination of flu and corona cases would prove catastrophic for the NHS this winter.

However, officials also expect that advice on hygiene and social distancing during the corona pandemic will suppress flu rates  as will the trend for working from home and avoiding public transport.

In Australia and New Zealand  which typically provide good indicators of how the flu will develop in the UK  cases have remained low compared with last year.

Officials still believe the next six months 'will be very tricky' for the NHS and the country as a whole  but their cautious optimism provides a marked contrast to recent warnings from doctors' unions and medical colleges, which have claimed that hospitals would be unable to cope with a second wave.

A survey by the British Medical Association this week found that 86 per cent of doctors expect coronavirus to surge again over the next six months.

When Spain, France and Belgium hit 18 cases per 100,000 (which the UK did at the start of September) they then saw admissions increase by up to four-fold. But Belgium was able to reduce its hospital rate by reintroducing tough measures

In August the hospitalisation rate in Belgium doubled from one per 100,000 to two per 100,000, but it has since been squashed

Hospitalisation rates remain low and falling in the UK, from a peak of more than 30 per 100,000 people to fewer than one per 100,000, but officials fear they will rise again soon

However, Government officials believe that while cases are on the rise again, the curve will be flatter when compared with March and April.

One reason for this prediction is the fact that we now know so much more about the virus. This includes medical advances, such as the discovery that steroid treatment dexamethasone can cut the risk of death from coronavirus by a third.

Officials also say that local lockdowns  and the beleaguered test and trace service  have successfully prevented recent outbreaks from spreading more widely.

Nonetheless, they stress that it is wrong to assume that the virus is only circulating among the young.

While many new cases are patients aged between 17 and 21, the latest statistics show infection rates for those in their 50s and 60s are now as high as they were for those in their 20s several weeks ago.

Figures from the Department of Health yesterday showed there were 3,105 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, compared with around 5,000 a day at the height of the crisis. There were another 27 deaths, up from nine recorded on Tuesday.

A special envoy from the World Health Organisation yesterday said the 'grotesque' global outlook was 'much worse than any science fiction'.

Appearing before the Foreign Affairs Committee, Dr David Nabarro told MPs: 'It's a terrible situation... a health issue has got so out of control it's knocking the world into not just a recession but a huge economic contraction, which would probably double the number of poor people, double the number of malnourished [and] lead to hundreds of millions of small businesses going bankrupt.'
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Wesley Ballantine should have never died. The 17-year-old was bright, vibrant, and hungry for life, a true "lion among humans". When he wasn't studying a broking course or working as a trades assistant, he would get lost in his music, playing blues, flamenco and jazz on his guitar for hours on end. A talented performer with an eclectic taste, he wanted to learn to play the trumpet next and become a businessman. "His friends described him as the biggest man at the table," his mother Regan Ballantine said. "I don't know how to describe him, he was larger than life." But in the early hours of January 5, 2017, his life was brutally cut short after he plummeted 12 metres to his death while installing a glass ceiling during the refurbishment of the Old Post Office building in the Perth CBD. He was rushed to Royal Perth Hospital but could not be saved. Jarring images of the construction site obtained by WAtoday show Wesley had been walking on steel beams and wooden planks around open voids prior to his death. The floor was covered in extension cords and other construction materials, making the work more perilous. Wesley wasn't wearing a safety harness because there was nowhere to hook it.

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Ms Ballantine remembers the shock of the call from the police and the earth suddenly slipping out from underneath her. "Wesley has fallen passed away," she remembers the officer at the other end of the line saying. "You just don't believe it," she said. "It was like I was watching a movie of myself like it wasn't real what they were telling me." Valmont's construction site in the CBD hours after Wesley's death. For months, Ms Ballantine lived in a state of shock so deep she couldn't even shed tears at her son's funeral. She lived in the hope the system would right the wrongs and serve justice for Wesley. It was designed to protect workers. But nearly a year and a half after Wesley fell to his death, during a meeting with WorkSafe, reality came crashing down like a pile of bricks. Valmont, the contractor hired to carry out the refurbishments, would face a maximum fine of $200,000 for Wesley's death. That was if it was slapped with the harshest penalty. Months later, Valmont would plead guilty in court to failing to ensure subcontractors like Wesley were not exposed to hazards on site and was fined $38,000.

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That was about $160,000 below the maximum penalty, and less than a year's salary on minimum wage. "The system cheated Wes, the system devalued his life, the system protected the businesses, the system favoured the businesses," Ms Ballantine said. "As a mother and a parent you raise your kids to bring them to the very stage Wesley was at, which was the door to his future, a world of endless possibilities. He just didn't make it through that door. "I feel so cheated, I feel cheated for Wes and I feel cheated for the efforts and sacrifices and struggles that I made as a mother to get him to that point." At that moment, it dawned on Ms Ballantine that the system was broken and it needed to be fixed, even if it was too late for Wesley. Regan Ballantine has been calling on changes to the judicial system to make companies accountable for industrial manslaughter. Credit:Marta Pascual Juanola It sent her on a quest to campaign for manslaughter laws to be introduced in Western Australia as part of an overhaul of work safety laws.

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Now, 3 years after Wesley's tragic death, the upper house is due to debate the Work Health and Safety Bill 2019, which if passed could see Ms Ballantine's hopes for greater accountability for operators become reality. Tougher penalties for companies have also been rolled out under a modernised Work Health Safety Act, with level four offences, which include fatalities, now attracting a maximum $2.7 million penalty for first-time offenders and $3.5 million for repeat offenders  up from $500,000 and $625,000, respectively. First-time offence fines have also jumped from $50,000 to $450,000 while repeat offenders face $570,000 fines, up from $62,500. Under these new penalties, two companies are facing a combined $4.7 million in fines over the death of young plumber Ryan Duffus in Mosman Park in a landmark case for workplace safety. If Valmont had been fined under current penalties, its fine would have likely been 7 times higher. The penalties are a small victory for fierce advocates like Ms Ballantine, who said campaigning for industrial manslaughter laws "resuscitated her". "Wesley's death took so much from me but it gifted me real purpose," she said. "It's a gift to be able to take something so tragic and transform it into something good for others."

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Emily Yates-Doerr

Yates-Doerr is an assistant professor of anthropology at Oregon State University. She lives in Corvallis.

On Labor Day, a windstorm swept across Oregon. A fire of 500 acres Monday afternoon grew to cover 131,000 acres overnight. Several other fires ignited, eventually burning more than a million acres. By midnight, the air quality index where I live clocked in at 384; the next day it grew to 537.

These numbers are unprecedented. The Environmental Protection Agency considers anything over 300 hazardous and stops counting at 500which we hit every day for a week. My social media feeds are full of people, dizzy with headaches, wondering what they should do. Many have children, whose developing lungs are especially vulnerable. Well-meaning respondents have offered Do-It-Yourself advice: boil water with herbs, tape your doors, put a wet cloth in front of a box fan. The media has chimed in as well, suggesting portable air purifiers  which have sold out.

Unfortunately, these air-pollution hacks cannot address political failure. As a medical anthropologist who studies health systems, I am concerned about how DIY treatments for toxic air are presented as the solution to smoke inhalation. These solutions will never keep our communities safeinstead, we must advocate collective, structural change.

The official advice is to stay inside, a clear challenge for the tens of thousands of people who have evacuated their homes and the under-housed population in Oregon, whose numbers exceed 15,000. Years of racist city zoning have already burdened many Black and brown communities with toxic air, and the resulting respiratory illnesses will further exacerbate health inequities. Even those with shelter cannot entirely seal off hazard-level smoke.

The fires are unusual but not unexpected. The hurricane-force winds hit at the end of a very dry summer following a low-snowfall winter. My dad, an Oregon firefighter, texted me back in April that the fire report forecasted a dry June and July with above-average fire lasting through September. For decades, climate scientists have warned that warming temperatures will bring about catastrophic change. Todays wildfires are a predictable consequence of human negligence.

Yet earlier this year, Oregon Republicans walked away from cap-and-trade legislation to limit gas emissions and mandate pollution credits. The walkout also killed a forestry bill that would have directed $25 million toward reducing statewide fire risk, expanding firefighting resources, and improving smoke protections for at-risk communities.

Much of the discussion of smoke inhalation treats the illness akin to a burn: something that initially hurts but then slowly heals. Yet the science of toxicity points to long-term harm that we dont feel at first. Tiny, invisible particulates of wood, metal, and plastic from the fires inferno invade the lungs and the bloodstream, increasing the risks for heart disease, strokes and other illness.

Of course, run an air purifier if you have one. Try to seal yourself off. But if the months weve spent grappling with the circulation of COVID in our air have taught us anything, it is that there are no silver bullets. People are boiling sage-water on their stoves because they fear for their childrens futures. But to really protect our futures we must look beyond one-off solutions.

We need to contact our representatives to advocate for comprehensive forest management bills and funding for research on the longterm effects of toxic air. We need to phone bank for climate change legislation, such as the Green New Deal. We need to fund universal health coverage for those who develop respiratory failure from todays smoke years from now. And as for all those politicians who put off dealing with our drying forests, we need to do everything we can to vote them out.

An entire coast of toxic air makes one thing clear: our lives depend on what happens this election season.

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HONOLULU, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Hawaiian Electric, a subsidiary of Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. (NYSE: HE), has submitted eight contracts for new grid-scale renewable energy and storage projects on O'ahu and Maui to the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) for review and approval.

The six projects on O'ahu and two on Maui are part of the largest renewable energy procurement ever for Hawai'i. If approved and completed, the combined projects are expected to lower electric bills on average by about $1 a month on O'ahu and Maui.

The O'ahu projects are expected to provide generation and storage needed to retire the state's only coal plant, the 180-megawatt (MW) plant at Campbell Industrial Park owned by AES, by September 2022. On Maui, the successful completion of renewable energy projects will help enable the retirement of the 38 MW oil-fired Kahului plant in 2024.

These projects were part of the second phase of Hawaiian Electric's renewable procurement effort that began in February 2018. Three of the original projects withdrew and contracts for three other projects are still being negotiated with Hawaiian Electric.

"As planned, these projects will significantly advance our state's renewable energy transformation and benefit everyone by reducing our exposure to volatile oil prices," said Jim Alberts, Hawaiian Electric senior vice president of business development and strategic planning.

In addition to the projects planned by independent developers, Hawaiian Electric plans to build two standalone energy storage projects, one on Maui and one on Hawai'i Island. Those projects were submitted earlier to the PUC for review and approval.

The eight contracts submitted for regulatory review represent nearly 300 MW of new renewable generation and about 2,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of storage. If completed on schedule in 2022 and 2023, they are estimated to add approximately 9 percentage points to the renewable portfolio on the five islands served by Hawaiian Electric.

The company's renewable portfolio is expected to reach 30 percent by the end of this year with the anticipated return to service of Puna Geothermal Venture on Hawai'i Island.

The projects and their prices are listed on the following page:

O'ahu









Developer Project Location Technology MW/MWh Price 174 Power Global Kupehau Solar Kunia Solar + Storage 60/240 12.8 per kWh AES Distributed Energy Waiawa Phase 2 Solar Waiawa Solar + Storage 30/240 12.4 AES Distributed Energy Mountain View Dairy Solar Waianae Solar + Storage 7/35 13.0 Innergex Renewable Energy Barbers Point Solar Kalaeloa Solar + Storage 15/60 11.2 Longroad Development Mahi Solar Kunia Solar + Storage 120/480 9.7 Energy Storage Resource Kapolei Energy Storage Barbers Point Harbor Storage * * Maui









Developer Project Location Technology MW/MWh Price Longroad Development Pulehu Solar Pulehu Solar + Storage 40/160 9.2 Innergex Renewable Energy Kahana Solar Napili-Honokowai Solar + Storage 20/80 8.9



* Kapolei Energy Storage does not produce energy so has no per unit price. A fixed monthly payment is made for energy stored in a single battery system intended to provide a four-hour, 135 MW, 540 MWh load-shift of energy to the evening hours when demand increases but solar generation diminishes and a 30-minute, 50 MW, 25 MWh fast frequency response in case of a system contingency to allow operators time for other resources to stabilize the grid.

Hawaiian Electric has made community outreach a formal part of the procurement process and requires developers to engage with residents in the communities where their projects are planned. Community members will have the opportunity to provide comments and feedback as part of the regulatory review process.

At the end of 2019, Hawaiian Electric had 902 MW of solar capacity on its five island grids, including approximately 684 MW of solar capacity from customer-sited rooftop solar systems that now number over 85,000. These new projects, if approved and completed, will increase solar capacity by a third.

Contract documents filed by the company will be available on the PUC website at https://dms.puc.hawaii.gov/dms/.

SOURCE Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.hei.com


Film actor Raza Murad was called to Shyamla Hills police station in Bhopal on Wednesday to record his statement in connection with a fake welfare society in which his name figured as a member. Murad, in his statement, denied any association with the society, said police.

The society named E-block Lakeview Enclave Welfare Society came to light during seizure of documents from the residence and offices of Pyare Mian, 68, a small newspaper owner and editor and resident of Shyamla hills, who was arrested on July 17 from a hotel in Srinagar for allegedly raping six minor girls in Bhopal and Indore and committing fraud. He is presently in jail.

Pyare Mian had formed a fake society named E-Block Lakeview Enclave Welfare Society and committed fraud by collecting money from different people in the name of welfare, said Tarun Rathi, in-charge of the Shyamla Hills police station.

During the investigation, we found that the said society had eight members, including Raza Murad and three members of Mians family. We called Murad to register his statement on record. In his statement, Murad said he had no association with the society and his signature on the papers was forged. Murad also lodged a complaint with police on Wednesday against Mian for using his forged signature, said Rathi.

Talking to media persons outside the police station, Murad said, I own a flat in Ansal plaza in Shyamla Hills area and am also a member of Lakeview Enclave Welfare Society but I didnt know that there was a separate society of E-block. I dont know Mian. Mian might have my photos with him because being an actor I meet with so many people without knowing them personally.

The police will register statements of other people whose names appear in the said societys documents as members. If it is required, Mian will be booked for committing another fraud, said the police officer.

Mians assistant Sweety Vishwakarma, 21, used to take girls from underprivileged families to Pyare Mian by luring them with housekeeping jobs in posh areas. Mian used to invite them in the parties, where he used to force the girl to consume alcohol and used to rape them, according to police.

As many as six FIRs were lodged against Mian with Shahpura, Koh-e-fiza and Shyamla Hills police stations in Bhopal and Palasia police station in Indore under sections 366 (a) (procuration of minor girls), 376 (2) (n) (repeated rape), 120 b (criminal conspiracy), 420 (forgery) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections 5/6 and 14 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, and under relevant sections of SC/ST (Prevention of atrocities) Act, according to police.
WASHINGTON (AP)  House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy rolled out Republicans' priorities of tax breaks and police funding Tuesday, the GOP's calling card to voters as they try to wrest back seats from Democrats in a long-shot November election bid for majority control.

Republicans campaigning alongside President Donald Trump are promising to restore the country to the way it was before the COVID-19 crisis hit, tapping into the same themes of health care and infrastructure investment that have been mainstays of the Democratic platform. They're also taking a page from Trump's playbook by portraying Democrats as aligned with the racial injustice protests in American cities, vowing a tougher approach.

Republicans helped build the greatest economy in a generation and the American way of life was thriving, said McCarthy, flanked by lawmakers on the steps of the Capitol, to present the Commitment to America. He said, We will do it again.

Republicans are bracing for a tough campaign for control of Congress in the fall, needing to flip some 19 seats to take over control of the House from Democrats. The Senate has a slim GOP majority that's at risk.

The GOP rollout comes as House Democrats are vowing to try again to pass a new round of coronavirus relief after a Senate bill collapsed last week. Democrats said late Monday at the Capitol that leadership would consider extending the legislative session into October if a new aid bill could be approved.

House Republicans typically present their own priorities for the campaigns, dating back 30 years to then-leader Newt Gingrich's Contract with America. But it's especially important this year after the broader Republican Party under Trump declined to present a GOP platform at the Republican National Convention.

We need to double down on a commitment to God and the Constitution, said Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Calif.

The House Republicans' economic priorities include new tax breaks for businesses, forgivable Paycheck Protection Program loans for companies struggling during the coronavirus shutdown, and making the 2017 GOP tax cuts for families permanent.

Story continues

To fight the virus outbreak, Republicans call for tripling COVID-19 testing and investing in therapeutics for treatments. Taking a page from the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, they vow to preserve insurance coverage for those with pre-existing health conditions  even though Republicans are suing to end health care coverage under the 2010 law.

They promise more money for police departments and commitments to social issues, including abortion rights and access to firearms.

As lawmakers gathered Tuesday outside the Capitol, the No. 2 GOP leader, Rep. Steve Sclaise, R-La., the GOP Whip, said, the party will "renew and restore the nation.
The evidence and the science show that Donald Trump has badly damaged the U.S. and its people  because he rejects evidence and science. The most devastating example is his dishonest and inept response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which cost more than 190,000 Americans their lives by the middle of September, editors wrote. He has also attacked environmental protections, medical care, and the researchers and public science agencies that help this country prepare for its greatest challenges.
Demand for increased fuel economy, low maintenance cost, and improved performance are boosting the trend of vehicle electrification. The vehicle electrification market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 11.

New York, Sept. 16, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Vehicle Electrification Market by Product, 48V, ICE, BEV, HEV, PHEV, Vehicle Type And Region - Global Forecast to 2025" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p05099508/?utm_source=GNW

9% to reach USD 129.6 billion by 2025 from USD 73.7 billion. OEMs are switching from conventional technology to advanced technology for complying with the norms and increasing vehicle efficiency. There are multiple engine, transmission, and hybrid technologies that can help in improving the fuel efficiency of a vehicle. For instance, according to the US Department of Energy (US DOE), the start-stop system can improve fuel efficiency by up to 5%, based on driving and traffic conditions. Also, components such as electric oil pump and electric vacuum pump consume lesser energy than their conventional counterparts. However, higher cost of electric vehicles can undermine the demand for vehicle electrification.



The market for BEVs is estimated to witness the fastest growth in the vehicle electrification market

BEVs are projected to lead the vehicle electrification market, in terms of value, during the next 10 years.Automakers are seeing BEVs as a gateway to achieving fuel emission and economy standards set by governments.



Government tax incentives and state rebates have boosted the proliferation of BEVs.Asia Oceania and North America are the fastest growing regions for BEVs.



Increasing charging infrastructure in North America would be responsible for the shift from conventional ICE vehicles to BEVs.OEMs of this region have also invested significantly in vehicle electrification.



This would also drive the demand for BEVs.



The electric power steering (EPS) is estimated to be the largest segment of the vehicle electrification market

Electric Power Steering (EPS) systems are power-assisted steering products that eliminate the association between the steering system and the engine.EPS is the most popular steering system in the global market as it reduces fuel consumption and emissions, limits the required servicing, and improves maneuverability.



In Europe and North America, almost all vehicles have EPS, and in Asia Oceania, the trend is growing rapidly. Hence, the EPS segment is estimated to hold the largest market share during the forecast period.



Asia Oceania: the largest vehicle electrification market in the automotive industry

Asia Oceania is the leading vehicle electrification market as the region represents countries such as China, Japan, South Korea, and India, with the worlds highest vehicle production.The automobile industry is flourishing, especially in South Asia.



Additionally, Asia Oceania has created hubs for automobile manufacturers and automotive component suppliers.Considering the vehicle electrification market in the Asia Oceania region in 2019, the passenger car segment is estimated to lead the market, comprising more than 80% of the vehicle electrification market in the region, followed by the LCV segment, in terms of both volume and value.



As Asia Oceania has the largest share of passenger cars, ICE vehicles are expected to dominate the vehicle electrification market in Asia Oceania.Countries such as China and India have plans to upgrade their emission regulations by 2020.



For instance, India is planning to skip BS V regulations by leapfrogging to BS VI. This is a positive development for the vehicle electrification market. Additionally, the demand for more electric and electronic components in vehicles helps drive vehicle electrification.



BREAKDOWN OF PRIMARIES

The study contains insights provided by various industry experts, ranging from vehicle electrification OEMs to vehicle electrification component suppliers. The break-up of the primaries is as follows:

 By Company Type  Tier-I - 25%, Tier-II - 20% OEMs  40%, and Others- 15%

 By Designation  C level - 40%, D level - 35%, and Others** - 25%

 By Region  North America - 35%, Europe - 35%, Asia Oceania - 25%, RoW-5%



Note: Others** include sales managers, product managers, and associations.

Tier 1 - System suppliers to OEMs, Tier 2 - component suppliers to Tier 1. OEMs are Vehicle Manufacturers Others are Industry experts and Independent consultants

The vehicle electrification market comprises major manufacturers such as Bosch (Germany), Continental (Germany), Denso (Japan), BorgWarner (US), and Mitsubishi Electric (Japan).



The report provides detailed profiles of the following companies:

 Bosch (Germany)

 Continental (Germany)

 Denso (Japan)

 Delphi (UK)

 Johnson Electric (Hong Kong)

 Mitsubishi Electric (Japan)

 BorgWarner (US)

 Magna (Canada)

 Aisin Seiki (Japan)

 Johnson Controls (US)

 ZF Friedrichshafen (Germany)

 Valeo (France)

 JTEKT Corp. (Japan)

 Hitachi Automotive Systems (Japan)

 Wabco Holding Inc (Belgium)



Research Coverage:

The report provides a picture of the vehicle electrification market across different verticals and regions.It aims at estimating the market size and future growth potential of the vehicle electrification market, by product type, by degree of hybridization, 48V, by vehicle type, and by region.



Furthermore, the report also includes an in-depth competitive analysis of the key players in the market along with their company profiles, Vendor DIVE matrix, recent developments, and key market strategies.



Key Benefits of Buying the Report:



This report provides insights with reference to the following points:

 The report will help market leaders and new entrants in by providing them the closest approximations of the revenue numbers for the overall vehicle electrification market and subsegments.

 This report will help stakeholders better understand the competitor landscape and gain more insights to position their businesses better and make suitable go-to-market strategies.

 The report also helps stakeholders understand the pulse of the market and provides them information on key market drivers, restraints, challenges, and opportunities.

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05099508/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________

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CONTACT: Clare: clare@reportlinker.com US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001




Scammer seeks $30,000

The California retiree says she was crushed when the other person on the call told her to send about $30,000 to cover the taxes so her package, as the prize was described, could be delivered.

"No way, she replied. But when the amount was reduced to $10,000, it seemed like a small price to pay, she says. The woman got a cashier's check for that amount and, as directed, mailed it to a woman in Massachusetts.

Even now, calls for more cash keep coming. After sending the first $10,000, she sent roughly $6,000 more using cashier's checks and three Vanilla cards. They call me all the time, sometimes as early as 5 a.m., says the retired teacher, who blames a bleeding ulcer on the stress she's endured just as she copes with a husband who's really upset that she parted with the money.

Call to AARP fraud helpline

After she was ripped off, she alerted AARP's Fraud Watch Network helpline, 1-877-908-3360. The free, toll-free service is staffed by trained volunteers who often hear about sweepstakes and lottery scams.

Two crime rings, millions in losses

In just-announced criminal cases, the losses from such scams from two crime rings alone climbed into the tens of millions of dollars, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Sept. 1, noting thousands of elderly and vulnerable victims had been defrauded.

DOJ officials urge victims of financial fraud who are 60 or older to call its National Elder Fraud Hotline: 1-833-FRAUD-11 (1-833-372-8311). If you are a victim of a crime, be sure to contact your local law enforcement agency, too.

Scams involving prizes, sweepstakes and lotteries have long been among the top five frauds reported annually to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), a consumer protection agency. There were 769,116 such complaints during the five-and-a-half-year period ending June 30, with losses reaching $597 million, the FTC says.

More than money is lost

Adults age 65 and older remain overwhelmingly the largest group victimized by these scams, says a national study by the Better Business Bureau (BBB). And victims lose more than money as some are emotionally devastated when they realize they have been swindled, the BBB says. Some have even resorted to committing suicide."

The criminal cases announced by the DOJ involve four men, from two separate rings, and all of the defendants earlier were slapped with civil sanctions for mass-mail fraud.

Sean Novis, 50, and Gary Denkberg, 57, both of Long Island, New York, were indicted in federal court in New York.

The others, Canadians Alex Quaglia and Patrick Fraser, were indicted federally in Nevada. The indictment alleges these two ran a mass-mail operation out of Vancouver, British Columbia, and rented mailboxes at UPS stores and other private stores that rent mailboxes in the U.S. and around the world as they promised people large cash prizes for fees of $19.95 to $39.95. The fake notifications included a pre-addressed envelope to send the fee by cash, check, money order or credit card number, the indictment says, but victims who paid up did not receive the cash prize."
Mass redundancies are feared ahead of the furlough scheme ending next month - with millions of workers set to learn today if they still have employment.

Unions and around 1,200 Labour councillors and mayors across the UK have written to the Prime Minister airing their concerns.

They want a targeted financial support scheme to prevent 'mass unemployment' as the job retention scheme stops.

Regulations on workers' rights state companies looking to make over 100 staff redundant have to start a 45-day consultation period.

It means those looking to lay off employees before furlough stops at the end of October legally have to start those talks before tomorrow, September 17.

Unite union leader Len McCluskey has called on Boris Johnson to stop bosses opening the 'redundancy floodgates' when the scheme winds down.

The general secretary wrote to the Prime Minister, warning that workers face a 'miserable' Christmas when furlough comes to an end.

Unite union boss Len McCluskey warns of a 'miserable' Christmas when furlough ends

Separately another letter from councillors outlines support for the Alliance for Full Employment, launched by former prime minister Gordon Brown, the North's Metro Mayors, the Welsh First Minister, Mayor of Bristol and Mayor of Greater London, Sadiq Khan, last week.

It has called for a financial system that targets industries worst hit by the pandemic to be set up to ensure income for people forced to self-isolate.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has already ruled out extending furlough arguing 'indefinitely keeping people out of work is not the answer'.

Jack Abbott, a councillor on Suffolk County Council, said: 'The communities we represent are facing an unprecedented employment crisis should Boris Johnson not reverse his decision to withdraw the furlough scheme in its entirety - he is putting millions of jobs at risk.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has received letters urging him to stop mass redundancies

'The fact that well over 1,000 councillors and local representatives have signed this letter underlines the strength of feeling behind this campaign.

'Without targeted support for sectors and local lockdown areas that have been badly affected by the pandemic, we know that viable businesses will fail and employment will be lost. This will extinguish any hopes of a quick economic recovery from the deep recession we are facing.'

Gordon Brown, added: 'So many Labour leaders across the localities of Britain coming together to back our Alliance for Full Employment shows the extreme anxiety about mounting unemployment.

'Councillors know best what is happening in their local communities where too many people are worried sick about their livelihoods.

Empty offices are starting to have staff return after the ravages of strict coronavirus lockdown

'Mass unemployment is not the inevitable economic outcome to the Covid pandemic, but it will be unless the Prime Minister makes the political decision to change course.'

A Treasury spokesman said: 'The furlough scheme has done what it was designed to do - save jobs and help people back into employment.

'And many of our unprecedented interventions - including the Job Retention Bonus, business rates holidays, VAT cuts and the Kickstart Scheme - will ensure this support continues into next year.

'We've not hesitated to act in creative and effective ways to support jobs and we will continue to do so as we recover from this crisis.'

Four million are STILL on furlough despite it ending next month: Rishi Sunak pleads with firms not to slash jobs when 38bn bailout is axed amid fears employment numbers could fall off a cliff

By DAVID WILCOCK, WHITEHALL CORRESPONDENT FOR MAILONLINE

Rishi Sunak begged employers not to sack staff when the coronavirus furlough scheme ends next month as the Treasury revealed that almost four million workers remain on it.

The Chancellor hailed the Job Retention Scheme (JRS) this afternoon amid fears of an employment cliff-edge when it ceases to cover wages at the end of October.

He urged companies to 'do the right thing' and apply for the Job Retention Bonus. Launched in July it gives firms 1,000 for each previously furloughed worker who still has a job in January.

Figures released today showed that almost half the more than eight million people places on furlough remained on it in the middle of August, the most recent time period available.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) today showed that the unemployment rate rose from 3.9 per cent to 4.1 per cent in the quarter to July.

This was the first time it has increased since the pandemic hit, and the highest in two years. A total of 1.4million are out of work, up by 62,000.

The estimated increase in the rate for July alone was even higher at 0.5 per cent, according to the latest official data.

Meanwhile, some 695,000 payroll jobs have gone since March, and there are 2.7million people claiming benefits.

Rishi Sunak told MPs today he will continue to act in 'creative and effective ways' to protect jobs, amid calls for a targeted extension of the furlough scheme.

Speaking afterwards he added: 'As today's official employment figures today show, the furlough scheme has done what it was designed to do - save jobs and help people back to work, where they want to be,' he said.

'We were clear at the start of the pandemic that we couldn't save every job, but the furlough scheme has supported millions of workers and we want to help employers keep people on.

'Our Job Retention Bonus will do exactly that, supporting businesses to do the right thing.'

Chancellor Rishi Sunak decorated a plate during a visit to the Emma Bridgewater pottery in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire on Monday, whose workers have returned from furlough.

Mr Sunak with Boris Johnson at the weekly Cabinet meeting this morning

The Chancellor hailed the Job Retention Scheme (JRS) this afternoon amid fears of an employment cliff-edge when it ceases to cover wages at the end of October

He urged companies to 'do the right thing' and apply for the Job Retention Bonus. Launched in July it gives firms 1,000 for each previously furloughed worker who still has a job in January

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer this morning repeated his call for the furlough scheme to be extended.

Making his first TUC conference speech as Labour leader, he said the party accepted the furlough scheme could not continue indefinitely but argued that with 'a bit of imagination' the Government could continue to help those most at risk of losing their jobs.

Speaking from his attic, he called for a 'new, targeted support that can replace the Job Retention Scheme'.

'The truth is this, the virus is still with us - infections are rising, lockdowns are increasing,' Sir Keir told the online audience.

'And for some sectors of our economy - retail, aviation, hospitality - for millions of workers and for towns and cities under restrictions, it just isn't possible to get back to work or reopen businesses.

'That isn't a choice: it's the cold reality of this crisis. So, it makes no sense at all for the Government to pull support away now.'

Sir Keir called for an expansion of part-time working - rewarding employers who give people hours rather than cut jobs - and the provision of training and support for those unable to return to work full-time in a bid to 'prevent mass unemployment'.

His called was echoed by Matthew Percival, the CBI's director of people and skills, who said: 'The easing of lockdown restrictions and a more flexible Job Retention Scheme in July have led to the beginning of a recovery in vacancies and hours worked.

'But rising redundancies, rising unemployment and a record fall in the number of young people in work are clear warning signs of what is to come.

'Looking ahead, a successor to the Job Retention Scheme is needed to protect jobs and businesses.'

Sir Keir Starmer, who is awaiting the results of a test after a family member developed symptoms, told the TUC conference by video link that he had only been screened because his wife works for the NHS.

Economists warned that the fall in employment is the tip of the iceberg as it covers a period when the government's massive furlough scheme was in effect - with alarming predictions of mass layoffs to come when it is withdrawn completely next month.

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the number of people on payrolls was down 36,000 in August from July. It is now 695,000 lower than in March.

ONS director of economic statistics Darren Morgan said there were some bright points in the figures - with the employment rate actually creeping up - but coronavirus was having a 'big impact'.

'Some effects of the pandemic on the labour market were beginning to unwind in July as parts of the economy reopened,' he said.

'Fewer workers were away on furlough and average hours rose.

'The number of job vacancies continued to recover into August, too.

The unemployment rate rose from 3.9 per cent to 4.1 per cent in the quarter to July - the highest in two years, according to the latest official data

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the number of people on payrolls was down 36,000 in August from July. It is now 695,000 lower than in March

In a glimmer of hope, the total hours worked showed some signs of recovery in the quarter to July 2020

'Nonetheless, with the number of employees on the payroll down again in August and both unemployment and redundancies sharply up in July, it is clear that coronavirus is still having a big impact on the world of work.'

The number of people temporarily away from work - including furloughed workers - dipped, but was still more than five million in July 2020. More than 2.5million had been away for three months or more.

There were also around 250,000 people away from work because of the pandemic and receiving no pay in July 2020.

The Claimant Count - representing people receiving out of work benefits and some in-work benefits - reached 2.7million in August, an increase of 120.8 per cent since March.

In glimmers of hope, the total hours worked showed some signs of recovery in the quarter to July 2020, and vacancies rose.
Security guards labelled by Victoria's Chief Medical Officer Brett Sutton as the 'wrong cohort' for the state's bungled hotel quarantine scheme refused to sanitise their hands over religious beliefs.

As the public inquiry into Victoria's disastrous COVID-19 hotel quarantine efforts approaches its conclusion, it was revealed Dr Sutton was oblivious as to who was actually guarding infected travellers within the designated Melbourne hotels.

In an email sent by Dr Sutton to Federal Chief Health Officer Brendan Murphy on June 22, Dr Sutton expressed his concern about the private security firms, which by then had been linked to an outbreak.

Security guards working at Victoria's hotel quarantine had refused to use hand sanitiser over religious beliefs

Professor Brett Sutton at the Hotel Quarantine Inquiry on Wednesday

An email sent by Dr Brett Sutton revealing his concerns upon learning that private security guards had led to an outbreak of COVID-19

'We've got good training and IPC supervision but the workforce is the wrong cohort,' Mr Sutton stated.

Quarantine breaches involving private security guards seeded 99 per cent of Victorias deadly second wave of COVID infections, the inquiry has heard.

Dr Sutton faced the inquiry via videolink in Melbourne on Wednesday where he outlined his concerns with the private security guards employed to contain the virus.

In a day of drama, documents tendered to the inquiry revealed some of the security guards had expressed concerns about something as simple as using hand sanitiser.

The issue was noted on June 20, just days before Dr Sutton expressed his concerns to Dr Murphy.

'Security guards informed YNA RN they were concerned about using hand sanitiser because it is against their religion,' it was noted.

'This followed previous feedback from nurses to DHHS Team Leaders the Security Guard Supervisor was not following correct infection control practice.'

Dr Sutton told the inquiry he had no input into the hotel quarantine program despite being an expert in the field of infectious diseases.

'With the benefit of hindsight, I can see that using a highly casualised workforce, generally from a lower socio-economic background, where that means that poor leave provisions limit how one can care for and financially support ones family if unwell,' Dr Sutton wrote in his submission to the inquiry.

Last week the inquiry was shown shocking photos of quarantine guests walking freely to a convenience store from a Melbourne facility

Premier Daniel Andrews continue to claim he was not offered assistance from the ADF with his bungled hotel quarantine scheme

Federal Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy offers Victoria ADF assistance again in June

Professor Brett Sutton faced the Quarantine Hotel Inquiry on Wednesday in Melbourne

'In addition, where many of these staff might combine multiple, piecemeal jobs across different industries to maintain an adequate income, creating transmission risk.

'In addition, the security guard workforce is often represented by people with relatively larger families and larger networks of friends, which creates additional transmission risks should they become unwell.'

Dr Sutton went onto tell the inquiry he had further concerns about infected security guards failing to disclose who they had been in close contact with after testing positive.

Victoria's deadly second wave of COVID-19 quickly spread throughout the community in June and into the state's vulnerable aged care sector.

As of Wednesday, 729 Victorians have died from the virus - most of them elderly citizens infected in nursing homes.

The inquiry heard Dr Sutton had been left out of the rapid plans to develop hotel quarantine after it was announced by Prime Minister Scott Morrison in March.

In fact, the first he had even heard of it was during the prime minister's press conference towards the end of March, he told the inquiry.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced in March that returning travellers would be going to secure hotels. It was news to Victoria's Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton

Email exchanges show the internal workings as the State Government worked to fix the bungling quarantine hotel fiasco, which saw Victoria suffer a deadly second wave of COVID-19

On Tuesday, the inquiry heard Victoria was offered the use of Australian Defence Force troops to provide security in hotels quarantining returned travellers from day one but was refused.

It remains unclear who decided to use private security instead of ADF or police.

Dr Sutton said he was unaware private security was even being used to guard hotels quarantining returned travellers until there were outbreaks.

'After the outbreaks, I heard of the allegations about security in the media and, considering the issue now, I can see the risks created by the use of that workforce,' he told the inquiry.

'I was not involved in the making of that decision. Until there were outbreaks, I was not in fact aware that they were using security guards.'

In hindsight, Dr Sutton said if he was to run a quarantine program now he would not use hotels to do it.

Instead, he recommended the use of a dedicated infectious diseases ward.

On Wednesday, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews continued to stand by his earlier claims that Victoria was not offered ADF assistance with hotel quarantine.

The premier, who is scheduled to appear at the inquiry on Wednesday, further refused to comment on whether Dr Sutton had ever been consulted over the use of security guards in hotel quarantine.

'Its not for me to interpret, or comment or make findings about a written statement or oral evidence,' Mr Andrews said.

'That is before the inquiry. Thats why the inquirys been set up. Id scarcely have time to do anything else if I were to pretend to be running an inquiry as well as doing all the other important work that we speak about every day.'
Eric Njoka has joined the growing list of Kenyan media personalities turning to YouTube after stints on TV and radio.

The former K24 TV news anchor is all set to launch his own talk show on the video-blogging platform. Dubbed Centred, Njoka describes the talk show as an online magazine show covering personalities, fashion, news, art, culture and beyond.

The first episode of Centred is set to premiere this Thursday, September 17, with Eric Njoke promising fans that they will not be bored.

The wait is over. Starting this Thursday, it will be a change from the norm. Hii ni kionjo tuh, more set to come, and I promise you will not get bored CENTRED is set to Inspire, Impact and Entertain, Njoka wrote on his socials.

The journalists new venture comes three months after he was unceremoniously declared redundant at the MediaMax-owned TV station alongside hundreds of other staff.

WATCH: Visibly Drunk Eric Njoka Rants Over Impending KTN-K24 TV Merger
At a time when Indian economy faces its worst crisis due to coronavirus-led lockdown, "above normal" monsoon is likely to provide some respite to agriculture sector, which contributes nearly 17 per cent of India's GDP and provides jobs to around 50 per cent of population. A report by CRISIL Research on Wednesday said that monsoon rains were 7 per cent above average this year, so far the best in five years, which led to 5.7 per cent year-on-year jump in sowing of crops.

As per the report, advancement in sowing has led to buoyant demand for agricultural inputs in the first quarter of this fiscal, albeit on a low base. June saw a 44 per cent jump in sowing over a low base of 2019, when a 19 per cent deficient monsoon had delayed kharif sowing. Though sowing growth has tapered with the kharif season's progress, but it is still expected to be 4-5 per cent higher on-year for the full season, it said.

"This year, southwest monsoon has covered majority of Indian states 12 days ahead of normal. Early arrival and good spatial and temporal distribution of rainfall advanced sowing across crops and states," Crisil said in its report.

The report said that increase in crop acreage and higher productivity will lead to a bumper kharif crop output, up 5-7 per cent on year-on-year basis.

CRISIL, in its last report in August, had forecasted a 2-3 per cent rise in sown area on-year at around 109 million hectares for kharif season 2020. It expected productivity to rise by 2-3 per cent over a low base of 2019, given the adequate water availability for critical growth stages. It estimated kharif output to rise 5-6 per cent on-year to a record, which would put downward pressure on prices of various commodities.

Meanwhile, prices and profitability of vegetables are also likely to drop over a high base of 2019.

According to CRISIL, effective implementation of central and state government schemes will further support farmer incomes.

By Chitranjan Kumar

Also Read: Farm prospects rise with good monsoon rains; kharif season profit seen up 3-5%

Also Read: Economic recovery likely to be gradual, RBI stands battle-ready: Shaktikanta Das
Penned under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, Troubled Blood is Rowlings fifth book to feature private investigator Cormoran Strike. An early review of the book by Telegraph writer Jake Kerridge described it as featuring a transvestite serial killer, which inspired readers anger and spawned the Twitter hashtag #RIPJKRowling  a tongue-in-cheek commentary on the authors career.  CBC
In a broadside aimed at Polands populist government, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen warned on Wednesday that so-called LGBT-free zones have no place in our union. I will not rest when it comes to building a union of equality, the president of the European Commission vowed, in her annual State of the European Union speech.

She called for a union where you can be who you are and love who you want -- without fear of recrimination or discrimination. Because being yourself is not your ideology. Its your identity. And no one can ever take it away. So I want to be crystal clear - LGBTQI-free zones are humanity-free zones. And they have no place in our Union.

A number of Polish towns have declared themselves LGBT ideology free zones, and President Andrzej Duda has compared the struggle for equality to communism in terms of the alleged threat it poses to national values.

Brussels has denounced this stance before, but von der Leyens speech went further as she vowed to push EU member states to recognise adoptions by same-sex couples across the bloc. If you are parent in one country, you are parent in every country, she said.

To applause from the European Parliament, von der Leyen also re-committed her European Commission to the fight against racism. Hate is hate -- and no one should have to put up with it, she said, vowing to use the EU budget to address discrimination in employment, housing and health care.

We will improve education and knowledge on the historical, cultural causes of racism, she said.

We will tackle unconscious bias that exists in people, institutions and even in algorithms.

And we will appoint the commissions first-ever anti-racism coordinator to keep this at the top of our agenda and to work directly with people, civil society and institutions.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)

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Deputy Premier John Barilaro will face further attacks on his leadership from within his own government after refusing in Parliament to commit to keeping the Coalition intact.

Mr Barilaro reignited anger within the Liberals after he was repeatedly asked by Labor during question time on Wednesday to rule out further destabilising the Berejiklian government.

Deputy Premier John Barilaro has survived a motion of no confidence. Credit:Nick Moir

Tensions between the Liberals and the Nationals appeared to have eased on Tuesday following a week of infighting after Mr Barilaro withdrew his threat to move his MPs to the crossbench over a contested koala planning policy.

But in Parliament on Wednesday, Mr Barilaro refused to rule out threatening to quit the government again and also attacked Liberal Planning Minister Rob Stokes, accusing him of leaking against him.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 16

By Elchin Mehdiyev  Trend:

The information about attracting of professional mercenaries by Armenia from abroad has been disseminated since the period of Armenian ex-President Serzh Sargsyans power, Faig Ismayilov, Chairman of the Azerbaijani Organization for Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments in the Occupied Azerbaijani Territories Public Association, told Trend on Sept. 16.

So, during one of the meetings with voters within his first election campaign, Sargsyan promised to attract 60,000 members of Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) from Syria and Iraq to the Nagorno-Karabakh region, chairman of the association added.

Ismayilov stressed that before attracting so many militants, it was necessary to solve their social problems.

"Thus, the large-scale work was launched to create the settlements in the abolished Hadrut, Askeran districts, as well as in Lachin, Kalbajar and Gubadli districts and repair the apartment buildings in Shusha and Khankendi," chairman of the association said.

Zabukh village, Lachin district. The houses of Azerbaijanis are being destroyed in the village and a military settlement is being created there

Ismayilov stressed that Armenia began to populate the Nagorno-Karabakh region with the aforementioned PKK members and drug dealers.

In fact, the number of the Armenians resettled here is about 1.5 times more than the number of those who previously lived in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, chairman of the association said. If after the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh war, the number of Armenians here was no more than 30,000, presently, their number varies between 70,000-80,000.

The Armenians violate the norms and principles of international law, the Geneva Convention and various international legal agreements by the artificial settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which began in the occupied territories in 1992, Ismayilov added.

During the recent investigation of the issue of resettlement of the Armenians from Lebanon to the Azerbaijani territories occupied by Armenians, it became clear that professionally hired militants and their families, rather than civilians, as the Armenians claim, are resettling to the Nagorno-Karabakh region, chairman of the association said. Such illegal settlement is classified as a war crime in international law.

The Hayastan All-Armenian Fund allocated $312.8 million, the Armenian community of Nagorno-Karabakh - $51,300 and notorious US model of the Armenian origin Kim Kardashian - $70 million to attract professionally hired gunmen from Lebanon, Ismayilov said. The Armenians who are being resettled in the Nagorno-Karabakh region will fight against the Azerbaijani army through these funds."

Dozens of buildings in Shusha and Khankendi have been repaired and prepared for the mercenaries.

Military settlement, created in Khinalig village, Gubadli district

A military settlement built in Madagiz village of the abolished Aghdere district

A military settlement built in Talish village of the abolished Aghdere district.

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.
Kauai has partnered with Vodacom to provide the mobile networks customers with free smoothies and other healthy rewards as part of the VodaBucks rewards programme.

Dean Kowarski, CEO of Real Foods, Kauais parent company, said it was collaborating with Vodacom to make healthy eating as convenient and easy as possible for the 24 million customers on its network.

We are serious about making a meaningful impact to the nutrition of South Africans, and we believe that our partnership with Vodacom will allow us to introduce healthy eating to a much broader audience, Kowarski said.

Chief Officer of Vodacom Consumer Business Unit Jorge Mendes said customers will be able to earn free smoothies daily, simply by being loyal to Vodacom and Shaking their phones.

The VodaBucks Rewards Programme underscores Vodacoms commitment to empower all our customers by connecting them today to build a better tomorrow and ensure everyone is included in our digital society.

Kauai said that several reports in recent years have highlighted the global epidemic of obesity, and the health concerns linked to it, like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and other issues.

South Africa is particularly at risk, with obesity rates higher than the global average. More recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has also highlighted the importance of maintaining a healthy immune system, making this new partnership even more relevant, Kauai said.

How the rewards work

Loyal Vodacom customers can receive instant Kauai rewards daily through the VodaBucks Rewards Programme in the following ways:

Daily Shake  Vouchers for Kauai organic coffees, Kauai smoothies, or a free organic coffee when spending R30 at Kauai are up for grabs to Vodacom customers participating in the Daily Shake programme.

 Vouchers for Kauai organic coffees, Kauai smoothies, or a free organic coffee when spending R30 at Kauai are up for grabs to Vodacom customers participating in the Daily Shake programme. Mega Shake  Mega Shake is a game where Vodacom customers stand a chance to win prizes, including vouchers for Kauai smoothies.

 Mega Shake is a game where Vodacom customers stand a chance to win prizes, including vouchers for Kauai smoothies. VodaBucks Store  Customers can use their VodaBucks in the VodaBucks store to redeem a range of Kauai rewards, including immune-boosting juices, their signature wraps and smoothies, and Kauai vouchers. In addition, customers can part pay with a credit card should they not have accumulated the full amount of VodaBucks.

Customers who want to start earning VodaBucks can sign up via the My Vodacom App or dial *133# on USSD and follow the prompts.
Blaming young people for a spike in Covid-19 cases could encourage them to dump social distancing entirely, leading psychologists have warned.

In a letter to Matt Hancock, they say 'shaming' the young could have the complete opposite effect to the one intended, causing them to disengage entirely from efforts to stem the spread of Covid and trigger a wave of new cases.

The 50 psychologists called on ministers to 'reframe' their coronavirus statements and be far more 'sensitive and understanding' of the public's emotional state.

Boris Johnson warned young people to consider their behaviour 'for the sake of your parents' and grandparents' health' last week after a spike in cases was recorded.

But experts have pointed out young people are less likely to own their own car they are more likely to use public transport, putting them at greater risk of catching the virus.

Figures show coronavirus cases are highest among 20 to 29-year-olds, at 28 new infections for every 100,000 people. These are followed by 30 to 39-year-olds at 17.6, and 10 to 19-year-olds at 16.2.

The lowest infection rate is among people aged 70 to 79, at 3.9 per 100,000, and rises only slightly to 6.7 in 60 to 69-year-olds and those over 80.

Boris Johnson has warned young people to consider their parents and grandparents after there was a spike in coronavirus cases in younger generations

Criticising the Government for singling out young people, Professor Manuela Barreto, the head of psychology at the University of Exeter, said: 'The focus on young people is an unfortunate distraction from the bigger issues underlying the current situation, and one that is unproductive and will only make matters worse.

'Research shows that fear actually reduces empathy and pro-sociality, especially towards more vulnerable groups in society.'

Jennifer Nadel, co-director of Compassion in Politics, blasted the government for 'blaming, shaming and debasing the public's attitude towards coronavirus'.

She said: 'The government must focus its energy on building a robust testing regime, on safeguarding the NHS, and providing financial security to those households most at risk from the oncoming recession.

'Dealing with a global pandemic requires care, concern and compassion - it can't just be beaten into submission by strong words and harsh rhetoric.

'The government must remember the burden the public has already had to shoulder, the amount of change they've accepted and the sacrifices they've made.'

Health Secretary Matt Hancock (right) praised the action taken to control Covid in Belgium, which imposed a curfew

Their letter has gathered more than 50 signatories, including professors at Aberdeen, Edinburgh Napier and Newcastle universities and the Compassion in Mind Foundation.

Matt Hancock last week blamed the wave of new coronavirus infections on 'socialising by people in their 20s and 30s'.

Mr Hancock said ONS figures showed weekly coronavirus deaths had dropped to their lowest levels since March, but added: 'However, we have seen a concerning rise in the number of positive cases, particularly among younger people, and these figures serve as a salutary reminder that this virus is still very much with us and remains a threat.

'So it is critical that we maintain our collective commitment to controlling this disease, and social distancing is the first line of defence.'

The UK has recorded more than 2,000 cases of coronavirus every day for the past ten days, amid mounting fears of a new outbreak.

Yesterday as many as 3,103 new cases of coronavirus were recorded.
WATERLOO REGION  Every Catholic classroom in Waterloo Region is getting an air purifier, to help students and parents breathe easier.

The devices use ultraviolet light and filters to destroy viruses and contaminants in air that passes through them.

The manufacturer warns that the devices cannot guarantee anyone from becoming infected.

Air purifiers cant disinfect contaminated surfaces such as door handles or light switches. Also, public health bodies say COVID-19 is not airborne but is spread by droplets in close contact.

Nonetheless, the board figures cleaner air will reassure parents along with masks, handwashing and physical distancing.

Theres so much anxiety and so much going on that we really feel that we need to give them some sort of comfort, that we are doing something and we think that everyone will benefit, said Terri Pickett, senior manager of facility services for the Waterloo Catholic District School Board.

Were not just putting it out there because it looks good. We believe in the system too.

About 21,000 Catholic students are returning to schools, accounting for 87 per cent of enrolment. The rest are learning remotely from home.

The board has ordered more than 800 air purifiers for its 48 schools. Devices begin arriving soon and the board hopes to have most installed by December. Most will be mounted on walls near ceilings where it is expected they will hum quietly.

Some larger, noisier devices will stand in classrooms where less fresh air is available. If theyre too loud, we might have to come up with another alternative, Pickett said.

Classrooms with the greatest ventilation needs will be first to get purifiers. Newer schools and schools with new ventilation systems will get them last. Theres no plan to put them in rooms not currently used for teaching.

The province provided an extra $2 million in August for local schools to improve air quality. The government asked boards to spend the money quickly. It approved portable air filtration as an option.

The Catholic board considered spending its share of $501,000 to improve ventilation in up to three older schools, but chose instead to spread the money among all schools. It did really come down to equity and how we can get the biggest bang for our buck, Pickett said.

Total cost to buy and install air purifiers is estimated at $775,000, topped up by other board money. Costs per unit range from $650 to $1,200.

The government gave Waterloo Region District School Board $1.5 million to upgrade air quality at 121 schools. It is also buying portable ventilation units for classrooms where windows do not open, or where there is little ventilation.

In a separate upgrade, Catholic schools have sought since March to improve central ventilation by moving to a higher level of filtration that traps more particles. The board is aiming for a hospital-like rating and is partway there in an undertaking thats more complicated than buying better filters.

Public schools have also sought to improve their ventilation in separate, regular upgrades to heating and cooling systems.
The Centre told the Parliament in a written reply to a question that Indias ties with China have not worsened in the aftermath of the border tensions

On the third day of the Monsoon Session of the Parliament, the Lok Sabha Wednesday passed the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2020, which brings cooperative banks under the supervision of the Reserve Bank of India in a bid to protect the interests of depositors.

Meanwhile, in the Rajya Sabha, the Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda Bill, 2020, was passed. This paves the way for the establishment of a state-of-the-art Ayurvedic institution called the Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda (ITRA) at Jamnagar in Gujarat, and confers the status of Institution of National Importance (INI) to it, the Ministry of AYUSH said in a statement.

As for Thursday's session, the main highlight is likely to be Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's statement on the India-China border issue in Rajya Sabha.

Singh will addres the Upper House, days after acknowledging in the Lok Sabha that India was facing a "challenge" at the border, but assured that the armed forces were prepared to deal with all contingencies.

No infiltration along India-China border in last 6 months: Govt tells Rajya Sabha

Meanwhile, the government on Wednesday said there has been no infiltration along the India-China border in the last six months, while 47 infiltration bids have been reported along the India-Pakistan border during that period.

The Union Home Ministry also informed the Rajya Sabha that 594 attempts of infiltration into Jammu and Kashmir by Pakistani militants have been reported in the last three years, of which 312 were successful.

"No infiltration has been reported along India-China border during the last six months," Union Minister of State for Home Nityanad Rai said in a written response to a question.

This comes just a day after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh made a statement in the Lok Sabha over the India-China standoff, where he stated that China has mobilised a large number of troops and armaments along the LAC as well as in the depth areas". Singh had said that the LAC was not commonly delineated.

An MHA official, however, clarified Rai's statement in Rajya Sabha, in an interview with India Today, saying that "infiltration" is not the same as "transgression" or "incursion" which is common parlance for the Military action at Line of Actual Control (LAC). Infiltration is used for terrorists crossing from Line Of Control (LoC), hence it is incorrect to say there was any infiltration.

Replying a separate question, Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy said 582 terrorists were killed in Jammu and Kashmir by security forces in the last three years, while 46 terrorists were arrested during that period. As many as 76 army personnel were also killed in Jammu and Kashmir from 2018 till 8 September, 2020, he said.

Ties with China have 'not worsened': MEA tells Parliament

The Ministry of External Affairs informed the Lok Sabha that Indias ties with China have not worsened in the aftermath of the border tensions. Minister of State for MEA V Muraleedharan said this in a written reply to a question raised by Trinamool Congress MP Sougata Roy.

Tensions have been escalating between China and India, along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh after the Galwan Valley clashes on 15 June in which 20 Indian Army personnel were killed.

Congress raises issue of alleged surveillance by Chinese company

Congress members on Wednesday raised in both Houses of Parliament the alleged tracking of over 10,000 prominent Indian individuals and organisations by a Chinese technology company and asked the government to build an "impregnable firewall" to deal with the "digital aggression" by the neighbouring country.

Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu asked the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs to inform the minister concerned to "see what can be done and find out the veracity also", after Congress members, KC Venugopal and Rajiv Satav expressed concern over a media report in this regard, during the Zero Hour.

Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said China has been behind the spread of coronavirus, physical aggression in Ladakh, and now "digital aggression".

"We are in clutches of China. Is the government not aware of it?... Our national security is being shattered," Chowdhury said while raising the issue during the Question Hour in the Lok Sabha.

He requested IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to build an "impregnable firewall to resist the new menace". His party colleague Suresh Kodikunnil too raised the issue.

Earlier in the day, Congress members Venugopal and Satav took up the issue during the Zero Hour in the Upper House.

"I would like to invite the attention of this House through you Chairman, shocking news which is related to national security and privacy of Indian citizens," Venugopal said.

He said The Indian Express has reported that a Shenzen-based technology company with links to the Chinese government, and the Chinese Communist Party, is tracking over 10,000 Indian individuals and organisations in its global database of foreign targets.

"This includes... very shocking, the President of India also, you the Vice President of India, the Prime Minister of India and the opposition leaders, including Congress president, chief ministers, MPs, the army chief, and industrialists," Venugopal said.

The Chinese company has also collected database of bureaucrats in key positions, judges, scientists, academicians, journalists, actors, sportspersons, religious figures, and activists, he added.

"This is a major area of concern. I would like to know from the government whether it has taken note of it. If so, what action has been taken," Venugopal asked.

The Congress leader also charged that the government was not answering and discussing reports regarding Chinese intrusion in border areas. Echoing his views, Satav said this is a very serious issue.

"The government should clarify. The truth should come out. How can a Chinese company spy on prominent people," Satav said.

To this, Naidu asked the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs to take note of the matter.

"It has appeared prominently. So inform the minister concerned and see what can be done and find out the veracity also," the Rajya Sabha Chairman said.

Lok Sabha passes Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2020

The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2020 that empowers the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to keep an eye on banking activities of cooperative societies.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who had introduced that Bill earlier this year, told the Lower House that the said amendments are aimed at improving their governance and protecting depositors' money. Moving the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2020, in the Lok Sabha, Sitharaman said the government was compelled to come out with an ordinance during the lockdown period as the condition of the cooperative banks was "grave".

Opposing the Bill in the Parliament, RSP MP NK Premachandran on behalf of his party said that states were not taken into confidence before bringing the Bill. "Many poor marginal populations depend on co-operative societies in Kerala," he said. He asked for the Bill to be sent to a standing committee for review.

AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi questioned the government's selective intervention in the Yes Bank crisis but not for PMC. "SBI immediately flowed funds in Yes bank case, but not into PMC bank. What was RBI doing when Yes Bank happened?" he asked. He further said that the Bill was an attack on federalism.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while responding to queries raised by 32 MPs during the session said, "We want to regulate banking activity, within our power and will not interfere with 'federalism'."

"The financial status of 277 urban cooperative banks is weak. 105 cooperative banks are unable to meet the minimum regulatory capital requirement. 47 banks have a net worth in negative. 328 urban cooperative banks have more than 15 percent gross NPA ratio", she said.

"This Bill does not regulate cooperative banks. The amendment is not for the Central Government to take over the cooperative banks. It is not for the first time that this regulation of extending some powers to RBI is happening," she added.

Indias exports fell 25.42% between April and June, Centre tells Parliament

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal informed the Parliament on Wednesday that Indias overall exports (merchandise plus services) had reduced by 25.42 percent during the months of April and June, when compared to the figure during the same time last year. The government attributed the reduced figure to the nationwide lockdown to control the coronavirus.

Goyal said that the export figure was showing signs of improvement. the latest merchandise exports show a recovery, with the export decline rate at 12.66 percent in August, 2020, he said.

Revenue of Indian airlines fell by 85.7% to Rs 3,651 crore, says aviation minister

The revenue of Indian airlines fell by 85.7 percent to Rs 3,651 crore during the first quarter of 2020-21 in comparison to the corresponding period a year ago due to COVID-19, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri told the Rajya Sabha.

Moreover, employee count at the Indian carriers went down from 74,887 on 31 March to 69,589 on 31 July, a decrease of 7.07 percent, Puri stated in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha.

"The revenue of airport operators has reduced from Rs 5,745 crore during April-June 2019 to Rs 894 crore during April-June 2020," he said.

The minister said the employee count at airports has reduced from 67,760 on 31 March to 64,514 on 31 July.

Scheduled domestic flight services were suspended in India from 25 March to 24 May due to the coronavirus-triggered lockdown. They were resumed from 25 May but in a curtailed manner.

Tata Projects wins bid to construct new Parliament building at Rs 861.90 crore

Tata Projects Limited on Wednesday won the bid to construct a new Parliament building at a cost of Rs 861.90 crore, officials told PTI.

The L&T Ltd had submitted a bid of Rs 865 crore, they said.

"The Tata Projects Limited has won the contract to build a new Parliament building," an official said.

The new Parliament building will be constructed close to the existing one under the Central Vista redevelopment project, and is expected to be completed in 21 months.

According to the Central Public Works Department (CPWD), the new building will come up at plot number 118 of the Parliament House Estate. The CPWD said the existing Parliament building will continue to function during the entire period of execution of the project.

RS passes Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda Bill 2020

The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday passed the Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda Bill, 2020, which paved the way for the establishment of a state-of-the-art Ayurvedic institution, ITRA, at Jamnagar in Gujarat, and conferment of the status of, Institute of National Importance (INI), to it, the Ministry of AYUSH said in a statement. The bill was passed in the Lok Sabha on 19 March.

The ITRA is sought to be established by conglomerating the presently existing Ayurveda institutes at the Gujarat Ayurved University campus in Jamnagar, the statement said.

This is a cluster of highly-reputed institutions, namely the Institute for Post Graduate Teaching and Research in Ayurveda, Shree GulabKunverba Ayurveda Mahavidyalaya, and Institute of Ayurvedic Pharmaceutical Sciences, Maharshi Patanjali Institute for Yoga Naturopathy Education & Research (to be made part of the Department of Swasthvritta of the proposed ITRA.

The synergies among the different constituent institutions will help ITRA to demonstrate high standards of such education and to emerge as a lighthouse institution to the entire AYUSH sector. The decision comes at a time when global interest in health solutions based on traditional wisdom is at an unprecedentedly high level and ITRA is poised to take Ayurveda education to new vistas, a statement said.

With inputs from PTI
President James F. Birge, Ph.D.

James F. Birge, Ph.D. is the 12th president of Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) in North Adams, Massachusetts. He has worked in higher education for more than 30 years. Before serving in executive roles at other institutions, Dr. Birge spent much of his early career in student affairs followed by work with faculty and staff to integrate community-based learning into academic course objectives.

When he arrived at MCLA in 2016, Dr. Birge launched a strategic planning process to guide MCLAs work for the next five years. Since his arrival, the College has added new majors in health science, community health education, and communications; new minors including design and public history; new certificate programs in accounting and network security; and new accelerated programs such as MCLAs three-year business degree. The College also opened a new location in Pittsfield, and continues to be listed by U.S. News and World Report as a top ten college.

Through his career, President Birge has worked in public and private higher education as well as with an association of academic presidents. Although always an administrator, Dr. Birge has also taught undergraduate courses in religious studies, writing, and leadership. Previously, Dr. Birge served as President of Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire.

As a member of the boards of directors of MASS MoCA, LEVER, Inc., 1Berkshire, and the MountainOne Bank Community Advisory Board, Dr. Birge works to build collaborations between the College and the community.

Dr. Birge holds a Ph.D. in leadership studies from Gonzaga University in Washington, an M.Ed. in guidance and counseling from Plymouth State University in New Hampshire, and a B.S. in elementary education from Westfield State University in Massachusetts.

President Birge and Lisa, his wife of 32 years, have three daughters: Caitlin, Margaret, and Siobhan.
The MCLA Artist Lab (Laboratory) Residency was created to give MCLA students, and the North Adams community, access to accomplished artists from all over the world. The Artist Lab Residency is dedicated to supporting the creation, exhibition, criticism, and documentation of work by historically underrepresented artists. The artists invited to participate provide both inspiration and advice for best navigating and understanding the art world. Artists are selected based on their practice, their contribution to the art world, and the way in which their career reflects the diversity of thought, talent and triumph that exists among artists striving to contribute to, and consequently expand, what is considered the art history canon.

At least two times a year, once each semester, Artists in Residence are invited to create work, share work, and in some cases teach courses at MCLA. Each artist is asked to create a body of work that will culminate the Residency in an exhibition at MCLA's Gallery 51. The artist is provided housing and given a studio space in the Art Lab, next door to Gallery 51. In Art Lab, artists can conduct workshops, talks, and other type of programming they are interested in facilitating for the community. MCLA Arts and Culture is proud to be able to offer this experience to the participating artists and the community.

2021 MCLA Artist Lab Residents

September 2021 - December 2021

Joshua Ross (1992, Indianapolis, Indiana) holds an MFA in Art at the University of California, Irvine, and a BFA in Photography from Herron School of Art in Indianapolis. Ross research-based practice is an entrenched phenomenological approach that investigates institutional, bodily, and spatial structures that organize and influence perception. Ross multi-disciplinary practice employs and appropriates a variety of material and media developed through relationships to methodologies inherently related to his research and archival experiences of photography. Some recent notable exhibits Ross has featured artwork include Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Queens LA, and Human Resources Los Angeles.

January 2022 - May 2022

Nathaniel Donnett is a multi-disciplinary cultural practitioner who lives and works in Houston, TX. Donnett's practice holds metaphysical and phenomenological spaces that speak to history, uncertainty, socio-political and cultural concerns, space/time, the interior/exterior self, and race. He applies refusal strategies that cultivate his oeuvre, embedding polyrhythms into the poetics of the everyday. By exercising black aesthetic traditions, radical fractal theory, ideas of incompleteness, and sacred geometry as methodologies and everyday aesthetics, Donnett challenges conventional linear timeline narratives and Westernized frameworks. Visual, haptic, and audio languages are translations via modes of abstraction and figural vernacular coded systems. Donnett employs these codes to find the nuance and meaning in the overlooked and undervalued. Investigating materials and ideas compiled from daily life, a series of endless questions arise that refer to the imagination, experience, and thought processes. These associations are applied asymmetrically, unfolding imaginative and practical cosmologies.

Nathaniel Donnett received his BA in Fine Arts from Texas Southern University and his MFA from Yale University School of Art. Donnett is a recipient of a 2020 Dean's Critical Practice Research Grant, 2020 Art and Social Justice Initiative Grant, and the 2020-2021 Helen Frankenthaler Scholarship. Donnett has been awarded a 2017 Houston Arts Alliance Individual Artist Grant, 2015 Idea Fund/Andy Warhol Foundation Grant, a 2014 Harpo Foundation Grant, and a 2010 Artadia Award. His work has been shown at The Virginia Museum of Fine Art, Richmond, VA, The Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, Virgina Beach, VA, The Mennello Museum, Orlando FL, The Ulrich Museum, Wichita, KS, The American Museum, Washington, DC, The Kemper Contemporary Arts Museum, Kansas City, MO, The Mattatuck Museum, Waterbury CT, The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Houston, TX, Project Row Houses, Houston, TX, The University Museum, Houston, TX, and The New Museum, New York, NY.

Nathaniel Donnett is represented by Morton Fine Art Gallery

https://www.mortonfineart.com/

Past MCLA Artist Lab Residents

Inaugural Artist in Residence GENEVIEVE GAIGNARD

April 2020 - August 2020

Genevieve Gaignard is a Los Angeles based artist whose work focuses on photographic self-portraiture, sculpture, and installation to explore race, femininity, class, and their various intersections. The daughter of a black father and white mother, Gaignards youth was marked by a strong sense of invisibility. Was her family white enough to be white? Black enough to be black? Gaignard interrogates notions of passing in an effort to address these questions. She positions her own female body as the chief site of exploration  challenging viewers to navigate the powers and anxieties of intersectional identity. Influenced by the soulful sounds of Billy Stewart, the kitschy aesthetic of John Waters and the provocative artifice of drag culture, Gaignard uses low-brow pop sensibilities to craft dynamic visual narratives. From the identity performance ritualized in selfie culture to the gender performance of femininity, Gaignard blends humor, persona and popular culture to reveal the ways in which the meeting and mixing of contrasting realities can feel much like displacement.

Gaignard received her MFA in Photography at Yale University and her BFA in Photography at Massachusetts College of Art. She has exhibited throughout the United States, including shows at Studio Museum in Harlem, the California African American Museum in Los Angeles, and the Houston Center for Photography. In 2017, her work was included in the Prospect.4 Triennial in New Orleans. Gaignard's work has been reviewed in The New York Times, The New Yorker, W Magazine, The LA Times, Artforum, and on Vice News Tonight, among others. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Studio Museum in Harlem, California African American Museum, LA, Perez Art Museum Miami, the Nasher Museum of Art, Durham, the FLAG Art Foundation, New York, the Seattle Museum of Art, and the San Jose Museum of Art.

Press:

February 16, 2021: The Clark, "Unpacking My Identity ": Genevieve Gaignard on Race in America and the Impossibility of Home

October 13, 2020: Artsy, "Genevieve Gaignard's Timely Work Documents Racial Injustice and Calls for Change"

September 4, 2020: The Berkshire Eagle, "MCLA Gallery 51 reopens with 'A Long Way From Home'"

June 17, 2020: Vanity Fair, We're Not Going Anywhere: Genevieve Gaignard and Her Art Are Ready for This and Every Moment
Late last month, US Defence Secretary Mark T. Esper phoned President Gotabhaya Rajapakse. Esper later Tweeted: Good talk today with Sri Lankan President @Gotabaya R. We discussed our cooperation in responding to COVID 19 & the international security environment.

The Colombo media reported that the call was about COVID-19 and claimed Esper had praised Rajapakse for controlling the pandemic. This was a ridiculous attempt to cover-up the real content and implications of the discussion.

The extraordinary phone callthe first in living memory from a US defence chief to a Sri Lankan presidentwas not about the coronavirus, but the expansion of existing military agreements between the two countries, in line with President Donald Trumps preparations for war against China.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

While Rajapakse and the Sri Lankan media have kept their mouths shut about the real purpose of the call, the US defence department later released a statement, indicating some of the issues raised.

The conversation, according to the statement, centred on the shared commitment of the two countries to a free and open Indo-Pacifica euphemism for Washingtons ongoing campaign against Beijing and unchallenged US military operations in the region. It involved a review of the defence priorities, such as military professionalization, counter-terrorism, and maritime security cooperation. The defence secretary also called for continued progress on reconciliation and human rights in Sri Lanka.

Espers phone call was motivated by the fact that Washington and its regional allies are intensifying their military build-up against China, in the Indian Ocean region, and are determined to further expand military relations with, and operations on, the strategically located island.

The call, which was made just a few weeks after the landslide victory of Rajapakses party in the parliamentary election, also reflected Washingtons concerns about the new administration and its previous links with China.

Two days after the election, the Wall Street Journal published an article headlined Pro-China Populists Consolidate Power in Sri Lanka. It stated that the previous Rajapakse administration had embraced China, and become a showcase for Beijings global infrastructure initiative.

While the US and India had backed Rajapakses brotherthe former president and current prime minister, Mahinda Rajapaksein the last phase of Sri Lankas bloody civil war in 2009, Washington was hostile to the regimes economic and military relations with Beijing.

In 2015, the US orchestrated a regime-change operation to oust Rajapakse as president and replace him with the pro-US Maithripala Sirisena. The subsequent Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration rapidly and systematically expanded Sri Lankas defence ties with the US. The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe regime strengthened defence agreements with Washington and involved the Sri Lankan military force in numerous drills and training exercises with the US and its allied armed forces.

The Access and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) between the US and Sri Lanka, which was first signed in 2011 by Gotabhaya Rajapakse, then defence secretary, was renewed indefinitely under Sirisena. ACSA gives the US military unrestrained access to Sri Lankas seaports and airports, while the American navy is currently investigating the feasibility of establishing a US logistics hub at the strategic eastern port of Trincomalee.

Further ties are also in the pipeline. These include the proposed renewal of a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with the US, the hand-over of Colombo Ports Eastern Terminal to India, and a $US480 million grant agreement with the Millennium Challenge Corporation, an instrument of US foreign policy. Ratification of these agreements and other defence proposals, however, were stalled by conflicts in 2018 that divided the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration.

Gotabhaya Rajapakse was elected president last year by capitalising on the political instability and exploiting deep-seated popular opposition to the International Monetary Fund austerity program implemented by the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe regime.

Espers phone call constitutes another clear message to the Rajapakses that Washington is insisting that pending military agreements be ratified immediately, and that US-Sri Lanka defence cooperation is taken to a new level.

As the US embassy in Colombo declared, following the August 5 general election, We look forward to partnering with the government and the new parliament.

Even before last months election results were finalised, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Washingtons chief regional ally, rushed to congratulate Rajapakse. In Colombo, the Indian high commissioner held a dinner for the new cabinet ministers, just days after their swearing-in.

Following his election as president last November, Rajapakse quickly demonstrated his loyalty to Washington and India, and made his first official foreign visit to New Delhi, on the invitation of Prime Minister Modi.

Last month, Rajapakse appointed retired Admiral Jayanath Colambage, who is director of the pro-US Pathfinder Foundation, as foreign secretary. Senior career diplomat and former foreign secretary Ravinath Ariyasinghe was named ambassador to the US.

In an August 26 interview with the Daily Mirror, Colambage said, as far as strategic security is concerned, Sri Lanka will always have an India-first approach.

In another diplomatic posting, Rajapakse appointed Milinda Moragoda a former minister with long established loyalties to Washingtonas a cabinet-ranked high commissioner to India. Cabinet rank means he can directly talk to the president and his top ministers.

Moragoda, a founder of the Pathfinder Foundation in Colombo, was described in 2003 by the former US Ambassador to Colombo, E. Ashley Wills, in a diplomatic cable, later published by WikiLeaks, as a perfect fit for cultivating relations with the US and India. His appointment as the Indian High Commissioner is another indication of Colombos endorsement of the anti-China, military-strategic build-up in the region.

The Rajapakse administration has signalled that it will go ahead with the pending US-Sri Lanka defence agreements. Both the president and prime minister have also confirmed that they will hand over the strategic Colombo Port East Terminal to India, despite mounting opposition from port workers.

Colambage told the Daily Mirror that the transfer of the terminal was agreed in a 2017 deal between Sri Lanka, India and Japan, and that President Rajapakse was committed to honour the deal.

Rajapakse is also advancing the close military-to-military ties with the US, established by the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration. In March, when the whole country was under strict COVID-19 lockdown and curfew, US Green Berets conducted combat training exercises with Sri Lankan forces in Trincomalee harbour.

President Rajapakses refusal to disclose the content of his discussion with Defence Secretary Esper indicates that he has no concerns about the preparations for war against China. This silence, at least for the time being, also reflects the sensitivity of Colombos ruling elite to popular concerns about this issue. During the election, Rajapakses nationalist allies attempted to posture as anti-imperialist. At the same time, the debt-ridden Rajapakse regime is also seeking extensive financial assistance from Beijing.

Espers phone call came as military and economic tensions in the Asia-Pacific region have reached the highest level since the Second World War. Late last month, Beijing fired aircraft carrier killer missiles into the South China Sea, in response to the provocative manoeuvres of the US naval flotilla led by the USS Ronald Reagan in the disputed marine territory.

Early last week, Japan, India and Australiaall members of the US-led quadrilateral military alliance against Chinaagreed to restructure commercial supply chains in the region to counter so-called China trade dominance.

The US has also banned 24 Chinese companies, including the China Communication Construction Company (CCCC), from buying American products, citing their involvement in the development of artificial islands in the disputed South China Sea. CCCC is involved in the construction of the massive Colombo Port City project, the largest single Chinese investment in Sri Lanka. The Chinese embassy in Colombo has appealed to the Rajapakse government to oppose the US sanctions.

Attempting to navigate its path through this geo-strategic minefield, Colombo has said nothing about the latest trade bans and their possible impact on the Colombo Port City project.

In a veiled threat, the US embassy in Colombo warned that the US further encourages countries to manage risk when dealing with CCCC, which it claims has done untold environmental damage and caused instability in the Indo-Pacific.

In his August 26 Daily Mirror interview, Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary Colambage said: We have to balance. The President has outlined a few specific things. Sri Lanka should be a neutral country. Sri Lanka does not want to be caught up in the power game.

Notwithstanding the rhetoric about balancing, the Rajapakse regime is signalling to Washington that Colombo is not siding with Beijing, and will continue to expand its military operations with US imperialism against China. The Rajapakses know, from their own experience, that any deviation from this line could have severe repercussions for the current government.
Richard Lipscombe became the CEO of Proteomics International Laboratories Limited (ASX:PIQ) in 2014, and we think it's a good time to look at the executive's compensation against the backdrop of overall company performance. This analysis will also assess whether Proteomics International Laboratories pays its CEO appropriately, considering recent earnings growth and total shareholder returns.

View our latest analysis for Proteomics International Laboratories

How Does Total Compensation For Richard Lipscombe Compare With Other Companies In The Industry?

At the time of writing, our data shows that Proteomics International Laboratories Limited has a market capitalization of AU$44m, and reported total annual CEO compensation of AU$299k for the year to June 2020. That's a notable increase of 44% on last year. In particular, the salary of AU$250.0k, makes up a huge portion of the total compensation being paid to the CEO.

In comparison with other companies in the industry with market capitalizations under AU$274m, the reported median total CEO compensation was AU$409k. This suggests that Proteomics International Laboratories remunerates its CEO largely in line with the industry average. Moreover, Richard Lipscombe also holds AU$9.1m worth of Proteomics International Laboratories stock directly under their own name, which reveals to us that they have a significant personal stake in the company.

Component 2020 2019 Proportion (2020) Salary AU$250k AU$185k 84% Other AU$49k AU$22k 16% Total Compensation AU$299k AU$207k 100%

On an industry level, around 80% of total compensation represents salary and 20% is other remuneration. Although there is a difference in how total compensation is set, Proteomics International Laboratories more or less reflects the market in terms of setting the salary. If salary is the major component in total compensation, it suggests that the CEO receives a higher fixed proportion of the total compensation, regardless of performance.

Story continues

A Look at Proteomics International Laboratories Limited's Growth Numbers

Proteomics International Laboratories Limited saw earnings per share stay pretty flat over the last three years. In the last year, its revenue is up 1.5%.

We'd prefer higher revenue growth, but the modest improvement in EPS is good. So there are some positives here, but not enough to earn high praise. Although we don't have analyst forecasts, you might want to assess this data-rich visualization of earnings, revenue and cash flow.

Has Proteomics International Laboratories Limited Been A Good Investment?

Most shareholders would probably be pleased with Proteomics International Laboratories Limited for providing a total return of 167% over three years. This strong performance might mean some shareholders don't mind if the CEO were to be paid more than is normal for a company of its size.

To Conclude...

As we noted earlier, Proteomics International Laboratories pays its CEO in line with similar-sized companies belonging to the same industry. However, the company's EPS growth numbers over the last three years is not that impressive. Meanwhile, shareholder returns have remained positive over the same time frame. There is room for improved company performance, but we don't see the CEO compensation as a big issue here.

CEO pay is simply one of the many factors that need to be considered while examining business performance. We did our research and identified 5 warning signs (and 1 which is concerning) in Proteomics International Laboratories we think you should know about.

Important note: Proteomics International Laboratories is an exciting stock, but we understand investors may be looking for an unencumbered balance sheet and blockbuster returns. You might find something better in this list of interesting companies with high ROE and low debt.

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.
The two parties to intra-Afghan peace talks have exchanged positions in the Qatari capital, Doha, in what diplomats on September 16 described as a warm and "surprisingly positive" mood.

"The biggest and most important priority of our people is to stop the bloodshed in the country," the Afghan government's chief negotiator, Masoom Stanekzai, told a meeting of the two sides on September 15. "This moment that we sit here, tens of youth are being martyred, women widowed, children orphaned."

"Who killed more, who killed less is not the debate," he added. "What is important is: Why are Afghans dying?"

Taliban chief negotiator Mawlawi Abdul Hakim, meanwhile, emphasized that the two sides should resolve the country's problems independently and with tolerance and patience.

Hakim added that the Taliban is seeking to establish a "truly Islamic" country. The Taliban is not fighting to seize power, the militant group's chief negotiator said, but for Afghanistan to be free of occupation and for the establishment of an Islamic system.

On February 29, the United States signed a peace agreement with the Taliban that paves the way for a gradual withdrawal of all international forces from Afghanistan. In return, the Taliban has committed to join the intra-Afghan peace talks and renounce terrorism.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 16) - The Baguio City Police Office will deploy plantvestigators who will look into the reports of illegal poaching of plants in parks.

We are appealing, we are now deploying our 'plantvestigators' to investigate this case and to protect our environment, especially the plants in our parks, Baguio Police chief PCol. Allen Co said in an interview with CNN Philippines.

The City Environment and Parks Management reported last week that plant thieves nearly wiped out the Monstera or Swiss Cheese plants long inhabiting the Mines View Park and Burnham Park.

The office also said that succulents were also being poached in the City Hall Park, and the Upper Session Road was also stripped off of rubber trees as people are into taking care of plants amid the pandemic -- or plantdemic as many call it.

Co warned that plant thieves maybe charged for violating the Citys Environment Code, which carries a penalty of P5,000 fine and/or imprisonment of up to five days.

If poached plants are considered endangered, Co added that Republic Act 9147 or Wildlife Resources and Conservation Act penalizes violators with six to 12 years of imprisonment and a fine of P100,000 to P1 million.

With the plantdemic craze, Co appealed to plant lovers to preserve the plants in the city parks for the future generations to see.

We understand the call of maintaining plants in our home, but let us not deprive other people of enjoying these plants doon po sa ating mga parks (in our parks), said Co.
The South African media landscape is poised for a major shift today as it welcomes to its fold the first-of-its-kind isiZulu-medium online business publication. Published by Likhanyile Media, the publication is called Umbele, which means the udder.

A publication like this will go a long way towards fulfilling our passion of preserving and advancing isiZulu, and practising our vocation. Language is a big pillar of heritage.

will cover news in economics, labour, personal finance, agriculture, executive and SMME profiles through articles and will run podcasts.The isiZulu business portal is the brainchild of seasoned multimedia journalists, who cut their teeth in the industry as print journalists, Slindile Khanyile and Langa Khanyile. The journalists turned media proprietors are both passionate about financial journalism, quality journalism and content creation in vernacular.Langa said: We are excited about the establishment of a quality niche publication in isiZulu. Online is the future, business is the life blood and isiZulu is the new English.Khanyile was until recently the editor ofnewspaper, the flagship isiZulu publication of Independent Media. Previously, she was the deputy editor of the, a financial journalist atand a soccer writer atShe recently joined Likhanyile Group (Pty) Ltd, the six-year old parent company of Likhanyile Media, as a co-director and the head of digital publications.Langa, the managing director of Likhanyile Group, is a formermagazine journalist,andjournalist. During his tenure at the former Independent Newspapers, he was a sub-editor, features writer, columnist and senior journalist.He said: Its staggering to be part of founding a vernacular business e-publication at a time when most legacy publications are either downsizing or closing shop because of declining circulation and advertising revenue, exacerbated by the outbreak of Covid-19.We grew up with and were inducted into quality, not sensational and partisan journalism, so quality journalism courses through our veins, and is what we hope to practise and advance amid the times of a sceptical, disenchanted public, he added.The launch ofcoincides with the celebration of Heritage Month in the country.Khanyile said:Post-Covid-19, business is going to be critical in rebuilding the economy and telling these types of stories is going to be just as important. Business news is much-needed, intricate and complex, which is why it is important to tell these stories in a language that makes them accessible to an even wider audience. Understanding how to look after money and to stretch that rand has never been more relevant; these are some of the stories we will carry.We are excited about profiling established and emerging Black entrepreneurs and chronicling their success stories to inspire aspiring entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship is generally romanticised in South Africa, so we also hope that by telling these stories, budding entrepreneurs will also be sensitised to the realities of entrepreneurship.She added that the launch of the e-publication came at the time when there was much talk about the need to transform the South African economy and media landscape.The fact is our economy is characterised by skewed ownership patterns that reflect our past. In this regard, in a country such as ours, language serves as an instrument to reinforce these unequal power dynamics and the exclusion of the vast section of our population from the conversation about the economy. We believe that you cannot begin to talk about transformation without also addressing the issue of language, concluded Khanyile.To readgo to www.umbele.likhanyiletm.co.za For more information, you can contact Slindile Khanyile on 083 471 0367 or email az.oc.mteliynahkil@kelidnils or az.oc.mteliynahkil@kagnal
Pupil Tests Positive for COVID-19 at Pine Cobble School

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- On Tuesday evening, Pine Cobble School confirmed a third member of its community, a pupil, has tested positive for COVID-19.

Head of School Sue Wells informed iBerkshires.com of the positive test of a kindergarten student.

Earlier in the day, the Wells notified the media that a second kindergarten teacher had tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

The first positive test of a kindergarten teacher prompted the private elementary school to go fully remote for at least two weeks starting Monday

That first test came back on Saturday, three days after a teacher in the kindergarten went home from school with a fever.

At that time, the kindergarten pupils also were sent home, and families were advised to get their children tested at Berkshire Medical Center.

The rest of the school remained in session for in-person classes through Friday, until the first positive test came back.

At that time, despite a protocol that required the school to go remote after a second test, school officials decided to go fully remote for all grade levels based on the one positive.

Pine Cobble's plan for a return to school kept all of its grades in individual cohorts, meaning that there was to be no mixing of students or teachers in different grades.

Students and teachers also were following 6-foot social distancing rules and wearing face coverings provided by the school.
By Alan Gottlieb. September 14, 2020

BELLEVUE, WA - Democrat Joe Biden's disgusting attempt to exploit the ambush of two Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies to push his anti-gun agenda illustrates the intellectual dishonesty of the gun prohibition mindset, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.

The two deputies were shot at close range by an unidentified gunman who can be seen on video raising a handgun to open fire. Yet, the former vice president wasted no time tweeting about "weapons of war" while declaring, "We need to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines." Neither an "assault rifle" or high capacity magazine visibly were used in the crime.

"Just when you thought Joe Biden's lifelong crusade against firearms couldn't go any lower, he grabs a shovel and starts digging," said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. "This illustrates the bankruptcy of the gun prohibition movement. They'll use a horrific tragedy as a starting point to push their own agenda, which typically has no factual relation to the incident they're exploiting.

"There is a heavy disconnect between reality and what the gun control lobby would have people think," he continued, "and Biden's attempt to capitalize on this cowardly act by calling for a ban on a type of firearm that wasn't even used is intentionally misleading."

Law enforcement agencies are searching for a suspect, and there is a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible. The wounded deputies, described as a 24-year-old male and 31-year-old female, were reportedly in stable condition Monday following surgery.

"We have watched the video of this craven act several times, which is apparently something Biden didn't do even once before he sent out that self-serving tweet," Gottlieb stated. "Instead of calling for a ban on a gun that wasn't involved, perhaps Joe Biden should instead focus on the people who gathered outside of the hospital yelling they hope the deputies would die, and simply tell them to shut up and go home. "

"Biden's remarks illustrate an almost amoral attitude about a terrible crime," he said. "He seems more interested in how he might use this tragedy to advance his anti-gun-rights agenda than he is about the lives of the two wounded deputies. We're not sure what to call that, but it's not moral leadership."

(This is available as a PDF file.)
The British described India as an ocean of trees. This tree cover was nurtured by village and tribal communities. To organise the drain of India, as Dadabhai Naoroji put it, the British destroyed these community organisations and took over forest land as State property. Only Goa was spared. Initially, the Portuguese attempted to break down village communities, but stopped when faced with substantial losses in land revenue. Goa, therefore, remained an ocean of trees till 1961, attracting hordes of tourists. To this day, the gavkari, or communidad organisation continues to bravely hold on to Goas natural heritage.

Following Independence, Indias ruling classes stuck to the same colonial mindset. Nevertheless, the countrys deep-rooted democracy resulted in the enactment of several pro-people measures, such as the 73rd and 74th amendments to the Constitution establishing Panchayat Raj in 1992, the Right to Information Act in 2005 and The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (FRA). All of this helped in restoring rights.

Gadchiroli, Maharashtras easternmost district, has the highest level of tree cover in the state at over 70%, safeguarded by its predominantly tribal population. It is the one district where the Community Forest Resource (CFR) rights and provision of FRA have been implemented properly, with thousands of villages being assigned lakhs of hectares to manage minor forest produce sustainably.

This was the result of a combination of capable tribal leadership and competent and honest officials. CFRs have been granted from 2009 and have led to skill development and community-based employment. Before the Act was in place, young women in Gadchiroli had a taste of the governments ill-conceived skill development plan when they were trained to become air hostesses. On completing the course, no airline was willing to employ the women.

Pachgaon, a village in neighbouring Chandrapur district, has been assigned CFR rights over 1,000 hectares. The gram sabha asked each family to submit five rules regarding management of forest resources and other civic affairs.

These were then discussed in a meeting over two days and 115 rules were unanimously accepted. The entire community now abides by these 115 rules. These include regimes regarding the harvest of bamboo and other minor forest produce, regular patrolling of CFR areas and sharing of responsibility in sorting and auctioning bamboo. The villagers used to earn to a fair income plucking tendu leaves for contractors earlier. But this involved setting fire to parts of the forest, which the people deemed undesirable. The tendu trees are now producing an abundance of fruit. This fruit is in high demand and, in the long-run, the village may become economically better-off selling the fruit rather than plucking the leaves. The wages for bamboo harvest were three times what contractors paid.

Nevertheless, they managed to make a net profit of 35 lakh from the sale of bamboo in 2015. This has been invested in organising forest and village development works which provide year-round employment. Prior to being empowered by the CFR rights, many villagers used to migrate all the way to Gujarat to earn a living. Now, no one leaves the village.

The lessons from villages such as Pachgaon must reach all other CFR-holding villages. To kick off such a process, Maharashtras tribal development department sponsored a special five-month training programme in the field at Mendha-Lekha, the first village to win CFR rights in 2009. I was associated with this programme in which 24 young men and three women were trained. Following the training, they have formed groups of villages, processing and marketing minor forest produce, while diligently maintaining accounts and paying taxes.

Or take Kudumbasree, a network of community-based womens self-help groups from Kerala, which provides a different kind of experience in strengthening community organisation. This network is engaged primarily in activities related to food production, processing and restaurants. Large tracts of farmland are fallow in Kerala because the owners find the costs of chemical inputs and labour prohibitive. Kudumbasree groups take such lands on lease and make them productive. They can afford to do so because, without alternative employment, their members accept lower wages. They dont use chemical inputs, thereby reducing the cost of cultivation and taking pesticides out of the ecosystem. As a result, they are successfully in practising organic cultivation.

Empowering communities through organisation and resource rights is a very effective and desirable route to both employment generation and skill development. India needs to think of an alternative economic paradigm to prevent the distress we have seen this year.

Madhav Gadgil is former professor, Indian Institute of Science where he founded the Centre

for Ecological Sciences

The views expressed are personal
Livetouch Cement breached local labour laws in Zimbabwe

16 September 2020

Zimbabwian-based Livetouch Cement was found in breach of local labour laws after failing to register its workers with the National Social Security Authority (NSSA). It was only revealed that the Chinese cement manufacturer had broken the law after the death of a worker in March this year.



According to NSSA, the death of an unidentified employee at the cement manufacturing plant exposed how the company had not registered any of its employees with the Workers Compensation Insurance Fund (WCIF) and the National Pension Scheme (NPS) both schemes under NSSA. NSSA also discovered Livetouch's employees were not registered with its compensation and pension schemes.



After a joint visit by NSSA's Occupational Safety and Health Inspectorate and the Compliance Inspectorate, the company registered with the NSSA schemes on 18 August, reports New Zimbabwe.

Published under
Sylvester Ofori and the late Barbara Tommey i n thei r happy days

16.09.2020 LISTEN

Sophia Tommey, sister of the lady who was shot several times and killed by her husband Sylvester Ofori in Orlando, Florida, says the couple started having marital issues after the man of God joined an occult group.

According to her, this forced Barbara Tommey to move out of her matrimonial home three months before her shooting incident.

Sophia alleged on Kofi TV that Sylvester returned to Ghana to pay a visit to a certain powerful man within the Nzema community, after which there was a change in his behaviour.

Sylvester had denounced God after he visited Nzema and was given a book to read. He then gave the book to my sister to read and after reading, she was also showing signs of denouncing God to follow the husband but she later recovered through prayers. My sister (Barbara Tommey) later discovered her husband had joined an occult group and filed for divorce, she alleged.

Explaining what led to the shooting incident, she indicated that Barbara returned to the house on Sunday, September 6 for some documents when Sylvester nearly choked her to death.

This made their brother (Perry) angry, and he physically attacked Sylvester, a situation which was captured in their viral video last week.

Barbara was the breadwinner of the family and owned all the properties. Sylvester was just a pastor, so the thought of losing everything pushed him to kill my sister, she alleged.

Barbara was a very quiet person, so all the things we heard were from her friends; she never told us what she was going through until her death, Sophia added.

She has expressed confidence in the American justice system to get justice for her sister.

By Francis Addo
The Chushul sector in Ladakh is also the site where the 114 Brigade and the 13 Kumaon regiment headed by Major Shaitan Singh had fought a valiant battle against the PLA in 1962

The Indian Army, engaged in a prolonged standoff with Chinese troops along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh, is said to have taken control of elevated positions near Rezang La and Reqin La in the Chushul sector, according to reports.

This development, coupled with the two countries accusing each other of having fired shots along the LAC, means that tensions in the region continue to simmer. The firing along the LAC was the first such incident in 45 years, despite an agreement barring the use of guns and explosives.

Nevertheless, with Indian troops occupying dominating heights near Rezang La, New Delhi hopes to dominate the Chushul sector and force China to complete the disengagement process, The Indian Express reported.

The Chushul sector in Ladakh is of enormous strategic significance and was also the site where the 114 Brigade and the 13 Kumaon regiment headed by Major Shaitan Singh had fought a valiant battle against the PLA in 1962.

What makes Chushul sector so important?

Chushul lies near the southern bank of the Pangong lake, which provides access to Eastern Ladakh. The Print quotes a senior army officer as saying that the terrain on the southern bank is flatter than the northern bank, which makes it amenable to limited mechanised warfare.

Further, the Spanggur Gap lies to the southeast of the Pangong lake, which can be used by the Chinese to advance towards Leh in case of a military confrontation in the sector.

The Indian Express quoted Major General (Retd) GG Dwiwedi, author of a book on the 1962 war, as saying that India has got a military and strategic advantage by securing the ridgeline overlooking the Spanggur Gap. Our domination of the ridgeline in the Chushul sub-sector gives us a bargaining chip in our negotiations for the disengagement process, he said.

He further said that it has neutralised the advantage that China had gained from securing the area between Finger 4 and Finger 8 on the northern bank of the Pangong Tso.

Chushul also has an airstrip, which played an important role during the 1962 war.

However, the Chushul Valley is located at a height of over 13,000, which makes transport of supplies to forces difficult. Villagers have been ferrying water and essential commodities to the Indian Army personnel.

Konchok Stanzin, a councillor with the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council at Leh, called these volunteers soldiers without uniform.

During 1962 war

In the 1962 war, the Chinese army had attempted to attack the Chushul airfield, which would have given them direct access to Leh. However, Indian troops, defended their position through light machine guns and mortars under extremely adverse circumstances, as noted in an article in Scroll.

Out of the 124 members of the Kumaon Regiment company which took part in the battle, only 14 survived. Major Shaitan Singh, who headed the regiment, died in the battle and was later awarded the Param Vir Chakra.
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Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) London, United Kingdom  Wed, September 16, 2020 14:32 492 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c451f962 2 Lifestyle coronavirus,COVID-19,Britain,Snake,face-mask Free

Public transport bosses in northwest England on Tuesday clarified the rules on face coverings after a bus passenger was spotted with a snake around his neck and mouth.

The commuter was spotted on a bus bound for Manchester on Monday but fellow passengers initially believed he was wearing a colorful face covering, the Manchester Evening News reported.

"At first I thought he had a really funky mask on, then he let it crawl around the hand rails," one witness was quoted as saying.

"No one was really bothered on the bus but a man behind took a video. It was definitely entertaining."

Photos of the man, dressed in a white t-shirt and jeans, showed what appeared to be a python coiled around his neck and face but he was not wearing a mask as required underneath.

Words of wisdom here from me and others.

"Overall, I think we can safely say that snakes dont belong on buses."https://t.co/ptlNuAggFZ  Prof Adam Hart  (@AdamHartScience) September 15, 2020

The use of face coverings is mandatory on public transport in Britain, to prevent the close-contact spread of the coronavirus.

Some exceptions are allowed, such as for people with health conditions or young children.

A Transport for Greater Manchester spokesman said government guidance stipulated face coverings could be surgical masks, scarves or bandanas.

"While there is a small degree of interpretation that can be applied to this, we do not believe it extends to the use of snakeskin, especially when still attached to the snake," he added.

The UK government initially resisted the use of face masks in confined spaces such as shops as a preventative measure against the virus but changed its policy as the number of cases climbed.

The move sparked some opposition but not to the same extent as in the United States.
New Delhi: The nose has tightened on several actors in connection with the sensational drugs scandal in the sandalwood film industry. After a city court sent Kannada actress Ragini Dwivedi, four others to 14-day judicial custody besides extending the police remand of Sanjjana Galrani by three days, other names have also been summoned.

Famous Kannada actor couple Diganth and Aindrita Ray appeared before the Central Crime Bureau of the Bengaluru City Police (CCB) for interrogation on Wednesday. The CCB summoned them a day back after getting some vital information during the international from other accused.

Meanwhile, raids were conducted on properties owned by Aditya Alva, brother-in-law of Bollywood star, Vivek Oberoi and son of the late former minister, Jeevraj Alva.

The CCB stepped up its probe in the drugs scandal of Kannada movie industry.

The sandalwood industry drug scandal came to the limelight after Kannada filmmaker and late journalist Gauri Lankesh's brother, Indrajit Lankesh made startling claims of knowing many secrets of the connection between drugs and Kannada film celebs.

Soon after Indrajit Lankesh's statement, the Bengaluru police came into action and the Central Crime Branch (CCB) wing of Bengaluru interrogated him for around 2 hours. The CCB officials stated that 'Indrajit Lankesh mentioned some old incidents as well as revealed names of some people related to the industry. Although he has not yet presented any evidence, in this case, we are giving him time to present the evidence. The CCB will now investigate this matter in a legal manner."

Later speaking to the media, Lankesh said that he has given 15 names to the CCB which are directly or indirectly related to the drug scandal. Meanwhile, CCB has also stepped up its investigation in the sandalwood drug scandal.
Bollywood actress Rhea Chakraborty - SUJIT JAISWAL/AFP via Getty Images

It is a story worthy of a Bollywood movie, with claims of drug-taking, skulduggery and witchcraft. But should India's film makers wish to dramatise the country's latest high-society scandal, they need not look far - the saga involves their own actors.

In a move that has transfixed the country's media, police have launched a probe into claims that numerous Bollywood A-listers have been involved in narcotics use.

At the centre of the inquiry is 28-year-old actress Rhea Chakraborty, who has allegedly supplied detectives with the names of 25 leading industry figures, including actors, producers and directors, according to India Today.

The investigation into what police have called a "cartel" began after the death of Ms Chakraborty's boyfriend, fellow actor Sushant Singh Rajput, 34.

Mr Rajput committed suicide at his flat in Mumbai's plush Bandra West neighbourhood in June.

A rising star in Bollywood, Mr Rajput grew up in India's impoverished northern Bihar state, and was considered an emblem of India's growing social mobility. But his death has led to bitter recriminations, with his family accusing Ms Chakraborty of leading their son astray.

Sushant Singh Rajput - UJIT JAISWAL/AFP via Getty Images

She had, they alleged, controlled both his movements and his finances by the use of witchcraft. Mr Rajput's father even accused her of poisoning his son and abetting in his suicide - a crime punishable by ten years in prison.

Ms Chakrabotry has strongly denied the allegations and referred to the charges as a "witch hunt".

Coupled with a leaked WhatsApp message in which Ms Chakraborty is alleged to have discussed her drug use with Mr Rajupt, the lurid claims led to the actress facing an unprecedented trial by newspapers and television.

Police allege Ms Chakraborty is part of the Bollywood "cartel" which they claim is linked to the distribution of drugs in Mumbai, including marijuana. It is believed the stars bought drugs from criminal groups in the city that they then took at industry parties.

Story continues

Last month, India's top criminal agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation, allegedly bowed to media pressure and announced an inquiry. It is expected to see all the stars allegedly implicated in the affair hauled in for questioning.

Ms Chakraborty endured weeks of interrogation after being arrested, and has already been cleared of murder allegations after evidence proved her partner had suffered mental health problems.

However, she remains in Mumbais overcrowded Byculla Jail after her bail application was rejected, pending further investigation.

Ms Chakraborty's lawyer, Satish Maneshinde, echoed his client and said that the trial was a "witch hunt". He argued she was only guilty of loving Mr Rajput Singh.

Activists say the case has highlighted a toxic misogyny in Indian public attitudes, as well as dangerously outdated views around mental health. Rather than accepting the possibility that Mr Singh took his own life because he was depressed, it was blamed automatically on a malign female influence.

She was accused of everything from murder to stealing huge amounts of money, Karuna Nundy, a Delhi-based human rights lawyer, told Deutsche Welle.

Now she has been accused of being part of a drug syndicate because she allegedly bought some marijuana at some point.

As part of its wider crackdown on drug use in the Indian film industry, the authorities have also arrested two other actresses, Ragini Dwivedi and Sanjjanaa Galrani, who were allegedly linked to parties where drugs were found in the city of Bangalore.
Edison, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 09/15/2020 -- Covid-19 Impact Update  Global Market Research Industry



A new business intelligence report released by AMA with title Agriculture Insurance and Reinsurance Market Size, Status and Forecast 2019-2025 is designed covering micro level of analysis by manufacturers and key business segments. The Global Agriculture Insurance and Reinsurance Market survey analysis offers energetic visions to conclude and study market size, market hopes, and competitive surroundings. The research is derived through primary and secondary statistics sources and it comprises both qualitative and quantitative detailing. Some of the key players profiled in the study are Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd. (Switzerland), Sompo International Holdings Ltd. (United States), AXA XL (United States), Syngenta (Switzerland), Munich Re (Germany), Agroinsurance (Georgia), Hanover Re (Germany), Partner Re (United States), Scor Re (France), GramCover (India), Mapfre Re (MAPFRE) (Spain), Lloyd's (United Kingdom), Berkshire Hathaway (United States), Everest Re (United States), China Reinsurance (China), QBE (Australia) and Tokio Marine (Japan)



Agricultural production depends on the climate more than any other commercial sector. The industry expressions greater agricultural risks than ever before as a result of the already visible effects of climate change. Agricultural insurance defends against loss of or damage to crops or livestock. It has great potential to provide value to low-income farmers and their communities, both by guarding farmers when shocks ensue and by encouraging greater investment in crops. Reinsurance refers to the process of insurance enterprises taking protection against large risks that they have insured. Governments play a vital role in coordinating public and private sector investments in collecting, auditing, and managing insurance-quality data, and in making sure that the data is available for private insurers.



Get Free Exclusive PDF Sample Copy of This Research @

https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/sample-report/18061-global-agriculture-insurance-and-reinsurance-market



Market Trend

- Public Sector Has an Active Role in Supporting Agricultural Insurance



Market Drivers

- The compulsion of Crop and Livestock Insurance in Some Countries like Japan, China, India and Others

- Growth of Public and Private Agricultural Insurance



Opportunities

- Major growth in public-private partnerships for agricultural insurance has occurred in China and in the Republic of Korea

- The Existence of Gaps in the Provision of Agricultural Insurance Creates Opportunities for Development of the Market in Latin America



Restraints

- Lack of Formal Recognition of Micro Insurance Programmes



Challenges

- The Development of Agricultural Insurance Requires an Appropriate Institutional Framework

- Risk-Layering Schemes Should Be Seriously Considered



Market Competition

This report covers the recent COVID-19 incidence and its impact on Agriculture Insurance and Reinsurance Market. The pandemic has widely affected the economic scenario. This study assesses the current landscape of the ever-evolving business sector and the present and future effects of COVID-19 on the market. Each company profiled in the research document is studied considering various factors such as product and its application portfolios, market share, growth potential, future plans, and development activity like merger & Acquisitions, JVs, Product launch etc. Readers will be able to gain complete understanding and knowledge of the competitive landscape. Most importantly, the report sheds light on important strategies that key and emerging players are taking to maintain their ranking in the Agriculture Insurance and Reinsurance Market. The study highlights how competition will change dynamics in the coming years and why players are preparing themselves to stay ahead of the curve.



Furthermore, the years considered for the study are as follows:

Historical year  2014-2019

Base year  2019

Forecast period**  2020 to 2026 [** unless otherwise stated]

According to the Regional Segmentation the Agriculture Insurance and Reinsurance Market provides the Information covers following regions:

*North America

*South America

*Asia & Pacific

*Europe

*MEA (Middle East and Africa)



The key countries in each region are taken into consideration as well, such as United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, South Africa, Nigeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Germany, United Kingdom (UK), the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Austria, Turkey, Russia, France, Poland, Israel, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, India, Australia and New Zealand etc.



Have Any Questions Regarding Agriculture Insurance and Reinsurance Market Report, Ask Our Experts@

https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/enquiry-before-buy/18061-global-agriculture-insurance-and-reinsurance-market



The titled segments and sub-section of the market are illuminated below:

Application (Greenhouse, Crop-hail, Livestock, Forestry, Others), Agricultural Production Type (Subsistence Farming, Semi-Commercial Farming, Commercial Farming), Reinsurance Type (Proportional (Quota Share, Surplus Share), Non-Proportional or Excess (Excess of Loss, Stop Loss)), Distribution Channel (Agency, Broker, Bancassurance, Others)



Read Detailed Index of full Research Study at @ https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/reports/18061-global-agriculture-insurance-and-reinsurance-market



Strategic Points Covered in Table of Content of Agriculture Insurance and Reinsurance Market:

Chapter One: Global Agriculture Insurance and Reinsurance Market Industry Overview

1.1 Agriculture Insurance and Reinsurance Industry

1.1.1 Overview

1.1.2 Products of Major Companies

1.2 Agriculture Insurance and Reinsurance Market Segment

1.2.1 Industry Chain

1.2.2 Consumer Distribution

1.3 Price & Cost Overview

Chapter Two: Global Agriculture Insurance and Reinsurance Market Demand

2.1 Segment Overview

2.1.1 APPLICATION 1

2.1.2 APPLICATION 2

2.1.3 Other

2.2 Global Agriculture Insurance and Reinsurance Market Size by Demand

2.3 Global Agriculture Insurance and Reinsurance Market Forecast by Demand

Chapter Three: Global Agriculture Insurance and Reinsurance Market by Type

3.1 By Type

3.1.1 TYPE 1

3.1.2 TYPE 2

3.2 Agriculture Insurance and Reinsurance Market Size by Type

3.3 Agriculture Insurance and Reinsurance Market Forecast by Type

Chapter Four: Major Region of Agriculture Insurance and Reinsurance Market

4.1 Global Agriculture Insurance and Reinsurance Sales

4.2 Global Agriculture Insurance and ReinsuranceRevenue & market share

Chapter Five: Major Companies List

Chapter Six: Conclusion

Finally,Agriculture Insurance and Reinsurance Market is a valuable source of guidance for individuals and companies.



Research Methodology:

- The top-down and bottom-up approaches are used to estimate and validate the size of the global Agriculture Insurance and Reinsurance market.

- In order to reach an exhaustive list of functional and relevant players who offer Agriculture Insurance and Reinsurance various industry classification standards are closely followed such as NAICS, ICB, SIC to penetrate deep in important geographies.

- Thereafter, a thorough validation test is conducted to reach most relevant players specifically having product line i.e. Agriculture Insurance and Reinsurance.

- In order to make priority list sorting is done based on revenue generation as per latest reporting with the help of paid databases such as Factiva, Bloomberg etc.

- Finally the questionnaire is set and specifically designed to address all the necessities for primary data collection after getting prior appointment. This helps us to gather the data for the players' revenue, profit, products, growth etc.

- Almost 80% of data is collected through primary medium and further validation is done through various secondary sources that includes Regulators, World Bank, Association, Company Website, Annual reports, press releases etc.



Buy the Latest Detailed Report @ https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/buy-now?format=1&report=18061



Key questions answered



- Who are the Leading key players and what are their Key Business plans in the Agriculture Insurance and Reinsurance market?

- What are the key concerns of the five forces analysis of the Agriculture Insurance and Reinsurance market?

- What are different prospects and threats faced by the dealers in the Agriculture Insurance and Reinsurance market?

- What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?



Customization Service of the Report:-

AMA Research provides customization of reports as per your need. This report can be personalized to meet your requirements. Get in touch with our sales team, who will guarantee you to get a report that suits your necessities.



Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said Tuesday that protesters calling for the death of two deputies who are being treated after being ambushed by a gunman represent a new low for the nation and something almost worthy of ISIS.

Its just a new low for the hatred that I dont think anyone in this nation has ever seen before, Villanueva said during an interview with Fox News.

We just dont expect it on our own shores, and we have been here fighting to save peoples lives across the county  it doesnt matter who you are and it is not something we are going to expect or tolerate, Villanueva said.

On Saturday night, a gunman shot the two deputies, a 31-year-old mother and her 24-year-old partner, four or five times in their parked cruiser outside the MLK Transit Center in Compton, Calif. Surveillance video of the shooting shows the gunman walking up to the passenger side of the deputies car, lifting a pistol, firing at them, and then running away.

The deputies were in stable condition in intensive care as of Tuesday, Villanueva told CNN on Tuesday, although they still have a long way to recovery and a lot of subsequent surgeries.

Protesters gathered outside the hospital where the deputies were being treated on Saturday night and chanted for their deaths while blocking the doors to the emergency room, according to police.

Authorities are still searching for the shooter, and there is a $200,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.

Villanueva also challenged LeBron James to condemn the attack on law enforcement and criticized the Los Angeles Lakers star for propagating the idea that black men are being hunted by racist cops.

This challenge is to LeBron James. I want you to match that and double that reward, Villanueva said. I know you care about law enforcement. You expressed a very interesting statement about your perspective on race relations and on officer-involved shootings and the impact that it has on the African American community.

Story continues

And I appreciated that, he continued. But likewise, we need to appreciate that respect for life goes across all professions.

More from National Review
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept.16

Trend:

Armenia is not resettling Armenian families from Lebanon to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, but well-trained Armenian militants, Arab journalist-researcher, expert on the South Caucasus Abdul-Hamid Gutub told Trend.

Gutub said that the Armenians of Lebanon once played an important role in the fight against Muslim Arabs and other minorities during the 1970-1980 civil war in Lebanon.

He noted that almost all Lebanese Armenians are trained well in military affairs, and it is no secret that among the "families" transferred to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan there are many experienced Armenian militants who have the skills to establish the so-called militia and conduct hostilities in urban development and mountainous landscape.

Not a lot of people write about this, but there are documentary facts that Armenians are being transferred to the occupied lands of Azerbaijan not only from Lebanon and Syria, Gutub noted.

There are documentary facts that the Armenians of Egypt also underwent military training in Armenia and in the occupied Azerbaijani territories, the Arab journalist stressed.

One of the confirmations of this kind is the documentary video footage shot by the Egyptian Armenian Osama Eid, who works as a journalist in one of the local media outlets, where it is described how Egyptian Armenians are trained in military camps in Armenia and in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, said Gutub.

Armenia is transferring the so-called families of Lebanese Armenians to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. All this is aimed at changing the demographic composition of the region, the journalist noted.

According to the UN resolutions, Armenia must leave the occupied Azerbaijani territories, but despite this, the authorities of this country, with the support of the Armenian diaspora, reject these resolutions, the expert said.

The occupied Azerbaijani territories can be considered the place of death or burial of international law, and UN resolutions, he said.

As for the position of the Arab countries, Gutub noted that the Arab countries must unhesitatingly solidarize with Azerbaijan, which is a member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

Unfortunately, not a single Arab country is showing due solidarity with Azerbaijan. The Arab countries should be given real support, following the example of Turkey, which is fully showing solidarity and demonstrating brotherhood with Azerbaijan, the journalist said.

The expert believes that the governments of Arab countries should closely cooperate with Azerbaijan in all matters, but Azerbaijan, in turn, should activate its diaspora in Arab countries.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko during a meeting in Sochi, Russia, on Sept. 14, 2020. (Russian Presidential Executive Office/Handout via Reuters)

Belarusian Leader Says He Asked Putin for Weapons

MOSCOWBelarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said on Wednesday he had asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to supply Belarus with weapons as he faces mass protests over a disputed election.

Speaking to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu during talks in Minsk, Lukashenko said: I also asked the president of Russia for several new types of weapons.

He did not specify which weapons he had requested from Putin.

We can keep the situation under control not only in Belarus, but also along our borders, Lukashenko added, according to Belta state news agency.

Russia and Belarus are currently holding joint military drills that run until late September. Lukashenko said the two countries should plan more drills of the same kind.

Lukashenko, who has been in power in the ex-Soviet country since 1994, also said that new presidential elections would be held once Belarus adopts a new constitution.

His comments came two days after Putin hosted Lukashenko for talks in the Black Sea resort of Sochi where the Russian leader bestowed a $1.5 billion loan on Belarus.

By Gabrielle Tetrault-Farber
Minister of Foreign Affairs Bogdan Aurescu had on Wednesday, a telephone conversation with his Cypriot counterpart, Nikos Christodoulides, upon the latter's request, the two addressing in detail the current situation in the Eastern Mediterranean.

The head of the Romanian diplomacy made "a renewed call for calm and the detente of the situation through dialogue between the parties involved, emphasizing the importance of finding solutions in accordance with international law, either through negotiation or through recourse to international justice," reads a press release of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) sent to AGERPRES.

Minister Aurescu reiterated Romania's solidarity with Cyprus and its full support for the ongoing EU-level efforts to de-escalate and relaunch dialogue in the region. He presented, in context, the willingness to share the experience gained by Romania in the process of maritime delimitation in the Black Sea, settled by the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

The Romanian Minister stressed, in the discussion with his counterpart, the importance of the Romanian community which is "a bridge between the two countries" and welcomed the cooperation between the two states on the topic of the diaspora, including the Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2018 in this field and which produces concrete beneficial effects.

The head of the Romanian diplomacy extended to his Cypriot counterpart the invitation to pay a visit to Bucharest, when the conditions allow, a proposal gladly accepted by the interlocutor, states the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Cypriot Foreign Affairs Minister thanked Romania for its balanced, constructive and principled position and for its openness in sharing the experience gained in the field of maritime delimitations.

The discussion also provided an opportunity for an exchange of views on developments in the region, with a focus on the situation in Belarus. Minister Bogdan Aurescu reiterated, on this occasion as well, his firm support for the democratization of the country and the respect of the rights of the citizens.
Good morning.

The fires across the West have continued to burn, continued to kill people, and continued to incinerate homes and fill our air with smoke. Firefighters have continued to do the arduous, time-consuming work of containing explosive flames before they reach the places we most want to protect.

Its an all-consuming cycle  one in which it would be understandable to forget that, once the fires have been extinguished, its all going to cost residents, businesses and governments a lot of money.

Tom Corringham, a researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, has not forgotten.

Were setting records year after year, he told me on Tuesday. Its a little early to say what the total impacts are going to be, but it wouldnt surprise me if the damages are over $20 billion this year.

And that, he added, is counting only the direct costs.

[Read more on how to help victims of the wildfires.]
New Delhi: On August 15, 2019 an article published in Turkish media by Ruwa Shah, daughter of separatist leader Altaf Ahmad Shah, wrote about how she feels for her allegedly besieged home while staying thousands of miles away in Turkey. While sharing her views she also mentioned that children in Kashmir never had a normal life.

Altaf Shah is an accused of terror funding in a case registered in 2017 by India's central probe agency National Investigation Agency (NIA). As per the NIA investigation, separatist leader Altaf Shah was found to be involved in receiving and collecting funds through illegal means, including hawala for causing disruption in Kashmir Valley by way of pelting stones on security forces, burning schools, damaging public property and waging war against India.

The article, published by Ruwa Shah in Turkish media, is part of a well-planned conspiracy to malign India's image internationally. The propaganda against India in the Turkish media is part of a larger conspiracy. Not only Kashmiri separatists, but it has been seen in the last few years that a large number of Pakistani journalists have been hired by Turkish media on the instruction of Erdogan government, to capitalize on extremism in the domestic politics and to advance the wagon of political Islam to the world, Turkey has employed a large number of Pakistani nationals with extremist inclinations in the Turkish media, especially in the two most prominent global news platforms.

As per some analysts, "Anadolu Agency and TRT of Turkish media, previously, these two news agencies preferred Americans and British to hire as journalists. However, as Erdogan began to promote radicalism at domestic front and push political Islam internationally, the Turkish press went on a rapid spree of hiring Pakistani journalists, who believe in radical Islam and could be further used as soldiers to materialize Erdogans global aspirations through political Islam.

Live TV

Currently, out of 11 copy editors in Anadolu Agency, five posts have been occupied by the Pakistani nationals. The number is constantly increasing as more and more Pakistanis are joining the news organisation. Besides these journalists, Turkish media has also hired a number of separatist elements from Jammu and Kashmir.

Foreign policy observers argue that A number of Pakistani journalists working with these news outlets have been placed by the Pakistani ISI in the Turkish media to strengthen Pakistans position in Turkey as well as to use Turkey and allied elements to an advantage for taking on India, however, the biggest damage inflicted by Pakistani journalists with extremist thoughts has been on the syncretic culture of Turkey, which was based on Sufi thoughts. Individuals working in Turkish media are also working towards replacing the liberal form of Islam being practiced in Turkey with the radical Pakistani-Deobandi Islam.

Many believe, sooner or later, the Turkish society will have to wake up to the damage caused by the radicalization efforts of Erdogan government with Pakistan's help as besides providing geopolitical mileage to Erdogan, the radical Pakistani journalists have also been responsible for pushing extremist content domestically in Turkey and manufacturing consent amongst the common public in Erdogans favour.

Turkish President Erdogan has pulled off another Hagia Sophia. After the conversion of two UNESCO World Heritage Sites - Hagia Sophia and Kariye Church, Heybeliada is his next target and many others might be in the line. His government plans to convert the Heybeliada Sanatorium  a hospital built in 200 acres of land on one of Princes Islands, to a religious school for radicalising the youngsters. The land has been taken from the Health Ministry and handed over to Diyanet  the Directorate of Religious Affairs.

Besides being a significant development, it is a more symbolic one. Heybeliada previously had a religious school which was shut down in 1971 by the government. Hence, through this move Erdogan wants to communicate to the Muslim Ummah that he is on a mission of re-establishing Islamic institutions and reinforcing Islamic symbols.

This is believed to be a primary step of the process of handing over the religious education from the control of the Ministry of National Education's General Directorate of Religious Education to the Diyanet. Currently,uncountable numbers of schools are being run to radicalize the Turkish youth by training them in radical Islamic theology, raising up as clerics, and later sending on a mission to radicalize the Turkish population and preach political Islam elsewhere in the world. Another idea is to raise the upcoming generations as a herd of non-critical, non-inquisitive, and non-inventive individuals who could be easily lured to accept the supremacy of Erdogan and can fight for his interests.

Erdogan and his party have been focusing on weaker students as well as those coming from the marginalized societies. On failing to secure admissions in better schools due to poor academic performance, academically weaker students are left with no option except joining religious schools. Further, the education structure in Turkey is highly fragmented on the basis of class division. The affluent families send their kids to private schools and the middle-class families send their children to public schools. Whereas, underprivileged families usually send their wards to religious Islamic clergy schools or Madrassas, where they fall victim to the radicalization agenda of Erdogan.

Under Erdogans regime, the Diyanet has become all-pervasive and one of the most powerful institutions in Turkey. The Diyanet is also lavishly spending on printing religious calendars for children of Turkey. The Diyanet has recently issued a receipt of 10.6 million Turkish Liras for designing and printing calendars for the year 2021. It plans to publish around 3.42 million calendars in different formats and contents, including those for children. The power consolidation by the Diyanet and its growing expenditure highlights the kind of prominence it has gained during Erdogan's regime.

Besides instigating radical feelings, another potential threat is of triggering sectarian violence in Turkey as the country houses at least 30 major Islamic sects, divided in hundreds of divisions.

It is quite possible that Pakistani journalists could replicate the efforts of Pakistan that it took to fragment societies in areas like Sindh, Gilgiit-Baltistan, and PoJK to ensure the marginalization of Sufi culture. Hence, Turkish society will have to take a cautious approach in order to dodge the upcoming threat to their pluralistic society and take the content published by Pakistani journalists with a pinch of salt.
The NIH grant funds will be used to further develop and refine Aspero Medical's single balloon overtube product with integrated inflation capability, designed primarily for small bowel enteroscopy. "We are incredibly pleased to receive this phase one grant funding from the NIH and plan to utilize the funds to advance the development and introduction of a next generation single balloon overtube for GI endoscopy procedures," said Dr. Rentschler, Aspero Medical CEO. "This novel balloon design will have a significant impact for both caregivers and patients."

Balloon endoscopy has become the standard of care in the drive to diagnose and treat small bowel disease. Unlike the Aspero Medical balloon, which is characterized by the addition of a proprietary gripping micro-texture, current balloons are smooth and round, making them prone to slippage. Ineffective balloons are estimated to result in over $100 million in increased annual healthcare costs annually due to incomplete or lengthened procedures.

The single balloon overtube project will be led by principal investigator (PI) Mark Rentschler and supported through Prospect Life Sciences of Broomfield, CO. Rentschler is Chief Executive Officer for Aspero Medical and Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder.

"It is immensely valuable to have the support of the National Institutes of Health with the development of this next generation product for the gastrointestinal endoscopy market," said Dr. Steven Edmundowicz, Chief Medical Officer for Aspero Medical. "The ever-increasing number of patients suffering with small bowel disease requires that we look to develop innovative diagnostic and treatment options. We look forward to ensuring that the Aspero Medical product is available for all cases where the innovative design can make a difference."

"We are very pleased to see this additional support from the NIH for Aspero Medical. We believe the Aspero Medical technology has the potential to improve the performance of certain gastrointestinal endoscopy procedures, save time for practitioners and patients, and improve patient outcomes," said Mike Freeman, Innosphere Ventures general partner. "We look forward to continuing to support the company and the ongoing development efforts."

This research is supported by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R43DK126504. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

About the NIH:

This research is supported by the National Institute Of Diabetes And Digestive And Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R43DK126504. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

About Innosphere Ventures:

Innosphere Ventures accelerates the success of science and technology-based startup and emerging companies and operates a seed stage venture capital fund. As Colorado's leading incubation program and commercialization expert, Innosphere's program focuses on ensuring companies are investor-ready, connecting founders with experienced advisors and early hires, making introductions to corporate partners, exit planning, and accelerating top line revenue growth. Innosphere has been supporting Colorado startups for over 20 years and is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization with a strong mission to create jobs and grow Colorado's entrepreneurship ecosystem. www.innosphere.org

About Aspero Medical

Aspero Medical's Pillar micro-texture technology was developed at the University of Colorado. The technology was developed to improve gastrointestinal endoscopy procedure performance and outcomes. Aspero Medical was founded in 2018 by Mark Rentschler, PhD, PE, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder, and Steven Edmundowicz, MD, Professor and Medical Director of the Digestive Health Center at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Center, and received initial equity funding through Innosphere Ventures, Fort Collins, Colorado. www.asperomedical.com

Press Contact:

Mark Rentschler, Ph.D.,P.E., CEO

(720) 315-5165

https://www.asperomedical.com/

SOURCE Aspero Medical

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Physical distancing rules under COVID-19 have doubled the cost of operating shelter beds across Toronto, leaving roughly a third of shelters no longer viable, according to a new report.

More than 30 sites have been identified so far for possible redevelopment into permanent or transitional housing, which would be cheaper to operate, ensure proper distancing and move longer-term residents out of the emergency system, according to the report from the citys Shelter, Support and Housing Administration (SSHA) and United Way of Greater Toronto.

The report, called the COVID-19 Interim Shelter Recovery Strategy, says creating a redevelopment plan for no-longer-viable shelters and respites should be a priority for the next 12 months.

The report goes before the citys planning and housing committee next week, and then to city council Sept. 30.

Before COVID, the average cost to operate a shelter bed in Toronto was more than $40,000 a year, compared with roughly $24,000 annually for a supportive housing unit. The average cost to run a shelter bed has since doubled, with capacities reduced because of pandemic measures.

So long as physical distancing is required, the report estimates the city could save about $15 million a month if it moved 3,000 shelter residents into supportive housing  without even taking into account how much it would also reduce costs in other areas like health care.

Given the costs of running a shelter bed under COVID conditions have now exceeded the cost of housing people significantly, it made sense for us to think about heres a bunch of infrastructure that we dont have to buy, said Mary-Anne Bedard, general manager of SSHA.

Bedard noted that operating money was already attached to sites that may have been made non-viable by COVID-19, and that rent could further offset the costs of the supportive units.

The repurposed facilities would be aimed at individuals with high-support needs, who werent identified as suitable for rapid rehousing efforts during COVID-19.

All the facilities so far noted as nonviable are shelters, Bedard said, and the assessment only considered a facilitys financial standing, after their capacity was cut by the virus.

SSHA still has to determine whether any respites can also be repurposed, and whether the configuration of any sites makes them non-viable due to an inability to maintain distancing.

Several Toronto shelter and outreach workers said they supported the goals in Tuesdays report. Congregate shelter settings have never been particularly dignified, have never been particularly safe, said Diana McNally of the Toronto Drop-In Network.

Front-line shelter worker Tommy Taylor said he, too, was happy with the philosophy of repurposing non-viable shelter and respite facilities. His main concern, he said, was follow-through, since the city needed funds from other governments to turn its plan into a reality.

Over the next two years, the city hopes to create 3,000 permanent housing units, including 2,000 with support services, via modular projects, acquisitions, renovations and new portable Canada-Ontario Housing Benefits.

But it will need money from the province and Ottawa to make that happen  $726.5 million in 2020, plus continuing costs for future years.

The report calls for an acquisition strategy, to secure hotels, rooming houses, residential buildings and even office spaces to use as housing across Toronto.

Coun. Joe Cressy said Tuesday that talks with Ottawa about supporting that effort had been very positive, and the city hoped to see a formal announcement in the upcoming throne speech.

However, street nurse Cathy Crowe said she was disappointed the report didnt commit to a one-person-per-room model for shelters.

Bedard said the city had no intention of continuing to use bunkbeds, which put residents in close quarters, but she said shelter users didnt necessarily need their own rooms.

You need to have low occupancy, Bedard said. Its the air exchange for long periods of time. Creating the opportunity for people to maintain that distancing while in the shelter is whats important.

Victoria Gibson is a Toronto-based reporter for the Star covering affordable housing. Her reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative. Reach her via email: victoriagibson@thestar.ca
Delhi: The museum was meant to showcase the arms, art and fashion of the Mughals, Muslim rulers who reigned over the Indian subcontinent from the 16th to the 18th centuries.

But officials this week in Agra, home to the Taj Mahal  the world's most famous example of Mughal-era architecture and India's best-known building  had another idea: a complete overhaul of the museum so that it would instead celebrate India's Hindu majority, leaders and history.

Chief Minister of the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath. Credit:AP

The changes to the planned museum are the latest example of a Hindu nationalist revival sweeping the country, spurred by the country's popular Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. Critics of the government say Modi and his supporters are fanning the flames of religious division, damaging India's secular foundation and rewriting the country's history to remove Muslim achievements from the narrative.

Ground was broken for the museum in 2016 after financing was approved under the previous government, but little progress has been made on its construction.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Cabinet resigned, clearing the way for his successor to take over after parliamentary confirmation later Wednesday. Abe, Japan's longest-serving prime minister, announced last month that he was stepping down because of health problems.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, long seen as Abe's right-hand man, was chosen Monday as the new head of the governing Liberal Democratic Party, virtually guaranteeing his election as prime minister in a parliamentary vote Wednesday because of the party's majority.

Suga, a self-made politician and the son of a strawberry grower in the northern prefecture of Akita, has stressed his background in promising to serve the interests of ordinary people and rural communities. He has said he will pursue Abe's unfinished policies, and that his top priorities will be fighting the coronavirus and turning around an economy battered by the pandemic.

He gained the support of party heavyweights and their followers early in the campaign on expectations he would continue Abe's line. Suga has been a loyal supporter of Abe since Abe's first stint as prime minister from 2006 to 2007. Abe's tenure ended abruptly because of illness, and Suga helped him return as prime minister in 2012.

Suga has praised Abe's diplomacy and economic policies when asked about what he would like to accomplish as prime minister. Suga, who does not belong to any wing within the party and opposes factionalism, says he is a reformer who will break down vested interests and rules that hamper reforms. He says he will set up a new government agency to speed up Japan's lagging digital transformation.

Suga said he will appoint reform-minded, hard-working people to the new Cabinet, to be launched later Wednesday. Media reports say some key ministers, including Finance Minister Taro Aso, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Olympic Minister Seiko Hashimoto, will stay. Compared to his political prowess at home, Suga has hardly travelled overseas and his diplomatic skills are unknown, though he is largely expected to pursue Abe's priorities.

The new prime minister will inherit a range of challenges, including relations with China, which continues its assertive actions in the contested East China Sea, and what to do with the Tokyo Olympics, which were postponed to next summer due to the coronavirus. And he will have to establish a good relationship with whomever wins the US presidential race.

Also read: Japan PM Shinzo Abe steps down amid health concerns

Also read: Yoshihide Suga wins leadership vote for Japanese PM with landslide majority

Also read: PM Modi invites Shinzo Abe, wife Akie Abe to visit India
The intensive care network in Frances second-largest city is at risk of being overwhelmed by coronavirus patients, officials have warned.

Marseille hospitals director Jean-Olivier Arnaud said the citys intensive care beds were nearly overloaded after a record surge in new infections across the country in recent weeks.

He said the risk to the hospital network persisted even though new beds were added over the weekend.

We are not far from saturation, he said.

We are at the top of the national ranking of departments whose situation is developing the most unfavourably.

A similar warning was sounded in Bordeaux  another virus hotspot  with authorities there battling a very rapid increase over the past 10 days.

All the warning signals are flashing red, Bordeaux hospital director Yann Bubien said.

Both cities imposed strict measures to limit public gatherings to reign in the surge.

Public gatherings are limited to 10 people or fewer, drinking outside late in the evening is banned and large events are limited to 1,000 seated people separated with a minimum one-metre distance.

Workers are being told not to come into the office, student parties are banned and dancing at bars or at weddings is now illegal.

Visits to care homes have also been drastically reduced.

Additional police will be deployed to enforce the measures in Bordeaux, with the situation to be reviewed in "two or three weeks".

France has recorded 404,564 cases and 30,790 deaths since the pandemic began, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally.

The country suffered its worst day for new infections on Saturday after a record 10,561 new cases in 24 hours.

A group of doctors to warned the surge "signalled the end of playtime" for the French.

New cases are rising fastest among young people but there has been a surge across all age groups.

"After the joy of reuniting this summer, it's time to be careful in the private world," the doctors said in a column published in Le Journal du Dimanche on Sunday.

Prime Minister Jean Castex said he would not be imposing a nationwide lockdown and instead asked specific areas to introduce their own measures.

He said the situation was not the same across the country and it didnt make sense to cripple the economy.

Other hotspots include Paris and Lyon.
Kanye West told campaign staff to avoid 'fornicating' outside of marriage and said if he doesn't win the White House in 2020 he'll try again in four years, pointing to his astrological sign, Gemini.

The New York Times produced a new profile on West's unconventional presidential bid and two Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters couldn't quite crack why the rapper was running, but did unearth his Birthday Party's platform of more prayer in schools, fewer abortions, police reform and reducing household and student loan debt.

West announced he was running for president on the Fourth of July - too late to appear on many states' ballots.

Kanye West is photographed during his one campaign 'rally,' which took place July 19 in North Charleston, South Carolina

A tweet of Kanye West's campaign sign that includes an image of actress Kirsten Dunst who tweeted in response, 'What's the message here, and why am I apart of it?'

Since then, he's held one official campaign 'rally,' where he ended up in tears after word vomiting a story about how he wanted to abort his first daughter North with wife Kim Kardashian.

Kardashian has since come out publicly about her husband's bipolar disorder.

Since then, New York Magazine and Vice News reported that Republican operatives have been assisting West with getting on the ballot, likely because they think he'll damage Democrat Joe Biden in what could be a razor-thin margin that wins the presidential race.

West wasn't able to get on the ballot in Florida, a key swing state, Michigan, a state Trump flipped in 2016 to win the White House over Hillary Clinton and Texas, which has become more competitive for the Democrats in recent years.

He will, however, appear on the ballot in Minnesota, which Republican perceive as flippable to Trump - especially in light of the protests stemming from George Floyd's Memorial Day death in Minneapolis.

Additionally, Iowa and Colorado are seen as competitive too, and will feature West on the ballot.

Third party candidacies have impacted presidential races before, such as Ralph Nader in 2000 and Jill Stein in 2016. In both those instances, the Democrat has won the popular vote, but narrowly lost the Electoral College to the GOP nominee.

But The Times profile points out that West - who has become a Christian revivalist - could attract some support away from President Donald Trump too.

'Does anyone at your magazine believe in Jesus,' West asked The Times reporter that he spoke to after tweeting, 'I'm willing to do a live interview with the [New York Times] about my meeting with Jared.'

The New York Times is a newspaper.

West and White House aide Jared Kushner had recently sat down for a meeting, which added fuel to the narrative that West's run was meant to spoil Biden's bid.

He reached a reporter around midnight on the east coast from his home in Cody, Wyoming, and wanted to do a Zoom call with a Times editor present - an ask the reporter declined.

'I'm Kanye, who are you?' West said when getting on the call. 'I'm the head of everything.'

West then 'expressed anguish about abortion,' the profile said.

However, his position isn't classically conservative because he doesn't want to ban the procedure.

'You can't do that,' he told The Times. 'I don't want to ban or stop or point fingers or anything.'

He said he wants 'stipends for families that need support, creating orphanages that are really high-level desirable for people to go to and the redesign of communities and cities in general to be supporting of families.'

In later communication with the paper, West ignored a question about why he was running when the reporter pointed out that his name wouldn't appear on every state's ballot.

'The first question is incorrect as I am already on some ballots,' West texted back.

John Boyd, a music manager who is advising West, explained to The Times that time, in West's mind, isn't so important.

'Kanye doesn't look at time like that,' Boyd said. 'For him, any time is a good time. He doesn't look at time the way we look at time. For him, it probably wasn't even an issue. That's my humble perspective. If it were me, I would be thinking about - it's too late, or this, or that. But that's me. I'm not Kanye.'

But West suggested that some time in the future he'll succeed.

'The reason why I know eventually - eventually could be three months, eventually could be three and a half years - the reason why I eventually will make a great president is because I'm sensitive,' the rapper said on Nick Cannon's podcast, which The Times cited in its profile.

He said he was 'here to serve.'

'Even as a Gemini, I feel the energy in the room, I read body language, I read this energy and I hurt,' West said. 'I hurt for the country, I hurt not just [for] Black people, but all people of America. And I hurt for all people of the world.'
New Delhi: In a first, the IBSA grouping (India, Brazil and South Africa) issued a joint statement calling for "accelerated and comprehensive reforms" of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). The joint statement was issued after virtual IBSA foreign ministers meet.

The statement expressed "frustration with the slow pace of progress on Security Council reforms in the Inter-Governmental Negotiations process which lacks transparency in its working methods". The joint statement said, "We insist that the time has come to move towards a result-oriented process with provision for substantive negotiations based on a single comprehensive text in a formal setting."

It must be remembered that ten years after inter-governmental negotiations began, the negotiations remain in the informal stage. Intergovernmental Negotiations framework is a group within the United Nations that is looking into UNSC reforms but its conversation is considered "informal" in nature and United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) rule of procedure doesn't apply.

The statement said, "Failure to reform the Security Council has serious implications for international peace and security". It called for "significant and accelerated reform" which "is critical to ensure that this organ is more representative, effective and responsive, and remains capable of delivering on the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter".

The statement also extended support for Africa at the high table. It said, "Africa must be equitably represented in a reformed Security Council, we reiterate our support for the representation of Africa in the Council in both the permanent and non-permanent categories and express our unequivocal support for the Common African Position, as stated in the Ezulwini Consensus and the Sirte Declaration."

Ezulwini Consensus and Sirte declaration call for at least two permanent and five to two non-permanent UNSC seats to be given to African countries at UNSC.

India was represented by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, South Africa by FM Grace Naledi Mandisa Pandor and Brazil by FM Ambassador Fabio Marzano. During the virtual meet, ministers discussed issues like terror, climate change, sustainable development, South-South Cooperation and on-going COVID-19 situation.
A man who had had a banana sent over to a black man at a pub in London, the United Kingdom in November last year has been found to be guilty of a racist hate crime.

Louie Kincella, 20, and a resident of Mottingham, was found guilty under the Public Order Act last Friday by Bexley Magistrates Court. Kincella has been fined with 1,200. (Rs 1,14,390 approximately).

The incident in question occurred in November 2019 when 25-year-old Mark Darcy-Smith visited The Richmal Crompton pub in Bromley, south-east London. Smith was having a drink with a work colleague and was appalled when a waiter brought forth an unpeeled banana on a plate along with a receipt.

While Kincella later said that he had sent the banana over to Smith as a joke, the incident left Smith and his friend scarred as they were sure that sending the banana - which has traditionally been used in racist attacks against black people by way of symbolising them as uncivilized apes - was a racially motivated act.

While the Weatherspoons pub refused to take Smiths complaints seriously at the time, the victim did not give up and approached the police with a formal complaint. After an intensive and painstaking" investigation, cops at the Scotland Yard were able to identify the accused.

It turned out that while Kincella, who was also present at the bar, had not made the order for the banana in person (which is why the pub employees could not initially figure out where the order came from) but through the Weatherspoons app which allows users to place orders remotely.

Kincella, who was arrested on August 17, was charged with the hate crime on April 3. Detective Inspector Stuart Hart, head of the Safeguarding Team at the Met Police, told media that though hate crimes were traditionally underreported, the Met took them very seriously indeed.

Following the verdict, Smith said that he felt like a massive weight was lifted" from his chest.

He even took to Facebook to share the update along with a banana with a side of some friendly advice - Dont be racist".
TCT Television Expands Television Ministry with Six New Market TV Broadcast Stations

NEWS PROVIDED BY

TCT Television Network

Sept. 15, 2020



MARION, Ill., Sept. 15, 2020 /Standard Newswire/ -- TCT Television, one of the largest independent Christian television broadcasters, today announced the further expansion of its station group with the purchase of six full power broadcast TV stations:

WWTW Memphis, Tennessee

WFBD Destin-Pensacola-Ft Walton, FL Mobile, AL

WWJX Jackson, MS

WBIH Selma-Montgomery, AL

KCWV Duluth, MN

WFXW Greenville-Greenwood, MS

The six stations, which cover more than 2.65 million TV households, add to TCT's industry-leading broadcast reach, giving the Network coast to coast coverage. The TCT Network can be viewed anytime of the day or night, any day of the week on DirecTV Channel 377, multiple cable systems, satellites, internet, over the air and through its own TCT Mobile App.



Since its inception the main purpose of TCT has been to broadcast the Gospel. These station acquisitions follow through on our commitment to broadcast the Gospel to the world. For the past 44 years, TCT has shown a great growth story. From the beginning of one station, TCT has continued to expand into an international broadcast ministry. From its exclusively produced programming, movies, and ministry programming, TCT constantly provides faith and family programming at its finest.



TCT's Founder and President, Dr. Garth Coonce, relates "This station addition couldn't have come at a more opportune time. The need to share the love and hope of Jesus Christ, during this critical time in our nation's history, has never been greater and we are looking forward to being able to providing that encouragement across the entire nation, from coast to coast."



What's for the future? Continued expansion is planned and will continue. Over-the-air and over-the-top are the two fastest growing wireless delivery platforms that TCT is working on. While continuing to focus on broadcast television, premium program quality content will enable us to best provide both OTA and OTT service to our viewers and Partners.



About TCT

TCT is a global television network dedicated to sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ with commercial-free programming, 24/7! Find out more about TCT and our broadcast ministry at www.tct.tv, and while you're there be sure to tell a friend (or two) about us!



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There have been many crazy days in Dail Eireann, but this one was truly over the top.

A Health Minister spent the morning telling us all how to live with coronavirus - then appeared clobbered by his enemy in the afternoon.

And the Taoiseach and Tanaiste, who had flanked him at Dublin Castle - both former Health Minsters - were sent skittering like ninepins.

Their senior colleagues were next similarly impacted, the whole Cabinet bowled over.

A good start to Living with Covid for a Government whose luck just keeps on getting worse. To adapt the phrase: You couldn't mask it up.

Read More

As Stephen Donnelly was sent off for a Covid test after consulting the in-house GP, acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn, the rest of the Cabinet hung on the latter's every word.

He gave them all the standard advice in suspected cases. They should restrict their movements, even if this were to be an abundance of caution.

The Cabinet obeyed. But it wouldn't be them if they didn't then completely mangle the message as the story of Donnelly feeling dodgy dramatically sprang loose, like a child flung from a trampoline.

The Chief Whip, Jack Chambers, was sent to inform Ceann Comhairle Sean O Fearghail.

It appears that the Ceann Comhairle got the wrong end of the stick, because he announced a "very serious" turn of events.

TDs were genuinely startled. It appeared a tragedy was about to be announced. Thankfully, such was not the case.

Expand Close Taoiseach Micheal Martin, Tanaiste Leo Varadkar and Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, arriving at the unveiling of the Irish Government's blueprint for living with Covid-19 in Dublin. Photo: Julien Behal/PA / Facebook

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Whatsapp Taoiseach Micheal Martin, Tanaiste Leo Varadkar and Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, arriving at the unveiling of the Irish Government's blueprint for living with Covid-19 in Dublin. Photo: Julien Behal/PA

Except that the message went out that Ministers were self-isolating, which was not strictly true. They had only been told to restrict their movements.

More communications bungling, on a day when Ministers had been slaughtered in the Dail for their perplexing Living with Covid plan and its utter lack of clarity.

The Dail was dramatically suspended for a week. This was at 5.15pm. By the Six One News, with Micheal Martin smiling bravely amid the chaos, it was made clear that the Dail would be back at 8pm.

Junior ministers would represent the Government, Martin rictus-grinned, trying to sound confident at the Chief Whip being back in charge of the message, whatever it was.

In the meantime, the Taoiseach would be back at his desk, using Zoom and the phone.

David McCullagh monstered him over the fine detail of the disastrous plan. Livid with Covid.

The Taoiseach found himself arguing impenetrable micro stuff as McCullagh crossly consulted flapping papers.

The Head of Government looked very unhappy, and spoke unhappily, regretting some Opposition criticisms of his unfathomable Covid plan as "seeking to undermine" the national health strategy.

But they had already done that themselves, through a diabolical press conference at Dublin Castle in which three men made fine speeches but didn't actually explain anything, other than that the whole country was at Level Two.

And then Dublin wasn't. The capital wasn't to be found in Two nor in Three.

It was probably between Two and Three (or up a sleeve), and not exactly level with the rest of the country because elements had been added on.

"Level two-and-a-bit," mocked the Opposition.

Meanwhile, the Government website was infected with duff Covid information and performed a few somersaults during the day in a bid to cleanse itself.

The Health Minister went on radio and said you could "absolutely" leave Dublin, even though the official line appeared to suggest otherwise.

Sure the poor man wasn't well.

Much later last night came the welcome news that Mr Donnelly's Covid test had come back negative.

But please do carry on with the carry-on, folks. You're a panic.
William H Gates Sr, a lawyer and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates' father, has died at the age of 94. Gates Sr, who was suffering from Alzheimer's disease, died on Monday at his home in Washington's Hood Canal. As Bill Gates moved from business to social work, Gates Sr advised him in his philanthropy works. In early 90s, Gates Sr worked from basement office at his home and helped share Bill Gates' vision for helping others.

"I never imagined that the frequently argumentative little boy I faced each night at dinner, the one eating my food and using my name, was to be my future employer," Gates Sr said in a 2003 speech at a Rotary International event. In his blogpost on Tuesday, Bill Gates remembered his father saying: "I will miss my dad every day."

"We will miss him more than we can express right now. We are feeling grief but also gratitude. My dad's passing was not unexpected-he was 94 years old and his health had been declining-so we have all had a long time to reflect on just how lucky we are to have had this amazing man in our lives for so many years. And we are not alone in these feelings. My dad's wisdom, generosity, empathy, and humility had a huge influence on people around the world," Bill Gates wrote.

Recognising his father's "quiet influence" on almost everything Bill Gates did in life, he said in Microsoft's early years, he turned to his father at key moments to seek his legal counsel. "Incidentally, my dad played a similar role for Howard Schultz of Starbucks, helping him out at a key juncture in his business life. I suspect there are many others who have similar stories," he wrote.

Also read: Bill Gates is excited about India's potential for growth despite the slowdown

"My dad also had a profound influence on my drive...and he modelled an amazing work ethic. He was one of the hardest-working and most respected lawyers in Seattle, as well as a major civic leader in our region. My dad's influence on our philanthropy was just as big," Gates wrote.

He said the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation would not be what it is today without his dad. "More than anyone else, he shaped the values of the foundation. He was collaborative, judicious, and serious about learning. He was dignified but hated anything that seemed pretentious. (Dad's given name was William H. Gates II, but he never used the "II"-he thought it sounded stuffy.)," said Gates.

Bill Gates said his dad had a profoundly positive influence on his most important roles - husband and father. "When I am at my best, I know it is because of what I learned from my dad about respecting women, honouring individuality, and guiding children's choices with love and respect," he wrote about his father. Gates said the experience of being the son of Bill Gates was incredible. "People used to ask my dad if he was the real Bill Gates. The truth is, he was everything I try to be," he wrote.

Also read: India's role in coronavirus vaccine production critical in combating pandemic: Bill Gates
She welcomed her beloved baby girl in December 2019.

And Rachel Riley was every inch the devoted mother as she stepped out with daughter Maven and husband Pasha Kovalev after Countdown filming in Salford on Wednesday.

The blonde beauty, 34, looked happier than ever as she smiled with Maven, nine months, in a leopard print sling on her chest.

Cute: Rachel Riley was every inch the devoted mother as she stepped out with daughter Maven and husband Pasha Kovalev after Countdown filming in Salford on Wednesday

Rachel looked stylish in a white crochet jumper paired with black jeans and silver sandals as she stepped out pushing a pram.

Her blonde tresses were styled in soft waves while her pretty features were enhanced with a rich palette of make-up.

Maven matched her mum in a white babygro and sandals.

Former Strictly dancer Pasha, 40, looked casual cool in a black jacket, tee and shorts as he wheeled the suitcases.

Cute: The blonde beauty, 34, looked happier than ever as she smiled with Maven, nine months, in a leopard print sling on her chest

Glow: Rachel looked stylish in a white crochet jumper paired with black jeans and silver sandals as she stepped out pushing a pram

Rachel, Pasha and Maven have spent lockdown with her Russian mother-in-law Galina, whose month-long visit to the UK was extended amid the pandemic.

The couple, who became first-time parents to Maven in December, have been enjoyed extended time off at home amid the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking on Heart Breakfast with Jamie Theakston and Lucy Horobin, the blonde recently admitted the countrywide lockdown has been something of a blessing for the family as they have been given 'enforced maternity and paternity leave'.

The Oxford University alum said: 'Well we're quite fortunate in a way, I was supposed to be back at work, Pasha was supposed to be on tour, and it's kind of enforced maternity and paternity leave we didn't have before so we're loving it.

'She's just over five months, I've left her in bed in kind of the same sleeping position as Pash, if you hear crying it could be either one of them I have no idea.'

Rachel's appearance came after she revealed she came to the aid of one of her friends suffering domestic abuse, after learning of her plight during lockdown.

Sweet: Rachel looked delighted as she cradled her adorable baby girl

The media personality spoke out as she got candid about the abuse so many more women are experiencing behind closed doors.

She told The Mirror: 'I've been supporting a friend who I didn't know was in a situation of domestic violence for some years. While I can't go into specifics, I know COVID has made things more difficult.

'It's been so hard for women in her situation, without direct access to support services. I saw a poster that said 'Domestic abusers have always worked from home' and that's so true.

'There's no outlet currently. People are trapped at home, the kids aren't at school and police and social services are running a limited service.'
Researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Heidelberg University have developed a photoresist for two-photon microprinting. It has now been used for the first time to produce three-dimensional polymer microstructures with cavities in the nano range. In Advanced Materials, the scientists involved in the joint Cluster of Excellence 3D Matter Made to Order report how porosity can be controlled during printing and how this affects light scattering properties of the microstructures. (DOI: 10.1002/adma.202002044)

Photoresists are printing inks used to print smallest microstructures in three dimensions by so-called two-photon lithography. During printing, a laser beam is moved in all spatial directions through the initially liquid photoresist. The photoresist hardens in the focal point of the laser beam only. Little by little, complex microstructures can be built in this way. In a second step, a solvent is used to remove those areas that were not exposed to radiation. Complex polymer architectures in the micrometer and nanometer ranges remain.

Two-photon polymerization - or two-photon microprinting based on this process - has been studied extensively for some years now, in particular as regards the production of microoptics, so-called metamaterials, and microscaffolds for experiments with single biological cells. To expand the spectrum of applications, new printable materials are required. This is the point of departure of the scientists involved in the Cluster of Excellence 3D Matter Made to Order (3DMM2O) of KIT and Heidelberg University. "With the help of conventional photoresists, it was possible to print transparent, glassy polymers only," says Frederik Mayer, physicist of KIT and main author of the study. "Our new photoresist for the first time enables printing of 3D microstructures from porous nanofoam. This polymer foam has cavities of 30 to 100 nm in size, which are filled with air."

From Transparent to White

"There has never been a photoresist for 3D laser microprinting, with which "white" material can be printed," Frederik Mayer points out. As in a porous eggshell, the many small air holes in the porous nanoarchitectures make them appear white. Mixing white particles into a conventional photoresist would not have this effect, because the photoresist must be transparent for the (red) laser beam during printing. "Our photoresist," Mayer says, "is transparent prior to printing, but the printed objects are white and have a high reflectivity." The researchers from Karlsruhe and Heidelberg demonstrated this by printing an Ulbricht ball (an optical component) as fine as a hair.

Another factor that opens up new applications is the extremely large internal surface area of the porous material. It might be useful for filtration processes on smallest space, highly water-repellent coatings, or the cultivation of biological cells.

The collaboration of three of the nine research thrusts of the Cluster of Excellence revealed the uses for which the novel photoresist is suited and how it can be applied in the best possible way. By means of electron microscopy scans and optical experiments, researchers showed how the cavities are distributed in printed structures and how their formation can be controlled by varying the printing parameters and in particular the intensity of the laser pulses. Work in the cluster of excellence was carried out by materials scientists from Heidelberg University as well as chemists and physicists from KIT.

###

Cluster of Excellence 3D Matter Made to Order

In the Cluster of Excellence 3D Matter Made to Order (3DMM2O), scientists of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Heidelberg University conduct interdisciplinary research into innovative technologies and materials for digital scalable additive manufacture to enhance the precision, speed, and performance of 3D printing. Work is aimed at completely digitizing 3D manufacture and materials processing from the molecule to the microstructure. In addition to funding as a cluster of excellence under the Excellence Strategy competition launched by the federation and the federal states, 3DMM3O is financed by Carl Zeiss Foundation.

More information: http://www.3dmm2o.de

Original Publication:

F. Mayer, D. Ryklin, I. Wacker, R. Curticean, M. ?alkovsky, A. Niemeyer, Z. Dong, P. A. Levkin, D. Gerthsen, R. R. Schroder, M. Wegener: 3D Two?Photon Microprinting of Nanoporous Architectures. Advanced Materials 2020, https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202002044

Press contact:

Justus Hartlieb

Press Officer

Phone: +49 721 608-41155

Email: justus.hartlieb@kit.edu

Ruperto Carola founded in 1386 is an internationally oriented research university, whose spectrum of subjects covers the humanities, social sciences, law, as well as natural and life sciences including medicine. Its leading role in German science is reflected by its successes in the excellence competitions - it is one of the German Universities of Excellence - as well as by international rankings. Heidelberg University seeks to further develop outstanding individual disciplines, strengthen interdisciplinary cooperation, and transfer its research findings to society. The about 30,000 students are offered research-based studies in more than 180 study programs with a large variety of subject combinations and individual qualification paths.

Being "The Research University in the Helmholtz Association," KIT creates and imparts knowledge for the society and the environment. It is the objective to make significant contributions to the global challenges in the fields of energy, mobility and information. For this, about 9,300 employees cooperate in a broad range of disciplines in natural sciences, engineering sciences, economics, and the humanities and social sciences. KIT prepares its 24,400 students for responsible tasks in society, industry, and science by offering research-based study programs. Innovation efforts at KIT build a bridge between important scientific findings and their application for the benefit of society, economic prosperity, and the preservation of our natural basis of life. KIT is one of the German universities of excellence.

This press release is available on the internet at http://www.sek.kit.edu/english/press_office.php.
Namita Bajpai By

Express News Service

LUCKNOW: In a fresh row, the descendants of late Jat king Mahendra Pratap Singh, who had donated land to various educational institutes, including Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), have demanded the land back from the university claiming that it was given to it on a 90-year lease which had expired last year. They have also demanded the AMU administration to rename its city school after the late king.

However, the AMU executive council has constituted a panel to look into the matter and submit its report to the varsity administration.

Officials said that Mahendra Pratap Singh (1886-1979), who was part of the countrys freedom struggle and was a renowned social reformer, had given 3.04 acres of land to the university on lease for constructing a school in 1929. The king himself was an alumnus of the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College which later became the AMU.

As per the sources close to the late kings great-grandson Charat Pratap Singh, the family had served a legal notice to the university in 2018 about the expiry of the lease. The informed sources claimed that two pieces of land were given by King Mahendra Pratap Singh to AMU for promoting education. The relatives of the late king are ready to donate the bigger chunk of land next to the one on which AMUs city school is constructed with the condition that AMU authorities would rename it after the king.

For the other piece of land measuring 1.2 hectares, the family either wants it back or a compensation against it at the current market rate of the land.

Last year, the state cabinet had cleared a proposal to set up a new university in Aligarh, named after the Jat freedom fighter. The main refrain of the state government and especially CM Yogi Adityanath was that the Jat king had given land for establishing the university but his name was not mentioned on any

plaque.

Mahendra Pratap Singh, who set up a provisional government in exile in Afghanistan during World War I, was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1932. He was also elected to the second Lok Sabha (1957-62) as an independent candidate from Mathura defeating the then Bharatiya Jan Sangh candidate Atal Bihari

Vajpayee.
Research and human experience affirm that certain kinds of music can have a profound effect

Mozart makes you believe in God because it cannot be by chance that such a phenomenon arrives into this world and leaves such an unbounded number of unparalleled masterpieces.  Georg Solti

It seems like only yesterday that I first heard it. It was so beautiful, so stirring, I was moved down to my very soul.

It was the summer before my third-grade year, while I was visiting family in Morgantown, West Virginia, that my aunt Veronica sat down to play the piano. I hadnt even known she could play, but boy, could she ever!

What came forth amazed my ears! Id grown up listening to music, but nothing like this. As my aunts fingers so nimbly glided across the expanse of the keyboard, the sounds of Mozart and Tchaikovsky filled the air with a lightness and airiness thats hard to put into words.

I was hooked from the first moment I heard it.

When I returned home, I told my mom I had to learn to play the piano. It was something I felt driven to do, though we didnt even own a piano at the time.

Of course, I didnt want to play just any musicit had to be classical music. This was something that thrilled my eventual piano teacher, Mrs. Rinehart, as all her other students wanted to play pop music. But the pop and rock music I was accustomed to just couldnt compare, couldnt produce the same sense of wonder and majesty, that classical music could.

Thus began my journey into the world of classical music.

It Moves the Soul

Just what is it that makes classical music resonate so much with us, that moves us in a way no other music has the power to do?

Clemency Burton-Hill, the author of Year of Wonder: Classical Music to Enjoy Day by Day, says, I believe the greatest works of music are engines of empathy: they allow us to travel without moving into other lives, ages, souls. She says classical music has benefited her life in a myriad of ways.

Vardinistar says on the website My Story that Classical music touches a humans heart and soul, makes him better, gives him ideas and peace. Why do churches like classical music so much? Because it helps to find the connection with God. Not without a reason, people say that classical music is divine.

He agrees with what the ancients knew to be true, that classical music can heal your soul and mind because your body reacts to its vibrations, rhythm, tempo.

The Ancients Views on Music

Ancient cultures were well aware of musics healing abilities.

Composer Gao Yuan, of the Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra, explains the importance of music in ancient China.

Our ancestors believed that music has the power to harmonize a persons soul in ways that medicine could not. In ancient China, one of musics earliest purposes was for healing. The Chinese word, or character, for medicine actually comes from the character for music.

Interestingly, this character also is related to the word happiness. Dimitrios Dermentzioglou, on the site Uplifters, explains how the two relate.

Medicine is characterized by bitterness, yet a patient is able to regain health and happiness only after suffering its bitterness.

He notes that the Great Yellow Emperor, known as the forefather of the Chinese people, developed a deep understanding of the power of music after being inspiredby a divine fairy in a dream no lessto use drums to defeat his enemies in battle.

Gao says it was during the Yellow Emperors rule that people discovered the relationship between the pentatonic scale, the five elements, and the human bodys five internal [organs] and five sensory organs.

He notes that music was also used to influence a persons behavior.

During Confuciuss time, scholars used musics calming properties to improve and strengthen peoples character and conduct.

Music was also understood as divinely inspired in ancient Greece. The word music comes from the Muses, the patron goddesses of creative endeavors. Music and healing were also tied together. The ancient Greeks put one god, Apollo, in charge of both music and healing, demonstrating their belief that the two are closely related.

Hektoen International, the humanities journal owned by the Hektoen Institute of Medicine in Chicago, notes that The Odyssey told of the bleeding of Odysseuss wounds from a wild boar only being stopped with a musical incantation, and the poet Pratinas in the 6th century B.C. recorded plague in Sparta being quelled by the music of the composer Thaletas.

The Greeks believed that music had to resonate with the body and soul in order to be beneficial, and viewed music as a way of connecting the soul of man with the universe.

Modern medicine is rediscovering the many health benefits of music, and particularly, those of classical music.

Modern Medicine and Music

Today, a number of prominent medical institutions incorporate music into their treatment plans.

For example, Johns Hopkins Center for Music and Medicine has formed a choral group called ParkiSonics, where participants with Parkinsons disease demonstrate improvement in both movement and vocal expression, which are often impaired in Parkinsons.

Its fascinating and powerful to think that music, something that has been floating around in our environment foreverthat this natural, omnipresent human activity has demonstrable benefit as treatment, says Sarah Hoover, co-director of the center, on the centers website.

Weill Cornell Medicine, a graduate college of Cornell University, has developed a music and medicine program and even formed its own orchestra. Theyve also collaborated with Juilliard to provide mini-concerts for patients and their families, hospital staff, and the surrounding NYC community. They plan to offer a semester-long course to medical students on music and medicine in the future.

Claudius Conrad, M.D., Ph.D., of MD Anderson Cancer Center, is a pianist and surgeon who believes in the healing power of music. He notes on the centers website, in the Middle Ages, popular prescriptions involved specific musical combinations. The example he offers involves alternating between playing the flute and harp to alleviate gout.

During his fellowship in ICU medicine, Conrad conducted a study on his patients and found a novel stress pathway that mediates music relaxation. He discovered that some intensive care patients could be spared sedative medication when listening to classical music.

The medicinal effects of classical music have been studied by researchers for more insight into their healing potential.

Decreased Blood Pressure and Heart Rate

There are several studies showing that classical music can decrease both blood pressure and heart rate.

One study in the British Journal of Health Psychology compared the effects of classical, pop, and jazz music. It showed that participants who listened to classical music had significantly lower post-task systolic blood pressure levels than did participants who heard no music. Other musical styles did not produce significantly better recovery than silence.

A 2015 study by professor Peter Sleight of Oxford University found that listening to slower pieces by Verdi, Beethovens 9th symphony, as well as Puccini, significantly lowered blood pressure, confirming other findings.

In another study, Hans-Joachim Trappe and Gabriele Voit demonstrated that music by Mozart and Strauss markedly lowered not just the subjects heart rate, but also their blood pressure by nearly five systolic points, which is better than some medications. By comparison, music by ABBA didnt demonstrate any improvement. Mozarts Symphony No. 40 in G minor demonstrated the strongest effect.

A study by Itao, Komazawa, and Kobayashi in Scientific Research Publishing revealed that classical music improved heart rate variability, indicating lowered autonomic nervous system activity, and thus, lower stress levels. Classical music also increased blood flow, as well as body surface temperature, both signs of a state of relaxation.

Improved Mood, Memory, and More

So what else can classical music do for your health?

Studies show that classical music can help not only relieve stress and anxiety but listening to 50 minutes a day has even proven more effective than psychotherapy in treating low- to medium-grade depression, according to a small study published in The Arts in Psychotherapy.

Classical music has been shown to improve alertness and concentration, leading to greater productivity. Memory is also enhanced when listening to classical music, with some studies even showing benefits in improving dementia.

In addition, improvement in ADHD, particularly when listening to pieces such as Handels Water Music or Bachs Brandenburg Concertos, has been demonstrated. Classical music helps put the brain into alpha mode, thereby improving focus, concentration, and the ability to learn. Its even been shown to regulate genes responsible for brain function, according to research at the University of Helsinki.

Studies have demonstrated that classical music also improves the quality of sleep, helps with patient self-disclosure (something useful when discussing traumatic events), and even aids in decreasing pain.

A study in the International Journal of Critical Illness & Injury Science found that classical music aids in ICU patient recovery.

The most benefit from music on health and therefore on the intensive care patient is seen in classical and in meditation music, whereas heavy metal or techno are ineffective or even dangerous. This kind of music is effective and can be utilized as an effective intervention in patients with cardiovascular disturbances, pain, and intensive care medicine, the study reads.

But not all music is therapeutic. The negative effects of certain types of music has been demonstrated in various studies.

One of the most fascinating studies was done by a Virginia high school student, David Merrell, in 1997. His award-winning science experiment was covered by Virginian-Pilot, the states largest daily newspaper.

The rising junior captured top honors in regional and state science fairs and earned accolades from the Navy and the CIA, the Pilot reported.

Merrell looked at the effects of music on mice as they moved through a maze. After establishing a baseline of 10 minutes to navigate the maze, he found the control group of mice, which werent exposed to music, were able to cut five minutes off their time. That feat was beaten by mice that listened to classical music, and managed to cut their time by eight and a half minutes.

Meanwhile, mice that were exposed to hard-rock music took 20 minutes longer to navigate the maze.

I had to cut my project short because all the hard-rock mice killed each other, Merrell said at the time. None of the classical mice did that at all.

Merrell isnt the only researcher to notice that classical music improved maze times among mice. In fact, in a study published in Neurological Research in 2005, the effect was described as the generalized Mozart effect.

The Mozart group exhibited significant enhancements compared with the control mice, the researchers noted.

However, it doesnt seem others have repeated Merrells hard rock comparison.

Let Classical Music Brighten Your Life

With so many benefits to mind, body, and soul, its unfortunate that we arent being exposed more to classical music. My son said a teacher told the kids that classical music is just boring.

What a shame. My guess is that she was never exposed to it enough to develop an appreciation.

So, just how can we increase our appreciation for classical music?

First, visit your local symphony, whether in person or online. Ive taken my son to our Richmond Symphony since he was 5, and hes especially enjoyed a series called LolliPops, which introduces kids to classical music in a way thats fun and entertaining.

There are a variety of books and movies on classical music and composers. Beethoven Lives Upstairs, which LolliPops adapted from a 1992 HBO original movie, is one of my sons favorites.

There are also many courses out there. Coursera offers one on the wonders of classical music, while Udemy offers classes on ear training and adventures in classical music. And to explore some of classical musics best works, Classic FM has compiled a list of pieces that will 100 percent change your life.

And dont forget to check out your local libraries and museums for talks and live performances.

So what if you really want to get to know a piece of music? Chad Hagy, on the website Our Pastimes, suggests researching the history of the piece, learning a little about the composers life, and then finding a quiet place to listen to the pieceover and over again. Then watch as your blood pressure comes down, and your mood improves, all while your knowledge expands.

To help kids develop an appreciation for classical music, check out Charlene Habermeyers book, Good Music Brighter Children, and her website Good Parenting, Brighter Children. She offers a music course along with a guide geared toward kids, from grade school through college.

Habermeyer recognizes the power of classical music in helping children study and learn, noting that the American Psychological Association (APA) found in 20 different studies that elementary school children listen, focus, and learn better when listening to certain pieces of classical music.

There seems to be something special about classical music.

My aunt Veronica knew this. Unfortunately, she died last year. Id never thought to tell her she was the reason Id learned to play classical piano. When I mentioned this on her memorial page, her husband and children said she wouldve been so happy to know shed inspired her same love of classical music in me.

While it may seem like a simple thing, classical music can bring so much to our lives. Even the composers recognized there was more to their music than meets the eye. As Johann Sebastian Bach said, I play the notes as they are written, but it is God who makes the music.

Ludwig van Beethoven concurred, saying, Music is the language of God.

So why not tap into this source of joy sent down from the heavens? It may change your life in ways you never imagined!

Tatiana Denning, D.O., is a family medicine physician who focuses on wellness and prevention. She believes in empowering her patients with the knowledge and skills necessary to maintain and improve their own health.
A court heard Cassandra told Mate she was leaving him just hours earlier

Police were called following a frantic Triple-0 call from Mate's wife Cassandra

Shaun Mate, 43, was found unconscious alongside his daughter on July 16

A man who allegedly tried to take his own life and the life of his three-year-old daughter was told his marriage was over just hours earlier, a court has heard.

Shaun Mate, 43, was found unconscious alongside his daughter at the family's Eden Hills home, in Adelaide's south-east on the night of July 16.

Police were called following a frantic Triple-0 call from Mate's distraught wife Cassandra.

She told the operator she found him and their three-year-old daughter unconscious in a bedroom.

Shaun Mate, 43, was found unconscious alongside his daughter at the family's Eden Hills home, in Adelaide's south-east on the night of July 16

In Adelaide Magistrates Court on Wednesday, prosecutors said Cassandra (left) had told Mate earlier that day that she was leaving him

Shaun Mate (pictured with paramedics on a stretcher) was rushed to hospital after being found unconscious at the family's Eden Hills home, in Adelaide's south-east on the night of July 16

In Adelaide Magistrates Court on Wednesday, prosecutors said Cassandra had told Mate she was leaving him just hours before the attempted 'murder-suicide'.

The court heard police had been called to the family's home just hours before the incident following a disturbance.

Police suggested the couple sleep in separate bedrooms, but when they were satisfied there was no risk of harm they left without intervention, 7News reported.

The court also heard police found 'suicide notes' allegedly proving Mate's plan to kill his daughter, The Adelaide Advertiser reported.

Mate and the toddler were treated at the scene before they were transferred to Flinders Medical Centre in a critical condition.

Mate's wife and their six-month-old daughter were unharmed.

The girl was later transferred to the Women's and Children's Hospital and placed in a induced coma, with her mother remaining at her bedside.

Police allege the IT specialist had his wife 'under surveillance' by bugging her phone and emails.

It's further alleged he sent 'unwanted gifts of a personal nature' to one of his wife's 'closest friends'.

The magistrate rejected Mate's bail application on Wednesday for the protection of his wife and their two daughters.

Police allege the IT specialist had been tracking his wife's phone and emails, and bought gas bottles and plastic bags two days before the alleged incident

'No amount of bail will make them feel safe. The thought of him getting bail frightens her no end, the prosecutor told the court.

Mate's lawyer Stephen White said his client was not trying to kill his daughter.

Outside court, Mate's father said his son would never hurt his family.

'[He] wouldn't touch her in a fit,' he told reporters. 'I'm not going to say anything else.'

Mate will face court again in January.
Arizona News

Phoenix, Arizona - Remarks by President Trump and Governor Ducey of Arizona After Air Force One Arrival:

Q You know Governor Ducey  a very successful governor. Hes loved by the people of a very great state  a state that were doing very well in, I hear. And maybe, Doug, you would like to say a few words?

GOVERNOR DUCEY: Well, I just want to say: Welcome back to Arizona. This is a great way to kick off Hispanic Heritage Month. A lot of good things happening in our state, and were grateful for your support of us during COVID-19, the personal protective equipment, the surge testing to Maryvale and Phoenix.

And, of course, USMCA has allowed us to navigate through this with one of the best economies. It saved the pandemic with our number-one trade partner, Mexico.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, you know, Doug, did a great job in Arizona, where the number went high quickly, and then you just, boom, you went down. You were tough. He was strong, and he did the right thing, and the numbers went down.

We had a big victory just now in Pennsylvania. I dont know if you heard about it. They were ordered to open it up  a federal judge  open it up and let the people get back to work. And thats what youve done. And youve done a great job.

GOVERNOR DUCEY: Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much.

GOVERNOR DUCEY: Thank you, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT: And were going to see you over at the 

GOVERNOR DUCEY: Im looking forward to it.

THE PRESIDENT:  the Spanish  the Spanish heritage, really, I guess, is what the name is. Theres nothing better.

We just had some great polls with Hispanic  with the Hispanic vote. And Im very honored by it. We were very honored by those polls.

So well see you over there. Thank you.

Q Mr. President, whats your message to Arizona voters that are Hispanic?

THE PRESIDENT: We are working with your governor. Hes a great governor. And were, I think, doing a really good job for Hispanics, the Latinos. Were doing a fantastic job. And I think it really is represented very well in the polling numbers that were getting, because they havent really seen numbers like that for a long time. So were very, very honored by it. Thank you.
Managing Director of TWMO Sadr-eddlin Alipour and UNDP Resident Representative in the Islamic Republic of Iran Claudio Providas signed the document at a ceremony held on Tuesday, Trend reports citing IRNA.

About the agreement, Alipour said it is a starting point for occurrence of good events in management of the wastes disposal in Tehran.

The agreement will help standardize disposal of wastes in a bid to stem degradation of environment.

He said that implementation of joint projects needs cooperation with other states, the process which has faced various obstacles due to the sanctions.

Alipour further called on the international bodies to pay more attention to Iran because the country is under pressures and sanctions which hurt most of the people in the country.

According to international law, issues related to environment should be taken into consideration far from sanctions, the official stressed.

For his part, Providas elaborated on the 40-year-old activities of UNDP in Iran and said cooperation in joint city projects will help prevent waste of time and cost.

The UN official also stressed the need to promote cooperation on disposal of electronic wastes.

He said that he was pleased with transfer of know-how to Iran on modern disposal of wastes.

Iranian and UNDP officials held talks in Tehran on Tuesday and reviewed ways to foster cooperation and share experience in the wastes management.
New Delhi, Sep 16 (UNI) Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Wednesday claimed that a huge misappropriation found in the accounts of the six Delhi University (DU) colleges where Delhi government had initiated an independent audit.

Addressing an online press conference, Mr Sisodia, who is in isolation after he tested Covid-19 positive, said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government stands together with the teachers in this time of difficulty and it is important for everyone to understand how the DU administration has mismanaged funds given by Delhi government.

The Delhi government has provided enough funds to these colleges for paying the salaries but in their initial observation report, the auditors have found that those funds are being directed elsewhere rather than paying the salaries to the teachers. Projected salaries for this academic year is 300 crores and Delhi government has provided sufficient funds to the colleges under the pattern of assistance, he said.
Lego bricks will soon come in bags certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. Credit: Getty.

Lego Group (LEGO) has announced plans to ditch plastic packaging by 2025 following calls from children to be more sustainable.

The toy maker will be trialing recyclable paper bags from next year as part of its 310m ($400m) green initiative.

We have received many letters from children about the environment asking us to remove single-use plastic packaging. We have been exploring alternatives for some time and the passion and ideas from children inspired us to begin to make the change, said CEO Niels B Christiansen.

Over the next three years the company will accelerate its sustainability plans which include programmes to donate pre-loved Lego bricks, the expansion of bio-bricks and carbon neutral manufacturing by 2022.

Lego uses some 90,000 tonnes of plastic in its products each year but since 2018 the company has made some of the less rigid parts of Lego sets, such as plants and trees, from bio-polyethylene, a type of plastic made from ethanol, produced using sugarcane.

The Danish firm has already pledged to make its plastic products from sustainable materials by 2030.

READ MORE: World can hit net zero emissions goal if $1-2 trillion spent a year

Its critical we take urgent action now to care for the planet and future generations. As a company who looks to children as our role models, we are inspired by the millions of kids who have called for more urgent action on climate change, added Christiansen.

Pressure has been mounting on the company to reduce its plastic packaging particularly since sales and profits rose during the coronavirus pandemic. Families have been buying Lego sets to keep children occupied during lockdown and the toy maker still has plans to open 120 new stores around the globe this year.

Programmes to encourage the reuse of Lego have seen bricks donated to over 23,000 children in the US. The company now plans to roll the scheme out to two more countries by the end of 2022.

Its social responsibility drive will also see the scaling up of play programmes in partnership with UNICEF and Save the Children.
The Australian government has been urged to create a new human rights commissioner for foreign interference and send dedicated Home Affairs liaison officers into the Chinese community to counter Communist Party interference.

The recommendations from think-tank China Matters, which has a board that includes former Australian ambassador Stephen FitzGerald and Paul Keating's foreign policy advisor Allan Gyngell, follows a dispute between the two countries over foreign interference, intelligence raids and the treatment of journalists in both countries.

Evidence is taken out of NSW Labor Minister Shaoquett Moselmane's property in Rockdale after raids by ASIO as part of investigation into possible links to the Chinese Communist Party. Credit:Rhett Wyman

China Matters program director Dirk van der Kley said the Chinese Communist Party was intimidating members of the local Chinese community through threats to their families and economic coercion, but the federal government was unable to measure how well its counter-foreign interference policy was working in the local community.

"The diaspora is much larger now and the Chinese government is much more powerful and because we have actually changed the laws, we need to see if these efforts are working," he said.
New research has found that electric toothbrushes are the least environmentally friendly to the planet when compared with other toothbrushes.

However, the Trinity College Dublin study shows that bamboo toothbrushes are not the most sustainable to the planet - instead, continually recycled plastic toothbrushes are.

The study compared different kinds of toothbrushes - electric, standard plastic, plastic with a replaceable head and bamboo brushes - to determine the effects they had on the planet in terms of their manufacturing processes.

Associate Professor in Public Dental Health Dr Brett Duane, who conducted the study, said electric toothbrushes were "fairly horrifying" for the planet.

"We found that electric toothbrushes are fairly horrifying in how harmful they are to both people's health and the planet."

Read More

Researchers considered different manufacturing models of the toothbrush and measured the environmental impact (carbon footprint) and human-health impact of the toothbrush. They found the electric toothbrush was comparatively harmful for planetary health.

By looking at human health related to environmental damage, it found that 10 hours were taken off the lives of people who helped to manufacture the toothbrush.

"For every electric toothbrush we take, we buy and use, we take 10 hours off life off them. We do need to think about it, how much harm you are doing to other people who are making your toothbrush," said Dr Duane.

He added that while some studies suggest electric toothbrushes were more efficient at removing dental plaque, they weren't vastly different to a regular toothbrush.

"There is some evidence to show that it can remove plaque a little bit better than other toothbrushes, but they can't say for sure in any way or form that it causes better public health," he added.

But bamboo brushes are not the answer, because if everybody switched to using them a lot of land and water would be required to grow large supplies.
(CNN)  Two people found dead near their destroyed home were packed and ready to evacuate the North Complex Fire in Northern California last week but changed their minds based on erroneous information, Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said Tuesday.

Six days ago, Philip Ruble, 68, was found inside of burned-up Toyota pickup at the home and Millicent Catarncuic, 77 was found in a nearby embankment, according to the sheriff.

"After speaking to family members, it is believed the pair was aware of the fire in the area," Honea said. "They had packed their belongings in preparation to evacuate but later decided not to evacuate based on erroneous information that the fire was 51% contained."

The pair lived in Berry Creek, which has been all but decimated by the Bear Fire, part of the North Complex.

Berry Creek was under an evacuation order as of 3:15 p.m. PT last Tuesday. The information was posted on social media sites and on the fire information line, and transmitted via ham radio. Deputies also went through the area with evacuation sirens and door to door where possible, Butte County spokeswoman Megan McCann told CNN.

It is unknown where the couple saw or heard the containment figure. The number is not typically part of evacuation orders. The fire also quickly grew in the area September 8.

The North Complex Fire has caused 15 fatalities, with 13 people currently unaccounted for. It has been burning for close to a month and is the eighth largest in California history, having charred 269,218 acres and burned down 706 structures, including the Berry Creek Elementary School.

Man survives flames but loses farm

Eddie Campos watched helplessly as flames raced toward his family farm in Jamul, California.

"We called for air support. We called for ground support. We called for chopper support. And we couldn't get no help at all," Campos said.

"We tried to get all our personal belongings. And I told our kids, 'It's time, and our lives are in danger now.' It's just a horrible experience, seeing this fireball headed toward us. It was devastating."

Soon, his farm was engulfed in flames. But his family was lucky. At least 36 people have died in the Western wildfires, which have torched more than 4.7 million acres. That's more land than six Rhode Islands.

The National Interagency Fire Center said at least 87 wildfires are burning in 11 states. Many are filling the sky with choking smoke and pushing firefighters beyond exhaustion.

"We have so many brave firefighters who are working unending hours to try to contain these fires," Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg said Tuesday.

"We are living through an unprecedented situation here on the West Coast and in California."

Before Campos and his family fled, "we went down the street to help a neighbor rescue eight horses," Campos said.

"We grabbed nine dogs. We helped get some chickens out -- I think there were about nine or 10 chickens," he said. "It's a real tight community, and we worked together to rescue animals before we left this place."

22 people are missing in Oregon

Near the Beachie Creek fire east of Salem, Oregon, Scott Fogarty has no idea what happened to his longtime friend George Atiyeh. But he knows what happened to Atiyeh's property.

"His home was completely lost, and his shop," Fogarty said, holding photos of his friend.

Atiyeh is among at least 22 people missing in the Oregon wildfires, which have already killed 10 people in the state.

And authorities fear more deaths. A mobile medical examiner facility has been set up in Linn County because of wildfires in the area, said Capt. Timothy Fox, a spokesman for the Oregon State Police.

He said this is the first time a mobile morgue of that kind has ever been needed.

A nurse packs for evacuation, then goes back to work

Betty Stevens and Fred Andrews packed in the dark as the fire approached their home near Medford, Oregon. They weren't quite sure whether they should leave, but a police car went down the street urging people over the loudspeaker to leave.

They did, but Stevens went back to work at a hospital where she is a respiratory therapist in the neonatal intensive care unit. She helped evacuate young patients.

"It was better than sitting in my friend's home and thinking about what could be happening," she told CNN's Brooke Baldwin. "I was extremely concerned that the fire obviously would come to the hospital and that we'd have the adequate staff to evacuate premature babies who are dependent on oxygen."

The next day, Stevens went by the neighborhood. The homes were gone. She went to their lot. It was ashes and rubble. The creek in the backyard was dried up.

"Nothing was really recognizable," she said. "It didn't feel like my home. It just felt like just pain. It was just very painful to see."

The 36 victims include a boy and his grandmother

At least 25 people have died in the California wildfires. The Butte County Sheriff's Office has identified seven victims of the North Complex Fire, who ranged in age from 16 to 70 and died in Berry Creek.

At least 10 people have been killed in Oregon, Gov. Kate Brown said. They include 13-year-old Wyatt Tofte and his grandmother, Peggy Mosso.

And in Washington state, one child was killed, Gov. Jay Inslee said.

Oregon Emergency Management Director Andrew Phelps urged those who are evacuating to register with the American Red Cross so officials and loved ones will know they're safe.

"If you're concerned for missing family, please report that concern to the local law enforcement entity," he said.

Virtually all of Washington is covered by 'dangerous' smoke

In Washington, "virtually the entire state is covered by a cloud of smoke that's unbelievably irritating, downright unhealthy and dangerous," Inslee said.

In fact, parts of the West Coast now have the worst air quality in the world, according to the air quality monitoring group IQAir.

"We've had dozens and dozens and dozens of homes burned down, had entire towns destroyed," Inslee said.

Of the nine major wildfires burning in Washington state, the two largest -- the Pearl Hill and Cold Springs fires -- have collectively scorched more than 412,500 acres, according to the Washington State Department of Natural Resources.

"This is such a disaster in any dimension, but a particular disaster because we had our state turned into a tinder box by climate change," Inslee said.

"We have grass now that's almost like gasoline. A spark will make it explode. We have fires that just create walls of fire 20, 30 feet high from grass and sage brush."

The grass and sage brush fires have "consumed whole towns," the governor said.

Malden, in eastern Washington, saw 80% of its buildings destroyed in a firestorm Labor Day weekend.

The blaze took out several homes and civic offices including the fire station, post office, city hall and library, the Whitman County Sheriff's Office said.

This story was first published on CNN.com 'Couple who died in California fire were ready to evacuate but reconsidered after 'erroneous information''
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Linkedin Tri Indah Oktavianti (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, September 16 2020

The Jakarta administration forced eight companies to close temporarily during inspections on Monday over COVID-19 virus transmission and violations of health protocols.

Jakarta Manpower, Transmigration and Energy Agency head Andri Yansyah said the authorities had found several employees at five of the companies testing positive for the coronavirus disease. Meanwhile, the three other companies were shut for failure to implement strict health protocols.

Of 64 companies inspected, eight were forced to temporarily shut down, he said on Tuesday, as quoted by kompas.com.

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Police investigating claims of criminal neglect at a care home where ten residents died from coronavirus have passed their file to prosecutors.

The Home Farm facility in Portree, on the Isle of Skye, had been described as a risk to life and limb in one official inspection report.

In May, Police Scotland confirmed it had launched an investigation into the deaths of three women in their 80s at the site.

The Home Farm facility in Portree, on the Isle of Skye, had been described as a risk to life and limb in one official inspection report (stock image)

The case could lead to the first criminal prosecutions linked to Covid-19 deaths in Britains care homes.

Last night Scottish Tory health spokesman Donald Cameron: What has happened in our care homes across Scotland during Covid-19 has been absolutely tragic.

Full investigations must be carried out at once and should be started up as a matter of urgency by the SNP.

With cases appearing to be increasing in some care homes, we simply cannot put residents at risk again, given that so many families have already lost loved ones in care homes during this pandemic.

The SNP must be fully transparent about exactly what went wrong in our care homes, and why, as part of any inquiry.

Last night Scottish Tory health spokesman Donald Cameron(pictured) said: What has happened in our care homes across Scotland during Covid-19 has been absolutely tragic'

A Police Scotland spokesman said: The multi-agency large scale investigation into standards of care is ongoing and Police Scotland will continue to assess information provided to us through that process and to investigate any possible criminal neglect.

However, we can confirm that information gathered during our enquiries into the deaths at Home Farm, Skye, has been passed to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service for their consideration.

A Crown Office spokesman said: The investigation is ongoing.

Home Farm was run by HC-One, the biggest care home operator in the UK, which is facing potential legal action from families of residents who died with coronavirus.
Nation conducts second seaborne space launch

Global Times

By Deng Xiaoci Source: Global Times Published: 2020/9/15 9:45:49

China conducted its second seaborne space launch early Tuesday morning, with a Long March-11 solid propellant light launch vehicle lifting off from a mobile floating platform in the Yellow Sea, in waters off the coast of East China's Shandong Province.

Compared with the first launch, developers have further optimized and streamlined its sea launch capabilities by deploying a new launch vessel and putting a new coastal spaceport into operation, laying a solid foundation for more frequent and regular sea missions in the future.

The launch mission from sea successfully sent a group of nine commercial remote sensing satellites, all belonging to the Jilin-1 03 family, into the 535-kilometer Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO).

The group of satellites launched on Tuesday were developed by the Chang Guang Satellite Technology Co Limited based in Changchun, Northeast China's Jilin Province. The satellites will provide remote sensing data and a range of services including forestry, agriculture and maritime, for their clients.

"The Tuesday mission marked China's first commercial application launch from sea," Jin Xin, deputy commander-in-chief of the Long March-11 launch vehicle, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

The Long March-11 is a light-lift solid launch vehicle, around 20 meters in length with a diameter of 2 meters, weighing about 58 tons. Before the Tuesday launch, it had conducted nine successful flights, including China's first sea launch conducted in June 2019.

The assembly of the rocket for the Tuesday sea launch mission and the rocket-satellite installation were both carried out at the Dongfang Spaceport [also referred to as Eastern Aerospace Port]. The rocket was then transferred from Haiyang port in Haiyang of Shandong Province to its designated launch site. Peng Kunya, the chief designer of the Long March-11 with the China Academy of Launch Vehicle (CALT), which is overseen by the country's state-owned aerospace giant the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), called it a "game-changer."

This practice streamlines the previous pattern, in which the manufacturing of the rocket and launch site were separate, by reducing disassembly and assembly times. It also cuts the time for long-distance rail transfer, greatly shortening the launch chain and significantly enhancing launch efficiency, Peng noted.

According to Peng, it was also the first Long March-11 sea launch mission to the SSO. "The angle for a launch to the SSO is fixed, and once the launch site is verified, it will become routine for future missions."

Also, sea launches can effectively mitigate against post-launch safety risks, as rocket debris will fall away from populated land areas, Peng said.

The developer team of the Long March-11 is working on a new solid propellant rocket model which has a two-ton payload launch capability to the Low Earth orbit, and it is expected to make its maiden experiment flight from sea by 2022, Li Tongyu, commander-in-chief of the Long March-11 carrier rocket, revealed to the Global Times.

Dubbed China's fifth space launch center, construction of the Dongfang Aerospace Port as a base for sea launches of light-lift solid rockets was approved in July 2019, and concrete progress has been made, according to the CALT.

With the new port now put into operation, China has now laid a foundation for regular future sea launches, CALT said in a statement to the Global Times.

The Tuesday launch site is located some 350 kilometers to the southeast of the Haiyang port in Shandong in the Yellow Sea. The rocket was transported by the Debo-3 ship to the designated site before being launched from the same ship.

The Debo-3 is 160 meters in length and 40 meters wide, and sails at a speed of some 20 kilometers per hour.

The Long March-11 maiden flight from the sea took place on June 5, 2019, and it lifted off from the large semi-submersible barge Tairui.

Unlike the Tairui, the Debo-3 can sail by itself, and is thinner and longer, making it more vulnerable to the weather and maritime conditions.

The ship development team conducted a mock experiment before the mission, and felt the new ship would be able to adapt well to the changing environment at sea.

The seaborne launch technology meets the growing demand for low inclination satellites and helps China provide launch services for countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, according to Chinese experts.

Taiwan local media on Tuesday morning paid close attention to the launch mission, which took place in the Yellow Sea.

Some Taiwan media outlets called the Tuesday sea launch mission "a serious provocation" from the mainland, citing a mainland we-media Sina Weibo account that said in an earlier post that the rocket was expected to fly over the island of Taiwan after taking off.

The island's defense authorities said it had closely monitored and taken appropriate measures.

While Taiwan media obviously took the private account's post as an authoritative mainland voice and cooked up a new threat theory, Chinese space authorities had not disclosed the rocket's flight path as of press time.

Taiwan media also pointed out that the sea launch mission came after the island of Taiwan started the computer-aided war games phase of its Han Kuang drills, which see the Chinese People's Liberation Army as a "threat", on Monday.

"The launch mission is purely civilian and all satellites on board are for commercial use, which should not be overly connected with any political and military move," Song Zhongping, a mainland military and TV commentator, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Also, the SSO orbit design has determined that the rocket would have to pass the island of Taiwan, which is very normal, Song noted. "It simply shows the guilty conscience of the Taiwan media and military as they deliberately hype the event," he added.

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A student who joined an online lecture with a very rude name attached to her Zoom account has seen her blunder go viral on Twitter.

Twitter user Anne Marie Mackey sparked a storm after she shared a hilarious image of herself during her first college lecture, appearing with the moniker 'big t***y b***h'.

She explained she'd used the expletive-laden name in April during a lockdown Zoom party with her friends and had forgotten to change it before logging on for her new semester.

Mackey's tweet, posted under the handle @noodlehead, has already been seen more than 470,000 times since she it was uploaded two days ago.

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Student Anne Marie Mackey sparked a storm on Twitter after she shared a hilarious image of herself during an online college lecture, where she appeared with the accidental moniker 'big t***y b***h' - a name she'd used for a lockdown party in April

College student Anne Marie Mackey posted about her Zoom fail on Twitter - and promptly saw it go viral, with more than 470,000 people viewing her faux pas

Warning fellow Zoom users not to make the same cringe-worthy mistake, she penned a capped-up missive, saying: 'This is your reminder to CHANGE YOUR SCREEN NAME ON ZOOM BEFORE YOU GO BACK TO COLLEGE.'

She added: 'I JUST JOINED MY FIRST ZOOM MEETING LECTURE AND MY NAME CAME UP ON THE SCREEN AS 'BIG T***Y B***H' FROM A F***KING ZOOM PARTY WITH MY FRIENDS IN F***KING APRIL.'

After the faux-pas went viral, Anne Marie decided to back off from the storm after attracting negative comments but this morning announced she was back online, saying: 'I'm a bad b***h you cant kill me.'

There was reassurance that at least she wasn't the only one, as others began sharing their own embarrassing Zoom name gaffes in solidarity.

@JoanofDarkKnits wrote: 'My toddler joined her dance class as "Phatty McBigc**k courtesy of my husband drinking with his buddies over zoom.'

@regcrawford3 relayed a Zoom call with a pizza face, saying: 'My wifes boss chaired a video meeting with her face overlaid with a pizza. The overlay was so good it looked as if the pizza was talking. The meeting was about the surgery moving to digital prescriptions. The Practice Manager knew she was a pizza but didnt know how to change it.'

@francesthoughts disclosed: 'My kiddo (she's 8) decided to try and join her class meeting with the name "I hate my life" leading to a fun call from the teacher, school nurse, guidance counselor, and school social worker. She was just angry bc the milk had gone bad and she couldn't have her cereal.'

Last month @FionaLeverick had recounted: 'So today I joined a meeting with a High Court judge and Scottish Law Commission with my Zoom name as Gruntasnorus Poo Face. Hows your day going?'
After a series of defeats in Senate, Pakistan government on Wednesday pushed all pending legislations on terror financing linked to FATF compliance through a joint session of parliament amid loud protests and a walkout by Opposition members.

The Imran Khan governments desperate move is part of efforts to get Pakistan out of the Financial Action Task Forces grey list and to prevent it from going further down to a black list. The global watchdog on terror financing and money laundering is set to review Pakistans compliance in October.

FATF put Pakistan on the grey list in June 2018 and asked Islamabad to implement a plan of action by the end of 2019, but the deadline was extended due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The joint session of parliament was convened just hours after the Senate rejected the Anti-Terrorism (Third Amendment) Bill, 2020 in a 34-31 vote, a day after it was passed by the lower house, National Assembly.

That was the third legislation rejected by the 104-member upper house in the past one month. The bill aimed to give powers to investigators to conduct undercover operations, intercept communications and access computer systems. It sought the insertion of Section 19-C in the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) relating to application of investigation techniques.

At the joint session, all outstanding FATF-linked bills were moved by Advisor to the Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan. This included The Islamabad Capital Territory Waqf Properties Bill, 2020, The Anti-Money Laundering (Second Amendment) Bill, 2020, and The Anti-Terrorism (Third Amendment) Bill, 2020.

Prime Minister Khan was present in the house in a rare appearance to show his support for the passage of the bills.

The Islamabad Capital Territory Waqf Properties Bill, 2020 is aimed at proper management, supervision, and administration of waqf properties in the territorial limits of the countrys capital.

The Anti-Money Laundering (Second Amendment) Bill, 2020 is aimed at streamlining the existing anti-money laundering law in line with international standards prescribed by FATF.

As the session started, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari sought Speaker Asad Qaisers permission to address the floor. But the request was denied, prompting many opposition leaders including Leader of the Opposition Shehbaz Sharif of PML-N to walk out.

Pakistan has to meet a 27-point action plan to escape getting blacklisted by FATF as a non-compliant nation.

Last month, Khans government enacted several laws and designated over 100 people as terrorists, in its efforts to evade the possible blacklisting.
NOVAYA HUTA, Belarus -- More than 700 followers of the Breslov Hasidic movement who are trying to reach the central Ukrainian city of Uman to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, remain stuck in neutral territory along the Belarusian-Ukrainian border, held up by measures banning foreigners from entering the country to slow the spread of the coronavirus.



Belarusian authorities said on September 15 that, of the 734 pilgrims who have been staying in a tent camp for days near the Novaya Huta - Novi Yarylovychi border checkpoint, more than 100 are children.



President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has ordered his government to talk to Ukrainian authorities to allow the pilgrims to enter the country.



However, Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Yevhen Yenin said on September 16 that, at this point, there is no way for the pilgrims to enter Ukraine.



"At the moment, the situation does not permit us to allow more [pilgrims], namely those who are stuck on the border with Belarus, to enter the country," Yenin said, adding that the situation was under control.

Yenin added that those who arrived in Ukraine before the entrance ban was introduced on August 28 will be provided with the necessary security, while their contact with the local population will be minimized to help try to prevent any spread of the virus.



According to Yenin, Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Israeli authorities have organized supplies with Kosher food and drinks for the pilgrims stuck along the border.



Meanwhile, police in the Cherkasy region, where the city of Uman is located, said on September 16 that security had been beefed up.



Tens of thousands of followers of the Breslov Hasidic movement come to Uman every year to mark the Jewish New Year by praying at the grave of the movement's founder, Reb Nachman, who died there in 1810.



Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said last week that, due to coronavirus restrictions, only about 3,000 pilgrims will come to Uman this year.



By the Jewish calendar, Rosh Hashanah will be marked on September 18-20 this year.



The number of pilgrims traveling to Uman for Rosh Hashanah has increased dramatically since Ukraine gained independence after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
The president of the United States, Donald Trump, touted the coming of a "new Middle East" after the historic peace agreement between Israel, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Bahrain.

During the time, the Republican leader spoke that the two Gulf states signed the agreements that aimed to normalize their relationship with Israel.

Historic peace agreements

According to BBC, the three Middle Eastern countries considered the pact a monumental movement along with Trump, whose administration was the designated broker to the nations.

The UAE and Bahrain are only the third and fourth Arab nations that have moved to recognize Israel since it was founded in 1948.

President Trump expressed his hopes that other countries in the Middle East would follow similar footsteps in forging a path to peace. However, Palestinians have argued otherwise while the conflicts between the countries remain unresolved.

The majority of Arab states have, for decades, avoided relations with Israel, arguing the country should first settle its disputes with the Palestinians before they consider diplomatic relationships.

On Tuesday, Trump told several hundreds of people present at the White House that the dawn of a new Middle East was coming after several decades of deadly conflicts.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, welcomed the agreements, saying they were a historic moment in his country's legacy and marks the beginning of peace in the Middle East.

However, the Palestinians' leader, Mahmoud Abbas, argued that peace within the region could only be achieved when Israel withdraws its troops from occupied territories.

Also Read: Historic Middle East Peace Efforts Include Bahrain as Latest Arab Nation to Recognize Israel

After the signing of the agreements, Abbas told reporters that only the removal of Israeli occupation in the region would bring peace, security, and stability.

During the ceremony, the Israeli army said two rockets from the Gaza Strip were fired into the country.

Cooperation between countries

The agreements detail how the three nations will cooperate by opening embassies and constructing new diplomatic and economic ties, as reported by The New York Times.

For the first time in history, Israel and the UAE are beginning to conduct commercial air travel between their nations while Bahrain has moved to open its airspace for the flights.

The foreign minister of the UAE, Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, said they already saw the beginning of change within the heart of the Middle East, which he hopes would reverberate throughout the world.

According to Fox News, Bahrain's foreign minister, Dr. Abdullahtif bin Rashid Al Zayani, on the other hand, praised U.S. President Trump for his contributions to the success of the deal. He said that the Republican leader's statesmanship and continuous efforts made the agreement a reality.

However, critics have stated that the deals ignore the conflict between Israel and Palestinians. In contrast, the agreements are hoped to be the starter for a better relationship between Israel and other Arab nations.

During an interview on Tuesday, Trump said that other Arab countries expressed their desire to join in the peace agreements and noted his belief that Palestinians will one day come around as well.

Related Article: Iran Gives UN Access to Two Previously Guarded Nuclear Sites in Fears of International Sanctions

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A student at a Bloomfield charter school was bullied, beaten and threatened multiple times by an older pupil even after the boy and his mother complained to administrators, a lawsuit alleges.

The 10-year-old also suffered the shame and humiliation of being mocked by a teacher at John W. Lavelle Preparatory Charter School after she threw an object, injuring him because he had talked in class, alleges a civil complaint.
In a significant statement Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday told the Rajya Sabha that by the time its Diwali and towards the end of the year, India would have pre-Covid aviation figures of 3,00,000 passengers a day.

The upper house was discussing the Aircraft (Amendment) Bill as Puri took it up, which was cleared by the Lok Sabha in the last session.

While Trinamool Congress MP Dinesh Trivedi highlighted the importance of Air India, Congress K.C. Venugopal raised the issue of Adani group winning bids of airports.

When you compliment Vande Bharat Mission, remember it was Air India that came to the rescue. There would be no private sector if Air India was not there. It needs a revamp, dont sell it," urged Trivedi in the house.

Also Watch:

Venugopal said: Adani Group has won bids to operate and develop six airports. There is a clear violation of norms in giving airports to a single private entity. The government ignored advice of some of its own ministries and departments. Changes in norms enabled Adani group to win all six bids."

The DGCA, Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) and the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) gets a statutory backing from The Aircraft (Amendment) Bill, 2020.
(Alliance News) - Steppe Cement Ltd on Wednesday posted a rise in profit for the first half of 2020 as it forecast an improvement in the Kazakhstan cement market for the year as a whole.

Shares in the construction materials firm were trading 0.9% higher at 24.21 pence each midday Wednesday in London.

For the six months ended June 30, Steppe Cement posted pretax profit of USD4.8 million, up 14% year-on-year from USD4.2 million. This was despite an 9% fall in revenue to USD33.8 million from USD37.1 million, as sales volume fell 2% to 760,000 tonnes

Earnings per share was 1.9 cents, up 36% from 1.4 cents the year prior.

The London-listed, Malaysian-incorporated, Kazakhstan-focused company said it maintained prices from last summer until the Covid-19 crisis affected the second quarter, which led to the average ex-factory price decreasing by 3% to KZT14,727 - around USD34 - per tonne.

Gross margin increased to 40% from 37% in dollar terms due to cost-containment measures.

Selling expenses decreased by 20% per tonne in dollar terms due to distribution in areas closer to the factory, as well as the implementation of the IFRS 16 accounting rule relating to leases, as some of the rental fees for wagons had been transferred to financial leases, reducing the transport costs.

Administrative expenses were unchanged at USD2.6 million.

"The Kazakh cement market increased by 2% during the first half of the year. The increase happened mostly in the first quarter, while the second quarter was slightly below 2019. Steppe Cement currently expects a market of about 9.1 million tonnes for the full year 2020, an increase of 2% over 2019," Steppe Cement said.

Cash held as at June end was USD9.6 million.

By Ife Taiwo; ifetaiwo@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
In a televised Address to the Nation, the Head of State pointed out that this attempt comes from a group, which has clear subordinate interests and uses the same practices as did former intelligence service chief and currently imprisoned Vladimiro Montesinos in the 1990s , as it illegally obtained a private conversation where there is nothing illegal.

"The only illegal thing here is the use of a clandestine recording presented in a staging prepared as in the best times of Vladimiro Montesinos ," he said.

The top official did not deny the conversation, but explained that it was an "internal coordination that takes place in any institution," as a way to clarify what was happening within the framework of the investigations.





"In that meeting, I must reaffirm that I pointed out 'let's tell the truth'," he expressed after wondering which forces had crossed the Government Palace's security checkpoint to illegally record the conversations of a President of the Republic.









In this sense, he said he was aware that groups opposed to these decisions would look for opportunities and pretexts to attack him.





"A new attempt occurred today," he insisted.





Mr. Vizcarra mentioned that on July 29 a foreign press journalist had sent them information about the existence of the audio released earlier today, but his administration had never heard anything about the matter and calmly waited for it to be made public, because it was a work meeting with no illegal content.









"Those characters are not interested in the sake of the country or democracy. They only want to take over the Government, to guarantee its control, until 2026. We are facing a plot against democracy," he said.





The President also deemed as suspicious the fact that this recording was made public the day after he demanded Congress to approve the reform on the prohibition to nominate sentenced candidates, which was expected to be addressed at Parliament today.





Likewise, he said that whoever presented the audios ( opposition Congressman Edgar Alarcon ) is a person whose parliamentary immunity the Prosecutor's Office had requested to be lifted in order to continue with the pending investigations over alleged crimes of illicit enrichment, fraudulent embezzlement, and falsification of documents, among others.





"Those audios have been edited and maliciously manipulated; as you can see, they purposely seek to turn a job-related claim into a criminal or political act, wanting to take words out of context and intend to accuse me of non-existent situations. Nothing is further from reality," he stressed.





"I have never denied knowing Mr. Richard Cisneros; what I have said and I confirm is that I have not intervened in the administrative processes of his hiring," he added.








By Express News Service

CHENNAI: Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Tuesday told the Assembly that the coronavirus infection had started receding in Tamil Nadu owing to the concerted efforts of the State government.

Responding to a debate on corona developments, Palaniswami said recovery rate was the highest in Tamil Nadu (89 per cent) while mortality rate the lowest (1.67 per cent) and it became possible due to precautionary measures taken by the government.

Deputy Leader of Opposition Durai Murugan said that though the government had promised in March that it would see to it that people would not die of this infection, there had been thousands of deaths in Tamil Nadu during the past few months.

Responding, the Chief Minister said, It is the governments stand that not even a single life should be lost. But, this pandemic is new to the world and there is no vaccine for it till now. Despite that, the government has ensured the recovery of over 4.5 lakh people from this infection.

While the infection is going up in many States, it has started receding in Tamil Nadu, thanks to the action taken by the government. Palaniswami also said the government has done its best to create awareness of the infection and the ways in which the people should be careful.

Health Minister C Vijayabaskar said of the 1.67 per cent mortality rate, only 0.3 per cent was actually because of this infection while the rest had died to co-morbidities. Speaking on this issue, Leader of the Opposition MK Stalin said the AIADMK had miserably failed in containing the infection and only due to this, the total number of cases had gone above five lakh till date.

Stalin also demanded that the Chief Minister table a White Paper on the procurement of corona equipment, appointments made in this regard, details of those affected, those recovered, those who died of this infection, the amount spent on preventive measures, the impact on the industry and economy.

Wont allow dam at Mekedatu

Chennai: Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Tuesday asserted that the Tamil Nadu government would not allow the Karnataka government to build a dam across the Cauvery at Mekedatu since the Supreme Court verdict had very clearly said that the flow of water cannot be obstructed and diverted. Responding to the issue raised by Deputy Leader of Opposition Durai Murugan regarding the report that a delegation from Karnataka would be meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking permission for constructing the dam at Mekedatu, the Chief Minister said already Karnataka had unsuccessfully raised this issue before the Cauvery Water Management Authority. A case was also pending before the SC in this regard. As such, Tamil Nadu would never allow Karnataka to construct a dam at Mekedatu, he added.
In addition, one of the five defendants told a colleague that he was very close to the Chinese Ministry of State Security and would be protected unless something very big happens, and agreed not to go after targets in China, said Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen. Rosen criticized the Chinese government for what he said was a failure to disrupt hacking crimes and to hold hackers accountable.
16.09.2020 LISTEN

The National Teaching Council (NTC) has debunked assertions by the flagbearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama that the council suspended the teacher licensure examinations due to heavy political pressure.

John Mahama at a town hall meeting in Kumasi on Tuesday, September 15, 2020, suggested that the Akufo-Addo government is implementing policies in the NDCs 2020 manifesto including the cancellation of the teacher licensure exam.

The NPP seems to be implementing some of the policies captured in our manifesto. Recently, they revealed that consultations have begun to review the law banning the activities of okada riders. Similarly, the teacher licensure exam has been suspended after we promised to cancel it in our manifesto.

In the same vein, owners of private schools are being engaged after we promised to extend the coverage of the free SHS policy to such schools in deprived areas without government's free SHS. Even though they accused us of not thinking through our promises, the NPP is implementing them.

But the Public Relations Officer of the National Teaching Council, Dennis Osei-Owusu, in a Citi News interview on the matter, said the exam was postponed to 1st and 2nd October due to changes in the timetable of continuing students of Colleges of Education.

The licencing process or the examination has not been cancelled just that we postponed it from the original date which is 1st and 2nd October. I don't think whatever is in the news is true. There has not been any suspension as far as the exams are concerned. The information out there that it has been suspended indefinitely, is totally false. The whole thing is we just postponed it for just a week.

This is as a result of changes in the timetable of the continuing students at the colleges of education. Initially, they would have finished by 25 September, so we can also start ours, but they wrote a petition to their awarding institutions to the effect that they need a week more to revise, so they had to change their timetable which affected ours too.

 citinewsroom
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 00:34:11|Editor: huaxia

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Chinese Premier Li Keqiang attends the Special Virtual Dialogue with Global Business Leaders hosted by the World Economic Forum (WEF) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 15, 2020. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)

BEIJING, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Tuesday called for concerted efforts and consensus building at the global level to attain parallel progress in COVID-19 containment and economic development, with a view to overcoming the impact of the pandemic and reinvigorating the world economy.

Li made the remarks when addressing the Special Virtual Dialogue with Global Business Leaders hosted by the World Economic Forum, with more than 500 business leaders attending the meeting.

Li noted that COVID-19 not only presents a serious threat to the life and health of people across the world, but also takes a heavy toll on the world economy.

He pointed out that effectively tackling the virus and economic recession is a major challenge confronting the global community.

The premier stressed that given the enormous uncertainties, it takes time for the world economy to come out of the recession and recover. Enditem
Jammu: The Indian Army is fully prepared to fight a full-fledged war even in winters in eastern Ladakh and if China created conditions for war, they will face a better trained, better prepared, fully rested and psychologically hardened Indian troops, said Brig (retd) Hemant Mahajan.

The assessment of the retired army officer titled 'Operational logistic readiness of the Indian Army' was contained in a statement circulated to the media by the Army's Northern Command PRO in Udhampur earlier in the day. In email messages to the media in the evening, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) said the statement 'doesn't represent the views of either Northern Command or Indian Army' and that it may be treated as 'cancelled'.

Live TV

In separate Whatsapp messages, the PRO further stated that the statement was the view of Brig (retd) Hemant Mahajan and it was "wrongly conveyed" as a statement of the Northern Command. According to Mahajan, compared to the physically and psychologically battle-hardened Indian troops, Chinese troops mostly are from urban areas and not used to hardships or prolonged deployment under field conditions.

The comments by the retired officer came against the backdrop of a report by China's official media outlet Global Times that India's operational logistics is not geared up adequately and it will not be able to fight through winters effectively. "This can best be attributed to ignorance. Indian Army is fully prepared and more than capable of fighting a full-fledged war even in winters in eastern Ladakh," Brig(retd) Mahajan said.

"India is a peace-loving country and wishes to have good relations with its neighbours. India always prefers to resolve issues through dialogue. While talks are in progress to resolve the border issues with China in eastern Ladakh, at the military level it is well prepared for the prolonged stand-off," he said. He said altitudes in Ladakh range from 'high to super-high altitude' and there is a lot of snowfall up to 40 feet after November.

"Coupled with this, the temperature dipping down to minus 30 to 40 degree Celsius is a usual phenomenon. Wind chill factor makes matters even worse for the troops. The roads also get closed due to the snow. But despite all this, the most encouraging part for India is that the Indian soldiers have a huge experience of winter warfare and are psychologically tuned to operate at short notice," he added. While these facts are known to the world, he said, adding the operational logistics capabilities, however, are hardly known.

"Logistic capability relates to mobility, habitat and billeting, quality services for health, special rations, repair and recovery, heating systems, high-quality weapons, ammunition, quality clothing, and so on. While much of these capabilities existed earlier and troops could simply plug and play, a lot has also been boosted since May this year when China showed first signs of aggression," he said.

The retired Brigadier said it is important to understand that the Indian Army has the experience of Siachen, the highest battleground in the world, where conditions are much more demanding than the frontiers with China.

"Traditionally there were two routes for moving into Ladakh, that is through Zojila (Srinagar-Leh Highway) and Rohtang Passes (Manali-Leh). Recently India commissioned a third road from Darcha to Leh which is much shorter distance-wise and less prone to closure," he added. He said completion of Atal tunnel on the Rohtang route has force multiplied the logistic capacities.

"In addition, we have a large number of airbases with the help of which we can maintain the Army well. Modern snow clearing equipment has also been placed on these routes to keep them open beyond November, thus giving us more time for daily maintenance of the troops," he added.

Mahajan said special fuel and lubricants for tanks and armoured personnel carriers have also been stocked adequately, including spares for their maintenance. "Water points and tube wells have been established for the troops and animals like mules and yaks. The living barracks have also been prepared which are comfortable and warm," he said. He said facilities such as the central heating system are some of the high points of these facilities.

"Ammunition of various types including small arms, missiles and tank and artillery ammunition have also been adequately stocked. The medical system is also in place for any eventuality." He further said, "China's concept has always been to win the wars without fighting, hence if they create conditions for war, they will come across better trained, better prepared, fully rested and psychologically hardened Indian troops. These worries have been percolating in the minds of Chinese troops and are visible in Chinese media."
In mid-February, all eyes were on the West Coast  just one month after patient WA1 became the first person to test positive for COVID-19 on American soil after landing in Seattle from Wuhan, China.

Washington state is where the continents first COVID-19 outbreaks occurred and it was widely presumed it would spread eastward from there like wildfire.

But a new study reveals that the first documented infected individuals who arrived from China into the western United States and Canada were not the source of widespread continental outbreaks. Instead, it is believed the virus was primarily brought by travellers flying through Europe and into the eastern United States, before spreading across the whole continent.

The study, published last week and partly funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, paints a picture of how the West Coast handled the early stages of the pandemic compared to the East, with dramatically different results. It shows that while attention was initially focused on patient WA1, Washington and the West Coast, what was happening there was merely a flicker compared to the inferno igniting in the East.

We kind of hoped for those next six weeks (from mid-January) until the end of February that maybe were catching all of the sparks that are landing and maybe were OK, said University of Arizona researcher Michael Worobey, who led an interdisciplinary team of scientists from multiple countries, including Canada, for the study.

But it turned out that what was happening was sparks were catching fire throughout February, in various places, including the East Coast.

The researchers used genome sequencing, which compares differences in viral variants, as well as computer simulations and travel records to determine if various samples of the virus are epidemiologically linked.

Worobey said the United States was largely flying blind for that six-week period between mid-January and late February, when COVID-19 was silently but steadily spreading.

In late February, cases starting popping up in Washington that looked genetically linked to WA1.

People started thinking Holy crap, if this has been going since this guy arrived January 15, thousands of people are infected with this thing. Whats going to happen now?

For the first quarter of 2020, it was believed that patient WA1 infected someone and established a cluster of cases in the Seattle area that silently spread for six weeks. But the new research showed genome samplings from other cases that emerged in Washington were different enough that it was very unlikely patient WA1 was the source of the outbreak.

Instead, the researchers believe the source of the Washington outbreak most likely arrived from a direct flight from China on or around Feb. 1. Even though the U.S. was prohibiting Chinese citizens from entering the country, they were still allowing U.S. citizens and visa holders from China to return, which amounted to some 40,000 people, Worobey said.

And while the first outbreak originated in Washington, the state was effective in issuing early warnings to the public, instating a community testing program, putting limits on gatherings and shutting down the University of Washington.

Meanwhile, New York City continued to see flights arrive from Europe that researchers believe were carrying infected passengers.

Even though the epidemic actually kind of got started with one of these dispersals from China to the West Coast, it was the East Coast that was that was really getting hammered and then finding fertile soil to spread, Worobey said.

If only we could have copied the effort in Seattle  its not impossible that this outbreak could have been prevented in North America, just like it largely has been in places like South Korea, he added.

On Jan. 25, the first presumptive case was detected in Toronto. In February, several cases were detected in travellers returning from abroad, including Iran and Egypt. By mid-March, community transmission was prevalent, and Premier Doug Ford declared a state of emergency on March 17.

Another major discovery in the study is that the virus did not spread from China, into B.C., then into Washington state, as was widely presumed, but rather the other way around.

Multiple COVID-19 genomes published by the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control appeared to be ancestral to the viral samples tested in Washington state, which would point to a Canadian origin. However, further analysis proved that wasnt the case when the researchers detected errors in those genomes.

Researchers believe the ancestry of the virus in Canada was the same as the one circulating in the United States.

Its clear that this virus actually moved into Washington state and then up to up to B.C. and not vice versa, Worobey said.

The researchers conclude that inadequate early testing, especially of those travellers coming from China into the U.S., as well as a lack of contact tracing and enforcement of physical distancing helped facilitate the spread of the virus.

The long and short of it is, when we had a chance maybe to catch these embers when they were first landing on North American soil and detect these chains of transmission in the community, we didn't take that opportunity, Worobey said.

The primary takeaway is that tools such as testing, contact tracing and physical isolation can make a huge difference in preventing large-scale outbreaks  if implemented early enough.

Furthermore, it shows that one individual, like patient WA1, can potentially change the course of history, Worobey said. In that case, WA1 did all the right things  they reported their symptoms right away, got tested and self-isolated. Researchers now believe WA1 likely did not infect anyone else.

I think there is something really nice here where we have this guy who could have gone down in history as the person who started a pandemic  Our research clarifies thats probably not what happened. And in fact, his behaviour is actually a good model for all of us moving forward to take this seriously, do the responsible thing and prevent onward transmission.

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BRANFORD  The Dan Cosgrove Animal Shelter is struggling to make ends meet during the pandemic as more and more pet owners face tough financial decisions and there is limited money to help everyone.

Because of COVID-19, we cannot have any of our normal fundraisers that we would typically have, said Laura Burban, shelter director.

Burban said that by this time in the year, the shelter would have had income coming in from now online annual fundraisers, such as the popular Woofstock on the Branford Green. The August music festival, started in 2013, raised some $24,000 last year.

COVID-19 has also resulted in more pet owners seeking assistance. Burban noted the shelter typically received 75 to 100 calls a day. Many of these calls usually are to inquire about location, hours and animal availability.

But all that has changed since COVID-19.

Now, probably half of those calls are people who are in need of something, she said. They need pet foods, they need money to help their animals, they need to give up an animal and its constant and its every day.

Every day going into work is different. Sometimes there are animals left at our front door, sometimes a mom pregnant cat has just given birth or theres an emergency call to head to.

The shelter does all that they can to help those animals in need.

A lot of the animals that are coming to us are sick because their owners have not worked because of COVID-19, and so they need immediate medical care, Burban said. Were obviously bringing them right to the vet, but it is costing us thousands of dollars to take care of all these animals and were just not taking in the donations that we normally do.

Because of lack of money, the shelter cannot help all that seek its assistance.

Were just not taking in really, really hard medical cases, like we might normally, Burban said.

As an alternative, the shelter staff is working with pet owners to find other organizations that may be able to assist.

Burban stressed, however, that the shelter will never turn away an abandoned animal.

If a dog is abandoned in Branford or North Branford, were still taking on all the responsibilities for that, she said. If that dog ends up having a torn ACL and needs surgery, were taking that on and were reaching out on Facebook to say, Hey, we need to take in some donations for this dog. 

In addition, the shelter has expanded its pet food pantry.

Weve been delivering to people who are scared to come out and go shopping for themselves and also having people be able to just come to the shelter and pick up food, Burban said.

She stressed that while the shelter has always focused its assistance on Branford and North Branford residents, it recently has delivered animal food to Milford, New Haven, North Haven, Rocky Hill and Guilford.

Theyve been all over the place, Burban said.

Asked if there is a charge for the food, Burban replied, Oh no, its just what we do.

Aside from the increased demand on services due to COVID, the routine at the shelter has pretty much stayed the same, Burban said.

Every day when the staff comes in, every animal is checked on first before they do anything to make sure they look good and are feeling good. After that, they start to feed and let the dogs play in the yard, Burban said. The dogs are of course barking hysterically in the morning because they are so happy to see people. Every animal gets time to play, socialize with staff and volunteers and get special treats and toys.

Pet food donations are welcome at the shelter, which has had to find new and unique ways to fill the coffers.

Online donations can be made by visiting branford-ct.gov/departments/animal-shelter/donation.

Woofstock on the Branford Green has been turned into a virtual event. The shelter, along with IHeartRadios Renee DiNino, are hosting a virtual fundraiser to raise $20,000 in 20 days.

The event started Friday, Sept. 4 and will continue through Thursday, Sept. 24. Full details, including ways to donate, can be found by visiting woofstockonthebranfordgreen.org.

Community members all along the Shoreline have also been raising money to donate to the shelter. From candle sales, to a television auction, to craft sales, money is being raised for the shelter.

Riley Malkin donated some $1,000 by hosting a craft fair in downtown Guilford. The crafts, handmade by Malkin and her friends from Northfords Dancers Studio Shoreline, Inc., included crayon art, animal-themed magnets and necklaces.

While the North Branford resident has four cats, two foster cats and a hedgehog, she said she loves all animals.

I love that theyre so cute and cuddly and whenever someones down they always help you and they always make you happy, she said.

When she heard the shelter needed money, the 9-year-old didnt hesitate to plan a fundraiser.

I love it because all they do is to try to help animals in need and always care for them, she said.

Burban was thrilled with the donation.

Its so nice to see such a young group of kids putting themselves in a position where theyre spending all their time making crafts to raise money to help animals, she said.

Burban stressed that every donation, large and small, is vitally important to the shelters mission.

Every dollar that people help raise will go to help an animal in need and hopefully inspire somebody else to do fundraising and help the animals that are here, she said.

In addition, Burban received a $10,000 grant from the John T. and Jane A. Wiederhold Foundation to assist individuals who may have sick animals and limited income, but want to keep the family pet in the home.

She added it is community support that helps her staff and cadre of 200 volunteers reach such a wide base of those in need.

Our communities, the towns of Branford and North Branford, support us in doing that, Burban said. They dont ever question, Why are you doing that. Its just, Yeah, absolutely, lets go out there and try to help people. 

Yet, the reality is that the shelter needs money to continue its mission.

Were struggling, Burban said. We have to really start raising money to be able to continue to help.

We know its hard when were asking for donations because everybodys struggling. But, its so important because these animals make such a difference in peoples lives.

Dan Cosgrove Animal Shelter, 749 East Main St., Branford, 203-315-4125; branfordanimalshelter.org; branford-ct.gov/departments/animal-shelter/donation; Facebook Dan Cosgrove Animal Shelter; Instagram dan_cosgrove_animal_shelter
Nairobi  Nandi Governor Stephen Sang has petitioned the National Assembly to compel the National Government to make public and implement the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) report.

Speaker Justin Muturi, while confirming receipt of the petition on Tuesday, said Sang expressed his disappointment with the current actions of the government in relation to the report which he said remained unimplemented years after it was compiled.

The governor also asked President Uhuru Kenyatta to operationalize the Sh10 billion restorative justice fund recommended to settle historical injustices.

The first-term Governor recommended that once the fund is operational, the National Government should work closely with County Governments in identifying the bona fide beneficiaries.

The Commission was established in 2009 and wound up in 2013 after submitting to President Uhuru Kenya its report on historical injustices meted upon communities and individuals since independence.
The officer was stopped at a stop sign in the 700 block of North Noble Street about 9:35 p.m. when someone armed with a handgun got out of a silver sedan, police said. The officer announced who he was, and the two exchanged shots.
TOKYO  Japans governing party resisted any urge to pick a magnetic crowd-pleaser when it anointed Yoshihide Suga as its leader this week. As Parliament officially elected him prime minister on Wednesday, he repaid its support.

Mr. Suga, 71, put forward an everyone-old-is-new-again cabinet dominated by ministers who will continue in the jobs they held under Shinzo Abe, who resigned as prime minister late last month because of ill health. The sea of familiar faces sent an unmistakable signal that Mr. Suga intends to make good on his vow to carry on with Mr. Abes signature policies.

But it also seemed to shut the door on one of them: a pledge  though a largely unfulfilled one  to empower women. The number of women in the cabinet will actually decline, to two from three. Both of them held the same posts in the previous administration.

Above all, Mr. Sugas status quo cabinet, as well as his appointments of key party leaders, suggested that he was rewarding those who had helped him become prime minister, which was orchestrated by factions within his conservative Liberal Democratic Party. Such gift exchanges are all the easier as the governing party has little fear of losing the next election against an ineffectual political opposition.
Energy firm Horizon Nuclear Power has pulled the plug on two projects following an announcement by its parent company Hitachi that it will no longer be providing funding.

Hitachi cited the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the investment climate as the reason for its withdrawal from the Horizon Nuclear Project in Wylfa Newydd.

The Japanese conglomerate bought Horizon back in 2012 intending to build a nuclear power station on the Isle of Anglesey that would have cost an estimated 15-20billion on completion.

Horizon will cease work on the Wylfa Newydd plant (above) and on a project in Oldbury on Severn in South Gloucestershire, dealing a massive blow to the nuclear industry

Business operations were suspended on the North Wales project in January 2019 for financial reasons, with a small staff kept on in place at the Anglesey location. Horizon and Hitachi have now announced work will not restart.

Horizon will also cease work on its Oldbury on Severn site in South Gloucestershire, dealing a massive blow to the nuclear industry and nixing hopes of creating thousands of new jobs in the sector.

'I understand this announcement will be disappointing for our many supporters who had hoped to see our project through to completion,' said Horizon's chief executive Duncan Hawthorne.

He added: 'Nuclear power has a critical role to play in helping tackle our energy needs, meeting our climate change targets and levelling up the economy through green growth and job creation.

About a fifth of the UK's electricity comes from nuclear power, but this is set to decline in the years ahead as energy sources like wind and solar power grow more popular

'Wylfa Newydd on Anglesey and Oldbury on Severn are highly desirable sites for new nuclear build. We will do our utmost to facilitate the prospects for development which will bring the major local, national and environmental benefits that nuclear can uniquely deliver.'

Both Horizon and Hitachi have pledged to work with the Westminster and Welsh governments, and other stakeholders over the future of the two sites.

About a fifth of the UK's electricity comes from nuclear power, down from 25 per cent in the late 1990s, but this is set to decline even more in the years ahead as renewable energy sources like wind and solar power grow more steady in popularity.

Currently, the only plant under construction in Britain is Hinkley Point C (above) in Somerset

Many environmental activists argue that the UK is much likelier to meet its climate change targets unless it builds more low-carbon nuclear power stations.

Pressure group People against Wylfa B have argued though that the new plant would despoil the local environment, be economically unviable, and have made Anglesey and other surrounding areas unsafe.

It welcomed today's decision by Hitachi and called on the business to 'ensure that no nuclear scheme can happen on the site in the future, should it be sold to another developer.'

The last nuclear power station to open in the UK was 25 years ago. Currently, the only plant under construction in Britain is Hinkley Point C in Somerset, which has been criticised for being over-budget and behind schedule.

Tom Greatrex, chief executive of the Nuclear Industry Association: 'It is imperative that a way forward is found for the site, to deliver thousands of jobs, hundreds of apprenticeships and millions of pounds of investment into an economic boost for the area'

According to a report released two days ago by the Nuclear Industry Association, 59,600 people work in the UK nuclear sector, including 24,000 in the North West, and around 4,500 at the Hinkley Point C site.

The group's head Tom Greatrex called today's announcement from Horizon 'disappointing news which nevertheless underscores the urgent need for progress on new nuclear projects in the UK if net-zero carbon emissions is to become a reality.'

'It is welcome news that Hitachi and Horizon will co-ordinate with the UK government and other relevant organisations over the handling of sites and possible future options.

He added: 'It is imperative that a way forward is found for the site, to deliver thousands of jobs, hundreds of apprenticeships and millions of pounds of investment into an economic boost for the area while delivering secure, reliable and low carbon power to underpin the UK's transition to net zero.'
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Linkedin Joseph E. Stiglitz (The Jakarta Post) Project Syndicate/New York  Wed, September 16, 2020 08:44 492 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c4508810 3 Opinion united-states,Donald-Trump,equality,justice,COVID-19,Racism,racial-disparities Free

Julia Jackson, the mother of Jacob Blake, a young black man from Kenosha, Wisconsin, who was shot seven times in the back by police, got it right when she said, America is great when we behave greatly. Sadly, for the past four years, President Donald Trump has been leading America in the exact opposite direction.

The countrys entire history seems to be on the line when Trump faces the voters again on Nov. 3. It has been 160 years since the United States tried to deal with its original sin of African slavery. On that occasion, President Abraham Lincoln famously warned that, A house divided against itself cannot stand. Yet, under Trump, all of Americas divisions have been widened.

It comes as no surprise that the rich have gotten richer under Trump, given that he tends to judge overall economic performance on the basis of the stock market, where the richest 10 percent of Americans own 92 percent of shares. While equity prices have continued to reach new heights, so, too, has US underemployment and joblessness. Some 30 million US residents currently live in households without enough food, and most of those in the bottom half of the income distribution are living paycheck to paycheck. In a country already riven with deepening inequalities, Trumps Republicans have not only cut taxes for billionaires and corporations but also implemented policies that will lead to higher tax rates for the vast majority of those in the middle.

As Martin Luther King, Jr., pointed out over a half-century ago, racial and economic injustice are inseparable issues in America. I was there for the March on Washington 57 years ago, when King delivered his heart-rending I Have a Dream speech, and we sang, We shall overcome someday. As a naive 20-year-old, I could not conceive that someday would lie so far off, that, after a short period of progress, the pursuit of racial and economic justice would stall.

Yet it has now been more than 50 years since the Kerner Commissions report on the 1967 race riots, and racial disparities remain little reduced. The reports ultimate main conclusion is still relevant: Our Nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white  separate and unequal. Perhaps under a Joe Biden presidency, the country could finally embark on a new path.

In the meantime, the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to expose and exacerbate existing inequities. Far from being an equal opportunity pathogen, the coronavirus poses the greatest threat to those who are already in poor health, of which there are many in a country that still does not recognize access to health care as a basic right. In fact, the number of uninsured Americans has increased by millions under Trumps watch, after falling dramatically under President Barack Obama; and even before the pandemic, average life expectancy under Trump had fallen below its level in the mid-2010s.

Trumps reckless governance, abetted by congressional Republicans, left the country unprepared to respond to the next crisis, which turned out to be just around the corner. When Republicans billionaire donors and corporate allies looked for handouts in 2017, there was plenty of money available. But now that households, small businesses, and essential public services desperately need assistance, Republicans are claiming that the cupboard is bare.

Insofar as the fight against the pandemic is akin to a wartime mobilization, the US has been stuck with a commander who looks out only for himself, while endangering everyone else by rejecting science and expertise. It is no wonder that the US ranks among the worst-performing countries in terms of controlling the disease and managing the economic fallout. Americans are now dying at three times the monthly rate as in World War II.

Early on in the Trump presidency, the author Michael Lewis warned that Trump and his cronies war on the administrative state would leave the US wholly unprepared for future shocks. The country is now reeling from a (foreseeable) pandemic, and remains wholly at the mercy of a looming climate crisis, socioeconomic crises, and crises of democracy and racial justice, not to mention emerging divides between urban and rural, coastal and interior, young and old.

Trump has targeted two of the key ingredients of national greatness: social solidarity and public trust. Countries with these features have controlled the pandemic and its economic fallout far better. How can a country that trails the rest of the world in these respects lay any claim to national greatness?

Americas best hope now lies with Biden, whose greatest strength is his potential to reunify a divided populace. Although the countrys rifts have grown too large to be healed overnight, there is some truth in the cliche that time heals all wounds.

But healing wont happen on its own. It will be up to Americans to embrace a project of national renewal. Fortunately, a large population of young people is eager to rise to the challenge. America can become great again only if it harnesses their enthusiasm, stands together, and applies itself anew to its longstanding principles and aspirations.

--------

Nobel laureate in economics and professor at Columbia University, chief economist at the Roosevelt Institute, and former senior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank. His most recent book is People, Power, and Profits: Progressive Capitalism for an Age of Discontent (Penguin, 2020).

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.
MAXIM ZMEYEV/Getty Images Alexei Navalny

Alexei Navalny is breathing on his own weeks after he was poisoned, the Russian opposition leader shared on Instagram Tuesday.

Navalny, 44, shared an update on the social media site along with a photo of himself from the hospital in Germany.

"Hi, this is Navalny. I miss you," the politician wrote in Russian.

"I still can hardly do anything, but yesterday I was able to breathe on my own all day," Navalny continued. "Just myself. I did not use any outside help, not even the simplest valve in my throat. I liked it very much. An amazing, underestimated process by many. Recommended."

Navalny was flown to the Charite hospital in Berlin on August 22 for treatment after he fell into a coma while in Siberia, the New York Times previously reported. It was later determined that Navalny had been poisoned with Novichok, a nerve agent developed in the Soviet Union in the 1970s and '80s, according to the BBC.

RELATED: Trump Campaign Asks People to 'Support Our Troops' in Ad with Photo of Russian Jets

Navalny's poisoning came just weeks before the country's municipal elections on September 13.

On Monday, one of Navalny's security officials told the New York Times that the politician, a vocal critic of Vladimir Putin, was "fully aware of his condition."

"Hes fully aware of his condition, hes fully aware of what happened and hes fully aware of where he is," the official said, adding that Navalny is "not planning to go into exile in Germany. He wants to go home to Russia and he wants to continue his mission."

Story continues

Kira Yarmysh, Navalny's press secretary, told CNN on Monday that he plans to return to Russia once he is recovered, and that "no other option was ever considered."

RELATED: Vladimir Putin Could Remain in Power Until 2036 After Disputed Vote Changes Russia Constitution

German government spokesperson Steffen Seibert said in a statement that the use of Novichok is a violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, the Times reported.

"Three laboratories have now independently provided evidence of a substance from the Novichok group as the cause of Mr. Navalnys poisoning," Seibert said, adding, "we renew the call for Russia to explain what has happened."

There has been international pressure on the Kremlin to explain how Navalny was poisoned, but Russian officials have repeatedly pushed back, the Times reported.
New Delhi: Markets ended in green on Wednesday amid sustained foreign fund inflows with the Nifty reclaiming 11,600 level.

The 30-share BSE index ended 258.50 points or 0.66 percent higher at 39,302.85 while the NSE Nifty rose 82.75 points or 0.72 per cent to 11,604.55.

Major gainers in the Sensex pack were M&M , Bajaj Auto, Sun Pharma, HDFC Bank, Infosys, L&T, UltraTech Cement, Nestle, ICICI Bank, HUL, Bajaj Finserve and HDFC, climbing over 4 per cent.

On the other hand, IndusInd Bank, NTPC, SBI, ONGC, Bharti Airtel, Axis Bank, Powergrid, ITC, HCL Tech Tata Steel, Asian Paint and Tech Mahindra were among the laggards, falling upto 1.80 percent.

The rupee meanwhile strengthened by 12 paise to finish at 73.52 against the US dollar.

Foreign institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 1,170.89 crore on a net basis on Tuesday, exchange data showed.

Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul ended in the red, while Tokyo settled with gains.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 2 per cent higher at USD 41.34 per barrel.

In the previous session on Tuesday, the 30-share BSE Sensex closed 287.72 points or 0.74 per cent higher at 39,044.35. The broader NSE Nifty rose 81.75 points or 0.71 per cent to finish at 11,521.80.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Special prosecutors running probes into corruption and abuse in Cuyahoga Countys government and jails are expected in November to receive evidence from Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budishs personal cellphone, more than 21 months after it was seized during a Feb. 14, 2019 raid.

The defense attorney representing former jail director Ken Mills made the disclosure this week in a request to delay a trial set for Oct. 19 on charges that accuse Mills of lying to council and failing to properly oversee the jail before several inmates died of suicide and drug overdoses in 2018.

Spellacy, who has laid blame for the jails problems with then-Cuyahoga County Sheriff Clifford Pinkney rather than Mills, said in filing that he expects the cellphone records will contradict prosecutors' assertion that Mills was performing the County Executives bidding at the detriment of the County Sheriff and result in acquittal or dropping of charges.

Judge Patricia Cosgrove, a visiting judge who was brought in to oversee the case in place of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Courts judges, has not yet ruled on whether to delay Mills' trial.

The filing marks the first public disclosure that investigators are close to being able to review evidence seized from a raid of Budishs office that came more than 19 months ago. It also signals what could be another delay in a contentious prosecution that has dragged out for several years, featured court proceedings held behind closed doors and has pestered Budishs second term.

Budish has not been charged or publicly identified as a target of the investigation.

Mills, whom Budish tapped in 2015 to lead the countys department of corrections, resigned his position in November 2018 just before the U.S. Marshals released a report finding widespread constitutional violations within the jail. Mills is charged with multiple counts, including falsification, tampering with records and dereliction of duty.

Mills was indicted in January 2019 alongside the countys then-IT general counsel Emily McNeeley and human resources chief Douglas Dykes, though their cases all stemmed from separate incidents. Dykes pleaded guilty in July to two misdemeanor charges for illegally converting a $13,500 moving expense perk for an IT official into a $15,000 signing bonus in 2017 and has agreed to testify in other cases stemming from the probes into county government, including in Mills' case. McNeeley has pleaded not guilty and her case is pending.

More than a dozen other jail guards and supervisors, including now-former Warden Eric Ivey, have also been charged in the investigations.

Investigators with the FBI and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yosts office served a search warrant at Budishs office in the countys headquarters weeks after the indictment and seized five boxes of items, including his personal cellphone, two computers and several documents and files. Yosts office agreed to send the records to Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul Gainess office, who reviewed them and removed any material that should be protected by attorney-client privilege before handing it back to the AGs office to use in prosecutions.

Special prosecutors in Yosts office said during previous court hearings earlier this year that they began to receive some records from the screening process, but did not specify which records had been received.

Prosecutors accuse Mills of negligently making decisions to implement the countys plan to regionalize its jails and house prisoners for the city of Cleveland and other suburbs in the downtown county jail. He is also accused of lying to Cuyahoga County Council during a meeting about his conversations with Budish.

Read more stories

Cuyahoga County IG report suggests cozy friendship between indicted former jail director, state inspector led to lax jail inspections

Ex-Cuyahoga County Jail director lied to investigators to protect Armond Budish and those in his inner circle, prosecutors say

Former Cuyahoga County HR chief Doug Dykes pleads guilty, gets probation, will cooperate with corruption probe
New Delhi, Sep 16 : A day after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh made a detailed statement on the LAC and said China had occupied 38,000 sq km of Indian territory illegally, the Congress has alleged that government is not speaking in one voice. Two revelations expose the lies, double-speak, hoodwinking and hypocrisy of the Narendra Modi-led government on the issue of the ongoing border tensions with China on the eastern border in area such as South Pangong, Razun La and the finger area, says the Opposition party.

Congress Rajya Sabha MP Naseer Hussain and Spokesperson Pawan Khera, jointly addressing a press conference,said,"The shocker comes in the form of an answer by MOS in the Ministry of Home Affairs Nityanand Rai to an unstarred question, in which the honourable minister categorically denies any infiltration by China during the last six months. This is a shameless insult to the martyrdom of our brave soldiers on the night of June 15 in the Galwan valley." The party questioned whether the government was trying to say that the Galwan clash happened in the Chinese territory? By saying so, is the government blaming the Indian army of trespassing into the enemy territory?

The Congress alleged that the government has accepted in the House that India took two loans amounting to Rs 9,202 crore from a Beijing-based multilateral development bank called the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. The second loan of $750 million was taken on June 19; just four days after the Galwan massacre where India lost 20 bravehearts. Incidentally, it was also the same day when Prime Minister Modi said that no one had entered our territory.

The party asked External affairs Minister S. Jaishankar whether he still stands by his statement where he said that "There cannot be business as usual in the face of Chinese attempts to unilaterally changing the facts on the ground along the border".

"The nation is shocked at such brazen duplicity of the Modi government in handling China's territorial aggression," said Khera The Congress said the government must come clean on the "factual situation on the eastern border. A clear message should go across the world that India and its government stand with the Indian army wand will not legitimise China's claims over our territory," added the party.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
The United States on Tuesday imposed economic sanctions on the wife of former Gambian leader Yahya Jammeh, who was accused of corruption during his 22-year rule and is the target of similar measures.

"Zineb Jammeh is believed to control many of the overseas assets of her husband," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.

He said the sanctions punish "her role in materially assisting, sponsoring, or providing support to her husband. She utilized a charitable foundation and charities as cover to facilitate the illicit transfer of funds to her husband."

The former Gambian first lady's US assets will be blocked, the Treasury said.

Jammeh ruled The Gambia with an iron fist but fled in January 2017 after losing a presidential election to relative unknown Adama Barrow, which he refused to acknowledge before being forced out of power by a popular uprising.

In 2018, Washington blocked Jammeh, his wife and their children from traveling to the United States.

All were placed on the blacklist for those suspected of large-scale corruption or major human rights abuses in The Gambia, a tiny West African country surrounded by Senegal.
For the past month, the population of the Bay Area California that is more than seven million people lived through historic wildfires all over time, but this time it is just harder to breathe as the region has been under a 'Spare the Air' alert for a month which only means that when they inhale outdoor it is just hazardous for their health.

Aside from the said region, air quality is even worse in states of Oregon and Washington, and by this time the smoke had already stretched towards the area of East Coast and even went to Europe.

Based on a study which can be found in the Journal of the American Heart Association, wildfire smoke does not only contains numerous kinds of gases and particles from materials that fuel the fire but it also includes ozone, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, polycyclic aromatic compounds, and particulate matter which is a kind of pollutant that is linked to be the cause of a number of cardiovascular and respiratory illnesses.

If a healthy person will be breathing an air tinged with smoke from these wildfires, they may feel stinging in their eyes while when they cough, they may have a hard time to recover to their normal breathing.

That observation and rection were only applicable if an individual will be inhaling the smoky air once but the effects of extended inhalation especially yearly are still not clear.

According to an atmospheric scientist at the University of California, Davis, Keith Bein, through their lifetime, people were just exposed once and or twice with this kind of situation.

Read also: Perfectly Preserved Remains of Almost 40,000 Years Old Ice Age Cave Bear Discovered

Air quality in the United States is measured using a color-coded scale which is known as the AQI or the Air Quality Index which was established during 1977 when they passed the Clean Air Act.

The AQI stretches from 0 to 500 and is split into six categories, ranging from good to hazardous. The scale also measures the levels of five major pollutants which include carbon monoxide, ground-level ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter.

For a state like California, they are required to report these levels daily as States and local agencies in cities with a population over 350,000 are obliged to send the daily information.

To have accurate information about the daily levels of the pollutants, they are measured using instruments on the ground and satellites that continuously collect information regarding what is in the atmosphere which includes the particles from wildfires.

Adverse Effects on the Human Body

Environmental Health Sciences Core Center at the University of California, Davis' director, Irva Hertz-Picciotto shared that they know pretty well it causes eye irritation, wheezing, cough, and people with asthma are more prone to have an episode, National Geographic reported.

Moreover, an environmental health scientist at the University of British Columbia, Sarah Henderson also mentioned that smoke coming from wildfires are a very complex type of air pollution as it has many different gases in it, and the composition of the present small particles can be highly variable and it depends if it is burning or how is it burnt.

Thus, it can be noted that the decline in air quality due to the wildfires may cause adverse effects to the body of those who are constantly exposed to it.



Related article: Transient Charged and Arrested, Accused of Starting Wildfire That Killed Dozens

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Gary Lineker's brother Wayne has been criticised online after revealing a bizarre list of criteria for his future girlfriend - which includes 'giving up her career, having no children, being able to cook and loving R&B'.

The list was posted to the club owner's Instagram account with the hashtag 'banter' but sparked outrage on social media from followers disgusted with Wayne's demands - such as 'loving the gym and having body definition' and not being the same age as him because 'that would just look weird'.

'Truly unprecedented levels of creep exuding from Wayne Lineker these days,' one unimpressed Twitter user wrote.

Father-of-four Wayne has been married once and has had several girlfriends, but is thought to have been single since his 2018 split from ex-fiancee Danielle Sandhu in 2018, who was 31 years his junior.

Last month, Wayne hit back at haters who criticised a video shared of him picking which 'dream doll' to take on a date at his club in Ibiza - and knocking the rejected women in the pool by their chests.

Gary Lineker's brother Wayne (pictured centre, surrounded by women) has revealed his bizarre criteria for his future girlfriend - which includes 'giving up her career, having no children, being able to cook and loving R&B'

The list (above) was posted to the club owner's Instagram account with the hashtag 'banter' but sparked criticism on social media from followers disgusted with Wayne's demands

Following the criticism of his criteria, Wayne added to his message: 'This post is purely tongue in cheek banter.'

Taking to Instagram yesterday, Wayne wrote: 'So, my family have decided I need a girlfriend for my own sanity and health...so heres my criteria.

'OK, lets start this off like Im normal: strong, nice, and loving personality. Now to more important things:

'You must like older men but only me...You have to be a worldly and above 30 (OK, 28 or 29 could work) but not my age as that would just look weird.

'You must like to travel and to fly business class and stay in incredible hotels. Be prepared to give up your career or job or at least be able to work from a laptop on a tropical beach somewhere.

Taking to Instagram yesterday, Wayne (pictured centre, surrounded by a group of women) wrote: 'So, my family have decided I need a girlfriend for my own sanity and health...so heres my criteria'

Wayne, pictured, added: 'You must like older men but only me...You have to be a worldly and above 30 (OK, 28 or 29 could work) but not my age as that would just look weird'

Despite finishing the post with '#banter', some social media users (above) were left unimpressed with Wayne's demands

'You will need to spend the summer in Ibiza and the winter in Dubai with two weeks in the UK for Christmas and New Year with the families and holidays to the Maldives.'

The club owner then explained that any potential love interest should come without children because his 'are all grown up'. However, he added that 'a dog is acceptable' if they have a passport.

He continued: 'You must be able to cook as I love cooking, especially Waitrose ready made meals. You also dont need to be verified I can sort that for you.

'House music and R&B lovers only. No heavy rock or pop music. You must like Netflix especially Money Heist and also real crime. No chick flicks, watch them with your mates.

'You need to be confident enough to be able to go to the front of the queue in nightclubs and accept a table and free drinks from the owners.'

Father-of-four Wayne has been married once and has had several girlfriends, but is thought to have been single since his 2018 split from ex-fiancee Danielle Sandhu (pictured together) in 2018, who was 31 years his junior

Last month, Wayne hit back at haters who criticised a video shared of him picking which 'dream doll' to take on a date at his club in Ibiza - and knocking the rejected women in the pool by their chests (pictured)

Wayne insisted that any girlfriends should have a driving license to share his Bentley and a future 'Lamborghini Jeep' purchase.

He also refused to consider any women who have shared teeth whitening posts, appear on OnlyFans, or dating websites, and who are 'boring' or bad at geography.

'You must love the gym, healthy food and have body definition as I will have soon,' he added. 'Accept and love my children and grandchildren and realise no more kids for me.. (never say never though).

'You must be able to let my PA book all yours and our flights and purchase items online for you. You must be able to accept my friends as I will accept yours, and accept I have to reply to girls direct messages and not just guys.'

Despite finishing the post with '#banter', some social media users were left unimpressed with Wayne's criteria.

However, some people (pictured above) could see the funny side of Wayne's announcement

Wayne (pictured) insisted that any girlfriends should have a driving license to share his Bentley and a future 'Lamborghini Jeep' purchase

Wayne (pictured) also refused to consider any women who have shared teeth whitening posts, appear on OnlyFans, or dating websites, and who are 'boring' or bad at geography

One person wrote: 'Wayne Lineker is an actual embarrassment, nah I'm not having it. How is a man of 58 years of age seriously writing a girlfriend requirement list on his Instagram. Don't know what's worse, that or the sad and desperate girls about to message him.

'Has Wayne Lineker been hacked or is he just being himself? Hard to say', another person mocked.

'Wayne Lineker should be banned off all social media in my opinion' a third added. 'Bad vibes. Gary Lineker, sort him out, will you.'

However, some people could see the funny side of Wayne's announcement and said: 'You tell 'em Wayne', while a second added: 'Bro this is gold.'

MailOnline has contacted Wayne's representative for comment.
The COVID-19 tally has



reached 29,208 in district of Maharashtra with 406 new additions, an official release said on Wednesday.

The death toll mounted to 824 with 9 more people succumbing to the infection on Monday, it said, adding that the 406 cases were reported on Tuesday.

The count of recoveries went up to 22,422 after 211 patients were discharged, it said.

The district now has 5,962 active cases.

(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.)
New Delhi, Sep 16 : The Trinamool Congress on Wednesday raised the mysterious suicide of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput in the Lok Sabha, suggesting the Central government to formulate a law to regulate media coverage in sensitive cases.

Speaking during Zero Hour, Trinamool Congress leader Pratima Mondal said that until the government formulates a law in this direction, it must issue a set of guidelines for media coverage of sensitive cases.

The MP from Jaynagar constituenty in West Bengal said that the Indian media hit a new low while covering the unfortunate suicide case of Sushant Singh Rajput, who was found hanging in his Mumbai's apartment on June 14.

"Not only that, circulating images and asking insensitive questions to the relatives and close ones increases their pain, anguish and suffering. This is extremely disrespectful even of the deceased," she said.

The MP said this form of heartless reporting has severe impact on young minds, who might get inspired by the person who has passed away.

"This also, sometimes, triggers these minds to take the same steps, and this did happen already. The very next day, a teenager committed suicide; and then a series of such incidents came to our knowledge," she said.

Mondal said that major countries around the world either follow the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines or have formulated their own laws for sensitive reporting of suicide cases.

"It is high time that India also formulates a law in this direction; until that happens, the government must issue a set of guidelines for coverage of sensitive cases by the media," the Trinamool MP said.

Mondal said that mental health should be given more importance and called for setting up a national suicide helpline number.

Latest updates on Sushant Singh Rajput Death Mystery
The world of racing was in mourning on Tuesday night after the death of nine-time Irish champion jockey Pat Smullen was announced at the age of 43,

Smullen, who had been battling pancreatic cancer since March 2018, died in St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin.

Smullen, a 12-time European Classic winner, enjoyed a long association with trainer Dermot Weld and their wins together included the 2016 Derby on Harzand.

Legendary jockey Pat Smullen had been battling Pancreatic cancer since March 2018

Smullen was initially given a clean bill of health last year and threw his weight behind organising a racing legends race at the Curragh which raised over 2.5million (2.3m) for a cancer charity.

However, he suffered a relapse in recent months and his condition deteriorated last week. He leaves behind his wife Frances and their three children Hannah, Paddy and Sarah.

Brian Kavanagh, chief executive of Horse Racing Ireland, told the PA news agency: 'Pat was one of our greatest stars. He was nine-times champion jockey, but in many ways his greatest achievements were out of the saddle.

'Since his diagnosis, he did wonderful work fund-raising for charity and he battled this disease with great heart and it's hard to believe he has passed at such a young age. All our thoughts are with Frances and his three children, Hannah, Paddy and Sarah, and all his friends and colleagues in the weighing room.

Jockey Smullen won the Derby at Epsom in 2016 on Harzand, trained by Dermot Weld

'It's a really sad day for Irish racing. Pat was one of the finest men you could hope to meet. There's been such a reaction around Irish racing and such a degree of shock, which shows the high regard in which Pat was held.

'He was a pleasure to have anything to do with - his achievements in the saddle were one thing, but his qualities outside of it were something else.

'He was a global figure in racing, but his reaction to his diagnosis and the fund-raising he did last year in particular was really wonderful.

'It's just a sad, sad day.'
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's Betalin Therapeutics is preparing an initial public offering that will value the biotech firm between $150-170 million to fund trials for its diabetes treatment, the company's chief executive said on Wednesday.

Betalin is developing an artificial micro-pancreas that is implanted in the thigh of diabetics to help control the level of sugar in their blood. The system mimics the function of a healthy pancreas by secreting insulin and making daily injections unnecessary, said CEO Nikolai Kunicher.

The company, which is funded by private investors, is looking to raise about $40 million in an IPO in New York or London by the end of next year.

In the past year it won 5.5 million euros ($6.52 million) in grants from Europe's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.

"By the end of next year we are planning to start clinical trials," Kunicher said. "We will need to raise funds for the completion of phase 2 and phase 3 clinical trials."

The technology uses healthy donor cells that secrete insulin. Those cells are planted on a thin scaffold made out of tissue from pig lungs.

One of its advantages, Kunicher said, is that the implant process is relatively simple and done under local anesthesia.

Should the trials go smoothly, a final product is still some five years off, he said.

People with diagnosed diabetes have about 2.3 times higher medical expenditures, of which about $9,601 is attributed directly to the disease each year, according to the American Diabetes Association.

Betalin said its treatment will have a one-time cost of about $50,000.

(Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 21:01:45|Editor: huaxia

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HANOI, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam reported no new cases of COVID-19 infection on Wednesday, with its total confirmed cases standing at 1,063 and 35 deaths from the disease so far, according to its Ministry of Health.

As many as five more COVID-19 patients have been given all-clear, raising the total cured cases in the country to 936 as of Wednesday, according to the ministry.

Meanwhile, more than 32,400 people are being quarantined and monitored in the country, the ministry said.

Vietnam has gone through two weeks without any COVID-19 cases in the community, according to the ministry. Enditem
China military: Years of evidence proves US biggest threat to world order, peace

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 15 September 2020 6:11 AM

China's Defense Ministry says many years of evidence shows that the United States is the biggest threat to global order and peace.

Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Col. Wu Qian made the remark in a statement on Sunday in reaction to an annual report by the Pentagon released on September 2 that said Chinese military developments and goals presented "serious implications for US national interests and the security of the international rules-based order."

Wu called the report a "wanton distortion" of China's aims and the relationship between the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and China's 1.4 billion population.

He said that US actions in Iraq, Syria, Libya, and other countries over the past two decades had led to the killing of over 800,000 people and the displacement of millions more.

"Rather than reflecting on itself, the US issued a so-called report that made false comments about China's normal defense and military construction," Wu said.

"Many years of evidence shows that it is the US that is the fomenter of regional unrest, the violator of the international order, and the destroyer of world peace," the Chinese official said.

The US Defense Department's nearly-150-page "China Military Power Report" surveyed the PLA's technical capabilities, doctrines, and objectives, claiming that they included becoming a "practical instrument" of the country's statecraft with an active role in advancing Beijing's foreign policy and aimed "to revise aspects of the international order."

It said that if the Chinese military achieved its objectives, there would be "serious implications for US national interests and the security of the international rules-based order."

The United States has long held an anti-China posture, but it has been significantly ramping up tensions with the country in recent months.

Relations between China and the United States have hit their lowest point in decades amid aggressive US posturing over trade, technology, Taiwan, Hong Kong, human rights, and the South China Sea.

Much of the Pentagon's annual report was devoted to analyzing China's strategy toward Taiwan, a self-ruled, breakaway island that almost the entire world recognizes as subject to Chinese sovereignty. While the US, too, recognizes Chinese sovereignty over Taiwan, it has been increasingly supportive of the island's current secessionist government.

The report also pointed to areas in which the 2-million-strong PLA  the world's largest standing military  had overtaken the US, including in the size of its navy, now the world's largest with approximately 350 ships and submarines versus the US's nearly 293 warships.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo earlier this month acknowledged the military aspect of Washington's rivalry with Beijing but said the main challenges posed by China  with a population of 1.4 billion people  were economic.

FBI Director Christopher Wray also alleged in July that the "greatest long-term threat to our nation's information and intellectual property, and to our economic vitality, is the counterintelligence and economic espionage threat from China."

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Current Affairs

The Premier Hon. Sharlene CartwrightRobinson attended the official swearing-in of Prime Minister for Jamaica, the Most Honourable Andrew Holness virtually on Monday 7 September 2020.



An invitation was extended to the Premier to virtually attend the official ceremony which was held at Kings House in Kingston Jamaica on Monday. A letter was sent from the Premier to congratulate the Prime Minister on his victory in the Jamaica 2020 General Elections.



The Premier congratulating the Prime Minister on his victory stated: On behalf of my Government and the people of the Turks and Caicos Islands, I would like to offer sincere congratulations on your recent victory in the Jamaica 2020 General Elections.



My Government welcomes the opportunity in the near future, for open discussions and the sharing of ideas that will foster and strengthen socio-economic relations between our countries.



The Turks and Caicos Islands Government continues to advance regional and international partnerships to strengthen valuable relationships with countries in the region and around the world.




opinion

The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia has demonstrated its resourcefulness, resilience and dominance in the Horn of Africa. Despite numerous challenges facing it, be it the stories about its Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), the diplomatic row over it with Egypt, which have recently dominated the news headlines, or the security threats in its Oromia, Tigray and Somali regions, Ethiopia remains the envy of neighbors on numerous counts.

But some of the policies that are being pursued by its current leadership, promising and applauded as they were initially, might actually prove to be a threat to its national security and stability. The uncertainty surrounding the future of "ethnic federalism," the suspicion surrounding the federal government's commitment to full implementation of a reform programme, and the insistence on holding parliamentary elections in 2021, despite the fears that holding these elections before conducting a census, necessary for redistricting, could inflame ethnic competition. The country's major political parties are also ethnic based and such competition could undermine the developmental and democratic gains of the past few years.

Ethiopia draws its power from being the second-most populated country on the continent and also from its 162,000-member strong active duty military force, the size and steady growth of its economy, its people's industriousness and a history of political leadership that has had relative success in instilling in their people a sense of collective Ethiopian identity and national pride. But the ambitious reform agenda that the country's 10th Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, has introduced since 2018, has concurrently raised expectations that he cannot deliver on and have revealed a degree of reluctance about the reform programme. This has betrayed either a lack of confidence in the reforms that were announced and started or a resistance by the elite power base.

Ethiopia is as ethnically diverse as the rest of black Africa, but although many of its regions have always expressed dissatisfaction with the way the central government has perfunctorily included them in the corridors of power and development services along ethnic or regional lines, there is no mistaking their pride in Ethiopia, often expressed in songs and by glorification of its name, even by regions most critical of its government. It also has the advantage of a uniquely long history of literacy in a local language, Amharic, which symbolises a degree of unity among many of its people and a source of strong connection to its roots, unlike the cultural dislocation that colonialism has fashioned in much of the rest of Africa.

Serious problems

However, Ethiopia is beset by serious problems that threaten its stability, its unity and cohesion. For example, while its massive population has been its most important asset, its most valuable resource, it is also a liability in terms of general discontent with the country's ability to provide equitable services to all of them, to meet the needs of the many youth and rural poor who are flocking to the cities in ever larger numbers. Climate change, land degradation, landlessness and lack of basic services, are all pushing massive and unsustainable urbanisation, complete with all its attendant complications of congestion, housing problems, poor public health services and unemployment.

The federal government has tried its best to improve urban infrastructure, partly thanks to Chinese investments, and has provided low-income housing, affordable public transit system and expanded tertiary education, including the creation of 11 new universities in the past five years alone. But this is not likely to tackle poverty, the biggest problem facing the country, with over 22 million people living below the national poverty line. Also, it has not kept pace with the influx of young and poor people to the city, and Addis Ababa, the capital, is plagued by the usual problems that confront African metropolis like crime, inadequate water supply, especially into the sprawling high-rise structures in the suburbs. This has made for a restive population, both in federal regions and in Addis Ababa, and will most likely become new threats to the peace that the country has enjoyed in varying degrees since the war with Eritrea (1998-2000).

But the biggest threat to Ethiopia's stability in the near future is its system of governance itself. Its "ethnic federal" system has produced mixed results and sentiments, just as the country's leadership that is managing this system does not seem entirely convinced that it is the most effective way to administer such a vast and diverse country. There is the dilemma of pursuing ethnic federalism more vigorously at the risk of keeping the Ethiopians divided and defined by ethnicity and not by what is common between most or all of them, or phasing it out over time at the risk of the regions protesting their return to stringent controls that Addis Ababa imposes on regional governments. There are no straight answers to this dilemma, but it remains the one thing that could lead Ethiopia down the path of regional rebellions, if the country does not weigh these options with care.

Critics say that ethnic federalism was not genuinely designed to dispense power to all the regions but was primarily a mechanism for consolidation of power in the hands of the federal government by creating in the regions a loyal clientele out of state governments, but remaining unable to resolve the fundamental governance issues such as equitable resource sharing between the states. Ethnic federalism was the brainchild of the late Meles Zenawi, the 8th Prime Minister, who managed and implemented it with a combination of an iron fist and ideological developmental persuasion of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). The system has never been challenged in a way similar to what we have seen since Mr Ahmed came to power in April 2018.

Unprecedented energy

Mr Ahmed came with unprecedented energy to change things, perhaps owing that to his Pentecostal faith, with an ambitious reform agenda, which saw him free up civic spaces almost unknown in Ethiopia's recent past, releasing jailed journalists, turning the old imperial palace into a culture park and museum, and offering an olive branch to Eritrea's Isaias Afwerki to end the war between the two sisterly countries. And above all, he was applauded for forming a cabinet with a gender balance, giving half of all ministerial portfolios to women. For the first time in Ethiopia's history, women took the top security posts, including the ministry of defense and ministry of peace, which oversees the federal police, the intelligence services and the information security agency and has taken the lead in tackling much of the ethnic unrest that keeps cropping up in different regions of the country since the reforms started. How long these actions can last or how fast they will materialise as part of a stabilising agenda is as good as predicting their capacity to cause an implosion in the country, be it along ethnic-based political parties, religious confrontation or rural rebellions.

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Ethiopia, however, is not just a regional power to reckon with. Although it has found itself in a struggle for dominance in the Horn and East African regional affairs, particularly against Kenya, it has also exhibited leadership within the regional trade bloc, the Inter-Governmental Agency on Development (IGAD), especially on matters of peace-making and peace-keeping in South Sudan and in the African Union's efforts to combat Islamic militant group, al-Shabab, in Somalia. In reading both the domestic and regional dynamics, Ethiopia might just wither the challenges of developmental and democratic reforms, but only if it recognises that politics is almost always local, and so long as ethnic groups remain the strongest fall back position for citizens when the state fails to protect them, the country cannot afford an empty talk of ethnic federalism.
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

A motorcyclist killed in a Labor Day collision in San Francisco's North of Panhandle neighborhood has been identified by the medical examiner's office as 57-year-old Thomas Hellevig.

The collision happened on Turk Boulevard near Central Avenue around 2:35 p.m. Sept. 7, police said.

Hellevig, a San Francisco resident, reportedly collided with a vehicle and the impact caused him to be ejected from the motorcycle. Medical crews pronounced him dead at the scene, according to police.

No one else was injured in the wreck, police 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.
In a world first, an Australian doctor has completed the first human clinical trial using engineered stem cells to treat an immune disease.

The trial used induced pluripotent stem cells to treat 15 patients in Australia and the UK with an immune disorder called graft versus host disease.

The disease can occur after a bone marrow transplant and, in some cases, can be deadly.

Professor John Rasko has led a world-first human clinical trial using reprogammed stem cells to treat an immune disorder called graft versus host disease. Credit:Wolter Peeters

Royal Prince Alfred Hospital head of Cell and Molecular Therapies Professor John Rasko AO said graft versus host patients could develop severe gut symptoms, or in their skin or lungs.
Snowflake's shares more than doubled in their New York Stock Exchange debut on Wednesday (US time), a day after the Warren Buffett-backed data warehouse company raised more than $US3 billion ($4.1 billion) in the largest US listing of the year thus far.

Snowflake's spectacular market debut reflects the hearty appetite for new stocks, as low interest rates drive investors into equities.

Prior to the IPO, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway committed to purchase $US250 million worth of stock at $US105 a share. Credit:Bloomberg

The market overlooked Snowflake's losses, focusing on the prospects of its software business of data sharing on cloud systems, which has seen rapid growth as offices around the world adapt to remote working.

Snowflake shares started trading at $US245 apiece on Wednesday, more than double its $US120 IPO price, and closed up 111 per cent at $US253.93 to value it at over $US70 billion.
There is an extraordinarily self-serving chapter in Bob Woodwards new book, Rage, which relays a conversation between then-former Defense Secretary James Mattis and then-Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, in which the two contemplate taking collective action against the president of United States.

Heres the snippet:

I havent spoken out, Mattis commiserated. He had maintained his silence since his resignation in December. Ive made my case before the president. He listened. In the end he just didnt agree with me. Trumps disdain for the allies and decision to pull out of Syria with no warning, no consultation, had been Mattiss red line. Ive buried too many boys. That was a terrible decision. This is not good, Mattis said. Maybe at some point were going to have to stand up and speak out. There may be a time when we have to take collective action. Well, possibly, Coats said. Yeah, there may. Hes dangerous, Mattis said. Hes unfit.

Though Woodward attempts to portray Mattis as the noble protagonist of the Trump era  oh, look, theres the general sneaking into the National Cathedral, a busy tourist attraction, to pray for the soul of the nation  the attempt backfires. Clandestine conversations about collectively preventing the president from engaging in his preferred  and completely legal  foreign-policy goals are probably exhilarating to readers of resistance porn. But, in this country, the efficacy and morality of those foreign-policy goals are debated in the public arena and decided on Election Day. We are not ruled by generals in America.

It is unclear exactly what Mattis was referring to with his talk of collective action against the president. But it certainly wasnt a mere airing of grievances. Coats himself confirms this when he tells Mattis that speaking out didnt seem to work.

Mattis could have spoken out. In December 2018 he resigned after disagreeing with Trump on the question of withdrawal from Syria  a move that the president had promised to make numerous times during the 2016 campaign. It wasnt until June of 2020 that Mattis told the Atlantics Jeffrey Goldberg that he had come to the realization that Trump was a threat to the Constitution just that weekend. But, given that the scene in Woodwards book occurred in 2019, that cant be true. Or, Woodwards account cant be true. Or both. Either way, it is difficult to escape the feeling that Mattiss core problem with Trump is over policy. In Woodwards book, Mattis complains that Trump made a terrible decision, that he didnt agree with me, and he crossed what Woodward describes as his red line.

Story continues

That Trumps political choices arent favored by Washingtons entrenched foreign-policy elites  people who have been wrong so often that they make the Congressional Budget Office look like Nostradamus  is unsurprising. But its worth noting that Mattiss record here is hardly spotless. Mattis alleges that he no longer could stomach Trumps disdain for the allies. On Tuesday, Trump held a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, Arab countries that have normalized agreements with the Jewish State. This alone is a bigger foreign-policy victory than anything accomplished by Obama  who had great disdain for long-standing allies such as Israel.

Perhaps the retired Marine Corps general, whod buried too many boys, was genuinely concerned that Trump would escalate violence. Nevertheless, theres a strong argument to be made that more boys would have been buried if Trump  the first president who hasnt gotten us into a new conflict since Jimmy Carter  had taken Mattiss advice on Syria. (Trump now claims Mattis also dissuaded him from assassinating Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.)

Its only fair to point out that Mattis alienated himself from the Obama administration, too, by taking an aggressive stance on Iran after the Islamic regime murdered hundreds of American soldiers, and that, in those days, Mattis wasnt portrayed as an esteemed military man of indisputable integrity, but rather as a saber-rattler who was undercutting Obamas alleged peacemaking efforts.

Again, it is difficult to avoid the conclusions that the core problem for Mattis, and many others who are entrenched in the Washington, D.C., foreign-policy establishment, was that President Trump doesnt want troops in Afghanistan, Iraq, or Syria. But, as was the case under Obama, thats simply not for them to decide.

Do they know this? Over the past four years we have watched as factions within the Justice Department and the Pentagon have unilaterally decided that the American people made a horrible mistake in 2016  a mistake that must be nullified. It is true that Trumps volatility and habit of naming officials who are antagonistic to his goals doesnt help his cause. It is also true that at no time in modern history has the bureaucratic machinery of the executive branch worked so openly to undermine the legal policy goals of the president.

Neither the Justice Department nor the generals are independent branches of government. The military answers to the civil power, not to officials such as Mattis. If Mattis believed that Trump was a threat, he should have gone to the media immediately and made a consistent case to the American people. Instead, if Woodward is to be believed, he met with high-ranking government officials and flirted with the idea of undermining the duly elected president. Then, he went to a prodigious author who framed his behavior during the Trump years as an act of heroism.

It was not.

More from National Review
Families, activists and attorneys for inmates in Oregons prisons called Tuesday for the Department of Corrections to immediately release at least half of the states prison population, saying more public health crises are imminent if it doesnt.

Prisoners have faced a host of unlivable conditions related to both the COVID-19 pandemic and evacuations due to the recent wildfires, they said.

They have been calling for inmates to be released since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak but on Tuesday released a list of specific demands. In addition to a mass release, they said the state must improve conditions for those who remain, provide education and invest in culturally competent programs that focus on community and helping inmates re-enter society.

Prisons do not keep us safe, said Rose Harriot, the partner of an inmate at Pendletons Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution. We need to divest from the institutions that have failed us and invest in ones that have shown the potential to be successful.

The Corrections Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. On Saturday, department spokeswoman Jennifer Black acknowledged delays in getting inmates meals, as well as a lack of phones for the male inmates at the Deer Ridge Correctional Institution in Madras, where more than 1,300 inmates have been transferred because of the fires. Inmates staged a demonstration there Friday night and Saturday morning to protest unsafe conditions.

During an emergency, operations do not run as smoothly as normal, Black said then. She said a crisis team arrived and the protests ended without any use of force.

Black said inmates had access to food and medications, but not on their normal schedule. She said the department was figuring out a solution to the smoky conditions at Deer Ridge and working on setting up phones in the building so male inmates could make calls.

Other families and activists reported that since the pandemic started, inmates have staged hunger strikes to protest conditions at prisons and jails around the state, including the Pendleton prison, Lane County Corrections Division and the Multnomah County Detention Center.

Juan Chavez, an attorney with the Oregon Justice Resource Center, said the state knew it wasnt equipped to handle a pandemic, but still didnt enforce COVID-19 precautions such as wearing masks and releasing inmates to ensure social distancing.

This pandemic highlights the public health crisis that is mass incarceration, he said. Prisons are the epitome of a congregated environment  a landlocked cruise ship that cant come to port.

He said the prison system is unsustainable, and a failure to drastically reduce the prison population will only lead to more health crises  whether related to more wildfires or more illness outbreaks.

We know with global warming and climate change, were going to be put into a position where people living in prisons will be faced with forest fires, Chavez said. Given that theyre stacked on top of each other and in unsafe, unsanitary conditions, thats going to be a cascading problem  the spread of COVID.

Oregon Governor Kate Brown has commuted the sentences of 57 people due to the pandemic. In late August she said she would consider releasing 350 to 400 more who were within two months of their release date, as well as a few considered to be medically vulnerable. She asked the Department of Corrections to give her the names of eligible inmates by Friday.

Inmates and their families have reported a lack of compliance with social distancing and mask requirements and lack of hygiene supplies since the pandemic started.

Others reported their loved ones being forced to work despite being sick, thereby exposing other inmates to potential illness.

Tanja Lupoli, the wife of an inmate at the Pendleton prison, said her husband has a host of health issues and was on the list for early release when the pandemic began. But she said that when he filed a habeas corpus petition, he was unfairly denied release.

Others said their family members have told them that overcrowded conditions at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem -- the evacuation site for three other prisons threatened by wildfires -- has not only increased COVID risks, but has led to fights between inmates.

Still others reported not receiving meals or medications on time or inability to access phones to call their families. And many said the smoke inside prison buildings is even worse than in the prisons they evacuated.

Everyone is sick, has sore throats, is coughing constantly, their eyes are burning, said Erica Gibson-Pitts, whose son is at Oregon State Penitentiary. Theres no relief.

Jayati Ramakrishnan; 503-221-4320; jramakrishnan@oregonian.com; @JRamakrishnanOR

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By PTI

NEW DELHI: A court here on Wednesday stayed an order directing Delhi Police to unlock the residential portion of the Nizamuddin Markaz, which was locked after a case was registered against several people attending a religious congregation in violation of COVID-19 guidelines in March.

Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Sandeep Yadav passed the direction on a plea by Delhi police, which approached the sessions court against an order passed by a magisterial court on September 11.

The magistrate had directed Delhi Police to inspect the premises within five days and hand over to the family of Tablighi Jamaat chief Maulana Saad, the keys of the residential portion of the Nizamuddin Markaz.

The period was expiring today.

The sessions court also issued notice to Saad's mother Khalida, on whose application the magisterial court passed the order, and asked her response to police plea by October 8.

An FIR was registered against Saad and six others on March 31, after thousands of people, including foreign nationals, participated in the Tablighi Jamaat congregation at Nizamuddin Markaz and later many of them tested positive for COVID-19.

The Matropolitan Magistrate had directed Khalida and her family members to give an undertaking on an affidavit that they would not obstruct the investigation in any manner and the residential portion of the property shall only be used for residing purpose and they would not enter into any part other of the Markaz and its premises for any other purpose.

The court had said that every person, who is a citizen of India, is entitled to the right to life and liberty under the Constitution and the right to access to residential property would fall within one of the sacrosanct rights.

An FIR was registered against Tablighi Jamaat leader Maulana Saad Kandhalvi and six others on March 31 on a complaint of the Station House Officer of Nizamuddin under sections of the Epidemic Diseases Act, Disaster Management Act (2005), Foreigners Act and other relevant sections of Indian Penal Code.
The Member of Parliament for the Bantama constituency in the Ashanti region, Daniel Okyem Aboagye, has refuted claims that the decision to pay depositors of collapsed banks and Micro-Finance institutions ahead of the December polls is for votes.

According to Mr Okyem Aboagye, government failed to pay depositors earlier because there were funds to settle them.

Government has released an amount of GHC3.5 billion to pay depositors of banks and microfinance which were collapsed beginning today Wednesday September 16,2020.

Notice is hereby given that with effect from Wednesday 16 September 2020, affected depositors may contact any branch of Consolidated Bank Ghana Ltd (CBG) the paying bank to access their newly created Cash accounts which were originally designated as Commercial Paper (Bond) accounts at the bank, a statement from the Receiver said Tuesday.

It added: The implication of the above is that depositors who have either received or are due Commercial Paper in partial satisfaction of their claims will now receive CASH payments at no discount for the Commercial Paper they have either received or is due to them. Please note that depositors who have already discounted all or part of their Commercial Paper will receive a full refund in cash of the discount they suffered.

Until this week, the government had maintained it did not have funds to settle the debts resorting to the use of bonds to offset them within five years.

The NDC in their manifesto pledged to settle all debts if it returns to power after the December polls.

But speaking on Morning Starr, Mr Okyem Aboagye said government had already plans to pay depositors adding that the decision is not because of the NDC promise.

Government decided to pay cash, not because of NDC but because we are working. Part of the reasons why government couldnt pay everyone because we were looking for funds. It wasnt as if government didnt want to pay. Government didnt have money to pay, Mr Okyem Aboagye said.

---starrfmonline
For reasons that no longer matter, Porsche stopped making the 935 in 1981, but the end of factory support for the model came a bit sooner, in 1979. Even so, the carmaker continued to supply parts to customer teams, and since then a lot of interesting and at times breathtaking interpretations of it came to light.One of the most successful such conversions were the ones performed by German race car driver and team owner Reinhold Joest. His team, Joest Racing, was the first to jump on the customization train and, with Porsches blessing, started messing around with the 935.The one we have here is the first-ever to be modified by Joest. Officially known as the 009 0001, it sported such exciting modifications that it quickly became a podium regular, scoring a total of 15 top three finishes and two wins at various races.Sporting Baby Porsche 935 2.0 panels - Joest was the only team allowed to do this  it comes with a tubular space frame upgrade at the rear that is both much lighter than Porsches original, and also allows for better suspension mountings. The factory air-to-water intercoolers were swapped for air-to-air ones, and theres a 3.2-liter twin-turbocharged flat-six engine pushing the car along from the back.This unique racer had a host of prominent owners over the years. After ending its racing career in 1981, it went through the hands of several private owners, including Formula 1 legend Bernie Ecclestone and major fan enthusiast Bruce Canepa.It is now on the lot of cars being sold by the former American racing driver. The price for the first-of-its-kind Joest Porsche 935 is available upon request, but given the cars pedigree, and the fact that its engine underwent a major rebuild no more than three hours worth of track time ago, dont expect it to come cheap.
San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg on Wednesday called for the release of body camera footage from a deadly police shooting on the West Side once authorities have completed their investigation into the incident.

On Tuesday, a San Antonio police officer shot and killed a man wanted on two warrants.

Police Chief William McManus said three plainclothes and two uniformed officers were serving two family violence warrants Tuesday afternoon in the 100 block of Willee when the man struck an officer with a can of paint and pulled the officers gun from its holster.

READ MORE: SAPD: Officers shoot and kill a man while executing warrant on the West Side

An officer fired one shot, striking the man, according to police. The man, identified by a family friend as Darrell Zemault Sr., 55, was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

McManus said he had not yet seen the body camera video of Zemault being shot and would not release the footage at this stage of the investigation. In a rare move, he released body camera footage within days of a controversial arrest involving a Black jogger last month.

"An active investigation, that will be referred to the district attorney and ultimately to a grand jury, is being conducted of the officer-involved shooting on Tuesday which happened when police were attempting to serve two arrest warrants for domestic violence," Nirenberg said in a statement.

"State law prevents the public release of the body camera footage during the investigation, but I am requesting that the footage be released as soon as the investigation is complete. It is in the public interest for San Antonians to be able to view the video themselves."

Celeste Brown, a friend of Zemaults family and an organizer with Defund Police SA, also called for the video's release Wednesday.

"The family deserves truth and justice. We want to know what happened because even today it's really difficult to grieve when there's a lack of clarity as to how this went down," Brown said.
The Pennsylvania House of Representatives on Tuesday engaged in a debate over a bill that assures residents of the right to practice their religion during disaster declarations.

The bill, which passed by a 149-53 vote, now goes to the Senate for consideration.

Rep. Clint Owlett, R-Tioga County, said the idea behind the bill was sparked by Gov. Tom Wolf discouraging people from attending houses of worship in April. After Owlett introduced his bill, he said Wolf and the state Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine clarified in July the restriction on gatherings of 25 people or less to control the spread of COVID-19 didnt apply to churches.

We must keep this bill moving to make sure that its inherently clear that houses of worship in any administration, this one or any in the future, cannot even in the midst of an emergency declaration restrict religious freedom, Owlett said.

Rep. Jordan Harris, D-Philadelphia, said instead of protecting religious institutions, he sees this bill putting house of worship in grave danger because it implies that a governor can interfere with the practice of religion.

I think its important that we all stand together to protect our churches, protect our synagogues, protect our mosques, from the meddling hands of politicians and reject this unconstitutional attempt to insert ourselves in an area where we do not belong," said Harris.

Harris failed in his attempt to have the legislation declared unconstitutional by a 69 to 133 vote.

Rep. Kevin Boyle, D-Philadelphia, called the bill a solution in search of a problem saying right now, the governors emergency declaration doesnt prohibit religious assemblies but could be necessary this winter if a second wave of COVID-19 should occur and there are massive amounts of infections and deaths.

If there was a mega church [which was] to come to Pennsylvania and have a service for tens of thousands of people, under this bill there will be absolutely nothing that state government could do, Boyle said. You might say no, thats not realistic. But guess what, that actually happened in many part of the U.S. South and in other parts of the country in the spring.

House Speaker Bryan Cutler, R-Lancaster County, made the rare move for a speaker of stepping down from the rostrum to participate in the debate on this bill. He said the governors actions make this legislation necessary.

He said the states founder, William Penn, who endured hardships to secure religious freedom, would never expect us to divert from the principles this commonwealth was founded upon

Six months into a pandemic, millions of our friends and neighbors are out of work. Employers large and small are shutting their doors. Some of them for good. Schools are doing all they can to teach kids that some may not even be in their buildings, Cutler said.

With all of this going on, I simply ask the chamber is now the time to lock up churches? Is now the time to not allow people to assemble? No, I believe that now is the time to lift our neighbors in need to serve our commonwealth proudly and to answer a call bigger than ourselves, just as William Penn did for many of us.

Jan Murphy may be reached at jmurphy@pennlive.com. Follow her on Twitter at @JanMurphy.
Amid rising cases,



the High Court on Wednesday directed a Mumbai- based firm to continue to supply to in the state notwithstanding restrictions imposed by the Maharashtra government.

The state-run Maharaja Yashwantrao Hospital (MYH) here moved the MP High Court after the Maharashtra government issued a notification saying that in Maharashtra should get priority in supply.

The directive was issued by a division bench of Justices S C Sharma and Shailendra Shukla on Wednesday.

"By way of interim relief...Inox Air Products Pvt Ltd is directed to continue uninterrupted supply of liquid medical to the State of including the petitioner Hospital without being influenced by the Circular dated 07-09-2020, specially the Condition No. 2 issued by the State of Maharashtra," the judges said.

"Meaning thereby, the supply of liquid medical to the State of be done by the respondent uninterruptedly, until further orders," the high court said.

The public health department of Maharashtra issued a notification on September 7 directing that oxygen manufacturers should ensure production at maximum capacity.

It also directed that 80 per cent of local production should be reserved for medical use, and supplied to in Maharashtra.

The MY Hospital, which gets liquid oxygen from the Mumbai-based firm, challenged it, saying it was against the Supreme Court's ruling that medical services are basic rights of citizens.

Madhya Pradesh advocate general Purshendra Kaurav told the court that the hospital had a contract for oxygen supply with the Mumbai firm till May 20, 2021.

But the company has now stopped the supply citing the Maharashtra government's notification.

No state can discriminate in this way when it comes to the supply of life-saving oxygen amid the COVID-19 crisis, he argued.

The high court sought replies from the Maharashtra government and other respondents and adjourned the hearing to October 19.

After the September 7 notification, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had spoken to his Maharashtra counterpart Uddhav Thackeray over the issue.

(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.)
The Centre said on Tuesday that the Union territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh have been fully integrated into the mainstream and the decision to revoke the regions special status over a year back brought about socio-economic development, even as the government continues to face criticism from the Opposition over the August 5 move.

Responding to All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen leader Asaduddin Owaisis query, in which he asked about the impact of the decision to revoke the special status and bifurcate the erstwhile state of J-K into two UTs, Union minister of state for home G Kishan Reddy told the Lok Sabha that benefits of all central laws were now available to the region.

On August 5 last year, Parliament effectively nullified Article 370, which conferred special status on J-K, removed Article 35A, which empowered the state legislature to define permanent residents for government jobs and property ownership, reorganised the state into two separate administrative units of J-K and Ladakh, and made them both UTs. Regional parties have issued a joint statement, pledging that they will fight the constitutional changes.

Speaking in Parliament, convened for the first time amid unprecedented arrangements prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic, Reddy said: ...The change has brought about socio-economic development in both the new UTs of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. Empowerment of people, removal of unjust laws, bringing in equity and fairness to those discriminated since ages who are now getting their due along with comprehensive development are few of the important changes that are ushering both the new UTs towards the path of peace and progress.

Detailing the funds being infused in the region, the home ministry said that besides regular flow of money under various schemes by different ministries of the Centre, an amount of 30,757 crore was allocated in the financial year 2020-21.

Replying to another query in the Lok Sabha, the home ministry said that there were 111 successful infiltration incidents into J-K from across the border between August 2019 and July this year. Between March and August this year, 138 terrorists were killed, while 50 security personnel have also laid down their lives, the ministry said.

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Raw census data collected in 2011 has been handed over to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment for classification and categorisation, Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said on Wednesday.

TheSocio Economic and Census (SECC) 2011 was conducted by the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) and the then Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA) in rural and urban areas, respectively, the minister told the Rajya Sabha.

He said the data, excluding the data, have since been finalised and published by MoRD and HUPA.

"The raw caste data have been handed over to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment for classification and categorisation of data," he said replying a written question.

The minister said theOffice of the Registrar General, India, had provided logistic and technical support in conducting SECC-2011.

(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.)
The Nigerian government says it is waiting for the acceptance of two-third of Member States to proceed with the Regional Maritime Development Bank project.

For the creation of the bank, the Maritime Organisation of West and Central Africa(MOWCA) had earlier reached some decisions that it expects all its Member States to meet.

MOWCA unifies 25 countries on the West and Central African shipping range (inclusive of five landlocked countries).

The minister of transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, disclosed Nigerias position when he declared-open the meeting of the MOWCA Committee of Experts on the Regional Maritime Development Bank Project and Interim Board of Directors on Tuesday in Lagos.

The member countries of the MOWCA, having identified the major deficit in the development of indigenous participation in the regional maritime sector and associated value chain, had at an annual general session agreed to establish a maritime bank.

The focus of the bank will be the growth and development of maritime in West and Central Africa with a view to raising debt and equity capital of US$850 million and US$150 million respectively.

The Nigerian government, via the Federal Ministry of Transportation (FMOT), was then mandated to take all necessary steps to bring the bank to actualisation.

According to Mr Amaechi, any decision reached at the end of the meeting would not be taken to President Muhammadu Buhari until other member states indicate interest in writing to be part of the project which would develop the maritime sector in Africa.

Whatever decision we reach here is subject to approval and confirmation of every member state in writing. I will not convene whatever decision reached here to the President until I have the binding of two-third of the members of the organisation because if we take it to the President and the President approves and every other person backs out, are we going to establish a maritime bank of Nigeria? And that is not the intention, the intention is to establish a maritime bank that cuts across West Africa and Central Africa.

Nigeria is going to sign for being part of that meeting and we are willing to make our contributions but we will not make those contributions until the two-third of the member states have accepted the decision and have agreed on a timeline which they will make their contributions. Im willing to participate, we cant have just six countries passing a law on behalf of over 20 countries in the region, he said.

The member countries of the proposed bank are Nigeria, Angola, The Gambia, Benin, Ghana, Sao Tome, and Principe, Cameroon, Guinea, Senegal, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Togo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Cote dIvoire, Mauritania, Gabon, Mozambique, Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger, Central African Republic, and Mali.
Mission

DownStreet Art exists to build economic and social capital and encourage the dialogue between our community and the arts. DownStreet Art does this by enlivening downtown North Adams using art and cultural activities to increase visitorship and enhance resident participation.

What we do

Each summer from late June till the end of September, DSA creates a wide program of visual and performing art events including exhibitions, video screenings and site-specific installations in downtown North Adams. A post-industrial city in the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts, North Adams began its cultural revitalization with the opening of the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) in 1999.

Why we do it

Our goal is to help the economic development of North Adams and encourage the dialogue between our community and the arts. Since its inception in 2008, over 150,000 visitors came downtown and through the doors of DownStreet Arts galleries and exhibits.

Who is involved in the project

DownStreet Art is a program of MCLAs Berkshire Cultural Resource Center (BCRC) a program of the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams, MA.

In addition to MCLA, founding partners are the City of North Adams, Massachusetts Cultural Council, and MASS MoCA.

SPONSORS

DownStreet Art would never have been possible without the many individuals and organizations who have supported MCLA Berkshire Cultural Resource Center and DownStreet Art since their inception.

For questions, please contact Erica Wall, Director BCRC, at Erica.Wall@mcla.edu or 413.662.5253

DownStreet Art 2020 Season:

Thursday, June 25 DSA #1 at 5 pm: 51 Minutes and 14 Seconds of Black Protest Music

In lieu of the Misfit Prom & Parade launch party, previously scheduled for this time, Gallery 51 is proud to host 51 Minutes and 14 Seconds of Black Protest Music. Tracing back to slave spirituals, Black protest music has been an integral part of social protest, reform, and empowerment. Join us in solidarity as we listen and pay tribute to all of those who have been a part of this movement.

DJ Skooch will play examples of the music created and written in protest of racial inequality of African Americans in the US. Use this link register for the zoom session on Thursday June 25 at 5 p.m. EST.

Thursday, July 23: DSA #2: Community Discussion TBD

Most of the obstacles and detours encountered on our journey of reeducation are those same habitual behaviors birthed in our internalized beliefs. - Joan Olsson

Wednesday, August 27 DSA #3 from 5 - 7 pm: Genevieve Gaignard's Exhibition A Long Way From Home Opening
Russian Direct Investment Fund has inked a deal with Dr. Reddy's Laboratories to conduct a clinical trial and distribution of Sputnik V in India. Under the agreement, Russia's sovereign wealth fund will supply 100 million doses of Russia's COVID-19 vaccine to Indian drug maker. Both the trials and supply deal depend on central drug regulator's approval. If the trials are successful, the vaccine will be available in India as by the end of this year.

India is amongst most severely impacted countries from COVID 19 and we believe our human adenovirus dual vector platform will provide a safe and scientifically validated option to India in the battle against covid-19," RDIF chief executive officer Kirill Dmitriev said in a statement.

Commenting on the tie-up, G V Prasad, co-chairman & managing director of Dr. Reddys Laboratories said, "We will be conducting Phase-III trials in India to ensure safety and efficacy for the Indian population and to meet the requirements of the Indian regulators. Sputnik V vaccine could provide a credible option in our fight against COVID 19 in India."

Last week NITI Aayog member (health) V.K. Paul said the Indian government is willing to facilitate a phase 3 trial for Russias Sputnik V vaccine for which 2-4 Indian companies are in discussions to mass manufacture.

Russia became the first country in the world to register a COVID-19 vaccine after less than two months of human testing. Developed by Gamaleya Research Institute and the Russian defence ministry, the vaccine underwent necessary tests, Russia claimed. Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the time that full-scale production was due to start in September.

Russia health ministry claimed that the coronavirus vaccine offers lasting immunity from the virus. The vaccine is expected to provide immunity from the coronavirus for up to two years, according to health ministry.

"The platform of human adenoviral vectors, which is the core of the Russian vaccine, has been tested in more than 250 clinical studies over decades, and it has been found safe with no potential negative long-term consequences." Dmitriev said.

Early results from trials of Russias potential coronavirus vaccine show no major negative side effects, a study published in the peer-reviewed medical journal The Lancet revealed.

The two 42-day trials  including 38 healthy adults each  did not find any serious adverse effects among participants, and confirmed that the vaccine candidates elicit an antibody response," the studys authors wrote.

Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko told last week that the first batch of Russia's COVID-19 vaccine was likely to be delivered to all regions of the country by 14 September, according to TASS.

Post-registration clinical trials of the Sputnik V vaccine involving 40,000 volunteers are currently ongoing. More than 55,000 volunteers have applied to take part in post-registration trials. The first results of these trials are expected to be published in October-November this year.

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President Akufo-Addo on Wednesday swore into office eight judges of the High Court at the Jubilee House, Accra.

They were: Justice Eva Bannerman-Williams, Justice Emmanuel Bart-Plange Brew, Justice Yaw Owoahene Acheampong, Justice Samuel Boakye-Yiadom, Justice Abdul Yusif Asibey,

Mrs Elfreda Amy Dankyi, Mr Samuel Faraday Johnson and Ms. Sheila Minta.

The President congratulated them on their well-deserved appointment, and enforced the need for them to demonstrate honesty, integrity, and sound knowledge of the law to gain the confidence the people.

He reminded them that the high court was the focal point for justice delivery in the country, adding "much of judicial work begins and ends there."

"It is therefore critical for the growth of the nation that the High Court commands the respect of the people by the quality of its judgements as well as the comportment of its judges," he stated.

President Akufo-Addo admonished the judges to avoid proffering judgements on the basis of decisions from lower courts and to employ the time honoured common law tradition of precedence as the foundation for the coherent development of the law.

"You must be learned, know your case law, and ensure your decisions and judgements are properly motivated," he said.

The Presidemt reinforced the fact that the dispensation of justice required that the application of the laws of the land must occur without fear or favour, affection or ill will, and without recourse to political, ethnic or religious affiliations.

"When a citizen falls foul of the law, that citizen, high or low, must be dealt with accordingly, and the law enforcement agencies including you our new judges must ensure this is done...that is the true meaning of the concept of equality before the law"

President Akufo-Addo encouraged the judges to leverage technology to expedite the conduct of cases that came before them and in the management of the Courts.

"The transparent and efficient delivery of justice builds confidence in citizens, businesses and the investor community," he said.

The President said government had taken note of the inadequacy of court rooms across the country, which was hampering the administration of justice.

To that effect, government, through the Administrator of the District Aseemblies Common Fund, is constructing 98 courts and bungalows for judges in all 16 regions of the country, he said.

GNA
Ursula von der Leyen today warned hopes of the EU and UK agreeing a trade deal are fading with every passing day as tensions remain high over Boris Johnson's plans to tear up parts of the Brexit divorce deal.

The President of the European Commission hit out at the Prime Minister's proposals to override the Withdrawal Agreement as she said the accord struck last year 'cannot be unilaterally changed, disregarded or dis-applied'.

The EU has given Mr Johnson until the end of the month to withdraw his plans, with Brussels warning that a failure to do so risks the total collapse of trade talks.

'With every day that passes, the chances of a timely agreement do start to fade,' Ms von der Leyen told the European Parliament this morning.

Her comments came amid claims that Michel Barnier, the EU's top negotiator, said Mr Johnson had sparked the Brexit row in order to distract from the Government's handling of the coronavirus crisis.

He made the comments at a private meeting of European ambassadors on Monday this week, according to Politico.

Justice Secretary Robert Buckland this morning hinted the Government could strike a compromise with Tory rebels over the PM's Brexit plans.

Ministers have admitted the proposals would break international law, sparking a revolt by Conservative backbenchers.

The rebels want Parliament to have the ability to veto any move by Mr Johnson to depart from the divorce deal - a so-called 'parliamentary lock'.

There were reports this afternoon that a compromise has now been agreed after Mr Johnson apparently met with concerned Tory backbenchers in his House of Commons office today. Other reports suggested progress had been made but no formal agreement had been reached.

Mr Buckland said he believed the original plans could be made 'acceptable to all Conservative colleagues' in a sign that ministers are willing to shift on the issue to win over their Tory critics.

His comments came as Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab prepares to meet US Speaker Nancy Pelosi in Washington to assuage her Brexit concerns.

Ms Pelosi said last week there would be 'absolutely no chance' of Congress passing an American trade deal with the UK if the PM's Brexit plans 'imperilled' the Good Friday Agreement.

Meanwhile, a group of four senior US congressmen have written to Mr Johnson to express a similar sentiment as they urged him to 'abandon' any proposals which could undermine the peace process.

Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission pictured in Brussels today, warned hopes of the EU striking a 'timely' trade deal with the UK are fading

Michel Barnier, the EU's chief negotiator, is said to have told European ambassadors that Boris Johnson sparked the latest Brexit row in order to distract from the Government's coronavirus chaos

Mr Johnson's proposals, contained within the UK Internal Market Bill, would enable the Government to override parts of the Brexit divorce deal

What does the UK Internal Market Bill do, and how do rebels want to amend it? Former minister Bob Neill has tabled a key amendment to the Bill The UK Internal Market Bill is intended to be a 'safety net' in case the EU tries to impose an 'extreme' interpretation of the Withdrawal Agreement. If Brussels refused to list the UK as a 'third country', there would effectively be a blockade on food exports going from the mainland to Northern Ireland. In response, the legislation would give ministers powers to override key parts of the divorce terms - bypassing a joint committee that is means to thrash out key issues such as over customs. However, critics complain that the move would breach international law - something Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis admitted last week was the case. The PM insisted Parliament would get a vote if he ever want to invoke the unusual powers - designed to prevent Brussels from 'blockading' food exports to NI. But in fact it appears any vote would be 'affirmative' - held after the action had been implemented. Rebels are gathering behind an amendment from former minister Bob Neill, proposing a 'Parliamentary lock' so MPs would need to approve overriding the Withdrawal Agreement before it happens. A potential way of buying off some rebels would be to offer a less stringent lock, limiting the scope of ministers to deploy the controversial measures in the Bill while keeping the weapon in the arsenal if the EU refused to budge. One MP involved in the mutiny told MailOnline that the government did not need to remove the clauses from the legislation altogether, and part of the frustration was that other options, such as the dispute mechanisms in the WA, had not been exhausted. 'I don't think anyone should seriously doubt the need to prepare for these circumstances,' the MP said. 'They might only need a caveat saying these clauses would only come into effect after the final ruling of the arbitration panel.' Advertisement

Justice Secretary Robert Buckland hints at Brexit compromise to appease Tory rebels Justice Secretary Robert Buckland today hinted the Government could agree to a compromise to see off a Tory rebellion over its Brexit plans. An admission by ministers that Boris Johnson's proposals to override parts of the Withdrawal Agreement would break international law sparked anger on the Conservative backbenches. Tory rebels are planning to try to amend the UK Internal Market Bill to give Parliament a veto on any attempt by the Prime Minister to tear up the terms of the Brexit divorce deal. But Mr Buckland signalled this morning the Government could move on the issue to prevent a revolt. He told the BBC's Radio 4 programme: 'I think that the issue is this. We want to make sure that if we hit a situation where we have this sort of dislocation, this sort of crisis if you like, that we can act swiftly to bring in to power the necessary regulations. 'I think that whilst actually we have got parliamentary procedures to allow secondary legislation to come into force with debate and scrutiny, we have got to get the balance right. 'We want to make sure that we are fleet of foot when it comes to the crunch but at the same time to make sure that MPs have their say. 'That is what the Prime Minister wants, that is what he said in parliament and I am sure we will find a way to do that in a manner that is acceptable to all Conservative colleagues.' Advertisement

The Government sparked a furious row with the EU after it published its UK Internal Market Bill last week.

The legislation will enable the UK to unilaterally make decisions on key issues, like customs arrangements between mainland Britain and Northern Ireland, contained within the Withdrawal Agreement.

Brussels is adamant that the decisions must be made by a joint committee made up of people from both sides - as set out in the treaty.

But the Government argues its proposals are necessary in order to protect the integrity of the UK should the two sides be unable to agree terms.

Ms von der Leyen said this morning that the disagreement was a 'matter of law and trust and good faith' as she said the UK could not simply decide to unilaterally ditch parts of the Withdrawal Agreement.

Delivering her State of the Union address to the European Parliament in Brussels this morning, Ms von der Leyen said: 'This Withdrawal Agreement took three years to negotiate and we worked relentlessly on it line-by-line, word-by-word, and together we succeeded.

'The European Union and the UK jointly agreed that it was the best and only way for ensuring peace on the island of Ireland and we will never backtrack on that.

'This agreement has been ratified by this house and the House of Commons. It cannot be unilaterally changed, disregarded, disapplied.

'This is a matter of law and trust and good faith.'

Ms von der Leyen said Margaret Thatcher had always insisted the UK honoured its treaty commitments.

She quoted the former prime minister as saying: 'Britain does not break treaties. It would be bad for Britain, bad for relations with the rest of the world and bad for any future treaty on trade.'

Mrs von der Leyen added: 'This was true then and this is true today. Trust is the foundation of any strong partnership.'

The Brexit transition period is due to end in December and trade talks between the two sides remain ongoing.

However, the latest row has delivered a significant blow to already low hopes of an agreement being reached.

As well as prompting anger in Brussels, the Government's plans have also sparked considerable concern among Conservative MPs.

Tory rebels have put forward an amendment to the legislation which would create a 'parliamentary lock' on any attempt by the Government to try to depart from the Brexit divorce deal.

A vote on the amendment is scheduled to take place next Tuesday but Mr Buckland today suggested the Government could move on the issue in order to stop the rebellion.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I think that the issue is this. We want to make sure that if we hit a situation where we have this sort of dislocation, this sort of crisis if you like, that we can act swiftly to bring in to power the necessary regulations.

'I think that whilst actually we have got parliamentary procedures to allow secondary legislation to come into force with debate and scrutiny, we have got to get the balance right.

'We want to make sure that we are fleet of foot when it comes to the crunch but at the same time to make sure that MPs have their say.

'That is what the Prime Minister wants, that is what he said in parliament and I am sure we will find a way to do that in a manner that is acceptable to all Conservative colleagues.'

Mr Buckland also stressed the provisions within the UK Internal Market Bill which would allow Britain to override the Withdrawal Agreement and breach international law would only be used if the EU breached its Brexit obligations first.

He told Sky News: 'If we reach that stage, the reason for it is because we judge that sadly, despite everybody's best efforts, the EU is in a position where we think they are actually breaching their obligations to us.'

He said the controversial powers were effectively a 'break glass in case of emergency provision' and would only be used in the event that other arbitration mechanisms failed to resolve disagreements between the UK and EU.

He did not deny that he has held talks with Tory rebel leader Bob Neill, the chairman of the Justice Select Committee.

'I don't think it would be right of me to start talking about private conversations,' he said.

The tone of Mr Buckland's comments was in stark contrast to Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis's blunt admission last week that the Government's plans will 'break international law in a very specific and limited way'.

Mr Lewis joined Mr Buckland in hinting there could be a compromise as he gave evidence to the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee this morning.

Justice Secretary Robert Buckland today hinted the Government could compromise on its Brexit plans to win over Tory rebels

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is in Washington today for talks with US counterpart Mike Pompeo and US Speaker Nancy Pelosi with Brexit expected to feature heavily

What happens next in the Brexit process? The UK formally left the EU on January 31 this year. However, the two sides moved seamlessly into a status quo transition period lasting until December 31. This time was set aside to allow Brussels and Britain to hammer out the terms of their future relationship. Trade talks started in March and the eighth round of formal negotiations concluded last week. However, talks are at a standstill amid disagreements on fishing rights and whether the UK will sign up to Brussels' rules and regulations. Downing Street has said it does not want talks to drag into the autumn while the EU wants a deal done by the of October in order to give member states enough time to ratify it before the end of the transition period. Given the time constraints and the lack of progress being made both sides now view a deal by the end of the year as unlikely. Advertisement

He said debate on the Bill is 'ongoing' and it would be 'wrong of me to presuppose what the outcome will be'.

Mr Lewis refused to guarantee the Government would abide by decisions made by a UK/EU arbitration panel on disputes as he said it was 'dangerous' to get into 'hypotheticals'.

The Northern Ireland Secretary also dismissed claims made by Lord Keen of Elie, the Advocate General for Scotland, that Mr Lewis had 'answered the wrong question' last week when he said the Bill does break international law.

Mr Lewis told the Committee: 'I have spoken to Lord Keen and I have to say looking at the specific question my honourable friend asked me last week, he agrees the answer I gave was the correct answer.'

Reports this afternoon claimed that Lord Keen had offered his resignation to the Prime Minister over the plans to depart from the Withdrawal Agreement.

It came as Mr Raab tries to assuage concerns in the US over the Government's Brexit proposals.

The Foreign Secretary is due to meet with Ms Pelosi as well as his counterpart Mike Pompeo.

Last week Ms Pelosi warned the UK there would be no trade deal with Washington if Britain undermined the Good Friday Agreement.

She said: 'If the UK violates that international treaty and Brexit undermines the Good Friday accord, there will be absolutely no chance of a US-UK trade agreement passing the Congress.'

Meanwhile, four senior US congressmen, led by chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Eliot Engel, have written to Mr Johnson urging the Government to respect its open border and peace process with Northern Ireland.

The letter, which was also signed by Mr Engel's fellow Democrats Richard Neal and William Keating as well as Republican Peter King, urged the PM to 'abandon any and all legally questionable and unfair efforts to flout the Northern Ireland protocol of the Withdrawal Agreement'.
Pradhan Kathmandu: Bahrains Prince Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa is leading an eighteen-member team in an expert-level mountaineering expedition in Nepal, scaling Mt Lobuche and Mt Manaslu. Mt. Manaslu is the worlds eighth highest mountain at an altitude of 8,156 metre from sea level. Mt. Lobuche is at a height of 6,119 metres.

The contingent, which consists of 15 personnel of the Bahraini Royal Guard Defence Force and three Britons, landed in Kathmandu on Wednesday. Prince Khalifa is a member of the royal family of the Kingdom of Bahrain and the commander of Bahrains Royal Guard.

The expedition members will have to go through COVID-19 safety procedures before beginning their mission, said a senior Nepali official.

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Welcome to Health Services

Health Services offers a range of services which include: acute care of minor illness or injury, sexual healthcare and testing, preventative care and appointment assistance to our local medical community.

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Health Services Covid-19 Update (Spring 2021 Semester)

Health Services is offering medical services to MCLA students, by appointment only. Appointments can be in-person or telemedicine format. Telemedicine visits are for residents in Massachusetts (per Massachusetts licensing statues). The type of visit is determined by Health Services staff. Please contact us at Health Services (413.662.5421) to schedule an appointment or for any questions.

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In case of a life threatening emergency call ext. 5100 (413-662-5100) or 911, Campus Police will assist you.

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Health Services is located in the MountainOne Student Wellness Center, 1st Floor.

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Health Services office is open Monday-Friday from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm (excluding State and Federal holidays).

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Our services are by appointment only. To schedule an appointment, please call the office.

Mailing Address & Contact Information

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Tel: 413.662.5421

Fax: 413.662.5572
TEL AVIV, Israel, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- OPC Energy Ltd. (TASE: OPCE) ("OPC"), Kenon Holdings Ltd.'s (NYSE: KEN) (TASE: KEN) ("Kenon") subsidiary today reports a strategic step, which puts it in significant activity in the US energy market. The company has signed a letter of intent to acquire control of an American company CPV, with an estimated investment of $ 700-800 million, part of which is also intended for investment in future projects of CPV. The deal is still subject to a number of approvals, and to the completion of the negotiation process between the parties.

Giora Almogi, CEO of OPC Energy said: "We have long recognized the potential inherent in the US electricity market, with an emphasis on expanding operations into the field of renewable energies. We see the US market as one of OPC's strategic target markets. There is growing momentum for increased development of renewable energy and a focus on a lower carbon approach to electricity supply. In parallel, the trends continue with a modernization of the grid with coal and uneconomic nuclear assets being retired and the construction of efficient, highly flexible natural gas power plants for economic and environmental reasons.

"We have been working for the past year to find a suitable platform to enter the American market, with one of the important criteria being that the American company has strong management with proven experience, and has accumulated significant projects for continued growth.

"After completing an in-depth search process, as mentioned, we are pleased to report today a letter of intent for the acquisition of CPV. It is a pioneering company in its field, dynamic and growing, operating throughout the United States in the largest and most significant electricity markets. The company has proven entrepreneurship and development capabilities, and since its inception it has initiated and built power plants with a total installed capacity of approximately 14,800 MW, of which approximately 9,950 MW of conventional stations in several markets, and wind-based power plants with a total capacity of approximately 4,850 MW. The company currently has a qualitative accumulation of an additional 2,245 MW for the construction of stations in the fields of renewable energy. The company currently owns interests in 5 natural gas-based power plants that have been established in recent years with the most advanced technology. The Company's operations include the management of 14 properties in a number of markets for its own accord as well as for third parties, with the ability to operate in any major market in the United States.

"The acquisition, when completed, CPV will become OPC's investment and expansion platform in the United States, and will help the company grow and expand its operations while diversifying the company's revenue sources into a number of areas, regulations and states. The U.S. electricity market includes about 1,100 GW of installed power. The U.S. market as a whole is undergoing a process of changing the energy mix which includes a significant replacement of coal by natural gas, as well as the entry of renewable energies. These trends are based on environmental regulation that limits pollution of power plants, regulation that favors renewable energy, low gas prices that push coal stations, and are derived from the older age of coal plants in the US (average about 40 years). This trend is gaining momentum in ISO-NE states in the northeastern United States (New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, etc.) on the basis of local regulation with renewable energy targets and substantial restrictions imposed on greenhouse gas emissions.

Due to these trends, the Energy Information Agency expects that about 130,000 MW of coal-fired power plants and power stations based on fuel oil and diesel will close by 2030. On the other hand, the agency expects the construction of over 230,000 MW (wind and solar).

"The deal also puts OPC directly into the areas of green energy, and especially into the areas of solar energy and wind energy, which are marked as part of its and CPV's significant growth engines, in parallel with its natural gas stations."

The Company's activities include: (1) development and construction of conventional power plants and renewable energy; (2) ownership and maintenance of a portfolio of active power plants; (3) Power plant management for the company and third-party customers

CPV's development activity includes the successful execution of 44 projects with a total capacity of approximately 14,800 MW over the last two decades. In addition, the company has accumulated new projects with about 6,200 MW of capacity, of which about 2,245 MW in the field of renewable energy, with over 1,100 MW of which are in advanced stages of development. In the field of conventional energy, the company has 4 projects based on natural gas in various technologies at various stages of development with a total capacity of 3,955 MW.

The company's portfolio includes holdings, together with partners, in 6 active power plants based on natural gas and wind energy, located mostly in the northeastern United States in key markets (PJM, NYISO, ISO-NE). All conventional projects are new, based on the most advanced technology, with the highest efficiency in the market, giving the company a long-term competitive advantage as the US moves toward a lower carbon future.

Under asset management activities, CPV manages 14 power plants for its own accord as well as for third parties with a total installed capacity of approximately 10,600 MW in various technologies and markets, including the California and Texas.

OPC notes that its holding in the acquired company may be about 70%, and that it intends to bring in a number of institutional investors from the Israeli capital market as partners in the transaction, and at the time of the report is negotiating with Migdal, Clal and Poalim Capital Markets in this regard.

For the purpose of financing the transaction, it is expected to be based on raising capital and / or raising debt (public, private or banking) and / or cash balances, or a combination of them. Kenon Holdings, which controls OPC, informed the company that if it was offered to participate in such capital raising, it would seriously consider participating in it.

About CPV

CPV (Competitive Power Ventures) is one of the leading companies in the American electricity market with significant activity of initiating, developing, constructing and maintaining power plants in the Northeastern United States in the attractive markets PJM, NYISO, ISO-NE which supply electricity to about 100 million inhabitants. These markets cover the states of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Massachusetts, Virginia and Maryland, among others. In addition, the company also operates in the attractive markets of Texas and California.

The company has been operating since 1999 with proven experience in initiating, developing, financing, establishing and managing conventional and renewable power plants. The company is headquartered in Boston and Washington. The company is run by Gary Lambert, who is also one of its founders, and it employs about 90 people. In recent years, the company has regretted the values of sustainability, green investments and ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance), which guide all the projects in which it is involved.

The company's initiation and development activities include the successful implementation of 44 power plants in various technologies (wind, mazam, open cycle) with a total installed capacity of approximately 14,803 MW in a variety of markets in the United States. The company has successful experience in the development of stations based on natural gas with a total installed capacity of approximately 9,953 MW in several markets, including: PJM, ISO-NE, NYISO, CAISO. These projects are based on the most advanced technology. The company is currently promoting 4 conventional projects that are in various stages of development with a total installed capacity of approximately 3,995 MW.

The renewable energy development and development activities include the successful implementation of 31 wind farms with a total installed capacity of about 4,850 MW in various countries in the US. A large part of this activity has been sold over the years to the world's leading energy companies including Iberdrola, Dominion, PG&E, Duke Energy Invenergy and other companies. Today, the company has accumulated renewable energy projects in various stages of development with a total installed capacity of about 2,245 MW. Most of the project accumulation is based on solar energy (about 2,000 MW) and the rest in wind energy. The dynamics in the Northeastern United States, and in additional markets for which a significant increase in the installed capacity of renewable energies is expected in the next decade.

The company currently owns, together with partners, 5 active power plants, powered by natural gas, with a total capacity of approximately 4,045 MW (the company's share - approximately 1,290 MW). These stations are the newest on the market, with the oldest station in the station fleet starting in 2016, and the newest station starting in December 2019. The stations are based on the most advanced integrated cycle technology, with high efficiency, and meeting the highest environmental standards. These stations are in the markets PJM, NYISO, ISO-NE. In addition, the company owns, together with partners, a similar power plant whose construction began in August 2020. This station will operate in the Chicago area with a total installed capacity of approximately 1,258 MW. The station is expected to begin operations in 2023. The company's share in the project is expected to stand at 10%.

In addition, the company owns an active power plant, based on wind energy, with a total capacity of approximately 152 MW (part of the company - approximately 106 MW).

The asset management area includes the management of 14 power plants with a total installed capacity of approximately 10,600 MW. The company manages the 7 projects that the company owns (including the management of the construction process of the station currently under construction) with a total installed capacity of approximately 5,455 MW. In addition, the company manages 7 properties for third parties (holding companies and investment funds) with a total installed capacity of approximately 5,140 MW. The company operates in a number of significant power markets, in addition to major operating markets, which include the CAISO (California Power Market) and the Texas Power Market.

WWW.CPV.COM

About OPC

OPC Energy Ltd. is the first and leading private electricity company in Israel engaged in the initiation, development, construction and operation of power plants, as well as electricity generation and supply to private customers and the IEC. The company owns 80% of the Mishor Rotem power plant project, in 100% in the Hadera power plant project, and 100% in the Tzomet power plant project, which is under construction.

OPC Energy published its financial results for the first half of 2020 last month. The company ended the half with revenues of NIS 577.5 million, and with EBITDA of NIS 133.7 million. The company's shareholders' equity, as of the end of the first half of the year, amounted to NIS 810.6 million (NIS 751.8 million attributed to shareholders), and the company's cash, according to the consolidated balance sheet, has cash and deposits totaling NIS 902.5 million.

At the beginning of last July, the commercial period of operation of the power plant set up by OPC in Hadera began, with a total volume of approximately 144 MW.

WWW.OPC-ENERGY.COM

Contact:

Tzahi Goshen, CFO, OPC Energy

[email protected]

+972732505645

SOURCE OPC Energy Ltd
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A shaft like that (called a power takeoff) should really have a safety shield, and if this one had had one, John would have bounced off it unhurt. Instead, it grabbed him and rotated him through the air faster than any human should move, then threw him to the ground but kept his arms for itself. John blacked out for a bit then awoke about 20 pounds lighter and spurting blood from two ends. The first challenge was just standing up, no easy feat. Then came a quick 500-foot uphill jog to get to his house.

The door he tried was locked, but he managed to get a different screen door open, probably with his teeth. He hunted for a phone to call for help, but the first few he saw used rotary dials, which were obviously not an option. Finally, he spotted a comparatively modern push-button phone. He tried hitting a few buttons with his nose. But he couldn't press one at a time.

Shizhao/Wiki Commons Shizhao/Wiki Commons He probably felt like calling out for his mother. "Look, ma," he'd say. "No hands!"

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So he got a pencil, held it between his teeth, and dialed. Not 911 -- 911 didn't exist in rural North Dakota in 1992 -- but a cousin, whose number he knew from memory. Then stumbled to the bathroom and lay in the bathtub to await help. He didn't want to bleed on his mother's rug more than necessary.

Help came, though not that quick. The cousin had to start a chain of calls to summon a volunteer ambulance from 13 miles away. When they made it to the house, they were surprised to find John lucid enough to direct his own rescue, telling the amateur personnel how to retrieve his arms, store them in garbage bags, and pack them with ice. He had lost almost half the blood in his body, but the bleeding had stopped as his arteries squeezed shut from the trauma.

Aranami/Flickr Aranami/Flickr At first, he actually intimidated the rescuers, but then they realized he was unarmed.

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Not only did John survive, but the doctors managed to reattach both his arms in one of the first surgeries of its kind. He never had perfect penmanship post-recovery, but he was able to drive a car, light a cigarette, and work as a realtor. Last time reporters checked in on him, he was thinking of moving south, to someplace without any ice to slip on.
(TNS) - After Hurricane Sally plods ashore and makes her way inland, the slow-moving storm will continue to pose a threat to southern Mississippi and Alabama in the form of potentially serious river flooding, meteorologists and local emergency officials say.Because Sally has shifted east, river flooding in Hancock and Harrison Counties is less of a concern than initially forecast. But it remains an issue in Jackson County.The Escatawpa River, north of Orange Grove, is projected to crest Wednesday afternoon at three-and-a-half feet above the flood stage, at 11.5 feet. Thats only a few inches shy of its record height, according to the National Weather Service projections. The Pascagoula River at Graham Ferry is forecast to crest Friday afternoon, 18 inches above flood level, at 17.5 feet.Further north, in Greene County, the Leaf River near McLain could surge 6 feet above flood level by Thursday afternoon. And major flooding is predicted for the rivers around Mobile by late Wednesday.This will be the top concern, said Jack Cullen, a meteorologist in the Mobile office of the National Weather Service. Every storm is different but with this one, the river flooding is going to be first.Rivers tend to flood hours or even days after a major storm has passed because theyre collecting the rainfall dumped across their entire watershed. As a Category 1 storm, Hurricane Sally doesnt have a great deal of strength, but has been projected to dump large amounts of rain as it moves over southeastern Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. That rain has to go somewhere: into the Gulf, or into a river.[The flood] continues on for a couple days after, even after it peaks, because all that water is still running off, Cullen said. So its kind of slow to go up, slow to come down.On Tuesday afternoon, the National Weather Service office in Slidell dramatically reduced its forecasts for flooding in Harrison Countys Biloxi, Tchoutacabouffa and Wolf Rivers. All had been expected to exceed their flood stage by at least seven feet. Now, they are each forecast to rise only about six inches above flood level.Julie Lesko, senior service hydrologist at the NWS office in Slidell, said that they had lowered the flood estimates for Harrison County rivers because the county is now predicted to receive relatively little rain, likely between 1 and 4 inches. In Jackson County, Lesko said, there will be more rain, especially in the eastern part of the county.While western Jackson County may receive about 5 inches, there could be as much as 15 inches near the border with Alabama, she saidRiver flooding is influenced by two factors: rainfall collected over time and storm surge pushing water from the Gulf up into rivers.The Escatawpa River in Orange Grove is definitely still in that bullseye of where they could see some pretty heavy rain, Lesko said. Well still see a little increase of the river as some of the surge comes up.Cullen said that people living along rivers should watch forecasts closely and be ready to evacuate. But Cullen, Lesko and local officials interviewed all said that people who live near rivers tend to know the drill when it comes to flooding.On Tuesday, Gulfport city council member RLee Flowers drove to visit residents of Retreat Village and Biloxi River Estates along the Biloxi River in Harrison County. Retreat Village had some water over low-lying roads, he said. But people had already moved items that needed to be moved by Monday, and there was no real sense of alarm.Theyve been through more floods than Noah, he said. They know how to do it.2020 The Sun Herald (Biloxi, Miss.)Visit The Sun Herald (Biloxi, Miss.) at www.sunherald.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
South Africa: Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children now a notifiable condition

Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) associated with COVID-19 has been included to the Notifiable Medical Conditions (NMCs) in South Africa.

NMCs are diseases that are of public health importance because they pose significant public health risks, which can result in disease outbreaks or epidemics with high case fatality rates both nationally and internationally.

Although MIS-C is a rare syndrome, there are reports of MIS-C associated with COVID-19 globally and more recently in South Africa, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) explained.

The NICD said it is expecting to see more MIS-C cases over the next few months throughout the country as Coronavirus continues to spread.

Widespread awareness and early recognition are crucial, the NICD stressed.

According to the institution, healthcare workers responsible for patients between the ages of zero and 19 should notify authorities immediately of a probable or confirmed case through the Notifiable Medical Conditions Surveillance System (NMCSS).

MIS-C is a condition where different body parts can become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes and gastrointestinal organs.

We do not yet know what causes MIS-C. However, we know that many children with MIS-C had the virus that causes COVID-19, or had been around someone with COVID-19.

Parents or guardians should contact their doctor or nearest clinic if they notice symptoms like fever, abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, neck pain, rash, bloodshot eyes and feeling extra tired.

The condition is said to be serious, even deadly, the institution warned.

However, most children who were diagnosed with MIS-C have become better with medical care, the NICD said.

A group of paediatricians and other experts have since been roped in to collate and analyse data on MIS-C cases reported through the NMCSS.

This data is expected to shed light on the true burden of MIS-C in the country and to inform decisions on the clinical and epidemiological management of this condition.

The NICD has also noted limited data that suggest clinical manifestations of COVID-19 are generally milder in children than adults.

However, reports from Europe and North America describe clusters of children and adolescents requiring admission to intensive care with an MIS-C, said the NICD.

It encouraged all clinicians to notify these cases to the NMCSS.

Every doctor, nurse or health care provider in both the public and private health sector, who diagnoses a patient with any one of the NMCs, must report the case. Failure to report an NMC is a criminal offence, NICD said.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2020-09-16. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Keeping the rising air traffic in mind, Indias civil aviation regulator will conduct a safety audit of the countrys largest airline IndiGo and Tata Sons-Singapore Airlines backed Vistara from Tuesday.

Every aspect pertaining to operational safety will be audited, especially the newly laid down protocols keeping Covid-19 in mind," a senior DGCA official told IANS here.

We are seeing a steady rise in traffic and this growth calls all stakeholders to maintain the highest safety standards," he added. Besides operational safety audit, financial reviews are also being conducted.

Financial audit ensures that no compromise is being made with safety issues due to strained financial condition of the airlines," he said. The development assumes significance as Indias civil aviation sector has shown signs of revival in passenger traffic growth.

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At present, the Centre has allowed the airlines to deploy limited domestic operational capacity up to 60 per cent from an earlier 45 per cent, post the re-start of scheduled domestic flights from May 25, 2020.

On a daily average, passenger traffic has reached the 100,000-mark. This figure is expected to double by the festive season. In July, traffic grew sequentially to 21.07 lakh from 19.84 lakh reported for June.

Nonetheless, traffic remained deep in the red on a year-on-year basis in July as it plunged by more than 82 per cent to 21.07 lakh from 1.19 crore passengers who were ferried during the corresponding period of the previous year.

Till now, the regulator has maintained a delicate balance between reintroducing some of the suspended safety norms owing to the Covid-19 outbreak, giving some relaxation in terms of administrative requirements to the sectoral players and crew.

Recently, DGCA had instructed the airlines to re-commence the pre-flight breath-analyser test to detect alcohol consumption on aircrew members. However, the instructions to airlines limit the BA tests only on a limited number of air crew members.

Additionally, safety audits are also being conducted on airports. Recently all major metro airports have been audited. Airports are being audited in a phase-wise manner. Despite Covid, audits will continue and no compromise with safety will be allowed," he added.
To do or not to do, that seems to be the question about the convalescent plasma therapy being offered to Covid-19 patients across the country. Within days of an Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) trial suggesting that it failed to offer effective benefit to patients, a fresh study says that the therapy cannot just be written off.

As several states continue to use the experimental therapy to reduce the severity of cases as well as deaths, the two studies only add to confusion. Not just in India, there is just as muchif not moreuncertainty on the subject in the US as there has been support as well as resistance to the therapy from the scientific community in that country.

The trial that the ICMR had led across 39 hospitals found that there was barely any difference either in progression to severity of the disease or in reduction of death among patients. Even as this brought disappointment to the health community engaged in the pandemic battle, the new study carried out by the International Centre for Genetic Engineering in collaboration with the ICMR-National Institute of Malaria Research, Department of Biotechnology and the Emory Vaccine Centre, Atlanta, shed new light on it.

The study actually says that the amount of antibodies in the donors plasma may be key to its effectiveness, which gives the experimental therapy a new perspective. So far, the presence of the IgG antibodyor immunoglobulin Gwas the criteria for administering the therapy on Covid patients. The latest study says that it is important to understand the levels of antibodies present in the plasma and even specifies the measurement that could lead to the successful use of plasma therapy.

However, challenges remain in terms of the clinical assessment of the exact levels of antibodies present in the donors plasma. The new study says there is inadequate evidence to assess if all donors have the required volume of antibodies. The same also needs to be detected and clearly measured among the patients who receive it. These could present a challenge to certain states that are applying the therapy to reduce fatalities. ICMR, the apex medical research body of the country, will have its task cut out to provide clarity on the issue.
by Li Ruohan*

The situation of the Church in China has become increasingly worse since the signing of the agreement. The concordat with Nazi Germany in 1933 gave the Church freedom for a few months. Then crucifixes were removed from the schools; Catholic associations were brought back under the Nazi party; everyone was obliged to study Nazism. Fritz Stern: The concordat with the Holy See boosted Hitler's respectability in Germany and abroad.

Beijing (AsiaNews) - According as Crux reported the Provisional agreement of the Sino-Vatican agreement will be renewed. The agreement was signed on Sep,2018 and expires on Sep of this year. Although some Vatican seniors claimed that the purpose of the deal is to promote the unification of the Catholic Church in China and improve the situation of the Underground Church. However, the situation of the Church in China has get worse and worse after the agreement. The movement of demolishing Crosses has not ceased and young people under 18years are banned from entering the Church. All of those actions are part of persecution policy. The Sino-Vatican deal is reminiscent of the Nazi Germany s deal with the Holy See.

Since the unification of Germany in 1870s German Catholics became a minority in a country with a protestant majority. The faithful always faced the accusation that the German Catholics are not true German, because they accepted the authority of Rome. German Chancellor, Otto Von Bismarck, started the battle of Culture with the Catholic Church in Germany. They closed the Churches, monasteries and expelled the clergy. The German Catholics set up the Catholic Center Party and got support from the Church .Finally the Church successfully protected its interests through fighting with Bismarck. The Holy See signed some deals with several local government (Prussia,Bavaria,Baden)during the Weimarer Republic (1918-1933). However, The Holy See wanted to sign a national concordat with the German central Government. In the General election of 1933, Adolf Hitler, the leader of Nazi Party, became the new Chancellor. Hitler considered that his regime was not very stable and needed an alliance with the Catholic Center Party. He invited Franz Von Papen, the leader of Center Party, to be vice Chancellor of Nazi government. The German faithful majority did not give a favorable impression to the Nazi party. In order to change their negative attitude to the Nazi government Hitler authorized Franz von Papen to start the negotiation with the Holy see for a concordat. The secretary of state Eugenio Pacelli (the future pope Pius  ) and Pope Pius  were interested to reach an agreement with Nazi Germany. On 20th July 1933 The Vatican and Nazi Germany signed the concordat with this background ,

According to the concordat, The Catholic Church agreed not to go against the political and social theory of the Nazi Party. The German government guaranteed freedom of profession and public practice of the Catholic religion, confirming the Holy Sees right to appoint a papal Nuncio in Berlin and the German government have an ambassador in Rome. The German Bishops must take an oath of loyalty to the country. The concordat also protected the religious orders freedom for charitable, pastoral and educational work. The Properties of the Catholic Church were protected according to the German law. The Church had the right to set up theological colleges for the training of priests and maintained the Catholic academic faculties in the National Universities.

No matter how good the concordat the problem was in the implementation. Six months after the agreement, the Catholic youth associations - with all the other associations - were forced to join the Nazi youth association. The Crucifix was banned in schools and the Children of Catholic families were compelled, like everyone else, to study in Nazi approved schools. Over hundreds of Priests were jailed for criticizing Nazism. In 1937, Pope Pius  released his encyclical Mit brennender Sorge condemning the Violations of the concordat, although Pope Pius  denounced the persecution of the Nazi party, unfortunately the damage has done.

The concordat could not be changed to improve the situation of the Catholics in Nazi Germany. In contrast, the concordat mislead the faithful to accept the Nazi ruling in Germany and weakened the authority of the Holy See, misleading numerous people to consider the Holy See as an ally of Nazi Germany. Just like Historian Fritz Stern saidHitler had even more reason to be satisfied. The concordat was his first international agreement, and it vastly enhanced his respectability in Germany and abroad. A great moral authority had trusted his word. [1]

This history is repeating itself now in China, so please remember the lesson Nazi Germany. Do not cause another tragedy. Please do not in the name of love and unification give way to torture and murder in the Church of China!

[1] Fritz Stern, Dreams and Delusions: The Drama of German History (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999), 169.
Asia Hong Kong Court Charges Activists Over Tiananmen Square Commemoration

Pro-democracy activists including Joshua Wong (second from left) speak to reporters in Hong Kong on Tuesday. They appeared in court after being charged for joining a vigil on June 4 to commemorate the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. / Kyodo
After spending the majority of the pandemic in Scotland at Balmoral Castle, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip have announced that they are heading to their Sandringham estate in Norfolk later this month. This is an unusual schedule change for the royal couple before they head to different residences in October. Why did they make the schedule change? And why is Her Majesty returning to Buckingham Palace and leaving Prince Philip behind after their trip to Norfolk?

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip | Jeff Spicer/Getty Images

The pandemic has forced Queen Elizabeth to completely change her schedule

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip traditionally spend their summer break at their Scottish estate, Balmoral. However, the COVID-19 pandemic forced them to retreat to their summer residence back in March.

After six months in Scotland in what insiders call the HMS Bubble, the queen has announced her plans for the coming weeks. According to a palace spokesperson, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip will leave Balmoral and head to Norfolk. They want to spend time privately on the Sandringham Estate before the Queen goes to Windsor Castle in October.

As royal fans know, Sandringham is traditionally the estate where the queen spends Christmas with her family. As for the Duke of Edinburgh, he will stay in Sandringham at Wood Farm when the queen heads to Windsor Castle.

While the queen is at Windsor, her intention is to visit Buckingham Palace in London for selected audiences and engagements.

Wood Farm has been Prince Philips residence since he retired from public life in 2017

Prince Philip retired from public life back in August 2017 after serving the crown for 64 years. The queens husband of nearly 73 years is now 99 years old. He spends the majority of his time in Sandringham at Wood Farm. The estate is located about 100 miles north of London in Norfolk.

Wood Farm is a five-bedroom home that has served as Prince Philips main residence since he retired. Royal expert Richard Kay wrote in The Daily Mail that Wood Farm is the one royal home where the queen feels she can escape from the pressures of the monarchy.

RELATED: Prince Philip Thought He Was Going to Have to Be a Yes Man for the Rest of His Life When Elizabeth Became Queen

There are far fewer of the rituals that govern her life: Philip has seen to that, Kay wrote. It is the one residence where the Queen is likely to be seen in the kitchen.

Even though Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip will be living in separate residences soon, staff will continue creating the HMS bubble so they can visit each other safely.

Queen Elizabeth usually returns to Buckingham Palace in October

Traditionally, after her annual summer break at Balmoral, Queen Elizabeth heads to her London residence at Buckingham Palace. Of course, things are different this year. But, it appears Her Majesty desires some sense of normalcy.

The months Queen Elizabeth has spent away from Buckingham Palace is unprecedented. Its the longest Her Majesty has been away from the central seat of the monarchy during her 68 years on the throne.

There is a desire to get Buckingham Palace up and running again as a working palace, but only if all the relevant advice suggests that it is appropriate to do so, an insider dished.

The reason Queen Elizabeth is returning to Buckingham Palace and leaving Prince Philip behind at Wood Farm is simple. According to Express, her return is symbolically important to the people of the United Kingdom.

Queen Elizabeth is coming out of self-isolation. Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams explained,

She remains immensely popular and an indispensable symbol of national unity during this unprecedented crisis.

It should be emphasised that whilst she has said I have to be seen to be believed, she acts on government advice, Fitzwilliams added.
The skeleton of a 40-foot (12-meter) dinosaur nicknamed 'Stan', one of the most complete Tyrannosaurus Rex specimens ever found, will be auctioned in New York next month and could set a record for a sale of its kind.

Discovered in 1987 near Buffalo, South Dakota, the 188-bone skeleton took more than three years to excavate and reconstruct by paleontologists from the state's Black Hills Geological Research Institute, where it has been exhibited since.

Stan, who researchers estimate died around 60 million years ago aged about 20, has since been used to make replicas for dozens of museums eager to acquire their own T-rex model.

Stan, one of the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus rex fossil discovered, is going up for auction at Christie's in New York, and is expected to fetch between $6 and $8 million

Only about 50 skeletons of one of the largest carnivores to roam Earth have been discovered since the first in 1902.

James Hyslop, of auctioneer Christie's, said: 'There aren't very many very good complete skeletons in there. It is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to acquire a T-Rex as complete as this.'

The sale will be held in New York on October 6, with bids expected from $6 million to $8 million - putting it within reach of the $8.4 million paid for a T-rex named Sue in October 1997.

'Any natural history museum would consider him the crown of their collection,' Hyslop said.

The skeleton will be on display in a window at Christie's headquarters in New York City from Wednesday until October 21.

The T-rex is named after the amateur paleontologist Stan Sacrison responsible for his initial discovery.

'[Sacrison] showed it to scientists at the time who unfortunately misidentified it as a triceratops,' Hyslop told Reuters news agency.

Discovered in 1987 near Buffalo, South Dakota, the 188-bone skeleton took more than three years to excavate and reconstruct by paleontologists. The skeleton will be on display in a window at Christie's headquarters in New York City from Wednesday until October 21

The T-rex is named after the amateur paleontologist Stan Sacrison responsible for his initial discovery in 1987. Sacrison was first told he had discovered a relatively common Triceratops, but was later told that he had something far more interesting on his hands

Triceratops remains are relatively common in the paleontological world, so the bones failed to garner much interest until Sacrison took them to the Black Hills Institute in South Dakota in 1992.

Researchers there 'realized pretty quickly that they had something special in their hands,' said Hyslop.

They recategorized Stan as a T-rex and mounted a new search to uncover the rest of the bones. They recovered 188 out of an estimated 300 total for any T-rex, Hyslop said.

Stan is 40 feet long and 13 feet high, Christie's said. He is also notable for two fused vertebrae scientists have identified in his neck, suggesting the dinosaur broke his neck and survived during his lifetime.

Researchers recategorized Stan as a T-rex and mounted a new search to uncover the rest of the bones. They recovered 188 out of an estimated 300 total

Stan is 40 feet long and 13 feet high, Christie's said. He is also notable for two fused vertebrae scientists have identified in his neck, suggesting the dinosaur broke his neck and survived during his lifetime

'The clue is in the name, the Tyrannosaurus rex,' Hyslop said. 'He is the tyrant lizard king.'

Its head is so heavy that a replica sits atop the skeleton, with the real one presented alongside.

'We've got the skull displayed at ground level so that you can get really up close and personal with him and just see the serrations on his teeth,' Hyslop said. 'His longest tooth is 11 inches long. It's just terrifying to behold.'
Online jobs and learning portal Seek has confirmed its Chinese unit Zhaopin is speaking to potential investors amid speculation e-commerce giant Alibaba is keen to tip hundreds of millions of dollars into the company.

Seek told the ASX on Wednesday that Zhaopin and its shareholders were holding discussions with a number of parties on the subject of new investment and whether this could better support Zhaopins long-term growth aspirations.

"Seek regularly assesses strategic options to maximise the long-term growth aspirations of its investments," the company said.

Seek would not confirm if China's web giant Alibaba is among the parties considering an investment in Seek subsidiary Zhaopin. Credit:AP

Seek did not name Alibaba directly and stressed that the discussions may or may not lead to anything. The $US760 billion ($1 trillion) Alibaba is often referred to as the Amazon of China.
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd on Wednesday unveiled a pilot factory in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou as part of its "smart manufacturing" business initiative.

The announcement marks a continuation of Alibaba's expansion beyond its core business of e-commerce and into sectors on other parts of the online retail supply chain.

In a statement, Alibaba said the factory, run by an internal division called Xunxi Digital Technology Company, at present will primarily work with apparel companies.

The company in an explanatory video said it will use data it garners from e-commerce traffic, searches and sales to help brands anticipate what items will be popular and bring them to market quickly.

In 2016, Alibaba founder Jack Ma identified "new manufacturing" as one of five trends he referred to as future business opportunities for Alibaba.

The others were "new retail," "new technology," "new finance" and "new energy".

The move into manufacturing comes as China's e-commerce players look for ways to work more closely with the country's legions of factories.

Rival Pinduoduo Inc rose to prominence in China's online retail sector by enticing manufacturers to sell directly to consumers.

Alibaba's opening of the factory also marks another move into the offline realm for the e-commerce giant.

In 2016 the company opened its first Freshippo store, marking its foray into offline grocery retail. The chain now has hundreds of outlets across China.
WOONSOCKET, R.I., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- CVS Health (NYSE: CVS) today announced it will invest $13.7 million to help renovate 230 low-income housing units at the Rosewind apartments in Columbus, Ohio. These funds will also be used to make significant improvements to the local community center and support new community programs in the area.

The investment kicks-off the company's commitment of nearly $600 million over five years to address racial inequality and social determinants of health in Black communities. This commitment includes an emphasis on increasing access to affordable housing, which is inextricably linked to health.

"When people have access to high-quality, affordable housing, it puts them in a better position to improve their overall wellbeing, including taking care of their health or managing a chronic disease," said David Casey, Chief Diversity Officer, CVS Health. "One aspect of our commitment to address racial inequality is addressing social determinants of health  like housing  at the community level, which is where we can make a meaningful impact."

CVS Health will work with the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) and the Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing on the project. Through CVS Health's investment, CMHA will spend $50,000 per unit in much-needed rehab and repairs.

"The redevelopment of Rosewind is part of CMHA's $250 million investment in affordable housing in 2020," said CMHA President and CEO Charles Hillman. "Stable housing provides a solid foundation, but people also need access to health care, employment, training and other services to reach their fullest potential. We're excited to collaborate with CVS Health to provide new opportunities for our residents and revitalize the Linden community."

Within the Rosewind complex in the South Linden neighborhood of Columbus, 95% of residents are Black and have an average annual household income of less than $17,000. Average life expectancy in South Linden is just under 70 years  more than seven years shorter than the average in all of Franklin County, which includes Columbus and certain neighboring communities.

"Housing and health care go hand-in-hand, and health outcomes are impacted by housing affordability and stability," said Peg Moertl, President and CEO, Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing. "We are pleased to be working with CVS Health and the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority to provide quality housing, economic support, and educational training opportunities to those families and individuals facing challenges in the Linden community."

The renovations, as well as new community programming funded by CVS Health, will provide comprehensive local support to residents, including the following new on-site programs:

Health and wellness programming through CMHA and the Healthcare Collaborative of Greater Columbus to provide individuals with the best health care experience possible on-site;

through CMHA and the Healthcare Collaborative of to provide individuals with the best health care experience possible on-site; On-site health screenings and COVID-19 testing to bring preventative health care services directly to the community, especially as the pandemic continues to expose health disparities among the Black population;

to bring preventative health care services directly to the community, especially as the pandemic continues to expose health disparities among the Black population; An educational cooking series with the nonprofit organization Local Matters, to increase access to fresh, nutritious foods and teach residents how to make healthy and tasty meals, which will improve their overall health outcomes;

with the nonprofit organization Local Matters, to increase access to fresh, nutritious foods and teach residents how to make healthy and tasty meals, which will improve their overall health outcomes; Maternal programs  with 8.5 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in Franklin County and 25.7 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in South Linden, there will be a new program to support maternal health at Rosewind that will equip new and pregnant mothers with parenting resources;

 with 8.5 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in and 25.7 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in South Linden, there will be a new program to support maternal health at Rosewind that will equip new and pregnant mothers with parenting resources; Community programs where individuals will have the opportunity to have an open dialogue about the root causes of systemic inequalities and barriers.

CVS Health will also establish a new program at Rosewind as part of its ongoing workforce initiatives to provide employment services and training to the Rosewind community, focused on empowerment and building local relationships that will help community members achieve meaningful employment opportunities.

"Finding ways to encourage housing that is affordable to everyone is not just the right thing to do," said Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther. "It helps the region remain competitive in attracting and retaining businesses."

Since 1997, CVS Health and Aetna, a CVS Health company, have invested more than $1 billion in affordable housing and community initiatives. In 2019, the company invested $67 million in affordable housing across the country, and the company plans to exceed that amount over each of the next five years to help address housing insecurities and promote community health improvement in Black communities.

About CVS Health

CVS Health employees are united around a common goal of becoming the most consumer-centric health company. We're evolving based on changing consumer needs and meeting people where they are, whether that's in the community at one of our nearly 10,000 local touchpoints, in the home, or in the palm of their hand. Our newest offerings  from HealthHUB locations that are redefining what a pharmacy can be, to innovative programs that help manage chronic conditions  are designed to create a higher-quality, simpler and more affordable experience. Learn more about how we're transforming health at www.cvshealth.com.

Media Contact:

Courtney Tavener

(401) 712-3698

[email protected]

SOURCE CVS Health

Related Links

https://www.cvshealth.com/


Brandon Lewis, our current Secretary of State, is probably one of the few politicians who is in danger of being sacked not for telling untruths, but for being too truthful with his answer about the proposed new Internal Market Bill in the House of Commons last week. He said about the new Bill in a quote that will dog this Government forever: "This does break international law in a very specific and limited way."

The nonsense of trying to qualify this breaking of international law brought nothing but ridicule and scorn upon Lewis and the rest of Boris Johnson's Government.

Alliance leader Naomi Long jokingly but robustly responded by saying: "I'm not sure you can be a little bit illegal. It's a bit like being a little bit pregnant."

The shocked and angry reaction by the European Union, and in particular Taoiseach Micheal Martin, to Johnson's unilateral decision to interfere with the already signed Withdrawal Agreement on Brexit was profound.

Mr Martin strongly emphasised the undermining of trust that this unilateral decision by the British Government created. It had the potential to drag Northern Ireland once again centre stage and had the potential to be divisive here.

In an unusual public comment, Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan also reacted, saying on BBC Northern Ireland's The View that he was "disappointed" at the move by the UK Government.

He stated: "It seems to me it enables others to take the view that they can choose which laws apply to them."

This criticism was unusually blunt, coming from a currently serving Lord Chief Justice, but marks out the gravity of the situation that the UK Government has got itself into.

His piercing criticism has been matched by many others, particularly former Tory leaders like Theresa May and Lord Howard.

Neither of these could be described as Remainers. Howard declared that the Bill would damage the UK's reputation as a protector of the rule of law.

Therefore, by unilaterally introducing the Internal Market Bill to Parliament with all the finesse of an elephant in a china shop, Johnson has reignited the Brexit debate that had supposedly been put to bed last November.

In doing so he has excited the hopes of unionists - particularly Eurosceptic DUP MPs - of getting rid of the Northern Ireland Protocol, which is now their number one bogeyman.

As a result he has sent shockwaves through the Assembly, which is vulnerable enough without the added complication of a deep-seated row over the divisive issue of Brexit.

In addition he has provoked an extremely negative response from Brussels, not just over the details of outstanding issues such as fisheries and state aid, but also at a much deeper level about the innate trustworthiness of this British Government and the genuineness of its commitment to honouring any future deal.

No wonder the old accusation of "perfidious Albion" readily springs to mind.

Some commentators have interpreted all of this as tactical positioning before a deal is finalised with the European Union.

Others take the more sombre view that this is to prepare the way for a "no-deal" with the EU, which may suit Johnson more than a deal with Brussels falling short of that which would satisfy the militant Brexiteers within the Conservative Party.

Whatever interpretation is true, Johnson's move has stirred up a hornets' nest in Belfast, Edinburgh and London, never mind Brussels.

To make matters worse he has now said (with Orwellian irony) that "Brussels could carve up our country" and "seriously endanger peace and stability in Northern Ireland".

Johnson clearly misses the point that the greatest threat to the Union lies with Brexit itself, which critically undermines the link between Scotland and the rest of the UK, never mind its destabilising impact here.

The fact is that Europe has worked extremely hard to preserve the peace and stability of Northern Ireland through its careful protection of the integrity of the Good Friday Agreement. The creation of the Northern Ireland Protocol is the evidence of that abiding concern.

The Protocol is specifically designed to allow us to trade freely in goods within the EU, especially with our southern neighbours. At the same time it protects trade between Northern Ireland and the internal British market.

Up until now Johnson has shown scarce interest in the Good Friday Agreement, or Northern Ireland for that matter.

The DUP, whose past support in Parliament he cynically exploited, are completely deluded if they think he has changed.

Despite the condemnation of his Internal Market Bill by no less than five former Prime Ministers, Johnson, driven by his insatiable political ego, is leading the UK into an even greater political sinkhole.
Output at Chiles Escondida, which contributes almost 6% of global copper supply annually, will fall for the coming two years, primarily due to lower grades of ore being processed there, majority owner and operator BHP said in its annual results this week.The mine will produce between 940,000 tonnes and 1.03 million tonnes of copper in the September 2020-21 financial year, a minimum of 155,000 tonnes lower than this year and the lowest since the mine endured the worlds longest strike in 2017.This is despite the mine having fired up all three of its concentrators to maximum capacity  371,000 tonnes of ore is processed every day at Escondida on average.

The cut? Despite pulverising record amounts of...
Firefighters are battling flames within 500 feet of the 116-year-old Mt. Wilson Observatory in Los Angeles County.

The Bobcat fire has been burning in the Angeles National Forest since Sept. 6, and crossed containment lines overnight. The U.S. Forest Service said crews are fighting the blaze on the ground and from the air, and additional personnel have been brought in to help.

Mt. Wilson Observatory was founded by George Ellery Hale in 1904, and visitors are able to look through its 60-inch telescope that was put in place in 1908. The first telescopes were brought up to the observatory on the backs of burros, and the site has been visited by such luminaries as Albert Einstein, Edwin Hubble, and Stephen Hawking.

There are also several radio, television, and cell towers on Mt. Wilson, and L.A. County Fire Capt. David Dantic told the Los Angeles Times it is possible there could be disruptions due to the fire, which is only three percent contained. The blaze has now grown to more than 40,000 acres, and fire authorities are concerned that 80 historic cabins and a camp in Big Santa Anita Canyon were destroyed on Sunday and Monday as flames engulfed the area.

More stories from theweek.com

How a productivity phenomenon explains the unraveling of America

How the Trump-Russia story was buried

The conservatives who want to undo the Enlightenment


Some 16 arrivals at the Kotoka International Airport have tested positive for COVID-19 since the Kotoka International Airport reopened to international traffic.

Health personnel have conducted 6,976 tests on arriving travellers since September 1, 2020.

Giving updates on the surveillance at the airport on Wednesday, September 16, 2020, the Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, said four out of the 16 persons have been hospitalised but do not have severe symptoms.

The rest are being managed from home, he added.

All passengers coming to Ghana by air are required to pay $150 for a 30-minute PCR COVID-19 test to check the importation of the virus.

Every passenger who arrives in the country must also possess proof of a negative COVID-19 PCR test.

Ghanas known active cases have also reduced to 564 out of 45,655 confirmed cases.

Fifty-four new cases were recorded while the death toll stands at 294.

The number of persons recovered or discharged has risen to 44,797.

The Minister of Information urged the public to continue to be vigilant.

Despite the decline in active cases, the government continues to urge the general public not to get complacent, he said.

 citinewsroom
Welcome back to Tech Chronicle. Get your head out of the clouds and subscribe to this fine newsletter now.

Where to start with Oracles ridiculous TikTok deal?

First, its not buying the mobile video app from its Chinese owner, ByteDance. Instead, the Redwood City company, best known for its database software, will become a trusted technology provider, giving TikTok political cover from concerns that data about its young users will somehow make its way to the Chinese authorities.

An aside: Id really like to see someone brief Xi Jinping on exactly what the WAP Challenge is.

ByteDance had been under pressure from the Trump administration to divest TikToks U.S. operations, ideally to an American company with experience handling the huge amounts of data that an app like TikTok generates. For those not familiar with it: TikTok users typically record themselves dancing or engaging in stunts, using the app to add short music clips and special effects. It evolved from a similar app called Musical.ly, which ByteDance bought in 2017 and merged into TikTok in 2018.

Politics entered in because the U.S. routinely reviews cross-border transactions for security risks. Any kind of reasonable deal review morphed into a Washington sideshow where President Trump suggested that the Treasury Department should get a cut out of a sale of TikTok.

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images 2010

Oracle has sought close relations with Trump and his administration, with CEO Safra Catz serving on the presidents transition team. It also fought to win a big military contract known as JEDI, though it was ultimately excluded from the bidding. Still, it does a lot of business with the government.

Dont forget that Trump feuded with the TikTok community after some young app users claimed to have organized a prank to book reservations for a Trump campaign rally in Tulsa, inflating the events apparent numbers and making the actual turnout look comparatively disappointing.

Cut to the present: Microsoft, which has a big cloud business and could handle TikToks data deluge, dropped out of the bidding for TikTok, leaving Oracles technical offer as the only viable proposal.

Some are casting this as a win for Oracle. I have trouble seeing it. What are customers to make of the blatant politicking that led to this result? Its hardly an endorsement for Oracle Cloud. If Oracles software and services were competitive, why couldnt it have lured TikTok into being a customer on the open market? If anything, some of the entrepreneurs starting companies may steer away from Oracles cloud because of the political taint.

And what has been accomplished? TikTok has committed to using a U.S. cloud service, and promised to hire a lot of people in the U.S. Well, last year, it reportedly signed an $800 million cloud deal with Google, and its been talking up its hiring plans. It might take on some additional American investors  which, again, is something it might have done anyway.

More for you The kids are all right. Its the parents we should worry about

So now, TikTok just has to feign happiness about partnering with Oracle. Since its app is all about the performative nature of modern existence, that should be easy.

 Owen Thomas, othomas@sfchronicle.com

Quote of the week

Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes

I was the one who made the decision not to push more or prioritize further in each case, and I know that I have blood on my hands by now.  Former Facebook data scientist Sophie Zhang, decrying the companys lack of action on political manipulation of the social network, in a memo revealed by BuzzFeed News

Coming up

Snowflake shares are expected to start trading Wednesday. Its one of a flurry  a flurry!  of initial public offerings, as tech companies try to sate a market hungry for new names.

What Im reading

Rosie Gray and Ryan Mac on tech investor Peter Thiels embrace of the alt-rights racist fringe. (BuzzFeed News)

Chase DiFeliciantonio on Brexs plan to embrace remote work. (San Francisco Chronicle)

Philip Elmer-DeWitt assembles Apple analysts thoughts on its new products. (Apple 3.0)

Tech Chronicle is a weekly newsletter from Owen Thomas, The Chronicles business editor, and the rest of the tech team. Follow along on Twitter: @techchronicle and Instagram: @techchronicle
When voting stations closed in Arizona on Election Day in 2018, Martha McSally appeared to have won a seat in the United States Senate. McSally, the Republican Partys candidate, received the largest number of votes based on results from in-person voting. But her lead disappeared in the days that followed, with the counting of mail-in ballots.

Electoral corruption - call for a new election? President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter at the time. His suggestion had no effect. Six days after Election Day, McSally confirmed that she had lost to Kyrsten Sinema, the Democratic candidate.

A similar blue shift  with blue representing Democrats -- could play out in the U.S. presidential election on November 3. Some observers say Trump, a Republican, could have the most votes in early election returns but that Democrat Joe Biden could end up the winner in the days that follow.

Nearly half of Democrats say they plan to vote by mail. Only about one fourth of Republicans plan to do so. That information comes from an opinion study of likely voters by Reuters/Ipsos. Demand for mail-in voting is driven, in part, by fear of infection from the coronavirus in public.

Counting mail-in ballots is often slower because officials must open thick envelopes, inspect the ballots, and confirm voters identities. The process is slower and more complex than that at polling stations, where voters mark ballots in person.

Bidens campaign is reportedly preparing for Trump to say that the election is being stolen as the lead changes. Even some Republicans worry that Trump might use the situation to question the results if he loses.

The longer it takes to count absentee ballots, the more the narrative will take hold among Trump supporters and will be their proof to question unfavorable election results, said Dennis Darnoi. He is a Republican political strategist based in Michigan.

Trump has made unproven claims that mail voting leads to fraud. Many studies, however, show that voter fraud in the United States is extremely rare.

Trump has not said whether he will respect the election results if he loses.

In more than 30 states, election officials can begin processing or even counting ballots before Election Day. These include states considered battleground states -- where races between the Republican and Democratic presidential nominees have been historically close.

But three states considered among the most competitive - Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin - bar officials from processing or counting ballots before Election Day. This may create delays in the results.



Rick Hasen is a law professor at the University of California at Irvine. He notes that, If the election comes down to these states, and everyone is waiting on results, Im concerned about social unrest. This is especially true if Trump is ahead on Election Day.

Trump campaign spokeswoman Thea McDonald told Reuters news agency that Democrats are creating disorder by pushing conspiracy theories.

President Trump and his campaign are fighting for a free, fairelection in which every valid ballot counts  once, she said.

A winner in the presidential race might be known quickly if states such as Arizona and Florida publish results shortly after polls close. Both states have a long history of mail-in voting.

The most likely scenario is that well know who the president is on Election Night, said Michael McDonald, a political science professor at the University of Florida.

Florida election officials, for example, will begin opening and confirming ballots at least three weeks before the election. They are not, however, permitted to count the results to know which candidate is ahead during that time.

U.S. presidential elections are decided by an Electoral College, not the popular vote. This means results in a battleground state like Florida, with 29 of the 270 electors needed to win, could decide the election results once its own vote counts are known.

In Michigan, an effort to process ballots a day before Election Day has failed to move forward. Some Republicans have argued that it might permit local officials to influence the results.

Ruth Johnson is the Republican state senator who proposed the bill to process ballots early. Johnson said she did not know why the states Republican Senate Majority Leader had yet to act.

It needs to be a priority, and I believe we do have the votes, she said.

Thea McDonald of the Trump campaign said it is opposed to election officials knowing - and potentially attempting to change - the running tally before Election Day.

Im Ashley Thompson.

The Reuters news agency reported this story. Ashley Thompson adapted it for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

_________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

shift - n. a change in position or direction

narrative- n. a story that is told or written

envelope - n. an enclosing cover for a letter, card, etc.

strategist -n. a person who is skilled in making plans for reaching a goal

fraud - n. the crime of using dishonest methods to take something valuable from another person

ahead - adv. in the lead in a race or competition

scenario - n. a description of what could possibly happen

priority - n. something that is more important than other things and that needs to be done or dealt with first

potentially - adv. capable of becoming real

tally - n. a recorded count of scores, votes, etc.
Steven Goldsmith Ive long admired Steves tenacity, project management skills and marketing prowess. His return to ATS is a much-anticipated boon to the company.

ATS, a leader in solution-based products for advanced water treatment, has hired Steven Goldsmith as its new vice president of product management.

As VP of product management, Goldsmith is responsible for corporate B2B and B2C product management of commodities such as chemicals and the development of joint ventures, strategic partnerships and digital transformation.

A veteran of the ATS team, Goldsmith began his career at the company, where he worked from 1999 to 2007. Starting in the warehouse blending chemicals, he advanced to a project manager position where he led U.S. Department of Defense projects for military facilities like Dugway Proving Grounds and Hill, Nellis and Creech Air Force Bases. In addition to hands-on fabrication and equipment installation, he also composed the companys technical documents, case studies, operations manuals and more.

Ive long admired Steves tenacity, project management skills and marketing prowess, said ATS CEO and president Richard Allred. His return to ATS is a much-anticipated boon to the company.

Since 2007, Goldsmith has continued to develop his knowledge of water treatment and mining technologies. Working for WesTech Engineering for 12 years, he managed projects worldwide, including mining projects in Mexico, Kazakhstan, India and more. One particular highlight was when he established a new business line for mobile/turnkey solutions, successfully building the department from two people to 13 with 50% year-over-year growth over a 4-year period. Most recently, Goldsmith was at Ovivo Water as a sales and business development manager working with teams across North America.

Coming back to ATS feels like getting folded back into the family. It feels like the right time to come back, Goldsmith said. Im eager to bring my market knowledge of better practices to the company, and I know ATS has the flexibility and agility to make new things happen in the water treatment industry.

For more information about ATS, please visit atssmartsolutions.com.

About ATS

Founded in 1979, ATS  located in Midvale, Utah  is a forward-thinking, global company dedicated to providing safe and effective solutions to protect and improve quality of life. ATS develops and deploys environmentally safe and highly effective products and equipment to make the world a cleaner, safer and healthier place. From kitchen countertops and office workspaces to massive lakes and water systems, ATS is making life safer.


People entering will no longer require an online registration, the state government announced on Tuesday.

However, movement of interstate buses will remain suspended till further orders, it said.

The decision was taken at a state cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur. This is for the first time after a nationwide lockdown came into effect on March 24 that people will not need any registration to enter the hill state.

However, this could not be immediately known whether the existing condition for tourists to show a negative COVID-19 report and advance hotel booking will continue or not.

The issue of opening of schools and colleges in the state did not come up for discussion in the cabinet meeting.

(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.)
Thousands of low-income renters in the private market impacted by COVID-19 could face eviction in just two weeks.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 16/9/2020 (492 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

Thousands of low-income renters in the private market impacted by COVID-19 could face eviction in just two weeks.

Last week, the province of Manitoba issued a press release stating the moratorium on non-payment of rent during COVID-19 is ending Sept. 30. In the same press release, the province renewed other emergency measures but notably did not extend the eviction moratorium.

In March, Manitoba introduced a moratorium suspending non-urgent evictions, the suspension of hearings for non-urgent orders of possession, late fees for non-payment of rent and freezing rent increases. All of these are repealed Oct. 1, at which time landlords can begin proceedings for evictions against tenants for non-payment of rent and other non-urgent issues.

They will also be able to begin charging late fees on rent that is not paid on time on that date or later. On top of this, they may begin implementing rent increases (up to 1.6 per cent on rent-regulated units) at a time when many renters are still struggling to keep their heads above water.

An Angus Reid study found nine to 13 per cent of Canadian tenants were not able to pay their rent in April and May. Among Manitobas 60,629 renting households, between 5,456 and 7,882 tenants are in arrears and cannot or could not pay all or part of their rent during COVID-19. Unless the province acts now, these tenants are at risk of eviction, pushing low-income tenants into precarious housing situations, crowded housing or even homelessness.

Anecdotally, housing advocates in Manitoba are finding tenants already being evicted illegally in anticipation of the eviction ban being lifted.

Manitoba is still in a state of COVID-19 emergency. Those at the lower end of the income scale have borne the brunt of the economic impacts: half of those making $16 or less lost their job or hours due to COVID-19 economic recession . A recent study found minimum wage workers in Manitoba cannot make ends meet on the poverty-level $11.65 / hour wage, which is compounded by a rise in precarious part-time work. The timing of the end of the non-payment of rent moratorium is a double-whammy for those whose CERB support is ending Sept. 30 as well.

Low income tenants struggling to get by likely will not be able to repay back rent owed to landlords. Moreover, Manitoba has not set out any policy for a reasonable timeframe for the repayment of back rent. Some tenants may be hundreds or even thousands of dollars in arrears to their landlords as a result of the lost income during the pandemic.

Relying on landlords to come to reasonable terms with tenants for a repayment schedule risks setting up tenants for discriminatory evictions. By contrast, in British Columbia tenants are given at least six months for repaying any owed back rent.

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.

Manitoba is not the only province that has removed the moratorium on evictions. Ontario did so in August, and tenants are fighting back, blocking the citys rental enforcement units from conducting evictions.

Most jurisdictions in Canada, the U.K., the U.S. and Australia have implemented some sort of eviction moratorium. B.C., Prince Edward Island, the Northwest Territories and the Yukon have government rent subsidies to assist tenants who cant pay rent due to COVID-19. Manitoba, however, has done nothing to help low-income tenants during the pandemic, and the situation is about to get worse unless something is done immediately.

Assisting low-income tenants now will save taxpayers money in the long run, because as evictions rise, so do other costs to the province, such as social assistance, health care and pressure on the already-overburdened homeless shelter system. This adds to the COVID-19 public-health crisis: families who are evicted risk COVID-19 if forced into homelessness or precarious housing. Not to mention the stress and anxiety faced by tenants.

The province should extend the eviction moratorium until it has a plan in place to deal with this problem fairly to ensure tenants do not lose housing and landlords can continue to provide housing. Back-rent owed due due to COVID-19 should be forgiven via provincial policy.

By removing the eviction moratorium for non-payment of rent during COVID-19, the Manitoba government is making thousands of Manitoba tenants vulnerable to homelessness and bankruptcy. It's time for the province to work with tenant advocates to develop a proactive plan that builds housing security during this public-health crisis.

Molly McCracken is the director of the Manitoba office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and a steering committee member of Make Poverty History Manitoba.
Investors are being warned not to buy an apartment in four areas across NSW due to an oversupply of new developments.

Parramatta, Mascot and Rouse Hill, in Sydney, are predicted to have a 13 per cent increase in the number of apartments in the next two years

The suburbs are already oversupplied, property experts told realestate.com.au.

Gosford, on the NSW Central Coast, is expected to have an extra 1,900 apartments built creating a 73 per cent increase on the current number of units.

The oversupply has the potential to cause 'dangerous' price reductions for people looking to buy a unit off the plan.

Experts have revealed an oversupply of apartments, like in Mascot (pictured), Parramatta and Rouse Hill would have an impact on investor confidence because it creates 'dangerous' price reductions in property value

RiskWise chief executive Doron Peleg said the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused a drop in rent prices and buyer demand, was also a key factor.

Mr Peleg said falling rental income coupled with a rise in tenant vacancies was reducing the incentive for investors.

He said the sector took a hit with recent high profile cases where defects were found in some new apartment buildings.

He said as a result many investors are turning to home and land packages because of the 'high land-to-asset ratio'.

Mr Peleg said the equity and cash flow risks for apartments were both expected to 'materially increase', which would create an enormous risk for buyers.

Buyers Buyers' co-founder Pete Wargent said the risks in oversupplied suburbs were compounded by border closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said as a result of the lockdown there were less tourists and international students to take up tenancy in apartment blocks.

RiskWise chief executive Doron Peleg said a drop in rental prices and buyer demand, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, was also a key factor in investors avoiding apartments in oversupplied suburbs (Rouse Hill pictured)

Mr Wargent encouraged buyers to seek out investments which offered 'scarcity value'.

'Over the medium to longer term, it's the land value component of the asset that does the heavy lifting for you and, therefore, buyers should look for a high land-to-asset ratio,' he said.

Meanwhile, propertybuyer.com.au CEO Rich Harvey told the publication it made 'no sense' to buy an apartment in 'outer suburban' areas.

'While it may be nice to have a shiny new kitchen and bathroom, there is a significant downside price risk as the supply of land for further development is plentiful,' he said.

'In a market where prices are declining, there is a settlement risk for the buyer if they discover that the value paid for the unit has declined significantly.'
Hamer, who lived from 1917 to 1977, grew up desperately poor as the 20th child of Mississippi sharecroppers. Her relative anonymity compared to some of the other leaders of the movement perhaps also flows from her relatively short lifespan (she suffered from long-declining health due to contracting polio as a child and later being sterilized without her knowledge), and her age at the time of the movement. When the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee found her in her home town of Mound Bayou, Miss., and pointed out her right to vote, Hamer already was in her mid-40s. She would go to become one of the oldest members of that committee and would later march with Andrew Young and Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1966 March Against Fear in Mississippi. In 1968, Hamer spoke on behalf of the Alabama delegation at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, although the Democratic Party made attempts to prevent her speech from being widely broadcast to Americans.
Anuraag Singh By

Express News Service

BHOPAL: Over a dozen villagers, whose throat and nasal swab samples were not taken for testing, have been declared positive for the deadly novel coronavirus in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh. A probe has been ordered by the Dhar district administration into the lapse.

Two contractual employees, who had gone to the Tana village in Nisarpur block of Dhar district on Sept 8 to test the villagers for the deadly viral infection, have been sacked. Health workers, Bachchan Mujalda and the lab technician Gumansingh Chouhan, had gone to Tana village to collect samples of villagers for Covid-19 testing. They took the nasal and throat swab samples of four villagers.

Reports said other villagers either refused to give their samples or went out of the village to avoid giving samples. The two returned with tubes bearing samples of 19 villagers. The sample collections were mentioned in a register maintained by the village sarpanch and panchayat secretary. The 19 sample tubes were sent for RT-PCR test at a laboratory in adjoining Indore.

A few days later, the reports of 17 out of the 19 samples were out, all of which were Covid positive. While the reports pertained to samples of two of the four persons whose swab samples were actually taken, the 15 other positive reports pertained to those villagers who had not given their samples.

Harjit Mujalde was among the 15 persons tested positive, though his swab samples were not taken. I was not present in my village that day, so my samples were not taken. How can I be found Covid-19 positive? Dhar collector Alok Singh said the contractual health workers were sacked and a preliminary probe has revealed a lapse on their part.

The two health workers have blamed the testing lab in Indore for the lapse. Weve been facing the ire of villagers, who allege they are being wrongly tested positive, said one of them. We wanted to check whether the lab is actually testing the samples correctly. 
The parliaments pro-government majority voted for them three months after passing constitutional changes calling for the gradual resignation of seven of the courts nine judges locked in a standoff with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinians political team.

Three of them were to resign with immediate effect. The constitutional amendments also required Hrayr Tovmasian to quit as court chairman but remain a judge.

Tovmasian and the ousted judges refused to step down, saying that their removal is illegal and politically motivated. They appealed to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to have them reinstated.

Tovmasian and the six other court justices have been under strong government pressure to step down over the past year. Pashinian has accused them of maintaining close ties to Armenias former government and impeding his judicial reforms. Tovmasian has dismissed Pashinians claims and in turn accused the prime minister of seeking to take control of the countrys highest court.

In line with the Armenian constitution, Pashinians government, President Armen Sarkissian and a national convention of Armenian judges each nominated last month a candidate to replace the ousted high court members.

The governments pick for the court was Edgar Shatirian, a 40-year-old law lecturer, while Sarkissian nominated Artur Vagharshian, a chair of jurisprudence at Yerevan State University. The judges nominee, Yervand Khundkarian, has headed the Court of Cassation, Armenias highest body of criminal and administrative justice, for the last two years.

Pro-government deputies overwhelmingly backed all three candidates despite objections voiced by some of them. The latter claimed, in particular, that Khundkarian, Vagharshian and Shatirian were linked to the former Armenian authorities in one way or another.

Alen Simonian, a deputy parliament speaker and leading member of Pashinians My Step bloc, downplayed the misgivings. Believe me, no matter whom we nominate there will always be conflicting interests, he told journalists after the announcement of the parliament vote results.

Simonian also insisted that the current authorities are not intent on creating a puppet Constitutional Court. The authorities are forming a new and principled Constitutional Court, he said.

The election of the new court justices was boycotted by lawmakers representing the two parliamentary opposition parties, Prosperous Armenia and Bright Armenia. They maintain that the recent constitutional changes were enacted in breach of other articles of the Armenian constitution.
(Bloomberg) -- U.S. competition enforcers are preparing a possible antitrust lawsuit against Facebook Inc., according to a person familiar with the matter.

The Federal Trade Commission has been investigating Facebook for more than a year over whether the social media giant has harmed competition and could file a case by the end of the year, said the person, who was granted anonymity because the inquiry is confidential. No final decision has been made, the person added.

A lawsuit by the FTC would mark another major escalation by U.S. officials in their campaign against Americas technology giants, which have come under intense scrutiny in Washington over their dominant market positions. The Justice Department is preparing to sue Alphabet Inc.s Google in a matter of weeks.

Facebook and the FTC declined to comment. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier on the agencys lawsuit preparation. It is standard practice for antitrust enforcers to prepare for litigation as part of an investigation, and filing a lawsuit would require a majority vote of the FTCs five commissioners.

Technology giants are grappling with sprawling inquiries by federal agencies, Congress and state attorneys general. The U.S. House antitrust panel is preparing recommendations for reining in the power of tech companies like Facebook after a yearlong investigation of the industry. On Tuesday, a Senate Judiciary panel laid out a case for how Google has used its dominance in search and digital advertising to benefit its products and harm competition.

The FTC opened the Facebook investigation in June 2019 just as it leveled a $5 billion penalty against the company for privacy violations. The probe is focused in part on whether Facebooks past acquisitions, like its deals for Instagram and WhatsApp, violated antitrust laws. Facebook Chief Executive Office Mark Zuckerberg was questioned last month by FTC officials.

To critics, the Instagram and Whatsapp takeovers allowed Facebook to acquire two smaller companies that could have have emerged as real competitors to the company. Although the FTC investigated and approved both deals, it has the authority to revisit past transactions and go to court to unwind them if it determines they were anticompetitive. FTC Chairman Joe Simons said last year he is prepared to take such action.

Story continues

At a hearing in July, House lawmakers investigating U.S. tech giants accused Zuckerberg of acquiring smaller companies as a strategy to eliminate competition from rivals. Documents showed Zuckerberg internally discussed how Instagram could be very disruptive to us.

He countered that Instagram succeeded because of investments Facebook made after the 2012 acquisition and that it was far from certain that the photo-sharing site would become as big as it is today.

In addition to the FTC, Facebook is facing an antitrust investigation by a nationwide group of attorneys general led by New Yorks Letitia James. The states could join any FTC lawsuit against Facebook or pursue their own case against the company.

Did Big Tech Get Too Big? U.S. Crackdown Seeks Answer: QuickTake

(Updates with investigation, starting in sixth paragraph.)

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Staten Island has been steeped in bloodshed this week, with three people murdered by gunfire in separate incidents.

Its hard to recall a time where the borough saw such mayhem in so short a time.

Prince Edmonds, 21, was shot to death at 1 p.m. on Monday on Richmond Terrace. Police are investigating whether the murder was gang related.

Edmonds, a reputed Bloods gang member, was involved in that deadly 2018 episode that started outside the state Supreme Court building in St. George, and led to the murder of innocent Frances Williams, the beloved New Brighton resident known as Miss Franny.

For how many decades have we heard about gang violence and murders on Staten Island, about crime being driven by the drug trade?

Maybe we need a RICO-type case against gangs in the borough and throughout the city, the same kind of effort that helped take down La Cosa Nostra in the 1980s.

At 8:45 a.m. on Tuesday, Brooklyn resident Sean Dallas, 29, was killed in Mariners Harbor in what police say was a road-rage incident. Dallas was picking up his kids at the time, and the children witnessed the murder.

At 5 p.m. that same day, 34-year-old Cedric Black was shot dead on Jersey Street.

Thats three murders on Staten Island in about 30 hours. There was so much bloodshed, you had trouble keeping track of it all.

And its no fluke.

Shootings are up on Staten Island 92 percent this year versus 2019, according to NYPD statistics. The number of shooting victims is up 114 percent. Murders are up 42 percent over the last two years. And this after what was a quiet August on the Island.

The citywide picture is even more grim. Murder up 35 percent this year versus last. Shootings up 89 percent. The number of shooting victims is up 97 percent.

Its all part of the decaying fabric of New York City under Mayor Bill de Blasio, where criminal justice reform has taken precedence over public safety. Where police are vilified, jails are closed and criminals are released without bail to offend again.

De Blasio would rather talk about coronavirus than the continuing decline in the citys fortunes on his watch. That way, he gets to huff and puff at President Donald Trump for a lack of federal stimulus money. He gets to rail at Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state lawmakers for failing to give the city long-term borrowing power.

He blames coronavirus for the violence in the streets. He blames the closure of the courts. He calls it a perfect storm.

Its always somebody elses fault. But its de Blasios own soft-on-crime policies, going all the way back to his 2013 mayoral campaign, that have helped fuel the mayhem. Those chickens have come home to roost.

Its not the only place where de Blasio has failed the city. The mayor has pushed for the opening of public schools for in-person learning and the whole process has been a mess from the start.

It got worse on Wednesday, with the news that students attending classes remotely wont always get live instruction from a live teacher. Thats a promise broken by de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza.

Meanwhile, there are still concerns about how safe school buildings really are, and about the feasibility of outdoor instruction, particularly in high-crime neighborhoods. And teachers are worried about a lack of protective equipment and cleaning supplies.

You wouldnt know that de Blasio and Carranza had six months to game this out, would you?

De Blasio on Wednesday announced that he and other City Hall staffers would take one week of unpaid furlough in order to help the city budget. For a lot of us, de Blasio can take as many weeks of furlough as he wants.
CHICAGO - A Western Illinois University student suspected of shooting and wounding his roommate in their dorm room, prompting the school to cancel classes, turned himself into police on Wednesday afternoon, school officials said.

The shooting occurred in a room at Thompson Hall on the Macomb campus at about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, stemming from what officials said was a dispute between the two roommates.

In a news release, the university said that 18-year-old Kavion Poplous turned himself in at a Chicago Police Department station and was then taken into custody by the FBI. Hours earlier, the school announced that an arrest warrant had been issued for Poplous on charges of first-degree attempted murder, aggravated battery and aggravated discharge of a firearm.

At the time, the school said that Poplous was considered armed and dangerous, but officials did not say whether a firearm was recovered when Poplous turned himself in.

In additional to cancelling classes at the universitys main campus in Macomb as well as the the nearby campus in Moline, the school had locked down all buildings.

With the arrest of Poplous, the school said that classes will resume on Thursday. But the school said that the residence halls would remain locked through the weekend to protect students privacy.

The wounded roommate, who has not been identified by the school, was taken to McDonough District Hospital in Macomb before he was transferred to another hospital. The student underwent surgery, but the school has declined to comment on his condition.
TCT Television Expands Television Ministry with Six New Market TV Broadcast Stations

NEWS PROVIDED BY

TCT Television Network

Sept. 15, 2020



MARION, Ill., Sept. 15, 2020 /Christian Newswire/ -- TCT Television, one of the largest independent Christian television broadcasters, today announced the further expansion of its station group with the purchase of six full power broadcast TV stations:

WWTW Memphis, Tennessee

WFBD Destin-Pensacola-Ft Walton, FL Mobile, AL

WWJX Jackson, MS

WBIH Selma-Montgomery, AL

KCWV Duluth, MN

WFXW Greenville-Greenwood, MS

The six stations, which cover more than 2.65 million TV households, add to TCT's industry-leading broadcast reach, giving the Network coast to coast coverage. The TCT Network can be viewed anytime of the day or night, any day of the week on DirecTV Channel 377, multiple cable systems, satellites, internet, over the air and through its own TCT Mobile App.



Since its inception the main purpose of TCT has been to broadcast the Gospel. These station acquisitions follow through on our commitment to broadcast the Gospel to the world. For the past 44 years, TCT has shown a great growth story. From the beginning of one station, TCT has continued to expand into an international broadcast ministry. From its exclusively produced programming, movies, and ministry programming, TCT constantly provides faith and family programming at its finest.



TCT's Founder and President, Dr. Garth Coonce, relates "This station addition couldn't have come at a more opportune time. The need to share the love and hope of Jesus Christ, during this critical time in our nation's history, has never been greater and we are looking forward to being able to providing that encouragement across the entire nation, from coast to coast."



What's for the future? Continued expansion is planned and will continue. Over-the-air and over-the-top are the two fastest growing wireless delivery platforms that TCT is working on. While continuing to focus on broadcast television, premium program quality content will enable us to best provide both OTA and OTT service to our viewers and Partners.



About TCT

TCT is a global television network dedicated to sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ with commercial-free programming, 24/7! Find out more about TCT and our broadcast ministry at www.tct.tv, and while you're there be sure to tell a friend (or two) about us!



You can find us on:

DirecTV ch. 377 | Apple TV | Kindle Fire | Roku | truli | iTunes | Google Playstore | Cable Providers | VOD | YouTube | Live Streaming



Still not sure how to watch? Visit http://www.tct.tv/watch-tct/tct-in-your-area to find a TCT channel in your area.



For inquiries, contact Media@tct.tv



TCT Television Network: PO Box 1010, Marion, IL 62959 www.TCT.tv.



SOURCE TCT Television Network



CONTACT: Media@tct.tv


British Airways' boss said on Wednesday the company was doing everything possible to make it through the winter, highlighting the pressures it faces from the coronavirus crisis as he was grilled by lawmakers over plans to cut thousands of jobs.

Painting a bleak picture, BA CEO Alex Cruz said the airline was running at 25pc to 30pc of its normal flight schedule, and urged the British government to bring in a Covid-19 testing regime to shorten 14-day quarantine rules and get people travelling again.

He said a fear of flying during the pandemic had destroyed any hope of a rapid return to normality as the traditionally weaker winter period looms.

Read More

"We're still fighting for our own survival," Cruz told a parliamentary committee hearing on Wednesday. "We are taking every measure possible to make sure we can actually make it through this winter."

The airline has been under attack from politicians for months over its job cut plans, but the pressure eased slightly on Wednesday when Huw Merriman, chairman of the parliamentary committee on transport, said BA's staff relations appeared to have improved.

BA has said it needs to cut up to 13,000 jobs, or about 30pc of its workforce, because the Covid-19-hit travel market will take years to recover to pre-pandemic levels.

The lawmakers have previously labelled BA a "national disgrace" for its treatment of employees and said it was seeking to drive huge change "under the cover of a pandemic".

Cruz told the committee BA had now reached an agreement in principle with its cabin crew union Unite, which needed approval in a ballot. If approved this would mean that what lawmakers described as the company's "fire and rehire" policies would be off the table.

Merriman said this was a "positive update".

During the crisis, BA has been bleeding 20million (21.9million) of cash per day, straining the finances of its parent company IAG which is in the process of raising 2.74 billion from shareholders.

Cruz said a return to flying had been hampered by the weekly changes to quarantine rules. A two-stage testing system, where passengers are tested on arrival and five days later could remove the need for 14-day quarantines, he said.
The Dupont Circle home Mildred Riley shared with her husband and children served as a base for her explorations. They took jaunts to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, where in pre-Internet days, she taught her daughters how to use a card catalogue. They went to the Library of Congress to do research on school projects and listened to lectures at the Italian Embassy on topics including design and fashion.
Credit: Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers

Intracranial abnormalities on CT scan in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) can be predicted by glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) levels in the blood. These interim findings from the TRACK-TBI study are published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Neurotrauma.

GFAP's diagnostic performance was significantly better than that of the S100B biomarker, to which it was compared. S100B is approved for use in Europe, but not in the U.S.

"GFAP substantially outperformed S100B as a TBI diagnostic biomarker of positive head CT scans," state David Okonkwo, MD, Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Amy Markowitz, JD, University of California, San Francisco, and coauthors.

"Our results validate a point-of-care platform prototype GFAP assay that delivers results in minutes (<15 min) versus hours for the current FDA-cleared assay," state the authors.

"This is a particularly important study with major implications for the diagnosis and prognoses of traumatic brain injury. The large sample size and the rigorous inclusion criteria increase the impact of the reported study, which strongly reaffirms the utility of GFAP as a diagnostic marker for CT-detected lesions. It also demonstrates the utility of a point-of-care approach. As noted by the authors, the reported studies demonstrate GFAP's utility across the spectrum of TBI, evaluated over a relatively prolonged posttraumatic time course," says John Povlishock, Ph.D., Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Neurotrauma.

Explore further Blood test to detect traumatic brain injury could reduce unnecessary CT scans

More information: David O. Okonkwo et al, Point-of-Care Platform Blood Biomarker Testing of Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein versus S100 Calcium-Binding Protein B for Prediction of Traumatic Brain Injuries: A Transforming Research and Clinical Knowledge in Traumatic Brain Injury Study, Journal of Neurotrauma (2020). Journal information: Journal of Neurotrauma David O. Okonkwo et al, Point-of-Care Platform Blood Biomarker Testing of Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein versus S100 Calcium-Binding Protein B for Prediction of Traumatic Brain Injuries: A Transforming Research and Clinical Knowledge in Traumatic Brain Injury Study,(2020). DOI: 10.1089/neu.2020.7140
The Russian Direct Investment



Fund (RDIF), Russias sovereign wealth fund, and Dr Reddys Laboratories Ltd. have agreed to cooperate on clinical trials and distribution of Sputnik V vaccine in India.

Upon regulatory approval in India, RDIF shall supply to Dr. Reddys 100 million doses of the vaccine, Dr Reddys said in a release on Wednesday.

The Sputnik V vaccine, which is based on well-studied human adenoviral vector platform with proven safety, is undergoing clinical trials for the pandemic, it said.

Deliveries could potentially begin in late 2020, subject to completion of successful trials and registration of the vaccine by regulatory authorities in India, the release said.

Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, said RDIF is very pleased to partner with Dr. Reddys in India.

Dr. Reddys has had a very well established and respected presence in for over 25 years and is one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in India, he said.

"India is amongst most severely impacted countries from COVID-19 and we believe our human adenovirus dual vector platform will provide a safe and scientifically validated option to India in the battle against COVID 19," the release quoted Dmitriev as saying.

RDIF partners will receive an effective and safe drug to fight the The platform of human adenoviral vectors, which is the core of the Russian vaccine, has been tested in more than 250 clinical studies over decades, and it has been found safe with no potential negative long-term consequences, Dmitriev said.

G V Prasad, Co-Chairman and Managing Director of Dr. Reddys Laboratories said his company is pleased to partner with RDIF to bring the vaccine to India.

"The Phase I and II clinical trials have shown promising results. We will be conducting Phase-III trials in India to ensure safety and efficacy for the Indian population and to meet the requirements of the Indian regulators.

Sputnik V vaccine could provide a credible option in our fight against COVID 19 in India, he said.

On August 11, the Sputnik V vaccine developed by the Gamaleya National Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology was registered by the Ministry of Health of and became the worlds first registered vaccine against COVID-19 based on the human adenoviral vectors platform, the release said.

(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.)
Bay of Plenty

If you love working out doors and in a small team then we have the role for you. We are needing someone who has either maintenance...



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Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 17:13:43|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), will attend the 10th Meeting of the BRICS High Representatives for Security Issues on Thursday via video link, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson announced Wednesday.

Yang, also director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, will attend the meeting at the invitation of Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a press briefing. Enditem
The government on Wednesday said there has been no infiltration along the Sino-Indian border in the last six months, while 47 infiltration bids have been reported along the Indo-Pak border during the period.

Photograph: Reuters.

The Union home ministry also informed the Rajya Sabha that 594 attempts of infiltration into Jammu and Kashmir by Pakistani militants have been reported in the last three years, of which 312 were successful.

"No infiltration has been reported along Indo-China border during last six months," Union Minister of State for Home Nityanad Rai said in a written response to a question.

Replying a separate question, Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy said 582 terrorists were killed in Jammu and Kashmir by security forces in last three years, while 46 terrorists were arrested during the period.

As many as 76 army personnel were also killed in Jammu and Kashmir from 2018 till September 8 this year, he said.
Health care provides a large and growing number of jobs, both in Massachusetts and nation-wide. The general Health Sciences degree will allow students to pursue careers and advanced study in a variety of health fields, including nursing, and this concentration would also be appropriate for students considering careers in nutrition.

Requirements

The general Health Science major includes courses from a variety of fields, including biology and chemistry. The required courses are as follows:

BIOL 101 Seminar for Entering Majors (1 cr)

BIOL 101 Seminar for Entering Majors (1 cr) BIOL 150 Introduction to Biology I: Cells (4 cr)

BIOL 240 Genetics (4 cr)

BIOL 250 Nutrition (3 cr)

BIOL 302 Applied Statistics in Biology

BIOL 320 Microbiology (4 cr)

BIOL 342 Anatomy & Physiology I (4 cr)

BIOL 343 Anatomy & Physiology II (4 cr)

Elective BIOL course, 400-level or above (3-4 cr)

CHEM 150 Introduction to Chemistry I (4 cr)

CHEM 152 Introduction to Chemistry II (4 cr)

MATH 232/232H Introduction to Statistics (3 cr)

PSYC 100 Introduction to Psychology (3 cr)

HLTH 210/210H Human Growth and Development (3 cr)

Students interested in pursuing Masters in Nutrition degrees should also consider taking CHEM 201 Organic Chemistry I, CHEM 202 Organic Chemistry II, and BIOL 360 Biochemistry.

MCLA in 4

A sample 4-year plan showing a possible sequence of courses in this major.

Articulation

Strong students who have met the requirements outlined in the articulation agreement gain preferred admission to the Master of Science in Nutrition program at the Sage Colleges in Albany, NY.

Research & Internships

Students in the general Health Sciences major observe health practitioners and/or do an internship or internships combining observation with an academic project to identify and gain experience in health fields of interest.

Application Tests

Students interested in applying to post-baccalaureate nursing programs or M.S. in Nutrition generally do not need to take standardized tests for admission. Admission requirements for other advanced degrees will vary.

Advising

A faculty advisor will meet with each student at least once per semester. Information about pre-requisites for nursing and nutrition programs, specific internships, research opportunities, upcoming courses, and other topics is provided to enrolled students on the Biology Departments Canvas page.

Careers & Outcomes

Two biology graduates are currently enrolled in post-baccalaureate nursing programs with the goal of becoming nurse practitioners. One MCLA graduate completed the M.S. in Nutrition program at Sage Colleges using our articulation agreement.
Jo Malone London has issued an apology for dropping John Boyega from a reshot advert he originally starred in for the perfume and candle brand, describing the actor as a tremendous artist with great personal vision and direction.

In July 2019, Boyega tweeted his excitement over a new collaboration with Jo Malone, explaining that he had become the first Jo Malone London Gent.

Soon afterwards, the company - which is owned by Estee Lauder - released a short film, titled A London Gent, featuring Boyega, describing it as a story of talent, energy and inspiration from a true Londoner.

The film depicts various aspects of the Star Wars actors life, showing him socialising with his friends, being with his family and hanging out in Peckham, London, where he grew up.

However, when the advert was launched in China, Boyega was replaced with actor Liu Haoran, with the new version of the short film retaining several of the key elements of the original and not featuring any black people.

In a statement sent to The Hollywood Reporter, Jo Malone London apologised for the misstep of replacing Boyega in the new advert.

We deeply apologise for what, on our end, was a mistake in the local execution of the John Boyega campaign, Jo Malone London said.

John is a tremendous artist with great personal vision and direction. The concept for the film was based on Johns personal experiences and should not have been replicated.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Boyega found out about the new version of the advert on Twitter, despite coming up with the idea for and directing the original short film.

Jo Malone London added that the company has also apologised to Haoran, who did not play a role in concepting the new advert.

While we immediately took action and removed the local version of the campaign, we recognise that this was painful and that offence was caused, the firm stated.

We respect John, and support our partners and fans globally. We are taking this misstep very seriously and we are working together as a brand to do better moving forward.

On 27 August 2020, Jo Malone announced on Twitter that its advert starring Boyega had been awarded the accolade for Best Media Campaign at the 2020 Fragrance Foundation Virtual Awards.

In December 2015, it was reported that on a poster of Star Wars: The Force Awakens that had been launched in China, Boyega was made to appear far smaller than he had on the promotional imagery in the UK.

Several fans heavily criticised the move, with one person describing it as disgusting.

There's no need to erase Finn (John Boyega) from the poster. and just because he's black? that's disgusting, they said.

Earlier this month, Boyega spoke out about his experience filming Star Wars, saying that the film trilogy gave all the nuance to Adam Driver and Daisy Ridleys characters, who are white.

Like, you guys knew what to do with Daisy Ridley, you knew what to do with Adam Driver. You knew what to do with these other people, but when it came to Kelly Marie Tran, when it came to John Boyega, you know f*** all, he said.

Update: On 14 September, Jo Malone CBE, who sold her namesake brand to Estee Lauder over 20 years ago, tweeted: Today after recent events, I would like to repeat that since 2006, I have had no involvement in any capacity with Jo Malone London.

It is a brand I sold to Estee Lauder in 1999 and exited. It continues to be part of the Estee Lauder Companies Inc. Thank you.
One of the many ways that George Galloway attacked his Labour opponent, Naz Shah, in Bradford West during the general election was to suggest that she was pro-Israel, a damaging allegation to make in a constituency with such a large Muslim electorate. He even tweeted a picture of jubilant, flag-waving Israelis with the caption: Thank you for voting for Naz Shah.

Naz Shahs maiden speech, in which she described Galloways behaviour as misogynistic, vitriolic, [and] very dangerous, has been well publicised. She followed it with a less well publicised intervention in a debate on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in which she described the Israeli settlements on the West Bank as stolen land, called on the government to recognise the Palestinian state, and described Gaza as an open prison.

When George Galloway thinks someone has lied about him he does not hesitate to reach for his lawyers, but is none too careful about the insults he hurls at others.

All pumped up

Iain Duncan Smith has defended that ridiculous fist pump with which he greeted George Osbornes announcement of the National Living Wage. Interviewed on LBC, he admitted that it might have been over the top, but claimed that as a Tottenham supporter he is so unused to winning that he has to make the most of such an occasion when it comes along.

An uncommon mistake

The Conservative MP Graham Evans appeared in the Commons to insist that the Government must do more to commemorate the First World War and particularly the fact that  I quote  the Prime Minister Harold Wilson was severely wounded in 1915 at the Battle of Loos. A remarkable achievement considering that Harold Wilson was not born until 1916. He meant Harold Macmillan.

Lilliputs leader cult

People Before Profit, a relatively new addition to the rich tapestry that is Britains far left, made its debut as a wannabe parliamentary party in last years Rochester and Strood by-election, in which its candidate collected 69 votes  15,799 short of what he needed to win. The party did better in Lewisham Deptford at the general election, scoring 666 votes.

There has since been a terrible row about whether it is worth fighting parliamentary elections. A breakaway group, which says that it is, includes the Marxist historian Tobias Abse, whose father, the Labour MP Leo Abse, piloted the legislation that legalised homosexuality in the 1960s.

On his Facebook page, Abse complains that an authoritarian leader cult has infested People Before Profit. A leader cult in Lilliput: if you ask me, it is that number 666 that done it.

A Nazi moment

When Nigel Farage was looking for allies across Europe to make up a group in the European parliament, one of his most eccentric choices was a 72-year-old Pole named Janusz Korwin-Mikke, founder of the fringe Renewal Freedom and Hope party. Its co-founder, Robert Iwaszkiewicz, still sits alongside Ukip MEPs in the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy Group.

In the European Parliament, Korwin-Mikke used a mix of English and German to express his disgust at a proposal to introduce an integrated ticket system for travel across the EU.

All the time if there is voting, we are voting for the unification of everything. This time it is ein Reich, ein Volk, ein Ticket, he declared. To illustrate his point, he raised his arm in a Nazi salute.

Six million Poles, or one fifth of the countrys population, are estimated to have died in the 1939-1945 war.
In 1988, a group of South Fork naturalists formed a membership organization called the South Fork Natural History Society, better known as SOFO. The objective of this organization was to increase public awareness about the past, present, and future of eastern Long Islands natural history and to share their joyful experiences of exploring and learning with others in the community. SOFO used to operate out of a small building referred to as the Nature Clubhouse where children gathered to examine different species, research for school projects, and just hang out. The Clubhouse served as a prototype...
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th September, 2020) The Netherlands does not back US extraterritorial sanctions that affect European companies, Foreign Minister Stef Blok said at a Heritage Foundation webinar.

"The Netherlands does not support US extraterritorial sanctions that affect European companies," Blok said.

"Sanctions like these divide transatlantic partners instead of uniting them. And countries like Russia only benefit from them," the minister said.
Infamous Russian nationalist found dead in detention - source

 RAPSI, Vladimir Burnov

12:39 16/09/2020

MOSCOW, September 16 (RAPSI) - The leader of the Restruct nationalist movement Maxim Martsinkevich was found dead in an isolation unit in transit to Moscow from Chelyabinsk, a source familiar with the matter told RAPSI on Wednesday.

According to the source, Martsinkevich left a suicide note.

The man could bargain for release over the next year, his defense said earlier.

Martsinkevich, an infamous Russian nationalist, had a history of clashes with the law. In 2014, he was sentenced to five years in prison for publishing extremist content on the Internet.

He was also convicted of publishing online a video of staging a pretentious execution of a Tajik drug dealer and extremist statements and received 3.5 years in prison in two cases taken together.

In December 2018, Moscows Babushkinsky District Court gave Martsinkevich 10 years in prison for robbery and hooliganism. His associate, a leader of the St. Petersburg cell of Restruct movement established by Martsinkevich, Mikhail Shalankevich received a 6-year prison term but was released due to the time served in detention.

Besides Martsinkevich, nine members of the Restruct movement were involved in the case. According to case documents, under pretense of drug interdiction, the group attacked people who sell smoking mixtures in 2013-2014 in Moscow using electro shockers, gas sprayers and metallic pipes, leaving several people traumatized and one person dead.

The case was reconsidered as in May 2018 the Moscow City Court overturned a specific part of the defendants 10-year prison term concerning robbery and hooliganism and ordered the case review. The court also mitigated sentence for three associates of Martsinkevich, who were also defendants in the case. Dmitry Sheldyashev and Alexander Shankin were sentenced to 5 years and 10 months in a penal colony while Roman Maksimov received 4 years and 10 months.
Mumbai, Sep 16 : Actress Anangsha Biswas says she has realised that the rules in the Hindi film industry are unfair and proudly calls herself an outsider.

Actor Sushant Singh Rajput's untimely death on June 14 has sparked a heated debate about "insiders and outsiders" and nepotism in Bollywood.

"I am a theatre actor, I'm trained in acting from Sydney. In my initial years I thought I would learn and prove my talent, and get ahead in my career. Soon I realised that the rules of this industry were unfair," Anangsha said.

She added: "No matter how much I worked hard, it boiled down to who I knew in the industry, and unfortunately I knew no one." Anangsha says she wants the industry to be fair.

"I'm an outsider and I'm proud to be one, I never wanted things to be easy but, yes, I did wish for it to be fair. I am after all as good as the opportunities I get to showcase," she said.

"I'm okay to lose a part to a better actor but it hurts to lose a part because of lineage or connections. Except a few good ones, our country's casting directors don't even call us for auditions. One either has to suck up to them or be seen in influential parties, which in my humble opinion is derogatory for an actor's talent," she added.

Anangsha feels a talented person cannot be stopped. "I have over the years taken a lot of brickbats but I'm not a person who gives up. I don't crib, I feel you cannot stop a talent, though you sure can delay them. I am hopeful that things will change and I humbly hope I can be an active part of that change," she said.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Pete Evans is no stranger to finding himself in prickly situations.

And the disgraced former My Kitchen Rules judge, 47, raised eyebrows yet again on Tuesday when he was caught growing a hallucinogenic cactus in his backyard.

The anti-vaxxer and conspiracy theorist uploaded a video to Instagram of himself promoting an episode of his podcast and showing off his newly grown fennel plants.

What's that over there, mate? Pete Evans (pictured) was caught growing a controversial hallucinogenic cactus in his backyard in a video posted to Instagram on Tuesday

However, eagle-eyed fans couldn't help but notice two large San Pedro cacti looming in the background.

Native to the Andean slopes of Ecuador and Peru, the San Pedro cactus contains a psychoactive substance known as mescaline.

Controversial: Native to the Andean slopes of Ecuador and Peru, the San Pedro cactus contains a psychoactive substance known as mescaline. When consumed, mescaline can cause hallucinogenic effects comparable to those of LSD and psilocybin

When consumed, this substance can cause hallucinogenic effects comparable to those of LSD and psilocybin, also known as magic mushrooms.

It is illegal to grow San Pedro for the purposes of consumption in Pete's home state of New South Wales.

However, it is legal to grow this plant for ornamental use.

Laws: It is illegal to grow San Pedro for the purposes of consumption in Pete's home state of New South Wales. However, it is legal to grow this plant for ornamental use

What is the San Pedro cactus? Native to the Andean slopes of Ecuador and Peru, the San Pedro (echinopsis pachanoi) cactus contains a hallucinogenic substance known as mescaline. When consumed, it can cause hallucinogenic effects comparable to those of LSD and psilocybin, also known as magic mushrooms. While San Pedro has traditionally been used for religious and ceremonial purposes, it is also widely grown as an ornamental cactus. It is legal to cultivate San Pedro in Australia, New Zealand, the U.S., Canada, Sweden and Germany for ornamental purposes - but not for consumption. Advertisement

Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting that Pete Evans has or intends to consume any part of his San Pedro cactus.

While Pete hasn't offered his opinions on the San Pedro cactus, he has long been pushing for the Australian Government to legalise a different plant: cannabis.

Speaking to The Gold Coast Bulletin in October last year, the father of two declared himself a proud cannabis advocate.

He said: 'I'm a strong believer every single adult, should they chose, should legally be allowed to grow a few plants to be used as food or medicine.'

Outspoken: While Pete hasn't offered his opinions on the San Pedro cactus, he has long been pushing for the Australian Government to legalise a different plant: cannabis. Pete is pictured here at a cannabis farm in the United States

The chef, who has his own cannabis cookbook in the works, added: 'There's no reason why we should be able to grow this wondrous plant alongside our other herbs and plants.'

In August this year, Pete released a documentary about medicinal cannabis called The Magic Plant.

However, cannabis advocates have previously voiced concerns over Pete becoming the face of the movement in Australia, and claim his involvement could 'invite controversy' into the debate.

Advocate: In August, Pete released a documentary about cannabis called The Magic Plant

'We already having trouble in Australia getting doctors to come on-board,' Lucy Haslam, the founding director of medicinal cannabis advocacy group United in Compassion (UIC), told News Corp in August last year.

'If [Pete] becomes the face of medicinal cannabis, it's going to invite controversy at a time when we're trying to make people realise it's a valid medicine,' she added.

Medicinal cannabis is known to have a range of benefits for those with chronic pain, PTSD symptoms and tremors related to Parkinson's disease.

The possession, use and cultivation of small amounts of cannabis was legalised in the ACT in September 2019, making it the first Australian jurisdiction to do so.
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - Cambodia and China on Wednesday rejected U.S. allegations that a Chinese state-owned company was guilty of human rights abuses and corruption in its acquisition of land in Cambodia.

The U.S. Treasury Departments Office of Foreign Assets Control announced Tuesday that it is imposing sanctions under U.S. law on Chinas Union Development Group Co. Ltd. for its activities in Cambodia.

It charged that the company forced Cambodians from their land and devastated the environment, hurting the livelihoods of local communities, all under the guise of converting Cambodia into a regional logistics hub and tourist destination.

A spokesman for Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sens ruling Cambodian Peoples Party said Wednesday that while the U.S. government had the right to impose sanctions, its allegations were baseless.

Sok Eysan said the government allowed the project to proceed only after its master plan was reviewed and approved by the state Cambodian Development Council, and that the Chinese company was working according to that plan.

The U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement announcing the sanctions that the Chinese company in 2008 acquired a 99-year lease from Cambodias government for the development of the Dara Sakor project covering almost 20% of Cambodias coastline by forming a local company to become the leaseholder. The company later reverted to Chinese ownership, the Treasury Department said.

It charged that Cambodias military used violence to help clear the land, and that then-armed forces chief of staff Kun Kim benefited financially from the arrangement. Kun Kim and his close family members have already been targeted with U.S. sanctions for alleged corruption.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spelled out broader concerns in a separate statement Tuesday.

There are credible reports that the coastal development project at Dara Sakor could be used to host PRC (Chinas) military assets, and if so would go against Cambodias Constitution and could threaten Indo-Pacific stability, possibly impacting Cambodias sovereignty and the security of our allies, he said.

U.S. officials have previously suggested a Cambodian naval base on the coast was being prepared for use by China, and an airport being built on the Chinese companys land appeared to be designed to accommodate military aircraft as well as civilian planes.

Hun Sen has denied repeatedly that he would allow any foreign power to use Cambodian territory for a base.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Wednesday that Washington has repeatedly used unwarranted allegations that Chinas relevant project in other countries could be transformed into military bases to discredit and attack our normal co-operation with relevant countries.

However, the United States itself has hundreds of military bases in more than 150 countries around the world. This hypocritical and double-standard practice by the United States is despicable, Wang said.

The U.S. sanctions, imposed under the Magnitsky Act, block the Chinese companys access to any assets it has in the United States, and U.S. citizens and companies are barred from conducting any financial or other transactions with it.

Prominent Cambodian environmentalist Ouch Leng said the U.S. action came too late, after a land rights protest leader died, forest and other natural resources were exhausted and peoples livelihoods suffered, leaving them fearful and without decent jobs.

He charged that other Chinese companies are carrying out activities harmful to the environment and hurting peoples livelihoods.

___

Associated Press writer Grant Peck in Bangkok contributed to this story
U.S. Blocks Imports From China's Uyghur Region Over Suspected Forced Labor

By RFE/RL September 15, 2020

The U.S. administration has issued orders to block the import of cotton, apparel, computer parts, and hair products made by "forced labor" in China's northwestern region of Xinjiang, a move Beijing called an attempt to sabotage global supply chains.

The so-called "withhold release orders," which stop short of a wider regional ban, give the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) the authority to seize products from five entities in China, preventing the goods from being imported into the United States, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement on September 14.

The action, which is likely to stoke already heightened tensions between the United States and China, is aimed specifically at the "egregious human rights abuses" that Uyghurs and other mainly Muslim ethnic groups in Xinjiang are facing.

Such abuses "include subjecting individuals to forced labor and stripping them of their freedom and agency to choose how and where they work," Pompeo said, adding that the orders send a clear message to China that it is time to "end its practice of state-sponsored forced labor and to respect the human rights of all people."

China's Foreign Ministry said on September 15 that the U.S. import bans were aimed at sabotaging global supply chains.

The five entities targeted by the new orders include the Lop County No. 4 Vocational Skills Education and Training Center in Xinjiang, where the CBP says it has information that "reasonably indicates" the use of prison labor to make hair products.

"This is not a vocational center, it is a concentration camp, a place where religious and ethnic minorities are subject to abuse and forced to work in heinous conditions with no recourse and no freedom," Homeland Security Acting Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli told reporters. "This is modern-day slavery."

Washington has recently ratcheted up pressure on China over its treatment of Uyghurs.

Pompeo has said that American companies are "becoming aware" of human rights abuses in Xinjiang, but the CBP did not identify any U.S. companies that do business with the named entities.

In the past year, the U.S. government has issued eight "withhold release orders" to block goods from China tainted by forced labor and is considering further steps, including a ban on cotton and tomatoes from the entire Xinjiang region.

China has faced condemnation for placing more than 1 million Uyghurs and members of other ethnic groups in Xinjiang in concentration camps since 2017.

Beijing says the camps are reeducation and training centers needed to combat separatist terrorism and extremism.

Uyghurs are the largest Turkic-speaking indigenous community in Xinjiang, followed by Kazakhs. The region is also home to ethnic Kyrgyz, Tajiks, and Hui, also known as Dungans.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and AP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/u-s-blocks-imports -from-china-s-uyghur-region-over- suspected-forced-labor/30839309.html

Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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A confrontation is brewing between the Government and the Opposition over four bills to replace ordinances -- three on agriculture and one on cooperative banks -- with the former not agreeing to the demand for Parliamentary scrutiny of the bills.

The Government's attempt to win over the Opposition did not succeed as Rajya Sabha floor leaders in a meeting with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Rajya Sabha Leader of House Tawarchand Gehlot, Deputy Leader of House Piyush Goyal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi remained adamant that these bills with "far-reaching" impact could not be rushed through.

This is the first time that the Government is meeting leaders in the Monsoon Session of Parliament, which started on September 14 and ending on October 1. The customary all-party meeting ahead of the Session could not be convened due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sources said the leaders were told that the Defence Minister will make a statement on the situation on India-China border in Rajya Sabha on Thursday following which there will be a window for the MPs to seek clarifications from him. In Lok Sabha, Opposition MPs had demanded that they be allowed to speak after Singh's statement but were not allowed, leading to a walkout by the Congress.

The discussion on Covid-19 situation will continue on Friday till 12 noon.

Although the Opposition is ready to cooperate with the government to pass seven other bills to replace other ordinances, they said the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill and Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill should be sent to Parliamentary Standing Committees.

The meeting was attended by Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad, Congress Deputy Leader Anand Sharma, Congress chief whip Jairam Ramesh, Trinamool Congress floor leader Derek O'Brien, DMK's Tiruchi Siva, CPI(M)'s Elamaram Kareem, TRS' K Keshava Rao, Samajwadi Party's Ramgopal Yadav and RJD's Manoj K Jha among others.

"These are very important bills. We cannot rush through. It needs Parliamentary scrutiny. The government wants to pass it in this Session itself. But we are opposed to any such hasty move," a senior Opposition leader said.

However, there was agreement on both sides to hold short duration discussions on the economy and National Education Policy and a Calling Attention Motion on GST. The schedule for these discussions has not been drawn.

As the Opposition leaders demanded more time to discuss these issues as two hours would not be sufficient, sources said, Joshi felt that it may lead to an extension of the Session by a week to get all the Bills passed. While two Opposition leaders said it was a "passing reference", another leader said the Opposition pointed out that it would turn out to be a "public spectacle" by forcing MPs over 70 years to be in Delhi for more time.

Sources said another round of meeting is likely to be held on Friday to attempt a consensus on thorny issues.

The meeting between the government and the Opposition came after a view emerged in the Business Advisory Committee of Rajya Sabha that there was a need for a consultation with floor leaders, as a difference of opinion over issues had emerged.
LA JOLLA--(September 16, 2020) The Salk Institute will establish a world-class San Diego Nathan Shock Center (SD-NSC), a consortium with Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute and the University of California San Diego (UC San Diego), to study cellular and tissue aging in humans. The Center will be funded by a grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) of the National Institutes of Health expected to total $5 million over the next 5 years (NIA grant number P30AG068635).

Salk Professor Gerald Shadel led the successful grant proposal and will be director of the center. Professors Rusty Gage, Martin Hetzer and Tatyana Sharpee of Salk, Malene Hansen and Peter Adams of Sanford Burnham Prebys, and Anthony Molina of UC San Diego will lead the key research and development cores.

"We are grateful to have this opportunity to establish the San Diego Nathan Shock Center, which will allow us to design novel models to study networks and pathways related to aging," says Salk President Rusty Gage, holder of the Vi and John Adler Chair for Research on Age-Related Neurodegenerative Disease. "Our hope is to identify key drivers of aging and find new ways to increase the number of healthy years, or health span, of humans."

Aging is the most significant risk factor for human disease. Human cells and tissues age at different rates depending on their intrinsic properties, where they are in the body and environmental exposures. Yet, scientists do not fully understand this variability ("heterogeneity") and how it contributes to overall human aging, risk for disease or therapeutic responses.

"We are very excited to be part of the Nathan Shock Center family and to have this outstanding opportunity to facilitate and promote biology of aging research," says Shadel, holder of the Audrey Geisel Chair in Biomedical Science. "With our unique focus on understanding the heterogeneity of human aging, we hope to unlock more-personalized interventions to delay age-related diseases and increase health span."

To explore the complex heterogeneity of human aging, the SD-NSC will deploy three cutting-edge Research Resource Cores, including the Human Cell Models of Aging Core, to be led by Gage and Molina, the Heterogeneity of Aging Core, to be led by Hetzer and Adams, and the Integrative Models of Aging Core, to be led by Sharpee. The cores will allow detailed analysis of human cells and organoids (artificially grown clusters of cells that model tissues), derived from a unique aging cohort at UC San Diego that is annotated for multiple measures of actual biological age of individuals. In addition, the cores will provide scientific services to the Nathan Shock Centers network and the aging research community at large, including the dissemination of samples, protocols and computational tools to facilitate the study of heterogeneity in aging.

"The Division of Geriatrics and Gerontology at UC San Diego, and our partners on campus, look forward to working with an outstanding team of researchers to uncover fundamental processes underlying human aging and to provide novel resources for the broader scientific community," says Molina, associate professor in the Department of Medicine at UC San Diego. "We firmly believe that the advances to be made by the SD-NSC will support our mission to optimize the health and well-being of all older adults."

A Research Development Core headed by Hansen will also be established to encourage and support new investigators to enter the biology of aging field. Through this core, the SD-NSC will provide pilot research grants, workshops and customized mentoring programs to promote the research and development of young investigators, as well as in-person and virtual trainings to spur collaboration and the sharing of knowledge related to the basic biology of aging.

"For years my colleagues and I have been organizing successful symposia such as the annual La Jolla Aging Meeting (LJAM), where we share new aging research and discuss opportunities for collaboration," says Hansen, professor at Sanford Burnham Prebys as well as associate dean for Student Affairs and faculty advisor for Postdoctoral Training. "The San Diego Nathan Shock Center will enable us to broaden the reach and impact of LJAM, as well as take training and mentoring of the next generation of researchers to a new level."

The SD-NSC grant builds on Salk's previously established Optimizing Aging Initiative, which aims to decipher the molecular and cellular causes of aging in order to discover ways to stave off Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease and other age-related conditions. As one example, researchers from 10 Salk labs are collaborating to investigate cognitive decline as a failure of interconnected biological systems, as part of a $19.2 million grant from the American Heart Association-Allen Initiative in Brain Health and Cognitive Impairment.

The San Diego Nathan Shock Center will be one of a network of eight Nathan Shock Centers nationwide.

###

###

About the Salk Institute for Biological Studies:

Every cure has a starting point. The Salk Institute embodies Jonas Salk's mission to dare to make dreams into reality. Its internationally renowned and award-winning scientists explore the very foundations of life, seeking new understandings in neuroscience, genetics, immunology, plant biology and more. The Institute is an independent nonprofit organization and architectural landmark: small by choice, intimate by nature and fearless in the face of any challenge. Be it cancer or Alzheimer's, aging or diabetes, Salk is where cures begin. Learn more at: salk.edu.

About the Nathan Shock Centers:

The Nathan Shock Centers program was established in 1995 to enhance well-developed institutional programs in basic research on aging by providing state-of-the-art research resources to create the strongest environment possible for the conduct of basic aging research. The program is funded by the Division of Aging Biology of the National Institute on Aging, and it is named after Nathan Shock, Director of the Gerontology Research Center at National Institutes of Health for nearly 35 years and regarded by many as the "father of gerontology."
The Gujarat government has decided against reopening schools from September 21 in light of the Covid-19 situation in the state, minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama said on Wednesday.

The state government took the decision in the interest of students during a cabinet meet presided over by Chief Minister Vijay Rupani in Gandhinagar, the education minister said.

While announcing the Unlock-4 guidelines earlier this month, the Centre had clarified that the final call to reopen schools from September 21 for Classes 9 to 12 will be taken by respective states, Chudasama told reporters.

As per the Centres SOPs, students can visit schools to take guidance from teachers from September 21 with their parents permission, he said.

The Centre had clarified that its not compulsory for states to implement these SOPs from September 21. There is a risk of transmission of the virus if students gather at one place. It is not advisable for students to visit schools in the present situation, the minister said.

Hence, the state government has decided not to reopen schools from September 21 and appropriate decision will be taken once the situation improves, he said, adding that online education will continue in the state.
Dean's List

Undergraduate matriculated students who take a minimum of six credits during the semester and achieve a minimum grade point average of 3.30 with no incomplete grades are placed on the semester's Dean's List. For more information contact the Registrar's Office. Students receiving "I" or "PC" grades are ineligible for the Dean's List for that term. The final date for students to qualify for the Dean's List is the last day for reporting grades each semester. This date is determined by the Registrar and the Dean of Academic Affairs. For more information contact the Registrar's Office.

Grading System

The College grading system is based on the 4.000 quality point method.

Quality Quality Grade Points Grade Points A 4.000 C 2.000 A- 3.700 C- 1.700 B+ 3.300 D+ 1.300 B 3.000 D 1.000 B- 2.700 D- 0.700 C+ 2.300 F 0.000

Listed below are other grade notations that may appear on student records. These grades are not used in computing the quality point average.

AU - Audit-No Credit

Indicates that the student has audited a course.

I - Incomplete

A temporary grade that may be reported only when a portion of the assigned work, as clearly indicated in the course syllabus, has not been completed because of the necessary absence of the student or for other reasons equally satisfactory to the instructor, and then only when the instructor judges the work already done by the student to be of passing quality. The course work must be completed by a date specified by the instructor. This date cannot exceed six (6) weeks after the beginning of the following semester. The "I" is then changed to a permanent letter grade. The obligation rests with the student to ask the instructor what work must be completed and what conditions, if any, must be met. The instructor and the student sign a standardized contract specifying the nature of the course work to be completed. Signed incomplete contracts must be submitted with grade rosters. If the course work is not completed before the deadline specified in the contract, the "I" will be changed to an "F". An "I" grade disqualifies a student for Dean's List recognition.

P - Pass

Indicates successful completion of a Pass/Fail course. Credit is awarded with no quality points.

PC-Pass Continue

This notation is used solely for courses offered by Learning Services. It indicates that a student has demonstrated both effort and progress in a course but requires additional time and work to complete the curriculum. A student who earns a PC grade must reenroll for the course in only the next semester of enrollment and must complete assigned work during this time. A student is entitled to only one "PC" grade per (SKIL) course. Once a student has been reenrolled for such a course, no further grades of "PC" can be awarded, nor can a student withdraw from the course. Only regular letter grades (A-F, and I) may then be assigned. Students receiving a "PC" grade on their transcript are not eligible for the Dean's List for that term.

T - Transfer

Indicates credit for course work that has been accepted by the College from another institution. No (grades) quality points are received for transfer work. Grades from other institutions do not appear on the MCLA transcript, and are not calculated into the MCLA GPA.

W - Withdrawal

Indicates withdrawal from a course in the third through the eighth week of the semester. It is the responsibility of the student to be aware of all deadlines for withdrawal. No withdrawals for individual courses may be made past the withdrawal deadline.

WX - Withdrawal from College

The student has officially withdrawn from the College. A student may withdraw from the College prior to the first day of final exams. All courses will be given the notation "WX".

Grade Point Average

The grade point average is a numerical indication of the student's academic achievement. It is the quotient of the total quality points earned divided by the total credits attempted for all courses in which grades A through F were received. No quality points are assigned to notations AU, I, P, PC, T, W or WX.

Midterm Warnings

Faculty members submit "D" and "F" reports on all students to the Registrar two weeks before the end of the course/withdrawal period. Copies of these reports are sent to the students and their advisors.
ULAN BATOR, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Mongolian Foreign Minister Nyamtseren Enkhtaivan held talks on Tuesday, vowing to advance bilateral cooperation in fighting the COVID-19 epidemic and further promote the two countries' ties.

Wang said that since the novel coronavirus outbreak, China and Mongolia have helped each other and overcome the difficulties together.

Mongolian President Khaltmaa Battulga made a special visit to China at the most severe time of the epidemic in China, expressed support for China and donated 30,000 sheep to China, Wang said, adding that Mongolian people from all walks of life initiated fundraising activities for China.

The Chinese side also reciprocated, by sharing prevention and control experience and information with Mongolia without reservation, and providing medical supplies assistance, Wang said, noting that the relationship between the two countries has withstood the test of the epidemic outbreak and has been further improved in the joint fight against the epidemic.

"We are willing to work with Mongolia to implement the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries and push the China-Mongolia comprehensive strategic partnership to a new level," he said.

The message of the visit to the outside world is that, first of all, China is willing to further strengthen cooperation in the fight against the epidemic with Mongolia, consolidate the good momentum of "zero infection" on the two sides, work together to deal with the preparation for the possible long-term presence of the epidemic, strengthen normalized joint prevention and joint control, make better use of the "green channel" for goods exchanges, accelerate the establishment of "fast channels" for personnel exchanges, and carry out vaccine and drug cooperation, Wang said. "The epidemic will eventually pass, and the China-Mongolia friendship will last forever."

Second, China will continue to support Mongolia's economic and social development and improvement of people's livelihood, and is willing to share development opportunities with Mongolia to achieve common prosperity. The advantages of both parties complement each other and the cooperation prospects are broad. The two countries must make up for the time lost due to the outbreak of the epidemic and promote the resumption of work and production of key projects as soon as possible, Wang noted.

During this visit, the two sides reached a consensus on extensive cooperation, and agreed to speed up the alignment of the joint construction of the Belt and Road and Mongolia's Prairie Road development initiative, actively promote sewage treatment plants, hydropower stations, transformation of shanty towns and other major projects that have been agreed and are under negotiation, expand the import of agricultural and animal husbandry products and coal from Mongolia, and further strengthen cooperation between ports and cross-border economic zones.

Third, the two sides should work together to ensure the long-term healthy and stable development of China-Mongolia relations. China and Mongolia are permanent neighbors and should also be permanent friends. This is the only right and the best choice for the two countries. The two sides should continue to strengthen political mutual trust, consolidate the political foundation of bilateral relations, in particular respect each other's national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and refrain from interfering in each other's internal affairs. This is not only a political commitment when the two countries established diplomatic relations, but also a basic norm of international relations. It should become a "sacred needle" for the healthy and stable development of bilateral relations.

Wang emphasized that China and Mongolia are both developing countries and share extensive common interests in international and regional affairs. The two sides should strengthen their support and cooperation in the United Nations and other multilateral frameworks, and jointly send the positive note of opposing unilateralism, supporting multilateralism, opposing splitting and confrontation, and supporting win-win cooperation.

For his part, Enkhtaivan said that Mongolia attaches great importance to the development of relations with China and places cooperation with China as a priority in the country's foreign policy.

Since the outbreak of the epidemic, the two countries have maintained close, high-level communication, while political mutual trust has been solid, and mutually beneficial cooperation has been continuously deepened, said Enkhtaivan.

Saying that Wang is the first foreign minister to visit Mongolia since the outbreak, Enkhtaivan called the visit a vivid manifestation of the great importance China attaches to the Mongolia-China relations and the traditional friendship between the two neighbors.

Enkhtaivan expressed Mongolia's gratitude to China for its anti-epidemic supplies assistance, and willingness to continue to unite with China to fight the epidemic and expand cooperation in traditional Chinese medicine.

The establishment of a Green Gateway aimed at boosting trade and economic cooperation between Mongolia and China amid the COVID-19 epidemic has played an important role in restoring and expanding trade between the two countries, he said.

The Mongolian foreign minister said that Mongolia is willing to deepen cooperation with China in areas including culture, education, health and innovation, and intensify communication and coordination on the multilateral stage to promote more mutually beneficial and win-win results.

The two foreign ministers reiterated that China and Mongolia will respect each other's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity and will not interfere in each other's internal affairs.

After the talks, the foreign ministers signed the revised Agreement on China-Mongolia Border Ports and Their Management System, the annual cooperation plan of the Chinese and Mongolian ministries of foreign affairs and other documents, and jointly met the press.
Well the council member from Ward III has shown us, again, how she can be hypocritical. At the August 24th council meeting there was a discussion about council members meeting in chambers live. That info can be found in the minutes of the meeting by clicking here.
Boston University on Wednesday remembered Carrie OConnor, the 38-year-old woman who died in an elevator accident in an Allston apartment on Monday.

OConnor was a French lecturer at the university and was described as "a born student.

OConnor had just started her second academic year as a full-time BU lecturer. Prior to that, she had taught part-time at the school for the two years, according to BU Today,

OConnors mother, Christal OConnor, told the publication her daughters passion for French began in middle school and continued through high school where she enrolled in college-level classes.

Once she learned to read when she was just a little one, we used to have to bribe her to stop her reading and get outside," Christal OConnor said.

OConnor was found in the elevator on the first floor of a building at 1140 Commonwealth Ave. just before 5:15 p.m. Monday, police said. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Another person was taken to the hospital to be evaluated, police said.

The cause of OConnors death was traumatic asphyxia and the manner was determined to be accidental, police said Tuesday afternoon.

Christal OConnor said her daughter loved to travel and believed a college education should include trip abroad.

She said you shouldnt be able to graduate college without traveling, Christal OConnor told BU Today. I dont even know all the different countries shes been to.

When she wasnt traveling, Carrie OConnor found a home in the kitchen, the report said. As a vegetarian, she enjoyed baking and experimenting with different recipes, her mother said, particularly breads, but also English muffins, soft pretzels, cinnamon rolls, brownies, cookies, and cakes.

OConnor graduated from Virginia Tech with bachelors degrees in French, accounting, and information systems and earned a masters in French from Middlebury College, the report said. She worked for two years in Washington, D.C. at a student exchange organization, then went on to earn a PhD in French studies at Louisiana State University.

Her teaching experience included stints at Bentley University, LSU, MIT, Northeastern, and Tufts and covered topics spanning French language to French for business to French literature and culture through gastronomy, the report said.

OConnor is survived by her parents Christal and Daniel, a brother, Philip OConnor, and a sister-in-law, She also had two cats  Artemis and Apollo.
Justice looks like having someone advocate for them and having someone really give them the resources they need to be a survivor," she said. "It gives them their control back, and I think when you seek justice that is what you really want. It is not an eye for an eye. It is, I want somebody to care that this happened to me. I want some resources. I want to feel safe.
Temperatures are likely to climb 10 degrees above the monthly average on Thursday, while the Rural Fire Service is confident that strong winds will not delay vital hazard reduction burns across the state.

A decent north-westerly airstream will bring hot air from central Australia, before the first southerly buster of the season will arrive in the southern parts of Sydney between 5 and 6pm.

Matt Vincent, Klara Egan (in tree) and Adele Brett use the rope swing on the Nepean River at Tench Reserve, Jamisontown, on Wednesday. Credit:Janie Barrett

"That will be quite gusty - it's likely that we'll see winds of 40 to 50km/h, the strongest of which will be as the change pushes through, and maintaining some strength through the evening," Bureau of Meteorology forecaster David Wilke said.

"We have some reasonably strong north-easterlies today and a fairly strong sea breeze along the coast. The continuation tomorrow is due to a southerly change pushing up the coast from the Victorian border.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 01:06:39|Editor: huaxia

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DAR ES SALAAM, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- The government of Tanzania said on Tuesday it has allowed 15 foreign countries with embassies in the east African nation to bring in international election observers for the Oct. 28 poll.

A statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation said the government made the decision as the 15 embassies had submitted applications for bringing in international election observers after meeting required procedures.

The decision was announced by the country's foreign minister Palamagamba Kabudi during talks with Manfredo Fanti, head of the European Union Delegation to Tanzania.

The statement did not mention specifically the 15 foreign countries.

Kabudi told Fanti that the general election to choose the president, Members of Parliament and councilors will for the first time be 100 percent financed with local resources, while previous elections were largely financed by Tanzania's development partners. Enditem
REYKJAVIK, Iceland, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- GOOD GOOD, the Icelandic brand known for their no sugar added products including jams, chocolate hazelnut spread, syrup and stevia drops, announced today the launch of their newest innovation  Krunchy Keto Bars. Committed to creating deliciously sweet  yet sugar free-options, GOOD GOOD makes it easy for those who want sweetness in their lives, sans the sugar. Founded in Iceland in 2015, the brand entered the U.S. market in 2018.

The introduction of the Krunchy Keto Bars affirms GOOD GOOD's position as a leading innovator in the natural sweetener category. The nutrient-packed bars are 130 calories with only 2g net carbs, as well as 6g fiber and are available in two tasty flavor varieties. Raspberry Cheesecake, which boasts 13g of protein, white chocolate with fibers and collagen. Additionally, the Salty Caramel Nut features 8g of protein and milk chocolate with fibers. Both bars are sweetened to perfection with stevia and erythritol.

"GOOD GOOD has experienced tremendous success with the introduction of our Krunchy Keto Bars in the European marketplace, and we look forward to sharing them with U.S. fans," said Gardar Stefansson, co-founder and CEO of GOOD GOOD. "Our customers are always looking for new snacking options that don't compromise nutrition or taste, so we are proud to deliver the Krunchy Keto Bars as an incredibly delicious, satisfying and guilt-free choice."

GOOD GOOD's Krunchy Keto Bars are now available on GoodGood.net, Amazon and with additional retailers to come. For additional information and updates on GOOD GOOD, please visit goodgood.net and follow the brand on Instagram via @GoodGoodBrand.

ABOUT GOOD GOOD

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Voting is good for your health. Texas doctors want to keep it that way.

It may seem self-evident that poor health reduces voter turnout, but it may also be true that voting can improve your health. Studies about the health impact of civic engagement, including voting, suggest that people who vote have stronger social networks, better mental health and fewer risky health behaviors later in life. Could voting help you live longer? Wouldnt the opposite be true in the middle of a deadly pandemic?

As physicians, we spend a great deal of our time educating others about evidence-based healthy behaviors. As president and president-elect of the Texas Chapter of American College of Physicians, we speak on behalf of our colleagues expressing concern about the safety of voting in the 2020 general election. Politics aside, engagement in this years elections has short-term and long-term health implications, both for our communities and as individuals. It is critical that we vote, and that we keep our communities healthy.

Here are our recommendations to safely vote this fall:

1. Get a flu shot before you vote. Flu shots dont prevent coronavirus, but they do save lives.

2. Contact your local election administrator to check if you are eligible to vote by mail.

3. Mail-in voters may also drop off ballots in person at your county-of-residence election headquarters. You will need to bring your voter ID (and hand sanitizer). The deadline for receipt of mail-in votes is Election Day, Nov. 3.

4. Avoid crowds by voting early between Oct. 13-30. To learn if you are registered, where to vote early, and plan your ballot selections, head to votetexas.gov.

5. Prepare your ballot choices before voting, so you can get in and out quickly, reducing your indoor exposure time.

6. Dont go out to vote if you feel sick. Stay home, get a COVID-19 test or call your doctor.

7. Wear a good face mask to protect everyones health, and be considerate of the health and safety of Texas election officials. They put themselves at risk for our democracy, and many risk bad outcomes from COVID-19. Dont ask them to get close to your face or into your car to help you with curbside voting.

8. Be prepared if you must stand in line  bring a light snack, water and hand sanitizer. Wear sunscreen if you will be outside, or bring an umbrella to help protect you from the sun. If standing for any length of time will be difficult, bring a foldable chair.

9. After you vote, pat yourself on the back: for voting safely, and for improving your own health through civic engagement in spite of a deadly pandemic.

The Texas Chapter of the American College of Physicians represents more than 8,000 physician specialists in Internal Medicine and related subspecialties including infectious disease and cardiology. Internists are focused on the compassionate care of adults, from diagnosis to treatment, from health to complex illness.

Dr. Cynthia Jumper and Dr. Ruth Berggren are president and president-elect of the Texas Chapter of the American College of Physicians.
By Daphne Psaledakis and Prak Chan Thul

WASHINGTON/PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - The United States on Tuesday blacklisted a Chinese developer of a port, airport and resort complex in Cambodia, saying it was built on land seized from local people and there were "credible reports" it could be used to host Chinese military assets.

Union Development Group Co. Ltd is building the huge Dara Sakor complex in a national park on the Cambodian coast, with a runway capable of taking some of the world's biggest planes.

The Chinese real-estate development company describes it as the largest regional development project in China's global Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.

The company and the Cambodian government have repeatedly denied Western media reports that the project has military aims.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said there were "credible reports" that Dara Sakor "could be used to host (Chinese) military assets."

"If so, (this) would go against Cambodias constitution and could threaten Indo-Pacific stability, possibly impacting Cambodias sovereignty and the security of our allies," he added in a statement.

The U.S. Treasury Department described the company as a Chinese state-owned entity, and said it had at one point falsely registered as Cambodian-owned to get land for the project.

Projects funded by the firm had "forced Cambodians from their land and devastated the environment, hurting the livelihoods of local communities," it said.

Union Development Group was not immediately available for comment. Cambodian government representatives and the Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The company is registered in Cambodia as a private limited company, with its chairman listed as Li Tao. Its website says Union Group was formerly known as Tianjin Wanlong Group, a Chinese real estate developer.

REGIONAL TENSION

Southeast Asia has become one front of growing tensions between the United States and China, with the rivals at odds over Beijing's territorial claims in the South China Sea and upstream damming of the Mekong River.

The U.S. Treasury Department statement cited Cambodian government spokesman Phay Siphan as having said Dara Sakor could be converted to host military assets.

Story continues

It did not say when he said this. In a 2019 Bloomberg News article, Phay Siphan said: "Dara Sakor is civilian - there is no base at all. ... It could be converted, yes, but you could convert anything."

Cambodia's government has repeatedly said the country will not serve as a base for any foreign army. It has become one of China's closest regional allies in recent years.

The U.S. sanctions were imposed under the Global Magnitsky Act, which allows the U.S. government to target human rights violators worldwide by freezing assets and prohibiting Americans from doing business with them.

"A permanent (Chinese) military presence in Cambodia could threaten regional stability and undermine the prospects for the peaceful settlement of disputes, the promotion of maritime safety and security, and the freedom of navigation and overflight," the U.S. Treasury statement said.

The Belt and Road initiative is China's flagship campaign to build infrastructure across Asia, linking it to Europe. Work began on the Dara Sakor project in 2008 after Cambodia leased 45,000 hectares (111,200 acres) in a national park to the Chinese company for 99 years.

The company said it planned to invest $3.8 billion, building a resort with residential areas, businesses and industry. The airport would be operational by the end of this year, UDG board chairman Li told Cambodian media last month.

(Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in Washington; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)
Eduard Ungers life is built on bees.

His father and grandfather were beekeepers back in Paraguay. Unger, who came to Canada in 1974, keeps about five million of them in hives at BYs Honey Farm in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

He takes a bit of honey every day like a daily vitamin, and is a firm believer that bees and their byproducts can help help the body heal both physically and mentally.

In late September or early October he will open what he believes will be Canadas first apitherapy clinic, using bee venom to ease the pain of people suffering a wide variety of ailments including Lyme disease, arthritis and an immune system weakened by chemotherapy.

Bee therapy has been used for centuries and the practice is growing in popularity now, though the North American medical community generally hasnt endorsed it.

Yet, there are many people who credit it with easing, if not eliminating, aches and disorders that have made their lives miserable.

Last year, Unger hosted a conference on apitherapy in Niagara Falls, attended by doctors from Germany and Brazil.

I dont want to put down the doctors (who dont accept it)  but certain situations, it would be nice if they would just let the natural process work, said Unger.

He said apitherapy is more widely accepted in Europe, where he has attended workshops and consulted doctors as he began offering bee venom treatment.

The two-storey Apitherapy Wellness Centre building on his Concession 6 Road property is nearly complete, and Unger said he will have a registered nurse on site and doctors who will consult.

In addition to bee stings, other treatments will be offered including using air from the hives to help people with breathing issues, and another where a sort of honey plaster is massaged into the persons back, then pulled off to remove toxins in their body.

Even the hum of a hive of bees can be used to help people dealing with psychological issues, he says.

The venom therapy, though, is not known enough here, says Unger. You tell people about it, theyre a bit suspicious: Is it really good?

But it is, I have seen how good it is.

Most of his clients have learned about his services through word of mouth, he says.

Heres how it works: First step, he tells them to be tested by a doctor to ensure they arent allergic to bee venom and at risk of being sent into anaphylactic shock, which can be fatal.

Unger said if clients can show him theyre not allergic to the venom, he begins slowly.

Youve got to be very cautious, he said. If you start to do bee venom therapy, when you start stinging you dont take 10 stings right away. You start with one sting or two.

Using tweezers he, or more often his wife Grace, grabs the bee and quickly touches it to the clients back along the spine, just long enough for the bee to inject its venom.

Thats to treat Lyme disease; for issues such as arthritis, injections are more localized and made at the afflicted joint.

Appointments take about 15 minutes, and if tolerated the client might eventually get up to 30 stings a week spread over several days.

Unger keeps an EpiPen ready to administer epinephrine if someone shows signs of anaphylaxis, but said he hasnt had to use it.

He has about a dozen regular customers plus more who drop in, sometimes to bring home bees and learn to do it themselves.

He also sells a lot of honey from his farm, as well as equipment and supplies for beekeepers, and people can keep their own hives on his property.

He offers beekeeping classes and says, We tell the beekeepers to consider the hives as their medicine cabinet, because there are so many good products but many people dont know about them.

Its not just the honey.

Unger offers bee products like royal jelly, a secretion that may provide antioxidant or anti-inflammatory effects. Its also believed to be helpful in reducing the risk of heart disease and good for wounds and damaged flesh.

As well he provides propolis, a compound produced by bees believed to help fight off infections and repair open cuts and wounds.

On its website the MS Society of Canada notes in spite of long-standing claims about the possible benefits of bee venom for people with (multiple sclerosis), a 24-week randomized study showed no reduction in disease activity, disability or fatigue, and no improvement in quality of life.

However, there are numerous scientific clinical studies available online that show bee therapy shows promise, or can play an effective role, in helping people with ailments such as Lyme disease, breast cancer and arthritis.

Ullie Kowcun, who has suffered from Lyme disease for the past five years, says apitherapy works for her. She says she knows other people with Lyme who say it has helped them, too.

The St. Catharines woman has been receiving bee venom therapy three times a week since May at Ungers farm.

It hasnt been a cure-all. She still has a lot of pain. The effects of her disease arent all gone, she says, but they have definitely improved.

My condition several months ago was a lot worse, and theres nothing else I can attribute (the improvement) to, she says.

And after each session she feels short-term side effects, such as nausea or a headache that often last for the rest of the day. Sometimes theres a little swelling around the sting points.

Living with Lyme disease was so bad it eventually forced her to give up her job with one of the local school boards, after 20 years.

After five months of bee venom therapy  10 stings per visit, three visits per week  her joint pain isnt nearly so severe and there is less of what she called brain fog.

Her ability to bear weight with her legs and lower joints has improved to the point she hasnt had to use a cane to get in and out of the car in two weeks. And she can handle stairs one foot at a time now, rather than having to rest both feet on each step.

When she lies down, she can allow one ankle to rest on the other without causing so much pain she cant sleep. Lying on her side, she can let her wrists or elbows touch again without unbearable pain.

I can tell you beyond the shadow of a doubt its the bee venom, because Ive been having these symptoms for so long now without any relief whatsoever, Kowcun says.

NOTE: This article was amended Sept. 29 to note that numerous clinical studies have found bee therapy shows promise, or can be effective, in reducing the negative effects of several illnesses, including breast cancer and Lyme disease. As well, a conference on apitherapy held in Niagara Falls last year was organized by Ed Unger and BYs Honey Farm; the Ontario Beekeepers Association was not involved.
MACOMB  A Western Illinois University freshman accused in the shooting of his roommate during a dispute in their dorm room is in custody.

Kavion Poplous 18, of Chicago was arrested Wednesday afternoon in Chicago by FBI agents and Chicago police.

Poplous was being sought on charges of attempted first-degree murder, aggravated battery and aggravated discharge of a firearm in the shooting.

An unidentified student was shot during a dispute in a Thompson Hall dorm room about 10:40 p.m. Tuesday and taken to McDonough District Hospital and then transferred to another facility, where he underwent surgery. His condition was unknown Wednesday morning.

Poplous is a law enforcement and justice administration major.

Classes have been canceled for the day at the college, about 60 miles northwest of Jacksonville and attended by a number of west-central Illinois residents.

Our thoughts are with our student who remains hospitalized, and we pray for a speedy recovery, WIU interim President Martin Abraham said in a statement.

In addition to the Macomb campus, all buildings  including residence halls  will be locked today at the Quad City campus, according to the Western Illinois University Office of University Relations.

Counseling and support services are being made available to students, faculty and staff, according to the university.
The prospect of social media giant Facebook being hit with antitrust litigation in the United States has some wondering about the possibility of similar action in this country.

The Wall Street Journal reported this week that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is preparing an antitrust lawsuit against the company. Bloomberg cited an unnamed source in reporting the case could be filed by years end.

In the U.S., the consequences for a successful lawsuit can be severe. In some cases, it might lead to heavy fines and in certain cases, such as with AT&T, the enforced breakup of the company.

The U.S. investigation comes at a time when authorities across the world are taking a long, hard look at the impact of the worlds largest tech companies, including the role they play in allowing the spread of misinformation and their leveraging of existing media outlets for their news content.

Canadas Competition Bureau often collaborates with its American counterparts with at the FTC, so its not unlikely that Canada is at least watching the proceedings in the U.S. with interest. There are differences in the approach each country has traditionally taken in such matters, experts say.

The bureau is aware that other agencies are looking into certain alleged anticompetitive conduct of certain Big tech companies, said Canada Competition Bureau spokesperson Marie-Christine Vezina in an emailed statement. We closely follow the work of our international counterparts, remaining mindful of the different legal regimes in each jurisdiction, and that jurisdiction-specific facts may vary.

As the Bureau is required by law to conduct its work confidentially, we cant confirm whether were investigating Facebook.

At issue in the States is whether Facebook is using its pervasiveness in the marketplace to quash its competitors.

Two prominent examples are often cited: In 2012, Facebook acquired Instagram, the photo-sharing platform, and in 2014 it bought out the messaging app WhatsApp. In between, there have been a slew of other smaller companies acquired.

There have been some who have argued that by acquiring these smaller competitors, that Facebook was seeking to ... eliminate potential competition down the road  in a sense, buying them when they were smaller and didnt pose much of a threat, said Anita Banicevic, a partner at Toronto law firm Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg who specializes in competition and antitrust issues.

I think the answer to that however, and Facebook has been very clear about this, is that it is extremely hard to tell whether or not any business is going to survive, particularly one in the social media sphere.

In fact, said Banicevic, the strategy of many small companies in the tech sphere is to try to grow with a view to being attractive enough to be acquired by one of the giants. And that can be quite lucrative. Facebook reportedly paid $1 billion for Instagram in 2012, and, two years later, $19 billion for WhatsApp. In return, it acquired two of the biggest platforms in their market.

In order for an antitrust lawsuit to succeed in Canada, said Banicevic, there are three legal requirements.

First, the company in question must have a dominant position in the marketplace. Second, the company must have undertaken anti-competitive acts, or whats called an abuse of that dominance. Lastly, that abuse must lead to a substantial lessening of competition, which has a negative impact on the market.

From a legal standpoint, the first criteria is relatively easy to establish; the latter two are much more difficult.

In Canada, the whole area is kind of wrought with the challenges of being able to distinguish between real vigorous competition  which may involve acquisitions and doing your best to just compete against everybody else  and what we call anti-competitive acts, said Banicevic.

The upshot, she said, is that antitrust cases are difficult to establish, and they take time to pursue.

Its not a sure thing that FTC will pursue the case in the States, even after its prepared.

In 2013, the commission decided not to file an antitrust suit against Google even after a lengthy investigation. According to the Wall Street Journal, the FTC has not yet made a decision as to whether or not to do so against Facebook.

In Canada, the Competition Bureau tends more toward negotiating with the company to remove the undesirable behaviour, said Mihkel Tombak, professor of Technology Management and Strategy at the University of Toronto.

I would say that Canadian authorities tend to be a little bit less aggressive than certainly the European ones (and the Americans), said Tombak. I think we could probably stand to be a little bit more aggressive in antitrust enforcement.

Last year the FTC approved a $5-billion fine against Facebook for mishandling users personal information. By contrast, the Canadian fine for Facebook was $9 million.

Facebook did not return requests for comment Wednesday.

SM Steve McKinley is a Halifax-based reporter for the Star. Reach him via email: stevemckinley@thestar.ca or follow him on Twitter: @smckinley1

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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the United States will return to the United Nations in an effort to reinstate sanctions on Iran next week, despite concerns from UN Security Council members who believe Washington lacks the legal authority to do so.

"We will return to the United Nations to reimpose sanctions, so that the arms embargo will become permanent next week," Pompeo said at a briefing with British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab today. Well do all the things we need to do to ensure that those sanctions are enforced.

"The United States will do what it always does. It will do its share as part of its responsibilities to enable peace, this time in the Middle East, Pompeo said.

Last month, the secretary said he had initiated the process of restoring sanctions by filing a formal UN complaint accusing Tehran of breaching its nuclear obligations under the Obama-era nuclear deal.

Elliott Abrams, the US special envoy for Iran, said those sanctions will take effect Saturday and warned Washington will impose their full force on manufacturers doing business with the Islamic Republic. "Its time for peace-loving nations to recognize this reality and join us in imposing sanctions on Iran," Abrams said.

A majority of the Security Council has rejected the Trump administrations efforts, with members arguing the United States cant reinstate sanctions under the same nuclear deal it withdrew from in 2018. Pompeo says the US is able to trigger sanctions because the United States remains a signatory of the UN resolution that endorsed the nuclear accord, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The United Kingdom and other US allies have expressed concerns over Iran's nuclear ambitions, but also want to ensure the deals survival. Raab today acknowledged the JCPOA wasnt perfect by any stretch of the imagination and should be broadened.

Our ambition for a broader rapprochement, a more comprehensive deal is I think in exactly the same place as the US, he said. There may be shades of difference, but we always manage them as constructively as we have to this point.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 16)  The Duterte administration has "no coherent foreign policy" four years into holding office, retired Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said, citing flip-flopping statements on the United States and China.

The legal expert said this is manifested in changing tones on Manila's relationship with Beijing, as well as in recent maneuvers that led to President Rodrigo Duterte granting pardon to US Marine Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton.

Pemberton, who spent less than six years in a special jail cell for killing Filipino transgender woman Jennifer Laude in 2014, was suddenly granted absolute pardon days after an Olongapo court ordered his early release for good conduct. This cut short his supposed 10-year sentence, with the Laude family claiming that Duterte broke his promise to never let the American walk free under his watch.

Carpio said Duterte likely relied on "knee-jerk reactions" in deciding such cases. He added this was also the case for his plan to terminate the Visiting Forces Agreement, only to put this decision on hold months later.

READ: Want to challenge PH foreign policy? Become president first, Calida says

"There is total absence of coherence in policy," the former Supreme Court magistrate said during a forum hosted by the Stratbase ADR Institute.

Former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales said there could have been a quid pro quo or special agreement that led to Pemberton's pardon and eventual deportation to the US. However, it still proved how people "can never guess" what stance the government will take on issues affecting diplomatic ties, she added.

Stratbase ADR trustee Dr. Renato De Castro, a professor of International Studies, also said that recent events showed there's really "no clear-cut design" of foreign policy under Duterte, saying that a real independent foreign policy is something the next administration must work on.

The President is deemed the chief architect of foreign policy. Just months since assuming office, Duterte flew to visit Beijing and announced his "pivot to China." For Senator Ralph Recto, this automatically meant it wasn't an independent policy.

Malacanang has also said it wants the Philippines to be a "friend to all and enemy to none" globally, adding it will not let the conflicting claims in the South China Sea get in the way of possible bilateral deals between Manila and Beijing.

READ: Locsin to recommend ending contracts with Chinese firms involved in South China Sea militarization after US move

RELATED: PH to honor contracts with Chinese firms despite US blacklist  Palace

Duterte has repeatedly said that he will set aside the 2016 arbitral tribunal ruling which dismissed China's sweeping territorial claims in the South China Sea, saying its nine-dash line map cannot be the basis of its assertions. The President has repeatedly said the country cannot afford to go to war with China, although Carpio and other observers say there are ways to enforce the landmark ruling within the bounds of international law.

Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Affairs continues to file diplomatic protests for incursions or incidents in the West Philippine Sea.

READ: 'Let America declare the war' on China  Duterte
A Nissan logo is pictured at the Tokyo Motor Show, in Tokyo, Japan October 24, 2019. Photo by Reuters/Edgar Su.

Japanese carmaker Nissan has announced it will officially cut ties with its current distributor in Vietnam, Tan Chong, at the end of September.

Both sides said they will part ways on September 30, ending all their partnerships in the production and distribution of Nissan vehicles for the Vietnamese market.

Before ending ties with Malaysian-owned Tan Chong Motor Holdings Bhd, the automaker put Nissan X-Trail and Sunny models on clearance discount to try and sell its remaining inventory of vehicles assembled in Da Nang City.

Tan Chong, a multinational corporation based in Malaysia, is not only the official distributor of Nissan in Malaysia and Vietnam, but also in Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar.

A representative of Tan Chong in Vietnam told local media that sales of Nissan models in Vietnam will still happen as usual until official termination of the joint venture. Local dealerships will continue to provide warranty and technical support services for customers post-purchase.
PARIS, Sept 15 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday warned France that its efforts to resolve the crisis in Lebanon would be in vain without immediately tackling the issue of Iran-backed Hezbollah's weaponry.

President Emmanuel Macron has spearheaded international efforts to set Lebanon on a new course after decades of corrupt rule led to its deepest crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war.

But unlike Washington, which deems the heavily armed and politically powerful movement a terrorist group, Paris says its elected arm has a legitimate political role.

The United States last week expanded its sanctions related to Lebanon by blacklisting two former government ministers it accused of enabling Hezbollah. That has raised questions as to how much the U.S. and France are coordinating as Lebanon's factional rivalries struggle to form a new government.

"The United States has assumed its responsibility and we will stop Iran buying Chinese tanks and Russian air defence systems and then selling weapons to Hezbollah (and) torpedoing President Macron's efforts in Lebanon," Pompeo told France Inter radio.

"You can't allow Iran to have more money, power and arms and at same time try to disconnect Hezbollah from the disasters it provoked in Lebanon."

Hezbollah, which has a parliamentary majority, and its Shiite ally Amal held ministerial posts in the last government, including the health and finance ministries.

Macron said on Sept. 1, during a visit a month after a devastating Beirut port blast, that Lebanese politicians agreed to form a cabinet by Sept. 15, an ambitious timeline given it usually takes months.

French officials have said the priority is to put in place a government that could implement reforms quickly, but the matter of Hezbollah's weapons was not an immediate issue.

French daily newspaper Le Figaro reported in August that Macron had met Mohammed Raad, the head of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc, and told him that the group should disassociate itself from Iran and remove its forces from neghbouring Syria.

The French presidency did not deny the meeting, which would be a first between a French leader and a member of the group.

"It's a doubled-edged sword for Macron. Hezbollah is part of the very governance system that needs changing and I'm not sure you can deal with political Hezbollah without handling armed Hezbollah," said a French diplomatic source. (Reporting by John Irish, editing by Ed Osmond)
A professor of law and former director of Kenyas anti-corruption commission, Patrick Lumumba, has commended African countries for their sound response to COVID-19.

Mr Lumumba stated this at the 2020 edition of the Osasu Show Symposium which was held virtually last week.

The virus, which first emerged in Wuhan, China in December has infected over 29 million globally and so far killed nearly a million.

As of September 14, the confirmed cases of COVID-19 from 55 African countries have reached 1,353,390. Reported deaths in Africa have reached 32,623, and recoveries 1,099,770.

The symposium convened leaders and players in the public and private sectors who discussed salient issues of sustainable development particularly as it pertains to the welfare and livelihood of Africans.

Notable amongst other dignitaries who spoke at the event was former Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan.

In his remarks, Mr Lumumba said COVID-19 has been unique in Africa because of how devastating it has been in the U.S. that is the richest in the world.

African countries have responded to COVID-19 in a very sound way, he said.

He said most countries in Africa responded vigorously because Ebola fever made them more prepared.

The countries that locked down completely are the ones mostly hit by coronavirus.

He said on a scale of one to ten, he gives African governments seven, adding that Africa is a continent that has fallen down several times but has continued to rise.

He said Africa must define itself, and it is the cradle of civilisation. He said he wants Africa to stand out in all spheres of life.

We must not allow any civilizstion to define us, he said. I want us to have a single currency and single passport.

He also said Africa should dissolve its boundaries and only maintain them only for administrative functions.

Also speaking at the event, Benedict Oramah, President of AFRIEXIM bank, said it is important for the counties in Africa to unite to combat coronavirus.

Mr Orama said Africa will soon be done with COVID-19 and focus on trade with other countries.

He also added that AU COVID-19 response fund has the target of raising $600 million to support vulnerable people across the continent.
The Gujarat government on Tuesday signed an MoU with the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) to increase self-reliance and provide capacity building and market support to the state's 35 lakh micro-small-medium enterprises (MSMEs). State Additional Chief Secretary of Industries and Mines MK Das and SIDBI Deputy Managing Director Vasantharao Satya Venkata Rao signed the MoU in the presence of Chief Minister Vijay Rupani in Gandhinagar, a release said.

The aim is to "accelerate technology transfer and innovation in state MSMEs through training and capacity building programmes," it said. SIDBI will help the small scale industries in the state to come out of the current COVID-19 situation effectively, and also evaluate feasibility of infrastructure projects and common facility centres for MSME clusters in the state, the release added.

SIDBI will handhold the MSME units to create digital platforms to keep pace with world trends, it said. "Under the Centre's Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS), so far, Rs 10,56,268 lakh loans have been approved for 2,11,532 MSME units in the state to get over financial difficulties. The state government also announced a package of Rs 768 crore to assist MSMEs in the COVID-19 situation," it stated.

"The Chief Minister has been aiming to enable such MSME industries to survive global market competition with incentives like capital subsidy, interest subsidy, patent assistance, technology acquisition," it said.

Also read: 'Banks should share the hit': India Inc. on interest on interest in moratorium

Also read: 13 states raise Rs 14,000 crore in govt securities, development loan auction
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) on Wednesday criticized his Republican colleagues on the Senate Homeland Security Committee for their probe into Joe Biden and his son's dealings in Ukraine, saying that it has the "earmarks of a political exercise."

Why it matters: Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who is leading the investigation, told supporters on Monday that "in about a week were going to learn a whole lot more of Vice President Bidens unfitness for office." The committee is investigating Hunter Biden's work for Ukrainian gas company Burisma at a time when Joe Biden was leading the Obama administration's Ukraine policy.

What he's saying: "[The investigation] from the outset had the earmarks of a political exercise," Romney said at a hearing on Wednesday. "I'm fearful that comments made in the media recently have only confirmed that perspective."

Its not the legitimate role of government, for Congress or for taxpayer expense, to be used in an effort to damage political opponents."

"I do believe it's very important that the committees of Congress, and ours in particular, not fall into an increasing pattern that we're seeing, which is using taxpayer dollars and the power of Congress to do political work. That's the role of campaigns."

The big picture: Romney's comments came after Johnson cancelled a vote that would have issued a subpoena to U.S. Ambassador to Slovakia Bridget Brink as part of the Burisma probe.

The committee did, however, authorize subpoenas on Wednesday targeting former Obama administration officials' roles during the transition to the Trump administration. Romney voted in favor of those subpoenas.

Romney said the probe on the Obama officials could dodge "obvious political implications" by focusing on specific allegations alleged in a report by DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz.

Flashback: Romney in March said the investigation "appears" politically motivated. But a spokesperson for the senator said the next day he changed his mind after receiving assurances from Johnson that the probe would be handled behind closed doors.

Go deeper: Ron Johnson denies that theory of Ukrainian election interference is "debunked"
Chick-fil-A is testing a savory, sweet and spicy variation of its classic chicken sandwich. But dont worry, the classic isnt going anywhere. For a limited time, some people in the country can try the new Honey Pepper Pimento creation.

The sandwich features an original Chick-fil-A filet drizzled with honey, topped with pimento cheese and served on a warm, toasted bun with mild pickled jalapenos. Chef Stuart Tracy, one of Chick-fil-As senior culinary developers, says he and his team worked on this sandwich for more than a year.

This is the first variation of the Original Chick-fil-A Chicken Sandwich weve tested as a seasonal item, said Tracy. We have a feeling guests will love it."

RELATED: Traffic chaos greets Chick-fil-A Novi customers on opening day

The Honey Pepper Pimento chicken sandwich is not currently available in Michigan, but could come to the state in the future. Right now its being tested at some restaurants in Upstate South Carolina and the Asheville, North Carolina areas.

Chick-fil-A opened its first two restaurants in Michigan in October 2016 in Lansing and at Somerset Mall in Troy. There are now also locations in Okemos, Portage, Grand Rapids (two), Wyoming, Holland, Detroit (Detroit Medical Center & Metro Airport express), Allen Park, Ypsilanti (EMU express) and Rochester (Oakland U. express).

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MBABANE  Even before their fathers body is lowered into the ground, family members of the late former police officer Sikhulu Jameson Shongwe are reportedly at each others throats over his assets.



Shongwe is one of the two members of Luyengweni Royal Kraal Inner Council, who lost their lives after being shot dead, allegedly by former Minister of Public Works and Transport Ntuthuko Dlamini.

According to a charge sheet that was presented Dlaminis first court appearance at the Manzini Magistrates Court, he allegedly shot Shongwe four times.



allocating



Shongwe, together with two others, were supposedly shot after the LaMgabhi Royal Kraal Inner Council allegedly tried to stop the Luyengweni Inner Council members from allocating land to people at Mhlabubovu.

Preparations for Shongwes interment are still underway. Three of Shongwes children have since moved an urgent application against some of their siblings and relatives.



The trio of Sihle, Cynthia and Banele want the High Court to interdict and restrain some of their siblings from denying them access to their paternal grandmothers home situated at Luyengo.



Their actions are in bad taste and devious in that they do all this even before our father is buried, argued the three.

It is further one of their prayers that their late fathers motor vehicle should be kept at Bhunya Police Station for safety until his estate is liquidated and distributed.



Respondents in the matter are Gugulethu Sibongile Dlamini, Nonhlahla, Salebona, Thulebona, Sive and Funa, all Shongwe.

The respondents reportedly took the deceaseds motor vehicle, a white Toyota Hilux registered SSD 378 AM, which they are allegedly currently using.



The applicants (three children) are further praying for an order directing their siblings to restore all the items they allegedly removed from Luyengo, including unlocking all the doors so that they (applicants) could have access.



Assets



They also want the court to stop the respondents (other siblings) from using the deceaseds car or any of his assets until such time where the master of the High Court will decide in terms of the law how their fathers assets are to be distributed.



We are children of the deceased Sikhulu Jameson Shongwe who tragically died on Monday September 7, 2020 after he was allegedly shot dead by one Ntuthuko Dlamini in cold blood at Mhlabubovu. submitted the applicants.



They informed the court that when the incident happened, they were at their paternal home in Luyengo as their father had taken them there for the long weekend.



According to the applicants, the deceased would frequently take them to Luyengo even though they stayed at KaShali in the Manzini Region. They alleged that Luyengo was where their grandmother lived and it sufficed that their siblings who were the respondents in the matter, never came to Luyengo during the deceaseds lifetime even if he called them they allegedly refused.



These are allegations contained in an affidavit whose veracity is still to be tested in court and the respondents are yet to file their papers in the event they are disputing the allegations against them.



We were all shocked after the shooting incident and the following day on Tuesday, September 8, 2020, the respondents arrived and ordered us to leave the paternal home while they took some of the household items, the deceaseds items and locked us out, alleged the trio.



Kicked



They highlighted that when the respondents kicked them out, they were not carrying any court order authorising them to do so.

We submit further that we have a right of access to our paternal home as much as the respondents do. They, therefore, have no right to lock us out, contended the applicants.



The matter is still pending at the High Court and appearing for the applicants is Human Rights Lawyer Sibusiso Magnificent Nhlabatsi. The respondents are yet to file their papers.
She returned to Los Angeles days earlier after spending time with her boyfriend Andrew Taggart in Mexico's Cabo San Lucas.

And Chantel Jeffries marked her return stateside by attending a friends and family screening of her pal Paris Hilton's new documentary This Is Paris.

The 27-year-old DJ rocked an edgy leather look at the outdoor screening, which was decorated with some of the host's iconic catchphrases from her days on The Simple Life.

Back in black: Chantel Jeffries, 27, looked edgy in an all-black ensemble at a friends and family screening of Paris Hilton's new documentary This Is Paris held outdoors in Los Angeles

Chantel looked too cool for school in her black leather blazer, which she wore little under aside from a black bandeau bra that was tied together over her bust.

She paired the top with high-waisted weather black jeans that hugged her slender legs, and she added some flair with pointy patent leather boots.

The dark-haired beauty wore her brunette locks in a high ponytail with isolated strands framing her impeccably made-up face.

She also toted around a black handbag slung over one shoulder.

On theme: Chantel looked too cool for school in her black leather blazer. She wore a black bandeau under it that was tied together over her bust, along with black faded jeans and patent leather boots

Chantel was a stark contrast with Paris, who wore a vibrant rainbow-colored tie-dye skirt and shirt combo.

The two shared a sweet hug before the movie, and the musician got a close look at Paris' adorable gray and black fluffball.

Although Chantel has been photographed before wearing masks in public due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, she opted not to wear a mask at the screening, as did most other guests.

However, white couches were arranged on the lawn for socially distanced pods of guests.

Contrasts: Chantel was a stark contrast with Paris, who wore a vibrant rainbow-colored tie-dye skirt and shirt combo

Shocking revelations: The new YouTube documentary This Is Paris features shocking revelations about the heiress' adolescence, including a stint in an allegedly abusive boarding school

The new YouTube documentary This Is Paris features shocking revelations about the heiress' adolescence, including a stint in an allegedly abusive boarding school in which she was fed tranquilizers, verbally abused and endured 10-hour stretches in solitary confinement.

The film also generated buzz because Paris drops much of her recognizable vocal fry, unveiling a smoother, deeper voice that she claims is how she talks when she's not performing for the camera.

Sitting out the screening was Chantel's boyfriend Drew Taggart, one-half of the popular electronic music duo The Chainsmokers.

Chantel, who was previously linked to Machine Gun Kelly, Justin Bieber and Diplo, was first linked with Drew in February.

MIA: Sitting out the screening was Chantel's boyfriend Drew Taggart, one-half of the popular electronic music duo The Chainsmokers

She showed the relationship was heating up late in July with an Instagram photo shared with her 4.7 million followers of the two kissing while dining outdoors.

She shared the post the same day that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo lambasted Drew's group The Chainsmokers for 'egregious social distancing violations' after the performed in front of a packed crowd with few mask wearers at a Safe & Sound charity event in New York's Southampton.

The pandemic doesn't seem to have put any constraints on the Chantel and Drew, as they've taken trips to both Maine and Mexico in recent weeks.
Police across two states have seized almost 12 kilograms of methamphetamine, almost half-a-million dollars in cash and more than a kilogram of other drugs during a two-month sting.

A 28-year-old Queensland man and 37-year-old West Australian man have been charged off the back of the operation and the Queensland man faces 20 years to life in prison, if convicted.

It is alleged a large amount of the methamphetamine seized was concealed within furniture parts. Credit:AFP

According to the Australian Federal Police, the investigation began when Australian Border Force officers intercepted a package from Malaysia at a Perth air cargo depot on July 26.

It was described as flat pack shoe racks and shelves, and addressed to a home in the WA city of Bunbury, about 180 kilometres south of Perth.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 776 new coronavirus cases Wednesday, raising the statewide total to 146,990.

The health department reports the percentage of positive COVID-19 tests has risen in the past two weeks. Health officials say theyre concerned about the uptick in cases among younger adults, particularly those 19 to 24 years old. State officials are also citing the number of cases on college campuses and urging students to practice social distancing and avoid large gatherings.

The number of new cases has risen after dropping steadily in August. Over the last seven days, the state has reported 5,700 new cases, an average of 814 per day. On Tuesday, the state reported 1,151 new cases, the third day in September the state has reported at least 1,000 new cases in a single day.

Statewide, 7,903 deaths have been tied to the coronavirus, including 28 newly reported fatalities Wednesday, according to the health department. More than two-thirds of the states coronavirus deaths have occurred in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.

There were 24,442 test results reported to the department through 10 p.m. Tuesday. The state has administered 173,790 tests between Sept. 9-15.

Fewer people are being treated in hospitals for the coronavirus, according to the health department.

Statewide, 483 COVID-19 patients are being treated in hospitals, while more than 700 were hospitalized in late July. At the height in the spring, about 2,800 patients were in hospitals.

The health department reports 82% of those who contracted the coronavirus have recovered. The department considers patients to be recovered when they are 30 days past the date or infection or the onset of symptoms.

About 1.7 million people in Pennsylvania have tested negative for the virus.

Here is a week-by-week look at new coronavirus cases, going back to early July.

July 2-8: 4,906 new cases, an average of 700 per day

July 9-15: 5,517 new cases, an average of 788 per day

July 16-22: 5,731 new cases, an average of 818 per day

July 23-29: 6,822 new cases, an average of 974 per day

July 30-Aug. 5: 5,496 new cases, an average of 785 per day

Aug. 6-12: 5,216 new cases, an average of 773 per day

Aug. 13-19: 5,019 new cases, an average of 717 per day

Aug. 20-26: 4,387 new cases, an average of 626 per day

Aug. 27-Sept. 2: 5,075 new cases, an average of 725 per day

Sept. 3-9: 5,679 new cases, an average of 811 per day

Sept. 10-16: 5,700 new cases, an average of 814 per day

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Racial discrimination has always been a scar on the American society, one that has been continuously ripped wider open since the COVID-19 pandemic.

As some U.S. politicians are bent on politicizing the pandemic and maliciously making China a scapegoat for their incompetence in containing the outbreak, the virus of racial discrimination against Asian Americans is also spreading across the country.

Asian Americans are frequently humiliated and even attacked in public, and suffering continuous discrimination on social media platforms.

The racial group faced a double whammy of unemployment and discrimination amid the outbreak, according to many reports recently released by American research institutions and civil society organizations.

However, some U.S. officials have played dumb about the situation, which has fully revealed the hypocrisy and cruelty of the so-called American human rights.

Relevant data have been rather dreadful. Racial discrimination against Asian Americans is becoming more common, pointed out a survey report from American think tank Pew Research Center.

31 percent of Asian Americans said they have been subject to racist slurs or jokes since the pandemic began, while 26 percent said theyve feared someone might physically attack them, the survey found.

As the number of racist attacks against Asian Americans in various areas of New York has increased significantly, the New York City Police Department has even established an Asian Hate Crime Task Force recently, the first task force in the U.S. that is aimed at Asian hate crimes.

Across the country, Asian American health-care workers have reported a rise in bigoted incidents, according to an article published on The Washington Post.

The racial hostility has left Asian Americans, who represent 6 percent of the U.S. population but 18 percent of the countrys physicians and 10 percent of its nurse practitioners, in a painful position on the front lines of the response to the coronavirus pandemic, the article said.

Some COVID-19 patients refuse to be treated by them. And when doctors and nurses leave the hospital, they face increasing harassment in their daily lives, too, it continued.

What lies at the root of such pernicious consequences is certain U.S. politicians misdeed of spreading political virus.

Some U.S. officials have taken every opportunity and played every trick they can to attack and stigmatize China, including calling the COVID-19 Chinese virus and Wuhan virus, which has fostered extremism and racism in the U.S. and become the main culprit of the dramatically increasing attacks and threats targeting Asian Americans.

The attacks and smear campaign launched against China by some American politicians have ignited anti-Asian sentiment, according to an article published by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

Yet public figures and politicians play a key role in promoting racial equality and non-discrimination principles. In this regards, it is dismaying to witness State officials adopting alternative named for the COVID-19 coronavirus, said Tendayi Achiume, the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.

Indeed, instead of using the internationally recognized name of the virus, these (U.S.) officials have adopted names with geographic references, typically referring to its emergence in China. This sort of calculated use of a geographic-based name for this virus is rooted in and fosters racism and xenophobia, she pointed out in a recent statement.

Systemic racism is a malady afflicting the American society.

Color has obviously played a major role in determining the fate of many Americans, U.S. scholar Thomas Sowell wrote in his book Ethnic America: A History.

In history, the notorious Chinese Exclusion Act and crimes against Asian Americans such as sending a large number of Asians to concentration camps during the World War II have startled the world.

Asian Americans now still suffer continuous harassment, exclusion and structural discrimination in the U.S., arousing great concern among the international community and American people with breadth of vision.

This year, the special procedures of the U.N. Human Rights Council have repeatedly condemned the U.S. for its racial discrimination and hate speech.

Recent hate crimes and violent assaults against people of Asian descent should sound an alarm for America, said nearly 200 American foreign policy scholars and former diplomats in a joint statement issued on USA Today.

They called upon U.S. leaders at every level and in every sector to take action against anti-Asian racism and express support for Asian diaspora and Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities.

Only those who lack competence themselves would deliberately invent divisions and confrontations against others.

The conflicts and antagonisms in the American society wont stop worsening unless certain U.S. officials break off the political scheme to pass the buck to China for their misconduct in dealing with the epidemic.

Otherwise, other groups of people, in addition to Asian Americans, may end up a new victim of some U.S. officials.

In the U.S., a country that claims to be a beacon of freedom, some U.S. politicians, however, have ignored the international human rights law, openly incited and condoned racial discrimination, and violated the bottom line of human civilization by blatantly trampling on human rights, which is by no means tolerable.

(Zhong Sheng is a pen name often used by Peoples Daily to express its views on foreign policy.)
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Weave, the complete business toolbox for service-based businesses and one of the fastest-growing companies in tech, has been named to the Forbes 2020 Cloud 100. The list is a definitive ranking of the top 100 private cloud companies in the world published by Forbes in partnership with Bessemer Venture Partners and Salesforce Ventures. This is the second year in a row that the Utah-based Weave has received this honor.

"We are honored to be listed alongside these incredible companies, especially talent from the tech scene here in Utah," said Clint Berry, Chief Technology Officer at Weave. "We see this as evidence that our people-first approach is working and want to continue to take care of our employees and customers as much as possible."

Weave's presence on the list comes after being named a Forbes Next Billion-Dollar Startup in May 2020. The software company was dubbed "Utah's next unicorn" by TechCrunch when it raised its Series D , led by Tiger Global Management in October 2019.

The Cloud 100 Judging Panel, made up of public cloud company CEOs, reviewed the data to select, score, and rank the top 100 private cloud companies from all over the world.

"The private cloud ecosystem continues to mature in light of rapid digital transformations, making the competition to land one of the coveted spots on the Cloud 100 list steeper than ever," said Byron Deeter, a top cloud investor, and partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. "Private cloud valuations are getting bigger as the market's appetite for cloud continues to grow. Over the past five years, the average Cloud 100 valuation has grown by a tremendous 2.5x, from $1 billion in 2016 to $2.7 billion in 2020. In fact, our 2020 Cloud 100 includes over 87 private cloud unicorns! These founders represent the absolute best in cloud computing today, and they will most certainly follow in the footsteps of our esteemed Cloud 100 alumni. More than a third of the companies of the Cloud 100 have exited either via strategic M&A, financial M&A or Initial Public Offering. Congratulations to these cloud leaders!"

"In the face of this unprecedented time, digital is an urgent imperative, and the pace of innovation is accelerating. Companies around the globe, across all industries must adopt cloud technologies to enable their digital transformation," said Matt Garratt, Managing Partner, Salesforce Ventures. "The opportunity is massive for the cloud -- there are now more than 25 public SaaS companies valued at over $10 billion whereas even five years ago there were only three. Sectors from collaboration and security to retail and healthcare, are being disrupted and becoming more digital. Salesforce Ventures is excited to be partnering with Bessemer Venture Partners and Forbes for the fifth year in a row to recognize those who are not just predicting what's coming but working to create the future."

"For five years now, we have ranked the best and brightest emerging companies in the cloud sector," said Alex Konrad, Forbes editor of The Cloud 100. "With so many businesses growing fast in the cloud, from data infrastructure to marketing, it's harder than ever to make the Cloud 100 list  but with more elite company if you do. Congratulations to each of the 2020 Cloud 100 honorees and the 20 Rising Stars honorees poised to join their ranks!"

The Forbes 2020 Cloud 100 and 20 Rising Stars lists are published online at www.forbes.com/cloud100 and will appear in the September 2020 issue of Forbes magazine.

About Bessemer Venture Partners

Bessemer Venture Partners is the world's most experienced early-stage venture capital firm. With a portfolio of more than 200 companies, Bessemer helps visionary entrepreneurs lay strong foundations to create companies that matter, and supports them through every stage of their growth. The firm has backed more than 120 IPOs, including Pinterest, Shopify, Yelp, LinkedIn, Skype, LifeLock, Twilio, SendGrid, PagerDuty, DocuSign, Wix, and MindBody. Bessemer's 15 partners operate from offices in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, New York City, Boston, Israel, and India. For more information, please visit www.bvp.com .

About Weave

Weave is the complete business toolbox for service-based businesses. From the first phone call to the final invoice, Weave provides personalized, relevant, and effective solutions for the entire customer journey. Weave's unique integration of hardware and software solutions help streamline and simplify business growth, retention, and communication. With over 13,000 customers, Weave was the first Utah company to join Y Combinator and has received several renowned awards, including the Fortune 100 Best Small & Medium Workplaces 2019, Forbes 2019 and 2020 Cloud 100, the 2019 and 2020 Inc. 5000 fastest-growing companies in America, Glassdoor's 2019 and 2020 Best Places to Work and 2019 Top CEOs. To learn more, visit www.getweave.com/newsroom/ .

About Forbes

The defining voice of entrepreneurial capitalism, Forbes champions success by celebrating those who have made it, and those who aspire to make it. Forbes convenes and curates the most influential leaders and entrepreneurs who are driving change, transforming business and making a significant impact on the world. The Forbes brand today reaches more than 160 million people worldwide through its trusted journalism, signature LIVE and Forbes Virtual events, custom marketing programs and 40 licensed local editions in 70 countries. Forbes Media's brand extensions include real estate, education and financial services license agreements. For more information, visit the Forbes News Hub or Forbes Connect .

About Salesforce Ventures

Salesforce is the global leader in Customer Relationship Management (CRM), bringing companies closer to their customers in the digital age. Salesforce Ventures, the global investment arm of Salesforce, invests in the next generation of enterprise technology that extends the power of the Salesforce Platform. Salesforce Ventures is building the world's largest ecosystem of enterprise cloud companies and extending that technology to customers. Portfolio companies receive funding, strategic advisory, and operating support, and can easily join Pledge 1% to make giving back part of their business model. Salesforce Ventures has invested in more than 400 companies, including DocuSign, GoCardless, Guild Education, nCino, Twilio, Zoom, and others across 22 countries since 2009. For more information, please visit www.salesforce.com/ventures .

Contact:

Madi Bullock

Weave

[email protected]

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Love Island star Rebecca Gormley was pictured enjoying the sunshine on Bournemouth beach on Tuesday.

The 21-year-old showed off her toned abs, wearing a neon pink crop top and matching hotpants as she walked her dog.

The top had a drawstring detail at the front which accentuated her assets and the shorts had ties at the sides.

Hot to trot: Love Island's Rebecca Gormley wore a neon pink crop top and matching hotpants to walk her dog along Bournemouth beach on Tuesday

Stylish: The top had a drawstring detail at the front which accentuated her assets and the shorts had ties at the sides

She carried her boxfresh trainers in her hand as she walked along the water's edge barefoot.

Rebecca recently landed herself in hot water after she and boyfriend Biggs Chris, 27, ignored quarantine rules.

They jetted straight from a holiday in Spain to Scotland earlier this month and brazenly posted about it on Instagram.

Rebecca shared racy Instagram snaps as she enjoyed her visit to her beau's home city of Glasgow, where the couple mixed with friends and family, enjoying dinner dates and spa treatments.

Walk the walk: She carried her boxfresh trainers in her hand as she walked along the water's edge barefoot

Sweet: She stopped for a moment to pet her god who was loving the attention

Foolish: Rebecca recently landed herself in hot water after she and boyfriend Biggs Chris, 27, ignored quarantine rules

The couple had been holidaying in Ibiza, and should have quarantined for 14 days when they returned to the UK after the government pulled its air bridge with Spain following a spike in COVID-19 cases.

Rebecca and Biggs had arrived in Scotland the day before, with Biggs sharing a photo of his girlfriend checking in for their flight from Spain, alongside the Scottish flag and 'next destination.'

Once they landed, the pair visited Biggs' friends and family, sharing photos of a takeaway night.

Brazen: They jetted straight from a holiday in Spain to Scotland earlier this month and brazenly posted about it on Instagram

Advice: Under government rules those arriving in Scotland from Spain are required to quarantine for 14 days to help reduce the risk of the transmission of the virus

On the Thursday Biggs filmed as he indulged in a facial treatment at a Glasgow beautician, while Rebecca watched.

That evening he shared a snap of the couple's dinner at Manjaros Restaurant in the city.

Under government rules those arriving in Scotland from Spain are required to quarantine for 14 days to help reduce the risk of the transmission of the virus.

Loved-up: The influencer had been holidaying on the Spanish party island of Ibiza with Biggs

Cheery: Rebecca seemed to have put all the criticism behind her as she walked along with a big smile on her face
I last ate out in  when was it? June? Id have to check the credit card statement to be sure, but it was somewhere back in that slim window between Melbourne COVID-19 lockdown 1.0 and 2.0.

What's so bad about eating outdoors? Credit:AP

The venue was a favourite local, with a Sicilian-inspired menu that varies in the seasonal vegetable details more than the big-picture mains, but I like that because you basically know what you are going to have before you sit down to order.

Its a Friday-night go-to when you cant be bothered cooking and want a spritz before you eat, and if its heaving  which it always was on a Friday night pre-COVID  they find us a couple of stools at the bar.

On this inter-lockdown night out we shared our pre-booked time slot with half a dozen other diners in a room that normally seats 40. The bar stools were off-limits, the waitstaff wore masks, and the vibe was mutual relief that wed survived lockdown and they were still in business.
Governor Nasir El-Rufai has signed the Kaduna State Penal Code (Amendment) Law 2020.

The amendment updates the penalties for the offence of the rape of a child, a statement by Muyiwa Adekeye, the governors spokesperson said in a statement Wednesday.

These new provisions include the punishments of surgical castration and bilateral salpingectomy for male and female convicts of child rape, and death.

In addition, such convicts will be listed in the Sex Offenders Register to be published by the Attorney-General of the state.

Following Mr El-Rufais assent to the amended law on September 11, 2020, the new law has come into effect in Kaduna State.

Malam Nasir @elrufai has signed the Kaduna State Penal Code (Amendment) Law 2020 which provides stiff penalties upon conviction for the rape of a child, including surgical castration for male convicts and bilateral salpingectomy for female convicts pic.twitter.com/m86UXi4dEg  Governor Kaduna (@GovKaduna) September 16, 2020

It introduces stricter punishments than the previous law which carried a maximum penalty of 21 years imprisonment for the rape of an adult and life imprisonment for the rape of a child.

Under the amended law, the punishment for the rape of a person older than 14 years will include surgical castration or removal of fallopian tubes, but the death penalty shall not apply.

In cases where the rape convict is also a child, the court shall order an appropriate punishment under the Children and Young Persons Law Cap 26, Laws of Kaduna State 1991.

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While commending the members of the Kaduna State House of Assembly for passing the amendments, the governor stated that these drastic penalties are required to help further protect children from a serious crime.

The Kaduna State Penal Code (Amendment) Law 2020 amends the Penal Code Law (No.5) of Kaduna State, 2017 by substituting section 258 as follows :

1. Whoever commits rape of a child below the age of fourteen (14) years shall on conviction, be punished with Surgical Castration and death.

2. Whoever has sexual intercourse with a male child below the age of fourteen years shall be punished with surgical castration and death.

3. Where a female adult is convicted for the offence of rape of a child, the Court shall punish the accused with Bilateral Salpingectomy and death.

4. Where the victim is above fourteen years, the Court shall on conviction sentence the accused with a punishment of surgical castration and life imprisonment.

5. Where the convict is a child, the Court shall order as appropriate under the Children and Young Person Law Cap 26 Laws of Kaduna State 1991.

6. Where the victim is a child, the Court shall in addition to the conviction, order that the convict be listed in the Sex Offenders Register to be published by the Attorney General.

7. Where the Court is trying the offence of rape involving a child below the age of fourteen years, corroboration of a medical report shall be necessary.
MCCAIG/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Texas was recently ranked low in a study that listed the best and worst cities to retire in the U.S.

Choice Mutual, a life insurance agency, analyzed data on various factors that affect retirees for its Aug. 31 report. Out of the 50 states, Texas landed at No. 39 in the ranking.
The Egyptian government had halted the export of infection prevention gear including the surgical mask, and alcohol derivatives in March

Egypt will once again export alcohol, surgical masks, and COVID-19-related preventative supplies after having suspended the export of such supplies in order to deal with the epidemic at home.

Trade and Industry Minister Nevine Gamea said on Wednesday that Egyptian manufacturers are now allowed to export all anti-coronavirus supplies including alcohol by-products, protective masks and suits, latex gloves, mask shields, and medical goggles.

The Egyptian government had halted the export of infection prevention gear including the surgical mask, and alcohol derivatives in March.

The virus, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, was first detected in Egypt on 14 February, leading to a surge in the prices of facemasks and alcohol products.

As a result, Egypt increased production of all preventative gear and since July, offering 40 million cloth face masks for sale via subsidy cards at EGP 6 each.

Facemasks are believed to have the ability to slow the spread of the virus via reducing exposure to saliva, droplets, and respiratory secretions, through which the infection can be transmitted, while alcohol-based disinfectants and hand sanitisers can kill viruses and germs that may be on hands or surfaces.

Egypt made wearing facemasks in public places mandatory starting 30 May, as part of the country's plan to co-exist with the virus.

The Egyptian minister said the decision to resume exports was taken in coordination with the Egyptian Authority for Unified Procurement after making sure of the availability of a sufficient stock of these products to meet the needs of the local market, Wednesdays statement added.

Egypt aims to preserve the export markets for its products of alcohol and its derivatives, as well as medical supplies and masks, she added.

Egypt has registered a total of 101,340 infections, including 5,679 deaths and 85,745 recoveries since the first case was discovered in the country.

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A poll of Indian Americans has found that 66% of respondents favour Democrat Joe Biden for the presidential election in November, while President Donald Trump trails way behind at 28%.

But Trump has made considerable headway, coming up from 16% in 2016, according to the Indiaspora-AAPI Data survey released on Tuesday.

The poll also affirmed the growing clout of the Indian American communitys 1.8 million registered voters  56% of them reported being contacted by Democrats and 48% by Republicans, compared to only 31% reached by any party in 2016.

As a community with the highest earnings, Indian Americans are also flexing their financial muscle as the survey put it . A quarter of those polled said they had made donations to a candidate, political party or some other campaign body this year; $3 million anecdotally, with double-digit aspirations.

A majority of Indian Americans, 54%, identified themselves Democrats while the second biggest group of 24% identified themselves as Independents and only 16% called themselves Republican, compared to 45%, 35% and 19% respectively in 2016.

The most significant shift, or the beginning of it, was reflected in the numbers for the race for the White House. While Indian Americans support for Biden was an overwhelming at 66%, it was far lower than the 77% support for Hillary Clinton, then Democratic nominee, in 2016, and the brutal 84% that President Barak Obama got in the 2012 election.

Trump, on the other hand, has gone up from 12% in 2016 to 28% , and could go up to 30% if he and Biden split up the 6% undecided respondents proportional to their current tallies.

That should worry Democrats. The Biden campaign has to be especially attentive and should conduct a vigorous outreach to the community, said Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi. Eventually, he added, these voters will come home to the Democratic Party because of their concerns about other issues, specially Covid-19.

Neeraj Antani, a Republican member of the Ohio state legislature, attributed Trumps expanding support among Indian Americans to the presidents outreach to the community, his visit to India in February and for standing with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and neutrality on issues like Citizenship Amendment Act and the abrogation of Article 370 on the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, as opposed to Bidens opposition to those issues.

Biden campaigns position on Article 370 and the CAA has indeed antagonised a section of Indian Americans and has led to talk that a Biden administration will be less friendly to India.

The former vice-president has sought to address those concerns and assured the community that relations with India will be a high priority for his administration if elected. He promised that his administration will also prevent China from acting with impunity and show no tolerance for cross-border terrorism, putting Pakistan on notice. He also rolled out an expansive plan for Indian Americans, focusing on hate crimes and immigration.

As part of its outreach to the community, the Trump campaign has released a video of clip from Howdy Modi and Namaste Trump events the president attended with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the US and India respectively, highlighting their relationship and support of the cheering crowds.

The community is being wooed aggressively by both parties, as the survey findings showed  56% reported being contacted by Democrats and 58% by Republicans compared to merely 31% by any party in 2016, far below then 44% for white voters and 42% for white voters.

The reasons fairly simple. Trump won the 2016 election with narrow victory margins in key battleground states, which he can hold on to with the support of Indian Americans, or lose them if Democrats are able to persuade the community to vote for Biden, and in larger numbers.

Indian Americans have the numbers that both Biden and Trump would want in these states. Indian Americans are positioned to make a difference in several swing states that may be close in this election, such as Florida ( 87,000 ), Pennsylvania (61,000), Georgia (57,000), Michigan (45,000), and North Carolina (36,000), and perhaps even Texas, which has 160,000 Indian-American voters, said Karthick Ramakrishnan, professor of public policy and political science at UC Riverside, and founder of AAPI Data.

He added that a high turnout driven by Senator Kamala Harriss historic vice-presidential nomination and the highly publicised Houston and Ahmedabad rallies that Trump and Modi held together could make a huge difference in this election.

M R Rangaswami, founder of Indiaspora, said, Given the Indian diasporas increasing political importance in the US, its no surprise they are being courted by both sides of the aisle.

He added: Its great that both major political parties have begun to realise just how critical it is to reach out to Indian Americans  our impact is only going to increase over time.
SINGAPORE  Singapore is turning to domestic tourism as its borders remain largely closed to overseas visitors due to coronavirus.

"The tourism sector in Singapore was really badly affected as a result of this pandemic," said Chaly Mah, chairman of the Singapore Tourism Board on Tuesday, on the sidelines of the Singapore Summit.

Singapore started off the year strong with 1.69 million visitors in January  an increase from 1.62 million the same month a year ago. However, as authorities sought to control the spread of the coronavirus outbreak, travel restrictions were imposed. The immigration controls sent the numbers plunging about 99% year-on-year in recent months, he said.

"Given that we are a small country and we don't have the benefit of domestic travel, what we are trying to do now is to encourage Singaporeans to visit some of our local tourist attractions," said Mah.

Authorities are trying to make up some of the shortfall in tourism revenue by enticing Singaporeans to visit attractions in their own country.
United Nations, Sep 16 : United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on the international community to get united and find a vaccine that is accessible to all.

"As the COVID-19 pandemic has upended our world, we have once again seen that international solidarity is no longer a choice, but an obligation," the UN chief said on Tuesday at the wreath-laying ceremony to commemorate the 59th anniversary of the death of former UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold, Xinhua news agency reported.

"That means working together to stop the spread of the virus," said the secretary-general, adding that the global community should work together "to find a vaccine that is accessible to all." "And, just as importantly, working together to recover better, protect the most vulnerable and reduce the inequalities (is) heightened by the pandemic," said the UN chief.

"As we look ahead to the new session of the General Assembly that begins today, may we build on his extraordinary legacy to address the challenges upon us and, together, build a more peaceful, just and sustainable world," said Guterres.

Dag Hammarskjold was a Swedish economist and diplomat who served as the second UN secretary-general. He still remains the youngest person to have held the post, being only 47 years old when he was appointed in 1953. His second term was cut short when he died in a plane crash in Northern Rhodesia while en route to ceasefire negotiations during the Congo Crisis on September 18, 1961.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
On a personal note, I became friends with Mary Beth after my reporter shadowing duties allowed me to witness her cooking hobby when she garnered her a spot as one of the 100 finalists in the 42nd annual Pillsbury Bake-Off in 2006 in Orlando, Fla. A mother of two beloved daughters, and now also a grandmother, her famous culinary creation kitchen claim-to-fame is her Chicken Fajita Quiche. The idea came to her while on the mend from a broken leg and the recipe was selected by the preliminary judges and served as her ticket for a chance at the $1 million top prize at the 2006 years contest.
We are excited to offer these new services after recognizing the needs of our valued customers and responding to them, states Chris Morhardt, President of Pharus Group.

Pharus Group LLC, an award-winning Florida-based business management advisory firm, today announced that the company has unveiled a new ecosystem of services to better serve businesses nationwide. Pharus Group is proud to unveil these new additions to the ecosystem which includes; Pharus Funding Partners, Pharus Practice, Pharus Credit Solutions, Pharus Home Mortgage, Pharus Insurance Services, and CRES Corp. With a solid foundation built on business consulting and outsourced management services, Pharus Group made the decision to broaden its services to further help customers succeed in all aspects of business.

In addition to its existing portfolio of business consulting / advisory services and outsourced management services in accounting, payroll processing, human resources, marketing and operations; Pharus Group has expanded and added on a breadth of new services. These include small business lending and commercial mortgages, business and personal insurance, business and personal credit management services, commercial and residential real estate services, home mortgage solutions, and medical practice management. We are excited to offer these new services after recognizing the needs of our valued customers and responding to them, states Chris Morhardt, President of Pharus Group. We have now given our customers the ability to outsource and establish partnerships with an experienced team of professionals who are true experts in their discipline.

Pharus Funding Partners offers commercial mortgage and small business financing to help businesses grow and prosper. Pharus Credit Solutions recently rolled out their business finance suite and personal credit repair division to help give businesses access to credit without requiring a personal guarantee and working to improve personal credit scores. We are proud to be able to provide business owners easy access to financing options with every type of known legitimate financing source available through our suite, states Brian Hartman, President of Pharus Funding Partners. With the global health pandemic creating havoc for businesses nationwide, we are thrilled to be able to help businesses nationwide and rebuild our strong economy.

When it comes to business insurance, Pharus Insurance offers customers numerous options to protect and insure their business assets. CRES Corp. offers commercial real estate services for businesses looking to expand or downsize. Pharus Home Mortgage offers a broad suite of products to help clients achieve the dream of homeownership, including conventional, FHA, VA, Reverse Mortgage, Construction and many Non QM options. We help investors by offering creative loans based on DSCR, P & L, Balance Sheet, Asset Depletion and many more. Our loan officers take a consultative approach to understanding our clients needs and objectives. This includes searching for as many loan options for which they may qualify and assist in analyzing the advantages and cost-effectiveness of each option so the client can make an informed decision, says Frank Lillo, President of Pharus Home Mortgage.

With Pharus Practice, medical practices can now outsource their staff training, billing & coding services to an extended team of specialists. Pharus Practice can also assist with revenue cycle management and help all types of medical practices with their growth strategy.

With a focus on integrity and providing true value to its customers, Pharus Group has evolved into a trusted source with specialists on hand to help with all facets of business. Now more than ever, business owners must be able to rely on one trusted source for all their business needs. With the launch of this new powerful ecosystem, Pharus Group brings a new level of services to businesses that cannot be replicated. For further information on Pharus Group and this new ecosystem, visit http://www.pharusglobal.com.

About Pharus Group, LLC:

Pharus Group is a multi-disciplined business consulting and management firm specializing in the growth and development of small to mid-sized businesses. The company offers a unique array of services under one umbrella that includes planning and implementation to maximize profitability and equity development for businesses. For over twelve years, Pharus Group has been assisting business owners at every stage implementing successful growth strategies and maximizing profitability. With a full team of senior-level management professionals on staff, business owners and entrepreneurs can rely on Pharus Group for all their business management needs. The company provides affordable, out-sourced management support and implementation services to drive profitable growth and long-term equity development to help businesses grow strong and exit successfully. For further information visit http://www.pharusgroup.com.
One in 10 COVID-19 patients return to hospital after being sent home from ER: US Study

India

pti-Madhuri Adnal

Washington, Sep 16: Nearly one in 10 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 needed to return to the hospital within a week of discharge from an emergency department visit, according to a new study which assessed data from more than 1,400 patients who were admitted during the first three months of the pandemic.

The study, published in the journal Academic Emergency Medicine, assessed data of COVID-19 patients from the Philadelphia region in the US between March and May 2020. It found that factors like lower pulse oximetry levels, and fever were some of the most telling symptoms that resulted in return trips that resulted in admission.

Monsoon session: No data on death, injury to people during COVID-19 lockdown, says Centre

"We hope this study helps emergency clinicians have more informed conversations with patients suspected to have COVID-19," said the study's lead author Austin Kilaru from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in the US.

"It can be difficult to make this diagnosis and send patients home without knowing if they will get sick in the coming days. This study gives clinicians a few signposts to know how often and when patients may need to return, and what risk factors to pay attention to," Kilaru said.

India describes Pakistan as an epicentre of terrorism | Oneindia News

In the research, the scientists looked at 1,419 patients who went to an emergency department (ED) between March 1 and May 28, 2020, were discharged, and tested positive for COVID-19 in the seven days surrounding that visit.

According to the study, 4.7 per cent of the patients returned to the hospital and were admitted within just three days for their initial ED visit, and an additional 3.9 per cent were hospitalised within a week.

In total, the researchers said 8.6 percent of patients were coming back to the hospital after their first ED visit due to COVID-19. "We were surprised with the overall rate that patients return and need admission, which is twice that of other illnesses," Kilaru explained. "The concern is not that emergency physicians are making wrong decisions, but rather that COVID-19 can be unpredictable and turn severe rather quickly," he added.

Sushant Singh Rajput case: NCB probe team member tests positive for COVID-19

Compared to patients in the 18 to 39 years of age range, the researchers said those over 60 were more than five times as likely to require hospitalisation after being discharged from their initial emergency department visit.

The study noted that people in the 40 to 59 age range were three times as likely to require hospitalisation than the younger group. When it came to individual symptoms, the researchers said patients of any age with low pulse oximetry readings were about four times as likely to require hospitalisation upon return as compared to those with higher readings. They said patients with fevers were more than three times as likely as compared to those without.

"If the patient had other factors such as an abnormal chest X-ray, the likelihood of needing to come back to be hospitalised goes up even more," said the study's senior author, M. Kit Delgado from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

However the researchers said there were no signs of differences along racial or gender lines. "This further contributes to the evidence that the known racial disparities in COVID mortality are not related to differences in care and outcomes among patients once treated in the same hospital system," Delgado said.

Rather, the disparities are structural related to the higher rates of infection and access to care in low-income communities, which are disproportionately Black and Hispanic," he added. The scientists believe the findings can better inform doctors on who is most appropriate for home recovery, and underscored the need for remote monitoring as a useful tool for looking after COVID-19 patients.
Syracuse University alumnus Nick Lilja is going viral with a weather warning for those in the path of Hurricane Sally.

Lilja, chief meteorologist for WDAM-TV in Mississippi, gave an update on Hurricane Sally Monday, responding to viewers asking Should I be concerned?

Lilja appeared in front of a graphic showing the region in yellow and orange with two answers: Yes and Yes, but in orange.

Yeah, everybody should be concerned, Lilja said in a Facebook video. He added that specific forecasts for each city in the state are difficult due to the nature of tropical storms.

Screenshots of the news station report started making the rounds on Reddit and social media with more than 29,000 shares as of Wednesday morning.

Our weather guy is so done with the stupid questions, a Reddit user wrote.

Wherever you are, @NickLilja, you win the Internet today. pic.twitter.com/QxIHnafaO3  Christina Erne (@ChristinaErne) September 15, 2020

Glad people enjoyed it.... This is a stressful time. Every so often you need to lighten the mood. https://t.co/kyqSU9NO7u  Nick Lilja (@NickLilja) September 15, 2020

I got (a very little) reddit famous today. It was neat. Appreciate the love from everyone I know. And dont know, Lilja wrote on Facebook. For what its worth, I do answer a lot of very silly questions. But that wasnt the catalyst for the graphic. It was an attempt to be as straightforward as possible in a fun tongue-in-cheek way.

Sally made landfall Wednesday morning as a Category 2 Hurricane with 105 mile-per-hour winds and catastrophic flooding across the Gulf Coast, especially affecting Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi. More than 2 feet of rain was recorded near Naval Air Station Pensacola, and the National Weather Service reported nearly 3 feet (1 meter) of water covered streets in downtown Pensacola, Fla.

Lilja graduated from Oregon State University in 2008 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Earth Sciences with an emphasis in Atmospheric Sciences, and earned a Masters of Science in Broadcast & Digital Journalism at Syracuse University in 2011. In addition to delivering the weather on WDAM, the self-described stormchaser works part time teaching a meteorology course at the University of Southern Mississippi, manages a severe weather website, and continues cheering for the Beavers and Orange from his home in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
A Noida man was booked for allegedly duping his uncle of 5 lakh on the promise of booking a flat in Noida.

Complainant Yunus Khan, a resident of Pinjore, told the police that his nephew Nafees Khan had told them that his boss Bhoopati, who lived in Noida, wanted to sell his house worth 35 lakh for just 22 lakh, Yunus told the police.

He said that by September 2018, he gave his nephew around 5 lakh to book the flat. He handed over some documents, but they turned out to be fake. When contacted, Bhoopati said he was in Dubai and whenever we questioned our nephew, he would assure us Bhoopati would meet us on returning to India, said Yunus Khan.

An FIR under sections 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code was registered.
Please be aware that anyone can go into court WITHOUT NOTICE TO THE OTHER SIDE, raise their right hand and swear out any allegations towards anybody without cross-examination to start an Order of Protection proceeding," Malavia said in the statement. "As a result, we will defend these allegations with confidence in knowing that Mr. McCaskey has yet to be heard and has nothing to hide.
The Department of Justice is requiring that an affiliate of the Qatari-funded news network Al Jazeera register as a foreign agent, in a move that came the same week the White House orchestrated the signing of a historic deal between Israel and Qatars rival, the United Arab Emirates.

Jay Bratt, chief of the departments counterintelligence and export control section, said in a Sept. 14 letter first reported on by Mother Jones that Al Jazeeras Washington-headquartered digital outlet, AJ+, acts at the direction and control of Qatar and engages in political activities on its behalf. As "an agent of the Government of Qatar," Bratt said the outlet should register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

A number of Republican lawmakers have sent letters to the Justice Department calling for Al Jazeera's registration. Last year, the administration ordered Turkish public broadcaster TRT be listed as a foreign agent.

The AJ+ news broke the same day President Donald Trump presided over a signing ceremony normalizing relations between Israel and Qatars regional adversaries, the UAE and Bahrain.

The UAE ambassador to the United States, Yousef Al Otaiba, told The New York Times that the Justice Departments ordering AJ+ to register was unrelated to the US-brokered agreement that his country signed with Israel on Tuesday.

But in a statement to the newspaper, Al Jazeera Media Network said the timing was suspect.

The UAE has confirmed it presented the United States with preconditions prior to announcing the Abraham Accords, and we received DOJs letter the day before the UAE signed the Accords, the network said. The Justice Department just gave the UAE what it wanted.

The rivalry between the two Gulf states stems in part from Dohas support for Islamists during the Arab Spring and its relations with Iran, Turkey and the Muslim Brotherhood as well as coverage on Al Jazeera that the Emiratis say destabilizes the region and undercuts their own influence.

In June 2017, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt imposed an economic and diplomatic blockade on Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorism. As a condition for lifting the blockade, the so-called Anti-Terror Quartet demanded the tiny oil-rich peninsula shut down Al Jazeera.

The Middle Easts largest news network says it operates with editorial independence and its content does not reflect the positions of the Qatari government or royal family. The network maintains that its public funding model is more akin to the United Kingdoms BBC or Canadas CBC than to Russias RT.

YouTube, however, includes a disclaimer on Al Jazeeras content that it is funded in part or whole by the Qatari government. And as part of a push for greater transparency on its platform, Facebook reportedly considered labeling the network as state controlled.

AJ+ publishes short-form videos and documentaries geared toward millennials that cover a range of domestic and international topics. But the Justice Department says the content is overtly pro-Qatar, including offering a Qatari-sympathetic view of the blockade, promoting a positive view of Iran and showing support for the Palestinian cause.

The outlet's staff pushed back at the characterization, with host Yara Elmjouie calling it absolutely absurd.

This is a politically motivated attack on journalists, Elmjouie tweeted Tuesday. It will not stop us from telling the stories we tell  at our own direction, & our own control.

Sana Saeed, another AJ+ host, called attention to the timing of the Justice Department's letter.

Its funny that Qatar-funded Al Jazeeras most influential American outlet gets designated a Foreign Agent right in the midst of anti-Qatar Gulf countries recognizing Israel, Saeed tweeted.

The same day AJ+ was told to register under FARA, Qatari officials were meeting with their counterparts in Washington for the third annual strategic dialogue between the two countries. Speaking at a briefing with Qatari Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo characterized the US-Qatar relationship as one of true friendship and called for the region to resolve the Gulf state rift.

The Trump administration is eager to see this dispute resolved and to reopen Qatars air and land borders currently blocked by other Gulf states.

Doha is currently hosting peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government in what Pompeo described as one of the ways that Qatar is promoting stability in the region.
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BEIJING (AP)  The U.S. on Tuesday issued a sweeping new advisory warning against travel to mainland China and Hong Kong, citing the risk of arbitrary detention and arbitrary enforcement of local laws.

The advisory is likely to heighten tensions between the sides that have spiked since Beijing's imposition on Hong Kong of a strict new national security law in June that has already been met with a series of U.S. punitive actions.





. . .
PORTLAND, Maine - At least seven people have died in connection to a coronavirus outbreak that continues to sicken people in Maine following a wedding reception held over the summer that violated state virus guidelines, public health authorities said.

The August wedding reception at the Big Moose Inn in Millinocket is linked to more than 175 confirmed cases of the virus, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday.

Maine authorities have identified overlaps between the wedding reception and outbreaks elsewhere in the state. An employee of the York County Jail attended the wedding, Maine CDC officials have said. Maine health officials have also said an outbreak at a Madison rehabilitation centre, which is the site of six of the seven deaths, is connected to the event.

The virus cases stemming from the wedding have spanned hundreds of miles in a state that had largely controlled the spread of the coronavirus through the summer. Maine has reported less than 5,000 cases of the virus in total since March.

But the growing number of cases related to the wedding, which exceeded the states guidelines of 50 people or less at indoor gatherings, could undo some of that progress if it continues to swell. Authorities have said more than 65 people attended the wedding.

The six people from the Madison rehabilitation facility who died were all residents of that facility and none of them attended the wedding reception, said Dr. Nirav Shah, director of Maine CDC.

Maine CDC is concerned about where we are, and Im asking everyone else to share in that concern. COVID-19, right now, is not on the other side of the fence. It is in our yards, Shah said. The gains that Maine has made against COVID-19 are ones that could, and unfortunately can, be washed away.

The wedding was also officiated by pastor Todd Bell of Calvary Baptist Church in Sanford. The Maine CDC is currently investigating to determine if an outbreak at the church is connected to the wedding outbreak. That outbreak has sickened 10 people, Shah said.

Calvary Baptist Church issued a statement on Tuesday that said a number of Calvary Baptist Church members attended the wedding reception. The statement said the church is taking precautions to limit the spread of the virus, and it will defend its right to continue holding services.

The Calvary Baptist Church has a legal right to meet. The authority of a local Christian church, a Jewish synagogue, or a Muslim mosque to gather for their respective religious services is a time-honoured part of our nations history since its inception, the statement said. These religious activities are also fully protected under the First Amendment to our United States Constitution.

Bell has been critical of government attempts to control coronavirus, and videos show he has held services without the use of social distancing. He hired a lawyer known nationally for defending the religious rights of churches. Neither Bell nor the attorney working with the church, David Gibbs of Florida, personally responded to a request Tuesday for comment.

Maine CDC spokesperson Robert Long said the agencys investigations suggest multiple potential points of transmission related to the August 7 wedding and reception. The agency is working to limit the spread of the virus and support people affected by it, he said.

Shah said the states per cent positivity rate has ticked up to 0.63% for the previous seven days. At one point, the rate was less than half a percentage point. The rate remains well below the national average of about 5%, Shah said.

___

Associated Press writer David Sharp contributed to this report.
Investors shrugged off a surprisingly strong August jobs print to hand the Australian sharemarket its worst day in just over a week in a poor session for the iron ore giants, Commonwealth Bank, and biotech CSL.

The ASX 200 fell by 72.9 points, or 1.2 per cent, to close at a session low of 5883.2 on Thursday, wiping out Wednesdays progress in a $21 billion slide.

The ASX 200 closed 1.2 per cent lower on Thursday. Credit:AFR

Weaker iron ore and gold prices hobbled BHP and Rio Tinto, while Fortescue Metals sagged to a near two-month low with a 6.4 per cent dive to $16.23.

The market fell early on a mixed Wall Street lead, where sentiment was dulled by a more dovish-than-expected stance from the US Fed. US futures declined throughout the day.

Local losses accelerated after a complicated set of August jobs figures that showed a surprising drop in the unemployment rate from 7.5 per cent to 6.8 per cent and 111,000 jobs added.

However, UBS economists George Tharenou and Carlos Cacho noted the number of people who 'worked less than their usual hours for economic reasons' was broadly unchanged at about one million people.

ThinkMarkets market analyst Carl Capolingua also suggested the improved employment figure could have signalled to markets that less stimulus may be needed to help the nation out of its pandemic-driven decline.

Obviously, markets want to see good news on the jobs front longer-term and considering the lockdowns in Victoria through August and the resurgence in COVID-related negativity more broadly, it was a decent set of numbers.

But I think investors took this as a sign that the RBA and the Federal Government may do less than previously expected to boost monetary and fiscal stimulus. So, in a perverse sort of way, the market sold off."

There was little joy at the pointy end of the ASX 200 on Thursday with just a handful of blue-chips adding to their tallies. These included banks Westpac, NAB and ANZ, as well as investment group Macquarie, and supermarket Coles.

Commonwealth Bank fell 1.1 per cent to $65 and CSL weighed with a 1.9 per cent drop to $285.72.

Wesfarmers dropped 1.3 per cent to $44.78, Woolworths 0.7 per cent to $36.48, and toll giant Transurban shed 1.4 per cent to $14.31.

Afterpay led a 3 per cent tech sector decline with a 5.4 per cent drop to $73.84, with Wisetech Global down 4 per cent at $26.76.

Fortescue was the hardest hit of the big miners while Rio Tinto fell by 3.4 per cent to $99.31 for its worst day in more than four months.

Chief investment officer at Australian Eagle Asset Management, Sean Sequeira, said the decline in Fortescue especially appeared to be profit taking.

We saw iron ore go to a high of $US130 (a tonne) this month and Fortescue didnt really follow that to new highs, it had done a lot of its rising to new highs a bit earlier, Mr Sequeira said.

That tells me that people taking profit because theyre cautious about a further fall in iron ore.
A man who died of a drug overdose in the apartment of Ed Buck left behind a diary in which he blames the Democratic donor for his descent into methamphetamine addiction.

Buck has pleaded not guilty to distributing methamphetamine resulting in the deaths of Timothy Dean in January 2019 and Gemmel Moore in 2017.

Federal prosecutors say Buck, 65, preyed on vulnerable gay men and pressured them to let him inject them with drugs as part of a sexual ritual. Buck is also charged with providing meth to three more men, including one who overdosed.

Activist Jasmyne Cannick, who uncovered new evidence in the case and pushed for two years to bring charges against Buck, provided Moore's diary to The New York Times.

In one entry, Moore is said to have written: 'I honestly don't know what to do. I've become addicted to drugs and the worst one at that. Ed Buck is the one to thank. He gave me my first injection of crystal meth it was very painful, but after all the troubles, I became addicted to the pain and fetish/fantasy.

'My life is at an all-time high right now & I mean that from all ways. I ended up back at Buck house again and got manipulated into slamming again. I even went to the point where I was forced to doing 4 within a 2day period. This man is crazy and it's sad. Will I ever get help?'

Ed Buck's former friends have revealed how the Democratic donor became addicted to drugs and detailed his love of black men ahead of a court appearance over two deaths at his West Hollywood apartment. Buck is pictured arriving for a campaign rally in Hollywood, California, in 2010

Buck appears in court on Thursday in Los Angeles

'Slamming' is a slang term used among gay men for injecting drugs such as mephedrone, GHB, or crystal meth.

In Moore's final entry on December 3, 2016, he is said to have written: 'If it didn't hurt so bad, I'd kill myself, but I'll let Ed Buck do it for now.'

Buck's lawyers say the diary entries are 'unverified writing'.

Former acquaintances and friends have Buck's love of black men as well as how his personality changed after he got addicted to drugs.

One former friend, known only as M, told the paper Buck had told M.'s then husband: 'That's a nice-looking black man you've got on your arm.'

After commenting that another black man they had seen was his 'type' Buck is said to have replied to M.: 'Yeah, but I like 'em stupid.'

The Democratic donor has pleaded not guilty to distributing methamphetamine resulting in the deaths of Timothy Dean, right, in January 2019 and Gemmel Moore, left, in 2017

Former friend Charlie Harrison said: 'Buck always had a penchant for black guys. There was one guy he spent a lot of time with, but back then it was, as Buck said, mostly "meaningful relationships by the hour".'

After Buck was accused of using racist language Harrison said: 'No one on the planet, except Martin Luther King, put their 100 percent behind fighting bigotry more than Buck. It's equivalent to calling Martin Luther King prejudiced.'

But Ryan Gierach, a longtime neighbor of Buck, said 'there is another side' to him.

Four-time mayor of West Hollywood John Duran said Buck's personality changed when he started taking drugs.

Duran said: 'Ed's story is one I've seen happen to many individuals in West Hollywood, gay men who end up making the attachment of sex to meth, and then meth takes over and consumes their lives.

'When you saw Ed after 2013, he was agitated, losing weight, being angry and amplified at council meetings. Missing appointments or not showing up. These are all the symptoms of somebody under the influence of meth.'

Ed Buck with Hillary Clinton in one of his Facebook photos, posted in September, 2015

Activist Jasmyne Cannick is said to hold the diary written by Moore before his death. She has has now shown the physical book to Cannick, who uncovered new evidence in the case and pushed for two years for prosecutors to bring charges against Buck, had previously not shown it to reporters

Four-time mayor of West Hollywood John Duran said Buck's personality changed when he started taking drugs

Buck ran unsuccessfully in 2007 for City Council in West Hollywood, which is known for its large LGBTQ community. He has donated at least $340,000 to Democratic campaigns and causes over many years.

He is said to have told friends he made $1 million after flipping a company that sold driver's-license data to auto insurers.

Christopher Darden, best known for prosecuting O.J. Simpson, is representing him.

Wealthy Democrat donor Buck was arrested in September 2019 after a third man narrowly escaped death when he overdosed in his West Hollywood apartment.

According to prosecutors, Buck was known among the Los Angeles homeless community as 'Dr Kevorkian' for his sick fetishes, including 'role playing and fantasy to inject people with methamphetamine.'

LaTisha Nixon, the mother of Gemmel Moore, who was found dead from an overdose at Ed Buck's apartment at a vigil in 2018

The complaint, filed in a Los Angeles federal court September, says witnesses told a DEA agent that Buck 'paid Moore in money and drugs in exchange for Moore to engage in sexual activities with Buck,' and flew the young man to LA from Texas.

In July 2017 Moore was found 'wearing only white socks' and 'unresponsive on the living room floor in Buck's residence and was pronounced dead after the police arrived,' the DEA agent wrote.

Dean was also found on the apartment floor in January 2019 'wearing only white underwear', with two rubber rings around his scrotum and penis, the document said.

The federal complaint reveals that Buck 'continued to solicit men for sex and drug use' after Dean's death, as recently as July 2019, according to other alleged victims interviewed by the DEA.

He has been denied bail and is being held in a downtown Los Angeles jail. His trial had been delayed until next year.
Iran President Hassan Rouhanis remarks come a day after Israel, UAE, Bahrain sign normalisation deals brokered by US.

Irans President Hassan Rouhani has said the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain would be responsible for any consequences resulting from their normalisation of relations with Tehrans archrival, Israel.

Rouhanis remarks came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the foreign ministers of Bahrain and the UAE signed agreements establishing full diplomatic ties at a White House ceremony.

Speaking at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Rouhani said Israel is committing more crimes in Palestine every day.

Some of the regions countries, their people are pious Muslims but their rulers neither understand religion nor [their] debt  to the nation of Palestine, to their brothers speaking their language, he said in televised remarks.

How could you reach out your hands to Israel? And then you want to give them bases in the region? All the severe consequences that would arise from this are on you.





Rouhanis remarks came shortly after Israeli planes bombed Hamas targets in the besieged Gaza Strip.

The Israeli raid followed rockets fired from Gaza while the normalisation deals with the two Arab states were being signed in the United States.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said similar Washington-brokered deals were expected between Israel and several other Arab countries, including Irans regional rival, Saudi Arabia.

After decades of division and conflict, we mark the dawn of a new Middle East, Trump said.

Palestinians who seek an independent state that includes the illegally occupied West Bank and Gaza view the normalisation deals as a betrayal of their cause.

The Palestinian leadership wants an independent state based on the de facto borders before the 1967 war, in which Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and annexed East Jerusalem.

Arab countries have long called for Israels withdrawal from already illegally occupied land, a just solution for Palestinian refugees and a settlement that leads to the establishment of a viable, independent Palestinian state in exchange for establishing ties with it.

Iran had previously warned Bahrain that its deal made it a partner to Israels crimes and accused the UAE of betraying the Muslim world.

In 2016, Bahrain cut diplomatic ties with Iran and the UAE downgraded relations amid rising tensions between Riyadh and Tehran.

Sunni-ruled Bahrain has faced long-running unrest among its large Shia community that it has consistently blamed on Iran.
NEW FAIRFIELD - In the 49 days until the election, homegrown congressional hopeful David X. Sullivan will make his case on any stage available to explain why he should replace U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes as the 5th Districts representative in Washington, D.C.

On Thursday, Sullivan will introduce himself to members of a conservative retirement association - virtually, of course - as Connecticut and the rest of the nation continue to protect against the threat of coronavirus infection.

Were trying to take advantage of whatever opportunity we can to meet with voters, said George Linkletter, Sullivans campaign manager. Since COVID-19 hit in March, its really restricted our ability to talk with voters face-to-face.

Sullivan, a Republican whose been trying to get his name out to the 41 cities and towns that make up Connecticuts most competitive congressional district, will apparently have the Zoom screen to himself during the lunchtime event with local members of the Association of Mature American Citizens.

If Hayes was invited to Thursdays virtual meet-and-greet, the freshman congresswoman doesnt know about it, Campaign Manager Barbara Ellis said Tuesday.

AMAC Action, the advocacy arm of the conservative alternative to other 50+ organizations, did respond to a question about whether Hayes was invited, except to say that the event was for AMAC members only.

Sullivan, an assistant U.S. attorney in Connecticut for 30 years before he retired last summer, welcomes the stage, his campaign said.

Theyll ask questions about issues related to older Americans such as social security, health care, the cost of government and of course taxes, Linkletter said. We are doing everything we can to talk to people about the issues.

Voters in western and central Connecticut will have their chance hear Sullivan debate Hayes four times in October, starting with an Oct. 5 debate from Danburys Western Connecticut State University.

Its unclear whether Hayes and Sullivan will be joined by a minor party candidate from Newtown who announced plans to shake up the race two weeks ago. The League of Women Voters of Northern Fairfield, the debate organizer, sent a debate invitation to the candidate, Bruce Walczak, who said he was undecided about whether hed participate.

Walczak, who appears on the Nov. 3 ballot as the Independent Party candidate, is not expected to have an impact on the race, which Hayes is favored to win by leading election forecasters.

Hayes, a former national Teacher of the Year from Waterbury, stunned establishment Democrats with her easy primary victory in 2018, and made the cover of Rolling Stone as one of the women of color who helped give Democrats control of the House of Representatives.

As such, Hayes is featured on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committees website as a Frontline member whose re-election is considered key to the partys majority in the House.

Sullivan, who has raised $235,000, does not have the same support from the GOP. The National Republican Congressional Committee does not list Sullivan among its three-tired Young Guns featured candidates program.

Its not only that Hayes has raised $1.3 million that makes forecasters such as The Cook Political Report and Inside Elections predict a second term. Voter registration numbers are also working against Sullivan in a district that stretches from Danbury to the Massachusetts border.

There are 141,000 registered Democrats to 103,000 registered Republicans, according to the latest state numbers. The largest category of registered voters are the 183,000 residents who are unaffiliated with any party. Among the minor parties, such as the Green Party and Working Families, the Independent Party has by far the most registered voters in 5th District at 6,350.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342
Defendants appear in court on September 13 for sentencing in connection with the lorry tragedy that left 39 Vietnamese citizens dead. (Photo: congan.com.vn)

Ha Tinh - Four defendants have been imposed jail sentences in connection with the Essex lorry tragedy in the UK last year in which 39 Vietnamese citizens died.

Three others were also given suspended sentences at a trial opened by the Peoples Court of central Ha Tinh province on September 14.

They were prosecuted in connection with the death of Pham Thi Tra My, 26, who sent a number of harrowing text messages to her family when she was trapped in the refrigeration unit of the lorry as it entered the UK in October 2019.

Nguyen Quoc Thanh, 26, from Can Tho city was sentenced seven and half years in jail, fined 20 million VND and had 3,000 USD revoked; Nguyen Thi Thuy Hoa, 36, from Nghe An province sentenced to six years in jail and fined 15 million VND; Tran Dinh Truong, 35, from Ha Tinh province, sentenced five years in jail and fined 10 million VND and Nguyen Xuan Trieu, 24, sentenced to two and a half in jail plus fine of 10 million VND.

Le Van Hue, 53 years old, Vo Van Ky, 58 years old and Vo Van Ho, 68 years old, all from Nghe An province, were given between 12 and 18 month suspended sentences and fined 5 million VND each.

The trial was first opened in August, but was adjourned due to the absence of the majority of witnesses.

At the trial, the seven accused were found guilty of "organising and brokering illegal emigration".

The defendant Vo Van Ky was absent from the court as he is being treated for cancer.

The court was told the defendant Truong asked Hoa to arrange to send Pham Thi Tra My, from Ha Tinh provinces Can Loc district, to France in order to enter the UK.

The price to smuggle her to England was 21,000 USD and Hoa sent My to China on a tourism visa and then using false documents she flew to France.

Hoa, Thanh and Thanhs sister - Nguyen Thi Thuy Diem, 31 years old, from Can Tho city together made the fake documents which facilitated Mys trip.

On October 19, 2019, on the way from France to UK, My was found by UK police and expelled from UK, returning to France.

But just four days later she made the journey again, this time hidden in the refrigerated container with 38 other Vietnamese nationals.

When they arrived in Essex, their lifeless bodies were discovered in the back of the lorry.

The judges said the defendants had engaged in dangerous violations of immigration and labour export laws, but recognised the fact that they had cooperated with the investigators and been willing to address the consequences.

Seven people involved in trafficking My and tens of others to the UK were arrested by Ha Tinh police in February.

The defendant Nguyen Thi Thuy Diem, was identified as the ring leader but he has since fled away and is wanted internationally.

Between May and October 2019, Diem allegedly instructed Thanh to work with Hoa, Ky, Ho and Hue to prepare documents for many people who wanted to go to Europe to work.

Of the 39 victims in the truck tragedy, 21 were from Nghe An province and 10 from Ha Tinh and the rest from the provinces of Quang Binh, Thua Thien-Hue, Hai Duong and Hai Phong city.

In June, a court in Nghe An province sentenced a local woman to 15 months in jail for helping a friend enter the UK. The friend was among the 39 truck tragedy victims.

Meanwhile, in the UK, 40-year-old Irishman Ronan Hughes pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges last month and Northern Irishman truck driver Maurice Robinson pleaded guilty in April for causing the deaths of 39 Vietnamese people.
Merawi Gerima makes a stunning feature debut with "Residue," a moving homage to the Washington, D.C., neighborhood where he grew up. Drenched in sadness, anger, steadfast love and poetic imagery, this alternately dreamy and damning film won the audience award at Slamdance earlier this year, before making its international debut at Venice last week. It lives up to that impressive provenance, introducing a thoughtful new cinematic voice at a time when it couldn't be more needed.

"Residue" chronicles the prodigal return of Jay (Obinna Nwachukwu), who has been studying film in Los Angeles and comes back to Q Street to make a film about his childhood friends; what he finds is a place oddly disconnected from his past, where the family and neighbors who nurtured him have moved away, and where White millennials are rapidly taking over. "Welcome to the neighborhood," an upstairs neighbor says condescendingly, unaware that they're both living in the house where Jay grew up.

Like "Blindspotting" and "The Last Black Man in San Francisco," "Residue" is nominally concerned with the resentments and contradictions of gentrification: In one particularly vivid scene, a group of young White women joke about crack houses over cocktails while blood pools under their feet. That kind of magical-realist imagery pervades a film that moves effortlessly between the world as it is, and the world as it feels to someone who can't seem to find his footing between a quickly receding past and an unrecognizable present.

That dislocation is especially painful when it comes to Jay's friends, a once-tight group that has now scattered. When he manages to find them, they're either wary, hostile or, in the case of a character named Demetrius, mysteriously elusive. The suspense surrounding Dion's whereabouts lends "Residue" its narrative drive, but the plot is secondary to Gerima's gift for visualizing interior experience, whether it's grounded in unresolved trauma or the exquisite joys of lifelong connection.

As Jay finds his way back home - wherever that is, and whatever that means - "Residue" becomes a fascinating study in the navigation of social space: who belongs where, who gets to do what, whose histories are given primacy, and the unspoken but violently enforced codes that define those boundaries. The faces of White interlopers are rarely seen in "Residue," a conceit that helps make it a thoroughly subjective portrait of Jay's own personhood and psychic autonomy. Swirling through its collage of memories, hauntings, fantasies and sharply realist encounters is an adamant insistence on Black agency and self-perception.

To the degree that this film reflects Gerima's own journey - he is the son of filmmaker and Howard University film professor Haile Gerima - it is a poignant, deeply personal statement of a filmmaker wrestling with art's proper place in a troubled and unjust world. Even more profoundly - and universally - "Residue" is a delicately layered depiction of the dance between alienation and belonging. In this moving portrait, it's a dance is defined by struggle, grief and undiminished grace.

- - -

Three stars. Rated TV-MA. Available on Netflix. Contains obscenity, drug use and some violence. 90 minutes.

Ratings Guide: Four stars masterpiece, three stars very good, two stars OK, one star poor, no stars waste of time.
Even when a business is losing money, it's possible for shareholders to make money if they buy a good business at the right price. For example, although software-as-a-service business Salesforce.com lost money for years while it grew recurring revenue, if you held shares since 2005, you'd have done very well indeed. But while the successes are well known, investors should not ignore the very many unprofitable companies that simply burn through all their cash and collapse.

So, the natural question for PuriflOH (ASX:PO3) shareholders is whether they should be concerned by its rate of cash burn. In this article, we define cash burn as its annual (negative) free cash flow, which is the amount of money a company spends each year to fund its growth. We'll start by comparing its cash burn with its cash reserves in order to calculate its cash runway.

View our latest analysis for PuriflOH

Does PuriflOH Have A Long Cash Runway?

A cash runway is defined as the length of time it would take a company to run out of money if it kept spending at its current rate of cash burn. As at June 2020, PuriflOH had cash of AU$2.4m and no debt. Looking at the last year, the company burnt through AU$4.0m. Therefore, from June 2020 it had roughly 7 months of cash runway. To be frank, this kind of short runway puts us on edge, as it indicates the company must reduce its cash burn significantly, or else raise cash imminently. You can see how its cash balance has changed over time in the image below.

How Is PuriflOH's Cash Burn Changing Over Time?

PuriflOH didn't record any revenue over the last year, indicating that it's an early stage company still developing its business. Nonetheless, we can still examine its cash burn trajectory as part of our assessment of its cash burn situation. With the cash burn rate up 28% in the last year, it seems that the company is ratcheting up investment in the business over time. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but investors should be mindful of the fact that will shorten the cash runway. Admittedly, we're a bit cautious of PuriflOH due to its lack of significant operating revenues. We prefer most of the stocks on this list of stocks that analysts expect to grow.

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Can PuriflOH Raise More Cash Easily?

Since its cash burn is moving in the wrong direction, PuriflOH shareholders may wish to think ahead to when the company may need to raise more cash. Companies can raise capital through either debt or equity. One of the main advantages held by publicly listed companies is that they can sell shares to investors to raise cash and fund growth. By comparing a company's annual cash burn to its total market capitalisation, we can estimate roughly how many shares it would have to issue in order to run the company for another year (at the same burn rate).

PuriflOH has a market capitalisation of AU$69m and burnt through AU$4.0m last year, which is 5.8% of the company's market value. That's a low proportion, so we figure the company would be able to raise more cash to fund growth, with a little dilution, or even to simply borrow some money.

How Risky Is PuriflOH's Cash Burn Situation?

Even though its cash runway makes us a little nervous, we are compelled to mention that we thought PuriflOH's cash burn relative to its market cap was relatively promising. Looking at the factors mentioned in this short report, we do think that its cash burn is a bit risky, and it does make us slightly nervous about the stock. Taking a deeper dive, we've spotted 4 warning signs for PuriflOH you should be aware of, and 1 of them is a bit concerning.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies, and this list of stocks growth stocks (according to analyst forecasts)

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.
His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa was congratulated by US President Donald Trump on the signing of the Peace Declaration between Bahrain and Israel.

President Trump expressed his thanks and appreciation to HM the King, hailing Bahrains efforts to reach this agreement, said a Bahrain News Agency report.

In a phone call to HM the King, President Trump praised Bahrains peace path, which will encourage all to engage in the peace process, thus ensuring security, stability and prosperity for all countries and peoples in the region.

HM the King said that peace represents a strategic option for Bahrain, stressing the Kingdom's vision, which advocates understanding, dialogue, cooperation, coexistence and rapprochement between all peoples and cultures, beyond all tensions.

HM the King thanked the US President, commending his efforts to broker these agreements, pushing the peace momentum forward in the Middle East towards a more prosperous and stable future.
Courtesy photo

The Texas Department of Agriculture has designated the entire month of October as TEXAS WINE MONTH. October 2020 will be unlike any other prior month of celebrating Texas Wines. The TABC has literally shut down most of the 400-plus wineries in Texas that do not serve food. Wineries without food service are teaming up with Food Trucks to provide a means for Texas Wineries to serve food and qualify for the TABC Food exemption in order to serve wine along with the foods provided by the Food Trucks. Wineries like Bernhardt Winery, Messina Hof Winery and West Sandy Creek Winery are now open with the food exemption AND must limit the number of visitors on their premises at one time. As a result, winery reservations are a MUST to ensure you can access the winery grounds with the limitations in place as ordered by the Texas Governor.

October will be an interesting month with three of the eighteen Texas Wine Trails actually hosting wine trail events. The other 15 wine trails are leaving it to the discretion of each wine trail member as to events on their premises. Texas wine trails include:
During an official visit of the President of Ukraine to the Republic of Austria, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba addressed the permanent representatives of EU participating States of the OSCE, noting that, despite the provocations, Ukraine continues to adhere to the ceasefire.

According to the press service of the Foreign Ministry, the minister stressed that the OSCE SMM should have full and unhindered access to any area in the conflict zone, including the temporarily uncontrolled section of the Russian-Ukrainian state border.

Of course, in the conflict settlement process, the OSCE should be impartial to the parties to the conflict - Russia and Ukraine. At the same time, a proactive OSCE, which comprehensively contributes to the establishment of peace and the de-occupation of our territories, meets the interests of all," Kuleba said.

He reported on Russias violation of the ceasefire on September 6, which resulted in the death of one Ukrainian soldier and the injury of another one.

Kuleba noted that, despite the provocations, Ukraine insists on the importance of further adherence to a sustainable and comprehensive ceasefire regime.

As Ukrinform reported, a full and comprehensive ceasefire in Donbas was established on July 27, 2020. At the same time, on September 6, the armed formations of the Russian Federation opened aimed fire from small arms at Ukrainian positions near Prychepylivka in Luhansk region. As a result of the shelling, one Ukrainian serviceman was killed.

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They are identified in court documents only as X and Y -- two mystery witnesses Delhi Police claim have come forward to depose against activists Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita and Umar Khalid, who have been charged with involvement in the February communal riots in the Capitals north-east district.

X and Y, now in protective custody, made statements before metropolitan magistrate Fahad Uddin last month, claiming they were part of protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, or CAA, alongside Pinjra Tod (Break the Cage, a collective of women students) members and Jawaharlal Nehru University students Narwal and Kalita.

A statement made before a judge is admissible evidence during trial, and the testimony of X and Y could form the mainstay of the states case against Narwal, Kalita and Khalid if the witnesses dont turn hostile.

Kalita and Narwal were arrested on May 24 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or UAPA, an anti-terror law, for alleged involvement in the late February Delhi riots, which started as a clash between anti-CAA and pro-CAA protestors before becoming a full-blown communal riot. They have both denied involvement in the riots, which left 53 people dead and around 400 injured.

Also read: Delhi Police file charge sheet in riots conspiracy against 15 accused

Police have charged at least 11 persons for orchestrating the riots, which include former AAP leader Tahir Hussain, and student activists Safoora Zargar and Meeran Haider.

Khalid, a former JNU student leader, was arrested on Sunday night under UAPA. He, too, has denied involvement; and his lawyer has told the court. While Narwal and Kalita have been charged, Khalid is yet to be named in the charge sheet.

Delhi Police has so far filed over 200 charge sheets in the riots case, identifying at least 21 people who allegedly conspired and orchestrated the violence. On Wednesday, it filed another charge sheet, naming 15 accused, including Pinjra Tod members Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita and politician Tahir Hussain.

A statement of one of the accused persons arrested in the riots, which was attached in the charge sheet had the names of political leaders and academicians such as Sitaram Yechury and Yogendra Yadav, Apoorvanand and Jayati Ghosh, and has become controversial although police say they have not been charged or named as accused.

At the same time, several people -- including politicians, civil society members and former IPS officers -- have criticised the police for the lack of police action against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kapil Mishra, who was seen giving an inflammatory speech in north-east Delhi a day before the violence broke out on February 24.

Mishra, who denies all charges, on Monday released a video congratulating the police for arresting Khalid and people like him, and likened the riots with the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

According to court papers seen by HT, Delhi Police found X and Y during their investigation of the riots and the two agreed to testify as witnesses for the state; they claimed to have observed Narwal, Kalita and Khalid closely during the alleged planning of the riots at the anti-CAA protest sites since January. .

On August 14, the police approached the metropolitan magistrate at Karkardooma court requesting that the two main witnesses be placed in protective custody because they feared for their lives after making the statements against the three activists. In their application before the court, the police said that the two persons were witnesses to the planning of the riots.

The police also attached to the application the cell phone locations of the two witnesses and matched them with those of Narwal, Kalita and Khalid to claim that X and Y had been at the same places in north-east Delhi as the three activists at different times since January.

They used code words within their group members to convey secret messages regarding further line of their protest/riot in front of common people. They also gave hate speeches at Jafrabad Metro Station and continuously were present there till last, read the polices submission on the three accused, quoting one of the witnesses.

According to the police, the second witness, Y, said that in the last week of January, Khalid held a private meeting at the anti-CAA protesters makeshift office near the old bus stand in Seelampur during which he allegedly said speeches were not sufficient now because the government was against Muslims.

Police have quoted Khalids alleged words: Khoon bahana padega aise nahi chalega chakka jaam hi aakhri rasta hai hame sarkar ko ghutno ke bal laana hi hoga sanghiyon ki sarkar aise nahi maanegi. (Blood must be spilled. Road blockade is the last resort. We have to bring the government on its knees or else this right-wing government will not understand.)

HT contacted the lawyers of Kalita, Narwal and Khalid for their responses. Kalita and Narwals counsel refused to make comments and said they would respond before the court. Khalids counsel did not respond until Wednesday night.

Also read: Delhi Police targeting CAA-NRC critics, says Umar Khalid in video recorded before arrest

The statement of the two witnesses may be admissible evidence, but the context and the meaning of the words allegedly used by Khalid and the veracity of the two witnesses can be contested during trial.

Khalids arrest has also been criticised by politicians, activists and academicians as an attempt to muzzle anti-government voices.

Advocate and social activist Prashant Bhushan on Wednesday said, It is a conspiracy to let off those against whom unimpeachable evidence is available to show their involvement in these riots.

Nine retired Indian Police Service officers on Monday wrote to Delhis police commissioner SN Srivastava, saying they were pained at the police implicating anti-CAA protesters while letting off the hook all those who instigated violence and are associated by the ruling party. Though the letter did not mention any names, BJP leaders Anurag Thakur and Parvesh Verma were criticised at the time for speeches and slogans ahead of the Delhi elections in February.

Khalids counsel Trideep Pais told the court on Monday that his client was against the Citizenship Amendment Act; he was unashamed of this fact, was not in Delhi at the time of the riots, and was not involved in any violence, the lawyer added.

Narwal and Kalita have also told the court before that although they were prominent voices of the anti-CAA protests, the polices allegations that they orchestrated the violence were false. Their counsel also told the court in case hearings that police did not possess any video or audio recording in which they are heard inciting violence.

Delhi police officers did not offer to comment about the two witnesses. Senior police officers, who are authorised to be quoted, said they have already made their submission in court.

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President Donald Trump angrily slammed The Atlantic's report that said he called dead American soldiers 'losers' and 'suckers' after a voter at ABC News' Tuesday night town hall asked how he'd win back military support.

'It's easy,' he declared. 'Because I never made those statements. They were never made by me.'

The president also gave new information about one of the most memorable anecdotes from the piece - which claimed he skipped visiting an American cemetery in France because he didn't want to get his hair wet.

'I wanted to go anyway. I said let me just go separately in a car in disguise, I don't care. I wanted to be there so badly,' Trump went on. 'But the statements never happened. They were lies.'

President Donald Trump angrily slammed The Atlantic's report that said he called dead American soldiers 'losers' and 'suckers' and told a town hall audience he didn't need to build back support of military members 'because I never made those statements'

Alexandra Stehman asked Trump about the comments he reportedly made about American war dead and servicemembers, along with things he's said publicly about the late Sen. John McCain

Trump said his feelings about the late Sen. John McCain (left) were well known, while also blasting his former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis (right), saying Mattis was among the 'disgruntled former employees' who lied about him

The president tried to suggest it was a Democratic conspiracy.

'This magazine came up. They made up this quote. It was a made up quote and you know, the gloves are off with Biden - who I've never respected greatly - I've never respected him greatly,' Trump said, inserting the name of his Democratic opponent.

He asked the woman who posed the question, a Pennsylvania voter named Alexandra Stehman, 'Do you know what disinformation is?'

'That's what it was. They made up a phony quote, and then they went with it. It was a phony deal. And then one who started it was a big friend of President Obama and Clinton,' Trump continued. 'And it was a phony deal from a very - not very successful magazine.'

Trump added that both '25 people' and also '26 people' vouched for him.

When moderator George Stephanopoulos pointed out that former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly didn't come to Trump's defense after the article was published, Trump referred to them as 'people that I let go.'

'These are disgruntled former employees,' Trump said.

Stehman had also asked Trump about previous statements he's made about the late Sen. John McCain, which the president admitted to doing.

'As far as John McCain, I was never a fan of John McCain. I never thought he treated our vets well, he didnt do the job,' Trump said. 'I was never a fan of his. But - and I think that's fine and everybody knows that, and I said it to his face.'

The president then pointed to the peace deals the U.S. brokered as part of his commitment to get the country out of endless wars.

'You know, I go to Dover and I greet, oftentimes, soldiers coming in, and they're dead,' Trump said. 'And there's no sadder thing than to sit with a widow or a mother, and watch these big massive cargo planes, and that back opens up and these incredible Marines are walking off a casket and they were killed in the Middle East.'

'And in many ways nobody even knows why,' Trump said.

He called going into the Middle East the country's 'worst decision.'

'And, by the way, Iraq did not - you know, Saddam Hussein did not knock down the World Trade Center, in case you don't know and I'm sure you do know that,' the president said.

The president turned his attention back to Mattis before the end of his rant.

Mattis had been a source for journalist Bob Woodward's new book that came out this week.

Trump suggested that had Mattis remained at the Pentagon there would be no peace deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

'A guy like Jim Mattis could have never done it because they were all doing it the old-fashioned way,' Trump said. 'They were going in the wrong outlets and the wrong doors.'
The trial of Swiss photographer Marc Progin has been watched closely both in mainland China and Europe

A Swiss photographer who closed a door on a Chinese mainlander moments before he was assaulted during last year's Hong Kong democracy protests should not be held responsible for the attack, his lawyers argued Wednesday.

Marc Progin, a long-time Hong Kong resident, is facing up to a year in jail for "aiding and abetting public disorder" over the incident in which JP Morgan employee Lin Nan was punched.

Footage of Progin closing the door moments before a masked man assaulted Lin went viral and caused widespread anger in mainland China.

As his trial wrapped up on Wednesday both the defence and prosecution gave closing arguments in a case which has been watched closely both in mainland China and Europe.

Prosecutors said Progin, 75, deliberately shut a door leading to JP Morgan's regional headquarters as an argument broke out between a crowd of pro-democracy supporters and Lin last October.

They argued his actions effectively enabled the assault on Lin and that Progin therefore took part in the unfolding public disorder.

Defence lawyers said Progin was simply doing his job and that he closed the door to get a better angle to capture the argument through his lens.

Defence counsel Michael Delaney said Progin had no intention to "stop, block or obstruct" Lin and that the behaviour of the crowd had nothing to do with Progin.

Lin testified that he felt frightened as the crowd shouted at him and that their "facial expression and body language were offensive", and that he did not believe Progin was there taking photographs.

But the defence argued that Lin was not frightened and his action to stop, turn around and chant: "We are all Chinese" had "incited the mood of the crowd".

They submitted photographs Progin took during the incident in a bid to show he was a working professional and not a member of the protest crowd.

The court heard Progin moved to Hong Kong in 1976 and forged a career as a watchmaker, frequently travelling in the region, including inside China.

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After retirement he became an adventurer and photographer with multiple exhibitions, particularly on the nomadic cultures of Mongolia.

When protests swept through Hong Kong last year he often picked up his camera to document the crisis.

Lin moved to Hong Kong in 2008 and was working as a client consultant with JP Morgan at the time of the incident.

His attacker has yet to be arrested.

The trial magistrate is expected to deliver a verdict on November 13.

Hong Kong was rocked by seven months of pro-democracy protests last year, upending the business hub's reputation for safety and stability.

Millions of residents peacefully hit the streets as anger towards Beijing's rule exploded, with clashes between more hardcore protesters and police becoming a near daily occurrence.

Vicious street fights also routinely broke out between people on opposing sides of the political divide.

Mandarin-speaking Chinese mainlanders sometimes face hostility and abuse from Cantonese-speaking Hong Kongers, a trend that has increased as Beijing ramps up control over the financial hub.

Authorities have arrested more than 10,000 people and brought multiple prosecutions against leading pro-democracy figures.

Beijing also imposed a draconian national security law on Hong Kong in late June, describing it as a "sword" that would now hang over the heads of its critics.

yan-jta/rma
Geneva (Human Rights Council) 16 September 2020 (SPS)- American Association of Jurists Representative in Geneva, Mr. Gianfranco Fattorini, called on the UN Human Rights Council, on behalf of a group of 240 organisation, to implement a programme of technical cooperation and capacity building with the legal representative of the people of Western Sahara, the Polisario Front.

In an Oral Statement he delivered before the Council last Monday, Mr. Fattorini, speaking on behalf of the NGOs Geneva Support Group for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in Western Sahara (NGOs-GSGPPHRWS), expressed the groups deepest concern about the persistent silencing of the Office concerning the breaches to International Humanitarian Law and the serious systematic violations of Human Rights in the Occupied Territory of Western Sahara.

He regretted that while the Kingdom of Morocco is considered to be the third country in Africa for the number of Covid-19 victims, no reliable information is available about the situation in the Occupied Territory of Western Sahara.

To remedy to this abnormal situation, the group of NGOs called on the Human Rigths High-Commissioner, Ms. Michelle Bachelt, to resume, without delay, the technical missions to Western Sahara initiated in 2015 (at least eastern of the Berm) and the Sahrawi refugees camps.

The group further called on her to implement the commitments made by the Office at the World Humanitarian Summit, in particular by publicly condemning serious violations of International Humanitarian Law and serious and systematic human rights violations and by reporting on the impact of the frozen conflict on Sahrawi human rights defenders and journalists in view of ensuring the enjoyment of human rights.

It should be recalled that the UN Human Rights Council only dispatched two technical visits to Western Sahara, the first in 2006 the second in 2015. Surprisingly enough, the reports of both missions were put under Embargo to this date. (SPS)

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BERLIN, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- A vaccine against the novel coronavirus would not be widely available before the middle of next year, Germany's Minister of Education and Research Anja Karliczek said on Tuesday.

"We are still not at the finish line with the vaccine development, a lot can still happen in the next few weeks," said Karliczek during a press conference. She also stressed the importance of confirming the safety of a vaccine.

Safety had "absolute priority," stressed Karliczek. A vaccine could only be used if the proven benefit was significantly higher than the potential risks.

The German government had launched a special funding program to accelerate research and development of a COVID-19 vaccine with up to 750 million euros (892 million U.S. dollars). The details about the funding had already been finalized with two of the German companies, according to Karliczek.

German pharmaceutical company BioNTech, which is working together with U.S. company Pfizer on the development of a COVID-19 vaccine, would receive 375 million euros, while the biotech company CureVac would get 230 million euros in funding, according to Karliczek.

IDT Biologika was the third company to be funded by the German government, but talks about the funding were still ongoing, according to Karliczek.

To date, the World Health Organization (WHO) has registered around 180 vaccines that are in development, including 35 in human trials.

At a virtual briefing on Aug. 6, Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO's Health Emergencies Program, said that six COVID-19 vaccine candidates, including three from China, had entered phase-3 trials.
MOSCOW, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Three senior executives of Sheremetyevo International Airport have been named to Kommersant's 21st annual list of the Top-1000 Russian Managers. The list was developed by Kommersant Publishing House, which engaged the Association of Managers to make the selections.

Alexander Ponomarenko, Chairman of the Board of Directors of JSC SIA, was named as one of the 46 top business leaders of Russia. Director General of JSC SIA Mikhail Vasilenko was ranked first among top managers in the transport category, and Public Relations Director Anna Zakharenkova was ranked second among directors of public and corporate relations in the transport sector.

Over the past 20 years, A.A. Ponomarenko has established himself as an effective strategic investor in the Russian transport industry, combining efficiency in business strategy and a strong focus on social responsibility with skillful execution to advance the country's transport strategy. He joined the Board of Directors of JSC SIA in 2015 and has been its chairman since 2016.

Mr. Vasilenko was named Director General of JSC SIA in 2005. He was awarded the Order of Honor by Decree of the President of Russia in 2010 and the Order of Friendship in 2019.

Ms. Zakharenkova has been managing public relations at Sheremetyevo International Airport for more than 15 years.

Sheremetyevo Airport achieved outstanding results in both its operations and the development of infrastructure in 2019, when it served 49.9 million passengers, an 8.9% increase over 2018. There were 386,370 takeoff and landing operations in 2019, an increase of 8.2%. Sheremetyevo served 49% of the total passenger traffic and provided 49.4% of the takeoff and landing operations of the Moscow aviation hub during the year. International industry agencies OAG and Cirium recognized Sheremetyevo airport as the most punctual airport among the world's largest airports.

In 2019, Sheremetyevo completed a number of large-scale investment projects: an international passenger Terminal C, designed for 20 million passengers annually, an apron of Terminal C, an apron of the ASTC (Aviation Science and Technology Center). It also commissioned the third runway (RWY-3). The throughput capacity of the airport complex, taking into account the commissioning of Terminal C, has reached 80 million passengers per year.

The development of infrastructure and the improvement of the quality of service have become the foundation for attracting and expanding cooperation with the largest air carriers. In 2019, Sheremetyevo welcomed Brussels Airlines, Vietnam Airlines, Belavia and Turkish Airlines Cargo, and opened routes to 19 new destinations.

At the end of 2019, Sheremetyevo Airport won a number of prestigious national and international awards and ratings, including the best in terms of service quality in the category of the largest airports in Europe with a passenger traffic of more than 40 million passengers per year according to the ASQ ACI program; and the best airport in the world according to the global study by the British company Stasher.

Sheremetyevo International Airport is among the TOP-10 airport hubs in Europe, the largest Russian airport in terms of passenger and cargo traffic. The route network comprises more than 230 destinations. In 2019, the airport served 49 million 933 thousand passengers, which is 8.9% more than in 2018. Sheremetyevo is the best airport in terms of the quality of services in Europe, the absolute world leader in punctuality of flights, the owner of the highest 5-star Skytrax rating. You can find additional information at http://www.svo.aero.

SOURCE Sheremetyevo International Airport

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The Countess of Wessex has become the first member of the royal family to sit for a sculptor while the process was streamed live on the internet - to raise awareness about the blind and partially sighted.

Sophie Wessex, 55, who lives at Bagshot Park, in Surrey, sat earlier today for the acclaimed Leeds-born artist Frances Segelman who created a bust of the Countess.

The royal, who is married to Prince Edward, 56, wore her blonde wavy locks in a low bun while the artist sculpted the intricate details of her face.

The creation of the bust was filmed and streamed online and the mother of two - to Lady Louise Windsor, 16, and 12-year-old James, Viscount Severn - was seen wearing a beautiful patterned A-Line dress.

The Countess of Wessex, 55, who lives in Surrey, sat patiently as sculptor Franes Segelman created the bust and carved out the intricate details of the royal's face

The sculpting process, done by the Leeds-born artist, was live streamed online for people to watch, something never before done by a member of the royal family

Once it is complete, the tactile piece of art will be unveiled next year and will allow blind and partially sighted people the chance to feel the Countess of Wessex's likeness

Once complete, the piece of tactile art will be unveiled in 2021 to mark The Vision Foundation's centenary and will allow blind and partially sighted people to feel Sophie's likeness.

After the sculpture session Sophie, who is patron of charity Vision Foundation, spoke of the challenges faced during the Covid-19 pandemic by those who are unable to see.

She said: 'For the blind and partially sighted amongst us, these past months have been especially challenging.

'However, through the care that the Vision Foundation has extended to those in difficulty, I am hopeful that the people we care for will feel empowered within their communities.'

The creation of the bust was filmed and streamed online and the mother of two - to Lady Louise Windsor, 16, and 12-year-old James, Viscount Severn - was seen wearing a beautiful patterned A-Line dress

In order to ensure she got every single part of her face correct, the artist asked the Countess to move position in order to see different angles

The countess added: 'Thank you to Frances for sculpting my face today.

'This sculpture, and the faces of many others, will allow the blind and partially sighted to see through touch and so to more vividly imagine their world.

'Whether you are a long-time supporter or friend of the Vision Foundation, or you are new to us, thank you for your vital support, and I would encourage you all to speak to the Foundation team to find out more about our work and explore how you can play a part in bringing the world to within closer reach for those who struggle to see it.'

The sculptor, who is also Lady Petchey, is well known for her busts of royalty and celebrities and completed a bronze bust of the Queen in 2008.

After the sculpture session Sophie, who is patron of charity Vision Foundation, spoke of the challenges faced during the Covid-19 pandemic by those who are unable to see

Describing the sitting with the Queen she said: 'She's a very special person. She came in the room and she was so calm and so poised and so willing to change her tiara, to change the jewellery, to try different things on and she seems so ordinary.

'She was sitting on a slightly higher area than I was sculpting so I had to measure her with calipers so I was going backwards and forwards from her hair. I was so nervous, you know, I was touching the Queen!'

She also completed sculptures of the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince of Wales, Duke of Cambridge, The Princess Royal and the Duke of Kent.

Sophie has been Vision Foundation's patron since 2003, supporting the charity which funds and support projects that involve and empower blind and partially sighted people.

The Countess of Wessex, Prince Edward's wife, thanked Frances for sculpting her face which will allow the blind and partially sighted to see through touch and as a result envisage the world around them a little more

While the Countess is the first royal to be sculpted during a live stream, other members are familiar with the experience - even having Frances, who is also Lady Petchey, complete busts of them

Olivia Curno, chief executive of the charity, said it exists to work towards changing public attitudes.

She added: 'Covid has been a major challenge. Many have been frightened for their own futures. We have lobbied the Government to make the blind and partially sighted a priority for things like shopping lists during he lockdown.'

YouTuber and freelance BBC broadcaster Lucy Edwards said: 'Covid has slowed my work down a bit as I haven't been able to get into London. But I've been busy on TikTok and had eight million people tuning in.'

The Vision Foundation advocate added: 'It is a critical issue. In the months to come we cannot socially distance. My guide dog is nearing retirement and that brings more anxiety.

Frances also completed a bronze bust of the Queen in 2008, and described her as a 'very special person' who was 'so calm and so poised'. She also said the Queen seemed 'so ordinary'

The sculptor has also completed sculptures of the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince of Wales, Duke of Cambridge, The Princess Royal and the Duke of Kent. It is hoped the new bust will work towards changing public attitudes

'So I am just a bit apprehensive. We are capable, amazing human beings and we are here to be counted.'

Sophie's appearance today comes after she boarded a helicopter when marking the 21st anniversary of Thames Valley Air Ambulance (TVAA) during a royal visit.

The royal, who is the patron of the TVAA and toured an airfield in Berkshire, met a crew and was shown advanced medical equipment on board their chopper earlier this month.

Sophie has been Vision Foundation's patron since 2003, supporting the charity which funds and support projects that involve and empower blind and partially sighted people

The charity is of great significance to Sophie - who lost her first baby in December 2001 - because she was airlifted to hospital by a Thames Valley helicopter following her potentially life-threatening ectopic pregnancy.

Discovering the baby had developed outside the womb, the royal underwent a two-and-a-half-hour operation, during which surgeons removed the foetus from her Fallopian tube.

Sophie, who had been some six weeks pregnant, was said to be tearful and 'unbelievably sad' at the time.
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Linkedin Budi Sutrisno (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, September 16, 2020 16:42 492 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c4529f27 1 National Papua,Veronica-Koman,LPDP-scholarship,finance-ministry Free

Papua residents have raised more than Rp 773.8 million (US$51,900) to pay for the government-sponsored scholarship funding received by Indonesian human rights lawyer Veronica Koman, who was recently asked to return the funds amid her advocacy for Papuans.

Ambrosius Mulait, a former political prisoner and a member of a group of Papuan people called the Ebamukai Solidarity Team, symbolically returned the money to the Finance Ministrys Endowment Fund for Education (LPDP) on Wednesday afternoon.

Along with the money, the group symbolically returned an Indonesian flag, a copy of the West Papuan Special Autonomy Law, and a sum of Rp 1 million in small notes.

He visited the LPDP's office in Central Jakarta with another former political prisoner, Dano Tabuni, while wearing traditional Papuan attire. The office, however, closed the doors to them.

The funds collected through voluntary donations from the Papuan people and from outside Papua since August have met the demand of the government, Ambrosius told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

The solidarity team had previously sent a letter to the Finance Ministry, he said.

We will hand over [the funds] symbolically in the form of around Rp 3 million. The remaining funds will be transferred, he said.

Read also: Groups initiate fundraiser to support Veronica Koman following demand to return her scholarship money

The fundraising efforts had taken place in several areas in Papua, including Jayapura, Nabire, Dogiyai and Wamena, where donors gathered in person, Ambrosius said.

Some photos made the rounds on social media showing Papua residents sitting in an open field with donated banknotes scattered on a mat.

He said Papuans from other regions and communities outside the province also helped contribute to the solidarity action, with many of them transferring money to the team. Each of them had donated from Rp 50,000 to Rp 2 million, he said.

However, the solidarity action in some areas did not go as smoothly as in other places, Ambrosius said. Papuan donors in Jayapura and Nabire were disbanded by the authorities, while the solidarity action in Dogiyai and Wamena went well, he said.

Ambrosius said the Papuan people felt the need to help Veronica because of her continuous efforts in advocating for human rights issues and fighting against injustices in Papua.

We have big concerns and care for Veronica. She is an Indonesian who gives a voice to Papua and has made a big contribution, he said.

Separately, Veronica said she was moved and grateful for the action carried out by the Papuan solidarity team and felt that her struggle was appreciated.

Read also: One year on, Tapol reports 61 deaths, 1,013 arrests during Papuan antiracism rallies

I want everyone to remember that it means that my education is not financed by the Indonesian government but by the Papuan people, Veronica told the Post.

The Indonesian government asked Veronica to return scholarship money totaling Rp 773.8 million she received in September 2016 for her masters degree in law at the Australian National University.

The LPDP stated that the request was made because Veronica had failed to return home to Indonesia after her study, as required for scholarship awardees.

Veronica refuted the claims, saying that she returned to Indonesia to join the Jayapura-based Human Rights Lawyers Association for Papua (PAHAM Papua) in 2018 and she also gave pro-bono legal services to Papuan activists in three separate trials in Timika, Papua, from April to May 2019.

However, the LPDP claimed that Veronica had not yet graduated when she returned to the country.

Veronicas lawyer Michael Himan, who also accompanied Ambrosius and Dano to visit the LPDP's office on Wednesday, said earlier that Veronica had paid back Rp 64.5 million out of her own money but he hoped the fundraising could pay off the remaining funds demanded.
Rada puts cap on microloan debt recovery

13:10, 16.09.20 23232

The draft law also requires the borrower's consent to the transfer of information to the credit bureau for the conclusion of a loan agreement.
Here are some facts that most of the media, scientists, entertainers, and other Democrats choose to ignore as they indoctrinate the public, especially the children, about "science":

Environmentalists and politicians have mismanaged forests for decades in California and elsewhere. They won't clear cut, clear out brush and leaves, allow logging, or build in firebreaks. It leaves the area much more vulnerable to heat, lightning, wind, and accidental or intentional fires to combust wildly. The fires are clearly not caused by oil use.

The Earth has had many lengthy warming and cooling periods throughout its history, long before humans and oil use could have had any effect.

Floods, storms, and droughts have been extensive throughout the Earth's history. How else would it be covered with so many deserts and so many deep seas?

The English Channel was formed around 400,000 years ago because of massive floods.

The Sahara Desert used to be lush and green before it became a desert around 9,000 years ago. It has essentially been in a 9,000-year drought.

California has had decades-long severe droughts before man or petroleum use could have had any effect. That is why it is covered by so much desert.

A little ice age ended around 1850. Common sense says the Earth would warm naturally after a little ice age. The Earth has warmed only one or two degrees after the ice age ended. We essentially have had a flat line for 170 years with lengthy periods of cooling included.

During this 170-year period, weather stations, which measure temperature, have been moved from rural, cooler, shadier, grassier areas to cement and blacktop urban areas, which would obviously be warmer and have nothing to do with oil use.

Meanwhile, in 1850, crude oil use was effectively zero, and today it is between 90 and 100 million barrels per day, so we have had exponential growth. The Earth's population in 1850 was around 1.2 billion, and today it is around 7.8 billion, so it has risen 500%. Clearly, there is no correlation between oil use and population growth and temperatures, which fluctuate and are relatively flat.

Tornadic activity, hurricane activity, droughts, and floods also fluctuate wildly from year to year and decade to decade, so there is no correlation between storms and oil use and human populations.

In 1922, the Washington Post ran a story from the AP that stated that the Earth was warming rapidly, ice caps would soon be gone, coastal cities would soon disappear because of rapidly rising oceans, and oceans were dying. These dire forecasts were 100% wrong.

In 1970, after over 100 years of exponential growth in oil use, massive population growth, rapid urbanization and industrialization, and the advent of cars and airplanes, the public was treated to dire warnings on the first Earth Day that the Earth and people were in great danger of death and starvation due to a rapidly cooling Earth. The fear-mongering was 100% wrong.

Now, how could the Earth ever be cooling rapidly if oil use, humans and rising CO2 caused catastrophic warming? The answer is there is no scientific correlation.

In 1989, the U.N. was back to their dire warnings, essentially the same as 1922, that we only had a few years left to solve the warming problem. Computer modeling is used to scare people instead of scientific data. Again, the warnings were 100% wrong. They are just made up as always. The government is greedy for money and power.

In 2019, the U.N. was again back with the same dire warnings from 1922 and 1989, and we again have very few years left. Almost all journalists and other Democrats just repeat these made up forecasts with no questions asking for data while they promote versions of the destructive Green New Deal.

Trump and people like me, who point out truthfully that the climate has always changed cyclically and naturally, are disparaged by lying and calling us deniers, anti-science, and stupid. They say the science is settled because they would get their clock cleaned in a debate on facts.

All journalists, scientists, Biden, Gore, Newsom, Pelosi, AOC, Leo, Sanders, and others should be asked for one scientific piece of data that shows a correlation between oil use and temperatures before they intentionally destroy the economy. Hint: There is none, but no one cares. All these people care about is government power over our lives by radical leftists. They want massive amounts of money to pretend they can control the climate forever. It is sad that anyone believes them.

The indoctrination of children on many subjects is much more dangerous to America's survival as a great country than anything Russia, China, or Iran is doing to us. They should be taught to question everything and do research. Instead, they are taught to repeat talking points.

Most journalists and other Democrats are clearly the party of fear, not science.

Image credit: Pixabay public domain.
GODFREY  Resurrection Lutheran Church in Godfrey, a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, participated in the nationwide Gods Work, Our Hands project on Sunday, Sept. 13.

The church chose to build upon the book club that it began in August and raised enough money to support kindergarten teacher Cary Cappels class in the Books for Kids program. The progrm provides every student in Cappels kindergarten class with a book each month for the entire school year.
From October, the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) and the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) will begin to implement the harmonisation of their activities that are similar in a bid to eliminate existing overlaps in their work and their attendant impact on industry.



The harmonisation will also help reduce the cost of regulatory approval and product certification for importers and manufacturers.



The FDA-GSA collaboration will ensure that local producers no longer have to go through two separate processes to obtain regulatory approval from the FDA and certification from the GSA.



By sharing data and clarifying test and inspection procedures, industry should expect lower overall charges and faster turnaround times, the Director General of the GSA, Prof. Alexander Dodoo, and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the FDA, Mrs Delese Mimi Darko, told the Daily Graphic in a joint interview in Accra yesterday.



Implementation



Streamlining the activities of the two institutions is expected to significantly reduce the cost of product registration and certification, as importers and manufacturers will not have to pay double for the similar product registration and certification services provided by the two institutions.



Mrs Darko and Prof. Dodoo said the decision had become necessary because upon the establishment of the FDA, the continuous certification of FDA-regulated products by the GSA duplicated some of the processes involved in the FDAs regulatory approval for products, which made industry complain of the burden of the duplicated processes on their cost and time of doing business in the country.



They said some industry players felt that since the processes for both requirements were similar, there was no need to acquire both.



This position taken by industry defeats the respective mandates of both institutions to protect public health and safety, as well as the facilitation of trade, they noted.



Prof. Dodoo said when their operations were fully harmonised, it would help clarify the respective mandates of the two agencies to improve ease of doing business in the country and help identify and streamline the complementary roles in the operations of the two institutions.



Aside from the benefit of the collaboration for importers and producers, Mrs Darko said, it would also benefit consumers significantly, since the cost of registration and certification was usually pushed onto the consumers.



Common platform



The two institutions are expected to roll out the road map to guide them to streamline their activities, beginning from next month.



Prof. Dodoo said the two agencies had agreed to streamline their processes to ease the acquisition of registration approval and certification.



The two agencies will expand their respective enforcement activities by relying on the enforcement-related data collected by one agency or the other to collect data on the presence of both the certification mark and the FDA number and share such data, he noted.



He said the two agencies would operate efficiently and optimally in adopting the approach and also create a common platform like the Single Window to manage the submission of documentation for processing.



To help local manufacturers gain maximum benefits from the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, he said, the two regulators had agreed that local industries that had complied with the two basic requirements  the regulatory approval by the FDA and certification by the GSA  could begin to effectively target export markets to sell their products.



It is envisaged that the GSA would rely on some data collected by the FDA for aspects of its registration process. This means that GSA charges for certification in those specific cases will have to be reviewed downwards to reduce the financial burden on industry, he said.



Industry optimistic



The CEO of the Private Enterprises Federation (PEF), Nana Osei Bonsu, told the Daily Graphic in an interview that the harmonisation was good for efficiency, and that would help private institutions save time and money.



I believe that such harmonisation between such institutions is good for the business community because, aside from the double cost involved, they also take a lot of production time and that is not efficient, he said.



The CEO of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), Mr Seth Twum-Akwaboah, also told the Daily Graphic: In the context of the streamlining of their activities, such that firms dont go to the two places for the same things, it is good for us as industry people.



He said the move, which had been on the table of the AGIs advocacy for a while now, was perfect because it would help industry avoid incurring two separate costs for the same activity.





Source: graphiconline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Fianna Fail TD Jim O'Callaghan has warned now is not the time to change leader after a party grandee called for Taoiseach Micheal Martin to be replaced.

Veteran TD Eamon O Cuiv said Fianna Fail needed a new leader after the party hit a record low rating of 10pc in a weekend opinion poll.

There was a mixed reaction to Mr O Cuiv's intervention yesterday, with some Fianna Fail ministers strongly criticising his comments as unhelpful in the midst of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the Brexit trade talks.

Mr O'Callaghan, who is considered one of the frontrunners to succeed Mr Martin and has been critical of his leader's decision-making in recent weeks, told the Irish Independent last night: "I always listen closely to Eamon O Cuiv, he has a very good understanding of the public and the Fianna Fail organisation.

Read More

"However, I don't agree that now is the time to change our leader. Our focus now should be on coherently communicating the Covid-19 plan and preparing for the Budget that will be announced in early October."

Mr O Cuiv told RTE Radio One's Today with Claire Byrne there was an "existential" threat to the party after the Red C/Business Post poll.

"I do think we need a new leader," he said. Asked who he thought it should be, he said: "I haven't a clue." But he added that the party needed a new direction.

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Europe Minister Thomas Byrne said Mr O Cuiv's intervention was a distraction and unnecessary. He said: "The Taoiseach needs to be able to focus on Brexit, Covid-19 and the Budget."

Another junior minister, Mary Butler, said: "In the context of the pandemic and the challenges facing the country at present, I was disappointed in Eamon's comments. Now is the time for all members of the parliamentary party to put their shoulder to the wheel and be as constructive as possible."

Disabilities Minister Anne Rabbitte said: "It's not helpful when we're facing into Brexit, when we've got a roadmap for Covid. Stability is what is required. His commentary is not helpful."

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Another minister privately said Mr O Cuiv's intervention on a day of major announcements around Covid-19 was "unhelpful". They added: "A leadership battle and possible general election is not what the country needs right now."

Fianna Fail TD Marc MacSharry, who was reported to have strongly criticised Mr Martin at a private parliamentary party meeting last week, said: "There are some matters that leaked out last week, but these are internal matters to be dealt with and hopefully they can be. I understand where Eamon is coming from and the frustration which drives his opinion."

Some TDs privately agreed with Mr O Cuiv, with one veteran deputy saying: "The problem is the party is heading for oblivion, you'd know it from going around speaking to people and people talking to us from two metres away.

"That's the general view, that we are heading for disaster. Your man (Mr Martin) is not popular, people have not taken to him as Taoiseach. Fianna Fail have no identity in government. If allowed to continue indefinitely it (the party) will disappear."

One TD said Mr Martin "has to go", claimed he is doing "very poorly" and that his performance when announcing the Government's Covid-19 plan yesterday morning is another example of that.

However, the TD said the situation was "too unstable" to change leadership now. They suggested there should be no challenge to Mr Martin's leadership until after Brexit takes place, while adding: "If there's more polls like we had on Sunday, his position will become untenable."

Another TD said there would be some support for Mr O Cuiv's view because there were "disaffected people in the party". However, they added that the focus must be delivering the Programme for Government and said: "I don't think the public would appreciate us navel-gazing as a party."

Another TD privately suggested that Mr O Cuiv's comments were motivated by old tensions with the Taoiseach. "They haven't seen eye to eye since he took over as leader in 2011. I'd prefer if he would let the man get on with the job," they said.

Fianna Fail backbencher, Cork South-West TD Christopher O'Sullivan, said he was focused on doing his work and not paying attention to the critics.

"I've only been around the parliamentary party since February and since then it's always the same two or three names coming out criticising or opposing, so from that point of view, I don't really pay much attention to it," he said.

Dublin North-West TD Paul McAuliffe said of Mr O Cuiv's remarks: "I think what he is saying is the party needs to establish its core message for people we want to attract. I don't disagree with any of it, to be fair."

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Mr McAuliffe said he did not agree with changing the leadership of the party at this time.

"No-one else is coming to save Fianna Fail, it will be up to us to rise to the challenge," he added.

"We've just elected a Taoiseach, is anyone seriously suggesting we need to change him now? We are in the position to change policy now, let's get on with it. It's time we get down to the job of actually governing the country. I'd be saying to people, 'get on with it'."

Asked about Mr O Cuiv's call for a new Fianna Fail leader, the Taoiseach said "this is about the nation", referring to the new Covid-19 plan that he launched yesterday.
By Michelle Fay Cortez | Bloomberg News (TNS)

Coronavirus is disproportionately killing minority children in the U.S., especially those with other underlying health conditions, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that shows how devastation from COVID-19 among Black and Hispanic adults has carried down to their offspring.

Children are much less likely than adults to contract coronavirus or fall seriously ill because of the infection, health records show, though vulnerability varies based on demographics.

Of the 190,000 deaths attributed to COVID-19 in the U.S., 121 of those who died by July 31 were under the age of 21, according to the CDCs Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Three of every 4 were of Hispanic, Black, American Indian or Alaskan descent, the agency said. Hispanics accounted for 45% of deaths overall, while Black people accounted for 29%.

Deaths were more common among males, particularly at the older end of the spectrum, with young adults age 18 to 20 accounting for nearly half, the agency found. The next highest risk was in infants under the age of 1. Underlying medical conditions were also common among the young patients, with 75% having at least one other health concern.

Nearly 40 deaths occurred at home or in the emergency department, a sign that necessary care may have been delayed for some. While younger patients are more likely to fully recover, complications including respiratory distress and multisystem inflammatory syndrome, a severe illness marked by fever, organ damage, and inflammation do occur, the agency said.

The findings are significant as schools across the U.S. reopen in some fashion, with many attempting a hybrid approach that allows some of the in-person learning thats crucial to childhood development, according to the agency. Parents, caregivers and children need clear, consistent and culturally appropriate information on how to avoid infection, as well as proper monitoring and ongoing care for those who do contract the virus, the CDC said.

Health departments, in collaboration with school districts and the communities they serve, can evaluate and improve health promotion, health access, and health equity for all infants, children, adolescents, and young adults, the agency said. Ultimately, health departments, health providers, and community partners can mobilize to remove systemic barriers that contribute to health disparities.

Minority children are disproportionately represented in families of essential workers who are often unable to do their jobs from home, which puts them at higher risk for exposure to the coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2, the CDC said. Parents and older members of the household who become infected could pass the virus to the children they live with, the agency said.

Disparities in social determinants of health, such as crowded living conditions, food and housing insecurity, wealth and educational gaps, and racial discrimination, likely contribute to racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 and MIS-C incidence and outcomes, according to the report.

The CDC said that the higher rates of adverse outcomes for minorities are also likely related to challenges in seeking care, including because of lack of insurance coverage, child care, transportation and paid sick leave.
If you are one of the 114,000 Ghanaians living in the UK* or the thousands of others living outside of Ghana that send money back to family or friends at home, you'll know that feeling connected with loved ones is so important right now. Especially as we face the challenges that COVID-19 brings to us both in the UK and in our home countries. It may be harder to travel to see loved ones and to share those key moments in their lives - but supporting them financially is a meaningful way of staying connected.

There are many ways of sending money back to Ghana. You could send via a bank, through physical money kiosks or through online money transfer websites and applications. In the UK, the use of digital transfer services such as Remitly has risen because of how quick, easy and convenient they are - not to mention the fact that you don't need to queue for hours at a time to send money physically, in this COVID-19 era.

If you are looking for a new way to send money home, read these top five tips from Jago McKenzie, Remittance Expert at Remitly. He shares how you can make sure you are getting the best deal and that your money makes its way to your loved ones in the most safe and secure way:

Find a digital service that makes it quick and easy for you: With an array of options for sending money digitally  from mobile wallets to applications  it's important to make sure that you find an option that makes your life easier and gets your money home quickly. With Remitly, your money can reach your family in minutes. The app is easy to download and quick to set up, so you can skip the long queues. Any self-serve app that lets you send money from your own home is the key to making your life easier when sending money overseas. Limit physical interaction as much as possible: We all know that COVID is still a major consideration for how we go about our daily lives. Although UK businesses are starting to operate as they did before lockdown restrictions, social distancing is still advised. This can be difficult to achieve in queues, so where possible, send your money digitally and stay safe. Make sure the money transfer service is safe and secure: You want to make sure that your money gets to the person intended, so the safety and security of your money is key. At Remitly, we use full data encryption, 'bank level' security, and fraud monitoring. Online money transfer services like Remitly also often outline the steps they are taking to protect your account and personal information so you can be sure that your money is safe. So, use a known and trusted provider that can give you the peace of mind that you need to ensure your money gets to where it needs to be. Find the right delivery option for you: We all need flexibility with our money transfers. More often than not, we want to send money quickly to a mobile wallet, but you might also want to use a bank deposit or cash pick up option when it is more convenient. Make sure you find a provider who can offer you plenty of alternatives for sending and receiving your money. If you're looking for peace of mind when sending money, Remitly's delivery promise gives customers the date and time your money will be received. If your transfer doesn't arrive on time, you get your fees back. Expect great customer service: Make sure the service you choose is set up and well known for providing customer service you need  someone you can reach and talk to if you need to ask any questions. Check out reviews on sites such as Trustpilot and the app stores before you choose your app.

With our lives slowly returning to normal and children returning to school in September, there are plenty of moments to celebrate with others. If you have family and friends in Ghana, the importance of transferring money to your loved ones so they can enjoy these times couldn't be more vital. Whether it's money to help them celebrate or for more practical reasons, you can make sure your money is delivered securely, quickly and conveniently by using trusted providers such as Remitly.
Norwegian Anders Behring Breivik gunned down 69 people at a youth camp on the island of Utoya, shortly after killing eight people in a bombing outside a government building in Oslo in 2011

Right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik, who murdered 77 people in Norway's worses peace-time killing in 2011, has applied for parole, his lawyer said Wednesday.

Breivik also plans to file a new lawsuit against the Norwegian state regarding his conditions in prison, where he is kept apart from other inmates, lawyer Oystein Storrvik said.

In July 2011, disguised as a police officer, Breivik tracked and gunned down 69 people, most of them teenagers, at a Labour Party youth camp on the island of Utoya, shortly after killing eight people in a bombing outside a government building in Oslo.

He was jailed in 2012 to Norway's then-harshest sentence, 21 years in prison which can be extended indefinitely.

"In his name I have sent in a request for parole," Storrvik told daily newspaper Verdens Gang.

"He has the right to a legal review for parole at the end of the minimum period, which is 10 years in his case. It's a right all convicts ... have and that he wants to exercise," he said.

The lawyer also said Breivik plans to file another lawsuit against Norway to protest against "such a long period of isolation" in prison.

Breivik has previously filed a lawsuit against the state over his prison conditions, which he said were in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights barring "inhumane" and "degrading" treatment.

After winning a partial legal victory in 2016, he has since been rebuffed by Norway's higher courts and the European Court of Human Rights.

In Skien prison, Breivik has three cells each measuring 10 square meters (107 square feet), with outdoor views outdoors, and he can exercise, play video games and watch television.

A support group for families of the victims contacted by AFP had no comment on his parole request.

phy/po/bp
Since the pandemic hit in March, San Francisco has put the pause on homeless encampment sweeps, in which authorities seize tents and belongings. But that didn't stop one company from conducting their own unsanctioned clearing of a homeless encampment behind a former Honda dealership on Market Street.

Non Plus Ultra, a luxury event company, did just that early on Thursday, Sept. 10, according to the San Francisco Public Press. The company is providing an event space for TechCrunchs Disrupt, a conference for tech startups that began yesterday and usually brings thousands of attendees into the city. This year, TechCrunch is screening the conference virtually, but the event space on Market Street is being used as a filming stage for the event.

The sweep displaced eight people who lost belongings ranging from stimulus and unemployment checks to an urn containing one person's fathers ashes, the SF Public Press reported. Two Facebook Live videos of the sweep show workers filling trucks with mattresses, tents, bicycles and bags. The San Francisco Police Department confirmed to SF Public Press that officers were sent to the scene, but did not speak with anyone present or file an incident report.

Non Plus Ultra told SF Public Press that the sweep was conducted because the tents were blocking the sidewalk at the back of the building and were causing a serious health, safety, and fire hazard. TechCrunch denies taking part in or requesting the sweep.

"Yesterday we were informed by Non Plus Ultra that a reporter had reached out to ask about a sweep that had taken place in the early hours of last Thursday morning before our team arrived. This was the first time we had heard about Non Plus Ultra having coordinated an unsanctioned sweep outside of their building," read a statement released on TechCrunch's website Wednesday evening. "This was not an action that we asked Non Plus Ultra to perform and is not something that we would ever ask them to do ... This is absolutely unacceptable, and were working to take immediate action. First, we will no longer be working with Non Plus Ultra at any of their venues in San Francisco for any TechCrunch event in the future."

The statement also noted that Non Plus Ultra had agreed to partner with Community Housing Partnership and DISH to support the homeless community on 12th Street, as well as set up a system to replace or return property to those affected by the sweep.

A lawyer who is investigating the case from the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights referred to the independent sweep as blatantly illegal.

Read more about what happened at the middle-of-the-night sweep and its aftermath here.

This story has been updated to include a new statement from TechCrunch.

Madeline Wells is an SFGATE reporter. Email: madeline.wells@sfgate.com | Twitter: @madwells22
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Soon enough there will be a global reckoning on whether the coronavirus defences did more damage than the disease.

It will be driven by the swingeing economic destruction imposed by governments that will deliver millions into poverty, driving internal and external conflicts. Beggared states will turn inward, the world will become more polarised, angrier, more dangerous.

In time it's a fair bet the cure will be seen by many as the real curse, as people whose lives have been destroyed seek retribution.

The COVID cure will be seen as worse than the disease, particularly in Victoria. Credit:

Though it will be a small wave in the storm, here the Victorian solution and internal border closures should be counted among those judged as doing much more harm than good. That's because there was abundant evidence by mid-year that pointed to more road maps to recovery than the "only way" decreed by the Victorian Premier or the self-interested, colonial-era border wars led by his peers.
File image

The landmark 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly has commenced amidst the devastating coronavirus pandemic, with the world leaders set to meet virtually for the first time in the UN's 75-year history for the annual high-level session as they confront some of the most serious threats facing humanity.

Turkish diplomat Volkan Bozkir assumed charge as the President of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly, succeeding Nigeria's Tijjani Muhammad-Bande.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected over 29 million people and killed more than 931,000 globally, the landmark 75th year of the UN will be marked like no other in the history of the world organisation.

Heads of states and governments, ministers and diplomats from UN member states will not gather in New York for the busiest time of the year in the world organisation's calendar due to the pandemic.

The world leaders will submit pre-recorded video statements for the high-level meetings and summits, the first time in the UN's history that the high-level week is being held largely virtually.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, addressing the opening of the UNGA session, said that the year will be a critical one in the life of the United Nations as countries must continue to respond to the immediate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic by strengthening health systems and supporting the development and equitable distribution of treatments and vaccines.

The last seven months have been extremely difficult for the people we serve, and for many of us, personally and professionally. The COVID-19 pandemic has cut a swathe through our lives and our communities. We are all dealing with high levels of uncertainty; right now, we are still in the middle of the fog, Guterres said.

The UN chief said that the extent of the pandemic, its social and economic impact, and its interaction with other global challenges and megatrends, is unknowable and our only hope is to respond with unity and solidarity, while supporting the most vulnerable.

Noting that a virtual participation at this year's UNGA session may mean that a record number of heads of states and governments take part in the high-level week, Guterres said that going online will undoubtedly create new challenges.

We will need to learn as we go and continue to demonstrate the greatest flexibility, he said.

UNGA President Bozkir, however, noted the importance of meeting in person, so long as health conditions allow, and affirmed his intention to convene face-to-face meetings as much as possible.

While taking mitigation measures needed to protect the health and safety of delegates and staff, he said that in the "business of diplomacy, there is no substitute to meeting counterparts face-to-face, to build long-term understanding of each other's positions and forge compromise.

Bozkir told the plenary that the general debate would be addressed by more heads of state than ever before, given that most will be able to send in pre-recorded video statements.

He asserted that two weeks of crucial high-level meetings, will guide our work for the session and expressed confidence that their impact will not be compromised by the circumstances.

The UN chief urged that nations must prepare to build a strong recovery, based on the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement.

The high-level meeting of the General Assembly to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the United Nations will take place on September 21. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to address the session through a pre-recorded statement on September 26, according to a provisional list of speakers issued by the UN.

The General Debate of the 75th session of the Assembly will commence from September 22 and run till September 29.

While US President Donald Trump may travel to New York to address the General Debate on the opening day, others will address the high-level week through pre-recorded video statements submitted to the UN in advance.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is listed as the first speaker for the General Debate. The US is traditionally the second speaker on the opening day of the General Debate and if Trump travels to New York, he would be delivering the final address of his presidency's first term in-person.

According to the provisional list of speakers, President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and French President Emmanuel Macron are expected to address the virtual General Debate on the opening day.

Along with the General Debate and 75th anniversary commemoration, key high-level sessions will also be held virtually at the UN.

The Summit on Biodiversity will be held on September 30, high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the 25th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women on October 1 and the high-level meeting to commemorate and promote the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons on October 2.

Member states will submit their pre-recorded video statements for these high-level meetings as well. Each country would be encouraged to observe the time limit of 15 minutes in the General Debate that would include remarks in the Assembly Hall to introduce the pre-recorded video and the video itself.
A Houston woman with apparent ties to wig and hair extension businesses faces federal charges that accuse her of fraudulently obtaining more than $1.9 million in loans meant to help small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Justice said .

Lola Shalewa Barbara Kasali, 22, made at least two fraudulent applications for forgivable loans under the Paycheck Protection Program, prosecutors said. Kasali, who is charged with is charged with making false statements to a financial institution, wire fraud, bank fraud and engaging in unlawful monetary transactions, is expected to make her initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Christina Bryan on Wednesday afternoon.
While San Francisco renters are currently protected from eviction if they cant pay rent due to a coronavirus-related issue, they are still vulnerable to so-called no-fault evictions  a less common tactic that occurs when a landlord decides to move into the property, do construction or demolish it altogether.

New legislation by Supervisor Dean Preston, which he introduced at Tuesdays Board of Supervisors meeting, would change that by barring landlords from executing a no-fault eviction until March 2021, regardless of how the tenant has been affected by the pandemic.

We will do everything in our power to stop evictions during this pandemic, Preston said in a statement.

No-fault evictions were responsible for about 20% of the 1,442 eviction notices filed between March 2019 and Feb. 2020, according to an August report from the Residential Rent Stabilization and Arbitration Board. That includes 196 evictions for owner move-ins, 87 for capital improvements, 12 for condo conversions, eight for demolitions and one for substantial rehabilitation.

Evictions for other reasons, like a breach of a rental agreement, committing a nuisance and the Ellis Act  a state law that is generally used by landlords to change the use of the building  were far more common, according to the report. People may still be evicted if they violate the health and safety of others in the building, or through the Ellis Act.

Still, Preston said its important to keep as many people in their homes as possible during the pandemic. But critics say it is yet another attack on landlords, particularly small ones, who already might be missing income from rent payments due to city and state laws that protect tenants who cannot pay due to the pandemic.

Andrew Zacks, a landlord attorney in San Francisco, said Preston is behaving as if property owners are not even his constituents. He added that tenants are fully protected under state law, and property owners are being completely ignored and their rights are being trampled.

Janan New, executive director of the San Francisco Apartment Association, said this legislation would put a particular hardship on landlords who want to either move into their properties themselves or allow relatives to live there. She said many renters who are no longer tethered to the city because of their jobs are leaving, and San Francisco currently has a 20% vacancy rate.

A 20% vacancy rate doesnt warrant this type of legislation, she said. If you want to help the rental market, you should try to get more jobs into the city.

Prestons proposal is the latest in a string of legislation that attempts to protect tenants as the pandemic causes record unemployment and pushes more people toward poverty. Mayor London Breed, who supports protecting renters against no-fault evictions, first issued an eviction moratorium based on nonpayment of rent in April. That order, which eliminated late fees and interest and gave tenants more time to pay back their rent, is in effect until Sept. 30.

On the state level, Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed a law written by Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, that gives tenants a temporary reprieve on missed rent if they lost income due to the pandemic. If Prestons legislation passes, it would close a loophole in the state law, which does not cover those facing no-fault evictions.

Other cities in California can look to this proposal as an example of how to give renters greater protections in accordance with state law, Chiu said.

Under the state law, tenants are expected to pay a quarter of their total rent between September and January, with the rest becoming civil debt  unless there was a local ordinance with greater protections. For example, an existing ordinance in San Francisco covers renters until at least October.

If they cannot pay at least a quarter of the rent for those five months by Jan. 31, their landlords would be allowed to file to evict them starting in February.

While tenants-rights activists are pleased with the help, many worry the bevy of temporary solutions will not help people long term. The assemblyman said he wanted his law to be much broader and also cover no-fault evictions, but he said it was extremely watered down from its original version.

There was so much more that I wanted to see in that bill ... but we werent able to get it in, he said.

Meanwhile, Preston also passed a law this summer that permanently bars San Francisco landlords from evicting tenants if they could not pay rent due to coronavirus-related issues between April and September.

That legislation was challenged in San Francisco Supreme Court by Zacks, the landlord lawyer, on behalf of a group of real estate trade organizations. The measure was upheld in August. An appeal is pending.

Zacks is also questioning the legality of Prestons newest proposal based on language in the state law around whether new local ordinances can be enacted before Feb. 2021.

But Prestons office is confident that they are in the clear. The ordinance is co-sponsored by Supervisors Aaron Peskin, Matt Haney, Shamann Walton, Hillary Ronen and Rafael Mandelman.

Taking no fault evictions like these off the table is crucial to making sure tenants have secure and stable homes throughout and after the pandemic, Brad Hirn, a tenant organizer with the Housing Rights Committee, said in a statement.

Trisha Thadani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tthadani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TrishaThadani
MONTREAL, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - Cogeco Inc. (TSX: CGO) and Cogeco Communications Inc. (TSX: CCA) today released the following letter to Rogers Communications Inc. and Altice USA Inc. in response to their letter received on September 15th.

Following is the full text of the letter that was sent today. A link to the letter received from Rogers Communications Inc. and Altice USA Inc. can be found at the end.

September 16, 2020

Joe Natale, President & CEO

Rogers Communications Inc.

333 Bloor Street East, 10th Floor, Toronto, Ontario M4W 1G9, Canada

Dexter Goei, CEO

Altice USA Inc.

1 Court Square West, Long Island City, NY 11101

Dear Messrs. Natale and Goei,

The Boards of Directors of Cogeco Inc. and Cogeco Communications Inc. met today to review and consider your letter dated September 15, 2020, in which you make untrue statements and unsubstantiated allegations against them. As stated in our press release of September 2, 2020, after receiving your unsolicited, non-binding proposal, late in the afternoon on September 1, 2020, the independent members of both Boards of Directors met promptly on September 2, 2020 to discuss your proposal. Prior to those discussions, Mr. Audet met with the independent directors as a representative of the Audet family, provided absolute clarity regarding the intentions of the family, indicated that their shares were not for sale and confirmed that their position was not a negotiating tactic.

As you have both acknowledged on many occasions since commencing your unsolicited proposal, including in your initial press release and Mr. Goei's interview on CNBC, the support of the Audet family is necessary to complete a transaction. We assume that you know this because you each run a family-controlled company.

From the outset, you have engaged in bad faith tactics, some of which created confusion in the market. Your proposal of September 1, 2020 offered to respond to any questions we may have and concluded by stating that you looked forward to our response. However, minutes before the open of markets the following morning, without any warning and thereby depriving us of an opportunity to respond, you publicly announced your proposal in which you said that the support of the Audet family was necessary to complete a transaction, yet you failed to disclose that they had rejected your proposal the prior evening. We can only surmise that this was done with a view to misleading investors and increasing the stock price in an attempt to put pressure on the family to sell.

We are fully confident our process was proper, and that we have given this matter the due care and attention that it deserves. We will not engage in a futile exercise aimed at diverting the attention of management and key resources from our business operations while creating friction among our stakeholders. Cogeco will focus on what matters - executing on our growth strategy, investing in our North American broadband and media platforms, including the previously announced $1 billion broadband investment in Canada over four years, and forging ahead with our mobile services expansion plan to provide more choice to customers.

On behalf of the Boards of Directors of Cogeco Inc. and Cogeco Communications Inc.,

James C. Cherry

Lead Director of the Boards of Directors of Cogeco Inc. and Cogeco Communications Inc.

Link to the letter received from Rogers Communications Inc. and Altice USA Inc.

ABOUT COGECO INC.

Cogeco Inc. is a diversified holding corporation which operates in the communications and media sectors. Its Cogeco Communications Inc. subsidiary provides residential and business customers with Internet, video and telephony services through its two-way broadband fibre networks, operating in Quebec and Ontario, Canada, under the Cogeco Connexion name, and in the United States under the Atlantic Broadband brand (in 11 states along the East Coast, from Maine to Florida). Its Cogeco Media subsidiary owns and operates 23 radio stations with complementary radio formats and extensive coverage serving a wide range of audiences mainly across the province of Quebec, as well as Cogeco News, a news agency. Cogeco's subordinate voting shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: CGO). The subordinate voting shares of Cogeco Communications Inc. are also listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: CCA).

ABOUT COGECO COMMUNICATIONS INC.

Cogeco Communications Inc. is a communications corporation. It is the 8th largest cable operator in North America, operating in Canada under the Cogeco Connexion name in Quebec and Ontario, and along the East Coast of the United States under the Atlantic Broadband brand (in 11 states from Maine to Florida). The Corporation provides residential and business customers with Internet, video and telephony services through its two-way broadband fibre networks. Cogeco Communications Inc.'s subordinate voting shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: CCA).

SOURCE Cogeco Inc.

Related Links

http://corpo.cogeco.com


PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Berger Montague is investigating potential securities fraud claims against Portland General Electric Company ("PGE" or the "Company") on behalf of investors who purchased PGE securities (NYSE: POR) between April 24, 2020 and August 24, 2020 (the "Class Period").

If you purchased PGE securities during the Class Period, have questions concerning your rights or interests, or would like to discuss Berger Montague's investigation, please contact attorneys Andrew Abramowitz at [email protected] or (215) 875-3015, or Donnell Much at [email protected] or (215) 875-4667, or contact us at www.bergermontague.com/portland-general-electric.

The lawsuit accuses PGE and members of its senior management with failing to disclose to investors that PGE lacked effective internal controls over its energy trading practices such that PGE personnel had entered energy trades that created unusually high financial exposure for the Company. As a result, Defendants' statements about the Company's business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis.

According to the Complaint, on August 24, 2020, after the market closed, PGE announced that it had incurred losses of $127 million as a result of energy trading conducted by the Company during 2020. PGE further announced that it had formed a Special Committee to review the energy trading practices and internal controls that allowed such significant exposure to the energy market. On this news, the Company's share price fell $3.51  or 8%  from $41.96 per share to $38.45 per share on August 24, 2020.

If you purchased PGE shares during the Class Period, you may seek Court appointment as lead plaintiff to represent other injured investors in a class action. The lead plaintiff appointment deadline is November 2, 2020. You do not need to be a lead plaintiff to share in any potential Class recovery.

Whistleblowers: Persons with non-public information regarding Portland General Electric Company are encouraged to confidentially assist Berger Montague's investigation or take advantage of the SEC Whistleblower program. Under this program, whistleblowers who provide original information may receive rewards totaling up to thirty percent (30%) of recoveries obtained by the SEC. For more information, contact us.

Berger Montague, with offices in Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Washington, D.C., and San Diego, has been a pioneer in securities class action litigation since its founding in 1970. Berger Montague has represented individual and institutional investors for five decades and serves as lead counsel in courts throughout the United States.

Contacts

Andrew Abramowitz, Senior Counsel

Berger Montague

(215) 875-3015

[email protected]

Donnell Much, Associate

Berger Montague

(215) 875-4667

[email protected]

SOURCE Berger Montague
Swedens furniture brand is expected to open a new and permanent mega store in Cairo's 6th of October City

IKEA, the Swedish home furniture and accessories brand, announced it will inaugurate a permanent branch in 6th October City by March 2021.

In an online event held Wednesday, attended by Ahram Online, IKEA launched its 2021/2020 online catalogue for the first time in Egypt that includes discounts on more than 1,000 products and showcasing more than 1,700 new products.

It also launched its first of a kind mobile app that allows clients to control pieces within their homes remotely using their mobiles.

Thomas Sirguei, IKEA Egypt store manager, said that 2020 is a hard year for IKEA's business around the globe, because of the Covid-19 pandemic, but with digital transformation solutions the company managed to surmount immediate challenges.

In November 2019, Emirates NBD-Egypt and the Egyptian Marakez Group, a subsidiary of the Saudi Al-Hokair Group, inked a long-term loan agreement worth EGP 395 million with IKEA to finance its new store at the Mall of Arabia in 6th of October City in Cairo, over an area of 20,000 square meters  the second branch of IKEA in the Egyptian market.

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Heidi Gutman/ABCBy ABC NEWS



(PHILADELPHIA) -- President Donald Trump answered questions from uncommitted voters Tuesday night during a town hall hosted by ABC News from the battleground state of Pennsylvania.



Below, ABC News fact checks what Trump said throughout the 90-minute special, which was anchored by ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos.



This story will be updated throughout the special. Please refresh for new fact checks.





Trump is wrong to suggest there is no consensus on wearing masks



TRUMP'S CLAIM: "People don't want to wear masks. There are a lot of people [who] think the masks are not good."



FACT CHECK: This view does not reflect the scientific consensus.



The recommendation to wear a mask is now almost unanimous among health experts, including some of the president's own appointees, who have all been very vocal in encouraging the American people to wear masks to curtail the spread of the disease.



Both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization have issued statements urging people to wear masks in public settings.



"There are people that don't think masks are good," Trump said, prompting Stephanopoulos to ask, "Who are those people?"



"Waiters," Trump said. "They come over and they serve you, and they have a mask. They're playing with the mask, so the mask is over and they're touching it, and then they're touching the plate. That can't be good."



But researchers from Stanford University found the opposite.



"Wearing a mask reminds people to continue to be cautious," they said. "With a mask on, you actually touch your face less."



In an interview last month on ABC News' "World News Tonight," Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said "a universal wearing of masks is one of five or six things that are very important in preventing the upsurge in infection."



"We know that during the first wave of the pandemic, those countries that implemented masking early were more successful than others at reducing the spread of the virus," the Stanford researchers wrote.



Duke University researchers have also concluded that "if 95 percent of people wear cloth masks when within 6 feet of other people in public, it will reduce COVID-19 transmission by at least 30 percent."



Trump noted that health experts had originally recommended against wearing a mask -- but his claim was misleading.



"If you look at Dr. Fauci's original statement, you look at a lot of people -- CDC -- they said very strongly, George, [they said], 'Don't wear masks,'" Trump said. "Then all of a sudden, they went to 'wear masks.'"



At the beginning of the pandemic, the CDC and the WHO, as well as Fauci and other top experts, initially discouraged wearing masks because of concerns that masks and other personal protective equipment were in short supply for health care workers who needed them.



While Fauci mainly cited the need to conserve masks, he did say in an interview with "60 Minutes" that wearing a mask may also have unintended consequences, such as leading people to touch their face more often to adjust them, spreading germs from their hands.



In early April, the CDC changed its recommendation about face coverings for the general public, based on evidence that a significant number of people who were asymptomatic or not yet feeling sick were transmitting the virus.



--Arielle Mitropoulos



Trump claims he didn't 'downplay' COVID-19 -- despite admitting to having done just that



TRUMP'S CLAIM: "I didn't downplay it. I, actually, in many ways, I up-played it, in terms of action. My action was very strong."



FACT CHECK: During the town hall, Trump said he "didn't downplay" the virus -- when in fact, he has admitted to just that.



"I wanted to always play it down," Trump said in a March 19 interview with veteran journalist Bob Woodward, according to CNN, which obtained an audio recording of the interview, and The Washington Post. "I still like playing it down, because I don't want to create a panic."



When the audio was first played last week, a reporter asked if he had misled the public in order to reduce panic.



"I think if you said, 'in order to reduce panic,' perhaps that's so," Trump replied. "I'm a cheerleader for this country.'



After Trump said Tuesday night he "didn't downplay it," Stephanopoulos pressed him: "Did you not admit to it yourself saying that you--?"



"Yeah, because what I did was, with China, I put a ban on," Trump said, referring to limitations he put on travel from China starting on Feb. 2. "With Europe, I put a ban on, and we would have lost thousands of more people had I not put the ban on," he added; the ban on certain travel from Europe began March 13.



"So that was called 'action,' not with the mouth but in actual fact," Trump said.



--Ben Gittleson



Black-white income gap persisted before pandemic, and Trump does not have 'tremendous African American support'



TRUMP'S CLAIM: Trump claimed that he had "tremendous African American support" and that, "had we not been hit by this horrible disease ... we would be in a position where I think income inequality would be different. It was really getting there. We were really driving it down -- I can only compare it to the past. The African American, the Black community, was doing better than it had ever done by far, both in terms of unemployment, homeownership, so many different statistics."



FACT CHECK: The income gap between Black and white Americans has persisted since 1970, despite Trump's comment that it had improved before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.



Median Black household income was 61% of median white household income in 2018, according to the Pew Research Center.



The homeownership gap between Black and white individuals was also at the widest level in 50 years in 2017, according to a 2019 report from the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan think tank.



The president, in his pitch to the Black community, also said, "We have tremendous African American support. You've probably seen it in the polls, we're doing extremely well with African Americans."



But his claim runs counter to recent polling, in which he garners between 5% to 11% support among Black likely voters, according to polls from Fox News and Quinnipiac University.



The most recent polling is similar to where Trump stood in 2016, when 8% of African American voters supported him, according to exit polls. Trump saw slightly higher support in 2016 among this demographic compared to Mitt Romney when he ran on the Republican ticket for president in 2012, and received 6% of the Black vote.



--Stephanie Ebbs and Kendall Karson

COVID-19 is unlikely to go away on its own, despite Trump's insistence



TRUMP'S CLAIM: COVID-19 is "probably going to go away now a lot faster because of the vaccine. It would go away without the vaccine, George, but it's going to go away a lot faster with the vaccine," Trump said. Stephanopoulos asked, "It will go away without the vaccine?" To which Trump said, "Sure, over a period of time. Sure, with time it goes away."



FACT CHECK: This statement is misleading.



The virus is unlikely to go away definitively even with a vaccine. Similar to what has happened with past pandemic influenza viruses and the more mild human coronaviruses that cause colds, experts believe that as the pandemic wanes, it may synchronize to a seasonal pattern with diminished severity over time due to mutations and reinfection.



Even so, its trajectory is difficult to predict as the virus is still being studied.



-Sony Salzman and Dr. Alexandra Lambert



Copyright  2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
An Iowa high school is planning to leave its athletics conference and start its own following racist jeers directed at a Black baseball player this past spring.

Charles City High School will try to leave the Northeast Iowa Conference within two years and it has already received support and interest from other schools to join its new one, the Iowa Des Moines Register reported.

High school outfielder subject of racist taunts

Charles City Comets outfielder Jeremiah Chapman, who is Black, was the target of racist remarks during a June 27 game at Waverly-Shell Rocks home field. He said he was called Colin, in reference to former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick. When he caught a fly ball, per the Register, fans shouted at him to Go back to the fields!

Chapman said fans told him he should have been George Floyd, the Black man killed while in police custody in Minneapolis in May. And they later shouted Trump 2020 at the high school baseball game.

His family told the Chicago Tribune it hopes the incident sparks rule changes addressing jeering in sports. Chapmans mother, Keisha Cunnings, who moved the family from Chicago to Iowa before he entered first grade, told the Tribune the event was traumatic.

I am worried. Is he going to be on edge for every event? Its easy to say, This is what happens and you have to move past it, but hes 17. Hes not an adult. Hes not used to this. He just wants to be accepted. One of his football coaches checked in on him, and he said, All my life Ive been trying to fit in, and this is a reminder Ill never fit in.

School asks to not play opponent after racist taunting

An Iowa school plans to leave its athletic conference after a "pattern" of unsportsmanlike conduct by another team. (Getty Images)

In July, Charles City and its school superintendent, Mike Fisher, requested a one-year break from playing games against the Waverly-Shell Rock Go-Hawks. Fisher told the Register he made the request due to a pattern of unsportsmanlike behavior and asked for a plan on how the opponent will improve its sportsmanship. He did not name the school in the letter submitted to the conference.

Story continues

Other schools also expressed frustration and concern about Waverly-Shell Rock. The Register reported that the school finished last in the conferences sportsmanship championship ratings every year from the first in 2008 to the latest available in 2017.

School elects to leave conference

Charles City formed a task force of students, coaches, staff members, principals and alumni after the racist taunts in June to decide if the school should remain in the conference.

On Monday night, the task force recommended it leave the group within two years, per the Register.

It was a spark, and it definitely weighted the conversation," Fisher said of the incident involving Chapman, who was a member of the task force. But that, in and of itself, would likely not be the only factor. It really just started the longer dialogue that this has been historical. This has been a continued issue. There was a consistent pattern with a partner school that was brought up.

At least 10 schools have already been contacted about joining the new conference, Fisher said, and they have shared values that have focus on character. All but one is interested.

The Charles City school board has the final say on leaving the conference. It expects to hear a formal recommendation within a few months, per the Register.

Iowa was the first state to restart high school baseball and softball games during the COVID-19 pandemic. Another school in the state reportedly experienced slurs directed at Latino students and families during a softball game played the same day as Charles Citys.

More from Yahoo Sports:
Some of the 1,700 tonnes of heavy fuel oil on board the New Diamond poured into the Indian Ocean.

Sri Lanka will file negligence and pollution charges against the Greek captain of an oil tanker that leaked fuel off the island nations coast after a week-long fire.

Some of the 1,700 tonnes of heavy fuel oil on board the New Diamond poured into the Indian Ocean, prompting a large effort to contain a slick that was roughly two kilometres (1.2 miles) in length.

Its 270,000-tonne cargo of crude oil was unaffected by the fire.

There is sufficient evidence to prosecute the skipper under the marine pollution act as well as the penal code for criminal negligence, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Dappula de Livera told reporters in Colombo on Wednesday.

Much of the slick has been cleaned up and no further fuel has leaked from the vessel since Friday. For now, there are no signs of the slick reaching the coast.

The Panamanian-registered tankers owners would also be slapped with a $1.88m fire-fighting bill, de Livera said in a statement.

The vessel is owned by Liberian-registered Porto Emporios Shipping Inc and managed by Greek shipowner, New Shipping Limited, according to the Sri Lankan navy.

Compensation would also be sought from the owners for the cost of any environmental clean-up and damage, the statement added.

Sri Lanka has, meanwhile, asked the ships owners to tow the 330-metre (1,100-foot) tanker beyond its exclusive economic zone, which extends 200 nautical miles (370km) from its coast.

The nations environmental authorities fear a marine disaster if the tanker is allowed to transfer its oil to another ship while still in the countrys waters.

The stricken tanker is currently located some 70 nautical miles (130km) east off the Sri Lankan coastal town of Batticaloa.

The ship issued a distress signal in early September while en route to the northeast Indian port of Paradip when a boiler exploded, killing a Filipino crewman.

The vessels remaining 22 crew, including the captain, were rescued and are in quarantine at a hotel in the southern port city of Galle under the supervision of the navy.
The owner of Novus Ukraine LLC, Consul Trade House UAB, has signed an agreement with Rewe International AG on the acquisition of a 100% stake in the charter capital of Billa-Ukraine, an enterprise with foreign investment, which develops the Billa supermarket chain in Ukraine.

"Novus Ukraine LLC and Billa-Ukraine will continue to work as usual, fulfilling the previously reached contractual obligations to partners and counterparties for the stability of business," the press service of Novus said.

Currently, the deal is being approved by the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine, its completion and development plans will be announced after the deal is reviewed by the department, the company notes.

Novus Ukraine LLC was established in 2008, the first Novus supermarket was opened in the country in the same year. The development of the Novus supermarket chain is carried out by BT Invest (Lithuania).

As of September 2020, the network has 46 facilities with a total area of more than 220,000 square meters. The company develops retail facilities of various formats ranging from 500 to 7,000 square meters, including franchised.

Billa-Ukraine was established in 1998 by Rewe Group concern, which was founded in Cologne in 1927. In Ukraine, the first Billa supermarket was opened in Kyiv in February 2000. As of September 2020, the network has 35 facilities in Kyiv, Kyiv region and Zhytomyr.
John Boyega has stepped down from his role as global ambassador for Jo Malone London after the brand cut him from a reshot advert he originally starred in for the perfume and candle brand.

Last year, the company - which is owned by Estee Lauder - released a short film, titled A London Gent, featuring Boyega, describing it as a story of talent, energy and inspiration from a true Londoner.

The film depicts various aspects of the Star Wars actors life, showing him socialising with his friends, being with his family and hanging out in Peckham, London, where he grew up.

But when the advert was launched in China recently, Boyega was replaced with actor Liu Haoran, with the new version of the short film retaining several of the key elements of the original and not featuring any black people.

Recommended Jo Malone apologises for cutting John Boyega from advert

Jo Malone London has since apologised for replacing Boyega, describing it as a misstep.

Now, however, Boyega himself has revealed that he has severed ties with the brand.

I have decided to step down as Jo Malone's global ambassador, he tweeted on Monday.

"When I joined the brand as their first male global ambassador last year, I created the short film we used to launch the campaign.

"Their decision to replace my campaign in China by using my concepts and substituting a local brand ambassador for me, without either my consent or prior notice, was wrong.

The film celebrated my personal story showcasing my hometown, including my friends and featuring my family.

Boyega added that while many brands use a number of global ambassadors to represent them in different parts of the world, dismissively trading out ones culture this way is not something I can condone.

The 28-year-old concluded: Its back to back but I assure you this will be dealt with swiftly. I dont have time for nonsense. We press on and strong. Stay blessed people.

Jo Malone London issued a statement in response to Boyegas decision on Twitter, writing: John Boyega is an incredible talent, artist and person and we were proud to have him as part of our Jo Malone London family. We respect Johns decision and we wish him all the best.

Many of Boyegas followers responded by thanking him for speaking out.

Thank you for using your voice to raise awareness and vocalise your decision. We have so much respect for you, replied one person.

In a statement sent to The Hollywood Reporter prior to Boyega publicly stepping down, Jo Malone London said: We deeply apologise for what, on our end, was a mistake in the local execution of the John Boyega campaign.

John is a tremendous artist with great personal vision and direction. The concept for the film was based on Johns personal experiences and should not have been replicated.

Following the news of Boyegas decision to step down from his role at Jo Malone London, the company sent a further statement to The Independent, which reads:

"We deeply apologise for what, on our end, was a mistake in the local execution of a recent Jo Malone London marketing campaign. The concept for the film was based on Johns personal experience and should not have been replicated.

"While we immediately took action and removed the local version of the campaign, we recognise that this was deeply painful and that much offence was caused.

"John Boyega is an incredible talent, artist and person and we were proud to have him as part of our Jo Malone London family.

We respect Johns decision and we wish him all the best. We are taking this misstep and the recent events very seriously and we are working together as a brand to do better moving forward.

On 14 September, Jo Malone CBE, who sold her namesake brand to Estee Lauder over 20 years ago, tweeted: Today after recent events, I would like to repeat that since 2006, I have had no involvement in any capacity with Jo Malone London.

It is a brand I sold to Estee Lauder in 1999 and exited. It continues to be part of the Estee Lauder Companies Inc. Thank you.
AppDirect, a San Francisco, CA-based subscription commerce platform, raised US$185m in funding.

Backers included global institutional investor Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ) and existing investors. The latest funding brought the total equity raised by AppDirect to approximately $465m.

The company intends to use the funds to:

expand its global presence, and

accelerate organic expansion, strategic acquisitions and additional hiring.

AppDirect offers a subscription commerce platform that allows merchants to sell any product, through any channel, on any device  as a service. Its platform opens up endless opportunities for commerce innovation, giving businesses the freedom to grow. It powers millions of subscriptions worldwide for organizations like Jaguar Land Rover, Comcast, Sage, Keller Williams, and ADP.

FinSMEs

16/09/2020
Washington: As US President Donald Trump flouts social distancing regulations by appearing at packed indoor rallies, his Democratic rival Joe Biden is facing a challenge: generating enthusiasm in battleground states while showing that he takes the coronavirus pandemic seriously.

With less than two months remaining until election day, Biden has stepped up his travel. But Trump, whose travel schedule is far more intense, still regularly ridicules the 77-year-old for being confined to his Delaware "basement", offering it as evidence he does not have the stamina to serve as commander-in-chief.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden at a Hispanic Heritage Month event in Kissimmee, Florida, on Tuesday. Credit:AP

Even if a candidate only interacts with a few people during their campaign events, being physically present in swing states is crucial because of the usually positive attention it generates in local media outlets.
Israeli planes pound Gaza after rockets fired from besieged strip following signing of deals in Washington.

The Israeli military carried out a series of air raids on the besieged Gaza Strip on Wednesday after rockets were fired into Israel during a normalisation of ties signing ceremony with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in the United States.

According to Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency, Israeli warplanes fired missiles at a site in Beit Lahiya in the northern strip. They also targeted areas in Deir al-Balah, a city in central Gaza, as well as parts of Khan Younis in southern Gaza. No casualties were reported.

By Wednesday morning, 15 rockets had been fired into Israel wounding two people, according to the military.

Hamas, the group that governs the Gaza Strip, warned Israel it will pay the price for any aggression against our people or resistance sites and the response will be direct.

We will increase and expand our response to the extent that the occupation persists in its aggression, it said in a statement.

Without naming specific factions, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group in Gaza said in response to the Israeli air raids, the resistance fired rocket salvoes at Israel.





Earlier on Wednesday, the Israeli army in a statement said it carried out 10 air strikes against positions belonging to Hamas in response to rockets being fired into Israel.





The rockets were fired at the same time as Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain signed agreements at the White House in Washington to establish diplomatic relations.

Palestinians, who seek an independent state that includes the illegally occupied West Bank and Gaza, view the US-brokered deals as a betrayal of their cause.

The latest rocket fire from Gaza came after a month of armed groups in the strip stepping up incendiary balloon attacks against Israel, which responded with nighttime air raids against Hamas.

Since 2008, Israel has waged three wars on the Gaza Strip. Israel has long said it holds Hamas responsible for all violence from Gaza, while Hamas says Israel is responsible for the state of anger and pressure inflicted on Gazas residents because of the continued siege.

Since 2007 Israel has imposed a crippling blockade on Gazas two million residents. The Gaza Strip has a population of two million, more than half of whom live in poverty, according to the World Bank.

Anti-normalisation rallies

While many Israelis welcomed the Gulf state accords, in Sderots main square, resident Yehuda Ben Loulou said Israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should first solve the main problem in Gaza.

Netanyahu goes to easy countries with whom we have no problems. They sign agreements. But what about Gaza? said Ben Loulou, 59.

The normalisation moves by the UAE and Bahrain with Israel prompted demonstrations in the Palestinian territories on Tuesday.





Clutching Palestinian flags and wearing blue face masks for protection against the coronavirus, demonstrators rallied in the West Bank cities of Nablus and Hebron, and in Gaza.

Hundreds also took part in a demonstration in Ramallah, home of the Palestinian Authority (PA).

The Palestinian leadership wants an independent state based on the de facto borders before the 1967 war, in which Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and annexed East Jerusalem.

Arab countries have long called for Israels withdrawal from already illegally occupied land, a just solution for Palestinian refugees and a settlement that leads to the establishment of a viable, independent Palestinian state in exchange for establishing ties with it.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas warned on Tuesday the Gulf deals will not achieve peace in the region until the US and Israel acknowledge his peoples right to a state.

Abbas warned attempts to bypass the Palestinian people and its leadership, represented by the Palestine Liberation Organization, will have dangerous consequences.

In Gaza, protesters trampled on and set fire to placards bearing images of the leaders of Israel, the UAE and Bahrain.

Hamas and Israel last month reached a Qatari-mediated ceasefire deal and revived a fragile 18-month truce. The group has joined the PA in condemning the UAE and Bahraini accords as a betrayal of their cause.
A Chinese defector's study claiming that Covid-19 was manufactured in a lab was published by groups founded by former Trump strategist Steve Bannon and a billionaire Beijing exile.

The scientific paper, which has not been peer-reviewed, claims the disease was built by merging the genetic material of two bat coronaviruses and that a spike protein was edited to enhance its ability to latch onto human cells.

Scientists have slammed the report published on Monday as 'unsubstantiated' and said it 'cannot be given any credibility.'

The study was produced by the Rule of Law Society and the Rule of Law Foundation, sister organisations which Bannon, 66, founded with 50-year-old Chinese fugitive Guo Wengui.

US President Donald Trump (left) congratulates Steve Bannon during the swearing-in of senior staff in the East Room of the White House on January 22, 2017 in Washington, DC

Former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon (left) and Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui at a news conference on November 20, 2018 in New York

The Rule of Law Society and the Rule of Law Foundation's report was authored by Li-Meng Yan (giving an interview to British TV last week), who purports to be a former researcher at the Hong Kong School of Public Health

The P4 laboratory (C) at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province on April 17, 2020. There have been numerous theories that the virus spread from this lab

The study was authored by Li-Meng Yan, who purports to be a former researcher at the Hong Kong School of Public Health, and who has recently appeared on Fox News in the US and ITV in the UK.

Ms Yan's report has gained widespread public attention, being viewed more than 150,000 times since it was posted on the website Zenodo, which is operated by the European Organisation for Nuclear Research to promote open scientific data.

Documents posted on the Rule of Law Society's website last year showed Bannon was the New York-based group's chairman, The Daily Beast reported.

Neither the Rule of Law Society nor the Rule of Law Foundation appear to have published scientific or medical research before.

Guo, a real-estate tycoon and member of Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago club, pledged $100 million to the Rule of Law Society to be led by Bannon. The pair announced the endeavour in 2018 and Bannon told the New York Times that he would take no pay.

The charities' stated mission is: 'To expose corruption, obstruction, illegality, brutality, false imprisonment, excessive sentencing, harassment, and inhumanity pervasive in the political, legal, business and financial systems of China.'

Bannon and Guo have also worked together on G News, which publishes anti-Communist Part articles in both English and Chinese, and which has propagated the theory that coronavirus was manufactured in a lab.

The theory was widely reported earlier this year and Trump suggested he had since intelligence reports to support the claims.

Trump continued to make the allusions despite the US national intelligence director's office saying in April that the virus was 'not manmade or genetically modified.'

The White House's chief coronavirus strategist, Dr Anthony Fauci, has also stated emphatically that the virus was not manufactured.

Bannon on Guo's $35 million yacht off the coast of Connecticut before his arrest last month

Billionaire Guo Wengui poses at his New York City apartment on November 28, 2017

Bannon and Guo Wengui (also known as Miles Kwok) appear at a news conference in New York, New York, U.S., November 20, 2018

In July, Bannon told the Mail on Sunday that spies were building a case against Beijing on the basis that the pandemic was caused by a leak from the Institute of Virology in Wuhan and that the subsequent cover-up was tantamount to 'pre-mediated murder.'

But the timing of the Bannon-backed scientific study comes months after Mike Pompeo backed off from the lab idea.

The Secretary of State told Breitbart that 'we know it began in Wuhan, but we don't know from where or from whom, and those are important things.'

He had previously said that there was 'enormous evidence' and a 'significant amount of evidence' that the virus originated in a lab.

In her study, Ms Yan discounts the theory that coronavirus evolved in the wild and was then transferred to humans, claiming it 'lacks substantial support'.

'SARS-CoV-2 shows biological characteristics that are inconsistent with a naturally occurring virus,' she wrote.

'The evidence shows that [the virus] should be a laboratory product created by using bat coronaviruses ZC45 and/or ZXC21 as a template and/or backbone.'

She alleges the virus 'should' have been built using stores of these bat viruses, of which she claims samples are kept in Hong Kong and China.

Ms Yan also alleges that her work shows the virus could be built in just six months in the report's abstract, but she does not return to the subject later in the paper.

Dr Andrew Preston, an expert in microbial pathogenesis at the University of Bath, blasted her report as being 'reminiscent of a conspiracy theory'.

'The author's affiliation is the Rule of Law Society and Rule of Law Foundation, New York,' he said.

'On their website the vision of this organisation is 'to permit the people of China to live under a national system based on the rule of law, independent of the political system of the People's Republic of China' ...

'Given the unsubstantiated claims in the publication, which has not been peer reviewed, the report cannot be viewed with any credibility as it stands.'

It has been alleged that the Wuhan lab in China, pictured above, is where the coronavirus was developed. However, there is no evidence to back this claim

Dr Michael Head, a global health expert at the University of Southampton, said the conspiracy theory peddled by the report has been 'doing the rounds throughout the pandemic'.

'Ultimately, it could be damaging to public health if reported non-critically without looking at the wider evidence,' he said.

'If people are exposed to and then believe conspiracy theories, this will likely have a negative impact on efforts to keep Covid-19 cases low and thus there will be more deaths and illness than there needs to be.

'The genomics of the virus have been disentangled previously, for example a Nature peer-reviewed paper where they state 'Our analyses clearly show that SARS-CoV-2 is not a laboratory constructed or a purposefully manipulated virus'.

'Other evidence also shows that this type of coronavirus has existed in bats for decades. This new manuscript is not peer reviewed and does not obviously offer any data that overrides previous research.'

Ms Yan wrote in her paper that theories the virus is from nature and the meat market in Wuhan are a 'smoke screen', alleging she was told this by CDC scientists working in China.

She has previously accused Beijing of lying about when it learned of the killer infection and engaging in an extensive cover-up.

Ms Yan claims she fled to Hong Kong and escaped to America in April to 'raise awareness' of the pandemic.

Bannon leaving court in Manhattan on August 20, flags of the 'New Federal State of China', founded by Guo, fly behind him

Bannon is surrounded by journalists as he leaves court in Manhattan last month

She claims she was working at the Hong Kong School of Public Health, a reference laboratory for the World Health Organisation, but she was cut off after trying to alert people to human-to-human transmission of the virus in December.

She also claims that before leaving China her information was wiped from the Government database.

The lab has denied that Ms Yan ever 'conducted any research on human-to-human transmission' and said her assertions have 'no scientific basis'.

Bannon, 66, was arrested on Guo's yacht off the coast of Connecticut on August 20.

In an indictment with three others, Bannon is charged with unlawfully raising more than $25 million for the We Build The Wall campaign.

He pleaded not guilty and was bailed.

As he left the courthouse, he shouted: 'This entire fiasco is to stop people who want to build the wall.'
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A recent market study published by Future Market Insights on the allergen free food market offers global industry analysis for 2015-2019 & opportunity assessment for 20202030. The study offers a comprehensive assessment of the most important market dynamics. After conducting a thorough research on the historical, as well as current growth parameters, the growth prospects of the market are obtained with maximum precision.

Market Segmentation

The global allergen free food market is segmented in detail to cover every aspect of the market and present complete market intelligence to readers.

Request a Sample of this Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-11688

Product Type

Cereals & Grains

Edible Oil

Packaged Food

Bakery Products

Beverages

Dairy and Dairy Products

Frozen Meals

Flour mixes

Snacks

Tofu

Tempeh

Processed Milk Products

Pasta

Infant Formula

Seitan

Chocolate

Processed Meat & Poultry

Mayonnaise

Tortilla

Natto

Others

Form

GMO Free

Sugar Free

Gluten Free

Lactose Free

Dairy Free

Meat free

Preservatives-Free

Caffeine-Free

Soy Free

Nuts Free

Others (wheat, fish, shellfish, sesame, sulfites)

Nature

Organic

Conventional

Distribution Channel

Modern Trade Channels

Specialty Stores

Convenience Stores

Direct-to-Customer Channels

Third Party Online Channels

Online Retailers

Other Sales Channels

Region

North America

Latin America

Europe

South Asia

East Asia

Oceania

Middle East & Africa

Report Chapters

Chapter 01 - Executive Summary

The executive summary of the allergen free food market includes the market country analysis, proprietary wheel of fortune, demand-side and supply-side trends, opportunity assessment, and recommendations on the global Allergen Free Food market.

Chapter 02  Market Introduction

Readers can find the detailed segmentation and definition of the allergen free food market in this chapter, which will help them understand basic information about the allergen free food market. This section also highlights the inclusions and exclusions, which help the reader understand the scope of the allergen free food market report.

Chapter 03  Market Background

The associated industry assessment of the allergen free food market is carried out in this section. The macroeconomic factors affecting growth of the allergen free food market are provided in this section and the impact of these macroeconomic indicators on the allergen free food market is analyzed. The processing overview and technological advancements in the allergen free food market is also provided.

Chapter 04 - Global Allergen Free Food Market Value Chain

Profit margins at each level of the allergen free food market are analyzed and readers can find detailed information on top importers and exporters as well as the value chain of the market.

Chapter 05  Market Dynamics

The drivers and restraints impacting the growth of the allergen free food market are explained in this chapter. Opportunities and ongoing trends in the allergen free food market are also comprehensively discussed.

Chapter 06  Global Allergen Free Food Market Analysis and Forecast 2015-2030

This chapter includes detailed analysis of the historical allergen free food market (2015-2019), along with an opportunity analysis for the forecast period (2020-2030). Readers can also find the absolute $ opportunity for the current year (2019  2020) and incremental opportunity for the forecast period (20202030). This chapter provides details about the allergen free food market on the basis of type and application. In this chapter, readers can understand market attractive analysis for all segments. This chapter explains how the allergen free food market is anticipated to grow across North America, Latin America, Europe, South Asia, East Asia, Oceania, and Middle East and Africa.

Chapter 07  Global Allergen Free Food Market - Pricing Analysis

This chapter includes global as well as regional pricing analysis by product type. The pricing influencing factors are also explained in this chapter. The readers can understand the manufacturer level, distributor level as well as retail level pricing analysis for 2020 and 2030.

Chapter 08  Global Allergen Free Food Market Analysis 2015-2019 & Forecast 2020-2030 by Product Type

Based on product type, the allergen free food market is segmented into cereals and grains, edible oil, packaged food, bakery products, beverages, dairy and dairy products, frozen meals, flour mixes, snacks, tofu, tempeh, processed milk products, pasta, infant formula, seitan, chocolate, processed meat and poultry, mayonnaise, tortilla, natto and others. In this chapter, readers can find information about key trends and developments in the allergen free food market and market attractiveness analysis based on raw material.

Chapter 09  Global Allergen Free Food Market Analysis 2015-2019 & Forecast 2020-2030 by Form

Based on form, the allergen free food market is segmented into sugar free, gluten free, lactose free, dairy free, meat free, preservatives-free, caffeine-free, soy free, nuts free, and others. In this chapter, readers can find information about key trends and developments in the allergen free food market and market attractiveness analysis based on raw material.

Chapter 10  Global Allergen Free Food Market Analysis 2015-2019 & Forecast 2020-2030 by Nature

Based on nature, the allergen free food market is segmented into organic and conventional. In this chapter, readers can find information about key trends and developments in the allergen free food market and market attractiveness analysis based on raw material.

Chapter 11  Global Allergen Free Food Market Analysis 2015-2019 & Forecast 2020-2030 by Distribution Channel

Based on distribution channel, the allergen free food market is segmented into modern trade channels, specialty stores, convenience stores, direct-to customer channels, third party online channels, online retailers, other channels In this chapter, readers can find information about key trends and developments in the allergen free food market and market attractiveness analysis based on raw material.

Chapter 12  Global Allergen Free Food Market Analysis 2015-2019 & Forecast 2020-2030 by Region

This chapter explains how the allergen free food market is anticipated to grow across various geographic regions such as North America, Latin America, Europe, South Asia, East Asia, Oceania, and Middle East and Africa.

Chapter 13  North America Allergen Free Food Market Analysis 2015-2019 & Forecast 2020-2030

This chapter includes a detailed analysis of the growth of the allergen free food market in the North America region, along with a country-wise assessment that includes the U.S. and Canada. Readers can also find regional trends, regulations, and market growth based on application and countries in the North America region.

Chapter 14  Latin America Allergen Free Food Market Analysis 2015-2019 & Forecast 2020-2030

Readers can find detailed information about several factors, such as the pricing analysis and regional trends, which are impacting growth of the allergen free food market in the Latin America region. This chapter also includes growth prospects of the Allergen Free Food market in leading LATAM countries such as Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Argentina, and Rest of Latin America.

Chapter 15 Europe Allergen Free Food Market Analysis 2015-2019 & Forecast 2020-2030

Important growth prospects of the allergen free food market based on its end user in several countries such as EU4, BENELUX, Nordic, Russia, Poland and Rest of Europe are included in this chapter.

Chapter 16  South Asia Allergen Free Food Market Analysis 2015-2019 & Forecast 2020-2030

This chapter offers insights into how the allergen free food market is expected to grow in major countries in the South Asia region such as India, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and rest of South Asia, during the forecast period 2020-2030.

Chapter 17  East Asia Allergen Free Food Market Analysis 2015-2019 & Forecast 2020-2030

This chapter offers insights into how the allergen free food market is expected to grow in major countries in the East Asia region such as China, Japan, and South Korea, during the forecast period 2020-2030.

Chapter 18  Oceania Allergen Free Food Market Analysis 2015-2019 & Forecast 2020-2030

This chapter includes a detailed analysis of the growth of the allergen free food market in the Oceania region, along with a country-wise assessment that includes, Australia, and New Zealand. Readers can also find regional trends, regulations, and market growth of countries in the Oceania region.

Chapter 19  Middle East and Africa Allergen Free Food Market Analysis 2015-2019 & Forecast 2020-2030

This chapter offers insights into how the allergen free food market is expected to grow in major countries in the MEA region such as GCC Countries, South Africa, Turkey, Northern Africa, and the Rest of MEA, during the forecast period 2020-2030.

Chapter 20  Emerging Countries Allergen Free Food Market Analysis 2015-2019 and Forecast 2020-2030

This chapter contains information about the market growth of allergen free food in emerging countries such as India and China countries during the forecast period 2020-2030.

Chapter 21  Market Structure Analysis

In this chapter, readers can find detailed information about tier analysis and market concentration of the key players in the allergen free food market along with their market presence analysis by region and product portfolio.

Request for Reports Methodology @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/allergen-free-food-market#idMethodology

Chapter 22  Competition Analysis

In this chapter, readers can find a comprehensive list of leading manufacturers in the allergen free food market, along with detailed information about each company, which includes company overview, revenue shares, strategic overview, and recent company developments. Some of the market players featured in the report are Nestle SA, Groupe Danone, Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc (RB), Abbott Laboratories Inc., Vitasoy International Holdings Ltd, Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co Ltd., Coca-Cola Co, General Mills Inc., Blue Diamond Growers, Kikkoman Corporation, Dr. Schar AG/SpA, Lactalis Groupe, Valio Oy, Post Holdings Inc., and Monde Nissin Corp.

Chapter 23  Assumptions and Acronyms

This chapter includes a list of acronyms and assumptions that provide a base to the information and statistics included in the allergen free food report.

Chapter 24  Research Methodology

This chapter helps readers understand the research methodology followed to obtain various conclusions, as well as important qualitative and quantitative information, on the allergen free food market.
NEW YORK, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- CIRQ+ has released CIRQ+ CLEAN: a Smart CBot which dispenses an eco-friendly EPA approved consistent/uniform electrostatically-charged disinfectant. It is effective against Sars-CoV-2, the novel Coronavirus that causes the disease COVID-19, as well as other pathogens on hard, non-porous surfaces, and is safe for guests, employees, children, and persons applying the product.

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CBOT Ready to keep America's Students safe

https://cirqplus.vids.io/videos/799cd6bb1d1ce5c2f0/cirq-clean-unveiling-embargoed-sept16

CIRQ+ Inc., was founded by CEO Yani Deros and is based in Scottsdale, Arizona. The Company Website: www.cirqplus.com.

To set up Interviews this week or demonstrations in your Newsroom Contact Lexi Bean:

[email protected]

(206)902-0369

SOURCE Cirq+

Related Links

http://www.cirqplus.com


An Australian supermarket 'Karen' has tried to steal a grandfather's Disney+ Ooshies he was collecting for his grandchildren.

A 20-year-old male witness shared the 'disgusting' story on Reddit, saying that he felt the woman wanted to 'sell' the plastic figurines online for a profit.

The male student had been harmlessly shopping at Woolworths, spending a total of $60 and earning three Ooshies in the process.

Not wanting to keep the toys for himself, the student decided to give them to someone who might appreciate them more.

'I see an older gentleman and ask if he would like the Ooshies. He said yes and that his grandchildren would love them as the oldest one is only seven,' the man recalled.

A 20-year-old man shared the heartbreaking story on Reddit , saying that he felt the woman wanted to 'sell' the plastic figurines online for a profit

'Perfect, so I hand them over and that's when I hear a troll clearing her throat. I turn around to see a Karen staring at me while standing next to her son, as he just looked at his phone. I wasn't in the way or anything so I just gave her a confused look.'

The woman proceeded to ask him why her son, who was 14, couldn't get a share of the Ooshies.

'He's a little old. I wanted to give them to someone with young ones as kids love Disney,' the young shopper responded.

She asked if instead the man would be open to 'trading' with her, but the grandfather wanted his grandchildren to be the ones to open the packet because 'that was half the fun'.

This reportedly angered the 'Karen', who told the older gentleman to 'just give me the damn things' before she lunged forward to snatch them out of his cart.

The collection includes silver, gold, colour changing, glow in the dark, and additional glitter editions, which can all be kept in a special limited-edition Ooshies box

'I see this coming so I grab her around the wrist stopping her from taking them. People started watching the incident,' the Reddit thread continued.

'A manager from the store came running over and the old man started talking. I think that startled Karen because she then let go and walked off.

'I'm still p**sed with how it panned out because Karen was only trying to get them in pursuit of the rare ones, most likely to sell. I seriously f**king hate Ooshies if you couldn't already tell.'

Plenty of commenters said the woman 'had some nerve' for harassing an elderly man in that way and that the country's love for Ooshies was 'getting out of control'.

Woolworths announced the full list of Disney Plus Ooshies collectables featuring iconic characters like Elsa and Anna from Frozen, Elastigirl from The Incredibles and Darth Vader from Star Wars

Australian shoppers started collecting the themed figurines from Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars movies with every $30 spent in store or online from Wednesday, August 26

THE FULL LIST OF DISNEY+ OOSHIES AVAILABLE: * ELSA AND ANNA FROM FROZEN * MOANA FROM MOANA * HOLOGRAM LADY AND TRAMP FROM LADY AND THE TRAMP * GLOW-IN-THE-DARK ARIEL FROM THE LITTLE MERMAID * COLOUR CHANGING MINNIE MOUSE * SILVER MICKEY MOUSE * GOLDEN RAPUNZEL FROM RAPUNZEL * WOODY FROM TOY STORY * ELASTIGIRL FROM THE INCREDIBLES * RUSSELL FROM UP * HOLOGRAM BO PEEP FROM TOY STORY * HOLOGRAM DORY FROM FINDING NEMO * GLOW-IN-THE-DARK MIKE FROM MONSTERS INC * COLOUR CHANGING LIGHTNING MCQUEEN FROM CARS * SILVER BUZZ LIGHTYEAR FROM TOY STORY * GOLDEN SULLEY FROM MONSTERS INC * GOLDEN C-3PO FROM STAR WARS * CAPTAIN MARVEL FROM CAPTAIN MARVEL * HULK FROM THE INCREDIBLE HULK * BLACK WIDOW FROM BLACK WIDOW * HOLOGRAM SCARLET WITCH FROM THE X-MEN 4 * HOLOGRAM CAPTAIN AMERICA * GLOW-IN-THE-DARK GAMORA FROM AVENGERS INFINITY WAR * COLOUR CHANGING IRON MAN * SILVER BLACK PANTHER FROM BLACK PANTHER * GOLDEN THOR FROM THOR * THE MANDALORIAN FROM STAR WARS * REY FROM STAR WARS * DARTH VADER FROM STAR WARS * HOLOGRAM PRINCESS LEIA FROM STAR WARS * HOLOGRAM KYLO REN FROM STAR WARS * GLOW-IN-THE-DARK YODA FROM STAR WARS * COLOUR CHANGING STORM TROOPER * SILVER R2-D2 FROM STAR WARS

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Australian shoppers started collecting the themed figurines from Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars with every $30 they spent in store or online from August 26.

The collection features 36 Ooshies, which follows the success of last year's wildly popular Lion King Ooshies.

There are silver, gold, colour changing, glow in the dark, and additional glitter edition Ooshies, which can all be kept in a special limited-edition box.

'We know many Aussie families have had a challenging year, so we're partnering with Disney to give our customers something exciting to look forward to from their everyday shop,' Woolworths Chief Marketing Officer Andrew Hicks said.

Woolworths has also teamed up with TerraCycle to offer customers a sustainable way to recycle their previous Ooshies

Every Woolworths store will have dedicated recycle bins so customers can drop any pre-loved collectables and wrapper to be recycled until January 31, 2021

'Whether it's Woody, a hologram Princess Leia or a glow in the dark Yoda, we're confident the collection is something the entire family can enjoy and collect together.'

Woolworths has also teamed up with TerraCycle to offer customers a sustainable way to recycle their previous Ooshies.

Every Woolworths store will have dedicated recycle bins so customers can drop any pre-loved collectables and wrapper to be recycled until January 31, 2021.

The paper wrapper can also be recycled at home in the yellow bin.
European statements in condemnation of Irans execution of 27-year-old wrestler Navid Afkari have been met with a barrage of fire from the countrys hard-liners who typically view such criticism as interference in the Islamic Republics affairs.

Javan, the ultraconservative daily affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), took particular aim at Hans-Udo Muzel, Germanys ambassador in Tehran, after the latter posted a chain of tweets in Persian, relaying his governments message against the Islamic Republics attempt to silence opposing voices.

The paper called on Irans Foreign Ministry to immediately expel the spy, a label it also applied to all other Western ambassadors on missions in Iran. Javan highlighted what it called a campaign by the Western propaganda machine that sought to politicize the execution. It also attacked the terrorist US president Donald Trump who shed crocodile tears for the convict.

Afkari was arrested following a 2018 anti-government protest over livelihood grievances. He was later convicted of waging war against God, a charge that Iranian prosecutors have leveled against a large number of dissidents in the past. Afkari was also found guilty of stabbing a public employee to death.

The case grabbed widespread international attention, particularly after Afkari released audio files on how his confessions to murder had been coerced under devastating physical and mental torture. They are simply looking for a neck to place the noose around, Afkari famously said of his interrogators in one of the audio statements. Excerpts of the wrestlers confessions were aired on state TV as part of a decadeslong tradition practiced by Irans security apparatus.

Despite the growing public outcry, Irans judiciary said Afkari had been hanged in a prison in the southern city of Shiraz on Monday following due procedures and pressing demands from the victims family. The wrestlers body was buried amid tight security in his home village, where witnesses said his face bore obvious signs of torture and a broken nose, fueling rumors that he had indeed died under torture rather than actual execution.

The European statements slamming Afkaris execution also infuriated Kayhan, a hard-line newspaper closely linked to the office of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. While censoring the European stance, Kayhan also grabbed the chance to renew its attacks on President Hassan Rouhanis government, whose failure to respond to the European states violations in the nuclear deal has now only emboldened them to the point of interference in Irans domestic affairs.

Irans judiciary, which is controlled by Ayatollah Khamenei and is constitutionally an independent branch from the elected government, also came out with harsh words for the Tehran-based European diplomats, advising them against acting as mouthpieces who spread lies like opposition groups.

Nevertheless, on the other end of the spectrum, the reaction from the European states was viewed as largely hypocritical. A statement from the French Foreign Ministry in condemnation was found by some activists to be a copy-and-paste version based on previous templates in which the date and name have simply been updated. Those statements, critics say, have fallen short of specifically slamming the perceived torture and forced confessions in Afkaris case.

The European Union is lying when it claims that the issue of human rights is on the agenda of its meetings with the Iranians. Talking from my experience with numerous European diplomats, I can bear testimony to the fact that they have often compromised human rights for the sake of political agreements, tweeted Finland-based Iranian political scientist Kambiz Ghafouri.

Hamed Esmaeilion  an exiled Iranian novelist whose wife and daughter died on board the Ukraine international flight downed by a missile fired from Irans IRGC forces and who is currently leading an international campaign to bring Iranian authorities to justice over the tragedy  also issued a stinging statement against the German ambassador for acting too little, too late in support of the executed wrestler.

Perhaps the rebuke at the Iranian Foreign Ministry taught your government a lesson, Esmaeilion wrote after the ambassador was summoned by the Iranian Foreign Ministry. When you do not stand up against a crime and [you] fail to take a due and transparent stance, the victim and the perpetrator both turn away from you, he noted in a Facebook post.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) has issued the following statement in regard to the recent complaint that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan submitted to the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs. The statement reads as follows:

"In connection with the recent complaint of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry submitted to the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmen, in which an attempt was made to present the move of several Lebanese Armenian families to the Republic of Artsakh as a violation of the norms of international humanitarian law, we consider it necessary to note the following:

The authorities of the Republic of Artsakh consider it their duty to render assistance to the compatriots who have found themselves in a critical situation caused by various disasters and crises. Moreover, responding to humanitarian disasters is the collective responsibility of the entire international community, part of which is the Republic of Artsakh, regardless of its temporarily unrecognized political status. By sending humanitarian assistance to Lebanon and providing shelter to those who have lost their homes as a result of the devastating explosion in Beirut, official Stepanakert makes its feasible contribution to the common efforts of the international community to implement humanitarian ideals.

The authorities of the Republic of Artsakh are interested in preserving the Armenian community of Lebanon, but at the same time, within the framework of their sovereign right, they will provide the necessary support to those of our compatriots who are in trouble and who will choose to come and settle in our Republic.

The repeated attempts of the Azerbaijani side to present the provision of shelter by the authorities of Artsakh to the people caught in a humanitarian catastrophe as a violation of the norms of international humanitarian law testify not only to a tendentious interpretation of international documents, but also to a perverted comprehension of humanism in general. Throughout the entire conflict and the process of its settlement, the Azerbaijani authorities have demonstrated an open disregard for humanitarian issues, using them only for their own sake, as a screen to cover up their true indecent goals. This is evidenced by the cynical neglect for over three decades of the rights of about half a million Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan, whose expulsion was accompanied by massacres and brutal pogroms, but official Baku still stubbornly refuses to recognize the responsibility for their tragic fate.

We consider it unacceptable that the victims of the humanitarian catastrophe in Beirut become a target of attacks and a subject of political speculations for the Azerbaijani authorities. We reaffirm that the authorities of the Republic of Artsakh will continue to render the necessary assistance to all our compatriots who have found themselves in a difficult situation in their places of residence."
The Central Bank of The Bahamas is said to be launching its sovereign digital currency, Sand Dollar, next month.

Bloomberg reported the news on Tuesday, saying that Sand Dollar will be rolled out across the Bahamas islands in October. The central bank began piloting the digital currency last December.

Once live, Sand Dollar would allow individuals and businesses to make payments via mobile, even when they are offline. "A lot of residents in those more remote islands don't have access to digital payment infrastructure or banking infrastructure," Chaozhen Chen, the assistant manager of eSolutions at the Central Bank of The Bahamas, told Bloomberg. "We really had to customize the effort and the solution to what we need as a sovereign nation."

During its pilots in Exuma, a district of the Bahamas, the central bank had issued $48,000 worth of the Sand Dollar, valued 1:1 with the regular Bahamian dollar. Chen now told Bloomberg that new Sand Dollars would be "minted" as demand increases and will only be issued when physical Bahamian banknotes are halted.

The Bahamas central bank began researching digital currencies in 2018 and is set to beat some of the world's largest economies, such as China, in launching a national e-currency. The Bahamas central bank's technology partner for Sand Dollar is a local payment solution firm called NZIA Limited.



The Sand Dollar project features prominently into The Block's recent comprehensive report on central bank digital currencies. Read the 92-page report here.





 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.
As he, his father and a bouncer sat inside the bar that Saturday night, they said they thought someone had shot out their windows.

No one had. Instead, surveillance images showed Scurlock and Randall with objects in their hands as they faced the front of Gardners bars, 15 minutes before the fateful encounter.

Video from the scene showed a tall man whom authorities have identified as Randall hurling a signpost at the windows. Randall has denied that he is the man in the images.

Authorities have told The World-Herald that Gardner and his father did not know who they were looking for when they emerged from the bar. Soon after, however, David Gardner began pushing a woman who was walking near the bar. Seeing this, Randall sprinted a half-block and shoved David Gardner to the ground.

That prompted Jake Gardner to rush to his father and look for the man who had decked him.

Scurlock then used his left hand to shove a man next to Jake Gardner.
(CNN) -- The US government has placed travel restrictions on Nigerians who undermine "democratic process or organize election-related violence" during elections.

This latest move follows a decision in January 2019 to deny visas to individuals involved in electoral violence.

Last year travel restrictions were also placed on individuals who were involved in corruption and electoral violence during the country's general elections in February - March 2019.

The lastest visa restrictions affect "individuals have so far operated with impunity at the expense of the Nigerian people and have undermined democratic principles," Morgan Ortagus, a US State Department spokeswoman, said in a statement announcing the restrictions Monday.

"We condemn the acts of violence, intimidation, or corruption that harmed Nigerians and undermined the democratic process."

It listed four states in Nigeria as harboring violators.

The visa restrictions will only affect "certain individuals and not directed at the Nigerian people," the report says. However, the individuals affected were not named.

It stated that the US government wants to help Nigeria "end corruption and strengthen democracy, accountability, and respect for human rights.""

Nigeria's general elections and parliamentary elections, held between March and April 2019, were marred by violence, vote-buying and rigging.

More than 620 people died of violence during the 2019 elections cycle, according to a report from SBM Intelligence, one of Nigeria's leading analysis platforms.

This violence weakens voter confidence in the government and scares away Nigerians from participating in elections, says Lagos based public affairs analyst Samuel Ibemere.

"Nigeria has had leaders who do not care about the consequences of their actions or being accountable to the people. The US is sending the message that there is now a Big Brother is watching their actions. The country has had the politicians who subdue the will of the people during votes. It is a problem that has been here for a long time," says Samuel.

Nigeria will go to the polls once more on September 19 to elect the governor of Edo state, one of the states included in the US visa ban.

The rhetoric of the top candidates from the country's leading political parties have been tough and tense.

The country's Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) warns that the tensions could lead to a state of emergency.

Local authorities have organized peace meetings between the leading politicians in the state to ease rising tensions, according to local media reports.

Many voters have withdrawn from the polls for fear of violence, a recent survey has shown.

Samuel says he expects the US ban to change the political culture of violence in Nigeria, as well as other African countries because of Nigeria's strategic influence in the region.

"Nigeria is Africa's largest democracy and the US is trying to set it up as a model that other African countries can copy. If Nigeria works well, the rest of Africa might just follow," he said.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "US places travel restrictions on Nigerians involved in violence and rigging during elections"
SALEM, Ore., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Willamette Surgery Center is the first ambulatory surgery center in Salem, Oregon to offer robotic-arm assisted total knee, partial knee and total hip replacements with Stryker's Mako System. This highly advanced robotic technology transforms the way joint replacement surgery is performed, enabling surgeons to have a more predictable surgical experience with increased accuracy.1,2,3,4

Mako robotic-arm assisted technology

Willamette Surgery Center's first surgical procedure with Mako is scheduled for September 21, 2020. Shane Hess, DO, an orthopedic surgeon at Hope Orthopedics of Oregon, will be performing the total knee replacement and says, "Robotic-arm assisted surgery with Mako technology adds a level of precision never before seen in the field of hip and knee replacement. Before even making a single bony cut, we can use the technology to place the implants in a patient specific manner that allows reproducible and predictable balance of the joint every time. Ultimately this will allow Hope Orthopedics of Oregon to provide the very best care possible to our patients at Willamette Surgery Center."

Dr. Mark Dolan, orthopedic surgeon at Hope Orthopedics adds, "With Mako, we can provide each patient with a personalized surgical experience based on their specific diagnosis and anatomy. Using a virtual 3D model, Mako allows surgeons to create each patient's surgical plan pre-operatively before entering the operating room. During surgery, we can validate that plan and make any necessary adjustments while guiding the robotic-arm to execute that plan. It's exciting to be able to offer this transformative technology across the joint replacement service line to perform total knee, total hip and partial knee replacements."

"We are proud to be the first surgery center to offer this highly advanced robotic technology in our area," said Lorissa Addabbo, CEO of Hope Orthopedics and Willamette Surgery Center. "The addition of Mako to our orthopedic service line further demonstrates our commitment to provide the community with outstanding healthcare."

About Willamette Surgery Center: Willamette Surgery Center, located 1445 State Street, Salem, Oregon offers the best in surgical technology in a comfortable environment. We offer both outpatient surgery and minimally invasive surgery to help move patients towards rapid recovery and return back to their lives as quickly as possible.

1 Nawabi DH, Conditt MA, Ranawat AS, Dunbar NJ et al. Haptically guided robotic technology in total hip arthroplasty: a cadaveric investigation. J Engineering in Medicine. 2012;227(3):302-309.

2 Illgen R. Robotic assisted total hip arthroplasty improves accuracy and clinical outcome compared with manual technique. 44th Annual Advances in Arthroplasty Course. October 7-10, 2014, Cambridge, MA.

3 Anthony I, Bell SW, Blyth M, Jones B et al. Improved accuracy of component positioning with robotic-assisted unicompartmental knee arthroplasty. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2016;98-A(8):627-35.

4 Hampp EL, Scholl LY, Prieto M, Chang T et al. Robotic-arm assisted total knee arthroplasty demonstrated greater accuracy to plan compared to manual technique. MAKTKA-AJA-9_12509

SOURCE Willamette Surgery Center

Related Links

https://willamettesurgerycenter.com/


- By Alberto Abaterusso





The following companies may be of interest to dividend investors, as their stocks are offering higher dividend yields than the S&P 500 index. The S&P 500's dividend yields 1.75% as of Tuesday, Sept. 15.

Furthermore, Wall Street has issued positive ratings for these stocks, which indicates that their share prices are expected to continue to perform well over the months ahead.





NiSource Inc

The first company that beats the S&P 500 index is NiSource Inc (NYSE:NI), a Merrillville, Indiana-based regulated distributor of natural gas and electricity in the United States.

Based on Tuesday's closing price of $22.11 per share, NiSource Inc offers a trailing 12-month dividend yield of 3.76% and a forward dividend yield of 3.8%. The company is currently paying a quarterly dividend of 21 cents per common share. NiSource Inc has paid dividends for about 25 years.

Close to a three-year high, the current dividend yield is high compared to its recent historical values.

A Trio of High Yield Stock Picks for the Dividend Income Investor

GuruFocus assigned the company a low score of 3 out of 10 for its financial strength rating and a positive score of 6 out of 10 for its profitability.

The stock has an overweight recommendation rating with an average target price of $26 per share on Wall Street.

The past 52 weeks of trading have pushed the share price down nearly 25%, determining a market capitalization of $8.47 billion and a 52-week price range of $19.56 to $30.67.

A Trio of High Yield Stock Picks for the Dividend Income Investor

The stock is neither oversold nor overbought, as signaled by a 14-day relative strength index of 42.

Unilever PLC

The second company that tops the benchmark is Unilever PLC (NYSE:UL), a Dutch household and personal products company.

Based on Tuesday's closing price of $62.47 per American Depository Receipt (ADR), Unilever PLC offers a trailing 12-month dividend yield of 2.9% and a forward dividend yield of 3%. Currently, the company pays a quarterly dividend of 46.9 cents per common share. Unilever PLC has been paying dividends for about 20 years.

Story continues

The company's current dividend yield is quite high compared to its historical values, as the below chart exhibits. Thus, the purchasing of this stock seems profitable.

A Trio of High Yield Stock Picks for the Dividend Income Investor

GuruFocus assigned the company a moderate financial strength rating of 5 out of 10 and a remarkably high profitability rating of 8 out of 10.

The stock has an overweight recommendation rating with an average target price of $63.23 per ADR on Wall Street.

The price per ADR has gained 1.7% over the past year, determining a market capitalization of $163.75 billion and a 52-week range of $44.06 to $63.14.

A Trio of High Yield Stock Picks for the Dividend Income Investor

With a 14-day RSI of 62, the stock does not seem to be either overbought or oversold.

Rayonier Inc

The third company that outperforms the S&P 500 index is Rayonier Inc (NYSE:RYN), a Yulee, Florida-based specialty real estate investment trust company focusing on timberland claims in high productive regions in the U.S. and New Zealand.

Based on Tuesday's closing price of $27.44 per share, Rayonier Inc offers a yield of 3.95% for both the trailing 12-month dividend and forward dividend. The company is currently distributing a quarterly dividend of 27 cents per common share. Rayonier Inc has paid dividends for more than 25 years.

Investing in Rayonier Inc still appears profitable as of Sept. 15, as the current dividend yield is high compared to its historical values.

A Trio of High Yield Stock Picks for the Dividend Income Investor

GuruFocus assigned the company a moderate financial strength rating of 4 out of 10 and a very good profitability rating of 7 out of 10.

The stock has a hold recommendation rating with an average target price of $31.17 per share on Wall Street.

The share price has declined almost 2% over the past year, determining a market capitalization of $3.75 billion and a 52-week range of $15.96 to $33.10.

A Trio of High Yield Stock Picks for the Dividend Income Investor

The 14-day RSI of 43 tells that the stock is neither overbought nor oversold.

Disclosure: I have no positions in any securities mentioned.

Read more here:







Not a Premium Member of GuruFocus? Sign up for a free 7-day trial here.

This article first appeared on GuruFocus.






Haiti - News : Zapping...





Return to the country of 25 Haitians stranded for 5 months

Tuesday morning, 25 Haitians stranded in the French West Indies and mainland France for more than 5 months due to air travel restrictions took a special flight allowing them to finally return home to Haiti



Democracy : Words of Jovenel Moise

"On the occasion of the International Day of Democracy (September 15), I invite the country's driving forces to draw inspiration from the principles and values proclaimed by the United Nations to achieve a peaceful political environment, essential to the full exercise of fundamental rights," Jovenel Moise. See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-31813-haiti-politic-series-of-talk-shows-agora-chita-pale-sou-dwa-moun-video.html



Road of Laboule 12 will open soon

The Ministry of Public Works is hard at work to guarantee the imminent opening of the road of Laboule 12 which will facilitate the decongestion of the road to Carrefour, via Mgr Guilloux, Fontamara 43, Bizoton 53, Diquini 63 and Mariani.



CARICOM : new Ambassador of Haiti

Presentation ceremony of the credentials of Beausoleil Sam, the new Ambassador of Haiti https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-31636-icihaiti-diplomacy-appointment-of-3-new-haitian-ambassadors.html to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), to the Secretary General, HE Irwin Larocque. Ambassador Sam pledged to promote the interests of Haiti, while working, within the Committee of Ambassadors, to achieve the goals set in the CARICOM Strategic Plan.



Community restaurant supply

The Economic and Social Assistance Fund (FAES) supplied the community restaurant of Village de Dieu (Port-au-Prince) and that of Jean Denis (Artibonite), as part of the "Community restaurants" sub-program components of the "Kore Pep" National Social Assistance Program. Supplying these two restaurants will allow vulnerable populations in these neighborhoods to receive a hot meal every day at a subsidized price.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Social media giant Facebook says it will be uneconomic for the company to allow Australians to share news articles on its platforms if it is forced to compensate publishers for the content.

Facebook's vice-president of public policy for Asia-Pacific Simon Milner told a parliamentary inquiry on Wednesday that its plan to block Australians from posting news content on its platform and Instagram was decided with "an incredibly heavy heart".

Facebook warned users that its platform and Instagram would no longer contain news articles if the government passed laws to make it pay for content. Credit:Paul Rovere

Under a proposed code, announced by the Australian competition regulator in July, Facebook and Google will be force to pay news media businesses for using their content and be more transparent about their data and changes to algorithms.

"It is not something we want to do at all," Mr Milner said. "It really is a last resort having tried very hard over the last two-and-a-half years to support a more informed, and make a more balanced framework, for how the relationship between news publishers and digital platforms should be regulated."
TANZANIA Postal Bank (TPB) and the National Health Insurance (NHIF) have launched cotton farmers' health insurance through the Health Insurance Programme initiated by the latter.

Tabora Regional Commissioner Dr Philemon Sengati inaugurated this service at Mwamashimba village in Igunga last week, an occasion attended by farmers from various cooperative unions, Tabora government leaders, TPB and NHIF workers.

DR Sengati said farmers constitute a group of people who were forgotten or excluded from access to health insurance although they deserve such service based on their major role in agriculture which is the mainstay of the national economy.

"I call upon other institutions to emulate the example set by TPB and NHIF in including various groups of people in their development programmes," he said.

The launch of the health insurance to cotton farmers was agreed upon by TPB, NHIF and cooperative unions in the Lake Zone.

Under this programme, Shinyanga Cooperative Union (Shirecu), Kahama Cooperative Union (Kacu) Simiyu Cooperative Union (SCU), Nyanza Cooperative Union (NCU) and other association in the Lake Zone would also be beneficiaries of the scheme.

Primary societies through the Registrar of Cooperative Societies would also enter into initial agreements with TPB and NHIF to ensure the availability of farmers' health insurance in the Lake Zone.

TPB Chief Executive Officer Sabasaba Moshingi said: "This programme of health insurance to farmers has begun with strategic crops, particularly cotton, being the chief cash crop in the Lake Zone."

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He added: "The programme experiment is being carried out in collaboration with the Igembensabo Cooperative Union in Igunga district. The service would be available at TPB branches and NHIF offices in the Lake Zone."

NHIF Director General Bernard Konga said through primary cooperative societies, a farmer would contribute 76,800/-, his partner 76,800/- and children under 18 years would contribute 50,400/- per year.

He elaborated that deductions would be made through the primary cooperative societies when the farmer gets his pay for his produce crops sold these bodies.

Health insurance services available for the farmer would include seeing the doctor, medication, surgery, dental services, eye treatment and others.

The Tabora TPB Regional Manager Timon Massawe said the bank's vision to reach out to various groups of Tanzanians is aimed at supporting government initiatives of ensuring that many citizens have access to health insurance services.
A man charged with carrying drugs into a music festival had no previous convictions, the local district court was told last week.

On August 8, 2019, Jonathan Martin Hoban, Ballywatten, Tynagh, Loughrea, Co. Galway, attended a music festival at Charleville Castle in Tullamore.

He was caught with cocaine, ecstasy and ketamine. The value of the drugs was 330.

Mr Hoban had no previous convictions and wasn't selling them for profit. His solicitor said he had naively opted to carry the drugs into the concert.

The mechanical engineering student was also working part-time in Greenisle Foods. He was very concerned and had informed the college and his place of work in relation to the charges against him, the court heard. He was described as hard-working and his father was in court with him.

Judge Staines asked him if he was still taking cocaine. He said no.

She told him cocaine comes from places like Columbia and Brazil and the people who are involved in the drugs trade in these places create devastation in their countries through murder and rape so they can provide cocaine "to young privileged people like you."

You are part of that and are supporting that chain," said Judge Staines.

She asked him if he realised that the offence carried a 12-month prison sentence. She told him he had shown total disrespect for his father.

However, she noted he had no previous convictions and was trying to study.

Judge Staines said she would give him an opportunity to make a contribution to charity and directed him to pay 500 to Offaly Domestic Violence Support Services who she said did great work.

"You will only get this chance once," added Judge Staines.

Striking out the case she told him he would get this chance only once. "Go to festivals and enjoy yourself. You don't need drugs to enjoy yourself," she advised.
Stillbirth rates have spiked with alarming intensity amid the pandemic and lockdowns intended to slow the spread of coronavirus, according to research from multiple nations.

In Nepal, stillbirths surged by 50 percent between late March and late May, according to a major study with data on more than 20,000 women.

A previous study found that the rate of stillbirths at one London hospital increased by four-fold.

Meanwhile, a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that one in four women hospitalized for coronavirus were pregnant - and three of the 93 women included in the study had stillbirths.

But researchers say the primary driver of the global rise of stillbirths is not coronavirus infection itself. Instead, they believe that people, including pregnant women may have avoided seeking care amid lockdowns and for fear they might contract the virus at a hospital.

Stillbirth rates increased by 50% in Nepal amid coronavirus lockdowns, mirroring similar spikes in the UK and India. Researchers believe they may be a consequence of women's avoidance of hospitals amid COVID-19 fears (file)

'What weve done is cause an unintended spike in stillbirth while trying to protect [pregnant women] from COVID-19,' Jane Warland, a midwifery specialist at the University of South Australia in Adelaide told Nature.

In Nepal, the average stillbirth rate across nine hospitals was about 14 per every 1,000 births in the four weeks before the country locked down to fight the spread of coronavirus on March 24.

Over the course of the following two months, the stillbirth rate shot up to 21 per every 1,000 births.

The rising rate came as the number of women going to the hospital to give birth plummeted.

Between March and May there were half as many weekly deliveries in hospitals compared to the number of babies born a week prior to the pandemic lockdowns.

St George's University of London saw a similar trend, with the stillbirth rate rising from 2.38 per 1,000 deliveries from last October through January to an average of 9.31 per 1,000 births between February and June.

India and Scotland too reported increases in stillbirths.

Of the COVID-19 patients included in the CDC study, published Wednesday, 3.2 percent of pregnancies resulted in stillbirths.

That's a fairly low rate - but doesn't capture the number of women who did not have coronavirus and had stillbirths that might have been avoidable with early medical attention.

In May, a poll found that nearly half of pregnant women were afraid to be in public and risk exposing themselves - and their unborn babies - to coronavirus.

With non-essential medical appointments discouraged, many prenatal visits moved online.

It was an important stop-gap, but ran the risk of missed signs of symptoms that could imperil a pregnancy, such as an irregular fetal heartbeat, or preeclampsia, a form of pregnancy-related high blood pressure that can raise risks of stillbirth.
Deals with the European Union are known to be, not a done deal until the last minute.





by Victor Cherubim





Prime Minister Boris Johnsons Internal Market Bill has cleared its first hurdle by 340 votes to 263, a majority of 77 in the House of Commons last evening 14 September 2020.





Five former Prime Ministers and 10 former Tory ministers are thought to back the idea of giving Parliament a final say on any overrides to the Withdrawal Agreement signed with the European Union.













But with a commanding majority in the House of Commons, Boris Johnson has hinted that the whip could be removed if the rebels dont back down.





The key moments that have led to this Brexit saga





Brexit as many know is not just a storm in a teacup. It has had a long history. We all have known that this has been brewing for years, if not for decades. The defining moments in its history can be summed up as follows:

The Maastricht Treaty or The Treaty on European Union of 7 February 1992 entered operation on 1 November 1993, was signed by the then Prime Minister, John Major, obtaining concessions to placate his rebels. The Black Wednesday,16 September 1992, saw Britains departure from the Fixed Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) of the European Monetary System. It had important consequences. The British Government was forced to withdraw the Pound Sterling from the ERM, after a failed attempt to keep the Pound above the lower currency exchange limit mandated by the ERM. The Lisbon Treaty of December 2007 signed on 13 December 2007 entered into force on 1 December 2009. It amended the Maastricht Treaty and the Treaty of Rome, called Treaty Establishing the European Community. It was thus not a new Constitution. But, Gordon Brown, the Labour Prime Minister surrenders Britains sovereignty, according to the Conservative rebels. On 1 February 2009, the European Debt crisis begins, first with the world realising that Greece could default on its debt. In three years, it escaladed into the potential for sovereign debt defaults from Portugal, Italy, Ireland, and Spain. The fear was a two-tier Europe with preferential treaties for euro members. In February 2016, David Camerons EU Reform deal fails, leading the way for Britain to vote Leave Europe on 23 June 2016. The rest is history, when Boris Johnson is voted in December 2019 with an overwhelming majority to negotiate a New Deal with Europe and leave on 31 December 2020  Deal or No Deal.

Let me say with all humility that each of the above episodes have been witnessed by me during my long stay in Britain. I may recount this saga, more like pages and chapters in my understanding of the Brits and their way of life. I may even go on to state that unlike other nations, the Brits never give up. It is all because their lives are enshrouded in history. They unlike in Sri Lanka, do not have a written Constitution. Time is not a defined commodity, nor is history.





A whole new Brexit Battle





The whole saga is a high risk, high stakes game between Britain and Europe. Of course, the reality is not just the border issue of Northern Ireland, Britain, Ireland, and Europe. There is more to it than meets the eye. The controversial proposal to change the law as an insurance to ensure goods can move easily between the UKs 4 Nation States, is one part of the argument. The other unexpressed part of this negotiation is the fact that there is a lot more wrong with the Withdrawal Agreement than the Border Issue of Northern Ireland.





What about the Trade Deal with the EU?





Deals with the European Union are known to be, not a done deal until the last minute.





Deals with the European Union are also known to be done not by negotiation but by a meeting of minds of Heads of State.





Will it be expediency rather than argument, that will resolve the issue of trade, is a matter of conjecture?
For the first time after revocation of Article 370, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) youth leaders met to deliberate on several issues at party headquarters in Srinagar after their failed first attempt.

The meeting was attended by party vice president, Abdul Rehman Veeri and general secretary, Ghulam Nabi Lone, both former ministers and several youth leaders. Earlier, the PDP leaders attempt to hold their first meeting had failed since they were disallowed from leaving their houses. The second meeting was called after the partys youth wing sought permission from the government.

PDP youth president Waheed Para said they were allowed to organise the meeting at the party office in which several leaders participated.

Party officials said PDP president Mehbooba Muftis continued detention was also discussed as the former chief minister is the only remaining prominent mainstream leader still booked under the Public Safety Act or the PSA.

Also Read: Road to Daulat Beg Oldi will allow tank movement by Oct 15 as army prepares for Ladakh winter

Earlier, PDP leaders also held a demonstration seeking Mehboobas release and raised the issue of alleged human rights violations. Seven party leaders were detained during the demonstration and subsequently released.

Para said that the resident had suffered a lot. Theres unending insecurity among the young with fresh fears of a demographic change, assaults on jobs, culture & language, he said, adding that their voices have been ignored and the institutions erased.

Also Read: LG says J&K to get economic package soon

We cannot afford to remain silent any longer. We need to speak now to restore our dignity and take charge of our own destinies, Para added.

NC vice president, Omar Abdullah welcomed the first political meeting held by the PDP.

Good to see @YouthJKPDP make a start with political meetings. Political activities must resume unhindered & the administration is duty bound to ensure a level playing field for all political parties, Omar Abdullah tweeted.

The National Conference has held a series of meetings in Srinagar over the last few weeks.
Dawn Wooten was a licensed practical nurse at the Irwin County Detention Center. Its dog-eat-dog in there, she said, at the expense of the detainees.

Dawn Wooten, who was a licensed practical nurse at the Irwin County Detention Center, has prompted calls for a federal investigation.

Dawn Wooten, who was a licensed practical nurse at the Irwin County Detention Center, has prompted calls for a federal investigation into her claims that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center where she worked was performing mass hysterectomies.

Wooten, with the support of attorneys from Project South, filed the complaint on Sept. 14 addressed to the Office of the Inspector General at the Department of Homeland Security, as well as the Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in the department.

Read More: Mass hysterectomies performed at ICE detention center, whistleblower complaint alleges

The acting director of Atlantas ICE field office and the warden of the detention center are also named in the complaint.

Since being named in the complaint, Wooten has spoken out about the conditions that she witnessed.

I had several detained women on numerous occasions that would come to me and say, Ms. Wooten, I had a hysterectomy. Why? she said on MSNBC. I had no answers as to why they had those procedures.

Dawn Wooten, the nurse who blew the whistle on ICE, just went on MSNBC. This is being done in our name. pic.twitter.com/ljacMzUQ0N  Joshua Potash (@JoshuaPotash) September 16, 2020

Wootens complaint also detailed the way that the coronavirus pandemic was being addressed inside the Georgia-based facility.

She told the The Intercept that the center was failing to test detainees, reusing old masks and performing negligent sanitation. Her complaints, she said, led to her demotion from a full-time employee to an on-call nurse.

When I started talking about the unfairness and injustice, pressuring staff to conduct more COVID-19 tests, I was written up, Wooten said. Its dog-eat-dog in there, at the expense of the detainees.

Story continues

Read More: Baratunde Thurston talks democracy, social justice, the 2020 presidential election and more

Wooten, who has sickle cell anemia, fought to keep from working with detainees who had tested positive. Yet, unknowingly, she still did.

Priyanka Bhatt, a staff attorney with Project South, told The Intercept Ms. Wootens whistleblowing disclosures confirm what detained immigrants have been reporting for years  gross disregard for health and safety standards, lack of medical care, and unsanitary living conditions.

If true, the appalling conditions described in the whistleblower complaint  including allegations of mass hysterectomies being performed on vulnerable immigrant women  are a staggering abuse of human rights, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement. The DHS Inspector General must immediately investigate the allegations detailed in this complaint.

Have you subscribed to theGrios Dear Culture podcast? Download our newest episodes now!

The post Black nurse speaks out after being identified as ICE whistleblower appeared first on TheGrio.
An Israel Defense Forces spokesperson said this morning that Israeli jets had struck Hamas targets overnight after Gazan operatives fired a salvo of 13 rockets at Israel.

Incoming-rocket alarms sounded in the southern cities of Ashdod and Ashkelon. A warning band appeared on Israeli TV screens just as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finished his White House speech, urging residents of the south to enter bomb shelters. Three people were reportedly injured by the rocket launched at Ashdod.

The 13 rockets were fired at Israel throughout the night, with eight of them intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system. The IDF now believes the rockets were fired by the Islamic Jihad. The IDF said schools in communities near the border fence could reopen this morning, though all are expected to close on Friday afternoon for three weeks, as part of a nationwide lockdown against the coronavirus.

Speaking on his way back from Washington after signing the normalization agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, Netanyahu stated that the Palestinians were trying to hinder peace efforts and pledged that they would not do so. I am not surprised that Palestinian terrorists fired at Israel exactly during this historic ceremony. They want to set back peace. They wont succeed in doing so. We will strike all those who reach out to harm us and we will extend a hand in peace to all those whose hands are extended in peace to us, said Netanyahu.

President Reuven Rivlin tweeted today, This morning we are with the residents who had hours of rocket fire and impacts. We are full of appreciation for their resilience. Our prayers are with those injured in the rocket attacks last night in Ashdod and our support for the IDF, which has been responding to the attacks from Gaza. We will not allow terrorism to go unanswered. The security of Israeli citizens will not be neglected.

The mayor of Sderot criticized Netanyahu, saying, "Congratulations on the peace, but what about the lives of the children living in Sderot and in the communities near the Gaza border? Dont they deserve to sleep quietly like everybody else?"

Yamina leader Naftali Bennett also lambasted the government, calling for a stronger action against Hamas. Bennett tweeted, "Throughout the night, terrorists continued firing rockets on the homes of residents of the south. A white, sleepless night for hundreds of thousands of children and families in the south. A foreigner wont understand [these feelings of fear]. We became accustomed that this is out fate. But its not. Israelis living in the south are not doomed to suffer rocket fire for ever and ever. This is the results of many years when deterrence was lost, years of passiveness and lack of initiative. But things could be different."

Reports last Saturday indicated that Egypt was brokering talks on a proposed prisoner swap between Israel and Hamas, taking advantage of a renewed truce between both sides. An Egyptian intelligence delegation shuttled between Gaza and Tel Aviv to advance the talks, but after the rocket barrage, it is unclear where the negotiations stand. A report this morning said that a UN envoy is expected in Gaza this afternoon to discuss a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas seniors. Israeli observers are unsure whether the rocket salvo was a brief protest against the normalization agreements or if Israel should expect more of the kind.
Venezuelan officials say the American plotted attacks against the nations oil industry and electricity system.

A United States citizen held by Venezuelan authorities on accusations of being an American spy was not sent to Venezuela by the US government, a senior Trump administration official said on Wednesday.

Venezuelas chief prosecutor Tarek William Saab on Monday announced charges of terrorism and weapons trafficking against Matthew John Heath, detained last week in the South American country where socialist President Nicolas Maduro is deeply at odds with the US.

Saab said Heath had been plotting attacks against the OPEC nations oil industry and electricity system.

From everything Ive seen, I can say the United States government did not send Mr Heath to Venezuela, Elliott Abrams, the US special envoy for Venezuela and Iran, told reporters when asked about the case.

Special Representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams speaks during a news conference at the US Department of State, in Washington, US [File: Andrew Harnik/ Pool via Reuters]

Abrams said he was limited in what he could say, for privacy reasons, but added that Venezuela is particularly difficult because we do not have an embassy with a consular section in Caracas.

Maduro last week announced Heaths capture, accusing him of spying on refineries in western Falcon state while carrying specialised weapons.

A US government source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said on Monday that Washington was investigating Venezuelan authorities claims and advised scepticism.

Ex-marine Matthew John Heath, who served in Iraq, was arrested in possession of grenade launchers, satellite phones, and C4 explosives on Thursday.https://t.co/0XDwFSMu71  venezuelanalysis.com (@venanalysis) September 14, 2020

Saab said Heath had entered Venezuela illegally via the Colombian border, was carrying a coin linking him to the US Central Intelligence Agency, without providing details, and previously worked for a private military contractor. Pro-government media identified Heath as a former US Marine.

Saab said three Venezuelan citizens were arrested and charged with treason as part of the alleged plot.

Caracas last month sentenced two former US soldiers to 20 years in prison for their role in a botched incursion in May that Venezuelan authorities said was aimed at ousting Maduro.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 16:31:50|Editor: huaxia

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TALUQAN, Afghanistan, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Two people were killed and 12 others sustained injury as a blast rocked Kalafgan district in the northern Takhar province on Tuesday, police spokesman in the restive province Abdul Khalil Asir said Wednesday.

"The terrorists planted explosive device in the cavities of a motorbike and detonated it next to a medressah, or religious school, on Tuesday afternoon, killing two civilians on the spot and wounding 12 others, all civilians," Asir told Xinhua.

A liquid gas selling shop also exploded due to the blast and 20 shops in the area were badly damaged, the spokesman added.

Without providing more details, he said an investigation had been initiated and the details would be shared with the media. Enditem
Here are some of todays biggest headlines.

Another presidential assault on science as fires and pandemic rage A defining trait of Donald Trumps presidency is his incessant destruction of reason, evidence and science in the service of his personal whims, conspiratorial mindset and political requirements.

Aid cuts by Trump and some US allies are costing lives in Yemen In March, the Trump administration and the US key regional allies, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, slashed their funding to the United Nations appeal for Yemen. The funding cuts mean reduced healthcare services for Yemeni civilians, with some forced to close.

Romes Fiumicino Airport awarded worlds first five-star anti-Covid award (CNN)  Travelers eager to fly again may want to consider Italy as their next destination. Romes Fiumicino Airport has become the first airport in the world to earn the COVID-19 5-Star Airport Rating from Skytrax, an international airport industry ratings body.

Activists flee on boats from Hong Kong, once a safe haven from China For Ha Sze-yuen, the sea surrounding Hong Kong is more than just a backdrop for sunsets and beaches.

Trumps TikTok showdown is poised to reward his Silicon Valley political allies President Donald Trump last month used his office to ignite an international business crisis thats plunged into doubt the future of one of the worlds most popular social media platforms  a decision thats now led to the apparent benefit of a major political backer.

Novak Djokovic doesnt think hell ever forget disqualification from US Open Novak Djokovic says his disqualification from the US Open has been a big lesson but admits he doesnt think he will ever forget about it.

Neymar makes racism allegation as game ends with five red cards Paris Saint-Germain forward Neymar has said he was the target of a racist slur by an Olympique Marseille player during the French champions 1-0 defeat in Ligue 1 on Sunday.

Agents announce seizure of suspected counterfeit Apple AirPods that are actually OnePlus Buds Like most Apple products, the companys wireless earbuds, the Apple AirPods, have prompted a number of copycat designs.

Microsoft pulled its underwater data center out of the sea in Scotland Microsoft pulled its second underwater data center out of the water in Scotland.

Climate row as Trump visits fire-hit US West Coast Democratic politicians on the US West Coast have accused President Donald Trump of being in denial about climate changes role in the huge wildfires there, before his visit to California. Blazes in California, Oregon and Washington state have burned almost 2m hectares (5m acres) of land and killed at least 35 people since early August.

The Nigerian filmmakers risking jail with lesbian movie Ife Two Nigerian filmmakers face the prospect of imprisonment if they ignore the stern warning of the authorities and proceed with the release of a movie about a lesbian relationship. The dramatic face-off with the regulators  the Nigerian Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB)  is worthy of a film itself.

Covid: Pandemic has pushed back progress by 20 years  BBC News Intensive care capacity in the French city of Marseille is close to saturation amid a sharp spike in Covid-19 infections, its hospitals director Jean-Olivier Arnaud has warned. New limits on gatherings are being introduced around Marseille and in the south-western city of Bordeaux.The two cities are the main new hotspots in a country that on Saturday recorded a big surge in cases.

Asia sees first regional recession in 60 years Share this with Facebook Share this with Messenger Share this with Twitter Share this with Facebook Share this with WhatsApp Share this with Messenger Share this with Twitter Share this with These are external links and will open in a new window Copy this link https://www.bbc.com/news/business-54157000?xtor=AL-72-[partner]-[bbc.news.twitter]-[headline]-[news]-[bizdev]-[isapi]&at_campaign=64&at_custom1=[post%20type]&at_medium=custom7&at_custom4=FBCD3760-F715-11EA-B4A4-C88F4744363C&[email protected]&at_custom2=twitter Read more about sharing.

YouTubes TikTok rival to be tested in India YouTube has announced it will test a beta version of its new TiktTok rival in India. YouTube Shorts will limit videos to 15 seconds, and the platform will feature creator tools that are similar to Chinese-owned TikToks. India banned TikTok and 58 other Chinese apps in June as border tensions rose between the two countries.

Paul Rudd, Certified Young Person, has a PSA on wearing masks A majority of new COVID-19 infections are transmitted by young people, which is why Certified Young Person Paul Rudd is calling on his fellow Youths to wear a mask. People under 40 are driving the spread of the coronavirus, and despite misinformation from the White House science advisor Dr. Scott Atlas  whose specialty is neuroradiology, not epidemiology  young people can be severely affected by the virus.

Twitter-controlled anal vibrators are the cyberpunk future we need What if technology was invasive but, you know, in a good way? Say hello to the Double-Oh, a custom-built battery which theoretically allows for wireless control of any device that uses AA batteries. And, as its inventor Buck  the pseudonymous fursona of a 31-year-old maker based in Berlin  let Twitter know on Friday, that control extends to anal vibrators.

Carl Sagan predicted life on Venus in 1967. We may be close to proving him right. Millions of space nerds reacted with joy Monday to a study showing the atmosphere of Venus contains phosphine, a chemical byproduct of biological life. But none would have been more thrilled or less surprised by the discovery than the late, great Carl Sagan  who said this day might come more than 50 years ago.

Card v Card is a game where you race to spend someone elses money MSCHF, the prank group behind the contest Finger on the App, is back with another game: Card v Card . Card v Card is a competitive multiplayer bank account where the aim is to spend someone elses (MSCHFs) money. How exactly does that work?
No doubt Kenosha has, over the past weeks, experienced tremendous tragedy and challenge during which community members have demonstrated remarkable moments of grace, courage and fortitude.

While the road to recovery and healing will be long and deliberate, it is a journey we need to take as a community, together. I find myself grateful that our community has been afforded a window of opportunity now, despite the anguishing loss of life and livelihoods, to remake social systems to be more equitable and just.

Because it should not necessarily take a crisis to enliven  or sustain  high rates of community engagement, I went searching for information about civic participation and found a report from the UW-Madison Center for Community and Nonprofit Studies titled Civic Health in Wisconsin: Connectedness in Context. Findings presented in this report are based on the National Conference on Citizenships analysis of the U.S. Census Current Population Survey data, summarizing data about Wisconsin residents civic engagement and community connectedness.

Definitions, examples

High rankings in civic health reflect the degree to which citizens participate in their communities, running the gamut from local and state governance to interactions with friends or family. High degrees of civic health relate to the overall well-being of neighborhoods and communities that may include residents group memberships, extent of charitable giving, volunteer and voter registration/participation rates, attendance at public meetings and even supporting local businesses.

Social cohesion and connectedness are related terms in the report, defined as a series of interactions between friends, families and neighbors, such as eating dinner with friends or family and trusting your neighbors.

Broader Findings

Wisconsin data demonstrate srelative strengths when compared to other states in terms of civic health metrics of social conne

milies and communities, causing fractured communities, polarization and withdrawal from public life.

Looking to the future

According to the report, Wisconsin ranks high nationally in voter registration and voter turnout, but our state has shown a dramatic drop in voting rates in recent years. And Wisconsin has experienced a decline in the competitiveness of local elections more broadly with increased rates of uncontested races.

Furthermore, the availability of  and use of  local media sources has reduced in recent years, posing areas of concern when considering how informed a populace is.

Residents also self-report that they do not do favors for neighbors, indicating, perhaps, a shallowing of relationships.

So even if we see patterns of local activism in cleanup efforts, food drives and peaceful protests diminish, there are still a myriad of ways that community residents can stay engaged in meaningful ways to make a difference. These investments in civic health will be needed in the long recovery phase in Kenosha it will take everyone doing their part to rebuild better.

Amy Greil is Extension Community Development Educator for the UW-Extension Service in Kenosha County.

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 16

By Samir Ali  Trend:

The bulk of the coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in Azerbaijan, that is 56.1 percent, accounts for the capital city Baku, Trend reports on Sept.16.

Furthermore, 15.6 percent of all cases of infection were registered in Absheron district, 10.4 percent  in the Aran zone, 6.4 percent  in Ganja-Gazakh zone, 4.3 percent  in Lankaran city.

To date, 2.1 percent of infections were recorded in the Guba-Khachmaz region, 1.8 percent - in Shaki-Zagatala region, 1.6 percent - in Upper Shirvan region and 1 percent - in Upper Karabakh region.

Some 0.004 percent of the total number of infections was detected in the countrys Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.

The largest number of infections in Baku was registered in Binagadi district - 14.3 percent, the report said.

In the capital, 12.2 percent of the infected were registered in Khatai district, and 11.8 percent in Yasamal district.

As reported, the percentage of coronavirus-infected people in Bakus Sabunchu district was 11.6 percent, in Nasimi district  8.9 percent, in Narimanov district - 8.4 percent, in Surakhani district - 8 percent, in Garadagh district - 7.6 percent, in Nizami district - 7.1 percent, in Khazar district - 5 percent, and in Sabayil district - 4.7 percent.

The least number of infected persons in Baku accounts for Pirallahi district.

In age terms, 21 percent of those infected with coronavirus in the country are 50-59 years old, 18 percent - 30-39 years old. 5 percent of those infected are children under 9 years old, while 2 percent are people over 80 years old.

The number of women infected with COVID-19 is 54 percent, and 46 percent are men.

Up to now, 38,517 people have been infected with coronavirus in the country, 35,998 of them have recovered, and 566 people have died. Currently, 1,953 people are under treatment in special hospitals.

To reveal the COVID-19 cases, a total of 1,020,029 tests have been conducted in Azerbaijan so far.
The People's Liberation Army's troops stationed at the Line of Actual Control raise their combat readiness to the second-highest possible last week after an exchange of fire with Indian troops but the alert was eased following a meeting between external affairs minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Moscow, South China Morning Post reported citing Chinese military sources.

IMAGE: An Indian Air Force fighter jet on the runway in Ladakh amid the prolonged India-China face-off. Photograph: PTI Photo

It means more weapons and troops were deployed and training exercises were ramped up for commanders, officers and soldiers, a military source told the South China Morning Post.

The last time such a high level was employed by troops in the restive region was in 1987 when a skirmish in the Sumdorong Chu valley pushed the two sides to the brink of war, said the person, who asked not to be named.

The PLA has four grades of combat readiness.

The first level is used only when military leaders are convinced an armed conflict is inevitable.

"Since the combat readiness level was raised, commanders, officers and soldiers have been working around the clock, carrying out extra training and drills," the source said.

"The PLA mobilised more troops and weapons systems to the Line of Actual Control (the formal name for the disputed China-India border) in preparation for the worst," the source added.

The heightened state of alert was only relaxed after Wang met his Jaishankar in Moscow on Friday on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, a second source said.

Jaishankar met Wang on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Foreign Ministers' meet in Moscow after Chinese soldiers fired in the air while attempting to close in on Indian positions across the LAC in eastern Ladakh.

Tension is high along the LAC as Indian and Chinese Army are engaged in a standoff at several points.

According to a joint press statement about the meeting, the two leaders had a "frank and constructive discussion on the developments in the India-China border areas as well as on India-China relations."

"The two ministers agreed that both sides should take guidance from the series of consensus of the leaders on developing India-China relations, including not allowing differences to become disputes," it read.

The meeting came days after The Indian Army had said on Tuesday that Chinese troops have been "blatantly violating agreements and carrying out aggressive manoeuvres".

In a statement about the Thursday's meeting, the Chinese defence ministry said the two sides have reached a five-point consensus regarding the current situation after a full in-depth discussion, says a statement issued by the Chinese foreign ministry.
Gov. Doug Burgum supports a seat belt law to help mitigate traffic deaths, but he won't issue a mask mandate amid North Dakota's growing coronavirus cases.

"I would just say that I'm going to stand by both of those decisions, and maybe there's some theoretical conflict in holding those two views," he said when asked this week about his vocal support in 2018 "absolutely" for a primary seat belt law but not presently for a statewide mask mandate.

The 2019 Legislature defeated such a bill, which passed the Senate 24-23 but failed 38-54 in the House amid arguments of personal freedom. North Dakota has a secondary seat belt law, under which an unbuckled driver is ticketed only after a traffic violation. State law requires minors in vehicles to wear seat belts. Children younger than 8 must ride in a child restraint or a booster seat.

Burgum on Monday reiterated his support for a bill, citing his administration's "Vision Zero" initiative of eliminating traffic fatalities.

North Dakota had 100 crash deaths in 2019, at least 34 of which were "unbelted fatalities," according to state data. In 2018, an unbelted fatality occurred every 10 days in North Dakota.

Face masks also have generated debates of personal freedom in North Dakota, most recently before a unanimous Morton County Commission vote rejecting a mask mandate.

"In both cases I'm for compliance. It's just two different methods to get to the same place," said Burgum, who advocates face masks and personal responsibility in wearing them.

His administration is promoting #MaskUpND in a public health campaign. Seat belts are a component of his administration's "Vision Zero" campaign.

"There are probably a million excuses why people don't wear seat belts, but none of them will keep you alive," an ad narration says.

Data is "very, very strong for seat belts saving lives," Burgum said. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that seat belts reduce the risk of death and serious injury by 45% and 50%, respectively.

"It seems to me like this is a well-established science that's been around. ... North Dakota, we're just on the tail end of this, of sort of understanding that," he said, citing decades of research into seat belts preventing crash deaths.

"This seems like a bit of no-brainer based on everything that's there," he said.

Face masks are "a community thing," he said.

"If I'm sitting in my driveway, not going anywhere and wearing a seat belt, I'm not helping anybody else, OK?" Burgum said. "But if I'm putting a mask on and going into public, I'm helping other people, and so this is a different thing. This is a community thing. This is a 'We're all in it together.'"

The CDC in July urged the public to wear masks to reduce coronavirus spread, citing research that included two Missouri hairdressers symptomatic with COVID-19 and wearing masks who did not spread the virus to any of their dozens of clients.

Cloth face coverings are one of the most powerful weapons we have to slow and stop the spread of the virus -- particularly when used universally within a community setting," CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield said in a statement. "All Americans have a responsibility to protect themselves, their families, and their communities.

A mask mandate to increase compliance with public health guidance could lead to the opposite in North Dakota, where many people reject a mask mandate, Burgum said.

"If I thought by not having a seat belt law that we could get more people to wear their seat belt, that's the camp I'd be in," he said.

Burgum called different approaches across states "a beautiful thing."

"We can have 50 cauldrons of democracy or 50 platforms of innovation, and we're going to continue to do in North Dakota the thing that we think saves the most lives and saves the most livelihoods," he said.

Reach Jack Dura at 701-250-8225 or jack.dura@bismarcktribune.com.

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The idea of opening a separate bench of the apex court outside has not found favour with the of India, the government informed Parliament on Wednesday.

In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Union Minister for Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad said representations were received from time to time from various quarters for establishment of benches in various parts of the country.

"The Law Commission, in its 229th Report, had also suggested that a Constitution Bench be set up at and four cassation benches be set up in the northern region at Delhi, the southern region at Chennai/Hyderabad, the eastern region at Kolkata and the western region at Mumbai.

"The idea of a separate Bench of outside has not found favour with the Supreme Court of India," he said.

The minister was asked whether the government had received any proposal from lawyers' associations to open a Supreme Court bench in Chennai for the convenience of the people of the southern states and to reduce time and money on litigation.

(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.)
Independent Presidential candidate Jacob Osei Yeboah popularly known as JOY 2016 may not contest the presidential position again after ECs announcement of a whopping GHS100, 000 filing fee.



To him, the amount is too much in an unfriendly economy during this COVID-19 era.



I was very surprised when I heard the amount from the EC. The amount is too much in the corona year. Things are not going as expected not only in Ghana but in the world. So the EC should have considered all these before the increment of the fee, he said in an interview with NEAT FMs morning show 'Ghana Montie'.



According to the Electoral Management Body, anybody who wants to be on the Electoral Commissions ballot paper as a Presidential Candidate in the December 7 polls will have to pay GHc 100, 000 as the filing fee subject to refund after getting 25% of valid votes cast.



Also, parliamentary aspirants are to pay GHc 10, 000 as filing fee.



The fees are to be paid by bankers draft and all must file their nominations between Monday, 5 October, and Friday, 9 October, 2020.

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.

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New Delhi: Markets ended in the green led by rally in banking and finance stocks amid a positive trend in global markets.

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed 287.72 points or 0.74 per cent higher at 39,044.35. The broader NSE Nifty rose 81.75 points or 0.71 per cent to finish at 11,521.80.

Here are Stocks in focus on September 16, 2020.

Aurobindo Pharma

The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Aurobindo Pharma Limited would collaborate to develop vaccines to protect against COVID-19. Under the signed agreement between CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) here and Aurobindo Pharma, Aurobindo will partner with CSIR for development of several novel COVID-19 vaccines, the CCMB said in a release on Tuesday.

IRB Infra

IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd on Tuesday said its arm has entered into a pact with NHAI for executing a stretch of Vadodara-Mumbai Expressway in Gujarat at a cost of Rs 1,755 crore. The project falls under Bharatmala Pariyojna Phase 1. The 27.50 km stretch pertains to Gandeva-Ena section in Gujarat. The company said the construction period for the stretch is 730 days, while operation period is 15 years.

SpiceJet

Budget carrier SpiceJet on Tuesday reported a net loss of Rs 600.5 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, owing to the suspension of flight operations due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown. It had posted a net profit of Rs 262.8 crore in the corresponding period of the previous financial year. The airline''s operating revenue stood at Rs 521 crore in the first quarter of 2020-21, significantly lower as against Rs 3,002.8 crore a year ago, it said in a statement. Operating expenses during the June 2020 quarter were Rs 1,311.6 crore, compared to Rs 2,886.7 crore in the year-ago period.

Infosys

India''s second largest software services firm Infosys on Tuesday said it will announce its financial results for the July-September quarter on October 14. The financial results and proposal for interim dividend, if any, will be presented to the Board of Directors on October 14, 2020 for their approval, it added. The filing noted that Infosys will hold investor/analyst calls on the same day to discuss the financial results and business outlook.

Lakshmi Vilas Bank

Lakshmi Vilas Bank on Tuesday said due diligence on its proposed amalgamation with mid-sized non-banking lender Clix Capital Group is "substantially complete" and the parties are in discussions on the next steps. The capital-starved Chennai-based bank and the New Delhi-based NBFC had in mid-June this year entered into a non-binding agreement to explore an amalgamation.
Dr. Fiona Pathiraja

Dr. Fiona Pathiraja has launched Crista Galli Ventures (CGV), an early-stage healthtech evergreen fund that offers patient capital and deep healthcare expertise.

The only LP in the fund is the Danish family office IPQ Capital.

The firm will invest at Seed and Series A in pan-European healthtech startups, focusing on deep tech, digital health and personalised healthcare. It will not invest in biotechnology, drug discovery, devices, especially when they are non-software enabled.

The firm has also launched Crista Galli LABS, a separate investing strand aimed at redressing the diversity imbalance in healthtech.

CGV has a pan-European network, with offices in London and Copenhagen, and has invested in 15 companies, including:

Skin Analytics (London, UK, and Australia). Using AI to improve diagnosis of skin cancer

Quibim (Valencia, Spain)  Using AI in the field of Radiomics, to read medical images for disease-specific biomarkers, enabling early detection of diseases such as COVID-19

Contextflow (Vienna, Austria)  Using AI to improve radiology workflow, helping radiologists to work more efficiently

Cydar Medical (Cambridge, UK)  Using AI to create a satellite navigation system for vascular surgical procedures

Smart Reporting (Munich, Germany)  Using AI to create state-of-the-art structured reports to make the work of the radiologist and the pathologist more efficient and data-driven

Gleamer (Paris, France)  Using AI to improve radiological diagnosis of musculoskeletal conditions

Ampersand Health (London, UK)  Digital therapies for patients with inflammatory conditions such as Crohns disease

LiveSmart (London, UK)  Using a technology platform to deliver workplace physical and mental health solutions

Machine Medicine (London, UK)  Using computer vision to improve motor assessment in neurology  Parkinsons disease, for example

Cerebriu (Copenhagen, Denmark)  Using AI to improve quality and acquisition of images in neuroimaging, thus saving precious time in hospital care

Collective Minds Radiology (Taby, Sweden)  Developing an international ed-tech platform for radiologists to share cases

Crista Galli LABS has invested in:

Arthronica (London, UK) Using computer vision to improve care of those suffering with rheumatoid arthritis

Juno Bio (London, UK and USA) Decoding the vaginal microbiome to help womens health

Pear Bio (London, UK)  Using technology to evaluate drug efficacy via an organ-on-a-chip

Virtue Health (London, UK)  Using computer vision in motor assessment to provide corporate occupational health solutions and improve physiotherapy in elite sports
Counting On fans cant stop speculating on Jana Duggars dating life. As the oldest Duggar daughter, most followers didnt expect Jana to stay single into her 30s. The women in the family usually get married young after short, parent-approved courtships.

Since Jana isnt married yet, it leads fans to question why. Is she incredibly picky? Is she just patient? Is she being held captive by her parents, who need help raising the younger kids? Recently, the 30-year-old has been vocalizing her reasons for remaining unmarried and living at home.

In one statement, Jana even said shes resigned to lowering her standards for picking a potential mate.

The Duggars approach marriage differently

While most American adults choose their spouses after dating many potential partners, the Duggars take a different approach. The strict fundamentalist Christian family avoids dating and instead meets potential life partners via courtships.

The main difference between courting and dating is setting boundaries for yourself so that you dont cross over those, Jill Dillard explained on 19 Kids & Counting in 2014. If a gentleman was interested in pursuing marriage with Jana, hed need to speak with family patriarch Jim Bob Duggar first.

If a man pursuing a girls heart, definitely the guy needs to talk to the girls father, Jessa Duggar explained during a video. So for us, guys would approach our dad and talk to him about that, kind of make their interest known.

Jana Duggar may have courted before

RELATED: Counting On: Fans Might Be a Little Sad When Jana Duggar Announces a Courtship

The reality star said shes sick of fans constantly asking about her romantic status. Jana explained that shes happy with her life and willing to wait for the right person to come along.

Most fans are convinced Jana has been in a failed courtship, specifically with family friend Lawson Bates. This deduction came from a few flirty Instagram comments plus the fact that both families share the same values. This rumor remains unconfirmed.

She is lowering her standards for finding a husband

Jana is looking for true love that lasts forever. But shes willing to compromise on one dating standard that she used to consider non-negotiable. As the 30-year-old told People, shes ready to start looking for potential partners who live in different zip codes.

I used to be a little more strict, she says. I felt like, I just want to find someone that would either move to Arkansas, or is already from here, but I think as time has gone on, Ive found I do love to travel more than I thought I did.

Her travel interests have helped expand her perspective and envision herself living elsewhere. Jana continued, saying: So now, its more like, okay, if I really love the guy, Ill follow him to the ends of the earth. Ill want to go wherever he is. So far I just havent found that one.

Jana says shed move away if her future husband wanted to

Many Duggars live in their home state of Arkansas, frequently gathering in the family home for holidays and other special celebrations. But some adult children moved away, too. Jinger and Jeremy Vuolo live in Los Angeles after spending some time living in Texas.

And Jana is willing to do the same. When he comes, he doesnt have to stay in Arkansas, she says. Its just that Ive got to love you so much that I will go with you.

If thats what Jana wants, then hopefully her special partner comes along soon. Follow along when Counting On airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET.
Scientists baffled by orcas ramming sailing boats near Spain and Portugal Guardian

Oil Demand Has Collapsed, And It Wont Come Back Any Time Soon NPR

Business Roundtable to endorse market-based climate policy Politico

Study suggests financial holdings influenced key votes for house lawmakers Phys.org (RM).

Shock and sorrow as Canadas biggest co-op sold to US private equity firm Guardian (IM). IM: Canadians who were born in the 70s grew up with MEC; I always had an MEC backpack for school, bought my winter jackets there, and when I spent serious time in the mountains in the 1990s, I couldnt wait to make trips to the store in Calgary to gear up. There really was a co-op spirit that reflected the organizations collectivist, hippie west coast / prairie roots. Many meaningful trips in the wilderness happened with MEC gear. Now itsin the hands of private equity.

Warren Buffetts BNSF Railway Names Kathryn Farmer First Female CEO Of Major Railroad Forbes. BNSF moves a lot of coal, and a lot of containers. So a woman is holding the bag

Microsoft pulls underwater data center back to the surface to assess benefits of deep-sea cloud GeekWire

Wildfires

#COVID19

How COVID-19 Has Affected One Mexican Pueblo Commonweal

Russian excess deaths over summer outstrip COVID toll by more than 3 to 1 Reuters

China?

Suga takes the reins as Japans new prime minister, replacing Abe Japan Times

Japans exports extend double-digit declines as pandemic hits demand Reuters

UK/EU

The Great British Humbling The Atlantic

Bandits Target Nigerias Farmers and Threaten Food Security Bloomberg

Syraqistan

Israel signs deal establishing formal ties with two Arab states at the White House WaPo. And its not even October!

New Cold War

Navalnys Poisoning Is the Act of a Sickly Regime Tatiana Stanovaya, Carnegie Moscow Center

Trump Transition

2020

QAnon site shutters after reports identifying developer The Hill. For a world-girdling conspiracy theory thats shaping up to be our next moral panic, this Jason Gelinas dude is making $3,000 a month on Patreon? Thats enough to keep him in granite counter-tops, but hardly f*ck you money for somebody who works on Wall Street, even if only in IT. Gelinas looks like an opportunistic arriviste to me. Im still waiting for our famously free press to find out who (or what) the original Q was. Isnt that the story here?

Whistleblower Says Facebook Ignored Global Political Manipulation Buzzfeed

Realignment and Legitimacy

Health Care

Our Famously Free Press

Assange

Your Man in the Public Gallery: Assange Hearing Day 10 Craig Murray. A must-read.

Police State Watch

Boeing

For Poor Countries, Gains in Education Are Not Matched in Income Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis (UserFriendly).

Class Warfare

World missing all targets to save nature, UN warns France24

Sydneys New Suburbs Are Too Hot for People to Live In Bloomberg

New Climate Maps Show a Transformed United States Pro Publica (Re Silc). Today, the combination of truly dangerous heat and humidity [wet bulb] is rare. But by 2050, parts of the Midwest and Louisiana could see conditions that make it difficult for the human body to cool itself for nearly one out of every 20 days in the year. New projections for farm productivity also suggest that growing food will become difficult across large parts of the country, including the heart of the High Plains $35 billion agriculture industry. Handy map:

Interesting how the Missisippi River basin transforms to a weakness from a continental strength (though I wonder how river restoration would affect humidity; Id guess favorably). So, coastal elites doing pretty well on their project to turn flyover into a teardown! Kidding. Partly. Pretty well, except for ocean rise, of course. I wonder how long before the Irvings start selling off the Unorganized Territories in Maine to, well, gentrifiers.

New Solar Cycle Has Begun, NASA Says Independent (KW).

Antidote du jour (Timotheus):

Timotheus: Monarchs at Mentor Marsh (Ohio), near Lake Erie.

Bonus antidote:

Bethany: he did this for like 15 minutes

Me: was there a moth up there?

Bethany: no

Me: oh pic.twitter.com/al7wQgWv1G  10,000 Motivated Rats (@bombsfall) September 13, 2020

Sid! Sid! Sid! Sid!

See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here
BERLIN - Twenty-nine German police officers were suspended Wednesday for participating in extremist chat groups that shared images like swastikas and a depiction of refugees in a gas chamber, officials said, in the latest neo-Nazi scandal to engulf the country's military and law enforcement.

The discovery is a "disgrace" for the police in the western region of North Rhine-Westfalia and impacted the force "to its core," the state's interior minister, Herbert Reul, said in a news conference. Pictures of Hitler, Reich flags and an image portraying a Black person being shot were also shared.

"We are talking about the nastiest and most disgusting neo-Nazi, racist, and refugee-hostile hatred," he said.

The 126 images with content punishable by law were shared in five WhatsApp chat groups that were exclusively or predominantly used by police officers. The officers - 25 of whom worked for the same police force in the city of Essen - were asked to hand in their badges and weapons Wednesday.

Disciplinary proceedings with the aim of termination have been initiated against 14 of the officers, officials said, with 11 suspected of committing a criminal offense. Early morning raids were carried out at 34 locations, private homes and police stations alike.

Germany's police and military have been marred by a slew of extreme-right scandals. Neo-Nazi death threats against prominent public figures, including left-wing politicians and lawyers, in recent years have been linked to police computers. The inquiry into those threats also unearthed WhatsApp chat groups in which officers had shared racist and anti-Semitic content.

That followed the 2017 discovery of a group of neo-Nazi "preppers," called Nordkreuz, who authorities said were readying themselves for "Day X" by drawing up a list of political opponents and hoarding weapons and body bags. Suspects were linked to the police and military.

In June, Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer disbanded a combat unit of Germany's elite Special Forces Command because of suspected extreme-right ties among its ranks.

But experts have accused German authorities of failing to tackle the problem head-on and questioned about the ability of police to investigate themselves.

No officers have been charged in the death threats. The founder of Nordkreuz, a police officer who previously served in the German military, was given a 21-month suspended sentence last year on weapons charges.

Even as scrutiny has increased during worldwide Black Lives Matter demonstrations, German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has repeatedly pushed back against any assertion of structural racism within the country's security forces.

In July, Seehofer canceled a planned study of racial profiling by police, with the ministry explaining that it was not necessary because racial profiling is against the rules. Instead, he mooted a study into violence directed at police.

Steve Alter, a spokesman for the federal Interior Ministry, described Wednesday's reports as "alarming" but said far-right networks that have been unearthed in three of Germany's 16 federal states did not indicate a "structural" racism issue among the country's 300,000 police officers.

Speaking at a news conference, Alter added that it was too early to reevaluate the decision to shelve the racism study.

The latest chat groups were discovered after an officer's phone was confiscated because of suspicion over media leaks, officials said. One of the groups was begun in 2012, while another - on which the majority of the images were shared - was created in 2015.

Reul warned that more cases may emerge, after cellphones of other officers were seized Wednesday for examination.

"I have to tell you that this process makes me speechless," he said, referring to the investigation, "and I haven't been able to get it out of my mind since I found out about it."
Mumbai: Producer Saviraj Shetty has dropped the first look poster of his banner Whatever Productions maiden film Taxi No. 24. The film stars Mahesh Manjrekar, who has been a part of many multistarrer Hindi and Marathi films.

Besides him, Jagjeet Sandhu, who was last seen in Paataal Lok and actress Anangsha Biswas, who has garnered appreciation for her work in Mirzapur and Hostages will be seen in the leading roles.

It is helmed by Saumitra Singh, who has earlier helmed two award-winning short films. Taxi No. 24 is a digital film with a large-short format.

Taxi No. 24 narrates the story of a dwindled young man, Sameer, who has seen a very tough day gets into a ride with driver Lal Bahadurs taxi whos paranoid by a newspaper headline that says  A Psycho Killer is lose in Mumbai. The film has sequential events of suspense and thrill which will certainly keep audience glued to the screen.

Elated director Saumitra Singh said, As a director, when you get such stories that are fast-paced and surprising, you jump to the gun and want to tell them as soon as possible. They dont let you breathe, shifts their scale constantly and makes every character interesting and important. The simple motive of mine to tell this story is to showcase how life can offer unwelcoming surprises. So, when things are unpredictable, why get tensed, why not enjoy every bit of it.

Producer Saviraj Shetty expressed his excitement and said, Working with such a dynamic and energetic team brings in a lot of new learnings every day. I am super excited to have on-boarded such a great casts which further makes the journey and experience of film making very enriched. I cant wait to get the project on floor.

The film also stars Girish Sharma, Rajat Arora, Shalini Chauhan, Amisha Sinha, Ankita Sahu, Tushar Rungta in supporting roles. The film is written by Abhiraj Sharma and the Executive Producer is Hasan Khan.
NEW DELHI : DBS Bank India on Wednesday launched an online platform for making loans available to small and mid size businesses in a hassle-free manner, with credit facility up to 20 crore.

Driven by its constant focus on building seamless, intuitive and hassle-free banking solutions for customers, DBS Bank India has unveiled its online credit solutions platform - DBS Digital Business Loans for SMEs, the bank said in a release.

This segment-flagship platform from DBS improves the ease of accessing business credit for the entire spectrum of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, offering credit up to 20 crore, it said.

The private sector lender said that customers can avail the loan through a simple online process by uploading bank statements, and I-T returns (for loans above 5 crore).

The platform is enabled to auto-generate an e-offer letter if the lending criteria is met.

DBS Bank said it has completed the pilot run for the DBS Digital Business Loans platform in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Pune, Surat, Nashik, Kolhapur, and Kolkata.

Loans worth 1,000 crore have already been disbursed via the platform to various businesses engaged in trading, manufacturing and services in these markets.

Going forward, the bank will also offer the online credit platform to businesses in Gurugram, Noida, Navi Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot, Hyderabad, Coimbatore, Ludhiana, Jaipur, Nagpur and Bhubaneswar, it said.

Enterprises with a turnover of up to 25 crore can receive in-principle approval for loans of up to 5 crore within 24 hours subject to completion of the loan application and fulfilment of the lending criteria.

"We are attempting to leverage the true potential of our online credit platform and have continued to disburse credit, even amidst the lockdown. DBS has also been offering the 'Guaranteed Emergency Credit Line' scheme in line with the government's COVID-19 relief efforts," said Niraj Mittal, Managing Director & Country Head - Institutional Banking Group, DBS Bank India.

Sudarshan Chari, Head - Business Banking, DBS Bank India, said through this, the bank is sanctioning e-loan offers in a matter of hours, significantly faster than the current market standard of over a week.

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ASHA Ibrahim, a form four student, preparing for this year's national examinations gave birth to baby boy in toilet at home. The baby is doing well although she was delivered at home without any birth attendant.

Asha (not her real name) lives with her grandmother who never noticed that her granddaughter was pregnant until the day she gave birth. The student also had made sure that none of her colleagues in class and teachers know that she was pregnant.

Since her giving birth remains a secret and she was in good health, Asha says that after just one week, she will continue with studies to prepare for the examination. According to the Zanzibar education law (spinsters act... ), girls who get pregnant while in school, are allowed to continue with education after giving birth.

But despite the friendly law, many girls drop out after pregnancy due to stigma and harassment from fellow students and some teachers. Pregnant cases like that of Asha are many, and have been widely reported in media, from different regions in the united republic of Tanzania.

For students under the age of 18, the cases are treated as rape. Underage and while still in school pregnancy are regarded as among Gender Based Violence (GBV), prompting increasing global outcry with different countries improving laws particularly introducing harsh penalty for the convict.

In Zanzibar, the criminal procedure Act has been improved by highlighting term of jail sentences ranging from five to thirty years imprisonment, making sexual offences non bailable, awareness among the law enforcers (police) and judiciary staffs has been improved.

According data from the ministry of health and pregnancies among the teenage or students result in health consequences: children likely to be born pre-term, higher neonatal mortality, teenage less likely to complete high school, and likely to live in poverty.

Maternal Mortality prevalence in Zanzibar has been decreasing gradually from more than 300/100,000 live births to below 270/100,000 almost a decade ago. The success are credited to the government and development partner for taking multiple measures to discourage child pregnancy and promotes spacing among adults.

Despite increased public awareness and strengthening of laws, the problem of pregnancy among underage and students remain a challenge that has prompted religious, human rights activists, and government leaders at all levels to thing beyond the normal practice, on how to address it.

Both the Zanzibar President Ali Mohamed Shein and his union counterpart Dr John Magufuli have improved the health sector with increased facilities, essential medicine availability, and training of medical staffs.

Dr Shein who is leaving office after serving Zanzibaris for ten years, is being honoured for 're-introducing free health care for all' and increasing health budget during his tenure (from 5bn/- to 12.5bn/-), while Dr Magufuli's splendid job in heath sector include increased facilities and improved provision of health services across the country (Tanzania mainland).

Researches indicate that despite recorded achievements, only less than 14 percent of the women between the age of 14 and 45 use birth control measures or modern contraceptive. There is a consensus view among actors that increased education/public awareness among all groups (children, adults, in both rural and urban areas) on 'reproductive health' is important.

It is to fact that the Tanzania Communication and Development Centre (TCDC) is calling for active media advocacy for reproductive health education, which include messages to encourage abstinence and promote the use of condoms and contraceptives by those who are sexually active, is the front line of efforts to prevent pregnancy, and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among adolescents.

In the past four years, TCDC has worked with journalists from various media houses- electronic and print, public and private, as well as social media actor including bloggers, in different regions, building their capacity in reproductive health, family planning, adolescent sexual and reproductive health, and demographic dividend.

These efforts equipped journalists with skills, policy frameworks and relevant data and their sources, apart from linking them with specific institutions and experts as news sources, encouraging them to engage political contestants during the 2020 general elections to solicit their commitment in the agenda.

"It is important to provide information, counsel mothers on reproductive health after delivery, and provide them with a contraceptive of their choice. These services are called Post-Partum - because they are provided after childbirth. These services ensure healthy birth spacing and have high impact on overall contraceptive uptake in the country," Ms Halima Sharif from TCDC says.

She challenged journalists with some potential questions that they could pose to candidates during the ongoing campaign: starting with, "Given the fact that only few women and teens understand reproductive health, and use preventives measures to prevent pregnancy or plan pregnancy, what key actions will you (Candidate) take to ensure women in your constituency have reproductive health and access services?"

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Other questions to candidates may include: What would be your key approaches in bringing other stakeholders to be part of the effort towards ensuring that women and girls who are already mothers access reproductive health services?

Do you consider reproductive health a priority among many development priorities, and how will you ensure availability of quality and affordable essential medicines and contraceptives in your constituency? Reaching young mothers especially those unmarried may be a challenge, yet it is important to reach them with these services. What would be or is your plan?

How do you plan to improve access to Sexual reproductive health (SRH) information and services as part of efforts of reducing teenage pregnancy? With an average of six children per woman in the reproductive age (15-49), this means many children to feed.

How would you ensure that funds are allocated, disbursed and spent to facilitate child spacing and save mother and child lives?

Candidates including those vying for councillor, House of Rep, MP in the union parliament, and presidency are busy wooing electorates for votes, but TCDC's Nazir Yussuph also highlighted to journalists here the importance of encouraging candidates to include women and child health in their campaign.
artisteer/iStockBy CHRIS CIRILLO, ABC News



(NEW YORK) -- When Robert and Janice Beecham were married on April 15, 1974, they vowed to stick together through sickness and health.



It was a promise twice tested: Robert suffered a stroke and was in the hospital on two of their wedding anniversaries, in 2014 and again 2016.



And he was on the verge of missing a third: In late February, Robert said he started feeling chills, lost his sense of taste and was dealing with phlegm "as thick as paint." He was hospitalized again as their 46th anniversary approached, this time with COVID-19.



"The night [before I was diagnosed], I prayed because I was so sick," Robert said. "I told God I was ready to come home."



Janice was dealing with her own health issues. She had just had surgery for breast cancer and was about to undergo her first chemotherapy treatment when she got the text that her husband had tested positive for COVID-19.



"I started crying hysterically because I was like, 'I got to get to this man,'" she said.



But Janice said the staff at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas wouldn't let her see Robert.



"I was trying to explain to them, 'I've always been there for him through everything,'" she said. "I didn't want him alone."



Fortunately, Robert wasn't alone. After he transferred to the floor with COVID-19 patients, he met Dr. Satyam Nayak, a hospitalist at Parkland Health & Hospital System. Nayak is also an assistant professor of internal medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.



The two went for multiple walks around the tactical care unit and developed a friendship.



"I told him, 'It's not fair,'" Robert said. "'My anniversary is coming up and I'm in the hospital again.'"



Robert told Nayak that he wanted to get home to his wife in time for his anniversary.



"You could close your eyes," Nayak said. "And the way they talk about each other, you could feel the love."



Robert's condition began improving after a week in the hospital. Nayak spoke with his team, and they came up with a plan that could potentially get Robert home in time for his anniversary.



First, Nayak asked Robert to draw him a picture of his house floor plan.



Robert started drawing and Nayak mapped out where in the house he could go. The Beechams had a spare bedroom and bathroom, which allowed him to quarantine from his wife for 14 days.



They also had a window that faced the outdoor patio, where Janice could sit and to talk to Robert.



Robert agreed to the plan. After a week in the hospital, Robert was home in time for his 46th anniversary.



"I was so glad to see him. My heart was happy," Janice said. "When you're together all the time, it's hard when someone is not there."



Although the Beechams usually celebrate by taking road trips, this year's anniversary was still special, as Robert and Janice were able to speak on the phone and through a crack in the bedroom door.



On their anniversary, Robert called Nayak to thank him.



"My wife and I were sitting in the car," Nayak said. "We go into tears because, especially as a physician, we always see patients at their worst times, and it was one of those moments where I got to hear him at his best times with his wife celebrating his anniversary."



Robert has fully recovered from COVID-19 and Janice is now receiving radiation treatment for her breast cancer.



"Tomorrow is not promised," Janice said. "But I thank God that our tomorrow is a promise for us."

Copyright  2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
The owner of a Houston-area nanotechnology firm has been accused of defrauding investors into purchasing millions of N95 respirator masks, which have been designated a scarce resource during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a complaint filed Monday in the Southern District of Texas.

Patrick J. Abbott, 56, was charged with one count of wire fraud after arranging a transaction with undercover FBI agents posing as investors, the complaint said.

He was arrested last week and remains in U.S. Marshals custody. He appeared Tuesday at a probable cause hearing in front of U.S. Magistrate Dena Palermo, who approved bond for Abbott in an amount yet to be determined.

Abbott also is facing separate fraud and theft charges in Harris County, based on accusations that he swindled investors in the wake of Hurricane Harvey to fund a sandless sandbag business.

It appears he doesnt have any legitimate employment, but when its a time of crisis he attempts to take advantage of individuals, prosecuting attorney Adam Goldman said during Tuesdays hearing.

Abbott currently serves as chairman of 2D Global, based in The Woodlands, according to his LinkedIn page. Goldman said federal investigators believe Abbott lists his home address as his companys location. Abbott also said the company has more than 200 other employees, but investigators did not find evidence that anyone else works for the company.

Court records say Abbotts company touted access to 1 trillion 3M N95 respirator masks. He described himself as a longtime client of 3M, a Minneapolis-based conglomerate that manufactures a wide range of goods including adhesive tape and personal protective equipment.

It is the only company allowed to manufacture that specific respirator mask, according to the complaint. The company denied any relationship with Abbott. Further, 3M said it could not make that number of masks in several lifetimes.

(3M) stated it would be impossible for Abbott to have access to 1 trillion masks as it would take the company approximately 909 years (at its current rate of production) to produce that amount, investigators say in the document.

The case originally was filed in U.S. District Court in Utah. Records in that court are under seal.

Houston court records indicate 3M in August contacted the FBIs Houston office, saying they received multiple complaints from their clients about 2D Global. Abbotts company was presenting itself as a 30-year client when the two businesses did not have a relationship, according to 3M.

An FBI agent, posing as an interested investor, reached out to Abbott in late August about purchasing large amounts of 3M N95 respirators. Abbott described himself as a government contractor who was given special approval from the Defense Logistics Agency to be listed as a verified buyer of 3M products.

Abbott explained that 2D is not a distributor, but a VIP, who has their own concierge representative at 3M, according to the criminal complaint. This 3M representative walks 2D through the process and helps locate 3M product all over the world.

Abbotts attorney, federal public defender Aisha Dennis, argued Tuesday that prosecutors did not present enough evidence to charge her client. She pointed out that federal agents did not independently verify the statements from 3M, and that her client told the agents he was not a direct distributor.

I think the government hasnt proven sufficiently that there was any fraudulent misrepresentation with 3M, she said.

Between August and September, Abbott held multiple phone and text conversations with an undercover agent in Houston and a second undercover agent on the West Coast, prosecutors said.

He told the agents that he did not make money from the mask sales, but uses the tax write offs at the end of the year by routing it through a non-profit organization, the complaint said. He said he uses his VIP status to connect buyers to 3M products for humanitarian purposes. He also claimed to have recently sold a batch of masks to Ned Siegel, United States Ambassador to the United Nations, prosecutors said.

The undercover agents agreed to buy just over 3 million masks from Abbott for a total of $10 million. Abbot asked the agent to pay using a four-step process. He was arrested Sept. 11 during a sting in a parking lot at George Bush Intercontinental Airport.

Investigators said that even if Abbott had access millions of 3M masks, he would still be in violation of federal hoarding and price gouging laws for selling them at $3 each. N95 respirators have been officially deemed a scarce resource by the government.

Palermo, the federal judge, found probable cause but denied prosecutors request to keep him in custody before trial.

I think that what hes done here is obviously egregious and Im very concerned about someone who would take advantage of people when we have the crisis of Hurricane Harvey or Covid, she said. But I dont think under these circumstances theres sufficient evidence to show he is a flight risk or a danger to the community such that the appropriate mechanisms couldnt be in place.

julian.gill@chron.
Co-creator Dan Goor said the shows writers would tackle the topic in the upcoming eighth season but stressed they would handle it with care.

Speaking to Variety, he said: We want to make sure we get it right.

Andre Braugher, who stars as precinct captain Raymond Holt, said it was important the show addressed the subject.

He told the magazine: Brooklyn Nine-Nine has to commit itself, as a comedy, to telling the story of how these things happen, and whats possible to deal with them.

I dont have any easy answers, nor do I have a window into the mind bank of this writing staff.

Can you tell the same story? Can anyone in America maintain any kind of innocence about what police departments are capable of?

Advertisement

Braugher, who is African-American, said he had reassessed his portrayal of the heroic cop figure on the show following protests prompted by the death of unarmed black man George Floyd in Minnesota.

He said he had no idea what season eight of Brooklyn Nine-Nine is going to be, because everythings changed.

Braugher added: Can a comedy sustain the things that were trying to talk about? I dont know.

It could be a really groundbreaking season that were all going to be very, very proud of, or were going to fall flat on our face.

But I think this is a staff, a cast and a crew thats willing to take it on and give it our best.

I think we have a damn good chance to tell the kinds of stories that heretofore have only been seen on grittier shows.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which stars Andy Samberg and Braugher as New York police officers in Brooklyns fictional 99th Precinct, was cancelled by Fox after season five, but snapped up by NBC for further seasons.

In June, one of its stars, Stephanie Beatriz, called on other actors who play police officers to donate towards a bail fund amid the anti-racism protests sweeping the US.
Overview

The Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) Office of Institutional Advancement provides support in identifying external funding to advance MCLAs 2017-2022 Strategic Plan: Think Differently. The Office of Institutional Advancement is the central administrative office responsible for submitting and accepting awards on behalf of MCLA or MCLA Foundation, Inc. The office collaborates directly with faculty and administrators interested in applying for external funding and assists them in identifying prospective funders, as well as developing and submitting proposals. Authorized Representatives of MCLA are the only individuals authorized to sign or submit grants on behalf of the college or MCLA Foundation, Inc. Additionally, the office ensures compliance and proper stewardship of funds within College and funder requirements, including federal mandates.

Things to know before you start

Please allow six to eight weeks in advance of a proposal deadline to ensure a proposal is thoroughly reviewed and approved by the appropriate personnel.

Proposal Submission Roles

Faculty or Staff will act as the Principal Investigator (PI). The PI is the primary individual in charge of developing a proposal, developing internal and external budgets, directing the funded grant project, and preparing reports during the grant period (interim) and after (final) on project outcomes and financial status of money received.



Authorized Representatives are the only individuals authorized to submit, negotiate, or accept grants on behalf of the College or MCLA Foundation, Inc. Authorized representatives include the President, Vice Presidents, and Deans.



The Office of Institutional Advancement will support faculty and staff in the preparation, review, packaging, and submission of proposals for external funding. Staff will review proposal guidelines and determine eligibility, provide proposal structure, review the proposal, and provide feedback based on technical requirements.

Getting started

1. Identify Your Project

Develop a list of goals, priorities, budget resources, etc.

Consider external collaborators networking potential

Discuss project with your Department Chair



Questions to Ask: Is this a project that will require a course release or time off?

2. Research

Before you choose to apply: Review the Institutional Review Board Policy to determine applicability and ensure compliance regarding the Massachusetts State Employee Conflict of Interest law.

Use online databases such as Grants Resource Center, Foundation Directory Online, or organizations listed within the Grant Resources

Contact Madeleine McKeon, Grants Research Associate, to set up a funding alert for your project

Meet with the college's Office of Institutional Advancement to discuss potential funding sources



Questions: Does this grant require match funding? Is there a deadline to spend all the funds? Can we complete this project in the timeline required by the grant? Is this a grant that allows only one project per institution to apply/are there other colleagues also applying for this grant?

3. Contact the Office of Institutional Advancement

To request funds external to the college for a particular program or research project, send an email to Lynette Bond and your Department Chair, with the following information:

Name of the funder or program

A brief overview of the project

Proposal due dates

Additional funds required (in-kind, cost-sharing, or matching)

4. Draft the Grant Application

Please allow six to eight weeks for review and approval of the application.

Develop a time frame for submitting the proposal

Collaborate with the Office of Institutional Advancement on proposal development



Questions: What are the evaluation models that we will use to measure whether or not the project met its objective?

Revisit other questions: Is this project going to require time off or a course release? Does this grant require match funding? Is there a deadline to spend the funds? Can we complete this project in the timeline required by the grant?

5. Proposal Review, Approval, and Submission

Department Chairs, through their Authorized Representative, will review and approve a funding proposal on behalf of the College before the Office of Institutional Advancement will submit a proposal.

6. Award Negotiation and Acceptance

Proposals selected for funding are then accepted or go through a negotiation process to ensure terms and conditions are acceptable. Authorized Representatives are the only individuals who can negotiate or accept awards on behalf of the College. Depending on the complexity of an award, the negotiation process can last a few days or several months.

Post-Award

Project Cost Management

Once an award has been made, the Office of Administration and Finance will administer and monitor the award alongside the PI. Expenditures and procurement of materials and supplies will be carefully monitored to adhere to grant requirements as well as MCLAs financial, academic, and personnel policies or procedures.

Reporting and Closing Out an Award

At the end of each project, reporting and any other deliverables should be sent to the project sponsor and the Office of Institutional Advancement for proper record keeping. Most grant records, including accounting records, must be retained for six years following the project end or last payment made. Some records must be retained permanently. Contact the Office of Institutional Advancement with questions regarding grant records. Programming or financial audits may be performed at any time.

Resources

Subscriptions

Grants Resource Center  Faculty or staff can sign up for alerts based on their academic subject or activity area. Contract the Office of Institutional Advancement for more information.

Foundation Directory Online  Faculty or departments can contact the Office of Institutional Advancement for specific subject area or advanced search criteria through this service. Contact the Office of Institutional Advancement for more information.

Policies

Review the Institutional Review Board Policy to determine applicability.

Please ensure compliance regarding the Massachusetts State Employee Conflict of Interest law.

CONTACTS

Madeleine McKeon, Grants and Research Associate, Madeleine.mckeon@mcla.edu

Lynette Bond, Director of Development for Grants and Research, Lynette.bond@mcla.edu
After fining Google more than 8.2 billion euros ($9.7 billion) in three antitrust cases, a European Union official finally had something nice to say about the Internet giant.

Olivier Guersent, the head of the European Commissions antitrust arm, said Googles efforts to provide more choice in shopping search results lead to good, positive developments." Guersents comments Wednesday potentially ease the threat of new fines for the Alphabet Inc. unit.

Smaller shopping search services have complained that Google isnt fully complying with a 2017 order to include results from rivals in product ads that appear above search results. Google got what was then a record EU fine for discriminating against other services.

Guersent said theres a substantial increase in rivals appearing in Googles shopping ads, up from none before the EU took action in 2017, he told an online conference with other regulators organized by the International Competition Network.

Googles $2.6 Billion Fine Is Like Loose Change, Judge Says

Guersent warned that the EUs role was to stop anticompetitive behavior and restore fair conditions, not to ensure that rivals won more business or obtained compensation.

For us the objective of the remedy, of any remedy, is to re-establish the competitive process," he said. I dont think any authority in the world can guarantee a specific markets outcome and I dont think we should even try to."

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.

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NOT FOR PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION OR RELEASE, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES, OR JAPAN OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION WHERE SUCH PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION OR RELEASE WOULD BE SUBJECT TO LEGAL RESTRICTIONS.

THIS PRESS RELEASE IS FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO SELL OR A SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO BUY ANY SECURITIES OF URW IN ANY JURISDICTION





Paris, Amsterdam, September 16, 2020

Press release

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield ("URW"), the premier global developer and operator of Flagship destinations, announces a 9.0+ Bn "RESET" plan to strengthen its balance sheet and increase financial flexibility to execute its long-term strategy, and provides update on footfall, tenant sales and rent collection

Key highlights of the "RESET" plan and its five strategic priorities are:

RESTORE financial strength through a 9.0+ Bn deleveraging plan consisting of: A fully underwritten 3.5 Bn capital raise to be used to immediately reduce leverage; Limiting cash dividends through scrip and/or a lower payout ratio, resulting in 1.0 Bn cash savings over the next two years (1) ; A further 0.8 Bn reduction in development and non-essential operating capex; and 4.0 Bn (2) of disposals expected to be completed by year-end 2021.

financial strength through a 9.0+ Bn deleveraging plan consisting of:

This plan is designed to enable the Group to preserve the Group's strong investment grade credit rating, with an expected rating of A-(3) / Baa1(4), and maintain a sustainable capital structure with an LTV(5) below 40% and net debt / EBITDA(6) below 9x.

EXECUTE the 4.0 Bn asset disposal programme (European assets, c.50% retail/50% offices & others) by year-end 2021 Acceleration of the previously announced disposal plan by outright sales of non-strategic assets across all asset classes, on the back of the Group's proven track record (4.8 Bn disposals completed since June 2018 at a 5% premium to book value, including the disposal of five French retail assets in the middle of the COVID-19 crisis in line with the prior unaffected appraisal); A 6.0+ Bn (7) identified pool of assets; 1.0 Bn of disposals are well advanced; and JV stakes in most liquid and mature assets to reduce capital obligations and leverage.

the 4.0 Bn asset disposal programme (European assets, c.50% retail/50% offices & others) by year-end 2021

STREAMLINE operations and footprint to enhance agility and optimize use of resources Further reduce capex by c.800 Mn, of which c.600 Mn of development capex and c.200 Mn of non-essential operating capex. The development pipeline has been reduced by 2.2 Bn compared to FY-2019, and by a further c.0.6 Bn compared to H1-2020; Downsize the US Regional mall footprint in the near-term; and Simplify structure and reduce gross admin expenses further.

operations and footprint to enhance agility and optimize use of resources

EMBRACE a changing environment Strengthen the appeal of URW's portfolio as structural dynamic changes in retail are increasing: Accelerate its Flagship destination strategy; Capture the mixed-use potential embedded within the portfolio, leveraging URW's multi-disciplinary platform and third-party capital; and Capitalise on a highly diversified and flexible pipeline.

a changing environment

THRIVE by harnessing URW's powerful portfolio to grow new revenue streams Increase appeal and audience of URW's Flagship destinations; Monetize the value proposition and Flagship destination audience by developing digital and omni-channel services; Generate new non-rent based revenues of 150 Mn per year by 2025; and Develop additional revenues by developing "asset light" and "capital light" partnerships building on the Westfield brand.

by harnessing URW's powerful portfolio to grow new revenue streams

Commenting on the announcement, Christophe Cuvillier, Group Chief Executive Officer, said: "URW's immediate priority, as announced on July 29, is to deleverage, primarily through asset disposals. However, given the uncertainties around the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and the recovery, we have decided, as a matter of prudent management, to substantially strengthen our balance sheet, in order to maintain a robust investment grade credit rating and to ensure flexibility in a world that is unpredictable and requires agility. Our 9+ Bn "RESET" plan is designed to allow URW to fully embrace the changing retail environment through our Flagship destination strategy and capitalise on our unmatched portfolio quality's mixed-use potential. On the operational front, we see continued improvement in footfall and tenant sales, and are making steady progress in our tenant negotiations. As the environment remains challenging, we believe today's announcement, including the fully underwritten capital raise, is an important step to ensure URW is best positioned for the future."

3.5 Bn fully underwritten capital raise

The Supervisory Boards of URW have today authorised the principle of a 3.5 Bn capital raise, which, in conjunction with the other strategic initiatives, is designed to bolster the financial profile of the Group and best position URW to execute on its long-term strategy, while:

strengthening its balance sheet;

maintaining a strong investment grade credit rating; and

securing uninterrupted access to debt markets.

The proceeds of the capital raise would be used to immediately reduce leverage. Pro forma for the capital raise, LTV would decrease to 35.7%(8) from 41.5% as at June 2020. Pro forma for both the capital raise and the full 4 Bn disposal programme, LTV would stand at 30.9%(9). The capital raise will provide the Group with more headroom under its bank covenants should its retail asset values fall significantly, which the Group doesn't expect given the superior quality of its portfolio.

The capital raise is subject to approval by URW's shareholders and is expected to maintain existing shareholders' subscription rights unless otherwise proposed to the Extraordinary General Meeting ("EGM") of URW SE, to be convened, and expected to be held in Q4 2020. A notice for this EGM is expected to be published separately in due time.

Upon approval of the capital raise by the EGM, and subject to market conditions and necessary regulatory approvals being received, final terms and conditions, including the subscription price, are expected to be determined and announced in Q4 2020, and the transaction to close by year-end. The prospectus to be issued by URW in connection with the capital raise will be subject to the visa of the the French Autorite des marches financiers (the "AMF") and the approval of the Dutch Autoriteit Financiele Markten (the "AFM").

URW has entered into a standby underwriting commitment with BofA Securities, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, Goldman Sachs International, J.P. Morgan and Societe Generale, acting as Joint Global Coordinators, pursuant to which they have undertaken to fully underwrite the 3.5 Bn capital raise, subject to the satisfaction of customary conditions precedent. Eastdil Secured, Kempen, Lazard and Rothschild & Co are acting as independent advisers to the Group.

Update on operational KPIs

URW has reopened all of it shopping centres globally, though indoor operations in five centres in Los Angeles County continue to be suspended (which represent 4% of the shopping centre portfolio by value).

Footfall and sales

The footfall recovery is encouraging, with most Continental European regions as of now trending in the range of 80 - 90% of last year's footfall, demonstrating the appeal of URW's Flagship destinations. While the UK is in the 60 - 70% range, it shows good week-on-week development as people are returning to offices following the lockdown and summer holidays. Footfall in the US centres lags behind that in Europe, as, for a number of shopping centres in Los Angeles, indoor operations remain restricted. In addition, mobility in the major US cities in which the Group's shopping centres operate is well below that of most Continental European cities.

Tenant sales in Continental Europe were -26% in June, -16% in July, and -12% in August(10), showing a more rapid recovery than footfall, as the last shopping centres reopened during June, most remaining restrictions were lifted, and higher conversion rates and average baskets were recorded. In Europe, tenant sales were -33% and -21% in June and July, respectively, and -16% in August(10).

In France (representing 27% of URW's retail portfolio), the preliminary August figures show tenant sales are -5%, a strong improvement from -29% in June and -15% in July, with 44% of French tenants reporting August sales above 2019.

June(11) July(11) August

(Preliminary)(11) Sales Footfall Sales Footfall Sales Footfall France -29% -36% -15% -24% -5% -16% Central Europe -25% -34% -14% -28% -13% -27% Spain -35% -42% -26% -35% -23% -30% Nordics -20% -25% -14% -17% -17% -21% Austria -14% -17% -10% -16% -16% -17% Germany -18% -24% -15% -21% -16% -22% The Netherlands NA -23% NA -19% NA -23% Continental Europe -26% -33% -16% -25% -12% -22% UK -70% -72% -47% -57% -34% -47% Europe -33% -37% -21% -29% -16% -25%

Lease negotiation and rent collection

The tenant negotiations, which started after the reopening of centres, are making solid progress. These negotiations are conducted on a case-by-case basis. They recognise the issues the Group's tenants faced due to administrative closures or trading restrictions and the need to provide relief, are generally limited to the period of closure and based on the principle of a fair sharing of the burden, and entail concessions by tenants in exchange for such relief. They are not about permanently changing lease structures or changing the basis for rent calculations. As at September 14, the Group estimates it is 61% through the process, up from 25% as at July 24.

The rent collection continues to progress. The July collection rate stands at 72%, up from 50% as at July 24, driven by Continental Europe (81%). Collection for August amounted to 70% (Continental Europe: 81%). Collection is partly driven by the tenant negotiations, as some tenants await the outcome of the negotiations to release rent payments. However, potential rent relief is always linked to payment in full of the outstanding amounts agreed upon. In certain cases where no agreement has been reached, the Group has drawn on security deposits or initiated legal action to enforce lease agreements.

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield investor and analyst events

Investor and analyst conference

09:00 AM CET, Thursday September 17, 2020

The conference will be accessible via live video webcast on URW's website) and the supporting presentation will be accessible at https://www.urw.com/investors .

Dial-in details:

France: +33 172727403

United Kingdom: +44 2071943759

Australia: +61 291011926

Netherlands: +31 207095119

Code: 43493074#

For further information, please contact:

Investor Relations

Samuel Warwood

Maarten Otte

+33 1 76 77 58 02

Maarten.otte@urw.com

Media Relations

Tiphaine Bannelier-Suderie

+33 1 76 77 57 94

Tiphaine.Bannelier-Suderie@urw.com

About Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield is the premier global developer and operator of Flagship Destinations, with a portfolio valued at 60.4 Bn as at June 30, 2020, of which 86% in retail, 7% in offices, 5% in convention & exhibition venues and 2% in services. Currently, the Group owns and operates 89 shopping centres, including 55 Flagships in the most dynamic cities in Europe and the United States. Its centres welcome 1.2 billion visits per year. Present on two continents and in 12 countries, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield provides a unique platform for retailers and brand events and offers an exceptional and constantly renewed experience for customers.

With the support of its 3,400 professionals and an unparalleled track-record and know-how, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield is ideally positioned to generate superior value and develop world-class projects. As at June 30, 2020, the Group had a development pipeline of 6.2 Bn.

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield distinguishes itself by its Better Places 2030 agenda, that sets its ambition to create better places that respect the highest environmental standards and contribute to better cities.

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield stapled shares are listed on Euronext Amsterdam and Euronext Paris (Euronext ticker: URW), with a secondary listing in Australia through Chess Depositary Interests. The Group benefits from an A- rating from Standard & Poor's and from an A3 rating from Moody's.

For more information, please visit www.urw.com

Visit our Media Library at https://mediacentre.urw.com

Follow the Group updates on Twitter @urw_group , Linkedin @Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield and Instagram @urw_group





DISCLAIMERS

This press release include indications on the objectives, perspectives and development strategies of Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield and its consolidated subsidiaries ("URW") as well as forward-looking statements. Those indications may be identified by the use of the future or conditional tense or by forward-looking terminology, including the terms "considers" "anticipates", "thinks", "targets", "expects", "intends", "must", "aims", "estimates", "believes", "wishes", "may", or in each case, their negative or other variations or comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements are not historical facts and shall not be interpreted as guarantees that the facts and data stated will occur. Those forward-looking statements are based on data, assumptions and objectives that URW believes to be reasonable. They may evolve or change due to the uncertainties related to the economic, financial, competitive and regulatory environment. In addition, the occurrence of certain risks listed in the section 6.2 "Main risk factors" of the 2019 Universal Registration Document of URW, as updated by the 2020 Half-Year Financial Report of URW, may have an impact on the activities, the prospects and the financial results of URW and its capacity to meet its objectives. The information mentioned in this press release include statements regarding URW's intentions, expectations and objectives in relation to, inter alia, the market, the strategy, the growth, the results, the financial situation and the cash position of URW. Forward-looking statements mentioned in this press release are provided on the date of this press release. Subject to all relevant laws or regulations, URW undertakes no obligation to publish any revisions to any forward-looking statements included in this press release in order to reflect any change in its objectives or in the events, conditions or circumstances after the date of this press release. URW operates in a rapidly-changing and competitive environment; it cannot anticipate all the risks, uncertainties or other factors that may affect its activity, their potential impact on it activity or to what extent the occurrence of a risk or a combination of risks may cause results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, being reminded that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance.

This press release and the information contained herein do not constitute an offer to sell or purchase, or the solicitation of an offer to sell or purchase, securities of URW in any jurisdiction.

No communication or information relating to the contemplated capital raise may be distributed to the public in any jurisdiction (other than France and the Netherlands) in which registration or approval is required. No action has been (or will be) undertaken in any jurisdiction outside of France and the Netherlands where such steps would be required. The subscription for or purchase of securities of URW may be subject to legal or statutory restrictions in certain jurisdictions. Neither URW nor the Joint Global Coordinators assume any responsibility for any violation of such restrictions by any person. The distribution of this press release in certain jurisdictions may be restricted by law.

This press release is not a prospectus within the meaning of Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 (the "Prospectus Regulation"). Any purchase of securities in the capital increase should be made solely on the basis of the information contained in the prospectus to be issued by URW in connection with the capital increase.

The capital increase will be open to the public in France and the Netherlands only, and in Australia for CDI holders. With respect to each member State of the European Economic Area, other than France and the Netherlands, and to the United Kingdom (the "Relevant States" and each, a "Relevant State"), no action has been undertaken or will be undertaken to make an offer to the public of securities requiring a publication of a prospectus in any Relevant State. As a result, the securities of URW may only be offered in the Relevant States to persons who are "qualified investors" within the meaning of Article 2(e) of the Prospectus Regulation. For the purposes of this paragraph, "securities offered to the public" in a given Relevant State means any communication, in any form and by any means, of sufficient information about the terms and conditions of the offer and the securities so as to enable an investor to make a decision to buy or subscribe for the securities. The above selling restrictions are in addition to any other selling restrictions which may be applicable in the Relevant States.

This press release is addressed and directed only (i) to persons located outside the United Kingdom, (ii) to investment professionals as defined in Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005, as amended (the "Order"), (iii) to high net worth companies, and other persons to whom it may lawfully be communicated, falling within by Article 49(2) (a) to (d) of the Order (the persons mentioned in paragraphs (i), (ii) and (iii) all deemed relevant persons (the "Relevant Persons")). The capital raise will only be available to, and any invitation, offer or agreement to subscribe, purchase or otherwise acquire such rights may be addressed and/or concluded only with Relevant Persons. All persons other than Relevant Persons must abstain from using or relying on this document and all information contained therein.

This press release is not a prospectus which has been approved by the Financial Conduct Authority or any other United Kingdom regulatory authority for the purposes of Section 85 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

This press release does not constitute an offer or invitation to sell or purchase, or a solicitation of any offer to purchase or subscribe for, any securities of URW in the United States of America. The securities of URW may not be offered, subscribed or sold in the United States of America absent registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or an applicable exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements thereof. The securities of URW have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act, and URW does not intend to conduct a public offering of its securities in the United States of America.

The distribution of this press release in certain countries may be prohibited under applicable law.

This press release may not be published, transmitted or distributed, directly or indirectly, and does not constitute an offer of securities, in the United- States (including in the territories and dependencies and in any State of the United States) or in Japan.

BofA Securities, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, Goldman Sachs International, J.P. Morgan, Societe Generale, as Joint Global Coordinators, are acting on behalf of URW and no one else in connection with the capital raise and will not regard any other person as their client nor be responsible to any other person for providing the protections afforded to any of their clients nor for providing advice in relation to the capital raise, the contents of this press release or any transaction, arrangement or other matter referred to herein.

None of the Joint Global Coordinators or any of their affiliates or any of their respective directors, officers, employees, advisers or agents accepts any responsibility or liability whatsoever for or makes any representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the truth, accuracy or completeness of the information in this press release (or whether any information has been omitted from the press release) or any other information relating to URW, its subsidiaries or associated companies, whether written, oral or in a visual or electronic form, and howsoever transmitted or made available or for any loss howsoever arising from any use of this press release or its contents or otherwise arising in connection therewith.







1 Estimated on the basis of dividend paid in 2020. The Group expects to communicate its dividend policy ahead of the shareholders' meeting to approve the capital raise

2 Consistent with the Group's H1-2020 announcement

3 With a negative outlook (rating unchanged) by S&P

4 With a stable outlook (previously A3, negative outlook) by Moody's

5 IFRS data

6 IFRS data. Recurring EBITDA is calculated as total recurring operating result and other income minus general expenses, excluding depreciation and amortisation. Net debt/EBITDA was 10x in 2019 and 12x in H1-2020

7 Total pool of assets identified for potential disposal, Group share

8 June 30, 2020, valuations

9 June 30, 2020, valuations

10 August is preliminary data as at September 15, 2020, subject to change

11 Excluding Carrousel du Louvre and all deliveries (La Part Dieu, Les Ateliers Gaite, CNIT (from August), Garbera, Gropius Passagen, Westfield Mall of the Netherlands and SC Ursynow) and assets not managed byt the Group (Zlote Tarasy). August is preliminary data as at September 15, 2020, subject to change





Attachment
Some 23,500 square kilometers (9,000 square miles) of the Brazilian Pantanal wetlands have gone up in smoke between January 2020 and September 2020, nearly 12 percent of the area

An unprecedented coalition of 230 environmental groups and Brazilian agrobusiness companies have sent an open letter to President Jair Bolsonaro urging him to fight deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.

The Brazil Climate, Forests and Agriculture Coalition brings together a disparate group of members ranging from the World Wildlife Fund to the world's biggest meat processing company, JBS, which has itself been accused of contributing to deforestation.

The coalition sent Brazil's far-right president a list of proposals to slow the destruction of the world's biggest rainforest, urging him to establish clear policies to "immediately and permanently" address the problem.

They include stopping the practice of granting landholders titles to irregularly seized and deforested land going back to 2008.

Environmentalists have long said that practice muddies the government's message on deforestation and incites land speculators to raze new land in the Amazon in hopes of selling it.

"By ending the process of land regularization in these areas, your government will sever the main driver of illegal land seizures and, by extension, deforestation," the coalition said.

It also proposed designating 10 million hectares (25 million acres) of public forest as protected land.

The coalition, an "unusual forum for dialogue between environmentalists and agrobusiness," as its own members called it, also includes food giants Danone and Unilever, multinational commodities companies Cargill and Amaggi, and scientists and researchers.

The letter, dated Tuesday, was also addressed to Vice President Hamilton Mourao, who heads a government task force on fighting Amazon deforestation, and several cabinet ministers.

Since taking office in January 2019, Bolsonaro has presided over a surge in deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.

Deforestation in the region increased 85.3 percent in Bolsonaro's first year in office, and is down only slightly so far this year.

Story continues

Environmentalists say the destruction is mainly driven by farmers and ranchers clearing land and setting the trees alight.

This year has also seen record-shattering fires in the Pantanal, the world's biggest tropical wetlands, which sit south of the Amazon.

Some 23,500 square kilometers (9,000 square miles) of the wetlands have gone up in smoke since January, nearly 12 percent of the Pantanal.

Eight European countries also wrote Mourao Tuesday voicing their "extreme" concern over the "alarming" increase in deforestation in Brazil.

jm/jhb/caw/
The voracious appetite of Chub makes them popular with anglers. They are ever-ready to feed, and thus to be caught

Chub is a species of freshwater fish found mainly in running water throughout central and southern mainland Europe. It is not native to Ireland, but it has turned up here. How it got here is unknown. Chub are prized as a sport fish by some anglers so it is suspected that anglers may have introduced the species here for its sporting value.

While the sporting value of the Chub to anglers is not disputed, best practice dictates that a scientific assessment of any negative impact that a proposed introduction may have on our freshwater ecosystems should be carried out before any non-native species of fish is introduced to our waters.

Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) regard the Chub as an undesirable alien and a threat to our local wildlife as they have the potential to compete with our native fishes for food and space and are potentially a carrier of fish diseases and parasites. IFI is a statutory body whose principal function is the protection and conservation of Ireland's inland fisheries resource. IFI's position is backed by law; the introduction of Chub into Irish waters is prohibited, except under licence, by statutory instrument No 477 of 2011.

Chub have a voracious appetite and could do significant damage. Elsewhere, large adult Chub have been recorded eating considerable numbers of small fish as well as frogs, crayfish, voles and young water birds. They have even been observed eating berries such as blackberries and elderberry from trees overhanging the water.

The River Inny in Co Longford is the only Irish river in which Chub have been recorded. The alien fish were first recorded in the Inny, a tributary of the River Shannon, in 2001. IFI spent four years (2006-2010) trying to eradicate the species and prevent its spread into Lough Ree and the wider Shannon catchment.

It was believed that the invasive fish species had been controlled by electro-fishing but recently Chub have been reported again from the River Inny. It is not clear whether this is due to the earlier eradication programme not being as successful as originally believed, or whether the present fish are the result of a second illegal introduction.

IFI is investigating and appealing to anglers to protect our fisheries by not moving fish between watercourses and to submit reports of invasive alien fish to the IFI hotline 1850 34 74 24.
As the Beachie Creek fire continues to burn in Marion County and scores of residents remain evacuated from their homes in Santiam River canyon, officials warned Wednesday that many areas remain unsafe.

But as some evacuations are lifted and residents begin to assess the damage, county commissioners have begun to look at what it will take to recover and rebuild in the areas hardest hit by the fires east of Salem in the Cascade foothills.

Well do everything we can to get people back on their property, County Commissioner Sam Brentano said. I dont care if they are in tents or mobile homes. We want to get people back.

As of Wednesday morning, the Beachie Creek fire had scorched more than 191,000 acres and was 20% contained. Four people had been killed by the fire and one remained missing. Detroit, Idanha, Gates and several smaller towns remained evacuated Wednesday.

County officials at a Board of Commissioners meeting ran down a daunting list of what needs to happen before residents can return.

As many as 100,000 trees, possibly more, may need to be removed along Oregon 22 and some side roads before the burned areas will be accessible, according to state transportation officials. Marion County Sheriff Joe Kast said he drove up the canyon recently and much of the area is still unsafe due to fallen trees, rocks and the danger of landslides.

Marion County Public Works Director Brian Nicholas said many utilities in the canyon had suffered extensive loss and that, while some areas have spotty cellphone service, service to nearly all land lines has been interrupted and most places had lost their power lines. Water service in Detroit and Gates has been completely knocked out, Nicholas said, though it appeared to be intact in Lyons.

Utilities are still in the assessment period, Nicholas said.

Nicholas also noted that, as residents begin to return to their property, damaged septic tanks could pose a significant risk. Many newer tanks are plastic and if they melted underground during the fires, the intact earth above them could act as a trapdoor that you dont want to fall into, he said.

But even with many risks remaining, officials were already talking about what it would take to rebuild in Santiam Canyon. Commissioner Kevin Cameron noted that many of the homes that have been damaged or destroyed were built in the 1940s or 1950s when building codes were much less stringent than they are today.

Were going to be asking for some relief from building codes, Cameron said.

He also said that the rebuilding process could be an opportunity to put in place some infrastructure upgrades, like a sewer system, that the county had been eyeing for years.

Through this recovery we need to rebuild that whole canyon in a way that gets infrastructure that will be long-lasting, Cameron said, adding that officials would be looking at what other policy changes could be made to expedite rebuilding efforts in the hardest-hit communities.

-- Kale Williams; kwilliams@oregonian.com; 503-294-4048; @sfkale
A bipartisan group of members of the US Congress, which is housed in the Capitol building shown, have warned Boris Johnson against breaching the Good Friday Agreement as part of Brexit (J Scott Applewhite/AP)

Senior US politicians have warned Boris Johnson that Washington will not support any free trade pact with the UK if Britain fails to uphold its commitments to Northern Ireland as part of Brexit.

The UK Internal Market Bill cleared its first Commons hurdle on Monday despite deep misgivings by some senior Tories, with amendments to the Northern Ireland provisions expected to emerge in the Commons next week.

Four US congressmen, led by chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Eliot Engel, have written to Mr Johnson urging the Government to respect its open border and peace process with Northern Ireland.

It comes as UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has travelled to the US for talks with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on a range of issues.

The congressmen wrote: Many in the United States and in Congress consider the issues of the Good Friday Agreement and a potential US-UK Free Trade Agreement inextricably linked.

With the issues raised in this letter in mind, we therefore urge you to abandon any and all legally questionable and unfair efforts to flout the Northern Ireland protocol of the Withdrawal Agreement and look to ensure that Brexit negotiations do not undermine the decades of progress to bring peace to Northern Ireland and future options for the bilateral relationship between our two countries.

The letter, which was also signed by Mr Engels fellow Democrats Richard Neal and William Keating as well as Republican Peter King, comes less than a week after Nancy Pelosi said there would be absolutely no chance of a US/UK trade deal if Mr Johnson overrides the Brexit deal with Brussels.

Many in the United States and in Congress consider the issues of the Good Friday Agreement and a potential US-UK Free Trade Agreement inextricably linked US congressmen

The Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi said the American Congress would never pass an economic agreement that it felt could imperil the Northern Ireland peace accord.

Mr Raab will also meet Ms Pelosi during his Washington visit, with Brexit expected to be one of the main items discussed.

Ministers have admitted the proposed Internal Market Bill will breach international law.

Ministers argue the new proposed legislation is necessary to protect the Northern Ireland peace process if London and Brussels are unable to agree a free trade deal before the current Brexit transition period runs out at the end of the year.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 16

Trend:

NEQSOL Holding and companies within the holding continue to support projects to fight the coronavirus pandemic and mitigate its negative effects in line with their corporate social responsibility strategies.

With an aim to support the healthcare system during the pandemic, NEQSOL Holding has financed the arrival of 26 foreign healthcare experts and doctors in Azerbaijan and their activities in the country.

NEQSOL Holding has implemented various measures to support the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. Earlier this year, various companies within the holding donated funds to the Coronavirus Response Fund, previously established in Azerbaijan. Besides, during the quarantine regime, the holding and the companies within the holding provided food assistance to low-income families in different regions of the country.

One of the companies within the holding has allocated funds for the purchase of express test kits, which allow quickly detect coronavirus infection, as well as artificial respiration units and special equipment used at a building entrance to measure the temperature of a person at a distance. Also, together with the relevant government agencies, the company provided support to healthcare workers, as well as contributed to the creation of various services and online platforms to fight coronavirus and implemented other social projects.

Taking care of the safety of employees, customers, and partners, NEQSOL Holding and the companies within the holding have been implementing since February a series of safety measures in their offices, production facilities, and customer service centers following the instructions of the Operations Headquarters.

NEQSOL Holding will continue to take measures to support the fight against coronavirus in the country.
When asked at the hearing last week whether he regretted making those comments, Gibbs said, I regret that its unfortunately become an issue, and he did not disavow them. He said that as a Black man who has experienced discrimination, he would not allow it as federal personnel director.
Within the first hour of opening a mobile COVID-19 testing site at the Harrisburg Housing Authority, more than half of the 50 free available test kits were already administered.

Access to the tests was made available through a partnership between Latino Connection, Highmark and Independence Blue Cross Foundation, and Penn State Health Hershey Medical Center, as well as support from the Dauphin County Commissioners. Highmark funded the tests and will fund another round of tests on Sept. 23 at the Latino Hispanic-American Community Center, 1301 Derry Street.

We are most likely going to run out of testing kits today, said founder and CEO of Latino Connection George Fernandez. Folks that are here either have symptoms or they have been exposed at a high-risk level. You could be symptomatic, meaning you could have come into close contact with someone who has tested positive or you believe you may have it.

The mobile clinic, known as CATE, which stands for Community, Accessible, Testing, and Education Response Unit, was open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Wednesday at the 1300 Community Drive location. Everyone tested was provided a gift bag that had a designer face mask, hand sanitizer, and literature about COVID-19 in them.

Everyone today has been super gracious that were here, Fernandez said. Many folks who are coming here are still using a disposable mask, which is great to use, but those are meant to be thrown away after one or two uses. Several of the folks who we met this morning, their masks were falling apart or being held together by a staple and tape.

The stop Wednesday marked the 18th out of 32 scheduled across the commonwealth. Fernandez, and his team, are traveling Pennsylvania on a 45-day tour. He said he is already working on the CATE 2.0 tour, which could begin in mid-October and run through mid-December.

We are currently identifying new intervention sites right here within Dauphin County  not only low-income, vulnerable neighborhoods, but also rural, Fernandez said. Just this morning, we received multiple requests from local school districts that are looking not so much for the testing but also for the education.

Not every site where the response unit goes offers free COVID-19 tests. The site set up on Wednesday did provide free nasal swab tests. Individuals can expect results within 24 to 48 hours, and then in cases of positive results, individuals can expect a follow-up phone call to support them, Fernandez said.

The educational component includes explaining how to create a room for recovery in your home and describes the process of working with a contact tracer.

Basically, anyone that is negative, a member of the community health team at Penn State Health should be reaching out, he said. But, if you are positive, an actual physician from Penn State Health Hershey Medical Center should be following up with you, as well as potential follow-ups, how to mitigate, and then talk about any official medication that may be prescribed.

The two Dauphin County sites werent originally on the list of scheduled stops, said Dauphin County Commissioner George Hartwick. He said when he tried to lobby the state, he sensed that state officials had no interest in providing resources to test the underserved in Harrisburg. Thats why Highmark stepped in.

The pandemic has really brought out some of the disparities that existed through our systems and one of those disparities in our health care system, Hartwick said. Its very clear that we have a real need to be able to address this in creative ways.

Hartwick said hell support Fernandezs efforts to expand testing sites to also include rural parts of the county, specifically northern Dauphin County, where individuals have a similar plight of not having access to testing sites.

Were making sure that folks who show up at these sites are going to be tested and not in limited supply, Hartwick said. And, were going to work with others to make sure testing is going to be available to city residents.

Private partnerships are working to help stop the spread, Fernandez said. Whereas Hamilton Health received federal funds to support its mobile clinic efforts, CATE is supported privately.

Testing was administered outdoors Wednesday by two Penn State Health Hershey Medical Center registered nurses. After the opening rush ebbed, people continued to slowly trickle in to be tested.

This is our first event with them today COVID swabbing, Community Health Director with Penn State Health Ashley Visco said.

Visco said her outreach role has shifted in terms of where and how she can assist with supporting positive public health outcomes.

Her team worked at the medical center for about three months during the beginning of the pandemic before they returned to their work out in the community.

Were still learning what community is going to look like, she said. Its still incredibly important that we serve and offer outreach. Even though we have COVID, we are really still trying to improve the health of our communities.

Latino Connection educates minorities on how to navigate the American governmental systems. The response unit was created to help minorities and immigrants.

Im a product of a single mother of three, Fernandez said. Im an immigrant, and my mom and I never qualified for social and human services help because we were immigrants. The backbone of our services that Im offering today with my company is truly based on the challenges she and I had to overcome at a very young age.

READ MORE

Dont half-mask - the coronavirus really likes your nose, study reveals

Coronavirus is disproportionately killing minority children in the U.S, according to the CDC

Central Dauphin School District looking to bring students back into the classroom; offer nasal swabs to prevent spread of COVID-19
WASHINGTON - The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicted Wednesday that most of the American public will not have access to a vaccine against the novel coronavirus until late spring or summer of next year - prompting a public rebuke from President Donald Trump, who declared the CDC chief was wrong.

At a Senate hearing on the government's response to the pandemic, CDC director Robert Redfield adhered to Trump's oft-stated contention that a safe and effective vaccine will become available in November or December - perhaps just before the presidential election seven weeks away.

But Redfield said the vaccine will be provided first to people most vulnerable to covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, and supplies will increase over time, with Americans who are lower priority for the protection offered the shot more gradually. For it to be "fully available to the American public, so we begin to take advantage of vaccine to get back to our regular life," he said, "I think we are probably looking at late second quarter, third quarter 2021."

Hours later, Trump sought to knock down Redfield's predicted timeline from the White House press briefing room, saying at a news conference, "I think he made a mistake when he said that. . . . We're ready to distribute immediately to a vast section of the country."

The president said that, when he heard what the CDC director had told senators, he called him directly. Trump said Redfield "didn't tell me that," though the president declined to disclose how Redfield replied.

"It was an incorrect statement. . . . We are ready at a much faster level than he said," Trump said, reiterating a recent talking point that a vaccine could be ready to begin administering as early as mid-October.

Multiple experts - including top scientists leading the vaccine effort - have said it is very unlikely a vaccine will be available by then.

Speaking alongside the president, Scott Atlas, a recent addition to the White House's coronavirus advisers, noted that the administration Wednesday circulated a vaccine distribution strategy to states and others. Atlas said the plan anticipates that "no later than January, all the top-priority people will be able to receive the vaccine," with other Americans receiving it starting soon after.

The CDC director issued his prediction and received the presidential drubbing the same day that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden raised questions about the safety of a coronavirus vaccine approved during Trump's tenure, warning something so complex and vital to the public's well-being takes time.

"Scientific breakthroughs don't care about calendars any more than the virus does," the former vice president said.

Redfield said that though any individual vaccinated should benefit from a vaccine, the progressive widening of its availability means there will be a time lag between when a vaccine is approved and when it could have a measurable effect in controlling the pandemic. That might be six to nine months after the day it is approved by federal drug regulators, Redfield predicted.

Redfield said that lag between when a vaccine is approved and when the public can get it reinforces the importance of safety measures, such as keeping a proper distance, washing hands and wearing masks.

"I might even go so far as to say that this face mask is more guaranteed to protect me against covid than when I take a covid vaccine," Redfield said, because the vaccine is unlikely to produce the desired immune response in everyone who gets it.

But Trump at his briefing continued to cast doubt on the value of masks, saying, "The mask is a mixed bag."

Redfield's comments were the most detailed time frame outlined so far by the leader of the government's main public health agency. They are consistent with the perspective of Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who said in a recent interview with CNN that relatively small amounts of vaccine will be available at first.

"It won't be until we get into 2021 that you'll have hundreds of millions of doses, and just the logistics, constraints in vaccinating large numbers of people," Fauci said. "It's going to take months to get enough people vaccinated to have an umbrella of immunity over the community so that you don't have to worry about easy transmission."

Redfield's forecast came as Trump has latched onto the prospect of a vaccine as crucial to his prospects for a second term, with low approval ratings among voters for his handling of the worst public health crisis that the country and world have confronted in a century.

A vaccine also is widely regarded as a pivot point for Americans to be unfettered from the constraints the pandemic has imposed on daily life - from recreation such as concerts and movie theaters to workplaces that remain shuttered.

A race is underway internationally among pharmaceutical makers to develop vaccines that are safe and effective against the virus, which has infected nearly 6.6 million people in the United States and killed almost 200,000. Developing a vaccine typically takes years, but researchers are working with unprecedented speed. U.S. researchers in January established the goal of a world-record pace of developing an inoculation against the coronavirus within a year to 18 months.

Now, three experimental vaccines have entered the final stage of testing in the United States - giving each one to thousands of people to check effectiveness and safety - before submission for federal approval. A debate is raging over whether the Food and Drug Administration should hasten a vaccine's availability by employing emergency authority it has before going through the process of a formal approval.

The CDC told states this month they should be ready to receive a coronavirus vaccine as early as Nov. 1 - two days before the election - prompting allegations from critics that the date was politically motivated. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the subcommittee's senior Democrat, accused the administration of "rampant political interference in scientific decision-making."

Redfield pressed back against such suggestions during an appearance Wednesday before a Senate subcommittee with jurisdiction over the Department of Health and Human Services, of which the CDC is a part. He said the advice to states was based on the pace of the science, not any electoral considerations. And he said his agency was eager to avoid a repetition of a problem that emerged during a pandemic of the H1N1 virus in 2009, when a vaccine became available and states were not ready to receive and distribute it.

"We don't want to repeat that hiccup," Redfield told senators.

He also said the government does not have an estimated $6 billion it needs for the distribution of a coronavirus vaccine. Such funds were proposed in pandemic relief legislation that Congress has not adopted, among partisan disputes over how much more aide the government should provide for laid-off workers and a variety of other purposes.

Providing that money, Redfield said, "is as urgent as getting these manufacturing facilities up."

Biden's remarks Wednesday show how the pandemic has increasingly become a focal point for both candidates in the final weeks of the race. Biden campaign advisers have regarded the election as a referendum on Trump and his handling of the pandemic. The campaign continues to hold events and run advertisements squarely on this theme.

The former vice president's comments, extending suspicions Biden has expressed in recent weeks, highlight the extraordinary roughness of this presidential contest. In past election cycles, calling into question whether an incumbent might risk deliberate harm to Americans to forward his political ambitions was not the norm.

But speaking in Wilmington, Del., Biden expressed reservations about whether a covid-19 vaccine approved by the Trump administration would be safe, casting doubt on the incumbent's willingness to put the health of Americans before politics.

"I trust vaccines. I trust scientists. But I don't trust Donald Trump," Biden said. "And at this point, the American people can't, either."

Biden raised the possibility of Trump pressuring his administration's health officials to sign off on a vaccine in which scientists do not yet have full confidence in order to gain an election advantage. The Democratic nominee expressed skepticism about the CDC and FDA, as well as the president.

The former vice president essentially echoed Redfield's point that vaccinating the nation will happen gradually. "It's not going to happen overnight," Biden said. "Once we have it, it's going to take months to distribute."

If a vaccine is swiftly approved, it could upend the campaign, and both sides are increasingly bracing for how to deal with the political uncertainty of the coming weeks. Still, experts have questioned whether it is realistic for one to become available before the election.

Biden made his remarks after receiving a briefing Wednesday about the quest for a vaccine from scientific, public health and health policy experts. Creating the drug is only "part of the battle," said Biden, who likened effective distribution to a complex military operation. He said a vaccine should be free and that priority should go to those who need it most - and that includes Black and Hispanic communities.

The Democrat's view about the possibility of a vaccine has become a point of contention in the campaign, with Trump accusing Biden and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., of spreading "anti-vaccine rhetoric."

Biden said he would have no problems endorsing a vaccine - provided it met certain criteria. If the current administration allows a vaccine to be distributed, Biden said, "who will validate it was driven by science? What groups of scientists?"

He added that Americans must be confident "distribution will be safe and cost-free" with a plan for doing so "without a hint of favoritism."

Biden also lambasted Trump for not aggressively encouraging mask-wearing and alleging that waiters do not like to wear them. The Democrat defended his own calls for a national mask mandate, saying he would seek to implement one by working with governors but that he was not yet completely sure what legal authority he would have to deploy such a rule.
Barbados has announced its intention to remove Queen Elizabeth as its head of state and become a republic.



"The time has come to fully leave our colonial past behind," the Caribbean island nation's government said.



It aims to complete the process in time for the 55th anniversary of independence from Britain, in November 2021.



A speech written by Prime Minister Mia Mottley said Barbadians wanted a Barbadian head of state.



"This is the ultimate statement of confidence in who we are and what we are capable of achieving," the speech read.



The statement was part of the Throne Speech, which outlines the government's policies and programmes ahead of the new session of parliament.



While it is read out by the governor-general, it is written by the country's prime minister.



The speech also quoted a warning from Errol Barrow, Barbados's first prime minister after it gained independence, who said that the country should not "loiter on colonial premises".



His is not the only voice in Barbados that has been suggesting a move away from the monarchy. A constitutional review commission recommended republican status for Barbados in 1998.



And Ms Mottley's predecessor in officer, Freundel Stuart, also argued for a "move from a monarchical system to a republican form of government in the very near future".



Barbados would not be the first former British colony in the Caribbean to become a republic. Guyana took that step in 1970, less than four years after gaining independence from Britain. Trinidad and Tobago followed suit in 1976 and Dominica in 1978.

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.

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One Canadian journalist is speaking up against a viewer who tried to body-shame her.

On Twitter, Kori Sidaway of CHEK News in Victoria, British Columbia, posted a screenshot of an anonymous message sent to her attempting to "shame and police" her body.

The screenshot of the email was positioned as "breaking news," and the top line reads "too much cleavage can break a news story." The sender, who signed their name "Vancouver Island Cleavage Patrol," went on to advise Sidaway to dress appropriately.

As a response to the email, Sidaway said, "To the nameless computer warrior(s) who try to reduce women into an outfit or a body part -- this generation of women, doesn't stand for harassment."

This screenshot was sent to me and my colleagues in an attempt to shame and police my body. Well, I'm taking my power back. To the nameless computer warrior(s) who try to reduce women into an outfit or a body part  this generation of women, doesn't stand for harassment pic.twitter.com/fgGySbVTYy  Kori Sidaway (@korisidaway) September 7, 2020

"My first reaction was total shock," Sidaway told "GMA." "I just couldn't believe someone put so much time and energy into policing my body."

MORE: Reporter shares powerful post on wearing braids on-air for 1st time

What made matters worse is that Sidaway quickly found out that the email was not only sent to her, but to everyone from CHEK News' IT and advertising team as well as her boss and many others in the newsroom.

After the initial shock came feelings of shame. Sidaway worried that her colleagues would now be assessing her outfit and body. "I felt as if someone had taken the power over my own body away," she said. "I felt completely defeated."

Story continues

"Then came the anger," Sidaway added. "I didn't want to let this nameless keyboard warrior take my power away. I didn't want to give them the result they wanted."

Sidaway's boss responded to the email advising the sender that the company would be looking into anything criminal in the harassing message. The person on the nameless email responded, in short, "sounds good."

She responded as well, saying "to the nameless, anonymous computer warrior who decided to reduce the work I do into an outfit, or a body part. You consciously took time out of your day to police a woman's body, and you seem proud of that. I genuinely feel sorry for you. Next time, I hope you choose respect, and kindness."

Sidaway says she has received negative comments in the past from viewers about her clothing or body, but this message hit differently.

"The implication being, not only am I responsible for my own work, my own appearance, but now I'm responsible for the imagination of others," she said. "Let's be clear, I am not. No one is responsible for the actions or thoughts of others."

She continued, "And the extension of that line of thinking is even more frightening. At its root, saying that someone else is responsible for your imagination, is victim-blaming. No woman is responsible for the thoughts or actions of others, and I wanted that heard, not hidden. I wanted to shine a light on this terrifying thought process."

Sidaway was motivated to share her experience on social media because she didn't want to sit in shame. She also didn't want to internalize the harassment.

"The person who sent the email wanted to shrink me, instead I stood tall," she said. "I looked at the photo of myself they had sent. I look beautiful. I look powerful. So, I decided to flip the script this person wrote me into repurposing the photo into something powerful."

MORE: 'Every single body is a bikini body': Body-positive advocates discuss inclusive swimwear shopping tips and best picks

Struck by Sidaway's initial post, a flood of other messages came in from other women sharing similar experiences.

Journalist and TV host Camila Gonzalez also chimed in, saying, "I got an anonymous handwritten letter delivered to my network two weeks ago saying 'decent men don't want to see your 'low cut tops.' It shows poor taste in character. Hope you come to your senses and stick to doing your job.' I hate to hear it's happening across Canada."

Sidaway said that the reactions to her post have mostly been positive and have included commentary from mothers telling her she is a hero for their daughters. Others thanked her for standing up for women everywhere.

She hopes that other women learn this kind of harassment doesn't come with the territory.

"Yes, we put ourselves out there and yes we are in the public eye," Sidaway said. "But our bodies are not for consumption. Any harassment and shame is not yours to bear. We've been policing women's bodies for eons. Let's change that."

Canadian TV reporter responds to viewer who attempted to body-shame her originally appeared on goodmorningamerica.com
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Britons could face an even tougher lockdown within two weeks unless the Rule of Six brings down coronavirus cases, it was claimed today.

Ministers and government officials insist they are ready to take more draconian steps to stop the spread, despite a wave of criticism.

Options on the table could range from curfews to closing pubs - although there is a determination that schools will stay open.

This is despite warnings today that schools could be forced to close by default in coming weeks because of a massive shortage of tests across the UK.

'Lockdown is the only thing that we know works, to be frank,' one government science adviser told ITV.

The dire prospect has been raised amid fears that the disease is on the verge of spiralling out of control again.

Although cases have spiked over 3,000 a day, it had been mainly among younger people, who are less likely to be badly affected.

But now Covid-19 cases are soaring among middle-aged people in England and have risen by upwards of 90 per cent in a fortnight as the outbreak continues to grow.

Public Health England (PHE) data reveals 23.4 cases are now diagnosed for every 100,000 people aged between 40 and 49  up from 12.4 at the end of August. And coronavirus infection rates have nearly doubled in just a week for people in their fifties, jumping from 10.9 to 20.

Boris Johnson faced MPs this afternoon, telling the Liaison Committee that steps to avoid a complete national lockdown were needed.

The Prime Minister told the committee: I don't want a second national lockdown, I think it would be completely wrong for this country. We are going to do everything in our power to prevent it.

Can we afford it? I very much doubt that the financial consequences would be anything but disastrous, but we have to make sure that we defeat the disease by the means that we set out.

When I see the people saying, arguing against the rule of six of saying that the government is coming in too hard on individual liberties and so on, I totally understand that, I sympathise with that, but we must, must beat this disease.

Downing Street did not deny reports that curfews were being considered to slow the spread of coronavirus.

Asked about reports that a curfew could be introduced in London, a Number 10 spokesman earlier said: 'We will continue to keep the transmission rate under review.

'We've introduced the rule of six to try and bear down on the transmission rate given that it has risen recently.

'But as I say we will keep that data and the scientific evidence under review.'

It came as:

Matt Hancock and Boris Johnson were warned the testing fiasco is on the brink of dooming the country to a de facto lockdown with keeping schools open 'unsustainable'

Covid-19 cases are soaring among middle-aged people in England and have risen by upwards of 90 per cent in a fortnight as the outbreak continues to grow, official figures show.

The boss of British Airways defended his decision to cut up to 12,000 jobs and said the pandemic has left the national carrier 'fighting for survival'

One hospital in Manchester accounted for a third of all Covid-19 deaths in England last week, it was revealed amid fears the life-threatening disease is spreading between wards.

The most up-to-date PHE data, which was released on Friday, clearly shows cases are spiralling across every age group. People in their twenties  who aren't as vulnerable to the disease and are likely to escape death or serious illness  are driving the spike with an infection rate of 46, which has doubled in the last three weeks

Public Health England (PHE) data reveals 23.4 cases are now diagnosed for every 100,000 people aged between 40 and 49  up from 12.4 at the end of August. And coronavirus infection rates have nearly doubled in just a week for people in their fifties, jumping from 10.9 to 20

Curfews, pub closures and small gatherings only: how the UK could throttle second wave Britain could follow the example of Belgium in taking steps to throttle the rising number of coronavirus cases. Brussels was able to curtail a second wave of coronavirus by limiting the number of people who could socialise together and imposing a nationwide curfew. The European country experienced a resurgence of the virus in mid-July that was comparable to the UK's current trajectory. On July 29, officials there brought in new rules reduced the number of people who could socialise together from 15 to five and introduced a 10pm curfew on the entire population. Coronavirus infections started to rise in Belgium in mid-July, with the weekly case rate going over 35 per 100,000 by August- the level currently being felt in Britain - and daily infections breaching 1,000. The numbers have fallen over recent weeks, with only 194 new cases reported on September 1. Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty is among those who have praised the actions of the Belgian Government to tackle the outbreak. Last week he said Belgium was a 'clear indication that if you act rapidly and decisively when these changes are happening, there is a reasonable or good chance of bringing the rates back down under control.' Such a move would allow people to go still go to work and school but would place curbs on nightlife, which could place high pressure on the hospitality industry, with pubs and restaurants forced to close early. Advertisement

However, alarm has been sparked by early signs that hospitalisations are on the rise again, and infections are becoming more common among older people.

The problems have been exacerbated by the testing system descending into chaos after schools returned, with high demand for children to be checked.

The area of Rhondda Cynon Taf in south Wales will be placed under a local lockdown following an increase of coronavirus cases, the Welsh Government announced this afternoon.

Health minister Vaughan Gething announced that the measures, which will be reviewed within two weeks, would come into force at 6pm on Thursday.

Rhondda Cynon Taf, which has a population of around 240,000, has seen a rolling seven-day case rate of 82.1 per 100,000 people.

Under the measures, people must not enter or leave the Rhondda Cynon Taf council area without a reasonable excuse.

People will only be able to meet outdoors and will not be able to meet members of their extended household indoors.

All licensed premises will have to close at 11pm.

The 'Rule of Six' imposed by Boris Johnson on Monday makes it illegal to have larger gatherings, although in Scotland and Wales children under 12 do not need to be counted in the numbers.

Ministers have suggested they are following the example of Belgium, where a surge appears to have been tackled using tight limits on gatherings and curfews.

A senior member of the government told ITV's Robert Peston that there was 'no possibility of us waiting for the death rate to rise before we act'.

They added that the government will reassess whether the Rule of Six has been enough to control the situation in fortnight - but there is a widespread view that schools should not be shut again.

A leading scientific advisor reportedly said: 'I think that if we want to keep schools open, we probably have to give serious consideration to a wide range of other measures to stop a major second wave.

'And we have to think about doing that right now - which we are starting to do.'

British Health Secretary Matt Hancock, right, and Chief Whip Mark Spencer give each other an elbow bump greeting in Downing Street in London

The Red Lion pub in Westminster, just yards from the Houses of Parliament, was surrounded by drinkers last night despite the introduction of the Rule of Six on Monday.

The 'Rule of Six' imposed by Boris Johnson (pictured today at PMQs) on Monday makes it illegal to have larger gatherings, although in Scotland and Wales children under 12 do not need to be counted in the numbers

Second UK pub bans under 25s over social distancing Another British pub has temporarily banned under 25s due to what its landlady claims is a lack of social distancing among young drinkers. The Red Lion in Whinmoor announced the move on Facebook on Monday, confirming those in the age bracket will be unable to enter between Friday and Sunday. The landlady, who wished to remain anonymous, said the decision was made in order to protect staff at the establishment alongside its regular customers from coronavirus. She added the Red Lion has some 'good young customers' who follow the social distancing guidelines, but a minority 'spoil it for others' as they have to keep reminding them to respect the guidelines in place to stop the spread of the virus. Advertisement

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was forced to miss Prime Minister's Questions because of a delay in receiving a coronavirus test result for one of his children, his deputy said.

Angela Rayner, standing in for Sir Keir at the despatch box on Wednesday lunchtime, told Boris Johnson that she had a message from 'a man called Keir'.

She told the Commons: 'Keir wasn't able to go to work today and his children couldn't go to school because his family had to wait for their coronavirus test results despite the Prime Minister's promise of results within 24 hours.

'Keir was able to do the right thing and self-isolate and work from home, but other people aren't in this position - many of them are the very people getting us through this crisis.'

Mr Johnson said he understood a negative test had been returned for Sir Keir's child, adding: 'I don't know why he is not here.'

The Labour leader was advised to self-isolate on Monday while awaiting the result of a test for a member of his household who showed possible symptoms of Covid-19.

Less than half an hour before PMQs was due to begin, Sir Keir said he was 'very pleased and relieved that the test result for one of my children came back negative this morning'.

A decision had been made on Tuesday for his deputy, Ms Rayner, to take his place at the question session.

The possibility of a harsher crackdown comes despite a major Tory backlash at the restrictions on everyday life.

Justice Secretary Robert Buckland this morning denied that the 'rule of six' would effectively cancel Christmas, following criticisms from a source close to the Archbishop of Canterbury about the social restrictions imposed this week to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Archbishop of Canterbury warns 'rule of six' is damaging family life The Archbishop Bishop of Canterbury has warned against coronavirus restrictions being imposed centrally and said he is 'deeply concerned' about the impact of the 'rule of six' on family life. The Most Rev Justin Welby said the Government had 'determined the daily details of our lives' during the coronavirus lockdown in a way 'few of us have experienced', as he argued instead for localism. He said Britain has an 'addiction to centralisation' and argues that the country should take on the attitude: 'Only do centrally what must be done centrally'. The Archbishop is also said to be concerned about the impact of the 'rule of six' - banning gatherings of more than six people indoors and outdoors - on 'the vulnerable, the needy, the poor and the elderly' in Britain. Advertisement

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, the Cabinet minister said: 'Archbishop Justin (Welby) makes an important contribution to this debate and he is right to point to the huge spiritual and social significance of Christmas.

'I don't think any of us in Government want to be Oliver Cromwell-esque about this - we want to see families celebrate Christmas in a safe and happy way and we want to see our churches and indeed our other places of worship joining in that celebration.'

Mr Buckland added: 'We are not going to cancel Christmas but the 'rule of six' is something that is clear and important and I do think we've committed to that and we need to stick to it.'

Health Secretary Matt Hancock yesterday batted away furious demands for young children to be exempted from the rules in England to save Christmas.

He was repeatedly pressed on the 'unfair and inflexible' restrictions as he made a statement in the Commons.

But while Mr Hancock insisted he understood the 'impact' the rules were having, he said 'simplicity' was crucial for them to be effective.

Senior Conservatives lined up to urge the government to copy the Scottish and Welsh administrations, which have said that children aged under 12 do not count towards the limit on gatherings.

Home Secretary Priti Patel warned yesterday that two families bumping into each other on the street would be breaking the new law.

She said more than half-a-dozen people stopping to chat after accidentally meeting up would constitute 'mingling'.

Lawyers questioned whether that was the case - but No10 offered backing, saying: 'You can expect the police to ask you to disperse.'

Ms Patel also said she would report her own neighbours for any behaviour she believed was 'inappropriate' and risked spreading the virus.

The comments came as police complained that they had been left in the dark on how to enforce the tough restrictions, with no guidance and widespread anger among the public.

Covid-19 cases among people in their 40s and 50s have risen by 90% since the end of August - while the number of patients being admitted to hospital has DOUBLED in just nine days, official figures show

Covid-19 cases are soaring among middle-aged people in England and have risen by upwards of 90 per cent in a fortnight as the outbreak continues to grow, official figures show.

Public Health England (PHE) data reveals 23.4 cases are now diagnosed for every 100,000 people aged between 40 and 49  up from 12.4 at the end of August. And coronavirus infection rates have nearly doubled in just a week for people in their fifties, jumping from 10.9 to 20.

The most up-to-date PHE data, which was released on Friday, clearly shows cases are increasing across every age group. People in their twenties  who aren't as vulnerable to the disease and are likely to escape death or serious illness  are driving the spike with an infection rate of 46, which has doubled in three weeks.

Fears of a second wave are growing as the number of Britons being diagnosed with Covid-19 each day has topped 3,000 for the first time since May. Ministers have also been spooked by spiralling outbreaks in Spain and France and rising hospital admissions on the continent.

Hospital admissions  another way of measuring the severity of the pandemic  have doubled in England over the past nine days. More than 150 newly-infected patients required NHS treatment on Sunday, up from a rolling seven-day average of 52 on the last day of August.

But government officials say a second wave of Covid-19 in Britain would not be nearly as bad as the first  which killed between 40 and 55,000 people  because we are better at containing the virus through local lockdowns and social distancing measures, and that medical breakthroughs have helped to slash the death rate.

Hospital admissions  another way of measuring the severity of the pandemic  have doubled in England over the past ten days. More than 150 newly-infected patients required NHS treatment on Sunday, up from a rolling seven-day average of 52 on the last day of August

Hospital admissions  another way of measuring the severity of the pandemic  have doubled in England over the past ten days. More than 150 newly-infected patients required NHS treatment on Sunday, up from a rolling seven-day average of 56 the week before

PHE figures released on Friday, which offer the most detailed insight into the state of the coronavirus crisis in England, revealed how people in their twenties are driving the current outbreak.

The infection rate for those aged 20-29 has risen from 23.5 cases for every 100,000 people in the week ending August 16, to 46 in the most recent full week of data, which finished on September 6.

The rate is now 29.8 for people in their 30s, up from 19.6 the week before and 16.4 at the end of August. And it has jumped to 23.4 for 40 to 49-year-olds, up from 13.5 in the previous seven-day spell and 12.4 at the end of last month.

Infections rates have risen from 10.9 to 20 in the space of a week for people in their 50s, and have increased from 7.5 to 12.4 for those in their sixties.

Cases are also rising for people over the age of 70, who are the most vulnerable to the disease because of their age. Infection rates have jumped from 4.6 to 7.3 for those in their 70s over the lat week, and from 8.9 to 12.9 for those 80 or older.

For children, rates have jumped from 5.6 to 7.7 for those up to the age of four, and have risen from 5.1 to 8.1 among 10 to 19-year-olds.

Hospital admissions have also risen over the same time-frame, according to data published by the Department of Health.

Government statistics show 153 newly-infected patients needed NHS care in England on Sunday, September 13. Similar data has not yet been released for Monday or yesterday.

For comparison, 85 patients were admitted to hospital in England last Sunday.

The rolling seven-day average of hospital admissions  considered one of the best ways to analyse trends  shows the rate has risen from 52.43 on the last day of August to 127.57 on September 13. The rate topped 100 on September 10 and was 72 last Sunday.

Hopes of fighting a second wave are also high because vaccines could be available as early as next spring, with a 'long pipeline' of promising jabs being trialled.

In addition, early signs from the southern hemisphere indicate that any flu outbreak will be less severe than in previous years.

It comes as top Belgium scientist Jean-Luc Gala said Belgium's rising infection rate is 'completely normal' and ongoing lockdown measures should be relaxed. He told French-language newspaper La Derniere Heure that 'people no longer suffer from the coronavirus, but measures to stop it.'

He said people should not worry as the virus 'is circulating in a category that does not suffer from it, young people who will at worst have small symptoms, at best nothing at all'. He said people who the virus only midly affects becoming infected is beneficial as it contributes to wide-spread immunity.

Ministers had been concerned that a combination of flu and corona cases would prove catastrophic for the NHS this winter.

However, officials also expect that advice on hygiene and social distancing during the corona pandemic will suppress flu rates  as will the trend for working from home and avoiding public transport.

In Australia and New Zealand  which typically provide good indicators of how the flu will develop in the UK  cases have remained low compared with last year.

Officials still believe the next six months 'will be very tricky' for the NHS and the country as a whole  but their cautious optimism provides a marked contrast to recent warnings from doctors' unions and medical colleges, which have claimed that hospitals would be unable to cope with a second wave.

A survey by the British Medical Association this week found that 86 per cent of doctors expect coronavirus to surge again over the next six months.

When Spain, France and Belgium hit 18 cases per 100,000 (which the UK did at the start of September) they then saw admissions increase by up to four-fold. But Belgium was able to reduce its hospital rate by reintroducing tough measures

In August the hospitalisation rate in Belgium doubled from one per 100,000 to two per 100,000, but it has since been squashed

Hospitalisation rates remain low and falling in the UK, from a peak of more than 30 per 100,000 people to fewer than one per 100,000, but officials fear they will rise again soon

However, Government officials believe that while cases are on the rise again, the curve will be flatter when compared with March and April.

One reason for this prediction is the fact that we now know so much more about the virus. This includes medical advances, such as the discovery that steroid treatment dexamethasone can cut the risk of death from coronavirus by a third.

Officials also say that local lockdowns  and the beleaguered test and trace service  have successfully prevented recent outbreaks from spreading more widely.

Nonetheless, they stress that it is wrong to assume that the virus is only circulating among the young.

While many new cases are patients aged between 17 and 21, the latest statistics show infection rates for those in their 50s and 60s are now as high as they were for those in their 20s several weeks ago.

Figures from the Department of Health yesterday showed there were 3,105 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, compared with around 5,000 a day at the height of the crisis. There were another 27 deaths, up from nine recorded on Tuesday.

A special envoy from the World Health Organisation yesterday said the 'grotesque' global outlook was 'much worse than any science fiction'.

Appearing before the Foreign Affairs Committee, Dr David Nabarro told MPs: 'It's a terrible situation... a health issue has got so out of control it's knocking the world into not just a recession but a huge economic contraction, which would probably double the number of poor people, double the number of malnourished [and] lead to hundreds of millions of small businesses going bankrupt.'
National security regulators are reviewing a proposal that would leave ByteDance, TikToks Beijing-based parent company, with a majority ownership stake in the short-form social media app.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., or Cfius, reviewed the deal that includes California- based tech firm Oracles bid to become TikToks U.S. technology partner late Tuesday afternoon but did not immediately announce a recommendation.

In an executive order last month, President Trump gave ByteDance 45 days to sell its U.S. TikTok operations or face a ban. In order to avoid President Trumps ban, the deal must be settled by Sunday.

In an effort to assuage national security concerns over the Chinese-owned app, the deal would make Oracle a technology partner of TikTok, while ByteDance would retain a majority ownership stake. TikToks global business would become a U.S.- based company that would remain a unit of ByteDance. Oracle would take a minority stake in that company, the Journal reported.

President Trump spoke with Oracle CEO Safra Catz about the companys plans to overhaul the apps U.S. operations on Tuesday, people familiar with the matter told the Journal, and said later that day that his administration would make a decision on the pending deal pretty soon, adding that he has high respect for Oracle chairman Larry Ellison.

I heard theyre very close to a deal, Mr. Trump said.

TikTok said Monday it believes its proposal would resolve the Administrations security concerns.

The administration has labeled the app a security threat over concerns that data collected from U.S. consumers on the app could be shared with the Chinese Communist Party, though TikTok has said it would not share such data with the Chinese government.

While Peter Navarro, a trade adviser to the president, had pushed to ban the app, he expressed support for Oracles dealings with China in a Fox News interview last month, criticizing Microsofts deals in the Communist country while saying, Oracle, on the other hand, has a strong reputation of really putting a great firewall between its operations in China.

Story continues

The deal would create an estimated 25,000 U.S.-based jobs, the Wall Street Journal reported.

More from National Review
SINGAPORE  Australia and China need to find common ground despite their differences, as the economic relationship between the two is an important one, said John Howard, former Australian prime minister.

"The relationship economically between Australia and China is very important, and there are tensions in that relationship and they have to be attended to," Howard said on Wednesday, on the sidelines of the Singapore Summit.

The relationship between the two countries has been fraught with tension, with Beijing launching an investigation into some wine imports from Australia last month, following actions on other commodity imports.

"I certainly don't think in any way Australia should get into a situation of giving up on its relationship with China; it's very important to us. Our commodity exports (like) iron ore, coal and the likes are very important to the Australian economy," said Howard, who was in office from 1996 to 2007.

China is one of Australia's key trading partners, with the Asian economic powerhouse buying much of the commodity products produced Down Under.

The recent downward spiral in the China-Australia relationship was triggered by Canberra's call for an international probe into the origins of the coronavirus, which was first reported in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

Howard did not mention the probe, but emphasized the need for Australia to take a balanced approach to its relationship with China  even as tensions between the U.S.  Canberra's closest ally  and China simmer.

"I don't think we should allow ourselves to be defined by whom to support between China and the United States. We can have good relations with both of those countries, albeit of a different kind, because we are different societies," he said.

"I see the the bilateral relationship between Australia and China as something that we have to attend to and nurture according to our own particular interests, always remembering, of course, that we are part of a group of Western countries that believe in some fundamental values," Howard added.

Instead, Australia and China need to find some consensus in spite of their different histories and political systems, he said.

"It's tremendously important in these difficult times, particularly against the background of the pandemic, to take a balanced approach, to try and find areas of common agreement," said Howard.

As for issues surrounding commodities like wine, Howard said to "let the process work, let's not over-dramatize some of the differences that are emerging."
Emirates NBD, a leading banking group in the Middle East and North Africa region, has signed a MoU with Bank Leumi Le-Israel, one of the leading banks of the Jewish nation.

One of Israels longest-standing banks, Bank Leumi previously served as the central bank of Israel until 1954. It currently holds an approximate 30 per cent market share in the Israeli banking system.

Emirates NBDs Vice Chairman and Managing Director Hesham Abdulla Al Qassim and Group CEO Shayne Nelson formalised the MoU with Bank Leumis Chairman Dr Samer Haj Yehia and President & CEO Hanan Friedman, in the presence of other senior officials.

The signing, which marks Emirates NBDs second agreement with an Israeli bank, follows the start of a broader engagement between the UAE and Israel to further peace, dialogue and stability and promote sustainable development.

Al Qassim said, "We look forward to working together with Bank Leumi to explore areas of mutual economic and commercial cooperation. Our agreement demonstrates a further strengthening of our relationship with Israels banking industry, which will benefit our brand, our clients and the UAE economy, through new business and trade opportunities."

Yehia said: "We congratulate Israels government for the breakthrough in strengthening our relations with the UAE. However, now is the time for implementation and for opening the economic channels that will ensure the realisation of the enormous potential between the two countries."

"The agreement signed today with Emirates NBD is building the foundations on which future large-scale cooperation between the business sectors of Israel and the UAE will emerge," he added-TradeArabia News Service
To qualify for on-campus housing accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act and Fair Housing Act, the student must have a disability which is defined as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities and the student must provide documentation from a qualified practitioner sufficient to demonstrate that a on-campus housing accommodation is necessary to alleviate the symptoms of the disability.

If you have a disability that requires an on-campus housing accommodation(s), we require you to follow the four-step process below.

1. Complete the On-Campus Housing Accommodation Request form. Part One of this form must be completed by the student.

2. You will need to submit documentation from a qualified practitioner to verify your disability and recommend reasonable accommodations. Part Two of this form must be completed by a qualified practitioner.

3. Submit your fully completed form, including Part One and Two, to the Disability Resource Office. You can mail, fax or email these forms to:

Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts

Center for Student Success and Engagement/Disability Resources

375 Church St.

North Adams, MA 01247

disabilityresources@mcla.edu

Fax: 413-662-5444

4. Attend a meeting with a Disability Resource staff member to discuss appropriate and necessary accommodations.

Students are required to request on-campus housing accommodations each academic year.

Deadlines to submit on-campus housing accommodation requests:

Returning students: April 1 for fall semester

December 1 for spring semester New students: July 1 for fall semester

December 1 for spring semester Summer students: May 1 for all summer programs and conferences

Applications after these deadlines will be accepted and considered, however, MCLA cannot guarantee that it will be able to meet late requests for on-campus housing accommodations, including any needs that develop during the semester. Requests can take up to 30 days to be reviewed and to make a final determination. Students will be notified in writing of the Colleges decision.

If you are requesting an Assistance Animal (also known as an Emotional Support Animal) as your accommodation, please note that all Assistance Animals must be approved in advance of being allowed into any College residence area. If a students accommodation for an Assistance Animal is approved by the Disability Resource Office, the student is required to meet with the Director of Residential Programs & Services to review the Assistance Animal guidelines and complete the Assistance Animal agreement prior to the animal taking up residence.
The United States Sanctions Chinese State-Owned Entity for its Role in Corruption in Cambodia

Press Statement

Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State

September 15, 2020



China is the world's largest emitter of environmental pollution including of greenhouse gases and the exploitation of natural resources around the globe. Today, the United States again took action by imposing sanctions on the People's Republic of China (PRC) state-owned Union Development Group, Ltd. (UDG) under Executive Order (E.O.) 13818, which builds upon and implements the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, for its role in corrupt activities in Cambodia.

Today's action demonstrates how the Chinese Communist Party coopts companies to expand its influence, including by working through corrupt officials to use military force against innocent people in a blatant attempt to secure illicit financial gains. There are credible reports that the coastal development project at Dara Sakor could be used to host PRC military assets, and if so would go against Cambodia's Constitution and could threaten Indo-Pacific stability, possibly impacting Cambodia's sovereignty and the security of our allies.

The government of Cambodia granted UDG a 99-year lease in 2008 for the development of the Dara Sakor project on a site that encompasses almost 20 percent of the country's coastline. UDG was founded as a wholly-owned PRC corporation, but became a Cambodian enterprise in order to receive the lease for nearly 90,000 acres of land. The company then went back to being PRC-owned after acquisition of the lease and resulting land.

In conjunction with a former Cambodian Army official, the Cambodian military cleared the leased land by force using violent tactics. Then Royal Cambodian Armed Forces chief of staff, Kun Kim (Kim), reaped significant financial benefit from this relationship with UDG. Kim was previously designated by the United States for his role in corruption under the Global Magnitsky sanctions program in December 2019. The land in question is also considered part of Botum Sakor National Park, a protected natural area.

The United States stands with the Cambodian people and calls on the world to join us in condemning corruption and environmental degradation.

For more information regarding this action, please see the press release issued today by the Department of the Treasury: https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm1121

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Borderless Europe is a great achievement, one which was scarcely imaginable when World War II ended. Such is the power of the Schengen Agreement, which makes borderless travel possible within continental Europe, that Britainwhich had sought exemption from it to retain control of its borders when it was part of the European Unionconceded that point to keep the border between Northern Ireland (part of the UK) and the Republic of Ireland open, complying with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, which had ended three decades of sectarian violence.

More than 3,600 people had died during the 30-year period known as the Troubles". During its worst moments, explosions in British cities were not uncommon. One reason London has fewer garbage bins for a city of its size is that the Irish Republican Army sometimes placed bombs in them.

But peace got its chance. Protestant (many of them Unionists) and Catholic (many of them Nationalists) politicians managed to put aside their bitter differences and peace prevailed, though it was often disrupted by violence. Last year Lyra McKee, a young journalist, was killed while she was reporting a riot in the city known as Derry or Londonderry, depending on your politics. Politicians across parties mourned her death. Peace is fragile anywhere, and in Northern Ireland, especially so.

Maintaining that peace is crucial, which is why when Britain negotiated an orderly departure from the EU, the Irish Question" proved difficult. European politicians were adamantrightly soin backing Ireland, which wanted assurances that the spirit of the Good Friday Agreementopen borderwould be respected; British politicians wanted to get the job done with; and Americans, who had helped broker the peace talks, were watching the negotiations. Even in a divided America, there is bipartisan support for an open border between Ireland and the UK.

Eventually, a compromise was reached. But just as there are hardcore extremists among Irish nationalists, who are accused of killing McKee, there are hardcore English nationalists, whometaphorically at leastwant to blow up the Brexit agreement, even if it means taking down the Good Friday Agreement with it.

And so, like the guest who doesnt know when to leave, Brexit is still sprawled on the sofa in the middle of Britains crowded living room. While the UK left the EU in January, it needs to put in place agreements on trade, citizenship rights, and peoples movement, so that in late December, when the departure is formal, the transition is as smooth as possible. The deadline is getting closer, and the British are nowhere near a domestic consensus of what they want. And so British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has done what he knows bestbluff and go to the brink, saying if there is no agreement by 15 October, he is out. On Monday, he won a Parliamentary vote that violates international lawthe withdrawal agreement that his government had signed with the EU.

The move makes little sense. It was Johnsons government that had signed the withdrawal agreement; that agreement is less than a year old; its effects are not even known; and erecting any kind of border risks tensions in Northern Ireland.

Johnson is not known to be a details man", and when he became prime minister, he realized the complexity of negotiations that lay ahead. The withdrawal agreement lets the traffic of goods between Britain and Northern Ireland be checked, so as to stop smuggling across an open border that could violate any UK-EU trade deal. Northern Irish hardliners who want to remain in the UK were incensed, but British parliamentarians ignored their tantrum.

The months since have been difficult for all countries, busy as they are combating the pandemic. Much time has been lost and the UK has not concluded a trade deal, which would hurt British exporters, in particular farmers, since EU tariffs on farm imports are stiff, to protect European farmers. Johnson also wants to make it harder for European fishing trawlers to ply in British waters, and oddly for a Conservative, he wants to subsidize industries. Johnsons technical changes", Britains minister for Northern Ireland admits, would violate international law. All former prime ministersConservative and Labourhave criticized Johnson.

Johnson, it appears, wants people to believe this is a mere debating ploy. Bluff or not, Europeansthe Irish most of allare understandably livid. So are Americans, with whom the UK wants a free trade deal, which will be a long chess match, and US lawmakers seem to think that tearing apart the Good Friday Agreement is a bad opening gambit.

On Monday, Britains parliament passed Johnsons proposed changes, although a few members abstained, a couple of officials resigned, and the government said it would look at an amendment. Former Labour leader Ed Milliband witheringly ridiculed Johnson, who scowled and left the House early, as if he was late for an appointment.

Nobody minds Johnson driving down the white cliffs of Dover; the trouble is, he may take the nation with him. Meanwhile, fasten your seat belts. Next stop: a Scottish referendum.

Salil Tripathi is a writer based in New York. Read Salils previous Mint columns at www.livemint.com/saliltripathi

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Auto parts makers, manufacturing companies and real estate developers comprise the bulk of companies seeking covid-19-related loan restructuring, two officials assisting companies with bank loan recasts said. These firms have approached financial advisory firms and lawyers to project cash flows to meet financial parameters specified by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) by March 2022, the two officials said.

Auto components, manufacturing and real estate are some of the worst-affected sectors due to covid-19; banks are also keen on restructuring these companies; else, it would impact bank provisioning. The inter-creditor agreements (ICA) are being worked upon with lenders and corporates, we will see some announcements as early as next week," the first of the two people said.

About 5-8% of bank loans are expected to be restructured under RBIs debt recast rules. The ICAs will build consensus among lenders and corporates on how to restructure loans and ensure financial viability.

The financial advisors and lawyers are helping stressed companies assess their financial position using techno-economic viability (TEV) studies, ratings and valuations. A TEV study typically has three subcategoriestechnical feasibility, market potential and financial viability.

On 7 September, RBI released the recommendations of an expert committee led by former ICICI Bank chief executive K.V. Kamath to recommend eligibility parameters for restructuring stressed loans.

The RBI has laid down strict criteria for companies seeking relaxations in repayment terms. The central bank also said the lenders would need to finalize resolution plans by 31 December, and implement it within 180 days.

While many real estate firms have approached financial advisors, lawyers and lenders for restructuring, only about half of them are likely to meet the RBI parameters, said the people cited above.

Only about half of the real estate firms qualify for the RBI norms as many of the projects were already under stress before March. Only the firms that faced inventory pile-ups during covid-19 related lockdown will be considered," said the second person.

Auto components and manufacturing will find it easier to qualify within the set RBI standards," he added.

According to rating agency Icra, real estate is among the top two sectors by number of negative rating actions between 1 March and 31 August. The real estate sector has witnessed 52 negative rating actions in this period, only trailing the textiles sector where the number of such actions stood at 61.

Icra said the outlook for residential real estate is negative, given the uncertain economic scenario and job security concerns. These can lead to deferral of real estate purchases that are discretionary and large-ticket in nature, and that the operating and financing environment remains challenging for real estate developers.

jayshree.pyasi@livemint.com

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HANOI, Vietnam - Vietnam will resume international commercial flights to several Asian destinations starting Friday, after a monthslong shutdown to curb the coronavirus outbreak.

The flights, however, are reserved for Vietnamese nationals, diplomats, experts, managers, skilled workers, investors and their families. They are not yet available for tourists.

According to a report on the government website, flights connecting Vietnams two largest cities  Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City  to destinations in South Korea, Japan, China and Taiwan will operate on a weekly basis. Flights connecting the cities with Cambodia and Laos will resume next week.

To board a flight, passengers must hold a certificate showing they have tested negative for the coronavirus no more than five days before the departure date. Upon arrival, they will be tested and placed under quarantine, the report said.

Vietnam shut down international flights on April 1. National carrier Vietnam Airlines estimated last month that it would lose $650 million in 2020.

Vietnam has reported 1,059 cases of the coronavirus. It managed to avoid any deaths until July, when the virus crept into the city of Da Nang, killing 35 people.

But no new cases have been reported for two weeks. Last week, Da Nang lifted a travel restriction after two months.

Elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region:

 Indias coronavirus confirmed cases crossed 5 million on Wednesday, still soaring and testing the countrys feeble health care system in tens of thousands of impoverished towns and villages. The Health Ministry reported 90,123 new cases in the past 24 hours, raising the nations confirmed total to 5,020,359, about 0.35% of its nearly 1.4 billion population. It said 1,290 more people died in the past 24 hours, for a total of 82,066. Indias total coronavirus caseload is closing in on the United States highest tally of more than 6.6 million cases and expected to surpass it within weeks. India reported a record daily high of 97,570 cases on Sept. 11 and has added more than 1 million cases this month alone.

 South Koreas daily coronavirus tally has stayed below 200 for two weeks, but the government is urging people not to lower their guard. Authorities said Wednesday that the 113 cases added in the last 24 hours took the countrys total to 22,504, including 367 deaths. Eighty-one of them were in the Seoul metropolitan area, the heart of a recent viral resurgence in South Korea. Vice Health Minister Kim Gang-lip called on people to refrain from having unnecessary gatherings and visiting crowded places.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A last-minute change to New York Citys public school guidance regarding its blended learning model, put into place for the 2020-2021 academic year amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, has angered parents and frustrated educators.

Late Tuesday evening, the Department of Education (DOE) announced that students participating in the citys blended learning model may not receive live instruction on the days they are learning remotely, as previously planned.
The lawyer for the prime suspect in Madeleine McCann's disappearance has admitted that 'I wouldn't let him babysit my daughter'.

Friedrich Fulscher, who is representing Christian Brueckner in the Madeleine case, explained that - because of Brueckner's record which includes multiple child sex offences - he wouldn't let him near his own children.

But he added that the 43-year-old German, who is currently in jail in Germany for the rape of an American pensioner, 'could be my dogsitter'.

Friedrich Fulscher (left), the lawyer representing Madeleine McCann prime suspect Christian Brueckner (right), has admitted 'I wouldn't let him babysit my daughter'

Speaking to the Daily Mirror, he said: 'I'd let him look after my dogs but I wouldn't let him look after my children or my daughter - if I had them.

'He could be my dogsitter, yes, but because of his record I would not let him look after my own daughter.'

Fulscher, who has in the past described Brueckner as a 'friendly conversationalist', also opened up about what it has been like stepping into the media spotlight around the Madeleine case.

He admitted that 'I don't sleep as well as I used to', partly due to threats he started receiving when he took on the case.

Fulscher also hit out at German prosecutors for suggesting Madeleine (pictured) is dead, saying they have shown him no evidence

'I've had threats, lots of them, some of them death threats,' he said. 'Some of them have been online and some of them have been on the phone.

'I have pressed charges on some of them. I've also been told my life is in danger for looking into the Madeleine McCann case.'

He also said that he has been to Portugal to review years-worth of evidence collected in the case, and uncovered some 'completely new' information.

Fulscher refused to reveal what it is, but called it 'big', adding: 'It certainly surprised me.'

Madeleine vanished while on holiday with her family in Praia da Luz, in the Algarve in Portugal, in 2007, aged three.

She has not been seen since and nobody has ever been charged over the disappearance, but earlier this year, British investigators unveiled Brueckner as their new prime suspect.

Born in Germany in 1976, he moved to the Algarve in 1995 after serving part of a two-year sentence for molesting a six-year-old girl.

There, he is thought to have become involved in the local drugs trade before raping an American pensioner in 2005 - a charge he denies.

Prosecutors say that, on the night of Madeleine's disappearance, signal from a phone tower in Praia da Luz places Brueckner in the area.

Shortly after Madeleine's disappearance he moved back to Germany, where he was subsequently jailed on drug charges.

Madeleine vanished from a resort in Praia da Luz in 2007, and investigators say phone signals place Brueckner - who has multiple sex convictions including against children - in the area

He was convicted of sexual abuse of a child and possession of child pornography in 2016, before being jailed for the rape of the American woman in 2018.

He is currently in prison in Kiel, 55 miles north of Hamburg, where he is appealing against that conviction.

German prosecutors also named Brueckner as the prime suspect in Madeleine's disappearance, saying they have 'concrete evidence that she was killed.

However, parents Kate and Jerry McCann say they have not been shown that evidence, and Fulscher says he has not been sent a single document from the German side.

'It is not comprehensible how a public prosecutor's office can repeatedly approach the media and make statements like: "We are firmly convinced that Christian B is the right person and the perpetrator and killed this girl", but then at the same time we are told that they don't have the crucial evidence,' he said.

Madeleine's case officially remains a 'missing persons' inquiry, and her parents say that - until evidence of her death is uncovered - they hope she will be found alive.
This image from the study shows 2020 AV2s orbit. It also shows the orbits of Earth, Mercury and Venus. Perihelions are dotted lines, and aphelions are solid lines. Credit: Credit: Ip et al, 2020

Astronomers have painstakingly built models of the asteroid population, and those models predict that there will be ~1 km-sized asteroids that orbit closer to the sun than Venus does. The problem is, nobody's been able to find oneuntil now.

Astronomers working with the Zwicky Transient Facility say they've finally found one. But this one's bigger than predictions, at about 2 km. If its existence can be confirmed, then asteroid population models may have to be updated.

A new paper presenting this result is up on arxiv.org, a pre-press publication site. It's titled "A kilometer-scale asteroid inside Venus's orbit." The lead author is Dr. Wing-Huen Ip, a professor of astronomy at the Institute of Astronomy, National Central University, Taiwan.

The newly discovered asteroid is named 2020 AV2. It has an aphelion distance of only 0.65 astronomical units, and is about 2 km in diameter. Its discovery is surprising since models predict no asteroids this large inside Venus' orbit. It could be evidence of a new population of asteroids, or it could just be the largest of its population.

The authors write, "If this discovery is not a statistical fluke, then 2020 AV2 may come from a yet undiscovered source population of asteroids interior to Venus, and currently favored asteroid population models may need to be adjusted."

This image depicts the two areas where most of the asteroids in the Solar System are found: the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and the trojans, two groups of asteroids moving ahead of and following Jupiter in its orbit around the Sun. Image Credit: NASA

There are about 1 million known asteroids, and the vast majority of them are well outside Earth's orbit. There are only a tiny fraction located with their entire orbits inside Earth's. Models predict that an even smaller number of asteroids should be inside Venus' orbit. Those asteroids are called Vatiras.

2020 AV2 was first spotted by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) on January 4, 2020. Follow-up observations with the Palomar 60-inch telescope and the Kitt Peak 84-inch telescope gathered more data.

Near the end of January, astronomers used the Keck Telescope for spectroscopic observations of the rock. That data shows that the asteroid came from the inner region of the main asteroid belt, between Mars and Jupiter. "These data favor a silicate S-type asteroid-like composition consistent with an origin from the inner Main Belt where S-type asteroids are the most plentiful." They add that it agrees with Near Earth Asteroid (NEA) models that "predict asteroids with the orbital elements of 2020 AV2 should originate from the inner Main Belt."

This figure from the study shows some of the images of 2020 AV2. (A) Discovery 30 s r-band image of 2020 AV2 taken on 2020 January 4 UTC where 2020 AV2 is the detection located in the circle. (B) Composite image containing the four discovery 30 s r-band exposures covering 2020 AV2 made by stack on the rest frame of the background stars over a 22 minute time interval. The first detection has been labeled. The asteroid was moving ~1 degree per day in the northeast direction while these images were being taken resulting in a ~15 arcseconds spacing between the detections of 2020 AV2. Credit: Ip et al, 2020

2020 AV2 is either a model buster or a model confirmer. "NEA population models predict <1 inner-Venus asteroid of this size, implying that 2020 AV2 is one of the largest inner-Venus asteroids in the solar system," the authors write. It's either the largest one, which makes sense because the largest one would be the first to be spotted, or there are more of them that we haven't found yet.

The authors thought through two scenarios involving 2020 AV2's detection, and what it means. "Despite its low probability, a possible explanation for our detection of 2020 AV2 is a random chance discovery from the nearEarth asteroid population," they write. "However," they continue, "history has shown that the first detection of a new class of objects is usually indicative of another source population c.f., such as the Kuiper Belt with the discovery of the first Kuiper Belt Objects 1992 QB1 and 1993 FW."

There's also a possibility that 2020 AV2 didn't originate in the main asteroid belt. Models show that there's a region inside Mercury's orbit that could have spawned asteroids, and where they might still reside. "2020 AV2 could have originated from a source of asteroids located closer to the sun, such as near the stability regions located inside the orbit of Mercury at ~0.1-0.2 au, where large asteroids could have formed and survived on time scales of the age of the solar system."

Spectra of 2020 AV2 obtained with the Low Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (LRIS) on the Keck Telescope. It shows that 2020 AV2 is an s-type siliceous asteroid, the second most common type of asteroid in the Solar System. They dominate the inner region of the main asteroid belt. Credit: Ip et al, 2020

Two panels from an image in the study. The top panel shows the evolution of the aphelion (orange) and perihelion (blue) distances of 2020 AV2 integrated to 10 Myrs. The current aphelion (dashed line) and perihelion distances (dash-dot line) are plotted as horizontal lines for Venus (cyan) and Mercury (red) and Earth (purple). The bottom panel shows the orbital evolution to 30 Myrs. The aphelion (dashed line) and perihelion distances (dash-dot line) are plotted as horizontal lines for Mars (black) and Jupiter (green). A close encounter with the Earth of ?0.01 au at ?22 Myrs and subsequent perturbations from the other planets results in 2020 AV2 eventually increasing in its aphelion distance until it encounters Jupiter and is ejected from the Solar System at ?28 Myrs. Credit: Ip et al 2020

2020 AV2 might not spend an eternity on its present orbit. The team of researchers performed some simulations, and they show that the asteroid could be ejected from the solar system entirely. " dynamical N-body simulations of 2020 AV2 indicate that its orbit is stable on ~10 Myr timescales, entering into temporary resonances with the terrestrial planets and Jupiter before its orbit evolves onto close-encounter paths with the gas giant, leading to its eventual ejection from the solar system."

When 2020 AV2 was first discovered, scientists wondered at the journey it must have taken to get there. They also wondered about is eventual fate. "Getting past the orbit of Venus must have been challenging," said George Helou, executive director of the IPAC astronomy center at Caltech and a ZTF co-investigator, in a press release. Helou explained that the asteroid must have migrated in toward Venus from farther out in the solar system. "The only way it will ever get out of its orbit is if it gets flung out via a gravitational encounter with Mercury or Venus, but more likely it will end up crashing on one of those two planets."

If this discovery is just the first of a whole population of asteroids inside Venus' orbit, the majority of them will all share the same fate. After about 10 to 20 million years, they'll all be ejected.

Explore further Robotic telescope finds closest known asteroid to fly by Earth

More information: Ip et al., A kilometer-scale asteroid inside Venus's orbit. arXiv:2009.04125 [astro-ph.EP]. Ip et al., A kilometer-scale asteroid inside Venus's orbit. arXiv:2009.04125 [astro-ph.EP]. arxiv.org/abs/2009.04125
The new ETS unit will pursue strategic equity investments, growth partnerships, and mergers and acquisitions

PRINCETON, N.J., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- ETS, the world's largest nonprofit educational assessment and measurement organization, today announced the creation of ETS Strategic Capital, a new unit that will focus on growing the business and advancing its mission through strategic equity investments, growth partnerships, and mergers and acquisitions.

ETS Strategic Capital will broaden, expand and diversify ETS's offering in assessment, learning and development for K12, higher education, and corporations. With this mandate, ETS Strategic Capital is actively seeking transactions to establish a global portfolio of innovative education companies that will have both a positive financial and strategic impact.

"We've reached a pivotal point in the ongoing evolution of education  there is a fundamental change in how educational services are delivered, how tools and assessments are structured, and how learners, schools, and companies are engaged and connected," said Ralph Taylor-Smith, the Managing Director of ETS Strategic Capital. "With our funding, expertise and experience in education, ETS Strategic Capital is well positioned to help emerging education companies that are addressing these gaps grow and increase their impact, while tapping into new opportunities. ETS brings value-add capabilities in assessments, research and development, global distribution, and innovative technologies to our portfolio and partner companies."

ETS Strategic Capital currently has a portfolio of five companies that bring technology, new business models and geographic coverage, and that complement and build out ETS's current business areas:

ApplyBoard : Guided by ETS Strategic Capital, ETS made an equity investment in Canadian-based ApplyBoard Inc., the world's largest platform for international student recruitment. As part of this investment, ApplyBoard and ETS's TOEFL  business unit, which provides the world's premier English-language test for university study, work and immigration, are also developing a strategic growth partnership. https://www.applyboard.com/

: Guided by ETS Strategic Capital, ETS made an equity investment in Canadian-based ApplyBoard Inc., the world's largest platform for international student recruitment. As part of this investment, ApplyBoard and ETS's business unit, which provides the world's premier English-language test for university study, work and immigration, are also developing a strategic growth partnership. https://www.applyboard.com/ Pipplet: A start-up specializing in language assessment for businesses, Paris -based Pipplet helps companies assess job candidates' language fluency based on their practical, real-world ability to interact in a professional context. ETS's subsidiary, ETS Global B.V., acquired Pipplet S.A.S., guided by ETS Strategic Capital. https://www.pipplet.com/en-gb/home

A start-up specializing in language assessment for businesses, -based Pipplet helps companies assess job candidates' language fluency based on their practical, real-world ability to interact in a professional context. ETS's subsidiary, ETS Global B.V., acquired Pipplet S.A.S., guided by ETS Strategic Capital. https://www.pipplet.com/en-gb/home Capti (by Charmtech Labs LLC): Through the use of machine learning, artificial intelligence and natural language processing, Buffalo, N.Y. -based Capti, created by Charmtech Labs LLC, provides personalized literacy and learning support to K12 students. Capti  dubbed a "AAA" for teachers  helps teachers accommodate, assess and accelerate reading for all their students. ETS Strategic Capital arranged a seed investment from ETS in Capti and established a strategic business partnership with ETS Research & Development (R&D) and New Product Development (NPD). Capti is licensing ETS's ReadReady  intellectual property in internet-driven reading diagnostics, and will work closely with ETS's R&D and NPD teams to expand opportunities to positively impact K12 student reading success across the United States . https://www.captivoice.com/capti-site//

Through the use of machine learning, artificial intelligence and natural language processing, -based Capti, created by Charmtech Labs LLC, provides personalized literacy and learning support to K12 students. Capti  dubbed a "AAA" for teachers  helps teachers accommodate, assess and accelerate reading for all their students. ETS Strategic Capital arranged a seed investment from ETS in Capti and established a strategic business partnership with ETS Research & Development (R&D) and New Product Development (NPD). Capti is licensing ETS's  intellectual property in internet-driven reading diagnostics, and will work closely with ETS's R&D and NPD teams to expand opportunities to positively impact K12 student reading success across . https://www.captivoice.com/capti-site// EdAgree: Focused on the international student experience, EdAgree, Inc. is a newly formed spin-out company from ETS that will match international students with universities and support those students throughout their education journey. EdAgree plans to validate student profile information, package it for streamlined processing by admissions departments, and collaborate with universities to identify and deliver support that will optimize learning outcomes. EdAgree also will collaborate with partner universities on research efforts to optimize student success. ETS Strategic Capital arranged $1 million of seed funding from ETS to incubate the new start-up company and facilitated the spinout from ETS. https://edagree.com/

Focused on the international student experience, EdAgree, Inc. is a newly formed spin-out company from ETS that will match international students with universities and support those students throughout their education journey. EdAgree plans to validate student profile information, package it for streamlined processing by admissions departments, and collaborate with universities to identify and deliver support that will optimize learning outcomes. EdAgree also will collaborate with partner universities on research efforts to optimize student success. ETS Strategic Capital arranged of seed funding from ETS to incubate the new start-up company and facilitated the spinout from ETS. https://edagree.com/ Gradschoolmatch: Gradschoolmatch.com is an interactive internet-driven software platform that helps prospective graduate students match with potential graduate academic programs. The match-algorithm, search-engine and business-approach are modeled after successful "personal-dating" web-driven businesses; students can post biographies, research interests, career plans and academic profiles; they can also "bookmark" a graduate program profile to "signal their interest" in learning more or send "private messages" to graduate school recruiters. Both prospective graduate students and graduate institutions may subscribe, which allows them to search by location or academic interests, tracking prospects and making contact with simplified one-click interconnectivity for matching. ETS Strategic Capital arranged the purchase of the Gradschoolmatch.com platform, and it will be incorporated into ETS's offerings to the graduate school market. https://www.gradschoolmatch.com/

ETS Strategic Capital will serve as the private equity investment and M&A execution arm for ETS, its subsidiaries and its partners. It will source transactions both within the domestic United States and internationally. It will partner with the broader EdTech ecosystem, to identify and execute deals, coordinate with other ETS business units to identify opportunities and needs, network with professional services firms with education expertise, and build direct relationships with businesses internationally  especially within Asia Pacific, Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Middle East & Africa (MENA) regions.

More specifically, ETS Strategic Capital will target private equity investments that are typically in Series B, C or later, where companies already have a proven product and/or market fit, initial customers, and developed business-model, and are seeking further new growth capital to scale the business; in select situations, earlier-stage investment may be possible. Acquisitions will primarily focus on middle-market scale deals, though smaller or larger acquisitions may also be possible in certain situations. ETS Strategic Capital defines growth partnerships broadly and they might involve joint ventures (JVs), channel-partner or distribution agreements, Intellectual Property (IP) licensing and technology-transfer relationships, along with similar strategic value-add business partnerships.

Ralph Taylor-Smith, currently the Vice President of Corporate Development at ETS, will become the Managing Director of the new unit, bringing a wealth of experience in private equity investing, M&A and growth partnerships and joint ventures. ETS Strategic Capital has a growing bicoastal team based in offices in Princeton, N.J., Washington, D.C. and Silicon Valley, Calif. https://www.ets.capital/team/

About ETS

At ETS, we advance quality and equity in education for people worldwide by creating assessments based on rigorous research. ETS serves individuals, educational institutions and government agencies by providing customized solutions for teacher certification, English language learning, and elementary, secondary and postsecondary education, and by conducting education research, analysis and policy studies. Founded as a nonprofit in 1947, ETS develops, administers and scores more than 50 million tests annually  including the TOEFL and TOEIC tests, the GRE tests and The Praxis Series assessments  in more than 180 countries, at over 9,000 locations worldwide. www.ets.org.

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The annual Roark-Conner Association (R-CA) Reunion is a gathering of Roark and Conner descendants and relatives of local pioneer families who settled during the mid to late 1830s in the eastern portion of Hamilton County. In the summer of 1959, the Roark-Conner family held its first reunion in Birchwood, Hamilton County. Every year since, descendants have been gathering in Birchwood to meet with each other, to remember ancestors and visit local historical sites and to share family history.This year, due to the Coronavirus, the R-CA board of directors made the difficult decision to cancel the face-to-face reunion to eliminate the possibility that any family member might become ill.To ensure the continuation of its 62-year tradition of meeting, instead of a face-to-face reunion, on Sept. 25-27, the R-CA will hold its first Virtual Family Reunion on their website: Roark-Conner.org.The Virtual Reunion will be structured similar to a face-to-face reunion with three days of programming. After 8 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 25, the entire three days of programs will be available to view. Participants will be able to visit the Virtual Reunion at their convenience, anytime day or night, and return as often as they wish. Programs will include Friday Meet and Greet sessions where participants can meet ancestors, R-CA past presidents and other cousins. Saturdays programs will include the annual R-CA business meeting, along with featured presentations by various family members. On Sunday, family members can participate in the Worship Service with sermons and singing, and a bonus Learning Center which will include activities for children, a Birchwood tour and the Heirloom Display Room. Participate in the Virtual Reunion by visiting the Roark-Conner.org website and click on the 2020 Virtual Reunion.For further information, call 410-827-0152.
Though the facility and its parking lot were roped off with yellow crime scene tape, Hall said the nearby Family House, a social service agency that assists in parent visitation, was not part of the crime scene. No one was at the facility at the time of the shooting.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

"You have to eat!" It's a sentiment that illustrates how central food is to Italian culture, but the woman who uttered these words also happens to be struggling with bulimia nervosa.

'Carmela' is one of many Italian-Australian women who has a conflicted relationship with food which is inextricably linked to culture, according to University of South Australia researcher Michelle Caruso.

The social work Ph.D. student has undertaken the first study looking at how Italian culture can influence women's experiences of disordered eating in contemporary Australia.

In her interviews with Italian-Australian women in Adelaide, Caruso explored how many of the women were 'plied with food' as young children, with meals linked to family, culture and identity.

"Many of these women were not allowed to determine their own food consumption during childhood, adolescence and even into adulthood," Caruso explains. "Food was habitually pushed and forced onto them, resulting in early conflicts which have manifested as eating issues in their later years."

She deliberately uses the term "disordered eating," linking it to culture, in contrast to "eating disorder," which infers a medical or psychiatric condition.

"Women diagnosed with binge eating, anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are typically treated based on psychiatry. One of the greatest weaknesses of the psycho-medical approach is its failure to contextualize the disordered eating experiences of women from diverse cultural backgrounds," Caruso says.

The researcher chose Italian women for her study, but her findings could equally apply to many other migrant women with entrenched cultural beliefs around food, she says.

Previous research shows that Italian women have a higher prevalence of disordered eating than women in comparable European countries such as Spain, Germany and the Netherlands.

Caruso identified three key themes central to the women in her study: "il cibo e tutto, il cibo e amore" (food is everything, food is love), "fare la bella figura" (to make a good impression), and "il mio piatto" (it's my plate).

"All expressions illustrate the significant cultural symbolism and meanings attached to food in Italy. In the Italian culture, everything is cooked with love. Food and feeding are important processes which help build and maintain relationships, connections and a sense of home and belonging," Caruso says.

"The childhood memories of the women I interviewed are mostly positive, connected to pleasure, love, safety, protection and comfort. But the women also expressed a sense of lacking autonomy, control and personal power associated with their consumption of food. This led to an ongoing complex, conflicted connection with food.

"Through their disordered eating experiences, the women in this study were able to construct a sense of power, control and self-agency, where they were able to decide what to consume or reject."

The relationship with food is so central to the Italian culture that many families are unwilling to accept that food has anything but positive connotations, Caruso says.

"In the eyes of an Italian mother or grandmother, rejecting food is akin to personal rejection. And because women with disordered eating don't want to bring shame or embarrassment on their family, they are unlikely to admit they have a problem and know their family probably won't accept it if they do try to discuss it."

Australialike many western culturesputs a high value on female thinness, while Italian culture values food and eating together, placing significant conflicting pressures on women from Italian backgrounds, Caruso says.

"Migrants hold onto their food practices so tightly when they migrate to another country. It's a way of staying connected with their identity and their culture."

Caruso says it's time that health practitioners and ethnic communities recognized the part that culture plays in disordered eating and ensured that women were given the appropriate support.

Explore further Food insecurity raised risk for disordered eating in low-income adolescents

More information: Michelle Caruso et al, "Devi Mangiare!" [You have to eat!]: Experiences of disordered eating among Italian-Australian women, Health Care for Women International (2020). Michelle Caruso et al, "Devi Mangiare!" [You have to eat!]: Experiences of disordered eating among Italian-Australian women,(2020). DOI: 10.1080/07399332.2020.1802461
Regulating Internet Platforms to Limit Hate Speech Could Impact Free Speech: Constitutional Lawyer

Ahead of the prime ministers throne speech set to take place on Sept. 23, a constitutional lawyer says some of the governments plans to regulate online content and hate speech could threaten legitimate free speech.

On Sept. 6, Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault revisited the idea of regulating social media in an interview with Globals The West Block, stating that platforms like Facebook and Twitter cant regulate themselves and that the Liberal cabinet would soon put forward new legislation to address the problem.

One aim of such regulation is to combat hate speech and disinformation online as well as child pornography and incitement to terrorism, Guilbeault said.

We have free speech in our society, but people cant say everything. You cant verbally abuse someone, he said, while noting that the move is not about putting an end to free speech on the internet.

But Jay Cameron, the litigation manager at the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, sees much to be concerned about regarding the governments plans in relation to free speech.

The Charter [of Rights and Freedoms] says the right to have your own thoughts, beliefs, opinions, and to express them is fundamental, meaning that this right is of paramount and foundational importance in a free and democratic society, he said in an interview.

The Liberal-run government has consistently set itself to do an end run around section 2(b) of the Charter and attempt to infringe it in a variety of ways.

One of the focuses is the control of so-called hate, Cameron says, but at the same time the government has failed to provide a clear definition of what hate is.

You start digging and you find out what they mean by hate is often entirely legal speech that is disagreeable tousually progressiveorthodoxies, he says.

They cant legally censor it currently because it is not illegal speech, so they want to create a new censorship mechanism to give themselves more power.

The government is also entertaining the idea of reviving Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act, a controversial law that was repealed in 2013 as a result of widespread concern over the threat it posed to free speech due to its broad language.

Section 13 declared it to be a discriminatory practice for people to communicate through telephone or the internet anything that would expose someone to hatred or contempt if that person was identifiable on a basis of a prohibited ground of discrimination.

In the wake of mass killings such as that in Christchurch, New Zealand, in which online hate has been said to have played a role, a Liberal-dominated House of Commons committee recommended that the government start consultations to revive Section 13 and amend it to target hate speech spread through social media

Justice Minister David Lametti said in June 2019 that the limits of free speech, justifiable limits of free speech, is something that any government should be looking intoas the prime minister did when he was in Paris and looked at the Christchurch declaration.

Lamettis office said in an email that the government is committed to confronting the problem of online hate, which has become all too common for a growing number of Canadians, including marginalized and racialized individuals and communities.

The work is at the initial consultation stage, the email said, and includes ensuring that Canadians rights are protected.

Cameron notes that Section 319 of the Criminal Code already prohibits hate speech. The biggest problem with reviving Section 13, he says, is that it has none of the checks and balances Section 319 requires when it comes to prosecuting hate speech, such as having the attorney general sign off on a prosecution, nor any of the rigorous defences that are outlined in Section 319.

Section 13 has no such defences, and no approval is required from the attorney general for a prosecution, Cameron says.

In this sense, it is a very draconian law that is tailor-made to censor and punish legal expression that bureaucrats and some politicians and their supporters do not like. It is a profoundly oppressive law which sounds sort of well-intentioned until you start to study its implications.

What is often termed hate today is not hate at all, but rather disagreement. And you have a constitutional right to disagree and to express disagreement.

Guilbeault declined to comment for this article.
Interior Ministry proposes drivers from EAEU may use their national licenses in Russia

 RAPSI, Vladimir Burnov

16:07 16/09/2020

MOSCOW, September 16 (RAPSI)  Russias Interior Ministry has developed a bill envisaging that citizens of countries being members of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) conducting a business or working in Russia are permitted to use driving licenses issued in their respective countries, the bodys press service informs on Wednesday.

Currently, foreign nationals are obliged to obtain Russian driving licenses in order to conduct a business in Russia; nevertheless, the regulation does not apply to citizens of Kirgizia and those of the countries where Russian is one of the official languages by law.

The bill sets forth that EAEU countries citizens are to be exempted from the regulation; other exemptions are to remain in place, the statement reads.
DALLAS, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- O3 Home Solar (a division of O3 Energy Corporation) has experienced dramatic growth in the past 3 months with expansion, from Texas, into three new states. With new offices being developed in both Colorado and Florida, O3 Home Solar is now positioned to assist the growing demand for solar in these markets. The company is set to begin its first commercial project in Oklahoma this October, in tandem with the launch of its residential solar program for homeowners in the southeastern region of the state. In mid-July, the company completed construction of the expansion of its warehouse in Dallas, that is specifically designed to help streamline operations for the rapid increase in residential solar sales. Recently, O3 Energy Corporation was named by the INC Magazine one of the fastest growing private companies in the United States, making the Inc. 5000. This recognition was partly due to the growth of O3's residential division.

Since moving into the Colorado market, O3 Home Solar has added over 10 employees to assist taking on the needs of new customers in the area. The new office is located at 6312 S Fiddlers Circle Suite #354, Greenwood, CO. Ronnie Chapman, Vice President of O3 Home Solar, weighs in on the move into Colorado and the importance of providing the O3 model to the state's residents. "Our expansion into the Colorado market will serve as a cornerstone for the O3 brand. Our model ensures that the goals of each party are equally aligned and introducing this to Colorado residents will set a standard that will transcend the industry. This growth will allow us to continue our mission of not only providing solar but providing energy independence."

In addition to the recent expansions, O3 Home Solar has also begun promoting its new client ambassador program. The program is designed to empower customers with the ability to track their savings and then share their experiences with their friends, colleagues, and neighbors in order to earn additional income on the side. The Director of Marketing for O3 Home Solar, Craig Gardner says, "At O3 Home Solar, we pride ourselves on being with you every step of the way. From the initial meeting all the way through project completion, we are there by your side. The new client ambassador program allows us to not only stay engaged with our customers post-solar, but also provide them excellent incentives to make additional income and share the benefits solar with their family, friends, and community."

About O3 Energy

Since 2011, Dallas-based O3 Energy has provided energy solutions to heavy power users. It specializes in the development, construction, and operations of energy generation systems and facilities. The company provides clients with affordable clean energy through onsite generation. For more information, please visit o3energy.com

Media Contact: Preston Howell, O3 Energy [email protected]

SOURCE O3 Energy Corporation
New Delhi, Sep 16 : A total of 32 Indian Army personnel and three Indian Air Force men succumbed to the deadly coronavirus, Minister of State for Defence Shripad Naik said in the Parliament on Wednesday.

"The number of deceased due to Covid-19 in Army and Air Force are 32 and 3, respectively, and 'NIL' in case of Navy," Naik said in a reply to Congress MP Anumula Revanth Reddy in Lok Sabha.

The minister also said that the number of Covid-19 cases in the Army, Navy and Air Force stands to 16,758, 1,365 and 1,716, respectively.

About compensation to the family members of the deceased armed forces men, the minister said that as per the extant rules, there is no special compensation for deaths occurring due to infectious diseases while in service.

"However, all deaths while in service are awarded terminal benefits," he said.

The forces are at the forefront of the battle against the deadly virus since January this year.

In reply to another parliamentarian, BJP MP Jayanta Kumar Roy, Naik highlighted the role of the forces in the battle against Covid-19.

The minister said that Indian Naval ships Jalashwa, Airavat, Shardul and Magar were deployed as part of 'Operation Samudra Setu' to evacuate stranded Indian nationals from Iran, Maldives and Sri Lanka during the Covid-19 crisis.

A total of 3992 Indian nationals were evacuated safely to India as part of Operation Samudra Setu.

He also highlighted the steps taken to tackle the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the defence sector.

The minister said that beginning in March, procurement of essential equipment to tackle Covid-19 cases in Armed Forces Medical College (AFMS) hospitals was undertaken.

"Supply order for ventilators, oxygen concentrators, hand thermal guns, multipara monitors, PPE kits, face masks, sanitisers, disinfectants etc. were placed for all AFMS hospitals," Naik said.

He also stated that emergency procurement powers of the Director General Armed Forces Medical Services was sanctioned by the Defence Minister for procurement of additional equipment like RT-PCR machines and testing kits.

"As on day, there are 27 functional laboratories in the AFMS carrying out molecular testing for Covid using RT-PCR, TrueNat, CBNAAT and GenExpert techniques. Rapid Antigen Tests are available in the periphery for early diagnosis, isolation and contact tracing of cases," he said.

In line with the latest treatment trends at the national and global level, drugs like Favipiravir and Remdesivir have been made available in AFMS hospitals. "Plasma Therapy is also available in two hospitals of AFMS," the minister stated.

About quarantine facilities, the minister said that station quarantine facilities have been set up in all military stations where troops are quarantined after returning from leave for 14 days.

"Any person developing symptoms during quarantine is immediately tested and isolated, if found positive" he said.

Teams comprising medical and paramedical staff have been trained in tracing high risk contacts of confirmed cases for instituting quarantine measures. "Asymptomatic high risk contacts are tested between day seven and 10 of exposure," he said.

Covid care centres have been set up to augment hospitals where a large number of Covid patients are being admitted. Asymptomatic and mild cases are admitted to the Covid care centres to decongest the hospitals.

The minister also stated that there were interactions with the Armed Forces Medical Services of friendly countries.

"Knowledge exchange and best practices for Covid control being followed by the US, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Sri Lanka have been adopted by the AFMS to optimise patient care," he said.

The DGAFMS has maintained continuous liaison to ensure that guidelines and policies issued by the apex bodies are implemented to optimise patient care.

"Multiple guidelines pertaining to control and management of Covid have been issued by the DGAFMS to ensure conformity of care across the three services," he said.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Hema Malini's comments come a day after Jaya Bachchan said that one could not tarnish the image of the entire industry just because of a few people and criticised those who bite the hands of their feeders.

Veteran actress Hema Malini has come out in defence of Bollywood over the alleged drug row in the ongoing Sushant Singh Rajput death case.

In an interaction with NDTV, the actress said that Bollywood would "always remain in high esteem" and that no one could bring it down in flashover allegations like drugs and nepotism. She added, "I got name, fame, respect, everything from this industry... it feels really hurtful."

The legendary actress went on to add that she wants to tell people that Bollywood is a beautiful place. It is a creative world, an art and culture industry. She stated that she feels very hurt when she hears people talking so bad about it. According to her, if there is a stain, you wash it off and it goes and the stain on Bollywood will also go.

Malini adds that a number of great artists have worked hard to make the industry. Alluding to the likes of Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, Dharmendra and Amitabh Bachchan, she said, "They are all examples of Bollywood luminaries who made Bollywood synonymous with everything Indian. Bollywood is India. I can't take it when they ridicule our industry like this."

Speaking about nepotism, she said that if someone's son or daughter joins the industry, it is not a given that they become superstars. According to her, talent and luck matter.

Her defense comes a day after Samajwadi Party MP and veteran actor Jaya Bachchan lashed out at actor-politician Ravi Kishan in the Rajya Sabha.

BJP MP Ravi Kishan had spoken about a conspiracy on drug trafficking is place that aimed at destroying the youth of the country. Kishan alleged that neighbouring countries like Pakistan and China were adding fuel to the fire by smuggling drugs to India.

These comments did not sit well with Bachchan who said that one could not tarnish the image of the entire industry just because of a few people.

Jis thaali me khaate hain usi me chched karte hain," she said referring to a popular Hindi proverb that roughly translates to biting the hands that feed one.
For those tired of spending extra on guacamole, todays your day.

Businesses are celebrating National Guacamole Day, Sept. 16, with free guacamole.

Earlier this summer businesses celebrated National Avocado Day with similar deals. Restaurants also attracted customers during the pandemic this summer with deals for National Chicken Wing Day, National Hot Dog Day and National Tequila Day.

For those ready to celebrate National Guacamole Day, check out the deals below.

Camarena Tequila is offering to pay for your guac with the #GuacOnUs special. Consumers who purchase avocado or guac can get reimbursed up to $8 by Camarena via PayPal. You just need to follow Camarenas Instagram account, post a picture to your Instagram story of your receipt showing the guac add-on fee and todays date, tag them and use the hashtag #GuacOnUs.

Make 2020 taste better! This National Guacamole Day youve got the chance to win a year of free guac! Just retweet to enter before 11:59pm on 9/16. Find rules here: https://t.co/qhhfkpBOQ7. Its great guac with no preservatives added! ALL REAL. NO DRAMA. pic.twitter.com/4mgD2tepzS  Wholly Guacamole (@eatwholly) September 11, 2020

Wholly Guacamole is also offering free guac but only for Dallas locals. But the rest of the country isnt completely out of luck. The companys Twitter account is offering customers a chance to enter to win free guacamole for a year.

Chipotle, known for their guacamole, is not offering any specials today. They are, however, officially launching its highly anticipated Chips and Guac slides on chipotlegoods.com. The profits will go towards supporting organizations that are focused on making fashion or farming more sustainable.

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'Bill and Ted Face the Music'. (Credit: Warner Bros)

Bill and Ted Face the Music director Dean Parisot has explained why he thinks the characters  played by Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter in three films  have endured, despite being slightly preposterous.

They are ludicrous characters, but they also have some qualities that are universal to all of us I hope, Parisot tells Yahoo. Theres this incredible friendship and their indomitable spirit, in spite of things going wrong. Those things are really universal stories to tell in a comedy.

The 68-year-old filmmaker said the two leading men were immediately brilliant in the roles they last played way back in 1991 for Bill and Teds Bogus Journey.

He says theres a considerable amount of Reeves and Winter material, shot for the film which hits UK cinemas today, that had to be consigned to the cutting room floor.

Read more: Bill and Ted Face the Music reviews praise sequel

We stuck to the script and we did improv once we had got our material from the script, he said.

Parisot pointed specifically to the scenes in which the characters travel forward in time to visit themselves in the future, including as old men.

Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves in Bill & Ted Face The Music (WB)

That last bit with them as old men is complete improv, Parisot added.

Read more: Bill and Ted writers reveal origin story

He said: There are about five others that are just as funny, which we loved. They wouldnt stop.

We finally just couldnt afford it any more and had to pull the plug. It was the very last day of shooting.

But they were always coming up with stuff on the set. The entire cast was that kind of cast where you could throw stuff at them and they would come back with moments that were delightful.

'Bill and Ted Face the Music'. (Credit: Warner Bros)

As well as Reeves and Winter, the film stars Samara Weaving and Brigette Lundy-Paine as the protagonists daughters, with Jillian Bell, Kristen Schaal and Jayma Mays also filling key roles.

Parisot said his two leading men found the voices of the characters again almost immediately when they began filming.

Read more: Reeves and Winter surprise San Dimas graduates

Story continues

He said: Eventually they had to come on to a set and be those characters and they were brilliant at it.

They rehearsed a lot and they were those characters the second they walked out. All I had to do was watch.

Read the full interview with Dean Parisot in which we discuss the challenges of making a belated sequel, its incredible cast and the possibility of a fourth Bill and Ted movie...

Yahoo Movies UK: What was the process like, having been a fan of these movies, to get the nod to come in and do this revival that fans have been waiting for for so many years?

Dean Parisot: It was a little daunting, mostly because it was so hard to get it financed. Also, I think its daunting because the challenge of it is to contemporise it in some way but not lose the essence of those characters and that humour.

Thats interesting, because these characters do feel very rooted in the time period in which they were born.

Yes, like we all are. They are ludicrous characters, but they also have some qualities that are universal to all of us I hope. Theres this incredible friendship and their indomitable spirit, in spite of things going wrong. Those things are really universal stories to tell in a comedy.

One of the things thats so joyous in this movie is seeing Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves back in these characters again. Obviously, they own these characters in such a material way. Did they bring a lot of ideas to set about where they wanted to take the characters?

Dean Parisot and Anthony Carrigan on the set of 'Bill and Ted Face the Music'. (Credit: Warner Bros)

Well, because I was on it for seven years, we talked a lot about the characters. They are incredibly talented actors and filmmakers. It was a constant dialogue with all of us who stuck with it about who these characters were. But eventually they had to come on to a set and be those characters and they were brilliant at it. They rehearsed a lot and they were those characters the second they walked out. All I had to do was watch.

Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson [the writers] said recently that Alex and Keanu refused to do the full Bill and Ted voice and mannerisms until they were on the set. So what was it like the first time you saw them be Bill and Ted again?

Of course we all cracked up and it was like well, here we are. But also, we were kind of worried about whether they were going to get there. But they were there the second they walked out on to the set. They didnt just find those voices; they found the voices of Bill and Ted in middle age.

And alongside those two, youve got an incredible cast of some of the best comic talent today. What was it like to build a film around such incredible performers?

Brigette Lundy-Paine, Kid Cudi, Samara Weaving (WB)

The fun of this was casting it. Theres so much goodwill for Bill and Ted that it made what couldve been really difficult, because we had so little money, much easier. We were getting all kinds of great people showing up and saying Ill do it, dont worry about it and Ill fly myself down, dont worry about it. It was quite heartening and it made it quite a bit of fun actually.

I imagine that, with so many funny people on the set, there was a lot of improvisation and a lot of ideas flying around. Was there anything that it really hurt you to have to consign to the cutting room floor?

Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter explore their characters' futures in 'Bill and Ted Face the Music'. (Credit: Warner Bros)

Yes, well theres always that. We stuck to the script and we did improv once we had got our material from the script. There is a lot of improv. For example, that last bit with them as old men is complete improv and there are about five others that are just as funny, which we loved. They wouldnt stop. We finally just couldnt afford it any more and had to pull the plug. It was the very last day of shooting.

Read more: Excellent Adventure director on execs hating Bill and Ted

But they were always coming up with stuff on the set. The entire cast was that kind of cast where you could throw stuff at them and they would come back with moments that were delightful.

Do you think well get to see more of old man Bill and Ted on the DVD release?

Probably. [laughs] Who knows?

Youre coming in to this franchise for the third movie, with so much already established. Did you find it difficult to stamp your own impact on it?

No, but it wasnt my job to do that really. It was my job to contemporise it and tell this story with those characters. I cant help but have a point of view and an aesthetic and my own tastes applied to whatever I do. But hopefully I applied things that people are good with. History will tell out the rest.

This film is coming out in the UK a couple of weeks after it premiered in the USA and were going to be able to see it on the big screen. How important do you feel that is?

Well to me, especially with a comedy, the group experience of a theatre is what youre all working towards, right? The unfortunate thing that has happened to us with COVID is that we cant do this  especially here [in the USA]  without putting people in danger. Hopefully you get a choice of also seeing it at home at some point, but clearly the theatrical experience is the best way to see a comedy, I think.

Read more: Russell Crowe on the importance of the cinema

If you were to get the call from Ed and Chris to do another Bill and Ted, would you be keen to do it?

Absolutely!

And do you think thats something that is likely to happen?

Anything could happen, as weve seen  as I look out at the smoke-filled atmosphere in front of me.

Bill and Ted Face the Music is in UK cinemas now.
H.I.G. Capital ("H.I.G."), a leading global alternative investment firm with $40 billion of equity capital under management, announced today that it has hired Andrew Liau to co-lead its infrastructure team alongside Ed Pallesen. Andrew will be based in London, with primary day-to-day responsibility for the infrastructure teams' activity in Europe, while Ed will continue to be based in New York with primary focus on the Americas.

Andrew has over 20 years of experience in private equity and investment banking. Before joining H.I.G., he was a Senior Managing Director in the infrastructure group at Ardian, a leading Paris based private equity firm, where he led a number of successful core plus investments. Prior to Ardian, he was a founding member of First State Investments' European infrastructure team. He began his career at RBC, where he worked on infrastructure financings.

H.I.G.'s infrastructure investments are focused on mid-market opportunities and target mostly operating companies that can benefit from H.I.G.'s value added operating expertise. H.I.G. has previously completed more than a dozen such investments.

Sami Mnaymneh and Tony Tamer, founders and co-CEOs of H.I.G. commented: "We are excited to welcome Andrew to the team. His impressive background and experience will be instrumental in growing our infrastructure business."

Ed Pallesen added: "I am looking forward to working with Andrew as we build on H.I.G.'s unique capabilities and track record. The market opportunity for value-added, middle market infrastructure investments globally has never been more attractive."

About H.I.G. Capital

H.I.G. is a leading global private equity and alternative assets investment firm with $40 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:

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. 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. 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 $30 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/20200916005476/en/

Contacts:

Edward Pallesen

Managing Director

epallesen@higcapital.com

H.I.G. Capital

P +44 (0) 207 318 5700

F +44 (0) 207 318 5749

www.higcapital.com
Punjab Health minister Balbir Singh Sidhu on Wednesday dared Shiromani Akali Dal to break its ties with the BJP if it is genuinely concerned about farmers interests.

If you are genuinely sympathetic towards the interests of farmers and Punjab, then immediately break the partys ties with the Modi government at the Centre," Sidhu told SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal.

The Shiromani Akali Dal is a constituent of the National Democratic Alliance.

Sidhu also accused Badal of adopting double standards over the issue of farm ordinances.

A few minutes of utterance of Sukhbir Badal in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday against the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill was meaningless as long as the SAD is a partner in the Modi government.

The tragedy of the Akali Dal is that it wants to make its mark among farmers and at the same time, it also does not want to give up a ministry in the central government, said the minister in a statement here.

The minister alleged that the stand taken by Badal against the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha was a new attempt to deceive the people of Punjab.

Badal on Tuesday had voted against the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill in Parliament.

The Akali Dal has taken this step following behind-the-scene agreement with the BJP under which it was allowed to oppose these ordinances just to be able to pretend as pro-farmer and the saffron party would ignore its protests in the House, alleged Sidhu.

Sidhu said Badals claim that Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal had expressed reservations against these ordinances was totally wrong.

The entire leadership of the SAD including Sukhbir Singh Badal and Harsimrat Kaur Badal was strongly supporting the farm ordinances till two days ago, he said.

The new attempt of protest being taken by the Akali Dal now has come out of fear of public outcry against the agriculture ordinances in Punjab, he said.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is preparing a possible antitrust lawsuit against Facebook after a year of investigating whether the social media giant is stifling competition through acquisitions, according to a source.

The consumer trust watchdog is gearing up to file a suit against the social media giant before the end of 2020, an unidentified person familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal.

The FTC, headed by Republican chairman Joseph Simons, has spent more than a year carrying out a probe into Facebook's practices and whether the company has broken antitrust laws and used its dominant position in the tech sector to stamp out competition.

News of a possible suit comes after founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg was brought before the commission last month to testify under oath for two days as part of the investigation.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is preparing a possible antitrust lawsuit against Facebook after a year of investigating whether the social media giant is stifling competition through acquisitions, according to a source. Pictured Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg

The source said a final decision has not been reached on whether the FTC will sue Facebook and acknowledged that preparations for suits do not always lead to cases being brought, reported the Journal.

For example, in 2013, the FTC backtracked on filing an antitrust complaint against Google despite having already made preparations to do so.

The FTC, made up of three Republicans and two Democrats, will need a majority vote in order to bring a lawsuit against Facebook.

In August, Facebook confirmed Zuckerberg had been interviewed at an FTC investigative hearing as part of the antitrust probe.

'We are committed to cooperating with the US Federal Trade Commission's inquiry and answering the questions the agency may have,' the social media company said in a statement.

Zuckerberg is said to have testified under oath for two days in testimony that could be used to build a case against the social media giant he founded back in 2004.

This came one month after he was hauled before Congress to testify about antitrust allegations as part of mounting scrutiny on the actions of several Silicon Valley tech giants.

The heads of Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook all faced a congressional hearing in July where they were questioned for hours about antitrust allegations as well as political bias.

The FTC, headed by Republican chairman Joseph Simons (pictured), has spent more than a year carrying out a probe into Facebook's practices and whether the company has broken antitrust laws and used its dominant position in the tech sector to stamp out competition

The FTC first told Facebook in June 2019 it was probing whether the company had engaged in unlawful monopolistic practices.

Much of the probe has centered around Facebook's prior acquisitions of potential rival firms such as social networking or social media services, digital advertising, and mobile applications - and whether the buying up of such firms has enabled the firm to monopolize the industry.

The company has maintained that its acquisitions are not anticompetitive and said the merging of rival services into its own has been done to improve user experience.

The FTC previously gave Facebook the green light for some of its most high-profile acquisitions including of Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014.

Facebook is currently facing similar probes by the Justice Department and by state attorney generals.

Last year, the social media firm agreed to pay a record $5 billion fine to settle a separate FTC probe around data privacy.
The cost and time-intensive tasks required to analyze and act upon tsunamis of log data are prohibitive -- and now, thanks to ChaosSearch, unnecessary.

ChaosSearch, creator of the first cloud data lake platform for scalable log analysis, today announced it has won two IT World Gold awards: Best SaaS Startup and Best Data Science Platform. The company was also named Bronze winner for Best Business Intelligence and Analytics Solution. These awards recognize ChaosSearchs unique ability to enable fast insights on massive-scale data sets, often reaching 100s of terabytes, at a cost thats up to 80% less than other approaches.

Logs hold the key to keeping applications and businesses up and running and protected from cyber threats. However, the cost and time-intensive tasks required to analyze and act upon tsunamis of log data are prohibitive -- and now, thanks to ChaosSearch, unnecessary, said Thomas Hazel, CTO and founder of ChaosSearch. Were thrilled that IT World recognizes both the need to revolutionize log analysis and ChaosSearchs breakthrough approach for extracting real value from log and security event data.

ChaosSearch helps operational professionals store and analyze data at a scale, simplicity and cost thats disruptive. The only log analysis solution based entirely on cloud object storage, it transforms the customers own cheap and secure Amazon S3 object storage into a database with high performance, infinite scale, and universal access. ChaosSearchs distributed architecture and proprietary indexing and compression technologies enable businesses to gain new and better insights quickly. Its fully managed service helps businesses achieve the super-agility and efficiency needed in fast-changing, competitive markets.

The 15th annual IT World Awards are industry and peer recognitions from Network Products Guide honoring achievements of the worlds best in organizational performance, product and service innovations, hot technologies, and more. For a complete list of the 2020 IT World Award winners visit https://networkproductsguide.com/winners/2020-it-world-awards/

About ChaosSearch

ChaosSearch delivers on the true promise of data lakes, instantly turning a companys own cloud object storage into a hot, robust, streamlined data analytics engine, where it is as simple to generate insights from the lake as it is to push data into it. Implemented today as a data lake engine for scalable log analysis on Amazon S3, ChaosSearch is an ELK-compatible, highly secure, fully managed service that scales to petabytes of data, quickly and at disruptively low cost. The privately held company is based in Boston, MA and backed by .406 Ventures, Glasswing Ventures, and Stage 1 Ventures. For more information, visit ChaosSearch.io or follow on Twitter @ChaosSearch and LinkedIn.
CatholicVote, a conservative Catholic advocacy group, plans to spend $9.7 million in swing states to persuade Catholic voters to support Trump. ABC's Matthew Dowd is bewildered because Biden goes to Mass and, in Dowd's mind, is closer to Christ's teachings than Trump. Dowd's confusion is typical of Jewish and Christian Democrats who consider themselves religious, but who substitute ritual for faith and whose moral principles align more closely with the Democrat platform than with the Bible.

This is the powerful pro-life ad that CatholicVote will run in swing states:

According to The Hill:

The organization also released "The Biden Report for Catholic Voters," which covers Biden's career "from a Catholic perspective" and highlights where he stands on issues like "sanctity of life," religious liberty, judges, education and the dignity of work. It plans to send a condensed version of the report to 5 million "active Catholic voters" in swing states.

Dowd, in his turn, professes bewilderment that any Catholic could oppose a man who goes to Mass and supports the Democrat agenda:

This is such a reflection on right wing Trump supporting Catholics. They are going against a devote Catholic who regularly attends Mass who stands far more for what Jesus taught than Trump. As a former altar boy and Catholic, i find this appalling. https://t.co/Tw2jCmLHDg  Matthew Dowd (@matthewjdowd) September 15, 2020

In many ways, Dowd, Biden, and all the other left-leaning "religious" Democrats are like the Pharisees in Jesus's time. The problem with them, as Jesus saw it, was that they'd substituted ritual for faith.

Religiously oriented leftists also believe that their outward religious observances compensate for the fact that they've abandoned the core tenets of their faith. Biden, Dowd, and a host of other Democrat-voting Catholics go to weekly Mass, and Reform Jews across America are getting ready for the holiest time of the year, with Rosh Hashanah (the New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) almost upon us.

All those things, though, are the outward trappings of their faith. What they reject is that the core tenets of both Christianity and Judaism cannot support abortion, gay "marriage," or the idea of dozens of different genders.

Regarding abortion, both faiths draw on the biblical idea that each life is in God's image and is sacred. Deuteronomy 30:19 is unambiguous: "I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live." Additionally, it's profoundly wrong to make those who are morally opposed to abortion pay for others to have them, as Biden demands, whether through Obamacare or federal funds at home and abroad.

Gay "marriage," too, is at odds with the Bible. Marriage for Catholics is a sacrament, and it's a fortuitously happy obligation in the Jewish faith. ("Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.") Because of marriage's deep religious significance, traditionally minded Catholics and Jews are worried that making "marriage" a constitutional right creates the possibility of a clash between gay "marriage" and religious people's First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion. If Biden is elected, a leftist Supreme Court, which is what Biden promises, could well mandate that conservative faiths officiate at and in other ways recognize same-sex "marriages."

The Bible is remarkably clear that God created male and female. He did not create 57 other genders. Those who believe themselves to be something other than their biological sex are to be pitied. Still, they must not be given legal rights ahead of the First Amendment right to free exercise of religion. Again, though, religious people know that a federal government with Biden as its figurehead, and a left-leaning Supreme Court, is going to force them to have multi-sex bathrooms and to call a bearded, 150-lb transgender person "ma'am."

And Jesus charged his followers to take on themselves the responsibility for caring for the least among them. He was explicit that this was not a job for a government collective.

A Biden presidency is a threat to everything that people who support a more traditional approach to faith believe. They're not deceived by Biden's having found a priest who will allow him to take Communion every Sunday, even though his politics are hostile to core Catholic principles.

Image: Communion Table, by John Snyder. CC BY-SA 3.0.
Wildfire smoke from the enormous fires blazing on the West Coast has made its way to the East Coast, bringing hazy conditions for the next few days, meteorologists said.

A large-scale weather pattern with a ridge of high pressure blew smoke from blazes in California, Oregon, and Washington across the country and into East Coast cities including New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington D.C., according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Just due to the sheer number of wildfires and the amount of smoke that its giving off  combined with the direction of the winds in the upper part of the atmosphere are blowing  has allowed it to transport, said Matt Solum, a meteorologist with the National Weather Services Western Region headquarters in Salt Lake City.

The smoke in the New York City area was largely suspended at about 30,000 feet above ground as of 10 p.m. EST, said John Murray, a meteorologist with the National Weather Services New York City office. In Northern Connecticut, smoke was reported at about 25,000 feet, Murray said.

At those levels, the smoke has not impacted local air quality, said Joe Pollina, a meteorologist with the National Weather Services New York City office.

Solum said the smoke may bring more orange and red sunsets and sunrises on the East Coast but said the haze is likely not impacting visibility.

The East Coast is only recording hazy conditions because of the distance the smoke has traveled, and because the smoke disperses a little bit as it spreads higher into the atmosphere, Solum said.

Its not able to bring that thick, dense smoke that were seeing across the west, Solum said. Thats why were just seeing a haze.

In the Bay Area, onshore flows and southwesterly flows have helped clear out smoke in the lower levels near the surface and mid-level atmospheres, said Gerry Diaz, a meteorologist with the National Weather Services Bay Area office.

In the past 24 hours in the Bay Area, weve been able to see that difference between yesterday and today, with the skies really starting to clear up, Diaz said on Tuesday night. So thats been really good news for everything all around, including our air quality conditions.

Now Playing: Residents share their thoughts about the orange-red sky looming over the Bay Area. Video: Manjula Varghese / The Chronicle

Diaz said local meteorologists expect those winds to continue at least until Friday, which will continue to improve the air quality.

One of the positives is that with all this extra onshore flow and with those winds, we are gonna see that clearing over the next few days, which is great, Diaz said. Unfortunately going forward one of the issues  we cant say for sure  is if there will be another fire that breaks out. Because that in-and-of itself will introduce more smoke into the air.

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.

More than 3.2 million acres of land have burned in California so far this year, Cal Fire said. As of Tuesday, Cal Fire said more than 16,600 firefighters were battling 25 major wildfires across the state.

The National Weather Services New York City office shared a photo on Monday of the smoky sky just outside their office to show the impacts of the smoke hovering over the region.

Its not unheard of that smoke from California, Alaska or Canada can move from west to east with the help of winds, Pollina said, saying that, it doesnt happen every year, it doesnt happen every other year, but it does happen every so often.

Solum said the hazy conditions on the East Coast will likely linger for the next several days, but says if the wildfires continue burning as they have been for the past several weeks in the western United States, there are a few potential outcomes.

He said the smoke could go away for a few days then return with additional winds, or winds could shift the smoke in a northern or southern direction as time goes on over the next days and weeks, assuming the fires keep burning as they are.

Lauren Hernandez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: lauren.hernandez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ByLHernandez
Digital-only general insurer Acko has raised $60 million funding led by Munich Re Ventures.

Existing investors including Amazon, RPS Ventures and Intact Ventures Inc, the corporate venture arm of Canadas largest property & casualty insurer also participated in this funding round. This is Munich Re Ventures' first investment in India.

Acko said in a statement that it planned to use the funds to accelerate its growth in existing lines and expansion into new product lines.

Moneycontrol reported about Acko looking to raise close to USD 60 million funding from Munich Re Ventures.

Founded by Varun Dua and Ruchi Deepak in 2016, Acko is a digital-native insurance company. experience insurance. It has issued over 650 million policies to over 60 million customers till date.

Acko recently partnered with Amazon Pay for distributing two and four-wheeler insurance.

As one of the largest reinsurance companies globally, Munich Re's investment shows confidence in our data and technology-driven business model. This confidence is further reinforced by the continued support of our existing investors, Amazon, Intact and RPS Ventures. said Varun Dua, Founder and CEO, Acko.

Munich Re Ventures, founded in 2015 and headquartered in San Francisco, has made 30 investments in insurtech and new technology companies globally.

Oshri Kaplan, Director, Munich Re Ventures said, "As our first investment in India, we look forward to the positive impact that digitally native insurance solutions will have on the country with Acko leading the way.

Amazon continues to back ACKO with a follow-on investment in this round. Its exact funding amount was not disclosed.

Avendus Capital was the advisor to Acko on this fundraise.

The companys backers also include Binny Bansal, Accel, SAIF, Swiss Re, Transamerica Ventures, Ascent Capital, Barings Private Equity, VenturEast, Narayan Murthys Catamaran Ventures, Kris Gopalakrishnan  Co-founder of Infosys, Atul Nishar  Founder & Chairman of Hexaware Technologies, Hemendra Kothari, chairman, DSP Investment Managers, Rajeev Gupta  Founder of Arpwood Capital, Aditya Agarwal  Partner at ICONIQ Capital & ex-CTO of Dropbox, TI Platform, Subba Rao of NuVentures and Venk Krishnan.
The fired a barrage of "warning shots" in the air at the North Bank of Pangong lake in eastern last week to "intimidate" the Indian troops ahead of the talks between foreign ministers of the two countries in Moscow, official sources said on Wednesday.

The incident took place on the ridgeline of Finger 4 where the Indian Army has been significantly increasing its deployment after occupying several strategic peaks on the southern bank of the lake, they said.

The sources said a sizeable number of troops from the Chinese People's Liberation Army(PLA) aggressively approached towards an Indian position but they returned sometime later as alert Indian Army personnel held on to their ground with firmness.

While going back, the Chinese troops fired 100-200 rounds of warning shots primarily to intimidate the Indian Army personnel, they added.

The incident took place ahead of a meeting between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi last Thursday on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) conclave in Moscow.

The first incident of firing of shots was reported on the evening of September 7 near an Indian position in Mukhpari area of Rezang-La ridgeline on the southern bank of Pangong lake. Both sides accused each other of firing in the air.

The Chinese troops unsuccessfully attempted to close in on the Indian position and it was the first instance of shots being fired at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in 45 years.

At the Jaishankar-Wang talks, both sides reached a five-point consensus to resolve the over four-month-long border standoff.

The agreement included measures like quick disengagement of troops, avoiding action that could escalate tensions, adherence to all agreements and protocols on border management and steps to restore peace along the LAC.

In the Lok Sabha, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said the Chinese side has mobilised a large number of troops and armaments along the LAC as well as in the depth areas.

He said there are several friction areas in eastern including Gogra, Kongka La and North and South Banks of the Pangong Lake.

"In response to China's actions, our armed forces have also made appropriate counter deployments in these areas to ensure that India's security interests are fully protected," he added.

Meanwhile, both sides are yet to firm up a date for the sixth round of Corps commander-level talks.

Tension in eastern increased manifold following the Galwan Valley clashes on June 15 in which 20 Indian Army soldiers were killed. The Chinese side too suffered casualties, but it is yet to give out the details.

The situation deteriorated again after China unsuccessfully attempted to occupy Indian territory in the southern bank of Pangong lake on the intervening night of August 29 and 30.

India occupied a number of strategic heights on the southern bank of Pangong lake and strengthened its presence in Finger 2 and Finger 3 areas in the region to thwart any Chinese actions.

China has been occupying the areas between Finger 4 and Finger 8. The mountain spurs in the area is called Fingers. China has strongly objected to India's move. However, India has maintained that the heights are on its side of the LAC.

India has also rushed in additional troops and weapons to the sensitive region following China's transgression attempts. Following China's fresh attempts to change the status quo in the southern bank of Pangong lake, India has further bolstered its military presence in the region.

(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.)
Among the challenges awaiting newly appointed Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is the urgent challenge of how to keep the worlds third-largest economy growing as its population ages and shrinks.

Yoshihide Suga, Abes former chief spokesman, was appointed prime minister on Wednesday after Abe resigned because of a chronic health problem. He has vowed to stick with the Abenomics playbook of cheap credit and stimulus spending, but has yet to articulate a vision for the future for a nation wary of the sweeping changes needed to keep the economy growing.

Suga has so far talked mainly about issues that were initiatives a quarter century ago, such as deregulating phone carriers and boosting investment in rural areas, said Michael Cucek, an expert on Japanese politics at Temple Universty in Tokyo.

Vision does not appear to be his strong point.

He knows how to get things done but seems dogmatic to the point of obtuseness on what those things should be, Cucek said.

Its unclear that Suga, dubbed the iron wall for his resistance to answering reporters questions, has the charisma and political heft to sell to the public and business world the kinds of sweeping changes to tax codes and other policies that are needed to help the country break out of its slow decline.

During Abes more than seven years in office, the central bank pumped tens of trillions of dollars, supporting a modest economic recovery that never gained the momentum needed to break out of the rut Japan has been in since its financial bubble burst in the early 1990s.

Time is not on Sugas side: Japans population has been falling for eight straight years and is projected to sink by about 40% by 2050.

The trends are evident in Tokyo, but even more so in smaller cities like Mito, 100 kilometers (about 60 miles) north of the capital. Countless small mom and pop style shopfronts remain shuttered for good, many unoccupied. The same is true for many houses around the city engulfed by vegetation after the owners died or moved away.

The aging of the country is even more apparent in Sugas home region of Akita, where more than a third of the population is older than 65 and the population has fallen by more than a quarter since it peaked in the 1950s.

The economic outlook was cloudy for most of last year, as tensions between the US and China disrupted trade and global growth slowed. In October, a sales tax hike, to 10% from 8%, dented spending by consumers and businesses. Now, the Corona shock has hammered drivers of recent growth such as tourism and exports: In April-June the economy contracted at its worst ever rate of about 28%.

To prevent the economy from shrinking further, and bringing on lower incomes and deepening poverty, economists say the country needs to ramp up its productivity  the value it gets from the amount of labor and money invested  or to allow far more immigration than it has so far.

Despite the stellar efficiency of a few big companies like Toyota Motor Corp., the latest data show Japan 21st in productivity among 36 major economies in the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, at about $47 per hour  between Slovenia and Slovakia  compared with about $75 per hour in the U.S. and more than $100 in Ireland, the worlds leader.

Low productivity translates into poor quality jobs and low wages: Household average incomes have actually fallen over the past 20 years and Abenomics tax breaks and easy credit have not brought the wage hikes needed to entice consumers into splurging on big ticket items like cars and new homes.

A chart of consumer spending in recent years resembles a seismometer, with a few big jolts from tax hikes but little change otherwise. Widening inequality due to stagnant incomes is stifling the consumer spending and investment needed to revive growth.

Abenomics deserves credit for many things. Stock prices rose, and company earnings have improved. Thats great. But individuals incomes have not increased, and thats also a fact, said Shigeru Ishiba, a former defense minister who lost to Suga in the LDP leadership vote.

Abes vow to make Japan a nation where women shine has likewise barely nudged the gender equality barometer: By this measure the country is dead last in the OECD. The poverty rate for single-parent households, overwhelmingly headed by women, was more than 50% according to the most recent figure.

What we need to change is the economy, Ishiba said in announcing his candidacy. It has not provided enough support for low-income earners The peoples voices have not been fully heard.

Sugas background as the son of a strawberry farmer who worked to put himself through college has many in Japan thinking he might be more in touch with the problems of ordinary people than Abe and others politicians with elite backgrounds.

More of a pragmatist than conservative ideologue Abe, Suga has pledged to protect jobs and businesses.

While working as the chief government spokesman, Suga backed changes in visa policies to help along the tourism boom and increased competition among mobile phone carriers. He also favors reforming regional banks that are key to local economies.

He has also signaled interest in raising the minimum wage, which rose by just 1 yen (less than 1 cent) this year to 902 yen (about $8.50) an hour.

Suganomics could include a much faster reorganization of the regional banking sector, higher immigration, and more aggressive hikes to the minimum wage, said Tom Learmouth of Capital Economics. That has the potential to lift productivity.

Policies in place for the past 60 years have encouraged Japanese to stick to setting up tiny companies  average number of workers 3.4  that have little capacity or incentive to invest in new equipment, said David Atkinson, a former investment banker and government adviser.

Businesses must grow in scale to afford to invest in advanced technology and increase their efficiency, Atkinson said in a recent web seminar held by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.

So despite its image as a cornucopia of advanced technology, from bullet trains to AI to robotics and new materials, Japan is one of the least efficient countries among developed nations, and productivity has not risen appreciably for a half-century, he said.

Tackling that problem is politically tricky: Small businesses employ more than two-thirds of all Japanese, albeit inefficiently. But theres little choice, Atkinson contends.

If you dont increase productivity, the economy will implode, he said.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Comerica Bank today announced a $112,000 contribution to Grand Rapids Opportunities for Women (GROW) to aid west Michigan entrepreneurs and small businesses. Comerica and GROW also will continue to provide Comerica Business $ense Boot Camps with the next camp scheduled on Sept. 22.

Comerica's investment in GROW supports the organization's ongoing effort to provide critical capital and financial resources and technical assistance to small businesses as they recover and reopen amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"In helping GROW stabilize and develop entrepreneurial viability and growth, we understand that small businesses need both financial and technical resources to serve their customers and communities," said Debra Van Hevele, Comerica Bank senior vice president, retail regional director. "Small businesses impact families and neighborhoods through their services and job opportunities, and our partnership pools valuable resources to support the recovery of businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic."

Comerica's contribution adds to the bank's ongoing support with GROW over recent months. Since June, Comerica has partnered with GROW to provide technical services to small business owners through Business $ense Boot Camp events.

"We appreciate Comerica Bank's partnership and contribution so we can help small businesses overcome the unforeseen challenges COVID-19 has presented," said Bonnie Nawara, GROW CEO. "With these funds, we will be able to continue to provide lending opportunities to entrepreneurs in West Michigan, and the next Business $ense Boot Camps will help small businesses connect to tools and information that will help them reach their goals."

Comerica kicked off its partnership with GROW more than two decades ago with the goal of supporting small businesses. In June, Comerica and GROW launched a virtual business boot camp series, focused on credit history.

Thus far, Comerica Bank External Affairs Leader Mike DeMartelaere and Vice President Business Banking Marci Chapin have led Comerica's Business $ense Bootcamps with GROW focused on numerous topics vitally important for small businesses and entrepreneurs.

To reach more business owners and entrepreneurs, DeMartelaere and Chapin will again partner with GROW on September 22 to present Comerica Business $ense Boot Camp, the fourth session of the series. The upcoming session will focus on credit history - cleaning up a credit report, preparing for access to capital and understanding how credit history effects business operations. For more information and to register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/business-ense-boot-camp-with-comerica-bank-part-i-tickets-118313130759?aff=ebdssbonlinesearch

Alongside Rosie Orchanian, GROW program and volunteer coordinator, DeMartelaere and Chapin have presented a variety of topics to help small businesses, including the following Comerica Business $ense Boot Camps held thus far:

GROW is one of only 110 certified Women's Business Centers in the nation, and one of three in the State of Michigan, all in partnership with the U.S. Small Business Administration. GROW assists current and aspiring business owners at various stages of business ownership, and offers professional services via business assessments, planning sessions, trainings and education. Additionally, GROW provides business loans and lending options, designed to help entrepreneurs start or grow their small businesses, especially when traditional financing is not available. This spring, the organization designed a low-interest COVID-19 Working Capital Loan and swiftly deployed a total $235,000 in loans to businesses who were facing crisis as a direct result of the pandemic.

Comerica Bank and Comerica Charitable Foundation are investing a total of $8 million in COVID-19 relief efforts for small businesses and community programming impacted by the pandemic coupled with aid to small and micro businesses and investments directed toward community service organizations providing services to youth, seniors and other vulnerable populations.

About Comerica Bank

Comerica Incorporated (NYSE: CMA) is a financial services company headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and strategically aligned by three business segments: The Commercial Bank, The Retail Bank, and Wealth Management. Comerica focuses on relationships, and helping people and businesses be successful. In addition to Texas, Comerica Bank locations can be found in Arizona, California, Florida and Michigan, with select businesses operating in several other states, as well as in Canada and Mexico. Comerica reported total assets of $84 billion at June 30, 2020.

About Grand Rapids Opportunities for Women

GROW is a service focused on under-served entrepreneurs at various stages of business ownership. We are a unique resource that helps individuals take the next step, empowering and supporting them with professional expertise for a lifetime. As a 31-year-old organization, GROW has worked to provide thousands of entrepreneurs with skills and tools including access to capital through our lending program, opportunities for networking, and collaborative events with other community nonprofits. GROW offers classes, workshops, and one on one counseling to our clients to help them succeed. They provide technical assistance covers marketing, social media, search engine optimization, strategic planning, branding, financial analysis, and business insurance. GROW has offices in Grand Rapids as well as Muskegon area to serve a wide variety of clients in the West Michigan area.

SOURCE Comerica Bank

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After only five years on the market, the third-generation Hyundai Tucson was discontinued to make way for a brand-new model. The fourth-gen SUV is a big departure from its predecessor in terms of exterior design, but it also brings new and innovative technology to the table. The fourth-gen Hudson is also the first to offer a hybrid drivetrain. The SUV was launched without the usual diesel options, and it remains to be seen if Hyundai will add any later on.

The 2022 Hyundai Tucson looks the part

Although it retains the size and overall shape of the previous Tucson, the fourth-gen SUV looks radically different.

Up front, Hyundai replaced the traditional headlamp and grille assembly with a jewel-style element that blends them together when the lights are off. Hyundai calls it the "parametric grille." Once the half-mirror daytime running lamps are turned on, theres a clear separation between the lights and the grille. The layout is similar to the Mercedes-Benz EQC, but it looks far more futuristic and cool on the Tucson.

The profile is just as impressive thanks to its sharp and muscular lines. The creases of the front fenders extend well into the front doors, while the rear haunches trickle down toward the side skirts. An additional character line runs from the front doors all the way to the taillights. Here, Hyundai echoes the daytime running lights in the front with "half-hidden triangular shapes" that become visible only when lit. The jewel-like pattern seen on the front grille is also visible in the rear fender, just above the protection plate.

The fourth-generation Hyundai Tucson will be offered in two guises, so youll get to pick between short- and long-wheelbase versions. However, we dont know yet whether both will become available in the United States.

The 2022 Hyundai Tucson is packed with modern technology

The interior of the new Tucson is just as modern as the exterior. It features a two-tier dashboard with the A/C vents placed at the top and digital displays for both the instrument cluster and infotainment system. The standard main screen measures eight inches, but you can opt for the larger 10.25-inch display.

New tech includes a multi-air ventilation system and a hoodless digital gauge cluster, but the button-free center stack is also a nice touch.

Goodies like wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, Bluetooth, navigation, and the Bose audio system come standard.

Hyundai says that the Tucsons new air ventilation system is very sophisticated, having been benchmarked on systems used in aircraft. The climate system monitors air quality in the vehicle and purifies the air, while it also indicates real-time air-pollution levels on the Dual Automatic Temperature Control display using the fine dust detection sensor. The new Tucson is also the first model to feature technology that reduces moisture from the evaporator and keeps the air-conditioning system clean and free of odor. This air purification system doesnt come standard, though, and it seems that it will only be available in select markets.

The 2022 Hyundai Tucson comes with gasoline and hybrid power

The SUV was unveiled with just one gasoline engine, in the form of a 2.5-liter four-cylinder Smartstream.

It's rated at around 187 horsepower and 182 pound-feet of torque and replaces the old Theta II 2.4-liter four-banger.

The new mill generates an extra five horsepower and seven pound-feet of torque. The old six-speed automatic was also replaced by an eight-speed gearbox.

The Tucson is also available with a plug-in hybrid drivetrain and marries an electric motor to a 1.6-liter four-cylinder gas engine. The combo delivers a solid 227 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque, the most output of any Tucson today (sans the old 2.0-liter diesel with 295 pound-feet of twist). This new powertrain uses Continuously Variable Valve Duration (CVVD) technology that manages valve opening duration for optimal power, efficiency, and emissions.

No word on diesel engines yet, but Hyundai could offer them in Europe. Possible candidates include a 1.6-liter four-cylinder with around 140 horsepower and 240 pound-feet of torque and a 2.0-liter four-cylinder with about 190 horses and 300 pound-feet of twist.

When will the 2022 Hyundai Tucson come to the U.S.

The new Tucson is already on sale in South Korea, but it will take a while until it reaches the U.S. market. Hyundai says it will cross the pond in the first half of 2021 and arrive in showrooms for the 2022 model year.
In the past few months, a massive change in working dynamics has fueled an uptick in a kind of infection that's not constantly in the news  the type that affects computers. Malware attacks, phishing attempts and other types of cyber crime are reaching record heights in 2020. Unfortunately, these latest developments are only the tip of the iceberg, as the rapid expansion of digitalization has already radically increased the exposure to virtual threats in the past few years.

As a consequence, more than 70 percent of in-house cybersecurity managers plan to request a significant budget increase during the next year. Therefore, its about time to take a look at the driving forces behind the need for IT security solutions in the current decade.

Coronavirus-related attacks are surging

Although working from home has helped stem the spread of the coronavirus, computer virus infections are now on the rise as opportunistic hackers and cyber criminals look to take advantage of the situation to fill their pockets. As a result, the number of malware and ransomware attacks spiked by 25 percent between Q4 2019 and Q1 2020 as a wave of attacks hit a range of victims.

Related: Cyber Threats On the Rise Amid Outbreak

Criminals are increasingly incorporating coronavirus themes into their attacks, using lures about vaccine information, masks and short-supply items to help snare victims. According to KPMG, a large chunk of these attacks are financial scams that promise government assistance or payment  but actually intend to scam the victim out of their personal information and/or money.

It isnt just ransomware attacks on the rise either. There has been a stark uptick in the number of phishing attacks in recent months, with criminals now posing as trustworthy sources of information, like the World Health Organization (WHO), to trick victims into handing over money  usually by offering virus testing kits, critical information or coronavirus-related investment schemes in return.

Based on data released by the UK tax authority HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and reported by ITProPortal, the number of coronavirus-related phishing attacks reached a peak in May  more than double that seen the month prior. Phishing attacks also saw one of the worlds most popular social networks, Twitter, suffer a significant breach in July, as over 130 influential accounts were hacked after Twitter's internal systems were compromised.

Related: Top Five Sectors Prone To Cyber Threat Amid COVID-19 Lockdown

As a fallout from the Twitter breach and the general uptick in malware attacks, firms both small and large are now beginning to double-down on IT security to keep both their employees and customers safe from attacks. Based on the latest forecasts by Gartner, the cloud security market is expected to grow by 33 percent during 2020, while the data security market will grow by 7.2 percent over the same period to become a $2.8 trillion industry. Much of this is owed to institutional security spending.

Data leaks are a growing concern

When GDPR came into force in 2018, it was supposed to be the dawn of a new era of privacy  in the European Union and the European Economic Area at least. The recently enforceable piece of legislation severely restricts what data organizations are able to harvest about EU citizens while providing users with more control over their data.

Despite this, the number of data leaks has skyrocketed in 2020, and several massive data breaches have already occurred this year. Back in March, the hotel chain Marriott announced that the private information of over five million of its loyalty program users had been leaked. This is the second time in two years that the hotel chain has suffered from a devastating breach.

In addition, the popular video conferencing app Zoom also suffered from a breach that saw the login credentials and private information from half a million users exfiltrated and advertised for sale on the dark web.

Related: 4 Strategies Small Businesses Can Use To Avoid a Data Breach

Oleksandr Senyuk, who launched a smart yet cloud-free password manager with his company KeyReel, believes that recent trends in corporate culture, such as the use of private rather than corporate phones and use of home offices have dramatically increased security breaches in the business world. Remote access to internal systems from laptops and desktops located in insecure environments pose a serious threat to businesses, regardless of size," he says. "The solution is to concentrate around the security of individuals rather than companies.

Senyuk urges companies to invest in cybersecurity software solutions and, most importantly, in employee education and annual training. Surprisingly, even employees of large technology powerhouses seem to lack basic IT security skills. Senyuk recounts an embarrassing 2016 incident in which a DropBox employee used the same password for a corporate network account and his personal LinkedIn account, resulting in the theft of north of 60 million user credentials.

Related: How Social Media Jeopardizes Data Security

Overall, as per data from Security Boulevard, 2020 is already well on its way to setting a new record for data breaches, with around 16 billion records already leaked this year. Likewise, according to the 2020 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR), there were at least 3,950 data breaches in 2020 alone, with almost half of these being the result of a hack, while 86 percent were financially motivated.

Governments are cracking down on encryption

It isnt just cyber criminals that are targeting peoples data either. With the Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies (EARN IT) act now weaving its way through Congress, it might not be long before anybody who uses encryption-based communication services could be eavesdropped on by the U.S. government, because companies would be forced to weaken their encryption and essentially provide the government with a backdoor to user data.

Related: 4 Ways Businesses and Consumers Can Take Back Their Data in 2019

"Many governments are working towards banning or weakening end-to-end encryption, like the U.S. EARN IT act," Senyuk says. "This would allow governments to force any cloud provider to break the system and quietly acquire and monitor data. LavaBit and EncroChat are two examples of direct government involvement in the services of cloud service providers. While many users and companies don't have any major concerns regarding government intervention, security experts warn that weakening encryption would hurt the security of all individuals."

Understandably, the EARN IT act has received significant pushback from the cyber community, prompting an uptick in the use of encrypted messaging apps like status, crypto currencies like Bitcoin (BTC), and Ethereum (ETH), and security tools that prevent eavesdropping and theft.

With similar efforts to undermine encryption now underway in several countries, and the "Five Eyes" security alliance now looking to implement backdoors in popular apps, privacy is a bigger concern than ever before.

Related:

How Telemedicine Is Transforming Healthcare In Tier II & III Cities

The Future Of Digital Gaming Is On Mobile Devices: Salone Sehgal

How EVs Prove To Be More Affordable Than ICE In The Longer Run-The Math Behind



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Did the stock markets epic rally just need a little breather? The last few weeks have seen stocks experience their first meaningful correction since the bull market kicked off in March. Now, the question swirling around the Street is, will the rally pick back up again, or is more downside on the way?

According to Morgan Stanleys chief U.S. equity strategist Mike Wilson, uncertainty regarding the presidential election and stalemate on the next stimulus package could lead to declines in September and October. On the correction, there's still downside as markets digest the risk of congressional gridlock on the next fiscal deal. While we think something will ultimately get done, it will likely take another few weeks to get it over the goal line, he noted.

However, Wilson argues the recent volatility in no way signals the end of the current bull market.

We think this correction is just that, a correction in a new bull market. It's normal for markets to pullback after such an incredible run like we've experienced since March. Furthermore, when a new bull market coincides with a new economic cycle, the bull market usually runs for years, not months, the strategist explained.

Taking Wilsons outlook to heart, our focus shifted to three stocks getting a thumbs up from Morgan Stanley. As the firms analysts see over 50% upside potential in store for each, we used TipRanks database to get the full scoop.

Akero Therapeutics (AKRO)

With its innovative medicines designed to restore metabolic balance and halt the progression of NASH, a severe form of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, Akero Therapeutics wants to address the unmet medical needs of patients from all over the world. Based on the strength of its lead candidate, Morgan Stanley is pounding the table.

Representing the firm, 5-star analyst Matthew Harrison tells clients that AKROs treatment for NASH, efruxifermin (EFX), has a best-in-class profile. EFX is the companys lead asset and was designed to mimic the biological activity of fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21), which regulates multiple metabolic pathways and cellular processes, to reduce liver fat and inflammation, reverse fibrosis, increase insulin sensitivity and improve lipoproteins.

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According to Harrison, NASH is a complex disease, with patients usually having multiple co-morbidities like obesity, type-2 diabetes, increased triglycerides, increased LDL cholesterol and low HDL cholesterol. A promising therapeutic solution would not only treat the multiple components of NASH but would also have an acceptable side effect profile given the potential co-morbidities, the analyst explained.

Thats where AKROs therapy comes in. In June, Akero presented best-in-class data from its Phase 2a study. This data indicates that EFX improved the two liver histological endpoints recommended by the FDA along with resulting in weight loss, improving cardiovascular health (increasing good HDL cholesterol, decreasing triglycerides, not raising bad LDL cholesterol), and improving factors related to controlling blood glucose levels. This benefit/risk profile beats the competition, Harrison stated.

Looking at the indication as a whole, Harrison views NASH as a very large opportunity given that roughly 20 million people in the U.S. suffer from the condition.

The analyst, however, acknowledges there are commercial hurdles. One of these is the fact that NASH is currently undiagnosed in all but a very small percentage of the prevalent pool since diagnosis currently requires an invasive liver biopsy. Therefore, along with demonstrating a positive benefit/risk profile, AKRO will need to find patients and secure payer support should the candidate receive FDA approval, in Harrisons opinion.

That said, Harrison believes AKRO is up for the task. We believe that given EFXs clean safety profile and broad-based effects, Akero will likely largely overcome these commercial hurdles, he commented.

Harrison added, Importantly, since Akeros treatment is injectable, we only assume the drug will penetrate into the population of the most sick patients where there are currently at least 400,000 patients diagnosed and seeking treatment in the U.S. To this end, he assigns a 60% probability of success, and estimates unadjusted peak sales for the U.S. and the EU will land at $4.5 billion.

Based on all of the above, Harrison rates AKRO an Overweight (i.e. Buy) along with a $70 price target. Should his thesis play out, a potential twelve-month gain of 93% could be in the cards. (To watch Harrisons track record, click here)

Are other analysts in agreement? They are. Only Buy ratings, 6, in fact, have been issued in the last three months. Therefore, the message is clear: AKRO is a Strong Buy. Given the $58.50 average price target, shares could rise 61% in the next year. (See AKRO stock analysis on TipRanks)

TransDigm Group (TDG)

Next up we have TransDigm Group, which is one of the top producers, designers and suppliers of highly engineered aerospace components, systems and subsystems. Its products are used on nearly all commercial and military aircrafts in service today. Given its ability to weather the COVID-19 storm, Morgan Stanley sees a bright future ahead.

Morgan Stanley analyst Kristine Liwag stated, We view TransDigm as the most defensible business model in commercial aerospace. However, this is not to say the company hasnt been confronted with serious challenges.

Over the past few years, management has had to grapple with how to price its defense business, the sustainability of its pricing strategy in aerospace, the durability of its levered balance sheet and the ability to weather a downturn. That said, Liwag remains optimistic going forward. TDG has overcome short thesis after short thesis in the past few years and we do not expect these concerns to repeat, she noted.

According to Liwag, TDGs ability to hold on to margins during a global pandemic conveys its operating strength. To this end, her estimate for EBITDA margins is well above the rest of the Streets. The analyst also points out that the company cut its SG&A expense by $89 million year-over-year in fiscal Q3 2020. We assume the company will retain at least half of those savings, with the remainder returning in the form of variable selling expenses, she said.

Liwag added, We are positive on TransDigm, particularly as recovery in global air traffic would be favorable for TransDigms core profit maker, the aftermarket. Additionally, we view it positively that TDG has the means to acquire weaker players.

Back in April, management raised $1.5 billion of additional debt to trim liquidity risks and provide an extra cushion. A large debt load is part of managements strategy to provide private equity like return for its shareholders. Historically, the company has used debt to acquire businesses with similar attributes to TDGs portfolio of 90% proprietary products and 75% sole sourced. If passenger air traffic continues to normalize, we would expect TDG to use its incremental capital to acquire struggling businesses that fit its strategy, Liwag commented.

All of this prompted Liwag to leave her bullish call and $772 price target unchanged. This target conveys her confidence in TDGs ability to climb 48% higher in the next year. (To watch Liwags track record, click here)

Looking at the consensus breakdown, 7 Buys and 5 Holds have been published in the last three months. Therefore, TDG gets a Moderate Buy consensus rating. Based on the $500.58 average price target, shares are poised to stay range-bound for now. (See TDG stock analysis on TipRanks)

Cemex SAB (CX)

Cemex counts itself as one of the leading players in the building materials industry, with the company manufacturing and distributing cement, ready-mix concrete and aggregates. As its risk/reward profile has just gotten more positive, now could be the time to snap up shares, so says Morgan Stanley.

Covering the stock for Morgan Stanley, analyst Nikolaj Lippmann believes that CXs bullish guidance for the third quarter and FY20, which was significantly ahead of consensus, was the catalyst that builds a bridge to a favorable risk-reward shift. On top of this, the stock is trading at 6.4 2020e EV/EBITDA, which is cheap compared to its historical performance and its peers, according to the analyst.

That being said, Lippmann argues CX is mainly a good, strong deleveraging story with a call option on what could be an exceptional U.S. cement market if the U.S. Congress approves an infrastructure package in 2021... If we get a U.S. infrastructure package beyond 2020, it would add icing to the cake, we think, and take the market from good to possibly great.

Although a large multi-year package is dependent upon the outcomes of the U.S. presidential and congressional elections, even in the base case, Lippmann expects cement to show pricing power in the U.S.

It should be noted that Lippmann thinks its possible the next year will be relatively uneventful, but in that case, he expects the industry to pause at 90% capacity utilization and grow from there. On top of this, pricing in Mexico has been holding up. This limits the downside risk materially and helps skew the risk-reward positively, in Lippmanns opinion.

What else is working in CXs favor? The cement demand year-to-date has pleasantly surprised Lippmann, with upside seen during the first stage of the pandemic. He points to DIY and Department of Transportation maintenance work during periods of low traffic, and strong residential construction as the drivers of this demand.

Everything that CX has going for it convinced Lippmann to rate the stock an Overweight (i.e. Buy). Along with the call, he attached a $6 price target, suggesting 50% upside potential. (To watch Lippmanns track record, click here)

Turning to the rest of the analyst community, opinions are split almost evenly. 6 Buys and 5 Holds add up to a Moderate Buy consensus rating. At $4.16, the average price target implies 4% upside potential. (See Cemex stock analysis on TipRanks)

To find good ideas for stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks equity insights.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.
Meka Jones and Michael Watsons marriage never got off the ground on Lifetimes Married at First Sight season 10. Meka frequently accused Michael of lyingabout everything from his job as a principal to his salary, a promotion, his family life, and his part-time gig as a yoga teacherand the pair never consummated their relationship.

Michael and Meka recently made Married at First Sight history by getting the first annulment out of any couple on the show. But Meka, a 26-year-old category analyst who lives in Maryland near the D.C. area, didnt seem to be too upset by the latest development on Instagram. In fact, she hosted a blowout annulment party to celebrate the next chapter in her life.

Meka Jones | Meka Jones via Instagram

Meka opened up about her court date with Michael in a recent Instagram video

Meka and Michael tied the knot on Married at First Sight on Aug. 5, 2019. By Oct. 1 of that year, they had already separated. Michael filed for an annulment from Meka on Jan. 21, 2020. And on Aug. 25, the process finally came to a close with an official annulment.

In an Instagram video just after her virtual court date, Meka opened up to her followers about the annulment process.

MY MARRIAGE IS ANNULLED. Finallyyyyyyyy, she wrote in a celebratory Instagram caption.

As she enjoyed drinks with her best friend for her birthday, Meka explained that she and Michael had initially agreed to a divorce. But Michael decided he wanted an annulment instead and hired an attorney to represent his interests (while Meka represented herself in court). According to Meka, Michaels attorney is also representing their castmate Brandon Reid, who filed for an annulment from Taylor Dunklin on Jan. 2, 2020.

Recounting the events of her fateful court day, Meka paraphrased the alleged words of Michaels lawyer to the judge. Michaels legal rep allegedly claimed that the show defrauded [Michael].

According to Meka, Michaels lawyer said: Michael feels that the whole show was a fraud, like, they told him that they were going to match him for love, and they matched him for drama and ratings. They never really wanted a happy marriage, and they knew that they werent going to be good together.

But, when the judge asked Meka if she agreed with that assessment of her time on Married at First Sight, her answer was a resounding no.

The show put us together because they thought we would be good together, because Michael lied about who he is, Meka argued.

RELATED: Married at First Sight: Fans Think Its Really Weird That Michael Lied To Meka About Teaching Yoga

The Married at First Sight star accused Michael of being a pathological liar

Calling Michael a pathological liar, Meka said her husband was the one who defrauded her, not the Lifetime production crew.

The only thing thats defrauding was because I was under the impression that this man was who he said he was, Meka argued.

As for why Lifetime producers believed Michaels stories about himself if they were untrue, Meka said she told the judge, Your Honor, he is convincing. He convinced the producers, he convinced my family, he convinced my friends, he convinced America.

Meanwhile, Michael claimed that Married at First Sight producers set up scenes to get particular reactions out of him. He and his attorney argued that neither Meka nor Michael fully understood what they were signing up for when they agreed to appear on the show.

While Meka said the judge didnt seem to buy Michaels story, he ultimately granted the couple an annulment since both of them agreed to it. Now, Mekaat least on paper and in the eyes of the lawhad never actually tied the knot to Michael.

As for Meka, that seemed to be A-OK with her. I was never married, the Married at First Sight star exclaimed happily. Im single, Im singleIt all worked out in the end. Im so happy.

Mekas castmate and close friend Taylor, as well as her fellow cast member Katie Conrad (who also broke up with her Married at First Sight spouse, Derek Sherman), offered up their congratulations in response to the news.

Its a f*cking celebration, Taylor commented. Take a shot for me Ill take 10 for you.

RELATED: Married at First Sight: Fans Dont Believe That Michael Is Really Taking Meka To Jamaica

Michaels ex hosted an annulment party

And Meka didnt waste any time grieving over her relationship with Michael. In fact, on Sept. 7, she shared a series of photos and videos of her glam annulment party.

Thank God I found the good in goodbye, the Married at First Sight star wrote in the Instagram caption. My annulment party was everything Thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate with me  Closing this chapter as new ones begin to open.

Posing under a rose gold balloon archway in a sexy getup reminiscent of a mini white wedding dress, Meka shared some of the partys most memorable highlightslike broken heart cookies and treats with sayings like take a shot, I just untied the knot, straight outta marriage, and youre free.

Mekas annulment cake boasted a cake topper reading finally free, while lettering on the cake stand read divorced AF. Partygoers even held snarky signs like so long, Mr. Wrong and we always hated him, while Done! was spelled out in balloons behind the Married at First Sight star.

You look amazing! On to better things, Mekas castmate Jessica Studer (who is still married to Austin Hurd) wrote in response.

Taylor also congratulated Meka on moving on with such positivity, writing, My baby deserves the world love you!

Even Catelynn Baltierra from MTVs Teen Mom OG and Jamie Otis (Doug Hehners wife from Married at First Sight and a Bachelor alum) offered their congratulations for the unconventional celebration.

And as for that infamous trip to Jamaica that Michael promised Meka? She told one curious Instagram user that she plans on going on a solo tripand taking herself instead.
- An artwork of Sarkodie and his daughter Titi smashing Dr. UNs face has dropped online

- In the artwork, Titi stood looking very angry with her arms folded

- She looked on as her father smashed Dr. UNs face using a tool

- Sarkodies son was also captured in the cartoon as he sat on the ground playing with the gold-plaited water bottle the rapper received as his UN Award

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Ghanas highest rapper, Sarkodie, keeps trending over the fake UN Awards scandal in which he has been caught.

In the artwork seen by YEN.com.gh making the rounds on social media, Sarkodie is pictured using a metallic object to smash Dr. UNs face.

His daughter, Titi, looked very angry as she stood with folded arms to watch her father destroy Dr. UNs photo.

READ ALSO: Shatta Wales 4-year-old son Majesty reads fluently in new video; fans amazed

Sarkodies son, Michael Junior, on the other hand, looked all excited as he played with his fathers fake-gold plaited award plaque which many people have said is a mere water bottle.

The cartoon was created by DGN Comics, and YEN.com.gh took interest in publishing it as it keeps trending online.

The cartoon of Sarkodie and Titi smashing Dr. UNs face. Photo credit: DGN Comics

Source: Facebook

READ ALSO: Akuapem Poloos friend who leaked her video boldly confesses why she did so

Sarkodie is just one person on the tall list of public figures who have been outsmarted by Dr. UN. Others such as Berla Mundi, D-Black, MP Alban Bagbin, and the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana were part of the tall list of receivers as published earlier by YEN.com.gh.

He allegedly took money from the. while awarding them fake awards from the UN.

Dr. UN, known in real life as Dr. Kwame Fordjour, organised a fake award ceremony and awarded over 22 Ghanaian personalities from diverse fields.

He has, however, stood his grounds saying that the award is not fake, though not organised under the auspices of the United Nations as he had claimed earlier.

READ ALSO: Michy savagely replies to Shatta Wale for congratulating her on her new mansion

In an earlier publication by YEN.com.gh, Dr. UN stressed that he does not need the consent of the UN to organise awards. He added that he has a competent team in Ghana that did a good job on that.

YEN.com.gh earlier published a video of Sarkodie walking with pride to take his award at the event.

D-Black has also narrated how Dr. UN got Sarkodie presenting the fake awards to 20 other people.

He has also confessed that Dr. UN has really worried the personalities saying we go get am.

Dr. UN appears to be least perturbed as he has been mobbed at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle recently.

READ ALSO: Dr. UN used Sarkodie to present over 20 awards to people - D-Black narrates in new video

VGMA21 full performances | #Yencomgh

READ ALSO: Dr. UN causes traffic at Circle as he receives celebrity welcome; photos drop

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Source: YEN.com.gh
SEATTLE _ William Gates Sr., the father of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, has died at 94, the family said Tuesday.

Gates was a prominent Seattle attorney and the founding partner of one of the region's best-known law firms. But it was his son's fortune in the tech field that made the name "Bill Gates" known the world over. And it launched an entirely different path for the elder Gates when he was nearly 70.

That's when he became one of the guiding forces behind the William H. Gates Foundation _ later renamed the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, after his son and daughter-in-law. It is one of the largest private foundations in the world.

"Dad lived a long and enormously meaningful life. I never stopped learning from his wisdom, kindness, and humility. Melinda and I owe him a special debt because his commitment to serving the community and the world helped inspire our own philanthropy," his son said in a statement Tuesday. "Although he would be the last person to say it, my father's compassion and generosity will live on in the foundation he helped build. As I've said many times before, my dad was the real Bill Gates. He was all the things I strive to be."

On the foundation's website, the elder Gates described how he and Bill Gates Jr. got involved in global health initiatives: "After reading an article that explained that millions of children were dying in poor countries from preventable diseases, my son, Bill, sent me a copy of it with a note that said: 'Dad, maybe we can do something about this,'" Gates Sr. wrote. "Since then, I have dedicated my life to global issues I spent most of my career knowing nothing about."

Even before he became co-chair of the Gates Foundation, the elder Gates was known for championing the poor. As president of both the Seattle/King County and the Washington State Bar associations, he helped guide the group to a goal of equal justice for the poor and disadvantaged. The University of Washington law school _the place where he earned his law degree _ has embraced a social justice mission. Its building is named after Gates.

Central to his philosophy was the idea that no one is successful on their own, and that a person's physical comfort and opportunity have almost everything to do with the society into which a person is born.

An imposing man at 6 feet, 6 inches, Gates traveled extensively on behalf of the foundation. In 2002, to learn more about the AIDS epidemic, he and his second wife, Mimi, toured brothels and AIDS clinics in Africa with former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn.

William Gates Sr. was born in Bremerton in 1925, the son of a furniture store owner. He graduated from Bremerton High School, earned the badge of Eagle Scout and joined the U.S. Army to fight in World War II. He returned to Seattle after the war to earn an undergraduate and law degree at the UW, and was a founding partner of the Seattle firm Preston, Gates & Ellis.

At the UW, Gates met his future wife, college classmate Mary Maxwell. The couple had three children, Kristianne, Bill and Libby, and raised them in Seattle's Laurelhurst neighborhood.

Mary Gates died in 1994. In 1996, the elder Gates married Mimi Gardner, then director of the Seattle Art Museum.

He lent his name and financial support to an unsuccessful state ballot initiative in 2010 that would have levied an income tax on the state's richest citizens to support education and health care services. The initiative was defeated by 65% of voters.

Gates published a book in 2009, "Showing up for Life: Thoughts on the Gifts of a Lifetime."

In January 2018, on NBC's "Today" show, Bill Gates Jr. revealed that his father had Alzheimer's disease. The younger Gates said he was investing $100 million into Alzheimer's research to look for new cures and treatments.

___

(c)2020 The Seattle Times

Visit The Seattle Times at www.seattletimes.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
The Delhi Police on Wednesday filed a charge sheet under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act (UAPA) and various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against 15 people for allegedly conspiring and orchestrating communal riots in north-east Delhi in February.

The charge sheet was filed by Delhi Polices special cell, which is probing the conspiracy behind the riots, in the court of additional sessions judge Amitabh Rawat . Local police stations in north-east Delhi such as Seelampur, Jafrabad and the Delhi Polices crime branch are also carrying out parallel investigations into the case, and have already filed charge sheets.

Those named in the latest charge sheet are Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita, Asif Iqbal Tanha, Ishrat Jahan, Meeran Haider, Safoora Zargar, Khalid Saifi, Taahir Hussain, Mohd Parvez Ahmed, Mohd Illyas, Shahdab Ahmed, Tasleem Ahmed, Saleem Malik, Mohd Saleem Khan and Athar Khan. The accused have all denied any wrongdoing.

Former Jawaharlal Nehru University student Umar Khalid, who was arrested on Sunday night, on a charge of conspiracy leading to the riots, has not been named. The police, however, informed the court that they may file a supplementary charge sheet later. Khalid has also denied the charges and said that the police was trying to frame him over his opposition to the Citizensship (Amendment) Act, or CAA.

The investigation has been questioned by several people -- politicians, academics, IPS officers -- for being biased against anti-government voices.

Special cell officers told the court that the charge sheet relies on call detail records and WhatsApp chats. It runs into 17,000 pages, and the police have listed 747 witnesses, 51 of whom have recorded their statements under CRPC 164 (before the magistrate). Such statements are admissible evidence in a court.

Charging the 15 accused of triggering the riots, police said that, on February 23, some anti-CAA protesters converged at pre-decided areas in north-east Delhi as per their plan and started blocking roads. Police said their intent was not to block roads but to ensure communal tension as the places had mixed population of Hindus and Muslims.

Also read| Delhi Riots: What former police commissioner Neeraj Kumar says on Umar Khalid and Kapil Mishra

In the charge sheet, police have alleged that the sit-in protests started in minority dominated areas but later moved to those with mixed population to create tension. Police have given the names of five such sites in the charge sheet. The police have also said that the alleged conspirators had created at least 25 WhatsApp groups to mobilise the protests and plan the riots.

The court has listed the matter for Thursday when it is likely to take cognisance of the charge sheet.

Of the 21 persons arrested in the case so far, police have charged 15, based on scientific, documentary and testimonial evidence gathered during investigation, a police officer said.

The remaining six accused, including Khalid, could be charged in a supplementary charge sheet after the police gather evidence against them, the officer added.

Brought to the court in steel boxes, 2,692 pages of the vast charge sheet specifies the charges against the accused whereas rest of the pages include annexures such as statement of accused, witnesses and other case records.

Police contended that accused were using the anti-CAA protest sites to deliver inflammatory speeches, mobilise people and orchestrate the riots. Police have detailed in the charge sheet how the core committee members such as Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Safoora Zargar, and members of Pinjra Tod group, Popular Front of India, and other such people had a series of meetings, for the protests and also discussed possible consequences of their plan, a police officer said, quoting the contents of the charge sheet.

The police told the court that the evidence includes WhatsApp chats of February 24, the time when riots were happening. It said that WhatsApp groups were used by the key conspirators for inciting violence in Seelampur-Jafarbad area.

At that point, key conspirators were guiding their foot soldiers about violence in the area. The key conspirators were directly in touch with their foot soldiers, it said.

Also read| Delhi: Activists press conference condemns Umar Khalids arrest

WhatsApp groups were used by conspirators for violence in Seelampur-Jafarabad area. There were 25 protest sites in 25 cities. 25 WhatsApp groups were especially created for each city. The impression was given that they were anti-CAA protest groups but through these conspirators were being guided, the police said.

The police said that further investigation into the matter is continuing.

At least 53 persons died while 400 others were injured in clashes between Hindus and Muslims that broke out in different parts of north-east Delhi on February 24.

Criticising the probe by the Delhi Police, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury had said, Why are hate-mongers, their provocative speeches of Goli maaro not apprehended? Because they are with the BJP.
Doughnut favorite Krispy Kreme has been approved to open a spot in Deptford, according to a report by 42freeway.com.

It will be a free-standing location within the Deptford Mall parking lot, the report says, at 1750 Deptford Center Rd. An official opening date was not announced.

The report also said this Krispy Kreme location will have a drive-thru.

A Krispy Kreme spokeswoman told NJ Advance Media there are no additional details to provide.

In March, the doughnut chain opened a spot in East Rutherford at 91 Route 17 South in the Liberty Commons shopping center, which is a couple miles down the road from MetLife Stadium.

Krispy Kremes other New Jersey locations are in Collingswood, Jersey City and Springfield.

To celebrate the arrival of fall, Krispy Kreme has released four varieties of pumpkin spice doughnuts at participating stores, available through Sept. 30.

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Nicolette Accardi can be reached at naccardi@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter: @N_Accardi. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips
Russia, as the Chair, tried very hard to persuade Pakistan not rake up Kashmir isse at the SCO

NSA Ajit Doval on Tuesday walked out of a meeting of the national security advisors of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member countries in protest after the Pakistani representative used a "fictitious" map showing Indian territories as part of Pakistan.

The online meeting of the National Security Advisors at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on Tuesday got riddled with unpleasantness and controversy after Pakistan used a map showing Indian territories as its own as a backdrop for its representative. Indian NSA Mr Ajit Doval raised strong objection to Pakistan using the illegal map and the Indian side walked out of the meeting saying such an act was a blatant violation of the SCO Charter.

At the meeting of the National Security Advisers (NSAs) of member states of the SCO, hosted by the Chair of the SCO (Russia), the Pakistani NSA deliberately projected a fictitious map that Pakistan has recently been propagating. This was in blatant disregard to the advisory by the host against it and in violation of the norms of the meeting. After consultation with the host, the Indian side left the meeting in protest at that juncture. As was to be expected, Pakistan then went on to present a misleading view of this meeting, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said.

Pakistan is trying to use all forums to internationalise the Kashmir issue despite the fact that forums like SCO do not allow bilateral issues to be brought to the table. According to sources, Russia, as the Chair, tried very hard to persuade Pakistan not to do so but its representative -- Dr. Moeed Yusuf, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Security  continued to use the new political map as a backdrop.

India conveyed clearly that Pakistans use of a fictitious map as a backdrop for its representative depicting sovereign Indian territories as part of Pakistan is a blatant violation of the SCO Charter and against all its established norms of safeguarding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of SCO Member States, sources said.

Mr Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of the National Security Council of Russian Federation, conveyed that Russia does not support what Pakistan has done. Sources said Russia hoped that Pakistans provocative act will not affect Indias participation in SCO and definitely not cast any shadow on Mr Patrushevs warm personal relationship with NSA for whom he has the highest regard. Mr Patrushevs said he hopes to see NSA at the forthcoming events.

Pakistan in a statement depicted another picture saying the Mr Dovals objections were overruled at the SCO meeting and the forum agreed to Pakistans position as a result Dr. Moeed Yusuf conducted the SCO meeting with Pakistans new political map as background for the discussions.
CLIFTON PARK  With a security guard blocking the door, protesters were back at Gowana Middle School on Tuesday night to demand the Shenendehowa School District ban the Confederate flag.

Black and brown and LGBTQ+ protesters repeated their pleas to Superintendent Oliver Robinson and board of education members to follow other area schools in banning the symbol that they say represents hate, slavery and genocide.

And because they couldnt get inside to address the board, the 50 protesters that also included some teachers and parents used their bullhorn to call out the board and Robinson with chants like come outside, talk to us and Black Lives Matter.

Samira Sangare, a 2016 graduate and one of the organizers, said she doesnt understand why the district can't make the simple gesture to help Black students feel safer at the school.

Weve asked for this since July 25 and we also have a list of demands that they have not taken any action on, Sangare said. We want to have our voices heard. We want to have a discussion and that is why we keep coming out.

Senior John DeLorenzo said the majority of racism he has experienced in his life has happened in the Shenendehowa district.

All we need is the Confederate flag to be banned on school grounds, DeLorenzo said. He also said he "wants to know why" Black students can't wear bandanas, but that wearing the Confederate flag is acceptable. He also said that since the coronavirus, Asian students also have been under attack.

We can't let this go on," DeLorenzo said. "We have a school named after Native Americans for white people run by white people. This is colonization in itself. I'm sick of it. We need to hold people accountable, our needs are going to get met or something is going to happen.

The district said on Tuesday afternoon that it does have a policy that bans symbols "worn or displayed that are culturally (race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status) derogatory, offensive, or divisive symbols; or items that are vulgar, obscene, libelous, or denigrate others because of race, color, religion, creed, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, or disability, while at school, on school grounds, or participating in school-related activities."

However, Sangare pointed out, in order for the policy to be enforced, the student who is offended by the symbol must report it to the administration, and that some students might not feel comfortable reporting on another student.

I wouldnt report, Sangare said. I dont know how that (policy) would suffice.

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

She wants Shen to follow other districts in starting the discussion on the Confederate flag. Guilderland Central School District is considering a ban. So too is Niskayuna, whose board was expected to vote on a policy on Tuesday night.



In addition to the flag, the Niskayuna policy would apply to images like swastikas that promote hate or violence and groups. It would also ban symbols of the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacists or nationalist groups.

Others who spoke were transgender sophomore Jasiri Danjou who said the district doesn't protect her as she faces transphobia daily. Vanessa Clay, another 2016 graduate, talked about continually be called the N-word by fellow Shen students while she was a student.

Parent Adrienne Wheeler, DeLorenzo's mother, also spoke. She said that this is the 57th anniversary of the Birmingham church bombing that killed four girls. She said its a disgrace that the district allows symbol of hate in the schools and if students are not persistent in their demands, she fears that 50 years from now, students will still be seeking racial justice.

Keep up the pressure so that students dont have to be in fear for who they are, Wheeler said.

Sangare said they will.

We are not going away, she said.

Paul Nelson contributed to this story.
The Tata Projects Ltd has won the bid to construct the new Parliament building at a cost of Rs 861.90 crore, officials said.

After the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) opened financial bids on Wednesday for the construction of the new building, Tata Projects Ltd submitted a bid worth Rs 861.90 crore, while Larsen and Toubro Ltd quoted Rs 865 crore.

The new building will be built as part of the Narendra Modi governments plan to redevelop the Central Vista in New Delhi. Work on the building is likely to begin after the ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament comes to an end, according to reports.

Last month, the government had come up with a shortened list of three Mumbai-based construction companies that would submit final bids for the new Parliament complex  Larsen & Toubro, Tata Projects and Shapoorji Pallonji & Company.

The ambitious Central Vista project will cover the three-km stretch from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate in Lutyens Delhi. A Gujarat-based architecture firm called HCP Designs has already won the consultancy bid to redevelop the Central Vista. The revamp, announced in September last year, envisages a new triangular Parliament building, with seating capacity for 900 to 1,200 MPs, which is targeted to be constructed by August 2022 when the country will be celebrating its 75th Independence Day. The common Central Secretariat is likely to be built by 2024.
Pennsylvania Election Officials Cant Discard Mail Ballots Over Signatures

Pennsylvania mail ballots can no longer be discarded by election officials if they believe a signature does not match the one in the voters file, officials in the key battleground state told counties on Sept. 14.

The new guidance issued by Pennsylvanias Department of State Monday came amid growing concerns that tens of thousands of mail-in ballots could be discarded in the state in the presidential election over technicalities.

If the Voters Declaration on the return envelope is signed and the county board is satisfied that the declaration is sufficient, the mail-in or absentee ballot should be approved for canvassing unless challenged in accordance with the Pennsylvania Election Code, the guidance states. The Pennsylvania Election Code does not authorize the county board of elections to set aside returned absentee or mail-in ballots based solely on signature analysis by the county board of elections.

The news prompted a number of organizations, including the League of Women Voters (LWV) of Pennsylvania and the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh to drop a lawsuit filed August against the department in federal court Monday.

As a result of this case, Pennsylvania voters can cast their vote without fear that their ballot could be rejected solely because an election officialwho isnt trained in handwriting analysisthinks their signatures dont match. Voting should not be a penmanship test, Mark Gaber, a Campaign Legal Center lawyer who represented the groups in court, said in a statement.

Pennsylvania is regarded as an important battleground state where Trump won by a narrow margin in the 2016 presidential election by about 44,000 votes, beating rival Hillary Clinton by less than one percentage point.

Last year, the state passed a law allowing for no-excuse mail-in voting. Mail-in ballots have also surged in popularity recently amid the ongoing CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic. More than 3 million voters are expected to cast ballots by mail in the Nov. 3 presidential electiona figure 10 times higher than in the 2016 election.

Pam Fleming and fellow workers stuff ballots and instructions into mail-in envelopes at the Lancaster County Election Committee offices in Lincoln, Neb., on April 14, 2020. (Nati Harnik/AP Photo)

Close to 1.9 million people have applied for a mail-in or absentee ballot, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolfs top elections official, Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, said Tuesday.

The updated guidance from the state department comes after 1,773 out of 1.5 million mail-in ballots were discarded in the June primary following signature analysis by local election offices, according to Pennsylvania Department of State data. In total, more than 26,000 ballots were rejected, including for signature-related errors or matters of penmanship, the lawsuit had said.

One county election director, L. Edward Allison Jr. of Lawrence County, said that the states guidance is in line with his countys practices and that he doubts it will be controversial with counties. One way of fixing it is to contact voters to come in to verify their signature, he said.

We recognize the fact that, as people age, their signature changes, I know mine has, Allison said in an interview, The Associated Press reported. Different medical conditions, strokes, all that kind of stuff enters into it.

Pennsylvanias LWV co-president Terrie Griffin praised the outcome.

Now Pennsylvania voters can cast their ballots confidently, knowing they wont be rejected because of a signature match issue, Griffin said in a statement. The case for voters is strong, and we are cheered that this move represents true progress in voting rights for Pennsylvanians.

Mail-In Ballot Concerns

President Donald Trump earlier this month raised concerns over the viability of universal mail-in ballots ahead of the Nov. 3 election. Trumps reelection campaign has sued to prevent the use of drop boxes in Pennsylvania over voting fraud concerns.

During a packed rally in Latrobe on Sept. 3, the president called on voters to go to the polls in person after mailing in their ballot to check that their vote has been counted. He appeared to hint that mail-in votes are susceptible to being thwarted or manipulated.

Sign your mail-in ballots, okay. You sign it, send it in, and you have to follow it, Trump said at the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport, the venue for the rally.

He continued: And if on election day or early voting that [vote] is not tabulated and counted, you go vote. And then if for some reason after thatit shouldnt take that longit [the mailed vote] comes in, theyre not going to be able to tabulate it because you will have [already] voted.

You have to make sure your vote counts, because the only way theyre going to beat us is by doing that kind of stuff. Im trying to be nice, Trump said.

Mimi Nguyen Ly and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
New Delhi, July 20 (IANS) Raising concern over the proposed decriminalisation of bouncing of cheques, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has advised Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman against it. Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, Sep 16 : The government has brought amendments to the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 in order to protect the interests of the depositors, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in Parliament on Wednesday.

The Finance Minister said the government is trying to bring amendments in order to protect the interest of depositors who in the last two years have been put to hardships.

The depositors in some unfortunate situations in the banks or cooperative societies, which are also operating as banks, are put to hardship, the Minister said while moving the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2020 to amend the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 in the Lok Sabha.

She said the government had introduced the Bill so that the depositors interests will be taken care of. But, the Minister said, unfortunately, during the Budget session the government could not have this Bill passed and had to bring in an ordinance. Sitharaman said the ordinance was brought in only because the financial health of many of these cooperatives, which were also performing as banks, was becoming very bad.

She informed the Lower House that the financial condition of 277 urban cooperative banks was very delicate and they were reporting losses, while 105 such banks were unable to fulfil their minimum regulatory capital requirement.

She said a total of 47 urban cooperative societies had a negative net worth and 328 urban cooperative banks were having more than 15 per cent gross NPA (Non Performing Assets).

Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, Sitharaman said the gross NPA ratio of urban cooperative banks increased from 7.27 in March 2019 to over 10 per cent in March 2020. Therefore, the Minister said, the government had to bring an ordinance in the interest of the depositors and now that ordinance has to be replaced.

She said her Ministry has brought in amendments in Section 3, Section 45 and Section 56. By amending Section 3 and 56, the government is making provisions applicable to banking companies applicable to cooperative banks also so that cooperative banks are equally subject to better governance and sound banking regulations through the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Section 45 is being amended because it will enable the RBI to make a theme of reconstruction and amalgamation, she said.

Giving the example of the recent Yes Bank reconstitution scheme, she said it is to protect the interest of the public depositors without making the bank undergo a moratorium period. She also gave an example of BMC bank in which the depositors could not get a resolution till now.

The minister clarified that the Bill will not be applicable to the Primary Agricultural Credit Society and will also not be applicable to the cooperative society whose primary business is providing long term finance for agricultural development. "This will be applicable only on those who bank, banker and banking business in cooperative society." Mentioning that her government is not doing anything new, the Minister said Section 3 and 56 have also been amended earlier in 1965, 1984, 1987, 1989 and 2012.

On the first day of the session, Sitharaman had withdrawn the Bill saying "it is being withdrawn to add a few new things giving the Reserve Bank of India a chance to be able to restructure distressed cooperative banks, which are in serious need". The Bill was not passed by Parliament during the Budget Session and subsequently an ordinance was issued.
The eye is made up of many facets, which are themselves covered by a thin layer of protuberances a few tens of nanometres high. 1 micrometer (mm) = 1000 nanometers (nm). Credit:  UNIGE

The eyes of many insects, including the fruit fly, are covered by a thin, transparent coating made up of tiny protuberances with anti-reflective, anti-adhesive properties. An article published in the journal Nature reveals the secrets of how this nano-coating is made.

The authors, from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and University of Lausanne (UNIL)together with ETH Zurich (ETHZ)show that the coating only consists of two ingredients: a protein called retinin and corneal wax. These two components automatically generate the regular network of protuberances by playing the roles of activator and inhibitor, respectively, in a morphogenesis process modeled in the 1950s by Alan Turing. The multidisciplinary team even succeeded in artificially reproducing the phenomenon by mixing retinin and wax on different kinds of surface. This process, which is very inexpensive and is based on biodegradable materials, was used to obtain nano-coatings with a morphology similar to that of insects, with anti-adhesive and anti-reflective functionalities that could have numerous applications in areas as diverse as contact lenses, medical implants and textiles.

"The nano-coating that covers the surface of the eyes of some insects was discovered in the late 1960s in moths," says Vladimir Katanaev, a professor in the Department of Cell Physiology and Metabolism in UNIGE's Faculty of Medicine and the study's lead investigator. "It's made up of a dense network of small protrusions about 200 nanometres in diameter and several dozens of nanometres in height. It has the effect of reducing light reflection."

The cornea of an insect without a coating typically reflects about 4% of the incident light, whereas the proportion drops to zero in insects that do have the covering. Although an improvement of 4% may seem small, it is enough of an advantageespecially in dark conditionsto have been selected during evolution. Thanks to its anti-adhesive properties, the coating also provides physical protection against the tiniest dust particles in the air.

Professor Katanaev moved into this research field ten years ago. In 2011, he and his team were the first to discover the nano-coating on the eyes of fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster). This insect is much more suited to scientific research than moths, in particular because its genome has been completely sequenced.

Alan Turing: guiding light

Based on their preliminary results, in 2015 Professor Katanaev and his colleagues suggested that the nano-coating resulted from a morphogenesis mechanism that the British mathematician Alan Turing had modeled in the 1950s. This model holds that two molecules are organized automatically to produce patterns in regular patches or strips. The first serves as an activator, starting a process where a special pattern emerges and self-amplifies. But it also stimulates the second molecule at the same time, which acts as an inhibitor and is diffused more quickly. This model has made it possible to explain natural phenomena on a macroscopic scalesuch as the spots on a leopard or the stripes on a zebraand on a microscopic scale but never yet on the nanoscopic scale.

The Geneva-based researcher has now gathered more evidence to support this hypothesis. Thanks to biochemical analyses and the use of genetic engineering, Professor Katanaev and his colleagues have succeeded in identifying the two components involved in the reaction-diffusion model developed by Turing. This hinges on a protein called retinin and wax produced by several specialized enzymes, two of which have been identified. Retinin plays the role of activator: with its initially unstructured shape, it adopts a globular structure upon contact with the wax and begins to generate the pattern. The wax, on the other hand, plays the role of inhibitor. The powerplay between the two leads to the emergence of the nano-coating.

Artificial nano-coating

"We subsequently managed to produce retinin at very low cost using bacteria genetically modified for this purpose," says Professor Katanaev. "After purifying it, we mixed it with different commercial waxes on glass and plastic surfaces. We were then able to reproduce the nano-coating very easily. It's similar in appearance to the coating found in insects and has anti-reflective and anti-adhesive properties. We think that we can deposit this type of nano-coating on almost any kind of surface, including wood, paper, metal and plastic."

Initial tests have shown that the coating is resistant to 20 hours of washing in water (it is easily damaged by detergent or scratching, although technological improvements could make it more robust). The anti-reflective properties have already aroused a certain degree of interest among manufacturers of contact lenses, while the anti-adhesive properties could appeal to the producers of medical implants. Indeed, this type of coating could make it possible to control where human cells hook on. Industry already has the techniques needed to obtain this outcome. But they use harsh methods, such as lasers or acids. The Geneva team's solution has the advantage of being inexpensive, benign and totally biodegradable.

Explore further Nanostructures modeled on moth eyes effective for anti-icing

More information: Reverse and forward engineering of Drosophila corneal nanocoatings, Nature (2020). www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2707-9 Journal information: Nature Reverse and forward engineering of Drosophila corneal nanocoatings,(2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2707-9
Karnataka home minister Basavaraj Bommai tested positive for Covid-19, he informed in a tweet on Wednesday. The home minister said that he is asymptomatic and is under self-isolation.

He also urged all those who had come in contact with him to test themselves immediately.

The infection was confirmed in the Covid-19 test yesterday for a working boy in our home. Against this backdrop I have also been tested and I have been infected, have no symptoms and are healthy and isolated at home, he said in a tweet.

Click here for full Covid-19 coverage

Those who have recently come in direct contact with me are urged to get tested immediately and take appropriate precautions, he also said.

Before Bommmai, state chief minister chief minister BS Yediyurappa, Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah, Congress state president DK Shivakumar had also tested positive for the viral disease. They have been discharged after being cured.

Meanwhile, Indias Covid-19 tally surpassed five-million mark with a spike of 90,123 new cases in the last 24 hours. As of Wednesday, the number of total cases stood at 5,02,0359. The death toll reached 82,066 after 1,290 fresh fatalities.
A 54-year-old man from Emukaya Village in Lurambi, Kakamega County, Kenya has been arrested after he allegedly killed his wife, 44, following a marital dispute Sunday night.

Joseph Boyi Shiro is said to have returned home while drunk, and picked a quarrel with his spouse, Florence Nakonjio, over allegations that Nakonjio had, of late, developed a habit of denying him his conjugal rights.

The couples child, Sharon Margarita, told K24 Digital that while her parents were arguing in their bedroom, she heard her father asking her mother to get him food.

Shortly, thereafter, we heard mum thudding against the floor. When we rushed to their bedroom, we found dad hacking mum in the head with a jembe. He was saying that he would dig a grave that same night and bury her, said Margarita.

Florence succumbed to her injuries before she could be taken to hospital.

The deceaseds brother, Yusuf Nangabo, said the domestic wrangles between his sister and her partner were usually mild, but they recently escalated.

We are told that he was drunk, when the incident happened. We are hoping that our sisters death be investigated, and her husband arraigned and appropriate punishment imposed on him, said Nangabo.

A family member, who sought anonymity, said the suspect and his wife were recently counselled after Joseph Boyi complained that Florence had developed a habit of denying him sex.

Boyi was arrested and taken into lawful custody at Navakholo Police Station as investigations continue.

The body of his wife was taken to the Kakamega County Teaching and Referral Hospital morgue.

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The government will hold a crucial meeting with the Opposition parties on Wednesday evening to chalk out a strategy for smooth running of the monsoon session of Parliament. The meeting is scheduled to take place at 5 pm.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh and parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi will represent the government. The Opposition parties have deputed their floor leaders for the meeting.

The issues to be taken up during the meeting are yet to be decided, according to people aware of the developments.

The government is expected to seek the Oppositions help for speedy passage of key bills, but the other side is keen on holding debates on the India-China border situation and the state of the economy.

On Wednesday, the third day of the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Anand Sharma gave a short duration discussion notice in Rajya Sabha over the incursion of the Chinese army across the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and military standoff between the armies of the two countries on the LAC.

The defence minister had given a statement in Lok Sabha over the issue.

In his statement, Rajnath Singh said that India has conveyed to China that its attempt to unilaterally alter the status quo along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) was unacceptable and noted that the Chinese actions reflect a disregard of various bilateral agreements between the two countries.

The two countries have been engaged in a standoff since April-May and China has refused to vacate locations in the Finger area and other friction points in the Eastern Ladakh area.

Multiple rounds of talks have also failed to yield any significant result in defusing the tensions and now the Indian side has prepared itself for long-term deployment in the high mountainous region.

The monsoon session of Parliament began on September 14 amidst Covid-19 pandemic and will continue till October 1.
More than 100 lambs have been stolen by livestock rustlers in Cumbria in the latest such incident to plague UK farms.

The large-scale theft happened in the Penruddock area of Penrith between September 3 and 12, Cumbria Police said.

Thieves stole 105 Texel Cross lambs - tag number UK108296 - from a farm in the area.

The force is now investigating the theft of livestock, and warns other farmers to be cautious.

Anyone with information have been asked to call Cumbria Police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

It follows recent rustling incidents where thieves stole 50 lambs and 71 lambs, in Dorset and Devon respectively.

Figures show rural crime costs have reached an eight year high in the UK - totalling 54m in 2019.

NFU Mutual's report shows that livestock theft increased last year, with the cost going up 9% to 3 million.

Gangs taking large numbers of sheep, which are thought to enter the food chain illegally, are driving the increase.

How can I better protect livestock?

To deter livestock thieves, NFU Mutual advises farmers to:

 Padlock field gates

 Ensure stock is clearly marked and records are up to date

 When possible graze livestock in fields away from roads

 Check stock regularly - and vary times of feeding/check ups

 Consider a high-tech marking system such as TecTracer which puts thousands of coded microdot markers into a sheeps fleece

 Ask neighbours to report any sightings of unusual vehicles loading sheep

 Join a FarmWatch scheme

The rural insurer has established that there are three distinct types of livestock thefts currently taking place:

 Large scale theft  organised crime with livestock destined for the food chain

 Pedigree  rams stolen for their high value as breeding stock

 Money laundering  organised criminal gangs buying and selling on sheep at auctions to launder money
The President of the European Commission Ursula Von der Leyen addresses her first state of the union speech. JOHN THYS | AFP | Getty Images

The EU will be tapping the markets at an unprecedented scale next year and 30% of the funds should be raised through green bonds, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at a landmark speech on Wednesday. The 27 EU capitals agreed in July to borrow 750 billion euros ($891 billion) from public markets starting in 2021. The idea is to use those funds to invest in different sectors across the EU and thus help them to recover from the coronavirus crisis. "We are world leaders in green finance and the largest issuer of green bonds worldwide," von der Leyen told lawmakers in Brussels. "And I can today announce that we will set a target of 30% of NextGenerationEU's 750 billion euro to be raised through green bonds," she said.

Green bonds are a financial instrument that are earmarked, specifically, to raise money for projects related to climate change or the environment. Onlookers were quick to respond to the announcement with Karel Lannoo, the chief executive officer of the Brussels-based think tank CEPS, telling CNBC he thought the idea was weak, "because we do not have a standard on what is green." This means that some projects might be earmarked as "green" but ultimately end up supporting railways and energy networks, he said. Wednesday's announcement was part of wider and bolder commitments to make the EU more sustainable in the longer term.

I recognize that this increase from 40 to 55 is too much for some, and not enough for others. Ursula von der Leyen European Commission President
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other Democrats demanded an investigation on Tuesday into claims by a nurse at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Georgia that detainees there have been denied basic medical care and possibly subjected to hysterectomies without their informed consent.

Dawn Wooten, a registered nurse who worked full-time at the Irwin County Detention Center until July, outlined her allegations in a complaint filed on Monday to the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General by a coalition of advocacy groups.

"If true, the appalling conditions described in the whistleblower complaint - including allegations of mass hysterectomies being performed on vulnerable immigrant women - are a staggering abuse of human rights," Pelosi said in a statement. "The DHS Inspector General must immediately investigate the allegations detailed in this complaint."

ICE officials on Tuesday promised to cooperate with an investigation, but denied that widespread hysterectomies were performed at Iwrin. According to ICE, just two such procedures have been performed on detainees there since 2018.

"The accusations will be fully investigated by an independent office, however, ICE vehemently disputes the implication that detainees are used for experimental medical procedures," said Ada Rivera, medical director of the ICE Health Service Corps, in a statement. "To be clear, medical care decisions concerning detainees are made by medical personnel, not by law enforcement personnel. Detainees are afforded informed consent, and a medical procedure like a hysterectomy would never be performed against a detainee's will."

In her complaint, Wooten said that she and other nurses had noticed female detainees getting hysterectomies at an improbable rate, and worried that the women didn't understand what procedure they were receiving, as most medical staff members don't speak Spanish.

"These immigrant women, I don't think they really, totally, all the way understand this is what's going to happen depending on who explains it to them," she said in the complaint.

The report did not detail any detainees who said they had received a hysterectomy against their will; one woman anonymously quoted in the complaint said that she was scheduled for the procedure without her consent but that it was canceled when she tested positive for covid-19.

Priyanka Bhatt, staff attorney at Project South, acknowledged to The Washington Post that she did not speak to any women who had a forced sterilization, and said she included the allegations in the report with the intention of triggering an investigation into whether or not the claims were true.

"I didn't speak to anyone who had one," Bhatt said. "But the things we have heard are concerning, and we need to find out more information."

She added, "When investigating human rights abuses, we conduct extensive interviews with immigrants, and our job is to report what they tell us."

ICE declined on Monday to comment in more detail on the broader allegations in the complaint, which also alleges widespread failures to adhere to covid-19 safety policies at Irwin. But the agency did cast doubt about its use of anonymous testimony from detainees and former detainees to bolster Wooten's claims.

"In general, anonymous, unproven allegations, made without any fact-checkable specifics, should be treated with the appropriate skepticism they deserve," the agency said in a statement to The Post.

LaSalle Corrections, the Louisiana-based company that runs Irwin, also did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The firm faced similar complaints about coronavirus safety at another facility it runs in Louisiana in July, which a company official denied in later congressional testimony.

ICE has faced scrutiny over its handling of the coronavirus at detention centers, with the inspector general opening an investigation of the agency's practices in May. On Friday, The Washington Post reported that ICE had fueled a large covid-19 outbreak at a Virginia facility by flying detainees there to facilitate the deployment of ICE agents to Washington to quell protests.

In a statement to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday night, ICE defended its handling of the coronavirus, which the agency says has infected nearly 5,700 detainees nationwide and led to six deaths.

"ICE epidemiologists have been tracking the outbreak, regularly updating infection prevention and control protocols, and issuing guidance to ICE Health Service Corps (IHSC) staff for the screening and management of potential exposure among detainees," the agency said.

But Wooten says there was widespread disregard for protecting staff members and inmates at the Georgia facility. The nurse worked at Irwin for three years over the course of separate stints, she told the Intercept, but was demoted in July to an on-call position with few hours - retaliation, she claims, for demanding stricter adherence to medical rules.

"They're still not taking this seriously," Wooten told the Intercept. "Enough was enough."

The 27-page complaint filed Monday details a laundry list of alleged failures at the facility: detainees being ignored or denied tests despite having coronavirus symptoms; others who have tested positive being placed back in the general population; and officials fudging statics on the number of infections.

Staff members, Wooten said, were pressured to "work symptomatic and work positive as long as we had a mask on." Although ICE purchased two $14,000 rapid-test machines, she said, no nurses were ever trained to use them.

Detainees interviewed for the report said that social distancing was impossible and that everyone was given just one mask and no replacement.

"We're in an open dorm room. Our beds are nothing but three feet apart," an unnamed detainee said in the report. "Our toilets are about four feet apart with a little wall separating them."

Although ICE has reported just 42 cases and no deaths from covid-19 at Irwin, Wooten alleged that those numbers are not accurate because officials have not been "reporting all these cases that are positive."

In general, Wooten outlined a failed medical system at the facility. Nurses there routinely destroyed the paper requests detainees have to fill out to ask for medical help and made up vital signs for reports after not seeing patients, she alleged.
Researchers at CRANN and the School of Physics at Trinity College Dublin have discovered that a new material can act as a super-fast magnetic switch. When struck by successive ultra-short laser pulses it exhibits "toggle switching" that could increase the capacity of the global fibre optic cable network by an order of magnitude.

Expanding the capacity of the internet

Switching between two states - 0 and 1 - is the basis of digital technology and the backbone of the internet. The vast majority of all the data we download is stored magnetically in huge data centres across the world, linked by a network of optical fibres.

Obstacles to further progress with the internet are three-fold, specifically the speed and energy consumption of the semiconducting or magnetic switches that process and store our data and the capacity of the fibre optic network to handle it.

The new discovery of ultra-fast toggle switching using laser light on mirror-like films of an alloy of manganese, ruthenium and gallium known as MRG could help with all three problems.

Not only does light offer a great advantage when it comes to speed but magnetic switches need no power to maintain their state. More importantly, they now offer the prospect of rapid time-domain multiplexing of the existing fibre network, which could enable it to handle ten times as much data.

The science behind magnetic switching

Working in the photonics laboratory at CRANN, Trinity's nanoscience research centre, Dr Chandrima Banerjee and Dr Jean Besbas used ultra-fast laser pulses lasting just a hundred femtoseconds (one ten thousand billionth of a second) to switch the magnetisation of thin films of MRG back and forth. The direction of magnetisation can point either in or out of the film.

With every successive laser pulse, it abruptly flips its direction. Each pulse is thought to momentarily heat the electrons in MRG by about 1,000 degrees, which leads to a flip of its magnetisation. The discovery of ultra-fast toggle switching of MRG has just been published in leading international journal, Nature Communications.

Dr Karsten Rode, Senior Research Fellow in the 'Magnetism and Spin Electronics Group' in Trinity's School of Physics, suggests that the discovery just marks the beginning of an exciting new research direction. Dr Rode said:

"We have a lot of work to do to fully understand the behaviour of the atoms and electrons in a solid that is far from equilibrium on a femtosecond timescale. In particular, how can magnetism change so quickly while obeying the fundamental law of physics that says that angular momentum must be conserved?

"In the spirit of our spintronics team, we will now gather data from new pulsed-laser experiments on MRG, and other materials, to better understand these dynamics and link the ultra-fast optical response with electronic transport. We plan experiments with ultra-fast electronic pulses to test the hypothesis that the origin of the toggle switching is purely thermal."

Next year Chandrima will continue her work at the University of Haifa, Israel, with a group who can generate even shorter laser pulses. The Trinity researchers, led by Karsten, plan a new joint project with collaborators in the Netherlands, France, Norway and Switzerland, aimed at proving the concept of ultra-fast, time-domain multiplexing of fibre-optic channels.

###

The work that made the discovery possible was supported by Science Foundation Ireland, the Irish Research Council and the European Commission.
Footy Classified will not screen on Nine next Monday night, September 21, due to an AFL match being held.

Here is the schedule for Melbourne:

Monday Sept 21

9:40pm Nine News Late

10:10pm The Oval Office (Ade / Per: Footy SA / WA)

10:40pm Lethal Weapon rpt

11:35pm Worlds Worst Flights rpt

Here is tonights synopsis.

Join Eddie McGuire, Caroline Wilson, Ross Lyon, Matthew Lloyd and Sam McClure on Footy Classified tonight at 11.10pm on Nine and 9Now as they deliver the AFLs best breaking news.

On the eve of the final round, Ross and Lloydy pick apart the Saints clash with GWS and the Dogs match-up with Fremantle  who will come out on top?

The team has the latest news on the Finals and how the fixture will affect Victorian clubs who secure a home final.

Which coaches are under most pressure at seasons end and which stars are set to head to new homes? Our experts have their say.

And we pay tribute to a history making Magpie.

Plus the regular segments Eddies Editorial, Caros Final Five and Youre Quite Brilliant.
Photo: The Canadian Press Actionmarguerite CEO Charles Gagne, left to right, Manitoba Health Minister Cameron Friesen, PCL Winnipeg district manager Monique Buckberger and Manitoba Central Services Minister Reg Helwer attend the unveiling of personal care home all-season visitation shelters, repurposed from shipping containers, in Winnipeg, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Steve Lambert

The Manitoba government went looking for a way to quickly set up exterior visitation rooms at personal care homes across the province  something that could keep residents and their loved ones safe during the COVID-19 pandemic but also comfortable during the frigid winter.

On Tuesday, the government revealed the result: repurposed shipping containers, complete with insulation, heat and even interior finishings to make the boxy structures feel a little homey.

"This is going to make a difference for all those Manitobans who need to have that contact with their family and their friends and their loved ones, no matter what is happening outside of their personal care home," Health Minister Cameron Friesen said.

He said the system is believed to be the first of its kind in Canada and other jurisdictions are looking at the idea.

PCL Constructors Canada Inc. came up with the design. The company plans to refurbish 90 containers and set them up in locations across the province by late fall. The province is paying $17.9 million.

The aim is to ensure that even if COVID-19 numbers grow and restrictions are put in place inside nursing homes, residents and their relatives can continue to meet in a separate space that is safe and cleaned between each visit.

The 13-metre-long units will be connected directly to the exterior of the homes, so that residents are sheltered as they move back and forth. Visitors are to enter from a separate door. And if COVID-19 numbers climb and more protection is needed, a small divider can be put in place between residents and visitors.

The air flow inside the containers is designed to also protect residents.

"The HVAC system draws in fresh air from the care home or the care facility side and ... the air gets drawn out through the visitation side, so that the resident sits on the fresh air side," said Monique Buckberger, PCL Winnipeg district manager.

Personal care homes in Manitoba have not seen the kind of large-scale outbreaks that have occurred in Quebec and Ontario, but there have been some cases since the pandemic began in the spring.

One of the worst outbreaks included the deaths of four residents at the Bethesda Place care home in Steinbach, southeast of Winnipeg. Bethesda is one of 10 long-term care facilities across the province that had restrictions on visitors as of Tuesday.

Also Tuesday, the province reported 17 new COVID-19 infections, for a total active case count of 269. Sixteen people in Manitoba have died from the virus since the pandemic began, health officials said.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, September 16, 2020 11:29 492 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c451626c 1 City Jakarta-psbb,PSBB,PSBB-Masa-Transisi,PSBB-transisi,psbb-total,Jakarta-administration,COVID-19,COVID-19-Jakarta Free

The Jakarta administration has urged businesses to cooperate during the implementation of large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) as authorities raise concerns over the limited number of supervisory officials available to oversee them.

Jakarta Manpower, Transmigration and Energy Agency head Andri Yansyah said the office had only 25 teams in charge of overseeing the implementation of health protocols, each team tasked with monitoring three companies a day.

With the help of the Jakarta Public Order Agency (Satpol PP), the 25 teams are monitoring 79,849 small to large companies that employ up to 2.1 million people.

Thats why we expect companies internal task forces to assist us. Besides the implementation of COVID-19 protocols, we also urge for the roles of P2K3 [Occupational Safety and Health Committee], Andri said on Tuesday.

Andri said it would be difficult to avoid the emergence of office transmission clusters during the PSBB if companies did not do their part.

There is no point if businesses and workers do not cooperate. Dont blame us if we decide to tighten PSBB measures," he said as quoted by kompas.com.

He called on companies to actively report on the implementation of health protocols and encouraged workers to report companies that violated restrictions, promising them protection and anonymity.

Read also: Mosque council calls for halt to mass, Friday prayers during PSBB in Jakarta

The administration will involve the National Police and the Indonesian Military (TNI) only when companies and offices challenge or impede the process of monitoring, he said.

Jakarta has started reimposing PSBB measures on Monday because of a continuous increase in occupancy rates for hospital beds, as well as rising active COVID-19 cases and deaths following the transitioned to a new normal.

The new PSBB phase set to be in place for two weeks until Sept. 27.

Unlike in the first PSBB phase implemented in April, the Jakarta administration has made some allowances.

It also allows private companies outside the category of essential businesses and government offices to have no more than 25 percent of their employees work on-site at the same time.

Workplaces in the essential sector, markets and shopping centers, as well as places of worship in areas with low transmission risks, are allowed to open at 50 percent capacity.

On the first day of PSBB on Monday, Jakarta was forced to temporarily close eight companies after the employees of five of them tested positive for COVID-19, while the other three companies were found violating health protocols.

Meanwhile, the city closed 134 companies during the transitional period to the new normal from June 5 to Sept. 13, either due to transmissions or for violating capacity restrictions, tempo.co reported. (syk/sau)
ST ANDREWS, Scotland, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Pneumagen Ltd, focused on treating infectious diseases by targeting the human glycome, today announced completion of its new Scientific Advisory Board, with the addition of Dr Richard J. Webby at the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, USA, and Professor Jurgen Haas at the Edinburgh Medical School, UK.

The company also announces that Dr David Howat has been appointed as Development Director. Dr. Howat has run drug development in many small biotech/pharmaceutical companies, most recently at Haoma Medica Ltd and previously at Evgen Plc. During these projects he managed CMC, safety toxicology, regulatory, and clinical trial activities.

Neumifil is a first-in-class Carbohydrate Binding Modules (mCBMs), generated using the Company's proprietary GlycoTarge platform. This unique modality binds to receptors that are used by pathogens to enter the respiratory airways, thereby preventing infection and avoiding resistance. It is being developed for the universal treatment of respiratory tract infections (RTIs) caused by Influenza Virus and Respiratory Syncytial Virus, as well as SARS-CoV-2, the cause of COVID-19.

Douglas Thomson, CEO of Pneumagen, said: "I am delighted that Richard and Jurgen have joined our Scientific Advisory Board, bringing a wealth of experience to support our ambitious development programme to test the safety and efficacy of Neumifil as a universal treatment for RTIs in humans, including COVID-19. I also welcome David to the team and thank Professor David Harrison for his sterling service supporting the company to date."

Dr Webby said, "I have long been fascinated by influenza virus ecology, vaccination, and pathogenicity, and am excited to use my knowledge to help progress the outstanding science underpinning the development of Pneumagen's portfolio in respiratory tract infections. This approach with Neumifil could provide particular benefit in high risk groups as a potential pan-viral treatment for RTIs including pandemic viruses, including COVID-19."

Professor Haas, Head of Infection Medicine, and Professor of Viral Genomics, at Edinburgh Medical School said, "In my lab we focus on the viral host factors determining pathogenicity and susceptibility. The development of a range of effective treatments to combat coronaviruses is crucial. I am looking forward to working with Douglas and his team to develop Neumifil into a drug that could protect people against respiratory pathogens including emerging viruses with pandemic potential."

The complete Pneumagen SAB now comprises Dr Webby, Professor Haas, Professor Moira Whyte at the University of Edinburgh, Professor Paul Crocker at the University of Dundee, and Sir John Skehel of the Royal Society and The Francis Crick Institute. The SAB is chaired by Professor Garry Taylor, recent Master of the University of St. Andrews. Professor David Harrison at the University of St Andrews, steps down from the SAB.

Full details of the members are here: https://www.pneumagen.com/about-us.html

About Pneumagen

Pneumagen is a spin-out from the University of St Andrews in Scotland and has access to world-class scientific expertise and capabilities in glycobiology.

The company is using its platform technology, GlycoTarge, to develop glycan targeted carbohydrate-binding module domains (mCBMs) derived from bacterial glycosidases as a new universal therapeutic modality for the prevention and treatment of respiratory tract infections (RTIs). These engineered mCBMs have been shown to prevent and treat respiratory infections by binding to epithelial cell surface glycan receptors present in the respiratory tract, used by several pathogens for entry.

Pneumagen's lead product, Neumifil, is a first-in-class mCBM40 being developed for the universal treatment of Influenza Virus (IFV), Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), and coronavirus COVID-19 infections. When administered intranasally in preclinical models, Neumifil has demonstrated prevention, treatment and post-exposure prophylaxis of IFV and RSV infection. Please visit www.pneumagen.com for more information.

Contact details:

Katja Stout, Scius Communications

[email protected]

Douglas Thomson, Pneumagen Ltd

[email protected]

SOURCE Pneumagen
Lupita McCaffrey, a 57-year-old immigrant from Mexico, waited 42 years to get her drivers license.

McCaffrey, a member of the immigrants rights group Movimiento Cosecha Michigan, joined nearly 100 demonstrators at the Michigan Capitol on Wednesday, Sept. 16, demanding state lawmakers pass a bill that would allow residents to apply for their drivers license or state ID, regardless of their immigration status.

Demonstrators arrived between 10:30 a.m. and noon before congregating in the state Capitol, chanting and singing songs of protest.

The Drive SAFE plan, short for Safety, Access, Freedom, and the Economy, would let any resident who meets age requirements and can prove Michigan residency obtain a state identification card or apply for a drivers license, including immigrants living in Michigan without legal permission.

McCaffrey said she applied for and received her drivers license after she was naturalized in 2019. Her experience prompted her to join the Movimiento Cosecha Michigan and advocate for others.

Without a license, I didnt have the opportunity to work. Im a licensed practical nurse, McCaffrey said. It was very hard.

The bills- Senate Bills 631 and 632 and House Bills 5192 and 5193 - are sponsored by Sens. Stephanie Chang, D-Detroit, and Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, in the Senate and Reps. Alex Garza, D-Taylor, and Rachel Hood, D-Grand Rapids, in the House. Lawmakers have until the end of the year to take action on the bill before it must be introduced again.

The effort will likely be a tough sell in the Republican-controlled state legislature. Republicans in both the House and Senate have said state and local governments shouldnt hinder enforcement of federal immigration law.

Before 2008, Michigan was among a handful of states that issued drivers licenses regardless of immigration status. But in late 2007, former Attorney General Mike Cox, a Republican, issued an opinion saying drivers licenses could not be issued to those without legal permission to live in the U.S., and a law was later passed to codify that opinion.

Catalina Adorno, a 30-year-old organizer with Movimiento Cosecha Michigan, is originally from Mexico, but has been living in Grand Rapids for the last two years.

So, we really are feeling the pressure, right, because it is a big need for us, Adorno said. Something that has affected our campaign is the pandemic. A lot of our folks lost jobs or got sick because of the pandemic. This is the real action we have been able to take since the pandemic started.

Adorno said immigrants in Michigan just want their access to drivers licenses reinstated.

This is an issue that affects a lot the immigrant community, Adorno said. Im a DACA recipient, but thats temporary status so this issue affects me in many ways as well.

Related: Michigan bills would let residents apply for drivers licenses regardless of immigration status

Erika Ponce, 44, immigrated to Fremont from Mexico last year. She has three young children who live with her. Being without a drivers license or state ID has proven to be difficult, she said.

Not having a license has really impacted me economically, Ponce said through a translator.

She says insurance is difficult to obtain for people without licenses and employers discriminate against people without state IDs or licenses.

You will work for a company for several months but then they check your social and they say there is no more work for you, Ponce said. Sometimes I go into places and its hard because you feel like no one wants you here.

Related: Whitmer, Dems support expanding drivers licenses to all immigrants

Ponce said having a license or state ID is also important in case of emergencies, to allow a person to be identified.

Having a license opens more opportunities. Its better for everyone if we can get licenses, Ponce said.

As of June, 16 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico issue drivers licenses or permits to some or all immigrants who live in the U.S. without legal permission, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Adorno said its hard to feel safe when you dont have a state ID or drivers license.

You could be stopped for anything and if you dont have a license, you would be detained and it could lead to deportation, Adorno said. So, it can mean the difference between getting deported and being separated from your family.

Related: Drivers licenses for undocumented immigrants supported by Grand Rapids officials

The concept is also supported by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who told immigrant rights group Movimiento Cosecha Michigan in 2019 that opening up access to drivers licenses is something thats important to me, its important to our economy and its important to the people of Michigan.

Grand Rapids officials recently endorsed the idea as well - the citys mayor and commissioners sent a letter to Whitmer and state legislators earlier this year offering their support for such legislation.
British Airways CEO Alex Cruz. Photo: Nir Elias/Reuters

British Airways chief executive Alex Cruz has said staff will not be forced to sign new contracts under a draft deal agreed with unions.

Conservative MP Huw Merriman, chair of parliaments transport select committee, said what had been dubbed a fire-and-rehire plan now seems to be off the table.

Cruz gave evidence before the committee on Wednesday, updating MPs on long-running negotiations with unions and on BAs passenger numbers and forecasts.

BA, owned by IAG (IAG.L), sparked a national outcry when it announced up to 12,000 job cuts in the early stages of the pandemic. Unions warned remaining staff also risked losing their jobs if they did not accept new contracts.

Cruz told MPs that agreements in principle had been reached with non-pilot unions, with a deal already reached at the end of July with pilots union Balpa. But the deals have not yet been approved by union members, and their implications for staff terms and conditions are not yet clear.

READ MORE: UK chancellor says job done on furlough despite rising unemployment

Some of those areas have already balloted and accepted those agreements; some are in the process of balloting, he said.

We hope the results of those ballots will be to accept these agreements. That will end this process and ring certainty.

There would be no need to issue new contracts if the deals were approved, with BA instead using a standard union agreement to amend existing contracts.

He said he hope the process would finish at the end of this week, with Wednesday marking the 140th day of BAs consultation with unions. BAs intention had always been to secure an agreement, he added.

Cruz also spelled out the scale of the crisis facing the company, calling it an impossible situation and the worst crisis British Airways has ever gone through in its century-long history.

The airline flew 187,000 passengers in and out of the UK last week, down from just under a million in the same week a year ago, according to Cruz. Only 25-30% of its flight schedule is running.

Story continues

It lost 711m ($917m) in the second quarter of the year, compared with a 309m hit in the first quarter of 2009 during the global financial crisis, he added.

The CEO defended BAs deep restructuring in the face of widespread criticism of mass job losses, including among furloughed staff. The relationship is very clear. Fewer passengers means fewer flights, and fewer flights means fewer people required to actually service them.

He said he had to act fast by cutting staff numbers earlier this year, but said he understood MPs concerns and deeply regretted the loss of so many staff.

But the Unite unions assistant general secretary Howard Beckett said last week reports that BA negotiations with unions had concluded were unhelpful and misleading.

Unite remains in negotiations with British Airways in a number of different bargaining units. Even in areas where draft agreements exist, these are still subject to approval from members through a ballot.
Six Democrats and one Republican have signed up to run for the Alabama Senate seat vacated by the resignation of Sen. David Burkette, D-Montgomery, who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor campaign finance charge.

The parties announced the candidates for the special election in Senate District 26 in Montgomery. Qualifying ended today.

Democrats running for the seat include two House members, Reps. Kirk Hatcher and Tashina Morris, as well as longtime former Rep. John Knight. Linda Burkette, the wife of former Sen. Burkette, is running for the seat, as are Deborah Anthony and Janet May.

William Green was the only Republican to qualify.

Its the second time in three years that Senate District 26 seat has been vacated, requiring a special election.

David Burkette won a special election in 2018 to complete the term of Quinton Ross, who left the Senate to become president of Alabama State University. Burkette defeated Knight in the special election and again in a regular election later in 2018 for a full four-year term.

Gov. Kay Ivey scheduled the special primary for Nov. 17. A runoff, if needed, will be Dec. 15. The special general election will be March 2.
It is for the overwhelming majority of parents an unfathomable concept: That a parent would be capable of severely abusing, torturing and starving their own child.

Authorities on Monday arrested a Lebanon County couple on charges that they killed a 12-year-old boy in their care by starving and beating him, and keeping him imprisoned for years in a feces-caked and darkened room.
Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has inaugurated the new Western Region House of Chiefs in Takoradi.



Following the creation of the new Western North Region, the former Western Region House of Chiefs was dissolved on Tuesday September 15, 2020 after it held its final meeting, and a new one, comprising only traditional authorities in the Western Region was inaugurated by Dr. Bawumia.



Traditional authorities whose jurisdiction fall within the newly created region will be under the Western North Regional House of Chiefs, which will be inaugurated by President Akufo-Addo later this month.



Addressing the Chiefs after their inauguration, Vice President Bawumia said, despite controversies that the Chieftaincy institution has gone through in some areas, the relevance and contribution of Chieftaincy to the development of the country cannot be underestimated.



"Nananom, the Chieftaincy institution, like various other institutions of state, has lived through controversial periods of our history, playing different roles at different time," Dr. Bawumia said.



The Vice President noted that some people often raise criticism about the relevance of chieftaincy, but he maintained that the institution is indispensable.



"I do not hesitate to state that Chieftaincy has, and will be an indispensable part of our history and development. It is so widely respected that even when our fellow Ghanaians leave our shores, and are free of the influence of chieftaincy, they create chiefs wherever they are," Dr. Bawumia stated.



Government committed to strengthening Chieftaincy institution



Vice President Bawumia stressed the Akufo-Addos belief in the Chieftaincy institution as an integral part of the nations development process, especially in our democratic dispensation.



He also listed a number of things the Akufo-Addo government has done, since assuming office in 2017, which he said affirms the government's belief and support of the Chieftaincy institution.



"Government recognizes that, in order to ensure the success of the programme of social and economic transformation that was put before the Ghanaian people, we have to do a lot. It is important that we bring the traditional role of our Chiefs into the modern, constitutional set up, under which we govern our country," Dr. Bawumia emphasized.



"As a start, we made a pledge, in the NPPs 2016 Manifesto, to increase the monthly allowances paid to Chiefs, and the quarterly budgetary support to the Traditional Councils and Houses of Chiefs. This we have done by a hundred percent (100%)."



"Government has also assisted the National House of Chiefs with three million, five hundred thousand cedis (GH3.5 million) for the completion of its new headquarters office complex in Kumasi.



"Government is also committed to assisting the National House of Chiefs to moving speedily on finishing work on the codification of the traditional norms and rules that have guided our communities throughout the ages."



"The Ministry, in collaboration with the National House of Chiefs, has also begun the process of digitizing records of the National House of Chiefs, particularly records in the National Register of Chiefs."



"The Chieftaincy Ministry has also instituted a programme to have courses in Chieftaincy development, comprising lectures, seminars and other activities, aimed at building the capacity of Chiefs and all persons with interests in the Chieftaincy institution. I applaud this initiative."



As the Vice President enumerated a number strides the government has made in the Chieftaincy sector, he also bemoaned the many Chieftaincy disputes in the country, which he said is "unfortunately one of the major setbacks to our nations socio-economic development.



"Such disputes have resulted, sometimes, in full blown conflicts, threats to our nations peace and stability, destruction of properties, loss of lives, closure of educational and health facilities, and separation of families."



He added that government is concerned, and in a move to help curb chieftaincy disputes, has decided to take up the cost of extra judicial committees of the various House of Chiefs to help speed up the adjudication of disputes.



"In helping to reduce these disputes and their harmful effects, government, through the Ministry of



Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, arranged to provide the funds that will increase the number of sittings of Judicial Committees of Regional Houses."



"This should hasten the adjudication of pending issues, in order to bring closure to outstanding disputes that continue to generate tension."



"Again, the National House of Chiefs, together with the Chieftaincy Ministry, in order to reduce conflicts and establish areas of customary jurisdiction and allegiance, has delineated traditional areas of paramountcy"



As trustees of lands of the people, Dr. Bawumia also urged Chiefs in the country to help govern treatment streamline the administration of lands in the country.



"We need as a matter of urgency, an efficient and well-functioning regime of titling, fixing of boundaries, and ownership tracing," he said.





Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Massachusetts Department of Public Health gave an incorrect call-in number for the public hearing tonight at 6 p.m. on the proposal to close Farren Care Center.

The correct call-in number from DPH: (888) 390-5007

Participant code remains the same: 3307387

The proposal to close Farren, a skilled nursing and long-term rehabilitative services facility in the Turners Falls section of Montague, is being made by Trinity Continuing Care Services, part of Michigan-based Trinity Health that acquired the facility when the Holyoke-based Sisters of Providence Health System became part of the parent company several years ago.

The proposal for closing Farren, which treats adults with medical and psychiatric conditions, involves a plan to transfer patients to Holyokes Mount Saint Vincent, built in 1972 as a skilled nursing facility for short-term rehabilitation and long-term care by the Sisters of Providence.

Trinity has been managing Mount Saint Vincent through an operating lease with the Sisters of Providence Ministry Corporation whose religious order of women founded Farren.

Connecticut-based iCare Health Network, which has been serving as a consultant with Trinity and the Sisters of Providence corporation since 2018, has submitted a separate proposal to the DPH to obtain ownership of Mount Saint Vincent which would allow it to operate that facility for patients with a diagnosis of both psychiatric and medical needs.

The network has said it operates similar facilities in Connecticut.

Tonights hearing is being held remotely due to regulations around the coronavirus pandemic.

Related:
To the Editor:

Each of us has the opportunity to vote for the right person for each elected office.

How we decide who is right and who is wrong is based on many factors such as political party, service, and whether an individual will serve in office to achieve goals we share.

One such person is Hilary Ram, who is the right candidate for Connecticut General Assembly, District 67.

She is a positive contrast to the incumbent, Bill Buckbee.

Although he is a natural to portray Santa Claus at Christmas, he plays the opposite role in Hartford.

State Representative Buckbee serves his party rather than his constituents by voting against raising the minimum wage and against helping home health care workers earn a decent living.

Hilary Ram wants to help New Milford voters achieve their goals. She supports strengthening the economy and business development and retention, as well as technical and community college programs.

Her votes will be for the people, not party. She wants to do more to protect the environment and to end gun violence. She will do whatever a state representative can to care for seniors and veterans.

Each of us should help Hilary Ram become our representative for District 67 in the Connecticut General Assembly.

Michael Anastas

New Milford
SIOUX FALLS, S.D.  South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg said in a statement late Monday that he realized he had struck and killed a man walking along a rural stretch of highway only after returning to the scene the next day and discovering the body.

The states top law enforcement officer said he initially thought he hit a deer while driving home from a Republican fundraiser on Saturday night. He is under investigation by the South Dakota Highway Patrol.

Ravnsborg said he immediately called 911 after the crash on U.S. Highway 14 and that he didnt realize he had hit a man until he returned to the scene the next morning and found him while looking for the animal he thought he had hit.

Authorities identified the dead man as 55-year-old Joseph Boever, who had crashed his truck in that area earlier, according to relatives, and was apparently walking toward it near the road when he was hit.

Republican Gov. Kristi Noem revealed Sunday that Ravnsborg had been involved in a fatal crash and asked the Department of Public Safety to investigate, but neither she nor the agency provided any details at that point.

The Department of Public Safety issued a statement earlier Monday saying only that Ravnsborg told the Hyde County Sheriffs Office he had hit a deer. Department spokesman Tony Mangan would not confirm whether Ravnsborg called 911, saying it is part of the investigation.

The North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation is also participating in the investigation. The South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, which would normally be involved, is part of the attorney generals office. It is standard practice to request an outside agency to conduct an investigation when there may be a conflict of interest.

Ravnsborg said Sunday he was shocked and filled with sorrow. He released a second statement on Monday night detailing his account of the accident, saying it was necessary to dispel rumors.

Ravnsborg said he was driving from a Republican fundraiser in Redfield to his home some 110 miles (180 kilometers) away when his vehicle hit something he believed was a large animal. Ravnsborg said he called 911 and looked around his vehicle in the dark using a cellphone flashlight. He said all he could see were pieces of his vehicle.

After Hyde County Sheriff Mike Volek arrived, the two men surveyed the damage and filled out paperwork for his car to be repaired, the attorney general said.

At no time did either of us suspect that I had been in an accident with a person, Ravnsborg said.

With his car wrecked, Ravnsborg said he borrowed the sheriffs personal car to return to his home in Pierre. The next morning, he and chief of staff Tim Bormann drove back to return the sheriffs car.

They stopped at the spot of the accident, where Ravnsborg said he discovered Boevers body in the grass just off the shoulder of the road. He said it was apparent Boever was dead.

Ravnsborg said he drove to Voleks house and reported the dead body. They both returned to the accident scene, where Volek said he would handle the investigation and asked Ravnborg to return to Pierre, according to Ravnsborgs statement.

Ravnsborg said he was cooperating with the investigation, including providing a blood sample, agreeing to have both of his cellphones searched, and being interviewed by law enforcement agents.

Boevers family said Monday they felt frustrated with and suspicious about the investigation, especially after investigators took nearly 22 hours to allow them to identify Boevers body.

Boever had crashed his truck into a hay bale near the road on Saturday evening, according to his cousin Victor Nemec. Boever told his cousin that he had been reaching for some tobacco.

Nemec had given Boever a ride home, which was about 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) away, and made plans to make repairs on Sunday. He left Boever after 9 p.m. The crash that killed him happened around 10:30 p.m. Nemec said there was no indication whatsoever that his cousin had been drinking.

Boever lived alone and had been separated from his wife, Nick Nemec, another cousin, said.

Victor Nemec, the last known person to see Boever, said that besides answering a few brief questions when he identified the body, investigators have not questioned him about what happened.

A human doesnt look like a deer, he said. The whole thing stinks to me.

When Boevers cousins couldnt find him at his home on Sunday and saw an accident being investigated near where Boever had left his truck, they grew fearful that he was involved. Nemec said he contacted the sheriff around 10 a.m. and was told to wait. As the hours ticked on, they grew more suspicious and called 911 and the Highway Patrol after 5 p.m. They were allowed to identify his body after 8 p.m. on Sunday.

I dont know if cousin Joe was laying on the highway for 22 hours or if they had bagged him up before that, Nick Nemec said.

Ravnsborg had been at a fundraising dinner hosted by the Spink County Republicans at Roosters Bar & Grill. The attorney general is known to be a frequent attendee of the fundraisers known as Lincoln Day Dinners, held by county GOP groups across the state.

Bormann said the attorney general drinks occasionally, but has made it a practice not to drink at the Lincoln Day events.

I didnt see him with anything but a Coke, said state Sen. Brock Greenfield, who also attended the dinner.

Ravnsborg has received six traffic tickets for speeding in South Dakota over the last six years. He also received tickets for a seat belt violation and for driving a vehicle without a proper exhaust and muffler system.

In 2003, Bill Janklow, a former four-term governor who was a congressman at the time, killed a motorcyclist after running a stop sign at a rural intersection. Janklow was convicted of manslaughter, prompting his resignation.

The Department of Public Safety says its investigation into Ravnsborgs crash is ongoing.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
China to arrange Xinjiang visit for EU diplomats: FM

Global Times

Source: Global Times Published: 2020/9/15 19:07:54

China has agreed to and will arrange for European Union (EU) diplomats in China to visit Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in response to the diplomats' request, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday.

Wang Wenbin, spokesperson for the ministry, said at a press conference on Tuesday that on Xinjiang issues, China always welcomes friends from other countries, including European countries, to have a look at Xinjiang, and to get to know the real situation on the ground, instead of relying on hearsay or deliberately fabricated lies.

He stressed that any investigations over Xinjiang-related issues based on a presumption of guilt are firmly opposed.

Wang's remarks were in response to EU officials' request to launch an independent investigation on Xinjiang-related issues.

Wang said China issued a detailed press release at a virtual summit of Chinese, German and EU leaders on Monday. On the issue of human rights, Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed that there was no unified path to development, and that there is no best protection of human rights but only better protection, and all countries should take care of their own matters first. China does not accept a "preacher of human rights" and opposes double standards.

Xi also clarified China's stance on Hong Kong and Xinjiang affairs, saying that such affairs are China's right to defend its sovereignty, security and unity, and that China firmly opposes anyone and any force that sows instability, secession and unrest in China, and interferes in China's internal affairs.

Wang said China is ready to strengthen exchanges and make common progress with the EU on the principle of mutual respect.

Wang said the meeting also discussed human rights issues within the EU, such as the protracted refugee issue, the rise of racism, extremism and ethnic minorities in some EU member states, and frequent anti-Jewish, anti-Muslim and anti-black remarks and vicious incidents.

The EU acknowledged its own problems and hopes to have dialogue with China based on the principle of equality and respect, enhance mutual understanding and properly handle differences, Wang said.

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The Prime Minister has assigned the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and Hanoi authorities to check reports in local newspapers about 300 pending or abandoned real estate projects in the city.

The Hanoi Planning and Investment Department has released a decision to stop a housing project in Me Tri ward of Nam Tu Liem district. The investment certificate was given in June 2008 to Vietnam Trade Union Tourism Co Ltd.

The company has to give back the land plot allocated to it before implementing the project, because the investor did not start the project within 12 months as stipulated in the 2014 Investment Law.

The Hanoi authorities have also recently stopped a series of housing projects as the investors have not implemented the projects as committed. In July, they stopped investment activities at a housing project using the D2-CT1 land plot in Bac Tu Liem district registered by Son Ha International JSC.

Most recently, the Hanoi Peoples Committee proposed taking back a land plot and resuming an investigation of violations at three land plots (B9/CC1, B9/CC3 and C3/HH, C3/CC1-1) belonging to the Nam Trung Yen Urban Area in Cau Giay district. The projects have not started in the last 11 years, causing a waste of natural resources.

According to local newspapers, more than 300 projects are pending or unimplemented.

Answering questions from voters, the Hanoi Department of Natural Resources and the Environment some days ago said the department has joined forces with relevant agencies to inspect 379 projects and give conclusions about each project.

It has proposed taking back the land, revoking the decisions on allocating or leasing land, and stopping the investment of 28 projects covering a total area of 1,844.3 hectares; and has proposed extending the use of land for 24 months for 25 projects, covering an area of 39 hectares.

If the investors cannot put the land into use after the 24 extended months, the State will take back the land without any reimbursement for the land and the assets on the land.

There are many golden land plots in Hanoi that big real estate firms have neglected. Some projects in urban area development have been re-planned after a decade long of unuse.

The Kim Chung  Di Trach new urban area projects registered by Vietracimex kicked off in 2008. It was expected to be a big urban area with shopping center, semi-detached villas, apartments for lease, and a hospital and schools meeting international standards in the western part of Hanoi.

The land price in Kim Chung  Di Trach area once hit VND50-70 million per square meter when the real estate market was hot. However, only 10 rows of houses and villas have been built, while most of the area has been left idle.

Thuan Phong

Real estate firms offer sky-high profit rates to attract investors Investors have been invited to contribute capital to real estate projects and enjoy a profit of 36 percent per annum, and have also been persuaded to buy corporate bonds at a high interest rate of 18 percent per annum.
Booming cargo traffic has come as a respite for airlines, which have increased cargo operations to make up for lost passenger revenue with travel demand remaining subdued.

Major airlines. such as IndiGo and SpiceJet, have increased their dedicated cargo capacities by increasing the number of all-cargo flights as demand for the movement of goods, medicines, groceries, and other supplies increased during the pandemic, especially with the restrictions imposed by states.

IndiGo, which is the countrys largest domestic airline and is operated by InterGlobe Aviation Ltd, had during May-June converted 10 of its passenger aircraft into freight carriers with the capacity to ferry up to 20 tonnes of cargo.

The airline has operated more than 1,700 cargo charters, transporting more than 14,300 million tonnes (MT) of supplies between 18 April and 7 September, across 21 destinations within India, besides international destinations such as Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan), Cairo (Egypt), and Tashkent (Uzbekistan).

IndiGo has already transported cargo equivalent to the loads carried in the last financial year, within the last five months at limited capacity. The airline has earned marginally higher revenue over these months as compared to the earnings over the last financial year," an IndiGo spokesperson said. At only 32% of regular operations in August, IndiGo generated the highest ever monthly net cargo revenue," said the spokesperson.

At present, IndiGo operates at least 10% more charter and cargo flights than its scheduled commercial flights, said a senior official at the airline.

SpiceJet Limited, which is controlled by Ajay Singh, has a dedicated fleet of eight freight aircraft, including of five Boeing 737s and three Bombardier Q-400s. The airline has recently inducted a wide body Airbus A340 for long-haul cargo operations.

A SpiceJet spokesperson did not comment on the airlines cargo operations.

With hundreds aircraft waiting out the pandemic, air freight costs have spiralled, with rates to North America from Hong Kong up almost 60% from the previous year. Belly cargo freight rates have increased by 30-60% globally and due diligence suggests that in India they have risen by 7-15%, ICICI Securities said in a research report on 10 September.

Vistara, a joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, has ramped up its cargo operations during the lockdown.

The airline, which doesn't have a dedicated cargo fleet like IndiGo and SpiceJet, operates cargo on the belly of its passenger aircraft.

The carrier, however, operated 34 special cargo flights to transport more than 220 tonnes of essential commercial goods, relief material, and medical supplies, during the lockdown.

"We are leveraging all viable opportunities for cargo services to maximise our revenue. We continue to carry commercial cargo on our scheduled passenger flight and on a few sectors, we have operated special flights carrying cargo on seats as well," a Vistara Spokesperson said.

National carrier Air India Ltd has introduced all-cargo flights on certain sectors during the pandemic, mostly on international sectors, said a senior Air India official adding that the airline will ramp up its cargo operations as the demand picks up.

"We expect demand for air cargo to further rise once a vaccine (for covid-19) is released after trials," the official added.

Spokespersons of airlines like AirAsia India, and GoAir were not available for comments.

Globally, major airlines like Lufthansa, Emirates, ANA Group, among others, have seen a rapid rise in cargo operations, which have kept them from reporting steeper losses even though passenger demand remains subdued.

Air cargo will be critical in the coming months after a vaccine is developed for covid-19 pandemic, which would further need to be distributed across different geographies.

Safely delivering covid-19 vaccines will be the mission of the century for the global air cargo industry, said aviation industry lobby group IATAs Director General and CEO, Alexandre de Juniac, in a recent report.

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Jake Wood has played Max Branning in EastEnders since 2006. (BBC)

Jake Wood is leaving Albert Square after 15 years as EastEnders Max Branning.

The 48-year-old actor  who reached the semi-final of Strictly Come Dancing in 2014  joined the BBC soap in 2006.

Wood said in a statement: I've had 15 wonderful years at EastEnders and have made some truly great friends.

"I'll of course miss everyone there but I'm grateful they have left the door open for Max and I'm excited to see what the next chapter holds."

Read more: Jake Wood talks special effects in EastEnders socially distanced filming

EastEnders' executive producer Jon Sen added: "Jake is a truly wonderful actor and EastEnders have been extremely lucky to have him for so long.

Max Branning has come to blows with Ian Beale recently. (BBC)

"We have a big storyline for Max that starts in the coming weeks and we are all very excited to see that play out."

Max Branning arrived in Albert Square as the estranged father of Bradley Branning (Charlie Clements) and stayed to rebuild their relationship.

He was joined by Jo Joyner as his wife Tanya Branning and has had a number of high profile storylines including his affair with with Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner).

Read more: 'EastEnders' star Jake Wood hits out at casual ginger 'abuse' on 'GMB'

Wood took a brief hiatus from the soap in 2015 when businessman Max was sent to prison after being wrongfully charged for the murder of Lucy Beale.

Max has gradually lost all his family, with his children Bradley and Abi both dying after falling from the roof of the Queen Vic pub, while his daughter Lauren (Jacqueline Jossa) became an alcoholic and ran off to New Zealand.

Jake Wood performing with Janette Manrara perform during the Strictly Come Dancing Live Tour in 2015. (Getty Images)

Max recently sold his half share of Walford East restaurant to Ian Beale but was cheated out of the proceeds.

Max is currently raising granddaughter Abi - named after her mother - with his ex-wife and sister-in-law Rainie Cross.

EastEnders bosses are expected to be composing an explosive exit for his character when he officially bows out of Walford.

Watch: watch celebrities have been confirmed for Strictly so far?
SEATTLE, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Twenty-nine year old community leader, startup investor and global financial executive Cindy Zu (www.cindyzu.com) has been selected as an honoree for the Puget Sound Business 40 Under 40 Award.

Zu, a passionate music, youth and entrepreneurial champion in Seattle who joined her first nonprofit board at age 25, sits on four nonprofit boards in her city including the Music Center of the Northwest, Family Law CASA, Crooked Trails and the Seattle Finance Collective. Zu is a board director at two private companies, an Advisory Board Member of the Women's Entrepreneurial Leadership Course at the University of Washington and an executive at Pitchbook Data, one of Seattle's leading tech companies.

"It's such an honor to be named a 40 Under 40 honoree by the Puget Sound Business Journal," says Zu. "I feel so humbled by the many incredible leaders in our city that have come before me and won this iconic award. I've worked globally and Seattle is truly such a dynamic city to be living in now. It's bursting with some of the best and brightest talent in our nation today."

Cindy began her career at J.P. Morgan in Hong Kong, Shanghai, New York and Seattle in various roles within the Corporate Investment Bank and Asset Management divisions. In 2016, she led the strategy for an AI fintech company and negotiated licensing deals with major hedge funds internationally. Currently, she is an executive at PitchBook Data. Her experience ranges from advising Fortune 500 companies to high net worth individuals, governments and venture capital firms.

"Cindy has been an invaluable part of our board and continues to inspire us with her genuine passion for music education and dynamic leadership style to getting things done and growing our organization," says Chas Arnold, Executive Director at the Music Center of the Northwest (www.musiccenternw.org).

"We are on a mission at the Music Center of the Northwest to foster love and knowledge of music by providing high quality musical instruction. We are so honored and proud of Cindy's 40 Under 40 award."

"I'm a passionate advocate for getting more people involved in nonprofit board work," says Zu. "Millennials can give so much to the causes they care about. What seems so easy to us, such as giving counsel on social media and SEO strategy, can mean so much to a nonprofit. It takes just one millennial to make a massive impact and that person could be you."

Zu comes from an immigrant family who instilled the values of perseverance, patience and self-confidence.

"I grew up with two immigrant working parents," Zu says. "My mother would always slip some sage womanly business advice growing up. She does negotiations for a living and I vividly remember her telling me, 'always wear heels'. That way, you can look a man eye to eye during a negotiation. You should never have someone speak down to you. She's already pretty terrifying at a towering 5'3, imagine her at 5'5."

The Puget Sound Business Journal will commemorate this year's 40 Under 40 Award honorees in a virtual event to be held September 15, 2020 in Seattle.

For media inquiries, contact:

[email protected]

(646) 450-8881

About The Music Center of the Northwest

Founded in 1989, the Music Center of the Northwest (MCNW) (www.musiccenternw.org) is Seattle's oldest community music school and is a member of the National Guild for Community Arts Education and an Associate Member of the Washington Music Educators Association. A non-profit organization, the Music Center of the Northwest has always focused on a mission to foster love and knowledge of music by providing high quality musical instruction and a range of related music programs and activities to motivated students of all ages, backgrounds and levels of ability. The unifying principle that guides all of the Music Center of the Northwest's programs is the fundamental belief that individual creativity is a vital means of bringing together a culturally and ethnically diverse community.

SOURCE The Music Center of the Northwest
The Godfather (Credit: CBS via Getty Images)

Plans for a scripted drama series based on the making of The Godfather is moving ahead, with news that it will air on the Paramount+ streaming service from CBS.

The show will be called The Offer, a reference to the infamous threat delivered by Marlon Brando in the original movie  'I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse'.

It will comprise 10 episodes, and is based on the never-before revealed experiences of veteran producer Al Ruddy making the movie.

Ruddy produced the 1972 multi Oscar-winner alongside Francis Ford Coppola, the late Bob Evans and the original novel's author Mario Puzo.

Read more: Scorsese warns against movies becoming comfort food

There is some production heft behind the project too.

Producer Albert S. Ruddy Marlon Brando on the set of 'The Godfather', New York, 1972 (Credit: Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)

Alongside Ruddy, who will executive produce, is writer and producer Michael Tolkin, who wrote Robert Altman classic The Player and was the co-creator of the recent cult hit miniseries Escape at Dannemora.

There's a fascinating story to be told about how Ruddy brought the iconic mob drama to the big screen.

Read more: Stars who lost their Oscars

A number of actors, including Warren Beatty and Jack Nicholson, turned down the role of Don Vito Corleone, eventually taken up by Brando, and no one wanted to be behind the camera either.

James Caan, Marlon Brando, Al Pacino and John Cazale (1936 - 1978) pose together outdoors in a still from director Francis Ford Coppola's film, 'The Godfather'. (Paramount Pictures/Fotos International/Getty Images)

Ruddy told Slashfilm in May this year: It went to every director in town. NobodyI meant NO-BODYwanted to touch it.

The producer also had a fight with the studio to get the novelist Puzo to write the now iconic screenplay.

The CBS All Access streaming platform will be rebranded Paramount+ in early 2021, and will also boast all of the Godfather movies available to stream.

Watch the latest movie trailers below...
Facebook India vice-president and managing director Ajit Mohan declined to appear before a Delhi Assembly committee that is looking into the social media giants alleged failure to crack down on hate speech, saying the issue falls within the exclusive domain of the Union of India.

The assembly panel on peace and harmony is looking into complaints on the role or complicity of Facebook officials in the Delhi riots" in February.

On Tuesday, the committee, headed by Aam Aadmi Party MLA Raghav Chadha, asked Facebook to ensure that company executives appear before the panel at its next meeting, warning that a refusal will lead to breach of privilege" proceedings against the officials. Refusing to appear before the committee is contempt of the Delhi legislative assembly. This shows Facebook has something to hide," Chadha said.

In a letter to the committee, Facebook said Parliament is already looking into the issue and requested the Delhi panel to withdraw its summons.

Given that the issues raised by the notice involve subject matter within the exclusive domain of the Union of India, and that the matters are under active consideration by Parliament, we respectfully object to the notice and request you to recall it," Facebooks director for trust and safety, Vikram Langeh said in the letter to Chadha.

Chadha said Facebook has blatantly refused to participate, instead of using the opportunity to dispel the allegations and restoring the faith and confidence of people.

The refusal to attend is in contempt of the powers given to the assembly under the Constitution. If an issue is under investigation in Parliament, it does not stop the Delhi assembly from looking into the issue. State legislature functions independent of Parliament. In this case, the issue is also different. The parliament committee is looking into safeguarding citizens rights and prevention of misuse of social/online news media platforms, including special emphasis on womens security in digital space". The parliament committee is not looking into any issue related to Delhi riots and Facebooks role," Chadha said.

The social media platform has faced criticism over allegations that it favours the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in India, to push its own business goals in Asias third-largest economy. According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, Ankhi Das, Facebook Indias director for public policy, had opposed the removal of content from the ruling party leaders although the posts qualified as hate speech.

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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson`s government sees a `way through` the parliamentary maze for his bill that would break the Brexit divorce treaty as it talks with rebels in the Conservative Party, a minister said on Wednesday.

Johnson`s Internal Market Bill, which the EU has demanded he scrap by the end of September, is currently being debated in parliament, though he is facing a rebellion by some members of his Conservative Party.

"I believe there is a way through," Robert Buckland told the BBC when asked about negotiations with rebels in parliament over the bill, adding that London wanted a deal with the EU.

"In terms of shared understanding, I have already seen quite a difference," he said when asked about a possible compromise in parliament.

Asked if he had been involved in negotiations with Bob Neill, a Conservative lawmaker, Justice Secretary Robert Buckland said: "There are lots of discussions going on with all MPs from all parts of the debate, not just Bob Neill."

"We want to get this bill through, we want to make sure that we are ready for any disagreements or disputes that might arise if we don`t get agreement in the joint committee," he said. "For me, I just want Brexit sorted."

Buckland told Times Radio that the bill was needed as an insurance policy in case the EU made a "material breach" of their obligations but that the talks were not yet at that stage and that London would use current mechanisms to find a compromise.

The EU says Johnson`s bill could collapse trade talks and propel the United Kingdom towards a messy Brexit while former British leaders have warned that breaking the law is a step too far that undermines the country`s image.

Johnson said it was essential to counter "absurd" threats from Brussels including that London put up trade barriers between Britain and Northern Ireland and impose a food blockade - steps he said threatened the United Kingdom`s unity.
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As a doctor, I know new information is coming in daily about COVID-19. By keeping up to date, you can make sensible decisions to help keep you and our family from becoming infected. Here's the latest information you need to know about COVID-19, from A to Z. You may find some surprising facts and new resources. The more you know, the more you can protect yourself and those you love. Read on, and to ensure your health and the health of others, don't miss these Sure Signs You've Already Had Coronavirus.

1

A: Age

African woman wearing disposable medical mask and gloves shopping in supermarket during coronavirus pandemia outbreak

Older people are more at risk of dying from COVID. Although the death rate is around 1% for the overall population, that rises to 3.6% for those over 60, 14% over 70, and 14.8% over 80, according to the COVID Evidence Service. Eight out of 10 COVID deaths in the U.S. have been in adults over 65.

Anyone over 50 should take serious precautions to avoid the disease, especially if you have other risk factors such as obesity, diabetes, or heart disease.

The CDC recommends that older people limit social contact as much as possible. If you decide to go out, take steps to prevent becoming infected:

Plan your trip.

Stay outdoors wherever possible.

Keep at least six feet from other people.

Wear a mask over your nose and mouth whenever you're meeting others indoors, taking public transportation, or in a place where social distancing is difficult.

Wash your hands before and after every visit.

The highest risk is attending large gatherings where attendees are from households you don't know.

2

B: Black and Ethnic Minority Groups (BAME)

black lives matter

According to a recent review in The Lancet, in the U.S., Black people are 13.4% of the population but account for 28% to 70% of COVID deaths (depending on the state). In majority-Black communities, rates of COVID infection are three times than in mostly white communities.

The reasons aren't well understood. The journal Current Problems in Cardiology recently reported that BAME groups tend to have higher levels of comorbidities such as high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Black households are more likely to be overcrowded and have poorer living conditions. Whether there are any specific biological factors putting them at higher risk is unclear.

Story continues

3

C: Contact Tracing

female doctor or nurse wearing face protective medical mask for protection from virus disease with computer and clipboard calling on phone at hospital

If you test positive to COVID-19, anyone you've recently been in close contact with is contacted. They're advised to self-isolate for 14 days to avoid passing on the virus. A "close contact" is anyone who has been within six feet of you for at least 15 minutes, in the two days before developing symptoms, or before obtaining a positive test result.

Contact tracing is one of the key tools for controlling the pandemic. Considering that 80% of people with COVID-19 infection are asymptomatic, asymptomatic patients are as infectious as symptomatic patients, and one person may potentially infect 406 others in 30 days, contact tracing can prevent a huge amount of disease.

Contact tracing is usually performed by trained health advisers. In the US, the government has recognized the need to increase contact tracing, and efforts are underway at a cost of more than $46 billion.

4

D: Death

Couple pining after their relative at funeral

What's the overall chance of dying if you get infected with COVID-19?

According to the journal Nature, scientists have established a calculation called the infection fatality rate (IFR). This is more complicated than you might think. Many cases are not reported, so it's impossible to know exactly how much of the population has been infected.

The current IFR is 0.5% to 1%. This means that for every 1,000 people infected, 5 to 10 will die.

This figure varies between countries and according to specific risk factors, including age, sex, and comorbidities such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.

5

E: Epidemic (or Pandemic)

funeral of victim of the covid-19, new coronavirus, in the cashew cemetery in rio de janeiro with the gravediggers wearing clothes against contamination

What's the difference between an epidemic and a pandemic?

A local cluster of infections is called an outbreak.

An outbreak which affects a population or a community is called an epidemic.

An epidemic which spreads to many different countries is called a pandemic.

(Here's a memory device: The word pandemic has the letter "p," like passport, because it's an epidemic that travels.)

Previous pandemics have had huge death tolls. The influenza pandemic of 1918 killed 30 to 50 million people. The HIV/AIDS pandemic has killed 32.7 million. It remains to be seen what the final toll from COVID-19 will be.

RELATED: COVID Mistakes You Should Never Make

6

F: Financial Cost

The COVID-19 pandemic may cost the world $82 trillion over the next five years. That's the prediction from the Center for Risk Studies at the University of Cambridge Business School. In the U.S. alone, it will cost between $550 billion to $19.9 trillion. Considering the history of previous pandemics, economists suggest the financial effects of COVID-19 will be felt for the next 40 years.

7

G: Grasp the Symptoms

young woman sitting on a couch having a strong headache

COVID-19 affects different people in different ways. Infected people have had a wide range of symptoms reported  from mild symptoms to severe illness. Symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure to the virus. People with these symptoms may haveor have hadCOVID-19:

Fever or chills

Cough

Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing

Fatigue

Muscle or body aches

Headache

New loss of taste or smell

Sore throat

Congestion or runny nose

Nausea or vomiting

Diarrhea

Look for emergency warning signs for COVID-19. If someone is showing any of these signs, seek emergency medical care immediately:

Trouble breathing

Persistent pain or pressure in the chest

New confusion

Inability to wake or stay awake

Bluish lips or face

Call your medical provider for any other symptoms that are severe or concerning to you.

8

H: Hand Hygiene

Woman Washing her hands with soap and water at home bathroom

Proper handwashing is mandatory to control the spread of COVID-19. Follow the CDC handwashing recommendations.

Quiz yourself: Here are five statements about handwashing. Are they true or false?

As long as you use soap, it doesn't matter how long you wash your hands.

If you use a hand sanitizing gel, it's just as good as handwashing for removing germs.

You must use very hot water to get rid of the most germs.

There's no real need to dry your hands.

Always use a hand dryer, not a paper towel.

The answers are all false. You do need to wash your hands for 15 to 30 seconds to make sure you remove most bacteria and viruses. Soap and water are more effective than the recommended 60% sanitizing gel at removing bacteria and viruses. If water is too hot, it can dry out your skin, which can crack and make it more susceptible to infection. When hands are wet, they transfer bacteria and viruses more easily, so it is important to dry them. And finally: Air dryers can spread bacteria, so use paper towels instead.

9

I: Immune Response

Macrophage engulfing tuberculosis bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis, 3D illustration



Most people develop an antibody response to COVID-19 within 10 to 21 days of becoming infected. For people with mild infections, it may take four weeks. But sometimes, there seems to be no measurable antibody response at all.

People with severe COVID-19 infection tend to produce the highest levels of antibodies. Even people with undetectable antibodies can recover from COVID-19 infection.

Immunologists are concerned that the antibody response may not provide long-lasting protection, meaning there may be a chance you could become reinfected in the future. However, there have been no reported reinfections to date.

10

J: Justice

Watch tower at a CA State Prison

American Justice Department officials state that if you intentionally spread COVID-19, this could result in prosecution under US anti-terrorism laws. COVID is a biological agent, and transmitting it could be construed as using a weapon.

RELATED: Everything Dr. Fauci Has Said About Coronavirus

11

K: Kids' Health

Kids at School Washing Hands In Washroom

Children seem less likely to become infected with COVID-19, and when they do, the illness tends to be less severe.

The Lancet recently reported a snapshot of COVID-19 infection in children and young people in the first three weeks of April 2020 in 25 European countries. In total, 582 people under 18 tested positive to COVID-19 infection. The most common age was 5. Sixty-two percent were admitted to the hospital, 8% to the ICU, and 4% needed mechanical ventilation. Four children died.

Children's role in transmitting the infection is unclear. One Chinese study found zero cases of a child transmitting the infection to an adult. Another mathematical modeling study found that school closures would only reduce mortality from COVID by 2% to 4%. Now that schools are reopening, careful surveillance is underway.

12

L: Lungs

Doctor check up x-ray image have problem lung tumor of patient.

COVID-19 is a respiratory illness characterized by fever and a dry cough. The virus results in pneumonia, which can progress to severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and sepsis.

Once inhaled, viral particles are transported deep into the lungs, where they cause intense inflammation. The alveolithe tiny air sacs where oxygen is absorbed into the bloodstreamfill with fluid. This reduces your ability to take in oxygen, and you feel breathless. It's dangerous for your body to be low in oxygen, which affects the function of every organ. If this becomes severe, this condition is known as ARDS.

Although most COVID-19 infections are mild, 15% or people will develop more severe lung disease and 5% require mechanical ventilation. Doctors worry that some people can develop long-term lung damage after severe COVID-19 pneumonia, called pulmonary fibrosis.

13

M: Mental Health

worried man in protective mask sitting on stairs at home staircase during lockdown and quarantine for covid-19

COVID-19 has taken a major toll on our mental health. In a recent meta-analysis published in the journal Globalization and Health, the authors reported the prevalence of stress (29.6%), anxiety (31.9%), and depression (33.7%) in people surveyed.

Mental health conditions have important consequences for overall health. Stress has been shown to significantly affect mortality. Anxiety weakens the immune system and increases the risk of acquiring the virus.

For more information, see the CDC's Coping With Stress page, which has links to many helpful websites and phone numbers.

14

N: Nasal Swab

doctor or healthcare worker in protective wear, medical mask and face shield making coronavirus test and taking sample from patient

To be tested for COVID-19, you will usually be asked to have a nasopharyngeal (NP) swab taken. If the test is positive, the test is 98% reliable. If the test is negative, the reliability of a true negative testmeaning you are definitely not infectedis lower, between 71% to 98%. If you have symptoms and the test is negative, it may be a good idea to have the test repeated. For how to get a COVID test in the US, click here.

15

O: Outbreak

Scientist studies the curves of the Covic-19 pandemic and the dna of an infected person, holding a sample vial in a hospital

How the COVID-19 virus was created is still not definitively known. Scientists think it originated in a Chinese wet market from a coronavirus found in bats. One theory is that the virus was transferred from a bat to a pangolin. The pangolin may also have been infected with a coronavirus, and the two viruses then shared genetic sequences. The new, mutated virusCOVID-19could have been transferred to humans by inhalation of the animals' infected respiratory droplets, via the food chain, or through contaminated urine or feces. After the COVID-19 pandemic began, Chinese authorities ordered wet markets to close. They have recently reopened but are prohibited from selling wildlife.

RELATED: I'm a Doctor and Here's When You Can Safely Keep Your Mask Off

16

P: Prevention

There's no magic wand to make COVID-19 disappear. To beat the virus, we all need to work together and follow government advice, which is based on scientific opinion.

The CDC and WHO have compiled the following recommendations:

Avoid large gatherings of people.

Stay at least six feet away from people you don't live with.

Wash your hands regularly with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, and dry your hands afterward.

If you're not at home and can't wash your hands, use a hand sanitizer containing at least 60% alcohol instead.

Use a mask to cover your nose and mouth whenever you're somewhere where social distancing is difficult (or example in a supermarket, or on public transportation). A cloth mask is sufficient. It does not need to be a specialized hospital mask.

Cover your face when you sneeze or cough using a tissue, and dispose of it in a waste bin.

Try not to touch your face.

Keep things you touch clean: door handles, the computer mouse, kitchen worktops, and light switches.

If you feel sick, stay away from others, and don't share any cooking or eating utensils or household items.

If you have COVID-19 symptoms, such as a cough and a fever, or have been in contact with anyone who has tested positive, go into quarantine right away.

17

Q: Quarantine

Sick elderly woman of COVID-19 lies in bed at home wearing medical mask

You need to quarantine if you've been in contact with anyone who has recently tested positive for COVID-19. This means staying at home and keeping away from other family members for 14 days, until you're sure you're not infected. You should take your temperature twice a day.

If the risk of having the infection is high, the doctor will advise you to go into isolation. This means staying in your bedroom and away from the rest of the family. You need separate eating utensils and, if possible, to use your own bathroom.

18

R: Recovery

Shot of a woman covered with thick blanket, holding a white cup during on-line consultation with a GP

Based on data from Wuhan, China, WHO reports that most people with mild disease recover from COVID-19 within two weeks. For those with severe disease, this may be three to six weeks. About 5% of COVID patients require admission to ICU. If you need mechanical ventilation, overall survival is about 60%.

Those discharged from ICU face a range of physical, mental, and social issues. Patients may remain breathless and have a chronic cough. They may have swallowing difficulties. They may be weak and lacking in energy. Some may have developed other medical issues such as pulmonary emboli or heart problems. Depression, anxiety, and PTSD are extremely common. This all requires rehabilitation and takes many months.

There is mounting concern that some patients with severe COVID may develop pulmonary fibrosis, or scarring of the lungs. More research is required, but pulmonary fibrosis is a serious, irreversible lung disease.

19

S: Social Distancing

Woman and man in social distancing sitting on bench in park

Social distancing means keeping at least a six-foot distance between yourself and other people. Why six feet?

Several studies have concluded that most exhaled respiratory droplets travel less than three feet, then fall to the ground. However, other studies have shown that smaller particles can travel about six feet, and coughing or sneezing can cause those droplets to travel much further distances. Breathing in a few virus particles is unlikely to result in infection. Precisely how much virus you need to breathe in to become infected (a.k.a. viral load) is not known.

Outdoors, the virus is immediately affected by air temperature, humidity, wind, and air currents, so it dissipates rapidly. You are very unlikely to become infected outdoors. It's best to meet friends and family outdoors and stay outdoors whenever you can.

20

T: Treatment

hand of woman pharmacist with prescription and medicine at drugstore

There is still no cure for COVID-19. Researchers are desperately searching for a successful treatment. More than 2,000 clinical trials are underway.

The RECOVERY Trial recently reported that dexamethasone, a powerful steroid, has been found to reduce deaths in those with the worst respiratory disease.

On July 4, the WHO announced that trials of hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir/ritonavir in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 were being discontinued, as the drugs had been found to be ineffective.

In the UK, a trial is underway on an inhaled interferon beta (IFN-). This is a protein produced in the body which plays an important role in the immune response and helps prevent viral replication.

Some encouraging results are emerging for the drug remdesivir. This is a broad-spectrum antiviral previously used to treat hepatitis C. In patients with severe COVID, initial results with remdesivir suggest faster recovery times compared to placebo.

RELATED: I'm an Infectious Disease Doctor and Would Never Touch This

21

U: Update: Second Peak

Biohazard coronavirus sign on the barbed wire fence near flag of Oregon.

The Daily Telegraph recently reported statistics about countries now experiencing a second peak of COVID-19 infection. Some countries which have come out of lockdown have had to reinstate those measures.

In Victoria, Australia, the increase coincides with the start of the Australian winter, a time when seasonal flu is usually also on the rise.

In Israel, a second peak has been attributed to coming out of lockdown too quickly.

In Iran, experts believe the second peak is due to non-compliance with social distancing rules.

In Saudi Arabia, the second peak is attributed to the rich/poor divide. The virus is mainly spreading in poor immigrant workers.

In Japan, 70% of new infections are in younger people, who frequent clubs, restaurants, and bars.

In the USA, the infection curve looks very different. As the initial numbers of cases continue to rise, it does not yet appear to have passed the first peak. There are fears for how the US will fare this winter if the virus is still spreading uncontrolled. Social distancing seems vital for control of the infection.

22

V: Vaccine

Vaccine and syringe injection It use for prevention, immunization and treatment from COVID-19

To date, 140 COVID-19 vaccines are at various stages of development, and 13 are being tested in human trials. While many of us have pinned our hopes on a successful vaccine, we need to accept that this may never be achieved.

First, COVID-19 is a coronavirus. The common cold is caused by many coronaviruses. We know that in general, coronavirus infections do not result in long-lasting immunity. This means people can be re-infected. There has never been a successful vaccine for the common cold.

Second, scientists have been unable to produce a vaccine for the coronaviruses that cause Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), which caused lethal outbreaks in 2003 and 2012 respectively.

23

W: What Is the R-Value?

Infected patient woman with face mask lying in bed at disease treatment room, doctor wearing protective clothing take care of the sick in quarantine at hospital

R is a measure of how many people will become infected if one person has the virus.

If R is 1, this means the outbreak is standing still.

If R is greater than 1, the virus is spreading more rapidly.

If R is less than 1, the virus is dying out.

Data from the initial outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, suggested an R of 5.7. In the UK on June 19th, the government reported an R of 0.7-0.9. At this level, viral spread is thought to be under control.

In the USA, R values for each state were published on July 9. R varies between 0.85 in Connecticut to 1.36 in Montana.

24

X: XX Chromosomes

Social Distancing Woman in city street wearing surgical mask against disease virus SARS-CoV-2.

Early in the pandemic, New Scientist reported that men were more likely to get severe COVID infection and to die from it.

In December 2019, The Lancet described the first 99 people admitted to hospital with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China. Twice as many men were admitted as women, and 75% of deaths were in males.

The exact reasons for this are still not entirely clear. However:

The genes for the immune response are on the X chromosome. (Women have two X chromosomes and men only have one.)

In China, male smokers far outnumber female smokers. Only 5% of women smoke. Smokers are more susceptible to COVID-19 infection.

Women's bodies produce estrogen and progesterone, which may have a positive effect on the immune system.

Men may be less hygienic than women, the study authors suggested.

25

Y: You

Man Holding Medical Face Mask in Front of Face

Certain risk factors make you more susceptible to being infected with COVID-19 and having a more severe infection.

Age: Risk increases with advancing years. In the UK, retirees are 34 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than people of working age. Almost one-third of UK COVID deaths have been in people living in residential care homes.

Medical conditions: The following conditions increase your risk of contracting COVID: Obesity, type-2 diabetes, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), kidney disease, sickle cell disease, and being immunocompromised.

Some other medical conditions may also be significant, but the evidence is less strong (e.g. asthma, pregnancy, and smoking). For a list of these medical conditions, visit the CDC website.

If you have any of the risk factors on this list, follow the advice about how to protect yourself even more carefully.

26

Z: Zip Code

Philadelphia Coronavirus Covid-19 Quarantine

Search for COVID details in your area by using the CNN COVID zipcode tracker.

The CDC also publishes a COVID data tracker.

You can track COVID cases around the world using Worldometer.

And to get through this pandemic at your healthiest, don't miss these 35 Places You're Most Likely to Catch COVID.

Dr. Deborah Lee is a medical writer at Dr Fox Online Pharmacy.
McGrady, commissioners exchange thank yous

Chuck McGrady

In a valedictory before the Henderson County Board of Commissioners, state Rep. Chuck McGrady thanked the members of the board he served on for six years and said his service in Raleigh benefited from the relationship he had with local government.



The relationship has been a model one, he said. Ive stayed well informed. I never took action that was going to affect Henderson County without talking to Steve and the commissioners. Moreover, on a personal basis all have become friends."



A former Flat Rock Village Council member, McGrady served on the Board of Commissioners from 2004 until 2010, when he was elected to the state House. After he was appointed to the N.C. Board of Transportation in July, he announced that he would resign from the state House to begin serving.

He noted that Commisssioner Michael Edney, who chaired Wednesday's meeting in the absence of Chairman Grady Hawkins and Vice Chairman Bill Lapsley, was serving as chair when he first moved to Flat Rock in the early 1990s.

Charlie Messer  I miss his being here," McGrady said. "Truth be known, hes the only public official I got into almost a physical altercation with. I think Steve called a deputy in to step between us. And Charlie and I within a few weeks were back to our normal relationship. He did not elaborate on what the dispute was about.

McGrady first won election to the board when he defeated Grady Hawkins in a Republican primary in 2004.

He and I did not have a lot to agree upon early in our career but as we both are about to leave the stage that has really changed," he said. "Any number of people have noticed that these things have a way of working out."

He praised the working relationship he had with County Manager Steve Wyatt.

At every point youve given me really solid advice," McGrady said. "Its been a pretty successful five terms because Ive stayed close to local government, particularly this one. So thank you for making me and helping me be successful and I look forward to my new role in working for Henderson County and Western North Carolina."

Commissioners in turn thanked McGrady for his 10 years of service in the General Assembly.

"Youve been an inspiration to me," Edney said. Youve been a great leader for this community. Youve done well for the county, youve always been there for us.

Any time I picked up the phone and called you, you were there to answer a question and always willing to be there," Rebecca McCall said. "I appreciate the efforts you made to try to help the camps get back open. I really appreciate your passion for that. Ten years, she said, is a long time to drive back and forth to Raleigh.

I appreciate your demeanor and your approach," said Daniel Andreotta, who served in the Rotary Club with McGrady. "Youre approachable. You are an asset and resource and Im glad youre still around.

Wyatt noted that McGrady had influenced many positive changes in the county both as a county commissioner and state House member.

The building were in now is one example of Chuck McGradys leadership and the difference hes made in this county, he said. You can go around this county and there are fingerprints of Chuck McGrady. Weve had some very serious times and weve had some very light-hearted times. I really appreciate not only your service and impact youve had but your friendship.
ISAIAH DUNN IS MY HERO

By Kelly J. Baptist

IKENGA

By Nnedi Okorafor

Many children around the world, Black children in particular, live in the shadow of death and violence. In America theyre all too soon turned into dangerous or delinquent adults in the eyes of those with the power to destroy them. For these children, lighthearted narratives that dont acknowledge this reality can feel exclusionary.

In Kelly J. Baptists inventive and heartfelt debut novel, Isaiah Dunn Is My Hero, this dynamic is masterfully depicted. After Isaiah pushes a girl who tripped him, the principal asks, Anything happening at home that you need to talk about? Isaiah, reeling from his fathers sudden death and his mothers alcoholism as his family slides into homelessness, shakes his head. No home, so nothing to talk about, he thinks. The principal suspends him.

Isaiahs one comfort is his fathers notebook, which tells the story of a superhero Isaiah Dunn who gets his powers from eating beans and rice. Baptist makes the telling choice not to show or quote from this story. We learn about the father only through Isaiahs poems, Isaiahs voice, Isaiahs struggle to be the man of the house. Isaiah wishes he had superpowers like his alter ego; instead, he eats beans and rice night after night because its all his mother can afford. He sweeps up in a barbershop so he can make money to help out. In one of the novels most affecting scenes, the barbershop owner sits Isaiah down: Its not your job to be your dad, he says. You being Isaiah is enough. Isaiah is a bright soul nurtured by his community. In the end, he finds his power because hes allowed to remain a child and grow into the man he will become.

Ikenga, the powerhouse speculative fiction writer Nnedi Okorafors middle grade debut, is a propulsive, juju-filled novel set in a fictional Nigerian town. A year after 12-year-old Nnamdis police chief fathers murder, his killer has yet to be found, and Nnamdis mother is barely getting by selling tapioca. Then Nnamdi sees his fathers ghost, who gives him a figurine called an Ikenga, which means place of strength. Suddenly Nnamdi is seven feet tall, with skin as dark as the night and a deep, menacing voice.
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San Francisco, 16 Sep 2020: The Report Homeland Security Market Analysis By Type (Aviation, Maritime, Border, Critical Infrastructure, Cyber, CBRN and Mass Transit) And Segment Forecasts To 2024

The global homeland security market size is expected to reach USD 452.46 billion by 2024 according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Technological advances in homeland security across the globe are expected to drive the market over the forecast period. Asia Pacific is anticipated to witness considerable growth owing to the advancements across emerging economies such as China and India. Currently, police modernization along with tackling terrorism is the largest growing segments in India with the increasing annual spending.

Manufacturers in the homeland security market are increasingly adopting mergers & acquisitions as a part of their growth strategy. For example, in 2015, Harris Corporation acquired Exelis Inc., which brings a strong portfolio of complementary technologies. The acquisition also significantly enhances the companys position as one of the primary provider of mission-critical solutions while expanding channels and product offerings to the growing customer base.

The Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency (HSARPA), established by the Homeland Security Act of 2002, supports fundamental research to create revolutionary changes in new capabilities, technologies and risk & threat assessments for the Homeland Security Enterprise (HSE). It uses modernization and innovation for scientific progress and produces front-line products. These products support DHS components such as the U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Customs and Borders Protection, the U. S. Coast Guard, and the Transportation Security Administration.

Access Research Report of Homeland Security Market @ https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/homeland-security-market

Further key findings from the report suggest:

Cyber security is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of over 5.5% from 2016 to 2024, owing to the increasing number of cyber crimes and rising privacy concerns. Cyberspace and its essential infrastructure are vulnerable to a wide range of risk increasing from both physical and cyber threats & hazards.

The maritime segment accounted for over 8% of overall revenue share in 2015, which is expected to grow over the forecast period. It has become critical due to the rising number of maritime threats, sabotage, piracy and unlawful acts. During recent years, maritime terrorism has drawn considerable attention in the marine sector. Incidents of maritime terrorism are very few as compared to piracy. However, it attracts more media attention due to the involvement of greater loss of life, property and consequential economic losses.

Aviation segment is expected to witness substantial growth at CAGR of nearly 5% over the period of 2015 to 2024. Airport safety has undergone enormous transformations after the terrorist activities across the globe. Also, it has endured significant improvements regarding protection. Several airports such as ODG (Paris), Munich, Chhatrapati Shivaji Airport (India) and Narita (Tokyo) are the examples of the change in airport protection technologies.

Stringent government guide lines worldwide are expected to regulate the global homeland security market over the future. North America dominated the industry contributing to over 25% of the global revenue in 2015. The presence of several prominent homeland safety solutions manufacturers in the region is expected to generate high demand over the forecast period.

Key industry participants include FLIR Systems Inc.,Elbit Systems Ltd., General Dynamics Corporation, L-3 Communications Holding Inc., Harris Corporation, Megal Security Systems Ltd., Safran SA, Raytheon Company, Thales SA and Unisys Corporation. Manufacturers are steadily adopting innovative production techniques to gain a competitive advantage over others.

Browse more reports of this category by Grand View Research at: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry/network-security-software-and-services

Grand View Research has segmented the global homeland security market on the basis of application, type and region:

Homeland Security Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2015 - 2024)

Aviation security

Maritime security

Border security

Critical infrastructure security

Cyber security

CBRN security

Mass transit security

Others

Homeland Security Regional Outlook (USD Billion, 2015 - 2024)

North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

RoW

Access Press Release of Homeland Security Market @ https://www.grandviewresearch.com/press-release/global-homeland-security-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
Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) Marcel Ciolacu said on Wednesday that instead of directing money from the government's reserve fund to real problems, Prime Minister Ludovic Orban used it to "buy mayors or parliamentarians".

"No county seat municipality run by a PSD mayor has received any money. We are not talking about Orban's money, we are not talking about President Iohannis' money or about the normal Romania that President Iohannis promised us. We are talking about our money - both mine, and yours, which is temporarily managed by the Prime Minister of Romania - which, instead of directing it to the real problems of Romanians and the priorities of Romanians, he used to buy mayors or parliamentarians," Marcel Ciolacu told a press conference.

He reiterated that the decision by which the money was allocated will be challenged by the PSD in the administrative contentious court, and the local administrations led by the Social Democrats will receive money at the budget revision.

"We will try to correct this in Parliament, but we are talking about a government decision. We have in Parliament the revision draft, where we will correct this anomaly made by Orban, and as regards the government decision, we will attack it in in the administrative contentious court. It is unacceptable, I repeat, no one has dared this. I think that if he had been a PSD prime minister, he would have been arrested at the government meeting. Forgetting that the pandemic is everywhere in the country, that it does not take into account the political color, as evidenced by today's record and the mayors's concern. No one has ever done such a thing in Romania. Except in President Iohannis's normal Romania," the PSD leader stressed.
(Photo : Dan Kitwood/Getty Images) LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 25: In this photo illustration the Social networking site Facebook is reflected in the eye of a man on March 25, 2009 in London, England. The British government has made proposals which would force Social networking websites such as Facebook to pass on details of users, friends and contacts to help fight terrorism. (Photo : Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 11: Facebook co-founder, Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies before the House Energy and Commerce Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill April 11, 2018 in Washington, DC. This is the second day of testimony before Congress by Zuckerberg, 33, after it was reported that 87 million Facebook users had their personal information harvested by Cambridge Analytica, a British political consulting firm linked to the Trump campaign.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is looking at filing antitrust lawsuit against social media giant Facebook on acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp, which the agency approved in 2019.

According to an Engadget report, the agency may revisit past deals, despite giving green light on these transactions. This was after it investigated on tech giants' anticompetitive practices when the Congress had an antitrust hearing in July.

One of the highlights of the antitrust hearing in July, which was also attended by the CEOs of Google and Amazon, was when congressmen showed Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's internal email communication between Facebook's top executives boasting about plotting out a 'land grab' on rivals and their plans to "neutralize a potential competitor." Democratic Representative Joe Neguse accused Facebook of running a monopoly in the tech market as he read from the emails.

Zuckerberg was grilled on the company's $1 billion Instagram acquisition as well as slammed for saying that Facebook can always "buy any competitive startups," although he said he does not remember writing such email.

While both the FTC and Facebook declined to comment, the Wall Street Journal noted that it is only standard for the antitrust enforcers to prepare a lawsuit as part of its investigation, but filing a case would need at least three votes between FTC's five commissioners.

However, the New York Times reported in July said it would be "virtually impossible" for the FTC to finish the investigation within 2020. In case the agency decides to file a case against Facebook, the court process may take years. If Facebook loses the antitrust case, the worst case scenario is that it may be forced to close parts of its business.

Meanwhile, Facebook currently faces an antitrust investigation by a group of attorneys general led by New York's Letitia James.

Zuckerberg on Facebook's acquisitions

"Our acquisitions have helped drive innovation for people who use our own products and services and for the broader startup community," Zuckerberg said in his five-page statement that he prepared for the antitrust hearing. The CEO also supported a "strong and consistent competition" policy that ensures a level playing field. "We believe in values -- democracy, competition, inclusion, and free expression -- that the American economy was built on," Zuckerberg wrote in the statement.

For years, Facebook has become one of the most powerful social media platforms worldwide, but calls to close it began last year after one of the company's founders, Chris Hughes, published an article in The New York Times. Hughes outlined how the social media giant becomes a threat to democracy by acquiring its competitions like messaging and social media apps like WhatsApp and Instagram.

During the hearing, Rep. Pramila Jayapal downplayed Zuckerberg's statement and asked whether Facebook has ever tried to clone other company's technologies while acquiring the company. However, Zuckerberg simply said "no."

Meanwhile, the CEO pushes for more regulations over privacy, data portability, and other vital issues, instead of breaking up the company.

Read also: Mark Zuckerberg's 'Monopoly' Plan Exposed: Emails Boasting Plot to Buy Instagram and Rivals Shown in the Congress Hearing

This is owned by Tech Times

Written by CJ Robles

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
STEPANAKERT, SEPTEMBER 16, ARMENPRESS. Artsakhs Foreign Minister released a comment in connection with the recent complaint of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry submitted to the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmen, in which an attempt was made to present the move of several Lebanese Armenian families to the Republic of Artsakh as a violation of the norms of international humanitarian law, the MFA told Armenpress.

Armenpress presents the full text of the comment:

The authorities of the Republic of Artsakh consider it their duty to render assistance to the compatriots who have found themselves in a critical situation caused by various disasters and crises. Moreover, responding to humanitarian disasters is the collective responsibility of the entire international community, part of which is the Republic of Artsakh, regardless of its temporarily unrecognized political status. By sending humanitarian assistance to Lebanon and providing shelter to those who have lost their homes as a result of the devastating explosion in Beirut, official Stepanakert makes its feasible contribution to the common efforts of the international community to implement humanitarian ideals.

The authorities of the Republic of Artsakh are interested in preserving the Armenian community of Lebanon, but at the same time, within the framework of their sovereign right, they will provide the necessary support to those of our compatriots who are in trouble and who will choose to come and settle in our Republic.

The repeated attempts of the Azerbaijani side to present the provision of shelter by the authorities of Artsakh to the people caught in a humanitarian catastrophe as a violation of the norms of international humanitarian law testify not only to a tendentious interpretation of international documents, but also to a perverted comprehension of humanism in general. Throughout the entire conflict and the process of its settlement, the Azerbaijani authorities have demonstrated an open disregard for humanitarian issues, using them only for their own sake, as a screen to cover up their true indecent goals. This is evidenced by the cynical neglect for over three decades of the rights of about half a million Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan, whose expulsion was accompanied by massacres and brutal pogroms, but official Baku still stubbornly refuses to recognize the responsibility for their tragic fate.

We consider it unacceptable that the victims of the humanitarian catastrophe in Beirut become a target of attacks and a subject of political speculations for the Azerbaijani authorities. We reaffirm that the authorities of the Republic of Artsakh will continue to render the necessary assistance to all our compatriots who have found themselves in a difficult situation in their places of residence.
Here is a list of resources for people who have been displaced by wildfires in our area and people who want to donate money, goods or services to help:

Benton County Wildfire Response: Visit https://bentoncountywildfireresponse.recovers.org/ for resources for wildfire victims and for those who wish to help them.

Displaced animal database: Thousands of Oregonians, their livestock and their other animals are displaced following the devastating wildfires. Many shelters, private groups and citizens are now housing these animals, some of which do not have known owners. While some of these groups are advertising lost animals on their websites or social media, it can be difficult for the public to know where to look. The Oregon Department of Agriculture has created an online database and website to help. The ODA Animal Tracker, https://oda.direct/AnimalTrack, is meant to assist Oregonians looking for animals displaced during the wildfires. This tracker is not intended to replace existing systems already in place at county animal shelters. In order to make the database work, animal shelters, private citizens and groups caring for animals without known owners can email ODA with information and photos. That information will be added to the database and continuously updated. Therefore, owners are asked to visit often if they dont see their animals listed. If you are caring for animals without a known owner, you can have the animals listed by emailing ODA at animaltrack@oda.state.or.us. The email must include the following information: shelter name and location; shelter phone number; shelter email address; location where animal was found (as much detail as known); species; color; sex; and picture(s) of animals. Livestock photos should show left side, right side, face/head and identifying marks such as brands, scars or ear tags. Pet photos should show the left side, right, face/head and back. If the shelter, citizen or group does not have the means to collect and email this information, call ODAs Brand Inspection program at 503-986-4685 to request help. It is important to remember that it against the law to keep found livestock. If assistance is needed to verify ownership of livestock, call ODA to request the assistance of the local brand inspector (503-986-4685). County shelter links can also be found on the ODA Animal Tracker for owners to search. County shelters will be responsible for ensuring ownership of animals discharged from their shelter.

Distribution site: Items for wildfire evacuees are available at the Benton County Fairgrounds, 110 SW 53rd St., Corvallis.

Donate or volunteer to help evacuees: Visit https://oregonrecovers.communityos.org.

Donation site closed: The donation site for wildfire relief supplies at the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library closed as of 5 p.m. Monday. Within the first two days of the site being opened, the county had reached capacity on certain donated items, such as pet food and hay. Donations are being sorted, inventoried and transported to the Benton County Fairgrounds, where a distribution site is open to all wildfire evacuees.

Donations for victims: One way way to support fire-stricken communities is to provide financial donations to relief organizations actively responding to these disasters. For verified disaster relief organizations, refer to Oregon Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster at www.orvoad.org.

Donations for victims: Those interested in helping those who have been displaced and severely impacted by the recent fires can contribute to the Linn County Wildland Fire Victims Fund. Contributions will be used for hotel vouchers and medical needs. Checks can be mailed to the fund in care of the Linn County Fair and Expo Center, 3700 Knox Butte Road E., Albany, OR 97322, or in care of the Linn County Treasurer, PO Box 100, Albany, OR 97321. Checks also can be dropped off at the expo center. Checks must include the words "Linn County."

Find and reunite loved ones: Oregon Emergency Management urges the public to update information on their status with the American Red Cross. Let loved ones know you are safe at the American Red Cross Safe and Well Website. State emergency managers encourage people affected by the fires, whether or not they have evacuated, to register on the site. It is a helpful tool that can bring relief to people looking for loved ones during these fires, and help inform search efforts. Visit https://safeandwell.communityos.org/cms/index.php.

Food and water for wildfire victims: To donate food, water and other items, reach out to your local food pantry to see if they are able to receive donations. Find food pantries at https://foodfinder.oregonfoodbank.org/.

GoFundMe fundraisers for wildfire victims: More than 60 verified fundraisers have been started for Oregon residents affected by the fires. All of them have been added to GoFundMe's centralized hub: https://www.gofundme.com/c/act/oregon-fires.

Health Care Heroes Relief Fund: This fund supports Oregon hospital workers who are or become victims of the wildfires. All donations to the fund will be tax-deductible as allowed under law. To donate, visit www.orhealthfund.org.

Information about donating, volunteering, packing and emergency response agency websites: Visit wildfire.oregon.gov.

Meals for evacuees: Its On Us Corvallis is partnering with local restaurants, farmers and other producers to provide meals to displaced Oregon residents. Several local restaurant owners are showing community support to neighbors displaced by the fires. IOU is dedicated to reimbursing expenses to whatever extent possible, in an effort to help recoup some lost revenue from yet another economic blow. IOU is asking for donations to support the businesses and producers that participate in donating these meals to evacuees. Donations can be made at https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/itsonuscorvallis. To stay up to date on meal distributions, follow Its On Us Corvallis on social media.

Shelter for wildfire victims: The American Red Cross has temporary shelters available throughout Western Oregon. For a list of temporary shelters, go to websitehttps://www.redcross.org/get-help/disaster-relief-and-recovery-services/find-an-open-shelter.html.

Supplies for wildfire evacuees: The Vina Moses Center in Corvallis is distributing free clothing, cots, blankets, household goods and other items to people displaced by Oregons wildfires. The center, located at 968 NW Garfield Ave., will be open 9:30 a.m. to noon today through Friday for evacuees only. Evacuees and others in need can also make an appointment to come by between 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. those days by calling 541-753-1420. To help people forced to leave their homes by wildfires, the center is also accepting donations of clothing, bedding, household goods and so forth, as well as monetary contributions. The cash will go to cover immediate needs such as gas, groceries, pet food and motel pet fees. Any leftover contributions will go to the centers FISH program, which provides short-term assistance for local families at risk of becoming homeless. For additional information, see the organizations website at https://www.vinamoses.org/.

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The Midland County Clerk's office on Tuesday released an official list of candidates for positions in local county and township governance for the Nov. 3 general election.

At the county level, the race for drain commissioner is contested between Republican Joe Sova and Democrat Calvin Wentworth, both of Midland.

Democrat Brandon Sims will be challenging incumbent Republican Eric Dorrien for the position of county commissioner for District #6. All other candidates for Midland County Board of Commissioners positions are uncontested.

Township races

The race for Edenville Township supervisor will be contested between Terrance Hall Jr., R-Sanford, and Jennifer Page, supervisor, D-Hope.

The race for Geneva Township treasurer will be contested between Joseph Grabowski, D-Coleman, and Nancy Robison, R-Coleman.

The race for two trustee positions in Jasper Township will be contested between Roxanne Gibson, R-St. Louis, Deric Wright, R-Breckenridge and James Mulder, who has no listed party affiliation.

The race for the four trustee positions in Jerome Township will be contested between Gil Bernier, R-Sanford; Mark Green, D-Sanford; Lee Fellows, D-Sanford; Steve Rice, R-Sanford; and Sarah Jo Rowley, with no party affiliation. The race for constable will be contested between Robert McNett and Jerry Cole, both Republicans.

The race for the four trustee positions in Larkin Township will be contested between Jill Deitsch, Todd Draves, Karen Hitchcock and Daniel Owens  all Republicans from Midland  and Karen Johnson with no party affiliation.

The race for Lee Township treasurer will be contested between Jessica Barber, R-Midland, and William Stewart, D-Sanford. The race for the two trustee positions will be contested between Lawrence Henry, R-Midland; Darla Rippee, R-Midland; and George Whittington, D-Midland.

The race for the two trustee positions in Porter Township will be contested between Donald Anger, D-Breckenridge; Nancy McCallum, R-Breckenridge; and Duane Wayer, R-Breckenridge.

City council

In the City of Midland, Pam Hall and Jeremy Rodgers will be contesting for the Ward #1 Midland City Council seat, while Steve Arnosky and Matt Rapanos will be competing for the Ward #3 seat.

School board

For the Midland Public Schools School Board, candidates for two open seats for a four-year term include incumbent Lynn Baker, John Hatfield, Kurt Yockey and Betsy Diegel. Candidates for two open seats for a six-year term include Tiffany Torain, along with incumbents Brad Blasy and Scott McFarland.

State and federal races

The race for 98th District state representative will be between Republican incumbent Annette Glenn and Democrat Sarah Schulz, both of Midland.

The race for the two-year term of 4th District congressional representative will be run between incumbent John Moolenaar, R-Midland; Jerry Hilliard, D-Mount Pleasant; Libertarian David Canny and Green Party candidate Amy Slepr.

The race for the six-year term as Michigan's U.S. Senator will be run between incumbent Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Township; John James, R-Livonia; U.S. Taxpayers candidate Valerie Willis, of Gaylord; Green Party candidate Marcia Squier, of Sterling Heights; and Natural Law candidate Doug Dern, of Highland.

The race for U.S. president will be contested between Republican incumbent Donald Trump, Democrat Joseph Biden, Libertarian Jo Jorgensen, U.S. Taxpayers candidate Don Blankenship, Natural Law candidate Rocky De La Fuente and Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins.

An upcoming edition of the Midland Daily News will feature a preview for Nov. 3 election proposals.

Absentee ballots

Prospective voters can visit Michigan.gov/Vote to verify they are registered to vote, or to register online. Voters seeking an absentee ballot can use the website to have their ballot sent to them, or an absentee ballot can be obtained from a voter's local township or city clerk.

According to the Michigan.gov, people can return their absentee ballots to their clerk's office beginning Sept. 24.

According to the State of Michigan, voters should allow at least two weeks for their ballot to be received by their clerk if sending it in by mail. Midland County Clerk Ann Manary said absentee ballots must be returned to local clerks by 7 p.m. election day.

"Most (offices) have drop-boxes  we basically take the whole mailing issue out of play," Manary said.

For voters considering requesting an absentee ballot, Manary said the best practice would be to request the ballot early, and return it early. Voters can also take their ballots to their local city or township office directly, she suggested.

If you are going to vote by mail, make sure your ballot envelope has the correct postage before dropping your ballot in the mail.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A 34-year-old man died after being shot in the chest late Tuesday afternoon in New Brighton, police said.

The incident was the third shooting reported on the North Shore in less than two days.

The latest incident was reported on Jersey Street near Crescent Avenue just after 5 p.m., according to the NYPD.

The victim, whose identity was not released, was taken to Richmond University Medical Center in West Brighton, where he was pronounced dead, marking the 13t homicide on Staten Island so far this year.

The gunman fled north on Jersey Street in a black sedan, police said.

Police did not release the identity of the man as of Tuesday night.

The incident occurred just feet away from the home of Prince Edmonds, 21, who was shot to death Monday in Mariners Harbor. A memorial was set up there in his honor.

A large number of police officers and detectives were at the location, knocking on doors.

Police investigate on Jersey Street in New Brighton after a reported shooting. (Staten Island Advance/Irene Spezzamonte)

Earlier Tuesday, Sean Dallas, 29, of Brooklyn, was shot to death at Grandview Avenue and Arlington Place in Mariners Harbor at about 8:45 a.m.

Dallas was killed in front of his children following a road rage incident.

At 1 p.m. on Monday, Prince Edmonds was gunned down on the 3000 block of Richmond Terrace. Detectives were probing whether it was gang-related.

Police respond to Richmond Terrace and Lockman Avenue in Mariners Harbor Monday, where Prince Edmonds was shot dead. (Staten Island Advance/Kyle Lawson)

SHOOTINGS ON S.I. THIS YEAR

There have been 27 shooting incidents on Staten Island through Sept. 13, according to the latest NYPD CompStat data, up 92% from the 14 shootings through the same time period in 2019.

Most of the shootings this year took place in June and July.

This latest bout of bloodshed comes after a quiet August in terms of gunfire, as Staten Island was the only borough in the city to post a decline in shootings year-over-year that month.

Police respond after a 29-year-old man was shot to death on Grandview Avenue in Mariners Harbor on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel)

A recent string of arrests, coupled with an ongoing push by civilian-led mediation groups working to prevent disputes from turning violent were appearing to have made a difference.

From Aug. 1 to Sept. 11, police made 18 gun-related arrests across the borough, compared to 12 during the same time period in 2019. The recent busts include eight in the 120th Precinct and seven in the 121st Precinct  the two precincts where a majority of the violence has occurred.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 20:53:22|Editor: huaxia

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MOGADISHU, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- At least seven al-Shabab fighters were killed in fierce fighting with Somali National Army (SNA) in the southern town of Awdhigle in Lower Shabelle, a military commander said on Wednesday.

SNA commander for section 66 Ahmed Maslah said the army clashed with the militants, injuring several of them during the gun battle.

"We have killed seven al-Shabab militants in the fighting. We also removed landmines which the militants placed along Awdhigle road," Maslah said.

The commander added the forces later pursued other militants who ran towards the forest.

The government forces have intensified security operations in the recent past against al-Shabab extremists in the southern regions. Enditem
Bramptons tough stance on illegal gatherings and other emergency-measures violations has led to 59 summonses being issued for people now liable for penalties of up to $100,000 for COVID-19 breaches.

The city has issued 744 tickets  59 of which will now see the final punishment decided by the courts  since the lockdown started, compared to neighbouring Mississauga, where 344 fines were handed out over the same time frame. In both cities, people hosting residential gatherings accounted for most of the fines.

Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown said his city, which accounts for more than half of the 8,427 cases in Peel as of Sept. 16, had to come down hard on some of the most egregious violations, after the community made headlines for being a hub for people hosting large bashes, one of which attracted an estimated 200 people in July and another where police were called to a shooting that same weekend.

I would note that the last 30 days we have not had to issue many tickets as there has been a high degree of compliance, Brown said Wednesday. When we had the initial fines, it had a chilling effect and it caused people to stop.

In some cases in Brampton, bylaw officers had initially issued $880 fines at the scene for failure to comply with an emergency order, but later opted to withdraw those penalties in favour of heavier fines that require a summons and a court date. Fines for summons can range up to $100,000 and are at the discretion of the Justice of the Peace.

Its now up to the Justice of the Peace to make the determination, based on the evidence provided, whether its a fine thats worth $500 or up to $100,000, said JP Maurice, Bramptons manager of bylaw enforcement, told the Star last month.

Brampton officials said the city issued nearly twice as many warnings as tickets. Brown said the majority of the citys 285 residential breaches were neighbourhood social gatherings and not the large bashes seen earlier in the summer. (Roughly 228 businesses were also fined.)

The province has hinted at lowering permitted gathering sizes, a move that prompted Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie to plead with Peel residents to limit their social interactions before the region is forced to lose gains made.

Avoid large groups and dont look for reasons to fill up your social calendar, Crombie said Wednesday. I have asked the premier to look closely at the unique challenges that Peel faces, in terms of whats driving our numbers such as social gatherings, when devising his plan of action.

Mississauga spokesperson Carley Smith DeBenedictis said that we reserve summonses for the most egregious offenders and have not seen the large-scale parties that Brampton has experienced. There was a significant decrease in charges after Aug. 10 as Mississauga moved into Stage Three, which let most businesses reopen and raised the limit on gatherings to 50 people indoors and 100 outdoors, she added Wednesday.

For those incidents not headed to court, fines issued on site in Peel ranged from $180 for face-coverings bylaw breaches to $1,130 for violation of provisions in the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act.

To date, Brampton has accounted for 94 of the Peel regions 326 COVID-19 deaths. There were 58 new cases on Sept. 16 compared to 39 new cases reported in Peel the day before.

Jason Miller is a Toronto-based reporter for the Star covering crime and justice in the Peel Region. His reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative. Reach him on email: jasonmiller@thestar.ca or follow him on Twitter: @millermotionpic

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After a 31-year career in the Sterling Heights Fire Department, Fire Chief Christopher Martin has announced his retirement.

Martin, the citys fire chief since 2012, will step down effective Sept. 30.

I have been extremely honored to serve the residents of this great community for over 31 years, Martin said. When I joined the department, it had a great reputation, and it still does today. Thats a testament to all the exceptional employees who have been or still are a part of this great team, and I know they will continue to make the city proud for years to come.

Martin, 53, rose through the ranks of the Sterling Heights Fire Department, from paramedic to lieutenant in 2000, captain in 2007, battalion chief in 2011, interim fire chief in 2012 before being confirmed as the new chief by the city council in 2012.

On behalf of the city council and myself, I thank Chief Martin for his many years of service and the drive and passion he brought to the department, resulting in the top-notch reputation of our fire department and, ultimately, the safety of our residents, Sterling Heights Mayor Michael Taylor said. I wish him all the best in his retirement.

According to the city, under Martins leadership the fire department enjoyed a number of achievements, including:

* An outstanding response time of, on average, five minutes for every call, excellent safety procedures and low injury rates

* A financially sustainable ALS Transportation Services model

* Peer and behavioral health support options for firefighters involved in traumatic incidents

* An improvement in ISO score from 4 to 2, which is among the best in the state and has resulted in lower homeowner insurance premiums

* Development of a succession plan that resulted in the seamless hiring of more than 50 new firefighters over the past few years

* Two successful Safe Streets millage elections resulting in more than 20 firefighter positions being retained

* Facility improvements including new parking lots, new roofs and equipment replacements at all fire stations

* Implementation of the highly popular Survival Coin Program to better educate the community on cardiac arrest, stroke and similar emergency incident survival tactics

* City assistance for disaster relief in various events across the country

* Consolidated dispatch services with the county which saved millions of dollars while retaining sworn police and fire positions

* The citys first ever Knox box system for all businesses and, in some cases, residential homes

* Receipt of a SAFER grant along with numerous other state and federal grants totaling more than $3 million in just the past few years alone

Martin also played a lead role in the development of the Macomb County Technical Rescue Team, serving as the team leader for more than 12 years. He played a lead role in the development of Michigan Task Force 1, the states only urban search and rescue team, currently serving as a task force leader. He served two terms as president of the Macomb County Fire Chiefs Association, and in the city led the effort to raise $20,000 for the service dog named Sterling.

Chief Martins commitment to the safety of this community and dedication to the fire department over his career has been most commendable, City Manager Mark Vanderpool said. Our fire department is recognized throughout the state of Michigan as one of the premier departments in the fire service. Locally, that reputation of excellence is reflected in our residents and businesses showing a 90 percent satisfaction rating with our citys fire and police services. Thats only achievable with excellent leadership from the chief and command personnel, and the fine work of the firefighter/paramedics who protect and serve every day.

According to Vanderpool, Ed Miller, assistant chief, has been named interim chief effective Oct. 1. He will remain in that role until the ongoing recruitment for the next permanent chief is complete.
ROCKVILLE, Md., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- CosmosID announces the official launch of H2Obiome, a testing service for water and wastewater testing for pathogens, including SARS-CoV-2. The first offering is detection of virus in wastewater treatment plants, providing early warning of community COVID-19 outbreaks. Studies have shown that SARS-CoV-2 virus is detectible in sewage approximately one to two weeks before a COVID-19 case is recorded by the health department.

CosmosID is working with Maryland Department of Environment and Frederick County Department of Health to monitor COVID-19 virus in sewage in wastewater treatment plants. Testing sewage from specific buildings, such as dormitories on college campuses, is also proving useful as an early warning system. "Leveraging the best testing methods to determine the microbiome of all types of water offers a powerful knowledge base for combating COVID-19," said Dr. Rita Colwell, Founder and Chairman of CosmosID. This strategy is the foundation of the new H2OBiome testing service.

H2Obiome is the first COVID-19 wastewater test with guaranteed rapid turnaround time. CosmosID CEO Manoj Dadlani referred to ease of sampling and speed of results as the two main problems solved by the H2Obiome wastewater testing service. "To make the service user friendly, our clients are provided sampling kits with instructions for collecting, preserving, and safely shipping the sample to the laboratory. Actionable and accurate results are returned quickly with our new guaranteed turnaround time program that can even provide same day results!" Prices start at $300 per sample and go up based on turnaround time needs and the level of volume commitment.

Testing utilizes qRT-PCR to measure SARS-CoV-2 ORF1ab and N gene copy numbers. The data are employed to monitor levels of the virus, with an uptick serving as indication of the need for rapid introduction of corrective measures to ensure public health.

The H2Obiome testing service offers cost savings, especially for municipalities, universities, and colleges facing the daunting task of reopening. Wastewater surveillance provides a means of localized early warning. Universities and colleges across the country currently employ CosmosID's H2Obiome testing service to augment COVID-19 testing of individual students. Turnaround time for human COVID-19 testing can range from a day to weeks. The data wastewater testing provides is actionable, hence beneficial to a municipality, university, or college.

Institutions currently using the H2Obiome testing service are located in Florida, California, Ohio, Maryland, and across the US.

For more information, please visit www.H2Obiome.com

About CosmosID

CosmosID, based in Rockville, Maryland, is a genomics big data company focused on rapid identification of microorganisms for molecular diagnostics, clinical trials, public health, food safety, agriculture, and environmental applications. The CosmosID platform uses proprietary sequence analysis algorithms to accurately profile all microorganisms in a metagenomic sample employing next-generation DNA sequencing. CosmosID was founded in 2008 by Dr. Rita Colwell, former director of the National Science Foundation and currently Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. To learn more please visit www.cosmosid.com.

Contact:

Jon Ryan

703.995.9879

[email protected]

SOURCE CosmosID
Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg of South Dakota claimed hitting a deer on Saturday night while heading home but unexpectedly killed a walker whose body was not discovered until Sunday, as stated by state investigators on Monday.

According to Ravnsborg's office, the attorney general immediately called 911 after the incident on US Highway 14 rural stretch and failed to notice that he hit a man until the dead body was discovered.

On Monday, a statement has been issued by the Department of Public Safety saying Ravnsborg only informed the Hyde County Sheriff's Office that he hit a deer in his car. Tony Mangan, spokesman of the department, would not give a confirmation whether the attorney general has really called the 911, stating it is being investigated, The Washington Post reported.

According to the department, Joseph Boever, the 55-year-old pedestrian who was identified by the authorities, was not found until Sunday morning. According to the victims' relatives, earlier he crashed hit his truck in that area, and he was seemingly walking near the road toward it.

On Sunday, Republican Gov. Kristi Noem disclosed that the attorney general has been involved in a deadly crash and assigned the Department of Public Safety with the investigation, but neither department nor the governor had disclosed any detail.

The investigation of the incident was being participated by the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation. The South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation that is commonly involved is part of the office of the attorney general. It is a common practice to request another agency to investigate when there is a conflict of interest.

Read also: US Blocks Import Good from Xinjiang, Suspected of Being Made with Slave Labor

On the issued statement of the attorney general on Sunday, he said he was dismayed and filled with sorrow after knowing what happened to the 55-year-old pedestrian but also failed to provide some details about the incident. On Monday, Ravnsborg's office said the attorney general has not been drinking before the crash happened.

In a statement by Tim Bormann, Ravnsborg was traveling from a Republican fundraiser in Redfield to his place that is around 110 miles (177 kilometers) away in Pierre. The attorney general was uninjured.

According to CBS, investigators took nearly 22 hours I identifying the body of Boever with a relative, leaving his family frustrated and doubtful, as stated by his cousin Victor Nemec.

On Saturday evening, Boever crashed his truck into a hay bale that was near the road, as stated by Nemec. The 55-year-old victim said he had been trying to reach for some tobacco.

Nemec sent Boever home and had planned to repair the truck on Sunday. Nemec left the 55-year-old after 9 pm. The crash that took Boever's life happened at around 10:30 pm. According to Nemec, there were no signs that his cousin had been drinking.

According to another cousin of the victim, Boever has been living alone after he got separated from his wife, Nick Nemec.

Victor Nemec, the last identified person who has seen Boever alive, uttered that other than answering several brief questions after identifying Boever's body, he has not been questioned by the investigators about what happened.



Related article: 'Ungodly Scream' Heard as Boston University Professor Gets Brutally Crushed by Elevator

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Our mission at Interbit Data is to make healthcare data accessible anytime, anywhere, to empower frontline care workers to deliver safe, high-quality care, says Arthur Young, President and CEO of Interbit Data.

Interbit Data, a leading technology company providing care teams with on-demand access to crucial patient data, will host a webinar on Tuesday, October 20, to share how virtual fax over IP (FoIP) options are revolutionizing the way hospitals and health systems deliver care.

The webinar, Deliver Healthcare Anywhere with Fax over IP, will highlight a case study from one hospital in rural Wyoming that uses Interbit Datas NetFoIP solution (a NetDelivery module) to enable its orthopedic specialists to deliver care to a wider geographic area. Because of NetFoIP, the hospital is able to send orthopedic specialists up to 200 miles away, where they can rent temporary office space, which prevents patients from needing to travel several hours to the hospital for post-surgical follow ups and eliminates the need for a full office setup including costly and cumbersome equipment such as physical printers and fax machines.

Our mission at Interbit Data is to make healthcare data accessible anytime, anywhere, to empower frontline care workers to deliver safe, high-quality care, says Arthur Young, President and CEO of Interbit Data. This case study is a perfect example of that mission, illustrating how NetfoIP enables this rural health system to keep their doors open and helps to extend specialist care to communities who otherwise would lack access. Our products help both patients and businesses and push the boundaries and limitations of healthcare.

Interbit Datas NetDelivery is a HIPAA-compliant report distribution solution that delivers information from hospital healthcare information systems to clinicians and staff, helping hospitals to improve efficiencies, streamline workflows and provide optimal patient service and high-quality care. NetFoIP, a NetDelivery module, provides completely virtualized faxing, enabling hospitals to improve operational efficiency, remove hardware constraints, and create automatic fail-over configurations. NetFoIP provides software-enabled fax over IP (FoIP) without requiring an existing voice over IP (VoIP) network or phone system. NetFoIP allows hospitals to:



Transmit IP-enabled faxes even without Voice over IP (VoIP)

Remove or consolidate fax machines and modems, reducing equipment and maintenance costs and eliminating hardware failures

Manage all incoming faxes in Microsoft Windows directories using NetFoIPs optional Inbound Fax Client

Hospitals and health system leaders, healthcare IT vendors, industry consultants and members of the media are invited to attend the upcoming webinar:

Webinar: Deliver Healthcare Anywhere with Fax over IP

Date: Tuesday, October 20, 2020

Time: 1:00  1:45 pm ET

Click To Register

About Interbit Data

Interbit Data is an industry leader in data accessibility for hospitals and health systems. Our software solutions ensure secure, reliable access to patient information anytime, anywhere  including at offsite locations, during system downtimes, and even during cyberattacks. With 23+ years in business and more than 700 customers across North America, we are experts at data access and report distribution, empowering you to improve efficiency, streamline workflows, provide optimal patient service and high-quality care, all while meeting federal patient privacy and access requirements. Discover more at interbitdata.com.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-15 23:38:49|Editor: huaxia

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ULAN BATOR, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Tuesday signed two agreements of 3.5 million U.S. dollars to help the country respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and improve the quality of its education, Mongolian Finance Minister Khurelbaatar Chimed said.

The agreements were signed by Chimed and Pavit Ramachandran, ADB's country director for Mongolia.

A total of 1.5 million U.S. dollars of the grant will be spent on purchasing medical devices used to diagnose and treat COVID-19, said Chimed.

The other 2 million U.S. dollars will be used to build four schools and four kindergartens in the Songinokhairkhan district of the Mongolian capital Ulan Bator and three other provinces, namely Darkhan-Uul, Dundgovi and Dornod, to provide disabled children with better access to quality education, according to the finance minister. Enditem
PASA 20 Years of Caring Add a quotableHabitat destruction, wildlife crime and the cruel pet trade mean that sadly, the services PASA members provide are more critical than ever. Thats why, as we look ahead to our next 20 years, were focused on programs that will forge lasting change, leveraging the extensive experience Past News Releases RSS New Data from PASA Illuminates...

Rescued Monkeys arrive at J.A.C.K....

PASA and International Alliance of...

The Pan African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA) celebrates twenty years since being founded in Entebbe, Uganda, in 2000. In that time, thousands of African primates have been rescued from the bushmeat trade, illegal poaching and trafficking, many of them endangered species including chimpanzees and gorillas.

This is an exciting milestone for us, said Gregg Tully, PASA Executive Director. What started as a loose network of sanctuaries doing similar work has grown into an international movement that balances the welfare of each animal with systemic programs to ensure the survival of endangered species far into the future.

Since its founding in 2000, the PASA alliance has:



Rescued and provided care for over 4,000 apes and monkeys

Grown to 23 members in 13 countries

Provided employment to over 800 people, most in African nations

Returned more than $5M to local economies annually

Protected over 150,000 acres as conserved habitat

Were proud that all nine founding members are still part of the alliance, said Michele Stumpe, PASA board chair. This is a testament to the information sharing, training programs, and overall support they receive.

PASA members go through a rigorous accreditation process that can take several years to complete. This covers all facets of running a primate care facility including animal behavior, veterinary care, facilities and enclosures, as well as financial oversight and sustainability.

Running a wildlife center is tough in the best of times, said Joshua Rukundo, Director of Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Uganda. And this year, we face our biggest challenge yet with COVID-19. The emergency support we received from PASA has helped us to keep going through this.

The 23 PASA member wildlife centers, in 13 countries across Africa, face extraordinary threats due to the pandemic. Travel bans have left them without volunteers. Disrupted supply lines mean that getting food and veterinary supplies is precarious. Many organizations have staff sheltering-in-place at the centers rather than leave vulnerable monkeys and apes without care during this time. On top of these issues, PASA members must also take biosecurity measures to protect the animals from possibly contracting the disease.

COVID-19 is just one threat facing primates in Africa, said Tully. Habitat destruction, wildlife crime and the cruel pet trade mean that sadly, the services PASA members provide are more critical than ever. Thats why, as we look ahead to our next 20 years, were focused on programs that will forge lasting change, leveraging the extensive experience of PASA members, and combining it with governmental and non-governmental organizations. This work is not easy, but it must be done to make sure we honor the vision of our founders 20 years ago.
Russia's sovereign wealth fund said on Wednesday it will supply India's Dr. Reddy's Laboratories with 100 million doses of the Sputnik-V vaccine against Covid-19 once it receives regulatory approval in India. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) added that it had agreed to cooperate on clinical trials and the distribution of the vaccine with the Indian firm.
Oregons main firefighting concern is now in Lake County, where new evacuations were issued Tuesday because of the encroaching Brattain wildfire and conditions are ripe for fire growth.

Both the north and south ends of the 40,316-acre Brattain blaze were active Tuesday night, driven by erratic winds, and a red flag warning is in effect for part of Wednesday. Dry and windy conditions may allow new or existing fires to spread rapidly, according to the National Weather Service.

Fire officials have advised anyone who doesnt need to be in the area to leave. Paisley, population 270, is among the areas under a mandatory evacuation order.

Meanwhile, some evacuation levels have dropped in other parts of Oregon. But the states spate of wildfires is far from over.

For example: Clackamas and Jackson counties, along with all of eastern Marion County, remain under some level of evacuation notice.

A shelter inside the Oregon Convention Center for Clackamas County evacuees closed Wednesday night, Multnomah County officials said.

Air quality also remains poor for most places in Oregon, but pockets of cleaner air offer hope for days to come.

Wildfires throughout the state have killed eight people, left 12 more missing, burned about 1 million acres and destroyed 1,616 homes, the Oregon Office of Emergency Management said Wednesday.

Here is the latest on the fires. This report will be updated throughout the day Wednesday.

Marion County fires

As the Beachie Creek fire continues to burn in Marion County and scores of residents remain evacuated from their homes in Santiam River canyon, officials warned Wednesday that many areas remain unsafe.

As of Wednesday morning, the Beachie Creek fire had scorched more than 191,000 acres and was 20% contained. Detroit, Idanha, Gates and several smaller towns remain evacuated.

County officials at a Board of Commissioners meeting ran down a daunting list of what needs to happen before residents can return.

As many as 100,000 trees, possibly more, may need to be removed along Oregon 22 and some side roads before the burned areas will be accessible, according to state transportation officials. Marion County Sheriff Joe Kast said he drove up the canyon recently and much of the area is still unsafe due to fallen trees, rocks and the danger of landslides.

Marion County Public Works Director Brian Nicholas said many utilities in the canyon had suffered extensive loss and that, while some areas have spotty cellphone service, service to nearly all land lines has been interrupted and most places had lost their power lines. Water service in Detroit and Gates has been completely knocked out, Nicholas said, though it appeared to be intact in Lyons.

Four people have been killed by the fire and one remains missing.

The Lionshead fire has also grown to 183,744 acres and is now 10% contained.

Clackamas County

Firefighters have also made progress on the Riverside fire, which is now 3% contained  a welcome sign of progress after roughly a week without any containment.

The blaze has grown to 135,956 acres, fire officials said Wednesday. Meanwhile, no measurable precipitation expected to fall in the fire area for several days, according to officials.

Officials announced a reduction in evacuation orders Wednesday afternoon. Oregon City, Canby and Sandy had all evacuation orders lifted. Mollala was downgraded to a Level 1 get ready order and conditions in Estacada improved as well, with evacuation orders dropped to Level 2 get set.

The areas near the Dowty, Unger and Riverside fires remained under Level 3 go evacuation orders and Mt. Hood National Forest was still closed.

Lane County

The Holiday Farm fire has decimated Blue River, where about 800 people live, and ravaged countless other buildings and dwellings along Oregon 126.

State officials on Wednesday said more than 500 homes and other buildings have been destroyed by a wildfire that swept through rural communities along the McKenzie River east of Eugene and Springfield.

Crews have so far assessed 770 structures in the burn area of the Holiday Farm fire, which grew to over 170,000 acres. Its 260-mile perimeter, roughly the length of Portland to Medford, stretches into Lane and Linn counties.

Firefighters have contained about 8 percent of the blaze, which began Sept. 6 along Oregon 126 near the town Blue River, nestled in the foothills of the Cascade mountains, officials said.

The fire grew 849 acres from Tuesday to Wednesday. It now covers a total of 167,422 acres and is 8% contained.

Douglas County

The Archie Creek fire east of Roseburg has grown over 4,100 acres to a total of 125,498 acres. Its now 20% contained. Residents of the Idleyld Park community will be allowed to visit their homes Thursday.

The Thielsen fire near Diamond Lake has grown nearly 1,100 acres to a cumulative 7,778 acres. Its 1% contained.

Jackson County

No growth in the 32,030-acre South Obenchain fire near Medford was reported Wednesday. The blaze remains 20% contained.

Josephine County

The Slater fire, which burned into Oregon from northern California, now covers 137,111 acres and remains 10% contained.

Klamath County

Two new fires started Tuesday in the area of the 14,475-acre Two Four Two fire at Chiloquin, according to fire officials. One grew to five acres; the other grew to over two acres.

Both blazes are under investigation, and crews will keep mopping up and patrolling them Wednesday.

Mopping up is a term that refers to the process of extinguishing or removing burning material near control lines, felling snags and doing other work after an area has burned.

The red flag warning in the Brattain fire area also covers Chiloquin and elsewhere in the region.

The Two Four Two blaze is 21% contained.

Lincoln County

The 2,552-acre Echo Mountain Complex is now 40% contained. The fire did not grow from Tuesday to Wednesday, and some evacuation levels have been downgraded or removed. Some Level 3 evacuation orders remain in effect, however.

The Oregon Department of Transportation has also reopened a stretch of Oregon 18 that had previously been closed. Pilot cars are escorting drivers on a five-mile stretch of the highway, which heads inland from U.S. 101 near Lincoln City.

The western half of the fire got 0.13-0.18 inches of rain Tuesday, while trace amounts of precipitation fell further to the east. The totals are less than firefighters had hoped for.

Firefighters on Wednesday are working to mop up and secure the fire.

Washington County

Investigators have determined an improperly extinguished campfire caused the Chehalem Mountain-Bald Peak fire, which covered 875 acres and was 100% contained Monday.

On Monday, the Oregon Department of Forestry said the Powerline Fire, which led to evacuations near Hagg Lake, was also 100% contained.

View all currently active wildfires in the U.S. on The Oregonian/OregonLives interactive wildfire map.

NEWS UPDATES

4:01 p.m.: The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced that those affected by Oregons wildfires can apply for federal disaster assistance. FEMAs individual assistance program is now available to residents of Clackamas, Douglas, Jackson, Klamath, Lane, Lincoln and Marion counties. Assistance includes grants for temporary housing and home repairs and low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses. To apply for the program, visit DisasterAssistance.gov or call 1-800-621-3362 (FEMA) or TTY 1-800-462-7585 for people with speech and hearing disabilities.

1:10 p.m.: The Bureau of Land Management announced Wednesday that all of the recreation sites it manages in northwest Oregon will remain closed through Sept. 30.

This temporary closure covers the northwestern part of the state, west of the Cascade Range and north from Cottage Grove to the Columbia River. Additional temporary use restrictions are also in place, to prevent additional fire starts, the agency said in a statement.

For more details on the closures, residents were advised to visit the agencys website.

12:45 p.m.: An air quality advisory has been lifted for the Oregon coast, authorities said Wednesday.

Skies at the coast should stay clear through the weekend, according to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and other regional officials.

Officials encourage residents to open their windows and start clearing their indoor air when smoke levels have dropped into moderate and good categories.

An advisory for western Oregon, southwest Oregon and southwest Washington remains in place through the end of the day Thursday. Those areas should see clearing by Friday morning, officials said.

An advisory for the Columbia River Gorge and central Oregon has been extended through Saturday morning. Smoke should clear from those areas by then.

A northeast Oregon advisory has been extended through Saturday evening, and a southeast Oregon advisory will persist through Monday.

11:55 a.m.: Oregon Department of Transportation said workers have stared assessing and repairing roads damaged by wildfires throughout the state. Crews are removing trees and inspecting culverts, bridges, guardrails and pavement.

Information about the work, as well as road closures, can be found on the agencys website.

11:10 a.m.: U.S. Rep. Greg Walden says the Federal Emergency Management Agency is now on the ground in Oregon to help the thousands of people impacted by the massive wildfires that are still burning across the state.

He said state officials have plenty of federal money to immediately provide free hotels rooms or apartments to every family displaced from their homes.

Walden, a Republican from Hood River, represents most of eastern and southern Oregon, including the fire-decimated communities of Phoenix and Talent.

In a conference call with the press Wednesday morning, he noted that the supply of available housing will be tight in some areas, particularly southern Oregon.

In the Phoenix and Talent areas, about 2,700 homes were destroyed. Just 400 new housing units were built in all of Jackson County in 2019, Walden said. Now families need almost seven times that many new homes.

Walden encouraged anyone adversely affected by the wildfires to register with the federal agency by calling 1-800-621-3362 or going online to DisasterAssistance.gov.

9 a.m.: President Donald Trump on Wednesday retweeted a doctored video that shows someone bearing an anti-facist logo starting and fanning a wildfire, lending credence to a false narrative about the destructive and deadly wildfires ravaging the West Coast.

Anti-fascists have not been arrested in connection with wildfires ravaging Oregon, and public officials have asked people to stop spreading the various false rumors claiming this to be the case.

7:20 a.m.: Air quality in the Portland area, along the Interstate 5 corridor and elsewhere ranges from unhealthy to hazardous. But portions of the coast offer cleaner air  a sign of better conditions that are on the way.

The National Weather Service has said hazardous air quality is expected through Thursday for inland valleys. Air quality is expected to improve starting Friday, the agency said, but that improvement could be gradual.

All of Oregon is under an air quality advisory until Thursday, and Portland again has the worst conditions among major cities worldwide. Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia, had the second- and third-worst air quality among major cities early Wednesday.

-- Jim Ryan

jryan@oregonian.com; 503-221-8005; @Jimryan015

Kale Williams, Fedor Zarkhin, Douglas Perry and K. Rambo of The Oregonian/OregonLive contributed to this report.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 19:28:23|Editor: huaxia

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Since July, a new wave of COVID-19 outbreak has hit Hong Kong. The city has launched the Universal Community Testing Program to curb the spread of the virus. At the request of the HKSAR government, the central government dispatched a mainland COVID-19 testing team to assist Hong Kong in the fight against the epidemic.
During one recorded conversation, the senator told Arroyo he was in the twilight of his career and was looking for something to bolster his income, according to the criminal complaint filed against Arroyo in October. Arroyo said he would make sure that youre rewarded for what you do, for what were gonna do moving forward, the complaint alleged.
Before he was a journalist and a novelist, before he was a globe-trotting war correspondent and a historian with an eye for ordinary people that led extraordinary lives, Scott Anderson was a child of the Cold War. His father worked for the State Department, which took the Anderson family to South Korea, Taiwan, and Indonesia. All three countries were located on the new fault lines of the geopolitical struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union, anti-communism and communism, the Yanks and the Reds.

[Find the Book]

As a kid, Anderson watched his father grow disillusioned with his countrys crusade against communism and the folly of the Vietnam War. But Anderson himself didnt fully grasp the contradictions, hubris, and stupidity of the American empires obsession with anti-communism until the spring of 1984, when he watched a young womans body dumped and retrieved with grim efficiency by a group of soldiers on a side street in San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador. At the time, the Reagan administration was backing the right-wing Salvadoran government in its war against leftist rebels, yet another front in the anti-communism campaign. The incident planted a simple question in Andersons mind: How had it come to this?

In his absorbing new book The Quiet Americans: Four CIA Spies at the Dawn of the Cold War  A Tragedy in Three Acts, Anderson answers that question by zeroing in on a critical juncture in time, the dawn of the Cold War from 1944 to 1956, and on four spooks who not just witnessed but shaped history during that period of time. It would be too on the nose to say Andersons book reads like Graham Greenes classic The Quiet American, but Anderson masterfully weaves together the lives of Frank Wisner, a genteel Southerner who climbs the ranks of the CIA only to fall into despair and take his own life after the U.S.s betrayal of revolutionaries in eastern Europe; Ed Lansdale, a CIA legend who has been called the American James Bond and the T.E. Lawrence of Asia; Peter Sichel, a German Jewish refugee who traded currency on the black market to fund covert U.S. operations across Europe; and Michael Burke, a black-ops specialist who directed commando operations behind the Iron Curtain. Each man would meet a different fate, but taken together they capture in vivid detail the early days of the CIA and the origins of the Cold War.

Story continues

The Quiet Americans

But The Quiet Americans book is more than a real-life le Carre tale. By focusing on the post-World War II period and the critical early days of the Cold War, Andersons story raises questions about the rise of American empire and how the trajectory of the 20th and 21st century could have looked so much differently. If FDR had lived even another year, probably what happened in Eastern Europe would have looked quite a bit different, Anderson tells Rolling Stone, referring to the upheaval on the European continent after World War II. I think that Stalin would have responded to FDR. Again, this is a great what if?

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Rolling Stone: Ive read so many end-of-the-Cold-War stories and end-of-World-War-Two stories. But with this time period from 1944 to 1956, I found myself absorbing the history as much as the characters and their stories. How did you come to zero in on this period in not just American history but world history?

Scott Anderson: As I say at the beginning of the book, Im very much a product of the Cold War. It was something I spent a lot of time thinking about growing up. And then seeing the residue of it in war reporting in the 80s and 90s. When did it all start to go south? When did all this get locked into place where there was this stalemate that went on forever and that I think is currently damaging to an American standing around the world?

I was reading some books about FDR while World War II was going and this idea that this was going to be the end of the age of empires, the dismantling of the British and the French empires, and that America was going to be this this kind of beacon of freedom and the spreader of democracy around the world. And then by the early 50s, with the CIA knocking over the regimes in Guatemala and in Iran, there was an incredible turnaround in this 12-year period.

Did you have any of these globe-trotting larger than life characters in mind when you picked this time period?

I always want to write history that focuses on people who are at the front lines or the players in the field rather than the generals or diplomats. When youre talking about the Cold War, the people on the front lines were spies, which kind of works out. Id rather write about spies than accountants. Id heard of Wisner and Id heard of Ed Lansdale. If you read much at all about Vietnam stuff, Lansdale is pretty prominent. But the other two [Sichel and Burke] Id never heard of. I looked at, I dont know, 20, 25 different CIA agents through this period. And invariably there were a lot of guys who did cool stuff for a while, but then went to the State Department or were sitting in the embassy somewhere. Or I couldnt find any paper trail for them. And I really needed that.

And so out of all these people I looked at, I ended up with exactly these four. With Peter Sichel, hes kind of like finding the proverbial chest of letters in the attic sort of thing. Hes still alive, still incredibly sharp, the last surviving member of this generation of the early CIA guys. And had been very prominent. In fact, I probably did eight or nine interviews with him. So he was a real find. It was kind of a treasure hunt.

What I found so fascinating about Frank Wisner is his evolution over the course of the book, from a true believer and early CIA booster to, in the case of Eisenhower and the new look policy, a cautionary voice or a skeptic. The guy asked, Is this right policy? What are we getting ourselves into?

I dont think you could put Wisner in a novel. He starts out as this gung ho guy, the Mighty Wurlitzer he creates, and he just wants to start fires everywhere. Hes this deeply emotional guy and he really takes this stuff personally. And I think he just sees coming over his desk the endless list of disasters and agents disappearing and being executed, he really did change.

The incredible irony with the Hungarian Revolution is here, finally, is the thing that hes been fighting for the last 10 years. And just the irony that hes in Europe when it happens, he goes down to the border. He sees all the refugees pouring across the border. And has a complete emotional collapse that he never really recovers from.

Along with Lansdale, he is probably the best known because he was so prominent in the early CIA. And most people think of him as just like I said earlier, this is rabid right wing anti-communist, but the Eisenhower people scared him. And by then he had seen all these operations just fail. And I think he started thinking we have to approach this in a different way. And, of course, he wasnt listened to.

You bring an interesting background and experience to in this case a work of history, being a journalist, foreign correspondent, war correspondent who has written extensively from the places that you also write about decades, generations earlier in this book and obviously in your book Lawrence in Arabia. How do those things interplay?

I suspect that even more than the war reporting the fact I grew up overseas and I didnt spend any time in the States until I was a teenager, in a funny way, gave me not an outsiders perspective but a semi-outsiders perspective on this country.

In thinking of war, I can think back to the very first war I went to, which was in 1983 in Beirut, and it was just before the Marine barracks there got blown up. I was there about a month before that. The American troops on the ground were getting shot at already. A few had been killed. And I remember standing out in front of the American embassy in Beirut that had been destroyed a few months earlier with a massive truck bomb. There was a 19 year old soldier  about my age  sitting on top of a tank in front of the American embassy. We just got talking and he said, Can I ask you a question? Why are we here?

He had no clue why they were there or what in fact their mission was. Not to take anything away from him but I doubt he could have found Beirut on a map. He was just some kid out of Kansas or something. And Ive seen that again and again with American troops around the world that they really dont understand why theyre where they are or what theyre supposed to be doing. Again, it goes back to this notion that were coming in to liberate people. And I think these poor bastards in the field are constantly surprised why the locals are putting IEDs on them or shooting at them. Thats not true with the British and the French and former imperialists. They seem to have a much better sense of well, were here, if the French go in to Indonesia to knock some heads because of an insurgency or a guerrilla war going on, they kind of know theyre doing it for their own self-interest or their countrys self-interest and they have this kind of imperial mandate to do it. And I think British likewise. But Americans, they just dont think that way. The rest of the world thinks of them that way. But they dont.

You write about the Red Scare and the very profound effect it had on U.S. foreign policy and on the institutions and people in The Quiet Americans. We all know who Roy Cohn is, Joe McCarthy, the black lists in Hollywood. But how did the Red Scare seep into Americas actions abroad?

Out of the four people I write about, two of them were direct victims of the Red Scare. Frank Wisner and Peter Sichel were both at different times investigated for their possible leftist connections. And in Frank Wisners case, because of a relationship hed had with this Romanian woman during the war and who then maybe had gone on to pass information to the Soviets afterwards. J. Edgar Hoover hated Frank Wisner. At one point, right when Eisenhower was coming to the presidency, it looked like Wisner was probably going to be chosen to be the next CIA director like clockwork right after the election, Hoover reopened investigation into Wisner, something that had been going on now for seven years. Until Wisner died in 65, it was always hanging over his head. McCarthy gets all the credit because they named the era after him, but he was by and large J. Edgar Hoovers front man.

So what you saw was the Red Scare play out on an international level or the level of foreign policy in two really significant ways. One was obvious: When you are in the height of the Red Scare, theres no downside to if you in the CIA to launch an operation that was going to fail or that or that would overthrow a democratic regime. You can only run into trouble if it looks like youre obstructing the American advance against the communists.

The great irony of the CIAs covert operations around the world in the 40s and 50s was that the most successful aspects of it were the soft power ones  Radio Free Europe, Voice of America. This kind of battle for hearts and minds started in Europe as this kind of intellectual counter movement against the communists overseas. There was a program where wed sent hundreds of thousands of books overseas and had these open libraries. They were sponsoring Langston Hughes and putting on Porgy and Bess in Berlin. It actually had a huge cultural effect. And all that disappeared during the Red Scare.

When I finished the book, I feel like there are many ways to describe it, but on one sort of more abstract level, I almost came away feeling like it was sort of counterintuitive in the history of American empire or at least a sort of American interventionism and meddling overseas. And that there was a moment, a sort of a crossroads, where the U.S. didnt go down this path that it did. Did you set out to do that?

I felt it kind of came about pretty organically. To my mind, there are two great turning points or potential turning points that where things could have gone the other way. One being FDR dying like three weeks before the end of the war. I do think that if FDR had lived even another year, probably what happened in Eastern Europe would have looked quite a bit different. I think that Stalin would have responded to FDR. Again, this is a great what if? I think he would have been more equipped to deal with what was happening in Eastern Europe. Where I think Truman was just like a deer in headlights. So for about two years, he still seemed to labor under this idea that Oh, maybe we can deal with the Soviets. Maybe our wartime alliance can still be repaired until finally in 1947, he comes out with the Truman Doctrine, he starts the CIA, but at that point its too late. All of Eastern Europe is essentially sewn up at that point.

I think the other great turning point is around the time of Stalins death and the Hungarian Revolution. There are probably three or four times, culminating in the Hungarian Revolution, when the Kremlin was sending out peace feelers to the West. They were the ones who started talking about peaceful coexistence. And every time, the Eisenhower administration, led by John Foster Dulles, spurned them. And so I think thats the second great turning point to me, and you really see it in the Hungarian Revolution where, on one day, Khrushchev decides, We have to let Hungary go. We cant fight back. Were going to liberalize all of Eastern Europe. Basically, he was talking about what Gorbachev did 33 years later. And then in one day, he flips around and thinks to himself, Well, if the Americans were going to do anything about Hungary, they would have done it by now. Then from that time, you see Khrushchev changing and he becomes more and more hard line. And so the Cold War goes on for another 33 years.

Another key turning point in the future course of Middle Eastern history is the overthrow of Mosadegh in Iran, which you write about. I always come back to the what if with Iran. If we had not done that, what would Iran look like today?

The astonishing thing to me is Ive spent a lot of time in the Middle East is, you know, you look at old pictures of Iran or Egypt or, you know, anywhere in the Middle East, Iraq from the 1950s and theyre very westernized. America had huge influence in the 1950s in that region, as it did in a lot of other regions around the world.

All of that was squandered by the overthrow of Mosadegh, and the fact that for a number of years after the coup there the CIA bragged about their role. You know, this is a great triumph. And it was really probably not until like the mid-70s when they said Oh, you know what? Maybe we shouldnt be bragging about this so much. And then, of course, the shah is overthrown, you have a Islamic fundamentalist regime come in, and now, throughout that part of the world, though this is complicated by Israel, of course, youve seen this incredible swing back to this Islamic fundamentalism everywhere. Even in American satellites like Egypt, you would never have seen a woman in a burqa in Cairo 15, 20 years ago. You see it all the time now.

These things tend to have a second life and its a bad life from the standpoint of American power and prestige. History is weird, how a certain event comes along and how, only in hindsight, you can see what a crucial turning point it probably was.

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Theres a chance water levels in the two largest man-made reservoirs in the United States could dip to critically low levels by 2025, jeopardizing the steady flow of Colorado River water that more than 40 million people rely on in the American West.

After a relatively dry summer, the US Bureau of Reclamation released models on Tuesday suggesting looming shortages in Lake Powell and Lake Mead  the reservoirs where Colorado River water is stored  are more likely than previously projected.

Compared with an average year, only 55 per cent of Colorado River water is flowing from the Rocky Mountains down to Lake Powell on the Utah-Arizona line. Due to the below-average runoff, government scientists say the reservoirs are 12 per cent more likely to fall to critically low levels by 2025 than they projected in the spring.

This is a pretty significant increase over what was projected in April due to the declining runoff this year, hydrologist Carly Jerla said.

The forecast could complicate already-fraught negotiations between Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming and Mexico over future shares of the river that supplies their cities and farms. Those talks will draw up new agreements by 2026 over use of the river thats under siege from climate change and prolonged drought.

Some of urban and agricultural water users have been forced to conserve water to secure the river long term, but it remains overtapped. And as cities like Phoenix and Las Vegas keep growing, the region is only getting thirstier.

We know that warmer temperatures have contributed to the drought of the last 21 years, and we know that they have exacerbated it, Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman said.

Unlike the 24-month projections that the agency uses to allocate water to the seven states and Mexico, the models released Tuesday simulate various weather and usage patterns to help water users prepare for different scenarios.

Scientists use whats called the Colorado River Simulation System to project future levels of the two reservoirs. They employed stress testing techniques based on river flows since 1988 to determine potential shortages if drought conditions persist.
By ERIC TUCKER, The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP)  Democrat Joe Biden is assembling a team of top lawyers in anticipation of court challenges to the election process that could ultimately determine who wins the race for the White House.

Bidens presidential campaign says the legal war room will work to ensure that elections are properly administered and votes correctly counted. It will also seek to combat voter suppression at the polls, identify foreign interference and misinformation, and educate voters on the different methods available for casting ballots.

The effort, which the Biden campaign described as the largest election protection program in presidential campaign history, reflects the extent of the preparation underway for an already divisive presidential contest in November that could produce significant, perhaps even decisive, court cases over voter access and the legitimacy of mail ballots.

Democrats and Republicans are locked in legal fights on election rules that could help shape the outcome of the vote, and President Donald Trumps campaign has its own attorneys handling cases on a variety of issues.

Trump in recent months has sought to preemptively cast doubt on the election, warning that the expected surge in mail ballots because of the coronavirus pandemic will lead to massive fraud and could open the door to foreign countries to print their own fraudulent ballots.

Notwithstanding Donald Trump and his Republican allies' hollow threats and constant misinformation, election officials around the country are working tirelessly to hold a free and fair and election, and we have an extraordinary national team in place to ensure that every eligible voter is able to exercise their right to vote and have their vote counted, Bob Bauer, a senior adviser to the Biden campaign and former White House counsel to President Barack Obama, said in a statement.

Bauer, who served as general counsel to the Obama campaigns of 2008 and 2012, will work with campaign general counsel Dana Remus on voter protection  an issue that thousands of Democratic lawyers around the country are also engaged in, according to the Biden campaign.

The campaign is also creating a special national litigation team involving hundreds of lawyers that will include as leaders Walter Dellinger, a solicitor general in the Clinton administration, and Donald Verrilli, a solicitor general under Obama.

Democratic lawyer Marc Elias and a team of lawyers from his firm, Perkins Coie, will focus on protecting voter access and ensuring a fair and accurate vote count.

Former Attorney General Eric Holder will also play an outreach role on the question of voting rights, according to the campaign.

We can and will be able to hold a free and fair election this November and were putting in place an unprecedented voter protection effort with thousands of lawyers and volunteers around the country to ensure that voting goes smoothly, Remus said in a statement.

The Trump campaign issued a statement from deputy manager Justin Clark saying that as "Democrats continue their push to weaken reasonable rules preventing fraud  like voter ID and signature matching  President Trump and his campaign will continue to protect the integrity of the vote.

Our team will continue to fight every day in the courtroom and on the ground to make sure that every eligible voter has the right to vote and that their vote is counted  once, Clark said.

The New York Times reported on the legal war room initiative earlier Monday.
More than 400,000 people have already registered to vote on Snapchat.

Of them, 57 percent were between the ages of 18 and 24, a demographic notoriously underrepresented at the voting booth.

The platform is expected to up its efforts in the weeks before the election, launching high-profile PSAs starring Snoop Dogg, Arnold Schwarzenegger and former president Barack Obama.

More than half of Snapchat users who registered through the app in 2018 voted in the midterm elections, highlighting its potential power as an election driver.

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Snapchats in-app efforts at getting out the vote have already netted 400,000 new voters, according to Axios. Of them, 57 percent were between 18 and 24, a demographic typically underrepresented at the voting booth

Axios reports that, as of Monday evening, some 407,024 users had registered to vote on the app - with more expected to vote in-app in the coming weeks.

While Chinese-owned TikTok has largely remained quiet about the election cycle, Snapchat has leaned into the democratic process.

The social media platform expected to release a new voter-registration PSA today with President Obama, with other get-out-the-vote clips featuring former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, rapper Snoop Dogg and ex-California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The app has also added voter information and registration tools inside of Snapchat Minis, third-party apps that run on Snapchat.

Snapchat will be releasing voting PSAs with Barack Obama and Snoop Dogg, as well as The app has also added voter information and registration tools inside of Snapchat Minis, third-party apps that run on Snapchat

Snapchat is teaming up with BallotReady on a 'Before You Vote' Mini that tells users how and where to vote in person and by mail.

Because of an expected shortage due to the pandemic, it also partnered with Power to the Polls to encourage young people to become poll workers and volunteers.

In the second quarter of 2020, Snapchat had 238 million daily active users worldwide - up from 203 million in the same period last year.

Data from the nonpartisan group Democracy Works, which partnered with Snapchat on its voter drive, shows that 450,000 users registered to vote via the platform in 2018.

Of them, 57 percent cast a ballot that election cycle.

That's equal to about 257,000 votes, or roughly half of what Al Gore won the popular vote by in 2000.

According to Democracy Now, 57% of the 450,000 Snapchatters who registered on the platform in 2018 cast a ballot in that election cycle. That's equal to about 257,000 votes directly attributable to its efforts

In addition to offering registration through its TurboVote process, Snapchat listed polling locations on its Snap Map and served up a variety of Election Day stickers and Lenses.

'Snapchat is the platform that can fill all the institutional gaps in reaching young people,' Mike Ward, Democracy Works' director of voter engagement told Bloomberg News in May.

'They are uniquely positioned to be the most powerful youth voter registration force in the country.'

That's especially true during the pandemic, Ward said, when the usual college voter drives haven't been able to take place.

'Snap's success on voter engagement is more important than ever, given that on-the-ground voter engagement can't be counted on in a pandemic environment.'

The app launched a new voter registration initiative in February, which pushes notifications to users when they turn 18.

According to Snapchat, 300,000 to 500,000 of its users turn 18 every month.

Facebook launched a Voter Information Center that claims to provide users with access to credible election news and info on absentee ballots and voting districts

That same survey found that 72 percent of 18 to 24-year-old Snapchatters, and 88 percent of 25 to 34-year-old users, say they're planning to vote in November.

In the 2016 presidential election, only 46.1 percent of 18 to 29-year-old individuals pulled the lever, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Other social media platforms are also ramping up efforts to get out the vote.

Earlier this summer, Facebook launched its Voter Information Center, offering news on local and national elections and info on absentee ballots and voting districts.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in June that the company hopes to register 4 million people by Election Day.

And today Twitter announced the launch of a voting hub 'focused on helping people register, better understand the voting process during COVID-19 including early voting options, and feel informed about the choices on their ballot.'

According to the company, 90 percent of daily Twitter users say they plan to vote in the upcoming election, though more than half said they needed more information about candidates and the voting process itself.

In the US, the hub will appear at the top of user's Explore tab and include news in both English and Spanish from reputable news outlets or by Twitter's Curation team, as well as live streams of debates and other campaign events.

The hub will also run nonpartisan PSAs to encourage voter turnout and a tool that lists the candidates for Congress and governor in a user's state.
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Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Copenhagen, Denmark  Wed, September 16, 2020 14:08 492 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c451d593 2 Health study,coronavirus,COVID-19,health,research Free

Far from bringing about a new era of social solidarity, often-changing and unclear guidance around the coronavirus may push people to act more selfishly, researchers said Tuesday.

Danish and Swedish investigators found that unclear expectations will prompt most people to take the easiest option -- whether the choice before them is over rounding a tip at a restaurant up or down or respecting virus recommendations.

"As uncertainty of expectations arises, we are more likely to keep as much as possible for ourselves and be stingy rather than generous," Toke Fosgaard, a professor at the University of Copenhagen and co-author of the study, said in a statement.

When participants in the 286-person study were given 100 Danish kronor ($16, 13.44 euros) to share with a partner, more opted to split it down the middle when told that was the norm.

By contrast, "the vast majority" kept most of the money for themselves when told they could decide freely how to split it -- and that their partner would not find out the original amount.

"When there is a clear expectation of what to do in a given situation, people comply with the norm," Fosgaard said, while "if people are uncertain about which guidelines apply, most will opt to do as they please."

Read also: Which face mask should I wear?

Selfish behavior is amplified when "an individual is alone -- that is, removed from the judgemental eyes of others."

The researchers suggested their findings may also predict how closely people adhere to health recommendations during the pandemic.

"For example, one might skip an extra hand wash at home, relax with the cleaning or host many different groups of friends," Fosgaard said.

Or with guidance unclear about how long face masks should be worn, it could be that "many would be tempted to extend usage, and thereby delay the purchase of new masks," he added.

Denmark has made the wearing of masks compulsory on public transport and in cabs, as in many other European countries.

But neighboring Sweden has instead placed the responsibility on its population to respect physical distancing, strict application of hygiene rules and self-isolation in case of symptoms.
Bucharest General Mayor Gabriela Firea handed over on Wednesday the keys to three more flats to be used as official housing for medical staff under a project initiated by the city in 2018; she said that the city hall will bid for 300 more such flats.

"So far, we have bought almost 200 such flats, we will bid for another 300, because we want to have medical staff who give up choosing to move abroad, because we need doctors, nurses, nursing assistants, of all the medical staff employed by hospitals and we have to move them by good working conditions in our hospitals to stay with the patients in Romania," Firea said in a live statement on Facebook.According to her, more than 100 medical staff from the 19 hospitals managed by the city have so far moved into these flats."Today, it is the turn of medical staff from the Victor Babes hospitals, even a hospital that is on the frontline in the fight against COVID-19, Coltea and Carol Davila. Congratulations, I wish you a lot of health and the power to take care of the patients! We are glad to be with you moving forward and that you will not have to pay high rents in Bucharest, as you receive a social housing from the city hall," said Firea.
Like most boys born in 1942, former journalist, media executive and businessman Trevor Kennedy collected stamps, matchbox lids and other things.

That boyish hobby became a passion for Australian history and resulted in a collection of 5000 treasures dating back to the First Fleet, valued at between $15 and $18 million, that will today find a permanent home at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra.

Trevor Kennedy with some of the 5000 items of historical significance that will find a home at the National Museum of Australia. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

In an unusual arrangement that follows a decade of negotiations, the museum will pay more than $8 million for a large part of Kennedy's collection with payments in six instalments ending in 2023.

And in a donation, on an unprecedented scale, Mr Kennedy has given the museum other items of historical significance  valued at between $7 and $10 million  to retain the collection's integrity and character.
LONDON  The U.K.'s Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is in Washington Wednesday to meet with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, among other senior officials, as Britain seeks to reassure its U.S. partners on Brexit negotiations.

The visit comes after the U.K. government dropped a Brexit bombshell last week, tabling a controversial bill that, if approved, could see the U.K. renege on parts of its withdrawal deal that it agreed with the European Union last year, breaking international law in the process.

The proposed legislation, called the Internal Market Bill, seeks to allow the British government to dis-apply some parts of the agreement if it, and the EU, fail to reach a trade deal before the end of the year  an outcome that looks increasingly likely amid tense trade negotiations that have faced stumbling blocks.

The bill provoked outrage in Brussels, which threatened the U.K. with legal action, and prompted a row between the EU and U.K.'s chief Brexit negotiators on Twitter. It has also caused concern among many British politicians who said the bill, which would need to be passed by the U.K.'s lower and upper houses of parliament, would damage the U.K.'s international standing at a time when it needs to seek trade agreements with the rest of the world.

The U.K.'s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office was tight-lipped about any discussions on Brexit, telling CNBC in a statement that during his meeting with Pompeo, Raab would "seek to advance U.K.-U.S. collaboration on shared global priorities" including "the Middle East peace process; standing up for the people of Hong Kong and holding China to its international obligations; and taking a co-ordinated response to Russia and Belarus."

But the BBC reported Wednesday that Raab is expected to discuss the controversial Brexit bill with U.S. officials and to argue "that the government's plans are precautionary and proportionate." Pompeo is meeting Raab at 4 p.m. ET, and a joint press conference is expected shortly afterwards.

The bill was criticized by several high profile U.S. lawmakers, who fear it could upend the hard-won peace deal in Northern Ireland, known as the "Good Friday Agreement," that the U.S. helped to broker in the late 1990s.

Pelosi said that a move to renege on the withdrawal agreement signed with the EU could jeopardize the U.K.'s chances of striking a trade deal with the U.S. in future.

"Whatever form it takes, Brexit cannot be allowed to imperil the Good Friday Agreement," she said in a statement last Wednesday.

"If the U.K. violates that international treaty and Brexit undermines the Good Friday accord, there will be absolutely no chance of a U.S.-U.K. trade agreement passing the Congress. The Good Friday Agreement is treasured by the American people and will be proudly defended in the United States Congress."
The European Union's top court has handed down its first decision on the bloc's net neutrality rules -- interpreting the law as precluding the use of commercial 'zero rating' by Internet services providers.

'Zero rating' refers to the practice of ISPs offering certain apps/services 'tariff free' by excluding their data consumption. It's controversial because it can have the effect of penalizing and/or blocking the use of non-zero-rated apps/services, which may be inaccessible while the zero rated apps/services are not -- which in turn undermines the principal of net neutrality with its promise of fair competition via an equal and level playing field for all things digital.

The pan-EU net neutrality regulation came into force in 2016 amid much controversy over concerns it would undermine rather than bolster a level playing field online. So the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU)'s first ruling interpreting the regulation is an important moment for regional digital rights watchers.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Despite the existence of a net neutrality regulation, European carriers have continued offering packages that 'zero rate' certain apps, such as Facebook-owned WhatsApp, for example -- raising questions over whether such offers comply with the rules. Today's ruling suggests they do not.

Story continues

In another example from Hungary, one of carrier Telenor's 1GB data tariffs (screengrabbed below) touts unlimited domestic data consumption for a number of social apps, including Facebook, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram and Twitter -- meaning all other apps/services are at a disadvantage as usage is throttled by the user's 1GB allowance.

A Budapest court hearing two actions against Telenor, related to two of its 'zero rating' packages, made a reference to the CJEU for a preliminary ruling on how to interpret and apply Article 3(1) and (2) of the regulation -- which safeguards a number of rights for end users of Internet access services and prohibits service providers from putting in place agreements or commercial practices limiting the exercise of those rights -- and Article 3(3), which lays down a general obligation of "equal and non-discriminatory treatment of traffic".

The court found that 'zero rating' agreements that combine a zero tariff with measures blocking or slowing down traffic linked to the use of non-zero tariff services and applications are indeed liable to limit the exercise of end users rights within the meaning of the regulation and on a significant part of the market.

"Such packages are liable to increase the use of the favoured applications and services and, accordingly, to reduce the use of the other applications and services available, having regard to the measures by which the provider of the internet access services makes that use technically more difficult, if not impossible. Furthermore, the greater the number of customers concluding such agreements, the more likely it is that, given its scale, the cumulative effect of those agreements will result in a significant limitation of the exercise of end users rights, or even undermine the very essence of those rights," the court writes in a press release.

It also found that no assessment of the effect of measures blocking or slowing down traffic on the exercise of end users rights is required by the regulation, while measures applied for commercial (rather than technical) reasons must be regarded as automatically incompatible.

The full CJEU judgement is available here in French and Hungarian. (Update: And in English here.)
The ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has issued a directive calling on all private companies to accept its direction when doing business and hiring staff, according to a document published late on Tuesday.



"The scale of the private economy has continued to expand, and risks and challenges have increased significantly," the CCP general office said in an "opinion" published on official websites.



The directive called on the party's United Front machinery -- which conducts outreach and influence operations outside party ranks both domestically and internationally -- to take on the private sector, and bring it more closely under party control and influence.



The political thought of general secretary Xi Jinping should be the guiding light for the private sector in the "new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics," the directive said.



"United Front work in the private sector ... will lead to the growing enhancement of the CCP's leadership over the private sector," the directive said, adding that private entrepreneurs should "unite more closely around the party."



Private sector companies and individuals should "strengthen their ideological foundation," with Xi Jinping Thought, it said, calling for party influence and political beliefs to be stepped up in private companies.



It said United Front work should target all private companies and staff, including those owned by citizens of Hong Kong and Macau, and should result in CCP influence on training, hiring and firing decisions via a new database of employees and potential recruits.



Party committees should be formed or strengthened in some companies, while those that lack them should be offered direct training from local party committees instead, it said.



The CCP should also seek to recruit more members from among private sector workers, the document said.



'They want to control'



Independent historian Feng Zhi said the document uses the language of "wooing" to describe United Front operations in the private sector, but that the reality will likely be far more stark.



"They are definitely not talking about wooing; they are talking about control," Feng told RFA on Wednesday. "There is no need for the CCP to win over the private sector; they want to control it, to make it a pawn in their overall game."



"This directive establishes the authority of party organizations [over the private sector], which will guide and coordinate the sector via the Federation of Industry and Commerce and the Chamber of Commerce," he said.



Feng said the directive paves the way for a return to a planned economy controlled by the CCP.



"[They also want to] stop private entrepreneurs from turning into dissidents and acting as a focus for anti-CCP forces," he said.



The directive was published less than a week after the trial of dissident property tycoon Ren Zhiqiang, who was detained and expelled from the ruling Chinese Communist Party after penning an article highly critical of general secretary Xi Jinping.



Ren stood trial on Friday at the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court, where he faced charges of bribery and abuse of power.



"If they want to return to the era of a planned economy, they must first address the issue of the private sector," Feng said. "That process has now begun."



Shanxi scholar Li Xiangyang agreed, saying that the directive set out the aims of increased CCP control over the private sector.



"They will strengthen United Front work in the private sector, as well as patriotic and socialist education and the party control of personnel, hiring and firing," Li said.



"They are taking control."



The directive encompasses all non-state organizations in China, with the exception of foreign-invested and Taiwanese-invested enterprises, as well as non-government groups offering social services and individual entrepreneurs.



New emphasis on ideology



In Hong Kong, former Bank of Communications economist Law Ka-chung said the highest-ranking executives in private Chinese companies are already CCP members, while middle-ranking and senior-level employees have long been subjected to background checks.



What has changed is the new emphasis on ideology, Law told RFA.



"From what I have seen, since last year we have started to see more instances of [political] criticism or brainwashing [in private companies]," he said. "Staff who don't toe the party line are forced out, often through other excuses."



"They are setting it down in black and white now, and making it part of the official discourse."



Chan Shan-ho, chairman of the Hong Kong Small and Medium Enterprises General Association, said the new directive will likely add to current political tensions.



"In these times, we have to be more careful about everything," Chan said. "Nobody knows what to do, and everyone feels helpless in the face of the trade war between China and the U.S."



Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Gigi Lee for the Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
In the last decade, ecotourism has exploded as a travel trend, now accounting for an astonishing 11.4 percent of consumer spending worldwide [source: GDRC]. Ecotourism is short for "ecological tourism," and it's a type and style of travel that has two primary, related goals: to minimize the environmental cost of tourism in general, and to actually provide ecological benefit to the travel destination.

Imagine, for example, a two-week African safari. An ecotourist might choose a housing destination that uses "green energy," recycles trash, has access to a water-treatment facility so it can reuse wastewater, uses only locally grown food (so it doesn't have to be shipped in from far away) and perhaps even donates a certain percentage of tourism profits to community-improvement projects. That would reduce the environmental cost of a typical African vacation. Going a step further, into benefiting the destination community, that ecotourist might choose to participate in those very community-improvement projects as part of the vacation.

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There's an inherent problem with even this high-level type of ecotourism: power requirements. Even with partially green-powered lodging, planes still fly on greenhouse-gas-emitting fuel. And the round trip flight from, say, New York to Tanzania is very long -- about 15,000 miles (24,000 kilometers). Then add in the gas-powered Jeep rides from the airport into the jungle and then from spot to spot within that huge tract of land, seeking out zebras and giraffes. We're talking about a whole lot of carbon dioxide emissions during that two-week trip.

This is where travel green tags come in. Green tags are carbon offsets -- the same thing you can buy from your power company to help reduce the environmental effects of your household power consumption. In the last five years or so, more and more travel companies have gotten in on the green tag trend to help travelers reduce the ecological effects of their trips.

In this article, we'll take a look at how green tags work and how they fit in with ecotourism. What exactly are you buying when you buy a carbon credit, anyway? And can they really make a gas-guzzling, 15,000-mile trip to Africa "carbon neutral?"
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (L) and Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine, in a file photo. (Office of the Governor)

Pennsylvania Governor Decries Judges Decision to Overturn COVID-19 Shutdowns

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf decried a judges ruling to overturn his COVID-19 stay-at-home measures earlier this week.

Theres no sense debating a ruling that will be appealed, the Pennsylvania Democrat said at an event. Two of three federal judges [have] upheld what we did  But whats not up for debate is that our early and decisive action saved lives.

Wolf then accused the Trump administration of dither[ing] during the pandemic, adding: Our hospitals were never overwhelmed and research tells us thousands of lives were saved.

Contrary to the misinformation from the legislature, we are reopened, Wolf continued. And weve been able to manage outbreaks and mitigate risk successfully while trying to bring some normalcy to our lives.

President Donald Trump reacted to the judges decision earlier this week, re-posting positive reactions to the news on Twitter.

Earlier this week, U.S. District Judge William Stickman IV sided with plaintiffs that included drive-in movie theaters, hair salons, farmers markets, and several GOP officials who sued as individuals. Butler, Greene, Fayette, and Washington counties were also listed as plaintiffs.

Stickmans judgment stipulates that the congregate gathering limits imposed by defendants mitigation orders violate the right of assembly enshrined in the First Amendment, the stay-at-home and business closure components of defendants orders violate the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and the business closure components of Defendants orders violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Wolf lifted those restrictions months ago, and the challenges against his orders were filed in May.

The judge, who was appointed by President Trump, argued that the actions taken by Wolf and Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Rachel Levine, who are both Democrats, were undertaken with the good intention of addressing a public health emergency, but that even in an emergency, the authority of government is not unfettered.

The liberties protected by the Constitution are not fair-weather freedomsin place when times are good but able to be cast aside in times of trouble, Stickman said. There is no question that this country has faced, and will face, emergencies of every sort.

Stickman added that the solution to the crisis can never be permitted to supersede the commitment to individual liberty that stands as the foundation of the American experiment.

Furthermore, he said, the Constitution cannot accept the concept of a new normal where the basic liberties of the people can be subordinated to open-ended emergency mitigation measures.

Pennsylvania has reported that more than 145,000 people have contracted the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus since the beginning of the pandemic, while more than 7,800 have died.
- Raila Odinga Junior claimed the ODM party is currently focussing on petty politics of abusing rivals

- Junior said the party has a bigger calling of easing service delivery, protecting Kenya's democratic space and citizens rights

- He called out Junet Mohamed for lashing out at MP Oscar Sudi instead of protecting his freedom of speech enshrined in the constitution

- The former premier's son asked his father's party to go back to the drawing board and get more insights about its mandate

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Raila Odinga Junior, son of ODM leader Raila Odinga, has lashed out at his father's party accusing it of losing its way.

In a statement, Junior claimed the party had started focussing on petty politics and forgotten about its key mandate of service delivery, democratic space and protecting private citizen rights.

READ ALSO: Father, daughter recreate adorable old photo as she becomes legal practitioner

Raila Odinga Junior (l) and his father Raila Odinga (r). Photo: Raila Junior.

Source: Facebook

READ ALSO: Kakamega: Maiti 'yakataa' kupelekwa mochari na kukwamisha magari 4

According to Junior, the political outfit needed to do better than flaunting "private jets and slay queens whilst abusing rival politicians", remarks that have since sparked mixed reactions and criticism.

"We as ODM need to find our way back to basics, we are not just about private jets and slay queens whilst abusing rival politicians, we have a development agenda clearly outlined in our manifesto, lets focus on service delivery, democratic space, protecting private citizen rights," he said.

READ ALSO: Bob Collymore left all Kenyan wealth to wife Wambui Kamiru, will shows

Private jet to Dubai

His remarks on private jets came about two months after Mombasa governor Hassan Joho and Suna East MP Junet Mohamed boarded a private chartered plane to Dubai where they visited Raila who was hospitalised.

Earlier, the son of the former premier had hit out at Junet over his onslaught on Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi who was on the spot for hate speech and slur on the family of President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Despite Sudi finding himself on the wrong side of the law, Junior informed Junet that it was his duty as a legislator to defend his (Sudi's) freedom of speech.

"Actually, Junet Mohamed as minority whip in the house and senior parliamentarian, I believe your position should be that even though you dont necessarily agree with what Oscar Sudi said you will defend his right to say it. Freedom of speech is the cornerstone of our democracy!" Junior tweeted.

READ ALSO: Kenyan newspapers review for September 16: Aisha Jumwa, Omar face elders' curse for defending Oscar Sudi's outbursts

Own opinion

ODM national chairman John Mbadi termed remarks by Junior as "his own opinion that he was entitled to" adding that he was not speaking on behalf of the party.

"He has had many other contrary opinions before. He holds no position in the party apart from being a member. He is entitled to his opinion," Mbadi said during an interview on Citizen TV.

READ ALSO: How to start a profitable business from a pickup or truck

Reactions on Raila Junior's remarks

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The police destroyed my son's life, left him halfway paralysed then my husband left - Maureen Razoa. On TUKO TV.

Source: TUKO.co.ke
Slater & Zurz $5,000 College Scholarship For High School Seniors

To Enter, Each Applicant Must Submit a Video and an Essay for a Chance to Win a Scholarship to Attend an Ohio College or University

Slater & Zurz LLP, a law firm with downtown offices in Akron, Canton, Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati, Ohio, is pleased to announce the 4th Annual Slater & Zurz Scholarship Award. This year, $5,000 will be awarded to the winner. The award will be paid directly to the Ohio college or university that the winner will attend for the 2021-22 academic year.

Many of us at Slater & Zurz remember how challenging it was to pay for college, states Jim Slater, managing partner of Slater & Zurz. Today those college costs are even greater. Because higher education is so essential to our society, we are committed to help in any way we can. We are very pleased to continue, in 2021, the Slater & Zurz scholarship.

HOW THE WINNER WILL BE SELECTED:

The winner of the Slater & Zurz Scholarship Award will be selected based on (1) an original two- to four-minute YouTube video created by the applicant, and (2) an accompanying 1,000- to 2,000-word essay.

Both the video and the essay must address the following topic:

What changes should be made to law enforcement in the United States?



Each application must be an individual endeavor. The same student must create both the video and the essay. Team entries will not be considered.

Applicants are encouraged to be creative, logical, and persuasive. The goal of the video and essay is to expose problems and present solutionsnot to create new problems.

Videos and essays will be judged based on relevant content, clarity in presentation, and creativity. The decision of Slater & Zurz LLP and the judges is final, binding, and not subject to appeal.

WHO MAY ENTER THE COMPETITION:

The following students are eligible to apply for the 2021 Scholarship Award:



Seniors graduating from an Ohio high school in 2021 who are planning to attend an Ohio college or university; and

College undergraduate students currently attending an Ohio college or university.

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS:

The deadline for submissions is Wednesday, March 31, 2021. Late applications will not be considered.

The winner will be selected and announced in early May, 2021.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS:

A complete application will consist of a filled-out online registration form, an attached written essay, and an uploaded YouTube video link. Each applicant must do all the following by March 31, 2021:



Registration form: Fill out an online registration form, found at slaterzurz.com/scholarship.

Essay: Attach the 1,000- to 2,000-word essay in Word or PDF format to the online registration form.

Video:

(1) Create or use an existing YouTube account.

(2) Upload the two- to four-minute video to your YouTube page.

(3) Tag your video with the following keywords: 2021 Slater Zurz College Scholarship.

(4) Include the following link in your description: slaterzurz.com/scholarship.

NOTE: Prior to the submission of the video, each applicant must obtain written parental consent for the appearance of any person under the age of 18 in the video.

Videos must not contain content that is inappropriate, indecent, obscene, hateful, or racist.

Video content must not discriminate against, threaten harm to, or promote hatred toward any group or individual based on race, gender, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation, or age.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

This scholarship is a one-time scholarship and is non-renewable.

Applicants must follow all Scholarship Award rules. Noncompliance with any rule will result in the disqualification of the students application.
Biegun made the stops I would have made. He saw the people I would have seen. He hit all the marks, said Daniel Fried, a former top U.S. diplomat who is now a fellow at the Atlantic Council. The question is, if you are listening to him and you are a European diplomat.  Does this guy speak for the administration or does he speak for that part of the administration that is other than Donald Trump?
Several Democratic and Republican lawmakers introduced a bill Wednesday that would dramatically reform how the U.S. military handles the reports, investigations and prosecutions of sexual assault and harassment in honor of Spc. Vanessa Guillen, an alleged victim of sexual harassment who was murdered at Fort Hood, Texas.

Reps. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., chairwoman of the House Armed Services Military subcommittee on Personnel, and Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., hosted a press conference on Capitol Hill to introduce the bipartisan "I am Vanessa Guillen Act."

Read Next: On the Issues: Presidential Candidates Reveal Policy Plans for Military, Veterans

Reps. Sylvia Garcia, D-Texas; John Carter, R-Texas; Veronica Escobar, D-Texas; Pete Olson, R-Texas; Jason Crow, D-Colo.; Troy Balderson, R-Ohio; Gilbert Cisneros Jr., D-Calif.; and Will Hurd, R-Texas, also supported the new legislation, which would require independent investigations into reports of sexual harassment and assault and create special prosecutors to try cases instead of the victim's chain of command.

Guillen's case has ignited a surge of support from lawmakers, like Speier, who have worked for years to hold the Pentagon more accountable for sexual assault and harassment continuing in the ranks.

Guillen, a 20-year-old 3rd Cavalry Regiment soldier who disappeared April 22, was allegedly murdered by Spc. Aaron Robinson on Fort Hood, before her body was smuggled to a remote site off post.

Natalie Khawam, an attorney representing Guillen's family, has alleged that Robinson sexually harassed Guillen. Fort Hood and Army Criminal Investigation Command officials maintain that there is no credible evidence that Guillen was the victim of sexual harassment.

The Army has sent a team of independent investigators to Fort Hood to evaluate the command climate at the large Texas post. Army Forces Command also appointed Gen. Mike Murray, the head of Army Future Command, to lead a separate investigation into the chain of command's actions related to Guillen.

Speier said it is "unacceptable" that Guillen fell victim to this tragic fate while serving her country.

"We are not going to tolerate this anymore," said Speier, who has said that Guillen's case has become a rallying cry for survivors of military sexual harassment and assault. "Voices of these survivors have never been louder or more clear."

Garcia was one of many lawmakers who accused the Army and leaders at Fort Hood of failing Guillen when she needed help.

"Enough is enough," she said. "This must never happen again."

If signed into law, the bill would require each service to establish an Office of the Chief Prosecutor to ensure that charging decisions for sex-related offenses are no longer the responsibility of soldiers' chains of command.

Commanders are primarily responsible for the military readiness of their units and may be "concerned with the professional reputation of their units and the impacts a public court-martial may have on that reputation," according to a document explaining the new legislation.

"Leaving prosecution decisions to the commander creates a conflict of interest and may discourage survivors from reporting an assault, especially in cases where a toxic command environment contributed to a climate where sexual violence is tolerated," the document states.

The legislation supports a recommendation made by the Department of Defense to establish a standalone article under the Uniform Code of Military Justice for sexual harassment "to send a clear message to the force that such behavior is unacceptable and may result in severe consequences," it adds.

The legislation would also require the services to create a process for conducting independent investigations into sexual harassment allegations using trained investigators.

Currently, the military uses command investigations for sexual harassment allegations against military service members.

"The investigation is typically conducted by another service member in the unit who has little or no training or experience in investigating sexual harassment," the document states. "Because sexual harassment is most common in a command environment that tolerates that behavior, internal command investigators are particularly problematic."

Lawmakers say that "abysmal reporting rates" by victims prove that many service members don't trust their commands to address their harassment.

The legislation would also establish a confidential reporting option for sexual harassment that would allow a victim to file a confidential report with a Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention (SHARP) program official that is not seen by the commander but have the option to file a formal complaint at any time, according to the document.

Guillen's remains were not discovered until early July, which has prompted senior Army officials to consider how the service initially treats missing soldiers.

The new legislation would require the Government Accountability Office to study procedures used by the services to respond to missing service members and make recommendations to improve these procedures.

The GAO review would be required to cover current guidelines for "distinguishing between common cases and cases that might involve foul play in which the service member may be in danger," according to the document.

-- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com.

Related: Soldier Vanessa Guillen's Murder Now a Rallying Cry for Lawmakers
Ivanka Trump donned a $1,250 dress by Colombian fashion designer Johanna Ortiz to surprise volunteers at the Latinos for Trump headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona, on Wednesday.

Ahead of her roundtable discussion with Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, which was scheduled for later in the day, the 38-year-old White House senior adviser met with her father's supporters who have been working to help get him reelected.

Ivanka was strategic when picking her outfit, opting to support a Latina designer while visiting the campaign group's headquarters, where she was photographed wearing a mask while speaking with volunteers.

Pitstop: Ivanka Trump, 38, surprised volunteers at the Latinos for Trump headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona, on Wednesday

Choices: Ivanka was strategic with her outfit, opting to wear a $1,250 dress by Colombian fashion designer Johanna Ortiz

Outfit of the day: Ivanka cut a stylish figure in the white crepe frock, which featured voluminous sleeves, a squared neckline, and a peplum waist that highlighted her figure

She cut a stylish figure in the white crepe frock, which featured voluminous sleeves, a squared neckline, and a peplum waist that highlighted her figure.

The first daughter paired the long-sleeve midi dress with gold stiletto sandals and a playful blue and white tie-dye mask.

Ivanka has faithfully donned a protective face covering for the majority of her public outings, despite her father's wavering stance on masks.

She has also taken great care to match them to her outfits, with Wednesday's look being no exception.

Safety first: The first daughter wore a light blue and white tie-dye mask that matched her dress

Greeting: Ivanka gave a volunteer a fist bump while visiting the headquarters

Secretly smiling? While the lower half of Ivanka's face was hidden behind her mask, she had a twinkle in her eye as she walked around and spoke to her father's supporters Sa

Cheese! Ivanka took to Instagram to share photos from the event, including a picture of of herself flashing the peace sign while posing with a woman wearing a Latinas for Trump shirt

Her long blonde hair was center-parted and styled in loose waves, a departure from her typically poker-straight locks.

While the lower half of Ivanka's face was hidden behind her mask, she had a twinkle in her eye as she walked around the headquarters with Gov. Ducey.

She was photographed waving and speaking to volunteers, and at one point, she gave the woman she was talking to a fist bump.

Ivanka also volunteered to work a phone bank at the headquarters and was seen using a cellphone to call someone.

Doing her part: Ivanka also volunteered to work a phone bank at the headquarters

Helping hand: The White House senior adviser was photographed talking to someone on a cellphone while working the phone bank

Pumped up: She excitedly pumped her fist while volunteering at the headquarters

After her visit, she sat down with Gov. Ducey and others to participate in a roundtable discussion about America's working families.

The first daughter later shared photos from her trip on Instagram, writing: 'Joined Governor @dougducey and many new friends for phone banking and great discussions today in Phoenix.

'Heard incredible success stories from hardworking Arizonans  they credit @realdonaldtrump pro-growth economic policies. Arizonans know that POTUS will continue to fight hard for them for the next four years!!'

Ivanka's trip to Arizona marks the first time the first daughter has visited the state since her father was elected.

Next up: Later in the day, she sat down with Arizona Gov. Ducey and others to participate in a roundtable discussion about America's working families

Careful: Ivanka gave an elbow bump to business owner Rocky Singh

Ready to go: Ivanka took off her mask before sitting down for the roundtable discussion

Accessory: Ivanka's dangly earrings peeked out from underneath her blonde hair as she spoke

Too close: While the main panelists were socially distanced, other attendees were not

President Trump was in Arizona just two days prior to attend a roundtable discussion with Latinos for Trump.

Second Lady Karen Pence is slated to visit Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson on Thursday, where she will speak to military spouses.

Meanwhile, Vice President Mike Pence is expected to be in Arizona on Friday to participate in a roundtable discussion for Hispanic Heritage Month.

It's been a busy week for Ivanka, who was on hand to watch President Trump preside over the signing of historic diplomatic deals between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain.

Excited: Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner were at the White House on Tuesday to watch the signing of historic diplomatic deals between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain

All dressed up: Ivanka, who flashed a smile along the way, wore a stylish mint green dress

All smiles: Ivanka shared a photo of herself sitting on the South Lawn of the White House ahead of the signing

Listening in: Earlier in the day, she and Jared, 38, were seen in the Oval Office while her father spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

President Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, United Arab Emirates (UAE) Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed, and Bahrain's Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al Zayani each signed four copies of the Abraham Accords  one in English, one in Hebrew, and two in Arabic.

The leaders also signed a treaty of peace, diplomatic relations, and full normalization and a declaration of peace  three copies of each were signed, one in English, one in Arabic, and one in Hebrew.

Ivanka donned a mint green dress for the occasion, and she had a bright smile on her face as she walked with her husband Jared Kusher to the South Lawn of the White House, where the signing took place.

Earlier in the day, she and Jared, 38, were seen in the Oval Office while her father spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of the historic peace ceremony.
She recently debuted her new relationship with athlete Matt Poole.

And love is certainly agreeing with Tammy Hembrow.

The Instagram sensation showed off her incredible figure and glowing bronzed complexion as the pair continued their romantic getaway in the Whitsundays this week.

Love looks good on her! Tammy Hembrow shows off her curves in a strapless bikini during a romantic holiday in the Whitsundays with her new beau Matt Poole

The mother-of-two posted several snaps from her trip to the idyllic island on her Instagram account.

In the pictures, Tammy posed in strapless floral bikini that showcased her curves and tattoos.

The 26-year-old also posted a fun video of her and Matt enjoying a fun water slide off their boat.

On Saturday, Tammy and her hunky new man appeared to be making things official as they shared their first selfie together on Instagram.

Happy: Tammy just recently debuted her new relationship with the athlete

Having a ball! The pair went on a week long trip with a few friends

Uploading a photo to his Instagram account, Matt was seen planting a kiss on Tammy's cheek while they enjoyed a boat cruise.

'Hey lover,' Tammy quickly commented underneath the post.

The photo appeared to be taken on Thursday, when Tammy and the Ironman chartered a luxury yacht with friends.

Things are heating up! Tammy's trip to the Whitsundays comes after she and Matt were spotted packing on the PDA at Brisbane Airport this week. The pair are pictured here with friends

Tammy's trip to the Whitsundays comes after she and Matt were spotted packing on the PDA at Brisbane Airport this week.

Her ex-fiance Reece Hawkins's recent baby announcement with London Goheen seemed like the last thing on Tammy's mind as she cosied up to her statuesque new lover.

Matt was previously in a relationship with Maddy King - the model ex of Kris Smith.
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Tributes have been paid to jockey Pat Smullen has passed away at the age of 43 yesterday evening.

The former stable jockey of Dermot Weld near the Curragh was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2018 and underwent a number of surgeries and treatments.

The Offaly native passed away on Tuesday evening in St Vincent's Hospital.

He is survived by his loving wife Frances Crowley and their three children.

Pat was a nine-time champion Irish flat jockey and won 12 European classics, including the Epsom Derby.

He claimed the 2016 Epsom and Irish Derbies aboard Harzand for friend and former boss Dermot Weld.

Pat was the top flat jockey in Ireland until his untimely retirement in 2018.

In 2019, he spearheaded a fundraising campaign for pancreatic cancer research to help others in his position. The campaign raised almost 3 million and included a champions race at the Curragh featuring the likes of Ruby Walsh and AP McCoy.

Funeral arrangements will be announced later.

Paying his own tribute, retired jockey AP McCoy said: Devastated, theres no words."

"Its hard to believe his amazing charity race was a year ago today. Heartbreaking. Thinking about Fran, Hannah, Paddy and Sarah. RIP Champ.

Curragh CEO Pat Keogh said: "An absolute gentlemen passed away this evening.

"Pat was such a wonderful person, you always came away the better for meeting him, he just made you feel good.

"Like everyone else, Im just devastated and thinking of Frances and his beautiful children."

TRIBUTES

Jockey Frankie Dettori said: "Devastated by the news of my good friend Pat Smullen passing away. A genius in the saddle and a legend of a man. RIP buddy."

Racing journalist Johnny Ward: I" could never get my head around how Pat Smullen coped with what befell him in his prime. What he achieved throughout his illness was nothing short of incredible. Asidefrom being a world-class rider, that's how I'll remember him most. Beyond inspirational. Sleep well PJ Smullen."

President Michael D Higgins: "President Higgins has expressed his deep sadness at the untimely death of champion jockey Pat Smullen, saying his remarkable performances at home and abroad brought joy to so many.

The President conveys his sincere condolences to his family, wife and children.

Retired jockey Barry Geraghty: "It is so sad to hear of Pat Smullens passing he was an unbelievable inspiration to us all, an amazing Father, Husband, Friend & Jockey He will be so sadly missed our thoughts and prayers are with Frances, Hannah, Paddy, Sarah and all of his Family RIP"

Broadcaster Hector: "I am sad now this evening with the news of Pat Smullen, my thoughts and love are with him & his family. What a great man .. a lovely man, an Irish man and one of the finest jockeys the sport has even seen ... May he be at peace now."

Broadcaster Derek Thompson: "Pat Smullen was an outstanding man. He fought the cancer with dignity and strength - the same way he lived his life. He has died but will never be forgotton for he was a great guy in every way! Our thoughts and prayers go out to Frances and the children. RIP Pat."



Trainer Jessica Harrington: "Rest in peace, a pure gentleman."

Taoiseach Micheal Martin: "Saddened to hear of the passing of Pat Smullen. An outstanding jockey, loved in the racing world, and who made so many people so happy. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Frances and his family. RIP."

Irish National Stud: We are desperately saddened to hear of the passing of Pat Smullen. He walked with Kings and never lost the common touch. He was the greatest of men. Our heartfelt thoughts to Frances, Hannah, Paddy, Sarah and the extended family.

Journalist Richard Forristal: "Heartbroken to be reporting this. The planet is a worse place for this man's departure. Pat Smullen was one of the most decent human beings I've had the honour to meet. He has been an inspiration over the past 2 1/2 years. Thoughts with Frances and their kids Hannah, Paddy & Sarah."

Broadcaster Clare Balding: This is unbearably sad. Derby winning jockey Pat Smullen was only 43 years old - such a lovely man and a beautiful rider. I will never forget his grace, his loyalty, his humour and his quiet determination. Love and condolences to his family."

Retired Kildare jockey Ruby Walsh has paid a warm tribute on RTE Radio One to his late friend and fellow jockey.

"You kind of knew it was coming for the last while," Walsh told RTE Sport's Darren Frehill.

"He had ridden in Dundalk in mid March (two years ago), so when the opening day of the Flat came about, when Pat Smullen wasnt there you were thinking Oh, theres something amiss. They were hoping it was gallstones but it was worse, it was pancreatic cancer.

"From that day forward, himself and (wife) Frances, what can can you do but just get stuck in and figure out how youre going to deal with it, cope with it and ultimately aim to make it better.

"But nobody was ever under the illusion other than it was going to be a very big battle. Pancreatic cancer is a very serious illness.

"From the word go, Pat took it on head on and was looking for a way to beat it, but he never wanted it described like that.

"If ever there was a horse named for Pat Smullen to ride it was (his 2,000 Guineas winner) Refuse to Bend because he refused to bend as a jockey and he refused to bend all through his sickness as well."

"All through his career, you never ever saw a headline or story about Pat Smullen for the wrong reasons."

Walsh described the qualities that helped the Rhode man to forge such a successful career in the saddle.

"You hear people described as the ultimate professional and often wonder what that means," he said.

"He didn't have just one thing, he had a lot of everything to make him so good.

"Pat was incredibly dedicated. He had to do his homework and was always grateful for what he achieved.

"There were times he doubted himself too, but he had to overcome that. He was just a very good rider but also extremely punctual, hard-working, always spotlessly clean. He was a great communicator.

"He was a great judge of pace and always tactically in the right pace. Incredibly detailed and deep in everything he did, he put a lot of thought and effort into what made him a jockey."

Walsh added that Smullen had been a great support to his racing colleagues and had "led by example".

"He was a big character in the weigh-room. He was a great man for the jockey's association, the Irish Injured Jockeys fund.

"He was a good jockey for younger apprentices to talk to and he led by example.

"All through his career, you never ever saw a headline or story about Pat Smullen for the wrong reasons."

Brian Kavanagh, chief executive of Horse Racing Ireland, said: Pat was one of our greatest stars. He was nine-times champion jockey, but in many ways his greatest achievements were out of the saddle.

Since his diagnosis, he did wonderful work fund-raising for charity and he battled this disease with great heart and its hard to believe he has passed at such a young age. All our thoughts are with Frances and his three children, and all his friends and colleagues in the weighing room.

Its a really sad day for Irish racing. Pat was one of the finest men you could hope to meet. Theres been such a reaction around Irish racing and such a degree of shock, which shows the high regard in which Pat was held.

He was a pleasure to have anything to do with  his achievements in the saddle were one thing, but his qualities outside of it were something else.

He was a global figure in racing, but his reaction to his diagnosis and the fund-raising he did last year in particular was really wonderful. Its just a sad, sad day.
Arts Management Courses

Focused on the needs of arts managers working in the field, MCLAs arts management program provides students with a broad based education in multiple fine arts disciplines including the visual arts, music and theatre and then lays the foundation for work in arts administration with specific coursework in the basics including arts finance, grant writing, writing in the arts, arts research, legal issues in the arts, marketing the arts, and arts leadership. The arts management program is hands-on. Students apply classroom concepts in in real-life projects extending their learning into the community by providing financial analysis, research, strategic planning, marketing, community engagement projects, and youth development activities to organizations across the area.

AMGT 130 - Introduction to Arts Management

AMGT 130 is an introduction to the discipline of arts management with an emphasis on understanding the overall arts/culture ecosystem and the regional component of that ecosystem. Topics to include strategic planning, marketing, financial accounting, budgeting, fund raising, human resources management, organizational structure, and community engagement. Students enrolled in this course will apply class topics in the development of individual strategic plans, online portfolios, formal presentations and reports.

AMGT 235  Fundamentals of Arts & Culture Organizations

AMGT 235 Explores and examines the functional elements of arts organizations with an emphasis on strategic planning and organizations fit in the arts and cultural ecosystem. Designed as the in depth introduction for arts management majors, topics include arts management issues including planning, organizational identity, environmental analysis, strategy development, integrated marketing, human resources, financial planning, fundraising and control systems with a focus on the strategic management process and organizational innovation in the context of the contemporary arts and culture environment.

AMGT 245  Arts & Culture Marketing

An examination of the fundamentals of marketing theory and its application in arts management. Topics include marketing mix; situational analysis; segmentation, branding; the 4 Ps; publicity; Internet, social media, and database marketing; and marketing plan implementation and control. This course will examine theory and then directly apply concepts in the development of personal branding tools and in the generation of a comprehensive marketing plan for a local arts organization.

AMGT 255  Financial Management in Arts & Culture

Explores and examines the major elements of financial accounting in a typical arts organization. With a focus on non-profit finance, students will learn to perform basic accounting tasks, prepare and analyze financial statements, implement an effective financial control system, use financial information as part of organizational decision making, develop a mission-driven budget, and understand professional accounting standards.

AMGT 305 Writing in Arts & Culture

Prepares students for writing in the arts for a variety of contexts and audiences. The class will be run in a studio format where students experience engage in writing, analyzing, and drafting processes exploring a range of methods of communicating effectively and disseminating information about the arts and about their role in the arts. Students will develop a portfolio of writing ( philosophy statement, bio, resume, press release, blog entries, reviews, interviews, etc).

AMGT 330  Grants and Fundraising

This course introduces techniques in grant research and technical and contextual writing skills for grants for the arts. Examines government and private sources of art funding and fund raising techniques for arts organizations and artists. Students will write their own grant based on a project of their interest, create an annual appeal, membership letter, and a sponsorship request.

AMGT 335  Museum Studies

This course explores the purpose and function of museums in American culture, and the practicalities of museum work including staff roles and responsibilities, the range of museum types (science, art, history, cultural), and the various programmatic areas of museums such as exhibitions, education, events/performances, collection management, and research. Philosophical discussions balance the course as students consider collecting and fund raising ethics, museum controversies, and the influence/power of interpretation. Students investigate museums from a variety of perspectives through group work, field trips to area museums, readings, written work, and discussion.

AMGT 340  Performing Arts Management

This course will examine issues particular to the programming, producing and presenting of performing arts: dance, theater, music and more, including curatorial practices and reasoning, organizational structures, how the arts connect with community, fundraising and development, and marketing. Students will examine all aspects of programming, producing and presenting performing arts, exploring these issues by learning what it takes to put together a production from all ends of the equation-the artist, the audience, the funders and the presenter. We will address larger issues such as mission vs. profit, why we program and audience development, as well as practical issues such as contracts, production and working with vendors. We will learn first hand from artists/managers how they negotiate a living while creating art that makes a difference.

AMGT 345  Community Arts & Education

Explores the work of artist educators in and out-of-school contexts, develop skills to identify learning objectives for their work, document educational work, and increase the potency of the marketing and descriptive material.

AMGT 355 Artist Entrepreneurship

An introduction to the skills and techniques specific to individual fine arts businesses with an emphasis on applied work, peer critique and the development and/or refinement of a comprehensive portfolio of fine arts business tools. Topics to include strategic planning, marketing, financial record keeping, budgeting, taxes, time management, grant writing, legal issues, business structure and integrated technology use. Students enrolled in this class will apply class topics in the creation of multiple fine arts business tools including strategic plans, marketing analyses, networking plans, press releases, grant applications, artist statements, biographies, resumes/CVs, digital documentation, websites, customer databases, e-mail marketing, and formal presentations.

AMGT 365  Research in Arts & Culture

This course investigates the role of research in advancing the arts. Students will learn how to read and make sense of research studies in the arts. We will follow the line of research activities from designing a research question and conducting a literature review, to designing instruments to collect data. In addition, we will explore strategies for analyzing data and consider implications for promising practices in the field. Students will participate in research on a community-based project. We will also track the progress of MCLAs research grant funded by the National Endowment for the Arts looking at promising practices in leveraging arts education in rural areas.

AMGT 375  Arts & Culture Leadership

An active study of the theories of human motivation and leadership and adaptation of these theories to programs in arts organizations. Students will probe concepts of authority and delegation and analyze leadership styles. Students will also explore concepts of and develop skills in managing effective work teams, time management, hiring and supervision, and board relations.

AMGT 385  Legal Issues in Arts & Culture

Introduces back legal issues in the areas. Students will learn basic concepts of intellectual property, contracts, and the business/legalities of art law. Course will explore the current legal issues that are arising in the world today and especially how the digital age has changed the playing field. This class will help you identify legal issues and categories that may be present in a career in the arts.

AMGT 430  Topics in Arts Management

Studies in depth a specific aspect of arts management designed to provide advanced work in arts management analysis, communication, legal issues and marketing. Primarily for Arts Management students in the junior and senior year. Content identified by subtitle.

AMGT 435 Advanced Museum Studies

Explores visual arts museum curation with a particular focus on a thematic-driven curatorial approach. Field trips to area museums and real-world group experience with the research and mounting of a high quality exhibition highlight the study.

AMGT 440 Advanced Performing Arts Management

Focuses on practical and applied experience in performing arts management. Students will examine presenting from all angles including curatorial methods and current trends in performance arts. Course uses practical and real life examples of organizing an actual festival including marketing, budgeting, production, curating and audience development.

AMGT 445  Community Engagement

This seminar explores intersections between creative process, social activism and collaborative work in community contexts. Students will consider how artists and arts managers work to catalyze communities through engagement in the arts. Students will investigate examples of communities that have successfully designed solutions for complex social and civic problems (stereotyping, hunger, homelessness, etc.) by sparking successful community dialogue and artistic explorations. These examples will provide diverse models for how the arts can serve broader social purposes. Students will conduct field research investigating community-based organizations committed to community engagement through site visits and interaction with organizational leaders. Issues of context, diversity, inclusion and access will be explored.

AMGT 450 Career & Portfolio Workshop

Provides senior students majoring in arts management an opportunity and framework to reflect on their past work in the major and the wider liberal arts as well as look forward to opportunities and challenges after graduation. Completion of personal strategic plan will be an essential component. Students will work with the instructor, career service professionals and alumni to understand graduate school possibilities and prepare strategies and tools for success.

AMGT 500  Supervised Independent Study

Open to juniors and seniors who wish to read in a specific area or pursue a project or a topic in depth under the direction of a faculty member. Frequent conferences with the advisor are required.

AMGT 540  Internship in Arts & Culture

Provides opportunities in a variety of arts and culture organizations to gain practical experience and develop skills in applying arts & culture theories in management, marketing, finance, development, community engagement, education and program administration. Includes accompanying classroom session to integrate field and classroom learning. Enrollment requires individual application and permission of the department.

CCAP 300-02  The Creative Economy of the Berkshires

The Creative Economy of the Berkshires is an active research seminar focusing on the development of a rural creative economy through an exploration of the history, economic development theory, city planning, government granting, and creative placemaking and the direct application of those efforts in North Adams, MA. Using the design thinking model, students will investigate the economic, political and cultural history of North Adams to generate a historical narrative of the progression from manufacturing center, to rustbelt community to an artist-belt center of activity. Students will conduct extensive research in the community exploring the history and current state of North Adams creative placemaking efforts and use their new understanding to develop, prototype and test ideas generated to further the communitys creative economic development.

TRVL 300  Travel Course to:

Travel courses offer students opportunities to take learning beyond the classroom. These courses involve on-campus instruction and meetings combined with travel to another country/region. Each course is designed to acquaint students with the history, geography, culture and society of other countries/regions. The specific travel course will identify the country/region under study with a syllabus outlining the travel and course requirements. MCLA offers many travel courses annually. Arts Management offers an arts and culture focused travel course in the spring semesters of even years. The spring break 2018 trip is to Paris.
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The global hot runner market size was $2,854.0 million in 2018, and is expected to reach $5,241.5 million by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 7.9% from 2019 to 2026. A hot runner system includes a compilation of heated components that include nozzles, hot valves, and gates that convey plastic polymer into the cavities of an injection mold. The system typically contains numerous heated nozzles and a heated manifold.

The global hot runner market experiences growth due to the rapid rise in investment in the industrial sector and high demand for optimal quality injection-molded plastics products in the automotive and healthcare sectors. In addition, the hot runner industry experiences development owing to the rise in movement toward energy saving to accelerate productivity and efficiency.

In addition, key players are manufacturing hot runners to ensure time efficiency, thereby stimulating the growth of the global hot runner market. For instance, UNIFY manifold system by Husky Injection Molding Systems Ltd. offers a one-step installation of manifold into a mold.

This system can save up to 70% installation time. However, high threat of substitutes is a major challenge faced by the hot runner industry. On the contrary, technological advancements and improvements are anticipated to offer lucrative opportunities for the players in the global hot runner industry.

Request for Report Sample: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/sample/13208

Improved industrialization is a crucial factor in reforming the hot runner industry. A shift in the global hot runner market trends is observed due to rapid economic growth in economies such as India and China. With many economies in Asia-Pacific still being rural, economic development in those countries is set to enhance the ongoing urbanization. In addition, surge in population in these countries is expected to boost the demand for plastic products, which in turn is projected to drive the demand for injection molding machines and thereby the hot runner systems. These systems are widely being used in industries such as automotive, medical, packaging, food & beverage, and others.

The global hot runner market is segmented based on type, application, and region. Based on type, the market is segmented into valve gate hot runner and open gate valve runner. The valve gate hot runner segment is anticipated to dominate the global hot runner market throughout the study period.

Based on application, the market is categorized into various industries, namely automotive, electronics, medical, packaging, and others. The automotive segment is projected to dominate the global hot runner market throughout the study period.

The global hot runner market is analyzed across four regions, which include North America (U.S., Canada, and Mexico), Europe (Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and Rest of Europe), Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, India, Indonesia, and rest of Asia-Pacific), and LAMEA (Latin America, Middle East, and Africa). Asia-Pacific is expected to dominate the market throughout the forecast period.

The key players profiled in this report include Barnes Group Inc., CACO Pacific Corporation, EWIKON Molding Technologies, Inc., Fast Heat UK Limited, Fisa Corporation, Gunther Heisskanaltechnik, Husky Injection Molding Systems Ltd., INCOE Corporation, INglass Group, Milacron, Seiki Corporation, and Yudo Group.

KEY BENEFITS FOR STAKEHOLDERS

 The study provides an in-depth analysis of the global hot runner market, and current & future trends to elucidate the imminent investment pockets.

 Information about the key drivers, restraints, and opportunities and their impact on the market is provided.

 Porters five forces analysis illustrates the potency of the buyers and suppliers operating in the industry.

 The quantitative analysis of the global hot runner market from 2018 to 2026 is provided to determine the market potential.

Request for Report Discount: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/discount/13208





KEY MARKET SEGMENT

By Type

 Valve gate hot runner

 Open gate hot runner

By Application

 Automotive Industry

 Electronic Industry

 Medical Industry

 Packaging Industry

 Others

By Region

 North America

o U.S.

o Canada

o Mexico

 Europe

o Germany

o France

o Spain

o Italy

o Rest of Europe

 Asia-Pacific

o China

o India

o Japan

o Indonesia

o Rest of Asia-Pacific

 LAMEA

o Latin America

o Middle East

o Africa



KEY MARKET PLAYERS PROFILED IN THE REPORT

 Barnes Group Inc.

 CACO Pacific Corporation

 EWIKON Molding Technologies, Inc.

 Fast Heat UK Limited

 Fisa Corporation

 Gunther Heisskanaltechnik

 Husky Injection Molding Systems Ltd.

 INCOE Corporation

 INglass Group

 Milacron Inc.

 Seiki Corporation

 Yudo Group

More Info of Impact Covid19@ https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/covid-19-analysis/13208
The government will provide about $500 per enrolled child to community-based, local government and school providers to provide free access to 15 hours of kindergarten per week. The government will also provide extra funding for cleaning. "This has been a tough year for all of us - including some of our littlest Victorians. We'll give some extra help to families and childhood services as our kinder kids [get] back on-site and we take careful steps towards COVID normal," Mr Andrews said. Education Minister James Merlino said there would also be additional help for vulnerable children. Mr Merlino said $4 million would be set aside to help with schooling transition by bringing teachers to kindergartens to engage with children starting school in 2021 as school tours for those children would not be possible this year.

Mr Merlino also confirmed that primary schools in regional Victoria would be able to receive students from October 5 instead of the originally slated start date of October 12, due to regional Victoria's low numbers. "They will make a decision about whether they have their preps on the Monday or the great six the Monday but the transition will happen in that first week," he said. Mr Merlino said there was no changes to the plans for regional high schools, and no changes from the roadmap plan for metropolitan Melbourne for any schools. Average down but concern at Casey cluster Victoria's Deputy Chief Health Officer Professor Allen Cheng said a cluster in the Casey local government area - mainly around Hallam and Narre Warren - was of concern for health authorities.

Half of today's 28 cases are linked to known clusters, including five from Casey. Loading Professor Cheng said there was a number of different households linked to the Casey cluster. "There's a number of households they are but we are looking into that and trying to find out where everyone has been so we can make sure the transmission chains are controlled," he said. The 14-day average fell below 50 for the first time since the peak of the second surge in cases on Wednesday to 49.6. In its road map to recovery, the state government said restrictions would only start to ease from the end of September in Melbourne if the 14-day average remained between 30 and 50 cases.

The state recorded 42 new cases of coronavirus on Wednesday, but the overall tally of cases only increased by 32 after 10 cases were reclassified due to duplication. Of the new cases reported on Wednesday, 29 were linked to known outbreaks but 13 remain under investigation. The vast majority of Victoria's 143 active cases in healthcare workers are staff from aged care facilities, not hospitals, Professor Cheng said. The 463 active cases linked to aged care facilities, which itself is around 50 per cent of total active cases in the state, includes staff members, That means the overwhelming majority of active cases in aged care are in residents.

Professor Cheng was asked why aged care workers were not all required to wear full PPE (such as gowns, shields and gloves) until there was an outbreak in a facility. "I would just make the point that a mask and eye protection is the most important part," he said. "We often encourage people not to wear gloves... when people wear gloves, often they don't do hand hygiene properly, and actually it is one of the most important parts." Health officials have also added three new locations to the list of high-risk COVID-19 exposure sites in Melbourne. Anyone who visited Clifton Hill Mitre 10 last Thursday (September 10), Craigieburn Shopping Centre last Friday (September 11) and KFC at Westgate Port Melbourne last Thursday and Friday (September 10 and September 11) is being urged to monitor for symptoms and get tested immediately if they feel unwell.

Business consultation defended The Victorian Premier has batted away questions about his role in consultations with the business sector in the formulation of the state's roadmap out of restrictions. "Those matters have been appropriately delegated to the Minister for jobs and industry recovery," Mr Andrews said. A reporter put it to the Premier that some business owners were told by ministers that the strategy had been locked in before any consultation had happened with the business community.

"That's not accurate in any way. There have been detailed consultations [and] we will continue to have consultations, they have informed our decision-making," Mr Andrews said. "For instance, if you look at regional Victoria, I think most restaurant is, publicans, cafe owners didn't expect that there would be able to be 20 patrons inside, they came from feedback as well as detailed public health advice." Mr Andrews has asked anyone who does have a permit to travel into regional Victoria for work to be extra vigilant to follow COVID-19 hygiene practices. "You should be wearing a mask, you should be there doing what you lawfully need to do, and you should be mindful, not just as a function of the rules but just as a function of common sense, if you are from an area where there is much more virus and you are going into an area, lawfully, where there is much less," he said. He did not elaborate on whether people could go shopping or visit cafes or restaurants while in regional areas for work, but yesterday Victoria Police asked regional hospitality operators not to accept bookings or visits from those from metropolitan Melbourne.

In regional Victoria, residents can now have visitors to their homes, restaurants and cafes can have seated indoor and outdoor dining, beauty services can reopen and people can gather in groups of 10 outside. Geelong residents were enjoying brunch at cafes for the first time in weeks on Thursday morning. Of his area's new-found freedom, Wharf Shed cafe owner Andrew Clark said: "It tastes fantastic ... "It's a great day for regional Victoria and for the hospitality industry  we're open at long last with restrictions," he told the Today show.

"We have a limit of 20 per venue and an outside limit of 50, but we're working [with] that. "We really feel for Melbourne people - we just hope they abide by the rules." In an effort to stop Melburnians travelling to regional Victoria, police checkpoints have been beefed-up. Police and Australian Defence Force personnel were stopping every single car and truck at the Nar Nar Goon checkpoint near Pakenham on Melbourne's eastern outskirts on Thursday morning. Melburnians face an almost $5000 fine for trying to travel to the country without a valid reason.
BRADY ANDERSON, Chariho, Wrestling, Sophomore; Anderson finished first in the 152-pound weight class at the Griswold Midseason Invitational tournament. Anderson went 3-0 in the tournament, pinning all of his opponents in the first period. Anderson is 10-4.

LYDIA LASKEY, Stonington, Gymnastics, Senior; Laskey finished first in all four events in meets against NFA and Westerly. Laskey had an all-around score of 33.75 against NFA and 34.60 against Westerly.

RILEY PELOQUIN, Westerly, Girls Basketball, Sophomore; Peloquin scored 22 points and had 19 rebounds in two games. Peloquin is averaging 7.6 points and 7.5 rebounds a game for the Bulldogs.

DEONDRE BRANSFORD, Wheeler, Boys Basketball, Sophomore; Bransford scored 25 points and had 28 rebounds in a pair of Wheeler victories. Bransford is averaging 10.6 points and 12.1 rebounds per contest for the Lions.

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Many years after the concept of digitalization was coined, small stores in local communities across the country remain some of the slowest movers when it comes to digital transformation, even though they are often the lifeblood of the economy. The post-pandemic world will need to figure out how to restore the resilience of these vital businesses and boost stable and sustainable economic growth. In this process, digitalization and smart operations may be the solution to these issues.

SHENZHEN, China, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- On September 20, 2020, YEAHKA LIMITED ("Yeahka", Stock Code: 09923.HK) will host the LINK 2020 Smart Business Ecosystem Summit (the "Summit") in Shenzhen. More than 100 C-suite executives from leading SaaS service providers will attend this annual event and jointly search for the key to a new world of digitalization.

Prominent speakers from SaaS businesses, research institutes, investors and regulators to share insights on the "small-store economy"

During the first half of 2020 when the entire society was paralyzed by the COVID-19 pandemic, small and micro merchants found themselves among the most vulnerable, with outdated facilities and stale marketing methods. They began to see the need for digital transformation and to gradually upgrade from traffic-centric business models to full-life cycle smart operations.

According to statistics ?, there are more than 100 million small stores across China, including restaurants, mom and pop shops and convenience stores. Most have been stagnant in their development due to a lack of digital awareness and capabilities.

These small and micro merchants come from various sectors, with different business models and digital needs. Yeahka's event will seek to find answers to this thorny issues and explore effective digital solutions that help them unleash synergies and build life cycle resilience.

The event will feature a number of prominent speakers, including SaaS leaders, researchers, investors and regulators. In particular, Yang Tao, Professor and Deputy Director-General at the National Institution for Finance & Development will deliver a keynote speech on economic and financial changes in the digital age and share his insights on macro finance policy and practice, financial markets, fintech, payments and settlement.

Wu Sitao, Director of Corporate Finance and Capital Markets at CLSA, will address how to leverage the capital markets to surpass competitors in challenging times. He has more than 12 years of experience in corporate finance and capital markets, and has led more than 20 capital market financing projects for companies.

Tan Beiping, Vice President of Mininglamp Technology Group, will also deliver a speech to demystify how to tap shifting consumer trends and digital marketing to boost business growth. Mininglamp Technology is popular among investors, having raised RMB2 billion and USD300 million in its D round and E round funding in March 2019 and March 2020, respectively.

In addition, Yeahka will release its "Small Business Big Dreams: 2020 Report on Small-Store Economy Dynamics", a report compiled in collaboration with iResearch that analyzes emerging trends in the small-store economy in China following the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Summit will also invite senior executives from Joy Spreader Interactive Technology, RUIPOS, SmartMore Technology and Juewei Food to discuss emerging business trends and share their latest insights and cases for smart business enabled by digital transformation, covering industry policies, business strategies and technologies. There will also be a roundtable themed "How traffic, solutions, data and digital business services interact across the life cycle of business operations".

More than one hundred CEOs to discuss intelligent business solutions in China

It is worth noting that Zhu Zinan, Chairman and CEO of Joy Spreader Interactive Technology, will also attend and present at the Summit.

Joy Spreader Interactive Technology (Stock Code: 06988.HK) recently announced its plan to list on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange by issuing approximately 544 million shares, of which 10% will be publicly offered. As a cornerstone investor in the deal, Yeahka (09923.HK) will invest US$2 million in Joy Spreader Interactive Technology, becoming an important part of Yeahak's investment portfolio.

Joy Spreader Interactive Technology is just one of Yeahka's portfolio companies.

To shortlist more high-quality portfolio companies, Yeahka will host at the Summit a "LINK Night: Emerging CEO Salon", where CEOs of SaaS service providers from different industries will share their insights on the industry. Luke Liu, Founder and Chairman of the Board at Yeahka will attend the Summit.

RYK Capital Partners is an investment platform jointly established by Yeahka and its shareholder Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd., a renowned Japanese internet company.

Soon after the establishment of the investment platform, Yeahka, through RYK Capital Partners, increased its capital in Fushi Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd.'s payment and service platform "Haoshengyi", and made an exclusive and strategic investment in Shenzhen Zhibaiwei Technology Development Co., Ltd., a SaaS software developer that specializes in the retail and catering sector in China.

As a vehicle for the development and enhancement of Yeahka's investment portfolio, "LINK Night: Emerging CEO Salon" will continue to attract new and outstanding companies to join. As the organizer of the LINK 2020 Smart Business Ecosystem Summit, Yeahka (Stock Code: 09923.HK) will continue to host industry events such as this going forward.
More restrictions could be imposed on Dublin this week, a minister said (PA)

There is a strong possibility severe restrictions could be enforced in Dublin by the end of the week, according to a Government minister.

Paschal Donohoe warned the capital could move to level three of the Governments new blueprint plan to deal with Covid-19, which was unveiled on Tuesday.

New public health measures for Dublin came into effect at midnight, however the Minister for Finance said that guidance could change again by the end of the week.

Every county in Ireland has been given a status two risk level.

We have made great progress in tackling #Covid_19, but infections are rising again and we all need to redouble our efforts to suppress the virus. #rtept pic.twitter.com/d6f2u23oaf  Fine Gael (@FineGael) September 15, 2020

The Government has been accused of giving confusing and contradictory advice about Dublin, after some ministers gave conflicting messages about the new measures.

The blueprint has been criticised by opposition parties, with Labour leader Alan Kelly saying the proclaimed five-point plan is actually a five-and-a-half point plan.

Mr Donohoe said experts will meet on Thursday to discuss Dublin and provide advice to the Government.

Asked if Dublin could move to level three in the coming days, he told RTE Morning Ireland: Theres a strong possibility that could happen.

Our medical and public health experts will supply guidance to Government on this issue, that would then be considered by the Government, it will be consistent with the framework that we published and then well make a recommendation and a decision on this to the people of Dublin.

I think it is fair to say it is a very real possibility that guidance could change further for Dublin but the reason why we have issued this additional guidance for Dublin, on top of the level two guidance, is to see what can be done to continue to keep those who live and those who work in Dublin as safe as possible.

The Govt has launched a new plan to help us live with COVID over the next 6-9 months.



The plan has 3 broad strands:

1.Staying Healthy

2.Protecting jobs

3.Keeping our Communities resilient



You can read it in full here https://t.co/viDEM8O40N  Micheal Martin (@MichealMartinTD) September 15, 2020

He said there are five additional measures for the capital which do not apply to the rest of the country.

He added: There are three that are very important in particular.

The first one is that we are asking those who are living within Dublin dont, if at all possible, travel outside of the city and county of Dublin, and were asking them to obey that guidance because of our great concern about the health of those who live in Dublin and what it could mean in the city.

He also said he would advise people against travelling outside of Dublin to attend a wedding.

The reason why I would do that is, I absolutely understand how important and life changing and how so important a good wedding and a nice wedding day is, I absolutely appreciate that, he continued.

Expand Close Tanaiste Leo Varadkar, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly and Taoiseach Micheal Martin, arrive to unveil the blueprint for living with Covid-19 in Dublin on Tuesday (Julien Behal/PA) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Tanaiste Leo Varadkar, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly and Taoiseach Micheal Martin, arrive to unveil the blueprint for living with Covid-19 in Dublin on Tuesday (Julien Behal/PA)

But a wedding ceremony is meant to be about sharing hope for a better future, getting family together to celebrate a wonderful day, and Id ask all to consider how we would feel about a wedding if we then found out in a number of days or weeks time, that the wedding turned into a place in which a disease was spread.

It was confirmed on Tuesday night that Health Minister Stephen Donnelly tested negative for Covid-19.

Mr Donnelly reported feeling unwell earlier on Tuesday and announced he was being tested for the virus.

This resulted in other members of the Cabinet restricting their movements as a precaution.
NEW YORK, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Wholesale gift, fashion, and lifestyle product specialist North Lane International, LLC is bringing a stable of Japanese brands together as part of DECO BOKO, the first digital tradeshow focused solely on Japanese products. It will debut on September 21st, and will be powered by BRANDBOOM's user-friendly platform.

The curated B2B tradeshow will be directed by Herbert Johnson, founder of 1-81 Agency and former buyer and store manager for Japanese design institution Tortoise General Store. Buyers can expect "easy-to-sell" and "easy-to-buy" products including Japanese home goods, decor, stationery, fashion accessories, and more.

DECO BOKO will run every six months (September-February and March-August) beginning this September 21st, and will include a webinar event series in October for buyers looking to learn more about the brands and their stories. Tokyo International Gift Show, the largest trade show in Japan, will be among the exhibitors, bringing its "Made in/by Japan" and "Designed in/by Japan" goods to the U.S. market.

The digital tradeshow will eventually be offered in combination with a physical tradeshow (anticipated in 2021) to provide buyers with the opportunity to touch, feel, and experience the products first-hand.

Those interested in registering for DECO BOKO may do so at www.deco-boko.com.

Follow @decobokonyc on Instagram and sign up for show updates here.

ABOUT NORTH LANE INTERNATIONAL, LLC: From new to established products, from consumers to producers, North Lane International, LLC began with a passion to connect humans, information, and products to the world. Based in New York, North Lane International, LLC is a specialist in gift, fashion, and lifestyle products, providing all-encompassing services for business expansion from the U.S. to Japan and from Japan to the U.S.

MEDIA CONTACT: Mariko Reyes, [email protected]

SOURCE North Lane International, LLC

Related Links

https://www.north-lane.com


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Citibank Korea interim CEO Yoo Myung-soon / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk


80% Ownership of Olympic Domain Tenements Achieved

Melbourne, Sep 16, 2020 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Cohiba Minerals Limited ( ASX:CHK ) is pleased to announce that it has notified Olympic Domain Pty Ltd ('Olympic Domain') that it has exceeded the $1.5 million expenditure requirement to secure an 80% ownership in the Olympic Domain tenements in South Australia.The Company has informed Olympic Domain of the expenditure milestone achievement and is awaiting formal acknowledgement prior to lodging the official documentation with the Department for Energy and Mining SA.Under the terms of the farm-in/joint venture arrangements, upon Cohiba earning its 80% interest in the project, the parties would contribute to expenditure in accordance with their percentage project interests.The Company also advises that drilling at Olympic Domain project tenements, which lie adjacent to BHP's Oak Dam West copper-gold-uranium-silver discovery in the Gawler Craton, is ongoing and further updates will be provided once any results are known.Cohiba's CEO, Andrew Graham says, "We have worked very hard to achieve this significant milestone and ensured that funds have been utilised in the most effective manner possible. The exploration program on the Olympic Domain tenements is progressing well with an imminent move to the second drill hole at Horse Well."About Cohiba Minerals Limited

Cohiba Minerals Limited (ASX:CHK) is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange with the primary focus of investing in the resource sector through direct tenement acquisition, joint ventures, farm in arrangements and new project generation. The shares of the company trade under the ticker symbol CHK.

The Company recently acquired 100% of the shares in Charge Lithium Pty Ltd, which holds exploration licences in Western Australia.
Kannada film actress Sanjjana Galrani who was detained by the Central Crime Branch (CCB), Bengaluru for her alleged involvement in a drug case has been sent to judicial custody for the next 2-days. Sanjjana's police custody ended and she was produced before the 1st ACMM court that ordered judicial custody.

Sanjjana is currently at Parpanna Agrahara Jail, where Ragini Dwivedi is already present. Meanwhile, actor-couple Diganth Manchale and Aindrita Ray were questioned for four hours on Wednesday by the Central Crime Branch in connection with the drug abuse in the Kannada film industry.

Sanjjana Galrani refuses to undergo blood tests; cites fundamental rights & lawyers advice

The two, who were summoned by the CCB, will be asked to appear again for further inquiry at a later date, Bengaluru Joint Commissioner of Police Sandeep Patil told reporters. "In connection with this case (drug case), we had summoned Diganth and Aindrita Ray.. they had appeared for the inquiry. A detailed inquiry was done and we got lots of information," he said.

Speaking to reporters after being questioned by CCB officials, Diganth said the probe in the case was in progress and he and his wife were cooperating with the investigation. "We will come (again to appear before CCB) if we are summoned," the actor said. Diganth had made his debut with the Kannada film 'Miss California' in 2006 and acted in a number of movies. Aindrita Ray started her career in Kannada film industry with the movie 'Meravanige'. She is best known for her performance in the movie 'Manasaare,' in which she played the role of a mentally challenged girl.

Sandalwood drugs racket: African peddler arrested for supplying drugs to parties

Meanwhile, an African national identified as Benald Udenna, who allegedly supplied drugs to rave parties in the city, has been arrested. "He (Udenna) is an important peddler who supplied drugs to these (rave) parties," Patil said. He has been taken into police custody. The CCB has registered two cases in connection with a drug racket involving the film industry at the Cottonpet police station.

(with PTI inputs)


By Akbar Mammadov

Azerbaijani and Turkish Air Forces carried out joint flights over Nakhchivan on September 15 to mark the anniversary of the liberation of Baku, the Defence Ministry has reported.

The demonstration flights were carried out in connection with the 102nd anniversary of the liberation of Baku from the occupation of Armenian and Bolshevik units by the Caucasus Islamic Army.

The flights included aircraft of the Azerbaijani and Turkish Air Forces. The state flags of Azerbaijan and Turkey were demonstrated by the march of the helicopters.

The first phase of the Azerbaijan-Turkey joint exercise "Unshakable Brotherhood 2020" and today's flights are an example of brotherhood and military unity between Azerbaijan and Turkey, the ministry said.

As part of the event, Commander of the Nakhchivan Combined Arms Army, Colonel-General Karam Mustafayev, Head of Nakhchivan City Executive Power Mirsanani Seyidov, Representative of the Military Attache Office of the Turkish Armed Forces in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, Colonel Mustafa Gunhan, representatives of the Azerbaijani and Turkish Armed Forces have visited Alley of Martyrs, Monument to Turkish Martyrs and the memorial statue Ana fryad in Nakhchivan city.

Earlier, Azerbaijani and Turkish Air Forces carried out demonstration flights over western Ganja city on September 15 to mark the 102nd anniversary of the liberation of Baku with the help of the Turkish army.

It should be noted that the Caucasian Islamic Army led by Nuru Pasha together with the newly formed Azerbaijani National Army and volunteers, liberated Baku from Armenian and Bolshevik occupation on September 15 in 1918. Following the liberation, Baku was declared the capital of the Azerbaijani Democratic Republic, which became the first democratic republic in the Muslim East.

Azerbaijani and Turkish presidents exchanged letters on September 15 on the occasion of Bakus liberation day. Aliyev said that is a very significant day for the people of Azerbaijan, adding that this historic event will always be remembered,

A military parade of Azerbaijan-Turkish soldiers was held in Baku in 2018 with the participation of the two countries presidents to mark the liberation day.

---

Akbar Mammadov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AkbarMammadov97

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
NORTH HAVEN  A town police officer revived an overdose victim with Narcan this week, according to police.

Around 1:30 p.m. Monday, police, fire units and medics were dispatched to the 100 block of Washington Avenue for a possible drug overdose.

Officer Anthony Santagata was the first to arrive and found a woman in front of a nearby gas station and oil change business. The driver told Santagata her male passenger fell unresponsive while they were driving on Washington Avenue.

Santagata used administered the nasal spray naloxone  known by the brand name Narcan, used to reverse the effects of some drug overdoses.

Police said the man regained consciousness shortly after and was taken to a local hospital by medics for further evaluation.
Cyprus has been always ready for dialogue with Turkey but to be effective, it needs to be clearly defined based on international law, without blackmail or threats

Cyprus is ready to engage in talks with Turkey to resolve differences but only "without blackmail and threats", President Nicos Anastasiades said on Wednesday.

The two countries are locked in a dispute over drilling rights in the Mediterranean, and Turkey said on Tuesday it had extended a drilling vessel's operations in disputed waters off Cyprus until Oct. 12.

"Nicosia has been always ready for a dialogue but for that...to be effective, it needs to be clearly defined based on international law, without blackmail or threats," Anastasiades said after talks in Nicosia with European Council President Charles Michel, who chairs EU summits.

Anastasiades said Turkey's move to extend the Yavuz drilling ship's operations came at a time when the European Union, of which Cyprus is a member state, was taking a series of initiatives to try to reduce tensions.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday nothing could justify the intimidation of Greece and Cyprus by Turkey in the eastern Mediterranean.

EU leaders will look for a way to defuse tensions in the eastern Mediterranean when they hold a summit on Sept. 24-25.

"In view of the EU Council meeting next week, we underscored the importance of staying united on the messages (to Turkey) and determined to implement our decisions if the illicit actions continue," Anastasiades said.

Speaking at an online panel on EU-Turkey relations, Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Faruk Kaymakci said Turkey's operations in the eastern Mediterranean were in response to the "unilateral actions" by Greek Cypriots and Greece, and not an intimidation.

"This is not an intimidation, this is just to say that Turkey will continue to defend its own rights and also the rights of Turkish Cypriots, who were cheated by Greek Cypriots and the EU," Kaymakci said, referring to several failed efforts to unite the island of Cyprus.

The island was split after a 1974 Turkish invasion spurred by a brief Greek-inspired coup. Turkey recognises the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state in the north, but not the internationally-recognised Greek Cypriot government.

The Greek Cypriot government has long been at loggerheads with Turkey, which began drilling for oil and gas near Cyprus last year. (

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An Bord Pleanala has given the green light to Cairn Homes for their contentious 338 million apartment complex plan for former RTE lands at Montrose in Dublin 4.

The house builder has secured planning permission for the 611 apartment plan in nine apartment blocks ranging from four to 10 storeys in height along with three townhouses in spite of strenuous local opposition.

In total, 19 objections were lodged against the plan including ones from the Ailesbury Rd Residents Association, the Austrian embassy and Ailesbury Rd resident, Pat Desmond, wife of billionaire, Dermot Desmond.

Ms Desmond along with two other Ailesbury Rd residents also brought an unsuccessful High Court action concerning the appeal boards handling of the fast track Strategic Housing Development (SHD) application.

Mr Desmond has also been a vocal opponent of the plan describing the scheme as Ballymun Towers South Dublin in a letter to Dublin city councillors.

However, the appeals board has ruled that the proposal would constitute an acceptable quantum and density of development in this accessible urban location; would not seriously injure the residential or visual amenities of the area and would be acceptable in terms of urban design, height and quantum of development.

The appeals board has attached 29 conditions to the decision.

Senior Planning Inspector with the appeals board, Sarah Moran recommended that planning permission be granted.

In her 162 page report, Ms Moran stated: While the increased height contrasts with the surrounding residential and institutional developments, it represents a reasonable response to its context and is stepped down at site boundaries to reduce impacts on adjacent properties and protected structures.

Ms Moran stated that the overall layout includes good quality public amenity space.

She also stated: I am satisfied that the development will not result in significant adverse impacts on residential amenities such as would warrant a refusal of permission.

Ms Moran stated that the scheme "will deliver a high quality residential development at a serviced site".

The decision comes more than three years after Cairn Homes paid RTE 107.5m for the 8.64 acre site.

The planning permission now paves the way for Cairn Homes to enter talks with Dublin City Council over its proposal to sell 61 of the apartments in the plan to the city council for 30.17 million to comply with Part V social housing obligations.

The documentation lodged with the application puts a value of 521,377 on the two bed apartments and 472,797 on the one bed apartments.

The apartments put forward by Cairn are made up of 37 one bedroom apartments and and 24 two bed apartments and Part V apartments are to be located in one eight-storey block in the scheme.

The appeals board gave the plan the go ahead after a 67 page planners report from Dublin City Council recommended that planning permission be granted for the Project Montrose plan.

The planners recommended that planning permission be granted in spite of a number of members of Dublin City Council expressing serious reservations over the plan.

The city council planners stated that they agree with the developers that the location allows for additional building height along the Stillorgan Rd, given the precedent for taller buildings along the road.

In their objection, Ms Desmond along with former Irish Sugar managing director Chris Comerford, and businessman John Gleeson stated that the scheme for the site at RTE's campus is seriously flawed and must be rejected.

The three residents initiated in March a separate High Court challenge against the legality of the legislation underpinning the Government fast track SHD system.

Planning documentation lodged by Cairn Homes with the application states that Project Montrose represents "a once in a lifetime opportunity for a landmark development in one of Dublins most desirable neighbourhoods.

It went on to say that the scheme offers a unique vision for sustainable development in a parkland setting and will provide for a series of taller Villa style buildings fronting the Stillorgan Rd with a perimeter of lower Pavillon buildings along the rear boundary.

Planning consultants, Avison Young stated that the design rationale for the proposal is to provide a landmark residential development delivering a new urban neighbourhood with increased height and density and high quality urban frontage on a gateway to Dublin city.

Cairn Homes plc welcomed the decision with a spokesman on Wednesday stating: Cairns focus is on the design and delivery of exceptional apartment schemes in great locations. It is currently completing Donnybrook Gardens, a new premium apartment development very close to Montrose which will launch later this month. Cairn looks forward to adding Montrose to its expanding delivery portfolio.

The spokesman pointed out that the Board considered the development to be of strategic and national importance having regard to the definition of strategic housing development.and its potential to contribute to the achievement of the Governments policy to increase delivery of housing from its current under supply set out in Rebuilding Ireland.
TORONTO - Cogeco Communications Inc. and its parent company are accusing Rogers Communications Inc. and its American partner of using bad faith tactics in their attempt to buy the company without support from its controlling shareholder.

In a letter released two weeks after Rogers and Altice USA Inc. announced a $10.3 billion offer, Cogecos lead director says they failed to disclose to the public that theyd already been flatly rejected the previous night by the Montreal-based Cogeco.

The Cogeco letter also alleges that the unsolicited offer was made public even though they knew any deal required the support of the founding Audet family, which controls a majority of the shareholder votes at Cogeco Communications.

From the outset, you have engaged in bad faith tactics, some of which created confusion in the market, wrote James Cherry, lead independent director of both Cogeco Communications Inc. and its parent Cogeco Inc., which has a media business in Quebec but gets most of its revenue from its cable and internet subsidiary.

The letter to the Rogers and Altice chief executives says you publicly announced your proposal in which you said that the support of the Audet family was necessary to complete a transaction, yet you failed to disclose that they had rejected your proposal the prior evening.

We can only surmise that this was done with a view to misleading investors and increasing the stock price in an attempt to put pressure on the family to sell, Cherry writes.

Cogeco Communications publicly traded subordinated shares closed Wednesday at $114, up $1.15, at the Toronto Stock Exchange. They had been at $99.35 at the close on Sept. 1 and briefly traded between $129 and $130 the following day after Altice said it was prepared to offer $134.22 cash for them.

Cogeco issued the letter Wednesday afternoon in response to a joint letter from Rogers CEO Joe Natale and Altice CEO Dexter Goei to Louis Audet, chairman of Cogecos board and former chief executive of the company.

The CEOs of Rogers and Altice say the independent directors of the two Cogeco boards had failed to fulfil their duty to consider the proposal fully on behalf of all shareholders, not just the Audets.

In simple terms, the boards and their independent directors failed to fulfil their most basic duties in representing the shareholders they are duty bound to represent and protect, they wrote, according to a copy of the letter posted by Cogeco.

Cherry says in his reply that all the proper steps were taken by Audet and the directors and they wont engage in a futile exercise that diverts attention from running the internet and cable business.

He said the independent members of both boards met promptly on Sept. 2 to discuss the proposal..

Prior to those discussions, Mr. Audet met with the independent directors as a representative of the Audet family, provided absolute clarity regarding the intentions of the family, indicated that their shares were not for sale and confirmed that their position was not a negotiating tactic.

Cherry also said Natale and Goei should know the Audet familys support is necessary because they each run a family controlled company.

Under the Altice proposal, it would buy Cogeco Communications to obtain its cable, internet and phone operations in the United States and sell its Canadian operations to Rogers for $4.9 billion.

Natale told an industry conference on Tuesday that hed been asked why Rogers would pursue Cogeco without the Audets support.

He said the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the value of good internet connections, which industry experts say will increasingly be delivered through a combination of fifth-generation wireless and land-based fibre optics networks.

Natale said Rogers is looking at its medium- and long-term investments in every province, including Quebec  where Rogers has a presence in the wireless but not in residential internet or cable.

Were asking a very fundamental question. Do our plans include Cogeco territory or not? Natale said at a virtual conference hosted by BMO Capital Markets.

`Id hate to miss this technology and investment cycle, and not to have answered the question. ... . Its a question thats been 20 years in the making.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2020.

Companies in this story: (TSX:RCI.B TSX:CCA)
Riyadh

An official source of Saudi Ministry of Interior announced today that a royal approval has stated that lifting of complete restrictions, previously imposed due to the spread of coronavirus, on the departure and return of citizens to and from Saudi Arabia and allowing the opening of air, sea and land outlets will take place after the first of January 2021.

Based on reports submitted by the competent authorities regarding details of latest developments in addressing COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia and due to continuing high rates of the pandemic infections in a number of countries, including some countries facing a second wave of the pandemic, in light of the possibility of no safe and effective vaccine for this disease by the end of 2020, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

In the interest of the safety and health of citizens, particularly those outside the Kingdom, in addition to the need for the Health Ministry's medical and health teams to focus on the various hospitals and medical centers without distracting the ministrys efforts in combating the pandemic via moving a large number of its personnel to the land, sea and air outlets as well as the importance of lifting the suspension of international flights to and from the Kingdom and the opening of the ports gradually allowing to assess the situation in the coming months until the health risks associated with the pandemic disappear and suitable vaccines for the COVID-19 reached.
The Queen's private fortune is approximately 400 million, a new book claims.

Royal finance expert David McClure has also written that the monarch received a 55 per cent rise in EU farm subsidies at Sandringham, as Prince Charles turned the estate organic.

Mr McClure's new book, The Queen's True Worth, estimates Her Majesty's fortune at 50 million more than previously believed, The Express reports.

Her sprawling Norfolk residence has been the beneficiary of Brussels subsidy money since Britain joined the European Union, becoming eligible to withdraw from the multi-billion-pound Common Agricultural Policy fund.

Over the last five years, Sandringham has received more than 3 million, including 935,908 in 2019 - 55 per cent more than the 604,844 awarded the previous year.

The Prince of Wales's sustainability drive won the estate an extra 313,517 from the EU's budget to support rural development projects.

Royal author David McClure has claimed these often overlooked EU cash injections has long depressed estimates of the Queen's overall wealth - which he puts at around 400million

Her Majesty's sprawling Norfolk residence has been showered with Brussels subsidy money since the UK joined the bloc in the 1970s and became eligible for a portion of the Common Agricultural Policy's multi-billion-pound pot

Royal author Mr McClure has claimed these often overlooked EU cash injections has long depressed estimates of the Queen's overall wealth - which he puts at around 400million.

But the Royal Family's finances could be hit when Brussels ends the subsidies as the Brexit transition period ends in December.

What is the Common Agricultural Policy? The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is a system whereby Brussels makes direct payments to EU farmers. Subsidies are paid to ensure continued food production on the continent, and to safeguard farmers from volatile business environments. Since its inception in 1962, the CAP has been a thorny issue, not least because of its enormous cost. The CAP budget is 58billion euros, around a third of the entire EU budget. Critics also say the majority of payments are made to big farms, rather than smaller more vulnerable ones. And some argue that millionaire farmers do not need generous subsidy payments. British farmers will no longer receive payments when the Brexit transition period ends in December. The government has previously said it will continue financial support for farmers. Advertisement

In his book, Mr McClure stresses that the Queen's true wealth remains murky and is hotly contested by royal watchers - partly due to the Royal Family not being bound by Freedom of Information laws to disclose their wealth.

The author rubbishes some 'crude' estimates which arrive at 'astronomical' amounts by factoring in residences such as Buckingham Palace, which the Queen does not own, into their calculations.

Yet unlike her other royal residences, Sandringham is privately owned and was passed to her from her father King George VI upon his death in 1952.

Mr McClure writes in his book that Prince Philip grappled with the 20,000-acre estate, which was burning money.

'What had reduced profitability was fragmentation: there were simply too many small farms with too many workers producing too few profits,' he writes, according to an extract published in the Daily Express.

A radical shake-up by Philip, who melded the smaller plots of land into around a dozen 'mega-farms', shrank the workforce and generated profits.

But McClure pins Sandringham's revived fortunes on the UK's accession to the European Community which allowed it to benefit from lucrative handouts.

McClure writes: 'After the United Kingdom entered the EEC in 1973, Sandringham as one of the largest farms in Norfolk, became eligible for a large slice of the Common Agricultural Policy's farming subsidy budget.'

Brussels' CAP is a system of subsidies paid to EU farmers to shore up production and safeguarding farmers from an often uncertain business environment.

It also doles out money for farms engaging in environmental action as part of its war on climate change.

McClure dredges up public data from the last five years which reveals the amount the Sandringham farms, which among other produce grow blackcurrents for Ribena, were awarded from the EU.

Sandringham raked in '553,051 in 2015, 524,466 in 2016, 695,001 in 2017, 604,844 in 2018 and a massive 935,908'.

In his forthcoming book, The Queen's True Worth: Unravelling the Public & Private Finances of Queen Elizabeth II, David McClure (left) stresses that Her Majesty's wealth remains murky and is hotly contested by royal watchers

In The Queen's True Worth, McClure chronicles how Prince Philip grappled with the 20,000-acre estate, which was burning money

The most recent handout is topped up by over 300,000 in rural development money because of Charles's transformation of the farms to become organic, he writes.

It is understood the heir to the throne hopes to make the estate fully organic by July and is introducing 500 beef cattle so their manure can be spread over the fields.

Underscoring the importance of the EU subsidies to Sandringham, and in turn the Queen's private wealth, McClure vastly elevates standard estimates for the estate's value.

He writes: 'Previous estimates have put the value of Sandringham at between 30million and 45million but, significantly, do not take into full account the extra value attached to the royal name.

'If that is factored in, then  as we have seen from inflated prices paid at auction for other royal property  Sandringham might easily be worth 60million to 80million on the open market.'

But he reckons the 'true test' of Brussels handouts will be exposed when Sandringham is starved of CAP subsidies when the UK officially cuts ties with the bloc at the end of the year.
Two months ago, a senior Whitehall official told me that Boris Johnson did not understand the Northern Ireland protocol he signed last year to clinch a withdrawal agreement with the EU. I didnt believe it; it sounded too good a story to be true.

Now I do believe it. I know it sounds incredible, and of course some things are so damaging that they will be denied by Downing Street. Yet it explains the prime ministers extraordinary decision to take powers to override the protocol in an agreement he hailed as fantastic and wonderful.

It explains why Johnson told Northern Ireland business people they could put in the bin any customs declaration forms relating to trade with Great Britain. It explains why he said there would be a trade border in the Irish Sea over my dead body.

It explains the sheepish suggestion from Johnson allies that the full implications of the protocol to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland were unclear last year because the deal brokered by Johnson and his then Irish counterpart Leo Varadkar was inevitably rushed.

That might be the case, but it can't disguise the alarming truth: we have a PM who doesnt do detail, and didnt understand the small print of his own deal.

Yes, its complicated, but not that complicated. Johnson should have got it, because only two proposals for avoiding a hard Irish border were on the table: Theresa Mays Northern Ireland-only protocol, part of the deal over which Johnson resigned as foreign secretary, or a customs border in the Irish Sea, to which he signed up after succeeding her.

Now No 10 and Tory whips are frantically trying to head off a serious rebellion next Tuesday by Tory MPs appalled by his move to take powers to override the withdrawal agreement because using them would breach international law. Today, compromise is in the air at Westminster.

Although the government would probably have won next weeks vote, a repeat of Mondays rebellion by 32 Tories would give the House of Lords the green light to oppose the Internal Market Bill. So it looks like Johnson will guarantee that MPs, rather than ministers, will have the final say before the controversial powers were used.

Even ministers admit the issue has been another unforced error. The well break the law story ran before Downing Street had prepared the ground or explained why such a dramatic move was needed. The alleged justification  that the EU was threatening to block exports of food from Great Britain to Northern Ireland  looked like an excuse cooked up after the event.

Johnsons aim was to play hardball in the EU negotiations in the hope Brussels either made concessions or walked out in protest, so he could then blame it for the collapse.

But the EU is not playing ball. It is deliberately keeping calm and carrying on negotiating a trade deal. Officials tell me they will be the grown-ups in the room, which also tells us precisely what they think of Team Johnson.

Although the EU will probably begin legal action in the European Court of Justice over the UK ditching part of the withdrawal agreement, that would take months. Crucially, the EU is unlikely to suspend the trade talks in the meantime, as it doesnt want to play into Johnsons hands. He is in a hole of his own making, said one EU source.

 Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis refuses to commit UK to abiding by rulings of Brexit arbitration panel

A PM who picks fights at every opportunity has been rumbled. He sets traps for his enemies. But they know his game, spot the traps and avoid them.

Johnson adopts the same tactics towards Labour. Since Keir Starmers election in April, Team Johnson has been aching to portray him as a Remainer lawyer who tried to overturn the publics 2016 vote for Brexit in a second referendum.

Johnson allies doubtless hoped a pledge to break international law would provoke howls of outrage from the former director of public prosecutions. But Starmer deliberately avoided the issue at Prime Ministers Questions last week, just as he sidestepped the latest Brexit trap by calling on Johnson to finally get it done and stop banging on about it. We are not playing his parlour games, said one Labour figure.

Desperate to replay his greatest hit  Brexit  Johnson gave his game away in an email to Tory supporters, claiming Labour had sided with the EU by opposing the Bill on Monday. (Another reading of Labours stance is that it sided with international law).

Although the EU does not trust Johnson given his readiness to rip up his own agreement with it, Brussels officials believe he is quite capable of doing a last-minute deal after threatening no deal, just as he did last year. They suspect he would climb down and claim a great victory (again). Lets just hope he reads the small print this time.
"So few people have a vision for the future beyond what they don't want to happen. Very few are saying what could come next." Bronwyn Williams, futurist, trends translator and future finance specialist for Flux Trends had this to say at PSG's Think Big webinar discussion.

Bronwyn Williams

What 2020 has done is reveal how few plans we had lying around for a crisis like Covid-19. We need more ideas to create powerful change for the future.

The South African advantage

All businesses are in the business of solving problems

Bigger picture thinking

You need to be able to paint a better picture of what comes after the chaos. Its difficult, but you will have a captive audience. People are so hungry for any vision, any sort of plan.Williams added that very few individuals are planning past the next election cycle, and that there is so much blank space, ready for new ideas.I think South Africans are experts at change and comfortable with chaos. Weve adopted a survival mentality that gives us an advantage in some ways, but there is a fine line between having a resilient mindset and becoming facetious or stuck in survival mode. If we become stuck in the present we become very shoegazing, as I like to say; we dont often raise our heads and look to the horizon. We are so busy surviving; how do we plan ahead? But those businesses and entrepreneurs who can, will have the competitive advantage.Williams felt that technology is something we cant ignore as part of the solution. Arguably, the Covid-19 crisis hit the globe at a time when tech was mostly already prepared. But while tech is something, were very hopeful about, many of us are also somewhat fearful of progress. Tech is just about doing more with less. We cant view it as the problem  its the tool we need to harness to go forward, Williams said.Problem solvers create opportunity. The more problems we have, the more opportunities.If you can get some perspective past the short-term noise, the long-term macro trends are still in place with the same old problems to solve, Williams added.When everyone else is panicking, if you can look ahead, the opportunity is wide open. Entrepreneurs should be encouraged to have a vision towards creating new things. Successful entrepreneurs have relentless optimism and we need even more of that to make the world better.I definitely see energy, food and education as the areas to focus on, said Williams. Education is horribly wrong. We are creating generations of job takers, not job makers. Lets instead create self-sufficiency. A mind shift is needed, and we need to fix education to get it right.Solving energy and food security are real opportunities to have a financial impact and one that changes lives too.Williams added that if you are creating jobs in South Africa, you are creating social justice. If your business follows the letter of the law and doesnt exploit anyone in the process, you are creating net good for society. We need more jobmakers like this to add value to our society. The future is there for the taking.Its important to realise that in the midst of accelerated change and compounding crises, there is a lot of chaos and noise in the system, particularly in the short-term, so forecasts can get thrown out. But you shouldnt let short-term views dictate your long-term anyway.Seeing the bigger picture is essential and the value of good objective financial advice throughout the journey, cannot be underestimated. So much information is thrown at us that it is difficult to make decisions. It can be made much easier with a trusted adviser by your side, added Henriette Senekal, chief executive for PSG Insure Short-term Administration, who hosted the discussion.Watch The PSG Think Big Series: Future of the entrepreneur
Some employees at Rivers Casino Philadelphia told The Inquirer they are frustrated by certain policies instituted by management since the business reopened in July, including explicitly forbidding them from telling their supervisors if they think they have symptoms of COVID-19. Read more

When Rivers Casino Philadelphia reopened its doors in July after months of coronavirus-related shutdowns, its returning employees had to make some adjustments.

For one, the salaried workers took 15% pay cuts. And everyone was given medical instructions that some industry experts deemed unusual: Employees who think they might have COVID-19 must immediately alert the casinos human resources department.

But as for telling their immediate supervisors, workers were only supposed to disclose that they wouldnt be coming in.

Do NOT share ANY FURTHER details about the reason for your absence, the Daily COVID-19 Self Assessment instructions read.

Weve had a lot of no shows, and it raises suspicions of why hasnt management come out and said anything, one employee told The Inquirer.

Employees who have returned to the Fishtown casino since July 17 say mandated secrecy is emblematic of the way management has run Rivers this summer. A group of current and recently resigned workers spoke to The Inquirer about their fears of getting infected when they have been forced to rely on rumors and whispers for their personal safety and that of their families.

They say the casinos mandates about how to properly clean surfaces are inconsistent, and often ignored. So is the requirement that customers must wear masks, with some dealers and supervisors not requiring gamblers to keep their face coverings on.

Those issues have frustrated these longtime employees, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, fearful of losing their jobs or facing reprisal.

 READ MORE: Rivers Casino salaried staff facing a coronavirus pay cut

You got players walking around with masks on their necks, on their chin, said one table games dealer. The supervisors are afraid of the players. They havent been trained properly, and theyre afraid to say something.

In recent weeks, as more and more dealers and other staff started to ask for days off amid this uncertainty, Rivers has been employing new strategies. Management issued a survey in late August, asking employees why so many of them were calling out and what would motivate them to keep coming to work. This week, Rivers announced a free, new dealer school to recruit new workers, and a sign-on bonus for experienced dealers joining the casino on a bank of the Delaware River that brought in $315 million in revenue last year.

I dont blame any of the management or my coworkers for why things were so bad  my coworkers and managers were some of the best people I worked for, said another dealer. "I blame the company. I blame the executives. I blame the city officials that allowed this to be open.

I know people want to return to normalcy, but at what cost? the dealer added.

Representatives from Rivers, operated by Rush Street Gaming, declined to be interviewed for this story. They instead issued a statement disputing the employees complaints, saying the number of call-outs has been decreasing. The company, which operates similarly named casinos in Upstate New York, Iowa, and Pittsburgh, said it has hired additional cleaners to disinfect the facility and installed new air filters to help combat the virus.

If any cases have potential for impact on Team Members or guests, they are notified accordingly, Rivers management said in a statement. Team Members with specific concerns are encouraged to speak with their Team Leaders. Our goal is to provide the safest possible environment and evolve as new information becomes available.

The casino declined to provide specific numbers of positive COVID-19 cases among its staff. For their own privacy, employees are encouraged to talk only to their doctors or the casinos state-appointed Pandemic Safety Officer, a casino spokesperson said.

 READ MORE: New Jerseys restaurants and casinos do the math on reopening indoors

Employees at Rivers arent alone in not knowing if, or how badly, the virus has spread through their coworkers.

A spokesperson for the state Department of Health said that casinos licensed by the state are not required to report positive coronavirus cases among their employees. Some businesses, such as nursing homes and universities, are. Tallies of coronavirus cases are kept by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.

Board spokesperson Doug Harbach said there have been 40 positive COVID-19 cases across the states 12 casinos since the state allowed them to reopen in June. Harbach declined to provide specific numbers for Rivers or any casino.

Harbach said in a recent interview that Rivers met and exceeded the standards for COVID safety set by the state board, and added further measures after an inspection by city health officials.

Management at Rivers echoed this, saying the casino follows best practices from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and meets or exceeds all COVID-19 Casino Reopening Protocols from the state Gaming Control Board.

 READ MORE: Pa. casino revenues return to pre-pandemic levels, but online gambling soars

But according to city health officials, their visit to Rivers just before reopening was less an inspection than a walk-through while recommending best practices for keeping gamblers and staff safe.

James Garrow, a spokesperson for the citys Department of Public Health, said department workers suggested to casino managers how far apart to seat players and what kind of barriers to erect, among other recommendations. It was not, he said, a formal, point-by-point inspection.

We havent inspected any facility to provide them with a thumbs up on opening, Garrow said in a statement.

Returning employees complain that most of the visits, either by the city or casino executives, have been during the day, when the number of patrons has been moderate. More safety issues have cropped up during the overnight shifts, when the bulk of gamblers enter Rivers, according to one supervisor who spoke with The Inquirer.

 READ MORE: Less than half of Philadelphians are wearing masks properly, study finds

Employees also complain of shortages of cleaning supplies or PPE, with one former employee saying he had to fill out a formal request to get a pair of disposable gloves.

In the first few days after the casino reopened, supply closets were stocked with disinfectants approved by the Environmental Protection Agency to be effective in killing the coronavirus, according to the supervisor and other employees. Those supplies were quickly replaced, the supervisor said, with regular disinfectant wipes. When the supervisor spoke with a member of upper management about the switch, she was told it was done as a cost-saving measure.

Management disputes this characterization, saying that no supplies have ever been substituted, and that everything provided to the employees to use has been approved by the EPA. Photos of some of those supplies, shared with The Inquirer, show that none of them are included on the EPAs approved list of disinfectants effective against COVID-19.

Other workers complained of combative night-shift guests who ignore calls to stop crowding around tables or who argue with dealers about keeping their masks on.

One employee was so discouraged by this that he resigned in August.

I had issues with certain managers reverting back to old rules, like if a player spends enough money, we dont say anything to them. That bothered me, he said. And other situations where I saw managers who were just oblivious, and I wanted something done.

Rivers is not unionized, and workers say theyve had little opportunity to field their complaints.

 READ MORE: Are we essential or disposable? Workers say they need to know more about positive cases on the job.

Elsewhere, however, labor representatives at casinos with unions say reopenings have gone smoothly and continue to operate without issue.

C. Robert McDevitt, president of Unite Here Local 54 in Atlantic City, said the nine casinos his union works with  including Harrahs Philadelphia in Chester  have instituted vigorous contact tracing among employees. He said news of the edict by Rivers to limit the sharing of information about positive COVID cases was shocking.

You should tell your coworkers if you work with them," McDevitt said. "Its part of being a responsible adult.

At Rivers, some workers are trapped between their need to earn a paycheck and concerns about personal safety. A few said they wish the furlough had never been lifted.

This is not something to be messed with," said one longtime employee, who said hes considering leaving. "I dont want to give this to my family. I dont feel safe, and I know a lot of other employees dont either.

Theres a lot of politics involved, for a lot of money theyre bringing in, he added. The fact that I cant go to the Phillies game  but these people can come in and gamble? Its just to make the city money.
Words attributed to President Trump have provoked national soul-searching on the meaning of sacrifice, honor and our obligations to our nations war dead.News organizations ranging from Fox News to the New York Times have confirmed the gist of the presidents disparaging attitude toward the military and our war dead. Each media outlet has contributed some additional nuance, yet the portrait of the president is remarkably consistent with what we already know. While he now swears he never called American war hero John McCain a loser, weve all heard with our own ears his excruciatingly painful words: Hes not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who werent captured.

John McCain was not a hero because he was captured, Mr. President; he was a hero for what he did in placing honor and duty above the trappings and temptations of privilege. As a captured naval aviator in an unpopular war, McCain was beaten and tortured by the North Vietnamese. When they learned McCain was an admirals son, they offered to release him. McCain refused. He would not go home unless all his fellow captives also went home  and so he remained a prisoner.

And thats a hero.
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TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / September 16, 2020 / AEX Gold Inc. (AIM:AEXG)(TSXV:AEX) provides an update on its 2020 Summer Field Activities since mobilization in South Greenland on August 15th, 2020.

Key Highlights:

High-resolution aerial imagery drone has identified an outcropping Footwall Vein which lies an estimated 70-100 meters stratigraphically below the Main Vein on the north face of Nalunaq mountain. Historically, two drill holes have intersected a mineralised quartz vein at that level (refer to Figure 5).

AEX has so far drilled five holes at Nalunaq, for a cumulative 1,200 metres of drilling this field season. The first samples have been dispatched for assaying and the results of this will be announced once received.

GoldSpot Discovery Corp. has generated a preliminary list of additional targets for the wider regional exploration asset portfolio. These targets will be visited and prospected by our geologists in September 2020.

Eldur Olafsson, CEO of AEX, commented:

"The drilling program at Nalunaq is well underway with samples already being dispatched for assaying, which will further support our development program in 2021. The high-resolution imagery from our new state of the art drone is proving highly effective, and will further assist us in progressing the Exploration Target at Nalunaq by supporting evidence of other veins, which could potentially be gold bearing.

"Due to the lack of vegetation in Greenland, the use of a Drone is an extremely efficient, cost effective and safe way for our geologists to prospect over this type of mountainous terrain. Its ability to cover vast areas and yet closely focus and record specific targets is a game changer for our regional exploration efforts. Additionally, we feel confident about the prospecting activities at our other regional assets as they have the potential to open up new ground in South Greenland. Most importantly, we are delighted with the early performance and execution of our exploration team, particularly given the new health and safety procedures implemented as a result of Covid-19 and are happy to report that our camp at Nalunaq continues to be Covid-free."

Update on 2020 Activities at Nalunaq

Since mobilizing to South Greenland on August 15th, the drilling team has completed 1,200 meters of surface drilling, completing holes AEX1909, AEX2001, AEX2002, AEX2003 and AEX2004. See Figure 1.

Figure 1: 2020 planned drill pad locations to test for down-dip extensions to South Block. View looking NE.

The samples for these drill holes are currently being dispatched to a lab in Canada for assaying, and the assay results will be announced once received.

Additionally, the team on-site has been able to further evidence the presence of an outcropping quartz vein, estimated to be 70-100 meters stratigraphically below the Main Vein as illustrated in Figure 2 and Figure 3.

Figure 2: Area of the Nalunaq Mountain Surveyed by the high-resolution Drone, supporting the presence of Footwall Vein

Figure 3: Main Vein identified by the red arrows and the Footwall Vein identified by the yellow arrows

It is the first time this Footwall Vein has been identified on the eastern flank of the mountain due to the challenging access and topography.

Figure 4: Close up photo of the Footwall Vein

The location of this quartz vein coincides with a footwall vein modelled from historic exploration drilling intersections, Footwall Vein 2, as illustrated in Figure 5 in the Nalunaq Leapfrog model.

Figure 5: Depiction of the Footwall Vein 2 in the Leapfrog model. Black box outlines where the pictures of Figure 3 were taken approximately, looking SW.

The high-resolution imagery of the Footwall and Hanging Wall Veins will be combined with the ongoing development strategy planning at Nalunaq in order to assess development and drilling potential as early as in 2021.

A summary of the completed drilling in 2020 is shown in Table 1, for which assays are pending. Details for the two historical drilling intersections mentioned in Figure 5 are shown in Table 2 and Table 3.

Table 1 Summary of drill holes completed by AEX to date in 2020 (Projection WGS 84 UTM zone 23N).

Hole ID X Y Z Core Diameter(1) Dip(2) Azimuth End Depth (m) AEX1909 509413 6691190 236 NQ 85 315 287.5 AEX2001 509413 6691190 236 NQ 55 315 215.7 AEX2002 509116 6690840 308 NQ 80 315 231.0 AEX2003 509116 6690840 308 NQ 70 315 219.0 AEX2004 509116 6690840 308 NQ 60 315 200.8 (1) NQ-size drill core has a 47.6mm diameter

(2) Positive Dip means downwards



Table 2 Summary of historical drill holes (Projection WGS 84 UTM zone 23N) drilled by Crew Gold which intersect the modelled Footwall Vein 2.

Hole ID X Y Z Core Diameter(1) Dip Azimuth End Depth (m) NQ-72 508618 6691398 617 BTW 57 333 170.0 NQ158 508085 6691344 1028 NQ 66 037 371.0 (1) NQ-size drill core has a 47.6mm diameter, and BTW-size drill core has a is 42mm diameter

(2) Positive Dip means downwards



Table 3 Summary of historical Footwall Vein 2 vein intersections containing significant assays drilled by Crew Gold.

Hole ID From To Length(1) (m) Au (ppm) NQ-72 134.00 135.55 1.55 1.2 NQ158 350.00 350.70 0.70 5.1 (1) True vein widths are estimated to be 60% - 80% of the lengths quoted in the table above.



Sampling and QAQC Disclosure for the 2020 Drilling Campaign

The following text outlines the sampling and drilling protocols for the 2020 drilling program:

Selected portions of drill core were cut in half using a diamond blade core saw. Where a bottom of hole orientation line was present, the cut line was marked approximately 5 degrees off axis, and the right-hand side of the core was sampled. Drill core samples were placed into calico bags with a sample ticket, weighed, and assigned a sample ID. Each sample was sealed with a security tag, which assigns a unique security ID to the sample. Samples were transported from site to an accredited laboratory for analysis; SGS Sudbury and Burnaby.

Assaying procedures will be outlined when results become available.

Qualified Person Statement

The scientific and technical information presented in this press release has been approved by James Purchase, P.Geo. (OGQ 2082), Director of Geology and Resources of G Mining Services Inc. and independent to AEX Gold Inc. for purposes of National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"). Mr. Purchase is a member of the L'Ordre des Geologues du Quebec, and a "qualified person" for purposes of NI 43-101. Mr. Purchase has visited the Nalunaq Property and has verified the technical information presented this press release.

Further Information:

AEX Gold Inc.

George Fowlie, Director and CFO

1-416-587-9801

gf@aexgold.com

Eldur Olafsson, Director and CEO

+354 665 2003

eo@aexgold.com

Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited (Nominated Adviser and Broker)

Callum Stewart

Simon Mensley

Ashton Clanfield

+44 (0) 20 7710 7600

Camarco (Financial PR)

Gordon Poole

Nick Hennis

+44 (0) 20 3757 4980

About AEX

AEX's principal business objectives are the identification, acquisition, exploration and development of gold properties in Greenland. The Corporation's principal asset is a 100% interest in the Nalunaq Project, an advanced exploration stage property with an exploitation licence including the previously operating Nalunaq gold mine. AEX is incorporated under the Canada Business Corporations Act and wholly owns Nalunaq A/S, incorporated under the Greenland Public Companies Act.

Forward-Looking Information

This press release includes certain "forward-looking statements". All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this press release, including without limitation statements regarding the future plans and objectives of the Corporation, are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to pursuing successful production and exploration programs, and other information that is based on forecasts of future operational or financial results, estimates of amounts not yet determinable and assumptions of management. Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "estimates" or "intends" or stating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Corporation's expectations include, among others, risks related to the ability to raise additional capital proposed expenditure for exploration work and general and administrative expenses, international operations, the actual results of current exploration activities, conclusions of economic evaluations and changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined as well as future prices of gold and other precious and nonprecious metals. Although the Corporation has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, 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. Any forward-looking information included in this press release is based only on information currently available to the Corporation and speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Corporation assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information to reflect new circumstances or events.

No securities regulatory authority has either approved or disapproved of the contents of this press release. Neither 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.

Inside Information

This announcement contains inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 ("MAR").

SOURCE: AEX Gold Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/606223/AEX-Footwall-Vein-Discovered-on-Surface-70-100-Metres-Below-Nalunaq-Main-Vein
Charities reacted with fury last night after a minister confirmed Boris Johnson's much-vaunted social care plan will not be released until next year.

Lord Bethell, a health minister in the Lords, said he could not commit to a plan by the end of 2020.

When he became Prime Minister in July last year, Mr Johnson said he had a plan to end the social care scandal 'once and for all'.

The latest delay means older people will have waited for at least 18 months before the social care plan is released

But the latest delay means older people will have waited for at least 18 months for the plan before it is released.

Last night Caroline Abrahams, charity director at age UK, said: 'Older people will understand the Government has its hands full at the moment, trying to contain what looks horribly like the beginning of a 'second wave'.

'But they may also be reflecting on the fact that once again, a government that promised much on social care has so far delivered nothing at all.'

Lord Bethell, (pictured) a health minister in the Lords, said he could not commit to publishing a plan for the future funding and provision of social care by the end of 2020

It is understood Downing street has returned to the drawing board after going cool on the idea of a cap on the costs of care.

The Prime Minister is now looking at a plan based on the pensions system, with people getting basic care for free but with the ability to pay more for better care.

Under the scheme, championed by Theresa May's former deputy Damian Green, the elderly would pay more if they wanted larger rooms in a care home, more appetising meals or more frequent trips.

At question time in the Lords, Lord Bethell said it would require a 'huge amount of political collaboration' and was likely to take longer.

The minister was replying to Labour's Baroness Thornton who asked him to commit to publishing a plan for the future funding and provision of social care by the end of this year.

She also called for a clear social care winter plan to ensure no one with Covid-19 was discharged from a hospital into a care home 'to prevent a repeat of the terrible impact this had in the first months of this crisis'.

Lord Bethell said: 'I cannot commit to a social care plan before the end of the year.

'This is something that will require a huge amount of political collaboration and I suspect it will take longer than the next few months.'

File Image: Caroline Abrahams, charity director at age UK has said 'with so much death and suffering in care homes to date there is absolutely no room for complacency'

He said there was a 600million infection control fund to help social care through the winter and tackle the spread of coronavirus in care homes.

Under England's broken social care system, people pay the full cost of their care until their assets - including the value of their home - fall to below 23,250.

It leaves many families unable to pass on much inheritance to their children.

Ms Abrahams said: 'The immediate priority for the government as regards social care ought to be implementing a fully-funded Winter Plan that gives care providers, older people and their families the confidence to believe they can get through the next few months in a lot better shape than during the pandemic so far.

'With so much death and suffering in care homes to date there is absolutely no room for complacency.'
New York, Sep 16 : As the US election looms large, US President Donald Trump has pushed through the diplomatic deal in the Middle East between Israel and two Arab states signed at the White House, while feverishly attempting a peace deal between the Taliban and Afghan government 7,000 miles away in Qatar to stake a campaign claim to statesmanship.

Asserting on Tuesday that it was a change in "the course of history", he presided over the signing of agreements between Israel and the two Arab sheikhdoms, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, to set up diplomatic relations.

While representatives of the Taliban and the US-backed Afghan government were meeting for what Trump hopes will be an agreement to end the conflict in that country, his special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad was trying to assuage India and wrangle from Pakistan an assurance that the terrorist organisation it backed would make the deal.

The Taliban deal will allow him to announce that the US after 19 years would be able to extricate its military from the Afghan quagmire under his leadership and keep the promise made before his 2016 election.

Trump has pointed to his Democratic Party rival Joseph Biden's support for the disastrous invasion of Iraq and numerous other foreign entanglements over his 40-year political career and claimed to be a peacemaker and leader who brings troops home rather than commit to more military excursions.

The US military has announced that it would be withdrawing several thousand troops from Afghanistan and Iraq before November, leaving only the bare minimum force there.

Under Trump, Washington's relations with its closest allies in Europe has frayed because of his constant criticism, his demands for them to increase their share of defence spending and decision to move US troops from Germany.

Combined with his commitment to the NATO which was seen as wavering, his foreign policy was criticised by Democrats as well as some Republicans.

Trump's outreach to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un with much fanfare to end Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programmes ended in failure.

China has increased its aggressive posture across Asia, taunting Trump, who has not been able to directly confront it.

So that leaves the Middle East and Afghanistan where he can show results before the elections.

The Islamic State terror organisation that had once controlled vast areas in Iraq and Syria has been routed and its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi dead through suicide during a raid by US Special Forces.

Trump couldn't pull off a peace deal between Israelis and the Palestinians that he said his son-in-law Jared Kushner was pursuing.

So the agreement between Israel and the two countries is a consolation prize - but it could pave the way for more Arab countries to break ranks with the Palestinians and recognise Israel, especially because it appears to have the approval of Saudi Arabia.

It may even get the Palestinians to resume talks with Israel.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres's Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Tuesday, "I think it's been very clear that he hopes these agreements will enable the Palestinians and the Israelis to renew negotiations. He also hopes, obviously, it will be a new opportunity to develop regional stability in the Gulf." Tuesday's outdoor ceremony at the White House for Bahrain Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayan and United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan to sign the pact with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while Trump presided, was meant to signal to his base - especially fundamentalist Christians - what he pitches as his work to secure Israel.

He may even think this may appeal to Jewish voters, the majority of whom back the Democratic Party and do not view him favourably.

Driven more by Christian fundamentalists and Israeli leaders like Netanyahu, Trump ripped up the international agreement reached under President Barack with Iran to stop its nuclear proliferation.

It has isolated him internationally and brought criticism from European allies. But more importantly, it has left Iran free to pursue nuclear proliferation.

(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
Infosys Ltd is quoting at Rs 989.8, up 0.75% on the day as on 12:49 IST on the NSE. The stock is up 19.07% in last one year as compared to a 6.96% spurt in NIFTY and a 25.79% spurt in the Nifty IT.

Infosys Ltd gained for a fifth straight session today. The stock is quoting at Rs 989.8, up 0.75% on the day as on 12:49 IST on the NSE. The benchmark NIFTY is up around 0.42% on the day, quoting at 11570.45. The Sensex is at 39237.39, up 0.49%. Infosys Ltd has risen around 3.37% in last one month.

Meanwhile, Nifty IT index of which Infosys Ltd is a constituent, has risen around 7.86% in last one month and is currently quoting at 19627.3, up 0.15% on the day. The volume in the stock stood at 46.13 lakh shares today, compared to the daily average of 81 lakh shares in last one month.

The benchmark September futures contract for the stock is quoting at Rs 989.35, up 0.62% on the day. Infosys Ltd is up 19.07% in last one year as compared to a 6.96% spurt in NIFTY and a 25.79% spurt in the Nifty IT index.

The PE of the stock is 26.17 based on TTM earnings ending June 20.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-17 00:39:58|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese institute on Wednesday issued an analysis of Adrian Zenz's Xinjiang report, accusing the latter of being "a hodgepodge of random patchwork and subjective speculation."

The article by the Human Rights Institute, Southwest University of Political Science & Law, said Zenz's report "is extremely imprecise, fictionalized the relationship between pictures and texts, maliciously interpreted the cases, and the conclusion has no factual basis."

The article said Zenz downloaded online pictures that were inconsistent with his report and deduced the situation of family planning in Xinjiang based on false reports, imagining the so-called "compulsory sterilization" and "genocide" in Xinjiang.

Defying academic norms and ethics, such practices were carried out politically in the name of academic research, the article said.

For instance, Zenz's report said health checks have become ubiquitous, especially in Xinjiang's ethnic minority areas, as a means to control population growth and to enforce intrusive birth control measures.

The attached picture, however, shows a group of elderly people undergoing free health checks as a part of the local poverty-relief drive.

Zenz's attempt to prove through pictures can not prove his fabricated lies like "genocide" and "forced family planning," but shows that the public health work in Xinjiang has been fruitful, it said.

The article also questioned the conclusions of Zenz's report, including blaming the declining fertility rate of Xinjiang's Uygur ethnic group on the government's population control.

Instead, the article said women's fertility levels depend on several factors, including social and economic development, medical and health care, women's education levels, and the implementation of family planning policies. Zenz's one-sided study is "totally confusing," it said.

Zenz's claims are also supported by personal stories that have been debunked as fake, the article said, questioning why the same stories are frequently used to defame China.

"The 'independent reports' like Adrian Zenz's are ... a means for Western anti-China forces to interfere in China's internal affairs by making false statements in the name of so-called experts," it said. Enditem
Every day, Macworld brings you the essential daily news and other info about all things Apple. But staying on top of that torrent of information can be a constant challenge. One solution: the Macworld digital magazine.

In the October issue

This month we review Apples final Intel Mac: the 27-inch iMac 2020. Find out why itll leave a lasting impression. Learn how to secure your devices by getting started with two-factor authentication. Exclusive to the magazine this month, read our ultimate guide to Apple Music.

Also in this months issue:

 MacUser: What the iMac refresh can tell us about Apples future products

 MacUser Reviews: Universal Audio Luna, Avast Premium Security for Mac

 iOS Central: Google Pixel 4a vs iPhone SE: Can a cheap Android handset beat Apples best-ever budget iPhone? Plus, how to disable Wi-Fi on an iPhone or iPad and always use cellular data

 iOS Central Reviews: Watchsmith, Camo

 Working Mac: How to use Zoom or FaceTime with an Apple TV (or any TV). Plus, how to take better screenshot selections in macOS

 Playlist: How to make your HomePod recognize multiple users. Plus, the Belkin SoundForm Elite Hi-Fi smart speaker reviewed

 Mac 911: How to purge your calendar of acquaintances natal days, send messages to select iCloud accounts directly to the trash

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EU says does not recognize Lukashenko as president of Belarus

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 15 September 2020 2:31 PM

The European Union (EU)'s diplomatic chief says the bloc does not recognize Alexander Lukashenko as the president of Belarus, ratcheting up tensions with the post-Soviet state.

"The situation is clear for us. We consider the elections of August 9 fraudulent," Josep Borrell, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs, told the European Parliament on Tuesday. "We don't recognize Lukashenko as the legitimate president of Belarus."

Borrell claimed that more than 7,500 protesters had been detained and 500 cases of torture had been registered during protests in Belarus against Lukashenko.

The EU official urged member states to pass sanctions on Belarus before a summit in Brussels at the end of next week.

Belarus has witnessed turmoil since Lukashenko won the presidential election in August. The opposition disputed the results of the election, Western countries quickly alleged voter fraud, and mass protests followed.

Belarus has rejected the allegations of vote rigging, but Lukashenko has proposed the drafting of a new constitution less reliant on the head of state.

At a meeting with Lukashenko in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the Belarusian president's proposal and rejected foreign meddling in Belarus' internal affairs.

Amid the allegations of voter fraud, renewed NATO activity has been detected near Belarus' borders. Lukashenko has formerly warned that Western governments seek to destabilize the country.

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Annastacia Palaszczuk's government spent almost $60,000 on alcohol in 12 months and a further $528,000 to gauge voter 'sentiment' on her COVID-19 restrictions.

The Queensland Government spent more than $1,000 a week on beer and wine at 99 functions from July 2019 to June 2020, new figures have revealed.

Ms Palaszczuk defended spending the $59,938 on Tuesday when she was asked a parliamentary question about the bill.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk's government spent almost $60,000 on alcohol in 12 months and a further $528,000 to gauge voter 'sentiment' on her drastic COVID-19 restrictions

Queenslanders are seen lining up to be tested for Covid-19 at a testing clinic at Ipswich Hospital on August 24

She claimed the beer and wine was offered to 'foreign dignitaries' at events that would help connect 'Queensland sellers with overseas buyers',' The Brisbane Times reported.

'Alcohol is only provided at functions hosted by entities within the ministerial portfolio where it is deemed appropriate to the circumstances,' Ms Palaszczuk said.

Queensland Opposition attacked the spending with Shadow Treasurer Tim Mander saying Labor 'can't be trusted with the state's finances'.

'It's unacceptable almost $60,000 has been blown on alcohol by agencies under Annastacia Palaszczuk's control while Queensland was in the midst of a recession,' he said.

HOW WAS $59,938 SPENT ON ALCOHOL: A breakdown of the spending shows the Office of the Queensland Governor spent $16,042 on 60 functions in the financial year. The Department of the Premier and Cabinet spent $14,909 on alcohol at its 20 functions. Screen Queensland spent $6,219. Queensland Trade and Investment Queensland's booze bill was $22,768. Advertisement

'A record 234,000 Queenslanders out of work and the worst unemployment rate in the nation is nothing to toast.'

Meanwhile, it has also been revealed Ms Palaszczuk's office has spent more than $528,000 on coronavirus polling in the past few months.

She also hired political strategist Mike Kaiser to help craft the state's COVID-19 economic recovery, after Queensland sensationally closed its borders to the rest of the country amid the pandemic.

Consultancy firm KPMG - where Mr Kaiser works - was given a confidential $275,000 contract on May 7 to provide 'advice on the development of an economic recovery roadmap', The Australian reported.

On May 8 Ms Palaszczuk then released the roadmap for easing restrictions, including opening the borders on July 10.

Queensland's borders were closed to the entire country on March 26 before being opened to all but Victoria on July 10.

Ms Palaszczuk quickly reversed the decision on August 8 and closed them again to all of New South Wales and Canberra.

Mr Kaiser helped the premier win the 2017 election and attended a re-election strategy summit alongside Ms Palaszczuk and senior ministers last November.

But a KPMG spokesperson said he will not be helping Labor with the upcoming election of October 31.

'KPMG has been engaged to provide assistance to the COVID-19 taskforce on the state's economic recovery strategy, including assisting the development of an infrastructure project roadmap,' he said.

worker helps a patient at a drive-through COVID-19 testing facility in Murarrie, Brisbane

Motorists are stopped at a checkpoint at Coolangatta on the Queensland-New South Wales border on August 7

In the last financial year Queensland Treasury issued five contracts to KPMG, including a $145,251 contract on April 1, at the height of the pandemic.

On May 7 Ms Palaszczuk's department also hired research and polling company Ipsos Public Affairs to oversee a $138,077 'COVID-19 Key Insights Project'.

Ipsos Public Affairs was then given an 'additional waves' top-up contract of $390,380 on June 19.

Communications firm Newgate Communications was given two contracts from the Department of Premier and Cabinet worth $190,476 on April 20 and May 25.

Ad agency MediaCom raked in $4.9million for COVID-19-related advertisements - the most lucrative contract from the premier.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 23:24:15|Editor: huaxia

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DAR ES SALAAM, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- At least five people have been killed and six others seriously injured after a bus collided head on with a saloon car in Tanzania's southern region of Mtwara, police said on Wednesday.

Mark Njera, the Mtwara regional police commander, said the accident occurred on Tuesday at 1 p.m. on the border between Masasi and Newala districts in Mtwara region.

The police official appealed to people from both districts to visit Newala district hospital to identify bodies of the victims. Enditem
France will proceed with its planned 5G mobile network deployment, President Emmanuel Macron has said, dismissing fierce opposition from those who would prefer "the Amish model" and "going back to the oil lamp", as he put it.

A group of 70 left-wing elected officials and environmentalists called on Sunday for a moratorium on 5G technology, which is due to be rolled out in France at the end of the month.

5G networks are touted as promising an exponential leap in the amount and speed of wireless data, enabling advances in self-driving vehicles, virtual reality, connected health and more as sensors and servers communicate instantly.

But the technology has come under scrutiny, and officials have called for more studies on the environmental and health impacts of the essential infrastructure.

The Citizens' Climate Convention, convened by Macron himself, specifically called for the postponement of the launch of the 5G technology until its environmental impact can be fully estimated.

"France is the country of innovation... We are going to put all false ideas to rest," Macron told a gathering of French tech entrepreneurs at the Elysee Palace, ahead of Tuesday's launch of France Digitale Day.

"I hear a lot of voices being raised to explain to us that the complexity of contemporary problems should be addressed by going back to the oil lamp. I don't believe that the Amish model can solve the challenges of contemporary ecology," Macron joked, referring to the American community which is suspicious of technology.

President provokes angry reaction

The Green Party mayor of Grenoble, Eric Piolle, described the presidential declaration as "a caricature of the neoliberal model, completely out of sync with the hopes and needs of the ordinary citizen".

Francois Ruffin of the far-left France Unbowed party, which has called for a referendum on the whole question of 5G, accuses Macron of breaking his word by promising to go ahead with the establishment of a 5G network, specifically rejected by the Citizens' Climate Convention.

"It's not a question of the Amish model," says Ruffin. "It's just a question of keeping your word."
New Delhi: The Tata Projects Limited on Wednesday (September 16) won the bid to construct a new Parliament building at a cost of Rs 861.90 crore, said a PTI report, adding that the L&T Ltd had submitted a bid of Rs 865 crore.

The new Parliament building will be constructed close to the existing structure under the Central Vista redevelopment project. The new building is expected to be completed in 21 months.

"The Tata Projects Limited has won the contract to build a new Parliament building," an official told PTI.

The new building will come up at plot number 118 of the Parliament House Estate, according to the Central Public Works Department (CPWD), which said the existing building will continue to function during this period.

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The government had earlier this justified its decision to build a new Parliament building stating that the current structure was "showing signs of distress and over-use".

Since the Lok Sabha is expected to have more numbers after the reorganization of constituencies, the current building will have no space for extra members in the House, said the government while responding to Opposition.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on Tuesday released in his first photo since being poisoned last month, looking gaunt but alert from his hospital bed in Berlin.

Navalny posed with his wife, Yulia, and two children, who were wearing masks and hospital gowns.

Image: Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie picture with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital (@navalny / AFP - Getty Images)

I still cant do many things, but yesterday I could breathe by myself the whole day, Navalny said in the Instagram post, which has been "liked" by more than 500,000 people. I did not use any outside help, not even the simplest valve in my throat.

I liked it a lot, he quipped, adding that he misses everyone.

Navalny, 44, a foe of Russian President Vladimir Putin's, fell ill on a flight from Tomsk, a Siberian city where he and his team were conducting a corruption investigation, to Moscow on Aug. 20.

The plane was forced to make an emergency landing, and Navalny was hospitalized and put in an induced coma and on a ventilator. Doctors in Russia speculated that he may have suffered from a metabolic disease.

On the insistence of his family, Navalny was later flown to Berlin, where the German government said he had been poisoned by a military-grade nerve agent similar to the one the British government said was used to poison former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the U.K. in 2018.

A German government spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said Monday that the initial findings had now been independently corroborated by laboratories in France and Sweden.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the findings disturbing and demanded that the Russian government explain the use of the nerve agent, raising international pressure on Moscow and further straining its already frail relationship with the West.

The Kremlin has said they have not seen the results of the German investigation and insisted there is no definitive proof that Navalny was poisoned.

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In Russia, the ruling United Russia party suffered setbacks in votes for two Siberian City Councils contested by supporters of Navalny despite securing landslide wins elsewhere at weekend regional elections.

Story continues

Navalny had promoted a tactical voting strategy to challenge United Russia and disrupt a political system in which outspoken Kremlin critics are often barred from competing. His allies have pressed ahead with the strategy despite his illness.

Navalny rose to prominence in 2009 with investigations into official corruption and became a protest leader when hundreds of thousands took to the streets across Russia in 2011 to protest electoral fraud.

A few years later, and after several short-term spells in jail, Navalny faced two separate sets of fraud charges, which were viewed as political retribution aimed at stopping him from running for office.

Navalnys anti-corruption foundation has conducted in-depth investigations into the highest ranks of the Russian political elite, including his most famous investigation into former Prime Minister and President Dmitry Medvedev.
Emirates NBD, UAEs largest lender, Monday inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bank Hapoalim, Israels biggest bank, as fruit of normalization between the two countries.

The agreement announced by Dubai Media Office, Gulf Business reports, will allow Israeli clients to transact directly in the UAE.

Bank Hapoalims CEO Dov Kotler announced the signing last week but stopped short to name Emirates NBD.

Kotler led an Israeli business delegation to the Gulf country early this month after both countries on August 13 announced a normalization deal which provide a wide range of cooperation between the two countries.

US President Donald Trump is to host today September 15 Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for signing of historic agreement.

First Abu Dhabi Bank is set to sign a MoU with Bank Hapoalim and Bank Leumi; another Israeli lender.

Written by: Jaber Ali on September 15, 2020. on September 16, 2020.
Lawyer Alan Dershowitz is suing CNN for $300million for allegedly portraying him as an 'intellectual who had lost his mind' during Donald Trump's impeachment trial.

Dershowitz raised eyebrows during the Senate trial by saying that 'if a president does something which he believes will help him get elected, in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment'.

The attorney had earlier said that a quid pro quo would be unlawful if 'the quo were somehow illegal', but is now accusing CNN of airing misleading footage in a 'barrage of defamatory programming' that led to Dershowitz being 'openly mocked'.

The lawsuit filed in Florida court is seeking $250million of punitive damages and a further $50million in compensation from the network.

Alan Dershowitz speaks during Donald Trump's impeachment trial earlier this year, where he made comments about presidential powers which he says were misrepresented by CNN

Dershowitz spoke during the impeachment trial in January, in which Trump was accused of abusing his power by strong-arming Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden.

In response to a question by Republican senator Ted Cruz, Dershowitz said: 'The only thing that would make a quid pro quo unlawful is if the quo were somehow illegal.'

He continued: 'Now we talk about motive. There are three possible motives that a political figure could have.

'One, a motive in the public interest and the Israel argument would be in the public interest. The second is in his own political interest and the third, which hasn't been mentioned, would be his own financial interest, his own pure financial interest, just putting money in the bank.

'I want to focus on the second one for just one moment.

'Every public official that I know believes that his election is in the public interest and, mostly you are right, your election is in the public interest, and if a president does something which he believes will help him get elected in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment.'

Democrats seized on Dershowitz's remarks but the lawyer said his comments had been misinterpreted and 'wilfully distorted' in media coverage of the trial.

In the lawsuit, Dershowitz claims that CNN broadcast only a short segment of his answer in order to 'fool its viewers' about what he said.

CNN hosts are accused of 'exploding into a one-sided and false narrative' that Dershowitz had argued that presidents could act illegally if they believed their re-election was in the public interest.

Trump (pictured in Washington yesterday) was impeached and acquitted on charges of abusing his power to strong-arm Ukraine into investigating Joe Biden

'The very notion of that was preposterous and foolish on its face, and that was the point: to falsely paint Professor Dershowitz as a constitutional scholar and intellectual who had lost his mind,' the lawsuit says.

'With that branding, Professor Dershowitzs sound and meritorious arguments would then be drowned under a sea of repeated lies.'

In fact, Dershowitz had 'unequivocally and unambiguously stated' that a president could not act illegally, the lawsuit argues.

The legal filing says that Dershowitz was 'openly mocked by most of the top national talk show hosts' and by CNN viewers following coverage of his comments.

'Due to the overwhelming vastness of its broadcasts, CNN caused substantial damage to Professor Dershowitz by irreparably harming his reputation,' it says.

Dershowitz, 82, is demanding a trial by jury as he seeks $300million damages from the network.

Last year, Dershowitz filed a defamation claim against Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre after she claimed she was trafficked to prominent men including Dershowitz.

The attorney denied Giuffre's claims and said her allegations had caused him severe emotional distress.

Dershowitz says he has travel records, credit card statements and phone records proving he was never in places where Giuffre claims to have had sex with him.

He filed a counter-claim for unspecified damages last November after Giuffre filed her own lawsuit against him in April 2019.

Dershowitz had previously represented Epstein against sex crime charges for which he served a 13-month sentence. Epstein died in his Manhattan jail cell last year.

Despite the outcry over Dershowitz's comments in the impeachment trial, Trump was acquitted on the charges of abuse of power and obstruction of justice in early February.

Trump had insisted that there was no 'quid pro quo' when he urged Ukraine to investigate Biden and his son Hunter, who was once on the board of a Kiev-based energy firm.

Democrats accused Trump of using $391million in military aid and the offer of a White House visit to coax Ukraine's president into agreeing to his demands.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-17 00:04:31|Editor: huaxia

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LONDON, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- British red meat exporters are bullish on the Chinese market, which they described as "hugely important" and are seeking closer trade cooperation in the future.

"We consider China to be a very important part of our red meat export portfolio," International Market Development Director Phil Hadley from Britain's Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) told Xinhua.

"We have a vibrant and growing pork trade, which continues to grow year on year. The total value of pork exports to China were around 200 million pounds (257 million U.S. dollars) in 2019, and so far this year they are up again," Hadley said.

Hadley said he expected the British beef exports to China to start at the end of this year or early into next year.

"We have ambitious hopes for the beef sector over the coming years," he said.

Last year, China and Britain finalized details of a trade agreement, opening access for the British beef industry to the Chinese market. "We'll finalize our beef paperwork and begin to start shipping shortly," Hadley said.

In order to promote British red meat to the Chinese market, the AHDB and British exports have a stand at two major exhibitions in China -- the 18th China International Meat Industry Exhibition 2020 (CIMIE 2020) and SIAL China 2020 to be held in Shanghai from Sept. 28 to Sept. 30.

Due to travel restrictions as a result of COVID-19, five British exporters promoted their pork and beef through videos and virtual platform during CIMIE 2020, which was held in Qingdao from Sept. 10 to Sept. 12.

"We're having very positive feedback from the show at the moment," Hadley said, "we're very keen and have supported that show (CIMIE) for a number of years. It always provides us with a very good platform to meet with both new and established Chinese businesses and buyers."

AHDB Export Manager Susan Stewart said: "These two shows represent the first time this year that we have been able to reconnect our exporters with key influential buyers in China due to the ongoing challenges of COVID-19."

"China is a hugely important market for our pork exports and it is vital that we maintain our strong relationship with buyers and continue to fly the flag for our red meat, especially as we are on the cusp of shipping beef to China for the first time in over 20 years," Stewart said.

When talking about future trade cooperation, Hadley expressed expectation from British exporters. "We were also in a dialogue with the Chinese authorities around accelerating our sheep meat access. And then on top of that, we also have other opportunities for other lifestyle products, such as dairy," Hadley said.

The AHDB is an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by Britain's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It aims to help Britain's livestock, dairy and agriculture sectors and stimulate demand in the British and export markets. Enditem
A Montgomery County couple say a longtime Friends' Central School teacher caused permanent damage to their 5-year-old son and abused other students, and the elite private school knew about the danger the staffer posed to children, according to a newly filed lawsuit.

During the 2018-19 school year, the suit in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court alleges, the teacher repeatedly humiliated the couples pre-kindergarten boy in front of his classmates and repeatedly hurt him, putting her hands on his head and jerking it back and forth while reprimanding him.

After sudden behavior shifts, the boy eventually told his sister something was wrong. Eventually, he told his parents, too, and they immediately notified the school that teacher Laurie Lubking had hurt him physically and verbally terrorized him," according to the suit filed Monday.

The boy, who is not named in the suit, told his parents he had been scared to tell them because he was afraid of getting in more trouble with his teacher.

Its unclear whether Lubking was the subject of any investigations prior to the 2018-19 school year.

This is shocking, nightmarish stuff for this family, said Matt Casey, a lawyer who represents the family. We intend to get fully to the bottom of how and why it was permitted to occur.

Friends' Central said it does not comment on pending litigation, but spokesperson Lisa DOrazio said, It is our intention to defend this case vigorously.

The safety and well-being of our students is always Friends' Centrals top priority, DOrazio said in a statement.

Lubking did not return calls seeking comment.

The family is seeking unspecified damages from both Lubking and Friends' Central.

The Wynnewood school knew Lubking was a problem, the lawsuit says: While the child first told his parents he had been hurt in May 2019, the teacher had been investigated for injuring another child earlier in the school year and was allowed to return to work with children, according to the suit.

After the May incident, Lubking was removed from the classroom, the lawsuit says. When asked by administrators what happened, Lubking allegedly said the boy was very sensitive and probably put off by her stern tone. She said she had bopped the boy on the head during a game the class was playing.

This account is untrue and appears to be an attempt to explain away any physical contact by the teacher, the lawsuit says.

Lubking never returned to the classroom, but the school never told parents the reason for her departure, and urged the family to keep quiet about the incident, the lawsuit says.

The boy suffers lingering effects, the suit says. Prior to the incident, he was described by teachers as sweet, kind, helpful, an admirable member of the class, according to the suit. Now, he attends emotional support classes, requires regular therapy, is under the treatment of a psychiatrist, and has threatened to hurt himself. He has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and other conditions, and blames his parents for failing to keep him safe, the suit says.

This abuse has caused permanent injuries for this child that will result in a long road ahead for him and his parents, Casey said. The child now attends another school.
Prasanta Mazumdar By

Express News Service

GUWAHATI: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has ordered the Assam government to pay a compensation of Rs 1 lakh to a Muslim man who was assaulted by vigilantes for selling cooked beef at his eatery.

The order was issued based on a complaint lodged by the Leader of Opposition in Assam Assembly Debabrata Saikia of the Congress. The Commission took a strong note that neither the Chief Secretary replied to a show-cause notice nor the Director General of Police (DGP) submitted the action taken report against some guilty cops.

On April 12 last year, Shaukat Ali (48) had to be hospitalised after he was attacked by the vigilantes for serving beef at his eatery at a village market in Biswanath district. Some policemen, who were at the site, allegedly remained mute spectators.

According to a report submitted to the NHRC by district administration, the market was not leased out for financial years 2017-18, 2018-19, and 2019-20 but the profession tax collector involved some local unemployed youths to collect revenues.

The report also said as the market is located in a Hindu-inhabited area, the selling of beef hurt religious sentiments of locals. As such, some youths insulted and disgraced the victim while some unidentified persons inserted something in his mouth but it could not be ascertained if it was pork which his family alleged.

 It is clearly discernible from the report that public servant was collecting revenue from the market involving some local unemployed youths which is against the law. The victim was found insulted and disgraced on the basis of caste/religion and therefore, the human rights of the victim were violated. Police apprehended 15 persons and forwarded them to judicial custody. Thus, prima facie it is a case of violation of human rights of the victim for which the state is vicariously liable to compensate the victim, the NHRC order reads.

Taking note of the fact that it did not receive a reply or response to the show cause notice, the Commission directed the Chief Secretary to release Rs 1 lakh to the victim and submit a report along with proof of payment to the Commission within six weeks.

In addition, the Commission has not received action taken report against the guilty police officials from the DGP, Assam. Therefore, let reminder be sent to the DGP to submit the action taken report against the guilty police officials within four weeks failing which the Commission shall be constrained to invoke Section 13 of the Protection of Human Rights Act including the law laid down in Rule 10 and Rule 12 of order XVI of Civil Procedure, 1908 and the criminal proceedings under Sections 175/176 of IPC, 1860 and such other action as its deems proper under the law, the Commission warned.
In India and around the world while the coronavirus pandemic brought life to a standstill for most of us, it helped wildlife thrive in the absence of human intervention.

The number of Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins seen around Hong Kong has jumped as the pause in high-speed ferry traffic due to the coronavirus allows the threatened species to make something of a comeback, scientists said.

Marine scientist Lindsay Porter of the University of St. Andrews said the mammals  also known as Chinese white dolphins and pink dolphins  were moving back into parts of the Pearl River Delta that they typically avoided due to the ferries that connect Hong Kong and Macau.

Dolphin numbers in the area had jumped by up to 30% since March when the ferry traffic was suspended, allowing scientists a rare opportunity to study how underwater noise affected their behaviour, she said.

These waters, which were once one of the busiest thoroughfares in Hong Kong, have now become very quiet, said Porter, who has studied dolphins for three decades from Hong Kong.

From a small rubber boat, Porter and her team drop microphones into the water and use drones to watch for dolphins.

READ: Over 80 Bird Species Spotted in Tamil Nadu As Human Activity Came to a Standstill During Lockdown

READ: These Rare Animals Have Been Spotted Since Lockdown in Cities

READ: Wild Animals Are Strolling Public Places During Coronavirus Lockdown

The research suggested the dolphins had adapted more rapidly than expected to the quiet environment, and the population was likely to rebound when such stressors were removed, Porter said.

Scientists think there are about 2,000 dolphins in the entire Pearl River estuary. A Hong Kong government survey from 2019 found only about 52 dolphins entered the waters around the Asian financial hub, but Porter believes the real number may be slightly higher.

I sometimes feel that were studying the slow demise of this population, which can be really sad, she said.

Still, even if this populations decline could not be stopped, the research could help other dolphin populations elsewhere, she said.

Hong Kongs conservation plans have focused on opening marine parks, where ship traffic is limited but not banned. Three of those areas are frequented by dolphins.

The Hong Kong WWF, a conservation group, and Porter said such measures were inadequate as dolphins were still in danger of being hit by ferries as they moved between the protected areas.

It means that if we did have a comprehensive management plan in Hong Kong with more effective conservation measures, we might be able to quickly stop the decline in the dolphin population, she said.

Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Coronavirus News here
The number of people who have recovered from the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in India has been on a steady rise with the country logging record 82,961 recoveries in a single day as of Wednesday.

As many as 3,942,360 have recovered from the viral disease and been discharged from home isolation or hospitals, pushing the recovery rate to 78.53%.

According to the health ministry, Maharashtra alone contributes about a quarter of the new recoveries (19,423), followed by Andhra Pradesh (9,628), Karnataka (7,406), Uttar Pradesh (6,680) and Tamil Nadu (5,735).

Follow latest updates on coronavirus here

Even as these states account for about 60% of the countrys active cases, their recovery figures continue to keep hopes high as they contribute to nearly 59% of the total new recoveries.

As of Wednesday, the number of recoveries exceeded the number of active cases by 2,946,427  the recovery number being 3.96 times the active cases. The seven-day moving average of the recoveries shows a consistent surge, the ministry said in a statement.

However, despite the highest number of recoveries in the world, the nations Covid-19 tally has surpassed five million.

As the infections continue to rise at an alarming rate, Russias sovereign wealth funds deal with an Indian pharma firm is likely to bring respite.

Pharmaceuticals major Dr Reddys Laboratories has reached an agreement with the Russian body to cooperate on clinical trials and distribution of the Sputnik V vaccine for Covid-19 in India. Upon regulatory approval in India, the RDIF shall supply to Dr Reddys 100 million doses of the vaccine, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) has said in a statement.

Also, as multiple vaccine candidates against Covid-19 are under trials in the country, health minister Harsh Vardhan had last week said that a vaccine may be ready by the first quarter of the next year.
In a bid to protect the interest of depositors, the on Wednesday passed an amendment to the Banking Regulation Act to bring under the supervision of the

The Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2020 replaces an ordinance that was promulgated on June 26.

Replying to the debate on the bill, Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said this legislation is for depositors' safety and not for undermining powers of the Registrar of Cooperative Societies.

Powers of the Registrar of Cooperative Societies have not been encroached upon but banking activity of cooperatives will be regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), she said.

Urban and multi-state will be brought under the RBI's supervision process applicable to commercial banks.

There are about 1,482 urban cooperative banks and 58 multi-state co-operative banks with a depositors base of about 8.6 crore.

(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.)
Geneva/New Delhi, Sep 16 : India on Tuesday slammed Turkey and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, while shaming Pakistan for funding cross-border terrorism and ethnic cleansing of its minorities.

In response to the statements made by Pakistan, Turkey and the OIC at the Council, Indian representative Pawan Badhe, First Secretary at the Permanent Mission of India in Geneva, rejected their comments on India's internal matters, specifically Jammu and Kashmir, which was reorganised last year and bifurcated into two Union Territories.

In an unprecedented takedown of the OIC, Turkey and Pakistan, Badhe said, "The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India. The OIC has no locus standi to comment on internal affairs of India. The OIC has allowed itself to be misused by Pakistan to subvert its own agenda. It's for the members of the OIC to decide if it is in their interest to allow Pakistan to do so." He also advised Turkey to refrain from commenting on the internal affairs of India.

Using strong words against Islamabad, Badhe said it has become a habit for Pakistan to malign India with false and fabricated narratives for its self-serving malicious purposes.

"Neither India nor others deserve this unsolicited lecture on human rights from a country that has consistently persecuted its ethnic and religious minorities, is an epicentre of terrorism, has the distinction of providing pensions to individuals on UN Sanctions list and has a Prime Minister who proudly admits training tens of thousands of terrorists to fight in Jammu and Kashmir," he said.

The Indian diplomat said that it is not surprising that other relevant multilateral institutions have been raising serious concerns on Pakistan's failure to stop terror financing and lack of effective actions against all terror entities in Pakistan.

The nefarious designs of Pakistan continue in Pakistan occupied parts of the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, he said.

"The mass influx of outsiders has whittled down the number of Kashmiris to an insignificant number in Pakistan occupied parts of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh," he informed the council.

Badhe argued that in its zeal to reassert its theocratic ideology, Pakistan has ensured that ethnic and religious minorities have no future because of systematic persecution, blasphemy laws, forced conversions, targeted killings, sectarian violence and faith-based discrimination.

Thousands of Sikh, Hindu and Christian minority women and girls have been subjected to abductions, forced marriages and conversions in Pakistan, he pointed out.

The plight of the people under its subjugation is well represented by the state of affairs in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh.

"Not a single day has gone by when a family in Balochistan doesn't find its members picked up or kidnapped by the security forces of Pakistan," the Indian representative told the council.

In a scathing attack, the Indian diplomat used sarcasm to describe what Pakistan excels in.

"Pakistan does well when it comes to intimidation and attacks against journalists, human rights defenders and political dissidents, in particular by its state machinery. It is not without a reason that Pakistan has been highlighted by international organisations as a country where journalists are slain and their killers go scot free.

"Pakistan has been abusing various HRC mechanisms and platforms for raising issues, which are extraneous to the mandate of the HRC and which relate to internal affairs of India, with a view to distract the attention of the international community from serious human rights violations committed by it against its own people, including in Indian territories occupied by it," Badhe concluded.
Culture Night has not fallen victim to the Covid-19 pandemic with numerous artistic events taking place locally this Friday.

The annual all-island public event Culture Night taking place on Friday September 18 will see hundreds of events taking place nationwide with Dundalk hosting a number of events in celebration from visual art, to heritage, to music.

With the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions in place, some events have moved online, but there are several offline taking take place in our local community.

An Tain Arts Centres visual artist in residence in the Basement Gallery studio Etaoin OReilly will be giving ceramic family workshops on the night.

Children and adults will be given the opportunity to make ceramic flowers and have a go on the pottery wheel.

People can also pop into the Basement Gallery between 8pm and 10pm to meet ceramic artist and facilitator Etaoin.

Advanced bookings are not necessary for members of the public to meet the artist in the open studio.

An Tain Arts Centres Director Paul Hayes will also be giving all access tours of the theatre, where audiences will have the opportunity to learn about the heritage of the building, and get a glimpse behind the scenes of a working arts space.

This event will take place between 7pm and 9pm on Friday and is free to attend but advance booking is required to ensure all Covid-19 health safety measures are adhered to.

Creative Spark located in Muirhevnamor is also running The Big Relief: A Steamroller Print Event between 6pm and 8pm on Friday which will bring artists and the community together to celebrate art and community.

Artists have been busy all week carving large scale relief woodcut printing blocks using traditional hand tools as well as electric carvers, saws, and routers ahead of the event on Friday evening.

The finishing touches will be added to the plate and it will be inked up and printed on the night.

The County Museum in Dundalk will hold an online event Historical Songs: Highlighting Irish and Local History

People can access the event via the museums Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/ countymuseumdundalk between 7.30pm and 8pm to enjoy a variety of songs highlighting elements of Irish and local history.

While the Louth County Archives will host an online event Archives Into Art with artist Miriam Fox.

Young artists are being invited to explore and investigate fascinating archival pieces with artist Miriam Fox.

Inspired by a selection of archives, the artists will interweave history with the modern day and reinterpret the past in a wonderful new artwork, bringing the history of our county alive.

It will be possible to see the results of their work on the night.

The event is running from 7pm to 7.45pm and can be accessed via http://www.louthcoco.ie/en/ services/archives/
Russia offers $1.5bn loan to Belarus as Putin, Lukashenko meet in Sochi

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 15 September 2020 6:44 AM

Russian President Vladimir Putin has pledged to grant a loan of 1.5 billion dollars to Belarus, reaffirming support for Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's government.

"We have agreed that Russia will provide a state credit [amounting to] 1.5 billion dollars to Belarus in this challenging situation, and we will do it. As far as I know our finance ministers are addressing that issue at the professional level," President Putin said at a meeting with Lukashenko in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Monday.

Putin expressed hope that the news of the Russian loan would "have an effect on the financial markets in a proper manner."

The visit was Lukashenko's first foreign trip since he won the presidential election in Belarus on August 9. Western governments and Belarus' opposition have rejected Lukashenko's re-election, alleging voter fraud. Protests have been held in the country since.

Lukashenko has rejected the allegations of vote rigging but proposed the drafting of a new constitution less reliant on the head of state.

Putin praised the Belarusian president's plans for constitutional change to appease the opposition.

He stressed that the Belarusian people should "deal with this situation themselves, calmly and in dialog with each other, without hints and pressure from outside."

Lukashenko thanked Putin for his support and said of the Belarusian people, "We need to stick closer to our elder brother and cooperate on all issues."

Russia disbands standby police reserve force

After the meeting between Putin and Lukashenko, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia had disbanded a law enforcement reserve unit stationed near its border with Belarus.

"An important outcome of the talks between both presidents in Sochi is the agreement on Russia dismantling the backup law enforcement and National Guard unit that was established near the Russian-Belarusian border and on transferring people to their permanent dislocation sites," Peskov told reporters on Monday.

Russia announced the formation of the Russian law enforcement unit last month, after Belarus asked for Russian help with maintaining security.

Peskov said Moscow saw all Belarusians as brothers, regardless of whether they supported Lukashenko or not.

Commenting on the 1.5-billion-dollar loan, Peskov said part of it would be spent to cover Belarus' outstanding sovereign debt before Russia.

"The loan is issued not to President Lukashenko, but to Belarus, our big ally and a brotherly nation for us," he said, adding that the issuance of the loan "must in no way be interpreted as interference in internal affairs."

His remarks came in response to a statement by Belarusian opposition figure and former presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who said Lukashenko would have to pay the loan back personally.

Russia, Belarus to hold joint military exercises

Peskov further said that Russia and Belarus would hold joint military drills, but rejected allegations that his country would deploy forces to military bases in Belarus.

"This issue [of bases] was not discussed. Drills will be held, but such an issue is not on the agenda," he said.

On Sunday, Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin warned that an American armor battalion had redeployed its tanks to a location in Lithuania close to the Belarusian border as Minsk and Moscow geared up for the joint defense drill.

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The Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), has given Mali a one-week period effective September 15, 2020, to either form a transitioning government or face mixed sanctions.



The sanctions include the closure of all land and air borders, freezing of all financial transactions, and freezing of economic and trade flows between ECOWAS Member States and Mali, with the exception of basic essentials, medication and supplies and equipment for the fight against COVID-19, petroleum products and electricity.



Madam Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration said this at a media briefing in Accra on Wednesday.



The decision was arrived at in a Consultative Meeting convened by the Chair of the Authority, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and members of the National Committee for the Salvation of the People (CNSP), Mali, on September 15, 2020, at Peduase in the Eastern Region on the political situation in Mali.



Mali's President, Mr Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was overthrown on August 18, 2020. He won a second term in elections in 2018, however, there was anger over corruption, the mismanagement of the economy and a dispute over legislative elections.



This prompted several large protests in recent months and following his overthrow, Mr Keita was detained by the soldiers and later freed.



This was the fourth coup in the West African state since it gained independence from France in 1960.



Hence, the meeting among others matters, aimed at expediting the process for the establishment of a Transitional Government and the restoration of constitutional order in Mali.



Leaders who participated in the meeting were Mr Roch Marc Christian Kabore, President of Burkina Faso, Alassane Ouattara, President of the Republic of Cote dIvoire, Professor Alpha Conde, President of the Republic of Guinea, and Mr Mahamadou Issoufou, the President of the Republic of Niger.



Others were Mr Macky Sall, the President of the Republic of Senegal, Mr Faure Essozimna Gnassingbe, President of the Togolese Republic, and Mr Yemi Osinbajo, the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.



The decisions stipulated that the President and Prime Minister of the transitional government must be civilians and the nominations of these two key personalities must be done immediately.



The transition Vice President provided for in the Transition Charter, it said, should not under any circumstances assume the role of the Transition President, and the CNSP would be dissolved immediately the civilian transition government was in place.



It was also decided that the transition period would be 18 months maximum, with effect from September 15, 2020.



Madam Botchwey said following extensive deliberations on the architecture and road map for the transition presented by the delegation of the CNSP led by Colonel Assimi Goita, the Heads of State made a number of decisions.



Madam Botchwey said once a civilian-led transition government had assumed office, ECOWAS within the context of its protocols, would fully assist Mali to return to constitutional rule.



Sanctions, she said, would also be lifted immediately the Transition President and Prime Minister were appointed.



The ECOWAS Moderator, Mr Goodluck Jonathan, Former President of Nigeria, was charged to undertake a mission to Mali within a week to assess the status of implementation of the decisions of the Authority.



Madam Botchwey reiterated that the step undertaken by the Authority followed the reaffirmation of the Authority at the 57th Summit of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS, to ensure that there was a swift restoration of constitutional order in Mali.



Madam Anne Sophie Ave, the Ambassador of France to Ghana in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said Ghana and her President Akufo-Addo were known for their record of enforcing democracy, hence, she was optimistic that the Authority under the Chairmanship of President Akufo-Addo, could help to revive Mali.



She said a country with a leadership attained from a military force, often lost the confidence of development partners and other sister countries to offer support or to invest in the country.

Source: GNA









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The RSPCA and police have raided a pair of puppy farms near Inverell and Wagga Wagga over fears for the welfare of about 300 dogs.

Animal cruelty concerns triggered the major raids on Wednesday on the puppy breeding business that has previously been investigated by authorities for its activities.

Authorities have raided two puppy farms in regional NSW.

Animal activists said the dogs on the farms faced a "life of suffering", forced to breed constantly to keep up with demand, and should be rescued.

The RSPCA said the search warrants had been carried out following allegations of animal cruelty and breaches of NSW dog breeding rules.
A new analysis of the successes and failures of green energy companies in the US has found that those with ARPA funding filed for far more patents in the years after launching than other "cleantech" startups from the same time.

The "innovation advantage" bestowed by ARPA-E - an energy version of the legendary DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) - was not shared by startups funded via other US government initiatives.

ARPA-type agencies were developed in the US to fund "high risk, high reward" research with the aim of fostering major breakthroughs, often by providing greater freedom to take on highly ambitious technical challenges.

The new findings offer encouragement to a UK government considering its own British ARPA (or 'BARPA'), but any agency adopting this model requires a focus in order to flourish - and BARPA's should be climate, argues Professor Laura Diaz Anadon from the University of Cambridge.

"Our US-based research points to the value of ARPA agencies. The UK may well benefit from such an approach in a post-pandemic world, given the technological capital within its universities and private sector," said Anadon, co-author of the US innovation study.

"The UK should adapt the ARPA model to create an agency for the climate challenge as part of any Covid-19 recovery package. Focusing research and development on next-generation energy storage and renewables, and solutions for decarbonizing shipping, aviation and construction, could boost productivity and deliver large benefits to society," said Anadon.

Dr Anna Goldstein, first author of the study from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, said: "ARPA is not a one-size-fits-all solution. ARPA agencies are mission-focused, and there is no evidence to suggest this model would work well as a fund for general science and technology."

The research was conducted by the University of Cambridge, UK (Prof. Laura Diaz Anadon), the University of Massachusetts Amherst, US (Dr. Anna Goldstein and Prof. Erin Baker), and the Technical University of Munich in Germany (Prof. Claudia Doblinger). It is published today in the journal Nature Energy.

ARPA-E was established at the US Department of Energy under Obama, using a portion of the economic stimulus package that followed the 2009 financial crisis. To date, it has allocated US$3.38 billion.

The aim was to accelerate innovation in "clean" technologies such as biofuels, smart grids and solar power at a time when it was out of favour with Venture Capital investors, due in part to long development cycles and low initial returns.

For the latest study, researchers investigated whether ARPA-E - a "posterchild" of mission-orientated innovation now under threat from the Trump administration - had translated its unique approach into real-world success.

By constructing a database of 1,287 US cleantech startups, and using patents as a proxy for innovation, they found that companies funded by a fledgling ARPA-E in 2010 went on to file patents at an average of twice the rate of other green energy companies in the years that followed.

The researchers also measured "business success" by looking at how many companies were taken public or acquired by larger firms, as well as levels of private VC funding and overall survival rates.

While ARPA-funded companies do better than those turned down by ARPA-E, in general they fare no better or worse than other cleantech startups with the same amount of patents and private funding before 2010.

As such, the researchers argue that ARPA-E support alone does not bridge the "valley of death": the phase between initial funding injection and revenue generation during which startups often fold.

Goldstein said: "It appears that ARPA-E helps startups working on riskier but potentially more disruptive technologies to reach the same levels of success as other, less risky, cleantech firms."

"However, there is still a need for public funding to bring innovations in clean technology through the 'valley of death' so they can become commercial products that compete with legacy technologies and reduce emissions."

Writing for Cambridge Zero, the University's new climate change initiative, Laura Diaz Anadon points out that, at just 1.7% of GDP, the UK lags in R&D investment: below the EU28 average, and way behind the US, South Korea and Japan.

"While the UK dramatically increased energy investment over the last 20 years, it is still below the levels this country saw in the 1970s and 1980s," said Anadon, Professor of Climate Change Policy at the University of Cambridge.

"My co-authors and I would recommend trialing a UK version of ARPA-E that can ramp up energy innovation, and support selected projects through to demonstration phase. R&D investments in energy transition would be an inexpensive but essential component of a Covid-19 recovery package."

"The UK has solid recent experience in the energy space, but in the past several initiatives have fallen prey to volatile government funding before success can be properly gauged. Future efforts will need consistency as well as a set up that would enable state-of-the-art and independent evaluation."

###
Rather than have Solly begin school without any supports or services  such as a special-education teacher and occupational, physical and speech therapies to help him access distance learning  Rodan has opted to pull him out of the school system this year and home-school instead. Solly is nonverbal and in a wheelchair  he cant even scribble lines, much less form a letter, she said. Rodan plans to pay out-of-pocket for extra services with a private therapy team, but theres no way he will be able to receive anything close to an adequate education this school year.

Similar struggles are playing out across the country, as parents grapple with how to deal with the complexities of remote learning. What many families dont realize, said Denise Marshall, CEO of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (COPAA), an independent national association that protects the legal and civil rights of students with disabilities, is that the federal laws surrounding special education, specifically IDEA, remain exactly the same. (SB-117 was passed during a temporary emergency, and if California school districts continue to hold off on providing assessments they may be in violation of federal law, she added.)

School districts still seem to be convincing parents that the way the things that are done right now are different because of Covid-19, but thats not the case, said Marshall. This past July, groups representing school administrators, such as the School Superintendents Association, called on Congress to grant them liability protections related to their obligations under IDEA. But the U.S. Department of Education had denied similar requests this past spring, she said, and theres no reason to think legislators will allow IDEA to be relaxed now.
Jim Cramer (right) attends the New York Fatherhood Lunch to benefit GOOD+ Foundation on 18 October 2016 in New York City. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (left) speaks during her weekly news conference on Capitol Hill, on 16 January 2020 in Washington, DC ((Getty Images))

CNBC host Jim Cramer called Nancy Pelosi Crazy Nancy, while interviewing her on Tuesday, echoing president Donald Trump, who has repeatedly mocked the house speaker using that name.

Cramer made the remark during an interview with the house speaker on Tuesday morning, while he questioned her about the likelihood of a new coronavirus relief package being approved soon.

What deal can we have, Crazy Nancy? the host said, before he immediately told Ms Pelosi: I'm sorry, that was the president. I have such reverence for the office, I would never use that term.

The house speaker briefly laughed and told Cramer: But you just did, but you just did, before she then agreed that she knew what the host meant with the remark.

Ms Pelosi added: Let me just say this, anything the president says is a projection of his own insecurities. He calls other people crazy because he knows he is.

So anytime he says something you say, Uh-oh, that's what he's thinking of himself.

Cramer attempted to explain his comments again later on in the interview with Ms Pelosi, and said: You know, I was being facetious when I used the term involving you.

I respect you. Anyone who gives their life to public service and is speaker of the House should not be called that name, and added: I don't even want to use it again.

Ms Pelosi again attempted to move on from the remarks, and said: Don't worry about that, and added: Let that be your biggest problem today.

President Trump has repeatedly attempted to mock the house speaker on Twitter by referring to her as Crazy Nancy, and the nickname has been copied by some of his followers.

This is the end of Jim Cramer as a serious finance commentator. He might as well hang it up and go to work for Fox. https://t.co/tJTkqG6A89  Howard Dean (@GovHowardDean) September 15, 2020

The host was criticised on social media for using the name, and former Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean wrote on Twitter: This is the end of Jim Cramer as a serious finance commentator. He might as well hang it up and go to work for Fox.

Story continues

Tony Schwartz, who ghost wrote Mr Trumps book The Art of the Deal, but has been critical of his time in office, tweeted in reference to the presidents insult: Trump has decimated civility and dragged all of us down with him.

Example: CNBC's awful Jim Cramer calls Speaker Pelosi Crazy Nancy to her face, as if that's OK to say to the Speaker of the House.

Trump has decimated civility and dragged all of us down with him. Example: CNBC's awful Jim Cramer calls Speaker Pelosi "Crazy Nancy" to her face, as if that's ok to say to the Speaker of the House.  Tony Schwartz (@tonyschwartz) September 15, 2020

After the backlash, Cramer tweeted about the exchange, and again attempted to explain why he used the term in the interview.

It disgusts me that she is called Crazy Nancy. She has spent her whole life in public services. My critics didn't listen to why I mentioned it-because it is horrifying.

It disgusts me that she is called "crazy Nancy." She has spent her whole life in public services. My critics didn't listen to why i mentioned it-because it is horrifying.  Jim Cramer (@jimcramer) September 15, 2020

In the interview on Tuesday morning, Ms Pelosi said that she will not call the president in an attempt to get the new coronavirus relief package through Congress, with negotiations between house Republicans and Democrats currently in a deadlock.

The pair have not spoken for 11 months, since Ms Pelosi left a meeting with Mr Trump in the Oval Office, when he called her a third grade politician, according to CNN.

What is the point?" Ms Pelosi said. The president has sent his representatives and if he has confidence in them, than I do too.

Ms Pelosi added: If you're talking to him you're almost wasting your time.

Read more

Nancy Pelosi filmed using hair salon shuttered by coronavirus lockdown for blow-out

Fundraising page for salon owner who exposed Pelosi raises $140,000 in just two days

Pelosi says House will remain in session until new corornavirus relief deal is struck
Students finishing high school are being urged to swap their traditional overseas gap years for picking fruit on Australian farms.

The coronavirus pandemic has caused a casual labour shortage, taking the number of backpackers on regional farms during harvest season down to 70,000.

A parliamentary inquiry set up to replenish that workforce, which is usually between 150,000 and 200,000, has suggested school leavers work as fruit pickers in exchange for a discount on university fees.

The proposed 'Australia Needs You' campaign would also allow the unemployed to earn money working on farms without losing JobSeeker benefits, and provide one-off payments to cover travel and accommodation costs.

Chair of the inquiry, New South Wales Liberal MP Julian Leeser, released an interim parliamentary report on Tuesday with the ambitious recommendations, which are supported by both sides of parliament.

A parliamentary inquiry has proposed 'Australia Needs You', a campaign which would offer school leavers discounts on university fees for doing farm work (stock image)

The Berowra MP said the agriculture sector has suffered a severe labour shortage with up to 60 per cent of the workforce usually made up of foreign backpackers.

When the coronavirus pandemic struck in March, labour companies and farmers reported a rise in Australians contacting them for work - but that dropped off as soon as the government announced JobKeeper and JobSeeker payments.

Global travel restrictions due to COVID-19 also meant school leavers have been unable to take their usual overseas holidays.

Mr Leeser said if the 40,000 young Australians who have a gap year in the UK, US and Canada worked on farms instead, it would fill the labour shortfall.

'Young Australians love adventure, they want to meet other Australians,' he said.

'They want to make some money at a time when a lot of jobs they would otherwise do in hospitality and retail aren't there.'

The interim report recommends the government offer a discount on university HECS fees but has left the final figures up to the Treasurer and Education Minister.

The coronavirus pandemic means Australia needs at least 70,000 foreign backpackers to work on regional farms during harvest season (stock image)

Unemployed Australians would also be paid for farm work and be allowed to keep their JobSeeker payments under the plan.

During the consultation, Mr Leeser heard concerns that travels costs would be to high so the committee suggested a travel and accommodation allowance as well.

Mr Leeser warned action needs to be taken to support farmers who are facing the prospect of not being able to harvest fruit from their trees.

He gave the example of a citrus farmer from Emerald, Queensland, who has been forced to pull out 100 hectares of fruit trees that will take six years to grow back.

'The reason he's pulling them out is he doesn't think he will get the people to go and pick those trees,' he said.

The MP warned if a solution is not found it will mean less local fruit and higher prices.

The government will also consider allowing people to remain on JobSeeker payments if they complete regional work during harvest season (stock image)
LG Innotek's headquarters in Magok, western Seoul / Courtesy of LG Innotek



By Baek Byung-yeul





LG Innotek CEO Jeong Cheol-dong
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 23:16:43|Editor: huaxia

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SHANGHAI, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- For many Italian companies, the ongoing China International Industry Fair (CIIF) in Shanghai is not only the first physical exhibition they have attended since the COVID-19 epidemic but also a great start for expanding the market and gaining recovery momentum under the global economic gloom.

The Italian National Pavilion was unveiled on Tuesday at the start of the 22nd CIIF in Shanghai, which coincides with the Week of Italian Mechanical Engineering in China.

Covering an area of more than 1,200 square meters, the Italian National Pavilion features 47 Italian exhibitors, including Maserati, Costa Crociere, and Iveco, displaying advanced manufacturing technologies and high-quality products from Italy.

Paolo Bazzoni, president of the China-Italy Chamber of Commerce, said that this year's CIIF is of special significance to them since it is the first physical exhibition they have participated in this year.

"This is an opportunity to further boost the presence of Italian mechanical and industrial enterprises here in China," said Bazzoni.

The exquisite ship model Costa Venezia, which was built by the Italian shipbuilding company Fincantieri, was the star of the Italian Pavilion.

Fabrizio Ferri, CEO of Fincantieri China, said that the display of this model symbolizes the cooperation between China and Italy to build luxury cruise ships, which is progressing steadily.

"The CIIF is a very good platform for enterprises from Italy to show the Chinese people that Italy is not only about fashion and food, but also about mechanical engineering and high technology applications," Ferri said.

Italian Ambassador to China Luca Ferrari said that machinery and industrial technologies are Italy's main exports to China, and the CIIF is the top arena.

Ferrari noted that the CIIF, which has been held offline, illustrates how well China has fought the COVID-19 epidemic.

Tiziano Sandonini, vice president of products for Santoni (Shanghai) Knitting Machinery, said that their business in China has been moving faster than in other countries after the epidemic.

With many exhibitions canceled this year, Sandonini believed that the CIIF provides a platform for contacting customers and enhancing the company's image.

As this year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Italy, attendees at the CIIF believe that the special history encourages deeper cooperation between the two countries to achieve win-win goals.

Gianpaolo Bruno, the trade commissioner of the Italian Trade Commission (Beijing Office) at the Italian Trade Agency, said that, based on the support and trust between the two countries during the COVID-19 epidemic, there are many synergies to exploit for China and Italy in the near future.

"Given the high complexity of the international economic environment, we need to collaborate for better economic development," Bruno said. Enditem
COLUMBUS, Ohio  An Ohio judge on Wednesday ordered Secretary of State Frank LaRose to stop enforcing a single ballot drop box per county order, a day after the judge ruled in favor of the Ohio Democratic Partys lawsuit challenging the order.

Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Richard Frye, a Democrat, said hed intentionally not ordered LaRose to cease enforcing the order the previous day, since LaRose, a Republican, had said he favors having multiple drop boxes per county and would allow them once he got a judgment declaring them legal.

But LaRose told county boards of election the order remained in place since Frye didnt strike it down, leading to a brief stand-off followed by Fryes order. The judge reiterated his opinion from the day before that nothing in state law prohibits counties from establishing multiple drop boxes, ruling in favor of a lawsuit filed by the Ohio Democratic Party.

The Secretarys actions contrary to law have created a situation in which irreparable injury may be presumed absent an injunction, Frye wrote.

However, the judge put his order on hold while LaRose appeals to a higher court.

Secretary LaRose is pleased that the court cleared the way for his appeal of this very important issue and that the judge stayed his ruling pending the outcome of the appeal, LaRose spokeswoman Maggie Sheehan said in a statement. LaRose "believes the law is clear about the very limited ways that absentee ballots may be returned to county boards of elections under Ohio law. Specifically, it states absentee ballots must be delivered by mail or personally deliver[ed] to the director of their county board of elections and in no other manner.

The dropbox debate got more heated after Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen OConnor, a Republican, issued a statement on Wednesday rebuking an Ohio Republican Party statement that called Fryes ruling partisan.

After Ohio Democratic Party lawyers filed for a contempt of court motion, Ohio Republican Party lawyers said the statement had been deleted from the internet.

LaRose in August ordered each county to set up a secure drop box outside their board of elections office for voters to drop off completed ballots and ballot applications. He said the move was needed to accommodate an expected increase in mail voting for the November election.

But LaRose banned counties from setting up more than one drop box, which some larger counties had asked for. He said he supports setting up extra boxes, but that doing so would require a law change.

A separate lawsuit over ballot drop boxes is ongoing in federal court. Republican President Donald Trumps campaign has intervened to argue against adding multiple drop boxes per county.

Read the decision here:
A previously unknown mass extinction has been discovered which occurred 233 million years ago.

Researchers spotted evidence of the so-called Carnial Pluvial Episode thanks to chemical signatures trapped in rock samples and fossils.

The mass extinction was triggered by volcanic eruptions in modern-day Canada which spewed out greenhouse gases, leading to rapid climate change.

It is the sixth mass extinction to be discovered and allowed dinosaurs, which were just emerging, to fill vacated environmental niches and take over the world.

This infographic offers a summary of major extinction events through time, highlighting the new, Carnian Pluvial Episode at 233 million years ago

A team of 17 researchers published a piece of research in Science Advances detailing how the eruptions from the Canadian Wrangellia Province unfolded.

The study was led by Jacopo Dal Corso of the China University of Geosciences at Wuhan and Mike Benton of the University of Bristol's School of Earth Sciences.

Professor Dal Corso said: 'So far, palaeontologists had identified five 'big' mass extinctions in the past 500 million years of the history of life.

'Each of these had a profound effect on the evolution of the Earth and of life.

'We have identified another great extinction event, and it evidently had a major role in helping to reset life on land and in the oceans, marking the origins of modern ecosystems.'

Signs of the Pluvial Episode were first detected in the 1980s when researchers identified a spike in rainfall.

It was also extremely humid and this combination caused major biodiversity loss in the ocean and on land.

Dinosaurs had been in existence for around 20 million years by this point but remained a relatively unimportant and small group of life on Earth.

After the humid period - which lasted about one million years and created coniferous forests - passed it led to a period of dry, arid conditions. This, Professor Benton says, was the window of opportunity dinosaurs needed to flourish

However, when the slate was wiped clean by the mass extinction new ecosystems formed which, researchers say, resembled modern day networks and were dominated by dinosaurs.

Professor Benton says the new vegetation that sprung up in the tropical climate would have been unsuitable for herbivorous reptiles, including dinosaurs, especially those at the top of the food chain.

But after the humid period - which lasted about one million years and created coniferous forests - passed it led to a period of arid conditions.

This, Professor Benton says, was the window of opportunity dinosaurs needed to flourish.

The dinosaurs dominated the landscape of both land, sea and air until their own mass extinction event 66 million years ago.

While dinosaurs capitalised on the window of opportunity after the mass extinction, so too did other animals, with the first mammals, turtles and crocodiles appearing.
By Matthias Williams and Ilya Zhegulev

KYIV (Reuters) - Ukraine accused Belarus on Wednesday of trying to escalate a row over 2,000 Hasidic Jewish pilgrims stranded at a border crossing after Ukrainian border guards did not allow them to enter due to coronavirus restrictions.

Relations between Kyiv and Minsk soured after Ukraine joined the European Union in not recognising the result of last month's election that handed Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko a sixth term in office.

The crisis unfolding in Minsk has pushed Lukashenko back closer to traditional ally Moscow, which remains at loggerheads with Ukraine over Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea and the conflict in Ukraine's eastern Donbass region.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's office accused the Belarusian authorities of "deliberately or unintentionally" spreading rumours that the border between Belarus and Ukraine remained open and encouraging the pilgrims heading to Ukraine to try that route.

Every Jewish New Year, tens of thousands of Hasidic Jews make the pilgrimage to the central Ukrainian town of Uman to visit the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, who revived the Hasidic movement and died in 1810.

This year, Jewish New Year celebrations run from Sept 18-20.

Footage released by the Ukrainian government on Wednesday showed the pilgrims, including children, walking around or standing near a line of helmeted Ukrainian border guards at the Novi Yarylovychi checkpoint. Tents were pitched along the road.

"We call on the Belarusian authorities to stop creating additional tensions on the border with our country and spreading false and encouraging statements to pilgrims, which may give them the feeling that Ukraine's border may still be open to foreigners," Zelenskiy's office said in a statement.

"We are also forced to state that the personal insult of certain persons in the de facto current Belarusian government extends today, unfortunately, to the plane of interstate relations," it added, without elaborating.

Story continues

Lukashenko on Tuesday offered to create a "green corridor" for the pilgrims to travel to Uman on buses and then ferry them back to Belarus, the state news agency Belta quoted his spokeswoman Natalya Eismont as saying.

Eismont could not be reached for comment on Ukraine's statement.

Ukraine has imposed a temporary ban on foreigners entering the country to tackle a spike in coronavirus deaths, which hit a new record on Wednesday.

It said the ban was partly in response to a plea from Israel, where many of the pilgrims come from, to limit the event, for fear it would be a coronavirus hotspot.

(Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
An Italian American organization has filed a federal lawsuit against West Orange and its mayor after the township removed a Christopher Columbus monument in the wake of nationwide protests of racial injustices and oppression this summer.

The Italian American One Voice Coalition, a national organization dedicated to the rightful representation of Italian Americans, said Mayor Robert Parisis decision to remove the monument in June deprives Italian Americans of their civil right to honor their historic and cultural origins in the manner or manners they see fit, according to the lawsuit.

The removal of the monument, according to the lawsuit, denies Italian-Americans of their Constitutional right to equal protection of the laws by treating Italian Americans differently than other similarly situated individuals or groups.

The coalition is asking a federal judge to mandate the township to restore the monument to the intersection of Valley Street and Kingsley Street, where it had been since 1992 when the monument was dedicated by public officials to to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Columbus' arrival to the New World.

It is just unfair treatment to the Columbus statue and all that it represents, said Andre' DiMino, an executive member of the Italian American One Voice Coalition.

Parisis decision to remove the statue came after the killing of George Floyd sparked protests across the country against systemic racism and injustices that have impacted communities of color. The protests led to a call to action for the removal of monuments of historical figures with oppressive backgrounds. A number of municipalities and institutions nationwide, including Camden, removed monuments recognizing Columbus.

June 13, 2020: Mayor Robert Parisi makes statement on Columbus monument in West Orange, NJ. @WestOrangeInfo pic.twitter.com/yUOBGlbsvb  Robert D. Parisi (@WOMayorParisi) June 14, 2020

The legend of Columbus does not match the history, Parisi said in a video posted to social media June 13. And today, the man, the statues, the monuments celebrating his life are divisive and a symbol of hate and oppression and cannot remain as part of our community.

During protests in West Orange, signs that said Murderer and This is stolen land! were hung on the monument. A petition to remove the monument garnered nearly 1,500 signatures and called the monument unacceptable.

Christopher Columbus' deliberate eradication of Native Americans initiated the pattern of colonialism, white supremacy, violence, and xenophobia that the United States exhibits to this very day, the petition said.

But the lawsuit claims that that narrative, which has prompted the removal of Columbus monuments in recent years, is false.

This lawsuit says Columbus monuments stand for the struggles of countless racist and atrocious acts as a result of being aliens and Catholics Italian immigrants have faced in the United States.

Other Italian heritage groups across the country have filed lawsuits against municipalities and institutions who have removed or threatened to remove monuments honoring Columbus, alleging removing the statue is revisionist history and is unconstitutional.

DiMino said Italian American One Voice Coalition is exploring taking legal action against other municipalities who removed monuments of Columbus recently.

Those who opposed the monument to Christopher Columbus in West Orange have hung a sign that says "murderer" on it. There's another below that says, "This is stolen land!" The monument was removed in June.Frank McCree

The coalition also objected to how Parisi made the decision to remove the monument.

According to the lawsuit, he refused to consult with the town council or place the issue on the council agenda, allowing the public to comment on the issue.

The mayor did the wrong thing here and he should not have done what he did, DiMino said.

A spokesman for the Parisi said the township had not been served with the lawsuit and therefore declined to comment.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Joe Atmonavage may be reached at jatmonavage@njadvancemedia.com.
FLINT, MI  Jury trials have resumed in Genesee County with safety measures in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trials restarted Tuesday, Sept. 15, in Genesee County Circuit Court, with approval from the State Court Administrative Office, after being delayed since the end of March.

Jury summons have been issued to residents along with information on safety measures being taken to protect the health of jurors, witnesses, judges and court staff.

It is critical that Genesee County citizens know that the Court has taken extra precautions to provide a safe environment, said Chief Judge Duncan Beagle in a news release. Information from the Genesee County Health Department documenting the downward trend in new COVID-19 cases has been obtained and continues to be monitored on a daily basis.

The county health department is reporting a total of 3,411 COVID-19 cases along with 281 deaths from the virus.

Figures on the health departments website show 105 cases over the past seven days, an average of 15 cases per day, and two deaths during that period.

Those numbers show a steep decline from April, when the highest single-day tally for COVID-19 cases in the county occurred -- 92 on April 2.

Genesee County Circuit and District court buildings closed in late March. They reopened for some proceedings in late June, with restrictions limiting the number of people allowed inside courtrooms to 10. Proceedings are being live-streamed for those unable to attend in person.

Courtrooms will practice social distancing, put up protective glass panels, require face masks and employ enhanced frequent disinfecting protocols.

Prospective jurors will be required to arrive at different times and in smaller groups to maintain social distancing. They will be provided personal protective equipment which include hand sanitizer, masks if necessary, and gloves if a review of documents is required.

Seating and flooring will be marked off to ensure six feet of social distancing. Courtrooms will be cleaned multiple times each day.

Members of the public are required to enter the courthouse at the Beach Street entrance, with health screenings asked by security personnel.

The court recognizes that some citizens will be unable to appear for jury service because of their age, underlying medical conditions and other hardships caused by the pandemic, Beagle said.

The jury management office will grant excusals and postponements for jurors, as needed.

Anyone with questions may contact the jury management office at 810-257-3285 or email jury@7thcircuitcourt.com.

More on MLive:

Genesee County court suspends jury trials through April 30 over coronavirus pandemic

Genesee County courts offer live online viewing of proceedings

Genesee County to start reopening offices June 15; courts on June 22

Ballroom jury selection among new plans for trials to resume in Saginaw and Bay counties
Voters in Alabama and across the nation will find polling places different from what theyve previously experienced because of the coronavirus pandemic, Auburn University researcher Dr. Bridgett King said Tuesday. And Kings research shows the experience people have at the polls is one of the measures the public uses to determine how much confidence and trust they have in the overall process.

King and other voting experts briefed election reporters across the country Tuesday about what to expect Nov. 3. The briefing started with polling results from moderator Rick Weiss of SciLine, a research resource for journalists based at the nonprofit American Association for the Advancement of Science. It ended with a prediction that we will know the winner the day after the election.

A poll last week said 46 percent of voters say they are uncomfortable to go to the polls, six in 10 would prefer to vote before Election Day, but only three in 10 are confident that if they did, their ballot would be counted correctly, Weiss said. That lack of trust makes it even more important voters understand the changes they will see Election Day and why they were made, the researchers said.

Computer models of voting place layouts show it is possible to vote safely, King said, but voters will need clear direction on how to enter and exit ... a 3-foot (wide) path and something like arrows on the floor at a grocery.

One unknown is how many voters will show up. The debate over voting by mail is over, and voting by mail won, the researchers said. Every state will have some mix of voting by mail and voting in person.

Election fraud is very unlikely, one researcher said, but the belief it happens is high. And the greatest defense against fraud is the same every election: the paper ballot. Well over 80 percent of ballots (this election) will be cast on paper, said Stanford University law professor Dr. Nathaniel Persily. That needs to be stressed.

The core of any plan to protect elections has to be based on good old-fashioned paper ballots and making sure those ballots are rigorously audited after every election, said Dr. Alex Halderman of the University of Michigan. It may sound retrograde, a computer scientist recommending paper, but its actually pretty sophisticated.

As long as paper and machine totals agree, he said, thats a pretty good defense against cheating. We dont have to look at and count every ballot, Halderman said. We have to sample enough to be able to confirm the outcome with good reliability.

The issue for this election is we are moving tens of millions of voters to a new system they are not familiar with, whether its new types of polling places or whether its mail balloting, Persily said. Weve never had to transform the American electoral infrastructure in such a significant way in such a short period of time.

Halderman said the goal of any cyber attack will be to weaken our democracy rather than so much to manipulate it in favor of a specific candidate.

You dont have to hack anything to make people think the election is a fraud, Halderman said. You just have to make it look like you did or merely suggest that you did. Thats such an easy thing for an attacker to pull off its much more likely that will happen than actual hacking to change the results will take place.
[September 16, 2020] The Patient Equation, a New Book by Medidata co-CEO Glen de Vries, Explores How the Digital Revolution Is Making Precision Medicine a Reality The Patient Equation: The Precision Medicine Revolution (News - Alert) in the Age of COVID-19 and Beyond by Glen de Vries, the co-founder and co-CEO of Medidata, a Dassault Systemes company, was released today by Wiley Publishers. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200916005446/en/ The Patient Equation, by Glen de Vries (Photo: Business Wire) The Patient Equation chronicles how the breakthroughs in new data-driven approaches to treatment, and the algorithms working in the background, are increasing our understanding of disease at both molecular and holistic, patient levels. De Vries helped to invent the cloud-based, end-to-end platform for clinical research used by pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies around the world. His insights into past innovations and current challenges formulate practical business techniques that will allow companies to deliver solutions faster, cheaper and more successfully. "For the first time in our history, we have the ability to collect and organize vast amounts of data in real time, including clinical, 'omic', cognitive, and behavioral information. We have the opportunity to generate new evidence and insights, and ultimately deliver better treatments to more patients, for more conditions, at exactly the right time," said de Vries. "We have been tracking and treating diseases in a single dimension for too long. But what if we take a multidimensional view? Can we diagnose and treat patients more effectively, and can we produce more effective and safer therapies by combining, and looking beyond, traditional information sources? That's the essence of a patient equation - more and more diverse data will power the algorithms necessary for precise, personalized medicine." As a result of breakthroughs in data analysis, we stand on the verge of a life science industry powered not by trial and error, but by a constant cycle of experimental evidence that begins in the laboratory; moves into clinical trial settings; and expands through analysis of the broad population. Each cycle will bring new insights, new applications, new refinements, and new successes. This has never been more important than during the current global pandemic. "The challenges posed by COVID-19 are heralding changes in healthcare, health delivery, and fueling innovation in the field of virtualized clinical trials that incorporate new evidence models," de Vries added. "In order to propel health forward on all fronts and make precision medicine a reality, it's imperative to adjust our mindset and create new approaches to both research, data acquisition, and caregiving." The Patient Equation highlights the revolution occurringat the intersection of biological and technological advancements, including: How COVID-19 is putting a spotlight on the fragility of the healthcare system, and is helping accelerate the development of digital, patient-centric technologies that integrate data and data sharing

How the unexpected potential of a smartphone, smartwatch and other wearables are changing the future of diagnostics and treatments

How artificial intelligence (AI) can leverage clinical information from one therapeutic area or disease to find treatments for another, incorporating diverse and surprising sources of information into predictive models De Vries is donating all royalties from The Patient Equation to the Conquer Cancer Foundation. More information about the book may be found at Medidata Institute / Patient Equation. Medidata is a wholly owned subsidiary of Dassault Systemes (News - Alert) , which with its 3DEXPERIENCE platform is positioned to lead the digital transformation of life sciences in the age of personalized medicine with the first end-to-end scientific and business platform, from research to commercialization. About Glen de Vries Glen de Vries is co-founder and co-CEO of Medidata, the most-used platform for clinical trials around the world. Medidata has powered tens of thousands of clinical trials, with millions of patients and billions of patient records. In 2019, in one of the largest healthcare technology acquisitions in history, Medidata became part of Dassault Systemes. Glen has been driving Medidata's mission since the company's inception in 1999, "powering smarter treatments and healthier people" by advancing pharmaceutical business transformation with technology, non-traditional ways of thinking, and industry collaboration. Glen's publications have appeared in Applied Clinical Trials, Cancer, The Journal of Urology, Molecular Diagnostics, and other journals. He serves as a trustee of Carnegie Mellon University, and is the author of The Patient Equation (Wiley Publishing, 2020). Glen received his undergraduate degree in molecular biology and genetics from Carnegie Mellon University, worked as a research scientist at the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, and studied computer science at New York University's Courant Institute of Mathematics. You can follow him on Twitter (News - Alert) at @CaptainClinical. About Medidata Medidata is leading the digital transformation of life sciences, creating hope for millions of patients. Medidata helps generate the evidence and insights to help pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device and diagnostics companies, and academic researchers accelerate value, minimize risk, and optimize outcomes. More than one million registered users across 1,500 customers and partners access the world's most-used platform for clinical development, commercial, and real-world data. Medidata, a Dassault Systemes company (Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA), is headquartered in New York City and has offices around the world to meet the needs of its customers. Discover more at www.medidata.com and follow us @Medidata, The Operating System for Life SciencesTM. About Dassault Systemes Dassault Systemes, the 3DEXPERIENCE Company, is a catalyst for human progress. We provide business and people with collaborative 3D virtual environments to imagine sustainable innovations. By creating virtual experience twins of the real world with our 3DEXPERIENCE platform and applications, our customers push the boundaries of innovation, learning and production. Dassault Systemes brings value to more than 270,000 customers of all sizes, in all industries, in more than 140 countries. For more information, visit www.3ds.com. 3DEXPERIENCE, the Compass (News - Alert) icon, the 3DS logo, CATIA, BIOVIA, GEOVIA, SOLIDWORKS, 3DVIA, ENOVIA, EXALEAD, NETVIBES, MEDIDATA, CENTRIC PLM, 3DEXCITE, SIMULIA, DELMIA, and IFWE are commercial trademarks or registered trademarks of Dassault Systemes, a French "societe europeenne" (Versailles Commercial Register # B 322 306 440), or its subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200916005446/en/

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Britain's testing fiasco has forced 740 schools to send children home, an academy chain boss revealed today amid warnings from teachers the situation is getting 'out of control'.

Steve Chalke, the head of Oasis Academies Trust, made the alarming claim as Boris Johnson faced mounting pressure to get a grip over widespread lack of access to swabs.

Three unions representing headteachers and governors have written to the Prime Minister urging him 'take charge' of Government efforts to ramp up testing capacity.

They say the inability of pupils an staff to get a swab have put some heads in an 'impossible situation' after grappling with symptomatic pupils and staff struggling to access tests.

Mr Johnson has declared the return of lessons a 'national priority' and the Department for Education earlier this week trumpeted that 99.9 per cent of schools have reopened.

But Mr Chalke cautioned that 'sending them [children] back is not the same thing as staying in school.'

Three unions representing headteachers and governors have written to the Prime Minister urging him 'take charge' of Government efforts to ramp up testing capacity Pictured above are people queuing for a test in Southend-on-Sea

The founder of Oasis Academies Trust, which runs 52 schools, said he had been told 740 schools had been forced to either close or send children home, according to the Sun.

Writing in the newspaper, he said: 'These are kids who have a mountain to climb after the schools shutdown  they have lost confidence.'

The startling statistic, which has not yet been verified by the Department for Education, heaps more pressure on ministers to find a solution to the lack of testing.

Mr Chalke had already revealed eight of his schools have had to send home a total of 1,200 pupils to self-isolate, including whole year groups.

Britain's testing fiasco has forced 740 schools to send children home, according to Steve Chalke

Teacher unions have written to the PM to voice 'frustration' that parents are not able to get swabs for their children.

The letter - from the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), school leaders' union NAHT and the National Governance Association (NGA) - warns heads are in an 'impossible situation'.

The ASCL said it has received 264 responses from schools and colleges in recent days where leaders have said they have symptomatic staff and/or pupils who were struggling to access tests.

'Schools are left in a position of either leaving close contacts of the infected person in school while they wait for guidance, or making a public health call themselves and deciding on who to send home,' the letter says.

But addressing concerns about testing when appearing before the Commons Education Committee on Wednesday, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said each school was given 10 home-testing kits at the start of term and schools can now order more kits from the NHS directly.

Rob Halfon, chairman of the committee, asked if he could 'guarantee' that pupils and teachers who need local Covid-19 tests would be able to get them within 48 hours in the event of outbreaks.

But Mr Williamson replied: 'Schools are, I think, the only organisation that actually has a set of testing kits that have been sent to them directly in order to be able to ensure that if they are in a situation where someone isn't in a position to be able to get a test, then they actually have testing kits on site.'

Schools have been hit with Covid-19 cases since it became compulsory for pupils to return.

A woman uses an umbrella to shelter from the sun as she waits for a coronavirus test outside a community centre in Bury

Pictured is one of academies boss Steve Chalke's schools, which sent 240 pupils home

Boris Johnson faced mounting pressure to get a grip over widespread lack of access to swabs

Some have closed their doors days after reopening while others have told whole year groups and classes to self-isolate for two weeks following confirmed cases.

In a letter to schools minister Nick Gibb, Dr Roach said: 'Schools appear to be seeking to do their utmost to carry on.

'However, we have reports that schools are unable to cope with a situation that is becoming increasingly out of control.'

Local authorities across the country - including in the North West of England - are struggling to cope with the demand for tests from schools, he added.

Dr Roach said: 'In particular, areas where additional local restrictions have been introduced due to the increase in the R-number are now unable to cope with demand for tests.

'Teachers, support staff and children and young people are unable to access tests where they have Covid-19 symptoms.

'Employers are struggling to deal with the implications and consequences.'

The letter says members have reported that hundreds of pupils in Bury are self-isolating, while Salford council has been inundated with requests for tests from schools.

The Mayor of Greater Manchester said around 110 schools in the area had reported coronavirus cases.

A poll from the GMB union suggests only half (51 per cent) of school staff have had training on Covid-19 health and safety measures and working practices - including infection control and correct use of PPE.

Stuart Fegan, national officer of GMB, said it is 'shocking' that large numbers of school staff are missing basic health and safety training around Covid-19 since schools had fully reopened
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 19:44:30|Editor: huaxia

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GAZA, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian military factions Wednesday vowed to confront any Israeli "aggression" against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, stressing that their response to the raids will continue.

"We will not allow Israel to target our people and our sites in Gaza Strip," said the joint chamber of military operations for Palestinian factions' armed wings, in a press statement sent to Xinhua.

Meanwhile, al-Qassam brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Hamas movement, said in a press statement that the Israeli occupation "will pay the price for its aggression against our people."

Earlier in the day, Israeli warplanes carried out several raids against the military sites belonging to Hamas in various places in the coastal enclave in response to homemade rockets fired into the Israeli towns, according to Palestinian security sources.

The military tension in the Gaza Strip came after the signing of the U.S.-sponsored normalization agreements between the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Israel in Washington.

The Palestinian resistance factions responded by firing a rocket-propelled grenade at the Israeli towns, where sirens sounded. At the same time, Israel's Iron Dome system tried to intercept a number of these missiles.

For the first time, the Islamic Jihad movement and al-Nasser brigades announced in a press statement that they launched 13 rockets against Israeli towns.

The Palestinian coastal enclave has witnessed military tensions with the Israeli army for several weeks in August.

The violence came amid tensions, which, according to Palestinian and Israeli commentators, was triggered by Israel's refusal to allow the transfer of Qatari money to the besieged Palestinian enclave. Enditem
CEDAR FALLS  Two contracts for a new high school were approved Monday by the Board of Education.

But theyre not for actual construction of the school. Rather, the district is hiring firms to commission the schools ventilation systems and the buildings exterior envelope.

Their job will be to test a battery of items that are part of the two areas to ensure everything performs correctly. They will also be tasked with proper training of school staff to operate and care for those items upon completion.

A $150,000 contract was approved with Systemworks of West Des Moines for the HVAC systems commissioning, the lowest of five bids for the service. High bid on the project was $193,750.

A $106,845 contract was approved with Resource Building Envelope Specialists of Pierce City, Mo. That was the lowest of two bids on the project, with the other one coming in at $177,000.

This was part of the overall project and cost estimate, said Superintendent Andy Pattee.

The school, to be located on 69.6 acres of land north of West 27th Street and west of PE Center Drive, has an estimated budget of $112.9 million. It will total 305,000 square feet in two connected buildings.

He noted the reason for the commissioning service goes back to the sophistication of the building. There are so many dynamics in this large of a scope.

This will be the first time the district has used such a service in a construction project.

The HVAC contract goes into all lab and field testing to make sure that everything is running at the utmost efficiency and the level that is intended, said Pattee. It will ensure that all the electrical and lighting systems are functioning appropriately and everything is site tested. Additionally, the gas, hot water and fire protection systems will be tested.

The building envelope contract includes site testing and evaluation of all the windows and making sure that all the roof systems and exterior doors and joints are properly installed and waterproofed, said Pattee. All concrete slabs and subfloor will be inspected as part of that.

Why cant Story Construction do this? asked board member Jeff Hassman, referring to the construction manager hired for the project a year ago.

They oversee the project when it comes to meeting the specifications, but not all the field testing components, said Pattee.

This makes sure that things are addressed on the spot at the time that they need to be addressed.

On a related matter, officials announced that the class of 1970 made a $53,775 donation to the Cedar Falls Schools Foundation for the construction of the new high school building.

Well be embarking on a big naming rights campaign and some fundraising starting out quite soon for the high school, said Janelle Darst, district spokeswoman.

Thats a really good way for us to kick off that process.

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During my pre-election meetings, I have stated many times that we will pay great attention to the development of the sheep-breeding sector of agriculture. Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) President Arayik Haroutyunyan wrote about this on his Facebook page.

"According to experts, it has great prospects in Artsakh, and the number [of sheep] can be increased to more than five hundred thousand [in Artsakh].

In this regard, I would like to state that the first important step in that direction has been taken in Artsakh, and more than ten thousand () sheep will soon be in the Republic. According to the announcement, they will be given to all the farmers who will ensure the minimum conditions proposed by the Ministry of Agriculture.

The start is given. For the next five years, high-quality native-breed sheep will be continuously imported with state funds. Our overall success will depend on the knowledgeable and compassionate approach of every [Artsakh] citizen who wants to make use of this program. As a result, both the citizen and the state will benefit," Haroutyunyan added, in particular.
"When I declared my Spanish minor, I thought it would be just that - minor. Au contraire, my "minor" commitment turned out to be one of the most influential parts of my college career. I was given opportunities to try things I'd never thought to do: I worked as a Spanish teaching assistant and tutor, studied abroad in Spain, and, realizing my newfound love for language, began learning French and Italian as well. Small classes made it easy to form friendships with students and faculty. And the lessons were much more than language; I learned about history and culture as well." Annie Jean Hochheiser, '12

Why Study Spanish?

If you speak Spanish, you can communicate with more than 350 million people worldwide. That means that, in terms of employment opportunities, you have a clear advantage over those who speak only English. Also, if you plan to travel to a Spanish-speaking country, a little Spanish goes a long way! Think about it:

After English, Spanish is the language most U.S. residents speak.

One out of 10 U.S. residents speaks Spanish.

The U.S. has the fifth largest population of Spanish speakers in the world.

Spanish is spoken in 21 countries worldwide.

Spanish Concentration

You can incorporate Spanish within an Interdisciplinary Studies major, with a concentration in Spanish. Because Interdisciplinary Studies majors choose two concentrations, you can combine disciplines such as French, Sociology, Business Administration, Economics, English/Communications, or Fine and Performing Arts, as well as a Teaching Certification program.

The requirements are 6 credits of lower division courses and 9 credits of upper division courses. Interdisciplinary Studies majors also take a minimum of four Interdisciplinary Studies courses. We highly recommend study abroad.

Spanish Minor

You can benefit from a minor in Spanish by combining it with a major discipline or incorporating it into an interdisciplinary program. A Spanish minor is an invaluable asset if your career involves dealing with people of diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. A Spanish minor is also very useful if you're considering a major in Education, Sociology, or Political Science. If you certify to teach in one area of expertise such as English or History, you could become certified in an additional field by completing a Spanish minor.

Required Courses

Beginner Spanish 1 and 2 (Spanish 101 and 102)*

Intermediate Spanish 1 and 2 (Spanish 201 and 202)

Spanish Conversation and Composition (Spanish 300)

Advanced Spanish Grammar and Composition (Spanish 301)

Any two Spanish electives at the 300-level or above

* Students with prior experience in Spanish may take the optional language placement tests and be waived from Spanish 101-102.

Spanish Electives

Hispanic Civilization (Spanish 310)

Hispanic Literature in Context (Spanish 370)

Special Topics in Hispanic Literature and Film (Spanish 390)

Teaching Assistant in Modern Language (Modern Language 495), if you want to pursue a teaching career or help teach Spanish, French, or Italian

Directed Independent Study (Modern Language 500), if you want to explore a topic in depth

For more information contact Professor Graziana Ramsden or Administrative Assistant Terrie Pratt
Canadas special committee on China relations has been on break since Parliament was prorogued nearly a month ago, leaving some Canadians concerned about their safety as China-related tensions spike around the world.

Cherie Wong, a Canadian activist involved in Hong Kongs pro-democracy movement, is among those who were counting on the government committee for help.

Back in January, on a trip to Vancouver, the executive director of the Alliance Canada Hong Kong group received a call to her hotel room demanding that she leave immediately and that people were coming to collect her.

Wong reported the anonymous threat to police, but police have given her no updates on the case.

When she later spoke with the Special Committee on Canada-China Relations about her broader concerns for the safety of people from Hong Kong in Canada, she felt that politicians were giving the issues due consideration.

But now we are back in stasis. The uncertainty about how Canada will deal with China is an anxiety point, when there continues to be no action to support and protect Hong Kongers in Canada, she said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau put Parliament on break Aug. 18. Since then, U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to block companies that outsource jobs to China, and clashes between Indian and Chinese troops along the disputed Himalayan border may have led to the death of one Indian soldier, according to Agence France-Presse.

Last week, two Australian journalists fled China after police demanded interviews with them and temporarily blocked their departures, marking further aggression that raises questions about the safety of Canadian journalists in China.

The reporters left in a hurry after Australian citizen Cheng Lei, a business news anchor for CGTN, Chinas English-language state media channel, was detained in Beijing for an unclear national security issue.

Meanwhile, backlash over Disney thanking Chinese government agencies in the credits for Mulan has highlighted public concern over the ongoing internment of Uighur people in the Xinjiang territory of northwest China.

Its a terrible time for work on Canada-China relations to grind to a halt, critics say. The committee was created in December when opposition parties banded together to force its creation with a goal of studying all aspects of the relationship between the two countries.

Its been an extremely active committee that has brought many things to light, such as the intimidation of Canadians on Canadian soil who have criticized the Chinese governments human rights record, said Garnett Genuis, a committee member and the Conservative Partys Shadow Minister for International Development & Human Rights.

The committee recently also passed a motion calling for dialogue towards the creation of genuine autonomy for Tibet. This was a big step forward, and unfortunately now, this motion will not be tabled in the House of Commons, he told the Star.

In response to such criticism, a government spokesperson acknowledged that the Canada-China special committee has done important work.

Our foreign relations should not be partisan  It will now be up to the House of Commons to determine what happens with it, a Global Affairs spokesperson told the Star in an email.

Charles Burton, a China expert with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, said it is highly regrettable that Trudeau decided to prorogue Parliament just prior to the release of the International Human Rights Subcommittee and the Special Committee on Canada-China Relations reports on the situation of Chinas Uighur people and the situation in Hong Kong.

The (reports) would have likely included that the government take effective action to protect persons in Canada from harassment and menace by agents of the Chinese state, Burton speculated.

However, experts say there are some things the Trudeau government can take action on now before Parliament is officially back in session.

The Canadian government has a number of tools under both domestic and international law to discipline Chinese human rights abusers. Ottawa should immediately implement Magnitsky sanctions on high-ranking Chinese officials, while co-ordinating with liberal democratic allies, said Preston Lim, J.D. candidate at Yale Law School and former policy adviser to MP Erin OToole.

Canada should also push the United Nations General Assembly to request an International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion on Chinas atrocities in Xinjiang. Such an opinion would demonstrate that Chinese atrocities violate international law and could also impose legal consequences on the international community, Lim added.

Burton also urged Ottawa to advise Canadian media outlets to pull their correspondents from China.

It is likely that there will be more and more arbitrary arrests of journalists. It would be prudent for Western nations news services to close their China offices before it is too late, he told the Star.

A spokesperson for Global Affairs said the government condemns any attempts to undermine the work of journalists, and is closely monitoring the evolving safety and security risks that Canadians may face abroad.

At this time, Global Affairs has no specific advice for Canadian journalists working in China.

With files from Alex Boutilier and the Associated Press

Joanna Chiu is a Vancouver-based reporter covering both Canada-China relations and current affairs on the West Coast for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @joannachiu

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NSW Premier Calls for Queensland Border to Open

NSW has recorded 10 new cases of COVID-19 as Premier Gladys Berejiklian declared there was no reason to keep the Queensland border closed.

Queensland is reportedly considering a rule change that will require NSW to go just 14 days, rather than the current 28 days, without community transmission of COVID-19 before the northern state reopens its border.

Four of the new virus cases recorded in NSW in the 24 hours to 8 p.m. on Sept. 15 were community transmissions linked to existing cases or clusters, while six were returned travellers who are in hotel quarantine.

This led Berejiklian to declare on Sept. 16 that the Queensland border should no longer be closed.

If you look at any proposed definition of hotspot, technically there arent any hotspots in NSW, so Id be arguing theres no reason to keep the border closed today, she told reporters.

Theres really no basis to have the Queensland border shut. I would argue that even the 14-day limit is potentially unrealistic.

Berejiklian also announced NSW would accept an extra 500 returning Australians each week, provided other states double their intake.

The NSW premier said she was prepared to accept almost 3000 returning citizens per week, with the daily cap to rise from 350 to about 420 people, after reaching an agreement with Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Sept. 15.

Berejiklian, who previously declared her state was doing the lions share of accepting returned travellers, said her offer was conditional on both Queensland and Western Australia doubling their intake from about 500 to 1000 people.

It would still only be about a third of what NSW is doing, but it certainly means theyd be sharing the load more, she said.

Meanwhile, the number of people being tested for COVID-19 in NSW more than tripled overnight, with 19,566 tests completed in the 24 hours to 8 p.m. on Sept. 15 compared to the day before.

NSW Health said one previously reported case had now been excluded after further investigations.

One of the new cases is a close contact of a previous case linked to the CBD cluster who had completed self-isolation prior to becoming symptomatic and had previously tested negative. Contact tracing is underway.

Three of the new cases are linked to a staff member from Concord Hospital Emergency Department.

They include a student from Blue Mountains Grammar School who attended school while infectious late last week, a household contact of the student who did not attend school while infectious, and a close contact of the student who is not at school.

Contact tracing is underway and Blue Mountains Grammar School is closed to students in years 10, 11, and 12 until after the school holidays.

While the number of locally acquired cases recorded in the past 24 hours is low, the virus is likely circulating among people in the community with mild symptoms. As such, the risk of outbreaks and a resurgence of cases remains, a NSW Health statement said.

NSW Health is treating 92 COVID-19 cases, including five in intensive care, three of whom are being ventilated.

By Gus McCubbing, Maureen Dettre
In their '80s heydey, Sloane Rangers could be been trotting up and down the King's Road, impeccably dressed in pearls, a pair of loafers and a pashmina wrapped around their shoulders.

Although the style was definitely distinctive, it was never 'cool'. In fact, it was described by social commentators at the time as 'middle-aged dressing for young people'.

But things are different in 2020. Clothing and accessories that were once Sloane Ranger signature pieces are now in vogue - and in Vogue - and have been given a thoroughly modern twist by designers like Gucci, Valentino and Celine.

The most admired of today's millennial fashionistas are also fans, the Daily Telegraph noted, with Alexa Chung, Olivia Palermo and Bella Hadid all stepping out in looks either knowingly or unknowingly inspired by the likes of Fergie and Lady Diana Spencer.

Supermodel seal of approval: Bella Hadid has been spotted in penny loafers in recent weeks, as seen in New York last month. The shoes, once paired with sensible skirts, are now worn with baggy jeans as the Sloane Ranger style made popular in the '80s comes back into fashion (pictured left, Bella Hadid, and right, Fergie)

The Sloane Rangers often wore stylish headscarves to add a playful pop of print to an outfit (pictured, the Queen, 94, presenting prizes at polo in Windsor)

Safety first: Olivia Palermo has shown how a silk scarf - once tied around the head a-la-the Queen - can be re-purposed as a face covering for the fashion-conscious in the age of Covid-19

Barely there: Actress Nicola Peltz, 25, better known as Mrs Brooklyn Beckham-to-be, is among the Insta-famous 20-somethings who have taken to wearing their scarves as handkerchief tops. Previously they were worn as countrified head coverings by Sloanes

Trend-setter: Alexa Chung, 36, has taken the Barbour, once a must-have for Sloane retreats to the company, and given it a revamp that is chic enough to be worn in the city without irony (pictured left, and right Princess Diana in a long-line Barbour)

Hooray, they're here again! Who were the original Sloane Rangers? The term 'Sloane Ranger' was first coined by Harper's Bazaar in 1982 but it was popularised by Peter York and Ann Barr in their 1982 book The Official Sloane Ranger Handbook. Of course, for the original cohort, being a Sloane was more than just a sense of fashion: it was a way of life. The Official Sloane Ranger Handbook was the bible for everything one needed to know about dressing, living, breathing Sloane. Lady Diana Spencer was the 'archetypal' Sloane Ranger, according to the authors of the Sloane Ranger handbook. Born into the aristocracy, Lady Diana developed a signature style that included pussy-bow blouses (right) and twee skirts that fell below the knee Jostling for position for Sloaney queen bee was Diana's close friend Jemima Goldsmith, daughter of Lady Annabel Vane-Tempest-Stewart and financier Sir James Goldsmith The guide claimed to update Nancy Mitford's famous etiquette guide to the upper classes, Noblesse Oblige. Sloanes were more upper middle class, showing how society had broadened, although not by very much. Sloanes did not leave London's SW3, SW5, SW7 or SW10 (the postcodes around Sloane Square and Fulham Road) except to retreat to their country homes in Gloucestershire or Wiltshire on a Friday afternoon. King of the Hooray Henrys was James Hewitt, who became a household name after he revealed his affair with Princess Diana. Pictured, Hewitt in a linen suit at the Guards Polo Club, Windsor, a Sloane stomping ground Anything unfamiliar to Sloanes was honkingly funny, and this included North London, intellectuals, career angst, people who wore black, and gold taps. Professionally, they held lowly positions with the absolute self-confidence of a class who ran the Empire. They were shop assistants - so long as it was Peter Jones, The General Trading Company, Harvey Nichols or Liberty - chalet girls or receptionists for Savills, the posh estate agent. Now best known as a TV presenter and stylist, Susannah once made headlines as the girlfriend of Princess Margaret's son Viscount Linley. Pictured, Susannah at his wedding to Serena Stanhope in 1993, wearing a dress, blazer and a sensible pair of heels Advertisement

Trend-setter Alexa, 36, has taken the Barbour, once a must-have for Sloane retreats to the company, and given it a revamp that is chic enough to be worn in the city without irony. Her latest collection is her third with the brand and prices range from 259 to 479.

Meanwhile Emma Corrin, who plays Princess Diana in the upcoming series of Netflix's The Crown, has paid tribute to the woman she portrays with a string of 80s-inspired outfits complete with puffball sleeves and oversized collars.

Sloane Ranger fever has also taken hold across the pond, where Bella Hadid has stepped out in leather loafers and Olivia Palermo has shown how a silk scarf - once tied around the head a-la-the Queen - can be re-purposed as a face covering for the fashion-conscious in the age of Covid-19.

Sex And The City star-turned-shoe-designer Sarah Jessica Parker is another fan.

Just like Lady Di: Emma Corrin, who plays Princess Diana in the upcoming series of Netflix's The Crown, has paid tribute to the woman she portrays with a string of 80s-inspired outfits complete with puffball sleeves and oversized collars. Pictured left, in Valentino in March and right, Margret O'Brien in a bold puff sleeved dress

Puffed sleeve blouses and oversized collars were all the range for the original Sloane Rangers (pictured, Sarah Ferguson with Diana in 1983)

Peter Pan perfection: Emma Currin, pictured in Venice last week, has embraced oversized collars and 80s-inspired looks that would not have looked out of place on Princess Diana

Princess Diana regularly wore bright, colourful pieces which featured large, oversized collars (pictured, in 1983)

The key to nailing the Sloane Ranger 2.0 is all in the styling. Bella, for example, wears her loafers with a slogan t-shirt and baggy jeans. Actress Nicola Peltz, 25, better known as Mrs Brooklyn Beckham-to-be, is among the Insta-famous 20-somethings who have taken to wearing their silk scarves as handkerchief tops.

Headbands, popular with original Sloane Sarah Ferguson, among others, should now be chosen in lighter colours with more bejewelled detailing, as seen on Katherine Ryan's stylish character in Netflix show The Duchess.

Of course, for the original cohort, being a Sloane was more than just a sense of fashion: it was a way of life.

The Official Sloane Ranger Handbook, published in 1982, was the bible for everything one needed to know about dressing, living, breathing Sloane.

Silk scarf style: Sex And The City star-turned-shoe-designer Sarah Jessica Parker is a fan

The Handbook, by Peter York and Ann Barr, claimed to update Nancy Mitford's famous etiquette guide to the upper classes, Noblesse Oblige. Sloanes were more upper middle class, showing how society had broadened, although not by very much.

Sloanes did not leave London's SW3, SW5, SW7 or SW10 (the postcodes around Sloane Square and Fulham Road) except to retreat to their country homes in Gloucestershire or Wiltshire on a Friday afternoon.

Anything unfamiliar to Sloanes was honkingly funny, and this included North London, intellectuals, career angst, people who wore black, and gold taps.

One step ahead: Headbands, popular with original Sloane Sarah Ferguson, among others, should now be chosen in lighter colours with more bejewelled detailing, as seen on Katherine Ryan's stylish character in Netflix show The Duchess

Pink perfection: MIC star Binky Felstead models a pink headband with a bikini on Instagram

Fergie often swept her flowing red locks from her face using the trendy accessory in the 80s (pictured visiting the Offices of Action Research for Crippled Children in Horsham in February 1989)

Professionally, they held lowly positions with the absolute self-confidence of a class who ran the Empire.

They were shop assistants - so long as it was Peter Jones, The General Trading Company, Harvey Nichols or Liberty - chalet girls or receptionists for Savills, the posh estate agent.

Although these high-flying, celebrity Sloanes are unlikely to go the whole hog and adopt the lifestyle, it is clear they have bought into the clothes.
Alarm is growing as case numbers in Ireland continue to rise rapidly this Wednesday, September 16.

Laois is amongst 22 counties with new cases, with Dublin again having more than half of the 254 new cases confirmed today.

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today been informed that 3 people with COVID-19 have died.

There has now been a total of 1,788* COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland.

As of midnight Tuesday 15th September, the HPSC has been notified of 254 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There is now a total of 31,799* confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland.

Over half of the cases are again in Dublin, with 136 cases. 20 are in Donegal, 13 in Louth, 12 in Wicklow, 9 in Waterford, 7 Carlow, 7 in Cork, 6 in Galway, 5 in Kerry, 5 in Wexford and the remaining 28 cases are located in Clare, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Leitrim, Limerick, Longford, Mayo, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon and Westmeath.

Of the new cases, 115 are men / 133 are women. 65% are under 45 years of age. 61% are confirmed to be associated with outbreaks or are close contacts of a confirmed case. 24 cases have been identified as community transmission meaning it is unknown where they caught the virus.

Dr. Ronan Glynn, Acting Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, said the current situation has deteriorated both in Dublin and nationally over the past week.

"Along with Dublin we have seen particularly concerning trends in Louth, Waterford and Donegal. It is now absolutely essential that people action public health advice and act as if they or those close to them are potentially infectious.

Professor Philip Nolan, Chair of the NPHET Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group said he is just as concerned now as he was last April.

The reproduction number is between 1.3  1.7 nationally. I am more concerned than I have been at any point since late April. Case numbers appear to be growing exponentially and are likely to double every 10 to 14 days if every one of us does not immediately act to break chains of transmission of the virus. If we do not interrupt transmission now, bring the r-number back to below 1, modelling shows that we could have 500 -1,000 cases per day by the 16th of October, 50-60% of which would be in Dublin.

Dr Colm Henry, Chief Clinical Officer, HSE, said; There are currently 73 COVID-19 patients in hospital, 9 of these have been admitted in the past 24 hours. 14 of these patients are in ICU. We are seeing a sharp increase in rate of admissions of COVID-19 patients into our acute hospitals. We know that without a reversal of these trends, admissions can escalate rapidly to the point where our healthcare facilities will be under unsustainable pressure. It is more essential than ever that we all adhere to the basic measures which can weaken the virus in the community.

Children remain low in the new cases however.

Dr. Mary Favier, COVID-19 advisor to the Irish College of General Practitioners, said: While we have been conducting a large number of tests on children, thanks to the vigilance of parents around symptoms and contacting GPs with concerns, we have not witnessed a disproportionate rise in the number of confirmed cases in children.

Detailed county by county figures for new Covid-19 cases are published two days after the daily briefing.

Data was measured at midnight on Monday September 14.

Laois 420 - no change from the previous day.

Offaly 673 up five.

Kildare 2395 up 11.

Kilkennny 433 up 4.

Carlow 263 up 4.

Tipperary 748 - up 5.

Dublin - 14883 - up 218.

The HSE is working to identify any contacts the patients may have had to provide them with information and advice to prevent further spread.

The COVID-19 Dashboard provides up-to-date information on the key indicators of COVID-19 in the community.
Will Midland Health CEO Russell Meyers receive a coronavirus vaccine when one becomes available? He weighed in on that Tuesday during the hospitals weekly press conference.

Meyers ruled out taking a vaccine from the Russian government. I don't trust that one, he said.

He said there are vaccines being developed by a variety of companies, and that he believes the message from those companies and the Food and Drug Administration is that political pressure will not trump science.

And we will be very cautious as a nation, I believe, in not rolling out a vaccine thats not ready, Meyers said.

Meyers said there is a lot of political noise when it comes to a coronavirus vaccine and that when one is available, he will take advice from his medical colleagues.

We will make decisions in the best interest of the community, in terms of what we what we do here in the hospital, what we will promote, and I'll comply with those decisions as I would advise other people to do, Meyers said. Its too soon to say whether there will be an effective vaccine and were going to try our best to understand the science. And when its available and its proven to be effective, then I will take one.
South Africa: Explore the splendour of Mzansi

Many have been yearning for a road trip out in the warm South African sun as a release from the cabin fever associated with the lockdown.

While not doubting the love one has for family, several months of being in lockdown together may leave all involved with feelings of claustrophobia, irritability and the need to get away from it all.

As the fight continues against the COVID-19 pandemic, which necessitated the implementation of a national lockdown,, the country moved to stage 2 of the lockdown from midnight, 17 August 2020.

The move to level 2 has come with the further easing of restrictions implemented in the last several months under the risk-adjusted alert levels to stabilise soaring COVID-19 infections.

Not only have more sectors of the economy opened up, the country has also seen new confirmed cases of the virus drop.

The move to level 2 also saw restrictions on interprovincial travel lifted, opening the way for accommodation, hospitality venues and tours to operate, albeit observing approved protocols to ensure social distancing.

The move to allow interprovincial travel could not have come at a better time for those wanting to see their loved ones in other provinces, as well as for those wanting to explore the domestic tourism sector.

The South African National Parks (SANParks) were among those who welcomed the lifting of restrictions on interprovincial travel.

SANParks opened overnight accommodation to intra-provincial guests on 14 August 2020 at most of its parks. The new government regulations and protocols were likely to result in restrictions when coming to overnight accommodation occupancies.

The conservation authority manages 19 national parks in seven of the countrys provinces, including the ever-popular Kruger National Park (KNP).

We have to adjust to the new normal and include the COVID 19 rules as part of operations, General Manager of Communications and Marketing at the KNP, Ike Phaahla, tells SAnews.

This as SANParks continues to open hospitality operations gradually in a move to ensure optimum readiness to accommodate guests, who at this point are in desperate need of a change of scenery.

For those considering a midweek or weekend getaway this Tourism Month, Phaahla says booking through central reservations is essential.

Like before, people still have to book with central reservations. Check-in has not changed much. The process now has the inclusion of the COVID-19 rules. For example, there are markings for social distancing, people are required to sanitise before handling any paperwork and must wear masks in public areas at all times, explains Phaahla.

Some of the parks owned by SANParks have been undergoing refurbishment during the lockdown period, with reopening plans based on the assumption that tourism facilities would be allowed to reopen around mid-September 2020.

The Kruger boasts 12 rest camps, five bushveld camps, two bush lodges and four satellite camps.

The majority of the camps have reopened, with the exception of a few such as Orpen, Roodewal and Maroela Phaahla says.

South Africans, who are keen to connect with nature, have so far taken full advantage of the reopening of the KNP.

However, in earlier levels of the lockdown, the park provided South Africans, who were stuck indoors, with healthy doses of its rich wildlife through pictures and short webcam videos posted on its social media platforms, including Twitter.The animals are fine. They were more visible during the [earlier stages of the] lockdown, as they had taken over what belongs to them, Phaahla chuckles.

Self-drive excursions for day visitors have been taking place at the Kruger from 8 June 2020 under level 3 of the lockdown. The majority of gates at the park have been operational, with the exception of Pafuri and Numbi gates.

While SANParks was operational under level 3 of the lockdown, it was not open for overnight accommodation, as per the then lockdown regulations on leisure and interprovincial travel.

At the time, day self-drives were permitted for residents of the various provinces in which the respective national parks are located.

As the country commemorates Tourism Month in these unprecedented times, the park is eager to welcome nature-starved citizens.

We look forward to welcoming more visitors as lockdown rules are being relaxed and to continue to conserve and maintain the ecosystem for the benefit of all humanity, said Phaahla.

Spoilt for choice

South Africa is endowed with endless beautiful attractions, waiting to be explored.

The tourism attractions are there for people to enjoy and be proud of. Please visit them with your families so that as your children grow up, they become ambassadors of these sites and have knowledge that they need to be conserved and protected, says Phaahla.

While the countrys borders are yet to be reopened, the KNP has received interest from international tourists hoping to visit the park one day.

We receive feedback, especially via social media platforms, from international tourists wishing [to visit] the park. But they will have to be patient as the borders are still closed not only in South Africa, but in other countries as well, Phaahla said.

Tourism creates employment, particularly in deep rural areas where national parks are located.

Phaahla echoed Tourism Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubanes comments that the sector plays an important role in the development of rural communities by way of poverty alleviation, employment creation and overall stimulation of economic activities.

In an address to the Pretoria National Press Club earlier this month, Kubayi-Ngubane said without governments intervention, the tourism sector was on course to lose between 500 000 and 600 000 jobs.

As the sector further opens up, Phaahla shared some advice for who are in two minds about safely exploring the country in a time of COVID-19.

Come and experience your natural heritage. However, please always adhere to the health protocols in line with COVID-19, even when you are in the KNP, as these protocols are meant to save our lives, says Phaahla.

Kubayi-Ngubane has encouraged South Africans to travel locally as the tourism sector attempts to recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

By visiting attractions around the country and exploring their splendour, we can help the sector get back on its feet and help create much-needed jobs.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2020-09-16. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
In Pics: PM Modi to inaugurate new campus of Classical Tamil institute in Chennai today

India has everything needed to be hub for medical tourism: PM Modi

UK restores 3 priceless statues of Vijayanagara period stolen from Tamil Nadu to India

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Sep 16: Three priceless statues of the Vijayanagar period that were stolen have been restored to the Tamil Nadu government.

The status of the Vijayanagara period were stolen from the Vishnu Temple, at Nagapatinnam in 1978. These statues were recovered by the High Commission of India, London with the support of the Met Police London.

The statues were restored to the government of Tamil Nadu in the presence of Union Minister for Culture and Tourism, Prahlad S Patel.

Patel expressed gratitude to the High Commission of London, Archaeological Survey of India and Government of Tamil Nadu for making efforts to recover the statues.

"The Indian Embassy in the UK handed over 3-feet-tall bronze statues of Sri Ram, Laxman and Sita of Vijayanagara period which were stolen from Tamil Nadu, to India," Patel said in a tweet.

"The statues have been brought back with the efforts of the Government of Tamil Nadu, the Embassy of India and the Archaeological Survey of India, I would like to thank all of them," he further added.

43 of the 56 artifacts that have been restored after India's independence were handed during the leader of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, he also said.
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Poland Russia Europe Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Pawe Jabonski speaks to The Associated in Warsaw, Poland, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2020. Jabonski said that Poland's government welcomes signals that Germany might stop a controversial gas pipeline project, Nord Stream 2, over the poisoning of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny.(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

WARSAW, Poland (AP)  Polands government welcomes signals that Germany might stop a controversial gas pipeline project over the poisoning of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, a Polish deputy foreign minister said Tuesday.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Pawe Jabonski said it was good that some German politicians seem to have had a wake-up call," adding that it was regrettable that it required such a dreadful incident to take place.

Navalny, a high-profile critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was flown to Germany last month after falling ill in Russia. German experts say tests show he was poisoned with a Soviet-era nerve agent, prompting the German government last week to demand that Russia investigate the case.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on the weekend that the Russian reaction could determine whether Germany changes its long-standing backing for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which will bring Russian gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea, bypassing Ukraine.

Its good it has not been overlooked this time -- at least it seems so after Heiko Maass reaction, Jabonski said.

Germany has long insisted that the pipeline is a commercial project and its industries badly need the gas that Russia can offer.

Poland, on the other hand, is among several countries, including the Baltic states, who fear that it will allow Russia to use its energy resources for political leverage over Europe, and particularly over Ukraine.

Our position was clear and consistent all these years, Jabonski said. We have been indicating that this is not only an economic project, its mostly a political project, and it can also be used as a military tool, as warfare, in case Putin would decide to stop the gas flowing through Ukraine.

Jabonski said that Poland is itself not dependent on Russian oil and gas anymore after working for years to develop other sources. It has done that with the construction of an LNG gas terminal on the Baltic coast that receives imported gas from the U.S. and elsewhere. Meanwhile, Poland is also constructing the Baltic Pipeline, which in a few years will bring Norwegian gas to Polish markets.

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But he said it is in Polands strategic interest to have neighbors who are not subjugated to Russia. He said if Moscow succeeds in re-establishing some form of Soviet-style control over neighboring Belarus and Ukraine, then this would be very dangerous for Poland.

He spoke as Poland also faces a crisis across its border in Belarus, where mass street protests have been taking place since authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, in power for 26 years, claimed to have won an election last month widely viewed as rigged.

Warsaw has long advocated democratic change in Belarus, hoping for stability and democracy on its eastern border, that is also the eastern border of the European Union and NATO.

In recent weeks, Poland has been giving support to members of the Belarusian opposition. Dozens of Belarusian protesters have received treatment for injuries in Poland, while Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki is due to meet on Wednesday in Warsaw with Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the main opposition challenger to Lukashenko who now lives in Lithuania.
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SEATTLE (AP)  Alaska Airlines suspended all flights in and out of Portland until 3 p.m. Tuesday as wildfire smoke inundates the region. It's also suspending operations in Spokane and canceling some flights in Eugene, Medford, Redmond, Pasco and Walla Walla.

Across the West, fires are creating thick smoke and haze, causing very poor air quality conditions in the Portland and Spokane areas, Alaska said in a statement Monday. We made the difficult decision to stop our operation so that our employees and guests can remain safe.





. . .
Britains parliament on Wednesday opened an investigation into British business connections with Chinas internment camps and use of forced labor in its Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, vowing to find ways to end British firms support of repression in the region, media and other sources said.



The enquiry, launched by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Commons, will also look for ways to strengthen atrocity-prevention mechanisms of Britains Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and to support ethnic Uyghurs driven into exile, sources said.



The UK move follows calls by the European Union and the U.S. to investigate conditions in Beijings sprawling network of camps in the region, where authorities are believed to have held up to 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities since April 2017.



Washington and others are also taking measures to block imports of suspect goods and to sanction and hold to account Chinese officials responsible for human rights violations in the XUAR.



Chinas treatment of its mostly Muslim ethnic Uyghur community utterly abhorrent, Layla Moranforeign affairs spokeswoman for Parliaments Liberal Democratssaid in a Sept. 16 statement, adding that the UK government now has a duty to act and impose sanctions to help stop the abuses.



A Sept. 8 letter to Chinas ambassador to the UK signed by 135 members of parliament had already signaled British lawmakers extreme concern over the situation in the XUAR, where authorities are believed to have held up to 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in a vast network of internment camps since April 2017.



China has sought to justify its network of camps as voluntary vocational centers despite reporting by RFA which has found that detainees are mostly held against their will in poor conditions, where they are forced to endure inhumane treatment and political indoctrination.



The UK has not done nearly enough, Moran added in a Sept. 15 opinion piece in Britains newspaper The Times. How any [government minister can watch the videos from the Xinjiang camps and decide that a course of relative inaction is beyond me.



It is time the UK worked to regain our status as a country that defends and promotes human rights internationally, Moran said.



The mass detention of Uighurs in Xinjiang has horrifying echoes of the 1930s, said Conservative Party member and investigating committee chair Tom Tugendhat, quoted on Sept. 16 in the Hindustan Times. There have been similar atrocities since, and each time the world has promised to never allow such violations to happen again.



And yet, we now have clear, undeniable evidence of the persecution of more than one million people in these so-called re-education camps, Tugendhat said, adding that his committee will look into ways the government can use to discourage private businesses in Britain from contributing to Beijings abuses in Xinjiang.



The European Union on Monday called on China to allow independent observers to visit the XUAR to investigate Chinas treatment of the Uyghurs, while in Washington the Trump administration announced new customs actions to block imports of Chinese products believed to be produced with forced labor.



The Withhold Release Orders, measures intended to prevent goods suspected to have been made with forced labor from entering the United States, targeted three entities from Xinjiang and one from Anhui province in eastern China.



Meanwhile, calls are growing in the U.S. for a boycott of Disneys $200 million live-action film Mulan, shot partly in Xinjiangs ancient Silk Road City of Turpan, with rights groups and others citing the new films links to entities responsible for repressing Uyghurs in the XUAR.



Reported by Jilil Kashgary for RFAs Uyghur Service. Written in English by Richard Finney.
Trump Hosts Abraham Accords Signing Between Israel, UAE and Bahrain

By Patsy Widakuswara September 15, 2020

U.S. President Donald Trump hosted a signing ceremony Tuesday at the White House for the normalization of relations between Israel and the Arab states of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

"These visionary leaders will sign the first two peace deals between Israel and the Arab state in more than a quarter century," Trump said. "In Israel's entire history there have previously been only two such agreements, now we have achieved two in a single month."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, UAE Foreign Affairs Minister Abdullah bin Zayed and Bahrain Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid al Zayani signed the so-called "Abraham Accords" on the South Lawn of the White House.

"This peace will eventually expand to include other Arab states, and ultimately can end the Arab-Israeli conflict, once and for all," said Netanyahu.

The Israel-UAE deal was initially reached on August 13 between Israel and UAE, with Bahrain announcing last Friday that it will also formally recognize the Jewish state.

"We are witnessing today a new trend that will create a better path for the Middle East," said Abdullah bin Zayed through an interpreter. He added that this new vision "is not a slogan that we raise for political gains" and that "peace is our guiding principle."

Abdullatif bin Rashid al Zayani called the normalization agreement an "important first step."

"It is now incumbent on us to work urgently and actively to bring about the lasting peace and security our peoples deserve," he said. "A just, comprehensive and enduring two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict will be the foundation, the bedrock of such peace."

Israelis Welcome, Palestinians Denounce Gulf Deals

While Israelis envision trade, security, and vacations in Dubai, Palestinians see a nightmare scenario

Middle East peace

While Trump did not mention the Palestinians in his remarks during the signing ceremony, he acknowledged that the normalization agreements between Israel and Arab nations was part of a broader diplomatic effort to pressure Palestinians into negotiating a peace deal.

"We've taken a very different path," Trump said during a bilateral meeting at the Oval office with UAE's Abdullah bin Zayed prior to the ceremony. "You could say it's a back door, but I call it a smart door."

Gulf Arab countries had long conditioned full normalization of ties with Israel on it providing concessions and progress on the two-state solution, envisioning an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.

But regional countries no longer think it's possible to use normalization with Israel as a bargaining chip to achieve the two-state solution, said Will Todman, associate fellow in the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Todman said the accord also reflects growing regional concerns about Iran and Turkey.

"Arab Gulf States and Israel have more in common in terms of their opposition to Iran than they have in opposition in relation to their views on Palestinian aspirations as stated," Todman said. "I think that's an important geopolitical shift."

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu thanked the Trump administration for brokering the accords.

"You have boldly confronted the tyrants of Tehran, you've proposed a realistic vision for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and you've successfully brokered the historic peace that we are signing today," Netanyahu said.

No representatives from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia or any other Gulf Arab states were present at the signing ceremony. But analysts say that UAE and Bahrain have likely secured the approval of the Saudis, a key player and U.S. ally in the region, before announcing normalization.

Palestinians condemn

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh condemned the Abraham Accords, calling it "a black day in the history of Arab nations."

Dana El Kurd of the Palestinian Policy Network think tank Al-Shabaka says the normalization deal between Israel and Bahrain is further evidence that Arab governments are abandoning the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, without receiving "anything tangible related to the Palestinian cause or statehood project."

Under the Abraham Accord with UAE, Netanyahu has agreed to halt plans to annex portions of the West Bank. But El Kurd said the annexation suspension means nothing on the ground.

"Annexation and the theft of Palestinian land continues unabated, as it did before the Israeli government pointed to a date in the calendar as 'annexation' day and will continue to do so after," she said.

Foreign policy wins

The Trump administration is touting the deals between Israel, UAE and Bahrain as key foreign policy victories with just two months remaining before the U.S. presidential election on November 3.

While foreign policy has not been a major election issue, the future of Israel matters to a key group of Trump supporters  Evangelical Christians, who made up about a third of his supporters in 2016.

Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, Trump's Democratic opponent, said he supports more countries normalizing relations with Israel in response to a recent VOA question, but also said he believes "that Israel has to be prepared to work toward a genuine two-state solution" with the Palestinians.

A Trump administration official said the deal between Israel and UAE is smoothing the way for the U.S. to proceed with the sale of F-35 stealth fighter jets and other military weaponry. The prospect of the arms sale to UAE is raising concerns among some security experts as it could prompt Israel and other Middle East countries to also buy more weapons.

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The Albright at the Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica. The restaurant, now open, was forced to close due to COVID-19 shutdown. Owner Greg Morena, like many other restaurant owners, is struggling to pay the rent. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

Greg Morena owes the city of Santa Monica about $31,000 each month in rent. The former City Council member owns and operates two restaurants on the Santa Monica Pier, the Albright and Rustys. When the city shut down the tourist attraction in March due to the pandemic, Morena said he had no way of paying his rent, and no way of doing takeout.

Anything less than 80% of sales coming in and you dont have enough money to run the business operationally, and rent is the greatest cost, Morena said. The pier reopened in June after a three-month closure, allowing patrons to once again walk around and visit the various vendors, but business has been slow to return. Last month we were at 25% of sales to the same month the previous year.

Morena says his business is highly cyclical. Whatever money he doesnt make in the summer is money he wont have to keep his restaurants afloat in the winter. He asked the city for rent abatement during the months the pier was shut down, cutting off access to his restaurant, but the city declined. Instead, he can defer his rent for six months, and then hell have a year to pay it all back. With sales where they are and foot traffic at the beach slowing during the winter months, he says paying that money back will be near "impossible."

Morena is one of many Los Angeles restaurant owners who cut costs, cut staff, received Paycheck Protection Program money and still cant pay the rent.

The Albright at the Santa Monica Pier. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

According to the National Restaurant Assn., the pandemic cost the restaurant industry $120 billion in sales between March and May. That number is expected to climb to $240 billion by the end of the year (prepandemic projections for 2020 were $899 billion in sales).

Brittney Valles, owner of Guerrilla Tacos in the Arts District downtown, says she began experiencing a decrease in sales just before the shutdown in March, and that sales have continued to slow. Some days, she does a total of $1,000 in takeout sales, which isn't nearly enough to cover basic expenses.

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When Los Angeles restaurants shut down in March, Valles asked her landlord if hed be willing to abate the $26,750 she pays in rent each month until she could get a better grasp of how her future might play out.

He asked why I was asking for this and asked if business wasnt going well, she said. He thought in two weeks this would blow over.

Frustrated and unsure of her options, Valles sent a letter to her landlord stating that she wasnt going to pay the rent. She said she saw a letter sent from the Cheesecake Factory chain, stating it could not pay rent at any of its locations on April 1, and she used it as a template.

When Valles received PPP money in May, she sent her landlord a check for $40,000. She hasnt paid any rent since. Valles landlord had not responded to calls for comment as of press time.

Amin Torfi, a regular at Guerrilla Tacos, dines inside the restaurant on the day it reopened for dine-in service in July. Earlier in the day, Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered a second shutdown, forcing the restaurant to move all dining operations outside. (Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)

There is a temporary eviction moratorium  for commercial businesses and residences  in Los Angeles County thats preventing Valles landlord from ousting her from her restaurant space. But its a temporary Band-Aid for a much larger issue.

There is no current plan in place nationally or locally to bail out restaurants and landlords. When back rent is due, most businesses will already be in serious debt, with no ability to pay back or current rent. If the landlords abate rather than defer rent, some of them wont be able to pay their mortgages.

There hasnt been any mandate on mortgage relief, said Dana Pratt, deputy director of tenant protections and rent stabilization at the L.A. County Department of Consumer and Business Affairs. Typically its in the form of a forbearance [deferring payment for a time] and the average forbearance period has been about three months.

Hunter Hall, executive director of the Main Street Business Improvement District in Santa Monica, warned against applying a one-size-fits-all model to property owners.

This whole big bad property owner out to kill the small business, its an archetypal fallacy we love to buy into, but its way more complicated than that, said Hall, who advocates for more than 300 businesses in the city. You have the mom-and-pop property owner who owns one building and they have debt on it and they are depending on the rent income as much as anyone else to survive.

Hall stressed the need for a government bailout package that would help both property owners and restaurants. He, along with local restaurant owners Nancy Silverton, Jose Andres, Suzanne Goin and Caroline Styne, are part of the Independent Restaurant Coalition, a nationwide organization advocating for restaurants. Their main goal is to get the federal Restaurants Act, also known as HR 7197, passed.

The bill, introduced in June , would establish a $120-billion revitalization fund for small and independent restaurants. Grants would be given to restaurants based on projected revenue differences between 2019 and 2020 (restaurants that hit their 2019 revenues or above would not be eligible). The grants are designed to be used to cover wages, rent, mortgage and other costs related to running a restaurant or adjustments made to run a restaurant during the pandemic.

Styne said more than 200 members of Congress and 27 senators, including Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), have signed on to cosponsor the bill.

Ive never asked the government for anything, but this is pathetic that we have to ask for this, and they need to step up, Styne said.

Styne, who with Goin owns A.O.C. and the Larder, said her landlord lowered the rent at her West Hollywood restaurant to match his mortgage payments, but its still not sustainable.

If there was legislation that protected mortgage holders and tenants, then that would be the ideal situation, she said. I dont hold it against my landlord at AOC that he has a mortgage to pay. Is he supposed to default on his mortgage and lose the property? That doesnt help anybody.

While many wait for a government bailout, others are turning to percentage rent as a possible temporary solution.

Jim Crocenzi, an Orange County-based senior vice president of retail services for CBRE, the largest commercial real estate company in the country, is seeing tenants and property owners create amendments to existing leases that allow tenants to pay a percentage of their gross sales or a revenue-sharing payment plan to avoid a vacancy.

Smart landlords know they are much better off doing everything possible to retain the tenant because the cost to replace them in this environment is going to be high, Crocenzi said. The typical tenant-landlord relationship by nature is supposed to be a partnership.

Meghann Martindale, global head of retail research for CBRE, said there is added incentive for property owners to hold on to food and beverage tenants.

Usually its the restaurants that differentiate a property, she said. Its a traffic generator. Landlords are going to do more on the restaurant side in the way of supporting them to avoid that permanent closure than on the retail side.

On a panel during the Western Foodservice and Hospitality Expo in August called "Were Not Going to Pay the Rent: Leasing Negotiating Tactics for Restaurants," corporate real estate attorney and restaurant owner Jordan Bernstein urged restaurants to be proactive if they want to ask for a percentage rent.

Dont just defer off your rent and sit back and not pay rent, he said. Youre effectively just creating debt. Everybody knows that even the most successful restaurants that work on high double-digit margins cant afford hundreds of thousands of debt. Work out some sort of percentage rent.

Restaurant real estate broker Will Knox says that willingness to negotiate is key to staying in business, rather than relying on the city moratorium on evictions or a government program that doesnt exist yet. Knox, who also was part of the panel, suggested using the new geographical footprint of a city during a pandemic as a talking point.

So many restaurants signed leases based on the premise that there is a certain amount of baked-in business with offices in the neighborhood, he said. So when 50% of those workers never return to the office, how does that change the restaurant landscape, especially with property owners? You have to be able to say to a property owner, Look, I signed this lease five years ago when there was walking traffic, [but] your asset isnt as valuable anymore.

Blaqhaus owner Takela Corbitt considers herself one of the lucky ones. She pays $6,500 in rent for her Southern restaurant in North Hollywood and was able to negotiate with her landlord. When she shut down in March, her landlord didnt ask for the rent. He requested that they reconvene once they both had a better understanding of the situation. She wasnt able to pay any money in April or May but cut her landlord a check after receiving PPP money in June.

Blaqhaus owner Takela Corbitt considers herself one of the lucky ones as she was able to negotiate with her landlord. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

When the restaurant reopened, Corbitt found that she was making only enough money to pay half the rent.

I reached out to him and told him that we were not making enough revenue to pay the rent and the employees but that we wanted to stay open, hoping this will pass, she said. He told us that when things get back to normal we can sit down and come up with something that works for both of us. As a business owner, the only thing to do is to continue to work together and be fair.

Some restaurants have tried to negotiate with landlords, pushed for rent abatement or percentage rent, and are still looking for a solution. Attorney Alexandra L. Foote says restaurant and bar owners should revisit their insurance policy.

Foote is working locally with Citrin, A.O.C., Tavern, Tilda and The Den on Sunset to file claims for business interruption insurance coverage for losses due to the government-mandated shutdowns. These shutdowns, Foote argues, "are a covered peril under policies that should have paid business expenses during the closures, including rent and payroll."

For a tenant, its critical that they tender their claim and that they contact their insurance company to submit for coverage for business interruption, she said. Make sure you let your landlord know you did that. It shows the landlord youre not just not paying the rent, youre doing everything you can.

Foote has teamed with Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein LLP to help restaurants obtain certified copies of their complete policies to review, submit claims and file both individual actions on behalf of restaurants and some class actions as well. She and the larger firm are working on contingency.

According to the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School Covid Coverage Litigation Tracker, more than 400 food businesses have filed business interruption lawsuits in the U.S., with a peak of more than 75 cases filed in a single week in May.

While there have been no rulings on any of Footes cases yet, some federal courts in California and Texas have ruled in favor of insurance companies. Foote said shes aware of these rulings, but she isnt deterred. She expects many of the early rulings will result in writs or appeals that will end up in the California Supreme Court.

We expected at the outset that these cases would be hard-fought and that there would be some negative rulings along the way, she said. It will likely take some time before we have a final or definitive determination as to whether the insurance policies our clients paid for are worth more than the paper they are written on."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
WE Charity, formerly known as Free the Children, was founded in 1995 by 12-year-old Craig and his brother Marc Kielburger after they read about the murder of a 12-year-old Pakistani carpet factory worker named Iqbal Massiah.

WE Charity is now shutting down its Canadian operations, but not WE Charity US, WE Charity UK, ME to WE social enterprise, or other WE entities. The expected financial, psychological, and social impacts of WEs decision to close down in Canada cant be ignored.

Canadian teens have a very positive view of WE since they have worked in various capacities with WE in Canada and in distant lands, and earned the confidence that youth could make a positive difference in society.

In 2019, WE Charity spent $32.6 million on Canadian programs, including donated goods in-kind and volunteer time. It included the WE Days, WE School resources, WE Teachers, and WE Well-being. WE Days were youth rallies that celebrated social good.

The 2019 WE Day tour included visits to Toronto, Halifax, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Vancouver, and Ottawa. WE Days featured speakers, athletes, and celebrity performers. More than 200,000 youth attend WE Days, which were free with youth earning tickets by doing social activities.

The alleged secret ties between WE and the government resulted in the ultimate closure of WE operations, which is a very significant loss for our children.

The Canadians of conscience are raising questions on the transparency of the grant approval by the government.

What is the spirit behind collecting charity and giving it to the deserving human beings?

Why is that kind of transparency not maintained and who doesnt know that getting favours for approving any grant is never transparent and raises questions?

Who is responsible for the losses Canadian children will suffer?

Charity is a concept that has no geographical and religious boundaries. The Jewish concept of Tzedakah (charity giving) instructs all Jews to give to charity. Christians, for instance, believe: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Islam says charity promotes prosperity to the donor, recipient, and society.

Those who run charities also have a duty to be accountable. In Canada, the most basic transparency requirement for registered charities is that every year they must file the T3010 Registered Charity Information Return. If charities do not file the form, they can be revoked by CRA for nonfiling within just a few months.

The alleged corruption charges have destroyed both the reputation of WE and the transparency of government. When an organization cant explain its structure, working, and hidden connections to positions of authority it loses the trust easily.

WEs closure will hurt Canadian children who have lost educational help, financial support, social engagement, and training. It is also a wound on governance, which may keep on bleeding until the confidence of donors and the public is completely restored in government grants.

Those who are found responsible for any crimes must be dealt with strictly according to the law.
And, quite frankly, they would be justified. But to this point, they havent had to worry about it, because no president, Democratic or Republican, has ever done a fraction of what Trump is doing to discredit a presidential election. Probably because past presidents have possessed at least a modicum of integrity and respect for democracy.
More than 1 million Texans remain out of work and thousands are struggling to pay the rent, but a half-dozen business leaders from around Houston asserted Tuesday that the state is rebounding faster thanks to how well the economy was humming under President Donald Trump before COVID-19 hit.

Of course business was hurt in the spring when the Texas was on lockdown, said JJ Isbell, president of Texas Transeastern, a petroleum transport company based in Pasadena.

I believe because the economy was so strong weve seen this rebound faster than I really anticipated, Isbell said at an economic round table discussion near The Galleria organized by Trumps Texas campaign team. Weve seen a tremendous rebound.

He wasnt alone in that thought. Gil Baumgarten, CEO of Segment Wealth Management, who said his company manages money for some of the wealthiest families in Houston, added that business has been great and warned that electing Joe Biden would be disastrous for the finance industry.

The event was part of a renewed nationwide push by Trump to shift the national discussion in the final months of the campaign to the economy. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Trumps Texas campaign chair, told reporters that there will be a series of similar discussions happening around the nation to make the case to voters that the economy is in better hands with Trump in the White House.

THE TEXAS TRUMP BUS: Presidents supporters target Interstate 35 corridor

Trump made the economy the focus of a series of events in Nevada, Arizona and California over the weekend, and is hammering the same theme with a national TV ad campaign that started Tuesday.

Its really important that the people of Texas  the people of Houston  understand what is at stake in this election, Patrick said. If Joe Biden is elected he will crush the economy in Texas, particularly in Houston where we have such strong ties to the oil and gas industry.

Wrestling over issue

The Trump campaigns pronounced shift to economic recovery comes as the president weathers renewed criticism for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed over 14,000 Texans since March. Last week news broke that Trump had told author Bob Woodward in exclusive interviews for a new book that he knew in February how much more deadly the virus was than the flu, but wanted to play it down to avoid a public panic.

National polls suggest the economy remains a strong issue for Trump, if he can untangle it from the nations COVID response. In a Quinnipiac University Poll released at the beginning of September, 56 percent of respondents said Biden would handle the coronavirus pandemic better than Trump, with only 40 percent saying the president would do better.

But when respondents answered the same question about the economy, Biden and Trump were evenly split at 48 percent each.

Those same polling numbers explain why Biden has repeatedly tried to trace the problems in the economy back to Trumps leadership in the pandemic. He has said Trumps failure to address the outbreak more seriously at the start led to more deaths and suffering and prolonged the damage to the economy.

Biden is also making that point with a massive $44 million TV ad buy in battleground states.

To fix the economy, we need to get control over the virus, Biden says in one of the ads.

A brighter future?

Unemployment rates show the Texas economy still has a long way to go.

In March, Texas had a 5 percent unemployment rate. That ballooned to over 13 percent by April. It has since dropped to just over 8 percent. In the Houston region, the unemployment rate is 9.4 percent, according to the Texas Workforce Commission.

A new report released Tuesday by the CATO Institute, a libertarian research group in Washington, D.C., states that the economic impact of COVID-19 has hit low-income Americans  disproportionately communities of color  harder than others. Americans in poor communities were the most likely to lose their jobs, see businesses in their neighborhoods fail, and lack the savings or other resources needed to ride out the damage, according to the report.

Patrick acknowledged that some segments of the economy are not rebounding as quickly as others, but said even those hit hardest will do better with another four years of Trump.

Youre always going to have people struggling, even in the best economy, Patrick said. But I do know this, in the Trump administration their future is brighter.

With Tuesdays event, Trump was also hoping to shore up votes in Harris County, where he had problems in 2016.

While Trump won Texas over Hillary Clinton by 9 percentage points, he lost Harris County by 12 percent points  the worst defeat of any Republican presidential candidate in the county since Barry Goldwater lost by 19 percentage points to Texas native Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.

Polls show Biden and Trump surprisingly close in Texas. A poll released by the Dallas Morning News earlier this month showed Trump leading Biden by just 2 percentage points. A Democrat hasnt won Texas in a presidential election since Jimmy Carter won the 1976 election over Gerald Ford.

Early voting in Texas begins on Oct. 13. The final day to register to vote in the election is less than three weeks away on Oct. 5. Election day is Nov. 3.
Ghana News Agency's Journalist Hannah Awadzi Writes:

Akua (not the real name) is a graduate from the University of Cape-Coast, who studied Business Administration, however, Akua now works as a teacher for children with Special Educational Needs.

Scenario

I eavesdropped on a conversation between Akua and her colleague working at a Special Needs Educational Centre, as she told her friend, Every morning when I am coming to work, I meet some of my University mates in a tro-tro (public transport) and they usually complain so much about work pressures and all.

Here am I enjoying what I do so much, when I got to the University, I knew that subject was not for me, especially when I failed in one of the courses and I had to re-sit,

Akua seemed to enjoy her current job, she said after the university, she went to take a course in Montessori curriculum and started sending applications around, she was happy when she got the job in the Special Needs school, where she currently works.

According to Akua, her mother was not amused with her decision to work in an Early Childhood development Centre, but with time, her mother had learned to appreciate the importance of the work she is doing with children with Special Educational Needs.

My mother now boasts of me as someone who really understands children with special needs and is proud of me.

Even though I was eavesdropping, I could not resist the temptation to jump into the conversation between Akua and her friend, I reiterated how important it was for parents to allow their children to find their purpose and pursue what makes them fulfilled.

I have since been thinking about Caregiving as a professional option for people who find that as a passion.

Respect for professions

We live in a country where some professions are more respected, growing up in the 80s, the best path to walk on was to study science in the Secondary school, it seemed every parent's dream was for their child to do science and go on to become a medical doctor.

Being a medical doctor, a pharmacist or an engineer was more respected and it seemed to bring on more honour to your parents as compared to doing something else.

I remember how nobody in my class of 30 ever wanted to be a teacher in future, we were told that teachers were poor and their reward was in heaven, nobody in my class wanted to have their reward in heaven, we needed to show off that we also made it in life and that could only be achieved if we became doctors or pharmacists in future.

Well I did not end up as a doctor, I did not even pursue science as a subject, but I live as a person who finds fulfilment in writing, I became a journalist and an author and I feel so proud of myself.

However, that is not the point of this article, I have been dreaming of a Ghana where we could have professional caregivers to serve a very important community in our country.

Caregiving as a Career

I once met a Lady who after Secondary school went ahead to pursue a Secretarial programme, however, after the programme, she still could not get a job so she enrolled in a Nanny and Day Care Training programme, after her training, she got a job to support a child with cerebral palsy and Autism in a particular special school.

She grew to love this girl and worked with the family for over 15 years, she later resigned from working with the family and started her own home care giving programme, which she continues to pursue.

Lara, told me she discovered that caregiving was her passion and has since given her all to it, she says she gets fulfilled when the children she is caring for improve.

She also intends to train others since the number of families needing her services are growing and she mostly had to turn down some of the requests.

Country Perspective

In Ghana we have a large community of people needing the services of caregivers, in the past, our parents brought in our cousins or people from the village, they had an unwritten contract with such people, you stay to support the family for three years, and we enroll you unto a vocational career programme.

In the past, many people saw persons who pursued a vocational career path as people who were not smart enough to go on the academic path, but we are now getting to know better.

I know people who have gone to the university to study complex subjects and graduate to set up vocational ventures such as hairdressing or fashion designing, in fact, such courses are now being pursued at the tertiary level.

Currently there are organizations whose main operations are to train Nannies or domestic workers for families, but many of such organizations also forget one category of people needing help that is the aged and children with disabilities.

I have been involved in advocacy for children with disability for years and one of the feedbacks I get from families raising children with disability was the need for affordable, but professional caregivers.

Many parents say having professional, but affordable caregivers will not only give them respite, but gives the caregiver an opportunity to learn about disability, show empathy and support to the vulnerable.

Caregiving also helps in giving the person providing the service a sense of fulfillment, while establishing extended social networks or friendship groups associated with caregiving.

Providing care gives one a feeling of being needed and useful and caregivers usually get the opportunity to learn something about themselves, others, and the meaning of life, being a caregiver can be a labor of love.

Why Caregiving?

Caregiving has become necessary as a profession or a career because many issues in life can trigger the need for a caregiver, caregiving is triggered by a major health event, such as a stroke, heart attack, or accident or the birth of a medically complex child.

Caregivers provide care to people who need some degree of ongoing assistance with everyday tasks on a regular or daily basis.

With the much-touted free senior high school programme and the majority of youth going into school to access education, I believe that caregiving could become an option for solving the youth unemployment challenge in Ghana.

Government could create shelters in various communities, where caregivers are employed to support both the aged and children with disability.

I believe it is time for Ghana to formalize the use of caregivers and give people the opportunity to know if it was their passion or not.

We are a people who usually receive disability with pity and sympathy instead of empathy, having professional caregivers will give persons without disability an opportunity to learn and interact with persons with disability

Providing care is not a menial job

GNA
QAnon conspiracy supporter Lauren Witzke has become the second to win a Republican Senate primary this year, after an election win in Delaware.

The Republican candidate defeated her opponent, James DeMartino, who was officially endorsed by the party in Tuesdays primary race.

Mr DeMartino had made two previously unsuccessful bids for the seat held by a Democratic candidate, in what is Joe Bidens home state.

Ms Witzke, who was pictured wearing QAnon t-shirts and tweeting with the QAnon hashtag, has tried to distance herself from the far-right conspiracy theory, saying it was hype.

QAnon supporters are said to believe in the existence of "deep state" enemies of Donald Trump, some of whom have engaged in paedophilia, with information leaked by an inside figure called Q.

Ms Witzke, whose America First agenda calls for a ban on immigration to the United States for 10 years, told The Associated Press (AP) in January that she stopped promoting QAnon months earlier, saying it was "more hype than substance".

That did not stop voters in Tuesdays primary race from referencing Ms Witzkes support for QAnon, with an 18-year-old, Maggie Kosior, telling AP that "She is a supporter of them and so am I".

Ms Witzke is among several controversial candidates with ties to far-right conspiracy thinking, including businesswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who won a Republican primary in Georgia despite her support for QAnon.

Still, the Delaware Republican will likely face an uphill battle to defeat her Democratic opponent, Senator Chris Coons, who won his partys primary.
Ajia McClure connected to her online science class on the first day back to Lake Oswego High School and was stunned about four minutes later to see a racist and profane message pop up in the comment section.

It read F--- you, (racist slur) and appeared under another students name at 10:04 a.m. on Sept. 8.

McClure, a 16-year-old junior who serves as president of the schools Black Student Union and is the only Black student in her class, immediately responded, simply writing, wow.

At least eight minutes passed before the message was taken down. The class continued with no one discussing it.

McClures mother contacted the principal and the superintendent. A school district investigation found that a students account had been hacked, according to Lake Oswego Superintendent Lora de la Cruz.

Lake Oswego police are continuing to investigate, Sgt. Tom Hamann said.

The incident occurred during a Google Classroom connection as the teacher was struggling with inconsistent internet access due to the power outages, according to the superintendent. The teacher had posted information for students online in Google Classroom, with a chat/comment feature available for students to ask questions.

A racial slur and profanity was put in the Google Classroom chat feature. Since it was an asynchronous class, the teacher did not see the comment immediately but took it down as soon as she found it about 8 to 15 minutes later, according to the superintendent.

The school districts Computer Network Services staff found that multiple IP addresses and Google security alerts led to a VPN, or virtual private network, and logins from outside the area and from other states, according to the school district.

A VPN enables users to send and receive data across shared or public networks as if their computing devices were directly connected to a private network, according to the district.

Interviews and computer forensics have confirmed a computer hack and LOSD has engaged law enforcement as this is a crime, the superintendent said in an email to Precious Lott, the students mother.

I understand that no matter the circumstances, racist language is hurtful and causes trauma and great negative impact, and I am deeply sorry that students witnessed these incidents and were negatively impacted by them, de la Cruz wrote. I also recognize that every incident that occurs restimulates racial and ethnical historical woundedness, which is why we have followed up in the ways that we have.

When McClure signed into that same class the next time, she missed her teacher addressing the racist message.

Lott said shes angry the teacher didnt immediately tell students on the day that it happened that such remarks wouldnt be tolerated.

Mary Kay Larson, Lake Oswego school district spokeswoman, said the district doesnt know if the hack is connected to an incident last week at Wilson High School in Portland or to similar incidents reported around the country.

Several teachers at Wilson High reported that their classes were interrupted by unidentified individuals who made racist and anti-Semitic remarks, according to Principal Filip Hristic. Hristic alerted parents in a message sent Saturday.

Even though the offending individuals were quickly removed, we take seriously all instances of hate speech. Our teachers have already communicated with families of students who were impacted, and I am in close communication with district leadership, Hristic wrote to parents.

The Wilson High principal said the school is working to provide greater security for distance-learning classrooms.

Ensuring safety for our students and employees is our highest priority and we will do everything in our power to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future, he wrote.

Wilson High had developed a school anti-hate action plan at the start of the prior school year, and a student leader created a film titled No Place for Hate.

Our teachers used this film earlier in the week as part of our school-wide climate lessons on racial equity and social justice, Hristic wrote. "Although we feel hopeful about the progress we are making toward creating a more inclusive school community, we continue to feel great urgency and need to do more.''

In the spring, as schools went online due to the coronavirus pandemic, the FBI issued a warning to the public about the hijacking of online classrooms and teleconferences.

The FBI said saboteurs were hacking into online meetings in a phenomenon now called Zoombombing because Zoom had become a popular teleconferencing choice for K-12 schools and colleges and universities during the pandemic.

The FBI encourages parents and families to closely monitor childrens use of online services, regularly search childrens information to monitor their exposure on the internet and research school-related educational technology platforms and any related cyber breaches.

The FBI recommends not using full names, exact dates of birth or photos when creating user profiles for children.

If a childs data has been compromised, parents should contact either their school district, local police, and if desired, the FBIs Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov , said Beth Anne Steele, Oregon FBI spokeswoman.

-- Maxine Bernstein

Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212

Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian

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Ambassador Natarajan Krishnan and Ambassador Shankar Bajpai helped shape Indian foreign policy at a glorious, but difficult, time in history, recalls Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.

IMAGE: Two titans of diplomacy, Ambassador Natarajan Krishnan, left, and Ambassador Shankar Bajpai.

India lost two of its most brilliant diplomats within a week.

Natarajan Krishnan of the IFS 1951 batch and Shankar Bajpai of the IFS 1952 batch were two of the senior-most officers when they passed away recently and their careers should be celebrated even as we mourn their loss.

Perhaps, more by chance than by careful career planning, they followed two different career paths, one multilateral and the other bilateral.

Both reached the pinnacles of their respective careers; Krishnan headed the missions to the UN in Geneva and New York and Bajpai led the missions in Islamabad, Beijing and Washington.

Both of them also served in the ministry of external affairs at very high levels.

It was partly their own personal preferences that kept them in New York and Washington and not in Delhi at the head of the ministry.

IMAGE: Ambassador Natarajan Krishnan was exceedingly polite and patient. Photograph: Kind courtesy Chandu Krishnan

Both Krishnan and Bajpai remained active for many years after retirement, Bajpai longer than Krishnan as the latter shifted out to Bangalore.

Krishnan headed the Africa Fund as the prime minister's special envoy and also became the dean of international relations at the Central University in Pondicherry, apart from associating with various think-tanks.

Prime Minister Narasimha Rao wanted Krishnan to go as ambassador to Washington, but more than him, his wife vetoed it as she had enough of diplomatic parties.

"I cannot imagine frying samosas for another three years," she told me.

A 'secret' meeting he had with some American diplomats on nuclear issues at the prime minister's behest in London had to be abandoned as the press came to know of it.

At that time, consultations with the US on nuclear matters was suspect in the eyes of the public.

Krishnan did not publish much and remained anonymous in the evening years of his life.

When I met the Krishnans last in Bengaluru a year ago, I noticed that they were aging gracefully.

They were at peace with each other and amused themselves reading the IFS mail, without responding, apart from spending time with the children.

It was hard to find pictures of him on the Internet, except for a black and white picture of his presenting credentials to then UN secretary-general Kurt Waldheim.

The only time he hit the headlines in Bengaluru was when he joined eight former Bengaluru-based ambassadors, who asked the government to present 'a full picture' to the public of where the country is heading vis-a-vis the India-US civilian nuclear cooperation agreement by setting aside its 'policy of reticence'.

'Given the sharp divergence of opinion on this landmark agreement and the strong passion that it has generated in the country, the very least that the Indian government could do, before finalising the terms of implementing this agreement, is to present a full picture to the Indian public of where we are heading,' they said.

Bajpai, on the other hand, was in the limelight till the very end. He taught at various universities in the US and he was a sought after speaker around the world.

He chaired the National Security Advisory Board and successive prime ministers sought his sage advice.

He wrote profusely in his elegant, but complex English language with several punctuation marks to pack multiple ideas into the same sentence.

One of the causes he espoused was the movement for 'Global Zero', an initiative for a nuclear weapon-free world in 2008.

The last time he wrote to me was in 2016, when he read an article of mine in The Hindu that a victory for Donald Trump should not be ruled out.

He was scandalised that I should even think in those terms!

When I replied to him that I did not have a vote and I did not have any power to influence opinion in the US, he said that it was sacrilegious to even think that Trump might win.

Most of his friends were in the Democratic party and he was certain that Hillary Clinton would make it to the presidency.

IMAGE: Ambassador Shankar Bajpai speaks at a news conference about the Global Zero initiative at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, December 11, 2008. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

No two individuals could be as different from each other as Krishnan and Bajpai.

Krishnan was short and slim, while Bajpai was a tall, dominating, figure.

They represented the diversity of India and they were unmistakably from the South and the North of India in appearance.

But both were sophisticated in their own way, Krishnan in a quiet way and Bajpai more flamboyantly.

Both of them had a great sense of humour, which made it easy to work with of them.

They both loved music and food, but Bajpai was more demonstrative in his hospitality.

He cooked at least one dish himself at every party and served it with an elaborate explanation of the delicate ingredients.

He also could engage anyone in a conversation on the finest wines.

I worked more with Krishnan than with Bajpai.

As the deputy secretary in the foreign secretary's office, I dealt with both of them, conveying messages back and forth with then foreign secretary Jagat Mehta, who was not easily accessible for officers.

Bajpai would send me notes from Islamabad whenever he sent an important communication to the foreign secretary to ensure that it did not escape Jagat Mehta's attention.

I had occasion to work with him in the ministry as well when he returned to the headquarters.

When I was posted to New York in 1979, it was expected that Krishnan would go to New York, but the post went to Brajesh Mishra and it was only one year later that he came to New York after Brajesh Mishra left the foreign service to become the UN commissioner for Namibia.

The change from Mishra to Krishnan as the permanent representative made a big difference to the mission and India's role in the UN.

Both were highly respected, but Mishra was more feared than loved.

Mishra could be stern and abrupt, while Krishnan was exceedingly polite and patient.

In his conversations with his colleagues and other diplomats, he sounded tentative, with his characteristic "No, no", "I say" etc in between sentences, but that was to draw out the best from the others.

He had a permanent smile on his face and he often burst into laughter.

But he was firm once he made up his mind and pursued the idea with determination.

He had time for even the junior-most diplomats who approached him for advice or clarification of policy.

He was considered the messiah of non-alignment, having learnt his ropes as ambassador to Yugoslavia.

I noticed how the Yugoslavs were eating out of his hand, both in Belgrade and New York.

His elephantine memory and drafting skills made him a master multilateralist.

His ability to juggle with many ideas at the same time till he decided on a final decision was a rare gift.

IMAGE: Ambassador Natarajan Krishnan was much more informal than Ambassador Shankar Bajpai. Photograph: Kind courtesy Chandu Krishnan

Travelling is one of the blessings of diplomacy and it is when we travel that we get to know our colleagues best.

I travelled with both Krishnan and Bajpai for conferences and bilateral meetings.

Both were equally fascinating and the conversations on long flights with them were a joy.

Krishnan was much more informal than Bajpai, but both of them were considerate to their younger colleagues.

The swiftness with which Krishnan would move around in conference halls talking to delegates to seek breakthroughs and consensus was interesting to watch.

At the Havana NAM summit in 1979, with a difficult minister of external affairs as the leader, his negotiating skills were at his best within our own delegation.

With his excellent contacts among the Arabs and the Africans, he saved Egypt from expulsion from the Movement in Havana.

A hilarious incident took place in Havana when Krishnan allowed us to send our laundry through his room as he was a State guest and we were not.

The trouble arose when Sarita Bali sent her own clothes to his room, making the Cuban maids wonder what the ambassador was up to.

IMAGE: Ambassador Shankar Bajpai at a news conference about the Global Zero initiative at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, December 11, 2008. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

With Bajpai, travelling was a culinary excursion.

He always had a light lunch, but spent the rest of the lunch time studying the menus of all the best restaurants in the city.

Once the day was done, he took me to some of the best places he discovered after careful consideration.

The best was when we got stranded on the island of Curacao, a 'Dutch'/ city in the middle of Latin America.

With no official engagements, we explored the culinary delights of the place with the assistance of an honorary Indian consul general, whom Bajpai located by studying the local telephone book.

I simply had to tag along to relish the exotic cuisine.

At his own home, like at his residence in Gangtok, where we were his guests, he was the picture of perfection as a host.

He was also a fountain of wisdom and knowledge on all matters.

He belonged to the Chanakya school of diplomacy, visualising the strategy and planning his tactics far ahead of his times.

He had many feathers in his diplomatic cap, but his finest hour was the work he did in Sikkim, where conventional diplomacy could not have worked.

Both Krishnan and Bajpai became legends in their own life time in India and abroad, but it will be difficult to fathom their contribution to the nebulous world of diplomacy.

The legacy that they left behind may remain in the archives of the ministry of external affairs till a future historian makes a study of their careers in detail.

They helped shape Indian foreign policy at a glorious, but difficult, time in history.

Neither of them seems to have left behind their service stories, but their writings and observations of their colleagues will remain testimony to their celebrated lives and work.

T P Sreenivasan, (IFS 1967), is a former Ambassador of India and Governor for India of the IAEA.

Ambassador Sreenivasan is a frequent contributor to Rediff.com and his earlier columns can be read here.

Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com
Torontonians this week will face expanded mandatory mask rules, reduced gathering limits and hefty new fines for breaking rules to contain the COVID-19 spread.

The clampdown is aimed at taming surging infections driven, according to Toronto health officials, by people ignoring physical distancing and other safeguards at weddings, house parties, bars and restaurants and other workplaces.

The alternative  if residents dont comply  is a return to the near-total economic and social shutdown of the spring, Mayor John Tory warned Wednesday.

We are taking these actions now so that hopefully we wont need to take more drastic actions in the near future like another lockdown, the mayor told reporters at a briefing with Dr. Eileen de Villa, Torontos public health chief.

Few details were given on new rules expected to be unveiled Thursday.

Premier Doug Ford said he will lower the number of people who can legally gather, now 100 people outside and 50 people inside, in Toronto, Peel and Ottawa. Hes also vowing to introduce the highest fines in Canada for rule-breakers.

Tory welcomed the clampdown, saying the city will also expand de Villas current order that establishment operators have a policy to ensure masks or face coverings be worn by the public in the enclosed public spaces under their control.

Coun. Joe Cressy, chair of the public health board, told the Star the department is looking at expanding mask requirements in settings outside peoples homes.

That could include workplaces, Cressy said, adding public health officials are talking to city staff and provincial officials that could include Ontarios labour ministry.

Were in active discussions finalizing details, he said Wednesday afternoon.

Toronto Transit Commission said that starting Thursday all its staff must wear masks in all shared TTC spaces, both outdoor and indoor, including drivers separated from riders by a barrier.

Tory and de Villa said Toronto can avoid another lockdown because, unlike months ago, we know that close, sustained indoor contact is a prime infection setting, so risk drops with physical distancing, mask wearing and hand washing.

Tory said he knows Torontonians have COVID fatigue  frustration with restrictions on socializing  and that young people, a big segment of those infected, just want to have fun, they want to live their lives.

But the minority of Torontonians breaking rules are putting everyone at risk, so they must start showing iron-clad respect for basic public health guidance.

Noting he doesnt direct police or city bylaw enforcement, Tory said he hopes repeat offenders for holding big parties and other infractions soon face harsh penalties along with stepped-up enforcement.

New fines for breaching COVID-19 orders should be in the thousands of dollars because the stakes are so high, Tory later told Newstalk 1010

Weve reached the point where we just cant fool around any more.

De Villa revealed that her inspectors have traced at least 22 Torontonians infected at one of four separate weddings. Other infections come from smaller gatherings, like play dates for children and family barbecues.

A growing number of Torontonians are also getting sick from workplace exposure, including bars and restaurants where staff infect each other much more than patrons they are serving.

Our data tells us people are getting COVID-19 in part by socializing indoors without wearing masks while standing too close to each other for too long, and co-workers letting their guard down, such as unmasking to chat after finishing a shift.

Behaviour, not the type of business or setting, is driving new infections, she added.

Tracing infections has also revealed a worrying trend of people working when they know they are ill, de Villa said, urging anyone with virus symptoms to stay home or for employers to provide staff with sick days so they can afford to do so.

If the direction doesnt change, there is a real chance new restrictions will have to be imposed, de Villa said, revealing 86 new Toronto infections recorded Tuesday.

Six of those infected work at local schools and are now isolating. Twenty people were in hospital, seven of them in intensive care.

According to the Stars count, Torontos rate of COVID-19 infections has risen steadily since the city entered Stage 3 reopening on July 31.

On Aug. 1, Toronto reported an average of about 15 new daily cases over the previous week. By Thursday that seven-day daily average was 70  the highest since mid-June and a rate that doubled over the previous two weeks.

However, the daily average increase remains well below the peak of about 230 in late May. Also, the public health dashboard rates Torontos health system capacity to cope with cases as green, or good.

With files from Francine Kopun

David Rider is the Stars City Hall bureau chief and a reporter covering city hall and municipal politics. Follow him on Twitter: @dmrider
At least one teacher at a Pembroke high school came to work with symptoms of COVID-19, and more were not wearing masks before an outbreak that has left at least three teachers ill and prompted the first school closure in the province, the Star has learned.

All students at Fellowes High School have been ordered to learn from home, online, effective immediately ... and until further notice, the Renfrew County District School Board told parents in a letter posted Wednesday on its website.

The infections occurred before the reopening of school and were a direct result of educators not abiding by public health guidelines  they were not wearing masks, they attended school while being symptomatic, which obviously goes against all public health guidelines, including the guide to reopening schools, said a source familiar with details of the outbreak.

Its completely unacceptable, said the source, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the situation.

The first teacher to become infected acquired COVID-19 in the community, the source said, before having unmasked contact in the school with another teacher, who later became infected.

When a third teacher became infected, the acting chief medical officer of health for the Renfrew County and District Health Unit ordered the school shut down.

The source said a fourth teacher may also have COVID-19.

Fellowes has about 710 students, who returned to school full-time during the second week of September.

They will all be learning virtually for the time being.

Students will continue their learning online and students are asked to check their district email for information and direction from their teacher., the school board said.

The well-being and safety of our students and staff is top priority during this pandemic period and the district will continue to support public health staff in any way we can as they continue to investigate.

The Ontario government has started a website to update the public about COVID-19 outbreaks in schools and daycare centres.

Since classes resumed, there have been a total of 41 COVID-19 cases reported in 35 of the provinces 4,828 schools. Of those, 15 are student-related cases, 18 are staff-related cases and eight are unknown.

The preliminary findings of an observational study released by Sick Kids identified a few key issues with school reopenings, including children wearing masks improperly, large classes that dont allow for physical distancing, as well as crowding during entry and exit times.

It also noted that staff congregating could be an issue, and urged that those involved in the direct supervision of students should be encouraged to minimize their time (outside school hours) inside the school building, especially in shared spaces like staff rooms and department work rooms.

It also suggested that for staff members not directly involved in the physical supervision of students, consideration should be given to working off-site to avoid unnecessary congregating with other staff.

Correction - Sept. 16, 2020: This article was edited from a previous version that misspelled Pembroke, Ont.
EFFINGHAM, Ill., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Heartland Dental today announced the affiliation of its first supported dental practice in Idaho. Craig R. Smith, DDS, of A Reason to Smile in Boise, joins over 1,700 dentists in more than 1,000 practices, who also benefit from the support of Heartland Dental. With this addition, Heartland Dental now provides support to dental offices in 38 states across the country.

"We're thrilled to expand our support into Idaho, enabling doctors in the state to benefit from our non-clinical services," said Patrick Bauer, Heartland Dental President and CEO. "Dr. Smith is a highly respected clinician providing a wide array of preventative and advanced dental services, and we are proud to offer him administrative support as he continues to build upon his success."

Heartland Dental is the nation's largest dental support organization and provides assistance with human resources, marketing, IT, supplies, insurance credentialing, accounting and other administrative support so that dentists and their teams can focus on delivering high-quality clinical care and experiences to their patients. In addition, Heartland Dental provides supported doctors and team access to an abundance of continuing education opportunities and leadership development.

Dr. Smith's is recognized as the first Invisalign Elite Provider for the entire state of Idaho, and is among the top 5% of Invisalign practitioners in North America. His dental services also include preventative care and implants as well as cosmetic, restoration and sedation dentistry.

"I am grateful for my practice to benefit from Heartland Dental's support and am thrilled to be their first supported dental practice in Idaho," said Dr. Smith. "With Heartland's non-clinical administrative services, my team and I can solely focus on providing comprehensive oral care to our patients and serving our community as we have for nearly 30 years."

Dr. Smith is a member of the American Dental Association, Academy of General Dentistry, Academy of LDS Dentists, Academy of Computerized Dentistry of North America, American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, Western Society of Periodontology, and the Dental Organization for Conscious Sedation.

About Heartland Dental

Heartland Dental was founded in 1997 by Rick Workman, DMD. Today, the Effingham, IL-based company is the nation's largest dental support organization providing non-clinical, administrative support services to over 1,000 dental offices across 38 states. Heartland Dental supports dentists as they deliver high quality care across a spectrum of dental services, and is majority owned by KKR, a leading global investment firm. For additional information, please visit the company online at heartland.com.

Follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Media Contact:

Christy Hakman, Company Communications

(217) 821-5287 or [email protected]

SOURCE Heartland Dental

Related Links

https://heartland.com/


Found this article interesting? Follow THN on Facebook Twitter  and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.

The United States government today announced charges against 5 alleged members of a Chinese state-sponsored hacking group and 2 Malaysian hackers that are responsible for hacking more than 100 companies throughout the world.Named as APT41 and also known as 'Barium,' 'Winnti, 'Wicked Panda,' and 'Wicked Spider,' the cyber-espionage group has been operating since at least 2012 and is not just involved in strategic intelligence collection from valuable targets in many sectors, but also behind financially motivated attacks against online gaming industry.According to a press release published by the U.S. Justice Department, two of the five Chinese hackersZhang Haoran () and Tan Dailin ()were charged back in August 2019, and the other three of themJiang Lizhi (), Qian Chuan () and Fu Qiang ()and two Malaysian co-conspirators were in separate indictments in August 2020.The later indicted three Chinese hackers are associated with a network security company Chengdu 404 Network Technology, operated as a front by the People's Republic of China."FU has been working closely with JIANG since at least 2008, and worked with JIANG at multiple internet and video game related companies. FU has been working with QIAN and JIANG together since at least 2013. Before joining CHENGDU 404, FU described himself as a skilled programmer and developer," the court documents say.As uncovered previously in multiple reports , the APT41 group specializes in software supply-chain attacks, where hackers steal proprietary "source code, software code signing certificates, customer account data, and valuable business information," and distribute digitally signed malicious versions of the software to infect systems at targeted organizations.According to the court documents, in some cases where the targeted systems didn't have any valuable information, defendants also used ransomware and crypto-jacking malware to monetize their efforts.The targeted industries include "software development companies, computer hardware manufacturers, telecommunications providers, social media companies, video game companies, non-profit organizations, universities, think tanks, and foreign governments, as well as pro-democracy politicians and activists in Hong Kong.""The defendants also compromised foreign government computer networks in India and Vietnam, and targeted, but did not compromise, government computer networks in the United Kingdom," the press release says.The 2 Malaysian hackersWong Ong Hua and Ling Yang Chingwere arrested by Malaysian authorities in Sitiawan on September 14, 2020, and are being extradited to the United States. The FBI confirmed that all 5 Chinese nationals remain at large."In addition to arresting warrants for all of the charged defendants, in September 2020, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued seizure warrants that resulted in the recent seizure of hundreds of accounts, servers, domain names, and command-and-control (C2) 'dead drop' web pages used by the defendants to conduct their computer intrusion offenses," the DoJ said."The actions by Microsoft [other than Google, Facebook, and Verizon Media] were a significant part of the overall effort to deny the defendants continued access to hacking infrastructure, tools, accounts, and command and control domain names."The targeted companies were located in the United States and worldwide, including in Australia, Brazil, Chile, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.Zhang and Tan have been charged with 25 counts of computer fraud and money laundering, which carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.Jiang, Qian, and Fu are also facing similar charges with nine counts that carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.The indictment against Wong and Ling charges the defendants with 23 counts of similar charges, but since they are also involved in false registration of domain names, it would increase the maximum sentence of imprisonment for money laundering to 27 years.
WAYNE, Pa., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Columbus Organization, a nationally recognized provider of care coordination services for individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and the largest support coordination organization in Florida, is pleased to announce that it has expanded its service in support coordination to the Southern and Southeastern APD Regions. In May 2020 Columbus opened its services to supports in the Palm Beach and Broward counties and in July 2020 expanded again into the Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. Columbus now is open to supporting all six APD Regions in Florida providing support coordination. This expansion is particularly important in light of the signing of Florida Senate Bill 82 (SB82). The bill requires the APD to reform waiver support coordination by mandating that support coordinators throughout the state be employed by a provider agency as of July 1, 2021. In response to this significant change, Columbus continues to offer an excellent opportunity for independent waiver support coordinators to join The Columbus Organization and seamlessly continue their work.

To oversee this growth in size and capability, Columbus appointed Lynda DeBenedet to the position of Director of Program Development. Patti Rendon, recently appointed Executive Director for the State of Florida for Columbus, stated: "We set out to be the leading provider of support coordination in Florida. We've already accomplished this goal by individuals covered, and now we've achieved true statewide ability to serve our population. This is the underpinning to our overall goal of elevating the standards for support coordination, giving our individuals the most meaningful, productive, healthy, person-centered lives possible. With Lynda as a dedicated resource for program development, we will continue to advance our mission. I'm very excited about the potential and capabilities we will offer the state of Florida and the persons we serve."

Carlos Hernandez, Senior Vice President of the Care Coordination business at The Columbus Organization, commented: "We set out to achieve a vision of being recognized as the #1 agency in terms of quality and families served. While providing value to individuals through an improved quality of life, we are also providing value to the payor through enhanced health, well-being, and productivity. These additional investments will secure our ability to accomplish this in an accelerated time frame. As COVID-19 squeezes budgets, we believe this strategy becomes more critical now than ever."

ABOUT THE COLUMBUS ORGANIZATION

The Columbus Organization empowers individuals to realize their meaningful-life goals through nationally recognized care coordination, professional clinical staffing, and quality improvement services for the intellectual/developmental disability (IDD) or behavioral needs community. Leveraging an unmatched depth of expertise, breadth of resources, diversity of thinking, and dedication to finding the most appropriate, personalized solutions for clients, Columbus provides a wide array of services specifically for families, individuals and the organizations that support them. For more information on Columbus, visit www.columbusorg.com.

ABOUT HEALTHEDGE INVESTMENT PARTNERS

HealthEdge Investment Partners, LLC is an operation-oriented private equity firm founded in 2005 that focuses exclusively on the healthcare industry. HealthEdge seeks to achieve superior returns by investing in businesses that benefit from the knowledge, experience, and network of relationships of its partners. HealthEdge's partners have more than 100 years of combined operating experience in healthcare as CEOs and investors.

Media Contact

Abbott Holdsman

800-229-5116

[email protected]

SOURCE The Columbus Organization
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The global precision agriculture market is anticipated to reach over USD 13,016 million by 2026, According to a new study published by Polaris Market Research. In 2017, the yield monitoring application dominated the global market, in terms of revenue. North America is expected to be the leading contributor to the global market revenue during the forecast period.

There has been an increasing adoption of precision farming across the world owing to growing agricultural industry, and high-demand for food crops. The global precision farming market is driven by the increasing need to improve the quality of crops produced, maximizing crop production, and enhanced crop monitoring. Technological advancement along with government subsidies further boosts the market growth. However, high initial investment and lack of awareness limit the precision farming market growth.

Request for a sample of this research report @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/precision-farming-market/request-for-sample

North America generated the highest revenue in the precision agriculture market in 2017, and is expected to lead the global market throughout the forecast period. This is due to high cost of labor, and presence of large farmlands in the North American region. Increasing investments and subsidies in the agriculture sector by governments boost the precision farming market growth during the forecast period in the region. Increasing need to improve food quality and productivity along with increased industrialization of farming equipment further supplements market growth.

Various applications of precision farming include irrigation management, crop scouting, yield monitoring, weather tracking and forecasting, field mapping, inventory management, and farm labor management. In 2017, yield monitoring accounted for the largest share in the global market, and was estimated at $1,974 million in 2017, registering a CAGR of 13.2% during the forecast period. This is attributable to the benefits offered by yield monitoring such as reduced cost, improved yields, and enhanced decision making. Yield monitoring is further divided into on-farm yield monitoring, and off-farm yield monitoring.

Complete Summary with TOC Available @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/precision-farming-market

The well-known companies profiled in the report include Ag Leader Technology, AGCO Corporation, Deere and Company, Topcon Corporation, Trimble, Inc., The Climate Corporation, Farmers Edge Inc., and AgJunction, Inc. 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.

 Precision Farming Market Size and Forecast, 2017-2026 by Hardware Type

o Automation & Control

 Drones

 Application control devices

 Guidance system

 Remote sensing

 Driverless tractors

 Mobile devices

 VRT

 Wireless module

o Sensing devices

o Antennas/access points

 Precision Farming Market Size and Forecast, 2017-2026 by Deployment Type

o Web-Based/Local

o Cloud Based

 Precision Farming Market Size and Forecast, 2017-2026 by Service

o System Integration

o Managed Services

o Maintenance & Support

o Consulting

 Precision Farming Market Size and Forecast, 2017-2026 by Application

o Irrigation Management

o Crop Scouting

o Yield Monitoring

o Weather Tracking and Forecasting

o Field Mapping

o Inventory Management

o Farm Labor Management

 Precision Farming Market Size and Forecast, 2017-2026 by Region

o North America

 U.S.

 Canada

 Mexico

o Europe

 Germany

 UK

 France

 Italy

 Russia

o Asia-Pacific

 China

 India

 Japan

 Australia

o Latin America

 Brazil

o Middle East & Africa

Avail discount on this report @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/precision-farming-market/request-for-discount-pricing

About Polaris Market Research

Polaris Market Research is a global market research and consulting company. The company specializes in providing exceptional market intelligence and in-depth business research services for our clientele spread across different enterprises. We at Polaris are obliged to serve our diverse customer base present across the industries of healthcare, technology, semi-conductors and chemicals among various other industries present around the world. We strive to provide our customers with updated information on innovative technologies, high growth markets, emerging business environments and latest business-centric applications, thereby helping them always to make informed decisions and leverage new opportunities. Adept with a highly competent, experienced and extremely qualified team of experts comprising SMEs, analysts and consultants, we at Polaris endeavor to deliver value-added business solutions to our customers.

Contact Us:

Polaris Market Research

Phone: 1-646-568-9980

Email: sales@polarismarketresearch.com

Web: www.polarismarketresearch.com
(Natural News) President Donald Trump announced during a Sept. 11 campaign rally in Freeland, Michigan, that surprise medical billing will end by Jan. 1 next year. The announcement follows the presidents statement during his Sept. 3 stop at Pennsylvania regarding price transparency  another step in making Medicare less burdensome for Americans.

Surprise medical billing happens when someone receives medical care from a doctor or hospital not included in their health insurance providers network and gets billed for any services not covered by insurance. The administration has been moving to address this problem since May 2019.

Aside from ending surprise medical billing, President Trump also mentioned reductions on health insurance premiums and prescription drug costs at a level never seen before. Americans have long complained of exorbitant drug costs in the U.S. compared to other developed countries. The current Medicare system encourages doctors to prescribe higher-priced medications because they are entitled to huge commissions on these, even though more affordable options exist.

The presidents new measure on drug pricing will prompt Medicare to pay the lowest price among developed countries, instead of an average price among industrialized countries. This new pricing system helps reduce the amount seniors have to shell out for medicine, according to a piece by Forbes Avik Roy.

During the Michigan rally, the president remarked that drug companies were not happy with his plans to overhaul Medicare. All you have to do is take a look at all the ads theyre running against me.

Youll be able to negotiate, youll be able to do things youre not even able to do now with hospitals! the president told the Pennsylvania crowd.

He reiterated his commitment to making healthcare less burdensome for U.S. taxpayers during the Mich. rally: We will protect Medicare and social security, and we will always protect our patients. We will always protect our people. We will protect your pre-existing conditions, as I said.

Aside from healthcare reforms, the president outlined several policies to help Americans during the Pennsylvania campaign rally  including wage increases, bolstered support for public safety and law enforcement and restoration of patriotic education to schools. President Trump also told Mich. rally attendees that he was running to keep jobs in the state.

Trump warns Biden victory is a win for anti-American interests

He also took verbal jabs at Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden during both rallies, saying that his rival did not have Americans best interests in mind.

In Michigan, President Trump remarked that Biden wanted to surrender your jobs to China and surrender your nation to the radical left-wing mob. He added that Biden would not protect American jobs and families as he was a puppet of the socialist, Marxist, and the cop-hating extremists.

The jabs at Biden continued in Michigan, as President Trump claimed that the former vice president devoted his career to offshoring Michigans jobs, outsourcing Michigans factories, throwing open your borders, dragging us into endless foreign wars and surrendering our childrens future to China and other faraway lands.

The president warned that if Biden wins, it was not a victory for Americans  but a win for China and the rioters, anarchists, arsonists and flag burners.

President Trumps warning might be correct: The Chinese state media expressed its support for Bidens candidacy in August, as he was smoother to deal with than the incumbent. Cultivating profitable relations for China served the interests of the Bidens  Joe and his son Hunter  as they entered business partnerships with Chinese companies with military affiliations.

Meanwhile, Joe Biden has failed to condemn the violence done by Black Lives Matter rioters and Antifa in different U.S. cities. Doing so would be a death blow to his presidential campaign, as these rioters make up a huge chunk of his voter base.

Find out more news about President Donald Trumps campaign for this Novembers elections at Trump.news.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com 1

TheEpochTimes.com 2

AJMC.com 1

AJMC.com 2

Forbes.com
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday approved the 121-km Haryana Orbital Rail Corridor , which will connect Palwal and Sonipat, and decongest the national capital region.

The project will provide rail connectivity to all routes originating from Delhi and passing through Haryana, while bypassing the national capital. It will make train travel faster from Gurugram and industrial regions in Haryana, including Manesar, Sohna, Farukhnagar, Kharkhauda and Sonipat.

The project will be implemented by Haryana Rail Infrastructure Development Corp. Ltd, a joint venture between the railway ministry and the Haryana government, and is expected to be complete in five years at an estimated cost of 5,617 crore.

This rail line will start from Palwal and end at Harsana Kalan station (on Delhi-Ambala section). This will give connectivity en route to Patli station (on Delhi-Rewari line), Sultanpur station (on Garhi Harsaru-Farukhnagar Line) and Asaudha Station (on Delhi Rohtak line)," the government said.

It will help develop multimodal logistics hubs in Haryana and will connect unserved areas of the state. It will provide high-speed seamless connectivity of this region to Dedicated Freight Corridor network resulting in reduction of cost and time of transportation for EXIM (export-import) traffic from NCR to ports of India, making exports of goods more competitive," it said. Around 20,000 passengers will be travelling on this line daily and 50 million tonnes of goods will be carried every year.

The way the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal expressway is helping decongest Delhi with road traffic bypassing the national capital, the Haryana Orbital Rail Corridor project will reduce congestion on Delhis rail network, said an infrastructure expert, seeking anonymity. It will also open option for commuter trains in the unserved regions of Haryana," he added.

The Union cabinet also gave its nod for a new All India Institute of Medical Sciences at Bihars Darbhanga.

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Scientists in Saudi Arabia headed outdoors to test the effects of the region's high desert temperatures on the performance of small perovskite-silicon tandem cells in several different configurations. Their findings could offer new insight into selecting the best materials for long-term stability in the field.While the lab-measured performances of perovskite solar cells, and perovskite-silicon tandem cells, have reached levels where industrial players are taking notice, this young technology remains relatively untested in 'real world' operation conditions. The findings from such outdoor testing ...

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.
KISSIMMEE, Fla.  Joe Biden made his first trip to Florida as the Democratic presidential nominee with an urgent mission to boost support among Latinos who could decide the election in one of the nations fiercest battleground states.

More than any other time, the Hispanic community, Latino community holds in the palm of their hand the destiny of this country, Biden said Tuesday during a Hispanic Heritage Month kickoff event in Kissimmee. You can decide the direction of this country.

A win for Biden in Florida would dramatically narrow Trumps path to reelection. But in a state where elections are often decided by a percentage point, there are mounting concerns that Biden may be slipping, particularly with the states influential Latino voters.

An NBC-Marist poll released last week found Latinos in the state about evenly divided between Biden and Trump. Democrat Hillary Clinton led Trump by a 59% to 36% margin among Latinos in the same poll in 2016  and Trump won Florida by about 1 percentage point.

To regain lost ground, Biden made the case Tuesday night that he would be a better president for Hispanics than Trump, touting his commitment to immigration reform and a new plan to support Puerto Ricos economy.

Donald Trump has failed the Hispanic community time and time again, and thats not a secret, Biden said. Whether its in his heinous act of separating children from their families at our border, or his repeated attacks on Dreamers, or his neglect of the people of Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, or his repeated failures to make sure essential workers have the personal protective equipment they need.

Still, Hispanic voters in Florida tend to be somewhat more Republican-leaning than Hispanic voters nationwide because of the states Cuban American population. Nationally, little public polling is available to measure the opinions of Latino voters this year and whether they differ from four years ago.

But Democrats arent taking chances. Billionaire Mike Bloomberg has pledged to spend at least $100 million to defeat Trump in Florida.

And by spending his day along the Interstate 4 corridor, Biden is devoting time to one of the most critical regions of the state. While Republicans typically post big numbers in the northern and southwestern parts of the state and Democrats are strong in coastal cities, campaigns typically battle it out for every vote in central Florida.

Bidens first event, in Tampa, focused on veterans and was aimed at pushing a potential opening with military voters, who broadly supported Trump in 2016 but are seen as potentially persuadable because of controversial remarks the president reportedly made mocking American war dead as losers and suckers. Trump has denied making the remarks, first reported through anonymous sources by The Atlantic, but many of the comments were later confirmed by The Associated Press.

Nowhere are his faults more glaring and more offensive, to me at least, than when it comes to his denigration of our service members, veterans, wounded warriors who have fallen, Biden said. Speaking of his late son Beau, who served overseas as a Delaware Army National Guard member, Biden said, Hes gone now, but hes no sucker.

Bidens decision to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month in Kissimmee reflects a focus on the states rapidly growing Puerto Rican community. Many Puerto Ricans relocated to Florida after Hurricane Maria devastated the island in 2017.

The campaign announced a new plan Tuesday focused on boosting Puerto Ricos economy and helping the island recover from Maria. Biden would create a federal working group focused on aiding Puerto Rico in rebuilding and would forgive disaster relief loans to Puerto Rican towns and invest in Puerto Ricos power and schooling infrastructure and health care services, among other things. He also expressed support for Puerto Rican statehood Tuesday night.

I happen to believe statehood would be the most effective means of ensuring that residents of Puerto Rico are treated equally, with equal representation on a federal level, but the people of Puerto Rico must decide, and the United States federal government must respect and act on that, he said.

Puerto Ricans may be more open to Biden than Cuban Americans concentrated in Miami are. Many of them are attuned to Trumps message that the Democratic ticket would embrace socialism.

Indeed, surrogates for the Trump campaign focused on Cuban immigrants during a call with reporters. Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez, a Republican, accused Biden of trying to feign interest in the Hispanic community after neglecting us.

She said a Biden presidency would, among other things, appease and enrich Cubas leadership at the expense of the people. Some foreign policy analysts, however, say the Trump administrations tough economic restrictions on Cuba only contribute to the oppression of the Cuban people.

Biden, who hasnt been to Florida since last October, has struggled with Latinos in part because of the record-setting number of deportations when President Barack Obama was in the White House. Biden has apologized for that policy.

But unlike his Democratic rival Bernie Sanders, who used strong support among Latinos to notch key primary victories in Nevada and California, Biden has refused to adopt the most liberal positions in his party  especially when it comes to calling for decriminalizing illegal crossings of the U.S.-Mexico border and halting all deportations indefinitely. He supports a 100-day moratorium on deportations.

As for Trump, despite many of his anti-immigration policies, some Latino voters have responded positively to the presidents embrace of religious conservative positions and his warnings of protest-related violence and socialism. Trump also frequently visits his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, and the president votes absentee in the state.

Ana Navarro-Cardenas, a former Republican strategist who has endorsed Biden and spoke at one of his campaign events, said the Tuesday night event signaled Biden plans to fight for and work for Hispanic support.

But she added that she hopes to see the Biden campaign ramp up their outreach to Hispanic voters in Florida to mitigate any damage done by the Trump campaign.

Joe needs to come to South Florida, look us in the eye and combat the ridiculous Republican narrative that hes some sort of socialist, she said. He needs to call out the lies and Trumps hypocrisy.

___

Jaffe reported from Washington.

___

APs Advance Voting guide brings you the facts about voting early, by mail or absentee from each state: https://interactives.ap.org/advance-voting-2020/
West African leaders on Tuesday appeared to give in to the military junta's timeline for holding new elections in Mali, signaling that they would now accept an 18-month delay after earlier saying that democracy had to be restored to Mali within a year.

The announcement came as the Malian junta that seized power in an August 18 coup failed to name an interim civilian leader on Tuesday, missing a deadline that had been set by the 15-nation regional bloc known as ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States).

Six West African presidents met with junta officials Tuesday in Ghana, whose president now serves as the new ECOWAS chairman. In a bit to step up pressure on those who overthrew Mali's democratically elected leader, ECOWAS already has halted financial links and closed borders with Mali.

Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo signaled late Tuesday, though, that ECOWAS could show some flexibility on the time frame for organizing a new election in Mali.

He said the transition period could go up to 18 months and once that is done, sanctions against the country would be lifted.

Mali's junta had earlier floated the idea of waiting three years before holding a new election, a proposal quickly rejected by both ECOWAS and former colonizer France, which maintains a large military presence in Mali where it has been fighting Islamic extremists.

However, there was no resolution Tuesday on who will lead Mali's transition back to democracy after the August 18 coup. The international community has insisted it must be a civilian leader with no ties to the military junta. But the junta's leader, Colonel Assimi Goita, said over the weekend that the interim leader may come from the military.

That prompted swift condemnation from Mali political opposition alliance, which once shared a mutual dislike of ousted President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.

There has been widespread concern that the ongoing political upheaval in Mali will set back efforts to contain the country's growing Islamic insurgency.

After a similar coup in 2012, Islamic extremists grabbed control of major towns in northern Mali. Only a 2013 military intervention led by France pushed extremists out of those towns and the international community has spent seven years battling the militants.
Its a paradox that citizens in nations that proclaim themselves to be democratic do not get their democratic rights expanded as time goes by but those sitting in positions of power get theirs.

People who have been worst victims of governmental excesses never bother to scarp such systems once they come to power; they would instead use them effectively to strangle their opponents. India is now witnessing such a paradox.

The Delhi police last Sunday arrested Umar Khalid, a former student leader of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, for inciting violence during the Delhi riots, and got him remanded to its custody for 10 days.

It is understood that he has been booked under, apart from various sections in IPC including murder and attempt to murder, the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, which would ensure that he remained incarcerated for a long time without bail.

The police action comes close on the heels of it filing a chargesheet in connection with the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019, in which it included the names of CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury, Swaraj Abhiyan leader Yogendra Yadav, economist and academic Jayati Ghosh, Delhi University professor Apoorvanand and documentary filmmaker Rahul Roy.

They are purported to have encouraged anti-CAA protests.

Given the way the Union government uses the legal process to engage people who are ideologically opposed to, as is seen in the case of Bhima Koregaon case, it is not long before all those whose names are mentioned in the chargesheet will find themselves behind bars.

What makes it interesting is that it happens on the watch of people, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who cut their teeth in politics fighting the excesses of Emergency.

The BJP government in Uttar Pradesh is going a step further and introducing a parallel system to ensure law and order. Personnel of the newly formed Uttar Pradesh Special Security Force can without the prior permission of any magistrate and without any warrant, arrest any person.

This is a dream project of chief minister Yogi Adityanath! The government clarifies that the provisions are similar to the ones that govern the functions of the Central Industrial Security Force.

None has a doubt that governments need powerful legal tools to tackle terrorism. But in India, tools such as UAPA are used more to rein in political opponents, apart from persecuting the most vulnerable sections of society such as Dalits, tribals, minorities and other marginalised sections of society, than taking on terrorists.

The Allahabad high court had to recently intervene to ensure liberty to doctor Kafeel Khan after it found that there was little reason to slap sections of the National Security Act, 1980, on him.

The Public Safety Act, 1978, of Jammu and Kashmir is being used to smother popular politicians of the Union territory.

The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened, former US president John F. Kennedy once reminded his countrymen. Time Indians woke up and kept the wolf from the door.
This file photo taken on Feb. 27, 2019, shows U.S. President Donald Trump shaking hands with North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un before a meeting at the Sofitel Legend Metropole hotel in Hanoi. AFP



U.S. President Donald Trump's engagement with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un prevented a war with the communist state, Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward said Tuesday.



He said it was unprecedented diplomacy. The remark came hours after his new book on Trump and his administration, "Rage," hit the bookstands.



"It's an interesting original experiment, diplomacy because you know the normal playbook is that you send people to meet from both sides and you work out summit meeting between the two leaders," Woodward said in an online session hosted by his affiliated newspaper. The Watergate reporter currently serves as an associate editor of Washington Post.



"Trump felt very much that it worked. We didn't have war and you know as I point out (in the book), you have to give him credit," Woodward said. "At this point, there's been no war."



Such an assessment marks a clear praise considering that it comes from an author, who in his book declares Trump is the "wrong" person to lead his country.






China is developing a sovereign digital currency with the primary goal of defending the state's monopoly on minting money, meaning the central bank will play a central role in the issuance and circulation of a digitised yuan, a deputy governor at the People's Bank of China (PBOC) has written.

Get the latest insights and analysis from our Global Impact newsletter on the big stories originating in China.

Allowing a central authority to monitor digital currency runs counter to the principal of decentralisation that underpins cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, which allow anonymous transactions and shield users from changes in central bank policy.

However, Fan warned that cryptocurrencies and global stablecoins such as Libra challenge central bank authority in minting money.

China's digital currency, which is under development, aimed to prevent "the loss of money minting power in the digital era, and to ensure that currency issuance always serves overall national development and reform".

China's central bank has cracked down on trading cryptocurrencies, viewing them as a source of financial instability. At the same time, it has worked for years to develop a sovereign digital currency with a number of large state-owned banks.

It has tested its digital currency for most of the past year, while other major central banks are still discussing the technology's merits.

Tests are being conducted in major cities like Suzhou, Chengdu, Xiongan, Shenzhen, as well as in venues set to host the Winter Olympics. There is a growing list of participants from the technology, retail and banking sectors.

In addition to small-sum transactions in restaurants and ride hailing services, there are pilot programmes allowing government employees to use the digital money for meal allowances.

China's sovereign digital currency will also be used in electronic payment services, an area dominated by Ant Financial's Alipay and Tencent's WeChat Pay mobile apps. Ant Financial is affiliated with Alibaba, which owns the South China Morning Post.

Story continues

It is unclear whether Chinese businesses and consumers will welcome the digital yuan, but its acceptance will be mandatory, Fan said. He did not provide a launch date.

In his article, Fan wrote the digital currency would not immediately replace all cash or demand deposits because it would "create a huge waste", without improving payment efficiency.

The PBOC would classify it as the most liquid form of money, which includes notes and coins, to reflect the widespread use of mobile app payments in China, he said.

Once launched, the digital currency will allow the PBOC to see how money is being used in real time, much faster than its current ability to monitor money flows through transactions in notes, coins and electronic payments.

However, there are growing concerns over the currency, owing to the many unanswered questions concerning its development, such as management of transaction data.

Caixin, an influential magazine in China, urged caution in an editorial this month, saying there was no need to rush the sovereign digital yuan.

China also needs to update its central bank law because cash is defined as notes and coins, the editorial 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.
The Taoiseach, Tanaiste and Health Minister arriving at the unveiling of the Living with Covid plan in September

The entire Cabinet were told to restrict their movements as Health Minister Stephen Donnelly awaited the outcome of his Covid-19 test.

The Coalition was plunged into chaos as senior members of Government were taken by surprise by the sudden announcement yesterday evening they would now have to work from home in the coming days.

Mr Donnelly was advised to seek a test for the virus after he became unwell yesterday afternoon following the launch of the 'Living with Covid' plan.

Caution

However last night, within a matter of hours of being tested, the result came back as negative.

It means that Cabinet Ministers are no longer required to restrict their movements.

The 'Living with Covid' plan was signed off at a meeting in Dublin Castle which Mr Donnelly attended.

Some ministers reported that their Fianna Fail colleague appeared visibly unwell at the Cabinet meeting.

Hours later the acting chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn, who advised Mr Donnelly to consult with his GP, issued advice that those who attended the meeting should restrict their movements out of an "abundance of caution".

It was later confirmed that Dr Glynn was also restricting his movements, having attended meetings with the Health Minister in recent days.

"The communication has gone to all ministers to restrict their movements pending the outcome of that test," Mr Martin said on the Six-One News.

On a dramatic day for the Coalition it also emerged that Green Party leader Eamon Ryan was already restricting his movements at home as a family member was being tested.

EU Affairs Minister Thomas Byrne was also self-isolating after developing a "mild cough".

The drama began shortly before 5pm when news of Mr Donnelly being unwell first emerged.

A short-time later, at 5.15pm, Ceann Comhairle Sean O Fearghail informed the Dail that the Cabinet was being forced to "self-isolate" and that the House would be suspended for the rest of the week.

However, the Government later said that senior ministers were being told to restrict their movements rather than self-isolate. This means they had to avoid contact with others as much as possible rather than remaining indoors and effectively quarantined.

The decision to suspend the Dail was reversed within the hour amid pressure from the Opposition.

Labour leader Alan Kelly rang the Taoiseach, who later confirmed that junior ministers would stand in for members of the Cabinet and speak on behalf of the Government.

The Dail was returning because "we believe Ministers of State can take certain issues and represent the Government", Mr Martin said.

The Cabinet was being cautious because there were a number of meetings that Mr Donnelly attended in addition to his briefing with the whole Cabinet on the 'Living with Covid' plan.

Embarrassed

Mr Martin stressed that he would continue to work, via Zoom and on the phone. "I will be at my desk," he said.

Mr Donnelly, who had been due to take ministerial questions in the Dail last night, left the Department of Health and went home. One source close to the minister said he would "hate the attention".

Justice Minister Helen McEntee was live on Drivetime on RTE Radio 1 when the news broke. "I'm afraid that's the first time I'm hearing of this," she said.
Democratic Presidential Candidate Joe Biden arrives to participate in a Hispanic Heritage Month event at the Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee, Florida on September 15, 2020. Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images

WASHINGTON  Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden visited South Florida on Tuesday, seeking to shore up support among Hispanic voters in this crucial swing state. Biden's trip came after a poll of Florida voters was released last week that sent shockwaves through the Democratic Party. The poll, by NBC News and Marist, found President Donald Trump leading Biden among Latino voters by four points, 50-46. Four years ago, Democrat Hillary Clinton won Hispanic voters in Florida by 25 points, 60-35, although she lost the state overall. According to the NBC poll, Biden is underperforming Clinton by 29 points with a key demographic in a key state. Historically, Republicans tend to do better with Hispanic voters in Florida than they do elsewhere, owing to the state's large concentration of Cuban Americans who lean Republican. Nonetheless, the NBC survey results coming just 50 days before Election Day set off alarm bells at the Biden campaign. On Saturday, the Biden campaign unveiled a trio of new Spanish-language ads that will run in Florida, each one directed at a specific group of Hispanic voters. On Sunday, aides to billionaire Michael Bloomberg announced that the former Democratic primary candidate will spend $100 million to support Biden in Florida, essentially freeing up the campaign to put money allocated for Florida into other battleground states such as Pennsylvania. Tuesday night was Biden's first major speech aimed directly at Hispanic voters in Florida. But not just any Hispanic voters: Puerto Rican voters.

Biden's pitch to Puerto Ricans

The former vice president delivered his speech at a Hispanic Heritage month celebration in Kissimmee. While there were no crowds, the location reflected his campaign's effort to court Puerto Rican voters. Kissimmee is the seat of Osceola County, the only county in America where Puerto Ricans outnumber all other ancestral groups. Before he took the stage, Biden was introduced by two world-famous Puerto Rican performers, Ricky Martin and Luis Fonsi, and by Hispanic American actress and activist Eva Longoria.

Musician Ricky Martin speaks before the arrival of Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Joe Biden at a Hispanic Heritage Month event at Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee, Florida, U.S., September 15, 2020. Leah Millis | Reuters

In prepared remarks, the former vice president ripped Trump's approach to the U.S. territory. "Even after being president for four years, Donald Trump does not seem to grasp that the people of Puerto Rico are American citizens already," he said. "I'm running to be president of all Americans, including 3 million American citizens living in Puerto Rico. I'm not going to steal the money that is desperately needed to reconstruct the island, in order to build a wall that does nothing to keep Americans safe. I'm not going to suggest that we sell or trade Puerto Rico. I'm not going to throw paper towels whose lives have been devastated by the hurricane," said Biden. Last fall, Trump shifted $300 million away from cash-strapped disaster relief agencies to fund border security projects, including his "wall" project on the southern border. In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017, Trump allegedly wondered aloud whether the United States could "sell" the island or "divest" from it. And during a rare visit to Puerto Rico shortly after the hurricanes, Trump tossed rolls of paper towels into a crowd of survivors at a relief center. Biden also said Tuesday that while he personally supports adding Puerto Rico as a state, he will work with both sides of what is a bitter debate on the island, and let voters there ultimately decide their course.

A plan for Puerto Rico

Along with Biden's visit, the campaign released a multi-pronged plan Tuesday afternoon to help rebuild and revitalize Puerto Rico, which is home to 3 million American citizens. Two devastating hurricanes in 2017 left millions of Puerto Ricans without power for months, prompting more than one hundred thousand to move to the mainland.

Today, Florida is home to more than a million people who identify as Puerto Rican. Nationwide, Puerto Ricans represent the second largest pool of Hispanic voters in the country, after Mexican Americans. In Florida, more than one in four Latino voters identifies as Puerto Rican. Key elements of Biden's Puerto Rico plan: - Provide direct federal investment in infrastructure projects and forgive federal disaster aid - Offer Puerto Ricans more access to community-based health care and SNAP food assistance - Ease Puerto Rico's massive debt burden by reversing austerity measures and restructuring some of the debt In a statement accompanying the new plan, the Biden campaign criticized Trump's response to the 2017 hurricanes in Puerto Rico. They also brought up the account of Elaine Duke, a former top official at the Department of Homeland Security. Earlier this year Duke told The New York Times that in the aftermath of the Hurricane Maria, Trump mused about whether the United States could sell Puerto Rico. Taken together, Biden's plan for Puerto Rico and his direct appeal on Tuesday to Puerto Rican voters represent the best example so far of what the Biden campaign says is an ultra-targeted strategy with Hispanic voters.

Micro-targeted outreach
Using digital means to urge residents to fill out the 2020 US Census has proven effective for two cities.

The Census is taken every 10 years with the aim of counting every person in the nation. The numbers are used to determine how many seats each state has in the U.S. House of Representatives but also affect the amount of federal funding given to cities and counties for schools, health care and road work, among other things.

The last day to fill out the form is Sept. 30, so this is the homestretch.

As of Sept. 15, 71.6 percent of the households in Deer Park had submitted their census form  achieving one of the higher percentages in the region. The citys participation rate also is more than 10 points higher than the statewide completion rate of 61.5 percent.

The state and city participation rates refer to individuals who completed the form on their own and not to those reached by door-to-door Census workers.

Deer Park spokesperson Kristin Edwards said the city has used social media, such as Facebook, public access television station DPTV and also its Messenger newsletter to get the word out on the importance of filling out the Census form.

The combined use of all of these channels  outlets reaching a range of respondents  shows that the city made a good-faith effort to increase awareness surrounding the 2020 Census, Edwards said.

Edwards said the city is pleased with residents response.

Census participation rates in area cities The following percentages refer to residents who completed U.S. Census forms on their own and not by door-to-door Census workers. Shoreacres 72.7% Deer Park 72.1% La Porte 67% Morgan's Point 62.6% Texas 61.5% Pasadena 58.7% Houston 57.3% South Houston 53.5% See More Collapse

This success illustrates that our residents are watching our outlets for the latest news and announcements and that our outgoing communications are successfully reaching our community as a whole, she said.

Edwards said Deer Park will make a final push with new videos.

Last days so important

The city of Pasadena also went all-in on getting residents to fill out their census forms, starting in January.

Its efforts included a Facebook page, plus some videos.

With 58.7 percent of households completing the Census through self-response, the city is on par with the rest of the state.

Our response rate is actually higher than Houston and Dallas; so thats encouraging, Pasadena spokesperson Laura Branch Mireles said. But, of course, we would like our numbers to go up, thats why these last few weeks are so important.

Recently, Pasadena enlisted the help of three young YouTubers in an attempt to get more traction.

Weve had so much positive feedback (from that) Mireles said. We have seen a bump in our response rate, and I really believe its due to residents identifying with these popular YouTube creators.

School district monitors participation

The city has also gotten some assistance from Pasadena ISD.

We have tracked Census data since Day One, and we have kept all of our campuses aware of the Census numbers for the Census tracts in their school zone, said Art Del Barrio, Pasadena ISD communications director.

Mireles said Pasadenas final push will see a social media blitz.

We are currently re-running public service announcements on the Pasadena Channel and we are going to schedule them to post again to our social media, she said. We have PSAs in both English and Spanish.

Were also scheduling reminders and educational posts from the Census Bureau.

To file online, visit 2020census.gov. To complete the Census by phone, call toll-free 844-330-2020 for English and 844-468-2020 for Spanish.

John DeLapp is a freelance writer. He can be contacted at texdelapp@gmail.com.
In normal times, Ilhan Omar would be spoken about in a different way. At 37, she is a progressive star with an inspirational story, a young and charismatic congresswoman and national political figure in her own right.

But these are not normal times, and with things being as they are, it is hard to tell her story without also talking about the president of the United States, Donald Trump  a man with whom she shares virtually no attributes, but whose story is nonetheless connected to her own.

That is because the pair represent two very different versions of the American dream. One which prizes ostentatious wealth, excess, bravado and gold-plated bathroom fixtures. And the other: an immigrant success story, and an improbable journey from a refugee camp to the United States Congress.

More than that, they represent two different Americas. Come November, voters will get to choose between them. The unwillingness of so many to accept people like Omar as part of the American story was the driving force that put Mr Trump in the White House in 2016. If he wins again, that sentiment will likely deepen.

The president has stoked that animosity  that racism  throughout his four years in power, turning Omar into a lightning rod for his base. On conservative radio, on Fox News, at Trump rallies, her name is a cue for the two-minute hate.

I happen to embody multiple marginal identities. Im a woman, Im black, Im a refugee, an immigrant, a Muslim and I wear a hijab. And all of those are identities that have been vilified by the right... and weaponised by Donald Trump, she tells The Independent.

For me, that understanding allows me to be resolved in the ways in which I unapologetically show up, advocate for policies that make our country a more equitable society.

Ilhan Omar campaigns with her husband Tim Mynett at the Richfield Farmers Market on 8 August 2020 in Richfield, Minnesota (Getty)

Its useful to consider one of the most frequent attacks levelled against Omar, who was first elected by Minnesotas 5th congressional district in 2019. Tucker Carlson, the Fox News commentator and Trump confidant, has deployed it frequently, framing her journey from refugee to citizen as a gift that should buy her silence. After everything America has done for Omar, and her family, she hates this country more than ever, he said last year, and has repeated since.

And yet even in a time of national crisis, when many cannot see beyond the doom of the moment, when democracy is at stake, Omar is remarkably hopeful about its future.

Of course were alarmed with what we are witnessing right now, but there is a distinction between those who have lived with conflict and unrest but have institutions that are strong enough to withstand, and those that diverge into a civil war and become a failed state, she says.

I believe we have here in the United States really good institutions that have withstood four years of Trump and can withstand many things. Its one of the greatest constitutions in the world.

Omars ability to identify the deep, structural problems facing America and still recognise its potential for change has its roots in her own story.

She was born in Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1982, the youngest of seven siblings. Her mother died when she was a child, leaving her father  a teacher trainer  and her grandfather to raise her.

Her family was forced to flee when civil war broke out in 1991. She writes vividly of that early experience of war in her recently published memoir, This Is What America Looks Like: My Journey from Refugee to Congresswoman.

Our focus right now is defeating Donald Trump  but for us, thats not the destination, that is an opportunity to get a step closer to the destination Ilhan Omar

Suddenly, out of nowhere, we heard massive gunfire and men screaming. Our trip abruptly ended. Chaos immediately broke out in the back of the truck, she writes of that fateful escape.

People crawled over one another without regard, scrambling to get out without getting shot. We jumped out of the truck, forgetting to take the few things we had brought with us from home. I was barefoot as we ran as fast as we could towards the makeshift border with the sounds of weapons firing at our backs. The sun was beating down and we didnt have water, but we kept going.

Omar and her family managed to escape the country to Kenya, where they lived in a refugee camp for four years. In 1995, they immigrated to the United States, arriving first in Virginia, then two years later moving on to Minneapolis.

Her first years in America were difficult. In her book, she writes about being on the receiving end of racism and bullying, but also of how she learned to fight back (in her book, she describes herself as small but a good fighter).

She has also recounted how her initial impressions of America were so different from the one she expected, the one her father had described: a country where everyone had the same chance at success. Her first impression was disappointment.

This doesnt look like the America you promised, she later recalled telling her father. He replied: Well we havent gotten to our America yet, you just need to be patient.

Omar became a US citizen at 17 years of age, in the year 2000, the same year that Mr Trump ran his first ill-fated campaign for president. Sixteen years later, at 34, she won her first political race when she was elected to Minnesotas state house of representatives. The same day, Mr Trump won the presidency.

Their victories were both historic, and seemingly at odds. As Omar became the highest-ranking Somali American elected to office, Trump was set on a path which would see him use the power of the presidency to block refugees like Omar ever coming to America. The clash between them was inevitable.

Nearly four years in, does she feel as though the American dream  the one she represents  has been tarnished by the Trump presidency?

It certainly has, she answers, pausing for a moment before continuing.

America for so many people living abroad, including myself when I lived in a refugee camp, is a place where people do get an opportunity to fulfil their promise. And the idea that the United States has been seen as a place of refuge, as a place where as my grandfather used to say eventually everyone becomes an American, is now being led by a xenophobic, racist tyrant, who doesnt understand anything that is fundamental to the American identity  thats a shock to many people.

A year after her election to the state house of representatives, Omar summarised her newfound role in an appearance on Trevor Noahs Daily Show: I am Americas hope and the presidents nightmare, she said.

The next year, she ran for the House of Representatives and made history again as she and Rashida Tlaib became the first Muslim women elected to Congress. Omar became the first woman to wear a hijab in the House, which overturned a 181-year-old ban on headwear.

Tlaib and Omar, together with fellow young progressive women of colour Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley, became known as The Squad. All of them became the target of the presidents racist attacks.

But in just a short space of time, they have established themselves by more than just their opposition to Trump. The Squad have become leaders of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, battling with their own party leaders to move it to the left on key issues. They had the momentum going into the presidential primary campaign (three of them backed Bernie Sanders, while Pressley supported Elizabeth Warren).

In the end though, in these abnormal times, voters saw former vice president Joe Biden as the nominee with the best chance of beating Trump. Omar refuses to see that as a defeat for progressives, however.

I know that every exit poll in the primary, people supported the policies that we advocate for: Medicare for all was polling 60, 70, 80 per cent in every state. Things like cancelling student debt, the Green New Deal, addressing our housing crisis and having a humane immigration system also polled really high, she says.

So to me its not a rejection of the policies that we advocate for. We know when we are given the opportunity to have a conversation with the people, the people are with us.

Right now, however, Omar and The Squad are focused on one thing: defeating Trump in November. That task is being made harder by a White House seemingly committed to undermining the integrity of the democratic process. Trump has repeatedly attacked the reliability of mail-in ballots, without providing any evidence, and claimed without reason that the election will be rigged against him.

Many observers are preparing for the possibility that the president will not step down if he loses. But Omars faith in the system is strong.

The president is really good at doing everything he can to distract from the crisis that he is in: his inability to govern, his corruption, and many of us believe his very presence is a threat to our democracy, which is why he is an impeached president, she says, listing off the various ways in which the president has attacked the voting process.

And again, because of the strengths of our institutions were seeing states still take action that allows for people to participate [in the election].

In the midst of all the noise, she believes that voters will hand Trump a defeat in November.

People at this moment really are awakened to the reality of who this president is. [They are] no longer enticed by the facade of electing an outsider to come and fix Washington," she says.

"Hes abused the public trust. And in Minnesota, even in some of the places where he had people supporting him, they know that theyve elected a buffoon and are looking forward to undoing that mistake.

But she has plans, too, for what comes after Donald Trump. On the first day of Bidens presidency, should he win, Omar will once again turn her attention to convincing her own party to implement progressive policies that she has long championed.

Our focus right now is defeating Donald Trump  but for us, thats not the destination, that is an opportunity to get a step closer to the destination, she says.

That destination is one that pushes the Biden administration on medicare for all, on freeing 45 million Americans from the shackles of student debt, on ending the climate catastrophe that is upon us, and focusing on immigration policies that are humane.

More importantly for me, a lover of democracy, to do everything that we can to strengthen our democracy so that when someone like Trump is elected they dont have the ability to threaten it in the way in which he has.
Six women cops of the Kerala police are in trouble following the emergence of their selfie, clicked with one of the main accused in the gold smuggling case Swapna Suresh, in social media.

Earlier they were summoned by Thrissur police commissioner A Aditya, who sought an explanation on the issue. They reportedly told the commissioner that they took the selfie for fun and it never occurred to them that it could land them in such trouble.

The selfie was taken when Suresh was admitted to the Thrissur medical college hospital last week after she complained of chest pain while in judicial custody. Women constables, including the six constables in question, were deputed to guard her there.

The state crime branch has been asked to probe the incident and submit a report at the earliest as all the six women cops have been taken out of their routine duty. The investigation will also probe into the nature of the relationship forged with the accused in such a short span of time and if the women cops lent their phones to Suresh for her use.

Also Read: Kerala minister KT Jaleel to be interrogated again in gold smuggling probe: ED

The latest incident surfaced at a time when the Congress and BJP leaders have alleged that Sureshs admission to the hospital was a part of a drama and that she used the opportunity to make several calls from the hospital. There are reports that the National Investigation Agency (NIA), heading the multi-agency probe into the sensational gold smuggling case, has taken up the issue with the senior officers of the Kerala police.

Police manual insists that officers/personnel guarding or escorting the under trials or the convicts should keep personal distance from them and never engage them in private talks. It is a serious issue. We will take action after the inquiry, said a senior police official.

Also Read: Kerala gold smuggling probe: Industry minister EP Jayarajans son likely to be questioned

Meanwhile, the protests seeking the resignation of higher education minister K T Jaleel continued on Wednesday. He was questioned by the enforcement directorate (ED) on Wednesday. Many protestors were injured in the police baton-charge.

The gold smuggling case came to light on July 5 after the seizure of 30 kg smuggled yellow metal from a diplomatic consignment. Phone call records of Swapna Suresh, one of the main accused in the case, showed that Jaleel was in frequent touch with her. Jaeel claims he called Suresh for seeking her assistance in connection with the Ramadan kits offered by the UAE consulate, as she was a consular employee. The ED has grilled him twice.
Sightings of rare pink dolphins in Hong Kong waters have jumped since coronavirus lockdown halted ferry travel in the region.

The Indo-Pacific dolphins - also known as Chinese white dolphins and pink dolphins - are moving back into parts of the Pearl River Delta off Hong Kong.

Their numbers have jumped by up to 30 per cent since March when ferry traffic was suspended due to the coronavirus lockdown.

Rare pink dolphins return to Hong Kong thanks to coronavirus lockdown halting ferry traffic on parts of the Pearl River Delta

Undated handout photo of two Chinese white dolphins in waters near Hong Kong. Dolphin numbers in the delta have jumped by up to 30 per cent since March, scientists said

The dolphins once avoided the area due to the boat traffic between Hong Kong and Macau.

Marine scientist Lindsay Porter, who has studied dolphins near Hong Kong for three decades, said: 'What we have noticed since the ferries have stopped in this area is dolphins we hadn't seen for four, five, six years are back in the Hong Kong habitat.

'It seems very quickly that the dolphins have come back into this waterway.'

'Normally this entire area would be full of fast ferries taking people from Hong Kong to Macau and back again,' Porter added.

'Since the Covid pandemic started in Macau and a lot of areas have had restricted travel, the fast ferries have stopped. And these waters have become very, very quiet.'

The lull in water traffic has given scientists a rare opportunity to study how underwater noise affected the dolphins' behaviour.

From a small rubber boat, Porter and her team drop microphones into the water and use drones to watch for dolphins.

The research suggests the dolphins had adapted more rapidly than expected to the quiet environment, and the population was likely to rebound when such stressors were removed, Porter said.

Scientists think there are about 2,000 dolphins in the entire Pearl River estuary.

Marine scientist Lindsay Porter (pictured) said the lull in water traffic in the waters near Hong Kong has given scientists a unique opportunity to study how the dolphins respond to underwater sound

A Hong Kong government survey from 2019 found only about 52 dolphins entered the waters around the Asian financial hub, but Porter believes the real number may be slightly higher.

'I sometimes feel that we're studying the slow demise of this population, which can be really sad,' she said.

Still, even if this population's decline could not be stopped, the research could help other dolphin populations elsewhere, she said.

Hong Kong's conservation plans have focused on opening marine parks, where ship traffic is limited but not banned. Three of those areas are frequented by dolphins.

The Hong Kong WWF, a conservation group, and Porter said such measures were inadequate as dolphins were still in danger of being hit by ferries as they moved between the protected areas.

'It means that if we did have a comprehensive management plan in Hong Kong with more effective conservation measures, we might be able to quickly stop the decline in the dolphin population,' she said.
 Flash

Editor's note:

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, a 193-nation body that began with 51 signatories, including China, at the end of the Second World War. Let's take a look at how China plays its role in the United Nations and how it has honored its commitments to the purposes and principles of the U.N. Charter, as well as how it has helped the U.N. respond to global threats in pursuit of peace and development.

2019



China became the second largest contributor to the United Nations regular budget.

Sept. 28, 2018

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi addressed the general debate of the 73rd session of the U.N. General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters in New York.

Jan. 18, 2017

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a keynote speech at the U.N. Office in Geneva (UNOG), Switzerland. He championed in his speech a world of lasting peace, common security for all and common prosperity, as well as an open, inclusive world and a clean, beautiful world.

2016



China became the second-largest country to share the United Nations' peacekeeping costs.

Sept. 28, 2015

Chinese President Xi Jinping addressed the general debate of the 70th session of the U.N. General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters in New York.





July 24, 2015



The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China and the U.N. System in China jointly issued the Report on China's Implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (2000-2015). According to the report, between 1990 and 2011, China lifted 439 million people out of poverty, reduced the under-five mortality rate by two thirds and the maternal mortality ratio by three quarters, and halved the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. Meanwhile, China has been actively engaged in South-South cooperation and provided help with its capability to over 120 developing countries in their efforts to attain the MDGs.





Oct. 15, 2014



Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visited the headquarters of FAO in Rome and announced China's new policies for greater cooperation with U.N. organizations. This was the first time a Chinese premier visited the U.N. organization.





September 2014



The mobile laboratory of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) dispatched a testing team to Sierra Leone for Ebola hemorrhagic fever testing. It was one of the first foreign laboratories to assist the country in the virus screening.




With an 80-seat majority in the House of Commons, Johnson is expected to have enough votes to push his legislation through Parliament despite opposition anger. The bill easily cleared its first House of Commons vote by 340 to 263 on Monday. It will now face attempts to amend or overturn it during several days of detailed scrutiny by lawmakers before another vote.

The U.K. formally left the bloc on Jan. 31, but existing trade rules remain in effect until the end of this year under a transition designed to provide time to negotiate a long-term trade agreement. Ed Milliband, business spokesman for the opposition Labour Party, accused Johnson of "trashing the reputation of this country and trashing the reputation of his office."

Johnson's Conservative government has acknowledged that the bill breaches the legally binding withdrawal treaty that Britain and the EU have both ratified. The legislation threatens to sink the already-foundering negotiations between Britain and the EU on a post-Brexit trade deal.

"I have absolutely no desire to use these measures," Johnson told lawmakers as he introduced the Internal Market Bill in the House of Commons. "They are an insurance policy."

Johnson said a planned law designed to override portions of the Brexit withdrawal agreement was needed because the EU might "go to extreme and unreasonable lengths" in its treatment of former member Britain.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday defended his plan to unilaterally rewrite Britain's divorce deal with the European Union as an insurance policy against the bloc's unreasonable behavior -- even as his former attorney general joined the ranks of once-loyal lawmakers condemning the contentious move.

 Critics of Move

There is wide unease within Johnson's party about the law-breaking move. Geoffrey Cox, who was the government's top legal officer when Johnson negotiated the Brexit withdrawal agreement less than a year ago, said reneging on the deal would be an "unconscionable" breach of international law.

"I simply cannot approve or endorse a situation in which we go back on our word, given solemnly," Cox, previously a strong supporter of Johnson on Brexit, told Times Radio. "The breaking of the law ultimately leads to very long-term and permanent damage to this country's reputation."

As part of the Brexit divorce deal, Britain and the EU agreed to keep Northern Ireland -- the only part of the U.K. to share a border with the bloc -- bound to some EU rules on trade, to avoid the need for border checks on goods moving between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Both sides accepted the compromise to protect the open border, which helps underpin the peace process in Northern Ireland.

The Internal Market Bill would give the British government the power to override the EU's agreed role in oversight of trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K.

Johnson claims the EU has threatened to use "an extreme interpretation" of the withdrawal agreement to "blockade" food shipments from the rest of the U.K. to Northern Ireland unless Britain agrees to accept EU regulations.

The EU denies threatening a blockade and says it merely wants Britain to live up to the terms of the agreement. EU leaders are outraged at the prime minister's proposal and have threatened the U.K. with legal action if it does not drop the proposal by the end of the month.

Two former Conservative U.K. prime ministers, John Major and Theresa May, have condemned the legislation. On Monday a third, David Cameron, said he had "misgivings." What mystifies some observers is that Johnson is repudiating a treaty that he himself negotiated and hailed as an "oven-ready" deal that would "get Brexit done." That declaration of victory was key to Johnson's successful December 2019 election campaign.

"There was a political imperative on the government to get an agreement and then to go to the electorate with the claim that they had, to coin a phrase, got Brexit done," said Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London. "I think it possibly was the case in some senses that it was 'make the agreement in haste and then repent at leisure.' And what we're seeing now is the repentance."

 What's Next

Johnson's move has dynamited the dwindling trust between Britain and the EU as they try to negotiate a new trading relationship. Talks are due to continue this week in Brussels despite the chill in relations. Both sides say any deal must be agreed by next month so there is time for it to be ratified by Dec. 31.

If there is no deal, tariffs and other impediments to trade will be imposed by both sides at the start of 2021. That would mean huge economic disruption for the U.K., which does half its trade with the bloc. A no-deal exit on Jan. 1 would also hit some EU nations, including Ireland, France, Belgium and the Netherlands, especially hard.


The elderly parents of a 23-year-old who disappeared in 1992 have insisted they did not kill him after being quizzed at a police station.

Doris and Charles Clark were arrested on suspicion of murder this week, some 28 years after their son Steven vanished during a family walk.

The pair were seen walking hand in hand to Kirkleatham Police station in Redcar this morning, though the force would not say why the couple were there.

Mr and Mrs Clark were then pictured leaving the station in Cleveland six hours later.

Speaking on the doorstep as they arrived home this evening, Mrs Clark said: 'We've just got back, we've been there all day.'

She admitted the last few days have been tough following the sudden accusation, but she and Charles maintain they are innocent.

She said: 'After all these years we still wonder what happened to him.

'We didn't kill Steven. That's all I can really add at the moment, we just hope a good outcome comes out of it.'

Doris and Charles Clark, parents of missing Steven Clark, leaving Kirkleatham Police station in Redcar this afternoon

Mr and Mrs Clark were pictured leaving Kirkleatham Police Station in Redcar, Cleveland, after being quizzed for more than six hours

Doris and Charles Clark, the parents of missing Steven Clark, arriving at Kirkleatham Police station in Redcar this morning

Cleveland Police confirmed yesterday that two people had been arrested, but they refused to release their identities or ages.

Mr and Mrs Clark had previously appealed for help in solving the mystery of what happened Steven three days after Christmas, in 1992.

The missing persons report stated that he was on a family walk and used the gents' public toilets near the pier on the promenade at Saltburn, Cleveland, while his mother went into the ladies' at the same time.

The 23-year-old was never seen again.

Speaking in 1997, Mrs Clark said her son 'vanished in a puff of smoke with no warning or even a word of goodbye'.

She said at the time: 'I started to wonder if someone had frogmarched him away at gunpoint.'

Doris and Charles Clark were arrested on suspicion of murder this week, 28 years after their son Steven vanished during a family walk. Pictured, the pair going to the police station today

Steven Clark vanished 28 years ago after he walked into a public toilet near Saltburn Pier and never emerged

Steven left his home in Marske for on a family walk before using the gents' public toilets near the pier on the promenade at Saltburn, Cleveland, while his mother went into the ladies' at the same time. He was never seen again

Doris Clark pictured in 1998 outside the toilets on Saltburn beach, the last place her son Steven was seen

When he failed to come out, the missing persons report stated his mother thought he must have made his way home, but they never saw him again.

No body has ever been found.

Detectives from the Cleveland and North Yorkshire Cold Case Unit reopened the case earlier this year.

As a result, officers began a murder investigation as there was no proof of life, and said they had arrested two people.

Cleveland Police would not disclose any details about their sex or age. They have since been bailed.

At her neat semi-detached home close to the beach in Marske-by-the-Sea, Mrs Clark confirmed she and her husband were arrested on suspicion of murder.

She said: 'It's just absolutely ludicrous. There's nothing more to say, it's surreal.'

Asked if the couple denied murdering their son, she replied: 'Absolutely, yes. It's just too hard to believe really, but we have to believe it and suffer the consequences.'

She said being on bail was 'horrendous', adding: 'There's nothing I can say, except for the shock of being arrested.

'It's difficult isn't it? 'You get so tense and upset, we've just got to get on with it, I'm afraid. There's nothing we can do, just wait and hope we get through it.'

Doris and Charles Clark pictured at their home in October, 1993, months after their son vanished

Detectives from the Cleveland and North Yorkshire Cold Case Unit reopened the case earlier this year. As a result, officers began a murder investigation as there was no proof of life, and said they had arrested two people. Pictured, Steven's parents in 1998

Missing person posters were issued at the time of Mr Clark's disappearance

Steven's father Charles Clark, pictured in 2010, was arrested this week along with his wife Doris

Murder detectives reopened the cold case earlier this year - and have arrested his parentsas part of their investigation

Asked if she thought publicity about the case could help solve the mystery, she replied: 'It's 28 years ago. How on earth can anyone remember anything on that day? How can they (the police) ask other people, I cannot imagine anybody would remember.

'They (the police) have to do their job and that's it.'

Mrs Clark said her husband was 'all right', adding: 'It's gone on for all these years, it's a nightmare really, nobody seems to understand that.'

The couple, who also have a daughter, have been supported by friends, Mrs Clark said.

Their son was last seen at 3pm on December 28 1992.

Cleveland Police said the key to the investigation was establishing what his relationships were like with the people he knew at the time of his disappearance

He walked with a pronounced limp as a result of a childhood road accident, which also left him with other disabilities.

At the time he disappeared, Mr Clark attended the Rathbone Society in Redcar, which worked with people with disabilities to improve their employment skills, and he had won the Apprentice of the Year Award.

Officers have now appealed for information from those who knew Mr Clark, or anyone who may have seen something odd on that Christmas Bank Holiday weekend.

Cleveland Police said the key to the investigation was establishing what his relationships were like with the people he knew at the time of his disappearance.

Speaking in 1997, Mrs Clark said: 'The last time I saw him was as he walked into the public toilet.

'In the beginning weird possibilities swan round in my mind. I started to wonder if someone had frogmarched him away at gunpoint.

'There is simply nothing to go on. It is though he vanished in a puff of smoke with no warning or even a word of goodbye.

'These days I try to block it out but he is always there at the back of my mind and in my heart.'

Speaking to Gazette Live in 2010, Mr Clark said: 'Everybody says 'how sad, it's been 18 years'. But it doesn't change how you feel. It's exactly the same as it was when he first became a missing person.'

Mrs Clark added: 'He just literally disappeared. We went for a walk together. He decided to nip into the gents, I popped into the ladies and when I came out and waited for quite a while to see if he was there, or if he was coming out, nothing happened. He didn't appear and we haven't seen him since.

'There are times when I think, 'it's never going to happen'. But it's got to. Surely, something has got to turn up. Somebody out there knows something.'

Mr Clark added: 'They are all somewhere. I would just like to see our son come back.'

At the time he disappeared, Mr Clark attended the Rathbone Society in Redcar, which worked with people with disabilities to improve their employment skills

Detective Chief Inspector Shaun Page said: 'Steven has been missing for 28 years.

'There were many question marks over his disappearance, and as a result of our initial re-investigation and the fact that there is no proof of life, we believe that Steven has come to harm.

'I appreciate that we're asking people to think back to the 1990s, but there may be people who knew Steven and have information that may prove vital to this case.

'I would urge them to come forward. The arrests are a significant development in the case, but we are still appealing to the public for help. We are continuing to conduct inquiries and searches may be carried out over the coming weeks.'

Anyone with information is asked to call 101.

In an appeal 10 years ago in the Teeside-based Gazette newspaper, Mrs Clark said: 'There are times when I think, 'it's never going to happen'.

'But it's got to. Surely, something has got to turn up. Somebody out there knows something.'

Mr Clark told the newspaper: 'I would just like to see our son come back.'
President Michael D Higgins has led tributes to Offaly man and nine-time champion Irish flat jockey Pat Smullen who has died at the age of 43.

The former stable jockey of Dermot Weld was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2018 and underwent a number of surgeries and treatments.

He passed away on Tuesday evening in St. Vincent's Hospital. He is survived by his loving wife Frances Crowley and their three children, Hannah, Sarah and Paddy.

Pat was a nine-time champion Irish flat jockey and won 12 European classics, including the Epsom Derby. He claimed the 2016 Epsom and Irish Derbies aboard Harzand for friend and former boss Dermot Weld.

Pat was the top flat jockey in Ireland until his untimely retirement in 2018.

In 2019, he spearheaded a fundraising campaign for pancreatic cancer research to help others in his position. The campaign raised almost 3 million and included a champions race at the Curragh featuring the likes of Ruby Walsh and AP McCoy.

Funeral arrangements later.

Tributes have been flooding in from across the world and you can read just a sample below:

President Higgins has expressed his deep sadness at the untimely death of champion jockey Pat Smullen, saying his remarkable performances at home and abroad brought joy to so many.

The President conveys his sincere condolences to his family, wife and children.  President of Ireland (@PresidentIRL) September 15, 2020

This interview with Pat Smullen is among the most memorable moments we ever had on #RTERacing as he modestly described his bravery and discussed raising millions in The Pat Smullen Champions Race For Cancer Trials. RIP to an Irish racing great.pic.twitter.com/B3irBtXwnQ  RTE Racing (@RTEracing) September 15, 2020

I could never get my head around how Pat Smullen coped with what befell him in his prime. What he achieved throughout his illness was nothing short of incredible. Asidefrom being a world-class rider, that's how I'll remember him most. Beyond inspirational. Sleep well PJ Smullen.  Johnny Ward (@Ui_Maine) September 15, 2020

I am sad now this evening with the news of Pat Smullen , my thoughts and love are with him & his family .. what a great man .. a lovely man , an Irish man , & one of the finest jockeys the sport has even seen ... May he be at peace now ..  Hector (@hectorirl) September 15, 2020

Tonight Rhode Mourns the Loss Of One Of Its Finest Sons Pat Smullen. Our Sincere sympathy to the Smullen & Extended Families, Colleagues and Friends on the loss of a through Legend.

Sleep Easy Pat pic.twitter.com/mVfxWsfduT  Rhode GAA (@RhodeGAA) September 15, 2020

I never saw courage like this - Pat Smullen was a truly special man. pic.twitter.com/xGfySKRzwd  Nick Luck (@nickluck) September 15, 2020

Heartbroken to be reporting this. The planet is a worse place for this man's departure. Pat Smullen was one of the most decent human beings I've had the honour to meet. He has been an inspiration over the past 2 1/2 years. Thoughts with Frances & their kids Hannah, Paddy & Sarah. https://t.co/BxNPh0vzv3  Richard Forristal (@R_Forristal) September 15, 2020

Walked off the field tonight after a brilliant u20 hurling match to hear that Pat Smullen had died. 11 years ago today my late wife Edel also passed away at just 41. Both beautiful, decent & kind people. So sorry Frances, Hannah, Paddy & Sarah. Rest in Peace Pat.  Michael Duignan (@DuignanMichael) September 15, 2020

Such dreadful news. This is a lovely way to remember nine times champion jockey, Pat Smullen, who has passed away after a long & courageous battle with cancer. Only 43. One of our great sportsmen and a lovely man to meet. Deepest sympathy to Frances, children & the Smullen's. pic.twitter.com/qn4E3sckfr  Des Cahill (@sportsdes) September 15, 2020

In the midst of his own personal cancer battle Pat Smullen made sure enough funds were raised to offer future cancer sufferers a greater chance to survive this awful disease. That is Pats greatest legacy. My deepest sympathies to Frances and family. It is just the saddest news.  Denis Kirwan (@deniskirwan) September 15, 2020

It is so sad to hear of Pat Smullens passing he was an unbelievable inspiration to us all, an amazing Father, Husband, Friend & Jockey He will be so sadly missed our thoughts and prayers are with Frances, Hannah, Paddy, Sarah and all of his Family RIP  Barry Geraghty (@BarryJGeraghty) September 16, 2020

RIP to one of Rhode and Offalys most decorated sportsmen Pat Smullen.



One of lifes gentlemen.



Ar dheis De go raibh a anam dilis.#PatSmullen pic.twitter.com/ZlYw7nrKab  offalycoco (@offalycoco) September 15, 2020

Pat Smullen wasnt just a legend of Irish sport, he was a hero to anyone who had faced times so hard they thought they couldnt get through it. RIP Pat. Honoured to have had the chance to spend even a small amount of time in his company. https://t.co/vjldc5fXmG  Jarlath Regan (@Jarlath) September 15, 2020

Very sad to read about the passing away of Pat Smullen. I Had the honor to race him a few year back for a charity event in @LeopardstownRC #RIP pic.twitter.com/bhlbV3OnqP  nicholas roche (@nicholasroche) September 16, 2020

Pat Smullen was an icon of Racing, a brilliant Jockey & most importantly a gentleman



He always made himself available for fans & was incredibly generous with his time when interviewing him



Cancer is the worst, but Pat fought bravely



Racing has lost a great man



God rest him pic.twitter.com/BjyYPSx9TM  Emmet Kennedy (@RadioEmmet) September 15, 2020

Saddened to learn of the untimely passing of the great Pat Smullen. My sincere sympathies to his family, friends and the horse racing community who will be devastated by this loss. pic.twitter.com/eutR1u4rwK  Michael Creed TD (@creedcnw) September 15, 2020

As sad a night as weve had in the sport of Horse Racing For a long long time Rest In Peace Pat Smullen privileged to have known and speak to you a man that defined the word Gentleman #RIPPatSmullen  George McDonagh (@georgemcdonagh) September 15, 2020

We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Pat Smullen. Forever in Epsom and Derby History after his victory on Harzand in 2016. Our thoughts and condolences to his family and friends. pic.twitter.com/T7Tk7UFmBh  Epsom Downs Racecourse (@EpsomRacecourse) September 15, 2020
Meanwhile, COVID-19 infected patients are seeking the intervention of the state government to stop misuse of plasma donation by some middlemen for monetary gain. (Representational Image: AFP)

Vijayawada: Financial hardships are forcing some plasma donors to demand more money from COVID-19 infected patients in several parts of Andhra Pradesh.

In a recent case at Indian Red Cross Societys (IRCS) blood bank in Nellore, a voluntary donor expressed his interest to donate his plasma and when the authorities informed him that he would get Rs 5,000 as financial incentive announced by the state government for the donation, the donor asked for more money.

However, IRCS authorities informed him that they were unable to pay extra, and the donor complied. Later on, when the donor overheard the IRCS authorities discussing that a new patient requires plasma of a specific blood group, which was the same as the one he just donated, the donor approached the family members of the COVID patient for money, claiming that they were going to be given the plasma donated by him. The family refused to pay and alerted the IRCS authorities, who in turn admonished the donor and sent him home.

In another case in Visakhapatnam, a senior government official was infected with COVID-19 and was in need of plasma. The health authorities identified a suitable donor and asked him whether he could donate plasma as his blood group matched the patients. The donor reportedly asked for more money, claiming financial hardships in his family due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Though the government has announced a financial incentive of Rs 5,000 for a plasma donor, there is no clarity as to who should release that amount to the donor.

Plasma therapy is free for COVID-19 infected patients taking treatment in government hospitals but in the case of IRCS blood banks, they are charging Rs 14,000 per 400 ml plasma which comes in two units of 200 ml each. Permitted private blood banks are also charging Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000 per 400 ml of plasma.

On the other hand, some middlemen with access to a list of COVID-19 infected and recovered patents and registered donors of plasma, are arranging plasma donors for patients especially in notified COVID-19 hospitals in exchange of money.

Some corporate hospitals too are offering good commission to middlemen who can arrange the donation of plasma of specific blood groups.

ICRS blood bank chief medical officer at Nellore Dr Yashovardhan said, We are allowing only voluntary donors of plasma and the donated plasma is being offered to the required patients following the government fixed cost only as we have to collect and process it before transfusion to the patient.

Meanwhile, COVID-19 infected patients are seeking the intervention of the state government to arrest misuse of plasma donation by some middlemen for monetary gain.
Digital businesses in India are staring at the prospect of control by no less than six regulators, as the state attempts to govern new technology. An expert committee on non-personal data (NPD) was the latest to suggest the creation of an NPD Authority, a new supervisory body that will enable data sharing and enforce data requests. This is in addition to a recently notified Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) whose remit would grant it oversight of digital businesses, and the current governments proposals to create a regulator for personal data as well as e-commerce. India also has a sector- agnostic anti-trust regulator, the Competition Commission of India (CCI), and a telecom regulator that seems to see itself as a future licensor of digital applications.

Technology has catalysed fundamental changes over the last decade, resulting in new digital channels of creative expression, communication and knowledge formation. These developments have precipitated the need for new governance frameworks to guide transitions and respond to market failures. Meanwhile, digital businesses innovate to compete and survive, and consequently their functions and capabilities change rapidly. Some of the largest technology companies today didnt exist a few decades ago, and they differ starkly from their traditional counterparts. Conventional governance frameworks are not agile enough to keep up.

India lacks a unified and cogent strategy to govern the transformational potential of digital markets, and this has resulted in confused policymaking. For instance, the proposed NPD Authority is expected to supervise data-sharing arrangements between businesses and government. Large digital businesses that collect or process data can be mandated to share it, ostensibly to foster greater competition or evidence-based policymaking. However, a similar provision appears in the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019. Section 91(2) empowers the personal data regulator to provide any personal data anonymised or other non-personal data". The e-commerce regulator proposed under the recent draft e-commerce policy has analogous powers, reportedly.

The principle of a level-playing field between large and small businesses is a common feature of calls for regulation. Kris Gopalakrishnan, chairman of the committee on non-personal data, has stated that the most important thing is making this data available for many people to innovate and create new businesses". Network effects, which are digital market corollaries to economies of scale, are the main barriers to fair competition in digital markets. Like large-scale physical enterprises, data enterprises profit from their size because they can reach more consumers and business partners. However, the presence of such barriers are also subject to anti-trust assessments by the CCI, based on detailed economic and legal investigations.

Jurisdictional overlaps are seen elsewhere in regulation too. The CCPA will oversee misleading advertisements online, as well as the disclosure of personal information to third parties. In other words, the CCPA can also investigate and penalize businesses for violation of a data protection framework (Section 18 read with Section 2(47)(ix) of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019). The last publicly available draft of the National E-Commerce Policy proposes similar measures. An e-commerce regulator will naturally have to enforce such provisions.

Our executive rules that demarcate supervisory boundaries of government departments also remain ambiguous. For instance, the department for promotion of industry and internal trade is entrusted with all matters related to e-commerce, as per an amendment to the allocation of business rules in 2018. However, the administration of the Information Technology Act, 2000, which provides legal recognition to e-commerce, rests with the ministry of electronics and information technology.

If jurisdictional confusion persists, disputes are likely to follow. Illustratively, the Supreme Court had to settle a high-profile conflict between the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and CCI in 2018. Such disputes are problematic because they erode economic value and trust in the supervisory capacity of the state. According to the Economic Survey of 2018-19, an increase in policy uncertainty could reduce investment growth in India for about five quarters. The Survey noted that reducing economic policy uncertainty is critical because both domestic investment and foreign investment are strongly deterred by increases in domestic economic policy uncertainty". India must avoid creating any constraints on private investment and chart a clear path for a trillion- dollar digital economy.

India requires a whole of government" approach to rule-making to address institutional challenges raised by technology. This involves increased dialogue and coherence among government bodies. Multi-stakeholder consultations and the promotion of self-regulation by the industry are equally necessary for light-touch governance that incentivizes innovation. Other good practices include regulatory impact assessments and international cooperation to address the cross-border dimensions of technology. Above all, the accountability of new institutions is critical to improve the quality of regulation. This is a necessary stepping stone on the countrys journey to becoming a digital superpower.

Vivan Sharan & Mohit Kalawatia are public policy consultants at Koan Advisory Group, New Delhi. These are the authors personal views.

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Sources in CCB say that the couple had been summoned in connection with the Banasawadi case, which was registered in 2018. (Twitter image)

Bengaluru: Kannada film actors Diganth Manchale and Aindrita Ray on Wednesday appeared before the Central Crime Branch (CCB) in connection with the drug case.

The CCB, which is probing the drug abuse in the Kannada film industry, had issued notice to the actor-couple on Tuesday.

In a tweet, the couple had said, "We have received a telephonic notice from the Central Crime Branch for an ongoing enquiry at 11 am tomorrow (Wednesday). We will be present and fully cooperate with the CCB."

The development comes a day after the police raided the lavish resort-bungalow of Aditya Alva, son of former minister late Jeevaraj Alva, in the city. The CCB has already arrested actresses Ragini Dwivedi and Sanjjanaa Galrani along with seven others while it is on the lookout for at least seven more in this connection.

After concluding the first round of investigation, the CCB issued notice to star couple  Diganth and Aindrita Ray, asking them to appear before them for interrogation.

The CCB team issued notice through WhatsApp to the couple, who could not be tracked in Bengaluru. The couple reacted to the notice and said that they would be attending CCB inquiry on Wednesday morning.

Sources in the CCB say that the couple had been summoned in connection with the Banasawadi case, which was registered in 2018. The couple's name was making the rounds ever since the police took the drug link in Sandalwood seriously.

So far, the CCB has explored the Sandalwood drug connect in two angles. The first one is based on the recent raid by NCB, which had arrested former television actress Anika D and two others. During the investigation, the CCB found a link to actress Ragini Dwivedi's boyfriend Ravi Shankar, Ragini Dwivedi, Rahul Thonse, Sanjjanaa Galrani, Prakash Ranka and others.

However, the CCB has taken up an older case that was registered in 2018 at Banasawadi, where the police had arrested Prathik Shetty. In this case, the accused are Ragini Dwivedi's former boyfriend Shivaprakash Chippi, jeweller Vaibhav Jain and Aditya Alva.

Aditya Alva is son of former Karnataka Minister Jeevaraj Alva and his sister has married Bollywood actor Vivek Oberoi. The common link in both the cases is Viren Khanna, who is a big-time party organiser in Bengaluru, Goa and Mumbai.

Police said that Viren Khanna had developed contacts within police also, by acting as police informers. For over a period of time, he used to tip off the police on the parties organised by his competitors. He used to befriend senior officials and send them gifts on special occasions as well as provide them information against his rivals.
Loyal NEPC Education Interview of the Month listeners, as well as people discovering NEPC Talks Education for the first time, will find it easier than ever to plug into the smart, engaging conversations about education policy hosted each month from September through May by NEPC Researcher Christopher Saldana.

Subscribe to the NEPC Talks Education podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher. You can also find episodes on our website, or search for NEPC Talks Education on any of the platform homepages.

In the first NEPC Talks Education podcast of 2020-2021, Saldana explores with University of California Berkeley professor Janelle Scott the equity concerns raised by the emergence of learning pods. Future podcasts will take up topics such as the push for digital technologies in distance and in-person learning, the demoralization of K-12 teachers, and how school funding might be transformed in the near future.

Stay tuned in to NEPC for smart, engaging conversations about education policy. Dont worry if you miss a month. Starting in 2020-2021 all NEPC Talks Education podcasts will be archived on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher, as well as on the NEPC website.

All of our previous Education Interview of the Month episodes can also be found on the NEPC website.

The National Education Policy Center (NEPC), a university research center housed at the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education, produces and disseminates high-quality, peer-reviewed research to inform education policy discussions. Visit us at: https://nepc.colorado.edu
Singapore -- (SBWIRE) -- 09/15/2020 -- In an unfortunate turn of events, High West Capital Partners along with Looks' Securities Limited are now subject to investigation by the Hong Kong Regulatory Board. Lately, there have been some alleged rumors which were being spread about High West Capital Partners and the company has been denying it across platforms. The company's legal representative Deacons has been handling the case, unfortunately the outcomes have not been positive so far. Rumors spread very fast and so did this rumor too on major social media platforms and business publications. This has raised a red flag at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). These rumors now put High West Capital Partners and Look's Securities Limited under Investigation by the Hong Kong SFC.



High West as obligated will also assist the Hong Kong SFC investigation. And this Press Release is to inform all their clients about the ongoing issues. High West Capital Partners have been given 7 days to prepare necessary documentation and collate records of all transactions from the past six years. At this stage, the company informs all their clients in china and rest of the world that they are temporarily shutting down operations until the issue is resolved or until further notice. Clients can also be assured that High West intends to cooperate with the authorities in their investigation that might take up to 2 months. The company also informs clients that their assets are safeguarded according to the law of Hong Kong. And in case, the investigation goes sideways, clients will be informed about further actions including claiming their rights in case the company files for bankruptcy.



To know more visit https://highwestcapitalpartners.com/



About Highwestcapitalpartners.com

High West Capital Partners is a Singapore based private investment firm specializing in structured finance and global distressed finance solutions. The firm provide immediate funding to clients who need liquidity.



Media Contact

Chassen Navett- High West Capital Partners

Address: 168 Robinson Road, #12-01 Capital Tower, Singapore 068912

Email: Chassen@highwestcapitalpartners.com

Website: https://highwestcapitalpartners.com
On Wednesday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe resigned along with his Cabinet, paving the way for the country's successor, Yoshihide Suga, after a parliamentary confirmation letter.

Abe was Japan's longest-serving prime minister and cited health problems as his reasons for stepping down from his position.

The end of a legacy

According to AP News, Abe told reporters that he had dedicated his body and soul to restoring the country's economy and diplomacy. The prime minister noted he wanted to protect the national interest of Japan every single day.

Abe added that he was able to experience various challenges with the support of the Japanese people during his service and expressed his contentment with his actions and decisions.

The Japanese prime minister said his health had been improving due to treatments he was receiving and promised that he would be supporting his successor-to-be moving forward. Abe expressed his gratitude to the nation and its people and encouraged them to work together once more under Suga's leadership.

Suga is the chief Cabinet secretary for Abe's government and has been the prime minister's right-hand man. The announcement of the official's seat as the new head of the governing Liberal Democratic Party practically guarantees Suga's election as Japan's new prime minister.

A self-made politician and the son of a strawberry grower from the northern prefecture of Akita, Suga has used his background to assure the nation that he will continue to serve regular folks' interests and have the best of the rural communities in mind.

The official promised to continue Abe's unfinished policies and stated his priority would be fighting against the coronavirus and reviving a severely battered economy. With his campaign of pursuing the prime minister's legacy, several high-profile parties and their followers gave Suga their support.

Also Read: China Launches Powerful Missiles Into South China Sea, Sending a Message to Intimidate US

History in office

Abe was Japan's prime minister in 2012, where he held the responsibility to oversee the country's recovery from a devastating earthquake and several other natural calamities. He also worked towards helping the nation recover some of its economic health, as reported by The New York Times.

However, Abe's second seat as prime minister was considered to be the one where fell short of his aim to revise the pacifist Constitution that the United States government implemented after World War II.

During that time, the prime minister was also unsuccessful in reclaiming the contested islands that Japan and Russia claimed to have the two countries sign a peace treaty that would have ended the war.

During a news conference on Friday, Abe apologized for another shortcoming, his unsuccessful attempts to secure the return of Japanese citizens that North Korea kidnapped several decades ago.

Abe announced he suffered a relapse of his bowel disease, which caused him to resign from his first post as prime minister.

Suga will inherit several challenges as he takes the seat of Japan's newest prime minister, including the nation's diplomatic difficulties with China, which has continuously asserted its claims in the East China Sea.

According to Global News, Suga will also have to decide what the country will do with the Tokyo Olympics amid the deadly threat of the coronavirus pandemic. He will also have to build good diplomatic ties with whoever wins the United States presidential race.

Related Article: Japan PM Calls for Pre-Emptive Strike Capability to Combat North Korea, Chinese Missile Launch

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
- Mariel Rodriguez-Padilla and Robin Padilla celebrated the 10th month of life of Gabriela Padilla, their youngest child

- Gabrielas 10th month was celebrated by her parents with a fun and colorful party at home

- Mariel also penned a heartfelt message to Gabriela, describing her as a baby who is always happy and smiling

- Netizens greeted Gabriela for her new milestone and praised her parents for being loving towards her

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Mariel Rodriguez (Photo from Flickr)

Source: UGC

Mariel Rodriguez-Padilla and her husband, Robin Padilla, celebrated the 10th month of life of Gabriela Padilla, their youngest child.

KAMI learned that Gabrielas 10th month was celebrated by her parents with a fun and colorful party at home.

The celebrity mom also penned a heartfelt message to Gabriela, describing her as a baby who is always happy and smiling.

In the comments section of Mariels post, netizens greeted Gabriela for her new milestone and praised her parents for being loving towards her.

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Happy 10 months to the happiest baby i know @gabrieladepadilla.

"thank you for the smile that you keep on giving i love you so much my Gabriela, Mariel wrote on Instagram.

Swipe to the left to see all of the photos in this viral IG post by Mariel:

PAY ATTENTION: Enjoyed reading our story? Download KAMI's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Filipino news!

Mariel Padilla is a popular actress and host in the Philippines. The actress became more successful after launching her own YouTube vlog. She is married to action star Robin Padilla, who she has two children with  Isabella and Gabriela.

Recently, Mariel went viral for expressing her support for employees of the Kapamilya network after ABS-CBNs franchise renewal was rejected by Congress.

Her husband Robin also made the news months ago after his sibling BB Gandanghari accused him of being a neglectful brother and a hypocrite. Robin Padilla responded to BB by expressing his love for his sibling.

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
About the Feigenbaum Center for Science and Innovation

"The future of life sciences is here in Massachusetts. We have the talent. We have the entrepreneurial spirit. Now let's seize the future." - Former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, October 4, 2013

The Feigenbaum Center for Science and Innovation at MCLA prepares students to enter the research pipeline and the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) workforce. Completed in 2013, the Center features state-of-the-art classrooms, laboratories, research and presentation spaces, a greenhouse, a photovoltaic solar array, a rooftop classroom and outdoor instruction areas.

The 65,000-square-foot Center provides a space to foster integrated, research-intensive curricula and hands-on discovery, acts as a regional science resource center for the community, K-12 educators and students, and the community college, and offers state-of-the-art laboratory, teaching, office, and meeting spaces.

The Center is also a central location for MCLA's STEM programs. The demand for educated workers in the fields of biotechnology, nanotechnology, engineering and health care have reached an all-time high, and a third of MCLA students major in a STEM field. MCLA is dedicated to contributing to the development of a robust pipeline of talent to ensure Massachusetts retains its position as a leader in scientific innovation and research.

The Center is named for Dr. Armand V. Feigenbaum and his brother, Donald S. Feigenbaum, who founded and led the General System Company, a worldwide leader in the field of Total Quality Management. The Feigenbaum Foundations $5 million pledgethe largest in the College's historyestablished a new endowed fund that focuses on innovation and leadership.

In September 2016, MCLA announced that the Center was awarded Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council. LEED certification is awarded based on grading in the following categories: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, indoor environmental quality, and innovation and design.

You can explore the Center for Science and Innovation via this photo gallery.
Details added: first version posted on 10:18

BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 15

Trend:

Armenia continues to violate all principles of international law related to the protection and management of water resources in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and at the transboundary level, the Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources said in their joint statement, Trend reports on September 15.



The hostile attitude towards nature and environmental terror in the Nagorno-Karabakh region and surrounding districts of Azerbaijan currently occupied by Armenia, pose a serious threat to the environment of the entire region, the statement reads.

According to the statement, as a result of the heavy pollution of transboundary rivers by Armenia, there is a great threat to the survival of wildlife in these rivers. At the same time, the use of reservoirs in the occupied territories has become impossible and has become a potential source of danger for the population living in the surrounding areas due to lack of maintenance.

Armenia's non-participation in the UN Convention on the "Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes" makes it impossible to resolve transboundary water issues within the framework of international norms, the statement reads. Resolution No. 2085, adopted in 2016 by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on deliberate deprivation of the residents of Azerbaijan's border regions of water, reflecting the demand of immediate withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the mentioned region and ensuring investigation of independent engineers and hydrologists on the spot, has not been implemented.

On the contrary, Armenia has expanded its activities in this direction. In recent days, the blockage of the Indjasu River, which runs through the village of Dovekh in the Tavush region of Armenia and flows into the reservoir in the village of Kemerli in the Gazakh region, has deprived the local population of water, the statement adds.

As the statement stresses, this situation, which is a serious violation of the principles of international law and human rights, also poses serious challenges to the implementation of internationally accepted regulations, including the obligations under the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.



The latest open provocative activities of the Armenian leadership show that the country in addition to grossly violating international law and fundamental human rights continues to be a serious threat to peace and security in the region. We call on the international community to strongly condemn the illegal activity of Armenia and take urgent measures to prevent such unlawful actions of the aggressor state, the joint statement concludes.

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.
A father-daughter duo in Connecticut are passing the time in lockdown by bringing their favorite movies to life, and theyre feeding thousands of people across the country while doing it.

Dan Presser and his 4-year-old daughter, Madison, started re-creating famous scenes from classic movies like Pretty Woman, Mrs. Doubtfire, and Forrest Gump in March when the grim reality of the coronavirus pandemic first set in.

March and April were really chaotic, total lock down to the point where we couldnt even see our neighbors, Presser, 37, told CNN. It felt like there were 72 hours in every day, so we just wanted to find fun things to do with the kids. Madison happened to be dressed up [like an animal] one day and she loves Lion King so we filmed the scene of Mufasa falling off the cliff.

After receiving positive feedback from family and friends who loved the video, the Pressers decided to start recording more scenes at their home in Southington and sharing them online. Since March, Madison and her dad have re-created 35 movie scenes, garnering thousands of views on YouTube and on Instagram.

Some of their most popular videos include the scene from The Shining, when the deranged writer peeks through a hole in the door he tore through with an axe.

At first, their goal was to have fun, kill time, and maybe even entertain a few people. But as the videos grew more popular, Presser saw an opportunity to help families struggling to make ends meet during the lockdown and to even teach Madison about the importance of giving back.

Presser created a donation page to raise money for Feeding America, which he attached to all of their videos. So far, the family has raised more than $12,000 for the nonprofit network of food banks.

Dan Presser and his 4-year-old daughter, Madison, started re-creating famous scenes from classic movies like Pretty Woman, Mrs. Doubtfire, and Forrest Gump. (Courtesy of Quarantine 2020 Productions/YouTube)

During the first few months it was a really dark time, especially here in the Northeast so we just wanted to spread some joy and bring smiles to peoples faces, Presser said. After we did a couple of videos we thought it would also be a good idea to start teaching her how to help others and the importance of realizing that not everyone is as fortunate as we are, and people have been really generous.

Presser, who is a TV producer for ESPN, shoots and edits the videos with an iPhone, while his wife, Beth Presser, comes up with costume ideas. Disney, which owns ESPN, matches his donations to Feeding America.

(DAVID GANNON/AFP via Getty Images)

Along with Madisons heartfelt soliloquies and natural acting talents, her 21-month-old brother Barton often makes appearances in scenes that require his intense crying skills. To help Madison cope with being out of school and away from her friends, Presser also gets her friends to record lines and email clips that he edits into scenes.

I really like being with my friends even if its just on your phone in movies, Madison told CNN. And I like giving mac and cheese to kids that need it.

Presser and Madison plan to continue recording scenes throughout the pandemic. Theres no end in sight, but they have a long list of classic movies to help pass the time.

The CNN Wire contributed to this story.
The Editorial Board on elections

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Explore more election coverage from the Washington Post newsroom and Opinions section.
Cairo: Libya's east-based army claims its troops killed at least seven Islamic State militants, including foreign fighters, in a raid on their hideout in the countrys south.

The statement from the self-styled Libyan Arab Armed Forces said a six-hour firefight with the militants took place in a neighbourhood of the city of Sabha, 650 kilometres south of the capital, Tripoli into the early hours of Tuesday.

Libyan General Khalifa Hifter pictured in January. Credit:AP

The force, led by commander Khalifa Hifter, said the dead included three militants from Saudi Arabia, an Australian, an Egyptian and two Libyans. Hifter's troops shared graphic photos of the dead, along with their alleged passports to show their identities.

A spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs the dead did not include an Australian citizen.
The relationship between Boeing and its overseers at the FAA has been a particular focus for lawmakers, and there are signs that it continues to be troubled. Employees in the FAAs safety branch surveyed by an agency contractor said they continued to feel under pressure to meet the demands of Boeing and other companies, and said that too little had been done to impose internal accountability for the Max crashes.
Credit: North Carolina State University

Along three scenic drives through Colorado's Rocky Mountains in fall, tourists will see less of a brilliant golden tree in the next 100 years, researchers from North Carolina State University projected in a new study.

Using computer modeling, researchers simulated how the distribution of quaking aspen, or Populus tremuloides, a native tree known for its brilliant yellow and orange foliage in fall and the sound of its trembling leaves, will change amid rising temperatures over the next 100 years.

They predicted quaking aspens will decline in visibility in 2120 under climate warming scenarios. Visibility will also decline along three scenic national byways in the Colorado Rockieseven if climate conditions remain at historical levels. They saw the greatest declines in the visible landscape areas.

"Aspen are sensitive to drought and warming temperatures, and empirically we are already starting to see declines," said the study's senior author Jelena Vukomanovic, assistant professor in the NC State Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management. "Even if we keep current conditions, we will see declines in aspen. But under worsening climate change, the decline in aspen will be worse."

In the study, researchers modeled the distribution of quaking aspen trees visible under three scenarios: If climate does not change from historical conditions observed from 1980 to 2010; under a 4-degree temperature increase with 15 percent less precipitation; and with a 4-degree decline and 15 percent more precipitation.

For each scenario, their simulation modeled whether aspens were visible from 32,949 different vantage points along three scenic roadways in Colorado: Cache la Poudre, Trail Ridge Road and Peak-to-Peak Highway. They used a computer model of forest dynamics called the Landscape Disturbance and Succession (LANDIS-II) model to forecast where aspen will grow and used U.S. Geological Survey elevation data to model visibility along scenic roads.

In addition to factoring in changes in temperature and precipitation, they also modeled how wildfires, insects and wind events would impact aspen tree growth and distribution. These trees are intolerant of drought and shade, researchers said, but they are often the first to colonize a burned area.

Overall, they found that aspen are expected to decline in all three climate scenarios. In the two warmer scenarios, the losses were more than two times greater overall, and aspen loss was even greater in the visible areas from the scenic byways.

"We can say with good confidence that these main arteries of movement through the mountains will see a noticeable decline in visible aspen, and the loss of visible aspen is greater than the overall loss," said Vukomanovic. "It's hard to predict what people will dobuild new roads, new outlooks, or create new opportunities to view the remaining standsbut there could be a negative impact to some of the communities along these routes that rely on tourism dollars from aspen viewing."

They saw that the changes in aspen varied depending on the elevation. Aspen at the lowest elevations, where they are the least abundant, saw increases under all three scenarios, but the increases were smaller with climate change. Researchers hypothesized that at these elevations, the model was capturing aspen regeneration after wildfire, but they regenerate to a lesser degree under the more extreme climate change scenarios.

"We think they are increasing at lower elevations because they're colonizing recently burned places," Vukomanovic said. "Because there's been such active fire suppression at the lower elevations where people live, when fire comes, it creates opportunities for the aspen to colonize new places. But these gains are tiny compared to losses at higher elevations."

At the middle elevations of 2,000 to 3,000 meters, where aspen are most abundant, they saw consistent decreases across all three scenarios. At the highest elevations above 3,000 meters, they saw lower declines under the climate warming scenarios. They believe this means aspen distributions will shift to higher elevations as the climate warms.

"As drought and higher temperatures at lower elevations start to increase the vulnerability of aspens to pathogens like bugs, fungi and bacteria, their suitable climate will shift upwards," said Nikki C. Inglis, a research assistant and graduate student in the Center for Geospatial Analytics at NC State and first author of the study.

Researchers said their study is important because it is evidence for how climate change will be visible to people. In addition, the aspen trees in particular are an important feature of the Colorado landscape.

"They are part of how people who live in Colorado identify themselves, and what makes this a unique landscape," Inglis said. "They draw people in from all over because the aspen trees create a sensory experience with sound and sight. And of course the color change is absolutely strikingthere's nothing like it."

Explore further Aspen stands in Southwest suffering from fungal disease

More information: Nicole C. Inglis et al, Climate change disproportionately affects visual quality of cultural ecosystem services in a mountain region, Ecosystem Services (2020). Nicole C. Inglis et al, Climate change disproportionately affects visual quality of cultural ecosystem services in a mountain region,(2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoser.2020.101190
Morgan said the use of Heritage Hall, which is located nearby City Hall at 4506 Tod Ave., would require city staff to do additional work to sanitize the facility, set up for the meeting and protect the gym floor from damage.

A group of about 25 people, including council members, gathered outside the locked doors of Heritage Hall on Monday to hear City Council attorney John Bushemi say the meeting would have to be postponed instead of moved to another location because the legal notice for a public hearing that was to have been held said it would take place at Heritage Hall.

"The Indiana code provides that it's the council that controls the city's property," Bushemi said. "The municipal code of the city states that meetings of the council are conducted at the places designated by the council president."

He said the council's recently passed ordinance specifies the council shall conduct meetings as needed at the Heritage Hall gymnasium.

Councilman Emiliano Perez, D-at-large, said he was not surprised by the lockout but said both the executive and legislative branches need to work together for the benefit of the residents.

"The purpose of this is to keep everybody safe," Perez said.
Renewed push for republican status comes 45 years after the former British colony gained independence.

Barbados wants to remove the United Kingdoms Queen Elizabeth as its head of state and become a republic, the Caribbean nations government has said.

A former British colony that gained independence in 1966, Barbados has maintained a formal link with the monarchy like some other countries that were once part of the British empire.

The time has come to fully leave our colonial past behind, said Barbados Governor General Sandra Mason, delivering a speech on behalf of the countrys Prime Minister Mia Mottley.

Barbadians want a Barbadian head of state. This is the ultimate statement of confidence in who we are and what we are capable of achieving. Hence, Barbados will take the next logical step toward full sovereignty and become a republic by the time we celebrate our 55th anniversary of independence.

That anniversary will come in November of next year.

Some on social media celebrated the move.

Kristen Clarke, the head of the Washington, DC-based Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said the development symbolised the globalisation of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Barbados to relieve the UK Queen of her duties by 2021. Barbados will take the next logical step toward full sovereignty and become a republic by the time we celebrate our 55th anniversary of independence. This is the globalization of #BLM. pic.twitter.com/gk7p5qn6mL  Kristen Clarke 866-OUR-VOTE (@KristenClarkeJD) September 16, 2020

According to the Barbados Today, the idea of Barbados becoming a republic was discussed as early as the 1970s.

The peril and uncertainty of the times compel us to reinforce our foundation. Equally, we are challenged to shore up our traditional structures and find stronger, more resilient, more sustainable architecture, on which we can build a modern and enduring structure for current and future generations, Mason said, according to the newspaper.

Barbados has developed governance structures and institutions that mark us as what has been described as, the best governed Black society in the world.

Since Independence, we Barbadians have sought constantly to improve our systems of law and governance so as to ensure they best reflect our characteristics and values as a nation.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Marking Engineers Day in the national capital, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) inaugurated its ambitious state-of-the-art laboratory at Shastri Park for development of an indigenously built Communication Based Train Control (CBTC) based signalling technology for Metro railway.

It also launched i-ATS (Indigenous - Automatic Train Supervision System), an important sub-system of the signalling system on Tuesday. The lab was inaugurated by Urban Ministry Secretary Durga Shankar Mishra in the presence of DMRCs Managing Director Mangu Singh, Shikha Gupta, Director, BEL, and other senior officials from DMRC and BEL.

It is a proud occasion to start something like this which is going to add to our strength on the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative.... I am fully confident that this Indian system will also be sold outside and we will be the leaders in this area as well, said Mishra. Currently, the signalling system in Delhi Metro is controlled by foreign companies and the systems such as the CBTC are primarily controlled by the European countries and Japan.

However, aiming to reduce the dependency on foreign countries and to develop their own technologies, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (Mo- HUA) had decided to develop the system indigenously under the Make in India initiative. According to a senior DMRC official, the CBTC system will take time but the i-ATS, a computerbased system, which manages train operations will be developed sooner and will be upgraded first in Delhi Metros Line-1 from Rithala to Shaheed Sthal Bus Adda in Ghaziabad and Phase IV. To develop ATS, DMRC has also signed an MoU with Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL).

Currently, the ATS system is run on Pink and Magenta Line for high frequency. Along with DMRC, Niti Aayog, MoHUA, Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and CDAC are also part of this development. The ATS system can work with Train Control & Signaling Systems of different suppliers and at different levels. It is also suitable for introduction in Indian Railways which is now introducing Centralized Train control, on a large scale, which uses part of ATS functions, said the official. DMRC also signed another agreement on Tuesday with BEL for indigenous development of Rolling Stock Drivers Training System to provide driving and troubleshooting skills training.
Investment comes from major French technology funds, together with Applied Ventures

Antaios, a pioneer in SOT-MRAM technology (Spin-Orbit Torque Magnetic Random-Access Memory), announced today that it has secured 11 million dollars in funding to accelerate innovation and develop new strategic partnerships. With a unique set of attributes, SOT-MRAM has the potential to be deployed in almost every chip, becoming a candidate for the long-awaited universal (embedded) memory.

The investment comes from technology funds focused on identifying and fostering promising, fast-growth, early-stage technology companies. It is led by French venture capital firms Innovacom and Sofimac Innovation, together withSilicon Valley-based Applied Ventures, LLC, the venture capital arm of Applied Materials, Inc. Additional financing also comes from Bpifrance (French public Investment Bank) and other bank partners.

"This funding is a key milestone for Antaios, asserting the value of our technology and the industry's interest for SOT as the next-generation MRAM, which solves the limitations of its current implementations. We are proud to have attracted a blend of financial and corporate investors, bringing not only financial support, but also business outreach and savviness. We look forward to engaging with key ecosystem partners to bring the technology to the market," said Jean-Pierre Nozieres, CEO of Antaios.

Vincent Deltrieu, Partner at Innovacom: "We are excited to provide financial and business support to a key technology company in a very high-growth market. This represents a great example of the highly innovative start-ups and disruptive technologies Innovacom successfully supports."

Nicolas Penet, Investment Manager at Sofimac Innovation: "Led by an experienced and knowledgeable team, Antaios is ideally positioned with a leading-edge solution in a booming market. Sofimac Innovation is delighted to support this high-potential start-up, spun off from public research and already part of a global ecosystem with an extremely ambitious roadmap and promising future."

Michael Stewart Investment Director at Applied Ventures: "Applied Ventures supports the continued development of logic-based embedded memory technologies like MRAM that offer low power, high performance and high endurance for Internet of Things and edge AI devices. We are excited to invest in Antaios and look forward to helping the company further develop its promising technology."

By enabling simultaneously high operating speed and infinite read/write endurance, SOT has the potential to replace both embedded Non-Volatile Memory (e.g. NOR-Flash) and embedded cache (e.g. SRAM) in microcontrollers, microprocessors and System-on-Chip designs. SOT is widely recognized as the next generation MRAM, beyond Spin-Transfer Torque (STT) which is currently ramping up at all major semiconductor foundries. SOT can be easily implemented on STT-MRAM manufacturing lines, therein supporting a quick market deployment in applications as diverse as Internet of Things (IoT), mobile, computing and storage.

About Innovacom:A pioneer in venture capital in France, Innovacom has invested nearly 1 billion since 1988, supported more than 300 highly innovative digital and technology startups and participated in more than 150 trade sales and 20 stock market listings in a wide array of sectors such as electric vehicles, media advertising technology, medical imaging, digital customer relationships, train connectivity and smartphone components. Innovacom and Turenne Group have recently partnered to create, with 1 billion under management, one of the leading independent private equity platforms in France.

About Sofimac InnovationSofimac Innovation is an independent management company certified by the financial markets regulator (AMF) and dedicated to technological and innovative investment. We are present in Paris, Lyon, Rennes and Marseille, as close as possible to the major innovation centers in France. We support innovative start-ups in their growth projects with a wide range of investment vehicles. Working in a wide variety of technological sectors, particularly in the health and digital sectors, our team comprises experienced investor-entrepreneurs specialized in their field. Sofimac Innovation currently manages 9 funds comprising around 80 active companies. Sofimac Innovation is part, along with Sofimac Regions, of the Sofimac Investment Managers group, which has been investing in innovation and growth capital for nearly 40 years.

About Applied Ventures: Applied Ventures, LLC, the venture capital arm of Applied Materials, invests in early-stage technology companies that promise to deliver high growth and exceptional returns. Its investments help develop technologies and markets that provide natural extensions to Applied Materials' core business and stimulate the growth of applications for semiconductors, displays, and related products and services.

About Antaios:Founded in 2017 and based in Grenoble (France), Antaios is a pioneer in Spin-Orbit Torque Magnetic Random-Access Memory (SOT-MRAM), a disruptive memory technology. Drawing upon a decade of research at SPINTEC, one of the worldwide leaders in MRAM academic research, Antaios is fully engaged in bringing the technology to the market to help chip manufacturers solve the critical issue of exploding power requests in advanced semiconductor systems.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200916005720/en/

Contacts:

Antaios Media Contact:

Camille Dufour

International PR Consulting

camilleprconsulting@gmail.com

Mobile: +33(0)679495143
by Vladimir Rozanskij

Ksenja Fadeeva was Navalny staff coordinator. The blogger, head of the opposition, woke up from a coma and even managed to get up. In the regional elections in several cities of Siberia encouraging results are expected for the opposition. Everywhere the slogan rebounds "The United Russia party [Putin's ed] has bored us!". Yesterday in Sochi the summit between Putin and Lukashenko. Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz is now in Lithuania. Authorities said his Belarusian passport "is not valid".

Moscow (AsiaNews)  In the Siberian city of Tomsk, precisely where the opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned, the young coordinator of his staff, Ksenja Fadeeva, has been elected deputy of the State Duma (see photo).

The elections were held on Sunday 13 September in dozens of regions of the Russian Federation, to elect some governors, mayors and deputies of various federal levels. Even before the entire tally of the results, it was clear how much events this summer had affected voters, from the crisis following the pandemic to the protests in the Far East and Belarus, to the poisoning of Navalnyj.

Navalnyj has awakened from a coma in the Berlin clinic where he is hospitalized, hoping to recover completely; he even managed to get up from the hospital bed for a few minutes.

The blogger Navalnyj, head of the "street" opposition, went to Tomsk in August to shoot a documentary on the suspicious activities and wealth of some local deputies belonging to President Putin's "United Russia" party. The investigation highlighted the corruption patterns of some companies, the owners of which are allegedly the deputies.

On 20 August Navalnyj fell ill on board the plane that was supposed to bring him back to Moscow, but thanks to the pilot's readiness he was immediately disembarked, and after a few days his wife obtained permission to transfer him to Germany, after sending a formal request to Putin himself. In Germany, doctors confirmed the poisoning with the Russian drug Novichok, and the results of the joint Russian-German investigation into the incident are now awaited.

Voters were called to vote on 37 seats; five years ago the deputies of "United Russia" won 32, and almost all of them decided to run again this round. The Navalnyj campaign was aimed at winning several seats, especially in the Tomsk area - more prone to corruption - through the mechanisms of "useful votes", for his candidates or those of other parties other than the Putinian one. In addition to Fadeeva, whose victory in the single seat was a real surprise, the other candidate of Navalnyy in Tomsk, Andrej Fateev, also won the seat, who defeated one of the negative protagonists of the video of Navalnyj , Sergej Panasjuk. "We spent a sleepless night, but finally happy," said Fadeeva, waiting for the full results of the polls.

Even in other big cities of Siberia, such as Novosibirsk and Irkutsk, and in Magadan in the Far East, despite numerous reports of fraud, encouraging results are expected for the opposition forces, with which the communists and liberal nationalists have joined in various places. , traditionally allies of Putin. Everywhere the slogan "The United Russia party got bored!" Was repeated.

Meanwhile, on September 14, the summit between Putin and Lukashenko was held in Sochi, in which it became clear that Russian aid to the Belarusian president (loans to the tune of $ 1.5 billion were also promised) would cost dearly, granting Moscow significant parts of the Belarusian sovereignty.

Catholic Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, Metropolitan of Minsk-Mogilev, has recently moved from Poland to Lithuania, where he has been invited to preside over the liturgical celebrations. The official response to the requests for clarification on the refusal to return home arrived from the customs authorities on 14 September: it was communicated that "Kondrusiewicz's passport was declared invalid".
Treasury Sanctions Chinese Entity in Cambodia Under Global Magnitsky Authority

U.S. Department of the Treasury

September 15, 2020

WASHINGTON  Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated one Chinese state-owned entity, Union Development Group Co., Ltd. (UDG), for seizure and demolition of local Cambodians' land for the construction of the Dara Sakor development project. OFAC designated this People's Republic of China (PRC) state-owned entity pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13818, which builds upon and implements the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, and targets perpetrators of serious human rights abuse and corruption, and their supporters. UDG conducted some of these activities through Kun Kim (Kim), a senior Cambodian general previously designated by OFAC on December 9, 2019 pursuant to E.O. 13818, for his involvement in corruption.

"After falsely registering as a Cambodian-owned entity in order to receive land for the Dara Sakor development project, UDG reverted to its true ownership and continued to operate without repercussions," said Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. "The United States is committed to using the full range of its authorities to target these practices wherever they occur."

In addition, the land provided to UDG extends into Botum Sakor National Park, a protected natural area that can only be handed over by royal decree. In order to receive the land, UDG registered itself as a Cambodian-owned company, headed by a Cambodian national, but nevertheless within three years of receiving the land, UDG switched back to being a Chinese-owned and operated company without repercussion.

MALIGN CHINESE INVESTMENT IN CAMBODIA

The PRC has used UDG's projects in Cambodia to advance ambitions to project power globally. UDG-funded activities have forced Cambodians from their land and devastated the environment, hurting the livelihoods of local communities, all under the guise of converting Cambodia into a regional logistics hub and tourist destination. As is too often the case with Beijing's One Belt One Road initiative, these activities have disproportionately benefitted the PRC, at the expense of the Cambodian people.

Of additional concern are media reports that the Cambodian government spokesperson, Phay Siphan, said that Dara Sakor could be converted to host military assets. A permanent PRC military presence in Cambodia could threaten regional stability and undermine the prospects for the peaceful settlement of disputes, the promotion of maritime safety and security, and the freedom of navigation and overflight.

Today's action builds upon recent steps taken by the United States to demonstrate our support for a free and open Indo-Pacific, and the sovereignty of the Cambodian people. The United States is actively taking steps to deter the PRC's exploitative investments and to stand with our partners and allies in Southeast Asia.

UNION DEVELOPMENT GROUP

UDG is a PRC state-owned entity acting for or on behalf of a PRC official that, on May 9, 2008, was granted a 99-year lease with the Cambodian government for 36,000 hectares (approximately 90,000 acres) of land in the Koh Kong province of Cambodia. Following the approved lease, UDG began to develop the $3.8 billion Dara Sakor project, ostensibly to be used as a tourism development. The size of the development is in violation of Cambodian law, which limits land concessions to 10,000 hectares.

Additionally, UDG, through Kim, used Cambodian military forces to intimidate local villagers and to clear out land necessary for UDG to build the Dara Sakor project. Kim was instrumental in the UDG development and reaped significant financial benefit from his relationships with UDG. Specifically, with the assistance of Cambodian military forces provided through Kim, UDG prevented local villagers from planting rice paddy fields on the disputed land and was also accused of burning down the houses of villagers with whom it had conflicts, and of using private security and Cambodian military forces to control the movements of local villagers. Both the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and Cambodia's Council of Ministers asked UDG to stop using Cambodian military forces to take land from the Cambodian people. Cambodia's Council of Ministers issued a directive ordering UDG to stop destroying villagers' property; however, UDG ignored the directive and continued the destruction.

UDG is designated for being a person acting for or on behalf of a current or former government official, who is responsible for or complicit in, or has directly or indirectly engaged in corruption, including the misappropriation of state assets, the expropriation of private assets for personal gain, corruption related to government contracts or the extraction of natural resources, or bribery.

SANCTIONS IMPLICATIONS

As a result of today's action, all property and interests in property of the entity above, and of any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more by it, individually, or with other blocked persons, that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons, are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. Unless authorized by a general or specific license issued by OFAC or otherwise exempt, OFAC's regulations generally prohibit all transactions by U.S. persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of designated or otherwise blocked persons. The prohibitions include the making of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of any blocked person or the receipt of any contribution or provision of funds, goods or services from any such person.

GLOBAL MAGNITSKY

Building upon the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, the President signed E.O. 13818 on December 20, 2017, in which the President found that the prevalence of human rights abuse and corruption that have their source, in whole or in substantial part, outside the United States, had reached such scope and gravity that it threatens the stability of international political and economic systems. Human rights abuse and corruption undermine the values that form an essential foundation of stable, secure, and functioning societies; have devastating impacts on individuals; weaken democratic institutions; degrade the rule of law; perpetuate violent conflicts; facilitate the activities of dangerous persons; and undermine economic markets. The United States seeks to impose tangible and significant consequences on those who commit serious human rights abuse or engage in corruption, as well as to protect the financial system of the United States from abuse by these same persons.

View identifying information on the entity designated today.

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Manitobas economy could dip by about five per cent this year  a decline thats much milder than the national average, but will be felt the most in Winnipeg.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 15/9/2020 (492 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitobas economy could dip by about five per cent this year  a decline thats much milder than the national average, but will be felt the most in Winnipeg.

A regional snapshot by the Bank of Montreal released Tuesday suggests Manitoba has weathered the pandemics economic downturn better than all other provinces, citing earlier reopenings and a fairly low unemployment rate.

In Winnipeg, the report says about half of all jobs have been recovered since the worst point of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But at an average rate of 10.4 per cent unemployment, BMO says Winnipegs numbers are higher than the Manitoba average (at 8.8 per cent)  even while being slightly better than the 11.1 per cent rates averaging across Canada.

The citys labour market is heavily service-oriented, according to the report, representing around 80 per cent of all jobs; with health care and social assistance (16 per cent) as well as trade (14 per cent) falling behind as key employment sectors.

"Looking ahead, we expect Winnipegs unemployment rate to stabilize back to provincial levels as reopenings continue, including retail and paramedical services, through the second half of 2020," said BMOs senior economist Robert Kavcic in a statement.

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He said pressures facing Manitobas largest city are different than the rest of the province, with a "significant cluster" of services being particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 outbreaks (such as nursing care facilities).

The tourism, transportation and shipment sector is experiencing a "prolonged period of weakness," he said, "especially given uncertainty surrounding the timeline of an eventual vaccine."

Still, Kavcic remains hopeful about other financial areas  such as real estate and construction sectors (which together account for 13 per cent of all employment)  and have bounced back to normal levels during the pandemic.

"The pandemic has caused no typical recession," he said. "So the impact is being felt, even if less so than in some other major cities."

Twitter: @temurdur

Temur.Durrani@freepress.mb.ca
By Charles Eichacker | Bangor Daily News, Maine (TNS)

Early on in the coronavirus pandemic, Amanda Roy and her siblings considered bringing their 61-year-old mother, Anna Littlejohn, to live in their homes rather than in the Madison nursing home where she has spent nearly three years after developing a bone infection from a cyst on her knee.

With other health problems including diabetes and high blood pressure, Littlejohn was especially vulnerable to COVID-19, an illness that has caused many of the states virus deaths as it has spread through long-term care facilities. But ultimately, Littlejohns children couldnt make the logistics work to move her out of Maplecrest Rehabilitation and Living Center.

Now, Roy said, they are devastated by the decision.

Beginning sometime in mid-August, COVID-19 began circulating through Maplecrest after an employee caught the disease from a parent, who had in turn caught it from another child who attended an Aug. 7 wedding in the Millinocket region, according to state health officials.

Now, that wedding has sparked Maines largest outbreak of the disease, with at least 176 cases tied to it as of Tuesday. A large chunk of those cases have been detected more than 200 miles to the south at the York County Jail, where the virus swiftly spread among inmates, workers and their families after an employee attended the wedding.

But the grimmest outcomes have so far been in Madison, where six elderly residents of Maplecrest have now died after becoming infected with COVID-19, bringing the total number of deaths tied to the wedding to seven. In total, the disease has been detected in at least 24 residents and 15 workers, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

One of them is Littlejohn. After she first tested negative for the disease in August, she received a second test late last week that came back positive, according to Roy.

So far, she has not shown any symptoms that were distinguishable from her other health problems, including a separate skin infection. Roy and her siblings, including a sister who has worked as a certified nursing assistant in nursing homes, are in regular touch with their mother over phone and text.

Now, Roy said, she is angry with the couple who chose to go ahead with their Aug. 7 wedding, which included a ceremony at Tri Town Baptist Church in East Millinocket and a 62-person reception at the nearby Big Moose Inn that violated several state restrictions meant to prevent the spread of COVID-19, including a 50-person limit on indoor functions.

The couple, Spencer and Mariah Ross, have not made any public statements about the wedding and have declined multiple requests to be interviewed.

Im glad they got the greatest day of their life, Roy said. But it made a nightmare and probably the worst days of some other peoples lives.

Roy, who lives in Lincoln and normally works as a caseworker for people with intellectual disabilities and mental health challenges, also raised some concerns about the way Maplecrest has handled the outbreak.

The Maine CDC advises nursing homes with an active COVID-19 outbreak to create separate units for infected or possibly infected residents, and designate workers who have been infected or possibly infected to help those residents exclusively. That strategy, known as cohorting, is meant to reduce the risk that workers could carry COVID-19 to residents who are not thought to have it.

But Roy said that an administrator of Maplecrest told her that workers were alternating between units for patients confirmed to have COVID-19 and those who had tested negative. She now thinks that practice caused her mother to catch the virus.

I believe that she got it because there were staff working on the COVID-positive units and they were coming into her unit, Roy said. I feel like if you have positive cases on one unit, and you have staff who are going between units, I feel like thats going to encourage the spread of the virus.

A representative from Maplecrest referred questions to North Country Associates, the company that manages the 58-bed facility in Somerset County. Mary Jane Richards, North Countrys chief operating officer, has not responded to multiple voicemail messages or a set of emailed questions.

On Monday, Maplecrest representatives told the Maine CDC that it is now separating residents with proper physical barriers and designating workers to see them, according to Nirav Shah, director of the Maine CDC. But Shah referred questions about what sort of cohorting the facility did during the first few weeks of the outbreak to Maplecrests administrators.

Shah also said that Maines congregate-living facilities have generally done a good job of implementing cohorting after the discovery of COVID-19 outbreaks, even though it is very difficult to accomplish. While stringent isolation is the goal, he said long-term care facilities may not have enough physical space to spread residents out or enough workers to easily meet their minimum staffing levels. It can also be difficult to move some types of residents to other units, depending on their health needs.

In addition to her concerns about the staff crossing between units, Roy said that Maplecrest should be more transparent with the families and the larger community about the outbreak. It now holds weekly conference calls for family members of residents, and staff will also speak one-on-one over the phone to relatives.

But she is very disappointed that the facility has not acknowledged the deaths from the outbreak or provided much other information on its Facebook page. Just from a family that has a family member thereit would mean a lot if they wrote a statement, she said.

Roy appreciates the difficulty all long-term care facilities face in finding adequate staffing. She also knows that the workers at Maplecrest truly care for the residents and want to do whats best for them.

But she decided to speak out about the outbreak in part to educate other families about the need to advocate for their relatives who live there and find out whats happening to them. For Roy and her siblings, that advocacy has included arranging for their mother to be taken straight to a larger hospital rather than to Redington-Fairview General Hospital in nearby Skowhegan if her condition worsens.

I have to think of my mom and how to best protect her and put her first, she said.
Extinction Rebellion protestors should 'behave like adults' and stop using floppy tactics when being arrested, one of Britain's most senior police officers has said.

Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Sir Steve House told the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee that Extinction Rebellion (XR) activists needed to 'stop wasting police time' when being arrested.

The senior officer went on to explain that floppy tactics used by the climate change group were 'a flipping nuisance' and 'a complete pain in the neck'.

The tactic used by some activists sees them go limp when they are being arrested and will often mean four or five people are required to carry them away.

The senior officer's comments come just weeks after the group took to the streets of central London after declaring a ten-day protest.

Extinction Rebellion protestors should 'stop wasting police time' when being arrested, a senior officer has said. Pictured: An activist uses floppy tactics as they are carried away by officers

Sir Steve told the committee: 'We have asked them to stop being floppy. It might seem like a silly thing to say, but when we arrest them and pick them up they go all floppy, which is why you see four or five officers carrying them away.

'It's a complete waste of officers' time, and a complete pain in the neck. If they could just behave like sensible adults - you've made your point, you wanted to be arrested, you've been arrested, get up and walk away with one officer and stop wasting police time.

'This is a real issue, and they will not do it, and it is a flipping nuisance.'

The police officer added: 'The problem with them going floppy and four officers carrying them away is that it looks to the general public like the police are overreacting here.

'We're not making them go floppy - they're just being a nuisance.'

Earlier this month, Extinction Rebellion activists held ten days of protest in central London, with the latest figures from the Met showing that 680 people had been arrested.

Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Sir Steve House (pictured) explained that floppy tactics used by the climate change group were a 'complete pain in the neck'

These were for alleged offences including obstructing the highway, criminal damage and breaching the legal conditions set on the demonstration.

This month activists were also blasted by the Prime Minister Boris Johnson for 'attacking free speech' after they chained themselves to the gates of Newsprinters in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire.

Protestors also blocked access to the presses in Knowsley, Liverpool, on the same evening.

A total of 20 activists have each been fined 10,000 for their involvement in the protest, the Met Police said.

Following the scenes, the Prime Minister said: 'A free press is vital in holding the government and other powerful institutions to account on issues critical for the future of our country, including the fight against climate change.

'It is completely unacceptable to seek to limit the public's access to news in this way.'
MANZINI  About E28 million has gone down the drain, so claims import car dealerships.

This amount of money, according to the import car dealerships, will be lost due to the twist in their trade in the country.

These entrepreneurs purport that the introduction of the Used Vehicles Import Permit Specification Notice, 2020, has resulted in them being denied import permits to bring into the country automobiles they had purchased leading to the pronouncement of the new legislation.



The notice came into force on August 28, 2020 and it revoked Legal Notice No. 80 of 2012. The new notice was issued by Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg.

The import car dealerships are responsible for bringing into the country grey cars, which were dubbed Dubais from the early years of the millennium.



Distribution



According to freedictionary.com, grey import vehicles are new or used motor vehicles and motorcycles legally imported from another country through channels other than the makers official distribution system.

The proprietors of dealerships specialising in these vehicles claimed that the E28 million was derived from the fact that they purchased between 500 and 1 100 units of automobiles per month.



The notice that was published in a Government Gazette compels import car dealerships to only introduce into the country vehicles not older than seven years. This has resulted in them seeking audience with Rijkenberg over the challenges they, together with their clients, would face.



In light of the introduction of this legislation, some import car dealerships claimed that last week, they were not awarded import permits for vehicles they had ordered before the notice issued by the minister became law.



Permits



This, they claimed, had resulted in them being caught between a rock and a hard place as they did not know how they were to bring the cars into the country.



Eswatini Import Car Dealership Associations Imitiaz Sahi, speaking on behalf of the industry players, claimed that he had engaged some proprietors in the industry and they all claimed that they were not issued import permits but were informed that the ministry was still consulting on whether they should be given the permits.



Sahi claimed that he had gathered that there were over 1 000 automobiles that were held at ports of entry that were yet to be brought into the country.



He stated that on average, 1 000 vehicles could amount to between E28 million and E40 million. This, he purported, was because their import value varied and so did the brands.



For example, he said: To bring a Honda Fit into the country can cost about E28 000 while bringing a BMW X1 can amount to over E90 000. So, the money we may lose is too high.



Developments



Sahi, as the associations representative, claimed to have been informed of the recent developments following the introduction of the new legislation.

Some people have contacted me saying they were being turned away when seeking import permits, he said.

The import car dealership proprietor also said some of the car dealers had found a notice at the offices where the import permits were granted, advising them to note that if they intended to import a motor vehicle, it would not be approved if the vehicle was older than seven years.



The notice pinned on the door reads: Please note that if you intend to import a motor vehicle, no import permit will be approved for an application for a vehicle which is more than seven years.



On the other hand, the Communications Officer in the Ministry of Finance, Setsabile Dlamini, said: Issuing (of import permits) under the new regulations started this week. Of course, those who bought older models prior to the new regulations will be able to get them into the country.



This was after this publication had sought the ministrys input on whether the grievances raised by the import car dealerships were genuine and also, she was asked to assist with information on whether the ministry had stopped granting the import permits for same.



Dlamini was asked if there had been any notice informing the import car dealership proprietors and or their agents that import permits were no longer issued for vehicles that were older than seven years.



To this, she said: There is no grace period necessarily, the ministry is just anticipating that issues of those who had already purchased the cars prior to the new regulations would have all run through the system in the next three months.



Informed



However, the dealers claimed they were not informed about the fact that they could get permits if they had purchased the cars before the notice came into effect.



They also alleged that some of them, upon learning of this new development, went back to the ministry but were still turned back.

The dealers further claimed that most of the ordered cars were beyond the seven years stipulated by government.



Meanwhile, leading to this, Eswatini Import Car Dealers Association had a consultative meeting with Rijkenberg last Friday on the Used Motor Vehicles Import Permit Specification Notice 2020. Rijkenberg confirmed that he had the meeting with the dealerships association and said it was consultative and he presented to them the reasons why government was pursuing the legislation.

The minister introduced the legislation to exercise controls on the age restriction of the vehicles and his decision was based on Southern African Customs Union (SACU) revenues.

It is anticipated that the country wants to enhance its share of SACU revenues and for it to improve; more imports within SACU would result in improved receipts for kingdom.

The minister said a number of things were shared during the consultation, however, in order to have it on record, he requested that the car dealership association present their mitigation plans through a written document.
MILWAUKEE, Sept. 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Frank P. Crivello, Chairman and Founder of Phoenix Investors ("Phoenix"), a national private commercial real estate firm headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, announced a contribution totaling $50,000 will be donated to Riverwest Food Pantry.

Phoenix Investors will donate $50,000 to match Riverwest Food Pantry's recent successful fundraising campaign. "Riverwest Food Pantry has served the Milwaukee community with integrity, grace, efficacy, and compassion for decades," said Frank P. Crivello, Founder and Chairman, in an official statement. "It is an honor to offer them the support they need to continue in their mission, especially as the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are still yet to be fully realized."

Riverwest Food Pantry has been serving the greater Milwaukee community for more than 40 years, committed not only to providing food for neighbors but also to engaging community members to end hunger, isolation, and poverty. Most recently, the Riverwest Food Pantry has come to realize that the COVID-19 pandemic has only added to the many burdens that community members are already carrying.

To address these added needs of their community, the Riverwest Food Pantry had to double its ability to provide direct cash assistance to families to fill the gaps that remain after the referral to assistance partnerships. Recognizing this, Phoenix Investors has offered to match donations, up to $50,000.

"Our community is so grateful for this generous gift," said Vincent Noth, Executive Director of the Riverwest Food Pantry. "It will help us in our continued efforts to provide rent, utilities, and other crisis-related assistance to those many families in our community who have been hit hardest by the pandemic."

About Riverwest Food Pantry

Riverwest Food Pantry alleviates food insecurity by providing access to healthy food through an interactive shopping experience. By creating nurturing mentor relationships that connect people to needed resources, Riverwest Food Pantry grows and cooks food together as an entry point into shoppers' lives, thereby creating a space where members of the greater Milwaukee community discover the gifts they are meant to offer and the gifts they are meant to receive.

For more information, please visit https://www.riverwestfoodpantry.org.

About Phoenix Investors

Founded by Frank P. Crivello in 1994, Phoenix Investors and its affiliates (collectively "Phoenix") are a leader in the acquisition, development, renovation, and repositioning of industrial facilities throughout the United States. Utilizing a disciplined investment approach and successful partnerships with institutional capital sources, corporations, and public stakeholders, Phoenix has developed a proven track record of generating superior risk-adjusted returns, while providing cost-efficient lease rates for its growing portfolio of national tenants. Its efforts inspire and drive the transformation and reinvigoration of the economic engines in the communities it serves, currently encompassing over 30 million square feet. Phoenix continues to be defined by thoughtful relationships, sophisticated investment tools, cost-efficient solutions, and a reputation for success.

For more information, please visit https://phoenixinvestors.com.

SOURCE Phoenix Investors

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South Africa: Trade dept welcomes UK donation to Solidarity Fund

The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) has welcomed the United Kingdom (UK) government's donation of R50 million to the Solidarity Fund.

The grant is aimed at extending the Solidarity Funds ongoing efforts to counter the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa, focusing specifically on projects supporting and promoting women, DTIC said on Tuesday.

This contribution forms part of the UKs international COVID-19 response and recovery efforts, and signals its support for the Solidarity Fund as an independent, South African-run initiative.

The sum earmarked for the Fund amounts to a 2.15 million (R50 million) donation, which will be used to bolster high priority initiatives currently supported by the Fund. To date, the UK has committed 6.5 million in support of South Africas response to the pandemic, the department said.

The Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Nomalungelo Gina, thanked the UK government for the donation.

I am excited that the British Commission has made specifications that this donation must be directed to the fight against gender-based violence and that it must also be channelled to supporting women's economic empowerment and small, medium and micro enterprises, said Gina at the signing ceremony.

The department said the Solidarity Fund could make a meaningful contribution to approximately 360 existing local and community organisations, which provide critical services in the GBV eco-system.

With this grant, funding for the second intervention in GBV support will now increase from R50 million to R75 million, the DTIC said.

Gina said a portion of the donation will be paid to women involved in agricultural projects through a voucher system.

Evidence shows that we have more women than men in the agricultural sector, both in small-scale and subsistence farming, in our rural areas. Women produce food for their households and sell some of these products as hawkers at taxi ranks and other public spaces.

"It is therefore logical that the empowerment of women in this important sector will boost their efforts, Gina said.

Subsistence and household farmers have been impacted by COVID-19 restrictions, compromising their ability to continue their ongoing farming activities or preparing for the next farming cycle.

A farming input voucher for subsistence/household farmers has been deemed to be an appropriate short-term response to support these farmers. The total number of beneficiaries is estimated to be 47 000, across all nine provinces. The UK governments donation will increase funding for the farming input voucher project to R100 million, targeted at 66% women subsistence/household farmers in rural areas, the department said.

British High Commissioner to South Africa, Nigel Casey, said they were delighted to contribute to the Solidarity Fund, a new and innovative initiative that combines public, private and individual commitment in tackling the impacts of this global crisis.

We are particularly pleased to support the Funds work to help women affected by persistently high rates of gender-based violence, and to promote womens economic inclusion and empowerment along the long road to recovery, Casey said.

Interim Chief Executive Officer of The Solidarity Fund, Nomkhita Nqweni, said such donations, and all the generous contributions from governments, business and individuals, enable the fund to keep the fight going, and provide much needed assistance to those who need it most.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2020-09-16. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Representative Image

Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar on Wednesday said the central government has taken a number of steps for the welfare of labourers during the pandemic, including disbursement of Rs 5,000 crore relief to over 2 crore building and construction workers.

Besides with efforts of the government, stuck wages of about Rs 295 crore were released to about two lakh workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In statement issued by the labour ministry, Gangwar said, "a number of unprecedented steps have been taken by the union government for labour welfare and employment including for migrant workers across India during COVID-19 pandemic".

According to the statement, immediately after the lockdown, directions were sent from the Ministry of Labour & Employment to all the state governments/UTs instructing them to provide financial assistance to construction workers from Building & Other Construction Workers'' Cess Fund.

It is estimated that the highest proportion of migrant workers are construction workers.

The minister said, "till date, about two crore migrant workers have been provided Rs 5,000 crore directly in their bank accounts from Building & Other Construction Workers'' Cess Fund being maintained by various states."

In order to resolve the grievances of migrant workers during lockdown, the Ministry of Labour & Employment had set up 20 Control Rooms all over the country.

During lockdown, more than 15,000 complaints of the workers were resolved through these Control Rooms and due to the intervention of the labour ministry more than two lakh workers were paid their due wages amounting to about Rs 295 crores, the minister claimed.

The minister also stated that labour is in the concurrent list and therefore, both state and central government can legislate on the issues.

Further, most of the Central Labour Acts including the Migrant Labour Act is being implemented exclusively by the state government, he pointed out.

As per the provisions of the Migrant Labour Act, the registration of the migrant workers is to be done by the respective state governments and the data has to be maintained by the state governments.

However, the minister said that in the unprecedented scenario of COVID-19, the labour ministry took the initiatives to collect the data of migrant workers who are going to their home states during lockdown.

On the basis of information collected from various state governments, around one crore migrant workers have gone back to their source states during COVID-19, he added.

Labour Minister further said after the lockdown, Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana with a financial package of Rs 1.7 lakh crore was launched to help the poor, needy and unorganised sector workers of the country.

Under this package, 80 crore people have been provided 5 KG wheat/rice and 1 KG pulses. Free of cost food grains will now be provided up to November, 2020 to all beneficiaries.

The aim of the government is to ensure that no one is without food during this pandemic and challenging time.

Per day wages under Mahatma Gandhi Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) have been enhanced from Rs 182 to Rs 202. Government has also announced measures to strengthen infrastructure logistics, capacity building, governance and administrative reforms for agriculture, fisheries and food processing sectors.

Gangwar further informed that the government has launched PM SVANidhi Scheme to facilitate collateral free working capital loan up to Rs 10,000 of one-year tenure, to approximately 50 lakh street vendors, to resume their businesses.

In order to facilitate employment of migrant workers who have gone back to their home state, Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyan has been initiated in 116 districts in ''Mission Mode'', he said.

Under this campaign, rural infrastructure would be built with involvement of these migrant workers and about Rs 50,000 crores would be spent for this purpose.

In a similar manner, many projects involving migrant workers have been initiated for building of roads, highways etc by the Transport Ministry in order to facilitate employment of migrant workers.

Financial package of Rs 20 lakh crore under Aatm Nirbhar Bharat has been launched specifically to create employment opportunities for migrant workers, workers of unorganised sector, strengthening of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector and promoting rural economy.

It includes plethora of initiatives for all these sectors, the minister added.

In order to provide minimum financial assistance to the workers through their EPF (employees provident fund) Account, the ministry under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana has permitted all the EPF members to withdraw 75 per cent of their total provident fund deposited in their EPF Account, he added.

The minister further said till date, about Rs 39,000 crore have been withdrawn by the members of the retirement fund body EPFO.

In order to facilitate migrant workers who are returning back to the destination state for work, labour ministry has issued advisory guidelines for all the state governments/UTs on July 27, 2020.

Under these guidelines, states/UTs have been directed to nominate a State Level Nodal Officer to coordinate the implementation of various measures for the welfare of migrant workers who are coming back for employment.

Further, the state of origin and destination state will also coordinate for screening and testing of migrant workers as per the protocol devised by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, he added.

States have also been directed to prepare a proper database of migrant workers for their easy identification and welfare measures among them. This data would also facilitate enrolling them to various Social Security Schemes of government of India, the minister said in the statement.
This split image shows the difference between an active Sun during solar maximum (on the left, captured in April 2014) and a quiet Sun during solar minimum (on the right, captured in December 2019). December 2019 marks the beginning of Solar Cycle 25, and the Suns activity will once again ramp up until solar maximum, predicted for 2025. Credits: NASA/SDO

Solar Cycle 25 has begun. During a media event on Tuesday, experts from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) discussed their analysis and predictions about the new solar cycle - and how the coming upswing in space weather will impact our lives and technology on Earth, as well as astronauts in space.

The Solar Cycle 25 Prediction Panel, an international group of experts co-sponsored by NASA and NOAA, announced that solar minimum occurred in December 2019, marking the start of a new solar cycle. Because our Sun is so variable, it can take months after the fact to declare this event. Scientists use sunspots to track solar cycle progress; the dark blotches on the Sun are associated with solar activity, often as the origins for giant explosions - such as solar flares or coronal mass ejections - which can spew light, energy, and solar material into space.

"As we emerge from solar minimum and approach Cycle 25's maximum, it is important to remember solar activity never stops; it changes form as the pendulum swings," said Lika Guhathakurta, solar scientist at the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

NASA and NOAA, along with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other federal agencies and departments, work together on the National Space Weather Strategy and Action Plan to enhance space weather preparedness and protect the nation from space weather hazards. NOAA provides space weather predictions and satellites to monitor space weather in real time; NASA is the nation's research arm, helping improve our understanding of near-Earth space, and ultimately, forecasting models.

Space weather predictions are also critical for supporting Artemis program spacecraft and astronauts. Surveying this space environment is the first step to understanding and mitigating astronaut exposure to space radiation. The first two science investigations to be conducted from the Gateway will study space weather and monitor the radiation environment in lunar orbit. Scientists are working on predictive models so they can one day forecast space weather much like meteorologists forecast weather on Earth.

"There is no bad weather, just bad preparation," said Jake Bleacher, chief scientist for NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at the agency's Headquarters. "Space weather is what it is - our job is to prepare."

Understanding the cycles of the Sun is one part of that preparation. To determine the start of a new solar cycle, the prediction panel consulted monthly data on sunspots from the World Data Center for the Sunspot Index and Long-term Solar Observations, located at the Royal Observatory of Belgium in Brussels, which tracks sunspots and pinpoints the solar cycle's highs and lows.

"We keep a detailed record of the few tiny sunspots that mark the onset and rise of the new cycle," said Frederic Clette, the center's director and one of the prediction panelists. "These are the diminutive heralds of future giant solar fireworks. It is only by tracking the general trend over many months that we can determine the tipping point between two cycles."

With solar minimum behind us, scientists expect the Sun's activity to ramp up toward the next predicted maximum in July 2025. Doug Biesecker, panel co-chair and solar physicist at NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) in Boulder, Colorado, said Solar Cycle 25 is anticipated to be as strong as the last solar cycle, which was a below-average cycle, but not without risk.

"Just because it's a below-average solar cycle, doesn't mean there is no risk of extreme space weather," Biesecker said. "The Sun's impact on our daily lives is real and is there. SWPC is staffed 24/7, 365 days a year because the Sun is always capable of giving us something to forecast."

Elsayed Talaat, director of Office of Projects, Planning, and Analysis for NOAA's Satellite and Information Service in Silver Spring, Maryland, described the nation's recent progress on the Space Weather Action Plan as well as on upcoming developments, including NOAA's Space Weather Follow-On L-1 observatory, which launches in 2024, before Solar Cycle 25's predicted peak.

"Just as NOAA's National Weather Service makes us a weather-ready nation, what we're driving to be is a space weather-ready nation," Talaat said. "This is an effort encompassing 24 agencies across the government, and it has transformed space weather from a research perspective to operational knowledge."



Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.
Chris Evans confirmed that he is, in fact, the best Chris, after he accidentally shared an extremely NSFW photo and then took the opportunity (and attention) to urge his followers to vote in the upcoming presidential election.

Evans, who plays Captain America, accidentally shared a quick look at his photo roll while he was playing a virtual game of Heads Up.

While he quickly deleted the photos, they were captured by eagle-eyed fans. The eye-popping picture of his nether regions wasn't the only inappropriate image fans caught. He also had a meme featuring himself (as Captain America) that cautioned "Guard that p***y."

After he shared his nude with the world, his celebrity pals came to his defense.

Actor Mark Ruffalo tweeted to assure his "bro" that at least his faux pas wasn't as bad as anything Donald Trump could do.

Evans recently launched the new, nonpartisan website A Starting Point to encourage people to vote and learn about the issues.

He ended up using the mishap to his advantage, tweeting "Now that I have your attention...VOTE Nov 3rd." Now, that's a real-life superhero - and the best Chris. Apologies to Pratt, Pine and Hemsworth, his fellow superheroes who have yet to have a similar social media moment.

Evans also addressed the incident when he appeared on the Tamron Hall Show on Tuesday morning.

He joked, "Something happened this weekend?" before saying, "It was an interesting weekend full of lessons learned, a lot of teachable moments. Its embarrassing, but you gotta roll with the punches. I have fantastic fans who came to my support."
CSSE / Advising is responsible for advising about the College Level Examination Program (CLEP). Through this credit by examination program students are able to receive college credit for prior knowledge that can be applied to core and department requirements or elective credit. The College Level Examination Program, sponsored by the College Entrance Examination Board, provides standardized tests across a diverse array of college-level courses. For each CLEP examination that awards 3 or 6 credits, MCLA requires a minimum score of 50, representing the mean test score of students who earn a C in the corresponding college level course. For students seeking 12 credits in foreign language, the following scores are required. French 62, German 63, Spanish 66. For a complete list of the exams and each exam description, visit www.collegeboard.com/clep.

Pass a CLEP Examination and show your college that you know your stuff.

CLEP Tests/Credit Level Equivalent @ MCLA



As College Board would say:

Get credit for what you already know, shorten the time it takes to earn a degree, save tuition dollars, place out of a graduation requirement or an introductory course.

Visit http://www.clepexampracticetests.com

Visit http://www.cleptestquestions.com/

Students who would like more information should stop by CSSE / Advising, Eldridge Hall, top floor.
Radio presenter Fifi Box has taken another day off work as she mourns the death of Jaimi Kenny - the eldest daughter of her ex-partner Grant Kenny.

Fifi, who shared a close bond with Jaimi despite splitting from her father eight years ago, was absent from Fox FM's Fifi, Fev and Byron show on Wednesday morning.

Her absence for the second day in a row was briefly mentioned at 6am.

Grief: Radio presenter Fifi Box has taken another day off work as she mourns the death of Jaimi Kenny - the eldest daughter of her ex-partner Grant Kenny. Pictured outside her father's home in Melbourne on Tuesday morning

The 43-year-old also wasn't on the air on Tuesday, with her co-host Byron Cooke telling listeners at the start of the broadcast: 'Well, Fi is away today but the show must go on.'

Trying to lift the team's spirits, Brendan Fevola added: 'We're a team, we're one and one, we're going to mould into one and just nail it.

'If we're in the Titanic, I've got my arms around you. I'll carry you, bro.'

Later that morning, a visibly strained Fifi was pictured leaving her father's home in Melbourne, just hours after learning of Jaimi's death at the age of 33.

Personal leave: Fifi was absent from Fox FM's Fifi, Fev and Byron show on Wednesday morning. Her absence for the second day in a row was briefly mentioned at 6am. Pictured with co-hosts Byron Cooke (left) and Brendan Fevola (right)

Devastated: On Tuesday, a visibly strained Fifi was pictured leaving her father's home in Melbourne with her daughter Daisy, just hours after learning of Jaimi's death at the age of 33

Jaimi wasn't just her ex-partner's daughter - she was also the older half-sister of Fifi's child Trixie Belle, whom she welcomed in 2013 after a brief relationship with Grant.

Despite splitting with Grant months before giving birth to Trixie, Fifi remained close to his children from his first marriage: Jaimi, Morgan and Jett.

Jaimi would even babysit her much younger half-sister on occasion while single mum Fifi was at work.

Fifi hasn't commented publicly on Jaimi's death.

Half-sisters: Fifi shared a close bond with Jaimi despite splitting from her father eight years ago. Jaimi would even babysit her much younger half-sister, Trixie, on occasion while single mum Fifi was at work (pictured in 2015)

Blended family: Fifi and Grant dated for several months in 2012, but had split by the time she welcomed daughter Beatrix 'Trixie' Belle (pictured) via IVF in 2013

Jaimi's mother, three-time Olympian Lisa Curry, separated from Grant in 2009 after 23 years of marriage, before finalising their divorce in 2017.

Fifi and Grant dated for several months in 2012, but had broken up by the time she welcomed daughter Beatrix 'Trixie' Belle via IVF the following year.

She did not acknowledge Grant was Trixie's father until 2016, when she shared a photo to Instagram of the retired athlete attending their child's third birthday party.

In June 2019, Fifi welcomed another daughter, Daisy Belle, via IVF and an anonymous donor. The identity of Daisy's father is not public knowledge.

Co-parents: Fifi did not acknowledge Grant was the father of her daughter until 2016, when she shared this photo to Instagram of the retired athlete attending Trixie's third birthday party

The Kenny-Curry family tree, including Fifi's daughters - one of whom was fathered by Grant

The Kenny-Curry family confirmed Jaimi's death in a statement on Monday afternoon.

'It is with a very heavy heart that Lisa and I confirm our beautiful daughter Jaimi has lost her battle with a long-term illness and passed away peacefully in hospital this morning in the company of loving family,' read the statement by Jaimi's father, Grant.

'Jaimi will forever be remembered as a caring, bright and loving soul who always put others before herself,' it continued.

'Our hearts are broken and the pain is immense but we must move forward cherishing every wonderful moment we got to share with our treasured first child.

Jaimi (left), the eldest daughter of Aussie sporting power couple Grant Kenny (centre) and Lisa Curry (right), died at the age of 33 on Monday after battling an eating disorder for years. Pictured on the Sunshine Coast on April 3, 2008

'We thank the incredible team at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital for their tireless commitment to making her better and giving us the extra time we were able to spend with her.

'It goes without saying that this is a very difficult time for family and friends and we trust we will all be allowed to grieve in privacy.'

While the family's statement did not specify the exact nature of Jaimi's illness, it's understood she had long battled an eating disorder.

While the family's statement on Monday did not specify the nature of Jaimi's illness, it's understood she had long battled an eating disorder. Pictured: Lisa carrying Jaimi on her shoulders after winning gold at the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand

Jaimi is pictured as a baby with her father, Grant Kenny, in a family photo from 1987

Her family had supported her through years of treatment at the End ED private clinic on the Sunshine Coast.

Jaimi is survived her her sister Morgan, brother Jett, mother Lisa, father Grant and half-sister Trixie.

For free and confidential support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or the Butterfly Foundation for eating disorder concerns on 1800 ED HOPE
"Worst night of my life" American student tells court in Rome.

An American student on trial in Italy for the murder of a Rome policeman made an apology in court on 16 September, reports Italian news agency ANSA.

"I want to apologise to everyone, to Cerciello's family and to his friends. To the whole world. That night was the worst in my life and if I could go back to change things I would do it now, but I can't."

This was stated in court by Finnegan Lee Elder, the 20-year-old Californian on trial together with his friend Christian Natale Hjorth for the murder of Mario Cerciello Rega, a 35-year-old carabiniere who was stabbed 11 times in Rome in July 2019.

"I did not speak before due to lack of courage" - Elder told the court - "In prison I have had the opportunity and time to reflect. That night was the worst of my life, not because I am in prison, far away from everyone. The reasons are different:

"I took a person's life, I took a husband from his wife, I broke a bond between brothers. And I took a son from his mother. I will never be able to forgive myself for all this."

Elder added that he didn't expect Cerciello's family to "forgive me today, it will be difficult, but I hope that one day they will be able to do so," reports ANSA.

Mario Cerciello Rega

In the early hours of 26 July 2019, Cerciello Rega and his colleague Andrea Varriale, both dressed in plain-clothes, had gone to investigate a drug deal gone wrong in Rome's upmarket Prati district.

Elder has admitted to stabbing Cerciello Rega with an 18-cm serrated-edge combat knife but has insisted to investigators that he thought he and his friend were being attacked by drug dealers.

What happened prior to attack



A few hours before the attack Elder and Natale-Hjorth had been trying to buy cocaine in the popular night-life area of Trastevere.



A man described as an "intermediary" and identified as Sergio Brugiatelli helped them find a dealer who allegedly sold them crushed aspirin instead of drugs.



In retaliation the students stole Brugiatelli's rucksack, demanding the return of their money plus a gram of cocaine in exchange. However Brugiatelli informed the police of the situation, with undercover officers Cerciello Rega and Varriale going to the designated meeting place in Prati, in place of Brugiatelli.

Elder claims that they were jumped from behind by the officers who they believed were criminal associates of Brugiatelli. Varriale has said that he and Cerciello Rega, both unarmed, told the young men they were police, but that Elder pulled out a knife and attacked Cerciello Rega, while Natale-Hjorth wrestled with Varriale.

In the ensuing 32-second brawl Cerciello Rega was stabbed 11 times, later dying from his wounds in nearby S. Spirito hospital.

Elder and Natale-Hjorth fled the scene but were tracked down the next day to a hotel, in the same area as the attack, where police found the military knife hidden behind a ceiling panel.

Contradictory version of events

Varriale initially said that he and Cerciello Rega had been attacked by men of north African descent, as well as claiming that he had been armed. However it later transpired that both officers were unarmed and that they acted without backup, in violation of police procedure.

Shortly after the teens' arrest, a photo showing Natale-Hjorth blindfolded and restrained at a police station was leaked to the Italian media, attracting further controversy to the case.

Separately, defence lawyers for the US students say that transcripts of talks between Elder and his lawyer which were published in Italian media and suggested that he had confessed, were translated badly and appeared to omit parts of their conversation.

Outpouring of public sympathy

Cerciello Rega's murder received widespread attention in Italy where he was portrayed as a hero. He had only just returned to duty from his honeymoon, and massive crowds turned out for his funeral at the same church where he had been married just 43 days before.

The case continues.

Photo Reuters
A Boston University lecturer had just moved into her apartment and was moving a bed frame and mattress when the building's elevator crushed her to death.

Carrie O'Connor, 38, was moving her belongings into her apartment in the 1920s building on Monday evening when the accident occurred.

Authorities said she became trapped in the doorway of the first floor and the elevator, according to a police report, obtained by the Boston Globe.

O'Connor was pronounced dead at the scene and her body was extracted by Boston firefighters.

In the report, police wrote that O'Connor's 'mattress and frame were also removed from the scene and held in the garage area'.

The items are being held at this time 'as evidence,' police added.

Boston University lecturer, Carrie O'Connor (left and right), 38, had just moved into her apartment and was moving a bed frame and mattress when the building's elevator crushed her to death, according to police

O'Connor died on Monday evening when the elevator (pictured) suddenly dropped between floors as she tried to load her package

Firefighters are seen outside the apartment complex in Allston, Boston on Monday

Following the accident, tenant Leanne Scorzoni, told the Boston Globe, that she spoke with a man who had been helping OConnor right before she was killed at the building located at 1140 Commonwealth Ave in Allston.

While the elevator usually works via a two-door system that requires the second door to be firmly shut before moving, it's believed the weight triggered a sensor by fault.

'I heard it, he saw everything,' tenant Leanne Scorzoni said. 'He was helping her with a box into the building and he was going up the stairs, and he told her "hey, just be careful because it's an old-fashioned elevator."'

Scorzoni described the scene as 'horrifying'.

'I don't know what type of elevator it is, but you have to pull the door across and then step in and then press the button,' she said.

Scorzoni added that she was told the elevator had a sensor, and the man who was helping O'Connor believes that the package may have triggered the sensor, which caused it to start moving.

She told the Boston Globe that there is a staircase next to the elevator, and the man helping O'Connor was talking to her as he was going up.

Tenant, Leanne Scorzoni (pictured), said she spoke with a man who had been helping OConnor right before she was killed at the building located at 1140 Commonwealth Ave in Allston. Scorzoni said the man told her to 'be careful' while using the elevator

'It's a two-slide door system and unless that door is completely shut, it does not move ever,' tenant Nevada Foskit (pictured) said. 'If something did happen, it clearly had to be faulty'

Authorities (pictured exiting the building) said O'Connor was found in the elevator on the first floor. She was pronounced dead at the scene

'He just said "oh, I don't think that's gonna fit in there." And then she's like, "oh, I'll try it one more time". And then I heard her screaming, and I heard him screaming,' she told the publication.

Scorzoni added that the man was screaming and pointing when she emerged from her first floor apartment.

'When I looked at the elevator, it was not there. Only the ceiling of the car was on my floor, so all the cables were there,' she said.

Scorzoni said she did not know O'Connor, and the French lecturer had only recently moved into the building.

Other residents in the building reported hearing screams at the time of the tragic accident. An unidentified witness told Boston 25 News that she 'heard just an ungodly scream'.

'We ran into the hallway and saw a gentlemen who was in distress screaming and hyperventilating and saying she's dead, she's dead'.

The building's residents weren't allowed inside for about 90 minutes as police worked the scene and were told that the elevator was stuck between the first floor and the basement.

Eric Carmichael told CBS that his wife was on the first floor when the accident occurred.

Other residents in the building (pictured) reported hearing screams at the time of the tragic accident. An unidentified witness said she 'heard just an ungodly scream'

In a statement, a spokesperson from the state's Division of Professional Licensure said officials from the Office of Public Safety and Inspections determined that the elevator was recently inspected and certified in accordance with state regulations

He said she told him that it all happened so fast and there was nothing she could do to help.

'The lady was trying to put her package into the elevator, like that's how we do it. Take it from the lobby,' Carmichael told the station.

'I guess maybe the package and the woman were over the limit of what the elevator could handle so then what my wife said she saw was the lady's arms like hanging onto her package.'

Carmichael called the accident terrifying because any it could have been any of the residents inside when the elevator malfunctioned.

'Terrible old elevator that should have been probably kept up better,' he added.

Another resident told CBS that the elevator is an old system.

'It's a two-slide door system and unless that door is completely shut, it does not move ever,' Nevada Foskit said. 'If something did happen, it clearly had to be faulty.'

The building's residents weren't allowed inside for about 90 minutes as police worked the scene and were told that the elevator was stuck between the first floor and the basement (bottom left)

The elevator became stuck between the first floor and the basement, which is where the washers and dryers are in the building

The building (pictured) itself dates back to 1920, according to tax records, but it's unclear when the elevator was installed

Management of the building said the elevator was inspected within the past year.

According to WCVB, Boston's Inspectional Service Department said the elevator is overseen by the state.

In a statement, a spokesperson from the state's Division of Professional Licensure said officials from the Office of Public Safety and Inspections determined that the elevator was recently inspected and certified in accordance with state regulations.

'The department extends its deepest sympathies to the loved ones of the victim during this difficult time,' the statement reads.

Police and officials from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are still investigating.

The building itself dates back to 1920, according to tax records, but it's unclear when the elevator was installed.

Boston police sergeant Detective John Boyle said her cause of death was traumatic asphyxia, and the manner was accidental.

According to O'Connor's biography on the Boston University website, she has taught 'a wide range of courses throughout her career, including French language, French for Business, Conversational French, French literature in translation, and French culture through gastronomy'.

She previously taught at Bentley University, Louisiana State University, MIT, Northeastern University, and Tufts University.
As school districts around the country settle into new routines this fall, it's becoming clear that remote learning isn't going anywhere. And this is having a dramatic impact on working parents across the U.S. But hourly workers may be bearing a bigger burden. About 60% of students will attend school virtually this fall, while 18% will split their time between remote learning and in-person attendance. Just 19% of children nationwide will be attending in person, according to a report out earlier this month from Burbio, which aggregated data from 80,000 K-12 school calendars across all 50 states. And this is having a big impact on working parents: 74% of parents who work as hourly employees say they expect remote learning to affect their performance at work, according to a recent survey of over 2,500 U.S. adults with children that CNBC Make It conducted in conjunction with Branch, a mobile financial platform for hourly workers. Over two-thirds of parents believe having their children attend school remotely will impact their ability to maintain the same number of hours at work, and over 80% expect to lose some income due to a lack of child care or in-person school attendance, the survey finds.

Zoom In Icon Arrows pointing outwards Branch

"A reduction of hours is a reduction of income for this workforce," says Branch CEO Atif Siddiqi. Hourly employees also face challenges such as variability in pay and income volatility, as many are not working the same schedule week to week. Alicia LaPeruta, a 33-year-old single mother, says that while she hasn't lost any income yet because of the pandemic, she has scaled back her hours since her 6-year-old twin boys started the school year remotely. "I have definitely cut back on my hours voluntarily for my own sanity," LaPeruta says. Based in Arizona, LaPeruta says that before the pandemic she was regularly logging 50 hours at work as an employee of a small marketing firm that handles higher education clients. "I was working in the office twice a week and then working from home the rest," she says, adding that once the pandemic hit, she transitioned to remote work. Recently, however, she has been going into the office one afternoon a week, and she's hoping to perhaps increase that since the boys' charter school recently announced they plan to start returning to in-person attendance in mid-October. For now though, LaPeruta says she gets up early and tries to log a few hours of work before the boys' classes start at 8 a.m. "It's nice because we're three hours behind East Coast time in Arizona, so actually I've been trying to get at least two, sometimes three, hours of my day done before 8 a.m. our time," she says, adding that waking up early helps make her work days less stressful since she does have to be on hand to help if the boys run into problems with their school work. "Usually, it's a quick interruption here or there," LaPeruta says. "I don't remember the last time I worked a true full, eight-hour shift," she adds, saying that her day is usually broken up into increments of a couple hours here and there. And while her supervisor has been supportive, LaPeruta says she's the only one in her small company who's actively responsible for her kids. Other employees have kids, but they have a stay-at-home spouse. The company she works for hasn't really implemented any formal policies or had any conversations around employee child-care needs, LaPeruta explains but adds that she's not planning on bringing up these issues either.

Alicia LaPeruta says she's cut back on her work hours this fall to balance time with her sons, who are currently attending school remotely.

She says it would be nice to have a little support, but as a contractor she doesn't get benefits and she's paid hourly. But it's worked for LaPeruta so far because the job does give her some flexibility. "I work as a contractor because [the cost of] child care is too expensive for twins on one income if I was to have to go in full-time in-person somewhere," she says. "[Working] hourly with no benefits, I get the flexibility versus [being] salaried with benefits and more strict requirements." Fortunately, because she works with higher education clients, there's been increased work and commissions during the pandemic as schools attempt to navigate the crisis. "I don't foresee my employer having to cut our hours as we are stretched thin right now. But in the start-up world, that is, of course, always a possibility," LaPeruta says. "I'm just trying to survive every day."

Turning to family for support

Although many parents are single-handedly juggling remote schooling and job responsibilities, many are bringing in help. Nearly half, 47%, of hourly employees are planning to turn to family or friends to help care for their children this fall, the survey finds. LaPeruta is getting help from her father. She's worked out a schedule where her dad watches the boys one afternoon a week so she can go into the office. Across the country, Shana Swain, 40, says she too is turning to her own mother for child care right now. A Charleston-based bartender, Swain was laid off early in the pandemic after the city's stay-at-home order closed businesses. "We had to go through that period of no work," Swain says, adding that she's back at it now, but capacity is still only about half, so "money-wise, we're not 100%."
New Delhi, Sep 16 : : Gone are the days of Chinese's People Liberation Army troops getting a chance to use barbaric weapons at borders with India. There would not be any more scuffles, pushing or jostling between Indian and Chinese troops.

Firing in the air to stop each other from intimidating their opponents stationed at at Line of Actual Control (LAC) is now the new normal in Eastern Ladakh.

This happened after the rules of engagement with China changed following the death of 20 Indian soldiers at Galwan Valley on June 15.

Top government sources told IANS that there have been three incidents of firing in air at the LAC in Eastern Ladakh amid heightened tensions between Indian and Chinese troops.

Early September in the north bank side of Pangong Lake, when Indian troops moved towards the western side of Finger 3, the Chinese army made provocative military movements to occupy the area between Finger 3 and 4. This led to firing of around 200 shots in the air when the troops of both the countries came a few hundred metres away.

In military parlance Fingers are mountain spurs jutting in the lake.

The source also stated that warning shots were also fired in southern bank side of Pangon Lake close to Chushul on September 7.

Thereafter, Indian Army in a statement said that China continues to "undertake provocative activities to escalatea the situation at the border and it was Chinese People's Liberation Army troops "fired a few rounds in the air in an attempt to intimidate own troops".

"At no stage has the Indian Army transgressed across the LAC or resorted to use of any aggressive means, including firing," Indian Army spokesperson Colonel Aman Anand had said.

The force stated that it is the Chinese PLA that has been "blatantly violating agreements and carrying out aggressive manoeuvres, while engagement at the military, diplomatic and political levels is in progress".

"In the case on September 7, 2020, it was the PLA troops who were attempting to close-in with one of our forward positions along the LAC and when dissuaded by own troops, PLA troops fired a few rounds in the air in an attempt to intimidate own troops," the force said.

China also had accused Indian Army of doing firing warning shots.

Sources also stated that warning shots were also fired before these two incidents. It happened on the southern bank of Pangong Lake.

It was after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi reached an agreement in Moscow that the situation has since calmed down a bit at the borders.
Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates said he does not believe that any of the COVID-19 vaccine candidates are likely to seek approval in the United States before the end of October.

I do think once you get into, say, December or January, the chances are that at least two or three will (seek approval)  if the effectiveness is there, said the Co-Chair and Trustee of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Putting confidence about a breakthrough by early 2021, Gates named one drug maker as being the furthest ahead in a video conference with CNBC.

And so we have these phase three trials that are going on. The only vaccine that if everything went perfectly, might seek the emergency use license by the end of October, would be Pfizer, Gates reportedly said.

Gates said that they see good antibody levels both in the phase one and the phase two trials, so they are pretty hopeful of those trials, as per the report.

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

Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is one of three vaccine candidates from the West in late-stage testing. The other two are from Moderna and UK-based AstraZeneca.

On September 14, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla talked about the possibility of the distribution of its COVID-19 vaccine to Americans before the end of 2020, if found to be safe and effective, said the report.

Over the weekend, Pfizer and BioNTech SE made a request to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to expand the enrolment of their Phase 3 pivotal COVID-19 vaccine trial to up to about 44,000 participants, up from its earlier target of 30,000.

Follow our full coverage on COVID-19 here
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 23:59:25|Editor: huaxia

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BRUSSELS, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Member states of the European Union (EU) must step up and take responsibility to address migration, which is a challenge for all and not just for those which are most exposed to it, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday.

"I expect all member states to step up too. Migration is a European challenge and all of Europe must do its part," von der Leyen said in her maiden State of the Union speech at the European Parliament.

Underlining that a solution needs compromise, she said the Commission will present next week its New Pact on Migration, which will take a human and humane approach.

"Saving lives at sea is not optional. And those countries who fulfil their legal and moral duties or are more exposed than others, must be able to rely on the solidarity of our whole European Union," insisted the chief of EU's executive arm.

Von der Leyen added that Europe must make a clear distinction between those who have the right to stay and those who do not, stressing that those who could stay in Europe should be integrated and be made to feel welcome.

"We will take action to fight smugglers, strengthen external borders, deepen external partnerships and create legal pathways," she said.

Regarding the thousands of refugees left homeless after the Greek refugee camp that had sheltered them was damaged in fire, von der Leyen said the Commission is working with the Greek authorities on building a new camp on the island.

Countries on the EU's southern border, including Italy and Malta, have long been complaining about the excessive burden of migration, claiming that they were left alone to deal with the thousands of migrants fleeing Libya and other African countries in hope of finding a more prosperous future in Europe. Enditem
A mother-of-two has described the horrifying moment she felt her flesh melting off after her partner allegedly doused her in petrol and set her on fire.

Andrea Atkins-Greed ran out of her home in Medina, south of Perth, covered in flames and screaming 'like a wounded animal' after the alleged assault on August 23.

One month on, the 26-year-old credits her quick thinking neighbours for saving her life.

'It felt like razor blades going through my skin... it was agonising,' she told The West Australian.

Ms Atkins-Greed explained how a verbal altercation on an otherwise normal Sunday afternoon resulted in her 37-year-old partner, Daniel James Boldison, allegedly setting her on fire.

Andrea Atkins-Greed (pictured) had tried to leave her allegedly abusive partner prior to the August 23 incident

He has been charged with attempted murder and grievous bodily harm, as well as common assault over a separate incident earlier in 2020.

Ms Atkins-Greed said she instantly ran out the front door and began screaming for help from her neighbours after the alleged attack.

'One of the girls almost ripped all the skin off my arm because she gripped me by the arm. She was trying to help me across the road, but all my flesh was quite literally melting off of me,' she said.

Ms Atkins-Greed said she 'went into shock' when a neighbour finally got her in the shower.

'I remember begging Teresa (my neighbour) to kill me because I was in that much pain,' she said.

Daniel James Boldison (pictured) has been charged with attempted murder and grievous bodily harm

The home the couple shared (pictured) was also damaged during the blaze

One neighbour in particular, an ex-Navy serviceman, provided life-saving first aid in the moments after the alleged attack.

Doctors have since revealed that if he didn't follow all the right steps, she wouldn't be alive to share her story.

Ms Atkins-Greed suffered burns to 35 per cent of her body and was in a coma for several days.

The skin on her stomach was attached to her shirt and peeled off when medics undressed her.

Her devastated father previously told 7News she would be traumatised for life.

Ms Atkins-Greed (pictured) begged her neighbour to kill her while she was on fire because the pain was unbearable

'She is scarred for life now, and those kids are going to be brought up with that, and that's unfair on them, you know, why is Mummy like this?' he said.

Theresa Mitchell, who assisted Ms Atkins-Green and showered her, previously told 9News she felt helpless.

'When you're looking at someone and they're begging you to take the pain away, and you can't there was nothing I could do,' she revealed.

'She was sort of staggering across the road, towards here, screaming my name, screaming for me to help her.

'It was like looking at a wounded animal.'
"As we transition into autumn and the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday season, we want Southwest Customers to have the confidence of knowing that middle seats will remain open through Nov. 30 to accommodate their fall travel plans," said Ryan Green, Southwest's Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer . "Southwest has been operating flights with middle seats open throughout the summer and has added thousands of flights to in-demand destinations to provide extra seats for on-board physical distancing and added comfort."

As always, Southwest Customers may choose their own seats. In Southwest's open seating environment, families, or those traveling together, may still sit together and occupy a middle seat for their convenience. Previously, middle seats were open through Oct. 31, 2020.

The Southwest Promise: A Multi-Layered Approach to Cleaning and Comfort

In addition to keeping middle seats open this fall, Southwest continues supporting the comfort and well-being of Customers and Employees by executing a multi-layered approach to cleaning and physical distancing.

Prior to Travel:

Face Coverings Required: All Southwest Customers and Employees over the age of two are required to wear a covering over their mouth and nose throughout the travel journey. If a Customer does not have a face covering, the Southwest Team will have face masks available at the airport and onboard our aircraft to ensure compliance with the policy.

Customer Health Declaration: Customers are required to acknowledge an awareness of the carrier's face covering policy and confirm they do not have symptoms of COVID-19 and have not been diagnosed with, or exposed to, COVID-19 in the 14 days prior to travel. They also are required to confirm they do not have a fever when they travel. The declaration appears during the online check-in process via the Southwest app, Southwest.com, the carrier's mobile website, SWABIZ.com, and airport kiosks.

In the Airports:

Airport Cleaning: Southwest is cleaning ticket counters, gates, kiosks, and baggage claim areas multiple times per day. Additionally, the airline is utilizing electrostatic sprayers to apply a disinfectant to Southwest's airport areas at least once per week.

Physical Distancing in Airports: Southwest is now boarding in smaller groups of 10 to allow for distancing and queuing only on one side of boarding poles in the gate areas. Additionally, new airport signage and floor markers highlight and encourage proper distances throughout the boarding areas. Southwest also has installed Plexiglas at ticketing and gate counters and baggage service offices to provide more protection during in-person transactions and interactions between Employees and Customers.

Don't Forget Your Hands: Hand sanitizer is available at check-in kiosks, ticket counters, and gates.

Onboard our Aircraft:

HEPA Filters: Every aircraft is equipped with a sophisticated air recirculation system that introduces fresh outside air into the cabin while inflight, resulting in a complete exchange of cabin air every two to three minutes. Southwest uses HEPA filters onboard that remove 99.97% of airborne particles*similar to the technology found in hospitals (*measuring 0.3 micrometers or greater in diameter passing through the filter).

Enhanced Overnight Aircraft Cleaning: Southwest deep cleans each plane from nose to tail for nearly six to seven labor hours every night, including all high-touch surfaces such as seat belt buckles, tray tables, air vents, arm rests, galleys, and lavatories.

Electrostatic Aircraft Spraying: Both an electrostatic disinfectant and an anti-microbial spray are applied on every surface of the aircraft, killing viruses on contact and, then, forming an anti-microbial coating, or shield, for 30 days.

Cleaning Before Every Flight: Sani-Cide EX3, a broad-spectrum disinfectant, is used to clean all onboard lavatories and every tray table before every flight. Additionally, cleaning wipes are available for Customers onboard, upon request.

Southwest continues relying upon a data-driven, science-based approach to develop and evaluate operational policies and practices and reviews the latest research and recommendations from both internal and third-party experts. We invite you to learn more about our efforts at www.southwest.com/promise.

ABOUT SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO.

In its 50th year of service, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines Co. continues to differentiate itself from other air carriers with exemplary Customer Service delivered by more than 60,000 Employees to a Customer base topping 130 million passengers in 2019. Southwest became the nation's largest domestic air carrier in 2003 and maintains that ranking based on the U.S. Department of Transportation's most recent reporting of domestic originating passengers boarded. In peak travel seasons during 2019, Southwest operated more than 4,000 weekday departures among a network of 103 destinations in the United States and 10 additional countries. Southwest will begin service to Steamboat Springs, Colo. on Dec. 19, 2020, and also recently announced intention to serve Palm Springs, Calif. and Miami, Fla.

The carrier issued its Southwest Promise in May 2020 to highlight new and round-the-clock efforts to support its Customers and Employees wellbeing and comfort. Among the changes are enhanced cleaning efforts at airports and onboard aircraft, facemask requirements for Customers and Employees, and capping the number of passengers on every flight to allow middle seats to remain open through Nov. 30, 2020. Additional details about the Southwest Promise are available at Southwest.com/Promise.

Southwest coined Transfarency to describe its purposed philosophy of treating Customers honestly and fairly, and low fares actually staying low. Southwest is the only major U.S. airline to offer bags fly free to everyone (first and second checked pieces of luggage, size and weight limits apply, some carriers offer free checked bags on select routes or in qualified circumstances). Southwest does not charge change fees, though fare differences might apply.

Southwest is one of the most honored airlines in the world, known for a triple bottom line approach that contributes to the carrier's performance and productivity, the importance of its People and the communities they serve, and an overall commitment to efficiency and the planet. Learn more about how the carrier gives back to communities across the world by visiting Southwest.com/citizenship.

Book Southwest Airlines' low fares online at Southwest.com or by phone at 800-I-FLY-SWA.

SOURCE Southwest Airlines Co.

Related Links

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Johnson has repeatedly said that trade between Northern Ireland and Great Britain must be unfettered after Brexit, and he sees this move as necessary to secure that goal. If the U.K. and EU dont come to an agreement by year-end, all goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain may have to pay tariffs, a situation the U.K. government says is unacceptable. But the prime minister also wants to break away from the EUs state aid rules -- a position that has become the biggest obstacle to reaching a wider accord with the bloc over their future relationship. Potentially, the EU could block a subsidy to a company in England, Wales or Scotland on the grounds it might help or hurt a business in Northern Ireland, which will still have to follow the blocs state aid rules from January. Johnsons move could also be a negotiating tactic: By threatening the EU with a damaging rupture, he may be trying to encourage the bloc to offer a trade agreement with terms more favorable to the U.K.
Labour MP Daniel Zeichner wants ministers to intervene in the 30bn sale of Arm

Pressure is mounting on ministers to intervene in the 30billion sale of Britain's largest tech company Arm.

Daniel Zeichner, the Labour MP for Cambridge, where Arm is based, urged them to step in before the firm is 'thrown away' to US rival Nvidia.

He said it was important to protect the 3,000 skilled jobs at Arm, and said it must be exempted from US rules on where products can be exported to.

Zeichner said: '[Ministers] cannot simply nod this through and hand over decision-making power to a foreign state.

'It is bad for our economy, bad for national security, as well as being incomprehensible tactically ahead of trying to strike a trade deal. It's weak, feeble and foolish.'

The Government is to review whether there are grounds to intervene as critics called for the deal to be referred to the competition watchdog.
Actress Kareena Kapoor Khan, who was known to be quite a private person, stepped into the world of Instagram last year. Since then, the diva has been treating fans with glimpses of her family life including adorable pictures of her son Taimur.

Recently, Bebo's father, veteran actor Randhir Kapoor too, followed her footsteps and finally made his debut on Instagram. His first post dates back to August 29, 2020. when he had posted a picture from the Ganpati celebrations at the Kapoor residence.

In an interview with Times of India, the senior actor has opened up about joining Instagram, whose idea it was, and how he plans to treat his account.

Randhir Kapoor Talks About Joining Instagram Randhir Kapoor told Times of India, "It just happened and it was entirely Lolo and Bebo's decision (Karisma and Kareena). There were some pictures in the stock, they uploaded them after making the account." Randhir Kapoor Says He Will Seek Kareena And Karisma's Help When It Comes To Uploading Pictures The veteran actor was quoted as saying, "Now, Lolo and Bebo are saying that I ought to learn how to handle my account by ownself. But I am not tech-savvy at all. I don't know anything. Whenever I want to post, I think I shall ask Lolo and Bebo to shortlist some pictures and send it to me. I shall choose from them and ask them only to upload." Randhir Kapoor Says He Has Joined Instagram Not To Make Statements "I am not here on Instagram to make statements. I like my peace. I am happy in my space. My Insta will be just fun," the actor signed off.

Meanwhile, Randhir Kapoor is all set to become a grandfather again as his daughter Kareena Kapoor Khan is expecting her second baby with hubby Saif Ali Khan. Reacting to this news, Senior Kapoor had earlier said that the entire family is looking forward to the new addition.

ALSO READ:Randhir Kapoor On Daughter Kareena's Pregnancy: Taimur Needs A Brother Or Sister To Play With

ALSO READ: Karisma Kapoor Shares Pics From Riddhima's Birthday Bash; Alia, Ranbir, Kareena Have A Gala Time
By Akbar Mammadov

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is a major threat to security in the OSCE area and must be kept on the agenda of Sweden's upcoming chairmanship within the OSCE, Azerbaijans Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said while receiving a copy of the credentials of the newly appointed Ambassador of Sweden Christian Kamill on September 15.

During the meeting, Bayramov spoke about Armenias cross-border military provocation near Tovuz region on July 12-16, saying that the Armenian leadership has increased tensions in the region and engaged in provocative actions. The minister said that the international community must send decisive messages to the aggressor Armenia. Thus, the minister stressed the importance of keeping the issue of settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which is a major threat to security in the OSCE area, on the agenda of Sweden's upcoming chairmanship within the OSCE.

In his turn, the ambassador stressed that Sweden supports the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and advocates for the peaceful resolution of the conflict.

Christian Kamil said that he is pleased to be appointed as an ambassador to Azerbaijan, and stressed that the upgrading of Sweden's diplomatic representation in Azerbaijan is an indicator of the importance attached to Azerbaijan.

He also noted that he will spare no efforts to further expanding the cooperation between the two countries during his diplomatic tenure.

During the meeting, the sides discussed existing bilateral cooperation between the two countries, including the development of relations in the political, economic, trade, cultural and tourism spheres, opportunities for expanding inter-parliamentary cooperation.

The sides also exchanged views on active representation and contacts on multilateral platforms.

Furthermore, it was noted that prior to the chairmanship of Sweden in the OSCE in 2021, a visit of the Swedish Foreign Minister to the region is being considered.

Armenian provocation discussed with French envoy

Armenian military provocation was also highlighted during Ceyhun Bayramovs meeting with French Ambassador Zacharie Gross on September 15.

Minister Jeyhun Bayramov briefed the French Ambassador as the representative of one of the co-chair states of the OSCE Minsk Group, on the situation in the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. It was noted that the process of negotiations on the settlement of the conflict has stalled due to the extremely provocative and irresponsible behavior of the Armenian side.

The provocative actions of the Armenian leadership, which seeks to escalate tensions in the region, and also the fact that the Minsk Group co-chairs did not react to such provocative activities was noted with regret. During the meeting, it was stated that the balanced approach to the aggressor state Armenia and Azerbaijan, the territories of which have been under occupation for almost 30 years was wrong. It was also noted that the recent large-scale armament of Armenia is an indication of the country's interest in new provocations.

It was also stated that the balanced approach to the aggressor state Armenia and Azerbaijan, the territories of which have been under occupation for almost 30 years was wrong.

In his turn, Gross emphasized that France is interested in ensuring peace and security in the region. The ambassador expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of progress in the talks on resolving the conflict.

Conveying the sincere congratulations of Minister of Europe and French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian to Bayramov, the ambassador said that Le Drian invited his Azerbaijani counterpart to pay an official visit to Paris.

Azerbaijan and Armenia are locked in a conflict over Azerbaijans Nagorno-Karabakh breakaway region, which along with seven adjacent regions was occupied by Armenian forces in a war in the early 1990s. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and around one million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

The OSCE Minsk Group co-chaired by the United States, Russia and France has been mediating the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict since the signing of the volatile cease-fire agreement in 1994. The Minsk Groups efforts have resulted in no progress and to this date, Armenia has failed to abide by the UN Security Council resolutions (822, 853, 874 and 884) that demand the withdrawal of Armenian military forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

---

Akbar Mammadov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AkbarMammadov97

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Lewis Hamilton stated he wanted to bring awareness to those who have been killed

Racing driver Lewis Hamilton is committed to using his platform to highlight injustices such as the Breonna Taylor case, and not even a pending investigation could stop him.

Sunday, Lewis  who is currently the only Black driver in Formula 1  rocked a black T-shirt before and after a race that read Arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor on the front, along with a photo of Taylor on the back and the words Say her name.

SCARPERIA, ITALY  SEPTEMBER 13: Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Mercedes GP is pictured wearing a shirt in tribute to the late Breonna Taylor before the F1 Grand Prix of Tuscany at Mugello Circuit on September 13, 2020 in Scarperia, Italy. (Photo by Peter Fox/Getty Images)

READ MORE: Anthony Hamilton, D-Nice, and more to be featured on OWN Spotlight: They Call Me Dad

Even though the Federation Internationale de lAutomobile (which in English translates to the International Automobile Federation) considered launching a probe into his actions, the 35-year-old athlete not only won his race over the weekend, he also remains undeterred in his commitment to social justice.

Ive been wanting to bring awareness to the fact there are people being killed on the street, and someone was killed in her own house and they were in the wrong house and those guys are still walking free, Hamilton said in a post-race press conference according to BBC News.

READ MORE: California Black man falsely accused of deputy ambush: Dont feel safe at all

He also took to his social media feed to proudly post photos of himself wearing the T-shirt on Instagram, captioning the post: Its been 6 months since Breonna Taylor was murdered by policemen, in her own home. Still no justice has been served. We wont stay silent. #JusticeForBreonnaTaylor.

SCARPERIA, ITALY  SEPTEMBER 13: Nicholas Latifi of Canada and Williams, Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Mercedes GP and Sebastian Vettel of Germany and Ferrari kneel as Max Verstappen of Netherlands and Red Bull Racing, Daniil Kvyat of Russia and Scuderia AlphaTauri and Charles Leclerc of Monaco and Ferrari stand in support of ending racism before the F1 Grand Prix of Tuscany at Mugello Circuit on September 13, 2020 in Scarperia, Italy. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

Tuesday, the FIA, which is a nonpolitical governing body for world motorsports, announced it had decided not to investigate whether Hamilton violated the organizations rules by for wearing the shirt.

FIA also told CNN that it has decided to instead clarify its rules on political statements before the next race later this month.

Have you subscribed to theGrios podcast Dear Culture? Download our newest episodes now!

The post Lewis Hamilton says he wont let up after possible investigation into Breonna Taylor shirt appeared first on TheGrio.
Jerusalem, Sep 16 : Israeli Defence Minister and Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz hailed the newly-signed peace deals with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain.

The signing, which took place earlier during a ceremony at the White House, "is nothing less than a day of celebration for the country," Gantz wrote on Twitter on Tuesday, Xinhua news agency reported.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi tweeted hailing a "historic day for Israel, UAE, Bahrain and for the entire region." Ashkenazi also thanked US President Donald Trump for his role "in creating a new reality in the Middle East." Earlier on Tuesday, Israel signed in Washington two separate agreements to normalize its ties with the UAE and Bahrain.

Only two Arab countries, Egypt and Jordan, had previously signed peace agreements with Israel.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 16)  The families of 36 Filipino seafarers who remain missing after a ship sunk in Japan earlier this month said they are not giving up until they have found their loved ones.

In an online press conference on Wednesday, the relatives of the crew members reached out to the Philippine government as well as the owning company and manning agency of Gulf Livestock 1 to coordinate with other countries to intensify their search and rescue.

Maya Addug-Sanchez, sister of ship captain Dante Addug, called out Dubai-based Gulf Navigation Holdings, the owner of the sunken ship, to actively participate in the search. She and other family members urged the company to send advanced equipment or professional divers to help them find their relatives.

"It is a multi-billion company, magkano lang sa kanila ang magpadala ng high-tech devices?" she told reporters. "'Yung pinakaunang request na i-check 'yung barko, I cannot comprehend kung bakit hanggang ngayon hindi magawa."

[Translation: It is a multi-billion company, how much would it cost them to send over high-tech devices? Our first request to check the ship, I cannot comprehend why they have not done it until now.]

Liberty Seneres, wife of the ship's chief engineer Aristotle Sabillena, said the families of missing seafarers also wanted nearby countries like Korea and China to check their islands.

"We're still pleading for more help...alam mo 'yung feeling na nafu-frusrate kasi hindi namin alam kung nasaan sila?" she said.

[Translation: We're still pleading for help...do you know the feeling of being frustrated because we do not know where they are?]

Hours later, Gulf Navigation Holdings and LMA Korpil, the manning agency, released a joint statement saying they have urged the Japanese Coast Guard and nation states bordering the South China Sea to include inspecting their islands in their search operations.

"These messages have been reinforced by Owners presenting their request to the UAE Government, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to make and support the request to The Japanese, Chinese and Korean Governments, via their embassies, to continue with the search," the statement said.

The companies also said that the suggestion to send a team of divers is under consideration, adding that an investigation into the incident will also take place with a report to be sent to the families explaining how the accident occurred.

The ship Gulf Livestock 1 was carrying 43 people - 39 Filipinos, two Australians and two New Zealanders - when it sunk during the onslaught of a typhoon on September 2. The Japanese Coast Guard launched search and rescue operations using aircrafts, but later eased their search on September 10 after days of no progress.

Sanchez said although Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello had been updating them she had hoped the government would relay the steps they have taken so far in looking for the missing crew.

"If in the event some of our loved ones were unable to escape the vessel, then at least a recovery of human remains can be conducted to provide us families with some closure," she urged.

Remains to be returned

Meanwhile, the remains of one of the rescued seafarers will be flown back on Thursday, Bello said.

The flight carrying Joel Linao's remains will arrive from Tokyo at 5 p.m., the secretary told reporters. On the other hand, the two rescued survivors will arrive on September 19, the state media said, citing a report from the Labor Department.

"We handled all the preparation for the repatriation of Linao and we have extended all possible assistance for the survivors," said Bello in a "virtual cafe" session with the media.
President Donald Trump arrives for a Latinos for Trump Coalition roundtable at Arizona Grand Resort in Phoenix

President Donald Trump arrives for a Latinos for Trump Coalition roundtable at Arizona Grand Resort in Phoenix on Sept. 14, 2020. Credit - Andrew HarnikAP

President Donald Trump sat at a table at the Arizona Grand Resort, flanked at a distance by local Republican leaders with ties to the Latino community.

Were here to discuss my Administrations unwavering devotion to Hispanic American communities, Trump said on Monday at the indoor event with cheering supporters. I love you, and were taking care of you, and Im never letting you down.

Most Latinos disagree. The Trump Administration has failed to adequately respond to the pandemic, which has disproportionately affected Latinos. His immigration policy has been largely unpopular and resulted in families getting split apart. And hes uttered racist insults since the day he announced he was running for President. Yet the Trump campaign is actively playing for Latino voters with a message centered around faith, family, law and order, and entrepreneurship.

We can poke holes in those things, but those are the sincere arguments of Latino Trump supporters, and it seems like those arguments are at least enough to win a significant share of the Latino vote, says Geraldo Cadava, a Northwestern University professor who focuses on Latinos and the Republican Party.

The Trump campaign has targeted Latinos with Spanish TV and radio ad buys. (The campaign did not share how much money it has spent on them.) Its Latinos for Trump initiative, launched in June 2019, includes 16 field offices in target states which have been hubs for door knocking and phone calls. On social media, the campaigns presence includes an Equipo Trump Twitter account and a VAMOS Instagram hashtag. The President has a Latinos for Trump advisory board and has held roundtable events. It all adds up to a clear play for a group with growing influence in the electorate.

Story continues

Its like a math problem, right? You want to add and not subtract. This is about addition, says Trump 2020 senior adviser Mercedes Schlapp. This is about adding to our party. This is about ensuring that were able to make inroads into these very crucial communities and take away from the Democrats.

Supporters of President Donald Trump wait in line at the Arizona Grand Resort to hear the President speak at a "Latinos for Trump" roundtable in Phoenix on Sep. 14, 2020. Thomas HawthorneThe Republic/USA Today Network/Sipa



Nobody expects Trump to win the Latino vote. In 2016 he won 28%. In some states with large Latino populations, he did slightly better; in Florida, Nevada, and Arizona he notched 35%, 29%, and 31% respectively, according to CNNs exit poll. This year, polling suggests hes in the same range, despite policies that have hurt Latinos. Theres a chance he could maintain or even gain ground in these states, especially Florida. Recent polling by Equis Research, a progressive Hispanic research firm, for example, has Trump at 37% in Florida, 26% in Nevada, and 29% in Arizona.

He has to do better than he did in 2016, and he certainly is, says Carlos Curbelo, the former Florida Republican congressman, noting the campaign has had aggressive outreach to the Latino community during the last couple of years. I dont know how much room for growth he has, I think hes probably maxed out right now. He certainly needs those voters because hes lost some white suburban support.

Stephanie Valencia, co-founder of Equis Research, says that its important to break down whats happening in each state rather than just looking at Latino voters nationally. In Arizona, for example, Equis polling indicates there is what Valencia refers to as Trump intrigue among young, Hispanic men. In Florida, Trump has targeted the states large Cuban population by falsely attacking Biden as a socialist.

The thrust of the argument the Trump campaign is laying out for Latino voters depends on the circumstances before the pandemic hit: The economy was doing well, unemployment  especially among minorities  was down, and home ownership among Latinos was rising. But hes also trying to stir doubt about Biden, and is capitalizing on the fact that Bidens campaign has caught heat for not doing enough to court Latino voters.

Meanwhile, groups like the Lincoln Project, made up of conservatives who oppose Trump, are teaming up with Latino groups to help get out the vote for Biden. If Latinos vote, theyre going to reject Donald Trump, says Jacob Monty, a Republican donor who is on the Lincoln Projects Hispanic Steering Committee and was a member of the 2016 Trump National Hispanic Advisory Council before he resigned.
Derek Jeter is ready to step down from his reign over his Tampa, Florida estate, which is nicknamed St. Jetersburg. The former Yankees shortstop and his wife, Hannah Davis, recently listed the mansion for $29 million, the New York Times reports. The home was custom-built for the athlete and his family back in 2012, and is the most expensive property to ever be built in the Davis Islands neighborhood.

Every inch of the 30,875-square-foot dwelling is resplendent in luxurious finishes like hardwood millwork and hand-polished Venetian plaster. Situated on 1.25 acres, Jeters estate occupies three adjacent lots, with a six-foot-high wall that locals refer to as The Great Wall of Jeter. The main house features seven bedrooms, eight full bathrooms, and eight half-bathrooms, with stunning views of Hillsborough Bay. Perhaps one of the most impressive rooms is the grand salon, which boasts a soaring double-height ceiling, floor-to-ceiling windows, and multiple sitting areas. A clubroom directly off the grand salon is made for entertaining, with a full-service bar, a billiards table, and several TV screens.

Courtesy of Smith & Associates Real Estate

See the video.

Other features include a home gym, a movie theater, a wine cellar, an in-law suite, an outdoor kitchen, and two three-car garages. The outdoor space includes a handful of covered porches and balconies, two boat lifts, and an 80-foot saltwater lap pool. Earlier this year, the home made headlines when Jeter rented it to longtime pal Tom Brady. But potential buyers who are also fans shouldnt expect to run into the Tampa Bay Buccaneer and his wife, supermodel Gisele Bundchen, at the home. According to the listing agent, the two pro athletes made negotiations so that the Jeters can list, market, show, and sell the property for sale during Bradys stay.

Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
Instead of dairy, coconut is the foundation, along with chilies, lots of vegetables and leafy greens. Given the island nations location on the Indian Ocean, seafood also plays an important role in the cuisine. Crab curry is a specialty, along with ambulthiyal, a type of sour fish curry.

Sri Lankan food also makes frequent use of fresh curry leaves, an ingredient that can be hard to track down if you dont have easy access to an Indian market. Native to subtropical Asia, the plant (actually a small tropical tree) is virtually unknown at local nurseries. Even if you lay hands on a seedling, it can be finicky and difficult to grow, according to my editor, who has babied a plant in a pot for years. Thankfully, she came to my rescue with two stems last week when I didnt have time to run to the store.

An important note here: Curry leaves are not to be confused with the bold spice mix known as curry. Their flavors are as disparate as their colors  leaves are green while the powder is yellow or yellowish-red. Neither is a substitute for the other. In fact, if you cant get your hands on fresh or dried curry leaves (readily available on Amazon), its best to leave them out of the recipe all together, Mohanraj says.
A man (32) has been arrested from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh (UP) for allegedly using fake websites to con unsuspecting public by offering cheap mobile phones on easy equated monthly installments (EMIs), Delhi Police said on Wednesday.

Two mobile phones that were used in the crime were seized from the accused, while his two associates are still absconding, the police said.

Also read: Using demonetisation ruse, man, 55, cheats Delhi trader of 2 lakh

Jitender Singh, who holds an undergraduate degree in computer applications, has reportedly confessed to his alleged crime.

He along with his two accomplices had duped more than 2,500 people across the country in the past two years using fake websites and luring his gullible victims with cheap mobile phones and easy EMIs, said RP Meena, deputy commissioner of police (DCP) (south-east), Delhi Police.

We are verifying his claims of cheating over 2,500 people. The bank accounts that the fraudsters used are being examined to ascertain the money transactions related to the scam. We have arrested Singh in one case that was being investigated by our districts cyber cell team since January, said DCP Meena.

An investigating officer (IO), who did not want to be named, said that initial analysis of one bank account has reflected around five deposits made by the victims for buying cheap mobile phones. We will approach the depositors to know whether they had filed any police complaints regarding the cheating. Singh has told us that his gang used to dupe two or three persons daily, the officer added.

DCP Meena explained the gangs modus operandi.

The fraudsters would create fake websites, where they promised mobile phones on rates cheaper than available market prices and also offered easy EMIs.

They would dupe a certain number of people and then deactivate the website. They would choose a new domain name for the website in a bid to avoid refund or delivery demands of the purchased mobile phones by their duped victims.

They used to charge between 1,999 and 7,999 for each mobile phone. The prices were deliberately kept low in a bid to ensure that the victims would not approach police even after being conned. They only accepted payment through a virtual payment address (VPA) mechanism to make the detection of a financial transaction difficult, added Meena.

On January 9, the DCP said, one Irfan Pathan filed a case at Govindpuri police station in south Delhi regarding a similar fraud.

Pathan alleged that last December while surfing online to buy a mobile phone, he came across a website that promised phones on cheaper rates and also offered easy EMIs.

An executive of the website tricked him into depositing R 5,998 in three EMIs through a VPA. However, the fraudsters neither delivered the phone nor returned the amount. They deactivated the website and all their contact numbers. Pathan filed a complaint at Govindpuri police station in January after he was defrauded, said Meena.

During the probe, the police collected details of the phone numbers that were linked to the website and were used to contact Pathan. The call details of one phone number revealed that it was registered with an e-commerce payment system site and a bank account in the name of one Rajat Shukla.

The details of the alleged VPA used by the fraudsters were obtained from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). It was found that the VPA was registered with Shuklas bank account through which the money was transferred to another account opened in the name of accused Singh, said the DCP.

We arrested Singh from his home in Ghaziabad and seized two mobile phones used in the crime. Singh disclosed that Shukla and Praveen Kumar were his partners in crime, said Meena.

Raids are in progress to arrest the two absconding suspects, the DCP added.

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Are we heading for a second wave of Covid-19 as gruelling as the first? Not according to unidentified government officials quoted in yesterday's Mail.

During an off-the-record briefing in which comments weren't attributed to individuals, experts suggested the second wave won't be nearly as bad as the first. This is not a view openly expressed by the Government.

The officials believe that a combination of local lockdowns, social distancing measures and medical breakthroughs will substantially reduce both the death rate from Covid-19 and the number of cases over the coming months.

Unidentified government officials believe the second wave of Covid-19 will not be as deadly as the first

If the experts are right, this is fantastically good news. Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty, for example, has previously warned that a second wave might be worse than the first.

On April 30, he said it was 'plausible for a second wave to actually be more severe than the first if it is not mitigated'. Covid-19 was 'a very long way' from being finished off and 'eradication was technically impossible'.

Somehow Professor Whitty's pessimism of a few months ago has given way, if not exactly to optimism, then to an appreciably less apocalyptic view on the part of government experts.

Of course, the scientists could be wrong. They have been on several previous occasions.

But even a casual look at what is happening in some European countries suggests the disease is less lethal than it was a few months ago.

Cases have been rising sharply in France. On September 12, 10,561 new cases were recorded, about three times the rate on the same day in this country.

Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty said it was 'plausible for a second wave to actually be more severe than the first if it is not mitigated'

This was the highest ever daily figure, though one should bear in mind that, as in the UK, testing is far more extensive than it was in March and April, when many cases were missed.

Nevertheless, on the day on which a record number of cases were registered, only 17 new deaths were recorded in France. Compare this with the 1,438 deaths logged on April 15, the highest ever daily figure.

Possible explanations for the dramatically lowered French death rate include the likelihood that the disease is rampant among the younger generation, which is much less vulnerable, as well as improved hospital treatment.

A similar pattern is observable in the United Kingdom, where the second wave, if it can be so described, is still lagging behind that of France.

Yesterday, 3,991 new cases were announced  the highest figure since May 8  and 20 new deaths.

Only a fool would rule out a return to the horrific fatality figures recorded in March and April. If the virus should again run riot in care homes, the number of deaths will inevitably soar.

The UK has announced a further 14 Covid-19 deaths in the preliminary count, although the final figure can sometimes differ

And given that there is an average interval of about four weeks between contracting the disease and death, should it exceptionally occur, we could see a marked rise in fatalities over the next couple of weeks, reflecting the generally laid back attitude of many people towards the pandemic during August.

All the same, there are good reasons for believing that we aren't about to see a repeat of what happened in the spring, and that the unidentified officials are right to be cautiously upbeat.

Why, then, does the Government proceed as though Covid-19 is as virulent as ever, and invite us to steel ourselves against an impending second wave that could be as serious as the first?

Why don't Boris Johnson and Health Secretary Matt Hancock pass on the scientific advice they are receiving about the probably less lethal nature of the disease over the coming months?

That they aren't prepared to level with us, and relax a bit, can scarcely be disputed.

Why don't Boris Johnson and Health Secretary Matt Hancock pass on the scientific advice they are receiving about the probably less lethal nature of the disease over the coming months?

On Monday, the 'rule of six' was introduced in England, Scotland and Wales with some variations between the three nations. Any social gathering of more than six people is illegal in England. A draconian and unpopular law. Illogical, too.

Over the past few days, I have attended a church service along with 60 others, sat in a meeting of seven people and taken part in my usual supermarket scrum with multiple participants. At least there hasn't yet been another run on lavatory paper.

Futile though it may be, the rule of six sends the message that the 'second wave' is with us and our liberties must therefore be curtailed again.

As the number of cases and deaths edge up over coming weeks, as they surely will, it is possible a curfew will be introduced.

I can imagine Mr Hancock standing up in the House of Commons, or perhaps paying one of his frequent visits to Radio 4's Today programme, and declaring in his cocky way that the deteriorating situation calls for extreme measures. But does it?

Or, more precisely, are things so awful that the Government should feel justified in reaching into its familiar armoury of coercive regulations, picking out new ones as though we are back, or nearly back, to the bad old days of March? I don't think so.

Although the PM insisted yesterday in front of a Commons committee that he was doing 'everything in my power' to avoid a second lockdown, I wish he had ruled it out altogether

Although the PM insisted yesterday in front of a Commons committee that he was doing 'everything in my power' to avoid a second lockdown, I wish he had ruled it out altogether.

If officials are able to tell this newspaper, albeit off the record, that the second wave won't be nearly as painful as the first, it's hard to see why the Government can't do the same to the entire nation on the record. Hard to see, but not impossible.

I can think of three possible reasons for the Government's reluctance to share the truth with us. The first is that it fears we will relax our guard if told the risk of death is significantly reduced. We are being treated like children.

The second is that some ministers have grown rather fond of nannying us and bossing us about. Under the terms of the Coronavirus Act, they can pretty well make us do anything, short of standing on our heads, until it expires in March 2022. Some of them like that.

Several Tories have forgotten all about liberty. Police minister Kit Malthouse advises us to call the police if our neighbours break the rule of six. Families who stop to chat in the street to talk to friends could be fined, according to Home Secretary Priti Patel.

The third reason for the Government not levelling with us is that it is terrified of being blamed if it should declare that things are getting better  and they then turn out very badly. Candour is dangerous.

None of these possible explanations seems very creditable. Doesn't this country stand desperately in need of a dose of judicious optimism? Wouldn't most of us like to be told there is a good chance we're not heading back to hell  as long as we continue to observe social distancing and other sensible precautions?

There is a danger that the public's confidence in the authorities will crumble if a series of intrusive rules are applied which people think are neither effective nor necessary.

Above all, the country needs to get back on its feet, and it won't do so if the Government's words and actions imply that storm clouds are descending, whereas in fact some of them are lifting.

No one is saying the crisis is over. We may well be in for a bumpy few months. But I do wish the Government would treat us like grown-ups, and tell us the truth.
MITO, Japan - Among the challenges awaiting newly appointed Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is the urgent challenge of how to keep the worlds third-largest economy growing as its population ages and shrinks.

Yoshihide Suga, Abes former chief spokesman, was appointed prime minister on Wednesday after Abe resigned because of a chronic health problem. He has vowed to stick with the Abenomics playbook of cheap credit and stimulus spending, but has yet to articulate a vision for the future for a nation wary of the sweeping changes needed to keep the economy growing.

Suga has so far talked mainly about issues that were initiatives a quarter century ago, such as deregulating phone carriers and boosting investment in rural areas, said Michael Cucek, an expert on Japanese politics at Temple Universty in Tokyo.

Vision does not appear to be his strong point.

He knows how to get things done but seems dogmatic to the point of obtuseness on what those things should be, Cucek said.

Its unclear that Suga, dubbed the iron wall for his resistance to answering reporters questions, has the charisma and political heft to sell to the public and business world the kinds of sweeping changes to tax codes and other policies that are needed to help the country break out of its slow decline.

During Abes more than seven years in office, the central bank pumped tens of trillions of dollars, supporting a modest economic recovery that never gained the momentum needed to break out of the rut Japan has been in since its financial bubble burst in the early 1990s.

Time is not on Sugas side: Japans population has been falling for eight straight years and is projected to sink by about 40% by 2050.

The trends are evident in Tokyo, but even more so in smaller cities like Mito, 100 kilometres (about 60 miles) north of the capital. Countless small mom and pop style shopfronts remain shuttered for good, many unoccupied. The same is true for many houses around the city engulfed by vegetation after the owners died or moved away.

The aging of the country is even more apparent in Sugas home region of Akita, where more than a third of the population is older than 65 and the population has fallen by more than a quarter since it peaked in the 1950s.

The economic outlook was cloudy for most of last year, as tensions between the U.S. and China disrupted trade and global growth slowed. In October, a sales tax hike, to 10% from 8%, dented spending by consumers and businesses. Now, the Corona shock has hammered drivers of recent growth such as tourism and exports: In April-June the economy contracted at its worst ever rate of about 28%.

To prevent the economy from shrinking further, and bringing on lower incomes and deepening poverty, economists say the country needs to ramp up its productivity  the value it gets from the amount of labour and money invested  or to allow far more immigration than it has so far.

Despite the stellar efficiency of a few big companies like Toyota Motor Corp., the latest data show Japan 21st in productivity among 36 major economies in the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, at about $47 per hour  between Slovenia and Slovakia  compared with about $75 per hour in the U.S. and more than $100 in Ireland, the worlds leader.

Low productivity translates into poor quality jobs and low wages: Household average incomes have actually fallen over the past 20 years and Abenomics tax breaks and easy credit have not brought the wage hikes needed to entice consumers into splurging on big ticket items like cars and new homes.

A chart of consumer spending in recent years resembles a seismometer, with a few big jolts from tax hikes but little change otherwise. Widening inequality due to stagnant incomes is stifling the consumer spending and investment needed to revive growth.

Abenomics deserves credit for many things. Stock prices rose, and company earnings have improved. Thats great. But individuals incomes have not increased, and thats also a fact, said Shigeru Ishiba, a former defence minister who lost to Suga in the LDP leadership vote.

Abes vow to make Japan a nation where women shine has likewise barely nudged the gender equality barometer: By this measure the country is dead last in the OECD. The poverty rate for single-parent households, overwhelmingly headed by women, was more than 50% according to the most recent figure.

What we need to change is the economy, Ishiba said in announcing his candidacy. It has not provided enough support for low-income earners The peoples voices have not been fully heard.

Sugas background as the son of a strawberry farmer who worked to put himself through college has many in Japan thinking he might be more in touch with the problems of ordinary people than Abe and others politicians with elite backgrounds.

More of a pragmatist than conservative ideologue Abe, Suga has pledged to protect jobs and businesses.

While working as the chief government spokesman, Suga backed changes in visa policies to help along the tourism boom and increased competition among mobile phone carriers. He also favours reforming regional banks that are key to local economies.

He has also signalled interest in raising the minimum wage, which rose by just 1 yen (less than 1 cent) this year to 902 yen (about $8.50) an hour.

Suganomics could include a much faster reorganization of the regional banking sector, higher immigration, and more aggressive hikes to the minimum wage, said Tom Learmouth of Capital Economics. That has the potential to lift productivity.

Policies in place for the past 60 years have encouraged Japanese to stick to setting up tiny companies  average number of workers 3.4  that have little capacity or incentive to invest in new equipment, said David Atkinson, a former investment banker and government adviser.

Businesses must grow in scale to afford to invest in advanced technology and increase their efficiency, Atkinson said in a recent web seminar held by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.

So despite its image as a cornucopia of advanced technology, from bullet trains to AI to robotics and new materials, Japan is one of the least efficient countries among developed nations, and productivity has not risen appreciably for a half-century, he said.

Tackling that problem is politically tricky: Small businesses employ more than two-thirds of all Japanese, albeit inefficiently. But theres little choice, Atkinson contends.

If you dont increase productivity, the economy will implode, he said.

___

Yamaguchi contributed from Tokyo.

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By Trend





The beginning of a new phase is observed in the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Trend reports referring to the publication titled "Armenian provocations and the silence of the OSCE Minsk Group" made by Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister, Deputy Chairman and Executive Secretary of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party, Ali Ahmadov, posted on his official Facebook page.

The steady expansion of the Armenian provocations gradually began to replace the relative stability that was preserved in the past, Ahmadov added.

The clashes in the direction of Azerbaijans Tovuz district on the state border between Azerbaijan and Armenia two months ago as a result of Armenias military provocations, the subsequent exposure in connection with the supply of weapons to this country, the arrest of the Armenian saboteur in the direction of Azerbaijans Goranboy district are just a shortlist of Armenian provocations in the conflict zone and connect with the conflict, deputy prime minister said.

The Armenian prime ministers frequent visits to the occupied territories and statements that fundamentally contradict the spirit of the settlement process have become an integral part of other Armenian provocations, Ahmadov said.

The fact that the "appeals for peace" made by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's wife in the first months of the Armenian prime minister's rule recently replaced the photographs with the Kalashnikov assault rifle, testifies to the vile nature of the Armenian provocation, deputy prime minister said.

Ahmadov stressed that the Armenian provocations are observed not only in the countrys aggravation of the militaristic rhetoric and behavior.

"The recent resettlement of the Armenians of Lebanese origin to the occupied Azerbaijani territories is nothing more than an unprecedented provocation, striking a crushing blow on the conflict settlement process, deputy prime minister added.

The whole world witnesses a process of gross violation of international law - the settlement of the occupied territories, Ahmadov said. The Armenian adventurism will lead to dangerous prospects, for example, to repeat in the 21st century the policy of resettlement, which once changed the demographic situation in the South Caucasus.

The history of the last 50-60 years of the Middle East is an instructive example of bitter consequences of such games, deputy prime minister said. The attempts of the Armenian politicians to turn the South Caucasus into a hotbed of constant conflicts and wars cannot be ignored. They must be condemned by international organizations and the world community as a whole.

Amid Armenias growing provocations, the silence of the OSCE Minsk Group, which took upon itself the mission of settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, its transformation into an impartial observer, to put it mildly, cannot but cause surprise, Ahmadov added.

In any case, the OSCE Minsk Group cannot evade responsibility because the conflict has dragged on and it has failed to find the correct formula for the settlement, deputy prime minister said. Presently, the OSCE Minsk Group witnesses that the Armenian side continues to commit another crime, which can lead to new, even regretful consequences.

Azerbaijan stands for peaceful but just settlement of the conflict with the condition of withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from all occupied territories, Ahmadov said. With a few exceptions, the ceasefire which has been valid since 1994 testifies to this.

However, the fact that the conflict has not been resolved up till now, the growing Armenian provocations and the silence of the mediators limit the choice of Azerbaijan in ensuring its territorial integrity, deputy prime minister said. Azerbaijan must and will return its occupied lands.

If mediators and diplomats do not cope with their work, the heroic Azerbaijani army will fulfill its noble mission, Ahmadov said. The battles in April 2016 and July 2020 showed what our army is capable of. There is no doubt that our servicemen will lead to the triumph of justice.
OMAHA, Neb. - This weeks decision to charge a white bar owner who fatally shot a Black man during a chaotic night of protests in downtown Omaha months after the shooting was deemed self-defence highlights how difficult it can be to sort out these cases.

The key difference in the Omaha case is that the grand jury that reviewed the case had additional evidence about what happened before surveillance video showed Jake Gardner shooting 22-year-old James Scurlock on May 30 after the two scuffled. In at least one other instance of violence during protests this year, authorities are still trying to sort out what happened.

In Minnesota, 43-year-old Calvin Horton Jr. was fatally shot near a Minneapolis pawn shop on May 27 as protests over George Floyds death began to turn violent. The pawn shops owner was arrested the night of the shooting but released several days later, with prosecutors saying they needed more information about what happened before the shooting to consider charges. Hortons family complained in July of getting little information on the case. Hennepin County attorneys office spokeswoman Lacey Severins said Wednesday the case remains under investigation.

It can often be hard to sort out, Fordham University law professor Jim Cohen said about crimes during protests. Its often not so easy to sort out who is unlawfully protesting  meaning looting, for example  and who is lawfully protesting.

Those two shootings happened as protests and civil unrest has roiled cities across the country over Floyds May 25 death at the hands of Minneapolis police. Floyd, who was Black and handcuffed, died after a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, pressed his knee into Floyds neck for several minutes even after Floyd stopped moving and pleading for air.

In Omaha, Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine initially decided Gardner, the bar owner, acted in self-defence after he reviewed video of the incident and witness statements in the days after the shooting, but he asked the grand jury to examine the case after his decision was criticized because he wanted people to have faith in the justice system.

On Tuesday, Special Prosecutor Frederick Franklin said that additional evidence from Gardners phone and his Facebook Messenger account, along with video from inside his bar, shed light on his intent the night of the shooting. He said the new evidence undermines the self-defence theory although he wouldnt provide specifics of exactly what it showed.

Gardner was charged with manslaughter, attempted assault, making terroristic threats and using a gun to commit a felony. His attorney, Stu Dornan, didnt respond to phone messages from The Associated Press on Wednesday. Legal experts say prosecutors may have a difficult time securing a conviction because the case will hinge on what both men intended to do that night.

Obviously the video tape evidence is going to be crucial in trying to determine whether or not Gardner believed that his life or his person were in grave danger under the circumstances, said longtime Nebraska criminal attorney Clarence Mock, who has also served as a special prosecutor before.

The shooting happened outside Gardners bar in downtown Omaha as he sought to ward off any theft or property damage. In June, officials played surveillance video that seemed to show words exchanged between Gardner, his father and protesters after the windows of his bar were broken. Gardner flashed the gun but then backed away. Gardner was shoved to the ground by two people before he fired two shots, sending people scrambling. Scurlock then jumped on Gardners back and was shot by Gardner. While there was no audio with the video, Kleine said Gardner warned Scurlock to get off of him several times before he fired the fatal shot.

Creighton University law school professor Raneta Mack said determining whether Scurlock was trying to stop Gardner from hurting anyone or whether he was trying to harm Gardner could be key in the case.

If Mr. Scurlock was coming to the defence of his friends or even members of the general public and that is why he was grabbing Gardner and putting him into a chokehold, then Gardner does not have a right of self defence, said Mack, who has taught criminal law for nearly three decades.

But Cohen said this will be a tough case for prosecutors because jurors tend to give defendants some benefit of the doubt when they were facing a chaotic situation.

There is a deference accorded to those who are perceived by a jury as lawfully protecting their property, Cohen said.

Of course, more evidence will be needed at trial to prove Gardner is guilty than what is required at this stage in the process. But the fact that Gardner has been charged means that the community will be able to learn more about what happened that night. Scurlocks death inspired protests in Omaha in the days after prosecutors initially declined to file charges.

This will allow people to understand how the system works and be able to see for themselves what evidence the prosecution has and what evidence the defence presents to have maybe a greater understanding about what happened during the night of Mr. Scurlocks death, Mock said.
BRIDGEPORT  The former manager of the historic Park Cemetery, awaiting trial for allegedly having old graves dug up for new burials, has been charged with embezzling more than $60,000 of the cemeterys money.

Dale LaPrade, 66, surrendered to police after being told there was a warrant for her arrest.

LaPrade was charged with first-degree larceny and released on a promise to appear in court.

Im shocked at the amount of money and pleased the police are still on the case and discovering more evidence, said Cheryl Jansen, who has four generations of her family buried in the cemetery.

LaPrades public defender declined to comment.

Trumbull Attorney Anthony Monelli, a member of the court-appointed board of Park Cemetery, said, The board is very grateful to the Bridgeport Police Department for all its hard work in bringing justice to those who have loved ones in the cemetery.

Report: $87K for Park Cemetery cleanup in Bridgeport after burials in wrong graves

LaPrade, manager of the Lindley Street cemetery for the past 12 years, was charged with interference with a cemetery and second-degree larceny in July 2019 following an intensive investigation by police detectives based on a complaint made by Jansen.

During a civil court trial in which Jansen successfully sued to get LaPrade removed as cemetery manager, Cintron and Biehn testified that dozens of headstones, some dating to the 1800s, had been moved at Park Cemetery so the newly dead could be buried in plots stacked on old graves.

New dirt was put over older graves and new graves were put there, Biehn testified.

There was fresh soil over old head stones and they were in the process of building an access road through the stones, Cintron testified. In the woods we found old headstones and human bones that had just been thrown around.

Cintron testified a grave digger told him he had been ordered by LaPrade to throw old bones and caskets away to make room for new graves.

LaPrade was initially arrested in 2014 after police said Luis Castillo paid LaPrade $1,150 for a burial plot for his deceased wife and himself. A few weeks later, he went to visit his wifes grave and found that a stranger had been buried in the plot next to her  the plot meant for Castillo.

Castillo said LaPrade admitted she made a mistake and agreed to rebury Castillos wife in another plot with a second empty grave for an additional $1,350.

Police on Tuesday said Biehn continued to investigate the financial dealings at the cemetery.

Biehn was able to establish that LaPrade allegedly withdrew more than $670,000 from cemetery accounts between 2016 and 2018.

A forensic fraud examiner who assisted detectives determined that someone they identified as LaPrade made several cash withdrawals a day in some instances and used more than $60,000 of cemetery funds for personal expenses that were earmarked for burials and perpetual care, police said.
Jaimi Kenny, the daughter of Australian sporting legends Lisa Curry and Grant Kenny, died on Monday at the age of 33, after secretly battling an eating disorder for years.

And in the days following her death, details have surfaced about Jaimi's private life - including how she would be fiercely protective of her mother in the face of criticism.

In 2014, Jaimi blasted false and hurtful reports that Lisa, 58, was planning to have children out of 'revenge' because her ex-husband had just become a father again.

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Defensive: Lisa Curry (right) and Grant Kenny's late daughter Jaimi (left) was very protective of her mother, as resurfaced social media posts show her lashing out against cruel trolls

At the time, Lisa was dating a man two decades her junior, Joel Walkenhorst, and there were rumours the couple wanted to have children.

Much of the commentary on social media was negative, and it was suggested by some that Lisa's desire to have a baby at 51 was about 'getting back' at ex-husband Grant, who had welcomed a daughter with radio host Fifi Box in 2013.

As reported by New Idea, Jaimi stepped up to defend her mother at the time.

She wrote on Instagram: 'Mum wanting a child had nothing to do with Fifi... Mum had talked with us about her thoughts on going through IVF before Trixie was conceived.

'You never know the conversations we have had as a family, or the timing of these. It's upsetting to read such nasty things being said about our mother, without people knowing her personally.'

Hitting back: In 2014, Jaimi blasted false and hurtful reports that Lisa, 58, was planning to have children with then-boyfriend Joel Walkenhorst (right) out of 'revenge' because her ex-husband had just become a father again. Pictured on August 5, 2012 in Sydney

Fake news: At the time, much of the commentary on social media was negative - and it was suggested by some that Lisa's desire to have a baby at 51 was about 'getting back' at Grant, who had welcomed a daughter with radio host Fifi Box in 2013. Pictured with Joel

Supportive: Jaimi stepped up to defend her mother, writing on Instagram: 'Mum wanting a child had nothing to do with Fifi... Mum had talked with us about her thoughts on going through IVF before Trixie was conceived'

Jaimi's parents, Grant and Lisa, separated in 2009 after 23 years of marriage, before finalising their divorce in 2017.

Grant dated Fifi for several months in 2012, but had broken up by the time she welcomed daughter Beatrix 'Trixie' Belle via IVF the following year.

Fifi did not acknowledge Grant was Trixie's father until 2016, when she shared a photo to Instagram of the retired athlete attending their child's third birthday party.

Family ties: Grant welcomed a daughter named Trixie with radio host Fifi Box in 2013, after they'd dated for several months in 2012. Fifi did not acknowledge Grant was Trixie's father until 2016, when she shared this photo to Instagram of him at their child's third birthday party

In June 2019, Fifi welcomed another daughter, Daisy Belle, via IVF and an anonymous donor. The identity of Daisy's father is not public knowledge.

Despite splitting with Grant months before giving birth to Trixie, Fifi remained close to his children from his first marriage: Jaimi, Morgan and Jett.

Jaimi would even babysit her much younger half-sister on occasion while single mum Fifi was at work.

Nothing but love: Despite splitting with Grant months before giving birth to Trixie, Fifi remained close to his children from his first marriage. Jaimi would even babysit her much younger half-sister on occasion while single mum Fifi was at work (pictured in 2015)

The Kenny-Curry family confirmed Jaimi's death in a statement on Monday afternoon.

'It is with a very heavy heart that Lisa and I confirm our beautiful daughter Jaimi has lost her battle with a long-term illness and passed away peacefully in hospital this morning in the company of loving family,' read the statement by Jaimi's father, Grant.

'Jaimi will forever be remembered as a caring, bright and loving soul who always put others before herself,' it continued.

'Our hearts are broken and the pain is immense but we must move forward cherishing every wonderful moment we got to share with our treasured first child.

The Kenny-Curry family confirmed Jaimi's death in a statement on Monday afternoon

'We thank the incredible team at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital for their tireless commitment to making her better and giving us the extra time we were able to spend with her.

'It goes without saying that this is a very difficult time for family and friends and we trust we will all be allowed to grieve in privacy.'

While the family's statement did not specify the exact nature of Jaimi's illness, it's understood she had long battled an eating disorder.

While the family's statement on Monday did not specify the nature of Jaimi's illness, it's understood she had long battled an eating disorder. Pictured: Lisa carrying Jaimi on her shoulders after winning gold at the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand

Jaimi is pictured as a baby with her father, Grant Kenny, in a family photo from 1987

Her family had supported her through years of treatment at the End ED private clinic on the Sunshine Coast.

Jaimi is survived her her sister Morgan, brother Jett, mother Lisa, father Grant and half-sister Trixie.

For free and confidential support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or the Butterfly Foundation for eating disorder concerns on 1800 ED HOPE
Alliance of Public Relations Agencies in 100+ countries combines flexibility and multi-industry PR expertise for companies seeking global growth and increased brand awareness

GlobalCom PR Network (GCPR), an alliance of 80 public relations agencies in more than 100 countries, is delivering even greater strategic value to companies looking to expand their global footprint, with the appointment of two new Managing Directors from the North America and Asia markets to the GCPR Board. Vivian Kelly, CEO of Interprose in the U.S. and Lars Voedisch, Managing Director of PRecious Communications, headquartered in Singapore, join Ralf Hartmann, Founder of GCPR in Germany, and Richard Merrin, Managing Director, Spreckley in the UK, on the GlobalCom Board of Directors to provide strategic direction for the growing GCPR Network, and pan-global insights for international enterprises, including start-ups, mid-sized companies and brand leaders.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200916005197/en/

Vivian Kelly, CEO of Interprose (Photo: Business Wire)

"We live in a decentralized world, and companies are looking for trusted partners who understand their business, and can scale as they expand into new markets," said Ralf Hartmann. "Our clients are assured of the best, most cost-effective approach to multi-market PR, from experts in their field. Having Vivian and Lars join the Board gives our clients a more comprehensive global view on new markets and how best to penetrate them from an awareness building perspective."

The GlobalCom PR Network provides an efficient and flexible public relations model that can grow or decrease according to a company's needs. It enables businesses to tap into new markets as required and as budgets allow. Companies can engage in-country partners in ad hoc PR projects or long term campaigns according to the objectives, timeframe and required outcomes. The GCPR model provides flexibility and is designed to accommodate a range of PR budgets, while delivering a measurable return on investment.

The GlobalCom PR Network's proven market expertise includes consumer electronics and lifestyle, financial services and FinTech, healthcare, IT and telecoms, emerging technologies, renewable energy, sustainability, tourism and hospitality, and many other industries.

Both Vivian and Lars are PR veterans and entrepreneurs with decades of experience in their field. In addition to her knowledge of the ever-evolving communications landscape, Vivian is an advocate for technology companies promoting diversity, equality and inclusion, by providing opportunities for brand ambassadors of all backgrounds to serve as spokespeople and thought leaders. She was recently recognized among the winners of the Diversity Journal 2020 Women Worth Watching in Leadership Award. Other industry recognitions include Smart CEO's BRAVA Award honoring Top Female CEOs and Washington Women in PR (WWPR) Woman of the Year Award finalist. She is also invited to share her PR knowledge and expertise in educational forums, including a recent Business Wire PR Agency Experts roundtable discussion and a Telecom Council meeting on Innovation in Telework.

Lars is known for growing, managing and defending leading brands' reputations. His award-winning integrated, strategic communications consultancy has operations across the Asia Pacific region. Lars has provided strategic communications counsel to over 300 startups (including 15 unicorns), as well as enterprises, lifestyle brands and government agencies. Lars and his agency have been honored with multiple industry accolades, including Independent Agency Head of the Year at the 2019 Marketing Talent Awards, the Public Relations Communications Association Southeast Asia (PRCA SEA) Medium Consultancy of the Year Award twice in a row, and the 2020 Best Campaign for Corporate, Financial and Investor Relations.

About GlobalCom PR Network

GlobalCom PR Network is an alliance of 80 public relations firms delivering proven integrated campaigns to global organizations. With 1,400 experienced PR consultants in more than 100 countries, GlobalCom PR Network serves national and multinational clients who benefit from local expertise and international presence. For more information, visit the website at www.gcpr.net.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200916005197/en/

Contacts:

Vivian Kelly

Interprose, USA

viviankelly@interprosepr.com

+1 703.509.5412

Lars Voedisch

PRecious Communications, Singapore

Lars@preciouscomms.com

+65 9170 2470

Ralf Hartmann

GlobalCom PR Network, Germany

ralf@gcpr.net

+49 172 810 2646

Richard Merrin

Spreckley, UK

richardmerrin@spreckley.co.uk

+44 (0)20 7388 9988
She said Lukashenko would "get even more than that."

One of the leaders of the Belarusian opposition, former presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya says she is ready to provide incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko with security guarantees if he peacefully hands over power.

"This is all being discussed. Of course, if he leaves peacefully, humanely, there is such a possibility, even confidence," she said in an interview with LB.ua, a Ukrainian online outlet.

Lukashenko would "get even more than that." At the same time, the opposition figure said the opinion of all citizens would be taken into account on the issue.

"You understand why we are doing this. We are pleased to see the action of solidarity in the Verkhovna Rada. We were all surprised," Tikhanovskaya said, referring to Ukrainian Parliament' move to not recognize the election outcome. "And the fact that you suspended all relations with the Belarusian side also shows that you accept the choice of the Belarusians, the choice of the majority... Therefore, what you are doing is very valuable."

Belarus protests: background
Every passing day reduces chances for sealing a new trade deal with Britain, the European Union's chief executive said on Wednesday, warning London that there was "very little time" left to put an agreement in place by the end of the year.

In her major annual policy speech, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen dedicated just a few sentences to Brexit, mostly focusing on the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic as well as digital and climate investments.

"With every day that passes, the chances of a timely agreement do start to fade," von der Leyen told the European Parliament in a "state of the (European) Union" speech styled on the ones U.S. presidents deliver.

Von der Leyen also stressed both the EU and Britain negotiated and ratified their Brexit divorce deal and warned London the agreement "cannot be unilaterally changed, disregarded or dis-applied."

"This is a matter of law, trust and good faith... Trust is the foundation of any strong partnership," she said.

Von der Leyen said the bloc would "never backtrack" on UK's divorce deal, which took three years to negotiate, as it was protecting the delicate peace on the island of Ireland from the consequences of Brexit.

Brexit talks are now in crisis yet again as Prime Minister Boris Johnson put forward a new Internal Market Bill to the UK parliament that would undercut Britain's EU divorce treaty.

That increased the risk of the most damaging, no-deal economic split precipitating at the end of the year when Britain's standstill post-Brexit transition ends.

Reuters reported exclusively on Tuesday, however, that Britain had quietly offered concessions on fisheries in trade talks with the European Union last week, leaving the bloc thinking London might still be open to clinching an agreement. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie
Davarius Minor, 21, of the 5400 block of South Justine Avenue, was charged with firing the shots. Daquan Dunn, 20, of the 1000 block of West 104th Street, was charged with being the driver of the getaway car, according to a police news release. Two others taken into custody following the crash were released without charges, according to police.
New Delhi, Sep 16 : Participating in the discussion in the Rajya Sabha on the Covid-19 situation, the opposition alleged that the imposition of the nationwide lockdown was delayed because of the 'Namaste Trump' event and to bring down the elected government in Madhya Pradesh.

DMK MP Tiruchi Siva said during the discussion on Wednesday that "The government deliberately delayed the lockdown and the reason was Donald Trump." Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Manoj Jha said the programme has cost the country dearly, and "later the government thought that the lockdown was the cure".

CPI-M MP E. Kareem alleged that the "lockdown was only announced when the government was toppled in MP." The opposition was of the view that the lockdown was unplanned and the people suffered as a result.

JD(U) MP R.C.P. Singh said the 'migrant' word should be scrapped as "how a citizen of the country can be a migrant in another state".

Earlier on Wednesday, Congress leader Anand Sharma initiated the discussion on the statement of the Union Health Minister made on Tuesday. Sharma targeted the government over the "sudden lockdown". He said the government is claiming it prevented nearly 14 to 29 lakh Covid-19 infections and now the Centre is saying it does not have the data for migrant labourers.

"Yesterday, the health minister said that this decision (lockdown) could prevent approximately 14 to 29 lakh Covid-19 cases and 37,000-78,000 deaths. This House must be informed what is the scientific basis of this and how we have reached this conclusion," Sharma said. He said that there was a very wide gap.

Sharma also questioned why the government has no data on the migrant workers. He highlighted that had facilities like quarantine centres been in place in the cities for the migrant workers, their reverse migration could have been restricted and the pandemic could have been contained from spreading to the rural areas.

Earlier, Minister of State for Labour and Employment Santosh Kumar Gangwar had said that 'no such data is maintained' by the government, in reply to a written question in the Lok Sabha.
By Express News Service

Organisations such as the Multiplex Association of India (MAI), Producers Guild of India (GUILD) and the Eastern India Motion Pictures Association (EIMPA) have cited the financial struggle of the last six months and asked the government for relaxations.

The Indian film industry film has jointly appealed to the Government of India to reopen cinemas in light of mounting losses amid the coronavirus pandemic. Organisations such as the Multiplex Association of India (MAI), Producers Guild of India (GUILD) and the Eastern India Motion Pictures Association (EIMPA) have cited the financial struggles of the last six months and requested the government for relaxations.

The cinema exhibition sector, comprising close to 10,000 cinema screens across the country, is a critical part of a functional and dynamic film industry, a letter from the film bodies reads. This is a sector which directly employs more than two lakh people while providing indirect income to lakhs of people. Due to countrywide lockdowns, the cinema industry has run into an extremely adverse and hostile situation; it was the first sector to be shut down and will be the last to reopen. Under the four phases of Unlock, malls, airlines, railways, restaurants and metros have been permitted to reopen with restrictions in India. While film and TV productions have resumed, the exhibition sector is still unoperational.

Cinemas are equipped with better abilities to ensure crowd management in stringent hygienic environments while maintaining applicable social distancing norms, the letter reads, enlisting the different ways cinemas can ensure public safety. It also points out how countries like China, UK, USA, France and others have reopened cinemas while observing safety protocols.

Assigning top-most priority to the health and well-being of our guests and employees, we have developed and are ready to implement a safety plan with the most stringent SOPs, the letter adds. Given the dire economic impact of the epidemic on our sector and livelihoods of people, we sincerely urge the government of India to allow reopening of cinemas on an urgent basis. The letter was widely shared on social media by industry members and production houses.

Dreams come to life at movies on the big screen. There are millions behind the screen who make that happen. Jobs are at stake. Cant wait for cinemas to reopen! #UnlockCinemaSaveJobs, Anurag Kashyap tweeted. The grandeur of experiencing a story on a large screen is unmatched. Not to forget, thousands of jobs are at stake. #UnlockCinemaSaveJobs, Dharma Productions wrote on their Twitter handle.
TAMPA, Fla., Sept. 16, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Can the extreme heat we are experiencing year after year actually cause Floridas iconic panthers to melt? Yes, it can, and more quickly than you might think. The CLEO Institute, in concert with the VoLo Foundation, has partnered with Miami ad agency Zubi and award-winning artist/inventor/director Bob Partington to show us just how fast rising temperatures are affecting the state and its wildlife.



Partington, well-known for hosting The History Channels ThingamaBob show and for his unique inventions that combine art, science, technology, math, and engineering, was challenged by Zubi earlier this year to bring to life a creative concept the agency had to help CLEO put the states climate crisis in the spotlight.

The idea that Zubi and CLEO landed upon was a series of wax sculptures that would literally melt in the Florida heat over four to five days. Zubi then reached out to Partington, who was tasked with creating the melting sculptures. Working with colleagues at mixed media production company 1stAvenueMachines Los Angeles studios, Partington designed three sculptures that will each reveal a secret message related to their subject when they have melted. The next step was to decide what to depict. Florida is such a visually enthralling state, said Partington. There are so many things that make it special. But the Zubi team asked us to hone-in on three icons that represent what Floridians and the world stand to lose  forever  if action is not taken now.

The first sculpture, depicting a lifeguard hut of the kind to be found on beaches around the state, was unveiled last week at the Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science in Miami and has already almost completely melted. The message? More Heat, Less Beaches. According to Zubis Executive Creative Director Ivan Calle, the hope is that people will stop and think about how sea-level rise and coastal erosion caused by rapidly warming temperatures and seas not only threatens the quality of life in the state but also Floridas tourism-driven economy.

The second sculpture  to be unveiled this Friday at ZooTampa at Lowry Park  is of a Florida Panther mother and cub. Real panthers dont actually melt, continued Calle, but we wanted to artfully show how extreme heat and other effects of the climate crisis, like rising seas, are a threat to their very existence, and thats something all Floridians want to prevent.

The third and final sculpture, featuring a grandfather and granddaughter enjoying a pleasant day on a park bench and called simply Florida Family, will be installed in front of Orlandos City Hall next week. The idea is to connect Orlandos globally famous tourist attractions and natural beauty to the legacy Floridians will leave behind for future generations.

Its not just our beaches that are slowly eroding or getting infested by algae blooms as a result of rising temperatures, said Yoca Arditi-Rocha, CLEOs Executive Director, but also our wildlife and, ultimately, our very way of life in Florida. We need to understand that this is not just an environmental issue but in fact the biggest challenge to our livelihoods here. Were all in this together as Floridians and we demand bold climate action from our elected leaders. We encourage everyone to take the Florida Climate Pledge to lend a hand.

The CLEO Institutes #FlClimateCrisis campaign includes not only the three melting sculptures but also numerous events to highlight the multiple threats to the states quality of life. The campaign has won the support of several elected leaders from Florida, including Congresswoman Kathy Castor, who represents Tampa Bay in Congress and chairs the U.S. House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis. Asked about the campaign, the congresswoman responded that The Sunshine State is uniquely positioned to lead the way to a clean energy economy, one that will create millions of family-sustaining jobs and protect our communities from extreme heat, climate-fueled hurricanes, and sea-level rise, all while ensuring environmental justice for every American. Climate solutions can save lives and put money into the pockets of consumers as we create a healthier, more vibrant nation for generations to come.

Following are the remaining events that The CLEO Institute has planned for September:

Dates Event Location Sept. 9-18 Lifeguard Hut Sculpture Exhibit Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science, Miami Sept. 16-25 Florida Panther Family Sculpture Exhibit Tampa Zoo at Lawry Park Sept. 17 Webinar: Climate Impacts on Florida, presented by NBC6 Chief Meteorologist John Morales (Virtual) Sept. 22-29 Florida Family Sculpture Exhibit Orlando City Hall Sept. 24 Surviving Florida Summers: Heat Stress on Outdoor Workers (Virtual)

The Florida Climate Crisis campaign has been made possible via a grant from the VoLo Foundation, a private, Florida-based philanthropic foundation led by Thais Lopez Vogel and David S. Vogel that seeks to accelerate change and global impact by supporting science-based climate solutions, enhancing education, and improving health.

This years temperatures around the world are among the highest ever recorded, remarked VoLos Thais Lopez. That trend will continue and accelerate if we dont take collective action and rein in warming emissions. By working together and listening to our climate scientists, Floridians can limit days of extreme heat and sea-level rise and save the state they treasure.

People seeking more information about the wax sculptures and The CLEO Institutes month-long focus on the numerous ways in which climate change is threatening Florida are encouraged to visit FlClimateCrisis.org . The public is invited to ask questions and comment on social media using the hashtag #FlClimateCrisis.

About The CLEO Institute

Founded in 2010, The CLEO Institute (CLEO) exists for the sole purpose of building climate literacy and spurring climate action. As the only nonprofit , nonpartisan organization based in Florida that is exclusively dedicated to climate change education and engagement, CLEO is viewed as the go-to regional source for credible, vetted climate science and expert insights into a variety of fields impacted by climate. The CLEO Institute is a 501(c)(3) working with communities across Florida to build climate literacy and mobilize climate action for a resilient future. Learn more at cleoinstitute.org .

About VoLo Foundation

VoLo Foundation (VoLo) is a private, non-operating foundation in Jupiter, Florida. VoLo believes in developing knowledge and sharing information that has the potential to create a global impact. Through original research and analysis, and in collaboration with philanthropic and academic partners, we aim to enrich the lives of individuals, strengthen communities, and educate future generations. Learn more and subscribe to VoLo Climate News at volofoundation.org.

About Zubi

Zubi is a full-service Multicultural Communications unit of WPPs Specialist Communications division. It was founded by American Advertising Federation Hall of Famer Tere Zubizarreta (1937  2007). Specializing in communications that target growth segments, Zubi has been creating best-in-class creative workalways anchored on strong consumer insights and business analyticsfor the likes of Fortune 100 companies since 1976. Zubis current client list includes Ford Motor Company, Lincoln Motor Company, Ford Dealers Association of California and Arizona, JP Morgan Chase, Grupo Rodilla, Mars Petcare, The CLEO Institute, and the Inter American Press Association. Zubi leverages its national footprint with offices in Miami (HQ), Los Angeles, and Detroit.

About 1stAveMachine

1stAveMachine is a mixed media production company and storytelling outfit. They create video, digital, and experimental content for TV, print, web, and mobile, all with a unified singular vision. They have won numerous awards since their formation, including Gold, Silver, and Bronze Cannes Lions, AICP, One Show, and ANDY awards, and many others. Their work has been featured across the globe and during the Super Bowl, and their division 1stAve Content has been instrumental in pairing the perfect influencers and creators with agencies and brands.

#FlClimateCrisis, #FlClimatePledge, #FLORIDA, #CLIMATE, #FLORIDAPANTHERS, #TAMPA, #ART, #CLIMATE

MEDIA CONTACT:

Joe Ramirez

attentagroup@icloud.com

786-210-0985

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f3a16f9c-f867-41e7-b52d-a7312a30723e
Mark Wells and Stan Penkin

Wells is president of the Portland Public Safety Action Coalition, a community nonprofit focused on crime reduction, and lives in Gladstone. Penkin is former president and lives in Portland.

Gun violence is on the rise and homicides in Portland spiked in July to a 30-year record. While such violence is increasing nationally, the timing could not have been worse, coinciding with Portland City Councils defunding of Portland Polices Gun Violence Reduction Team.

The Black Lives Matter movement has justifiably raised the issues of police abuse and lack of accountability. Reform and accountability measures are long overdue. However, shouldnt true police reform be accomplished in a measured, deliberate and inclusive process with all relevant parties having a seat at the table?

Unfortunately, under the pressures of this heated moment, City Council, with limited deliberation or consideration of unintended consequences, reallocated $15 million from the police bureau. Thankfully, calls by some Portlanders to cut $50 million from the bureaus budget without a fully thought out plan did not gain traction  for now.

The broad brush with which police are being painted ignores the fact that the vast majority of police officers are dedicated to serving the public and often risk their lives doing so. Attacking all police creates a greater level of mistrust than already exists and serves to break down order in our city. Its no wonder the Portland Police Bureau saw 51 officers retire in August alone.

A minimum number of patrol officers is necessary if we are to have genuine community peacekeeping, but the bureau has been short-staffed for years. The current anti police climate will further reduce the size and diminish the ability to recruit or retain good officers in years to come. Do not be surprised when you have an emergency and need a police response  they may not be there for you because they just arent there. Will that be an unintended consequence of heat of the moment decisions?

Its time to lower the rhetoric and work together with a reasoned and deliberate approach to police reform. Allocating resources to addiction and mental health professionals, rather than relying on the police who are not trained in those areas is a good start. A greater focus on establishing a viable Portland Street Response program is another move in the right direction.

In addition to police reform efforts, the Office of Community and Civic Life must resume training and funding of community-led public safety programs. Livability Teams, Apartment and Business Watch and neighborhood problem solving meetings helped teach communities to address neighbor disputes, code enforcement issues, animal-related complaints, noise and other issues themselves or by seeking help from appropriate service providers  not by going to police. Unfortunately, these programs were gutted by the citys civic life office with little input from neighborhood groups.

The result has been to pull the rug out from under residents' efforts to formally organize themselves in keeping their neighborhoods safe, connected and inclusive   without having to involve police. Eliminating the crime prevention programs has instead made us more dependent on calls to our understaffed police after crimes have occurred.

Now is the time to reestablish these programs and update them as needed to meet the growing diversity and needs of all Portlanders. Lets take this once in a generation opportunity to truly reshape our public safety system and ensure a city where everyone feels safe and supported.

Subscribe to our free weekly Oregon Opinion newsletter. Email:


Five-year-gift to Joseph Arboleda-Velasquez, MD, Ph.D., enables further investigation of potential genetic resistance to Alzheimer's as he works toward an ultimate goal of developing treatments

Joseph F. Arboleda-Velasquez, MD, PhD, an Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School and assistant scientist at Massachusetts Eye and Ear who studies small vessel disease in the brain and the eye, has been awarded a five-year, $4 Million gift from Good Ventures to spur his lab's groundbreaking work into Alzheimer's disease genetic resistance.

This transformational gift will enable Dr. Arboleda-Velasquez to build upon the recent discovery of a genetic mutation that protected in a woman who had a high familial risk for the condition and amyloid plaque deposits in her brain against early-onset Alzheimer's disease.

The gift funds will support two research projects that aim to:

Examine the function of a protective genetic variant described in a woman with high familial risk for early-onset Alzheimer's disease, but who has not yet developed the condition

Discover new genes and biological markers potentially associated with resistance to Alzheimer's in the world's largest population of familial Alzheimer's in Colombia.

In November 2019, Dr. Arboleda-Velasquez and colleagues at Mass Eye and Ear, Mass General Hospital, and the Neuroscience Group of Antioquia, Colombia reported in Nature Medicine identification of a genetic mutation of the APOE gene - the major susceptibility gene for late-onset Alzheimer's - in an older woman who did not develop the disease despite her strong family history. The researchers hypothesized this genetic mutation may have provided protection against the devastating neurological illness.

"By agreeing to participate in research, one woman opened the door for a groundbreaking discovery to happen, and that action really showed our research team the power of one," said Dr. Arboleda-Velasquez. "Good Ventures did the same through the organization's generosity, and are making a huge difference to help us reach the next step in this discovery."

Gift will build upon prior research identifying a gene that provided resistance to Alzheimer's

The rare genetic variation linked to Alzheimer's protection, called, APOE3 Christchurch (APOEch), was identified in one woman who was part of the Mass General Colombia-Boston Biomarker Study (COLBOS), which follows individuals from Colombia at the highest risk to develop early-onset Alzheimer's disease due to a E280A mutation in a gene called presenilin 1 (PSEN1). This woman, however, did not develop mild cognitive impairment until her late 70s, about 30 years later than other genetic carriers in the study. Imaging tests showed she had unusually high levels of amyloid plaque deposits in the brain, which are telltale markers of Alzheimer's, despite not showing symptoms. Dr. Arboleda-Velasquez and colleagues' genetic analysis revealed that this woman carried two copies of APOEch.

With the new funding from Good Ventures, Dr. Arboleda-Velazquez and colleagues in Colombia will accelerate this work and examine this family line for other possible genetic mutations that may provide disease protection. They believe that their genetic will lead to the discovery of related drug and gene therapies for Alzheimer's.

The research team at Mass Eye and Ear first became interested in this genetic variant when they were investigating genetic mutations linked to protection against age-related macular degeneration (AMD). This neurodegenerative eye disease, which shares some commonalities with Alzheimer's disease, is a leading cause of blindness in people over 50.

"Dr. Arboleda-Velazquez's gift from Good Ventures is a well-deserved recognition of his unique work, which may one day greatly impact the prevention of genetic diseases that degenerate brain function and vision," said Joan W. Miller, MD, Chief of Ophthalmology at Mass Eye and Ear, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Chair of Ophthalmology and David Glendenning Cogan Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School.

###

About Dr. Arboleda- Velasquez:

Dr. Arboleda-Velasquez joined the full-time faculty of Harvard Medical School in 2012 after completing a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Patricia A. D'Amore, PhD, MBA, Associate Chief for Ophthalmology Basic and Translational Research at Mass Eye and Ear, and the Vice Chair for Basic Research and Translational Research for Harvard Ophthalmology.

In 2000, Dr. Arboleda-Velasquez earned his MD in General Medicine, graduating class valedictorian, from the University of Antioquia, in Medellin, Colombia, where he worked extensively with individuals who had familial Alzheimer's disease and stroke. In 2009, he received his PhD in Cell and Developmental Biology from Harvard Medical School.

About Mass Eye and Ear

Massachusetts Eye and Ear, founded in 1824, is an international center for treatment and research and a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. A member of Mass General Brigham, Mass Eye and Ear specializes in ophthalmology (eye care) and otolaryngology-head and neck surgery (ear, nose and throat care). Mass Eye and Ear clinicians provide care ranging from the routine to the very complex. Also home to the world's largest community of hearing and vision researchers, Mass Eye and Ear scientists are driven by a mission to discover the basic biology underlying conditions affecting the eyes, ears, nose, throat, head and neck and to develop new treatments and cures. In the 2020-2021 "Best Hospitals Survey," U.S. News & World Report ranked Mass Eye and Ear #4 in the nation for eye care and #6 for ear, nose and throat care. For more information about life-changing care and research at Mass Eye and Ear, visit our blog, Focus, and follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

About Harvard Medical School Department of Ophthalmology

The Harvard Medical School Department of Ophthalmology is one of the leading and largest academic departments of ophthalmology in the nation. Composed of nine affiliates (Massachusetts Eye and Ear, which is home to Schepens Eye Research Institute; Massachusetts General Hospital; Brigham and Women's Hospital; Boston Children's Hospital; Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; Joslin Diabetes Center/Beetham Eye Institute; Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System; Veterans Affairs Maine Healthcare System; and Cambridge Health Alliance) and several international partners, the department draws upon the resources of a global team to pursue a singular goal--eradicate blinding diseases so that all children born today will see throughout their lifetimes. Formally established in 1871, the department is committed to its three-fold mission of providing premier clinical care, conducting transformational research, and providing world-class training for tomorrow's leaders in ophthalmology.
Regulatory News:

Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. (LN:PSH) (LN:PSHD) (NA:PSH) today released its regular weekly Net Asset Value ("NAV") and performance returns on its website, https://www.pershingsquareholdings.com/company-reports/weekly-navs/. The NAV and returns were computed as of the close of business on Tuesday, 15 September 2020.

PSH NAV per share as of close of business on 15 September 2020 was 40.20 USD 31.19 GBP and year-to-date performance was 50.0%.

Weekly net asset value ("NAV") is calculated as of the close of business on each Tuesday and posted on the following business day. In the event that Tuesday is not a business day, the Company will calculate the close-of-business NAV as of the business day immediately preceding that Tuesday. The end-of-month NAV is calculated as of the close of business on the last day of the month and posted on the following business day. For weeks that include a month-end NAV report, PSH will provide only the month-end NAV and not report the Tuesday NAV. Monthly NAVs are published in accordance with the Decree on Conduct of Business Supervision of Financial Undertakings under the Wft (Besluit Gedragstoezicht financiele ondernemingen Wft).

Performance is presented on a net-of-fees basis and reflects the deduction of, among other expenses: management fees, brokerage commissions, administrative fees and accrued performance fees, if any. The performance figure includes the reinvestment of all dividends, interest and capital gains. Depending on the timing of a specific investment, net performance for an individual investor may vary from the net performance as stated herein. Net performance is a geometrically linked time weighted calculation.

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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.

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Nuclear power plants promising thousands of UK jobs will not go ahead after Japanese giant Hitachi pulled out of the scheme.

The decision not to go ahead with building new power stations at Wylfa Newydd on Anglesey and at Oldbury on Severn, in South Gloucestershire, deals a huge blow to the nuclear industry and hopes of creating thousands of new jobs.

Hitachi announced it will end business operations on the nuclear power plant construction project at Wylfa, which was suspended in January 2019.

A statement said: 'Hitachi made this decision given that 20 months have passed since the suspension, and the investment environment has become increasingly severe due to the impact of Covid-19.'

An artist's impression of the planned nuclear power station at Wylfa on Anglesey in north Wales. Horizon said it will be ceasing its activities to develop two projects in the UK

Horizon said in a statement: 'Horizon will now take steps for the orderly closing down of all its current development activities, but will keep the lines of communication open with Government and other key stakeholders regarding future options at both our sites.'

The GMB Union expressed their disappointment over the decision, saying that the UK needs 'at least' six new nuclear power stations to meet future energy demands and green targets.

Justin Bowden, the union's National Secretary, said: 'This utterly predictable announcement from Hitachi is outcome of successive government failures to act decisively around new nuclear, and in particular how it is financed.

'New nuclear is vital in achieving decarbonisation - especially when teamed up with hydrogen.'

He added: 'It's no coincidence that around the world - almost without exception - it's Governments who finance these projects, as they are the lender of last resort when it comes to keeping the lights on.

'The fanciful experiment of trying to get foreign companies or governments to fund our future energy needs leaves most ordinary citizens in this country bewildered.'

Britain's, and the world's, oldest nuclear power station, Oldbury, near Thornbury, South Gloucester. Staff switched off the site's only remaining reactor in 2012

Horizon's chief executive Duncan Hawthorne said: 'I understand this announcement will be disappointing for our many supporters who had hoped to see our project through to completion and I would personally like to thank you for your support throughout our time on this project.

'In particular I would like to thank our lead host community of Anglesey in Wales, represented by the Isle of Anglesey County Council and Welsh Government, and the key representatives around Oldbury.

'I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to the many international, UK and Welsh stakeholders who have supported us in the development of our projects.

'Nuclear power has a critical role to play in helping tackle our energy needs, meeting our climate change targets and levelling up the economy through green growth and job creation.

'Wylfa Newydd on Anglesey and Oldbury on Severn are highly desirable sites for new nuclear build. We will do our utmost to facilitate the prospects for development which will bring the major local, national and environmental benefits that nuclear can uniquely deliver as we push to transition to a net zero carbon economy by 2050.'
T he Thomas Cook brand has been "reinvented" as an online travel company.

Chinese firm Fosun Tourism Group acquired the brand for 11 million after the 178-year-old travel company collapsed in September 2019.

The new version began selling holidays online and over the phone on Wednesday but does not have any stores. It employs about 50 people and retains the brand's logo.

Alan French, who was group strategy and technology director at Thomas Cook when it collapsed, has been hired as UK chief executive of the new travel agency and described the relaunch as "an honour".

He said: "What happened last year was a tragedy at a personal level for many thousands of my former colleagues, our business partners and of course our loyal customers.

"The resilience and affection still felt for the Thomas Cook brand reflects the huge commitment and professionalism of those former colleagues. We are very much in their debt and hope to have their backing as we look to take the brand into a new era."

The failure of Thomas Cook led to 9,000 jobs being lost and the repatriation of around 150,000 holidaymakers who were overseas.

Mr French pledged that the new travel agency's customers can be "reassured their money is protected" due to its "robust financial structure".

Thomas Cook only offers trips to destinations from which UK holidaymakers can return without entering quarantine, such as Italy, Turkey and parts of Greece.

The travel industry has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, with the self-isolation requirement causing demand for foreign breaks to plummet.

Mr French said: "We have reinvented one of the most recognisable names in British travel. Our new business will combine fantastic UK-based customer service with an updated operating model protected by Atol and with the backing of a multibillion-dollar organisation.

"We are launching now clearly aware of the short-term challenges posed by the pandemic. We and our Fosun backers are taking the long view and we want to offer choice, customisation and 24/7 on-holiday customer care to families who wish to travel now and in the future.

"We know Brits are keen to travel but feel nervous about safety and any changes to Government rules on quarantine. We are only selling destinations on the travel corridor list and all the hotels are flexible. We also won't charge customers a fee to change their holidays if Government rules change."

Jim Qian, chairman and chief executive of Fosun Tourism Group, said: "Thomas Cook has a proud heritage and after acquiring the brand last year we wanted to quickly return it to its home in the UK.

"Supporting the growth of the brand in China and its relaunch in the UK is a big step in our plan to turn Thomas Cook into a global success story and a key milestone in the development of the Fosun Tourism Group's strategy."
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio has opened a review of FirstEnergys lobbying on House Bill 6, the nuclear bailout law thats now the subject of a federal corruption probe.

A Tuesday filing from PUCO staff directs FirstEnergy and its Ohio affiliates to demonstrate that the costs of any political or charitable spending in support of the bill, or on a subsequent effort to thwart a campaign to repeal it, were not included, directly or indirectly, in any rates or charges paid by ratepayers in this state.

The companies have until Sept. 30 to do so, the filing says. Any interested parties then can comment on whatever the FirstEnergy companies produce, or respond to those comments, through Nov. 13.

Federal prosecutors have said FirstEnergy and its allies spent $60 million pushing for the passage of House Bill 6 in what theyve described as an elaborate bribery scheme. As part of the alleged scheme, former House Speaker Larry Householder pushed for the passage of HB6, which will send more than $1 billion to two nuclear plants owned by a former FirstEnergy subsidiary.

In exchange, FirstEnergy helped fund Householders run for speaker and funneled money through political groups he controlled, the federal allegations say. Householder and four political operatives were arrested in July and charged with racketeering. FirstEnergy and its executives have not been accused of wrongdoing.

Critics, including Ohio Consumers' Counsel Bruce Weston, have said the allegations in the federal investigation raise questions over whether FirstEnergys spending violated laws that bar using ratepayer money on lobbying, as well as those restricting how companies like FirstEnergy financially support their tightly regulated retail affiliates. They have said PUCO, which regulates utilities in Ohio, should investigate.

Weve started the process. What were doing is un-peeling history, so weve started a process by which to assemble information as best we can over the entities over which we have jurisdiction, PUCO Chairman Sam Randazzo told state legislators on Wednesday.

The PUCO opened the case one week after Weston requested PUCO to hire a third-party auditor to investigate FirstEnergys political spending in support of House Bill 6. The new PUCO filing does not order such an audit, although the agency feasibly could at some point in the future. The PUCO also has the ability to subpoena records and force testimony from state utilities.

Its important to point out yesterdays entry is the starting point, and the course the case takes will partly depend on the information submitted by parties to the case, said Matt Schilling, a PUCO spokesman.

Ashley Brown, a former PUCO commissioner who has called for a forensic third-party audit of FirstEnergy in an op-ed published on cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer, called the new PUCO filing a good first step.

its a very small step and its a conservative legal approach, but its in the right direction, and hopefully it will lead to something more," said Brown, who now is executive director of the Harvard Electricity Policy Group at Harvard University.

The most critical question is where does it go from there, he said.

In a statement, JP Blackwood, a spokesman for the Ohio Consumers' Counsel, said: "Yesterday the PUCO implemented only a part of our several requests to protect Ohioans by investigating FirstEnergy. As we pointed out, the Ohio legislature has granted the PUCO considerable powers to investigate utilities for the protection of the public. We hope the PUCO will more fully use those powers to broaden its announced review of FirstEnergys alleged conduct in influencing the passage of House Bill 6.

FirstEnergy is reviewing the PUCO filing and will respond before Sept. 30, a spokeswoman said.

The PUCO becomes the third state agency to launch a review of FirstEnergy and lobbying around House Bill 6 since the federal investigation burst into public view in July. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has filed a campaign-finance complaint with the Ohio Elections Commission, while Attorney General Dave Yost has said he may sue to block the HB6 subsidies from taking effect.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which regulates publicly traded companies, also has launched an investigation.

Ohio political leaders, including Gov. Mike DeWine and Senate President Larry Obhof, have called for a repeal of House Bill 6 since the federal investigation became public. The legislature is debating whether and how to do so. A special Ohio House committee formed to consider repealing the legislation is scheduled to hold a hearing today.
Official request made to have five former presidents of Mexico investigated

Mexico City, Mexico  President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced that his legal council has delivered the request for a popular consultation on whether or not former presidents of the country should be prosecuted for the alleged commission of crimes during their presidency.

The request was delivered to the Senate by Legal Counsel of the Presidency, Julio Scherer Ibarra, in accordance with due process of the former presidents who ruled Mexico from 1988 to 2018.

During his conference, Lopez Obrador read part of the letter of request to the Senate. Do you agree or disagree with the competent authorities, in accordance with the applicable laws and procedures, investigate, and where appropriate sanction, the alleged commission of crimes by former presidents Carlos Salinas de Gortari, Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon, Vicente Fox Quesada, Felipe Calderon Hinojosa and Enrique Pena Nieto before, during and after their respective administrations?

He suggested that the consultation be carried out on election day to be held on Sunday, June 6, 2021 or on the date established by the recently amended Article 35 of the Constitution.

The request was submitted after citizens organized to collect the signatures required to request the consultation. Groups around the country participated in the collection of nearly 2 million signatures.

Scherer Ibarra delivered the document, signed by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, to request a popular consultation on a trial of the last five former presidents of Mexico, which would take place according to the petition, on the election day of Sunday, June 6, 2021 or on the date established in the recently amended article 35 of the Constitution.

Senator Ricardo Monreal receives the formal request to have the last five presidents investigated

Senator Ricardo Monreal, Morena coordinator in the Upper House, was in charge of receiving the request and forwarding it to the president of the Board of Directors, Eduardo Ramirez, who must send it to the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) to resolve its constitutionality, according to the Federal Law of Popular Consultation.

Ricardo Monreal said the document will be sent to the SCJN, who will have 20 calendar days to issue a resolution on the constitutionality or not on the consultation and on the question.
by Marian Demir

The meeting will be held on 30 September in Istanbul. The Presidency of Religious Affairs is behind the initiative. National and district directors and staff of the Ministry of Education have been invited to attend.

Istanbul (AsiaNews)  A symposium on the theme Hagia Sophia-Kabir-i-Sherif will be held in Istanbul on 30 September under the auspices of Turkeys Presidency (Directorate) of Religious Affairs (Dinayet).

According to available information, the symposium will address four themes, including the history of Hagia Sophia and its place in Turkish-Islamic civilisation.

The gathering comes just over two months after the first Islamic prayer was held in the Christian basilica, following the decision by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to reopen it to Muslim worship after 89 years.

The decision to end its use as a museum[*] met with a lot of criticism. Pope Francis, Patriarch Bartholomew, the Russian Orthodox Synod, the World Council of Churches, UNESCO and various foreign governments, including those of some Islamic countries, like the United Arab Emirates, expressed their distress and opposition over the use of the basilica for one religious community, disregarding the buildings universal value.

In an attempt to assert Hagia Sophia's affiliation with Turkish-Islamic culture, the General Directorate for Religious Education of Turkeys Ministry of Education sent a letter to the national and district directors of education to invite all of their staff to the symposium.

[*] The building was turned into a museum in the mid-1930s by order of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of modern Turkey.
Vice President, Alhaji Mahamadu Bawumia, has inaugurated the state of art New Liquid Bulk Terminal at Takoradi Port.

The Vice President also cut the sod for the construction of a new multi-purpose Dry Bulk Jetty Phase Two, also at the Takoradi Port.

The newly inaugurated Liquid Bulk Terminal, the biggest in West Africa, has five loading arms for five products, namely: petrol, diesel, LPG, heavy fuel and bitumen.

The three-phase project being undertaken by Ibistek Ghana with funding from the Ghana Infrastructure and Investment Fund (GIIF) cost US$56.7million, and is expected to make Ghana the leading cargo destination in the West African sub-region.

According to the Vice President: This project ties in with governments drive toward ensuring efficiency in the countrys port operations by allowing for deeper anchoring and also to make it a major petroleum hub in the sub-region.

He commended Ibistek Ghana, a developer and operator of the Takoradi Port, for delivering beyond expectation.

He said Ibistek, a wholly Ghanaian-owned entity, has reiterated the need to continue believing in the private sector.

Peter Mac Manu, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority said: The Port of Takoradi, as you may have seen already, has been undergoing major transformation since GPHA kick-started an Infrastructure Upgrade and Expansion Programme for the Port in 2011.

He said the port has sustained the commitment to enhance and fast-track port infrastructure projects as part of the National Development and Poverty Alleviation agenda.

He said with completion of the New Terminal, more than 50% of Ghanas domestic petroleum consumption demands can be met with ease.

He explained that the Liquid Bulk Terminal consists of a 14m-water depth berth  the deepest in-harbour berth in Ghana at the moment deeper than that of Tema oil Berth); loading arms for five petroleum products (petrol, diesel, LPG-gas, bitumen, and other heavy fuels); full berthing structures including fenders for dolphins, bollards and hooking points.

The berth facility, he said, is designed to support vessels up to 60,000 tonnes for petroleum cargo carriers. We will need two or three of the current tank farm customers to share one such cargo volume.

As Chairman of the GPHA Board, working in consonance with the Management and staff we have sustained the commitment to enhance and fast-track these port infrastructure projects as part of our National Development and Poverty Alleviation agenda, he said.

He pointed out that that the certification processes for safe transfer of fuels through the pipes are almost complete.

By way of direct jobs, the terminal is expected to employ about 100 in-port specialist personnel and more than 500 indirect jobs to operate the facility; It is an 810-metre long wharf facility for three large ore carriers, which will be served by loaders (or unloaders) and conveyor systems.

The dry bulk terminal is where we intend to handle increased volumes of bauxite, manganese and all the cement-related cargos  such as clinker, gypsum, limestone, lime, furnace slag; and then other new bulk cargoes that may evolve within the market space, he further explained.

Mr. Manu said the terminal is designed to handle nearly 18.5 million-metric tonnes of cargo per annum. Currently, the dry bulk cluster is hovering around 6.5 million metric tonnes per-annum.

On the sod-cutting for Phase-two of the New Bulk Jetty Project, he explained: This latter part of superstructure work is being carried out by Amandi Investments Limited, at a cost of US$70million.

He said a complete set of conveyor systems will be installed to all three berths  including one loading arm for the export berth, full terminal pavement, utilities services, water, electricity, terminal operations control office among others  to ensure seamless operations for all the current cargo owners and be resilient enough to add on new cargo owners and volumes.

Work, he said, is expected to be completed by second-quarter of 2022; and terminal operations will employ not less than 150 persons on direct terminal roles, and give not less than another 1,000 indirect employment opportunities.

Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, Western Region Minister, commended government for its special interest in the region.

Western Region has benefitted from a number of good projects; such as coastal protection and development, roads, railways, among others which are very commendable, he said.

With all these project, he said, the region is assured a booming economy.

Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, Minister of Transport, commended Ibistek for the bold step in executing all these project.

Lawyer Kwame Gyan, Chairman of Ibistek said: Ibistek over the past few years has invested US$322.7m in the Takoradi Port alone to make the facility able to provide capacity for future growth in investment.

Dry Bulk Jetty

The Dry Bulk Jetty project, when completed, will help in the efficient handling of dry bulk cargos like manganese, bauxite, clinker, gypsum, quick lime, etc at the Takoradi Port.

The existing facility for handling such cargos is 120 metres with a depth of 8.6 meters and the new one which was commissioned by the Vice President is 300 meters with a depth of 14 metres.

 B&FT
An international collaboration involving Monash University and Duke-NUS researchers have made an unexpected world-first stem cell discovery that may lead to new treatments for placenta complications during pregnancy.

While it is widely known that adult skin cells can be reprogrammed into cells similar to human embryonic stem cells that can then be used to develop tissue from human organs - known as induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) - the same process could not create placenta tissue.

iPSCs opened up the potential for personalised cell therapies and new opportunities for regenerative medicine, safe drug testing and toxicity assessments, however little was known about exactly how they were made.

An international team led by ARC Future Fellow Professor Jose Polo from Monash University's Biomedicine Discovery Institute and the Australian Research Medicine Institute, together with Assistant Professor Owen Rackham from Duke-NUS in Singapore, examined the molecular changes the adult skin cells went through to become iPSCs. It was during the study of this process that they discovered a new way to create induced trophoblast stem cells (iTSCs) that can be used to make placenta cells.

This exciting discovery, also involving the expertise of three first authors, Dr. Xiaodong Liu, Dr. John Ouyang and Dr. Fernando Rossello, will enable further research into new treatments for placenta complications and the measurement of drug toxicity to placenta cells, which has implications during pregnancy.

"This is really important because iPSCs cannot give rise to placenta, thus all the advances in disease modelling and cell therapy that iPSCs have brought about did not translate to the placenta," Professor Polo said.

"When I started my PhD five years ago our goal was to understand the nuts and bolts of how iPSCs are made, however along the way we also discovered how to make iTSCs," said Dr Liu.

"This discovery will provide the capacity to model human placenta in vitro and enable a pathway to future cell therapies," commented Dr Ouyang.

"This study demonstrates how by successfully combining both cutting edge experimental and computational tools, basic science leads to unexpected discoveries that can be transformative," Professor Rackham said.

Professors Polo and Rackham said many other groups from Australian and international universities contributed to the study over the years, making it a truly international endeavour.

###

Read the full paper in Nature titled: Reprogramming roadmap reveals route to human induced trophoblast stem cells

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2734-6

About the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute at Monash University

Committed to making the discoveries that will relieve the future burden of disease, the newly established Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute at Monash University brings together more than 120 internationally-renowned research teams. Our researchers are supported by world-class technology and infrastructure, and partner with industry, clinicians and researchers internationally to enhance lives through discovery.

About The Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute at Monash University

The Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute is one of the largest regenerative medicine and stem cell research organisations in the world and Australia's only research institute specialising in regeneration and stem cells. Located on the Clayton campus of Monash University, researchers at ARMI focus on understanding the basic mechanisms of the regenerative process, aiming to eventually enable doctors to prevent, halt and reverse damage to vital organs due to disease, injury or genetic conditions.

About the Duke-NUS Medical School

Duke-NUS is Singapore's flagship graduate entry medical school, established in 2005 with a strategic, government-led partnership between two world-class institutions: Duke University School of Medicine and the National University of Singapore (NUS). Through an innovative curriculum, students at Duke-NUS are nurtured to become multi-faceted 'Clinicians Plus' poised to steer the healthcare and biomedical ecosystem in Singapore and beyond. A leader in ground-breaking research and translational innovation, Duke-NUS has gained international renown through its five signature research programmes and eight centres. The enduring impact of its discoveries is amplified by its successful Academic Medicine partnership with Singapore Health Services (SingHealth), Singapore's largest healthcare group. This strategic alliance has spawned 15 Academic Clinical Programmes, which harness multi-disciplinary research and education to transform medicine and improve lives. For more information, please visit http://www.duke-nus.edu.sg

Media Enquiries please contact:

Wendy Smith - Monash Media

E: wendy.smith1@monash.edu

T: +61 (0) 425 725 836
Mumbai, Sep 16 : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), probing the case of the death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput, is seeking legal opinion on a new FIR filed by the late actor's girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty against his two sisters and a Delhi doctor.

The FIR was registered by Rhea at the Bandra police station here against Priyanka Singh and Mitu Singh as well as Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital doctor Tarun Kumar for allegedly issuing a bogus prescription for Sushant to help him with his anxiety issues.

A CBI source said that the agency will soon take a decision on the issue, even though there was no official confirmation from CBI officials.

The source said that the CBI is taking legal opinion as the Supreme Court had on August 19 approved to hand over the Patna Police FIR to the central agency as directed by the Centre.

The CBI SIT has already questioned a number of accused including Rhea, her brother Showik, father Indrajit, Sushant's ex-manager Shruti Modi, Sushant's house manager Samuel Miranda, flatmate Siddharth Pithani, house staff Dipesh Swant, Neeraj Singh and Keshav Bachne and several others in the case.

Rhea, Showik, Miranda and Swant have been arrested by the NCB in connection with the drugs case related to the death of Sushant.

The NCB registered the case on the request of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after several chat details showed a drugs angle. The death of Sushant is being investigated by the CBI, ED and the NCB.

Latest updates on Sushant Singh Rajput Death Mystery
UPPER EAST SIDE, NY  Teachers and parents denounced the Hunter College Campus Schools' reopening plan in a protest Wednesday outside the fortresslike school building, alleging that administrators will put staff at risk by refusing to include coronavirus safety measures in place at every other school in the city.

Staff say that Hunter will be the only public school in New York City to reopen for in-person classes next week without random coronavirus testing of students and teachers, inspections of ventilation systems in each room and contact tracing of confirmed COVID-19 cases.

They say administrators have claimed the school is exempt from the citywide reopening standards announced in a deal with the United Federation of Teachers this month because the K-12 school, affiliated with Hunter College, is run by CUNY, rather than the Department of Education  the only school in the city with such an arrangement.

Social studies teacher and union vice-chair Irving Kagan said teachers have tried since June to be included in the decision-making process leading up to the Sept. 21 reopening, as was required by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, only to be stonewalled by administrators. The plan presented to staff last month included no input from teachers, Kagan said.

A teacher protests Hunter College Campus Schools' planned reopening outside its Upper East Side building, Sept. 16, 2020. (Nick Garber/Patch)

Staff were taken aback by the details of the plan, which lacked commitments to test, contact trace, conduct room-by-room ventilation inspections and limit class sizes to 12 students, among other city standards.



"We were astonished when we got a response back saying: CUNY does one thing, DOE does another thing, theyre two different organizations," Kagan said, referring to a Sept. 8 email from Campus Schools Director Lisa Siegmann, which was shared with Patch.



In particular, staff are raising alarms about the Hunter building, built to resemble an armory and known as "the brick prison" for its lack of windows. The building has been plagued by ventilation problems since long before COVID-19, but staff say administrators refused their requests to hire an independent inspector to examine the system, as the city has done for roughly 1,500 school buildings.

Story continues

Instead, teachers say, the school only provided a memo prepared by a contractor who had been hired to replace the school's faulty HVAC system over the summer, which deemed the building safe. Staff commissioned their own critical review of the school's report, calling it light on details and noting that it fails to mention the COVID-19 pandemic at all.

Barbara Bowen, President of the CUNY staff union, said at Wednesday's protest that Hunter President Jennifer Raab informed staff the previous day that an independent inspector hired by the union would not be allowed into the school building.

A majority of Hunter teachers have signed onto a list of demands calling on the school to abide by the DOE standards, math teacher and union chapter chair Tina Moore said Wednesday. A similar petition circulated by Hunter parent Juliana Sohn and sent to Raab Wednesday garnered 392 signatures.

Hunter social studies teacher and union vice-chair Irving Kagan speaks at a protest against the school's reopening plan, Sept. 16, 2020. (Nick Garber/Patch)

"We have argued that school start remotely so that CUNY can prioritize the students' and the teachers' health," Moore said. "It simply has not shown the evidence that the facilities that they propose to use are properly ventilated."

In a statement, Hunter spokesperson Deborah Raskin defended the reopening plan and said that "Hunter College and CUNY would never put the safety of our faculty, staff or students in jeopardy."

To reduce density in the main building, some students will attend class at Hunter's Silberman School of Social Work in East Harlem, Raskin said. She said the school will mandate social distancing, conduct daily health screenings and add hand sanitizing stations.

Raskin said the school had also installed HEPA filters in classrooms in both buildings, as well as UV lights and MERV-13 filters.

School staff, though, say they've been presented with no evidence that HEPA filters were installed  only an air purifier that was deemed inadequate by Jean Grassman, a CUNY professor and occupational health expert brought on by the staff union.

Kagan, who graduated from Hunter himself before returning as a teacher, said it feels like administrators are "sending us out to fly this airplane theyre building even as we speak."

"We dont even recognize the school that we have labored at for 10, or 20, or 30 years," he said.

Previous coverage: Hunter College Teachers Say School Can't Reopen Safely



This article originally appeared on the Upper East Side Patch
The Government could hasten approval of a nuclear power station at Sizewell in Suffolk after a project in Wales fell through.

It could even take a stake in the plant, according to reports.

This week, Japanese group Hitachi pulled out of plans to build a new nuclear power station at Wylfa on Anglesey, dealing another blow to the Government's nuclear plans and ramping up pressure to accelerate approving Sizewell.

The Government is under pressure to accelerate approve plans for a new nuclear power station at Sizewell in Sufflock (pictured) after a project in Wales fell through

Of six sites earmarked for plants to replace the UK's ageing nuclear fleet more than a decade ago only one, Hinkley Point C, in Somerset, is being built.

But Sizewell poses problems because China's state-backed nuclear group, CGN, is a 20pc investor, alongside France's EDF.

Since the Government excluded Huawei's equipment from new 5G networks, relations with Beijing have deteriorated and will make it difficult for China to be involved in setting up a nuclear reactor in the UK.

The Government is looking at options to replace CGN, the BBC reported, and may take over the stake.

Alison Downs of campaign group Stop Sizewell C said: 'Sizewell would be a bad project whoever paid for it and wouldn't help the Government meet its policy imperatives.

It wouldn't contribute to net zero targets until 2040 and at 20billion would be more expensive, as well as slower than other technologies to address climate change.'

A Government spokesman said: 'Nuclear energy has a key role to play in meeting our net zero commitments. We regularly engage with all developers on their projects and are considering a range of financing solutions.'
A brazen Hong Kong burglar made off with a collection of stamps and calligraphy worth a reported 400million in a daylight heist, a police source said Wednesday.

The thief struck an apartment belonging to Chinese collector Fu Chunxiao in the city's bustling Kowloon district and took just two hours to steal the staggering haul, the source told AFP.

The stolen goods were worth HK$4 billion (398 million) and included calligraphy by Chairman Mao Zedong, five extremely valuable antique stamps and revolutionary items from mainland China, according to the South China Morning Post.

The thief struck an apartment belonging to Chinese collector Fu Chunxiao in the city's bustling Kowloon district. The thief walked into the 16-storey residential building, forced open an iron gate and burst through a wooden door to get inside the apartment before dashing off

Fu, a member of the Hong Kong Philatelic Society, was in mainland China at the time of the burglary on Thursday September 10, said the police source, who asked not to be named.

He currently lives on the mainland but has used the flat for storage.

The thief walked into the 16-storey residential building, forced open an iron gate and burst through a wooden door to get inside the apartment, before making off via the same route with the goods.

The SCMP cited a source who said the value of the stolen items emerged after Fu's daughter arrived in Hong Kong to help the police probe.

The stolen goods were worth HK$4 billion (398 million) and included calligraphy by Chairman Mao Zedong (pictured), five extremely valuable antique stamps and revolutionary items from mainland China, according to the South China Morning Post

The valuable goods were taken from a locked drawer in the apartment, the source told the newspaper.

The source also suggested that there might have been two burglars involved while police were hunting for the suspects who were captured on CCTV footage as they left the building.

A third police source reportedly said the break-in did not appear to be 'the work of professional burglars'.

He told the newspaper: 'It was possible the burglars had information that the occupant was not in town and that his flat stored the expensive items.'

The reported heist in Hong Kong is four times bigger than what prosecutors called Britains largest burglary in legal history - the Hatton Garden heist in 2015.

The Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Company, an underground safe deposit facility in London's Hatton Garden area, was burgled in April 2015.

The total stolen jewels have a value of up to 13.6million.
Two-thirds (66%) of those who want their instruction to take place fully remotely say it's because they think the coronavirus is too big of a threat. Just three in 10 teens say they trust their school "a lot" to take enough precautions to keep them safe during the pandemic, while 52% trust their school "a little," and 17% don't trust their school at all. Almost seven in 10 teens (69%) are worried ("very worried" or "somewhat worried") that they or someone they know would get sick because of in-person schooling.

"It is critical that we hear directly from teens on how they feel about returning to in-class instruction and the impact of online learning during the pandemic," said James P. Steyer, founder and CEO of Common Sense. "This is a very complicated issue that not only impacts families and educators but also students themselves in fundamental ways. We've heard from parents, teachers, and elected officials on the back to school issue, and we hope the voices of teens will be considered as well."

While fear of the coronavirus is the driving factor for teens wanting to stay home, teens say online learning is creating significant disadvantages for their ability to learn this year and fear the potentially long-term negative impacts on both their social and academic growth. Among those teens who want to return to school in person, nearly half (46%) say they want to do so because they learn better in person. Overall, more than six in 10 teens (61%) say they are worried about falling behind academically because of the pandemic. Almost one third of teens (32%) cite the lack of access to teachers as a major academic challenge, along with 27% who are worried about unreliable internet at home.

Not surprisingly, the data shows that teens are feeling the strain of social distancing orders on their relationships with friends and family. But their focus and concern is largely on their future. Many fear that, because of remote learning, they won't get the scholarship assistance they need or be ready for jobs or college after high school. More than half of teens (52%) are concerned about losing opportunities for scholarships, and 50% are worried that the pandemic will hurt their future job or college aspirations.

"More than any other issue, teens point to remote learning as their biggest academic challenge this fall," said Jon Cohen, chief research officer at SurveyMonkey. "So much of the national conversation on virtual schooling focuses on the burden it places on parents and corresponding losses in workplace productivity, but it's possible that the day-to-day impact on students that will have longer-term implications."

The survey also found that teenagers of color are feeling the long-term disadvantages more strongly than White teens. Hispanic and Asian teens or teens of other races/ethnicities are particularly likely to say they are worried about falling behind (79% and 67%, respectively) compared to White teens (55%). The majority of teens of color also cited a loss of scholarship opportunities as a top concern, as well as getting sick with COVID-19.

This latest survey is part of a Common Sense partnership with SurveyMonkey to examine media and technology trends affecting kids and to share actionable data and insights with families.

Key Findings

Teens definitively think online learning is worse than in-person learning. A majority of teens (59%) say that online learning is worse than in-person schooling, with 19% characterizing it as "much worse." However, Black teens are less likely than teens of other races/ethnicities to think online learning is worse. Only 45% of Black teens consider online learning to be worse than in-person schooling, compared to 60% of White teens, 64% of Hispanic teens, and 62% of Asian teens or teens of other races/ethnicities. Learning drives the desire for in-person schooling. Among those who want to return to school in person, almost half (46%) say it's because they learn better in person, with fewer teens (30%) saying it's because they miss the social interaction they have with friends and other students. But only a small percentage of teens think school should be fully in person. If the choice were up to them, only 19% of teens say they think their school should take place fully in person this fall, while 42% would prefer to be fully remote and 37% would choose a hybrid model. Fully two-thirds (66%) of those who want their instruction to take place fully remotely say it's because they think the coronavirus is too big of a threat. A majority of teens are worried about falling behind because of the pandemic. More than six in 10 teens (61%) say they are worried about falling behind academically because of the pandemic, with Hispanic and Asian teens or teens of other races/ethnicities particularly likely to say they are worried about falling behind (79% and 67%, respectively) compared to White teens (55%). Access to teachers and unreliable internet are big challenges for many students. Almost a third of teens (32%) cite lack of access to teachers as a major academic challenge. More than a quarter (27%) say unreliable internet will be a major challenge in their schooling. Most teens have little confidence that their schools will be safe. About 70% of teens say that they trust their school only "a little" or "not at all" to take enough precautions to keep them safe during the pandemic. Only three in 10 teens (30%) say they trust their school "a lot." Black and Hispanic teens are more distrustful of their schools' capabilities to keep them safe compared to White teens (74% each versus 67%). Teens of color are more concerned about getting sick from in-person schooling. Teens of color are more likely to be worried that they or someone they know will get sick as a result of going to school in person: 62% of White teens versus 78% of teens of color, a difference of 16 percentage points. Overall, 69% of teens are worried that they or someone they know would get sick because of in-person schooling.

Methodology:

This SurveyMonkey poll was conducted August 20 to 27, 2020, among 890 teens age 13 to 17 in the United States. Respondents for this survey were selected from more than 2 million people who take surveys on the SurveyMonkey platform each day. The modeled error estimate for the full sample is plus or minus 5.5 percentage points. Data has been weighted for age and sex using the Census Bureau's American Community Survey to reflect the demographic composition of the United States age 13 to 17.

About Common Sense

Common Sense is the nation's leading nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of kids and families by providing the trustworthy information, education, and independent voice they need to thrive in the 21st century. Learn more at commonsense.org.

About SurveyMonkey

SurveyMonkey is a leader in agile software solutions for customer experience, market research, and survey feedback. The company's platform empowers over 17 million active users to analyze and act on feedback from employees, customers, website and app users, and market research respondents. SurveyMonkey's products, enterprise solutions, and integrations enable more than 335,000 organizations to deliver better customer experiences, increase employee retention, and unlock growth and innovation. Ultimately, SurveyMonkey's vision is to raise the bar for human experiences by amplifying individual voices.

Press contacts:

Cassandra Matter

[email protected]

(408) 960-5115

*Spanish speakers available for interviews upon request. Contact Andrea Moreno at (408) 768-9607 or [email protected].

**If you would like to contact SurveyMonkey, contact [email protected].

SOURCE Common Sense
Opinion Coordinator

Sara Brown joined the Star in 2014 after working for the San Pedro Valley New Sun in Benson. She works with letters to the editor, produces Opinion Team chats, and curates columns such as Keeping the Faith, Business Awards and Adopt A Friend.
By PTI

KOLKATA: Senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya on Wednesday accused the TMC government in West Bengal of working for the benefit of the 30 per cent population of the state, who belong to the minority community.

He alleged the state administration tries to create obstacles for any programme or ritual related to Hinduism.

"The state government works only for the 30 per cent population (minorities) of the state. The remaining 70 per cent (Hindu population) are left to fend for themselves.

Why is this government against Hinduism and its rituals? Our party workers were stopped by the police from performing 'tarpan'.

Later, we had to organise it somewhere else," the party's national general secretary said.

Vijayvargiya's comments came in the backdrop of the Kolkata Police preventing the BJP from organising its 'shahid tarpan' event and dismantling a stage erected for the programme at Baghbazar Ghat in north Kolkata, citing the prevailing COVID-19 situation.

The saffron party, however, changed the venue to Golabari Ghat near Bagbazar and performed 'shahid tarpan' for slain party activists a day before Mahalaya.

'Tarpan' is a ritual in which water is offered to the ancestors with prayers for peace to the departed souls.

It is performed on occasions like Mahalaya, which marks the beginning of the Durga Puja festivities, and Makar Sankranti along the banks of Ganga.

Referring to the imposition of the state-wide lockdown on August 5, the day of 'bhoomi pujan' at Ayodhya for the construction of Ram temple, Vijayvargiya alleged the TMC government creates obstacles for any programme related to Hinduism.

"After we are voted to power in West Bengal next year, we will work for the entire population of the state and not just for a specific community," he told reporters after being prevented by the police from entering Bagbazar Ghat.

Assembly elections are likely to be held in West Bengal in April-May next year.

The police said the BJP had not taken permission for the 'shahid tarpan' event, while the saffron party claimed it had sent an email to the police on Tuesday night seeking permission for organising the programme.

"Do we need permission to perform 'tarpan' for our slain workers? It is a Hindu ritual that is being performed for ages.

But still, we had sent an email to the police last night seeking permission for the programme," Vijayvargiya said.

Since last year, the BJP has been performing 'mass tarpan' for party workers killed in political violence in West Bengal in the last few years.

J P Nadda, the then BJP national working president, had performed 'mass tarpan' for slain party workers in September last year.
Journal-Courier | campus photo by Adam Moss

MACOMB  Police are searching for a Western Illinois University student after his roommate was shot late Tuesday during a dispute in a residence hall.

Classes have been canceled for the day at the college, which is about 60 miles northwest of Jacksonville in McDonough County.
The military acknowledged for the first time a possible pattern of violations before and during the 2017 crackdown.

The Myanmar military has said it is investigating possible wider patterns of violations before and during a 2017 crackdown in Rakhine state that the United Nations has said was executed with genocidal intent against Rohingya Muslims.

More than 730,000 Rohingya fled to neighbouring Bangladesh that year following the launch of a sweeping security campaign that refugees said included mass killing, gang rape and arson.

The army has denied genocide, saying it was carrying out a legitimate operation against Rohingya rebels, but says it has court-martialled some troops over incidents in certain villages, though details on the perpetrators, their crimes, and sentences have not been released.

The military, in a statement carried in state media on Tuesday, acknowledged for the first time a possible broader pattern of abuses.

It said the military-run Office of the Judge Advocate General had reviewed a report by a government-backed commission that accused soldiers of committing war crimes and had expanded the scope of its investigations in response.

The office was investigating possible wider patterns of violations in the region of northern Rakhine in 2016-2017, the military said in the statement.

A Myanmar soldier stands near Maungdaw [File: Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters]

Allegations regarding villages in the Maungdaw area are included in the scope of this wider investigation, the military said, referring to a district on the border with Bangladesh that was a focus of its security operations in 2017.

It provided no more details and an army spokesman did not answer telephone calls by Reuters seeking further comment.

The announcement follows reports last week that two Myanmar soldiers have been taken to The Hague to appear as witnesses or face trial after confessing to killing dozens of villagers in the north of Rakhine state and burying them in mass graves.

On Monday UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet demanded action to remedy the serious rights violations suffered by Rohingya minority.

Rohingya villages erased from map

It comes less than a week after the United Nations said that Myanmar erased the name of Rohingya village of Kan Kya from official maps. The military had burned the Rohingya village to the ground and bulldozed over its remains three years ago following its brutal campaign against the Muslim minority.

Their intention is that we do not return. Mohammed Rofiq, a former chairman of a village close to Kan Kya who now lives in a refugee camp in Bangladesh

About three miles (five km) from the Naf River that marks the border between Myanmars Rakhine state and Bangladesh, Kan Kya was home to hundreds of people before the army drove out hundreds of thousands of Rohingya out of the country in what the UN described as a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.

Where Kan Kya once stood, there are now dozens of government and military buildings including a sprawling, fenced-off police base, according to satellite images publicly available on Google Earth and historical images provided to Reuters by Planet Labs. The village, in a remote region in the northwest of the country closed off to foreigners, was too small to be named on Google Maps.

On maps produced in 2020 by the United Nations mapping unit in Myanmar, which it says are based on Myanmar government maps, the site of the destroyed village is now nameless and reclassified as part of nearby town Maungdaw. The unit makes maps for the use of UN bodies, such as refugee agency UNHCR, and humanitarian groups that work with the UN in the field.

Kan Kya was one of almost 400 villages destroyed by the Myanmar military in 2017, according to satellite images analysed by New York-based Human Rights Watch. And it is one of at least a dozen villages whose names have been erased.

Tens thousands of internally displaced Rohingya have been confined to cramped camps with severe restrictions on their movement [Gemunu Amarasinghe/AP Photo]

Their intention is that we do not return, said religious leader Mohammed Rofiq, a former chairman of a village close to Kan Kya who now lives in a refugee camp in Bangladesh, referring to the Myanmar government.

The social welfare ministry, which oversees Myanmars rebuilding activities in Rakhine state, declined to answer questions from Reuters about the erasure of village names or the governments policy concerning the return of Rohingya refugees. The ministry referred questions to the General Administration Department (GAD), which did not respond.

A representative of the Myanmar government, led by State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, also did not respond to a request for comment.

Exterminating their basic identity

The UNs map department has produced at least three maps since the start of the year that show several Rohingya village names have disappeared or been reclassified by Myanmar.

The UN said it removed some maps of Rakhine state from its website in June and started a study to assess the effects of the governments policies on villagers and returning refugees after the Arakan Rohingya National Organisation, a UK-based Rohingya rights group, complained to the UN about the removal of village names.

The UN said the study has not reached any conclusion.

Yanghee Lee, a former UN human rights envoy to Myanmar, said the government was purposefully making it hard for refugees to return to places with no name and no evidence that they ever lived there. This is a way of exterminating their basic identity, she said.

Lee said the UN was complicit in allowing that to happen by not challenging the Myanmar government: There hasnt been any leadership that will say, Wait a minute, the buck stops here, were not going to let this continue.'

Several UN officials interviewed by Reuters declined to directly address why the UN had raised no objections or tried to stop it.

Ola Almgren, head of the UN mission to Myanmar, said he had not raised the issue of erasing village names with the Myanmar government, but said he had urged the Myanmar government to create conditions conducive to the return of refugees.

Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman for the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said the reclassification of some villages as wards was a routine administrative procedure. The UN mapping unit utilises the official government names of places so as to avoid confusion among aid workers and government officials in the field, he said. The standing UN practice worldwide is to employ officially designated place names for all publicly distributed maps and products.

Dujarric said that changing the legal status of villages may become an additional layer of complexity in refugees reclaiming their former homes, without providing specifics.
Storage cabinets to contribute largest market share in the refrigerated cabinet market

The global refrigerated cabinet market to register an incremental growth of USD 6.55 billion, witnessing a CAGR of almost 4% during 2020-2024, according to latest market research analysis by Technavio. The report offers a detailed analysis of the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the refrigerated cabinet market in optimistic, probable, and pessimistic forecast scenarios.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200915005931/en/

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Refrigerated Cabinet Market 2020-2024 (Graphic: Business Wire)

Get detailed Insights on COVID-19 pandemic Crisis and Recovery analysis of refrigerated cabinet market. Download free report sample

The refrigerated cabinet market will witness a Negative and Inferior impact during the forecast period owing to the extensive rise of COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, as per Technavio's pandemic-focused research highlights, the market growth is likely to Increase compared to 2019.

Refrigerated Cabinet Market 2020-2024: Vendor Analysis

The market is fragmented. Key players in the market have been launching several initiatives and introducing innovative products and services to cater to a larger target audience during the pandemic. With a rapidly shifting focus toward creating a digital marketplace to provide a convenient platform for stakeholders in the supply chain, several companies in the market are resorting to move their businesses online along with existing brick-and-mortar channels.

Major Refrigerated Cabinet market participants are

Ali Group Srl

Carrier Global Corp.

Haier Smart Home Co. Ltd.

HOSHIZAKI Corp.

Husky International Ltd.

Illinois Tool Works Inc.

ISA Spa

Liebherr-International AG

Metalfrio Solutions SA

Panasonic Corp.

Click here to learn about report's detailed analysis and insights on how you can leverage them to grow your business.

Refrigerated Cabinet Market 2020-2024: Segmentation

Refrigerated Cabinet Market is segmented as below:

Product Storage cabinet Wine cabinet Others



Storage cabinets will account for the largest share. These storage cabinets have compartments that can be accessed through either drawers or doors. Also, refrigerated cabinets are available in low and medium temperatures and can be customized as per end-user requirements, which has increased their adoption in supermarkets, convenience stores, commercial kitchens, and pharmacies.

Geography APAC Europe North America South America MEA



APAC region will account for the highest incremental growth during the forecast period due to factors such as the increasing adoption of refrigerated cabinets in emerging economies.

The refrigerated cabinet market is driven by the rising use of natural refrigerants and the growing demand for energy-efficient models of commercial refrigeration equipment, as per Technavio's pandemic impact-focused research study. Furthermore, 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, and significant developments in vendor operations and government regulations in Consumer Discretionary industry.

For gaining more insights about the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on related reports, check out Technavio's Consumer Discretionary section

Key Considerations for Market Forecast:

Impact of lockdowns, supply chain disruptions, demand destruction, and change in customer behavior

Optimistic, probable, and pessimistic scenarios for all markets as the impact of pandemic unfolds

Pre- as well as post-COVID-19 market estimates

Quarterly impact analysis and updates on market estimates

Register for a free trial today to access 17,000+ market research reports using Technavio's SUBSCRIPTION platform

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 force summary

Bargaining power of buyers

Bargaining power of suppliers

Threat of new entrants

Threat of substitutes

Threat of rivalry

Market condition

Market Segmentation by Product

Market segments

Comparison by Product

Storage cabinet Market size and forecast 2019-2024

Wine cabinet Market size and forecast 2019-2024

Others Market size and forecast 2019-2024

Market opportunity by Product

Customer landscape

Customer landscape

Geographic Landscape

Geographic segmentation

Geographic comparison

APAC Market size and forecast 2019-2024

Europe Market size and forecast 2019-2024

North America Market size and forecast 2019-2024

MEA Market size and forecast 2019-2024

South America Market size and forecast 2019-2024

Key leading countries

Market opportunity by geography

Market drivers

Market challenges

Market trends

Vendor Landscape

Overview

Vendor landscape

Landscape disruption

Vendor Analysis

Vendors covered

Market positioning of vendors

Ali Group Srl

Carrier Global Corp.

Haier Smart Home Co. Ltd.

HOSHIZAKI Corp.

Husky International Ltd.

Illinois Tool Works Inc.

ISA Spa

Liebherr-International AG

Metalfrio Solutions SA

Panasonic Corp.

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 focuses 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/20200915005931/en/

Contacts:

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

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Email: media@technavio.com

Website: www.technavio.com/
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 16, ARMENPRESS. The third session of the Armenia-US Council on Trade and Investment was held online on September 15, the economy ministry said in a news release.

Discussions included the issues of bilateral interest, technical obstacles for trade, the US Generalized System of Preferences provided to Armenia, the sanitary requirements for US imports, the ongoing talks as part of WHO, cooperation in commercial diplomacy, possible direction for cooperation related to the COVID-19 pandemic and others.

The session was chaired by Deputy Minister of Economy Varos Simonyan from Armenia and the Assistant Trade Representative Daniel Mullaney from the United States.

Armenian Ambassador to the United States Varuzhan Nersesian and the United States Ambassador to Armenia Lynne Tracy participated in the session.

Officials from the Armenian government, the central bank and several ministries also took part.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
A teacher collects students' answer sheets during a mock university scholastic ability exam held at Yeouido Women's High School in Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap



By Kim Se-jeong



Around 490,000 high school seniors took a mock College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) in 3,000 schools and 428 private cram schools across Korea, Wednesday, amid lingering concern over the spread of COVID-19.



The test centers welcomed students who were arriving early in the morning with face masks on. The test lasted several hours. This year's CSAT is scheduled for Dec. 3.



The schools and academies disinfected test rooms earlier and made sure there was at least a one-meter distance between desks in each test room. All test takers were required to wear masks for the duration of the test.



"I am used to wearing a mask now, but I still feel suffocated and uncomfortable. I hope I will be able to concentrate well with the mask on during the test," a local news outlet quoted a Busan student as saying.



Those who are receiving COVID-19 treatment or in self-quarantine were able to take the test online.



Korea reported 105 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday which takes the total virus caseload to 22,504 with 367 deaths. It was the fifth consecutive day for the Seoul metropolitan area to see the daily new infections below 100.



The government said 20 percent of the cases still had unknown infection routes, indicating the virus' ability to spread is greater than initially thought.



The upcoming Chuseok long weekend poses a big challenge to quarantine authorities.



The government said it will charge tolls on the nation's highways between Sept. 30 and Oct. 2 to discourage people from traveling. Highway tolls have been exempted during national holidays since 2017.



"The government decided to charge tolls between Sept. 30 and Oct. 2," Kim Gang-lip, a senior government official responsible for COVID-19 quarantine response efforts, said during a daily press conference. "We seek your understanding as we had to do this to minimize the danger of COVID-19 during the holiday season when millions of people normally travel."



The proceeds will be sent to cover the costs of government quarantine measures.



The government also renewed warnings against possible street rallies on Oct. 3 in Seoul. The Seoul Metropolitan Government received permit requests for 87 gatherings on Oct. 3 and turned them all down.



"If groups still come out and gather, law enforcement will disperse them, arrest people and investigate them thoroughly," Kim said. "Please think twice for the health of your fellow Koreans."



A rally on Aug. 15 triggered another wave of infections for the Seoul metropolitan area and the government placed near-lockdown restrictions to curb infections. From the rally site alone, 581 cases have been confirmed.


Zhejiang Maidi Refrigeration Techonology Co., Ltd. has officially registered for RACC 2020 (booth No. 1C-J11). RACC 2020 will be held on November 15-17 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, the base of refrigeration industry.The exhibition is promoted online and offline through multiple channels, the government, commerce, enterprises and media, and the global exhibition group are strongly staged. In addition, many international well-known purchasers in Dubai, Southeast Asia and Saudi Arabia, are specially invited to visit the exhibition. Look forward to see you at the show!

Zhejiang Maidi Refrigeration Techonology Co., Ltd. is a flourishing High-Tech enterprise which was founded in 2002. We specialize in developing and manufacturing refrigeration compressors & units, new fluorinate products, car deep maintenance products, environmental protection chemicals for air conditional, such like A/C cleaning agent , repair and maintenance chemicals, and all kinds of refrigeration parts including the Filter Drier, Liquid Accumulator and Oil Separator.

Inside the factory

Testing center

Refrigeration accessories of Maidi

Maidi is located in Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, who has the reputation of China Heaven. With advantageous geographical location and convenient transportation, we warmly welcome your visit.

Quality certificates display

Maidi at international refrigeration expos

The company owns the standard plant and office building which covering 40000M2.With abundant technique force, we have our own researching, developing, manufacturing, inspecting and testing centers, and imported the international advanced high-tech equipments. company passed the ISO9001, ISO14001, GB/T28001 international management system certificate, also have got UL,CE and CCC VDE, ROHS certificates. Our products are not only selling strongly in more than 30 provinces and municipality, but also largely exporting to Europe, America, Australia, Middle East, Africa and South Asia. We have won an excellent reputation from the customers and friends by our product quality, price versus performance ratio and service.

Company Management Principle: Marketing for Guideline, Quality for Existence, Technology for Development, Management for Efficiency, Service for Credibility.

2020 China International Air Conditioning,Heating,Ventilation,Refrigeration and Cold Chain ExpoRACC2020relies on the advantages of Zhejiang province, which is the worlds largest production base of refrigeration parts industry. The RACC Expo is aimed at showcasing the industry's latest products and technologies, promoting industry exchange and cooperation. RACC has made significant progress in all aspects since its launch in September 2019. The RACC Expo has been publicized and promoted in more than 40 international HVACR exhibitions around the world,so that exhibitors and purchasers can obtain satisfactory results.

Partnership with international expos

Online promotion

RACC global promotion tour at inrernational expos

A lot of visitors have registered so far and for the VIP buyers, they will enjoy free hotel rooms, free buffets and more VIP services provided by the organizers.
(Newser)  The second hurricane to hit the Gulf Coast in less than three weeks is "every bit as bad as predicted," according to the Pensacola News Journal, whose hometown is swamped. Nearly three feet of water covers streets in downtown Pensacola, Fla., which endured hours of rain before and after Hurricane Sally made landfall early Wednesday, per WJXT. More than 18 inches of rain had fallen by 1am, according to the National Weather Service, which issued a flash flood emergency. Before 2am, the police department noted road issues were "too numerous to list." Escambia County authorities were undertaking water rescues in the Bristol Park area as of 9:15am. In neighboring Santa Rosa County, Public Safety Director Brad Baker warned that "if you are trapped in your house and the water is rising, please call 911."

story continues below

The hurricane, downgraded to a Category 1, is moving at just 3mph, "or about as fast as a person can walk," per WJXT. "It's just a nightmare," says David Eversole, a National Weather Service forecaster in Mobile, Ala., which has also been hit hard. "It just keeps pounding and pounding and pounding the area with tropical rain and just powerful winds." At least 50 people were rescued from homes in Orange Beach, Ala., per WJXT. More than 500,000 customers are without power in Alabama and Florida alone, per CNN. The Hurricane Center warns "historic and catastrophic flooding is unfolding," with "widespread moderate to major river flooding" also expected. The storm is expected to move across southeastern Alabama and the Florida Panhandle through early Thursday. Some areas could see up to 35 inches of rain, per USA Today. (Read more hurricane stories.)
The actress claimed that the BMCs action was because she was recently at loggerheads with the Maharashtra government"

Mumbai: Days after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) razed unauthorised alterations at Kangana Ranauts office, the Bollywood actress has demanded compensation worth Rs 2 crore from the civic body citing the demolition illegal. She has filed an amended petition before the Bombay high court seeking the damages.

In her amended petition, Kangana has stated that the BMC demolished 40 per cent of the office, which included valuable property such as chandeliers and rare artworks. She has also sought interim relief to take steps to make the property capable of use after the demolition.

The large-scale illegal demolition has caused damage estimated to be around `2 crore, the plea said.

The BMC had issued a 24-hour stop-work notice to Kangana on September 8 citing illegal alterations in the renovation and finishing work at her office at Pali Hill, Bandra. To this, Kangana had filed a plea in the high court seeking interim relief of stay on the demolition work. While the BMC went ahead with the demolition of unauthorised structures on September 9, the court stayed further demolition and directed the civic body to file an affidavit. The court will hear the petition and BMCs response on September 22.

In the amended petition, Kangana has said the civic bodys claims of 14 alterations and additions to the property were not substantiated by proper evidence. The petition further said the presence of BMC staff and police officials outside the premises on September 9 even before civic authorities rejected her response to the stop-work notice showed the action was premeditated and taken with malafide intentions and ulterior motives.

The actress claimed that the BMCs action was because she was recently at loggerheads with the Maharashtra government regarding her views on certain issues. Kangana has found herself in controversy after her criticism of Mumbai polices handling of Sushant Singh Rajputs death investigation. She had also referred to Mumbai as Pakistan-occupied Kashmir evoking a sharp response from the Shiv Sena leaders. After her spat with Sena leaders, she got security from the BJP-ruled Centre.
The last few weeks were full of different emotions for Netflix's "Cuties" director Maimouna Doucoure.

Her film won an award at this year's Sundance Institute and was even released in French cinemas on August 19. "Cuties" was getting positive reviews and even had strong word-of-mouth from the public.

However, it all changed when the Netflix poster was released.

Released at the same time as its French cinemas, Netflix started promoting the movie just before its scheduled September 9 debut on the platform.

The artwork provoked a massive backlash from social media users that said the movie was sexualizing children. The girls on the poster wore midriff-baring uniforms and skimpy shorts and posed in different dance poses.

Later on, Netflix was able to amend the marketing mistake and switch it for a new artwork that resembled the French poster.

In this age of social media, backlash spreads like wildfire online. Many people who saw the movie's artwork also expressed their distaste in "Cuties," a film that "hyper-sexualized young girls."

Maimouna Doucoure defended her masterpiece and spoke to a panel at the Toronto Film Festival.

She explained how the indie movie was a social commentary on how young girls are being treated.

"It's because I saw so many things and so many issues around me lived by young girls, that I decided to make this film and sound an alarm and say we need to protect our children."

She added, "It's because I saw so many things and so many issues around me lived by young girls, that I decided to make this film and sound an alarm and say we need to protect our children."

When Doucoure researched for the movie, she said she met with a ton of pre-teens to understand how they perceived their feminity in today's culture.

"Our girls see that the more a woman is sexualized on social media, the more she's successful. And yeah, it's dangerous."

The filmmaker also revealed that she was getting attacks and numerous death threats from people who haven't even seen it.

But despite the positive, then negative issues, Doucoure was still flooded with positive messages, including support from Berlin, Sundance, and the French government.

Four days after Netflix released "Cuties," state attorneys asked the streaming giant to pull the controversial movie.

On Monday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton signed a joint letter addressed to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings saying that the film is "fodder for those with criminal imaginations, serving to normalize the view that children are sexual beings."

It further added that "Cuties" fodder for those with criminal imaginations, serving to normalize the view that children are sexual beings.

The Attorney Generals even noted that although Maimouna Doucoure intends to combat kids' sexualization, the movie is doing "more harm than good."

As per IMDb, "Cuties" is about an 11-year-old girl named Amy who joined a group of dancers named "The Cuties."

The pre-teen film "grows aware of her burgeoning feminity - upsetting her mother and her values in the process."

As of writing, the trailer of "Cuties" on YouTube has over 12 million views and 1.9 million dislikes.

READ MORE: Queen Elizabeth II Debunks Abdication Rumors As She Returns to Public Duties Next Month
After criticising the decision to reopen schools, the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine has been removed from his position reports Shaam Network.

The Assad regime issued a decision to dismiss the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Damascus, Nabough al-Awa, days after his medical recommendations, which contradicted the regimes decisions regarding the coronavirus pandemic, especially in relation to the re-opening of schools, a matter that has sparked a debate between Awa and the Minister of Education in the Syrian regime, Dram al-Taba, who holds a degree in veterinary medicine.

Awa told regime-affiliated Sham FM Radio that he learned the news online on pro-regime websites and social media accounts, which confirmed the news. The latter resulted in widespread controversy, as most of the comments linked the dismissal decision to Awas warning about the reopening of schools, and the controversy caused by his dispute with the Minister of Education in the regime government.

Taba remarked that Awa did not close the hospitals or the university, which provoked sarcastic and angry reactions.

Awa responded to Taba about the decision to delay the reopening of schools, stressing that he was confused, and that the suggestion he made was one based on medical facts, according to what was reported by Sham FM Radio.

Awa had given figures and estimates that contradict the official figures that were provided by the Syrian government.

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.
By Laman Ismayilova

A statue of national philanthropist Haji Zeynalabdin Taghiyev will be erected in Baku in the next two months.

Sculptor Khanlar Ahmadovs work has been chosen as the best among 26 projects that were submitted to the open sculpture contest initiated by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, the Cultural Ministry and Baku City Executive Power.

The statue was planned to be installed on the eve of Novruz holiday this year. However, the statue erection was postponed amid coronavirus pandemic, Azertag reported. The new dates will be announced in the next two months.

The three meters tall statue will be erected on the square near Icherisheher metro station. The monument is made of bronze, red and black granite.

Khanlar Ahmadov is an incredibly talented sculptor who works in the field of easel and monumental sculpture. He created a number of monument projects.

Ahmadov graduated from the Azim Azimzade College of Art in Baku in 1961-1966, studied at the Alexander Ostrovsky Tashkent Theatrical Art Institute in Tashkent in 1966-1972.

He was also a graduate of the USSR Academy of Arts in Moscow in 1972-1975. Ahmadov became a member of the Union of Artists of the USSR in 1975.

The sculptor was awarded the title of Honored Art Worker of Azerbaijan by order of the president of Azerbaijan in 2002, and the honorary title of People's Artist of Azerbaijan in 2006 for his services for the development of Azerbaijani fine art.

His works have been displayed in Germany, France, Poland, Russia, Turkey and other countries, and are stored in various museums and personal collections.

Among the contestants of the open sculpture competition, were also such famous local sculptors as People's Artists of Azerbaijan Natig Aliyev, Omar Eldarov, Salhab Mammadov, Honored Artist Azad Aliyev, Jalil Garyaghdi as well as Rahib Hasanov, who lives abroad.

Born to a poor family of a shoemaker in Icherisheher, the old part of Baku, on January 25, 1821 (1838), Haji Zeynalabdin Taghiyev had to work from childhood to support his family.

He began as an apprentice of a bricklayer in Baku. Taghiyevs dedication and hard work ensured quick professional advancement and at the age of 18 he became a contractor.

In 1873, along with his partners, Taghiyev rent a plot of land near the oil-booming town of Bibi-Heybat, a few kilometers to the southeast of Baku. They hired workers and started drilling for oil, but with no success. The partners gave up hope and decided to sell their shares.

Taghiyev purchased them and became the sole owner of the land. He continued drilling and paid workers despite all financial difficulties.

Finally, fortune smiled on him in 1877, when oil gushed out of the well with a mighty force. Oil gush instantly made him an oil baron and a millionaire.

One of the first things Taghiyev did after becoming wealthy was to surface the road between the city and his oilfield in Bibi-Heybat. He then extended the road on to the Bibi-Heybat mosque.

Taghiyev invested in many important projects such as the first textile factory and fisheries. He sponsored the first Azerbaijan National Theater (1883), the first Muslim School for Girls (1896), the first Technical School (1911) and covered all the expenses for the construction of what would later become the Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater.

He also helped to solve the water crisis in the city by helping to finance the Shollar water pipeline (1916).

Baku's best-known philanthropist allocated 11,000 old roubles for the construction of the head office for the Muslim Benevolent Society in Saint Petersburg, 3,000 roubles for the education of Armenian orphans, 5,000 for the St. Nina's School for Girls in Baku, 10,000 roubles for the construction of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Baku, tens of thousands of roubles for the construction and repair of mosques and madrasas throughout Russia and Persia.

Taghiyev also provided scholarships for many talented young people who strove for higher education in prestigious Russian and European universities. He built a number of schools and gave a lot of attention to mosques, since he considered them to be centers for enlightenment, culture and science.

After Azerbaijan's "Sovietization" in 1920, the country's wealthy people suffered severe repressions from the Bolshevik government resulting in the emigration of many of them. Therefore, Taghiyev's house and his other possessions were confiscated. He was exiled to his summer house in Mardakan.

Taghiyev's heart stopped beating on September 1, 1924. People remember Taghiyev not only for his great wealth, but for how he spent it.

For his outstanding contributions, Taghiyev was twice awarded with the Order of Saint Stanislaus, as well as with a number of other orders and medals from many countries.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Parents have complained that the new curriculum for first graders is unreasonable, while others think it is better than the previous one.

2020-2021 is the first academic year in which Vietnamese students are following the new general education program and studying with new textbooks.

Asked about her daily schedule, Thuy Loan, a parent in district 1, HCM City, said she takes her son to school in the morning and picks him up in the afternoon. He has dinner, reads books, watches TV or goes to English and painting extra classes before going to bed.

First graders leave their books at the school and they dont have to do home exercises. I don't know what to teach and ask him to do in the evening, Loan said.

All students at the school use Chan Troi Sang Tao (Creative Horizon) textbooks.

Loan is worried because her son has admitted that he writes more slowly than his friends and she regrets not sending him to preparation classes before he enters the first grade. I will have to ask him to practice writing at home as well, or I will have to hire a private tutor, she said.

Nhu Mai, whose daughter goes to a primary school in district 3, is worried about the new curriculum.

When comparing the textbooks of my daughter with the textbooks of her elder brother, who was in first grade five years ago, I realized that the new curriculum is quite heavy, she said.

There are too many things students have to learn within one learning period. I am afraid that it will be unbearable for students, Mai said.

I am sure the new curriculum is much more difficult than the previous one. My husband and I have to tutor my daughter in the evening, though teachers dont require her to do home exercises, Mai said.

A parent whose daughter is a student at Nguyen Binh Khiem Primary School said that the lessons of the new curriculum go very fast, but she is not feel worried because her daughter practiced reading and writing beforehand.

Meanwhile, Thu Hai said her daughter, a first grader at Nguyen Tri Phuong Primary School in Hanoi, is happy going to school.

Hai said that her daughter did not go to any preparation classes. The girl has to spend 1-2 hours every evening to practice reading and writing. It takes only 20 minutes to fulfill their school works. She doesnt feel pressure.

Pham Thuy Ha from the District 4 education sub-department said ther was no need to worry about the new cirriculum.

At first, some teachers were concerned that they had to teach four syllabi within one period. However, they later realized that the problem is not in teaching 2, 3 or four syllabi, but in the teaching method.

Ngan An

Parents worry as they cannot find textbooks for children The new 2020-2021 academic year began one week ago, but many parents in HCM City and Dong Nai province complain that they still cannot buy textbooks for their children.
Having covered Arab-Israel diplomacy for more than 40 years, I have to say that the normalization agreements signed Tuesday between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Israel and Bahrain came about in a most unusual  but incredibly revealing  fashion. I can best explain it with a soap opera analogy: It is as if Jared Kushner was a lawyer who set out to arrange a divorce between a couple, Mrs. Israel and Mr. Palestine. In the process, though, Mr. Kushner discovered that Mrs. Israel and Mr. Palestine were so incompatible that they ...
MOGADISHU, Somalia, 15 September 2020 a Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) and the Somali Media Association (SOMA) condemn the detention of freelance radio journalist, Ilyas Abdi Ali by the Somaliland police in Hargeisa on Monday 14 September, 2020, meanwhile, we call for officials at Somaliaas Federal Parliament to cease threats and intimidation targeting journalists and media houses who covered the Mondayas heated debate in the Lower House.

On Monday evening 14 September, police in Hargeisa detained journalist Ilyas Abdi Ali who simultaneously freelances for the Mogadishu-based independent Radio Kulmiye and the Nairobi-based humanitarian Radio Ergo. According to colleagues and journalists in Hargeisa, Ilyas was detained over a Facebook post calling for the release of Abdimanan Yusuf, the owner of Astaan TV, a local subscription-based cable TV service provider, who remains detained in Hargeisa since 17 July, 2020. On Tuesday 15 September, a court in Hargeisa granted the police seven days of remand in custody for journalist Ilyas pending investigation, according to family and colleagues.

aAny form of Attack against journalists is unacceptable and Somaliland authorities should immediately release journalist Ilyas Abdi Ali,a Mohamed Abdiwahab, Secretary General of Somali Media Association (SOMA) said aIlyas is a humanitarian journalist and his arrest not only represents a threat to the journalists in Somaliland but also constitutes rights violations.a

Whereas, SJS and SOMA are concerned by the threats and intimidations leveled at journalists covering the Lower House of the Somali Federal Parliament, following a heated debate on the controversial sexual bill on Monday. We call for the officials at the Speakeras Office to withdraw their threats of suspension against the media houses who covered the event.

aWe are concerned that officials at the Parliament are threatening media houses with suspension for only covering a public debate in the Parliament. This must stop and media houses should be able to continue their coverage of the Parliament without any condition,a Abdalle Ahmed Mumin, the Secretary General of Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) said aThe Parliament is the core branch, which oversights the countryas democratic institutions, and only through the independent media, will the public know about what legislations are being processed or debated.a

Separately, on Tuesday 8 September, police at Mogadishuas Aden Abdulle International Airport blocked two journalists from Somali Cable TV, who were on assignment to cover an opposition politician returning to the country. According to the journalists, when they have asked for clarification, the police cited instructions from the Ministry of Information. However the officials at the Ministry of Information denied that they have given such instructions.

Meanwhile, Universal TV reporter, Khadar Rigah has been released on 12 September without charge after spending five days in Las Anod police cell over his coverage of a protest in Las Anod town.
In a good news, India registered the highest single-day recovery of coronavirus cases on Wednesday (September 16) as 82,961 people got cured of the deadly viral disease in the last 24 hours.

According to latest data, Maharashtra alone contributed about a quarter of the new recoveries. It is to be noted that the total number of recoveries (39,42,360) in the country is now four times the active cases.

Meanwhile, the country's COVID-19 tally jumped past 50 lakh, just 11 days after it crossed 40 lakh, with 90,123 new cases reported in the last 24 hours.

The Union Health Ministrys 8 AM data showed that total coronavirus cases mounted to 50,20,359, while the death toll climbed to 82,066 with a record 1,290 people succumbing to the disease in a span of 24 hours.

India's COVID-19 cases jumped from 10 lakh to 20 lakh in 21 days. Then it took 16 more days to race past 30 lakh, 13 days more to cross the 40-lakh mark and 11 days to go past 50 lakh. It took 110 days for the COVID-19 cases in the country to reach one lakh while it had taken 59 days more to go past the 10-lakh mark.

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A total of 82,066 deaths have been reported so far in the country includes 30,409 from Maharashtra followed by 8,502 from Tamil Nadu, 7,481 from Karnataka, 5,041 from Andhra Pradesh, 4,806 from Delhi, 4,604 from Uttar Pradesh, 4,062 from West Bengal, 3,244 from Gujarat, 2,514 from Punjab and 1,820 from Madhya Pradesh.

In a related development, the Serum Institute of India (SII) is all set to restart its phase two and three clinical trials for the COVID-19 vaccine after getting the nod from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI).

According to ANI, the SII had sought permission from the DGCI to restart the re-enrollment procedure for COVID-19 vaccine which is being developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University following the Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) recommendations.
A surge in people buying guns since the coronavirus pandemic began has flooded the FBI's background check system, causing a spike in the number of delayed checks and allowing gun sales to proceed without them, FBI data disclosed on Tuesday showed.

There has been a 54 percent increase in the number of background checks that were delayed past three days in the March through July period, as compared with the same time last year, the data shows.

More than 5 percent of the 5.86million background checks conducted during those months this year were delayed past three business days, it showed.

If an FBI background check takes longer than three business days, a gun dealer can sell the firearm to a buyer, under current regulations.

A surge in US gun sales this year has overwhelmed the FBI's background check system. Pictured, people wait in line to enter a gun store in Culver City, California, in March

Gun stores saw a massive increase in sales for guns and ammunition as the coronavirus pandemic gripped the country. Pictured, a gun store in Culver City in California in March

U.S. gun sales have soared this year, sparked by fears of social unrest because of the pandemic, violence seen on the streets of American cities during protests for racial justice, and the turbulence over the presidential election.

As a result, more Americans are trying to buy guns than ever, according to FBI data obtained by gun control advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety through a Freedom of Information Act request.

The bureau conducted 93 percent more background checks in that March through July period this year as compared with the same period the previous year, when it conducted 3.03million checks.

Background checks may have become more difficult to complete as state law enforcement and other government agencies housing records may have been closed or slower in replying to FBI requests because of the pandemic's impact on staffing, said Rob Wilcox, deputy director of policy at Everytown.

The delays worry groups like Everytown because it means thousands of people prohibited by law from owning guns - such as most convicted felons - may have obtained them as the FBI background check was delayed.

'This is dangerous because of the Charleston loophole, which allows gun sales to proceed by default when a background check takes longer than 3 days to processmeaning that people who are otherwise prohibited from owning firearms are able to purchase guns,' the group said.

'They should have allocated the people and resources needed to conduct these background checks,' Wilcox added.

The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A man fills out a federal background check form at Good Guys Guns & Range in Utah. The recent surge in gun sales has led to a spike in the number of delayed checks, allowing purchases to proceed without them. If an FBI background check takes longer than three business days, a gun dealer can sell the firearm to a buyer, under current regulations

The delays worry groups like Everytown because it means thousands of people prohibited by law from owning guns may have obtained them as the FBI background check was delayed

When asked in April about the spike in background checks caused by increased gun sales, the FBI said its system was 'operational and will continue to process requests'.

Cities across the country have seen a surge in shootings over the summer, but the spike defies easy explanation.

The increase in violence likely represents a mix of factors, including record unemployment levels, the death toll from the coronavirus pandemic, stay-at-home orders, intense stress and the weather.

New York City, in particular, has seen a startling uptick in crime this year.

Between January 1 and August 23, the city recorded 280 homicides - a 35 per cent increase from 208 homicides that were recorded during the same period of 2019.

The uptick in crime comes as protests have unfolded across the country denouncing police brutality and seeking to defund police departments.

New York City announced it will slash the police budget by $1billion in July. The department budget was almost $6billion for the 2020 fiscal year.

Chicago has also been rocked by a dramatic spike in violent crime in recent months.

Stark CPD data reveals murders have rocketed 52 percent from 333 between January 1 and August 30 2019 to 505 for the same period this year.

A staggering 2,152 shootings have taken place so far in 2020 - 739 more than the 1,413 that had taken place by this time last year.
The Polish side says it supports Ukraine's independence and sovereignty.

Poland does not recognize local "elections" in occupied Crimea where the Russian Federation held the so-called local "elections" on September 13.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland does not recognise the results of the illegal 'local elections', organised by the authorities of the Russian Federation in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea in Ukraine on September 13, 2020," the Polish Ministry said in an official statement.

Read alsoUkraine condemns "local elections" Russia holds in occupied Crimea

"The election of the governor of Sevastopol was illegal, as well as voting for representatives to the so-called State Council of the 'Crimean Republic', the so-called Legislative Assembly of the city of Simferopol and the so-called Rural Council of Razdolno district."

According to the Polish Ministry, such a position results directly from Poland's obligations as a member of the UN. According to UN General Assembly resolution 68/262 of 27 March 2014, the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in March 2014 was a clear violation of international law.

"In the light of this resolution, any action by the Russian authorities in this part of Ukraine occupied by Russian troops is illegal. Poland continues to support the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine," the statement said.

"Elections" in Crimea
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Photo by Brian Miller [enlarge] Universal Cells may now be the sole tenant of the building, but that couldnt be verified before deadline.





The former Dendreon building, at 3005 First Ave., has sold for a little under $50.7 million, according to King County records. The buyer was BCal 3005 Property LLC, which is associated with Beacon Capital Partners and CalSTARS  the California state teachers pension fund.





. . .
(Newser)  Barbados is shedding its colonial tradition and with it its head of state, Queen Elizabeth II. The government for the Caribbean island nation, which gained independence from Britain in 1966, said Wednesday that it would transition from a constitutional monarchy to a republic with a Barbadian head of state. The process is expected to be completed next November, in time for the 55th anniversary of independence, per the BBC. "This is the ultimate statement of confidence in who we are and what we are capable of achieving," Prime Minister Mia Mottley wrote in the Throne Speech, an outline of policies for the new session of parliament delivered by Governor-General Sandra Mason. The speech included a quote from Barbados' first prime minister, Errol Barrow, who warned the country should not "loiter on colonial premises."

story continues below

"That warning is as relevant today as it was in 1966," Mottley wrote, per CNN, adding "the time has come to fully leave our colonial past behind." Buckingham Palace was not surprised. A source tells the BBC that the idea has been discussed on numerous occasions. A constitutional review commission recommended Barbados become a republic in 1998. That was more than two decades after other former British colonies in the CaribbeanGuyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Dominicadid just that. All three remain in the Commonwealth, an association of 54 sovereign nations, almost all of which are former territories of the British Empire. Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness previously suggested his government would follow the same path, per Sky News. Mauritius was the last country to remove the queen as its head of state in 1992. (Read more Barbados stories.)
A Basking Ridge man admitted Tuesday to concealing his efforts at providing material support for Hamas, a Palestinian group considered a terrorist organization by United States, federal authorities announced.

Jonathan Xie, 21, pleaded guilty by videoconference in U.S. District Court in Trenton to a count of concealing attempts to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, the U.S. Attorneys office in New Jersey announced with the FBI.

He was charged last year with five federal crimes, including attempting to provide support to a designated terrorist group, making false statements related to international and domestic terrorism and transmitting threats.

Hes scheduled to he sentenced in January 2021.

In May 2019, federal investigators described Xie in court papers as having been radicalized online for the previous year, since graduating high school.

His social media showed at times a teen who worked at a store and was in his high schools marching band, but also fixated on joining Hamas, although he had no obvious cultural or religious ties to the Middle East.

In December 2018, authorities said, Xie sent $100 to an individual in Gaza who he believed to be a member of the Al-Qassam Brigades, a faction of Hamas. Then he posted on Instagram: Just donated $100 to Hamas. Pretty sure it was illegal but I dont give a damn.

He also expressed a desire to bomb Trump Tower and the Israeli embassy in New York City, federal authorities say. FBI surveillance observed Xie outside of Trump Tower in April 2019 and he later posted on Instagram, I want to bomb Trump Tower.

In another post online, in April 2019, Xie appeared in a live video and displayed a Hamas flag and a handgun. He told the viewers, Im gonna go to the [expletive] pro-Israel march and Im going to shoot everybody, authorities say.

Xie faces up to 10 years in prison for the charge.

Jonathan Xie, in the 2017 Ridge High School yearbook.

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Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com.
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As a condition for the UAE's agreement to normalise relations, Netanyahu agreed to freeze his plan to annex portions of the West Bank. But the Palestinians seemed an afterthought, barely mentioned in the days official remarks.

Washington: Israel and two Arab nations signed agreements at the White House on Tuesday to normalise their relations, a step toward a realignment of West Asia but one that failed to address the future of the Palestinians.

President Donald Trump presided over a South Lawn ceremony where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and the foreign ministers of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates signed a general declaration of principles the White House has named the Abraham Accords, after the biblical father of three monotheistic religions, as well individual agreements between Israel and the two Arab states.

Trump pronounced it a historic moment for their region. After decades of division and conflict, we mark the dawn of a new [West Asia], Trump said.

The texts of the agreements detail how the three countries will open embassies and establish other new diplomatic and economic ties, including tourism, technology and energy. Israel and the Emirates are beginning commercial air travel between their countries for the first time, and Bahrain has opened its airspace for those flights.

They make scant reference to the fate of the Palestinians, but include a call for a just, comprehensive and enduring resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The accords are the first such agreements between Israel and an Arab state since 1994, when the Jewish state established diplomatic relations with Jordan. They are also another step toward the formation of a de facto alliance between Israel and the Gulfs Sunni Arab monarchies against their common enemy, Shiite Iran. Pressuring Iran has been a central goal of Trumps foreign policy, and Trump officials have worked to build a common regional front against Tehran in which Saudi Arabia has played a major role.

Speaking from the porch above the South Portico, just below the Truman balcony, Trump said the accords were just the beginning. Todays signing sets history on a new course, and there will be other countries very, very soon that make similar agreements, ending Israels isolation in the region.

In remarks to reporters before the ceremony, Trump said five nations could soon take similar steps  and suggested that one was Saudi Arabia, in what analysts say would be a far more dramatic breakthrough. Analysts believe Sudan and Oman are likelier candidates for normalisation in the short term. But they say that Bahrain most likely acted only with Riyadhs blessing, and that the Saudi royals are weighing their own move.

Netanyahu also suggested that more nations would follow. This day is a pivot of history, he said. It heralds a new dawn of peace.

This peace will eventually expand to include other Arab states, and ultimately it can end the Arab-Israeli conflict once and for all, he added.

Palestinians expressed their anger over the agreements by launching rockets into Israel from Gaza during the White House ceremony.

The staging of the event seemed intended to invoke the scene more than 25 years ago in the same location when President Bill Clinton brokered an agreement  and iconic handshake  between former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel and the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Trump declared that theres going to be peace in [West Asia], a phrase that typically suggests a resolution to Israels conflict with the Palestinians.

But Dennis Ross, a former West Asiant peace negotiator who helped to broker that 1993 agreement, said the two events were very different. He said the agreements signed Tuesday were significant because they demonstrated that Palestinians cannot freeze the region and prevent open cooperation with Israel.

On the other hand, he noted that the UAE and Bahrain are countries not in a state of war with Israel and have quietly cooperated with it, and that the day lacked the feeling in 1993 that something both psychically and historically profound was taking place at the White House.

Trump sought all the same to create a sense of drama as he was joined by his guests in making remarks from the South Portico porch, a highly unusual location for official events.

Then, to the sound of portentous horns and crashing cymbals, the four men moved to a long table in front of the South Portico to sign three sets of agreements before a seated audience that the White House estimated at 800 people, many of whom did not wear masks.

Among those in attendance was Trumps son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, who has made Middle East peace a central focus of his White House work and helped to broker the agreements.

But analysts noted that Kushners original goal of an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians is as distant as ever, months after Palestinian leaders declared a peace plan that he spent years crafting to be dead on arrival.

Its not conflict resolution and its not peace  this is a business deal, said Jeremy Ben-Ami, the president of J Street, a liberal pro-Israel advocacy group sharply critical of Netanyahu. Its very, very clear that there are aligned interests between Israel and these countries  military, security, diplomatic, economic  and those interests have been there for two decades.

This formalises that, but it shouldnt be overplayed as resolving a core conflict for Israel with its neighbours, he added. Israels decades-old conflict with the Palestinians, he said, remains unaddressed with this agreement.

Unmentioned in the official proceedings was the gravitational pull of Iran, which played a key role in bringing the parties together, analysts said.

To state the obvious, Irans supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, deserves no small part of the credit for this breakthrough, having generated the conditions for long-standing quiet security consultations and cooperation between the Gulf and Israel, said Suzanne Maloney, vice president and director for foreign policy at the Brookings Institution.

What was clear in the event, carried live on major cable networks less than 50 days before the November election, were Trumps political interests. The Trump campaign, eager to portray the belligerent president as a diplomat and peacemaker, has capitalised on the agreements with online ads suggesting he deserves nothing less than the Nobel Prize, for which two right-wing Scandinavian lawmakers have nominated him.

Netanyahus interests were well served, too. The Israeli prime minister, who has long had a symbiotic relationship with the American president, is weathering twin political crises at home: a resurgence of the coronavirus that has led him to order a new national lockdown, and a trial on felony corruption charges.

The two men never seemed closer than they did Tuesday. Meeting with Netanyahu in the Oval Office beforehand, Trump presented him with a large golden key embedded in a wooden box that he described as a key to the White House, a key to our country.

You have the key to the hearts of the people of Israel, Netanyahu replied.

This is peace in West Asia without blood all over the sand, Trump added.

There was at least one potentially discordant moment between them, however, when Trump said that if reelected, he would try to strike a deal with Iran, which has so far refused to negotiate with him after he withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal brokered by the Barack Obama administration.

Im going to make a good deal with Iran, Trump said. Im going to make a deal thats great for Iran. Its going to get them back. Were going to help them in every way possible. And Iran will be very happy. Iran will be very rich and very quickly.

Netanyahu has firmly opposed negotiations with what he calls the murderous Iranian regime. Maloney said his hosts remarks were probably not what Bibi bargained for.

As a condition for the Emirates agreement to normalise relations, Netanyahu agreed to freeze his plan to annex portions of the West Bank. But the Palestinians seemed an afterthought, barely mentioned in the days official remarks.

Palestinian leaders, however, showed no sign of reconsidering their adamant refusal to negotiate with Israel in the framework of a peace plan the Trump White House released in January or their view of Tuesdays agreement.

A public statement from the Palestine Liberation Organisation called it a black day in the history of the people of Palestine, saying that peace requires the end of Israels occupation.

Bahrains foreign minister, Abdul Latif al-Zayani, emphasised the Palestinian cause in his remarks, however, saying that a just, comprehensive and enduring two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict will be the foundation of a regional peace.

And his Emirati counterpart, Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan, thanked Netanyahu for halting the annexation of the Palestinian territories, a decision that reinforces our shared will to achieve a better future for generations to come.

The Trump administration has also had to deny that it has agreed to a sale of American-made F-35 fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates that the Emiratis were said to have made a condition to Tuesdays agreement.

Speaking on Fox News earlier in the day, Trump said he would have absolutely no problem selling F-35s to the Emirates, despite objections within Israel.

In a statement, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the agreements made for an important day, but warned of important unanswered questions, including about the F-35. Pelosi said Congress will be watching and monitoring to ensure that Israel can maintain its qualitative military edge in the region, referring to a term in US law prohibiting regional arms sales that could jeopardise Israel.

Chuck Freilich, a former Israeli deputy national security adviser and the author of Israeli National Security: A New Strategy for an Era of Change, said it was possible to attach strings to a sale of the jets to the Emirates that could satisfy Israels concerns.

He noted that when a similar uproar greeted the Ronald Reagan administrations push to sell fighter jets to Egypt, that country agreed not to deploy them at its Tobruk air base.

If thats the price of peace, he said of the jet sales, there are ways of reducing the threat, by not selling them tankers, barring them from deploying outside their territory or degrading the avionics, to name a few.

Michael Crowley c.2020 The New York Times Company
Most service members and Defense Department civilians have received their first paychecks with a higher take-home total, thanks to a temporary payroll tax deferral plan rolled out by the White House.

The checks went out Tuesday even as the Pentagon advised troops to "plan ahead" for when it all has to be paid back starting Jan. 1.

Read Next: Space Force Will Soon Let Some Members Test Out Dress, PT Uniforms

Unlike for the private sector and state governments, participation in payroll tax deferral, which currently devotes 6.2% of paychecks to the Social Security trust fund, is mandatory for service members, DoD civilians and the entire federal workforce.

Congress has also declined to participate in the plan.

The DoD guidance said that the plan would "temporarily defer the withholding of Social Security taxes for certain individuals beginning September 1, 2020, through December 31, 2020." The program was created through an Aug. 8 executive order from President Donald Trump.

The plan applies to service members whose monthly basic pay rate is less than $8,666.66.

While those participating in the deferral will have temporary access to more cash, critics warn that the payback requirement -- plus the resumption of the standard $6.2% Social Security tax withholding -- will feel like a 12% pay cut in January.

"The Department is providing information to service members so that they know why their take-home pay will increase during the last four months of 2020 and so that they can plan ahead the withholding of the deferred taxes during the first four months of 2021," DoD officials said in guidance.

In a Twitter post Sept. 11, Trump said that he would forgive repayment if he is re-elected, without mentioning that legislation from Congress that would be needed to do so.

"When we win I, as your President, will totally forgive ALL deferred payroll taxes with money from the General Fund. I will ALWAYS protect Seniors and your Social Security! Sleepy Joe Biden will do the opposite, he will raise your taxes and DESTROY our Country," Trump said.

Michael Rigas, acting deputy director at the Office of Management and Budget, said in a memo sent the same day that "the president and the administration continue to advocate for Congressional action to make the payroll tax deferral permanent."

Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, the top Republican on the House Ways & Means Committee, this month introduced the "Support for Workers, Families, and Social Security Act" to forgive the deferred payroll taxes, and called on Democrats for support.

-- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com.

Related: Trump Says Troops Won't Have to Pay Back Deferred Payroll Taxes -- If He Wins
When you look across the Commonwealth, there is no way that we can move forward unless we acknowledge the past, the prince said via video link in July. So many people have done such an incredible job of acknowledging the past and trying to right those wrongs, but I think we all acknowledge there is so much more still to do.
The Creek fire approaches Shaver Lake in Fresno County on Sept. 6. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

The West Coast had just experienced a record-shattering heat wave when news came last week of a rare late-summer snowstorm in Colorado. To those still sweltering in California, Oregon and Washington, it sounded like a dream come true. In fact, it was an omen of a greater disaster to come.

As the blast of cold air in the Rocky Mountains sank, it searched for an escape  the lands of hotter weather farther west, toward the Pacific Coast. That triggered furious winds that poured over the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges, acting as a giant bellows over the entire Pacific Coast, where fires were already burning in crackling-dry brush and timber.

The result: an epic firestorm hopscotching from the Mexican to Canadian borders that has killed dozens of people, wiped out entire towns and caused some of the worst air pollution ever seen in the region.

For California, it's the second time in a month that a host of unfortunate weather conditions have aligned in a way that has fueled a spread of wildfires at record speed. The rapid spread of fire was worsened in part by climate change, which not only makes temperatures hotter, but also is blamed by some scientists for causing dry periods to get drier while wet periods get wetter, making vegetation even more ripe for kindling.

In Oregon, too, where at least 10 have died and officials prepare for a "mass fatality incident" as they search for the missing, there was no precedent in the modern record for the sheer number and scale of the wildfires. The fires in Washington have been the second worst in that state's history.

So far this year, fires have burned more than 3.3 million acres in California, over 1 million acres in Oregon, and more than 625,000 acres in Washington state.

California last broke its record for its largest wildfire season just two years ago, when more than 1.8 million acres burned.

The unprecedented nature of the current fires has its origins in the extreme cold that began hitting the Rockies on Labor Day. It caused cold air to sink, increasing air pressure at the surface; at the same time, the heat on the West Coast caused hot air to rise, lowering air pressure at the ground, according to Rebecca Muessle, meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Portland, Ore.

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And since winds flow from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure, that sent powerful winds screaming from the east to the west.

Many Californians know these downslope wind events as Santa Anas or Diablos; Oregon and Washington forecasters call them offshore wind events or east winds. Whatever its name, the wind event last week "was particularly strong  much stronger than the usual offshore wind event," said meteorologist Connie Clarstrom of the National Weather Service office in Medford, Ore. "That's a very rare occurrence to see winds as strong as we had in that case."

East-west valleys and canyons that channeled winds from the east transformed into blowtorches for wildfires.

In southern Oregon, gusts of up to 45 mph whipped into Jackson County's Rogue Valley from the Cascade Mountains, spreading the Almeda fire, flattening the towns of Phoenix and Talent southeast of Medford, leaving at least four dead and one missing. A 41-year-old man, Michael Jarrod Bakkela, has been arrested on suspicion of arson.

Southeast of the state capital of Salem, homes along the Santiam Canyon burned, resulting in at least four fatalities in Marion County  including the deaths of a 13-year-old boy and his 71-year-old grandmother in the town of Lyons  and 10 missing people. The Beachie Creek fire had initially been small  fewer than 500 acres  and had been burning since Aug. 16. Only when the historic wind event began did the fire grow overnight to more than 131,000 acres. East of Eugene, Ore., the Holiday Farm fire in Lane County that charred the McKenzie River Valley has claimed at least one life in the town of Vida and razed sections of the town of Blue River.



On the northern edge of California, gusts of 63 mph hit the Slater fire in Siskiyou County; two people died in the community of Happy Camp along the Klamath River in the Klamath National Forest, and 150 homes were destroyed.

In California, the difference in air pressure on either side of the Sierra Nevada sent gusts of up to 60 mph screaming through gaps in the state's greatest mountain range. That whipped up what had been the dying Bear fire  part of the North Complex fire zone in Butte, Plumas and Yuba counties  to begin spreading at an astonishing rate of 2,000 acres an hour.

"When we get that downslope wind, it's a very dry wind. As the air goes down in elevation, it actually warms and dries. And fires love dry conditions," said Cory Mueller, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Sacramento. And besides drying out, air rushing over peaks and down mountain slopes speeds up as it's forced through narrow canyons and passes.

At least 14 deaths have been reported in Butte County, ravaged by the Bear fire. That fire was one of many in California ignited by lightning in mid-August.

The Creek fire, which burned through the Sierra National Forest in Fresno and Madera counties, initially spread quickly for a different reason.

The winds were normal on Sept. 4, when the fire started. But the next day, "that fire hit fuels that it liked" and grew rapidly, creating a towering cloud  called a pyrocumulonimbus cloud  of smoke and moisture pushing skyward so enormous it resembled the giant clouds seen when a thunderstorm develops, according to Cindy Bean, meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Hanford office.

At some point, that column of rising air and smoke got so heavy with the water vapor contained in it that it collapsed downward, creating a downdraft of air aimed at the ground and spreading winds rapidly out over the surface. "When that column collapses," Bean said, "the wind comes straight down and then spreads out in all directions. So that enabled the fire to spread in many directions at the same time."

That rapid spread of the fire forced the evacuation of hundreds of campers by helicopter from the mountains, whose only way out by road was cut off by flames.

Then, after Labor Day, the same Santa Ana-style winds that affected Northern California and Oregon also came speeding through the canyons of the central Sierra. In this part of California, they're called Mono winds  because the winds blow from the area of Mono Lake  and they sent gusts of 40 mph from the northeast through the San Joaquin River canyon, helping to push the Creek fire toward the communities of Auberry and North Fork, Bean said.

In Los Angeles County, firefighters worried that the same Santa Ana winds from the northeast would send flames from the Bobcat fire in the San Gabriel Mountains into foothill suburbs like Altadena, Arcadia, Bradbury, Duarte, Monrovia, Pasadena and Sierra Madre. Late last week, the fire began to burn toward the north, away from the cities, although on Sunday, new evacuation orders were issued as dangerous wildfire conditions returned.

The Santa Ana winds, thankfully, ended up not being that strong around the El Dorado fire in San Bernardino County, a blaze sparked by a pyrotechnic device used during a gender reveal party in Yucaipa, nor the Valley fire in southern San Diego County, said Brandt Maxwell, meteorologist for the National Weather Service's San Diego office.

The location of the El Dorado fire happened to be sheltered from the Santa Ana winds by mountains, and the strongest winds in southern San Diego County just happened to miss where the Valley fire was burning, Maxwell said.

Strangely enough, the oppressive smoke fouling the skies is helping firefighters in some parts of California.

The smoke is so thick that a lot of sunlight can't get down to the surface and is bouncing off the layer of smoke in the air. That has resulted in surface temperatures that are cooler, helping out firefighters in the Creek and Bobcat fires.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, a marine layer of low clouds and fog helped in recent days to keep dry, hot Diablo winds away from the region, which is close to containing the LNU, SCU and CZU lightning complex fires, said Rick Canepa, meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Monterey. And the heavy smoke  which led to an apocalyptic-looking glow of dark orange in the skies of San Francisco last week  drove down temperatures roughly 20 degrees below what they had been forecast.

Lin reported from San Francisco; Serna from Clovis. Times staff writers Hailey Branson-Potts, Anita Chabria, Paul Duginski, Melissa Etehad, Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Richard Read and Ruben Vives contributed to this report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 23:42:57|Editor: huaxia

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NAIROBI, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Huawei Kenya kicked off this year's Seeds for the Future program, which seeks to develop ICT talent amid growing Sino-Kenya ties, the company said on Wednesday.

Will Meng, CEO of Huawei Kenya, said that the program will be held virtually for the first time providing a five-day intensive training to 60 participants from around the country who will study 5G, big data, artificial intelligence, cloud computing to empower them to understand the latest technology trends.

Meng said the program aims to develop skilled, local ICT talent and bridge communication between countries and cultures.

"By sharing ICT expertise and experiences in the global business environment, young people from different countries can learn about advanced technologies in the ICT industry and accumulate ICT expertise and skills through the Seeds for the Future program, contributing to the progress of the global ICT industry," Meng said during the virtual launch.

The Seeds for the Future Program is Huawei's global Corporate Social Responsibility (CRS) flagship program, which seeks to develop local ICT talent, enhance knowledge transfer, promote a greater understanding of and interest in the ICT sector, as well as improve and encourage regional building and participation in the digital community.

The program, which started globally in 2008, has so far benefitted almost 200 students in Kenya since 2014 and is moving forward this year despite the disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We truly believe that talent is the key to success. It is why we invest so much in supporting Kenyan ICT talent which will not only drive the ICT industry but power every other industry," said Zhou Pingjian, Chinese Ambassador to Kenya.

"We hope these students will go on to play a significant role in this wonderful country's development, and drive forwards the digital economy," he added.

Zhou said that China places high importance on the development of the digital economy and earnestly promotes international cooperation in this area.

The envoy expressed his desire for more collaboration between Kenya and China and welcomed all the countries to step up communication and coordination, build up mutual trust and deepen cooperation with one another and as well as build a community with a shared future in the digital world.

He noted that China remains committed to enhancing exchanges and cooperation and working together to narrow the digital divide and promote the building of an information society in Kenya and China.

Joe Mucheru, cabinet secretary ministry ICT, commended Huawei for the highly relevant content and contribution to developing ICT talent and supporting the development of Kenya's digital economy.

Mucheru observed that Huawei has been working non-stop to get the first phase of the National Data Center that is situated at the Konza Technopolis to be completed even during the pandemic-related disruptions.

Lotengan Kelvin Esinyen, who joined the program in 2018 and has since become a full-time wireless engineer at Huawei Kenya, lauded the Chinese tech firm for giving him the opportunity of a lifetime by facilitating a trip to China.

"It was an impressive experience in my life. We were shown all the state-of-the-art equipment, and we visited Huawei's laboratories which was priceless," Esinyen said. Enditem
The results from the rigorous study completed at Texas Biomedical Research Institute demonstrated that NuvaWave killed >99.9% of the live virus in just two seconds.

UV Innovators (http://www.uvinnovators.com), an ultraviolet technology company, today launched NuvaWave, one of the most advanced tools in the fight against deadly pathogens. NuvaWave is a UVC handheld device that is used to disinfect any high touch surface. This product release is timely as all businesses, schools, municipalities, airlines, cruise ships and other commercial ventures need to have a solution to protect their employees, students, customers and family from COVID.

In order for people to feel comfortable getting back to normal, they must feel confident that the places they go are clean and free from infectious pathogens. NuvaWave is a commercial-grade solution for those who are disinfecting high-touch surfaces, stated Dr. Nicholas Medendorp, Jr., a technology leader with over two decades of LED experience and 115 patents and CEO of UV Innovators. NuvaWave has undergone rigorous testing with accredited third-party laboratories to gauge its efficacy in killing SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The results from the rigorous study completed at Texas Biomedical Research Institute demonstrated that NuvaWave killed >99.9% of the live virus in just two seconds, added Dr. Medendorp.

NuvaWave was tested at Texas Biomed, (via a sponsored study by UV Innovators), an independent, nonprofit research institute whose mission is to protect our global community from the threats of infectious diseases through cutting-edge research. For nearly three quarters of a century, the Institute has delivered high quality and reliable scientific data, spanning basic discovery through preclinical development, explained Dr. Cory Hallam, Professor and Vice President for Business Development at Texas Biomed. The scientists at Texas Biomed know how to handle the live virus in their biosafety level 3 (BSL-3) lab and to use protocols to safely mimic real-world conditions that helped us document the effectiveness of NuvaWave, added Dr. Medendorp.

NuvaWave handheld device only weighs 1.5 pounds and provides 5,000 hours of disinfection. UV Innovators break-through technology changes the paradigm in making hospital-grade technology affordable. UV Innovators is announcing the NuvaWave Fleet Program that enables infection control teams a simple and affordable monthly payment. To place an order, visit http://www.uvinnovators.com today.

The report from Texas Biomed can be found here.

About UV Innovators

UV Innovators, LLC uses its extensive illumination and medical device knowledge to create intellectual property that delivers disinfection solutions across a vast set of markets -- from private aviation and clinical care facilities, to healthy office buildings and schools. The commercialization of a UVC product that delivers the germ deactivating power of a disinfection tower, with the speed and mobility of a handheld device, UV Innovators has redefined the standard of surface disinfection. For more information, visit http://www.uvinnovators.com or contact info@uvinnovators.com.
Union Minister Nityanand Rai claimed on Wednesday that No infiltration has been reported along the India-China border during the last six months. Meanwhile, 47 attempted infiltration were made along the India-Pakistan border.

No infiltration has been reported along the India-China border during the last six months, according to Union Minister Nityanand Rai on Wednesday. The Minister of State (MoS) Home Affairs said this in a written reply to a query posed by MP Dr Anil Agrawal in the Rajya Sabha over the issue of infiltration from both Pakistan and China increasing in the past six months.

According to it, 47 attempted infiltration along the India-Pakistan border were made during the last six months. These occurred in the months of February (0), March (4), April (24), May (8), June (0), July (11), respectively.

The government has adopted a multi-pronged approach to contain cross border infiltration, which inter-alia includes multi-tiered deployment along the International border/Line of Control, improved intelligence and operational coordination, border fencing, deploying technological solutions and taking pro-active action against infiltrators, Rai further said.

Also Read: NSA Ajit Doval walks out of SCO meet after Pakistan uses fictitious map

Also Read: 1993, 1996 agreements entail China, India to keep forces along LAC to minimum level: Rajnath Singh

The Monsoon session of the Parliament began on Monday and is scheduled to continue till October 1.

Amid the ongoing tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh, the Indian Army is geared up with all-weather accommodation and clothing for its jawans even if the temperature drops to -50 degrees in the winters ahead. The Army has stocked up on every commodity which is essential to keep its personnel safe and alert during the winters.

The Army is providing the troops deployed in high altitude areas with multi-layered clothing. According to the Indian Army officials, these clothing will not only help the jawans to stay safe from the weather but also it will help them in hiding from the enemy.

These also come equipped with several types of equipment which the jawans need to climb on mountains or walk comfortably in the high altitude areas. In the first layer of clothing, there are inner trousers and a dark-coloured jacket, while in the second layer a green colour jacket and another set of trousers are being provided to them.

Similarly, on the third layer, which is also the outer layer, a jawan has to wear a white colour jacket and trouser along with specialised shoes. There are also multi-layered gloves for hands and socks which will keep them warm even during intense cold conditions.

Also Read: Lok Sabha passes bill to amend Essential Commodities Act
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has served a notice of suspicion of high treason to the chairman of the board of an enterprise in Russia-occupied Luhansk region. The suspect organized illegal supplies of products for the needs of Russia's military-industrial complex.

"Counterintelligence officers and SBU investigators exposed illegal transactions in October last year. According to the preliminary investigation, the management of one of the Luhansk machine-building plants has arranged the supply of components for the repair and maintenance of military aviation, which is in service with the special services and the Defense Ministry of the aggressor country. To hide the scheme, details shipped to the address of the company-gaskets and exported to Russia through an uncontrolled section of the border," the SBU's press center said on Tuesday.

Investigators of the security agencies qualified the actions of the chairman of the plant's board in accordance with three articles of Ukraine's Criminal Code: Part 1 of Article 111 (high treason), Part 1 of Article 333 (violation of the procedure for international transfers of goods subject to state export control) and Part 3 of Article 110-2 (financing of actions committed with the aim of violently changing or overthrowing the constitutional order or seizing state power, changing the borders of the territory or the state border of Ukraine). The suspect has been put on the wanted list.

Earlier it was reported about the suspicion of the deputy chairman of the board and the head of the financial and economic department of the enterprise. Both individuals are charged with committing crimes under Article 111 and Article 110-2 of Ukraine's Criminal Code.

Documentation of illegal actions of other participants in the scheme continues.

The investigation was handled by the Counterintelligence Department together with the employees of the SBU Main Directorate in Donetsk and Luhansk regions and SBU in Kharkiv region under the procedural guidance of the prosecutor's office.
Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II on Wednesday hosted a delegation led by Armenias Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan, chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council Ruben Vardazaryan, and chairman of the Chamber of Advocates Ara Zohrabyan.

The purpose of this delegations visit to the Catholicos of All Armenians was to request the establishment of a day of blessing for lawyers.

Davtyan, Vardazaryan, and Zohrabyan stressed the need for such a blessing day to be established for lawyers as well, which, according to them, shall greatly contribute to the fulfillment of their professional duty.

The Catholicos of All Armenians, in turn, lauded this initiative.
The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohaneze Ndigbo, on Wednesday, told the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, that he lacks the powers to declare state of emergency in the southeast.

The organisation was reacting to a statement allegedly made by Mr Buratai wherein he was quoted to have threatened to impose a state of emergency in the southeast.

Two officials of the State Security Service (SSS) were killed last month in Enugu during a clash with members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) were

Some members of the proscribed group were also killed in the said clash with many injured and others arrested.

In the wake of the incident, there were unconfirmed reports of security agents, especially military officers being attacked in Enugu.

Reports also emerged that Mr Buratai, enraged by the alleged attacks, threatened to declare state of emergency in the region if the attacks should persist.

Premium Times could not confirm the authenticity of the said threat allegedly made by Mr Buratai.

Ohaneze, in the statement signed by its publicity secretary, Uche Achi-Okpagha, noted that Mr Buratai has not come out to deny making the statement till date.

The attention of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide has been drawn to a statement credited to the Chief of Army Staff, General Tukur Buratai, threatening to impose a state of emergency in the South East if Governors of the states allowed any further attack on security forces in the states, a statement he has not denied,began the statement.

The group noted that while it decries violence in any form in the states, it takes particular exception to an open threat and warning to South East governors who by the countrys constitution are chief security officers of their states but are lame ducks in practice as all security commands come from Abuja.

Ohanaeze Ndigbo finds it particularly provocative for General Buratai to issue such a warning to governors of the South East where relative peace prevails while he has not done the same in the North Central, North West and North East which have become theatres of war and where army posts and bases have been subjected to incessant attacks by the Boko Haram, ISWA/ISIS, bandits and Fulani herdsmen, killing and maiming Nigerian soldiers, he said.

ALSO READ: Ohaneze grieves killing of IPOB members

The group also wondered where the army chief derives the power to issue such a threat which under the countrys constitution can only be carried out by the National Assembly on demand by the President.

It is highly surprising that an army chief who was watching as the governor of Katsina State was negotiating and taking pictures with armed bandits would turn round to threaten to impose a state of emergency in states where unarmed citizens are agitating against the harsh and inhuman conditions they have been subjected to by their country.

Mr Okpagha said that Ohaneze believes that the threat by General Buratai is a vindication of the belief that the South East is being regarded as a conquered territory, exemplified in the army of occupation stationed in the area.

It is also a glaring example of the reckless impunity of public officers and a tacit manifestation of the vacuum in governance at the Federal level, Mr Okpagha added.
An archeological site that contained early human remains in Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, might have also contained hot springs where human ancestors boiled their food, a new study suggests.

A team of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States and the University of Alcala in Spain has found microbial biomarkers that suggest the presence of hot springs in the Northern Tanzania site.

The study, led by Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellow Ainara Sistiaga from MIT and University of Copenhagen, has been published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, September 14.

@eapsMIT @IDEAolduvai @MIT #hotSprings #OlduvaiGorge pic.twitter.com/ruqkd7Xiqo Did early humans boil their food before grilling it? Proud to announce our paper on microbial biomarkers at Olduvai Gorge is now released after years of interdisciplinary research around the world! https://t.co/8dDbJHl07z September 15, 2020

Early Humans Living in Hydrothermally Active Areas

The close location of these hydrothermal features, according to the study, creates the possible scenario that our early ancestors have used the hot springs in the preparation of their food, like boiling fresh kills before humans were thought to have used fire in their food.

"As far as we can tell, this is the first time researchers have put forth concrete evidence for the possibility that people were using hydrothermal environments as a resource, where animals would've been gathering, and where the potential to cook was available," explained Roger Summons, Schlumberger Professor of Geobiology in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences in MIT.

In 2016, Sistiaga was a part of an archaeological dig at Olduvai Gorge, working with members of the Olduvai Paleoanthropology and Paleoecology Project who were collecting samples in the 3-kilometer layer of exposed rock dated at 1.7 million years ago. Researchers observed that there was a dark clay layer underneath the mostly sandy site, with the darker, deeper layer dated at 1.8 million years ago.

RELATED: Archaeologists Unearthed 3,800-Year-Old Tomb Of An Ancient Egyptian Woman In Intact Position

"Something was changing in the environment, so we wanted to understand what happened and how that impacted humans," Sistiaga explained, adding that the original plan was to understand the change in the landscape with respect to climate changes and its possible effect on the lifestyle of the early settlers in the region. The evidence suggests that the East African season shifted from wet and green landscapes to a more arid, grassier terrain.

Microbial Biomarkers Extracted from Sedimentary Samples

Sistiaga discovered lipids embedded in the sediments she recovered from the site. However, these were distinct from plant-derived lipids she was familiar with, referring to Summons. Roger Summons later identified the unique lipids as being similar to specific bacteria they have previously studied almost two decades ago. These lipids, taken by Sistiaga from Tanzania, were similar to those produced by bacteria that Summons and his team previously observed from the hot springs of the Yellowstone National Park, in the United States.

One of the bacterium identified, Thermocrinis ruber, is a hyperthermophilic microorganism that lives in hot waters like boiling hot springs and their outflow channels. Since bacteria found in Olduvai Gorge 1.7 million years are similar to those in Yellowstone hot springs, leading researchers to suggest that hydrothermal features, like hot springs, might have been present in the Tanzanian gorge during the same period.

RELATED: Gas Stoves are Making People Sicker and Exposing Children to a Higher Risk for Asthma, Study Claims





While the possible markers that suggest the presence of hot springs in the area have been found, there was still no concrete evidence explaining how they might have cooked with the hot springs. Researchers propose a variety of scenarios of how it could've been possible.

"We can prove in other sites that may be hot springs were present, but we would still lack evidence of how humans interacted with them," Sistiaga said.

Check out more news and information on Archaeology in Science Times.
Colombia's Miguel Angel Lopez won stage 17 of the Tour de France on Wednesday to climb third in the overall standings as race leader Primoz Roglic extended his advantage.

The race ascended to 2,304m altitude atop the Col de la Loze where Slovenian rookie Tadej Pogacar lost a handful of seconds to his compatriot Roglic in the race for the yellow jersey on a day the 2019 champion Egan Bernal withdrew.

"I'm glad this is behind me," said Roglic after his toughest challenge as he merely needs to survive without a major incident to win this year's Tour.

"Every metre counts on a climb like that," said the 30-year-old.

Richard Carapaz produced a doomed solo bid for Ineos as the Giro champion was caught on the ever-changing gradient of the final 7km above 2,000m as the top 10 experienced a slight shake-up.

A day after the race was cleared of Covid-19 to run all the way to Paris on Sunday, French President Emmanuel Macron was present as the peloton struggled through villages full of ubiquitous baskets of flowers hanging from Swiss-style ski chalets.

In the rarefied air that suits the men from the Andes, the 26-year-old Lopez leapfrogged compatriot Rigoberto Uran and extended his lead over Adam Yates and Richie Porte.

Roglic now leads his young compatriot Pogacar by 57 seconds with just three real races left before the Tour gets to Paris.

- Colombian highs and lows -

Suffering from a bad back for a month now Bernal, his Tour defence in tatters, said a sad goodbye to the 2020 edition when Ineos decided to protect the long-term interests of their 23-year-old captain by withdrawing him.

But his compatriot Astana captain Lopez, who is known as "Superman" in his homeland after fighting off three thieves who tried to steal his bike, gave Colombia something to shout about.

Lopez had complained earlier in the race that Jumbo's dominance was suffocating the race, but saw his opportunity on a mentally challenging finale where the varying gradient called for constant adaptations.

Story continues

"I felt strong coming into the race and on the Grand Colombier, which was the first big one (climb) of the race, like the ones I train on in Colombia, I felt good," Lopez said.

"I won many things in my life, but this is impressive and I worked so hard to get here," said the man who has previously finished on the podium at both the Giro and the Vuelta.

The long hard 14km struggle up the Col de la Madeleine to its 2,000m summit was at the halfway point of the race.

Lopez made the difference on the even higher Meribel mountain with a sudden turn of pace while Roglic and Pogacar were watching each other.

"I felt at home over 2,000m, as I live at 2,500m above sea level," he explained. "But I won't win, the others ahead of me are too good on time trials. I'm just going to enjoy myself."

The key remaining challenge is stage 20, a 36km individual time trial that runs over 30km of rolling terrain before tough 6km ascent.

dmc/mw
NEW YORK - Americans kept spending in August, but the pace of that growth is slowing as millions of people who lost jobs have now lost a $600 a week boost in their unemployment checks.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 16/9/2020 (492 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Shoppers walk at the Village Pointe shopping mall in Omaha, Neb., Tuesday, June 16, 2020. American shoppers ramped up their spending on store purchases by a record 17.7% from April to May, delivering a dose of energy for retailers that have been reeling since the coronavirus shut down businesses, flattened the economy and paralyzed consumers during the previous two months. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)

NEW YORK - Americans kept spending in August, but the pace of that growth is slowing as millions of people who lost jobs have now lost a $600 a week boost in their unemployment checks.

Retail sales rose 0.6% last month, the fourth consecutive month of growth, the U.S. Commerce Department said Wednesday, but lower than the 0.9% increase in July. It's also below the 1.1% increase analysts expected.

These are disappointing numbers," said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics. And theyre probably a hint of whats to come in the wake of the ending of enhanced unemployment benefits"

Passers-by examine a storefront window, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020, in Boston's fashionable Newbury Street shopping district. The U.S. Commerce Department said Wednesday that retail sales rose 0.6% last month, the fourth straight month of growth. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Much of last month's growth came from spending at restaurants and bars, which are just starting to let people in to eat and drink. Sales rose 4.7% at those places, but are still down 15.4% for the year.

Overall retail sales have been recovering since they plunged in the spring as stores and malls were ordered closed to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

A number of those retailers, some of them part of the U.S. retail landscape for more than a century, have failed. Century 21 said last week it's shutting down all 13 of its stores for good after nearly six decades in business. Lord & Taylor, which has been around for nearly 200 years, is also going out of business. Several others major retailers have sought bankruptcy protection, including J.C. Penney, Brooks Brothers and J.Crew.

Clothing sales, however, rose nearly 3% in August after a 20% decline in the last year.

Retailers that had already pivoted to accommodate a shift to online shopping, like Target and Walmart, have thrived. Sales at Amazon.com have soared.

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Online sales, however, were flat last month, according to the Commerce Department, after soaring 22% in the past year. People also spent less at supermarkets and sporting goods stores in August, after shoppers rushed to them this year to stock up on food and exercise equipment for their quarantines.

At the end of July, nearly 30 million laid-off workers stopped receiving a $600-a-week federal unemployment check, which economists have said helped sustain spending. The Trump administration has set up a program to provide some of the unemployed with $300 a week.

Consumer spending makes up two-thirds of all economic activity in the U.S., and is monitored closely by economists gauging the nation's economic health.

Wednesdays retail sales report covers only about a third of overall consumer spending. Services such as haircuts, movie tickets and hotel stays are not part of the report. All of those businesses have been hammered during the pandemic.

Also reflected in the numbers released Wednesday is the new reality for many Americans: they're working from home or taking classes online instead of going to school. Sales at electronic stores rose 0.8% as people bought up computers and laptops. And at furniture stores, sales rose 2.1%.

Ikea, the chain of affordable furniture stores from Sweden, said last week that demand for desks, chairs and filing cabinets has been so high that its been sold out of numerous items and is working to restock them.


By Kim Hyun-bin



A handful of ruling party lawmakers have been pushing a bill that will reclassify over-the-top (OTT) businesses as broadcasters. The move will place them under the Broadcasting Act, making them eligible to receive money through the Broadcast Communications Development Fund (BCDF) while also taxing them on their business profits.



Major broadcasting stations including KBS, MBC and SBS have been paying the tax and receiving funds through the BCDF.



According to the government, the fund's purpose is to ensure "the public benefit and public nature of broadcast communications in response to a new communications environment in which broadcasting and telecommunications are merged." The fund is provided by the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) through the Broadcasting Act to broadcasters to fund production of certain types of programming.



However, a handful of ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) lawmakers requesting the changes previously worked for major broadcasters.



Every time the Science, ICT, Broadcasting, and Communications Committee is held there have been continuous requests to the government to collect additional taxes from OTT service providers through the BCDF.



Earlier this month, DPK Rep. Jung Pil-mo requested the changes from both Science and IT Minister Choi Ki-young and Korea Communications Commission (KCC) Chairman Han Sang-hyuk. In committee meetings in July and August, DPK Rep. Han Jun-ho requested the same.



Telecommunication and major broadcast companies including home shopping channels and IPTV have been paying the tax every year. But the recent move aims to include OTT platforms under the same tent. Currently, OTT businesses are classified as additional communications service businesses, not broadcast businesses.





Why is it important?



The current Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee is full of allies of major TV broadcasters, with most blaming OTTs for the difficulties the broadcast stations face today. So they want competitors, especially the OTT platforms, to take similar responsibility and pay their fair share.



Rep. Jung Pil-mo previously served as vice president of KBS. "We need to include internet portals and OTT service providers in the BCDF," he stated.



However, ICT Minister Choi drew the line saying, "The issue needs to be thoroughly thought out."



MBC announcer-turned-lawmaker Rep. Han Jun-ho of the DPK said to KCC Chairman Han Sang-hyuk, "The BCDF creates the foundation for a fair competition environment. What are your thoughts?"



The KCC chairman responded, "In principle the tax should be collected for the same service category to ease the inequality gap."



If the change is made, the OTT firms will need to reveal their local sales data. It will show how much local and global content giants, such as Netflix, have profited in the country, while a portion of those profits will be taxed.



However, the policy could backfire as the content providers might raise the monthly user fees to cover the tax cost, which will only burden customers.



Home shopping channels are taxed up to 6 percent of their business profits, in accordance with the country's Broadcasting Act.



The local OTT industry says companies are investing heavily in the fairly new field for future growth which is resulting in net losses, and that there aren't that many local OTT businesses capable of paying the tax. KT's Wavve is the country's top OTT platform, recording 97.2 billion won in sales last year, but it also showed a net loss of 21.2 billion won.



Last year, the three major broadcasting stations  SBS, MBC and KBS  were taxed 14.2 billion won, 10.5 billion won and 8.7 billion won respectively. However, they also receive KCDF funding from the KCC to develop certain programs each year. KBS acquired 8.7 billion won from the BCDF last year matching the taxes it paid for the year.



Meanwhile, the OTT sector is covered by the Information and Communication Promotion Fund (ICPF), under which major telecom companies pay for LTE and fifth-generation (5G) network frequency allocation costs. Just this year alone a total of 610 billion won has been collected through the ICPF and 499 billion won by the BCDF.



"The government collects the fees to give operation licenses to broadcast companies and to better protect their rights, but OTT businesses do not need prior approval from the government," an OTT firm official said.



A bill is pending in the National Assembly to integrate the ICPF into the BCDF.



A bill to include YouTube in the BCDF already fell through last year, with the target now having been switched to Netflix.





Regulation issues



The government has vowed to aid the OTT market's future growth so it is not easy for the OTT service providers to meet the additional regulations. This is the reason why the government is hesitant to take sides with the ruling party lawmakers with regard to levying additional taxes on the OTT providers.



In June, eight branches of the government jointly announced the digital media ecosystem development plan to enhance the local OTT market so it can better compete with global content giants such as Netflix and Disney Plus.



The ICT ministry, culture ministry and the KCC each came up with their own measures, but there are worries stirring across the industry that the move could create more unnecessary regulations.



Soon after the announcement, the Ministry of Science and ICT announced it will establish a consultative body jointly with Cheong Wa Dae to provide more support for the OTT market.


There are incidents that leave you surprised, and then there are those occurrences which make you chuckle. This post by a man in Malaysia who says he discovered monkey selfies on his mobile phone will leave you astonished and make you giggle, all at the same time.

Zackrydz Rodzi, a student from Batu Pahat, Malaysia took to Twitter and posted the entire incident in a thread, which has now left people intrigued. Turns out, his phone went missing for a day and he initially thought it was stolen. However, later, someone called his phone and he eventually retrieved it from a jungle behind his house. While checking his phone he discovered these bizarre selfies of a monkey.

In his Twitter thread, he shared various images from his phone gallery and also a video compiling all the shots:

Something yang korang takkan jumpa setiap abad. Semalam pagi tido bangun bangun tengahari phone hilang. Cari cari satu rumah geledah sana sini semua takde then last last jumpa casing phone je tinggal bawah katil tapi phonenya takde. Sambung bawah. pic.twitter.com/0x54giujnY  z (@Zackrydz) September 13, 2020

There was no sign of robbery. The only thing on my mind was is it some kind of sorcery, Rodzi told the BBC.

When he found the phone, its his uncle who, jokingly, suggested that the photo gallery could have images of the culprit and that turned out to be true in this case.

Each post on the Twitter thread received tons of likes, retweets, and comments.

Smart monkey with smart phone. Soon, genius intelligent monkeys will learn to use artificial intelligence machine. We are reaching 2021, wrote a Twitter user. Expressing the same notion, heres what another shared:

There were some who simply shared laughing out loud emojis.

What do you think of the incident?
ALBANY  The coronavirus pandemic had the state board of elections preparing for what they expected would be a critical shortage of poll workers for this year's election cycle, but local officials said they have received a flood of applicants willing to do the work.

Were being bombarded, actually, with requests for volunteers, said Matt Clyne, Albany Countys Democratic commissioner. It hasnt been the problem that everybody anticipated. We thought there would be a wholesale dropoff, but you know there wasnt. Weve actually had more people volunteer than we ever had. So its not a problem for us to fill these positions.

Jason Schofield, the Republican elections commissioner in Rensselaer County, said he has also seen hundreds of applicants for poll worker positions this year. He said if people want to apply, they should reach out in the next couple weeks to their local elections board, adding hes not at all concerned about having enough this November.

For those seeking to apply for the poll worker positions the state has an online portal set up at this address: https://www.elections.ny.gov/BecomePollworkerForm.html.

At least four poll workers are required for each location, two Democrats and two Republicans. They are not chosen by a countys board of elections but rather by the local party. There are 108 polling sites in Albany County and 317 election districts. The total number of polling workers required across the county is around 1,250, Clyne said.

They have trained about 800 so far, he added, with additional training sessions still being conducted.

We have more than enough people," Clyne said.

For those selected, it requires a few hours of training to learn how to use the voting machines. On Election Day, poll workers start their duties as early as 5 a.m. and it can continue until after polls close at 9 p.m. Compensation for poll workers varies slightly by county, but it is in the range of $25 for training and $200 to $250 for working a full election day.

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

For June's primary, there was concern over the number of poll workers available, Clyne said, because volunteers had to decide by April or May, among the worst days of the COVID-19 crisis, if they would take on the job. Now that the states infection rate has dropped significantly, and people are more aware of the risks and precautions they can take, theres less concern over volunteering for the election.

Voting at the polls will also require everyone at the facilities, including poll workers and voters, to wear masks and social distance.

Clyne said the the main obstacle raised by COVID-19 is not the amount of workers at the polls, but the logistics of bringing people in to train them on how to run a polling place. Theyre moving some trainings online, he added, but those are not as effective as in-person training.

Its not the problem that it was earlier in the year, I can say that, Clyne said. But it is still a problem. Its a complicating problem, but not one thats insurmountable.
On Tuesday in Parliament, Jaya Bachchan criticised those tarnishing the image of the film industry through allegations of rampant drug addiction.

The Shiv Sena on Wednesday came out in support of Rajya Sabha MP and veteran actor Jaya Bachchan for slamming those who claimed there was a problem of drug use in the film industry.

"Those who make such claims are hypocrites and their statements smack of double standards," the Shiv Sena said in an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamana.

Bachchan on Tuesday criticised those tarnishing the image of the film industry. Her remarks came a day after BJP's Lok Sabha MP and Bhojpuri actor Ravi Kishan said there was a problem of drug addiction in the film industry.

Supporting Bachchan's stand, the article said, "A doping test should be conducted on those who claim that all artists and technicians in the film industry are under the influence of drugs."

The Shiv Sena said the foundation of the Indian film industry was laid by Dadasaheb Phalke, a Maharashtrian. The industry made a start with silent movies like Raja Harishchandra and reached the present pinnacle of success due to the hard work of lakhs of people.

It also said actors like Sunil Dutt and his colleagues would tour the borders to entertain soldiers, Manoj Kumar always produced patriotic films while Raj Kapoor's films catered to social issues.

"Several artistes raised their voice against the Emergency for which they had to pay a heavy price," it said.
Britain should have a 'museum of colonialism' so it can learn about its controversial colonial history, leading historian William Dalrymple has claimed

Britain should have a 'museum of colonialism' so it can learn about its controversial history, a leading historian has claimed.

William Dalrymple - an expert on Britain's colonial interests in India - said a museum would highlight 'war criminals' such as commander-in-chief of India Sir Colin Campbell.

The Field Marshal with a statue in Clydeside, Glasgow, oversaw cruel punishment on rebelling soldiers - including firing them from a cannon after forcing them to lick blood.

Another such figure was the East India Company's General John Nicholson - who has a statue in Dungannon, Northern Ireland.

He admitted inflicting 'the most excruciating tortures' on captured Indians 'with a perfectly easy conscience' during a mutiny in 1857, The Times reports.

Reports also suggest he ordered a servant to be beaten to death because they did not grovel enough.

Mr Dalrymple - an expert on Britain's colonial interests in India - said a museum would highlight 'war criminals' such as commander-in-chief of India Sir Colin Campbell (a statue in Glasgow, left). Another such figure was the East India Company's General John Nicholson (right) - who has a statue in Dungannon, Northern Ireland

Speaking in Jaipur Literature Festival London's final debate - titled 'The Age of Iconoclasm' - Mr Dalrymple said that statures of all colonial figures need not be torn down, just those who committed 'war crimes'.

He said: 'At the moment children in schools go from Henry VIII to Wilberforce and the impression they get is that the British Empire was always about liberating slaves and always about anti-racism and things the British did in India and elsewhere are simply not taught in the syllabus and that is a problem.'

'When the British go out into the world they dont know what the Indians know about the Raj or what the Irish know about the famine, they dont know what the Australians know about the mass extinction of the Tasmanian Aborigines, so we need to teach this in our schools and the opportunity of setting up a museum of colonialism with some of these war criminals and other statues seems to me an opportunity we must take.'

It comes amid growing tensions about Britains colonial past, sparked by global outcry following death of unarmed black man George Floyd.

In June, protesters in Bristol pulled down a statue of slave trader Edward Colston (pictured)

That same month, governors at Oriel College in Oxford voted to remove the statue of imperialist and mining magnate Cecil Rhodes (pictured)

Floyd was killed when white police officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee into his neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds despite his desperate pleas that he 'can't breathe'. He passed out and later died in Minneapolis on May 25.

His death is seen as a symbol of systemic police brutality against African-Americans sparking outrage and largely-peaceful protests first across the US before quickly spreading worldwide.

In June, protesters in Bristol pulled down a statue of slave trader Edward Colston.

That same month, governors at Oriel College in Oxford voted to remove the statue of imperialist and mining magnate Cecil Rhodes.
Category 2 storm makes landfall, pushing a surge of ocean water onto the coast and dumping torrential rain.

Hurricane Sally has made landfall along the Gulf Coast in the United States, with forecasts of torrential rains that could provoke historic and potentially deadly flash floods.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) on Wednesday said the Category 2 storm hit Alabama at about 4:45am (09:45 GMT), bringing maximum sustained winds of about 165km (105 miles) an hour.

Historic life-threatening flooding likely along portions of the northern Gulf coast, the Miami-based centre warned late on Tuesday, adding the hurricane could dump up to 20 inches (500mm) of rain in some areas, causing dangerous flooding from the Florida Panhandle to Mississippi and inland in the days ahead.

About 150,000 homes and businesses in Alabama and Florida were already without power on Tuesday evening, according to the poweroutage.us website.

Videos posted to social media appeared to show some areas in the region had started to flood.

A curfew was called in the coastal Alabama city of Gulf Shores due to the life-threatening conditions.

People run across a road through rain and wind as outer bands of Hurricane Sally come ashore in Alabama [Joe Raedle/Getty Images/AFP]

Sally had been at a crawling pace of 4.8km (3 miles) an hour, but was expected to pick up speed through Wednesday.

We are looking at record flooding, perhaps breaking historic levels. And with rising water comes a greater risk for loss of property and life, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey told a news conference.

I urge you in the strongest way possible to evacuate if conditions permit and seek shelter elsewhere as possible today.

On Monday, Ivey had declared a state of emergency in the US state ahead of Sallys arrival.

US President Donald Trump, speaking on the Fox and Friends show, compared Sally to Hurricane Laura, which battered Texas and Louisiana as well as the Caribbean only weeks ago.

This one is smaller but its a little bit more direct, but we have it under control, he said. We have it under watch very strongly.

At a hurricane shelter in Pascagoula, a coastal town in eastern Mississippi, 50-year-old evacuee Cliton Shepherd was hoping the area could avoid the worst.

I dont think the wind is going to hurt anything, hopefully. I pray that it doesnt. But thats the main thing, you know, hoping and praying for the best, thats all we can do.

There have been so many tropical storms in the Atlantic this year that the United Nations World Meteorological Organization, which names them, is about to run out of names for the second time in history.

The last time was in 2005, the year Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans.

The latest Atlantic storm, Hurricane Paulette, pounded the island of Bermuda on Monday with Category 2 winds and heavy rains, according to the NHC.

The centre also said Tropical Storm Teddy, currently located about 1,335km (820 miles) east of the Lesser Antilles, was expected to become a major hurricane later on Wednesday and could reach Category 4 strength on Thursday.
The Shop-Vac Corporation in Williamsport is closing three facilities in Williamsport and more than 400 people will lose their jobs.

The company filed a WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) notice with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry dated September 15 informing the state that 427 people will be out of work when the company closes three plants in Williamsport, Lycoming County at 2323 Reach Road, 163 Catawissa Ave. and 3300 Wahoo Drive.

The entire facilities are closing and are expected to be permanent.

The terminations began on September 15 and are expected to continue until Nov. 13.

Of the 427 people that will be laid off there are 118 assemblers, 70 technicians, 31 forklift drivers/operators, 20 managers and assistant managers, 11 directors, 10 engineers, 12 packers/repackers, 14 shipping clerks/laborers and another 141 people who worked in various positions.

The company said in the WARN notice that is was forced to close after a potential buyer walked away from a deal that was expected to be completed.

We regret that we were unable to provide you with more notice," the company said in the WARN notice. "The current global pandemic and economic crisis has left the Company in dire financial conditions. The Company accordingly had been negotiating the sale of the business as a going concern, which, if such sale has been completed, would have enabled us to stay in business and continue the employment of employees. We fully anticipated the sale to be completed and for the buyer to hire all employees. Unfortunately, the buyer without warning walked away from the deal. Such unforeseeable business circumstance has left us with no choice but to close our facilities.

The WARN Act is federal legislation that offers protection to workers, their families and communities by requiring employers to provide notice 60 days in advance of a covered-business closing and covered-business mass layoff. But there is an exception for unforeseeable business circumstances, which applies to closings and layoffs that are caused by business circumstances that were not reasonably foreseeable at the time the notice would otherwise have been required.

Shop-Vac Corp. notified local officials just before 2 p.m. Tuesday about the closings and also told them that employee terminations were effective immediately.

Jason Fink, president and CEO of the Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Commerce, told PennLive on Tuesday, that ownership did not reach out to the community for assistance in any of its challenges, noting that if it had, there might have been a better outcome for the employees and the business.

Shop-Vac is known for its wet/dry vacuum cleaners and was founded in 1953. The company is based in Williamsport, Lycoming County.

The company has manufacturing facilities in Williamsport; Binghamton, New York; and Shenzhen, China, and Shop-Vac products are distributed from Williamsport; Burlington; Ontario, Canada; Guadalajara, Mexico; Melbourne, Australia; and Shenzhen, China, according to the companys Facebook page. No information was available on the status of those facilities.

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You can follow Daniel Urie on twitter @DanielUrie2018 and you can like PennLives business page on Facebook at @PennLiveBusiness
Infection rate had hit 82.1 per 100,000 people over the past seven days

The second local lockdown to hit south Wales is being blamed on two pubs and a coach trip to the races.

Rhondda Cynon Taf will be placed under a local lockdown from 6pm on Thursday following an increase of coronavirus cases, the Welsh Government has announced.

Residents of the council area will be banned from meeting households indoors, travelling outside of the council area and face masks must be worn in shops.

The local authority area's incidence rate hit 82.1 per 100,000 people over the past seven days.

The increase goes well above the infection rate of 50 per 100,000 people marked as the threshold that saw nearby Caerphilly go under local lockdown on September 8.

The cluster in cases has been blamed on pubs - with the De Winton pub in Tonypandy and the Players Sports Bar in Pontypridd being closed by health officials.

Another cluster was reported at Penygraig rugby club and one more with a coach trip Doncaster races stopping off at a series of pubs on the way. The stop-offs were so successful the party never actually made it to Doncaster, the Welsh government clarified tonight.

Earlier Health minister Vaughan Gething said: 'We have seen a rapid rise in cases in Rhondda Cynon Taf in a very short space of time, linked to people socialising indoors and not following social distancing guidelines.

Rhondda Cynon Taf will be placed under a local lockdown from 6pm on Thursday following an increase of coronavirus cases, the Welsh Government has announced. Stanleytown is pictured

'We now have evidence of wider community transmission in the borough, which means we need to take urgent action to control and, ultimately, reduce the spread of the virus and protect people's health.'

New rules being imposed on Rhondda Cynon Taf, which stretches from Cardiff to the Brecon Beacons, will mean residents can no longer meet other households indoors or have overnight stays.

As in Caerphilly, no one will be allowed to leave the area without a 'reasonable excuse', which includes work.

Everyone aged over 11 must wear a face mask in shops, with an 11pm curfew coming into place on pubs and other licensed premises.

Health minister Vaughan Gething said the council area had seen a 'rapid rise in cases in a very short space of time' and would need restrictions similar to Caerphilly's being imposed

Meetings between different households are still allowed to take place outdoors.

The Welsh Government said the new restrictions would apply to everyone living in the Rhondda Cynon Taf area.

Andrew RT Davies, shadow health minister for the Welsh Conservatives, said the announcement of a local lockdown in Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT) had been 'on the cards'.

'Any local lockdown should, however, be for as short a time as possible,' Mr Davies said.

'Every effort must be made to avoid a similar situation occurring in other parts of Wales, which includes by learning from these two local lockdowns, and I see that there are some differences between them.

'In RCT, licensed premises have to close by 11pm, but this wasn't imposed in Caerphilly.

'The Health Minister must explain the rationale behind this and give guidance across Wales to prevent other lockdowns.'

They follow a 'rapid increase' in the number of Covid-19 cases, which have been linked to people meeting indoors, not following social distancing guidelines and returning from holidays abroad, it said.

Further measures will be considered by the Welsh Government, working with Rhondda Cynon Taf Council and Public Health Wales, if cases do not fall.

Further measures will be considered by the Welsh Government, working with Rhondda Cynon Taf Council and Public Health Wales, if cases do not fall

The covid cluster sending 240,000 people into lockdown has locally been blamed on two pubs, a rugby club and a day out at the races where health officials identified infection hotspots.

Health minister Vaughan Gething said: 'Our contact tracing teams have been able to trace about half of these cases back to a series of clusters within the borough. The rest are evidence of community transmission.'

Schools in the area - which have seen the most Covid-19 cases in schools across Wales - are expected to remain open along with premises like pubs and shops.

The council, along with Merthyr Tydfil council, had previously issued tougher 'voluntary' restrictions for residents in its area in a bid to prevent the need for a full local lockdown.

Welsh Government health minister Vaughan Gething said that the new restrictions would last until October 'at the very least'.

It is understood these restrictions will be formally reviewed in two weeks time.

Shopper Val Lewis, 54, said: 'It is gutting but not surprising. People have been breaking the rules.'
Major Global Institutions and Leading Entrepreneurs from Around the World Gather for Upcoming FTE Investor Summit in Athens, Hosted By VIVA Investment Partners

VIVA Investment Partners (VIP), the Swiss private equity firm which hosts the Follow the Entrepreneur (FTE) Investment Campaign and Summit, today announced a new round of speakers at the upcoming 10th Annual FTE Investor Summit taking place in Athens, Greece on October 10 14, 2020. The firm also revealed its top sponsors, which include Ernst Young Greece and Piraeus Bank, the largest financial institution in Greece.

"We're incredibly thankful to our sponsors and renowned speakers who are making this year's FTE Investor Summit a massive success as it continues to be a must-attend event for the global financial community," said Julie Meyer, Founder CEO, VIP. "The world is being redesigned, and the entrepreneur will be at the heart of society and the economy as never before."

Adding to the already impressive lineup of leading entrepreneurs, technologists and change-makers across all verticals, including, Tal Elyashiv of SPiCE VC, Eric Sarasin of Singularity Group and Harvey Griffiths of Horizon, the following individuals will be speaking at the FTE Summit next month:

Christos Dimas, the Deputy Minister of Development and Investment, Hellenic Republic (Greece)

Antigoni Lymperopoulou, seasoned Alternative Investments professional and CEO of Hellenic Development Bank of Investments (HDBI)

Xavier Sarras, entrepreneur, investor business development executive and mind behind the "Experience Quotient" (XQ)

Held at the Four Seasons Astir Palace in Athens, Greece, the FTE Investor Summit Greece 2020 will welcome more than 200 multi-family offices (MFO's), sovereign wealth funds (SWF's), high net worth individuals (HNWI's), venture capital firms (VC's) and corporate investors to share insight, inspiration, intelligence, and networking. The Summit also offers leading global investors and entrepreneurs to learn about new ecosystems and to identify opportunities in which to invest and grow.

VIP has also announced the Pre-Summit Activities, which include museum tours, wine tasting, day cruises to the most treasured landmarks in Greece and much more. All of these activities are included as part of the overall FTE Investor Summit experience.

For an invitation, to purchase tickets or inquire about partnership opportunities, visit www.globalftenetwork.com/buy-tickets/, or contact the VIP Relations Manager Elizabeth Zachopoulou at elizabeth@vivacapital.co.

About VIVA Investment Partners:

VIVA Investment Partners was founded by successful entrepreneurs and venture capital investors to acquire equity stakes in and provide financing to established alternative asset managers (fund investments) and emerging growth companies (direct investments). To learn more about VIP, visit www.vivapartners.net/, or email Liz Whelan at liz@lwprconsulting.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200916005759/en/

Contacts:

Liz Whelan

liz@lwprconsulting.com

+1 (312) 315-0160
WATERFORD  Police said they are asking the publics help to identify a suspect who stole $600 in merchandise from Lowes and then tried to return it for a refund.

On Wednesday, police posted photos of the suspect on their Facebook page.
The FTC is preparing for a possible antitrust lawsuit against Facebook before the year ends, according to The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg. If youll recall, the agency started looking into the social networks purchase of smaller companies like Instagram and WhatsApp last year, shortly after it slapped Facebook with a $5 billion fine over its privacy practices related to the Cambridge Analytica scandal. While the FTC approved those acquisitions, it has the authority to revisit past transactions  in this case, its efforts were part of its investigation on the anticompetitive practices of the tech industry as a whole.

Back in July, lawmakers grilled Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg on the companys $1 billion Instagram acquisition during an antitrust hearing also attended by Googles and Amazons CEOs. Several emails from the social networks top execs were brought up, including one where they talked about having to neutralize a potential competitor. Zuckerberg also reportedly wrote in an email that Facebook can likely always just buy any competitive startups, though he said he didnt remember writing the note.

A report by The New York Times in July said its virtually impossible for the FTC to finish its investigation before 2021, but things may have changed since then. That said, the agency has yet to come to a final decision: WSJ says the commissioners still need to vote in favor of filing a lawsuit. If the FTC does decide to push through with filing one, it could take years to resolve, and the results of the upcoming elections could affect its outcome. In the event that Facebook loses the antitrust case, it could face restrictions or be forced to break off parts of its business, depending on what the agency can prove in court.
The Congress on Wednesday called June 19 a black day in Indias history, alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi lied to the nation about the Chinese transgressions in Ladakh that day.

The party also attacked the Modi government for taking loans to the tune of $750 million (Rs 5,521 crore) from the Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) to provide financial support the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY), a scheme launched to help the poor hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, at a time when the armed forces were fighting Chinas Peoples Liberation Army in eastern Ladakh.

Addressing reporters outside the Parliament House complex, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera claimed that the Union ministers are speaking in different languages on the India-China border standoff.

Also Read: J-K, Ladakh fully integrated into mainstream India, says Centre

June 19 is a black day in the history of India because that was the first time that any Prime Minister lied to the nation. Not only did he give a clean chit to China that day, but also signed a loan agreement with the Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) to the tune of $750 million (Rs 5,521 crore), he said.

By then, 20 of our brave soldiers had sacrificed their lives while protecting our sovereignty in violent clashes with Chinese troops, added Khera.

China is the largest shareholder in AIIB.

Earlier, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi too attacked the government on the issue.

Understand the chronology: PM said no one has entered Indian territory, then took loans from China-based bank, then defence minister said China has intruded into our territory and now home minister says no infiltration along India-China border. Is the Modi government with Indian armed forces or with China? Why is there so much of fear? he tweeted.

 chronology :



PM       

 -     

         

        



          ?



    ?  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 16, 2020

Khera told reporters that two shocking revelations expose the lies, double speak, hoodwinking and hypocrisy of the Modi government on the issue of ongoing border tensions with China on the eastern border in areas such as South Pangong, Razun La and the finger area.

He said the government accepted in the House on Tuesday that India took two loans amounting to Rs 9,202 crore from the Beijing-based multilateral development bank.

The bank was formed in 2016 and is headquartered in Beijing. With 26.6% voting share, China is the largest shareholder of the bank. The first loan of $500 million was taken on May 8 amid reports of Chinese incursions at multiple points in eastern Ladakh, including the Pangong lake, Khera claimed.

Also Read: China actions sparked LAC standoff; India ready: Govt

The second loan of $750 million was taken on June 19; four days after the Galwan massacre where we lost 20 of our bravehearts. Incidentally, it was also the same day when Prime Minister Modi lied to the country by saying that no one had entered our territory, he added.

The Congress leader said the stated and much-touted policy of the Modi government of cracking down on Chinese business relationships with India stands exposed. We would like to ask Mr S Jaishankar (foreign minister) whether he still stands by his statement there cannot be business as usual in the face of Chinese attempts to unilaterally changing the facts on the ground along the border.

Khera said the nation is shocked at such brazen duplicity of the Modi government in handling Chinas territorial aggression.

He said the second shocker came in the form of an answer by the Union minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai to an unstarred question, in which the minister categorically denied any infiltration by China during the past six months.

This is a shameless insult to the martyrdom of our brave soldiers on the night of June 15 in the Galwan valley. Is the government trying to say that the Galwan clash happened in Chinese territory? By saying so, is the government blaming the Indian army of trespassing into enemy territory? asked Khera.

Isnt this just another clean chit to China but also a handle given to China by our government whereby China can now... tell the world that we are not the aggressor but India is? The response of the government dilutes the resolve of India and its mighty army to protect every inch of our valuable territory, he said.

The defence minister Rajnath Singh talks about differing perceptions of the line of actual control (LAC) and now the MoS Home categorically gives a clean chit to China by saying that no incursions have taken place, he said.

Is this a public handover of Indian territory to China by the government of the day? The defence minister and the entire government need to give a clear answer to four of our questions. Khera said.

Are we able to patrol the same areas we were able to before April 2020? What is the pressure under which the Prime Minister gave a clean chit to china? The Ministry of Defence removed the document that acknowledged the Chinese transgression in eastern Ladakh on August 7 under what pressure? Is the entire government now trying to justify that one big lie of the Prime Minister of June 19? What did the defence minister mean when he said that the talks with China might not be fruitful? asked the Congress.

A clear message should go across the world that India and its government stand with the Indian army and will not legitimise Chinas claims over our territory. The LAC is clearly marked in our military maps. There is no differing perception of LAC as far as we are concerned. Every single Indian seeks answers from the government and wants to see the restoration of status quo ante, Khera added.
South Park will be diving headfirst into the turmoils of the coronavirus pandemic with an hour-long special on September 30.

Comedy Central confirmed the impending episode - aptly titled The Pandemic Special - on Tuesday and treated fans to a 50-second teaser trailer.

The Pandemic Special will be the adult animated series' first ever hour-long episode in its 23-year history on the network.

Pandemic Special: South Park will be diving headfirst into the turmoils of the coronavirus pandemic with an hour-long special on September 30

The episode will be made available to stream on HBO Max 24-hours after its Comedy Central premiere on Wednesday, September 30 at 8PM.

In the trailer, the series' beloved characters can been seen wearing face masks and occupying school desks that are shielded by sheets of plastic.

Randy Marsh, father to one of South Park's main characters named Stan Marsh, commences the trailer by boisterously announcing 'a Pandemic Special.'

He can be seen standing before a large projection screen that is riddled with morbid medical imagery as he seemingly attempts to cash-in on the public's fear.

Cashing in: Randy Marsh, father to one of South Park's main characters named Stan, commences the trailer by boisterously announcing 'a Pandemic Special'

Battle gear: In the teaser trailer for the special, the series' beloved characters can been seen wearing face masks and face shields

The special will also focus on main character Eric Cartman as he grapples with the horrors of returning to South Park Elementary amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Comedy Central released a more vague episode synopsis that reads: 'Randy comes to terms with his role in the COVID-19 outbreak as the on-going pandemic presents continued challenges to the citizens of South Park.

'The kids happily head back to school but nothing resembles the normal that they once knew; not their teachers, not their homeroom, not even Eric Cartman,' the synopsis concluded.

Brave new world: In the trailer for the special, the series' beloved characters can been seen wearing face masks and occupying school desks that are shielded by sheets of plastic

Fear: The special will also focus on main character Eric Cartman as he grapples with the horrors of returning to South Park Elementary amid the novel coronavirus pandemic

Though the Pandemic Special will be the series' first ever hour-long episode, South Park has ventured beyond the confines of the typical half-hour comedy structure before.

In 2007, series creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker aired an epic three-part episode titled Imaginationland, according to EW.

Although fans are beyond excited for new South Park content, Comedy Central has yet to unveil the official premiere date for season 24 of the beloved cartoon.

The outbreak: Comedy Central released a more vague episode synopsis that reads: 'Randy comes to terms with his role in the COVID-19 outbreak as the on-going pandemic presents continued challenges to the citizens of South Park'

But with Stone and Parker seemingly back at work and whipping up content again amid the pandemic, season 24 is undoubtedly underway.

South Park, which first premiered on Comedy Central in 1997, was created by Stone and Parker following the success of a project titled The Spirit Of Christmas that became one of the internet's first-ever viral videos.

The show, infamously known for its vulgarity, follows four elementary-age boys, Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormick, and the outlandish events that take place in their hometown of South Park, Colorado.

You can watch Stan on Comedy Central or on Stan in Australia.
Fake news led to exodus of migrants during lockdown says Home Ministry

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Sep 16: The exodus of migrant workers from cities to the countryside in their homes was triggered by fake news, the Union Home Ministry told the Lok Sabha. Several migrants had left for their home in the wake of the pandemic and the lockdown announced by the Centre.

The migrant workers were concerned about the availability of basic needs such as food, drinking water, access to health services and shelter during the lockdown announced in March.

Minister of State for Home, Nityanand Rai said that the centre had been fully conscious of the converts of migrant workers and had taken measures to ensure that during the lockdown that followed, no citizen is deprived of basic amenities, food, drinking water and medical facilities.

Monsoon session: No data available on migrant deaths during lockdown, says Centre

Speculation, including in the media on how long the lockdown would last and the loss of livelihoods after the closure of factories and business establishments to curb the spread of COVID-19 contributed to reverse migration of workers to their home states.

The government informed the Parliament that 10.4 million migrants travelled back to their homes during the lockdown. The government, however, added that it had no data on job losses among the migrant workers since the outbreak.

To mitigate the problems faced by migrant workers, the Centre set up control rooms in the home ministry under the supervision of senior officers of the level of joint secretary and comprising representatives of key central ministries, the MHA said.

India describes Pakistan as an epicentre of terrorism | Oneindia News

"These control rooms, inter alia, attended to the grievances of stranded persons including migrant workers and promptly resolved these grievances relating to food, transport, shelter, etc. States and Union Territories were also advised to set up control rooms with helplines and to appoint nodal officers," Rai also said.

"To augment the funds with the states, Central government released an advance Rs 11, 092 crores from the SDRF to the states on April 3, 2020," Rai added.

"Covid-19 is a highly infectious disease. Any mass movement of people would have spread the disease very fast amongst people in all parts of the country. By imposing the countrywide lockdown, India successfully blunted the aggressive spread of Covid-19," Rai also said.
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked a committee appointed by the Lieutenant Governor (L-G) to immediately convene a meeting on priority to chalk out a strategy for increasing the number of RT-PCR tests in the national Capital.

A bench comprising justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad also asked the Delhi government to provide maps of all the community centres and the mohalla clinics where testing would be conducted after it told the court Geospatial Delhi Limited (GSDL) would map test centres in the city.

Also Read: Coronavirus study to trial vaccine delivery through inhalers

The court was hearing a plea by advocate Rakesh Malhotra seeking the scaling up of tests in the city. On the last date of the hearing, the court did away with the provision of asymptomatic persons having to produce a prescription for Covid-19 tests. The bench also asked the Delhi government to put up maps of testing centres at Metro stations.

On Wednesday, the bench expressed its displeasure over the low number of RT-PCR tests conducted between September 8 and September 15, compared to the number of rapid antigen tests (RAT). It posed a query to advocate Satyakam, the additional standing counsel of the Delhi government, as to why the rapid antigen tests were still being conducted when their accuracy is about 60%.

It said that more RT-PCR tests should be conducted because they are more accurate.

Also Read: Substance use disorders linked to Covid-19 susceptibility

Having regards to the fact that results of the RAT tests are 60% false-negative leaving a great doubt on the infection in asymptomatic persons, we are of the view that RT-PCR should be increased. Delhi government should focus on soaring tests through RT-PCR as much as possible..., the court said.

The bench said that since there is an expert committee constituted by the L-G, it should immediately decide on testing more people via the RT-PCR method to get accurate results. It asked the committee to file a report and posted the matter for further hearing on September 30.

During the proceedings, Directorate General of Health Services Nutan Mundeja told the court that they have started mobile testing facilities in a few Metro stations. In an affidavit, the government also told the court that 79 mobile teams are active in the city. It said that testing facilities have been set up all over Delhi and DMRC is displaying their details to enable commuters to access testing sites closest to their point of exit and entry.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

The calcification of the carotid artery is a sign of advanced arteriosclerosis, which may be associated with chronic coronary artery disease (CAD) and can lead to death. Such calcification can be seen in regular oral panoramic radiography.

Prior research has already shown that carotid artery calcification is detectable by panoramic radiography. Now, for the first time, researchers included coronary angiography in a study where patients were followed-up for 10 years. Furthermore, the patients' oral microbiota was examined and the quantity of antibodies to bacteria associated with oral infections was measured.

A total of 508 middle-aged patients who had been referred to coronary angiography due to cardiac symptoms in 2008-2018 were enrolled in the study. The study was carried out collaboratively by the University of Helsinki, the University of Oulu, the University of Eastern Finland and Karolinska Institutet. The findings have been published in the International Endodontic Journal.

"Carotid artery calcification was statistically directly linked with several stenosed arteries found in coronary angiography, as well as with chronic coronary artery disease," says Docent Pirkko Pussinen from the University of Helsinki.

Calcification detected in one-fifth of study subjects

In the study, carotid artery calcification was found in 102 patients (20.7%), with 81 (16.4%) of the cases determined as moderate and 21 (4.3%) as severe. Calcification was considered severe when the deposit was more than 10 millimeters in diameter. In statistical analyses, the patients' age, gender, smoking habits, diabetes, disturbances of lipid metabolism (or dyslipidemia) and blood pressure were taken into consideration.

"The findings indicate that calcification was directly associated with not only chronic CAD, but also with apical periodontitis, root canal therapies, alveolar bone loss, the severity of periodontal inflammation, a high level of gram-negative bacteria in dental plaque and antibodies in the saliva that bind with these bacteria. At the same time, the link between calcification and acute myocardial infarction was not statistically significant," Pussinen describes the results.

During the decade-long follow-up period, a total of 105 patients died (20.7%), with 53 deaths (10.4%) caused by cardiovascular diseases. Carotid artery calcification was diagnosed in 17.5% of the patients who were alive at the end of the follow-up period. Among the deceased patients, the prevalence of calcification was high: in patients who died of cardiovascular diseases, the percentage was 35.8%, while in patients who died of other causes it was 29.2%.

In the cases with severe carotid artery calcification detected in dental radiography, the risk of death caused by cardiovascular diseases was more than threefold.

"Oral infections are fairly common, but they are often latent and found only through radiography. Radiographs of the whole jaw conducted in conjunction with dental care can reveal a cardiovascular disease risk as an incidental finding. If carotid artery calcification is seen in the radiograph, the patient must be referred to further examinations and an assessment of the need for treatment," Docent Pussinen sums up.

Explore further Tooth loss increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases

More information: S. Paju et al, Carotid artery calcification in panoramic radiographs associates with oral infections and mortality, International Endodontic Journal (2020). S. Paju et al, Carotid artery calcification in panoramic radiographs associates with oral infections and mortality,(2020). DOI: 10.1111/iej.13394
A British woman has proved that age is nothing more than a number after her recent tweet went viral. Emma Preston from Britain announced on Sunday that she will be starting university at the age of 54 and netizens response is overwhelming.

I start university tomorrow at the age of 54. I could not be more proud, Preston tweeted. She will be going to study a four-year course in Television Production at University of Central Lancashire, and the Internet is inspired.

I start university tomorrow at the age of 54. I could not be more proud. Emma Preston (@EmmaJanePreston) September 13, 2020

The Twitter handle of The Central University of Central Lancashire also welcomed their resilient student on board. And were thrilled to have you join us Emma, tweeted the university.

And we're thrilled to have you join us Emma  https://t.co/cg4EVZM20k The University of Central Lancashire (@UCLan) September 15, 2020

Congratulatory messages poured in from all over the world for Preston and since Sunday, the tweet has received over 2.9 lakh likes. Prestons stereotype shattering tweet gave confidence to many others to tell their story of how they started university at a later stage in life. User named Janice Rossi commented, I went back and got my BA in Economics at 39 and finished at 41 as a single parent with 3 kids in elementary school. Much easier when older as you have life experience to draw on. Bravo to you for making the decision.

To everyone though you will not see this as it will be buried. I feel honoured, humbled and blessed. I can't cope with the numbers spinning round and round. thank you so much to every single one of you Emma Preston (@EmmaJanePreston) September 14, 2020

User named Deb commented, I went back to school at 38 for a BA and back to school again at 48 for a Masters. I finished at 50 and it changed my life! Congrats!

To everyone though you will not see this as it will be buried. I feel honoured, humbled and blessed. I can't cope with the numbers spinning round and round. thank you so much to every single one of you Emma Preston (@EmmaJanePreston) September 14, 2020

Another user, The O Cearra, said how Prestons tweet has inspired him to apply to a university that he fancies at 52 as he tweeted, Thats brilliant. Im 52 this year and am thinking of going back to studying next year. Theres an MSc at Edinburgh that I really fancy, but I talked myself out of applying this year. Youve made me reconsider. Cheers!

To everyone though you will not see this as it will be buried. I feel honoured, humbled and blessed. I can't cope with the numbers spinning round and round. thank you so much to every single one of you Emma Preston (@EmmaJanePreston) September 14, 2020

With the coronavirus pandemic forcing people to stay at home many people have signed up for online courses to upgrade their resume. Online course portals like UpGrad, Skill Share, Coursera have observed a spike in their subscriptions as the pandemic continues.
The Taliban's burgeoning financial might could make the militant group immune to pressure from the international community as it negotiates a role in postwar Afghanistan, according to a confidential report commissioned by NATO and obtained by RFE/RL.

The Taliban has achieved, or is close to achieving, financial and military independence, a scenario that could allow the Sunni extremist group to renege on key commitments it has made under a U.S.-brokered peace plan aimed at ending the 19-year war, the report warns.

That financial independence enables the Afghan Taliban to self-fund its insurgency without the need for support from governments or citizens of other countries, says the report, based on interviews with senior Taliban operatives, Afghan officials, and foreign experts.

It also, arguably, provides insurance for the Talibans continued relationship with other listed terrorist groups, including [Al-Qaeda].

The Taliban has expanded its financial power in recent years through increased profits from the illicit drug trade, illegal mining, and exports, the report says, estimating that the group earned a staggering $1.6 billion in its last financial year (ending in March 2020).

The Talibans growing monetary prowess has been overseen by Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, the new and ambitious military chief who has taken over the groups financing. The young Yaqoob, the son of the late Taliban spiritual leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, is also seeking to take over the leadership of the extremist group, the report says.

Mullah Yaqoobs aim is to achieve independence for the Afghan Taliban, that is, to exploit earning potential in regions under his military control to enable him to operate without the need of outside financial, political, or military support, the report says.

The report, written by researcher and journalist Lynne ODonnell, cautions that the Talibans growing financial power could put it beyond pressure to comply with obligations to cut ties with [Al-Qaeda] and other terrorist groups.

Unless global action is taken, the Taliban will remain a hugely wealthy organization, with a self-sustaining funding stream and outside support from regional countries, it warns.

Its role as a destabilizing force, not only in South Asia but globally, will only be enhanced by the withdrawal of the United States from the Afghan theater, and its expected return to the power equation in Kabul.

The Taliban has developed its financing arrangements in order to become an independent political and military entity, says the report.

Although Mullah Yaqoob is believed by experts to support a peace deal, it is unclear what impact a leadership change atop the Taliban could have for the peace process.

The report was completed before the start of formal peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government that began in the Gulf state of Qatar on September 12.

The long-awaited negotiations are part of a landmark deal signed between the United States and the Taliban in February.

Under the agreement, international forces will withdraw from Afghanistan by May 2021 in exchange for counterterrorism guarantees from the Taliban, which pledged to negotiate a permanent cease-fire and power-sharing deal with the Afghan government.

Expanding Sources Of Cash

Mullah Yaqoob was virtually unknown until 2015, when the Taliban acknowledged the death of his father, Mullah Omar, who had died more than two years earlier in Pakistan.

Since then, Mullah Yaqoob has soared through the Talibans ranks. He has consolidated power since his failed bid to succeed his father that year, first becoming deputy leader before more recently being handed the powerful post of military chief.

Significantly, Mullah Yaqoob has managed to secure control of most of the Talibans vast financial network, establishing a financial committee in 2016 to maximize revenues and prop up his bid for leadership of the group.

Under Mullah Yaqoobs leadership, the Taliban has purposefully moved into regions of Afghanistan with exploitable mineral resources and have been able to build their finances, by their own admission, beyond their expectations, the report says.

The key has been refining taxation methods and building export markets through relationships with wholesale and export businesses of an extensive range of products, from coal and salt to precious stones including rubies and emeralds.

Since Mullah Yaqoob took control of the Talibans finances, the militant group has expanded its revenues from under $1 billion to $1.6 billion, according to the authors interviews with three senior Taliban members based in Pakistans southwestern city of Quetta who are said to be intimately connected to the groups financial arm.

A breakdown of revenues under Mullah Yaqoobs control, provided by the Taliban members, shows that the militant group during the last financial year earned some $464 million from mining, $416 million from drugs, $240 million from foreign countries and individuals, another $240 million from exports, $160 million from taxes, and $80 million from real estate.

The Talibans stated revenues of $1.6 billion corresponds with figures provided by the United Nations Security Councils Sanctions Committee, which in May said the groups earnings range from $300 million to upwards of $1.5 billion per annum.

The key to rising revenues has been profits from mining, growing from $35 million in 2016 to $464 million in 2020, according to one of the Taliban members interviewed, who added that China and the United Arab Emirates were the biggest buyers of the raw materials.

The Taliban have, by their words and actions, made it clear that they have no intention of renouncing their alliance with [Al-Qaeda] or other jihadist organizations, the report says.

The illicit opium trade also remained a major source of revenue for the Taliban. Around 90 percent of the worlds heroin comes from the Helmand River valley, a Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan.

The Taliban taxes poppy farmers and is also involved in the trafficking of narcotics to neighboring countries, from where they end up in Europe and North America.

Yaqoobs efforts to control and expand the organizations finances mean that these plans can, according to officials close to him, be bankrolled to the tune of almost $2 billion a year, says the report.

External Support

Despite a billion-dollar business empire, the key to the Talibans insurgency has been external support.

The confidential NATO report says Mullah Yaqoob is attempting to end that dependency through financial self-sufficiency.

The Taliban has developed its financing arrangements in order to become an independent political and military entity, says the report.

Pakistan, the Talibans main sponsor, has long been accused of sheltering and aiding the militants.

Pakistan's ties to the Taliban date back to the 1990s, when it provided arms, training, and intelligence to the militants. Islamabad was one of only three countries to recognize the Taliban regime as the government of Afghanistan.

After the regime's fall in 2001, many Taliban leaders took refuge inside Pakistan.

Observers say Pakistan sees the Taliban as an insurance policy for reaching its long-standing strategic goals in Afghanistan -- installing a pro-Pakistan government in Kabul and limiting the influence of its archrival India, which has close ties to Kabul.

Neighboring Iran has confirmed it has contacts with the Taliban but insists that they are for ensuring the safety of Iranian citizens in Afghanistan and encouraging peace talks.

But U.S. officials have accused Tehran of providing various support to the Taliban, an allegation it denies.

In a report released in November 2019, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) said Iran provides financial, political, training, and material support to the Taliban.

Russia said it has established contacts with the Taliban in recent years because of the common threat posed by the Islamic State (IS) militant group in Afghanistan. But the United States has accused Russia of arming the Taliban, which it denies.

In the past two years, Moscow has hosted two international conferences on the Afghan peace process, inviting Taliban leaders and Afghan opposition members.

In July, U.S. media reported that a Russian military intelligence unit had offered secret bounties to the Taliban if it killed U.S. or NATO-member troops in Afghanistan. Moscow and the Taliban have denied the reports, which were based on unconfirmed U.S. intelligence assessments.

Meanwhile, the Taliban receives significant funds from Pakistan, Iran, and several Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar.

A UN Security Council report from May 2018 said the Gulf region also remains important to the Taliban as a location where drug revenue can be laundered through a network of individuals, companies, mosques and madrasas, [and] various charitable foundations.

Foreign funding provides a significant proportion of the Taliban's revenue and could be as much as $500 million a year, the BBC reported in 2018. It cited a 2008 classified CIA report as saying the Taliban received $106 million from foreign sources, in particular from the Gulf States.

'Generational Transition'

Expanding the Talibans financial power is also part of an attempt by Mullah Yaqoob to shore up his bid to become the Talibans supreme leader.

Mullah Yaqoob has deftly and opportunistically used the illness of senior Taliban leaders with COVID-19 to expand his control over the organization, says the report.

Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhunzada and Sirajuddin Haqqani, the deputy leader of the Taliban and the head of the Haqqani network -- a powerful Taliban faction that is a U.S.-designated terrorist organization -- have contracted the coronavirus, according to reports.

The report warns that the rise of Mullah Yaqoob signals a generational transition from the old guard of Mullah Omar to a more opportunistic and, perhaps, brutal, cohort.

Taliban officials denied a report by Foreign Policy magazine, citing unnamed Taliban officials, that Mullah Akhundzada contracted COVID-19 and possibly died while receiving treatment abroad.

Mullah Yaqoob now holds both financial and military power, and as long as he is able to consolidate this hold ahead of an expected series of shuras, or consultative meetings, later in 2020, he is likely to be formally confirmed as the Talibans supreme leader, the report says.

The prestige of being Mullah Omars eldest son has also elevated his standing among the Talibans field commanders and its rank and file.

But Mullah Yaqoobs attempts to become leader could provoke a power struggle, the report says, likely spilling into violence and diverting attention from the peace process with the Kabul administration.

Experts describe Mullah Yaqoob as part of a relatively moderate camp that favors a negotiated end to the war.

He is backed by Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a co-founder of the Taliban and a former deputy to Mullah Omar. Baradar, who spent years in a Pakistani prison, is the Talibans political chief and was the head negotiator in talks with the United States that produced the agreement.

But the report warns that the rise of Mullah Yaqoob signals a generational transition from the old guard of Mullah Omar to a more opportunistic and, perhaps, brutal, cohort.

Terrorist Partners

The Talibans financial self-reliance would ensure the Taliban is impervious to [outside] pressure, warns the report, adding that the militants could back out of commitments it has made under the U.S.-driven peace plan.

That includes a pledge, under the U.S.-Taliban deal, to stop terrorist groups, including Al-Qaeda, from using Afghanistan as a safe haven to plot attacks.

But a Pentagon report in July said Al-Qaeda maintains close ties to the Taliban, adding that the terrorist network routinely supports and works with low-level Taliban members in its efforts to undermine the Afghan government, and maintains an enduring interest in attacking U.S. forces and Western targets in the region.

To prevent Afghanistan from becoming an ungoverned space for violent jihadism, NATO must first act to stop the Talibans wealth-generating activities, the report warns.

A UN report released in June said Al-Qaeda and the Taliban "remain close, based on friendship, a history of shared struggle, ideological sympathy, and intermarriage."

The report added that the Taliban "regularly consulted" with Al-Qaeda during negotiations with the United States and "offered guarantees that it would honor their historical ties."

The confidential NATO report also says the Taliban has entered negotiations with the Afghan government in partnership with their traditional allies in other organizations formally recognized as terrorist groups by the United Nations and the United States, including Al-Qaeda.

The Taliban have, by their words and actions, made it clear that they have no intention of renouncing their alliance with [Al-Qaeda] or other jihadist organizations, the report adds.

As a result, Afghanistan is likely to once again become an ungoverned space, similar to that which prevailed until the [Al-Qaeda] attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001.

To prevent Afghanistan from becoming an ungoverned space for violent jihadism to threaten the region and the rest of the world, the report says NATO must first act to stop the Talibans wealth-generating activities.

It also calls on the transatlantic alliance not to delist all Taliban figures and their associates from UN sanctions lists, to extend sanctions to include businesses and individuals that facilitate Taliban financing, and support a worldwide embargo on illicit Afghan products.
TORONTO and NEW YORK, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Real Brokerage Inc. (TSXV: REAX) (OTCQX: REAXF) ("Real"), a national, technology-powered real estate brokerage, launched today a co-branded marketplace to match real estate agents with expert freelance talent on Fiverr. The marketplace offers agents support services from vetted freelancers like designers and photographers to help them build awareness, generate leads and promote their clients' properties.

"Real's agents work remotely, but that doesn't mean they work alone," said Tamir Poleg, CEO of Real. "With Real's Fiverr store, agents can easily find pre-screened business support services to help get business done better and more efficiently."

In Real's Fiverr store, agents can find professional help with marketing design, lead generation, professional listing videos, 3D modelling, and virtual staging.

The Fiverr platform connects businesses of all sizes with skilled freelancers offering digital services in more than 400 categories, across 8 verticals including graphic design, digital marketing, programming, video and animation. In 2019, over 2.4 million customers bought a wide range of services from freelancers working in over 160 countries.

"With Real's Fiverr marketplace, Real agents can feel confident knowing that the freelancers they need are vetted and ready to help them shine." said Ran Madjar, Director of Partnerships and Corporate Development at Fiverr.

The platform is launching today for all Real agents and can be accessed at https://www.fiverr.com/stores/realbroker.

About Real

Real ( www.joinreal.com ) is a technology-powered real estate brokerage in 20 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. Real is on a mission to make agents' lives better, creating financial opportunities for agents through higher commission splits, best-in-class technology, revenue sharing and equity incentives.

Contact Information

For more details, please contact:

The Real Brokerage Inc.

Lynda Radosevich

[email protected]

917-922-7020

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, and the OTCQX has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.

SOURCE The Real Brokerage Inc.

Related Links

http://www.joinreal.com


President Klaus Iohannis told a press conference at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace on Wednesday that "the whole range of issues" must be taken into account as regards the Eastern Mediterranean conflict and the fact that sanctions "are not an end in themselves."

The head of state will attend the European Council on September 24 and 25. In this regard, he spoke about our country's position on the conflict between Greece and Turkey.

"If we are talking about Turkey, it is clear that we need to consider the whole range of issues and that is the approach that I will have in the European Council. We will see what proposals will be on the table from the Commission and the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, but I believe that we must take into account not only what is happening in the Eastern Mediterranean, but also many other geopolitical factors. And if we are talking about sanctions, we must be aware that sanctions are not a goal in itself. Sanctions are designed to make certain procedures easier, to ultimately facilitate an understanding. Sanctions are therefore designed to make the relationship work in the end, and if we take all of this into account, then we will certainly find the best way," said Klaus Iohannis.
Syracuse, N.Y.  Syracuse University students who left town to visit friends at other colleges over the Labor Day weekend caused a spike in coronavirus cases on the campus here.

SU reported on Monday 10 new coronavirus cases among students and 68 students in quarantine after being potentially exposed to the virus. Those are the highest numbers of new cases and quarantined students reported so far this semester in a single update on SUs Covid-19 dashboard. The dashboard is updated three times a week.

In most of the 10 cases the virus was brought to the campus by students who left Syracuse over the holiday weekend to visit friends at other campuses, SU officials said in a message to students posted on the schools website.

This finding highlights the very real threat associated with risky travel that is outside and beyond the fragile bubble that is our campus and Central New York community, said the statement from Robert Hradsky, an SU vice president, and Marianne Thompson, dean of students. None of us wants to be responsible for even one person getting sick, much less an outbreak.

They warned students they could be suspended or expelled if they knowingly violate these public health guidelines:

Traveling outside of Central New York or to a state on New Yorks travel advisory and not quarantining when they return.

Visiting a facility on campus, such as a library, fitness center or dining hall, if they are sick, suspect they have or have been diagnosed with coronavirus or came into contact with someone with the virus in the past 14 days.

Hosting someone from a travel advisory state who has not quarantined.

Interacting with others outside of their residence without a mask and without six feet of distance.

SU put 23 students on interim suspension after hundreds of freshmen gathered on the quad at the start of the semester. SU wont say if it has lifted those suspensions.

Hradsky and Thompson said most students are following the rules and helping SU keep coronavirus infection rates manageable.

SU has reported 52 positive cases among students since Aug. 6. As of Monday, SU had 13 active cases, three of them students who do not live in Central New York.

Some other schools in the state and nationwide have had to send students home after seeing hundreds of cases. SUNY Oneonta, for example, halted in-person Sept. 3 after being hit by a big outbreak that has grown to more than 700 cases. SUNY Oswego, which has had 148 cases, is trying to avoid that same fate. It has suspended sports, in-person dining in dining halls, cracked down on big parties and taken other steps to slow down the virus.

James T. Mulder covers health and higher education. Have a news tip? Contact him at (315) 470-2245 or jmulder@syracuse.com
The Babri Masjid as it stood before its destruction by someone. (File photo)

Lucknow: The verdict in the Babri Masjid demolition case will be delivered on September 30 by a special court here. BJP veterans L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, who are among the accused in the case will be present in the court to hear the verdict.

The Babri Masjid was razed by a mob of Hindu fanatics in 1992 while a whole phalanx of BJP leaders including Advani, Joshi stood by. The case has been heard by a special court for 28 years.

Judge S K Yadav on Wednesday directed all 32 accused to remain present in the court on the day of the judgment.

The accused include former deputy prime minister L K Advani, former Union ministers M M Joshi and Uma Bharti, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh, Vinay Katiyar and Sadhvi Rithambara.

The CBI court was working against the month-end deadline set by the Supreme Court for the verdict. The final arguments by the defence and the prosecution were heard by September 1, and then the judge began writing the verdict.

Some of the final submissions by the accused were made through video conferencing.

Issuing the order on Wednesday, the judge said the verdict will be pronounced on September 30 and asked all accused to be present in court.

The Central Bureau of Investigation, which investigated the case, has produced 351 witnesses and about 600 documents as evidence before the court. Charges were framed against 48 people, but 16 died during the course of the trial.

The CBI argued that the accused conspired and instigated the kar sevaks to demolish the 16th century mosque.

But the accused pleaded that there is no evidence to prove their guilt and claimed they were falsely implicated in the case by the then Congress-led central government as political vendetta.

The mosque was pulled down on Decembe6, 1992 by mobs of kar sevaks who maintained that it was built during the time of the first Mughal ruler at the spot which marked the birthplace of Ram temple.

In a landmark judgment last year, the Supreme Court allotted the disputed site in Ayodhya for the construction of a Ram temple, while calling the demolition of the mosque a violation of the rule of law.

An alternative five-acre site has been found in the city for building a mosque.

Champat Rai, the general secretary of the trust in charge of constructing the temple, is among the 32 accused in the Babri mosque demolition case.

The earlier deadline set by the Supreme Court for the special CBI court to pronounce verdict was August-end. It was extended by a month on August 22.

On July 24, BJP veteran L K Advani recorded his statement before the court through video conferencing, denying any involvement in the conspiracy to demolish the mosque.

He pleaded that he was unnecessarily dragged in the case, claiming that the investigation was conducted under political pressure and the charge sheet was based on fabricated evidence.

Other BJP leaders also took similar pleas.

"The then Congress government at the Centre levelled false and baseless allegations against me and filed a case out of political animosity," Kalyan Singh told reporters after appearing before the court.

"As the UP chief minister, I and my government ensured adequate three-tier security for the disputed structure in Ayodhya," he claimed.

"I was falsely implicated, I am innocent," he had said.
Bill Barr is on yet another one of his charm offenses. Well, you cant really call it charmingbut it is most certainly offensive.

All is not well at the Justice Department, for a change. Last week, we learned that Nora Dannehy had resigned suddenly and unexpectedly as No. 2 to Connecticuts U.S. attorney, John Durhamthe man helming the Barr-endorsed investigation of the FBIs probe into the connections between Russia and the 2016 elections. According to Dannehys colleagues, the resignation was at least partly motivated out of concern that the investigative team is being pressed for political reasons to produce a report before its work is done. Last week also saw Deputy Assistant AG David Morrellone of the DOJ lawyers handling the investigation into whether John Bolton released classified information in his book, among other thingsannouncing that he too was leaving the Justice Department and withdrawing from all his cases. And this week we also learned that the DOJs inspector generals office has begun investigating the extremely hinky circumstances surrounding the final sentencing recommendation for Roger Stone, a sentence lighter than recommended by career prosecutors who ended up walking off the case in protest.

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But even as his dedicated employees race for the exits, Bill Barr trundles on, offering up a coy new interview with the Washington Post this week that characterized him as lumbering and generously jowled, a sort of Yogi Bear for the unitary executive set. He also did a friendly sit-down with the Chicago Tribune on Friday, in which he chuckled with John Kass about steakhouses, Chicago crime bosses, and re-upped his entirely imaginary claims about the perils of mail-in voting. And then there was this barnstormer appearance on CNN, when he assured Americans that their votes would be stolen. Americas lawyer is hard at work at the critical task of freaking out the electorate.

In recent days, Barr appears to have inched away from his earlier claims that voting by mail was uniquely susceptible to foreign election tampering. Having pressed that particular hypothesis in early June in an interview with the New York Times, then in a July House Judiciary Committee hearing (a hearing in which he also testified he had no reason to believe the election would be rigged), he parroted the presidents unfounded talking points about foreign interference for just mail-in ballots. Barr was asked about it again this month by CNNs Wolf Blitzer, who requested some basis for his now-frequent claims that a foreign country could send thousands of fake ballots, thousands of fake ballots to people, and it might be impossible to detect. Barr replied, Im basing thatas Ive said repeatedly, Im basing that on logic. Barr continues to insist then that foreign counterfeiting of mail-in ballots is a legitimate threat for which he has no evidence or proof.

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But the foreign tampering story is not sufficient to his purposes, and so Barr has deftly turned his sights once again on the enemy within. His newest claim seems to be that its Americans, not foreigners, who will steal the 2020 electionby buying, selling, browbeating, and intimidating otherwise good and honest voters who attempt to vote by mail. In that same CNN interview, Barr was testing the new theory: that it would be domestic, not foreign, enemies who will tamper with mail-in-ballots. While he had no idea how often this new vote harvesting thing had occurred (saying it again here: Its vanishingly rare) Barr asserted that we indicted someone in Texas who had stolen 1,700 ballots. He made them out and voted for the person he wanted to, he told Blitzer. That claim was also later confirmed as false.

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But Barr just cant let his hatred of voting by mail go. As he fondly told the Tribunes John Kass, describing the way white people once votedmostly gathered from Norman Rockwell paintings, apparentlyJust think about the way we vote now. You have a precinct, your name is on a list, you go in and say who you are, you go behind a curtain, no one is allowed to go in there to influence you, and no one can tell how you voted. All of that is gone with mail-in voting. And when you vote by mail, he warned, Theres no secret vote. You have to associate the envelope in the mailing and the name of whos sending it in, with the ballot. These new new claims that voting by mail is somehow extra susceptible to fraud and also violative of voter privacy, autonomy, and secrecy have been debunked multiple times as well. But Barrs argument to Kass again has the desired effect of pitting voter against voter, American against American, in ways designed to foment doubt and mistrust in a system already stressed by U.S. Postal Service meddling and distortion and a steady drumbeat of presidential claims thatas Trump suggested this weekthe only way he can possibly lose in Nevada is if its governor rigs the ballots. Im winning that state easily, but the one thing we cant beat, if they cheat on the ballots, Trump said, adding, Now he will cheat on the ballotsI have no doubt about it.

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What Barr is actually performing here is the time-honored, Bannon-christened, Putin-sanctioned electoral practice known formally as flooding the zone with shit.

Barr echoed these same talking points in his interview with Kass: Someone will say the president just won Nevada. Oh, wait a minute! We just discovered 100,000 ballots! Every vote will be counted! Yeah, but we dont know where these freaking votes came from. We dont know where these freaking votes came from is the new Lafayette Square.

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Barr, like Trump, is no longer content to blame foreigners and malign faceless vote tamperers. He also warned Kass that greedy mail carriers were apt to get in on the action: A secret vote prevents selling and buying votes. So now were back in the business of selling and buying votes. Capricious distribution of ballots means (ballot) harvesting, undue influence, outright coercion, paying off a postman, heres a few hundred dollars, give me some of your ballots. Just to recap, then: Your mail-in ballot is unsafe because foreigners want to forge it, Democratic governors want to steal it, antifa operatives plan to harvest it, oh, and Dot, your friendly neighborhood letter carrier will also gladly break the law in order to sell it. This narrative need not be provable or coherent; its enough that its rinsed and repeated on a near-daily basis in the media.

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What Barr is actually performing here is the time-honored, Bannon-christened, Putin-sanctioned electoral practice known formally as flooding the zone with shit. What he wants most of all is for voters to doubt the capacity for the November election to be conducted fairly. That is why he told Blitzer that any effort to make voting safer in the midst of a pandemicand of course thats what the push for mail-in balloting was attempting to redressis by definition tantamount to playing with fire. Under the pretense of concern for voter confidence, Barr jowlishly invents one reason after another to undermine it. Were very closely divided country here, and people have to have confidence in the results of the election and the legitimacy of the government, Barr lectured Blitzer. And people trying to change the rules to this methodology, which as a matter of logic is very open to fraud and coercion, is reckless and dangerous, and the people are playing with fire.

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One mentions the zone and the shit here only because, as Bloomberg News notes, an intelligence bulletin issued by the Department of Homeland Security this month, first obtained by ABC News, said that Russian state media and proxy websites have sought to amplify criticisms of vote-by-mail to undermine public trust in the electoral process.  The bulletin added, We assess that Russian state media, proxies, and Russian-controlled social media trolls are likely to promote allegations of corruption, system failure and foreign malign interference to sow distrust in democratic institutions and election outcomes.

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Its easy to forget, in the fog of daily outrages at DOJ, that a long-standing unwritten tradition once held that the department should do nothing in the 60 days before an election that might affect the outcome of that election. That in turn reflects a long-standing norm that the Justice Department actually wants elections, and democracy, to succeed. Its whyright or wrongthe Obama administration tried to downplay its concerns of foreign interference in 2016. But Barr isnt merely flouting that guidance with his unending fan dance around the October surprise that will come with the Durham report. He is fanning the flames of voter anxiety and doubt, under the guise of concern over voter anxiety and doubt.

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In his sit-down with Kass, Barr made a stunning set of statements about liberals. But the most telling part came when he insisted: All this bulls about how the president is going to stay in office and seize power? Ive never heard of any of that crap. I mean, Im the attorney general. I would think I would have heard about it. They [liberals] are projecting. They are creating an incendiary situation where there will be loss of confidence in the vote. His very next warning was of fake ballots in Nevada stealing the election. When liberals worry about democracy, its projection. When he does it, well, its transactional, which seems to make it OK.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Six Staten Island public schools have had at least one staff member test positive for the coronavirus (COVID-19) as of Monday, according to data provided by education officials.

The city Department of Education (DOE) released an update Tuesday on the number of confirmed cases among employees from Sept. 8 (the day staff returned to school buildings) through Monday. To date, the DOE said action has been taken at 56 schools across the five boroughs that had at least one confirmed positive coronavirus case.

The information was shared with media outlets Tuesday evening, after a caucus of the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) union shared the schools where at least one staffer was positive for COVID-19 across the city, including three Staten Island schools.

The six Staten Island public schools that reported at least one positive COVID-19 case, according to the DOE, include:

PS 78, Stapleton

PS 58, New Springville

New Dorp High School

Tottenville High School

PS 62, Rossville

PS 13, Rosebank

Two cases in separate classrooms at PS 139 in Brooklyn are being investigated, and the building is closed for an initial 24-hour period while NYC Test & Trace Corps and the city Department of Health (DOH) conduct an investigation to determine if the school needs to remain closed.

*** CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF CORONAVIRUS IN NEW YORK ***

Two cases in separate classrooms were identified within seven days at PS 811X The Academy for Career and Living Skills in the Bronx, and school was closed, but reopened Monday after a deep clean and investigation. All close contacts are quarantined, and no link was found between the two cases.

In all other instances, schools have remained open.

PROTOCOLS FOR QUARANTINE, SCHOOL CLOSURE

The Test & Trace Corps may confirm a positive coronavirus case through routine contact tracing and inform the DOE, or an individual may self-report a case to a school. The city launched a coronavirus rapid response situation room for school principals to report suspected coronavirus cases in schools.

School leaders can either call or email the situation room if they receive notice from a staff member, student, or parent/family member of a positive COVID-19 test, or if a student or staff member is isolating or sent home with COVID-19 symptoms.

The city Department of Health, in partnership with the Test & Trace Corps, will conduct an investigation into any close contacts of confirmed cases, who are then asked to quarantine and not report to school buildings. All close contacts are referred to the Test & Trace Corps for monitoring during the quarantine period. Schools will communicate to all families and students within school any time a case is laboratory-confirmed.

During the Test & Trace and DOH investigation, if there are two or more confirmed cases within the same school, and not in the same classroom, the two classes quarantine for 14 days and the school is closed for a minimum of 24 hours while the DOH investigation is underway.

Heres a closer look at what happens if there are confirmed cases in a school:

One confirmed coronavirus case in a classroom, or at least two cases linked together in the same classroom, would be enough to quarantine the entire class of students for 14 days. The school would remain open.

At least two cases in the school in separate classrooms would quarantine both sets of students for 14 days, with additional school members quarantined based on where exposure was in the school. The school would close for an initial 24 hours.

At least two cases linked together by circumstances outside of school would close the school for an initial 24 hours and all students would quarantine for 14 days.

At least two cases not linked together, but exposure was confirmed for each one outside of the school setting, would close the school for an initial 24 hours and quarantine all students for 14 days.

If a link is unable to be determined for at least two cases, the entire school building is closed for 14 days.

All individuals who tested positive since Sept. 8 are isolating, and the Test & Trace Corps and the DOH are following up on all confirmed cases to identify close contacts and instructing them to quarantine.

The city is providing free priority rapid testing for students and teachers at 22 sites across the five boroughs. For 98% of the tests at these sites, individuals have received a result within 48 hours, according to the DOE.

On Staten Island, the priority test site for school staff and students is located at the Health and Hospitals Gotham Health Vanderbilt site in Clifton, located at 165 Vanderbilt Ave.

The DOE said as it continues to navigate the realities of the coronavirus pandemic, there will be positive cases. It added it is putting peoples health above everything else by quickly identifying and isolating positive cases to prevent further transmission.

MANDATORY MONTHLY TESTING

Beginning in October, all schools will have mandatory monthly random testing for students and staff.

Each month, schools will select and test a blind sample of anywhere from 10% to 20% of the school community. The size of the sample will depend on the population of the school, said Dr. Jay Varma, the mayors senior adviser for public health.

It will be a self-swab test, not the long Q-tip that is inserted far into the nasal cavity, according to Mayor Bill de Blasio.

All tests are free of charge for students and staff, and results will be available within 48 hours. Parental consent is required for all students under the age of 18.

If a student does not receive parental consent for testing, or refuses to take the test, the student will be moved to the remote learning cohort, according to the United Federation of Teachers (UFT). Any staff member who elects not to participate in random testing will be placed on unpaid leave, the UFT stated.

Related stories:

NYC to bring in 2,000 more educators for the start of school as de Blasio pushes forward with Sept. 21 reopening

3 S.I. schools see positive coronavirus cases, union says

Coronavirus: How to find ventilation inspection results for your childs school

What will reopening look like in largest U.S. school districts?

NYC school year delayed; in-person learning to start Sept. 21

Reopening of NYC schools delayed: What you need to know

Heres how coronavirus testing will work in NYC schools

Coronavirus: How NYC plans to safely reopen schools in fall

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Asserting that it is fully prepared to fight a full-fledged war even in winters in eastern Ladakh, the on Wednesday said if China created conditions for war, they will face a better trained, better prepared, fully rested and psychologically hardened Indian troops.

In a statement, it said compared to physically and psychologically battle-hardened Indian troops, Chinese troops mostly are from urban areas and not used to hardships or prolonged deployment under field conditions.

The Army' Northern Command headquarters made these assertions reacting to China's official media Global Times reports that India's operational logistics is not geared up adequately and it will not be able to fight through winters effectively.

This can best be attributed to ignorance. is fully prepared and more than capable of fighting a full-fledged war even in winters in eastern Ladakh, a Northern Command spokesperson said here.

India is a peace-loving country and wishes to have good relations with its neighbours. India always prefers to resolve issues through dialogue. While talks are in progress to resolve the border issues with China in eastern Ladakh, at the military level it is well prepared for the prolonged stand-off, he said.

He said altitudes in Ladakh range from high to super-high altitude and there is a lot of snowfall up to 40 feet after November.

Coupled with this, the temperature dipping down to minus 30 to 40 degree Celsius is a usual phenomenon. Wind chill factor makes matters even worse for the troops. The roads also get closed due to the snow. But despite all this, the most encouraging part for India is that the Indian soldiers have a huge experience of winter warfare and are psychologically tuned to operate at short notice, the spokesperson said.

While these facts are known to the world, he said, adding the operational logistics capabilities, however, are hardly known.

Logistic capability relates to mobility, habitat and billeting, quality services for health, special rations, repair and recovery, heating systems, high-quality weapons, ammunition, quality clothing, and so on. While much of these capabilities existed earlier and troops could simply plug and play, a lot has also been boosted since May this year when China showed first signs of aggression, he said.

The spokesperson said it is important to understand that the Army has the experience of Siachen, the highest battleground in the world, where conditions are much more demanding than the frontiers with China.

Traditionally there were two routes for moving into Ladakh, that is through Zojila (Srinagar-Leh Highway) and Rohtang Passes (Manali-Leh). Recently India commissioned a third road from Darcha to Leh which is much shorter distance-wise and less prone to closure, he said.

The spokesperson said completion of Atal tunnel on the Rohtang route has force multiplied the logistic capacities.

In addition, we have a large number of airbases with the help of which we can maintain the Army well. Modern snow clearing equipment has also been placed on these routes to keep them open beyond November, thus giving us more time for daily maintenance of the troops, he said.

The spokesperson said special fuel and lubricants for tanks and armoured personnel carriers have also been stocked adequately, including spares for their maintenance.

Water points and tube wells have been established for the troops and animals like mules and yaks. The living barracks have also been prepared which are comfortable and warm, he said.

He said facilities such as the central heating system are some of the high points of these facilities.

Ammunition of various types including small arms, missiles and tank and artillery ammunition have also been adequately stocked. The medical system is also in place for any eventuality.

The spokesperson said China's concept has always been to win the wars without fighting, hence if they create conditions for war, they will come across better trained, better prepared, fully rested and psychologically hardened Indian troops.

These worries have been percolating in the minds of Chinese troops and are visible in Chinese media, he said.

(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.)
Alliant Insurance Services Inc. has named Larry Shapiro senior vice president in mergers and acquisitions.

Shapiro will serve as the representations and warranties team leader and be based in San Francisco, Calif. He will provide risk solutions to private equity firms and alternative asset investors, including transactional risk services, private equity procurement initiatives, post-acquisitions account management and pre-close due diligence.

Shapiro was previously a senior vice president within the mergers and acquisitions group of Willis Towers Watson. He was a partner and general counsel at Plus Funding Group before that.

Newport Beach, Calif.-based Alliant provides property/casualty, workers compensation, employee benefits, underwriting, surety, and financial products and services.

Topics California Alliant
Yoshihide Suga at the prime ministers office in Tokyo on Wednesday (Eugene Hoshiko/AP)

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Cabinet resigned on Wednesday, clearing the way for his successor to take over after parliamentary confirmation later in the day.

Mr Abe, Japans longest-serving prime minister, announced last month he was stepping down because of health problems.

I devoted my body and soul for the economic recovery and diplomacy to protect Japans national interest every single day since we returned to power, Mr Abe told reporters at the prime ministers office before heading into his final Cabinet meeting.

Expand Close Shinzo Abe speaks to the media as he arrives for Wednesdays cabinet meeting (Eugene Hoshiko/AP) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Shinzo Abe speaks to the media as he arrives for Wednesdays cabinet meeting (Eugene Hoshiko/AP)

He said his health was improving, thanked the public for their support, and asked them to support his successor.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, long seen as Mr Abes right-hand man, was chosen on Monday as the new head of the governing Liberal Democratic Party, virtually guaranteeing his election as prime minister in a parliamentary vote on Wednesday because of the partys majority.

Mr Suga, a self-made politician and the son of a strawberry grower in the northern prefecture of Akita, has stressed his background in promising to serve the interests of ordinary people and rural communities.
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Princess Anne released a stunning new portrait to thank royal fans for their well-wishes on her 70th birthday.

The princess royal, who celebrated the milestone last month, sent the photo along with a thank you note that reads: 'The Princess Royal appreciated your kind thoughts sent on the occasion of her 70th Birthday, and sends you her thanks and best wishes for the future.'

Photos of the card were shared online by royal fan accounts including The Royal Mail Box and Kat's Royal Letters.

Princess Anne released a stunning new portrait to thank royal fans for their well-wishes on her 70th birthday. Pictured, the photo sent to royal fans

The princess royal, who celebrated the milestone last month, sent the photo along with a thank you note that reads: 'The Princess Royal appreciated your kind thoughts sent on the occasion of her 70th Birthday, and sends you her thanks and best wishes for the future'

Princess Anne released three official portraits to mark the milestone birthday and it is possible this fourth image was taken during the same photo shoot at Gatcombe Park, Gloucestershire.

The photo shows the princess royal seated next to a window in what appears to be her country estate.

Typically elegant, she is dressed in a peacock blue skirt suit accessorised with a gold brooch and simple gold necklace. Her brunette locks are coiffed in her signature style.

The royal fan behind Instagram's The Royal Mail Box commented on the quality of the card and shared a photo revealing Anne's insignia was printed on the back.

Princess Anne released three official portraits to mark the milestone birthday and it is possible this fourth image was taken during the same photo shoot at Gatcombe Park, Gloucestershire. Pictured, Anne in one of the three official portraits released in August to mark her birthday

Anne's other birthday photos showed the no-nonsense princess in unusually formal attire.

Wearing a Maureen Baker evening dress, Sue Palmer bolero jacket and pearls, the Queen's only daughter looked stylish as she posed for celebrated photographer John Swannell and smiles broadly while sat in her golden leaf chair.

Swannell has taken photographs of everyone from Diana, Princess of Wales and her sons and the Queen's official Diamond Jubilee portrait in 2012 to Tony Blair, Sir Michael Caine and Sir Elton John.

Wearing a Maureen Baker evening dress and Sue Palmer bolero jacket, the Queen's only daughter looks stylish as she poses for celebrated photographer John Swannell and smiles broadly while sat in a chair. It is one of three portraits released to mark Anne's 70th birthday

The images were taken in late February a few weeks before the coronavirus lockdown, and in the final picture Anne is dressed more causally for the outdoor setting, where she poses under a tree and looks off into the distance. It is possible the new photo was also taken then

In another picture the princess looks directly at the camera, with a hint of a smile on her lips, wearing a Sue Palmer emerald green dress and a gold ribbon knot brooch, set with 12 diamonds.

The images were taken in late February a few weeks before the coronavirus lockdown, and in the final picture Anne is dressed more causally for the outdoor setting, where she poses under a tree and looks off into the distance.

Anne's birthday plans were cancelled due to the Covid-19 crisis but she still celebrated with a sailing trip around Scotland with husband Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence.
An upcoming Mughal museum in Agra which has been renamed after Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji will house artefacts from Braj region of Uttar Pradesh as well, a senior government official said on Wednesday. However, a former chief secretary of the state claimed that Braj was part of the initial plan conceptualised in 2015. The Braj region comes in Agra division. Braj region and Agra division will be included in the museum, and work will be done in a speedy manner, Additional Chief Secretary (Home and Information) Awanish Awasthi told PTI here.

Braj also known as Brij or Brijbhoomi, is the region around Mathura-Vrindavan and is considered to be the land of Lord Krishna. The area stretches from Mathura, Jalesar, Agra, Hathras and Aligarh to Etah, Mainpuri and Farrukhabad districts. On Monday, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath decided to name the upcoming Mughal museum in Agra after Chhatrapati Shivaji.

Chairing a review meeting of Agra division (in Lucknow), the chief minister made it clear that his government always nurtured nationalist ideology and anything which smacks of subservient mentality will be done away with, the UP government said in a statement. How can Mughals be our heroes, the chief minister asked, adding that the very name of Maratha warrior Shivaji will invoke a feeling of nationalism and self-esteem.

Meanwhile, former chief secretary of the state Alok Ranjan told PTI that the project was conceptualised in 2015, and it was to be completed in 2017-18. An interpretation centre is built there (in Agra). It consists of videos, books and audios about Taj Mahal and other monuments there. It also houses the art and craft of the local area. The local art, culture and heritage is available to the foreign tourists in their language. There were stalls of art and craft of Agra as well as the Braj area. A very good complex had come up, he said.

Asked if Braj was included in the initial plan itself, Ranjan said, I think it was. He said the basic objective behind planning the museum was to earn more revenue for Agra. Tourists come from Delhi, visit Agra and then go back. As a result the hotel industry, restaurants, shops, craftsmen dont earn any revenue, Ranjan, a 1978-batch IAS officer, added. We will get revenue when people spend a night in Agra. For a night halt, the attractions have to be increased. How long will people keep watching the Taj Mahal? Then certain things were thought of, and we developed the entire area around the Taj Mahal. We built an interpretation centre, art and crafts centre on the lines of monuments abroad, cobble-stone pathways, antique lighting. One part of it was also to develop the Mughal museum. The idea was to reflect the Mughal history, their lifestyle and culture of that period, along with art, literature, he said.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)

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Members of the Holos faction in parliament registered a resolution on the creation of a temporary investigative commission of the Verkhovna Rada to investigate the facts of possible involvement of top Ukrainian officials in the detention of Wagner Private Military Company (PMC) fighters in Belarus and subsequent extradition to Russia, faction head Serhiy Rakhmanin has said.

"The draft resolution on the creation of an interim commission of inquiry, which is to unravel the mysterious story around the Wagner members, has been registered. The Holos faction has fulfilled its promise. Our colleague Roman Kostenko will be the chairman of the temporary investigative commission. Especially for those who care about the preservation of state secrets: keeping secrets and protecting lies are two different things. TIC is able to separate one from the other. Time will tell who leaked what," Rakhmanin said on Wednesday on his Facebook page.

As reported, on July 29, 33 members of the Wagner PMC were detained near Minsk.

On August 12, the Office of the Prosecutor General (Ukraine) applied to the General Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Belarus with requests to extradite 28 people from the Russian private military company "Wagner."

"All 28 persons, including nine citizens of Ukraine, were informed of suspicion of participation in a terrorist organization (part 1 of Article 258-3 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). Shevchenkivsky District Court of Kyiv elected preventive measures in form of detention for the suspects," reported the press service of the Prosecutor General`s Office.

The Ukrainian side said that these persons "took an active part in hostilities on the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions as part of the terrorist organizations "LPR" and "DPR."

However, on August 14 it became known that Belarus handed over to Russia 32 of the 33 detained "Wagnerites." On August 18, a number of Ukrainian media reported that SBI and the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense were preparing an operation to detain members of the Wagner PMC. According to the media, they were supposed to fly from Minsk to Istanbul, but during the flight one of the passengers had to simulate deterioration in health, as a result of which the plane had to make an emergency landing in Kyiv, where the Wagner members were to be detained.

The media claimed that the operation was reported to President Volodymyr Zelensky and the head of the President's Office Andriy Yermak, after which, as a result of a leak, the Belarusian special services learned about it.

The information was denied by the authorities. Thus, the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov said that the trip of the Wagner PMC fighters, during which they were detained in Belarus, was a special operation of the Russian special services. The head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak interpreted the information about the alleged involvement of the Ukrainian special services in the appearance and detention of Russian militants in Belarus as deliberate misinformation. The Security Service of Ukraine also denied their involvement in the story with the appearance and detention of "Wagner fighters" in Belarus.

On September 15, the head of the Servant of the People parliamentary faction David Arakhamia opposed the creation of a temporary investigative commission of the Verkhovna Rada to investigate the facts of the possible involvement of top officials of Ukraine in the extradition of the Wagner fighters from Belarus to Russia.

"I am categorically against the creation of any TIC for the work of special services. This is not discussed at all in a broad context, for this you need to have access to state secrets and obtain appropriate access to the materials," Arahamia said to journalists at a briefing.
US President Donald Trump often says things that confuse people and make them wonder if he really knows nothing or just pretends to be kinda dumb this way. His recent comment proved that he has no idea how forest fires work.



In a new, illogical and unscientific claim, he said that trees just explode. When he was asked questions related to the US wildfires as to how they started, his reply shocked people across the globe.

Great to be back in Philadelphia. Thank you Pennsylvania, see you again soon! #MAGA pic.twitter.com/l82C4TdlAE  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2020

He further supported his argument by saying that wildfires are caused by poor forest maintenance which makes them more combustible. He said, "There has to be strong forest management. With regard to the forests, when trees fall down after a short period of time, about 18 months, they become very dry. They become really like a match stick. They just explode."

Forest fires across California, Oregon, and Washington burnt over five million acres this year and forced thousands of people to leave their homes.

The towns have been completely ruined by infernos and have pumped out noxious fumes that have polluted the air for days blocking the Sun and making it extremely difficult to breathe.

Trump said, "It will start getting cooler. You just watch.

Wade Crowfoot, the head of the California Natural Resources Agency replied saying, I wish science agreed with you.

I don't think science knows, actually," Trump said.

"We may be experiencing an irreversible ecological tipping point ... #heatwaves and fires like what we are seeing in #California, #Oregon & #Washington will continue to worsen as long as humanity continues to burn fossil fuels." https://t.co/sRJLAMOisi #ClimateChange #USWildfires  Ed Joyce (@EdJoyce) September 12, 2020

Heres what people on the internet have to say about Trumps bizarre comment-

After hearing Trump is America's President.  MKS (@secularzihadi) September 16, 2020

After hearing Trump is America's President.  MKS (@secularzihadi) September 16, 2020

Lol the crazy things I get to read sometimes. ..  Grajales (@Carlovesfam) September 13, 2020

What do you think about Trump's comment that trees just explode? Let us know in the comments below.
Austrian business is interested in implementing infrastructure projects in Ukraine, the press service of the Office of the President of Ukraine has reported after the Ukrainian-Austrian business forum held in Vienna on Tuesday with participation of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen.

"Joint projects in the field of road infrastructure will make it possible, in particular, to reduce the death rate on Ukrainian highways. The project of implementation of the toll system in order to finance the construction of roads in Ukraine was also discussed," the press service said.

Representatives of Austrian business called for the development of joint logistics projects. They also stressed the importance of facilitating business in Ukraine and developing a "single-stop window" system.
New Delhi:

Actor and activist Anupam Kher on Thursday shared a heart-wrenching poem dedicated to the plight of Kashmiri Pandits, who have been living the lives of internationally displaced persons since 1990, when they were forced to flee their homeland due to violence.



Expressing the pain and anguish of unheard voices of Kashmiri Pandit community, Khers poem warns of the day when these voices will not be silent anymore.

The 61-year-old actor, who belong to Kashmiri Pandit community, tweeted: 27yrs on we Kashmiri Pandits are still refugees in our own country. A protest poem about their Silent Scream. Do share.

27yrs on we #KashmiriPandits r stil refugees in our own country. A protest poem about their #SilentScream. Do share. https://t.co/72wRMpL9iS  Anupam Kher (@AnupamPkher) January 19, 2017

January 20 marks the 27th anniversary of the day when unfortunate events forced the migration of over 60,000 Kashmir Pandit families from the Valley.

Read | 27 years after exodus, J-K Assembly passes resolution for return of Kashmiri Pandits

Watch Anupam Kher's poem on Kashmiri Pandits here:



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At an ABC News Town Hall on Tuesday night, President Donald Trump painted a rosy picture of an America ready to reopen after six nightmare months of battling coronavirus. Less than 12 hours later, medical experts from the Centers for Disease Control and the Department of Health and Human Services warned the United States Senate that our fight against Covid-19 is far from over.

CDC Director Robert Redfield made the stakes clear, telling Senators that only immediate action could help this nation avert a very difficult fall. In remarkably candid comments, Redfield painted a picture of a CDC paralyzed by budgetary shortfalls and confusion about how taxpayer money is being spent.

Redfield also tempered Republican optimism that a coronavirus vaccine could be developed and deployed in time to save Trumps sagging re-election hopes. At best, Redfield told Louisiana Senator John Kennedy, some Americans in high-risk groups might get a vaccine in November or December. If youre asking me when itll be available to the general American public, Redfield said, probably the second quarter or third quarter of 2021.

In fact, the only certainty Americans saw from our government medical experts came when Redfield and HHS Assistant Secretary Admiral Brett Giroir praised the protective face masks so reviled by Trump and the wingnut anti-mask movement.

We have clear scientific evidence [masks] work, Redfield said, holding up his own mask for emphasis. This face mask is more guaranteed to protect me against Covid-19 than when I take a Covid vaccine.

Thatll come as bad news to Trump, who often floats the idea of a miracle vaccine appearing just days before Election Day. And Redfield is right: due to genetic or other biological complications, any Covid-19 vaccine will likely be ineffective for a portion of the population. Whats more, Redfield made clear theres no certainty a vaccine will last longer than a more traditional flu vaccine (which has to be reissued every year).

Redfields remarks came less than a day after Trump stunned many medical experts by using his ABC News town hall to peddle another scientifically bogus, medically dangerous anti-mask rant. We can safely presume that such rants are designed more to stoke the passions of his supporters than to provide useful advice to Americans facing a deadly public health crisis. Thats just fine with him.

The opposite realities presented by Trump and his own governments medical experts no longer surprise most Americans  a US News & World Report poll released on Tuesday showed more than half of adults no longer trust Trump to tell them the truth about Covid-19 or a possible vaccine. Faced with a pandemic of unprecedented scope and seemingly unending duration, Americans across the country are growing accustomed to the presidential leadership vacuum.

After six months and 200,000 deaths, Department of Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral Brett Giroir admitted there are still vast areas of rural America at risk  especially Native American lands, where coronavirus infections occur at nearly four times the rate of white communities. God help us if that passes for victory in the Trump leadership handbook.

Just as concerning  and one of the few areas where Senate Democrats and Republicans agreed at Wednesdays hearing  is the total lack of transparency about how Trumps HHS and CDC are spending the billions of taxpayer dollars authorized by the CARES Act in March.

Part of that chaos can be explained by Trumps lazy attitude toward filling critical public health vacancies in his own administration. HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness Robert Kadlec in particular seemed decidedly unprepared for todays hearing. That shouldnt surprise anyone, given that Kadlec has been in his current role less than a month. Kadlecs inability to account for hundreds of millions of dollars in HHS appropriations drew the ire of even Trump-defending Republicans.

The appropriating committee appropriates in ways we think appropriate, Chairman Roy Blunt scolded. You cant just ignore that and reroute money without congressional oversight, he added.

Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran was equally confused. I cant determine if theres any plan to be helpful to senior living facilities, Moran told Kadlec of HHS mushy-footed approach to addressing the pandemics high mortality rate among senior citizens in assisted care facilities and rehabilitation centers.

If even Republicans cant defend what the Trump administration is  or isnt  doing to protect the country from Covid-19, why should voters trust a single word Trump offers on the coronavirus? For an increasing number of voters in key swing states like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, Trumps catastrophic mishandling of Covid-19 has done something incredible: its turned them into Joe Biden voters.

CDC Director Redfield made clear that Americans are likely to face another hard year as we await the broad availability of a safe and effective coronavirus vaccine. The United States deserves leadership that cares about transparency and believes in science. If we want Covid-19 to vanish, Donald Trump must vanish too.
Canadian insurer Manulife Financial Group will restore some coverage for coronavirus-related trip interruptions in a new travel insurance policy that also includes COVID-19 in its emergency medical coverage.

The policy will launch in October for Canadians traveling domestically and internationally, including to countries subject to a level 3 travel advisory, Canadas biggest life and travel insurance company said on Wednesday.

Canada has a level 3 advisory, which urges avoidance of non-essential travel, for all countries.

Manulife, as well as some other insurers, said in March they would stop covering trip cancellations or interruptions related to the pandemic as the disease was deemed a known event.

Manulife joins smaller rivals, including Medipac Travel Insurance and the Ontario and Quebec plans of the Canadian Association of Blue Cross, which began offering medical travel insurance including COVID-19 coverage in July. Neither offers pandemic-related trip interruption coverage.

Manulifes policy has a C$5 million ($3.8 million) non-COVID-19 emergency medical coverage limit, and a COVID-19 limit of C$200,000.

It will also cover daily quarantine-related expenses of C$150 per person or C$300 per family for up to 14 days, Manulife said.

If a level 3 advisory is upgraded to level 4, Manulife said it will pay a combined C$500 per person for return airfare, meals and accommodation.

($1 = 1.3184 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting By Nichola Saminather; Editing by Sam Holmes)

Topics COVID-19 Canada
San Franciscos Persian restaurants tend to serve a familiar lineup of grilled kabobs and meaty stews, but a newcomer is specializing in the less-represented cuisine of Northern Iran and its vegetarian-friendly bounty of smoked rice, fresh herbs and sour flavors.

Komaaj Kitchen at the Laundry recently opened in the Mission District, offering takeout, delivery and outdoor dining at the gallery and events space. While the Laundry remains otherwise closed because of the pandemic, Komaaj chef-owner Hanif Sadr took over the cafe space to serve the Laundrys coffee and Middle Eastern wines alongside dishes like kuku sabzi, a dark green frittata packed with herbs ($8.50), and sabzi katte ($8), herbed rice with pickles, goat cheese and the option of smoked trout ($6) glazed in pomegranate molasses.

Sadr started Komaaj five years ago as an ambitious, multifaceted food company dedicated to sharing Iranian culture. Theres a catering arm and a pop-up series that gradually grew Komaajs following, particularly in the East Bay. Until the pandemic hit, this year was set to be a major time for expansion for Komaaj, including this location at the Laundry, which was originally scheduled to open mid-March.

While Komaajs pop-ups were typically multi-course, elegant feasts, Komaaj Kitchen in San Francisco is a more casual and accessible version. In addition to the fact that dishes hover around $10, the menu includes vegan options. There are also bottled sauces and dips available to take home such as maast labou ($7.50), a sumac-flecked beet yogurt, and dalar ($7.50), a fermented herb salad dressing. The restaurant seats 18 people outdoors and will be able to add 16 inside after the pandemic.

Komaaj

In addition to the delayed opening of Komaaj Kitchen, Calabash, Komaajs collaboration with Nigel Jones of Jamaican restaurant Kingston 11 and Azalina Eusope of Malaysian spot Mahila, was looking ready for an April debut in Oakland, but that has been putt off until next year. Another location was solidified for Menlo Park, the plans for which have been totally scrapped.

Komaajs catering side kept the company alive during the pandemic, delivering family-style meals around the Bay Area on weekends. He started Komaaj Preservation Lab to preserve foraged or donated ingredients, and the results are available for purchase at Komaaj Kitchen. Ultimately, those endeavors and federal loans allowed Sadr to open the San Francisco restaurant.

Kate Munsch / Special to The Chronicle

Despite the challenges, Sadr and Komaaj business manager Farshad Esmaeili said this is an important time to open Komaaj Kitchen.

Since this year people are not going back to Iran, not traveling anywhere, we think Iranians are now so homesick, Esmaeili said. They need a place to come and hopefully feel a bit like theyre home.

They also want Komaaj to serve as a place for non-Iranians to connect with Iranians and Iranian culture, he added, because this year is an election year, and the challenges between Iran and the U.S. have made our lives much harder here.

Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.

With President Donald Trumps travel ban and the pandemic, Sadrs wife has been stuck in Iran for three years with no visa. Many Iranians are waiting for their spouses, he said, their parents, their kids, their friends.

Komaaj Kitchen at the Laundry. Noon-8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday. 3359 26th St., San Francisco. 415-598-8286 or komaaj.com

Janelle Bitker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: janelle.bitker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @janellebitker
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Sept. 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Hiring an intern is a valuable way to develop leadership programs, delegate tasks, seek out future talent and improve the overall structure of your company. But what should you look for in an intern, and how should you set up your internship program for long-term success?

From developing a mutually beneficial internship program to finding the best fit, here's what you need to know about hiring a student intern.

Why Hire an Intern?

From a student's perspective, an internship provides on-the-job experience, professional connections, skill development and resume-boosting  but interns offer plenty of reciprocal benefits for companies, as well. Hiring an intern can help you:

Strengthen Company Culture

When your company is taking on fresh, new faces  and developing processes for training and supervising them  it's also strengthening its internal processes. Taking the time to promote your organization's mission and goals, further develop training programs, and delineate leadership tasks is healthy for your current staff and company culture.

Save Time on New Hires

Recruiting and onboarding new team members is a timely and costly process  especially when you're focusing your company's talent acquisition on both full-time employees and interns. Instead, why not pool your resources?

Did you know 74% of organizations offer full-time employment to some of their past interns? Treating your interns as potential full-time hires not only will improve their personal motivation and work ethic, but it will save your team time and costs when it comes to expanding your team. Plus, an internship is the perfect time to see who would make an ideal candidate. 90% of companies who later take on their interns full-time are highly satisfied with the decision.

Develop Mentoring and Leadership Opportunities

Internship programs benefit your full-time employees by offering them opportunities to train, teach new skills, share subject matter expertise, manage projects and evaluate performance. While they're training your interns, your company is gaining future team leaders and supervisors.

How to Set Up an Internship Program

Whether you plan to offer an internship program online, on-site, part-time or full-time, make sure to:

Offer Paid Positions

While college students might be willing to complete internships just for the work experience, unpaid internships have a negative effect on your company's morale  and the economy. Show your interns you value their contributions by fairly reimbursing them for their efforts. Remember, you're also contributing to their education  and potentially investing in a valuable future employee.

Set Up a Specific Project

In a recent survey by Noche on internship pay and practices, only 59% of employers reported providing interns with a defined job description or set of responsibilities. Taking on an intern without providing specific tasks is a disservice to everyone  it won't help your interns learn, and it's a waste of your organization's resources.

Interns aren't just around for coffee runs. Show them you trust and value them by assigning real responsibilities, and let them make it worth your while.

Treat it as a Learning Experience

Don't expect your interns to come to the team with a full lineup of industry knowledge or skills, don't abandon them on projects, and don't be too hard on them. While it's important to trust your interns with projects and responsibilities, do keep in mind that they're learning  and it's your responsibility to teach them. An internship program is a learning experience for both your intern and your organization.

How to Recruit Interns

You know how and why to offer an internship program, but how can you spot the perfect candidate, and where should you look for interns?

What to Look for in an Intern

The qualities you need in an intern really depend on your company culture and goals. Set up an "ideal profile" of your expectations before you start searching, and consider important points like:

Related college majors

College grade level

Hard and soft skills

Interests

Past experience

Professionalism and dedication

Availability

Future hiring potential

You get to decide what qualities are negotiable  but remember that passion, work ethic and willingness to learn are good indicators of a high-quality intern candidate.

Where to Find an Intern

When it comes to starting your search, Barefoot Student is the most simple, straightforward and targeted way to hire an intern  without wasting any time or effort. www.barefootstudent.com connects employers directly with the best students and recent graduates. Post your paid position and find your ideal intern today.

Press Contact:

Jack Diamond

(800) 217-9072

SOURCE Barefoot Student

Related Links

https://www.barefootstudent.com


Tampa, Fla.

Joe Biden made his first trip to Florida as the Democratic presidential nominee on Tuesday with an urgent mission to boost support among Latinos who could decide the election in one of the nation's fiercest battleground states.

Biden opened the visit in Tampa holding a roundtable with veterans in which he tore into President Donald Trump for reported remarks criticizing the military. He headed to Kissimmee, near Orlando, later to mark Hispanic Heritage Month.

A win for Biden in Florida would dramatically narrow Trump's path to re-election. But in a state where elections are often decided by a percentage point, there are mounting concerns that Biden may be slipping, particularly with the state's influential Latino voters.

An NBC-Marist poll released last week found Latinos in the state about evenly divided between Biden and Trump. Democrat Hillary Clinton led Trump by a 59 percent to 36 percent margin among Latinos in the same poll in 2016  and Trump won Florida by about 1 percentage point.

Hispanic voters in Florida tend to be somewhat more Republican-leaning than Hispanic voters nationwide because of the state's Cuban American population. Nationally, little public polling is available to measure the opinions of Latino voters this year and whether they differ from four years ago.

But Democrats aren't taking chances. Billionaire Mike Bloomberg has pledged to spend at least $100 million to defeat Trump in Florida.

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

And by spending his day along the Interstate 4 corridor, Biden is devoting time to one of the most critical regions of the state. While Republicans typically post big numbers in the northern and southwestern parts of the state and Democrats are strong in coastal cities, campaigns typically battle it out for every vote in central Florida.

The veterans event was aimed at pushing a potential opening with military voters, who broadly supported Trump in 2016 but are seen as potentially persuadable because of controversial remarks the president reportedly made mocking American war dead as "losers" and "suckers." Trump has denied making the remarks, first reported through anonymous sources by The Atlantic, but many of the comments were later confirmed by The Associated Press.

"Nowhere are his faults more glaring and more offensive, to me at least, than when it comes to his denigration of our service members, veterans, wounded warriors who have fallen," Biden said. Speaking of his late son Beau, who served overseas as a Delaware Army National Guard member and later died from a brain tumor, the former vice president said, "He's gone now, but he's no sucker."
Fourteen years after a Brampton mother of two was found dead in her Steeles Ave. W. apartment, her husband has been extradited from Mexico and charged with her murder.

Henry Morales, 44, was located in Mexico last year, Peel Regional Police said in a media release Tuesday evening.

After a 10-month long extradition process, and with assistance from Mexican authorities, he was arrested on the outstanding warrant.

Homicide and Missing Persons Bureau investigators travelled to Mexico and escorted Morales back to Canada, the release said.

Malena Morales, a 31-year-old mother of two was found dead in her 12th floor apartment by police on July 13, 2006.

In a 2010 Toronto Star article, crime reporter Bob Mitchell said police allege Morales strangled his wife with his bare hands.

Mitchell reported that the couples two young sons, aged 7 and 10, were in another room and heard an argument but never saw their mother being killed.

Morales took the boys to his brothers house the next day then fled the country, Mitchell reported.

The search for Morales continued throughout the years. A Canada wide arrest warrant was issued for Morales on July 14, 2006. Investigators at the time believed he had fled the country to Mexico but were unsure of his exact whereabouts. In 2009, his case was profiled on Americas Most Wanted, Peel police said.

This case is a shining example of the level of determination by our officers, in their relentless pursuit of justice and to secure closure for the family of Malena Morales. said Deputy Chief Nick Milinovich. It also serves as a reminder that intimate partner violence is real threat for some members of our community.

Morales is being held for a bail hearing. He will appear in the Ontario Court of Justice on Sept. 16.

Anyone with any additional information is asked to contact the Homicide and Missing Persons Bureau at 905-453-3311, ext. 3205.

Read more about:
Located on the west campus of St. Luke's Hospital in Chesterfield, the 17,616 sq ft ambulatory surgery center includes four operating rooms, two procedure rooms, and 24 pre- and post-operation bays. Eighteen physicians offer procedures in orthopaedics, gynecology, plastics, urology, gastroenterology, and general surgery. With annual capacity for 3,000 patients, St. Luke's Surgery Center of Chesterfield provides patients in the greater St. Louis metro area with high-quality surgical care at extremely competitive pricing. NueHealth provides day-to-day management of the facility, implementing its proven processes to drive efficiencies without compromising care.

The addition of St. Luke's Surgery Center of Chesterfield will allow appropriate outpatient procedures to be shifted out of St Luke's Hospital, freeing up capacity for patients whose medical needs require a hospital setting. "This is a great partnership, and the surgery center means new opportunities for high-quality care for our patients," said orthopedic surgeon Dr. Richard Rames, who is also a partner in the facility and serves as its Board Chair.

"St. Luke's Surgery Center of Chesterfield is a great example of the NueHealth model in action," said Dan Tasset, NueHealth CEO and Vice Chairman of the Board. "By working with partners who share our commitment to value-based care, we're able to effect real change in the way healthcare is delivered to the populations we serve."

About ValueHealth

ValueHealth has pioneered the ambulatory surgical space since 1997. Founded on the fundamentals of payment reform and consumerism, ValueHealth is a technology-enabled, data-driven healthcare services company with a surgical digital platform that accelerates the transition from fee-for-service to value-based surgical care while successfully positioning its provider partners to flourish in an emerging risk environment. Today, it operates in over 30 states and its nationally recognized Ambulatory Centers of Excellence (ACE) are leaders in the transition to value-based care. ValueHealth is passionate about putting its proven experience to work for you as a trusted partner to help you achieve market share dominance. For more information, visit valuehealth.com .

About NueHealth

Since 1997, NueHealth, a ValueHealth company, has partnered with over 10,000 physician investors and 20 health system partners to develop lower-cost sites of service, expanding into more than 150 facilities, including physician-owned surgery centers, surgical hospitals, and hyper specialty centers. For more information, visit nuehealth.com .

Media Contact:

Whitney Courser

ValueHealth Chief Growth Officer

913-387-0674

[email protected]

SOURCE ValueHealth, LLC

Related Links

https://valuehealth.com


Jane Horrocks does not think 'Ab Fab' would be made today. (AP)

Jane Horrocks has said she does not believe Absolutely Fabulous would get the greenlight in todays woke world.

The 56-year-old actress played Edina Monsoons ditsy personal assistant Bubble in the hit BBC sitcom which ran for five series between 1992 and 2012, and was written by and starring Jennifer Saunders, with Joanna Lumley as her hedonistic best friend Patsy Stone.

Horrocks told The Sun: When Jennifer started writing Ab Fab, in the first few series nobody bothered her at all. She had free rein to write what she wanted and there were no producers who interfered with her work.

Jane Horrocks as Bubble with Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley in Absolutely Fabulous. (BBC/Radio Times/Getty Images)

They didnt say, You cant write that, or, You have to write that. I think that she personally would have a very different experience writing for todays television because I dont think she would be allowed free rein.

Read more: Jennifer Saunders forced to deny writing anti-NHS rant circulating on social media

I think Jennifer might struggle with the restrictions she would have to adhere to.

Watch: How to Make an Absolutely Fabulous Cocktail (Inspired by the Ab Fab Ladies, of Course)

Comedy Ab Fab was a parody of the London fashion scene and celebrity culture, starring public relations agent Edina Monsoon who partied hard with her fashion editor pal Patsy, while her daughter Saffron (Julia Sawalha) lived a stoical existence in reaction to her mothers wild lifestyle.

Storylines included Patsy having briefly lived life as a transgender man after undergoing a sex change operation in Morocco, Edina adopting a Romanian baby on a whim and her being delighted at having a mixed race grandchild because she saw it as a fashion accessory.

June Whitfield, Jennifer Saunders, Joanna Lumley, Julia Sawalha and Jane Horrocks starred in Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie in 2016. (Getty Images)

The comedy also made a running joke of Patsys drug and alcohol addiction.

Horrocks character Bubble was a parody of a vacuous PA and the actress admitted to the The Sun she may these days be cut out for being a stereotype.

The actress is currently starring opposite David Morrissey in ITVs new period drama The Singapore Grip.
A reward is being offered for information in the slaying of an Auburn 18-year-old.

Central Alabama Crime Stoppers on Tuesday announced the reward starting at $1,000 in the death of Thomas Green, whose body was discovered last week.

Green was reported missing to Auburn police on Sunday, Sept. 6. He was last seen by a friend early Saturday, Sept. 5. He was captured on video trying to go into a convenience store in the 800 block of Martin Luther King Drive and then leaving after he realized the business was closed. Authorities did not say when the video was taken.

On Thursday, caretakers of a property in the 9000 block of Lee Road 188 in Waverly discovered a body in the wood line of an access road and notified authorities. Lee County Sheriffs investigators responded to the scene where the found the males remains.

Lee County Coroner Bill Harris said dental records were used to positively identify Green

On Friday, two people were named as suspects in Greens disappearance. Auburn police announced the arrests of Taharra Jaquay Brunson, 41, and Marcus Okeef Wigley, 35, both of Auburn. The two men were arrested Thursday by U.S. Marshals and Lee County sheriffs deputies.

Court records made public today give more detail about the night that Green disappeared. A female friend told investigators Green left her home in the early-morning hours of Saturday, walking in the direction Sam Harris Park and Foster Street. He told her he was walking to a friends house.

On Sept. 10, investigators interviewed a woman who told them she saw a blue Tahoe driven by Brunson pull up nest to Green near the intersection of Foster Street and Clark Avenue in Auburn. The witness told police two other people, including Wigley, exited the SUV, confronted Green and forced him into the backseat of the vehicle.

The witness said she yelled, Leave that boy alone, and the suspects replied, We arent going to hurt him. We are taking him home. The witness got into her own vehicle and tried to catch up to Tahoe as it drove off, but she lost sight of the SUV.

Investigators obtained Brunsons vehicle information and learned it had been captured by license plate readers on Sept. in the area where Greens body would later be found.

Though charged with kidnapping, Brunson and Wigley have not been charged in Greens death. According to the newly released records, Green had been shot multiple times and shell casings were found near his body.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Lee County Sheriffs Office at 334-749-5651 or Crime Stoppers at 334-215-STOP (7867). Tipsters can also provide information through the P3 tips app.
We have built our platform to help support companies that need a mix of scalable growth-orientated solutions across our asset-based lending, direct to consumer and factoring products.

When a private equity-owned west coast apparel accessory manufacturer needed more availability and additional liquidity from their loan facility, they chose Republic Business Credit to accelerate their growth through the pandemic. Republic provided a growth-orientated facility that gives availability on inventory, merchant accounts and direct to consumer proceeds. The apparel manufacturer welcomed the opportunity to fully leverage their inventory without a restriction or cap in relation to their accounts receivables as a traditional asset-based loan would structure. The private equity fund operator shared with Republic, The comfort of having a strategic partner during a recession that is comfortable with our pivot to e-commerce is invaluable, we would reduce shareholder value if our plans were tied solely around a wholesale strategy at the moment.

The company manufactures and distributes licensed and branded apparel accessories including bags, wearables, and other wardrobe add-ons. The company typically finds itself in the moderate to premium categories and receives glowing customer reviews through Amazon. The company believes it is very well positioned for the post-COVID-19 transition, as they see a lot of upside in both the short and medium terms in their product category. Additionally, for the short-term, the company sees benefits arising from the current 'virtual world' as it allows a better centralization of their inventory and a positive impact on supply chains. Without the just in time demands of a wholesale strategy, the company is better positioned to time launches and partnerships through their eCommerce and direct to consumer offerings. In the longer term, the company will look to expand its relationships with the licensees to add-on related category products to the same target customers, thus increasing their wallet share and more repeat purchase opportunities.

Republic provided a $3.0m direct to consumer inventory loan facility that provides significant availability on their inventory, accounts receivables, merchant accounts and eCommerce related proceeds. Republics funding refinanced its existing bank facility while providing ample liquidity to enhance its e-commerce strategy. The company believes it will be an unpredictable wholesale revenue year, but are excited about the uptick in orders it has received directly from customers. We enjoy partnering with strong equity partners that see value in non-dilutive, growth-supporting, debt financing opportunities, said Robert Meyers, President of RBC, and further added, We have built our platform to help support companies that need a mix of scalable growth-orientated solutions across our asset-based lending, direct to consumer and factoring products.

Republic Business Credit partners with banks, accountants, sponsors, lawyers and investment banks to collaboratively support entrepreneurs across the United States, to create value, by enabling them to focus on growing successful businesses.

---Boilerplate---

Republic Business Credit provides fast and flexible working capital solutions to help rapidly growing businesses, start-ups, and companies in turnaround or recoverable distressed situations. Winner of the Emerging Growth Company of the Year award from the Louisiana Chapter of the ACG, and the FactoringClubs Best Factoring Company Award for 2018, the Republic Business Credit team has the expertise necessary to meet the nuanced financial needs of companies across a wide variety of industries. It provides asset-based loans, ledgered lines of credit, traditional factoring, recourse factoring and direct to consumer loans including e-commerce working capital. Since its founding in 2011, Republic Business Credit has provided over $10 billion in working capital.
Fifty-seven years after the Klan bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., murdering four Black girls and stunning the nation, a victim of the notorious hate crime sought a public apology and compensation from the state of Alabama Tuesday.

Sarah Collins Rudolph, now 69, was 12 and permanently blinded in one eye by shards of glass when dynamite blasted through the ladies lounge in the church basement on the morning of Sept. 15, 1963. The explosion killed Rudolph's 14-year-old sister, Addie Mae Collins, and their friends, Denise McNair, 11, Carole Robertson, 14, and Cynthia Wesley, 14. The Birmingham church bombing became a galvanizing event in the civil rights movement.

"Ms. Collins Rudolph simply wanted to do what so many other little girls across Alabama were doing-attend a church service," reads the letter from Rudolph's attorneys, who are working pro bono, to Alabama Republican Gov. Kay Ivey. "But instead of gaining the solace and celebration of prayer, the church was bombed by those affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan and our client lost her sister, her right eye, her childhood, and in ways she could never know then as a 12-year old girl, a lifetime's worth of opportunities and dreams."

The letter singled out the state for encouraging the bombing. "While the State of Alabama did not place the bomb next to the church, its Governor and other leaders at the time played an undisputed role in encouraging its citizens to engage in racial violence," the letter read.

The 16th Street Baptist Church had become a staging ground in early 1963 for a campaign to desegregate the city led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and local minister Fred Shuttlesworth. That May, Police Commissioner Eugene "Bull" Connor had directed his forces to sic dogs on the young civil rights demonstrators and blast them with fire hoses during the Children's Crusade near Kelly Ingram Park. Thousands of protesters had been arrested by summer, including King, who famously penned his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail."

Democratic Gov. George Wallace, resisting federal demands to desegregate, declared that "what this country needs is a few first-class funerals." But by early September the city had already begun integrating the first few schools.

The letter to Ivey requests an unspecified amount in compensation and includes a sample draft of an official apology for consideration by the Alabama state legislature.

"Given what Sarah has suffered - losing an eye.. and more broadly the fundamentally different path that this horrendous act put her life on, how do you compensate for that?" said Ishan Bhabha, a partner at Jenner & Block, and part of the legal team on Rudolph's case. "What is a lifetime of missed opportunities worth?"

Bhabha said his firm is optimistic that Alabama will act, due to the indisputable facts of the case and the timing of the request. "It's not the kind of thing that should engender disagreement or debate," he said. "Sarah is an extremely worthy person who has suffered something extraordinary and horrendous and she has been courageous throughout her life."

"More than ever, this is a time when there has been a national reckoning about the issue of racial justice," Bhabha said. ". . .The impetus for writing both current and historical wrongs has become more urgent, so that's one thing. This is a major part of the national discussion now."

Ivey could not be reached for comment Tuesday evening.

Ivey's press secretary, Gina Maiola, said in an email on Wednesday that Ivey received the letter and her office is reviewing it. She declined to comment further.

On the day of the bombing, Rudolph and her sisters had arisen before dawn so their mother could fix their hair and feed them all breakfast. The oldest of them, Junie, took the bus to 16th Street Baptist Church early and reminded Sarah, Addie Mae and their sister Janie to be on time for the annual Youth Day service.

Janie had a new black purse and the three girls playfully tossed it back and forth as they walked the mile or so from home to the imposing brick church at the corner of 16th Street and Sixth Avenue in downtown Birmingham.

By the time the Collins children arrived, Sunday school had already started. Sarah and Addie Mae went to the women's lounge until their lesson let out. Soon, McNair, Wesley and Robertson joined them in the lounge. Addie Mae and the other girls had gathered near the lounge's large windows, sharing news about the first days of school. Sarah stood behind them at the wash basin.

Addie Mae's arms were reaching out in midair to tie the sash on McNair's dress when the dynamite, hidden beneath an exterior staircase outside the bathroom window, exploded.

A church deacon jumped down into the bombed void and rescued Sarah, who was standing amid the falling dust and destruction. She had called out for her sister but there had been no answer.

A photo of Rudolph, propped up in in a hospital bed, her eyes covered with gauze patches, appeared in the Sept. 27 issue of Life magazine and made her temporarily famous. The bombing was one of several catalysts, including the March on Washington that August, that led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

But then the spotlight faded, and Rudolph was left to deal with the aftermath. Her grades plummeted, and she eventually gave up her dream of becoming a practical nurse. She spent her life working in Birmingham's factories grinding skillets and drilling aluminum. In an interview with The Washington Post in February, Rudolph said she became too fearful to continue worshiping at 16th Baptist Church and lived in a kind of emotional paralysis until a spiritual experience with a Pentecostal pastor released her.

It took 39 years to bring three of the murderers to justice. Bobby Frank Cherry was the convicted in the girls' murders in 2002 Robert Chambliss, convicted in 1977, died in prison in 1985, as Cherry would in 2004. Thomas Blanton Jr. was convicted in 2001 and died in June while serving his life sentence. A fourth suspect, Herman Cash, died in 1994 without being charged.

Rudolph married her husband, George, a former city parks worker and Vietnam veteran, at the age of 50, and he encouraged her to seek an apology and restitution. This is her first formal request.

Last year, a then-partner at the D.C. office of Jenner & Block saw Sarah speak in South Carolina. Captivated by her story of the trauma she endured for decades, Tom Bolling persuaded his firm to help her pro bono. The firm met in December with Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala., who prosecuted two of the murderers, to seek his advice.

Rudolph released a statement late Wednesday.

"That day changed the course of my life forever. It is hard to put into words the pain I've had to deal with, both physical and emotional, because of the acts of violent hatred and bigotry on that day," she wrote. "They wanted to hurt me or kill me because I'm black. They bombed a church because it was a black church. They murdered my sister and her friends because they were black. It has taken decades to even begin to come to terms with this trauma. To have my suffering acknowledged and to receive an apology for what happened to me would help bring a sense of closure. I truly hope Governor Ivey will do the right thing."
New York, Sep 16 : PC and printer major HP which once experimented with phablets is reportedly working on a clamshell foldable smartphone similar to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip.

The company patented a design for such a smartphone with the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) and the patent was approved last month, reports LetsGoDigital.

The HP patent describes a technology for applying flexible screens to mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets or computers.

Although similar to the folding method of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip, the HP patent describes it as 'using a movable hinge that can be folded in different positions' and is not limited to folding in half.

However, it is not necessary that HP would launch such a product in the market.

In 2016, HP Inc unveiled Elite x3, a 5.96-inch touchscreen device that ran Windows 10 Mobile and supported Continuum, a feature that allowed the device to be attached seamlessly to a separate screen, mouse and keyboard.

Earlier, Huawei also filed a new patent for a new clamshell design foldable phone.

The patents reveal a foldable flip phone designed handset with a vertically-stacked camera module on the rear, GizmoChina reported recently.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Prince has said residents have complained for years about poorly lit gas stations and stores  and how this naturally attracts crimes.

Crime is up in Gary  and a number of the shootings and homicides are occurring at these 24/7 gas stations, city officials have said.

As of Wednesday last week, the city had tallied 35 homicides and 113 gunshot victims so far in 2020, compared to 37 homicides and 81 gunshot victims the same time last year, according to figures provided by the Gary Police Department.

At least 15 shootings this year occurred at various gas stations, six of which resulted in homicides, police said.

Two city attorneys expressed openness in bringing this back to committee for a discussion in mid-November, but requested that the police chief be present to clarify his position.

Council members also requested city attorneys to research more on the topic, including the financial impact on business, and whether any other cities have had success with such a mandate.

Lay said killing the proposal was premature.
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.
TEL AVIV, Israel, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Pcysys has announced that Zehnder, a leading international provider of complete solutions for healthy indoor climate based in Switzerland, has chosen Pcysys' Automated Penetration Testing platform, PenTera, to increase its cyber security validation efforts through automation.

"As a global organization, it is imperative for us to have clear visibility into the networks of all our subsidiaries. PenTera's advanced technology allows us to challenge our security controls and maintain a consistent level of testing worldwide," says Ralf Winzer, CISO at Zehnder Group. "The combination of remediation prioritization suggestions along with the ability to revalidate their effectiveness on-demand, has changed the way we plan and run our security strategy."

The PenTera platform utilizes the latest hacking techniques to scan and ethically attack the IT network, prioritizing remediation efforts with a threat-facing perspective. With PenTera, organizations can maintain the strongest cyber posture by performing penetration tests on-demand - daily, weekly or monthly. Aligned with the MITRE ATT&CK framework, the platform covers the scope of vulnerability assessment, security controls, credential strength validation, network equipment testing, privileged access audits, and more, ensuring the organizational network is held to the highest industry standards while reducing cyber security services costs.

"Ralf Winzer and his team at Zehnder group are true cyber security leaders, guiding their organization to full network visibility through continuous and consistent security validation," says Hanspeter Karl, DACH Regional Sales Director at Pcysys. "PenTera's focus on exploitable vulnerabilities will allow the Zehnder team to maintain and grow their cyber posture anywhere in a productive and resourceful manner."

About Zehnder Group

This year, the Zehnder Group with headquarters in Granichen (Switzerland) is celebrating its 125th anniversary. Founded in 1895 as a mechanical workshop, Zehnder has since transformed into an international group of companies with around 3500 employees. The key to Zehnder's success has been the strong pioneering spirit and courage of its employees, who have continually sought out innovative and ingenious approaches. Today, the product portfolio includes decorative radiators, products for comfortable indoor ventilation, heat exchangers, heating and cooling ceiling systems and clean air solutions for use in industry, making Zehnder the go-to provider of indoor climate solutions. For more information visit: www.zehndergroup.com.

About Pcysys

Pcysys delivers PenTera, the agentless, automated penetration-testing platform, that assesses and reduces corporate cybersecurity risk. The platform is run remotely on the Cloud or on-site to identify, analyze and focus remediation efforts on breachable vulnerabilities. Hundreds of security professionals and service providers around the world use PenTera to perform continuous machine-based penetration tests that improve their immunity against cyber attacks across their organization networks.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/832279/Pcysys_Logo.jpg

Contact:

Aviv Cohen

Pcysys CMO

[email protected]

SOURCE Pcysys

Related Links

https://www.pcysys.com


LOS ANGELES, CA  A bill sits on Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk that will provide food assistance to low-income residents. On Tuesday, a coalition of mayors and food bank representatives from around California called on Newsom to sign AB 826, putting $600 in food assistance to low-income residents, including undocumented immigrants.

The bill was authored by Assemblyman Miguel Santiago, D-Los Angeles, who said food banks and other nonprofits throughout California have experienced a surge in people seeking assistance since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County, food banks have seen anywhere from a 100 percent to 400 percent increase in demand since the start of the pandemic.



"Kids and families are starving during this pandemic," Santiago said. "There is a desperate need among low-income communities, especially undocumented communities, for food assistance right now. I personally have seen thousands of people lining up for just a few boxes of food to get their families through the week."

The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank has more than doubled the amount of people it is serving since March, according to Santiago.

"We know that hunger doesn't care about your race, faith, gender identity or immigration status, and with COVID-19 only deepening the crisis of food insecurity for too many families, we must act now to support our fellow Californians," Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said. "With AB 826, we can meet our obligations to our hardest-hit households and lift up millions of our neighbors who too often go to bed with an empty stomach."

Newsom is expected to take action on the bill by Sept. 30.

Patch has partnered with Feeding America to help raise awareness on behalf of the millions of Americans facing hunger. Feeding America, which supports 200 food banks across the country, estimates that in 2020, more than 54 million Americans will not have enough nutritious food to eat due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. This is a Patch social good project; Feeding America receives 100 percent of donations. Find out how you can donate in your community or find a food pantry near you.

City News Service, Patch Editor Ashley Ludwig contributed to this report.



This article originally appeared on the Los Angeles Patch
A growing number of people internationally are recognising Chinas selfishness and bid for global dominance, leading more countries to side with Washingtons view of the world over Beijings, Americas top diplomat said Tuesday.

In recent months, as relations between the two superpowers have imploded, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo  known as the Trump administrations attack dog on China  has stepped up his verbal salvoes at Beijings governance, state-led economic system, espionage activities and handling of the pandemic.

The world has wakened and my view is that the tide has turned, Pompeo told the Atlantic Council, an international affairs think tank in Washington. I think these are powerful shifts in the world view of the threat from the Chinese Communist Party.

Get the latest insights and analysis from our Global Impact newsletter on the big stories originating in China.

Even as the Trump administration has belatedly vied for global hearts and minds, its been accused of squandering one of its greatest assets: Americas history of working closely with allies in addressing shared frustrations with Beijing, including intellectual property theft; forced technology transfer; unbalanced trade; and island building in the contested South China Sea.

According to the Soft Power 30 index  which tracks countries use of persuasion rather than coercion in achieving objectives  the US fell to fifth place globally in 2019, the latest data, down from third place in 2017 when Donald Trump became president.

Chinas soft-power ranking also declined to 27 in 2019, from 25 in 2017, according to the index, compiled by the Portland consultancy and the University of Southern California. France ranked first in both years.

And a Pew Research poll released Tuesday in 13 advanced European, Asian and North American nations found that just 15 per cent of respondents thought the US dealt well with the pandemic. This compared with 37 per cent who thought China handled the pandemic well and 64 per cent the World Health Organisation  both accused by the Trump administration of fanning the virus.

Story continues

Among Trumps first actions on becoming president was to pull the US out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a grouping aimed at working together on common challenges related to China. Since then, he has launched trade wars with Japan, South Korea, Canada and the European Union, among others, embarrassed their leaders publicly and too often viewed foreign relations as a zero-sum game, critics say.

Ive seen that critique, Pompeo said, but added that the administrations greatest priority has been helping Americans understand the threat that China represents to their economic and national security.

Tens of millions of jobs have been stolen through the Chinese Communist predatory economic activity here in the United States, which cannot continue, he said.

Turning to the battle for telecommunications supremacy, Pompeo said that Western competitors to Huawei would strengthen and become the global industry standard.

I am confident that there will be cost-effective deliverables from Western trusted vendors that can deliver the same services or better services, Pompeo said, even as he conceded that beating Chinese prices would remain tough, citing Chinese state subsidies.

We always joke about the battle between Airbus and Boeing being state-subsidised, he went on, referring to the European and US aircraft manufacturers. That is childs play compared to what the Chinese Communist Party does.

Chinas economic model has been built on state-backed companies stealing American technology, bringing it back to the homeland, and then turning around and dumping it in the United States of America and around the world, Pompeo said.

Despite Trumps America First policy, however, critics say Beijing has often failed to capitalise. Global suspicion toward China has increased under President Xi Jinping as Beijing has ramped up territorial disputes with India and Japan, drilled for oil in contested Southeast Asian waters and tightened its grip over Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Tibet and Inner Mongolia.

In recent months, international criticism has increased over Chinas early handling of the coronavirus and its subsequent global distribution of sometimes flawed medical equipment, amid reports of Beijings demands for praise and veiled economic threats. And a growing number of US allies, including Britain, Germany, Australia, Japan and India, have taken steps to limit Huawei Technologies equipment in their 5G networks, wary of data theft that the company denies.

The Chinese embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment, but foreign ministry officials in Beijing have repeatedly slammed Pompeos volleys. It is Pompeo's day-to-day work to lie about China, spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Friday. No matter how they carry on bragging, facts will reduce them all to a laughingstock.

It is Pompeo's day-to-day work to lie about China, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said last week. Photo: Reuters

As the US and China flex their economic and political muscles, some see a growing risk of a misstep as communication between the giants falters, suspicion grows and the US prepares for a presidential election thats seen both major political parties criticise China.

It's the risk of a military clash, particularly between the US and China in the South China Sea, that might start with a conflict or contingency with the Philippines, or Vietnam, Greta Nabbs-Keller, a research fellow at Australias University of Queensland said Monday at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. Even a relatively minor clash could have severe reverberations across the Asian region, she added.

Increasingly tense US-China relations and more warships and military aircraft leave less margin of error in potential flashpoints, said Amanda Hsiao, Beijing-based project manager with the Switzerland-based Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue.

There is just a greater chance for an accidental collision or an incident that might accelerate to a point that neither side wants to see, Hsiao said, an unintended incident that then escalates into something much greater.

More from South China Morning Post:

This article US Secretary of State says tide has turned and the world increasingly regards China as a threat first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2020.
The central government has set up an expert committee under the National Cyber Security Coordinator to study reports released earlier this week saying that a China-based company is mining data and snooping on hundreds of Indian politicians and leaders, including the Prime Minister, President, Chief Justice of India and other chief ministers.

The panel will study these reports, evaluate their implications, assess any violations of law and submit its recommendations within 30 days, said sources.

An investigative report by The Indian Express earlier detailed how Shenzen-based company Zhenhua Data Information Technology Co. has been keeping tabs on individuals including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Cabinet ministers like Rajnath Singh and Nirmala Sitharaman and at least 15 former Chiefs of the Army, Navy and Air Force among others. The company has links to the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party and is reportedly keeping tabs on over 10,000 Indian individuals and organisations in its global database of foreign targets".

The decision about setting up the expert panel was communicated to Congress MP KC Venugopal by Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar in response to the formers demands to protect the data of Indian leaders and others from spying by Chinese companies. Several other MPs raised this demand in the Parliament on Wednesday.

The sources said that the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has also raised the issue of Zhenhua Data Information Technology Co. allegedly spying on prominent Indians with the Chinese Ambassador on Wednesday. China reportedly said that Zhenhua is a private company and has made clear its position publicly.

The company on Wednesday said it is merely using public information on the internet for data integration", according to Chinese Embassy sources. A company representative had denied that what the company was doing was illegal or unreasonable", saying: Our data are all public data on the internet. This is just data integration. Its (the companys) operations, which involve collecting and mobilising data, are 100% from open sources with no data mining, and is no different from its Western peers, such as US public tracking platforms called EveryPolitician and GovTrack."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) effectively gave up trying to keep track of coronavirus, admitting it had failed to do so months ago, according to documents obtained by Forbes.

'Most jurisdictions have been forced to abandon monitoring because the number of monitorees exceeds the capacity...As a result, critical data for CDC to inform and guide public health response to Covid-19 is unavailable,' representatives for the agency wrote in a June contract with a third party intended to build a new disease surveillance system.

When CDC was inking the deal with Mitre, a research and the development firm to which the government farms out many of its most sci-fi projects, officials were claiming that their broad testing and data collection were responsible for the steep rise in cases numbers in parts of the US.

And for the several weeks leading up to the Mitre deal, the CDC was still proporting that its data was the the scaffolding on which President Trump's reopening plan was built.

But the Mitre contract's language suggests that one of the world's most advanced disease monitoring systems had failed long before its staff - top scientists in the nation - admitted it.

The CDC admitted in its deal with private company Mitre in June that its disease monitors were unable to keep up with the spread of COVID-19 - but sang a different tune publicly

In the early months of the year, Americans waited on the word of the CDC anxiously, wondering when the agency would announce the arrival of coronavirus in their country, in their state, their county, or their town.

It didn't take long for the rumor mill to outpace the official tally, or for the outbreak itself to surpass the ability of experts to identify every infection, its source and possible next victim.

By late February, the CDC confirmed that transmissions were happening via 'community spread,' meaning that coronavirus was infecting people who had not left the country, or come into contact with friends, family or colleagues who had.

Still, the agency had shipped out its first batches of coronavirus tests and planned to at the very least keep count of the number of cases and deaths in US states via its flu surveillance system.

But it quickly became clear that the years-old system wasn't keeping up with the pandemic as well as algorithms employed by tech savvy and state-of-the-art institutions like Johns Hopkins University.

So officials reached out to Mitre, which was hardly new to taking on tall orders from the US government.

Even as CDC officials told Mitre they could not keep up with COVID-19, the agency continued to say that President Trump's reopening plan was informed by its data (however incomplete)

The FBI and other federal agencies call upon Mitre when they need to work out how to hack smart watches or scrape fingerprints from social media, according to Forbes's prior reporting.

Now, health officials wanted the R&D farm to do what the CDC had failed to and create a new system that could keep up with the new virus.

For $16.5 million, Mitre built SARA Alert, in a project referred to internally as 'Building an Enduring National Capability to Contain Covid-19.'

Instead of the CDC's process of collecting, vetting and reconciling data collected from each state, SARA Alert's goal was to create a new, national secure way to monitor each case of coronavirus and how it might spread to others.

According to Forbes, the day after the deal was signed, President Trump told the US that the virus was 'dying out.'

The virus wasn't, but perhaps the CDC's data tracking capabilities already were.

In an attempt to bolster its tracking capabilities, the CDC sent more than $10 billion to US states, director Dr Robert Redfield said in a June 25 press briefing.

Still, states are struggling to keep up with monitoring.

Florida was forced to record thousands of additional cases in a single day last month after Quest Diagnostics dumped back-dated test results.

Periodic backlogs have led to similar spikes in many states. Outbreaks have quickly outpaced universities, forcing them to close back down weeks after reopening.

Now SARA Alert is being beta tested in a handful of states, Forbes reported: Arkansas, Maine, Pennsylvania and Vermont.

The automated system send monitoring texts, emails or calls to people being monitored for COVID-19, as well as doing the same for people in their household and contacts of potential COVID-19 cases, hopefully making the process more consistent.

'This system allows us to more readily identify secondary cases, really establishing a better handle on social clusters, which has been a challenge,' Dr Mike Cima, chief epidemiologist for the Arkansas Department of Health told Forbes.

SARA Alert may be a bright spot after the CDC struggled to keep up with the data on its own, then control of the information was wrested away from the agency by the NIH, which moved it onto a more secretive platform.

That, too, failed almost immediately and was met with outcry from the public, which was suddenly deprived of visibility on even imperfect data.
A woman walks past the elephant logo of the Republican Party on the first day of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, on July 18, 2016. (Dominick Reuter/AFP via Getty Images)

Pennsylvania Sheriff Flips From Democrat Party to Republican Party

A sheriff in Pennsylvania says hes switched to the Republican Party after becoming alienated from Democrats.

It was a really difficult decision and Ive thought long and hard about it, but I feel I stand for the ideals of the Republican Party platform more than the Democrats today, Westmoreland County Sheriff James Albert told the Tribune-Review.

Albert, 70, became sheriff last year.

He said he is against abortion, for the Second Amendment, and a lifelong member of the National Rifle Association.

Today, I feel my ideals are closer to the Republican Party than Democrats, he said.

The reaction to looting and rioting across the country in the wake of the death of George Floyd in Minnesota helped lead to the party change.

I was saddened and enraged by the murder of David Dorn, a 77-year-old African American retired police captain, who was shot by a pawn shop looter during a protest in St. Louis, Albert said. These outrageous, lawless acts have been met with silence, acquiescence and, in some instances, outright support from the local, state, and national leadership of the Democratic Party.

The Pennsylvania Democratic Party did not respond to a request for comment.

Westmoreland County Sheriff James Albert. (Westmoreland County Sheriffs Office)

Westmoreland County is located in southwest Pennsylvania. It went for Donald Trump in 2016.

Party changes arent unheard of, with a number happening in recent years. Several federal lawmakers switched affiliations this year or the last, including one from the Democrat Party to the GOP and another from the GOP to the Libertarian Party.

Another Democrat-to-Republican switch took place in Indiana this month.

Vanderburgh County Sheriff Dave Wedding reportedly told a crowd he was tired of seeing fires set in our streets.

Im tired of people defying God, our church, our police, our government, and everything we stand for, he added.

Wedding added to WFIE: Watching the daily burning of American flags, failing to be able to use the word God in any sentence at most Democrat-led functions, denouncing law enforcement as if were the evil people. I am very proud of my profession in law enforcement and when people attack us, its pretty insulting.

The Democratic Party of Vanderburgh County accused Wedding of being opportunistic.

His move to the Republican Party after benefiting from years of Democratic support make his political opportunism all the more distasteful, the party said.
"The 8th Senate pursued its legislative agenda to reform the economy and build a country that creates opportunity for all. It is an honour to preside over this Senate" - Senate President Abubakar Bukola Saraki.

He said the experience has placed him in a good position to talk about the need for political actors to suppress the desire for power and take side with the survival of the system.

Former Senate President Bukola Saraki has related events that happened after he lost woefully in the 2019 general elections.

In 2019, Mr Saraki not only lost his grip on Kwara State after the defeat of the Peoples Democratic Party in the governorship election, he also lost his bid to return to the Senate.

The Sarakis had been at the helm of political affairs of the state for years but their grip on the political leadership of the state was ruptured after the 'O toge' campaign launched by the APC in 2019.

Mr Saraki and PDP were defeated by Ibrahim Oloriegbe and AbdulRazaq Abdulrahman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the senatorial and governorship contests respectively.

Meanwhile, in his address delivered at an event organised by civil societies to commemorate the International Democracy Day on Tuesday, the former lawmaker spoke about his defeat and the aftermath.

"I went into elections in 2019 in Kwara State, our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and myself, lost the elections. We had our reservations on the credibility of the entire electoral process. We had good evidence of the illegal deployment of state forces and other undemocratic means to achieve the results declared by the electoral body."

He said that the whole country witnessed the level of desperation displayed by the opposition party.

"The utterances of the former chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, who continuously boasted about how his number one priority and objective was to win Kwara State by whatever means necessary, were well documented."

Speaking further, Mr Saraki explained that after the result of the 2019 elections was announced, he sent out messages to his followers despite their anger and quest to express their grievances, that they should accept the result and maintain peace.

"I then congratulated the winners and urged our people to support the newly elected officials. To further demonstrate good faith and gracefulness in defeat, I refused to challenge the process at the tribunal."

He said the experience has placed him in a good position to talk about the need for political actors to suppress the desire for power and take side with the survival of the system.

"When I argue that politicians should learn to accept election results and demonstrate patriotism even in the face of naked provocation, it is based on my experience. The lives of our people, the stability of our democracy and the peace of the society are more important than our personal interest or the inflated egos of the leaders."

Edo, Ondo Elections: What Buhari should do

In the speech, Mr Saraki advised President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure that the forthcoming elections "signpost his desire to leave for Nigeria and Africa a legacy of a true democracy and clean electoral process."

The Edo and Ondo states governorship elections will be held on September 19 and October 10 respectively.

"This should be a starting point for our demand for a credible electoral process. Whilst we wait for the new Electoral Bill to be passed, we can begin to demand that the right things are done by all stakeholders in these elections."

"President Buhari must use the Edo and Ondo elections to demonstrate ECOWAS commitment to credible electoral process."

Mr Saraki further urged the president to ensure that the security agencies are misused to influence the results of the elections in Edo and Ondo States.

"Also, the electoral commission should be made to be truly immune from manipulations by individuals, no matter how highly placed."

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He also reiterated the stance of the international community on compliance with democratic processes, noting the sanction on election riggers announced by the United States yesterday.

The U.S. government has imposed visa restrictions on some Nigerians undermining electoral processes in the forthcoming elections in Edo and Ondo states.

"I call on the UK and the European Union to follow suit. This is necessary to send the right and strong signal that those who undermine democracy in Nigeria are enemies of the rest of the democratic world," he said.

Mr Saraki demanded the president to "send a message to the National Assembly when the members resume later in the month that he wants them to present to him a new Electoral Bill for assent before the end of the year."
"Today, we are proud to celebrate a new landmark in the 300-year history of our House. L'Atelier Martell is an innovative concept, which reflects our vision of elevating cognac into an experience that puts the client front and centre. With L'Atelier Martell, we are offering our clients new ways to explore, immerse and engage. We are bringing them audacious experiences through which they can discover our heritage, our savoir-faire and our cognacs as never before."

 Cesar Giron, Chairman & CEO Maison Martell

MORE THAN A STORE, A MUST-VISIT DESTINATION

L'Atelier Martell is designed to become a must-visit destination uniting savoir-faire, digital technology and one-of-a-kind products and services. To launch its new retail concept, Maison Martell naturally chose Shenzhen, a city known for its dynamism, modernity and cutting-edge technology  a city which, like Maison Martell, has its sights on the future.

True to the spirit of generosity for which Maison Martell is renowned, L'Atelier Martell welcomes visitors in a warm and luxurious ambiance featuring authentic elements directly from Cognac. Its name derives from the French word for a craftsman's workshop, and its design was inspired by the Atelier of the Martell Cellar Master  notably the spectacular display of more than 200 montres (glass sampling bottles), which showcases the myriad nuances of cognac. Elsewhere, a wall of oak barrels from the Martell cooperage and selected pieces from the archives illustrate the House's heritage of craftsmanship. These are complemented by materials such as wood and copper, evoking the cognac-making process, which are interpreted in original, contemporary ways to show how Maison Martell boldly transforms tradition.

A GLOBAL CONCEPT WITH STRONG LOCAL RELEVANCE

Local culture is fundamental to the global concept of L'Atelier Martell. Accordingly, the new 160-m boutique aims to establish strong ties between Maison Martell and the city of Shenzhen. The city skyline is spotlighted on a collector's edition of Martell Noblige, available exclusively in L'Atelier Martell Shenzhen, with the choice of this vibrant cognac reflecting the city's dynamic spirit. Maison Martell also commissioned the local art collective Jiu Society to express the audacious vision of the House through a striking reinterpretation of the famous portrait of the founder Jean Martell. Throughout the year, L'Atelier Martell Shenzhen plans a varied programme of events, including collaborations at the leading edge of lifestyle, food and fashion trends.

EXCLUSIVE SERVICES AND INNOVATIVE EXPERIENCES

The concept of L'Atelier Martell reaches its fullest expression in the impressive array of personalised services and experiences, which put the client front and centre. Among the highlights is the Cognac from the Cask Experience, featuring a VSOP cognac created especially for L'Atelier Martell Shenzhen by Martell Cellar Master Christophe Valtaud. Shenzhen Exclusive Edition is a refined blend with subtle spicy notes, which pays tribute to China and pairs ideally with Chinese cuisine. Clients can draw it directly from a cask shipped from Cognac into their own montre bottle, which is then customized with their choice of cork and a hand-printed label. L'Atelier Martell Shenzhen also provides a custom-engraving service which allows clients to mark a special occasion by personalising the bottle of House icon Martell Cordon Bleu with their chosen motif and message.

Another original experience encourages a sensorial discovery of cognac. Clients lift a ceramic dome to reveal a small bowl containing one of four emblematic Martell cognacs: Martell Distinction, Martell Noblige, Martell Cordon Bleu and Martell XO. They can then simply appreciate each cognac's distinctive aromas, which are concentrated by the ceramic dome, or use a pipette to put a few drops on their wrist. The four cognacs are subsequently available to buy as part of the Martell miniatures collection, exclusive to L'Atelier Martell Shenzhen.

In the Art of Blending Area, around an interactive tasting table, a Martell Brand Ambassador leads expert blending sessions. The VSOP Blending Experience allows participants to create their own blend while experiencing at first hand the effect of different eaux-de-vie on the aromatic profile of a cognac. The Extra- Old Blending Experience, meanwhile, demonstrates the influence of terroir and spotlights the distinct characteristics of two prestigious crus: Borderies and Grande Champagne. Finally, the exceptional tasting session with Christophe Valtaud live from Cognac, which is held just once a year for a strictly limited number of participants, is an event not to be missed.

AN ENHANCED CLIENT EXPERIENCE INTEGRATING DIGITAL AND PHYSICAL

L'Atelier Martell Shenzhen integrates a range of digital features designed to elevate client experience, starting with the interactive screen on the facade, which displays engaging content about the House and encourages visitors to step inside. Within the boutique, in addition to the interactive tasting table, whose focus on heritage and savoir-faire includes a 360 tour of Martell's historic Chateau de Chanteloup, innovative "audio-tastings" offer a new way to enjoy Martell cognacs.

The entire L'Atelier Martell concept aims to create a complete experience, in which the physical and digital are seamlessly integrated in order to accompany clients in their exploration of Maison Martell. Thus, the personalised services offered by L'Atelier Martell Shenzhen are also available digitally through a dedicated mini-program on WeChat, supporting and enhancing the in-store experience both before and afterwards.

L'ATELIER MARTELL SHENZHEN

Opening times: 7/7, 10 am to 10 pm

Location: L123 store, L1 floor, Tower 1, One avenue, No. 348, Fuhua Road, Futian District, Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province, China

ABOUT MAISON MARTELL

The oldest of the great cognac houses, founded by Jean Martell in 1715, Maison Martell is renowned throughout the world for the finesse and elegance of its cognacs, the result of a legacy of savoir-faire handed down through nine generations. Together with a passion for its craft and a profound attachment to the terroir, Maison Martell is defined by the audacity with which it has pioneered new expressions of cognac  from the icon Martell Cordon Bleu in 1912 to the trailblazing Martell Blue Swift today.

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1274782/L_Atelier_Martell_Shenzhen.jpg

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1041130/Martell_Logo.jpg

CONTACT MEDIA

Maison Martell

Gaelle Marcel, [email protected]

SOURCE Maison Martell
Khaled Drareni sentenced to two years in jail amid crackdown on dissent following a year of anti-government protests.

An Algerian court has sentenced journalist Khaled Drareni to two years in prison on appeal, reducing his original sentence, in a trial that rights group have denounced as violating press freedom.

Drareni, editor of the Casbah Tribune news site and Algeria correspondent of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the French TV channel TV5 Monde, played a prominent role in covering the countrys pro-democracy movement last year.

He was convicted of inciting an unarmed gathering and endangering national unity linked to coverage of the protest movement. His sentence was not suspended, meaning he must stay in prison to serve it.

In an initial August 10 court decision, Drareni had been sentenced to a three-year term. Before that, he had been in pre-trial detention for more than five months.

One of Drarenis lawyers, Abdelghani Badi, told reporters that Tuesdays sentence is excessive and reflects the authorities will to rein in the Algerian press.

The severity of the sentence has angered journalists, some of whom had come to the court to support Drareni.

We are outraged by the blind stubbornness of the Algerian judges who have just condemned [Drareni] to two years in prison, RSF head Christophe Deloire tweeted.

Khaleds detention proves the regime locks itself into a logic of absurd, unfair and violent repression.

THREAD We are outraged by the blind stubbornness of the Algerian judges who have just condemned @khaleddrareni to 2 years in prison (on appeal). Khaleds detention proves the regime locks itself into a logic of absurd, unfair and violent repression. #WeAreKhaled #Khaleddrareni pic.twitter.com/iXu887sQnE  Christophe Deloire (@cdeloire) September 15, 2020

Drareni was tried along with Samir Benlarbi and Slimane Hamitouche, two prominent activists in the Hirak protest movement.

Benlarbi and Hamitouche faced the same charges but were sentenced to four months in prison and released on time served.

I only did my job

Drareni has denied all charges against him. I am a journalist, not a criminal. I only did my job, he said.

Drareni, who appeared to have lost significant weight during the trial, has been supported by a global solidarity campaign demanding his immediate and unconditional release because of a worrisome health condition.

Drarenis trial came in a context of increased repression of Hirak activists, political opponents, journalists and bloggers.

The Hirak movement broke out in February last year and led to the resignation of Bouteflika, whose plans to run for a fifth term had sparked the protests.

Some journalists have been accused by the government of sowing discord, threatening the national interest and being in the pay of foreign parties, with several imprisoned and other trials continuing.

Amnesty International denounced the outrageous ruling against Drareni, saying it reflected an alarming pattern of prosecutions targeting journalists and activists calling for democracy.

Todays prison sentence  is a mockery of justice in a country supposedly undergoing political change and transformation following mass protests, said the rights groups regional deputy director Amna Guellali.

Algeria ranked 146 out of 180 countries in the RSFs 2020 World Press Freedom Index.
A total of 32 Indian Army personnel and three Indian Air Force men succumbed to the deadly coronavirus, Minister of State for Defence Shripad Naik said in the Parliament on Wednesday.

The number of deceased due to Covid-19 in Army and Air Force are 32 and 3, respectively, and NIL in case of Navy," Naik said in a reply to Congress MP Anumula Revanth Reddy in Lok Sabha.

The minister also said that the number of Covid-19 cases in the Army, Navy and Air Force stands to 16,758, 1,365 and 1,716, respectively.

About compensation to the family members of the deceased armed forces men, the minister said that as per the extant rules, there is no special compensation for deaths occurring due to infectious diseases while in service.

However, all deaths while in service are awarded terminal benefits," he said.

The forces are at the forefront of the battle against the deadly virus since January this year.

In reply to another parliamentarian, BJP MP Jayanta Kumar Roy, Naik highlighted the role of the forces in the battle against Covid-19.

The minister said that Indian Naval ships Jalashwa, Airavat, Shardul and Magar were deployed as part of Operation Samudra Setu to evacuate stranded Indian nationals from Iran, Maldives and Sri Lanka during the Covid-19 crisis.

A total of 3992 Indian nationals were evacuated safely to India as part of Operation Samudra Setu.

He also highlighted the steps taken to tackle the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the defence sector.

The minister said that beginning in March, procurement of essential equipment to tackle Covid-19 cases in Armed Forces Medical College (AFMS) hospitals was undertaken.

Supply order for ventilators, oxygen concentrators, hand thermal guns, multipara monitors, PPE kits, face masks, sanitisers, disinfectants etc. were placed for all AFMS hospitals," Naik said.

He also stated that emergency procurement powers of the Director General Armed Forces Medical Services was sanctioned by the Defence Minister for procurement of additional equipment like RT-PCR machines and testing kits.

As on day, there are 27 functional laboratories in the AFMS carrying out molecular testing for Covid using RT-PCR, TrueNat, CBNAAT and GenExpert techniques. Rapid Antigen Tests are available in the periphery for early diagnosis, isolation and contact tracing of cases," he said.

In line with the latest treatment trends at the national and global level, drugs like Favipiravir and Remdesivir have been made available in AFMS hospitals. Plasma Therapy is also available in two hospitals of AFMS," the minister stated.

About quarantine facilities, the minister said that station quarantine facilities have been set up in all military stations where troops are quarantined after returning from leave for 14 days.

Any person developing symptoms during quarantine is immediately tested and isolated, if found positive" he said.

Teams comprising medical and paramedical staff have been trained in tracing high risk contacts of confirmed cases for instituting quarantine measures. Asymptomatic high risk contacts are tested between day seven and 10 of exposure," he said.

Covid care centres have been set up to augment hospitals where a large number of Covid patients are being admitted. Asymptomatic and mild cases are admitted to the Covid-19 care centres to decongest the hospitals.

The minister also stated that there were interactions with the Armed Forces Medical Services of friendly countries.

Knowledge exchange and best practices for Covid control being followed by the US, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Sri Lanka have been adopted by the AFMS to optimise patient care," he said.

The DGAFMS has maintained continuous liaison to ensure that guidelines and policies issued by the apex bodies are implemented to optimise patient care.

Multiple guidelines pertaining to control and management of Covid have been issued by the DGAFMS to ensure conformity of care across the three services," he said.
Troops of Border Security Force apprehended thirteen Bangladeshi nationals while they were trying to cross the international border adjoining Bangladesh from the Indian side in early hours of Wednesday. A total of thirteen individuals were apprehended.

A special patrolling party of Border Out Post Panchberia patrolling on the Indo - Bangladesh Border Road saw the suspicious movement of a group of approximately 13 persons near Indo - Bangladesh Border Road while they were trying to approach towards the Border Road from the Indian side. Getting alerted, the BSF party immediately challenged them.

On hearing the challenge, the group tried to run back but alert troops immediately pursued them and succeeded to apprehend all the suspicious persons. When they were asked about their identity, all the apprehended persons accepted that they are the Bangladeshi nationals and were trying to cross the border.

"During preliminary questioning, they revealed their identity. They further stated that they all are citizens of Bangladesh. Twenty-seven years ago they came to India from an unknown place in search of livelihood. After coming in India, they settled in Mumbai and started residing in the Nala Sopara area.'' said a senior BSF officer.



While investigating it was revealed that an Indian tout named Manoj helped them. The tout contacted them with another tout of Bagdah and took rupees one lakh in lieu of crossing the border. The Bangladeshi nationals and seized items were handed over to the Bagdah Police station for further legal action.

READ | BSF Foils Mischievous Attempt Along Indo-Pak Border, Seizes Rifles, Pistols & Ammunition

READ | 500 BSF Personnel Participated In 'Fit India Movement' Run In Jammu
Charleston, SC (29403)

Today

Cloudy with freezing rain expected. Low 28F. Winds N at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of precip 90%..

Tonight

Cloudy with freezing rain expected. Low 28F. Winds N at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of precip 90%.
The director of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said on Wednesday that face masks are more guaranteed to protect from coronavirus than a vaccine.

It comes a day after Donald Trump questioned the effectiveness of masks during ABC News' town hall in Pennsylvania on Tuesday night.

Speaking at a Senate hearing on the federal coronavirus response, CDC director Robert Redfield said if all Americans embraced masks for six to 12 weeks, they would bring the pandemic under control.

"I'm not going to comment directly about the president but I am going to comment as the CDC director that face masks, these face masks are the most important powerful public health tool we have," Mr Redfield said.

"These actually, we have clear scientific evidence they work, and they are our best defence. I might even go far as to say this face mask is more guaranteed to protect me against Covid, than when I take a Covid vaccine because the Immunogenicity may be 70 per cent, and if I don't get an immune response the vaccine's not going to protect me."

A day earlier, Mr Trump told ABC's George Stephanopoulos that "a lot of people" questioned the effectiveness of wearing masks when discussing the coronavirus response.

"A lot of people got it wrong. They talked about dont wear masks, and now they say wear masks. Although some people say dont wear masks," Mr Trump said.

When Mr Stephanopoulos asked which people don't think masks are a good idea, the president pointed to waiters and, in previous statements, Dr Anthony Fauci and the CDC.

"They come over and they serve you, and they have a mask. And I saw it the other day where they were serving me, and they're playing with the mask ... Im not blaming them ... Im just saying what happens. They're playing with the mask, so the mask is over, and they're touching it, and then they're touching the plate. That cant be good," he said.

"If you look at Dr Faucis original statement ... you look at a lot of people, CDC, you look at a lot of peoples original statement, they said very strongly, George, dont wear masks. Then all of a sudden they went to wear masks.

"The concept of a mask is good, but it also does ... youre constantly touching it, youre touching your face, youre touching plates. There are people that dont think masks are good."

Mr Redfield, however, said at the hearing on Wednesday that he appealed for all Americans to take personal responsibility and embrace the face coverings.

"So I do want to ask the American public to take the responsibility, particularly the 18 to 25-year-olds where we're seeing the outbreak in America continue to go [up]," he said.
By Akbar Mammadov

President Ilham Aliyev has said that Azerbaijan is one of the few places where ethnic and religious intolerance, xenophobia and anti-Semitism do not exist.

Aliyev made the remarks in his congratulatory message to the countrys Jewish community on the occasion of the New Year Holiday of the Jewish people-Rosh Hashanah.

Jews, along with representatives of various ethnic and religious groups, have for centuries lived in Azerbaijan, a country with rich historical and cultural heritage and centuries-old traditions of tolerance, in peace, tranquility, mutual respect and trust. Azerbaijan is one of the few places where ethnic and religious intolerance, xenophobia and anti-Semitism do not exist, President Ilham Aliyev said in his message on September 16.

The president stressed that Azerbaijan attaches great importance to coexistence based on democratic and constitutional principles, promotion of high tolerance and multicultural values and pays a great deal of attention and care to the preservation of cultural and spiritual values, development of language and culture of all ethnic minorities, including the Jewish community.

It is commendable that our compatriots of Jewish origin, who are actively involved in the socio-political, socio-cultural life of our country, always demonstrate their love and loyalty to Azerbaijan, making significant contributions to communicating the truth about Azerbaijan to the world community, regardless of where they live, Aliyev noted.

On the occasion of Rosh Hashanah, which epitomizes kindness, spiritual revival and renewal, I once again extend my sincere congratulations to all of you and wish prosperity to your families and abundance to your homes, the presidents message concluded.

It should be noted that around 16,000 Jews live in Azerbaijan, of whom 11,000 are Mountain Jews. They mostly live in Baku and northern Quba region.

---

Akbar Mammadov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AkbarMammadov97

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Popular Kannada film industry couple Diganth Manchale and Aindrata Ray appeared before the Central Crime Branch (CBB) in Bangalore for questioning after they were summoned by the police on Monday in the ongoing investigations in the Bangalore drug scandal.

A case has been registered in the Cottonpet police station in the city under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) in which fifteen people, including some actors and well-known personalities, have been named.

Sandeep Patil, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) said that Diganth and Aindrata had been questioned about several issues including their association with some of those who have been arrested in the drug scandal. Later speaking to media, Diganth said, Investigations are on. We are cooperating with the authorities. If called again, we will appear before them. A senior police officer said that the couple is likely to be summoned again for further details.

Meanwhile, actor Sanjjanaa Galrani, whose police custody ended today, was produced before the 1st ACMM court which remanded her to judicial custody for the next two days. Galrani was later moved to Parpanna Agrahara Jail on the outskirts of the city where her colleague Ragini Dwivedi is already lodged. Two others accused, Viren Khanna and Ravi Shankar, were remanded to 14 days judicial custody by the same court.

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Minister Melanie Joly announces $2.2 million in federal funding to help some of BC's most innovative companies grow, create jobs and recover from the impact of COVID-19

VICTORIA, BC, Sept. 16, 2020 /CNW/ - The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on businesses across British Columbia, and those whose livelihoods rely on them. As BC's economy recovers from the impact of COVID-19, the clean tech sector and other innovative businesses will play a major role in in helping it come back strong and support growth across the province.

A global leader in the clean tech, BC's clean tech sector supports 16,300 jobs at over 290 companies in communities across the province. The sector continues to grow and prosper, with revenues climbing from $1.8 billion in 2016 to $2.4 billion in 2019. As it recovers from the impact of COVID-19, the Government of Canada is a partner in helping the industry recover, reopen and retool to emerge stronger than before.

Support for innovative businesses across BC

Today, the Honourable Melanie Joly, Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages and Minister responsible for Western Economic Diversification Canada, announced $2.2 million in federal funding to help innovative small businesses in BC's clean tech sector and beyond grow and create jobs.

This investment will support seven innovative organizations across the province, most notably the Alacrity Foundation of BC  a leading not-for-profit with a mandate to strengthen innovation and entrepreneurship in BC. This funding will create 100 new, well-paying jobs through the British Columbia Clean Tech Market Development Initiative, which will assist small businesses across Western Canada, both in the immediate term and as they scale-up in the years to come.

Today's announcement is further proof of the Government of Canada's commitment to supporting workers and businesses in British Columbia, and the innovative companies that provide good jobs in communities across the province. The federal funding announced today will go towards the following organizations:

The Alacrity Foundation of BC: $1,334,425 to assist western Canadian clean tech companies scale-up through increased international sales and investment during the pandemic recovery phase;a The Discovery Foundation: $95,000 to deliver targeted business resilience support to participating small communities across BC;

$1,334,425 to assist western Canadian clean tech companies scale-up through increased international sales and investment during the pandemic recovery phase;a to deliver targeted business resilience support to participating small communities across BC; The BC Chamber of Commerce: $500,000 to deliver business resiliency and recovery training to SMEs across BC;

$500,000 to deliver business resiliency and recovery training to SMEs across BC; The Surrey Board of Trade: $50,000 to support the Surrey COVID-19 Pandemic Business Centre in delivering business economic recovery initiatives;

$50,000 to support the Surrey COVID-19 Pandemic Business Centre in delivering business economic recovery initiatives; The Burnaby Board of Trade: $25,000 to deliver its Business Digital Development Assistance Program to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic;

to deliver its Business Digital Development Assistance Program to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic; The Greater Vancouver Board of Trade: $100,000 to develop and deliver virtual events to help business adapt their activities to new markets; and,

to develop and deliver virtual events to help business adapt their activities to new markets; and, South Island Prosperity Partnership: $100,000 to launch a Rising Economy Task Force to coordinate a region-wide response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Quotes

"Small businesses across BC have been hit hard by COVID-19, and we're here for them. This investment from Western Economic Diversification Canada will support good jobs across the province, while helping seven innovative companies thrive. Our message to British Columbians is clear: we've been here for you with significant measures, we're here for you now as our economy reopens and we'll get through this, together. We're working with you to support good jobs across the province and help BC's economy come back strong."

- The Honourable Melanie Joly, Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages, and Minister responsible for Western Economic Diversification Canada

"Business associations and economic development agencies will play a key role as B.C. works through economic recovery. Part of this work means focusing on key economic drivers like clean tech and trade and investment. Initiatives like the Alacrity BC CleanTech program help B.C. businesses find new opportunities and new markets around the world."

- The Honourable Michelle Mungall, B.C. Minister of Jobs, Economic Development and Competitiveness

"Canada plays a significant role in the development of clean technologies. Canadian researchers and entrepreneurs are addressing the world's most significant environmental problems with innovative solutions. They are on a quest to help this planet survive for many generations to come; Alacrity Canada, is proud to be at the forefront of this effort to support the cleantech companies in reaching international markets and developing solutions for environmental issues. This new funding will give Alacrity an excellent opportunity to connect Canadian innovation with significant challenges waiting to be solved. Alacrity would like to thank Western Economic Diversification and the Provincial Government of BC for their on-going support for this initiative."

- Richard Egli, Managing Director, Alacrity Canada

Additional links

Follow the department on Twitter: @WD_Canada

WD Homepage

WD Toll-Free Number: 1-888-338-WEST (9378)

TTY (telecommunications device for the hearing impaired): 1-877-303-3388

IF THERE IS A DISCREPANCY BETWEEN ANY PRINTED VERSION AND THE ELECTRONIC VERSION OF THIS NEWS RELEASE, THE ELECTRONIC VERSION WILL PREVAIL.

SOURCE Western Economic Diversification Canada

For further information: Alexander Cohen, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages, [email protected]; Amanda Costa, A/Regional Communications Manager, Western Economic Diversification Canada, Vancouver, British Columbia, 604-603-9480, [email protected]

Related Links

http://www.wd.gc.ca/


Hundreds of mostly maskless partygoers descended upon the infamous 'Jersey Shore' house (Press Association)

On Monday, police in New Jersey broke up a massive crowd of partygoers who descended upon the infamous Jersey Shore house to catch a glimpse of YouTube pranksters the Nelk Boys.

The Gen Z-friendly YouTube stars  who boast over 5.7 million followers on the platform  sparked the huge mob of hundreds of people after posting videos of their location on Instagram. The footage shows them popping champagne bottles outside the recognizable Seaside Heights home where MTV's hit reality show Jersey Shore was filmed. The Nelk Boys were reportedly using the home to celebrate the launch of a new line of apparel and merchandise.

In one video, the home's owner, Daniel Merk, is seen in the background and heard telling his renters that he was kicking them out and the party had to end. The same video showed a large, tightly packed group of people waiting outside the home and being held back by police.

By that time, fans had shown up en masse, and the gathering of mostly maskless people grew larger as the night went on. Eventually, police from neighbouring towns were called in to maintain order. Authorities said the crowd remained mostly under control, but added that the party did violate state health codes. Outdoor gatherings in New Jersey must be limited to 500 people, who are socially distanced, under the state's coronavirus guidelines. The Nelk Boys may have attracted more than 1,000 partygoers.

Seaside Heights Mayor Anthony Vaz told NBC News that he would not tolerate another blow to the town's reputation, which was already tarnished by Jersey Shore.

"We will not tolerate this or these kinds of things that will disrupt an image we're trying to correct," Mr Vaz said. "It was shocking to me."

This isn't the first time the Nelk Boys have faced backlash for their antics. Last week, YouTube temporarily de-monetised them after they allegedly threw on-campus parties at Illinois State University, creating a "widespread public health risk," BuzzFeed reported. The group previously pulled a stunt in which they protested Covid-19 restrictions in Los Angeles, leading a crowd in an "open the gyms" chant.

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Coronavirus: Police disperse illegal gatherings on 'party weekend' ahead of rule of six restrictions
Jake Wood will leave EastEnders when his contract comes to an end, the soap has confirmed.

The actor, who has played Max Branning for more than 15 years, will exit in a big storyline that will see his character leave Walford.

Show bosses will not kill his character off so there is the possibility Max can return to Albert Square.

Wood said: Ive had 15 wonderful years at EastEnders and have made some truly great friends.

Ill of course miss everyone there but Im grateful they have left the door open for Max and Im excited to see what the next chapter holds.

Jon Sen, executive producer, added: Jake is a truly wonderful actor and EastEnders have been extremely lucky to have him for so long.

We have a big storyline for Max that starts in the coming weeks and we are all very excited to see that play out.

A soap source added: Sometimes in soap land big characters have to leave. Bosses are staying tight lipped about what they have planned for Max but considering he has played a major part in the show for over 15 years they are clearly planning something big and he will not be departing Walford quietly.

Everyone will be sad to see Jake go as he is not only a great person to have on set but hes also a fantastic actor.
Labor education spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek says university chiefs backing the Morrison government's major funding reforms are cowardly and they have betrayed students by accepting fee hikes.

Ms Plibersek said some university bosses had "allowed themselves to be bullied by the government" into accepting the reforms, which she said would make it harder and more expensive for many Australians to attend university.

Labor's Tanya Plibersek says university bosses who back the government's funding reforms are betraying students. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

"Young people and university staff have every right to feel betrayed. It's a cowardly act that won't be easily forgiven, especially by parents and Year 12 students whose final school year has been hell," Ms Plibersek said.

"You wouldn't find many principals who'd support government cuts to their school's budget, or who'd support policies that would disadvantage their kids."
Mongolians protest in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia against China's plan to introduce Mandarin-only classes in Southern Mongolia, on Sept. 15, 2020. (Byambasuren BYAMBA-OCHIR / AFP via Getty Images)

#SaveTheMongolianLanguage Movement Attracts Worldwide Attention and Support

As the Chinese regime tightens its methods of oppression to suppress protests against a new policy banning Mongolian language in Inner Mongolian schools, Mongolian nationals and non-nationals around the world have voiced support and started a movement.

Several prominent Mongolian scholars and linguists sent an open letter to Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Sept. 7, expressing their distress over the Chinese Communist Partys policy and claiming that the policy is harmful to the otherwise unified multi-ethnic country of China. Threatening the Mongolian language with the danger of extinction may harm Chinese cultural heritage, as well as the linguistic and literary heritage of humanity, they said.

The letter expressed the Mongolian scholars respect for China as a great nation with an ancient culture enriched by ethnic civilizations. But the scholars argued that the new policy may result in a negative impact on Mongolian children in Inner Mongolia, who may lose their fundamental right to study in their mother tongue. It may also tarnish Chinas international reputation, they warned.

Some rights groups say the policy to change the language in schools in Inner Mongolia mirrors what Beijing has done in Tibet and Xinjianga focus on Sinification of local ethnic communities within the majority Han population.

We want to raise awareness of this issue and to protest against this shameful policy of the Chinese regime, Taiwanese Legislator Saidai Tarovecahe of the Democratic Progressive Party told a news conference at a rally supporting the people of Inner Mongolia, held outside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei on Sept. 11.

I urge countries around the world to support Inner Mongolia, and defend Mongolians right to their mother tongue, said Taiwanese Legislator Freddy Lim, according to the Taipei Times.

Chinese authorities should be focused on providing genuine bilingual education, not undermining it and persecuting its proponents, said Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch in a recent press release. Reducing mother tongue education flies in the face of Chinas constitution, international standards, and expert consensus, and erodes Mongolians distinct identity.

The Mongolian language is an ancient language of Altaic origin, which carries a unique nomadic culture.

At the Institute of International Studies at the University of Washington, Mongolian is one of the close to 20 languages studied representing the worlds largest cultures. Mongolian is a language that has created a unique culture and represents a rich and powerful history, Mongolian journalist and writer Naminchimed Baasan told The Epoch Times.

Historically, the Great Wall is the border of the Chinese and Mongolian nations, a boundary between settled and nomadic culture. By this means, Southern Mongolians now live in their own land. A nation living in its historical territory must have the privilege of preserving its language, cultural heritage, he said.

Since China took over the regions after World War II and gave the Sino-centric name Inner Mongolia, has gradually eroded the culture and independence of the ethnic Mongolian population.

Beijing has encouraged Han Chinese to relocate to Inner Mongolia, where they now outnumber Mongolians nearly 6 to 1. They have decreased seats in bilingual public schools from 190,000 to 17,000 and allowed Han children to fill them, according to The Diplomat.

Enhbat Togochog, director of the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center (SMHRIC), a New York-based exile group, told the magazine Bitterwinter, that by no means Chinese policies toward Southern Mongolia are accidental.

All the policies that the CCP has been implementing in Southern Mongolia, Tibet, and East Turkistan are carefully designed and well planned to achieve their goal, which is to eradicate the Mongolian, Tibetan, and Uyghur identities completely to create a homogenous, worry-free Chinese society, he said.

Overseas Mongolians have shown solidarity under the movement called #SaveTheMongolianLanguage. Within a week, the number of people who signed a We the People petition to the White House reached over 100,000, urging the Trump Administration to pay closer attention to the ongoing cultural genocide in Inner Mongolia.

The petition states that the CCPs new policy is a violation of human rights, world heritage, and its own constitution.
Greg Kelly, a former aide to ex-Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of financial misconduct as the trial against him began in Tokyo. Kelly's former boss, Ghosn, is now at large as an international fugitive after jumping bail and fleeing Japan for Lebanon last year.

Kelly is the only person facing trial in what has become known as the Ghosn saga.

Kelly entered a plea of not guilty Tuesday to the single charge he faces -- conspiring to under-report tens of millions of euros in pay that Ghosn was allegedly promised after his retirement.

"I deny the allegations. I was not involved in a criminal conspiracy," Kelly said.

He has consistently denied any wrongdoing, arguing -- as does Ghosn -- that no final agreement had been made on any post-retirement pay and therefore no disclosure was legally required.

Kelly says Ghosn is not guilty

Kelly, who turned 64 on Tuesday, entered the court dressed in a dark suit and red tie and wearing a surgical mask. He declined to speak to media gathered outside for the trial.

Ghosn's arrest in the Japanese capital in November 2018 on financial misconduct charges made headlines worldwide and kicked off an astonishing fall from grace for a man once hailed as a corporate saviour for rescuing Nissan from the brink of bankruptcy.

Kelly was arrested the same day, and has been free on bail in Tokyo since late December 2018.

The trial, which is expected to last 10 months, centres around one question fraught with technicalities: did Kelly and Nissan between 2010 and 2018 illegally conceal payments of around 9.2 billion yen (80 million euros at today's rates) promised to Ghosn on retirement?

Car company says Nissan is guilty

Nissan, which is on trial alongside Kelly, says yes, and pleaded guilty to the charge against it on Tuesday.

But Kelly, who faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted, has insisted on his innocence since day one.

"I didn't do anything wrong," he said in an interview in early September.

"Carlos Ghosn never got paid anything and he wasn't promised anything," Kelly insisted.

Nissan and Japanese prosecutors disagree, arguing they have evidence that these future payments were pledged to Ghosn, and therefore should have been disclosed in the firm's financial filings as required by Japanese law.
On 16 September this year, the World Customs Organization (WCO) joins the international community to celebrate 35 years of work for the protection of the ozone layer. This layer of gas is the Earths shield, protecting it from the more harmful portion of the suns ultraviolet rays. The work to protect the ozone layer is therefore fundamental to the protection of human health and the ecosystem. This work is particularly relevant to the WCO this year, as it rallies the global Customs community around the theme of Customs fostering Sustainability for People, Prosperity and the Planet.

On this day, the WCO reiterates its support to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and OzonAction for the implementation of the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, the Montreal Protocol and the Kigali Amendment. The effective implementation of these Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) is instrumental in guaranteeing that products being traded are safe both for human health and the environment.

Customs is a key player in the implementation of the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, according to the WCO Secretary General, Dr. Kunio Mikuriya. Customs can enhance controls on transboundary movements of environmentally sensitive commodities by encouraging international cooperation, managing risks, and applying technology to data exchange and analytics.

Customs officers are at the frontline of environmental protection. They play a critical role in the prevention and detection of illegal trade and in ensuring compliance with MEAs, including the Montreal Protocol. To support Customs in this mission, the WCO, in cooperation with OzonAction and the partners of the Green Customs Initiative, provides training and guidance to Customs officers around the world by increasing their knowledge, enhancing their skills and facilitating their access to information, so that they can successfully mitigate the illegal trade in ozone depleting substances (ODS). The WCO also coordinates global enforcement operations, such as the Demeter operations targeting illicit shipments of ODS. In 2019, Operation Demeter V resulted in Customs officers seizing 8,031 kg of illegally traded ODS.

Only through multilateral cooperation and continued capacity building can Customs successfully and durably implement MEAs and mitigate illicit trade. By developing a network of trust and enhancing intelligence gathering and exchange, Customs around the world are actively contributing to the protection of the planet and its people.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-17 00:15:12|Editor: huaxia

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MAPUTO, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Mozambican Ministry of Land and Environment announced Wednesday in a press release that the country registered a 70 percent decrease in the cases of elephant poaching since 2014.

"Until 2014, we would register the loss of 1,200 elephants per year. The situation changed in the following years, with elephant deaths decreasing to 360 per year between 2015 and 2019," said the Minister of Land and environment Ivete Maibaze in the release.

The authorities attribute the decrease in the elephants' death rate to the country's efforts on natural resources protection, including more investment on law enforcement, technological methods and education.

Statistics showed that more than 100 cases of sentences for crimes against wildlife were read in the last two years.

"The country's police have been contributing to lower the rate of poaching-related deaths of elephants in the country, mostly in the reserves of Niassa and the Gorongosa National park, between March 2018 and July 2020," she said.

Meanwhile, elephants are now being monitored through satellite platforms with the use of collars, and the ministry has also been promoting an environmental education campaign under the motto "Poaching Steals from All of Us", said the minister. Enditem
Sept. 12 was the the first day of Run Week 2020 for the Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics.

The Midland community has strongly supported the Torch Run for the last several years and the Midland Police Department believes it can still do it again this year. Due to COVID-19, there will not be the traditional run/walk from the Law Enforcement Center to Dow Diamond. Instead, the police department is asking everyone to register/donate through give.classy.org/midland2020 for its Virtual Torch Run for Special Olympics.
Delhi police, acting on the orders of Indias Hindu supremacist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, subjected well-known documentary filmmakers Rahul Roy and his wife Saba Dewan to lengthy interrogations Monday on the spurious claim that they were involved in communal violence in Indias capital in February. The move marks a further escalation of the Narendra Modi-led BJP governments vicious campaign of slander, repression and state violence against political opponents.

The three days of communal violence that rocked northeast Delhi in late February and killed more than 50 people, most of them poor Muslims, were instigated by the BJP and its Hindu right allies. Yet in a transparent frame-up, the police, acting at the Modi governments behest, have blamed the communal riots on student leaders and, increasingly, on prominent cultural and political figures associated with opposition to the governments anti-Muslim Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

In this, the Modi government has multiple reactionary aims: to whip up anti-Muslim communalism so as to channel mass anger over Indias ruinous response to the COVID-19 pandemic along reactionary lines; to justify state suppression of the mass opposition to the CAA; and to intimidate all those opposed to the governments neoliberal economic agenda and bellicose Indian nationalism.

Among Roys notable works is The Factory, which exposes the brutal slave labour conditions confronting workers in Indias rapidly expanding, globally integrated auto industry and workers growing and explosive resistance to them. Indicating his deep concerns over democratic rights, he has publicly denounced the government-police-company vendetta against workers at Maruti Suzukis Manesar assembly plant13 of whom are currently jailed for life on bogus murder charges (see: The Factory: Documentary brings Indian auto workers struggle to an international audience).

When contacted by the WSWS, internationally acclaimed Sri Lankan film director Prasanna Vithanage, who is a friend and professional colleague of Roy, denounced the police action against him and his wife as a clear witch-hunt. Vithanage added, Roy and his wife, in their whole lives have dedicated themselves to exposing the truth through their art works and their actions themselves. They always come forward against anti-democratic attacks, racism, caste-based discrimination and ethnic violence. They often raise their voices for the rights of working people and other oppressed. This witch-hunt only indicates that the government is heading towards a dangerous, fascistic rule of governance.

According to Indian media reports, Roy and Dewan were questioned by police for around eight hours. The Indian Express has reported that they were summoned as the Special Cell (New Delhi Range) claims to have found their links with some students outfit, and with a WhatsApp group called the Delhi Protests Support Group (DPSG).

The Express also quoted unnamed official sources, who claimed that 15-20 members of the WhatsApp group have been questioned by the police so far. Two members of the womens activist group Pinjra Tods, Devangana Kalita and Natasha Narwal, who are also part of the WhatsApp group, were already arrested at the end of May by Delhi police for their alleged involvement in the northeast Delhi riots.

There can be no doubt that the Delhi Polices targeting of Roy was carried out in close consultation with the Modi government. Unlike the police in Indias states, which are under the jurisdiction of state governments, the police in Indias Capital Territory is directly answerable to Home Minister Amit Shah. Notorious for his role as Modis chief henchmen, Shah himself engaged in anti-Muslim agitation and vehemently denounced the anti-CAA protesters prior to the outbreak of the riots.

Roys name was mentioned in the supplementary charge sheet filed by the Delhi Police in connection with the alleged role of Pinjra Tods activists and other students in the Delhi riots. Alongside Roy, the police also named Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, prominent economist Jayati Ghosh, and Delhi University professor and public intellectual Apoorvanand Swaraj Abhiyan. These prominent personalities, along with several others, are accused of encouraging anti-CAA protesters to commit violence as part of a plan or deep-rooted conspiracy.

According to the Wire, the charge sheet annexed two entirely identical disclosed statements, in which the Delhi police claimed that Kalita and Nawal admitted to not just their complicity in the Delhi riots but also named Ghosh, Apoorvanand and Roy as their mentors to carry on the anti-CAA protests, even if it leads to violence at some stage.

On the same day Roy was interrogated, Delhi police arrested former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student leader Umar Khalid under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), a draconian anti-terrorism law. The charges against him stem from his participation in the anti-CAA protests. However, according to attorney Trideep Pais, who appeared on behalf of Khalid, police have stated no specific reason for the remand, the Express reported Tuesday.

A webinar organized by the Delhi Police Gazetted Officers Association and attended by Commissioner S.N. Shrivastava on Monday clearly indicated that the police action against Roy and others is part of a massive witch-hunt against critics and opponents of the Modi government. In the webinar, senior Delhi Police officers said they were set to file a conspiracy charge sheet related to last Februarys northeast Delhi riots.

Contrary to the vile claims of the BJP government and the police about a conspiracy involving anti-CAA protesters, the real conspiracy is that being orchestrated by the government and the police to turn the victims of the Delhi violence into culprits. BJP officials who instigated and organized the violence, as well as police officers implicated in them, have been protected, while protesters and political opponents are detained.

The role played by BJP leaders in fomenting the anti-Muslim violence and the police in abetting it is well documented. Taken aback by the scope of the anti-CAA protests, which swept across India between December 2019 and February 2020, Modi and his BJP lashed out aggressively. They denounced the anti-CAA protests as violent, and in numerous instances ordered police to savagely attack them. Several BJP leaders explicitly called for anti-nationalsa term Modi and Shah used to refer to opponents of the CAAto be shot down.

A report issued by the Delhi Minority Commission (DMC), an agency of the Delhi Capital Territory government, following its investigation into the Delhi riots named some of the BJP leaders who made provocative remarks against anti-CAA protesters in the weeks and days preceding the eruption of communal violence. They include Home Minister Amit Shah and the incendiary threats and ultimatum of one Kapil Mishra. The report also charges the Delhi police with supporting the rioters, hitting people and damaging properties and CCTV cameras, and for subsequently conspiring to shield the planners, instigators, leaders and perpetrators of the violence and turn the victims into culprits.

Local BJP leader Kapil Mishra played a leading role in instigating the riots. Before a mob of his supporters, he issued an ultimatum to the Delhi police, vowing they would clear Delhis streets of anti-CAA protesters, if the police failed to do so within three days. He then led hundreds of his Hindu communal supporters into a direct confrontation with those protesting against the CAA. Mass communal violence erupted in the ensuing hours.

During the violence, Hindu mobs, with the direct backing of police and security forces, went on the rampage. They killed at least 53 people, the vast majority of whom were Muslims, and injured several hundred with shootings, beatings, and fires. The mobs also destroyed the homes and businesses of thousands of Muslims, as well as four mosques. Despite repeated appeals, hundreds of victims have not been properly compensated and continue to live in misery.

While the police registered 690 first information reports (FIRs) and arrested around 2,200 individuals as of March 7, most of these were victimized Muslims who were themselves targeted by rioters. They have never questioned, let alone taken legal action, against any of the BJP instigators, including Mishra.

Facing massive public criticism over the governments direct role in the violence, the BJP encouraged the police to cook up a story claiming the violence was a premeditated conspiracy of government opponents. This claim appeared in an FIR registered on March 6, allegedly based on information provided by an informer to Sub-Inspector Arvind Kumar. At the previously mentioned webinar, police officers embellished this story by claiming that they interpreted the blocking of traffic by anti-CAA protesters on the day the communal violence broke out as the first indicator that there was a conspiracy due to which it all started.

Making it crystal clear that the subsequent police investigation targeted merely anti-CAA protesters, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Pramod Singh Kushwaha said they had found no proof yet of the involvement of pro-CAA-NRC (National Register of Citizens) protesters in the conspiracy. This conclusion comes as no surprise, given that the police operates under Shahs direction, and is itself steeped in communal bigotry.

The BJPs ruthless repression of its political opponents, which has being intensified with the interrogation and targeting of Roy and other prominent intellectuals and political figures, is closely bound up with Indian capitalisms deepening economic and political crisis. The coronavirus pandemic is raging out of control across the country. With more than 5 million official cases and close to 90,000 deaths, India is behind only the United States in total COVID-19 infections. The social impact of the pandemic has been no less devastating, with tens of millions losing their jobs and tens of millions more thrust into dire poverty.

Modi intends to intensify the onslaught on the working class by imposing a quantum jump in pro-investor reforms, including the gutting of labour regulations and large-scale privatizations. At the same time, Modi and the entire ruling elite are whipping up a bellicose Indian nationalism as they, with Washingtons encouragement, lurch towards a possible war with China over their disputed border.

The police action against Roy and others is a clear signal that the crisis-ridden Modi regime and the Indian ruling elite as a whole are preparing to meet a mounting wave of opposition from the working class to the catastrophic social conditions with authoritarianism and savage state violence at home and the growing danger of war.
The temporary closing in March of Oakbrook Center and many other businesses in the village because of the coronavirus pandemic resulted in considerable losses in sales tax revenue, particularly in April, down $515,467, or 55%; and in May, down $611,829, or 57.1%, compared to the same months in 2019.
As Madhya Pradesh, the heart of India, prepares for a high-stakes political battle, News18 Madhya Pradesh / Chhattisgarh is all set to present e-Agenda Madhya Pradesh  a power packed e-conclave to debate the strategies likely to be adopted by the various political parties in the context of the upcoming by-elections.

As the one of the most influential platform of the state, the e-Agenda will bring different political parties and leaders across the spectrum to discuss and debate issues and strategies relating to the upcoming polls. The Agenda series, from News18 Network - Indias No. 1 News Network*, has become established as the most definitive platform that brings a ring side view of the electoral politics.

e-Agenda Madhya Pradesh promises to be a high impact virtual summit with participation from top leaders from the state. The show will have multiple sessions with an array of eminent panelists participating in each session. The sessions will revolve around the current political scenario and how it will impact the upcoming by-elections. This event will bring together voices from across the political spectrum including CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Union Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, former CM Kamal Nath, Rajya Sabha MP Jyotiraditya Scindia, MPs Home Minister Narottam Mishra, MPs Urban Development & Housing Minister Bhupendra Singh and state BJP President V D Sharma amongst others.

The programme will be telecast live on News18 Madhya Pradesh / Chhattisgarh and its social & digital platforms. As the states leading news channel News18 Madhya Pradesh/ Chhattisgarh has always taken the lead on all key matters related to the state. The channel has been at the forefront of covering elections bringing the most accurate and fastest updates on the same. With e-Agenda Madhya Pradesh, News18 Madhya Pradesh / Chhattisgarh aims at providing an unmatched insight into the competing narratives that will define the discourse in the upcoming by-elections.

Tune in to e-Agenda Madhya Pradesh, 4 PM onwards on 16th September, only on News18 Madhya Pradesh / Chhattisgarh.
Despite three reminders by the district administration, the Sangrur Aam Aadmi Party MP Bhagwant Mann has not adopted any village under the Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) during his second term, so far.

As per Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana, each MP needs to adopt five villages during his or her tenure. The office of Sangrur deputy commissioner wrote to the MP in August 2019, October 2019 and in September 2020, but he did not adopt any village.

Mann said he will not adopt any village because the central government never released special funds for the scheme. Even MPLAD funds have been suspended due to Covid-19 pandemic, he said.

How can I adopt a village without funds? If the government will not issue funds for a particular programme, we cannot develop the idea. If the Prime Minister wants to focus on villages, he should release special funds for development, said Mann.

Sources said that Mann had to face criticism during his first tenure when the adopted villages were not allegedly developed by the MP.

I raised the issue in Parliament today that the government may issue guidelines for the distribution of MPLAD funds but should not suspend them, he said.

The government can cut our salary and allowances, but the MPLAD funds should be increased and released on time, he said.

Sangrur additional deputy commissioner (development) Rajinder Singh Batra said the MP didnt respond to repeated reminders of the administration. As per government guidelines, we have been writing to the MP, but the administration is still waiting for a favourable response from him, Batra added.
Five Takeaways From The Lukashenka-Putin Talks: Who Got What?

By Tony Wesolowsky September 15, 2020

Vladimir Putin and Alyaksandr Lukashenka sat down for talks in Russia on September 14, the first one-on-one meeting between the two presidents since protests erupted in Belarus following a disputed election in which the authoritarian leader claimed a sixth term.

Lukashenka came into the meeting weakened, facing growing international condemnation and isolation over his government's violent crackdown on protests and the arrest of opposition leaders who contend that the August 9 election was rigged.

Putin, one of few international leaders to back Lukashenka, was probably hoping to use the meeting to extract further concessions, especially on deeper integration between the two countries based on a 1999 "Union State" treaty that remains largely on paper.

Grabbing headlines after the talks in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi was the news that Lukashenka had secured a $1.5 billion Russian state loan to keep his government afloat. But did he pay too high a price?

Here are five takeaways from the Sochi meeting.

The Loan

Protests, strikes, and political upheaval have dealt a blow to the Belarusian economy, already reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic and what critics say has been the mishandling of the crisis by Lukashenka, who declined to put lockdowns in place.

Amid the uncertainty, Belarusians withdrew approximately $1 billion from bank accounts in August -- 17 times as much as the month before.

With banks losing deposits, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told Russia's biggest state lenders to ensure liquidity continues to flow to banks in Belarus, Reuters reported on September 9.

For Lukashenka, Putin's promised $1.5 billion state loan announced at Sochi will provide a much-needed financial injection, according to Franak Viacorka, a Belarusian journalist who is a digital-media strategist for the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees RFE/RL.

"This is money that is urgently needed. This is cash. It's needed to pay off a previous loan, to pay salaries, maintain the hierarchy, and save the country from crisis," Viacorka told Current Time, the Russian-language network led by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA.

It's not the first time Putin has extended a wad of cash to a beleaguered ally in a bid to keep a neighboring country in Moscow's orbit. In 2013, as Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was wavering over whether to sign an agreement strengthening Kyiv's ties with the European Union, Putin helped persuade him not to -- a decision that led to Yanukovych's ouster the following February -- by offering a $15 billion lifeline including a quick $3 billion loan.

Military Cooperation

The talks in Sochi came with joint Russian-Belarusian military drills taking place in Brest, in western Belarus near the border with NATO and EU member Poland. The exercises were due to run from September 10 to September 15 and include forces from Serbia, which backed out at the last minute due to European Union pressure. At Sochi, the Kremlin announced the drills would be extended to September 25. Furthermore, Putin and Lukashenka agree to hold "almost monthly" joint military exercises in both countries in 2021.

The announcement was the latest hint from the Kremlin that Russia could be prepared to use force to back Lukashenka -- if it chooses to do so. On August 27, Putin said that a contingent of Russian security forces was prepared to deploy to Belarus if necessary.

In their numerous telephone talks, Lukashenka has said Putin has vowed to "ensure security" in Belarus through the Russia-dominated Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and bilateral agreements.

Longer-term, the Kremlin has its eye on establishing a permanent military base in Belarus -- and the latest developments are likely to raise concerns among Lukashenka's opponents that Putin has advanced this cause. In 2015, Belarus balked at a Russian bid to set up an air base to host Russian Su-27 fighter jets. In September 2019, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Belarus's refusal to host a military base had been an "unpleasant episode."

Subservient 'Strongman'

In Sochi, Lukashenka seemed at times to suggest that he did not need much help from Moscow. He downplayed the protests against him, which normally swell to some 100,000 people in Minsk on weekends, saying that Belarusians "live an ordinary life" on weekdays and that on Saturday and Sunday "we free up part of Minsk so that people can, if they wish, walk through this area."

He suggested there was little or no threat to his rule and said that protesters had not yet crossed a "red line" and spoke of what he said had been Putin's "red line" in Chechnya, where the then-prime minister of Russia launched a war in 1999 that helped build his image and vault him to the presidency.

On the other hand, Lukashenka looked and sounded subservient, making several conciliatory statements regarding increased integration with Russia. He said that Belarus must remain close to its "older brother" -- a reference to both Russia and Putin, who is almost two years older than Lukashenka -- and praising the Kremlin for demonstrating "the border of Belarus are the borders of the Union State" and thanking the Russian president.

Sochi is Putin's turf, and the optics of the meeting -- filtered largely through Russian state media -- suggested which of the two was negotiating from a position of strength.

"The body language says far more in this case than the Russian language," seasoned Swedish diplomat and Kremlin critic Carl Bildt wrote on Twitter, referring to footage showing Lukashenka leaning in eagerly and gesticulating at a seemingly disinterested Putin.

Bildt's tweet was one of many social media posts making roughly the same point.

Known Unknowns

Ahead of the meeting, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said oil and gas cooperation, state debts, and other economic ties would be discussed, but no documents signed.

Few details emerged, leaving Lukashenka's critics to wonder whether he made concessions that went unannounced.

Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the opposition leader who contends that she won the August 9 vote, called Lukashenka an "illegitimate" leader who has no authority to make agreements on behalf of Belarus. She told Current Time that a large round of arrests in Minsk on the eve of the Sochi meeting were an attempt by Lukashenka to show Putin that he's still in control.

"The mass show of force was likely organized to frighten people so that they would not demonstrate. But it doesn't work anymore. People have the intention, people have the desire to live in a new Belarus without someone usurping [power]," she said via Skype from Lithuania. "Therefore, the people cannot be stopped. "

Growing Clout?

Lukashenka may have bought himself time at Sochi. Meanwhile, Putin's support for the authoritarian leader has done further damage to Russia's badly strained ties with the West -- and could end up alienating millions of Belarusians.

But Putin may have secured stronger leverage over Lukashenka -- and over Belarus, at least for now -- at the meeting.

Even as he asserted that the Belarusian people must decide their own fate without foreign influence, Putin left no doubt that Moscow will want to play a powerful part in shaping its future.

He urged Lukashenka to work quickly to amend the country's constitution and made it clear that Russia would have a say in this process, participating "at the highest level."

Putin also suggested that Lukashenka, at least as far as he is concerned, could be expendable.

Russia considers Belarus its closest ally and will fulfill its treaty obligations "regardless of who is in power at the moment," he said.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/lukashenka- putin-talks-five-takeaways-who- got-what/30840523.html

Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Keeping it real, keeping it regional, filmmakers and actors agree that locally-made cinema gets a fair representation at international film festivals, including the Oscars. These acclaimed insiders, who have made a mark in both regional cinema as well as Bollywood, believe that with a little bit of love from the audience and some financial aid to help create a buzz, regional cinema also has the power to have a greater showcase.

Dismissing misconception that lobbies are at play, actor Adil Hussain, says, It totally depends on the board that chooses these films. It is about their taste, calibre and idea, or lack of idea of cinema. It is not a strategy that only Bollywood films are represented. The film should merit it. He does believe that Oscars do give a sense of validation to films because they are most respected and most popular in the world.

Read: Not just Hindi, regional content is a big hit on OTT, too: Actors, filmmakers and experts weigh in

Actor Tannishtha Chatterjee, says, I dont think Oscars should be the ultimate validation for our films, because culturally, they look at things in a very cliched way when it comes to India. But having said that, regional cinema has a very good international representation. International forums are far more equal. But regional cinema also has to be of that level, and the audience also has to evolve. This is true for every form of art.

With big money involved, regional filmmakers often struggle with financers to back their films at international film festivals, including the Oscars. Hussain explains: Unfortunately, Indian government doesnt support the films as much as it should. So if the producers are unable to fund the screenings, then hiring venues, creating a buzz, treating the jury members to a preview becomes difficult.

Filmmaker Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury, who directed Pink (2016) and has won many accolades for his Bengali-language films, agrees. When a film is sent to the Oscars, it has to be promoted well and that requires money. Regional cinema - not Malayalam, Tamil or Telugu - doesnt have that kind of money, he says.

Economics, glamour and star power are also some of the factors involved in giving a boost to the film when it is being considered for nomination, feels filmmaker Rajesh Mapuskar, who directed Ventilator (2016). They are big stars, and have so many fans. There is more PR hype and media gives more coverage to them. So there will always be that noise around such films, he says, adding, It also depends on the muscle the producer has.

Read: Direct-to-OTT: With theatres shut amid Covid-19 crisis, the ballgame is changing in the film industry

With OTT platforms opening up newer opportunities for releases, things might begin to change for regional cinema. Nothing is inaccessible anymore. This will get people to notice these films more. Earlier, we used to travel so much just to watch a film at a festival, but now everything is at your fingertips, says Chowdhury. But there is a catch, again with the buzz that is generated around such releases. Chatterjee says, Even with this kind of reach, regional content is not pumped like American or English shows. Regional becomes mainstream only when it has that appeal  a mainstream star, or the scale and marketing budgets.

Interact with Etti Bali @TheBalinian



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Actress Rashami Desai has claimed that she and late celebrity manager Disha Salian were planning a vacation together with friends a day before the latter allegedly died by suicide. Disha allegedly fell to her death from the 14th floor of a building in Malad West on June 8.

In an interview with the Republic TV, Rashami claimed that she had spoken to Disha on the phone on June 7 about a possible trip to Himachal Pradesh in October. On June 7, when I spoke to her, we were planning a trip to Shimla in October. One of my very close friends birthday party was there so we were planning the Shimla trip, so then we said we should meet and talk."

I spoke to her a day prior to the incident. That had nothing to do with the (alleged) party (on June 8), we spoke very normally. We did not speak at length at that time actually. We said that we could not talk everything on the phone, so we eventually made plans to meet later on but the next day I got the sad news," Rashami added.

Rashami denied knowing about any party that Disha allegedly attended on June 8. I know Disha for a very long time but I was not aware of the party in Juhu," she said.

Rashami further claimed that although Disha was a very close friend, she was not in touch with her for a very long time as she was inside the Bigg Boss house for close to six months. She was a very dear friend and I would not like to comment on anything. I was not aware of whatever she was going through because I was part of a reality show, right after that the pandemic happened so I was not in touch for 6-7 months."

Disha was someone who was a very big name in the industry, she has managed many big names. For me, she was a doll, beautiful and a pure soul and I dont think the family is also comfortable talking about it," Rashami added.
Mukesh Ranjan By

Express News Service

RANCHI: Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has ordered an inquiry into the alleged attack on a girl by her neighbours after she tested positive for coronavirus earlier this month.

Priti Kumari took to social media on Tuesday to allege that despite requests made by her to the local authorities that she was being threatened by her neighbours, she was not provided security.

In the 15-minute video, Priti explains how she is being troubled by the people in the locality for the infection. She also alleges that the family was attacked by a crowd after her house was barricaded in Ranchi. She has appealed to the people not to undergo the Covid test as their life will also be made hell if they were found positive.

Some of the people in my locality started harassing me and abusing my family after I tested positive. My house has been barricaded and the area declared a containment zone. They say we would spread the virus in the locality, she says.

We were told by the authorities that everything will be provided at our doorstep, but no one is here to take care of us. Vegetable vendors and others coming to us for home delivery are being threatened and dragged away by these people, she says. On Tuesday, miscreants threw stones at her house in which her younger sister was injured.

They were shouting to kill us to stop Covid spread. After receiving the information, I sent a team there to calm them down. No FIR has been lodged, said officer in-charge of Bariatu police station Sapan Mahtha. Chief Minister Hemant Soren has directed the district administration to look into the matter. Please investigate the matter, provide immediate help to Priti and inform, tweeted Soren.
She's set to reveal the darker moments of her adolescence that shaped her adult life in her new YouTube documentary This Is Paris.

But Paris Hilton looked anything but somber in a rainbow tie-dyed shirt and skirt combo as she led a family and friends screening of the film on Monday in Los Angeles.

Despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, neither the 39-year-old celebrity nor her guests appeared to be wearing masks or practicing social distancing.

Friendly gathering: Paris Hilton, 39, had all eyes on her Monday at an outdoors friends and family screening of her new documentary This Is Paris, which was held in Los Angeles

The heiress' modest outfit reached from the floor up to her neck and also featured long sleeves, though her top revealed a hint of her toned tummy.

The skirt's tight pleats accentuated the swirls of color, which she contrasted with simple black shoes.

Paris also had a set of large cat-eye sunglasses decorated with stars, which were framed by her long blonde tresses.

Joining her was her adorable gray and black dog, whom she proudly raised in the air to showcase.

Colorful display: Paris glowed in a bright tie-dyed rainbow skirt and shirt combo

No fuss: The skirt's tight pleats accentuated the swirls of color, which she contrasted with simple black shoes

Accessorized: Paris also had a set of large cat-eye sunglasses decorated with stars, which were framed by her long blonde tresses

Cute companion: Joining her was her adorable gray and black dog, whom she proudly raised in the air to showcase

Chantel Jeffries caused a stir at the outdoors screening by wearing a black leather jacket with not much else under it.

She had on a black bandeau bra tied at her bust that showed off her taut midriff, and she covered up with faded black jeans and tall black patent leather boots.

The DJ wore her brunette locks in a high ponytail and with dangling strands framing her impeccably made-up face.

Chantel got close to Paris and even shared a hug, contrasting her monochrome ensemble with the host's colorful display.

Back in black: Chantel Jeffries caused a stir at the outdoors screening by wearing a black leather jacket with not much else under it

Revealing: She had on a black bandeau bra tied at her bust that showed off her taut midriff, and she covered up with faded black jeans and tall black patent leather boots

Classic style: The DJ wore her brunette locks in a high ponytail and with dangling strands framing her impeccably made-up face

Close encounter: Chantel got close to Paris and even shared a hug, contrasting her monochrome ensemble with the host's colorful display

Nicole Wiliams-English matched Chantel with her own black leather blazer, though she spiced it up by showing off her long legs, and she added a splash of scarlet to her lips.

YouTube sensation Tana Mongeau was among the guests, and she rocked a white tube top under a white jacket that fell off one of her shoulders.

She mixed the top with baggy acid wash jeans and white boots.

Paris' father Richard Hilton cut a more casual figure at the gathering in a white polo shirt and a gray zip-up hoodie with navy blue trousers.

Sizzler: Nicole Wiliams-English (L) matched Chantel with her own black leather blazer, though she spiced it up by showing off her long legs, and she added a splash of scarlet to her lips

Woman in white: YouTube sensation Tana Mongeau (far left) was among the guests, and she rocked a white tube top under a white jacket that fell off one of her shoulders

Keeping it casual: Paris' father Richard Hilton cut a more casual figure at the gathering in a white polo shirt and a gray zip-up hoodie with navy blue trousers

The outdoor space featured a bar for guests emblazoned with 'That's Hot,' one of Paris most popular phrases from her days on The Simple Life with Nicole Richie.

Although the guests didn't socially distance while chatting, the grassy area had white couches and mats laid out for socially distanced pods of people.

The new documentary features shocking revelations about Paris' adolescence, including a stint in an allegedly abusive boarding school in which she was fed tranquilizers, verbally abused and endured 10-hour stretches in solitary confinement.

The film also generated buzz because Paris drops much of her recognizable vocal fry, unveiling a smoother, deeper voice that she claims is how she really talks.

Iconic: The outdoor space featured a bar for guests emblazoned with 'That's Hot,' one of Paris most popular phrases from her days on The Simple Life with Nicole Richie

Spaced: Although the guests didn't socially distance while chatting, the grassy area had white couches and mats laid out for socially distanced pods of people

Heavy: The new documentary features shocking revelations about Paris' adolescence, including a stint in an allegedly abusive boarding school in which she was fed tranquilizers, verbally abused and endured 10-hour stretches in solitary confinement
Unlike other nations, the U.S. doesnt directly regulate medicine prices. In Europe, the second-largest pharmaceutical market after the U.S., governments negotiate directly with drugmakers to limit what their state-funded health systems pay. The U.K.s National Health Service has refused to pay for some cancer drugs widely used in the U.S. on the grounds that they dont constitute value for money. In the U.S., drug companies can more or less set whatever price the market will bear. For most outpatient drugs reimbursed through Medicaid, the public health program for the poor, drugmakers must provide rebates to the government. But most medicine costs are paid for by Medicare or by private insurers. When prescription-drug benefits were added to Medicare under a 2003 law, the pharmaceutical industry successfully lobbied to prohibit the federal government from using its huge purchasing power to negotiate drug prices. Private payers typically rely on third-party pharmacy-benefit managers, such as Cigna Corp.s Express Scripts unit, to negotiate discounts. Often they make exclusive deals with drugmakers, which limits the choice of drugs patients have. In the U.S., patients directly pay about 14% of prescription medicine costs out of their own pockets. In one survey, one in five adults in the U.S. said they failed to complete a prescribed course of medicine because of cost. The figure was one in 10 in Germany, Canada and Australia.
It's not just the president; sometimes it seems even the supermarket workers are cut from a different cloth than before.

On New Years Eve, Czech and Slovak hikers meet at the Velka Javorina peak on the border of the two states, to celebrate the Czecho-Slovak friendship. (Source: TASR)

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Ten years and what seems a lifetime ago for both Slovakia and me, I landed in Bratislava as a U.S. Fulbright professor, and though like a good Slovak Ive since migrated to Prague, I keep returning. This baffles my Czech friends.

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"Youre going there again? I only went there once, when I was 10," said one. I return multiple times yearly, and apparently unlike many Czechs, Ive also sojourned not just in the Tatras but in Presov, Kosice, south Slovakia all around Levice, Trnava and environs, Trencianske Teplice, Zilina, and two long weekends in Ruzomberok. Two long, long weekends.

"I spent my first year in university there," a former grad student told me. "I nearly committed suicide."

Coincidentally, I almost wound up teaching in Ruzomberok after my Fulbright, but then emergency triple bypass heart surgery intervened and after recovering I got a job offer in Prague. Still, I kept trying for Slovakia.

"Are you crazy?" another former Slovak student asked back in 2012. "Were all trying to get to Prague and you want to return here?" I couldnt bring myself to surrender my wannabe Slovak identity even after moving away. I spoke what another student called "kitchen Slovak" in Prague until 2014, until a teenaged Czech clerk in a Letna farmer shop interrupted me in English.

"Excuse me, sir," she said. "I dont speak Slovak. Can you speak English?"

Thats okay. When I return twice yearly to Portland, Oregon, my fiftysomething saloon buddies always ask, "So how was Czechoslovakia?" When I tell that to my Prague 8 vinoteka friends of the same generation, they smile nostalgically and reply, its still really Czechoslovakia for us, too. My Slovak friends, mostly younger, never say that, though. The separation had to happen, they say; we were the little brother for too long.

Luckily for me, the more time I spend among Slovaks and Czechs, the less I understand them, even though my wife is Slovak-American. Are Slovaks musical, emotional, almost Italian compared to those stolid Czechs? Or are Czechs the manic, lively ones? Are both the worlds most polite people, as one longtime expat claimed, or the worlds most passive-aggressive, as a Czech colleague snarled before moving to Portugal?

What I have learned in Slovakia
President Donald Trump is trailing his Democratic challenger Joe Biden in Minnesota and Wisconsin, two states recently home to large protests against racial injustice, according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll released Wednesday.

The poll found Biden up 6 percentage points, 52%-46%, among likely voters in Wisconsin. The state had not backed a Republican presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan before Trump won it by just under 23,000 votes in 2016. In Minnesota, which hasn't broken for the GOP candidate since 1972, the poll found Biden up a whopping 16% with likely voters, 57%-41%.

Both states have been at the center of protests against police brutality and racial discrimination this year.

The first wave of protests began in Minnesota at the end of May, when George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly 9 minutes. Minneapolis and dozens of cities across the country saw days of demonstrations and protests, some peaceful and some that turned destructive. A police precinct in Minneapolis was burned down, and several businesses were looted and burned.

Former Vice President Joe Biden has increased his lead over President Donald Trump in a new poll.

As protests continued in some cities through the summer, another unarmed Black man, Jacob Blake, was shot in the back multiple times by a police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August, leaving Blake paralyzed. In the protests that followed, two men were shot and killed. A third was shot and injured. The suspect, Kyle Rittenhouse, 17, was reportedly in the area trying to protect private property from damage during the protests

Trump responded to both incidents with calls for strong crackdowns on the demonstrators while accusing Biden of tolerating violence. Biden, who denounced violent demonstrators as early as May 30, accused Trump of trying to divide Americans and stoking the flames.

The president's demands for the restoration of law and order may have resonated more with registered Wisconsin voters, who were split 48%-48% over which candidate they trusted more to handle crime and safety, according to the poll. Registered Minnesota voters trusted Biden more on the issue by a 24-point margin, 59%-35%.

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Voters in both states said they trusted Biden more to discourage violence at political protests, though the margin was much narrower in Wisconsin (49%-45%) than in Minnesota (54%-40%).

Minnesota

The ABC/Post poll contrasts sharply with a Morning Consult poll of Minnesota released Sunday, which showed Biden with a 4-point lead in the state. Overall, polls have been positive for Biden there, with polling site FiveThirtyEight showing him with an average lead of 8.9 points.

Both Trump and Biden are scheduled to visit Minnesota on Friday, when early voting begins there.

Democrats' longest winning-streak is in Minnesota, the only state to back the Democrat in Reagan's 1984 victory, but Trump came within about 1.5 percentage points of winning it in 2016.

Trump and his supporters have expressed optimism he could flip it this year. While most surveys have not found Trump performing as badly in Minnesota as the new ABC/Post poll, the results did not offer much to support the Trump campaign's hopes.

Nearly 60% of Minnesota voters said they did not approve of the job Trump has done in office, while 40% said they approved.

In most national polls, one area Trump performs well is on the economy. But Minnesota voters narrowly disapproved (49%-47%) of his job managing it and trusted Biden more on the issue, 50%-45%. They also said they trusted Biden more on handling coronavirus (58%-36%), racial equality (59%-35%) and health care (56%-39%).

Minnesota voters said Biden was more honest and trustworthy than Trump, 56%-34%. When asked who they thought better understood their problems, 55% said Biden and 37% said Trump. And 51% thought Biden was the stronger leader, compared to 44% who said Trump was.

One bright spot for Trump in Minnesota was voter enthusiasm. While 67% said they were "very" enthusiastic about voting for Trump, 44% said the same for Biden.

Wisconsin

The numbers were better for Trump in Wisconsin. His job approval rating was 6 points higher (46%) and his disapproval rating was 7 points lower (52%). And, unlike in Minnesota, more voters approved (53%) than disapproved (46%) of his handling of the economy.

Wisconsin voters said they trusted Trump more on the economy, 50%-45%, but they trusted Biden more on the coronavirus (49%-42%), racial equality (51%-41%) and health care (50%-43%).

On the coronavirus, 44% of Wisconsin voters said they approved of Trump's handling of the outbreak and 54% disapproved.

When asked who they considered more honest and trustworthy, 49% said Biden and 38% said Trump. And when asked who they thought better understood their problems, 49% said Biden and 44% said Trump. But more Wisconsin voters (49%) thought Trump a strong leader than Biden (46%).

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Joe Biden leads Donald Trump in Minnesota and Wisconsin, poll finds
MCLA's Master of Business Administration offers a blend of classroom experience and practical hands-on fieldwork and academic instruction. The curriculum is designed as a part-time advanced business degree for working adults.

Students will gain knowledge and skills immediately relevant to their work, and as graduates of the MBA program they will be prepared to assume increased responsibilities in their current places of employment and also possess capabilities to move into leadership roles.

Curriculum

The core required courses are those considered vital to the necessary development of the managerial and leadership skills and knowledge of the student. Core courses cover the major functions of marketing, finance, product and service operations, and management. Core courses also introduce significant external factors impacting business decision making: competing in global economies and markets, and sustainability and social responsibility.

A capstone course in strategic management addresses integration among business functions and connections between internal operations and developments in the external environment, recognizing that management problems in the real world most often require integrative solutions.

The elective courses recognize the unique needs of the dominant private and public industry clusters in the Berkshires and allows for students from various organizations to customize the program to their interests and needs. The Special Topics in Business course will allow for the incorporation of unique local expertise or interest into the program.

Goals

The student profile of an MBA graduate will include the following areas of knowledge and skills:

Graduates will analyze and synthesize information across key functional business areas and make sound business choices.

Graduates will analyze and synthesize information across key functional business areas and make sound business choices. Graduates will apply effective communication skills.

Graduates will demonstrate the ability to use technology to analyze complex management problems by applying qualitative and quantitative techniques.

Graduates will recognize the importance of ethical and corporate social responsibility principles in the business environment.

Graduates will develop frameworks for analyzing both opportunities and risks when operating in the global business environment.

In addition, it is the goal of the program to provide knowledge and skills immediately relevant to their work. Students will gain an all-encompassing business perspective and networking system to advance in a career. Most will complete their coursework within two years.

Local & Global Networking

MCLA's department of Business Administration and Economics has strong connections to both the local business community and its network of alums; these connections are already providing a wealth of field-based learning opportunities for undergraduate students, and will serve as the basis for providing similar opportunities for you, our graduate student.

MCLA has developed a number of relationships with local employers that have established overseas business connections, as well as with international academic institutions such as Shanghai Institute of Foreign Trade (SIFT) and Hebei University in China. As the global economy continues to grow, MCLA will continue to explore ways of capitalizing on these connections to engage students in learning experiences that expand your understanding of global business challenges and opportunities.

Delivery

Designed as a part-time program to meet the needs of the working adult learner, the courses will meet through a combination of online and face-to-face instruction one course at a time. Online learning will take place using MCLA's state-of-the-art classroom management system.

Graduation Requirements

Graduation requirements include the completion of 45 credits of graduate business courses. Credit waivers may be available for those students who already possess an undergraduate business degree.

The 45 credit program consists of (5) foundation courses in addition to seven (7) required courses and three (3) elective courses.

The 30 credit program consists of seven (7) required courses and three (3) elective courses.

A minimum grade point average of "B" must be maintained throughout the life of the program. Students with undergraduate degrees in areas other than business will complete (5) five foundation courses prior to matriculation unless proficiency can be demonstrated.
The National Assemblys Departmental Committee on Health has been put on the spot over Covid-19 vaccine trials in the country.

During a Senate sitting on Tuesday, Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nassir requested a statement from the Committees chairperson on the status of the Oxford Universitys Covid-19 vaccine trials in Kenya.

Oxford University has engaged AstraZeneca Plc, which is a British-Swedish multinational biopharmaceutical company based in Cambridge, England, to develop a Covid-19 vaccine on its behalf by conducting differentiated human trials in Kenya, Nassir noted.

The lawmaker pointed out that similar Covid-19 vaccine trials were halted in the United Kingdom earlier this month and questioned the rationale behind their continued experimentation in Kenya.

It is on account of this expectation that I seek a statement from the chairperson of the Departmental Committee on Health. Have any Covid-19 vaccine trials been undertaken in Kenya since the outbreak of the pandemic, and are there any clinical trials currently in progress? the MP posed, adding: Were key stakeholders in the country consulted before Oxford University was granted greenlight to conduct its Covid-19 vaccine trials in Kenya?

Nassir also wanted to know how many similar Covid-19 clinical trials have been conducted in the country and their respective status.

This comes a week after the Kenyan government approved the first Covid-19 vaccine trials to be conducted in the country in collaboration with Oxford University.

The Health Ministry said 400 healthcare workers including doctors, nurses, clinical officers, pharmacists, mortuary attendants, and allied healthcare professionals will be recruited to take part in phased clinical trials for the coronavirus vaccine.

Health CAS Rashid Aman said all the protocols for the trials have been finalised and the country was ready to start.

We are on track with the trials which are at phase 3 which is advanced. We shall recruit some 4,000 people to undertake the trials. Even if the early trials are stopped for one reason or the other, the governments interest is to be involved in this phase three trial through our Kemri Welcome Trust Programme, said Aman.

The Health CAS also said the government has approved the use of convalescent plasma in clinical trials across the country. Plasma is believed to contain powerful antibodies that can help fight off the disease faster.

We have reviewed our protocols to include plasma in our trials though there are some questions that are still being handled through research as we gain a better understanding of the disease, Aman said.

Global trials of the Covid-19 vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University had been halted after a serious and unexpected adverse reaction in a participant in the UK.

But Oxford University later said it had been deemed safe to continue.
WAUKESHA, Wis., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Generac Power Systems (NYSE: GNRC) and Baker Electric Home Energy have teamed up to boost the U.S. residential adoption of new solar + storage with Generac's PWRcell system.

Baker is a leading integrated home energy solutions provider and is the sixth-largest residential solar installer in Southern California. Baker's market presence and expertise in power generation, management and optimization make it an ideal partner for Generac as the company continues to advance the solar + storage market with its PWRcell integrated systems and whole-home solutions.

"We are excited and honored to be working with a major player in the U.S. residential solar market like Baker. They are one of the premier organizations in the U.S. and a powerhouse in California," said Russ Minick, chief marketing officer, Generac. "Together, we can bring more solar and storage to homeowners, which is needed for reliability and resiliency now more than ever with the increase in Public Safety Power Shutoff events."

Ian Lochore, VP and General Manager of Baker's PV Division said, "We are excited to offer Generac PWRcell because of its innovative integrated system design, with its strong brand and reliability, as the most powerful energy storage system available in the market today."

Since its introduction in 2019, Generac's PWRcell solar + storage has been the most powerful energy storage system available to homeowners seeking energy savings and backup power. Now, the Generac product availability, its capacity, and its improved performance when compared with competitors is creating new and attractive options for homeowners, including a complete whole-home power solution and the ability for outdoor installations. For more information, visit www.bakerhomeenergy.com.

MEDIA CONTACT: Ashley Kast | [email protected] | 608-633-2404

About Generac

Generac Power Systems, Inc. (NYSE: GNRC) is a leading global designer and manufacturer of energy technology solutions and other power products. In 1959, our founder was committed to designing, engineering and manufacturing the first affordable backup generator. More than 60 years later, that dedication to innovation, durability and excellence has resulted in the company's ability to expand its industry-leading product portfolio into homes and small businesses, on job sites, and in industrial and mobile applications across the globe. Generac offers single-engine backup and prime power systems up to 2 MW and paralleled solutions up to 100 MW and uses a variety of fuel sources to support power needs for its customers. Generac hosts Power Outage Central, the definitive source of U.S. power outage data, at Generac.com/poweroutagecentral. For more information about Generac and its products and services, visit Generac.com.

SOURCE Generac Power Systems, Inc.

About Baker Electric Home Energy

Built on over 80 years of electrical contracting expertise, San Diego-based Baker Electric Home Energy has provided home energy solutions to more than 13,000 Southern California homeowners. Known for exemplary customer service and business ethics, Baker designs, engineers and installs solar power systems and home batteries for residences across Southern California. Additionally, the company provides full heating and air conditioning services and smart home solutions.

The company is a BBB accredited business with an A+ rating and has been the winner (2016, 2017,2019) or finalist (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019) for the BBB Torch Award for Ethics in the 151+ Employee Category. In addition to the regional award, Baker received the BBB's coveted International Torch Award in 2017. Baker ranked No. 14 nationally in the Top 100 Solar Residential Contractors List for Solar Power World (2020). Baker has also been ranked by the San Diego Business Journal as its No. 31 Fastest-Growing Private Company and is a four-time winner of the Angie's List Super Service Award.

SOURCE Generac Power Systems, Inc.

Related Links

www.generac.com


Martin had been staying with family for about a week, and family members became curious after he asked them on at least two occasions to purchase clothing for him despite arriving on a Greyhound bus in Chicago toting the bags, Taylor said.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 17:27:02|Editor: huaxia

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NANNING, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- The 11th Pan-Beibu Gulf (PBG) Economic Cooperation Forum will be held on Oct. 15 in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, with main focus on cooperation between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The event, to be held both online and offline, will have discussions on topics such as the construction of international gateway ports and the new international land-sea trade corridor, as well as the development of the digital and marine economies.

The PBG economic zone covers Guangxi, Guangdong and Hainan in China, as well as some ASEAN members including Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei, and Thailand.

Initiated in 2006, the PBG Economic Cooperation Forum has attracted more than 3,000 government officials, scholars and entrepreneurs from around the world.

China's trade with ASEAN stood at 2.51 trillion yuan (about 371 billion U.S. dollars) in the first seven months of 2020, up 6.6 percent year-on-year, data from the General Administration of Customs shows.

ASEAN remained China's biggest trading partner during the same period, accounting for 14.6 percent of the nation's total foreign trade volume, amid upgraded free trade area protocols and supply chain cooperation. Enditem
New Delhi :

A Jodhpur sessions court will pronounce its verdict on Wednesday in the case under Arms Act against actor Salman Khan.

This is one of the four cases against the actor. While the Rajasthan High Court has acquitted him in two cases of poaching of chinkara, trial in the third case of alleged poaching of two blackbucks is on.

Salman Khan and his sister Alveera have already arrived in Jodhpur on Tuesday. He will be appearing in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate on Wednesday morning.

Besides the cases of poaching of endangered antelopes under Wildlife (Protection) Act, a case under sections 3/25 and 3/27 of the Arms Act was filed against Khan for allegedly keeping and using the fire arms with expired licence in the poaching of blackbucks in Kankani near Jodhpur on October 1-2, 1998.

Arguments by both the sides in this case have been completed on January 9, after which magistrate Dalpat Singh Rajpurohit reserved the judgement for January 18 directing the actor to be present in the court.

Also read: Salman Khan Arms Act case: Jodhpur court to pronounce verdict on January 18; know all about it

Before this, Khan had appeared in the court on March 10 last year for recording of his statements, wherein he had pleaded innocence and had stated that he had been framed in the case by the forest department.

His counsel H M Saraswat said, We had argued in the court that there was no evidence that Khan was carrying fire arms either during his stay here or during alleged poaching. What he was found in possession with, were actually the air guns.

The defence also raised questions on the prosecution permission arguing that it was given by the then district magistrate Rajat Kumar Mishra and was not lawful.

Prosecution counsel B S Bhati, replying to the arguments, said that the prosecution permission was based on the facts and evidences furnished by the police in its investigation.

The case had reached the stage of judgement earlier on February 25, 2014 but sudden appearance of an undecided prosecution application before the trial court, moved by the then prosecution counsel in 2006 put off the verdict for two flat years.

(With inputs from PTI)

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A hike through the woods and a pair of friends sitting at a table in the Caribbean sun.

It all seems perfectly innocent, although the only man in the photos  surrounded as ever by attractive young women  is Jeffrey Epstein. And, as we now know, nothing to do with Epstein was ever innocent.

For the towering blonde in these newly unearthed pictures is Slovak former model Nadia Marcinkova, now a glamorous jet pilot with her own aviation company, but once allegedly one of the billionaire paedophiles most depraved acolytes.

Often, the teenage girls who ministered to the twisted needs of Epstein at his Palm Beach mansion found they werent always alone with him. Sometimes, they told police, they were joined by an Eastern European they believed to be his girlfriend. Epstein would allegedly pay the girls to have sex with Marcinkova while he watched and took photos that he later displayed around the house.

Close: Nadia Marcinkova sitting with Epstein as he worked in his dressing gown

At other times, they said, Marcinkova  then aged around 19  would pressure them to have sex with her and the billionaire paedophile, sometimes in orgies. British accuser Sarah Ransome said she once had sex with Marcinkova and Alan Dershowitz, Epsteins high-powered lawyer, in New York, although he vehemently denies it. Epstein reportedly told some of his victims Marcinkova was his sex-slave after he had bought her, aged 14, from her parents in Eastern Europe.

She certainly showed a slavish devotion when she visited him 67 times during the year he spent behind bars in Florida in 2008 for procuring a minor for prostitution.

Marcinkova, now 34-year-old pilot calling herself Global Girl on social media, has once more been dragged into the Epstein scandal after the new photographs taken on his private island were revealed.

Also in the spotlight is Sarah Kellen, another of Epsteins young female acolytes and the alleged deputy to Ghislaine Maxwell, currently remanded in custody in a New York jail accused of recruiting girls as young as 14 for him.

Kellen and Marcinkova  both of whom have changed their names since the scandal broke  are assumed to be among the next targets of New York prosecutors who have been assured by dozens of Epstein victims that he certainly didnt act alone in his sex crimes. US Attorney General William Barr has warned his alleged accomplices they should not rest easy.

Marcinkova, now 34-year-old pilot calling herself Global Girl on social media, has once more been dragged into the Epstein scandal after the new photographs taken on his private island were revealed

Marcinkova long ago established herself as one of Epsteins most devoted female followers.

Theyre very close, an Epstein insider told a local newspaper when Marcinkova bombarded him with visits in his Florida prison 12 years ago. She went mostly on weekends ... I guess you can call her his squeeze. Prison officials said the visits were monitored and there was no alone time.

Marcinkova was certainly close to Epstein according to a witness who was there when the newly uncovered, undated photos were taken. They show Marcinkova hiking with Epstein and sitting beside him as, draped in a dressing gown, he conducts business at his estate on Little St James in the US Virgin Islands.

The insider said: Nadia and Jeffrey seemed to really love each other. It was as if they had a romantic relationship.

They were affectionate to each other, often holding hands.

Not merely because she towered over all the others  including the under-sized Epstein  Marcinkova always stood out as the most fascinating, and disturbing, of the financiers alleged female accomplices, except perhaps Maxwell herself.

A hike through the woods and a pair of friends sitting at a table in the Caribbean sun. It all seems perfectly innocent, although the only man in the photos  surrounded as ever by attractive young women  is Jeffrey Epstein

For if the claims are true about how she came into his perverted orbit, they bear out allegations that Epstein was involved in an international sex trafficking ring which brought young girls from poor countries to the US under the guise of recruiting them as models.

Marcinkova, who has changed her name to Marcinko, has steadfastly refused to comment on Epstein or the claims against him.

However she insists she was a victim of Epstein and her lawyers yesterday told the Mail: Nadia wishes to express her compassion and support for her fellow survivors who also fell prey to Jeffrey Epsteins predatory abusive behaviour.

Any claim by her to have been a complete innocent is contradicted by many, not least US prosecutors. They named her, Kellen and two other young female Epstein associates as potential co-conspirators who were granted immunity from prosecution for past crimes under a controversial 2007 deal that saw Epstein serve just a year in prison.

In 2010, Marcinkova and Kellen cited their Fifth Amendment right to avoid incriminating themselves when quizzed under oath by lawyers for alleged victims of Epstein, who killed himself in jail last year.

When asked, Have you ever been made to perform sexually on Prince Andrew?, Marcinkova replied: Fifth. (The prince strenuously denies any wrongdoing.)

Marcinkova, who has changed her name to Marcinko, has steadfastly refused to comment on Epstein or the claims against him

How did the girl born in the former Czechoslovakia end up as a key figure in the Epstein scandal? Although her father has reportedly rejected claims that he and his wife ever sold her to Epstein, records show she came to the US in 2000 when she would have been 14 or 15.

It is claimed that she reached New York through a model agency, MC2, that Epstein had helped set up in New York and Miami.

The agencys bookkeeper insisted Marcinkova never actually did any modelling but was one of various girls  some as young as 13  who lived in flats controlled by Epstein close to his home in Manhattans Upper East Side.

Virginia Roberts Giuffre, Prince Andrews accuser, claimed in 2014 court papers the arrangement was a cover for sex trafficking as most of the girls came from poor countries and were lured to the US by the false promise of making good money as models.

Marcinkova became a full-time member of the Epstein household, although her official function wasnt clear. What the she certainly did do, however, was fly with Epstein  a lot.

The multi-millionaire kept a fleet of planes, the flagship being the notorious Lolita Express, a luxuriously customised Boeing 727.

One Palm Beach girl told police she was 16 when she made the first of hundreds of trips to Epsteins mansion, breaking down in tears as she described how she often had sex with Marcinkova. Epstein would allegedly watch and choreograph her activities. In the past decade or so, Marcinkova has disappeared from public view.

Since the 2008 case, she has obtained a pilots licence and she now boasts an impressive social media following under the Instagram handle Fly Global Girl.

In 2015, it was revealed that Marcinkova and Kellen were running companies from a Manhattan property owned by Epsteins brother Mark.

It was at this 66th Street address that Marcinkova set up an aviation company, Aviloop. She says she is licensed to fly multi-engined aircraft and Gulfstream business jets as well as being an aerobatic pilot and flight instructor.

Light-heartedly, her website claims she switched from modelling to flying because she was ready for longer runways.

Marcinkova may soon be coming down to Earth with a bump if she becomes the next Epstein associate to face her day in court.
Theres been a further boost for Brazilian connectivity with the announcement from global communications company Viasat of the expansion of its residential internet service to 14 additional states in Brazil.

Brazilian residents across all five regions of the country can now subscribe to Viasats satellite internet service with speeds up to 20 Megabits per second and data-rich packages that offer up to 80 Gigabytes of data per month.

Viasats residential internet service initially launched in July in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Pernambuco, Parana, Rio Grande do Sul, Amazonas and the Federal District. The service is now expanding to 14 additional states including Santa Catarina, Espirito Santo, Goias, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Bahia, Ceara, Alagoas, Sergipe, Maranhao, Para, Rondonia, Amapa, and Acre.

With its latest expansion, Viasat now offers service to more than 93 per cent of the countrys population across 21 states and the Federal District.

The companys aim is to be the only satellite internet service provider capable of making high-speed internet available across 100 percent of the country upon completion of the residential launch rollout.

Viasat's residential internet service for Brazil uses bandwidth from the Telebras SGDC-1 satellite to deliver satellite internet services. The service rollout has an expected completion date before the end of 2020.

Viasat offers two plans. Each plan includes download speeds of either 10 Mbps or 20 Mbps, along with in-home Wi-Fi.

Viasat is working with local company Visiontec to provide in-market sales, fulfilment and technical support expertise for the residential internet service.
How Europe coexists with the coronavirus

Having abandoned hopes of eradicating the virus or developing a vaccine quickly, Europeans have largely gone back to work and school, leading lives as normally as possible even as the possibility of a second wave haunts the continent.

Europeans are putting to use the lessons from the pandemics initial phase: the need to wear masks and practice social distancing, the importance of testing and contact tracing, the critical advantages of reacting nimbly and locally. All of those measures are intended to prevent the kind of national lockdowns that crippled economies this year. We are in a living-with-the-virus phase, said Roberto Speranza, the health minister of Italy.

Its a very different story across the English Channel, however. With a second wave imminent, Britain is undergoing a testing crisis, in which the country cannot meet current demand and labs are overwhelmed with unprocessed samples. The reopening of schools and businesses now hangs in the balance.
Lawmakers could also act. The California Legislature recently passed a bill that would require companies with headquarters in the state to have at least one board member from an underrepresented ethnic group, or who identifies as gay, bisexual or transgender, by the end of 2021. A spokesman for Gov. Gavin Newsom declined to say if he intends to sign the bill. (The measure is modeled on a 2018 California law that requires companies to appoint at least one woman to their boards.)
Journalists from around the world participate in the World Journalists Conference online, with participants from Korea attending in person at the Korea Press Center in Seoul, Tuesday, the second day of the three-day event hosted by the Journalists Association of Korea. / Yonhap



By Park Han-sol



Journalists from around the globe have said the peace process on the Korean Peninsula must continue, calling on the two Koreas to carry out agreements made during the two inter-Korean summits between President Moon Jae-in and leader Kim Jong-un.



The calls were made Wednesday, on the last day of the three-day 2020 World Journalists Conference held in Seoul by the Journalists Association of Korea. Nearly 100 journalists from 60 countries joined the event online due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.



Under the theme of "Peace Policy in the Korean Peninsula" in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the 1950-53 Korean War, the global participants formed a consensus on the importance of peace and prosperity on the peninsula and discussed the role of journalists in inter-Korean and North Korea-U.S. relations.






The outside of Clair M. Fagin Hall, part of the nursing school at the University of Pennsylvania. Read more

In late August, nursing students at the University of Pennsylvania joined whats become a collegiate rallying cry throughout the pandemic: demands for refunded tuition. While nursing students cite a specific lack of access to in-person clinical training, schools including Drexel, the University of Miami, Brown, and others nationwide have been slapped with class-action lawsuits more broadly decrying their decision to charge full (or near-full) tuition from students who cant access in-person education with campuses closed due to COVID-19. Although schools like Penn have discounted some fees this fall, some students believe those steps dont go far enough to cover the gap between remote and in-person learning since the pandemic shuttered campuses in March.

 READ MORE: Penn Nursing students seek partial refund of tuition, saying virtual clinical training isnt worth the full cost

To tap this debate, The Inquirer asked a Penn undergraduate student and a professor: Should schools refund students for COVID-impacted semesters?

Yes: Online classes are significantly less than what students have to sacrifice.

By Kaliyah Dorsey

The annual price tag to receive a private undergraduate university education in Philadelphia peaks at over $50,000, leaving families spending thousands of dollars a year in exchange for the promise of a world-class education that will open doors of opportunity for their child.

Readings, PowerPoints, and discussion boards arent nearly the end-all-be-all of what makes a class effective or fulfilling. Successful learning depends on more than a students access to WiFi and a computer. It is crucial to consider the ways that a remote semester blurs the line between work and home, consequently increasing the emotional labor learning places on students when thinking about what a semester completely online is really worth relative to an in-person one.

In an article for the Atlantic, Julie Beck spoke with Arlie Hochschild, who introduced the term emotional labor in her 1983 book The Managed Heart, to understand what such labor really entails. Hochschild defines it as the work, for which youre paid, which centrally involves trying to feel the right feeling for that job.

Essentially, emotional labor means that while you may be expected to also perform physical and mental labor for a job, part of your value hinges on your capacity to manage and produce a particular feeling. If you do not provide this emotion, you feel alienated. This term is often used to describe the idea that certain jobs require certain emotions. A cop needs to act tough, while a flight attendant should be sweet and friendly.

Remote schooling already demands mental labor  more filling out planners, taking notes, writing papers, and self-instructing such as researching concepts when peers and professors are not as readily accessible  which may be annoying and draining. Add to that emotional labor that makes a student feel less valuable and/or alienated.

Universities maintain prestige, in part, by admitting the brightest and most intellectually engaged students. If you attend class and begin to panic when the teacher calls on you, or your emotions otherwise inhibit you from displaying your ideas  all more likely under the stress of the coronavirus  you will likely feel like your value has declined. Your ability to do well in that class is determined by your ability to juggle physical and mental labor, while simultaneously managing anxiety by up keeping the image of a valuable and successful college student. As Hochschild says: I do think that managing anxiety associated with obligatory chores is emotional labor. And obligatory chores certainly include what you have to do to, at bare minimum, pass a class, like attend virtual recitations and class meetings.

What kind of $50,000-a-year education requires students to maintain a normal appearance, teaching themselves more than usual, all while in the same room they socialize, workout, sleep, and relax in? Kaliyah Dorsey

Students and their families pay thousands of dollars to receive a quality education that will lead to full-time employment and a successful career. What kind of $50,000-a-year education requires students to maintain a normal appearance, teaching themselves more material than usual, all while in the same room they socialize, workout, sleep, and relax in  amid a global crisis? Some students are at home in harmful family situations, while others still dont have their own room or space to work in, making it even harder to get in character when class time rolls around.

For both public and private colleges and universities, who make a business of educating the future leaders of tomorrow, it is urgent that they shift from a business view to a more graceful and compassionate one. Decreasing the cost of tuition is the bare minimum in acknowledging the clear disparity between remote and in-person classes.

Kaliyah Dorsey is a junior at the University of Pennsylvania, studying English and communications.

No: We dont know enough about teaching, period, to gauge what students are missing.

By Jonathan Zimmerman

Several years ago, I attended a debate about online education. One side said virtual classes would allow the best professors to reach the largest number of students for the least cost. The other side warned about rote instruction, technical mishaps, and inequitable access to WiFi in the brave new online world.

So one team said everything would be better, and the other said everything would be worse. But to sustain either claim, you would have to know what students were already learning in face-to-face classes.

We dont, which is why we should not offer discounts for virtual instruction right now. Over the past century, colleges and universities have failed to create a rigorous system for evaluating teaching. We really have no idea whether our online instruction this semester is below the professional norm because we dont have such a norm. Were amateurs.

That doesnt mean we all teach badly because amateurs can be really good at what they do. It means we lack a shared standard for good practice and a mechanism for judging whether were meeting it. The books that I write  including, ironically, my forthcoming history of college teaching  are evaluated by experts in my field. But there is no comparable peer review of my instruction.

 READ MORE: Charging full tuition for online classes? No, say some students, despite the coronavirus.

Im starting my fifth year at Penn, and Ive never been observed by a colleague or supervisor in class. I could be terrific or terrible or  more likely  somewhere in between. But nobody would know.

True, our students rate us every semester. Student evaluations can tell you important things about a professor, like whether she returns written work promptly and makes herself available outside of class.

But they cant tell you how well the professor teaches, which requires expert judgment. I couldnt visit a physicists class and evaluate his instruction because I dont know enough about physics. The same goes for his students. Theyre amateurs, too, and we shouldnt rely on them to assess his teaching. Only his colleagues can do that, and  for the most part  they dont.

Nor do most faculty members receive serious training for the classroom. As a doctoral student in history, I spent many years learning the methods and practices of research in my discipline. But my teaching preparation amounted to a few short lectures and workshops, followed by a none-too-reassuring quip that I would find out the rest on the job.

We cant put a dollar sign on something that we have never bothered to measure. Jonathan Zimmerman

Over the past two decades, psychologists and other learning specialists have developed a strong body of scholarship about the most effective ways to teach college students. But it remains the missing course  as Temple professor David Gooblar calls it  for most faculty members, who dont study it. And we cant teach what we dont know.

Most of all, we cant put a dollar sign on something that we have never bothered to measure. This semester, Im teaching two courses online that I used to instruct face-to-face. Are my students learning less now? By what percent? Its anybodys guess.

I truly wish we could give a discount to all students who were forced to move from the classroom to Zoom. But teaching itself has been so discounted that we cant calculate how much they should get back. We simply dont know enough about how good  or bad  we have been.

The real issue at our universities isnt online instruction  its the amateur status of all instruction. The real question is how long our students  and their families, and their governments  will abide by it.

Jonathan Zimmerman teaches education and history at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of The Amateur Hour: A History of College Teaching in America, which will be published next month by Johns Hopkins University Press.
Consolidates bank's reporting on a single platform for financial/statistical, AnaCredit, and CRR2/Basel-driven mandates including ICAAP and ILAAP, and provides foundation for strategic expansion

LONDON and FRANKFURT, Germany, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- AxiomSL, the industry's leading provider of risk and regulatory reporting solutions, today announces that VP Bank, one of the largest banks in Liechtenstein, has selected AxiomSL's ControllerView data integrity and control platform, as a foundation for its risk and regulatory compliance across Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Singapore and Switzerland, - encompassing financial and statistical reporting such as CSSF, FINMA, AnaCredit for EBA, MAS 610 for Singapore, and CRR2- and BCBS-driven requirements including ICAAP and ILAAP for FMA.

The high-performance, fully integrated, data-driven platform will enable VP Bank to manage an array of risk and regulatory mandates on a single platform, with full transparency across all processes from ingestion, calculation, reconciliation, and validation to submission. VP Bank will use the platform strategically to further data harmonization, streamline processes, enhance automation, bolster internal controls, and strengthen risk and regulatory reporting across the enterprise.

"Selecting AxiomSL will enhance the value of our investment in regulatory technology, optimize efficiency, and deliver business insights," stated Robert Kilga, Head of Group Financial Management & Reporting, VP Bank. "With AxiomSL's single platform, we can ingest data in its native format from multiple sources thus creating synergies between capital, liquidity, and other business functions enterprise-wide," he continued. "AxiomSL's system provides intuitive, hands-on transparency into all processes from inception to filing, enhancing our confidence in the data integrity and auditability of our reporting, and enabling us to meet ever-changing regulatory requirements."

"We are thrilled that VP Bank, such a well-respected institution, has joined our esteemed user community in the DACH region and globally," said Claudia Thurner, EMEA General Manager, AxiomSL. "In these times of global uncertainly, complying with a wide range of regulatory and risk requirements across jurisdictions is more complex, data intensive, and time sensitive than ever. Financial institutions require a reliable technology partner who can provide global coverage while understanding the intricacies of local and regional regulatory demands," Thurner continued. "Our industry and technical expertise will enable VP Bank to streamline their processes, scale faster, and adapt swiftly and confidently to change. We look forward to a strong and strategic collaboration with VP Bank in support of their vision and growth journey."

With the upcoming Basel IV-driven expansion, financial institutions like VP Bank are faced with the next generation of capital requirements that can easily overwhelm systems if they lack the data transparency, proper methodologies and controls to perform calculations accurately across all risk types. These calculations may have a profound effect on the banks' portfolio management and even the entire business model.

To address these challenges, AxiomSL's Basel Capital Solution incorporates a flexible data dictionary architecture, seamless calculation updates, full drilldown to data and processes, transparency into model calculations, and dynamic data lineage. In addition, AxiomSL's regulatory experts provide VP Bank with a highly efficient change-management mechanism that enables them to be current with all Basel-driven changes.

About AxiomSL

AxiomSL is a global leader in risk analytics, data-management, and regulatory-reporting solutions. Leveraging more than 25 years' experience, AxiomSL combines its deep industry experience and intelligent data-management platform to deliver solutions and services around regulatory and risk reporting, liquidity, capital and credit, operations, trade and transactions, and tax analytics. The platform can be deployed on premise or on the cloud. Its client base spans regional and global financial institutions with more than $43 trillion in total assets and investment managers with more than $11 trillion in assets under management. Its coverage encompasses more than 110 regulators across 55 jurisdictions. AxiomSL is in the top 20 of the Chartis RiskTech100 2020 ranking.

Website: www.axiomsl.com

VP Bank

VP Bank Ltd was founded in 1956 and is one of the largest banks in Liechtenstein with 979 employees at mid-year 2020 (full-time equivalent 908). It has offices in Vaduz, Zurich, Luxembourg, Singapore, Hong Kong and Road Town on the British Virgin Islands. VP Bank Group offers asset management and investment consultancy for private individuals and intermediaries. As of 30 June 2020, assets under management at VP Bank Group totaled CHF 45.6 billion. VP Bank is listed on the Swiss stock exchange SIX and has an "A" rating from Standard & Poor's.

Website: www.vpbank.com

Press contacts

Shamira Alidina

Media Relations Director, Dina Communications

Tel +44 (0) 7801 590718

Email: [email protected]

Francine Gittins

Global Head of Marketing and Communications, AxiomSL

Tel: +1 212 248 4188

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE AxiomSL

Related Links

http://www.axiomsl.com


U.S. Marshals guard the area outside of the federal U.S. District Court in Washington, June 28, 2014. (Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo)

Minnesota Man Faces Terror Charge for Allegedly Joining ISIS

MINNEAPOLISA Minnesota man who is accused of joining the ISIS terrorist group in Syria has been returned to the United States to face terrorism charges.

Abdelhamid Al-Madioum made his first court appearance in U.S. District Court in Minnesota on Wednesday. Authorities say he was vacationing with his family in Morocco in 2015 when he secretly booked a flight to Istanbul, Turkey, and then traveled to Syria. Hes charged with providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

Al-Madioum was recently in a prison in northern Syria with alleged ISIS fighters, according to news reports.

A search warrant affidavit unsealed in 2017 says Al-Madioum, who was 18 when he left for Syria, is a native of Morocco and a naturalized U.S. citizen. He began studying computer science at Normandale Community College in Bloomington in 2014.

In June 2015, Al-Madioum and his family traveled to Morocco for a two-month vacation to visit relatives. But on July 7, 2015, Al-Madioum skipped dinner saying he wasnt feeling well, and the next day, he was gone. He left everything behind except for his cellphone and passport, according to the search warrant affidavit.

Al-Madioums family told the FBI that he called them shortly after they returned to the United States and said he was working in a hospital in Mosul, Iraq, which was then under IS control. But a member of the FBIs joint terrorism task force wrote in the affidavit that new recruits commonly misinform loved ones about their actual locations and activities so as not to cause distress.

The FBI searched Al-Madioums home in 2015 and found handwritten notes that indicated he had been planning to go to Syria, including how he could route money through various accounts, a rehearsed backstory in case he was stopped, and alternative travel ideas if his plans to go to Istanbul were thwarted. The notes also contained a sketch of an image that appears on a flag associated with IS, with the Arabic word for allegiance written next to it.

Speaking to CBS News from the Syrian prison in 2019, Al-Madioum said he was recruited to ISIS through a Twitter contact and had watched propaganda videos that showed IS members helping Muslims. He said he never fought for the group but had hopes of becoming a doctor.

They gave me a blank check to buy whatever I wanted, said Al-Madioum, who claimed to have lost his arm in a U.S. airstrike.

Al-Madioum is among several Minnesotans suspected of leaving the United States to join the terrorist group. In total, roughly three dozen people have left Minnesota to join militant groups in Somalia or Syria. In 2016, nine Minnesota men were sentenced on federal charges of conspiring to join the terrorist group.

By Amy Forliti
By PTI

NEW DELHI: The Centre favoured expeditious disposal of pending cases against former and sitting lawmakers on Wednesday before the Supreme Court and said these matters "must reach their logical conclusion" within a time frame.

A bench of Justices N V Ramana, Surya Kanta and Hrishikesh Roy was told by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, that he has no problems with the suggestions made for speedy disposal of case by senior advocate Vijay Hansaria, appointed as amicus curiae in the matter.

Mehta said that if proceedings of any of these cases against lawmakers are stayed by the high court, then the top court may direct the it to decide the matter in a time bound manner.

ALSO READ | Over 200 cases against lawmakers under special laws pending in different states: SC told

He told the bench that these cases "must reach their logical conclusion within a time bound manner" and if any central agency (like CBI or ED) is not proceeding with the matter despite there being no stay then he would take up the issue at another level.

"Whatever directions will come from the Supreme Court, the Union of India will welcome them," Mehta said, adding that if there are any lacunae regarding infrastructure of special courts, then the top court may direct the state government concerned to do the needful within a maximum of one month.

At the outset, Hansaria, along with advocate Sneha Kalita, referred to the details of cases against MPs and MLAs from his report.

The bench asked Hansaria about the status of the cases being investigated by central agencies like CBI and ED, some of them pending since several years.

Hansaria said that several Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA) cases have been stayed by the high courts like in Karnataka and many cases under the PC Act and the PMLA against elected representatives have been stayed by the Telangana high court.

He said in some of these cases trials have not been expedited and many of them are pending at the stage of framing of charges.

The bench observed that there may be cases where the central agencies have registered FIRs but nothing much has happened thereafter.

To this, Hansaria said there are several cases where even charges have not been framed.

The bench observed that there are several issues like non-appointment of public prosecutors, charge sheets not being filed and witnesses not being called.

The apex court observed that if there is only one special court in one state then it may not be possible to conduct all these cases in a time bound manner.

Mehta said that the court may consider having a particular number of cases in one special court.

He also referred to the geographical aspect of a particular state and said that the chief justice of the high court of states may decide the number of cases to be dealt with by a special court.

Hansaria said that there are states which are big and it is very difficult for the witnesses to travel from one part of the state to other part.

Mehta said the Centre had released funds to the states for creation of special courts and several states have not yet filed the utilisation certificate with the Centre.

The bench, which said it would consider the suggestions given by the solicitor general, said it will pass order on these issues which have also been raised in Hansaria's report.

At the fag end of hearing, Mehta requested the court that direction regarding funding issue may be avoided at this stage as he will have to take instruction on this aspect.

Mehta said he agreed with the demarcation that cases having offences attracting life sentence and under the PC Act should be given priority as suggested by the amicus curiae.

Hansaria had suggested that after death or life sentence cases and corruption, money laundering cases, the special court should take up cases like SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and Offences under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, (POCSO).

He said that thereafter the special court may take up cases of offences punishable with imprisonment for seven years or more and other crime related matters.

The top court was earlier informed that the politicians are facing criminal trials in 4,442 cases across the nation and out of these, sitting MPs and MLAs are undertrials in as many as 2,556 such matters, sought further information from all high courts about other pending cases against sitting and former lawmakers.

Hansaria in his supplementary report said that more than 200 cases are pending against lawmakers under special laws such as the PCA, PMLA and the POCSO Act, 2012 in different states.

Over a dozen cases are also pending against Members of Parliament or Members of Legislative Assembly (both former and sitting) for offences under the Income Tax Act, Companies Act, Prevention of Arms Act, Excise Act and NDPS Act, the apex court was informed.

The report said the analysis of pending cases also shows that there is no uniformity on setting up of Special Courts for MPs/MLAs throughout the country.

The plea filed by advocate Ashiwini Upadhyay has also sought a direction to the Centre to take appropriate steps to debar the person convicted for the offences specified under some provisions of the Representation of the People Act (RPA) from contesting MLA or MP election, forming a political party or becoming office bearer of political party.
Bill Gates doesnt mince words when he talks about the United States feeble response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

You know, this has been a mismanaged situation every step of the way, the philanthropist said in an interview with Stat News published Tuesday. Its shocking. Its unbelievable  the fact that we would be among the worst in the world.

You can understand Gates frustration. In a March 2018 meeting with President Donald Trump, Gates urged the president to invest in technologies to respond to a pandemic.

Not only did his advice go unheeded, but two months later Trumps former national security adviser, John Bolton, restructured the presidents National Security Council and disbanded the global health unit, which focused in large part on pandemic preparedness.

Here are some takeaways from Tuesdays interview:

Early in the outbreak, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation urged the administration to come up with a plan for testing individuals for COVID-19 and show the surveillance data on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. Gates said the foundation insisted that only commercial laboratories that could guarantee return of test results within 24 hours should be paid. Results returned later than 24 hours were useless in containing the spread of the virus.

Six months into the pandemic, the U.S. still does not have large-scale testing delivering results within 24 hours.

Gates slammed Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn for mischaracterizing findings from a Mayo Clinic COVID-19 study. Hahn said said researchers had seen a 35% survival benefit with the use of convalescent plasma.

This is third-grade math. I mean, are you kidding? Gates told Stat News. The head of the FDA got up and said it was a 35% death reduction where its not even a 3% reduction based on just a tiny little subset that was nonstatistical. This is unheard of. Hahn later admitted to the misstatement.

The Trump administrations recent action to rewrite the CDC guidance to say that asymptomatic people didnt need to be tested astounded Gates. Public health experts said will make it harder to find and isolate people spreading SARS-CoV-2 early, hindering efforts to contain the virus.

Gates criticized the addition of Scott Atlas, a neuroradiologist and a public policy fellow at Stanford Universitys Hoover Institution, to the White House coronavirus task force. Atlas has no background in epidemiology or infectious diseases, and reportedly has supported a herd immunity strategy despite denying any advocacy of it to the White House.

The administrations now hired this Stanford guy who has no background at all just because he agrees with their crackpot theories, said Gates.

Gate cant understand why nasopharyngeal swabs are still used for testing instead of simply having swabs circled in the nostril, which is just as accurate and far less unpleasant and invasive, according to research led by the Gates Foundation.



Mike Moffitt is an SFGATE Reporter. Email: moffitt@sfgate.com. Twitter: @Mike_at_SFGate
HOLYOKE - The 29-year-old son of a former Holyoke Police sergeant is in custody on bomb-making charges after several pipe bombs were found Tuesday in a bag in the garage at his Pleasant Street residence.

Gregory A. Bennett, a resident of 91 Pleasant Street is charged with four counts of possession of illegal possession of incendiary devices. Bennett is the son of former Holyoke Police Sgt. Gary Bennett, who owns the Pleasant Street property.

The discovery of the devices Tuesday afternoon by a family member who alerted police led to the evacuation of as many as six neighboring houses, and the closing of Pleasant Street to traffic.

The state police bomb squad and members of the FBI and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were on the scene for several hours Tuesday afternoon and into the night.

The bomb squad took the devices and rendered them safe, according to the office of state Fire Marshal Peter J. Ostroskey. The materials have been turned over to the state police Crime Lab.

Bennett was scheduled to be arraigned in Holyoke District Court on Wednesday morning. Information about the arraignment was not available.

According to court documents, Bennett has been in trouble with police previously. In 2018, he was charged with unlawful possession of ammunition, and at the beginning of August, Holyoke police filed a criminal complaint against him for reportedly shining a laser pointer at passing vehicles. He also has what is described as a long history of harassing people.

Family members told police they all believe Bennett has mental health issues.

The police report filed by Holyoke Police Officer Erik J. Martin notes he was called to the Pleasant Street home by Bennetts brother, Jason Bennett.

Jason Bennett, who does not live at the Pleasant Street home, went into his fathers garage to work on his bicycle. He spotted a black binocular bag on a shelf in the rear of the garage that appeared to have been placed there recently.

When he peeked inside, he spotted a number of black cylinder-shaped objects that were wrapped with electrical tape and appeared to have wicks. He immediately thought they were homemade bombs, and called Martin on Martins cellphone.

Martin, in his report, said when he looked into the bag, as a result of his police training and his experience as a soldier in Iraq and Afghanistan, he "immediately recognized these to be consistent with home-made improvised explosive devices, specifically pipe bombs.

Martin then backed out of the garage and called the fire department, which ordered the neighborhood evacuation.

A search warrant was obtained for the entire premises, and the search revealed an undisclosed amount of fireworks and spent shell casings. The fireworks were fitted with green wicks that matched the wicks on the pipe bombs, according to police.
Woodbury, NY, Sept. 16, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Military AutoSource, the only vehicle buying program exclusively for the U.S. military community serving overseas, has partnered with TrueCar, Inc. to offer those based in the U.S. with a car buying program designed with them in mind.

Were thrilled to be working with TrueCar to expand our program and provide the stateside military community with a premier car buying service that aligns with the Military AutoSource mission and heritage, said David Goldring, Chairman & CEO. After six decades spent serving our armed forces around the globe, we have a deep appreciation and respect for the military community. TrueCar shares our passion and commitment to providing them with the service and value they deserve, added Goldring.

For 15 years TrueCar has been a leader in driving a more transparent and customer-centric car buying experience. Their nationwide network of dealer partners stands ready to serve our military through this unique program that features additional value and benefits available exclusively to our armed forces, including active duty, veterans and retirees.

For close to 60 years, Military AutoSource has enabled our military stationed and deployed overseas to purchase a U.S. specification vehicle for delivery to select overseas duty stations, or stateside in coordination with their rotation back to the U.S.. In partnership with The Exchange and NEXCOM, Military AutoSource operates facilities on military bases around the world providing our service members with a unique buying experience and benefits not available anywhere else; all designed with consideration to the unique demands and realities of military life.

Were proud to partner with Military AutoSource to extend TrueCars best-in-class car buying experience and suite of military exclusive benefits to their customers and their families who primarily live on and around military bases here in the U.S., said Mike Darrow President & CEO of TrueCar. Our shared commitment to the U.S. Military and to providing them with unique value and first-rate customer service serves as the foundation for a great partnership, and one with extraordinary potential, added Darrow.

Validated service members using the TrueCar powered Military AutoSource Car Buying Service, expected to launch in the next few months, will receive military only benefits including:

$500-$4,000 Bonus Cash from Select Manufacturers

Up to $4,000 Worth of Benefits for Repair and Auto Deductible Reimbursement*

Dedicated Military Customer Service Hotline

Dealer Discounts on New and Used Vehicles

*Only available when you report your new or used purchase from a Certified Dealer within 45 days. Some benefits are not available in New York or New Hampshire. For more information please visit https://www.truecar.com/report-purchase/

Overseas Military Sales Corp. (Military AutoSource) is headquartered in Woodbury, New York, with operational offices in Germany, the United Kingdom, Korea and Dubai. For close to 60 years, Military AutoSource has been serving the military community by providing U.S. specification cars, motorcycles and off-road vehicles to active duty military, civilian, DOD employees and the diplomatic community stationed on U.S. installations outside the United States. The on-base division of Military AutoSource is authorized by The Exchange (AAFES) and Navy Exchange (NEXCOM) and maintains operations in close to 70 locations in over 20 countries, with an additional 15 locations off base in Europe and a global e-commerce team to support eligible service members deployed to inaccessible areas overseas.

About TrueCar



TrueCar is a leading automotive digital marketplace that enables car buyers to connect to our nationwide network of Certified Dealers. We are building the industry's most personalized and efficient car buying experience as we seek to bring more of the purchasing process online. Consumers who visit our marketplace will find a suite of vehicle discovery tools, price ratings and market context on new and used cars  all with a clear view of what's a great deal. When they are ready, TrueCar will enable them to connect with a local Certified Dealer who shares in our belief that truth, transparency and fairness are the foundation of a great car buying experience. As part of our marketplace, TrueCar powers car-buying programs for over 250 leading brands, including AARP, Sams Club, and American Express. Nearly half of all new-car buyers engage with TrueCar powered sites, where they buy smarter and drive happier. TrueCar is headquartered in Santa Monica, California, with offices in Austin, Texas and Boston, Massachusetts.

For more information, please visit www.truecar.com, and follow us on Facebook or Twitter. TrueCar media line: +1-844-469-8442 (US toll-free) Email: pr@truecar.com.
On a regular sunny Saturday afternoon in late summer, the Raymond Bush playground in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood would be bustling. But these are not normal times, and the park is nearly empty.

Under a tree, stuffed animals, balloons and candles are clustered in tribute to Davell Gardner, a one-year-old killed on July 12 when he was hit by a stray bullet at a family cookout.

"This is just overwhelming. It's sickening -- every day, you have to see someone getting shot, someone has lost their life," says the boy's father, 25-year-old Davell Gardner Sr.

"It has to stop."

Like several other parts of New York, from Corona in Queens to Harlem and the Bronx in Manhattan, Bedford-Stuyvesant has seen a spike in violence in recent months.

Two streets over from the playground, a 62-year-old man was fatally shot in late August after being chased into the church where he was the caretaker.

The next day, a young man passing by the same spot was shot in the stomach.

- A sad birthday -

Gardner, who lost his job as a store salesman because of the coronavirus crisis, recently marked his son's birthday. He would have been two in August.

He brought food and a cake to another park in Bed-Stuy, a mainly black neighborhood. He invited loved ones, police, and young people in the community who work for Save Our Streets, a group dedicated to ending gun violence.

"Since the shootings, the park emptied out more and more every day, to where the kids don't want to come outside and enjoy themselves," Gardner said.

"They are scared someone might not live to see the next day."

- Perfect storm -

From May to August, there were 180 murders in New York, up 51 percent from the same period last year, and nearly 800 shootings, up 140 percent.

In most cases, the victims -- like young Davell -- have been black or Hispanic, as have been their assailants.

President Donald Trump has castigated authorities in his birthplace and other major US cities -- many of them Democrats -- for failing to stem the tide of violence, making it a theme of his reelection campaign.

Story continues

But criminologists say that urban violence spikes every year in the summertime, and despite the rise in the number of shootings since May, the numbers are actually comparable to those seen a decade ago.

And they are far from the levels experienced in the Big Apple in the 1970s and 1980s, says John Pfaff, a professor of criminal law at Fordham University.

Pfaff says 2020 has seen a perfect storm of conditions fueling the violence -- months of confinement due to the virus crisis, and the reckoning about race that erupted nationwide in the wake of George Floyd's death at the hands of police.

In New York, those factors were amplified by a decision by the city's Democratic mayor Bill de Blasio to reduce the police budget following pressure from protesters.

That translated into fewer overtime hours for cops on the streets and the dismantling of a 500-strong plainclothes anti-crime division, which was accused of racial bias.

Also, "few people talk about the effects of a president who embraces the rhetoric of violence," Pfaff says.

"It's hard to say with any empirical precision how big an impact this rhetoric has, but it certainly fans the flames."

- 'Tinderbox' -

For Shadoe Tarver, the 32-year-old associate director of community safety at Save Our Streets, "it's been a very difficult summer, a very difficult year."

"A lot of things already troubled our community: disinvestment, economic insecurity, failing education systems -- they were already happening but Covid made it worse," Tarver said.

"With everything that happened starting in March, this was just like a tinderbox just waiting for a light."

In Bed-Stuy, many residents are not shy about expressing their fears.

"My friend was shot in the parking lot" two weeks ago, says 62-year-old Connie Moore, a retired school safety officer.

"He died instantly. (...) I was with him minutes before."

Moore says the neighborhood is "really not safe here during daylight," adding: "It can happen at any time."

- 'Low' police morale -

Like other New Yorkers, Moore places blame on police, accusing them of turning a blind eye to violence in retaliation for public protests and budget cuts.

"The cops are not doing anything. We are lawless right now. They stay right there and watch," she said.

For Christopher Herrmann, a former NYPD crime analyst supervisor turned college professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, police morale is "obviously at a low."

"Police morale affects police performance, like in every other job," he adds.

Despite Davell's killing, the Gardners say they still have faith in the city's 36,000 cops, and they hope police will return in force to Bed-Stuy.

"The mayor needs to put police back in the streets and the gun crime unit back in the streets," says Davell's grandmother Samantha Gardner.

"We as the African-American community, we need to stop all this violence," she said. "You can't rally for Black Lives Matter if black and black is going to keep killing each other."

lbc/sst/bgs
They are to be treated as raw material for public education suffused with the spirit of Oceania in George Orwells 1984: Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past. Progressives have a practical objective in teaching the essential squalor of the nations past. The New York Timess 1619 Project  it preaches that the nations real founding was the arrival of the first slaves; the nation is about racism  is being adopted by schools as a curriculum around the nation. If the past can be presented as radically wrong, radical remedies will seem proportionate.
China: House church preacher, wife face charges for homeschooling children

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A court in Chinas southern Fujian province has summoned a house church preacher and his wife for not sending his children to public school and homeschooling them, according to a watchdog.

Preacher You Guanda of Dianqian Church in Xiamen city and his wife have been asked to report to Shaowu Court on the morning of Sept. 23, according to the U.S.-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern.

They were charged with custody disputes by the local government, ICC said.

Dianqian Church, which is a house church that follows the Reformed tradition, has been facing harassment from the provincial government for the last few years. Dianqian is the name of the village the church is situated in.

Last June, local communist authorities disbanded the house church after the preacher and other members purchased a new property for residence, homeschooling and worship. It was forcibly demolished this year.

The church leadership said last year that the government had long been monitoring the churchs activities, according to China Aid, a U.S.-based group that exposes abuses, helps the persecuted and promotes religious freedom, human rights and rule of law. Some (church leaders and members) have been required to speak to police and other officials. Others experienced illegal treatment.

Last March, Chinas Ministry of Education urged authorities nationwide to deter nontraditional educational institutions from operating, and threatened to punish parents who send their children to such facilities, the magazine Sixth Tone reported earlier.

Schools in China have been teaching children that Christianity is an evil cult. A 2019 report by Chinese persecution watchdog Bitter Winter said children were being taught to oppose religion, encouraged to question the beliefs of family members and report those closest to them to authorities.

China has been cracking down on underground churches and Christian activists for years.

In 2015, more than 1,000 crosses were removed from church roofs and entire church buildings were destroyed across the Zhejiang province.

The Chinese government continued its campaign against Christianity during the countrys coronavirus outbreak by destroying crosses and demolishing a church while people were on lockdown.

More than 60 million Christians live in China, at least half of whom worship in unregistered or illegal underground churches.

China is ranked as one of the worst countries in the world when it comes to the persecution of Christians on Open Doors USAs World Watch List.

In addition to Christians, the communist government continues to persecute and monitor members of various religious minorities, including the detention of over 1 million Uighur and other Muslims in western China over the last three years.
A LIMERICK Labour councillor has said his partys call to safeguard Direct Provision centres fell on deaf ears as the Covid-19 pandemic intensified across the country.

City North councillor, Conor Sheehan told the Limerick Leader that he and his party colleagues, Cllr Joe Leddin and Cllr Elena Secas, wrote to former Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan to thin the centres properly by moving residents into vacant student accommodation.

Cllr Sheehan said that this followed receipt of testimony from residents Hanrattys Hotel in Limerick city and Knockalisheen in County Clare in relation to inadequate or non-existent social distancing at these centres.

Irelands acting chief medical officer, Dr Ronan Glynn, told journalists at a press briefing that there was an outbreak identified at a centre in Limerick. In early August, the HSE contacted Hanrattys Hotel, confirming a positive case at the centre.

There is no report of any other positive case in either of the two other Direct Provision services in the city.

Cllr Sheehan called on Minister of State Roderic OGorman to get on with his stated aim of abolishing Direct Provision and replace it with a humane system.

He said in July of this year that changes will come quickly and for the people of Knockalisheen and Hanrattys, they cannot come quick enough.

In the meantime, we need to see a plan for Direct Provision contained within the Governments new medium term plan for living with the virus to be announced next week. This plan needs to contain proposals to thin the centres substantially and stop people in Direct Provision sharing bedrooms with strangers.

The Department of Justice said that it and the HSE have put in place a range of measures in all of the Departments Accommodation Centres to address any cases of COVID-19 if or when they arise.

The established procedure across all Direct Provision Centres where a person is confirmed as having the virus or is a close contact is that they are moved to a dedicated offsite self-isolation facility. Residents also have the option to self-isolate on-site if required, in line with public health advice.

John Lannon, CEO of Doras, a not-for-profit migrants rights organisation on OConnell Street, said the pandemic has highlighted how the most vulnerable have suffered the most.

The problem with people living in for-profit Direct Provision centres is that they are sharing eating spaces, theyre sharing bathroom facilities, theyre sharing rooms with strangers.
She split from her Riverdale star boyfriend, Skeet Ulrich, 50, last month.

And on Tuesday, Australian model Megan Blake Irwin sparked rumours she's dating Demi Lovato's MMA fighter ex Luke Rockhold, 35.

The pair were spotted cosying up together in West Hollywood, Los Angeles.

Something to tell us? On Tuesday, Megan Blake Irwin puffed on a cigarette and cosied up to Demi Lovato's ex Luke Rockhold (left) in LA, after her rumoured split with Riverdale star Skeet Ulrich

The 29-year-old puffed on a cigarette and even held hands and hugged Luke during the outing.

Megan cut a casual figure in black trousers, which she teamed with a black backless top and sneakers.

The stunner wore her long blonde locks out and over her shoulders, neatly straightened, and natural-looking makeup.

Luke also looked casual in a black T-shirt and jeans, teaming his look with white sneakers and a cap.

Chic: Megan cut a casual figure in black trousers, which she teamed with a black backless top and sneakers

Close: The 29-year-old puffed on a cigarette and even held hands and hugged Luke during the outing

Familiar face: Luke and Demi Lovato confirmed their relationship in late 2016, but split in early 2017

They're not shy! The pair were joined by a friend and packed on the PDA, holding hands, cuddling up and chatting

The pair were joined by a friend and packed on the PDA, holding hands, cuddling up and chatting.

Luke and Demi Lovato confirmed their relationship in late 2016, but split in early 2017.

Last month, Megan and Skeet fuelled split rumours after just three months of dating.

Split rumours: Last month, Megan split with Skeet after just three months of dating

Done and dusted? The pair unfollowed each other on social media

Over: Megan is pictured with Skeet Ulrich

The pair unfollowed each other on social media - confirming they have gone their separate ways.

They have also removed photos of one another from their respective Instagram platforms.

Despite professing her love to Scream actor Skeet only weeks earlier, Megan added to the breakup speculation by uploading a cryptic post, which read: 'Be with people who are good for your soul.'

Megan previously defended the couple's 22-year age gap on Instagram, telling a follower that there is 'nothing wrong or weird' about their romance.

Cryptic: Despite professing her love to Scream actor Skeet only weeks earlier, Megan added to the breakup speculation by uploading a cryptic post, which read: 'Be with people who are good for your soul'

The rumour mill: Megan has previously been romantically linked to reality star Scott Disick, $2 billion sugar heir David Mimran, Australian publisher Oscar Martin, artist manager Ashley Wilson and Miami-based socialite Nicolo Knows

'I'm 28 and my boyfriend is 50. There is NOTHING wrong or weird about this AT ALL,' Megan hit back at critic in June.

'If anyone has a problem or has anything to think or say about that than please unfollow us both and go on about your OWN lives,' she added.

Megan has previously been romantically linked to reality star Scott Disick, $2 billion sugar heir David Mimran, Australian publisher Oscar Martin, artist manager Ashley Wilson and Miami-based socialite Nicolo Knows.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Megan for comment, in relation to this article.
An underwater filmmaker has shared incredible vision of a great white shark swimming in the shallows near a popular surfing spot.

Madison Stewart spotted the massive shark between Ballina and Evans Head in far northern New South Wales on Tuesday morning.

The predator was swimming in the direction towards where a 40 tonne dead shark carcass washed up onto Patchs Beach at South Ballina last Friday.

'She was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. I followed her for ages, watching her move in precision following oil coming from the dead whale,' Ms Stewart captioned the footage on her Instagram page.

Madison Stewart spotted this great white shark between Ballina and Evans Head on Tuesday

It's unclear whether it was the same shark Ms Stewart filmed swimming in the area a day earlier on Monday.

'Filmed this beauty this morning,' she posted on Instagram.

'Let's steer clear of Ballina/Evans heads surf breaks for a little while folks. Dead whale has attracted some sharks.'

Ms Stewart has posted footage in recent days to warn surfers of the danger and to stay safe if they choose to take the risk to enter the water while sharks remain in the area.

'The beach was empty but I warned the few people on my walk back, including one lone surfer. I told him there are sharks around, to which he replied 'when isn't there', I continued to mention 'well it's different because of the whale carcass...' but he was already walking away,' Ms Stewart wrote on Tuesday.

Madison Stewart (pictured) posted the footage to warn surfers sharks were in the area

It's unknown whether it's same shark Ms Stewart filmed in the area on Monday (pictured)

'In many ways, I respect the surfers who will go no matter what, but do they respect where their choices could lead? The trauma of the first responders and families?

'Then to the culling and hunting of the sharks? At what point do we make people take responsibility for their actions?'

'If you choose to surf downstream of a whale carcass, shouldn't the shark be relieved of the blame and consequences?'

'These sharks will remain in the area due to the smell. The energy expelled by sharks to find the whale will lead them to look elsewhere.'

Ms Stewart has since called for knowledge, respect and information on dangerous marine life to be taught and included in the school curriculum.

Madison Stewart (pictured) is opposed to shark nets and the culling of underwater predators

This week's shark sightings were just 100 kilometres away from where surfer Nick Slater, 46, was fatally mauled off a Gold Coast beach last Tuesday.

It was the first fatal shark attack since shark nets was introduced on Gold Coast beaches in the 1960s.

Meanwhile, Ballina Shire Council has began ramping up shark drone patrols in lead up to an influx of tourists expected over the September school holidays and warmer months ahead.

The area is one of Australia's most common areas for shark attacks. In 2015, there were 12 attacks.

The mayor claims his calls for further funding from the state government to protect surfers fell on deaf ears.

'I don't think the nets will ever come back here,' Ballina Shire mayor David Wright told The Australian this week.

'They might have deterred the sharks, but the bycatch was far too great. Sharks are just one of the many risks associated with the sea.'
Care home bosses who sacked an MP for criticising shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) have admitted she was right all along.

Nadia Whittome, Labour's representative for Nottingham East, was fired from her part-time job at Lark Hill Retirement Village in May after she revealed masks at the home were limited to one-a-day and said this risked the lives of residents and carers.

ExtraCare, which runs the home, accused her of 'spreading misinformation' and causing panic among elderly residents. It said the claims of PPE shortages were 'inaccurate' and they had 'more than three months' supply'.

A spokesman also claimed her employment was ended because their in-house staffing had become 'sufficient' to cover her shifts.

But the MP and her employer have since put their differences behind them, with ExtraCare admitting it was, in fact, suffering 'supply chain issues' at the time.

The 23-year-old politician said she raised awareness of the conditions as it was her 'duty to be honest about the lack of PPE and testing'.

She had taken up the job at the care home, where she used to work, when the Covid-19 crisis began because she wanted to help.

Welcoming Ms Whittome back to her role, ExtraCare's chief executive Mick Laverty declared her actions were taken in 'good faith' and with the 'best interests of everyone involved at heart'.

Nadia Whittome, Labour MP for Nottingham East (pictured in parliament) has been vindicated by Lark Hill Retirement Village four months after she was sacked from the care home

Ms Whittone said she was 'appalled' when her contract was terminated at the care home

'In conjunction with Nadia, we made a number of appeals for extra support with PPE supply, which helped us obtain further supplies,' Mr Laverty said.

'For example, in March 2020 we made several online requests for PPE across social media and requested that Nadia consider recording an appeal video for PPE on 3 April 2020 to help us obtain further supplies.

'We really appreciated her raising these issues which helped highlight the issue of PPE supply chain issues both within Lark Hill and across the care sector.

'Nadia's work and support during the engagement was of considerable assistance to ExtraCare and our residents.

'While we have rather different views as to the reasons the role came to an end, Nadia and ExtraCare have discussed this matter further and have subsequently agreed to resolve all matters amicably and informally, so that everyone can move forward.'

ExtraCare, which runs the home, accused her of 'spreading misinformation' and panic among residents after she raised concerns about the chronic lack of PPE

She raised her concerns over PPE supplies in the media and through her own social media

Ms Whittone said she was 'pleased' to have resolved this with the care home.

'I wanted to do whatever I could to support the residents of Lark Hill and to support my care sector colleagues, locally and nationally,' she said.

'I enjoyed being able to help my former colleagues during the Covid-19 outbreak, albeit at a very challenging time for the care sector.

COVID-19 'HAS KILLED ONE IN EVERY 16 CARE HOME RESIDENTS' Coronavirus has reportedly killed one in 16 care home residents in England and Wales, research suggests. Data shows there have been 26,211 excess deaths in care homes since the start of the outbreak, compared to the five-year average for the same period. While coronavirus is believed to be the main driving factor behind the rise in deaths, it is understood the mass disruptions to normal care home service as a result of the pandemic has also led to people losing their lives. Figures released today by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show 11,614 deaths are linked to coronavirus, while the other half are due to other reasons. A large portion of the excess death numbers are due to dementia or related illness, though many elderly care home residents in these situations found themselves struggling severely due to a lack of contact with familiar loved ones as the lockdown regulations tightened. There are 411,00 people living in care homes in England and Wales and the data shows that more than six per cent - or one in 16 - has died since the spring. Advertisement

'I am pleased that my contribution has been acknowledged and appreciated, including around the various PPE issues affecting the care sector.'

Ms Whittone was employed by the trust as a personal support assistance for two months until May this year.

She had voiced concerns about the supply of PPE in care homes to various news broadcasters, papers and websites, as well as posting about the crisis on social media.

Their decision to end her contract left her 'appalled', with a member of staff in the home saying they were 'dumbfounded' at the decision to remove an 'excellent caring worker' who 'hasn't stated anything other than facts'.

Officials have since admitted that care homes were an 'afterthought' at the height of the crisis, with 25,000 patients discharged from hospitals between March 17 and April 15.

The National Audit Office (NAO) said in its report in June - the first independent review of preparations for the pandemic - that are homes had been overlooked in order to protect the NHS.

It also revealed that plans to distribute PPE were hampered because officials ignored warning in 2019 to stockpile gowns and visors - and din't have enough of them when the need arose.

This resulted in less than half of the necessary equipment being available to healthcare workers on the frontlines of the crisis.

At least 300 healthcare staff have died from coronavirus so far and bereaved families and health unions say a lack of PPE is partly to blame.

They also accounted for 29 per cent of the total number of deaths from coronavirus, 13,460 out of 45,748, on May 29.

The high levels are thought to be down to a lack of PPE, but also that it is harder to contain the virus in a care home as many residents are unable to live independently so require close contact with workers.

Cases are thought to be harder to detect as well because residents are often ill with other conditions with similar symptoms, and may not show typical signs of Covid-19.

The Government's policy for testing in care homes, during the peak of the outbreak, was to test a small sample in the home and, if positive cases were found, to assume there was an outbreak in the home and automatically classify other people with similar symptoms as coronavirus patients.
Dr. Li-Meng Yan has been the whistleblower for the whole COVID-19 pandemic and in a recent interview with Fox News, she revealed more information about the modification of the viruses. She was in an interview with Tucker Carlson where she revealed more information about the COVID-19 origin which she previously said was one whole coverup and was in no way a virus that originated from nature.

Whistleblower Dr. Yan was very expressive about how she had evidence that the coronavirus was allegedly manufactured in a lab in Wuhan with the use of US funds. This story is still being denied by the Chinese Government.

She then confirmed that the virus was indeed based on a "unique bat coronavirus" which actually was not capable of affecting people but "after the modifications" the virus reportedly became very harmful.

Virologist Li-Meng Yan reveals more details on the coronavirus

Whistleblower Dr. Yan has been releasing scientific evidence connecting her story but the University of Hong Kong has been disproving this evidence. Tucker questioned the virologist n the interview asking if she was actually saying that the plan was "more sinister" than what was suggested.

Tucker than clarified if she was saying tha tthe Chines governemnt themselves had manufactured the virus and her words were "yes exactly."

Yan then explained that based on the virus' own genome, which she explained that it's sort of like a fingerprint, there are very noticeable and unusual characters within the genome. She then stated that the whole evidence that shows that it came from a special coronavirus.

Read Also: [Fact Check] Colleagues of Chinese Whistleblower Li-Meng Yan at University of Hong Kong Dismiss Her 'Man-Made' COVID-19 Allegations

Tucker's questions as to the origin of the coronavirus

Tucker then proceeded to ask her why nobody around the world that is in possession of this evidence is talking about the virus' origin and Dr. Yan said that it is because of the big suppression that is coming from the known Chinese Community, the Government, and also from their friends around in the scientific world.

Dr. Yan also stated that the patterns shown in other evidences from nature point towards the COVID-19 actually being manufactured in a laboratory as opposed to popular opinion. The traits of the Genome were described by Dr. Yan as "they can never get it from nature". She then stated that due to this knowledge, she became suspended but she also stated that the Chinese Communist Party "should not be feared."

Dr. Yan was then asked by Tucker as regards to why they would actually do this and she stated that the motives are dictated by the Chinese Communist Party. She stated that she will be releasing more reports regarding evidence on the coronavirus coming from a lab in Wuhan.

The interview is only one of Dr. Li-Meng Yan's many interviews that detail the origin of the coronavirus.

Read Also: Chinese Whistleblower Dr. Li-Meng Yan Blames Dr. Fauci for COVID-19 Outbreak Coverup

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Written by Urian Buenconsejo

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.


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HOLYOKE  An Open Meeting Law violation complaint has been filed against the City Council related to an Aug. 4 vote that denied rezoning a parcel in the Smiths Ferry neighborhood off Route 5.

The council voted to forward the complaint with comment and remedies to the Massachusetts Attorney Generals Office.

James Fitzgerald, of 439 Northampton St., filed the complaint with the Holyoke City Clerks office on Aug. 28. The complaint alleges that Fitzgerald and his neighbors were not given proper notice or informed of the upcoming vote.

The complaint also alleges that Ward 3 Councilor David Bartley should have recused himself from any discussions or votes since he had a personal stake.

Fitzgerald also claims that Bartley was overheard at a local bar/restaurant disparaging the zone change petition brought by Fitzgerald and his neighbors.

In February, the Ordinance Committee and Planning Board held a joint session on the citizen petition to rezone the property from Business-Highway to Residential 2.

The petitioners said the parcels off Northampton Street and Menard Avenue were zoning anomalies, not in keeping with the residential neighborhood. Residents also said any development would worsen the stormwater runoff situation.

Kane JSH Nominee Trust bought the parcels from Route 5 Development Company LLC in July 2007. Michael F. Kane, the trusts owner, said he purchased the properties with the original intent of building 20 condominiums on the site.

Kane would like to sell the properties with the Business-Highway zoning in place. The City Council and Planning Board voted no on the rezoning request. The complaint stated that the Aug. 4 agenda did not list the petition or a vote thereon.

I, therefore, did not participate in the meeting and was not given the opportunity. Despite this, I later learned that at the Aug. 4 meeting, the council reviewed correspondences from the property owner and then continued to final vote denying my petition, the complaint stated.

The complaint added the lack of notice was intentional, and throughout the process, several councilors repeatedly stated their belief that rezoning upon a neighbors petition is not possible.

Fitzgeralds complaint cited that Bartley had a personal role in the landowners original purchase and was heard at a local bar in February disparaging my Petition.

I believe my petition was acted on in my and my neighbors' absence so that my legal counsel could not make any presentation to the full Council regarding the Petitions merits, the complaint alleged.

In an email, Attorney Ryan K. OHara, who represented Fitzgerald at the hearings, stated, Moving to a final vote on a citizen petition without placing a notice of that vote on the agenda for the meeting is a clear violation of the Massachusetts Open Meeting Law.

He added, The violation is more egregious in light of the demonstrated public interest and participation at every one of the various prior meetings where the matter was properly placed on the agenda. From all of the circumstances, my client believes the violation was intentional.

The complaint also noted the Ward 4 Councilor Libby Hernandez contacted City Council President Todd McGee before the Aug. 4 meeting.

The filing showed that Hernandez unintentionally voted to recommend a denial of the petition and wanted to correct the record and state her support of the petition during a City Council meeting.

Hernandez was unable to attend the Aug. 4 session because of a family matter. Her father, Victor Medina, died on Labor Day after a bout with cancer.

The complaint requested undoing the vote and schedule the matter for a final hearing and vote, with proper notice and opportunity for an argument to all parties.

Fitzgerald also wanted Bartley to recuse himself from further actions on the petition, given his demonstrated personal interest and animus to the petition.

Bartley called Fitzgeralds claims baseless and no evidence was offered. Requests for comments were also sent to McGee and Hernandez.
The death toll from Monday's bloody confrontation between police and Legio Maria adherents at Got Kwer shrine in Migori has reached eight, according to church officials.

Pope Lawrence Kalul, whose faction is headquartered at the shrine, said Tuesday that the brutality meted out on church faithful had led to three more deaths, while two minors were still missing.

Migori County Commissioner Boaz Cherotich declined to comment on the matter despite the Monday evening reports that five people had succumbed to gunshot wounds.

Police confirmed that five people had died during the clashes while seven others, including a female police officer, sustained serious injuries. Early Thursday, the followers started making their way out of the shrine.

Those who could not manage to use public transport and motorbikes trekked back after word went round that there was an impending wave of fresh attacks.

County police commander Manaseh Musyoka had earlier stated that two people died during the confrontation while three others succumbed to gunshot wounds at Got Kweru dispensary where they were rushed for first aid.

"The five were part of individuals who confronted anti-riot police. They were taken to Migori County Hospital mortuary while the injured were transferred to Migori County Referral Hospital," he told reporters.

Tensions started when members of a splinter faction led by Pope Raphael Adika held a prayer session at the shrine, sparking violent protest from his opponents.

'Legio opogore'

Chanting "Legio opogore" (Legio Maria church is divided), the faction led by Pope Lawrence Kalul made their way from Jerusalem Amoyo to Got Kwer.

Unknown to Mr Adika and his entourage comprising armed police officers, Pope Kalul's group was armed and lying in wait.

Police had to lob tear gas in the air and fire live bullets to repulse the surging crowd who pelted the convoy with stones. A saloon car was burnt to a shell while several other vehicles including a police van were smashed.

"The police constable was rushed to Lado Pharma Hospital for treatment after she was struck with an arrow on her back. There are five deaths recorded and seven other casualties," Mr Muchungu said.

Church cardinal Chamalengo Ong'aw had accused Mr Adika's faction of planning to cart away the remains of Melkio Ondetto, the church's founder, to an unclosed location.

On his part, Mr Adika accused his rivals "of orchestrating the mess and piling the blames on me to brand me a warmonger."

"I went there for prayers just like the rest but my team was met with violence. This is the third time they are engaging in bloody confrontations then accusing me of starting the war," Mr Adika said at Jerusalem Amoyo where he retreated with his followers.

The protracted antagonism dates back to 1990 after the death of Melkio Ondetto. Last month, Mr Adika went to court to challenge the legitimacy of Mr Kalul as a pope.

The Kisumu-based cleric through his lawyer, Mr Thomas Kwanga, was seeking to terminate the appointment of Mr Kalul as the successor and legitimate leader of the church whose headquarters is in Got Kwer in Suna West constituency.

Mr Kalul, a long serving deputy of the late Ongombe, has termed Monday's incident an attempt on his life by "political hirelings out to derail the church's progress".

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"Those claiming legitimate leadership while sheltered in other camps are misleading the faithful," he said.

After the death of Melkio Ondeto in 1992, Timotheo Blassio Atila became pope until his death in 1998.

The third pope, Mr Lawrence Chiaji, then took over until 2004 when he also passed on and Raphael Adika took over until 2009 when the wars for the control of the church began, pitting Mr Adika against the late Ong'ombe.

The two splinter groups claiming the papacy emerged, with one faction being led by Ong'ombe and the other by Raphael Adika.

In May 2019, the two leaders briefly ended their protracted antagonism before it erupted again after their hard line supporters refused to cede ground.
The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has allowed Serum Institute of India (SII) to restart its phase two and three clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccine after the pharma major submitted the recommendations of the Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB).

New Delhi [India], September 16 (ANI): The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has allowed Serum Institute of India (SII) to restart its phase two and three clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccine after the pharma major submitted the recommendations of the Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB), UK and DSMB India and requested permission to restart enrolment in the subject clinical trial of the vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University. DCGI VG Somani, in a letter to SII, has said that the institutes reply has been carefully examined as also the recommendations of the DSMB in India and in UK.



You (SII) may recommence the clinical trial dated August 2, 2020, as recommended by the DSMB, India as per already approved protocol and the provisions laid down under New Drugs and Clinical Trials Rules, 2019 subject to the conditions mentioned which are to be scrupulously followed such as extra care during screening, additional information in the informed consent and close monitoring for similar events during the study follow-up, the letter said.



The DCGI has also asked SII to submit the details of the medication used as per protocol for the management of the adverse events.



Also read: NSA Ajit Doval walks out of SCO meet after Pakistan uses fictitious map

Also read: Lok Sabha passes bill to amend Essential Commodities Act

AstraZeneca had earlier paused the ongoing trial of nCoV19 coronavirus vaccine (recombinant) as a volunteer developed an unexplained illness. It was reported that the clinical trial had been put on hold in the US, UK, Brazil and South Africa.



Following this, the countrys top drugs regulator had September 11 ordered the SII to suspend any new recruitment in phase 2 and 3 clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccine till further orders.



AstraZeneca has already resumed trials in the UK for the vaccine.



A government official said that Serum Institute of India submitted the recommendations of the DSMB, UK and DSMB India on September 15 and requested permission to restart enrolment in the subject clinical trial.



The DSMB, UK recommended that investigators recommend all immunizations in their clinical trials subject to certain conditions. The DSMB, India recommended to continue the study and enroll the remaining participants in the clinical trial as per protocol subject to three conditions to the scrupulously followed, the official said.



These recommendations include revised participant information sheet, revised informed consent form (ICF) and additional safety monitory plans for the enrolled participants incorporating the latest SUSAR and indicating the specific contact numbers for participants for seeking assistants in case of any problem or question.



Indias top drugs regulator had in August granted permission to SII to conduct a phase II/III clinical trial of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 coronavirus vaccine (recombinant) at various clinical trial sites in the country to determine its safety and immunogenicity. (ANI)

Also read: 1993, 1996 agreements entail China, India to keep forces along LAC to minimum level: Rajnath Singh
ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- 1776 Unites ' Bob Woodson and Ian Rowe announced the first installment of the 1776 Unites Curriculum in an effort to provide learning environments across the country with exemplary lesson plans, reading guides, assessments, activities, and other resources that allow teachers to provide a more complete and inspiring story of the history of African-Americans in the United States. The curriculum will also help young people of all races understand how they can be architects of their own future by embracing the principles of education, family, free enterprise, faith, hard work and personal responsibility.

The curriculum offers life lessons from largely unknown, heroic African-American figures from the past and present who triumphed over adverse conditions. Looking forward, the curriculum also includes lessons that help the next generation develop the types of character-based strengths like resiliency, optimism, tough-mindedness, and courage that are most associated with human flourishing.

The curriculum can be implemented anywhere where childrens' character formation is happening, whether that be in schools, camps, after school programs, churches or homes. It is essential that kids learn they are agents of their own uplift, knowing their possibilities, responsibilities and what it means to be an American.

"We chose to launch the 1776 Unites curriculum on the eve of Constitution Day to underscore to our youth the power of embracing our country's authentic founding virtues and values, as embodied in that most unique document, the U.S. Constitution. Embedded within the Constitution are the tools of self-betterment and self-renewal that our country has deployed on the journey to become a more perfect union. In the same way we hope this curriculum will inspire young people to achieve their own human flourishing," according to Ian Rowe, experienced charter school leader, Resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and Senior Visiting Fellow at the Woodson Center.

"Constitution Day," observed on September 17 each year, was established to commemorate the signing of the Constitution, which created the framework of our federal government and enumerated the rights and freedoms of the American people.

According to Bob Woodson, a veteran of the civil rights movement and CEO of The Woodson Center and its 1776 Unites initiative, "The 1776 Unites curriculum offers authentic, motivating stories from American history that show what is best in our national character and what our freedom makes possible even in the most difficult circumstances. The curriculum maintains a special focus on stories that celebrate black excellence, reject victimhood culture, and showcase the millions of Black Americans who have prospered by embracing the founding ideals of America."

Three lessons, available for free with registration, are now available to debut the curriculum:

The first lesson focuses on the 10 transcendent "Woodson Principles" developed by Bob Woodson over his nearly forty years of work with grassroots groups, transforming struggling neighborhoods and empowering the residents within them.

The second lesson features the extraordinary life of Biddy Mason, an African-American woman who was born enslaved, but ultimately died as a multi-millionaire who became a prominent philanthropist and landowner.

The third lesson features Elijah McCoy , born to fugitive slaves but ultimately became a Mechanical Engineer who secured nearly sixty patents. Mr. McCoy was inducted into the U.S. National Inventors Hall of Fame, and designed products that were so superior that train engineers demanded oiler systems that were to become known as the 'The Real McCoy.'

While the lessons of Mason and McCoy look "back" on African-American history, some of the future lessons, similar to the Woodson Principles lesson, will engender discussion of "future" decisions adolescents and teenagers make as they enter young adulthood, such as choices around education, full-time work, marriage and children, which can help them avoid poverty and achieve economic success.

Additional lessons will be added on a monthly basis, featuring engaging stories from the past as well as lessons on how students can have agency over their lives. An upcoming lesson topic focuses on the Rosenwald Schools, the network of more than 5,000 schools founded by Booker T. Washington of the Tuskegee Institute and Julius Rosenwald, philanthropist and president of Sears Roebuck, built to advance black education in the early 20th century. Another upcoming topic is the Golden 13, a group of African-American servicemen who demonstrated perseverance and excellence in the process of becoming naval officers. Another lesson will demonstrate how building strong families can increase the net worth of a typical household and close the racial wealth gap by increasing the intergenerational transfer of advantage.

These lessons have been created in consultation with experienced educators and instructional experts from FIRE, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education .

Albert Paulsson, High School Social Studies Teacher, New Jersey 

"The 1776 Unites curriculum teaches that resilience in the face of opposition defines Black America in particular, and that there is a rich history of Black Americans who rose above the harshest of circumstances by embracing their own personal agency and living out the true founding values of our country. These stories continue to unfold all around us today."

Due to the pandemic, and parents being thrust into teaching roles, 1776 Unites curriculum also can be used to supplement their children's regular school work.

VIEW THE CURRICULUM HERE.

1776 Unites is a movement founded by the Woodson Center, which for nearly forty years has worked with 2600 grassroots leaders to revitalize low income neighborhoods through programs that empower people to be agents of their own uplift. 1776 Unites was launched in February 2020 as a nonpartisan and intellectually diverse alliance of independent writers, thinkers, and activists focused on solutions to our country's greatest challenges in education, culture, and upward mobility.

SOURCE 1776 Unites
President Trump tours a neighborhood damaged during protests in Kenosha, Wis., on Sept. 1. (Associated Press)

When cities and towns erupted in protests this summer after a Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee on the neck of a Black man until he stopped breathing, President Trump seized on a familiar Republican theme to boost his reelection campaign.

I am your law-and-order president, he declared.

Trump blamed the spreading disorder on protesters, anarchists, agitators, looters [and] lowlifes. He sent federal law enforcement agents and National Guard troops into city streets, and claimed that if Joe Biden wins the presidency, no city, town or suburb will be safe.

Shortly before she resigned last month, one of the president's advisors, Kellyanne Conway, even observed  perhaps too candidly  that street violence was good for the presidents campaign.

At first, it looked as if Trump had found a potent message. Voters told pollsters they were increasingly worried about the urban clashes. Biden, thrown on the defensive, protested that hes against violence too, but Trump derided his response as weak.

But nothing happened: The two candidates standing with voters didnt budge.

Before George Floyds death in Minneapolis on May 25, Biden stood at 49% in national polls against 43% for Trump, according to the average calculated by the website FiveThirtyEight. This week, the numbers were 51% for Biden and 44% for Trump  virtually unchanged.

Law and order, it turned out, was no magic bullet.

On Monday, a Trump advisor told Reuters that the presidents campaign will focus on the economy for the final weeks of the campaign  a tacit admission that his earlier message wasnt working.

Trump appears to have miscalculated in several ways.

First, campaign strategists and pollsters say, law and order never rose to become the top issue on most voters minds  not even when violent protests erupted in Portland, Ore., and Kenosha, Wis.

In most polls, Trump's bungling of the pandemic, which has killed more than 195,000 Americans, and widespread unemployment still ranked above fears of the mostly peaceful protests against police brutality and systemic racism.

Story continues

"People want to know what you're going to do to defeat the virus, and then how youre going to get America working, Republican pollster David Winston told me.

If a candidate hasnt answered those questions clearly, he said, undecided voters arent going to focus on anything less important to their lives.

Second, Trump misunderstood what the public wanted a president to do when widespread protests against police misconduct spawned sporadic violence.

The president was correct in his view that most voters in both parties reject disorder and want to see it end.

But in the eyes of most Americans, Trump wasnt offering constructive solutions, as a survey released last week by the polling firm YouGov showed.

When voters were asked whether Trump "made things better" when he talked about race, 52% of voters said he had made the situation worse.

Thats not only Democrats talking; about 1 in 7 people who voted for Trump in 2016 said they think the president has made race relations worse.

Asked whether they believe a second Trump term will produce more violence or less, 53% said more. Only 30% said they believed a Biden presidency would result in more violence.

In short, most voters think the president has become part of the problem, not part of the solution.

His law-and-order pitch did appeal to one group of voters: those who already back him.

As my colleague Noah Bierman found on a visit to one of the Pennsylvania counties that delivered the state to Trump four years ago, many of the president's supporters like what he was saying.

Theres always gonna be racism, but its not him thats doing it, Wendy Williams, a white, 53-year-old stay-at-home mom, told him. And if the riots dont get taken care of, its just making it worse.

But Trumps law-and-order pitch doesnt appear to have won back many of the suburban women who voted for him in 2016 but have since drifted away.

In the YouGov poll, produced for Yahoo, women and suburban voters judged Trump more harshly than voters in general.

One last number from the YouGov poll: 51% of Americans say they believe Trump is a racist. Thats not a good sign for him.

If Trump appeals to prejudice, he risks losing at least as many voters as he stands to gain, Dan Hopkins, a political scientist at the University of Pennsylvania, told me.

When Trump embarked on his law and order campaign, it sounded like a knowing echo of Richard Nixon's 1968 presidential campaign, when the country was wracked by antiwar protests and urban riots.

But Nixon coupled his tough crackdown message with a promise of national reconciliation. His campaigns final slogan, borrowed from a teenage girls hand-lettered placard, was Bring Us Together.

Trump hasnt offered that kind of unifying appeal. Theres not much bring us together in his campaign.

That, as much as any other factor, is why so many voters appear to have decided that its time for a change.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-17 06:25:46|Editor: huaxia

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SAO PAULO, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- The number of forest fire outbreaks in Brazil's southeast state of Sao Paulo jumped 109 percent so far this year compared to last year, local media reported on Wednesday.

According to data from the National Institute for Space Research, the year of 2020 has seen 4,214 fire outbreaks so far in Sao Paulo, the most populated and industrialized state in the South American country, compared to 2,015 in 2019.

Historically, the months of August and September see the most outbreaks, and from Sept. 1 to 13, 1,470 outbreaks were registered in contrast to the historical average of 796 outbreaks for the entire month.

A fire now raging in the mountainous region of the Sierra de la Mantiqueira, on the border with the neighboring state of Minas Gerais, has sparked a massive flight of animals to urban centers, according to local authorities.

The regional government has sent a contingent of 400 firefighters to try to combat the fire, which is consuming large tracts of the area's Atlantic Forest.

More fires have also broken out in other ecosystems, such as the Amazon rainforest to the north, and the Pantanal plain in the states of Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso. The latter has declared a state of emergency due to the fires.

In addition to drought, farmers are burning fields to prepare for new crops and livestock, according to the local government of Aguas da Prata, a town in Sao Paulo that has been hard hit by fires. Enditem
In an attempt to distract Indian troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), China has put up loudspeakers at Finger 4 area of Pangong Lake in eastern Ladakh and belted out Punjabi songs. The China forces have resorted to this old propaganda to mislead the troops.

This comes in the wake of Indian troops setting up an around the clock observation at the dominating height near Finger 4, overlooking the positions of the Peoples Liberation Army, according to news agency ANI. According to ANI sources, the post at which the Chinese Army has put up loudspeakers is under 24x7 constant watch by Indian soldiers.

Live TV

On September 15, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had asserted that China is in unauthorized occupation of about 38,000 square km of land in Ladakh, adding that its action shows its disregard towards our various bilateral agreements. Speaking in Lok Sabha, Singh had stated that under a so-called Boundary-Agreement in 1963, Pakistan illegally handed over 5,180 square km of Indian land of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) to China.

"As this House is aware, China is in unauthorized occupation of about 38,000 square km of land in Ladakh. Also, under a so-called Boundary-Agreement in 1963, Pakistan illegally handed over 5180 square km of Indian land of PoK to China. China's action shows its disregard towards our various bilateral agreements. The deployment of large amounts of troops by China is a violation of the 1993 and 1996 agreement," the Defence Minister had said.

Singh had also stated that respect and strict adherence to the LAC is the basis for peace and harmony in the border areas, and is explicitly accepted in the 1993 and 1996 agreements. "While our armed forces fully follow it, it has not happened from the Chinese side," the Defence Minister had said.

"As of now, the Chinese side has mobilized a large number of troops and ammunition in the LAC and interior areas. East Ladakh and Gogra, Kongka La and Pangong Lake have several friction areas on North and South Banks," he had said.

"India is committed to resolving the current issues in border areas through peaceful dialogue and consultation. To achieve this objective, I met my Chinese counterpart in Moscow on 4 September and we had an in-depth discussion with them. I clearly put our concerns before the Chinese side, which was concerned with the deployment of large numbers of troops, aggressive behaviour and unilaterally changing the status quo (which violated bilateral agreements)," the Defence Minister had said.

"The House must remain confident that our armed forces will face this challenge successfully, and we are proud of them for this. The situation that persists now involves sensitive operational issues. So, I would not like to reveal more details about this. In response to China's action, our armed forces have also made appropriate counter deployments in these areas so that India's security interests are fully protected," he had added.

The Defence Minister had highlighted that while "these discussions were going on, provocative military action was taken from China on the night of August 29-30, which was an attempt to change the status quo in Pangong Lake's South Bank area". He had added that these efforts did not succeed due to firm actions.

He had said, "As we seek to resolve the current situation through dialogue, we have maintained diplomatic and military engagement with the Chinese side. Three key principles determine our approach in these discussions: i) Both parties should respect and strictly follow the LAC; (ii) Neither party should attempt to violate the status quo on its behalf; And (iii) All agreements and understandings between the two sides should be fully adhered to."
By Devjyot Ghoshal

LEH, India (Reuters) - From deploying mules to large transport aircraft, India's military has activated its entire logistics network to transport supplies to thousands of troops for a harsh winter along a bitterly disputed Himalayan border with China.

In recent months, one of India's biggest military logistics exercises in years has brought vast quantities of ammunition, equipment, fuel, winter supplies and food into Ladakh, a region bordering Tibet that India administers as a union territory, officials said.

The move was triggered by a border stand-off with China in the snow deserts of Ladakh that began in May and escalated in June into hand-to-hand combat. Twenty Indian soldiers were killed while China suffered an undisclosed number of casualties.

Both countries are negotiating to resolve the confrontation, but neither side has backed down. The Indian military is now set to keep troops deployed along the treacherous, high-altitude border through the winter.

Eastern Ladakh, where the flare-up occurred, is typically manned by 20,000-30,000 soldiers. But the deployment has more than doubled with the tensions, a military official said, declining to provide exact numbers.

"We have mirrored the increase in Chinese troops," the official said, adding the Indian military was well-prepared but did not want further escalation or a prolonged conflict.

Temperatures in Ladakh can fall well below freezing, and troops are often deployed at altitudes of over 15,000 feet, where oxygen is scarce, officials said.

Since snow blocks mountain passes into Ladakh at least four months every winter, Indian military planners have already moved more than 150,000 tonnes of materials into the region.

"All the supplies that we need have already been pushed to wherever they are required," said Major General Arvind Kapoor, chief of staff of the Indian army's 14 Corps.

FERRYING TO THE FRONTLINE

On Tuesday morning, a succession of the Indian air force's large transport aircraft landed at a forward base in Ladakh, carrying men and materials, as fighter jets roared overhead.

Story continues

Soldiers with backpacks streamed out and were checked for COVID-19 symptoms at a transit facility, where they awaited further transport.

The materials are stored across a network of logistics hubs.

At a fuel, oil and lubricant depot near Leh, Ladakh's main city, a hillside was covered with clusters of green drums.

At storage facilities at a nearby supply depot, boxes and sacks of ration - including pistachios, instant noodles and Indian curries - stood in tall piles. At another base near Leh, tents, heaters, winter clothing and high-altitude equipment lay stacked.

From these depots, the materials are pushed to logistics nodes by trucks, helicopters and, in some particularly difficult parts, mules, officials said.

"In a place like Ladakh, operations logistics is of huge importance," said Kapoor. "In the last 20 years, we have mastered it."

(Reporting by Devjyot Ghoshal; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Richard Chang)
Navalny Posts Picture From Berlin Hospital Bed, Says He 'Generally Feels Like Himself'

By RFE/RL's Russian Service September 15, 2020

Russian opposition figure Aleksei Navalny says he is able to breathe on his own and "generally" feels like himself as his recovery from being poisoned with a nerve agent continues.

"I still can hardly do anything, but yesterday I was able to breathe on my own all day," Navalny said in a post on Instagram on September 15.

"Generally feel like myself. I did not use any outside help, not even the simplest aid in my throat," he added in the caption, along with a photo showing him sitting up in bed.

Separately, Navalny's spokeswoman tweeted that the anti-corruption campaigner and Kremlin critic plans to return to Russia from Germany.

"I'll confirm again to everyone: No other options were ever considered," Kira Yarmysh wrote.

Navalny suddenly fell ill on a Russian domestic flight on August 20 and was medically evacuated to Germany on a request by his wife several days later.

Doctors removed Navalny from a medically induced coma on September 7, saying that although his condition had improved it was unclear what long-term effects the "severe poisoning" would have on the 44-year-old opposition leader's health.

German experts say the anti-corruption campaigner and Kremlin critic was poisoned with a Soviet-style military nerve agent from the Novichok group, prompting international calls on Russia to swiftly investigate the case.

On September 14, Germany said that two independent laboratories  one in Sweden and one in France -- confirmed evidence that Navalny was poisoned with the nerve agent.

Russian authorities, however, have refused to open a criminal investigation, saying that no hard evidence of poisoning has been found.

Moscow reiterated on September 15 that it was open to getting to the bottom of what happened to Navalny, and that it would be happy if he recovered and returned to Russia from Germany.

But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov added that Moscow did not understand why, if French and Swedish laboratories had been able to test Navalny's medical samples, why Russia wasn't being given the same access.

With reporting by Interfax and TASS

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/navalny-posts-picture- from-berlin-hospital-bed-says-he-generally -feels-like-himself-/30839844.html

Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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SACRAMENTO  Gov. Gavin Newsom has endorsed an initiative that would overhaul Californias iconic Proposition 13 by changing how commercial property taxes are calculated  a measure likely to be one of the hardest-fought issues on the November ballot.

After months of declining to weigh in on the ballot measure, Proposition 15, Newsom announced his support as he also pledged not to sign any of the proposals to increase income taxes on the wealthiest Californians that were floated at the end of the legislative session.

California, like every state in America, is currently experiencing the severe financial aftershocks of global pandemic, Newsom said in a statement Friday. Prop. 15, he said, is a fair, phased-in and long-overdue reform to state tax policy.

The measure would change Prop. 13, the 1978 voter-approved initiative limiting property tax increases. It would create a split roll, maintaining a strict cap on annual tax hikes for homeowners, but lifting it for most large commercial properties.

Under the initiative, those commercial properties would be reassessed every three years instead of when they are sold. Critics have long complained that Prop. 13  which sets the tax rate at 1% of the price when a property is sold and restricts increases to 2% annually  has deprived the state of revenue from large businesses that rarely change hands and are still paying taxes based on assessments from decades ago.

Organized labor, a major ally of Newsom, is behind Prop. 15, which could raise an estimated $12 billion annually for schools and local governments. The campaign celebrated the governors endorsement as another watershed moment in the push to close corporate tax loopholes.

But business groups and other opponents of the initiative warned that it would only deepen the economic recession. The California Chamber of Commerce said in a statement that Proposition 15 will tank our recovery, hamstring small and minority businesses ability to rehire laid-off workers, and cost every consumer hundreds of dollars every year when companies pass on the cost of their higher taxes.

Both sides have already raised tens of millions of dollars for the campaign, which will have significant implications for local budgets.

Searching for new revenue to offset a massive state budget deficit, many supporters of Prop. 15 have also pushed lawmakers to raise the top state income tax rate and create a first-in-the-nation wealth tax. Both of those proposals died at the end of the legislative session in August without a vote. Newsom said Friday that in a global, mobile economy, now is not the time for those types of tax increases.

Newsom also made endorsements on several other measures Friday, and now has weighed in on nearly all the initiatives on the Nov. 3 ballot.

He supports Proposition 14, to renew a bond funding stem cell research; Proposition 16, repealing a ban on state affirmative action policies; Proposition 17, restoring voting rights for parolees; Proposition 18, allowing 17-year-olds to vote in primaries if they turn 18 before the general election; Proposition 19, letting older Californians and victims of natural disasters keep their property tax rate when they move to a new home, and reassessing inherited homes if the late owners child or grandchild doesnt use it as a principal residence; and Proposition 25, to end cash bail.

He opposes Proposition 20, which would roll back an earlier expansion of parole for some crimes, and Proposition 21, allowing local jurisdictions to adopt more expansive rent control policies.

Alexei Koseff is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: alexei.koseff@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @akoseff
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 03:46:24|Editor: huaxia

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TEHRAN, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Iran and Azerbaijan on Tuesday held the first round of expert-level talks on clinching a preferential trade agreement, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

The online meeting, attended by the representatives from the foreign ministries and economic experts of the two neighbors, was held in line with the political will of their leaders to deepen bilateral economic relations, the report said.

The next round of talks will be held in the near future, with the aim of preparing the text of the agreement to be signed by the two countries in another meeting.

Iran and Azerbaijan signaled willingness to reach a preferential trade agreement during Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's visit to Baku last year. Enditem
On the same day a St. Boniface personal care home was added to the growing list of nursing homes forced to ban visitors owing to COVID-19, the province revealed its solution to the problem: a pod.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 15/9/2020 (493 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

On the same day a St. Boniface personal care home was added to the growing list of nursing homes forced to ban visitors owing to COVID-19, the province revealed its solution to the problem: a pod.

Ninety shipping containers or "all-season visitation shelters" are being repurposed and shipped to personal care homes. They'll have room for one resident and as many as five visitors at a time. The first one should be set up and ready to go in the coming weeks, Health Minister Cameron Friesen said Tuesday outside PCL Constructors Ltd., which was awarded a $17.9-million contract to outfit the containers.

"It's made in Manitoba by Manitobans for Manitobans," said Friesen, who in June said the province wanted to find a way for nursing home residents to visit with their loved ones year-round while keeping people safe from COVID-19.

JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Roger Stearns, General Superintendent for PCL Constructors, looks out the window of a new pod, which will allow families to visit during COVID-19 restrictions.

"Doing nothing was not an option," Friesen said in a rare display of emotion.

"Residents in these homes are often the most vulnerable to the virus," he said, offering condolences to the families of the nearly 7,000 care home residents who've died in Ontario and Quebec, as well as the loved ones of four residents who died during an outbreak in Bethesda Place in Steinbach.

Early in the pandemic, when deaths at nursing homes in Eastern Canada made daily headlines, Manitoba suspended visits at all 127 personal care homes. That restriction wasn't lifted until the spring, when outdoor visits were allowed. Now, residents are allowed two designated caregivers for indoor visits  except at personal care homes where a "critical" code red has been imposed by public health under its pandemic response system.

On Tuesday, 10 Manitoba personal care homes were listed as "critical" and had banned visitors after at least one worker tested positive for COVID-19. Four of the homes are in Brandon, one is in Steinbach (Bethesda Place) and five are in Winnipeg, including Actionmarguerite in St. Boniface.

"Going through the next 14 days, we're going to be completely in a code red."  Actionmarguerite CEO Charles Gagne

"Going through the next 14 days, we're going to be completely in a code red," CEO Charles Gagne said in an interview at the news conference to announce the visitation pods. "The building itself (at 185 Rue Despins), will cease its visitations until we're cleared," said Gagne, who expects to have one of the first visitation pods set up this fall.

"It could be helpful, to the extent that it could allow for some visitation, because we had to stop everything," said Gagne. He said the shelters, which have a five-year life span, will be useful during flu season when visits inside a care home may be suspended to protect vulnerable residents.

The 40-foot "visitation pods" are insulated, heated and air-conditioned. They incorporate a germicidal UVC lighting system, said Monique Buckberger, Winnipeg district manager of PCL.

They will have separate entrances for visitors and residents. Visitors to the pods will enter from outside the personal care home.

The entrance for residents will be from inside the nursing home. with a connection that's sheltered to protect them from the elements.

JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS The 40-foot "visitation pods" will be insulated, heated and air-conditioned. They incorporate a germicidal UVC lighting system, said Monique Buckberger, Winnipeg district manager of PCL.

Residents will enter the pod from inside the nursing home via a sheltered connection.

Friesen wouldn't say when or where the first pods will be in place.

They are expected to be operational by November, said Central Services Minister Reg Helwer.

Work continues to develop an indoor visitation room at some sites, he said.

Those involve facilities where visitors can easily access the space from outside the personal care home and maintain the same public health requirements as the outdoor shelters. A request-for-proposals issued by the province said those spaces need to be in place by Oct. 20.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

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.
Deputy Attacked in Apparent Ambush in California, Officials Say

A 911 call in California appears to have been made as part of a planned ambush just three days after two sheriffs deputies were shot in an unprovoked attack in Compton, Los Angeles County.

The Kern County Sheriffs Office received a call of a suspicious vehicle off Moneta Avenue at around 1:14 a.m. on Tuesday, prompting deputies to respond.

When the first deputy arrived, he began to investigate the vehicle and found it was reported stolen.

Almost immediately after discovering the vehicle was stolen, an adult male began charging at the deputy from the opposite direction of the vehicle in an apparent ambush, the sheriffs office public information officer said in a statement.

The officer fired his weapon several times.

The suspect, a 31-year-old Hispanic male, who was later identified as Ricardo Usher, was taken to a nearby hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The suspect was slated to be booked into the Kern County Jail for felony assault charges, the sheriffs office said.

Usher has a criminal history that includes evading an officer and being drunk and disorderly.

The deputy, who did nothing to provoke the attack, was placed on routine administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation into the officer-involved shooting.

Officials see similarities between the attack and the one that took place in Los Angeles County over the weekend.

At this point, it is very similar to a copycat style of what happened in LA the other day, Joel Swanson, a spokesman for the sheriffs office, told 23ABC.

The deputy involved was on a completely unrelated call when a subject rushed up to him from behind. The deputy didnt know what he was doing or what he was armed with at the time, so this is a very similar type scenario.

Detectives are working on finding out who made the 911 call, and from where.

This initially started out as a very benign call and then it escalated very quickly from there so the deputies just never know what they are going to be getting into on each call for service they go to, he added.

Anyone with information was asked to contact authorities.

The gunman who shot the Los Angeles County deputies is still being sought. The reward for information that leads to his arrest and conviction eclipsed $300,000 on Tuesday.
A rainmaker accused of witchcraft in Ronge village, Taita Taveta County will spend two months in custody after a court moved to keep him behind bars to escape the public's wrath.

Mr Duncan Masaka, 71, who is also a licenced traditional herbalist, was imprisoned for his safety by a Wundanyi court after he was arraigned for causing nuisance by walking around naked.

The elderly man was rescued by police after he was attacked by villagers a fortnight ago over accusations of sorcery.

Mr Masaka escaped death narrowly after the mob descended on him at Kishau area when he was found naked in someone's compound.

When he appeared before Resident Magistrate Emily Nyakundi, he pleaded guilty to the charge.

A pre-sentence report presented before Ms Nyakundi stated that the elderly man has been a rainmaker and tradition herbalist since 1987.

It also stated that he has been working with the county government where he is consulted on various cultural matters.

He is also a retired forest guard who worked for 17 years.

The report states that Mr Masaka pleaded for leniency saying he was drunk. He also claims members of the public undressed him and falsely accused him of practicing witchcraft.

The magistrate said that having keenly looked at the report, the elderly man should be put in custody for protection after angry residents threatened to lynch him.

Suspicion

In the coastal region, there is widespread suspicion of witchcraft against the elderly in society.

Cases of sorcery suspects being lynched are rampant with most targets being old men and women. Many often associate them with mysterious deaths and misfortune.

Recently, a man killed his father for allegedly practicing witchcraft.

He is now facing murder charges at the Voi Law Courts.
Donald Trump has come under fire for mistakenly telling a participant of Tuesday night's ABC News town hall that her mother, who died of cancer, suffered from Covid-19.

As Flor Cruceta became emotional during the event in Pennsylvania, Mr Trump asked "did you say your mum got Covid? Your mum?" Holding back tears, she remembered how she and her mother immigrated from the Dominican Republic in 2006 to live their American dream.

"She had breast cancer but it made metastases on her brain, bone, and lungs and she passed on the 19th," Ms Cruceta said.

"I'm here because of her. She was supposed to be here and ask you and thank you for this -- if they should take -- during this epidemic, you made people closer. We lost our jobs but we learned how to love our family. So I'm saying that from her."

After being asked what he would do to make the immigration system easier for families like hers to become citizens and vote, Mr Trump went into his answer about a merit-based system before returning to Ms Cruceta's mother.

"I mean as far as your situation with your mother, that is just devastating because I can imagine how you feel and it sounds like a great woman," Mr Trump began.

"The love that you have for your mother, I can see that, its hard. And so many people and they die alone. They die alone because this is such a vicious thing. You cant go there and hold their hand. You cant give them a kiss good night. Its a terrible, terrible thing. And hopefully the vaccines are going to be very soon, hopefully. Did you have Covid? You didnt have it right?"

When she replied "No", the president seemed confused.

"You didnt have it, your mother. Well have it taken care of. Its going to get taken care of. The vaccines are going to make a big difference. What has made a big difference is Remdesivir."

Ms Cruceta, who lives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and recently became a citizen at the urging of her mother, said on Wednesday that she was thankful for the opportunity to speak to the president.

"He did answer about immigration a little, but he misunderstood my mum succumbing from brain, lungs and bones cancer, no Covid-19," she said in a Facebook post.

While Mr Trump's answer included a commitment to soon announce a new merit-based system that would allow more legal immigration like that of the Cruceta family, the reaction focused on the president's seeming confusion.
(Photo : Twitter) (Photo : Lawrence Sellin via Twitter) (Photo : Dr. Li-Meng Yan via Twitter)

China's most controversial whistleblower, Dr. Li-Meng Yan, is banned by Twitter just short of 48 hours (less than two days) after posting her controversial report. This report contained the origins of the SaRs-CoV2 virus that contracts the global pandemic, the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), coming from China's very own Wuhan laboratory. The Hong Kong-based Chinese researcher pulled the rug under China, exposing the virus to be 'manmade.'

Controversies and issues now haunt the Hong Kong-based doctor for leaking a massively sensitive issue that condemns Asia's superpower, China, to be the perpetrator of the COVID-19 that spread globally. Dr. Li-Meng Yan gained fame and popularity for boldly saying that the Novel coronavirus started in Wuhan's laboratory, not in a 'wet-market' as previously claimed by Chinese officials and its government.

According to GNews' report, Twitter recently banned the Chinese doctor and researcher for publishing her work on the social media platform. Dr. Li-Meng Yan is known to create the account less than two days ago, containing three tweets and one retweet.

Twitter's moderators and administration deemed the Hong Kong-based researcher's assumptions invalid and fake, immediately suspending her account for its sensitive content. Dr. Li-Meng Yan's tweet faced other forms of censorship and restrictions from the social media platform before ultimately suffering account suspension.

The involvement of Twitter in Dr. Li-Meng Yan's suspension in the social media suggests a deep-running conspiracy and theory that puts the social media company in an unfavorable light. Dr. Yan's groundbreaking investigation is known to present hard-hitting evidence that supports the claims and statement pointing to China, Wuhan, and the Chinese Military to create the world's respiratory virus.

ALSO READ: Chinese Whistleblower, Dr. Li-Meng Yan to Release Scientific Proof that Coronavirus Came from Wuhan Lab, Not at a Wet Market

Twitter's Ban of Dr. Li-Meng Yan's ReportWhat does it mean?

Dr. Li-Meng Yan's shocking revelation of COVID-19 being manmade puts China in the 'hot seat,' further elaborating her claims that it came from Wuhan's laboratory with the government and Chinese involvement Military.

The whistleblower's revelation only surfaced for less than 48 hours with Twitter intervening and rid the world access and knowledge to the shared information. Dr. Yan currently hides for her protection following the massively controversial claims she released that damage China's image and integrity.

Twitter is now facing backlash and criticisms that put the company in a terrible situation with several people speculating its prejudice over the COVID-19 issue and the Chinese Military and Wuhan's involvement.

Currently, Twitter sees a flood of criticisms and news regarding Dr. Li-Meng Yan's interview with Tucker Carlson of Fox News. The whistleblower's testimony says that COVID-19 is a biological weapon aimed at the United States, made by China and it's military waging biological warfare.

COVID-19 is not from nature, it is a man made virus created in the lab...after the modification, it became the very harmful virus. The Chinese government manufactured this virus, @TuckerCarlson Yes exactly. Dr. Li-Meng Yan#COVID19 #ChinaVirus pic.twitter.com/a7297UrbYq  Heather Champion  (@winningatmylife) September 16, 2020

Li-Meng Yan's Support: A Retired US Army Doctor

With the world, the Chinese government, Twitter, and even her colleagues seemingly go against Dr. Li-Meng Yan's integrity, one person of a renowned stature in life supports her and her claims of the Wuhan-made virus.

According to The Gateway Pundit's report, Dr. Lawrence Sellin, Ph.D., a retired US Army Reserve Colonel, supports the claims and even believes the possibility of the Novel Coronavirus as a 'manmade' disease aimed to target certain nations.

Dr. Sellin supports the whistleblower, Dr. Li-Meng Yan, and her unequivocal evidence that condemns the Chinese government down to its very core.

Despite the Twitter ban, Dr. Li-Meng Yan's finding and report can still be accessed by the general public through Zenodo's link.

ALSO READ: [Fact Check] Colleagues of Chinese Whistleblower Li-Meng Yan at University of Hong Kong Dismiss Her 'Man-Made' COVID-19 Allegations









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Written by Isaiah Alonzo

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
AHMEDABAD, India, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Product engineering major Azilen Technologies inks partnership with GANTNER, a leader in access control, ticketing, locking, and cashless payment systems. This partnership will see Azilen extend world-class delivery, talent attraction and retention, and operational management for GANTNER in its quest to accelerate product development to the next level.

Azilen Technologies, the global provider of high-end Product Engineering solutions announces its partnership with GANTNER (headquartered in Austria), the global leader in Access Control, Ticketing, Locking, and Cashless Payment Systems. The partnership will see Azilen share infrastructure and operational management with GANTNER, as they come together to offer market-leading solutions.

"Offering product engineering services since 2009 helps us understand the nuances of the industry and deliver solutions that enhance productivity. Azilen Technologies is proud to partner with GANTNER and add value to their ecosystem by offering best-in-class delivery, talent, and operational management to accelerate the product development goals of the existing Gantner team," says Naresh Prajapati, CEO of Azilen Technologies.

The partnership will help GANTNER access the highly acknowledged and globally-trusted Delivery, Talent, and Operational Management expertise of Azilen. This will help GANTNER focus on the core business of building futuristic products and improve efficacy.

"Our partnership with Azilen Technologies comes at a very crucial time when the world is reeling under the COVID-19 pandemic and waves of uncertainty. We were looking for a partner who could understand our business as well as help us expand our India operations. Azilen Technologies complement us with their product engineering, delivery, operations, and process management expertise that will surely help us transcend our product development vision to the next level," says Elmar Hartmann, CEO of GANTNER.

About GANTNER

GANTNER is a world leader in access control, ticketing, locking, and cashless payment systems. They innovate pioneering products using RFID and NFC technologies and are committed to offering convenient and secure customer experience for their customers. They invest in continuous innovations to market and create tomorrow's future-proof technologies.

About AZILEN

Azilen Technologies is a high-end Product Engineering company trusted for their domain expertise in creating breakthrough solutions in the HR Tech, Automotive, Retail, FinTech, Hospitality, and Healthcare sectors; and long-term strategic vision with emerging technologies like AI, Big Data, and Internet of Things.

Email: info@azilen.com

Phone: +91 79 4009 3121

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1275563/Azilen_Gantner.jpg
Senior US politicians have warned Boris Johnson that Washington will not support any free trade pact with the UK if Britain fails to uphold its commitments to Northern Ireland as part of Brexit.

The UK Internal Market Bill cleared its first Commons hurdle on Monday despite deep misgivings by some senior Tories, with amendments to the Northern Ireland provisions expected to emerge in the Commons next week.

Four US congressmen, led by chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Eliot Engel, have written to Mr Johnson urging the Government to respect its open border and peace process with Northern Ireland.

It comes as UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has travelled to the US for talks with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on a range of issues.

The congressmen wrote: Many in the United States and in Congress consider the issues of the Good Friday Agreement and a potential US-UK Free Trade Agreement inextricably linked.

With the issues raised in this letter in mind, we therefore urge you to abandon any and all legally questionable and unfair efforts to flout the Northern Ireland protocol of the Withdrawal Agreement and look to ensure that Brexit negotiations do not undermine the decades of progress to bring peace to Northern Ireland and future options for the bilateral relationship between our two countries.

The letter, which was also signed by Mr Engels fellow Democrats Richard Neal and William Keating as well as Republican Peter King, comes less than a week after Nancy Pelosi said there would be absolutely no chance of a US/UK trade deal if Mr Johnson overrides the Brexit deal with Brussels.

The Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi said the American Congress would never pass an economic agreement that it felt could imperil the Northern Ireland peace accord.

Mr Raab will also meet Ms Pelosi during his Washington visit, with Brexit expected to be one of the main items discussed.

Ministers have admitted the proposed Internal Market Bill will breach international law.

Ministers argue the new proposed legislation is necessary to protect the Northern Ireland peace process if London and Brussels are unable to agree a free trade deal before the current Brexit transition period runs out at the end of the year.
When Pooja Khanna Jain moved to Mumbai in August 2019, little did she know that the global pandemic will bring her and her husband right back to her hometown Ambala in less than a year. A psychologist and leadership coach, Jain returned in June as the prolonged lockdown prevented the couple from attending office. With companies enforcing remote working for most staff, the duo packed their bags and opted to work from home from Ambala.

Back home, she had to reorganize the house to make space for two separate workstations for herself and her husband in a house she shares with her in-laws. She ordered a simple work desk on Amazon.

But then she added a crockery and TV unit to do up the place to her taste. They are beautiful pieces from another startup which delivers furniture in sheesham wood," she said.

Jain has not spent a penny on buying clothes, shoes, accessories or makeup in the last six months. I am not much of a spender, but happily invested in furniture," she said.

Jains story may resonate with thousands of Indian consumers who may not be reverse migrants like her, but may still have had to reorganize their living spaces to accommodate covid 19-induced remote working.

In fact, as the lockdown eased, a fairly large number of senior executives working for companies across sectors took to Twitter asking for recommendations on good work desks and chairs. A sizeable number also searched for study tables for children with online classes becoming the new normal.

As personal space collided with office work, people scrambled to redesign their homes to create boundaries between the two.

The biggest beneficiary of this have been furniture firms, especially, those who sell online.

Kashyap Vadapalli, chief marketing officer & business head at Pepperfry, said that when lockdown regulations were relaxed, the company witnessed an unprecedented increase in demand for furniture, especially home-office furniture.

This is because businesses, educational institutes and individuals across the country opted to operate from home, which accelerated the need for proper home-office infrastructure," he said.

Lokendra Ranawat, founder & CEO at WoodenStreet, agreed: Initially, when operations had come to a standstill, there was a grim decline in every segment of the market. But as work-from-home wrapped the nation, the demand in furniture peaked, especially in study-related furniture categories."

Post-covid, the companys sales increased by 35-40% compared to pre-covid times, Ranawat said.

For Pepperfry, home office furniture, specifically study tables and ergonomic office chairs, grew by 185% and 175% respectively in June, in comparison to pre-lockdown levels. By August, these number had jumped to 250% and 400% respectively.

Interestingly, during this period, consumers also invested in space-saving and mobile products like bean bags and recliners.

Since people spend all their time at home, the need to curate a home environment which is functional and aesthetic, both to boost work productivity and for leisure time with their families, is increasing," said Vadapalli.

This led to an increase in demand for furniture and home products such as beds, wardrobes, dining tables as well as decor and furnishings items like curtains, lights and lamps.

Currently back at 100% of our pre-lockdown sales volumes, our sales run rate in September is on a par with our January numbers," Vadapalli added.

WoodenStreet, which is expanding in south India beginning with two experience centres in Hyderabad, has also launched an affordable range for people whose incomes have been impacted.

To make sure that people still have access to furniture that they are looking for, we recently launched a new affordable range of engineered units across various categories," said Ranawat.

However, with 70-80% weddings being postponed, the furniture category is likely to take a hit.

The number of newlyweds shifting to new homes has significantly fallen, and this has directly affected our wedding furniture range," Ranawat said, adding that this, however, does not spoil the larger picture.

The festival season is expected to boost demand.

Pepperfry claims it sees a 60-90% jump in sales during the festive season months over the previous quarters monthly average and this time it is expecting a 100% increase.

Jain, who is mulling adding a bookshelf and a storage cabinet to her home office, may just contribute to the sales spike in the category.

Shuchi Bansal is Mints media, marketing and advertising editor. Ordinary Post will look at pressing issues related to all three. Or just fun stuff.

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NSA Ajit Doval on Tuesday walked out of a meeting of the national security advisors of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member countries in protest after the Pakistani representative used a "fictitious" map showing Indian territories as part of Pakistan.  PTI

The online meeting of the National Security Advisors at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on Tuesday got riddled with unpleasantness and controversy after Pakistan used a map showing Indian territories as its own as a backdrop for its representative. Indian NSA Mr Ajit Doval raised strong objection to Pakistan using the illegal map and the Indian side walked out of the meeting saying such an act was a blatant violation of the SCO Charter.

At the meeting of the National Security Advisers (NSAs) of member states of the SCO, hosted by the Chair of the SCO (Russia), the Pakistani NSA deliberately projected a fictitious map that Pakistan has recently been propagating. This was in blatant disregard to the advisory by the host against it and in violation of the norms of the meeting. After consultation with the host, the Indian side left the meeting in protest at that juncture. As was to be expected, Pakistan then went on to present a misleading view of this meeting, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said.

Pakistan is trying to use all forums to internationalise the Kashmir issue despite the fact that forums like SCO do not allow bilateral issues to be brought to the table. According to sources, Russia, as the Chair, tried very hard to persuade Pakistan not to do so but its representative -- Dr. Moeed Yusuf, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Security  continued to use the new political map as a backdrop.

India conveyed clearly that Pakistans use of a fictitious map as a backdrop for its representative depicting sovereign Indian territories as part of Pakistan is a blatant violation of the SCO Charter and against all its established norms of safeguarding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of SCO Member States, sources said.

Mr Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of the National Security Council of Russian Federation, conveyed that Russia does not support what Pakistan has done. Sources said Russia hoped that Pakistans provocative act will not affect Indias participation in SCO and definitely not cast any shadow on Mr Patrushevs warm personal relationship with NSA for whom he has the highest regard. Mr Patrushevs said he hopes to see NSA at the forthcoming events.

Pakistan in a statement depicted another picture saying the Mr Dovals objections were overruled at the SCO meeting and the forum agreed to Pakistans position as a result Dr. Moeed Yusuf conducted the SCO meeting with Pakistans new political map as background for the discussions.
During his first trip to Florida since securing the Democratic presidential nomination, Joe Biden attended a roundtable discussion with veterans in Tampa and spoke with WFLA about the coronavirus pandemic, anti-racism protests, and how he's looking forward to debating President Trump later this month.

Biden said that it's important to spring into action once there is a surge of COVID-19 cases, and "No. 1, we have to get in place same-day testing and do it quickly. Move on it, move on it, make it nationwide." There also has to be enough personal protecting equipment, like masks and gloves, ready to be immediately distributed to medical workers and first responders. As president, Biden said he would also "encourage everyone to wear a mask. I would encourage every governor to make it a mandate in their state."

Once COVID-19 is under control, that's when the economy will be able to turn around, Biden said. In Florida, there are work opportunities in the hospitality industry, and there could also be jobs sanitizing and creating personal protective equipment. "Very little of that is being done," Biden said. "That's how we get people back to work. Overall, not just the hospitality industry, we can significantly increase manufacturing by making sure we make it in America."

Biden also fired back at Trump surrogates who have claimed he isn't condemning violence when it breaks out after anti-racism and anti-police brutality demonstrations. "There's no justification for violence in a protest," Biden said. "None. Zero. No matter who commits it, none. A protest is the ability to go out and speak and make your case. But no violence. All of it should be condemned, across the board."

The first presidential debate is set for Sept. 29 in Cleveland, and when asked if he's looking forward to it, Biden responded in the affirmative. Trump has called Biden a "disaster" and said he doesn't expect much out of him at the debate, remarks Biden shrugged off. "He's a fool," Biden said. "The comments are just foolish. Get ready, Mr. President. Here I come."

More stories from theweek.com

How a productivity phenomenon explains the unraveling of America

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Launching Strategies for the Indo-Pacific (SIP) has become the little black dress in diplomacy these days. Between Audrey Hepburn and Coco Chanel, the LBD made fashion history.

With both Germany and France bringing out their new SIPs recently, they join the United States (who started the whole Rebalancing to the East under US President Barack Obama), Japan, Australia, and less publicly, Britain and India. Others such as Vietnam and Malaysia are adding their might, together with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), but cautiously.

Like Chanels creation, it is possible that this new focus may make strategic history, but that requires all concerned to actually deliver on the strategy, in the face of competing priorities  mainly the bonanza which is trade with China.

Germanys new SIP is an interesting balance itself. Foreign Minister Heiko Maas stated unequivocally that the Indo-Pacific Region is a priority for German policy, and the text of the paper ticks the boxes of freedom of navigation, the Rules based Order, ASEAN importance, and all the rest that is now standardised Indo-Pacific jargon.

There is, however, an underlying thread of caution. While it proposes to be an observer of the ASEAN Defence Ministers-Plus, which also includes China, it also wants to be part of Delhis Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) and BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation). The text also states that Germany supports neither a unipolar nor a bipolar world, in a seeming reassurance to China.

Berlin has long backed the idea of encouraging a 'responsible' government in China, facing flak for not openly condemning Beijings post-COVID-19 attempts at aggressive 'influencing' operations, the Huawei 5G issue, and aggressive asset hunting by Chinese firms. Germany accounted for 42 percent of EU trade to China in 2019, an explainer for why it maintains a balancing act despite criticism. However, neither is Angela Merkels government one to take threats from China, as Maas warned the visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi recently, in response to Beijing taking umbrage at the visit of a senior Czech official to Taiwan.

Frances policy paper is typically more forthright even as it calls for Inclusivity. It states its interests without preamble to include about 8,000 stationed troops,1.3 million French citizens, 150,000 expatriates, with the Indo-Pacific constituting 93 percent of its Exclusive Economic Zone. An earlier paper from the defence ministry details French military presence and its string of bases, with a special highlighting of its exercises with India and its presence not just in La Reunion, but also in the Combined Joint Task Force in the Arabian Sea.

French President Emmanuel Macrons position on China is to quietly engage, while looking for alternatives. As analysts point out, Macron is reaching out to Russia, despite stiff opposition from fellow Europeans, to prevent Moscow from falling into Chinese hands. Paris objective in the SIP, however, is perplexing. It wants to be a mediating force in an inclusive Indo-Pacific. No wonder then that despite its ban on Huawei, Wang Yi paid fulsome praise to bilateral ties.

China meanwhile is taking note. An article in CGTN notes with trepidation, the return of Europe to the Indo-Pacific, even as Beijing woos ASEAN, whose own SIP is a masterpiece of balancing. However, things are changing. Malaysia rejected Chinas claims in the South China Sea a few months ago, and Vietnam is charting its own path. Meanwhile, a welter of online meetings included the ASEAN-EU meeting, which while welcoming a $280 bn bilateral trade, omitted naturally to mention that post-lockdown ASEAN is now China's largest trading partner. With every strategy noting the centrality of ASEAN, that makes things a bit sticky.

For India, there is both an opportunity and a threat in this proliferation of SIPs. Engaging France is not difficult given defence orders, and common interests, including on terrorism. Macrons reach out to Russia matches with New Delhis objectives as well. Indias envoy recently stressed commonalities on the Indo-Pacific -despite Russian public resistance, and an effort is on to bring it into Indias Indian Ocean Initiative. There is also the new France- Australia- India trilateral to ensure an open, inclusive and prosperous Indo-Pacific Region.

Germany, in its role as President of the European Union, is of little interest. Europe has never been able to fuse a common security policy, and China easily plays one against the other. Germany by itself can cut off vital dual use technology to China if it chooses to. The challenge for New Delhi is to persuade Berlin to make that choice.

India is playing a very delicate game, now playing up Quad  the grouping with the US, Japan and Australia  and at other times reaching out to non-members, and stout opponents alike. The threat is real; which is that the whole Indo-Pacific game may slip out of its hands, and into those with different priorities and interests. The little black dress, after all, eventually went out of Chanels hands, and into the streets and supermarkets. Thats the fate of fashion and strategy. Imitations are rife, and it gets difficult to spot the original.
The Delta State Government has sealed off 15 buildings in Asaba, to reduce incidences of building collapse in the state.

This is contained in a statement issued on Wednesday in Asaba by Chidi Nwuko, Chairman, Delta State Taskforce on Operation Show Your Building Plan.

He said that developers of the sealed buildings failed to tender approved building plans within the stipulated time given to them or had none at all.

Mr Nwuko said the enforcement became necessary to stem the tide of building collapse, protect the environment and ensure adherence to proper planning.

Recall that on September 12, a storey building under construction in Asaba collapsed, leaving one person dead and four critically injured.

Also, at Ughelli, a boy identified as Gbenga, who just finished his West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), was knocked down by a collapsing fence along Damure street in Ughelli, killing him instantly.

In Okpanam, Oshimili North Local Government Area of the state, a firefighter, Ben Aladino and family members narrowly escaped death in their apartment when an overhead water tank collapsed on their living room.

The chairman urged property developers to abide by the laws guiding property development to prevent building collapse.

It became necessary to nip in the bud the recurrence of construction collapse that could have been as a result of lack of approved building plan.

Some of the standard procedures in land and property development is to obtain approved building plan and permit, complying with approved building plan and documenting same with relevant authorities prior to development.

Such compliance will help eliminate building or construction collapses capable of causing wanton damage and in extreme cases, lives, he said.

Mr Nwuko urged land and property developers embarking on any form of development to, as a matter of responsibility, adhere strictly to standard procedures.

While commending property developers who follow due process, he frowned at those who flagrantly disregard them, warning that the law would catch up with them.

(NAN)
Nearly 1,000 people baptized in Californias latest spiritual revival

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A record number of baptisms took place at a beach in Orange County over the weekend, as believers professed their faith in Jesus Christ at Southern Californias latest spiritual revival.

Nearly 1,000 people turned out at the Chino Hills-based Calvary Chapel's outdoor baptism, which was held at Newport Beachs Corona Del Mar State Beach on Saturday. While Calvary Chapel hosts a baptism at Corona Del Mar Beach every year, Pastor Jack Hibbs described the baptism as our biggest to date.

California may be experiencing a spiritual revival, Calvary Chapel Church Director Gina Gleason told CBN News in an interview. She said that the turnout at this years outdoor baptism was remarkable and a significant number, far exceeding the typical turnout of around 300 attendees.

Spiritual revivals at the beach have become a common sight in southern California as believers grapple with restrictions imposed on religious services amid the coronavirus pandemic. In July, the group Saturate OC held powerful worship sessions on the beach every Friday night, where attendees had the opportunity to hear the gospel, be baptized in the ocean, and be filled with the Holy Spirit and be set free.

In a previous interview with The Christian Post, worship artist Sean Feucht described the worship sessions as a return back to a gritty, raw Gospel, Jesus people movement foundation. According to Feucht, A lot of that is in part because we cant be in our churches. We are kind of forced to be outside of our buildings and forced to be innovative and creative and come up with alternate solutions.

Even before the coronavirus pandemic, Corona del Mar was a popular destination for mass baptisms. In 2018, evangelist Greg Laurie held a Jesus revolution style baptism at the beach, where over 550 people were baptized. These events have become even more popular now that coronavirus restrictions have prevented worshipers from gathering indoors at their churches for much of the year.

Pastor Hibbs is one of many California religious leaders who have strongly criticized those restrictions. On Facebook, Hibbs asked, If pastors are still debating among themselves whether or not to open up their churches, to get back to ministering to the emotional, physical, and spiritual needs of their flock and to the preaching of the gospelthen I ask you when?

Calvary Chapel is still offering worshipers the opportunity to gather in person and online as part of the Come Back California campaign. Following a week of fasting and prayer, which will include special evening services at Calvary Chapel, Hibbs will partake in an all-day social media event called Come Back California on Saturday.

Throughout the event, Hibbs will be joined by some of the biggest influences in our culture to inform viewers how they can promote their biblical values ahead of the 2020 election. Other speakers include radio personalities Larry Elder and Dennis Prager as well as One America News Network host Liz Wheeler.

Hibbs has urged people across California to turn their homes and churches into sanctuaries of prayer and worship as part of an effort to seek a radical move of God in the state. In a Facebook post Monday, the first day of fasting and prayer, the pastor proclaimed that we will be crying out to God for the healing of California.

Each special evening service held at Calvary Chapel and streamed online this week will have a different focus. On Monday, worshipers prayed for purity and holiness within the church as well as spiritual revival and salvation to spread throughout California. On Tuesday, attendees were asked to pray for our governor, state, and local leaders.

On Wednesday, Hibbs will examine Gods prophetic Word in light of current world events. On Thursday, viewers will gather in prayer for the military, law enforcement, and first responders. The week will conclude Friday with a prayer service against the sins and injustices of our nation and for our president, national leaders, and the upcoming election.
A possible one-time $20 pandemic-related infusion into her tight budget is what Birdtail Sioux First Nation member Laureen Bunn might receive if she applies for her share of a $10,270 transfer through her band office.

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A possible one-time $20 pandemic-related infusion into her tight budget is what Birdtail Sioux First Nation member Laureen Bunn might receive if she applies for her share of a $10,270 transfer through her band office.

Bunn is a member who lives off her reserve, which is located an hour and a half northwest of Brandon. She lives in Brandon because medical appointments are easier to access. An infection after a hip replacement surgery landed her in a wheelchair. Her hip is gone now and Bunn is on a disability pension.

The transfer to Birdtail is from the Southern Chiefs Organization (SCO), which received $775,165 in July from money the federal government announced in May. Seventeen Manitoba organizations together received $8.4 million of $90 million nationally for Indigenous organizations and communities.

That money was specifically for First Nation people living off-reserve and Indigenous people in urban areas, to support essential services and to prevent and respond to potential COVID-19 outbreaks.

For the 501 off-reserve Birdtail members, that means $20 per person.

The SCO has 34 member nations and will be administering the shares for Waywayseecappo First Nation and two others. Off-reserve members for all other First Nations need to approach their bands directly. The SCO represents approximately 80,461 First Nations people. In Canada, it is estimated roughly half of members live off-reserve.

Bunn is frustrated because she has never received any financial help from Birdtail since the pandemic hit in March. She is not the only one. Meanwhile, fellow members on-reserve receive additional funds and other help.

"The band just didnt help us out at all," she said, adding there are many members who live in Brandon.

"We asked before, when the pandemic started. They were handing out stuff to on-reserve members, like food and money. We didnt get anything."

Bunn said shes responsible to pay for her rent, hydro, water, Handi-Transit  everything  with her disability cheque. There isnt much left after those expenditures, and the $20 wont even get her a box of masks at Walmart.

Chief Ken Chalmers is equally frustrated. As early as March 31, Chalmers told The Brandon Sun that he was receiving countless calls from off-reserve members located all over Canada. He said its the federal government, specifically Indigenous Services Canada, thats causing chaos for chiefs and councils across Canada.

"If theyre going to be helping us, state what the money is for," he said, referring to million-dollar announcements that dont specify when money is to be used for on-reserve members only.

Chalmers described a system that is delivering $150 a month per each First Nation house on-reserve due to COVID-19, regardless of the number of people living in the house. Birdtail is using some of its own resources to top that up, mostly with food subsidies at its own store.

Should Chalmers spend any money toward helping off-reserve members, the federal government will claw it back.

"In the agreements we sign, this is for on-reserve, to support the children and the poor on-reserve," he said. "It makes chief and council look like crap. Its designed that way."

He said every chief is getting bombarded, and the sad part is he has no answers. Chalmers credits the SCO for handing out what funds it can find, but he said Indigenous Services should look at total membership numbers and disperse funds accordingly. Then he could provide all members with a COVID-19 supplement.

"I cant sustain $400 to $500 a month for 500 people," he said. "I get no household money for that person who lives in Brandon or Winnipeg. At the end of this thing, we dont want to be bankrupt. Im not going to drive the band into bankruptcy."

Chalmers cannot exactly explain why registered members are treated differently. When it comes to a core treaty negotiation currently in progress with the government, including a possible financial settlement, the entire membership is included.

He said chiefs are lobbying for off-reserve members, but get tortured on Facebook, accused of stealing the money and pocketing it.

"Every penny we get here is in our audit. And during COVID, here, we spent double what we got," Chalmers said, adding most of that was for food, and the check stop barring visitors from the community to keep it safe.

Meanwhile, the SCO stated in an email that it is pleased to have received the funds it did, but its not enough.

"Our chiefs have done an incredible job to address this crisis, but the economic environment is challenging and much more is needed to help communities deal with the hardships that COVID-19 has brought to their communities and to their off-reserve members," stated the organization.

In August, the federal government announced another $305 million in funding for the Indigenous Community Support Fund, but it remains unclear where specifically that money will land.

 mletourneau@brandonsun.com

 Michele LeTourneau covers Indigenous matters for The Brandon Sun under the Local Journalism Initiative, a federally funded program that supports the creation of original civic journalism.
Graduating with a degree in Political Science means that you not only understand how politics and government work at the local, national, and international levels, but that you possess skills in areas such as research, analysis, problem solving, and written and spoken communication. These abilities prepare you for a career or graduate study in a wide range of fields.

Employers want to hire candidates who understand complex ideas, who can see the big picture and make good decisions, and who can be trusted to complete projects, and these are the capabilities that are emphasized inside and outside of the classroom in the political science and public policy program. You might be researching global development policy or the role of the media in state elections, but the skills you are building are what employers want you to bring to their companies.

Your development in the political science and public policy program at MCLA prepares you to work in many areas. Government agencies, consulting firms, and banks are just a few examples. A career in law is also a path chosen by many majors, after completing law school. You can find more about our Pre-Law program here.

Our senior course, Career Readiness Workshop, supports seniors as they consider potential career fields and then craft resumes and cover letters so that as they graduate they have strong application materials and understand strategies for successfully finding employment.

For much more on the diverse careers open to Political Science majors, look through this web page from the American Political Science Association.

Here are examples of positions held by recent graduates of the MCLA Political Science program:
Daniel Andrews has stood by his claim that ADF staff were not offered to help run Victoria's hotel quarantine system despite federal government evidence showing military support was put forward several times.

Emails shown to an inquiry on Tuesday revealed the prime minister's office repeatedly offered troops to man the bungled program which sparked Victoria's deadly second wave of coronavirus.

The evidence appeared to contradict Mr Andrews' claim in August that: 'It is fundamentally incorrect to assert that there were hundreds of ADF staff on offer and somehow, someone said no.'

But on Wednesday, Mr Andrews stood by that statement and said he would explain why when he appears at the inquiry into the quarantine program next week.

'I stand by those statements and I'll be providing evidence,' he told reporters.

On April 8, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet secretary Philip Gaetjens emailed his Victorian counterpart Chris Eccles to again offer ADF assistance. Mr Eccles replied: 'Thanks Phil' - but no request for help was made

An email (pictured) from the prime minister's office to the premier's office on June 24 shows the pair discussed the ADF support that was on offer. But Victoria declined to accept it

The Victorian premier (pictured) previously denied turning down military help but emails from the prime minister's office show it was offered several times

The premier refused to go into detail, telling a journalist: 'All can I can say is the statements I've made are accurate... it's not appropriate for me to run debates back and forth.

'You're fine to ask the question but there's a live process going on. I'm not distant from it. I'll be part of that process next week.'

Liberal MP James Newbury claimed Mr Andrews had been caught lying and described him as 'Premier Pinocchio'.

Premier Pinocchio is a massive fibber with a very long nose Liberal MP James Newbury

He said: 'For weeks, Daniel Andrews has claimed the federal government didn't offer Australian Defence Force support to run Victoria's hotel quarantine.

'Despite irrefutable proof, the premier is still denying the offer was made. Premier Pinocchio is a massive fibber with a very long nose'.

A spokesman for Mr Andrews told Daily Mail Australia: 'We will not run a commentary on the ongoing work of the judicial inquiry.

'The Premier stands by his previous comments.'

Daniel Andrews stands by his comments: What the premier said JOURNALIST: Last month you it told the public accounts and estimates committee that it's fundamentally incorrect to assert there was hundreds of ADF staff on offer to Victoria and somehow someone said no. Do you stand by that statement? PREMIER: Yes, I do. My statements have been accurate and I will be assisting the inquiry next week. JOURNALIST: That appears to contradict the evidence we heard yesterday. We heard that the secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Philip Gaetjens, wrote to your departmental secretary, Chris Eccles in an email titled 'assistance re hotel security' and he said he was sure the Commonwealth would be willing to assist with ADF personnel if Victoria wanted to 'reconsider its operating model'. He replied saying, 'Thanks, Phil'. In light of that, who is right about this? Why does your statement appear to contradict that? PREMIER: All can I can say is the statements I've made are accurate. I stand by those statements and I'll be providing evidence. It's not appropriate for me to run debates back and forth. You're fine to ask the question but there's a live process going on. I'm not distant from it. I'll be part of that process next week. Advertisement

When the coronavirus quarantine policy was announced on 27 March, New South Wales accepted 360 troops and Queensland took 100 but Victoria refused any help, an inquiry heard on Tuesday.

On April 8, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet secretary Philip Gaetjens emailed his Victorian counterpart Chris Eccles to again offer ADF assistance.

Referencing how the ADF helped with security in NSW, Mr Gaetjens wrote: 'I am sure the Commonwealth would be willing to assist Victoria in a similar way if you wanted to reconsider your operating model'.

Mr Eccles replied: 'Thanks Phil' - but no request for help was made.

Instead, Victoria used private security guards who flouted social distancing rules, caught the virus in late May and helped spark the state's second wave which has killed more than 700 people.

It wasn't until June 24 that Victoria's emergency management commissioner Andrew Crisp made a request for 850 defence personnel to replace private security.

An email from the prime minister's office to the premier's office on that day shows the pair discussed the support.

But the request was rescinded a day later after the Department of Justice and Community Safety took over the program.

Last week the inquiry was shown shocking photos of quarantine guests walking freely to a convenience store from a Melbourne facility

A federal government submission to Victoria's hotel quarantine inquiry on Tuesday also shows that Mr Morrison wrote to the premier three times - on July 4, 6 and 11 - 'reaffirming the Commonwealth's willingness to provide ADF support if needed'.

The evidence contradicts Mr Andrews's claim in August that help was not offered.

'(It's) fundamentally incorrect to assert that there were hundreds of ADF staff on offer and somehow, someone said no,' Mr Andrews had told a parliamentary committee last month.

The premier declined to comment on inquiry's revelations on Tuesday.

He said he wasn't interested in 'having a debate with the prime minister'.

Poll Should Victoria have used ADF troops to man quarantine? Yes No Undecided Should Victoria have used ADF troops to man quarantine? Yes 589 votes

No 19 votes

Undecided 11 votes Now share your opinion





'The prime minister's representations to the inquiry - I'll leave that to the inquiry to make recommendations and findings about that,' he said.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Daniel Andrews' office for comment.

About 99 per cent of Victoria's second COVID-19 wave, which has killed hundreds and led to the nation's toughest lockdown, can be traced to outbreaks at two hotels.

The decision to hire private security was made at a meeting chaired by Emergency Management Victoria Commissioner Andrew Crisp on March 27.

Recordings of the meeting were played to the inquiry on Tuesday.

'I suggest that at this stage we can manage this. The ADF will be just exactly what they are doing at the moment, helping us to plan for this particular operation,' Mr Crisp said in the recording.

'At this stage we don't see a need for boots on the ground, so to speak.'

He reiterated the decision in another meeting on March 28, following reports ADF personnel were patrolling quarantine hotels in NSW.

'I've said it before but I'll say it again, at this particular point in time we certainly don't see the need for ADF boots on the ground,' Mr Crisp said.

Returned travellers began arriving in Victoria the following day.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison addresses the Hunter Business Chamber at WesTrac headquarters in Newcastle

Mr Crisp told the inquiry it was Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton's preference to use private security guards and he wasn't opposed.

'I've worked with a lot of private security and my thinking was, well-trained, well-supervised private security in this type of role would have been sufficient and effective,' Mr Crisp said.

In his statement tendered to the inquiry, Mr Crisp said he was aware of 'challenges' with security staff as early as March 30.

During a meeting on April 4, he learnt there had been reports security guards were 'not following good social distancing practices and that a few breaches involving physical distancing and infection control practices'.

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton, his deputy Annaliese van Diemen and their Department of Health and Human Services colleagues Jason Helps and Andrea Spiteri will give evidence when public hearings continue on Wednesday.

Last week the inquiry was shown shocking photos of quarantine guests walking freely to a convenience store from a Melbourne facility.

The images taken outside a Melbourne hotel were sent to Victoria Police Commander Tim Tully.

Quarantined guests were pictured strolling out of the hotel unchecked next to a street sign fittingly named 'Rona Walk'.

Commander Tully was sent one email by a former officer on April 15 reading: 'We have got the quarantined people out again this morning. One has tried to enter a convenience store on-site.'
BEIJING, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Lingqiu County in north China's Shanxi Province has made efforts to explore development of the organic agriculture for poverty alleviation.

Lingqiu's efforts have been widely applauded by the attendees at the 7th International Forum of Organic Agriculture which kicked off on Sept. 12 in Datong City.

Hu Yuegao, professor at China Agricultural University, pointed out that the world is in the process of transition from industrial civilization to ecological civilization. The organic agriculture is a good way to achieve the goal of rural vitalization and promote such a transition.

Experts at the forum noted that organic agriculture can effectively solve food safety issues, improve resource utilization, and ultimately achieve sustainable agricultural development.

Located in the northeast of Shanxi Province, Lingqiu County under Datong City enjoys abundant natural resources, with a long history of agricultural production. It has a total population of 250,000, including 200,000 engaged in agricultural production.

In order to achieve both poverty alleviation and ecological protection, from 2013, Lingqiu County has taken organic agriculture as an effective way to promote ecological poverty alleviation.

Through organic agriculture and eco-tourism, 14,547 poor people in the county have been lifted out of poverty.

In recent years, Lingqiu has taken multiple measures to develop the organic agriculture and protect the local ecological environment.

It launched an organic agriculture park with a planned area of 1,185 square kilometers, involving 46,000 farmers in 208 villages. An organic agriculture demonstration zone covering an area of 146 square kilometers was also built in a township to vigorously develop the organic agriculture projects.

Meanwhile, Lingqiu has also adopted a development mode featuring the combination of organic agriculture, beautiful countryside, and eco-tourism. It has built six communities with the organic agriculture as the mainstay, which has become the new tourist attractions.

For example, Chehe Organic Community, one of the six communities, has received 420,000 tourists since its establishment in 2014. The community had a total investment of 380 million yuan (about 56.01 million U.S. dollars).

Up to now, the total output value of organic agriculture in Lingqiu accounts for about one third of its total agricultural output value. It has 20 leading agricultural industrialization enterprises.

See the original link: https://en.imsilkroad.com/p/316219.html

SOURCE Xinhua Silk Road Information Service
Migrants were arriving at a new camp on Lesbos Wednesday but many continue to sleep rough

The UN refugee agency on Wednesday urged Greece to speed up asylum processes on the island of Lesbos, so that thousands of migrants still sleeping rough a week after their camp burned down in an apparent arson attack can be removed.

"The idea is not that people remain for ever on the island of Lesbos, but that processes are accelerated so that people can leave gradually and in an orderly way" to capital Athens or elsewhere on the mainland, the UN agency's chief in Greece Philippe Leclerc told reporters.

Greece's police minister Michalis Chrysochoidis this week said that "half" the migrants on Lesbos should be able to leave "by Christmas" and "the rest by Easter".

Over 12,000 people including entire families with elderly and newborns were left homeless when Europe's largest asylum seeker camp Moria burned down on September 8.

- Arson charges -

Six young Afghans have been arrested in connection with the incident, with four of them brought before a Lesbos magistrate on Wednesday.

They face a host of charges including arson, fomenting unrest, property damage, illegal use of force and attempting to injure police.

The Moria fire left over 12,000 people homeless

Two others, both aged 17, had initially been taken off the island in a mass operation to put unaccompanied minors out of harm's way, and will be charged at a later date, a court source said.

Greek officials had insisted from the start that the fires that destroyed the Moria camp were the result of arson.

Late on Tuesday, another camp of over 4,700 people on the island of Samos was threatened by fire. Three migrants are being questioned by police over the incident.

On Lesbos, crews this week hastily put together another tent camp which according to EU home affairs commissioner Ylva Johansson will eventually accommodate up to 9,000 people.

On Wednesday, the Greek migration ministry said roughly 1,200 of the 12,000 Moria migrants had been housed at the site.

"We expect 2,000 will enter by tonight," a migration ministry source said.

Of those in the camp, 35 have tested positive for coronavirus.

But thousands have been sleeping on the street for the past week, with limited access to food and no sanitation for families including elderly and newborns.

- 'We are not animals!' -

"This is the 21st century! Supermarkets are closed, there are no toilets... we are not animals!" raged Ange, a 23-year-old asylum seeker from DR Congo who was a mechanical engineer in his homeland.

A migration ministry source in Athens on Wednesday said coronavirus lockdown restrictions had been removed for camps on the islands of Chios and Kos for the first time in months.

But they remain in place for the camps on Samos and Leros until September 29, after three positive cases among residents, the official said.

Five years after the arrival in Europe of over a million asylum seekers, many fleeing wars in Iraq and Syria, the question over how the bloc should share out its refugee responsibilities remains sensitive.

In Brussels, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc would "abolish" the existing Dublin Regulation, which makes asylum seekers the responsibility of the first member state where they set foot.

Von der Leyen promised "a new European migration governance system" with "common measures on asylum and return and... a strong solidarity mechanism".

Germany has already offered to take in 1,553 refugees from Greece, on top of the 150 unaccompanied minors from Moria.

France has agreed to take in 150 minors from the camp while other EU nations are admitting a total of 100 other youngsters from Moria.

"We need Europe to help us leave this place," Ange said. "Would you accept these conditions if your children were in our place?"

"Please, open the gates," implored 21-year-old Samira from Afghanistan.

"We are human beings. Please help the children, they are so very important for the future," she said.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: Opposition parties in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday questioned the Modi government's claim that the lockdown helped prevent over 29 lakh COVID-19 cases and thousands of deaths, and said it should have ensured better coordination with the states.

Members of the Upper House were participating in a discussion on 'COVID-19 pandemic and steps taken by the Government of India'.

Several opposition members, including from the DMK and CPI (M), also pointed out that the government took almost two months to impose the lockdown after the first case came to light in January, and claimed the delay had proved costly.

Some of them also took a jibe at the government saying it was busy hosting US President Donald Trump, who was on a two-day India trip in the last week of February.

Initiating the discussion, senior Congress leader Anand Sharma questioned the government's claims that the lockdown prevented up to 29 lakh COVID-19 cases.

He argued that the people of the country should know if the lockdown really helped in containing the spread of the disease and sought compensation for the migrant workers who died during the lockdown.

"He (health minister) has said that it has been estimated that this decision prevented approximately 14 to 29 lakh. and 37,000 to 78,000 deaths. The House must be informed as to what is the scientific basis on which we have reached this conclusion that but for the sudden lockdown, the number of cases could have risen up to 29 lakh," Sharma said.

He was of the view that the Centre should have taken the state governments into confidence so that they could have prepared better for the lockdown.

"Were we prepared for the lockdown? I am not levelling any allegation as nobody in the world was prepared, but you could have spoken to the states, alerted them . to make preparations at the district level."

"This did not happen so what happened was that in four hours railways stopped. This led to painful scenes and the picture of the country which went out was not good," Sharma said, adding the sudden decision led to immense problems to the migrant labourers.

Sharma said that the government has in a reply stated that no compensation has been given because there are no figures regarding the death of migrant workers during the lockdown.

"This is such an unfortunate situation for the country. Why don't you have figures? Every state knows who died. They should be given compensation," the Congress leader said.

He said for the future the government should make a database regarding migrant workers in the country.

"There should be a register and those people who live in cities who did not get food security, ration, please find a solution for such exigencies," Sharma said.

Referring to an article in a leading medical journal which questioned the credentials of Hydroxychloroquine, Sharma said, "They had to take it back because it was completely fabricated. a case should be filed here as well because the pharma lobbies, as it is an affordable drug, want to discredit it."

Accusing the Centre of not consulting experts to draw a strategy to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, All India Trinamool Congress (AITMC) MP Derek O' Brien said that the central government should not use the pandemic "to convert democracy into autocracy".

"Did you consult global experts? We set up a Global Advisory Committee with half a dozen people. The problem is that when things are going good, you want to take the credit and when things are tough, you start talking about the chief minister and bulldoze us in a serious speech like this," he said.

He asked if the Centre transferred funds to the informal sector and migrant workers, as demanded by the 12 opposition parties.

"You need humility. This government needs humility to work together with states. You don't know at all. Unless you have this one thing how will we go forward," O'Brien said.

He also took a swipe at the government over the PM CARES Fund.

"The most opaque and dark fund in the world is called the Prime Minister's couldn't care less fund. Oh! I said the name wrong," he said.

Tiruchi Siva (DMK) alleged late action by the government in tackling COVID-19.

"The first case was detected in January and the self-imposed curfew started from March 23," he said.

According to him, the lockdown was delayed for the "gala welcome" of the US President Donald Trump, who was here on a two-day visit on February 24 and 25.

Swapan Dasgupta, a nominated member, said the government should clear the confusion caused by claims that India is "under-reporting" its numbers and urged the health minister to come out with some clarification over the statistical robustness of the figures.

BJP MP Vinay P Sahastrabuddhe said that the Centre held discussion with state chief ministers and secretaries around 15 times and no one during their conversation even once said that the lockdown should not have been imposed.

He criticised the Maharashtra government over its handling of the pandemic, claiming ther is a lack of coordination among officers and political leaders in the state.

Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan said even her family members suffered due to the pandemic.

"The way people were being treated in hospitals, the way Mumbai roads are getting sanitised every hour, it is incomparable. There should be no politics on this subject," Bachchan said.

K Keshava Rao of TRS said that there was a need for better coordination between the Centre and the state governments for handling the pandemic.

RCP Singh of the JD(U) said over 20 lakh migrant workers from Bihar were sent back by the states after the pandemic without recognising their contribution and now they are being called back by their respective employers Elamaram Kareem (CPI-M) cited data from CMIM (Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy) to claim that around 15 crore people have lost jobs and alleged that the government has not taken any steps to address the situation.

While talking of the COVID-package, Kareem said that it is just one per cent of the GDP, while the packages from other countries are up to 21 per cent of their GDP.

Manoj Jha of the RJD also raised the issues of workers who were turned down by their employers during the pandemic.

Earlier in the day, Santanu Sen of AITMC recalled that in the initial days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when his party members were wearing masks they were asked to remove them by the Chair.

To this, Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu said: "At that time, the Chair was guided by the guidelines issued by ICMR. On that day, when this comment was made, there was no such thing."
SBS and producers Blink TV have confirmed their intent for a return to Eurovision: Australia Decides on the Gold Coast in early 2022.

Creative Director of Eurovision: Australia Decides and Director of Blink TV Paul Clarke said: Its great to know for certain that Australia will be able to cheer for Montaigne at Eurovision 2021, and were excited to be working with her on a new song and staging.

Meanwhile, its important to appreciate what has been achieved with Australia Decides  we are so grateful to our key partners Tourism and Events Queensland, City of Gold Coast, Screen Queensland and more recently Moroccanoil and APRA AMCOS for their commitment to building a major TV event for music artists and songwriters, who like all of us, are facing unprecedented challenges this year. To our music community we say  write the perfect Eurovision song! We have every intention of bringing the show back to the Gold Coast in 2022 bigger and better than ever.

SBS is yet to announce what song Montaigne will sing in Rotterdam 2021, after the event was cancelled in 2020.
(Bloomberg) -- Oil markets were paralyzed on Monday by uncertainty over exactly when global fuel demand will rebound from a pandemic-driven collapse.

Some of the worlds largest oil suppliers are painting a bleak picture for crude demand, with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries cutting the demand estimate for its oil by 1.1 million barrels a day and BP Plc saying the relentless growth in oil demand is over. But U.S. stock markets gained, signaling that investors are seeing an increase in business activity which could buoy demand.

West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was virtually unchanged, falling 7 cents to settle at $37.33 a barrel in New York.

Theres no demand for crude oil and theres plenty of supply if you actually needed it,said Bob Yawger, director of the futures division at Mizuho Securities USA. Thats the killer here.

Trafigura Group expects the market to return to surplus. Meanwhile, Citigroup Inc. analysts expect global refinery utilization may stay around 75% until early 2021 to clear the ongoing surplus in gasoline and distillate inventories.

Oil has erased much of its gains from the summer as the coronavirus pandemic surges worldwide, clouding the outlook for a sustained demand rebound as global virus cases top 29 million. Nigerias crude, often viewed as a bellwether for the wider global oil market, is again selling slowly as traders report lackluster demand for the grades. On the supply side, compliance with OPEC+ output cuts may be an issue during talks this week after new signs of exporters reneging on the deal.

The sentiment has shifted from positive to negative, said Giovanni Staunovo, an analyst at UBS Group AG in Zurich. Concerns on a stalling oil demand recovery and concerns of cheating OPEC members have been a drag on oil prices. The oil demand recovery is still taking place -- its just uneven.

Brent for November settlement declined 22 cents to $39.61 a barrel.

A widening contango in Brent crude is also heightening concerns about over-supply. Iraq has cut pricing for all of its crude grades to Asia and the U.S. for October following similar curbs by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf producers as demand stalls.

It almost guarantees youre going to start racking up some big storage builds in weeks to come, Yawger said.

Even BPs most bullish scenario sees demand no better than broadly flat for the next two decades as the energy transition shifts the world away from fossil fuels, according to a report from the company. Vitol Group, however, predicts there will be 10 years of growth before a steady decline.

In the U.S., Gulf Coast oil producers and refineries have begun preparing for Hurricane Sally. Phillips 66 has started a shutdown of its Alliance refinery in Louisiana and Royal Dutch Shell Plc has curtailed operations at three Gulf of Mexico platforms.

2020 Bloomberg L.P.
Weve had a lot of new customers, and I think thats being able to see what were about before you walk in, she said. And who knows if well have to close down again? Its something we have to have.
(Corrects reference to former intelligence head Figuera who was interviewed.)

* U.N. fact-finding mission issues report on Venezuela

* Finds that security forces committed crimes against humanity

* Grounds to believe Maduro, ministers "ordered or contributed"

By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Venezuelan security forces and allied groups have committed systematic human rights violations including killings and torture amounting to crimes against humanity, U.N. investigators said on Wednesday.

Reasonable grounds existed to believe that President Nicolas Maduro and his interior and defence ministers ordered or contributed to the crimes documented in the report in order to silence opposition, they said.

Most unlawful executions by state agents have not been prosecuted in Venezuela, where the rule of law and democratic institutions have broken down, they added.

The U.N. fact-finding mission said other national jurisdictions and the International Criminal Court (ICC), which opened a preliminary examination into Venezuela in 2018, should consider prosecutions. It would share its database containing the names of officers identified by victims.

"The Mission found reasonable grounds to believe that Venezuelan authorities and security forces have since 2014 planned and executed serious human rights violations, some of which  including arbitrary killings and the systematic use of torture  amount to crimes against humanity," Panel chair Marta Valinas said in a statement.

There was no immediate response by Maduro's leftist government to the report, based on more than 270 interviews with victims, witnesses, former officials and lawyers, and confidential documents. They included the former head of the National Intelligence Service, General Christopher Figuera, whose testimony was corroborated, it said.

"Far from being isolated acts, these crimes were coordinated and committed pursuant to State policies, with the knowledge or direct support of commanding officers and senior government officials," Valinas said.

Story continues

The panel found that officers in the military, police and intelligence had committed extrajudicial killings.

"PLANTING EVIDENCE"

The panel said it had reasonable grounds to believe the inelligence service falsified or planted evidence on victims, and that its agents tortured detainees. They included opposition lawmaker Fernando Alban, whom the government said committed suicide in 2018 but whose party said was murdered.

Navy Captain Rafael Acosta was believed to have died of torture in the custody of the military intelligence agency DGCIM last year, the U.N. experts said.

The panel, set up by the Human Rights Council to investigate violations since 2014, was not granted access to Venezuela. More than 5 million people - one sixth of the population - have fled the country's political, economic and humanitarian crisis.

Jorge Valero, Venezuela's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, told the forum on Tuesday the government was cooperating with the separate office of U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, notably in facilitating prison visits.

Valero denounced the latest sanctions imposed by the Trump administration which were "causing suffering and death for the Venezuelan people". The United States, along with dozens of other countries, recognises opposition politician Juan Guaido as Venezuela's legitimate interim leader.

The report found that the Venezuelan state apparatus responded with repressive tactics to opposition protests that grew especially after Maduro was re-elected in 2018 amid an outcry over the results.

"Security forces used lethal force against the victim when it was not strictly unavoidable to protect lives. Security forces also used less-lethal weapons in a lethal manner, which resulted in the death of the demonstrators," it said.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
President Moon Jae-in / Yonhap



President Moon Jae-in sent a letter congratulating new Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Wednesday, in which he made clear that Seoul is ready to hold dialogue with Tokyo anytime.



Moon is looking forward to a positive response from Suga, according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kang Min-seok.



In the letter, Moon suggested that they make joint efforts for the development of relations between the neighboring countries, Kang added.



The president is "ready to sit down anytime with the government of Japan, which is the closest friend geographically and culturally, as well as sharing basic values and strategic interests, for dialogue and communication," according to the Cheong Wa Dae official.






16.09.2020 LISTEN

Minister of State In-charge of Tertiary Education, Professor Kwesi Yankah on Monday visited all the Seven (7) Examination Centers where 2,085 candidates made up of 1,036 male and 1,049 female are writing the ongoing Basic Education Certificate Examination in the Agona East District of the Central Region

Professor Kwesi Yankah who is also the NPP Parliamentary Candidate for Agona East Constituency for the upcoming December General Elections encouraged the candidates to aspire to attain higher heights on the educational ladder

Accompanied by DCE for Agona East, Hon. Dennis Armah Frimpong and Officials from the Ministry of Education, Professor Kwesi Yankah first visited Presbyterian Senior High School center at Agona Nsaba.

Other centers visited include Swedru Senior High School, Agona Asafo AEDA Basic School, Kwanyarko, Senior High School, Namanwura Community Day Senior High school, and Mankrong Junction AEDA Basic School.

The NPP Parliamentary Candidate accordingly urged the candidates to take advantage of the Free SHS policy to better their lots.

"You should aspire to attain heights on the educational ladder. Each of you can achieve it. His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo led NPP Government has created the avenue for you through the Free SHS policy

I expect nothing less than 100% passes from you. Make your parents proud. Strive to achieve your goals. We are not in normal times but once you have goals, achieve it.

Writing exams while wearing face mask is very difficult but covid-19 has become global pandemic. We have no option but to protect ourselves from infections

Later in an interview with newsmen, Professor Kwesi Yankah acknowledged that BECE results in Agona East District has not been the best if not the worst in the Central Region.

According to Professor Kwesi Yankah, it was time those in the academia pay attention to standard of education in the District at least at the basic level

" Am happy that we are recording better results at the BECE lately.

Since the inception of the NPP Government in 2017, Agona East District is recording significant improvement in BECE results. From 20% 2017 to 44% in 2018 and a little over 65% in 2019

This is due to prudent measures put in place by Ministry of Education through Ghana Education Service with able support from Nananom and stakeholders

I will like to appeal to all and sundry to rally behind the government as it seeks to remove every bottlenecks association with education as far as fee-paying in our educational institutions is concern.

Government is expanding infrastructure at the various Senior High Schools to absorb huge number of Basic School graduates due to Free SHS policy.

It is therefore behooves on us to do everything possible to uplift the standard of education"

Professor Kwesi Yankah further disclosed that government through school infrastructure expansion project, a 300-bed Girl's Dormitory for Kwayarko Senior High school was ongoing and would be completed by the end of October,2020.

" This dormitory is to accommodate Girls who are staying at rented houses rather than being in boarding house on school compound

They are becoming vulnerable to boys who takes advantage of their hard situations to disturb their studies.

Apart from the dormitory, construction of Administration block is ongoing and will soon be completed to facilitate administrative work while Headmaster/ Headmistress bungalow is also progressing speedily

Similar projects are ongoing in the others schools in the District"

Professor Kwesi Yankah was hopeful that even under Covid-19 pandemic, the candidates would come out with flying colours.

Agona East District Chief Executive, Hon. Dennis Armah Frimpong cautioned the candidates against examination malpractices.
PRESS RELEASE

Emergex Vaccines and George Mason University Identify T-Cell Epitopes Presented by SARS-Cov-2 Infected Cells

First detailed, empirical analysis of Class 1 epitopes presented by SARS-Cov-2 infected cells which define the T-Cell repertoire necessary for cytotoxic T-Cell function

MHC expression library provides an accurate basis for COVID-19 T-Cell vaccine and related diagnostics development

Doylestown PA, USA and Abingdon, Oxon, UK, 15 September 2020  Emergex Vaccines Holding Limited (Emergex), a company tackling major global infectious disease threats through the development of synthetic set point vaccines which prime the T-Cell immune response, today announces the determination of a Class I MHC expression library, or ligandome, for SARS-Cov-2 infected cells, in collaboration with George Mason University (GMU), National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases, Virginia, USA.

During the collaboration researchers at GMU grew SARS-Cov-2, the virus which causes COVID-19, in human cells expressing ACE-2 representing six HLA supertypes. The MHC Class I peptide expression library for cell surface expressed Class I molecules and the precursors for internal Class I bound peptides feeding the surface pool were determined using Emergexs proprietary immunoproteomics 2-D liquid chromatography mass-spectrometry platform at Emergex Vaccines, USA.

The library of approximately 30,000 Class I bound viral-derived peptides contains the first detailed empirical data for Class I epitopes that are presented by a SARS-Co-2 infected cell (potential T-Cell target cell) and therefore defines the T-Cell repertoire necessary for CD8+ cytotoxic T-Cells to perform their kill-and-clear function of an infected cell.

The most abundant viral derived subset of peptides (COVID-19 ligandome) was determined by reference to all possible positive and negative strand RNA derived peptides without sequence bias. The library also provides a search tool to determine the physical presence of any predicted expression of a SARS-Cov-2 derived peptide sequence at mass accuracy of approximately 10 ppm. Details of the library have potentially significant implications for the development of T-Cell targeted COVID-19 vaccines and also T-Cell memory diagnostic reagents which can definitively determine the pre-exposure history of COVID-19. The data revealed hot spots of Class I peptide derived from open reading frames (ORFs) of the proteome not previously identified in the literature and demonstrated the lack of concordance between the empirical method and in silico or inference (megapools) methodologies.

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Emergex will apply the insight gained in this study in its onoing programme to generate a second generation COVID-19 vaccine which is intended to generate a lasting and safe cellular immune response. Emergexs next generation vaccines have been designed to expand the bodys natural immune response by programming CD8+ T-Cells to rapidly recognise and respond to pathogens. This approach is aimed at providing effective prevention of disease while eliminating the allergic, autoimmune or antibody mediated side effects associated with traditional vaccines. Clinical trials of the first Emergex COVID-19 vaccine candidate are intended to start in Q4 2020.

Professor Thomas Rademacher, CEO and co-founder of Emergex, commented: It is increasingly clear that T-Cell responses to SARS-Cov-2 are the major if not dominant factor in the immune response to COVID-19 infection and a vaccine which can safely and effectively harness this response could be critical to controlling the pandemic. Studies on T-Cell memory recall to predicted peptides in convalescent COVID-19 individuals have inferred the presence of a strong T-Cell response in these patients. However, some studies suggest healthy and asymptomatic individuals also appear to have a previous T-Cell memory response to COVID-19 making the origin and diversity of this memory response ambiguous.

Dr. Xiaofang Huang, Leading Scientist, Emergex Vaccines USA, commented: To date only computer predictions or data from screening of 15-20-mer pools and megapools of peptides derived from spike protein or extensive regions of the SARS-Cov-2 proteome for recall responses have been used to infer the identity of the CD4 T-Cell epitopes on SARS-Cov-2. Neither approach can definitively conclude that a CD8+ T-Cell response against SAR-Cov-2 infection has occurred, since the actual viral targets are unknown and computer predictions are required to anlayze the pools for Class I epitopes.

Our empirically determined library provides a rational basis for CD8+ T-Cell vaccine and T-Cell diagnostics development. We believe this is a significant step towards an effective vaccine and look forward to progressing our programme in the coming months.

Dr. Aarthi Narayanan, Associate Professor of Systems Biology in George Mason Universitys College of Science, added: "This is an exciting and highly pertinent approach to develop a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 which takes into account the critical need for a robust and targeted T-Cell response to elicit functional immunity. We are excited to be working with Emergex on this venture."

- Ends -

For further information, please contact:

At the Company Emergex Consilium Strategic Communications Storme Moore-Thornicroft, Executive Director



Phone: +44 (0) 1235 527589



Email: smt@emergexvaccines.com



Chris Gardner / Sue Stuart / Carina Jurs



Phone: +44 (0)20 3709 5700



Email: Emergex@consilium-comms.com





About Emergex

Emergex, a UK-based biotechnology company headquartered in Abingdon, UK, is pioneering the development of synthetic set point vaccines which prime the T-Cell immune response to address some of the worlds most immediate health threats such as COVID-19, Dengue Fever, Zika, Ebola, pandemic flu and serious intra-cellular bacterial infections.

These set-point vaccines modify the initial immune status of recipients in a way that primes their immune systems to recognise subsequent infectious agents much like a natural infection would do, preventing an acute or severe manifestation of the disease.

Emergex combines validated technologies together with the very latest scientific insights to develop its vaccines, including using synthetic peptide codes determined on actual infected cells and using a proprietary gold nanoparticle carrier system for programming.

The Company has a growing pipeline of vaccine candidates. The most advanced development programme is a vaccine for Dengue Fever, which may also be disease modifying for other Flaviviruses such as the Zika and Yellow Fever viruses. Emergex also has programmes in development for a universal Influenza vaccine and a universal Filovirus vaccine (including viruses such as Ebola and Marburg) and discovery programmes for a Yellow Fever Booster vaccine and a Chikungunya vaccine.

Emergex has partnered with the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB) of Singapore to develop a vaccine for the emerging threat of Hand, Foot and Mouth (HFM) disease and has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Brazil-based Oswaldo Cruz Foundation Fiocruz for the development of viral vaccines. This initially covers the development of a vaccine that universally targets diseases within the flavivirus family such as Dengue Fever, Zika and Yellow Fever but could be expanded to include the development of vaccines to target other viral families that are endemic to the region.

Find out more online at www.emergexvaccines.com .

About George Mason University

George Mason University is Virginias largest public research university. Located near Washington, D.C., Mason enrolls more than 37,000 students from 130 countries and all 50 states. Mason has grown rapidly over the last half-century and is recognized for its innovation and entrepreneurship, remarkable diversity, and commitment to accessibility.

The Institute for Biohealth Innovation (IBI) promotes and supports biohealth-related research activities of faculty, staff, and students at George Mason University. The IBI connects Mason researchers in biohealth with potential collaborators, both within the university and externally, to advance human health research. Learn more and hear more from our researchers at ibi.gmu.edu.

The College of Science at Mason is a leader in scientific discovery creating innovative solutions for the rapidly-changing needs of todays world. Masons College of Science blends traditional science education with sought-after programs in disciplines as diverse as personalized medicine, infectious diseases, geoinformatics, climate dynamics, materials science, astronomy, forensic science, and applied mathematics. The College encourages meaningful education and research at all levels offering innovative undergraduate programs, minors, certificates, and graduate degree opportunities, as well as global, transfer-focused, and online, or hybrid, programs that allow professionals the opportunity to reskill or change careers. Learn more at science.gmu.edu.

George Mason University Biomedical Research Laboratory is one of thirteen Regional Biocontainment Laboratories constructed with funding support from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases/National Institutes of Health (NIAID/NIH). The BRL is a state-of-the-art laboratory with biosafety level 3 and aerosolization capabilities where scientists perform pioneering research of infectious diseases, both emerging and potential bio threat agents. Learn more at ncbid.gmu.edu








South Korean police rounded up 24 members of a voice phishing gang based in China and arrested 18 suspects in the group.







The arrests come after South Korean President Moon Jae-in called for tougher measures against fraudulent phone calls and text messages in June.







Busan Police Agency said Tuesday the phone scammers had committed financial fraud and stole more than $1.7 million from South Korean victims, CBS No Cut News and Newsis reported.







The suspects allegedly began operating a call center in January 2015, closing it in May of that year after defrauding more than 300 South Koreans of their savings and assets, police said.







The scammers operated out of Huizhou, in China's Guangdong Province, in a residential apartment. A "general manager" recruited the team, and the suspects took turns initiating scams, police said.







Phone scams are a serious problem in Korea, usually involving cybercriminals targeting unsuspecting victims with demands for cash and false offers. Senior citizens and individuals with outstanding debt have often been targets.







Scams originating from China and targeting South Korean mobile phone owners have been on the rise. Criminals typically trick their victims into thinking they are in financial trouble, or that they are already targets of scams that the criminals can "resolve" for them if they follow instructions by phone.







Other tactics include instructing victims to install a mobile app that contains malware. Some scammers offer low-interest loans, targeting people with outstanding loan payments. The data on individuals with loans is obtained illegally, according to the South Korean press report.







Chinese nationals speaking in Korean over the phone have previously been arrested after attempting scams. Phone scammers have been known to make strange requests, including asking their targets to place their life savings in a refrigerator, according to a 2019 report from CNN.







From January to October 2019, more than 31,000 phone scams were reported in Korea, costing victims about $429 million. (UPI)


YPSILANTI, MI - When Brandon Moyer heard there was a freshman girl at Lincoln High School talking about wanting to go to Harvard University, he knew he had to introduce himself.

Then a junior, Moyers ambitions were similar to Sophia McPherson -- he wanted to attend an Ivy League school and become a civil engineer after he left his childhood home in Ypsilanti.
The Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, has ordered the resumption of tertiary institutions owned by the state government.

Mr Makinde gave this order on Tuesday, according to a statement by the Commissioner for Education, Olasukanmi Olaleye.

The statement said the governor had approved September 28 as the resumption date for tertiary institutions in the state.

This is despite warnings by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) and Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COASU) that the institutions are not yet safe from COVID-19.

Mr Makinde also approved the new academic calendar for primary and secondary schools in the state.

The resumption date for 2020/2021 academic Session for Public / Private Primary and Secondary Schools as announced by the State Ministry of Education, Science and Technology will commence on Monday, 21st September, 2020.

The revised Guidelines for Primary and Secondary Schools now include the followings:

Schools will now operates morning and afternoon shifting for pupils and students of primary and secondary schools as stated follows: Primary 1-3 8.00 am  11.00 am, Primary 4  6 12 noon  3.00 pm, JSSS 1 -3 8.00 am  11.00 am, SSS 1- 3 12 noon  3.00 am

It becomes mandatory for all Schools, Public and Private to constitute Covid-19 Task force to be headed by Heads of Schools with Two members of Staff

School Heads are advised to make temporary use of spaces like Laboratories, Libraries and examination hall as classroom where it is necessary in order to observe social distancing. Pupils / Students should be attached to Chairs and Tables as well as discouraging sharing of items.

In another development, the Governor has also approved the re-opening of State owned Tertiary institutions and Private Institutions for regular academic activities to commence from Monday 28th September, 2020 Academic Boards and Senate of institutions are expected to fix their date and comply strictly with Covid 19 guidelines for the reopenings of schools, the statement read.
Indian government will reportedly change the process of issuing official tenders and selecting contractors to work on key technology infrastructure sectors, a top government official revealed to CNN-News18. According to the official, the move is in line with the Indian governments increased focus on data and cyber security, which have come under increasing scrutiny in light of Chinas cyber espionage activities on India.

According to the official, the Indian government is in process of ramping up enhancing security in all levels, including the nations online security framework. However, this is being seemingly done as a precautionary step in response to Chinas attempts at cyber espionage, and no critical sectors of India have been compromised, according to CNN-News18s sources. China, it was noted recently, has been using private intelligence players track over 10,000 Indian citizens and create surveillance maps for them.

Such surveillance maps can lead to China attempting to interfere with Indian socio-political affairs. As a precautionary measure, the government of India has over the past two months banned over 200 apps that had ties to China, with TikTok and PUBG Mobile being two heavily popular apps that were also banned. Prior to this, the Indian government had also actively discouraged Chinese infrastructure players such as Huawei and ZTE from participating in Indias 5G trials.

According to the official, the Indian government will change the process of tech tenders, which so far was based on the lowest bidder winning the government contract. Such a structure, it has been noted, has helped Chinese companies win numerous contracts with the Indian government. Now, under a new tender structure, the government will give preference to Make in India and Aatmanirbhar startups and companies in order to promote homegrown services in the country. This, he said, will also work to push economic change in India.

So far, Reliance Jio, Indias largest mobile telecom operator, has announced the rollout of Jio 5G, which is has said will be built entirely from scratch in India. Furthermore, following a ban on TikTok, Indian startups such as ShareChat, Roposo, Chingari and Koo took centerstage in response to Chinese services being suspended. These instances are being highlighted as Indias ability to sustain itself entirely, while minimising Chinas access to Indias cyberspace.
As Nigerians groan over the recent increase in price of premium motor spirit (petrol), the federal government assured yesterday that the introduction of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) will cushion the effect of the price hike.

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, said the auto-gas, an alternative to petrol, is 40 per cent cheaper than petrol.

Highlighting the economic benefits of CNG, the minister noted that Nigerians will not feel the impact of the recent increase in pump price of petrol.

According to him, the federal government has concluded plans to introduce the CNG by the end of October.

The minister urged motorists to go for conversion of their vehicles from petrol to gas-run engine, adding that the federal government will ensure that the conversion will be done free of charge for all Nigerians to cushion the effect of the hike in pump price of petrol.

LEADERSHIP recalls that Sylva had announced that the auto-gas will cost between N95 and N97 per litre, which is cheaper than the rate of PMS currently pegged at N162 per litre.

While making a presentation during a meeting with government delegation and Labour, Sylva said Nigeria lost an average of N1 billion daily between 2016 and 2019 as a result of fuel subsidy and N3.74 billion daily before 2016.

He also noted that Nigeria lost N10.4 trillion to fuel subsidy between 2016 and 2019

The minister said Nigeria's economy had not been well for a while now, adding that it has become incumbent on all to join hands to see how to salvage the situation.

According to him, every successive administration in country had come to realise that subsidy was not good for the economy but having the political will to implement deregulation policy has been the problem.

He said that despite recent move by federal government to introduce market pricing of fuel, Nigeria has not fully deregulated because of the concerns the government has for the people.

Sources had said the plan for CNG was to commence conversion of cars from petrol-run engines to CNG-run engines in a sequenced approach, with the conversion of public transport systems through the transport companies.

Also, it was gathered that the government has already begun pairing private sector companies that will provide conversion kits and refueling systems.

Also, it was gathered that there are over 30 auto-gas refueling locations currently available to fuel either CNG or LPG nationwide.

Industry watchers say it costs between N100,000 and N300,000 to convert a car from petrol or diesel engine to a CNG engine, depending on the nature and condition of the car.

Thus, the conversion would result in up to 40 per cent savings in energy cost for car owners and motorists.

The use of auto-gas is to replace fuel consumption and reduce excess spending on imported fuels by providing alternatives to petrol, diesel and kerosene.

It is also expected the create millions of direct and indirect jobs across the country.

To this effect, in January, 2020, the Committee on National Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP) was inaugurated by the Minister.

To support the introduction of CNG into the Nigerian market, fuel station regulations have been revised by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is set to deploy CNG refueling equipment into 10 of its stations before the end of September.

In a document titled "Nigerian Gas Transportation Network Code (NGTNC)", it stated that plans have reached advanced stage for the development of Autogas in NNPC-owned and operated mega stations in the 36 states and the FCT.

The document also added that these filling stations will offer a full complement of gas products for motorists in addition to existing fuel products.

On June 30, 2020, President Muhammadu Buhari had launched the $2.8 billion 614km Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) natural gas pipeline in Ajaokuta, Kogi State and Rigachikun area of Kaduna State.

The expectation is that it would further improve gas supply nationwide as the gas pipeline is expected to boost domestic gas consumption, power generation, and industrialization.

... Seeks Labour's Understanding

In a related development, the federal government yesterday implored organised labour to show understanding in respect of the recent hike in fuel pump prices and electricity tariff.

Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Hajiya Zainab Ahmed, her Petroleum Resources and Labour and Employment counterparts, Timipre Sylva and Chris Ngige, who spoke during a bilateral meeting between government and the labour union on Tuesday in Abuja said there was need for understanding in the quest for social economic recovery from the negative impact of the ravage caused by COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

On his part, Ngige said Nigeria is faced with the "new normal to survive as human species and we can only hope to build back better society that would sustain us and aid us in our quest for recovery both physically and structurally.

"To achieve success in this quest we would need all hands on deck; hence the need for transparency in action, effective and efficient communication between the government and the people, particularly labour which is regarded as a vital arm in the means of production," he added.

Nigerians are suffering, Labour insists

But the organised labour comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) told the federal government delegation that the recent increase in the prices of petroleum products and electricity tariff were choking workers and Nigerians.

The organised labour also stated that the hike had erased the gains recorded with the signing of the national minimum wage into law last year by President Muhammadu Buhari.

NLC President, Ayubba Wabba, during a dialogue with the government delegation faulted federal government's decision to unilaterally fixing prices of electricity and petrol without consultations with Nigerians.

According to him, many Nigerians are struggling to survive because of the high cost of living occasioned by government's recent policies which included increase in the Value Added Tax (VAT).

Ngige led the government team to the dialogue which held at the Banquet Hall of the presidential villa.

The labour team was led by Wabba and president of the TUC, Quadri Olaleye.

Wabba said, "The question now is what do you have on the table to actually cushion the effect on workers and their families because they have been pushed to the wall. They are already enraged. Do you have anything for us so that we can say yes despite this challenges this is what I have for Nigerian workers that they can be able to have something that can cushion this effect for them?

"Already, the value of the minimum wage has been eroded. The purchasing power parity when you compare with all West African countries we are already on the ground. That is the reality. If Ghana compares their minimum wage with our own you will see their minimum wage."

Labour accused the federal government of transferring the "inefficiency in the subsidy regime" to the consumers which they (consumers) have to pay through hike in price.

The NLC president urged the government to fix the nation's refinery and stop lining the pockets of fuel through a fraudulent subsidy regime.

Wabba continued: "I agree with Mr President that subsidy is a fraud but do we address it or transfer it to the customers? That is where the issue is. We don't need to transfer it to the customers.

"More than 90 countries of the world actually have minimum wage on this. Those are the issues that are biting very hard and workers and citizens are crying aloud that there is much burden on them.

"We have increased VAT, we have increased some taxes, and we have now increased the fuel price and the tariff on electricity. An ordinary worker can't pay those charges. In fact higher level officers are complaining seriously. This is the predicament we are in.

"Therefore let us also look for solutions. How do we mitigate this impact which is very pronounced on workers? Any time you increase the cost of petroleum product and electricity tariff they will transfer the cost to the consumer and therefore the cost of goods and services will go up. Clearly speaking, what we need to do is to protect these vulnerable group of people- the workers and the citizens."

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On his part, TUC president, Olaleye asked the government to reverse the recent increases and policies which have been biting Nigerians hard.

Although the government team made presentations on its policies, it didn't specify how the effects of recent hikes in electricity and petroleum products would be alleviated.

The TUC president stated, "Nigerian workers are crying and the populace are also crying. Last year December we were so happy that when we signed the minimum wage agreement and Nigerian workers were happy that their lots were increased. Unfortunately now they are crying. By calculation we are losing additional 15 percent of what we gained as a result of signing minimum wage.

"Let us remove the effect of COVI -19, our leaders, our representatives nothing has changed. We have not been able to discuss labour matters since February all in the name of there is COVID-19 but people that are signing budget, people that are sharing money on daily basis they meet either on zoom or physically. They meet and share this money but when they come to labour matters we have to remember that there is COVID-19.

"The questions are members are asking is that does it really mean that the politicians represent the rich people in this country? Does it mean it is only labour that represent the poor people? Does it mean when we have economic predicament that is when we call Nigerians that we want to hear from them but when we have surpluses we hear nothing about it.

"I cannot remember any time in this country that we had surplus and Nigerian workers or populace will feel it on their Palm or in their pockets but when we have predicaments especially crude oil crash then labour will be called upon, let us see how we can rescue the economy. I think it is high time everybody bear their fathers' name."
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept. 15, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Novo Resources Corp. (Novo or the Company) (TSX-V: NVO; OTCQX: NSRPF) is pleased to announce that it has reached first completion with respect to its previously announced binding terms sheet (the Terms Sheet) with Mark Creasy and entities controlled by him (collectively, the Creasy Group) and issued 2,582,269 common shares (the First Completion Shares) of the Company to the Creasy Group (for further details, please see the Companys news release dated June 15, 2020 ). The First Completion Shares are subject to a statutory hold period expiring on January 15, 2021.



Immediately subsequent to the issuance of the First Completion Shares, the Creasy Group held 6.46% of the issued and outstanding shares of the Company.

The Company will issue an additional 8,431 common shares (the Second Completion Shares) to the Creasy Group upon receipt of Australian Foreign Investment Review Board approval of certain aspects of the Terms Sheet. The Second Completion Shares will be subject to a statutory hold period expiring four months from the date of issuance.

The Company is also pleased to announce that it has made two significant operational management appointments as it transitions towards production at its Beatons Creek conglomerate gold project in the Nullagine region of Western Australia (the Nullagine Gold Project).

Novo is pleased to welcome Mr. Chris Mardon as its Senior Manager, Operations for Novos Nullagine Gold Project. Mr. Mardon is a mining engineering graduate of the Western Australian School of Mines who brings a wealth of mine operational experience to Novo, with a 30-year mining career spanning both local and international operations. Mr. Mardon has extensive experience in similar roles, overseeing successful gold operations throughout Western Australia, in addition to direct operational experience with mechanical sorting technology.

Novo is also pleased to welcome Mr. Brad Woodland as its Mining Manager for Novos Nullagine Gold Project. Mr. Woodland has over 30 years of mining industry experience with the majority directly involved in the gold mining industry. Mr. Woodlands exposure to paleo-channel mining in the West Australian Goldfields and alluvial gold mining in Laos represents a significant advantage in fully exploiting the conglomerate material in the Nullagine region.

Both Mr. Mardon and Mr. Woodland joined Novo in consulting roles over the last few months to assist with detailed planning ahead of the acquisition of Millennium Minerals Limited (see the Companys news releases dated August 4, 2020 , September 8, 2020 , and September 14, 2020 ).

Rob Humphryson, Novos CEO and a director, commented, I have known Mr. Mardon for over 30 years and have followed his successes with interest. We look forward to benefitting from his operational experience in the gold industry, with the added advantage of having hands-on operational experience with mechanical sorting technology. Mr. Woodland has extensive mining experience and his exposure to mining paleo-channels and alluvials in the past will stand us in good stead as we develop the flat lying conglomerates at Beatons Creek. Importantly, both Chris and Brad fit the Novo culture  they are the right personality type and are proving themselves to be knowledgeable, hard-working, and innovative people who are well suited to the unique challenges that will inevitably arise as we progress this unique style of deposit towards production.

Mr. Mardon commented, It is rare to get the opportunity to work for a truly innovative company that has such an extensive portfolio of projects ripe for development. It is going to be an exciting year as we work towards transitioning from explorer to operator.

Mr. Woodland commented, We have a team of quality personnel at Novo who are very aligned to the Companys culture, providing a strong foundation to establish a safe, efficient and successful operation for our stakeholders.

Novo will provide regular updates with respect to ongoing operational updates and other significant personnel appointments as the Company transitions to becoming a gold producer.

The Company is also pleased to announce that it will be participating in the virtual 2020 Precious Metals Summit  Beaver Creek. Dr. Quinton Hennigh will be presenting on Thursday, September 17 at 9:00  9:15am EDT in virtual room 1. Further details on how to register for this free event are available at https://wsw.com/webcast/preciousmetals/register.aspx?conf=preciousmetals&page=nvo.v&url=https://wsw.com/webcast/preciousmetals/nvo.v/index.aspx .

About Novo Resources Corp.

Novo is advancing its flagship Beatons Creek gold project towards production while exploring and developing its highly prospective land package covering approximately 14,000 square kilometres in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. In addition to the Companys primary focus, Novo seeks to leverage its internal geological expertise to deliver value-accretive opportunities to its shareholders. For more information, please contact Leo Karabelas at (416) 543-3120 or e-mail leo@novoresources.com

On Behalf of the Board of Directors,

Novo Resources Corp.

Quinton Hennigh

Quinton Hennigh

President and Chairman

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Forward-looking information

Some statements in this news release contain forward-looking information (within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation) including, without limitation, the receipt of Australian Foreign Investment Review Board approval of certain aspects of the Terms Sheet and the Companys ability to put its Nullagine Gold Project into production. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and, as such, involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the statements.
Oil rose to its highest in more than a week after economic data from China to the U.S. fueled optimism that factories are getting back to work.

U.S. benchmark crude futures gained 2.7% Tuesday in New York, alongside a rally in U.S. and European equities. Chinese retail sales rose for the first time this year in August, while industrial production expanded more than expected. In the U.S., manufacturing in New York state expanded in September at the second-fastest pace since 2018.

Still, the International Energy Agency was the latest to join the chorus of bearish views on oil demand, following pessimistic calls this week from BP Plc, Trafigura Group and OPEC. The market outlook has grown even more fragile with a resurgence of the pandemic, the IEA said Tuesday.

Despite how depressing the IEA report was, theres hopeful signs this morning about positive sentiment in the manufacturing sector, said John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital LLC. Beyond transportation, you really need industrial demand to kick in, factories to be hopping, for there to be a market increase in consumption.

Oil is retracing some of its recent losses following a swift descent in the first two weeks of September, which took global benchmark crude futures below $40 a barrel. Market participants are searching for signs of when consumption may return to normal, but the road to recovery has been spotty as the pandemic flares up around the world. In the meantime, fuel demand remains depressed, with U.S. gasoline demand tumbling in the first week of September and outpacing declines from the same time last year.

PREVIOUSLY: Oil trapped between bearish demand outlook and rallying equities

Oil is likely to return to the price regime of June-August while waiting for stronger signs of oil demand recovery, said Harry Tchilinguirian, head of commodity markets strategy at BNP Paribas SA in London. Naturally, OPEC+ producers in this scenario must stay the course in terms of their voluntary supply cuts.

Still, offering a starkly more bullish outlook than some of its rivals, Vitol Group said inventories have been falling sharply and will continue to decline this year.

You cant lose sight of the fact that production has been curtailed, Vitol Chief Executive Officer Russell Hardy said in an interview during the Platts APPEC 2020 conference. A lot of stock draws are expected to come from refineries digesting what they had amassed during the frenzied buying of cheap oil, he said.

Meanwhile, U.S. crude inventories are expected to rise for a second week in a row, according to a Bloomberg survey before official government data on Wednesday. Figures from the industry-funded American Petroleum Institute are due later Tuesday.

Youre probably going to see steady increases, especially in crude, for the next couple of months, unless you get a real pickup in economic activity in the U.S., said Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research. Its the usual seasonal build, compounded by the fact that demand still remains below normal.

2020 Bloomberg L.P.
BUCKLEY, MI  A 64-year-old man is accused of sexually abusing a relative who is a minor.

The alleged abuse occurred in Buckley, Wexford County, where suspect Ronald James Nottage lived until moving to Wisconsin during the police investigation into a report of sexual abuse, according to a release from Michigan State Police.

Michigan State Police Cadillac Post was contacted by Wexford County Child Protective Services to investigate a recently disclosed report of sexual abuse of a minor. The investigation led to an arrest warrant for Nottage who turned himself in to police on Sept. 10.

Nottage was arraigned for one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, which involves sexual penetration, of a relative on the same day he was arrested. He was granted a personal recognizance bond and is expected back in court on Sept. 29.

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(Natural News) Just when you thought California couldnt get any worse, Governor Gavin Newsom has now signed a controversial new bill into law that means that adults who sodomize minors will not automatically be placed on the states sex offender registry.

The bill, which was passed by the states Democratic-controlled legislature, hands judges discretion over sex offender registration in cases that involve oral or anal sex between a child aged 14 to 17 and an adult who is no more than 10 years older than the child.

Under the states current law, adults are automatically added to the sex offender registry for having sexual relations of these two types with minors. The measure passed California State Assembly in a 41-18 vote.

The bills proponents claim its main purpose is ending discrimination against LGBT adults who have anal and oral sex with minors who they claim have consented to the activity. The legislation was introduced by State Senator Scott Wiener, a Democrat, who said that the law would stop what he has decided amounts to blatant discrimination against young LGBT people engaged in consensual activity.

He believes that the current law is discriminatory against LGBT people because it states that judges can decide whether adults who engage in traditional intercourse with minors need to register as sex offenders. This only applies to consensual vaginal intercourse between someone aged 14 to 17 and an individual who was no more than 10 years older than the other person. But because LGBT people do not engage in this type of intercourse, he believes they are somehow targeted by this law, which he calls horrific homophobia that ruins peoples lives.

Bill faced a lot of opposition from those who want to protect children from predators

Not everyone agrees with Wiener, and even members of his own party have spoken out against it. Democratic Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez said during the bills debate in the legislature: I cannot, in my mind, as a mother, understand how sex between a 24-year-old and a 14-year-old could ever be consensual, how it could ever not be a registrable offense. We should never give up on this idea that children should be in no way subject to a predator.

She added: I challenge everybody: Give me a situation where a 24-year-old had sex with a 14-year-old, any kind of sex, and it wasnt predatory.

The mayor of San Diego, Kevin Faulconer, said that all sex acts should fall under these rules, tweeting: An adult who commits ANY sex act on a minor 10 years younger must be registered a sex offender. Law must be changed.

Newsom has long been a champion of LGBTQ rights. In his days as San Francisco mayor, he instructed the city to start issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples just a month into his term.

Meanwhile, the senator who proposed the bill is the same one who made headlines in 2017 for a different controversial bill that downgraded knowingly transmitting HIV from a felony to a misdemeanor despite the fact that the disease is a death sentence. Wiener, who is gay, also proposed a bill that would allow illegal immigrants to run for Democratic Party seats.

As bad as those ideas were, this bill could well be his most dangerous one yet. A pedophile is a pedophile, and it shouldnt matter which type of sex was involved. The law should protect children, not the adults who prey on minors.

Sources for this article include:

Breitbart.com

LATimes.com

NationalFile.com
HAMILTON, Bermuda, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Seadrill Limited ("Seadrill" or the "Company") (OSE: SDRL) (OTCQX: SDRLF) announces that it has entered into forbearance agreements with certain creditors in respect of the group's senior secured credit facility agreements, senior secured notes, and guarantee facility agreement.

Pursuant to the forbearance agreements, the consenting creditors have agreed not to exercise any voting rights to, or otherwise take actions, in respect of certain events of default that may arise under the senior secured credit facility agreements, senior notes and guarantee facility agreement as a result of the group not making certain interest payments falling due in September 2020 under the group's senior secured credit agreements until and including the earlier of 29 September 2020 and any termination of the forbearance agreements. Forbearance has not yet been agreed with respect to termination events that may arise under the Company's leasing agreements in respect of the West Hercules, West Linus and West Taurus. Without a forbearance in respect of these leasing agreements, a non-payment of interest under the agreements covered by the forbearance agreements that have been agreed could result in enforcement of a cross-default under such leasing agreements.

The purpose of the forbearance agreements is to allow the Company and its stakeholders more time to negotiate on the head terms of a comprehensive restructuring of its balance sheet. Such a restructuring may involve the use of a court-supervised process. The Company continues to evaluate capital structure proposals from its financial stakeholders; whilst no agreement has been reached at this point it is expected that potential solutions will lead to significant equitization of debt which is likely to result in minimal or no recovery for current shareholders.

The Company has engaged Kirkland & Ellis LLP as legal counsel, Houlihan Lokey, Inc. as financial advisor, and Alvarez & Marsal as restructuring advisor. Slaughter and May has been engaged as corporate counsel and Advokatfirmaet Thommessen AS is serving as Norwegian counsel.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release includes forward looking statements. Such statements are generally not historical in nature, and specifically include statements about the Company's plans, strategies, business prospects, changes and trends in its business, the markets in which it operates and its restructuring efforts. These statements are made based upon management's current plans, expectations, assumptions and beliefs concerning future events impacting the Company and therefore involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this news release. Consequently, no forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. When considering these forward-looking statements, you should keep in mind the risks described from time to time in the Company's regulatory filings and periodical reporting. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which such statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for the Company to predict all of these factors. Further, the Company cannot assess the impact of each such factor on its business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to be materially different from those contained in any forward looking statement.

This information is subject of the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

CONTACT:

Tel: +44 (0)20 3745 4960

[email protected]

(https://www.seadrill.com/investors/)



This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/seadrill-limited/r/sdrl---seadrill-announces-forbearance-agreements,c3194755

SOURCE Seadrill Limited
An American military employee is facing jail in Germany after allegedly going on a bar crawl with COVID-19, infecting at least 23 others and exposing more than 710 people to the virus.

The Munich public prosecutor has opened an investigation after the woman identified only as Yasmin A from the US, was accused of partying in Garmisch-Partenkirchen while awaiting test results after returning from a vacation in Greece in early September with a sore throat.

On Tuesday it was reported authorities had recorded three more COVID-19 infections in people who frequented bars visited by the 26-year-old, who works at the Defense department owned Edelweiss Lodge and Resort.

Chief Public Prosecutor Andrea Mayer told German daily newspaper Bild: 'We have an initial suspicion that we are now investigating.'

District Office spokesman Wolfgang Rotzsche added: 'If the woman has actually consciously accepted this risk, then she should also be legally prosecuted.'

The latest cases recorded Tuesday take the total number of recent infections in the town to 59, including 25 staff at the Edelweiss Lodge and Resort, which is reserved for members of the American military, their families and veterans.

Lawyer Arndt Kempgens said: 'From the point of view of conditional intent, this can even lead to criminal liability for wilful and dangerous bodily harm according to Section 224 of the Criminal Code. The sentence ranges from 6 months to 10 years in prison.'

The Munich public prosecutor has opened an investigation after the woman, named only as Yasmin A., went out partying in Garmisch-Partenkirchen while awaiting test results after returning from a vacation in Greece with a sore throat

The Edelweiss Lodge and Resort, which is reserved for members of the American military, their families and veterans, has also shut down completely for two weeks

US Army spokesman Donald Wrenn told Bild: 'For US civilian employees, the Bavarian regulations for the prevention of infectious diseases apply, just like for every German citizen.

'The US Army in Bavaria keeps its soldiers and civilians as well as the Bavarian ordinances with regard to limiting the spread of the virus to a high standard. Any violation of these regulations would be inconsistent with our behavior and our efforts to keep our communities safe.

'Our main focus is currently on the thorough and precise identification of contact persons as well as additional tests to limit the possible spread of COVID-19.'

The woman is said to have visited the Peaches bar on September 3 and the Irish Pub in Garmisch on September 4. The Edelweiss Lodge and Resort has shut down operations for two weeks.

Anton Speer, who heads the county administration, told reporters Tuesday that authorities are still waiting for the results of about 300 tests conducted Monday and it was too soon to give the 'all-clear.'

Three new infections emerged from 740 tests conducted over the weekend.

Bavaria's governor, Markus Soeder, called the outbreak in Garmisch-Partenkirchen 'a model case of stupidity' because the 26-year-old American had gone partying despite having COVID-19 symptoms and awaiting a test result.

Soeder had said 'such recklessness must have consequences' and suggested the woman could receive a stiff fine.

Breaching quarantine rules can result in fines of up to 2,000 euros ($2,375), but further penalties and liability for damages are possible if others become infected or businesses suffer economic harm as a result.

Andrea Mayer, a spokeswoman for prosecutors in Munich, confirmed Tuesday that her office had opened a preliminary investigation into the woman on suspicion of causing bodily harm. 'The investigation is ongoing,' she told The Associated Press.

The woman is said to have visited the Peaches bar, pictured, and the Irish Pub in Garmisch

On Tuesday it was reported authorities had recorded three more COVID-19 infections in people who frequented bars visited by the 26-year-old, pictured

The outbreak has lead to a 10pm curfew on bars and restaurants and a rule that no more than five people can gather in public.

The Edelweiss Lodge and Resort, which is reserved for members of the American military, their families and veterans, has also shut down completely for two weeks.

John Tomassi, spokesman for the U.S. Army Europe, said the military is conducting its own investigation into the incident and is recommending any service members or others who had contact with the Edelweiss employee be tested for coronavirus.

The Edelweiss resort has vacation cabins and 258 rooms and suites

The Edelweiss resort has vacation cabins and 258 rooms and suites, but Tomassi said he did not have details on how many people had been staying there over the past two weeks. He said contact tracing was part of the investigation.

Germany's disease control center on Tuesday reported 1,407 new cases across the country in the past day.

The country has been widely praised for its handling of the pandemic. It has recorded over 9,360 virus-related deaths, a toll one-fourth of Britain's.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif late on Tuesday voiced Iran's readiness for any assistance to Peace Process in Afghanistan, Trend reports citing IRNA.

In a telephone talk with Afghanistan's acting Foreign Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar late on Tuesday, Zarif discussed the latest situation of Afghan parties in the framework of the peace process, the role of neighboring countries in it, as well as issues of mutual interest.

Expressing satisfaction with the holding of talks among the Afghan parties, he stressed Iran's readiness for any assistance to the peace process in Afghanistan.
Will welcome any decision on speedy trial against legislators facing criminal charges: Centre

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Sep 16: The Centre has said that the Supreme Court can fix the time frame for the completion of trials in pending cases against legislators. This can be applicable in the case of both sitting and former legislators, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the SC.

The Centre also said that it would welcome any decision on a speedy trial against both sitting and former legislators facing criminal charges and corruption cases.

Earlier, this month, the Supreme Court had sought to know if convicted politicians be banned for life from contesting elections.

Bihar Assembly Elections: 136 out of 240 sitting MLAs have pending criminal cases

The court is hearing a case to ensure speedy trials in 4,442 criminal cases pending against former and sitting MPs and MLAs across states. The court asked the centre to respond to a new prayer seeking a life ban on politicians convicted of heinous offences from contesting elections.

India describes Pakistan as an epicentre of terrorism | Oneindia News

The petitioner Ashwini Upadhyay said that there was a long list of serious crimes in which conviction of a public servant led to his disqualification from holding a government job for his lifetime. Why can't the same yardstick be applied to politicians who are under the Representation of People's Act. Why should they get away lightly by getting debarred from contesting elections for a period of six years after serving the jail term, the petitioner represented by advocates Vikas Singh argued.

The court then directed the high courts to provide information about the pending cases and their stages. The court also sought a response from the centre in six weeks time on the matter.
A stringent scanning of imported goods will start from September 21 to curb rampant violations of rules of origin that have opened floodgates for dumping of Chinese goods in India through third countries such as Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia with which New Delhi has free trade agreements (FTAs), two officials said requesting anonymity.

The Customs are armed with the new mechanism of verification that kicks in from September 21. It gives them full authority to check all FTA imports such as mobile phones, white goods, set-top boxes, incense sticks, cameras and other electronic gazettes more closely, said one of the officials, who works for the Union finance ministry.

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) on August 21 had notified -- the Customs (Administration of Rules of Origin under Trade Agreements) Rules, 2020, or CAROTAR, 2020 requiring detail disclosures by importers to claim concessional duty benefits under trade pacts such as FTAs. The CAROTAR, 2020 shall come into force on September 21, 2020, the CBIC order had said.

Interpreting the Customs notification, consultancy firm EY India said according to the new rule, importers need to furnish details of certificate of origin (CoO) in the bill of entry and make necessary declaration in a bid to claim preferential rate of duty. The importer shall possess information to demonstrate the manner in which the origin criteria are satisfied and maintain all supporting documents for at least five years from the date of filing of the bill of entry, it said.

The officials mentioned above said the Customs could also ask for supporting documents and information and when in doubt, deny the benefit of the FTA duty concession or allow it provisionally pending verification.

The industry has repeatedly represented to the government to review the existing FTAs and take action to put a brake on their misuse, the first official said, quoting finance minister Nirmala Sitharamans budget announcement this year.

She had said that undue claims of FTA benefits had posed a threat to the domestic industry and such imports require stringent checks.

Union minister for commerce and industry Piyush Goyal had also cautioned the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to strengthen the rules of origin provisions to check the influx of Chinese goods in the Indian market.

Co-chairing the 17th Asean-India Economic Ministers Consultations, which was held on August 29, through video conference, Goyal had highlighted that the FTA has to be mutually beneficial and expressed the need to strengthen the rules of origin provisions, work towards removal of non-tariff barriers and provide better market access.

In case of Asean countries, the merchandise trade gap has risen from $5 billion in 2010, when FTA was implemented, to more than $22 billion now, a second official said.

Our position of merchandise trade surplus with Vietnam and Singapore has reversed in the last three to four years. From a position of a surplus of $2 billion with Vietnam at the start of FTA in 2010, now India has a trade deficit of about $3 billion with it. While our trade deficit with Singapore stands at over $4 billion, he said.

The trade gap has also widened with Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. The painful part of this story has been that these FTAs have been misused widely to export goods to India in utter disregard to the rules of origin requirement, he added.

Vietnam has been exporting a large number of electronic items. Of late, electronics imports have started coming in from Indonesia as well. Thailand and Malaysia have also been exporting increased quantities of electronic and other goods to India, he said.

Investigations have revealed that items such as TVs, mobile phones, set-top boxes, telecom network products, metals coming from FTA countries did not meet the prescribed rule of origin criterion, he added.

In some cases, the Customs has detected that a few importers were smuggling restricted goods such as incense sticks in the guise of goods declared to be imported under an FTA, he said.

In the last five years, the Customs have detected fraudulent claims under FTA to the tune of Rs 1,200 crore, he added.
KATONAH, N.Y., Sept. 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- For the first time in the U.S., community solar will be offered on an opt out basisand the Villages of Brockport and Lima, NY, in partnership with Joule Community Power (Joule), are leading the charge. The New York State Department of Public Service (DPS) has approved implementation of the pilot in Lima and Brockport as a component of Joule's Finger Lakes Community Choice program. Community outreach, public education, and preparations for implementation to 3,000+ households begin this month.

Community Solar

Community solar enables households to receive the benefits of solar energylower electricity costs and reduced carbon gas emissionswithout having to install panels on their home or property. Instead, a utility account holder subscribes to a nearby solar project (or "solar farm"), and a portion of the electricity generated by the solar farm gets credited directly to the subscriber's utility bill. The guaranteed discount, in the form of solar bill credits, is made possible by NY State incentives for renewable energy generation. Roughly half of U.S. residents cannot install solar panels on their homes.

Opt-Out Community Solar

The milestone approval of opt-out community solar by DPS enables communities, rather than individual consumers, to directly support the development of renewable energy generation in NY State and opens the door to a more inclusive model of community participation. The revolutionary community choice aggregation (CCA) solar program allows municipalities to enroll their entire population in community solar, leveraging the collective buying power of their residents at a large enough scale to secure better terms through a single competitive bidding process with solar providers. When used in conjunction with CCA supply programs, residents can augment their electricity bill savings and combat climate change on multiple fronts, thereby maximizing impact of their participation and their electricity bill savings.

The Pilot

Until the approval of the pilot by DPS, those wishing to enroll in a community solar program were required to undergo a soft credit check, sign a contract with a community distributed generation (or "CDG") provider, and pay separately for the solar credits. Therefore, before opt-out community solar, subscribers would pay a reduced monthly utility bill as well as a second bill from the solar CDG project developer for their discounted solar credits that lowered their utility bill.

With the launch of the pilot in Brockport and Lima, however, the municipalities sign a community-level agreement with the solar project developer on behalf of their residents and businesses, enabling eligible account holders to be automatically enrolled in the program with any credits or charges to be accounted for in the consumer's National Grid electricity bill. National Grid will continue to deliver electricity to all residents and remains responsible for repairs, maintenance, and service. Residents can opt-out of the program at any time with no penalty, but would lose the guaranteed 10% price reductions on the solar bill credits that lower their annual electricity costs.

While benefiting communities and residents, opt-out community solar also provides significant benefits to solar project developers. By making agreements with municipalities, developers can gain enrollment certainty and acquire customers at scale.

Joule Gives Back

Joule has established a community solar program that gives back to the community. As an added incentive to sign up and to encourage communities to make the shift toward clean, locally-sourced energy, we have established "Sustainability Funds" for participating municipalities. Funded through a community solar program, based on enrollment numbers, communities can use their funds to finance future sustainability projects of their own choosing. By reducing sales and marketing numbers to attract enough customers to make a solar farm viable, Joule is able to channel savings back into the community. To see how much our opt-in community solar communities have earned to date, please visit https://www.joulecommunitypower.com/results.

The Implications

Brockport Mayor Margay Blackman commented, "The Village of Brockport converted to municipal solar in December of 2019, and we have been waiting for the moment that we can offer all of our residents community solar with guaranteed savings under a single electric bill. With Joule and the Finger Lakes Community Choice solar program, that moment has arrived."

"The CCA solar program that Joule Assets has created meets the Village of Lima's long-sought goal of providing residents with 100% renewable energy at a 10% cost saving. The elegance of the program is that residents don't have to take any action to benefit and the solar credits will appear automatically on their regular National Grid bill each month," explained Lima Mayor John Correll.

Mike Gordon, CEO of Joule stated, "We are delighted to be able to cooperate with our municipal partners in the Villages of Lima and Brockport on this first-of-a-kind program. It is always inspiring to work with far-sighted local leadership looking to better the situations of their own constituents, while at the same time supporting a larger cause."

"This DPS approval signals a significant win for efforts to scale up renewable energy in New York State," said Jessica Stromback, Managing Director of Joule Assets. "Joule is proud to have spearheaded this effort with our partners in Brockport and Lima, and hopes that this structure that is taking off now in New York will also expand across the U.S. in order to scale renewable energy nationally in the fight against climate change."

About Finger Lakes Community Choice

Finger Lakes Community Choice is a community choice aggregation (CCA) programcomprising communities in Western New Yorkthat enables participants to save on electricity by pooling local electricity demand in order to leverage the collective buying power of their residents and small businesses in effort to secure more favorable terms on their energy supply and/or community solar contracts. The CCA supply program enables participants to pay less for renewable energy than they've historically paid for traditional supply. The CCA community solar program provides guaranteed electricity bill savings for solar farm subscribers in the form of utility bill credits and made possible by NY State incentives for renewable energy generation. The participating communities include the Town of Geneva for energy supply and The Villages of Brockport and Lima for community solar. This program was formed in partnership with Joule Community Power. Learn more at https://www.fingerlakescommunitychoice.com/.

About Joule Community Power

Joule Community Power (Joule) works with municipalities and local partners to empower communities and facilitate their goals of providing residents and businesses with cleaner and cheaper energy. Joule principals were responsible for implementing New York State's first Community Choice Aggregation Program (CCA)a program that enables communities to aggregate local energy demand in order to: 1) save moneygain leverage to procure less expensive electricity for residents and businesses, 2) make moneycreate new revenue opportunities by participating in energy markets, and 3) go greengain local control to opt for clean and renewable generation sources. Joule is the only company in New York State offering CCA administrative services with a Public Service Commission-approved implementation plan that integrates local renewable energy projects, and only Joule has the expertise, relationships, and experience to effectively design, implement, and manage such a program. Joule's innovative renewable energy strategy in New York is driving new regulation and encouraging the Public Service Commission to rapidly advance innovative solutions. Joule Community Power is a division of Joule Assets. Learn more at joulecommunitypower.com.

SOURCE Joule Community Power

Related Links

https://www.joulecommunitypower.com


A 41-year-old man accused of lighting a fire near railroad tracks behind a home in Phoenix last week has been indicted on 32 criminal charges, including two counts of arson.

A Jackson County grand jury on Tuesday returned the indictment against Michael Jarrod Bakkela, charging him with two counts of first-degree arson, 15 counts of first-degree criminal mischief, 14 counts of recklessly endangering another and one count of unlawful possession of methamphetamine.

Bakkela is accused of setting a fire in the area of Quail Lane and Barnum Drive on the night of Sept. 8 that damaged 15 properties, threatened the lives of 14 people in nearby neighborhoods between Phoenix and Medford and contributed to the Almeda fire that ravaged the area, according to the sheriffs office.

Bakkela is being held on an enhanced bail of $5 million and is set to be arraigned on the indictment Wednesday in Jackson County Circuit Court, according to court records.

According to the county Sheriffs Office, residents in the 1100 block of Quail Lane called 911 at 5:09 p.m. Sept. 8 to report that a man, later identified as Bakkela, was lighting a fire near the railroad tracks behind their home. A deputy took Bakkela into custody a short time later.

Detectives suspect Bakkela drove into a gated area, parked a vehicle, started a fire and then fled north before he was stopped, according to the Sheriffs Office.

The initial arson charges accuses Bakkela of unlawfully and intentionally damaging property at 252 Hoyt Lane in Phoenix by starting a fire. The second arson charge only references a longitude and latitude location of the Jackson County property impacted. The criminal mischief charges accuse Bakkela of intentionally damaging or destroying property at 15 other addresses on Hoyt Lane, West Glenwood Road and Voorhies Road in northern Phoenix.

He is also accused of recklessly endangering 14 people in neighborhoods by unlawfully and recklessly creating a substantial risk of serious physical injury.

Brandon Hazelett said he was working with others at the Rogue Soil business that night, spraying water on the building and fields to try to save them from spreading fires.

We were spraying water until we couldnt, he said.

They saved most of the building but our yard is still on fire on the 20-acre property, he said Tuesday afternoon.

Bakkela, 41, is being held on $5 million bail in the Jackson County Jail.

Simon Blair, the owner of Rogue Soil, was among the area property owners who testified via video against Bakkela before the grand jury, according to court records. Rogue Soil was listed as a victim in one of the criminal mischief counts.

Jose Ayala Gallegos said he and his family frantically evacuated their home in the 300 block of Hoyt Lane as fire spread.

I lost everything. I lost my house, my work truck, a collectors car I had for 30 years, he said, speaking from his father-in-laws house.

When he went back and found his home gone, Gallegos said Medford detectives were in the area and took his name and information. Gallegos also was listed as one of the victims of in the criminal mischief counts. He said he had never seen Bakkela before in the neighborhood.

Bakkela pleaded not guilty to the initial allegations. Though the Sheriffs Office described Bakkela as a transient, he has a current address in Salem and a prior one in Central Point, according to court records. He was on probation for an October 2019 methamphetamine possession conviction and is accused of harassment stemming from a crash involving a stolen car in November 2019 in Central Point.

-- Maxine Bernstein

Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212

Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian

Subscribe to Facebook page
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 15:42:38|Editor: huaxia

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JERUSALEM, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Gaza militants fired rockets at southern Israel and Israeli planes hit sites in Gaza on Wednesday in an escalation following the signing of normalization deals between Israel and two Arab countries.

Israel's military said in a statement that war jets and attack helicopters struck at least ten Hamas sites in the Gaza Strip.

The struck sites included an underground infrastructure, a weapons and explosives manufacturing factory, and a military compound used for training and rocket launching experiments by Hamas.

According to the army, at least 13 rockets hit southern Israel overnight between Tuesday and Wednesday. The Iron Dome aerial defense system intercepted eight of the rockets.

The army warned that it views any fire against Israel "with great severity" and is "ready to continue operating as necessary against attempts to harm Israeli civilians or sovereignty."

On Tuesday night, during the signing ceremony of peace pacts between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in White House, Gaza militants fired rockets at two cities in southern Israel, injuring two men and damaging cars and shops at a shopping mall in Ashdod.

The Palestinian leadership, which has long accused the U.S. President Donald Trump administration of being biased in favor of Israel, condemned the deals.

Palestinian officials said the deals betrayal the Palestinian cause of ending the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which were first seized by Israel during a 1967 war.

Previously, only two Arab countries, Egypt and Jordan, had signed peace agreements with Israel. Enditem
Bella Varelis is a rumoured top-two contestant on this year's season of The Bachelor.

But an explosive trailer for Wednesday's rose ceremony suggests she could be sent home earlier than expected.

In the trailer, the marketing consultant, 25, accuses rival Irena Srbinovska of 'telling Locky what he wants to hear' before pulling the Bachelor aside.

'Is she going home?' An explosive new Bachelor trailer hints that Bella Varelis (pictured) will be eliminated - as Locky Gilbert says he 'can see a future' with bookies' favourite Irena Srbinovska

'I don't want her to get in between us,' Bella tells Locky.

But Locky isn't impressed, telling producers: 'I am actually pretty upset. I have seen a side of Bella I didn't think I would see.'

At the rose ceremony, he is shown putting down his final rose and taking Bella outside for a chat as the other contestants look on.

Bold move! In the trailer, the marketing consultant, 25, accuses rival Irena of 'telling Locky what he wants to hear' before pulling the Bachelor aside

A car is then seen driving away, as a voice-over says: 'I've never seen Locky like this. Is Bella going home?'

In stark contrast, Locky's romance with nurse Irena, 31, seems to be blossoming as the pair discuss starting a family.

'I can see, like, future, kids, house. With you, it just feels so normal,' Locky tells her.

Moving fast! In stark contrast, Locky's romance with Irena, 31, seems to be blossoming

The couple then kiss during what appears to be a romantic camping date.

Both women have shared telling Instagram posts ahead of tonight's episode, with Irena cheekily saying her blazer dress was 'stolen from Locky's wardrobe'.

Meanwhile, Bella was much more subdued, writing: 'Emotions are running high tonight. Tune in at 7:30pm as we reach the tail end of this crazy journey.'

The Bachelor continues Wednesday at 7:30pm on Channel 10
"The Political Science program cultivated my interest in public policy and equipped me with the skills needed to succeed in a challenging graduate program and find a fulfilling job in the field."  Corban Von Ouhl '13, graduate of the Masters of Public Policy program at George Mason University and now working for a Washington, D.C., consulting firm

Why MCLA is Different

Our faculty offers an interdisciplinary approach to the study of government, politics, and policy at the local, state, national, and international levels. You interact with a range of policy makers and opinion leaders including elected officials, journalists, and scholars engaged in public policy issues.

Our curriculum prepares you for work or graduate study in political science, public policy, and law. In addition, you sharpen your skills in computer technology, research, analysis, and writing. By working with your advisor, you develop a co-curricular experience tailored to your career aspirations. The opportunities available to you include participation in the North American Model United Nations program, study abroad, service learning, and travel courses in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. We also have a fast-track program for those who are interested in going to law school, including 3+3 agreements with UMass Law and Western New England University School of Law.

Our faculty assist with internship placements in Massachusetts, New York, and Washington, D.C. Our partnership with The Washington Center provides students with a variety of internship opportunities and the chance to spend a semester or summer in the nations capital. Further, the department has competitive scholarship money to help students make this unique experience a financially viable option
Instead of scaling back its participation in MFG Day 2020, Miller is expanding the usual one-day occasion into a month-long series of virtual events and charitable giving campaigns. Were excited to have created a virtual Manufacturing Month, which provides multiple opportunities to engage the public, showcase our plant facilities and introduce some of the people who make Miller thrive, while simultaneously supporting the communities where we live and work. - Eric Miller

Miller Fabrication Solutions typically celebrates Americas MFG Day, or Manufacturing Day, annually on the first Friday of October. But in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the contract steel fabricator is marking the October 2, 2020, event a little differently.

Manufacturing Day enables manufacturers and suppliers to the manufacturing industry, like Miller, to showcase their work and highlight career opportunities as the industry seeks to fill millions of high-skill, high-tech and high-paying jobs over the next decade. More than 400,000 students, parents, teachers, community leaders and others interested in learning more about modern manufacturing typically attend thousands of Manufacturing Day events in all 50 states and in Puerto Rico.

Due to the coronavirus, Millers Manufacturing Day festivities will not be held in person this year. Instead of scaling back its participation, however, Miller is expanding the usual one-day occasion into a month-long series of virtual events and charitable giving campaigns.

Miller decided to do more  not less  for Manufacturing Day, in light of the challenges 2020 has brought, said Eric Miller, the companys president and third generation of family leadership. Were excited to have created a virtual Manufacturing Month, which provides multiple opportunities to engage the public, showcase our plant facilities and introduce some of the people who make Miller thrive, while simultaneously supporting the communities where we live and work.

During Manufacturing Month, Miller team members will present plant tours at each of its three western Pennsylvania locations, giving close-up looks at state-of-the art equipment and robotics. A Meet a Manufacturing Expert event series will include interviews with in-house, skilled professionals to break down manufacturing processes and industry concepts. Across all events, Miller will spotlight charitable organizations that have been hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Miller will match all donations to these nonprofits made by Manufacturing Month participants, up to $500. Donors who email their contribution receipts to Millers marketing department will receive free Miller swag items in gratitude for their generosity.

Manufacturing Month events are free, open to the public and safely accessible from a computer, tablet or mobile device. To learn more about these events and register for a session, visit the Events section of http://www.millerfabricationsolutions.com. Instructions to join the online sessions via GoToWebinar will be emailed upon registration.

Manufacturing Day is presented annually by the National Association of Manufacturers and The Manufacturing Institute.

Miller Fabrication Solutions Manufacturing Month Event Schedule:

Manufacturing Day  Friday, October 2, 2020

Miller Headquarters (Sandy Lick) Tour

(Plant is located in Brookville, Pennsylvania)

10  11 a.m. EDT

OR

2  3 p.m. EDT

Donations encouraged for:

Summerville Library

114 Second Avenue

P.O. Box 301

Summerville, PA 15864

Wednesday, October 7, 2020

Meet a Manufacturing Expert

10  11 a.m. EDT

OR

2  3 p.m. EDT

Donations encouraged for:

Light Up Brookville (organizes the annual Brookville holiday festival and parade)

P.O. Box 2

Brookville, PA 15825

Tuesday, October 13, 2020

Miller Maplevale Plant Tour

(Plant is located in Brookville, Pennsylvania)

10  11 a.m. EDT

OR

2  3 p.m. EDT

Donations encouraged for:

Western PA CARES for Kids

Monday, October 19, 2020

Meet a Manufacturing Expert

10  11 a.m. EDT

OR

2  3 p.m. EDT

Donations encouraged for:

Coolspring Power Museum

ATTN: Darlene Stuchell, Treasurer

76 Harvest Lane

Punxsutawney, PA 15767

Wednesday, October 28, 2020

Miller Homer City Plant Tour

(Plant is located in Indiana County, Pennsylvania)

10  11 a.m. EDT

OR

Noon  1 p.m. EDT

Donations encouraged for:

Evergreen After School Club

655 Church Street, Suite 100

Indiana, PA 15701

Manufacturing Month participants may continue the manufacturing celebrations on social media platforms by tagging #MillerFabricationSolutions and #MFGMonth20 on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

About Miller Fabrication Solutions

Established in 1963, Miller Fabrication Solutions is the strategic fabrication partner for innovative, global OEMs. Miller delivers high-quality metal parts and assemblies through its extensive value-added and manufacturing solutions. With a core focus on modern technology and robotic automation coupled with lean processes, the Miller Customer Experience works to ensure that complex project measures are exceeded now and well into the future. OEMs can learn how to transform their metal manufacturing processes by scheduling a consultation.
Shares in Ocado hit a record high after the online grocer revealed Marks & Spencer's products have been more popular with customers than Waitrose's were.

Ocado has been selling M&S goods on its website alongside its own since September 1, when a 20-year partnership with Waitrose came to an end.

Allaying fears shoppers would desert Ocado once it made the switch, finance boss Duncan Tatton-Brown said there was 'practically no sign' that it had lost any customers.

Taste test: Ocado has been selling M&S goods on its website alongside its own since September 1 when a 20-year partnership with Waitrose came to an end

There has been particularly strong demand for M&S's famed ready meals and Percy Pig treats, as well as staples such as milk, cucumbers and carrots.

And shoppers have put an extra five items or so in their baskets because of the 'excitement around the launch of M&S products', Ocado said.

Ocado shares surged on the update, rising 10.7 per cent, or 253p, to 2608p, while M&S shares climbed by 4.4 per cent, or 4.55p, to 109.25p.

Ocado shares have risen 103 per cent this year and the company is now valued at 19.5billion, just 2billion less than Tesco.

Ocado had a tiny 1.7 per cent share of the UK's overall grocery market in the most recent 12-week period, compared with a near 27 per cent share held by Tesco.

Ocado hailed the 'successful switchover' from Waitrose to M&S as it posted a huge rise in sales during the 13 weeks to September 1.

Quarterly revenue at its retail business surged by 52 per cent to 587million compared with the same period of last year.

And the average number of orders it received per week rose by 10 per cent to 345,000, as it managed to keep hold of customers who signed up during lockdown.

Ocado shares have risen 103 per cent this year and the company is now valued at 19.5bn, just 2bn less than Tesco

Ocado expects profits to reach around 40million in 2020. It booked a 43.3million profit in 2019.

The online grocer notched up its busiest-ever day for orders when the M&S partnership launched on September 1.

But it also got off to a rocky start, with some customers complaining that orders had been cancelled at short notice.

Ocado blamed this on a 'surge in demand'. It plans to increase its capacity by a further 40 per cent next year by building three more of its robotic warehouses in Andover, Bristol and Purfleet.

M&S is pinning its hopes on the tie-up after the pandemic hammered its performance on the High Street and it announced plans to cut 7,000 jobs from its 66,000-strong shop-floor workforce.

Analysts had been sceptical last year when it paid 750million to buy a 50 per cent stake in Ocado's retail business, which marks the first time its groceries have been put on sale online.

So far the 4,000 Waitrose products that were available on Ocado's site have been replaced by 4,400 M&S items.

Another 800 food options will be added to its range in the run-up to Christmas, capitalising on M&S's reputation for doing high-quality party treats.

Analysts said the results had not just been promising for Ocado, but also for M&S.

Sophie Lund-Yates, an equity analyst at investment manager Hargreaves Lansdown, said: 'This could bode well for Marks & Spencer, whose sales could do with a boost, and who staked a lot on this deal paying off.

'98pc of customers are already shopping at M&S, though, so it will be interesting to see how many of these sales will have simply transferred from stores.'

Peel Hunt analysts said Ocado had had a 'storming' third quarter. They said: 'The M&S transition is performing excellently: nearly every customer is already shopping for M&S products and the weighing in-basket of those products is greater than it was with Waitrose's products.'
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on September 16 announced that he has tested positive for COVID-19.



Yesterday, I was feeling weak and consulted my Doctor. During the course of my check up, I have been tested COVID 19 positive. I am at present doing well with the blessings and good wishes of all. I have isolated myself.

 Nitin Gadkari (@nitin_gadkari) September 16, 2020

Taking to Twitter, Gadkari said, "Yesterday, I was feeling weak and consulted my Doctor. During the course of my check up, I have been tested COVID 19 positive. I am at present doing well with the blessings and good wishes of all. I have isolated myself."

"I request everyone who has come in my contact to be careful and follow the protocol. Stay safe," he added.

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

Earlier today, Lok Sabha MP from Tirupati YSRCP leader Balli Durga Prasad Rao passed away at a hospital in Chennai, after testing positive for the novel coronavirus.

With a spike of 90,123 fresh cases of COVID-19, India has breached the 50 lakh-mark. In the last 24 hours, 1,290 deaths were reported across the country, pushing the death toll due to the infection to 82,066.
After months of living ones life almost continually in front of some sort of electronic screen, the desire to get out and see the world can be almost overwhelming.

However, travel in these trying times is problematic at best, as the worldwide coronavirus pandemic has caused many countries to close their borders, especially to American visitors.

Also, many people are concerned enough about their health that they would prefer not to stray too far from home base.

But its still possible to remain within the boundaries of Tulsa County and experience at least a taste of the wider world, thanks to the many restaurants featuring international cuisines.

Here are five options that will let homebound Tulsans experience a taste of the world. These restaurants offer dine-in and takeaway service.

Sin Fronteras

4909 S. Peoria Ave.
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has put the use of personal protective equipment (PPE), including face masks, under the global spotlight. However a paper published in Anaesthesia (a journal of the Association of Anaesthetists) reveals that masks do not always fit correctly and hospitals can lack the time and financial resources to ensure every healthcare worker has a mask that fits correctly.

"Satisfactory airborne protection will only be provided if the filtering facepiece respirators are properly fitted to the individual's face, providing a tight facial seal," explains senior co-author Prof Britta von Ungern-Sternberg, from the Perth Children's Hospital/ The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia. "Airborne protection is decreased in the presence of a leak as unfiltered air will be drawn inside the mask."

Their review found that initial fit-pass rates for females compared with males were 85% and 95%, respectively. Higher initial fit-pass rates were found in Caucasians (90%) compared with Asians (84%). Particularly low initial fit-pass rates were reported in Asian females, with a reported mean of 60%.

The authors explain that correct respirator fit appears far more important for airborne protection than the filtration capacity of the material. The shape and size of the respirator in relation to the wearer's facial anthropomorphic dimensions are major factors in terms of quality of fit (meaning the absence of leak). In the USA, for example, an N95 mask must provide adequate fit to at least 95% of a defined fit-test panel comprising of 25 subjects with predefined anthropometric features to meet the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) standard. The authors say: "However, the facial dimensions of this fit-test panel are derived from a cohort in which females and Asians are underrepresented. This might explain why reported initial fit-pass rates for filtering facepiece respirators vary widely with lower rates found in females and Asians."

The paper also discusses the difference between fit-checking and fit-testing. In fit-checking, the healthcare worker (HCW) checks their own mask has a good facial seal, by not feeling an air leak using both positive and negative pressure checks and is a minimum safety standard to whenever a mask is worn. Fit-testing, on the other hand, is a standardised test measuring if a certain mask when worn by the HCW fits correctly and does not demonstrate an air leak under simulated work conditions. The authors say fit testing should form part of official hospital occupational health and safety programmes.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) states that filtering facepiece respirators require a fit-test to ensure proper protection. Despite the presence of standards and guidelines internationally, fit-testing is not universally adopted throughout Europe or other countries, such as Australia. Equally, the Health and Safety Executive in the UK states that fit-testing should be carried out to ensure the respirator can protect the wearer. The authors note: "However, the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted a growing number of UK medical trusts running so short of filtering facepiece respirators that they are no longer insisting staff have a fit-test before they start wearing a mask while treating infected patients."

Due to the associated time and costs, some health officials propose the elimination of fit-testing and advocate that a fit-check is sufficient in determining respirator fit. However, the US NIOSH conducted a study that demonstrated protection of N95/FFP2 masks improved from 67% without fit-testing to 96% with fit-testing. Subsequently, NIOSH determined fit-check alone to be insufficient and fit-testing should be mandatory when selecting filtering facepiece respirators or elastomer half mask respirators.

The authors say :"In summary, while fit-check remains recommended prior to each use of any respirator to ensure fit on a day-to-day basis, we recommend not to use fit-check as a substitute for fit-testing to identify the size and shape of respirator that fits best."

The authors note that private companies offer fit-testing between AUS$ 50-100 (US$36-72/28-56/30-60) per person. They conclude: "Annual fit testing is recommended. While this cost may appear high initially, it is similar to in-person mandatory training. The cost must also be considered in relation to potential sick leave or legal costs related to infections acquired in hospital such as COVID-19 or other airborne infectious diseases, which could be much more expensive."

The authors say: "The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted deficiencies of some healthcare facilities to protect their healthcare workers in line with national and international recommendations and the requirement for formal fit-testing programmes appears to be particularly important."

Provided by AAGBI
Syed Ayub Khan, like many other residents of North Waziristan, a district in western Pakistan bordering Afghanistan, is concerned over mounting insecurity in his homeland.

Frequent reports of targeted assassinations, clashes, and attacks on security forces leave him worried over the specter of the region relapsing into anarchy.

We are worried that these people [militants] are reuniting once again, he told Radio Mashaal of the regrouping of various Pakistani Taliban factions that once controlled large swathes of the mountainous region.

We fear that the peace we have achieved since the military offensive is being lost, he added, referring to the large-scale Zarb-e Azb military operation launched in 2014 that forced more than 1 million North Waziristan residents into displacement camps. Beginning in 2017, most were able to return home, but many are anxious about the prospect of being forced to leave again.

Compared to before Zarb-e Azb, the overall situation is better, but no doubt people are afraid again, say Naeemullah, a resident who goes by one name only in Miran Shah, the regional administrative headquarters of North Waziristan. The security forces need to act quickly. Mounting grievances over unemployment and a lack of services, he added, might recreate favorable conditions for the Taliban to recruit among locals.

Just this week, the Pakistani Army announced it had killed a terrorist commander along the border between North Waziristan and South Waziristan. The Tehrik-e Taliban (TTP) claimed responsibility for an improvised explosive attack that officials said killed one soldier and wounded three others in a remote part of South Waziristan. Last month the TTP, an umbrella group of the Pakistani Taliban, reunited with two splinter groups in what is seen as a renewed push to revive militant violence.

Locals say such attacks are part of mounting violence in Waziristan, where thousands of soldiers, civilians, and locals were killed during the years of Taliban control and military operations. Zarb-e Azb and Rah-e Nijat, a military operation that began in South Waziristan in 2009, displaced more than 1.5 million civilians from North and South Waziristan.

Their bitter experience has prompted many in Waziristan to wonder what went wrong. Senior army generals repeatedly claimed they had defeated the Pakistani Taliban after the two operations and claimed that thousands of terrorists had been killed.

The re-emergence of the militants is taking place at an alarming rate, lawmaker Mohsin Dawar, who represents North Waziristan in the Pakistani parliament, told RFE/RLs Gandhara website. We dont see the state willing to nurture permanent peace in this region, he said. In the minds of locals, it is strengthening the perceptions that others are making money out of their suffering.

Dawar is a leader of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), which emerged from Waziristan in 2018. The civil rights movement has criticized the military and the Taliban for the suffering of Pashtuns, who comprise Pakistans largest ethnic minority. I told the parliament yesterday that this is an artificial war, he said. If there is political will, you wont see militants re-emerging.

Security officials in Waziristan, however, say they have made progress in restoring peace to Waziristan by deploying forces, acting against militants, and creating and strengthening local security forces. They also point to the return of most displaced residents and numerous rehabilitation and development projects as evidence that their approach is working.

But PTM leader Manzoor Pashteen says the selective approach toward militants -- which tolerated some militants as good Taliban and went after others as bad Taliban for attacks on security forces -- has not worked.

The military operations focused on capturing and controlling territory, but they failed to curb the movement of militants, he told RFE/RL Gandhara. Thus, the use of overwhelming force caused disproportionate losses to civilians but spared the militants.

Pashteen says they fear the increased tormenting of civilians in the aftermath of attacks on security forces and through militant attacks is once again turning Waziristan into a battleground. Violence will force civilians, particularly the educated and middle classes, to flee, he noted. This will invariably benefit the combatants by helping them pursue their objectives through violence.

Security officials in Waziristan, however, take a strikingly different view. Speaking to Radio Mashaal on the condition of anonymity late last month, a senior security official in North Waziristan brushed aside worries over the Talibans return. We are now acting against remnants of militants in intelligence-based operations, he said. Some elements still hiding in remote mountains will be handled with an iron hand.

Intelligence-based operations like that which killed Ihsan Ullah, alias Ihsan Sanray, this week are on the rise. Major General Babar Iftikhar, a spokesman for the Pakistani military, said Sanray had masterminded numerous terrorist activities, including one earlier this month that killed two officers.

We are acting to eventually control all elements responsible for fomenting insecurity in the region, said the security official in North Waziristan.

Shafiullah Gandapur, the head of police in North Waziristan, hopes the region can be as peaceful as other districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. He says that with the support of the military they are working on absorbing thousands of levies, a local paramilitary force, into the newly created police force. Compared to the situation in former FATA, this region will be peaceful and on par with other areas, he told Radio Mashaal while referring to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas by its acronym. North and South Waziristan and five other FATA districts were merged into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2018.

Shaukat Ali, the district police officer in South Waziristan, says they are strengthening the police force through training and providing officers with modern weapons. We have deployed our forces to the vulnerable and sensitive regions, he told Radio Mashaal. We are equipping them with weapons and are working on improving our ways of gathering information.

Rahimullah Yousafzai, a senior journalist in Peshawar, says the Pakistani military has no sufficient answer for the increasing attacks on its troops in Waziristan. It is a worrying situation for the military, government, and residents of this region, he told Radio Mashaal. The increasing attacks have led many to criticize the governments claims of restoring security to the region.

Back in Miran Shah, Khan says local suffering could spell more trouble for the region. The problems we face in accessing employment, education and health care aimed ruined markets and homes may have unforeseen consequences, he said.

Radio Mashaal correspondents Umar Daraz Wazir and Monawar Shah contributed reporting from Miran Shah and Prague.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said this at a media briefing when asked to comment on Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's address in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday and why is China not agreeing to move its troops back from the friction points in eastern Ladakh. "For the Chinese side, we have been honouring the agreements signed between China and India. We are committed to peace and stability in the border ...

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New York: Hurricane Sally uprooted trees, flooded streets and cut power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses as the powerful storm tore across the Alabama-Florida coast, and brought the threat of more flooding to the US south-east.

Some parts of the Gulf Coast have already been inundated with more than 46 centimetres of rain in the last 24 hours, with more precipitation expected even as the storm's winds slow, the National Hurricane Centre said.

The relative calm before the storm: People play in a flooded parking lot at Navarre Beach in Florida. Credit:AP

Pensacola, Florida, a coastal resort community of 50,000, suffered up to 1.5 metres of flooding and travel was cut by damaged roads and bridges. More than 500,000 homes and businesses across the area were without power as the storm knocked over stately oak trees and tore power lines from poles.

The mayor of a coastal Alabama town says one person has died as a result of Hurricane Sally.
Professor Sutton identified considerable risk to the health and safety of detainees in Victoria's hotel quarantine system just two weeks after it began, he has told an inquiry into the botched handling of the scheme. The revelation comes as Professor Sutton also confirmed that he had wanted to be the state controller of Victoria's response to the pandemic, and disagreed with the Health department's decision not to appoint him. The Stamford Plaza - the source of a major outbreak partly responsible for Victoria's second coronavirus wave. Credit:Getty Images The inquiry heard that an email sent by Public Health Commander Dr Finn Romanes revealed "a lack of a unified plan for this program," and that the people running the program were not "satisfied there is a policy and set processes to manage the healthcare and welfare of detainees, for whom this program is accountable." "There are now considerable complexity and considerable risk that unless governance and plans issues are addressed there will be a risk to the health and safety of detainees," wrote Dr Romanes, a former deputy chief health officer.

The email was addressed to state controller Andrea Spiteri and the deputy state controller. Professor Sutton and his deputy Annaliese van Diemen were copied into the email along with Health Department commanders Pam Williams and Merrin Bamert, and department deputy secretary Jacinda de Witts. Dr Romanes requested an urgent governance review of the program and said the program needed a clear leader and direct line of accountability to the deputy chief health officer. Professor Sutton said Dr Romanes talked to him about his views before he sent the email, and that: "I did support this as being called out as something that required urgent review". "Absolutely, Dr Romanes was acting on behalf of me in highlighting concerns that he had."

In his witness statement, Dr Romanes also made the point that the hotel quarantine program should have been run as a public health program, implemented with a public health approach. Instead, from what I could see, the program was characterised and managed predominantly as an accommodation or logistics program. Those leading the program did not have significant public health experience, he said, and Operation Soteria meetings did seem to me to focus heavily on logistics considerations. While there were many logistical challenges, I felt that public health considerations needed to be concurrently addressed, he wrote. Sutton wanted to be chief controller Professor Sutton also confirmed evidence to the inquiry from last week that Health Department deputy secretary Melissa Skilbeck advised her department secretary that Professor Sutton would be too busy to be the state controller of the pandemic. He told the inquiry that he would have preferred being in charge of the state's COVID-19 response.

Loading Under the state emergency plan, the Chief Health Officer is technically supposed to be the state controller. He confirmed in the inquiry that he did not agree with Ms Skilbeck's decision. "The position [of state controller] has line of sight of operational elements that I as chief health officer and accountable with all the powers that I'm exercising under the Public Health and Wellbeing Act that it's important for me to have line of sight of the application of those controls and to be appropriately aware, to have situational awareness of those operational activities," Professor Sutton said. No endorsement from the chief health officers The inquiry has also heard that chief health officers from across the country did not formally endorse the hotel quarantine program before Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced it.

Mr Sutton said the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, which includes all state and territory chief health officers and was chaired by then-chief medical officer Brendan Murphy, was not wholly convinced the quarantine measure was necessary. Loading "As discussed, prior to national cabinet's [announcement] on March 26, 2020, the AHPPC did not endorse the idea of quarantining travellers at hotels (or other designated facilities)," Professor Sutton's statement reads. Professor Sutton is giving evidence to the $3 million inquiry which is investigating how virus outbreaks among staff and private security guards at two Melbourne quarantine hotels  the Rydges on Swanston and Stamford Plaza  seeded Victoria's catastrophic second coronavirus wave. A transcript of Mr Morrison's announcement of the quarantine program was shown to the inquiry on Wednesday. Mr Morrison said: "The decision that I communicate from this podium [is] the decision of all premiers, chief ministers, and myself. This is not some personal view of mine, these are the decisions of the national cabinet based on the medical expert advice that we receive in terms of the restrictions that are necessary to deal with the management of the outbreak of the virus in Australia."

The inquiry heard the AHPPC met following the announcement, but there was "still no agreement or resolution to advise to that effect". Counsel assisting the inquiry Ben Ihle asked Professor Sutton: "Do you agree with that?" Professor Sutton replied: "Yes." Returned traveller with COVID-19 released from quarantine The inquiry also heard that at least one returned traveller left hotel quarantine while infected with COVID-19 and passed it on to the person who drove them home.

The person who was quarantined at the Stamford Plaza was unknowingly carrying the virus, but at the time COVID-19 testing was not mandatory for all returned travellers. Even those who did test positive to the virus could not be held in hotel quarantine longer than 14 days and were instructed to self-isolate at home, the inquiry heard. Genomics testing later linked the traveller's virus back to the outbreak at the Stamford Plaza. Professor Sutton acknowledged other returned travellers could have left quarantine without knowing they were carrying the virus. "They would have been questioned as to whether they had any symptoms and would have been released on the basis they were symptom-free," he said.

Counsel assisting the inquiry Ben Ihle asked: "There was no power though was there to keep them in hotel quarantine if they were merely demonstrating some symptoms but refusing a test?" Professor Sutton replied: "No, other than the issue being escalated to me for consideration for an individual public health order for the purpose of testing or for the purpose of isolation for example ... That did not happen." The Rydges on Swanston hotel - the main source of Victoria's second coronavirus wave. Credit:Justin McManus Under new laws introduced in June, returned travellers who refused a COVID-19 test on the 11th day of their initial quarantine period could be detained for a further 10 days. Professor Sutton said he had no control of how crucial COVID-19 infection prevention advice was disseminated beyond his office.

Loading He said he and his team provided advice on infection control measures to the Department of Health and Human Services. How that was implemented across the quarantine program was beyond his remit, he said. Mr Ihle suggested the advice was disseminated across the system at large, "but your team doesn't have oversight into how those policies are being proliferated and whether and how they're being complied with". "I think that's a fair statement," Professor Sutton replied.

The Chief Health Officer was the first to reveal in July that genomic sequencing carried out by Melbourne's Doherty Institute showed that nearly all of Victoria's second-wave COVID-19 cases could be traced back to quarantine breaches at hotels. He has previously said he first learnt about major problems with security contractors employed to guard the quarantine hotels when he read it in newspapers. However, The Age has previously revealed that key players in the hotel quarantine system warned Professor Sutton of major problems with the scheme in April, more than a month before the first infection at Rydges on Swanston was diagnosed on May 26. The Stamford outbreak started on June 17. Sutton was warned about risk to travellers A Victorian public health official has also claimed he warned senior government figures, including Professor Sutton, that there was considerable risk to the health and safety of people detained in hotel quarantine.

The email, released by the inquiry on Wednesday, was from Public Health Commander Dr Finn Romanes and was sent on April 9, within two weeks of the quarantine program starting. Loading Dr Romanes, a former deputy chief health officer, wrote there was "a lack of a unified plan for this program" and the people running the program were not "satisfied there is a policy and set processes to manage the healthcare and welfare of detainees, for whom this program is accountable". "There are now considerable complexity and considerable risk that unless governance and plans issues are addressed there will be a risk to the health and safety of detainees," Dr Romanes wrote. The email was addressed to state controller Andrea Spiteri and the deputy state controller. Professor Sutton and his deputy Annaliese van Diemen were copied into the email along with Health Department commanders Pam Williams and Merrin Bamert, and department deputy secretary Jacinda de Witts.
Abraham Accords: Declaration of Peace, Cooperation, and Constructive Diplomatic and Friendly Relations

September 15, 2020

His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa bin Salman al-Khalifa and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have agreed to open an era of friendship and cooperation in pursuit of a Middle East region that is stable, secure and prosperous for the benefit of all States and peoples in the region. In this spirit Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel and Foreign Minister Mr. Abdullatif Al Zayani met in Washington today, at the invitation of President Donald J. Trump of the United States of America, to endorse the principles of the Abraham Accords and to commence a new chapter of peace. This diplomatic breakthrough was facilitated by the Abraham Accords initiative of President Donald J. Trump. It reflects the successful perseverance of the United States' efforts to promote peace and stability in the Middle East. The Kingdom of Bahrain and the State of Israel trust that this development will help lead to a future in which all peoples and all faiths can live together in the spirit of cooperation and enjoy peace and prosperity where states focus on shared interests and building a better future.

The parties discussed their shared commitment to advancing peace and security in the Middle East stressing the importance of embracing the vision of the Abraham Accords, widening the circle of peace; recognizing each State's right to sovereignty and to live in peace and security, and continuing the efforts to achieve a just, comprehensive, and enduring resolution of the Israeli- Palestinian conflict.

In their meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al Zayani agreed to establish full diplomatic relations, to promote lasting security, to eschew threats and the use of force, as well as advance coexistence and a culture of peace. In this spirit, they have today approved a series of steps initiating this new chapter in their relations. The Kingdom of Bahrain and the State of Israel have agreed to seek agreements in the coming weeks regarding investment, tourism, direct flights, security, telecommunications, technology, energy, healthcare, culture, the environment, and other areas of mutual benefit, as well as reaching agreement on the reciprocal opening of embassies.

The Kingdom of Bahrain and the State of Israel view this moment as a historic opportunity and recognize their responsibility to pursue a more secure and prosperous future for generations to come in their respective countries and in the region.

The two countries jointly express their profound thanks and appreciation to President Donald J. Trump for his untiring efforts and unique and pragmatic approach to further the cause of peace, justice and prosperity for all the peoples of the region. In recognition of this appreciation, the two countries have asked President Donald J. Trump to sign this document as a witness to their shared resolve and as the host of their historic meeting.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al Zayani

Witnessed by President Donald J. Trump

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NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / September 15, 2020 / Globalization has pushed the world into a new reality. We're moving faster than ever before, and the logistics industry is at the center of all that movement. And as a leading logistics company, trailblazing company Airposted looks to shake the industry even more.

The logistics leader has one mission: to make the world smaller one delivery at a time. Its core is a drive to simplify and fast-track the shipping process, making the movement of goods smoother than ever before. The company's team is a community of builders with a passion for delivering fast, affordable, secure, and hassle-free services.

Airposted's goals are lofty. They look to be the go-to company for any logistical needs. They offer several verticals that make their logistical services some of the most reliable in the world. The company banks on a pure peer to peer logistics model, which puts them at an edge by decentralizing operations.

Leading the company is a trio with a resume that proves that Airposted is only beginning to break barriers. The company started with the vision of Rayan Rahman and then cofounded with two fellow entrepreneurs Iqbal Anwar and Badrul Hassan.

Rayan Rahman, a Bangladeshi-American entrepreneur is an alum of George Mason University. He currently also holds a position on the university's business school board and is the recipient of the Prominent Patriot Award 2020. Before starting Airposted, he founded a non-profit organization called Changing Bangladesh Foundation, which he later passed on to new leadership. Iqbal is a Bangladeshi-American businessman who has flourished in the technology and engineering sphere. He has launched successful tech startups and owns an engineering firm. Iqbal is a graduate from IIT Kanpur and later received a MS degree from Wayne State University and MBA degree from DePaul University. Badrul Hassan is also an IIT Kanpur alum and has flourished in business, dipping his fingers into the cable, real estate, and entrepreneurship realms.

Airposted is one of the first true peer to peer shipping and logistics platforms in the world. While most companies claim to have the same model, they are mostly hybrids. At the core of the business's operations are a formed partnership with frequent travelers who carry products for the logistics company. By giving some of their unused luggage space, they transport products for Airposted to their desired destination and get compensated in return.

The peer to peer logistics company provides a fast and secure option for people looking to ship products like gadgets, food supplements, makeup, accessories, and anything small enough to fit in a suitcase. With their reinvented way of delivering products, they can offer logistics services at a lower price point than FedEx, DHL, or other traditional shipping carriers. The company also provides an online delivery tracking system that gives its customers more control and monitoring over products they have shipped in. The company is expanding on its services and introducing Gift and Parcel service this year, both which will let their users ship and send products to their friends or family overseas at a more convenient and affordable way.

Airposted looks to change the way companies and people ship products. By providing as much support and excellence to shippers and partners, they are genuinely reimagining the way we define peer to peer shipping.

Company: Airposted

Email: support@airposted.com

Phone Number: +1(909) 272-5244

Website: Airposted.com

SOURCE: Airposted

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/605913/Airposted-Reimagining-Logistics-Through-True-Peer-to-Peer-Shipping
Hungry Harvest, a Baltimore, MD-based delivery company offering rescued produce, closed a $13.7m Series A funding round.

The round was led by Creadev with participation from existing and new investors, including Danone Manifesto Ventures, Quadia and Maywic Select Investments. Jean-Francois Hurel of Danone Manifesto Ventures will join Hungry Harvests Board of Directors. Marion Schuppe of Quadia and Fred Mayerson of Maywic Select Investments will join as Board Observers.

The company intends to use the funds to continue to expand its business reach, enhance customer experience and scale its social mission.

Led by Evan Lutz, CEO & Founder, Hungry Harvest rescues fresh fruits, vegetables, and grocery staples that would otherwise go to waste due to surplus or arbitrary, cosmetic standards for size, shape or color at retail. Customizable variety boxes are delivered directly to subscribers homes using a team of local drivers. Since 2014, the company has reduced over 22 million pounds of food waste and donated or subsidized over 1.5 million pounds of produce to partner organizations and through its own food access programs.

Hungry Harvest currently delivers in Maryland, Washington, DC, Philadelphia, Southern New Jersey, Northern Delaware, Northern Virginia, South Florida, The Triangle area and Charlotte, North Carolina, and the Detroit Metro Region in Michigan.

FinSMEs

16/09/2020
New Delhi, Sep 16 (UNI) Attacking the Government on the handling of the Covid pandemic in the country, the Congress on Wednesday said that the Centre should have coordinated with the states before announcing the lockdown.

Initiating a discussion on the COVID-19 pandemic and clarification on Health Minister's statement on the situation in the Upper House on Wednesday, Mr Anand Sharma of the Congress also sought to counter the statement by the Health Minister on Tuesday that the deaths per million of 55 was among the lowest in the world.

Health Minister told the House on September 15 that the deaths per million of 55 was among the lowest in the world. Sri Lanka and South Africa have had lower deaths per million,Sharma said.



Mr Sharma also said that the Health Minister said that the number of Covid cases in the country are 45 lakh but in reality the figure has reached lakh when he made the statement in Parliament.

"Health Minister said the lockdown decision prevented 14-29 lakh cases, this is a very wide gap. What is the scientific basis for this," asked Mr. Sharma.

He expressed concern over the discrimination faced by medical professionals in the aftermath of the spread of the pandemic.



Criticising the lack of coordination by the Centre with the states before announcing the lockdown, Mr Sharma said had this been done, the migrant workers would not have gone through the pain they experienced.



'We can't deny the image of India that was seen abroad of migrant workers in distress.. If quarantine centres were set up in advance, the disease may not have reached villages,he said.

More UNI AR SB 1259
The magazine, Scientific American, which counts Albert Einstein as a past contributor, is endorsing a presidential candidate for the first time since it went into print in 1845.

"Scientific American has never endorsed a presidential candidate in its 175-year history," the storied publication begins its endorsement of Democratic candidate Joe Biden. "This year we are compelled to do so. We do not do this lightly."

The historic magazine accuses President Donald Trump of rejecting "evidence and science" in a scathing condemnation of the President that states Biden will be better for the environment, the economy and the nation's health.

"The most devastating example is his dishonest and inept response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which cost more than 190,000 Americans their lives by the middle of September," the endorsement states.
An 18-year-old woman arrested in the death of Sierra Rhodd  who was shot and killed as gun-wielding assailants surrounded her home  has been released after a Harris County magistrate determined there was no probable cause linking her to the crime, according to court records.

Emma Lou Presler was charged Monday with murder on the grounds that she had a role in the brazen shootout at a Cypress-area home in the 11200 block of Timber Crest Drive where 20-year-old Rhodd was killed as she was in bed. Investigators believed she had a role in the killing because deputies found her driving a red pickup truck  which security cameras may have seen with two other vehicles  that was stopped a block from the shooting.

Court records show the vehicles registered owner is Preslers boyfriend and that a witness saw a man matching his description minutes after the shooting. Presler said she was in the area to pick him up.

Presler appeared in court Tuesday afternoon and the hearing officer, James Callan, ordered that she be released after reviewing the circumstances behind her arrest. Court records show that he did not believe probable cause existed.

In court, as Presler stood up in the back row in a orange jumpsuit, Callan questioned why no one was found to have pointed Preslers truck out as being the same one that drove by the Rhodd home at the time of the shooting. He also took exception to the fact that investigators did not elaborate on where they obtained surveillance footage purporting to show her vehicle and the two others  described as a black SUV and a stolen motorcycle.

At this time, I dont think yall have probable cause, Callan said. Most people involved in a drive-by, they do the drive-by and then they haul ass and they go somewhere  who knows where. They dont hang around the crime scene.

While Callan did acknowledge that aspects of the case did lean toward Presler having some role in the shooting, he asked that investigators take another look and find more witnesses.

Preslers father, Bill Bagby, learned of his daughters alleged role in the attack after seeing her booking photo on a news report.

From his front door, Bagby maintained her innocence.

We do not think she is responsible for the shooting, Bagby said, adding that he had not heard from her in recent months. Its a little hard to wrap our heads around.

Bagby was elated to learn of her release and said a family member would pick her up at the jail. The charge was expected to be dismissed later on Tuesday, officials said.

Presler was also being held on an unrelated abuse of a debit card charge in which she was linked to vehicle break-in. Stolen from the car was a Harris County Sheriffs Office detention officers jacket that contained the debit card. That charge remains, court records show.

Rhodd was killed around 11 p.m. Sunday when at least three shooters opened fire from outside her home. Her parents heard the gunfire  mistaking the sound as fireworks at first  while watching TV with their 15-year-old son and his girlfriend.

The father, Michael Rhodd, told them to get on the ground as a barrage of bullets hit the house. He rushed to Rhodds room and found her lying at the foot of the bed, according to court records. She was dead by the time first responders arrived.

Rhodds father said she had cerebral palsy.

I tried to do everything I could, he said. I couldnt do nothing.

Harris County District Attorneys Office spokesman John Donnelly said the 15-year-old son was believed to be the intended target. He ran outside to return fire. The assailants then scattered. Investigators found anywhere from 40 to 60 shell casings from four different weapons scattered in front of the home and behind it.

nicole.hensley@chron.com
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday said that he has tested positive for coronavirus COVID-19, adding that he has isolated himself. The Minister of Road Transport and Highways has requested everyone who has come in his contact to follow required protocols.

Taking to micro-blogging site Twitter, Gadkari stated that he was feeling weak on September 15 and consulted a doctor. During the check-up, he tested positive. He added that currently, he is doing well.

Yesterday, I was feeling weak and consulted my Doctor. During the course of my check up, I have been tested COVID 19 positive. I am at present doing well with the blessings and good wishes of all. I have isolated myself.  Nitin Gadkari (@nitin_gadkari) September 16, 2020

"Yesterday, I was feeling weak and consulted my Doctor. During the course of my check up, I have been tested COVID 19 positive. I am at present doing well with the blessings and good wishes of all. I have isolated myself. I request everyone who has come in my contact to be careful and follow the protocol. Stay safe," he tweeted.

Live TV

Gadkari's ministerial colleagues Amit Shah, Shripad Naik, Dharmendra Pradhan, Kailash Choudhary, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Gajendra Shekhawat and Suresh Angadi were also diagnosed with COVID-19 recently.

Prominent politicians who tested COVID-19 positive recently include Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit. Maharashtra ministers Ashok Chavan and Dhananjay Munde had also tested positive.

On September 14, as the monsoon session of Parliament began, a total of 23 MPs tested positive for the COVID-19. The monsoon session is scheduled from September 14 to October 1. Six Rajya Sabha MPs tested coronavirus positive including two MPs each from the BJP and Congress and one each from RJD and TMC, according to sources.

At least 17 Lok Sabha MPs tested positive for COVID-19 including Meenakshi Lekhi, Anant Kumar Hegde and Parvesh Sahib Singh, added the sources. Other MPs who have been found COVID-19 positive are Sukhbir Singh, Hanuman Beniwal, Sukanata Majumdar, Goddeti Madhavi, Pratap Rao Jadav, Janardan Singh, Bidyut Baran, Pradan Baruah, N Reddeppa, Selvam G, Pratap Rao Patil, Ram Shankar Katheria, Satya Pal Singh and Rodmal Nagar. The BJP has a maximum number--12, the YRS Congress has two MPs, the Shiv Sena, DMK and RLP one each.

Hectic preparations were underway for the Monsoon Session with several first-time measures taken because of the coronavirus pandemic. These new measures include testing of MPs, staggered seating arrangements in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, and the use of both chambers and galleries to accommodate the members.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla had said that 257 members will be seated in the Lok Sabha hall, 172 in Lok Sabha gallery, 60 in Rajya Sabha and 51 in the Rajya Sabha gallery due to the COVID-19 crisis. He had said attempts were made to minimise the use of paper and MPs will mark their attendance digitally. Screen LEDs will be put up to conduct the proceedings smoothly.

Chambers will be sanitised and the MPS will have to undergo the RT-PCR test for COVID-19 before the session begins, the Lok Sabha Speaker had said.

Amid the Opposition's demand for the election of the Deputy Speaker, the Lok Sabha Speaker had said the house and the government have to take a call on it. Birla had said holding the monsoon session this year was a challenge because of the COVID-19 pandemic but it will be "historic".

"Holding the monsoon session was a challenge during the pandemic but we have to fulfil our constitutional responsibilities. We want Parliament to become more accountable and answerable to people," Birla had said at a press conference. "This session will be a historic session as it is being held in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our effort is to conduct the session as per the guidelines issued in the wake of the pandemic," he had added.

Birla had said the Zero Hour will be of half-an-hour duration and there will no Question Hour but written questions could be asked and they will have to be answered. When asked about opposition leaders asking about the Deputy Speaker election, Birla had said he doesn't have to elect, and it is for the house and the government to decide.
The hosts, who consumed the movies, music and television shows they discuss on their podcast separately back in the day, sound like siblings who shared the floor in front of their glowing television set and watched the events together. The pair worked together on Strong Black Legends, a Netflix podcast that focuses on famous Black actors, but never before as co-hosts.

Ms. Clayton got her start in audio in 2015, when BuzzFeed premiered Another Round, a podcast she hosted with Heben Nigatu. Featuring guests like Hillary Clinton and Issa Rae, it gained popularity quickly and was crowned the best of 2015 by iTunes, Slate and The Atlantic. Still, BuzzFeed pulled the plug on the show in 2017.

It got really big and the money that we were being given to make the show did not, Ms. Clayton said, adding that she and Ms. Nigatu are in talks with BuzzFeed for ownership of the catalog.

I was severely depressed for a couple of years after, Ms. Clayton said. I was kind of left empty and didnt know what to do or where to turn.

She took the time to learn how to rest and heal, she said, but soon missed sharing her stories. When she was asked by Jenna Weiss-Berman, a co-founder of Pineapple Street, to host Strong Black Legends, Ms. Clayton said she initially didnt want to do it. But my wallet was like Girl, you better try, she said. After months, I got used to the water again. Im so glad and so blessed that I am able to enter in this medium and this space.
A suspected neo-Nazi kept an arsenal of explosives at his country home and stored deadly cyanide poison next to the ginger beer and salad cream in his fridge, a court heard.

Counter-terrorism police found large stocks of poisons along with a cache of grenades, mines and explosives after raiding the rural home of Russell Wadge, 58, on Baglan Farm in Trimsaran, Carmarthenshire.

During their raid of the property, which has an estimated value of 250,000, officers also discovered the farmer's interest in Nazis and white supremacy.

Newport Crown Court heard that Wadge, 'proudly admitted' making hydrogen cyanide described as 'one of the most rapidly acting poisons known to man'.

Counter-terrorism police found an arsenal of explosives and large stocks of poison after raiding the country home of Russell Wadge, 58, on Baglan Farm in Trimsaran, Carmarthenshire. Pictured: Police officers at the farm

Tom Little QC, prosecuting, said: 'Hydrogen cyanide was discovered in the freezer, and a pint-glass containing a liquid with a sticker indicating poison was found between the salad cream and ginger beer in the fridge.'

When questioned by police, the married father said he did not believe in any extremism and had a 'keen interest' in chemistry.

However Mr Little added: 'This is not a case about naive enthusiasm in chemistry - we say it is so much more.

'We need to consider the B-word - Brexit.

'There were those frustrated by the delays to the Brexit process who were agitating, but they did not have access to this range of chemicals.'

The substances inside Wadge's property included nickel cyanide, hydrogen cyanide, copper potassium cyanide, sodium cooper potassium cyanide and potassium cyanide.

The jury heard internet searches also showed significant interest in the white supremacist terror attack in New Zealand in 2019.

Pictured: A police officer arrives to the scene after a man was found with explosives in his home

Suspicions were then raised when Wadge ordered an array of chemicals online to be delivered to his rundown small-holding tucked away in the countryside.

Wadge is alleged to have been planning to use the weapons 'at some time' in the future.

The jury heard that police also found books describing how to make improvised plastic explosives, three jars of gunpowder and the ingredients to make the 'very dangerous explosive' called triacetone triperoxide TATP - as used in the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing- at the property.

Boxes of grenades, mines and scale drawings of a KGB weapon to deploy hydrogen cyanide were also discovered.

The farmer allegedly told police: 'If it's dodgy or poison, I love it.'

Wadge denies 28 charges of possessing explosive devices and chemical weapons. He admitted five charges of unlawful possession of poisonous chemicals without a licence.

The trial at Newport Crown Court continues.
THINK not of what you can do, but what you should do.

Thats how public health chiefs appealed to peoples consciences last night, piling moral pressure not just on puzzled Dubliners but on everyone across the country as Covid-19 resurges at alarming levels, claiming more lives.

Dubliners were left wondering yesterday about how to respond to new anti-Covid-19 measures imposed on the city and county. Did they amount to guidelines or rules?

But as the city faced a spiral of infection, the warning to heed advice has escalated.

Read More

Travelling outside Dublin

People in Dublin have been strongly encouraged to limit travel outside the county. Taoiseach Micheal Martin urged people whod booked a staycation outside Dublin to cancel it. Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe told RTE yesterday morning if at all possible and until case numbers in Dublin start to fall, the advice remained that people in the capital should not travel outside the city or the county.

So while the measure stops short of instruction  that might happen if Dublin enters Level 3 of the Government Covid-19 plan  there is very strong pressure on people to cancel non-essential journeys out of Dublin. Work and education would count as essential even under Level 3.

At the core of the measure is the need to curb the spread of the virus  the more people move about, the higher the risk of this happening.

Travelling to the city

People intending to come to the capital for discretionary visits should also stay away.

Weddings and other gatherings

There are couples who have their weddings booked in the city and under Level 2 restrictions up to 50 people can attend. There was no restriction on weddings mentioned yesterday.

If Dublin moves up to Level 3, following todays meeting of the National Public Health Emergency Team, this could be reduced to 25 people.

Several reports of infections being spread in weddings emerged over the summer. If any of the people attending the event come from a county with a high incidence of the disease, this increases the chances of someone picking it up. This is obviously a tough one for a bride and groom, and each family would have to exercise their own judgment.

Guest numbers

The Government Information Service confirmed yesterday that the reference to weddings refers to the number of guests who can attend. It does not include others at the function such as musicians and catering staff. This means that couples can invite 50 guests at Level 2 and 25 guests at Level 3. Failte Ireland has been asked to clarify this in its guidance.

Household visits

Dubliners should not have more than six visitors in their home and they must be limited to guests from just one other household. The more people limit their contacts, the less chance there is of transmitting the virus to each other.

Travelling to Europe

The so-called Green List of countries people can travel to and not be obliged to restrict their movements on return home will be updated next week. Germany, Iceland and Cyprus are expected to be on the list from Monday.

The Green List is going to be abandoned some time next month and instead Ireland will opt into a new EU traffic light system where countries will be graded according to rates of Covid. It will mean more testing of airline passengers.

The new EU plan is expected to be ratified in Luxembourg on October 13 at the monthly meeting of the EUs General Affairs Council, and will see countries designated as green, amber or red. Until then, countries where Covid-19 cases are currently fewer than 25 per 100,000 population will be on our Green List.

Going to the pub or restaurant

If Dubliners are going to a pub or restaurant, they should not meet up with more than one other household and the group should be kept to six. Wet pubs serving only alcohol cannot open.

Restaurant and pub shutters

Clarification was also provided by the Government Information Service on what Level 3 and Level 4 means for restaurants and pubs. Even if Dublin is moved into the more serious Level 3 category, both can stay open.

But they must adjust their premises. This could mean moving from one metre distancing to two metres.

There would be additional restrictions for indoor dining.

It is only when an area is moved up to Level 4 due to a further rise in the spread of the virus that the pub or restaurant would be confined to a takeaway or a delivery service, with outdoor dining only and a maximum of 15 patrons.

Fine print

The advice for the public from all parts of the country is to look at the fine print and terms and conditions if they are booking accommodation or a venue in the months ahead.

If an area moves up a level due to a surge in the virus, then it may be necessary to cancel or postpone due to restrictions. The advice is: dont put down a deposit until youre clear about what policies are in place relating to refunds.
In the second message, he was told "not to worry" because there would be a transitional cabinet and that he would be part of that ministerial team, precisely because his father was a member of that party.

"We must be aware that Popular Action is a party which has a democratic tradition, and I'm sure that what has happened to me does not represent the party," he said.

Remarks were made during a meeting with representatives of the Association of Municipalities of Peru (AMPE), the Network of Urban and Rural Municipalities of Peru (Remurpe) and the National Assembly of Regional Governments (ANGR).

The event took place at Lima Convention Center.

Hoy, con profunda conviccion democratica, debo senalar que las dos personas cercanas a Accion Popular que se comunicaron conmigo son Daniel Huarcaya Clemente y Santiago Arancibia Ortega. Ambos, de manera inoportuna, me enviaron mensajes que considero impropios. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/sAzfTXvpJM
An Instagram post from a fashion insider lamenting clothing brands sample dress sizes as completely unrealistic for the majority has gone viral.

Stylist and former Vogue fashion editor Francesca Burns took to social media to voice her frustration that a model (who she stated to be UK size 8 at most) wasnt able to fit into any samples from French fashion brand Celine. For Burns, this sets an irresponsible example.

Can we make our sample sizes bigger please? her post began. I never want anyone on my set to be made to feel less than.

The jeans that are pictured in the post werent the only problem. Burns went on to say that she had several looks from this collection and none of them fit [the model]. She was not the exception  you are.

She then took aim at what this says about the wider fashion industry and the normalisation of smaller dress sizes, even though it may not reflect the majority of the people who wear or shop these clothes.

This is so unacceptable  it is fundamentally wrong to suggest that this is the norm. It isnt, she posted. We have a responsibility in this industry to celebrate and to empower and to make people feel great.

We also have a responsibility for those in our care on set and to make sure beauty standards are not limited to a size that is completely unrealistic for the majority  nobody should look at fashion imagery and feel bad about themselves.

Burns called out both Celine and one of the brands designers Hedi Slimane for the impact this had on both herself and her model. Putting this girl into these trousers made me feel like a twisted creep and my beautiful model feel like she wasnt good enough so thank you for that.

How hard is it to size things up? Any stylist worth their safety pins wont complain about it.

The post was met with support from Burns fans and colleagues, and has received over 134,000 likes on Instagram at time of writing. In a more recent post, she has reflected on the overwhelming response shes received.

We need to address this very singular representation of body image in fashion  and open things up to be more inclusive across the board, she said.

Celine declined to provide comment when approached by The Independent.
President Klaus Iohannis stated on Wednesday that he will have a discussion with the Justice Minister, Catalin Predoiu, for clarifications regarding the number of prosecutors delegated by Romania to the European Prosecutor's Office and made a parallel with Germany, mentioning that ten prosecutors from Romania "doesn't sound so bad."

"I heard about this exchange of correspondence. I will clarify in a few days how things stand. In the meantime I have studied a little what others are doing. Many European states are making available 2, 3, 4, 5 prosecutors. Let's take a big country: Germany is making available 11 prosecutors. I believe that 10 from Romania doesn't sound so bad on this list. But I will see. I will have a discussion with the Minister of Justice. He will probably tell me how this number was reached. I believe that there were discussions also with the prosecutor's offices and after I am totally clear, I will be able to give you a deeper answer," said Iohannis in a press conference at the Cotroceni Palace.

The head of state will have a phone conversation, on Wednesday evening, with the Justice Minister on this topic.
Melburnians will be slugged almost $5000 if caught trying to sneak into regional Victoria under a tough new penalty.

Victoria Police will crack down on regional travel as coronavirus rules ease outside of Melbourne at midnight on Wednesday.

The $4957 fine will apply to any adult who tries to travel out of the city without a lawful excuse.

Deputy Commissioner Rick Nugent said the fine was designed to deter people from Melbourne attempting to run the gauntlet.

Melburnians will be fined almost $5000 if caught trying to sneak into regional Victoria. Pictured: Victoria Police and ADF personnel work at a roadside checkpoint near Donnybrook, Melbourne, on Wednesday

'We do not want regional and rural communities to be put at risk by Melbourne metropolitan people,' he told reporters on Wednesday.

'We don't want the virus to spread again.'

Mr Nugent said police would be checking more vehicles at roadblocks out of the city, inevitably leading to long delays.

'We'll be checking every vehicle that is towing a caravan, a camper trailer or towing a boat or a jet ski, or that has a surfboard or fishing rods,' he said.

On Wednesday, Victoria recorded eight new coronavirus deaths and 42 infections. The state's active cases dropped below 1,000.

Melbourne will remain stuck in its Stage Four coronavirus restrictions until September 28, despite hitting a key roadmap milestone.

A police officer speaks to a motorist near Donnybrook in Melbourne on Wednesday

The city's 14-day new case average fell below 50 on Wednesday for the first time, to 49.6.

Average new cases must sit in the 30-50 bracket before the government will consider easing Melbourne's restrictions and, under the roadmap, that is scheduled for September 28.

Premier Daniel Andrews said it would take a lot more than one good statistic.

'The fact that we are in the 30-to-50 band should be a point of pride, absolutely,' he said on Wednesday.

'But we are making an assessment, not today ... but for a decent period, for a significant period.'
A crocodile has been captured floating down a river with its webbed feet outstretched in what one amused tourist joked was 'social distancing'.

Belinda Steindorf, from Adelaide, had been visiting the Northern Territory's notorious Cahills Crossing in Kakadu National Park last week when she spotted the croc swimming with its limbs wide apart.

'It was quite a funny sight to see! All of the social distancing signs in the NT National Park say to keep a small croc distance apart. The crocodiles here appear to have really taken that onboard!' Ms Steindorf told Daily Mail Australia.

'Or they've been closely watching the tourists doing similar.'

A crocodile has been captured swimming down Cahills Crossing in the Northern Territory with its feet outstretched

Ms Steindorf said she saw as many as 40 crocs in the area while crossing over the river with her partner last week

Ms Steindorf said her and her partner saw as many as 40 crocodiles swimming through the crossing and had never seen any behave in that way before.

'We presumed they were using their hands to try and better position themselves in the oncoming current whilst awaiting the fish! Very intelligent creatures,' she said.

The tourist snapped some photos of the spectacular encounter but added she made sure to drive over the crossing in low tide to avoid becoming any croc's lunch.

'Our Kakadu caravan is built to handle the Australian outback conditions although with 40 crocs that we could see floating closeby we werent taking any chances and waited until low tide to ensure a safe crossing,' she said.

Despite the bizarre behaviour of the croc, experts are yet to pinpoint exactly why the animals may behave this way.

The tourist said she saw as many as 40 crocodiles in the area while visiting last week

One of the large animals was seen swimming down the river with a fish in its mouth

Professor Grahame Webb, one of the state's leading experts on crocodiles, said the predator's unusual feet position was likely a hunting technique.

'In East Alligator River it has been described and photographed and seems to be linked to intercepting fish,' he told NT News.

Cahills Crossing draws in thousands of tourists every year.

But the area is also extremely dangerous and there have been five fatalities so far including tourists, photographers and fishermen.

Video footage captured the terrifying moment a couple were stuck in the middle of Cahills Crossing (pictured), a popular spot in Kakadu National Park, notorious for saltwater crocodiles

Last month, Rachelle Wastle and her husband Peter were driving through the crossing when they were blocked by a dozen crocodiles.

Terrifying video footage shows the couple's car submerged into water as they attempted to cross to the other side of the river.

The most famous death at the area was of a 40-year-old man, Kerry McLoughlin who was tragically taken and decapitated by a crocodile in 1987.
The work carried out on smallpox became the benchmark for future attempts to eradicate viral diseases that continued to devastate societies particularly in the former colonial countries in Africa, Asia and South America. Two viruses that were considered of critical importance in elimination programs were poliomyelitis (or polio) and measles.

The poliomyelitis virus has been known since ancient times, but it was in the 20th century that it caused widespread epidemics. Polio epidemics emerged in Europe and the US in the late 19th century until the middle of the 20th century. For instance, in the US there was an outbreak in 1916 that resulted in over 27,000 cases and more than 6,000 deaths. This outbreak led to polio becoming a global disease.

The virus spread through contact with fecal material in contaminated water or food and sometimes from the saliva of infected individuals.

The first known scientific work on polio was carried out in 1789 by an English pediatrician Michael Underwood, who published the first clear description of paralytic disease of infants in a medical textbook. He described polio as a debility of the lower extremities.

In 1909, Austrian physicians Karl Landsteiner and Erwin Popper identified the polio virus. The polio virus exists in three forms, Types 1, 2 and 3. Development of a vaccine would have to defend against all three variants.

Polio attacks the nervous system, with young people under the age of 5 most vulnerable. It initially causes flu-like symptoms and is known to cause permanent paralysis. The virus can affect the muscles that control breathing ultimately causing death due to asphyxiation. It is fatal for up to 10 percent of children.

Effective polio vaccines were eventually developed by the 1950s. In 1954, an American scientist named Albert Sabin developed a vaccine made from live mutated virus that was taken orally. In 1955, Jonas Salk in the US developed a polio vaccine that was administered via injection. Salk made the vaccine from inactivated polio virus.

In 1956, Soviet scientists Mikhail Chumakov and Anatoli Smorodintsev collaborated with Sabin to conduct large-scale testing of his polio vaccine. In 1959, Sabins vaccine was given to 10 million children and by the end of 1960, Soviet scientists had administered it to 77 million people under the age of twenty across the Soviet Union. This work definitively proved the safety and efficacy of Sabins vaccine. It was then was used to start the elimination of the disease leading to very rapid and effective results.

In 1960, Czechoslovakia became the first country to eradicate polio. During this period polio was largely wiped out in Europe and the US but remained a scourge in the former colonial countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The WHO carried out lameness surveys during the 1970s to show the extent of polio cases in oppressed countries.

The Global Polio Elimination Initiative (GPEI) commenced in 1988 by the World Health Assembly with the aim of eliminating polio cases by 2000. However, instead of an international body used to prosecute this eradication campaign as with smallpox, it was largely funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, while Rotary International supplied a workforce of volunteers and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) supplied scientific assistance. The involvement of the Gates Foundation and Rotary signified that governments internationally were abrogating their responsibilities in the arena of public health.

Though the WHO finally declared Nigeria polio-free last month, the virus still lurks in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The existence of a simply administered and cheap-to-produce vaccine has been a fact for decades, but lack of political initiative by rich nations has slowed efforts to eradicate the disease. This is an indictment of capitalism.

To eradicate the disease, the two countries (Afghanistan and Pakistan) should focus on peace-building, public health researcher at Aga Khan University Zulfiquar Bhutta told Nature. Such sentiments completely let US imperialism off the hook. The US invaded Afghanistan in 2001, devastating the country and destabilising its neighbour Pakistan. Nineteen years later the war continues as a seemingly permanent fact.

The other major disease earmarked for eradicationa perspective still unachievedis measles.

The earliest known diagnosis of the virus was published in 910 by the Persian physician Rhazes, who distinguished measles from smallpox.

Measles is an extremely contagious airborne viral disease that spreads through coughs and sneezes from infected people. It is usually associated with a red rash that spreads across the whole body. It is a deadly killer, and before an effective vaccine was developed in 1964 major epidemics occurred every 2 to 3 years with an estimated toll of 2.6 million deaths each year.

Recent studies of the measles virus (Measles morbillivirus) RNA have estimated that the disease appeared four thousand years ago when it separated from a rinderpest virus that infects cattle. This is around the time when humans started living in cities with populations greater than 250,000.

Early explorers setting sail across uncharted oceans are known to have spread the disease around the world. When measles along with other diseases such as smallpox were introduced into the Americas, they nearly annihilated the native populations who lacked immunity to the viruses. Some estimates put the decline in population at 95 percent over barely a century and half.

As measles reached other isolated societies it caused a similar horrendous impact. For instance, when the HMS Dido reached the Fiji Islands in 1875, an estimated 20,000 islanders died as a consequence of contracting the virus.

In 1954, the American physician Thomas Peebles first isolated the measles virus, an essential first step towards the development of a vaccine. The microbiologist Maurice Hilleman developed the first effective vaccine in 1964.

The introduction of the vaccine represented a major step forward, preventing an estimated one million deaths per year. Yet, despite the existence of an effective treatment and the fact an elimination program is totally feasible, measles has not been eradicated 56 years later.

Even though programs were developed on a regional level leading to the elimination of measles in the Americas and other areas, no effective overall international program was implemented. This has left Africa and some Pacific Island states with continued cases.

According to Red Cross and United Nations Foundation officials Athalia S. Christie and Andrea Gray, writing in the Journal of Infectious Diseases (JID) in 2011, investment in global measles control had decreased by 55 percent since 2007. In 2010, the US cut US$10 million, leading to the elimination of several programs internationally.

The failure of the major powers to fund such health initiatives and the running down of the health systems in general has led to a resurgence of measles cases even in advanced countries. Countries that were once declared free of measles, such as Albania, Czech Republic, Greece, and Great Britain, have recently experienced a recurrence of the disease.

[I]t has been suggested that the current measles situation amounts to an undeclared public health emergency of international concern, stated the director of health protection at the University of Newcastle, David N. Durrheim, in T he Lancet .

Although the eradication of smallpox has never been repeated with any other virus, the medical and scientific work carried out provided a pivotal example of how international scientific collaboration could obtain important results for the medical wellbeing of humanity.

Today with the raging coronavirus pandemic, the prospect of a vaccine has been held up as the only way to tackle the virus successfully. Despite the immense technological advances that have produced vaccine candidates in mere weeks, the scientific work to develop a vaccine has been completely perverted and is being used to leverage corporate profits and to manoeuvre for advantage for one or another country against its geopolitical rivals.

The private ownership of the means of production and the drive for profit, along with the division of the world into rival nation states, stands as an absolute barrier to the defence of basic rights, including the right to life. The struggle against the pandemic is inseparable from the struggle of the working class to overthrow capitalism and expropriate the wealth of the corporate oligarchy. In this regard, scientific achievements are the fruits of social labour and belong to all mankind.

Concluded
We are providing a full suite of end-to-end services. This partnership signifies an area of business expansion for EMSAR. We are now equipped to service similarly-sized small-to-midsize hardware from companies all over the globe.

EMSAR is proud to announce our newly formed partnership with Movendo Technology, an Italy-based company with offices in Boston, Massachusetts that manufacturers robotic devices used for physical therapy and rehabilitation treatments. This is a comprehensive partnership, and EMSAR will serve as Movendos total-service solutions partner throughout the U.S.

EMSAR will function as Movendos technical support in the U.S, facilitating the installations and maintenance of Movendo devices.

We are providing a full suite of end-to-end services. This partnership signifies an area of business expansion for EMSAR. We are now equipped to service similarly-sized small-to-midsize hardware from companies all over the globe, said Luc Vallieres, CEO of EMSAR.

In addition to a full spectrum of services, EMSAR is improving efficiency for Movendo by offering its expanded technology solution. This innovative way of tackling service orders will streamline processes for Movendo, cutting down on cost and time spent on each individual work order.

Both EMSAR and Movendo Technology are excited about this partnership, and view the relationship as an opportunity for expansion into new markets.

We choose EMSAR to provide the best possible customer service experience to our clients within the U.S. We understand how critical it is to have a partner that is able to intervene quickly and accurately if a problem emerges, especially in the healthcare sector. We needed a competent partner that was able to jump in and support the robotics technology we offer. With EMSARs technical support, we hope to expand Movendos footprint across the U.S., remarked Davide Ferrario, Business Development and Marketing Director at Movendo Technology.

About EMSAR & About Movendo Technology

At EMSAR, we are a turnkey field service solutions provider with a North American footprint. In addition to offering service and repairs for mission-critical equipment, we are trusted partners and strive to establish lasting relationships with our valued customers. Our associates, customer service professionals, and technicians are hardworking, highly trained individuals dedicated to delivering exceptional service and representing your brand as if it was ours.

Movendo Technology develops medical devices that use the most advanced technologies at the service of humankindeffective, simple-to-use, and easy to interact with. Our devices were created in Italy, with the taste for aesthetics and design the country is famous for, but they are also designed around the needs of all those who might use them, wherever they are, and using the best technology available around the world.
Bangkok, Sep 16 : Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said on Wednesday that the border checkpoints between Thailand and Myanmar are temporarily sealed in an attempt to curb possible Covid-19 infections and drug trafficking.

Wongsuwan said that as the region is experiencing economic woes triggered by the pandemic, many were tempted to make big bucks by trafficking drugs into Thailand, then destined to a third country, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Thai authorities have seized 28 million speed pills and 428 kg of crystal meth last month," said Defence Ministry spokesman Kongcheep Tantrawanit.

"Narcotics were smuggled from neighboring countries through northern and western provinces to Thailand's central region." Tantrawanit said that from January 1 to August 31, officials arrested 179,050 drug suspects and seized 143 million methamphetamine pills and 5.4 tons of crystal meth.

With regards to sealing the border between Thailand and Myanmar, Wongsuwan said traders can still transport their goods and placed them at the collection point at the border, without the need for physical contact.
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Making lifelong friendships, getting involved on campus and gaining acceptance were just a few things on the minds of the six EAGLES program students as they went through Fall 2020 Panhellenic Recruitment.

Just like every recruit who participated in the process, these EAGLES students completed recruitment virtually, meeting members from each Panhellenic sorority that met the requirements through Zoom recruitment parties.

However, unlike other participants who received bids from sororities, these six girls also made Auburn history by becoming the first EAGLES program students to join Greek Life organizations on campus.

Offered by the College of Education, EAGLES is a program that gives students with intellectual disabilities a two- or four-year college experience. The postsecondary education opportunity is a non-degreed program focused on providing academic enrichment, independence and integrated work experience, while strengthening the personal and social skills of the participants.

Auburn students are known for looking for ways to improve inclusion on campus, so its no surprise the idea for the EAGLES girls to join sororities came from the student body.

In 2019, a sorority approached the EAGLES program director, Dr. Betty Patten, about a Homecoming platform that involved female EAGLES participating in Greek Life at Auburn University, said Jessica Milton, academic instruction coordinator for EAGLES and liaison between EAGLES staff and Panhellenic.

According to Milton, each of the 18 sororities supported the idea of EAGLES girls participating in the recruitment.

Over the course of a year, the EAGLES Program and Auburn Universitys Panhellenic Office worked closely together to make this dream a reality, she said.

Besides being one day shorter, the recruitment process for Rosa Juan, Grace Davis, Lily DeLaney, Sadie Weldon, Anna Moates and Elizabeth Preston was similar to the experience of other students participating in the fun. All six EAGLES finished the week with a special surprise on Bid Day.

The EAGLES students were able to open their bids in person in Jordan-Hare Stadium, Milton said. The Panhellenic Council worked very hard to make this happen, and the EAGLES females were thrilled for this special event.

Although Bid Day was an exciting time for the students, they are more excited about what the future holds for them as members of sororities.

I am hoping to gain strength in sisterhood and friendships in a support system, Moates, a junior, said.

DeLaney, a freshman, is looking to feel more at home on campus.

I'm hoping to learn time management and get more comfortable with knowing the campus, while gaining acceptance from people, she said.

One thing they have in common is they are looking forward to participating in their sororities philanthropy and chapters bonding events.

I am really excited to help and serve people when we do things with our philanthropy, Juan, a freshman, said.

Davis, a freshman who credited making close friends as the reason she joined a sorority, is most excited about the sisterhood bonding activities.

EAGLES program participation in fall 2021 recruitment is dependent upon the interest of future EAGLES students who may wish to partake in the process. One thing is for certain though, these six trailblazers highly recommend joining a sorority to their peers.

Its good to put yourself out there and try something new, Weldon, a freshman, said. I joined a sorority to find a group of friends and have fun!

With this years recruitment being such a success, Milton is hopeful the EAGLES program will continue to participate in Greek Life for years to come.

If an EAGLES female is interested in participating in recruitment in the future, the EAGLES Program and Panhellenic will work together to make this happen, Milton said. Our hope is that EAGLES females make lasting friendships just as so many other young women on campus do.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. sent some of its Manhattan workers home this week after an employee in equities trading tested positive for Covid-19, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

News of the infection, on the fifth floor of the companys 383 Madison Ave. building, was communicated to employees on Sept. 13, said the person, who asked not to be identified discussing information that isnt public. That was less than a week after more workers began returning to offices following the Labor Day holiday, and just days after the biggest U.S. bank told senior traders theyd be required to return by Sept. 21.

The case shows the challenges banks face as they try to bring more staff back to the office after months of remote work. JPMorgan has been among the boldest banks in calling workers back, and Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon spoke earlier Tuesday about his concerns that extended work-from-home could have its own consequences.

A JPMorgan spokesman said he couldnt comment on any one case but that the bank has been managing individual cases across the firm over the course of the last few months and following appropriate protocols when they occur."

The infection is something of a deja vu for the bank. In April, there was an outbreak on the same floor inside JPMorgans temporary headquarters on Madison Avenue, with at least 16 people testing positive on a single trading floor.

Trump Tweet

While JPMorgan has been opening its offices to more staff over the past few months, few were initially required to return. The decision to require senior traders to return spurred a tweet last week from President Donald Trump, whos been pushing for businesses and schools across the U.S. to reopen. Trump applauded the banks move, though he inaccurately said it applied to all employees. The push to get workers back is fueling anxiety among workers who worry the bank is putting profits over their safety.

Dimon, whos been going into the banks offices since June, said Tuesday that he sees economic and social damage from a longer stretch of working from home. Governments should be focused on cautiously reopening cities, learning from earlier mistakes made in hasty attempts, he said.

Going back to work is a good thing," Dimon said during a virtual panel discussion at the Singapore Summit. It makes sense to carefully open up and see if we can get the economy growing for the sake of everybody."

Dimon recently told Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analysts that productivity has slipped as employees work from home, with output particularly affected on Mondays and Fridays. JPMorgan spokesman Michael Fusco added that younger workers could be disadvantaged by missed learning opportunities" by not being in offices.





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China's third aircraft carrier has been pictured under construction in Shanghai's 'warship factory' - a 1,000ft titan which threatens the US Navy's supremacy in the South China Sea.

The colossal vessel will be the first full-sized carrier operated by the PLA Navy which has another smaller domestically-built vessel and a Soviet-era convert.

Washington, which has 11 aircraft carriers in active service, will be closely monitoring the progress of the 'Type 003' carrier in the Jiangnan shipyard on the outskirts of Shanghai.

It comes as China looks to assert its dominance in the South China Sea where the US has sailed its warships and conducted drills with allies in recent months in a show of strength against Beijing's claims on the disputed waters.

The 1,000ft vessel is expected to be completed by the end of the year, and local media claim it will be armed with a new type of electromagnetic catapult capable of launching heavy fighter jets and unmanned drones.

Similar photos obtained by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington think tank, also show sections of the warship being assembled at the Jiangnan shipyard in Shanghai. The new ship is estimated to be 1,000 feet long and 130 feet wide

Pictures circulating online are believed to show the hull of China's first full-sized aircraft carrier being assembled on a dry dock at the country's 'warship factory' outside Shanghai

The ship would represent a vital step in China's ambitions to create a far-ranging navy that can project power around the world to serve Beijing's expanding global interests, observers said

High-resolution images obtained by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington-based think tank, reveal for the first time seven hulking sections of the ship laid out from bow to stern.

The blocks of the hull, excluding the spaces between them, stretch to 974ft while the maximum width is 130ft at waterline.

By comparison the USS John F. Kennedy, the US Navy's latest aircraft carrier christened last year, has a length of 1,100ft and a width of 134ft at waterline.

As work progresses on the Chinese carrier, additional blocks will be added before the vessel's superstructure, including the flight deck and island (the command centre), is fitted.

As a result the overall length of the vessel is expected to increase by around 60ft.

State-run tabloid The Global Times reported the warship's construction appeared to be 'progressing smoothly', citing an unnamed military expert.

The source also told the state media that the full-sized aircraft carrier is larger than its older vessels and will 'likely feature many new technologies including the electromagnetic catapult'.

This detail will be of particular interest to Washington, which has only developed the technology for its two most most recent aircraft carriers which are the new Gerald R. Ford-class.

The main advantage is providing a smoother acceleration to aircraft which puts less strain on their frames during take-off and therefore, allows for a wider variety of planes to be launched, from heavy fighter jets to unmanned drones.

Matthew Funaiole, a researcher at the CSIS ChinaPower project, told The Washington Post: 'It's moving along on at pace. It's impressive the process they're going through to position themselves at the forefront of carrier technology.'

He added that 'the Chinese are showing tremendous capability of designing and fitting out vessels.'

China's first carrier, the Liaoning (pictured), was a Soviet-era Ukrainian ship bought second-hand in 1998 and re-fitted

China's second aircraft carrier (pictured), which is temporarily named Type 001A, has been undergoing sea trials from its base in northern Dalian and is not expected to enter service until 2020. The warship is China's first domestically built carrier

China's first two carriers, which it dubbed Type 001-class, are relatively small, accommodating only up to 25 aircraft that are launched from ramps built onto their decks. US carriers routinely deploy with nearly four times the number of aircraft.

Its first carrier, the Liaoning, was a Soviet-era Ukrainian ship bought second-hand in 1998 and re-fitted in China. A second carrier based on that design was built by Chinese engineers and launched in 2017. It is coded Type 001A and yet to be named.

Foreign military attaches and security analysts say the Type 001 ships are expected to essentially serve as training platforms for what they believe will be fleet of up to six operational carriers by 2030.

They say the construction and deployment of aircraft carriers is considered exceptionally difficult to master. Protecting such a large and vital surface target with escort ships, submarines and aircraft is a core part of the problem.
A 33-year-old man has been charged with the murder of his own brother, who was remembered tonight as a 'beautiful' young father.

Joseph Garmson, 31, died after being stabbed in the leg at his sibling's bungalow in Birmingham on Monday night.

This evening, police charged Roy Garmson with his murder. He is due to appear before magistrates tomorrow.

Emotional tributes were paid to Joseph, a father-of-four, who was affectionately nicknamed 'Danger' by friends.

Joseph Garmson, 31, died after being stabbed in the leg at his brother's bungalow in Birmingham

Police officers pictured at the scene in Lutley Grove, Bartley Green following the attack on Monday evening

Neighbours in the suburban area said they heard screaming shortly after 8pm on Monday

His neighbour Jennifer Arrindell wrote on Facebook: 'You were like a breath of fresh air, always a happy, crazy ball of energy.

'A cheeky face over the fence asking if we want a beer.

'I'll miss the stupid drunken singing sessions till 4am and the BBQs. So many laughs over the years.

'I can't believe you've been taken so tragically and so soon. You were so full of life. I'm heartbroken for you and your family. You were so loved. We'll never forget you.'

Paris Edghill-Halsall added: 'Joe, it wasn't your time. You shouldn't have gone from this world

'You were and are THE best person in the whole world. You had such a good heart.'

Cee Williams added: 'Another good, kind, such a BIG hearted soul taken way too soon.'

Pee Connell wrote on the social media site: 'All them memories you've left us to laugh about.

'Such a beautiful person who would light up any room you walked in. I will never forget that smile.'

Neighbours in Lutley Grove, in the Bartley Green suburb of the city, said they heard screaming shortly after 8pm on Monday.

The victim, a former Jaguar Land Rover forklift driver, was found critically injured by paramedics

Officers scoured the scene for clues and then charged brother Roy Garmson with murder on Wednesday evening

The victim, a former Jaguar Land Rover forklift driver, was found critically injured by paramedics. He was taken to hospital but later died.

One resident said: 'It was only the one scream I could hear. It sounded like a woman. It was a strange sort of scream, every few seconds.

'I could see the shadow of somebody trying to get somebody up. It looked like they were trying to do CPR.'

West Midlands Police confirmed officers had charged Mr Garmson's brother with murder.

The force said in a statement: 'We've charged a man with murder after his brother was fatally stabbed in Birmingham.

'Joseph Garmson was found seriously injured at a property in Lutley Grove, Bartley Green, on Monday evening.

'The 31-year-old was taken to hospital but sadly passed away. A post mortem revealed he died from a stab wound to his leg.

'Roy Garmson, 33, of Lutley Grove, has been charged with murder and remanded in custody to appear before Birmingham Magistrates Court.'
Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communications Lucian Bode says the Gara de Nord - Otopeni Airport railway line will be commissioned on December 12.

"I attended a test today, a check for everything we believe will happen somewhere at the end of October, when we complete the 8 kilometers of double line. Gara de Nord is 19.5 km away from Otopeni. The railway is being upgraded over 8 km between Mogosoaia and Balotesti; there will be double rail there. The 3-kilometre section is being built, the footbridge over DN1, from scratch," Bode said Tuesday.He added that it is hard to imagine that this railway includes the first section of railway built from scratch in Romania after the 1989 Revolution."Picture this: it is the first section of a railway line built in Romania from scratch after 1989. So, we are in a physical progress of over 98%; next week, we will most likely make the first trips with guests, with the media, as we did with the metro. (...) We believe that with the new Train Schedule, December 12, from that moment on we will travel the 19.5 kilometres from Gara de Nord to Otopeni or from Otopeni to Gara de Nord in 15-17 minutes," added Bode.According to CFR SA, the national railway transport operator, the new railway to the airport starts from the connection area (former Halta Odaile) for about 600 meters; the route continues with a consolidation area, 900 metres long and a viaduct of 1.52 kilometers, which crosses DN1, to the new passenger station at the Henri Coanda International Airport Arrivals Terminal. The railway line was installed along the entire route, with the builder currently carrying out the last drilling and mechanical profiling works.The project 'Upgrading the Bucharest North - Henri Coanda International Airport Bucharest railway line - PHASE I: Connection to Terminal T1, Henri Coanda International Airport Bucharest' provides for the construction of a simple 2.95-km railway with three bridges, a viaduct 1.52 km long that crosses DN1 and a train station, with double rails at Terminal T1.The value of the contract is 398.1 million lei, and the contractor is Arcada Company. The source of funding is from European non-reimbursable funds.The following builders have been involved: Arcada (civil constructions / viaduct), Wiebe (railway superstructure) and Alstom (signalling and telecommunications installations).
Polish ruling party faces internal struggle over LGBT, women's rights FILE PHOTO: Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki speaks during a news conference at a summit of the Visegrad Group (V4) countries in Warsaw,

By Joanna Plucinska

WARSAW (Reuters) - Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki is resisting efforts by ultra-conservatives in the ruling coalition to step up a government crackdown on LGBT and women's rights, wary of further hurting ties with the European Union, government sources say.

The Law and Justice (PiS) government angered Brussels by using language during the campaign for a presidential election in July which critics said fomented homophobia.

That worsened already deep tensions with the European Commission over government policies which the EU executive says subvert democracy, including attempts to curb the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

With no election due for three years, the coalition wants to use the period to expand its ageing voter base. But, at a time of economic difficulties exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, it is divided over how to do so, senior officials say.

How the debate is resolved will help determine whether the nationalist coalition can avoid more open confrontation with the European Commission, which would risk Poland facing potential penalties.

PiS' head Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the final arbiter of government policy, says Western values, and specifically "LGBT ideology", should be avoided in Poland to preserve its traditional, Christian culture.

One wing of the coalition wants those beliefs to be defended through more specific actions. More moderate forces want to avoid antagonising Brussels.

Officials close to Morawiecki say Poland should be more pragmatic about relations with its EU partners as it faces pressure and possible loss of funds over its adherence to the rule of law.

"We don't need another front," one coalition official said.

"CENTRAL EUROPEAN PATH"

At the heart of internal coalition tensions is Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro, the architect of government reforms of the judiciary which the EU says politicise courts, the government sources said.

Story continues

Ziobro, who heads a small ultra-conservative party allied with PiS, has said gay marriage should be banned outright and that Poland should leave the Council of Europe's Istanbul Convention on combating violence against women, the government sources said.

At Ziobro's request, a Polish town that declared itself free of "LGBT ideology", prompting the EU to reject a town-twinning application, received compensation for the loss of EU funds it would have received if the project had gone ahead.

Since an election to the European Parliament in May last year, about 100 Polish municipalities have signed similar declarations. This has fuelled concern in Brussels although they appear not to have been followed by legislation to discriminate against LGBT residents.

For Ziobro, governing based on identity politics is the only way to maintain a steady support base.

An official in Ziobro's United Poland grouping rejected the more liberal path taken by governing parties in Europe such as Germany's Christian Democrat Union which "has nothing to do with conservatism anymore and is unacceptable".

"We want to go on our central European path that protects, not only defensively, but offensively builds the strength of the family, strengthens our national traditions," said the official on condition of anonymity.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen laid out the risks of such a stance on Wednesday in a speech to the European Parliament.

"LGBTQI-free zones are humanity-free zones. And they have no place in our (European) Union," she said, using the abbreviation for LGBT, questioning or intersex people.

Morawiecki has blocked Ziobro's call to leave the Istanbul Convention, and some officials are reluctant to back other moves that might antagonise Brussels such as limiting foreign ownership in the media sector, the government sources said.

Divisions in the coalition could come more out into the open in the coming weeks, when the government is expected to release details of its new strategy and legislative programme including reducing the number of ministries.

(Reporting by Joanna Plucinska, Editing by Justyna Pawlak and Timothy Heritage)
Teachers and parents have a long list of health precautions they feel are essential to reopening schools, ranging from mandating face coverings to ensuring ventilation systems work properly, a new survey sponsored by the American Federation of Teachers shows. But teachers are somewhat less confident that their school districts will put those measures in place.

Thirty-seven percent of teachers say they are dissatisfied with how their district has communicated plans for reopening schools. Almost a third of teachers said they are not confident their district will take the necessary steps to keep staff safe. And some have taken their safety into their own hands: 86 percent of teachers said they have purchased their own personal protective equipment, with 11 percent saying they purchased PPE for their students.

The lack of transparency, the lack of communication about whats really going on creates great uncertainty and creates real distrust, said Randi Weingarten, president of AFT, which is the nations second-largest teachers union, on a press call. She added that districts should be disclosing COVID-19 cases, as well as the precautions theyre planning to implement.

See also: Worried Teachers Want to Know: What Happens If I Get Sick?

The nationally representative surveys, conducted by Hart Research Associates, were administered to about 1,000 public school parents, including an oversampling of Black and Latino parents, between Aug. 26 and Sept. 6, and about 800 teachers between Aug. 26 and Sept. 1.

The results come as most schools across the country have started classes. According to Education Weeks database of district reopening plans , 27 of the 100 largest school districts have resumed at least some in-person instruction.

The surveys found that 76 percent of teachers are worried they might get infected with the coronavirus at work, and 77 percent of parents are worried their children might get infected at school. For Black and Latino parents, the proportion was slightly higher81 percent of both groups said they were worried about their childrens health. Federal data show that Black and Latino communities have been especially hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

Even so, 57 percent of parents say schools should start the school year with at least some in-person instruction. Just 44 percent of teachers said the same.

We all want to get back to in-person learning, Weingarten said. But we have to follow the science.

While teachers and parents largely agreed about the safety precautions that should be put in place, teachers were somewhat less confident about their districts ability to implement them. For example, just over half of teachers said they are confident their school will allow high-risk staff to stay home from work, compared to 72 percent of parents.

Districts have had to decide which health conditions to prioritize and how to accommodate as many teachers as they can while still maintaining staffing levels for the students who are on campus. In some cases, some district leaders have had to find alternate ways to accommodate teachers without keeping them home.

Only 47 percent of teachers think schools will ensure ventilation systems work correctly or increase outdoor air by opening windows, compared to 69 percent of parents. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends schools take these measures, especially as a federal watchdog report has estimated that 36,000 schools have air-system problems. Meanwhile, some teachers have complained that their classroom windows do not open.

Across the country, teachers have protested returning to school buildings . And in at least two districts in Massachusetts, teachers initially refused to return to what they felt were unsafe working conditions.

The local teachers unions in the Andover and Sharon school districts organized a boycott on professional development days, saying that the districts must demonstrate that school buildings are safe to reopen. The Massachusetts Labor Relations Board ruled that the Andover teachers were participating in an unlawful strike, and the Sharon teachers union also acknowledged that it was violating state law , according to NBC Boston. In both districts, teachers eventually went back to work.

Image: A Salt Lake City teacher joins others gathered at the Granite school districts office to protest the plans for reopening on Aug. 4. Rick Bowmer/AP
Even though women have been fighting for their rights for several years now, patriarchy is still looming over our lives. Women are expected to give up their lives to get married, have children and take care of their families. However, there are several women who are bringing about brilliant change, that we can all derive some inspiration from.

One such woman is is Sanju Rani Verma from Meerut, who at the age of 28 back in 2013, stood up for what she wants in life and achieved her dreams.

Verma had lost her mother while she was studying a post graduation degree from Delhi University, after which her family started pressurizing her to give up her studies and get married. The situation quickly became apparent to Verma - her education wasn't a priority, and she had to fight for her rights.

TOI (Sanju Rani Verma)

According to a report by Times of India, Verma tried to make her family understand that she needed to build her career and did not want to get married. However, her family did not entertain her dreams.

She had to leave her post-graduation degree midway and since she had no financial support, she left her family's home and rented a small apartment where she started taking private tuitions so that she could pay her rent. While she was doing that, she was offered part-time teaching jobs in private institutions and she managed all these jobs along with preparing for her PCS exam.

Seven years later, Verma has now cracked the Public Service Commission (PSC) examination to become a commercial tax officer. Her results came in last week.

Also read: Progressive Move! India Supports UN Resolution For Women's Participation In Peacekeeping Forces

Navbharat Times

The now 35-year-old wants to crack the civil service exam and fulfill her dream of becoming a divisional magistrate. She also wants to financially support her family and wants them to respect her for achieving her success. One of her teachers also believes that her triumphs defeat society's narrow-mindedness.

Verma's success is a befitting reply to those who believed she's be better off giving up on her dreams. Her story is also an example of how women have to struggle more and longer to get where they want to be, due to society's redundant expectations from them.

Also read: Some People Do Not Want Women's Legal Marriage To Be Increased To 21. Here's Why

Twitter

Each and every woman in this world deserves a fair chance to get what they want and not a single one of them should be forced into things they have no desire to participate in.

Also read: To Protest Climate Change, Topless Women Chain Themselves To Railing Outside UK Parliament
Austria Rejects Halting Nord Stream 2 Pipeline Over Navalny Poisoning

By RFE/RL September 15, 2020

Austria has said it still supports the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, despite growing reservations about the project in parts of Europe following the poisoning of Russian opposition figure Aleksei Navalny.

President Alexander Van der Bellen said on September 15 that there should be no connection between the Navalny case and Nord Stream 2, a nearly complete pipeline that will bring gas from Russia to Europe beneath the Baltic Sea.

Van der Bellen was speaking alongside visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, whose country receives vital income from the transit of Russian gas and fears being weakened by Nord Stream 2.

Austria's OMV is one of the European companies in the consortium involved in financing the $11-billion pipeline.

Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, also speaking next to Zelenskiy later in the day, echoed Van der Bellen's view that there was no need to halt Nord Stream 2 because of Navalny's poisoning.

The pipeline is "economically a positive project," Kurz said.

The conservative chancellor added that the project was about energy diversification for Europe.

Zelenskiy said he understood Austria's economic and business interests, but that Nord Stream 2 is tied with Ukraine's energy security and the future flow of energy to Europe.

He said he hoped the pipeline would be seen "from our point of view."

Austria's fellow EU members Poland and the Baltic states are also opposed to Nord Stream 2, and the United States has sought to halt the project with sanctions that have infuriated European capitals.

Germany has been one of Nord Stream 2's biggest proponents but there are growing calls within Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition government and the opposition to halt the pipeline over Navalny's poisoning if Moscow doesn't cooperate with a transparent investigation.

Navalny suddenly fell ill on a Russian domestic flight on August 20 and was medically evacuated to Germany, where a military laboratory found the anti-corruption campaigner had been poisoned with a Soviet-style military nerve agent from the Novichok group.

Russian authorities have refused to open a criminal investigation, saying that no hard evidence of poisoning has been found.

With reporting by AFP and Die Presse

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/austria-rejects -halting-nord-stream-2-pipeline-over- navalny-poisoning/30840592.html

Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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India and the UK will begin the process of negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) shortly, stated Mr. Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce and Industry & Railways. According to the Minister, while full-fledged FTA negotiations take a long time, it has been agreed that India and the UK would look at an early harvest agreement to begin with. The early harvest agreement could take the form of a Preferential Trade Agreement with about 40-50 items of trade interest between the two countries. He felt that by having such an agreement in place would give the much-needed boost to bilateral trade. He stated that there were several sectors that India and UK could work together on e.g. gems and jewelry, textiles, healthcare among others.

In terms of supply chains, the Minister stated that the world was now looking at more resilient supply chains and was of the view that the Supply Chain Resilience Initiative provide a good opportunity for India and the UK to work together.

The Minister stated that India was witnessing a rapid recovery. To give a few indicators, he stated that railway freight in the first 13 days of September rose by 12% as compared to the same period last year. Merchandise exports during the second week of September had risen by 10.73% as compared to the same period last year. He stated that the overall mood of Industry in India was very positive and displayed the can-do attitude of Indian Industry. The Minister highlighted that the government was now working on ramping up internet services and Wi-fi to all villages in the country over the next 1000 days. He stated that India was focusing on becoming self-reliant and Covid-19 had led to the creation of the protective equipment industry in India virtually overnight.

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Police in Pakistan have filed treason charges against three journalists known for their criticism of the countrys powerful military, in what rights activists described as a blatant attack on the freedom of expression.

Bilal Farooqi, editor at the English-language The Express Tribune daily, was briefly arrested in the southern city of Karachi but was released after an outcry on social media, his colleagues said.

The charges against Farooqi have not been not dropped and he will have to appear in court, police official Imtiaz Ali said.

A court in the capital, Islamabad, on September 16 separately approved temporary bail for Asad Toor, a producer at broadcaster SAMAA, until next week.

The third journalist, Absar Alam, faces imminent arrest after a case was registered against him in the central province of Punjab.

The charges come days after another journalist received death threats for a story on how the family of a retired army general had built a $100 million business empire in the United States.

Unions for journalists have condemned the moves, calling them part of a military-run censorship campaign that began when the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan took over in 2018.

"It is a blatant attack on the freedom of expression," said Haris Khalique, secretary general of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

Attacks, intimidation and online abuse against journalists critical of the army have become common in Pakistan, a country where 61 media professionals have been killed since 1922.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept.16

Trend:

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister, Jeyhun Bayramov, received Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of France to Azerbaijan, Zakari Gross, the ministry told Trend.

Bayramov stressed the particular importance of relations between Azerbaijan and France, emphasizing the high level of cooperation between the two countries since the early years of Azerbaijan's independence.

It was noted that the existing exchanges and contacts between the two countries in various fields, including high-level visits, have greatly contributed to the further expansion of the bilateral mutually beneficial relations.

Gross conveyed the sincere congratulations of Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs of France, Jean-Yves Le Drian, to the Azerbaijani foreign minister for his recent appointment to the post. He noted that Le Drian invited his Azerbaijani counterpart to pay an official visit to Paris.

The sides exchanged views on cooperation between the two countries in political, economic, energy, trade, humanitarian, and other fields. Noting the continuation of political consultations between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, the full use of existing economic potential, including the importance of the Intergovernmental Economic Commission, as well as successful cooperation in the field of education mentioning in this context the French-Azerbaijani University (UFAZ) as a bright example of this cooperation, the attention was drawn to the future expansion of the relations in this regard.

Bayramov informed the ambassador of France as co-chair state of the OSCE Minsk Group, on the situation in the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in details.

He noted that the process of negotiations on the settlement of the conflict has stalled due to the extremely provocative and irresponsible behavior of the Armenian side. The provocative actions of the Armenian leadership, leading to the escalation of tensions in the region, and also the fact that the Minsk Group co-chairs didnt react to such provocative activities were noted with regret.

It was emphasized that the balanced approach to the aggressor state Armenia and Azerbaijan, the territories of which have been under occupation for almost 30 years, is wrong.

It was also pointed out that the recent large-scale armament of Armenia is an indication of the country's interest in new provocations.

Ambassador Gross stressed that France is interested in ensuring peace and security in the region, and expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of progress in the talks on resolving the conflict.

The sides also exchanged views on other issues of mutual interest.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In his acceptance speech at this year's Republican National Convention, President Donald Trump mentioned China 16 times, far more than any other country. "China would own our country if Joe Biden got elected," Trump predicted, effectively declaring it the United States' chief adversary.

A week later, Joe Biden had similarly tough words for Russia. Citing intelligence reports on Russian interference in the election, he said, "I just want to make it clear. I believe that any country that engages in any activity to delegitimize or impact on American elections is in direct violation of our sovereignty." Biden has also been critical of China, and, according to The Wall Street Journal, has grown more hawkish on it. But thus far, Biden has not spoken of China in terms that suggest it poses an existential threat.

Americans themselves aren't clear on which global power the U.S. ought to be most worried about. Gallup routinely asks Americans to name what they think is the country's greatest enemy and finds Russia and China essentially tied as Americans' highest-ranking concerns, while Iran is a close third.

Americans' Perceptions of U.S. Greatest Enemy What one country anywhere in the world do you consider to be the United States' greatest enemy today? Feb 2008 Feb 2018 Feb 2020 % % % Russia 2 19 23 China 14 11 22 Iran 25 7 19 North Korea/Korea 9 51 12 Iraq 22 2 7 Gallup

This dispersion reflects the post-Cold War reality that the United States still lacks a clear rival. At the end of the Cold War, with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the U.S. preeminent, there was concern in the foreign policy community that, without a common enemy left, America's ascendency could result in a loss of a sense of purpose for its grand strategy.

What has evolved in the 21st century is that America is facing not one, but two, ambitious rivals in Russia and China. Both challenge the U.S. in different ways, as they work to grow their chosen spheres of influence.

Consistent with Americans' perceptions, Business Insider columnist, Tom Porter, wrote at the beginning of 2020 that the biggest threats to the U.S. were: 1) Russia, with its interference in elections and its expanding weapons programs; 2) the Middle East, where tension between Iran and the U.S. are at a boiling point, the consequences of which are still unclear; and 3) China, whose leaders are gearing up their bid to strengthen the might of the PLA and expand China's influence beyond its borders.

Porter also saw that Democrats and Republicans were not able to agree on which power might serve as America's "orienting enemy." Samuel Huntington, in his famous 1997 book, The Clash of Civilizations, voiced that any weakening of the U.S. sense of a common enemy would create a lack of policy cohesion for the U.S.

Different Threats for Different Parties

It's not just Trump and Biden who are emphasizing different threats, but Republicans and Democrats nationwide. Gallup's February poll found Republicans about three times more likely to name China than Russia as the United States' greatest enemy, and the reverse was true among Democrats.

Despite the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic and all that has since changed in the world, partisan differences in views of China continued in a Pew study conducted June 16-July 14, with Republicans (83%) viewing it more unfavorably than Democrats (68%).

The picture wasn't so fractured two years ago when Republicans and Democrats agreed that North Korea posed the greatest threat. At that time, Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un were trading verbal threats, and North Korea displayed the potential of its ballistic missiles to reach the U.S. But Americans' fear diminished after Trump's summit with Kim in 2019. Also, in 2008, Republicans and Democrats agreed on the Middle East as the greatest threat, selecting either Iran or Iraq.

Party Groups' Perceptions of the United States' Greatest Enemy Selected trend by party in leading countries mentioned in 2020 Republicans Independents Democrats % % % 2020 Feb 3-16 Russia 9 22 43 China 31 23 12 Iran 30 16 11 North Korea/Korea 10 12 15 Iraq 6 7 5 2018 Feb 1-10 Russia 9 19 30 China 15 11 7 Iran 10 7 3 North Korea/Korea 58 50 45 Iraq 1 1 2 2008 Feb 11-14 Russia 2 3 1 China 19 14 12 Iran 39 24 16 North Korea/Korea 7 8 13 Iraq 16 22 27 Gallup

Commenting on the United States' current first-tier rivals, Reihan Salam, President of the Manhattan Institute, wrote, "Nationalist conservatives and Republicans see rising China as the far greater threat to American interests, but cosmopolitan liberals and Democrats see a Russia that will serve America as their chief geopolitical adversary." (The Atlantic, "Is China or Russia America's Defining Rival?" Oct. 9, 2018).

Bottom Line

The 2019 Worldwide Threat Assessment delivered by the U.S. Director of National Intelligence laid out for the 2020 election cycle the harmful actors to U.S. interests. The report stated that Russia's intelligence services would, among other things, seek to "erode U.S. democracy, undermine U.S national policies and foreign relationships, and increase Moscow's global position and influence." The report also assesses that China's intelligence services will "exploit the openness of American society, especially academia and the scientific community using a variety of means."

Nearly a quarter of Americans share each of these concerns, identifying either China or Russia as the greatest threat to the U.S. The more Trump mentions China, the more Biden may feel compelled to emphasize Russia to stoke his own base, which has expressed more concern about Russia than China. Thus, even with COVID-19 and the economy uppermost in people's minds, a close 2020 election may be won over whether voters believe it is more important to face down Russia or China.

Even if it's not crucial to the vote, the U.S. now has antagonistic relations on multiple fronts, with partisans in Washington and nationwide disagreeing on priorities, contributing to a lack of foreign policy cohesion. What direction U.S. foreign policy takes over the next four years will likely depend upon which political party is in power -- not only because Trump and Biden approach the question differently, but because their political bases agree. As the old saying goes, "Elections have consequences," and this is certainly the case for this election and U.S. foreign policy.
Symptoms that prompted the University of Oxford and partner AstraZeneca to pause trials evaluating their experimental coronavirus vaccine probably weren't related to the shot itself, according to documents sent to participants.

Safety reviews were carried out when participants in the Oxford study developed unexplained neurological symptoms including limb weakness or "changed sensation", a participant information sheet posted online by Oxford shows.

The interruption highlights the uncertainties researchers face on the road to developing a vaccine. Credit:Bloomberg

"After independent review, these illnesses were either considered unlikely to be associated with the vaccine or there was insufficient evidence to say for certain that the illnesses were or were not related to the vaccine," the letter reads.

"In each of these cases, after considering the information, the independent reviewers recommended that vaccinations should continue."
A boy and his grandfather stand near the Phillips 66 refinery in Wilmington. (Los Angeles Times)

To the editor: Finally! The Times placed the climate emergency front page and above the fold, where it belongs.

Science proves that the intensity, size and duration of today's fires are indisputably linked to higher temperatures caused by climate change. Contributing factors abound: fire suppression policies in forest management and increased development in the wild land/urban interface. But climate change is the force multiplier, as the U.S. military concludes.

We need a World War-type effort to transition to a fossil-fuel free economy, which will help us exit this COVID-19 recession. We need a price on carbon as the foundation. HR 763, the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, would put a price on carbon. It would then return the revenue to the populace  growing the economy, driving down fossil fuel use and saving lives through reduced pollution.

Judith Trumbo, La Canada Flintridge

..

To the editor: Thanks for taking the wraps off the elephant in the room and calling our current situation what it is: a climate apocalypse. The sad thing is we could have avoided this. We know how to get electricity from the sun and wind and other renewable sources, and how to use that electricity. We just need to do it. And California cant do it alone. Every state in the union must turn to 100% renewable electricity.

We have to start now; we cant wait any longer. If we had started to transition away from fossil fuels back in 1988, when James Hansen testified to Congress that climate change was happening, we would be there now.

Murray Zichlinsky, Long Beach

..

To the editor: The Times did a commendable job linking fossil-fuel-induced global heating to record-breaking temperatures and the fires raging in California, but left out was Gov. Newsom's reprehensible role in accelerating the climate crisis. His administration has ramped up oil and gas permits, quietly ending a moratorium on fracking permits in April. And he has so far failed to close disaster-prone storage facilities like Aliso Canyon. Small wonder that he received over $29,000 from fossil fuel giant Sempra Energy for his gubernatorial run. How about more coverage by The Times of Newsom's and other California politicians' roles in fanning the flames?

David Klein, Northridge




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When Florence Abu, a hairstylist, left the shores of Nigeria in 2012 for Russia, she thought she was moving to the proverbial greener pastures. She thought the trip would be the key to unlocking a better life for her and her family. But things did not turn out as she expected.

Ms Abu, an indigene of Edo State, soon realised that she had been trafficked to work as a prostitute in Russia.

She alleged that she was lured to travel abroad by Endurance Ehioze, an assistant pastor with Heavenly Ambassadors Ministries, her local church, who claimed that he saw a vision of her prospering outside the shores of Nigeria.

Human trafficking is a global menace and the disturbing trend is not new.

According to a 2016 UNESCO report, poverty is the major reason women and children are vulnerable to being trafficked. Another report in 2018, by the Global Slavery Index, ranked Nigeria 32 out of 167 countries where persons are trafficked from.

All that it took to convince Ms Abu, like other victims, was the allure of a better life abroad.

Before she left for Russia, Mr Ehioze allegedly told Ms Abu to give his mother, Vivian Ehioze, her pubic hair and fingernails, which would be used for a fetish oath to ensure she does not abscond on getting to Russia.

Later she was told to pay $46,000 to regain her freedom from the prostitution syndicate she was lured into or be killed if she tried to be smart.

I, first of all, refused the offer but he now told me that I dont have a choice because God showed him in a revelation that my destiny is not in the country, that my destiny is outside the country and for me to achieve that aim, I need to leave the country so I can earn better money and also help my family and take them away from poverty and for me to also have a better stay.

When he said that, I was like okay, but I dont have the money to leave, how am I going to leave, and he said that not the problem, and that they are the ones that are going to fix the bills to leave.

The only thing they will request from me is for me to go and look for money to do my international passport, that if I can do my international passport, then the rest of the things they are doing is on them.

The pastor told me that thats the only form of guarantee that I should do it. So I dont have a choice I had to give her what she requested for; hair from my head, my armpit, pubic part, and my fingernails. So I gave her those things, then she now asked me to leave.

That was how I left, I gave it to the mother of the pastor and the mother of the person Im going to meet in Russia.

They told me that after my payment, I can decide to do my hairdresser work, do my dancing or my singing that I can go ahead with that but for the now, the only thing I can do is to see how other girls are hustling on the streets. Thats how Im going to sell my body as a prostitute to also pay her money until I finish paying the $46,000, but if I want to form that Im a very smart girl, she might even kill me here (there), the hairstylist said.

I went through hell

Ms Abu said sometimes she was forced to be on call with different clients for more than 24 hours at a time.

The stylist said when she complained to her handler how dangerous some of the clients were, the madam, as they are often called, did not care and only requested for the proceeds from her prostitution.

My life was like 24 hours. I go to work, sometimes I go for a week. Ill go to work, Ill have bad clients, some will carry a gun, sometimes Ill use nakedness to run out of the house, day time like this, broad daylight running for my life, she said.

When I will still call my madam, see wetin happen, she go say that one nor concern am o, work just dey as we dey talk now, make I just find one place wear my cloth make I dey go another work. Something like that, many things happened.

I even went to work one day and they threw me from a three-storey building, I broke my hand, I was at home for two months, she was like she wont be the one feeding me so I should use that same broken hand and go to work until I finish paying her money, she added.

Ms Abu was repatriated to Nigeria after she came down with a mysterious illness that defied treatment.

Victim turned activist

Since she returned to the country in 2017, after spending five years in Russia, Ms Abu has been working hard to re-establish her hairstyling business and collaborating with different groups to increase enlightenment on trafficking and irregular migration.

I spent five years in Russia, I have been here now since three years plus because I came back in 2017, February 2017, she said.

What Ive been doing, Im a hairstylist but I dont have a stall now. Im planning to have a store, which is Im looking for support so that I can be able to set up my business and what I have been doing for the now.

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I was working with Mr Okoduwa (national coordinator, Initiative for youth awareness on Migration, Immigration, Development and Reintegration (IYAMIDR)) maybe just going for sensitization programmes, letting people know about the root against illegal migration, and something like that, speaking against this because when I can, I never fold my hands, I made sure I caught my trafficker, I made sure I exposed my trafficker, you understand.

I never said because I am afraid of them even with the threat and everything, I said I cant let them go because I know what I suffered back there in Russia and this person told me that my life is in her hands so I let her know that God that brought me here, he didnt just bring me here for a purpose and I cant see other girls also wasting their lives, she said.

Pastor who trafficked Abu facing charges

Solomon Okoduwa, national coordinator, IYAMIDR, said all those who were implicated in trafficking Ms Abu are being prosecuted.

In 2017, Mr Ehioze and his mother were arrested following a tip-off by IYAMIDR, which is based in Edo State.

They are being tried for human trafficking-related charges at the Edo State High Court.

Okoduwa expressed dismay that it is taking too long to convict all those who played roles in the trafficking of Ms Abu.

The case is still ongoing; the trafficker, the mother, the pastor, all the culprits involved have been arrested, and they are currently facing the charges filed by the federal government through the NAPTIP office, that is what is going on right now.

Florence is very healthy, though not economically healthy, so we pray that through this interview, people that hear her ordeal, hear her speak, see her courage, see her determination to see that yes these people are brought to book will also come to support her, she said.

Ignorance, illiteracy aiding trafficking

Julie Okah-Donli, director-general of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), said that besides poverty, ignorance, illiteracy and deceit are aiding the trafficking of people out of the country.

First of all it is ignorance and then deceit and then, of course, illiteracy plays a major role. I mean because when somebody tells you that you are going to be given a good job abroad, you dont have a work visa, a work permit, you dont have a stay; how are you going to survive in a place like that? And thats why because of their vulnerability, by virtue of their status, they are easily trafficked.

So these are the major factors. Im not ruling out poverty, in the sense that they approach the parents and tell them, okay we are going to take your daughter somewhere to work, you know shes going to have a better life and send you money and all of that, but trust me 80 percent is ignorance, illiteracy and deceit, the director-general said.

Ms Okah-Donli said over 16,000 victims have been rescued from human traffickers.

We have prosecuted over 12,000 (traffickers). We have secured about 425 convictions and we have had over 1,000 cases spread across Nigeria.

We have rehabilitated quite a number of victims to the extent that they pass through primary-secondary school and university courtesy the NAPTIP, she said.

This story was written by Osaruonamen Ibizugbe, a 2020 Civic Hive Media Fellow.
- Rawlings has underscored the need for the new leadership in Mali use the transition period in their political dispensation to exhibit exceptional leadership

- He advised the leaders to rather use the authority they currently yield to usher Mali into a prosperous era

- Rawlings encouraged the transitional unit to govern with humility and diligence and inspire the people to fight and defy corruption and injustice

- Our manifesto: This is what YEN.com.gh believes in

Former President Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings has underscored the need for the new leadership in Mali to use the transition period in their political dispensation to exhibit exceptional leadership for the country.

According to him, the leaders should rather use the authority they currently yield to usher Mali into a prosperous era.

Rawlings urged the four-man delegation of the National Committee for the Salvation of the People (CNSP) that called on him to mobilise their people into taking up productive activity through a positive vision to boost the countrys development.

READ ALSO: Gabby Otchere-Darkos law firm pocketed US$103,000 from Agyapa deal - Kweku Baako

During a courtesy call on him, Rawlings also advised the military leaders to empower and encourage the people to own their political climate and to improve on the quality of multiparty democracy.

In a Facebook post sighted by YEN.com.gh, Rawlings encouraged the transitional unit to govern with humility and diligence, and inspire the people to fight and defy corruption and injustice which had become a part of multi-party democracy.

The delegation from Mali was present in the country for a consultative meeting with the ECOWAS on the political situation in the country.

Recommendations from the ECOWAS consultative meeting was for the military rulers to return authority back to the civilian rule within a specified number of days.

Former Malian president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, was forced at gunpoint by a military junta to resign on Aug. 18, 2020.

Ibrahim Boubacar Keita still had three years remaining in his second term in office.

The military leaders held talks with various political and civil society groups to come up with an outline for a transition to civilian rule a few days ago.

READ ALSO: Government suspends law of ban on importation of salvaged vehicle

In other news, former President Jerry John Rawlings has revealed that his integrity and his dislike for stealing and lies ensured that he stayed in office for almost nineteen years.

According to Rawlings, he did not come to the public office to steal anything from the government's coffers but rather to sacrifice to make Ghana what it is today.

In a Facebook post sighted by YEN.com.gh, Flt Lt Rawlings said it was unfortunate some abandoned the positive principles he sought to rule with.

He passed the comments when a delegation of chiefs and queen mothers from the Ave Traditional Area in the Volta Region called on him.

READ ALSO: My integrity and hatred for corruption has sustained me this far - Rawlings

John Mahama's emotional moment on stage at the NDC's manifesto launch | #Yencomgh

Share your stories and news by getting interactive on our Facebook page!

Source: YEN.com.gh
SALT LAKE CITY, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Impartner, the fastest-growing and most award-winning pure-play channel management platform, announced today that it has received $30 million in growth financing from Golub Capital, a market-leading, award-winning direct lender and credit asset manager with over $30 billion of capital under management. Impartner will focus the financing on further capturing momentum in the fast-growing channel management technology market, which analysts estimate could be as large as $5 Billion, including advancing customer success systems and resources, investing in additional R&D to extend the companys lead in technology both in terms of breadth and depth and acquiring complementary technologies. The funding has already resulted in Impartners recent acquisition of the Brand Control and Demand Generation (TCMA) business from TIE Kinetix.

The funding and acquisition announcements continue a steady stream of recent innovation news from Impartner's global Channel Innovation Labs including:

This period of history has caused nothing short of a revolution in digital transformation as companies accelerate the transition to technologies that will help them not only survive, but ultimately thrive, scale and prosper, said Impartner CEO Joe Wang. We are thrilled to be working with Golub on this funding to amplify our customer success resources and ensure we set the pace for innovations that help companies navigate this challenging market.

"Impartner has a proven track record of growth and innovation, securing their position as industry leaders in channel management technology," said Peter Fair, managing director at Golub Capital. "We are pleased to work with Impartner and to support their quickly expanding growth strategy."

To learn more about how Impartner can accelerate indirect revenue, click here for a demo.

About Impartner

Impartner delivers the industry's most complete SaaS-based Channel Management Platform, helping companies worldwide manage their partner relationships and accelerate revenue and profitability through indirect sales channels. Impartner's flagship Partner Relationship Management (PRM) solution is the industry's most award-winning PRM technology and one of the industry's only turnkey solutions that can deploy a world-class Partner Portal in as few as 14 days. For more information on Impartner, which is based in Utah's tech hotbed, the Silicon Slopes, visit www.impartner.com, or in the United States call +1 801 501 7000, for EMEA general call +33 1 40 90 31 20 and for London call +44 0 20 3283 4465.

Follow Impartner on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

Contact:

Kerry Desberg

Impartner

+1 425-231-9529

[email protected]

SOURCE Impartner

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A divorcee mother who unwittingly dated a man who had prior convictions for child rape and murder returned home from work yesterday to find both her daughters knifed to death.

Police in Russia have launched a major manhunt for Vitaly Molchanov, 41, who went on the run after the killings of Yana and Elena Saprunova, aged 13 and eight.

One month ago divorcee mother Valentina Saprunova, 40, uprooted 1,600 miles with her daughters from her Siberian home to move into her new boyfriend's flat, convinced she had found true love.

She took a job at a local hospital in Rybinsk, Yaroslavl region.

She came home from work on Tuesday to find both girls 'literally shredded' by a knife.

Russian police are searching for 41-year-old Vitaly Molchanov (left and right) after he went on the run following the murder of Valentina Saprunova's two daughters

According to reports, Molchanov (pictured with the mother of his victims), 41, had prior convictions for child rape and murder and was released from a long prison sentence in 2010

Saprunova's daughter Yana is pictured at a younger age. Saprunova, 40, came home from work and found her daughters 'literally shredded' by a knife

Her lover was seen fleeing from the scene on a white bicycle.

The Russian Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case into a double child murder 'committed with extreme cruelty'.

The nurse had met Molchanov online via a dating app around six months ago, say Russian reports citing law enforcement.

In one posting in April, before they were together, he wrote: 'This is my girlfriend, this is very sad that we are in different cities, but I love her and we can solve all the other issues.'

But she was unaware of his past convictions for child rape and murder.

He had been released from prison in 2010 after serving a long sentence, say reports.

REN TV stated: 'Perhaps this tragedy would not have happened if Valentina, before going to live with this man with whom she had only talked on the Internet, knew an important thing: he had already served a sentence for  the rape and murder of a child.

Investigators can be seen working at the scene of the crime. Local media reported that Molchanov managed to keep his past convictions secret from Saprunova

'But Vitaly hid it from her.'

Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper reported: 'Vitaly carefully concealed his criminal past from his girlfriend.

'Otherwise, this woman, knowing the crimes for which her lover was sentenced, would in all probability not agree to uproot from the Omsk region to Rybinsk and with her two children to move in with him.'

Sources said that Molchanov had become angered and 'jealous' that her job involved 24 hour shifts from which she often came back late.

A neighbour said: 'This woman came to look for happiness in Rybinsk.

'I feel so sorry for her and the girls. He is a beast.

'He must be destroyed immediately.'

A meme posted in April by Molchanov, who works as an electrical cable crimper, appeared to predict the horror.

Pictured: A general view of the building where the two girls were found in Russia

It read: 'After a murder, police first of all check if the victim's spouse can be involved. And this is basically everything you need to know about this marriage.'

The man's neighbours also did not know about his earlier convictions.

The committee said: 'The most experienced investigators and criminologists from the Investigation Department are working at the scene.'

The region's most senior investigator was put in charge of the case.

A law enforcement video showed forensic specialists working at the flat where the girls were killed.
President Donald Trump. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

The US government received a proposal from Oracle and TikTok early this week that's designed to allow the video-sharing platform to remain in the US.

However, the deal  which has seemed set for approval  is facing roadblocks, Bloomberg reported.

US officials are weighing whether Oracle's bid to become TikTok's "trusted technology provider" does enough to address national security concerns that China's ByteDance can access American users' data.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

US officials are reportedly raising last-minute national security concerns over whether Oracle's US partnership with TikTok would do enough to adequately keep American users' data safe from China.

Bloomberg reported that this debate has delayed the US government from signing off on the proposed Oracle deal, in which the cloud company would become TikTok's "trusted technology provider" in the US. Despite the bid's design to assuage national security concerns, officials are "wary" about whether the company's US restructuring would adequately stave off China's influence, Bloomberg said.

The TikTok-Oracle partnership, which took shape this week, is a far cry from Trump's earlier demands that TikTok's parent company sell off its US operations entirely. As part of the proposed deal, ByteDance would break off TikTok's global business as its own US entity, in which Oracle would become a minority shareholder. It also appears that Oracle would take over the management and processing of TikTok data belonging to users either in the US or globally.

TikTok and Oracle did not immediately respond to Business Insider's requests for comment.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the US  which reviews transactions between foreign and American companies and declared last month that ByteDance had to divest its US operations  was set to review the proposed deal on Tuesday. Bloomberg reported that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had reviewed the proposed deal.

Story continues

CFIUS is expected to meet again Wednesday to discuss the Oracle-TikTok bid, according to Bloomberg.

If CFIUS approves the deal, Trump will have to sign off on the details. The Chinese government will also have to agree to the terms before the deal is official.

Though it initially appeared as if the Oracle deal would not face any substantial challenges, some US lawmakers wrote a letter Tuesday urging CFIUS and Trump to reject the "completely unacceptable" deal.

If the deal is rejected, it could send negotiations back to square one. The US government has set a deadline of September 20 for ByteDance to finalize a deal, with the threat of a ban still looming over the situation.

Read the original article on Business Insider
There are some movies where you just know the dog is a goner. In Netflixs The Devil All the Time, directed by Antonio Campos and adapted from Donald Ray Pollocks 2011 novel, a tortured World War II veteran and mild religious fanatic making a hardscrabble living in Knockemstiff, Ohio, circa 1957, becomes distraught when he learns his wife is dying from cancer. His son has a dog he loves, Jack, who does all the right family-dog things: he barks when theres trouble, and he attempts to sleep on forbidden soft surfaces, but mostly he just trots with big country-dog energy at his young masters heels. In stories like The Devil All the Timewhich seek to remind us, repeatedly, that evil is everywhere in the world, ferried through every community by willing human hostsa dog like Jack doesnt stand a chance. Hes the sacrifice necessary to force the story into its dramatic pretzel shape.

Animal death in movies can be handled well or it can be a cheap way to build tension, and The Devil All the Time is so unsubtle about its aims that from the first sight of those floppy ears, you know youd better steel yourself (though, to his credit, Campos never goes in for gratuitous, heart-tugging closeups). The story takes place in two towns linked by bad people doing bad stuff, as well as by decent people just suffering through life until death releases them: Bill Skarsgard plays Willard Russell, that troubled vet, whos originally a denizen of Coal Creek, West Virginia, but who, after the war, makes a new life in Knockemstiff with his cherubic bride, Charlotte (Haley Bennett). Their son, Arvinplayed by Michael Banks Repeta as a child and by Tom Holland as a young adultis a normal kid who loves candy bars and comic books, as well as his dog, but you can bet that The Devil All the Time has no use for your typical idyllic view of the 1950s.

Robert Pattinson is a bad preacher in 'The Devil All the Time.' Glen Wilson/Netflix 2020 Netflix, Inc.

Arvin is a good kid in a dark and murky world, and his story unspools amid a sticky web of misbehavior spun by many, many unsavory individuals, including a camera-wielding creepo (Jason Clarke), an ambitious town sheriff (Sebastian Stan) and, most notably, a sleazy preacher with a taste for nubile flesh (Robert Pattinson). A few innocents, or at least semi-innocents, also populate the story, little dots of light just waiting to be extinguished: theres the drab town sweetpea, played by Mia Wasikowska, and Riley Keough shows up as a saucy waitress who falls victim to a particularly toxic brand of masculinity.

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But mostly, The Devil All the Time is just a pileup of awful people doing terrible things, for no reason other than to prove how wretched humans can be. The template is pure Southern Gothic, but without the subtlety of top-drawer practitioners of the genre, like Flannery OConnor and William Faulkner. The movies grislier elements include a neck stabbing, a few bloody beatings, and an image of a crucified, mutilated, 98 percent dead soldier. But Camposwhose credits include the 2016 film Christine, about Florida newscaster Christine Chubbuck, who committed suicide on live televisiondoesnt lend any meaning or weight to these events; they just give off a lurid, sweaty odor. He also tries to pull off the now-classic trick, favored by David Lynch and Quentin Tarantino, of using seemingly innocent vintage pop songsJackie DeShannons Needles and Pins, Sonny James Young Loveas a backdrop for grim violence. Just when you think hes used the device for the last time, it comes chugging through again, as understated as a freight train rolling round the bend.

Jason Clarke and Riley Keough Glen Wilson/Netflix 2020 Netflix, Inc.

Nothing in The Devil All the Time resonates. Its hard to care about the decent characters because theyre so boring, and its impossible to care about the bad ones because they exist only to teach us a lesson about the unreliability of mankind. Among a cast of reliably fine actors, Holland and Keough are the only two who bring any real emotional shading to their roles. Pattinson, whos generally as terrific a young performer as weve got, just smirks through the movie like a salacious sluginstead of throwing off energy, he leaves a slimy trail. The major point of The Devil All the Time is driven home very early on, and reinforced continually by its visual palette of drab grays, greens and browns. Watching it is like spending two hours and change on a hard church pew, with nothing to show but a few splinters. Deliver us from evilplease.
The initiative  which took its name from McLardy McShanes company slogan  enabled a total of 20 businesses (out of 200 entrants) in Victoria to run their respective 30-second advertisements on the 3AW Breakfast show hosted by Ross Stevenson and Russel Howcroft, courtesy of the business insurance brokerage.

McLardy, who is a friend of Howcrofts, said the concept came to life mainly out of concern for the smaller organisations that were being hit hard, especially during the severe lockdown in Melbourne.

The radio sponsorship, he said, was more about just trying to get a lot of peoples support, in an effort to drive listeners to do something constructive aimed at helping a small business in Victoria thats in trouble.

The CEO told Insurance Business: The particular issue were addressing is that most of Australias businesses, as youd be aware, are under extreme pressure, and small businesses in particular, because of COVID. Theres heaps of businesses shutting down; a lot of them are on lifelines at the moment from the government, which are not going to last.

So the issue is to try and get people to support businesses through this period where they may not normally do so and try and make sure they survive once we come out of COVID.

We just like to see businesses survive, stressed McLardy, who noted that, unlike big businesses, their smaller counterparts normally dont have reserves they can fall back on. They can go to the wall very quickly, he said, recognising the importance of daily income to these small operations  and, thus, how crucial it is to get support their way.

Those who were backed by McLardy McShane through the campaign were: Timeless Groceries, Lotus Filters, The Little Bookroom, Awnet, Sally  The Sleep Concierge, Hop Hen Brewing, Dance586 Camberwell, Hueys Bakehouse, Cocos Tours, Treasures From The Past, Two Pounds, Kreas Souvlaki Bar, Sunbury Florist, Studio 55 Fitness, The Yarra Valley Smokery, Bodgos, The Print Shop Sportswear, JimmyRum, Radio Luna Portsea, and BJs Meats Ringwood.
Healthcare workers (HCWs) are among the most important people in the current fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the cost is high, since they are naturally exposed to patients at varying levels of infectivity. In fact, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that HCWs make up more than a tenth of all reported COVID-19 cases.

A recent Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine study published in the preprint server medRxiv* in September 2020 shows that the use of standard guidelines of infection control, including personal protective equipment (PPE), helps to prevent the undue risk of infection among HCWs as well.

Alterations in HCW Risk

Unlike the early crisis days, PPE is more readily available. The researchers wanted to find out the impact of this change on the rate of infection in the HCW community. Particularly, they aimed to compare the risk posed particularly by occupational exposure with that due to community transmission, so as to mitigate the risk to these essential workers.

Chicago city had a high and early peak in the number of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. This was accompanied by a ramping up of public health efforts and measures aimed at increasing inpatient capacity, to ensure the availability of PPE supplies. The current study, therefore, focused on the health systems in Chicago, which may help to provide an idea of future risks to HCWs and the future support systems that are required.

Timeline of Northwestern Medicine COVID-19 Inpatient Census, Chicago Case Rate, and state government response during the local accelerated phase of the pandemic

Study Participants

The researchers set up the Northwestern Healthcare Worker SARS-CoV-2 Serology Study Cohort in May 2020 to look at the prevalence of seropositivity for SARS-CoV-2 among HCWs. This was further broken down by occupation, the type of task they did as well as their social and demographic characteristics.

In the current study, ~80% of the participants were women, and ~75% were non-Hispanic whites. About 10% and 7% were Asian and Hispanic, while Black participants made up about 3% of the cohort. The mean age of the cohort was 41 years. The largest subgroups were made up of nurses, physicians, and administrators.

They obtained data on the exposure these HCWs were experiencing at the community and household level, to find out what proportion of infection among this group of workers was due to exposures outside their workplace, that is, outside hospital.

Hypothetical Risk Groups

The researchers hypothesized that HCWs who were involved in procedures that generate aerosols, who were exposed to patients with COVID-19, and those who reported other routes of exposure, would have a higher rate of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2.

They found that overall, the crude and adjusted prevalence for IgG anti- SARS CoV-2 positivity was ~5%. Those between 18 and 29 years had a higher antibody prevalence, at ~7% vs. ~4% for older people. Both Hispanics and Blacks had the highest seropositivity rates, at ~10% each. Both Asians and White HCWs had prevalence rates of about 4.5%. Males and females had similar rates of seropositivity, and no significant difference was observed in the presence of diabetes, hypertension, and obesity.

Exposure Out of the Workplace

The seropositivity among the 10% of participants who reported having been exposed out of hospital was 15%. The odds for seropositivity in this group were almost five times higher than for those who werent exposed. Those who had been exposed to a family member at home seroconverted in over 50% of cases. Again, the odds in this group were ~27 times higher than in those who did not have a positive family member.

Risk by Occupation Category

The researchers found that the crude prevalence rate was ~10% for HCWs in support teams, such as food services, environmental services, and patient transporters, as well as in medical assistants. For nurses and respiratory therapists, it was about 8% and 9%, respectively.

Among administrators, the crude rate of seropositivity was ~4% and for physicians, 3%. Overall, therefore, the odds for higher seroconversion were 2 times higher for nurses relative to administrators. Among physicians, the rate of seroprevalence was ~6% for surgeons and anesthesiologists, but only half that for Medicine and Family Medicine. For emergency medicine specialists, it was 4%, while for pediatricians, it was 0.5% and zero among pulmonary/critical care specialties.

Risk by Occupational Tasks

The odds of IgG positivity rates were twice as high in the case of HCWs who were exposed to COVID-19 patients compared to those who were not. Those who were taking care of patients on high-flow oxygen had 45% higher odds of a positive antibody test compared to those who were not. Those caring for hemodialysis patients also had 57% higher odds of seropositivity compared to those who were not.

These prevalence patterns probably reflect the prolonged exposure to these patients and are strong predictors of a positive antibody test.

Surprisingly, procedures traditionally associated with a higher risk like intubation, bronchoscopy, and surgery had no higher seropositivity risk.

Community Variation in Seropositivity

The researchers found that the highest rates of seropositivity were in the Southwest and Northwest areas of Chicago, with low case rates in the North and near-North suburbs. This was reflected in the pattern of residence of the study participants as well.

The study also identified the same risk factors that are related to increased COVID-19 prevalence in the community. One such factor was Black and Hispanic subgroups. Further research is required to understand the social and economic characteristics, behavioral attributes, and community events that are linked to viral spread within the neighborhoods where these HCWs reside.

Previous Self-Reported Infection

Participants without a self-reported prior history of COVID-19 had only a 1.4% seropositivity rate for IgG antibodies, but these made up a quarter of all seropositive in the study. About 7% and 10% of those who suspected a prior infection with SARS-CoV-2 but had tested negative or were not tested at all, respectively, were seropositive.

On the other hand, those who reported having tested positive had an 87% seroprevalence. The study also suggests that about a fifth of participants were seropositive despite their being unaware of the infection. This agrees with earlier estimates of asymptomatic infection rates, from 20% to 40%, both at the population level and in the HCW community.

Impact of COVID-19 on Health

Almost half the seropositive participants reported that their health had declined after the infection. Secondly, those who reported having lost smell or taste had 13 times higher odds of being seropositive.

Limitations

The study is not entirely generalizable, first because the study represents an extensive health system that had a steady and adequate supply of PPE throughout the period of the pandemic, along with stringent infection control policies. The prevalence among HCWs is likely to be far otherwise in communities where the burden of disease overwhelms the health system due to limited resources or huge numbers of cases.

The sample was also skewed towards white HCWs, which may have altered the estimated outcomes. Thirdly, the data on the occupational group and task was gathered from surveys, which may have resulted in recall bias. This is not obvious, however, when analysis is carried out to adjust for the possibility that the knowledge of serology, which was available first, might have altered the answers given on the survey.

Again, the uncertainty about the universality of antibody development in COVID-19 may have caused improper estimates of seroprevalence. Nonetheless, the study provides useful indications of the sources of risk to HCWs and how this may be minimized.

Implications

Despite the increased risks of seropositivity associated with healthcare occupations, the largest contribution to seropositivity was from community and household exposure. Among all the healthcare workers, higher odds of infection were associated only with nurses, probably because they are an essential part of every patient care team, which is a task in which the caregivers are brought into frequent and close contact with patients.

Another probable route of transmission of COVID-19 among HCWs is social mixing, especially in smaller groups like nurses, who meet for meals or other occasions. This may lead to infection clusters among nurses, who are almost always female. This pattern is probably reflected in the current study, where most HCWs and hence

Overall, the study suggests an aerosol- and exposure-related risk of exposure, which in turn is related to particular occupation groups because of the unique healthcare tasks they carry out. The implications are that PPE availability and correct use, as well as taking careful precautions against the spread of infection, are adequate to protect HCWs as long as their exposure is brief. At the same time, prolonged exposure is not adequately countered by such measures alone.

The study suggests that the risk of infection in HCWs was a little lower than that found in other New York and Spanish studies, but similar to a Danish study. Nurses were the group at the highest risk among HCWs. However, this risk seems to be successfully mitigated by using adequate PPE and taking precautions to prevent the spread of the virus.

In such a setting, therefore, most of the risk to the HCWs comes from the community and not the workplace. This will require sustained public vigilance, along with the use of PPE and infection control policies for further risk reduction.

*Important Notice

medRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Police responded to a report of multiple shots fired in Stapleton Tuesday night.

No injuries were reported as of Tuesday at around 8 p.m., police said.

Police arrived at Hamilton Street and Van Duzer Street at around 6:15 p.m., an NYPD spokesmen told the Staten Island Advance/SILive.com. The incident was reported just about one hour after a 34-year-old man was shot to death on Jersey Street.

Two males, believed to be teens, fled the scene following in the incident, according to the spokesman.
The Indian federation of app-based transport workers (IFAT) claimed that the Swiggy model of paying low to delivery executives and charging high for delivery charges from customers is hurting them the most. (DC Image)

Hyderabad: Eighty restaurants in the city were affected as delivery executives of Swiggy went on strike.

Restaurants in Gachibowli, Hi-tech, Madhapur, Himayatnagar, Secunderabad, Malkajgiri, Uppal, Mehdipatnam and Tolichowki areas were most affected as maximum food orders are processed from these areas.

An approximate 3,000 delivery executives are on strike and they have decided to continue as their meeting with Swiggy was not fruitful.

Bike rallies and protests were noted outside major restaurants from where more than 100 orders are processed. The delivery executives also stopped third party companies from picking up orders from restaurants.

The Indian federation of app-based transport workers (IFAT) claimed that the Swiggy model of paying low to delivery executives and charging high for delivery charges from customers is hurting them the most. National general secretary of IFAT, Shaik Salauddin, said, We were called for a meeting at Madhapur police station and the company executives have noted our grievances. We want them to act on them and give us our due.

The strike is not only hurting the company; delivery executives are losing their earnings. We want our charges to be revised like earlier times and all of us must be given our due, said Salauddin.
A former Paraguayan congresswoman and her husband pleaded guilty this week for their role in an international money laundering scheme after the couple came to the United States to launder $2 million from drug traffickers, only later to learn they accepted money from undercover FBI agents.

Cynthia Elizabeth Tarrago, 41, and her husband, Raimundo Va, 45, pleaded guilty this week in Trenton federal court to conspiracy to commit money laundering after they were arrested in New Jersey last year.

The two face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

While Tarrago was serving in office, authorities said she and her husband agreed to accept at least $2 million in United States currency from two individuals who represented themselves to be narcotics traffickers with the intent of the laundering the money for them.

The couple traveled to New Jersey and Florida on multiple occasions, meeting with the purported drug traffickers and accepting more than $800,000. Authorities said they laundered the money through their network, using fraudulent invoices to later transfer the money back to the drug traffickers they were working with. Tarrago even told them that she would be able to assist with procuring large quantities of cocaine from Paraguay at an inexpensive price, authorities said.

However, Tarrago and Va were dealing with undercover FBI agents  not drug traffickers. The agents had audio and video evidence of Tarrago and Va discussing the money laundering scheme from the numerous times they met in-person, authorities said.

The couple was arrested when they landed in Newark in November 2019 for business related to the scheme.

As alleged in the complaint, Tarrago, while a former member of Paraguays legislature, brazenly offered to launder the proceeds of international drug trafficking, and even went so far as to offer to traffic in cocaine herself, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said in a statement at the time of their arrest. When we stop this kind of money laundering activity, we help to stop the underlying drug trafficking activity that motivates and depends upon it.

Authorities allege Paraguayan businessman Alvarenga Paredes coordinated the money laundering scheme. He has also been charged by federal authorities with conspiracy to commit money laundering, but remains at-large, according to the U.S. Attorneys office.

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Joe Atmonavage may be reached at jatmonavage@njadvancemedia.com.
Workers in Ogun State have commenced a one-week warning strike over the failure of the government to implement the new minimum wage.

The state Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Emmanuel Bankole, declared the strike yesterday after a three-hour closed-door meeting between the leadership of organised labour and the state government officials, which ended deadlock.

The workers had given the state government a 14-day ultimatum to commence the payment of new minimum wage failure of which they vowed to embark on the strike.

The ultimatum expired last Wednesday.

The workers had earlier yesterday stormed the governor's office, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta to protest against the failure of the government to begin payment of the new minimum wage and pension reform bill among others.

The leadership of the organised labour which comprises NLC, Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Joint Negotiating Council later went into a closed-door meeting with the government.

Addressing journalists after the meeting, Bankole said the meeting between the labour and government had ended in a deadlock, stressing that the unions have decided to embark on a one-week strike.

According to Bankole, some of the demands included the abolition of the pension reform bill, the payment of gratuities, payment of an outstanding six years leave allowances, three years promotion and 134 months unpaid pension.

Bankole said, "Unfortunately the negotiation ended in a deadlock. And so the one-week warning strike will commence 12 midnight tomorrow (Wednesday).

"With the facts before us, Ogun state is not the poorest in South-West. So, we are saying no, all their excuses are unacceptable to us.

"The position of the government is unacceptable to us. What they said was that minimum wage will have to be delayed so that they can do certain things and we said no, enough is enough."

Reacting, the Special Adviser to Governor Dapo Abiodun on Public Affairs, Remmy Hazzan, expressed shock over the warning strike.

Hazzan insisted that the financial status of the state is too weak to implement the minimum wage.

He pledged that the state government would continue to engage the workers in order to resolve the issue.
ZAMBOANGA CITY  Eight villages in the southern Philippine province of Sulu are now free from the influence of the pro-ISIS group Abu Sayyaf...
Erica Robbie is the editor-in-chief of Local Magazine and Local Weekly as well as the arts & culture editor for the Aspen Daily News. She can be reached at erica@aspendailynews.com or on Twitter @ericarobbie.
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

More French schools have closed after multiple students tested positive for COVID-19 while a further 2,100 individual classes have also been called off, Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer said Wednesday.

Early last week, just 28 schools were closed shortly after the school year resumed but that number has climbed to 81 over the past week.

"We have around 1,200 new COVID cases among students compared with last week," Blanquer told LCI television. "We shut down a class as soon as there are three cases."

He noted that the closures represent just a small fraction of the 60,000 schools across France, calling the beginning of the new school year "the best possible given the health crisis."

French officials have warned nonetheless that new restrictions might be required to stem a worrying increase in coronavirus cases since August.

Late Tuesday, the University of Montpellier in southern France said it had suspended classes at its medical school after some 60 students tested positive after a party.

The University of Rennes in western France also suspended classes for second- and third-year medical students this week after 83 tested positive.

The Sante Public France health agency reported nearly 8,000 new cases in the previous 24 hours on Wednesday, a small decline from the more than 10,000 cases reported Saturday, a record since wide-spread testing began.

But it also noted a jump in the number of hospitalisations over the past week, to 2,713 cases, of which 479 needed to be placed in intensive careand nearly half of those new cases came on Monday and Tuesday alone.

Although the number is far below the 7,000 people in intensive care at the height of the pandemic, the government is bracing for a second wave of cases that could come with cooler weather this autumn.

The government has placed 82 of the country's 101 departments on red alert, and officials in Bordeaux and Marseille this week tightened restrictions on public gatherings and retirement home visits after seeing a surge in new COVID-19 cases.

The country's official death toll now stands at 30,999 people since the outbreak flared last March.

Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

 2020 AFP
Chemcon Speciality Chemicals will launch its initial public offering (IPO) on September 21. The maker of specialised chemical products will offer 93.52 lakh shares of Rs 10 each in the share sale which will end on September 23.

Of these, 48.52 lakh shares will be issued fresh and 45 lakh shares will be part of offer for sale (OFS). Price band for the IPO has been fixed at Rs 338 to Rs 340 per share.

On September 21, Computer Age Management Services (CAMS) backed by NSE and private equity firm Warburg Pincus, will also open its IPO.

Shares of the firm will be available in a lot size of 44 shares amounting to Rs 14,960. One can apply for a maximum 13 lots comprising 572 shares worth Rs 1,94,480.

CAMS IPO to open on September 21; price band, lot size and other details

Ambit Private Limited and Intensive Fiscal Services Private Limited are lead managers to the issue. Link Intime India is the registrar to the issue.

Chemcon is likely to raise around Rs 350-400 crore through the IPO. The firm plans to utilise fresh issue proceeds for expansion of manufacturing facility, working capital requirements and general corporate purposes.

Hetero Labs Limited, Laurus Labs Ltd, Aurobindo Pharma Ltd, Lantech Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Macleods Pharma Ltd are the key customers of the firm's pharma chemical business.

Apart from domestic market, the company exports its products to USA, China, Japan, UAE, Serbia, Russia, Malaysia, and Azerbaijan. It has a manufacturing plant at Manjusar near Vadodara in Gujarat, 5 operational plants, 3 warehouses, and 2 leased warehouses.

Share Market News Live: Sensex rises 100 points, Nifty at 11,545; HDFC Bank, Tata Motors, L&T top gainers

Chemcon Speciality Chemicals which was incorporated in 1988 is a manufacturer of specialised chemical products i.e. HMDS and CMIC. Its product portfolio includes oilfield chemicals (Calcium Bromide, Sodium Bromide, and Zinc Bromide), Pharma intermediates, Silanes, and chemicals contract manufacturing work.

By Aseem Thapliyal
New Delhi: A public interest litigation (PIL) filed in the Supreme Court on Wednesday (September 16) seeking legal action against former apex court judge Justice Markandey Katju for bringing disrepute to the Indian judicial system while deposing before a court in the United Kingdom.

The petitioner sought initiation of appropriate legal action against Justice Katju for casting aspersions and insinuations to the integrity and credibility of the Indian Judiciary while deposing for fugitive accused Nirav Modi before the Westminster Magistracy court of United Kingdom.

The SC was asked to pass a broad guideline on issues of public criticism/maligning of the judicial system and its serving judges especially from those who served the highest institution of our country.

The PIL also sought a direction that a high powered court-monitored committee may be set up to look into the highly contemptuous and disparaging remarks made by Katju questioning the integrity of the judicial system in our country.

Live TV

The petitioner said that depositions made by Justice Katju are highly derogatory and insulting to the entire judicial system of India. His allegations amount to questioning the very credibility of the judicial institutions where millions of citizens are reposing their faith and trust.

The allegation made by Justice Katju that 50% judiciary is corrupt in India and therefore a fair justice is not possible for fugitive accused, Nirav Modi, in India, the petition said, adding that the allegation made by Justice Katju has eroded the faith and trust of common people in the judiciary.

The petitioner added, "the image of our judiciary has lowered down following the highly derogatory deposition where serious allegations have been made only to protect the interest of fugitive accused. The Indian judiciary must not take this issue casually as such derogatory deposition made the entire judiciary suspect in the eyes of the international community."
CAMP PENDLETON, CA, Sept. 15, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- With support from major corporate and foundation partners and donors around the world, Semper Fi & Americas Fund continues to provide immediate, life-essential assistance to service members and families directly affected by the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

We are deeply grateful to all our supporters as we navigate the coronavirus situation together, said Semper Fi & Americas Fund President, CEO and Founder Karen Guenther. We would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge four organizations that have stepped up significantly in this challenging time: Verisign, The Home Depot Foundation, The USAA Foundation, and The Bob Woodruff Foundation. Theyve all taken generous and significant action to ensure that our Service Members and Families know they are not alone.

Through September 6, 2020, The Fund has provided COVID-specific assistance to 3,998 Service Members, Veterans and Families amounting to more than $3 million in direct financial support. Learn details about our COVID Response at www.TheFund.org/covid-19-response/

Its so amazing how, in the midst of this pandemic and taking care your own families, that you go beyond to give such a humbling gesture stating and reaffirming every time that you are here to serve and that we are not forgotten, said one Service Member assisted by The Fund. Thank you so much, and I pray blessings over you and all the wonderful donors that make this stu happen.

Were living in truly challenging times, said Gen. Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the Board of Directors for The Semper FI & Americas Fund. Every American has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the economy. Our wounded, ill, and injured service members, Veterans and their families have been particularly hard hit. But fortunately, they have not been alone -- Semper Fi & Americas Fund has been meeting its commitment to be when and where we are needed for those who have sacrificed so much.

A three-minute video featuring Gen. Dunfords message about The Fund and our support for our service members during the pandemic has just been released on The Funds website. To view it, visit The Funds YouTube Channel.

* * *

About Semper Fi & Americas Fund

Semper Fi & Americas Fund provides urgently needed resources and lifetime support for combat wounded, critically ill, and catastrophically injured service members of the U.S. Armed Forces and their families. Case managers work one-on-one with service members and Veterans to understand and support their individual needs right now and throughout their lifetimes. The Fund keeps its overhead exceptionally low in order to have the greatest impact on the lives of Veterans and their families, and has been awarded the highest ratings from watchdog groups: A+ from CharityWatch (one of only two Veteran nonprofits to receive their highest rating), a Charity Navigator 4-star rating for ten consecutive years (an achievement attained by only 2% of rated charities), and the Platinum Seal of Transparency from GuideStar. Learn more at TheFund.org.

About Verisign

Verisign, a global provider of domain name registry services and internet infrastructure, enables internet navigation for many of the worlds most recognized domain names. Verisign enables the security, stability, and resiliency of key internet infrastructure and services, including providing root zone maintainer services, operating two of the 13 global internet root servers, and providing registration services and authoritative resolution for the .com and .net top-level domains, which support the majority of global e-commerce. To learn more about what it means to be Powered by Verisign, please visit Verisign.com.

About The Home Depot Foundation

The Home Depot Foundation works to improve the homes and lives of U.S. veterans, train skilled tradespeople to fill the labor gap and support communities impacted by natural disasters. Since 2011, the Foundation has invested nearly $350 million in veteran causes and improved more than 47,000 veteran homes and facilities in 4,500 cities. In 2018, the Foundation pledged an additional $250 million to veteran causes taking the total commitment to half a billion by 2025. Learn more at corporate.homedepot.com/foundation.

About The USAA Foundation

The USAA Foundation, Inc.'s purpose is to lead and inspire actions that improve lives in the communities we serve. The USAA Foundation, Inc., a nonprofit organization, does not endorse or promote any commercial supplier, product or service. USAA is the sponsor of The USAA Foundation, Inc. Learn more at usaa.com.
Migrants packed tightly onto a small inflatable boat attempt to cross the English Channel near the Dover Strait, the world's busiest shipping lane, on September 07, 2020. Luke Dray | Getty Images News | Getty Images

European countries must come together to address the issue of migration, the head of the European Commission said Wednesday, telling member states that "saving lives at sea is not optional." Addressing the issue of migration in her State of the Union address on Wednesday, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said "migration is an issue that has been discussed long enough." She called on the bloc to overcome "deep divisions" caused by the 2015 migration crisis and to pull together to help the member states most "exposed" to migration. "Those countries that fulfill their legal and moral duties or are more exposed than others must be able to rely on the solidarity of others in our whole European Union," she said. Europe's migration crisis of 2015 saw hundreds of thousands of migrants, mainly from war-torn Syria, attempt to reach Europe, often with tragic consequences. Five years on and the number of people attempting to make the crossing remains elevated, although not nearly as high when compared to 2015. In that year alone, an estimated 1 million migrants entered the EU, according to the United Nations, with almost 4,000 feared to have drowned in the attempt to reach Europe by sea. The UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM) says that, so far this year, there have been 48,529 migrant arrivals to Europe, predominantly by sea. The number is far lower than previous years with the coronavirus pandemic acting as a dampener on migration; In January 2020, the IOM reported that 110,669 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea in 2019, marking the sixth straight year that at least 100,000 arrivals were recorded on three Mediterranean sea routes. The migration crisis in 2015 caused "deep divisions" within the bloc and "scars (that are) still healing today," von der Leyen acknowledged Wednesday, calling on all member states to "step up" to the challenges posed by migration.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen delivers her first State of the Union speech of 2020 on 16 September in Brussels, Belgium. Jonathan Raa | NurPhoto via Getty Images

Several countries in eastern Europe closed borders and refused to accept quotas of migrants after the EU devised a migrant relocation scheme to relieve countries like Greece, Spain and Italy where most migrants arrived, and still do, to this day, with many in migrant camps, or reception centers, located in southern Europe while their asylum claims are processed. Tempers have frayed both in reception centers which can be crowded and unsanitary and within the towns and islands (including Greek islands, Sicily and Malta) where centers are primarily located. Locals and governments have also been left frustrated at what they see as a lack of progress and solidarity over the issue of migration too. The thorny issue of migrant camps returned to the fore last week after a fire ripped through the Moria Reception and Identification Center in Lesbos. The fire left 12,000 migrants and refugees homeless, including an estimated 4,000 children, the UN said as it called for EU states to work together urgently to "de-congest the islands and assist Greece." The Commission, the EU's executive arm, is scheduled to launch a long-awaited migration pact next week with the emphasis expected to be on preventing migrants from entering the EU, according to EU Observer. Migration charities and NGOs, like Human Rights Watch, are already warning the EU that its policies have to focus on human rights. "The European Commission should ensure that its new 'Pact on Migration and Asylum,' expected on September 23, reflects the right lessons learned from the devastation and human misery on Lesbos. The Commission and EU member states should commit to border governance that respects human dignity and the right to seek asylum while ensuring a fair distribution of responsibility among EU member states," Human Rights Watch said Wednesday.

Moral dilemmas

Signaling the EU's direction on migration, von der Leyen said a clear distinction had to be made between migrants that "have the right to stay, and those who do not" and the Commission would take steps to combat people smugglers, strengthen external borders, deepen external partnership and to ensure "that people who have the right to stay are integrated and made to feel welcome." Federico Soda, migration expert and the IOM's Chief of Mission in Libya, a country that sees hundreds of migrants attempts to make the sea passage to Europe, characterized the migration situation surrounding Europe as "dormant" rather than resolved.

Syrian irregular migrant family, whose boats were flooded, rescue after they were stranded on the islet while they are trying to reach Greek side of Evros River in Edirne, Turkey on February 29, 2020. Anadolu Agency | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
When the PS5 arrives in November, so too will several accessories for the console, and Sony has revealed how much theyll all cost. The PlayStation 5 will come with one DualSense controller, but if you have a friend and they want to join in, youll need a second one. Thatll cost you $70.

Its worth bearing in mind that you wont need extra DualSense controllers if youre playing backwards-compatible PS4 games on your PS5 with your buds  a DualShock 4 will do the trick. If you do pick up a second DualSense controller though, you can charge them both at the same time with Sonys $30 charging station.

If you want to stream your PS5 gameplay without having to connect your console to a PC capture card, the HD Camera might grab your attention. It boasts dual 1080p lenses and costs $60. The Pulse 3D headset, which boasts support for 3D audio and a pair of noise-canceling microphones is $100, while the PS5 media remote is $30.
(Newser)  Independent experts commissioned by the UNs top human-rights body have alleged the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has committed crimes against humanity since 2014. The experts issued a scathing, in-depth report on Wednesday that said the people responsible for crimes that include extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, and torture must be held to account, reports the AP. The 411-page report was commissioned last year by the 47-member-state Human Rights Council, which has the backing of the United Nations, and was based on interviews with victims, relatives, witnesses, police, government officials, and judges, as well as videos, satellite imagery, and social media content.

story continues below

The findings, based on nearly 3,000 cases that were investigated or examined, concluded that Maduro and his defense and interior ministers weren't just aware of crimes committed by security forces and intelligence agencies, but also issued orders and provided resources. The BBC gives an example of a "typical operation," per the report: Weapons would be planted in an area tied to the opposition; security forces would then move in and effectively assassinate people or detain and torture them. The authorsMarta Valinas of Portugal, Francisco Cox Vial of Chile, and Paul Seils of Britainsay they didn't receive responses from the government itself. Per the New York Times, the experts say a criminal investigation into Maduro and associated officials and their level of involvement in the crimes is warranted.

(Read more Venezuela stories.)
India insisted on 'complete disengagement' in all its talks with China on eastern Ladakh row: Govt

No infiltration along India-China border in last six months: Govt

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Sep 16: There has been no infiltration reported along the India-China border during the last six months, the government has told the Rajya Sabha.

In a written reply, Minister of State for Home, Nityananda Rai said that during the last six months, there has been no infiltration reported along the India-China border. The reply was given in the Rajya Sabha to an un-starred question on whether it is a fact that the cases of infiltration from Pakistan and China have increased in the last six months.

Expansionist China now tests its might in Bhutan

On Tuesday Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh made a statement in Parliament on the Indo-China issue.

There was a face-off in Galwan Valley on June 15, in which the Indian forces inflicted heavy casualties on the Chinese forces, Rajnath Singh also said. The Indian forces will forcefully counter all Chinese aggressive actions along the border. Since April we have seen an increase in troops and weapon deployment along the LAC in Ladakh, Singh said.

Let no one have any doubt about our capabilities. We want peace and will continue to talk to China. Both sides should respect the Line of Actual Control Singh also said. All mutual agreements must be respected, he also said.

China does not accept customary and peripheral alignment of Sino-India border, Singh also said. There has been a massive build up by the Chinese along the LAC and this has led to several friction points, the Defence Minister also said.

Our Armed Forces will successfully thwart all threats and protect the borders. We should be proud of our forces, he further said.

These are challenging times and in the midst of the pandemic, our soldiers have protected our borders. This is also due to Border Infrastructure Management, Singh also said.

Violent conduct of Chinese troops is a violation of all past agreements. Our troops have done counter deployments in the area to safeguard our borders, the Defence Minister also said.

I have conveyed to the Chinese side that we want a peaceful resolution to the solution. I made it clear that we will not comprise on out territorial integrity. The External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar during the meeting with his counterpart also conveyed the same message, Singh also said.

China has mobilised a huge number of Army battalions and armaments along the LAC and inner areas. There are many friction points in Eastern Ladakh, Gogra, Pangong Lake's north and south banks. The Indian Army has made counter deployments in these areas, Singh also said.

Singh further said that India is ready to peacefully resolve the border standoff with China.

He also said that China is not honouring the customary alignment of the boundary with India. The alignment has not only been defined by treaties, but has been maintained historically. However China believes that the border is not defined.
(Bloomberg) -- Oracle Corp.s bid for TikTok falls short of resolving concerns of Trump administration officials that the Chinese-owned video-sharing app poses a risk to U.S. national security, according to people familiar with the matter.

President Donald Trump has the authority to sign off on a deal, but continuing concerns from national security officials might sway his decision. The agreement remains on the table, with discussions continuing between administration officials and the companies, said the people, who asked not to be named because the talks are confidential.

Addressing those remaining issues could clear the way for U.S. approval, the people said. The companies are still working to make their case with the government, according to the people, and think they can still prevail.

At a press conference on Wednesday evening, Trump said he was not happy about what he was hearing about the bid, but added that he would be briefed on the details Thursday morning. Im not prepared to sign off on anything, he said.

He now has four days until a self-imposed Sept. 20 deadline to decide whether to approve a proposal by TikToks Chinese parent ByteDance Ltd. to restructure the video apps global operations as a new standalone company that would give Oracle and other American investors a minority stake.

The officials, including Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, are concerned that after a potential transaction, ByteDance Ltd. could still have have access to user data from its nearly 100 million users in America, said the people. The officials remain wary about the proposed new ownership structure and how much influence that would give China over the company.

Terms of the proposed deal would give Oracle full access to TikToks source code and updates to make sure there are no back doors used by the companys Chinese parent to access data on the video-sharing apps 100 million American users, according to people familiar with the matter describing provisions submitted to the U.S. government over the weekend.

Story continues

The terms illuminate what the companies and security officials mean when they call Oracle a trusted technology partner, which goes beyond just housing data inside Oracles U.S. cloud servers, according to people with knowledge of the terms, who asked not to be identified because they werent authorized to speak publicly.

Oracle would be able to check all source code from the algorithms that decide which videos get shown to which users to ensure there are no back doors and will be able to continue to review the technology as updates come in to make sure there are no new points of access, the people said.

The newly formed TikTok would be headquartered in the U.S. and would hire an independent board approved by the U.S. government. The standalone company would also have oversight by a third party, which would report to the U.S. government and provide continuous audits, reports and protocols for handling any incidents that may arise, according to the people.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has reviewed the proposed deal, according to some of the people. Attorney General William Barr was only briefed on the deal Wednesday and is reviewing it, according to a Justice Department official who declined further comment. Barr spoke with Oracle executives Wednesday morning, two people familiar with the situation said. Pompeo had a conversation the company officials last week.

TikTok has emerged as a top target in Trumps effort to crack down on China ahead of the Nov. 3 election. The president is trailing his Democratic opponent Joe Biden in the polls and seeking to use his tough stance with Beijing as a selling point to voters.

The Treasury, State and Justice departments are all part of the Committee for Foreign Investments in the U.S., or Cfius, that reviews deals for national security implications. In a meeting Tuesday afternoon, officials raised concerns about a deal that would leave a majority stake of TikToks U.S. assets in ByteDances hands, with Oracle taking a minority share, the people said.

The panel was expected to meet again Wednesday to discuss the potential sale, according to one of the people.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said a decision on TikTok is coming in short order during a briefing with reporters.

We care deeply about protecting the data and security of American citizens.

Spokespeople for Treasury and State declined to comment. The Justice Department official didnt immediately reply to a question about whether the attorney general had spoken to Oracle.

TikTok declined to comment.

While user data from Americans would be stored by Oracle in the U.S., it appears the rest of the technology underpinning the app, including ownership of the prized algorithms that pick and choose which videos to show users, and the engineering teams in China that work on them, would remain in the hands of TikToks Chinese owner.Regardless of where the data is stored, critics of the deal say that national security concerns cant be resolved as long as Tiktoks Chinese parent wields financial control of the company.

The Oracle agreement is facing sharp pushback in Congress, where some lawmakers have argued that its terms dont go nearly far enough to address the reason why Trump demanded the sale in the first place. A letter sent to Trump on Wednesday by Senator Marco Rubio of Florida and five other Republicans said the deal in its current reported form leaves significant unresolved national security issues.

In a separate letter to Mnuchin, Texas Senator Ted Cruz also said the deal fell far short. Like other opponents, Cruz called for an outright sale of Tiktok if necessary. Some have also demanded TikTok turn over the algorithm that helps determine the content seen by users.

Opposition like that from the senators is important because many of them have a direct line to Trump and will almost certainly lean on him to reject any deal they dont like. Congressional rejection could also raise the prospect of reputational risks for Oracle because lawmakers could seek to shame the company for cutting a deal that they argue undercuts U.S. national security.

The proposal presented to Cfius stands in stark contrast to what was originally called for by President Trump in a pair of executive orders issued last month calling for a ban of the app unless it was sold to an American owner.

The new TikTok deal with Oracle doesnt call for the software company to buy the business outright. Instead, Bytedance would maintain majority ownership and provides Oracle with a stake in the business and a role as a key technology partner.

At least three shareholders in TikToks Chinese parent company -- General Atlantic, Sequoia Capital and Coatue Management -- would take stakes in the new business, said the people, all of whom asked not to be identified because the terms arent finalized. Walmart Inc., which had previously partnered with Microsoft Corp. to make an outright bid for TikToks U.S. business, remains interested in investing as well, the company said earlier this week.

The Oracle proposal being considered by Cfius also lacks the payment to the U.S. government that the president had insisted be the condition of any deal, according to two people familiar with the plan. Yet TikTok will try to use the promise of creating 20,000 new jobs through the popular video app as a way to win his approval, they said.

The deal would also have to get the blessing from the Chinese government, which has outwardly scolded Trump for pushing a fire-sale of TikTok and publicly shown its support for Bytedance, recently giving the tech giant the green light to acquire a company with a coveted national digital payment license  a competitive arena that Beijing strictly controls.

(Updates with Trump reaction, proposed deal terms, from fourth paragraph)

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India shreds Pakistan at UN, calls it epicentre of terrorism

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Sep 16: India described Pakistan as an "epicentre of terrorism" and said no one deserves unsolicited lecture on human rights from Islamabad that has consistently persecuted its ethnic and religious minorities including Hindus, Sikhs and Christians.

Exercising the Right of Reply to the statements made by Pakistan at the 45th session of Human Rights Council (HRC), the Indian representative said that it has become habitual for Pakistan to malign India with false and fabricated narratives for its self-serving malicious purposes.

Terrorism a cancer that potentially affects everyone: Jaishankar

India describes Pakistan as an epicentre of terrorism | Oneindia News

"Neither India nor others deserve this unsolicited lecture on human rights from a country that has consistently persecuted its ethnic and religious minorities, is an epicenter of terrorism, has the distinction of providing pensions to individuals on UN Sanctions list and has a Prime Minister who proudly admits training tens of thousands of terrorists to fight in Jammu and Kashmir," the Indian diplomat said.

The diplomat said that it was not surprising that other relevant multilateral institutions have been raising serious concerns on Pakistan's failure to stop terror financing and lack of effective actions against all terror entities in Pakistan.

Highlighting the nefarious designs of Pakistan in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, the diplomat said, "the mass influx of outsiders has whittled down the number of Kashmiris to an insignificant number in Pakistan occupied parts of Indian Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh."

"In its zeal to reassert its theocratic ideology, it has ensured that ethnic and religious minorities have no future through systematic persecution, blasphemy laws, forced conversions, targeted killings, sectarian violence and faith-based discrimination," the diplomat said.

"Thousands of Sikh, Hindus and Christian minority women and girls have been subjected to abductions, forced marriages and conversions in Pakistan."

On the plight of people in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh, the Indian diplomat said, "Not a single day has gone by when a family in Balochistan doesn't find its members picked up or kidnapped by the security forces of Pakistan."

"Pakistan does well when it comes to intimidation and attacks against journalists, human rights defenders and political dissidents in particular by its state machinery. It is not without a reason that Pakistan has been highlighted by international organizations as a country where journalists are slain and their killers go scot free," the diplomat said.

India also slammed Pakistan for "abusing various HRC mechanisms and platforms for raising issues, which are extraneous to the mandate of the HRC and which relate to internal affairs of India, with a view to distract the attention of the international community from serious human rights violations committed by it against its own people, including in Indian territories occupied by it."

India also rejected the reference made by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to Jammu and Kashmir, which is an integral part of India.

"The OIC has no locus standi to comment on internal affairs of India. The OIC has allowed itself to be misused by Pakistan to subverse its own Agenda. It's for the members of the OIC to decide if it is in their interests to allow Pakistan to do so," the Indian representative said.

India also advised Turkey to refrain from commenting on its internal affairs and develop a better understanding of the democratic practices.
Licensed Insolvency Trustee Atlantic Maritimes, Francyne Myers of Allan Marshall & Associates, says her Nova Scotia clients are spending less and saving more. Thats because they are sheltering in place: According to a poll by Narrative Research and the Logit Group, Canadians are pursuing more home-based hobbies during the pandemic. Despite generally spending less money, those who were struggling financially prior to the pandemic, may find it difficult to keep up when deferred payments and other bills come due.

Francyne Myers is concerned that people arent aware of one key fact regarding CERB: It is taxable. A lot of people may not realize that. So as businesses get back to business and many people return to full employment, they may have a surprise tax bill in the coming year. And its not just CERB payments that will be taxed, its all the money you may have received. Thats because the government adds up all sources of income, regardless of where it comes from, to derive your tax bill.

In an interview with CTV News Atlantic, Myers, a Licensed Insolvency Trustee with Allan Marshall & Associates, says: The government sent out the emergency benefit, which was the thing to do to get people going and as a safety net. Its what we do as Canadians. It was a fast way to keep the economy bolstered and help those in need. Bur taxes were not deducted.

Canadians Reporting Saving a Little More

Myers, herself a lifelong Canadian, reports that many of the people she sees in her Nova Scotia offices claim that they are actually spending less. In the midst of the mandated slower pace of life, more people are taking up long-forgotten pastimes such as cooking, reading and spending time with family. And whos doing more baking and cooking than the rest of the country? Its the residents of Nova Scotia, according to the polls. With nowhere to go and no place to spend money, retail therapy has been replaced with new recipes for no-knead Dutch oven bread.

Its easier to practice better spending habits when the restaurants and stores are limited and you are confined to home. When clients find that they have surplus funds at the end of the month, Myers encourages them to keep doing whatever they were doing during the pandemic. It comes down to differentiating wants from actual needs and establishing the habit of curtailing spending.

Plan for Deferred Payments and Tax Bills

Still, for those who were financially stressed before the pandemic, it may be impossible to continue to stay on top of debt once life resumes its normal pace. Eventually those deferred payments  and tax bills  will have to be paid. Myers recommends that consumers develop a realistic budget and financial management plan. The plan should take into consideration all debt, monthly payments, living expenses, as well as any future tax payments.

Take advantage of this reprieve to take stock of your own financial situation. If it seems likely that you will not be able to keep up with your expenses, dont wait to take action. Once the deferrals stop and the courts resume normal operations, you need to be prepared. You should not rely on credit, either. Myers says that its a bad idea to use your credit card as an emergency fund. If incurring additional debt is the only way you can meet your living expenses, consider seeking help from a Licensed Insolvency Trustee in the Maritimes.

###
Rights Group Accuses Belarusian Authorities of Mass Arrests, Torture

By VOA News September 15, 2020

Human Rights Watch has accused Belarusian security forces of detaining thousands of people and torturing hundreds of others in the days after the disputed August 9 election that gave authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko a sixth term in office.

A brutal government crackdown shortly after the election resulted in the detention of nearly 7,000 people. At least three people have been killed in the protests, and hundreds of others have been hurt by police aggressively dispersing peaceful demonstrators with rubber bullets, clubs and stun grenades. Lukashenko has alleged foreign powers are behind the protests and denies the vote was rigged.

HRW said its findings were based on interviews with 27 former detainees, most of whom were arrested between August 8 and 12, 14 people with knowledge of the arrests, an examination of 67 videos and written accounts from former detainees and their relatives.

Some of the former detainees said they were arrested in the cities of Minsk, Hrodna, and Homeil as they participated in peaceful demonstrations. Others alleged that security forces pulled them off the streets or from their vehicles with "extreme violence."

The detainees said they were subject to beatings, electric shocks and other forms of torture, resulting in injuries such as broken bones, electrical burns, mild traumatic brain injuries, kidney damage and cracked teeth. At least one detainee was allegedly raped.

Mass arrests resumed in the first week of September, with the Interior Ministry reporting that 600 people were apprehended on September 6 alone. The ministry said another 774 people were arrested in Minsk and other cities for holding unsanctioned demonstrations on Sunday.

Belarusian authorities have also targeted foreign journalists and local reporters working for foreign and local independent media organizations. HRW said dozens of the journalists have had their media credentials revoked, been expelled or harassed.

A journalist in Hrodna said he was arrested despite showing authorities his media credentials, resulting in two broken wrists at the hands of an officer with a Russian special police unit.

Russia did not immediately respond to allegations from the New York-based global non-governmental group.

HRW said the U.N. Human Rights Council began a two-week emergency meeting on Belarus on Monday.

While HRW called on the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Monday to open investigations into the allegations, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet demanded a probe into the Belarusian security forces.

"Given their scale and number, all allegations of torture and other forms if ill-treatment by the security forces should be documented and investigated, with a view to bringing the perpetrators to justice," Bachelet said in a speech Monday in Geneva.

A bipartisan group of 13 U.S. senators introduced a resolution Monday proposing sanctions against Belarusian officials responsible for the crackdown, declaring that Lukashenka's reelection was "neither free nor fair," and demanding the release of all political prisoners and demonstrators who were arrested for peacefully protesting.

Russian news agencies quoted him last week saying he has nothing to discuss with the opposition, and that he would be open to constitutional reforms and a potential new presidential election.

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"You have to eat!" It's a sentiment that illustrates how central food is to Italian culture, but the woman who uttered these words also happens to be struggling with bulimia nervosa.

Carmela* is one of many Italian-Australian women who has a conflicted relationship with food which is inextricably linked to culture, according to University of South Australia researcher Michelle Caruso.

The social work PhD student has undertaken the first study looking at how Italian culture can influence women's experiences of disordered eating in contemporary Australia.

In her interviews with Italian-Australian women in Adelaide, Caruso explored how many of the women were 'plied with food' as young children, with meals linked to family, culture and identity.

"Many of these women were not allowed to determine their own food consumption during childhood, adolescence and even into adulthood," Caruso explains. "Food was habitually pushed and forced onto them, resulting in early conflicts which have manifested as eating issues in their later years."

She deliberately uses the term "disordered eating," linking it to culture, in contrast to "eating disorder," which infers a medical or psychiatric condition.

"Women diagnosed with binge eating, anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are typically treated based on psychiatry. One of the greatest weaknesses of the psycho-medical approach is its failure to contextualise the disordered eating experiences of women from diverse cultural backgrounds," Caruso says.

The researcher chose Italian women for her study, but her findings could equally apply to many other migrant women with entrenched cultural beliefs around food, she says.

Previous research shows that Italian women have a higher prevalence of disordered eating than women in comparable European countries such as Spain, Germany and the Netherlands.

Caruso identified three key themes central to the women in her study: "il cibo e tutto, il cibo e amore" (food is everything, food is love), "fare la bella figura" (to make a good impression), and "il mio piatto" (it's my plate).

"All expressions illustrate the significant cultural symbolism and meanings attached to food in Italy. In the Italian culture, everything is cooked with love. Food and feeding are important processes which help build and maintain relationships, connections and a sense of home and belonging," Caruso says.

"The childhood memories of the women I interviewed are mostly positive, connected to pleasure, love, safety, protection and comfort. But the women also expressed a sense of lacking autonomy, control and personal power associated with their consumption of food. This led to an ongoing complex, conflicted connection with food.

"Through their disordered eating experiences, the women in this study were able to construct a sense of power, control and self-agency, where they were able to decide what to consume or reject."

The relationship with food is so central to the Italian culture that many families are unwilling to accept that food has anything but positive connotations, Caruso says.

"In the eyes of an Italian mother or grandmother, rejecting food is akin to personal rejection. And because women with disordered eating don't want to bring shame or embarrassment on their family, they are unlikely to admit they have a problem and know their family probably won't accept it if they do try to discuss it."

Australia - like many western cultures - puts a high value on female thinness, while Italian culture values food and eating together, placing significant conflicting pressures on women from Italian backgrounds, Caruso says.

"Migrants hold onto their food practices so tightly when they migrate to another country. It's a way of staying connected with their identity and their culture."

Caruso says it's time that health practitioners and ethnic communities recognised the part that culture plays in disordered eating and ensured that women were given the appropriate support.

###

Notes to editors

"Devi Mangiare!" [You have to eat!]: Experiences of disordered eating among Italian-Australian women" is published in Health Care for Women International. The authors are Michelle Caruso and her supervisor Professor Nicole Moulding.

Michelle Caruso has a Bachelor of Social Work (Honours) and is undertaking her PhD in UniSA's Justice and Society unit.

*Carmela is one of the study participants.
Bowers & Wilkins is big on anniversary celebrations this month, touting the 25th anniversary of its 600-series loudspeakers last week and now the 10th anniversary of its very first headphone the wired P5 by announcing a Carbon Edition of its one-year-old PX7 Bluetooth noise-cancelling headphones.

Slated to arrive in October for $400, the same price as the existing PX7, the Carbon Edition features the same carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer construction, but with a new high-quality black finish and diamond-cut detailing around the B&W logo plates on both ear cups.

B&W says the PX7 Carbon Editions stiff yet lightweight headband and arms and memory-foam ear cups are designed for comfort while maximizing the headphones acoustic performance. (We didnt get an opportunity to review the original PX7, and we havent listened to the Carbon Edition, yet. Stay tuned.)

Otherwise, the PX7 Carbon Edition shares the same features and specifications as the original PX7, which are available in space gray and silver.

Bowers & Wilkins The Bowers & Wilkins PX7 Carbon Edition Bluetooth headphones feature a carbon-black finish and diamond-cut detailing on the ear cups.

Equipped with 46.3mm drivers, the PX7 Carbon Edition features an array of four noise-cancelling microphones that allow for ambient noise pass-through on demand, while two additional mics are used for voice calls.

Dual proximity sensors pause the music when you lift either ear cup or slide the headphones down onto your neck. You can also press a button to summon Google Assistant or Siri on your Android phone or iPhone respectively.

Support for Qualcomms aptX Adaptive codec allows for high-resolution, 24-bit/48KHz audio over Bluetooth 5.0, provided the device the headphones are connected to support the same codec. The PX7 also come equipped with a 3.5mm audio jack and a 1.2-meter cable for analog wired listening.

The headphones are rated for up to 30 hours of music playback over a Bluetooth connection with noise cancelling enabled, while a 15-minute charge using a USB-C cable will deliver up to five hours of battery life. You can also stream audio over USB while the battery is charging.
BRIDGEPORT  A judge has denied a reputed Bridgeport gang member from being released from custody after the prosecutor detailed a variety of crimes she claims the defendant has been accused of committing.

Tyiese Warren, 20, appeared Tuesday in court via video conference on federal charges in connection with his alleged involvement in a crime spree in Bridgeport and Stratford earlier this year.

Authorities say Warren was linked to a series of robberies, car thefts and carjackings in Stratford and Bridgeport in March. He also faces state charges in connection with those crimes.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges of Hobbs Act robbery; brandishing, carrying and using a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence; and federal carjacking in federal court during a Sept. 3 court appearance.

Magistrate Judge William I. Garfinkel denied a motion for Warrens release with conditions, which stipulated the defendant would stay at his mothers home in Bridgeport.

Those reasons were detailed before the court by Assistant U.S. Attorney for Connecticut Karen Peck, who tied Warren to numerous other alleged crimes, including a series of shootings in Bridgeport that led to a murder last December. She said Warren was also a fellow gang member of at least one person charged in the shooting outside the Bridgeport courthouse in January.

In all honesty, I dont think theres a judge in the country who would release Mr. Warren under these circumstances, Garfinkel said. Hes very young, but the track record hes been compiling since his late teens, its just too risky. I cant take the chance.

Garfinkel said the choice for continued detention wasnt a decision he made lightly, adding that due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic he was making an effort to release as many folks as possible.

Warrens attorney said he believes the death of Warrens brother contributed to his immature actions. Peck later said she believed Warren used his brothers murder as part of a gang war to motivate him to acts of violence.

The weight of evidence against Mr. Warren is literally overwhelming, Peck said.

Peck then outlined the events Warran is accused of committing during one night in March, starting with the alleged theft of a pregnant womans vehicle in Stratford. Peck mentioned another vehicle theft, where the victim tried to stop the suspects from stealing his car and was dragged for several hundred yards after grabbing on to the car.

A Bridgeport carjacking, during which Warren allegedly told the victim drive or Ill shoot you, happened shortly after, followed by a robbery at gunpoint at Stratford gas station convenience store, Peck said.

These cases alone give a picture of what this defendant has been up to, Peck said.

But she didnt stop there.

A month before the March crime spree, Peck said, Milford police arrested Warren on a larceny charge connected with a stolen Mercedes. She said Milford police found a 40-caliber shell casing in the vehicle that, when run through law enforcement systems, matched forensics connected to shootings in Bridgeport.

Among those shootings, Peck said, were a series of gunfire throughout December 2019, culminating in the death of TyQuess Moore. The 18-year-old was found shot multiple times in a Newfield Avenue driveway. He was later pronounced dead at the hospital.

Peck said investigators have text messages from Warren in a group chat with other gang members linked to these shootings. She said investigators have videos and pictures of Warren with guns, including 50-round drums and extended magazines.

Video footage showed Warren and fellow gang member Marquis Israel in the Subaru used in the shooting outside the Golden Hill Street courthouse in January, according to Peck. She said one of the four victims shot during that incident was paralyzed by the bullets.

She said text messages showed Warren talking about killing an East End gang member who went by the nickname Scrap. Peck said he was ultimately killed, although she did not speculate whether police believe Warren is a suspect.

On March 10, 2019, 21-year-old Tyron Scrap Heard was fatally wounded in a shooting in Bridgeport that also wounded a 17- and 22-year-old. No arrests have been made in that homicide.

Peck said beyond video footage and text messages, Warrens rap lyrics also allegedly highlight his crimes.

He raps about various acts of violence and shooting he intends to do, and has done, against opposition gang members, she said. He is totally committed to the life of the gang.

Court records show Warren also faces state charges of first-degree larceny, interfering with an officer/resisting arrest, engaging police in a pursuit and operating a motor vehicle without a license. Hes next in court on those charges on Oct. 13.
China in Focus (Sept. 15): Chinese Firm Collects Data of Millions Across the Globe

Washingtons ban on Chinese tech giant Huawei took effect on Tuesday. The tech giant may have to withdraw from high-end smartphones and the 5G equipment market.

A Chinese tech company with close ties to the communist regime is collecting the data of nearly 2.4 million people around the world.

Australia is probing into whether China is meddling in Australian votes. And another Australian politician is being asked about his choice to sign on to Chinas Belt and Road Initiative.

Chinas state counselor said that China will be a high-income country in 5 years from now. But 5 years ago he said exactly the same thing.

And when human rights lawyers in China are sent to prison by an authoritarian regime, their families continue their fight.

Subscribe to our Youtube channel for more first-hand news from China.

For more news and videos, please visit our website and Twitter.
UK LGBT activists threaten to burn down church, attack pastor over Facebook post Labour Party Councillor Stephen Hick demands pastor be deported for saying Pride cancellation is 'wonderful news'

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A councillor in Cornwall is calling for the deportation of an Australian pastor who welcomed the cancellation of the local LGBT Pride event.

Stephen Hick, Newquay Town Councillor and Cornwall Pride leader, said in a letter to Home Secretary Priti Patel that Pastor Josh Williamson was a "hate preacher" and should be deported back to his native Australia.

Pastor Williamson, of Newquay Baptist Church, angered the LGBT community when he wrote on Facebook that the cancellation of this year's LGBT Pride event was "wonderful news."

In the ensuing backlash, LGBT activists threatened violence against the pastor and his wife, and called for the church to be burned down.

When Cornwall police spoke to Williamson, they warned him to restrict his views to a "safe environment" and refrain from offending the LGBT community in the future, according to Christian Concern which is assisting him.

In his letter to Patel, Hick wrote: "Josh Williamson's ministry has caused harm to members of the community of Newquay and the wider LGBTQ+ community across Cornwall.

"I believe his continued presence, preaching the hate that he does, presents a continuing harm to the same communities.

"I am unaware of the previous ministry of this particular church, but a foreign preacher travelling to the UK to promote and potentially act upon extremist views should be treated with the utmost seriousness."

Hick has also called on businesses in the Newquay area to refuse services to the pastor and the church.

Writing in the Newquay Voice, Hick said: "I call on every individual and business within Newquay to deny him and his church the ability to spread their odious message. Do not interact with them, do not allow them to use your premises, do not accept their message."

Responding to the call, the pastor said Hick's comments were "textbook bullying."

"I am not sure how Mr. Hick is going to identify those connected with our church, perhaps he'll want us to wear a yellow cross on our shirts?" he said.

Christian Concern called the councillor's words "chilling."

"We are continuing to support Josh and his church and call on Mr Hick to retract these vindictive comments," it said.

"Jesus taught us to love even those who hate us. ... Pray for Josh and pray for Stephen Hick."

Originally published at Christian Today
Mogadishu - Federation of Somali Journalists (FESOJ) condemns  in the strongest terms possible  Somaliland government's arrest of journalist Ilyas Abdi Ali in Somaliland's capital city Hargeysa on Monday evening 14 September 2020 .

Journalist Ilyas is a freelance reporter who works for Radio Ergo (Humanitarian news and information in Somalia) supported by International Media Support (IMS) was arrested by Somaliland police near his neighborhood and taken to the Criminal Investigation Department (C.I.D) in the same last night, before being appeared in Marodi-jeex Regional Court this morning on Tuesday.

According to Somaliland Journalist Association (SOLJA) , early today, officers from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) took the freelance journalist Ilyas Abdi Ali to the Marodi-jeex Regional today remanded journalist Ilyas Abdi Ali in custody for seven days of pending trial starting on Tuesday .

The court did not specify the reason behind the detention of the journalist and also the charges against him

Federation of Somali Journalists (FESOJ) condemns the arrest of journalist Ilyas Abdi Ali and see as a direct threat to journalists so as to discourage them to expose the facts of Somaliland to the public and the world. We call for the immediate and unconditional release of the journalist Mohamed Moalimuu FESOJ Secretary general said

Journalist who has not been charged at all to be kept in prison is a gross violation against humanity and against Somalilands press law, therefore it is totally unacceptable and we call on the Somaliland government to change its approach and ways of treatment to journalists and independent media Moalimuu added.

Abdimanan Yusuf , CEO of Astaan Media is still detained in Somaliland ,he was arrested on July 17th this year by Somaliland security forces and has been languishing in jail since then unable to meet with lawyers and family.

We call upon Somaliland government to respct the press freedom and release all detained journalists as soon as possible.
By Michael Holden

LONDON (Reuters) - The man who leaked the "Pentagon Papers" about the Vietnam War defended Julian Assange at his London extradition hearing on Wednesday, saying WikiLeaks had acted in the public interest and warning Assange would not get a fair trial in the United States.

Australian-born Assange, 49, is fighting to stop being sent to the United States, where he is charged with conspiring to hack government computers and violating an espionage law over the release of confidential cables by WikiLeaks in 2010-2011.

Daniel Ellsberg, who in 1971 leaked documents known as the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times and other papers, told the court that WikiLeaks' disclosures had shown Americans how they had been misled about U.S action in Iraq and Afghanistan just as his leaks, which also revealed previously secret information, did about the Vietnam War.

Ellsberg cited a U.S. military video, which WikiLeaks published in 2010 under the title "Collateral Murder", showing a 2007 attack by Apache helicopters in Baghdad that killed a dozen people, including two Reuters news staff.

"I was acutely aware that what was depicted in that video deserved the term murder, a war crime," he told London's Old Bailey court via videolink. "I was very glad that the American public was confronted with this reality of our war."

James Lewis, the lawyer representing the U.S. authorities, said Assange was not wanted for publishing the 2007 video but for disclosing a small number of documents with the unredacted names of sources or informants.

Lewis said many of these had suffered harm or threats because they had been named. He said some had disappeared, although he conceded that there was no evidence this was directly linked to the WikiLeaks' publication.

"How can you possibly say ... that there is no evidence that Mr Assange's publication of WikiLeaks put anyone in danger. That's just pure nonsense," Lewis said.

Story continues

Ellsberg, who was himself charged with breaking the espionage law in a case that was later dismissed, said there was no evidence of physical harm or deaths because of the leaks. The exchange with Lewis led to an outburst from Assange in the courtroom, with the judge warning him to remain silent.

REDACTIONS

Earlier, John Goetz, an investigative reporter who worked for Germany's Der Spiegel magazine on the first publication of the documents in 2010, said Assange was careful to ensure that the names of informants in hundreds of thousands of leaked secret U.S. government documents were never published.

He said the U.S. State Department had been involved in a conference call suggesting redactions, and WikiLeaks had agreed to hold back about 15,000 documents for publication.

"There was sensitivity and it was one of the things that was talked about all the time," Goetz told the court. Assange was concerned that the media should take measures "so no one would be harmed", he said.

The State Department did not immediately respond when asked to comment on Goetzs testimony.

Goetz said WikiLeaks was frustrated when a password that allowed access to the full, unredacted material was published in a book by Guardian reporters in February 2011.

Assange's lawyers argue that he would not receive a fair trial in the United States and that the charges are politically motivated. They have also said he would be a suicide risk if sent to the United States, where they say he could be sentenced to 175 years in prison.

In 2012, Assange took refuge in Ecuadors London embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden where he was accused of sex crimes, which he denied and which were later dropped. After seven years, he was dragged from the embassy by British police in 2019 and then jailed for skipping bail related to the Swedish case.

He has remained in prison ever since, after the United States made its extradition request.

(Additional reporting by Andrew MacAskill and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Nick Tattersall)
-- The UN Charter was signed at a time when world leaders felt a strong need for a mechanism that would help bring peace and stop future wars, which was possible only if all nations worked together through a global organization.

-- After decades of globalization and integration, the world is facing widening fragmentation in response to salient risks and challenges, due to the return of unilateralism, protectionism, treaty withdrawals and military and economic bullying practices.

-- As a founding member of the UN and a permanent member of the Security Council, China has honored its commitments to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and has been defending the UN in responding to global threats and in pursuit of peace and development.

BEIJING, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend high-level meetings of the United Nations via videoconference next week to join world leaders in tackling global challenges.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the 193-nation body, growing from 51 signatories including China at the end of the Second World War. Today the world is at another juncture in human history, and efforts must be doubled to "save succeeding generations" as is enshrined in the UN Charter.

Photo taken on Sept. 14, 2020 shows the outside view of the United Nations headquarters in New York, the United States. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

MULTILATERALISM IN JEOPARDY

The UN Charter "brought rules and hope to a world in ruins," said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres while commemorating the organization's birth. It was signed at a time when world leaders felt a strong need for a mechanism that would help bring peace and stop future wars, which was possible only if all nations worked together through a global organization.

However, after decades of globalization and integration, the world is facing widening fragmentation in response to salient risks and challenges, due to the return of unilateralism, protectionism, treaty withdrawals and military and economic bullying practices.

The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, which has brought almost 1 million deaths worldwide and paralyzed the global economy, is a reminder of a world in similar chaos in 1945.

"In 1945, the most destructive war in human history had just ended with a general recognition that humanity can never again allow such unmitigated devastation to be unleashed by national conflict and conquest, and that only a multinational body could provide that hope, if not that guarantee," said Robert Lawrence Kuhn, chairman of the Kuhn Foundation based in Los Angeles and New York.

"There are always differences among nations. The high road is figuring out how to develop collective opportunities while controlling potential conflict by constant contact," he said.

Warning about the dangers in international relations in the era of instant global communications and inflamed social media, Kuhn suggested that global geopolitics need both multinational organizations and strong bilateral relations among nations.

"The UN cannot be the whole answer, but it is certainly part of the answer," he said.

A woman walks past the United Nations headquarters in New York, the United States, Sept. 14, 2020. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

GLOBAL AWARENESS

As a founding member of the UN and a permanent member of the Security Council, China has honored its commitments to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and has been defending the UN in responding to global threats and in pursuit of peace and development.

In its position paper on the 75th anniversary of the UN, China reaffirmed its commitments to safeguarding the UN-centered global governance system, the basic norms of international relations underpinned by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, the authority and stature of the UN, and the central role of the UN in international affairs.

China's voice resonates with its partners across the world.

In a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen via video link on Monday, Xi reached consensus with the EU leaders on safeguarding multilateralism and jointly addressing global challenges.

Merkel, Michel and von der Leyen said it is imperative for Europe and China to strengthen cooperation, jointly safeguard multilateralism and resist unilateralism and protectionism.

Commenting on the meeting's outcomes, Christine Bierre, editor-in-chief of France's Nouvelle Solidarite magazine and an expert at the Schiller France Institute, said the leaders sent a positive signal on safeguarding world peace, stability and prosperity, fully demonstrating that multilateral cooperation is the trend of the times.

In fulfilling its responsibilities, China always fits its deeds to its words.

Beijing has been actively docking its own development goals and plans with the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and has achieved remarkable results in areas like poverty alleviation and climate governance.

Moreover, China has also registered an 8,000-strong standby force and a 300-member permanent police squad for UN peacekeeping missions, assisted other developing countries with 180 poverty reduction projects, among other initiatives and measures in support of the UN as Xi announced at the 2015 summit meetings commemorating the organization's 70th anniversary.

"China will shoulder its share of responsibility and continue to play its part in this common endeavor," Xi said at the UN headquarters five years ago.

"We should renew our commitment to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, build a new type of international relations featuring win-win cooperation, and create a community of shared future for mankind," Xi said.

Photo taken on Sept. 14, 2020 shows the United Nations (UN) flag flying outside the UN headquarters in New York, the United States. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

HOPE FOR THE FUTURE

"My wish is that there is peace and justice." This is one of the 250,000 voices recorded around the world in the UN global dialogue initiative, launched to gather hope, fear and ideas across the world. It is part of the commemoration events of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) with the theme of "The Future We Want, the UN We Need: Reaffirming Our Collective Commitment to Multilateralism."

World leaders are expected to jointly forge solutions for global public health, full equality, climate action, among others, just like 75 years ago when the signatories pledged "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights ... to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom."

Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, president of the 74th UNGA, said Monday that "the most important thing is to continue to underline the importance of collaboration, the multilateral effort."

"This is the way to guarantee not only peace, but also prosperity, which are very important goals of the United Nations from the very beginning," he told Xinhua in an interview.

Photo taken on Sept. 14, 2020 shows the outside view of the United Nations headquarters in New York, the United States. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

Just as Xi said in his 2015 speech, goals of peace, development, equity, justice, democracy and freedom "are far from being achieved." But hope lies in the world's collective response.

On the eve of the 21st century, to encourage people around the world to face challenges in the new millennium, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged all countries to stand side by side.

"More than ever before in human history, we share a common destiny. We can master it only if we face it together. And that, my friends, is why we have the United Nations," he said.
Two days after Daphne Hampstead suddenly walked out on her husband Sidney and eight children in 1958 a letter in her handwriting arrived at his western Sydney home.

'My darling Sid,' the 39-year-old began the note. 'Oh darling what it is costing me to write this letter, you will never know.'

More than 60 years after that letter was written a coroner has ruled that Daphne Hampstead lived until she was 89, dying in Queensland without ever being found.

New South Wales Deputy State Coroner Elaine Truscott ruled on Wednesday that Daphne had begun several new lives after fleeing her marriage and children.

Daphne caught a taxi from the family's dairy farm on Cowpasture Road at Bossley Park in the early hours of May 10, 1958 carrying photographs and most of her clothes.

Two days later her husband received the letter written in Daphne's hand inside an envelope with a postmark from nearby Fairfield.

The disappearance of Daphne Pearl Hampstead (pictured) has been solved more than 60 years after she walked out on her husband and eight children. A coroner has found she had moved to Queensland and started several new lives before dying of cancer in 2007 aged 89

Two days after Daphne disappeared a letter in her handwriting arrived at his western Sydney home. 'My darling Sid,' the 39-year-old began the note. 'Oh darling what it is costing me to write this letter, you will never know.' The letter's words are reproduced in this image

'I left work today, I just can't go on,' she wrote. 'I thought there was no love left at home for me at all. But I have realised how wrong I was over the last week.

'I think it has been a week I shall never forget. I am going away for a while (by myself) don't worry about me, I will be okay.

'I know now I can always come to you for understanding I do wish I had known that before dear.'

Daphne also sent a letter to her daughter Daphne Lillian asking her to look after her father and her younger brothers and sisters.

Five years later Daphne somehow learned one of her twin sons, 19-year-old Barry, was critically ill in hospital and wrote him a letter postmarked from Wyong on the NSW Central Coast.

She expressed concern for her son but indicated she could not visit him, although she signed off 'from someone who loves you very much'.

Daphne was born Daphne Pearl Jones at Cootamundra in the NSW Riverina on July 13 or 15, 1918, and married local boy Sidney Hampstead in 1936.

The couple eventually had eight children: Leslie, Patricia, Marcia, Daphne, twins Barry and Clifford, Helen, and Janet.

They lived at Cootamundra, Tumut, Grafton, Taree, Oxley Island and Muswellbrook where they worked as share farmers before buying their own farm at Scone.

Financial difficulties forced the family to move to the Bossley Park dairy in 1956, by which time two of their daughters were married and living at Muswellbrook.

'Daphne was a loving mother who enjoyed cooking and was apparently social and engaging,' Ms Truscutt found.

Daphne Hampstead was 39 when she vanished from an old dairy farm on Cowpasture Road at Bossley Park in Sydney's western suburbs. Pictured: Cowpasture Road

'Daphne and Sidney are described to have had a loving relationship however Sidney was possessive and jealous and violent to Daphne.

'After leaving the farm in Scone and moving to Bossley Park the domestic violence became more frequent.'

Daphne worked in the city as a cook - under the name Daphne Hanson or Hamson - and would leave home in the early hours of the morning, returning about 4pm.

'However, as time went on her returning hours became later around 10pm and Sidney likely suspected she was having an affair and he became more obsessive,' Ms Truscott found.

Daphne Hampstead's family hired private investigator Luke Athens (pictured) to investigate her disappearance

Daughter Daphne Lillian found a letter from a man called Eugene who lived in Tasmania and it was speculated her mother had joined him, as he had promised to pick her up from the airport.

However, Ms Truscott heard the letter had been ripped into pieces; whether that was done by Sidney or Daphne was still unknown.

'Daphne's departure caused Sidney to be a broken man and he buried his sorrows in alcohol,' Ms Truscott found.

He lived with Daphne Lillian from 1963 and in early 1973 moved to Dubbo in the state's central west where he spent the last six months of his life with daughter Marcia.

A 2012 coronial inquiry into Daphne's disappearance found she was likely dead but it could not be determined how or when she died.

One of Daphne's granddaughters, Donna Gough, then decided to look further into her fate and hired private investigator Luke Athens.

In a report Mr Athens found Daphne had changed her name to Daphne Pearl Onslow and modified her date of birth to make herself six years younger.

She moved to Queensland, was living with a plantation farmer called Roy Shaw from at least 1963 and began calling herself Daphne Shaw.

Mr Shaw died in 1972 and Daphne began a relationship with his close friend Raymond Charles Jones who had a daughter Diann.

Following a 'celebration' of her relationship with Mr Jones in 1973, Daphne became known as Daphne Jones.

The couple lived at many locations in Queensland before moving to Maryborough on the Fraser Coast in 2003, a year before Mr Jones died.

Mr Jones's daughter Diann and her husband Tyrone Green were listed as Daphne's next of kin when she died of cancer at Maryborough Hospital on November 7, 2007 aged 89

Mr Jones's daughter Diann and her husband Tyrone Green were listed as Daphne's next of kin when she died of cancer at Maryborough Hospital on November 7, 2007 aged 89.

After receiving the private investigator's report, Daphne's granddaughter Donna met with Diann and Tyrone.

The pair told Donna her grandmother had a 'magnetic, charismatic personality' and 'disliked talking about her past'.

The family compared pictures of Daphne Hampstead and Daphne Jones and agreed they were of the same woman.

Diann and Tyrone made statements to the coroner in which they said Daphne had talked of having twin sons but mentioned no other children.

'She was very guarded about her history,' Ms Truscott found.

On Wednesday NSW Deputy State Coroner Elaine Ms Truscott (pictured) found Daphne Hampstead, Daphne Onslow, Daphne Shaw and Daphne Jones were the same person

'Diann reports that in 2006 she saw that Daphne was using a paper shredder and remarks that this was consistent with her experience that Daphne would destroy all things about her past.'

On Wednesday Ms Truscott found Daphne Hampstead, Daphne Onslow, Daphne Shaw and Daphne Jones were the same person.

'I note that the notice of Daphne's death exhibited in the newspaper indicated that she was the beloved wife of the late Roy Jones,' she said in her findings.

'Loved mother and mother-in-law of Diann and Tyrone, Ted, Esme (deceased) and Theresa (deceased). The loved Nana of 7 and Great nana of 10.

'Added to that she was the mother of eight and grandmother and great grandmother from her NSW family.

'I hope having the record adjusted to reflect that Daphne's death is properly recorded in some way brings a sense of completeness to both Daphne Pearl's NSW and Queensland families.'
Former commissioner of Delhi Police Neeraj Kumar supported Delhi polices investigation into the violence that took place in northeast Delhi in February this year. On Wednesday, the Delhi Police named fifteen people in the charge sheet, accusing them of orchestrating the riots that killed at least 53 people and injured hundreds.

On Tuesday, Delhi Police commissioner SN Shrivastava wrote to veteran cop Julio Ribeiro, explaining to him that the investigation was being carried out without any discrimination based on caste or religion, and was backed by documentary and scientific evidence.

Watch | Why Delhi police didnt act against Kapil Mishra

Former Delhi Police commissioner Neeraj Kumar believes Delhi Police is right and here is what he says.

* A lot of the points have already been explained by the police commissioner in his letter to Julio Ribeiro, said Neeraj Kumar. But nonetheless, I am better placed than many of my colleagues who are expressing their anguish.

* On the basis of limited inputs I have, I know that Delhi Police has come up with some technical evidence. It is not based on some heresy, the former police chief said.

* Neeraj Kumar said the planning happened in a large scale. People were meeting at various places in Northeast Delhi, Kumar said. There is lot of evidence not only against Umar Khalid, but also against members who are already arrested, Neeraj Kumar said.

* Some people have gone to the Delhi High Court urging direction to the Delhi Police to take action against Kapil Mishra. The issue is subjudice. I dont want to defend Kapil Mishra. But I am giving a perspective. What he said didnt incite riots, Kumar said.

* Umar Khalid has not been made an accused just for his Amravati speech where he asked people to come out in protest during US president Donald Trumps visit to India. Evidence against him are far more. His speech forms only a small portion of the body of the evidence that Delhi Police have, Neeraj Kumar said.
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 16, ARMENPRESS. An Armenian soldier has been killed from gunshot and shrapnel wounds on September 16 in the latest Azerbaijani ceasefire violation and provocations at the state border.

Junior Sergeant Hovik Tamazyan sustained the fatal injuries while on duty at a military position in the northeastern part of the Armenia-Azerbaijan state border.

The Ministry of Defense of Armenia said in a statement that in recent days Azerbaijan has become active in this section of the border and attempted to carry out reinforcement works, which led to an escalation.

With the purpose of suppressing the enemy activity and preventing future escalations the Armenian Armed Forces vanguard units were forced to take appropriate countermeasures. As a result of the adversarys provocation, Junior Sergeant Hovik Tamazyan sustained fatal gunshot and shrapnel wounds in the combat position of a military base in the northeastern section on September 16, the defense ministry said.

An investigation has been launched to determine the details of the incident.

The Defense Ministry offered condolences to the family and friends of Junior Sergeant Tamazyan.

The entire responsibly for this situation and the border escalation falls on Azerbaijans military-political leadership, it added.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
New Jersey officials on Wednesday reported nine more deaths attributed to the coronavirus and 447 additional positive tests, as the states rate of transmission was the same for the fourth straight day, just above the key mark that indicates the outbreak here is expanding.

Officials also continued to warn about rising cases among younger residents, emphasizing that people should avoid house parties and other large indoor gatherings.

Were not remotely close  and I dont know when well get there  to packed congregating around a bar, Gov. Phil Murphy said at his latest coronavirus briefing in Trenton. What makes people think a house party is any different than that? We need to avoid that like the plague.

Meanwhile, Murphy chastised a group of YouTube pranksters for an appearance Monday in Seaside Heights that drew large, maskless crowds. He called the event by the Nelk Boys the most extreme and egregious display of knucklehead behavior the Garden State has seen during the pandemic.

Even as we have seen the numbers of deaths head into the low single-digits each day, we cannot let up, the governor said. No one is expendable. And this is why we cannot excuse  in any way  the irresponsible and reckless behavior we saw Monday night in Seaside Heights.

Seven of the states nine newly reported deaths happened in the past four days, while the rest occurred earlier and were just recently confirmed, Murphy said. Three of the deaths were of either residents or staff members of longterm care facilities, officials said.

Wednesday marked the second straight day the state reported more than 400 new cases.

New Jersey, an early coronavirus hotspot, has had 197,792 COVID-19 cases out of more than 3.23 million tests administered in the more than six months since the outbreak here started in early March. Thats the eighth most among U.S. states.

The state of 9 million people has reported 16,054 deaths related to the virus  14,263 lab-confirmed and 1,791 considered probable  in that time. Thats the second most in the U.S. after New York. New Jersey has the nations highest COVID-19 death rate per 100,000 residents.

The states total probable deaths, which is revised weekly, increase by two Wednesday.

More than 34,400 residents in the state have recovered, according to Johns Hopkins University, though that number is likely much higher.

New Jersey has seen its daily numbers drop significantly since April, when officials were routinely announcing hundreds of new deaths and thousands of new cases a day. The deadliest day came on April 13, when the state reported 413 deaths  341 confirmed and 72 probable.

The Garden State has seen new deaths hover around 10 and new cases in the 300s or 400s over the last few weeks as businesses continue to gradually reopen.

Murphy has repeatedly said in recent weeks New Jerseys numbers have improved, but he stresses that the virus ebbs and flows and the state is not yet out of the woods.

TRANSMISSION RATE

New Jerseys latest rate of transmission of 1.06 is the same as officials reported Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. It has been above 1 since Sept. 4.

Any number above 1 means each newly infected person, on average, is spreading the virus to at least one other person. Any number below 1 means the virus is decreasing.

The states latest daily positivity rate  the percentage of residents who test positive in a single day  was 2.06% on Sept. 12. That means a little less than 98% of residents tested that day were negative.

New Jersey's rate of transmission remained at 1.06 for the fourth straight day, just above the key benchmark of 1.

HOSPITALIZATIONS

There were 462 patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases across New Jerseys 71 hospitals Tuesday night. Thats 56 more patients than the night before.

Of those, 226 tested positive for the virus, while 236 were under investigation while awaiting test results. Many of of the people under investigation for the virus turn out to be negative, state Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said Wednesday.

Tuesdays hospitalizations include 100 patients in critical or intensive care (10 more than the day before) with 38 on ventilators (three more than the day before).

There were 30 coronavirus patients discharged Tuesday, according to the states coronavirus tracking website.

New Jerseys COVID-19 hospitalizations have dropped dramatically since the states peak in mid-April, when there were more than 8,000 patients.

COUNTY-BY-COUNTY CASES

Atlantic County: 3,920 positive tests (8 new), 244 confirmed deaths (11 probable)

Bergen County: 22,030 positive tests (36 new), 1,800 confirmed deaths (243 probable)

Burlington County: 6,801 positive tests (24 new), 451 confirmed deaths (39 probable)

Camden County: 9,563 positive tests (33 new), 550 confirmed deaths (53 probable)

Cape May County: 981 positive tests (2 new), 87 confirmed deaths (8 probable)

Cumberland County: 3,702 positive tests (3 new), 149 confirmed deaths (8 probable)

Essex County: 20,723 positive tests (31 new), 1,895 confirmed deaths (229 probable)

Gloucester County: 4,178 positive tests (21 new), 217 confirmed deaths (7 probable)

Hudson County: 20,422 positive tests (21 new), 1,353 confirmed deaths (160 probable)

Hunterdon County: 1,273 positive tests (8 new), 71 confirmed deaths (54 probable)

Mercer County: 8,526 positive tests (15 new), 598 confirmed deaths (36 probable)

Middlesex County: 18,931 positive tests (26 new), 1,222 confirmed deaths (202 probable)

Monmouth County: 11,287 positive tests (23 new), 772 confirmed deaths (92 probable)

Morris County: 7,674 positive tests (12 new), 686 confirmed deaths (145 probable)

Ocean County: 11,897 positive tests (78 new), 974 confirmed deaths (65 probable)

Passaic County: 18,719 positive tests (34 new), 1,108 confirmed deaths (143 probable)

Salem County: 1,028 positive tests (7 new), 83 confirmed deaths (6 probable)

Somerset County: 5,611 positive tests (19 new), 494 confirmed deaths (74 probable)

Sussex County: 1,429 positive tests (1 new), 161 confirmed deaths (37 probable)

Union County: 17,355 positive tests (22 new), 1,190 confirmed deaths (166 probable)

Warren County: 1,422 positive tests (0 new), 158 confirmed deaths (13 probable)

There are another 320 positive cases that remain under investigation, with the patients' home counties not confirmed.

MORE CONCERN ABOUT YOUNGER RESIDENTS

Residents aged 19 to 24 now have the states highest positivity rate, at 7.1%, while the second-highest is residents aged 14 to 18, at 7%, Persichilli said Wednesday. Thats up from 2.7% and 4% in mid-August, respectively, she said.

The numbers mean about 7% of people from those age groups who get tested for COVID-19 test positive.

Officials have said a major reason for the increase is not only students returning to college but young people attending parties and social gatherings.

While symptoms are generally milder among younger people, Persichilli said, there are some severe cases and deaths. Plus, she stressed, younger people can pass the virus to older, more vulnerable people.

With schools and colleges reopening, this is just a reminder: Please take this virus seriously, Persichilli said. Now is not the time for indoor gatherings.

The increases also come as K-12 students return to classes, with a number of New Jersey schools having either in-person or a mix of in-person and remote learning. Plus, gyms and indoor dining have reopened with restrictions in recent weeks.

But officials said there is so far no evidence of COVID-19 cases being transmitted inside classrooms. And Murphy said hes not hearing of bad behavior at places like gyms, restaurants, and movie theaters.

Broken down by age, those 30 to 49 years old make up the largest percentage of New Jersey residents that have caught the virus (31.1%), followed by those 50-64 (26.7%), 18-29 (15.8%), 65-79 (13.4%), 80 and older (9.3%), 5-17 (2.9%), and 0-4 (0.6%).

On average, the virus has been more deadly for older residents, especially those with pre-existing conditions. Nearly half the states COVID-19 deaths have been of residents 80 and older (47.1%), followed by those 65-79 (32.3%), 50-64 (15.9%), 30-49 (4.3%), 18-25 (0.4%), 5-17 (0%), and 0-4 (0%).

At least 7,138 of the states COVID-19 deaths have been of residents and staff members at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage

Several school districts in New Jersey have been forced to change plans for in-person classes because students or staff have tested positive for COVID-19. But Murphy said Tuesday he does not foresee having to close all schools and implement universal remote learning like he did the last academic year.

State officials are calling for residents to get flu shots to help avoid a possible twin-demic in the fall.

In addition, New Jersey is still calling on travelers from 30 states and territories that qualify as hotspots to voluntarily self-quarantine for 14 days after arriving. That includes residents returning home from a trip.

TRAVEL ADVISORY UPDATE: Weve updated our list of states and terrirotires from which travelers to New Jersey are being advised to observe a 14-day self-quarantine period.



Learn more: https://t.co/Z3gW60WVSi pic.twitter.com/AZI1XJmP7Q  Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) September 16, 2020

The number of deaths in New Jersey related to COVID-19 could surpass the 16,200 annual deaths from cancer the state has averaged  which would make the virus the states No. 2 killer, after heart disease, according to mortality data from the state Department of Health.

New Jersey has begun allowing some of the businesses listed in Stage 3 of its recovery plan to reopen. Murphy has said he could tighten guidelines if there are sustained increases or if businesses and patrons dont comply with the rules.

The virus has taken a major toll on the states economy. More than 1.56 million residents have filed for unemployment, businesses have lost untold revenue, and numerous businesses have closed permanently.

GLOBAL NUMBERS

As of early Wednesday afternoon, there have been more than 29.62 million positive COVID-19 tests across the globe, according to a running tally by Johns Hopkins University. More than 936,300 people have died, while more than 20.12 million people have recovered.

The United States has the most positive tests in the world at more than 6.6 million, and the most deaths, at more than 196,100.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com.
(Natural News) Just when I was about to publish this story on Monday, an absolutely startling story broke that not only proved the point of this story but implored me to add another important segment to it as a top Health and Human Services official working for President Trump has warned of left wing hit squads being trained across America to carry out an armed insurrection should President Trump win the election.

(Article by Stefan Stanford republished from AllNewsPipeline.com)

With the mainstream media immediately jumping on that story and claiming it was fake news, giving us every indication that it is true news with the MSMs track record of outright lying to the American people over the past several decades, Americans should make no mistake about it, the globalist/democrat enemies of America within would NEVER EVER tell us if they were about to launch an extermination campaign against the American people.

And with Michael Caputo asserting in a recent video on his personal Facebook page that CDC scientists were engaged in sedition with a resistance unit against President Trump while adding that left-wing hit squads were being trained all over this country and they were preparing an armed insurrection after the election, Caputo asserting You understand that theyre going to have to kill me, and unfortunately, I think thats where this is going helps to underscore the dire direction that America is now headed, with the Daily Mail story specifically calling out those enemies of America within as the deep state.

In this incredibly important recent story by Paul Craig Roberts , the former United States Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy under President Ronald Reagan, Roberts warns the United States & our Constitution have only two months left with US Generals and the CIA now saying the same thing about President Donald Trump that they said about John F. Kennedy, soon before he was assassinated.

With no US Generals nor the CIA/deep state apparatus ever being held responsible for taking down Americas 35th President, and thus setting a precedent for any US military/deep state assassination of President Trump in 2020 or 2021, as Roberts warns, what devils such as former Secretary of Defense, General James Mattis, and Trumps Director of National Intelligence, Dan Coats, REALLY mean when they spoke together about taking collective action to remove President Trump from office is that President Trump was dangerous to their budgets and their goal of endless, nonstop war and bloodshed planetwide.

With Roberts also warning within his story that the upcoming November election will not be an election at all but a color revolution, this eerily precise new SQalert from Steve Quayles website warns that America and the world are about ready to enter the darkest hour/time that the world has EVER known, making the Dark Ages seem mild in comparison.

Warning within that alert that the globalists are clearly preparing for a worldwide take down, with the medical tyranny thats now happening in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and other Western nations a warning to us all, as Paul Craig Roberts warns within his story, all of this happening to America right now has been well planned out in advance by the same deep state/mainstream media apparatus at war with President Trump.

We have reached the point in the demise of our country that a simple statement of obvious truth is not believable.

As a number of carefully researched and documented books, some written by insiders, have proved conclusively, the CIA has controlled the prestige American media since 1950. The American media does not provide news. It provides the Deep States explanations of events. This ensures that real news does not interfere with the agenda.

To be clear, there are two CIA organizations. One is an agency that monitors world events and endeavors to provide more or less accurate information to policymakers. The other is a covert operations agency. This agency assassinates people, including an American president, and overthrows uncooperative governments. President Truman publicly stated after he was out of office that he made a serious mistake in permitting the covert operations branch of the CIA. He said that it was an unaccountable government in inself.

President Eisenhower agreed and in his last address to the American people warned of the growing unaccountable power of the military/security complex.

President Kennedy realized the threat and said he was going to break the CIA into a thousand pieces, but they killed him first.

It would be easy for the CIA to kill Trump, but the lone assassin has been used too many times to be believable. It is easier to overthrow Trumps reelection with false accusations as the CIA controlls the American and European media and has many Internet sites pretending to be dissident, a claim that fools insouciant Americans. Indeed, it is the leftwing that the CIA owns. The rightwing goes along because they think it is patriotic to support the military/security complex.

After the CIA overthrows Trump, they will use Antifa, Black Lives Matter, and their presstitutes to foment race war. Then the CIA will ride in on the Pale Horse, and the population will submit.

The scenario is unfolding as I write. Very few will believe it until it happens. Even then the CIAs ability to control explanations will keep the population in hand.

In America today, liars have more credibility than truth tellers.

Yet while Roberts predicts the US population will simply submit should the deep state carry out a coup, and he could very well be correct, the USA is quite unlike Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the UK in that America still has the 2nd Amendment (unless Joe Biden gets his way  more on that in the next section below) and tens of millions of very well armed and wide-awake Patriots.

With leftist terrorists once again attacking police officers in America, this time in Los Angeles, Joe Biden wasted no time at all by condemning guns and the 2nd Amendment in America, rather than the leftist terrorist who carried out the crime. Just the latest sign that if Joe Biden and Kamala Harris win in November, theyll immediately go after the 2nd Amendment and the rights of Americans to defend ourselves against leftist terrorism, Conservative black political commentator Candice Owens had a more realistic and balanced view of the events unfolding across America, pushed on by BLM.

Read more at: AllNewsPipeline.com
Background and Rationale

Public health departments in the United States are authorized to carry out public health functions within ascribed jurisdictions. Authority and responsibility for case investigation and contact tracing resides with state, tribal, local and territorial health departments, and is granted through legislation and regulation. The US population is mobile. Some people live in one jurisdiction and work in another. Other people, including critical infrastructure workers, routinely travel through multiple local and state jurisdictions in the transport of goods or provision of services. And others travel through or stay in local jurisdictions, outside of the one they reside, during daily life, social or recreational activities.

Health departments may become aware of a person, diagnosed with COVID-19 or exposed to COVID-19, who resides outside of the health departments jurisdictional boundaries. This information may come to their attention through a variety of means, including through provider and laboratory reports, or the efforts of case investigators and contact tracers who are following-up with persons infected with or exposed to COVID-19. Health departments routinely need to securely transfer protected personally identifying and health information regarding cases and contacts to the appropriate jurisdiction in order to facilitate prompt health department follow-up to provide test results or conduct exposure notification and link cases and contacts to local health care services and social supports, as indicated. Transfer of cases to the appropriate jurisdiction also allows for more accurate accounting of morbidity. Over the years, health department communicable disease control programs have employed various mechanisms by which to transfer cases and contacts; however, a universal interjurisdictional transfer mechanism, has yet to be established. This document provides guidance to health departments regarding critical points for consideration in the transfer of COVID-19 cases and contacts between health jurisdictions.

Key definitions

Interjurisdictional simply means across jurisdictions. Within the United States, public health jurisdictions are generally defined by the geographic boundaries of local city or county, states, territories, and tribal nations. Municipal and county health departments have their own public health jurisdictions and may have authorities to operate autonomously from their respective state health department. With autonomous municipal or county health departments, there are longstanding and well-understood processes for interjurisdictional transfer of communicable disease cases and contacts within a state. This Technical Assistance Note does not seek to guide transfer of information within a single state jurisdiction, but rather focuses on considerations for interjurisdictional transfers for COVID-19 cases and contacts, particularly between states, tribes and territories, where those processes may not already be well established.

Considerations

Timeliness and Security

For certain conditions such as sexually transmitted diseases, health departments may rely on Interstate Communications Control Record (ICCR) processes for interjurisdictional transfer of cases and contacts. While functional, these systems are heavily person- and paper-dependent; transfers often happen over the phone or by fax machine which are suboptimal for rapid transfer and tracking of a high volume of incoming and outgoing records. The low-tech nature of this platform can increase the risk of confidentiality breaches and can delay transfers between jurisdictions if key personnel are absent.

CDCs Epidemic Information Exchange (Epi-X) is one method for facilitating interjurisdictional data exchange. Epi-X is a secure, web-based platform that allows for instant transfer of public health data to jurisdictions across the US. Users authorized by their respective health departments can be enrolled in Epi-X; currently there are over 6000 authorized users.

Epi-X was developed to provide a) a secure communication system and editorial staff to help national, state, and local health officials across program areas quickly prepare and distribute provisional or final postings of disease outbreaks and other health events and b) the means to discuss these events with one, some, or all Epi-X users

Access and Implementation

Each potential user must obtain pre-approval from their organization before enrolling in Epi-X. The authorizing official at each participating organization designates public health officials who can enroll as Epi-X users. For users at the state level, this authorizing official is the state epidemiologist. Public health professionals interested in participating in the program can contact Epi-X at EpiXHelp@cdc.gov.

Currently there is no limit on the number of authorized users per jurisdiction that can be granted access to Epi-X. Multiple personnel within health departments can execute transfers at any time of the day.

Within Epi-X, transmitting health departments can track outgoing transfers and monitor the acceptance of their transfer by the receiving health department.

There are no mandated forms or templates for transfer of cases and contacts; however, there are sample templates available to users within Epi-X. Within reason, each health department can transfer the case or contact information in a format that is aligned with their own processes and information systems. In many instances, health departments opt to transmit a simple spreadsheet of cases and contacts to the receiving health department. Reference the list of suggested data elements for transfer below.

Online help is available within Epi-X and there are editorial staff available to users around the clock.

Cases Contacts* Suggested Data Elements for Transfer (Minimum) Last Name Last Name First Name First Name Date of Birth Date of Birth/Age Phone Number Phone Number Parent/Guardian Name (if <18) Parent/Guardian Name (if <18) Parent/Guardian Phone Number (if <18) Parent/Guardian Phone Number (if <18) Address Address Test Date First Exposure Test Site Last Exposure Test Type and Result Local ID Local ID Other relevant info if known, e.g. symptoms, symptom onset, hospitalizations, occupation/workplace/school, travel** Other relevant info if known, e.g. symptoms, symptom onset, tested for COVID, occupation/workplace/school; travel**

*Because contacts are usually identified through interviews with case clients, not all information listed here may be available (e.g. last name, date of birth)

**When COVID cases are surging, additional information can help the receiving jurisdictions prioritize cases and contacts for interview and follow-up. Useful information includes race/ethnicity, whether the case or contact is a health care worker or critical infrastructure worker, has underlying health conditions, or lives or works in a congregate setting such as a nursing home, dorm or shelter.
MINNEAPOLIS - A psychological exam was ordered Wednesday for a Pakistani doctor and former Mayo Clinic researcher accusing of telling paid FBI informants that he pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group and wanted to carry out lone wolf attacks in the U.S.

Muhammad Masood has been indicted on one count of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. He has been in custody since his March 19 arrest at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

The evaluation is meant to judge Masoods competency to stand trial and assist in his defence, according to the federal magistrate judges order. Masoods attorney has said the defendant does not understand the court proceedings.

Prosecutors say Masood was in the U.S. on a work visa. They allege in court documents that from January to March, Masood made several statements to paid informants  whom he believed were members of the Islamic State group  pledging his allegiance to the group and its leader.

Court documents do not name the clinic where Masood worked. The Mayo Clinic has confirmed that Masood formerly worked at the medical centre, but said he was not employed there when he was arrested.
Evangelical church network distributes 750K meals to feed hungry during COVID-19

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A United States-based evangelical association has helped churches in over 10 countries in the former Soviet Union provide over 750,000 meals to hungry families as the coronavirus pandemic has caused economic struggles and hunger.

The Illinois-based Slavic Gospel Association, which serves over 6,350 churches across countries in Eastern Europe and Asia, has worked with its partners to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to feed families as the region continues to see spikes in the number of coronavirus cases.

Russia recently surpassed over 400,000 diagnosed cases of COVID-19 and ranks third in the world in a number of cases, according to data from Johns Hopkins University & Medicine. Over 5,000 have died in Russia after contracting the virus and the country is still on lockdown.

The churches recognize that while this pandemic is a very difficult situation where many people are suffering, it probably represents the greatest opportunity for the proclamation of the Gospel since the [Berlin] Wall came down, SGA President Michael Johnson told The Christian Post. The churches and the church workers are highly motivated to do what they can to minister to the people in those communities, both in word and deed.

These people are already doing the work, Johnson added. What we are trying to do is connect people here with the churches over there and help them to purchase resources locally so they can distribute food, medicine, and other items.

SGA, which was founded in 1934 to covertly distribute Bibles to Christians in the communist Soviet Union, today serves churches in the former Soviet Union aligned with the Union of Evangelical Christian and Baptist Churches.

SGA established its Christ Over COVID campaign earlier this spring and issued a worldwide call to prayer.

In the background, the SGA has worked with its partner ministries in the U.S. and elsewhere around the world to secure financial resources to help evangelical churches in those countries serve those in distress.

Johnson said that because SGA has a giant network of churches, it can get aid to the point of need in just about all parts of those countries, even in the remotest regions in northern Siberia.

We have an infrastructure that we have established in those countries that provide all the accountability as well as the supply chain facilities, he said. "So we are able to get the resources out to people pretty quickly. Those church workers have such compassion in their countries and they meet these people at their point of need. And many of these people are at the end of their ropes.

In some cases, Johnson said church workers and volunteers are serving people who are at the point of suicide and others who havent eaten in days.

They are really meeting those needs. Many of those people are open to the word of God, Johnson said.

In order to identify the regions that need the most help at this time, SGA has coordinated with the national leaders of the Union of Evangelical Christian and Baptist Churches.

As time goes on, that network of churches that are distributing these resources continues to grow, Johnson said. We send the money over and the food and everything is purchased over there locally and distributed to the people who are in need. The churches are aware of the people in need already. In many cases, they will go to the local municipality to get a list of people who are in need and take that list and go visit those people.

According to SGA Communications Director Joel Griffith, the needs depend on the region. He said in Ukraine, where there has been an armed conflict since 2014, a lot of people are trapped and cant afford to leave even though their apartments and houses have been shelled out.

This food support is vital to them as pastors go and visit those areas, Griffith said.

In Central Asia, Griffith said poverty is horrendous and some of governments havent really been as responsive to the pandemic as others.

A lot of attention gets focused on large cities, but when you get out to the outlying villages, the impact is severe and they dont have the medical infrastructure that they do in some of the larger cities, Griffith added. So the impacts are much more severe there.

According to Johnson, SGA is also helping its local partners to feed orphans during the lockdowns.

We have access into hundreds of state-run orphanages but in many cases, the childrens homes, because of a lack of funding as a result of the collapsing economy, have had to shut down facilities, Johnson detailed.

Many of these kids are social orphans. This means at least one parent is alive but they have been taken away from the homes because of alcoholism and abuse. Now, they are being brought back to their homes. It is a very difficult situation. These workers are following these kids around and visiting them at the home to make sure everything is OK, and delivering food to them and their families.

Although some state governments in the United States are in the early phases of their reopening plans, Johnson expects the impact of the pandemic will last much longer in the countries SGA serves.

Yesterday, there was a big spike in cases in Russia. I think those counties are about three or four weeks behind us in terms of the onset of the pandemic, he said. They are in a more difficult situation than we are because they lack the medical infrastructure. And the Russian economy, which impacts a lot of those countries in that region and is based on the cost of fuel, is collapsing. It has reverberated all throughout that region.

Johnson stressed that there is still a lot of fear. But as a result of the aid, he said, many are coming to Christ.

Yevgeny Bakhmutsky, pastor of the Russian Bible Church in Moscow, said in a statement shared by SGA that there is an amazing hunger for truth and openness to the Gospel among people as church pastors are working day and night to visit, preach, consult and provide aid to people in need.

Our church has created a fund to help in Moscow, Bakhmutsky wrote. Even non-Christians (including some nominal Muslims) are donating some money to it. We are working as volunteers every day. Can you imagine  we have a dozen online Bible study Zoom groups for unbelievers now! We could not have dreamed this would be possible before!

Many people are preparing for the worst. There is less joy to be found, but churches have become truly joyful places in our society, the pastor said. Our church will soon baptize 15 people who came to faith in Christ during this pandemic. Its all happening because of your faithful assistance and help.
- According to DCI, the suspect has been issuing fake court orders and obtaining money falsely from unsuspecting members of the public

- During the incident, the detectives recovered several stamped forged documents from his house

- In a related instance reported by TUKO.co.ke, police officers in Eldoret arrested an ex-cop who had had converted his house into a government store and police post

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The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) detectives have nabbed a man who has been masquerading as a lawyer and conning unsuspected members of the public in Kiambu and Nairobi counties.

Ethan Kamau Njagi was arrested by the men in uniform after they received a tip-off from the area residents.

READ ALSO: Raila Odinga Junior hits out at his father's ODM party, says it has lost its way

Ethan Kamau Njagi is expected to be arraigned in court after his arrrest. Photo: DCI.

Source: Facebook

READ ALSO: Wewe enda usome kuhusu uganga, Ruto amwambia Raila

According to a statement released by DCI on its social media pages on Wednesday, September 16, the suspect has been issuing fake court orders and obtaining money falsely from members of the public.

"Following a tip-off from the members of the public, Ethan Kamau Njagi; who has been passing as a Lawyer and issuing fake orders purporting to be genuine orders from courts in Kiambu and Nairobi has been arrested at Kahawa West by @DCI_Kenya detectives based at Kiambu.

"The suspect has been obtaining money falsely from unsuspecting members of the public, and has on many occasions represented them in court proceedings by pretending to be a partner with several law firms within Nairobi and Kiambu," part of the statement read.

Forged documents recovered

During the incident, the DCI recovered several stamped forged documents from Njagi's house.

"Stamped documents made by the suspect bearing the names of different law firms, believed to be fake or forged were recovered from the suspect's house by the sleuths and have been retained as exhibits pending his arraignment," it said.

DCI boss George Kinoti speaking in his office. Photo: DCI.

Source: Facebook

READ ALSO: Timo Werner declares he will be fit to face Liverpool after knee injury fears

In a related incident reported by TUKO.co.ke, police officers in Eldoret arrested an ex-cop who had converted his house into a government store and police post.

According to authorities, Kiptoo Isaac Jean Koskei was a police trainer at Kiganjo but resigned in 2008.

It was alleged the suspect had recruited youth who were working for him as police officers and were soliciting huge bribes from unsuspecting members of the public whom they caught violating the law.

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.

I have infected multiple men with HIV, my entire family hates me -Kiki wa Nge'ndo | Tuko TV

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, September 16, 2020 18:10 492 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c4530dc8 1 National cargo-ship,FireIncident,Basarnas,Southeast-Sulawesi,Kendari,search-and-rescue Free

One of six crew members aboard KM Yuliner was killed when the cargo ship burst into flames off the coast of South Buton regency, Southeast Sulawesi on Tuesday.

Four other crew members went missing following the fire, while one survivor has been recovered.

The Kendari National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) has since deployed personnel to find the missing people.

We are carrying out a search operation for the four missing crew members. We have enlisted the support of fishermen based in the region, but so far there are no signs of the crew members, Aris Sofingi, who helms the local Basarnas, said on Wednesday as quoted by kompas.com.

KM Yuliner, which was carrying cement, left for Wakotobi regency in Southeast Sulawesi from Pangkep Port in South Sulawesi on Tuesday.

Read also: Police to question person putting Southeast Sulawesi island up for sale online

However, the cargo vessel caught on fire midway through its journey. The cause of the fire remains unclear at the time of writing.

Both the survivor and casualty were found 18 nautical miles west of the vessels last known position.

The team deployed by Basarnas is currently combing the location in the hope of finding the missing crew members.

We hope we can find all of them regardless of their condition, Aris said. (rfa)
There is so much emphasis on growing the high-tech sector, but research and studies have failed to come up with findings that show that these benefits are reaching low-skilled workers. SkillWiki, a non-profit organization founded in 2016 by Silicon Valley entrepreneur and tech guru Kishore Pallapothu, seemed to have realized this ground reality a long time ago. The organizations work has helped up-skill millions of low-wage workers to help them move into the higher-wage category. Its efforts and contributions to the society have been acknowledged and it has also won awards.

What Issues are Being Addressed by SkillWiki?

SkillWikis Program Director shed light on the massive, but mostly unseen and unrecognized problem that is affecting the American employment and business sector, There has been staggering growth in the high-tech sector. This has also been fueling the average wages for mid and higher skilled workers. Then there are low-skilled workers. The only thing that benefits them is new employment, but the average wages fall in this segment, especially when housing costs are taken into account.

SkillWiki identifies and reaches out to low-wage workers. The organization is based out of San Francisco Bay Area and facilitates training on latest IT skills to such workers. Our objective is to equip low-wage and low-skilled employees with higher skills so that they can move into the higher-wage category and compete in the high-tech marketplace, the Program Director said.

Low-Wage Workforce in America

The Brookings Institution reports that there are 53 million people in America who earn low wages. That is 44% of the total labor force. It seems that SkillWikis target audience and mission is too big. When asked about this challenge, the Program Director responded, Yes, we realize the challenge that lies ahead of us. We have reached and improved the lives of millions in the last four years. We know that we alone may not be able to train and up-skill the entire US low-wage workforce in a few years, but we have the commitment, time, and technology at our behest.

It is worth knowing that SkillWikis parent company also owns ChoozeHire, an AI-based company that is making the recruitment process more efficient and faster. SkillWiki is also expected to leverage the power of Artificial Intelligence in the near future to reach out to a larger workforce with its programs.

Low-Wage Work & Financial Volatility

Even when the economy is growing, low-wage workforce cycles more often between different jobs without growth in their wages. This is due to lack of job stability, which further causes financial volatility. This is a strange cycle and we at SkillWiki have taken upon us to curb this unfortunate cycle, the Director said.

He further quotes the Brookings findings, There are 32 million workers in the country who are low-wage earners and are not getting employer-sponsored healthcare. If and when a crisis appears, they are the least-employer-attached workers. Their work hours are either reduced or they are laid off.

We have recorded significant success so far and expect to reach a larger segment of this workforce in the future, he added. SkillWiki is an award-winning non-profit that won the 2019 ASA Elevate Award for its Career Enhancement Program. More new initiatives are expected by this unique organization that is backed by a well-known Silicon Valley angel investor.

For more information about SkillWiki and its self-less mission, it is recommended to directly contact the Program Director.
Russian Supreme Court refuses to review opposition figures 2012 riot case sentence

 RAPSI

12:23 16/09/2020

MOSCOW, September 16 (RAPSI)  The Supreme Courts Presidium on Wednesday refused to reconsider sentence against Russian opposition activists Sergey Udaltsov and Leonid Razvozzhayev in the 2012 Bolotnaya Square riot case basing on the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), RAPSI reported from the courtroom.

The highest instance thus upheld the Moscow City Courts ruling against the opposition activists.

Udaltsov and Razvozzhayev asked the Supreme Court to overturn their sentence in the 2012 Bolotnaya Square riot case basing on the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). According to lawyer Dmitry Agranovsky, the ECHR has held that Russia had violated Part 1 of the Article 6 of the European Convention for Human Rights (Right to a fair trial) by convicting the opposition activists based on the testimony of another defendant Konstantin Lebedev, who had signed a plea deal with investigators.

Over 400 people were arrested and scores injured in the Bolotnaya Square protests that turned violent in May 2012. Dozens were later charged with inciting riots and assault on law enforcement officers.

Riot organizers Leonid Razvozzhayev and Udaltsov were sentenced to 4.5 years in prison each based partly on testimony by Konstantin Lebedev, who was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison but released on parole.

Other convicts in the riots case received punishment ranging from suspended sentences to four years in prison. Several defendants were pardoned; one is undergoing compulsory mental treatment.

In November 2019, the ECHR refused to declare the activists prosecution politically motivated, however, it recognized violation of their right to a fair trial and awarded Razvozzhayev and Udaltsov 11,000 and 9,000 euros in compensation respectively.
New York State Forest Rangers recently rescued several injured and lost hikers, stranded boaters, and helped contain a wildland fire on private property.

These incidents and more took place between Sept. 3-13. All information below was supplied by the Department of Environmental Conservation.

Town of Shandaken, Ulster County

Wilderness Rescue: On Sept. 13, a dispatcher from Ulster County 911 contacted Central Dispatch for a report of five lost hikers on the red trail of Slide Mountain in the town of Shandaken. Ulster County was unable to obtain coordinates for the groups location but stated they were good on water and warm clothing. Central Dispatch contacted a member of the group and received coordinates. At 11:24 p.m., Ranger Brand and two firefighters from the Phoenicia Fire Department located the five hikers, warmed and fed them, and provided the group with headlamps. Rangers Stratton, Allwine, and Franke also assisted, meeting up with Ranger Brand and the hiking party and walking them out of the woods at 3 a.m. The hikers declined further medical treatment.

Town of Peru, Clinton County

Wilderness Rescue: On the morning of Sept. 13, Ray Brook dispatch received a report of three stranded paddlers on Valcour Island on Lake Champlain. The three boaters spent an unexpected night out due to bad weather. Ray Brook called the paddlers to advise the group that they were not in danger and to get more details about their whereabouts. Rangers Bronson and Russell responded to the boaters using a stationed motorboat from the DEC dock at Peru and located the three paddlers secure on Bluff Point. The paddlers and Rangers were back at the Peru Boat Launch by 10 a.m.

Town of Hunter, Greene County

Wilderness Rescue: On Sept. 13, a 37-year-old woman slipped on rocks and injured her lower leg while hiking to the bottom of Kaaterskill Falls with her family. Nearby hikers assisted her while Ranger Dawson responded. The Ranger provided the subject with medical care and she decided she wanted to walk out with the use of crutches. Ranger Gullen and Dawson assisted her out to the lower trailhead, where family picked her up to seek further medical care.

Town of Jewett, Greene County

Wilderness Rescue:On Sept. 13, Central Dispatch received a call from a man requesting Ranger assistance for his friend who was unable to continue hiking the Colgate Lake Wild Trail in Greene County. The hiker said his friend was about two miles from the trailhead with no visible injuries but unable to walk after completing a 14-mile hike with his hiking party. The subject became nauseated and short of breath on the climb up, forcing the group to turn around near 3,500 feet of elevation and return to Colgate Lake. Ranger Dawson and Breigle responded to the area to assist and the hiker walked out on his own. Rangers evaluated the man, who declined further medical care. Be sure to properly prepare and plan before entering the backcountry.

Town of Persia,Cattaraugus County

SAR training: On Sept. 12 and 13, Rangers from Region 9 participated in a two-day training exercise sponsored by the regional tech rescue team. The first day consisted of two rope rescue scenarios in the Zoar gorge, which forced members of different departments to jointly utilize equipment and experience. On the second day of the training, Rangers reviewed the use of various tools and methods to complete swiftwater rescues. Departments from both Erie and Cattaraugus counties participated, as well as Erie County Sheriffs SWAT.

Town of Rochester, Ulster County

Wilderness Rescue: On Sept. 12, DECs Central Dispatch received a call from Ulster County 911 reporting a man lost while hiking who ended up on the Vernoy trailhead. Coordinates placed the subject on the Long Path in Rochester, approximately 1,600 feet from Trails End Road. The hiker had 20 percent battery left on his phone, no food or water, and was wearing shorts while temperatures dropped. Ranger Slade responded and advised the hiker to stay put. The Ranger found the lost hiker on the Popple Hill Trail, provided him with a flashlight and water, and walked him back to his vehicle at the Upper Cherrytown Trailhead.

City of Plattsburgh, Clinton County

Torch Run for Special Olympics: On Friday, Sept. 11, Region 5 Forest Ranger Capt. Streiff and Ranger Booth took part in the 50th Anniversary Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics in Plattsburgh. The run, organized by State and Federal Police, involved participants from numerous law enforcement agencies.

Saratoga Springs, Saratoga County

Firefighters return home: On Friday Sept. 11, a team of 10 DEC Forest Rangers, staff, and volunteers returned to New York after helping to battle and contain wildland fires raging in western states for two weeks. These trained, expert wildland firefighters helped battle high priority fires in Nebraska and South Dakota. A second New York crew headed out the next day and are currently assigned to the Cameron Peak Fire on the Arapaho and Roosevelt Forest near Redfeather Lakes, CO. That fire is 102,000 acres and four percent contained. More details here.

Town of North, ElbaEssex County

Wilderness Rescue: On Sept. 7 at 3:35 p.m., DECs Ray Brook Dispatch received a call from a 37-year-old hiker from the Bronx reporting she had injured her ankle while hiking down Mount Marcy in the High Peaks Wilderness. The hiker indicated that she was mobile and hiking with a partner and that the pair would continue down the mountain. Assistant Forest Ranger Leff responded and started up the mountain to meet the hiking party while Forest Rangers Praczkajlo and Baldwin headed into Marcy Dam on an ATV. Once the Rangers reached the subject, they transported her back to the trailhead. The injured hiker said she would seek further medical attention on her own. The incident concluded at 8:20 p.m.

Town of Clifton, St. Lawrence County

Wilderness Rescue: On Sept. 6 at 9:26 a.m., DECs Ray Brook Dispatch received a call for an injured hiker on the Cranberry Lake 50 trail. The caller stated that her 14-year-old son pulled his Achilles tendon and could not continue the hike. The group was on the east side of Brandy Brook Flow on Cranberry Lake and Forest Ranger Baldwin responded by boat. Ranger Baldwin arrived to the hiking party by 10:06 a.m., and transported the group by boat to shore shortly thereafter. The injured hiker from Plattsburgh declined further medical care at the scene and advised he would seek medical attention on his own.

Town of Hunter - Indian Head Wilderness Area- Plattekill Clove, Greene County

Wilderness Rescue: On Sept. 6 at 9 p.m., a group of nine hikers called Greene County 911 reporting they were lost due to darkness and cliffs near the creek in Plattekill Clove. Forest Rangers Dawson, Fox, Breigle, and Slade responded to assist. The Rangers made voice contact with the hikers and bushwhacked to their location through steep terrain. Rangers utilized rope systems to assist the hikers up the steep terrain and back up to the road. All were out of the woods by 4:18 a.m.

Town of Tompkins - Steam Mill State Forest, Delaware County

Law Enforcement: On Sept. 6, Environmental Conservation Police Officer (ECO) Osborne contacted Forest Ranger Seeley to inform him about a tip he received about a party planned that night in Steam Mill State Forest. The Officers formulated a plan for Rangers Seeley, Bink, and ECO Osborne to patrol the area to look for the group. The Rangers and ECO located the party at 11:30 p.m. and discovered approximately 40 people around a large bonfire with a lot of alcohol. The Officers collected identification from the attendees and instructed the group to clean up the beer cans and put the fire out. The Rangers and ECO issued a total of 32 tickets to individuals between the ages of 16 and 20 for possessing alcohol under the age of 21 on State land. Ranger Seeley then administered a breath test with an Intoximeter to anyone who planned on driving to ensure their safety. Those who could not drive could leave their vehicles for the night and received rides from sober attendees. The incident concluded at 4:30 a.m.

Town of Shandaken - Slide Wilderness Area, Ulster County

Wilderness Rescue: On Sept. 5 at 4:30 p.m., a 32-year-old woman from Bellmawr, New Jersey, hiking the red trail to the summit of Wittenburg Mountain called Ulster County 911 requested assistance off the mountain due to a pre-existing medical condition that made it difficult for her to walk. Forest Rangers Martin, Brand, Griggsby, and Rusher responded to GPS coordinates that placed her three miles from the trailhead. Rangers assisted the subject for the first mile back, but her condition deteriorated rapidly, requiring a carryout. Volunteers from the Phoenecia, Olive, Pine Hill, and Shandaken fire departments provided resources to assist Rangers with carrying the hiker out of the woods. At 1:30 a.m., the hiker was transported to a local hospital for medical treatment.

Town of Keene, Essex County

Wilderness Rescue: On Sept. 5 at 4:07 p.m., DECs Ray Brook Dispatch received a request to assist 22-year-old woman from Glenridge, New Jersey, who sustained a non-weight-bearing leg injury a half mile below the Hopkins Junction on Mount Marcy. Forest Rangers and the Mt. Marcy Summit Steward responded to assist. The Steward reached the subject at 4:45 p.m., with Forest Ranger Mecus arriving shortly thereafter to help assess and stabilize the injury. The group then began slowly making their way to Marcy Dam. At 8:53 p.m., Forest Ranger Mecus advised that they had made it to Indian Falls and the injured hiker was unable to continue. Forest Rangers Praczkajlo, Lewis, van Laer, DiCinitio, Assistant Ranger Engel, and the Marcy Dam Caretaker responded to help. At 11:20 p.m., the hiker was driven out from Marcy Dam to Meadows Lane on a waiting UTV. A friend picked up the hiker and advised they would seek further medical assistance on their own.

Town of Keene, Essex County

Wilderness Rescue: On Sept. 5 at 8:27 p.m., DECs Ray Brook Dispatch received notification from Forest Rangers engaged in another rescue on Mount Marcy that they had encountered a hiker suffering from back spasms and in need of assistance. Forest Ranger Bode responded and assisted the 43-year-old hiker from Farmingdale down the trail to the Marcy Dam outpost where she received a ride back to the trailhead on a waiting UTV. The injured hiker advised she would seek further medical attention on her own.

Town of Deerpark, Orange County

Wildland Fire: On Sept. 5, Orange County 911 requested the assistance of Forest Ranger Parlier with a wildland fire on private property in the town of Deerpark. The unattended brush fire had spread and was later contained to approximately two acres through the use of an excavator the landowner had on site and the assistance of the Cuddeback, Huguenot, Otisville, Westbrookville, Sparrowbrush, and Port Jervis fire departments. The fire was declared out at approximately 3:45 p.m.

Town of Waverly, Franklin County

Wilderness Rescue: On Sept. 5 at 4 p.m., DECs Ray Brook Dispatch received a call from a hiker reporting that his wife had injured her ankle about a half mile from the trailhead of Azure Mountain. Forest Ranger Lt. Harjung responded along with Forest Rangers Balerno and Evans, the St. Regis Falls Fire Department, and EMS. Once on scene, Lt. Harjung splinted the injury and the group started slowly making their way down the trail. The injured hiker was able to get down off the steeper slope with the assistance of hiking poles and leaning on the shoulders of rescuers. The responders then placed the subject in a litter and carried her the remainder of the way to the trailhead. The hiker declined additional medical treatment and said she would seek treatment on her own.

Town of Hunter - Kaaterskill Wild Forest, Greene County

Wilderness Rescue: On Sept. 3 at 11:54 a.m., Forest Rangers received a call from DECs Central Dispatch regarding a 39-year-old man from Croton-on-Hudson who slipped while hiking the escarpment trail near the Artist Rock and heard a snap in his ankle. Forest Rangers Fox, Breigle, and Assistant Forest Ranger France responded along with Greene County EMS and volunteers from the Haines Falls, Cedar Grove, and Tannersville fire departments. The responders packed the hiker in a litter and carried him out to a waiting ambulance for transport to a local hospital. The incident concluded by 2:30 p.m.

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New Delhi: BJP National President JP Nadda addresses a press conference on the three Bills on agriculture reforms that have been introduced in Parliament namely - the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020; Farmer Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi: BJP National President JP Nadda addresses a press conference on the three Bills on agriculture reforms that have been introduced in Parliament namely - the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020; Farmer Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi: BJP National President JP Nadda addresses a press conference on the three Bills on agriculture reforms that have been introduced in Parliament namely - the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020; Farmer Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi: BJP National President JP Nadda addresses a press conference on the three Bills on agriculture reforms that have been introduced in Parliament namely - the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020; Farmer Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi: BJP National President JP Nadda addresses a press conference on the three Bills on agriculture reforms that have been introduced in Parliament namely - the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020; Farmer Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi: BJP National President JP Nadda addresses a press conference on the three Bills on agriculture reforms that have been introduced in Parliament namely - the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020; Farmer Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi: BJP National President JP Nadda addresses a press conference on the three Bills on agriculture reforms that have been introduced in Parliament namely - the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020; Farmer Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi: BJP National President JP Nadda addresses a press conference on the three Bills on agriculture reforms that have been introduced in Parliament namely - the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020; Farmer Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi: BJP National President JP Nadda addresses a press conference on the three Bills on agriculture reforms that have been introduced in Parliament namely - the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020; Farmer Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi: BJP National President JP Nadda addresses a press conference on the three Bills on agriculture reforms that have been introduced in Parliament namely - the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020; Farmer Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi: BJP National President JP Nadda addresses a press conference on the three Bills on agriculture reforms that have been introduced in Parliament namely - the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020; Farmer Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, Sep 16 : The BJP held a hurried press conference on Wednesday afternoon addressed by its National President J.P. Nadda to allay farmers' fears and the perception about the three farm Bills.

While saying the bills are intended to give flexibility to farmers, he clarified, "MSP tha, hai our rahega (MSP was, is and will remain)".

"Look MSP was, is and will stay. But if you get Rs 10 under MSP and can sell it at Rs 12 outside, what will you prefer," said Nadda.

He added that Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMC) will continue. The APMC is the marketing boards established by the state governments in order to eliminate the exploitation of farmers by the intermediaries.

"The APMC will continue, so will MSP but the farmers will be free to choose the most profitable market of their choice. The farm contract will be on the produce and not the land. The land will always belong to the owner. These are enabling legislations," Nadda claimed.

Recently three farm Bills which were earlier brought in as Ordinances were opposed by sections of farmers in Haryana, threatening to block traffic. One of the Bills, the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020, was cleared by the Lok Sabha amid the opposition's objections.

The other two bills have been introduced as well. They are The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 and Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020.

Facing criticism, the BJP's ally the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has distanced itself claiming they were not consulted. It also tried to reach out to another BJP ally and ruling coalition partner in Haryana, the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) to impress upon the BJP to reconsider its decision.

Nadda said the BJP is in "constant touch" with its allies. Hitting out at the Congress, whose Chief Minister in Punjab has been targeting the SAD and the BJP over the Bills, Nadda said that by opposing these Bills, the Congress is only hampering the farmers' all round development.

He called the Bills "reformist" and "Revolutionary". "These will bring about a paradigm change in the lives of the farmers who will be free to sell their produce in a competitive market of their choice," he remarked.
Tom Holland has been drawing rave reviews from fans for his latest turn in the Netflix drama The Devil All the Time.

The actor, who is best known for his role as the chipper young Peter Parker in Marvels Spider-Man films, has taken on far darker subject matter here. Its a risk that has, seemingly, paid off.

The Devil All the Time, directed by Antonio Campos, is a psychological thriller following a set of disparate characters in the US Midwest.

Holland plays Arvin Russell, a young man battling with both his own inner demons and the sins of a local preacher, played with venom by Robert Pattinson.

The MCU stars name began trending on Twitter shortly after the film went live on Netflix, with many viewers praising the actors unexpected performance.

Tom Holland in The Devil All The Time is by far his best performance of his career, wrote one social media user. And no, you cant argue about this.

Holland's performance in The Devil All The Time just proves that he really is one of the greatest actors of this generation, wrote another.

Another suggested that the role would be winning him an Oscar.

While Hollands fans have clearly reacted to the role with excitement, professional critics have also singled out the 24-year-old British actor for praise.

The Devil All the Time is available to stream on Netflix now.
Boris Johnson caved in to Tory rebels tonight over his controversial plans to tear up parts of the Brexit divorce deal in breach of international law, agreeing to give MPs more power to prevent it being used.

No10 has agreed to amend the Internal Market Act to give the Commons an effective power of veto to see off a potential defeat when it is next put to a vote on Tuesday.

Mr Johnson was facing a rebel proposal by Justice Select Committee chairman Sir Bob Neill over the plan, which had faced widespread condemnation from a slew of senior former and serving politicians.

Ministers admitted last week the PM's proposals would break international law, sparking a revolt by Conservative backbenchers.

Tonight's move would not prevent international law being broken but means that it would only happen with the agreement of the Commons.

The PM met with Conservative backbenchers who are concerned about his proposals to override the Withdrawal Agreement in his House of Commons office this afternoon.

This evening, in a joint statement issued by Downing Street and Mr Neill, they confirmed reported that they had agreed a compromise.

'This amendment will require the House of Commons to vote for a motion before a minister can use the ''notwithstanding'' powers contained in the UK Internal Market Bill,' they said.

Boris Johnson is said to have reached a compromise agreement with Tory rebels over his Brexit plans

Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission pictured in Brussels today, warned hopes of the EU striking a 'timely' trade deal with the UK are fading

Michel Barnier, the EU's chief negotiator, is said to have told European ambassadors that Mr Johnson sparked the latest Brexit row in order to distract from the Government's coronavirus chaos

What does the UK Internal Market Bill do, and how do rebels want to amend it? Former minister Bob Neill has tabled a key amendment to the Bill The UK Internal Market Bill is intended to be a 'safety net' in case the EU tries to impose an 'extreme' interpretation of the Withdrawal Agreement. If Brussels refused to list the UK as a 'third country', there would effectively be a blockade on food exports going from the mainland to Northern Ireland. In response, the legislation would give ministers powers to override key parts of the divorce terms - bypassing a joint committee that is means to thrash out key issues such as over customs. However, critics complain that the move would breach international law - something Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis admitted last week was the case. The PM insisted Parliament would get a vote if he ever want to invoke the unusual powers - designed to prevent Brussels from 'blockading' food exports to NI. But in fact it appears any vote would be 'affirmative' - held after the action had been implemented. Rebels are gathering behind an amendment from former minister Bob Neill, proposing a 'Parliamentary lock' so MPs would need to approve overriding the Withdrawal Agreement before it happens. A potential way of buying off some rebels would be to offer a less stringent lock, limiting the scope of ministers to deploy the controversial measures in the Bill while keeping the weapon in the arsenal if the EU refused to budge. One MP involved in the mutiny told MailOnline that the government did not need to remove the clauses from the legislation altogether, and part of the frustration was that other options, such as the dispute mechanisms in the WA, had not been exhausted. 'I don't think anyone should seriously doubt the need to prepare for these circumstances,' the MP said. 'They might only need a caveat saying these clauses would only come into effect after the final ruling of the arbitration panel.' Advertisement

'The Internal Market Bill was designed to give MPs and Peers a vote on the use of these powers via statutory instrument.

But following talks, it is agreed that the Parliamentary procedure suggested by some colleagues provides a clearer, more explicit democratic mandate for the use of these powers, and also provides more legal certainty.

'The Government will table another amendment which sets clear limits on the scope and timeliness of judicial review into the exercise of these powers. This will provide people and businesses with the certainty that they need.

'We welcome the way the Parliamentary Party has come together on these issue. There is near-unanimous agreement that the Government must be able to use these powers as a final resort, that there must be legal certainty, and that no further amendments are required on these powers.'

Meanwhile, Mr Johnson told the Liaison Committee he does not believe Brussels has been negotiating in good faith but he hopes the bloc will 'prove my suspicions wrong'.

The rebels want Parliament to have the ability to veto any move by Mr Johnson to override the divorce deal - a so-called 'parliamentary lock'.

Justice Secretary Robert Buckland this morning hinted ministers were prepared to move on the issue. He said he believed the original plans could be made 'acceptable to all Conservative colleagues'.

Michael Gove, the Minister for the Cabinet Office, had appeared to open the door to a compromise on Monday when he said the rebels were 'on to something'.

It came as Ursula von der Leyen warned hopes of the EU and UK agreeing a trade deal are fading with every passing day as tensions continued to grow over Mr Johnson's Brexit plans.

The President of the European Commission hit out and said the accord struck last year 'cannot be unilaterally changed, disregarded or dis-applied'.

The EU has given Mr Johnson until the end of the month to withdraw his plans, with Brussels warning that a failure to do so risks the total collapse of trade talks.

'With every day that passes, the chances of a timely agreement do start to fade,' Ms von der Leyen told the European Parliament this morning.

Her comments came amid claims that Michel Barnier, the EU's top negotiator, said Mr Johnson had sparked the Brexit row in order to distract from the Government's handling of the coronavirus crisis.

He made the comments at a private meeting of European ambassadors on Monday this week, according to Politico.

The Government sparked a furious row with the EU after it published its UK Internal Market Bill last week.

The legislation will enable the UK to unilaterally make decisions on key issues, like customs arrangements between mainland Britain and Northern Ireland, contained within the Withdrawal Agreement.

Justice Secretary Robert Buckland hints at Brexit compromise to appease Tory rebels Justice Secretary Robert Buckland today hinted the Government could agree to a compromise to see off a Tory rebellion over its Brexit plans. An admission by ministers that Boris Johnson's proposals to override parts of the Withdrawal Agreement would break international law sparked anger on the Conservative backbenches. Tory rebels are planning to try to amend the UK Internal Market Bill to give Parliament a veto on any attempt by the Prime Minister to tear up the terms of the Brexit divorce deal. But Mr Buckland signalled this morning the Government could move on the issue to prevent a revolt. He told the BBC's Radio 4 programme: 'I think that the issue is this. We want to make sure that if we hit a situation where we have this sort of dislocation, this sort of crisis if you like, that we can act swiftly to bring in to power the necessary regulations. 'I think that whilst actually we have got parliamentary procedures to allow secondary legislation to come into force with debate and scrutiny, we have got to get the balance right. 'We want to make sure that we are fleet of foot when it comes to the crunch but at the same time to make sure that MPs have their say. 'That is what the Prime Minister wants, that is what he said in parliament and I am sure we will find a way to do that in a manner that is acceptable to all Conservative colleagues.' Advertisement

Brussels is adamant that the decisions must be made by a joint committee made up of people from both sides - as set out in the treaty.

But the Government argues its proposals are necessary in order to protect the integrity of the UK should the two sides be unable to agree terms.

Mr Johnson was grilled during an appearance in front of the Liaison Committee over whether he believes the EU has been negotiating in good faith during trade talks.

He told MPs: 'We had an opportunity for them to lift this issue of third country listings and they could have said of course, under no circumstances will we blockade, stop agricultural products going from you to us, that is clearly absurd.

'And yet they have singularly failed to do that.'

Asked again by Labour's Hilary Benn whether he believes the EU is negotiating in good faith, Mr Johnson replied: 'I don't believe they are.'

Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis had earlier told the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee that he believed the bloc was negotiating in good faith.

When this was pointed out to Mr Johnson, he replied: 'It is always possible that I am mistaken and perhaps they will prove my suspicions wrong and perhaps they will agree in the joint committee to withdraw some of the extreme suggestions that I have heard and all will be well.'

Ms von der Leyen said this morning that the disagreement was a 'matter of law and trust and good faith' as she said the UK could not simply decide to unilaterally ditch parts of the Withdrawal Agreement.

Delivering her State of the Union address to the European Parliament in Brussels this morning, Ms von der Leyen said: 'This Withdrawal Agreement took three years to negotiate and we worked relentlessly on it line-by-line, word-by-word, and together we succeeded.

'The European Union and the UK jointly agreed that it was the best and only way for ensuring peace on the island of Ireland and we will never backtrack on that.

'This agreement has been ratified by this house and the House of Commons. It cannot be unilaterally changed, disregarded, disapplied.

'This is a matter of law and trust and good faith.'

Ms von der Leyen said Margaret Thatcher had always insisted the UK honoured its treaty commitments.

She quoted the former prime minister as saying: 'Britain does not break treaties. It would be bad for Britain, bad for relations with the rest of the world and bad for any future treaty on trade.'

Mrs von der Leyen added: 'This was true then and this is true today. Trust is the foundation of any strong partnership.'

The Brexit transition period is due to end in December and trade talks between the two sides remain ongoing.

However, the latest row has delivered a significant blow to already low hopes of an agreement being reached.

As well as prompting anger in Brussels, the Government's plans have also sparked considerable concern among Conservative MPs.

Tory rebels have put forward an amendment to the legislation which would create a 'parliamentary lock' on any attempt by the Government to try to depart from the Brexit divorce deal.

A vote on the amendment is scheduled to take place next Tuesday but Mr Buckland today suggested the Government could move on the issue in order to stop the rebellion.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I think that the issue is this. We want to make sure that if we hit a situation where we have this sort of dislocation, this sort of crisis if you like, that we can act swiftly to bring in to power the necessary regulations.

'I think that whilst actually we have got parliamentary procedures to allow secondary legislation to come into force with debate and scrutiny, we have got to get the balance right.

'We want to make sure that we are fleet of foot when it comes to the crunch but at the same time to make sure that MPs have their say.

'That is what the Prime Minister wants, that is what he said in parliament and I am sure we will find a way to do that in a manner that is acceptable to all Conservative colleagues.'

Mr Buckland also stressed the provisions within the UK Internal Market Bill which would allow Britain to override the Withdrawal Agreement and breach international law would only be used if the EU breached its Brexit obligations first.

He told Sky News: 'If we reach that stage, the reason for it is because we judge that sadly, despite everybody's best efforts, the EU is in a position where we think they are actually breaching their obligations to us.'

He said the controversial powers were effectively a 'break glass in case of emergency provision' and would only be used in the event that other arbitration mechanisms failed to resolve disagreements between the UK and EU.

He did not deny that he has held talks with Tory rebel leader Bob Neill, the chairman of the Justice Select Committee.

'I don't think it would be right of me to start talking about private conversations,' he said.

The tone of Mr Buckland's comments was in stark contrast to Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis's blunt admission last week that the Government's plans will 'break international law in a very specific and limited way'.

Mr Lewis joined Mr Buckland in hinting there could be a compromise as he gave evidence to the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee this morning.

Justice Secretary Robert Buckland today hinted the Government could compromise on its Brexit plans to win over Tory rebels

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is in Washington today for talks with US counterpart Mike Pompeo and US Speaker Nancy Pelosi with Brexit expected to feature heavily

What happens next in the Brexit process? The UK formally left the EU on January 31 this year. However, the two sides moved seamlessly into a status quo transition period lasting until December 31. This time was set aside to allow Brussels and Britain to hammer out the terms of their future relationship. Trade talks started in March and the eighth round of formal negotiations concluded last week. However, talks are at a standstill amid disagreements on fishing rights and whether the UK will sign up to Brussels' rules and regulations. Downing Street has said it does not want talks to drag into the autumn while the EU wants a deal done by the of October in order to give member states enough time to ratify it before the end of the transition period. Given the time constraints and the lack of progress being made both sides now view a deal by the end of the year as unlikely. Advertisement

He said debate on the Bill is 'ongoing' and it would be 'wrong of me to presuppose what the outcome will be'.

Mr Lewis refused to guarantee the Government would abide by decisions made by a UK/EU arbitration panel on disputes as he said it was 'dangerous' to get into 'hypotheticals'.

The Northern Ireland Secretary also dismissed claims made by Lord Keen of Elie, the Advocate General for Scotland, that Mr Lewis had 'answered the wrong question' last week when he said the Bill does break international law.

Mr Lewis told the Committee: 'I have spoken to Lord Keen and I have to say looking at the specific question my honourable friend asked me last week, he agrees the answer I gave was the correct answer.'

Lord Keen today resigned from the Government over the PM's plans.

It came as Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab prepares to meet US Speaker Nancy Pelosi in Washington to assuage her Brexit concerns.

The Foreign Secretary is due to meet with Ms Pelosi as well as his US counterpart Mike Pompeo.

Last week Ms Pelosi warned the UK there would be no trade deal with Washington if Britain undermined the Good Friday Agreement.

She said: 'If the UK violates that international treaty and Brexit undermines the Good Friday accord, there will be absolutely no chance of a US-UK trade agreement passing the Congress.'

Meanwhile, four senior US congressmen, led by chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Eliot Engel, have written to Mr Johnson urging the Government to respect its open border and peace process with Northern Ireland.

The letter, which was also signed by Mr Engel's fellow Democrats Richard Neal and William Keating as well as Republican Peter King, urged the PM to 'abandon any and all legally questionable and unfair efforts to flout the Northern Ireland protocol of the Withdrawal Agreement'.
Guest Commentary

By Rob Fleming

Minister of Education, BC

A new school year unlike any other has begun. I know living through the pandemic is a worry for all of us. But I know many people, especially students, are excited about heading back to school, to connect with teachers and friends.

Health experts predict we will be living with COVID-19 for months to come. We must show young British Columbians thats its ok to be concerned, but its also ok to keep learning and growing and stay connected to school and friends.

Schools are going to look different this year, schedules are going to be different and classrooms are going to be different.

What has not changed is our governments commitment to the health and safety of students and staff. Our ministry and schools are taking science-based, public-health advice and planning to have as many children as possible back in classrooms this September.

Schools are the best places for students. There is no substitute for in-class learning and, more than that, we know there are unintended negative consequences when children are not in school for extended periods of time.

To support schools during this pandemic, we have provided a new, one-time provincial investment of $45.6 million in COVID-19 specific funding to ensure our schools are safe for students and staff. We have ordered 1.5 million reusable face masks  thats two masks for every student and staff member. We have provided funds to school districts to buy more cleaning supplies, to hire more custodial staff and to enhance and expand handwashing stations.

Plus, the federal government is supporting our efforts with an additional $242.4 million. This funding will support school districts to hire more teachers and support staff to help students whether they are learning remotely or in the classroom, to purchase more software licences and electronic course materials or textbooks, to help supply computers or tablets for the families who need them and to create additional Wi-Fi hubs in remote and Indigenous communities, or provide internet access for families.

This funding will also allow schools to expand their health and safety measures, improve ventilation in buildings, purchase more personal protective equipment, install plexiglass barriers and hire even more custodial and support staff.

Every dollar of the provincial and federal funding will benefit students in B.C.

School districts are reporting the majority of students are heading back to the classroom. For those who are not, Ive directed school districts to be flexible and work with families to provide remote options that keep children connected to their school community.

The pandemic has upended our world. Many families have been making sacrifices to support their children with learning in the spring and throughout the summer, and I thank them.

I also thank teachers and education assistants who have been getting their classes and lesson plans ready; principals, vice-principals and school administrators who have connected with families to make sure they know about learning groups and what to expect in the classroom; and school support staff who are doing everything needed to keep schools clean and safe.

Our government is steadfast in its promise to work together with school communities, to respond quickly and appropriately throughout the pandemic and to focus on health and safety while delivering the highest quality education possible to students who deserve us to be at our best now and always.

B.C. remains one of the safest places in the world because we are in this together. Lets continue to look out for each other  working and learning safely in school this year.
The Ashanti Regional Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Augustus Nana Akwasi says his party will pull a surprise in the December 7 Presidential election in the region.



According to him, the NDC's track record on Infrastructural Developments in the region is overwhelming to win massive votes.



Comparing the track record of the NDC and NPP in terms of infrastructure, he said the two parties are miles apart.



The evidence is there for everyone to see. We [NDC] have done so much well in the Ashanti Region, Augustus Nana Akwasi said in an interview with NEAT FMs morning show 'Ghana Montie'.

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.

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The TTC is imposing a stricter mask-wearing policy on its workforce as Torontos COVID-19 cases spike and the transit agency said it determined employees werent adequately observing prevention measures.

The new rules, which require employees to don face coverings virtually anywhere on TTC property where more than one person could be present  including in outdoor spaces and while operating transit vehicles  represents a near complete reversal for the agency, which earlier in the pandemic prohibited workers who said they were concerned about the virus from wearing masks on the job.

In a safety notice the TTC issued to employees Tuesday, the agency said the mandatory mask rule was necessary in part because audits conducted by its safety department over the last couple of months discovered employees gathering outside in larger groups and not respecting physical distancing guidelines.

By the end of August, just more than three-quarters of workers at inspected transit facilities were complying with social distancing requirements, according to the agency, down from more than 85 per cent earlier in the month. At one subway facility, compliance rates were recorded as zero on two separate weekly inspections in August.

The safety notice also said the stronger policy was necessary because of the the recent uptick in new COVID-19 cases in the city and the increased risk of the virus spreading as students go back to school and ridership increases this month.

The new rules go into effect Thursday and will be in place until at least Dec. 31, according to the notice, which warned that management will be monitoring compliance and ensuring adherence to this new policy.

Carlos Santos, president of ATU Local 113, the union that represents most TTC workers, slammed the new policy, saying in an email that while masks are an important tool to fight COVID-19 it would be a potential safety hazard to force transit drivers to use them during their shifts.

Santos said that for some operators, wearing face coverings can be a distraction for the safe operation of buses, streetcars and subways, and called on the TTC to do the right thing and return to the previous policy that made masks optional for drivers.

He accused the TTC of bungling its response to the pandemic.

ATU Local 113 had to fight for weeks and months to secure what we consider basic protections, such as giving workers the option to wear face coverings on the job and access to (personal protective equipment), he said.

TTC spokesperson Stuart Green defended the agencys changing policies about masks. The science has evolved for everyone around the world. What we know and how we respond has always been in conjunction with the best public health advice available, he said.

Green said it was necessary to mandate mask use for drivers in order to ensure continuity for employees who travel to different workplaces throughout the system.

Before this week, the TTC had expected employees to follow Toronto Public Health advice and wear masks when social distancing wasnt possible, but there were exceptions for workers within non-public areas, and for those behind a physical barrier. Subway and streetcar drivers, who work in cabs fully separated from the public, and bus operators, who are behind a partition, could choose whether to wear a mask.

Under the new policy, in addition to indoor settings workers will be required to wear masks when in any common outdoor area owned or controlled by the TTC, upon entering and immediately outside TTC properties, and while driving vehicles.

As early as January, some TTC workers wanted to wear masks while on the job to protect them from the spread of COVID-19 but management prohibited them, citing Toronto Public Health advice that said there was no need for the general public to wear face coverings. The health agency later changed that advice.

As the crisis worsened, the TTC relented and agreed in March to allow workers to wear face coverings, in part to stave off job action from employees who were concerned about working in close contact with crowds as the pandemic tightened its grip on the city.

As of Sunday, 77 TTC employees had tested positive for COVID-19, out of a staff of about 16,000, according to the agency.

Masks have been mandatory for TTC riders since July 2. Green said the agencys latest count indicated 97 per cent of passengers are complying with the rule, despite the agency declining to strictly enforce it.

Ben Spurr is a Toronto-based reporter covering transportation for the Star. Reach him by email at bspurr@thestar.ca or follow him on Twitter: @BenSpurr
The Victorian premier has slapped down calls for the state to do away with daylight saving during the lockdown.

A health professional pushing for daylight saving to be cancelled points to a growing body of research suggesting there are harmful health and economic disruptions associated with the twice annual changing of the clocks.

Professor of diabetes at Melbournes Monash University, Paul Zimmet, said this summer could be particularly important to scrap the light-saving measure.

Speaking to 3AW on Wednesday morning, he said the Victorian health department needed to consider the negative impacts of the upcoming change for those already dealing with lockdown restrictions.

In terms of the scientific evidence, which we will want to stick with at the moment, there are more heart attacks just after daylight savings, more road accidents, and then youve got workplace accidents, car accidents and their implications, he said.

That earlier rise for the change to daylight saving can throw the body clock out of whack, experts say. Source: Getty (file)

A Michigan Medicine study in the US in 2017 found both a 22 per cent increase in people having heart attacks the day after daylight saving started in the state, and a 21 per cent decrease the day after daylight saving ended.

There is also cognitive dysfunction in relation to the... change in timing to our normal body rhythms, Prof Zimmet said.

He acknowledged this is an international scientific debate at the moment, pointing to the European Union which has decided to scrap daylight saving time from 2021.

When asked by a reporter on Wednesday morning, Daniel Andrews was quick to dismiss the idea.

I don't want to be disrespectful to the professor, who may be a very learned individual.

No, he said. Daylight saving will be proceeding.

That's why the curfew changes, that extra hour is really important, well ahead of daylight saving, he said, referring to the fact that Melbournes curfew was recently changed from 8pm to 9pm.

A summer like no other, Victoria premier says

Among some laughter from the press pack, Mr Andrews used the moment to implore Melburnians to stay the course with Stage 4 restrictions as the days get longer.

Story continues

Your question gives me an opportunity to make a point that those extra hours of daylight and hopefully good weather over summer ... it will be a summer like no other. If we stay the course we'll be able to get close to normal, he said.

People will be able to go out and enjoy the city, enjoy the state, enjoy being back at work, enjoy a sense of confidence as they go into 2021.

Melbourne's lockdown curfew was recently extended by an hour. Source: Getty

And you know what they'll enjoy most? They'll enjoy the fundamental truth that all that they've given, all that they've done counted for something. It wasn't frittered away.

It wasn't because pressure came and a bad decision was made, the wrong decision was made. We've got to avoid that. This will be a summer like no other and daylight saving, I can confirm, will be a feature of it.

Daylight saving time will come into effect at 2am on October 4, with residents in NSW, the ACT, Victoria South Australia and Tasmania turning their clocks forward by one hour.

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.
The National Party has been in a death spiral for years and it says a lot about a very tenacious and committed group of people in moleskins that the funeral has not been held. Of course, NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaros outburst last week was ridiculously timed and picked on the one national mascot we havent eaten; and, of course, Premier Gladys Berejiklian stared him down magnificently and he had to back down.

But hes made the point, hasnt he?

Testing times for the Liberal and Nationals Coalition ... Premier Gladys Berejiklian with her deputy John Barilaro in the NSW Parliament. Credit:Wolter Peeters

No, not to his party room, which is a mixture of former Young Liberals and community-minded country-town folk, who back him, almost to the hilt. It wasn't really intended for them because he has quite a command of a parliamentary group absolutely transformed in recent years from graziers and stock and station agents to community nurses and local media personalities. From tweed-coated, ruddy-faced farmers to a community party.

Rather, Barilaros dog whistle was to the other end of the National Party voting spectrum. Here you find the frustrated farmers and graziers who are struggling in an increasingly regulated environment dominated by a baffling land management code they can never crack. As Australian agriculture relentlessly mechanises and corporatises there are fewer of these voters.
An area of low pressure that moved into the Mediterranean Sea earlier this week has strengthened into a medicane before turning toward Greece.

This low moved off the northern coast of Libya on Tuesday and drifted to the north across the Mediterranean Sea into Thursday.

Once over water, the storm was able to strengthen and was designated as a medicane on Wednesday.

Medicane is an informal name for a nontropical storm that moves over the Mediterranean Sea and gains some tropical characteristics as it strengthens over the warm water. Medicane is a combination of the two words "Mediterranean" and "hurricane."

This medicane is expected to drift to the east and provide Greece with flooding rainfall and damaging winds Friday into Saturday

CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP

Ahead of impacts from this storm, the National Observatory of Athens designated the medicane Storm Janus, spelled Ianos in Greek. The Hellenic National Meteorological Service also issued an extraordinary weather warning and a gale warning ahead of impacts expected from Storm Janus.

As the storm passed to the south of Italy on Wednesday, it produced heavy rain across southern Italy and the south coast of Sicily. As much as 35 mm (1.38 inches) of rain was reported in Reggio Calabria. This is more than the citys normal September rainfall of 29 mm (1.14 inches).

According to AccuWeather Meteorologist Tyler Roys, heavy rain and strong winds are forecast in parts of Greece as Storm Janus moves across the area.

With a track near the Ionian Islands from Friday into Saturday, western Greece is expected to receive the greatest impacts from the storm.

"This storm can bring widespread wind gusts of 80-97 km/h (50-60 mph) to western Greece, with the AccuWeather Local StormMax of 120 km/h (75 mph) through Saturday evening," stated AccuWeather Meteorologist Tony Zartman.

Winds of this speed can cause downed trees and power lines as well as localized structural damage. As a result, power outages are likely across western Greece.

Story continues

Zartman added that coastal flooding is also likely along exposed beaches.

This satellite loop shows a medicane, Storm Janus, spinning over the Mediterranean Sea on Thursday afternoon, Sept. 17, local time. (RAMMB/CIRA)

Flash flooding is also likely in areas along the western coast of Greece, where 50-100 mm (2-4 inches) are expected. Otherwise, 25-50 mm (1-2 inches) of rain can fall across southern Italy and much of central and southern Greece.

Storm Janus is forecast to begin dissipating through the end of the weekend as it slowly tracks to the south. Locally heavy thunderstorms and gusty wind and flooding rain can impact northeastern Libya on Sunday.

Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
Press

October 2021 - In the INSCAPES Project, students will celebrate their favorite places around campus and Berkshire county in the form of couplets which can then be submitted to be featured around campus.

October 2021 - Hosted by MCLAs Institute for the Arts and Humanities, students and North Adams community members were able to attend a silent disco, a recent trend where attendees are given headphones and have the ability to individually choose the kind of music they wish to dance to.

July 2021 - As the ILC presented their first six months of work at MCLAs IAH summer symposium, the whole virtual room became Accountability Buddies. In the panel conversation with MCLA, they gathered to share their progress and next steps, and VanSant asked the audience to consider their own place in the story of anti-racism.

June 2021 - Why are these green beans so hard? / Thats because they are edamame." Declan McDermott reflected on the Korean Garden in North Adams.

May 2021 - NORTH ADAMS, MASS. The MCLA Institute for the Arts and Humanities (IAH) will host its annual Summer Symposium from Tuesday, June 1Thursday, June 17, 2021. The four-part Zoom event is produced in collaboration with BRIDGE Inc.s Inclusive Leadership Cohort (ILC), Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation (BTCF), Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC), and the Berkshire Cultural Assets Network (BCAN), and is free and open to the public.

July 2020 - At first I wondered if I was qualified, said Thomas, but I did find that I did have experiences and was able to help people talk about those experiences too. That really meant a lot to me.

March 2020 - "Im excited about this new Arts and Humanity Institute which will center equity, access, inclusion, and diversity for and with its surrounding community. Also, this work is deeply relational. As we continue to do this work, I want to invite folks to keep having enthusiastic conversations filled with optimism for a collective movement and vision towards safety for all of us. We should all be able to thrive here in our Berkshire home."

July 2019 - We can find places of belonging here, Barreto said. Thats what Im excited about. From the beginning, finding cultural resources has felt central to her work here to create a network among local arts organizations that share the institutes concerns.

June 2019 - NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts is partnering with the area's myriad cultural entities to further its mission as an inclusive educational institution.

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NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. ("Oppenheimer"), a leading investment bank, wealth manager, and a subsidiary of Oppenheimer Holdings (NYSE: OPY), today announced the launch of a strategic alliance with global FinTech firm, InvestCloud. The partnership will accelerate Oppenheimer's buildout of its digital experience platform for the firm's financial advisors and other professionals, as well as their clients. InvestCloud is one of the financial services industry's top digital platforms for wealth management and asset management firms.

Central to this strategic alliance is the creation of a new digital advisor-client web-based portal for Oppenheimer's Private Client Division. The digital portal, expected to launch in the first half of next year, will be designed, built, and powered by InvestCloud and will integrate with Oppenheimer's existing technology infrastructure.

Ed Harrington, Executive Vice President and Head of the Private Client Division at Oppenheimer, said, "Oppenheimer's new financial advisor and client portal, powered by our partnership with InvestCloud, will enable Oppenheimer's professionals to serve their clients anytime and anywhere with the most robust suite of digital tools in our industry today. With end-to-end integration throughout the journey from prospect to client and beyond, the InvestCloud platform will take the capabilities of our firm and its financial advisors to a new level, while elevating each stage of the client digital service experience."

ENHANCED TECHNOLOGY-ENABLED SOLUTIONS

The partnership is expected to significantly enhance Oppenheimer's ability to deliver the following technology-enabled solutions to its financial advisors and other professionals:

Recruit and prospect transitioning

Client onboarding and retention

Business growth and process efficiency

Oppenheimer's partnership with InvestCloud represents the next step in a series of strategic investments in advisor-facing technology. InvestCloud will serve to augment the capabilities of Oppenheimer's other digital platforms, while enhancing the firm's document creation and delivery solutions. This summer Oppenheimer completed implementation of AdvisorWorks, an adaptive, proprietary CRM and desktop dashboard that serves as the landing site for all advisor applications, delivering an integrated environment for maximizing its financial advisors' productivity with clients and prospects. Previous Oppenheimer digital enhancements include Passport, the firm's portfolio management platform for advisors, as well as a cloud-based electronic signature and document management platform.

PROSPECT PORTAL AND DIGITAL CLIENT ONBOARDING

The new partnership will enable Oppenheimer to take advantage of InvestCloud's unique Prospect Portal and Digital Client Onboarding apps. The Prospect Portal provides an intuitive and individualized hub for clients to learn more and engage with Oppenheimer's advisors prior to becoming a client.

Prospects will then progress to InvestCloud's Digital Client Onboarding solution, allowing them to seamlessly open new accounts. Unlike other onboarding solutions, InvestCloud integrates prospect data with information gathered through InvestCloud's unique Multi-Question Multi-Answer (MQMA) system. This allows Oppenheimer to automatically create intuitive proposals and provide an onboarding experience that is tailored to the individual. Both apps utilize InvestCloud's unique behavioral science functions for enhanced digital engagement.

John Wise, InvestCloud's Co-founder, CEO and Chairman said, "At a time when many financial institutions are expediting their online offerings to service existing client needs, there is also a significant case to be put forward in using digital to engage with prospects. Our apps will fuel Oppenheimer's business development engines, ensuring prospects receive intuitive, involved, and individual experiences from the very first touchpoint all the way through to the long-term relationship. By taking advantage of our industry-leading Digital Warehouse and our unique approach to behavioral science, Oppenheimer is well placed to deliver exceptional prospect and client experiences which will result in enhanced business growth."

Albert G. Lowenthal, CEO and Chairman at Oppenheimer, said, "We continue to deploy capital in a disciplined manner as we make great progress on our digital transformation roadmap across our business segments. Our partnership with InvestCloud will provide intuitive, automated, and modern interfaces that improve the wealth management experience for both our advisors and their clients. This investment will optimize and enhance prior investments as we work to anticipate the preferences our clients have for both in-person and digital delivery."

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. For more information, please visit www.oppenheimer.com.



About InvestCloud

InvestCloud is a global company specializing in digital platforms that enable the development of financial solutions, pre-integrated into the Cloud. The company offers on-demand client experiences and intuitive operations solutions using an ever-expanding library of modular apps, resulting in powerful products. Headquartered in Los Angeles with additional offices in New York, Toronto and London, InvestCloud supports more than $2 trillion in assets across 750+ diverse clients  from some of the biggest banks in the world, wealth managers, institutional investors and institutional asset managers to family offices, asset services companies and financial platforms. For more information, visit www.investcloud.com.

Oppenheimer Media Contact:

Joseph Kuo / Michael Dugan

Haven Tower Group LLC

424 317 4851 or 424 317 4852

[email protected] or [email protected]



InvestCloud Media Contact:

Rich Went

Metia Group

+44 (0) 7745 496 065

[email protected] / [email protected]

SOURCE Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.

Related Links

http://www.oppenheimer.com


The Association of Healthcare Providers of India (AHPI) would likely challenge in court the Delhi government's recent order where 33 private hospitals were directed to reserve 80 per cent of their total ICU bed capacity for COVID patients. The association expressed serious reservations against the latest order and called it "arbitrary in nature".

Dr Girdhar J. Gyani, Director General, AHPI, said that the representations to reverse this order have already been made before Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain and Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan.

"The order has been issued without any prior discussions with private hospitals to understand the current demand-supply situation of critical care beds. While we fully support the augmentation of infrastructure for treatment of COVID patients, ignoring the needs of other sicker patients requiring critical care and ICU management at these tertiary care facilities is gross injustice. We have already made representations to the Union and Delhi Health Ministry against the order and may even consider exploring legal options against it," he added.

"This order needs to be challenged in court on the principle of natural justice. The order is arbitrary and taken without discussing with the hospitals. It covers all the major hospitals of Delhi and is tantamount to treating them as Covid hospitals," stated Sanyam Khetrapal, legal advisor to the AHPI.

Dr Gyani also said that the order will not just expose non-COVID patients to the risk of COVID but also undermine the rights of other patients, who are in serious need of surgeries/other treatment, to access urgent healthcare.

"In view of the fact that private hospitals routinely get 20-30 per cent patients in their Emergencies involving strokes, heart attacks, grievous injuries, acute pulmonary disorders, complex fractures, and even other conditions like cancer, transplant and cardiac patients which require urgent interventions and critical care, reserving 80 per cent beds in the ICU, it will deny urgent care to seriously ill patients, requiring vital surgical interventions and critical care. All these patients will have to face prolonged waiting time (some resulting in loss of life) if ICUs are not available," he said.

The AHPI also said that the situation may also result in ICU beds lying vacant for COVID patients while patients of other serious diseases will be left on their own. "Considering the percentage of COVID patients who require ICU admission, we can assume that non-COVID patients would be left suffering while ICU beds may lie vacant for the want of seriously sick COVID patients," Dr Gyani said.

"As per government orders, 60-80 per cent of beds in hospital wards could be used for non-COVID patients, however, now there will be only 20 per cent of total ICU capacity available for these non-COVID patients. This will mean that for 20-40 per cent COVID patients in wards, hospitals will be expected to reserve 80 per cent of ICU beds," he explained.

The AHPI also claimed that in the last two months, the non-COVID patients of cardiovascular disease, heart and lungs transplants, Oncology, Paediatrics etc needed admissions in ICU more than the COVID patients. "In one of the Super Speciality hospitals, of the total number of admissions, only 15 per cent were COVID positive and the rest were all related to other conditions during the months July to August. In other Tertiary and Quaternary Care Hospitals the numbers requiring admissions in surgical ICU stood at 1,605, during the period June to August," the association stated.
President Donald Trump and top US officials were to meet at the White House on Tuesday to consider a proposal by China's ByteDance to keep majority ownership of its popular TikTok video app, people familiar with the matter said. Trump has ordered ByteDance to divest TikTok amid US concerns that user data could be passed to China's Communist Party government. He has threatened to ban TikTok in the United States as early as Sept. 20 if ByteDance does not comply.

Under ByteDance's proposal, however, the Beijing-based company would keep a majority stake in TikTok's global business and create headquarters for TikTok in the United States, the sources said. Oracle Corp would become ByteDance's technology partner responsible for the management of TikTok's data and take a minority stake in TikTok, the sources added. The ByteDance proposal also calls for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, the US government panel that is overseeing the deal talks, to supervise how TikTok will be operated, one of the sources said.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who chairs CFIUS, and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross are scheduled to attend the White House meeting, two of the sources said. It is unclear whether Trump will approve ByteDance's proposal, the sources said, requesting anonymity because the deliberations are confidential. The White House, ByteDance and Oracle did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

While TikTok is best known for dancing videos that go viral among teenagers, US officials have had concerns since last year about whether the personal information of its 100 million US users could be compromised under its Chinese owner. ByteDance's plan calls for restrictions in its control of TikTok, the sources said. It asks CFIUS to agree to operational arrangements similar to those it put in place when it allowed SoftBank Group Corp to acquire US wireless carrier Sprint in 2013, according to the sources.

These could include the US government approving board directors at TikTok, as well as its relationships with major vendors, the sources said. ByteDance is also hoping that Oracle founder Larry Ellison's fundraising for Trump, as well as Oracle CEO Safra Catz's backing of Trump's transition team four years ago, will boost its chances, Reuters has reported.

Also read: Bytedance picks Oracle over Microsoft for TikTok in US: 5 key points to note

Also read: Will Tiktok's deal with Oracle avert India ban?
Phnom Penh, Sep 16 : Cambodia on Wednesday warned of heavy rainfall and strong winds at sea from Friday to Sunday, advising travelers and fishermen to be on high precautions.

According to the weather forecast, the kingdom will suffer from the impact of tropical storm Noul that moved across the Philippines early Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported.

Lim Keanhor, Cambodian Minister of Water Resources and Meteorology said that Noul's impact will cause heavy rainfall at coastal provinces and moderate-to-heavy rainfall in plain and plateau provinces.

"For coastal areas, there will be heavy rainfall with strong winds and high waves that can result in flash flood," the Minister said.

Keanhor called on the public, particularly sea travelers and fishermen, to be extra-vigilant in order to avoid any possible dangers.
Candidates in Saturdays governorship election in Edo State have lamented that shortage of funds has limited their outreach to the voters.

The electoral body, INEC, approved the campaigns by the 14 political parties fielding candidates in the election to start on June 21 and run until 24 hours to the election.

After over 80 days out on the field, the candidates and officials of six parties in separate interviews with PREMIUM TIMES explained how they had sourced funds for their exploits.

Contrary to the assumption that campaigns are funded by the parties, most of the candidates said they raised the bulk of their campaign funds through loans, personal savings and donations from friends.

Finance is very important in the conduct of political parties and if you want to contest, it is money. I have been running here and there looking for money, for who to sponsor me, the Social Democratic Partys (SDP) candidate, Felix Obayagbon, said

Those ones I borrowed, those ones sent to me by my children and the assistance from friends have been what I have been relying on to remain in the race till now, he said.

Mr Obayagbon said he had spent over N3 million as of the time he spoke with our reporter on Tuesday.

Because of his financial challenge, he said some of his partys local government chairmen had sold out by mobilising for either of the two major parties who pay them better.

The Action Peoples Partys (APP) candidate, Osalumese Areloegbe, spoke in the same vein.

He said he had spent about N5 million, which he said came mainly from his personal savings and assistance from a few friends and well-wishers.

He said asides waving his nomination forms fee, his party, the APP, has not made any financial contribution to his campaigns.

One of the two female candidates in the election, Tracy Agol of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), said she raised half of her campaign funds herself while her party raised the other half.

I need to do some expenses calculation but by rough sketch I have spent more than N7 million. More than half of it has been from my pocket while the party executives contributed the rest, she said.

She also spoke about other challenges faced by her campaign.

Ms Agol lamented how the countrys politics has become so money-driven that the people who are calling for change will also ask you to drop kola whenever you visit the communities with your agenda.

She said she went on campaigns with materials such as biscuits for the voters.

The PDP spokesperson in the state, Chris Nehikhare, said he did not know how much his party raised for the election. I am not a member of the campaign committee nor am I a member of the finance team, he said.

As I speak to you now, there is a fund-raising dinner ongoing at Golden Tulip Hotel in Benin City where members of the party are donating for this election. Some as little as N5,000 while some are donating as big as N5 million.

We are short of funds  APC Edo

APC chairman in the state, David Imuse, said the party was short of funds to run its campaign.

You want to help us with money, so that I can come and meet you? We need money. Let me come to meet you in Abuja for it. he said joking.

You better call the candidate and ask him how he is funding his campaign, Mr Imuse finally told the reporter.

Meanwhile, the APCs Osagie Ize-Iyamu and a few other candidates did not respond to requests for comments as of the time of filing this report.

Nigerias electoral law does not mandate candidates and parties to be transparent with their campaign expenses. Parties are only required to submit their campaign finance details to INEC three months after an election. However, there is no penalty for parties who refuse to do so and previous reports by PREMIUM TIMES have shown that most of the parties do not submit the required report.

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With help from the community, a Northern Arizona University graduate student is working to provide higher level COVID-19 personal protective equipment (PPE) to university faculty.

Through an online fundraiser that now has raised more than $700, student Mark Graebner has been able to order a mix of more than 350 KN95 particle masks and face shields since the start of in-person classes Aug. 31.

Graebner got the idea after speaking with his parents, who are both educators, about the challenges of teaching during the pandemic.

I had been really concerned about my class schedule and how a lot of things with NAUs reopening were working, but I hadnt really sat down and asked the question, do teachers have the right kind of masks? Are they really protected? Graebner said.

He selected KN95 particle masks to act as a step up from the cloth masks already provided to all NAU employees. KN95 masks are the standard for respirator masks in China, like N95 masks are the standard in the U.S., and were shown to have a filter efficiency of more than 95% in a recent test by the National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory.

Graebner placed an initial order of 30 KN95 masks and 30 face shields just before posting the fundraiser so they would arrive before the start of in-person classes.

I placed an advanced order in the hope people would be generous and people have surpassed my expectations, he said. Its been really fantastic getting all this support from the community.

The morning of the Flagstaff campus official reopening for classes, Graebner delivered the PPE to those who had requested it, as well as to others who he found preparing for their classes.

Neal Galloway, a lecturer in the School of Art, said his department director provided plastic face shields to employees in addition to the cloth masks, but Galloway discovered he wanted additional protection, even with classes split in half between physical and online attendance.

I teach a studio art class. Its not like a lecture course, where youre up at the front of the room and students stay where they are. Its really physically dynamic. Students are spread around the room, observing physical objects and as part of the curriculum, I walk around and I check things. I have to get up close and point out specifics, Galloway said. That kind of interaction  where we keep 6 feet of distance as much as we can  is still imperfect, just given the type of class that it is.

Galloway saw the PPE fundraiser online and decided to request a KN95 mask, which he now uses alternatively with an old N95 mask he purchased last year to protect from inhaling plaster dust in a sculpture class.

I did my first in-person class and it was so clear to me that I just felt so much more comfortable with more protection than [a cloth mask].  My mask protects my students and then Im relying on every single one of my students to be healthy and wear their masks appropriately, which most of them are doing amazing at, but not everyone is. So after that first day, I was like, I need something that offers me more protection, Galloway said.

University response

About a week after the PPE fundraiser began, NAU officials reached out to Graebner with concerns about the initiative, noting that some of the claims made about the universitys safety measures were incorrect and misleading, NAU spokesperson Kimberly Ott told the Arizona Daily Sun in an email. She referred to a statement in the fundraiser description that said the university did not have plans to distribute more PPE than the cloth masks.

NAU was concerned that perhaps his false claims might expose him to legal action from others, if they learned that some of his comments were incorrect.  We appreciate all efforts to support the health and safety of our university community and only asked that this student please provide factual information on his GoFundMe page, so that potential donors had accurate information regarding the availability of PPE for faculty and staff who need it, Ott said.

Ott explained NAU does have significant PPE  including KN95 and N95 masks, face shields, gloves and touchless thermometers  in stock and that employees can request them through their supervisor. She added that employees are not required to pay for PPE.

However, the University Union of Northern Arizona, which has supported the PPE fundraiser on its website, believes NAU is not doing enough to protect employees health during COVID-19.

The lack of adequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for NAU employees, particularly in conjunction with the lack of choice in teaching modality, is one of many ways in which this administration has demonstrated that they do not value the safety and health of employees, the union said in an email.

Various campus community members, including faculty and graduate employees, plan to participate in a die-in demonstration on campus this Friday to express their concerns for teacher and student health as a result of reopening campus during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kaitlin Olson can be reached at the office at kolson@azdailysun.com or by phone at (928) 556-2253.

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KYODO NEWS - Sep 16, 2020 - 20:50 | All, World, Japan

TOKYO - Hitachi Ltd. said Wednesday it will exit a 3 trillion yen ($28 billion) project to build a nuclear power plant in Britain after struggling to secure additional financial support from the British government.

The withdrawal came as a severe blow to Japan's efforts to boost infrastructure exports and more than a year after the plan was suspended in January 2019.

The project, involving Hitachi subsidiary Horizon Nuclear Power Ltd., was to construct two reactors on the island of Anglesey in northern Wales. Hitachi has notified the British government of the decision, a company official said.

"Hitachi made the decision given that 20 months have passed since the suspension, and the investment environment has become increasingly severe due to the impact of COVID-19," the company said in a statement after a board meeting.

Hitachi said it will coordinate with the British government and relevant organizations over the handling of the planned sites for construction and other issues related to the project.

The Japanese industrial conglomerate, which operates a railway business in Britain, said it does not expect the latest decision to have a significant impact on earnings because an impairment loss and other expenses of about 295 billion yen were incurred in fiscal 2018 through March 2019.

Hitachi acquired Horizon in 2012 to boost its nuclear power business overseas. But it faced difficulty in securing funding as safety-related costs pushed up the total cost of the project to 3 trillion yen from 2 trillion yen.

In 2018, Hitachi Chairman Hiroaki Nakanishi met with then British Prime Minister Theresa May to seek support from London.

The 3 trillion yen project was to be realized by 2 trillion yen from the British government in loans and the rest from Hitachi as well as Japanese and British firms.

Japan has been promoting infrastructure exports as one of the drivers of economic growth.

The push for the export of nuclear power technology comes as domestic opposition to the electricity-generating method remains strong following the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident, the worst since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

Other Japanese firms have also faced headwinds. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. is expected to withdraw from a project in Turkey, while Toshiba Corp.'s U.S. nuclear unit filed for bankruptcy protection.

Earlier this year, the Japanese government decided to tighten rules on exporting coal-fired power plants amid criticism that the practice goes against efforts to fight global warming.
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(TNS)  Amazon announced plans Monday to hire more than 4,000 workers in metro Atlanta, increasing its workforce in Georgia by nearly half, part of a rising tide of jobs among online, logistics and shipping companies.The local hiring spurt by the e-commerce giant  part of 100,000 new positions it plans to fill nationally  is a welcome injection into a Georgia economy that has lost hundreds of thousands of jobs since the start of the coronavirus pandemic and is struggling to regain its footing.It also underscores one part of the U.S. economy that is humming: shipping packages to homes as health fears about COVID-19 accelerate the migration of consumers from brick-and-mortar stores to online purchases.The 4,000 new jobs include 1,000 previously announced positions at a newly built distribution center in Stone Mountain. Amazon currently has more than 10,500 workers in Georgia.Hiring has already begun for the jobs, which are primarily in shipping, distribution and other logistics, with pay starting at $15 an hour, according to the Seattle-based company.Amazons expansion here is being accompanied by other delivery and logistics companies that are staffing up ahead of the holiday season, when a flood of packages typically flows from suppliers to American households.UPS, the huge delivery company based in Sandy Springs, last week announced plans to add more than 100,000 seasonal workers globally for this holiday season, including 7,000 in Georgia, most of them in metro Atlanta.But Amazon said its new jobs are not seasonal additions, a sign of how much e-commerce in general has surged. Thats at least partly because of consumers either stuck at home or anxious to avoid in-person shopping during the pandemic.With interstate highways, two of the nations busiest seaports and Hartsfield-Jackson , long the worlds busiest airport, Georgia has long been a hub for distributing goods through the Southeast and that value only increased with the spread of COVID-19 Retail stores like Kroger , Publix, Walmart and Target initiated or ramped up online ordering and delivery services for the items they carry. But much of the growth has been in the companies that have historically been in the business of delivery, with the notable exception of Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines, which has seen a sharp drop in passenger traffic.Metro Atlanta had more than 271,000 transportation and warehousing jobs, according to a government report last year . The region ranked sixth nationally among metro areas for transportation and warehousing work, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics DHL eCommerce Solutions recently announced a deal to open its first fully-owned U.S. distribution center, a facility in Mableton. In Atlanta, DHL eCommerce is hiring workers to fill 225 part- and full-time openings this year, according to a spokeswoman for the company, a division of Germanys Deutsche Post DHL Group.Memphis-based FedEx, UPSs chief shipping rival, with more than a half-million employees , expects to add more than 70,000 positions nationally during the next few months, according to a company statement Monday. FedEx employs almost 12,000 workers in Georgia.The United States Postal Service, with nearly 500,000 workers , hasnt decided yet whether it will hire more staff this fall, a spokeswoman said. In addition to delivering holiday gifts through the mail, the USPS is expected to see a sharp rise in mail-in ballots in the Nov. 3 presidential elections as more voters try to avoid long lines amid the pandemic.Dave Clark, a senior vice president at Amazon, said safety for workers will be a priority with COVID-19 still spreading. Full-time workers will also receive health, vision and dental insurance, as well as up to 20 weeks of paid parental leave, he said in a statement. The company did not say how many of the new jobs would be full-time.Among the companys locations in Georgia, Amazon has seven distribution warehouses, a technology hub and a dozen Whole Foods Markets.
The market on September 16 continued its uptrend for the second consecutive session with the Nifty reclaiming the 11,600 mark for the first time since August 28, backed by buying in almost all sectors.

The BSE Sensex climbed 258.50 points to close at 39,302.85, while the Nifty50 rose 82.70 points to 11,604.50 and formed a bullish candle on the daily charts.

"Nifty moved above the crucial overhead resistance around 11,580 and closed higher (previous opening downside gap of September 4 and the uptrend line, connecting previous rising lows). This action could bring hopes for bulls and one may expect Nifty to test the next upside levels of 11,795 in the near term (high of long bear candle of August 31)," Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities, told Moneycontrol.

"After the formation of the Bearish Engulfing pattern on the daily and weekly chart, the Nifty has failed to show any significant decline in the last 8-10 sessions. Wednesday's attempt to move above the key overhead resistance could be another indication to raise doubt on the sharp negative implication post Bearish Engulfing pattern," he said.

The Nifty Pharma and Realty gained the most among sectors, rising over 2 percent each, while Nifty Auto was up 1.5 percent, followed by Bank, FMCG and IT indices which gained around half a percent each.

We have collated 15 data points to help you spot profitable trades:

Note: The open interest (OI) and volume data of stocks given in this story are the aggregates of three- month data and not of the current month only.

Key support and resistance levels on the Nifty

According to pivot charts, the key support levels for the Nifty is placed at 11,541.5, followed by 11,478.5. If the index moves up, the key resistance levels to watch out for are 11,642.8 and 11,681.1.

Nifty Bank

The Bank Nifty underperformed Nifty50, climbing 107.85 points to close at 22,573.50 on September 16. The important pivot level, which will act as crucial support for the index, is placed at 22,306.93, followed by 22,040.27. On the upside, key resistance levels are placed at 22,749.83 and 22,926.07.

Call option data

Maximum Call open interest of 26.27 lakh contracts was seen at 12,000 strike, which will act as crucial resistance in the September series.

This is followed by 11,600 strike, which holds 20.59 lakh contracts, and 11,800 strike, which has accumulated 18.28 lakh contracts.

Call writing was seen at 11,900 strike, which added 3.39 lakh contracts, followed by 11,600, which added 3.10 lakh contracts, and 11,700 strike, which added 2.4 lakh contracts.

Call unwinding was seen at 11,500 strike, which shed 1.5 lakh contracts, followed by 11,400 strike, which shed 1.12 lakh contracts.

Put option data

Maximum Put open interest of 32.18 lakh contracts was seen at 11,500 strike, which will act as crucial support in the September series.

This is followed by 11,000 strike, which holds 27.17 lakh contracts, and 11,200 strike, which has accumulated 20.82 lakh contracts.

Put writing was seen at 11,500 strike, which added 10.85 lakh contracts, followed by 11,600 strike, which added 5.03 lakh contracts and 11,400 strike which added 2.17 lakh contracts.

Put unwinding was witnessed at 11,200, which shed 54,225 contracts, followed by 10,900 strike which shed 18,000 contracts.

Stocks with a high delivery percentage

A high delivery percentage suggests that investors are showing interest in these stocks.

44 stocks saw long build-up

Based on the open interest future percentage, here are the top 10 stocks in which long build-up was seen.

19 stocks saw long unwinding

Based on the open interest future percentage, here are the top 10 stocks in which long unwinding was seen.

32 stocks saw short build-up

An increase in open interest, along with a decrease in price, mostly indicates a build-up of short positions. Based on the open interest future percentage, here are the top 10 stocks in which short build-up was seen.

43 stocks witnessed short-covering

A decrease in open interest, along with an increase in price, mostly indicates a short-covering. Based on the open interest future percentage, here are the top 10 stocks in which short-covering was seen.

Bulk deals

Manaksia Steels: The company acquired 13,25,000 equity shares of Manaksia Limited through market purchase on September 16, raising shareholding from 4.08 percent to 6.10 percent.

Indian Energy Exchange: Dalmia Cement (Bharat) bought 70 lakh shares in the company at Rs 206.20 per share on the BSE. However, DPVL Ventures LLP was the seller for the same shares at the same price.

Elgi Rubber: Promoter Varadaraj Sudarsan acquired 4,75,345 equity shares in the company at Rs 16.68 per share on the NSE. However, P Chandrasekaran sold 4,72,300 shares at the same price.

(For more bulk deals, click here)

Analysts/Board Meetings

HSIL: The meeting of the board of directors of the company is scheduled for September 21 to consider the proposal of buyback of the fully paid-up equity shares.

Filatex India: The company's representatives will be attending a virtual investors' conference on September 18.

Trident: The company's representatives will be attending a virtual investors' conference on September 17.

Sanghvi Forging and Engineering: The company will consider unaudited financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2020, on September 22.

Stocks in the news

HCL Technologies: The company and Google Cloud expanded partnership to deliver accelerated business intelligence platform.

Action Construction Equipment: ICRA assigned a long-term rating of AA- with a stable outlook to Rs 395 crore bank facilities of the company.

Genus Paper & Boards: SEBI imposed a penalty on three erstwhile promoters (including the company) of Genus Prime Infra for certain non-compliances of regulations.

GMR Infrastructure: Promoter entity GMR Enterprises created a pledge on 3.75 crore equity shares of the company.

B&A Packaging India: CRISIL upgraded the company's long term credit rating to BBB/Stable from BBB-/Stable and short term rating to A3+ from A3.

Dhanuka Agritech: The company approved the proposal of buyback of shares worth up to Rs 100 crore and fixed September 28 as record for determining the entitlement of equity shareholders.

Fund flow

FII and DII data

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 264.66 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 212.21 crore in the Indian equity market on September 16, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

Stock under F&O ban on NSE

Eleven stocks ---- are under the F&O ban for September 17. 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.
The disposal of Sentinel on July 1, 2020 will have an impact on the accounts of the second half of the year, but has enabled the group to reduce entirely its net debt





CONSOLIDATED DATA AS OF JUNE 30th

in millions of  2020 2019 2020/2019 Growth Revenue 478.3 463.7 +3.1% Growth at constant exchange rates +5.0% Growth at constant exchange rates and scope1 +5.0% Current operating profit before depreciation of assets arising from acquisitions 2 85.5 66.9 +27.7% as a % of revenue

as a % of revenue at constant rates 17.9%

18.3% 14.4%



Depreciation of intangible assets from acquisitions 6.3 7.5 Operating profit from ordinary activities 79.1 59.4 +33.2% Non-recurring expenses and income 5.4 9.4 Operating profit 73.8 50.0 +47.6%



Net profit from ordinary activities 3



53.6



35.5



+51.0% Consolidated net profit 49.7 28.4 +75.1% Including net profit - Group share 47.2 26.4 Shareholders' equity - Group Share 548.0 488.9 +12.1%



Net debt 4



348.2



455.5



-23.6%



Operating cash flow before interest and taxes 5



104.2



82.4



+26.4%

1 Growth at constant exchange rates and scope is the organic growth of sales, excluding the impact of exchange rate changes, by calculating the indicator for the financial year in question and that for the previous financial year on the basis of identical exchange rates (the exchange rate used is that in effect for the previous financial year), and excluding the impact of changes in scope, by calculating the indicator for the financial year in question on the basis of the scope of consolidation for the previous financial year.

2 Current operating profit before depreciation of assets arising from acquisitions reflects profit from ordinary activities adjusted for the impact of allowances for depreciation of intangible assets resulting from acquisition transactions.

3 Net profit from ordinary activities corresponds to net consolidated profit adjusted for non-recurring expenses and income (5.4 million), and for non-current tax (- 1.5 million).

4 Net debt corresponds to current (104.5 million) and non-current (328.3 million) financial liabilities as well as a lease obligation related to the application of IFRS 16 (33.3 million), less cash and cash equivalents (117.9 million) as published in the statement of financial position.

5 Operating cash flow corresponds to operating profit (73.8 million) adjusted for items having no impact on cash position and impacts related to transfers. The following items are adjusted: asset depreciation and impairments (30.2 million), provisions for risks and charges (- 0.6 million), provisions related to employee benefits (0.2 million), and the other expenses and income without any impact on cash position (0.4 million). and the impacts related to transfers (0.2 million).

The accounts were audited by the statutory auditors and examined by the supervisory board on September 15, 2020. The statutory auditor's report is in the process of being issued. The statements and detailed presentation of half-year results are available on the corporate site at corporate.virbac.com.

Thanks to the Virbac teams' constant dedication to animal health and the resilience of the sector, we posted annual revenue of 478.3 million, an increase of +3.1% (+2.4% excluding Sentinel) over 2019 at actual exchange rates and +5.0% (+4.5% excluding Sentinel) at constant rates. All regions were experiencing growth at the end of June, reflecting the resilience of the sector and also the different stages of the epidemic depending on the geographical location. Europe and Latin America led the growth for the half-year at +5.7% (+5.5% at constant exchange rates) and +1.3% (+9.3% at constant exchange rates) respectively, although some countries were more affected by the health crisis (United Kingdom and Italy). The Asia-Pacific region grew by +0.1% (+2.4% at constant exchange rates), impacted by a significant decline in India over the period. Finally, the United States achieved growth of +5.8% (+3.1% at constant exchange rates and -2.8% excluding Sentinel) thanks in particular to sales of Sentinel and the dermatology, hygiene and nutraceutical lines. In terms of species, the companion animals business grew overall by +5.0% at actual rates (+5.3% at constant rates and +4.6% excluding Sentinel), essentially driven by growth in the internal and external parasiticide lines and pet food (anticipation of purchases preceding price increases and Covid-19-related lockdowns), which compensated for the withdrawal of the antibiotic and vaccine lines. The food producing animals segment also achieved growth of +1.4% (+5.3% at constant exchange rates), buoyed by the ruminants sector and aquaculture.

The current operating profit before depreciation of assets arising from acquisitions amounts to 85.5 million, significant growth compared to the first half of 2019 (66.9 million). This growth in performance of 3.5 points (3.9 points at constant exchange rates) as a ratio to revenue is attributable to three main factors: a marked reduction in expenses related to the Covid-19 situation, excluding recognition of exceptional items over the first half of 2019 of 4.3 million, (postponement of seminars, conferences and events, suspension of travel in many countries, postponement of projects and reduction in marketing expenses, etc.), a marked reduction in our R&D expenditures related to delays and program postponements, and lastly to our good sales performance and improvement in our gross margin with a favorable mix of our products, in particular a very strong contribution by Sentinel, whose prices increased significantly as at February 1. These various first-half items will not recur in the future and may even trend in the opposite direction, with a decline in sales anticipated in the second half (disposal of Sentinel, vaccine shortages), and an increase in expenditures (renewed marketing activity and R&D programs).

Net profit from ordinary activities (net consolidated profit adjusted for non-recurring expenses and income and for non-current taxes) totaled 53.6 million, up 51.0% over the first half of 2019. This improvement in net profit from ordinary activities is attributable to the items listed above, particularly the growth in activity and excellent cost control, which compensate for the recognition of the additional impairment of assets associated with the leishmaniosis vaccine due to the definitive discontinuation of marketing of this product, for a net amount of 3.3 million. It should be noted that the financial result remains stable compared to the same period last year, with the 3.0 million decrease in the cost of net financial debt offset by unfavorable exchange rates, mainly for the Chilean peso, which declined sharply compared to the euro and the US dollar.

Net Profit - Group Share reached 47.2 million, a strong increase compared to the first half of the previous year (26.4 million), buoyed by operational performance and the elements shared above.

From a financial standpoint, our net debt is at 348.2 million, down by 20.2 million compared to December 31, 2019 at actual rates, and 16.7 million at constant rates and scope. The lack of a dividend payment by Virbac S.A. on 2019 profits, and a strict control of working capital requirements and investments contributed to debt relief. Thus, the Group is in compliance with the financial ratio (Net debt/Ebitda), which was 1.90 versus 4.25, which was the maximum limit set at the end of June, 2020 as part of the financial covenant.

Outlook

The animal health sector has shown relative resilience in recent months, which helped to limit the impact on our business at the end of June, despite the anticipated downturn in the second quarter of 2020. However, there are still many unknowns regarding the outlook for demand in the countries in which we operate (particularly in major countries such as the United States, India, and Chile), and also regarding the inventory position at all stages of the distribution chain in the different channels. In addition, we are also facing uncertainties related to the current health situation in certain countries that entered into confinement later (Brazil, Mexico, Chile, India, etc.), and possible resurgences or second waves of Covid-19 in the coming months, which could lead to a sustained and prolonged reduction in demand.

On the supply side, we managed to limit the impact on the first half of the year. However, we cannot rule out possible pressures across the world on the supply of certain components and even certain products in the second half of the year. Our Indian subsidiary (the Group's third largest subsidiary), which obtains its supplies locally, experienced supply disruptions during the quarter due to the country's complex health and economic situation, and even if the situation is improving, we do not anticipate a return to normal for some months.

In terms of production, we continue to operate at our main sites with additional constraints (health measures). Even so, we have returned to near-normal activity levels at these sites, with the exception of Chile, which is still operating at approximately 80%, due to Covid-19 prevention measures that have imposed a slow-down in production. With regard to our inventories, production activity levels were slowed and under constraints during the second quarter, preventing us from maintaining safety stocks for all of our products, and will cause shortages in the second half of the year. Finally, the stoppage of our worldwide production of dog and cat vaccines, which lasted just over two months, is creating third-quarter shortages that will impact us throughout the entire second half of the year.

In view of these items and the resilience of our business, at this stage we anticipate revenue that could be on the high end of the previously shared range of -3% to 0% for 2020 at actual scope (post-Sentinel disposal) and at constant rates. Furthermore, on the basis of mid-July exchange rates, we anticipate an unfavorable exchange rate impact of approximately 25 to 30 million related to the sharp depreciation of currencies in the Latin America and Asia-Pacific regions. The ratio of "current operating profit before depreciation of assets arising from acquisitions" to "revenue" should be within a range of 12% and 13% in 2020 at actual scope and constant rates.

Finally, the early July disposal of Sentinel brands, for which we will continue to manufacture the Sentinel Spectrum formulation at our US site in Bridgeton, is expected to result in a decrease in revenue of approximately US $55 million and approximately 3 points of the Ebita2 to revenue ratio on a pro forma full-year basis. For 2020, the impact on the Ebita to revenue ratio is expected to be limited to approximately 1 point, given the good level of sales of Sentinel, which accounted for revenue of US $39 million in the first half.

From a financial standpoint, the divestiture of Sentinel for a total of US $410 million resulted in negative net debt. Lines of credit drawn in US dollars were repaid, and the major portion of our financing, maturing in 2022 for the most part, was retained for covering potential working capital requirements, external growth operations or other projects.

2 Ebita: Current operating profit before depreciation of assets arising from acquisitions

ANALYSTS' PRESENTATION - VIRBAC

We will hold an analysts' meeting on Thursday, September 17, 2020 at 3:00 pm (Paris time - CET) in the Vivaldi Auditorium of Club Laffitte, 54 rue Laffitte- 75009 Paris (France).

Participants may arrive 15 minutes before the start of the meeting.

You may also attend the meeting using the webcast (audio+slides) available via the link below.

Information for participants:

Webcast access link: https://bit.ly/31AKCjv

This access link is available on the corporate.virbac.com site, under the heading 'financial press releases'. This link allows participants to access the live and/or archived version of the webcast.

You can ask questions via chat (text) directly during the webcast or after watching the replay at the following email address: finances@virbac.com.

A lifelong commitment to animal health

Virbac offers veterinarians, farmers and pet owners in more than 100 countries a practical range of products and services for diagnosing, preventing and treating the majority of diseases while improving quality of life for animals. With these innovative solutions covering more than 50 species, Virbac contributes day after day to shaping the future of animal health.

Virbac: NYSE Euronext - compartment A - ISIN code: FR0000031577/SYMBOL: VIRP

Financial Affairs Department: tel. 04 92 08 71 32 - email: finances@virbac.com - Website: corporate.virbac.com

Attachment
Daisy Edgar-Jones has joined forces with Naomie Harris and Fearne Cotton in a stunning new photoshoot to encourage the public to get involved in Macmillan Cancer Supports flagship Coffee Morning fundraising event.

The event takes place on Friday, September 25, with the celebrities giving up their time to take part in a socially distanced photo series by photographer Tom Oldham.

Daisy, 22, looked radiant as ever for the shoot as she posed on a picnic blanket under a tree in Cardiff, Wales.

Scenic: Daisy Edgar-Jones, 22, looked radiant as ever for the shoot as she posed for a new shoot to encourage people to get involved in Macmillan Cancer Supports Coffee Morning

The Normal People star cut a casual figure in the snap, donning a blue top with skinny jeans and a pair of black boots.

Styling her brunette locks into an updo, the actress completed her look with a pair of gold hoop earrings.

James Bond star Naomie was photographed in North London and looked sensational in a white sleeveless dress with a floral print.

The actress, 44, posed on a black chair and styled her raven locks into a high ponytail for the shoot.

Stunning: Naomie Harris, 44, was photographed in North London and looked sensational in a white sleeveless dress with a floral print

Meanwhile, TV presenter Fearne was pictured taking a break from work in a recording studio.

The former Celebrity Juice star, 39, opted for a laid back look for the shoot, sporting a black printed T-shirt with matching skinny jeans and black trainers.

Daisy shot to fame for her role as Marianne in Normal People, where she starred opposite Paul Mescal as two Irish college students who fall in love.

Previously discussing her role in the series with Harper's Bazaar, she said: 'I'm really proud of it. It's so raw and honest.

'We're not just seeing a glossy, honeymoon portrayal of love, we're seeing the rust of life. It's the truth of growing up.'

All smiles: TV presenter Fearne Cotton, 39, was pictured taking a break from work in a recording studio

Speaking about her sex scenes with Paul, who portrayed Connell in the series, she insisted: 'It was about creating a real friendship with Paul so we could trust each other.

'I'm lucky he and I understand each other and have a very similar sense of humour. Neither Paul nor I are ever sexualised in those moments. It's just a story of young love.'

Daisy confessed that when she landed the role of Marianne in Normal People, she was struck with Imposter Syndrome.

She said: 'It was bl**dy terrifying. When I got the part, I was very excited. Then I had the fear settle in, the imposter syndrome of thinking, have they actually got it wrong?

'I learnt a lot during filming about being more confident in my voice and not feeling like I have to quieten it.'

Speaking about the upcoming fundraiser, Daisy said: 'Macmillan is always there for those of us who need support, and now more than ever they need our help to do their vital work.

Role: Daisy shot to fame for her role as Marianne in Normal People, where she starred opposite Paul Mescal as two Irish college students who fall in love

'Having a Coffee Morning for Macmillan is a fun and easy way to raise money for a great cause and, even though this year things are a little different, its still important that we have a cuppa for Macmillan if we can, wherever we are, and give them our love and support.'

The stars support comes at the most critical time in Macmillans history, as it faces losing a third of its fundraising income due to the coronavirus pandemic.

People can show their support in a series of different ways; whether by hosting a safe and socially distanced stall on their doorstep - adhering to coronavirus guidelines, organising a virtual get-together, taking on a fitness challenge or by donating and Raising a Mug for a selfie online.

People can also join in by buying one of the limited-edition M&S products or having a personal coffee morning at an M&S cafe where a 5p donation from every hot coffee and slice of cake in September goes to Macmillan.

For more information on the fundraiser, visit: coffee.macmillan.org.uk.

You can watch Normal People on BBC or on Stan in Australia
An international team of scientists will investigate the possibility the coronavirus leaked from a lab as they commit to finding out where the pandemic came from.

Researchers will delve into all theories of the virus's origins amid unproven claims it escaped from a laboratory in China.

US state officials have given momentum to the idea that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, either leaked from a lab or was man-made by China as some kind of weapon against humanity.

They claim to have damning secret evidence that go against furious rejections from Beijing.

Scientists claim it is far more likely Covid-19 is a 'zoonotic disease', which means it is caused by the virus jumping from an animal to a human.

A Wuhan wet market was first thought to be the breeding ground of the virus, where the selling of live, wild animals would have given the perfect opportunity for it to naturally spread between species.

It is thought the virus first developed in bats before passing on to a creature such as a pangolin that then came into contact with humans and transmitted the virus.

Once it entered humans, the coronavirus is likely to have mutated to survive and then escalated out of control as a result of an unprepared population.

There are also theories that the virus was genetically engineered by scientists, or that it has actually been around for years and even killed people in the past.

The investigation is part of the Lancet COVID-19 Commission, a body established in July to 'offer practical solutions' to challenges of the pandemic and make recommendations on how the next one can be avoided.

It comes as one conspiracy theory  that the virus was man-made in a lab in China  has lost credibility after being linked to Steve Bannon, a right-wing ally of Donald Trump in the US, and a Chinese billionaire living in exile, Guo Wengui.

Scientists are set to investigate the possibility the coronavirus leaked from a laboratory. Two high security laboratories in the city  the Wuhan Centre for Disease Control and the Wuhan Institute of Virology (pictured)  have been the subject of many conspiracy theories.

A statement describing the team's priorities listed number 1 as: 'Origins: track down the origins of the virus in an open, scientific, and unbiased way not influenced by geopolitical agenda.'

It explains: 'The origins of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease, are yet to be definitively determined, but the evidence to date supports the view that SARS-CoV-2 is a naturally occurring virus rather than the result of laboratory creation and release.

'The possibility of laboratory involvement in the origins of the pandemic should be examined with scientific rigour and thoroughness, and with open scientific collaboration.

'The origins of the virus must be understood, both to help end the current pandemic and to prevent the next one.'

PAPER CLAIMING THE VIRUS WAS MAN-MADE IS LINKED TO TRUMP ALLY STEVE BANNON A report claiming that coronavirus was manufactured in a Chinese lab was published by non-profit groups founded by former Trump aide Steve Bannon and a Beijing billionaire in exile. The study, which has not been peer-reviewed, claims the disease was built by merging the genetic material of two bat coronaviruses and that a spike protein was edited to enhance its ability to latch onto human cells. Scientists slammed the report published on Monday as 'unsubstantiated' and said it 'cannot be given any credibility.' The study was produced by the Rule of Law Society and the Rule of Law Foundation, sister organisations which Bannon, 66, founded with 50-year-old Chinese fugitive Guo Wengui. The study was authored by Li-Meng Yan, who purports to be a former researcher at the Hong Kong School of Public Health, and who has recently appeared on Fox News in the US and ITV in the UK. Ms Yan's report has gained widespread public attention, being viewed more than 150,000 times since it was posted on the website Zenodo, which is operated by the European Organisation for Nuclear Research to promote open scientific data. Documents posted on the Rule of Law Society's website last year showed Bannon was the New York-based group's chairman, The Daily Beast reported. Neither the Rule of Law Society nor the Rule of Law Foundation appear to have published scientific or medical research before. Guo, a real-estate tycoon and member of Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago club, pledged $100 million to the Rule of Law Society to be led by Bannon. The pair announced the endeavour in 2018 and Bannon told the New York Times that he would take no pay. Advertisement

If nothing else, the research may rule out conspiracy theories and ideas that don't have any basis in scientific evidence.

The coronavirus was first reported in Wuhan, China in late December.

Since the pandemic spread worldwide, various reports and theories have emerged surrounding China's honesty.

One of the most hotly debated topics is when and how the virus emerged, and if the true origins have been covered up.

Two high security laboratories in the city  the Wuhan Centre for Disease Control and the Wuhan Institute of Virology  have been the subject of many conspiracy theories.

There are claims the coronavirus infected scientists, who then spread the virus further due to poor safety measures at labs or waste was not being disposed of properly, for example.

In 2018, concerns about safety measures at the Wuhan Institute of Virology were raised and followed up by US diplomats. After an investigation, officials said there were weaknesses.

US intelligence has given momentum to lab conspiracies during the Covid-19 pandemic, which has killed almost a million people.

President Donald Trump claims he has seen evidence the virus, which he solely blames China for, came from Wuhan Institute of Virology  but he is not allowed to reveal it. The Institute has denied the claims from the early days of the outbreak.

In April, the President said: 'We are doing a very thorough examination of this horrible situation that happened.'

The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, claimed in May there is 'enormous evidence' the coronavirus outbreak originated in a Chinese laboratory  but also failed to provide any of the alleged evidence.

Mr Pompeo's claims, made in an interview with ABC's This Week, came after he said the US was investigating the theory.

Mr Pompeo said on May 3: 'There is enormous evidence that that's where this began,' later adding: 'I can tell you that there is a significant amount of evidence that this came from that laboratory in Wuhan.'

He said the 'best experts so far seem to think it was manmade' by scientists, rather than it being a natural virus which escaped during research.

It fuels the idea that China made SARS-CoV-2 as a 'bioweapon' to wreak havoc on the world.

The Huanan seafood market in the Chinese city of Wuhan was first thought to be ground zero of the pandemic when it was linked to the majority of the fist cases on January 1

Wild animals are a delicacy for some in China. Pictured: A vendor selling meat in a market in Beijing, January 15

In 2018, concerns about safety measures at the Wuhan Institute of Virology were raised and followed up by US diplomats. After an investigation, officials said there were weaknesses. Pictured: The lab in Febuary 2017

Beijing rejects the damning rhetoric that the coronavirus was made or escaped from a lab, and there has been criticism that the US is deflecting away from the catastrophic handling of the disease.

Most scientists are in agreement, although have not ruled out its possibility, that the coronavirus jumped from an animal to a human.

WHAT ARE ZOONOTIC DISEASES? Zoonotic diseases are those that are able to pass from vertebrate animals such as mammals, fish, birds and reptiles, to humans. The infecting agent - called a pathogen - in these diseases is able to cross the species border and still survive. They range in potency, and are often less dangerous in one species than they are in another. In order to be successful they rely on long and direct contact with different animals. Covid-19 (suspected) Covid-19 is the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2. It already has had its genome compared to the genetic sequences of more than 200 other coronaviruses from around the world that infect various animals. SARS-CoV-2 appears to be a recent mix, or genetic recombination, of coronaviruses. As a result of this recombination, one of the proteins of SARS-CoV-2 enables the virus to enter the cells of humans. Other research has shown the virus to be 96 per cent identical to a previously identified bat coronavirus, with a common ancestor about 50 years ago. It is hypothesized that this is the origin of the unknown pathway that resulted in the transmission of SARSCoV-2 to humans in 2019. Research points towards pangolins as a possible bridge between bats and humans, but this has not been proven. SARS SARS-CoV, the coronavirus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, was first reported in China in February 2003 and likely originated from bats, probably then spreading to other animals (likely civet cats) and then to humans. The illness then spread to more than two dozen countries in North America, South America, Europe and Asia before it II was contained. Over 8,000 cases were reported and nearly 800 people died of the disease. Since 2004 there have not been any reported cases. MERS The coronavirus that causes Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS, was first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and has a higher mortality rate than SARS. MERS-CoV can occur zoonotically from human contact with camels but has secondary cycles of spread from ill people to other people through close contact. To date, there have been around 2,500 laboratory confirmed cases mostly human to human, of which more than one third proved fatal. Sporadic cases continue to occur as the infection remains present in dromedary camels. Influenza (flu) Common examples are the strains of influenza that have adapted to survive in humans from various different host animals. H5N1, H7N9 and H5N6 are all strains of avian influenza which originated in birds and infected humans. A 2009 outbreak of swine flu - H1N1 - was considered a pandemic and governments spent millions developing 'tamiflu' to stop the spread of the disease. Advertisement

The consensus so far is that the coronavirus was transmitted naturally from bats - in which closely related coronaviruses viruses have been found - through an intermediary animal that humans are in close contact with.

It mutated along the way to become dangerous to humans, with scientists often siting a 'the right environment at the right time' scenario.

China closed Wuhan Seafood Market, which sells live animals such as snakes, beavers, porcupines and baby crocodiles, and was linked to the majority of the fist cases, on January 1.

Wild animals are a delicacy for some in China, but the animals are often kept in cramped and dirty conditions to meet the market. It is in these conditions that the coronavirus may spread through saliva, blood or pus from one animal to the next.

But on January 24, the day after Wuhan was placed under a city-wide lockdown, Chinese scientists wrote in the medical journal The Lancet that only half the first identified Covid-19 cases were linked to the seafood market, giving rise to the theory that it was not at the centre of the first spate of cases in Wuhan.

To get to the bottom of these burning questions, Dr Peter Daszak, a British zoologist and leading authority on zoonotic spillover events, will lead the 'origin' arm of the Lancet COVID-19 Commission.

Dr Daszak told The Telegraph he and his team would 'systematically examine every theory' about the origin of the virus, carefully marshalling the scientific evidence for each.

He said as a scientist, he would 'not be bound by preconceived ideas' and would investigate all avenues forensically and 'with an open mind'.

He warned, however, it was not possible to 'prove a negative' and said it was unlikely it would ever be possible to say with 'absolute certainty' how the virus emerged.

Dr Daszak said: 'What we can do is look at every possible theory on the origins of COVID-19 and say, 'what is the evidence for that?' And then we put all of those theories together and say, 'where is the preponderance of evidence?'

'Is it for the virus coming from nature and spilling over into people and emerging that way? Or is it for some form of human involvement that involves a lab or biotechnology? Let's see where the evidence lies'.

Dr Daszak has previously indicated he does not support the 'lab' theory, having worked with the Wuhan Institute of Virology in a 15-year long investigation of where SARS-1  closely related to the virus which causes Covid-19  originated.

Writing a peice in The Guardian headlined, 'Ignore the conspiracy theorists', he said: 'Sampling more than 16,000 bats, we showed that Sars emerged from a cluster of coronaviruses carried by horseshoe bats that are abundant across southern and central China and traded frequently in wet markets.

'We raised the red flag on these viruses and pointed out their potential to cause the next pandemic.'

He also notes that a very small team of scientists work in these laboratories, but research estimates that between one and seven million people are infected with bat coronaviruses each year. They just don't lead to deadly pandemics.

He added: 'Existing patterns of infection suggest that the wide spread of Covid-19 was a question of when, not if.'

The wider Lancet Covid-19 Commission is being chaired by Professor Jeffery Sachs, an eminent American economist and adviser to the UN.

He said he hoped and expected the Lancet Commission would be conducted on an objective basis and would be free of political bias.

'There has been a lot of rumour-mongering and statements that are way out of line, that are part of a political agenda by some people, senators in the US and others that have really gone far beyond what we know,' he said.

'The origins of the virus must be understood, both to help end the current pandemic and to prevent the next one.'

Professor Paul Hunter, of Health Protection at the University of East Anglia, previously told MailOnline the source of the killer virus is unlikely to ever be found.

He said he 'wouldn't hold his breath' that scientists will ever identify the culprit, likening the situation at hand to SARS  the deadly virus which killed hundreds in China and Hong Kong in the early 200s  of which the source is still not definitive.
Early Childhood Ireland, the leading organisation in the early years sector, has written to all TDs in Kildare this week, asking for their commitment to ensure investment in the childcare sector is increased in Budget 2021.

The organisations pre-Budget submission includes a call to increase Exchequer spending on childcare to 0.5% of GDP by 2023 and to 1% by 2025. The organisation is calling for investment over the coming year to focus on retaining the Employment Wage Support Scheme (EWSS) for the childcare sector.

Early Childhood Ireland supports 3,800 childcare members nationwide, who  in turn  support over 100,000 children and their families. There are 180 Early Childhood Ireland members across Co. Kildare.

Frances Byrne, Director of Policy with Early Childhood Ireland, said: Substantially increased investment for early years and school-age childcare must be an immediate and sustained focus for the new Government. Budget 2021 will be the first test of how well they meet this challenge."

She said:Ireland has consistently remained at the bottom of the class when it comes to investment in childcare. According to the OECD, we invest the least amount in early years of any developed country as a percentage of GDP.In Budget 2021, as well as increasing funding for childcare, the Government must also state how it plans to increase investment to 1% of GDP over the next four years. If the Government is serious about their commitments in the Programme for Government, then a multi-annual plan is needed."

She said:We are calling on TDs in Kildare to back our call for increased investment in childcare in Budget 2021. Our members in Kildare and nationwide will continue to engage with local politicians on this issue between now and Budget Day on 13th October.

Post-Covid supports for childcare-providers

Ms. Byrne said an immediate focus for the coming year needs to be on ensuring the sustainability of childcare services in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

She said:Initially, increased investment in childcare next year must focus on retaining the Employment Wage Support Scheme for the childcare sector, she said. This can act as a bridging measure to help stabilise early years and school-age provision, as settings need to adjust to working with the public health issues arising from Covid-19."

She said:Low investment in childcare is bad for children because it leads to high levels of staff turnover and poor outcomes, continued Ms. Byrne.

It is bad for parents because it leads to high fees and no guaranteed creche places. Its bad for staff because they receive low wages and have poor working conditions. Its bad for providers as theyre operating in a constant state of uncertainty and cant make any long-term plans."
U.S. Rep. Greg Walden says the Federal Emergency Management Agency is now on the ground in Oregon to help the thousands of people impacted by the massive wildfires that are still burning across the state.

He said state officials have plenty of federal money to immediately provide free hotels rooms or apartments to every family displaced from their homes.

Walden, a Republican from Hood River, represents most of eastern and southern Oregon, including the fire-decimated communities of Phoenix and Talent.

In a conference call with the press Wednesday morning, he encouraged anyone adversely affected by the wildfires to register with the federal agency by calling 1-800-621-3362 or going online to DisasterAssistance.gov.

The sooner they do that the sooner theyre in the queue and can move forward, he said. Then FEMA will reach out and begin providing assistance.

U.S. Rep. Greg Walden met with FEMA officials about assistance to Oregon. (The Oregonian)

Walden said hes pleased the president moved so rapidly to approve the governors request for an emergency declaration of this magnitude, freeing up resources for those affected.

He added the state has a housing plan for those who lost homes to the fires. People should call 2-1-1 to get free housing. But he said registering with FEMA is key.

FEMA, with the help of state officials, has identified and catalogued available housing in the state, including hotel rooms and apartments. They have that list, so going through FEMA is the best way to get access to housing, Walden said.

But he noted that the supply of available housing will be tight in some areas, particularly southern Oregon.

In the Phoenix and Talent areas, about 2,700 homes were destroyed, Walden said. Just 400 new housing units were built in all of Jackson County in 2019, he said. Now families need almost seven times that many new homes.

A sign that reads "Heart broken" is displayed in front of a destroyed vehicle at Coleman Creek Estates mobile home park in Phoenix, Ore. (AP Photo/Paula Bronstein)AP

The congressman said hes heard that a rumor is circulating about housing vouchers being necessary to access temporary housing.

Theres no such thing as housing vouchers, he said. This is all taken care of without that [when people register with FEMA].

The money is there, he added. No one should be sleeping in their car.  Lack of resources is not an issue.

Walden expects the federal response will be swift and significant thanks to President Donald Trumps major disaster declaration on Tuesday. He says the U.S Army Corps of Engineers is already on the scene.

Youll see an increased presence of federal disaster-assistance personnel in the state, he said.

Walden joined U.S. senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden and fellow U.S representatives Peter DeFazio, Earl Blumenauer, Kurt Schrader and Suzanne Bonamici in a statement Wednesday morning announcing the disaster declaration.

The damage from the wildfires across Oregon is catastrophic, and the scale of the recovery is beyond the capabilities of the state, DeFazio, a Democrat from Lane County, said in the statement. Im grateful for the White Houses swift action in declaring a major disaster.

Merkley, also a Democrat, added that he had driven over 600 miles from Portland to Medford and back -- meeting with first responders, talking to people who have suffered terrible loss, witnessing unimaginable devastation. Its clear that our state is going to need an unprecedented amount of support in our response and recovery.

In his virtual press conference, Walden said he has visited the southern Oregon towns of Phoenix and Talent and seen the burned-out buildings, the lots with nothing left standing, the mobile homes reduced essentially to cinders.

I think people are still in a state of shock and disbelief, he said. The fire was so hot and vicious. Theres not a lot left behind.

He added that, during a meeting Wednesday morning with FEMA officials, he recommended that they come down to southern Oregon in particular, given the scale of home losses there.

People are going to be displaced for some time, he acknowledged.

The good news, he added, is this [federal assistance] system will start to work right away now that we have the national disaster [declaration] in place.

-- Douglas Perry

dperry@oregonian.com

@douglasmperry
Elon Musk has said the first ever operational tunnel dug by The Boring Company is almost done.

The tunnel-digging startup is aiming to eliminate urban traffic by digging underground networks capable of propelling self-driving cars through at high speeds.

The first commercial tunnel is being constructed under Las Vegas, connecting the Las Vegas Convention Center with the Strip.

If successful, Musk hopes The Boring Company will work with more cities around the world to dig next-generation transport networks.

Tunnels under cities with self-driving cars will feel like warp drive, he tweeted. First operational tunnel under Vegas almost done."

He added: Tunnels are the solution to traffic. You can have as many levels as you want. Usable tunnel depth far exceeds tallest buildings, so would work even for New York or Beijing.

Recommended Elon Musk unveils working Neuralink chip that connects brain directly to computer

Musk, who also heads SpaceX and Tesla, launched the tunnel-digging venture in 2016 after becoming frustrated with the soul-destroying traffic in his hometown of Los Angeles.

Tesla's could travel through tunnels at speeds of up to 155mph (The Boring Company)

A one-mile test tunnel was unveiled in 2017 at SpaceXs Hawthorne headquarters in California, which was dug at a cost of $10 million.

The proof-of-concept was a significant improvement compared to current tunnel-digging technologies, the firm said, which cost as much as $1 billion per mile.

The key to making this work is increasing tunnelling speed and dropping costs by a factor of 10 or more  this is the goal of the Boring Company, the firms website states.

Musk shared renders of the first station under Las Vegas earlier this year, revealing Teslas parked in bays ready to take passengers through the tunnel beneath the convention centre.

The Boring Companys proposed network of tunnels under Las Vegas (The Boring Company)

In August, The Boring Company received approval to expand its Las Vegas network and could eventually connect downtown Las Vegas with the McCarran International Airport.

Other cities currently in discussions with the company include Chicago and Los Angeles.
A Texas Supreme Court ruling returning Green Party candidates to the November ballot will cost McLennan County some green, as more than 8,000 absentee ballots ready for distribution will have to be scrapped and re-produced with the candidates included.

The county could spend thousands extra, just for mail-in ballot materials and postage to comply with the last-minute wrangling in the courts, based on a breakdown provided by McLennan County Elections Administrator Kathy Van Wolfe showing 25 cents to produce each ballot, 10 cents each for envelopes and labels, and 65 cents each for postage. That is in addition to days of already complete staff work that will have to be repeated.

We have to start over, Van Wolfe said. We may have to work around the clock, but we will get it done. We had 8,100 mail-in ballots sitting in a car, ready to be carried to the Post Office, when we were notified of what happened. Weve already been getting calls from people wanting to know about their ballot, asking, When am I going to get it? Well, its going to be a little longer now, probably the end of the month.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will dedicate the historic Kosi Rail Mahasetu (mega-bridge) to the nation through video-conference at 12 noon on September 18. The dedication of the Kosi Rail Mahasetu is a watershed moment in the history of Bihar and the entire region connecting to the North East.

Apart from this, the Prime Minister will also inaugurate 12 rail projects related to passenger facilities for the benefit of the Bihar. These include a new railway bridge on the Kiul River, two new railway lines, five Electrification projects, one Electric Locomotive Shed and third Line Project between Barh-Bakhtiyarpur.

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In 1887, a meter gauge link was built in between Nirmali and Bhaptiahi (Saraigarh). During the heavy flood and severe Indo-Nepal earthquake in 1934, the rail link was washed away and thereafter due to the meandering nature of river Kosi no attempt was made to restore this Rail link for long period.

The Kosi Mega Bridge line project was sanctioned by the Centre during 2003-04. The Kosi Rail Mahasetu is 1.9 KM long and its construction cost is Rs 516 crore. This bridge is of strategic importance along the India-Nepal border. The project was completed during the COVID-pandemic where the migrant labour also participated in its completion.

The dedication of this project will fulfil the 86-year-old dream and the long wait of the people of the region. Along with the dedication of the Mahasetu, the Prime Minister will also flag off the Saharsa- Asanpur Kupha demo train from the Supaul Station. Once the regular train service begins, this would prove to be highly beneficial to the Supaul, Arariya and Saharsa districts. It would also make it easy for long-distance travel to Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai for the people of the region.

The Prime Minister will also be inaugurating two New Line projects at Hajipur-Ghoswar-Vaishali and Islampur-Nateshar. PM Modi will also be inaugurating the Karnauti-Bakhtiyarpur link bypass and the third line between Barh-Bakhiyarpur.

He will also inaugurate the Railway Electrification projects of Muzaffarpur--Sitamarhi, KatiharNew Jalpaiguri, Samastipur-Darbhanga-Jaynagar, Samastipur-Khagaria, Bhagalpur-Shivnarayanpur sections.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has re-ignited the old debate on self-reliant India. However, it is essential to note that the Aatmanirbhar Bharat of Modi differs from the failed import substitution strategy of Nehruvian India, and the old Swadeshi campaign with its distrust for globalisation and big industry and corporates. It is not about being closed to the world but merging domestic production with global supply chains following global standards.

Nevertheless, in the discussions around Aatmanirbhar Bharat, three crucial areas have been missing: health, education, and technology.

A most crucial pillar of Aatmanirbhar Bharat is technology. Modern economic growth depends on the research and development produced in society. The import of technology cannot ensure its absorption as technology is a function of the population and society. So even when we are trying to import and indigenise technology, its limit is set by the level of social development.

A large section of the Indian population is poorly educated, malnourished with a high proportion of wasted children. Creating few centres of excellence or R&D islands surrounded by the sea of impoverishment will be doomed to failure. An Aatmanirbhar Bharat must entail massive public investment in health and education. Technology is not about machines but humans, it is humans who are the carriers of technological knowledge. Therefore, any step towards self-reliance begins with an investment in human beings.

COVID-19 has revealed the extent of under-investment in the health sector over the decades. With spending of just 1.22 percent of the GDP on healthcare, the health services are woefully inadequate, and thus imposing a prohibitive cost of morbidity and mortality on the economy.

Although it will be a challenging task to increase public spending on health in a slowing economy, several significant steps have been taken by the government. The trinity of Ayushman Bharat, Swachh Bharat and Jal Jeevan Mission is a much-needed intervention in the sphere of public health. The externalities of Swachh Bharat and Jal Jeevan, and synergy between them will have a far-reaching positive impact on reducing the disease burden and improving public health. In addition to this, the recently-announced National Digital Health Mission when coupled with Aadhaar and the NPR-NRC in future, has the potential to revolutionise healthcare services.

That said, it is the primary healthcare where urgent and massive investment is needed. Without improving access to healthcare in the initial stages itself and adequate nutrition and food security, India's demographic dividend will remain unrealised.

Similarly, the National Education Policy 2020 has recommended spending 6 percent of the GDP on education, apart from the much-needed restructuring of the education system itself. The emphasis on accessibility for the masses, increasing enrolment ratios and focus on R&D are steps in the right direction. However, India has the unenviable task of not only educating and skilling its working population, but to also prepare it for Industry 4.0. It entails complete rethinking on the mode of teaching, curriculum, and the very concept of education itself, apart from public investment in new areas such as broadband connectivity and digital access.

The Government of India has been working to increase access to learning with platforms such as SWAYAM and DIKSHA through DTH (Direct to Home) channels across the length and breadth of the country on a 24X7 basis. The partnering of Google with Jio platforms with an investment of $10 billion will soon provide India with domestically-developed 5G technology raising digital broadband access and low-cost ICT services. However, much more still needs to be done and greater involvement of the private sector to complement the increasing public investment is the way forward.

Further, technology also brings focus on the urban centres. Cities are the engines of the technological growth as it requires high population density, diversity of the population, proximity for cross-pollination of ideas, closely located educational institutes and research infrastructure. It is a well-established fact that research and development are even more concentrated than manufacturing. It means that a strategy for self-reliance must concentrate heavily on the cities.

Reform in urban governance and laws, investment in urban infrastructure and basic amenities for both ease of business and ease of living, and creation of new urban centres can build the critical economic ecosystem necessary for an Aatmanirbhar Bharat. Also, the wide gap between Tier I and Tier II and III cities needs to be narrowed by enabling the emergence of new urban centres which can become the engines of economic growth and Aatmanirbhar Bharat.
THEA 110  Introduction to Stage Crafts (3 credits)

Provides a foundation in the practice of technical theatre, preparation for work in scenery, lighting, and costumes. Class projects are designed to reinforce specific technical skills discussed and demonstrated in class. Additionally, the required lab time outside of class provides hands-on experience. Prerequisite: None

THEA 120  Introduction to Performance (3 credits)

Introduces the fundamentals of stage performance. Improvisation, relaxation, and character exercises build awareness of skills necessary for successful live performance. Presents basic acting vocabulary/theory. Develops confidence performing in front of others. Includes readings, plays in context, viewing of live theatre, and short writing assignments. Fosters more informed observers of performance experience. Course attributes: CCA Prerequisite: None

THEA 200  Introduction to Theatre (3 credits)

Surveys historical development of world theatre emphasizing western dramatic tradition. Introduces a broad range of theatrical literature and theory within its historical context. Includes class discussions and writing assignments, as well as viewing of live theatre, panel discussions, and critical response sessions. Course attributes: CCA Prerequisite: None

THEA 210 - Drawing for Theatre (3 credits)

Familiarizes students with basic materials and techniques of graphic presentations and scenic, costume, and lighting design for theatre. Students will be introduced to the basic vocabulary of drawing, rendering, and drafting techniques used as communication tools for theatre design and production. Focuses on technical drafting skills, perspective and drawing the figure. Prerequisite: None

THEA 220  Beginning Acting (3 credits)

Sets foundation for the integrated voice, movement and acting training sequence. Draws from diverse sources to develop the actor's instrument and its potential for stage performance. Beginning with non-verbal exploration and movement study, students progress to character exercises with text. Designed to increase body awareness, expand flexibility and control, reinforce acting vocabulary and theory, and promote understanding of the demands of creating dynamic characters for stage performance. Prerequisite: THEA 120

THEA 230- Stagecraft II: Scene Construction (3 credits)

Provides the student with basic knowledge of stage construction. Familiarizes students with the methods, materials, equipment, concepts and processes involved in the construction of scenery for the theatre. The emphasis of the course will be on the physical process that results in the production of scenery through construction techniques. Hands-on experience will be gained by completing lab hours in the scene shop: assisting in the construction and installation of theatre program season. Prerequisite: THEA 110

THEA 240 - Stagecraft II: Costume Construction (3 credits)

Provides basic knowledge of costume construction. Familiarizes students with the methods, materials, equipment, concepts and processes involved in the construction of costumes for theatre production. The emphasis of the course will be on the physical process that results in the production of costumes through construction techniques. Hands-on experience will be gained by completing lab hours in the costume shop: assisting in the construction and installation of theatre program season. Prerequisite: THEA 110

THEA 250 - Fundamentals of Theatre Design (3 credits)

Explores the creative process and principles of tool design as they apply to theatrical production. Emphasis will be on script analysis, graphic techniques, and research for and of design. Introduces the student to the vocabulary, fundamental elements and principles of design and how they apply to the theatre experience of scenery, costume and lighting design to include discussion, appreciation and evaluation of theatrical design. Prerequisite: None

THEA 260  Intermediate Acting (3 credits)

Continues the integrated voice, movement & acting training sequence from Beginning Acting, emphasizing on character building. Students explore the acting instrument in greater depth. Movement study connects the voice to the body & then progresses to play analysis from the actors point of view, followed by more formal text work. The goal of the course is to gain greater flexibility & control over the instrument & expand understanding of the demands of creating dynamic characters for stage performance. Prerequisite: THEA 220



THEA 271  Play Analysis (3 credits)

Introduces the basic principles, techniques and challenges of analyzing plays for theatrical production. Focuses on the process of reading and analyzing plays while developing basic vocabulary of dramatic styles. Develops basic knowledge of principles of dramatic structure through readings from a diverse range of theatre texts from the western canon. Goal is to discover what the playwright has dramatized and how best to realize it on stage clearly, imaginatively and powerfully. Prerequisite: THEA 200

THEA 280  Stagecraft II: Topics

Builds on the foundational skills learned in Intro to Stage Crafts. Familiarizes students with methods, materials, equipment, concepts & processes resulting in the creation of some aspect of theatre production. Hands-on experience will be gained by completing lab hours in a production shop; assisting in creation of Theatre Program productions. Rotating topics may include: Stage Electrics, Stage Properties, Intro to Sound. Students may repeat enrollment for credit, but may not repeat topics. Prerequisite: THEA 110





THEA 290 - Stage Makeup (3 credits)

Introduces students to basic make-up vocabulary, materials and techniques. Students will work toward a proficiency in the principles and skills of makeup application including basic corrective/straight makeup, old age, and character makeup in order to communicate aspects of a character to an audience certain information. Prerequisite: None

THEA 310  Design for Theatre (topic) (3 credits)

Studies the process of designing for theatre through play analysis, research, color theory, composition, and the examination of design elements and principles for stage. Design concepts are demonstrated through rendering techniques, drafting or modeling to communicate ideas, cultivating a design aesthetic. Rotating topics may include: Costume Design, Scene Design, Lighting Design and Sound Design. Students may repeat enrollment for credit, but may not repeat topics. Prerequisite: THEA 200, THEA 250





THEA 360  Advanced Acting (topic) (3 credits)

Builds on the foundational skills & concepts acquired from the integrated voice, movement & acting sequence. Students will choose further study to inform their individual development as actors. Topics are offered on a rotating basis & focus on a specialized aspect of acting technique while incorporating advanced research & dramatic analysis. Topics include Shakespeare, Musical Theatre, Realism/Naturalism, and Experimental/Alternative. Students may repeat enrollment for credit but not topics. Prerequisite: THEA 120, THEA 220





THEA 370  Collaboration (3 credits)

Develops practical studio in theatrical collaboration designed for both performance and production students. Develops skills in collaboration across artistic disciplines, offering effective strategies for communication as students create and perform short projects. Offers direct, real-world experience in theatrical collaboration and leadership, allowing the individual to test skills talents and creative ideas in an environment conducive to both individual and collective artistic growth. Prerequisite: THEA 200, THEA 250, THEA 271

THEA 372  Theatre Practicum (1 credit)

Provides a setting for the practical application of theatre skills. Involves participation in Theatre Program Season. Course may be repeated. Prerequisite: By audition or interview only





THEA 379  Topics in Theatre Production (3 credits)

Studies in depth a specific aspect of theatre production. Designed to provide advanced work in materials, techniques and design. Topics are offered on a rotating basis, and focus on a specialized aspect of production technique. Topics may include: Historical Patterning, Computer-Aided Drafting, Advanced Lighting Technology, or Stage Management. Students may repeat enrollment for credit, but may not repeat topics. Prerequisite: THEA 110, THEA 230 or THEA 240





THEA 380  Audition Technique (3 credits)

Introduces the specific techniques and skills necessary to audition for the professional stage with confidence and artistic honesty. This course will focus on the development of audition material from a wide range of styles and genres as well as mastery of cold reading techniques, and practical preparation for the professional world and the business of acting. For the student contemplating a professional theatre career. Prerequisite: Junior/Senior Status, Theatre concentration, THEA 220

THEA 381  Theatre History I: Beginnings to 17th Century (3 credits)

Traces the evolution of Western theatre in its social/political context from ancient Greece through the Renaissance. Theatre architecture, styles of staging, and works of dramatic literature are studied in relation to the social and intellectual history of each major era. Prerequisite: THEA 200

THEA 383  Theatre History II: 18th Century to Present (3 credits)

Traces the evolution of Western theatre in its social/political context from the 18th century to the Post-Modern Period. Theatre architecture, styles of staging, and works of dramatic literature will be studied in relation to the social and intellectual history of each major era. or artist style Prerequisite: THEA 200

THEA 470  Directing (3 credits)

Explores the fundamentals of direction for the stage, including analysis, composition and staging. Begins with play analysis from a directors point of view, followed by exploration of stage composition, then progresses to staging and working with actors. The various exercises culminate in the direction of a short play for public performance. The goal is to increase understanding of the many roles and responsibilities required of the theatre director as artist and collaborator. Prerequisite:THEA 120, THEA 200, THEA 271, THEA 250, THEA 370

THEA 479  Topics in Theatre Performance (3 credits)

Studies in depth a specific aspect of theatre performance. Provides advanced work in analysis, interpretation, and research. Primarily for majors in their junior or senior year. Includes topics such as: Accents and Dialects for the Stage, Advanced Directing, Clowning and Commedia, Collaborative Theatre Ensemble, Contact Improvisation, Hip Hop Theatre, Improvisation, Mask Performance, Melodrama, Period Dance for Stage, Physical Comedy, Puppetry, Spoken Word, Stage Combat, etc. Prerequisite: Instructor Approval
By Akbar Mammadov

Defence Minister Zakir Hasanov has said that Azerbaijani servicemen  from soldier to general  are ready to liberate the countrys Armenian-occupied territories.

The minister made the remarks in the Training and Education Center of the Armed Forces on September 16.

Addressing the meeting with deputy commanders of army corps, formations, and individual military units, Hasanov said that a high level of combat readiness and vigilance of military personnel must be maintained at the front. He also gave instructions to immediately and strongly suppress possible large-scale provocations of the Armenian armed forces in various directions in the frontline.

The minister also spoke about activities for combat training in the Army, providing and equipping units, as well as increasing combat capabilities. In addition, the minister analyzed the activities on combat training and moral- psychological support over the past period of the current year.

Azerbaijani authorities have recently voiced discontent over the failure of peace negotiations with Armenia. President Ilham Aliyev said in July that the work of the OSCE Minsk group mediating the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has proven ineffective, reminding that the mediators have failed to respond to Armenias provocations. The president also described as meaningless the negotiations that have been dragging on for many years.

It should be noted that Armenia has recently stepped up its military provocation in the line of contact and on the border.

On July 12, Armenian forces shelled Azerbaijan's positions in Tovuz, the country's strategically-important district. The Armenian attack killed 12 Azerbaijani servicemen, including an army general, as well as a 76-year-old civilian. Armenian forces retreated after suffering losses in Azerbaijan's retaliation.

Since 16 July, eight UAVs of the Armenian armed forces, attempting to carry out a reconnaissance flight over the positions of the Azerbaijani Army's units, have been destroyed by the Azerbaijani Air Defense units.

On August 23 at around 6:00 am, Azerbaijan thwarted a provocation attempt by the sabotage-reconnaissance group of the Armenian armed forces in the direction of Goranboy region of Azerbaijan. As a result of measures taken by the Azerbaijani army, the commander of the sabotage-reconnaissance group of the Armenian Armed Forces, senior lieutenant Gurgen Alaverdyan was taken as prisoner.

Azerbaijan and Armenia are locked in a conflict over Azerbaijans Nagorno-Karabakh breakaway region, which along with seven adjacent regions was occupied by Armenian forces in a war in the early 1990s. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and around one million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

The OSCE Minsk Group co-chaired by the United States, Russia and France has been mediating the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict since the signing of the volatile cease-fire agreement in 1994. The Minsk Groups efforts have resulted in no progress and to this date, Armenia has failed to abide by the UN Security Council resolutions (822, 853, 874 and 884) that demand the withdrawal of Armenian military forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

---

Akbar Mammadov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AkbarMammadov97

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Mitch Dorghalli owns the Village Market, which was destroyed in the North Complex fire last week in the town of Berry Creek, Calif. His daughter, Carin Dorghalli, works at the local newspaper, the Chico Enterprise-Record. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

The Bear fire was burning in the mountains of Butte County, devouring acres of land and belching out black smoke as it inched toward Berry Creek and other communities in the area.

More than 40 miles away in Chico, Carin Dorghalli had trouble sleeping. The 26-year-old journalist had been covering the fire for the Chico Enterprise-Record. While in the field, she managed to check up on the family business  the Village Market.

It was the only gas station and convenience store in the area. Her father had purchased it 2006 and marked his financial success as an immigrant from Syria. For residents, the store was a lifeline and a community gathering spot, especially after the 2018 fire disaster in nearby Paradise, when the Village Market was one of the few stores that stayed open.

But when Dorghalli arrived at the store in the early hours of Sept. 10, she found the store leveled and smoldering. The fire had swept through the area, consuming cars, homes and trees. Ash and embers fell from the sky as if it were snowing. Dorghalli said she couldnt help but cry.

Carin Dorghalli mourns the loss of her father's business in Berry Creek. (Dylan Bouscher / East Bay Times)

Two years ago, my dad and cousin did everything they could to keep it open," Dorghalli recalled. Now the fate of the family business was far from certain, as was the future of Berry Creek.

California fires have destroyed thousands of homes this year, but they've also taken numerous small businesses, many of them lifelines for rural communities. Many more are at risk amid what could become California's worst fire season ever.

A firestorm moved through this hamlet and Butte County a week ago. killing at least 15 people and destroying more than 720 structures, including two schools. In this remote region, it was the market that bought people together and has raised hopes that, if rebuilt, it could be a focal point for recovery.

As of Tuesday evening, the North Complex fire had burned more than 270,000 acres and was 34% contained. While scores of West Coast fires are burning from California to British Columbia, the conflagrations in Butte County have been the deadliest, although not the largest.

Story continues

The state's biggest fire is the August Complex, which by Tuesday had burned more than 790,000 acres in Northern California's coastal range. Far to the south, the Bobcat fire in the Angeles National Forest was much smaller, at 36,000 acres, but was threatening the Mt. Wilson Observatory and adding to plumes of smoke fouling the Los Angeles basin.

In Berry Creek, longtime residents lamented the loss of the Village Market, curious if the family would rebuild or not.

All that remains of the Village Market in Berry Creek are a few cans and carts. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times)

People cried their eyes out, said Kathy Bartley, 62, a resident of Berry Creek for 25 years. Its just sad.

Theres nothing left up there.

The story of the Dorghallis begins in 1988, when Mitch Dorghalli migrated to the United States with his siblings from Fairouzeh, a village about 100 miles from Damascus, the capital of Syria. He landed in Detroit where his brother lived and worked at a convenience store, saving money where he could.

In 1989, he moved to Chico, Calif., where his sister lived. There he worked again at a convenience store, saving money in hope of starting his own business one day.

In 1992, Mitch Dorghalli was introduced to his future wife, Rana. She had lived in Homs, three miles away from his village in Syria. She was attending a local university, majoring in English when her parents decided to migrate to the U.S. that year.

As with most immigrants, life in the U.S. was challenging for the couple. They had to improve their English, adapt to American customs and deal with homesickness. But they carried on, aware they had opportunities here they did not have back home.

In 1992, the couple married and moved to Oroville, where a year later Mitch Dorghalli purchased Jerrys Market. In 1994, the couple would give birth to the first of three children. They named her Carin.

For years, Carin Dorghallis father tried to balance life at home and work.

He would work 80 hours a week, Dorghalli said. Customers saw him more than I did.

In the town of Berry Creek, the Village Market, owned by Mitch Dorghalli, was destroyed in the North Complex fire. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times)

His workload was a frustrating and confusing thing for her. But as she grew older, she came to understand the familys success was tied to the store. The business offered an opportunity for a better life. It would help pay for her college tuition at Cal State Chico. It also helped pay for her brothers college tuitions.

I think my feelings were valid, she said. When youre younger you dont know how difficult things can be. Weve never had to pay close attention to those things because my parents made sure we never had to.

In 2006, Dorghalli purchased the Village Market in Berry Creek, serving the town and several communities nearby. Her cousin, George Dorghalli, managed the store.

This week, many of George Dorghalli's customers recalled his generosity and care for the community.

Bartley, who has been living in a motel since evacuating, said he would sometimes give credit to people who couldnt afford to pay for items.

Hes always smiling and always thankful that you came into his store, Bartley recalled. He was such a very outgoing guy.

Josh and Samantha Jarrell said when Mitch and George Dorghalli took over the store they brought in more food options. They added a microwave so if people purchased frozen dinners and didn't have electricity at their homes, they could use the one in their store. They let people charge their telephones at the store and would offer free ice to certain people who needed it.

"There was a bulletin board you could post to sell or look for things," Josh Jarrell said.

What made the store special was their interaction with the Dorghallis, especially with George.

"George was very community-oriented and always tried to help anyone he could.

The Jarrells said he would sometimes buy things for the couple whenever he went to Costco to stock up on store supplies. Adding to his kindness, Samantha Jarrell, a former employee, said Dorghalli would allow her to bring her kids to work on days when her husband was going to school. He also helped shift her hours so she could go to school to become a certified nursing assistant.

Now that the store was gone, they said they felt heartbroken and worried about the future of it and Berry Creek.

"I hope [they] rebuild," Josh Jarrell said, adding that the town would not be the same without it.

Carin Dorghalli said since she mentioned her fathers store on her Twitter account, she's heard from other residents and their positive experiences they've had there.

Im learning, as I speak to many evacuees, that the Village Market supported them in many ways, she said. Im happy to hear the stories.

She said the childhood perspective she once had has shifted.

It wasnt just my dad supporting us, she said. He was supporting and providing for a community.

But, she added, I hate that it took a catastrophic fire to appreciate that.

At 8 a.m. that Wednesday, she called her father and told him the store had burned down. Over the phone, she could hear him crying. It was a rare thing. He hadnt cried since 2015 when she had returned from studying abroad.

Later that day, she went on Twitter to honor the family business, writing: He put everything into the business so my brothers and I could have all the opportunities in the world."

My immigrant father owns Village Market, the only store in Berry Creek. It burned in the #BearFire. He put everything into the business so my brothers and I could have all the opportunities in the world. He often worked 80-hour weeks. We have insurance, but our hearts still hurt. pic.twitter.com/kQBHX8mTT9  Carin Dorghalli (@CarinDorghalli) September 9, 2020

On a recent Saturday afternoon, she was back at the market, taking photos for a column she was writing about the family store. She sat with charred metal, broken glass and melted merchandise in background, ready to take a picture when she broke down and cried.

It was the kind of cry that only she and her father could understand. No one else could.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
New Delhi, Sep 16 : To help people with disabilities, researchers at Facebook AI have made live video content more accessible by enabling automatic closed captions for Facebook Live and Workplace Live.

At the moment, Facebook Live automatic captions support six languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German and French.

While Facebook provides automatic closed captioning for on-demand videos in 16 languages, and just announced similar capabilities for Instagram IGTV, access to live, real-time news and information was still a dream for those who are deaf or hard of hearing.

According to the World Health Organization, over 5% of the world's population - or 466 million people - have disabling hearing loss, and that is projected to increase to over 900 million by 2050.

"Facebook Live automatic captions are helping governments disseminate crucial public health information, and ensuring that millions of viewers across the world - whether they have hearing loss, or are just watching where audio is not available - get the message," Facebook said in a blog post on Tuesday.

The voice and video calling have surged in recent months during the Covid-19 pandemic as people around the world check in with family, friends and colleagues.

"Video captioning is critical for people like me in the deaf community during a public health emergency," said Brenden Gilbert, a production operations engineer at Facebook.

The rapid spread of the Covid-19 pandemic caused a spike in both the supply and demand of public health information.

Several governments discovered that video captioning was not just a nice-to-have, but imperative, especially in the absence of available sign language interpreters.

"Many of them needed captions to comply with their own disability access rules for public broadcasts," explained Daniel McKinnon, a Product Manager at Facebook.

Julian Chan, a Facebook AI software engineer said that the AI system is also capable of adapting to new words such as "Covid," which is essential for captioning public health information-based broadcasts during the pandemic.

Facebook said that the broadcasters can count on automatic closed captions to support their efforts to get the message out, whether a state official is sharing authoritative health guidance, or someone is simply taking their viewers behind the scenes of a day in their life - during Covid-19 and beyond.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
A 32-year-old woman today escaped a jail term for breaching Covid-19 travel restrictions after taking a bus from Limerick with the aim of walking on the prom in Salthill in Galway with her then-boyfriend.

Denise OKeeffe just wanted a few hours away from home when she boarded a Galway-bound bus in Limerick to breach Covid-19 travel restrictions during lockdown, said her solicitor, Daragh Hassett.

Mr Hassett told Ennis District Court that his client intended to walk the prom in Salthill in Galway with her then boyfriend before returning home to Limerick.

Speaking at todays hearing, Mr Hassett said that Ms OKeeffe is a full-time carer for her mother who is a wheelchair user and added that Ms OKeeffe hadnt left the house since Christmas, apart from visits to her father who lives nearby.

Judge Patrick Durcan fined Ms OKeeffe 100 after she pleaded guilty to breaching Government health regulations aimed at preventing, limiting, minimising or slowing down the spread of Covid-19 at Portdrine, Cratloe in south-east Clare on April 15.

Sgt Aiden Lonergan told the court Ms OKeeffe was found on a Bus Eireann bus at a Garda checkpoint.

The checkpoint was in place as part of Garda Operation Fanacht, which was aimed at halting the spread of coronavirus across the country during lockdown.

Sgt Lonergan stated that the penalties on conviction are a prison term of up to six months and a fine of 1,500.

Ms OKeeffes co-accused, Martin Desmond (40) of Church Street, St Johns Square, Limerick, is to plead not guilty and contest the charge.

Solicitor for Mr Desmond, Tara Godfrey told Judge Durcan that Mr Desmond was unable to attend court, as he has suspected Covid-19 and is awaiting test results.

Judge Durcan adjourned Mr Desmonds case to November.

Imposing the 100 fine on Ms OKeeffe, Judge Durcan said that his approach was to impose severe penalties concerning Covid-19 breaches.

However, Judge Durcan stated that Ms OKeeffes breach was at the lower end of the scale.

Judge Durcan stated that at the time, the country was in a very serious state and was very concerned.

Judge Durcan added that what Ms OKeeffe did was very imprudent in the extreme.

Mr Hassett told the court that Ms OKeeffe panicked when she told gardai that she was on her way to see a sick relative in Galway.

Mr Hassett stated that Ms OKeeffe, of Ballynanty Road, Limerick, regrets saying that and regrets boarding the bus.
The Ministry of Education has exposed members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) over what it says is their 'diabolical manoeuvres' to tarnish the image of the ministry and the government on social media.

It said social media reports suggesting that the ministry, out of panic, following the NDC's manifesto launch, was working behind the scenes to include private schools into the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy is 'palpably false.'

According to the ministry, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh (aka Napo), who is the sector minister, met with delegations from the Ghana National Council of Private Schools (GNCPS) and Ghana National Association of Private Schools (GNAPS) four days before the NDC launched its manifesto.

The Press Secretary to the minister, Rodney Nkrumah-Boateng, in a press release, stated categorically that it could not have been possible for the ministry to pre-empt what was in the NDC manifesto and taken an action to counter it as being claimed by the NDC.

The statement said the meeting between the minister and GNCPS/ GNAPS had nothing to do with the extension of the Free SHS programme to cover private schools as the NDC is claiming.

For the avoidance of doubt, the ministry wishes to state emphatically that this is false and should be disregarded, Mr. Nkrumah-Boateng directly responded to reports about plans to extend Free SHS to private schools due to pressure from the NDC's manifesto.

The meeting was not to discuss the facilitation of extending Free SHS to private schools as it has been suggested on social media platforms, and the general public is hereby invited to completely disregard the opportunistic and desperate attempts to paint a contrary picture, he added.

Setting the records straight, he said, On Wednesday, 2nd and Thursday, 3rd September 2020, the minister received delegations from GNCPS and GNAPS at the ministry to discuss a number of issues. It must be noted that both meetings were held before the NDC manifesto launch on Monday, 7th September.

In both instances, the discussions were around post-Covid-19 challenges in the educational sector and the way forward, the reopening of schools, private schools and their livelihoods and the sustenance of their business. In attendance were officials of the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the National Inspectorate Board (NIB).

According to him, the discussions between the minister and the delegations were frank and healthy and a common ground was found on several issues, stressing that the ministry was utterly shocked about the propagandist action being undertaken by the NDC to tarnish the image of government.

He recounted that the meeting between Napo and GNCPS/GNAPS was posted on the ministry's Facebook page, from which it is verifiable that the meetings took place on the dates as stated earlier and, therefore, could not possibly have been held following the launch of the NDC manifesto.

Mr. Nkrumah-Boateng stated, Government remains committed to ensuring the success of the Free SHS programme to improve both access and quality education for Ghanaian children and will not be sidetracked from this objective.

He reiterated that the public should strongly reject the NDC's blatant lies.

Daily Guide
When MPs were electing a successor to the formidable Margaret Hodge to chair Parliaments most important committee, the Public Accounts Committee, last month, they could have chosen Gisela Stuart, who is known for her contempt for rudderless leaders who drift with the political wind, or Helen Goodman, who would have brought specialist knowledge to the post, as a former Treasury civil servant. Instead, they chose Meg Hillier, whose greatest distinction is that Ed Miliband sacked her from the shadow Cabinet because she was hopeless.

The importance of the Public Accounts Committee is that it keeps a check on public finances and, as Hodge demonstrated, can make life very uncomfortable for ministers, public officials, or firms with unusual tax arrangements. Under Parliaments rule, it has to be chaired by an opposition MP ie, a Labour MP  but every MP has a vote when the chair is elected. Some light was shed on the outcome when Gisela Stuart was in a television studio with a Government minister, a woman who also does not mince words, who told her: Darling, you didnt think we were going to vote for someone who would do a proper job on this?

Austerity-free zone

The editor of The Spectator, Fraser Nelson, was at the 450-a-head Conservative summer party at the Hurlingham Club this week, and reveals in the magazines diary column that the largest sum bid at the auction was 200,000, from a telecoms company, for a future photograph of the Cabinet. Other lavish items on sale included a JCB digger, and a week in a Jamaican villa for 17. Sunnation reveals that someone paid 100,000 for a replica of the Edstone, the solid symbol of Labours failed election campaign. The Conservatives are not allowing the austerity to cramp their style.

That wont do nicely

Iain Duncan Smith, who is engrossed in the ambitious plan to remove 12bn from the welfare budget has also demonstrated how austerity affects him. He has had his parliamentary credit card suspended after failing to pay off a 1,057 debt he had run up. Curiously, his people are denying that this ever happened, but Ipsa insists the information is correct and that the card was indeed suspended. Duncan Smith is the minister who thinks welfare recipients should be issued with prepaid cards to stop them running up debts.

A Freedom of Information request by the Press Association uncovered 19 MPs or ex-MPs whose cards were cancelled between January and June this year, and whose debts were deducted from expenses payments they were due, or from their salaries. The biggest transgressor was Eric Joyce, the former Labour MP famous for brawling in a Commons bar, who ran up debts of almost 13,000. Next, there was Pamela Nash, who became an MP in 2010, aged only 25, but who  because of the rise of the SNP  is now Britains youngest ex-MP. She owed nearly 7,000.

Small-boar training

It is not widely known that twice a year army medical teams go to Denmark to injure and then kill pigs. In this exercise, two anaesthetised pigs have horrible injuries inflicted on them with high-powered weapons, after which surgical teams rush in to patch them up. Once treated, the porcines are killed. The Army minister, Philip Dunne, defends this practice because it is essential that army medics know how to treat soldiers who had received serious bullet wounds and testing on live animals is the best way to learn. Since 2010, this policy has cost the lives of 22 pigs. Two more will die later this year.

Degrees of separation

The writer Dominic Shelmerdine rings to say he is thinking of going to the high court tomorrow to seek a ruling that would force the BBC to use Fahrenheit in its weather reports, because people of a certain age cannot get to grips with Celsius. It would have done more justice to the heat to say that the temperature was 98 degrees rather than a modest sounding 36.7. It wont happen  but worth a try.
Check out the news you should not miss today:

Politics

 During a Tuesday phone talk between Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, the two sides agreed to increase the exchange of delegations, especially those at high levels when conditions permit, and work closely together to effectively implement the Vietnam-Germany strategic action plan adopted last year and further deepen the bilateral relationship, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

 Vietnam is committed to fostering cooperation between ASEAN and the United Nations (UN) in peacekeeping operations, Ambassador Dang Dinh Quy, permanent representative of Vietnam to the UN, said at a recent annual open debate held virtually by the UN Security Council, the Vietnam News Agency reported on Tuesday.

Society

 Vietnams COVID-19 tally on Wednesday morning stood at 1,063 with 931 recoveries and 35 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health.

 Police in Hanois Hoan Kiem District on Tuesday said they were investigating a phone scam in which a woman transferred VND13 billion (US$558) to a stranger who claimed to be a judicial agency official and told the woman that she needed to transfer her money to a new account to avoid legal consequences.

 Phan Anh Huy Vu, director of the Department of Health in the southern province of Dong Nai, on Tuesday evening confirmed that a one-year-old girl had died after being injected with the Japanese encephalitis vaccine. The cause of death was determined to be anaphylactic shock after the injection.

 Phuoc Tinh Border Guard Station in the southern province of Ba Ria  Vung Tau on Tuesday released a rare hawksbill sea turtle to the ocean after receiving the 4kg animal from a man who had bought the turtle for VND1.5 million (US$64) from a local.

Lifestyle

 Vietnamese movie Sister Sister, directed by Kathy Uyen, will be screened in the A Window on Asian Cinema category at the 25th Busan International Film Festival, to be held from October 21 to 30, the festivals organizers announced on its website.

Education

 Vihelm, a medical respirator built by two Vietnamese students as a portable device that can help the wearer self-quarantine while going about their daily life, has recently won a special final prize at the 5th International Invention Innovation Competition in Canada, iCAN 2020.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
"Being named to the Forbes Cloud 100 is the highlight of my year - not just because Outreach is on the list - but because almost 60% of the companies listed are Outreach customers!" said Manny Medina, CEO of Outreach. "The companies that make this list have a history of doing great things in not just the cloud space, but in the technology space overall. These high growth companies are generating new jobs and inspiring confidence in tech markets. We are honored that Outreach is part of the Forbes Cloud 100 for the third time and proud to be the only Sales Engagement Platform on the list. Congratulations to everyone for being listed on the Forbes 2020 Cloud 100."

The Forbes Cloud 100 is published by Forbes in partnership with Bessemer Venture Partners and Salesforce Ventures. As part of the rigorous selection process for The Forbes 2020 Cloud 100, Bessemer Venture Partners received submissions from hundreds of cloud startups. The Cloud 100 Judging Panel, made up of public cloud company CEOs, reviewed the data to select, score, and rank the top 100 private cloud companies from all over the world. The evaluation process involved ranking companies across four factors: market leadership (35%), estimated valuation (30%), operating metrics (20%), and people & culture (15%).

"The private cloud ecosystem continues to mature in light of rapid digital transformations, making the competition to land one of the coveted spots on the Cloud 100 list steeper than ever," said Byron Deeter, a top cloud investor, and partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. "Private cloud valuations are getting bigger as the market's appetite for cloud continues to grow. Over the past five years, the average Cloud 100 valuation has grown by a tremendous 2.5x, from $1 billion in 2016 to $2.7 billion in 2020. In fact, our 2020 Cloud 100 includes over 87 private cloud unicorns! These founders represent the absolute best in cloud computing today, and they will most certainly follow in the footsteps of our esteemed Cloud 100 alumni. More than a third of the companies of the Cloud 100 have exited either via strategic M&A, financial M&A or Initial Public Offering. Congratulations to these cloud leaders!"

"In the face of this unprecedented time, digital is an urgent imperative, and the pace of innovation is accelerating. Companies around the globe, across all industries must adopt cloud technologies to enable their digital transformation," said Matt Garratt, Managing Partner, Salesforce Ventures. "The opportunity is massive for the cloud -- there are now more than 25 public SaaS companies valued at over $10 billion whereas even five years ago there were only three. Sectors from collaboration and security to retail and healthcare, are being disrupted and becoming more digital. Salesforce Ventures is excited to be partnering with Bessemer Venture Partners and Forbes for the fifth year in a row to recognize those who are not just predicting what's coming but working to create the future."

"For five years now, we have ranked the best and brightest emerging companies in the cloud sector," said Alex Konrad, Forbes editor of The Cloud 100. "With so many businesses growing fast in the cloud, from data infrastructure to marketing, it's harder than ever to make the Cloud 100 list  but with more elite company if you do. Congratulations to each of the 2020 Cloud 100 honorees and the 20 Rising Stars honorees poised to join their ranks!"

The past year for Outreach has been marked by significant milestones showcasing its exponential growth. The tech unicorn recently closed a $50 million round of funding led by Sands Capital with participation by Salesforce Ventures, bumping its valuation up to $1.33 billion. The company also expanded its geographic reach, opening its first two international offices in London and Prague and tripling East Coast coverage with an expansion to New York . Outreach recruited more top tech talent, with regional VPs to lead the new offices, a Chief Financial Officer , Chief People Officer , and tech veteran Sue Bostrom joining the board. Outreach was listed as the fourth fastest growing company on Deloitte's 2019 Technology Fast 500 and named a leader in The Forrester Wave: Sales Engagement Q3 2020 report .

The Forbes 2020 Cloud 100 and 20 Rising Stars lists are published online at www.forbes.com/cloud100 and will appear in the September 2020 issue of Forbes magazine.

About Outreach

Outreach is the number one sales engagement platform with the largest customer base and industry-leading usage. Outreach helps companies dramatically increase productivity and drive smarter, more insightful engagement with their customers. More than 4,500 companies such as Adobe, Tableau, DoorDash, Splunk, DocuSign, and SAP depend on Outreach's enterprise-scale, unparalleled customer adoption, and robust AI-powered innovation. Outreach is a privately held company based in Seattle, Washington. To learn more, please visit www.outreach.io.

About Bessemer Venture Partners

Bessemer Venture Partners is the world's most experienced early-stage venture capital firm. With a portfolio of more than 200 companies, Bessemer helps visionary entrepreneurs lay strong foundations to create companies that matter, and supports them through every stage of their growth. The firm has backed more than 120 IPOs, including Pinterest, Shopify, Yelp, LinkedIn, Skype, LifeLock, Twilio, SendGrid, PagerDuty, DocuSign, Wix, and MindBody. Bessemer's 15 partners operate from offices in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, New York City, Boston, Israel, and India. For more information, please visit www.bvp.com.

About Forbes

The defining voice of entrepreneurial capitalism, Forbes champions success by celebrating those who have made it, and those who aspire to make it. Forbes convenes and curates the most influential leaders and entrepreneurs who are driving change, transforming business and making a significant impact on the world. The Forbes brand today reaches more than 160 million people worldwide through its trusted journalism, signature LIVE and Forbes Virtual events, custom marketing programs and 40 licensed local editions in 70 countries. Forbes Media's brand extensions include real estate, education and financial services license agreements. For more information, visit the Forbes News Hub or Forbes Connect .

About Salesforce Ventures

Salesforce is the global leader in Customer Relationship Management (CRM), bringing companies closer to their customers in the digital age. Salesforce Ventures, the global investment arm of Salesforce, invests in the next generation of enterprise technology that extends the power of the Salesforce Platform. Salesforce Ventures is building the world's largest ecosystem of enterprise cloud companies and extending that technology to customers. Portfolio companies receive funding, strategic advisory, and operating support, and can easily join Pledge 1% to make giving back part of their business model. Salesforce Ventures has invested in more than 400 companies, including DocuSign, GoCardless, Guild Education, nCino, Twilio, Zoom, and others across 22 countries since 2009. For more information, please visit www.salesforce.com/ventures .

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Covid update: 1,500 crore vaccine doses; onion export ban; Oct-Nov warning

From the CEO of the world's largest vaccine manufacturer commenting on the possible timeline of the final vaccine reaching every person on the planet, to the World Health Organisation warning that the months of October and November 2020 could be 'tougher' - here are the top news updates on the Covid-19 pandemic. Adar Poonawalla, chief executive of Serum Institute of India reportedly said that it might take 4-5 years for the vaccine to reach everyone. He estimated that around 1,500 crore vaccine doses would be required to inoculate everyone if the final vaccine is a 2-dose drug. Meanwhile, the Government of India banned the export of onions after a 30% jump in export of the kitchen staple in the April-July 2020 period. Over a dozen Members of Parliament were found to be Covid positive on the day the central legislative body convened for its monsoon session. In Delhi, the deputy Chief Minister, Manish Sisodia, tested positive on the day that the Chief Minister of neighbouring Haryana, Manohar Lal Khattar, finally recovered from the disease. Watch the full video for the other top updates on the spread of the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus. ...read more
Democratic presidential hopefuls Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former Vice President Joe Biden shake hands as they arrive onstage for the third Democratic primary debate of the 2020 presidential campaign season. Frederic J. Brown | AFP | Getty Images

Despite an uncertain economic outlook and a diverse array of advisors on Joe Biden's economic team, Wall Street speculators and Beltway wonks have nonetheless drummed up a list of policymakers who could play roles in a potential Biden White House. The cast ranges from progressive favorite Sen. Elizabeth Warren to equitability economist Heather Boushey. Longtime Biden confidant Jared Bernstein is also thought to be a top contender for a role, while others speculate that Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard could be on the short list. CNBC reached out to several economists and politicians who reportedly are advising the Biden campaign. All declined to offer comment for this story and on their interactions with the campaign. The economy  along with the coronavirus crisis itself  are likely to be Biden's top priorities should he defeat President Donald Trump in November. The former vice president holds a lead of approximately 7 percentage points in polling averages and narrowly edges Trump in several swing-state polls. The U.S. unemployment rate is still over 8%, more than 13 million American workers continue to receive unemployment benefits, and Covid-19 remains far from contained and could rebound this fall as people spend more time indoors. So whom Biden chooses to lead the White House's economic policy will likely have more impact than usual for a newly elected president. "Steven Mnuchin emerged as the key negotiator between House Democrats and the White House, and demonstrated the key role the secretary of Treasury can play," wrote Tom Block, policy analyst at FundStrat Global Advisors. "If VP Biden wins, getting the economy back on track will undoubtedly be his highest priority." Here some of the people considered to be leading candidates for economic roles in a potential Biden administration.

Elizabeth Warren

No conversation about Biden's future Cabinet would be complete without a mention of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, whose crusader-like devotion to holding Wall Street accountable has made her something of a progressive icon. Though she was among Biden's challengers in the Democratic primary, her deep knowledge of the U.S. financial system and bankruptcy law makes her a compelling contender for Treasury secretary. She and Biden now reportedly hold regular phone calls to discuss policy. Biden has touted Warren-endorsed ideas ranging from topics such as personal bankruptcy and expanding Social Security to ending student-loan debt for millions. But a key force that could potentially doom Warren's appointment to lead the Treasury is her indisputable value to Democrats as a senator.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) delivers a campaign speech at East Los Angeles College on March 2, 2020 in Monterey Park, California. Mario Tama | Getty Images

Even if Biden wins the White House, the composition of the Senate is far less certain and Democrats may be hard-pressed to surrender Warren's seat. The situation is further complicated given that Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker is a Republican, meaning that he could nominate another member of the GOP to fill Warren's Senate seat should she accept a role in the Cabinet. "I believe whom [Biden] picks could be determined by which party controls the Senate," Fundstrat's Block wrote in an email. "If Republicans maintain control, just like Mnuchin worked well with House Democrats, Biden will need a [Treasury] secretary who can work with Senate Republicans." "Senator Warren may not fit that profile," Block added.

Lael Brainard

Another name tossed around in conversations about Biden's short list for Treasury secretary is Lael Brainard, a current member of the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors. As one of just five members on the Fed's board, Brainard has become a key lieutenant to Chairman Jerome Powell thanks to her deep knowledge of fiscal and monetary policy. Her comments on the state of the economy, though not as frequent as those of other Fed officials, nonetheless carry weight on Wall Street and among fellow policymakers.

Lael Brainard, governor of the U.S. Federal Reserve with Fed Governors, Jerome Powell and Stanley Fischer. Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Respect for her outlook comes both from her time at the Fed and after her tenure as the United States undersecretary of the Treasury for International Affairs until 2013 during one of the most turbulent times in modern U.S. economics. She served as deputy national economic advisor and deputy assistant to the president from 1998 to 2000. Her appointment to the Treasury Department's top job could also prove politically savvy: It would spare the Biden administration from risking Warren's Senate seat without irking either centrist or progressive Democrats. She has "broad experience with international financial issues [and] would be first female Treasury secretary," wrote Charles Myers, chairman of Signum Global Advisors. She'd "bring a more centrist approach without alienating progressives."

Meg Whitman

Though not necessarily a contender for Treasury secretary, Quibi CEO Meg Whitman could prove one of Biden's more centrist Cabinet picks. Whitman, a longtime Republican and former California gubernatorial candidate, is experienced in the technology and media sectors. That could make her a compelling pick to lead the Commerce Department. Whitman has led a number of companies in the private sector, including as CEO of both eBay and Hewlett Packard Enterprise. She was an executive at the Walt Disney Company in the 1980s.

Meg Whitman of Quibi at CES Source: CNBC

A senior advisor to Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign, Whitman has allies on both sides of the political aisle and could make a good liaison for U.S. business interests. During an interview with CNBC in August, Whitman criticized the Trump administration and praised portions of Biden's economic plans, including modest tax increases. She also skirted a question from host David Faber on whether she'd accept a role in a Biden White House, saying she enjoys her time in the private sector. "A Republican who campaigned for Clinton in 2016, Whitman, CEO of Quibi, is supporting Biden's campaign and spoke at the Democratic National Convention," Myers wrote. "Biden would use her as an example of 'reaching across the aisle.'"

Jared Bernstein

Economist Jared Bernstein is thought to be almost assured a position in a Biden administration should he accept. Bernstein was a top economic advisor to the vice president during the Obama White House and continues to advise Biden on the campaign trail. His expertise in income inequality, class mobility and other employment outcomes makes him a good fit for either the National Economic Council or the Council of Economic Advisors.

Jared Bernstein Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Bernstein testified before the U.S. Joint Economic Committee in late July that Covid-19 and its economic impact has hit certain demographics harder than others and advised Congress to factor that in to subsequent relief packages. "While most Americans are experiencing some extent of these problems, they are particularly acute for persons and communities of color," he said in his remarks. "Congress can once again throw struggling people, places, and businesses the lifeline they need to make it to other side of this crisis," he added. "Along with uninterrupted enhanced UI benefits, I've argued for increased nutritional support, state and local fiscal relief, and help for smaller, more vulnerable businesses. Shortchanging such temporary fiscal relief due to deficit concerns would be, I have argued, highly misguided."

Heather Boushey

Heather Boushey has become a regular briefer to the Biden campaign as the Democratic Party moves leftward into more progressive policies. Boushey is one of Washington's leading voices in labor and workplace reform, and much of her work centers on how best to improve women's economic outcomes: Fighting wage discrimination and ensuring paid family leave. Her works, including a 2017 essay for The Hamilton Project, are dotted with citations to some of the globe's premier labor and inequality economists, including Harvard University's Raj Chetty, who is also said to be advising the Biden campaign; Brown University's John Friedman and University of California at Berkeley's Emmanuel Saez.

Heather Boushey, Executive Director and Chief Economist, Equitable Growth, gives remarks, at The White House Summit on The United State of Women. Cheriss May | NurPhoto | Getty Images

A key common thread to Boushey's work is an argument against the notion that legislation that benefits marginalized demographics, e.g., the working class, racial minorities and women, is bad for the economy and leads to market inefficiencies. Fairer and modernized labor laws, she argues, would not only benefit those groups, but in turn would benefit the broader national economy. "Despite the central role women play in the U.S. economy, our labor laws and institutions do little to address the various ways in which women are held back at work," Boushey wrote in 2017. "This not only hampers women's economic well-being, but also has implications for U.S. productivity, labor force participation, and economic growth."

Tom Nides

A former member of the Obama administration, Tom Nides later turned to a career on Wall Street after his time in the State Department. Nides, former deputy secretary of State under President Barack Obama and currently an executive at Morgan Stanley, has the experience to be a potential strong representative for U.S. trade interests in a Biden White House.

Managing Director and Vice Chairman of Morgan Stanley Tom Nides speaks on stage during the 2015 Concordia Summit at Grand Hyatt New York on October 2, 2015 in New York City. Leigh Vogel | Getty Images

As the deputy secretary of State for Management and Resources, he was a close advisor to then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Those who hold that position often focus on U.S. foreign aid and diplomatic issues overseas. Nides is a vice chairman at Morgan Stanley, where he focuses on the firm's global clients. Nides has relationships with business leaders around the world, including being close to many on Wall Street. He's been a staunch financial supporter of many Democrats who ran for president in 2020, including Joe Biden himself, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. "Currently Managing Director at Morgan Stanley, Nides has deep experience in banking and in the government," Myers wrote, noting his trade and State Department experience in the Clinton and Obama administrations.

Richard Cordray

Richard Cordray, the first and former director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, may have a chance to return to Washington from his native Ohio if Biden wins in November.

Richard Cordray, director of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Getty Images
By PTI

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Wednesday said it is 'very improper' that someone files a petition and says that he should be made a judge of the high court.

A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde observed that nobody can become a high court by saying "I want to be".

The observations of the bench, also comprising Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian, came while hearing a plea filed by some judicial officers from Uttar Pradesh.

The bench agreed to hear the petition and issued notices to its secretary general and others, including the Centre, seeking their responses on the plea which has sought reconsideration of the matter relating to their elevation as judges of the Allahabad High Court.

"Issue notice returnable within four weeks," the bench said in its order.

After issuing notice in the matter, the CJI observed, "This is something very new. I do not think anybody should come and say appoint me as a high court judge".

"You do not become a high court judge by saying that I want to be," the bench said.

"We find it very improper that somebody will file a writ petition and say that make me a high court judge."

One of the seven petitioners is a retired judicial officer of Uttar Pradesh.
A famous Spitfire aircraft will fly over Derry tomorrow as part of a project thanking healthcare staff for their efforts during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The NHS Spitfire charity project has seen the aircraft fly over areas of the UK to show appreciation for employees of the National Health Service.

As part of the project, people are being given the chance to have the name of a nominated person who has helped others during the pandemic written on the aircraft.

The Spitfire is due to fly over Altnagelvin Hospital at 4.16pm on Thursday, before going on to land at City of Derry Airport.

The aircraft will take off from the local airport at 10am on Friday and will fly over a number of other hospitals in Northern Ireland on Friday.

A spokesperson for the project urged people to nominate names to go on the plane.

"The names will be nominated by the public as a way of recognising small acts of kindness throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

"From a family member to a kind neighbour, close friend or community hero, the public can now thank them with this special gesture.

"In return for their donation, their nominated name will be one of those written on the Spitfire, which has an 80,000 name capacity.

"As the names are added, the UK will be able to watch this extraordinary visual spectacle unfold.

"The aim is to lift the spirits of those across the UK, whilst also thanking the hospitals, communities and individuals who have been at the forefront of getting the country through the pandemic."

To nominate a name for the Spitfire, go to - https://bit.ly/3mrn3mD
Amid protests in parts of



Maharashtra, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday said the state government will write to the seeking lifting of the ban imposed on export of onions.

Thackeray made the commentin a cabinet meeting after state ministers expressed resentment over the Centre's decision to ban the export of onions, a statement from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said.

According to the statement, the CM said his government will write to the seeking a roll-back of the ban which will affect a large number of onion growers in Maharashtra, a key producer of the commodity.

The statementsaid principal secretary Anup Kumar informed the cabinet that in 2018-19, 21.83 lakh metric tonne of onion was exported from Maharashtra and the outbound shipment was 18.50 lakh metric tonne in 2019-20.

Minister Eknath Shinde said four lakh metric tonne of export-bound onion was stranded at JNPTnear Mumbai, while 500 onion-laden trucks from the state were stuck at borders with Nepal and Bangladesh, it said.

The on Monday banned the export of all varieties of onions with immediate effect, a move aimed at increasing availability and curbing prices of the commodity in the domestic market.

Meanwhile, the Congress, a constituent of the MVA government in Maharashtra, on Wednesday held state-wide protests against the Centre's decision.

"Even as farmers in the state had just started to recover from COVID-19-induced losses, the Modi government has once again dashed their hopes.

"At a time when onion crop was fetching good price in the market, the Modi government suddenly decided to ban its export, causing huge losses to farmers," said state Congress president and revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat.

"There is intense anger among farmers against this decision of the Modi government and the state government stands firmly with them.

"The Congress agitation will continue till the Union government revokes the ban on onion export," Thorat said.

In Nashik district, the onion hub of the state, Congress workers protested against "anti-farmer policies" of the central government by wearing onion garlands around their necks.

Protests were also held in Pune, Ahmednagar Thane and Solapur, among other districts of Maharashtra.

Thorat said the MVA government is extending a helping hand to farmers who have suffered losses due to floods or heavy rains, but the Modi dispensation has not come to their aid.

The earlier decision by the Centre to import milk powder resulted in thousands of tonnes of the food item lying with dairy farmers, resulting in a drop in prices, the Congress leader said.

Now, the just imposed ban on export has led to onion prices crashing by Rs 700-800 per quintal, Thorat said.

(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.)
Over 100 complaints about social security filed by convicts in 2018 - Russias Ombudsman

 RAPSI, Vladimir Burnov

15:01 16/09/2020

MOSCOW, September 16 (RAPSI)  Last year, Russias Rights Commissioner Tatiana Moskalkova received 141 applications from convicts on issues related to their social welfare, the Ombudsman Office informs on Wednesday.

In the same period, 41 applicants sought assistance after being released from custody, a member of Ombudsmans staff said addressing participants of the All-Russian Conference on Resocialization and Adaptation of Convicted Citizens hosted by Russias Civic Chamber.

The convicts turning to the Rights Commissioner seek help in settling problems relating to pensions, social benefits and allowances; some applicants ask for assistance in acquiring identification documents, professional diplomas and certificates, or papers confirming length of work; citizenship documents and disability certificates, the staffer noted.

Earlier, Deputy Head of the Department for Organizational and Analytical Support of the Directorate for Educational, Social, and Psychological Work of Russias Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) Sergey Gudin informed the audience that about 200,000 convicts are being released in Russia each year.
What just happened? It seems like it took forever but Sony finally revealed pricing and the release date for the PlayStation 5. The standard console will go for $499, and the Digital Edition will cost $399. Both consoles launch on November 12 in the US, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea. Prospective buyers in the UK and the rest of the world will have to wait an extra week until November 19.

Unsurprisingly, Sony has opted to price its console to match the Xbox Series X. The PlayStation 5 Digital Edition is $100 more than Microsoft's entry-level Xbox Series S. However as far as we know, Sony's base PS5 model is identical to the standard minus the optical drive. The same cannot be said for the Series S, which has weaker specs than the Series X.

Microsoft is getting a slight head start on sales with its November 10 release date, but Sony has put itself in a comfortable competitive position, in both timing and price.

To add to the value, Sony also had a surprise announcement for PlayStation Plus users. Not only will the PS5 be backward compatible, but Plus subscribers will get immediate access to a backlog of PlayStation 4 titles free of charge.

The new perk, called the PlayStation Plus Collection, appears to only apply to PS5 owners. It features several AAA PS4 titles, including God of War, Bloodborne, The Last of Us Remastered, Final Fantasy XV, Fallout 4, Mortal Kombat X, Uncharted 4, Resident Evil Biohazard, Days Gone, Until Dawn, Detroit Become Human, and more.

Sony didn't say more about it, but it does appear to be something that it might roll games into and out of as time goes by. It's a nice perk and a clever marketing ploy that Sony hopes will give it an edge in driving next-gen console sales.
The special cell of the Delhi Police on Wednesday filed a chargesheet against 15 accused in a case of Delhi riots under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Arms Act and the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The chargesheet filed at Karkardooma Court is over 10,000 pages.

The chargesheet, filed before Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat, names Tahir Hussain, Devangana Kalita, Asif Iqbal Tanha, Natasha Narwal, Mohammed Pervez Ahmad, Mohammed Ilyas, Saifi Khalid, Ishrat Jahan, Meeran Haidar, Safoora Zargar, Shahdab Ahamd, Talseem Ahmad, Salim Malik, Mohammed Salim Khan and Athar Khan. It does not mention Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam as accused. Since they were arrested a few days ago, their names will be in the supplementary chargesheet.

Communal violence had broken out in northeast Delhi on February 24 after citizenship law supporters and protesters clashed with each other in the area, leaving 53 people dead.

Following the violence, the body of Intelligence Bureau staffer Ankit Sharma (26) was found in a drain in Chand Bagh, where he lived. The police had arrested Hussain in the case.

The police chargesheet, including its annexure, runs into 17,500 pages. The police have included 747 witnesses in the chargesheet and are relying on technical evidence, WhatsApp chats and Call Data Records (CDRs). The supplementary chargesheet will be filed later when the investigation progresses further.

The police have mentioned the WhatsApp chats of February 24 as evidence in the chargesheet. That was the time when riots were happening. At that point, the key conspirators were guiding their foot soldiers about violence in the area. They were directly in touch with foot soldiers," they said.

The police added that the conspirators used a WhatsApp group, now closed, to instigate violence in Seelampur and Jafrabad area. Twenty-five WhatsApp groups were especially created for each site. The impression was given that they were an anti-CAA protest group, but through these cites conspirators were being guided, said the police.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Pramod Singh Kushwaha had earlier said riots were the result of a planned conspiracy because during the investigation the police found a common pattern followed by the anti-CAA protesters: that of blocking road traffic.
An insurance agent shakes hand with a customer after signing a contract. Photo by Shutterstock/Africa Studio.

With life insurance revenues tripling in the last five years, there is intense competition between the countrys three top players.

Vietnam had 18 life insurance companies with combined premium revenues of VND106.6 trillion ($4.6 billion) last year, up 24 percent year-on-year and 2.8 times since 2015, according to a recent report by the Ministry of Finance.

In terms of new contracts, Manulife Vietnam led the market for the first time with 17.7 percent, followed by Bao Viet Holdings with 16.49 percent and Prudential Vietnam with 15.78 percent. The latter two have taken turns to lead the market in recent years.

Canadian insurer Manulife has in recent years been seeking to increase sales of bancassurance, which refers to selling insurance products through banks. It signed an exclusive bancassurance contract with leading private lender Techcombank in 2017.

The company has reportedly emerged as the leading bidder for the Vietnamese operations of British insurance company Aviva Plc. The deal, if successful, would allow it to sell its products via VietinBank, one of the countrys four large state-owned lenders.

After making losses in 2017 and 2018, the company managed to earn a pre-tax profit of VND1.26 trillion last year.

State-owned Bao Viet Holdings, the second largest insurer, saw its share of new contracts drop by 4.4 percentage points between 2016 and last year.

The company, in which the Ministry of Finance holds a 65 percent stake, has not made any major bancassurance deals and relies on traditional channels. It had 2,500 salespeople last year, equal to that of Manulife and Prudential combined.

Its pre-tax profit last year was the lowest of the three at VND1.1 trillion.

Third-placed Prudential Vietnam has seen revenues drop in recent years since being overtaken by Bao Viet in 2017.

Company executives said they have been focusing on utilizing experienced employees instead of rushing to recruit new ones in recent years.

This strategy has apparently worked for one of the earliest entrants to the Vietnamese market as it topped in the industry last year in terms of profits with VND2.69 trillion, double that of second placed Manulifes.

Industry insiders said competition is expected to become fiercer in the coming years.

Chung Ba Phuong, CEO of insurance consultancy TC Advisors, said bancassurance and sales through other organizations are set to dominate the life insurance market just as happened in other more developed markets.
Geneva (Human Rights Council) 16 September 2020 (SPS)- The Right Livelihood Foundation called last Monday in an Oral Statement during the 45th Session of the Human Rights Council, for the appointment of a Special Rapporteur on Western Sahara for the UN to be able to monitor the human rights situation in this last colony in Africa.

The Swedish organisation expressed deep concern about the situation in Western Sahara, where sustained and systematic violations and abuses of the rights of the Sahrawi people, including the right to self-determination, continue to take place in the context of the illegal occupation by the Kingdom of Morocco.

It further indicated that Sahrawi activists, journalists and human rights defenders are routinely subjected to torture, arbitrary detention, unfair trials, forced deportation, and other violations which are met with total impunity. We are also concerned that Moroccan occupation forces keep banning and expelling international observers from the territory.

Despite a number of calls from the international community for proper monitoring of its human rights situation, the Foundation regretted, Western Sahara seems to be off the radar of the UN system. MINURSO remains the only UN peacekeeping mission without a human rights monitoring and reporting mandate, and the premature resignation of the UNSG Personal Envoy is a concerning development that has put any hope of a successful negotiation process on hold for over a year.

The organisation, which awarded Saharawi human rights defender, Ms. Aminatou Haidar, in 2019, recalled the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Michelle Bachelet, that the Saharawi activists had requested that prompt and concrete measures be taken by your Office to address the situation.

In this regards, the statement emphasises We welcome your commitment to organise a new technical mission to the territory but we reiterate our call for a cooperation and capacity building programme to be implemented, without delay, together with the legitimate representatives of the Sahrawi people. We also urge the Council to seriously consider the appointment of a Special Rapporteur on Western Sahara. (SPS)

090/500/60 (SPS)
Toyota Motor Corp. said on Tuesday that it remains committed to the Indian market and its local unit announced an investment of more than 2,000 crore, just hours after a report cited a top company official as saying that the company will halt its expansion plans because of high taxes on cars.

The future of sustainable mobility is strong here in India and Toyota is proud to be part of this journey. We are investing 2000+ crore towards the electrification of vehicles, Vikram Kirloskar, vice-chairman of Toyota Kirloskar Motors, the local unit of Toyota, said in a post on Twitter.

This followed a Bloomberg report earlier in the day citing Shekar Viswanathan, vice-chairman of Toyota Kirloskar, that said the company wont expand further in India due to high taxes, which makes it difficult for automakers to achieve economies of scale.

The message we are getting after we have come here and invested money, is that we dont want you, he said, according to the report. Toyota has two plants on the suburbs of Bengaluru, where it makes cars and utility vehicle models such as the Etios, Innova and Fortuner.

Things changed rapidly during the day, with Toyota Kirloskar first expressing its commitment to India and later Kirloskar making public the investment plans.

Stressing that India is an integral part of its global strategy, the Japanese auto giant in the statement said it expects the Indian government to take steps to support the auto industry through tax cuts.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor would like to state that we continue to be committed to the Indian market and our operations in the country is an integral part of our global strategy. We need to protect the jobs we have created and we will do everything possible to achieve this. Over our two decades of operations in India, we have worked tirelessly to build a strong, competitive local supplier ecosystem and develop strong, capable human resources. Our first step is to ensure full capacity utilisation of what we have created, and this will take time, Toyota Kirloskar Motor said in the statement. In the wake of the slowdown that has been exaggerated by the Covid-19 impact, the auto industry has been requesting the government for support to sustain industry through a viable tax structure. We remain confident that the government will do everything possible to support industry and employment, Toyota Kirloskar said.

Vikram Kirloskars tweet on the investment plans was in response to a tweet by Prakash Javadekar, Union minister of environment, forest and climate change, who termed the Bloomberg report as incorrect and said Toyota will invest more than 2,000 crore in India over the next 12 months.

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Irish President Michael D Higgins led the tributes to 2016 Epsom Derby winning jockey Pat Smullen who has died of pancreatic cancer aged 43

Irish President Michael D Higgins led the tributes to 2016 Epsom Derby winning jockey Pat Smullen who died of pancreatic cancer late on Tuesday aged just 43.

Higgins expressed his "deep sadness" and said Smullen's "remarkable performances at home and abroad brought joy to so many".

His death was announced exactly a year after a legends race he organised, won by record breaking jumps jockey AP McCoy, helped raise more than 2.5 million euros (2.3m) for pancreatic cancer trials and research.

The esteem that Smullen was held in was reflected by McCoy going back on his promise never to ride again after he retired from the saddle.

Smullen -- who leaves behind his wife, Frances, and three children -- had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in March 2018.

Although there were positive signs from his treatment he was unable to ride in the legends race when he suffered a relapse.

Smullen experienced most of his greatest moments riding for Dermot Weld with the most memorable winning the Epsom Derby on Harzand in 2016 -- they were to add the Irish version a few weeks later.

The nine-time Irish champion jockey, though, reflected on how his career had sometimes placed strains on his family life.

"My whole life was consumed by riding and winning, to the point where I'm a bit embarrassed looking back on how I behaved as a father (of three) and as a husband," he told the Irishman Abroad podcast.

"It probably took something like this [the cancer diagnosis] for me to have a reality check about being a good person."

Other big races to come Smullen and Weld's way included the 2003 English 2000 Guineas with Refuse To Bend and the 2010 Ascot Gold Cup with Rite Of Passage.

"Pat Smullen was one of Irish racing's brightest stars, a nine-time champion, but his achievements in the saddle pale in comparison to his qualities out of it," said Brian Kavanagh of Horse Racing Ireland.

"An inspiration to us all, his legacy is large."

Story continues

British racing authorities also paid him a handsome tribute.

"He will forever be remembered as one of the greats -- not only at home in Ireland, but here in Britain and across the racing world," the British Horse Racing Authority said in a statement.

pi/nr
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By PTI

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Wednesday attacked the government for its statement that there has been no infiltration along the Sino-India border in the last six months and said it is an insult to the brave Indian soldiers who were killed on the night of June 15 in Galwan valley of Ladakh.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a tweet said going by the chronology of events, the government should clarify whether it is with the Indian Army or China and what is it afraid of.

"Understand the chronology: PM said- no one crossed the border. Then, took a huge loan from a China-based bank. Then, Defence Minister said - China occupied our land. Now, MOS Home says- there's no infiltration. Is Modi Government with Indian Army or with China? Modi ji, why so scared," he asked in a tweet.

According to Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera, by stating that no intrusion took place on the Chinese border, the government has given a clean chit to China again and asked it to come clean on the situation at the border.

He said the nation is "shocked" at such "brazen duplicity" of the Modi government in handling China's territorial aggression.

Khera said the second shocker came in the form of an answer by Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai to an unstarred question, in which he categorically denied any infiltration by China in the last six months.

Earlier in the day, in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha, Rai said there was no infiltration along the Sino-Indian border in the last six months, while 47 infiltration bids were reported along the Indo-Pak border during the period.

"This is an insult to the martyrdom of our brave soldiers on the night of June 15 in the Galwan valley. Is the government trying to say that the Galwan clash happened in the Chinese territory? By saying so, is the government blaming the Indian army of trespassing into the enemy territory," he told reporters.

"The government must come clean on the factual situation on the eastern border so that a clear message should go across the world that India and its government stand with the Indian army and will not legitimise China's claims over our territory," he said.

The Congress leader asked whether this was not just another clean chit to China, but also a handle given to China by the government whereby it can now claim and tell the world that they are not the aggressor but India is.

The response of the government dilutes the resolve of India and its mighty army to protect every inch of our valuable territory, he said.

"Is this a public handover of Indian territory to China by the government of the day? The defence minister and the entire government of India need to give a clear answer," he said.
Lord Hanningfield, Parliaments foremost expenses fiddler, is back in action. He was banned from the House of Lords, but that ban ended after the general election. Since coming back he has not spoken in the Lords chamber, or in Grand Committee, or tabled any oral or written questions. He is not a member of any Lords committee.

All in all, he is not known to have contributed anything to the business of the House of Lords, but he has signed in on four separate days, which entitles him to a 1,200 tax-free attendance allowance.

Hanningfield, who was ennobled for his work as Tory leader of Essex County Council, was arrested and charged under the Theft Act in February 2010 because he had made fraudulent expenses claims. He returned after a spell in prison and a temporary ban from Parliament in April 2012, and started claiming his 300-a-day attendance allowance, as he was legally entitled to do. In 2012 alone, he pocketed 24,600, tax-free, without ever speaking or making any other contribution to the Lords.

He came unstuck a second time after the Daily Mirror planted a photographer outside the building, who photographed him going to sign his name and leaving 20 minutes later. For that, he was banned from the building a second time, but by an absurd quirk, his fellow peers could make the ban last only until the election.

The law has been changed now, and any peer caught behaving as Lord Hanningfield behaved can be permanently expelled. But it is not retrospective, so as long as he is careful, he can carry on claiming his 300 a day.

Beckett has Corbyns back

Jeremy Corbyn, the voice of Labours unreconstructed left, achieved a rare distinction on Monday, as the only candidate in the leadership election to have had his nomination papers signed by a former party leader.

Margaret Beckett led the Labour Party for two months of 1994, between the death of John Smith and the election of Tony Blair. She had no intention of nominating Jeremy Corbyn until yesterday morning, when she contemplated what the reaction might be if Corbyn fell just one or two signatures short of what he needed to get on the ballot paper. Having nominated him, will she now vote for him? No, she replied. Ms Beckett is leading the inquiry into why Labour lost the election.

Shaun the sheepish

Its been a long time since Ive had a butler, Shaun Woodward, who was a Labour MP until last month, told the Sunday Express. He definitely had a butler when he was David Camerons predecessor as Tory MP for Witney. He was ridiculed for it after he defected to Labour. Perhaps that was why he gave up having a butler. The sacrifices some MPs have to make.

House of Commodores

Lionel Richie paid a brief visit to the Commons, setting off a string of bad puns online  is it MP youre looking for? Did he stay all night long? etc etc. Making puns from titles of Lionel Richie hits is Easy. You just Sail On.

Slipping out of Europe

The Financial Times reports that the Bank of Englands email system has been adjusted to eliminate the auto-complete in the address box. That explains how a top secret report into Threadneedle Streets research into the impact of a British exit from the EU got leaked: somebodys finger slipped.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo rallied behind Boris Johnson today over his plan to potentially break international law over Brexit.

Donald Trump's senior lieutenant said he trusted the PM and his administration to 'get it right' when asked about his proposals to override the Withdrawal Agreement with the UK Internal Market Bill.

The move, due to face its next major hurdle on Tuesday, this afternoon prompted the resignation of Lord Keen, the Advocate General for Scotland, amid reports he was unhappy about the legislation.

Ministers admitted last week the PM's proposals would break international law, sparking a revolt by Conservative backbenchers.

Meeting Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab in Washington today, Mr Pompeo was asked whether the US still trusted Britain.

'Yes we trust the United Kingdom. I am confident they will get it right,' he told a press conference.

Meeting Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab in Washington today, Mr Pompeo was asked whether the US still trusted Britain

Donald Trump's senior lieutenant said he trusted the PM and his administration to 'get it right' when asked about his proposals to override the Withdrawal Agreement with the UK Internal Market Bill

'We have made clear our view of the importance of the Good Friday Agreement, we know the complexity of the situation, we have done what we can to provide assistance where we can.

'At the end this will be a set of decisions with respect to this that the United Kingdom makes and I have great confidence they will get this right in a way that treats everyone fairly and gets a good outcome for what it was the people of the United Kingdom voted for now several years back.'

The Prime Minister met with Conservative backbench rebels in his House of Commons office this afternoon.

The BBC said a deal has now been reached between the Government and the rebels so that Parliament gets a say on any move by the PM to try to move away from what was agreed in the accord struck with the EU last year.

However, The Telegraph said while progress had been made at the showdown no formal compromise had yet been agreed but both sides are optimistic a deal can be done.

The rebels, led by Justice Select Committee chairman Sir Bob Neill, want Parliament to have the ability to veto any move by Mr Johnson to override the divorce deal - a so-called 'parliamentary lock'.

It is not yet clear what the Government may have proposed to the rebels but Downing Street confirmed Mr Johnson has spoken to Sir Bob and 'conversations with MPs will continue'.

It came as Ursula von der Leyen warned hopes of the EU and UK agreeing a trade deal are fading with every passing day as tensions remain high over Mr Johnson's Brexit plans.

The President of the European Commission hit out and said the accord struck last year 'cannot be unilaterally changed, disregarded or dis-applied'.

The EU has given Mr Johnson until the end of the month to withdraw his plans, with Brussels warning that a failure to do so risks the total collapse of trade talks.

Lord Keen of Elie, the Advocate General for Scotland, has reportedly offered his resignation to the Prime Minister over the Government's Brexit plans

Lord Keen of Elie, is said to have offered to quit because he was deeply unhappy with Mr Johnson's proposals to tear up parts of the Brexit divorce deal which ministers have said will break international law.

The resignation offer from the peer, who served as the UK Government's law officer for Scotland, was made to the Prime Minister this morning.

It was not immediately accepted amid speculation that ministers were trying to persuade him to stay in his post.

But a Downing Street spokesman said in a statement issued this evening: 'Lord Keen has resigned as Advocate General for Scotland. The Prime Minister thanks him for his service.'

Mr Raab has told US congressional leaders that the EU's 'politicisation' of the Northern Ireland issue in trade talks with the UK is threatening the Good Friday Agreement.

Mr Raab, who is in Washington for talks with senior figures, said he had had 'very positive discussions' with both Republicans and Democrats.

The speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, has warned Congress will never pass a free trade agreement with the UK if legislation to override the Brexit divorce settlement was to 'imperil' the peace process.

However, Mr Raab - who will meet Ms Pelosi later on Wednesday - said he had made clear the UK's 'absolute' commitment to the Good Friday Agreement.

'It is a great opportunity to be clear that the threat to the Good Friday Agreement as it is reflected in the Northern Ireland protocol comes from the EU's politicisation of the issue, and to be clear on how that has happened and why that has happened,' he said following talks with US secretary of state Mike Pompeo.

'The UK action here is defensive in relation to what the EU is doing, it is precautionary, we haven't done any of this yet, and it is proportionate.

'What we cannot have is the EU seeking to erect a regulatory border down the Irish Sea between Northern Ireland and Britain.'
CAIRO  Egypt last week called for a unified and firm Arab policy against Turkey through closer cooperation among Arab states.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told the Arab League on Sept. 9 that blatant Turkish practices and interventions in multiple Arab countries are the most significant emerging threats to Arab national security. He said Turkey was facilitating access of tens of thousands of terrorists and mercenaries to Syria, deploying thousands of fighters to Libya and exploiting the Arab peoples resources in Iraq and Libya through illegitimate agreements.

In its closing statement Sept. 10, the Arab League denounced the Turkish interventions in Arab countries (Syria, Libya and Iraq), and called on the Turkish side not to meddle in the Arab countries internal affairs and to halt its provocative actions that would sabotage trust and pose a threat to the regions security and stability.

Qatar, Libya, Somalia and Djibouti, however, abstained from voting on the statement.

Turkey denounced the Arab League statement in a Sept. 10 press release by its Foreign Ministry that said, These decisions lack any context to be taken seriously.  Turkey attaches utmost importance to the preservation of the territorial integrity and the political unity of the Arab countries, as well as regional stability, and exerts efforts for their protection, unlike some Arab countries that only care about their own agenda.

Ahmed Youssef Ahmed, a former dean of the Institute of Arab Research and Studies in Cairo, told Al-Monitor by phone that it is good to call for a unified Arab policy, but that there are challenges to the implementation of such a policy, particularly since there are varied Arab positions toward Turkey's intrusive policy in the region.

He said that while Egypt condemns this interference and draws red lines, there are other Arab countries, such as in North Africa, that do not have the same position, as they neither support nor oppose Turkish interference. Also, there are two Arab countries that are against any measure that would be taken against Turkey, namely Qatar and Somalia, he added.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said June 10 that the Egyptian army stands ready in case the Tripoli-based government and its Turkish ally continue to attack the area around Sirte, Libyas main gateway for oil exports, which Khalifa Hifter's forces and allies control.

Ahmed indicated that the Turkish intervention caused direct damage to a number of governments, namely Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Libya's eastern-based government, and added that it would be a good start if Arab countries agreed with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on a unified policy against Turkey.

He stressed the need for the affected countries to adopt a unified and comprehensive diplomatic position against Turkey, saying it is about time to examine Arab trade volume with Turkey. He said he believes Turkey would suffer major damage if Arab countries coordinated to reduce trade volume or impose economic sanctions on Turkey.

The volume of trade between Arab countries and Turkey amounts to nearly $50 billion per year, said Rashid al-Athba, vice president of the Qatar Chamber, at a joint meeting of the Arab and Turkish chambers of commerce in Antalya, Turkey, on Sept. 11.

Abdel Moneim Saeed, a former director of the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, agreed. He told Al-Monitor by phone that in order to have a unified Arab strategy, Arab countries need to agree that Turkish policies threaten their national security. That would start a dialogue between Arab countries and lead to a strategy to deal with Turkish interference, he added.

Turkish military forces are present in Libya in support of Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj of Libya's Government of National Accord, claiming that they seek stability in Libya. They are also present in northern Syria, and control some towns and areas adjacent to the Turkish border, and support Syrian opposition factions in Idlib. Also, Turkish special forces are deployed in northern Iraq, as a part of Operation Claw-Tiger against Kurdish militants.

Saeed added, No one wants to engage in large-scale military clashes. Yet Turkey and Iran are openly using military force, and Turkey is using religion to form armed organizations that serve its interests in Arab countries.

Tariq Fahmy, a professor of politics at Cairo University, told Al-Monitor that the only way to develop such a strategy is for that all Arab countries to agree on how to deal with Turkish policy in the region, adding that there are Arab governments that continue to maintain good relations with Turkey, such as Qatar, Algeria, Libyas Sarraj-led government and Sudan.

Fahmy said there is need to focus on the security dimension of Arab countries and the region as a whole, and that there is agreement that there is a Turkish intrusive policy in the entire region, especially in Syria, Iraq and Libya.

He pointed to the need to not separate the economic and political dimensions when dealing with Turkey, given their correlation, and to try to use economic policies to serve political interests.

Fahmy stressed that Arab countries need to communicate with all political forces inside Turkey, and to activate the Arab League role, considering it to be the Arab voice when communicating with these forces.
Award-winning journalist and NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson will host a live discussion on Oct. 1 as part of the Delta College Presidents Speaker Series.

The virtual event will take place from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on Zoom, a video-conferencing platform. Liasson will give a presentation about her coverage of this years presidential election before answering questions. She will also spend time talking to a group of Delta students about voter-related topics.
Dubai, Sep 16 : Actress Preity Zinta, who is currently in Dubai to attend the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020, says quarantine feels tough after five days. She has been under quarantine since she arrived in the emirate five days ago.

Preity shared a video on Instagram, where she is heard talking about being locked up in a room and about what people are going through.

"#Day5 of Quarantine feels tough. To all of you out there that are sick, alone or isolated I just wanna say - I feel you This too shall pass. Take care n stay positive, stay strong. Love you all. Let's spread love not the virus. Let's be positive not negative in life. #Ting #quarantinelife #PzIpldiaries," Preity captioned the image.

The actress also posted a picture of her pet Bruno and wrote: "Quarantine would have been so much fun with Bruno around." Preity on Tuesday had posted that she got a third Covid test done upon arrival in the country, and the outcome was negative again.

The actress, who co-owns the Kings XI Punjab team, shared a video of her getting her test done. In the clip, she is seen sitting on a sofa, while a doctor dressed in a PPE suit takes her nasal swab.

The IPL is set to commence on September 19.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sept. 8 delivered an important speech at a meeting to commend role models in Chinas fight against COVID-19, saying Chinas battle against the epidemic fully demonstrated the spirit, power and responsibility of the country.

He fully affirmed the major strategic achievements of Chinas fight against COVID-19, comprehensively reviewed the remarkable experience of the battle, summarized the great anti-epidemic spirit, and pounded on the important enlightenment of the fight against COVID-19.

The major achievements made by China is inspiring for the world, injecting strong confidence to global anti-pandemic cooperation and global governance. Chinas spirit of combating the COVID-19 epidemic features putting peoples lives first, nationwide solidarity, sacrifice, respecting science, and a sense of mission for humanity.

China has become the first major economy to return to growth since the COVID-19 pandemic, and has taken the lead in the world in both epidemic control and economic recovery, which showcased the strong repair capability and vitality of the country.

Medical journal The Lancet published an editorial, saying Chinas vigorous public health measures toward this new coronavirus were probably the most ambitious, agile and aggressive disease containment effort in history.

Multiple high-ranking officials with the World Health Organization lauded China on Sept. 7. Dr. Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHOs Health Emergencies Program said their deepest congratulations go to the front-line health workers in China and the population who worked together tirelessly to bring the disease to this very low level. Dr. Bruce Aylward, senior advisor to the WHO director-general called on the world to learn from Chinas experiences and make full preparation against the sustained threat of the pandemic.

China, working together with countries to tide over the current difficulties, has contributed wisdom and power to the global fight against the epidemic. It had launched the most intensive and wide-ranging emergency humanitarian assistance actions since the founding of New China, injecting constant energy to global COVID-19 control, which fully showcased the major countrys image of China, a country that places high importance on credibility, friendship, justice and morality, as well as explained the major country responsibility to promote common development and build a community with a shared future for mankind.

From sharing information of epidemic prevention, control and treatment to conducting vaccine development, from dispatching medical teams to offering anti-pandemic materials, from supporting international organizations to play their due roles to building a community of common health for mankind, and from improving global health governance to maintaining global industrial chain open, stable and secured, China has saved millions of lives in the world with concrete actions, and demonstrated its sincere hope to build a community with a shared future for mankind.

Chinas great fight against the COVID-19 epidemic once again proved that the extensive appeal of building a community with a shared future for humanity is the right way for the mankind to overcome common challenges and build a more prosperous and better world. Chinas firm determination to build a community with a shared future for mankind has been recognized and responded by more and more countries.

The COVID-19 epidemic is still rampant around the world, placing countries in arduous missions to defeat the virus, stabilize economy and safeguard livelihood. By keeping advancing international cooperation on epidemic control, China is making contribution with concrete actions to building a community of common health for mankind.

A special area for public health and epidemic prevention was set up in the comprehensive exhibition area of the 2020 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS). The inactivated COVID-19 vaccine and quick testing kits developed by Chinese enterprises, as well as other anti-epidemic medicines exhibited by traditional Chinese medicine enterprises attracted huge numbers of visitors.

During a public health forum held on the CIFTIS, the Beijing Initiative was adopted. The initiative calls on all parties concerned to fight against global disease threats by sharing experience and practices in epidemic prevention and control, on the principles of openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and respect, mutual benefits for win-win situations, and equality and transparency. Besides, it also stresses the importance to enhance global health cooperation and promote global public health security.

In a special way, the COVID-19 epidemic warned the world that humans are from a community with a shared future, and no single country can survive alone in major crises.

COVID-19 cant stop the firm steps of the Chinese nation to achieve the great rejuvenation, or the trend of times of the world to advance civilization progress. As long as the world upholds the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind, sticks to the path of multilateralism and solidarity, the people from the world will be able to jointly cope with any global issue and build a better world.
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Linkedin Editorial Board (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, September 16, 2020 08:31 492 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c45082f9 1 Editorial PSBB,Satpol-PP,mask-rule,dki-jakarta,police Free

Doubts over whether the reinstated large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) will eventually flatten the curve of COVID-19 transmission in Jakarta linger. The public has the right to express such skepticism as they have witnessed in their life many regulations go unenforced, or worse, as some believe, the regulations are created to be broken.

It is really a daunting challenge for the Jakarta Police, Public Order Agency and other bodies to enforce the curbs, as the number of their personnel is far from enough to monitor about 600,000 employees who still work in office spaces, and millions of people who travel from, into and across the city because human mobility has not been entirely banned.

Read also: Police's plan to involve gangs to uphold COVID-19 health protocols causes concern

Probably because of the desperate need for more personnel to enforce the PSBB, the police have considered the involvement of gang leaders, especially in monitoring the implementation of the restrictions in traditional markets. The plan was immediately dropped.

The gubernatorial regulation that reimposed the restrictions from Sept. 14 to Sept. 27 includes clauses that threaten to punish those who violate the health protocols. The regulation, for example, requires a first-time offender to undertake an hour of social work and to pay a fine of Rp 250,000 (US$13.47). The amount of the fine will double if the violation, such as a failure to wear mask, is repeated and tripled if committed for a third time.

For business owners, failure to comply with the regulation will force them to halt their operations for three days and pay a Rp 50 million fine if they repeat the offense. If they cannot pay the fine in seven days the government will revoke their licenses.

Under the current PSBB, workplaces in 11 essential sectors, such as health, food, energy, communications, logistics and basic needs retail  can remain open at half the capacity of their respective space. Activities outside these sectors, such as government offices, must have no more than one fourth of employees working in the office at the same time.

Looking at the severity of the punitive measures, the regulation should deter people from attempting to break it. But to create a deterrent effect, consistent and nondiscriminatory enforcement is needed. There should be no room to negotiate, or else high-level compliance with the protocols will remain elusive.

Both the government and law enforcers also have to step up the campaign to raise public awareness about the restrictions. Even after seven months of the fight against COVID-19, we still see people wearing masks improperly on the street, which only shows the health protocols have not been communicated well.

Read also: Police launch operation to monitor, sanction Jakarta PSBB violators

At the end of the day, the PSBB is just a tool to bring down the positivity rate to a manageable level and eventually contain the virus transmission. The restrictions are required simply to prevent the health system from collapsing, which, if it happened, would be disastrous.

While it is too early to measure the effectiveness of PSBB part two, we should realize that two weeks of restrictions may not make a difference. Perhaps we may need not only prolonged but also tougher PSBB to really beat the pandemic.
She recently shared her baby's first sonogram with fans.

And on Wednesday, pregnant Bindi Irwin was simply glowing in a selfie with her husband Chandler Powell and her mother Terri.

Also featured in the 22-year-old's photo was her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppy Piggy.

Glowing and gorgeous: She recently shared her baby's first sonogram with fans. And on Wednesday, pregnant Bindi Irwin was simply glowing in a selfie with her husband Chandler Powell and her mother Terri

The Wildlife Warrior wrote in the caption: 'Our sweetheart puppy is always adding that extra sparkle to family photos.'

The couple introduced the adorable dog to their fans on social media back in January 1.

Bindi and Chandler recently marked a special milestone on Sunday, sharing their baby's first sonogram with their followers on Instagram.

Cute: Also featured in the 22-year-old's photo was her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppy Piggy

In the photo, Bindi and her 23-year-old husband held up the scans while cuddling a wallaby joey and koala at Australia Zoo.

'The animal joeys we care for are excited to meet our human joey,' the mother-to-be began her caption.

'Baby Wildlife Warrior is about the size of a hummingbird now! We can't wait to teach our little one about the importance of protecting our planet and the beauty of the wildlife and wild places we love so much,' she wrote.

Baby on the way: Bindi and Chandler recently marked a special milestone on Sunday, sharing their baby's first sonogram with their followers on Instagram

Bindi finished her caption by thanking her fans for their 'kindness and support on this magical journey'.

Meanwhile, American wakeboarder Chandler posted a similar photo to his Instagram page, telling fans he 'can't wait for his baby to meet everyone in person'.

'Being a dad is already the highlight of my life,' he added.

Baby Wildlife Warrior due in 2021: Bindi and Chandler revealed their baby news last month on Instagram, with the pair holding up a baby sized Australia Zoo khaki uniform

Just married! The young couple were married on March 25, in a makeshift ceremony at Australia Zoo, just before Covid pandemic lockdown

Bindi and Chandler revealed their baby news last month on Instagram, with the pair holding up a baby sized Australia Zoo khaki uniform.

The young couple were married on March 25, in a makeshift ceremony at Australia Zoo, just before Covid pandemic lockdown.

They met close to seven years ago in November 2013 when Chandler, who hails from Florida, was touring Australia for a wakeboarding competition.
WASHINGTON - The Latest on the 2020 presidential campaign (all times local):

10:30 p.m.

Joe Biden says hes begun preparing for presidential debates that begin later this month by studying President Donald Trumps past comments.

I havent been doing mock debates very much but Ive been just making sure that I understand all that he has said and hasnt said, the Democratic presidential candidate told reporters as he prepared to fly back to his home state of Delaware on Tuesday night, after an event marking the start of Hispanic Heritage Month in Orlando, Florida.

Biden said he didnt know who might play Trump when he does begin staging mock debates.

The former vice-president said before his Florida visit that he wants to improve his standing with Hispanic voters ahead of Novembers election. But he said Tuesday night, Were doing just fine.

Here in Florida theres not a whole of Puerto Ricans that are going to vote for Donald Trump after what hes done for Puerto Rico, Biden said, referring to the slow federal response after Hurricane Marias 2017 devastation of the island. So they know him but theyve got to know more about me.

He also said Hispanics in Florida and elsewhere wouldnt be deceived by Trumps attempts to portray him as soft on socialism and communism.

__

HERES WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WHATS HAPPENING IN THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE:

President Donald Trump was in Washington on Tuesday for a White House ceremony celebrating Israel signing pacts with two Gulf Arab states. He is also scheduled to participate in an ABC town hall event in Philadelphia on Tuesday night. His Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, meanwhile, was in the battleground state of Florida on Tuesday for a roundtable with veterans in Tampa and a Hispanic Heritage Month kickoff event in Kissimmee.

Read more:

 Trump: Israeli pacts with 2 Arab states signal new Mideast

 Biden seeks to woo Latinos in 1st trip to Florida as nominee

 Trump takes questions in TV town hall as debate warm-up

 Trump highlights foreign policy wins as he courts voters

___

HERES WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

9:55 p.m.

President Donald Trump says he didnt downplay the coronavirus pandemic, even though he told journalist Bob Woodward that he did so intentionally.

Trump said during an ABC News town hall in Philadelphia on Tuesday: I actually, in many ways, I up-played it in terms of action. My action was very strong. The answer came in response to a question from an undecided voter about why Trump would purposely downplay a pandemic that is known to disproportionately harm low-income families in minority communities.

Trump told the legendary Washington Post reporter that he always wanted to play it down because he didnt want people to panic. He also called the virus deadly stuff. Trumps comments were captured on a recording Woodward made for his latest book, Rage, which was published Tuesday.

Three days after delivering his deadly assessment in a private call with Woodward, he told a New Hampshire rally on Feb. 10, Its going to be fine.

More than 195,000 people in the U.S. have died of the coronavirus, far more than any other country. More than 6.5 million coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the U.S.

___

9 p.m.

Joe Biden is expressing his strongest support yet for Puerto Rican statehood, though he says the decision must be made by residents of the island.

Biden said Tuesday night at a Hispanic Heritage Month kickoff event in Kissimmee, Florida, that he believes statehood would be the most effective means of ensuring that residents of Puerto Rico are treated equally. But Biden emphasized that the people of Puerto Rico must decide, and the United States federal government must respect and act on that.

Biden had previously declined to take a position on the issue. During the last referendum on statehood, an overwhelming majority of Puerto Ricans voted in favour of becoming a state.

Bidens remarks came as part of a broader effort to appeal to Latinos in Florida and particularly Puerto Ricans, which make up one of the fastest-growing demographic groups in central Florida. Democrats have expressed concerns that Biden may be slipping in the state, particularly with influential Latino voters.

___

7:45 p.m.

Joe Biden is calling President Donald Trump a fool for comments hes made questioning Bidens mental acuity and suggesting Biden takes performance-enhancing drugs.

During an interview with Tampas NBC affiliate Tuesday, Biden was asked about Trumps accusations that he is mentally shot and has taken drugs to boost his debate performance.

Biden dismissed the presidents comments, calling them foolish and declaring, Im looking forward to the debate and hes a fool.

The Democratic presidential nominee continued: Get ready, Mr. President. Here I come.

The two will meet for their first presidential debate on Sept. 29 in Cleveland.

___

6:10 p.m.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is urging the campaigns of President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden to abide by the states guidelines for slowing the spread of the coronavirus when the candidates visit Minnesota on Friday.

In a letter to both campaigns Tuesday, the Democratic governor wrote, Partner with us in the fight against COVID-19.

Trump has an airport rally scheduled for Friday in the north-central Minnesota city of Bemidji. Bidens campaign has not yet announced a city or venue for his visit.

Walz noted that Minnesota requires face masks inside public places and strongly encourages them for outdoor gatherings. Trump has largely shunned face masks, while Biden has encouraged their use.

The governor did not say in his letter how state and local officials will respond if either campaign fails to follow the guidelines for their events. Walz spokesperson Teddy Tschann said they hope to hear back from the campaigns soon, and that theyll comply voluntarily.

___

4:55 p.m.

Democratic vice-presidential nominee Kamala Harris says ideology shouldnt play a role in the U.S. response to wildfires and climate change.

She didnt mention President Donald Trump by name on Tuesday, but her remarks came a day after he visited California and again cast doubt on the science behind climate change. He has often sparred with state officials over the response to fires and has advocated for raking forests.

The California senator is visiting her home state for the first time as Joe Bidens running mate. She joined Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom for a briefing about a wildfire that tore through the Sierra National Forest beginning Labor Day weekend.

Ash fell from the sky around her, and the air smelled strongly of smoke.

Dean Gould, forest supervisor for the Sierra National Forest, says officials have never seen a more aggressive fire in the area.

Harris and Newsom then walked through a burned-out property.

___

4:35 p.m.

Joe Biden is set to meet virtually with Senate Democrats for the first time since becoming the partys presidential nominee.

Thats according to a Democratic aide who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss Thursdays private session.

Biden represented Delaware in the Senate for 36 years before heading to the White House to serve as President Barack Obamas vice-president. He tapped California Sen. Kamala Harris as his vice-presidential nominee.

As vice-president, Biden would occasionally visit the Capitol to join his colleagues for their weekly policy sessions. During Thursdays private session, he will join the Democrats caucus call to discuss priorities ahead of the November election.

 By Lisa Mascaro

___

2:40 p.m.

Joe Biden is tearing into President Donald Trump for his reported remarks referring to fallen soldiers as suckers.

Biden held a roundtable in Tampa, Florida, focused on veterans in his first visit back to the battleground state since he became the Democratic presidential nominee.

Biden says Trump doesnt seem to be able to conceive the idea of selfless service, referencing Trumps reported comments calling fallen World War I soldiers suckers and losers. Trump has denied the comments, but many were confirmed independently by The Associated Press.

Biden went on to outline his commitments to the troops and his own experience supporting service members and their families as vice-president. He spoke about his late son Beaus service in the Delaware Army National Guard, declaring that hes no sucker.

Biden says troops deserve a commander in chief who respects their sacrifice and will never betray the values they defend.

___

1:40 p.m.

Joe Bidens campaign manager is defending his travel schedule and voter outreach tactics as the former vice-president campaigns in Florida.

In an interview with Politico on Tuesday, Jen OMalley Dillon says, I welcome the bed-wetting, referring to worries among even some of Bidens supporters. She says it shows people understand whats at stake.

But she insisted the campaign and Democratic Party infrastructure is reaching voters in battleground states, including Florida, even without knocking on doors or holding large in-person events. Further, she turned the question back on President Donald Trump and his open flouting of public health guidelines during the pandemic.

I was horrified to see the pictures from last night, she said of Trumps indoor rally in Arizona, where masks were sparse and social distancing was not observed. People will die because of these types of events, and thats from the president of the United States.

She says Trumps actions surrounding the coronavirus pandemic are emblematic of his lack of leadership and she says the campaign will stay focused on that.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - An Alaska dentist convicted on 46 counts of defrauding the federal Medicaid program has been sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Seth Lookhart, 35, was also filmed riding a hoverboard during a procedure on a patient who was under anesthesia, KTUU-TV reported Monday.

Anchorage Superior Court Judge Michael Wolverton found Lookhart guilty Jan. 17 of pressuring patients to needlessly undergo intravenous sedation to bill Medicaid for the service.

Wolverton on Monday suspended eight years of the sentence, leaving Lookhart 12 years of prison time to serve.

The state requested that the court order Lookhart to pay more than $2 million in restitution for the Medicaid fraud.

A 25-second video that appeared to have been filmed using a phone showed Lookhart riding a hoverboard into an exam room before removing a tooth from a sedated patient and then pivoting and riding away.

Evidence presented at trial showed other patients were left unattended while sedated, had breathing and heart complications and in some cases nearly died.

Patients also testified they woke from anesthesia to discover Lookhart worked on or removed the wrong teeth or strayed from agreed treatment plans.

The judge said he was particularly struck by numerous text messages in which Lookhart bragged to friends about his crimes.

Lookhart apologized in court while reading a prepared statement.

While I do not doubt that I was able to render care and alleviate the pain to many people who were in dire need, I also know that I could have and should have maintained better discipline and focus while serving a patient base I came to love, he said.

Lookhart is scheduled to begin serving his sentence Dec. 7.
Netanyahu: 'terrorists want to hinder peace' 'We will strike those who want to strike us'

(ANSAmed) - TEL AVIV, SEPTEMBER 16 - ''I am not surprised by Palestinian terrorists'', Israeli Premier Benyamin Netanyahu said while leaving the United States, commenting rockets fired from Gaza yesterday while he was in Washington to sign peace agreements for the normalization of relations with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.



''They fired against Israel during a historic ceremony. They want to hinder peace but they won't succeed. We will strike anyone attempting to strike us but we extend a hand for peace to those who want peace with us'', he continued. When he returns to Israel, he said, three urgent tasks await him: ''Fighting coronavirus, fighting terrorism and widening the circle of peace''.(ANSAmed). (ANSA).




Public health officials are hopeful that testing will  for the first time since the coronavirus arrived in New York City  no longer be a scarce resource.

The new laboratory is the latest chapter in the citys long-running efforts to fix a series of problems plaguing testing efforts. The problems go back to February and March, when a series of missteps and disastrous decisions by the federal government meant that few people qualified for a test  even when they exhibited clear Covid-19 symptoms  as the virus began circulating across New York City and its suburbs.

At first, the federal government had a monopoly over testing, and the city scrambled to develop the ability to test on its own. Early on, the effort was hamstrung by shortages of test kits, chemical reagents and even the swabs used to collect samples.

In the months that followed, the largest national laboratories dramatically increased their testing capacity, and New York City began to rely on them to handle most local testing. But some of these laboratories, like Quest Diagnostics, grew overwhelmed this summer amid worsening outbreaks elsewhere in the country.

That contributed to wait times as long as 2 to 3 weeks for test results in New York. To public health officials, it was clear New York City needed more testing infrastructure that it could control  or at least rely on.

Well be getting into the scale of testing capacity that we feel is critical, Dr. Varma said.

The additional capacity could come in handy amid the coming push for students and teachers to get tested as in-class instruction resumes for hundreds of thousands in the public school system. And as flu season begins and colds began circulating in greater numbers, the demand for testing may increase as New Yorkers contend with symptoms that might or might not mean Covid-19.

We knew that we really needed our testing capacity to be at the maximum in the fall, Dr. Varma said.
Every time Sen. Jim Inhofe's commercial comes on television, my blood pressure rises 20 points.

How does he dare insinuate that I am less of an Oklahoman than he is just because my politics are not his politics?

He was elected to the U.S. Senate to represent all Oklahomans, not just the ones who agree with him.

He insinuates I do not respect the flag.

Every Memorial Day I help to put 160 flags on poles on the graves of veterans and place 1,200 stick flags on the graves of veterans in the Hominy Cemetery.

He insinuates that I do not respect our military. But my father and uncle served in World War II; my brother and husband served in Vietnam. Three of my nephews have served in the National Guard; one is still active.

I helped to paint murals along Main Street in downtown Hominy to honor all branches of the military.

I despise his attempt to separate Oklahomans into an Us vs Them position. Oklahomans are Oklahomans!

We stand together, side-by-side, through thick and thin. Or, at least we used to before this current administration took office in Washington, D.C.
Nearly two-thirds of young American adults are not aware that six million Jewish people were killed during the Holocaust, according to a new survey.

The survey, carried out on adults between the ages of 18 and 39 across all 50 states in the US, showed a worrying lack of basic Holocaust knowledge in its respondents.

The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference), who commissioned the survey, revealed that 11 per cent of US Millennial and Gen Z respondents believe Jewish people caused the Holocaust.

Examining Holocaust denial, results showed that 10 per cent of people said that the tragedy did not happen or were not sure. In total, 23 per cent either said the Holocaust was a myth, was "greatly exaggerated" or were not sure.

Almost half (48 per cent) of national survey respondents could not name one of the more than 40,000 camps and ghettos that were established in Europe during the Holocaust, with 56 per cent unable to identify Auschwitz-Birkenau.

The results are both shocking and saddening and they underscore why we must act now while Holocaust survivors are still with us to voice their stories, said Gideon Taylor, President of the Claims Conference.

We need to understand why we arent doing better in educating a younger generation about the Holocaust and the lessons of the past. This needs to serve as a wake-up call to us all, and as a road map of where government officials need to act.

The survey showed that 63 per cent of respondents did not know that six million Jewish people were murdered and that 36 per cent thought that two million or fewer Jewish people were killed.

The Claims Conference, who seek to provide a measure of justice for Jewish Holocaust victims, expressed fear over the results as fewer and fewer Holocaust survivors  eyewitnesses to a state-sponsored genocide  are alive to share the lessons of the Holocaust.

The survey seemingly exposed the role of social media in perpetuating ideas of Holocaust denial with just shy of half of the respondents (49 per cent) saying they had seen Holocaust denial or distortion posts on social media or elsewhere online.

Thirty per cent said they had seen Nazi symbols on their social media platforms and, or, in their communities.

Worryingly, 59 per cent of respondents indicate that they believe something like the Holocaust could happen again.

The survey calculated a Holocaust knowledge score by using the percentage of Millennials and Gen Z adults who had: definitively heard about the Holocaust, could name at least one concentration camp, death camp, or ghetto, and know that six million Jewish people were killed in the Holocaust.

Arkansas has the lowest Holocaust knowledge score with only 17 per cent of respondents fulfilling the criteria, followed by Mississippi (18 per cent) and Florida (20 per cent). Wisconsin (42 per cent), Minnesota (37 per cent) and Massachusetts (35 per cent) ranked the three highest out of the 50 states.

A taskforce comprised of Holocaust survivors as well as historians and subject matter experts from museums, educational institutions and leading nonprofits in the field of Holocaust education was set up by the Claims Conference to oversee the survey.

The Claims Conference urged that increased education on the Holocaust is needed to combat the findings and said that social media platforms need to take responsibility for removing Holocaust denial content from their websites.

The survey noted that 80 per cent of all respondents believe that it is important to continue teaching about the Holocaust, in part, so that it does not happen again.

Interviews were carried out with 1,000 respondents nationwide and 200 interviews in each state with adults ages 18 to 39 via landline, cell phone, and online interviews.

Greg Schneider, executive vice president of the Claims Conference told NBC News that the most important lesson is that we can't lose any more time."

"If we let these trends continue for another generation, the crucial lessons from this terrible part of history could be lost."
'This is a fascinating side to Sonia Gandhi, the way she disarms her opponents.'

IMAGE: Interim Congress President Sonia Gandhi. Photograph: PTI Photo

"To be inside a political party and raise issues is not an easy thing to do, and therefore there is a lack of inner-party democracy in any regional party or national party," veteran Congress watcher Rasheed Kidwai -- a Visiting Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation and the author of two books on the Congress party, 24 Akbar Road and Sonia -- A Biography -- tells Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com in the concluding segment of a fascinating two-part interview.

What can leaders like Digvijaya Singh bring to the table for the Congress? He lost to a political novice like Sadhavi Pragya by more than 3 lakh votes in 2019.

How can he be an asset to the Congress, since he has been given an important post in this reshuffle?

I told you in my last interview that if you take a train from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh to Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in Mumbai, then you will not come across a single Congress member of Parliament's constituency.

In such a situation you cannot have a criterion of talent in terms of ability to win elections.

The party needs three types of people.

A. Who can win elections.

B. People having cerebral brains and bring sharpness, like Dr Manmohan Singh or Jairam Ramesh.

C. Man-management like people who are good in inter-personal management.

Digvijaya Singh, I understand, has a chequered past in terms of electoral history, but the fact is that the party needs managers.

Tariq Anwar quit the Congress quoting Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin in 1999. Now he is back and has got an important position in the party.

How has he managed to get back in the good books of Sonia Gandhi?

This is a fascinating side to Sonia Gandhi, the way she disarms her opponents.

If you recall, Sharad Pawar quit the Congress party on the foreign origin issue in May 1999.

In September 1999, the election result from the Maharashtra assembly election was hung.

The breakaway group of the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress came together and formed a government.

This happened in spite of the bad blood between both parties during the elections.

Sonia Gandhi is one of the finest students of the university of life.

Tariq Anwar has been brought back as he is a potential threat to Ghulam Nabi Azad and to some extent even Ahmed Patel.

Tariq is an efficient party manager.

In Sitaram Kesri's Congress he had the same stature as that of Ahmed Patel today.

In politics, everyone has a right to live and learn.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala cannot even win an MLA's seat and surprisingly, he gets so much importance in the party which is very surprising. He came third in the recent Delhi election.

All political parties need lightweight politicians.

You can take the example of Narendra Modi, Amit Shah (who are heavyweights) and J P Nadda (a lightweight) who is president of the BJP now.

A lightweight is always suitable when the power centre is elsewhere.

You need such people who are flexible and can convey the desires and wishes of the central party leadership or high command.

It does not justify but explains the rise and rise of Surjewala and (K C) Venugopal.

Which is the most surprising comeback name for you in this reshuffle?

I find very intriguing the inclusion of Mukul Wasnik at all levels in the party hierarchy.

He is in the six-member panel of the party which will run Congress affairs in Sonia Gandhi's absence.

A K Antony, Ahmed Patel, Ambika Soni are there and from Rahul's side there are Surjewala and Venugopal.

The sixth person is Wasnik and that is surprising because he was one of the 23 dissenters.

He is now in charge of Madhya Pradesh.

He is also the AICC general secretary and is also in the CWC.

Now those dissenters must be thinking, what was Mukul up to really?

The dissenters need to introspect over why they lacked cohesiveness.

Why cannot the Gandhis do without Ahmed Patel?

The Congress earlier had R K Dhawan, M L Fotedar, Vincent George, Yashpal Kapoor at various points of time.

These people understand the dynamics of the party like a chess player sitting on a chess board.

They have the ability to manoeuvre or take caution or know the defence mechanism of the party.

Such people are an invaluable wealth to the party.

You cannot get them at a price.

He (Ahmed Patel) is also fiercely loyal.

He won the elections in 1977 when a large number of the Congress party leaders lost.

He also won in the 1989 Lok Sabha elections.

But Ahmed Patel has lost his home state Gujarat for the last 25 years.

Gujarat unfortunately has seen communal polarisation.

He was known as Babubhai and was very popular in Bharuch cutting across religious lines.

The VHP (Vishwa Hindu Parishad) ran a campaign against him and made him Ahmedbhai from Babubhai.

The Sangh Parivar over-emphasised his religion.

As long as he was Babubhai, he was winning elections.

Ahmed Patel is a very affable person.

He provides continuity to the party from Indira Gandhi, Sanjay Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi to Rahul Gandhi.

He has the ability to reach out to any state and any party level leader.

He was also one of the three parliamentary secretaries that Rajiv Gandhi appointed and they were called Amar, Akbar and Anthony.

The other two being Oscar Fernandes and Arun Singh.

How can the Congress sideline leaders like Shashi Tharoor and Manish Tewari who are so well read and popular among the public and they also win Lok Sabha elections?

If you are an alternate power centre in any party, then that path is very difficult and challenging.

To be inside a political party and raise issues is not an easy thing to do, and therefore there is a lack of inner-party democracy in any regional party or national party.

If Manish Tewari and Shashi Tharoor chose that path, then there is bound to be hardships.

My own view is that they are also partially to be blamed as when there was an election for Congress leader in Parliament, they should have contested which they did not and asked Sonia Gandhi to take a call. (Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury was appointed as the Congress leader in Lok Sabha).

Now Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has become Bengal Congress president.

Shashi Tharoor or Manish Tewari can raise objections as there is one man, one post policy, and ask for new leadership in the house.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
Every time Im walking around, everyone is wearing a mask, Dornes said. "In the quarantine units, everyone is wearing their full PPE. There is hand sanitizer at every single officer station and at almost every single desk. I can attest that every time Ive seen staff walking around, everybody is wearing their mask. Weve been doing this since March. There are staff who have to wear masks and PPE for up to 12 to 18 hours a day.
Wagner College Theatre kicks off its entirely outdoor fall 2020 season this weekend with a cabaret featuring its senior theater performance majors.

Two performances of The Other Side of the Rainbow will be presented on the outdoor stage, adjacent to the Main Hall on campus Saturday, Sept. 19 and Sunday, Sept. 20 at 8 p.m.
LONDON: The man who leaked the "Pentagon Papers" about the Vietnam War defended Julian Assange at his London extradition hearing on Wednesday, saying WikiLeaks had acted in the public interest and warning Assange would not get a fair trial in the United States.

Australian-born Assange, 49, is fighting to stop being sent to the United States, where he is charged with conspiring to hack government computers and violating an espionage law over the release of confidential cables by WikiLeaks in 2010-2011.

Daniel Ellsberg, who in 1971 leaked documents known as the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times and other papers, told the court that WikiLeaks` disclosures had shown Americans how they had been misled about U.S action in Iraq and Afghanistan just as his leaks, which also revealed previously secret information, did about the Vietnam War.

Ellsberg cited a U.S. military video, which WikiLeaks published in 2010 under the title "Collateral Murder", showing a 2007 attack by Apache helicopters in Baghdad that killed a dozen people, including two Reuters news staff.

"I was acutely aware that what was depicted in that video deserved the term murder, a war crime," he told London`s Old Bailey court via videolink. "I was very glad that the American public was confronted with this reality of our war."

James Lewis, the lawyer representing the U.S. authorities, said Assange was not wanted for publishing the 2007 video but for disclosing a small number of documents with the unredacted names of sources or informants. Lewis said many of these had suffered harm or threats because they had been named. He said some had disappeared, although he conceded that there was no evidence this was directly linked to the WikiLeaks` publication.

"How can you possibly say ... that there is no evidence that Mr Assange`s publication of WikiLeaks put anyone in danger. That`s just pure nonsense," Lewis said. Ellsberg, who was himself charged with breaking the espionage law in a case that was later dismissed, said there was no evidence of physical harm or deaths because of the leaks. The exchange with Lewis led to an outburst from Assange in the courtroom, with the judge warning him to remain silent.

REDACTIONS

Earlier, John Goetz, an investigative reporter who worked for Germany`s Der Spiegel magazine on the first publication of the documents in 2010, said Assange was careful to ensure that the names of informants in hundreds of thousands of leaked secret U.S. government documents were never published.

Goetz said WikiLeaks was frustrated when a password that allowed access to the full, unredacted material was published in a book by Guardian reporters in February 2011.

Assange`s lawyers argue that he would not receive a fair trial in the United States and that the charges are politically motivated. They have also said he would be a suicide risk if sent to the United States, where they say he could be sentenced to 175 years in prison.

In 2012, Assange took refuge in Ecuadors London embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden where he was accused of sex crimes, which he denied and which were later dropped. After seven years, he was dragged from the embassy by British police in 2019 and then jailed for skipping bail related to the Swedish case. He has remained in prison ever since, after the United States made its extradition request.
Actor Manoj Bajpayee has dismissed Kangana Ranauts recent comments comparing Mumbai to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, and suggesting that 99% of the film industry has been exposed to drugs. The actor recently appeared in a rap video directed by Anubhav Sinha, in which they shed light on the lives of migrant workers who seek better opportunities in big cities, particularly Mumbai.

Mumbai is a magical city. Theres magic here. Look at where I come from. Who am I? Where do I come from? People like me have made our villages, our districts, our towns, our friends and families proud. How? Because Mumbai brought magic to our lives, he said, scoffing at the idea that anyone could disrespect it. He was asked for his reaction to comments made by certain people in recent days.

The actor added, in an interview to India Today, We were given opportunities. And all of it happened because of Mumbai and the film industry.

Kangana in recent weeks has been involved in several spats because of her comments on Mumbai and the film industry. Claiming that she feels unsafe in Mumbai, she had compared the city to PoK. This angered Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut, who wrote an editorial condemning these comments in Saamana, the party mouthpiece, and advised her to stay away from the city.

Also read: Kangana Ranaut responds to Jaya Bachchans thali comment: They offered 2 min roles, item numbers, that too after sleeping with hero

To prove a point, Kangana flew down to Mumbai from Manali, a day after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation partially demolished her property. The actor alleged that the move was politically motivated. She wrote on Twitter while departing a few days later, With a heavy heart leaving Mumbai, the way I was terrorised all these days constant attacks and abuses hurled at me attempts to break my house after my workplace, alert security with lethal weapons around me, must say my analogy about POK was bang on.

This week, Kangana was called out by Jaya Bachchan, who said that by criticising Mumbai, Kangana was biting the hand that feeds.

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BWXT announced Tuesday that it has completed tests of soil samples collected earlier this summer  including at Prince of Wales Public School across the street  and found no evidence that beryllium used at the facility has had any impact on Peterborough soils.

Although officials from both the school board and the health unit seemed cautiously optimistic on Tuesday about those test results, one member of the Citizens Against Radioactive Neighbourhoods (CARN) said he wasnt at all reassured.

They (test results) serve no purpose except public relations, said CARN member Peter Harris.

BWXT Nuclear Energy Canada manufactures nuclear fuel bundles in Peterborough and assembles uranium dioxide pellets that are manufactured in Toronto.

The Peterborough plant operates from part of the General Electric site on Monaghan Road.

Its licence expires at the end of 2020 and the company has applied for a new licence with one change: BWXT would like to be allowed to move the pelleting operation from Toronto to Peterborough.

Although the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) has a staff assessment recommending that the pelleting be allowed in Peterborough, the commission has not made a decision yet.

During a public hearing in Toronto and in Peterborough in early March, CNSC noted that beryllium concentrations in the soil samples at Prince of Wales Public School across Monaghan Road from the plant have increased significantly between 2018 and 2019  yet theres no measurable trace of beryllium in air and water samples at the same time.

Beryllium is a heavy metal and a carcinogen  and although its used in production at BWXT, the company release from Tuesday notes that it wouldnt be used in the pelleting process.

Nonetheless CNSC opted this spring for further soil testing for beryllium, with a particular focus on resampling at nearby Prince of Wales Public School, before deciding on the licence application.

CNSC is carrying out its own testing, but the work isnt expected complete until Oct. 30. Those results will come later. In the meantime BWXT obtained its own soil samples and those were the results released Tuesday.

All BWXTs soil samples were tested by two independent labs and found to be below the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environments (CCME) guidelines for the protection of environmental health (4 mg/kg) and human health (75 mg/kg), the firm stated Tuesday.

The key takeaway today is that these results demonstrate that BWXTs operations have no negative impact to the environment or public health  and these are the results we expected, wrote Natalie Cutler, director of communications and government relations for BWXT, in an email to The Examiner.

Yet Harris said on Tuesday the results are meaningless to him.

His group of neighbourhood activists, CARN, has grave concerns about the safety of allowing uranium pelleting a residential area across the street from Prince of Wales Public School. Many CARN members were at the hearing in Peterborough in March and voiced those concerns.

Harris, a neighbour of BWXT and retired science teacher, said on Tuesday the BWXT test results arent to be trusted because they didnt use the same processes, equipment or labs used to produce the previous years test results showing increasing beryllium levels in the soil.

He also said hed feel reassured only if samples were taken over the next five years showing a trend toward low beryllium levels.

Meanwhile Pine Ridge District School Board chair Diane Lloyd wrote in a statement to The Examiner on Tuesday that the board is encouraged to hear beryllium levels in the soil samples were within safe levels.

And medical officer of health Dr. Rosana Salvaterra, whod urged CNSC to order further soil testing, stated in an email that she will now be looking for the CNSC samples when the results are available.

She wrote that in the meantime the BWXT results provide an early indication that beryllium levels in the soil appear to be within safe limits.

The full report is available at www.nec.bwxt.com.

joelle.kovach@peterboroughdaily.com
Covid-19, Saakashvili and elections

By Malkhaz Matsaberidze

With the October 31st parliamentary elections approaching, the sharp rise in Covid's cases is a sign that the elections will end in the wake of the second wave of the epidemic. The main event of the election campaign so far, judging by the number of comments and the degree of emotion of politicians, is the nomination of Saakashvili as a candidate for Prime Minister by the "National Movement".In recent days, the number of cases of Covid-19 in the country has reached record levels for Georgia and exceeds 40 cases per day. The situation is especially difficult in the Adjara region, and due to the lack of places in hospitals, the decision was made to place the mildly ill in hotels.Three hotels in Tbilisi, Batumi and Kutaisi have already been selected. The government has been talking for a long time about the prospect of a second wave of the epidemic, and now that this wave may become a reality, many feel that the government is not sufficiently prepared to meet. The opposition and experts in the field spoke directly about this.The opposition has long claimed that the government is serving the purposes of the election campaign to fight the epidemic. On March 30th, 12 cases of coronavirus were reported, and on March 31st-7. The authorities then declared a state of emergency, introduced a general quarantine and activated the curfew.Now that the number of new cases of the virus exceeds 40 per day, the government says that the educational process in schools can be resumed. According to Levan Ioseliani, one of the leaders of the Citizens party, the decisions of the Georgian Dream then and now serve the purposes of the pre-election campaign. "In the spring they adopted the image of a caring government, but now that they know the negative attitude of the people, they can no longer dare to impose the same restrictions."The government is not going to postpone the elections and the existing election schedule will not change. According to Davit Matikashvili, a representative of the Georgian Dream, "we do not have the luxury of discussing the postponement of elections despite the pandemic." The government imposes some restrictions on the epidemic, but it is clarified that this does not apply to campaign events; for example, the ban on gathering more than 200 people does not apply to the election campaign.In general, the opposition believed that the coronavirus pandemic was "working" in favor of the government, and a successful response to the epidemic boosted the government's rating. If the government finds it difficult to control the second wave now, it will cause dissatisfaction in the society before the elections.The CEC registered 66 parties running in the October 31st parliamentary elections, but most of these parties are unknown to the public and will not be able to campaign actively. Interested voters may even find it difficult to find some of these party pre-election programs. These less known parties are counting on the 1% threshold in proportional elections, which seems relatively easy to overcome.Mikheil Saakashvili, who was nominated by the United National Movement as his candidate for the post of Prime Minister, remains in the media spotlight. It has already become known about the election plans of the third president of Georgia. Saakashvili said he intends to arrive in Georgia after the elections, after the change of government, but categorically ruled out destabilization of the situation and stressed that he handed over power to the Georgian Dream peacefully in 2012. According to Saakashvili, he is going to be the Prime Minister for a maximum of two years, which will be enough to bring the country out of the crisis. Saakashvili presented a concrete plan for governing the country, which he called 9 steps towards justice. It envisages the depoliticization of the police and penitentiary system and the achievement of the independence of the judiciary. Saakashvili's pre-election activity has alarmed not only the government but also a large part of the opposition, which does not consider itself a Saakashvili camp and some of them have ambitions to become a third force. According to them, Saakashvili's appearance in Georgian politics is an attempt to restore bipolarity, when voters will have to choose between Saakashvili and Ivanishvili again.Whatever the attitude towards Saakashvili, the fact is that he remains an influential figure in Georgian politics, with the higher international recognition and authority.By engaging Saakashvili in the election campaign, the United National Movement will fully mobilize its constituency, while other opposition forces will have to approve their ratings in the upcoming elections. Especially those that were created shortly before the elections, such as Lelo or Citizen.European Georgia, which seceded from the United National Movement after the 2016 parliamentary elections and has not yet run in the elections, is in a similar situation. They have to explain to voters how they differ from the National Movement, apart from the fact that Saakashvili and his leadership style are unacceptable to them.The 66 parties running in the elections have until September 24th to form electoral blocs and then submit their party lists and majoritarian candidates to the CEC by October 1st.
President Donald Trump tweeted out a video clip Wednesday of a Fox News contributor who linked Dr. Anthony Fauci to Chinese government scientists he says were 'wrong all along' about the coronavirus.

The president retweeted a Twitter user named Karli who posted a clip of Dr. Marc Siegel during an appearance on Tucker Carlson's show on Fox News. In it, Siegel, a Fox contributor, said it didn't make sense to believe 'anything' coming out of China  then brought up Fauci, among the nation's top infectious disease experts.

'If you recall, this virus was discovered by another Dr. Li  Dr. Li Wenliang, may he rest in peace, 33-years-old, who had the Chinese police visit him in the middle of the night and demand he retract this,' Siegel told Carlson, who regularly defends Trump on his program.

Trump tweeted video of Dr. Marc Siegel, who said 'we can't believe anything coming out of China' during a Fox News appearance where he also called out Dr. Anthony Fauci

'It would be called Covid-2020 or Covid-2021 if it were up to the Chinese, so why would be believe anything coming out of China in terms of its origins?' he asked, in reference to COVID-19.

'Suddenly we want to believe it came from a wet market, or from a bat cave? Why would we believe anything we were told?' Then he turned to Fauci.

'And by the way, Dr. Fauci and Dr. Redfield have great relationships with Chinese scientists and they assured us at the beginning that it wasn't that transmissible, that ... 85 percent of the time it was supposed to be mild,' he said. 'Then it traveled all the way to Europe, and the president tried to block travel right, but it traveled.'

Trump retweeted a Twitter user whose account references QAnon and who sent around a clip of Dr. Marc Siegel

Trump has sparred with Fauci in the past. On Wednesday night at a town hall, Trump said 'a lot of people think that masks are not good. CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield [to Trump's left] called masks 'are the most important, powerful public health tool we have.'

'And then the rest is the pandemic,' he said. 'So here's the point, we can't believe anything coming out of China, Tucker, and I'm very willing to listen very carefully to what this scientist has to say because it's a very suspicious situation, Tucker.

'This behaves differently than any virus we have ever seen, and we need to know why. We cannot believe anything that the Chinese government or scientists have said about it. They were wrong all along.'

The Twitter user Trump blasted out to his millions of followers, @KarluskaP, wrote above the clip: 'Dr Siegel is so pissed off he threw Fauci under the bus with the Chinese! Holy c***!'

Her account includes a quotation linked to the QAnon conspiracy theory. 'Modern Day Midnight Riders. There's a reason why they are fighting hard to censor [defame] you.'

The quotation ends with a large 'Q,' whose anonymous quotations about a supposed 'deep state' have formed a conspiracy theory that President Trump has promoted in the past through tweets and retweets of its adherents.
China's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying on Wednesday hit out at the US government for opposing the UN resolution on tackling the coronavirus pandemic, saying that the US was 'isolating itself' by standing in opposition to the international community.

The #US again stands in opposition to the international community. Its objection to the UN resolution calling for solidarity and cooperation against #COVID19 only isolates itself.

Like many times before. pic.twitter.com/Z0NGUBQHZX  Hua Chunying  (@SpokespersonCHN) September 16, 2020

US objects UN resolution on Coronavirus pandemic

The UN General Assembly on September 12 received overwhelming support for its wide-ranging resolution on tackling the coronavirus pandemic. The 193-member world body adopted the resolution by a vote of 169-2 receiving objections from the United States and Israel. Ukraine and Hungary abstained from voting.

The UN resolution called for "intensified international cooperation and solidarity to contain, mitigate and overcome the pandemic", urging member states to "enable all countries to have unhindered timely access to quality, safe, efficacious and affordable diagnosis, therapeutics, medicines and vaccines."

Read: UN Assembly Approves Resolution On Dealing With The Pandemic

Read: COVID-19: UN Chief Urges International Community To Support WHO 'at This Crucial Time'

US' letter of withdrawal from WHO

Meanwhile, after the months-long war of words, US President Donald Trump informed the Congress that the United States has formally withdrawn from the World Health Organisation (WHO).

According to reports, the US letter of withdrawal, effective July 6, 2021, has been submitted to UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres, triggering a one-year withdrawal timeline. The official letter of withdrawal concludes months of threats against the WHO with Trump accusing the latter of conspiring with China to conceal information regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.

In April, Trump first froze US funds to WHO while conducting a review of the organisation and its management. At the end of May, the US President had announced his intentions of terminating ties" with WHO.

This comes as the World Health Organization recorded a record one-day rise in the number of new coronavirus infections on September 13, with 307,930 cases reported. The number of deaths rose by more than 5,500, bringing the global total to 9,29,171 According to the reports by BBC, the biggest rise was reported in India, Brazil and the United States. The previous one day record was set on September 6 when the WHO reported 306,857 new infections.

Read: China Criticises Trump's Threat To Withdraw From WHO

Read: Trump Admin Officially Withdraws US From World Health Organisation Amid COVID-19 Crisis
Action/Adventure Novel Based on the Gospels

"I am not worthy for you to come under my roof..."



NEWS PROVIDED BY

Author T.M. Hedlund

Sept., 16, 2020



OMAHA, Neb., Sept. 16, 2020 /Standard Newswire/ -- An action & adventure story, fast paced and brimming with banter, friendship, and love. In his first novel, Unworthy, T.M. Hedlund takes you back to 30 A.D. The author has a way of placing you in Galilee and standing next to those who firsthand, witnessed the miracles and healings by Jesus.



"It's rare for me to continue to think about characters in a book long after I've finished reading it. But T.M. Hedlund's Unworthy is an exception. I highly recommend this intriguing novel."  Marlene Bagnull, Author/Editor, and director of Write His Answer Ministries.



Greek by birth, Acasius gets his release from the Roman Legion and arrives in Judea. He meets a poor but playful young man named Levi, who persuades Acasius to make him a servant & guide. Levi's sister Maya joins and it becomes a trio. They make Galilee their home. It is also the home of a Jewish mystic from Nazareth, a man of great healing powers and a growing crowd of followers. It is a story for bringing hope into troubling times.



Unworthy (ISBN 978-1-7355119-0-0, trade pager, $13.95; ISBN 978-1-7355119-1-7, $5.99, ebook; 240 pages, Christian Historical Fiction & Action/adventure) from T.M. Hedlund Publishing is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble online, and where other good books are sold.



About the Author:

After spending nine years as a radio personality and broadcast journalist, T.M Hedlund decided to find a real job once he became a husband & father. Always seeking to entertain, it is evident in his writings. The author currently lives with his wife and two sons in Omaha, Nebraska and will be making this story into a three-book series.



SOURCE Author T.M. Hedlund



Contact: Tom Hedlund, 402-677-1745, tmhedlund@hotmail.com


Trump acknowledges plan to have Syria's Assad assassinated in 2017

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 15 September 2020 5:42 PM

US President Donald Trump has admitted that he intended to have Syrian President Bashar al-Assad assassinated after an alleged chemical attack in 2017 that Washington blamed on Damascus but reversed his decision due to purported opposition by the then-Secretary of Defense James Mattis.

"I had a shot to take him (Assad) out if I wanted. And Mattis was against it. Mattis was against most of that stuff," Trump said during a phone interview with Fox News on Tuesday.

"Mattis didn't want to do it. Mattis was a highly overrated general, and I let him go," he added. "I don't regret that. I could have lived either way with that, you know, I considered him (Assad) certainly not a good person."

The admission confirmed an account from a book that was published by The Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward in 2018. Trump at the time denied the assassination plan and claimed, "That was never even contemplated."

Woodward reported in his book "Fear: Trump in the White House" that the US president had said American forces had to "go in" and "kill" Assad after the alleged gas attack in April 2017.

Woodward  famous for uncovering the 1970s Watergate scandal that brought down former President Richard Nixon  wrote that Mattis told Trump he would "get right on it" in an apparent attempt to pacify the president but returned with plans for a "more measured" response.

On April 4, 2017, an alleged sarin gas attack was reported in the town of Khan Shaykhun in Syria's Idlib Province, purportedly killing more than 80 people. Western countries quickly blamed Damascus, with the US launching a missile attack against Shayrat Airbase in Syria's Homs Province on April 7, 2017.

Washington claimed that the air field had been the origin of the chemical attack. Damascus, however, said the Khan Shaykhun incident was a fabrication to justify foreign intervention.

The Syrian government surrendered its stockpiles of chemical weapons in 2014 to a joint mission led by the United Nations (UN) and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which oversaw the destruction of the weaponry.

However, Western governments and their allies did not stop accusing Damascus of conducting chemical attacks.

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Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (TSE:4502/NYSE:TAK) (Takeda) today announced that it has entered into an agreement to divest its TachoSil Fibrin Sealant Patch (TachoSil) to Corza Health, Inc. (Corza Health). Corza Health was formed in 2019 as a partnership between private equity firm GTCR and healthcare industry veteran Gregory T. Lucier to build a market-leading healthcare business with a particular focus on the broader medical technology and life sciences sector. Takeda will receive 350 million in cash upon closing of the transaction, which is subject to customary legal and regulatory closing conditions.

TachoSil is a surgical patch trusted by medical professionals globally to deliver safe, fast and reliable bleeding control. Takeda recorded full year net sales for TachoSil of approximately $160 million USD in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2020.

Costa Saroukos, Chief Financial Officer, Takeda, said, This announcement continues Takedas strong momentum toward optimizing our portfolio for growth by delivering highly-innovative medicines and transformative care in our chosen business areas, as well as meeting our leverage targets. As we continue to streamline and simplify our portfolio, Takeda is confident that we have found the right partner in Corza Health as the next home for TachoSil. Corza Healths expertise in healthcare, commitment to patients, customers and employees, and resources in partnership with GTCR make it well-positioned to ensure continued patient access to TachoSil and to invest in the product over the long term for their benefit.

Takeda has sustained the momentum of its divestiture program in 2020. Most recently, Takeda announced the sale of non-core assets in Europe and Canada to Cheplapharm for approximately $562 million USD. In August, Takeda announced an agreement to divest Takeda Consumer Healthcare Company Limited to Blackstone for approximately $2.3 billion USD. In June, Takeda agreed to divest a portfolio of non-core assets sold exclusively in the Asia Pacific region to Celltrion for up to $278 million USD; in April, Takeda announced the sale of non-core products in Europe to Orifarm Group for up to approximately $670 million USD, including the sale of two manufacturing sites in Denmark and Poland; and in March, Takeda announced the sale of non-core products in Latin America to Hypera Pharma for $825 million USD, as well as completed the previously announced sales of non-core assets spanning the Russia-CIS region to STADA and in countries spanning the Near East, Middle East and Africa region to Acino.

Takeda intends to use the proceeds from this transaction to reduce its debt and accelerate de-leveraging toward its target of 2x net debt/adjusted EBITDA within Fiscal Year 2021 2023. Takeda is committed to rapid deleveraging driven by strong cash flow and divestiture proceeds, while also simplifying our portfolio.

As previously disclosed, Takeda had entered into an agreement for the sale of TachoSil to Ethicon, a Johnson & Johnson company, in May 2019. Takeda and Ethicon agreed to mutually terminate the transaction in April 2020 as a result of anti-trust concerns raised by the European Commission.

Transaction Details

Under the terms of the agreement, upon close, Corza Health will acquire the assets and licenses that support the development and commercialization of TachoSil, while Takeda will maintain ownership of the manufacturing facility in Linz, Austria. Takeda has entered into a long-term manufacturing services agreement, under which it will continue to manufacture TachoSil products and supply them to Corza Health.

The agreement is expected to close by March 31, 2021, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, receipt of required regulatory clearances and, where applicable, satisfaction of local information and/or consultation requirements. Upon close, approximately 60 Takeda employees will have the opportunity to transition to Corza Health.

Nomura is acting as financial advisor to Takeda and Linklaters LLP is acting as Takedas legal advisor in this transaction.

About Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (TSE:4502/NYSE:TAK) is a global, values-based, R&D-driven biopharmaceutical leader headquartered in Japan, committed to bringing Better Health and a Brighter Future to patients by translating science into highly-innovative medicines. Takeda focuses its R&D efforts on four therapeutic areas: Oncology, Rare Diseases, Neuroscience, and Gastroenterology (GI). We also make targeted R&D investments in Plasma-Derived Therapies and Vaccines. We are focusing on developing highly innovative medicines that contribute to making a difference in people's lives by advancing the frontier of new treatment options and leveraging our enhanced collaborative R&D engine and capabilities to create a robust, modality-diverse pipeline. Our employees are committed to improving quality of life for patients and to working with our partners in health care in approximately 80 countries.

For more information, visit https://www.takeda.com.

Important Notice

For the purposes of this notice, press release means this document, any oral presentation, any question and answer session and any written or oral material discussed or distributed by Takeda Pharmaceutical Company

Limited (Takeda) regarding this release. This press release (including any oral briefing and any question-and-answer in connection with it) is not intended to, and does not constitute, represent or form part of any offer, invitation or solicitation of any offer to purchase, otherwise acquire, subscribe for, exchange, sell or otherwise dispose of, any securities or the solicitation of any vote or approval in any jurisdiction. No shares or other securities are being offered to the public by means of this press release. No offering of securities shall be made in the United States except pursuant to registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or an exemption therefrom. This press release is being given (together with any further information which may be provided to the recipient) on the condition that it is for use by the recipient for information purposes only (and not for the evaluation of any investment, acquisition, disposal or any other transaction). Any failure to comply with these restrictions may constitute a violation of applicable securities laws.

The companies in which Takeda directly and indirectly owns investments are separate entities. In this press release, Takeda is sometimes used for convenience where references are made to Takeda and its subsidiaries in general. Likewise, the words we, us and our are also used to refer to subsidiaries in general or to those who work for them. These expressions are also used where no useful purpose is served by identifying the particular company or companies.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release and any materials distributed in connection with this press release may contain forward-looking statements, beliefs or opinions regarding Takedas future business, future position and results of operations, including estimates, forecasts, targets and plans for Takeda. Without limitation, forward-looking statements often include words such as targets, plans, believes, hopes, continues, expects, aims, intends, ensures, will, may, should, would, could anticipates, estimates, projects or similar expressions or the negative thereof. These forward-looking statements are based on assumptions about many important factors, including the following, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements: the economic circumstances surrounding Takedas global business, including general economic conditions in Japan and the United States; competitive pressures and developments; changes to applicable laws and regulations; the success of or failure of product development programs; decisions of regulatory authorities and the timing thereof; fluctuations in interest and currency exchange rates; claims or concerns regarding the safety or efficacy of marketed products or product candidates; the impact of health crises, like the novel coronavirus pandemic, on Takeda and its customers and suppliers, including foreign governments in countries in which Takeda operates, or on other facets of its business; the timing and impact of post-merger integration efforts with acquired companies; the ability to divest assets that are not core to Takedas operations and the timing of any such divestment(s); and other factors identified in Takedas most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F and Takedas other reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, available on Takedas website at: https://www.takeda.com/investors/reports/sec-filings/ or at www.sec.gov. Takeda does not undertake to update any of the forward-looking statements contained in this press release or any other forward-looking statements it may make, except as required by law or stock exchange rule. Past performance is not an indicator of future results and the results or statements of Takeda in this press release may not be indicative of, and are not an estimate, forecast, guarantee or projection of Takedas future results.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200916005335/en/
Deputy Attorney General Jeffery A. Rosen talks about charges and arrests related to a hacking campaign tied to the Chinese regime, at the Department of Justice in Washington on Sept. 16, 2020. (Tasos Katopodis/AFP via Getty Images)

US Charges 5 Chinese Nationals With Hacking More Than 100 Companies, Entities Worldwide

Five Chinese nationals and two Malaysians have been indicted on charges relating to sprawling hacking campaigns to steal trade secrets and sensitive information from more than 100 companies and entities worldwide, the U.S. Justice Department announced on Sept. 16.

The five Chinese nationals are part of a hacker group known as APT41 that stole source code, consumer data, and business information from victims in the United States and abroad, across a range of sectors including tech companies, universities, foreign governments, and pro-democracy proponents in Hong Kong, the department said.

Cybersecurity researchers have described APT41s recent activities as one of the broadest campaigns by a Chinese cyber espionage actor in recent years.

In an effort to make more money, two of the Chinese hackers compromised the networks of video game companies to steal in-game resources, such as video game currency, which they later sold on the black market with the help of two Malaysian businessmen, Wong Ong Hua, 46, and Ling Yang Ching, 32. They were arrested in Malaysia on Sunday upon an extradition request by the United States and now face extradition proceedings.

The five Chinese nationals, Zhang Haoran, 35, Tan Dailin, 35, Jiang Lizhi, 35, Qian Chuan, 39, and Fu Qiang, 37, remain at-large in China. The seven defendants were charged in three separate indictments unsealed on Sept. 16.

The charges were unveiled less than two months after the department announced an indictment against two Chinese hackers accused of a decade-long campaign to steal trade secrets from defense contractors and hundreds of firms around the world, as well as attempting to acquire COVID-19-related research. They come as the Trump administration broadens its actions countering Chinese state-sanctioned theft of American intellectual property and personal information.

The scope and sophistication of the crimes in these unsealed indictments is unprecedented, Michael R. Sherwin, Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, said in a statement.

Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen criticized the Chinese regime for not cooperating with U.S. authorities to take action against the Chinese defendants.

The Chinese Government has made a deliberate choice to allow its citizens to commit computer intrusions and attacks around the world because these actors will also help the PRC, Rosen said at a press conference on Wednesday, referring to the Peoples Republic of China.

No country can be respected as a global leader while paying only lip service to the rule of law and without taking steps to disrupt brazen criminal acts like these, he added.

According to one indictment, one of the Chinese hackers, Jiang, had boasted to an associate that he was very close to the Ministry of State Security, Chinas top intelligence agency, and would be protected unless something very big happens. The hacker and his associate agreed not to touch domestic stuff anymore, to avoid getting caught under the crosshairs of Chinese police.

Some of these criminal actors believed their association with the PRC provided them free license to hack and steal across the globe, Sherwin said.

Prosecutors said APT41 deployed sophisticated techniques to hack into victim networks. In one method known as supply chain attack, the cyber group targeted software providers around the world and hacked into their code to install backdoors, which then allowed then to hack customers who installed the software.

Federal authorities, through seizure warrants, were also able to block the hackers from accessing online tools used for their campaigns, such as servers, accounts, and domain names.

Authorities also worked with Microsoft to develop technical measures to prevent the hackers from accessing victims computer systems, the department said, adding that the companys actions were a significant part in overall efforts to neutralize them.

In March, U.S. cybersecurity firm FireEye said that it detected a surge in new cyberspying by APT41 back in late January, when the CCP Virus began to spread beyond China. The firm said the group targeted more than 75 of its customers, from manufacturers and media companies to healthcare organizations and nonprofits.

In another report in November 2019, FireEye said APT41 hacked several major telecom firms to obtain text messages and call records of high-value targets, such as politicians, intelligence organizations, and political movements at odds with the Chinese regime.
Looking for an easy recipe to use up some of the end-of-summer bounty here in Michigan? Weve got an easy fruit cobbler dessert for you to try, and it can be adapted according to whatever looks best at your local market.

I love using whats in season, Mark Flegenheimer, president and CEO of Michigan Sugar, told us when we got together for a chat and some cooking recently. Michigan Sugar sells to retail customers under the Pioneer Sugar brand. If you were to ask me, grilling and smoking would be first, he said of his preferred cooking methods, but baking would be next.

The whole Flegenheimer family loves to cook. Each year ,they undertake creating a large gingerbread house for the holidays, and fresh pasta makes a regular appearance in their household.

Check out our interview with Flegenheimer below, where we talk about his family history, and how his grandfather brought Old World knowledge to the the sugar industry here and in Canada, and why this easy cobbler is a favorite of his.

Flegenheimers cobbler is a versatile recipe that can be adjusted to feature whatever fruit is in season. He starts off by sauteing fresh, peeled and sliced peaches with a bit of sugar till tender. You could easily substitute plums, pears, apricots or apples for the peaches and use the same technique. Then, its as simple as pouring both dry and wet ingredients into a bowl, and stirring well, then scraping the batter into your pan, topping it with all the fruit and any accumulated juices, adding a sprinkle of cinnamon, and popping it into a 350-degree oven.

One great trick that Flegenheimer shared was placing the stick of butter needed for this dish directly into the pan you are going to use to bake the cobbler in, and placing it in your preheated oven. Youll get the melted butter that you need, without creating another dish to wash, and your pan will be greased and ready to go. Pro tip: always bake with unsalted butter, so you can control how much salt to add to your dish to make sure the end result is balanced in flavor.

Some cobblers feature a biscuit topping that might involve cutting butter into flour, and very gently kneading, which can be tricky to execute without creating something tough and chewy. Flegenheirmer love the ease with which this one comes together, and the cobbler comes out almost closer to a cake, with the peaches nestled gently on the bottom, covered with a cake-like topping. Both Flegenheimer and I agreed that this dessert would be great with a scoop of ice cream on top.

If youd like to make Flegenheimers peach cobbler yourself, you can find the recipe here. He uses Joanna Gaines' recipe, from her cookbook Magnolia Table, a Collection of Recipes for Gathering.

I love a new recipe, Flegenheimer said. Im willing to try anything." Good advice to both professional and home cooks alike - you never know when you might find your new family favorite, and quite possibly it might be this simple peach dessert.

More sweet things:

Sweet Treat of the Week: A hard seltzer for breakfast

Sweet Treat of the Week: Cops and Doughnuts
A North Texas sheriff's deputy has been arrested and charged with murder and evidence tampering for allegedly killing his girlfriend after claiming she died by suicide.

On Monday, Tarrant County Sheriff's deputy Jay Allen Rotter, 36, was arrested by Denton officers.

He was arrested following an investigation into the death of his girlfriend 46-year-old Leslie Lynn Hartman on August 26.

On the day of her death Rotter called 911 in Denton around 11.34pm and reported that his girlfriend shot herself in their home on the 2400 block of Robinwood Lane, police say.

Tarrant County Sheriff's deputy Jay Allen Rotter, 36, (left) was arrested Monday accused of murdering his girlfriend Leslie Lynn Hartman, 46, (right) on August 26, despite calling 911 and claiming she committed suicide

He told police she shot herself in the head with his duty weapon as they hugged, according to NBCDFW.

The Tarrant County Medical Examiner's office list her manner and cause of death as pending.

Denton police said Monday 'detectives executed search warrants and analyzed physical evidence' that led to them developing Rotter as a suspect in her death.

Rotter refused to give his cell phone in an interview with police and restored it to factory settings when he was in the interview room alone.

Police later seized his phone and a computer from the couple's home and performed forensic downloads of the data on both devices.

Investigators say that text messages recovered from the phone showed a conversation between Rotter and Hartman where she suggested he was in a 'mood' and 'would need to sort himself out tonight due to the fact Rotter is having trouble with the amount of drugs he was consuming', according to the affidavit.

He called police on August 26 claiming his girlfriend committed suicide by shooting herself in the head with his duty gun while they were hugging. Investigators said he was active on the chatroom Discord where he posed with a gun and posted 'I just sent a 9 millie in this f***in hippie' before calling 911. Hartman pictured above

A search of his computer at the home showed that he was active on the instant messaging platform Discord where he talked about shooting a 'milk bomb' with his gun and later alluded to shooting a 'hippie', which investigators believe meant Hartman.

At 11.08pm Rotter posted a photo of himself holding a Glock pistol after shooting the 'milk bomb'.

Investigators found a shot milk carton, which they believe was the 'milk bomb' he shot, and found a shell casing in the backyard.

At 11.13pm his Discord chat record showed he and Hartman were fighting about him firing the gun in the backyard.

At 11.14 detectives found a message that said, 'I just sent a 9 millie in this f***in hippie.'

Police pictured at the scene of the couple's home on the 2400 block of Robinwood Lane in Denton, Texas

A view of the home where the shooting took place above

Detectives believed he was referring to Hartman and her 'lifestyle as a person who is eco-friendly, nature lover and her use pf psychedelic drugs.'

He then called 911 around 11.34pm.

Rotter reportedly said 'she is done' and he 'would have stopped her if he could have'.

Hartmans neighbors remembered her as an outgoing, happy person who remained independent even though a car accident years ago left her unable to walk.

'She was artistic, a good neighbor, loved animals. She had actually just adopted a new puppy, so it didn't add up,' neighbor Chrissie Clanton said.

He has been with the sheriff's office since 2005 and worked in the narcotics division.

Rotter was being held Tuesday in the Denton County Jail on $1.15million bond. Jail and court records do not list an attorney for him.

Lt. Jennifer Gabbert said Rotter is on currently leave and is likely to be suspended without pay Wednesday.

Sheriff Bill Waybourn said in a statement that he and his staff are 'shocked and saddened.'

'We believe in the criminal justice process and the truth will prevail,' Waybourn said.
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / September 16, 2020 / More women nowadays are making their marks in various industries. Among those who are strategically building their Queendoms is the business lawyer and entrepreneur, Lauren Marsicano, Esq. Aside from belonging to a prestigious law firm, Lauren is known for establishing companies and a nonprofit that empower women from all walks of life.

Lauren is the founding partner of the boutique law firm Marsicano + Leyva PLLC based in Miami. During her law practice, she has worked with global Fortune 100 companies such as Bank of America, and Lauren has been named as a 2019 and 2020 "Florida Super Lawyer, Rising Star."

She has also been recognized as part of the "Top 40 Under 40 Lawyers in the Nation" by the American Bar Association. Because of her expertise, Lauren has been featured on several prominent media outlets like ABC, NBC, Fox, and New York Weekly. Lauren earned her law degree from the University of Miami School of Law. She has also studied under some of the most prominent legal minds from Oxford University.

On top of her law practice, Lauren is also the founder of theNetworking Maverick Community. The company strives to help clients build significant relationships and further turn their network into their net-worth. Lauren educates entrepreneurs and individuals worldwide on how to make authentic connections that can last a lifetime rather than superficial connections that fizzle out. With her impressive background in business and law, Lauren is leading her clients to build their successful Queendoms.

Networking Maverick LLC paved the way for Lauren to create an online program called "7 Steps to Startup Success." It specifically caters to small business owners who require comprehensive courses on basic legal education and strategies to protect their businesses and further grow them into six-figure startups. Through her businesses, Lauren has also collaborated with major corporations like Amazon, Ann Taylor, and Nestle.

Recently, Lauren founded the nonprofit Women for Success. This nonprofit organization provides grants, mentorship, and education for women who want to forge their own paths while having the support of a welcoming community. Her mission with Women for Success Inc. is to allow women of all backgrounds to define success on their own terms. "I am on a mission to help 100,000 women launch six-figure businesses by 2025," Lauren said.

This year, Women for Success is launching its fall fundraiser event called Queens Cup 2020. The fundraiser is different from other events held in the same manner as it aims to educate its participants with practical professional and entrepreneurial needs while engaging in fun activities. Each week, teams of 5 will compete head-to-head in virtual challenges. Winners will be crowned as Queens Cup Champions and take home the first Golden Queen Coffee Cup.

The fundraiser event is launched to raise funding for Women for Success' 2021 programs. Such programs include startup pitch competitions, free educational programming, and grants for women-owned small businesses. During the event, participants can also build their network and obtain connections with like-minded women in the community while pursuing a good cause.

In all of her pursuits, Lauren is focused on her central mission to empower and uplift women worldwide. Asked why, she said, "Although strides have been made, we still need continuous improvement in the realm of women mentorship and women supporting women." Lauren herself experienced bullying growing up. Her family was continually moving because Lauren's father ran world-class hotels and resorts, so she was always the 'new girl' in her class. Her peers would criticize the way she looked, and their judgments left a lasting effect. On the bright side, because of the nature of her father's profession, Lauren got to learn business at an early age and develop strategies to make friends despite her own fears and insecurities, which she now passes on to others.

It took a while before Lauren bounced back and gained the voice and confidence she has today. She had to overcome many hurdles, especially the doubts that formed within herself, and many people today struggle with the same self-doubt and imposter syndrome. Nevertheless, Lauren came out stronger despite the struggles and the criticisms, and she wants to spread her mother's message of PMA (Positive Mental Attitude) and help women professionals and entrepreneurs everywhere build and protect their Queendoms. For that reason, Lauren wants other women to overcome their own fears so that they too can be Confidence Queens.

Learn more about Lauren Marsicano and Networking Maverick on Instagram.

Company Name: Networking Maverick LLC

Email: Lauren@NetworkingMaverick.com

Phone Number: 305-721-2917

Website:www.networkingmaverick.com

SOURCE: Networking Maverick LLC

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/606330/Building-Queendoms-and-Empires-with-the-Confidence-Queen-Lauren-Marsicano-Esq
Ava DuVernay, Tabu, Regina King, Jodie Foster, Olivia Colman, Colin Farrell, and Delroy Lindo were among the presenters at the TIFF Tribute Awards function.

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) Tribute Awards virtual ceremony was held on Tuesday night. This time around the annual fundraiser event was held virtually due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The event, hosted by Canadian TV presenters Chloe Wilde and Tyrone Edwards, was kicked off by Martin Scorsese. According to the festival website, the awards honour "the film industrys outstanding contributors and their achievements, recognising leading industry members, acting talent, directorial expertise, new talent, and a below-the-line artist and creator."

We can never remind people enough that this remarkable art form has always been and always will be much more than a diversion. Cinema, film, movies at its best, is a source of wonder and inspiration. Wise words from #TIFF20 Ambassador Martin Scorsese. pic.twitter.com/ziIPIdZcqg  TIFF (@TIFF_NET) September 16, 2020

Ava DuVernay, Tabu, Regina King, Jodie Foster, Olivia Colman, Colin Farrell, and Delroy Lindo were among the virtual award presenters.

IndieWire notes that TIFF has often helped launch potential Oscar contenders. In 2019, the first-ever instalment of the awards event had honoured Taika Waititi (Jojo Rabbit) and Joaquin Phoenix (The Joker).

Kate Winslet (Ammonite) and Sir Anthony Hopkins (The Father) were the recipients of the TIFF Tribute Actor Award.

Directed by Francis Lee, Ammonite follows an unlikely romance between a palaeontologist Mary Anning (Winslet) and a rich tourist (Saoirse Ronan) recuperating from a personal tragedy. Billed as a heartfelt love-story and an examination of gender, class and society, the film brings to life in vivid detail the life of a woman unappreciated in her own time.

Meanwhile, The Father will see Hopkins and Colman as a father-daughter duo who battle the universal prophecy of memory loss that comes with age.

Thank you Toronto International Film Festival, it is an honor to be recognized. The Tribute Awards will air tonight at 8pm ET on CTV and streamed internationally by Variety. @TIFF_NET @Variety pic.twitter.com/7zNwCkCw2y  Anthony Hopkins (@AnthonyHopkins) September 15, 2020

Golden Lion-winner Chloe Zhao (Nomadland) was given the TIFF Ebert Director Award. "When I first entered this industry, I thought this place was very competitive, and it is. And I thought if I failed, everyone would abandon me. But as I've worked with different filmmakers, I feel incredibly lucky that the people I work with are there when I'm succeeding, and even more when I fail. So I'd like to share this with them," she said in her acceptance speech, writes The Hollywood Reporter.

Mira Nair was presented with Jeff Skoll Award in Impact Media. Her series A Suitable Boy, an adaptation of Vikram Seth's eponymous novel, will close the festival on 19 September.

Bollywood star Tabu presents @MiraPagliNair with the Jeff Skoll Award in Impact Media. Giving us films like MONSOON WEDDING, THE NAMESAKE, QUEEN OF KATWE, and most recently...A SUITABLE BOY, see Mira, art can change the world. #TIFF20 pic.twitter.com/B07DUpCYxA  TIFF (@TIFF_NET) September 16, 2020

The TIFF Variety Artisan Award went to composer Terence Blanchard (One Night in Miami) and the winner of the TIFF Emerging Talent Award was Tracey Deer. The Canadian indigenous filmmaker, who debuted her coming-of-age film Beans set at the backdrop of the 1990 Oka Crisis, thanked her mother as she accepted the award.
The newly set up Wi-Fi hotspots will be put into operation by October 10 to mark the 1,010th anniversary of Thang Long - Hanoi foundation.

Hanoi will provide free Wi-Fi for another 14 tourist and historical sites in the time ahead, following the recent approval by the municipal government, VnExpress reported.

In 2020, Vietnam Posts and Telecommunication (VNPT) will set up more free public Wi-Fi hotspots at tourist attractions in the urban districts, including some areas in the Old Quarter, One Pillar Pagoda, Hoa Lo Prison relic, 48 Hang Ngang street relic, Hanoi Opera House, Vietnam Military History Museum, Vietnamese Women's Museum, the Temple of Literature, Van Phuc Silk Village, among others.

Many tourist sites in Hanoi will offer free Wi-Fi. Photo: Giang Huy

The newly set up Wi-Fi hotspots will be put into operation by October 10 to mark the 1010th anniversary of Thang Long - Hanoi foundation.

This is part of the citys efforts to boost tourism development between 2016 and 2020 period and the years to come, while supporting the construction of e-government and smart city.

It also targets to contribute to speeding up the promotion of the capital's potential, tourist products, services, and tourist attractions; creating a beautiful impression of Hanoi - the city of peace, safety and friendliness in foreigners eyes.

Free Wi-Fi in Hanoi will be always available, said a representative of the municipal tourism sector. When connected, users can access high-speed Internet with unlimited capacity and number of logins.

The number of Wi-Fi hotspots has been expanded for the convenience of Hanoi residents and tourists in reading news, looking up information, watching movies, listening to music and performing public services.

On Hanoi Book Street, the Wi-Fi test on September 14 showed a connection that is easy to maneuver reached a speed of approximately 80 megabits per second.

Previously, in 2017, the city started offering free Wi-Fi access around popular destinations such as Hoan Kiem lake, the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long historical site, Huong (Perfume) pagoda and Bat Trang Ceramic Craft Village.

Hanoi is not the first city in Vietnam to provide free Wi-Fi. Tourist cities like Hoi An, Hue and Danang in the central region and Hai Phong and Ha Long in the north have gone wireless since 2012.

Besides, many other localities, including famous tourist site of Da Lat (Lam Dong province), Phu Quoc (Kien Giang provinc), have plans to deploy free public Wi-Fi systems. Hanoitimes

Anh Kiet
Justice Abeeku Newton-Offei

16.09.2020 LISTEN

The recent Israel-Bahrain-UAE peace deal brokered by America and spearheaded by Jareth Kushner, himself a Jew, son-in-law and senior advisor to Donald Trump, though a good move on the surface, in practicality, it has very remote probability to succeed.

The core objective of this latest American foreign policy drive is firmly rooted in protracted conflict between the State of Israel and the Palestinians.

This conflict over rights of lands and illegal occupation has actually been at the top of foreign policy formulation of contending global powers.

Indeed, this geopolitical nightmare has occupied the world's attention since the creation of the State of Israel, and numerous efforts by global State and non-State actors have not succeeded in resolving the differences.

The latest move in bringing some of these Arab States to the table of amicability with the State of Israel, with the purpose of serving as a platform to further rope in more regional States with the hope of achieving ultimate comprehensive regional peace, for me, will end in failure.

And the reason is simple: the two main protagonists to this conflict, which are the Palestine and Israel, should have both been involved in the process.

But according to Dr Hanan Ashrawi and Dr Saib Arakat who are members of the Palestinian Council, have said they were not consulted. The plan was hatched by the US and the Palestinians were offered "take or leave it" option, which they refused to take.

Now, in conflict of this global dimension and has protracted for nearly a century, resolving it takes intense backroom manouvering even before the actual negotiations start.

But from available reports, this obviously was not done. And with the internal Palestine power dynamics, this latest drive-by America is further going to aggravate the situation.

In Palestine, the internationally recognised government led by Fatah and located at the West Bank is cozy and warm with the Suni-led States within the Middle East that are now warming relations with Israel.

As such, Fatah feels betrayed for the reason that their perceived allies have warmed up to their perceived enemies at their blindside.

On the side of Hamas, they are allied to Shia-led States, of whom Iran and Hezbollah stand out, and also, feel emboldened to resist both their domestic and external enemies. This, therefore, has the potential of worsening an already bad situation.

Indeed, reports coming in this morning has it that Hamas launched a barrage of rockets into Israel, overnight. This is obviously meant to raise tensions in the region and drown out all positive move in resolving the conflict.

America, as global hegemonic superpower, has always played the role of effective impartial arbiter and this has earned it the accolade of "global policeman".

However, under the current Trump-led administration with its ideological inclination firmly-rooted in unalloyed Realism, foreign policy formulation is purely American exceptionalism which doesn't put premium on interests of others.

Newton-Offei Justice Abeeku

email: [email protected]
Increasingly, everyday activities and services are shifting online, making the ability to use the internet an essential skill. The current COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted the importance of digital connectivity, especially for older and vulnerable adults, for their continued contact with family and friends. Digital Ambassadors, a Singapore Government initiative to ensure all Singaporeans have access to the fundamental digital tools, helps older adults learn how to use technological tools.

Analyzing data from almost 4,000 older Singaporeans who took part in a national survey conducted by Duke-NUS' Centre for Ageing Research & Education (CARE) in 2016-2017, the team found that one in 15 respondents had difficulties using the internet because of poor health. And 57 per cent did not use the internet because of other reasons.

Our findings suggest that health-related difficulties are relevant in understanding the digital divide between the young and the old. Concurrent with optimizing the health of older persons, policymakers should consider supporting research and development into assistive technology and design aimed at helping older internet users overcome health-related difficulty in internet use." Rahul Malhotra, Assistant Professor, Head of Research of Duke-NUS' CARE

Asst Prof Malhotra is also a faculty at the Duke-NUS' Health Services and Systems Research Programme.

The study, which was published in The Gerontologist, found that those who were male, were less educated, and those who had limitations in instrumental activities of daily living such as using the phone and doing housework, were more likely to face challenges in using internet due to poor health. The team also found that those of higher age, females, with less education, and residing in low-income housing were more likely to not use the internet for non-health-related reasons.

"In this study, we were not able to identify the specific obstacles faced by those not using the internet for non-health-related reasons. But hurdles such as the lack of digital literacy and the cost of devices and internet service provision likely play a role," said Asst Prof Malhotra.

A particularly concerning finding of the study, relevant in the current time when safe distancing is a new norm for preventing the spread of COVID-19 infections, was that health-related difficulties in internet use created additional barriers to online communication between older adults and their family and friends, and poor social connections and support. Cumulatively, this resulted in a lower quality of life for older adults.

"Health-related difficulties in using the internet matter, because it means that teaching digital skills and offering cheap internet access to seniors may not fully address the digital divide. Online communication tools are thought to benefit seniors with physical limitations, since it does not require travel. Unfortunately for some seniors, health issues stand in the way of even their internet use. Providing social support to these older adults through non-digital means thus remains key, even as we work towards identifying and minimizing health-related difficulties in internet use," said Assistant Professor Shannon Ang, from Sociology, NTU Singapore.

"Singapore is addressing ageing as a prioritised national agenda by studying trends and implications, and recommending solutions. This collaborative study on the ability of the elderly to use the internet shows that it is imperative to help older adults who rely on the internet to stay socially connected, which will aid in their ability to maintain a high overall quality of life as they age," said Professor Patrick Casey, Senior Vice-Dean for Research at Duke-NUS.

In future work, the research team plans to gain a deeper understanding of the specific health problems that directly lead to difficulty in internet use among older adults. These may include poor vision and loss of fine motor skills.

The data is from the Transitions in Health, Employment, Social engagement and Inter-Generational transfers in Singapore Study, Wave 1 (THE SIGNS Study-I), a large population-based survey of older Singaporeans conducted in 2016-2017, by Duke-NUS' CARE with support from the Ministry of Health, Singapore.
For someone who wasnt 20 yet, Josh Hutcherson had a heckuva career going even before being cast as Peeta Mallark in the much-hyped The Hunger Games series. Hed gone to space in Jon Favreaus Zathura (2005), crisscrossed the country with Robin Williams in RV (2006), Journeyed to the Center of Earth with Brendan Fraser and co-starred in the four-time Oscar-nominated drama The Kids Are All Right with Annette Bening and Julianne Moore.

The Hunger Games propelled Hutcherson to new heights, though, as the young actor drew the fawning adulation of a rabid base over the course of four years and four movies between 2012 and 2015. It also placed him in exciting company with a celebrated ensemble lead by his fellow Kentucky native Jennifer Lawrence, who headlined the YA series while she simultaneously began racking up multiple Oscar nominations.

In a new interview with Yahoo Entertainment as all four installments of The Hunger Games premiered on the streaming service Tubi (the films are on Amazon Prime Video in the UK), Hutcherson, now 27, recalls the first time he met Lawrence  pre-Panem as both attended the SAG Awards for their films The Kids Are All Right and Winters Bone, respectively, in early 2011.

Read more: Hunger Games prequel is an origin story of President Snow

She came over to me and she told me this story about how when she was about 10 years old, she had seen in a local newspaper in Kentucky that this young actor had gone out to California to become an actor, and that was me, Hutcherson says (watch above). And she showed that to her parents and was like, Look, I want to do this, too. This kid [is] doing it. So its crazy that we ended up doing these movies together.

Josh Hutcherson and Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Pt. 2. (Photo: Lionsgate)

Hutcherson and Lawrence became very close over the course of filming the series, even if it was an occasionally painful relationship for the former. Only weeks into the shooting of 2012s The Hunger Games, Lawrence accidentally kicked Hutcherson in the head while trying to show off her legwork, knocking him out with a mild concussion.

Story continues

She was being a real show-off, thinking that she was Jackie Chan or something, Hutcherson cracks. [She was] throwing these air kicks and was like, Josh, I can kick over your head! And then crack! She clipped me in the temple I dont really remember, because I got knocked out.

When Hutcherson came to again, She was crying. She felt terrible. I woke up with her [crying], laying over me.

Hutcherson, who has since gone on to star in Hulus Future Man and appeared in films like Tragedy Girls and The Disaster Artist, has called working in The Hunger Games a double-edged sword.

Actors Josh Hutcherson (L) and Jennifer Lawrence arrive at the premiere of Lionsgate's "The Hunger Games", 2012. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

The biggest positives were, number one, the experience. The experience of getting to work with such incredible actors for such a long period of time and seeing how they work, from Jen to [Philip Seymour Hoffman] to [Woody Harrelson] to Donald Sutherland, the list is pretty mind-blowing, Mahershala Ali, who went on to stratospheric levels later.

The other end of that sword cuts into Hutchersons concerns that hed be boxed in to a certain type of role of playing the gentle and sweet-natured bread boy Peeta Mallark for so long.

You can become boxed in as an actor, professionally. And thats tough, and people can only see you as that character and its hard for them to imagine you in something else. And thats difficult, and that takes time and years of overcoming it.

Read more: Sam Claflin says YA genre became 'overdone'

Hutcherson points to the career of Robert Pattinson, the Twilight heartthrob whos drawn recent critical acclaim for indie films like Good Time and The Lighthouse and is now making more big tentpoles like Tenet and The Batman as a great example of someone who was attached in some way to a huge, huge project and known as one character and now hes killing it, doing incredible work as an actor and you dont see him as that anymore.

The impressive breadth of Hutchersons still-young career says he wont be boxed in, either.

 Video produced by Jen Kucsak
(Natural News) Hollywood might be closed, but its puppets are still busy putting on social media shows. One of them, Jennifer Garner, spoke with the infamous Anthony Fauci during a recent Instagram livestream event, during which Fauci admitted to taking vitamins C and D to prevent infection.

Discussing different ways to help minimize the risk of catching the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19), Fauci told Garner that it would not be the worst idea to supplement with these two vitamins, which he claims he takes regularly to keep himself healthy.

If youre deficient in vitamin D, that does have an impact on your susceptibility to infection, a grainy Fauci told Garner through the digital platform. I would not mind recommending, and I do it myself, taking vitamin D supplements.

Vitamin D, as we have reported on in the past, is a powerful pro-hormone that studies show protects against all sorts of ailments  and sadly, most of the world is deficient in it.

Fauci went on to admit that the other vitamin people should take is vitamin C because its a good antioxidant. Fauci added that if people want to take a gram or so of vitamin C, that would be fine because the citrus nutrient is known to help boost the immune system.

Fauci: No other supplements work besides vitamins C, D

Before you start to assume that Fauci has suddenly become a good guy in all this, consider the fact that he went on to declare that no other vitamins or supplements in any way support human health, and thus should be avoided.

You read that right: According to Fauci, only vitamins C and D, both of which he happens to take, are effective. Everything else, he insists, is useless or worse, to quote Gabby Landsverk of Insiders assessment of Faucis claims.

The answer, to the dismay of many, is no, were Faucis exact words when asked by Garner if any other vitamins, supplements, pills, plants or powders might help to protect people against the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19).

Landsverk, in support of Fauci, presents colloidal silver and chlorine dioxide, also known as miracle mineral solution, as two examples of supposedly fake immune-boosters that do not provide any type of protection against the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) or any other type of infection, according to Fauci.

Forget about them, Fauci declared. Any of the other concoctions and herbs I would not do.

This is, of course, the same Fauci who 15 years ago said that hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) is an effective remedy for coronaviruses, only to now insist that HCQ is useless and dangerous for treating the Wuhan variety.

Fauci has further been complicit in keeping HCQ out of the hands of patients in need by supporting the FDA and other deep state-run agencies in keeping the generic anti-malaria drug under strict lock and key  even as people are dying, needlessly, from a preventable infection.

While there is some accuracy in Faucis claims concerning vitamins C and D, the goon claims that nothing else besides vaccines and pharmaceutical drugs have the capacity to provide any protection whatsoever against disease. This is hardly someone worth trusting, in other words.

Other advice from Fauci includes keeping theaters closed until at least a year after a Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine becomes commercially available, as well as setting up quarantine spaces for students in order for them to safely return back to school this fall and next spring.

The whole thing could fall apart if you dont handle that well, Fauci fear-mongered during a recent phone interview with CNN.

Fauci is clearly a fraud, even when he is occasionally right. To keep up with the latest about this deep state swamp creature, check out Deception.news.

Sources for this article include:

Insider.com

NaturalNews.com

NaturalNews.com

CNN.com
The machines are only allowed to be in businesses with ABC licenses and truck stops. The makers of the machines can move the machines around, so if a business is closed because of the coronavirus, they can be relocated to other establishments.

Senate Minority Leader Tommy Norment, R-James City, has not been a fan of the machines and wanted to ban them. He urged the ABC to keep a close eye on the machines to ensure theyre not evading tax collection or placing more machines in the market.

I have historically referred to them as somewhat as bandits, and sometimes bandits are less than forthcoming with information, Norment said.

Sen. Janet Howell, D-Fairfax, chairwoman of the Senate Finance Committee, assured the committee that she and Gov. Ralph Northam are still united in banning the machines by next June, so that no one is doubtful.

When legislators return for their regular session in January, they may also consider changing alcohol laws in Virginia.

What this pandemic has done is really reframe the conversation about businesses and the control of alcohol, Hill said.
September 15, 2020

News

By C. Todd Lopez , DOD News

Defense.gov

Space Force Chief: U.S. Doesn't Want War in Space, Must be Prepared for It

The United States doesn't want to engage in warfare in space, but like in all domains, the U.S. military must be prepared for such a conflict, and that'll take a lot of preparation and change, Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. Raymond, said.

He said the U.S. does not want to get into a conflict that begins or extends into space.

"We want to deter that from happening. However, if deterrence fails, a war that begins or extends into space will be fought over great distances at tremendous speeds," Raymond said.

The chief of the newly-created Space Force spoke during a presentation that was part of the 2020 Air Force Association Air, Space and Cyber Conference, held this year virtually as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

To plan for warfare at the speeds and distances required to operate in space, the Space Force must be lean, agile and fast. The new military service has been working on all of those things since it stood up in December, Raymond said.

A big part of the leaning effort, he said, is the reduction of bureaucracy.

"Since establishment, we've been in the business of slashing bureaucracy, delegating authority and enhancing accountability at every crossroad," Raymond said. "My opinion: big organizations are slow. We must move at speed to outpace the threats that we face."

The general said the Space Force, in an effort to reduce bureaucracy, implemented a large-scale reorganization that involved removing two echelons of command, including a numbered Air Force and an O-6-level command.

"We've also reduced the size of our planned staff at the Pentagon," Raymond said. "Back when we started, the Pentagon staff was going to be over 1,000 people. That was the initial plan. We've slashed that by 40%. We're shortening the distance between decision makers and you, the experts, conducting our mission."

Also part of eliminating bureaucracy, Raymond said, is a hard look at the agencies that exist now that are involved in acquisition for the space enterprise. He said Congress has identified some 65 different organizations involved in space-related acquisition.

The Space Force chief said there is a mandate for change, adding that we must bring unity of effort across the department, reduce duplication of effort, all while slashing costs, and increasing our speed.

"If we get this right, we will be the envy of the other services, because we are not tied to business of the past," Raymond said.

The Space Force is also proposing a new acquisition system for space, something Raymond said Congress agrees with.

"We've already begun implementing that," he said. "We've already delegated the head of contracting authority down from the Pentagon staff to the acquisition experts in the field. We know from experience this kind of delegation speeds up acquisition decisions, and makes us better partners for the industry."

Partnership is also key, both inside the Defense Department and outside. Partnerships with the intelligence community, sister services, the total force and space allies are all being looked at for development, Raymond said.

As part of partnership development, he said the Space Force established a chief partnership office at the Space and Missile System Center, and that team is working to expand space partnerships with nations such as Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, France and Germany.

Right now, he said, Space Force is working with Norway, for instance, to host American payloads on Norwegian space launches. That combined effort, he said, will save the U.S. about $900 million and also put those capabilities into space sooner. The U.S. is also working with the Japanese to put U.S. capabilities into Japanese satellites.

"These efforts improve our capabilities, and they strengthen our partnerships between our great nations," he said.

Raymond also drew attention to verbiage on a display at the World War II memorial in Washington, D.C. On the floors of both the north and south pavilions are etched the words "Victory on Land, Victory at Sea, Victory in the Air." Now, he said, those three domains are no longer enough to ensure victory. Today's security environment, he said, requires even more of American warfighters.

"I am not confident that we can achieve victory or even compete in a modern conflict, without space power," he said. "I am not willing to lose in order to learn. Today the Space Force in answering that call to compete, forging a warfighting service that is always above."

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The United States is showing a slight uptick in the average number of daily coronavirus cases and deaths - as about 20 states reported increases in new infections in the past week.

The average number of infections per day was at more than 37,000 on Tuesday after increasing steadily since the weekend.

Cases, on average, have been trending downwards nationally since July when about 70,000 infections were being reported daily.

Daily deaths are now averaging at just over 840 per day after the average number of fatalities dropped to 720 a week ago.

Deaths in the US have been declining steadily since mid-August when an average of 1,000 American were dying each day.

The average number of infections per day was at more than 37,000 on Tuesday after increasing steadily since the weekend. Cases, on average, have been trending downwards nationally since July when about 70,000 infections were being reported daily

Daily deaths are now averaging at just over 840 per day after the average number of fatalities dropped to 720 a week ago. Deaths in the US have been declining steadily since mid-August when an average of 1,000 American were dying each day

More than 195,000 Americans have now died from COVID-19 and there has been over 6.6 million infections.

The uptick in cases comes after health officials had warned there could be increases following the Labor Day weekend.

It comes as 20 states reported an uptick in cases within the last week with North Dakota, Wisconsin and South Carolina all recording single-day highs in new infections.

South Carolina's infection peaked at 2,454 on September 11 with the state now recording more than 133,00 cases.

North Dakota's cases spiked to a record 467 on September 12 and now total more than 16,000.

Cases in Wisconsin surged to a single day high of 1,624 on September 13. Infections in the state have risen 38 per cent in the last week, bringing the total to more than 96,900.

Twelve of the 20 states that have seen increases in the last week have high case numbers in relation to the population.

They include North Dakota, Wisconsin, South Carolina, Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Nebraska, Kentucky, Utah and Louisiana.

Twenty states have reported an uptick in cases within the last week as North Dakota, Wisconsin and South Carolina all recorded single-day highs in new infections in the last few days

Texas is also among the states seeing an uptick after recording a spike of 5,300 new cases on Tuesday. Cases in the former hotspot state had been on a downward trajectory since mid-August following a summer surge in Sunbelt states that sent the national infection rates soaring.

Eight other states are also currently seeing increases within the last week but their infection rates are lower when compared to their populations.

They include Alaska, West Virginia, Wyoming, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Connecticut, New Jersey and New Hampshire.

It comes just days after Dr Anthony Fauci described the data on US infections and deaths as 'disturbing'.

Fauci was hopeful the US would not see a spike in cases after the Labor Day weekend as it did after other long holiday weekends including Memorial Day and July 4.

Health officials are still keeping tabs on any potential surges from the Labor Day holiday weekend.

They are now also warning Americans to be vigilant after President Donald Trump started holding indoor campaign rallies again.

Texas is among the states seeing an uptick after recording a spike of 5,300 new cases on Tuesday. Cases in Utah have been increasing the last week with more than 560 cases reported on Tuesday. Nebraska's have been increasing since early September with the state now recording more than 38,000 cases

There has been a slight uptick in cases in Louisiana in the last week after a steep drop off in August. There has been an uptick in cases in Missouri in the last week with the state recording a total of 105,000 cases. Cases in Oklahoma have been slowly increasing since late August with just over 1,000 cases reported on Tuesday

In Tennessee, cases spiked by 2,400 on Monday after declining steadily since July. Kentucky has seen an uptick in cases in the last week with 718 cases reported on Tuesday. Arkansas has seen an uptick in cases since late August. The state currently has more than 71,000 cases

An indoor event in Henderson, Nevada drew thousands on Sunday.

Trump on Monday also drew hundreds of supporters to an indoor event in Phoenix, Arizona that his campaign advertised as a 'Latinos for Trump roundtable'.

Trump has made the case that if demonstrators can gather en masse for protests over racial injustice, so can his supporters. His campaign has insisted that it takes appropriate health precautions, including handing out masks and hand sanitizer and checking the temperatures of those in attendance.

It comes after it emerged last week that Trump had referred to the virus as 'deadly stuff' in a private conversation with Bernstein's former reporting partner Bob Woodward.

Trump, at the same time, was publicly downplaying the threat of COVID-19.

Three days after delivering his 'deadly' assessment in a private call with Woodward, he told a New Hampshire rally on February 10 that 'it's going to be fine'.

Trump's acknowledgment in Woodward's new book 'Rage' that he was minimizing the severity of the virus in public to avoid causing panic has triggered waves of criticism that he wasn't leveling with the American people.

The president told Woodward on March 19 that he had deliberately minimized the danger. 'I wanted to always play it down,' the president said. 'I still like playing it down because I dont want to create a panic.'

White House says coronavirus vaccines will ship within 24 HOURS of FDA approval as it unveils 'playbook' to start giving FREE coronavirus immunizations to all Americans by January (all we need now is a vaccine!)

The Trump administration plans to start shipping coronavirus vaccines within 24 hours of approval from regulators, the government announced Wednesday in its 'playbook' to make vaccines for COVID-19 available for free to all Americans as early as January.

In accompanying testimony before a Senate committee, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director Dr Robert Redfield said a vaccine likely won't be available to the public until spring or summer of 2021.

No companies have completed testing for their coronavirus vaccines or gotten Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for them.

Yet Trump has continued to insist that a vaccine will be ready in a matter of weeks - ahead of Election Day on November 3.

Senator Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon, accused the CDC of being politically motivated.

'It escapes no one's perspective that you're deliberately laying [plans to have states start administering vaccines] two days before the election,' Merkley said, asking Dr Redfield who in the White House had asked him to do so.

When Redfield answered that 'no one' had, Merkley hit back that he was 'influencing the election,' asking 'what happened to science driving decisions' and said that the improbable vaccine timeline 'undermines [the CDC's] credibility.'

In a report to Congress and an accompanying 'playbook' for states and localities, federal health agencies and the Defense Department sketched out complex plans for a vaccination campaign to begin gradually in January or possibly later this year, eventually ramping up to reach any American who wants a shot.

Vaccines will be available to anyone, regardless of whether or not they have health insurance.

Whenever a vaccine to combat the virus that has infected more than 6.6 million Americans and killed nearly 196,000 people in the US, the Pentagon plans to be involved with the distribution of vaccines, but civilian health workers will be the ones giving shots.

The campaign is 'much larger in scope and complexity than seasonal influenza or other previous outbreak-related vaccination responses,' said the playbook for states from the CDC.

President Trump tweeted: 'Vaccines are moving along fast and safely!' following the report's presentation on Wednesday, as the US recorded an uptick of more than 51,000 cases and over 1,400 deaths over the past 24 hours.

Among the highlights in the 'playbook':

For most vaccines, people will need two doses, 21 to 28 days apart. Double-dose vaccines will have to come from the same drugmaker. There could be several vaccines from different manufacturers approved and available.

Vaccination of the U.S. population won't be a sprint but a marathon. Initially there may be a limited supply of vaccines available, and the focus will be on protecting health workers, other essential employees, and people in vulnerable groups. The National Academy of Medicine is working on priorities for the first phase. A second and third phase would expand vaccination to the entire country.

The vaccine itself will be free of charge, and patients won't be charged out of pocket for the administration of shots, thanks to billions of dollars in taxpayer funding approved by Congress and allocated by the Trump administration.

States and local communities will need to devise precise plans for receiving and locally distributing vaccines, some of which will require special handling such as refrigeration or freezing. States and cities have a month to submit plans.

Some of the broad components of the federal plan have already been discussed, but Wednesday's reports attempt to put the key details into a comprehensive framework.

Nonetheless, some experts are concerned that these plans are being made and presented prematurely.

'Isn't this putting the cart before the horse?' Dr Peter Hotez, dean of the Baylor College of Medicine's National School of Tropical Medicine, said in an interview with DailyMail.com.

'We don't really understand the full extent of efficacy or safety of these vaccines, and each vaccine may be different.

'Some may prevent infection versus some [others that] will reduce the severity of illness. So it's very complicated to understand the different variations in terms of efficacy and safety and come up with a full plan.'

Dr Hotez also questioned the impetus for the report, wondering whether Congress had asked to see a plan like that laid out on Wednesday, or if it was something 'the WHite House is promoting.'

Either way, 'this is unprecedented,' he said.

Distribution is happening under the umbrella of Operation Warp Speed, a White House-backed initiative to have millions of doses ready to ship once a vaccine is given what's expected to be an emergency use approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Several formulations are undergoing final trials.

But the whole enterprise is facing public skepticism. Only about half of Americans said they'd get vaccinated in an Associated Press poll taken in May.

Of those who wouldn't get vaccinated, the overwhelming majority said they were worried about safety.

To effectively protect the nation from the coronavirus, experts say upwards of 70 percent of Americans must either be vaccinated or have their own immunity from fighting off COVID-19.

Since the poll, questions have only mounted about whether the government is trying to rush COVID-19 treatments and vaccines to help President Donald Trump's reelection chances.

Before the Republican National Convention in August, the FDA granted authorization for treatment of COVID-19 patients with plasma from people who have recovered, even though some government scientists were not convinced the clinical evidence was sufficiently strong.

And last week it was reported that Michael Caputo, a Health and Human Services (HHS) Department political appointee, tried to gain editorial control over a weekly scientific publication from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-15 23:35:44|Editor: huaxia

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Malaysian Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz speaks during a cheque presentation ceremony in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Sept. 15, 2020. The development of a major Malaysian business district by a consortium which includes a major Chinese company took off following a deposit and advance payment ceremony on Tuesday. (Photo by Chong Voon Chung/Xinhua)

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- The development of a major Malaysian business district by a consortium which includes a major Chinese company took off following a deposit and advance payment ceremony on Tuesday.

During a cheque presentation ceremony, representatives of IWH-CREC, the consortium comprising local developer lskandar Waterfront Holdings (IWH) and China Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC), handed over a cheque for 1.24 billion ringgit (300 million U.S. dollars) payment to TRX City, a company wholly-owned by Malaysia's finance ministry.

The payment included a 10-percent deposit of the contract value and a 500-million-ringgit (120-million-U.S. dollar) advance payment as IWH-CREC fulfilled its initial contractual obligations to the government to allow the consortium to start work.

IWH-CREC signed an agreement with TRX City in December last year for a 60-percent stake in Bandar Malaysia, a future business district and a major transport hub of Kuala Lumpur.

Among officials present for the ceremony was Malaysian Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz, Malaysian Transport Minister Wee Ka Siong and Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia Bai Tian.

In his speech, Ambassador Bai said the project would boost Malaysia's economy at a time of economic challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic while also showcase the strong relations between China and Malaysia.

"I believe, with the full support from our two governments, Bandar Malaysia will be something new: it would be a new landmark standing in the center of Kuala Lumpur; a new hub for the investments from companies from China and around the world; a new platform for China-Malaysia economic and financial cooperation, and it would be making new contributions to Malaysian economy for a new take-off," he said.

For his part, IWH Executive Vice Chairman Lim Kang Hoo said the fulfillment of the group's commitment showed investors are still confident about Malaysia's economy and the development would draw high impact global finance, technology and entrepreneurial firms.

Sharing Lim's view, CREC Malaysia Chairman Chen Zhigong said the development would serve as a testimony to the strong relationship between both countries and would serve as a hub to attract global multinational corporations.

The IWH-CREC will be the project's master developer of the 486-acre site, which is the largest piece of development land in the heart of Kuala Lumpur and is expected to bring a substantial economic boost to Malaysia with a gross development value (GDV) of 140 billion ringgit (33.8 billion U.S. dollars).

IWH-CREC said the consortium will shortly invite local and foreign investors, developers, consultants and contractors to submit proposals to participate in the development, with the use of local materials, technologies and talent to feature prominently. Enditem
Geneva: Describing Pakistan as an epicenter of terrorism, India has said that no one deserves an unsolicited lecture on human rights from Islamabad that has consistently persecuted its ethnic and religious minorities including Hindus, Sikhs and Christians.

Exercising the Right of Reply to the statements made by Pakistan at the 45th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) here, the Indian representative on Tuesday said that it has become habitual for Pakistan to malign India with false and fabricated narratives for its self-serving malicious purposes.

"Neither India nor others deserve this unsolicited lecture on human rights from a country that has consistently persecuted its ethnic and religious minorities, is an epicenter of terrorism, has the distinction of providing pensions to individuals on UN Sanctions list and has a Prime Minister who proudly admits training tens of thousands of terrorists to fight in Jammu and Kashmir, the Indian diplomat said.

It was not surprising that other relevant multilateral institutions have been raising serious concerns on Pakistan's failure to stop terror financing and lack of effective actions against all terror entities in Pakistan, India said.

Highlighting the nefarious designs of Pakistan in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), it said, "the mass influx of outsiders has whittled down the number of Kashmiris to an insignificant number in Pakistan occupied parts of Indian Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

"In its zeal to reassert its theocratic ideology, it (Pakistan) has ensured that ethnic and religious minorities have no future through systematic persecution, blasphemy laws, forced conversions, targeted killings, sectarian violence and faith-based discrimination," India said.

Thousands of Sikh, Hindu and Christian minority women and girls have been subjected to abductions, forced marriages and conversions in Pakistan, it said.

On the plight of people in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh, India said, "Not a single day has gone by when a family in Balochistan doesn't find its members picked up or kidnapped by the security forces of Pakistan.

"Pakistan does well when it comes to intimidation and attacks against journalists, human rights defenders and political dissidents in particular by its state machinery. It is not without a reason that Pakistan has been highlighted by international organisations as a country where journalists are slain and their killers go scot free, India said.

India also slammed Pakistan for abusing various HRC mechanisms and platforms for raising issues, which are extraneous to the mandate of the HRC and which relate to the internal affairs of India, with a view to distract the attention of the international community from serious human rights violations committed by it against its own people, including in Indian territories occupied by it.

India also rejected the reference made by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to Jammu and Kashmir, which is an integral part of India.

"The OIC has no locus standi to comment on internal affairs of India. The OIC has allowed itself to be misused by Pakistan to subverse its own Agenda. It's for the members of the OIC to decide if it is in their interests to allow Pakistan to do so, it said.

India also advised Turkey to refrain from commenting on its internal affairs and develop a better understanding of the democratic practices.
The Australian share market finished session higher on Wednesday, 16 September 2020, following gains on the Wall Street overnight on hopes for an ultra-accommodative policy stance. Gains were broad based with all sectors making gains, with tech sector being the biggest mover following more improvements for US tech stocks overnight.

At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index advanced 61.30 points, or 1.04%, to 5,956.13. The broader All Ordinaries was up 67.65 points, or 1.11%, to 6,146.91.

Tech stocks climbed, with buy-now-pay-later firms bouncing.

Bellwether Afterpay hit a near two-week high and closed 4% higher, while smaller BNPL players enjoyed even larger gains with Splitit (SPT) up 6% and Sezzle (SZL) gaining 9%. Nearmap (NEA) also added to broader tech gains, rallying 5%.

The communications sector was the other big mover with job listing site Seek Ltd (SEK) advancing 9.4%. The company is in talks with potential new investors for its Chinese employment services business, Zhaopin, with media speculation that Chinese e-commerce giant, Alibaba is a potential investor.

Banks were mixed. Commonwealth Bank added 1% and Westpac rose 0.2%, while NAB was down 0.1% and ANZ slipped 0.3%.

CURRENCY NEWS: The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7312 after slipping from levels above $0.733 yesterday.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Texas Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the secretary of state to immediately take all necessary actions to put three Green Party candidates back on November ballots.

The candidates had been removed for ineligibility after the Texas Democratic Party and some of its candidates sued because some Greens hadn't paid filing fees.

Last month, the 3rd Court of Appeals sided with the Democrats and ordered the Green Party to declare that its candidates  David B. Collins, running for U.S. Senate; Katija Kat Gruene, running for Railroad Commission; and Tommy Wakely, running for Congressional District 21  were ineligible. District 21 includes parts of northern San Antonio and a swath of the Hill Country.

The fees were newly charged to third parties this year after legislators last year passed a law extending the requirement to them; third parties have sued over the law in still-pending cases.

The Supreme Court did not explain its order Tuesday but said it would issue an opinion soon.

Its the ultimate David versus Goliath kind of a thing, said Charles Waterbury, attorney for the Texas Green Party. I understand we all live and work in a partisan atmosphere, but it sure is nice when all the parties get to be on the ballot.

RELATED: Texas Supreme Court rules in favor of Libertarians in ballot case

Harris County officials told the court Monday that it is too late to make changes  even if the court were to act today. Saturday is the deadline to mail ballots to military or overseas voters who already submitted their ballot requests.

Harris County currently has 180,000 requests for mail-in ballots (nearly double that for a typical presidential year general election), Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan wrote. Given the warnings the United States Postal Services has issued to election authorities that even first-class mail may take up to a week for local delivery, the Harris County clerks elections department is anxious to get as many ballots as possible out to eligible voters who requested them as soon as possible.

But Tuesday, a spokeswoman told Hearst Newspapers that the county will be able to add the two statewide candidates and send out military ballots by Friday, as planned. Bexar County election officials could not immediately be reached.

Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa, in a statement, accused the all-Republican Supreme Court of making a decision based on politics and to give them a better chance to hold on to power. Green Party candidates are commonly thought of as siphoning votes from Democrats, while Libertarians are thought of as taking from Republicans.

The Legislature, with bipartisan majorities, passed a law that minor party candidates have to pay the same filing fees or obtain the same number of petitions as major party candidates to appear on the general election ballot, Hinojosa said. The Green Party didnt want to follow the law, and now the state attorney general and Republican Texas Supreme Court have helped them flaunt it.

The decision comes after the Supreme Court this month ruled against Republicans who also had sued, over filing fees that 44 Libertarian candidates failed to pay. The court said the suit should have been filed prior to the deadline to declare a candidate ineligible.

While third-party candidates seldom have taken enough votes from major party candidates to change the outcome of an election, a Hearst Newspapers analysis from last year showed that as Texas elections become more competitive, their chances of doing so gradually have been improving.
Illustrative image (Photo: cafef)

After the purchase, the fund has become a major shareholder of DGW, holding 2.2 million shares of the company, equivalent to the holding ratio of 5.14 percent.

The fund is owned by Evli Fund Management Company, a Nordic fund management company founded in 1985. This fund management company is 100 per cent owned by Evli Bank, a Finnish bank which manages assets of 12.2 billion euros.

Evli Emerging Frontier was introduced in October 2013, focusing on investing in fast growing economies. As of the end of August, the fund's portfolio size reached more than 61 million euros.

Vietnam is the third largest market in its portfolio with 18 percent of proportion.

Digiworld six-month revenue reached 4.9 trillion VND and after-tax profit totalled 93 billion VND, up 45 percent and 55 percent respectively over the same period last year. Earnings per share reached 2,166 VND.

In May this year, Digiworld became one of the four official distributors of Apple products in Vietnam, besides Synnex FPT, Petrosetco and Viettel. Main product categories include iPhone, MacBook, iPad, Apple Watch, Beats, Apple TV and other accessories.

DGW shares ended Tuesday at 53,800 VND per share, three times higher than that in April. Temporarily calculating at this price, the number of DGW shares that Evli Emerging Frontier is holding is worth 117 billion VND.
OAKLAND (BCN)

A Fremont man pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court in Oakland to being a felon in possession of a loaded gun and faces up to 10 years in prison, federal prosecutors said.

Kristopher Sylvester, 53, was arrested April 2 in Fremont after he was allegedly linked to a March 26 commercial burglary at a Fremont rental car business.

Prosecutors said he admitted to having a Ruger handgun and eight rounds of ammunition with him when he was arrested. Sylvester was arrested again April 16, in Santa Clara County.

He admitted that when he was arrested, he had a stolen Ford Mustang from a San Jose rental car business and had a 9mm handgun and ammunition with him.

Sylvester was arrested a third time on May 15 in San Leandro on a federal warrant that stemmed from his April 2 arrest. Sylvester admitted to having another 9mm handgun and ammunition.

As part of his admissions, he said that two of the handguns were manufactured outside of California. Prosecutors said Sylvester knew when he was arrested April 2 that he had multiple prior felony convictions.

Sylvester is being held in Santa Rita Jail in Dublin. His sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 8, in Oakland.

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 21:39:02|Editor: huaxia

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NAIROBI, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Services across Kenya's 44 counties will be paralyzed from Thursday for lack of resources to enable their operations.

Wycliffe Oparanya, chairman of Council of Governors, told county employees to proceed for two weeks' leave until further notice.

Oparanya said county health facilities will not permit any new inpatient admissions, saying there will be minimal outpatient services.

He said this follows the failure by the Senate to unlock the stalemate on the flow of funds to the counties under the revenue sharing formula.

"It is therefore not clear when this impasse will be resolved," he said.

Oparanya said all non-essential services have been hereby suspended and county employees have been advised to proceed on leave for two weeks.

He said the Council of Governors will continue to push for the speedy release of county funds.

The governors had a week ago threatened a shutdown beginning Wedesday if the money they need is not released by the national government.

Oparanya said county staff have not been paid for three months and the only way to address the mess is by having the money released.

Senators have been locked in a standoff over the sharing of devolved funds among the 47 counties in the last few weeks.

The delay in agreeing on the revenue formula has caused a crisis in all the counties, with services being affected.

The Senate tried ten times to end the stalemate in vain. They had however agreed on the way forward after a meeting with Pesident Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga on Tuesday.

The president promised to add 50 billion shillings (about 462 million U.S. dollars) in the next financial year to cushion counties that were losing money. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-17 00:20:38|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- U.S. companies are welcome to step up investment in China and share its development dividends, Vice-Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen said Tuesday.

Wang, who is also deputy China international trade representative, made the remarks during an online symposium attended by 15 member companies of the U.S.-China Business Council.

In the face of the difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the complicated economic and trade relations between China and the United States, China has been earnestly implementing the first phase of the China-U.S. economic and trade agreement, and has worked hard to create a sound environment for practical cooperation between the enterprises of the two countries, Wang said.

China firmly opposes the United States' wrong actions on Taiwan, Xinjiang and other issues, Wang said, urging the U.S. side to work with China to jointly safeguard the overall interests of China-U.S. relations.

China will remain unwavering in its commitment to deepening reforms and expanding opening-up, Wang said, citing various measures rolled out by the country this year.

"China's supply chain is stable and resilient, and the long-term upward trend of its economy will not change," Wang said. Enditem
Ellsberg, who had worked at both the State Department and the Pentagon, said Assange wont be able to provide a justification for his actions if he were to be extradited to the U.S. in the same way that he was denied the chance to raise a public interest defense for his leaking of the Pentagon Papers.
Britain and other countries providing arms to Saudi Arabia are potentially "aiding and assisting" war crimes by the country's forces in Yemen, a UN report has warned.

It comes months after the UK government lifted a court-ordered ban on arms exports to the country, claiming that while it was "possible" that war crimes were taking places, they appeared to be "isolated incidents".

But the UN Human Rights Council this week said countries fuelling the conflict with arms were showing a "blatant disregard" for "documented patters of serious violence".

Campaigners said the UN investigation clearly contradicted Trade Secretary Liz Truss's claim from early July that the breaches of international law did not constitute a pattern because they had happened in different times and in different ways.

The report warns of "concern about third states transferring arms to parties to the conflict in Yemen in blatant disregard of the documented patterns of serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law in the conflict to date".

It adds: "The Group believes that they are failing in their responsibilities to ensure respect for IHL, and that some States may be violating their obligations under the Arms Trade Treaty.

"Furthermore, such support may amount to 'aiding and assisting' internationally wrongful acts in contravention of international law."

Responding to the report, the government said it "takes its export responsibilities seriously", though it continues to sell arms.

Ministers have licensed at least 5.3 billion worth of arms to Saudi Arabia since the conflict began in 2015, including licences covering weapons like bombs and missiles.

Andrew Smith of Campaign Against Arms Trade said: "This is an extremely damning report and underlines the complicity of arms-dealing governments such as the UK.

"The government has dismissed the long list of possible war crimes as merely 'isolated incidents', but this report makes clear that they are part of a deadly pattern.

"Saudi forces have shown a total contempt for international law and the rights and lives of people in Yemen. After five terrible years, this war has killed tens of thousands of people and destroyed vital infrastructure across Yemen. It is a man-made crisis that has been fuelled, enabled and exacerbated by Downing Street."

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

Asked about the latest report, a Department for International Trade spokesperson said: The UK is deeply concerned by the ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

"We fully support the peace process led by the UN Special Envoy, Martin Griffiths, and urge the parties to engage constructively with this process.

The government takes its export responsibilities seriously and assesses all export licences in accordance with strict licensing criteria.

"We will not issue any export licences where to do so would be inconsistent with these criteria.
Pelosi Willing to Compromise on Virus Relief Bill That Will Become Law

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Wednesday that she will not vote on a pandemic relief bill that has no bipartisan support.

We could put a bill on the floor, but we want to put a bill on the floor that will become law, Pelosi said in a morning interview.

Talks between Pelosi, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and the White House stalled in early August, with the two sides having differences over the overall price of the bill. Federal funding to state and local governments, as well as unemployment benefits, were the most contentious issues.

We have a number of schools of thought: those who want us to put $3.4 trillion on the floor, then come down in negotiation from there. Those who say just put something on the floor, she added in the interview. But what we want is to put something on the floor that will become law. And so that requires negotiation.

Pelosi was referring to the $3.4 trillion HEROES Act, which was passed in the Democratic-controlled House in May and authorized more than $900 billion in funds to state and local governments to offset economic damage done during the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic. Republicans, meanwhile, have sought a smaller bill, and they attempted to push through a sub-$1 billion deal last week but failed to garner enough support.

We have come down, Pelosi said of negotiation efforts to reduce the spending measure by about $1 trillion. But the needs of the American peoplewe can only go so far.

Pelosi said that since May, new provisions might have to be added to the HEROES Act.

This has accelerated since then, she said. We have additional needs for restaurants, airlines and the rest, and those things have to be taken into consideration as well.

Earlier this week, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin reiterated that both he and President Donald Trump favor more stimulus measures, saying that now is not the time to worry about shrinking the deficit. He was touching on fears voiced by some conservatives in the Senate and House over more spending.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin testifies before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Sept. 1, 2020. (Nicholas Kamm-Pool/Getty Images)

I think theres many areas of this where is an agreement between the Democrats and the Republicans, and some of the areas we do have differences on the amounts, he said in the interview. But I will continue to work on this: Ive told the speaker Im available any time to negotiate.

The talk comes as a bipartisan group in the House, known as the Problem Solvers Caucus, offered a $1.5 billion deal.

The fact is, we all hear back home Americans simply cant afford inaction, said Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), who is co-chair of the bipartisan group, in a statement. The American people need the negotiators to get back to the table.

However, top Democrats including Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said they will reject the measure.

I think the Problem Solvers are lower than would be a responsible deal, Hoyer said. There are a lot of objectives that I think the Republicans have simply ignored. The Problem Solvers addressed some of them and I think thats useful and we need to move forward with that in mind.
A 16-year-old boy has been remanded in custody and will face a psychiatric evaluation after he was charged with the murder of a homeless man in Dublin.

Gardai were alerted after the discovery of a body at about 1.30am on Monday in a laneway beside Madison Road, at the South Circular Road, in Kilmainham, Dublin 8.

The man, who had suffered serious injuries, was believed to have been in his forties.

The 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named because he is a juvenile, was arrested and held at Kevin Street Garda Station on Monday.

Laneway

He was charged at 2.52am and brought before Judge Treasa Kelly at the Dublin Children's Court yesterday.

He is accused of the murder of a named man, at the laneway to the rear of a house on Madison Road, contrary to common law.

Dressed in a T-shirt, jeans and runners, the youth did not address the court. There has been no indication yet as to how he will plead.

Detective Sergeant Brian Hoey told the court the boy "made no reply to the charge after caution".

The Children's Court does not have jurisdiction to consider a bail application for a defendant on a murder charge.

Judge Kelly said she had no option but to remand the boy in custody to the Oberstown Children Detention Campus.

The case will go to the Central Criminal Court but a book of evidence has to be prepared by the Director of Public Prosecutions before a trial order can be made.

Defence solicitor Wayne Kenny said while his client was detained, a number of comments were made by the teen which gave rise to "great concerns for his mental health".

Judge Kelly ordered a psychiatric evaluation of the boy in custody.

The teen will appear again next Tuesday at the Children's Court.

In relation to media attention, reporting restrictions obviously applied, the solicitor said, but he added that an article had been published which gave some details about where the boy lived.

Restrict

Det-Sgt Hoey also sought an order to restrict the naming of the deceased as gardai were still trying to verify his identity.

Judge Kelly directed that the deceased man's name should not be revealed "at this time".

Nothing should be published that directly or indirectly identified the boy, his family or where he lived, she also ordered.

Legal aid was granted.

Section 93 of the Children Act states that no report shall be published or included in a broadcast which reveals the name, address or school of any child concerned in the proceedings or includes any particulars likely to lead to the identification of any child concerned in the proceedings.
TANZANIA, Tanzania - The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution Tuesday demanding that all countries enforce the widely violated U.N. arms embargo on Libya, withdraw all mercenaries from the North African nation.

The council also called for political talks and a cease-fire in the war, stressing it has no military solution. The vote was 13-0, with Russia and China abstaining.

In the years after the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Moammar Gadhafi, Libya has sunk further into turmoil and is now divided between two rival administrations, based in the countrys east and west, with an array of fighters and militias  backed by various foreign powers  allied with each side.

The resolutions approval follows a recent report by U.N. experts monitoring sanctions on Libya that accused its warring parties and their international backers  the United Arab Emirates, Russia and Jordan on one side and Turkey and Qatar on the other  of violating the arms embargo, saying it remains totally ineffective.

The resolution also extended U.N.s political mission in Libya, or UNSMIL, until next September and stressed its central role in facilitating a Libyan-led and Libyan-owned inclusive political process and in achieving a lasting cease-fire.

The job of former U.N. special representative Ghassan Salame, who resigned in March, has been split into two, as the United States demanded, putting a special envoy in charge of UNSMIL to focus on mediating with Libyan and international parties to end the conflict, with a co-ordinator in charge of day-to-day operations.

The U.S. demand held up a replacement for Salame and the resolution asks Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to appoint a special envoy without delay. One possibility is the U.N.s current top Mideast envoy, Nikolay Mladenov, a former Bulgarian foreign minister, U.N. diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because discussions have been private.

Tensions in oil-rich Libya escalated further when east-based forces, under commander Khalifa Hifter, launched an offensive in April 2019 trying to capture the capital, Tripoli. But Hifters campaign collapsed in June when militias backing the U.N.-supported government in Tripoli, with Turkish support, gained the upper hand, driving his forces from the outskirts of the capital and other western towns.

Hifter is supported by the United Arab Emirates, Russia, Jordan and Egypt while the Tripoli forces are supported by the wealthy Gulf state of Qatar and by Turkey, a bitter rival of Egypt and the UAE in a broader regional struggle over political Islam.

Since Turkey and the UAE stepped up their direct involvement in Libya, arms transfers to Libya by those two member states have been extensive, blatant and with complete disregard to the sanctions measures, U.N. experts said.

In addition to countries that supplied weapons, the experts said 11 companies also violated the arms embargo, including the Wagner Group, a private Russian security company that in May provided between 800 and 1,200 mercenaries to support Hifters forces. The warring sides and their international backers also failed to inspect aircraft or vessels believed to carry weapons and ammunition.

The U.N. resolution called on all parties to commit without delay to a lasting cease-fire and political dialogue under the leadership of the new special envoy.

It requests that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres assess the steps required to reach a lasting ceasefire and the the possible role of the U.N. mission, known as UNSMIL, in providing scalable ceasefire support, alongside a report within 60 days on proposals for monitoring a cease-fire under U.N. auspices.

European Union members of the Security Council  Belgium, Estonia, France and Germany  and Ireland which will join the council on Jan. 1, said the resolutions adoption is important and comes at a moment of cautious optimism for Libya.

They pointed to statements by Fayez Sarraj, head of the Government of National Accord in Tripoli, on Aug. 21 calling for a cease-fire across the country and demilitarizing the strategic city of Sirte which was supported by Aguila Saleh, speaker of the rival eastern-based House of Representatives, calling them encouraging first steps to overcome the stalemate. The EU members also encouraged Guterres to appoint a new special envoy as soon as possible.

The resolution also condemned the forced shutdown of oil facilities, reiterating that Libyas oil resources are for the benefit of all Libyans.
In September 2020, Netflix released the movie "Cuties," a controversial French film that features 11-year-old girls dancing in a provocative manner.

The movie immediately received backlash online, with netizens accusing the streaming service of promoting pedophilia due to the nature of the film and the promotional poster that Netflix used for the film.

Did the CEO get arrested?

TorontoToday.net published an article stating that the CEO of Netflix, Reed Hastings, had been arrested for possessing child pornography.

The report is not genuine. Hastings was not arrested by the FBI, and it is also not true that he has child pornography collection.

Those allegations are baseless, and there is no proof. The rumor had been driven by the recent pedophilia panic that was fueled by the release of the controversial French movie.

Also Read: 'Cancel Netflix' Hashtag Trends After Streaming Service Accused of Sexualizing Children in New Movie

Hastings is the CEO of Netflix, which is one of the world's largest streaming services. If he had been arrested by the FBI like what the report claimed, it would be all over the news, and the FBI would issue a warrant. There should have been headlines about it if it did happen.

However, the only source for this news is on a random social media post and an article published to a website with a history of spreading misinformation.

TorontoToday.net is a new website, but it has already been responsible for at least two viral hoaxes. One of them involved "Black Panther" actor Chadwick Boseman, who died from colon cancer in August.

The site published a false report and claimed that the actor was poisoned. The site also posted a rumor that the daughter of Russian President Vladimir Putin died from a COVID-19 vaccine.

The website deleted its false report about Hasting's arrest. The site originally published the article with the headline stating that the Netflix CEO had 13,000 files of child pornography, yet no evidence or further explanation was given.

The website claimed they received threats of litigation over the original article that was posted from a "billionaire that we won't name."

TorontoToday.net stated that upon consideration, they had removed the original article from their website, and they will control their Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Fake report

The fake report about the arrest of Netflix CEO Reed Hastings is just the latest in a long series of false rumors concerning pedophilia.

In 2020, pedophilia panic consumed portions of the internet, in part because the false rumors were being amplified by the growing QAnon conspiracy movement.

For the past few months, numerous false rumors about child trafficking on furniture stores spread on social media, with cabinets being used to traffic children, according to BBC.

Numerous department stores were also called out for selling shirts with images of pizza, as it "promotes pedophilia." Greece was also in hot water after it classified pedophilia as a disability, preventing the arrest of pedophiles.

While sex trafficking and pedophilia are real issues, the stories about furniture stores trafficking children, and the Netflix CEO being arrested for child pornography are not true.

The National Human Trafficking Hotline released a statement saying that these pedophilia conspiracy theories were making it more difficult to help those who are actually in danger of being trafficked.

Also Read: Obamas Earn Flak Online for Staying Silent Amid Netflix's Controversial Movie "Cuties"

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Cebu Pacific will deploy the full Payment Orchestration Platform of CellPoint, Velocity,

to streamline the customer payment experience and optimise its own payment eco-system

LONDON, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- CellPoint Digital, a leading provider of digital commerce and payment solutions to airlines and travel companies, has partnered with Cebu Pacific, the largest airline in the Philippines, to implement a cutting-edge Payment Orchestration Platform across all its digital channels.

Cebu Pacific is one of the most successful low-cost airlines in the world, having flown over 22 million passengers to over 60 destinations in 2019. The airline enjoys a direct relationship with its customers: 70% of bookings are made via the carrier's direct digital channels.

"Our customers remain at the heart of our business - as such, we are constantly improving their customer journey with us. As we continue transforming processes towards a frictionless experience, implementing effective and secure online payment portals is critical. With this new development, we look forward to providing our passengers an omni-channel experience and the ease of one-click payments, along with localized options in all markets," said Candice Iyog, Vice-president for Marketing and Customer Experience at Cebu Pacific.

CellPoint Digital's Payment Orchestration Platform, Velocity, will enable Cebu Pacific to drastically simplify the payment experience of its repeat customers by deploying stored cards in all its digital channels with a single sign-on. Based on CellPoint's experience, stored cards will generate a double-digit uplift on the conversion rate and a payment acceptance rate far exceeding airline industry average. Customer satisfaction and conversion will also be boosted by pay-by-link messages that re-engage customers who leave at check-out, and by a Multi-Currency Pricing feature that offers international travellers the option to pay in their preferred currency.

Velocity is PSP/acquirer agnostic and will enable Cebu Pacific to build and orchestrate a bespoke network of acquiring banks. The intelligent routing module will dynamically optimise the routing of each transaction via this network, thereby maximising the acceptance rate and lowering transaction costs.

Cebu Pacific will have the ability to fast track the launch of new payment methods in new markets, by picking and rapidly activating new ones from CellPoint's growing payment eco-system, including over 40 local and global cards and over 350 alternative payment methods.

"We are delighted to partner with one of the most successful airlines in Asia Pacific and support their impressive expansion and commitment to the best digital customer experience," said Kristian Gjerding, CEO of CellPoint Digital. "Our independent payment platform will give Cebu the agility and control they need to optimise further their payment strategy and drastically simplify their customer payment experience."

For more information about CellPoint Digital's deployment for Cebu Pacific or to interview Kristian Gjerding, CEO of CellPoint Digital, please contact Vanessa Horwell at [email protected].

About CellPoint Digital

We make travel easier for airlines, travel merchants and their customers. CellPoint Digital is both a fintech and a traveltech company. We provide powerful digital commerce and payment solutions that enable airlines and other travel merchants to simplify their systems, unify their customer experience and boost their digital transactions across website, mobile web and mobile apps. CellPoint Digital offer two omni-channel modular platforms. Velocity is a unique Payment Orchestration Platform that optimises all digital payment transactions, from cards or alternative forms of payment, and accelerates the deployment of new payment methods. Voyage is a Full Digital Platform that masters the entire customer sales cycle (Promote, Sell, Pay, Serve) and optimises end-to-end conversion rates. CellPoint Digital has offices in Copenhagen, Dallas, Dubai, London, Miami, Pune and Singapore. Visit www.cellpointdigital.com to learn more.

About Cebu Pacific

Why everyone flies

Cebu Pacific Air is one of the most successful low-cost carriers in the world and a pioneer of the "low fare, great value" strategy. Cebu started operations in 1996 and has since carried over 150 million passengers. Cebu is the largest carrier in the Philippine air transportation industry, offering low-cost services to more destinations and routes with higher flight frequency within the Philippines than any other airline. It began long-haul services in 2013. Cebu currently offers flights to 37 Philippine and 26 international destinations, spanning Asia, Australia, and the Middle East. Cebu offers a uniquely upbeat flying experience, offering fun in the skies with our "Fun Games" on board. Visit https://cebupacificaircorporate.com/Pages/company-info.aspx to learn more.

SOURCE CellPoint Digital

Related Links

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Police at the scene of a death on the Ballycastle road in Coleraine. Pic Kevin McAuley McAuley Multimedia.

Police have launched an investigation into a sudden death in Coleraine.

Police attended to a house in the Ballycastle Road area on Tuesday evening.

There was a large scale police presence and forensic teams combing the area. It is thought a man had died suddenly in the house.

A post mortem is due to take place to determine the cause of death.
Washington:

Hours before he demits the White House, President Barack Obama made a farewell telephone call to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to thank him for his partnership that enhanced Indo-US strategic ties and reviewed the significant progress achieved on the economic and security fronts, including on defence and civil nuclear energy.

During the conversation between the two leaders on Wednesday, Prime Minister Modi thanked Obama for his strong support and contribution to strengthening the strategic partnership between India and the US.

The White House, in readout of the conversation, said Obama telephoned Modi to thank him for his partnership and to review joint efforts of cooperation including defence, civil-nuclear energy, and enhanced people-to-people ties.

Recalling his visit as the chief guest at Indias Republic Day celebrations in 2015, President Obama wished the Prime Minister warm congratulations ahead of Indias upcoming 68th Republic Day anniversary, the White House said.

Both leaders discussed the progress they have made on shared economic and security priorities, including recognition of India as a major defence partner of the United States and addressing the global challenge of climate change, it said.

In New Delhi, the PMO in a statement, said the two leaders reviewed with satisfaction the significant all round progress and cooperation in ties between India and the US in the past few years.

Modi conveyed his best wishes to Obama in his future endeavours. Obama was one of the first leaders to congratulate Modi after his electoral victory in May 2014 and immediately invited him to visit the White House.

The two leaders met at the White House in September 2014. Since then they have met each other eight times, a record for leaders from India and America.

According to Assistant Secretary of State for South and central Asia Nisha Desai Biswal, the two leaders share a very warm relationship.

They have a great deal of personal camaraderie. But they also have a great deal of respect for each other for the leadership and the values and the integrity of each others approach, Biswal had said.

Obama, the 44th US President will end his eight years of presidency on January 20. He would be succeeded by Donald Trump.

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Her latest film Antebellum will be released on demand on Friday, rather than open as planned in theatres, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

And against the backdrop of the ongoing coronavirus crisis, Janelle Monae headlined a socially-distanced outdoor screening of the horror movie in Los Angeles on Sunday night.

Monae and several of her co-stars attended the event that took the form of a drive-in screening on the rooftop of a parking structure at The Grove shopping center.

Premiere in the time of pandemic: Janelle Monae headlined a socially-distanced outdoor screening of her new horror movie Antebellum in Los Angeles on Sunday night

Ahead of the screening, Monae, 34, posed for photos in a gorgeous full-length black gown.

She showed off her cleavage in the sleeveless number that featured a tight bodice, cinched waist and full skirt.

She accessorized with several choker necklaces, a pair of drop earrings and a black and white clutch purse.

Joining Monae were castmembers Jack Huston, Kiersey Clemons and Jena Malone along with the film's writer/producer and director duo Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz.

Headliner: Monae, 34, looked stunning in a gorgeous sleeveless black gown that featured a tight bodice, cinched waist and full skirt

Natural beauty: She accessorized with several choker necklaces and a pair of drop earrings

Safety first: Castmembers showed up wearing face masks with a butterfly theme, representing the movie's logo. Californians are required to wear face coverings in public due to coronavirus

Former child star Malone, 35, opted for smart casual for her appearance.

She paired blue denim shorts with a buttoned up white blouse and a black blazer.

She stepped out in black heels and wore her hair styled back from her face which was made up with a splash of scarlet red lip color.

Huston, 37, also kept things relaxed, pairing a black t-shirt and black trousers with a dark red zipper jacket.

Meanwhile, Clemons, 26, showed up in a shiny silver suit of tailored jacket and loose-fitting pants which she wore with a white crop top and chunky black shoes.

Smart casual: Jena Malone co-stars in the film and put on a leggy show in blue denim shorts paired with a buttoned up white blouse, black blazer and black heels

Sleek: The former child star, 35, wore her hair styled back from her face which was made up with a splash of scarlet red lip color

Pivotal role: Actor Jack Huston, 37, kept things relaxed, pairing a black t-shirt and black trousers with a dark red zipper jacket

Rocked a look: Actress Kiersey Clemons, 26, showed up in a shiny silver suit of tailored jacket and loose-fitting pants which she wore with a white crop top and chunky black shoes

In Antebellum, Monae plays a modern-day woman transported back in time to a pre-Civil War plantation in the South.

The film follows her as she attempts to escape from the slavery she finds herself in and get back to her own time period, bringing other slaves with her.

At Sunday night's screening, Monae told Variety that the movie 'reminds us that the past is not the past.

She explained: 'The past is not even dead and I think the film is very timely and does a great job, an exceptional job of linking and connecting the dots of the past, the present and what could be our future.'

The actress added: 'I'm very honored to stand here and represent for Black women who have been dismantling white supremacy and systemic racism for centuries.'

Antebellum had originally been scheduled to open in theatres back in April but was postponed and then slated for video on demand due to the pandemic.

Movie night: The event took the form of a drive-in screening on the rooftop of a parking structure at The Grove shopping center in LA

Nightmarish tale: In Antebellum, Monae plays a modern-day woman transported back in time to a pre-Civil War plantation in the South where she finds herself enslaved

Theme: Monae told Variety the horror film 'is very timely and does a great job, an exceptional job of linking and connecting the dots of the past, the present and what could be our future'

Grabbed attention: Supporting actress Lily Cowles, 33, flashed skin in a black pant suit with a very low-cut, see-through black lace bodice

Colorful: Gabourey Sidibe, 37, who also has a role in the movie, brought some glamour with a pretty red floral print dress worn off the shoulder and matching sandal heels

Eye-catching: Model Achok Majak, 28, turned heads in a metallic gray ensemble and towering statement shoes

Big night: London Boyce, six, who appears in the movie, wore a white tulle dress decorated with butterflies
New Delhi, Sep 16 : Five cases of illegal transfer of 36.30 acres of defence land have come to the notice of the defence ministry in the last three years, Minister of State for Defence Shripad Naik said in Parliament on Wednesday.

The minister in a reply to Ravi Kishan and others in the Lok Sabha said, "Directorate General of Defence Estates (DGDE) has informed that 05 cases have come to notice, in the last three years (i.e. from 01.09.2017 to 31.08.2020). Total area involved is 36.30 acres." In two cases pertaining to Haryana's Narnaud Hisar (area 29.99 acres) and one pertaining to Punjab's Muktsar, (area 6.05 acres), the respective state governments claimed the defence land. In all these cases the matter has been challenged by the Defence Estates Officer concerned and is presently sub-judice in the court of the respective divisional commissioners.

In the two cases in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir's Badamibagh Cantt (area 0.26 acres) the illegal transfer of defence land by private persons through sale deeds has been challenged by filing a suit in the District Court by the Defence Estates Officer.

Another instance has been noticed where an attempt was made to illegally transfer 11.10 acres of defence land in Bengaluru to the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation. "Based on the FIR lodged in the case, the said transfer has been stayed," the Minister said.

He said that in cases of attempts of illegal transfer based on the nature and circumstances of the case, FIRs and criminal cases have been filed against the sellers and purchasers and the courts have been approached to set aside such transactions.

"Competent Revenue authorities have also been approached for not effecting mutation of such transactions. Such transactions are not recognised and no mutation in defence land records are effected," he said.

The minister stated that to prevent such incidences in the future, various steps have been taken.

The defence land across the country has been surveyed by Defence Estates Officers and Chief Executive Officers to clearly demarcate defence land to enable the Services and users to physically protect it.

"Matter has been taken up with the state government vigorously at all levels to mutate remaining defence land in the revenue records," he said.

Suggestions have been made by the Ministry to the Department of Land Resources for amending the Registration Act to make it mandatory for the Sub-Registrar to obtain a 'NOC' from the defence authorities prior to effecting registration of land located in Cantonments and Military Stations.

Wherever such an incidence is reported, immediate legal action is taken to protect the interest of the Government.

Computerisation of defence land records contained in General Land Registers (GLRs) and Military Land Registers (MLRs) with the use of Raksha Bhoomi Software has been done extensively.

"Strengthening of defence land management by way of digitisation of land records, survey, demarcation and verification of defence lands and land audit," the minister said.

The computerization of defence land records under the project 'Raksha Bhoomi' was undertaken by the Directorate General of Defence Estates in association with the National Informatics Centre.
BRUSSELS, Sept 16 (Reuters) - The European Commission will soon propose a framework for minimum wages in the 27-nation bloc, European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said in a speech on Wednesday.

Minimum wages in EU countries in July 2020 ranged from 312 euros a month in Bulgaria to 2,142 euro a month in Luxembourg.

(Reporting by Jan Strupczewski)
There are plenty of differences to be found between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, but on one issue at least they speak with one voice. Of course, on that one issue  so-called Buy America regulations  theyre both wrong.

Buy America is generally a politically popular concept, evoking ideas of restoring the heyday of American manufacturing. Unfortunately, curtailing trade wont solve that problem. According to a Ball State study, just under 88 percent of manufacturing job losses are attributable to productivity growth rendering those jobs unnecessary  not those jobs shifting overseas.

Nevertheless, both candidates have pushed Buy American ideas, either through campaign pledges or, in the Presidents case, policies. On this issue, neither candidate has the right vision for a productive American economy.

While President Trump signed into law the 2017 tax reform law which encouraged foreign income repatriation and headquartering in the United States (more on that later), he has also curtailed foreign trade in many harmful ways. Import taxes on American consumers have more than doubled under President Trump, costing the average American household $555 per year.

Trump has also flirted with Buy America rules specifically targeting medical supplies, a potentially disastrous idea in the midst of a pandemic. While a strong domestic industry prepared to manufacture medical supplies is a laudable goal, the American economy has already gone into overdrive producing all kinds of pandemic supplies. Restricting supplies from other countries would only reduce Americans access to these products.

But while the Presidents ideas would be harmful in terms of responding to the pandemic, Bidens proposals have the potential to threaten the American economys ability to keep multinational corporations headquartered here in the United States.

The 2017 tax reform law included many positive changes, but a significant emphasis was placed upon addressing the incentive structure that kept multinational corporations from headquartering in the United States. Prior to the changes made in this law, businesses headquartered in the United States had to pay U.S. taxes on income earned abroad by foreign subsidiaries when it was paid back to the U.S. parent company.

This may sound like a system designed to make corporations pay their fair share, but the truth is that it simply encouraged them to headquarter themselves in a country that would not make them pay taxes on foreign assets, as 29 of the 35 member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) did. Combined with the relatively high 35 percent American corporate tax rate, its no wonder businesses with the means to do so were switching operations to other countries.

The 2017 tax reform law changed that. Multinational corporations headquartered in the United States generally no longer had to pay taxes on income from foreign assets returned to the country (with protections put in place to prevent gaming the system), and the corporate tax rate was reduced to a far more competitive 21 percent. Already, corporations have repatriated over $1 trillion in assets to the United States.

In the face of such successful policy, Bidens approach would be to go right back to the old system, but worse. Not only would he return to a worldwide system of taxing income from foreign assets, but he would charge a 10 percent offshoring surtax. But heres the thing: the more likely effect wouldnt be to prevent American multinationals from offshoring jobs, it would be to prevent them from headquartering their operations in the United States in the first place.

The solution to jobs and tax bases moving overseas is not to try to punish businesses that seek out profitable ventures overseas. Its to create a more business-friendly U.S. tax system that encourages businesses to invest and grow right here.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-17 03:36:40|Editor: huaxia

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UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Wednesday called for political and economic progress in South Sudan's peace process.

The economic and humanitarian situation in South Sudan has deteriorated as a result of COVID-19 and falling oil prices, and the implementation of the peace agreement faces many challenges, Dai Bing, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, told the Security Council.

China welcomes the progress in the appointment of state governors and other political issues and encourages all parties in South Sudan to bear in mind the overall interests of national unity and development, continue to advance dialogue and consultation, and take steps to solve outstanding issues of the peace agreement, said Dai.

The international community should fully respect the ownership of the government of South Sudan, strengthen coordination with the African Union and Intergovernmental Authority on Development and support their mediation efforts, he said.

He called for efforts to uphold the hard-won peace in South Sudan.

Recently, the cease-fire has been generally maintained. China hopes that all parties will work to sustain the positive momentum. Meanwhile, sporadic inter-communal clashes, which might undermine the cease-fire, deserve the great attention of all parties in South Sudan, he said.

South Sudan's economic foundation and health system are weak; its economic development and food security are under pressure; there are practical difficulties brought by the pandemic, he said. The international community should actively provide assistance to South Sudan, especially in the economic and health areas, scale up investment in agriculture, energy, infrastructure and health care, and help South Sudan implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

China has helped build a cervical screening center in South Sudan and sent a medical expert team to join the fight against COVID-19. This was welcomed by South Sudan, said Dai.

China appreciates the contributions by David Shearer, the UN secretary-general's special envoy, and the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) to peace and stability in South Sudan, he said.

China has noted that UNMISS has made great efforts to protect civilians. It should be pointed out that the fundamental solution lies in the success of the political process and economic reconstruction, through which a peaceful and stable environment could be created for the displaced persons to return home, and to provide job opportunities for the people, he said.

China will continue to support South Sudan's political process and contribute to its fight against COVID-19 and its effort to achieve economic development. China is ready to work with the international community to promote the early realization of peace, stability and sustainable development in South Sudan, he said. Enditem
At the ceremony (Photo: VNA)

On behalf of the Vietnamese NA, Ambassador Dang Xuan Dung handed over the face masks to the Argentinian side.



According to the ambassador, the gift comes from the sincere sentiments of the Vietnamese State and people to Argentinian friends, and demonstrates the sharing and support from Vietnam for Argentinas COVID-19 fight.

Mr. Dang Xuan Dung highly appreciated the measures undertaken by the Government of Argentina to curb the spread of the disease in the community, expressing his belief that with the determination and efforts of the Government and the National Congress, Argentina would soon overcome the pandemic to return peoples lives to normal and revitalize the economy.

He confirmed that Vietnam will continue to work closely and share information and experiences with Argentina to quickly control the pandemic as well as to minimize its negative impacts, contributing to the long-term development of relations between the two countries in all fields.

For her part, Administrative Secretary of the Argentine Senate Maria Luz Alonso expressed her thanks to the Government, NA and people of Vietnam for their practical and significant gift amidst the pandemic.

She said that the gift is a vivid evidence of the traditional friendly relations and cooperation between Vietnam and Argentina, pledging to continue further promoting bilateral ties for the benefit of both countries peoples./.
In calls and texts with The New York Times, and in other recent comments, West made clear he believes he will become president  eventually  but said almost nothing about what he actually wanted to do if elected. Indeed, Wests curio candidacy has confused many fans and voters alike. His party is called the Birthday Party. His first piece of campaign art included pictures of that well-known populist Anna Wintour, editor of Vogue, and of actress Kirsten Dunst, who was puzzled. (Whats the message here, she tweeted, and why am I apart of it?)
Jon Gosselin's daughter has jumped to her father's defense in the wake of shocking claims he beat his son up, saying: 'My dad loves us... he's never been abusive.'

In an exclusive statement given to DailyMail.com Hannah Gosselin said Jon has always been a 'very loving and supportive dad' and that he's stuck by his kids no matter what.

Hannah, 16, witnessed the incident during which Jon's son Collin, also 16, told police his dad punched and kicked him.

And Hannah has confirmed to DailyMail.com that she told investigators her dad never hit Collin.

Hannah Gosselin said her father Jon has always been a 'very loving and supportive dad' and that he's stuck by his kids no matter what in the wake of shocking claims he beat up his son Collin

Collin Gosselin, 16, claimed in a now deleted Instagram post that his father Jon, 43, kicked and punched him during a violent altercation earlier this month

He wrote to his 21,000 Instagram followers: 'Yesterday he beat me up and thought nothing of it, he punched me in the face and gave me a swollen nose and I started bleeding. He then continued to kick me in the ribs after I was on the floor. He is a liar'

This comes as her estranged mother Kate Gosselin, who hasn't seen Collin in over five years, spoke out against her ex-husband Jon.

'Jon is a violent and abusive person,' Kate, 45, told People on Wednesday.

Kate claimed she was notified by the County of Berks, Pennsylvania Child & Youth Services that Jon was under active investigation over the incident.

'If this doesnt qualify as assault, I dont know what does,' the Kate Plus 8 star said of the alleged encounter.

On September 3, Collin posted on Instagram that his father was a 'liar' who 'beat' him.

'He punched me in the face and gave me a swollen nose and I started bleeding,' wrote the teenager. 'He then continued to kick me in the ribs after I was on the floor.'

The post was subsequently deleted.

DailyMail.com has since learned the incident was investigated but any claims were unfounded and the probe was dropped within 24 hours.

Berks County District Attorney John Adams also confirmed no charges or citations were issued as a result of the incident.

Jon previously told DailyMail.com: 'I really didn't want to have to come out and talk about this for Collin's sake, but when Kate is in the media attacking me, calling me a child abuser, I have to defend myself. I love my son and I would never hurt him'

Hannah, 16, witnessed the incident during which Collin, also 16, told police his dad punched and kicked him

'Collin is facing many difficult issues and my dad is doing everything in his power to help him. My dad loves us and has never been abusive to us in any way,' Hannah said. She and Collin are pictured together

Hannah told DailyMail.com: 'My dad has been there for me and Collin no matter what.

'Hes been a very loving and supportive dad throughout everything.

'Collin is facing many difficult issues and my dad is doing everything in his power to help him. My dad loves us and has never been abusive to us in any way.'

In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com Jon himself shot down Kate's claims he's still being investigated for child abuse, he said: 'It's not true, I would never hit Collin, ever. I love him with all my heart.'

Collin and Hannah live with Jon, while the other children stay with Kate

Jon claims his son, who is dealing with behavioral issues, is troubled, and his report is untrue.

Upset Jon said: 'I really didn't want to have to come out and talk about this for Collin's sake, but when Kate is in the media attacking me, calling me a child abuser, I have to defend myself. I love my son and I would never hurt him.'

Jon found fame alongside Kate on the Jon & Kate Plus 8 reality show featuring their life with eight children; set of twins Mady and Cara, both 19, and sextuplets Collin, Hannah, Leah, Alex, Aaden and Joel, all 16.

Collin and Hannah live with Jon, while the other children stay with Kate.

Jon explained it started out as a typical day on September 2 and he had taken Collin and Hannah for a dental appointment.

But in the car on the way home the two teenagers began to fight in the back and the verbal spat escalated when the family arrived home.

'It was just like sibling rivalry stuff, but when we got home things escalated into something different,' Jon explained.

'Collin got very upset and started acting out so I intervened. He started throwing stuff at my car, denting it and shouting f**k you.

'I was angry and I confronted him and then he threatened to run away. We've had problems with Collin in the past running away and I was worried, he was upset so I restrained him.

'I didn't punch or kick him, I restrained him, which he obviously wasn't happy about. He's 16, he's a 16-year-old boy.

'I restrained him and then I backed away, because you never want to restrain your kids, it's the most heart-wrenching thing you ever have to do.'

Jon and Kate divorced in 2009 after 10 years of marriage, and found huge fame thanks to their reality series Jon & Kate Plus 8

Jon said soon after he drove away from the house to give Collin some space to calm down. But his daughter called minutes later.

'Hannah called me and said Collin's going to call the police. So I turned around, I came back and he called the police,' Jon recalled.

'He told them I punched him in the face and kicked him in the ribs. And I was like, I didn't do any of that stuff.'

Jon says an officer arrived soon after and interviewed him and Collin and also Hannah who witnessed the incident.

'Hannah saw the whole thing and she gave her statement and I gave my statement,' Jon said.

'Hannah told them I didn't hit Collin and the police could see there were no marks or bruises on him.'

Jon said the police officer accepted Jon and Hannah's version of events, but as a mandated reporter he was required to report the incident to CYS.

'I get it, the police have to do their job,' Jon conceded. 'The CYS came out and interviewed us and they also spoke to Collin's mother Kate and his other siblings and that was the end of it, the claims were unfounded.'

The former reality star says he was told by his lawyer the following day that any CYS investigation had been dropped and no further action would be taken by the police.

The morning after the incident, as a punishment for Collin's shocking behavior, Jon decided to take the boy's Xbox and some other stuff out of his room.

'You can't just go about doing things without consequences,' Jon said.

'But then he threatened to do an IG post if I don't give his stuff back. So now he's using leverage.

'I said, "I don't care, I'm still gonna discipline you". I told him I loved him, but it's just the way it's got to be.'

On Thursday Jon's ex-wife Kate waded in telling People magazine she had been notified by the County of Berks, Pennsylvania Child & Youth Services that Jon was under investigation over the incident. Pictured: Kate with her and Jon's children, twins Mady and Cara (back row); sextuplets Collin, Leah, Hannah (l-r middle row), Aaden, Joel and Alexis (l-r front row)

He said that while Collin was 'caged' for three years at a behavioral institution, his mother only visited him three times for less than two hours total, all while refusing to tell Jon where Collin was being kept.

Jon has been dealing with the fallout ever since.

'Dealing with a child with mental health issues is taxing, I'm taxed,' the IT consultant admitted. 'But I love my son. I will not give up. I go to therapy, we all go to family therapy, to deal with having a son that has been traumatized and abused by his mother.

'It's very difficult for me. I'm trying to learn how to handle Collin, I have my own demons as well, but I never punched him or kicked him or anything like that.

Jon added: 'None of this is Collin's fault. He's 16. He's got a lot of issues to work through and we're here to help him.'
Two Sheriffs Deputies Shot in Compton; Los Angeles County sets $100,000 Reward for Any Information

Tuesday September 15, The County of Los Angeles has updated the community with critical news surrounding COVID-19. The County remains cautious as numbers reflect that the curve is flattening, and positive cases continue to decline. The Los Angeles Public Health department disclosed data reflecting stabilization in multiple state ordered benchmarks, which will result in the County having more opportunity to reopen. Public officials continue to stress the importance of a communal effort to stop the spread of COVID-19.

There has been a significant increase in selfless acts among the community. With the pandemic creating extreme hardship in certain areas, Los Angeles has seen over 1,000 volunteers offer their time and a variety of businesses go above and beyond to answer their call to civic responsibility. Chairwoman Kathryn Barger stated, All of this is a testament, that the community is working together to weather this storm.

Los Angeles is also experiencing turbulence amid residents and those sworn to protect them. Chairwoman Barger disclosed that two Los Angeles County sheriffs deputies were ambushed and shot over the weekend. Supervisor Mark-Ridley Thomas and Barger are offering a $100,000 reward for any information leading to a capture of those who committed the violence.

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Barger stated, The events of this weekend has made it clear to me, that anti law enforcement rhetoric expressed by many elected officials, community leaders, and others has created a toxic environment amid the time of civil unrest. 

COVID-19 has casted a different light on the community, it has shown how extremely generous and mindful Los Angeles can be, but it also revealed an ugly truth of hate and treacherous acts are still lurking within the shadows in the County. Barger closed with instructions to be there for each other, and she urged residents to continue to strive to be a shoulder to lean on.

Recent statistics were disclosed by Dr. Barbara Ferrer, Los Angeles Public Health Director. The reports shown on Monday reflect 24 additional deaths, nine of these individuals were over the age of 80, six of them had underlining health conditions. Five people who died were between the ages of 65-79, four victims had preexisting health concerns. Ten individuals were between the ages of 50-64, and eight of them had underlining health problems. Two people who passed were between the ages of 30-49, all of them had previous medical issues. This brings the total COVID-19 related deaths in L.A. County to 6,231.

There were 733 new COVID-19 reports. In summary, there is a total amount of 254,656 coronavirus cases in the Los Angeles region. 11,170 incidents were reported in the city of Long Beach and 2,476 cases in the city of Pasadena.

The relationship between COVID-19 infection and ethnicity were provided. The racial background collected from 5,859 fatal cases showed 10% were African American, 15% were Asian, slightly less than 1% were Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, 51% were LatinX, 23% were White, and 1% identified as a different race or ethnicity. 92% of those who died due to COVID-19 had preexisting health concerns.

Through these numbers, Ferrer confirmed the placement of Los Angeles reopening schools, grades k-12. There have been cohorts prototypes recently; opening campuses for in-person learning for selected groups of schools. These trial pods of students and faculty looks to find the safest social distancing procedures, while they are in-person school environment. Ferrer shared that they are still collecting information and will determine if these school cohorts will be the example of the future in-person educational experience.
A top Iranian health official has warned of a "resurgence" of coronavirus cases as the country continues to battle the Middle East's deadliest outbreak.



Deputy Health Minister Alireza Raisi said on September 15 that travel and people not following health protocols were causing infections to surge.



The Islamic republic has experienced a steady uptrend in deaths and infections since reaching a brief low in early September, with total cases now at more than 407,000 and the death toll at 23,453.



"Forecasts show us moving toward the third wave of the coronavirus, and it seems the wave will take shape in Tehran much earlier than other provinces," Alireza Zali, the anti-coronavirus coordinator for the capital said on September 14.



Iran has made wearing masks mandatory in enclosed public spaces and repeatedly called on Iranians to refrain from traveling to slow the virus.

With agency reporting
Results received from 2020 summer surface sampling program confirms a new gold mineralized system with several new high-grade grab samples ( Table 1 , Figures 1 to 3 and photo ).

Lloyd showing is outcropping over a distance of 60 m near the Eastmain river and remains open in all directions.

1 to 2 m wide quartz vein grading up to 17.75 g/t Au, with galena, sphalerite and chalcopyrite was discovered by prospecting high priority targets previously generated by GoldSpot Discoveries Corp.

Another anomalous quartz vein with 0.33 g/t Au was also sampled 400 m east of the initial discovery, following the same interpreted regional scale fault, demonstrating the continuity of the new gold and base metals system.

Next steps will include additional prospecting, and channel sampling of the area.

MONTREAL, QC / ACCESSWIRE / September 16, 2020 / Quebec Precious Metals Corporation ("QPM" or the "Company") (TSXV:QPM)(OTCQB:CJCFF)(FSE:YXEP) is pleased to report the discovery of a new gold and base metals system following the summer prospecting program on the 100% owned Elmer East Project (the "Project") in Quebec's Eeyou Istchee James Bay territory and is located east of the recent Patwon prospect gold discovery made by Azimut Exploration Inc. A total of 425 grab samples were collected during the summer field program on the Project. Prospecting work was carried out with the participation of GoldSpot Discoveries Corp. (TSX.V: SPOT) and QPM staff. Additional work including channel sampling will be carried out in the fall to better assess the exploration potential of this discovery.

The Lloyd showing consists of a 1 to 2 m wide SW-NE shallow dipping oxidized quartz vein with various amount of sulphides (galena, sphalerite and chalcopyrite) over a distance of approximately 60 metres. A total of 9 grab samples were taken from the vein, returning gold values ranging from 0.42 g/t Au to 17.75 g/t Au with an average 5.41 g/t Au. Silver values averaged 29.2 g/t Ag. Anomalous copper, zinc and lead values were also observed with zinc values up to 7.99% Zn. Although very limited follow up prospecting work was carried out in the vicinity of the discovery, another quartz vein with traces of pyrite located 400 m east of the showing returned 0.33 g/t Au suggesting the possible continuity of the system along the interpreted fault. Table 1 and Figures 1 to 3 below summarizes the grab sample results and present their locations.

Table 1: List of grab samples and assay values from the new discovery.

Sample # UTM E UTM N Au

(g/t) Ag

(g/t) Cu

(%) Zn

(%) Pb

(%) B566181 367059 5795444 17.75 29.2 0.11 NSV 1.75 B565106 367081 5795453 13.55 23.0 0.13 1.98 1.35 B566182 367068 5795447 5.19 21.2 0.14 1.13 NSV B566114 367083 5795471 2.66 67.2 0.06 2.33 2.49 B565107 367083 5795458 1.89 33.5 0.13 NSV 1.42 B565179 367052 5795442 1.77 13.66 0.77 7.99 NSV B566113 367085 5795477 0.42 6.47 0.02 NSV NSV B565112 367085 5795477 0.88 20.1 0.03 1.09 NSV B566180 367057 5795440 4.64 48.9 0.54 5.68 1.87 NSV: No significant value.



Mineralization is hosted in an extensional vein in a weakly chloritized wacke and paragneiss near the contact with a polygenic conglomerate of the Wabamisk formation.

The Elmer East project consists of 929 claims (488 km2). It is to be noted that: 1) gold mineralization discovered at Elmer East is not necessarily representative of mineralization found at the Patwon prospect, and 2) grab samples are selected samples and are not representative of the mineralization hosted on the Project. Access to the project is facilitated by the quality infrastructure of the James Bay region.

Quality Assurance/Quality Control

Grab sample positions were recorded with a high-precision GPS. Quality assurance and quality control procedures have been implemented to ensure best practices in sampling and analysis of the grab samples. Standards and blanks were inserted regularly into the sample stream.

The samples were delivered, in secure tagged bags, directly to the ALS Minerals laboratory facility in Val-d'Or, Quebec. The samples are weighed and identified prior to sample preparation.

All samples are analyzed by fire assay with AA finish on a 30 g sample (0.005-10 ppm Au), with a gravimetric finish for assays over 10 ppm Au. Samples were also tested for multi-element using four-acid digestion.

Qualified Persons

Normand Champigny, Eng., Chief Executive Officer of the Company, and Tony Brisson, P. Geo., Senior Exploration Manager, both Qualified Persons under NI 43- 101 on standards of disclosure for mineral projects, have prepared and approved the technical content of this release.

About Quebec Precious Metals Corporation

QPM is a gold explorer with a large land position in the highly-prospective Eeyou Istchee James Bay territory, Quebec, near Newmont Corporation's Eleonore gold mine. QPM's flagship project is the Sakami project with significant grades and well-defined drill-ready targets. QPM's goal is to rapidly explore this project to advance it to the mineral resource estimate stage.

For more information please contact:

Jean-Francois Meilleur

President

Tel.: 514 951-2730

jfmeilleur@qpmcorp.ca

Normand Champigny

Chief Executive Officer

Tel.: 514 979-4746

nchampigny@qpmcorp.ca

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.

Photo: Elmer East, Aerial view of Lloyd showing area - Press release of September 16, 2020.

SOURCE: Quebec Precious Metals Corporation

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/606256/Quebec-Precious-Metals-Discovers-a-New-Gold-and-Base-Metals-System-from-Surface-Sampling-at-Elmer-East-with-Grabs-up-to-1775-gt-Au
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deputies walk outside St. Francis Medical Center hospital following the ambush shooting of two deputies in Compton, in Lynwood, Calif., on Sept. 13, 2020. (Patrick T. Fallon/Reuters)

California City Manager Who Said Officers Being Shot Was Expected Is Placed on Leave

A city manager in California who said the brazen shooting of two deputies was to be expected was placed on leave Tuesday.

Jose Ometeotl, the city manager of Lynwood, made the comments on social media following the Sept. 12 shooting of two Los Angeles County Sheriffs deputies in nearby Compton.

Lynwood City Council members voted Tuesday to place Ometeotl on paid administrative leave, pending an internal investigation, the city said in a statement.

A special closed session agenda document from the council posted before the meeting said members would be evaluating the city managers performance and decide whether to discipline him, dismiss the questions about his conduct, or fire him.

Ometeotl has not responded to requests for comment.

Ometeotl posted a photograph of Malcolm X the day after the shooting with writing that stated Chickens come home to roost.

Lynwood city manager Jose Ometeotl in an undated photograph. (City of Lynwood)

The fact that someone randomly opened fire on deputies is to be expected in the society we live in today, he wrote in the post, which he later deleted.

The city issued a statement following the city managers social media post.

There have been comments made today (Sunday) by our city manager on his personal social media that are his personal opinions and dont reflect the position of the Lynwood City Council, the statement read.

A petition calling for Ometeotls resignation has garnered over 1,300 signatures.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has demanded that Russia provide explanations about a statement made by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko that President Volodymyr Zelensky's words about the readiness of all parties to hold the Normandy Four summit were not true.

According to a comment posted on the ministry's website, while on an official visit to Austria, Zelensky spoke not about the specific date for holding the next Normandy Four summit, but about the fundamental readiness of its participants to meet.

In this context, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry stressed that Ukraine, like other participants in the Normandy format, is interested in the next Normandy Four summit confirming the implementation of the Paris summit agreements and being as productive as possible in terms of achieving future progress in the peaceful settlement of the international armed conflict in Donbas.

"If Andrei Rudenko's statement is a clear signal that the Kremlin is not fundamentally interested in the N4 summit, this calls into question the determinedness of the Russian Federation to settle the conflict. It is obvious that today's insufficiently diplomatic and somewhat emotional comment by the Russian deputy foreign minister requires additional explanations of the position of the Russian side both to participants in the Normandy format and to the international community," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.

Earlier, Rudenko told RIA Novosti that Russian Presidential Executive Office deputy head Dmitry Kozak clearly stated at a meeting of advisers and political advisers in Berlin on September 11 that there were currently no grounds for holding a new Normandy Four summit.

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In beach, street or travel scenes, mostly in and around Turkey, Ozcan Agaoglu captures the unmistakable rhythm of jostling elbows. Hes not always shooting a party, necessarily  for every extended family eating watermelon in the country or busy cafe that appears in his feed, theres a solitary swimmer, too, or a man riding the train with a pocketful of mint. But whatever the driving action of a photograph is, Mr. Agaoglu is comfortable leaving it off center, so that you feel as if youre peering across a crowded room to see whats happening on the other side. If theres a woman entering an apartment building with a handful of balloons, you must be headed for the very same party, right behind her; if the scene is a rainy outdoor cafe in Istanbul, youre drinking coffee just across the street. Those rhythmically jostling elbows, in other words, are your own.

Follow Will Heinrich on Instagram @willvheinrich.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 16:06:44|Editor: huaxia

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A teacher illustrates the structure of teeth and gum to children while teaching them how to brush their teeth correctly at a kindergarten in Changxing County of Huzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, Sept. 16, 2020. China's health authority has required sound efforts in promoting the awareness of dental health among the public as part of the campaign for the country's dental care day, which falls on Sept. 20. (Xinhua/Xu Yu)
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 16:11:31|Editor: huaxia

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TOKYO, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks ended essentially flat Wednesday as investors awaited the outcomes of central banks' policy setting meetings in the United States and Japan, while eyeing the new Cabinet picks under Japan's newly elected prime minister.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average edged up 20.64 points, or 0.09 percent, from Tuesday to close the day at 23,475.53.

The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, added 3.51 points, or 0.21 percent, to finish at 1,644.35.

Information and communication, and food issues comprise notable gainers, while marine transportation and rubber product issues comprised those that declined the most by the close of play. Enditem
The pandemic has made it impossible for the city to pursue ranked ballots in 2022, again killing electoral reforms for the next election.

Thats not the only challenge on the horizon for voting as the virus persists and case counts again rise in Toronto, a new report headed to Mayor John Torys executive committee next week says.

Here are five things you need to know:

1) What are ranked ballots?

Currently, when you vote in a municipal or election for any other level of government, you are given a ballot where you can only choose one candidate for your area.

A ranked ballot would allow you to make a number of choices, ranked in order of your preference for who gets elected. So, if there are Candidates A, B, C, D and E you might decide youd like to see Candidate E elected most, but if not them, Candidate C and if not them, Candidate B.

Unlike the current first past the post system, ranked choice voting requires the successful candidate to get more than 50 per cent of the votes. If a candidate doesnt get a majority of votes after tallying the first choice of all voters, then the candidate with the least votes is knocked out and the second choice of the voters for the eliminated candidate are then tallied. That process continues until a candidate has a majority of the votes.

2) Have ranked ballots been debated in Toronto before?

If youre thinking, Didnt council already agree to this? or Didnt council already shoot this idea down? youre not wrong.

Council first voted in 2013 to ask the province to make legislative changes to allow ranked ballot voting in the city. But in 2015, once the option was allowed, council reversed course and voted against using it.

Then late last year, Coun. Shelley Carroll asked council to direct the city clerk to prepare for a possible change to ranked ballots for 2022. That didnt commit council to going in that direction, but laid the groundwork as the city looks at purchasing new voting machines.

3) Why is the city clerk saying to stop prepping for ranked ballots?

In a report released Wednesday, the city clerks staff explained that there are several steps the city must legally take before council can pass a bylaw authorizing ranked ballots, including public consultation. The city hired a consultant to do broad public education and outreach that was meant to start in April and continue through September, however it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The deadline to pass a bylaw for ranked ballots is May 1, 2021.

With the pandemic having remained a significant public health concern for months, the pre-conditions necessary to authorize ranked ballot elections can no longer be achieved in a way that ensures meaningful public education and consultation within the tight timelines necessary for its implementation in 2022, the report says.

Its also not clear if the city can obtain new voting equipment that can process ranked ballots in time for the 2022 election. The current equipment is not compatible with ranked ballots.

4) Will voting be any different in 2022?

Its possible it could still look very different in two ways.

The clerks office is asking council to authorize them to look at alternative voting methods if the pandemic continues and there are issues with in-person voting as is being discussed in the U.S. The report says online voting remains insecure and wont be an option, whereas mail-in ballots may be explored.

The second possible change is what ward residents would be voting in.

The city is still fighting the province over its unilateral change to the size of council in 2018. While council had voted to move to a 47-ward model, the changes enacted by Premier Doug Fords government shrunk the number of wards to 25.

The resulting legal challenge has now gone to the Supreme Court of Canada, which has yet to hear the case. The clerks report says a decision may not be made until mid- to late 2021.

5) Does this mean ranked ballots are permanently dead?

No. Its up to council if it wants to pursue ranked ballots for the subsequent election in 2026. The city clerk said council can direct her to begin fulfilling the necessary pre-conditions immediately following the 2022 election, but isnt making a recommendation on whether or not they should do that, so a member of council will have to make a motion to vote on that.

Jennifer Pagliaro is a Toronto-based reporter covering city hall and municipal politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @jpags
The southern province of Binh Duong is famous not only for its modern industrial parks, historical sites and ancient temples, but also for its local fine food.

Every time we visit there, we seek out dishes that help us explore many things of interest about the locale.

Bo cuon mo chai (grilled ground beef with pork caul fat casing) is a favourite among adults and children dining at Hang Dua  Nam Phuoc. VNS Photos Minh Phi

At Hang Dua  Nam Phuoc, well-known as one of the top ten grills in Binh Duong, diners, especially from the south, can feel they have returned home when they step into this simple downtown restaurant that offers delicious traditional BBQ.

Other grills on the national road going toward Binh Duongs provincial capital city Thu Dau Mot, some 30km from HCM City, are also good, but Hang Dua  Nam Phuoc is outstanding. The restaurant is easily visible from afar as the smoke and a savoury smell from its kitchen pervade the air, particularly during meal times on any day of the week.

Ca loc cuon banh trang (deep-fried snakehead rolled in rice paper, salad greens and herbs) is among the signature dishes at Hang Dua  Nam Phuoc.

Many diners say the restaurant offers the best flavour of the local cuisine and that anyone visiting the area should try its amazing delicacies.

I ate the food at Hang Dua  Nam Phuoc just once and it was fantastic, one diner said.

For more than three decades, the grill has been the choice among connoisseurs for its finely marinated food and grilled dishes, and its friendly family-like services at unbeatable prices. Its large parking space and central location are also a plus.

The restaurant offers 18 Vietnamese delights featuring fish, eel, frog and beef prepared in different ways, with a focus on charcoal grilling.

Tropical herbs and salad greens with sliced pineapple, tomato and cucumber go well with BBQ items, especially deep-fried snakehead and grilled beef, at Hang Dua - Nam Phuoc Restaurant.

Ca loc cuon banh trang (deep-fried snakehead fish with ground peanuts and spring onion sauce, rolled in greens, herbs and rice paper, and dipped in fermented tiny fish paste) and bo nuong la lot (charcoal grilled ground beef rolled in betel leaf, and served with tamarind sauce and herbs) are the two standout dishes for which the restaurant is known.

The two delicacies are the most popular among people in the south, especially snakehead dish, which can be served on occasions such as family parties and Tet (Lunar New Year).

I was born in the southeast, so I had tried these dishes when I was very young. However, I was curious when I visited the restaurant and asked them to bring out a deep-fried snakehead (VND220,000/whole fish of 1.2kg).

Instead of an order of beef rolled in betel leaf, my children begged me for ground beef in pork caul fat casing, a favourite among children at the restaurant, as recommended by a waiter.

On the list were other beef signature dishes, including bo xao sa ot (stir-fried beef with lemongrass and fresh chilli), bo nuong sa ot (grilled beef with chopped lemongrass and chilli), bo xao hanh tay (stir-fried beef with onion) and bo nhung dam (sliced beef dipped in a vinegar hotpot), at the flat price of VND120,000 for two or three.

At Hang Dua  Nam Phuoc, diners can grill their own food on a mini charcoal stove on the table or let the cooking staff do it for them. My twins wanted to grill the beef themselves.

We want to experience how to cook our food, so please mom," my daughter insisted.

Though the restaurant was busy, our ordered snakehead was brought out to our table very quickly. We were impressed when the fish was placed in front of us. It looked stunning with a large colourful plate of beautifully arranged herbs, greens, and sliced cucumber, pineapple and tomato.

Fried to a golden brown and covered with spring onion sauce and ground peanuts, the fish had an irresistible fragrance that made my mouth water, and I could not wait any longer to start our BBQ party". Still warm, the fish was fresh and crispy, and its texture was soft and tasty, all creating a uniquely savoury flavour.

Rolled in rice paper, aromatic herbs and salad greens, the fish was well married with the unique home-made fish paste. Though the fish paste had a strong and special smell, I'm sure that once you taste it you will like it. Tantalising my taste buds, the fish was the highlight of our dinner.

After the fish, we sampled the beef, always my twins favourite. They were very patient, grilling the beef rolls over the charcoal, and seemed to be very happy with the job. When they were done, they enjoyed them one by one.

They ate the beef but rejected the herbs and sauce, though I was sure that the homemade tamarind sauce would have made the beef more delicious.

The beef rolls were full of flavour. "The mixture of beef and fat looks sumptuous. The roll is tender and melts in my mouth, my son said.

A lover of wrap and roll dishes, I wrapped the beef with rice paper and slices of pineapple and cucumber, tomato, herbs and salad greens, and enjoyed them with the tamarind fish sauce with fresh red chilli. It was more than great.

The delicacy, which my family loved, is a good choice for groups of diners with both adults and children.

Though we were nearly full, we could not leave without trying a hotpot. For the last order, we tried a hotpot of frog and pickled bamboo shoots with fresh rice vermicelli at VND120,000. It was a treat for those who love sour soups.

It was the first time I had tried a bamboo shoot hotpot at a restaurant. It had a lovely fragrance of pickled bamboo shoots. Its sweet-sour broth helped balance our big meal.

My daughter, who dislikes sour smells, tried a small bowl, saying it was "not bad, while my son was crazy for the dish.

We were stuffed after the hotpot, so we had to wait until another visit to try the eel grilled with lemongrass and onion at VND150,000 and frog grilled with green pepper at VND120,000.

Our flavourful feast at Hang Dua  Nam Phuoc was indeed a memorable one. I think we will return soon to discover more special dishes from the rich southern land. VNS

My Duyen
Bob Woodward dismissed claims separate audio recordings would show Jared Kushner misquoted as saying former Trump administration members were "overconfident idiots".

"I report accurately," Mr Woodward said in a Washington Post interview on Tuesday.

In an appearance on the Today Show earlier on Tuesday, Mr Kushner made a veiled threat to release the audiotapes made as part of the research for Rage, Mr Woodward's inside look at the Trump White House.

Mr Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, is quoted extensively in the book, saying that the most dangerous people around the president are "overconfident idiots".

Mr Woodward wrote that Mr Kushner was referring to former secretary of defence General Jim Mattis, former secretary of state Rex Tillerson, and former National Economic Council director Gary Cohn.

But on Tuesday, Mr Kushner said he was "mischaracterised" by the veteran journalist and he had the recordings to prove it.

"That wasn't clear and again, he's got tapes of everything, I have tapes of everything so that was never implied in that regard," Mr Kushner said.

He added: "He actually mischaracterises who I was referring to, obviously the people that we had, some people from the campaign who were in there who were obviously trying to tell the president with confidence without the real facts."

While Mr Woodward said he recorded all his conversations with permission, the White House did not extend him the same courtesy of advance notice that the interviews were captured on tape.

He said there were far more important quotes from Mr Kushner in the final edition of the book, including the question of whether Trump executed a "hostile takeover" of the Republican party.

Im quite interested in, when Jared says he has tapes, I have tapes. I taped him with his permission. I suspect that he was taping me. He did not extend the courtesy to me that he was taping the conversation, Mr Woodward said.

Thats fine. I report accurately what he said in the book.
With 23,365 more infections reported in the last 24 hours, Maharashtras Covid-19 tally has soared past 1.12 million while the toll has gone up to 30,883, according to figures released by the state health ministry on Wednesday.

Of the 1,121,221 confirmed cases in the state, 2,97,125 are active while 792,832 people have recovered from the viral disease.

Follow latest updates on coronavirus here

With 474 deaths reported in a day, the states Covid-19 fatality rate stands at 2.75% whereas the recovery rate has gone up to 70.71% with 17, 559 people discharged from hospital/home isolation today, the health department said.

Earlier in the day, the Union health ministry said that Maharashtra contributes to about one-fourth of the countrys total new recoveries while at the same time the state also leads the tally of active cases, accounting for nearly 30% of Indias total active cases.

The state has so far conducted Covid-19 tests on 5,506,276 people and of them, 11,21,221 have tested positive which is 20.36%, the state government said.

Click here for full Covid-19 coverage

It added that currently 17,53,347 people are under home isolation and 36,462 are in institutional quarantine.

Meanwhile, the state has also undertaken the My Family My Responsibility campaign that kicked off on Tuesday. Under the campaign, health workers will conduct door-to-door surveys to check residents body temperature and oxygen levels, besides other symptoms of the coronavirus disease, including tiredness, throat pain, dry cough, diarrhoea, and the loss of smell and taste, officials said.

Each team comprising a health worker and two volunteers will survey each and every family of the state twice in over a month.

In Mumbai, there are 175,974 confirmed cases while the toll is at 8,280 with 2,378 new cases and 50 fatalities, reported in the last 24 hours.
Over a span of 100 days in April 1994, nearly 1 million Rwandans were slaughtered in one of the worst genocides of the 20th century. As the countrys majority Hutu targeted the minority Tutsi and moderate Hutus, Paul Rusesabagina, the acting manager of a luxury hotel, hid and sheltered more than 1,000 potential victims.

In 2004, his heroism became known to the world through the Academy Award-winning film Hotel Rwanda and actor Don Cheadles portrayal of him.

Now, he may need the world to raise its voice so his life will be saved.

On Aug. 31, the Rwandan Investigation Bureau announced that the 66-year-old Rusesabagina, who has had a home in San Antonio since 2009 and had traveled to Dubai, had been arrested and returned to Rwanda. Hes been charged with terrorism, arson and murder, and being the founder and leader of violent, armed, extremist terror outfits such as the Rwanda Movement for Democratic Change and the Party for Democracy in Rwanda.

The Rwandan government has offered no evidence of these charges, which have been denied by Rusesabaginas family and associates. The serious nature of the charges, the manner in which Rusesabagina was taken into custody and Rwandan President Paul Kagames antipathy for him are reasons to fear for his safety.

Rusesabagina last spoke to his wife on Aug. 27 from Dubai and wasnt heard from again until Aug. 31, when the Rwandan government released a video of him, handcuffed and listening to the charges against him. He has been hospitalized three times while in detainment, and there are myriad questions about the quality of legal representation he is receiving in Rwanda.

In 1996, fearing for his safety and the lives of his family, Rusesabagina moved to Belgium; he is now a Belgian citizen. He has emerged as the most prominent critic of the Rwandan government under Kagame, who has been president for 20 years.

Human Rights Watch has accused Kagames government of torture, enforced disappearances, unfair trials and other violations of international law. An enforced disappearance  or kidnapping  is what appears to have happened to Rusesabagina.

Initially, Rwandan officials claimed his arrest came through international cooperation and that Rusesabagina voluntarily agreed to return to Rwanda. Theyve since said they arrested him on their own. Kagame, himself, suggested they deceived Rusesabagina.

It was actually flawless, he said on statewide TV. Its like if you fed somebody with a false story that fits well in his narrative of what he wants to be and he follows it and then finds himself in a place like that.

That answer is as ominous as it is cryptic.

On Monday, Rusesabinga appeared in court to hear the government list its charges against him. He could face life in prison, but his family says he has been assigned lawyers chosen by the Rwandan government and has not had access to the advice of independent attorneys.

If Kagame and his government possess credible evidence of Rusesabaginas alleged crimes, why didnt they pursue legal channels of extradition, and why wont they allow him to choose his own attorneys to defend him against their charges?

Since Rusesabaginas kidnapping and forced return to Rwanda two weeks ago, hes rarely been seen in public. What we dont know is how hes being treated away from the cameras. A government widely accused of torturing its critics cannot be believed. The uncertainty of Rusesabaginas health and well-being, and the certainty of the cruelty of Kagame, should accelerate and escalate the international communitys demands for transparency and a fair trial.

When Rusesabagina was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush in 2005, the citation said the hotelier had demonstrated remarkable courage and compassion in the face of genocidal terror.

That was a genocidal terror in which the world stood by, doing little to intervene. It cannot stand by, now, when the man most identified with the saving of lives during that terror may now be fighting for his life  alone.
China urges US to stop restrictions on Xinjiang cotton exports

Global Times

Source: Global Times Published: 2020/9/15 17:15:39

China's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday excoriated the new US restrictions on imports of cotton and apparel produced in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, painting US allegations of forced labor as fabrication and political manipulation and calling on Washington to stop using Xinjiang affairs to undermine China-US business cooperation.

"We urge the US to respect facts, drop prejudice, stop political manipulation and using Xinjiang affairs to undermine normal economic and trade cooperation between China and the US. China will continue to take all necessary measures to protect Chinese companies' legal rights and interests," Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for the ministry, told a regular press briefing on Tuesday.

Citing allegations of forced labor at Xinjiang firms, the US Customs and Border Protection issued five Withhold Release Orders (WROs) to seize cotton and apparel imported from Xinjiang and it threatened to issue more.

Wang said that the US moves violate global trade rules and disrupt global industry chains. "It is naked acts of bullying. China firmly opposes this," the spokesperson said, adding that the so-called "forced labor" accusation is "completely fabricated by certain US and Western organizations and individuals and are not facts."

Some Xinjiang firms also disputed the claims as untrue and that the restrictions will not threaten their businesses.

"People come to our company through legal, normal interview process, and we hire by selecting the best of them," the owner of Xinjiang Junggar Cotton and Linen Co., Ltd surnamed Li told the Global Times on Tuesday.

The company currently has around 100 employees, Li said, all of whom are from local Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, or Bingtuan, the local administrative unit. Li said the size of his company has remained stable over the years, and all of the staff are employed with legal official contract, with payment ranging from 3,000 ($442.3) to 8,000 yuan per month.

The company's products are crudely processed cotton, and are only sold to Chinese textile factories instead of being exported, Li said, adding that he was not aware how any of the company's products can end up being intercepted and detained at the US customs.

Li also told the Global Times that he has not been notified on the US sanction by any authority from the US or China, but does not perceive any threat such sanction poses to his company's business, since it does not directly export to the US.

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They were pregnant at the same time together seven years ago, and are now reminiscing on the joys  and terrors  of motherhood.

As a guest on the new Drew Barrymore Show, actress Reese Witherspoon allowed that she was 'terrified' of becoming a mother at a young age back in 1999.

Witherspoon, 44, chatted with Barrymore, 45, on the program's second day, as host Drew praised the Walk The Line actress about her ability to handle both a burgeoning film career and two young children at home.

On motherhood: As a guest on the new Drew Barrymore Show, actress Reese Witherspoon allowed that she was 'terrified' of becoming a mother at a young age back in 1999

'How did you balance work and motherhood at that point?' Drew, who is mom to daughters Olive, seven, and Frankie, six, with ex-husband Will Kopelman, asked. 'Because I was just trying to balance work!'

Witherspoon, who shares daughter Ava, 21, and son Deacon, 16, with ex Ryan Phillippe, told Drew: 'I got pregnant when I was 22 years old. And I didn't know how to balance work and motherhood. You just do it, you know?'

At the time, Reese was somewhat of an indie darling, having cut her teeth on successful fare such as Election in 1999 along with Cruel Intentions in the same year.

Reese told Drew: 'I got pregnant when I was 22 years old. And I didn't know how to balance work and motherhood. You just do it, you know?'

Of that time, Witherspoon recalled: 'I'd made movies but I hadn't, you know, established myself as someone who could demand that it shoot close to my kids' school or, you know, I didn't have any real power, leverage within my industry.

'I was just like every other mom trying to figure it outand dad out there, and partner, and grandparent who's raising a child,' she continued.

It wasn't until 2001's Legally Blonde when she hit it big, followed of course by her Best Actress Oscar win for 2005's Walk The Line opposite Joaquin Phoenix.

Witherspoon recalled: 'I'd made movies but I hadn't, you know, established myself as someone who could demand that it shoot close to my kids' school or, you know, I didn't have any real power, leverage within my industry'; seen with baby Ava and ex-husband Ryan Phillippe, 2000

Since then, Reese has gone on to demand 'real power [and] leverage' within her industry, with successful projects like Wild, Big Little Lies, The Morning Show and Little Fires Everywhere.

The actress also had a third child in 2012, Tennessee James, with her talent agent husband Jim Toth.

During their chat, Drew fondly remembered welcoming Reese to her wedding in 2012, when they were both pregnant  Drew with her first child Olive.

'We were bumping bellies, the only two sober chicks there,' Drew happily remembered.

Since then: Reese has gone on to demand 'real power [and] leverage' within her industry, with many successful projects, plus two gorgeous full-grown children; seen with Ava on Instagram

During their chat: Drew fondly remembered welcoming Reese to her wedding in 2012, when they were both pregnant  Drew with her first child Olive

And of the sacrifices of being a mom, Witherspoon only had amazing things to say.

'You take the food out of your mouth, the clothes off your back, the sleep out of your life,' she told her friend Barrymore.

'But every bit of itevery bit of that sacrifice is truly worth it because you feel like, that's what makes me wake up on a Sunday. It's not movies or my job, it's my kids.'
Michael Caputo. AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Michael Caputo announced Wednesday that he will take 60 days of medical leave.

The announcement comes after Caputo went on a 26-minute Facebook rant peddling conspiracy theories, warning of an armed insurrection by left-wing groups after the election, and saying his "mental health has definitely failed."

He also predicted that Trump will win the election, Joe Biden will not concede, and when Trump "refuses to stand down at the inauguration, the shooting will begin."

Caputo's remarks were in many ways a more extreme version of comments the president himself has made about COVID-19 and the election.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Michael Caputo, the spokesperson for the US Department of Health and Human Services, announced Wednesday that he will take 60 days of medical leave soon.

Politico first reported the potential leave of absence after learning from sources that Caputo placed an "emergency call" to employees on Tuesday.

The announcement comes after Caputo went on a long Facebook rant in which he peddled conspiracy theories and warned that his "mental health has definitely failed."

He also indicated in the Facebook live video that he's been suffering from emotional distress while being away from his wife and working in Washington, DC.

In his 26-minute Facebook post, first reported by The New York Times, Caputo described seeing "shadows on the ceiling in my apartment, there alone, shadows are so long." He went on to say that the US's mounting COVID-19 death toll has affected him, telling viewers, "You are not waking up every morning and talking about dead Americans."

Caputo also baselessly accused scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of plotting "how they're going to attack Donald Trump next. These are scientists who work for this government who do not want America to get well, not until after Joe Biden is president."

Story continues

Trump will win the November general election, but Biden, the Democratic nominee, will refuse to concede, Caputo said, adding that when Trump "refuses to stand down at the inauguration, the shooting will begin."

"There are hit squads being trained all over this country" to spark an armed revolution against a second Trump term, Caputo said, according to The Times. "You understand that they're going to have to kill me, and unfortunately, I think that's where this is going."

Caputo recently came under fire for trying to meddle with the CDC's bulletins, but Politico reported that he told staff in Tuesday's call that he has never actually read any of the bulletins, called the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports.

In many ways, Caputo's conspiracy-filled Facebook rant echoed comments the president has made in the months leading up to the election. He repeatedly claimed the coronavirus pandemic is being overblown by the "fake news" media and Democratic lawmakers.

Trump has also implied that there's no legitimate way for him to lose the November election and that the only way he'll lose is if it's "rigged" against him. At a rally over the weekend that featured a tightly packed group of mostly maskless supporters, Trump said he might try to "negotiate" a third term in office because he's "probably entitled" to it.

In the wake of protests over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Trump also amplified racist conspiracy theories about an "invasion" of US suburbs by violent groups of "thugs" led by the far-left group antifa.

In one August tweet, Trump claimed the "suburban housewife" will vote for him because "they want safety & are thrilled that I ended the long running program where low income housing would invade their neighborhood."

This article has been updated.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Gres Aragon, a specialist in manufacturing extruded tiles (klinker) and high-performance porcelain tiles based in Spain, has launched a new corporate website for its brand Faveker.

Thought and created for a professional public (architects, surveyors, building engineers and

designers), it has different sections that delve into different aspects that take place in the

construction of a ventilated facade: from the ceramic pieces to the different anchors through

technical and design advice, to provide a comprehensive assistance service to the professional who visits the web.

It is a dynamic, professional, intuitive and practical website that will allow users to know all the aspects related to Gres Aragon and its ceramic ventilated facades brand Faveker, said a company spokesman.

Another novelty on the website is the 3D simulator with which the user is given the possibility of seeing a building covered with the different ceramic materials on offer, thus being able to change the appearance of the building with a single click and helping to visualize the final result of your work or project, he stated.

Other functionality that the Faveker website presents is the possibility of requesting an online quote so that the professional receives, in a short space of time, an estimate of the cost of his project according to the materials chosen or suggested by our technical team of engineers and building professionals, explained the spokesman.

The website also makes available to the user a gallery of completed projects, downloads of

catalogs and technical documentation, a BIM library and a blog that will delve into specific topics of building, sustainability and the ceramic sector, he added.-TradeArabia News Service
HOUSTON, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- PM Workforce, the Multifamily Industry's first and only leasing management firm, has begun its' expansion this month into the following major five Florida cities: Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Tampa and Orlando. PM Workforce has plans to create over 100 new jobs in Florida by the end of 2021.

With 8,000 new apartments now under construction in Orlando alone, PM Workforce will start there to provide its' outsource professional leasing services to include: conventional, tax credit, lease-up, acquisition, disposition, senior living, student housing, all with bi-lingual leasing professionals available. From Orlando, PM Workforce will next expand into Tampa, and soon thereafter, into Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach.

PM Workforce's newly launched booking & payment mobile app will help facilitate its' growth in Florida and allow its' clients to immediately hire short or long term leasing professionals at the touch of their fingertips, 24/7/365.

"PM Workforce Clients have experienced great success with our outsourced leasing services in Texas, including the cities of Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Ft. Worth and Austin. We have consistently increased properties' revenues, decreased expenses, brought new value to the properties and provided greater control, stability and efficiency with our on-demand leasing labor," states CEO Peter Roisman.

PM Workforce's talent acquisition team has already started its' recruiting efforts to identify talented individuals looking to start a new career in the leasing profession. The PMW Training Program is extremely selective and its' trainees and paid to "Learn and Earn."

About PM Workforce

PM Workforce (PMW) is the first and only stand-alone Leasing Management Company serving the Multifamily industry. PMW hires, trains, tests, certifies and outsources its' team of Leasing Professionals to maximize leasing revenues, cut costs and reduce stress on property management operations.

Contact: Mary Emenogu, 832-699-2378, [email protected]

SOURCE PM Workforce

Related Links

pmworkforce.com


iOS 14 update is full of major usability-improving features such as App Library, Widget Support on the home screen, redesigned Siri, Picture-in-Picture mode, and a bunch of small tweaks. Among them, Apple has also introduced a native Translate app on the iPhone. Apple is banking on tight integration with other services and better privacy thanks to on-device translation with its Translate app to give it an edge over Google Translate. Lets learn how to use Apples Translate app on your iPhone in iOS 14 efficiently.

Prior to iOS 14, users had only two options  Google Translate and Microsoft Translate to choose from. At launch, the Translate app supports only 11 language pairs including English, Spanish, Russian, German French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Brazilian Portuguese, and Arabic. The language support may sound slim at first glance but the app is full of useful functions such as offline mode, conversation mode, dictionary add-on, history, and more. Now that youve got a fair amount of idea about what this translation app for iOS has to offer, its time to explore more about it in depth.

How to Translate Text Using Apples Translate App on iPhone

Step 1: Open the Translate app on your iPhone.

Step 2: At the upper left corner, glance over your native language and then select the language you want to translate.

Step 3: Enter the text that you want to translate and tap Go on the keyboard.

Step 4: You will see the translation in real-time below your native language.

Step 5: You can also tap on the microphone icon at the bottom and speak in your native language. The app will translate the phrase and speak out the sentence in the translated language.

This can be useful when you are traveling and want to ask for directions or queries to the local public.

Use Conversation Mode in Apple Translate App on iPhone

Conversation mode is hands down my favorite feature of the Apple Translate app. As the name suggests, it makes the conversation with non-native speakers seamless.

To enable the Conversation mode, simply open the Translate app, make sure that Portrait Orientation Lock is off and rotate your device in the landscape mode. When the Conversation mode is on, you can communicate with a person with ease thanks to the real-time translation.

The Conversation mode is smart enough to detect the spoken language and translate it into the other language.

How to Quickly Translate Text Using Siri on iPhone

Starting with iOS 14, Siri has received a much-needed makeover. Apple has made the Siri interface compact so that it no longer takes up the entire screen of your iPhone when triggered. The improvements arent limited to interface though. With iOS 14, Siri has also picked up some handy new features, one of which is the ability to translate sentences on the go. Follow the steps below to translate phrases using Siri.

Step 1: Trigger Siri by saying Hey Siri or pressing the power button.

Step 2: You can ask Siri like, Translate how are you in Spanish. And it will showcase the results at the top using the Translate app.

If you ask Siri to translate any unknown language then it will show the error saying I cant translate into the said language yet. You can also use Apple Watch running watchOS 7 to translate languages using Siri. Speaking of watchOS 7, do check out our dedicated post on 50+ watchOS 7 features for Apple Watch.

How to Translate Webpages in Safari on iPhone

With iOS 14, the ability to translate a webpages language to your native language is now a default part of Safari. As such, you no longer need a third-party app like Microsoft Translate to translate webpages. Heres how to use built-in language translation in Safari in iOS 14.

Step 1: When you open a website with a non-native language, tap the action button on the left side of the address bar. The button looks like two As next to each other.

Step 2: Tap Translate to your device language.

Step 3: Tap Enable Translation if prompted.

Your page will then be translated into the primary language that youve set on your device. If you want to revert back to the pages original language, Tap the translate button in the Safari address bar and select View Original.

As of now, the Safari translation feature is region-locked to the US and Canada only.

Apart from basic translation and Conversation mode, the Apple Translate app is full of useful add-ons such as dictionary integration, favorite, history, sharing, and more.

Listen to the Translated Text

Once the app has translated the language, you can hear the translation by tapping on the tiny play button on the right side and it will play the phrase in the translated language. You can use it as many times as you want.

Get a Meaning of a Specific Word in the Translated Text

I appreciate the dictionary add-on in the Apple Translate app. If you are curious about a specific word or wish to know more about it, then simply tap on a word in the translated text to explore its detailed meaning. After you have checked out the word, tap on the x mark, and remove the menu. Its a neat way to learn interesting words in new languages.

Favorite Most-used Translations

This one is a thoughtful addition. You dont need to translate your most-used sentences every time. Thanks to Favorites, you can access all your translated text whenever you need them. Follow the steps below to favorite, access, and unfavorite the relevant translated sentences in the Translate app.

Step 1: Open the Translate app and use a keyboard or microphone to translate words or sentences.

Step 2: Tap on the Star icon in the translate area and it will favorite the translated sentence for the later use. You can favorite as many phrases as you want in the app.

Step 3: To access your favorite translated words, tap on the Favorite menu at the bottom, and see the list of favorite translated phrases.

Step 4: To remove them from the Favorite menu, simply swipe left and select Unfavorite.

Share Translation With Friends

Apple offers a swift way to share the translation with friends and family. Go through the steps below to share translated text.

Step 1: From the translated menu, simply tap and hold the translated text and you will see a pop-up menu on the top.

Step 2: Next, use the text selector to select all text.

Step 3: Next up, tap on the Share and it will open the default share menu to send the text.

Check Recent Translations and Delete Translation History

Apple offers a quick way to access and delete translation history. Open Favorites menu and you will see recently translated history. Simply swipe left and tap Delete to remove it from the history.

Use On-device Mode for Offline Translations

This is Apples trump card against the rivals. Apple allows you to use on-device mode to make the translation process on the device and not on the servers. You need to download languages for offline translation. The practice helps you in a critical situation where you are cut off from the internet connection. Follow the steps below to enable on-device mode for offline translation.

Step 1: Open the Settings app on the iPhone.

Step 2: Navigate to Translate > On-device mode and enable the option.

Step 3: It will ask you to open the app and download languages for on-device translation.

Step 4: Tap on the language name and scroll down to the Available Offline Languages menu.

Step 5: Tap on the language download button that you intend to use for offline translation.

Thats it. From now on, you can use the On-Device mode in the Apple Translate app for offline translation.

The new Translate app is just one of the many features Apple announced at the online-only WWDC event. Dont forget to check out the 100+ new iOS 14 features for iPhone that we have discovered so far. Have you installed the iOS 14 beta on your iPhone yet? Hows your experience so far? Sound off in the comments section below.

Learn how to use the cool new iOS 14 features with our step-by-step guide:
A memo from the Senate Republican campaign committee suggests the GOP is worried its majority in the chamber could succumb to a blue wave this November as Democrats look to expand their electoral reach into typically red states such as Montana, South Carolina, and Georgia.

Less than 50 days before the 3 November elections, the internal GOP memo, obtained and first reported by the Guardian , shows how campaign operatives see the races shaping up in 10 key states that will determine whether Democrats reclaim the Senate majority for the first time in two election cycles.

"The next few weeks will define the future of our country for generations to come," the memo from the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) reads.

Democrats must net a four-seat pickup or a three-seat pickup plus the presidency to take back the majority, which determines who controls what bills come to the floor for a vote and largely informs whether the presidents judicial nominations get confirmed.

The NRSC acknowledges in the September memo that its a defensive map for the party this cycle, with vulnerable incumbents in the battleground states of Arizona, Colorado, Maine, and North Carolina.

Inside Elections with Nathan L Gonzales slightly favours the Democratic challengers in Arizona (Mark Kelly) and Colorado (John Hickenlooper), but rates the Maine and North Carolina races as tossups.

The GOP memo breaks down the four firewall states of Iowa, Montana, Kansas, and Georgia  where both Senate seats, held by Republicans, are up for grabs.

Three of Iowas four congressional seats went blue in the 2018 midterms, although its governor and both its senators are Republicans, including the incumbent up for re-election this cycle, Joni Ernst.

In Montana, term-limited Democratic Governor Steve Bullock has never lost a statewide race, despite Donald Trump winning there by 21 percentage points in 2016.

Kansas Senator Pat Roberts is retiring at the end of his term this cycle, leaving that seat up for grabs in a state that has trended back towards Democrats recently. But the seat is still likely to stay in the Republican column this November. Inside Elections rates the Senate race there as Leans Republican.

Despite the strong likelihood Republican challenger Tommy Tuberville defeats Senator Doug Jones in deep-red Alabama, Republicans know theyre at even odds or worse to keep the Senate gavel.

Make no mistake: the Senate Majority is at risk, the NRSC memo states.

Beyond the four battleground states of Colorado, North Carolina, Arizona and Maine, Democrats are going on offense in historically red states like Montana, Iowa and Georgia, it reads. They're even eyeing states like South Carolina, where [Democrat] Jaime Harrison just reported raising a staggering $10.6m in August alone.

The GOP, however, does not seem worried about the Senate races in Kentucky and Texas, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his former top deputy, Senator John Cornyn, are running their respective re-election campaigns.

Mr McConnell has represented the Bluegrass State in the Senate since the mid-1980s.
Urmila Matondkar is the latest celebrity to have slammed Kangana Ranaut for her comments criticising Mumbai. The Rangeela star has countered Kanganas remarks on Mumbai and the alleged drug menace in Bollywood, by asking her to look at her home state first.

Urmila said that if Kangana wants to start a war against drug abuse, she should begin with her home state, Himachal Pradesh. The entire country is facing the menace of drugs. Does she (Kangana) know Himachal is the origin of drugs? She should start from her own state," Urmila told Mumbai Tak.

She also said that if Kangana knew about the drug menace in Bollywood, she should have informed the police. She asked, Why did this person who has been given Y-security from the taxpayers money didnt give information about the drug nexus to the police?"

RELATED NEWS Kannada Actor Ragini Dwivedi Arrested for Drug Nexus by Bengaluru Police

The 46-year-old actress said she wouldnt tolerate Kanganas defamatory comments on Mumbai. Urmila said, Theres no of doubt that Mumbai belongs to everyone. Whoever has loved the city and has given back to the city, it belongs to them As a daughter of the city, I will never tolerate any defamatory remark against it. When you make such comments you are not only insulting the city, but people of the state at large," she said.

Kangana had compared Mumbai to Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir inher comments with relation to , which had triggered a spat between her and Maharashtras ruling party Shiv Sena.

Urmila, who contested the 2019 elections from Mumbai North constituency on a Congress ticket, also said that just because one person shouts all the time, doesnt mean the person is speaking the truth. She also criticised Kangana for cribbing all the time and playing the victim card and the woman card.
How Lashkar operatives planned on burning down the Secunderabad-Darbhanga Express

Why NIA arrested former Congress MLAs daughter-in-law in an Islamic State case

Two more convicted by NIA Special Court in Burdwan blast case

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Sep 16: A Special Court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has convicted two more accused in connection with the Burdwan blast case. The duo is Musstafizzur Rehman and iKadar Kazi.

Earlier this month the Special Court had convicted four Jamat-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh terrorists in connection with the same case.

On October 2, 2014, a power bomb blast took place in the first floor a rented house at the Khagragarh locality of Burdwan District of West Bengal. The IED had accidentally gone off at the time of its fabrication by the members of banned terrorist organisation viz; Jamat-ul-Mujaheedin of Bangladesh (JMB).

4 JMB terrorists sentenced to 7 years in Burdwan blast case

The rented house was occupied by the members of JMB, for nefarious activity of bomb making. 2 terrorists had succumbed to their injuries caused due to bomb blast while 1 was injured.

The NIA probe revealed that the members of the JMB were part of a conspiracy to radicalise, recruit youth and provide them training in the use of arms and explosives.

India describes Pakistan as an epicentre of terrorism | Oneindia News

They had also conspired to commit acts of terror and wage a war against both India and Bangladesh. The agency also recovered a large number of IEDs, explosives, hand grenades and training videos during the raids. The NIA charged 33 accused in this case.

The trial against the remaining accused is ongoing.
With the festive season starting from Thursday and just around a month left for the Durga Puja, the Mamata Banerjee administration has started its preparations on how to organise the festival and the puja during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The state government has asked the police commissioners and superintendents of police of the districts to gather information about the pujas that are held in their respective areas. The local police stations would be asked to collect information about the pujas that would be held this year.

Even though such information is collected every year for crowd management, this year information would be gathered on how they plan to sanitise the pandals and maintain social distancing among visitors. Special stress would be given on crowd management this year, said a senior government official.

Also read: Union minister Nitin Gadkari tests positive for Covid-19, attended Day 1 of Parliament monsoon session

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had said that the government would urge puja organisers to keep the pandals as much airy and open as possible to maintain free flow of air. This would stop the virus from spreading. The suggestion had come from the global advisory body set up by the government with Nobel laureate Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee.

The state government would hold a meeting with prominent puja organisers on September 25 to finalise the crowd management plans and other aspects of the festival this year. The festive season starts from Thursday with the Viswakarma Puja and Mahalaya.

We have already come up with an informal list of dos and donts for the members to follow. That needs to be finalized. We would soon hold a meeting with the government. The puja would be held this year but the festivities and the grandeur would be scaled down, said Saswata Bau, general secretary of the Forum for Durgotsab.

Out of the 4500-odd community pujas held in Kolkata alone, the forum has more than 370 of the most prominent and biggest pujas under its banner, including the ones that are patronised by some senior ministers in Mamata Banerjees cabinet. More than one lakh pujas are held across the state. This is the biggest festival in West Bengal.

The forum had come up with a set of guidelines in July. The list of Dos and Donts includes reducing the size of pandals and idols so that they could be sanitized, restricting the number of pandal hoppers to 25 at a time, less decorative lighting to discourage crowding at night and allowing food stalls in pandal premises sans any seating arrangements, among others measures.

The 17-point code prepared by the forum also calls for offering only whole fruits to the goddess, less of interior decoration and airy pandals which can be seen from outside, thermal guns and sanitizers to be provided at pandals. No visitors would be allowed without wearing a face mask, said Partha Ghosh, a member of the forums executive committee.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee was apparently keen on organizing the festival this year despite the pandemic. Durga Puja is coming. We have to organize it. For that we have to stay fit from now, she had said in July while addressing local clubs.
Introduced as a new upscale opportunity to owners in the Americas earlier this year, voco Hotels has already generated strong interest in the region, including potential projects in key cities, leisure destinations and college markets. This warm reception builds on the brand's success in IHG's Europe, Middle East, Asia and Africa (EMEAA) region, where the brand has quickly grown with 12 hotels currently open. The brand's current development pipeline of 28 new properties will take it into 19 countries over the next five years, and voco Hotels remains on track to continue to grow in attractive urban and leisure locations across the world.

Julienne Smith, SVP, Development, Americas, IHG, said: "voco Hotels is one of our highest-potential, most flexible brands for owners, with diverse projects and markets ranging from the 470-room voco Dubai to the newly announced 50-room Franklin Hotel in Manhattan. As the voco brand makes its debut in the Americas, it is generating terrific momentum with our initial three signings illustrating how strongly it resonates with owners seeking to enhance the originality of an existing property or develop a new hotel, while also tapping into IHG's powerful global network and enterprise offerings."

The first three voco Hotels projects in the Americas are in distinct destinations:

voco The Franklin Hotel ( New York City ): Located in a prime location on the Upper East Side of Manhattan , the hotel has served travelers from around the world for a century and is within walking distance of many well-known attractions including Central Park, the famed Museum Mile, and Madison Avenue shops. The hotel is owned by Andrew and Stephen "Chip" Weiss Jr. of Flintlock Construction and will be managed by Aimbridge Hospitality.

voco St. Augustine ( Florida ) : A part of the charming community surrounding what is commonly known as the Nation's Oldest City, this hotel is just three years old and sits between the beaches of St. Augustine and the Historic District, which is the heart of the city featuring restaurants, shopping, galleries, museums and tourist attractions. The hotel is owned by Axis Income Fund, LLC.

voco The Tiger Hotel ( Columbia, Missouri ) : One of the tallest and most recognizable buildings in Columbia , this landmark hotel is in the heart of downtown and is adjacent to the University of Missouri (Mizzou) campus, with access to numerous area restaurants, bars, retail shops, and amenities. Since first opening its doors in 1928, The Tiger Hotel has constantly innovated and evolved alongside the traveling public and the surrounding vibrant neighborhood. The hotel is owned by Glyn Laverick of Columbia Hotel Investments, Inc.

Glyn Laverick, Owner, voco The Tiger Hotel, said: "Offering a unique guest experience in a prime location, our property is known as the place where upscale modern meets historic architecture for uniquely relaxing sojourns, meetings and weddings. We've made significant investments in The Tiger Hotel in recent years, resulting in consistently high reviews from guests, and we believe partnering with IHG and the voco brand is a great opportunity to further elevate the guest experience and amplify the hotel's reputation to travellers from around the world."

A Reliably Different experience

At the center of the voco brand is a commitment to being Reliably Different. Guests at voco Hotels can expect a consistent experience from a leading upscale brand, delivered in an unstuffy way that is true to the soul of each individual property. Hallmarks of a voco Hotels stay include a warm and memorable welcome experience, guest room touches that make the most of "me time," and a lively bar/lounge atmosphere.

Throughout its hallmarks and properties, the voco brand integrates a strong commitment to sustainability through elements such as indulgent bedding made from recycled materials; high-efficiency, aerated shower heads; bulk bath amenities; and filtered water provided in environmentally friendly, non-plastic bottles.

For owners, the voco brand offers:

A more flexible approach to brand standards and a customizable, property-specific commercial strategy and support model that makes voco Hotels well suited for conversion, adaptive reuse and new build projects.





to brand standards and a customizable, property-specific commercial strategy and support model that makes voco Hotels well suited for conversion, adaptive reuse and new build projects. A succinct, easy-to-implement set of signature quality standards offering efficiency and lower capital outlay compared to other brands.





offering efficiency and lower capital outlay compared to other brands. Upweighted, property-specific field marketing and commercial support for hotels during their initial ramp up phase.

IHG understands that cleanliness is top of mind for today's traveler. The company's longstanding commitment to rigorous cleaning procedures includes the IHG Way of Clean program developed with Ecolab and Diversey, both world leaders in hygiene and cleaning technologies. The program, launched in 2015, features deep cleaning with hospital-grade disinfectants as well as new COVID-19 protocols and best practices, developed with experts from the Cleveland Clinic. Additionally, as a part of the IHG family of brands, voco Hotels properties offer guests additional peace of mind with the IHG Clean Promise. 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.

To learn more about the voco brand, and opportunities for hotel development, click here. IHG also plans to host virtual symposia for owners in the Americas interested in the voco brand in the coming months. To receive more information about joining one of these events, please email [email protected].

About IHG

IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) [LON:IHG,NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is a global organisation with a broad portfolio of hotel brands, including Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas, Regent Hotels & Resorts, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, Hotel Indigo, EVEN Hotels, HUALUXE Hotels and Resorts, Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, voco, Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts , Holiday Inn Express, Holiday Inn Club Vacations, avid hotels, Staybridge Suites, Atwell Suites, and Candlewood Suites.

IHG franchises, leases, manages or owns more than 5,900 hotels and approximately 883,000 guest rooms in more than 100 countries, with over 1,900 hotels in its development pipeline. IHG also manages IHG Rewards Club, our global loyalty programme, which has more than 100 million enrolled members.

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group's holding company and is incorporated in Great Britain and registered in England and Wales. Approximately 400,000 people work across IHG's hotels and corporate offices globally.

Visit www.ihg.com for hotel information and reservations and www.ihgrewardsclub.com for more on IHG Rewards Club. For our latest news, visit: https://www.ihgplc.com/en/news-and-media and follow us on social media at: https://twitter.com/ihgcorporate, www.facebook.com/ihgcorporate and www.linkedin.com/company/intercontinental-hotels-group.

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Staff Sgt. Ronald J. Ouellette, a U.S. Air Force reservist assigned to Westover Air Reserve Base, has died from non-combat injuries sustained in an all-terrain vehicle accident in Kuwait.

The 23-year-old Ouellette, who was assigned to the 42nd Aerial Port Squadron, died on Monday, according to Col. Craig C. Peters, commander of the 439th Airlift Wing at Westover ARB in Chicopee.

Ronald was a valued member of the Patriot Wing and there are no words that can heal the pain his loss brings, Peters said in a statement. We consider every Airman, civilian and dependent part of the team that makes all we do in the defense of our nation possible. The loss of our own, or any service member, is never easy. During this difficult time, our priority is to do all we can to lift and support his family, friends, fellow Airmen in his squadron and loved ones who are struggling.

The cause of the accident is under investigation.

The accident occurred on the flight line at Ali Al Salem Air Base, Kuwait, according to Air Force officials. Ouellette was in Kuwait in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, which targets the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

Losing a member of our armed forces is always tragic, said U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, on Wednesday. I thank Staff Sgt. Ronald J. Ouellette for his dedication to our country and for his service at Westover Air Reserve Base. My prayers are with his family and friends.

Oulette, who entered the Air Force Reserve less than six years ago, was an Air Transportation Specialist for the 42nd Aerial Port Squadron.

His military awards and decorations include the Air Force Achievement Medal, NCO Professional Military Education Ribbon, Armed Forces Reserve Medal, Air Force Reserve Meritorious Service Medal, Small Arms Expert (Rifle) ribbon, Air Force Longevity Service Award, the National Defense Service Medal, the Air Force Training Ribbon, and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.

Ouellette, who lived in Merrimack, New Hampshire, was single with no children.
In recent months, New Delhi has brought vast quantities of ammunition, equipment, fuel and food into Ladakh region.

Indias military has activated its entire logistics network to transport supplies to thousands of troops ahead of a harsh winter along a bitterly disputed Himalayan border with China, as New Delhi blamed Beijing for the worst border standoff in decades.

In recent months, one of Indias biggest military logistics exercises in years has brought vast quantities of ammunition, equipment, fuel, winter supplies and food into Ladakh, a region bordering Tibet that India administers, officials said.

The move was triggered by a border dispute with China that began in May and escalated in June into hand-to-hand combat. Twenty Indian soldiers were killed while China suffered an undisclosed number of casualties.

On Tuesday, Indias Defence Minister Rajnath Singh accused China of violating past border agreements and expanding its troop deployments along the disputed mountainous frontier in the Ladakh region, which was carved out of Indian-administered Kashmir last August.

Singh told parliament that India has informed China through diplomatic channels that its attempts to unilaterally alter the status quo were in violation of the bilateral agreements.

He also said India has made counter-deployments along the rugged frontier and its troops have foiled transgression attempts by China.

High-altitude border

Both countries are negotiating to resolve the confrontation, but neither side has backed down. The Indian military is now set to keep troops deployed along the treacherous, high-altitude border through the winter.

Eastern Ladakh, where the flare-up occurred, is typically manned by 20,000-30,000 soldiers. But the deployment has more than doubled with the tensions, a military official said, declining to provide exact numbers.

At least 20 Indian soldiers were killed on June 15 in the Galwan Valley in hand-to-hand combat [File: Maxar Technologies via Reuters]

We have mirrored the increase in Chinese troops, the official said, adding the Indian military was well-prepared but did not want further escalation or a prolonged conflict.

Temperatures in Ladakh can fall well below freezing, and troops are often deployed at altitudes of more than 15,000 feet where oxygen is scarce, officials said.

Since snow blocks mountain passes into Ladakh at least four months every winter, Indian military planners have already moved more than 150,000 tonnes of materials into the region.

All the supplies that we need have already been pushed to wherever they are required, said Major General Arvind Kapoor, chief of staff of the Indian armys 14 Corps.

On Tuesday morning, a succession of the Indian air forces large transport aircraft landed at a forward base in Ladakh, carrying men and materials, as fighter jets roared overhead.

Soldiers with backpacks streamed out and were checked for COVID-19 symptoms at a transit facility, where they awaited further transport.

The materials are stored across a network of logistics hubs.

At a fuel, oil and lubricant depot near Leh, Ladakhs main city, a hillside was covered with clusters of green drums.

At storage facilities at a nearby supply depot, boxes and sacks of rations  including pistachios, instant noodles and Indian curries  stood in tall piles. At another base near Leh, tents, heaters, winter clothing and high-altitude equipment lay stacked.

From these depots, the materials are pushed to logistics nodes by trucks, helicopters and, in some particularly difficult parts, mules, officials said.

In a place like Ladakh, operations logistics is of huge importance, said Kapoor. In the last 20 years, we have mastered it.

Stepped-up border infrastructure projects

Speaking in parliament, Singh also said that New Delhi has doubled the budget for vital roads and bridges along the undemarcated border with China in recent years in response to Beijings rapid infrastructure development on its side.

The defence minister told parliament that China had been building up its infrastructure in the remote mountains for decades and the government was trying to close the gap.

Our government, too, has stepped up the budget for border infrastructure development to about double the previous levels. As a result, more roads and bridges have been completed in the border areas, he said. He provided no figure.

Indias recent construction of roads and airfields near the border in the Ladakh region have provoked the tensions, the Chinese side has said.

Military officials say the infrastructure development on both sides of the border has also helped troops mobilise quickly in large numbers and in close proximity at some points in the Ladakh area.

Singh said Indian and Chinese troops have had face-offs on the unsettled border in the past, but the scale of deployment of troops and the number of disputed areas was much larger than in the past.

As of now, the Chinese side has mobilised a large number of troops and armaments along the LAC as well as in the depth areas, he said, listing Gogra, Kongka La and the north and south banks of the Pangong lake as friction points.
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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.

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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



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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.

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Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC on Wednesday he worries that continued criticism of U.S. health agencies will only further diminish the American public's trust in a potential coronavirus vaccine.

"This entire crisis has been plagued by statements that I think are imprecise. People who are in public health positions, people who are in political leadership positions, I think need to be very careful about how they communicate about these things because they're very complex and they can't be summed up, frankly, in a soundbite," Gottlieb said on "Squawk Box." "So when you put out a soundbite that could potentially erode confidence, it does erode confidence."

Gottlieb's comments came in response to a question about recent remarks from billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates, who said he believes the FDA has lost credibility during the pandemic. CNBC reached out to the Microsoft co-founder's foundation, which has made donations to advance vaccine development, for comment.

Gottlieb, who ran the FDA in the Trump administration from May 2017 to April 2019, said on CNBC there have been problematic statements across the political spectrum. "I think there's better ways to air those concerns in a more constructive fashion," said Gottlieb, a board member at Pfizer, which is developing a potential vaccine.

To be sure, Gottlieb said there have been "some missteps by agencies and by political officials, and I think that then breeds further confusion." For example, he blasted the actions recently reported by Politico, which said communications officials within the Department of Health and Human Services pushed to review or change the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports on the coronavirus.

"That's wholly inappropriate," Gottlieb said, while explaining that the CDC reports are traditionally "held in very high regard, and people did not get to weigh in on those. They were treated as sort of an independent scientific process."

Gottlieb said that when he was at the FDA and there were CDC reports pertaining to his agency, he would see them only as they were going out to the broader public. "Those should not be interfered with, and when you see things like that happening, that's the kind of stuff that erodes confidence," he said.

"It's frankly absurd to let that happen, to let these things happen on the margins that aren't important," he added. "What you end up doing is eroding confidence for the really important things like a vaccine approval decision. Sometimes, people can't distinguish where the government is and isn't going to be interfering because they're not there."

Gottlieb said he trusts that the decision-making process at the FDA will not be influenced by political considerations.

"It's going to undergo multiple independent layers of review, and if it's interfered with, we're going to know it," Gottlieb said on "Squawk Box." "I don't think that the people who run this process, and who are engaged in it at the FDA, and the people who are external to the FDA, are going to allow this to get interfered with without letting all of us know it."

Concern is growing across the scientific community and the American public that President Donald Trump's administration may exert political pressure to influence regulatory decisions over a vaccine to prevent Covid-19. Trump has often said a vaccine could be ready before the Nov. 3 presidential election, stoking worries about political calculations outweighing safety and effectiveness.

However, the current head of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Stephen Hahn, said last week he has "no intention" of overruling career scientists at the agency. Hahn added, "I have complete and absolute confidence in the scientists at the FDA and the decision-making that they have here."

Gottlieb predicted that career officials charged with approving the vaccine may quit their jobs if they were to feel the process is being influenced by politics.

"I think you'll see resignations and you'll see something very public. I know the folks who are going to be engaged in this, and they have a lot of integrity and they jealously guard that process," he said.

"If the process is preserved, and they feel they haven't been leaned on and they've had their ability to make independent decisions here and their prerogatives have been maintained, you're going to know that, too," he added. "I'm pretty confident that we're going to have transparency into how this decision gets made."

Disclosure: Scott Gottlieb is a CNBC contributor and is a member of the boards of Pfizer, genetic testing start-up Tempus and biotech company Illumina. He also serves as co-chair of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings' and Royal Caribbean's "Healthy Sail Panel."
Fifteen-year-olds Colin Kishundial and Saif Khan have called Torontos Jane and Finch area home for the entirety of their young lives.

Its a neighbourhood that has notoriously struggled with higher rates of gun violence, higher tenant eviction rates and more recently, higher numbers of COVID-19 cases than the rest of the city.

But despite a challenging backdrop compounded by the physical and social perils of a global pandemic, youth like Kishundial and Khan say they are determined to succeed in school and life afterward. They have ambitions of finishing their education, becoming entrepreneurs and giving back to the community that raised them without fear of violence or discrimination.

It is why Black Creek Community Health Centre began its education support program for youth three years ago, which Kishundial and Khan have been attending since January after struggling academically and emotionally at their local public Toronto schools.

And it is why the centre launched an adjacent mental health program last year with the help of a recent federal grant, focused on bettering the emotional and psychological health of Black and racialized youth in the Jane-Finch area.

The program, titled Jane and Finch Wellness Advocates for Youth, launched in December and consists of bi-weekly group meetings with youth in the area, many of whom already are part of Black Creeks education support program. During those meetings, the youth steer the conversation about their mental health forward while mentors help them find the words to explain their feelings.

Kishundial said his time at Black Creek has helped him reflect on his own mental health and wellness  something he says he likely wouldnt have done had he not been asked to do so.

I would never think about things like that, Kishundial said. They never talked to me about things like that at my school. They would just expect everybody to come in, do their work and go home.

Wayne Black, a social worker and one of the mental health program facilitators at Black Creek, said discussions at these meetings focus on the challenges youth in Jane and Finch are confronted with on a daily basis. He added many of the youth deal with varying levels of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and the program is meant to help them openly discuss and address this in a safe space.

You have discussions about gang involvement, street activities, substance abuse  and racism on different levels, Black said.

Though the program has operated since December 2019, funding for Black Creeks mental health program is part of the $19-million Mental Health of Black Canadians fund announced by the federal government last week. Of the total, Black Creek will be receiving around $400,000 over a two-year period to administer this program.

A research component is part of the program as well, said Cheryl Prescod, the executive director of Black Creek. York University researchers are studying the youths engagement with the project to inform the design of more targeted mental health programs to address concerns unique to youth in Jane and Finch.

While COVID-19 has derailed the integration of more youth into the mental health program, around 20 people continue to meet in person on a staggered basis at Black Creeks Yorkgate mall location at the corner of Jane and Finch, where youth have been able to talk about the pandemics effect on them and their families.

But more pressing than the pandemic, administrators say, is a high rate of gun violence in the area over the summer that has heightened levels of PTSD and fear among youth.

One mid-July shooting, which wounded three people at a plaza frequented by members of the community, has forced Black Creek to stop running its weekly food program in the area because people refused to show up out of fear and paranoia. The plaza has been targeted by gun violence at least twice this summer.

These youth are traumatized, said Gregory Leslie, another social worker who works with area youth. Theyre feeling that fear, that high anxiety, that hypervigilance.

An increased focus on police brutality and anti-Black racism this summer after the death of George Floyd, a Black man in Minneapolis who died at the hands of police, has also affected the mental health of youth in Jane and Finch, Black said, forcing them to relive incidents of racism and violence that theyve experienced, particularly in school.

Weve seen a public display of the private hell these kids live in, said Black, who grew up in Jane and Finch.

Black and Leslie said despite these complex challenges, theyre encouraged that youth have continued to show up to sessions regularly, for the educational program and the newer mental health program.

Kishundial said hes thankful the program has helped him address his own paranoia about the neighbourhood he lives in. Programs like these reassure us that people still care about the community, he said.

For Leslie, the program has given him and other mentors the opportunity to return to the neighbourhood they grew up in and become role models for youth who may be afraid or unsure of what the future holds.

We dont sugarcoat what happens and what continues to happen, we just try to have a conversation about, what are you going to do differently?  Leslie said.

Both Black and Leslie added theyve seen improvements in youth through Black Creeks educational program in real time, and believe the mental health program will have similar positive outcomes.

But while both believe the program is a good step toward addressing the unique mental health challenges faced by Black and racialized youth in the community, the federal funding it received is only limited to two years, posing challenges for the programs continuation and Black Creeks ability to develop future mental health programs informed by the adjacent research York is doing.

You can see the potential of this, its going to be beautiful later on, Black said. But if the funding vanishes, he added, the program would crash.

I do think it sets us up for failure, Leslie said. While youth do benefit from this, the fact that programming like this is not sustainable has far more negative impacts.

If Black Creek was able to get more rounds of funding, executive director Prescod said it would help the centre establish long-term programs to ensure youth are treated and supported for mental health concerns by members of their own community, and those who understand anti-Black racism and the impact it has had on the youth.

Those programs would also be integrated in areas these youth and their families frequent and seek support from the most, like a local church or a mosque.

Theyre looking for folks who look like them, and understand and appreciate their experiences rather than ignore that lived trauma of what racism has done to a population, Prescod said.

Nadine Yousif is a Toronto-based reporter for the Star covering mental health. Her reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative. Follow her on Twitter: @nadineyousif_
Ten Uttarakhand police and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams on Wednesday restarted a search operation along the treacherous mountainous routes leading to Kedarnath to trace the remains of hundreds of people, who remain missing since flash floods and landslides ravaged the region 3,553 m above sea level in June 2013. Kedarnath is the site of a revered Hindu temple in Uttarakhands Rudraprayag district.

Rudraprayag police superintendent Navneet Singh Bhullar said each team comprises two police and SDRF personnel each as well as local guides and medical experts. Seven teams will undertake the search operation for four days while the three teams for six days.

The fresh search effort comes a month after the Uttarakhand government constituted a high-level multi-institutional expert committee to suggest appropriate technology or methodology for searching the remains of 3,075 missing people.

Remains of 699 people have been recovered since tens of thousands of Hindu devotees, who visit the region annually for the pilgrimage to Kedarnath, Gangotri, Badrinath, and Yamunotri, were trapped as record rains triggered landslides and floods. Villages were buried and gushing waters washed away roads and homes. The devastation, which was dubbed as the Himalayan tsunami, led to one of the largest rescue operations involving the Indian Air force. Over 100,000 people were airlifted from the devastated areas.

As many as 545 remains were recovered in 2013, 63 in 2014, three in 2015, 60 in 2016, seven in 2017, and 21 in 2018.

The state government in May 2017 constituted five special investigation teams to trace and cremate the bodies of the missing people months after the Uttarakhand high court directed it to do so in November 2016.

In June, the high court directed the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology to suggest scientific ways that can be adopted to trace the remains of 3,075 people without harming the Himalayan environment.

The search operation has been launched even as rains have been lashing parts of the state.

Bhullar said the operation had to be restarted before the weather in high attitude Kedarnath area makes it difficult to conduct it.

Bhullar said the teams have been provided with body bags, trekking gear, sleeping bags, and other tools to help them trace the remains during their treks along the routes.

He added the medical experts will collect samples for DNA testing and keep a record of the remains found. The remains will be brought back in the body bags so that their last rites could be held as per the Hindu tradition.

Delhi-based activist Ajay Gautam, who moved the Uttarakhand high court in 2014 seeking directions to the authorities to expedite the search for the missing, said he is happy that the search operation has been restarted. This will help so many families to find closure and perform last rites of their loved ones who died in the tragedy.

The Uttarakhand government provided the first official estimate--5,748--of the missing persons in July 2013, making their families eligible for financial relief.

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Two education civil rights bills that represent some of the top K-12 priorities for Democrats are poised to be approved by the House this week.

On Tuesday, the House passed the Strength in Diversity Act . The bill, introduced by Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, would essentially revive Obama administration grants that would support local efforts to increase diversity in schools, revise school attendance boundaries, and create public school choice zones, among other initiatives. The Trump administration nixed these Obama grants.

A Senate version of the bill drew support from former 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls like Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and Sen. Kamala Harris of California, who is now the Democrats vice presidential nominee.

Segregated schools are inherently unequal, Fudge said on the House floor when discussing her bill. Sixty-six years since the landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education, the promise of equal access to education has yet to be realized. The House passed the measure by a vote of 248-167.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday the chamber passed the Equity and Inclusion Enforcement Act from Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., the chairman of the House education committee. That legislation would allow private parties to file legal complaints under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 against policies they say disproportionately hurt students of color regardless of their explicit intent, a doctrine often referred to as disparate impact.

It would also create monitors to ensure that schools enforce the law and to investigate claims of discrimination, and establish a new assistant secretary position at the U.S. Department of Education to handle enforcement and evaluation of related issues.

Democrats promoted both bills in part by saying that they represented the first time in roughly three decades that the House held a vote on legislation with new funding for school integration . Both pieces of legislation were introduced last year. Although the bills will likely pass the House, which is controlled by Democrats, they are virtually certain to stall in the Republican-controlled Senate. And the White House said Monday that President Donald Trumps advisers would recommend that he veto the Equity and Inclusion Enforcement Act if passed by Congress.

Youve Got a Problem

During a Monday interview, Scott said his Equity and Inclusion Enforcement Act would help famillies and others fight against policies that have clear discriminatory impact at the local level, regardless of the intent of school boards and other officials. The bill would overturn the U.S. Supreme Courts 2001 ruling in Alexander v. Sandoval that private parties do not have a right to bring claims of disparate impact under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.

Asked about the prospect of Republican Senators declining to take up the bill, he responded, Let them explain why a local civil rights group can look at segregated schools in their jurisdiction, and point to policies and practices that contribute to the segregation, [but] shouldnt have a right to a day in court to prove that these policies are adding to the segregation of the public schools.

In its veto threat, the Trump administration said the bill would bring back the divisive agenda of the Obama administration and help people like trial lawyers, but not students. Granting a private cause of action for enforcement of such regulations would inevitably lead to a massive expansion of litigation involving recipients of Federal financial assistance, diverting resources toward litigation and away from education, the veto threat said.

The Trump administration also said the bill would open up schools to legal liability based on cleverly aggregated and manipulated statistics, rather than facts that establish actual wrongdoing.

As for the Strength in Diversity Act, Scott said it would not only support local initiatives, but would provide them protection against legal challenges like the kind brought against diversity initiatives in the Louisville, Ky., and Seattle districts.

I dont know that there are any magical ways of doing it, Scott said, when we asked him about any particular approaches or initiatives in this area that he considered promising. When the schools are as segregated now as they were in the 1960s, then you know that youve got a problem. (Scott pointed to a federal report from 2016 indicating a growth in the share of schools that were high-poverty and enrolled mostly Black and Hispanic students .)

Groups like AASA, the School Superintendents Association, the American Federation of Teachers, and the National Coalition on School Diversity have backed the bill. This past summer, we spoke to the author of the Senate version, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., about why protests against racial injustice underscored the importance of the Strength in Diversity Act.

Republicans said Tuesday they agreed that racial segregation in schools was repugnant and should be addressed. But Rep. Rick Allen, R-Ga., the ranking member of the House education subcommittee for K-12, said on the House floor that the bill was misguided and did not truly focus on equal education for children. This partisan proposal would create another federal program while ignoring existing priorities, Allen said.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, who took some heat from Democratic primary rivals over his record on school integration efforts, has pledged to bring back Obama-era efforts to increase school diversity. I think he would be in favor of initiatives that desegregate the schoools and against initiatives that can be proven to contribute to the segregation of public schools, Scott said of Biden.

Scott also provided a decidedly pessimistic update on coronavirus relief negotiations. He said that a Senate Republican bill which includes several school choice measures and would condition most K-12 aid on schools resuming in-person instruction to some extentis not a serious proposal because it has too little money for schools and no money for state and local money, in contrast to the House Democrats HEROES Act .

I dont know how you negotiate with people who are willing to do nothing, he said.

Not surprisingly, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., took a different view of the case after Democrats blocked the Senate GOP bill last week.

Every Senate Democrat just voted against hundreds of billions of dollars of COVID-19 relief. They blocked money for schools, testing, vaccines, unemployment insurance, and the Paycheck Protection Program. Their goal is clear: No help for American families before the election.  Leader McConnell (@senatemajldr) September 10, 2020

Photos from left: Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., speaks during a news conference unveiling the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Enhancement Act on Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednesday, June 24, 2020Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP; Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, Chair, Democratic National Convention wave as she walks on stage during the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Monday, July 25, 2016J. Scott Applewhite/AP. (Diptych by Andrew Ujifusa for Education Week)

Follow us on Twitter @PoliticsK12 . And follow the Politics K-12 reporters @EvieBlad @Daarel and @AndrewUjifusa .
Two years after the Supreme Court directed installation of CCTVs in police stations across the country, a three-judge bench on Wednesday issued orders to Chief Secretaries of states and Union territories to inform the progress on affidavits before November 24.

The Registry (of Supreme Court) is directed to issue notice to the Chief Secretary of each State and Union Territory to respond on the following points: what exactly is the position with respect to CCTV cameras fitted in each and every Police Station in the State or Union Territory and what is the position qua constitution of Oversight Committees in accordance with our order dated April 3, 2018, said a bench of Justices RF Nariman, Navin Sinha and Indira Banerjee.

The Court, in its April 2018 order, had approved the Centrally Driven Plan of Action suggested by a Committee of the Ministry of Home Affairs to strengthen the rule of law. This talked about audio-video recording of statement given by accused to police under Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and videography of crime scene. Additionally, the Court directed, With a view to check human rights abuse, CCTV cameras be installed in all police stations as well as in prisons. The order further required every state to have an independent oversight committee that would study the CCTV camera footage and periodically publish reports of its observations.

Also read: China belts out Punjabi numbers for Indian soldiers at Ladakh. It is a 62 trick

Reviving the case in an incident involving alleged custodial torture in Punjab, Justice Nariman appointed senior advocate Siddharth Dave as amicus curiae and sought a report on steps needed to check such violations. The Court even requested Attorney General KK Venugopal to assist in the matter.

Speaking to HT, amicus curiae Siddharth Dave said, The affidavits filed by the Centre from time to time do not mention whether all states/UTs have installed CCTV cameras in all police stations and prisons. No details of police stations having CCTV cameras have been provided by states either. There is a Central Oversight Body under the Ministry of Home Affairs monitoring the directions of the Court passed in April 2018 but not much progress has been made.

On Wednesday, the AG could not appear but Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Madhavi Divan told the bench that details of CCTV installation in prisons and police stations are in the process of being gathered. The bench gave further time to the Centre to collect the same and added states and UTs for compilation of statistics by the amicus.

We expect the Chief Secretary of the States and Union Territories to take this matter seriously and in right earnest, since it involves the fundamental rights of the citizen under Article 21 of the Constitution of India, the Court observed in its order and posted the matter for hearing on November 24.
"Our new membership program is the first of its kind, and we're immensely proud to offer it to our Angel Island visitors and neighbors," said Brad Balukjian, president and board director of Angel Island Conservancy. "We are grateful to the local businesses who have extended their support with unique offerings and incentives that allow members to get the most out of their visits to Angel Island and downtown Tiburon."

The membership program was designed with the end-to-end Angel Island experience in mind. Before venturing to the island, members can enjoy incentives while shopping and dining at Sam's Anchor Cafe, Caffe Acri, Rustic Bakery, The Perfect Provenance and Ella Lafay. When it's time to depart, members will enjoy pre-paid tickets aboard the Angel Island Tiburon Ferry Company with their membership welcome gift in tow. Upon arrival on the island, members will enjoy a 10 percent discount on purchases of $20 or more at the Angel Island Cafe, a 10 percent discount at the Welcome Center Store, BOGO tram tour tickets and one free bike rental per month. Complete with their digital hiking guide, they'll be equipped to explore the island and take in the natural beauty that has made it a Bay Area icon and a favorite California destination for generations.

Bay Area visitors and residents are encouraged to join this all-new annual membership program by visiting https://membership.angelisland.org/; those who join by Sept. 30 will be entered to win a $100 gift certificate to Tiburon Wine. To learn more about the Angel Island Conservancy nonprofit and all the ways you can support the cause, visit angelisland.org.

About Angel Island Conservancy

Angel Island Conservancy (AIC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that works in partnership with Angel Island State Park (AISP) and California State Parks (CSP) to facilitate the preservation, restoration and interpretation of historical and natural resources on AISP. Run by an executive director and an all-volunteer board, our goal is to create an awe-inspiring visitor experience and to build a community in support of the park. AIC works with AISP to raise funds and to develop programs for this special place that has something for everyone. AIC does this with the community and for the community. Whether providing scholarships for underserved students to visit the island or helping implement a project from our Interpretation Master Plan, AIC is continually working with park staff and the community to support AISP  a must-see Bay Area destination. For more information visit angelisland.org.

Social Media

Facebook: @AngelIslandConservancy1

Instagram: @AngelIslandConservancy

Media Contact:

Brittany Haning, secretary and board director for Angel Island Conservancy

[email protected]

#608-234-7781

SOURCE Angel Island Conservancy

Related Links

https://angelisland.org/


As summer transitions to fall, millions of students began the new school year the same way they ended the last: physically separated from the teachers and staff who are crucial to their academic success.

For English-language learners and students with physical or learning disabilities, the indefinite shift to distance learning poses even more challenges.

Under federal law, these students are eligible for special education services designed to help them succeed in school. But those services are not always easily transferable to distance learning, or even in-person learning with social distancing.

Some special education students have gone months without occupational, physical, and speech therapy services and other supports. In districts that provided virtual therapy, parents were pressed into duty, forced to try to replicate the therapy that trained specialists would normally provide in school.

Many English-learners dont have dependable internet and technology at home, surveys show. Their teachers face a digital divide of their own: English-learner specialists undergo fewer hours of professional development with digital learning resources than traditional classroom teachers.

Schools must also acknowledge that some students will need both English-learner and special education support services.

After the rocky rollout in the spring, states such as California and Oregon urged schools to prioritize in-person learning for children with disabilities and those learning English when classes resume. If that return is weeks or months away, here are some steps, developed by English-learner and special education advocacy groups, and state departments of education, school districts can take now to connect with their students doing distance learning:

1. Listen to families

During the school shutdowns, parents were likely to become even more attuned to the needs of their children. As schools work to determine what students need, they should continue to gather feedback from parents.

Children whose parents are involved in supporting their learning do better in school. That support becomes even more important when the schooling is happening away from school.

Do not wait for families to ask for help. Reach out to them. Some families will simply not feel comfortable advocating for their children or pushing back against requirements that will not work for them.

For English-learner families, that often means finding a way to overcome language barriers. Roughly 75 percent of the nations roughly 5 million English-learners are native Spanish speakers. That means that more than a million are not.

Find out what those home languages are and connect families with staff or volunteers from community agencies who can help you communicate. That communication is key to student success and access. Some schools are relying on multilingual staff to connect with English-learner and immigrant families.

During the pandemic, Individualized Education Programs, or IEPs, the carefully constructed legal documents that determine what services students with disabilities are entitled to receive, became imprecise guides.

Some families reported severe learning loss and skill regression while schools were closed during spring and summer. Document the observations and concerns of parents and other caregivers. Let those observations guide revisions to their IEPsand your instruction plans, if possible.

With classes resuming, some special education administrators are fearful that a deluge of lawsuits from frustrated parents and disability rights advocates will overwhelm schools. That could well happen, but experts recommend focusing on what you can do for families, not what you cannot.

Parents will certainly expect more this fall. Make sure you can explain what your district has done to shore things up. Experts recommend being upfront and direct about what parts of an IEP or 504 plan cannot be met during distance learning. That could pave the way for an extension of what some educators called a grace periodthe implicit understanding that, with their buildings shut down to slow the spread of coronavirus, schools were doing their best to serve students under trying circumstances.

2. Make online learning accessible

Logging onto school-issued devices and district learning platforms was a nightmare for some native English-speaking families in the spring. Imagine how difficult that is for families trying to access tech support in their second or third language.

A nationally representative survey from the polling firm Latino Decisions conducted on behalf of Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors, a parent-led educational organization, found that 82 percent of Spanish-speaking parents want more technical support with learning websites and apps and 83 percent needed more help navigating distance learning platforms. The Clark County, Nev., schools hosted virtual workshops for parents to help guide them through tutorials on how to use Canvas and Infinite Campus.

But families also may not even have internet access or adequate digital devices to begin with. Another Latino Decisions survey, this one conducted on behalf of Somos, a New York City-based health delivery network, in April, revealed that close to 40 percent of Latino families did not have access to broadband and one-third of Latino families did not have enough computers for their children to use at home during the nationwide school shutdown.

The concerns do not end there, though. A 2019 report from the U.S. Department of Education found that teachers of students learning English were more likely to use general digital education resources, rather than those specifically designed for English-learners.

To overcome those issues and support English-learners during distance learning, WestEd recommends that teachers prioritize live instruction and extra office hours to model language use. In the South Bay Union, Calif., schools, where roughly half of the 7,000 students are English-learners, the district will offer virtual breakout groups for personal instruction for smaller groups of students to encourage more discussion and engagement.

The federal Education Department also devoted pre-COVID 19 research funding to deepen understanding of how students with disabilities learn online.

A 2016 report from the Center on Online Learning and Students with Disabilities determined that most online learning platforms were poorly aligned with the needs of students with disabilities, offered little support beyond rote drills and practice exercises, and often failed to accommodate the needs of students who may struggle to focus or multi-task.

With the new school year underway in many schools, students with disabilities will need more and better instruction than they have received in the pastand the challenges and solutions will be different for each student.

In the spring, disability rights and educational advocacy groups launched EducatingAllLearners.org, a resource hub designed to provide insights and tips on improving remote learning for students with disabilities.The National Center for Learning Disabilities and Understood.org, which has published guides about the types of support that students with disabilities may need as school resumes. The organizations belong to the COVID-19 Education Coalition Centering Equity, which produced an equity guide for students with disabilities, English-learners, and other students whose needs may be overlooked or misunderstood as school resumes.

Understood.org has also written extensively about the supports that students with disabilities may need as the school year gets underway.

Part of the challenge lies in ensuring that students have access to appropriate accommodations and assistive technologies, such as text-to-speech software to help students with cognitive- or speech-related disabilities communicate with their teachers or devices that help magnify screen text for students who have impaired vision.

Students with IEPs or 504 plans may need accommodations such as web captions to follow live instruction or tools that allow them to access transcripts or recordings so they can listen and re-listen to teachers as they talk through assignments and lessons.

While many districts are trying to soften the blow of budget cuts on education for students with disabilities, finding money to pay for the accommodations and assistive technologies could prove challenging. In Georgia, the state department of education used $6 million in funds from the federal coronavirus relief package to help districts cover the costs.

3. Focus on co-teaching

The ever-evolving nature of education for students with disabilities and English-learners means that teachers need to collaborate to best serve their students because students do not learn in bubbles.

More than three-fourths of students with disabilities spent most of their day in traditional classrooms with peers who are not eligible for extra supports. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act mandates that children who receive special education services should, whenever possible, be taught alongside students who are not eligible for special education services.

Students in high schoolsespecially immigrant studentswho are still learning English are often enrolled in separate programs. But programs that segregate English-learners in English-only classrooms have fallen out of favor and practice nationally as research has indicated that other instructional models are more effective.

That means that general classroom teachers must communicate with special education and English-as-a-second-language specialists to review and determine what supports students need, and how and when they receive those extra supports. Without the collaboration and extra aid, the struggles that students and teachers slogged through in the spring could re-emerge this fall.

Schools must also acknowledge that some students will need both English-learner and special education support services. English-learner and special education specialists should also communicate with each other to distinguish between English-learners who struggle with the language and those who have learning disabilities.

When students are not in class full-time, it would behoove schools to think of parents as co-educators, too. Until students return to in-person instruction, they are your eyes and ears.

Children whose parents are involved in supporting their learning do better in schools. Research has borne that out time and again. But parental involvement has taken on a new meaning amid the pandemic.

When possible, provide parents with the tools they need to succeedresources that can help them guide students through virtual therapy, modified math lessons or reading instruction for children with dyslexia.

When school resumes, schools will face a high-stakes test of their ability to serve some of the nations most vulnerable students. And, without access to technology, the proper support services, and cooperation between educators and families, the students most in need of in-person schooling face an uncertain future.
Sheriff's deputies converged on the area surrounding St. Francis Medical Center where two L.A. County sheriff's deputies are being treated for after being shot. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Two Los Angeles County sheriffs deputies were out of surgery and recovering after being shot Saturday evening in Compton in what authorities described as an ambush that was captured on surveillance video.

The video, released by the Sheriff's Department, shows a man walking up to the deputies parked patrol car, pulling out a gun and firing several times into the front seat area from the passenger side. The assailant is then seen running from the scene. On Sunday, officials asked for the publics help to locate the person who opened fire.

L.A. County sheriff's deputies converge near St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, where two deputies are being treated for gunshot wounds after an attack in Compton. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

L.A. sheriff's deputies stand guard outside St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, where two sheriff's deputies are being treated after a gunman open fire on them in Compton. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

L.A. sheriff's deputies keep watch outside St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

L.A. County sheriff's deputies patrol outside St. Francis Medical Center, where two deputies are being treated for gunshot wounds. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

L.A. County sheriff's deputies gather outside St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

L.A. County sheriff's deputies assemble outside St. Francis Medical Center. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

L.A. County sheriff's deputies mount a vehicle outside St. Francis Medical Center. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

L.A. County sheriff's deputies walk near St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

A group of L.A. County sheriff's deputies walk near St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva exits a news conference in Lynwood outside the emergency room of St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva address the media during a news conference. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Detectives arrive in Compton where two L.A. County sheriff's deputies were shot and wounded by a gunman who opened fire on their patrol car near the Compton Metro station. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Detectives comb the area where two L.A. County sheriff's deputies were shot in Compton. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

L.A. County sheriff's deputies block off streets in Compton surrounding the bus station where two deputies were shot. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
A paedophile has been jailed after impregnating a 13-year-old girl he met on a dating app before offering to adopt her.

Matthew James McIntyre, 35, met his young victim through teenage dating app MyLOL in Adelaide in January 2020.

He later claimed that he used the app to communicated with his adult partner, despite them both living in the same house.

McIntyre said he initially thought the girl was 17 but messages showed he was aware of her real age after she spoke about school and buying a new school uniform.

Their relationship came to light when a youth worker from the residential care facility found explicit text messages sent between the pair.

One of the messages showed that the father-of-two had picked up his victim from the facility on January 9 and returned her in the afternoon after they had unprotected sex.

Matthew James McIntyre met his 13-year-old victim on dating app MyLOL in January (stock image)

Text messages sent after their meeting showed the victim was trying to end her relationship with McIntyre, The Advertiser reported.

'You, on the other hand, persistently expressed a desire to meet up with her for sexual intercourse, even saying you wished to get her pregnant,' Judge Julie McIntyre said.

'At one point, somewhat oddly, you expressed a wish to adopt her and introduce her to your girlfriend and daughter.'

Judge McIntyre said the victim was vulnerable and suffering from personal issues including the terminal illness of her father.

She said McIntyre showed predatory behaviour.

'Even when your victim told you she feared she was pregnant and would have to have an abortion because she was unable to cope with a baby you suggested she ought to keep the child and continue to have unprotected sex with you,' Judge McIntyre said.

The pair's relationship was reported to police, which led to the teenager taking a pregnancy test that turned in a positive result.

The 13-year-old later aborted the pregnancy.

The pair met on teenage dating site MyLOL (pictured), which McIntyre claimed he used to communicate with his partner

McIntyre pleaded guilty to one count of communicating with a child for a prurient purpose with the intention of making a child amenable to sexual activity and one count of unlawful sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 14.

He was sentenced to three years and nine months behind bars with a non-parole period of one year and eleven months.

Despite his early guilty plea, Judge McIntyre refused to grant a 40 per cent discount to McIntyre's sentence.

McIntyre will be eligible for parole in July 2022.
Protecting depositors interests, the Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2020, to bring co-operative banks under the supervision of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman assured the House that the legislation empowers the central bank to regulate only the banking activities of co-operatives and it is not applicable to a primary agricultural credit society or a co-operative society providing finance for agricultural development.

The Bill is not to undermine the importance of co-operatives, she said. But, if a co-operative is performing banking functions, there is a need to regulate it... so that it functions professionally, she said while replying to queries raised by members.

The amendments do not affect existing powers of the state registrars of co-operative societies under state co-operative laws.

Referring to the woes of depositors of Mumbai-headquartered Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank (PMC) and Bengaluru-based Sri Guru Raghavendra Co-operative Bank due to their lack of professionalism, she said while 430 co-operative banks faced liquidation in the last two decades, not a single commercial bank, whose depositors are protected by the Banking Regulation Act, have gone for liquidation.

The legislation also enables making of a scheme of reconstruction or amalgamation of a banking entity for protecting the interest of depositors without resorting to moratorium that freeze withdrawals by depositors. The Bill replaces an ordinance that was promulgated in pursuance of the commitment to ensure safety of depositors across banks by the President on June 26.

Sitharaman said the government was compelled to come out with an ordinance during the lockdown period because conditions of cooperative banks were grave and there was uncertainty regarding the normal legislative business due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The government had tabled the bill in the Parliament in March this year, but it could not be enacted due to the outbreak of the pandemic.

During the budget session in March, we introduced this bill in order to have the amendments brought in so that depositors interest will be taken care of. But unfortunately, during the budget session, we could not have this bill passed, Sitharaman said.

Moving the bill in the House, Sitharaman said that financial health of several cooperative banks was becoming very delicate. She said that 277 urban cooperative banks were reporting loss and 105 co-operative banks were unable to meet the minimum capital requirement.

Divakar Vijayasarathy, founder and managing partner at consulting firm DVS Advisors LLP, said, Cooperative banks have been under severe criticisms with rising scams especially involving small retail depositors. State Governments and their respective regulatory Boards have not been able to keep up the monitoring mechanisms efficiently over these institutions. The Government was waiting for an opportune moment to bring them under the purview of RBI and the timing couldnt have been better.

Capital adequacy ratios of most of these banks are concerning and the present regulatory structure does not make the restructuring of these institutions practically feasible. The Bill strikes the right chord and has given a mechanism to restructure these banks and also significantly improves their regulatory oversight by a competent and efficient regulator, the RBI. This move should certainly improve the confidence in the cooperative banks and the interest of all the stakeholders would be protected in the long run, he said.

Keeping agricultural cooperatives outside the ambit of the Bill is a tactical move, he added.
In a Washington Post article last month, my colleague Marc Fisher wrote about how pro-mask advocates are fed up and showing it by posting on social media, giving their business to places that enforce mask usage and calling on officials to do more to make sure people are covering their faces in public. At least 34 states and the District have put in place mask requirements, but they often arent enforced. As Fisher wrote, a rising sense of outrage is leading this silent majority to push back against the smaller but louder anti-mask contingent.
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LANSING, MI - Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Robert Gordon defended the states handling of coronavirus precautions in nursing homes during a COVID-19 oversight committee hearing at the Capitol on Wednesday.

His presentation touting the states successes led to heated debate and criticism from some Republican members of the Joint Select Committee on the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Sep. 16 hearing.

In his four-part testimony, Gordon countered allegations of forced placement of COVID-19-positive patients in nursing homes and lauded the states strategy of establishing hubs for isolation rather than exclusive treatment facilities. He also pointed to to that state beefing up PPE stockpile.

Community spread will reflect risk in nursing homes, Gordon said, and considering how hard Michigan was hit by coronavirus in March, the response, he argued, was successful.

As we responded statewide  and as Governor Whitmer took decisive action using her emergency powers to protect the lives of Michiganders  the loss of life in Michigan abated. And so too the loss of life in nursing homes abated, he said. Outcomes in our nursing homes improved dramatically even as other states' experience worsened. In fact, our nursing homes outperformed given the challenges we faced statewide.

Michigan is ranked among the top 10 states in coronavirus deaths per 1,000 residents, but is No. 18 nationally in nursing home deaths per capita, according to Center of Disease Control and Prevention data cited by Gordon. In addition, 33.2% of COVID-19 deaths in Michigan occurred in nursing homes, versus the national average of 38.6%, according to a Center of Health and Research Transformation study cited by Gordon.

The definition of nursing homes is different from state to state, so the numbers could be skewed to make Michigan appear to be performing better, countered Committee Vice Chair Sen. Aric Nesbitt, R-Lawton.

Does the definition include assisted living facilities, memory care units, retirement homes, Nesbitt asked.

Its nursing homes, Gordon said. As regulated entities, there are 442 of them that dont include assisted living facilities.

Related: Michigans nursing home strategy during pandemic perfectly appropriate, report says

Allegations that the state forced nursing homes to accept COVID-19 patients are unfounded, Gordon said. Republican lawmakers point to Gov. Gretchen Whitmers Executive Order 2020-50, which required nursing homes to create dedicated hubs for coronavirus patients to prepare for a lack of hospital bed capacity.

Since MDHHS didnt recommend the action, that provision in the order was not operable, Gordon said. After receiving the order, he said, the department addressed concerns from nursing homes about a lack of PPE to create dedicated hubs, which stalled the implementation of the order.

Our Medicaid program sent an email to the professional associations instructing them to postpone movement of COVID-19-affected residents, except as required for medical reasons. The nursing homes correctly understood that they were not being forced to separate patients and create dedicated units, he said. And since they were not being forced to create dedicated units, they also were not being forced to accept transfers.

The guidance did lead to long-term care facilities creating isolated COVID-19 containment wings, such as a Hillsdale County facility that at one point accounted for more than half of the countys cases and deaths.

Related: 51 coronavirus cases attributed to same Hillsdale nursing facility, more than half of county total

Gordon also cited testimony from Rich Farran and Melissa Samuel of the Health Care Association of Michigan, as well as Senate Oversight Committee Chair Sen. Ed McBroom, R-Vulcan, who said no forced transfers of patients were completed.

Samuel sent a request to Gordon in March, days after the first coronavirus case in Michigan, that asked for the creation of isolated facilities specialized just for COVID-19 patients. MDHHS instead recommended the hub strategy that would set up isolated wings for COVID-19 patients in clinics, nursing homes and long-term care facilities to deal with capacity issues.

Nesbitt pushed Gordon on why that request was ignored. Gordon responded that given time constraints, there was not enough time to staff coronavirus-specific buildings and provide enough PPE.

Committee Chair Rep. Matt Hall, R-Marshall, blasted Gordon for ignoring Samuels request before criticizing him for not cooperating with email and data requests made by the oversight committee.

We have asked for many months that you and your department turn over emails and communications related to nursing homes, Hall said, so Im interested in when are you going to turn them over? Or do we have to issue a subpoena?

Weve provided many, many emails to you, Gordon said.

Thats not true. Thats completely false, Hall said.

Rep. Vanessa Guerra, D-Bridgeport Township, accused Hall of badgering Gordon, and Sen. Curtis Hertel, D-Lansing, said the committees focus has been on partisan finger-pointing.

Related: One-sided nature of Michigans COVID-19 oversight committee could compromise findings, critics warn

The data requests have nothing to do with the states response to COVID-19, Gordon argued.

They have to do with our timing to the response to this committees many, many requests, he said. We have been extremely busy on protecting people and saving lives... You will forgive me if in our focus on actually protecting the well-being of people, we are not able to meet your requests with the haste you would like."

Gordon and his department was too busy to take expert recommendations from the Health Care Association of Michigan and the Michigan Nursing Homes COVID-19 Preparedness Task Force, Hall responded. Task Force Chair Dr. Betty Chus on Sep. 9 recommended Whitmers administration continue to explore COVID-19-specific facilities, but warned that there might not be enough time to build the facilities and implement safety protocols.

Related: Mistakes made in good faith: GOP legislators question future nursing home recommendations

The data points to Michigans ability to save lives, Gordon said.

My own focus is did we do enough to save lives, he told Hall. I have provided considerable evidence that our performance is solid. I have not actually heard any evidence from members of this committee that challenges or undercuts what I have shared.

Since the start of the pandemic, Michigan has confirmed 115,183 confirmed coronavirus cases and 6,612 deaths. There also are another 11,675 probable cases and 320 probable deaths.

Through Aug. 19, 271 of Michigans 442 nursing homes (61%) had at least one COVID-19 resident case, and 209 (47%) had at least one COVID-19 resident death. Nursing homes reported 8,456 resident cases, 4,226 staff cases, 2,100 resident deaths, and 21 staff deaths.

COVID-19 PREVENTION TIPS

In addition to washing hands regularly and not touching your face, officials recommend practicing social distancing, assuming anyone may be carrying the virus.

Health officials say you should be staying at least 6 feet away from others and working from home, if possible.

Use disinfecting wipes or disinfecting spray cleaners on frequently-touched surfaces in your home (door handles, faucets, countertops) and carry hand sanitizer with you when you go into places like stores.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has also issued executive orders requiring people to wear face coverings over their mouth and nose while in public indoor and crowded outdoor spaces. See an explanation of what that means here.

Additional information is available at Michigan.gov/Coronavirus and CDC.gov/Coronavirus.

For more data on COVID-19 in Michigan, click here.
Ahead of special summit on crisis, Cypriot leader raises alarm as EU chief warns Ankara against intimidating neighbours.

Cyprus has accused Turkey of extending illegal drilling in disputed Mediterranean waters but said it is ready to engage in dialogue with Ankara to resolve differences over exploration rights.

On Tuesday, Turkey extended the operations of its Yavuz energy drill ship in the disputed area off Cyprus until October 12, in a move that could stir tension between the islands Greek Cypriot government and Ankara.

Yesterday, unfortunately a Turkish NAVTEX to expand illegal drilling by the Yavuz vessel was extended when at the same time, a series of initiatives are ongoing that seek an end to Ankaras unlawful actions and de-escalation, President Nicos Anastasiades said on Wednesday, after a meeting with European Council President Charles Michel in Nicosia.

Yavuz will be accompanied by three other Turkish ships, according to a Turkish maritime notice that added all vessels are strongly advised not to enter the area, Turkish broadcaster TRT reported.

Anastasiadess comments come a week ahead of a special summit of European Union leaders on September 24-25 to discuss how to resolve the crisis between Cyprus and Turkey.

Anastasiades said Turkey was continuing its provocations in the Eastern Mediterranean, adding Cyprus would enter dialogue  but not under threats.

Meanwhile, the European Commissions president on Wednesday warned Turkey against trying to intimidate Greece and Cyprus.

In her annual State of the EU speech, Ursula von der Leyen said Ankara was a key partner doing important work hosting refugees but stressed none of this is justification for attempts to intimidate its neighbours.

Turkey, Greece and Cyprus have been locked in a dispute over energy resources and maritime borders in the region, with Ankara infuriating the EU countries by sending research ships with naval escorts to work in contested waters.

There have been fears of conflict erupting and Cyprus is pressing the rest of the EU to impose fresh sanctions on Ankara over the drilling, a move Turkey has decried as lacking legal basis.

Turkey is and will always be an important neighbour, but while we are close together on the map, the distance between us appears to be growing, Von der Leyen told the European Parliament.

Yes, Turkey is in a troubled neighbourhood. And yes, it is hosting millions of refugees, for which we support them with considerable funding. But none of this is justification for attempts to intimidate its neighbours.

Greece and Cyprus can count on Europes full solidarity on protecting their legitimate sovereignty rights, she added.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has called for European solidarity on the issue and a renewed migrant crisis.

Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkeys foreign minister, said his country has been proposing to restart exploratory talks with Greece.

Exploratory talks actually cover all disputed issues between Turkey and Greece  The previous government [in Greece]  didnt want to actually restart. And this government also has not been willing to restart the exploratory talks, so we have to make an agreement, he said.
A second building on the University of Alabama campus will have a renaming vote Thursday by the systems board of trustees.

The agenda for the quarterly meeting includes a resolution amending the name of Morgan Hall on the Tuscaloosa campus. The home of the English department is named for John Tyler Morgan, a former general in the Confederate army later elected to the U.S. Senate and once a Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan.

As a senator, Morgan proposed sending freed Black slaves to the Philippines, the northwest sections of the United States and Africa.

There had been previous calls to change the name of Morgan Hall including a 2016 petition calling for it to renamed for author Harper Lee.

Were listening to all the information thats coming in a part of our strategic planning process, UA President Stuart Bell said in 2016, according to WBRC-TV. It will probably be later in the year as we begin to look at individual decisions.

RELATED: Alabama strips racists name from campus building

Those changes didnt begin until the summer of 2020 when the board of trustees formed a subcommittee to address building names on its three campuses. It first removed plaques on The Quad dedicated to Confederate soldiers before voting Aug. 5 to change the name of Nott Hall to Honors Hall.

That work is ongoing and far from finished, board president pro tempore Ronald Gray said at the Aug. 5 meeting as the subcommittee continued to look at the history of UA building names.

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.
A 37-year-old Indian nurse working in Oman died due to Covid-19, making it the first case of coronavirus related deaths among health workers in the countrys ministry of health, according to media reports on Wednesday.

The Indian expat nurse Blessy Thomas, who was from Kerala, was admitted at the intensive care unit (ICU) of the Royal Hospital after testing positive for Covid-19.

She passed away on Tuesday, the Gulf News reported.

The ministry of health in Oman expressed condolence for the first Covid related death among its health workers in the country.

With great sadness and sorrow, the Ministry of Health of the Sultanate of Oman mourns the passing away of nurse Blessy Thomas at the Royal Hospital ICU due to Covid-19. This is the first death among health workers in MoH, the ministry said in a statement released on Tuesday, according to a report in PTI.

Calling Thomas a true hero, the ministry said she was a role model of hard and sincere work.

The Minister of Health, as well as the MoH personnel and all health workers in Oman express their heartfelt condolences to the family of the deceased, the statement read.

Thomas is survived by her husband and two children.

(with agency inputs)
ServiceNows latest code release, Paris, includes applications to help banks issue credit cards and to enable telcos to manage services and network performance, showing how serious the company is about organizing workflows across the enterprise, not just in the IT department.

IT service management (ITSM) was just one of many applications ServiceNows founder planned to run on the enterprise service management (ESM) platform he built, but for years it has been the one that has defined the company.

With its latest software update, however, ServiceNows enterprise ambitions are coming into focus.

We are inventing the employee experience, the customer experience, and low-code, no-code experiences every day in every industry across the world, says ServiceNow CEO Bill McDermott.

Even before McDermott joined the company last year, ServiceNow had been steadily acquiring technology to extend its platform and building new applications on top of it to appeal to users across the enterprise.

But its rivals are pursuing a similar strategy, according to Charles Betz, principal analyst covering infrastructure and operations at Forrester, who keeps a close eye on ITSM vendors.

Its not only ServiceNow doing this; all of the traditional ITSM vendors report that customers increasingly press their solutions into a wide variety of problems, he says. For some time, they were bemused by customers torturing their systems into serving non-IT purposes.

Now, however, driven by this kind of customer demand, many vendors have broadened their marketing (and perhaps their code) to address these new uses, turning their ITSM platforms into ESM tools.

From my perspective, this is a very organic, customer-driven trend, says Betz.

At ServiceNow, that translates into new features and integrations in the Paris release of its Now Platform, building on the new AI, analytics and mobility features in the previous release, Orlando, in March.

Applications, applications, applications

ServiceNows latest offering introduces applications for automating workflows: three that could be of use to any enterprise in shared services such as HR, finance, facilities or legal, and three highlighting ServiceNows ambition to tailor services to key industry verticals.

The general-interest applications include Legal Service Delivery to help legal departments perform actions such as reviewing and approving contracts without endless email chains, and two for the IT team that will be increasingly useful as enterprises continue to adapt to the new reality with COVID-19. Business Continuity Management allows analysis of business impacts, helps with crisis management and supports development of business continuity plans, something many companies are having to brush up on. ServiceNows Hardware Asset Management application, meanwhile, isnt the only one out there  but through the Now Platform could communicate with HRs onboarding program or purchasings approvals process.

For retail banks, the Financial Services Operations aims to digitize workflows for credit card applications and payments, while Telecommunications Service Management and Telecommunications Network Performance Management are intended to simplify customer self-service, on the one hand, and identify customers affected as network problems are identified and resolved.

These moves raise the question, just how far will ServiceNow go now that it has former SAP CEO McDermott at the helm?

ERP vendors such as SAP dont have too much to fear, according to Larry Carvalho, a research director at IDC covering platform as a service: SAP and ServiceNow deliver different sets of benefits to customers, he says.

Forresters Betz is not so sure. ServiceNow is clear that they have no intention of ever becoming an ERP-like system of record, he says. However, their plan to become the pervasive workflow framework brokering activities amongst these systems is still likely to cause some concern amongst the ERP vendors.

Rules of engagement

In that scenario, ServiceNow would become the key system of engagement, with ERP vendors risking being relegated to running workflows only within their own silos.

How that plays out in the enterprise is something CIOs will decide as workflow technologies mature.

The BPM vendors never lived up to their early promises, and much workflow remains handled by ad-hoc means such as shared email boxes and the remains of early 2000s groupware, says Betz. This is the market space ServiceNow and its peers are moving into, propelled by the need for knowledge workers to access the complete array of enterprise services they require to create and iterate on compelling new digital products.

ServiceNow is far from the only company targeting this space. There are specialist work management platforms and a host of low-code/no-code tools  including some from former BPM vendors.

But, says IDCs Carvalho, the biggest competitors are Microsofts Power Platform and Salesforces Force.com.

In enterprises using two or more of these, which ones run on top of the other is likely to be hotly disputed.

Carvalho points to a few of ServiceNows advantages in the coming skirmish: It offers an app engine with machine learning services to run tasks, an IntegrationHub to bring other software-as-a-service assets together, and a common data model that other apps use to communicate in the form of its Configuration Management Database (CMDB).

What I find unique about ServiceNow is that the technical components of the platform are aligned to business use cases with no-code playbooks, making it easy for IT to articulate benefits to line-of-business users, says Carvalho. CIOs will like the ease of use accelerating the time taken for IT to provide business value for users.

Paris built on Now

The Paris release, in addition to its six new applications, builds on the Now Platforms capabilities.

For business process owners, theres the new Process Automation Designer that allows them to describe and manage workflows without coding, identifying steps ripe for automation, and the Predictive Intelligence Workbench that allows them to use machine learning to automate tasks.

ServiceNow says its June acquisition of Sweagle has allowed it to add a service-oriented view of everything  technology, people and processes  to its CMDB through something it calls the Service Graph. Theres also the Service Graph Connector Program, a new designation for software partners, including AppDynamics, Crowdstrike, Dynatrace, and Solarwinds, who will use Service Graph to make it easier for joint customers to integrate and organize their data on a single platform.

More than 1,500 ServiceNow customers have had early access to the new release over the past 45 days, according to the companys European general manager, Paul Smith. For the rest, it goes live today.
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:
Donald Trump claimed Tuesday that Winston Churchill was 'not so honest' in what he told the people of Britain about Nazi bombings during World War II.

The president seized on the British prime minister's leadership again as he tried to defend his private admission that he 'downplayed' the coronavirus crisis, claiming he did not want to cause 'panic.'

Trump, at an ABC News town hall with undecided voters in Philadelphia, claimed Churchill told the people of London 'everyone's going to be safe,' adding: 'I don't think that's being necessarily honest, and yet I think it's being a great leader.'

In fact Churchill, as soon as he became prime minister, warned the British people of 'struggle and suffering' and went on to warn the nation there was a 'cruel, wanton, indiscriminate bombing of London' and said Hitler's campaign was 'killing large numbers of women and children.'

'When Churchill was on the top of a building, and he said everythings going to be good, everythings going to be  be calm, and you have the Nazis dropping bombs all over London, he was very brave because he was at the top of a building,' Trump told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos.

Churchill was not honest: Donald Trump launched a new defense of his handling of coronavirus by saying that he did not want panic - and claimed, wrongly, that the wartime British leader misled people during the Nazi bombardment of London

'Blitz.' The bombing of London by Hitler's forces in 1940 tested the leadership of Winston Churchill. Swathes of the city were destroyed, and St Paul's Cathedral, its most famous building was surrounded by fire on December 29. The picture by Daily Mail photographer Herbert Mason was taken from the roof of the newspaper's offices and became one of the enduring images of what London faced - and which Churchill said: 'We can take it!'

Trump has long sought to compare himself to Winston Churchill, the prime minister who led the United Kingdom during World War II

HE DIDN'T SAY KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON - HE DID TELL THE TRUTH: CHURCHILL'S WAR Winston Churchill did take to the rooftops of London during World War II to watch bombing raids but he never gave a speech from there. The famous Keep Calm and Carry On poster was not what he preached - in fact it dated from before the war, was never distributed and rediscovered in 2000. Churchill's message was not to keep calm - it was to brace for the worst and to sacrifice to fight back. 'We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering,' he warned the British people in May 1940, when the country stood alone as France crumbled. The next month, after the British army retreated from Dunkirk, France, in an improvised evacuation on civilian boats, he warned Nazi invasion was a real danger, summoning a fighting spirit with the words: 'We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.' Hitler began pounding Britain from the air in September in raids known as the Blitz, with London the worst hit but almost every British city suffering too. Churchill toured bomb sites with his trademark cigar, rather than hiding from the damage. He flashed his V for victory sign to keep up morale but he did not sugarcoat what was happening. On September 11 he told the nation there was a 'cruel, wanton, indiscriminate bombing of London' and warning Hitler's campaign was 'killing large numbers of women and children.' Historians say there had been signs of cracked nerves among the public but Churchill would not relent: 'We can take it!' Morale-raising messages did not shy away from the truth: 'All the world that is still free marvels at the composure and fortitude with which the citizens of London are facing and surmounting the great ordeal to which they are subjected, the end of which or the severity of which cannot yet be foreseen.' London took it; so did the country and by December Roosevelt was also leading a nation at war, with the UK no longer standing alone. Advertisement

'It was very well known that he was standing on buildings, and they were bombing. And he says everyone's going to be safe.'

Trump appeared to be suggesting that Churchill broadcast from London's rooftops during the bombing, known as the Blitz, which he did not.

Churchill did watch bombings from rooftops close to his underground bunker, but he did not broadcast from them. The fact was not in common circulation at the time and it appears unlikely to have been known by the Nazis at the time.

'I don't think that's being necessarily honest, and yet I think it's being a great leader.

'But he said, you're going to be safe. Be calm, don't panic. And you had bombers dropping bombs all over London.

'So I guess you could say that's not so honest, but it's still a great leader,' Trump said.

It was the second time in less than a week that Trump had compared his downplaying of the coronavirus to the actions of the great leaders of World War II, although this time he did not mention Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Trump has argued he was trying not to cause panic, which he repeated at the town hall.

After he compared himself to Churchill, Stephanopoulos said: 'So do you think it's OK to be dishonest?'

Trump replied: 'I'm not looking to be dishonest. I don't want people to panic. And we are going to be OK.'

Trump had first made the comparison to Churchill - and to Franklin Delano Roosevelt - last week on the day of the revelation from Woodward's book that Trump knew coronavirus was 'lethal' and told the Watergate reporter he 'liked to play it down.'

His first outing for the defense was at a rally.

'As the British government advised the British people in the face of World War II, 'Keep calm and carry on.' That's what I did,' Trump told the crowd in Freeland, Michigan, airport - a claim which was itself untrue; the phrase was never deployed by Churchill and only a handful of posters with the logo were displayed in wartime.

'When Hitler was bombing London, Churchill, great leader, would oftentimes go to a roof in London and speak.

'And he always spoke with calmness. He said, 'We have to show calmness.' No we did it the right way,' he said.

The president also repeated his argument that the United States has done the 'best job, certainly of any major country' on the pandemic. And invoked Roosevelt in his argument.

'America will prevail over the China virus. As Franklin Delano Roosevelt said 'the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.' That's it. We're doing well,' the president said.

Last week historian Jon Meacham, in response to Trump's remarks, pointed to this Churchill quote, tweeting it out: 'The British people can face any misfortune w/ fortitude & buoyancy as long as they are convinced that those in charge of their affairs are not deceiving them, or are not dwelling in a fool's paradise.'

And FDR's quote about 'nothing to fear' came from his inaugural address, when he went on to list the country's woes: mass unemployment, those in jobs struggling to survive, a banking crisis and a government with no money.

President Trump also quoted FDR's famous line: the only thing we have to fear is fear itself

'Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment,' he said, setting the tone for the fireside chats which went on to define his presidency.

IN THEIR OWN WORDS... WHAT WINSTON CHURCHILL TOLD THE BRITISH PEOPLE 'We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I will say: It is to wage war, by sea, land, and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalog of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be.' May 13, 1940 WHAT TRUMP TOLD THE AMERICAN PEOPLE 'It's going to be fine' February 10 'We have very few people with it. They're all getting better.' February 25 'Its going to disappear. One day, it's like a miracle, it will disappear.' February 28 'We've stopped it.' March 12 'It will go away, and we're going to have a great victory' March 30 'Coronavirus numbers are looking MUCH better, going down almost everywhere. Big progress being made!' May 11 2020 AND WHAT HE TOLD BOB WOODWARD 'It's also more deadly than even your strenuous flu. This is deadly stuff.' February 7 I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down because I don't want to create a panic March 19 'Now it's turning out it's not just old people, Bob. But just today, and yesterday, some startling facts came out. It's not just old, older. Young people, too, plenty of young people.' March 19 Advertisement

In contrast Trump has defended himself for 'downplaying' the virus, not denying what he told Woodward but instead arguing he was trying not to cause a panic.

'The fact is, there has to be a calmness. You don't want me jumping up and down screaming there's going to be great death. Really causing serious problems for the country,' he said at a White House press conference on Thursday before his rally.

Trump also denied he lied to the American people when asked about discrepancies in his conversations with Woodward and what he was saying in public at the time.

'This is deadly stuff,' the president told Woodward in February during one of their 18 interviews.

'You just breathe the air and that's how it's passed,' he said. 'And so that's a very tricky one. That's a very delicate one. It's also more deadly than even your strenuous flus.'

But while Trump admitted privately to the dangers of COVID, just three days later, he struck a far rosier tone in an interview with Fox Business: 'I think the virus is going to be - it's going to be fine.'

Trump said his public words were not a lie.

'There is no lie here. What we're doing is leading,' he said at his press conference.

But the phrase Trump cited during his rally - 'Keep Calm and Carry On' - while popular today was never used during World War II.

Trump, a longtime Anglophile whose mother was a British citizen, has long sought to tie his presidency to Churchill's tenure as prime minister.

One of his first acts as president was to restore the bust of Churchill to the Oval Office after President Barack Obama replaced it with a bust of Dr. Martin Luther King.

Obama moved the Churchill bust to a place outside the Treaty Room of the White House, a move that sparked outrage from the British across the pond and from many conservatives in America.

Churchill was given an honorary American citizenship, only one of eight people to receive one.

Trump brought the Churchill bust back to the Oval, placing it on the table near his desk and moving the King bust to a side table.

Additionally, White House staff have tied the president to the prime minister at other points in his presidency.

When Trump was criticized, during Black Lives Matter protests in June, for walking across Lafayette Square to St. John's Episcopal Church to hold up a bible in front of it as a photo-op, the White House said it was something Churchill would do.

The square was damaged during the protests that sprung up in the wake of George Floyd's murder and there was a small fire in the church basement ahead of Trump's visit. The church, which sits across from the White House, is known as the church of presidents.

President Trump and his family toured the Churchill War Rooms during the June 2019 state visit to London

'Through all of time, we've seen presidents and leaders across the world who have had leadership moments and very powerful symbols that were important for our nation to see at any given time to show a message of resilience and determination,' White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said at the time.

'Like Churchill, we saw him inspecting the bombing damage and it sent a powerful message of leadership to the British people,' she said.

Additionally, during his June 2019 state visit to London, Trump toured the Churchill War Rooms with his family.

It was in the labyrinthine bunker that Churchill and his war cabinet plotted war strategy that ultimately led to the Allies' victory. The underground location kept them safe from German bombing raids.
After Sushant Singh Rajput's sister Shweta Singh Kriti started 'Flag 4 SSR' initiative a few days back, she has called the campaign a "huge success" as "more than 2 lakh people" have participated from all over the globe. "I am so grateful to everyone who participated and showed support," she wrote on Twitter on Tuesday. Sushant's friend Smita Parikh shared a video of a college student from Kolkata who participated in the 'Flag 4 SSR' campaign who is "doing his bit for #Justice for SSR".

'Flag 4 SSR a huge success'

"I am so touched by his single-handed initiative. Love all SSRians for their efforts and support," she said. People from the USA, Canada, Israel, Nepal, South Africa and India have shared flags demanding justice for the actor.

Flag4SSR campaign by @Mayank4YoUall of kolkata a college student doing his bit for #JusticeforSSR friends pls tag Mayank and share this I am so touched by his single handed initiative

 love all SSRians for their efforts and support pic.twitter.com/ppOlXmlCtp  Smita Parikh (@smitaparikh2) September 15, 2020

What a huge success #Flag4SSR campaign was, more than 2 lakhs people participated from all over the globe  I am so grateful to everyone who participated and showed support. Thanks to my Extended Family for keeping #Justice4SSR Fight Alive!  https://t.co/4R2TGMonLw pic.twitter.com/FbZwASlD0I  Shweta Singh Kirti (@shwetasinghkirt) September 15, 2020

Earlier, Sushant's family friend Nilotpal Mrinal had shared another initiative called 'Plant 4 SSR'. In this, all fans have to grow a plant and share about it on social media. Director Mukesh Chhabra and Sushant's friend Mahesh Shetty took to their Instagram handle to join many others by planting in memory of their late friend. More than 1 lakh trees were planted across the globe. #Plants4SSR Thank you so much for making it happen," Sushant's sister Shweta informed.

READ | Sushant Death Probe LIVE Updates: Shruti Modi & Jaya Saha summoned by NCB on Sept 16

READ | Sushant Singh's college friend Varun Kumar says, 'I want justice because he deserves it'

#Plant4SSR 11th our of 50 dreams - 1000 plant - can we all do on 14sept morning time 8 am to 12 pm and fulfil his one dream - take selfie with plant and send and evening Flag4SSR - let us achieve all his 50 dream . Pls confirm and circulate  Nilotpal Mrinal (@nilotpalm3) September 4, 2020

Sushant Singh Rajput's death

Sushant Singh Rajput was found dead at his residence in Mumbai on June 14. While Mumbai Police termed it as suicide, intense movements led by fans and celebrities played a part as Supreme Court ordered a CBI probe into the case. The CBI, along with ED, and NCB are currently probing various angles of the case, with prime accused Rhea Chakraborty jailed by NCB till September 22 over her alleged involvement in a drug cartel.

READ | Shekhar Suman claims, 'Disha Salian's case is the key to unlocking Sushant Singh's murder'

READ | Disha Salian's fiance Rohan Rai may be summoned by CBI in Sushant death probe: Sources
POWHATAN  Three of Powhatan Countys polling precincts will be temporarily relocated for the Nov. 3 General Election because of COVID-19 and space concerns.

Four members of the Powhatan County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the temporary relocation of the three sites. This is considered an emergency relocation since it falls within the window of 60 days prior to the election usually required for a change in polling precinct. Chairman David Williams, Mike Byerly, Bill Cox, and Karin Carmack, who were all present at the meeting, voted for the temporary relocations.

Karen Alexander, director of elections, spoke to the board of supervisors and school board during a joint meeting held on Thursday, Sept. 10. While the supervisors vote was not necessary for the change, Alexander said she wanted to extend them the professional courtesy and make sure she had their support.

The county currently has 22,692 registered voters as of Sept. 11, and 6,925 (about 30 percent of all voters) will be affected by the relocation of the polling precincts, Alexander said. Two of the changes are because of those polling places not being made available to the county because of COVID-19, and one move is due to spacing concerns.
Infosys announced that it has been selected by Essential Utilities, one of the largest publicly traded water, wastewater and natural gas providers in the U.S., as a strategic partner to drive its digital transformation.

Aurobindo Pharma and The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) announced a collaboration to develop vaccines to protect against SARS-CoV-2, also known as COVID-19. Under the signed agreement between CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) and Aurobindo Pharma, Aurobindo will partner with CSIR for development of several novel COVID-19 vaccines.

Indiabulls Housing Finance board approved allotment of 3.47 crore equity shares to eligible qualified institutional buyers at an issue price of Rs 196.37 per share, aggregating to Rs 682.87 crore.

REC said that the board of directors accorded its approval for infusion of Rs 150 crore as equity in a company, proposed to be promoted as Joint Venture alongwith three other Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) i.e. Power Finance Corporation Limited, Power Grid Corporation of India Limited and NTPC Limited, for the purpose of establishment/creation of Common Backend Infrastructure Facility (CBIF) for Smart Meters in the country.

Power Mech Projects reported consolidated net loss of Rs 32.59 crore in Q1 June 2020, compared to net profit of Rs 28.41 crore in Q1 June 2019. Total income fell 43.99% to Rs 276.85 crore in Q1 June 2020 over Q1 June 2019.

Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilizers has shut down its DAP plant on 15 September 2020 for planned maintenance.

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The revelations from Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward documenting how US President Donald Trump lied to the American people about the danger posed by COVID-19 have also served to further expose the callous and calamitous response of Canadas ruling elite to the pandemic.

Trump was informed by his National Security Advisor Robert OBrien on January 28 that the coronavirus was the greatest national security challenge of his presidency to date. This was only one of a series of high-level briefings in which the gravity of the novel-coronavirus threat was repeatedly brought to Trumps attention.

Then, on February 7, Trump told Woodward, in an exchange captured on tape, that Chinese President Xi Jinping had informed him the disease is transmitted through the air and could have a fatality rate of 5 percent. Trump would later tell Woodward that he nonetheless continued to downplay COVID-19 because he did not want to trigger a panic, i.e. a collapse of Wall Street and the financial markets. In this criminal enterprise, which has led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands, the Democratic Party leadership is complicit, since they were provided with essentially the same intelligence in security briefings, yet also did nothing to alert the public.

Canada is Washingtons closest military-security partner, bound to the Pentagon and US intelligence and Homeland Security agencies through a vast web of alliances and networks, including NATO, NORAD, and the Five Eyes. Given the breadth of this partnership, which politicians from all major parties never tire of extolling when the issue is supporting war and intrigue abroad or increasing military spending, it is inconceivable that Canadas national-security apparatus and Liberal government were not privy to the intelligence warnings received by Trump and the Democrats in January and early February.

Moreover, the only plausible explanation for Canadian authorities failure to alert the public and immediately initiate large-scale preventive measures is that they were motivated by the same mercenary concernsthat is class interestsas the US political establishment. They didnt want to roil the financial markets or otherwise impede big business profit-making; with the possible added motivation on Ottawas part of not wanting to do anything that would rile Trump and damage relations with Washington.

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan has admitted that the militarys medical intelligence unit was gathering information on the new virus and its impact in China for several weeks before it provided him with a briefing in mid-January. The information contained in this briefing was subsequently shared widely across the government.

However, the governments Incident Response Group did not meet to discuss the coronavirus until January 27. One day later, Health Minister Patty Hajdu responded to a question on whether the federal government would provide additional resources to the provinces to strengthen their health care systems by saying, I think its very premature to say that there will be additional resources needed at the hospital level. Every indication is that we will not at this point in time.

The first handful of Canadian COVID-19 cases were reported that same week, and on January 28 the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that transmission was high at the global level, indicating that community transmission was already underway in many countries. Three days later, the WHO declared a global health emergency.

Yet during the next five weeks, the Trudeau government failed to take substantive action, such as procuring increased resources, informing the public of the scope of the threat and its plans to halt the virus spread, or instituting distancing guidelines. Not until March 10, more than two months after first learning about the virus, did the Trudeau Liberal government even write the provinces to inquire about their stockpiles of personal protective equipment (PPE) and other critical medical supplies. Vital time that could have been used to prepare a health care system already buckling due to decades of budget cuts and the privatization of much of senior care was thus squandered.

In Ontario, the hard-right government of Doug Ford also systematically downplayed the pandemic. On March 8, the provincial Ministry of Health declared that the risk to Ontarians remained low and Ford advised Ontarians to go out and enjoy the spring break holiday. By this point, hospitals were already struggling with an influx of patients. After efforts at quietly lobbying the government to take drastic steps fell on deaf ears, the Ontario Hospital Association wrote a petition demanding the premier declare a state of emergency.

The intervening months have brought to light documents underscoring how the federal government ignored warnings and failed to undertake even the most basic preparatory measures in February. Documents obtained by public broadcaster CBC indicate that government officials were warning of looming shortages of PPE in the National Emergency Stockpile (NESS) in early February. In an internal presentation on February 13, the Public Health Agency of Canada was reporting that the federal stockpile contained only a modest supply of personal protective equipment including surgical masks, respirators, gloves, gowns and coveralls, and warned that global supplies would soon dwindle in the face of an enormous spike in demand.

Unless the government moved quickly to acquire these products, argued officials, lives of healthcare workers across the country would be in jeopardy once they were called upon to treat those stricken with the coronavirus. Yet, according to the CBC report, all the contracts the government awarded for PPE in the ensuing days totaled less than $300,000.

The first orders for significant additional supplies of PPE and ventilators were issued only on March 14, at which point the crisis was already in full swing and much of the country was under lockdown. The procurement of N95 masks was made even more difficult due to the fact that the government had a contract with just one lab in the United States to validate them.

The lack of PPE has been a major factor in the spread of the virus, contributing to the deaths of both patients and health care workers. In July, Statistics Canada reported that frontline health care workers had accounted for more than 21 percent of all COVID-19 cases nationwide.

As of yesterday, Canada has recorded over 139,000 infections and 9,188 deaths, the vast majority of which occurred among long-term care residents of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.

The governments dilatory and negligent response to what the WHO publicly and Canadas principal intelligence partner privately were warning was a colossal public health emergency contrasts sharply with the official response to the pandemics economic impact on investors and big business. No sooner did the pandemic cause financial markets to quake and force provincial governments across the country to belatedly announce lockdown measures than the Trudeau government and Bank of Canada intervened with a massive bailout for investors, the banks and corporate Canada.

Like Trump and the Democrats in the United States, the Liberal government, Canada central bank and other state agencies came to the rescue of the financial elite, funneling $650 billion into their coffers by the end of March. This massive heist of public funds was aided and abetted by the NDP and the trade union bureaucracy. They remained silent about the enormous transfer of wealth to the capitalist elite, while lauding the Trudeau government for providing a meager $2,000 a month through the makeshift and soon to be terminated Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) to the millions of workers who lost their jobs and income.

In keeping with their role as corporatist allies of the Liberal government and big business, the unions have supported the back-to-work campaign, including the drive to reopen the schools so parents can be forced back on the job amid the pandemic. The unions have opposed job action against what they concede are unsafe conditions, on the grounds such action would be illegal (see: Ontario teachers union leader emphatically opposes job action to stop reckless school reopening).

The Canadian medias coverage of the Woodward revelations and how they implicate the Trudeau government and Canadas lavishly funded military-security apparatus in a conspiracy to conceal the threat posed by COVID-19 has been extremely muted.

One of the few reports in a major media outlet to even suggest that Woodwards revelations and the intimate Canada-US security-intelligence partnerships raise the questions what did the federal government know about the developing COVID-19 pandemic and when? was a CBC article published Monday. It was titled Woodwards Trump revelations raise questions about Canadas response to COVID-19.

However, the article is largely devoted to promoting unconvincing claims that Ottawa would not have had access to the same intelligence as Trump. Its main criticism of the Trudeau government is not that it deliberately downplayed the threat posed by the pandemic in league with the US president and political establishment, but that it relied too heavily on information from China and the World Health Organization during January and February. This echoes the bellicose, geopolitically-motivated campaign spearheaded by the Conservative Official Opposition, the National Post, Toronto Sun, and other right-wing outlets to blame China for the pandemic, and attribute the Liberal governments ruinous response to the pandemic to its supposed pandering to Beijing.

The CBC and other media outlets have conveniently blacked out the fact that Trump was briefed on February 7 by Chinese President Xi about the seriousness of the disease, after which he delivered his grim assessment privately to Woodward.
(Natural News) Loren Cannon, head of the FBIs Portland division in Oregon, has a word for those who do believe that arsonists are setting fires on the West Coast: Its not happening, he insists.

After stumbling upon multiple reports that arsonists are being arrested in conjunction with some of the fires being reported in California, Oregon and Washington, Cannon issued a statement claiming that his agency has looked into the matter and come up with no evidence of malfeasance.

FBI Portland and local law enforcement agencies have been receiving reports that extremists are responsible for setting wildfires in Oregon, he stated. With our state and local partners, the FBI has investigated several such reports and found them to be untrue.

Cannon seems to be siding with the position of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is blaming global warming and climate change for the uptick in fires recently that has left millions of acres of the Golden State ravaged and charred.

The debate is over around climate change, Newsom announced while standing in front of a smoky wasteland of burned trees and shrubs. Just come to the state of California. Observe it with your own eyes.

Not all wildfires were caused by arsonists, but some were

Newsom and Cannon apparently missed the multiple memos, aka news reports, about the many arsonists all across the West Coast that have been arrested in recent days after getting caught intentionally lighting fires in moisture-deprived areas.

In southern Oregon, for instance, 41-year-old Michael Jarrod Bakkela was arrested and charged with two counts of arson, as well as 15 counts of criminal mischief and 14 counts of reckless endangering, after he was caught setting a fire in an area that has already been burning due to what has been dubbed the Almeda Fire.

Sammy Piatt, 53, was also arrested in Clackamas County, Oregon, after he lit a pile of leaves on fire near the Community Solutions building.

Jeffrey Alan Acord of Washington State was also arrested after being accused of setting fires along Highway 167. Acord, it is important to note, is a regular protester who attends Black Lives Matter (BLM) and anti-police rallies in Seattle.

The list goes on and on, and while not all of the wildfires blazing across the West Coast were started by arsonists, some of them were and the FBI apparently refuses to acknowledge that. Instead, the federal agency would prefer to reject that narrative in favor of Newsoms climate change version of events, which is a whole lot more politically correct.

At some point, though, there will be no denying that this country has a serious problem on its hands with the likes of BLM and Antifa roaming the streets destroying property, assaulting people, and now starting fires in some of the driest regions of the country.

The simple reality is that Antifa and BLM are, in fact, committing arson attacks, reports The Hal Turner Show. FBI should get with that reality, fast. On second thought, maybe its time for FBI Portland to get a new SAC (Special Agent in Charge). Unless, of course, the FBI actually works for Antifa.

Commenting on The Hills reporting about Newsoms claim that global warming is to blame for the wildfires in his state, one user corrected him by noting that improper forest management, which is a very serious problem in the Golden State, might actually be the true culprit.

When it rains too much, your dams burst and when its summer, your forests burn, wrote another. Whats over is if you are a good governor; thats a hard no.

More news about the political correctness of the mainstream media and government can be found at PoliticalCorrectness.news.

Sources for this article include:

HalTurnerRadioShow.com

ABCnews.Go.com

NaturalNews.com

KATU.com

TheEpochTimes.com
Field Pros really checked all of the boxes for me, from the culture and people, many who are familiar faces, to the vision and innovation of the product. There is a blend of new technology and fresh ideas that is really exciting.

As Field Pros Direct continues to simplify the way property claims are handled with experience-based technology, they have strategically added a new Director of Claims Operations, Neil Atkins. Neil comes with over 17 years of experience in the insurance industry from the Nations largest Independent Adjusting (IA) firm to Enservio, a 15-year-old software company. Since entering the claims industry as an adjuster, Neil provides a perfect mix of first-hand adjuster experience, innovation and CAT knowledge to the team. Moreover, he brings an eagerness to be a part of a culture that values constant innovation in order to shape the future of claims.

When asked why Neil made the leap from Enservio to Field Pros Direct, he said that Field Pros really checked all of the boxes for me, from the culture and people, many who are familiar faces, to the vision and innovation of the product. There is a blend of new technology and fresh ideas that is really exciting. Neil continues This is very clearly an environment where you can be expressive, challenged, but also supported by a talented group of people who are in it to win as a team.

In Neils new role, he will be working directly with Field Pros Directs COO, Bentley Laytin, while managing our Carrier accounts while contributing to enhancing our claims process and technology. We are very excited to bring an individual of Neils caliber to the Field Pros Family. Neil not only has vast industry experience but also is a great addition to the culture. states Laytin, who also worked with Neil previously.

Field Pros Directs entire leadership team is thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Neil. Matt Anderson, CEO says Neil's desire to create solutions that solve problems for insurance carriers and adjusters make him a great fit for the Field Pros Direct family."

About Field Pros Direct. Field Pros Direct help Insurance Carriers, Adjusters and Service providers innovate their claims process, through experience-centric technology solutions. Their innovative solutions are the only AI-powered platform that solves claims complexities in real-time. To find out more about how Field Pros Direct is simplifying the claims ecosystem, visit https://www.fieldprosdirect.com or contact Bentley Latyin at 470-481-6722 or email him at blaytin@fieldprosdirect.com

Stay connected with Field Pros Direct by following us on social media:

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Yves here. Many people are falling back on not-the-best coping methods for Covid-19 stress. The CDC has warned about excessive drinking in the face of evidence that at-home alcohol consumption is up. Even those who are economically unscathed are still contending with disrupted routines, limited social activity, and worries about disease risk. Anyone with a history of addiction, particularly if they are involved with drug or alcohol rehab programs, has to feel that theyve been thrown to the wolves.

And in America, with weak social ties and pre-existing frayed safety nets, its not as if despair and desperation arent a regular feature of many peoples lives.

India is reporting that one of the lasting effects of hospitalization from Covid can be damage to mental health. From the BBC:

In India, relentlessly rising case numbers are causing another emergency  serious mental health problems among Covid-19 patients, writes the BBCs Vikas Pandey. Rajesh Tiwari, 42, has developed a serious phobia for any screen which is bigger than his mobile phone. He thinks big screens, especially TV sets and computer monitors, are giant creatures who can attack him. Mr Tiwari began experiencing hallucinations after a long stay in an intensive care unit. In early June he had tested positive for coronavirus and he was admitted to a private hospital as his condition worsened. Five days later he was put on a ventilator. Mr Tiwaris family was elated to bring him home, but after a while they realised that everything was not right with him. One day, he screamed at the TV set and attempted to smash it. The family had to stop watching TV and nobody was allowed to use laptops at home. Mr Tiwari said he was struggling to forget the images of monitors constantly beeping and flashing numbers in the ICU. Amit Sharma and his family had a similar experience. Mr Sharma, 49, spent 18 days in the ICU and saw people die every day. Young and old, men and women  all kinds of Covid-19 patients were dying around him. One day, two patients around me died and their bodies were there for several hours, he said. I just cant get those images out of my head. I still fear Covid might kill me. Mr Sharma is struggling to forget the traumatic experience. He became very quiet at home after his recovery, his uncle said. And whenever he talked, it was always about the patients he had seen dying in the Covid ward, he said.

By Mattea Kramer, who is at work on a novel about a waitresss love affair with a prescription pill. Originally published at TomDispatch

In our new era of nearly unparalleled upheaval, as a pandemic ravages the bodies of some and the minds of nearly everyone, as the associated economic damage disposes of the livelihoods of many, and as even the promise of democracy fades, the people whose lives were already on a razors edge  who were vulnerable and isolated before the advent of Covid-19  are in far greater danger than ever before.

Against this backdrop, many of us are scanning the news for any sign of hope, any small flicker of light whose gleam could indicate that everything, somehow, is going to be okay. In fact, there is just such a flicker coming from those who have been through the worst of it and have made it out the other side.

I spoke with Rafael Rodriguez of Holyoke, Massachusetts, on a sweltering Thursday afternoon in late July. He had already spent hours that day on Zoom and, though I could feel his exhaustion through our pixilated connection, he was gracious. His salt-and-pepper beard neatly trimmed, he nodded gently in answer to my questions. Covid-19 has made it more and more apparent how stigmatizing it is to be less fortunate, he said. As we spoke, the number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits had just ticked up to around 30 million, or about one in every five workers, with nearly 15 million behind on their rent, and 29 million reporting that their households hadnt had enough to eat over the preceding week. Rodriguez is an expert in what happens after eviction or when emergency aid dries up (or theres none to be had in the first place)  what becomes, that is, of those in protracted isolation and despair.

Drug-overdose deaths were up 13% in the first seven months of this year compared to 2019, according to research conducted by the New York Times covering 40% of the U.S. population. More than 60% of participating counties nationwide that report to the Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program at the University of Baltimore saw a sustained spike in overdoses following March 19th, when many states began issuing social-distancing and stay-at-home orders. This uptick arrived atop a decades-long climb in drug-related fatalities. Last year, before the pandemic even hit, an estimated 72,000 people in the United States died of an overdose, the equivalent of sustaining a tragedy of 9/11 proportions every two weeks, or about equal to the American Covid-19 death toll during its deadliest stretch so far, from mid-April to mid-May.

What people do in the face of protracted isolation and despair is turn to whatever coping strategy theyve got  including substances so strong they can be deadly.

I think of opioids as technologies that are perfectly suited for making you okay with social isolation, said Nancy Campbell, head of the Department of Science and Technology Studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and author of OD: Naloxone and the Politics of Overdose. Miraculously, an opioid overdose can be reversed with the medicine naloxone, commonly known by the brand name Narcan. But you cant use naloxone on yourself; you need someone else to administer it to you. Thats why Campbell calls it a technology of solidarity. The solidarity of people looking out for one another is a necessary ingredient when it comes to preserving the lives of those in the deepest desolation.

Yet not everyone sees why we should save people who knowingly ingest dangerous substances. I come from a small town in northeastern Pennsylvania and I have a large extended family there, Campbell told me. She remembers a family member asking her, Why dont we just let them die?

Any of us can answer that question by imagining that the person who just overdosed was the one you love most in the world  your daughter, your son, your dearest friend, your lover. Of course you wont let them die; of course its imperative that they have another chance at life. There are people like Rafael Rodriguez who have dedicated themselves to ensuring that their neighbors have access to naloxone and other resources for surviving the absolute worst. One day, naloxone may indeed save someone you love. Perhaps it already has.

Another technology of solidarity has recently become commonplace in our lives: the face mask. Wearing such a mask tells others that you care about their well-being  you care enough to prevent the germs you exhale from becoming the germs they inhale, and then from becoming the germs they exhale in the company of still others. Face masks save lives. The face mask is a technology of solidarity. So is naloxone. And so is empathy.

The Sheer Power of Being With Someone in the Moment

As Rafael Rodriguez slowly told his astonishing story, I could see on my computer screen a spartan office behind him and a single bamboo shoot, its stem curled beneath a burst of foliage. When he was younger, he said, he used food as his coping mechanism for an embattled life, over-eating to the point where doctors worried he would die. Then, at age 23, he underwent gastric bypass surgery and lost a dramatic amount of weight. The doctors were pleased, but now his only means of coping with lifes hardships had been taken away. When three of his dearest family members died in rapid succession, he began drinking. Eventually he sought something that could help him stay awake to keep drinking, and so he started using cocaine. Later on, he needed something that could ease him off cocaine in order to sleep.

Thats where heroin came into my life, he told me.

Using that illegal drug left him feeling ashamed, though, and soon he found himself pulling away from his remaining family members, becoming so isolated that, in 2005, he fell into a long stretch of homelessness. Only after he had spent almost a year in a residential rehabilitation facility and gotten a job that left him surrounded by supportive colleagues did Rodriguez begin to name the dark things in his past that had driven him to use drugs.

No one ever knew that I was sexually assaulted as a child, he explained. After years in recovery, he is now in possession of a commanding insight. During the most troubled years of his life, he was punishing himself for someone elses grim actions.

Portugal famously decriminalized all substance use in 2001 and multimedia journalist Susana Ferreira has written that its groundbreaking model was built on an understanding that a persons unhealthy relationship with drugs often points to frayed relationships with loved ones, with the world around them, and with themselves. The root problem, in other words, is seldom substance use. Its disconnection and heartache.

In 2016, Rodriguez was hired by the Western Massachusetts Recovery Learning Community in Holyoke, where heroin use constituted a crisis long before opioid addiction registered as a national epidemic. Rodriguez now dedicates himself to supporting others in their recovery from the trauma that so often underlies addiction. And while tight funding and staffing limitations have led many community organizations across the country to reduce services during the pandemic period, the Recovery Learning Community has sought to expand to meet increasing need. When state restrictions capped the number of people the organization could allow into its indoor spaces, Rodriguez and his team improvised, offering services outside. They prepared bagged lunches, set up outlets so people could charge their phones, and distributed hand sanitizer and bottled water. And they continued to offer compassion and peer support, as they always had, to people wrestling with addiction.

Helping those in the midst of painful circumstances, Rodriguez says, isnt about knowing the right thing to say. Its about the sheer power of just being with someone in the moment being able to validate and make sure they know theyre being heard.

In many situations, he adds, he has helped people without uttering a word.

Criminalization Versus Any Positive Change

Its something of an understatement to say that, in the United States, empathy has not been our go-to answer for addiction. Our cultural tendency is to regard signs of drugs or the persistent smell of alcohol as marking users as outcasts to be avoided on the street. But medical science tells us that addiction is actually a chronic relapsing brain disease, one that often takes hold when a genetic predisposition intersects with destabilizing environmental factors such as poverty or trauma.

Regardless of the science, we tend to respond unkindly to folks in the throes of addiction. In her book Getting Wrecked: Women, Incarceration, and the American Opioid Crisis, Dr. Kimberly Sue describes a complex and corrupt system of prosecutors, forensic drug labs, prisons, and parole and probationary systems in which discipline is meted out primarily to low-income people, disproportionately of color, who use illegal substances. An attending physician at Rikers Island in New York, Sue is also the medical director of the Harm Reduction Coalition. The philosophical opposite of criminalization, harm reduction is an international movement, pioneered by people who have used or still use such drugs, to reduce their negative consequences.

Treat people with dignity and respect, respect peoples bodily autonomy was the way Sue described to me some of harm reductions core tenets. In this country, we typically expect folks to cease all substance use in order to be considered clean human beings. Harm reduction instead espouses a kind of compassionate incrementalism. Any positive change, from the decision to inject yourself with a sterile needle to carrying naloxone, is regarded as a stride toward a healthier life.

In tandem with its decision to decriminalize all substance use, Portugal put harm reduction at the heart of its national drug policies. And as of 2017 (the most recent year for which data are available), nearly two decades after that countrys groundbreaking move, the per-capita rate of drug-related fatalities in the U.S. stood 54 times higher than in Portugal.

Now, the pandemic has made addiction even more dangerous. In addition to inflicting the sort of widespread hardship that can drive people to opioids (or even greater doses of them) and to take their chances with the potent synthetic opioid fentanyl, Covid-19 has stymied efforts by Dr. Sue and others to provide effective guidance and care. In normal times, opioid users can at least protect themselves from dying of an overdose by using their drug in the company of others, so that someone can administer naloxone if it becomes necessary. Now, however, that safety mechanism has been fatally disrupted. While social distancing saves lives, stark solitude can be deadly  both as further reason for using such drugs and because no one will be present with the antidote. Referring to naloxone as a miracle medicine, Sue said that there is no medical reason why people should die of an opioid overdose.

The reason they die is because of isolation.

Rx: Friendship

Back in March, one of the first recommendations for reducing the transmission of the coronavirus was, of course, to stay home  but not everyone has a home, and when businesses, restaurants, libraries, and other public spaces locked their doors, some people were left without a place even to wash their hands. In Holyoke, Rafael Rodriguez and his colleagues at the Recovery Learning Community, along with staff from several other local organizations, rushed to city officials and asked that a handwashing station and portable toilets be installed for the many local people who live unhoused. Rodriguez sees such measures not only as fundamental acts of humanity, but also as essential to any viable treatment for addiction.

Its really hard to think about recovery, or putting down substances, when [your] basic human needs arent being met, he said. In the midst of extreme summer heat, he pointed out that there wasnt even a local cooling center for people on the streets and it was clear that, despite everything he had seen in his life, he found this astonishing. He is now part of a community movement that is petitioning the local city government for an emergency shelter.

When you have no idea where youre going to rest your head at night, using substances almost becomes a survival tactic, he explained. Its a way to be able to navigate this cruel world.

Meanwhile, Dr. Sue continues to care for her patients whose maladies are often rooted in systemic injustice and the kind of despair that dates back to their early lives. Affirming that substance use is indeed linked to frayed relationships, she told me that, in this pandemic moment of isolation, what drug users most often need is a sense of connection with others.

How do I prescribe connection? she had asked during our phone call. How do I prescribe a friend?

Several days later, while writing this article, I left the air-conditioned space in which I was working and walked a couple of blocks to run some errands. In the stifling midday sun, I saw a woman sitting on the ground. I realized Id seen her before and guessed that she was homeless. Her arms and face were inflamed with a rash. She said something to me as I passed. At first, I didnt catch it. Her words were garbled and she had to repeat herself several times before I understood.

She was asking for water.

I blinked, nodded, and went into a nearby drug store where I grabbed a water bottle, paid in a few seconds at self-checkout, and gave it to her. And yet, if I hadnt been working on this article, I might not have done that at all. I might have passed right by, too absorbed in my life to realize she was pleading for help.

Amid the sustained isolation of a global pandemic whose end is nowhere in sight, I asked Rafael Rodriguez what lessons could be learned from people who have long experienced isolation in their lives.

My hope is that, as a society, we gain some empathy, he replied.

Then he added, Now thats a big ask.
Pune: Even as farmers and traders at Lasalgaon in Nashik called off their strike and resume auctioning of onions, the Congress on Wednesday staged statewide protest, demanding withdrawal of Centres decision to ban export of onions.

At Lasalgaon, Asias largest market, auctioning was carried out smoothly at Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) even as the supply of onion was less than average a day after operations were closed due to protests by farmers.

With rates hovering around Rs 2,300 to 2,600 per quintal, a rise of Rs 500 from Tuesdays rates, farmers too participated in the process without resistance.

According to Suvarna Jagtap, chairperson at Lasalgaon APMC, the onion arrival was reduced by over 60% as most farmers did not bring their produce for auction.

Even as many farmers did not bring onions for sale today, they will have to bring the commodity at APMC. This being rainy season, farmers wont be able to keep it in the field for long, said Jagtap. In other markers in Nashik, including Yeola, Nandgaon and Andarsul, onion growers staged protests demanding roll back of decision.

In Pune and parts of Maharashtra, Congress workers wearing onion garland staged protests while terming Centres decision against the farmers.

State Congress unit chief Balasaheb Thorat said in Mumbai, The decision by Centre to ban export of onion shows that the government in Delhi is anti-farmer. We want the Centre to lift the ban immediately.

Congress city unit president Ramesh Bagwe, who led the protest said this year, the crop was good as farmers worked hard during lockdown.

However, just when farmers were started getting good prices, the Centre imposed ban, said Bagwe.
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Linkedin Cyril Julien (Agence France-Presse) Boring, United States  Wed, September 16, 2020 17:31 492 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c452db6b 2 Environment oregon,animals,equestrian,united-states,wildfire Free

An equestrian center in Oregon that opened its doors to horses displaced by raging forest fires soon found its stalls home to almost an entire farmyard -- including pigs, ducks, donkeys and even an ox.

Last week, staff at the Mount Hood Center in Boring, east of Portland, offered refuge to owners and their horses fleeing the West Coast blazes that have torched an area roughly the size of the state of New Jersey and killed at least 35 people.

In just a few hours each one of their 80 stalls had been filled, with desperate owners bringing in their horses, often from places just a few dozen miles (kilometers) away from the fires.

"People were desperate, they had nowhere to go -- they were losing their homes, losing their barns, and certainly didn't want to lose their animals," said Aaron Shelley, director of operations at the center.

But it wasn't just horses that came in two by two -- the staff also welcomed an ox, donkeys, ponies, ducks and pigs.

"There were a lot of animals that were panicked and they were kicking and they were yelling. It sounded like this was a war zone in here with all the screaming and yelling," Shelley said.

The horses in particular -- used to being out in the open air -- had to be kept calm by the staff.

"My staff did an amazing job," Shelley said. "Walking the aisles, talking to the horses comforting them with nice words."

Read also: Brave as lions: Zoo heroics save animals from Australia's raging fires

Donated food and hay

Help also came from some locals who provided food for the animals, while pictures posted online by the center showed trucks arriving laden with donated hay and staff distributing it to the animals.

"We have all these empty stalls. It just was the natural thing to do", said Brandi Hatch, the center's director.

"It's wonderful to see how people came together and helped us."

Sarah Anderson, who works in the center, brought her four horses in on Wednesday.

"I brought the animals first, then I came back with my motorhome, and decided to camp here," the 34-year-old said.

Her home in Eagle Creek had not been destroyed, but she did not know when she would be able to return.

Even though the horses are safe now from the fires, the dense smoke that fills the air is still a danger.

"With animals of this size, the danger is inhalation of fumes and the quality of the air," said Anderson.

"We don't make them exercise a lot, we walk them at a walk so that they don't get their heart rate up and don't make them breathe more than they need to."

By Sunday, many had found more permanent shelters and had moved on, and there were only about 20 horses left in the center.

But with the fires still burning in the state, the staff are still on alert.

"You can't predict who's going to be affected next," said Shelley. "We're just keeping our doors open, to make sure we're available for anybody who needs us."
In an interview with Egypt's Nile TV, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Zohrab Mnatsakanyan said the following:

Armenia and Egypt have a very deep and rich bilateral agenda. We also have important platforms of dialogue and cooperation & we share many important common positions on many issues of the regional and international agenda. We have to address the various challenges that concern our nations, our regions. One of the most important things we share is the very strong commitment to peace, security and stability in our respective regions and in this respect we share a lot in common, he said.

Touching upon the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Mnatsakanyan said the following: In the South Caucasus, we have our own set of security challenges. We have the unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, in which our priority focus is on the very existential physical security of our compatriots in Nagorno-Karabakh, and the status of Nagorno-Karabakh. And here we are involved in negotiations, not easy ones, we insist that the conflict can be resolved strictly through peaceful means, we insist that it has to be a compromise-based solution, and it cannot be a solution which is not based on a balance of position, a balance of interest. We are committed to work towards peace and security, towards the peaceful resolution of the conflict.
Three years ago, a statewide healthcare investigation ensnared Terry Ramnanan.

The 67-year-old Paramus doctor was accused of paying a chiropractor illegal kickbacks in exchange for patient referrals, and Ramnanan faced new charges the year after when officials accused him of fraudulently billing insurance companies.

But a judge later dismissed all ten charges against Ramnanan, and on Wednesday the doctor filed a lawsuit saying state officials falsified evidence that destroyed his career, and he asked for $100 million to make up for the utterly baseless criminal prosecution.

Hes been devastated by this, Jon Norinsberg, Ramnanans attorney, told NJ Advance Media. Who does he go to to get his reputation back?

The lawsuit accuses investigators in the state attorney generals office, as well as two participating chiropractors, of violating Ramnanans civil rights and fabricating evidence, among other charges.

A spokesman for state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal declined comment.

Bergen County Superior Court Judge Robert Vinci slammed prosecutors last year when he threw out the charges, according to a court transcript included in the lawsuit.

Officials misled and deceived a grand jury in an effort to charge Ramnanan, the judge said, and the State lost sight of its obligation to do justice and instead sought to indict the defendant on the most serious charges it could present.

Vinci concluded "that the State intentionally subverted the grand jury process resulting in a grand jury presentation that was fundamentally unfair, according to the transcript.

The judge did give prosecutors the option of re-introducing some charges, but no new charges were ever filed, according to Norinsberg and online court records.

Part of the case against Ramnanan hinged on a chiropractor named Ronald Hayek.

Hayek did admit to accepting kickbacks in exchange for patient referrals, according to state officials, and he pleaded guilty to bribery and money laundering, among other charges.

Yet Ramnanan was never part of that scheme, the lawsuit alleges, and prosecutors even altered a document to make it appear that he was.

After the chiropractor began cooperating with investigators, he secretly recorded a conversation with Ramnanan. Hayek asked Ramnanan if he had told anyone about their patient referrals, and a transcript of the exchange shows the doctor saying he had not, according to the suit.

But Ramnanan actually responded to the question before the chiropractor had finished asking it, because the doctor thought he was being asked about rent checks, according to the lawsuit. Ramnanan paid Hayek rent, and the lawsuit includes copies of multiple $600 checks.

In other words, the transcript makes it appear that Ramnanan was hiding criminal activity, while the recording itself is not clear, according to the lawsuit. Norinsberg declined to release a copy of the audio recording at this time.

Hayek used to run the Union Wellness Center. A voicemail message for Union Wellness said the facility was no longer open. A request for comment left at that number was not immediately returned, and a message left with a number listed for Hayek was also not immediately returned.

Ramnanans medical license remains active, according to public records. The Upper Saddle River resident still operates the Interventional Spine and Pain facility in Paramus, but he has almost no patients, according to his lawyer.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court of New Jersey.

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Blake Nelson can be reached at bnelson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BCunninghamN.

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Lawmakers are likely to bring a bill that would revamp electric utilities obligations in storm recovery in a special legislative session as soon as next week. But despite pleas from Republicans, the General Assembly is unlikely to discuss sweeping revisions to the controversial police-accountability bill that was approved last month.

As majority Democrats shape the special session, Senate President Pro Tempore Martin M. Looney of New Haven said the top of the agenda would be a so-called take-back-our-grid bill in response to Isaias, the recent tropical storm that knocked out power for hundreds of thousands of residents.

Looney and Speaker of the House Joe Aresimowicz of Berlin both said Tuesday that reimbursement for the spoilage of food and medicine is high on the list of provisions, as the bill takes form. Many lawmakers were rankled by the unwillingness of the states electric distribution monopolies  especially Eversource Energy and also United Illuminating  to provide paybacks to customers.

I cannot see a way that covering the cost of lost food because of the multi-day outage isnt included in this, Aresimowicz said. When youre a family living on the edges and youve spent a couple hundred dollars on food that you had to throw way because you were without power for seven days, it hurts.

Aresimowicz said Eversource is participating in crafting the bill. Eversource CEO Jim Judge said last week that a preliminary version of the bill, setting deadlines for restoration after mass outages, would have inintended consequences, and will come at a massive cost.

Judge said he did not oppose a move toward a performance-based reimbursement for Eversource, which is favored by Gov. Ned Lamont and Marissa P. Gillett, chair of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority.

Sen. Paul Formica, R-East Lyme, ranking Republican member on the Energy & Technology Committee, which oversees utility law, agreed that utilities should face some kind of penalty if they fail to restore power within a reasonable period of time. Electric providers in other states, including New York, have to reimburse consumers for lost food, he noted.

Formica also believes that the 2021 General Assembly has to revisit the 1998 legislation that restructured the states electric landscape, in which providers were separated from the generator side of the business. Times have certainly changed since then, Formica said. We have the luxury of hindsight.

Also on tap for the special session would be the annual school-construction legislation; judicial appointments including the state Supreme Court nomination of Judge Christine E. Keller, whose son, Matt Ritter, is House majority leader; and allowing condominiums into the program that assists owners of homes with failing foundations due to a flaw in the minerals used in eastern Connecticut in the 1980s.

Under a scenario currently under consideration, the state Senate would convene on Thursday, September 24 to consider bills, followed by the House the week afterwards, possibly on Tuesday the 29th or the day after.

No reworking police accountability

Looney said that requests from Republicans and police groups to revise the police accountability bill wont be brought up, despite a lengthy critique of the law Monday by Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano, R-North Haven.

Fasano claimed the legislation is discouraging to active officers and potential recruits alike. The bill may be linked to a recent uptick in crime statewide, he asserted.

Fasano said that the entire bill must be revisited because he believes it undermines confidence in law enforcement. His complaint turned political, charging that a recent vote of no-confidence in Gov. Ned Lamont, by the State Police Union is also repudiation of the Democratic majorities in the legislature.

It's clear that the damage caused by this bill is already being felt in our communities, Fasano wrote. Police officers do not have confidence in the administration. Delaying action on all problematic pieces of the new law will only create more public-safety issues.

The major portions of the bill would ban choke holds and create a statewide system where officers found to have acted wantonly and maliciously could become decertified and ineligible for jobs in other cities and towns.

Looney likened Fasanos wholesale opposition to the bill as similar to complaints that arose in 1966 over the so-called Miranda law from the U.S. Supreme Court, requiring that law enforcement read aloud the rights of suspects, which is now routine and uncontroversial.

He wants to basically dismantle the legislation, Looney said Tuesday. Thats a nonstarter for all of us. It just demonstrates an interest in trying to repeal the bill.

Naugatuck Detective Sgt. Amanda Devan says she and other cops from around the state are discouraged by the new law and want lawmakers to amend certain sections.

The majority of us who are good cops believe there needs to be a fix, said the 20-year veteran officer, in an interview. Certain sections are very ambiguous.

A definition of undermining confidence for disciplining police is vague and undefined, Devan said, leaving open the possibility of a car crash resulting in the dismissal of an officer. She is also wary of the 45-day time limits on investigations of officers.Is that time enough? Devan asked. Its not clear.

During last months debate, lawmakers in favor of the legislation stressed that only officers who display wanton and malicious behavior would be in danger of decertification, or exposed to civil lawsuits for brutality.

She said that even though the new law doesnt take effect until next summer, its already causing veterans like her to contemplate retirement, representing a potential wide-ranging loss of institutional knowledge. Now we have problems hiring people, said Devan, stressing that the most-experienced are often in charge of field training.

Devan, who participated in a recent video aimed at persuading lawmakers, predicted that with veterans leaving, departments could be under-staffed, leaving officers in danger of additional stress and the potential for burnout from routine 12-hour shifts.

State Rep. Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, deputy minority leader, said Tuesday that the entire bill, which had marathon debates in the House and Senate last month, is worthy of a robust conversation, particularly the portion dealing with the end of civil immunity from personal lawsuits.

Candelora said that hes concerned that this close to the Nov. 3 election, Democrats seem intent to lard the special session with things that can wait until 2021 and a newly elected House and Senate. Other possible bills that could be included are environmental legislation on cleaning properties of hazardous materials; and an adjustment to liquor laws to lower costs for private clubs.

Aresimowicz said in an interview that Fasanos aggressive request for an entirely new debate on police accountability was so blatantly political that even though some minor changes could make sense, its unlikely to be included in the governors upcoming call for the special session.

Based upon the letter Sen. Fasano sent, it makes it sure that it will not be taken up again, Aresimowicz said.

Staff Writer Alex Soule contributed to this story.

kdixon@ctpost.com Twitter: @KenDixonCT
Editor:

Fracking has been in the news a lot recently.

A number of New Mexico and U.S. Democrats want to ban it. What is it?

Traditionally, an oil well was one straight-down hole. To improve its ability to harvest the oil in its vicinity, it was filled with high pressure water to fracture the surrounding rock, releasing more oil and gas.

This has been done for generations.

A generation or so back, drillers developed the technology of horizontal drilling, allowing them to drill multiple wells from one drill pad. This reduced the number of well sites dotting the landscape.

Horizontal fracking is the fracking of these wells. Is fracking dangerous?

This is a question of local geology, hydrology, population density and competing uses. It should have nothing to do with national politics.

This technology has raised production, while reducing cost, and made the U.S. energy-independent for the first time in many decades. It has taken the Middle Eastern knee off our necks.

A fracking ban would put it right back on us.

Can solar and electric cars save us this fate? Both require rare earth minerals.

Once upon a time, the U.S. had a rare earth mine, in California. Environmentalists shut it down.

Now we get these minerals from China, where they dont have environmentalists. We now have a Chinese knee on our neck.

A closer-to-home example of the cost of green:

As of spring 2009, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency decreed that the maximum size of a home washer was reduced from the previous 20 pounds to 16 pounds. This seemed a bit silly, as load size selectors have been in use for a long time.

The water savings must be somewhere between trivial and non-existent.

My mother, with a house full of kids, washed 20 loads per week in a 20-pound machine. A 16-pound machine would have required 25 loads per week.

Thats an extra give loads per week, 50 weeks per year, for the 20 years she had a full house. 5 x 50 x 20 = 5,000 extra loads of laundry at about one hour each.

If a housewifes unpaid labor is valued at $10 per hour, that is $50,000 of forced tribute to the greenitude of Al Gore/Barack Obama.

If you are a mom, you might want to think about this before voting green.

Ken McDaniel

Rio Rancho
Dividend-starved shareholders were given good news yesterday after two British building firms vowed to bring back their payouts next year.

When the pandemic reached its height and hammered construction businesses, Redrow and Galliford Try were among companies that suspended their payouts to save cash.

But the pair will resume their divis and said they expected to return to profitability as demand returned. The housing market has picked up since it came out of lockdown hibernation in May, with sales turbocharged by the stamp duty relief announced in July.

Going up: Redrow and Galliford yesterday revealed plans to resume their divis and said they expected to return to profitability as demand returned to the sector

It was despite full-year profits at Redrow slumping from 406million to 140m in the year to June 28, while Galliford unveiled an annual loss of 35million.

Redrow said it had started the new financial year with a strong order book and reservations were up 12 per cent in the first 11 weeks when compared to 2019.

John Tutte, the companys boss, said divi payments were expected to return in 2021 subject to market conditions.

Galliford expects to return to a profit after two years of losses in a row, adding that it will reinstate dividends as soon as it turns a profit. Investors celebrated the results, sending shares 3.5 per cent higher, up 3.06p, to 91p.

But the pledge wasnt enough to rouse Redrows followers, with the FTSE 250-listed groups stock falling 1.8 per cent, or 8p, to 448.2p.

Stock Watch - Loungers Cafe and bar group Loungers was a hit with investors after it reported sales rose by 30 per cent between July and mid-September compared with last year  boosted by the Eat Out to Help Out scheme. The AIM-listed group, which operates the Lounge and Cosy Club chains, said the VAT reduction on food and non-alcoholic drinks also helped. Loungers rose 15 per cent, or 24p, to 173p, despite losses more than doubling because of Covid costs, its float last April and branch openings.



Elsewhere on the FTSE 250, bus and train operator First Group made gains after it appointed Ant Green, a bus driver and employee trainer for First Bus, to its board.

He will be group employee director and joins the safety committee. The shares rose 1.7 per cent, or 0.72p, to 43p,

But it was Mediterranean-focused oil and gas company Energean that shot to the top of the mid-cap leaderboard  rising 20.3 per cent, or 106.2p, to 629p  after it signed two contracts, worth up to around 2billion, to supply gas from a project off the coast of Israel.

Its surge wasnt enough to bring up the wider FTSE 250, which, after a day of treading water, closed 0.11 per cent lower, down 20.12 points, at 17795.26.

The FTSE 100 also finished in the red, dropping 0.44 per cent, or 27.06 points, to 6078.48.

Online trading group Plus500 dodged an embarrassing potential investor revolt by delaying a vote on fat cat bonuses.

The company, whose shares fell 1.1 per cent, or 16.5p, to 1483p, had been due to hold a ballot on a special 900,000 payout for finance chief Elad Even-Chen, which has been criticised by influential investor advisory services ISS and Glass Lewis.

But it withdrew the resolution just before its annual meeting started, citing concerns raised by some shareholders.

Even-Chens bonus, on top of a pay package that could reach 3.7million already this year, had been proposed as a reward for his efforts to secure a tax cut in Israel, where it is based.

However, some 16 per cent of investors still opposed the re-election of Plus500 chairman Penelope Judd, after being urged to so by Glass Lewis.

Posh tonic maker Fever-Tree saw its shares fizz after Berenberg increased the target price on its shares from 2350p to 2500p.

Analysts said there is excellent momentum in the US, where lockdown supermarket sales will have raised the profile of its brand.

It also has ample opportunity to expand to next wave European markets including Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland, they said, adding that whenever the company adds a new product it quickly proves popular.

Fever-Tree closed 9.9 per cent higher, up 217p, to 2400p.
Indonesia: Dig a grave for COVID-19 victims if you dont wear a mask

International

oi-Briti Roy Barman

Jakarta, Sep 15: The number of COVID-19 infection is in the surge across the globe. Govt, authorities are implementing different methods to keep safe people and prevent the infection. Yet it seems people are not care enough to follow the rules like wearing masks in public and avoid crowd for their and others' good.

The local authorities in Indonesia's East Java have devised an unconventional strategy to penalise people who refused to wear face masks and asked them to dig graves at a public cemetery in Ngabetan village.

According to a report in The Jakarta Post, eight people who refused to wear face masks in public during the coronavirus pandemic were ordered by local authorities to dig graves for people who died due COVID-19.

Coronavirus outbreak: India's COVID-19 tally inches closer to 5 million; Daily case drops to 83,809

"There are only three available gravediggers at the moment, so I thought I might as well put these people to work with them," Cerme district head Suyono told the news agency.

"Hopefully this can create a deterrent effect against violations," Suyono said. He further expressed concerns over the increasing number of Covid-19 cases in Cerme, and added that this had resulted in authorities tightening Covid-related protocols in the village.

Suyono assigned two people to each grave to assist the gravediggers. Of the two people, one is tasked with digging the grave while the other with laying wooden boards inside the hole to support the corpse, said the report.

No anti-maskers, who are being punished, are forced to handle the dead bodies, it noted.

Suyono further said that the number of COVID-19 cases continued to increase in Cerme, which had prompted the village administration to strengthen protocols in the region, said the report.

India elected as the member of the United Nations Commission on Status of Women | Oneindia News

Meanwhile, Indonesia's capital Jakarta has been witnessing a surge in COVID-19 cases with more than 54,000 of the nation's 2,18,000 cases. The city also has recorded 1,391 deaths of the nation's toll of 8,723.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Tuesday, September 15, 2020, 12:58 [IST]
Greece and Cyprus can count on Europe's 'full solidarity on protecting their legitimate sovereignty rights,' von der Leyen told the European Parliament

The European Commission's president on Wednesday warned Turkey against trying to intimidate Greece and Cyprus, as tensions grow over energy reserves in the eastern Mediterranean.

In her annual State of the EU speech, Ursula von der Leyen said Ankara was a key partner doing important work hosting refugees but stressed "none of this is justification for attempts to intimidate its neighbours".

Turkey, Greece and Cyprus have been locked in a row over energy resources and maritime borders in the region, with Ankara infuriating the EU countries by sending research ships with naval escorts to work in contested waters.

There have been fears of conflict erupting and Cyprus is pressing the rest of the EU to impose fresh sanctions on Ankara over the drilling.

"Turkey is and will always be an important neighbour, but while we are close together on the map, the distance between us appears to be growing," von der Leyen told the European Parliament.

"Yes, Turkey is in a troubled neighbourhood. And yes, it is hosting millions of refugees, for which we support them with considerable funding. But none of this is justification for attempts to intimidate its neighbours."

Greece and Cyprus can count on Europe's "full solidarity on protecting their legitimate sovereignty rights", she added.

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Protesters showed up for a multitude of causes. // Photo by Jim Nimmo On Saturday, August 29th, several groups of activists gathered in front of City Hall to protest child sex trafficking. They promoted stronger criminal penalties for the crime and rallied to raise awareness.
Bangladesh has appealed to the Indian government to withdraw the ban imposed on onion export as soon as possible, keeping the import flow of onion from India uninterrupted.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam said on Tuesday: "We are expecting a positive result soon in this regard, Dhaka has requested New Delhi to revoke its ban on onion export as India earlier had made an 'unofficial' pledge to Bangladesh of a continuing supply of onion here."

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) of India on Monday issued a notification imposing restrictions on onion export with immediate effect. This decision has posed a negative impact on onion markets in Bangladesh.

Veteran Indian politician and Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar has also requested the Indian government to lift ban on onion exports, saying "this decision has led to strong reactions from the onion growing belt in Maharashtra".

The ban jeopardises India's export share in the onion markets of Gulf countries, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, he tweeted.

Alam said there is an "unwritten" understanding between Bangladesh and India that New Delhi would not impose a ban on onion export and if New Delhi takes such a decision, they would inform Dhaka beforehand.

Being informed about India government's decision of imposing ban on onion export last night, the State Minister said Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi has raised the issue to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs immediately.

Alam also added that the Commerce ministry of Bangladesh is looking into the onion import issue.
P ressure was today mounting on British Gas owner Centrica to U-turn on its controversial fire and rehire plans, while British Airways appeared to back down from its similar stance.

The energy giant has been accused by unions of forcing 20,000 British Gas employees to accept worse contracts or risk losing their jobs. Workers face changes to conditions including their working hours and holiday entitlements under the plans.

British Gas followed British Airways in drawing the ire of unions with proposals to rehire 30,000 workers on lower pay and perks. Yesterday Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer condemned the practice of giving staff notice of redundancy and then hiring them back on worse pay and conditions.

MPs have now intervened, with 23 signing an early day motion calling for the company to withdraw its Section 188 notice of potential redundancies.

Labour MP John Cryer, who brought the motion, told the Standard: A lot of British Gas engineers will be on good terms and risk losing those. They are skilled, valued engineers. If half the country has its terms and conditions ground into the dirt, its just wrong. Where will it end?

He added: The Government is going to be forced to make an intervention as its a not sustainable to have a strike at such a critically important business.

Southwark MP Neil Coyle said: For people who are more vulnerable to Covid its important their home is properly heated to avoid hospitalisation. There are also hundreds of thousands of people still working from home and people need heating in their homes.

Centrica has argued using the Section 188 notice is a last resort and there will be no change to base pay and pensions. It said that constructive discussions are ongoing.

The talks with 20,000 staff are on top of the 5,000 redundancies announced in June, although sources said these may be pared back to maintain customer service levels.

Justin Bowden, GMB National Secretary, said The use of Section 188s really was a rarity until its infamous use by British Airways. Its been described as an insurance policy which is a disgusting euphemism for saying agree or have this done to you.

Separately, British Airways today backed down from its fire and rehire plan as its boss appeared before MPs.

The airline has seen trading destroyed by the Covid pandemic, which triggered 12,000 job cuts.

Chief executive Alex Cruz told the House of Commons transport committee: There will be no need to issue new contracts. No need to fire and rehire.

Cruz said that, while job cuts with pilots were quickly agreed, its attempts to get unions representing the rest of its staff to negotiate were tricky. I frankly regret that it took such a long time for the other unions to sit down, he said.

Cruz claimed it took 73 days to get unions to sit down and they had been invited to 500 different meetings.

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Cruz said final agreements had not been made but were imminent.
(AP)

Donald Trump has criticised Joe Biden for not making mask-wearing compulsory even though the Democrats are not in power.

The president was meeting undecided voters for the first time in months for a televised town hall which is seen as a preview to the US Election presidential debates in two weeks.

He was asked why he didnt wear masks more often and why he didnt support making them mandatory across the US.

"They said at the Democrat Convention they're gonna do a national [mask] mandate. They never did it." -- someone might want to inform Trump who the president is



He then tries to both-sides mask wearing, saying "a lot of people think that masks are not good." pic.twitter.com/FACVjMr0di  Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 16, 2020

They said at the Democrat convention theyre going to do a national mandate, Mr Trump responded.

They never did it, because theyve checked out and they didnt do it.

And a good question is, you ask Joe Biden - they said were going to do a national mandate on masks.

Mr Biden reminded voters on Twitter: Im not currently president.

To be clear: I am not currently president. But if you chip in now, we can change that in November: https://t.co/eFS4tDfHEx https://t.co/ciqFcIGLHB  Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) September 16, 2020

Mr Trump, who has failed to aggressively promote mask-wearing throughout the pandemic, continued to cast doubt on their effectiveness.

There are a lot of people that dont think masks are good, he said, even though his own Centre for Disease Control (CDC) urges Americans to wear one.

The president pointed out that the CDC changed its advice on masks as did infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci.

Story continues

Dr Fauci has since defended his decision to advise against wearing masks in late-February and early-March as the US was experiencing shortages of PPE.

Mr Trump said masks were not entirely effective as people still had a tendency to touch their face.

"Ill tell you who those people are - waiters. They come over and they serve you, and they have a mask they're playing with the mask.

They're playing with the mask, so the mask is over, and they're touching it, and then they're touching the plate. That cant be good.

Earlier this week Mr Trump defied Nevadas coronavirus restrictions by hosting an indoor rally to a nearly mask-less crowd with no social distancing.

Only those who appeared on camera were required to wear a mask.

"If the governor comes after you, which he shouldnt be doing, Ill be with you all the way," he told the crowd.

The US has recorded more than 6.6 million coronavirus infections with nearly 196,000 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally.

The death toll is the highest in the world.

Read more

Boris Johnson fascinated and intrigued by Donald Trump, says former ambassador
He said it is trying to meet a 'colossal spike' in demand as official draw up testing priority plans

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Britain has recorded nearly 4,000 new Covid-19 cases for the first time since the start of May and the number of people being admitted to hospital has risen once again, adding to mounting fears the outbreak is spiralling out of control again.

Infections have risen 40 per cent in a week because of the 3,991 new positive tests. The rolling seven-day average of daily infections currently stands at 3,286, up on the 2,358 last Wednesday. The UK hasn't recorded 4,000 cases in a day since May 8 after the crisis fizzled out and dropped to record lows in July.

More than 6,000 infections were announced on darkest days of the crisis in April  but only 15,000 Britons were being tested every 24 hours and swabs were restricted to the most severely-ill, unlike the 200,000 swabs being carried each out every day now.

It means the true scale of the pandemic remains a mystery and the resurgence of the disease can't be accurately compared to the first wave. Top experts believe up to 100,000 new Covid-19 cases were occurring a day during the worst part of Britain's outbreak.

Dr Andrew Preston, an infectious disease expert based at the University of Bath, told MailOnline: 'There is a lot of troubling data, but we are not near the stage of the peak. I dont think we will end up back in the situation we had in March and April as people are more wary now.'

The crisis slowly started to grow after restrictions were lifted on 'Super Saturday' at the start of July, allowing the nation to finally enjoy some of their summer after being stuck in lockdown since March. Infections have soared in the past fortnight, after teachers and pupils went back to school and workers dashed back to their offices.

Health chiefs also announced 20 more laboratory-confirmed Covid-19 deaths across all settings today. Wales was the only home nation to declare no new victims.

Separate figures show hospital admissions in England  another way of measuring the severity of the pandemic  are starting to rise again. Another 172 newly-infected patients needed NHS treatment on Monday, with the figure being above 100 for almost a week. For comparison, the average number of admissions dropped to just 45 at the end of August.

It come as government figures reveal Covid-19 cases are soaring among middle-aged people in England and have risen by upwards of 90 per cent in a fortnight as the outbreak continues to grow, official figures show. But adults in their twenties  who aren't as vulnerable to the disease  are still driving the outbreak, according to Public Health England.

Government officials say a second wave of Covid-19 in Britain would not be nearly as bad as the first  which killed between 40 and 55,000 people  because we are better at containing the virus through local lockdowns and social distancing measures, and that medical breakthroughs have helped to slash the death rate.

Hospital admissions  another way of measuring the severity of the pandemic  have doubled in England over the past ten days. More than 150 newly-infected patients required NHS treatment on Sunday, up from a rolling seven-day average of 52 on the last day of August

How hospital admissions have changed over time: Data shows how they peaked at more than 3,000 admission a day at the start of April. Circled in red is the most recent four weeks worth of data

Data from the Covid Symptom Tracker app, run by King's College London, shows there were days in March and April when more than 100,000 cases of coronavirus were estimated to have been caught in the UK. But testing figures were showing fewer than 6,500, meaning that the numbers of cases now cannot be compared like for like, because the currently estimated number of new cases is around 3,200 and many of them are now being picked up by tests, whereas only a vanishingly small number were at the start

How hospital admissions have changed over time: Data shows how they peaked at more than 3,000 admission a day at the start of April. Circled in red is the most recent four weeks worth of data

In other coronavirus news today:

Britons could face an even tougher lockdown within two weeks unless the Rule of Six brings down coronavirus cases, it was claimed today, with a possible option being a 10pm curfew on pubs;

Rhondda in south Wales will be placed under a local lockdown from 6pm on Thursday following an increase of coronavirus cases;

A hospital in Manchester accounted for a third of all Covid-19 deaths in England last week, it was revealed today amid fears the life-threatening disease is spreading between wards.

SECOND WAVE WON'T BE AS BAD, GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS CLAIM A second wave of Covid-19 in Britain would not be nearly as bad as the first because we are better at containing and treating the virus now, Government officials have claimed. One reason for this prediction is the fact that we now know so much more about the virus. This includes medical advances, such as the discovery that steroid treatment dexamethasone can cut the risk of death from coronavirus by a third. Officials also say that local lockdowns  and the beleaguered test and trace service  have successfully prevented recent outbreaks from spreading more widely. Nonetheless, they stress that it is wrong to assume that the virus is only circulating among the young. While many new cases are patients aged between 17 and 21, the latest statistics show infection rates for those in their 50s and 60s are now as high as they were for those in their 20s several weeks ago. Advertisement

Commenting on the figures today, Dr Preston said: 'We know who is at risk of the disease and those peoples behaviour has changed dramatically since March.

'We stopped community testing [in March and April]. We probably did go through a spell we were testing most of symptomatic cases in May and June. But we are currently stalling and not hitting capacity, so we still dont really have a firm idea of where the pinch points are.

'If we just go testing case where its clear there is probably infection  where people are asymptomatic  I dont think it will enough to stamp out the infection.

'There are so many people struggling to get a test. I think there is a real concern of overusing the testing programme only to give an indication of the outbreak.

'Id perhaps put more faith in the population surveys which are across the board, particularly now when young people are driving cases.'

Professor Lawrence Young, a virologist and oncologist at the University of Warwick, told MailOnline: 'Making comparisons with what was previously detected and tested is difficult because we are testing a different part of the population. It is misleading. Thats not to underestimate that there is not more community spread at the moment.

'Whats interesting today is that the PM is saying its going to happen again [prioritising tests]. But as it stands, its not appropriate or accurate to make any comparisons with levels of infectious now and what was happening during the peak. Because we were not doing as much widespread testing to use as a benchmark.

'France is a good comparison because it looks like we are a couple of weeks behind them. Weve got to try and contain the infection and the only way to do that is to test, trace and isolate in the absence of a vaccine.'

He added: 'Just as Andy Burnham has been saying, there really needs to be more effective local control and central Government needs to recognise, I think, the only way to prevent escalation is for local testing and tracing to be supported as much as possible. I think the whole business of testing in these lighthouses remains problematic.

'Unfortunately making comparison is not relevant, because weve never known how many have been infected. Antibody studies have shown there has been more infection the community than previously thought and detected early in the pandemic. It also shows the majority of individuals are still susceptible to infection.'

The drastic rise of 3,991 cases today comes amid continuing concerns over the inability to access tests in England, and delays in getting results back quickly.

A surge in demand for coronavirus tests following the lifting of several lockdown restrictions this summer, coming to a head in the past few weeks with schools re-opening and a back-to-work drive, has led to local shortages. Many people with symtoms have reported being directed to test sites hundreds of miles from home.

Boris Johnson defended the troubled Covid-19 testing system today as the Government draws up a list setting out who will be at the front of the queue for coronavirus tests after a 'colossal spike' in demand.

Care home residents and staff are likely to be near the top of the list, as Mr Johnson acknowledged fears of a fresh coronavirus crisis in care homes.

Deaths being announced each day by the Department of Health have tumbled since the peak of Britain's Covid-19 crisis, with more than 1,000 patients killed on some days in April.

The most up-to-date government coronavirus death toll  released yesterday afternoon  stood at 41,637. It takes into account victims who have died within 28 days of testing positive.

The deaths 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.

And the figure 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 and Northern Ireland are out of sync.

The toll announced by NHS England every day, which only takes into account fatalities in hospitals, doesn't 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'.

The government's official toll is different to the figures compiled by the ONS, which includes suspected fatalities where coronavirus was mentioned on a death certificate and not just lab-confirmed ones.

ONS data released yesterday also revealed the total number of deaths in England and Wales has also fallen below the five-year average for the first time in a month, dropping 15.7 per cent below the average expected. Experts said this was because it contained the August bank holiday, which would have caused a recording lag.

Curfews, pub closures and small gatherings only: how the UK could throttle second wave Britain could follow the example of Belgium in taking steps to throttle the rising number of coronavirus cases. Brussels was able to curtail a second wave of coronavirus by limiting the number of people who could socialise together and imposing a nationwide curfew. The European country experienced a resurgence of the virus in mid-July that was comparable to the UK's current trajectory. On July 29, officials there brought in new rules reduced the number of people who could socialise together from 15 to five and introduced a 10pm curfew on the entire population. Coronavirus infections started to rise in Belgium in mid-July, with the weekly case rate going over 35 per 100,000 by August- the level currently being felt in Britain - and daily infections breaching 1,000. The numbers have fallen over recent weeks, with only 194 new cases reported on September 1. Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty is among those who have praised the actions of the Belgian Government to tackle the outbreak. Last week he said Belgium was a 'clear indication that if you act rapidly and decisively when these changes are happening, there is a reasonable or good chance of bringing the rates back down under control.' Such a move would allow people to go still go to work and school but would place curbs on nightlife, which could place high pressure on the hospitality industry, with pubs and restaurants forced to close early. Advertisement

A further 11 people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in hospital in England, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals to 29,687, NHS England said on Wednesday.

Patients, who died between September 11 and September 15, were aged between 69 and 98 and all had known underlying health conditions.

Scotland's additional death reported today takes the country's total to 2,501. Health chiefs announced 267 new confirmed cases in the past 24 hours.

Public Health Wales said no further deaths had been reported, with the total number of deaths since the beginning of the pandemic remaining at 1,597.

However, there have been a further 199 cases of Covid-19 in Wales, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 19,880.

Today the Welsh Government announced that Rhondda Cynon Taf will be placed under a local lockdown from 6pm on Thursday following an increase of coronavirus cases.

Residents of the South Wales region will be banned from meeting households indoors, travelling outside of the council area and face masks must be worn in shops, similar to Caerphilly which is also under a local lockdown.

The local authority area's incidence rate hit 82.1 per 100,000 people over the past seven days.

The increase goes well above the infection rate of 50 per 100,000 people marked as the threshold that saw nearby Caerphilly go under local lockdown on September 8.

Health minister Vaughan Gething said: 'We have seen a rapid rise in cases in Rhondda Cynon Taf in a very short space of time, linked to people socialising indoors and not following social distancing guidelines.

'We now have evidence of wider community transmission in the borough, which means we need to take urgent action to control and, ultimately, reduce the spread of the virus and protect people's health.'

Meanwhile Britons could face an even tougher lockdown within two weeks unless the Rule of Six brings down coronavirus cases, it was claimed today.

Ministers and government officials insist they are ready to take more draconian steps to stop the spread, despite a wave of criticism.

Today the Welsh Government announced that Rhondda Cynon Taf will be placed under a local lockdown from 6pm on Thursday following an increase of coronavirus cases

MANCHESTER HOSPITAL ACCOUNTED FOR A THIRD OF COVID-19 DEATHS IN ONE WEEK One hospital in Manchester accounted for a third of all Covid-19 deaths in England last week, it was revealed today amid fears the life-threatening disease is spreading between wards. Tameside General Hospital, in Ashton-under-Lyne, suffered 18 laboratory-confirmed coronavirus fatalities in the week to September 10, treble the six fatalities the week prior. Figures from NHS England, which records all deaths in the country's hospitals, show a total of 52 victims were registered in the same week. Some of the infected patients who died at the 500-bed Tameside General Hospital had been admitted for other illnesses before catching the coronavirus during their hospital stay, sources have claimed. Health chiefs are now investigating the spate of deaths but the hospital insists it is a 'routine review' during the pandemic. The deaths at Tameside General Hospital, which serves the surrounding area of Tameside and the town of Glossop in Derbyshire, were described by The Guardian as 'sudden and unexplained'. It is currently unclear how many of the 18 Tameside patients died after catching Covid-19, while at hospital for another reason. Well-placed NHS sources confirmed that at least some of the cases were the result of nosocomial infection  transmission within a hospital. But hospital sources insisted that 'the majority' of the 18 people had Covid-19 before they came in, suggesting there has been an increase in admissions for the disease in Tameside as a result of rising cases. The NHS checked last week whether the hospital has stringent infection control, preventing the coronavirus from spreading between patients and staff. According to sources, official were satisfied. Tameside is one of the 10 boroughs that make up Greater Manchester, which has been hit by local Covid-related restrictions. It is currently battling one of the highest infection rates of Covid-19 in England, with 107.7 cases per 100,000 people, according to data. This is almost four times higher than the country's average (26). Some 244 positive test results were reported in Tameside in just one week to September 12, up from 148 the week prior, suggesting the spread is not slowing. However testing has also increased in the area. Advertisement

Options on the table could range from curfews to closing pubs - although there is a determination that schools will stay open.

This is despite warnings today that schools could be forced to close by default in coming weeks because of a massive shortage of tests across the UK.

'Lockdown is the only thing that we know works, to be frank,' one government science adviser told ITV.

A senior member of the government told ITV's Robert Peston that there was 'no possibility of us waiting for the death rate to rise before we act'.

They added that the government will reassess whether the Rule of Six has been enough to control the situation in fortnight - but there is a widespread view that schools should not be shut again.

A leading scientific advisor reportedly said: 'I think that if we want to keep schools open, we probably have to give serious consideration to a wide range of other measures to stop a major second wave.

'And we have to think about doing that right now - which we are starting to do.'

Although cases have spiked over 3,000 a day, it had been mainly among younger people, who are less likely to be badly affected. But now Covid-19 cases are soaring among middle-aged people in England.

PHE figures released on Friday, which offer the most detailed insight into the state of the coronavirus crisis in England, revealed how people in their twenties are driving the current outbreak.

The infection rate for those aged 20-29 has risen from 23.5 cases for every 100,000 people in the week ending August 16, to 46 in the most recent full week of data, which finished on September 6.

The rate is now 29.8 for people in their 30s, up from 19.6 the week before and 16.4 at the end of August. And it has jumped to 23.4 for 40 to 49-year-olds, up from 13.5 in the previous seven-day spell and 12.4 at the end of last month.

Infections rates have risen from 10.9 to 20 in the space of a week for people in their 50s, and have increased from 7.5 to 12.4 for those in their sixties.

Cases are also rising for people over the age of 70, who are the most vulnerable to the disease because of their age. Infection rates have jumped from 4.6 to 7.3 for those in their 70s over the lat week, and from 8.9 to 12.9 for those 80 or older.

For children, rates have jumped from 5.6 to 7.7 for those up to the age of four, and have risen from 5.1 to 8.1 among 10 to 19-year-olds.

Hospital admissions have also risen over the same time-frame, according to data published by the Department of Health.

Government statistics show 153 newly-infected patients needed NHS care in England on Sunday, September 13. Similar data has not yet been released for Monday or yesterday.

For comparison, 85 patients were admitted to hospital in England last Sunday.

The rolling seven-day average of hospital admissions  considered one of the best ways to analyse trends  shows the rate has risen from 52.43 on the last day of August to 127.57 on September 13. The rate topped 100 on September 10 and was 72 last Sunday.

Hopes of fighting a second wave are also high because vaccines could be available as early as next spring, with a 'long pipeline' of promising jabs being trialled.

In addition, early signs from the southern hemisphere indicate that any flu outbreak will be less severe than in previous years.

It comes as top Belgium scientist Jean-Luc Gala said Belgium's rising infection rate is 'completely normal' and ongoing lockdown measures should be relaxed. He told French-language newspaper La Derniere Heure that 'people no longer suffer from the coronavirus, but measures to stop it.'

He said people should not worry as the virus 'is circulating in a category that does not suffer from it, young people who will at worst have small symptoms, at best nothing at all'. He said people who the virus only midly affects becoming infected is beneficial as it contributes to wide-spread immunity.

Ministers had been concerned that a combination of flu and corona cases would prove catastrophic for the NHS this winter.

However, officials also expect that advice on hygiene and social distancing during the corona pandemic will suppress flu rates  as will the trend for working from home and avoiding public transport.

In Australia and New Zealand  which typically provide good indicators of how the flu will develop in the UK  cases have remained low compared with last year.

Officials still believe the next six months 'will be very tricky' for the NHS and the country as a whole  but their cautious optimism provides a marked contrast to recent warnings from doctors' unions and medical colleges, which have claimed that hospitals would be unable to cope with a second wave.

A survey by the British Medical Association this week found that 86 per cent of doctors expect coronavirus to surge again over the next six months.

Public Health England (PHE) data reveals 23.4 cases are now diagnosed for every 100,000 people aged between 40 and 49  up from 12.4 at the end of August. And coronavirus infection rates have nearly doubled in just a week for people in their fifties, jumping from 10.9 to 20

The most up-to-date PHE data, which was released on Friday, clearly shows cases are spiralling across every age group. People in their twenties  who aren't as vulnerable to the disease and are likely to escape death or serious illness  are driving the spike with an infection rate of 46, which has doubled in the last three weeks

When Spain, France and Belgium hit 18 cases per 100,000 (which the UK did at the start of September) they then saw admissions increase by up to four-fold. But Belgium was able to reduce its hospital rate by reintroducing tough measures

In August the hospitalisation rate in Belgium doubled from one per 100,000 to two per 100,000, but it has since been squashed

Hospitalisation rates remain low and falling in the UK, from a peak of more than 30 per 100,000 people to fewer than one per 100,000, but officials fear they will rise again soon

PARENTS, TEACHERS AND CHILDREN WILL GO TO THE BACK OF THE QUEUE FOR COVID TESTS Parents, teachers and children face being put to the back of the queue for Covid tests as Matt Hancock admitted yesterday swabs will have to be rationed. In a humiliating climbdown, the Health Secretary said a 'priority list' would ensure environments such as care homes and hospitals would have enough. However, it comes at the expense of millions of others, with warnings issued that the UK was being put into 'lockdown by default' as a result of the shortage of tests. Hundreds of schools have been partially or completely closed because of coronavirus cases - both proven and suspected - leading to fears of a domino effect, resulting in parents not being able to go to work and the return of empty offices. More than one in 10 children were not in classes last Thursday, figures show, as the National Governance Association claims the growing number of pupils and staff awaiting tests could cripple parent confidence in getting their children back to school. Advertisement

However, Government officials believe that while cases are on the rise again, the curve will be flatter when compared with March and April.

One reason for this prediction is the fact that we now know so much more about the virus. This includes medical advances, such as the discovery that steroid treatment dexamethasone can cut the risk of death from coronavirus by a third.

Officials also say that local lockdowns  and the beleaguered test and trace service  have successfully prevented recent outbreaks from spreading more widely.

Nonetheless, they stress that it is wrong to assume that the virus is only circulating among the young.

While many new cases are patients aged between 17 and 21, the latest statistics show infection rates for those in their 50s and 60s are now as high as they were for those in their 20s several weeks ago.

Figures from the Department of Health yesterday showed there were 3,105 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, compared with around 5,000 a day at the height of the crisis. There were another 27 deaths, up from nine recorded on Tuesday.

A special envoy from the World Health Organisation yesterday said the 'grotesque' global outlook was 'much worse than any science fiction'.

Appearing before the Foreign Affairs Committee, Dr David Nabarro told MPs: 'It's a terrible situation... a health issue has got so out of control it's knocking the world into not just a recession but a huge economic contraction, which would probably double the number of poor people, double the number of malnourished [and] lead to hundreds of millions of small businesses going bankrupt.'
A man is in stable condition after being stabbed in St. Catharines at about 5 a.m. Tuesday.

Niagara Regional Police said the incident occurred in the area of Facer Street and Charles Avenue, leaving a victim in his 20s suffering from stab wounds.

Niagara Emergency Medical Services spokesman Bryce Brunarski said paramedics were dispatched at 4:58 a.m., after a male sustained stab wounds to his upper body.

Although police reported the patient to be in stable condition, Brunarski said the injuries were considered life-threatening by the paramedics who transported him to hospital.

He was alert and talking to the paramedics, but just because of the location and type of injury thats why they went life threatening, he said. They just wanted to get him some definitive care as quickly as possible.

Brunarski said the victim sustained more than one stab wound to the chest.

Because of the timing and location, we were able to get him right to the hospital, he said.

He said an Ornge air ambulance was then dispatched to the hospital, to transport the patient to an out-of-region trauma centre.

Police said detectives are investigating the incident and are asking anyone who may have witnessed it or anyone with information to contact them at 905-688-4111 ext. 9628.
MBABANE  Gciniwe Fakudze has left Eswatini Mobile. Fakudze left the company after three years of service as she joined it in October 2017.



Her last day at work was yesterday.

Fakudze held the position of Chief Customer Officer (CCO).

A questionnaire was sent to the companys Human Resource Manager Phindile Nhlabatsi, who confirmed Fakudzes departure.

She said Fakudze greatly contributed to the success of Eswatini Mobile.



Leadership



Her visionary leadership over the years helped us achieve great milestones. We have no doubt that her light will continue shining in her next assignment. We will miss her greatly, said Nhlabatsi.



She said Fakudze was leaving Eswatini Mobile in good terms and remained one of their brand ambassadors.

We wish you continued success in all your future endeavours, reads an official statement by the company.

Both of Fakudzes phones rang unanswered when called yesterday.



She later sent a text message, promising to return the calls later.

By the time of going to print, she had not responded.



Future



Fakudzes future endeavours could not be established.

Before joining Eswatini Mobile, Fakudze had held the position of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in two municipalities in the country, for a total of 16 years. She first joined the Siteki Town Council when she was aged 23, where she held the position of CEO for about 2 years.



At 26 years old, she joined the Matsapha Town Council where she held the same position (CEO) for 14 years.

Fakudze was also crowned Eswatinis 2008-09 Corporate Business Woman of the Year.




NOTWITHSTANDING the internal damage that the MDCs infighting is causing, the partys senseless wars are escalating  amid growing fears that the once formidable movement could soon implode altogether.





So bad is the MDCs mindless bloodletting pitting two rabidly antagonistic groups led by Thokozani Khupe and Nelson Chamisa, that dejected senior party officials told the Daily News last night that they were losing hope about the future of the political outfit that was founded by the revered, but now late Morgan Tsvangirai.





This comes as political analysts have warned both Khupe and Chamisa that they risk becoming irrelevant due to their poor leadership and inability to resolve their differences  to the glee of the ruling Zanu PF.





We are rudderless and leaderless. There is currently no strategy on how to get the party out of this mess or what to do as 2023 fast approaches. We cant protect our officials from being purged by Khupe.





To add to many peoples misery, there is a deep sense of a lack of support for senior party officials like Wiwa (MDC national deputy chairperson Job Sikhala) who are languishing in prison on spurious charges.





The MPs and councillors who have been recalled feel very aggrieved because there hasnt been any strong response and or counter plan to the current carnage, one of the senior officials who spoke to the Daily News said.





This comes as Khupe has recalled 21 legislators, as well dozens of councillors around the country, as her feud with Chamisa plumbs new depths.





The recall of 11 more councillors from Harare City Council (HCC) this week, following the recall of former mayor Herbert Gomba and six other councillors last month, has led to fears that Zimbabwes biggest local authority will end up being run by a government appointed commission.





From the latest batch off 11 recalled HCC councillors, Khupes interim party leadership included deputy mayor Enock Mupamawonde among the scalps  in a not so subtle hint that new city mayor Jacob Mafumes tenure in office will likely be very short-lived.





Respected political analyst, Eldred Masunungure, told the Daily News last night that Chamisas leadership was being tested severely, and he appeared not to have a solid plan on how to deal with the myriad crises bedevilling the MDC alliance.





His supporters are clamouring for action, but Chamisa has limited options  Internal and external problems are besieging him.





The State blocked demonstrations  and he has exhausted the legal route. He must now reconsider all his strategies.





His supporters are justified in their despondency. They are piling the pressure on him because they dont know what is happening.





But its difficult for Chamisa to go out and explain anything because the State is out to liquidate the MDC Alliance, Masunungure told the Daily News.





Namibia-based political analyst, Admire Mare, said without new political strategies Chamisa was going nowhere.





I think he needs to re-strategise and come up with unorthodox plans given the insurmountable challenges facing the party and the nation at large.

It is clear that Khupe and team have done their homework and are benefiting from the co-operation of key State institutions who want to create a pliable opposition in the country.

So the MDC Alliance cannot afford to fold their hands and hope that the situation will resolve itself, Mare told the Daily News.





The best route is to galvanise the social base and explain to supporters how they (MDC Alliance) intends to continue outside this choreographed opposition drama as exhibited by Khupe and her acolytes.





He (Chamisa) is increasingly putting himself under pressure by failing to provide a clear direction for his supporters on the way forward, given the lawfare and political strategies that are being used against him and his party, Mare added.





International Crisis Group senior consultant, Piers Pigou, said the current MDC infighting portended bad things to come for the countrys biggest opposition.





The cards remain stacked against the MDC Alliance and Chamisa, compounded by a number of own goals and a paucity of clear and consistent messaging to domestic and international, especially regional, audiences.





Much more effort is needed on the mobilisation, communications and lobbying front with clear illustrations about the deficits of a failing reform programme  including the fusion of party  and the militarys mission creeping into Zimbabwes economics and politics, Pigou told the Daily News.





This comes as the senseless wars consuming the MDC continue to deepen, with neither Khupe nor Chamisa seemingly able to stabilise the troubled party  to the utter glee of Zanu PF.





The party has been consumed by its mindless ructions ever since its much-loved founding father Tsvangirai died from colon cancer in February 2018.

The infighting escalated after the Supreme Courts judgment earlier this year which upheld last years ruling by the High Court that nullified Chamisas ascendancy to the leadership of the countrys biggest opposition party.




A three-judge bench of the High Court has dismissed a petition to stop Attorney General Kihara Kariuki from hiring external lawyers to represent the government in court during civil proceedings.

Justices Jessie Lesiit, Enock Mwita and Lucy Njuguna Tuesday found that the AG is allowed by law to procure the services of a private firm to act on behalf of the government. They, however, said the AG should be guided by the provisions of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal (PPAD) Act.

Katiba Institute and Africa Centre for Open Governance (Africog) wanted the court to declare it illegal and unconstitutional for the AG to engage the services of external lawyers instead of delegating the duty to State Counsels. The groups had filed an objection to the appointment of Iseme, Kamau and Maema Advocates to represent the Attorney-General in a petition filed against the Public Service Commission (PSC) three years ago.
Researchers at the Microsoft Quantum Materials Lab and the University of Copenhagen, working closely together, have succeeded in realizing an important and promising material for use in a future quantum computer. For this end, the researchers have to create materials that hold the delicate quantum information and protect it from decoherence.

The so called topological states seem to hold this promise, but one of the challenges has been that a large magnetic field had to be applied. With the new material, it has become possible to realize topological states without the magnetic field. "The result is one of many new developments needed before an actual quantum computer is realized, but along the way better understanding of how quantum systems work, and might be applied to medicine, catalysts or materials, will be some of the positive side effects to this research", Professor Charles Marcus explains. The scientific article is now published in Nature Physics

Topological states are promising - but there are many challenges along the way

Topological states in condensed-matter systems have generated immense excitement and activity in the last decade, including the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics. There is a natural fault-tolerance of the so called Majorana zero modes, which makes topological states ideally suited for quantum computing. But progress in realizing topological Majorana zero modes has been hampered by the requirement of large magnetic fields to induce the topological phase, which comes at a cost: the system must be operated in the bore of a large magnet, and every topological segment must be precisely aligned along the direction of field.

The new results report a key signature of topological superconductivity, but now in the absence of an applied magnetic field. A thin layer of the material europium sulfide (EuS), whose internal magnetism naturally aligns with the axis of the nanowire and induces an effective magnetic field (more than ten thousand times stronger than the Earth's magnetic field) in the superconductor and semiconductor components, appears sufficient to induce the topological superconducting phase.

Professor Charles Marcus explains the progress this way: "The combination of three components into a single crystal - semiconductor, superconductor, ferromagnetic insulator--a triple hybrid--is new. It's great news that it forms a topological superconductor at low temperature. This gives us a new path to making components for topological quantum computing, and gives physicists a new physical system to explore".

The new results will soon be applied to engineering the qubit

The next step will be to apply these results in order to get closer to realizing the actual working qubit. So far the researchers have worked on the physics and now they are about to embark on engineering an actual device. This device, the qubit, is essentially to a quantum computer what the transistor is to the ordinary computer we know today. It is the unit performing the calculations, but this is where the comparison ends. The potential for the performance of a quantum computer is so large that today we are not even really able to imagine the possibilities.

Collaboration is the key to success

Scientific results are more often than not the work of a close collaboration between many people. The myth about the lonely genius going "Heureka!", is truly a myth. In this case, Professor Peter Krogstrup, Scientific Director at the Microsoft Materials Lab and Yu Liu, postdoc at the Niels Bohr Institute grew the materials, Saulius Vaitiekenas, Lead experimentalist at the Microsoft Quantum Materials Lab carried out the measurements and built the devices, and Professor Charles Marcus at the Niels Bohr Institute, along with everyone else, interpreted the ensuing data. Charles Marcus says: "There may be different roles and competences involved, but the process of collaborating on science is most times a very fluid and open ended process".

###
Advisers to Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden stressed the importance of universal mask use and avoiding indoor gatherings as much as possible as the best ways to prevent the spread of the coronavirus during a briefing Wednesday.

Every time we open indoor bars, indoor gyms, we see an uptick in the number of cases, said Zeke Emanuel, the vice provost for global initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania.

Biden is expected to speak about the progress on coronavirus vaccines after the briefing ends.

The Trump administration released its coronavirus vaccine distribution strategy on Wednesday, with the goal of ensuring vaccines will be shipped to administration sites within 24 hours of approval from US regulators. The federal guidance issued to states comes as the White House is funding various vaccine candidates as part of Operation Warp Speed.

As the Trump administration promises an immediate vaccine, Biden advisers expressed caution about the ability to distribute one quickly. Though hopeful about its prospects, David Kessler, the former head of the Food and Drug Administration, told Biden that Americans should not expect a rapid decline in cases before January if a vaccine becomes available because of limited distribution capacity.

Click here for complete coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic

But top US health officials offered conflicting estimates Wednesday of when Americans should expect coronavirus vaccines to be widely available. Paul Mango, a deputy chief of staff at the Department of Health and Human Services, said every American should be able to get a shot by the end of March, while Robert Redfield, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, put it at late second quarter or third quarter of 2021.

The development and distribution of a vaccine has become a political flash point in the presidential race, as President Donald Trump has promised a vaccine would be available very soon while Democrats and public health experts raise concerns about political interference in the process from the administration.

Bidens team has begun to plan for how his administration would oversee the complicated task of distributing a vaccine if he wins and a vaccine becomes available early in his term. His advisers are leveraging their relationships with officials in US government health agencies to monitor the administrations progress.

His advisers are primarily focused on working through the supply chain issues that will impede efforts to quickly vaccinate millions of people and end a pandemic that has killed more than 196,000 people and crashed the US economy into a recession.

Experts say shrinking capacity on container ships and cargo aircraft, outdated technology to transport fragile vials of medicine and inadequate refrigeration are among the problems any administration will face in distributing the vaccine.

Also read: AstraZenecas Covid-19 vaccine trial in US remains on hold pending FDA review

One Biden adviser said the group is closely monitoring reports from experts on equitable distribution, particularly one from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The adviser said the group does not plan to publish recommendations before the election, but Biden advisers want to be prepared to start distribution as soon as a vaccine is ready.

Though he has expressed concerns about Trumps oversight of the vaccine, Biden has reiterated his desire for a safe one to be made available as quickly as possible.

If I could get a vaccine tomorrow Id do it, Biden told reporters last week. If it cost me the election Id do it. We need a vaccine and we need it now.
Manufacturing Operations at Far East Foam Plataines technology helps us create even more efficient cut plans, resulting in increased manufacturing yields

Far East Foam, one of the largest foam product manufacturers in South East Asia, has selected Plataines AI digital manufacturing software solution to optimize their production lines and automate manual processes. The result will be improved efficiency and reduced material waste, as well as full visibility across all production lines. Based in Vietnam, Far East Foam prides itself on its manufacturing prowess and has historically been at the forefront of the adoption of new manufacturing technologies.

Plataine was selected due to its strong expertise of AI-based solutions to optimize production operations. Plataines solution integrates with existing systems to automatically gather all the information and work orders to automatically create the most optimized work process possible, using advanced AI-based algorithms. The result is optimized dynamic cut plans that maximize material yield and throughput, while keeping complete traceability to ensure quality consistency. In addition, automated processes save valuable time of the operators, enabling them to focus on operating cutting machines at high capacity, rather than manually creating cut plans.

The increased efficiency will generate cost savings at Far East Foam. Additionally, the system automatically maintains a complete Digital Thread, delivering full traceability from raw material to end-product and eliminating the need for manual paperwork.

Eradicating physical paper records not only improves efficiency and eliminated human error, but it also improves response time and contributes to the agility of the factory that is so important nowadays.

Mr. Siva, Operation Director at Far East Foam Group, says: Plataines technology helps us create even more efficient cut plans, resulting in increased manufacturing yields. We see our manufacturing expertise as key to our business success and these new AI capabilities will ensure that we are at the forefront of the industry for the foreseeable future. I was also pleased with the implementation process, which included remote training for our operators, as Plataine was highly flexible to meet our needs in this regard.

Avner Ben-Bassat, President and CEO of Plataine, adds: Its great to be working with one of the worlds largest suppliers of foam products. When we started to work with Far East Foam, we looked closely into their manufacturing processes and were impressed with their existing set-up. Working with Plataine further improves their operations, bringing Far East Foam a cutting-edge AI capability that will deliver improved utilization of resources and efficiency. 

About Plataine

Plataine is the leading provider of Industrial IoT and AI-based optimization solutions for advanced manufacturing. Plataines solutions provide intelligent, connected Digital Assistants for production floor management and staff, empowering manufacturers to make optimized decisions in real-time, every time. Plataines patent-protected technologies are used by leading manufacturers worldwide, including Airbus, GE, Renault F1 Team, Stelia North America, Muskogee Technology, IAI, Triumph, General Atomics, TPI Composites and Ethan Allen. Plataine partners with Siemens PLM, McKinsey &

Company, VIRTEK, the AMRC with Boeing, and CTC GmbH (an Airbus Company), and is also a part of the National Composites Centre (NCC) membership network, to advance the Factory of the Future worldwide. For this work, Plataine has received a Leadership Award from Frost & Sullivan and Innovation Awards from the JEC and CompositesUK organizations, as well as the Shanghai Society of Aeronautics (SSA). Plataine is ISO 27001 certified for compliance with information security management requirements. For more information, visit: http://www.Plataine.com.

About Far East Foam

Far East Foam Vietnam was established in 1971 and is one of the leading polyurethane foam and bedding companies in South East Asia. The company has a global network of customers and currently exports over 70% of its products to the wider South East Asian region, as well as to the USA, Japan, the Middle East, and Africa. Far East Foam specializes at producing the highest quality polyurethane foam blocks across a range of grading and density requirements, and offers six key types of industrial grade foam: conventional foam, high resilience foam, fire retardant foam, memory foam, latex feel foam and rebond/hybrid foam. For more information, visit http://www.Fefv.com.vn.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday urged the Central government to rethink over its decision to ban the export of onions. He said such a decision will help Pakistan and other countries.

The Maharashtra Congress unit will stage a protest on Wednesday across the state over this decision. Meanwhile, All Bharatiya Kisan Maha Sabha said that the Central government has betrayed the farmers of the country by this move.

The NCP chief met Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal with a demand to reconsider its sudden decision. Pawar informed that Goyal has assured him that the government will rethink the decision if there is consensus among the ministries of commerce, finance, and consumer affairs on the issue.

In a series of tweets, Pawar said that the Central government has abruptly announced a ban on export of onions. This has led to strong reactions from the onion growing belt in Maharashtra. Therefore, the representatives of various political parties contacted and requested him to convey their demands to the Central Government.

To address this issue, I met Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Shri. Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) today and apprised him of the plight of onion growers. I pointed out to him that these onion growers are mainly small land holders and Jirait farmers (sic), Pawar tweeted.

In another tweet, he said, I also brought to his notice that onions are in good demand internationally & we have been exporting onions consistently. But a sudden decision to this effect by the Central government is a major blow to Indias image as a reliable exporter of onions in the international market (sic).

In the wake of the decision, there is a possibility that India may emerge as an unreliable supplier of the commodity internationally, Pawar said, adding that the move will benefit nations like Pakistan and others.

In another tweet, Pawar said Goyal told him that the proposal to ban the export was moved by the Union Consumer Affairs Ministry based on the rising prices of the commodity.

Amid this, farmers at Lasalgaon in Nashik district, staged a protest on the streets against the ban. Agitations took place in Mungse, Pimpalgaon, Nampur and Umrane markets and protesting farmers stalled auctions underway for some 10,000 quintals that had arrived, and also tried to stop traffic in the vicinity, including on the Mumbai-Agra Highway that skirts past Umrane. The auctions started on Tuesday morning at a price of Rs 2,200 per quintal at Lasalgaon Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC).

Speaking to this newspaper, all India Kisan Sabha Maharashtras general secretary Dr Ajit Navale alleged that owing to the upcoming Bihar election, the farmers are being sidelined. The farmers of Maharashtra and the country have been betrayed by the Central government. The high onion prices are undesirable for any government seeking re-election. The farmers would stage a statewide protest on Wednesday, Navale added.
SINGAPORE / ACCESSWIRE / September 15, 2020 / Decentralized data network Bluzelle is working with the Web3 Foundation (W3F) to provide services to the Polkadot ecosystem. The move will bring distributed storage capabilities to projects building on Polkadot's Substrate framework while advancing Bluzelle's goal of becoming the de facto data layer for Web3.

Web3 Foundation, led by Polkadot founder Dr. Gavin Wood, funds research and development teams building the technology stack for the decentralized web. These efforts are focused around Polkadot, whose cross-chain compatibility supports applications ranging from DeFi to gaming. Through connecting these projects to reliable decentralized storage, Bluzelle will accelerate the transition to Web3.

Bluzelle's advanced data delivery network protects projects from data breaches, network failures and performance troubles. By entering the Polkadot ecosystem, Bluzelle will provide a backbone to support innovation while positioning itself at the heart of the Web3 movement. Polkadot's scalable sharded blockchain, designed to support cross-chain composability, is ideally suited to launching decentralized applications (dApps). Bluzelle's data delivery network enables dApps to realize this potential by removing the need for reliance on centralized datacenters.

As a blockchain-agnostic dApp storage solution, Bluzelle's architecture aligns with that of Polkadot, freeing developers to launch new parachains while retaining access to a reliable data network. In addition, Bluzelle Oracles, which helps projects store dApp data in a decentralized manner while storing and referencing historical prices, can be used to power a wave of Polkadot apps.

About Bluzelle

Powered by a Byzantine fault-tolerant cluster of blockchains customized specifically for database operations, Bluzelle is a decentralized database for Web3. Bluzelle serves as an "Airbnb of databases," with developers paying for storage space and read/write to the decentralized database. While data storage is the foundation, Bluzelle is in the process of developing data feeds and oracles for the next phase of its evolution to help bring about a faster and more secure internet.

Story continues

About Web3 Foundation

Web3 Foundation funds research and development teams building the technology stack of the decentralized web. It was established in Zug, Switzerland by Ethereum co-founder and former chief technology officer Dr. Gavin Wood. Polkadot is the Foundation's flagship project.

Contact for Bluzelle:

MarketAcross PR

pr@marketacross.com

SOURCE: Bluzelle





View source version on accesswire.com:

https://www.accesswire.com/606161/Bluzelle-Expands-Its-Reach-by-Entering-the-Polkadot-Ecosystem




To make learning happen in the safest way during the pandemic teaching students virtually has become the best option in the ongoing pandemic.

However, for some, virtual learning adds new obstacles to education, like technology troubles. Although online classes are the new normal, students are struggling to maintain focus and enthusiasm when learning and it hasnt been a cakewalk for teachers either.

Image For Representation/Reuters

It's has been a challenge for teachers to keep students motivated by coming up unique methods while trying to communicate with more than 50 participants through a screen.

To thank his teachers for their dedication, an eight-year-old boy from Bangladesh made a card that said, "Let's say thanks to teachers," and conveyed his message through a short video that UNICEF posted on Twitter.



Eight-year-old Farzad's message to his teachers will put a smile on your face. 



A big shoutout to teachers all over the world for doing everything they can to support their students during the #COVID19 pandemic.#ThankYouTeacher pic.twitter.com/CG6lgsHegA  UNICEF (@UNICEF) September 16, 2020





"Our teachers are attempting different ways to teach us during the pandemic. They are trying to inspire us that anything is possible. Thank you dear teachers for helping us while we are at home," Farzad said in his video message.

Also Read: Chris Hemsworth Discusses Homeschooling Kids Amid Lockdown, Calls It An 'Absolute Challenge'

"Eight-year-old Farzad's message to his teachers will put a smile on your face. A big shoutout to teachers all over the world for doing everything they can to support their students during the #COVID19 pandemic," UNICEF said in the caption of their post.



Most teachers in the country are bound to conduct virtual classes but not all of them have resources at their disposal to even do so. In the past few months we've heard of many teachers who went out of their way to help their students.

Also Read: Teacher Didn't Have Tripod For Online Classes, She Made One From Pipe And Box

One such teacher, who had limited access to technology, resorted to a creative way to impart learning to her students. She was seen taking online classes on her phone, placed on a refrigerator tray and solving problems on a sheet kept under the dish resting on two containers.


Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un Inspects Rebuilt Kangbuk-ri, Kumchon County, North Hwanghae Province

Korean Central News Agency of DPRK

Pyongyang, September 15 (KCNA) -- Kim Jong Un, chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and supreme commander of the armed forces of the DPRK, inspected Kangbuk-ri, Kumchon County, North Hwanghae Province that has been rebuilt from the damage by heavy rain and strong wind.

He was accompanied by Choe Ryong Hae, Pak Pong Ju, Kim Jae Ryong, Pak Jong Chon, Ri Il Hwan, Jo Yong Won, Kim Yong Su, Pak Thae Song and Hyon Song Wol.

The Supreme Leader of the Party, the State and the armed forces was greeted on the spot by Pak Chang Ho, chairman of the North Hwanghae Provincial Committee of the WPK, and commanding officers of the units of the People's Army mobilized for the reconstruction from the damage.

Kangbuk-ri, Kumchon County, North Hwanghae Province was greatly damaged when heavy rain and strong wind swept away the whole areas of the DPRK this year. But it removed all the traces of great natural disaster and was successfully built as a socialist fairyland, model village of socialist rural communities thanks to the wise guidance of Kim Jong Un and the ardent patriotism, loyalty and heroic struggle of service personnel of the People's Army.

Learning that Kangbuk-ri had been greatly damaged by the recent heavy rain and strong wind and that some dwelling houses and public buildings had been in critical conditions due to exposure to natural disaster every year on top of lack of repairing, Kim Jong Un immediately issued a militant order to the units of the People's Army to remove all the buildings in the ri seat and build them new so as to facelift the ri.

The service personnel who rushed to the damaged area in response to the order of trust given by Kim Jong Un achieved proud success of making the first report of victory to the Party Central Committee in the campaigns for recovery from disaster by newly constructing the seat of Kangbuk-ri, Kumchon County through a fierce campaign of loyalty, bearing in mind the noble viewpoint on the people, the idea of the people-first principle of our Party.

Kim Jong Un, looking over the picturesque village that turned into a fine example of socialist farm village, wondered if the village which looked so pitiful for its backwardness plus damage by natural disaster could shake them off in such a short period, adding he felt as if facing a different world. He noted with great satisfaction that another success was made in which our Party's grand plan for building rural areas and policy for building local areas have been carried out most correctly thanks to the patriotic devotion and struggle of our soldiers.

He said that upon hearing almost every day the news about heroic struggle waged by soldiers as main players on all the fronts for the recovery from the disasters in several areas of the country, he keenly felt the tremendous mental power, ardent patriotism and intense loyalty toward the Party and people possessed by all the officers and men of the People's Army. He added that he was deeply moved by their devotion and painstaking efforts.

The People's Army is made up of creators of all miracles on this land, he praised, adding that the genuine might of the People's Army lies not in the number of troops and the might of ammunitions but in their ardent love for their country and people and their mental power based on love for and trust in their Party and the revolutionary cause. He stressed in great excitement that it is the greatest pride of our Party and the state and the biggest blessing for himself that we have such powerful revolutionary army loyal to the country, the people, the Party and the revolutionary cause.

Looking round dwelling houses and public buildings in the ri, he appreciated that they were built cozy and to be impeccable both exterior and interior.

He discussed with the senior Party and government officials who accompanied him the orientation to be constantly maintained by our Party in rural construction.

Saying that it is imperative to set up the long-term goal of construction in provinces, rural construction in particular, in a more realistic and planned way, he emphasized the need to bolster up remarkably the state assistance to the responsible and important work for sprucing up rural areas by accelerating the development of high civilization of the rural areas and for turning our rural areas into rich and cultured socialist rural areas backed by modern technology.

What is urgent is to make in-depth study of an immediate task at present and long-term goal of our Party for accomplishing at an early date the far-reaching programmes for socialist rural construction advanced by President Kim Il Sung and Chairman Kim Jong Il, and measures for carrying them out, he said, noting that the upcoming Party congress will be able to give correct answers to this crucial issue.

He repeatedly asked if the inhabitants, the farmers were pleased with the new living environment in Kangbuk-ri that had been rebuilt after damage due to rainstorm and strong wind. Noting that he was pleased to hear that they were feeling happy, he said that our Party certainly had done good things and he extended thanks to the soldiers of the People's Army who put into practice one more wish of our Party.

He told the chairman of the Provincial Party Committee that it would be good to let the inhabitants move to new houses earlier, adding that he couldn't wait to see them moving to new houses.

He said that it has been long since he felt so relieved, and noted that he was very happy to feel relieved of worries. He hoped that the people in the area would settle down in the new villages and new houses to lead a happy life and that the area would always be visited by fortune.

Farmers and inhabitants in Kangbuk-ri, Kumchon County who are to move to new houses in the model socialist rural village which was built thanks to the ardent love of the Supreme Leader for the people and in which the desire of our Party has been realized, are sure to live up to his great solicitude with loyalty by making dedication to the construction of a powerful country while bearing deep in mind the loving care and solicitude bestowed by the mother party to clear them of their misfortune.

As there are the Supreme Leader and our great Party, happy cradles for the better living of people will mushroom before long in different parts of the country which had been hit hard by the wildness of nature. -0-

(2020.09.15)

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The Vietnamese government on Tuesday decided to reopen commercial air routes to six international destinations, and will allow passengers to undergo a shorter quarantine period than normally required if they test negative for COVID-19 twice.

The official decision was made by Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh during a meeting that took place earlier the same day, the government office stated in a document.

Accordingly, flights along the Vietnam-mainland China (Guangzhou), Vietnam-Japan (Tokyo), Vietnam-South Korea (Seoul), and Vietnam-Taiwan (Taipei) routes were resumed on Tuesday.

The Vietnam-Cambodia (Phnom Penh) and Vietnam-Laos (Vientiane) air routes will be reopened on September 22.

The number of flights along each route shall not exceed two per week each way.

Foreign passengers who are diplomats and officials and their family members must have certificates showing they tested negative for COVID-19 three days before their flights.

They will undergo another RT-PCR (real-time polymerase chain reaction) test at a quarantine facility following their arrival in Vietnam.

They will be quarantined at public residences of their respective representative agencies or at hotels or accommodation establishments according to regulations.

Foreign passengers who are experts, investors, business managers, and skilled workers and their families, international students, and family members of Vietnamese citizens are also required to present certificates showing they tested negative for COVID-19 three days before their flights.

They will be tested again after arriving in Vietnam and will be quarantined at factories, company headquarters or hotels and other accommodations.

Vietnamese passengers will need to meet similar requirements, but will stay at quarantine centers managed by the military or at local hotels and other accommodations.

Deputy PM Minh agreed that passengers of these air routes will be quarantined for only about five days if their RT-PCR tests come back negative for COVID-19 twice.

Following this period, they will undergo self-quarantine at home and company headquarters, and have their health monitored in accordance with regulations.

If the passengers have transited a third country before arriving in Vietnam, they will have to be quarantined for 14 days, and strict prevention measures must be taken.

Vietnam began barring entry to foreign nationals on March 22 and suspended commercial international flights from March 25 in a bid to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Since then, charter flights to the country have only been arranged to bring in experts, skilled workers, and diplomats, and to repatriate Vietnamese citizens stranded in other nations and territories due to the pandemic.

Vietnams COVID-19 tally stood at 1,063, with 931 having recovered and 35 deaths as of Wednesday afternoon.

The country has gone 13 days without documenting any locally-transmitted cases.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
South Africa: President Ramaphosa to address the nation tonight

This story has been published on: 2020-09-16. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.

The National Archives will re-open its doors to the public today at 10am. Wednesdays reopening will take into account the public health guidance and conservation needs, and not put staff, volunteers, users or other site visitors at risk. The public should, however, note that there will be limited services that will be offered at this... See more
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 17:56:59|Editor: huaxia

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KAMWENGE, Uganda, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Uganda is ready to reopen its pandemic-bruised tourism sector with a live-streamed, virtual safari starting Tuesday.

The virtual tour, featuring six videographers and photographers traversing across the country, has been promoted by the Ugandan government to incentivize tourists, when many parts of the world have barely emerged from travel restrictions.

"This project is going to be showcasing Uganda's beauty. We are very excited about this because we need to get Ugandans to appreciate what we have as a country," said Paul Ninsiima, sales manager at Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), a state owned conservation agency co-organizing the project.

The virtual tours prelude the planned reopening of Uganda's sole international airport to commercial flights on Oct. 1, compared with its many neighbors who have already opened up their airspace.

Figures show the East African country could lose up to 1.6 billion U.S. dollars in tourism revenues because of the lockdown measures that started in late March and are now easing as the economy reopens.

The UWA in June started offering complimentary prices to domestic tourists. At reduced prices, Ugandans and foreign residents are free to enter any park in the country provided they follow the set Standard Operating Procedures aimed at reducing the spread of COVID-19. Enditem
The Thomas Cook brand has been 'reinvented' as an online travel company.

Chinese firm Fosun Tourism Group acquired the brand for 11million after the 178-year-old travel company collapsed in September 2019.

The new version began selling holidays online and over the phone on Wednesday just after midnight but does not have any stores.

The Thomas Cook brand has relaunched as an online travel company. Pictured is the brand's new homepage

It employs around 50 people and retains the brand's logo.

The travel firm says its new website, www.thomascook.com, puts customers 'in control of their own holiday, with the ability to design their trip according to their budget, needs and specifications'. Add-ons will include transfers, car hire, airport parking, currency and travel insurance.

It also adds that Thomas Cook 'will continue to invest in its digital offering to adapt to changing holiday needs and lifestyles, including adding new flight partners and other travel options, as well as additional hotels and other types of accommodation'.

Alan French, who was group strategy and technology director at Thomas Cook when it collapsed, has been hired as UK chief executive of the new travel agency and described the relaunch as 'an honour'.

He said: 'What happened last year was a tragedy at a personal level for many thousands of my former colleagues, our business partners and of course our loyal customers.

'The resilience and affection still felt for the Thomas Cook brand reflects the huge commitment and professionalism of those former colleagues. We are very much in their debt and hope to have their backing as we look to take the brand into a new era.'

The failure of Thomas Cook led to 9,000 jobs being lost and the repatriation of around 150,000 holidaymakers who were overseas. The new version will not have any stores

The failure of Thomas Cook led to 9,000 jobs being lost and the repatriation of around 150,000 holidaymakers who were overseas.

Mr French pledged that the new travel agency's customers can be 'reassured their money is protected' due to its 'robust financial structure'.

Thomas Cook only offers trips to destinations from which UK holidaymakers can return without entering quarantine, such as Italy, Turkey and parts of Greece.

The travel industry has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, with the self-isolation requirement causing demand for foreign breaks to plummet.

Mr French said: 'We have reinvented one of the most recognisable names in British travel. Our new business will combine fantastic UK-based customer service with an updated operating model protected by Atol and with the backing of a multi-billion-dollar organisation.

We are only selling destinations on the travel corridor list and all the hotels are flexible. We also won't charge customers a fee to change their holidays if Government rules change Alan French, UK chief executive, Thomascook.com

'We are launching now clearly aware of the short-term challenges posed by the pandemic. We and our Fosun backers are taking the long view and we want to offer choice, customisation and 24/7 on-holiday customer care to families who wish to travel now and in the future.

'We know Brits are keen to travel but feel nervous about safety and any changes to Government rules on quarantine. We are only selling destinations on the travel corridor list and all the hotels are flexible. We also won't charge customers a fee to change their holidays if Government rules change.'

Jim Qian, chairman and chief executive of Fosun Tourism Group, said: 'Thomas Cook has a proud heritage and after acquiring the brand last year we wanted to quickly return it to its home in the UK.

'Supporting the growth of the brand in China and its relaunch in the UK is a big step in our plan to turn Thomas Cook into a global success story and a key milestone in the development of the Fosun Tourism Group's strategy.'

Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, reminded customers ahead of the launch to be sure of their rights when booking.

He said: 'Package holidays booked through Thomas Cook would be Atol protected, however, anyone looking to book should check its terms and conditions carefully first to make sure they understand what rights they have if their trip is disrupted by changing government rules on travel corridors, and under what circumstances they can claim a full refund.'
Swedish payments firm Klarna has become Europes highest-valued fintech firm

Buy now, pay later firm Klarna has become Europes highest-valued fintech firm, at 8billion.

The payments outfit has raised 500million in a funding round, led by big-name investors such as Singapores sovereign wealth fund GIC and Blackrock, and overtaken digital bank Revolut as Europes most valuable fintech outfit.

The Swedish company lets shoppers on 200,000 online sites such as Asos and H&M, buy up-front and pay in instalments.

Cash-strapped millennials enjoy the freedom it allows them though personal finance experts have warned the firm could be tempting young people into dangerous levels of debt.

Klarna has over 12m users, and revenues rose more than a third to 356million in the first six months of 2020.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 15:53:24|Editor: huaxia

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CANBERRA, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- An Aboriginal man has launched legal action against the Australian government over an unlawful bid to deport him.

Brendan Thoms, a New Zealand-born man with Aboriginal heritage, was suing the Australian government for 4.1 million Australian dollars (2.95 million U.S. dollars), claiming he was falsely imprisoned, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Wednesday.

Thoms, who has lived in Australia from age six but never became a citizen, was held in immigration detention for more than 500 days as the government sought to deport him because his criminal history failed the migration character test.

However, in a landmark decision the High Court of Australia ruled in February that indigenous Australians are exempt from immigration laws and cannot be deported, prompting his release from detention.

Thoms, 31, said in a statement that the lawsuit was "about justice for me and my family."

"I will never get back those 502 days I was locked up in immigration detention," he said. "But the memories of those dark days will live with me forever."

"I was scared I would be tapped on the shoulder in the middle of the night and put on a plane or a boat out of the country."

Thoms challenged the move in the court along with Daniel Love, another man with indigenous heritage and criminal convictions, who the government sought to deport to Papua New Guinea (PNG). Their lawyer Claire Gibbs said the cases were "as serious as it gets in terms of infringements on human rights."

"The next step is really holding the government in both cases accountable for their decision to unlawfully detain both of our clients, who were subject to incredible humiliation and stress while detained for a considerable period of time," she said. Enditem
Nitish assures PM of timely completion of central govt schemes

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Sep 16: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for inaugurating and laying stones of seven urban infrastructure schemes worth Rs 541 crore and assured him that the state government would complete all the projects on time.

Besides, it would also expedite other central government schemes being implemented under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and other programmes in the state, Kumar said.

Prime Minister inaugurated two sewage treatment plants (STP)- one each at Beur and Karmalichak in Patna- which would treat the water before releasing them in river Ganga to help prevent the river getting polluted.

PM Modi pats Nitish Kumar on the back for sushasan, takes dig at Lalu

Modi also inaugurated water supply schemes for Chapra and Siwan town where 81,000 an 58,000 people will be benefited from the water supply under AMRUT Mission.

Besides, foundation stones were laid for two water supply schemes- one each for Munger and Jamalpur (in Munger).

PM also laid stone for Muzaffarpur Riverfront Development Scheme, being built under Namami Gange.

Prominent among those who graced the occasion included- Governor Phagu Chauhan, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, union ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and a host of other MPs, MLAs who were digitally connected from different places.

Speaking on the occasion, Kumar said that STPs being built under Namami Gange project are necessary in order to protect rivers especially Ganga from getting polluted.

"Its not a small thing. Drainage water is treated before releasing them into the river. Its a big thing. Today, two STPs- one each at Beur and Karmalichak are being inaugurated by the PM who laid the stones for these STPs on October 14, 2017," Kumar said.

The treated water will be released in the rivers once all STPs become functional in the state, he added.

Kumar reminiscenced his college and childhood days while talking about Ganga and said "I was born at Bakhtiarpur in Patna district. We used to go to take bath in the Ganga on Sunday when schools were closed.

"There was wonderful flow of clean water then. We used to take a bucket of water to home for drinking purposes. But, slowly and gradually the situation in terms of pollution in Ganga worsened with the time and increase in population.

Stating that the water should be utilised and not misutilised, the CM said that people are using drinking water being made available to them under Har Ghar Nal Ka Jal scheme for bathing their buffalos and irrigation purpose after which he had to ask them publicly not to misuse water meant for drinking.

PM lauds Nitish Kumar for efforts to ensure safe drinking water supply in Bihar villages

Under the scheme pure drinking water is being provided to all households in Bihar.

Since the Prime Minister had mentioned about the scheme Har Ghar Nal Ka Jal on September 10 while inaugurating Rs 294 crore relating to Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) in Bihar, Kumar said, "80 per cent of the work under the scheme has been completed and the remaining work will be finished by the end of October this year."

"We (state government) are getting all types of support from you (the central government) in every field," Kumar told the PM.

Praising the river development scheme, Kumar said that this is a good scheme for which a foundation stone has been laid by the PM for developing the ghats along Burhi Gandak river in Muzaffarpur as it would attract people to visit the river side.

Kumar recalled his engineering college days when he used to sit on the banks of Ganga as the college was situated along the river.

People are much more aware now with regard to environment which is evident from the fact that 5.16 crore people came in support for forming 18,000 km long human chain across the state in support of Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali (Water-Life-Greenery) campaign, Kumar said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been the first to provide local officials guidance on how to open up safely.

CDC was also responsible for any other guidance issued during the duration of the pandemic.

However, the agency admitted that contact tracing systems in the U.S. had been proven ineffective in furnishing the agency with enough data on how to curb the virus.

The number of people who needed tracking had become unmanageable, according to CDC.

"Most jurisdictions have been forced to abandon monitoring because the number of monitorees exceeds the capacity. As a result, critical data for CDC to inform and guide public health response to Covid-19 is unavailable," CDC was quoted in a report.

States Struggling with Contact Tracing

Some states are struggling to do a contract tracing particularly states with the most populated region like Arizona.

The coronavirus disease cases in Arizona has reached 209,000 with a total of 5,346 deaths.

Contact tracers have been unable to reach a fraction of those infected.

The same story goes on in Austin, Texas.

In North Carolina, the state's health service told the state lawmakers that its contact tracing program was hiring outside workers to keep up with the steady rise in cases.

Florida, where cases are also seeing a constant uptick in the past few months, have also given up on contact tracing.

Steve Adler, the mayor of Austin said that they are not doing contact tracing to the level or extent that it should be done.

"There are three main reasons. One is the sheer number of people, the second is the delay in getting test results back, the third is the wide community spread of the disease," Adler was quoted.

The goal of contact tracing for COVID-19 is to reach people who have spent more than 15 minutes within six feet of an infected person.

This would then be followed by asking the person to voluntarily quarantine at home for two weeks and monitor themselves of symptoms during that time.

Few places have reported systemic success.

Carolyn Cannuscio, an expert on the method and an associate professor of family medicine and community health at the University of Pennsylvania, said that she thinks it is easy to say that contact tracing is broken.

Cannuscio added that it is broken because so many parts of the prevention system are broken.

Contact tracing is so far behind. Many public health officials would rather allocate the money and personnel involved on other sources like increasing test sites, helping school, and educating the public.

Dr. David Lakey, the former state health commissioner of Texas who helped oversee the Ebola response in Dallas in 2014, said that contact tracing is the wrong tool for the wrong job at a wrong time.

Lakey said back when you have 10 cases in Texas, the process might be useful.

Howeverm he added that if you do not have rapid testing, it is going to be very difficult in a disease where 40 percent of people are asymptomatic.

"It is hard to see the benefit of it right now," Lakey was quoted in a report.

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Leh: From deploying mules to large transport aircraft, India's military has activated its entire logistics network to transport supplies to thousands of troops for a harsh winter along a bitterly disputed Himalayan border with China.

In recent months, one of India's biggest military logistics exercises in years has brought vast quantities of ammunition, equipment, fuel, winter supplies and food into Ladakh, a region bordering Tibet that India administers as a union territory, officials said.

An Indian army convoy moves on the Srinagar-Ladakh highway on Wednesday. Credit:AP

The move was triggered by a border stand-off with China in the snow deserts of Ladakh that began in May and escalated in June into hand-to-hand combat. Twenty Indian soldiers were killed while China suffered an undisclosed number of casualties.

Both countries are negotiating to resolve the confrontation  last week they agreed to disengage  but neither side has backed down. The Indian military is now set to keep troops deployed along the treacherous, high-altitude border through the winter.
A circular has been issued to all officials of the district courts in Delhi, directing them to immediately stop the use of banned Chinese applications such as CamScanner in uploading documents on the court website.

CamScanner was among the 106 apps with links to China that were banned by the Union government for being prejudicial to the sovereignty, integrity and defence of the country.

The circular, issued on September 10 under the directions of the principal district and sessions judge, also directed officials dealing with the website of the Delhi District Court to find all uploaded documents that give the impression of having been scanned using Chinese apps. All such files are to be uploaded again using a different app or cropped so as to remove the app watermark.

Since the nationwide lockdown in March, Delhi courts have been hearing cases virtually via video conferencing. That required lawyers and officials to scan all pertinent documents and email them to the parties and the judge concerned.

The circular also noted that some officials are forwarding copies of circulars, bail orders, daily orders etc after scanning them on Chinese apps, which is in violation of the Centres directions.

It has also been noticed that some circulars and orders have already been updated on the official website after being scanned on banned Chinese applications, it read.

In August, a Delhi court had asked a lawyer to avoid the use of banned app CamScanner in legal work. Additional sessions judge Sunil Chaudhary said the bail application, filed by advocate Praveen Chaudhary, was scanned using CamScanner.

This is an application for grant of bail as received through mail. The application as filed is scanned using CamScanner which has been banned by the Government of India. The counsel is advised to avoid using banned apps for legal work in the future, the court said on August 5.

On June 29, the IT ministry, while banning 59 mobile apps, had cited numerous complaints from various quarters, including reports about misuse of some apps for allegedly stealing and surreptitiously transmitting user data in an unauthorised manner to servers located outside India.

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West Nile virus spreads most efficiently in the US at temperatures between 24-25 degrees Celsius (75.2-77 degrees Fahrenheit), a new study published today in eLife shows.

The results suggest that climate change could lead to the increased spread of West Nile virus in some places, while potentially causing a decrease in others, and provide insight on where and when these changes might occur.

"As the climate warms, it is critical to understand how temperature changes will affect the transmission of mosquito-borne diseases," says lead author Marta Shocket, who was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University, California, US, at the time the study was carried out, and is now a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles, US.

To do this, Shocket and her colleagues developed models to assess the impact of temperature on six mosquito-borne viruses, four of which occur in the US. These viruses - the West Nile, St. Louis Encephalitis, Eastern and Western Equine Encephalitis, Sindbis, and Rift Valley fever viruses - were grouped together for this study as they share some of the same species of mosquito carriers.

The models used laboratory experiments that measured how different temperatures affect the mosquitoes' survival, biting rate, reproduction, development and ability to transmit the virus. The team validated their West Nile model using data on human virus transmission in the US. They found that West Nile virus is transmitted most readily at moderate temperatures, while extreme temperatures limit where its mosquito carriers could live and successfully transmit the virus.

Most of the viruses covered in this work are from more temperate areas than more commonly studied tropical diseases. We compared these results to those of tropical diseases like malaria and dengue and found that the optimal temperatures and cold thermal limits for virus spread are cooler. This means the viruses spread more efficiently at cooler temperatures compared to more tropical diseases, as you would expect." Marta Shocket, Lead Author

The results suggest that mosquito-borne diseases could take a greater toll in the US as temperatures rise, especially as most of the population (70%) lives in places that are currently below the optimal temperature and will likely see increased transmission with climate warming. This is compared to 30% of the population who live in places where summer temperatures are above the optimal temperature, meaning transmission will likely decrease with climate warming. Temperature increases could also extend virus transmission seasons earlier into the Spring and later into the Fall.

"Climate change is poised to increase the transmission of West Nile and other mosquito-borne viruses in much of the US," concludes senior author Erin Mordecai, Assistant Professor of Biology at Stanford University. "But these diseases also depend on human contact with mosquitoes that also contact wildlife, so factors like human land use, mosquito control, mosquito and virus adaptations, and the emergence of new viruses make predicting the future of mosquito-borne disease a challenge."
Liberty University, now three weeks into the fall semester, has yet to publish coronavirus figures on its website despite promises to do so by mid-September.

The university Tuesday missed a self- imposed deadline to launch a data dashboard, an increasingly popular digital tool used by large colleges and universities to disclose the number of COVID-19 cases among its students and employees to the public.

The dashboard was delayed by a technical glitch, a Liberty spokesperson said in a text message Tuesday evening. Asked when the digital tool is now expected to launch, the spokesperson did not reply.

Since in-person classes began late last month, Liberty has declined to release daily COVID-19 figures as other institutions of higher learning have, including the University of Lynchburg and Sweet Briar College.

Instead, the university has provided just two updates to the media about positive cases, frustrating some students and parents who have called for more transparency from the school.

In the most recent update  which came one week ago Sept. 8  Liberty reported 90 students and employees had tested positive in the preceding two weeks. At the time, 93 students and employees had tested negative and 180 were awaiting results.

Keith Anderson, executive director of the Health & Wellness Office of Liberty University, said earlier this month the school still was in the process of developing the dashboard. He said the digital tool will report numbers on a weekly basis but did not specify what information would be included.

Lawrence Gostin, the director of the ONeill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University, said that while Liberty does not have a legal duty to publicly disclose COVID-19 cases, it does have an ethical obligation to be fully transparent with students, parents and the wider community.

COVID infections on the campus will ultimately find their way to family members and wider community so there is a clear right to know, Gostin said in an email. This means that Liberty and all universities should fully and transparently disclose all relevant information about the spread of SARS-CoV-2 on the campus in a timely way. Parents and students will have to make important decisions about their health and their education. They deserve full information to make an informed choice.

Lucia Mullen, an epidemiologist and senior analyst at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, agreed Liberty has a responsibility to inform its own students and employees directly. She warned an information vacuum could allow misinformation to run rampant on campus.

The worry is that if the university isnt reporting these numbers and if its not coming from a credible source, then were going to be hearing about it through rumors and they may be incorrect or have parts of the information that are incorrect, she said last week.

Dr. Kerry Gateley, director of the Central Virginia Health District, said last week there are some signs the health threat may be waning locally. The seven-day average of new daily cases in the local health district has fallen to 33 as of Tuesday, down from a peak of 50 last month, according to VDH data. The district includes Lynchburg and its neighboring counties.

The University of Lynchburg on Tuesday reported 9 active COVID-19 cases in its student population and two active cases among faculty and staff members. That is down from a peak of 46 active student cases in late August.

According to the schools daily coronavirus update, 31 students now are in quarantine or isolation. A total of 264 cases have been resolved, meaning the students have recovered or have been cleared to leave quarantine. Around 1,300 undergraduate students live on campus.

At Sweet Briar College in Amherst County, just one of its almost 400 students are now known to be infected after several students tested positive last month. There are two active cases among its employees as of Tuesday.
Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga's son, Raila Junior, on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on his father's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party and its officials, accusing them of losing focus.

Raila Junior, Mr Odinga's third born child, also blasted party director of elections Junet Mohamed's stand on the arrest of Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi.

"We as ODM need to find our way back to basics. We are not just about private jets and slay queens whilst abusing rival politicians," Mr Odinga Junior told his 200,000 Twitter followers.

ODM, he said, has a development agenda clearly outlined in our manifesto. He also urged leaders to focus on service delivery, democratic space and protecting private citizen rights.

Twitter users read the talk of private jets as an attack on Mr Mohamed and Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho, who both visited Mr Odinga at a Dubai hospital where he underwent a minor surgery on his back.

HATE SPEECH

Mr Odinga also called out Mr Mohamed, tagging him in his tweet.

"Actually, Junet Mohamed as Minority Whip in the House and senior parliamentarian, I believe your position should be that even though you don't necessarily agree with what Oscar Sudi said, you'll defend his right to say it. Freedom of speech is the cornerstone of our democracy!" Raila Junior said.

Mr Sudi was on Monday charged with hate speech at a Nakuru court and a section of ODM politicians as well as those allied to President Uhuru Kenyatta have called for Deputy President William Ruto to apologise for the inflammatory utterances by Kapseret lawmaker and Emurua Dikirr counterpart Johana Ng'eno.

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ACTING SMART

But while responding to Raila Junior's tweets, former National Super Alliance (Nasa) CEO Norman Magaya asked him "to stop acting smart."

"In war, those who seek to sound politically correct seldom last. Stop seeking to sound the sober in the midst of war! Attacking party cadres to look good is a new low from you. Come on!" Mr Magaya said.

Raila Junior, like his younger sister Winnie, have both taken interest in the political activities of their father, with the latter accompanying her father in trips and key meetings.

Back in 2017, Rosemary Odinga, Odinga's eldest daughter and second born child, announced her bid for the Kibra parliamentary seat but later shelved her ambitions after she was taken ill. She is still in recovery and has not indicated whether she will throw her hat in the ring again.

Mr Odinga's first born child, Fidel, died in 2015.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 16

By Elnur Baghishov  Trend:

As many as 2,981 people have been infected with the coronavirus (COVID-19) in the past 24 hours in Iran, said Sima Sadat Lari, spokesperson for Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education, Trend reports citing the ministry.

According to Sadat Lari, 179 more people have died from the coronavirus over the past day.

Sadat Lari added that the condition of 3,827 people is critical.

The official said that Iran's Tehran, Mazandaran, Gilan, Qom, Isfahan, Razavi Khorasan, East Azerbaijan, Kerman, North Khorasan, Semnan, Yazd, Zanjan, and Qazvin provinces are considered 'red' zones.

So far, more than 3.64 million tests have been conducted in Iran for the diagnosis of coronavirus.

Iran continues to monitor the coronavirus situation in the country. According to recent reports from the Iranian officials, over 410,300 people have been infected, and 23,632 people have already died. Meanwhile, over 352,000 have reportedly recovered from the disease.

The country continues to apply strict measures to contain further spread. Reportedly, the disease was brought to Iran by a businessman from Iran's Qom city, who went on a business trip to China, despite official warnings. The man died later from the disease.

The Islamic Republic only announced its first infections and deaths from the coronavirus on Feb. 19.

The outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan - which is an international transport hub - began at a fish market in late December 2019.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11 declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Some sources claim the coronavirus outbreak started as early as November 2019.
The Cabinet of Ministers has supported the national anti-corruption strategy for 2020-2024 developed by the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP), taking into account technical and legal amendments.

The decision to that effect was made at a government meeting on September 16, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"We saw the presentation last time [at the September 9 meeting]. We had time to work with the document, so now there is a proposal to support the document with a one-day revision in the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, taking into account the announced technical and legal amendments," Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said after the vote.

Earlier, presenting this item on the agenda, NACP Chairman Oleksandr Novikov said that the document was really inclusive, because all ministries were working on it.

"The previous strategy, according to objective estimates, gave an additional six percent of GDP. This strategy, according to our calculations, will reduce the cost of corruption in the amount of up to UAH 200 billion," Novikov said.

He asked government members to support the anti-corruption strategy with minor modifications, in particular, taking into account additional proposals received from the judiciary.

The National Agency on Corruption Prevention presented a draft national anti-corruption strategy for 2020-2024 at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers on September 9.

A targeted approach was used to draw up the strategy. In particular, priorities were determined based on the opinion of citizens, business, experts, an analysis of the effectiveness of anti-corruption policy, expert research, international practices, Ukraine's commitments under the United Nations Convention against Corruption and European conventions, open professional and public discussions. As a result of this analysis, eight priorities of the national anti-corruption strategy were identified.

op
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 16)  A proposal for the exemption of more health workers from the deployment ban is now awaiting the President Rodrigo Duterte's go signal, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello said Wednesday.

If approved, those who have completed their requirements as of August 31 will be permitted to work abroad, Bello added.

"[The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration] recommended the extension will cover up to August 31 which I favorably supported and submitted to the IATF," the secretary told reporters in a "virtual cafe" session. "Now the IATF approved our recommendation and it has been submitted to the President for his approval."

Bello said he expects only about 1,200 to be sent out if the measure gets approved. The previous exemption only covered workers who have secured their documents until March 8. That time, over 600 people left the country, out of the expected 900, he added.

As for a total lifting of the deployment ban on health workers, the secretary said he is still against it.

"I will not recommend kasi [because] we have to first think of our country and countrymen who will be affected by COVID," he argued. "Kung tataas ang ating level of transmission...paano na lang kung ang magagaling na nurses ay nasa ibang bansa?"

[Translation: If our level of transmission increases, what will happen to us if our capable nurses are in other countries?]

He acknowledged, however, that medical professionals in the country, especially nurses, are not compensated fairly. Bello said he had negotiated with the private and public sector to give nurses equal wages.

He also called out private institutions for exploiting their healthcare workers. However, he said he has not been able to investigate these facilities further since no one has filed a complaint against them.

"They are very meek, humble. They are not militant to asset their right," said Bello.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teddy Boy Locsin also advocated earlier for allowing more healthcare workers to work overseas again, saying it is unconstitutional to prohibit nurses from traveling and earning a living abroad. Nurses also aired their own appeal to lift the measure.
A pre-owned 2019 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Cab Chassis is available right now at Mercedes-Benz Arrowhead Sprinter

Mercedes-Benz Arrowhead Sprinter, a Phoenix-area dealership which retails commercial vans and trucks, is currently promoting its used car special for a 2019 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Cab Chassis. Right now, at the dealership, this model is available for a special price. Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Cab Chassis models are frequently used for mobile businesses that transport bulky and heavy materials.

Customers who are interested in purchasing a pre-owned 2019 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Cab Chassis are encouraged to use the dealerships website, arrowheadmbsprinter.com, to check out the available model and learn more about financing a vehicle at the dealership. To access more information on this model, drivers can use the Specials menu to select the Used Specials page. There they will see all current used specials, including this deal.

The 2019 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Cab Chassis is currently priced at $29,985 with only 403 miles driven on it. Drivers who would like to buy a brand new 2020 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Cab Chassis can expect to find models available starting at $40,595.

To learn about Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Cab Chassis models in general, drivers can use the dealerships website to complete some research. Using the New drop-down menu, customers can navigate to a Sprinter Model Research page, where the dealership has information on several models including the cab chassis. Both the 2020 and 2019 models are featured under the Sprinter heading.

Finally, drivers can learn more about financing a new or used model by using the Financing drop-down menu on the dealerships website. This menu can help customers value their trade-in vehicle, calculate payments, calculate fuel savings, and more. The website also provides contact information for any unanswered questions.
Employees at the U.K.'s largest firms are about to find out if the government's controversial decision to end its furlough has cost them their jobs.

While the program is due to run until Oct. 31, any firm wishing to make 100 or more workers unemployed on that date will have had to begin an official consultation period by Wednesday -- 45 days before the deadline.

The government has ruled out an extension, leading to warnings of a surge in unemployment in the coming months. Even with the aid, which covered up to 80% of wages, figures this week showed the economy has already lost almost 700,000 jobs since April.

The consultation requirement under U.K. law means that any extra state help may come too late for some. While Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak has repeatedly said he sticking with the October deadline, he gave a strong hint this week that he'll provide some form of extra support.

That message was reinforced by Boris Johnson on Wednesday. Questioned by a panel of lawmakers, the prime minister said the government will continue to be "intensely flexible and creative" to support every sector of the economy.

"I don't believe that anyone on this committee seriously imagined that the government of this country would come up with something as imaginative as the furlough scheme six months ago," Johnson said. "We will continue to apply the same levels of imagination."

Ministers are also studying what can be done to help small and medium-sized companies struggling with debts built up as a result of the lockdown, he said.

More than 9 million workers were covered by the furlough, and 2.8 million remained on the plan as of June 30, according to government data. Firms with more than 250 employees have been the largest users in terms of total jobs furloughed. Companies that want to make between 20-99 cuts on Oct. 31 have just over two weeks longer to decide their plans.

Many companies haven't waited for the furlough to run out. British Airways Plc is expecting to cut as many as 10,000 jobs, and more than 7,000 people have already left, while around 15% of U.K.-based positions at Airbus SE are earmarked for elimination. Marks & Spencer Group Plc plans to cut about 7,000 jobs.

The Trades Union Congress has warned of a "crisis of mass unemployment" without more government action.

"Losing a job in a recession can cause really lasting damage," Tony Wilson, director of the Institute for Employment Studies, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. "There are clearly industries and firms that would be viable if they can just get through the winter months. Targeting help there and then supporting those workers who risk losing their jobs across the economy this year should be a priority."

Business groups have called for a range of measures to help companies. The Treasury is looking at proposals from the Confederation of British Industry to introduce a new short-time working plan that would support employees returning to, rather than those kept off, work. They would do a minimum of 50% of their normal hours, paid for by their company, with some of their additional wages funded by the state.

Other plans being examined include extending the yearlong business rates holiday, further deferrals of sales-tax payments, and a proposal to cut employers' national insurance payments.
Canadians may have been encouraged on learning that the House of Commons Finance Committee investigating the WE charity controversy assured WE employees testifying before it that they are protected by parliamentary privilege.

Its a great thing that witnesses cannot be sued for defamation or prosecuted criminally for evidence so given, right? Not so fast. It depends.

The immunity that parliamentary privilege provides is an immunity from criminal prosecution or other legal proceedings. But it is considerably less clear that the WE charity or any other organization whose employees are given such assurance cannot take steps to discipline the witnesses or in other ways mistreat them because of their testimony.

And even if the witnesses had been or might be public employees, the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act is so full of faults that a public employee would not have a great deal more protection than the WE charity employees.

In 2007, many Canadians were pleased that the federal government  following the sponsorship scandal  enacted a whistleblower protection statute, the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act (PSDPA). The act required the president of the Treasury Board, after five years, to cause an independent review of the act to be conducted and a report of the review to be laid before the House of Commons and the Senate. That seems a very reasonable strategy  to see if course corrections are needed.

Five years later, in 2012, the then-government did not conduct any review, thus contravening the act and undermining the rule of law.

In 2015, there was a government change. In February 2017, the Government Operations and Estimates (OGGO) Committee undertook the review task. The committee heard from 52 witnesses including experts and academics from other countries on best practices in such legislation.

By mid-June, 2017 the OGGO Committee presented a 107-page unanimous report with numerous recommendations for significant legislative amendments to improve the widely criticized, ineffective law. Advocacy groups, the public sector integrity commissioner, and unions had high hopes. The amendments would bring federal whistleblower legislation into the 21st century supporting transparency, accountability, and public service integrity to the benefit of all Canadians.

The committee chair, Tom Lukiwski, an opposition MP, spoke in Parliament on June 16, 2017 as he tabled the OGGO Committees unanimous report. He spoke glowingly of the report, stating it would encourage all public servants to come forward to report any government wrongdoing that they may have seen, and they will be able to do so in a safe environment, without fear of reprisal.

He then requested the government table a comprehensive response to the report, meaning there would be no debate as the rules of the House of Commons require the response be filed first  within 120 days. On Oct. 16, 2017 the president of the Treasury Board, Scott Brison, quietly filed the governments response with the Clerk of the House.

The 1-page letter did not promise a single change to the act and instead offered vague platitudes about the governments intention to improve the administration and operation of the internal disclosure process. This response ignored the serious legislative flaws in the existing act the committee had identified after hearing the compelling evidence of knowledgeable witnesses  thus thwarting the intent of the act.

Not one thing further has since been done by this government to amend the federal whistleblower legislation to make it effective.

There is a serious democratic deficit in our country when:

An Act of Parliament requires an independent review of whistle-blowing legislation after five years and no such independent review is conducted.

A committee of the House of Commons does review the legislation, issues a unanimous report identifying serious flaws, and recommends needed improvements; and the government tables a response that ignores the legislative flaws and does nothing whatsoever to correct them.

The current context of a minority government presents a rare opportunity for reform. Will the other parties seize this opportunity to use their influence to improve our democracy?

And, with regard to Canadas seriously defective whistleblower protection legislation, will they hold the governments feet to the fire to implement the recommendations of the House of Commons committee for its improvement?
Although it may be daunting to read about rising COVID-19 cases in schools with students just starting class, experts says the numbers are to be expected.

On Tuesday morning, Ontario announced in its daily COVID-19 update that there were 14 new active cases in schools across the province, including four at Toronto schools  adding up to 29 in total.

The province said that the cases are among both students and staff  and no schools have been closed.

The provincial data also notes there are 4,828 schools in the province, so 27 schools is less than one per cent (0.56 per cent of schools).

Dr. Ashleigh Tuite, an epidemiologist with the University of Torontos Dalla Lana School of Public Health, told the Star that these cases occurred too rapidly to be caused by in-school transmission. The new cases represent infections that are happening out in the community, she said.

The good news is that these cases have been identified  once cases are known, we can initiate contact tracing to try to prevent any onward spread within the school setting, Tuite said.

Dr. Isaac Bogoch, infectious disease specialist at the University of Toronto and Toronto General Hospital, agrees that these numbers are not out of the ordinary.

Obviously its not a good thing. Its just not surprising, Bogoch told the Star. We know that COVID will be introduced into schools and that it will be proportionate to the amount of COVID thats in the community.

On Tuesday, Ontario reported 251 new cases province wide.

Bogoch wasnt surprised that all of the schools remained open after confirming COVID-19 cases.

There are a number of reasons why a school would remain safe to operate after a case is confirmed, he said. For example, the person may have tested positive after the virus had stopped being infectious. Or, after contact tracing, it was determined the person hadnt come in close contact with anyone.

If the person who tested positive came in close contact with their classmates, that class might need to go home, he said.

But it doesnt mean the school needs to shut down.

Theres going to be unique circumstances with each one of these cases that will be investigated, and that will determine whether or not (the school will be closed), Bogoch said.

Tuites main concern is about those who dont know they have COVID-19 and go to school while infectious.

Its in these sorts of situations where the different layers of protection that have been put in place at schools become really important, she said.

If staff and students are able to keep physically distant, wear masks, keep up with hand hygiene, etc., the risk that an infectious case in the school will lead to additional cases is reduced.

Instead of looking at the COVID-19 cases introduced to the school, Bogoch recommended parents to watch out for transmission within the school.

Everything weve been talking about for the last couple of months is: can we set up the school in a way that, not if, but when a case is introduced ... it has the lowest likelihood of being transmitted to other people? he said.

Were going to find out how successful that is sooner rather than later.

In its latest update Tuesday, the province reported the following GTA schools had confirmed infections:

Halton reported two cases, both among school staff at St. Marguerite dYouville Catholic Elementary School and Oodenawi Public School.

Peel confirmed seven cases  St. Joseph Secondary School (student), Briarwood Public School (staff), John Fraser Secondary School (student), Louise Arbour Secondary School (student), North Field Office (staff), Ross Drive Public School (staff) and Ruth Thompson Middle School (unidentified).

Durham had two, one in a student and one in a staff member. The affected schools are: Ecole Ronald-Marion (staff) and Mapleridge Public School (student).

Toronto had four confirmed cases, all of whom were among staff  Bloordale Middle School, Charles G. Fraser Junior Public School, Don Mills Middle School and Earl Haig Secondary School.

There was one case in York region  a student at Little Rouge Public School.

In other parts of the province, Ottawa had 11 confirmed cases in nine schools while Waterloo and Pembroke reported one each for a total of 29 cases.

Many students returned to in-person class on Monday, with some showing signs of hesitation or concern.

Positive cases were being confirmed before the first day of school, with the York, Halton and Peel region as well as Hagersville alerting parents to at least one case in their respective communities Sunday.

Sept. 16, 2020  Correction: This story has been updated from a previously published version to correct that its Earl Haig Secondary School in Toronto that has a positive case among a staff member, not Earl Haig Public School.

Has your child been assigned to a large class or has your school kept class sizes low? We want to hear from you. Tell us about your familys experience with in-person school by emailing schools@thestar.ca . Please include your school board in the email.

With files from Breanna Xavier-Carter

Kevin Jiang is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Stars radio room in Toronto. Reach him via email: kjiang@thestar.ca

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- Rise in application of lightweight materials, surge in number of warfare activities, and increase in concern from government over safety have boosted the growth of the global armor material market

PORTLAND, Ore., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research recently published a report, titled, "Armor Materials Market by Material Type (Metals & Alloys, Ceramics, Composites, Para-Aramid Fibers, Ultra-high-molecular-weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE), Fiberglass, and Others) and Application (Vehicle, Aerospace, Body, and Others): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2020-2027". As per the report, the global armor materials industry was pegged at $10.6 billion in 2019, and is expected to reach $15.7 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 5.3% from 2020 to 2027.

Major determinants of the market growth

Rise in application of lightweight materials, surge in number of warfare activities, and increase in concern from government over safety have boosted the growth of the global armor materials market. However, limited application of multi-layered composite material and high cost hamper the market. On the contrary, advancements in armor material plates are expected to create lucrative opportunities for the market players in the future.

Request PDF Brochure: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/7191

COVID-19 scenario:

Increased in warfare across the borders of India -China, the demand for armor materials has increased.

-China, the demand for armor materials has increased. However, the shortage of labor, lack of raw materials, and disrupted supply chain hamper the manufacturing of armors.

The composites segment to manifest the highest CAGR through 2027

By material type, the composites segment to register the highest CAGR 6.7% during the forecast period, owing to growing preference of composite materials in mobile military equipment, such as tanks and large ships. However, the metal & alloys segment held the largest share in 2019, accounting for nearly two-fifths of the global armor material market, due to growing application of titanium and its alloys in military armor and vehicle.

Get Detailed COVID-19 Impact Analysis on the Armor Materials Market @ https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-for-customization/7191?reqfor=covid

The vehicles segment dominated the market

By application, the vehicles segment held the largest share in 2019, contributing to around two-fifths of the global armor material market, owing to growing application of lightweight aluminum alloys in military vehicles such as personnel carriers. However, the body segment is expected to portray the highest CAGR of 6.5% during the forecast period, due to increase in application for Kevlar fabrics and Dyneema fabrics in armor vests.

North America held the lion's share

By region, the market across North America held the largest share in 2019, accounting for more than half of the market, owing to the increasing demand for homeland security applications and development of advanced armor materials and systems for vehicles and aerospace. However, the global armor material market across Asia-Pacific is expected to manifest the highest CAGR of 6.8% during the forecast period, due to increasing warfare activities.

Major market players

China National Bluestar (Group) Co. Ltd.

(Group) Co. Ltd. Kermel

Guangdong Charming Co., Ltd.

BASF SE

Suzhou Zhaoda Specially Fiber Technical Co., Ltd.

JSC Kamenskvolokno

Tango Engineering Ltd.

YF International BV

Lydall Performance Materials Inc.

Polymer Technologies Pte. Ltd.

Interested in Procuring this Report? Visit Here:

https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/aerospace-materials-market/purchase-options

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Aerospace Materials Market: Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2019-2026

Technical Ceramics Market: Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2019-2026

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'Our work to build trade routes between the UAE, Israel and beyond will help our customers to do business in the region more easily and efficiently,' said DP World Chairman Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem

Dubai's DP World said on Wednesday it is partnering with an Israeli group to bid for one of Israel's two main ports and possibly open a direct shipping line between the two Middle East states.

The announcement came a day after Israel and the United Arab Emirates signed an historic agreement to normalize ties and marks a big development in trade and economic collaboration.

Dubai state-owned DP World, which operates ports from Hong Kong to Buenos Aires, signed a series of agreements with Israel's DoverTower including jointly bidding in the privatization of Haifa Port on the Mediterranean, one of Israel's two main ports.

The companies said they will also examine opening a direct shipping line between the small Red Sea port of Eilat and Dubai's Jebel Ali.

DoverTower is owned by Israeli businessman Shlomi Fogel, a shareholder in Israel Shipyards and a partner in the Eilat port.

"Our work to build trade routes between the UAE, Israel and beyond will help our customers to do business in the region more easily and efficiently," said DP World Chairman Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem.

Fogel said DP World and Israel Shipyards "will collaborate to establish a joint venture that will participate in the tender for privatisation of the port of Haifa."

Israel is selling its state-owned ports and building new private docks in an effort to encourage competition and bring down costs.

Haifa Port will need to be upgraded to compete with a modern one being built in the area by China's Shanghai International Port Group. Israel Shipyards operates a small port besides Haifa Port.

Israel also sees huge trade and investment potential emerging from the normalization agreements with the UAE and another Gulf state, Bahrain.

Israel Shipyards and Dubai's Drydocks World will examine partnering in producing and marketing products in Dubai.

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ALTON  YWCA of Alton Get Out the Vote Project is hosting a second Madison County Candidates Forum 2-3:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10 at James H. Killion Park in Alton.

The following candidates have been invited:

 U.S. 12th Congressional district  Rep. Mike Bost (R) and Ray Lenzi (D)

 Illinois House District 111  Rep. Monica Bristow (D) and Amy Elik (R)

 Madison County Auditor  Joe Silkwood (D) and David Michael (R).

A moderator will ask questions of each candidate pair and take questions from the audience. Attendees are requested to bring their own lawn chairs or blankets. It is anticipated that this forum will be livestreamed by Riverbender.com and available for later viewing online.

We had such a great turnout, both from our candidates and Madison County voters for our first voter forum on July 23, that we wanted to hold another forum before the election to give voters a chance to hear from additional candidates for office. said Gail Donnelly Bader, a member of the YWCA of Alton Board of Directors and a participant in the YWCA Get Out the Vote Project.

With the restrictions caused by COVID-19, it is difficult to find a place to see and hear the candidates, to ask them questions and to hear answers to questions on issues impacting our lives, Bader said. Voting is so important and attending or listening to voter forums is a good way to prepare before casting your ballot. An educated voter is more likely to participate on election day and one of our goals is to increase voter turnout in the Alton area.
What are the marks of a church culture that has gone sour?

What are the features of a toxic church culture?

One can of course broaden this to include Christian institutions, and I have been thinking of this of late because of what Im reading about Ravi Zacharias, stories about whom now seems indisputable.

Situations like this unnerve many of us. We wonder how leaders with huge impact can operate the way so many pastors have been operating. We wonder how elders and deacons can fall for such leaders. We wonder about boards and trustees. We wonder why more dont see and speak up. We wonder and we wonder.

We long for redemption, for a culture of goodness (tov) that is created through the Spirit by our tov God.

It is important to know the variable elements of a toxic culture so one can discern its presence. There are enough common elements of toxic church cultures to provide a solid list that can be used. These elements can help us nurture a tov culture.

Yes, this toxicity is often in pockets that are hidden from view. One doesnt see this on the platform but behind closed doors. One should be on full alert when those behind closed doors ask for this to be kept behind closed doors.

In our book, A Church called Tov, Laura Barringer and I discuss seven such features:

Narcissistic leaders Leaders that wield their power with intimidation and fear When the institution matters more than people When false narratives are given instead of telling the truth about allegations When loyalty is more important than doing justice, or doing what is right When the leaders are celebrities, and enjoy it and take advantage of it, instead of servants of the church When the culture becomes a leader culture instead of a pastor/shepherd culture

We await a few more weeks before this book will be available, and hope you will consider reading it to help your church or institution to nurture a goodness (tov) culture.
The dispute over fishing rights after Brexit is one of the remaining issues preventing the UK and EU from signing a deal, which must be finalised before the end of the transition period - AFP/Shutterstock

Britain could surrender control over fishing waters around the Channel Islands in an attempt to resolve a key dispute in Brexit negotiations with the European Union, it has been claimed.

The EU has floated the possibility of instating different fishing rights around the Channel Islands to those around the UK, allowing more access for French and Dutch vessels, the Telegraph understands.

The proposal would likely involve less EU access to the Channel Islands waters than it currently has, but more than if Britain had sole control.

Government sources on Wednesday insisted there would be no departure from our fundamental position that we will have control of our waters around there [the Channel Islands]."

Jersey and Guernsey are not part of the United Kingdom, although defence of the islands and most foreign relations are handled by the British Government. It is understood that the dependencies could make their own decision on the issue if they saw fit.

The latest proposal is one of various suggestions to unlock discussions on fishing rights after Brexit, which remain a major stumbling block in deal negotiations.

Other options could involve some flexibility around the UKs 12-mile nautical border, or some exclusivity for Britain within its 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone.

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, on Wednesday told the European Parliament she still hoped for a trade deal with Britain but warned that would be impossible if Boris Johnson pushed ahead with plans to renege on the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement.

Quoting Margaret Thatcher, Ms von der Leyen said: Britain does not break Treaties. It would be bad for Britain, bad for our relations with the rest of the world and bad for any future treaty on trade we may need to make.

The Commission president added: This was true then. And this is true today. Trust is the foundation of any strong partnership".

Tory Brexiteers said any surrender of control of the waters around the Channel Islands would be unacceptable.

Story continues

David Jones, Deputy Chairman of the European Research Group, said: It would be unfair on British and Channel Islands fishermen if any such suggestion was to be accepted.

These are British waters and our position has been consistent, that when we leave the transition period these will become our own waters as an independent coastal state and we will negotiate with the EU as to access to them.

But certainly to surrender British waters would be quite unacceptable.

If they want access to them, they should negotiate access to them on an annual basis.

Sir Iain Duncan Smith, former Tory leader, said the proposal would undermine the principle of take back control.

Britain is using the deal talks to push for annual renegotiation of fishing rights and "zonal attachment", which uses scientific data to estimate the size and location of fish stocks, while the EU began the negotiations calling for Britain to continue to effectively adhere to the Common Fisheries Policy after Brexit (see more detail on how this policy works below).

The bloc says French coastal fishing communities would be affected if Britain regained control of the Channel Island waters.

Some compromise between the two positions could also involve a "phasing-out mechanism" that increases the UK share of fishing rights over time rather than overnight on January 1.

There has been some progress on technical aspects of the talks on fisheries, including on quota sharing and a list of stocks.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said on Wednesday: "We have consistently said that we will not accept any proposals which compromise UK sovereignty over our own fishing waters.

I'm not going to get into briefing from EU sources around the negotiations."
President Trump and Crimes Against Humanity

According to a new book, President Trump knowingly downplayed coronavirus risks. As other critics have argued, his administrations decisions represent crimes against humanity.

Recently, Bob Woodward, associate editor at the Washington Post and one of the legendary Watergate journalists, published Rage, a new book on President Trumps first term, which draws on 18 interviews that Woodward conducted with Trump between December 2019 and last July.

Heres its key message: President Trump knowingly downplayed coronavirus risks.

Certainly, the Trump administration knew the basic facts about the outbreak already on January 3 and soon thereafter about its potential for airborne transmission, yet chose not to mobilize against the outbreak.

Whats new about Woodwards book is Trumps own acknowledgement he misrepresented the facts of the pandemic to the American people and thus to the rest of the world.

Lets recap the facts as we now know them.

Bad flu vs deadly stuff

On January 3, when the virus gene sequencing was completed by Chinas CDC and emergency monitoring initiated, the World Health Organization (WHO) and relevant countries were informed about the virus.

That same day, U.S. CDC director Dr. Robert R. Redfield called Alex M. Azar II, secretary of health and human services, telling him that China had potentially discovered a new coronavirus. Azar told his chief of staff to make sure that the National Security Council (NSC) was aware.

There was a reason to Azars concern. When Trump arrived in the White House three years before, he eliminated the global health unit that had been part of the NSC. Now a new team was launched and daily meetings began in the basement of the West Wing.

Yet, no mobilization occurred. Rather, a long debate began within the administration over what to tell to the American public.

In mid-January, a patient with confirmed infection  the first American case - sought care at a medical facility in the state of Washington. When the WHO declared the global emergency on January 30, Trump claimed that we have it very well under control.

Yet, President Trump had a very different message to Bob Woodward. "You just breathe the air and that's how it's passed. And so that's a very tricky one... It's also more deadly than even your strenuous flu," Trump said in a February 7 call.

"This is deadly stuff," the president repeated for emphasis.

Blaming WHO, Dr Tedros and China for administrations disasters

With outbreaks, time is a critical resource. Any delay is immensely costly. By the end of January, there were 5 official cases in the US. Today, the cases amount to 7 million, while deaths exceed 200,000, thanks in part to the Trump administrations obfuscation.

Despite emergency measures and proactive measures in several countries, the WHOs repeated pleas and its international alert, the Trump White House failed to mobilize against the outbreak in January, February, even much of March.

Instead, President Trump claimed that his administration had the virus under control (Feb 23) and [coronavirus is] going to disappear like a miracle. (Feb 27). It was the Democrats new hoax (Feb 28). The virus was very mild and the infected could get better by going to work (Mar 4). The common flu was worse than COVID-19 (Mar 9).

Yet, a month before, Trump had warned Woodward about the deadliness of the virus.

On March 11, the WHO declared the novel coronavirus a pandemic. Two days later, the White House finally began to mobilize federal resources against the COVID-19. But now it planned to reduce the damage by reopening the economy after mid-April. Meanwhile, it blamed the WHO, its chief Dr Tedros and China for the pandemic.

What Trump acknowledged to Woodward at the time was something very different. "I wanted to always play it down," he said on March 19, according to Woodward. He deliberately sought to minimize the danger.

"I wanted to always play it down," the president said.

No Nobel prize for crimes against humanity

Following the public controversy over Woodwards Rage, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said "the president has never lied to the American public on COVID.

Meanwhile, Trump was nominated for Nobel Peace prize by Nordic far-right, Islamophobic and anti-immigrant conservatives. These represent the kind of groups that Trumps former chief strategist Steve Bannon has tried to unite in Europe (until he was arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and money laundering).

In late April, Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of the highly-regarded Lancet medical journal, criticized President Trump's decision to suspend funding to the WHO: "Trump's decision to harm an agency whose sole purpose is to protect the health and wellbeing of the world's peoples is a crime against humanity. It is a knowing and inhumane attack against the global civilian population."

Since then, the Trump administration has committed a series of new policy plunders, including premature exits and purposeful suppression of science-based public-health measures. As a result, United States and the Americas remain the global epicenter of the crisis.

By now, almost 30 million people have been infected and almost 1 million have perished amid the pandemic; half of them in the U.S. and the Americas. By the year-end, these figures could still double.

The last thing President Trump and his administration deserve is a Nobel prize. Both have knowingly withheld pandemic facts from the public, undermined the WHOs efforts to protect the wellbeing of the worlds peoples, failed to protect Americans and thereby contributed to the spread of the pandemic worldwide.

Such decisions represent crimes against humanity.

Dr. Dan Steinbock is the founder of Difference Group and has served at the India, China and America Institute (US), Shanghai Institute for International Studies (China) and the EU Center (Singapore). For more, see http://www.differencegroup.net/

 2020 Copyright Dan Steinbock - All Rights Reserved

Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.

Dan Steinbock Archive

 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.




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A 46-year-old passenger in Manchester was spotted in a bus with a python wrapped around his neck and mouth. If that wasnt bizarre enough already, he had wrapped the reptile as a face mask.

The man, who boarded the Swinton bus at Salford, sent co-passengers in a state of shock with his unusual choice of protective covering" from coronavirus.

A woman, on the other hand, said that initially, she thought the mask was quite funky" until she spotted it slithering over the handrails, as per reports.

The snake reportedly didnt bother the passengers or cause any danger to any person inside the bus and a person silently recorded the incident.

A spokesperson of the Transport for Greater Manchester said that government guidance states that theres no need for a surgical mask and commuters can make their own or wear something suitable.

He further added that although there can be a small degree of interpretation to it, its unbelievable how a person can take it to a level of using an alive snake as a face mask, reports The Independent.

Another professor at the University of Gloucestershire told Metro.co.uk, There are, unsurprisingly, no studies of the effectiveness of snake masks but I think we can confidently say that this is not an effective way of reducing the spread of coronavirus."

In another news, recently, a 4ft snake was surgically removed from a Russian womans mouth after the reptile had crawled into her.

The woman, reportedly from Levashi village in Dagestan, was sleeping when the large snake crawled inside her without her realising. When she woke up, she was feeling unwell and was rushed to the hospital.

Once the doctors realised that there was something inside her, she was put under general anaesthesia and a tube had to be inserted down her throat. In a video that has gone viral, the doctors can be seen reaching inside to drag something out.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks at a press conference with British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab - NICHOLAS KAMM/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Joe Biden, the US Democratic presidential nominee, has said he would not allow the Good Friday Agreement to become a "casualty of Brexit" if he is elected president.

Mr Biden waded into the issue as Dominic Raab, Foreign Secretary, tried to reassure US politicians during a trip to Washington that Britains support for the peace accord with Northern Ireland was absolute.

"We cant allow the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland to become a casualty of Brexit," tweeted the former vice-president, who is going up against President Donald Trump in November.

He warned that any trade deal between the US and UK "must be contingent upon respect for the agreement and preventing the return of a hard border."

Mr Bidens comments following a meeting between Mr Raab and Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in the House of Representatives, who said if the UK violates its international agreements and Brexit undermines the Good Friday accord, there will be absolutely no chance of a US-UK trade agreement passing the Congress."

Mrs Pelosi said the lower house of Congress, which is currently controlled by her party, would defend the 1998 agreement as a "beacon of hope for peace-loving people throughout the whole world".

Mr Raab is in on a charm offensive in Washington DC designed to ease concerns over Boris Johnson's recent Brexit talk moves.

Accusations that Mr Johnson is breaking international law and undermining Northern Irish peace by attempting to change parts of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement have become wrapped up in UK-US trade deal talks in America.

The Internal Market Bill aims to make it easier to transport goods between the UK's four nations, and has raised concerns that a hard border will be imposed on the island of Ireland

Leading Democrats have been publicly warning that any undercutting of the Good Friday Agreement, a historic Northern Irish peace deal which ended years of hostilities, could see them veto the UK-US trade deal currently being negotiated.

Story continues

The warnings carry political weight given that any trade deal will only become law when it is ratified by the two wings of the US Congress, the Senate and the House. The Democrats currently hold the majority in the House.

Asked whether the Johnson government had jeopardised a trade deal with its controversial attempts to alter aspects of the Withdrawal Agreement, Mr Raab put the blame on Brussels and repeated the UKs support for the Good Friday Agreement.

I think its a great opportunity for me to be clear that the threat to the Good Friday Agreement as its reflected in the Northern Ireland protocol has come from the EUs politicisation of the issue and to be clear on how that's happened and why thats happened, Mr Raab said of his visit.

Our commitment to the Good Friday Agreement and to avoid any extra infrastructure at the border between the North and the South is absolute.

There were also positive words from Mr Raabs US counterpart, Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state,, who repeated US support for that agreement but also said he was confident the UK government would reach a solution that suited all parties.

Mr Pompeo said: Yes, we trust the United Kingdom. I am confident theyll get it right. Weve made clear our view of the importance of the Good Friday agreements. We know the complexity of the situation. Weve done what we can to provide assistance where we can.

In the end this will be a set of decisions with respect to this that the UK makes. And I have great confidence that they will get this right in a way that treats everyone fairly and gets a good outcome for what it was the people of the UK voted for now several years back.

Mr Raabs trip to Washington DC makes him one of the few UK government ministers to visit during the coronavirus pandemic. Mr Johnson is still yet to visit the White House as prime minister more than a year after taking up the role.

Mr Raabs tougher meeting, due to happen behind closed doors, was expected to be not with Mr Pompeo, a Donald Trump loyalist, but Ms Pelosi, who has in recent weeks not hidden her opposition to Mr Johnsons recent Brexit manoeuvrings.

What were they thinking? Ms Pelosi recently asked about Mr Johnsons move to revise the Withdrawal Agreement, adding: Whatever it is, I hope theyre not thinking of a US-UK bilateral trade agreement.

Nancy Pelosi has criticised the bill - Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg

Four Democratic congressmen wrote a letter to Mr Johnson on Tuesday warning his latest move could have disastrous consequences for the Good Friday Agreement and may lead to a veto of the UK-US trade deal.

It has since emerged that a number of the signatories once made supportive comments or gestures about Gerry Adams, the former president of Sinn Fein and Irish Republican, including pushing for him to be invited to past presidential inaugurations.

Peter King, the New York congressman who signed the letter, is quoted in the Belfast Telegraph once saying in the 1980s: If civilians are killed in an attack on a military installation it is certainly regrettable, but I will not morally blame the IRA for it.

Trade deals talks between Britain and America remain on-going. It is very unlikely a deal will be reached and passed by the US Congress before the November 3 US election.
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 16, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian military has commented on Azerbaijani Defense Minister Zakir Hasanovs order to the Azerbaijani troops to maintain high combat readiness and vigilance.

The concerned reaction of the Azerbaijani Defense Minister after their own provocation was fully predictable, Armenian Ministry of Defense spokesperson Shushan Stepanyan told ARMENPRESS.

As usually, the Azerbaijani top brass is spreading disinformation and attempting to put the blame on Armenia after their own provocation killed an Armenian soldier.

Junior Sergeant Hovik Tamazyan of the Armenian army sustained the fatal injuries while on duty at a military position in the northeastern part of the Armenia-Azerbaijan state border on September 16.

The Ministry of Defense of Armenia said in a statement that in recent days Azerbaijan has become active in this section of the border and attempted to carry out reinforcement works, which led to escalation.

With the purpose of suppressing the adversary activity and preventing future escalations the Armenian Armed Forces vanguard units were forced to take appropriate countermeasures. As a result of the adversarys provocation, Junior Sergeant Hovik Tamazyan sustained fatal gunshot and shrapnel wounds in the combat position of a military base in the northeastern section on September 16, the defense ministry said.

The entire responsibly for this situation and the border escalation falls on Azerbaijans military-political leadership, it added.

After this, Hasanov announced he has ordered the Azerbaijani troops to immediately and decisively prevent the possible provocation of the Armenian Armed Forces in different directions.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
Uber wants to become part of the net-zero emissions alliance by switching over its fleet to electric vehicles. All of its rides could take place in EVs by 2030 in the US, Canada, and Europe; and the rest of the world by 2040. That will mean quite a lot is being asked of its driver network, who own these vehicles.

Uber's new pledge is to put $800 million initially into its plan to offer rides exclusively in electric vehicles by 2030 in US, Canadian and European cities, and to be entirely free of emissions by 2040. Drivers will be getting $1.50 more per ride for going electric, and fares will go up for riders choosing an EV.

Uber wants to catch up with its top competitor, Lyft, on bringing EVs to ride-hailing, ride-sharing customers. Theyre hoping it will be as big a move as 2011 when Uber first rolled out the concept of skipping a taxi ride and getting a good, cheap ride in someone elses car.

Their customers  mostly in the younger Millennial and Generation Z age groups  embraced the Uber concept from the very beginning. Its made Uber and Lyft rides even more common for many customers than owning their first car. Millennials and Gen Zers tend to be concerned about climate change and air quality, which could be a strong marketing hook for Uber and Lyft.

Uber and Lyft drivers are usually not the most informed about the latest offerings in electric cars from Tesla, Chevrolet, BMW, Nissan, and their startup competitors.

For those of who've taken several Uber and Lyft rides, they may be riding in a popular hybrid like the entry-level Toyota Prius. Uber and Lyft customers will probably be getting a ride from the airport, or to the nightclub, in a five-year-old, fuel efficient small car or crossover, which are more common than hybrids. That could be vehicle models such as a Honda Accord, Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, Toyota Yaris, Kia Sportage, or a Hyundai Sonata.

What many of these drivers dont know is that few of them can really compare the total cost of ownership of their small gasoline-powered car to a Chevrolet Bolt or a Tesla Model 3. Even with federal and state incentives, EVs are still at a higher starting price than buying a used, fuel-efficient vehicle. Low gasoline prices make the differential even more pronounced.

Uber and Lyft have always tapped into their drivers not having clear understanding of the business sense of putting in lots of hours and massive amounts of miles on their odometers. Their vehicles will be hit with depreciation loss, and many of them will have to spend more on vehicle maintenance and repair. They also pay their own income tax and receive no benefits from being part of the Uber and Lyft networks beyond a few discounts on popular consumer products that these companies pull together for their drivers.

Drivers who rent or lease a car to see how much side income they can make with Uber or Lyft are usually hit with frustration after a month or so of trying it out. Uber and Lyft  along with other popular brands in the mobility market like Postmates, DoorDash, and Instacart  are well known for seeing high levels of turnover among their independent contractor drivers. While the state of California has attempted to reverse this business model to turn drivers into employees with its AB5 law enacted last year, the mobility companies have amassed a huge budget to promote a November state ballot initiative that could reverse AB5.

For now, Uber is rolling out its Uber Green surcharge in 15 cities in the US and Canada. Riders are charged an extra dollar for their ride to be picked up in a hybrid or EV, and theyll get an extra 50 cents per ride from Uber  meaning drivers will get an extra $1.50 per ride for supplying these Uber Green vehicles.

Lyft started this EV move in June 2020 by committing to make 100 percent of its fleet zero emission by 2030. The initiative was launched in collaboration with Environmental Defense Fund. The ambitious plan also included its Express Drive rental car partner program for ride-share drivers, Lyfts campaign to bring in autonomous vehicles, and rental cars for riders.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been promising to bring out a similar service for several years  which hes called the Tesla Network. Musk has tied it into the companys autonomous vehicle plans, but during last years 4th quarter earnings call, he said it will have to be done at first by human drivers instead of Teslas full self-driving system.

I think it will probably make sense to enable car sharing in advance of the kind of robotaxi fleet because the car sharing can be done before full self-driving is approved by regulators. So its probably something that we would enable before a sort of robotaxi fleet is enabled, Musk told shareholders.

Shareholders and other analysts will be watching to see if Uber and Lyft can keep their promises to hit their net-zero targets over the next decade. They have had a previous promise fall apart  that of shared rides removing enough polluting vehicles from the roads to clean up air quality and fight climate change.

That was illustrated by a Union of Concerned Scientists study released in February. Ride-hailing trips typically displace low-carbon trips, such as public transportation, biking, or walking. The study found that Uber and Lyft trips result in an estimated 69 percent more air pollution than the trips they displace.

Switching over their fleets to EVs would reverse it. But convincing all of their independent contractor drivers to only bring in EVs will be a very tough sell for Uber and Lyft.

By Jon LeSage for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Up until about 18 months ago, Jed Zimmer felt his anxiety and depression were such "a sign of weakness" he chose not to tell those around him.

He had visited a psychologist since about the age of 10, and had learnt to put his mental health "to the side". He could keep up a front  however exhausting that may be.

Jed Zimmer kept his mental health issues "to the side" and felt he could not talk about them for more than a decade. When he opened up 18 months ago it changed his life. Credit:Justin McManus

"I didn't want to open up to family and friends because I saw it as a weakness and a vulnerability," said Mr Zimmer, a personal trainer, now 22.

"Footy training, catching up with mates, everything was just a huge effort. I was constantly tired because I was putting on such a brave face, I was living in two different worlds."
Today, 15 September 2020, the World Customs Organization (WCO) and the National Customs Directorate of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to join forces to strengthen Law Enforcement Administrations (LEAs) capacities in the fight against illicit trafficking via General Aviation.

This is the first MoU signed within the framework of the WCO COLIBRI Project on Monitoring and Controlling General Aviation along the Cocaine Route. The MoU was signed by the WCO Secretary General, Mr. Kunio Mikuriya, and the Director General of the Uruguayan Customs Administration, Mr. Jaime Borgiani. The ceremony took place in Montevideo in the presence of Representatives of national Law Enforcement Administrations and of the Deputy Head of Mission of the EU Delegation in the country.

The WCO COLIBRI project is funded by the European Union (EU) and it forms part of the Global Illicit Flows Programme of the EU. The Project geographically focuses on Latin America and the Caribbean, (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay, Peru, and Dominican Republic), and West and Central Africa (Cape Verde, Cote d'Ivoire, Mauritania, Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, and Mali).

In his video message to the ceremony, the WCO Deputy Secretary General, Mr. Ricardo Trevino Chapa, highlighted the WCOs strong appreciation for the enhanced cooperation with Uruguay: Today represents an important milestone for all those who are promoting and participating in the implementation of this Project and also and above all, for the International Law Enforcement Community. The Project has an inter-administrative view and it is an example of good cooperation to ensure security and, ultimately, peace.

The Oriental Republic of Uruguay and its Law Enforcement authorities have shown outstanding commitment to the Project. The National Drug Board (JDN), Customs, Air Force, DINACIA, National Police Air, and Naval Prefecture, are actively cooperating and coordinating towards a successful implementation of the Projects activities.

Customs Director General Jaime Borgiani stated: It is a pleasure to sign this Memorandum with the European Union and the WCO. We understand that this project improves the work of all by strengthening the capacities of Law Enforcement officials.

The core element of the WCO COLIBRI project is an ambitious capacity building component. The first COLIBRI online training on Monitoring and Controlling General Aviation was held for Law Enforcement Agencies of Uruguay in July 2020. This online training has been designed to provide a strong theoretical background in order to prepare officials for subsequent practical face-to-face trainings.

Beside the capacity building component, one of the Projects main objectives is to develop new technologies to enhance controls on General Aviation: a new and innovative IT platform completely dedicated to General Aviation will be launched at the beginning of 2021. In this regard, the WCO Deputy Secretary General pointed out: The MoU signed today establishes the ideal framework for the exchange of information. He thanked all the participants for their commitment and collaboration. Due to the tremendous efforts and input from the WCO COLIBRI project expert team, an International Training Handbook dedicated to the control of General Aviation flights will be released during the course of 2021, enabling the participating law enforcement agencies in 14 countries to integrate general aviation control know-how into their standard training.

The Deputy Head of Mission of the EU Delegation, Mr. Tomas Pospisil stated: The EU and the WCO have joined forces in the fight against organised crime, focusing on General Aviation. COLIBRI is part of the Global Illicit Flows Programme of the European Union, a programme that was launched last year to succeed the Cocaine Route Programme. We are glad to see that COLIBRI has been able to adapt to the current circumstances moving into distance learning mode while maintaining schedule and efficiency.

Today, as said earlier by the WCO Deputy Secretary General, the EU is pleased to take part in the signing of this Memorandum of Understanding which marks an important milestone for the Law Enforcement Community and a major step in enhancing the partnership between Uruguay, the EU and the WCO to increase control of General Aviation.

Ultimately, the MoU signed today, represents a major step in enhancing the partnership between Uruguay and the WCO to control General Aviation.
Author

Brenda Fields is an industry leader, named by HSMAI (Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International) as a "Top 25 Extraordinary Mind in Sales & Marketing" and is a member of the exclusive International Society of Hospitality Consultants (ISHC), a by-invitation only, 200-member professional society. Ms. Fields served in senior marketing positions before establishing her successful consulting practice. Her clients comprise a wide range of hotels, resorts, and hotel companies around the world, including five-star, luxury boutique properties, 2,000 room hotels and conference centers, as well as some of the largest real estate development companies in the U.S. At the onset of her career, Ms. Fields joined the then, hospitality industry visionary, Dunfey Hotels at the renowned Ambassador East in Chicago, IL and moved up the ladder quickly. The systems Dunfey Hotels had pioneered provided a basis on which any problem can be resolved regardless of market conditions or product type.
Welsh villagers have protested against Home Office plans to turn another ex-military base into a camp for 250 asylum seekers - more than 300 miles from the English Channel.

The Ministry of Defence has offered former army base Penally Training Camp, in Pembrokeshire, Wales, as a place to house refugees who have crossed from France, while their asylum claims are processed.

From next week, around 400 refugees, including families, will be kept at the Napier Barracks in Folkestone, Kent, after the site was also offered to the Home Office by the MoD.

Folkestone and Hythe MP Damian Collins says he 'cannot support' the decision and called on the Home Office to find 'more suitable' accommodation.

There have been similar complaints in Penally, where former Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood said a former army training camp was a 'perverse' place to house people who had fled conflict.

Penally Training Camp in Wales could be used to house 250 refugees, who have crossed the English Channel, while their asylum claims are processed

Around 400 people including families, believed to have crossed the Channel in small boats, are to be housed in temporary accommodation at Napier Barracks in Folkestone, Kent, from next week

Around 6,000 migrants have arrived on the English coast after making the dangerous voyage across the English Channel this year.

Politicians, councils and residents have all raised concerns over a lack of consultation from the Home Office at both sites.

Around 100 locals blocked a key road on Tuesday in protest over the plan, amid fears it could put pressure on local infrastructure.

Pembrokeshire County Councillor, Jonathan Preston, said: 'We understand there's a humanitarian requirement to look after these people.

'My only question - is the Penally camp a bit too close to a small village which depends on tourism and it may have a negative impact on the tourism industry in Pembrokeshire?'

The Plaid Cymru councillor added: 'I'm concerned about how this news came to a small place like Penally. We're quite a close-knit community.

'With a community like Penally, if the community had been involved in the consultation, they would be more likely to embrace the situation.'

Locals in Penally have raised concerns that a migrant camp could put people off visiting their holiday village

Enraged locals in the Welsh village of Penally blocked a road near the disused training camp, which has been offered up as a temporary home for asylum seekers

In a joint letter to Home Secretary Priti Patel, Mr Collins along with the leader of Folkestone and Hythe District Council and the chairman of Sandgate Parish Council demanded that the decision be reversed.

They said: 'We have great concerns about the impact this large open camp will have on the welfare of the local residential community and also those people in the asylum system who will be placed at the barracks itself.'

In a statement, Folkestone and Hythe District Council cited a 'lack of consultation on this matter and the exceptionally poor communication with us'.

They added: 'We are quite sure that members of the community will have many questions, and we are seeking clarification as a matter of urgency.'

Around 100 villagers attended a protest this week on Tuesday - the same day it was announced a deserted barracks in Folkestone would also be used

In Penally, around 100 villagers held a sit-down demonstration, blocking a main road towards nearby Tenby in protest against the plans on Tuesday night.

One woman said: 'I've got no problem with asylum seekers themselves. I feel a great deal of sympathy for them but we haven't got the infrastructure here.

'I don't know how we're going to cope basically.'

'I just don't see where they're going to get all the help they really need from without the locals going short, which they've already done in a lot of respects anyway.'

Wearing a face-mask, puffer jacket and Adidas tracksuit, a migrant father was yesterday photographed walking with his wife and two children along the coastal path at Kingsdown Beach in Deal

Asylum seekers who have fled their homes could be kept in old army camps in Penally, above, and Folkestone

According to the 2011 census, Penally has a population of around 850 people.

Another man said: 'The population would be inflated by a third with no increase in spending on the infrastructure - that would be my major concern.'

Former Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood added: 'In meeting its moral duty to protect these individuals, the UK government should identify sites which are both safe and suitable to house them. At present, they seem to be failing on both fronts.'

A Home Office spokesperson said: 'During these unprecedented times, the government is working with a range of partners and across departments to secure further accommodation and the MoD has offered use of some of its sites.

'When using contingency accommodation we work closely with organisations, including local authorities and law enforcement, throughout the process to ensure value for money and that vulnerable asylum seekers, who would otherwise be destitute, have suitable accommodation while their claims are processed.'
By Trend

Another meeting of the Supervisory Board of the Azerbaijan Investment Holding was held on Sept. 15 under the chairmanship of Azerbaijani Prime Minister, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Ali Asadov, the Azerbaijani Cabinet of Ministers told Trend.

The members of the Supervisory Board took part in the meeting.

The instructions arising from the Azerbaijani presidents decree dated August 7, 2020, were thoroughly discussed during the meeting.

A report on the work carried out to organize the activity of the Azerbaijan Investment Holding was heard.

The proposals in connection with the state-owned enterprises, which will be transferred under the management of the Holding following paragraph 5.2 of the Azerbaijani presidents decree dated August 7, 2020, were discussed.

A presentation on the principles of the activity of the Holding and the creation of economic value for the state was demonstrated and the corresponding discussions were held.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept.16

By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:

The value of trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Russia amounted to $9.6 billion over the first seven months of 2020, compared to $10.7 billion during the same period of 2019, Trend reports with reference to Kazakhstans Statistics Committee.

The share of Russia in the total value of Kazakhstans trade turnover stood at 19.7 percent during the reporting period compared to 19.7 percent during the same period of 2019 indicating it was nearly flat year-on-year.

Kazakhstans export to Russia amounted to $2.5 million over the period from January through July 2020, compared to $3.1 million during the same period of 2019

Russias share in the total volume of Kazakhstans export amounted to 8.8 percent during the reporting period of 2020 compared to 9.5 percent during the same period of 2019.

In turn, Kazakhstans imports from Russia amounted to nearly $7.08 million over the reporting period, compared to $7.6 million during the same period of 2019.

Russias share in the total volume of Kazakhstans import amounted to 35.2 percent during the reporting period of 2020 compared to 35.4 percent during the same period of 2019.

The total volume of Kazakhstans trade turnover amounted to $48.7 billion over the period from Jan. through July 2020 which indicates a decrease from $54.5 billion during the same period of 2019.

Kazakhstans export amounted to $28.6 billion during the reporting period of 2020 ($33.03 billion in the same period of 2019), whereas imports amounted to $20.1 billion ($21.5 billion in 2019).

During the reporting period, main articles of Kazakhstan and Russia trade turnover were food products, agricultural products, as well as products of the chemical industry.

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A woman who was forced to have her rectum removed and her anus sewed up to save her life says people still don't understand enough about bowel conditions 'you can't see'.

Speaking to BBC Stories, Crohn's sufferer Rosie Campbell, from Essex, says 'looking fine on the outside' means others struggle to comprehend just how debilitating conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), Ulcerative colitis and Crohn's can be.

Rosie, who was diagnosed at the age of 12 and suffered symptoms including diarrhea and chronic pain, says she often has to explain to people that she 'doesn't have a bum hole' after undergoing a protectomy - also known as 'Barbie butt' surgery - to stop her anus and rectum from turning cancerous.

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Rosie Campbell, from Essex, was first diagnosed with Crohn's disease at the age of 12 and suffered with debilitating symptoms during her teenage years including chronic pain; after surgery to remove her large intestine she has a stoma bag to empty her bowel

Rosie's scars following her protectomy - also known as 'Barbie butt' surgery - which sewed up her anus and removed her rectum to stop them from turning cancerous

Crohn's disease is a long-term condition that causes inflammation of the lining of the digestive system. Inflammation most commonly occurs in the last section of the small or large intestine but it can affect any part of the digestive system.

The condition can cause chronic pain, weight loss, diarrhea and fatigue and it's thought around 500,000 people across the UK currently live with inflammatory bowel disease.

Rosie had already had surgery to remove her large intestine to form an ileostomy bag, leaving her with just a small colon and needing stoma bags.

She told BBC Stories journalist Bryony Hopkins: 'On the outside you look fine, on the inside, it's a completely different ball game.

'I haven't got my large intestine any more because it was going to kill me but just because I look like this doesn't mean I haven't gone through that.'

A better person: Rosie told BBC Stories journalist Bryony Hopkins that she 'prefers this person to potentially what I might have been' had she not been through what she's been through

Rosie says she 'lost part of who I was' when she had the protectomy operation, but thinks she's a better person because of what she's been through.

She explains: 'I grieved for someone that I thought I was going to be and I'm actually glad that I went through what I did.

'I actually think I prefer this person to potentially what I might have been, without going through this.'

CROHN'S DISEASE EXPLAINED Crohn's disease is a long-term condition that causes inflammation of the lining of the digestive system. Inflammation most commonly occurs in the last section of the small or large intestine but it can affect any part of the digestive system. Common symptoms can include: diarrhoea

abdominal pain

fatigue (extreme tiredness)

unintended weight loss

blood and mucus in your faeces (stools) Remission occurs when people with the disease go long periods of time without symptoms however these periods can be followed by flare ups of symptoms. Why it happens The exact cause of Crohn's disease is unknown. However, research suggests a combination of factors may be responsible. These include: genetics  genes you inherit from your parents may increase your risk of developing Crohn's disease the immune system  the inflammation may be caused by a problem with the immune system that causes it to attack healthy bacteria in the gut previous infection  a previous infection may trigger an abnormal response from the immune system smoking  smokers with Crohn's disease usually have more severe symptoms than non-smokers environmental factors  Crohn's disease is most common in westernised countries such as the UK, and least common in poorer parts of the world such as Africa, which suggests the environment has a part to play Source: NHS Advertisement

Awkwardness surrounds her condition, she says, and Rosie admits she often has frank conversations with people about it: 'People don't know how to talk to you and when you tell people you don't have a bum hole, they're like "What do you mean?"

She says she tells them: 'It's gone, it would have turned cancerous, that would have killed me. I chose to live, that's what I chose'.

On Instagram, Rosie documents her life living with her condition, sharing bikini photos showing her stoma bag

Reality: Her frank and honest posts shows the different sizes of bags she uses, saying she can only use smaller stoma bags when she's on holiday

After the short film aired on BBC Stories, Rosie told her 5,000 Instagram followers that she'd been flooded with messages of support.

The film also featured Anthony Andrews, a young man facing the removal of his large intestine and documents BBC journalist Bryony Hopkins' own journey with Crohns disease, which she's had since childhood.

Speaking about her appearance in the film, Rosie urged her followers to be kinder to people saying it's never clear what a person is going through.

She wrote: 'IBD is a life changing illness and affects every part of your life! Physically and mentally. No-one chooses to be sick, and to have surgery, and to have a stoma... BE KIND ALWAYS!!'
Salaries will no longer be subsidised by the Government from November 1 (Joe Giddens/PA)

The Governments Coronavirus Jobs Retention Scheme will come to an end on October 31.

The scheme was set up to support jobs during the Covid-19 pandemic, with the Government promising to cover 80% of an employees salary, up to a maximum of 2,500 per month, if that persons place of work was unable to remain open during lockdown or needed to scale back.

The scheme was introduced on April 20 and according to the latest statistics which were published a month ago, 1.3 million businesses have claimed 35.4 billion to pay 9.6 million employees.

But furlough has been slowly scaled back in recent weeks. During September employers have been forced to pick up 10% of the tab, and they will have to pay 20% of their staffs wages in October. 

Here are the key questions surrounding the future of the scheme:

Will I still get paid by my employer?

If you are still in full-time employment on November 1, you will continue to be paid in the same way as before and unless you have agreed otherwise with your employer you should be back to your usual pay.

Expand Close Chancellor Rishi Sunaks furlough scheme has helped thousands of businesses and workers during lockdown (PA) PA / Facebook

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However, workers who get paid per hour they work will only get paid if they go back to work, meaning zero-hours contracts workers whose employers are still closed, or have reduced capacity, are likely to lose out.

Why is 45 days important?

It is now 45 days until the scheme runs out, meaning employers will then have to pick up the full bill for their staffs salaries. Many are likely to be forced into tough decisions because they are simply unable to pay out, meaning some staff may be made redundant.

This week is important because any employer planning to lay off more than 100 workers needs to open a consultation at least 45 days before any dismissals take effect. Businesses laying off between 20 and 99 people need to give 30 days notice.

Will the Government extend the scheme?

The Government has been very clear that the furlough scheme will come to an end on October 31, despite many experts and the Labour Party calling on the payments to continue for at least some of the most vulnerable sectors.

Many are worried bringing the scheme to a close for all employers could lead to a massive amount of redundancies.

However, the Treasury is hopeful some of the worst could be offset by the promise of a jobs retention bonus. It will pay employers 1,000 for each furloughed employee that is still on the books by the end of January next year. It hopes that this will give businesses an incentive not to lay off thousands of workers.

(PA Graphics)

The response to the Covid-19 crisis has been very different in other countries. Some governments, such as in the US, have simply handed cash to their citizens, others have supported businesses.

Germany has long had a system in place which saves jobs during downturns, with struggling businesses able to ask the government to support up to 60% of their salaries for six months. During Covid-19, this has been expanded to 80% for 21 months.

France has a similar system where companies can slash the number of hours its staff work and ask the government to pick up part of the tab for the employees lost income.

The UK scheme has proven much more costly than its European equivalents.

Will millions of people lose their jobs?

It is impossible to predict the full impact of the end of the furlough scheme. Many have warned furlough has been hiding a redundancy time-bomb, with thousands of employees still being paid by businesses that will not be able to survive, or will need to cut back, in November when they are no longer propped up by the Treasury.

Len McCluskey, general secretary of the trade union Unite, warned Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday that closing the scheme could open the floodgates for redundancy.

He added: There is little doubt that an extension to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is critical and a subsequent sector-specific scheme should follow.
BERLIN: A German think tank said Wednesday it is closing its Hong Kong office following Chinas imposition of a sweeping new national security law on the territory.

The Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, which is linked to Germanys opposition Free Democratic Party, said it could no longer ensure the safety of its employees as a result of the new law.

It said it is freezing its activities in the former British colony, giving up its office and parting company with its four remaining staff members there. One employee already had left because of concerns over his personal safety, it added.

A climate of fear and permanent danger prevails in Hong Kong today, foundation chief Karl-Heinz Paque said in a statement. Those who stand up for democracy and freedom in Hong Kong today put themselves in danger. We cannot expose our employees and partners to this risk.

The new security law bans secessionist, subversive and terrorist activities, as well as collusion with foreign forces, with penalties of up to life imprisonment.

Critics say the law amounts to a major crackdown on free speech and political activity by the opposition and further erodes the civil liberties promised to Hong Kong under the one country, two systems principle in place since it reverted to Chinese rule in 1997.

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor
(Natural News) JACKSON COUNTY, OR For days, Oregon has been the victim of ongoing an raging wildfires throughout the state. One of them, started in Ashland, Oregon, is now being investigated as an arson.

(Article by Chris Elliot republished from LawEnforcementToday.com)

The most 2020 of days:

-survived the windiest night of camping in the backcountry, which destroyed our tent

-encounter with a puma or bear on the trail (not sure, it growled at us?)

-drove thru the apocalypse in oregon

-ended the day close to areas being evacuated for wild fire pic.twitter.com/5E8lRNDzEC  Emilia Zin (@zinn7) September 10, 2020

The fire has been blamed for the destruction of roughly 600 homes so far and has claimed over 3,000 acres. Now, Jackson County Sheriff Nate Sickler reports that two bodies were located in the aftermath.

Video from my brother as they fled their campsite near Detroit Lake early this am. They are safe, thankfully. #OregonFires pic.twitter.com/uhjeCYCiRQ  Nicole Funke (@nicolefunke) September 9, 2020

Sickler reported that the Jackson County Major Assault and Death Investigation Unit has started their investigation surrounding the two bodes that were located. Sickler told the Mail Tribune that nothing has been ruled out as to the cause of the fire:

We are still in the early stages [of investigation]. Nothings been ruled out  its still an active investigation.

This particular fire appeared to have started on September 8th and spread at an extreme rate, said Sickler.

Caught in the middle of the worst wild fire in Oregon state history I was located in Medford OR. pic.twitter.com/5u4BR3kd3Z  Mr. Unique Deals LLC (@MrUniqueDealsL1) September 10, 2020

As the fire spread, Sheriffs Deputies and other local law enforcement tried to evacuate as many people as they could. However, some completely refused to evacuate their homes. Sickler said:

We had people refuse to leave their homes. We dont know what their status is because we had to move onThis is an event that is larger than anything Ive been a part of with regards to the loss of property and the destruction to the community.

Tighe OMeara, the Police Chief for Ashland Police Department advised that they were viewing the fire as possible arson. OMeara told Reuters:

We have good reason to believe that there was a human element to it. Were going to pursue it as a criminal investigation until we have reason to believe it was otherwise.

OMeara did not provide much information as to why they believe that this wildfire may be an arson.

Oregon Governor Kate Brown reported that over 10% of the states population had been evacuated due to the fires. She said:

We have never seen this amount of uncontained fire across our state.

Police officials report that the fire departments working the active scenes have made progress but noted that the Almeda fire was still very much active. They also ask that people stay out of the area of the fires as their presence could interfere with firefighters dumping fire retardant and water in the area.

While that arson investigation is underway, police were able to arrest one man for allegedly starting another fire in the same area. On September 8th, people called the police after seeing a man light a fire behind their home in Phoenix.

I just found this article about it. He was originally arrested for unlawful possession of methamphetamine. smhhttps://t.co/kKqbmCpcUc Michael Jarrod Bakkela, 41, has been charged with two counts of arson. pic.twitter.com/hPYj48Hnkx  Lynn (MONSTA X  WONHO ) (@Lynn_NC2016) September 12, 2020

Oregon State Troopers and Jackson County Sheriffs Deputies responded and found Michael Bakkela who was standing in the area. They report that Bakkela was standing close to a very large fire threatening several homes.

When police contacted him, they probation violation but did not specify how he violated. On September 11th, they charged him with two counts of arson, 15 counts of criminal mischief, and 14 counts of reckless endangering. Police have not released how they developed probable cause for Bakkelas arrest regarding the arson.

The Jackson County Sheriffs Office Public Information Officer, Mike Moran, told ABC News that there was a large amount of damage that resulted in the fire that Bakkela allegedly started. Moran said:

There are numerous homes, many of which are burnt completely, some are just heavily damaged, that are part of the 15 counts of criminal mischief.

The FBI released a statement warning against social media rumors of left or right wing extremists starting the fires. They said:

FBI Portland and local law enforcement agencies have been receiving reports that extremists are responsible for setting wildfires in Oregon. With our state and local partners, the FBI has investigated several such reports and found them to be untrue.

Conspiracy theories and misinformation take valuable resources away [from] local fire and police agencies working around the clock to bring these fires under control. Please help our entire community by only sharing validated information from official sources.

Read more at: LawEnforcementToday.com
(Photo : Reddit via r/electricvehicles) (Photo : Volkswagen) (Photo : Tesla)

Germany's world-famous auto manufacturer and newbie in the Electric Vehicle industry, Volkswagen, seemingly betrays Tesla with ID.4 and Model Y comparison that claims VW's EV is better and cheaper. Despite the courtesy calls, publicities, and friendly relationship with Elon Musk, Volkswagen dared to use Model Y as a comparative measure that makes ID.4 look down on Tesla's mid-sized sedan.

Germany's 'Das Auto,' famously known as Volkswagen, really is 'The Car' that revolutionizes and makes wonder. Volkswagen recently made a massive leap from internal combustion engines (ICE) to its very own modular electric drive matrix (MEB platform) for its new breed of electric vehicles.

Volkswagen recently said that its company's innovation and Tesla's who use a ground-up design for EVs, will thrive and get the best value for money in the industry. Together with this statement, VW praised Tesla for its efforts and pioneering in the electric vehicle revolution.

Another occasion where VW big boss, Hebert Diess, updated his LinkedIn post with a comment that shares his experience with Model Y to be better than its ID.3. The high-regard for Tesla came in praise from the CEO and declared its inferiority to the American auto manufacturer.

After the Tesla CEO's visit and a trip to Germany, Volkswagen and Tesla share a healthy relationship that praises and upholds each company's product. Elon Musk politely praises the ID.3 while test driving on the VW Facility and Hebert Diess test driving the Model Y, saying it to be a reference for design and performance.

ALSO READ: Tesla Spends $0 on Ads While Competitors Pay as Much as $2,000 per Vehicle: Check out the Top Ad Spenders

ID.4 and Model Y, Who is the Superior EV?

Despite the high praises and a seeming truce that joins together VW and Tesla in electric vehicle manufacturing, a recent Reddit post in r/electricvehicles shows a brochure-type of match-up Volkswagen of the ID.4 and Model Y.



In the Reddit post, the image shows the outline of both electric vehicles with Tesla Model Y in red and Volkswagen's ID.4 in blue. Both outlines are atop each other to properly show the difference in the vehicle's length and size.

VW's Difference with Model Y

The brochure-like image compares both EVs, being more favorable to the German company's upcoming electric hatchback. The primary highlighted difference is the vehicle's length and height. Volkswagen argues that while ID.4 is 0.17cm shorter than Model Y, it offers a 6cm roomier interior.

Another point of comparison is the wheelbase and turning circle of the vehicle with the ID.4 having a 1.9m difference, making it more efficient in turns and tight maneuvers. Volkswagen's soon-to-be-released ID.4 is also "more software-centered," has established dealers and service base, and high-quality interior.

Tesla's Model Y dominates against ID.4 in some aspects, and Volkswagen admits this fact. Tesla Model Y's acceleration and charging speed is better than VW's.

The Volkswagen ID.4 will also be cheaper by a massive $11,800 difference with VW selling the car for  49,000 ($58,000 as of Sep. 16) against the pricier Model Y priced at 58,620 ($69,444 as of Sep. 16).

ID.4 and Model Y's Similarity

There are certainly some similarities that both EVs share. Factors such as the Battery Size and Cruising Range does not differ from both vehicles. Volkswagen and Tesla's mid-sized vehicles share a 78kWh battery size and an impressive 316-mile (520 kilometers) range.

Indeed, the vehicle match-up and leaked brochure show Volkswagen's ID.4 vehicle's advantages against Tesla Model Y. The German company's new EV would soon come to the market and expects its launch during early October.

This match-up may give a comparison that will make the buyer think twice before purchasing either of the vehicles in the electric category.

ALSO READ: Tesla is Secretly Building the World's Largest Electric Car Charging Station That Can Service 56 EVs at a Time









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Written by Isaiah Alonzo

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Weve been led to believe that there are two realities in the United States. In one reality, a deadly virus has spread exponentially, infecting 6.7 million people, killing nearly 200,000, and completely upending life as we know it.

In this reality, the US government has not only failed the American people, its actually made the problem worse  starting with President Donald Trump. In this reality, legendary journalist Bob Woodward conducted 18 interviews with the President in which Trump displays a surprisingly keen grasp of the severity of COVID-19, and then openly says he intends to downplay it publicly  a promise he has more than kept.

In this reality, schools  and education generally  are being completely disrupted, exposing a threadbare US social system that does little to support working families. One in six children in the US live in poverty, and millions of them rely on school for regular meals, shelter, and even safety. Its easy to say, work and study from home, but doing those things in practice is something else entirely.

In this reality, the entire west coast of the US is on fire and we are seeing the very real consequences of our inaction on climate change. Fifty million people are engulfed in an ash-filled haze that is dangerous enough on its own without adding potential complications from COVID-19 infections. Tens of millions of acres could burn in the end, and beyond the destroyed homes, displaced people, and economic consequences, there will surely be long-term health effects for millions.

In this reality, heavily-armed Right-wing vigilante groups are organising on social media and acting as de facto police, conducting patrols, attacking protesters, and even killing people. This behaviour has been encouraged by the President and his supporters for the last four years; stoking white nationalism has been a hallmark of the Trump administration, and were paying the price. Gun sales in the US are at record highs, and this is in a country that is already awash in guns  its going to get worse before it gets better.

These are the facts, and this is the state of things in the United States.

The fact is that there are no two realities in this country. There is one reality, and there is a sizable and seemingly-unwavering group of people unable or unwilling to accept it for what it is. That will not stop the day after the November election. Conspiracy theories are rampant, and groups like QAnon have an absolutely shocking number of believers. Theres a good chance that the elections will produce conspiracy-theory supporting members of Congress, and even the President has given breath to them.

These are not problems that will be solved by voting Trump out of office, but its undeniable that it is absolutely crucial to do so to get that process started. The next 50 days may very well set the tone for the next 50 years.

Its clear that President Trump will do what he does best, he will escalate. Thus far, a depressingly large share of Republicans continue to support him, despite the damage hes doing to any hope the party had of resembling an inclusive party. Despite the lies, mismanagement, disinformation, and division, they stick by him.

They are able to stick by them because of the information environment he has fostered  one that says you dont need a mask at a rally with thousands of other people; one that says the US economy is in great shape; one that says the police are justified in their violence against people of colour; one that says climate change is fake news.

The importance of this election cannot be understated. To every Republican who has continued to support this administration through all I have just four words for you: Come get your boy.

Sree Sreenivasan is Marshall Loeb Visiting Professor of Digital Innovation at Stony Brook Journalism School in New York, and cofounder of Digimentors, a social, digital and virtual events consultancy. Twitter: @sree. Views are personal.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 18:19:24|Editor: huaxia

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ISTANBUL, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Turkey on Wednesday continued to hunt the suspected military personnel who have alleged links to a network believed to be behind a coup attempt in 2016 with a series of operations.

Police units launched operations in 34 provinces to catch at least 132 suspects upon the order of the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office in Istanbul, according to the NTV broadcaster.

The suspects included 82 soldiers on active duty and 50 expelled or retired military personnel, it said, noting that so far 106 of them have been detained.

All those targeted in operations have alleged connections with the network headed by the U.S.-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, press reports said.

At another nationwide operation conducted on Tuesday, police targeted at least 129 suspects, including academics and doctors who have infiltrated into the Turkish Armed Forces, according to the state-run Anadolu agency.

The Turkish government blames Gulen and his network for masterminding the coup bid in July 2016, in which 250 people were killed, and has been pushing for his extradition. Enditem
New business details have emerged regarding TikToks plan of action for its US business.

The whole back and forth with TikToks US business and the Donald Trump administration has finally culminated into a deal between Oracle and the ByteDance-owned video sharing platform. According to a report in the Financial Times, Oracle is planning to take ownership stake in a newly formed TikTok corporation as a part of the already announced deal.

Reports suggest that the new arrangement will not break TikTok off regionally, but instead will create a separate corporate entity for the app in which Oracle will own minority stake.

Oracle is also going to ensure that data from American users get stored and processed in the US, as per the recommendations made by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

TikTok already has its headquarters in China and there is nominal independence from ByteDances China operation. The main change that is going to be brought in by the deal is Oracles minority stake in the company. As far as how minor the stake is going to be is still unclear.

However, while Oracles stake in TikTok makes it a more legal corporation, it is likely that the company will still rely on algorithms and applications created and deployed by the Chinese arm, reports state.

TikTok has also committed to increasing hiring within the US. Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin said in an interview with CNBC that the deal is a part of a broader effort to establish TikTok as a company that has its headquarters in the US.

It is also not clear if the new agreement will result in changes to how TikTok essentially operates or whether it will meaningfully address the security concerns that were raised by the Trump administration.

Announced on Sunday, the Oracle deal is part of a last-minute effort to prevent TikTok from being banned in the United States. Trump is yet to formally approve the deal, and according to the Financial Times, crucial details are still being determined.
UN member states have condemned Russia's violation of human rights in the occupied Crimea and demanded that the occupying state ensure full access to the peninsula for international monitoring missions.

They said this in a joint statement on the human rights situation in the temporarily occupied Crimea and unrestricted access for human rights monitoring mechanisms therein, the press service of the Foreign Ministry reported on September 15.

"During the 45th session of the UN Human Rights Council (Geneva), UN member states in a Joint Statement on Crimea called on Russia as an occupying state to abide by its obligations under international humanitarian law, guarantee human rights and freedoms, and strictly comply with UN General Assembly resolutions on the territorial integrity of Ukraine and the human rights situation in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol," the report reads.

UN member states stressed the need for the Russian Federation to comply with the order of the International Court of Justice to lift the ban on the Mejlis as a representative body of the Crimean Tatar people and to provide conditions for teaching the Ukrainian language on the peninsula. UN member states also require from the occupying state to immediately ensure full and unhindered access to the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol for international monitoring missions, as stated in UN GA resolutions 71/205, 72/190, 73/263 and 74/168.

"Today in Geneva, the international community reaffirmed its unwavering support for the sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine's borders, and condemned Russia's violation of human rights and international humanitarian law on the occupied peninsula," the Foreign Ministry stressed.

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President Klaus Iohannis said on Wednesday that there is currently no need to discuss about the postponement of the local elections, noting that things will be well organized in this election.

"There is currently no need to discuss the postponement of the elections. Things are organized, they will be well organized and different than in June. Now we know much better how to approach this epidemic, but everyone's approach, individually, is essential. Physical hygiene and hand hygiene remain the only obstacles between the virus and us, and we must all be aware of this, and if we do everything we can, then we will restrict the spread of the virus. The polling stations will have everything they need at their disposal, from spare masks to disinfectants, separate circuits and everything else that has been prepared. I think we can go and express our vote if we follow all the rules," the head of state told a conference at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace.

On the other hand, he pointed out that no new restrictions are in place at this time in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Relaxation measures were taken when experts, epidemiologists said that one measure or another could be taken. I believe that Romania has acted with sufficient caution and I believe that more and more citizens understand that this precaution mustn't be expected only from the authorities, but from each one of them. This is why I practically ask Romanians every week to wear a mask, to keep their distance and to take special care of hand hygiene when they come from the city. In this way, we can live our lives close to normal, with minimal sacrifices and we can curb the spread of the virus, until, obviously, we hope to have a vaccine as well. (...) No new restrictions are currently expected," explained President Iohannis.
Akhilendra Sahu began his entrepreneurship journey from his home town of Narsinghpur in MP, India. Initially, he worked as a freelancer. He was 17 then. His dream was different than most of the youngsters of his age.

You may not believe it, but there are countless possibilities and opportunities in the world. Those who have a will to do something never lets go of them. Human life and career are limited. That makes it all the more important for us to find our eternal calling and making a mark on the world. There is never a perfect time to begin than right now. Individuals who know this are rare and also they are the ones who actually achieve something in their life. Entrepreneurs is a breed of such individuals who are eager to defy the traditional ways of life and do something out of the box.

In the past few decades, India has emerged as source of power and development for the world. Changes are happening in the Indian business scenario on a fast pace. Within no time digitalization has reshaped many leading businesses. But who drove this move? Indeed it was with the governments aid, but it was actually helmed by the young entrepreneurs in India. One such entrepreneur at the business remake forefront is Mr. Akhilendra Sahu, the founder and CEO of ASTNT Technologies Private Limited.

He began his entrepreneurship journey from his home town of Narsinghpur in MP, India. Initially, he worked as a freelancer. He was 17 then. His dream was different than most of the youngsters of his age. His goal was to start his own company and he worked tirelessly for achieving it.

Also read: Indian economy to shrink by 9 pc in FY21: ADB

Also read: Shillong Teer Results 14.09.2020: First-round number announced, check here

During his freelancing work, he gained good amount of exposure to business tactics and based on them he started ASTNT Technologies Private Limited. He was into digital marketing where he brought success to number of clients in India. But he wanted to grow more. He didnt want to be limited to one particular niche.

In the following two years, he founded a few more companies catering to different client needs. His new companies include Technical Next Technologies (International Hosting Provider), ASTNT Media (30+ News Sites Network), HeyIndia (Social Media App), StartUp199 (Web Development), FoodChilli (Exclusive Restaurants and Food Delivery), InfinityFame (Public Figures Marketing Agency) & The Publishly (Press Release Distribution). All of the mentioned companies are catering to the Indian clients in the best possible way. They generate good revenue.

It is amazing to see that Akhilendra at such a tender age got what he wanted and is doing it in his own way. His motto is crystal clear: Client satisfaction above all. He treats them as a deity. Perhaps, that is what has made him successful. Ideas and opportunities dont just work out on their own. Success is a two way road. It needs efforts from your side too. There is no cheat code to entrepreneurial success. The solution is simple, dont wait for the right time to arrive. The moment you begin working towards your goal is the time when you actually embark on a journey of success.

Going past hindrances, being courageous on a fundamental level and having a thought that could change the world, this is what Indias young age is tied in with, characterizing the country and demonstrating to the world what we are able to do. Akhilendra expects the same from the budding entrepreneurs. His pro tip to them is to think beyond the ordinary and work on it consistently.

Also read: Rs 30,000 cr Special Liquidity Scheme under Atmanirbhar Bharat package: Finance Ministry
The U.S. government has said that it is reevaluating its ban on some categories of Migrant Visas for Nigerians having been satisfied with the countrys level of compliance with information sharing and other concerns.

Mustapha Sulaiman, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, disclosed this while briefing journalists at the end of the inaugural meeting of the U.S./Nigeria Forum in Abuja on Wednesday.

According to Mr Sulaiman, the forum will serve as a platform where both countries can progressively improve on bilateral relations and address concerns for the benefit of citizens.

The permanent secretary said that the U.S is reviewing the ban on Nigeria because it has met almost 90 per cent of the requirements set by the U.S. government.

According to him, the U.S. placed a ban on some categories of migrant visas in January because the requirements set by the U.S. were far from being met.

We have accomplished so much within a very difficult year, but essentially we want to acknowledge the recognition and put on record Nigerias response to the concerns by the United States government in respect of the immigrant visa restriction that was imposed on Nigerians.

I want to say that we appreciate the acknowledgement and the commendations from the United States government in respect of this response.

From the assessment of the recipient of our response, I think we have accomplished almost 90 per cent of the requirements that have been set in that regard.

And I am sure that if you follow the information that has been passed on the level of compliance, for instance, sharing of information, we have done so much in that regard.

That is why I believe the U.S. government is having the comfort to even reevaluate. Otherwise, we wouldnt have been candidates for reevaluation.

If we have to rate ourselves, from what has been done so far, we should be about 90 per cent compliant.

The consular forum was agreed on earlier in the year during the Bi- National Commission of the United States and Nigeria which was held in Washington January, February and that agreement is what is coming to push now.

We have just had the maiden consular forum meeting today and I want to put it on record that it has been a very successful meeting with various issues that were discussed, Mr Sulaiman said.

Mr Sulaiman commended all stakeholders that worked hard to ensure that Nigeria made appreciable progress to earn the commendations from especially the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) and the U.S Embassy in Nigeria.

Also speaking, U.S Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard, commended Nigeria on the progress made in information sharing and other concerns raised by the U.S. government, which led to the ban.

Mr Leonard explained that the Presidential Proclamation enjoins the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State to prepare a report addressing the measures that have been taken which is then submitted to the White House for reevaluation.

She said that contrary to reports, the ban Presidential Proclamation did not mean that no Nigerian could ever enter into the U.S .

She said the bi-national commission meeting was held at about the same time of the proclamation which allowed Nigerias Foreign Minister and the U.S Secretary of State to make public statements on what it entailed.

I have to congratulate Nigeria on its progress on greater information sharing with the United States.

We have reviewed the Federal Governments report on information sharing and we are inspired by the strides that Nigeria has made to improve access to stolen and lost travel documents.

And I am particularly encouraged by the Sept. 7 announcement that the U.S provided Interpol router is successfully connected to Nigerias Immigration Service and National centre bureau in Abuja.

Washington is extremely pleased about that development in particular, Leonard said.

On the imposition of visa restriction to those who undermine the electoral process, Mrs Leonard said the U.S takes it very seriously.

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She said anyone found guilty would be subjected to the sanctions.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that on Jan. 31, President Donald Trump expanded his administrations curbs on immigration visas to Nigeria and six other countries for failing to meet U.S Security and information sharing standards. (NAN)
Spotify alleged that Apples new subscription bundle offer abuses its dominant market position by favouring its own Apple Music service.

Spotify has criticised Apples announcement of an all-in-one subscription bundle. The music streaming company said that Apple was misusing dominant position to push its own services. It is worth noting that Apple One bundle includes Apple Arcade, TV+, iCloud and most importantly Music for $14.95.

Once again, Apple is using its dominant position and unfair practices to disadvantage competitors and deprive consumers by favouring its own services. We call on competition authorities to act urgently to restrict Apples anti-competitive behaviour, which if left unchecked, will cause irreparable harm to the developer community and threaten our collective freedoms to listen, learn, create, and connect, a Spotify statement read.

Spotify has been quite vocal about Apples App Store policies. In March last year, the company filed a complaint against Apple with the European Commission. Spotify has maintained that Apples policies have intentionally disadvantaged competitors and created an unlevel playing field.

Apart from Spotify, Epic Games has level similar allegations against Apple which has blocked the studios popular Fortnite on iOS. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney has long opposed Apples controversial 30% tax on app revenues.

Apple, in the meanwhile, said that Apple One bundle is perfect for anyone who wants to get more at less service. In its release, Apple had said that Apple One Individual plan offers a savings of over 177 per month, while the Family plan offers a savings of over 200 per month.

Customers can discover and enjoy alternatives to every one of Apples services. Were introducing Apple One because it is a great value for customers and a simple way to access the full range of Apples subscription services. Well be recommending the Apple One plan that saves you the most money based on the subscriptions you already have. Its perfect for anyone who loves any of our services and wants to get more for less, and its especially great for families. Also select services included in Apple One are available to enjoy on non-Apple devices, and you can cancel anytime, Apple is quoted as saying.
A Kigali court will on Thursday make a ruling on bail in the terrorism trial of Paul Rusesabagina, the figure behind the Hollywood movie Hotel Rwanda.

He is charged with 13 counts including terrorism, financing terrorism, inciting violence, recruiting child soldiers, kidnap, and arson.

Mr Rusesabagina spent the entire day in court on Monday in a bail hearing, where his lawyers argued that his medical condition warrants that he be released provisionally.

"He is sick and requires regular medical attention. He should be granted bail with restricted movement as a free man. He has not been convicted and is innocent until proven guilty as provided by Rwandan laws," David Rugaza, his lawyer said.

Mr Rugaza added "what prosecution considers as serious incriminating evidence against Rusesabagina is simply two documents they found on his computer. These are unsigned documents and there is no evidence that he wrote them."

Mr Rusesabagina also defended himself against the 13 charges he faces and distanced himself from activities of the eastern DR Congo-based rebel group Force de Liberation Nationale (FLN) that claimed previous attacks against Rwanda.

"I am not the leader of FLN. They are the ones that should be held accountable for the acts they did, not me," he said.

"Like my lawyers have said, I am sick and in need of constant medical care. In the past two weeks, I have been to the hospital three times. I request for bail and I guarantee the court that I will not flee from justice," he said.

Medical care

Mr Rusesabagina, 66, is a cancer survivor and has a cardiovascular medical condition.

But prosecutors argued against granting him bail, noting that they have strong evidence that links him to the formation of terror groups as well as financing and fundraising for them.

They also said that there is no need to offer him bail on medical grounds since detainees are offered the medical treatment they need.

"He can access medical care without a problem, and he is on record saying it himself that all his rights are respected during his time in detention. We have mechanisms and institutions through which the sick are catered for adequately while in detention," Oscar Butera, the lead prosecutor told the court.

"We have strong evidence showing his involvement in terror activities against Rwanda. All the evidence we gathered against Rusesabagina was obtained legally, including what we gathered from our Belgian counterparts, which was through a legally procured search warrant."

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Bail ruling

The presiding judge, Dorothy Yankurije, adjourned the pre-trial to September 17, where a ruling will be made on bail.

The trial started at 9am and lasted for about seven hours, with only a break of about an hour.

His family has insisted that Mr Rusesabagina is in court without the lawyers of his own choosing.

"As yet, Paul has only had contact with lawyers assigned to him by the Rwandan authorities. He had no access to independent advice from his own lawyers. Paul's family reiterates his right to consult with lawyers of his own choosing, particularly given the extraordinary circumstances surrounding his arrest," Kitty Kurth, the family spokesperson said on Monday.

Mr Rusesabagina chose his lawyer from a list of local advocates that was provided by the Rwandan Bar Association on a pro-bono basis, after he said he did not have the financial means to hire a lawyer.

The family had drawn up a list of six lawyers to represent him, including one Rwandan, two Americans, an Australian, Belgian and Canadian.

By law, foreign advocates are required to seek authorisation from the Rwanda Bar Association to represent a client in Rwanda.

But by press time, the Bar had not received any request from a foreign lawyer intending to represent Mr Rusesabagina.
The Fisher House

A home away from home for veterans' families

by Davi Napoleon

Published in September, 2020

When veterans and active service members need care at a Veterans Administration hospital, their loved ones will often want to be near. But the logistics can be overwhelming and the cost prohibitive--particularly if the patient needs services beyond the scope of nearby VA hospitals. Because the Ann Arbor VA has a partnership with Michigan Medicine, it can treat those who battle unusual and complex illnesses, and it attracts vets from distant states.



Enter the new Fisher House Michigan, a home-style residence on the Ann Arbor VA grounds. Everything is free. And with necessities on hand, families don't have to shop, park, or leave the hospital area for anything else.



The goal is to create a home away from home and an instant community. "The moment you set foot in Fisher House, you see it is not a government building. It is not a hotel. It's the nicest home many have stayed in," says Kate Melcher, executive director of Fisher House Michigan.



Melcher, an Army vet, discovered Fisher House when her then-husband returned from service requiring treatment at Eglin Air Force Base Hospital on Florida's Emerald Coast. They lived too close to the base for her to be eligible for a stay at the Fisher House there, but when she knocked on the door, "a woman with a thick Southern accent hugged me and asked if I take cream or sugar." After visiting for just an hour, Melcher says she experienced the impact of Fisher House. She subsequently moved to Michigan and became involved as plans developed for houses in Ann Arbor, then Detroit.



The first two Fisher Houses opened in 1990 in Bethesda, MD, and Washington, D.C. Today there are eighty-eight at VA medical centers throughout the United States and in Germany. They have something in common with Ronald McDonald Houses, family housing near children's hospitals, but they are smaller. "Fisher Houses have from eight to twenty-one private family suites, with common areas so that families

...continued below...

can get to know each other as they did in the service when they lived on bases," says Melcher.There are sixteen suites in the Ann Arbor facility, plus common kitchen, laundry, dining, and family rooms. In better days, guests at Fisher Houses often favored time in the family room. But Ann Arbor Fisher House opened in June 2020, in the middle of the pandemic. Instead of family style meals, guests distance in the spacious dining room and wear masks in common areas.Melcher is quick to point out that the couple who initiated the project, Zachary and Elizabeth Fisher, were unrelated to the Detroit auto family. "Zachary Fisher built and managed millions of square feet of New York City real estate," she says. Unable to serve in WWII because of an injury sustained in a construction accident, "he adopted the military" to make up for it. The Fishers, now both deceased, donated more than $20 million to the construction of these homes.Formed in 2016, Fisher House Michigan has raised over $7.5 million toward its $27.5 million goal. The Ann Arbor house cost $7 million to build. Private gifts and grants are used to fund the construction of houses, which are then gifted to the VA, which promises to maintain them at the original quality. "If we have 800 thread count sheets when a house opens, we have to replace them with 800 thread count when the sheets wear out," says Melcher. They keep administrative costs low, relying on volunteers for much of the operations, so all donations can meet the needs of families.Donations come from large corporations and private individuals. "A donor from Clinton township sends a dollar a month every month. The Ugly Dog Distillery in Chelsea retooled to make hand sanitizer for every bedroom. Jiffy Mix from Chelsea makes sure pancakes are always available. Individuals, corporations, and veteran groups and auxiliaries provide essential financial support. Our community built this house and continues to take care of the families," says Melcher. "It takes a village." [Originally published in September, 2020.]
A new Middle East peace deal that Tony Blair helped broker was criticised last night for offering nothing to Palestine.

Israel signed the landmark deal on Tuesday with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain at a ceremony at the White House.

The three countries pledged to normalise relations in a move hailed by US President Donald Trump as the dawn of a new Middle East.

But there were fears it would not bring peace and only start a new arms race in the region.

Mr Blair was yesterday hailed by an Israeli newspaper as playing a key role in the agreements. It was lauded by Washington and Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said he hoped others would follow its lead.

Former British prime minister Tony Blair waits for the beginning of the signing ceremony of the Abraham Accords on the South Lawn of the White House

However, critics said the agreement would only serve the three signatories, plus the US, and offered nothing to end tensions between Israel and Palestine.

Republican pollster Frank Luntz said Mr Blair was a rockstar at the deal signing in Washington DC, adding: People were lining up for photos with him.

Mr Blair first brokered informal talks between Israel and the UAE in 2015, using his strong relationship with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to get the then-quarrelling sides to sit down in London.

He then helped build trust between the nations over the following years. The former Labour leader praised the agreement which he said was the only path to peace and would eventually be of benefit to the Palestinians.

Critics pointed out the agreement paves the way to a lucrative arms deal between the US and the UAE which it wants to sell F-35 jets (pictured) to despite previous objections from Israel

The deal saw Israel, the UAE and Bahrain agree to open embassies and establish new diplomatic and trade ties, particularly in tourism, technology and energy. It also opened up air spaces between the trio.

The overall goal is to bring peace to the whole of the Middle East by ending tensions between Israel and Palestine. Mr Blair said: I believe in time the Palestinian people will understand that it is only by radically changing strategy that the legitimate aspirations for a viable Palestinian State can be realised.

Most Arab states have boycotted Israel for decades, insisting they would only establish ties after Israels dispute with the Palestinians was settled. But they have been increasingly worried about Irans influence in the region and experts say the main focus of the deal was about alignment against that regime.

The three countries pledged to normalise relations in a move hailed by US President Donald Trump as the dawn of a new Middle East

However, critics said the countries who signed the pact were willing to throw Palestine under the bus because of fears about Iran and its growing influence. Chris Doyle, at the Council for Arab-British Understanding, said: These countries see Iran as the greatest threat and because of this they are willing to throw Palestine under the bus.

Critics pointed out the agreement paves the way to a lucrative arms deal between the US and the UAE which it wants to sell F-35 jets to despite previous objections from Israel.

Andrew Smith, from the Campaign Against Arms Trade, warned: Military spending in the Middle East has increased a lot over recent years, and there is a risk it will intensify ongoing arms races in the region.

A spokesman for the former Labour leader said: Mr Blair has never received any payment for the work he has done for Israel, UAE and Arab relations.

And so far from throwing the Palestinians under a bus, it actually preserves the possibility of a Palestinian state by stopping the annexation of the Jordan Valley and settlements.
Washington:

PM Narendra Modi received a telephone call from outgoing US President Barack Obama on Wednesday evening, both reviewed progress and cooperation in ties.

PM Modi thanked US President Obama for strong support and contribution to strengthening strategic apartnershipa and to review joint efforts of cooperation including defence, civil nuclear energy, and enhanced people-to-people ties, a readout of the telephonic conversation between the two leaders said.

aRecalling his visit as the chief guest at Indiaas Republic Day celebrations in 2015, President Obama wished the Prime Minister warm congratulations ahead of Indiaas upcoming 68th Republic Day anniversary,a the White House said.

aBoth leaders discussed the progress they have made on shared economic and security priorities, including recognition of India as a major defence partner of the United States and addressing the global challenge of climate change,a it said.

Obama was one of the first leaders to congratulate Modi after his electoral victory in May 2014 and immediately invited him to visit the White House.

The two leaders met at the White House in September 2014.A Since then they have met each other for eight times. This is a record for leaders between India and America.

According to Assistant Secretary of State for South and central Asia Nisha Desai Biswal, the two leaders share a very warm relationship.

aThey have a great deal of personal camaraderie. But they also have a great deal of respect for each other for the leadership and the values and the integrity of each otheras approach,a Biswal told PTI in a recently interview.

aYou have seen from President Obama that appreciation of Prime Minister Modi in words that he has used to describe him including in that Time magazine profile of the Prime Minister.A You have seen that Prime Minister Modias appreciation of President Obama, of his values, his leadership style which the Prime Minister has used to describe the President,a she said.

She said that it is not a relationship that just came about that day when President called Prime Minister-elect Modi to congratulate him.

aThe seeds of this relationship were actually sown many many decades earlier,a Biswal had said.

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With seven weeks left until voters step into the voting booth  and even less time until voters can begin sending in absentee ballots  Michigan lawmakers are considering changes to the states election laws in anticipation of record absentee turnout.

On Tuesday, the Michigan Senate voted 34-2 to approve Senate Bill 757, legislation sponsored by Senate Elections Committee Chair Ruth Johnson, R-Holly, that would allow election officials in communities with at least 25,000 residents to start processing absentee ballots a day early.
More than 200 naked prisoners are on the run in Africa, having overpowered their guard and dumped the distinctive yellow uniforms that were supposed to make them easy to spot.

Forces in the country's northeast are searching for the inmates who broke into an armory, stripped and fled into a remote wilderness area after escaping jail.

A firefight ensued, in which at least three people - a solider and two of the 219 escapees - died, according to Brig. Flavia Byekwaso, spokeswoman for the military.

A map shows where in Uganda the dramatic jailbreak took place on Wednesday afternoon

The jailbreak occurred on Wednesday afternoon near the army barracks in the district of Moroto.

'They overpowered the warden who was on duty,' Byekwaso said.

The inmates are 'hardcore' criminals who were jailed for offenses relating to cattle theft in the region, she said.

They took off their clothes to avoid being spotted in their recognisable jumpsuits and ran into the foothills of Mount Moroto, an underpopulated area that the spokeswoman described as 'a wilderness.'

'The pursuit is continuing,' she said, and warned that the escaped inmates might raid local homes for clothes.

It was not immediately possible to reach prison authorities or local officials.
Chiyaan Vikram is all set to resume shooting for his upcoming action thriller Cobra by next month. Sources say that the team has a long schedule in Russia but they are planning to complete a few scenes which are scheduled to be shot in India in October and then, they will figure out about the foreign portion.

Besides Cobra, Chiyaan Vikram also plays Karikala Cholan in Mani Ratnam's magnum opus Ponniyin Selvan and he also has an action thriller with director Karthik Subbaraj in the pipeline.

Once Vikram wraps Cobra and Ponniyin Selvan, he will begin Karthik Subbaraj's film in which Dhruv also plays a pivotal role.
ROLLING MEADOWS, Ill., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE: AJG) today announced the acquisition of West Monroe, La.-based The Kirksey Agency, Inc. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The Kirksey Agency was founded in 1980 with crop insurance as its flagship product, servicing Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi. The agency has expanded its offerings in recent years to provide a full range of commercial and personal products and services to clients across the South Central United States. Bill and Grace Kirksey and their team will continue to operate in their current location under the direction of Bumpy Triche, head of Gallagher's Mid-South region retail property/casualty brokerage operations.

"The Kirksey Agency expands Gallagher's agricultural capabilities and deepens our client offerings across the Mid-South region," said J. Patrick Gallagher, Jr., Chairman, President and CEO. "We are very pleased to welcome Bill, Grace and their associates to our growing, global team."

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., 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.

Investors: Ray Iardella Media: Linda J. Collins VP  Investor Relations VP  Corporate Communications 630-285-3661/ [email protected] 630-285-4009/ [email protected]

SOURCE Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

Related Links

http://www.ajg.com


The age-old concept of deliberately exposing people to a pathogen to generate a protective immune response was first tried against smallpox paved the way for the rise of modern vaccines.

As the world awaits a safe and effective coronavirus vaccine, a team of researchers has come forward with a provocative new theory: that masks might help to crudely immunize some people against the virus.

The unproven idea, described in a commentary published last week in The New England Journal of Medicine, is inspired by the age-old concept of variolation, the deliberate exposure to a pathogen to generate a protective immune response. First tried against smallpox, the risky practice eventually fell out of favour, but paved the way for the rise of modern vaccines.

Masked exposures are no substitute for a bona fide vaccine. But data from animals infected with the coronavirus, as well as insights gleaned from other diseases, suggest that masks, by cutting down on the number of viruses that encounter a persons airway, may reduce the wearers chances of getting sick.

And if a small number of pathogens still slip through, the researchers argue, these might prompt the body to produce immune cells that can remember the virus and stick around to fight it off again.

You can have this virus but be asymptomatic, said Dr Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease physician at the University of California, San Francisco, and one of the commentarys authors. So if you can drive up rates of asymptomatic infection with masks, maybe that becomes a way to variolate the population.

That does not mean people should don a mask to intentionally inoculate themselves with the virus. This is not the recommendation at all, Gandhi said. Neither are pox parties, she added, referring to social gatherings that mingle the healthy and the sick.

The theory cannot be directly proven without clinical trials that compare the outcomes of people who are masked in the presence of the coronavirus with those who are unmasked  an unethical experimental setup. And while outside experts were intrigued by the theory, they were reluctant to embrace it without more data, and advised careful interpretation.

It seems like a leap, said Saskia Popescu, an infectious disease epidemiologist based in Arizona who was not involved in the commentary. We dont have a lot to support it.

Taken the wrong way, the idea could lull the masked into a false sense of complacency, potentially putting them at higher risk than before, or perhaps even bolster the incorrect notion that face coverings are entirely useless against the coronavirus since they cannot render the wearer impervious to infection.

We still want people to follow all the other prevention strategies, Popescu said. That means staying vigilant about avoiding crowds, physical distancing and hand hygiene  behaviours that overlap in their effects but cant replace one another.

The coronavirus variolation theory hinges on two assumptions that are difficult to prove: that lower doses of the virus lead to less severe disease and that mild or asymptomatic infections can spur long-term protection against subsequent bouts of sickness. Although other pathogens offer some precedent for both concepts, the evidence for the coronavirus remains sparse, in part because scientists have only had the opportunity to study the virus for a few months.

Experiments in hamsters have hinted at a connection between dose and disease. Earlier this year, a team of researchers in China found that hamsters housed behind a barrier made of surgical masks were less likely to get infected by the coronavirus. And those who did contract the virus became less sick than other animals without masks to protect them.

A few observations in humans seem to support this trend as well. In crowded settings where masks are in widespread use, infection rates seem to plummet. And although face coverings cannot block all inbound virus particles for all people, they do seem to be linked to less illness. Researchers have uncovered largely silent, symptomless outbreaks in venues from cruise ships to food processing plants, all full of mostly masked people.

Data linking dose to symptoms have been gathered for other microbes that attack the human airway, including influenza viruses and the bacteria that cause tuberculosis.

But despite decades of research, the mechanics of airborne transmission largely remain a black box, said Jyothi Rengarajan, an expert in vaccines and infectious disease at Emory University who was not involved in the commentary.

That is partly because it is difficult to pin down the infectious dose required to sicken a person, Rengarajan said. Even if researchers eventually settle on an average dose, the outcome will vary from person to person, since factors like genetics, a persons immune status and the architecture of their nasal passages can all influence how much virus can colonize the respiratory tract.

And confirming the second half of the variolation theory  that masks allow entry to just enough virus to prime the immune system  may be even trickier. Although several recent studies have pointed to the possibility that mild cases of COVID-19 can provoke a strong immune response to the coronavirus, durable protection cannot be proven until researchers gather data on infections for months or years after these have resolved.

On the whole, the theory has some merits, said Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at Columbia University who was not involved in the commentary. But Im still pretty skeptical.

It is important to remember, she said, that vaccines are inherently less dangerous than actual infections, which is why practices like variolation (sometimes called inoculation) eventually became obsolete. Before vaccines were discovered, doctors made do by rubbing bits of smallpox scabs or pus into the skin of healthy people. The resulting infections were usually less severe than smallpox cases caught the typical way, but people definitely got smallpox and died from variolation, Rasmussen said. And variolation, unlike vaccines, can make people contagious to others.

Gandhi acknowledged these limitations, noting that the theory should not be construed as anything other than that  a theory. Still, she said, Why not drive up the possibility of not getting sick and having some immunity while were waiting for the vaccine?

Katherine J. Wu c.2020 The New York Times Company
ASWAN, Egypt: A granite inscription tells us that for seven years during the reign of the ancient Egyptian king Djoser, the Nile failed to go through its annual flooding cycle, causing a devastating drought and famine.

The hieroglyphs on Niles Sehel Island near Aswan in southern Egypt are more than 4,000 years old, but worries about the natural rhythm of the Nile, which provides 90% of Egypts fresh water, are of no less importance today.

The Nile does not reach its previous levels in the winter and summer flows," said 52-year-old Abdel Hares Mohamed, a resident of Aswan who gives Nile boat rides to tourists.

Officials say Egypt currently has around 570 cubic meters (150,000 gallons) of water per person per year. Experts consider a country as water poor if its supply is less than 1,000 cubic meters per person annually.

Experts blame population growth, climate change and a giant hydropower dam built by Ethiopia on the Blue Nile, which Egyptian authorities say poses a threat to its water security.

Ethiopia says it has taken the needs of Egypt and Sudan into account in the construction and scheduled fillings of its Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

While modern day Egyptians can still empathise with King Djosers plight, the measures he took to counter the drought would not get much support today. The ancient pharao was instructed by Imhoteb, the designer of his famous Step Pyramid, to offer a sacrifice to Khnum, God of the Nile.

When Egypt had a famine for seven years, he (King Djoser) made a council  And Imhoteb told him: we have to give an offering to Khnum," said egyptologist Zahi Hawass. Because Khnum controlled the water from the Nile."

The Nile is the soul of Egypt," he said.
AT&T is looking into the possibility of offering cellphone plans subsidized in part by advertisements, company CEO John Stankey told Reuters in an interview. Subscribers will still have to pay the bigger chunk of their bill, but Stankey said he believes theres a segment of AT&Ts customer base where given a choice, they would take some load of advertising for a $5 or $10 reduction in their mobile bill. The CEO also revealed that the carrier could introduce the subsidized plans in a year or two.

There are other companies already offering ad-subsidized products, such as Amazon with its Kindles and phones. Stankey didnt go into the nitty-gritty of how the offer would work, but based on what he revealed during the interview, it sounds like AT&T plans to serve individual customers with targeted advertisements. The ad-supported version of HBO Max launching next year will serve as key to the new phone plans, since it will provide the company with new advertising inventory. Apparently, the carriers engineers are creating unified customer identifiers that would allow marketers to recognize users across devices to serve them with relevant ads.

As Reuters notes, the offer could raise privacy concerns in the future as more and more people become wary of how tech giants use their information  especially since AT&Ts advertising marketplace incorporates data from outside the carrier. Stankey himself admitted that he doesnt know if the company can use that external data for ads in perpetuity.
(Newser)  Toilet paper is back on store shelves. But you may not recognize some of the brands. Demand for toilet paper has been so high during the pandemic that in order to keep their shelves stocked, retailers are buying up foreign toilet paper brands, mostly from Mexico. Major chains across the country, including CVS, Piggly Wiggly, Safeway, 7-Eleven, and others, are carrying the international brands, the AP reports. In recent weeks, a CVS in New York has been selling three Mexican brands: Regio, Hoteles Elite, and Daisy Soft. Mexico's Petalo was on the shelves of a Piggly Wiggly in Sister Bay, Wisconsin. And a Safeway supermarket in Fremont, California, had those same brands, plus Vogue, whose label says in Spanish that it smells like chamomile.

story continues below

Stores said they needed to get creative and started working with new suppliers. But don't worry about popular US brands like Charminthey won't disappear. Supply chain experts expect foreign-made rolls to be on shelves only until US manufacturers catch up with demand; Americans use much more toilet paper than other countries, said a professor at Syracuse University. A shopper in Londonderry, Vermont, was stopped by what he saw in the aisles. Instead of Charmin and Cottonelle, there was Vogue and Delsey from Mexico, as well as Cashmere from Canada, and King Blue from Trinidad and Tobago. "I didn't know any of these," he said. An online customer had Cottonelle replaced in her order by Vogue. Her review: The flowery scent was "kind of fun," but "Vogue is so thin, it kind of falls apart."

(Read more pandemic stories.)
All across the globe people have started taking COVID-19 lightly and are behaving as if the virus doesnt exist anymore. In some countries, governments have decided to punish people in the most unconventional way possible.



Recently, the local administration in Gresik regency, Indonesia asked eight people to dig graves for those who died of the coronavirus as punishment for not wearing masks in public spaces.

 Reuters

Suyono, Cerme district head, told Reuters, There are only three available gravediggers at the moment, so I thought I might as well put these people to work with them.



He also said that two people were designated a grave and one person was given the responsibility of digging and one other was asked to lay wooden boards inside the grave to support the corpse.

 Reuters

Suyono added, "Hopefully this can create a deterrent effect against violations. He also expressed his concerns over the increasing number of Coronavirus cases in Cerme and now this has further led the authorities to tighten COVID related protocols.



However, Indonesia recorded over 3,000 cases on the 6th consecutive day of new novel Coronavirus cases infection. And now the capital city of Southeast Asia's most populous country geared up to re-impose social distancing curbs.

 Reuters

We think India should take cue from this as people in India have also become ignorant. What do you think? Let us know in the comments section below.


AUBERRY, Fresno County  As she surveyed the devastation of the Creek Fire, Sen. Kamala Harris said she couldnt help but notice how little the flames left behind. For some, all that remained standing were the chimneys.

Those chimneys remind me of tombstones, the Democratic vice presidential nominee said.

Its a landscape that the West is likely to see more of if the country doesnt accept the reality of climate change science and act accordingly, Harris said Tuesday as she redoubled the Democratic presidential tickets new emphasis on the threat that an unchecked output of greenhouse gases poses for peoples lives, health and property.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden seized on the issue Monday, after a week when wildfires throughout the West killed more than 30 people, turned the midday skies orange in California and Oregon and laid down a blanket of smoke from Southern California into British Columbia. Biden called Trump, who has systematically rolled back environmental regulations and pulled the U.S. out of the Paris accords limiting carbon dioxide emissions, a climate arsonist who ignores the danger of wildfires burning the suburbs of the West.

Its become a point of sharp demarcation with Trump, who reiterated his rejection of climate change science Monday when he told California officials that itll start getting cooler. He added that I dont think science knows whether people are contributing to climate change, although in fact scientists are in wide agreement that human activity is driving the phenomenon.

Harris sought to emphasize the divergence as she visited her home state Tuesday. She and Gov. Gavin Newsom viewed a town largely leveled by the Creek Fire, which broke out in the Sierra foothills near Sequoia National Park on Sept. 4 and has burned more than 220,000 acres.

Harris and Newsom stood in front of a burned playground outside an elementary school in Auberry, 35 miles northeast of Fresno, where in better times children would have been playing during lunchtime recess. Ash fell from the sky as they spoke.

Sadly, these wildfires and the devastation they cause are utterly predictable, Harris said. This is not a partisan issue. This is just a fact. We have to do better as a country.

The school itself survived the flames, but the playground is a total loss. Charred pine trees, their foliage burned away, stick up from the surrounding hills for miles.

Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle

We have to understand that California, like so many other parts of our country, has experienced extreme weather conditions, Harris said. It is incumbent on us, in terms of the leadership of our nation, to take seriously these new changes in our climate, and to do what we can to mitigate against the damage.

Harris has called for eliminating carbon emissions from the electricity-generating sector by 2035 and has put forward a plan to spend nearly $2 trillion over four years on increasing renewable power and creating incentives to build more energy-efficient buildings, homes and cars. Biden predicts this would create 10 million jobs in the clean energy sector, triple the current total.

Harris said that the people who are victimized by these (fires), they could care less ... who they voted for in the last election. This is not a partisan issue.

Harris praised firefighters who have been battling the Creek Fire, in some cases as their own houses burned.

They are working around the clock without rest, she said. They have been working 90-hour shifts, some of them, to save families, to save property.

Newsom, who a day earlier gently urged Trump in a wildfires briefing outside Sacramento to accept that climate change is real, and that is exacerbating this, bumped elbows with Harris as he arrived. The two peered at the rubble of a home that burned down to its foundation and looked at a burned pickup truck nearby.

Newsom alluded to Trumps visit as he spoke alongside Harris: If you dont believe in science, come to California and observe it with your own eyes, he said. You cannot be in denial about this reality.

The governor said Harris gets it and that a Biden administration would be committed to rapidly overhauling Americas energy economy by reducing the amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere.

The Creek Fire is already the 12th-largest in California history and its still burning, having been just 16% contained by Tuesday. Five of the states 20 largest fires have happened this year, as a dry winter, searing heat and an August lightning storm combined to light the state ablaze.

Both Harris and Newsom talked with emergency officials who gave an overview of the fires extensive damage, and talked with firefighters who have been on the front lines.

What a year, you guys, Newsom could be heard saying.

Dustin Gardiner is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dustin.gardiner@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dustingardiner
A set of three idols of Lord Rama, Sita and Lakshmana, stolen from a temple in Tamil Nadu decades ago, were restored to the Indian government on Tuesday after a collector voluntarily offered to hand it back on discovering their true history. The theft dates back to 1978 and led to an investigation by the Idol Wing of the Tamil Nadu Police working along with colleagues in the Metropolitan Police in London. The unnamed collector, who had acquired the statues in good faith, was informed about their dubious provenance by the Met Police. After matching them up with archival photographs from the 1950s held at the French School in Pondicherry, it was proved that the idols in his possession were those belonging to the Vijayanagara period and stolen from Sri Rajagopalaswami Temple at Ananthamangalam in Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu.

Auspicious moment as 3 more priceless statues of Vijayanagara period stolen from Vishnu temple, Nagapatinnam in 1978, recovered by @HCI_London with support of #MetPoliceLondon, restored to Govt of Tamil Nadu in presence of Hble Union Min for Culture&Tourism Shri @prahladspatel. pic.twitter.com/XRmzQIkWG6  India in the UK (@HCI_London) September 15, 2020

In a ceremony streamed from India House in London in keeping with the limit on gatherings due to the COVID-19 restrictions, priests from Sri Murugan Temple in London conducted a short religious ceremony for their handover to India. Today marks the successful completion of the search and rescue operation of these very beautiful idols, which were consecrated and worshipped side by side for years. We wanted to ensure these deities were handled with due reverence and propriety before they are shipped back to India, said Indian High Commissioner to the UK Gaitri Issar Kumar.

On behalf of the government of India, I hope this will inspire museums and collectors to carefully look and check their collections and help us restore deities that belong to the people of India and have been worshipped for centuries, she said. The UK-based collector behind the handover, who has chosen to stay anonymous, was described as a lover of Indian art and culture.

Addressing the virtual event, officials from the state government of Tamil Nadu praised his voluntary intervention and expressed the hope that no further action will be taken against him. The voluntary handover of these idols highlight two enforcement issues: the need for effective communication and dialogue, and the proper documentation of all cultural heritage, which would not only act as a deterrent to thefts but also help as evidence without which the outcome of this case may have been very different, said Tim Wright, from the Metropolitan Police. Minister of Culture and Tourism Prahlad Singh Patel, connecting virtually to the event from Delhi, welcomed the repatriation of the statues, which he said was among over 40 priceless stolen artefacts restored to India since 2014.

He also revealed that documentation from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and other experts has been collated for the British Museum as part of efforts to seek the repatriation of another idol which belongs in India.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)

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Donald Trump

President Donald Trump speaks at a rally at Minden-Tahoe Airport in Minden, Nev. Sept. 12, 2020. Credit - Andrew HarnikAP

Two allies and former political advisers of President Donald Trump are hinting at the prospect of election-related violence, injecting a new level of turbulence in a stormy political climate.

Trumps long-time friend and adviser Roger Stone, calling into the conspiracy website Infowars on Sept. 10, said Trump should use martial law to stay in office or invoke the Insurrection Act if he doesnt win. Stone, whose sentence for seven felony crimes was commuted by the President in July, also said Republicans should physically block ballots from being counted.

Michael Caputo, who worked on Trumps 2016 campaign and is now a public affairs adviser for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), said in a Facebook Live video on Sunday that violence was coming. He predicted without evidence that Trumps opponent, Democratic nominee Joe Biden, would refuse to concede if Trump wins. Violence, he said, would follow.

When Donald Trump refuses to stand down at the inauguration, the shooting will begin, Caputo said. If you carry guns, buy ammunition, ladies and gentlemen, because its going to be hard to get. Caputo, who has no scientific or medical background, also wrongly accused government scientists of sedition and said there was a resistance unit within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (He later apologized for his comments.) The longtime political strategist, who has prior no public health or medical experience, has previously attempted to interfere with public health data related to the coronavirus pandemic, Politico reported. HHS announced Wednesday that Caputo is taking a leave of absence to focus on his health, and Caputos top aide Dr. Paul Alexander, who also reportedly meddled with weekly scientific reports, is leaving the department permanently.

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The suggestion of possible political violence comes as Trump himself is priming supporters to reject the results of the election if he loses. Hes repeatedly and falsely said that Democrats will resort to fraud to steal the election from him. The Democrats are trying to rig this election because its the only way they are going to win, Trump told a packed indoor rally in Nevada on Saturday. The only way were going to lose this election is if this election is rigged  remember that, he said in Wisconsin last month.

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These false claims come at a moment of heightened tension. In the wake of protests in Kenosha, Wis., and Portland, Ore., the leader of an anti-government right-wing group, the Oath Keepers, called for Trump to put down a nationwide insurrection and declared that Civil War is here, right now. Meanwhile, demonstrators calling for racial justice are increasingly being confronted by right-wing Trump supporters, days after Aaron Jay Danielson, a supporter of the far-right group Patriot Prayer, was shot and killed while in a pro-Trump counter-protest in downtown Portland. When U.S. marshals killed the suspect in Danielsons death during the raid to arrest him, President Trump described the suspects death as retribution.

The specter of using force and violence to keep office doesnt happen in a vacuum. At a moment when the spread of conspiracy theories threatens to undermine the democratic process, counterterrorism experts are concerned that such calls could motivate armed right-wing extremist groups. U.S. law enforcement officials have been warning for more than a decade that the threat from white-supremacist terror has grown.

It is dangerous because for that small minority, it reflects an affirmation of their beliefs, says David Gomez, a former senior FBI agent who ran counterterrorism for the FBIs office in Washington State. But Gomez says that a call to arms is unlikely to be heard by a large number of Trump supporters. Its hard for me to believe that the average Republican voter out there, someone who doesnt like what he sees going on, is going to rise in insurrection. I dont put much stock in it.

For his part, Trump has made it clear that if he wins the Electoral College, he wont stand for an uprising. When he was asked Sept. 10 by Fox News host Jeanine Pirro about how he would handle riots objecting to the result if he wins the election, Trump said he would put them down very quickly, hinting that he would invoke the Insurrection Act to violently suppress opposition.

Look, its called insurrection. We just send in and we do it, very easy, Trump said. Id rather not do that because theres no reason for it, but if we had to wed do that and put it down within minutes.

This story has been updated to reflect Michael Caputos leave of absence from Health and Human Services.
A Fort Drum man has been charged with leaving his dog locked inside a Le Ray storage unit.

Matthew I. Majestic, 21, was arrested Monday by the New York State Police. Majestic was accused of animal cruelty after his dog was found in a U-Haul storage unit.

Troopers responded to 26480 State Route 11 on Sept. 1 after man heard an animal whining in a storage unit. A U-Haul employee unlocked Majestics unit, allowing troopers to get to the dog, troopers said.

A dog control officer took the German Shepard, who had a bowl of food but no water, out of the unit to a veterinarian, troopers said.

The dog had a severe flea infection and an internal parasite, troopers said, and was about 30 pounds underweight.

Majestic has been charged with overdriving, torturing and injury of animals and failure to provide proper sustenance, a misdemeanor. Hes scheduled to appear in Le Ray Town Court next month.
In another fascinating snapshot from deep time, an international team of paleontologists has reported the discovery of specimens of a minuscule crustacean that dates back to the Cretaceous (about 100 million years ago), conserved in samples of amber from Myanmar. The most spectacular find is a single female, which turns out on closer examination to contain giant sperm cells in its reproductive tract. In fact, this is the oldest fossil in which sperm cells have been conclusively identified. Moreover, the specimen represents a previously unknown species of crustacean, which has been named Myanmarcypris hui. M. hui was an ostracod, as clearly indicated by the paired calcareous valves that form the carapace, whose form recalls that of a mussel shell. Ostracods have been around for 500 million years, and thousands of modern species have been described. They are found in the oceans and in freshwater lakes and rivers. Fossilized shells of these crustaceans are by no means rare, but the specimens preserved in Burmese amber reveal details of their internal organs, including those involved in reproduction. "The finds gave us an extremely rare opportunity to learn more about the evolution of these organs," says Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich geobiologist Renate Matzke-Karasz, who played a major role in the morphological analysis of the fossils.

During the Cretaceous period, ostracods must have lived in the coastal and inland waters of what is now Myanmar, which were fringed by forests dominated by trees that produced huge quantities of resin. The newly described specimens are among the many organisms that were trapped in the oozing blobs of the gooey substance. In recent years, the amber found in the province of Kachin has yielded a spectacular trove of fossils, including frogs and snakes, as well as part of a putative dinosaur (according to new evidence, that specimen may actually represent an unusual lizard). Over the past 5 years, hundreds of previously unknown species have been described based on these inclusions. Indeed, many of them have forced evolutionary biologists to reconsider conventional hypotheses concerning phylogenetic and ecological relationships.

The new ostracod specimens were analyzed with the aid of computer-assisted 3D X-ray reconstructions. The images revealed astonishing details of the anatomy of these animals, ranging from their tiny limbs to their reproductive organs. - And in one female specimen, Matzke-Karasz and her colleagues discovered ripe sperm. The cells were discovered in the paired sperm receptacles in which they were stored after copulation, ready for release when the female's eggs matured. "This female must have mated shortly before being encased in the resin," says He Wang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Nanjing. The X-ray images also revealed the sperm pumps and the pair of penises that male ostracods insert into the twin gonopores of the females.

The finds in Burmese amber provide unprecedented insights into an unexpectedly ancient and advanced instance of evolutionary specialization. "The complexity of the reproductive system in these specimens raises the question of whether the investment in giant sperm cells might represent an evolutionarily stable strategy, says Matzke-Karasz. The males of most animal species (including humans) produce very large numbers of very small sperm. Comparatively few animals, including some fruit flies - and of course, ostracods - have opted for a different approach. They make a relatively small numbers of oversized sperm, whose motile tails are several times longer than the animal itself.

"In order to prove that the use of giant sperm is not an extravagant whim on the part of evolution, but a viable strategy that can confer an enduring advantage that enables species to survive for long periods of time, we must establish when this mode of reproduction first appeared," says Matzke-Karasz. Examples of fossilized sperm cells are extremely rare. The oldest known ostracod sperm (prior to the new discovery) are 17 million years old, and the previous record age, 50 Myr, was held by a species of worm. The new evidence extends that age by a factor of at least two. The fact that animals had already developed giant sperm 100 million years ago implies that this reproductive strategy can indeed be successful in the (very) long term, Matzke-Karasz points out. "That's a pretty impressive record for a trait that requires a considerable investment from both the males and females of the species. From an evolutionary point of view, sexual reproduction with the aid of giant sperm must therefore be a thoroughly profitable strategy."

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Sweeping failures by Boeing engineers, deception by the company and significant errors in government oversight led to the two fatal crashes of the 737 Max, congressional investigators have concluded.

A 245-page report issued Wednesday provides the most scathing account so far of the miscalculations that led to 346 deaths, the grounding of Boeing's best-selling jet and billions of dollars in losses for the manufacturing giant.

"The Max crashes were not the result of a singular failure, technical mistake or mismanaged event," the report by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee said. "They were the horrific culmination of a series of faulty technical assumptions by Boeing's engineers, a lack of transparency on the part of Boeing's management and grossly insufficient oversight by the" Federal Aviation Administration.

The report -- the result of five investigative hearings, a review of about 600,000 pages of documents, interviews with top Boeing and FAA officials and information provided by whistle-blowers -- makes the case for broad changes in the FAA's oversight of the aircraft industry.

It offers a more searing version of events than the sometimes technical language in previous crash reports and investigations, including one conducted by the Transportation Department's Inspector General.

The conclusions were drawn by the majority staff under committee Chairman Peter DeFazio. The report cites five main reasons for the crashes:

- Pressures to update the 737's design swiftly and inexpensively;

- Faulty assumptions about the design and performance of pilots;

- What the report called a "culture of concealment" by Boeing;

- Inherent conflicts of interest in the system that deputizes Boeing employees to act on behalf of the government; and

- The company's sway over top FAA managers.

DeFazio said he found it "mind boggling" that Boeing and FAA officials concluded, according to the report, that the plane's design had complied with regulations in spite of the crashes.

"The problem is it was compliant and not safe -- and people died," he said. "Obviously, the system is inadequate."

Lawmakers are drafting legislation designed to reform how the FAA oversees companies such as Boeing and reviews aircraft designs. The Senate Commerce Committee plans to vote on a bipartisan bill on Wednesday. DeFazio, an Oregon Democrat, hasn't yet unveiled his legislation.

Republican leaders on the House committee took issue with the report's findings, saying they represented partisan overreach that went beyond what other reviews have found.

"Expert recommendations have already led to changes and reforms, with more to come," said a joint statement from Sam Graves of Missouri and Garret Graves of Louisiana. "These recommendations -- not a partisan investigative report -- should serve as the basis for Congressional action."

Boeing said in a statement it had cooperated with the committee's investigation and had taken steps at the company to improve safety.

"We have learned many hard lessons as a company from the accidents of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Flight 302, and from the mistakes we have made," the company said. "Change is always hard and requires daily commitment, but we as a company are dedicated to doing the work."

The FAA said in a statement late Tuesday night that it was committed to working with the committee to make improvements. "We are already undertaking important initiatives based on what we have learned from our own internal reviews as well as independent reviews of the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines accidents," the agency said in the statement.

But tensions between the committee staff and the FAA were clearly evident. Ali Bahrami, who oversees safety at the agency, came under repeated criticism in the report for what the committee called his lack of awareness of issues surrounding the Max and the accidents. The committee staffers declined to provide him with questions before the Dec. 5 interview, which made it difficult for him to recall documents and events, an FAA counsel warned at the start of the interview, according to a transcript.

While DeFazio and other lawmakers haven't called for a permanent grounding of the jet, the father of a woman who died in the Ethiopia crash said the report raised questions about the plane's return to service.

"The FAA should immediately halt the recertification process for the 737 Max in light of this report," said Michael Stumo, father of Samya Stumo. He accused Boeing and the FAA of withholding information from the families of victims in an emailed statement.

The 737 Max was grounded March 13, 2019, three days after the second crash involving a safety feature on the plane that malfunctioned and repeatedly sent the planes into a dive toward the ground.

Boeing and regulators had approved the design under the assumption that flight crews could recognize and override a malfunction of the system within a few seconds. Even though the system could have been disabled by flipping two cockpit switches, pilots on a Lion Air flight departing from Jakarta on Oct. 29, 2018, and an Ethiopian Airlines plane leaving Addis Ababa on March 10, 2019, became confused, lost control and crashed.

The feature, known as Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, was designed to make the Max feel exactly the same to pilots as the earlier family of 737s known as the Next Generation. However, the system was triggered erroneously by a single sensor that failed in both crashes and it continued to push the nose down repeatedly.

The FAA has tentatively approved multiple design changes to prevent such an accident in the future and the plane could be certified to resume operations in the fall.

The House report identifies numerous instances in which it alleges the company should have known that MCAS was potentially dangerous.

For example, a Boeing test pilot during the early development of the plane in 2012 took more than 10 seconds to respond to an erroneous MCAS activation, a condition the pilot concluded could be "catastrophic," the report said.

"The reaction time was long," one Boeing employee told another in an email on Nov. 1, 2012, which was viewed by Bloomberg. The unidentified employee asked whether the rating of the system's risks should be raised, which may have prompted a more thorough safety review.

Those concerns "were not properly addressed" and the company "did not inform the FAA," the report said.

Boeing ultimately concluded that flight crews would react far swifter to an MCAS failure, typically within four seconds.

The report also said the responses by Boeing and the FAA to the first accident -- warnings to pilots issued in early November 2018 -- weren't adequate to prevent a second crash.

"Both Boeing and the FAA gambled with the public's safety in the aftermath of the Lion Air crash, resulting in the death of 157 more individuals on Ethiopian Airlines flight 302, less than five months later," the report said.

The guidance on how to avoid an accident during an MCAS failure detailed the symptoms pilots would see and reminded crews how to shut it off. The committee criticized Boeing and the FAA for not mentioning the system's name.

FAA officials have said they debated whether to include MCAS in the directive, but opted not to because it wasn't mentioned in pilot flight manuals. Boeing within days sent additional guidance to airlines on MCAS and how it worked. Details on MCAS were also widely reported in the news media and internal airline documents obtained by Bloomberg show that it had been explained to Ethiopian Airlines pilots before their crash.

A key finding involves a long-standing practice -- which was expanded by Congress several times -- to deputize Boeing employees to act in behalf of FAA while reviewing aircraft designs.

According to a 2016 survey obtained by the committee, 39% of Boeing's Authorized Representatives, senior engineers who conducted reviews for FAA, at times perceived "undue pressure" on them from management.

One such senior engineer knew that Boeing was delivering Maxes to customers without a required alert in 2017 and 2018, yet didn't notify FAA, the report said. The lack of such an alert was cited by Indonesian investigators as a factor in the Lion Air crash.

Both House and Senate legislation is expected to seek reforms of the so-called delegation system, which the report said is riddled with "inherent conflicts of interest."

Boeing opted almost a decade ago to update the 737 to compete against a similar redesign of the Airbus SE A320 family. It faced intense pressure to ensure that -- just as Airbus promised -- pilots transferring from earlier 737 models didn't need expensive additional simulator training.

The company had agreed to pay Southwest Airlines $1 million per aircraft if Max pilots had to train in the simulator before transitioning to the new plane, which could have cost it between $200 million to $400 million.

The push to avoid simulator training led to multiple poor decisions by Boeing, the committee alleged. The manufacturer rejected adding a sophisticated safety system that might have helped in the accidents at least in part because it would have required additional training.

The company also deemphasized MCAS to the FAA as a result. In a 2013 company document, Boeing said it would describe MCAS to the FAA as an add-on to an existing system. "If we emphasize MCAS is a new function there may be a greater certification and training impact," the memo said.

The broad failure to fully explain MCAS was a critical issue because the system was made more powerful midway through its development, but many within the FAA didn't know and the agency delegated the final safety approvals to the company, the report found.

"The combination of these problems doomed the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines flights," the report said.
In this article we are going to share the list of U.S. cities that have the highest number of murders in 2020. Click to skip ahead and see the top 10 U.S. cities with the highest number of 2020 murders.

Before describing our methodology and data, let's take a look at some facts and the long-term murder trends in the United States. According to a Bureau of Justice Statistics report here are some facts:

"Homicide rates recently declined to levels last seen in the late 1960's Older teens and young adults have the highest homicide victimization and offending rates The number of homicides of children under age 5 increased through the mid 1990's, but declined recently For persons age 65 or older, both the number of homicides and homicide victimization rates declined through 2000 and then stabilized Most victims and perpetrators in homicides are male Racial differences exist, with blacks disproportionately represented among homicide victims and offenders The number of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty has declined since the early 1970's Few homicides involve multiple offenders and fewer involve multiple victims Homicides are most often committed with guns, especially handguns The percentage of homicides cleared by arrest has been declining"

The average homicide rate in the United States was 5.3 murders per 100,000 people in 2016. This rate was as high as 10 per 100,000 in 1980 and 9 per 100,000 in early 90s. Clearly, the average murder rate has been declining on a long term basis. In this article we are going to list the cities based on the total number of murders per day, rather than total number of murders per 100,000 people. Our data is sourced from Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program. We will be using 2020 data that are reported by cities that have a population of at least 250,000. Some of these cities report their crime stats in real-time and others are a few months behind. That's why we are going to calculate the number of murders per day in 2020 and then rank the cities using this data point. Please note that we don't have 2020 statistics for some of the cities like Detroit, Memphis, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, and Fort Worth.

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If you are interested in historical data, please read 35 most dangerous cities in America in 2017.

Here are the U.S. cities with the most number of murders in 2020:

15. Atlanta

There were a total of 96 murders in Atlanta in 2020 through September 5th. This figure was 67 during the same period in 2019. Overall, Atlanta has a daily average of 0.38 murders so far in 2020.

US Cities with highest murders in 2020

14. San Antonio

There were a total of 83 murders in San Antonio in 2020 through July 31st. This figure was 66 during the same period in 2019. Overall, San Antonio has a daily average of 0.39 murders so far in 2020. We have to warn you that murder rates isn't uniformly distributed through time. We usually observe higher number of murders during summer months. So, our "number of murders per day" statistic actually is actually downward biased for cities with missing August data.

13. Jacksonville

There were a total of 111 murders in Jacksonville in 2020 through September 11th. This figure was 92 during the same period in 2019. Overall, Jacksonville has a daily average of 0.44 murders so far in 2020.

12. New Orleans

There were a total of 131 murders in New Orleans in 2020 through September 13th. This figure was 84 during the same period in 2019. Overall, New Orleans has a daily average of 0.51 murders so far in 2020.

11. Washington

There were a total of 135 murders in Washington in 2020 through September 13th. This figure was 119 during the same period in 2019. Overall, Washington has a daily average of 0.525 murders so far in 2020.

Click to see the top 10 U.S. cities with the highest number of 2020 murders.

Disclosure: Top 15 U.S. Cities With Highest Number of Murders in 2020 is originally published at Insider Monkey.
Health Sciences Major

Radiologic Technology Concentration

The Radiologic Technology concentration includes the essential pre-requisite and required courses that establish eligibility for national certification and registration with the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists.

Overview of the Program

Radiography is the art and science of using radiation as a diagnostic tool in performing radiographic examinations. The BS degree prepares students for a career in the diverse and growing field of diagnostic imaging. This specific advanced education meets the need for sophisticated imaging management and leadership that can respond to clinical, organizational and fiscal demands facing the healthcare industry by incorporating advanced imaging modalities into the curriculum. Our curriculum is an expression of content that enhances entry-level education and supports multiple post-primary specialty certifications as well as a transition to education and management in advanced clinical practice. Students in the Health Science, Radiologic Technology concentration engage in topics with more depth and breadth, resulting in a broader knowledge base and skill set than the entry-level radiographer.

Requirements

BIOL 101 Seminar for Entering Majors (1 cr)

BIOL 150 Introduction to Biology I: Cells (4 cr)

BIOL 342 Anatomy & Physiology I (4 cr)

BIOL 343 Anatomy & Physiology II (4 cr)

HLTH 110 Introduction To Health Care (3 cr)

HLTH 105 Medical Terminology (1 cr)

HLTH 210 Human Growth & Development (3 cr)

HLTH 300/CCAP 300 Ethical Issues in Health Care (3 cr)

CHEM 150 Introduction to Chemistry I (4 cr)

CHEM 152 Introduction to Chemistry II (4 cr)

MATH 150 Pre-calculus (or College Algebra) (3 cr)

MATH 232 Introduction to Statistics (3 cr)

PSYC 100 Introduction To Psychology (3 cr)

Radiologic Technology Courses

RADT 300 Introduction to Radiologic Sciences (2 cr)

RADT 305 Radiographic Physics (3 cr)

RADT 310 Radiographic Positioning I with Lab (4 cr)

RADT 320 Radiographic Positioning II with Lab (4 cr)

RADT 330 Radiographic Exposures (3 cr)

RADT 340 Digital Imaging, Processing and Quality (3 cr)

RADT 350 Radiation Protection and Biology (3 cr)

RADT 355 Clinical Radiography I (2 cr)

RADT 365 Clinical Education II (3 cr)

RADT 370 Radiographic Pathology (3 cr)

RADT 420 Advanced Imaging and Pharmacology (3 cr)

RADT 431 Principles of CT I or RADT 434 Principles of Mammography I (3 cr)

RADT 432 Principles of CT II or RADT 435 Principles of Mammography II (3 cr)

RADT 440 Radiographic Critique (3 cr)

RADT 455 Clinical Radiology III (6 cr) Summer Session

RADT 465 Clinical Radiology IV (4 cr)

RADT 475 Clinical Radiology V (4 cr)

RADT 480 Senior Seminar (3 cr)

Please note that students are required to attend at least one summer session to complete this degree. During this session, students are required to attend clinical sessions a minimum of 40 hours per week for a period of 11 weeks. Students are encouraged not to engage in activities which carry a significant time commitment during this session.

Transportation to clinical sites is the sole responsibility of the student.

MCLA in 4

A sample 4-year plan showing a possible sequence of courses in this concentration.



Accreditation

The Radiologic Technology concentration is accredited by the Joint Review Committee on Education in Radiologic Technology (JRCERT). Contact information for the JRCERT: 20 North Wacker Drive, Ste 2850, Chicago, IL 60606-3182, Phone: 312-704-5300, Fax: 312-704-5304, Website: www.jrcert.org and E-mail: mail@jrcert.org. The program has a full 8-year accreditation with the next review date in September 2024. MCLA is regionally accredited by New England Commission of Higher Education.

Student Health Policy

All radiologic technology students are required to submit the following information before entrance into their junior year: (1) results of a physical examination, (2) evidence of current immunizations and (3) CPR card for infant, child and adult. All radiologic technology students complete an orientation program prior to entering clinical education which includes: (1) Infection Control and (2) Standard Universal Precautions.

Admission Process for the Radiologic Technology concentration

The B.S. in Health Sciences with a concentration in Radiologic Technology follows a 2+2 format, with students completing core curriculum requirements and radiologic technology pre-requisite courses in the first two years and radiologic technology-specific courses along with any remaining coursework in the final two years. Admission to the concentration-specific coursework takes place during the spring semester of a student's second year. Acceptance into the junior year of the program is limited and determined by a point system. Requirements for acceptance include an overall GPA of at least 2.85; grades of C+ or higher in BIOL150 Introduction to Biology I: Cells, BIOL 342 Anatomy & Physiology I, BIOL 343 Anatomy & Physiology II; HLTH 110 Introduction to Health Care and HLTH 105 Medical Terminology; and a grade of C or higher in MATH 150 Pre-calculus or a grade of C+ or higher in College Algebra (not offered at MCLA). Highly qualified candidates who have not taken HLTH 110 Intro to Health Care by the end of their second year may be permitted to do so during the first semester of their third year. Points toward admission will be increased by completing pre-requisite courses at MCLA and by earning grades higher than the minimum in the pre-requisite courses. Students who are not accepted into the third year of the Radiologic Technology concentration will be wait-listed and/or advised to consider other concentrations in Health Sciences or other majors within the college.

In addition to the courses required for admission, a Radiologic Technology student must maintain a grade of C+ or higher in each RADT course with the exception of RADT -431 432, 434, & 435, which require a grade of C or higher. Radiologic Technology students must maintain a cumulative grade-point average of 2.3 after their initial admission into the concentration.

A student who does not receive the required RADT course grades or who do not maintain a cumulative GPA of 2.3 or higher will be dismissed from the program. In order for the student to be eligible to reenter the program, he or she must meet all the entrance course requirements including the minimum cumulative GPA of 2.85. Readmission is determined by available seats and the determination of a point system. A student may only be readmitted to the program one time.

A student who is readmitted must repeat any RADT course (s) in which he or she has not received the required grade before being eligible to take the next course(s) in the degree sequence. A student may only retake courses in which he or she has not achieved the required grade. Course repetition is allowed on a seat-available basis only.

For other degree progression policies, refer to the BSRS Radiologic Technology Student Handbook.

Program Effectiveness Data

Radiographic Technology Concentration

Program Effectiveness Data

2018-2019

Program mission, goals, student learning outcomes and philosophy:

Mission:

The BS degree in Health Sciences with a concentration in Radiologic Technology prepares students to meet the needs of the medical imaging community through an advanced level of education with a broader knowledge base that meets the demands facing the healthcare industry today. With a foundation in the liberal arts, the competency-based program fosters excellence by expanding the curriculum in the application of current, developing, and advanced imaging technologies.

The Radiologic Technology graduate will use appropriate interpersonal skills, think critically, embrace diversity, employ healthcare research, and apply appropriate radiation safety measures becoming ethical professional leaders dedicated to the health and safety of their patients.

Goal: Students will demonstrate communication skills.

Student Learning Outcomes:

Students will learn to communicate effectively with diverse populations.

Students will write effectively.

Students will demonstrate proper oral communication skills.

Goal: Students will become clinically competent.

Student Learning Outcomes:

Students will utilize appropriate radiation safety techniques.

Students will position patients accurately.

Goal: Students will utilize critical thinking skills.

Students Learning Outcomes:

Students will perform non-routine procedures.

Students will select appropriate technical factors for variations in body habitus.

Students will be able to analyze images.

Goal: Students will display professionalism.

Student Learning Outcomes:

Students will be knowledgeable of advanced imaging modalities.

Students will display proper professionalism.

PROGRAM EFFECTIVENESS DATA

JRCERT Website Compliance Checklist
Applied Science University is committed to providing the best service to all its students. As we continue to accept prospective students for the first semester of the academic year 2020-2021, the Director of Marketing and Public Relations, Ms. Ruqaya Mohsin, encouraged students to visit the University's website to learn more about its academic programmes, enrolment procedures, students services, and all other facilities.

Ms. Mohsin explained that due to the exceptional situation of the global pandemic, the registration and the enrolment process for this semester would be fully electronic via the Universitys official website, and this is under the recommendations of the Higher Education Council HEC.

To ensure a safer procedure, students can submit their documents by Email admission@asu.edu.bh or through WhatsApp number +973 66633770. Ms. Mohsin stated that the majors offered for this coming semester include undergraduate degrees In Law, Business Administration, Accounting, Political Science, Management Information Systems, Computer Science, Graphic Design, Interior Design, and postgraduate degrees in Law, Commercial Law, Human Resource Management, Business Administration, Accounting and Finance, in addition to the College of Engineerings programmes through which the student can get an accredited British undergraduate degree from the London South Bank University LSBU in either Civil or Architectural Engineering.

She also pointed out that during these circumstances, the University has provided all its support to students through a set of services that will help them during their educational journey. This includes scholarships that are granted annually by the "Student Aid" for outstanding students and those who experience financial difficulties during the educational journey, in addition to the siblings discounts who are studying at the University and flexible payment arrangements through instalments based on the student's ability settling his/her tuition fees.

It is worth noting that the University is starting its new academic year with a series of achievements under its belt, including its recent QS World University Ranking 2021, as it ranked among 700 universities in the world; thus, becoming the first private University in the Kingdom of Bahrain to achieve this superior position and making it among the world's top 150 universities under 50 years since establishment.

ASU also occupied an advanced position for Arab universities with the QS Arab Region University Rankings over the past two years, ranked 37th place, and became the only University in the Kingdom of Bahrain to receive four stars.

In the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, the University also appeared in the ranking 401+ among the best 760 universities selected from 85 countries in the world impact and achievement of Sustainable development goals.

ASUs march toward academic excellence has also seen the University earn its institutional accreditation from the Higher Education Council, and seen it complete its institutional review by the Education and Training Quality Authority; this is followed and by obtaining the RICI Certified Management Systems for Educational Organization ISO 21001:2018 and the ISO 9001:2015 for Quality Management. The University is also an accredited centre by the Higher Education Academy (HEA), United Kingdom, with recognized faculty members as fellows, senior and principal fellows of the HEA.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The Alaska Democratic Party has objected to a change to the states general election ballot under which candidates no longer are required to list their party registration.

The state Democratic Party said the move is biased, lacks transparency and was disclosed days before ballots are mailed to overseas voters, The Anchorage Daily News reported Monday.

Under the rule change, candidates are listed as the nominee of a party or as having entered a race through the petition process. The change appeared on sample ballots posted on the Alaska Division of Elections website.

The change was made Monday by Alaska Division of Elections Director Gail Fenumiai, who did not immediately provide an explanation.

Alaska Democratic Party Executive Director Lindsay Kavanaugh said she was dismayed and disgusted at the lack of transparency by the elections division.

The ballot update affects Al Gross, who is running for U.S. Senate against incumbent Republican Dan Sullivan, and Alyse Galvin, who is running for U.S. House against Republican incumbent Don Young.

Both Gross and Galvin have touted independence from a major party as a central aspect of their campaigns but the ballot does not indicate they are independents or nonpartisan. Along with registered Democrats who won party primaries, they are listed as Democratic Party Nominee.

The change also affects nonpartisan Alaska Senate candidates Jim Cooper and Tom Lamb and Alaska House candidates Calvin Schrage and Suzanne LaFrance.

Sullivan Campaign Director Matt Shuckerow said Gross had options for how he would appear on the November ballot in his challenge for Sullivans seat. The Sullivan campaign challenged Gross independent status, suggesting he is a Democrat who found political expediency in running as an independent.

Instead, he actively sought and secured the backing of the Alaska Democratic Party, Shuckerow said. Im not sure why he doesnt want it now.

Gross campaign spokeswoman Julia Savel said the campaign prefers the 2018 ballot format but does not plan to challenge the change.

The lieutenant governor should tell Alaskans why he arbitrarily changed the ballot from its 2018 format, Savel said.

Josh Applebee, chief of staff to Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer, said Fenumiai made the change, not Meyer.

Youngs campaign manager, Truman Reed, did not respond to a request for comment.
Grieving families may never get the answers they need after three teenage Aboriginal girls died in apparent 'suicides' in the space of a year.

A coronial inquest into the deaths of Layla 'Gulum' Leering, 15, Keturah Cheralyn Mamarika, 16, and Fionica James, 17, began in Darwin on Wednesday.

All three girls were raped, one allegedly by three boys at once, at some point in their lives before killing themselves by hanging in 2016 and 2017.

Investigations were so bungled by police that Coroner Greg Cavanagh warned families the whole truth about their deaths may never be known.

Keturah was the first of the trio to die, found by her mother hanging from a ceiling fan in her family's home on the remote Groote Eyland island about 9am.

The body of 'Gulum' Leering, 15, (pictured) was found under a tree in December 2017, after she got drunk and a 15-year-old boy admitted to taking advantage of her

Just two hours earlier she was preening her hair and posting selfies to social media until her family went out. That was when she allegedly took her own life.

Post-mortem examinations found she had once been gang raped by three boys and the court heard she became sexually active at 12, the NT News reported.

Alex Ngalmi, her sister Jesselyn Mamarika partner, called Keturah his 'young wife' but denied having sex with her.

'I wasn't there when she passed away, I was in town,' he told police, having left at 7am along with Jesselyn.

Keturah's family cleaned the room where she died with bleach and a high-pressure hose the next day, and burned several items of furniture.

Layla died next, her body found under a tree in Bulla, near the Western Australian border, in December 2017.

She had vaginal injuries and 'plant material and debris was on her back, beneath her bra and T-shirt, between her buttocks and protruding from her anus'.

The inquest heard Layla was drunk the night she died and argued with her relative Jeremiah Laurie over a bottle of Jim Beam.

After initially lying to police, Adrian Davey, 15, admitted he took advantage of the 'drunk, maybe too drunk' teenager, but denied forcing her to have sex with him.

Her mother Justine Jingles (pictured) showed up to the inquest at Darwin Local Court, saying she wouldn't rest until she knew what happened in the girl's last hours

Layla had a long history of petty crimes and her family refused to take her back when she was found wandering the streets of Katherine in 2014, and she was put in care.

However, her mother Justine Jingles showed up to the inquest at Darwin Local Court with her other daughters Jasmine and Keely Jingles.

'I really wanted to know how she spent her last hours alive. It was so much for me to handle, it's starting to process in my mind now and I'm waking up to reality,' she said.

'Me and my girls now we just would like to know about the truth  what really happened, because I won't rest until I find out.'

Fionica had a turbulent upbringing as her parents struggled with drug and alcohol abuse, and was regularly treated for STDs from age 13.

Her boyfriend Alvester Gurruwiwi told the inquest their relationship was marred by family feuds, threats of violence and jealousy.

He claimed she was so badly beaten by her aunt in 2016 when her family discovered that she was pregnant that she lost the baby.

The stress of this episode led to Alvester unsuccessfully attempting suicide by hanging himself from a tree.

Fionica was treated for numerous injuries in the months before her death and it was suspected she was a victim of domestic violence - though it wasn't clear by whom.

On Christmas Day 2017, she found text's on Alvester's phone from another woman, causing an argument that led to her moving back with her father.

Alvester came to her home carrying a makeshift spear and vowed there would be 'war' if she didn't come back with him, so she did.

Layla's sister Jasmine Jingles was also at the inquest alongside her mother on Wednesday

Fionica was the next morning found dead, hanging from the same tree her boyfriend tried to kill himself on a year earlier.

Detective Superintendent Lauren Hill reviewed each of the investigations and found major shortcomings.

'The superintendent, in her thorough and explicit report, has pulled no punches in her several criticisms of the level of the standard of these investigations, which has precluded, in my view, me from being able to get to the full truth of any of these three deaths,' Mr Cavanagh told the inquest.

The inquest heard the Darwin major crimes unit had heavy turnover at the time, leading to the investigations changing hands many times.

Superintendent Hill's report said detectives failed to adequately collect evidence and contaminated at least one DNA sample.

The inquest continues on Thursday.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 02:29:38|Editor: huaxia

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UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday called on the international community to get united and find a vaccine that is accessible to all.

"As the COVID-19 pandemic has upended our world, we have once again seen that international solidarity is no longer a choice, but an obligation," the UN chief said at the wreath-laying ceremony to commemorate the 59th anniversary of the death of former UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold.

"That means working together to stop the spread of the virus," said the secretary-general, adding that the global community should work together "to find a vaccine that is accessible to all."

"And, just as importantly, working together to recover better, protect the most vulnerable and reduce the inequalities (is) heightened by the pandemic," said the UN chief.

"As we look ahead to the new session of the General Assembly that begins today, may we build on his extraordinary legacy to address the challenges upon us and, together, build a more peaceful, just and sustainable world," said Guterres.

Dag Hammarskjold was a Swedish economist and diplomat who served as the second UN secretary-general. He still remains the youngest person to have held the post, being only 47 years old when he was appointed in 1953. His second term was cut short when he died in a plane crash in Northern Rhodesia while en route to ceasefire negotiations during the Congo Crisis on Sept. 18, 1961. Enditem
LAKE GEORGE  A fire early Tuesday morning heavily damaged a Lake George pizza parlor.

The Lake George Fire Department received a call just before 4 a.m. reporting smoke at Number 1 Pizza at 509 Canada St., according to Chief Scott Smith.

A passerby that was on their way to work called it in. Apparently, the fire had been burning for quite some time before it was noticed, he said.

Smith said firefighters attacked the blaze with a couple of hand lines. A tower truck ventilated the roof.

About 25 to 30 firefighters brought the fire under control in about 45 minutes to an hour, according to Smith.

In addition to Lake George Fire and EMS, there were firefighters from the Warrensburg, Bolton, North Queensbury, Bay Ridge and Queensbury Central fire departments. The Luzerne-Hadley Fire Department provided station coverage.

The Warren County Sheriffs Office and National Grid also assisted at the scene.

Firefighters believe the cause was electrical in nature, according to Smith, and started in an icebox or small cooler in the kitchen.

There is extensive damage. Smith said the drop ceiling has fallen in and there is a hole in the roof.

Broken glass and ripped-out pieces of insulation could be observed at the scene.

The owner did not want to talk to a Post-Star reporter Tuesday morning.

No one was injured.

The business was established in 1971.

The property is owned by Saverio Ruffolo, according to tax records.

Reach Michael Goot at 518-742-3320 or mgoot@poststar.com and follow his blog poststar.com/blogs/michael_goot/.

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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addresses the plenary during her first State of the Union speech at the European Parliament in Brussels, on Sept. 16, 2020. (Francisco Seco/AP Photo)

Trust Is the Foundation of Any Strong Partnership, EU Commission Chief Says

The United Kingdom cannot unilaterally change the EUUK bilateral withdrawal agreement without destroying global trust in the country, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday.

Insisting that chances for a future trade deal are slipping away by the day, von der Leyen told the European Unions legislature that plans by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to renege on parts of the withdrawal agreement signed by both of them dimmed those hopes even further.

Whats more, she insisted that Britain is throwing its good name to the wind by not respecting a deal it signed and approved last December.

It cannot be unilaterally changed, disregarded or disciplined. This is a matter of law and trust and good faith, she said in her State of the Union address.

She emphasized it by quoting from a 1975 speech by British Conservative icon Margaret Thatcher.

Britain does not break treaties. It would be bad for Britain, bad for our relations with the rest of the world and bad for any future treaty on trade, von der Leyen said, quoting Thatcher.

Trust is the foundation of any strong partnership, she concluded.

Britains Prime Minister Boris Johnson walks to his office in Downing Street after a cabinet meeting in London, on Sept. 15, 2020. (Frank Augstein/AP Photo)

Johnson has said the new legislationknown as the Internal Market billis needed to clarify the Northern Ireland protocol, and to protect free trade between mainland Britain and Northern Ireland. But the government says that requires overriding part of the withdrawal treaty it signed with Brussels.

Writing in The Telegraph on Saturday, Johnson accused the EU of threatening to use an extreme interpretation of the Northern Ireland protocol to impose a full-scale trade border down the Irish Sea. Such steps, he said, would threaten the unity of the United Kingdom.

EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier rejected that charge. He said on Sunday that the Northern Ireland protocol is not a threat to the integrity of the UK, and had been agreed by the two sides to protect peace on the island of Ireland.

The controversial Internal Market bill has passed the first reading, with 340 MPs voting for it and 263 voting against. Its now being debated in Parliament, where Johnson faces opposition from some members of his governing Conservative Party.

Justice Secretary Robert Buckland said the government sees a way through the parliamentary maze, and Johnson has been talking to the party rebels.

Buckland said there had been talks with Bob Neill, a Conservative lawmaker who has proposed amending the bill to ensure that any attempt to use the clauses that breach the Brexit divorce agreement receive prior approval from Parliament.

The BBC reported on Wednesday that Johnsons government has reached a deal to avert a rebellion.

I understand a deal has been reached btw [between] Tories who wanted to vote for Bob [Neill]s amendment to the controversial UKIM bill and the govt  it gives an extra layer of parliamentary oversight  ministers hope prevents rebellion next week, BBC Political Editor Laura Kuenssberg said on Twitter.

I understand a deal has been reached btw Tories who wanted to vote for Bob Neils amendment to the controversial UKIM bill and the govt  it gives an extra layer of parliamentary oversight  ministers hope prevents rebellion next week  Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) September 16, 2020

Britains Northern Ireland Minister Brandon Lewis told Parliament he stood by remarks he made last week that the bill would break international law in a very specific and limited way.

He said he was optimistic about an eventual trade deal with the EU, however.

Britains Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is set to meet on Wednesday with Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of U.S. House of Representatives, to discuss the impact of Brexit to Northern Ireland.

Pelosi has warned there will not be a U.S.UK trade deal if the Good Friday agreement is jeopardized.

Reuters, The Associated Press, and Alexander Zhang contributed to this report.
Flight

New Delhi: A total of 28.32 lakh domestic passengers travelled by air in August this year, 76 per cent lower than the corresponding period last year, aviation regulator DGCA said on Wednesday.

While IndiGo carried 16.82 lakh passengers, a 59.4 per cent share of the total domestic market, SpiceJet flew 3.91 lakh passengers, which is 13.8 per cent share of the total market, the DGCA data noted.

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Flights

These two airlines were followed by Air India, AirAsia India, Vistara and GoAir at 2.78 lakh, 1.92 lakh, 1.42 lakh and 1.33 lakh passengers respectively in August, the data showed.

As many as 21.07 lakh people travelled by air domestically this July, the regulator had said last month.

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"The passenger load factor in the month of Aug 2020 has shown some recovery due to increased demand after the opening of lockdown," said the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

Flights

The occupancy rate in SpiceJet was 76 per cent in August, the regulator noted.

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However, the occupancy rate for other major airlines Vistara, IndiGo, AirAsia India, GoAir and Air India stood at 68.3 per cent, 65.6 per cent, 64.4 per cent, 61 per cent and 58.6 per cent, respectively, according to the DGCA.

India resumed domestic passenger flights on May 25 after a gap of two months due to the coronavirus pandemic. Indian airlines are allowed to operate a maximum of 60 per cent of their pre-Covid domestic flights.
Slated to have a bold research agenda, a new national research center focused on removing health disparities in Houston's underserved communities is launching at the University of Houston. The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities has awarded $11.8 million to create the research center as part of its Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) program.

The first of its kind in Houston, The HEALTH Center for Addictions Research and Cancer Prevention will be led by Ezemenari Obasi, associate dean of research in the College of Education and professor in the Department of Psychological, Health and Learning Sciences. The center will be part of the HEALTH (Helping Everyone Achieve a Lifetime of Health) Research Institute at the University of Houston, also led by Obasi.

As UH continues to pursue an aggressive agenda to enhance and sustain its status as a premier research institution, the center will be the seventh national research center on campus. Other nationally funded centers are already conducting groundbreaking research in the areas of energy, materials, psychology, laser mapping and homeland security.

"This research center award is both the start of a new era of addressing chronic health disparities in minority communities and the culmination of many years of meticulous planning by UH researchers, the HEALTH Research Institute and research leaders. The potential transformative impact on our underserved communities from the work of the new center is finally within reach," said Amr Elnashai, vice president for research and technology transfer.

Metropolitan Houston, the fourth most populous city in the U.S., is also one of the most diverse. According to Obasi's research, members of the Black and Latinx communities are disproportionally plagued by a lack of access to health insurance and health care facilities. The groups also lead in morbidity and mortality rates associated with addictions, asthma, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, HIV/AIDS and other diseases.

Social determinants of health -- race, poverty, education, substandard housing and lack of access to healthy food, transportation and a safe place to exercise -- account for up to 80% of preventable illness and death nationwide.

"This is an infrastructural game-changer we will leverage to address the public health crises that health disparities inflict on our most vulnerable communities," said Obasi. "It's rare for research findings to translate into affecting people's lives in a tangible way. This grant allows us to accelerate going from bench science to translational research to disseminating and implementing it in real time in the community."

Building research infrastructure for the center is item one on the agenda; the aim is to accelerate scientists' capacity to conduct cutting-edge research to mitigate a broad range of disparities in addictions and cancer prevention. Within the first year, the center will launch a newly created app to help African Americans quit smoking, a major predictor of subsequent cancer downstream. The app eliminates the barrier to care because it will be on a user's cell phone and they won't have to go see a medical provider.

"We will refine and evaluate an initially developed and tested, novel, mobile intervention that targets sensitivity to bodily sensations among African American smokers and bridges the gap in access to care, which has plagued this population," said Michael Zvolenski, Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished University Professor of psychology, who is heading behavioral science research at the center.

The grant will also enable all levels of investigators to pursue careers in health equity science, to create partnerships in the community and promote research on minority health and health disparities.

"The center will provide a sustainable, data-driven approach for saving lives and preventing infectious and chronic diseases from disproportionally afflicting marginalized and underserved communities in metropolitan Houston and beyond," said Obasi.

In addition to Zvolenski, Obasi is joined in developing the center by Lorraine Reitzel, professor in the Department of Psychological, Health, & Learning Sciences; Fatima Merchant, professor of computer engineering technology and computational health informatics; and Olivera Nesic-Taylor, professor and chair of the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Houston College of Medicine.

"Located in one of the most diverse regions of the nation, the University of Houston is proud to be at the forefront in pursuing health equity for the communities we serve," said Paula Myrick Short, UH senior vice president for academic affairs and provost.

###
Africa bears a disproportionately high burden of globally significant diseases. But the continent has lagged in knowledge production to address its health challenges .

There are a number of factors that contribute to this. These include the absence of a critical mass of researchers even where pockets of excellence exist. Progression pathways for those in scientific careers are very weak. Scientists have limited access to scientific publications and research support services . And legacies of colonialism  such as funding and publishing structures  continue to favour Northern-based researchers .

The problems facing researchers in Africa can often lead to a brain-drain and perpetuate inadequate training environments . It is estimated that one in every three African scientists leave the continent every year.

Financial investments have been made to develop scientific capacity on the continent. Although local sources have contributed, the majority of funding originated from the global north. There have been numerous capacity-building programmes using different approaches and with different levels of success. These efforts have contributed to major improvements.

But most of these programmes have been driven from outside the continent. This does not bode well for the development of sustainable African-led knowledge production pipelines. These pipelines would lead to local economic benefits or sustainability of these activities within local socioeconomic frameworks.

Major international funders are starting to appreciate the importance of shifting capacity-building efforts towards more African-led models. An example of this is the DELTAS Africa Initiative . It is funded by northern partners but implemented by the African Academy of Sciences' Alliance for Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa.

Our organisation, the sub-Saharan African Network for TB/HIV Research Excellence (SANTHE) , is one of the consortia funded by the initiative. Our work since 2015 suggests that African-led capacity building is successful and is the ideal route to make sustainable changes.

For example, we performed high quality research which resulted in 119 publications in leading international journals. Our research also resulted in public health policy impact. We built a strong research management network with several managers offered professional training opportunities.

In addition to this, we expanded our community and public engagement efforts and received over US$120,000 in additional grants. We used a number of tools to support our scientific capacity building efforts. These include awarding path-to-independence awards of $100,000 each to five emerging research leaders. We also awarded 15 collaborative research grants of $50,000 each.

African-led capacity building is crucial

Scientific health research efforts and capacity on the continent will not become sustainable without Africans increasingly taking a leading role. Africans are best placed to identify the most relevant and pressing local problems. This should inform the development of national and international partnerships tasked with developing and leading research agendas. The current COVID-19 pandemic highlights the need for local research capacity. The epidemic on the African continent seems distinct from other regions and may require unique solutions.

The immediate benefits of African-led efforts for African researchers are enhanced local ownership of activities and new opportunities for sustained skills building of staff and trainees. These will hopefully lead to improved research outputs. Examples of this could include increased numbers of African-led first and senior author publications. When research is led by African scientists, findings are more likely to be communicated in a culturally appropriate and context specific way. In addition, African-led efforts increase opportunities for senior scientists to act as role models and mentors. This could also increase the visibility of African scientists and facilitate South-South collaborations. Overall this would help strengthen African scientific institutions. At SANTHE we reaped all these benefits.

Through our SANTHE activities we have identified three key target areas required to build scientific capacity in Africa. The first is to directly empower African-based researchers. The second is to offer high quality training to junior African scientists and support staff. Knowledge and skills development is crucial to allow each person to reach their true potential and perform at the highest level. Thirdly, effective information exchange and collaboration is essential for success. Scientists need opportunities to exchange ideas and information and obtain critical feedback on their work. Collaborating can facilitate novel scientific projects.

There are still many challenges to overcome. Continued and sustainable funding support is still necessary to support African-led capacity building. External scientific support and collaboration is also essential.

Alternative funding mechanisms must also be encouraged. Examples include local philanthropies and through local tax payers. African governments are making increased investments in science. But sub-Saharan Africa still lags behind other global regions. On average sub-Saharan Africa spends 0.4% of GDP on research and experimental development compared to 2.5% by North America and Western Europe. A target of 1% of GDP invested in research and development was set by the African Union. South Africa and Kenya are approaching this 2025 target and are currently investing around 0.8% of GDP.

Way forward

It is clear that long-term investment from international donors and increasing funding commitments from African governments and philanthropies are needed.

With this funding the continent can realise a critical mass of local capacity and create and sustain world-class research hubs. Then the region's intractable health challenges can be addressed. African-led research must eventually translate into African-funded research and capacity building.

Victoria Kasprowicz represents the Sub-Saharan African Network for TB/HIV Research Excellence (SANTHE), a DELTAS Africa Initiative. The DELTAS Africa Initiative is an independent funding scheme of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS)'s Alliance for Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa (AESA) and supported by the New Partnership for Africa's Development Planning and Coordinating Agency (NEPAD Agency) with funding from the Wellcome Trust and the UK government. This article is written on behalf of the SANTHE Consortium Steering Committee.

Denis Chopera represents the Sub-Saharan African Network for TB/HIV Research Excellence (SANTHE), a DELTAS Africa Initiative.

By Victoria Kasprowicz, Senior Strategic Advisor - SANTHE (Sub-Saharan African Network for TB/HIV Research Excellence), Africa Health Research Institute (AHRI), University of KwaZulu-Natal And

Denis Chopera, Programme Executive Manager - SANTHE (Sub-Saharan African Network for TB/HIV Research Excellence), Africa Health Research Institute (AHRI), University of KwaZulu-Natal
Copyright  2020 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  An attorney for a man accused of kidnapping, drugging and raping a woman and capturing it on video at a Santa Fe hotel says police didnt do their due diligence in investigating the case.

During opening arguments of the trial of Redwolf Pope in a 1st Judicial District courtroom Tuesday, defense attorney Brad Kerwin began his opening arguments by drawing attention to Santa Fe polices handling of the investigation.

Youre going to find out Santa Fes finest  we all know (theyve) got a tough job  but in this case didnt do their homework, Kerwin said. They didnt put in the legwork to interview the folks and to uncover the evidence that would show that Redwolf is not guilty of this.

Prosecuting attorney Jennifer Padgett Macias drew attention to Popes role in the Standing Rock protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline, which was proposed to go through Native American land, during her opening remarks. She said Pope used his renown to gain the trust of a woman who came to Santa Fe during Indian Market in 2017.

Pope, 44, is charged with first-degree kidnapping, criminal sexual penetration in the third degree and voyeurism. He is accused of bringing a woman to a hotel in Santa Fe by using a date-rape drug to render her unconscious before raping her. Pope is also accused of videotaping the incident, as well as several other rapes, using video cameras he had in his apartments in Seattle and Santa Fe.

Pope was charged with the crimes in September 2018 and pleaded not guilty. Pope is also facing two rape charges in Seattle.

Witness Erica Ciganek testified that she took a video of Popes iPad, which prosecutors say has images of Pope raping unconscious women. She emailed the video to police, but police never asked to examine her phone, according to testimony.

Kerwin pressed Ciganek on why she took the video in the first place instead of just trusting police with the iPad. She said she was afraid of police mishandling the iPad and wanted to make sure they had the evidence needed for a warrant.

Ciganek was living in Popes Seattle apartment when she first noticed a camera that according to previous reporting was in the apartments bathroom. She became concerned and traveled to Santa Fe from Seattle with another witness, Lehi Sanchez, who also testified.

Ciganek and Sanchez were formerly involved in business with Pope at the now-closed ZoHi Gallery in Santa Fe.

Padgett Macias said the alleged rape victim was at a party where Pope showed up and offered to drive her to her hotel. The woman remembered taking a drink from a spiked Arnold Palmer, Padgett Macias said, and then nothing else.

The woman woke up to find herself in bed with Pope, in a hotel room where she wasnt staying, Padgett Macias said. Pope told her the two had shared an intimate night together. The woman tried to believe him, but she always had an uneasy feeling about that night.

Later, photos would emerge of Pope allegedly raping the woman while she was unconscious in the hotel room, according to testimony.

The trial is scheduled for four days with closing arguments Friday.

In a matter related to the trial, the 1st Judicial District Attorneys Office was sanctioned $1,000 on Monday by Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer, who is presiding over the case.

Deputy District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altweis said that the state accidentally included plea negotiation emails in one of their responses to a defendants motion to dismiss. Plea negotiations are privileged information and arent for public disclosure. The defenses motion to dismiss was ultimately denied by the judge.
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Linkedin Dian Septiari (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, September 16, 2020 11:18 492 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c45156b0 1 SE Asia diplomacy,security,law-at-sea,ASEAN,US-China,UNCLOS,South-China-Sea,Dispute,COC Free

The United States is not trying to push ASEAN countries to choose sides in its strategic rivalry with China, a senior US foreign policy official has insisted, as the Western superpower continues to call out Beijings aggressive bullying in the South China Sea.

The US recently changed tack in its engagement with Southeast Asia, openly seeking leverage and support from ASEAN countries as it continues to antagonize China in a geopolitical rivalry that has sparked a trade war and spilled over into other global concerns, including the war on COVID-19.

The shift in policy has not gone unnoticed, with several ASEAN and individual member countries expressing no interest in getting involved and wanting to steer the region away from becoming a stage for geopolitical contestation.

Read also: ASEAN calls for self-restraint in South China Sea dispute

David Stilwell, the US assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific, said that Washington wanted ASEAN countries to make choices that protected their own sovereign interests, not force them into picking sides.

We often hear from our ASEAN friends and others this desire to not make us choose and the US  I don't think  has ever forced a choice, Stilwell told reporters in a telephonic briefing from Washington on Tuesday.

He then called out Chinas track record of bullying behavior in the South China Sea and elsewhere, including in the Senkaku islands, a group of uninhabited islands claimed both by Japan and China.

The Chinese are forcing a choice, he said, noting in an anecdote that a Chinese official had tried to get a Singaporean friend to choose sides.

In past months, the US has renewed its position by declaring Chinas claims as unlawful and moving to sanction Chinese state-owned companies that it accuses of assisting with Beijings military buildup in the South China Sea.

Read also: Pompeo urges Southeast Asia to shun South China Sea firms

However, the policy shift has not fully convinced ASEAN countries of the US good intentions in the region, which observers and practitioners say has been held back by inconsistent engagement.

Last year, US President Donald Trump failed to attend the ASEAN Summit in Bangkok, opting to send minister-level officials in his place, which angered ASEAN members.

The US government has also yet to appoint an envoy to ASEAN since the beginning of the Trump administration, raising questions about its commitment to the region where experts say showing up is half the battle.

Meanwhile, China has criticized the US for inciting tensions at a time when ASEAN and China are in talks to produce a Code of Conduct (COC) in the South China Sea.

In fact, Chinas ambassador to ASEAN, Deng Xijun, accused the US of being the main source of risks in the South China Sea.

What the US has done is to drive a wedge between China and ASEAN countries, meddle in regional situations, undermine peace and stability in the South China Sea and make the South China Sea issue a tool for containing China, the diplomat said in a briefing in Jakarta on Monday.

ASEAN and China have been negotiating the COC, which aims to set out some rules of engagement to prevent all-out conflict in the disputed waters.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic has become another hindrance.

COVID-19 [has slowed] down the process of COC consultations. But we are confident about making up for the time lost. We will work more efficiently and effectively to speed up the consultations, Ambassador Deng said.

Read also: South China Sea rules cannot be negotiated virtually: Indonesian official

Both sides held a special video conference of the Joint Working Group Meeting on the Implementation of the Declaration of Conduct (DOC) on Sept. 3 to discuss how to strengthen maritime cooperation and advance COC consultations.

Strategically located at the heart of the Indo-Pacific region, with the highly disputed South China Sea in its center, ASEAN has been a target of persuasion for both US and China, most apparently at the various ASEAN ministerial meetings hosted virtually by bloc chair Vietnam last week.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo took turns staking their respective countrys position on a dispute over the South China Sea.

Beijing has made sweeping claims over most of the South China Sea and rejected an international tribunal ruling that overruled them, while Washington has sought to exercise freedom of navigation there to keep its rival superpower from dominating the disputed waters.

Parts of the strategic waters are simultaneously claimed by Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan.

The dispute was addressed in the joint communique of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting, an outcome document that must be agreed to by consensus and represents the stance of the region as a whole.

The ministers agreed to include a paragraph reaffirming the importance of universally recognized principles of international law, which includes the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

China is a signatory of UNCLOS, while the US is not.

Speaking at the ASEAN Regional Forum over the weekend, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi underlined the importance of promoting a culture of dialogue and peaceful conflict resolution.

Read also: Indonesia calls for parties to exercise self-restraint in South China Sea amid pandemic

"For more than five decades, Southeast Asia has navigated challenges by holding onto these values and norms, which have become our guide for cooperation with partners in the region," Retno told reporters on Saturday.

"Indonesia also stated that it wants to see a peaceful and stable South China Sea, where internationally recognized international principles are upheld, including the 1982 UNCLOS," she added.
Patagonia sparked controversy by hiding the phrase 'Vote the a**holes out' on a tag inside its latest line of shorts.

The outdoor clothing company's crude call for customers to vote - seen by many as a not-so-subtle shot at President Donald Trump - went viral on social media over the weekend after it was spotted by eagle-eyed fans.

A spokesperson for Patagonia - which has long been engaged in environmental activism - confirmed that the political message was weaved into the tags on the waistband of its 2020 'Men's and Women's Road to Regenerative' organic stand-up shorts.

'We have been standing up to climate deniers for almost as long as we've been making those shorts,' spokeswoman Tessa Byers said.

Byers said the phrase has been a favorite of Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard for years, adding that it was not explicitly directed at Trump.

'It refers to politicians from any party who deny or disregard the climate crisis and ignore science, not because they aren't aware of it, but because their pockets are lined with money from oil and gas interests,' she said.

Patagonia sparked controversy by hiding the phrase 'Vote the a**holes out' on a tag inside its latest line of shorts

A spokeswoman for Patagonia insisted that the message was not directed at President Donald Trump but at 'politicians from any party who deny or disregard the climate crisis'

The California-based brand's tag stunt came as the West Coast has been devastated by hundreds of wildfires that have burned millions of acres over the past month - prompting some politicians in affected states to ridicule Trump for denying that climate change is taking place.

The move was met with mixed reactions on Twitter as some users said they couldn't wait to get their hands on Patagonia gear featuring the tag.

CNN reporter Ana Navarro tweeted: '@patagonia, can you please confirm if this is accurate. Cuz I'm about to go online and buy parkas in every color....and I live in Miami.'

Georgia state Sen Jen Jordan, a Democrat, chimed in: 'As parts of our country are literally burning and being destroyed by the effects of climate change, this couldnt be more welcome.

'Way past time to listen to the experts and do something. Vote like your planet is on fire!'

Meanwhile other users panned the tags as a marketing ploy and vowed to boycott the brand.

'I can't wait for them to go bankrupt,' one man wrote alongside the hashtag #Trump2020.

'My husband has worn Patagonia since the early 80's. He won't be buying another thing from them. Civil discourse doesn't exist anymore,' another critic added.

Many Twitter users praised Patagonia for the bold message and said they couldn't wait to get their hands on more of the brand's gear

Meanwhile other users panned the tags as a marketing ploy and vowed to boycott the brand

This isn't the first time Patagonia has made headlines by wading into politics.

In 2017, the company sued President Trump after he moved to reduce the size of Utah's Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments by two million acres.

And in 2018, Patagonia donated $10million it received in tax cuts to environmental programs that increase climate change awareness.

The company closed its headquarters headquarters, distribution center and stores nationwide on Election Day in 2016 and 2018 - and is planning to do the same this November.

Patagonia also recently teamed up with BallotReady to create its own election website where customers can enter their address and receive relevant information about how to request ballots and find polling places.

'We need to elect climate leaders,' the site states. 'The 2020 US Senate races will have a significant, long-lasting impact on the strength of our nation's climate policies and the existence of our wild places.'
The Union government on Wednesday agreed to debates demanded in Parliament on four key topics by the Opposition -- the Goods and Services Tax (GST), jobs and the economy, the national education policy (NEP) and the draft environment impact assessment norms -- at a special meeting with select political leaders.

Chaired by defence minister Rajnath Singh, the meeting was attended by representatives of the Congress, Trinamool Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Samajwadi Party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Telangana Rashtra Samithi, and Communist Party of India (Marxist).

Congress leaders said a second meeting would be held on Friday or Saturday, in which the India-China military standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the eastern Ladakh sector may be raised. A Congress leader who attended the meeting said on condition of anonymity:

We will first hear Rajnath Singhs statement and then decide our next course of action.

Singh told the leaders he would make a statement on the India-China border issue at 12 noon in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, but the government has not been in favour of an open debate on the issue citing the sensitivities on the ground as Indian and Chinese soldiers face-off against each other at several friction points in the region.

Wednesdays meeting was a rare instance of the BJP brass reaching out to opposition parties to come to an agreement on contentious issues. While government managers dial individual opposition leaders regularly, such a meeting has taken place after a long hiatus. In November 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then ministers Arun Jaitley and M Venkaiah Naidu met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former PM Manmohan Singh to find a way for the passage of the GST bill.

Opposition parties also assured support for seven ordinances. but demanded that the three farm-related bills and banking regulation amendments be sent to select panels for a review. Government managers did not agree.

Congress leaders were keen on a debate on economy and job losses and the partys Rajya Sabha chief whip Jairam Ramesh, a former environment minister, pressed for a debate on the environment.

Also read| Covid-19: Govt faces House heat on lockdown, migrants, cases

The draft environmental impact assessment (EIA) norms contain contentious clauses, including one pertaining to the regularisation of infrastructure projects that violated the EIA Notification, 2006, by starting construction before environmental clearance or by expanding their capacity. The draft also proposes a shortening of the time for public hearings, which offer people affected by projects the opportunity to understand them and give their consent for them.

Trinamool Congress floor leader Derek OBrien was keen for a discussion on GST in the backdrop of the a projected shortfall of Rs 2.35 lakh crore in the states share of Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue this financial year because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

DMK leader Tiruchi Siva insisted on a debate on the new national education policy, which has recommended primary education in local languages, facilitating the possible entry of foreign universities in India, creating a single higher-education regulator, and easier board examinations.

The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-run Tamil Nadu government has declared it would prefer a two-language formula and oppose a three-language formula proposed in the education policy. The state has also told the Centre that it wants to continue the current 10+2+3 system of education and would not accept the proposed 5+3+3+4 system.

Government managers initially proposed a combined debate on the GST and the economy in the meeting, to which Opposition leaders pointed out that GST was an issue related to the federal structure and should not be linked to the larger economy. OBriens calling-attention motion, which entails a reply by the minister, on the subject is likely to be discussed on September 18.

OBrien also accused the government of robbing 18 hours of the oppositions time by scrapping the daily Question Hour and not allocating enough time for discussions.

Rajnath Singh heard us patiently and said time management will be improved, said OBrien.

SPs Ramgopal Yadav advised the government not to bring the three farm-related ordinances: The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Ordinance, 2020, the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 and the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, 2020.Many experts have hailed the new laws that the government says seek to improve the farmers lot, but opposition parties and farmers organizations have alleged that they would be beneficial only to corporate houses.

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Building materials with a clear composition and stable structure is one of the primary challenges in chemistry and cluster science. Ongoing extensive efforts have been paid to exploring new stable clusters thus to construct new materials and to understand structural evolution bridging atoms and macroscopic matter. This is interesting yet challenging in chemistry. In the past decades, researchers have achieved significant advances, such as the discovery of fullerene C60, tetrahedral Au20, and all-boron fullerene B40, etc. In particular, a few "magic " metal clusters have unique stability, such as Al13?, surviving the reaction with oxygen. Such metal clusters often possess closed-shell electronic structure and geometric structure, which embodies the near free electron gas (NFEG) theory of metal and epitomizes the jellium model of clusters. In other cases, cluster stability could be related to aromaticity or superatom characteristics, pertaining to a large HOMO-LUMO gap, electron detachment energy and spin excitation energy. Besides, it was found that the doping of ligands, such as hydrogen or halogen, could bring forth changes to the stability of metal clusters, enabling to passivate or activate the metal clusters. This principle has been greatly embodied in understanding the stability of ligand-protected metal clusters.

In a new overview published in the Beijing-based National Science Review, scientists in Institute of Chemistry Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, etc. present an interesting finding of a very stable neutral Co13O8 cluster which possess unique cubic structure akin to perovskite and exhibit cubic aromaticity. This new class of neutral oxygen passivated metal cluster is expected to be used as genetic material, and the researchers named it "metalloxocubes".

Using the home-made deep ultraviolet laser ionization mass spectrometry (DUV-LIMS) with high ionization efficiency of neutral cobalt clusters, they observed the reactions of Con (n=2-30) with oxygen. Interestingly, a particularly stable species, Co13O8, shows dominant mass abundance in the presence of a large flow rate of oxygen gas (as shown in the Figure below).

In order to study its geometric structure, authors used three independent methods to search and identify the global minimum structure of the Co13O8 clusters, and obtained a consistent result unveiling its unique stability related to the cubic structure and a large HOMO-LUMO gap (2.14 eV). Ab-initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations indicate that Co13O8 has outstanding thermal stability. The thermodynamics and reaction kinetics demonstrated the structural evolution from icosahedral Co13 to cubic Co13O8 clusters.

Further, the authors found a large value of negative nuclear independent chemical shift (NICS), with NICS(0) = -54.0 ppm at the Co4O4 plane center of the cubic Co13O8 and NICS(1) = -22.0 ppm with 1.0 A above the plane surface, indicating remarkable aromaticity of this cluster. The integrate net current of 5.14 nA/T with an external magnetic field perpendicular to the Co4O4 plane. The electronic structure and orbital analyses revealed that Co13O8 has cubic aromaticity in accordance with the '6n+2' rule of electron counting.

It is interesting and challenging in chemistry to understand the structure evolution from atoms to macroscopic matter and construct new materials with well-defined components and regular polyhedron structures. Considering the unique stability and cubic aromaticity of Co13O8, this class of neutral oxygen- passivation metal clusters is named as "metalloxocubes", expecting to become a suitable candidate for gene materials.

###

Financial support for this work was provided by the National Project Development of Advanced Scientific Instruments Based on Deep Ultraviolet Laser Source (No. Y31M0112C1), by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21722308, 21802146, 91536105, 91645203, and 21590792), by National Key R&D Program of China (2016YFB0700600), and by CAS Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences (QYZDBSSW-SLH024).

See the article:

Lijun Geng, Mouyi Weng, Cong-Qiao Xu, Hanyu Zhang, Chaonan Cui, Haiming Wu, Xin Chen, Mingyu Hu, Hai Lin, Zhen-Dong Sun, Xi Wang, Han-Shi Hu, Jun Li, Jiaxin Zheng, Zhixun Luo*, Feng Pan* & Jiannian Yao*

Co13O8--Metalloxocubes: A new class of perovskite-like neutral clusters

with cubic aromaticity

National Science Review, 2020,

https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwaa201
Jordan Keogh had very serious problem at the time of arrest

A teenager who had cannabis hidden in his boxer shorts when caught in a street deal had been taking the drug "all day every day", a court heard.

Jordan Keogh (19) had a "very serious problem" at the time he was arrested.

Judge Paula Murphy gave him a four-month suspended sentence.

Keogh, with an address at York Street, Dublin 2, pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis with intent to sell or supply.

Garda Sergeant Paul Keane told Dublin District Court the accused was seen at Thomas Street on March 23, 2019, when he was about to partake in a drugs transaction.

When gardai approached, he cycled away but was stopped and brought to Kevin Street Garda Station where he was searched.

Two deals of cannabis worth 92 were found concealed in his boxer shorts. Keogh had no prior convictions of any kind.

Positive

A probation report on the accused was positive, his barrister Alan Grace said.

Keogh had gone through a bad period when he was "using cannabis all day every day", the court heard.

He was now living at home, had a much more stable lifestyle, hoped to get a safe pass and start working soon.

Keogh was also attending anger management classes and had been advised to stay away from his "old haunts".

"He does seem to be getting away from the behaviour that got him into this position in the first place," Mr Grace said.

"Hopefully, this is the wake-up call he needs." The court heard he had family support.

Judge Murphy said it was clear the accused had a "very serious problem" but he was taking steps to address this and had taken responsibility for his actions. She suspended the sentence for 18 months.
About half of the Americans conclude that presidential candidates Donald Trump and Joe Biden possess the for the job, as the president claimed that Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin are more mentally capable than the Democratic nominee.

According to the latest poll which was published on Sunday, 51 percent of Americans picked Joe Biden that has the mental soundness in serving effectively as the US president.

The said poll also found that only 47 percent of Americans chose the current president Donald Trump to have the mental soundness for the position while two percent of the participants were unsure about the poll.

Among participants, only 45 percent shared that Mr. Biden did not have the mental soundness to be the next president.

The said poll came a number days after another survey was released, which questioned voters in Florida, Michigan, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and North Carolina if they thought that the two candidates were mentally capable enough for the position.

I didnt know there would be even a question about this! https://t.co/QVZn2A7PYc  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 14, 2020

The latest survey reflected that 51 percent of voters in the mentioned states felt that the current president is unfit for the job while Mr. Biden ended up a percent higher than Trump for the same conclusion, Business Insider reported.

Read also: Intelligence Officials Claim Iran is Plotting to Assassinate US Ambassador to South Africa as Revenge

When the talks were shifted to the physical fitness of both candidates, 54 percent of the participants picked the Democratic nominee Biden as physically fit to be the president while Trump was 2 percent lower than his rival in terms of the observed physical aspect.

The physical fitness and mental aspect of the two candidates had been a talking point this 2020 campaign period, as the 74-year-old and current president Donald Trump repeatedly condemns the cognitive ability of the 77-year-old and former vice president Joe Biden.

Aside from pointing out the cognitive ability of the Democratic nominee, Mr. Trump also refers to the Democratic nominee as 'sleepy Joe' and earlier this month the current president shared in a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina that the 97-year-old veteran in the crowd is mentally sharper compared than his rival.

After the release of the said poll on Monday, the current president compared the Democratic nominee's mental fitness to both Russian President Vladimir Putin and the supreme leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un.

According to The Daily Express, during his campaign rally in Nevada, the president shared that he was dealing with all these kinds of people but they do not have the kind of mental problem that sleepy Joe has.

Trump added that compared to sleepy Joe they are very sharp; Kim Jong-un does not know about the problems that his rival has.

The current president emphasized during the rally that what we need are very sharp people and he mentioned that Joe is not qualified for the position.

The current president continuously boasted that he passed a cognitive test but when rival Joe Biden was asked if he would do the same, he then stated that why the hell he would take like that.

The national poll shows that Mr. Biden is leading the presidential race going into November and the Democratic nominee has a 15 percent advantage with women while his rival has a six-point lead with men.



Related article: Mike Bloomberg Cites $100 Million Assistance in Florida in Support of Joe Biden

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New Delhi, Sep 16 : As Prime Minister Narendra Modi turns 70 on Thursday, there has been an elaborate weeklong initiative during which the BJP's national President down to the level of an ordinary cadre in a gram panchayat, has been engaged in what the saffron party calls 'Seva Saptah'.

In Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore, BJP workers offered a 70-kg laddoo at Sri Kamatchi Amman Temple, following which it was distributed among the people. In Kerala, its state President K Surendran took part in a cleanliness drive in Kozhikode amid the state's rising political heat over police brutality whose visuals have gone viral, and the gold smuggling case.

Even though detected with coronavirus, BJP's Delhi MP Meenakshi Lekhi will attend an event on Thursday through video conferencing where tea vending cycles will be distributed at Delhi's Mahadev Road.

Meanwhile, stuck in the national capital for the ongoing Parliament session, two deputies of Union Home Minister Amit Shah -- Nityanad Rai and G Kishan Reddy -- distributed clothes and essentials to sanitation workers of the NDMC.

And amid West Bengal's soaring political temperature over the suspicious deaths of BJP workers which the saffron party blames on the TMC, BJP state Vice President Pratap Banerjee kicked-off 'Seva Saptah' in the border town of Katwa. Recently, another state Vice President Raju Banerjee held a massive blood donation camp in Bhatpara, an area that has consistently seen violence between the BJP and the TMC.

Even in smaller states like Goa, the BJP's weeklong initiative was not lacking either in fervour or in attendance. For instance, Alina Saldanha, the MLA from Cortalim constituency, recently distributed pulse oximeter, sanitizers and face shields to schools in her constituency. Present were a horde of Mandal karyakartas.

Given that PM Modi turns 70 on Thursday, the number 70 has assumed significance. On Tuesday BJP President JP Nadda inaugurated an exhibition on Modi showcasing his 70 avatars -- 'Book worm' to 'wanderer'.

With I&B minister Prakash Javadekar by his side, Nadda said, "Since it is the 70th birthday of PM Modi, our state exhibitions are being told to have 70 slides, blood donations to take place in at least 70 places in the district and cleanliness drives to take place in at least 70 residential areas in each district." However, PM Modi has no specific plans for elaborate celebrations, say sources.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Biology Major

Biology Major with Teaching Licensure (Education)

There is strong demand for biology teachers at the middle- and high-school levels. Students interested in secondary education can complete the general Biology major and licensure requirements through the Education Department, or can double major in Biology and Education. Students pursuing this option can also enroll in a 4+1 program to complete the B.S. in Biology and Masters of Education at MCLA in five years.

Requirements

The general Biology major includes courses from a variety of fields, including biology, chemistry and physics. The required courses are as follows:

BIOL 101 Seminar for Entering Majors (1 cr)

BIOL 101 Seminar for Entering Majors (1 cr) BIOL 150 Introduction to Biology I: Cells (4 cr)

BIOL 160 Introduction to Biology II: Organisms (4 cr)

BIOL 240 Genetics (4 cr)

BIOL 330 Seminar (1 cr)

BIOL 360 Ecology (4 cr)

BIOL 480 Cell & Molecular Biology (4 cr)

Elective BIOL courses, 300-level or above (13 cr)

CHEM 150 Introduction to Chemistry I (4 cr)

CHEM 152 Introduction to Chemistry II (4 cr)

CHEM 201 Organic Chemistry I (4 cr)

CHEM 202 Organic Chemistry II (4 cr)

PHYS 131 General Physics I (4 cr)

PHYS 132 General Physics II (4 cr)

MATH 232 Statistics (3 cr)

In addition to the courses required for the general Biology major, students interested in teaching licensure must take the following courses:

CCCS 269 Education in Society (3 cr)

PSYC210 Developmental Psychology or PSYC208 Applied Developmental Psychology (3 cr)

EDUC336 Reading/Content Area (3 cr)

EDUC 340 Field Placement I (2 cr)

EDUC 342 Field Placement II (2 cr)

EDUC 416 Curriculum & Instruction (3 cr)

EDUC 430 Teaching in an Inclusive Classroom (3 cr)

EDUC 422 Classroom Management/Teaching Strategies (3 cr)

EDUC 405 Sheltered English Instruction (3 cr)

EDUC 590 Student Teaching Practicum (9 cr)

EDUC 591 Student Teaching Seminar (3 cr)

With two additional elective courses (3 cr each), students can also earn a B.S. in Education.

MCLA in 4

A sample 4-year plan showing a possible sequence of courses in this concentration.

Internships and Teaching Opportunities

Students have the opportunity to work with local schools while completing the Biology degree, doing service projects or internships, and can be paid to participate in the Teaching to Learn program. Strong students may also be invited to serve as teaching assistants in the department, conducting tutorials or assisting with undergraduate biology labs.

Certification Tests

Students who wish to teach in the state of Massachusetts must complete the Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure (MTEL). Information about and preparation classes for the MTEL are provided by the Education Department.

Advising

Students interested in secondary education will have advisors in both the Biology Department and the Education Department.

Careers & Outcomes

Biology graduates can work following graduation, gain experience through programs such as Teach for America, or pursue a Masters of Education. Two biology graduates are currently teaching at the secondary level while enrolled in Masters of Education programs.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) running mate Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang says she is disappointed in whoever suggested the double track system for second cycle education.

The double track system was introduced when as a result of the implementation of the Free SHS policy by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government in 2017, enrolment in second cycle schools saw an unprecedented increment and the government had to ensure all qualified candidates did not miss secondary education.

Members of the NDC have been berating the Free SHS policy and its accompanying double track system and have vowed to scrap it when they win the December elections.

Prof. Opoku-Agyemang, who has been chosen by Mr. Mahama to partner him for the December general election, has been on a campaign tour of the Western Region, and she said on Takoradi-based 'Sharp FM' on Monday that the NPP copied the double service style used by the churches for the double track initiative.

Everyone refused to ask questions when the NPP initiated the free senior high school policy. But when NDC decided to include private senior high schools and abolish the double track system, everyone is asking questions, Prof. Opoku-Agyemang, who was Minister of Education under Mr. Mahama's presidency, pointed out.

We built E-blocks. Now students are finding it difficult to study because of double track and that is why we will build more schools to abolish the double track, she promised.

Palace Visits

The NDC running mate later paid a courtesy call on the Omanhene of Essikado Traditional Area, Nana Kobina Nketia V.

The chief prayed for the successful campaign of the running mate and assured her of their support and wise counsel, adding that a good venture is worth supporting.

Prof. Opoku-Agyemang thanked the chiefs for their expression of support and assured them that she and the NDC would continue to pursue an issues-based campaign.

This election is about performance record, and so we will continue to showcase our achievements and fulfilled promises for Ghanaians to judge, she indicated.

Prof. Opoku-Agyemang urged the people of Essikado to return the NDC to power to continue the various developmental projects the previous administration started for the people of the area.

Daily Guide
The governments decision to reduce fees for building code violations has been warmly welcomed

The government reacted quickly this week after MPs and the media demanded a reduction in fines for building code violations and a two-month extension to the 30 September deadline set for owners to regularise the status of their buildings.

On 12 September Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli issued a statement saying that President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi had asked the government to take account of conditions in the rural economy and reduce the reconciliation fees for illegal buildings on agricultural land to as low as LE50 per square metre in some cases.

The reduction reflects the fact that the government is not seeking to collect as much money as possible but to codify buildings in a legal way, said Madbouli.

He insisted, however, that henceforth there would be zero tolerance for illegal building on agricultural land.

Egypt has lost 90,000 feddans of its most fertile agricultural land since 2011 and it has to stop, said Madbouli.

Visiting Qalioubiya governorate on Saturday, Madbouli said money collected to settle building violations will be used to fund social programmes.

The government has already spent LE13 billion developing 374 rural communities, said Madbouli, and it will cost LE18 billion to reclaim desert land to compensate for the 90,000 feddans lost to illegal building.

In a good-will gesture Madbouli announced a 25 per cent discount on settlement fees paid in a lump sum rather than in installments.

In January, President Al-Sisi ratified a law allowing owners of buildings constructed illegally to settle with the state. Yosri Al-Moghazi, deputy chairman of parliaments Housing Committee, said the so-called Reconciliation Law was central to government plans to stem the tide of illegal building on agricultural and state-owned land and crack down on unlicensed multi-storey buildings that violated building codes and safety standards.

When discussing the law the committee stressed reconciliation should not be based on collecting as much money as possible. Rather, local authorities should take into account economic conditions when setting fees, said Al-Moghazli.

MP Mohamed Helmi, a member of the Housing Committee, told Al-Ahram Weekly that MPs had not only pressed the government to extend the reconciliation deadline beyond 30 September but were keen to report any arbitrary measures adopted by local council employees in implementing the law.

We are happy the government is now making it easier, and less costly, to reach a reconciliation, he said.

Egypt saw a rise in illegal construction during the security vacuum that followed the 2011 uprising when many people constructed multi-storey buildings without acquiring the necessary permits or complying with safety standards.

The most important thing now, argues Helmi, is to settle offences in an orderly way, without disrupting public order or compelling citizens to pay fines they cannot afford.

Helmi warned that hostile Muslim Brotherhood TV channels, broadcasting from Turkey and Qatar, are trying their best to exploit the reconciliation law and incite citizens to protest.

In addition to the offer of a 25 per cent discount on settlements paid in full, the cabinet said on 11 September that fines on illegal buildings in 23 out of 27 Egyptian governorates had been reduced by between 10 and 70 per cent in order to ease the burden on low-income citizens. The governorates included in the decision are Cairo, Alexandria, Beheira, Daqahliya, Sharqiya, Gharbiya, Qalioubiya, Menoufiya, Port Said, Damietta, Kafr Al-Sheikh, Minya, Assiut, Sohag, Qena, Aswan, Luxor, the Red Sea, Ismailia, Suez, North Sinai, South Sinai, and Fayoum.

On Monday, Minister of Housing Assem Al-Gazzar also revealed that the government was offering a discount of up to 25 per cent on reconciliation fees for illegal buildings in new cities.

Madbouli made it clear that the 30 September deadline will now be extended by two months to allow citizens more time to prepare the paperwork necessary for the reconciliation process. In a statement on 9 September he announced that local authorities had been instructed to process reconciliation requests immediately.

If requests were submitted with some necessary documents missing, citizens now have two months to rectify this, said Madbouli.

The prime minister added that while there was no intention to demolish illegal buildings or take punitive measures, people who fail to reach a reconciliation deal will have the status of their buildings frozen.

They will not be able to sell their property or access public utilities while those who will do get a licence through the reconciliation process will see the status of their building regularised which will be reflected in an increase in the value of the property, he said.

Independent MP Mohamed Fouad sent a letter to the prime minister on Monday requesting the deadline be extended by six rather than two months.

The two-month extension is likely to be too short for many people to raise the money necessary to pay the fees and prepare the necessary documentation, said Fouad.

It was announced this week that fines for outstanding building violations can be paid in installments over three years at zero interest.

I have also ordered that citizens be allowed to file complaints against the reconciliation fees and not to be asked to get a costly report from a consultancy office assessing the value of the illegal building, said Madbouli.

In a press conference on 12 September Madbouli revealed that real estate tycoons had already paid LE1 billion to settle building code violations. Hundreds of local council employees have also been referred for prosecution for not taking statutory measures to halt illegal construction, he said.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 17 September, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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Zachys sets 226 World Records and 475 European records in 864-lot auction with 100% lots sold.

Zachys Auction

Zachys Auction

Giorgio Pinchiorri in his wine cellar

Giorgio Pinchiorri in his wine cellar

London, Sept. 16, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- After decades of auctions in New York and Hong Kong, the worlds leading wine auction house, Zachys, hosted its first European auction in London via livestream, on 12 September 2020. In a smashing success by any measure, the auction was 100% sold and realized 3,153,952. The wines and aquavit in the auction were from the legendary cellar of three-Michelin-star Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence, Italy. The sale included Coche-Dury, Rouget, Dujac, Ramonet, Leflaive, Jayer, Liger-Belair, DRC, the First Growths, Petrus back to the 1920s, Le Pin, Yquem back to the 1920s, Masseto, Ornellaia, Krug, Chave, an amazing collection of Italian aquavit in beautiful hand-blown Murano glass, all curated by the restaurants owner Giorgio Pinchiorri. The auction was live-streamed from Zachys home office in New York, by Zachys President Jeff Zacharia and Head of Auction Sales Charles Antin, while bidders logged in from home, along with intimate get-togethers in Stockholm, Geneva, Beijing and at Cabotte Wine Bar and Restaurant in London. Bidders from 20 countries, including the UK, US, UAE, China, Hong Kong, Israel, Switzerland, Sweden and Monaco, all vied to take home a piece of vinous history. The 864-lot auction featured 2,507 large formats including nebuchadnezzars, methuselahs, jeroboams, magnums and bottles and was 100% sold. 26% of the auction, or 226 of the lots, set new World Records, and an astonishing 55% of the lots set European Records, despite this being Zachys first auction in the UK. The top World Records include:

 A single magnum of 1979 Jayer Richebourg for 47,120

 A single magnum of 1990 Roumier Musigny for 47,120

 A single imperial of 2009 Petrus for 42,160

 A single bottle of 1985 Jayer Richebourg for 34,720

 A single methuselah of 1981 DRC RSV for 29,760 Zachys sold over 115 million worth of wine at auction and retail in 2019.

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In March 2020, as Covid-19 forced bidders to stay at home, Zachys quickly transformed into a digital business and was the first major auction house to offer its live auctions fully online, allowing clients to bid from anywhere globally. Despite COVID-19, Zachys has had its busiest first half-year ever, overreaching projections with over 34 million in year-to-date auction sales. Since the start of the pandemic, all live auctions have taken place through Zachys Studio Sales live-streamed, sometimes with over 150 people in the virtual room, watching the auctioneer from New York. Zachys even carried out a Hong Kong sale on EST, which took place 10pm-4am. Zachys global team hosts now-famous bidding parties, where potential buyers in Beijing, Shanghai, Stockholm, London, Hong Kong, or elsewhere can get together in small groups, enjoy a glass of Burgundy, some fine dining, and bid in real time. The Studio Sales have made Zachys auctions more accessible as bidders are no longer required to attend in person. Zachys has offices in New York, Los Angeles, Napa, Washington DC, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Stockholm and Paris. London, the historic centre of wine buying and trading worldwide, was the obvious choice for Zachys new European hub. Zachys presence in the UK capital is a key piece in a global expansion strategy that ensures the companys global clientele will receive the same level of service regardless of time zone. Christy Erickson, Head of Europe, Zachys said: Were delighted with the results of our European debut. We were coming into the auction against a backdrop of global uncertainty due to the ongoing pandemic, but since wine auction sales in 2020 thus far have exceeded our January projections, we decided to forge ahead. And were glad we did: this auction shows that the fine-wine auction industry is still booming, and our buyers appetite for quality shows no sign of slowing. Were thrilled to have set a 226 World Records and achieve over double our pre-auction estimate for this collection. We can now look forward to three more sales in New York and Hong Kong in September, three auctions in New York in October, and then were back in November for our second sale in London. In addition to its upcoming auctions in New York and Hong Kong, Zachys will follow up the London auction with a multi-vendor sale in the city in November 2020. Visit the auction calendar here: http://www.zachys.com/auctions and read more stories from Zachys here: https://zachysdotblog.wpcomstaging.com/

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CONTACT: Harriet Cartwright Relevance International +447725 589 695 harriet@relevanceinternational.com




GOAL ONE: Raise the aspirations of all Berkshire County residents to view 16 years of education, or greater, as the accepted educational norm. We found that far too many county residents believe the attainment of a high school diploma to be their ultimate educational goal. Aspirations must change and be elevated. To achieve this goal we must:

change the culture that accepts a high school degree as the educational end-point;

structure the K-12 educational experience so that more students aspire to higher education and more students are better prepared to make the transition to higher education; and

provide students with more opportunities to understand that a solid educational foundation pays dividends in the world of work.

GOAL TWO: Improve access to education, training and lifelong learning. We found that there are many barriers-both real and perceived-to accessing education and training programs; among those barriers are transportation and childcare, cost and convenience, government/programmatic rules and regulations, as well as relevance to professional advancement or personal growth. We can begin to dismantle these barriers by:

providing all residents with increased opportunities to attend college through the development of a Passport to College;

developing innovative ways to reach residents;

allowing all residents to have greater access across the educational landscape in Berkshire County; and

developing a targeted campaign with employers focused on working adults who have little or no higher education experience.

GOAL THREE: Develop a new "social contract" among employers, employees, and educational institutions that encourages and promote learning, earning and civic engagement. As the demographics across the county continue to change, the number one concern expressed by employers is access to a well-prepared, well-educated, innovative workforce. Berkshire County needs to think innovatively and boldly about integrating training and educational opportunities to meet the needs of employers and employees, including:
Researchers from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and King's College London cleared the obstacle that had prevented the creation of electrically driven nanolasers for integrated circuits. The approach, reported in a recent paper in Nanophotonics, enables coherent light source design on the scale not only hundreds of times smaller than the thickness of a human hair but even smaller than the wavelength of light emitted by the laser. This lays the foundation for ultrafast optical data transfer in the manycore microprocessors expected to emerge in the near future.

Light signals revolutionized information technologies in the 1980s, when optical fibers started to replace copper wires, making data transmission orders of magnitude faster. Since optical communication relies on light -- electromagnetic waves with a frequency of several hundred terahertz -- it allows transferring terabytes of data every second through a single fiber, vastly outperforming electrical interconnects.

Fiber optics underlies the modern internet, but light could do much more for us. It could be put into action even inside the microprocessors of supercomputers, workstations, smartphones, and other devices. This requires using optical communication lines to interconnect the purely electronic components, such as processor cores. As a result, vast amounts of information could be transferred across the chip nearly instantaneously.

Getting rid of the limitation on data transmission will make it possible to directly improve microprocessor performance by stacking more processor cores, to the point of creating a 1,000-core processor that would be virtually 100 times faster than its 10-core counterpart, which is pursued by the semiconductor industry giants IBM, HP, Intel, Oracle, and others. This in turn will make it possible to design a true supercomputer on a single chip.

The challenge is to connect optics and electronics at the nanoscale. To achieve this, the optical components cannot be larger than hundreds of nanometers, which is about 100 times smaller than the width of a human hair. This size restriction also applies to on-chip lasers, which are necessary for converting information from electrical signals to optical pulses that carry the bits of the data.

However, light is a kind of electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength of hundreds of nanometers. And the quantum uncertainty principle says there is a certain minimum volume that light particles, or photons, can be localized in. It cannot be smaller than the cube of the wavelength. In crude terms, if one makes a laser too small, the photons will not fit into it. That said, there are ways around this restriction on the size of optical devices, which is known as the diffraction limit. The solution is to replace photons with surface plasmon-polaritons, or SPPs.

SPPs are collective oscillations of electrons that are confined to the surface of a metal and interact with the surrounding electromagnetic field. Only a few metals known as plasmonic metals are good to work with SPPs: gold, silver, copper, and aluminum. Just like photons, SPPs are electromagnetic waves, but at the same frequency they are much better localized -- that is, they occupy less space. Using SPPs instead of photons makes it possible to "compress" light and thus overcome the diffraction limit.

The design of truly nanoscale plasmonic lasers is already possible with current technologies. However, these nanolasers are optically pumped, that is, they have to be illuminated with external bulky and high-power lasers. This may well be convenient for scientific experiments, but not outside the laboratory. An electronic chip intended for mass production and real-life applications has to incorporate hundreds of nanolasers and operate on an ordinary printed circuit board. A practical laser needs to be electrically pumped, or, in other words, powered by an ordinary battery or DC power supply. So far such lasers are only available as devices that operate at cryogenic temperatures, which is not suitable for most practical applications, since maintaining liquid nitrogen cooling is not typically possible.

The physicists from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) and King's College London have proposed an alternative to the conventional way electrical pumping works. Usually the scheme of electrical pumping of nanolasers requires an ohmic contact made of titanium, chromium, or a similar metal. Moreover, that contact has to be a part of the resonator -- the volume where the laser radiation is generated. The problem with that is titanium and chromium strongly absorb light, which harms resonator performance. Such lasers suffer from high pump current and are susceptible to overheating. This is why the need for cryogenic cooling emerges, along with all the inconveniences it entails.

The proposed new scheme for electrical pumping is based on a double heterostructure with a tunneling Schottky contact. It makes the ohmic contact with its strongly absorbing metal redundant. The pumping now happens across the interface between the plasmonic metal and semiconductor, along which SPPs propagate. "Our novel pumping approach makes it possible to bring the electrically driven laser to the nanoscale, while retaining its ability to operate at room temperature. At the same time, unlike other electrically pumped nanolasers, the radiation is effectively directed to a photonic or plasmonic waveguide, making the nanolaser fit for integrated circuits," Dr. Dmitry Fedyanin from the Center for Photonics and 2D Materials at MIPT commented.

The plasmonic nanolaser proposed by the researchers is smaller -- in each of its three dimensions -- than the wavelength of the light it emits. Moreover, the volume occupied by SPPs in the nanolaser is 30 times smaller than the light wavelength cubed. According to the researchers, their room-temperature plasmonic nanolaser could be easily made even smaller, making its characteristics even more impressive, but that would come at the cost of the inability to effectively extract the radiation into a bus waveguide. Thus, while further miniaturization would render the device poorly applicable to on-chip integrated circuits, it would be still convenient for chemical and biological sensors and near-field optical spectroscopy or optogenetics.

Despite its nanoscale dimensions, the predicted output power of the nanolaser amounts to over 100 microwatts, which is comparable to much larger photonic lasers. Such a high output power allows each nanolaser to be used to transmit hundreds of gigabits per second, eliminating one of the most formidable obstacles to higher-performance microchips. And that includes all sorts of hi-end computing devices: supercomputer processors, graphic processors, and perhaps even some gadgets to be invented in the future.

###

The study was supported by a grant of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research.

Link to the original research paper: D.Yu. Fedyanin, A.V. Krasavin, A.V. Arsenin, A.V. Zayats, Lasing at the nanoscale: Coherent emission of surface plasmons by an electrically driven nanolaser, Nanophotonics 9, 3965-3975 (2020), doi:10.1515/nanoph-2020-0157.
Va Tech Wabag share price rose over 5% after the company reported a 687.5% rise in net profit to Rs 5.04 crore in the quarter ended June 30 compared to Q1FY20, when it logged Rs 0.64 crore profit.

Consolidated net revenue in Q1FY21 stood at Rs 430.87 crore in Q1 June 2020, which declined by 5.62% YoY from Rs 456.53 crore in Q1 June 2019.

Following the result updates, Va Tech Wabag stock touched an intraday high of Rs 219.9, rising 5.59% against its last close of Rs 208.25. The stock also touched an intraday low of Rs 208.30, also its opening price for the session.

VA Tech Wabag stock price stands higher than 5, 20, 50, 100 and 200-day moving averages. The stock has risen 190.54% from its 52-week low of Rs 73 hit on 7 April 2020. Va Tech Wabag stock has been gaining for the last 3 days and has risen 11.33% returns in the period.

The stock has risen 15% in one week, 60% in one month and 19% year-to-date. Market capitalisation of the firm stood at Rs 1,192 crore.

Company's EBITDA stood at Rs 28.9 crore in Q1FY21 that decreased by 22.95% YoY from Rs 37.51 crore in Q1FY20, while EBITDA margin as of Q1FY21 was at 6.71%, falling 1.51% YoY against the same quarter previous year.

Commenting on the Q1 results, Rajiv Mittal, the managing director of Va Tech Wabag, has said: "In a quarter marred by the COVID pandemic, Wabag contributed its share to ensure water security and we are extremely proud of our COVID warriors for the same. We are now in the phase of progressive resumption of site activities to achieve full capacity at the earliest. I am also happy to note that in this tough economic environment we have been able to secure a major order of 48 million USD towards building a 300 MLD STP at Jeddah, KSA, further strengthening our growing presence in the Middle East."

Rupee trades flat at Rs 73.64 per dollar ahead of US Fed meet outcome

Gold price rises for third day; silver rates at Rs 69,100

Share Market News Live: Sensex rises 100 points, Nifty at 11.538; HDFC Bank, Tata Motors, L&T top gainers
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - September 16, 2020) - Benz Mining Corp. (TSXV: BZ) (the "Company" or "Benz"), is pleased to announce that it has appointed two highly experienced directors to the board along with three senior executives with significant gold sector expertise to assist the Company as it transitions towards a dual listing on the ASX and developing the high-grade Eastmain gold mine project in Quebec.

Board and Management Appointments

Mr Evan Cranston has been appointed as Chairman, replacing Mr Nick Tintor who will remain as a Non-Executive Director, and Mr Peter Williams has been appointed as a Non-Executive Director. Mr Cranston, based in Perth, Australia, is an experienced mining executive with a background in corporate and mining law. He is the principal of corporate advisory and administration firm Konkera Corporate and has extensive experience in the areas of equity capital markets, corporate finance, structuring, asset acquisition, corporate governance and external stakeholder relations. Mr Cranston holds both a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws from the University of Western Australia.

Mr Peter Williams is a geophysicist with more than 30 years of expertise in mineral exploration, corporate management and business development, including Chief Geophysicist and first General Manager of Geoscience Technology at WMC Resources in Australia and senior roles with ASX-listed companies, IGO Ltd, Ampella Mining Ltd, Boss Resources Ltd, and Alderan Resources Ltd. Peter has extensive experience in commercially successful exploration for different mineral systems around the world, in both greenfields, brownfields and in-mine exploration. He pioneered the use of electromagnetics in mines in WMC and IGO, which led to numerous commercial discoveries. He is the co-founder of Intierra which was acquired by S&P Global Market Intelligence, HiSeis, the first global 3d seismic company focussed on hard rock mining and Elemental Royalties which has recently listed on the TSX-V.

Story continues

The senior executive team has also been significantly strengthened with the appointments of Dr. Danielle Giovenazzo as Vice President Exploration, Mr Xavier Braud as Head of Corporate Development (Australia) and Mr Paul Fowler as Head of Corporate Development (Canada). Mr Braud will also act as Chief Executive Officer of the Company.

Mr Braud is an experienced geologist and mining analyst with over 15 years experience in a broad range of deposits and commodities. His geological experience spans the whole spectrum of geology from greenfield exploration to resource definition and extension. For the past three years he has been a Resources/Mining Analyst at Patersons Securities and Canaccord Genuity covering ASX-listed small and micro-cap resources companies. Mr Braud is currently a director of ASX-listed Riversgold Limited.

Dr. Giovenazzo has nearly 30 years of mining exploration experience where she was responsible for several exploration projects at various stages. She has experience in Canada as well as abroad (Argentina, Australia, West Africa, Finland, Brazil and Greenland) working for various mining and exploration companies such as Newgenco Pty Ltd., Castillian Resources Corporation, XStrata Nickel, Falconbridge Ltd. and Newmont Goldcorp at the Eleonore Mine.

She is currently the President of the "Ordre des Geologues du Quebec", a Professional Geologist (P. Geo) and acts as a competent person as defined by NI-43-101. Dr. Giovenazzo also serves as an Independent Director on the Board of Directors of SOQUEM, which is a leading government institution in Quebec's Exploration and Mining Industry.

Mr Fowler is an experienced Canadian capital markets professional with extensive background in the natural resources sector built up over the last 15 years. He has a strong knowledge of the global mining sector and an extensive network of mining executives from prior roles in institutional sales and investment banking for Merrill Lynch, Wellington West, National Bank Financial, Paradigm Capital, and Red Cloud Securities. Mr Fowler is a CFA charterholder.

Technical Team Appointments

Benz has also strengthened its technical team with the appointment of high calibre specialist consultants, Dr. Marat Abzalov, Mr David Johnston, and Dr. Martin Tuscherer.

Dr. Abzalov is a geologist with over 40 years of global geological experience. He was previously Geology Manager at WMC Resources and Exploration Manager - New Opportunities at Rio Tinto. He is a specialist in 3D geoscience analysis, geostatistics and resource estimation having created the Localised Uniform Conditioning modeling method for which he recently received the Dani Krige's Gold Medal from the South African Institute of Mining.

Mr Johnston is a geophysicist with over 30 years of experience worldwide. He was previously Chief Geophysicist at IGO Limited and held senior positions with LionOre, Rio Tinto and WMC. His expertise with the appropriate use of electromagnetics to target mineral occurrences will help Benz unlock the potential in the Upper Eastmain Greenstone Belt.

Dr. Tuscherer is a geologist with over 20 years of mineral exploration experience. A Professional Geologist registered with the Ordre des Geologues du Quebec (P. Geo), he has extensive experience with the greenstone belts of Quebec having recently held senior positions with Canadian listed entities, Azimut Exploration Inc. and Osisko Mining Inc.

Commenting on the new appointments, Benz Chairman of the Board, Nick Tintor said, "We are delighted to welcome such highly credentialed appointments in Evan, Peter, Xavier, Danielle and Paul during this formative period for Benz. Their expertise and vision will be timely as the Company embarks on its exploration program at the advanced stage and high-grade Eastmain gold mine project in Quebec. We are also fortunate to have quickly build an outstanding technical team with a strong track record of success. Attracting talent of this calibre also demonstrates the significant potential for Benz and its commitment to becoming a gold developer."

About Benz Mining Corp.

Benz Mining Corp. brings together a strong team of geoscientists and finance professionals with a focused strategy to acquire and develop mineral projects with an emphasis on safe, low risk jurisdictions favorable to mining development. Benz is earning a 100% interest from Eastmain Resources Inc. in the former producing high grade Eastmain gold mine, Ruby Hill West and Ruby Hill East projects in Quebec.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of Benz Mining Corp.

Nick Tintor, Chairman of the Board

For more information please contact

Benz Mining Corp.

Telephone: 416.953.4244

Email: ntintor@benzmining.com

Forward-Looking Information: Certain statements contained in this news release may constitute "forward-looking information" as such term is used in applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking information is based on plans, expectations and estimates of management at the date the information is provided and is subject to certain factors and assumptions, including, that the Company's financial condition and development plans do not change as a result of unforeseen events and that the Company obtains regulatory approval. Forward-looking information is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause plans, estimates and actual results to vary materially from those projected in such forward-looking information. Factors that could cause the forward-looking information in this news release to change or to be inaccurate include, but are not limited to, the risk that any of the assumptions referred to prove not to be valid or reliable, that occurrences such as those referred to above are realized and result in delays, or cessation in planned work, that the Company's financial condition and development plans change, and delays in regulatory approval, as well as the other risks and uncertainties applicable to the Company as set forth in the Company's continuous disclosure filings filed under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, other than as required by applicable law.

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 ACCURACY OR ADEQUACY OF THIS RELEASE.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/63948
OAKLEY  The Badger Fire in southwest Cassia County has grown to 23,500 acres and remains 0% contained, fire officials said Tuesday morning.

The fire began Saturday about 20 miles southwest of Oakley in the Sawtooth National Forest near Badger Gulch. It is threatening multiple structures.

The cause of the fire remains unknown.

Dry conditions, high winds, low visibility and extreme fire behavior, including long-range spotting, torching and fire whirls, caused the fire to grow quickly, according to an update from the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management.

There is a helicopter, four engines, two crews and two dozers with 94 total people fighting the fire as of Tuesday morning.

The Great Basin Type 3 Team  Nevada Sierra Front assumed command of the fire Tuesday morning, with Incident Commander Scott Stephenson.

The fire is currently burning in grass, brush, logging slash and heavy timber, multiple structures are threatened.

Firefighters said high winds, warm temperatures and low relative humidity made their work difficult Tuesday. Fire crews will be focusing on creating a safe anchor point, constructing direct fire containment lines and point protection on structures, the forest service said.

Forest Service roads 533 and 536 are being restricted to fire personnel only. A forest closure order for the area was issued Tuesday and includes Diamondfield Jack Campground.

Wildfire engulfing road closes Idaho 21 near Stanley

A wildfire burning in the Sawtooth National Forest has forced a highway closure on Idaho Highway 21, according to U.S. Forest Service officials.

In a Sawtooth National Forest news release Tuesday, officials said the Trap Fire was burning 9 miles northeast of Stanley. The road is closed between Grandjean Road and Cape Horn Road (mile markers 112 to 119), according to the Idaho 511 traffic map.

In a Facebook post, neighboring Salmon-Challis National Forest said the fire emergency is evolving rapidly after the fire was first reported on Monday. The cause of the fire has not been determined, but officials said it is burning on both sides of the road in timber. It had burned about 110 acres by late Tuesday morning.

The fire, which is burning near the confluence of the Boise, Sawtooth and Salmon-Challis national forests, is one of a handful currently burning in Idaho. Officials have not released any estimates on when it might be contained.

Grouse Fire moves into Sawtooth National Forrest

The Grouse Fire started Sunday along the boundary of the Boise and Sawtooth national forests about 6 miles northeast of Pine, prompting a group of campers to be evacuated.

The fire has since spread from the Boise National Forrest into the Sawtooth National Forrest. As of Tuesday, it has burned 3,922 acres and is 8% contained.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Officials expect the 269 firefighters working the area to have the fire contained by Oct. 1.

Campgrounds, recreation areas and roads in the area remain closed.

Remote fire being monitored

A third fire, the Leggit Fire, has burned 1,000 acres in a remote area in the Sawtooth Wilderness. Fire managers are using aircraft to monitor the fire.

Little says Idaho is in good shape

Despite this weeks fires, Idaho appears to have avoided a tough wildfire season so far with a combination of quick responses by state and federal firefighters and good luck with weather, Gov. Brad Little said Tuesday.

The Republican governor said an early plan forced by the coronavirus pandemic to quickly attack all wildfires appears to have paid off. Avoiding large wildfires meant avoiding large accumulations of firefighters where the virus could spread.

The fact that we got on these fires early is one of the reasons were in such great shape, Little said while presiding at the monthly meeting of the Idaho Land Board.

Officials say wildfires that Idaho is responsible for fighting have burned about 6 square miles, only 18% of the 20-year average. The number of wildfires started is 217, which is 82% of the 20-year average.

Of those 217 wildfires, 169 were started by humans and 48 by lightning.

The National Interagency Fire Center said that another 220 square miles of mostly U.S. Forest Service Land in Idaho have burned this year. Much of that is the Woodhead Fire burning in western Idaho. It has grown to about 110 square miles (285 square kilometers) and is 32% contained.

State officials say wildfire-fighting expenses so far for the state are about $19 million. Idaho has about $45 million available to spend on firefighting costs.

Idaho Department of Lands Director Dustin Miller told the land board that with large and devastating wildfires burning in Washington, Oregon and California, its difficult to get high-level management teams for firefighting.

But he said the wildfire season could wrap up in the next few weeks with possible cooler weather and rain.

Fire season came late this year, he said. Were hearing that in the next two or three weeks we will see some season-ending events.

The Land Board is responsible for managing about 2.5 million acres of state-owned land to make the most money over the long term. This fiscal year it is expected to generate more than $84 million for distribution. Most of that revenue comes from timber sales.

The Times-News Kyle Hansen, the Idaho Statesmans Nicole Blanchard and the Associated Press Keith Ridler contributed to this report.

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A California couple who died in the North Complex Fire were preparing to evacuate the area when they changed their minds based on 'erroneous information' that the blaze was 51 per cent contained.

Philip Ruble, 68, was found dead inside his charred Toyota pickup at the Berry Creek home he shared with Millicent Catarncuic, 77, who was found dead in a nearby embankment, Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said Tuesday during a press conference.

'After speaking to family members, it is believed the pair was aware of the fire in the area,' Honea said.

'They had packed their belongings in preparation to evacuate but later decided not to evacuate based on erroneous information that the fire was 51 per cent contained.'

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Philip Ruble (left), 68, and Millicent Catarncuic (right), 77, who both died in a California wildfire were preparing to evacuate when they changed their based on 'erroneous information'

Ruble (right) was found dead inside his charred Toyota pickup at the Berry Creek home he shared with Catarncuic (left) who was found dead in a nearby embankment, Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said Tuesday during a press conference

The Berry Creek area has been nearly decimated by the North Complex Fire.

Local authorities issued evacuation orders for the area beginning the afternoon of September 8.

Evacuation information has been posted on social media sites and on the fire information line, transmitted via ham radio, according to CNN.

According to a Butte County spokeswoman, deputies were in the area with evacuation sirens and went door to door where possible.

It's unclear where the couple retrieved the inaccurate information because containment information is not usually shared with evacuation orders.

Dozens of fires have burned some 4.5 million acres of tinder-dry brush, grass and woodlands in Oregon, California and Washington state since August, ravaging several small towns, destroying thousands of homes and killing at least 34 people.

Fifteen people have been killed in the North Complex Fire alone, while 13 others are still missing.

The North Complex Fire is the eighth largest in California history. It has charred more than 273,000 acres and destroyed nearly 800 structures.

The Berry Creek area (a home pictured) has been nearly decimated by the North Complex Fire

Cal Fire firefighters survey a property that was destroyed by the blaze in Berry Creek

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire) said 16,600 firefighters were still battling 25 major fires after achieving full containment around the perimeter of other large blazes.

Firefighters in the San Gabriel Mountains just north of Los Angeles waged an all-out campaign to save the famed Mount Wilson Observatory and an adjacent complex of broadcast transmission towers from flames that crept near the site.

Meanwhile, in Oregon, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has obligated more than $1.2million in mission assignments to bring relief to the state and has deployed five urban search and rescue teams to the wildfire-torn region, the agency said in a statement on Wednesday.

Search teams scoured incinerated homes for the missing as firefighters kept up their exhausting battle.

The wildfires, which officials and scientists have described as unprecedented in scope and ferocity, have filled the region's skies with smoke and soot, compounding a public health crisis already posed by the coronavirus pandemic.

Scientists in Europe tracked the smoke as it bore down on the continent, underscoring the magnitude of the disaster.

The European Union's Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) is monitoring the scale and intensity of the fires and the transport of the resultant smoke across the United States and beyond.

'The fact that these fires are emitting so much pollution into the atmosphere that we can still see thick smoke over 8,000 kilometers away reflects just how devastating they have been in their magnitude and duration,' CAMS Senior Scientist Mark Parrington said in a statement.

CAMS said it uses satellite observations of aerosols, carbon monoxide and other constituents of smoke to monitor and forecast its movement through the atmosphere.

Eight deaths have been confirmed during the past week in Oregon, which became the latest and most concentrated hot spot in a larger summer outbreak of fires across the entire western US. The Pacific Northwest was hardest hit.

The fires roared to life in California in mid-August, and erupted across Oregon and Washington around Labor Day last week, many of them sparked by catastrophic lightning storms and stoked by record-breaking heat waves and bouts of howling winds.

Weather conditions improved early this week, enabling firefighters to begin to make headway in efforts to contain and tamp down the blazes.
We hope this contribution helps our industry understand problems and innovate solutions that continue to put the employee experience first.

Today HealthJoy, the first and only benefits experience platform, is pleased to announce the release of its 2021 State of the Benefits Experience Report. With data gleaned from a survey sent to over 9,000 HR professionals, the report contains insights into their perceptions, struggles, plans, and priorities for 2021.

HealthJoys first benchmarking report is released at a time of considerable uncertainty for human resources departments around the country. The survey that informed this report ran in July, while HR professionals were planning for open enrollment and mired in challenges related to the pandemic. It focused on forward-looking questions in an effort to identify problems and solutions for the 2021 plan year.

The report is available to download today, and HealthJoy CEO Justin Holland will host a webinar presenting findings and additional insights on Sept. 30.

The State of the Benefits Experience Survey uncovered that:



Eighty-nine percent of those surveyed reported placing more emphasis on virtual care as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic

HR pros surveyed spend an average of 9 hours per week answering employee benefits questions

Fifty-nine percent of those surveyed listed creating better healthcare consumers as their primary cost-containment strategy for 2021, but the same number reported they dont offer a solution to make it easier for employees to shop for care

Eighty percent of companies wont expand or reduce their benefits offerings next year

The upcoming plan year will look like nothing weve seen before, and employees need more help than ever, Holland said. Taking the pulse of the benefits experience at this juncture reveals exactly what HR is juggling in this unusual time. We hope this contribution helps our industry understand problems and innovate solutions that continue to put the employee experience first.

The full 2021 State of the Benefits Experience Report includes additional insights and perspectives, and is available at: https://healthjoy.com/ebooks/2021-state-benefits-experience/.

About HealthJoy

HealthJoy is a first-of-its-kind benefits experience platform helping companies save money on their healthcare while improving employee satisfaction. Through personalized guidance and AI technology, HealthJoy empowers employees to better use and understand their benefits. HealthJoy integrates with a clients existing benefits package to deliver each employee a personalized, proactive experience. Employees gain access to on-demand medical consultations, live healthcare concierges, Rx savings, and much more. For more information, visit http://www.healthjoy.com.
A woman walks in the Kurdish-run al-Hol camp in the al-Hasakeh governorate in northeastern Syria on August 25, 2020, where families of Islamic State (IS) foreign fighters are held.

A British child, who was caught up in the Islamic State conflict, has been rescued from Syria and is to be returned home, Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary has revealed.

The child, who was born in Syria, was being cared for by charity workers at a refugee camp in the Kurdish controlled area of the war torn country .

A repatriation team, led by Martin Longden, the UK's Syria envoy, made a mercy dash to the camp earlier this week and was able to extract the child and remove it to safety.

The child, who will be returned to the UK as soon as arrangements can be made, is believed to be the fourth British youngster to be repatriated from Syria since the collapse of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil).

The identity of the youngster and its parents cannot be reported for legal reasons, but the move by the Foreign Office could be a sign of the UK's increasing willingness to address the problem of British orphans and unaccompanied minors stranded in Syria.

Announcing the operation on social media, Mr Raab said: "Pleased we have been able to bring home a British child from Syria. As I have said previously, we assess each case carefully.

"Safely facilitating the return of orphans or unaccompanied British children, where possible, is the right thing to do."

Pleased we have been able to bring home a British child from Syria. As I have said previously, we assess each case carefully. Safely facilitating the return of orphans or unaccompanied British children, where possible, is the right thing to do.  Dominic Raab (@DominicRaab) September 16, 2020

British charity, Save the Children, which appeared to have witnessed the rescue effort, claimed the child had asked if other youngsters at their care centre could return to the UK.

It is understood that around 60 children and a dozen women are detained in the camps, including Shamima Begum, who left the UK as a teenager to join Isil.

Story continues

Many of the children are now orphans after their parents were killed or abandoned them and Mr Raab indicated that these cases would be looked at as a priority.

Earlier this year three orphaned siblings were returned to family members in the UK after their parents were killed fighting for Isil.

But dozens more remain in limbo with matters made more complicated by the Government's pledge to strip Isil volunteers of their British citizenship.

The two main camps hosting Isil brides and their families are Al-Hol and Roj, both situated in the Kurdish-controlled, northeastern region of Syria.

Both camps are run by the Syrian Democratic Forces, who guard around 70,000 women and children in Al-Hol and 2,000 in the smaller Roj camp.

Sickness is rampant in the cramped and overcrowded camps, where there is limited access to clean water and food.

Al-Hol has already confirmed an outbreak of coronavirus among some detainees.

Save the Childrens Syria Response Director Sonia Khush said: "Children in Syria who have fled ISIS-held areas are innocent, including those with their mothers.

"They are swept up in horrific events far beyond their control and their short lives have been full of violence and fear.

"The threat to children in these camps is huge. Recently eight children under the age of five died in just five days and coronavirus has reached the camps, raising fears of a devastating outbreak."
2021 Toyota RAV4 Prime XSE AWD - Review by David Colman + VIDEO

This might just be the perfect 21st century SUV

By David Colman

Special Correspondent to THE AUTO CHANNEL

The RAV4 PRIME is the best version yet of Toyota's most popular SUV. Hybrid architecture has matured so fully that high performance and ultra fuel efficiency can coexist in the same attractive package. Gone are the days when you had to trade decent acceleration for sterling economy. Now both assets define the RAV4 PRIME, which not only generates 302hp and a 0-60mph time of 5.7 seconds, but also records 38MPG in overall driving, and 94MPGe in electric-only mode. The EPA rewards those mileage numbers with a perfect score of 10 out of 10 on the government's Fuel Economy and Greenhouse Gas Rating Scale.

To achieve this double knockout punch Toyota has installed a 2.5 liter "Dynamic Force" inline 4 under the hood that produces 177hp and 165lb.-ft. of torque. This efficient but underpowered gas fed motor receives a monumental boost of both horsepower and torque from the addition of a pair of electric motors which are installed fore and aft in the RAV4's chassis. The front electric produces 179hp and 199lb.-ft. of torque the instant you mat the accelerator pedal. The rear electric adds its own infusion of 53hp and 89lb.-ft. of torque. In concert with the gas engine up front, this trio of energy sources churns out 302 combined horsepower, and enough instantaneous surge to propel the RAV4 PRIME to acceleration levels previously unimaginable in a compact SUV. And best of all, it's affordable. The base price on our test vehicle was $41,425. And you can expect the government to reimburse you $7,000 thanks to the Federal Tax Credit program for which the RAV4 PRIME qualifies.

We should point out, however, that our test example carried a higher buy-in price of $49,577 thanks in large measure to the additional cost of the $3,765 Premium Package which combines a wide variety of assets in one bundle. For those of you planning to plug this RAV4 into wall receptacles for recharging, the Premium Package will prove well worth the extra investment in the long run because it upgrades the on-board battery charger from 3.3kW to 6,6kW. That upgrade allows you to recharge the PRIME's Lithium Ion 355.2v battery in just 2.5 hours on a 240v charger. Compare that recharge time to the 4.5 hours it takes to refresh the 3.3kW standard charger at 240v. A full battery charge should allow you to run the RAV4 PRIME up to 42 miles on electric power alone.

Of course, the Premium Package includes a wide variety of other features in addition to the onboard charger upgrade. One of the more innovative features included is the first digital rearview mirror I have encountered. This utilizes a wide angle rear facing camera which provides crystal clear information about what's behind you. At first I thought this mirror was designed for use while driving but I quickly disabused myself of that notion. While you can use the digital mirror while driving, it presents a bewildering series of reflections and double images that will instantly confuse you into thinking you've had one drink too many. I quickly discovered it can be flipped off and used as a regular rear view mirror, saving its digital capacity for stationary use only.

The RAV4's electronically controlled, continuously variable transmission (eCVT) is well suited to this SUV's performance characteristics. Although it's equipped with sequential shift mode paddles at the steering wheel, you really don't need to rely on them for maximizing performance, since the electric motor's rheostat-like torque infusion is so persuasive. But you can utilize the paddles to "downshift," thereby increasing your regenerative braking force and upping battery charge. For a 4,300lb. SUV, the RAV4 PRIME handles with surprising precision, thanks in part to its quick steering (just 2.65 turns lock to lock), and a set of satisfyingly adhesive (TW 280) Yokohama Avid GT radials (235/45R19) mounted on PRIME model-specific 5-spoke alloy rims. The interior of the RAV4's cabin is both airy and spacious, with 33.5 cubic feet of storage available with all seats up, and 69.8 cubic feet with the rear seats flat. The RAV4 PRIME will tow 2500lbs.

The 2021 RAV4 PRIME is a breakthrough vehicle in many ways. If you equip it with the Premium Package and the $1,620 Premium Audio Package this slick SUV operates like a luxury sedan, with all the niceties you would expect from a vehicle based on the same TGNA platform as the Corolla and Camry sedans. But with the addition of twin electric motors and all wheel drive, the RAV4 PRIME enters another realm altogether. Add Plug In home chargeability, and you've got yourself the basic blueprint for the perfect 21st century SUV.

2021 TYOTA RAV4 PRIME XSE AWD

ENGINE: 2.5 liter inline 4 plus front and rear electric motors

HORSEPOWER: 302combined hp

TORQUE: 165lb.-ft. (gas only)

FUEL CONSUMPTION: 38MPG Combined/94MPGe

PRICE AS TESTED: $49,577

HYPES: Stellar Performance AND E-conomy

GRIPES: Front Seat Squabs Too Short

STAR RATING: 9 Stars out of 10
Whale shark girls overtake the boys to become world's largest fish

A decade-long study of the iconic fish has found male whale sharks grow quickly, before plateauing at an average adult length of about eight or nine metres.

Female whale sharks grow more slowly but eventually overtake the males, reaching an average adult length of about 14 metres.

Australian Institute of Marine Science fish biologist Dr Mark Meekan, who led the research, said whale sharks have been reported up to 18 metres long.

"That's absolutely huge--about the size of a bendy bus on a city street," he said.

"But even though they're big, they're growing very, very slowly. It's only about 20cm or 30cm a year."

In conducting the research, scientists visited Western Australia's Ningaloo Reef for 11 seasons between 2009 and 2019.

They tracked 54 whale sharks as they grew--a feat made possible by a unique 'fingerprint' of spots on each whale shark that can be used to identify individual fish.

AIMS marine scientist Dr Brett Taylor said the team recorded more than 1000 whale shark measurements using stereo-video cameras.

"It's basically two cameras set up on a frame that you push along when you're underwater," he said.

"It works the same way our eyes do--so you can calibrate the two video recordings and get a very accurate measurement of the shark."

The study also included data from whale sharks in aquaria.

Dr Meekan said it is the first evidence that males and female whale sharks grow differently.

For the females, there are huge advantages to being big, he said.

"Only one pregnant whale shark had ever been found, and she had 300 young inside her," Dr Meekan said.

"That's a remarkable number, most sharks would only have somewhere between two and a dozen.

"So these giant females are probably getting big because of the need to carry a whole lot of pups."

Whale sharks are Western Australia's marine emblem, and swimming with the iconic fish at Ningaloo Reef boosts the local economy to the tune of $24 million a year.

But they were listed as endangered in 2016.

Dr Meekan said the discovery has huge implications for conservation, with whale sharks threatened by targeted fishing and ships strikes.

"If you're a very slow-growing animal and it takes you 30 years or more to get to maturity, the chances of disaster striking before you get a chance to breed is probably quite high," he said.

"And that's a real worry for whale sharks."

Dr Meekan said the finding also explains why gatherings of whale sharks in tropical regions are made up almost entirely of young males.

"They gather to exploit an abundance of food so they can maintain their fast growth rates," he said.

Dr Taylor said learning that whale sharks plateau in their growth goes against everything scientists previously thought.

"This paper has really re-written what we know about whale shark growth," he said.

###

Dr Meekan and Dr Taylor are based in Perth, Western Australia.

The research was published today in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday set aside a closure report filed by Rajasthan Police and ordered a fresh investigation into the mysterious death of a third-year student of the National Law University, Jodhpur, in August 2017.

A bench of justices R F Nariman, Navin Sinha and Indira Banerjee said, "We have set aside the closure report. We have directed a de-novo investigation with certain more directions".

On September 8, the top court had said there is a need for a re-investigation in the case.

"We may direct re-investigation. This is not the way," the top court had observed after perusing the report filed by the Rajasthan Police in the matter.

During the hearing of the case, advocate Sunil Fernandes, appearing for the victim's mother who has sought transfer of the case from Rajasthan Police to the Central Bureau of Investigation, had argued that there has been no progress in the probe.

In July, the top court had said that the investigation in the matter should be completed within two months and a final report be filed before it. Petitioner Neetu Kumar Nagaich, mother of victim Vikrant Nagaich (21), has also sought a direction to the CBI to take all steps to "solve the mystery of the unnatural death".

While claiming that an FIR was lodged in the case after a delay of around 10 months in June 2018, the petitioner has alleged that the manner in which the probe was conducted "leads to an inescapable reasonable apprehension" that it is a result of a "probable collusion to shield some high, mighty and influential person(s)".

"Despite the lapse of almost three years, no charge-sheet has been filed. The investigation is at a stand-still, with no effort made to apprehend the offenders," said the plea while pointing out several alleged lapses in the investigation conducted by the police.

It said that on August 13, 2017, the victim went to a restaurant, around 300 metres from the university campus, with his friends in the evening but he did not return, and his body was found the next morning near a railway track.

The plea has alleged that the police neither approached Google or Facebook nor retrieved the victim's mobile phone data which could have helped in tracing his movement to ascertain the events on the night of August 13, 2017.

It has claimed that the police have also not retrieved the victim's chat conversations of the night of the incident from WhatsApp.

The plea has said the chat conversation data would have been important in ascertaining who the victim was talking to or planning to meet at that hour, and it would also have been instrumental in unearthing the events which led to the death.

"The chronology of events raised a reasonable suspicion that the death of petitioner's son was not merely an accident or a suicide, but was something more grave and profound, which demanded immediate consideration and investigation," it said.
PITTSBURGH, Sept. 16, 2020 - The slight decline in drug overdose deaths in 2018 coincided with changing Chinese regulations on a powerful type of opioid, rather than the result of U.S. efforts to curb the overdose epidemic, a University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health analysis revealed today in the journal Addiction.

What many--including President Donald Trump--perceived as a decline in overdose deaths in 2018 appears to be a return to the historic exponential curve. The finding is backed by preliminary federal data showing that the overdose death rate last year snapped back onto its long-term growth pattern, tallying more than 1 million deaths in the U.S. in the past four decades.

"The U.S. has not bent the curve on the drug overdose epidemic," said lead author Hawre Jalal, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of health policy and management at Pitt Public Health. "We are concerned that policymakers may have interpreted the one-year downturn in 2018 as evidence for an especially effective national response or the start of a long-term trend. Unfortunately, that isn't supported by the data."

Pitt Public Health scientists had previously demonstrated that overdose deaths have fit on an exponential curve since at least 1979, with the number of deaths doubling every 10.7 years. In 2016 and 2017, the death rate exceeded the curve's prediction by 22% and 11%, respectively. But in 2018, the rate declined by 4.1%, the first drop in overdose deaths since 1990.

Curious about what drove the drop, Jalal and Donald Burke, M.D., former dean of Pitt Public Health, crossed drug overdose data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) with U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) information on the types of drugs seized and submitted to state crime labs.

Carfentanil, an opioid that is 10,000 times more powerful than morphine and has no known medical use in humans, was rarely detected by these labs before 2016, when it began popping up in law enforcement drug seizures, peaking in 2017 and suddenly declining in 2018. The 2017 spike was concentrated in five states: Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Michigan.

In 2017, China added carfentanil to its list of controlled substances, and, shortly thereafter, the U.S. supply dried up, coinciding with 2018's drop in overdose deaths.

When Jalal and Burke looked at the total decline in overdose deaths in just those five states with the largest decline in carfentanil drug seizures, they found that they accounted for nearly 100% of the total national drop in overdose deaths in 2018. Provisional 2019 data from the CDC shows a 5.6% rebound in overdose deaths since then.

"We all celebrated when the overdose death rate dropped, but it was premature," said Burke, Distinguished University Professor of Health Science and Policy in Pitt Public Health's Department of Epidemiology. "When policymakers believe a problem is solved, history has shown that funding is reprioritized to other efforts. The drug overdose epidemic is not solved. It continues to track along an ever-rising curve, with deaths doubling nearly every decade. We must address the root causes of this epidemic."

Jalal and Burke noted that the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to drive higher overdose deaths, especially since they tend to follow job losses, and social distancing means people may overdose alone, decreasing their chances of receiving life-saving care.

"This is a particularly critical time for the drug overdose epidemic, given the diversion of health care resources and the national attention to the COVID-19 pandemic," Jalal said. "The epidemic has continued brewing under the COVID-19 pandemic for half a year now. There is no indication that it's slowing."

###

This research was supported by National Institutes of Health grant K01DA048985.

To read this release online or share it, visit https://www.upmc.com/media/news/091620-jalal-burke-carfentanil [when embargo lifts].

About the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health

The University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, founded in 1948 and now one of the top-ranked schools of public health in the United States, conducts research on public health and medical care that improves the lives of millions of people around the world. Pitt Public Health is a leader in devising new methods to prevent and treat cardiovascular diseases, HIV/AIDS, cancer and other important public health problems. For more information about Pitt Public Health, visit the school's Web site at http://www.publichealth.pitt.edu.

http://www.upmc.com/media
SAN FRANCISCO  Its bonanza time in Silicon Valley and on Wall Street.

Snowflake, a data storage and analytics provider, kicked off a frenzied phase of technology initial public offerings on Wednesday when its stock opened at more than double its listing price and then soared in early trading, in a sign of Wall Streets appetite for fast-growing companies.

The company opened at $245 a share on the New York Stock Exchange, up from $120 set by its bankers, and then shot up to as high as $319 before closing at $254. The listing, which valued Snowflake at $70.4 billion, was the largest so far this year and the largest ever for a software maker, according to Renaissance Capital, which tracks I.P.O.s. It was also a major payday for Snowflakes venture capital investors, who had valued the start-up at $12.4 billion just seven months ago.

Snowflake is among several prominent tech companies that are expected to list their shares in the coming months as the tech industry thrives amid the pandemic-induced economic downturn. After a lull in I.P.O.s during the volatile early months of the coronavirus crisis this spring, new listings roared back over the summer and have accelerated in recent weeks, even as tech stocks hit some recent turbulence.

Other companies are also rushing to get out ahead of the Nov. 3 election, which could lead to more volatility. They include Airbnb, the home rental company; DoorDash, the on-demand delivery provider; Wish, an e-commerce site; Palantir, a data analytics start-up; OpenDoor, a real estate marketplace; and Asana, a collaboration software provider.
A drive-by shooting wounded a federal security officer outside the U.S. courthouse in downtown Phoenix on Tuesday, and a person was later taken into custody, authorities said.

The officer was taken to a hospital and was expected to recover, according to city police and the FBI. Jill McCabe, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Phoenix office, said the suspected shooter was later detained and there was no indication of a further threat to the public.

The court security officer works for the U.S. Marshals Service and was struck in their protective vest at around 11:30am, said a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly.

A surveillance photo shows a silver sedan that police say was used by a suspected gunman to shoot a security officer outside the Sandra Day O'Connor US Courthouse in Phoenix on Tuesday

The officer (not pictured) provides security for the US Marshals Service at the courthouse

Federal law enforcement officers patrol outside the courthouse following the morning shooting

The officer was checking a UPS truck that was making a delivery at the time of the shooting, according to AZFamily.com.

'When he heard the gunshots, he went down to the ground and he heard them hit his vehicle on the passenger side but he also saw one of the federal marshals hit the ground and grab his chest,' said Mitchell Gallagher, a UPS union representative.

The driver told Gallagher that the security officer fired at the suspect as he fled.

'Thank God for the federal marshal had his vest on so we're very thankful for that,' said Gallagher.

Court security officers work under the direction of the U.S. Marshals Service but generally are employed by private security companies.

The FBI said it isn't providing any more details as it investigates. Police had released a photo of a silver sedan spotted leaving the area around the Sandra Day OConnor U.S. Courthouse.

Hours after the shooting, a street surrounding the courthouse was closed to traffic, roped off by yellow tape with police officers standing on each corner. Armed federal officers talked outside the main entrance to the courthouse, which was still open to the public, according to a court clerk.

The shooting came after the weekend ambush of two Los Angeles County deputies. They were sitting in their parked vehicle when a man walked up to the passengers side and fired multiple rounds.

The deputies were struck in the head and critically wounded but were expected to recover. The gunman hasnt been captured, and a motive has not been determined.

Police cars close off a street outside the Sandra Day O'Connor U.S. Courthouse in Phoenix,

Federal law enforcement personnel patrol outside the courthouse

Federal courthouses have been flashpoints for recent violence, but it's not clear who shot the officer in Phoenix or why.

In June, a federal security officer was shot and killed and his partner was wounded outside the federal courthouse in Oakland as they guarded the building during protests over racial injustice and police brutality. An Air Force sergeant was charged with the shooting, and prosecutors say he had ties to the far-right, anti-government 'boogaloo' movement and used the protest as cover for the crime and his escape.

During demonstrations in Portland, Oregon, protesters and federal officers clashed at the federal courthouse, where people set fires and tossed fireworks and rocks, while federal authorities unleashed tear gas and made arrests.
Photo: The Canadian Press Kim Kardashian

Kim Kardashian West, Katy Perry, Leonardo DiCaprio and other celebrities are taking part in a 24-hour Instagram freeze on Wednesday to protest against what they say is parent company Facebook's failure to tackle violent and hateful content and election misinformation.

Hollywood stars and influencers are lending their backing to the #StopHateforProfit movement's latest campaign. The movement asks people to put up a message highlighting what they called the damage Facebook does but otherwise refrain from posting on Instagram for a day.

I cant sit by and stay silent while these platforms continue to allow the spreading of hate, propaganda and misinformation  created by groups to sow division and split America apart  only to take steps after people are killed, Kardashian West posted on her Instagram account on Tuesday.

Facebook declined to comment but pointed to recent announcements about what it's doing to limit the reach on its platform of groups that support violence and its efforts to protect the U.S. election in November.

With 188 million followers, Kardashian West is one of the most influential people on Instagram and support from her and other big names for the boycott saw Facebook shares slide in aftermarket trading late Tuesday. They were down 1.7% ahead of the market open on Wednesday.

The organizers behind #StopHateforProfit," including civil rights groups such as the Anti-Defamation League, the NAACP and Color Of Change, had previously led a campaign that got hundreds of brands and nonprofits to join a Facebook advertising boycott in July.

Ashton Kutcher, Mark Ruffalo, Kerry Washington, Rosario Dawson, Jamie Foxx and Sacha Baron Cohen were among about two dozen Hollywood stars and celebrity influencers supporting the campaign, the organizers said.

DiCaprio said he was standing with the civil rights groups to call on all users of Instagram and Facebook to protest the amplification of hate, racism, and the undermining of democracy on those platforms.

Facebook, which earned nearly $70 billion in advertising revenue last year, is facing a reckoning over what critics call indefensible excuses for amplifying divisions, hate and misinformation on their platforms.

We are quickly approaching one of the most consequential elections in American history," organizers said. Facebooks unchecked and vague changes are falling dangerously short of what is necessary to protect our democracy.

The movement also singled out for criticism Facebook's handling of online material ahead of the shootings in Kenosha, Wisconsin last month. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said the company made a mistake in not removing sooner a page belonging to a militia group that called for armed civilians to enter the town. It only took the page down after an armed teenager killed two people after violent protests sparked by the police shooting of Jacob Blake, who is Black.
Jeffrey Hecktman, CEO and Chairman of Hilco Global explained, "One of our philanthropic missions is to provide educational and job opportunities to improve the lives of those in the communities in which we work. This scholarship serves as an important tool to help students in Little Village exceed their potential and be the future leaders of Chicago."

Sebastian Chaidez is attending Malcom X college to study engineering with the goal of going on to become an aerospace engineer. Carla Prado is a returning student and will be attending the Richard J. Daley college for network and systems technology.

"Receiving this scholarship makes me realize my hard work has paid off," said Sebastian Chaidez. "This is a great opportunity for me to continue my education. My family is so proud that I have received this award."

"We are all human and even though we mess up at a young age we still have a chance to make things right once we feel prepared take the world on because it is never too late," said Carla Prado. "As a teacher from high school once told me, you're a MexiCAN not a MexiCANT. This scholarship is giving me a second chance and allowing me to also save money again as I continue to work and while attending school."

Hilco Scholars will be awarded on an annual basis and is renewable for up to two years, provided that the students continue to remain in good academic standing and meet eligibility criteria.

"We are very excited to provide both Sebastian and Carla with the opportunity to obtain a two-year college degree," said Roberto Perez, CEO of Hilco Redevelopment Partners, "They are both exceptional students and I look forward to walking with them on this next step of their educational journey."

In 2019, Hilco Scholars awarded its first class of Hilco Scholars, Rudy Cordero and Andrea Carlos with a two-year scholarship. After finishing the 2019-2020 school year, Mr. Cordero has received a full scholarship to Yale and Ms. Carlos is attending the Harold Washington Campus again for the fall 2020 semester.

Hilco Scholars will reopen its application in May 2021 to award two new scholarship opportunities for Little Village students for the fall 2021 semester. Stay tuned to www.hilcoscholars.com for program updates.

About Hilco Global : Hilco Global (www.hilcoglobal.com) is a privately held diversified financial services company and the world's preeminent authority on maximizing the value of assets for both healthy and distressed companies. Hilco Global operates as a holding company comprised of over twenty specialized business units that work to help companies understand the value of their assets and then monetize that value. Hilco Global has over a 30-year track record of acting as an advisor, agent, investor and/or principal in any transaction. Hilco Global works to deliver the best possible result by aligning interests with clients and providing them strategic insight, advice, and, in many instances, the capital required to complete the deal. Hilco Global is based in Northbrook, Illinois and has over 600 professionals operating on five continents.

About Hilco Redevelopment Partners (HRP): Hilco Redevelopment Partners (www.hilcoredev.com) is a trusted partner and principal investor focused on maximizing the value of obsolete industrial sites through responsible redevelopment. . As the industry leader in successfully completing large scale industrial redevelopment projects, HRP is committed to delivering transformative projects and creating economic growth for all stakeholders. HRP is focused on creating exceptional value by developing and managing state-of-the-art warehouses, fulfillment centers, and industrial facilities located near major transportation hubs, ports, and strategic infrastructure assets to create supply chain efficiencies for end users. HRP's facilities are developed to meet our customers' needs by locating in markets with strong labor pools near major population centers.

SOURCE Hilco Global

Related Links

http://www.hilcoglobal.com


Crews battle wildfires in US West as smoke travels the world

(Reuters) As fire crews continued to battle deadly wildfires sweeping the western United States, thousands of evacuees in Oregon and other states faced a daily struggle while scientists in Europe tracked the smoke on Wednesday as it spread on an intercontinental scale.

With state resources stretched to their limit, President Donald Trump on Tuesday night approved a request from Oregon's governor for a federal disaster declaration, bolstering federal assistance for emergency response and relief efforts.

Dozens of fires have burned some 4.5 million acres (1.8 million hectares) of tinder-dry brush, grass and woodlands in Oregon, California and Washington state since August, ravaging several small towns, destroying thousands of homes and killing at least 34 people.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has obligated more than $1.2 million in mission assignments to bring relief to Oregon and has deployed five urban search and rescue teams to the wildfire-torn region, the agency said in a statement on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Scientists in Europe tracked the smoke as it bore down on the continent, underscoring the magnitude of the disaster. The European Union's Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) is monitoring the scale and intensity of the fires and the transport of the resultant smoke across the United States and beyond.

"The fact that these fires are emitting so much pollution into the atmosphere that we can still see thick smoke over 8,000 kilometers (4,970 miles) away reflects just how devastating they have been in their magnitude and duration," CAMS Senior Scientist Mark Parrington said in a statement.

(Photo by RINGO CHIU / AFP)
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 20:54:34|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese mainland spokesperson on Wednesday slammed Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for intimidating Taiwan compatriots and obstructing them from attending the upcoming 12th Straits Forum.

Ma Xiaoguang, spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, said at a press conference that the actions have further exposed the DPP's nature of seeking "Taiwan independence," and violated the common aspiration of people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait who seek exchanges and cooperation. He said such actions are doomed to fail.

Despite the DPP's obstruction, the launch of the forum has shown that strengthening cross-Strait exchanges and cooperation is a mainstay of public opinion on both sides, Ma said.

The forum, scheduled to open on Sept. 19 in Fujian Province, will feature 46 exchange activities on various topics including the economy, culture, youth, COVID-19 control and public health, Ma added.

The DPP has denied the 1992 Consensus, refused to recognize the one-China principle, and blatantly performed "Taiwan independence" activities, Ma said, noting that the DPP's actions are the root cause of the current complicated, challenging and turbulent cross-Strait relations.

Ma said the mainland remains committed to the policy of conducting exchanges and cooperation with political parties and organizations in Taiwan on the basis of upholding the 1992 Consensus, and that the door remains open for such exchanges and cooperation. Enditem
Petition: Hundreds of emails have poured in from readers anxious to know if they have missed out on state pension since we began our investigation

Former Pensions Minister and This is Money columnist Steve Webb has launched a petition calling on the Government to trawl its records for all women underpaid state pension, including widows and those who have already died.

More than 1,600 people have already signed the petition to the Department for Work and Pensions, which can be found here.

Webb is concerned the Government will limit its search to married women whose husbands reached pension age after 17 March 2008 unless it comes under public pressure.

Tens of thousands of elderly women could be owed an estimated 100million in state pension after a major blunder, which was uncovered by Webb and This is Money.

The Government has to respond if the petition gets 10,000 signatures before 7 March 2021, and it will be considered for debate in Parliament if it reaches 100,000 signatures.

The DWP responded to Webb's petition by repeating it is 'checking for further cases' and if any are found awards will be reviewed and arrears paid. Read its full statement below.

This is Money has reported on underpayments owed to married women totting up to around 112,00 in past months, and two cases involving widows who received 115,000 and 117,000 respectively.

Hundreds of emails have poured in from readers anxious to know if they have missed out on state pension too since we began our investigation.

>>>Are YOU being underpaid state pension? Find out how to check below

State pension underpayments: The Government has said in the past it is 'checking for further cases' and if any are found awards will be reviewed and arrears paid

Webb, who first brought this issue to light in a column for This is Money, says: 'At present, the government has said that it will check its records to find one specific group of women  married women whose husband reached pension age after 17 March 2008, and whose pension should have been automatically increased when he retired.

'Lump sum repayments to this group of around 10,000 are quite common, and the total bill to the government just for this group is likely to run into tens of millions of pounds.

'But there is a larger group of women who are currently being underpaid or have been underpaid in the past, including some widows and those aged over 80.'

Steve Webb: Ex-Pensions Minister initiated the state pension investigation with This is Money following a reader question to his weekly column

Married women who retired on small state pensions before April 2016 should get an uplift to 60 per cent of their husband's payments once he reaches retirement age too.

Since 17 March 2008, the increases are supposed to be automatic, but before that women had to make a claim to get the full sum they were due.

Women who have belatedly realised this only get a one-year backpayment and increased state pension going forward, rather than full arrears.

But many were unaware of the little-known uplift and protest they were never given this crucial information by the Department for Work and Pensions.

Some are now taking complaints about DWP maladministration to the Parliamentary Ombudsman.

Webb says the government should check for a much larger group who may have missed out on state pension, including:

- Older married women whose husband reached pension age before 17 March 2008 and still do not know they need to claim an uplift;

- Widows who are not getting the correct rate because account has not been taken of their late husbands contributions;

- Widows who were underpaid as married women but who received an uplift when their husbands died and are now on the correct rate;

- The widowers and adult sons and daughters of deceased married women who did not get the correct rate when they were still alive;

- Over-80s who should be getting a non-contributory 'Category D' pension of 80.45 a week but may be missing out.

Jack Dromey: Labours Shadow Pensions Minister says Government must identify all women who are underpaid state pension

Webb adds: 'It would be quite wrong of the government to expect people to come forward one by one and claim what is rightfully theirs. This petition is designed to put pressure on the government to use its own records to find all those who have been missing out.'

The Government has previously confirmed that the heirs of elderly women who die without realising they were underpaid state pension will receive the money, but it is unclear what information they need to provide to the DWP to prove they are eligible for payouts.

On Monday in parliament, Labour MPs pressed the Government to reveal the scale of its probe, how many women are being paid incorrectly and when they would all receive their money.

Pensions Minister Guy Opperman sidestepped questions about the extent of the debacle, and sought to place the blame on Labour for the rule change introducing the automatic uplift in 2008 when it was in power.

When challenged about DWP staff wrongly telling women they are not entitled to any additional money, Opperman said: 'We are improving the training and the ability of the individuals who are handling the cases.'

Jack Dromey MP, Labours Shadow Pensions Minister, said: 'Following pressure from Labour and This is Money alongside the women affected, it is right that the Government announced an investigation into the issue of state pension underpayments.

'It is welcome that they are seeking to rectify their errors. However, they are yet to confirm how many women have been underpaid or how they plan to track down the larger group of women who may have been affected, such as widowers and older married women.

'Cases are still emerging of women who should have automatically become entitled to additional pension payments of thousands of pounds, but simply never received them. Many women will still not yet be aware that they have been underpaid.

'The Government must identify all the women affected by the mistake. Every one of the women involved deserves every last penny of what they worked so hard for throughout their lives.'

What does the DWP say?

'We are aware of a number of cases where individuals have been underpaid state pension. We corrected our records and reimbursed those affected as soon as errors were identified.

'We are checking for further cases, and if any are found awards will also be reviewed and any arrears paid.'

It adds that married women who are already getting a state pension are required to make a separate claim to have it increased if their husband reached state pension age before 17 March 2008.

And it encourages anyone who thinks they have failed to claim a state pension increase they are eligible for to contact the department.

The DWP says that 'interest and consolatory payments' will be considered on a case-by-case basis and depend on individual circumstances.
Evangelicals praise White House signing of 'Abraham Accords' between Israel, UAE and Bahrain

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Many evangelical leaders have praised the signing of the historic Abraham Accords between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain at the White House on Tuesday, marking the third and fourth Arab nations stating intentions to establish full diplomatic relations with Israel.

The signing ceremony on the South Lawn formalized announcements made previously indicating intent by the two countrys to normalize relations with Israel.

The agreement signed between Israel and UAE, first announced last month, is described by the White House as "a treaty of peace, diplomatic relations, and full normalization.

Meanwhile, the agreement between Israel and Bahrain to establish full diplomatic relations is only described as a declaration of intent to make peace since the agreement between the countries was announced last week and not enough time has elapsed to create a formal agreement.

A third document signed by leaders of the U.S., Israel, Bahrain and UAE is titled the Abraham Accords, a reference to Abraham, the patriarch of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

The agreements mark the first time in two decades that Israel has entered into a peace agreement with another Middle Eastern country, with the last being Jordan in 1994.

President Donald Trump said following the signing that the agreements mark the dawn of a new Middle East amid decades of division and conflict. He said the signing sets history on a new course and vowed there will be other countries very, very soon that will follow these great leaders."

"Together these agreements will serve as the foundation for a comprehensive peace across the entire region, something which nobody thought was possible, certainly not in this day and age," Trump said.

In a Facebook post, Franklin Graham, the head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and son of the late evangelist Billy Graham, called the signing historic.

Peace in the Middle East impacts the entire world, and I commend President Trump, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, and others who have worked so hard toward this resolution, Graham wrote. Even though much remains to be done, this is a start.

Among those who attended the signing ceremony at the White House was Johnnie Moore, an evangelical communications executive and commissioner on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

An era of peace & prosperity where hope & opportunity are in full bloom, Moore, who has supported the Trump presidency and acted as an informal spokesperson for the evangelical pastors who have engaged with the administration, wrote in a tweet.

California evangelist and megachurch Pastor Greg Laurie voiced his support for the historic moment in world history. In a tweet, he congratulated Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for brokering the deal.

Another attendee of the White House ceremony was Mat Staver, chairman of the conservative Christian legal nonprofit Liberty Counsel.

We are grateful for President Trumps wise foreign policy strategy that makes today a historic breakthrough for peace between Israel and its neighbors, Staver stressed in a statement. When he took office, the Middle East had been in a state of extreme turmoil for years. Now more Arab and Muslim countries will likely seek to normalize relations with Israel which will bring peace and prosperity to the region and the people who live there.

On the White House lawn, Trump told reporters that as many as nine more countries could be joining in normalizing relations with Israel.

Well have, I think, I mean I think seven, or eight, or nine, Trump said. Were going to have a lot of other countries joining us, including the big ones.

Kushner, the presidents son-in-law and senior adviser, said last month that there is an inevitability that Saudi Arabia and Israel will eventually fully normalized relations.

Yael Eckstein, president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, referred to the agreements as a miracle.

Sometimes in history, God blesses his people with miracles, from the parting of the Red Sea to the reestablishment of the modern state of Israel. Today is also a miracle  a miracle of peace, she said in a statement. Its been over two decades since the nation of Israel last entered into a peace agreement with another Middle Eastern country. Israel has often extended its hand for peace. Now that hand has been grasped twice in 29 days thanks to courageous leaders willing to take risks in order to realize a lasting peace.

After the deal between the UAE and Israel that would see the suspension of Israels plans to annex parts of the West Bank was initially announced last month, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, the former vice president under Barack Obama, praised the agreement but insisted it was a result of efforts of multiple administrations, including the Obama-Biden administration.

Joel Rosenburg, an evangelical author and dual Israel-U.S. citizen who has been involved in meetings with Arab leaders in recent years, said in a recent interview that the UAE felt betrayed by the Obama administrations decision to negotiate an agreement with Iran secretly.

Trumps willingness to tear up that Iran agreement and ... put intense new economic sanctions on Iran  that showed all the Arab world that this president is different and that he is a deal maker, Rosenberg said. That sort of began a process of thinking maybe this is the moment.

I think the final pivot point was, honestly, Prime Minister Netanyahus push toward annexation over the summer, Rosenberg added. That rattled the United Arab Emirates because behind the scenes they were ready to make peace with Israel. To their credit, they intensified the clarity of their offer using the president of the United States and Secretary Pompeo, Jared Kushner to make it clear to Netanyahu that this isnt just talking, this is a real option: peace or annexation.
(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 16 - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday that the EU will organize a big health summit with the Italian government that will take place in Italy.

"We will organize a global summit on health in Italy with Premier Giuseppe Conte and the Italian presidency of the G20 to show that Europe exists to protect," von der Leyen said in her first speech on the State of the Union in the European Parliament in Brussels.

The Commission chief said international cooperation should prevail when it comes to a COVID-19 vaccine.

"Finding a vaccine is not enough," she said.

"We must guarantee that all the citizens of the world have access to it.

"Vaccine nationalism puts lives at risk. Only cooperation can save lives".

Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza welcomed the announcement regarding the summit.

"Italy will host the next Global Health Summit," Speranza said via Facebook.

"Ursula Von der Leyen has just announced it in agreement with Giuseppe Conte.

"It is wonderful that Italy is at the centre of the challenge to build a new health (world) capable of protecting everyone's health".

Von der Leyen added that the EU's 750-billion-euro Recovery Fund to help States get over the economic earthquake caused by the pandemic will also be harnessed to transform the European economy to make it environmentally sustainable.

"The Green Deal mission entails much more than a cut in emissions," she said.

"It is about creating a stronger world to live in.

"We must change the way we treat nature.

"That is why 37% of the Next Generation EU (Recovery Fund) will be spent on out Green Deal objectives".

Italy is set to be the biggest beneficiary of the EU Recovery Fund. (ANSA).


Almost every acute viral disease has a seasonal nature, which varies as per the environmental conditions and geographical location.

The first case of COVID-19 was reported in December 2019 in Wuhan, China. As our understanding of the disease is expanding, experts around the world have been indicating that there may be COVID-19 outbreaks in specific seasons every year like the flu.

Now, a group of researchers at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon claim that the disease may become seasonal in temperate countries but only after we achieve herd immunity against this infection.

As per a paper published in the journal Frontiers in Public Health, cold and dry temperatures during the winter season increase the stability and transmission rate of the virus and weaken host immunity, leading to increased incidence of upper respiratory tract infections.

Seasonal nature of viral respiratory tract infections

Almost every acute viral disease has a seasonal nature, which varies as per the environmental conditions and geographical location. Respiratory tract infections occur more commonly during the winter season in temperate areas and during the rainy season in tropics.

There are four types of coronaviruses (HCoV) that cause the common cold - 229E, NL63, OC43 and HKU1. These coronaviruses are responsible for about 15-30 percent of all respiratory tract infections in a year. Usually, these infections are mild but can become severe sometimes.

Previous studies have suggested that HCoV common cold cases rise during winter and spring in the temperate region, while in tropical climates, the viruses circulate throughout the year with a rise in cases in some months. For example, a study done in China indicated more HCoV common cold infections in the fall and spring months. Studies conducted in Hong Kong and Thailand found NL63 infections more common in spring, summer and autumn and OC43 in winter. In Africa, HCoV infections have been noted all through the year.

Factors affecting viral transmission

Studies on respiratory viruses have previously shown that various factors contribute to viral transmission. These include:

Environmental factors: Lower humidity and cold temperature contribute to viral stability, making the virus easily spread in a population.

This is especially true in the case of enveloped viruses like the flu virus. The envelope is a phospholipid bilayer that is present around some (but not all) viruses. The layer promotes attachment and entry of the virus into host cells. Experts suggest that low temperatures increase the ordering of lipids in this envelope, which, in turn, helps the virus stay stable for long periods of time outside the host.

Low humidity or dry climate quickly reduce the size of respiratory droplets. The smaller the droplets, the longer they can remain suspended in the air. Contrary to this, high humidity increases droplet size, reducing aerosol transmission.

However, it has been seen that flu virus can spread even in high humidity. This is because the virus remains stable in respiratory droplets once they have fallen on surfaces. This is proposed to be a possible cause of year-round infections in tropical areas.

More inactivation by UV radiation is yet another factor that may reduce the transmission of the virus in summers in temperate regions.

Host factors: It has been shown that low temperatures have an immunosuppressive effect. It also reduces the ability of the nasal mucosa to clear out pathogens. Reduction in lung function has been seen in COPD and asthma patients during colder weather. Low vitamin D levels, due to less exposure to sunlight, is suggested to have a role in immune suppression in cold weather.

COVID-19

As per the media reports, the authors of the study claimed that COVID-19 cannot be seasonal right now because of the presence of a susceptible host population. However, given the dynamics of transmission of the virus, which are very similar to that of other respiratory viruses including the common cold-causing HCoVs, it is possible that COVID-19 would follow suit and become a seasonal infection once herd immunity is achieved through mass vaccinations or natural infections.

However, until then, we need to keep taking necessary precautions to slow down the spread of the virus and reduce the burden on healthcare facilities.

For more information on COVID-19 and the flu, read our article on COVID-19 vs flu: How to tell the difference.

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.
The rise of Asia is evident in the latest world university rankings released by Times Higher Education (THE). So are the developing challenges for American higher education.



University World News reported that "Asian institutions are performing better," particularly Chinese ones, which now make up over one-fifth of the universities on the THE and QS rankings. In fact, Tsinghua University became the first ever Asian school of higher education to make the top 20, while fifteen other Asian universities occupied spots in the top 100.

Despite that Asia is rising, American and British universities still form much of the elite. The University of Oxford is still number 1. Stanford, Harvard, the California Institute of Technology, and MIT occupy the next four spots. So the U.S. isn't lacking in quality universities.

However, the further you look down the list, the more American universities begin to drop off. "U.S. institutions outside the top 200 show signs of decline," THE's report stated. That includes many of the lower part of the upper and middle tier universities that middle-class Americans rely upon.

The continuing success of America's elite schools masks larger problems facing the American higher education sector affecting all schools. First, tuition costs continue to rise unabated, a problem particularly grave at elite schools. The cost of a four-year undergraduate degree rose by 25% from 2008 to 2018. That's over $20,000 a year for a public in-state university, and nearly $50,000 a year for private or out-of-state.

University administrators are spending exorbitantly on unnecessary gimmicks to attract students and constructing high-priced new buildings. On the public side, education funding in 41 states has been cut, so students and families have to pay more for what was once considered a class of public good.

The increases in tuition fees and a perception that universities are instructing students in snobbish critical theories disconnected from the real world has contributed to an ongoing decline in the percentage of Americans who are confident in their nation's higher education system.

But now, COVID-19 and American xenophobia are putting added pressures on American universities. Consider, for example, students at Harvey Mudd College paying $75,000 a year for their education. That's the highest in the country. This fall, their education will take place completely online.

Over 51,000 students and faculty at institutions across the country have been infected by the virus that President Trump has allowed to run rampant. Many universities are closed to in-person classes; in contrast, universities in China and many other Asian countries are open.

Coronavirus has made it harder for people to travel internationally. It has also reduced the desirability of studying in America for foreign students. Why spend thousands of dollars on flights and expensive housing when you're just going to be taking classes online?

Combine coronavirus with a xenophobic president who makes it difficult for foreigners to obtain visas and increasing incidence of hate crimes against minorities, particularly, since 2020, Asians, and it is no surprise that America is a less desirable destination for foreign students.

According to the latest QS Applicant Surveys, Canada, Australia, and the U.K. have all risen in popularity relative to the United States when it comes to where students wish to study. Demand is decreasing overall, however.

Trump's visa restrictions and travel bans are reducing the number of students who can study; foreign students in the U.S. decreased by 10% from 2015 to 2018. Over the same period, foreign students in Canada and Australia rose significantly.

Trump's recent decision to kick out 1,000 Chinese students with lawful visas, while offering no justification, only exacerbates the problem of attracting and retaining foreign talent. A document drawn up by some of the students affected shows some were studying sociology, not a major with a connection to national security whatsoever. Another student was in the process of applying for an H1-B visa. Is the U.S. trying to block its own companies from hiring engineers?

All of these controversies are going to cause the United States to struggle to attract qualified workers, scientists, and researchers. Foreign students do important research work at university labs, the results of which enhance America's knowledge base and university patent acquisition.

They also pay full freight in tuition fees. According to the NAFSA: Association of International Educators, America's anti-student policies will cause them to lose over $3 billion in revenue and lead to 100,000 job losses in the overall American economy.

Meanwhile, with Chinese universities enhancing their reputations, Chinese students won't have to leave their country to obtain an elite education any longer.

Mitchell Blatt is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:

http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/MitchellBlatt.htm

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.

If you would like to contribute, please contact us at opinion@china.org.cn.
Muni is on track to award an $89 million contract for a new, state-of-the-art system to inform riders when the next bus or train will arrive. At the same time, the downtown Muni Metro train routing system still runs on floppy disks and is so antiquated that managers can barely find spare parts or qualified technicians to keep it running.

Its like a bridge that is being held together by bubble gum and duct tape, said San Francisco County Transportation Authority chairman and Supervisor Aaron Peskin.

Muni spokeswoman Kristen Holland took a softer tone, likening the aged system to a vintage car.

Just like a vintage car, as the system passes a certain age it gets increasingly difficult and costly to maintain, Holland said. Parts become scarce, and the number of people who have the expertise in maintaining the system dwindle over time.

Installed in the 1990s, the automated system controls trains in the tunnel between the Embarcadero and West Portal stations. During peak weekday commutes, thats about 30 trains an hour.

And to ride the vintage car analogy a little further, new operators who grew up driving the computer equivalent of an automatic must be taught how to pump a clutch.

In Munis case, the clutch controls a system that uses floppy disks. So operators have to learn complex, out-of-date computer techniques.

Its not easy.

Our current transportation controller graduation rate is 40% to 50%, Holland said.

Another challenge? Obtaining spare parts.

The fear of being unable to find those parts has Muni constantly scouring suppliers and other transit systems for parts before they vanish all together. As insurance, Muni stocks up on spare parts and mines parts from transit agencies that are replacing their antiquated systems with newer equipment.

This buys us time, but is a clear signal that we need to upgrade, Holland said.

Peskin said hes been aware of the systems fragility since 2007, when he took a tour of the control center following the opening of T-Third Street light rail line, which started running more than a year late and more than $120 million over budget.

It turned out that they were driving pickup trucks down to Los Angeles to pick up parts being stripped from L.A.s transit lines, Peskin said.

But Muni Director Jeffrey Tumlin says that while the system needs to be replaced, he isnt ready to sound the alarm.

The train control system isnt a looming crisis, Tumlin said. Yes, it runs on DOS loaded from 5-inch floppy disks, but its still serviceable.

That said, investing in a new train control system will bring big advantages to the system. I hope it to be one of the signature projects of my tenure, he said.

The 2020 Muni Reliability Working Group recommended replacing the transit control system within five to seven years.

Money for a new control system has been folded into a larger $300 million project to modernize the entire light rail system.

Replacement of the train control system is in our current capital plan, and we are on track to complete it on time, provided we secure additional capital funds to complete the work, Tumlin said.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

The Muni director is right to say the threat of a computer collapse is not imminent because Muni Metro is closed right now and will likely stay that way until the end of the year. A botched repair job on the overhead wires triggered a closure in August.

That brought the trains to a stop just days after they had started running again after being closed for five months during the coronavirus pandemic shutdown, when Muni operations were reduced to core service.

Muni used the five-month break to repair overhead wires, only to have the system go down after two newly installed connectors, also known as splices, failed. It was later determined the new splices were faulty.

The agency has since placed an emergency order for 200 splices from a new vendor to replace at least 70, and possibly all 154, of the existing connectors. The repairs will likely take until the end of the year.

Meanwhile, Muni is also on track to award a 16-year contract for a Next Generation Customer Information System to deliver state-of-the-art, real-time information to Muni riders about when the next bus or train will arrive.

The system will include larger, graphical signs at bus shelters and rail stations, solar-powered signs to expand sign coverage throughout the city, and a new multilingual, profile-based trip planning and mobile payment app.

Great information to have, but only if the trains are running. And that wont happen if the floppy disks flop.

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Phil Matier appears Sundays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KGO-TV morning and evening news and can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call 415-777-8815, or email pmatier@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @philmatier
Pakistan Air Force Aircraft Crashes in Punjab Province

Sputnik News

Aakriti Sharma. Sputnik International

06:54 GMT 15.09.2020

An accident involving a Pakistan Air Force jet on a training mission has occurred in Punjab province, according to local media reports. It is the fifth crash involving a PAF aircraft this year.

A Pakistan Air Force (PAF) aircraft has crashed near Pindigheb, a town in Punjab province, during a routine training mission on Tuesday, the air force said in a statement. The initial reports are suggesting that it was a 6th Generation JF-17 fighter aircraft.

The statement confirmed there was no loss of life and the pilot ejected safely. The crash is the fifth such incident this year. The PAF said that a board of inquiry has been ordered to investigate the cause of the crash.

In the earlier incidents, a PAF F-16 aircraft crash near Shakarparian in Islamabad in March resulted in the death of the pilot. In February, a PAF trainer aircraft crashed, the third in less than two months, during a routine training mission in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Mardan district. In the same month, a PAF Mirage aircraft, which was also on a routine operational training mission, crashed near the Lahore-Multan Motorway. The first PAF aircraft to crash this year in January while on a training mission near Mianwali.

A Sputnik

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Walkouts from Parliament are made to make a political point. However, some walkouts miss to make the point and may, in fact, boomerang. The Congress walkout on Tuesday after the suo moto statement by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is being seen as a missed point.

Sources say that just before Singh was scheduled to speak, some Congress MPs reached out to few leaders of opposition parties like the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Trinamool Congress (TMC) to also stage a walkout. When they refused to do so, the Congress leaders made their way out alone.

It is a catch-22 situation for the Grand Old Party. It does not want to be seen as being against the government on national security issues. Nor does it want to add to a perception which has been built up against the Congress that it indulges in a strategy and makes comment that are lapped up either by China or Pakistan and used to their benefit. In the past, many in Pakistan and Chinese media have quoted Rahul Gandhi and this has been used by the BJP to make the point that Congress feels more for its opponents than its own country.

Rahul Gandhis aggressive stand against the government on the China issue has also forced the party to be belligerent. So the Congress is in a dilemma. It does not want to be seen as the lone party taking on the government and questioning it over China and its foreign policy. It wants to be seen as a consensus voice over the issue. The problem for the Congress is that other opposition parties understand its pitfalls. The encounter with the Chinese army in the Galwan Valley, NCP chief Sharad Pawar had, in fact, issued a public statement that they should be seen as being one with the government on this matter.

Even the Trinamool Congress which is fighting the BJP in Bengal, has stayed away from this China rhetoric. It refused to accede to the Congress request to walkout on Tuesday. Besides, the Congress has recently burnt its bridges with the TMC by appointing a known Mamata Banerjee baiter Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury as party chief in the state.

The Congress is also caught in the dilemma of being seen as the lone alternative to the BJP on a muscular foreign policy issue. The part-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) 1 and 2 was badgered by the BJP and Narendra Modi as being soft on terror.

The narrative was so built that eventually in stark contrast to Modi, former prime minister Manmohan Singh came across as a weak man. The Congress feels the confrontation with China could be a payback time to the BJP.

However, unfortunately for the Congress, it is being forced to ekla chalo (walk alone). And, in this, it has no choice as no other opposition party wants to walk by its side on the China issue.
First of all, American Girl: How dare you?

Ive been rooting for you my whole life. I loved Felicity so much, I named my cow after her. I saved for a year in third grade to buy an Addy doll. And how do you repay me for this loyalty? You release a new historical doll tied to  1986? The very year I was born?

This American Girl (OK fine, woman) is not cool with the breaking news update that Im officially a relic.

American Girls are how I learned that history is more than a bunch of old white dudes in powdered wigs. The stories of Felicity, based in 1774, taught me how normal families were affected by the American Revolution. In Addys books, set in 1864, I got to be inside the brain of a little girl running away from the plantation on which shed been enslaved. From Samanthas books, I met a young factory worker from 1904, and learned the human toll of child labor.

Honestly, yall taught me a lot about history. I was so enamored with these books that as a precocious 8-year-old wannabe writer, I started sending letters to Valerie Tripp, the author behind some of my favorite heroines. And bless her, she wrote me back. Time and time again. In one note, she replied to a letter in which I must have bragged about my new cow named Felicity:

Sandy Gordon / Courtesy

Dear Margaret, she wrote.

Thank you very much for your wonderful letter. I am glad you like the books about the American Girl. Felicity is a good name for a cow. It means happiness. I hope your Felicity is happy.

She signed it Your friend, Valerie Tripp.

And friends dont just tell friends that theyre historical artifacts. Right?

I mean, sure. If I had something to say to an author these days, Id likely send an email.

MORE FROM MAGGIE GORDON: Gray hair? At 30? You've got to be kidding

And yeah, the lovely cursive handwriting used by Tripp in that letter is no longer taught at most schools. So a 2020 version of an 8-year-old precocious child might not be able to read her charming response.

And I guess, when I think about it, a girl born in the 1980s reading about Mollys life in the 1940s is a difference of four decades, which mathematically speaking is the same difference between the 1980s and 2020s.

And oh no, Im panic-sweating.

I mean, come on, American Girl. You named your new historical doll Courtney. I know so many Courtneys. Courtneys lived up the street from me. Courtneys pledged my sorority. Courtneys starred in Friends. They walk among us! Unlike Felicity and Addy, which really felt like names from a bygone era.

But I just checked with the Social Security Administration, and while Courtney was a super-popular name during my childhood, peaking at the 17th most common name given to girls in both 1990 and 1995, it barely registers these days. In 2017, the most recent year for which data is available, Courtney was the 950th most popular name for girls. There were only 277 Courtneys born that year, compared to 12,772 in 1995.

So maybe Courtney is a historical name?

Is this like when I wanted to go as a hippie for Halloween in eighth grade, because Id just learned about them in history class, and instead of heading out for a packaged costume, I just dug to the back of my moms closet?

This looks just like they wore in my history book! I remember telling her as I pulled out a flowy white top.

I think she sprouted three new gray hairs in response. Now Im the one tweezing out gray hairs in front of my bathroom mirror.

And youre holding the mirror up to me.

Maybe thats what old friends do. Maybe, if this older version of me wrote to Valerie Tripp today, shed say its time for a new generation to love and learn from these American Girls.

Maybe I will write to her. I wonder if shes on Twitter.

maggie.gordon@chron.com; twitter.com/MagEGordon
WASHINGTON  A Trump health appointee is taking a leave of absence after allegations of political interference in the federal coronavirus response, followed by a personal video that warned of election violence and all but equated science with resistance.

Michael Caputo has decided to take 60 days to focus on his health and the well-being of his family, the Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement.

Fiercely loyal to President Donald Trump, Caputo had been serving as the departments top spokesman, a post that usually is not overtly political. He was installed by the White House in April during a period of tense relations with the presidents health secretary, Alex Azar.

Caputo, who has no health care background, was the subject of news reports last weekend that he tried to gain editorial control over a scientific weekly published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That was followed by reports about a video he hosted on his Facebook page in which he likened government scientists to a resistance against Trump and warned that shooting would break out if Trump won the election and Democrat Joe Biden refused to concede.

Caputos declarations came as Azar and other top health care officials are trying to convince skeptical Americans that science will have the final say in the approval of coronavirus vaccines. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., had called for his resignation; Republican senators remained publicly silent.

Leaving the department is Paul Alexander, who was brought in as a policy advisor to Caputo on a temporary basis, the departments statement said.

Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., who leads a special panel overseeing the governments COVID-19 response, called the shakeup at HHS an important first step. Nonetheless, Clyburn said he has started an investigation into Caputos alleged effort to interfere with the CDC publication.

Caputos short tenure was marked by devotion to Trump, disdain for Democrats and the media, along with some scientists, as well as hints that he felt personally hounded by political enemies.

In an taxpayer-funded HHS podcast July 31, he spoke of having a target on my back. Caputo also accused Democrats in the government, along with the news media, of not wanting a vaccine so as to punish the president.

Caputo had once joked that everything I learned about health care I learned from the Obamacare website, and that Im science-stunted.

His resume has taken him through Trumps turbulent world in recent years, and he displayed a political operators instinct to trade punches.

An Army veteran with a background in media, Caputo played a leading role in Trumps 2016 New York state Republican primary victory and later moved over to the national campaign.

He has described himself as having a fraternal relationship with political operative Roger Stone, the longtime Trump ally whose 40-month sentence for witness tampering, false statements and obstructing a congressional investigation into Russian election interference was commuted by the president.

Stone is like my big brother, Caputo told the House Intelligence Committee in 2017. Were very different, but I love him very much. He said he would talk to Stone every day.

Caputo made a cameo appearance in the Robert Mueller investigation into Russian election interference. Muellers report noted that Caputo had put Stone in contact with a Florida-based Russian businessman who claimed to have dirt on 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. But Stone refused to pay for the information that the businessman claimed to have and nothing came of it.

In his testimony to the House Intelligence Committee, Caputo said that he never discussed the Trump campaign with anybody associated with the Russian government. He described himself as no fan of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Caputo is also the author of a recent book, The Ukraine Hoax, which claims the presidents phony impeachment was rooted in a vast conspiracy. Trump was acquitted by the Senate.

On the Amazon.com page where Caputos book is sold, it reads:

The Democrats tried to undo President Trumps 2016 election with Russia investigations and Ukraine impeachment. I know the president was right to ask Ukraines president for investigations because the Democrats are up to their necks in corruption there.

At HHS, Caputo became closely involved with communications for Operation Warp Speed, the governments effort to have coronavirus vaccines ready to ship to Americans once approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

His undoing seemed to come when he allegedly tried to exert influence over a CDC publication known as the MMWR, or Morbidity and Mortality Weekly report. MMWR articles are technical, but they have revealed telling details about the pandemic, sometimes seized upon by Trumps critics.

On one of his HHS podcasts, Caputo unburdened himself to Dr. Anthony Fauci about his own struggles with science as a young man. Caputo said he wanted to be an engineer, but wound up getting a journalism degree. Fauci is the governments top infectious disease specialist.

Im science-stunted, Caputo told Fauci. I have a problem, I think, like most Americans. But now that Ive been here for a little while, I understand that science is kind of an iterative process. And its one that eventually you arrive at the absolute truth.

___

Associated Press writers Richard Lardner, Mary Clare Jalonick and Eric Tucker contributed to this report.
Staff at The Residency in Scottsbluff has scheduled an upcoming event that will include participation from both the residents and the public.

Kristin Wiebe, family facilitator at The Residency, said because of continued concern over COVID-19, residents have had limited, if any, contact with the outside world for several months.

As things start to improve, we need to schedule a few more safe activities because we arent in lockdown anymore, Wiebe said. Still, we have to be careful about contact.

She said they havent been able to restart worship services or communal dining yet, but will in the near future.

One of the upcoming safe activities is the Chalk Art Competition. Families and individuals from the community are invited to fill The Residencys sidewalk spaces with art beginning on Sunday, Sept. 20.

Wiebe said there will be some buckets of chalk at the main entrance and a clipboard where people can sign up for a sidewalk square with a number on it.

For the next week, people can stop by as they have time and decorate their piece of sidewalk with some original art.
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If only Dan Goerke could hold his wife's hand.

Maybe she would talk again. Maybe she would look at him and smile like she used to. Maybe she would eat and stop wasting away.

Since the pandemic began, Goerke's wife, Denise - 63 years old and diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease - had declined dramatically. Left alone in her nursing home, she had lost 16 pounds, could not form the simplest words, no longer responded to the voices of her children.

In recent weeks, she had stopped recognizing even the man she loved.

Goerke, 61, could tell the isolation was killing his wife, and there was nothing he could do but watch. "Every day it gets a little worse," he said. "We've lost months, maybe years, of her already."

Beyond the U.S. deaths caused directly by the novel coronavirus, more than 134,200 people have died of Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia since March. That is 13,200 more U.S. deaths caused by dementia than expected compared with previous years, according to an analysis of federal data by The Washington Post.

Overlooked amid America's war against the coronavirus is this reality: People with dementia are dying not just of the virus but of the very strategy of isolation that's supposed to protect them. In recent months, doctors have reported increased falls, pulmonary infections, depression and sudden frailty in patients who had been stable for years.

Social and mental stimulation are among the few tools that can slow the march of dementia. Yet even as U.S. leaders have rushed to reopen universities, bowling alleys and malls, nursing homes say they continue begging in vain for sufficient testing, protective equipment and help.

"It's like we as a country just don't care anymore about older people," Goerke said as he drove to his wife's nursing home in Atlanta's northern suburbs. "We've written them off."

In recent weeks, Goerke has struggled with anger - at U.S. leaders and at people who continue to reject simple measures such as wearing masks. As long as the virus keeps spreading, Goerke knows there's no way to safely visit his wife.

His worst fear is that by the time he can hold her hand, it will be to say goodbye.

With cases in Georgia still high, the closest thing Denise's nursing home has allowed is for Goerke to stand for a few minutes by the front door while attendants wheel his wife to the lobby.

So for months he has been traveling to that doorway and calling out - trying to get a reaction, to cut through the thickening fog of his wife's dementia.

"I still believe a spark of her is in there," he said as he arrived once more at her door on a recent Saturday.

He phoned the nursing aides inside. A few minutes later, they pushed Denise into the lobby, her body so frail it was disappearing into the wheelchair.

Goerke took off his mask in case it would help her recognize him. And he called out.

"Hi, Denise!"

Inside the darkened lobby, he thought he saw his wife's lips move.

- - -

The United States has counted tens of thousands of excess deaths since the pandemic began. These are deaths that are not directly attributed to the coronavirus and that occur because of problems such as hypertension or sepsis. But they are occurring at much higher levels than in the past, experts say, in part because of the pandemic's indirect effects including hospitals being overrun or care being delayed.

Among the sources of excess deaths, dementia has produced by far the most, more than the next two categories, diabetes and heart disease combined.

For one man in Indianapolis, the rapid deterioration of his dementia made it harder to swallow. Food that went down the wrong way led to a lung infection and eventually death, his daughter said. For a woman in Boston, her body - no longer able to move - became so atrophied and frail that a slight fall sent her into a death spiral of hospitalizations, her doctor said.

Other cases have been more subtle. In isolation, many are struggling with severe depression. "We have clients who have lost almost 30 pounds," said Sharon O'Connor, who runs a program for dementia patients at Iona Senior Services, a District of Columbia nonprofit. "Some just don't have reason to get up anymore, so they stay in bed all day. Others sit by themselves in a dark room."

In interviews with The Post, people with dementia who are still able to communicate said they felt trapped and doomed. Activities that used to stimulate their minds - music therapy, game nights, Jazzercise - have ground to a halt. At most facilities, residents are not even able to eat lunch together anymore.

One woman in D.C. - who has not seen her children, grandchildren or siblings since March - described the horror of witnessing her mind deteriorate in isolation. "I not talking with the whole sentence anymore," She wrote in a series of text messages about her decline. "Not got balance. Painful cramping."

It's not just the loss of interaction, said Jason Karlawish, an Alzheimer's expert at the University of Pennsylvania. "Families fill in a lot of gaps at nursing homes. They do much of the feeding and bathing. They advocate and communicate," he said. "If you think of Alzheimer's as a disability, family members are almost like a cognitive wheelchair for patients who have lost part of their mind. They're essential."

- - -

In 2012, when Goerke and his wife got word of her diagnosis, Denise made him promise to never put her in a nursing home.

But after four years of juggling his work as a commercial real estate broker with the full-time care Denise needed, Goerke worried constantly that his wife would accidentally hurt herself when he was not looking.

The day he moved her to a long-term care facility, he felt relief, shame, guilt. The one consolation: He could visit anytime.

Seven days a week, he fed her lunch, combed her hair, showed her pictures of their kids.

They had been together for 23 years. Both had been divorced, and they spent their first five years taking turns getting cold feet before realizing their love was stronger than any fears about the future.

Denise had worked as a saleswoman for Xerox, but she was an artist at heart. Her children recalled growing up in a house filled with projects in progress, walls constantly being painted or being evaluated for a repaint. And she was a social creature. Even later at the nursing home, with seven siblings, three children and three grandkids, there were days when they had to coordinate all their visits.

More often than not, they would be greeted by the Denise they knew: eager to laugh at their jokes, interjecting with a word or nod, always reaching out for their hands.

Then came the pandemic.

Denise's nursing home had long struggled financially, even before the virus. At the outset of the pandemic it was suddenly fighting to buy protective equipment and retain staffers afraid of falling ill.

A tiny portion of the U.S. population lives in nursing homes, yet the facilities have accounted for about 40% of U.S. deaths of covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Overwhelmed, Denise's facility announced in late April that it was closing.

Goerke immediately started dialing other residences. Many, desperate to keep the virus out, refused to take anyone new.

It took two weeks and rejections from 15 nursing homes before he found one willing to take Denise. By then, his wife was the only resident left at her old facility.

Her last four days before the move were spent alone, except for a few employees preparing to shutter the building. She stopped eating and simply lay in her room at the end of a long, empty hallway.

"I wasn't sure she would live long enough for us to get her to the new place," said Goerke, who checked in daily by phone and FaceTime. "She looked ashen. Her skin became paper-thin."

At the new nursing home, staff members scheduled window visits for families. That's when Goerke saw the pandemic's toll on his wife.

The bright blond hair he used to comb was dull and sparse. Her face was pale and gaunt.

Goerke had to yell through the thick window to be heard. The first few weeks, Denise reached out her hand. He could see through the glass that she was confused about why he would not come in, and the look on her face felt like an accusation.

Worse yet was when Denise stopped reaching out a few weeks later and just sat in her wheelchair with a vacant stare.

- - -

"It's me," Goerke shouted from the doorway, during his recent Saturday visit.

The only reply from the nursing home lobby: silence.

Undeterred, Goerke kept the conversation upbeat, pausing every few words to give Denise a chance to respond: "It's a hot one out here. . . . Almost 90 degrees. . . . You're lucky to be inside."

On this particular Saturday, Goerke had invited others in hopes they might jog his wife's memory.

Denise's son Steve Ayotte soon arrived, along with his wife and their 2-year-old daughter.

"Hi, Mom," Steve said. He turned to his daughter, "Can you say hi to Nana?"

"Hi, Nis-ey," the girl said shyly.

Finally, it was one of Goerke's more energetic "hellos" that seemed to hit home.

The sudden response emerged from his wife's lips with a startled tone, as if Denise was surprised to find them all suddenly before her: "Hi."

To Goerke, that small word was everything.

It was proof his wife had not yet reached the final stages of her disease. More than that, it was a bulwark against that encroaching future.

All these days he has spent talking to himself at her doorway, he said, were worth it if it helped engage her mind even a little. They were worth it if it meant some part of her heard him and felt a little less alone.

- - -

Goerke, who used to feed Denise daily, recently asked her caregivers about her meals. He was alarmed when they said they now have to persuade her to open her mouth. He worries that Denise, no longer able to speak, may be expressing distress the only way she still can.

Most people are suffering in some way during the pandemic. But it feels at times, Goerke said, like the suffering of people in nursing homes has been shoved into a corner to make room for everyone else's. Even now, as the country debates endlessly about reopening schools and protecting the economy, there's little urgency about the plight of people such as his wife.

Countries such as the Netherlands have safely reopened their nursing homes without any increase in coronavirus cases by providing protective equipment, testing and rigorous protocols.

But in the United States, little of the trillions of dollars in emergency funding has gone to nursing homes. For months, the Trump administration has talked of getting more testing into nursing homes, but the effort continues to be plagued with problems.

This month, Florida and Arizona said they want to reopen nursing homes, but they have yet to explain how they will do so safely given shortages in equipment, staffing and testing.

The situation is especially difficult in Goerke's state, Georgia, which rushed this spring to reopen tattoo parlors, hair salons, movie theaters and restaurants. Even as the state had the country's highest rate of new cases, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, pursued a weeks-long lawsuit to stop Atlanta from requiring masks and only dropped the case last month.

Desperate for help, Goerke sent a letter to the governor two weeks ago. "I am Denise's spouse, caregiver, and advocate," he wrote. "I believe the state of Georgia can help my family, and others like mine." He pleaded for rapid testing in nursing homes. He proposed convening a task force and offered suggestions. He begged the governor to rescind his emergency rules putting facilities on lockdown.

As long as they remain in place, there is only one way Goerke will be able to hold his wife. The rules include one exception for families to enter nursing homes: for deathbed visits.

- - -

As Goerke and the rest of Denise's family wrapped up their visit at her door, they talked about what they've already lost.

Goerke recalled the last time he had heard Denise laugh. It was four months ago during a video call just after the nursing home had given Denise a haircut.

"I told her how good she looked, and she smiled and gave me a little laugh," he said, grinning at the memory.

Later, in private, he would explain just how much that laugh had meant to him.

"It's like you're a ship stuck in the fog and suddenly you see the lighthouse. It's golden. It's the world. It's the only thing I hope for when I visit," he said. "It's like there's my Denise, and for a moment, we're back home together."

There would be no laugh that Saturday at the doorway. The startled "hi" murmured by Denise early on would be the only response she would give.

When it came time to leave, Goerke chose his words carefully. Goodbyes were the one occasion, since the pandemic began, when Denise's dementia now worked in their favor.

Instead of goodbye, he gently told her, "I gotta go run some errands. I'll be back."

For better or worse, Goerke said, his wife no longer remembered him well enough to miss him.

- - -

METHODOLOGY

The Washington Post gathered data on select causes of death by state between 2014 and early 2020, published by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), and used a model previously developed by a research team led by the Yale University school of public health to estimate the number of deaths that would normally be expected each week from March 1 to Aug. 16 The estimate takes into account seasonal variations as well as year-to-year variations in mortality levels but did not adjust for the flu. The mortality data is collected from state health departments, which report deaths at different rates. It usually takes about three weeks for death data to stabilize, but even then, it is not complete. As a result, it is expected that the numbers of deaths in the period The Post analyzed will increase as states continue reporting additional data to the NCHS. Details on the team's statistical approach can be found on GitHub at https://github.com/weinbergerlab/excess_pi_covid/blob/master/post%20methods.pdf. The Post has published the data and methodology on GitHub at https://github.com/wpinvestigative/excess_deaths_covid19/tree/master/specific_causes.
Tonys Chocolonely has launched a new advert featuring actor Idris Elba, to shine the spotlight on the problems of slavery and child labour within the chocolate industry.

The 54-second video, the first advert by the brand, begins with Elba asking: What's not to love about chocolate? Well two million children working illegally on cocoa plantations. Thats unfair.

Modern slavery to make a sweet luxury. Unfair. Equal rights. Equal opportunities. Fair. Big chocolate companies exploiting African communities. No way...thats unfair.

Elba concludes the video saying: Chocolate can be a powerful force of change. Make illegal child labour and modern day slavery a shame of the past.

Tonys Chocolonely was founded in 2005 by three Dutch journalists after they discovered that the worlds largest chocolate manufacturers were buying cocoa from plantations that used illegal child labor and modern slavery, according to a statement.

The Fairtrade brand, which is now the largest chocolate brand in the Netherlands, says it is now committed to making all chocolate  not just their own  100 per cent slave free.

Idris Elba, who is currently an ambassador for the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development, said of the campaign: Being an Englishman who is the son of a Ghanaian mother and a Sierra Leonian father, I am all too aware of the shocking inequalities between the West and Africa.

Thecla Schaeffer, head of marketing, explains: Our new brand video states our position about the issues in the cocoa industry in a globally appealing and emotional way. We have a serious message to share, and we are always looking for creative ways to get our message across.

The brand claims there are over 30,000 cases of modern slavery and over two million cases of illegal child labour in the industry. It has also started a petition asking for customers to pledge to support the initiative.

We need 1,000,000 signatures to take to Brussels and Washington and 100,000 to London, to petition governments to pass new EU legislation and enforce serious consequences for those who break the existing US law and UK Slavery Act.

In 2001, major chocolate companies including Mars, Nestle, and Hershey signed an agreement pledging to eradicate the "worst forms of child labour" from their suppliers. In 2012, Ferrero, which owns Nutella and Ferrero Rocher, pledged to end slavery on the farms where it harvests cocoa by 2020.

The Washington Post reported in 2019, that representatives of some of the biggest and best-known brands  Hershey, Mars and Nestle  could still not guarantee any of their chocolates were produced without the involvement of child labour. Im not going to make those claims, an executive at one of the large chocolate companies said.
A UK court on Wednesday sentenced to life a 23-year-old man who arrived from India as a partner for a woman in the east Midlands town of Leicester, fell out with her and stabbed her to death on March 2.

Jigukumar Sorthi was sentenced by the Leicester Crown Court to a minimum of 28 years in jail before being considered for parole after being found guilty of murder following a trial at last week. He stabbed Bhavini Pravin, 21, in her home, when he went there to speak to her, and after some time stabbed her multiple times.

He soon left the address and less than two hours after the incident, approached a police officer and made admissions implicating himself in the stabbing.

A post-mortem examination concluded that Pravin died as a result of multiple stab wounds.

Her father, Pravin Babu, said in a statement after Sorthis conviction last week: Our daughter was only 21 years old when she was murderedWhen our Bhavini was born, we felt that all of our prayers had been answered. She was the Laxmi of our family.

Growing up, she gave us so much joy and purpose. She was our inspiration to better ourselves and to build a future. Soon after, our two sons, Krutesh and Yagnesh, were born. Even from a young age, Bhavini doted on her little brothers. We decided to move to England so that we could give our children a better future.

As parents our aspirations were that our daughter would get a good education, pursue her childhood career choice of nursing, marry the man of her dreams, have a family and live happily ever after.

When Jigu became engaged to our daughter, we trusted him to cherish, love and look after her forever. She was so precious to us. We showed Jigu nothing but love and acceptance. We brought him to England to give him a better life. We supported him, housed him.

And how did Jigu return our kindness  he repaid us by killing our beloved Bhavini.

Detective inspector Kenny Henry of the Leicestershire police said after sentencing: Bhavini was a young woman who had the rest of her life to look forward to. She was a gentle caring soul and came from a close and very private family.

It is fair to say she was the apple of her parents eyes. Losing Bhavini so early in life and in such tragic circumstances continues to take its toll on her parents and brothers  their lives have been changed forever.

To have lost their beloved daughter to someone who they trusted to take care of her is something they will never recover from. Being present during the trial was understandably difficult for the family and I must commend their bravery, courage and dignity throughout, he added.

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TANZANIA and Pakistan plan to establish bilateral business council to strengthen commercial ties and cooperation that will accelerate trade between the two countries and reduce trade imbalance.

According to Pakistan High Commissioner to Tanzania, Mr Muhammad Saleem, trade volume between both countries stands at 154 million US dollars in 2019/2020 and can only grow if economic ties are strengthened.

To reach this goal, it is important to focus not only on trade but also on investment in key sectors such as agriculture, mining and oil and gas, the reason why Pakistan and Tanzania are in talks to support the establishment of the council, Mr Saleem added.

Speaking during the Pakistan- Tanzania business conference in Dar es Salaam over the weekend, he said trade volume between two countries was not satisfactory was in November 2020, they will facilitate a Tanzania business delegation to visit their country and explore untapped opportunities available.

Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (TCCIA), President, Mr Paul Koyi said the council will comprise 15 people whereby during the trip they will also sign Memorandum of Understanding with Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) to facilitate trade between the two countries.

"We need to increase trade with Pakistan as the current status is not good, we have a clear move to empower our tea growers to add value to their products as there is an opportunity to export tea in their market," he explained.

Carried under the theme 'Partnership for Shared Prosperity' the conference was co-hosted by TCCIA and high commission for Pakistan in Tanzania were businesspeople from both countries met and discussed hindrance of smooth trade.

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Pakistan's export in goods and services in 2019/2020 valued at USD 69.8 million while imports from Tanzania valued USD 85 million.

Pakistan major exports include textiles, linens, tents, woven cotton fabric, furniture, rice, machinery parts and accessories.

Main imports from Tanzania were raw cotton, tea, dry fruits, cloves, hides, groundnuts, beans, chickpeas, Arabic gum and wattle extract.

Ministry for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, Minister Plenipotentiary, Mr Luangisa Francis said there was no balance of trade between the two countries.

Mr Francis said statistics from Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) indicate that exports from Tanzania to Pakistan rose from 39bn/- in 2015 to 69bn/- in 2019 and imports from Pakistan rose to 90bn/- in 2019 from 80bn/- in 2015.

TanTrade, Acting Director for Business Development, Mr Boniface Ngowi, said they are charged with the mandate of spearheading trade development in the country and find markets for all products produced in Tanzania.

"Tanzania has not explored the Pakistan export opportunities thus there is no balance of trade, we are also calling on Pakistan businesspeople to come and invest in Tanzania as there is a conducive investment and trade environment," he said.

The Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) indicate potential exists in enhancing bilateral trade between the two countries.

The key export item around the globe is textiles which can be improvised through effective bilateral talks and measures.
Fines arent doing enough to get drivers to move over when there are emergency responders on the side of Pennsylvania roads, according to state senators who want to add more teeth to the law.

The states Steer Clear law requires drivers to move over for all emergency responders, including police, firefighters, EMS, tow trucks, PennDOT personnel and other roadside assistance vehicles.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday that the Congress would stay in session until lawmakers reach another COVID-19 relief deal.

"We are committed to staying here until we have an agreement that meets the needs of the American people," Pelosi told CNBC.

During a morning conference with her colleagues, Pelosi said that they have to stay "until we have a bill." A Democratic aide told this to Associated Press on anonymity but authorized to quote Pelosi's remarks.

According to CNN, Pelosi and other Democratic leaders first appeared to indicate the House was poised to scrap some of its pre-election recess for October. But House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters Tuesday that there wouldn't be much different from what the House has done throughout August.

Members can still go home to their home districts, said Hoyer, while Democratic leaders move forward with negotiations. They will get a 24-hours notice to get to Washington once a deal is reached, and they have to vote.

"What the speaker is saying and what I would reiterate is that we are going to be voting on a piece of legislation as soon as we can get to a deal," Hoyer said.

The Reality of COVID-19 Relief

Both sides of the coronavirus relief negotiations are insistent that they want action. They keep the idea of a new relief deal alive, but negotiations have been at a stalemate until now.

Democrats and the White House remain frozen and entrenched in their own positions regarding the bill. The two sides are not even close to getting an agreement.

Negotiations broke down last month as both parties could not get a price tag on the stimulus package.

Pelosi's comments came as moderate Democrats signed a $1.5 trillion package endorsed by the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus. They are a group of about 50 lawmakers who seek common solutions to issues.

The plan covers many things from both the demands of the House Democrats and Republicans. It had aid for schools, funding for state and local governments, and renewal of jobless benefits.

The price tag is much less than the Democrats' $2.2 trillion figure. But it is also well about the $650 billion from the Senate GOP plan that failed last week.

What Has Changed and What Hasn't?

The surprise development from the House reflects how bad the public health and economic crisis caused by the pandemic is. It also showed the growing pressure that Pelosi faces from the moderate wing of her party, The Hill said in a report.

The moderates asked Pelosi for a pre-election vote on some emergency aid version that will cover states, households, and small businesses. The package does not match all of the Democrats' demands.

As for what did not change, the scheduled session still ends on October 2. Most lawmakers will go home for reelection campaigns. If a deal is reached, then members can return to Washington for the vote.

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There are less than 60 days until many voters head to the polls to cast ballots for President Donald Trump or former Vice President Joe Biden -- but some voters are still not committed to either candidate. In an ABC News town hall Tuesday, the president faced questions from some of those voters living in a critical battleground state: Pennsylvania.

The socially-distanced event was moderated by ABC News' chief anchor, George Stephanopoulos, at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia -- a different setting than the president (who usually answers questions from the White House press corps and his favorite anchors at Fox News) is used to.

MORE: Trump's ABC News town hall: Fact-checking the president's answers

In 2016, the Keystone State went for Trump by just 44,292 votes -- less than one percentage point of the total vote. And while a recent poll of likely voters in the state showed that Biden is now leading by nine points, a lot can change in the final weeks of an election, and opportunities for the candidates to answer directly to voters -- like the town hall and the upcoming presidential debates -- could be what swing voters need to choose a candidate, or to sit out the election altogether.

Here are five key takeaways from the 90-minute special event

PHOTO: President Donald Trump participates in ABC News' town hall hosted by ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Sept. 15, 2020. (ABC News)

Trump says COVID-19 has been presidency's biggest challenge, but nothing more could have been done

"Could you have done more to stop it?" Stephanopoulos asked Trump for the last question of the town hall.

"I don't think so," the president responded.

Trump has held the highest office as over 195,000 Americans have died from coronavirus. Under his leadership, the U.S. has seen more deaths from the virus than any other country in the world.

And while he acknowledged that coronavirus has been the biggest challenge of his presidency -- before it, "things were going so well," he told the audience -- Trump projected confidence about the decisions he's made so far.

Story continues

MORE: Trump heads into flu season amid pandemic mocking masks, holding packed campaign rallies

During the town hall, the president disputed that he had downplayed the virus. But, following his denial, he continued to do just that. "We're going to be okay and it is going away," even "without the vaccine," he told the audience. Medical experts, meanwhile, say there is no evidence that the virus will go away without a vaccine.

"Sure, over a period of time. Sure with time it goes away," Trump said. Each day, cases continue to rise at a rate that Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, said puts the U.S. in a concerning position heading into fall.

"I think what I did by closing up the country, I think I saved two, maybe two and a half [million], maybe more than that, lives. I really don't think so. I think we did a very good job. I don't know if that's been recognized," Trump said.

Trump responds to voters' questions by disputing very premise of their questions

The first three questions of the night were about the president's response to the coronavirus pandemic, and in response to each of them, the president essentially invalidated the premise of the voters' questions.

"I thought you were doing a good job with the pandemic response until about May 1st, then you took your foot off the gas pedal," said Paul Tubiana, a diabetic and conservative Republican who voted for Trump in 2016. "Why did you throw vulnerable people like me under the bus?"

MORE: Trump says he didn't want to 'create panic' over the pandemic, but stoking fear has been his trademark: ANALYSIS

"Well, we really didn't, Paul. We've worked very hard on the pandemic," Trump countered.

Tubiana also said that because of his underlying medical condition, he has to "dodge people" who won't practice social distancing or wear face masks -- something the president has only done on select occasions. The next questioner, Julie Bart, asked the president why he doesn't wear a mask more often, noting that the science indicates masks help stop the spread of the virus.

"Well, I do wear them when I have to and when I'm in hospitals and other locations," Trump responded.

The next questioner, Ajani Powell, then asked Trump why he would "downplay" the pandemic.

"Yeah, well, I didn't downplay it. I, actually, in many ways, I up-played it, in terms of action," Trump replied, even though in a recording from an interview with journalist Bob Woodward on March 19, Trump said, "I wanted to always play it down I still like playing it down, because I don't want to create a panic."

PHOTO: President Donald Trump participates in ABC News' town hall hosted by ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Sept. 15, 2020. (ABC News)

Carl Day, an African American pastor in Philadelphia, pressed Trump on his promise to "make America great again," asking the president, "When has America been great for African Americans in the ghetto of America? Are you aware of how tone deaf, that comes off to African American community?"

But, Trump evaded the question altogether.

"Well, I can say this: We have tremendous African American support," he said, before going on to talk about how Black Americans were doing before the pandemic hit, claiming that six or seven months ago "was the best single moment in the history of the African American people in this country."

Trump continues to focus on law and order, even when asked about racial injustice

Sparked by Black Americans being killed or shot by police, protests against racial injustice across the country have at times devolved into violent riots and looting. Amid that unrest, the president and his reelection campaign have focused their messaging on promoting law and order, rather than on seeking to understand the actions that have led to the violence.

During Tuesday's town hall, Trump again pivoted to that messaging.

Laura Galvas, a registered nurse from the suburbs of Pittsburgh, asked the president if, in light of these protests, he feels there is racial injustice in the United States, and if he does, what can be done to address it.

Trump initially called the police shootings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Jacob Blake "tragic events," but quickly turned to police, asserting that some of them "choke (and) make mistakes," and indicated the real problem is that police are no longer respected.

MORE: $12 million settlement reached in fatal Kentucky police shooting of Breonna Taylor

"I will say this: If you're going to stop crime, we have to give... the respect back to the police that they deserve," he said. "We have to give them their mojo. We have to let them protect us."

He was later asked by Alexander Floyd, a supporter of his in 2016, how to balance police reform -- something protesters have been demanding -- "without sacrificing public safety."

After talking about a police reform bill from Republican Sen. Tim Scott that didn't have enough votes to pass, Trump again hailed police officers, and said that the current climate is especially hard for them. "Police are so afraid today that they do something slightly wrong, slightly wrong and their pensions gone, their jobs gone, who knows what happens. Their life is ruined, their wife or their husband will leave, the whole thing, it's a very scary thing," Trump said.

But while Trump told an earlier questioner that he "hopes there's not a race problem" in America, the president didn't acknowledge the reality of how scary life in the U.S. is for so many Black Americans, as they are more than three times more likely to be killed by police than white Americans, according to a recent study from Harvard University that Stephanopoulos cited during in the town hall.

MORE: Driving while Black: ABC News analysis of traffic stops reveals racial disparities in several US cities

Trump claims current US problems are products of Democratic leadership

On multiple fronts, Trump tried to push any blame off himself and onto Democrats.

After saying he wants to see another stimulus bill to address the economic hardships facing so many Americans because of coronavirus, Trump was asked why he wouldn't call House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to his office to negotiate.

"At the right time I'll do that. But they know exactly where I stand. What they want is a bailout of Democrat-run states that are doing poorly Democrat-run states are the ones that are doing badly, George," Trump said. "Look, I'm the president of everybody but -- I don't want to say it -- the Democrat-run cities. It is what it is."

Stephanopoulos asked Trump about his promise to "restore law and order" in the country, which he made during his 2016 convention speech, and again at the Tuesday town hall.

"And I have! Except in Democrat-run cities," Trump said. "Wherever you have a Democrat city -- not in all cases -- but if you look at the really troubled cities in our country, they're Democrat-run."

MORE: Trump's ABC News town hall: Uncommitted voters ask questions in Philadelphia

On the coronavirus, in an attempt to illustrate his quick response, he pointed the finger at Pelosi and Biden.

"I was so far ahead of my closing and I'll give you an example. When I closed at the end of January, Joe Biden was talking about, in March, about, it's totally over-exaggerated. Nancy Pelosi was standing in the streets of Chinatown in San Francisco, late, a month, more than a month after that, saying this thing's totally exaggerated, come."

And on Scott's police reform bill being unable to pass the Senate, Trump claimed Democrats agreed with the bill, but they didn't vote for it because they were "viewing this as a political issue."

"I think it's very bad for them, because we're about law and order. We have to be about law and order, otherwise you're going to see your cities burn," Trump said.

PHOTO: President Donald Trump speaks during ABC News' town hall hosted by ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Sept. 15, 2020. (ABC News)

A reminder that health care is still top of mind for voters

In a powerful and passionate exchange about her lifelong health struggles, Ellesia Blaque, an assistant professor from Philadelphia, politely yet bluntly, asked the president to "please stop" interrupting her.

"Let me finish my question, sir," Blaque said, as she described a life of overcoming the odds, battling an inflammatory disease called sarcoidosis that deemed her "uninsurable" from the day she was born, but still going on to get a bachelor's degree, master's degree and a PhD.

Blaque vouched for the importance of Obamacare, which allowed for people with preexisting conditions to qualify for health care at the same rate as everyone else.

"Within a 36 to 72 hour period, without my medication, I will be dead. And I want to know what it is that you're going to do to assure that people like me, who work hard, we do everything we're supposed to do, can stay insured? It's not my fault that I was born with this disease," Blaque said.

MORE: Amid pandemic, Trump administration asks Supreme Court to overturn Obamacare

Her question highlighted an issue that millions of Americans called their top priority before the pandemic spread: the debate over public and private health insurance. But despite the pandemic, not much about the argument has changed.

"It's a total disaster. You're going to have new health care, and the preexisting condition aspect of it will always be in my plan," Trump said, repeating a pledge about a health care plan he has yet to disclose during his entire first term, even after consistent attempts to strike down the option of Obamacare.

Stephanopoulous pushed Trump to answer for his attempts to repeal Obamacare -- along with its coverage for people with preexisting conditions -- without any public plan to replace it. Trump repeated that his plan would be better.

"But you haven't come up with it," Stephanopoulos said.

This report was featured in the Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2020, episode of Start Here, ABC News daily news podcast.

"Start Here" offers a straightforward look at the day's top stories in 20 minutes. Listen for free every weekday on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, the ABC News app or wherever you get your podcasts.

5 key takeaways from President Donald Trump's ABC town hall in Pennsylvania originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Moussa Traore, who led Mali from 1968 until he was ousted in a coup in 1991, died at his home aged 83 in the capital Bamako on Tuesday, his family said.

As a young lieutenant in 1968, Traore was the main instigator of a coup that overthrew Modibo Keita, the country's first post-independence president.

He became president the following year and ruled with an iron fist.

His 22 years at the helm of the West African country were marked by the arrests of opponents, quashed demonstrations, suspicious deaths such as that of former president Keita in detention, and accusations he embezzled international aid money.

But he was also known for his diplomatic skills. As chair of the then Organisation of African Unity (now the African Union), he played a key role in the 1989 Senegal-Mauritania crisis and the Chadian-Libyan conflict, as well as Liberia's first civil war.

Traore reached a peace agreement in 1990 with Mali's Tuareg armed rebel groups after making significant concessions.

But in 1991, the soldiers he had sent to quell pro-democracy demonstrators turned against him and overthrew him in a bloody insurrection, which officially resulted in more than 200 dead and 1,000 wounded.

He was sentenced to death for "political crimes" in 1993 and, along with his wife, for economic crimes in 1999.

The sentences were commuted to life in jail, and Traore was pardoned in 2002.

"When you embark on a military career, you prepare yourself for the idea of not dying in your bed," he said upon hearing his first verdict in 1993.

'Patriots among us'

In recent years, Traore was increasingly seen as an elder statesman, with politicians soliciting his advice.

Former prime minister Soumeylou Maiga expressed on Twitter his "great dismay" over Traore's death, in a tribute in which he referenced the "friendship and respect that we have developed over the past several years".

Traore's death comes just four weeks after another putsch -- Mali's fourth since independence from France in 1960 -- after rebel army officers overthrew president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita on August 18.

Twice-elected Keita still had three years left in his second five-year term in office.

He had been facing mounting protests over his failure to curb a bloody eight-year-old jihadist insurgency, cure Mali's sickly economy and root out corruption.

Traore had recently met with the country's military rulers.

"These young colonels are children... I tell them the mistakes made and what to avoid and I hope, I hope they understood," he said.

Asked about the state of the country, often described as close to collapse, he replied: "I have never despaired of my country, (there is) such a mess but there are still patriots among us."

Talks were taking place in Ghana on Tuesday between the junta leader, Colonel Assimi Goita, and the 15-nation West African bloc ECOWAS on determining a timetable for restoring civilian rule.
The International Space Station will have to be abandoned if discarded satellites and space junk are not cleared, the UK Business Secretary has warned.

Alok Sharma said that human space travel would no longer be possible unless we "clean up our act", as he announced new funding to track floating debris.

Estimates suggest there are 160m pieces of space junk orbiting Earth, ranging from tiny specks from broken spacecraft to large defunct or "zombie" satellites, and they are zipping around the planet at almost 30,000kmh - nearly seven times faster than a bullet.

Yet only a fraction are currently tracked and the number of satellites is growing all the time, with several mega-constellations due for launch.

Experts predict that if a four-inch piece of space junk were to hit a satellite, smashing it to bits, it would set off a chain reaction that could destroy all satellites and render space a no-go zone for centuries - a process known as Kessler syndrome.

Yesterday, the British government announced 1m of seed funding for seven British projects aimed at monitoring debris in space through lasers, satellites and artificial intelligence. Mr Sharma said the projects were crucial to allowing continued human space exploration.

"If we don't take action now, low-Earth orbit could become too perilous for satellites or even humans on the International Space Station," he said. ( Daily Telegraph)

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]
LAS CRUCES  Las Cruces Public Schools board members voted to continue online learning for the rest of the semester during Tuesdays school board meeting.

LCPS Superintendent Karen Trujillo presented a proposal to continue online instruction with the exception of face-to-face instruction for small groups of students in special education and At-Promise youth which includes new English learners, homeless students, migrant students, foster students, students who are not engaged and students struggling in the online environment and are at risk of failure.

The board voted unanimously to remain remote until Dec. 18 or longer based on state and local advisory, as proposed by Trujillo.

Schools in New Mexico have been online only since March, when Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham declared a public health emergency to combat the spread of the SARS CoV-2 coronavirus, which is responsible for COVID-19.

The only way to be safe is to practice safety, and there is no guarantee, school board Vice President Maria Flores said before voting. Opening too soon will jeopardize our hopes for spring.

The board also voted on the phasing in of special education and At-Promise students to in-person learning in small groups and board President Terrie Dallman was the only member to vote against the plan due to concern for the health of staff and students.
The Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts is required by federal law to produce and make available by October 1st of each year, an annual report containing campus safety, security, and fire procedures, as well as statistics related to criminal offenses and fires reported to the police and college officials for the last three consecutive years. The MCLA Department of Public Safety - Campus Police prepares and distributes this report to comply with the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act. We work with many other campus departments and outside agencies, such as Residential Programs and Services, the Student Affairs Office, the North Adams Police, the Pittsfield Police Department, the Massachusetts State Police, and the North Adams Fire Department to compile the information contained in it. Specifically, campus crime, arrest, and referral statistics include those reported to the MCLA Department of Public Safety - Campus Police, designated campus officials, and local law enforcement agencies noted above. Fire statistics include those reported to the MCLA Department of Public Safety - Campus Police, designated campus officials, and local fire agencies noted above.

The MCLA Department of Public Safety - Campus Police encourages all current and future members of our community to use this report as a guide for safe practices both on and off campus. Each campus community member, prospective student, and prospective employee receives a notification either through U. S. mail, campus mail, directly or via campus email that describes the report and provides locations where it can be accessed. The full text of this report can be downloaded here or paper copies are available in the department's offices located at 277 Ashland Street. You may also request a copy be mailed to you by calling our business line at (413) 662-5284.

Read The Full 2021 Report Here
Va Tech Wabag rose 1.85% to Rs 212.10 after the company's consolidated net profit surged 687.5% to Rs 5.04 crore on 5.6% decline in net sales to Rs 430.87 crore in Q1 June 2020 over Q1 June 2019.

Consolidated profit before tax (PBT) dropped 20% to Rs 7.34 crore in Q1 June 2020 as against Rs 9.18 crore in Q1 June 2019. Current tax expense for the quarter slumped 79.9% at Rs 1.66 crore from Rs 8.27 crore in Q1 June 2019, which boosted net profit.

The order book during Q1 FY20-21 stood at Rs 11,117 crore including framework contracts. The order intake was at Rs 442 crore during the quarter. Consolidated EBITDA during Q1 FY21 stood at Rs 29 crore while EBITDA margin was at 6.7%.

Commenting on the Q1 results, Rajiv Mittal, the managing director of Va Tech Wabag, has said: "In a quarter marred by the COVID pandemic, Wabag contributed its share to ensure water security and we are extremely proud of our COVID warriors for the same. We are now in the phase of progressive resumption of site activities to achieve full capacity at the earliest. I am also happy to note that in this tough economic environment we have been able to secure a major order of 48 million USD towards building a 300 MLD STP at Jeddah, KSA, further strengthening our growing presence in the Middle East."

The scrip has risen 190.54% from its 52-week low of Rs 73 hit on 7 April 2020.

VA Tech Wabag designs and builds water and sewage treatment plants. The company constructs sewage treatment, processed and drinking water treatment, effluents treatment, sludge treatment, desalination and reuse plants. It serves municipalities and customers in the power, steel, and oil and gas industries.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Spotify shares fell 1.2% on Wednesday after Amazon announced that it's adding podcasts to its music streaming service.

Users in the U.S., U.K., Germany and Japan will be able to stream podcasts for free across all tiers of Amazon Music, the company said. Amazon Music offers users a range of paid and free, ad-supported options to access the service. Amazon Prime customers also get access to more than 2 million songs ad-free as part of their $119-per-year membership.

Amazon is launching podcasts at a time when the industry has become increasingly competitive. Spotify has invested heavily in producing original podcasts and has acquired four companies to expand its library, including The Ringer, Gimlet Media, Anchor and Parcast. Meanwhile, Apple's Podcasts app hosts a range of content for free and is installed on iPhones by default.

Amazon will offer listeners original and curated content. The music streaming service will feature well-known podcasts such as "Radiolab," "Planet Money" and "Crime Junkie," as well as original shows produced exclusively for the service that are hosted by celebrities such as producer DJ Khaled, actor Will Smith, sportscaster Dan Patrick and musician Becky G. Beginning in February, Amazon will become the exclusive home of "Disgraceland," a popular "music-meets-true-crime" podcast.

The multimedia podcast hosted by Becky G will show off a new integration between Amazon Music and Twitch, announced earlier this month. The feature lets musicians link their profiles on the Amazon-owned video site to the streaming service, enabling users to watch live Twitch content in the Music app.

Amazon's voice-activated Echo devices will pull content from the Amazon Music library when users ask their device to play podcasts, Amazon said.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 19:40:23|Editor: huaxia

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GAZA, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov on Wednesday arrived in the Gaza Strip to negotiate with Hamas about the calm understandings between Hamas and Israel, Hamas security officials said.

The sources told Xinhua that the UN envoy crossed through the Israeli-controlled Erez crossing point between the northern Gaza Strip and Israel.

Mladenov will meet with the Hamas leadership to discuss the truce file, the establishment of international humanitarian projects in Gaza, and other issues, according to Hamas sources.

Meanwhile, Hamas met a senior Egyptian security intelligence delegation on Sept. 10 to discuss the implementation of the calm understanding that Egypt brokered between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip after weeks of military tensions.

In addition, the Egyptian delegation discussed with Hamas the measures of relaxing the Israeli blockade, which has been imposed on the Gaza Strip for more than 13 years.

The delegation promised Hamas to support Gaza's efforts of combating the coronavirus, which has spread in the densely populated areas of the coastal enclave, bringing the death toll to 16 and the tally of infections to 2,100 since March. Enditem
Staff with the Houston Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals were busy this week rescuing and relocating animals from southeast Louisiana animal shelters in the direct path of Tropical Storm Sally.

One hundred cats and dogs on Monday were flown out of five Louisiana animal shelters, where hundreds of thousands of residents are already without power, according to the Associated Press. Sally, which experts have predicted could bring 'catastrophic flooding to the Gulf Coast, made landfall early Wednesday near Alabama as a Category 2 hurricane, per the AP.
Technavio has been monitoring the respiratory monitoring devices market and it is poised to grow by USD 1.77 billion during 2020-2024, progressing at a CAGR of over 9% 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/20200915006094/en/

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Respiratory Monitoring Devices Market 2020-2024 (Graphic: Business Wire)

Although the COVID-19 pandemic continues to transform the growth of various industries, the immediate impact of the outbreak is varied. While a few industries will register a drop in demand, numerous others will continue to remain unscathed and show promising growth opportunities. Technavio's in-depth research has all your needs covered as our research reports include all foreseeable market scenarios, including pre- post-COVID-19 analysis. Download a Free Sample Report on COVID-19 Impacts

Frequently Asked Questions-

Based on segmentation by product, which is the leading segment in the market?

The pulse oximetry is expected to be the leading segment based on product in the global market during the forecast period.

What are the major trends in the market?

Technological advances in respiratory monitoring devices are one of the major trends in the market.

At what rate is the market projected to grow?

Growing at a CAGR of over 9%, the incremental growth of the market is anticipated to be USD 1.77 billion.

Who are the top players in the market?

Becton, Dickinson and Co., Dragerwerk AG Co. KGaA, General Electric Co., Koninklijke Philips NV, Masimo Corp., Medtronic Plc, Nihon Kohden Corp., Nonin Medical Inc., Shenzhen Mindray Bio-Medical Electronics Co. Ltd., and Smiths Medical Inc. are some of the major market participants.

What are the key market drivers and challenges?

Increasing prevalence of chronic respiratory diseases is one of the major factors driving the market. However, the competitive pricing between global and local vendors restraints the market growth.

How big is the North America market?

The North America region will contribute 38% of market growth.

The market is fragmented, and the degree of fragmentation will accelerate during the forecast period. Becton, Dickinson and Co., Dragerwerk AG Co. KGaA, General Electric Co., Koninklijke Philips NV, Masimo Corp., Medtronic Plc, Nihon Kohden Corp., Nonin Medical Inc., Shenzhen Mindray Bio-Medical Electronics Co. Ltd., and Smiths Medical Inc. are some of the major market participants. The increasing prevalence of chronic respiratory diseases will offer immense growth opportunities. To make 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.

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

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.

Respiratory Monitoring Devices Market 2020-2024: Segmentation

Respiratory Monitoring Devices Market is segmented as below:

Product Pulse Oximetry Spirometry Capnography

Geography North America Europe Asia ROW



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=IRTNTR43462

Respiratory Monitoring Devices 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. The respiratory monitoring devices market report covers the following areas:

Respiratory Monitoring Devices Market Size

Respiratory Monitoring Devices Market Trends

Respiratory Monitoring Devices Market Analysis

This study identifies technological advances in respiratory monitoring devices as one of the prime reasons driving the respiratory monitoring devices market growth during the next few years.

Technavio suggests three forecast scenarios (optimistic, probable, and pessimistic) considering the impact of COVID-19. Technavio's in-depth research has direct and indirect COVID-19 impacted market research reports.

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Respiratory Monitoring Devices Market 2020-2024: Key Highlights

CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2020-2024

Detailed information on factors that will assist respiratory monitoring devices market growth during the next five years

Estimation of the respiratory monitoring devices market size and its contribution to the parent market

Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

The growth of the respiratory monitoring devices market

Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors

Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of respiratory monitoring devices market vendors

Table of Contents:

Executive Summary

Market Landscape

Market ecosystem

Value chain analysis

Market Sizing

Market definition

Market segment analysis

Market size 2019

Market outlook: Forecast for 2019 2024

Five Forces Analysis

Five forces summary

Bargaining power of buyers

Bargaining power of suppliers

Threat of new entrants

Threat of substitutes

Threat of rivalry

Market condition

Market Segmentation by Product

Market segments

Comparison by Product

Pulse oximetry Market size and forecast 2019-2024

Spirometry Market size and forecast 2019-2024

Capnography Market size and forecast 2019-2024

Market opportunity by Product

Customer landscape

Geographic Landscape

Geographic segmentation

Geographic comparison

North America Market size and forecast 2019-2024

Europe Market size and forecast 2019-2024

Asia Market size and forecast 2019-2024

ROW Market size and forecast 2019-2024

Key leading countries

Market opportunity by geography

Volume driver demand led growth

Market challenges

Market trends

Vendor Landscape

Vendor landscape

Landscape disruption

Competitive scenario

Vendor Analysis

Vendors covered

Market positioning of vendors

Dragerwerk AG Co. KGaA

General Electric Co.

Koninklijke Philips NV

Masimo Corp.

Medtronic Plc

Nihon Kohden Corp.

Nonin Medical Inc.

Shenzhen Mindray Bio-Medical Electronics Co. Ltd.

Smiths Medical Inc.

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 focuses 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/20200915006094/en/

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Kenneth Nana Kwame Asamoah, acting National Chairman of United Progressive Party (UPP) has described Ghanas Electoral Commissions (EC) charge of GH100,000 filing fees for presidential aspirants as outrageous.

According to him, such a high price for simply filing ones nomination to lead a political party in the 2020 elections embedded the monetization and corruption of the countrys election.

In fact, it is outrageous!! 2012 presidential was almost GH10,000, 2016, it came to GH50,000 and in 2020 it is now GH100,000. This is a way to sideline the smaller political parties in the country because they can not pay such a huge amount of money. I will also say it's a way of encouraging monetization in politics and if this issue is not addressed immediately then I am afraid the country will not move forward if this action continues".

He then urged Ghanaians especially the youth to be very vigilant.

"I will urge Ghanaians especially the youths to wake up, we have been limited and fooled for too long by these old people. This country's future belongs to the youth and we should not leave it to old people to run it as their family and friends affairs," he said.

The EC on Monday announced that Presidential aspirates desiring to contest the 2020 general election will be required to pay a filing fee of 100,000 while parliamentary candidates will pay 10,000.

The forms can be accessed online and had to be filled and filed between October 5 to October 9.
Over 111,000 worth of fraud stopped in North Wales by police and bank staff during first half of 2020

This article is old - Published: Wednesday, Sep 16th, 2020

111,756 of fraud in North Wales was stopped by police and bank branch staff in the first half of 2020 through the Banking Protocol, figures published have revealed.

A UK-wide scheme, the Banking Protocol enables bank branch staff to alert their local police force when they suspect a customer is being scammed.

Police will then visit the branch to investigate the suspected fraud and arrest any suspects still on the scene.

Branch staff are trained to spot the warning signs that suggest someone may have fallen for one of these scams and make an emergency call to the police.

In the first six months of this year 21 calls were made in North Wales through the scheme.

A range of scams that trick victims into withdrawing cash from their branch have been prevented through the scheme, including courier scams, romance fraud and rogue traders.

In one case an elderly female was prevented from losing 60,000 after she had received a phone call from fraudsters claiming to be from the Supreme Courts.

National data shows that customers helped through the Banking Protocol are typically aged over 65 while some were over 100 years old, demonstrating how these scams are often targeted towards the elderly and vulnerable.

Those assisted by the scheme are offered ongoing support to help prevent them falling victim to scams in future, including through referrals to social services, expert fraud prevention advice and additional checks on future transactions.

DC Rachel Roberts, financial abuse safeguarding officer, stated: Local branches are often the first place a victim will visit when they fall victim to a scam, so the banking protocol scheme is vital in preventing fraud and protecting the most vulnerable victims.

A significant amount of fraud is prevented because of this scheme as police are able to provide an immediate response to safeguard victims and prevent the loss of large sums of money whilst securing vital evidence.

I would, however, remind residents of the need to remain vigilant in protecting themselves against fraud by questioning anyone who makes contact asking for money unexpectedly, whether that is in person or over the phone.

Katy Worobec, Managing Director of Economic Crime, UK Finance, added: It is sickening that criminals are preying on elderly and vulnerable victims during this difficult time. Bank branch staff and police on the frontline are doing a heroic job in stopping these cruel scams and helping bring those responsible to justice.

Its vital that people always follow the advice of the Take Five to Stop Fraud campaign, and remember that a bank or the police will never ask you to transfer funds to another account or to withdraw cash to hand over to them for safe-keeping.
When the pandemic hit and we had forced shutdowns of hair salons, nail salons and medispas that used to be sort of routine for a lot of men and women, it caused us all to reflect on these aspects of our lives, these habits . . . and think, is this really necessary? Lee says. What am I doing this for? Am I doing this for perception of beauty? Am I doing this for self-care and relaxation?
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Motilal Oswal 's research report on Indraprastha Gas

As only essential service providers were allowed to operate over Apr-May during the COVID-led lockdown, Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL) witnessed two months of poor volumes. Although, recovery was better than expected from June. CNG volumes are currently at 85-90% of normal levels. However, the company expects volumes to normalize by the end of 4QFY21. Our model assumptions were in line with management commentary. We have built-in 70%/85% of pre-COVID volumes for 2Q/3QFY21 and normalization for 4QFY21. Maharashtra Natural Gas Ltd (MNGL) and Central UP Gas Ltd (CUGL) have seen volume impact at levels similar to IGL. CUGL (Kanpur) has seen better recovery, while MNGL (Pune) has been drastically impacted due to extended lockdown; thus, expect a lag of 1-2 months in recovery in MNGL v/s IGL. IGL and MNGL have achieved minimum work program (MWP) despite the COVID disruption. Management remains confident of achieving double-digit growth from next year. For FY22, we build-in volume growth of 14%, over FY20 levels, to 7.6mmscmd (v/s 6.4/4.6mmscmd in FY20/FY21). Growth strategies for IGL include improving CNG infrastructure at its GAs, increasing PNG penetration, and creating new synergies by bidding for new areas. Although, we believe virtual connect has drastically impacted intracity/intrastate travel. Schools remain closed, and the commercial segments are down as there is uncertainty regarding when traffic would return to restaurants and malls.

Outlook

We value the company at 24x FY22 adj. EPS of INR17 and add value from JV to arrive at target price of INR470. Maintain Neutral.

For all recommendations report, click here

Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts/broking houses/rating agencies on moneycontrol.com are their own, and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.

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Tamil Nadu was actively promoting the Information Technology sector with the objective of making it an Information and Communication Technology hub of South Asia, state minister R B Udhayakumar said.

The state was creating an ecosystem thereby leveraging entrepreneurship and was promoting a socially inclusive growth to achieve 25 percent share in the domestic ICT industry, the minister for revenue and disaster management and information technology said at the 19th edition of Connect 2020 organised by CII Tamil Nadu.

Listing out some investments received in the ICT sector, he said during the second edition of Global Investors Meet in January 2019, the state signed Memorandum of Understandings with various companies worth Rs 11,974 crore in the IT sector.

"The Government ofTamil Nadu is activelypromoting Information Technologyin the State with the objective of becoming the ICT hub of South Asia by creating a knowledge driven ecosystem," he said.

Software exports in Tamil Nadu increased by nearly 12 per cent to Rs 1. 39 lakh crore in 2019-20 as against Rs 1.23 lakh crore recorded the previous year, he said.

The Minister said the government was investing around Rs 500 crore to set up high speed internet facilities across the state under the TamilNet project.

The rural broadband project-Bharatnet was being implemented at an investment of Rs 1,815 crore through which 12,524 villages would be connected through optical fibre network, he said.

Udhayakumar said Chief Minister K Palaniswami unveiled an electronic hardware manufacturing policy on September 7 with an objective to increase the electronics industry output in the state to USD 100 billion by 2025.

The policy would undertake skill training for more than one lakh people by 2024 to meet the incremental human resource requirement projected by the National Skill Development Corporation in the electronics and hardware sector, he said.

The minister urged captains of industry to take advantage of the policy initiatives by the government in order to set up new IT industries in emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence and blockchain, thereby increasing employment opportunities in the state.

The Special Economic Zones established by the Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCOT) have contributed Rs 21,700 crore of exports in the IT sector and created 94,000 jobs, he said.
Alternatives to Microsoft Word abound all over the internet. Google even has its own version of a Word-compatible word processing software. But which is the best one? We've compiled a list to help you out.

Free word processor software provides users with an easy and straight-forward way of creating common documents without the need to buy a subscription or license.

Nowadays, we might manage without having a spreadsheet or slideshow program. However, text documents are fairly unavoidable. Though there are many free word-processing programs available out there, only few have at least most of the same features of paid-for software. Another factor to consider is compatibility. Say, you are using a non-Microsoft-Word-compatible software and a friend happens to use Microsoft's latest Office Suite. If what you're using doesn't have the ability to save your documents as a .docx file or something similar, there'll surely be issues with your friend opening the file you just sent.

Read also: Samsung Galaxy F might be the South Korean Giant's First Camera-First Phone

Alternatives to Microsoft Word candidates

Google Docs

Google Docs is a good alternative. It even has the ability to save your work automatically since it's mostly online-based. Additionally, if the file you're working on is being accessed regularly by other users, Google's alternative to MS Word is suitable since it allows collaborative working. Thing though is, like other alternatives to Microsoft Word, Google Docs has a limited selection of templates. Currently, there's no way to import content from other Google-based applications.

LibreOffice

LibreOffice is another alternative. It's a fork of Apache OpenOffice. The only difference is that the former receives more timely updates. It's word processor, Writer, is somewhat quite similar to Microsoft Word. Of all the alternatives to Microsoft Word, this one's the closest, minus of course the exclusive bells and whistles that MS Word offers.

Read also: The Best Android Phones of 2020: Unbeatable Performance and Awesome Features for Every Consumer

LibreOffice supports all common file formats. It can even export documents to PDF format without any need for third-party software.

WPS Office Free Writer looks similar to the modern version of Microsoft Word. Expect that there'll be little to no learning curve when you switch to one of the popular alternatives to Microsoft Word. It even has its own similar version of OneDrive though it only offers 1GB of free online storage.

A point to consider though is that WPS Office Writer comes with discrete ads. These can be, however, removed by upgrading to the software's premium version. Despite this ads-driven approach, this application is impressive and very much usable.

Writemonkey

Lastly, we have Writemonkey. It's a no-frills word processor that was created to help users in maximizing their output without having too much of an issue with formatting and editing. However, WriteMonkey only works with TXT files. This being said, you need to convert any "works in progress" before accessing them. The program also has hidden controls that are quite trickier to navigate. Most of the controls are accessed through a large right-click menu or alternatively, a huge collection of keyboard shortcuts.

Read also: IdeaPad Slim 7: Everything's Fancy Especially Its Remarkable Processor
She's expecting her first child with her fiance, Reece Hawkins.

And on Wednesday, London Goheen showed off a glimpse of her baby bump as she posed in a singlet and a tiny pair of booty shorts.

The 22-year-old American model shared a mirror selfie on Instagram as she said goodnight to her 524,000 followers.

Bumping along nicely! On Wednesday, model London Goheen flashed a hint of her baby bump in a singlet and booty shorts as she posed for a mirror selfie

'Night night y'all,' London captioned the image.

In the image, which was taken in her bathroom, London wears a blue singlet and shorts from Fashion Nova.

She stuns with her long dark hair out and over her shoulders, while showing off a deep golden tan.

Baby joy: London is expecting her first child with her, fiance Reece Hawkins (pictured)

It comes after she was slammed for charging her followers to see photos of her baby bump on OnlyFans.

London copped backlash on social media after revealing she was going to be charging people $14.99 per month on the subscription service.

OnlyFans is a subscription-based adult website where content can range from something as innocent as a suggestive selfie, all the way to hardcore pornography.

'She's literally charging people for her OnlyFans to view pics of her bump? What the f**k,' one follower commented on London's pregnancy announcement on Instagram.

'What the f**k': It comes after she was slammed for charging her followers to see photos of her baby bump on OnlyFans

Another wrote: 'Wow sis is really charging $9.99 per month to see her pregnancy photos lol.'

One fan said that while she's happy for influencer Reece, 25, and London, they just can't comprehend coughing up the cash for the images.

'Congratulations. I would love to keep track of everything for your pregnancy. Just like with your relationship to watch you guys grow together... But I don't want to pay for an OnlyFans...'

However, another follower said that posting to OnlyFans is a good idea, saying it's 'so much safer and more secure!!'

Pricey! London, who boasts 524,000 Instagram followers, copped backlash after revealing she was going to be charging fans $14.99 per month on the subscription service

'I have 100 per cent control on my profile': In a statement to Daily Mail Australia earlier this month, London defended her decision to show off her baby bump on OnlyFans

In a statement to Daily Mail Australia earlier this month, London defended her decision to show off her baby bump on OnlyFans.

'I have chosen to show detailed parts of my pregnancy on that platform because I've had to experience harassment and bullying for the last two years over my relationship with Reece,' she explained.

'I have 100 per cent control of my profile and what people have access to and comment on.

'I never said it was compulsory. People can choose if they wish to subscribe or not. If people don't like the idea of it or disagree with my decision then they don't have to be involved...

'We're just doing this to ensure a HAPPY POSITIVE FRUITFUL PREGNANCY.'

Earlier this month, Reece and London announced they were expecting their first child together, just weeks after getting engaged.

Reece shares two children with his ex-partner Tammy Hembrow: son Wolf, five, and daughter Saskia, four.
During a research stay in the highlands of Colombia conducted as part of her doctorate, Charlotte Hopfe, PhD student under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Thomas Scheibel at the Biomaterials research group at the University of Bayreuth, has discovered and zoologically described a new species of spider. The previously unknown arachnids are native to the central cordillera, not far from the Pacific coast, at an altitude of over 3,500 meters above sea-level. In the magazine PLOS ONE, the scientist from Bayreuth presents the spider she has called Ocrepeira klamt.

"I chose the zoological name Ocrepeira klamt in honour of Ulrike Klamt, my German teacher at high school. The enthusiasm with which she pursues her profession and the interest she shows in her students and in literature are an inspiration to me," says Charlotte Hopfe.

The cordillera in Colombia is famous for its unusually large variety of species. The habitats of these species are distributed at altitudes with very different climatic conditions, vegetation, and ecosystems. The Bayreuth researcher has collected and zoologically determined specimens of more than 100 species of spider in these habitats. In doing so, she was mainly in a region that has only been accessible to researchers since the end of civil war in Colombia in 2016. She discovered the new spider, which differs from related species in the striking structure of its reproductive organs, at altitudes of over 3,500 meters above sea-level. In the identification of this and many other spider specimens, Hopfe received valuable support from researchers at Universidad del Valle in Cali, Colombia, with which the University of Bayreuth has a research cooperation. Colombia has been identified as a priority country in the internationalization strategy of the University of Bayreuth, which is why it maintains close connections with several Colombian universities.

The study of spiders from regions of such various huge climatic and ecological variety may also offer a chance to find answers to two as yet unexplored questions. It is not yet known whether temperatures, precipitation, or other climatic factors influence the evolution of spiders, or the properties of their silk. For example, is the proportion of species with extremely elastic silk in the lowland rainforest higher than in the semi-desert? And it is also still unclear whether the properties of the silk produced by a species of spider are modified by climatic factors. Would a spider living in the high mountains, such as Ocrepeira klamt, produce the same silk if it were native to a much lower region of the cordillera? The answer to these questions could provide important clues as to the conditions under which unusual spider silks develop.

Along similar lines, it would also be interesting to explore whether there are spider silk proteins which, due to their properties, are even more suitable for certain applications in biomedicine and biotechnology than silk proteins currently known. "The greater the variety of spider silks whose structures and properties we know, the greater the potential to optimize existing biomaterials and to develop new types of biomaterials on the basis of silk proteins," Hopfe explains.

###

Research funding:

Charlotte Hopfe's research was funded by the German Academic Exchange Service and the German Academic Scholarship Foundation.
Madison: A Republican member of the Wisconsin Elections Commission advised a Green Party representative about who to hire as an attorney after its presidential nominee was denied ballot access in the key battleground state, records obtained by The Associated Press show.

The commission deadlocked 3-3 August 20 on whether to put Green Party presidential candidate Howie Hawkins on the ballot. All three Republicans were in favour, while all three Democrats were against.

US President Donald Trump tours an area damaged during demonstrations after a police officer shot Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Credit:AP

Hawkins asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court to put him on, but the court in a 4-3 ruling on Monday rejected that request. The court also lifted an order it issued last week pausing the mailing of absentee ballots while it considered the challenge.

The email string obtained Monday by the AP under an open records request shows that commission member Bob Spindell emailed Kevin Zeese, then-press secretary for Hawkins, less than 24 hours after the commission voted to keep him off the ballot. Zeese died of a heart attack at age 64 on September 5, the Green Party announced on September 6.
The president of San Francisco State University has defended her decision to allow a talk to go ahead featuring Palestinian militant, Leila Khaled, who was among those to hijack a flight to New York City in the 1970s.

Khaled is scheduled to speak at a virtual class event hosted by the university next week despite outrage and objections from Jewish students and groups who have said they are 'deeply distressed' by her inclusion.

The event, which is titled 'Whose Narratives? Gender, Justice and Resistance', has been organized by the university's Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Studies program.

The talk has been billed as a 'historic roundtable conversation with Palestinian feminist, militant and leader', according to one of the advertisements.

Khaled is a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which is a group designated by the US Department of State as a terror organization.

Lynn Mahoney, the president of San Francisco State University, has defended her decision to allow a talk to go ahead featuring Palestinian militant, Leila Khaled, who was among those to hijack a flight to New York City in the 1970s

The 76-year-old also took part in two plane hijackings in 1969 and 1970. She was arrested after the second flight on September 6, 1970, which was travelling from Amsterdam to New York City and rerouted to London.

She never faced charges and weeks later ended up being swapped in a prisoner exchange for civilian hostages that were taken by the terror group in a separate incident.

After facing objections from Jewish students over Khaled's scheduled appearance, the university's president Lynn Mahoney defended her decision to allow the talk to go ahead.

In an op-ed published by the Jewish News, Mahoney said she condemned hate but welcomed a diversity of opinions.

'San Francisco State University is again at the center of a national discussion about the boundaries and consequences of freedom of expression, this time brought about because two faculty members have invited Leila Khaled to participate in a virtual class discussion,' Mahoney said.

'Let me be clear: I condemn the glorification of terrorism and use of violence against unarmed civilians. I strongly condemn antisemitism and other hateful ideologies that marginalize people based on their identities, origins or beliefs.

The event, which is titled 'Whose Narratives? Gender, Justice and Resistance', has been organized by the university's Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Studies program. The talk has been billed as a 'historic roundtable conversation with Palestinian feminist, militant and leader', according to one of the advertisements.

Khaled is a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which is a group designated by the US Department of State as a terror organization

'At the same time, I represent a public university, which is committed to academic freedom and the ability of faculty to conduct their teaching and scholarship without censorship.

'Our university is among the most diverse in the nation, where students frequently encounter divergent viewpoints and world views, which plays an essential role in the development of the burgeoning minds of our students. It is our obligation to utilize moments such as these to heap on more learning, engage in more debate, and challenge viewpoints and assumptions.

'Rather than stifle speech, we must encourage robust questioning and dissent, and ensure that our students and faculty are free from retaliation or censorship for doing so.'

She said a recent meeting she had with students had 'enhanced my appreciation for the deeply painful impact of this upcoming presenter, as well as past campus experiences'.

In open letter to Mahoney, students affiliated with SF Hillel - a Jewish student life group associated with the school - said that while they appreciate academic freedom they also expect academic responsibility.

Rabab Ibrahim Abdulhadi, one of the professors who organized the talk, penned a Facebook post last month saying she was honored to host Khaled, who she described as a 'revolutionary Palestinian militant and feminist icon'

They wrote that they are 'still deeply distressed by this blatant violation of that responsibility' by allowing Khaled to speak.

'We are worried about the normalization of violent rhetoric. We live in a world with rising violent hate crime rates against Jews and other minority communities, where divisive rhetoric emboldens teenagers to take up arms and threaten acts of violence.

'Seeing someone who engaged in terror be held up as a role model, we are worried about the potential for hateful or dangerous backlash.'

Rabab Ibrahim Abdulhadi, one of the professors who organized the talk, penned a Facebook post last month saying she was honored to host Khaled, who she described as a 'revolutionary Palestinian militant and feminist icon'.

'I wanted to grow up to become another Leila Khaled,' the professor wrote. 'Her steadfastness, resilience and resistance has and continues to be a huge inspiration to me and to generations of Palestinian women.'

Abdulhadi acknowledged that 'Zionist groups will undoubtedly become bothered again'.

'They will ask the university to punish us for bringing the voices of marginalized communities to the fore and for shining a light on what oppression and resistance mean.'
In August 2020 the 35-year-old Russian destroyer (now called frigate) Marshall Shaposhnikov underwent sea trials after major refurbishment. About 20 percent of the structural elements of the ship were repaired or replaced. The engines and other mechanical components were refurbished or replaced and electronic systems upgraded. Weapons systems were also upgraded.

In most navies a destroyer is considered ready for the scrap yard after 30 years but the Russian warships that entered service in the 1980s spent much less time at sea after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. The navy could not afford to send many ships, even new ones, to sea very often.

By 2006 Marshall Shaposhnikov was one of only two Udaloy Class ships that still regularly went to sea. At least half a dozen Udaloys did so regularly during the 1990s. With no money for upgrades or even shipyard maintenance, most these ships eventually became unable to leave port.

For long distance cruises the Udaloy Class destroyers were usually accompanied by a supply ship and a sea going tug. During the Cold War this was standard practice when units of the Russian fleet deployed, and has on occasion proven useful. Pictures of Russian surface ships or submarines being towed back to port were common. The tugs still accompany Russian warships on long voyages.

During the 1990s the Russian Navy experienced a severe shortage of spare parts for the gas turbines common in destroyers and frigates. Decades ago the Soviets put the factory for these engines in Ukraine and, in the 1990s, independent Ukraine began charging serious bucks for spares. The Russians built their own plants to ease the problem but that took time. After the 2014 invasion of Ukraine Russia was cut off from any military equipment manufactured in Ukraine. This made the maritime turbine situation worse.

Twelve Udaloys entered service between 1980s and 1991. Three more were under construction in 1991 but two were scrapped before completion and the third one was finished and entered service in 1999. Udaloy 13 is currently out of action and awaiting refurbishment, which is expected to be completed in 2023. Three of the first twelve have been scrapped and Russia hopes to refurbish five Udaloys and keep them in service for another decade or so.

The 7,500-ton Udaloys were originally called destroyers and were meant to emulate the popular and numerous (35 built) American 8,000-ton Spruance class ships. Most of these were retired after 30 years and replaced by the current Burke class, which is still being built. These 8,100-9,500-ton ships were very effective and there will eventually be 82 of them.

Like the Spruance and Burke class ships, the Udaloys were armed to handle anti-ship, anti-aircraft and anti-submarine operations. With a top speed of 65 kilometers an hour and a crew of 300 the Udaloys were similar in capabilities to the Spruances, but not the Burkes. The last Spruance retired in 2005 and the Russians hope to upgrade six of the Udaloys to near-Burke capabilities. These will be the last Russian destroyers for a while because Russia cannot to build a new class of destroyers. Most new construction consists of smaller frigates and corvettes. The newly built frigates are not much more than 5,000 tons and the corvettes are less than half that.
PEORIA, Ill., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Middle ear infections are the leading cause of hearing loss, surgery and antibiotic use, especially in children who are misdiagnosed up to half of the time using the current technology. Knowing there is a need for better tools to diagnose and treat ear infections, OSF Ventures is joining a $5.2 million Series A investment in Champaign, Illinois based PhotoniCare Inc. and its TOMi Scope for non-invasive imaging of the middle ear.

Three other venture capital firms joined OSF Ventures in the investment round including i2E Ventures, Sony Corporation of America and Dreampact Ventures. The money will be used for further development of AI technology, and to ramp up sales, customer support, and provider reimbursement.

PhotoniCare recently received Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for the TOMi hand-held medical device. Since 2013, the medical device start-up has been developing technology invented at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign by the company's founders. Its new imager uses a novel application of light wave technology known as Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT).

The hand-held device allows physicians, for the first time, to directly visualize fluid in the middle ear where ear infections reside. What's most impressive  the imager works even in the presence of wax  providing objective data for a diagnosis and treatment course. Clinicians who have used the imager say it will revolutionize diagnosis and treatment of inner ear infections.

"Ear pain and concerns about hearing are one of the most common reasons parents take their children to the doctor. But, for decades, until now, technology to see inside the ear canal has not improved," according to Mayank Taneja, Director of Venture Investments, OSF Ventures. He added, "Surgery and antibiotics are not always needed and we're excited the TOMi Scope could reduce unnecessary care and costs for patients and families." Taneja points out the investment also fits with OSF Ventures' priorities of improving patient outcomes, enhancing patient experience and reducing the cost of health care.

Children can suffer from recurring ear infections for six to 12 months before they are referred to an ENT specialist, and are often prescribed increasingly potent antibiotics during this time. More than one million tube surgeries to reduce fluid and pressure in the inner ear are performed in the US alone every year.

Melinda Cooling, OSF Vice President Advance Practice Providers/Chief Clinician Executive Saint Gabriel Digital Health said OSF HealthCare will pilot the digitally enhanced otoscope at a few of its OSF Urgo urgent care locations to evaluate the equipment and workflow.

"This could be a game changer in improving our diagnosis and treatment so we're excited to partner with PhotoniCare," Cooling said. "The device also has a video screen and can connect to other devices for easy viewing that will let providers visually show patients and parents of small children the extent of the problem and provide education about the best remedies."

PhotoniCare co-founder & CEO Ryan Shelton is equally excited by the support from OSF HealthCare.

"At PhotoniCare we set out to solve the massive problem of frequent misdiagnosis of middle ear infections, and the overuse of antibiotics and referrals to surgery in children," said Shelton. "We are excited to have the support of OSF Ventures which has a reputation for successful investments and we appreciate the partnership that will pilot use of the TOMi Scope which will provide us with valuable feedback."

OSF HealthCare is an integrated health system owned and operated by The Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis, Peoria, Illinois. OSF HealthCare employs more than 23,600 Mission Partners in 147 locations, including 14 hospitals  10 acute care, four critical access  with 2,097 licensed beds, and 2 colleges of nursing throughout Illinois and Michigan. The OSF HealthCare physician network employs more than 1,500 primary care, specialists and advanced practice providers, who are part of the OSF Medical Group. OSF HealthCare, through OSF Home Care Services, operates an extensive network of home health and hospice services. It also owns Pointcore Inc., comprised of health care-related businesses and OSF HealthCare Foundation, the philanthropic arm for the organization.

OSF Ventures specializes in venture optimization, partnering financially and operationally in companies that improve patient outcomes and reduce costs to health care systems. OSF Ventures is a division of OSF HealthCare. More at www.osfventures.org.

Photonicare-Funded in 2013, PhotoniCare's mission is to revolutionize healthcare by providing physicians with better diagnostic tools, starting with the TOMi Scope the first and only otoscope to provide non-invasive imaging of the middle ear using a novel application of Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) to directly visualize and characterize fluid in the middle ear, a necessity for the diagnosis of middle ear infections. PhotoniCare has developed a patented imaging platform technology that provides growth opportunities beyond otology (study of the ear). Peer-reviewed studies show that the same handheld OCT technology can be used to image other areas, such as the anterior and posterior segments of the eye, the skin, and in the mouth.

PhotoniCare has received more than $6 million in support from the National Institutes of Health, most recently a Phase SBIR II award for work in artificial intelligence. In addition to numerous awards for innovation and entrepreneurship, in 2015, PhotoniCare was the winner of a grant from the National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation (NCC-PDI), an FDA-funded consortium led by Children's National Hospital. More at www.photoni.care

Contact: Colleen Reynolds | Media Relations Coordinator | (309) 825-7255

SOURCE OSF Ventures

Related Links

http://www.osfventures.org


A fruit-picking backpacker who punched another tourist while drinking with friends has been fined and warned to behave if he wants to stay in Australia.

Maka Leohiva Taliauli, 26, pleaded guilty to one count of assault occasioning bodily harm in the Bundaberg Magistrates Court on Monday.

The Tongan farm worker was fined $650 for fighting outside Childers' Federal Hotel after drinking with friends on July 11, News Mail reported.

Maka Leohiva Taliauli (pictured), 26, appeared before Bundaberg Magistrates Court when he pleaded guilty to one count of assault occasioning bodily harm on Monday

The court heard the man, who has picked fruit in Australia for four years, punched a backpacker from Vanuatu in a 'consensual' fight after being separated.

Taliauli knew the victim, who sustained a cut on his cheek and bruise below the eye from the blow to the right side of his face.

They were living in the same accommodation, which is no longer the case.

Taliauli's visa was set to expire this month, but border closures mean he cannot return to Tonga until they reopen.

The court heard the 26-year-old hoped to come back to Australia again after returning home.

Taliauli (pictured) and the victim, who sustained a cut on his cheek and bruise below the eye from the blow to the right side of his face, were known to each other at the time of the attack

In order for him to do that, Bundaberg Magistrate Andrew Moloney told Taliauli he must 'behave' himself.

'We need as many backpackers and workers who are going to pick the fruit as possible (because) we can't find enough, but to stay here and get that good work, you're going to have to behave yourself,' he said.

Mr Moloney added Taliauli was not going to jail but needed to understand his behaviour was serious misconduct.

'What makes it serious is you restarted it after it had ended and there are examples in our courts of people being in prison for this kind of stuff because people have come in for a second go,' he said.

Mr Moloney's comments followed Taliauli's employer appearing before the court and speaking highly of the defendant.

A conviction was not recorded but Taliauli was fined $650 for the incident.
President Muhammadu Buhari has unveiled the nations 60th Anniversary Logo with a pledge that his administration will continue to work towards greater inclusiveness.

Mr Buhari also called for the participation of all Nigerians.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the unveiling of the logo by the president was held shortly before the commencement of the 15th virtual meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) at the State House, Abuja on Wednesday.

The president described the logo as a product of choice from Nigerians who participated in the selection process.

He said that the Diamond Anniversary would be low key, in view of the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic.

Celebrating 60 years of independence really calls for pomp and pageantry, but the global COVID-19 pandemic, which has forced all nations to think and act differently, has also forced on us the imperative of a low-keyed celebration.

Operating within the limitations placed by the COVID-19 pandemic, we created an internet challenge for Nigerians to make a choice from a set of four pre-selected logos that will appropriately define theme.

Of these four options, Nigerians from all walks of life participated in making a choice and Im happy to let you know that the logo I will be unveiling is a product of choice from the Nigerian people.

Im informed that the selected option depicts our togetherness; a country of over 200 million people, whose natural talents, grits and passion glitter like the precious diamond we are.

As we celebrate this anniversary, this government will work towards greater inclusiveness and look forward to the participation of all Nigerians, he said.

ALSO READ: Buhari justifies borrowing to fund infrastructure

In his remarks, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha, who is also the Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Nigerias 60th Anniversary Celebration, said the unveiling of the logo marks the official take-off of Nigerias 60th anniversary.

Mr Mustapha narrated how the committee arrived at the selection of the Diamond Logo from 15 different possibilities designed by patriotic Nigerian firms.

He thanked the president for engaging members of the committee in the national assignment.

NAN reports that Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, some cabinet members and presidential aides witnessed the unveiling of the logo.

Ministers of Aviation, Hadi Sirika; Interior, Rauf Aregheshola; Finance, Zainab Ahmed and Justice, Abubakar Malami are expected to make presentations at the 15th virtual council meeting.

Other ministers are participating in the meeting from their respective offices in Abuja online.

(NAN)
The education authority of Anhui Province in E. China announced it would cancel the extra points for ethnic minorities in college entrance examinations, known as gaokao, from 2022. Experts and netizens welcomed the move, saying it will boost educational equality and national unity. Under the guidelines of the Ministry of Education, and five other ministries, Anhui's provincial education authority said on Friday that it had decided to cancel extra points in the gaokao for ethnic minority examinees in areas where ethnic minorities live in compact communities, adding that overseas Chinese and their dependents, Hong Kong, Macao people and their dependants will also no longer enjoy the special policy.

The authority explained that in 2020 and 2021, gaokao candidates who meet the criteria of the policy are still eligible for an additional five points, which is only applicable to the enrollment of colleges and universities in Anhui Province.

Observers said that over 40 years after the reform and opening-up in 1978, many ethnic minority areas have shaken off their economic and educational underdevelopment, so the adjustment of the policy is necessary.

Chu Zhaohui, a research fellow at the National Institute of Education Sciences, told the Global Times on Monday that some people in ethnic minority communities speak their own language, so it is necessary for them to have bonus points. However, in Anhui and some other provinces in East China, ethnic minorities have mixed with the Han people, and the social, economic and cultural conditions are basically the same. As a result, extra points for ethnic minorities creates a kind of injustice.

Anhui has no autonomous counties for ethnic minorities. Therefore, Anhui's decision is very likely to cancel the policy in the whole province, which is conducive to promoting gaokao equality, Chu said.

There are other regions in China that have applied new regulations regarding extra points for ethnic minorities in college entrance examinations. In 2016, Shandong Province in East China announced it would cancel extra points for ethnic minorities in mountainous areas and ethnic minority areas in 2017. The number of ethnic minority students who enjoyed the gaokao bonus points in Beijing has plummeted from over 6,000 to only four students in 2017, media reports said.

Anhui's cancelation of the bonus points became a hot topic on social media on Monday, with many internet users expressing support.

"Unfairness and inequality are the major causes of discrimination and antagonism, and Anhui's move could really help unite people from different backgrounds in the nation," an internet user said on Weibo, and the comment received a lot of likes. "Everyone should be equal in the gaokao. I hope it (Anhui's move) will be promoted nationwide," said another.

For provincial-level regions like Anhui, in which most of the ethnic minorities and the Han people live together, and the ethnic minority areas are only scattered in the areas below the county level, cancelation of gaokao bonus points for ethnic minorities might be a feasible option, said Chu.

From 1950 to 1978, China adopted the policy of preferential admission for ethnic minority students in the gaokao, and after 1978, it mainly implemented the policy of bonus points. Most of China's border areas, mountainous areas, rural areas and areas where ethnic minorities live in compact communities still have preferential policies for ethnic minority examinees to have bonus points in the gaokao.


President Donald Trump answered questions from uncommitted voters Tuesday night during a town hall hosted by ABC News from the battleground state of Pennsylvania.

MORE: Trump's ABC News town hall: Uncommitted voters ask questions in Philadelphia

Below, ABC News fact checks what Trump said throughout the 90-minute special, which was anchored by ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos.

COVID-19 is unlikely to go away on its own, despite Trump's insistence

TRUMP'S CLAIM: COVID-19 is "probably going to go away now a lot faster because of the vaccine. It would go away without the vaccine, George, but it's going to go away a lot faster with the vaccine," Trump said. Stephanopoulos asked, "It will go away without the vaccine?" To which Trump said, "Sure, over a period of time. Sure, with time it goes away."

FACT CHECK: This statement is misleading.

The virus is unlikely to go away definitively even with a vaccine. Similar to what has happened with past pandemic influenza viruses and the more mild human coronaviruses that cause "colds," experts believe that as the pandemic wanes, it may synchronize to a seasonal pattern with diminished severity over time due to mutations and reinfection.

Even so, its trajectory is difficult to predict as the virus is still being studied.

--Sony Salzman and Dr. Alexandra Lambert

PHOTO: Seven weeks before Election Day, ABC News will host a town hall with President Donald Trump and uncommitted voters. ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos will anchor the event in Philadelphia, Sept. 15, 2020. (Heidi Gutman/ABC News)

Trump is wrong to suggest there is no consensus on wearing masks

TRUMP'S CLAIM: "People don't want to wear masks. There are a lot of people [who] think the masks are not good."

FACT CHECK: This view does not reflect the scientific consensus.

The recommendation to wear a mask is now almost unanimous among health experts, including some of the president's own appointees, who have all been very vocal in encouraging the American people to wear masks to curtail the spread of the disease.

Both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization have issued statements urging people to wear masks in public settings.

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"There are people that don't think masks are good," Trump said, prompting Stephanopoulos to ask, "Who are those people?"

"Waiters," Trump said. "They come over and they serve you, and they have a mask. They're playing with the mask, so the mask is over and they're touching it, and then they're touching the plate. That can't be good."

But researchers from Stanford University found the opposite.

"Wearing a mask reminds people to continue to be cautious," they said. "With a mask on, you actually touch your face less."

In an interview last month on ABC News' "World News Tonight," Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said "a universal wearing of masks is one of five or six things that are very important in preventing the upsurge in infection."

"We know that during the first wave of the pandemic, those countries that implemented masking early were more successful than others at reducing the spread of the virus," the Stanford researchers wrote.

Duke University researchers have also concluded that "if 95 percent of people wear cloth masks when within 6 feet of other people in public, it will reduce COVID-19 transmission by at least 30 percent."

Trump noted that health experts had originally recommended against wearing a mask -- but his claim was misleading.

"If you look at Dr. Fauci's original statement, you look at a lot of people -- CDC -- they said very strongly, George, [they said], 'Don't wear masks,'" Trump said. "Then all of a sudden, they went to 'wear masks.'"

At the beginning of the pandemic, the CDC and the WHO, as well as Fauci and other top experts, initially discouraged wearing masks because of concerns that masks and other personal protective equipment were in short supply for health care workers who needed them.

MORE: 5 key takeaways from President Donald Trump's ABC town hall in Pennsylvania

While Fauci mainly cited the need to conserve masks, he did say in an interview with "60 Minutes" that wearing a mask may also have unintended consequences, such as leading people to touch their face more often to adjust them, spreading germs from their hands.

In early April, the CDC changed its recommendation about face coverings for the general public, based on evidence that a significant number of people who were asymptomatic or not yet feeling sick were transmitting the virus.

--Arielle Mitropoulos

Trump claims he didn't 'downplay' COVID-19 -- despite admitting to having done just that

TRUMP'S CLAIM: "I didn't downplay it. I, actually, in many ways, I up-played it, in terms of action. My action was very strong."

FACT CHECK: During the town hall, Trump said he "didn't downplay" the virus -- when in fact, he has admitted to just that.

"I wanted to always play it down," Trump said in a March 19 interview with veteran journalist Bob Woodward, according to CNN, which obtained an audio recording of the interview, and The Washington Post. "I still like playing it down, because I don't want to create a panic."

When the audio was first played last week, a reporter asked if he had misled the public in order to reduce panic.

"I think if you said, 'in order to reduce panic,' perhaps that's so," Trump replied. "I'm a cheerleader for this country.'

After Trump said Tuesday night he "didn't downplay it," Stephanopoulos pressed him: "Did you not admit to it yourself saying that you--?"

"Yeah, because what I did was, with China, I put a ban on," Trump said, referring to limitations he put on travel from China starting on Feb. 2. "With Europe, I put a ban on, and we would have lost thousands of more people had I not put the ban on," he added; the ban on certain travel from Europe began March 13.

"So that was called 'action,' not with the mouth but in actual fact," Trump said.

--Ben Gittleson

PHOTO: President Donald Trump participates in ABC News' town hall hosted by ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Sept. 15, 2020. (ABC News)

Black-white income gap persisted before pandemic, and Trump does not have 'tremendous African American support'

TRUMP'S CLAIM: Trump claimed that he had "tremendous African American support" and that, "had we not been hit by this horrible disease ... we would be in a position where I think income inequality would be different. It was really getting there. We were really driving it down -- I can only compare it to the past. The African American, the Black community, was doing better than it had ever done by far, both in terms of unemployment, homeownership, so many different statistics."

FACT CHECK: The income gap between Black and white Americans has persisted since 1970, despite Trump's comment that it had improved before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

Median Black household income was 61% of median white household income in 2018, according to the Pew Research Center.

The homeownership gap between Black and white individuals was also at the widest level in 50 years in 2017, according to a 2019 report from the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan think tank.

The president, in his pitch to the Black community, also said, "We have tremendous African American support. You've probably seen it in the polls, we're doing extremely well with African Americans."

But his claim runs counter to recent polling, in which he garners between 5% to 11% support among Black likely voters, according to polls from Fox News and Quinnipiac University.

The most recent polling is similar to where Trump stood in 2016, when 8% of African American voters supported him, according to exit polls. Trump saw slightly higher support in 2016 among this demographic compared to Mitt Romney when he ran on the Republican ticket for president in 2012, and received 6% of the Black vote.

--Stephanie Ebbs and Kendall Karson

MORE: 'I up-played it': In ABC town hall, Trump denies minimizing pandemic threat

Trump is suing to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, which guarantees coverage for preexisting conditions, and has not proposed an alternative

TRUMP'S CLAIM: "We're going to be doing a health care plan, very strongly, and protect people with preexisting conditions," Trump said. "We have other alternatives to Obamacare that are 50% less expensive and that are actually better," he added.

FACT CHECK: While Trump and Republicans have repeatedly insisted on protecting preexisting conditions, the Trump administration is currently in court seeking to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, which guarantees coverage for Americans with preexisting medical conditions.

Republicans, urged on by Trump, sought to repeal the Affordable Care Act in 2017, falling several votes short in the Senate. They sought to replace the program with an alternative that included multiple options, which experts said offered skimpier preexisting condition protections than Obamacare.

These short-term and association health plans, alternatives promoted by the Trump administration, while cheaper, have fewer benefits for consumers, including weaker preexisting condition protections.

Trump has also repeatedly promised his own health care proposal that has failed to materialize; in June of 2019, he told Stephanopoulos it would be unveiled within two months, and said as recently as last month that it would be released in "two weeks."

Trump again claimed the health care plan was forthcoming -- but offered no specific details or timeline.

"I have it already, and it's a much better plan for you," he said on Tuesday.

--Ben Siegel

Trump exaggerates number of confirmed judges

TRUMP'S CLAIM: "At the end of my first term, we're going to have close to 300, maybe over 300 new federal judges, including Court of Appeal, two Supreme Court justices."

FACT CHECK: It is true that the Republican-controlled Senate has confirmed a large number of judicial nominations in Trump's first term, but 300 is an exaggeration.

To date, 210 of Trump's judicial nominees, including two Supreme Court justices, over 50 circuit court judges and over 150 district court judges, have been confirmed.

There are currently 74 judicial vacancies, with 48 nominations pending.

Judicial nominations require Senate confirmation, so it is highly unlikely that all vacancies would be filled before the conclusion of Trump's first term.

--Allison Pecorin

PHOTO: President Donald Trump speaks during ABC News' town hall hosted by ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Sept. 15, 2020. (ABC News)

Wall Street does not represent Main Street

TRUMP'S CLAIM: Trump touted the success of the stock market, which has rallied after early coronavirus losses in March, as proof that Americans are doing better than they were doing before the pandemic came."

FACT CHECK: Trump's claim wrongly suggests Wall Street is a strong indicator of how well Main Street is doing.

Look, we're having a tremendous thing in the stock market, and that's good for everybody, Trump said during the town hall.

Stocks are owned by everybody," he said. "I mean, you know, they talk about the stock market is so good. That's 401(k)s."

Trump claimed the benefits of the stock market directly benefit everyone, when in fact the vast majority of stocks are owned by the rich. The wealthiest top 10% of American households own over 80% of stocks, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, and almost half of U.S. households dont own any stock at all, including 401(k)s, according to the Survey of Consumer Finances.

Meanwhile, there are other indicators that more clearly paint a picture of Americans' economic situation as a result of the coronavirus, even as the stock market excels. The unemployment rate skyrocketed from around 3% pre-pandemic to nearly 15% in April. It now sits at 8.4%, meaning more than half of the Americans who lost their jobs are still out of work. Consumer confidence is also down -- a measure that show Main Street is struggling even if Wall Street is staying afloat.

--Cheyenne Haslett

Trump misrepresents impact of Biden's tax plan

TRUMP'S CLAIM: "If you look at his policies ... he wants to raise everybody's taxes."

FACT CHECK: The Democratic nominee for president, former Vice President Joe Biden, has said he wants to raise taxes on high earners.

When asked about his tax plan in August, former Vice President Joe Biden told World News Tonight Anchor David Muir," "I will raise taxes for anybody making over $400,000."

Biden added, no new taxes would be levied for anyone making under $400,000.

However, according to an analysis by the nonprofit Tax Policy Foundation, under Biden's plan, taxes do appear to increase by a small amount across the board. But 93% of increases would be shouldered by the top quintile of taxpayers, according to the analysis.

The Tax Policy Foundation found that the Biden tax plan "would lead to 7.8 percent less after-tax income for the top 1 percent of taxpayers, 1.1 percent lower after-tax income for the top 5 percent, and around 0.6 percent less after-tax income for other income quintiles."

--Beatrice Peterson

PHOTO: Registered nurse Laura Galvas asks President Donald Trump a question during ABC News' town hall hosted by ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Sept. 15, 2020. (ABC News)

Trump misrepresents Republican police reform bill

TRUMP'S CLAIM: "We have a great senator named Tim Scott, from South Carolina, and he had a plan that was very much of a compromise plan, but it was a plan that everybody pretty much agreed to."

FACT CHECK: Trump mischaracterized Republican Sen. Tim Scott's policing reform proposal, unveiled in June and voted down about a week later, as a "compromise plan."

Democrats did not agree with many of the proposals in the Scott bill, and many, including Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., argued the bill did not go far enough to "meet the moment" following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who was killed by police in Minneapolis.

Democrats offered their own, more-sweeping police reform proposal to counter Scott's. The Democratic proposal passed the House, but has not been taken up for a vote by the Senate.

Scott's proposal differed from the Democratic proposal in several key ways: The Democrats hoped to ban the use of chokeholds, which the Scott proposal did not do. The Republican bill also did not eliminate qualified immunity for police officers or ban "no-knock" warrants, both measures Democrats sought.

The Republican bill offered cities incentives for ending the use of chokeholds but did not ban them entirely, establish a 19-member Commission on the Social Status of Black Men and Boys, and included a proposal to beef up funding for popular Community Oriented Policing programs. It also imposed stiff penalties for any officer who knowingly alters a police report in his or her favor.

While Trump claimed that "a lot of Democrats agreed to" the bill, only three voted to advance it to debate on the Senate floor, effectively killing the legislation.

--Allison Pecorin

Trump doesn't tell full story of crime by focusing on cities' Democratic leadership

TRUMP'S CLAIM: "This is a Democrat problem, George. ... This is largely a Democrat problem if you just take a look at the list. Every Democrat city -- almost, not all, but a lot of them, certainly in the top 25, even if you go the top 50 -- almost every city is run by the Democrats. People don't respect our police."

FACT CHECK: Trump repeatedly argued that cities experiencing surges in violent crime are all run by Democratic leaders and that crime is "largely a Democrat problem."

The 20 cities with the highest rates of violent crime per capita are currently led by Democratic mayors, with the exception of Jacksonville, Florida, which is run by a Republican, and two other cities that are run by independents, according to a review of the FBI's uniform crime report from the first six months of 2019, the most recent national data set focusing on violent crime reports.

It is misleading to state, however, as Trump did in the town hall, that rising crime is primarily driven by the Democratic leadership in their respective states.

Pres. Trump claims Democratic-run cities are more "troubled" than Republican ones: "They're Democrat-run. And that's Biden."@GStephanopoulos: "Mr. President, you're president for those cities right now." Trump: "I can only do what I'm allowed to do." https://t.co/novyV8AWRR pic.twitter.com/dgSieUhF9I  ABC News (@ABC) September 16, 2020

Cities with higher population and urban areas are certainly represented predominantly by Democrats, but the rise in violent crime across the nation has not been restricted to those that are run by Democrats. The insinuation of a Democratic leader as the cause of the rising crime is not an accurate claim. High population areas and urban areas, run by leaders on both ends of the political spectrum, have historically had higher reported instances of violent crime.

For instance, the Gun Violence Archive, which tracks mass shootings nationwide, last month reported that the country was on pace for nearly 600 mass shootings, which would be the highest total tallied by the group in its history. That predicted total was not a summation of only Democratic-run cities but as a result of the rising crime rate nationwide, including cities and towns led by Republican officials.

--Alexander Mallin and Terrance Smith

Trump paints misleading picture of crime in New York City

TRUMP'S CLAIM: "New York was a very safe city. Rudy Giuliani did a fantastic job. The city was safe and then, all of a sudden, we have a mayor -- he starts cutting the police force, and crime is up 100%, 150%. I saw one form of crime up 300%."

FACT CHECK: To bolster his baseless claim that Democrats are the driving factor for increases in crime in certain cities, Trump pointed to his hometown of New York City -- where he incorrectly argued that under Mayor Bill de Blasio's leadership crime has worsened since the tenure of former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who left office in 2001 and now serves as Trump's personal attorney.

The numbers tell a different story, though, with crime rates under Giuliani much higher than they are now.

While New York City has seen a spike in homicides and shooting incidents this year  a rise that preceded cuts to the New York Police Department  statistics from the NYPD show that totals for most major crimes still remain well below where they were in 2001, Giuliani's last year in office.

Giuliani indeed oversaw a significant decrease in crime levels during his tenure, but a side-by-side comparison between last year's crime totals and the totals in 2001 show a dramatic difference.

In 2001, there were 649 murders, 27,873 robberies, 23,020 felony assaults and 32,694 burglaries in New York. Last year, there were 319 murders, 13,369 robberies, 20,695 felony assaults and 10,778 burglaries.

While the most recent crime statistics in New York City show that murders are up 35% and burglaries are up 41% in comparison with this time last year, totals for both by the end of the year are still not on track to exceed the totals from 2001.

--Alexander Mallin

Trump says 'we want people to come,' but legal immigration down, too

TRUMP'S CLAIM: "We want people to come into our country ... but we want them to come in through a legal system.

FACT CHECK: Trump campaigned on the promise to crack down on both legal and illegal immigration.

Under his administration, levels of legal immigration have decreased using such measures as caps on refugee admissions and sharp restrictions on people making asylum claims at the border.

Fighting tears, a new U.S. citizen who just lost her mother, asks, What would you change to make more people like me and like her to become citizens? Trump: We want people to come into our countrybut we want them to come in through a legal system. https://t.co/5rferlTBvn pic.twitter.com/vAvcv3TAKt  ABC News (@ABC) September 16, 2020

Last year, the administration set a refugee cap of 18,000 people, which was down from the 110,000 limit set by Obama in 2016. The U.S. no longer leads the world in refugee admissions, according to a Pew Research Center report.

The president has ordered the suspension of several visa types this year, including employment-based visas, citing the health crisis.

--Anne Flaherty and Quinn Owen

Trump claims to run Obamacare well -- but cut funding, added limits

TRUMP'S CLAIM: "We have run it so much better than Obama ran it."

FACT CHECK: This claim grossly misrepresents how the Trump administration has administered the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, which the administration is currently in court seeking to dismantle.

Trump has cut funding for Obamacare advertising and navigators that help people obtain health care coverage, and limited enrollment periods for Americans.

The administration in March decided against opening up a window for people to sign up for health care at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

--Benjamin Siegel

PHOTO: President Donald Trump participates in ABC News' town hall hosted by ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Sept. 15, 2020. (ABC News)

Trump overly optimistic on vaccine timing, exaggerates availability

TRUMP'S CLAIM: "We're very close to having a vaccine. ... We're within weeks of getting it. You know, could be three weeks, four weeks but we think we have it."

FACT CHECK: Trump's timeline is overly optimistic and exaggerates how soon most Americans will be able to get vaccinated.

Several potential COVID-19 vaccines are currently going through phase III of trials, with pharmaceutical companies enrolling tens of thousands of participants to test the vaccines' safety and efficacy before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will approve their general use.

Top U.S. government public health officials and other experts have said that it's possible if everything goes well -- but unlikely -- that vaccine trials will have enough clear and compelling data will be available by the end of October or beginning of November. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's foremost infectious disease expert, has said he thinks there will be a "safe and effective vaccine" by "the end of this calendar year."

But even once that data becomes available for one or more of the vaccines, it will still need to be reviewed by the FDA and an independent advisory committee.

At that point, if the FDA determines the data shows the vaccine is safe and effective, it's possible the agency will grant approval for its use, either in a limited manner with an "emergency use authorization," or for more broad use. At that point, the vaccine is expected to be first given to high-priority groups, like health care workers or those living in nursing homes. It will take months before the wider U.S. general population receives it, according to public health officials.

--Ben Gittleson

Trump cites coronavirus excess mortality, an unreliable international comparison

TRUMP'S CLAIM: "We're starting to get very good marks if you look at what we've done compared to other countries with the excess mortality, the excess mortality rate." // "Excess mortality rate -- its compared to Europe. Compared to other places, it's about 25% better. In one case, it's over 60% better. And we also have a very big country -- you know, this is -- we're talking about a lot bigger than most countries. "

FACT CHECK: "Excess mortality" is the number of total deaths in a period of time compared with the number of expected deaths.

It's a poor comparison to make, since it doesn't reflect differences in demographics, population density and the state of the pandemic in each place.

The available data is poor, but using the midpoint of an estimate from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and EuropeMOMO data adjusted for population -- the latter of which is missing large parts of Europe -- the rate is about the same for the United State and Europe, according to an analysis by FactCheck.org.

Another source, the "Human Mortality Database," shows that Europe's rate -- not adjusted for population -- is 32% higher, but accounting for population, it's actually 32% lower, according to the FactCheck.org analysis.

Due to the unavailability of strong data, demographic differences, uneven timing of outbreaks, and other factors, Trump's comparison is misconstrued.

--Ben Gittleson

Trump falsely states that more testing accounts for US coronavirus rate

TRUMP'S CLAIM: Stephanopoulos noted that the United States had just 4% of the world's population but more than 20% of its COVID-19 cases and more than 20% of its COVID-19 deaths. Trump replied: "Well, we have 20% of the cases because of the fact that we do much more testing. If we wouldn't do testing you wouldn't have cases. You would have very few cases."

FACT CHECK: While the U.S. has conducted more COVID-19 tests than any other country, Trump is incorrect to say that the level of testing accounts for the country's proportionately higher number of confirmed cases, which he has repeatedly claimed for months.

Fundamentally, cases of COVID-19 exist in a population whether or not testing picks them up.

More testing will, of course, identify more cases.

But according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, there are at least several countries that have conducted more testing per capita than the U.S., but also have fewer cases per capita than the U.S. does -- such as Australia, Russia and the United Arab Emirates. Those figures reflect all-time averages of daily tests conducted per capita -- and the daily percentage of tests that come back positive, which is known as the "positivity rate" or the "percent positive rate."

Despite having one of the highest rates of tests per capita, the U.S. faces the largest outbreak in the world and new cases continue to trend upward in many states. The percent positivity in the U.S. remains high at 8%, when other countries with high testing figures report a significantly lower percent positivity rate, according to Johns Hopkins.

Trump is mistaken to suggest the higher reported rate of cases in the United States is purely a result of the increased testing.

--Ben Gittleson and Arielle Mitropoulos

Editor's Note: This article has been updated to include a fact check of Trump's claims about crime in New York City.

Trump's ABC News town hall: Fact-checking the president's answers originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
A moose subspecies native to four upper Midwestern states, including Michigan, will continue to be left off the federal Endangered Species List.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Tuesday ruled that the northwestern subspecies is stable, The Associated Press reports. The moose are historically found in Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin. The agency also said the subspecies has no notable biological differences from moose across the U.S.-Canada border where the population is healthy.

We have to find those moose are distinct from other moose in the same region, and we could not find that, said agency spokeswoman Georgia Parham.

Environmental groups that filed the 2016 petition seeking federal Endangered Species Act protections for moose are shocked by the agencys decision and may file an appeal or new petition, said Collette Adkins, a biologist and attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, which filed the petition with Honor the Earth.

The groups filed for federal protections after moose in Minnesota suffered a decade-long steep decline, the report said. The state has the largest population of the subspecies with about 3,150 animals, which has been relatively stable for nine years, according to an aerial study conducted last winter. However, thats still down more than 50% since 2006.

Scientists said the decline in the Minnesota population could be attributed to parasites, disease and wolf predation. The environmental groups also blame a warming climate, The AP reports.

Minnesota and Michigan both list the moose subspecies as an animal of special concern. However, Michigans population is much smaller: about 600.

RELATED: Moose skeleton on Michigans Isle Royale gives researchers unusual discovery

Inclusion on the federal list would make it illegal to hunt the species and could mean habitat protections and federally funded research, The AP reports. Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota do not allow hunting the moose; North Dakota does.

Michigan has two moose herds in the Upper Peninsula. The population in the western U.P. was airlifted from Canada in the 1980s and is growing steadily at a rate of about 2% annually, according the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. The most recent biennial survey conducted in early 2019 counted 509 moose. The native eastern U.P. population is estimated to be fewer than 100.

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(Newser)  A white Nebraska bar owner says he was acting in self-defense when he shot and killed a young Black protester in the spring on the streets of Omaha, claiming the protester had put him in a chokehold. A grand jury, however, felt otherwise. Ex-Marine Jake Gardner, 38, was charged on Tuesday with manslaughter and three other felonies in the shooting death of 22-year-old James Scurlock on May 30, per the Omaha World-Herald. On the night in question, which the Washington Post notes came just five days after the killing of George Floyd, Gardner and his father reportedly confronted Scurlock outside The Gatsby bar during downtown demonstrations. Surveillance video shows Scurlock and Gardner exchanging words after Scurlock's friend shoved Gardner's father to the ground. Per cellphone video, Gardner at one point revealed a gun in his waistband. A female protester then tackled him.

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Gardner then allegedly fired two "warning shots," and the female protester and friend ran off. Scurlock was then said to have jumped on Gardner's back, prompting Gardner to fire over his shoulder, killing Scurlock. The Douglas County attorney initially opted not to prosecute Gardner, but special prosecutor Fred Franklin says evidence soon emergedincluding Gardner's own texts and social media poststhat "can reasonably be construed as an attempt to use a firearm for purposes of killing someone." The World-Herald reports, for example, that he'd posted on Facebook earlier that weekend that he planned to "pull military-style firewatch" at his bar. He was also charged Tuesday with attempted first-degree assault, making terroristic threats, and weapon use. Gardner, who will have a warrant put out for his arrest if he doesn't turn himself in, could see up to 95 years behind bars if he's convicted. (Read more fatal shooting stories.)
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 16) - A new system of providing for more stable incomes for drivers of public utility vehicles will be launched next month by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board.

Instead of scrambling for a big number of passengers on which drivers of buses and jeepneys derive their pay, the new system will calculate payments based on rates that the LTFRB will set for the distance and the routes that the drivers will cover over a particular period.

The LTFRB calls it the "net service contracting scheme" under which the government will pay drivers a salary that will cover the cost of service rendered per kilometer by buses and jeepneys on specific routes.

For buses and modern jeepneys, operators will keep the fare earned in a day, while the government subsidizes their cost of service which includes the drivers salary, LTFRB chairperson Martin Delgra said on Wednesday.

In the case of traditional jeepneys, their drivers will take home the fare earned at the end of the day, while the government covers the cost of service'

Delgra said that instead of competing for passengers, drivers will have to meet a schedule to cover the time they are picking up and dropping commuters. They will be expected to arrive and leave an area at a specific time under the new system, he said.

Citing a 2014 study by the aid-giving Japan International Cooperation Agency, Delgra said that many buses plying in Metro Manila are only around 35-percent efficient due to the old practice of running on longer routes and stopping for longer periods to wait for passengers.

Ang practice kasi..ang hinahabol mo tao, hindi oras. Kung walang tao, maghihintay ka ng pasahero. Yung bus sa likod nakapila, tas may pila sa likod nya nakapila, kasi nag-iintay ang nasa unahan, nag-uunahan sa pasahero, Delgra told CNN Philippines in a phone interview.

[Translation: The practice is you go after people, not the time. If there are no people, you will wait for passengers. The number of buses in line subsequently multiplies, because the first one is waiting for passengers. They are all wanting to get passengers.]

He added, What were saying is pag nakita mo yan sa EDSA, pagbaba ng pasahero, its only when you unload and load the passenger and then you move. Mapuno ka man o hindi, alis ka na.

[Translation: What we are saying is once you unload a passenger in EDSA, thats also the only time you unload and load passengers and then you move. Whether you maximized the seating capacity or not, you should move out of the way already.]

Delgra said the government selected the net service contracting scheme to be able to cover more PUV drivers, based on the allotted funds under the Bayanihan 2 law.

If its going to be net and you are only subsidizing a part of that service, the cost of kilometer will be lower, and since the amount for this program under Bayanihan 2 is just a total of P5.58 billion we would be able to cover more PUV that will be under this program, he said.

Also, may limitasyon sa batas na sinabi doon that P3-billion is supposed to go to PUJ [public utility jeepney] drivers (Also there is a limitation in our law, wherein it states that P3-billion is supposed to go to PUJ drivers). Basically, we are trying to subsidize drivers income in relation to the overall cost of running the service, added Delgra.

The LTFRB has yet to finalize the guidelines to determine the system, the routes and the number of vehicles that will be covered. But since a big portion of the funds are for PUJ, Delgra said majority of those who may be included are jeepney drivers.

The LTFRB is also finalizing the information technology system for monitoring the drivers performance.

Definitely there will be GPS kasi thats how we will be able to monitor all the units that will be running. For example, 14 hours operating time, they need to commit to that. For example, they leave at 5 a.m., 14 hours will be 7 p.m., if they fall short aalis na sila daan 5 p.m. they will not be able to get the full amount, Delgra said.
The "Europe Wipes Market Forecast to 2030 COVID-19 Impact and Regional Analysis by Type; Distribution Channel" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The European wipes market accounted for US$ 3,623.1 Mn in 2018 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.4% during 2019-2030, to account to US$ 12,674.0 Mn by 2030.

Apart from maintaining personal and household hygiene, wet tissues and wipes also exhibit antibacterial, exfoliating, and moisturizing properties. Moreover, rising concerns related to personal hygiene and increasing influence of social media and other promotional media have increased consumer awareness about health and hygiene products. This has significantly driven the demand for personal care products such as baby wipes, facial wipes, moist flushable wipes, and household wipes. However, disinfectant wipes are mainly used in the medical industry, hotels and restaurants, schools, and colleges for disinfecting the surfaces. Thus, disinfectant wipes and sanitizers are used on a large scale as a precautionary measure to fight against the currently ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Rising awareness among the consumers in the developed and developing countries about the importance of hygienic products have propelled the demand for wipes in North America. Increased use of mobile phones, computers, and laptops has helped in the growth of online, both in strength and volume.

The Europe wipes market is segmented based on type as baby wipes, facial wipes, moist flushable wipes, household wipes, and others. The baby wipes segment is estimated to hold the largest share of the Europe wipes market by 2027, whereas the household wipes segment is estimated to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period.

The European wipes market is sub segmented into Germany, the UK, Russia, France, Italy, and the Rest of Europe. Germany holds the largest share of the market, and the wipes market in UK is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Germany is considered as an attractive market for wipes. Consumers in Germany value hygiene at their houses. Thus, they highly demand personal care and cleaning products that can help them maintain a clean and hygienic home, including wipes, are in high demand. The wipes market in France is growing since the past few years due to the rising concern of infectious disease. Growing concerns among consumers related to the potentially toxic components in wipes are driving sales of medically specialized intimate wipes, such as brands sold in pharmacies, which benefit from having a healthier image. Further, wipes are increasingly becoming part of consumers' daily routine in Italy. Rising concern regarding infectious disease among the people has propelled the demand for wipes in the country. Baby wipes, facial wipes, moist flushable wipes, and household wipes, etc., are popular among the Italian consumers. Wipes with antibacterial and disinfectant properties are increasingly gaining high popularity in the UK. This has further propelled the demand for antibacterial wipes in the UK. Consumers are increasingly focused on the importance of living in clean and hygienic homes. This has further led to a surge in demand for household wipes in the country. The growth of the wipes demand in Russia is mainly supported by the rising consumer interest in personal care and hygiene products. The busy and hectic lifestyle of the consumers is attracting the Russian consumer toward convenient and handy personal care products, such as baby wipes and facial wipes. The Rest of Europe includes countries such as Spain, Italy, Turkey, Poland, Austria, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

Key report features:

Highlights key business priorities in order to assist companies to realign their business strategies.

The key findings and recommendations highlight crucial progressive industry trends in the Europe wipes market, thereby allowing players to develop effective long term strategies.

Develop/modify business expansion plans by using substantial growth offering developed and emerging markets.

Scrutinize in-depth the market trends and outlook coupled with the factors driving the market, as well as those hindering it.

Enhance the decision-making process by understanding the strategies that underpin commercial interest with respect to products, segmentation and industry verticals.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Introduction

2. Key Takeaways

3. Research Methodology

4. Wipes Market Landscape

5. Europe Wipes Market Key Industry Dynamics

6. Wipes- Europe Market Analysis

7. Europe Wipes Market Analysis By Type

8. Europe Wipes Market Analysis By Distribution Channel

9. Europe Wipes Market Country Analysis

10. Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Europe Wipes Market

11. Company Profiles

Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc.

Procter Gamble

The Clorox Company

Contac Inc.

Diamond Wipes International Inc.

DuPont de Nemours, Inc.

Rockline Industries

Kimberly-Clark Corporation

Nice-Pak Products, Inc.

S.C. Johnson Son

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/2fnxoe

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

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Space debris  detritus orbiting Earth from satellites  is a growing problem which threatens the future of human space exploration.

To tackle this issue, the Business Secretary Alok Sharma has announced 1million in funding, via the UK Space Agency (UKSA), for seven space-cleaning programmes.

Astronomers are concerned that high-value craft in low-Earth orbit, such as the International Space Station (ISS), could be destroyed by a rogue piece of debris.

Currently, there is no way of accurately monitoring and tracking small pieces of debris which could be hurtling towards a multi-million pound satellite.

Scroll down for video

This infographic reveals which countries owns the most space debris. It reveals Russia is responsible for 14,403 pieces and the US comes in second with 8,734

Seven programmes to clear space debris Lumi Space Working on photonic technologies to spot items in orbit and tell if they are junk or satellite. Deimos This project focuses on the design, prototyping and demonstration of a Low-Cost Low-Earth Orbit Optical Surveillance Sensor. A '40x40 squared degrees one-eye' prototype will be built. In the final solution, '9 eyes' will be combined. Lift Me Off Project will create an AI-powered algorithm that can differentiate between junk and actual satellites. D-Orbit UK Tweak and repurpose existing sensors to spot and identify objects moving around a spacecraft. Fujitsu and Amazon Fujitsu and Amazon will develop machine-learning methods to integrate planning for space debris into existing missions. Mr Sharma said this will improve the commercial viability of missions that seek to remove debris. NORSS The project will rapidly design and deploy an extremely low-cost prototype optical camera system to track objects in Low Earth Orbit. Andor Will make 'significant improvements' to Andor's existing Balor very large area (17 megapixel / 70mm diagonal) scientific CMOS camera. The proposed project will significantly increase Balor's sensitivity resulting in considerably faster imaging and/or enabling the tracking of smaller in-orbit debris. Advertisement

It is believed there are around 160million pieces of debris floating around Earth, trapped in our planet's gravity and travelling at 18,000mph.

Of these, almost one million are believed to be larger than 1cm. If one of these were to collide with a satellite the damage would be devastating.

Not only would it destroy the craft, it would likely set off a chain reaction, seeing innumerable satellites knocked out of action.

This would have catastrophic implications for life on Earth, as modern society relies on satellite services for GPS, mobile communications and weather forecasting.

'Millions of pieces of space junk orbiting the earth present a significant threat to UK satellite systems which provide the vital services that we all take for granted - from mobile communications to weather forecasting,' says Business Secretary Alok Sharma.

He told The Telegraph that action to clean up space must be taken now, before it is too late.

'If we don't take action now, low-Earth orbit could become too perilous for satellites or even humans on the International Space Station,' he said.

Currently, there is no way to remove space debris, and only the biggest items in orbit can be spotted.

It is hoped the 1million funding will help make this possible from the UK.

It has been allocated to seven different projects, each with a unique plan to improve our understanding of our mucky orbit.

One project, dubbed 'Life Me Off', will create an AI-powered algorithm that can differentiate between junk and actual satellites.

Another, called Lumi Space, will use lasers to track and map the objects.

These seven made the cut from a total of 26 proposals, the UKSA says.

Graham Turnock, Chief Executive of the UK Space Agency said: 'People probably do not realise just how cluttered space is.

'You would never let a car drive down a motorway full of broken glass and wreckages, and yet this is what satellites and the Space Station have to navigate every day in their orbital lanes.

'In this new age of space megaconstellations the UK has an unmissable opportunity to lead the way in monitoring and tackling this space junk.

'This funding will help us grasp this opportunity and in doing so create sought after expertise and new high skill jobs across the country.'

To tackle the issue of space debris, the Business Secretary Alok Sharma (pictured on Monday arriving in Downing Street) has announced 1million in funding, via the UK Space Agency (UKSA), for seven space-cleaning programmes.

While the government funding will help astronomers identify space junk and avoid collisions, plans are also afoot to actively remove space debris.

Swiss firm ClearSpace received the go-ahead from ESA for a 100million mission to build a space 'tow truck' designed to remove dead satellites from Earth's orbit.

British engineers at aviation giant Airbus created a space harpoon that could help capture rogue satellites and pull them back down to Earth.

The 3ft (95 cm) missile would be fired from a 'hunter-killer' spacecraft, which would pull it  and its prey  back using a cord.

A Russian startup hopes a foam-spewing spacecraft that catches debris like a spider web and tosses them into Earth's atmosphere to burn up could be the solution.

StartRocket is developing a Foam Debris Catcher, which is a series of small and autonomous satellites that collects and de-orbits space junk using a sticky polymer foam.
Time to set up new strategies to brace for change



The United States began to impose additional sanctions on Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies Sept. 15. The sanctions ban the supply of semiconductors made with U.S. equipment, software or design to the Chinese firm without prior approval from the U.S. government. This shows the United States is determined to remove Huawei from the market.



The U.S. move is expected to have a far-flung impact on the global chip market. It will also deal a blow to Korean semiconductor manufacturers Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, which earned 3.2 percent and 11.4 percent, respectively, of their chip revenue from exports to Huawei last year. From the short-term perspective, the Korean companies will suffer losses due to the sanctions.



On the other hand, the looming exit of Huawei from the cellphone market does not necessarily mean a decline in demand for mobile phones. Other Chinese companies such as Xiaomi will likely go all-out to keep their market share and will therefore need to increase their purchases of Korean-made memory chips. As Samsung produces smartphones in its own plants, it will be able to expand its share in the Asian and Latin American markets with rising demand for mid- and low-priced phones.



Samsung Electronics' foundry business recently received a $6.64 billion order from Verizon of the U.S. for 5G communications equipment, which demonstrates the company's potential to expand its clout in the non-memory market. Huawei has so far been the No. 1 firm in the sales of 5G equipment. Samsung and other Korean companies are expected to enjoy increasing profits from sales of cellphones and telecommunications equipment, offsetting possible losses in the sales of semiconductors and displays.



But the U.S. still holds the key. Should it attempt to impose similar sanctions on Chinese companies other than Huawei, this will force Korean companies to review their business strategies starting from scratch. The competition has already been heating up since U.S. graphic chip maker Nvidia decided to acquire U.K. chip-design company Arm, heralding a major shift in the IT sector, including semiconductors in particular. Currently, more than 90 percent of the world's application processors use Arm's technology.



Nvidia entering the market equipped with Arm's technology will pose a threat to existing companies such as Samsung, Apple and Qualcomm. Samsung needs to rearrange business ties with Nvidia to continue to develop its foundry business.



The recent sanctions came amid the growing U.S.-China conflict, which will likely spill over to diverse areas beyond semiconductors. U.S. President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden have engaged in a severe competition to protect U.S. interests by pressuring China. Regardless of the results of the U.S. presidential election, the conflict between the two superpowers will continue to grow, further increasing market uncertainty.



Domestic firms need to focus on taking the lead in the prosperous non-memory chip market while further distancing their rivals in the memory chip market. It is time for them to use imminent market changes as a chance to sharpen their competiveness.


Today marks 1,174 days that your members have been without a contract, Frisch wrote in the letter dated Wednesday. We explained that the offer was intended to be a short-term package deal that did not cover the waterfront of operational, accountability or other issues and was intended to get to a deal as quickly as possible. And we implored you to take our offer seriously.
WILLEMSTAD:--- Together with the Curacao Chamber of Commerce & Industry and in partnership with the Government of Curacao, schoolboards, and various local school officials and educators, the U.S. Consulate is proud to be supporting a program to study the development English language curriculum for Curacao schools.

Earlier this year, the Curacao Chamber of Commerce & Industry approached the U.S. Consulate General for support in developing an English language curriculum for all school systems in Curacao. The U.S. Department of State agreed to fund an assessment of the current situation on Curacao and worked with Georgetown University to evaluate specialists suited to the task.

In a competitive process, stakeholders, selected Dr. Christine Jernigan (photo), who has a PhD specialized in teaching English to speakers of other languages and who has extensive experience developing English language programs throughout the world. Dr. Jernigan starts this week with a three-week virtual assessment of the current English language curriculum for schools on Curacao.

The first phase, a needs assessment process will require the Specialist to evaluate the current primary and secondary schools' English language curriculum and make recommendations on how best to improve the curriculum based on the needs of the population, the culture, and economic/academic goals of Curacao.

The Specialist will meet with various stakeholders, including Ministry of Education officials, local company representatives, school officials, students, the Chamber of Commerce & Industry, and others involved in the educational system to acquire a deeper understanding of the current system so as to develop recommendations for changing the curriculum to better meet Curacaos academic objectives.

Consul General Allen Greenberg applauded the initiative and stated that enhancing English language capabilities, particularly in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, will better prepare young people to become innovators and entrepreneurs in these fields and therefore can provide future economic benefits to Curacao.

The long-term goal is to continue with a U.S. government sponsored curriculum development program for elementary and high schools to provide a broad range of opportunities for children and improve the results of graduates. Proficiency in the English language will enable them to access more resources and to be competitive in a wider range of professional disciplines.
The Lok Sabha on Wednesday took up for consideration a bill to address the potential disruptions in the financial system by providing for the Reserve Bank of India to prepare a scheme for reconstruction or amalgamation of the banking company without the necessity of first making an order of moratorium.

Moving the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2020 for passage of the House, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the legislation had been brought to protect the interest of depositors.

The bill will replace an ordinance brought earlier by the government.

For the last two years, depositors of cooperative banks and small banks are facing problems. We are trying to bring this amendment in order to protect the depositors. Because these banks have fallen into hard days requiring therefore the regulator to bring a moratorium and to solve the problem seems to consume all the time. During the budget session in March, we introduced this bill in order to have the amendments brought in so that depositors interest will be taken care of. But unfortunately, during the budget session, we could not have this bill passed, Sitharaman said.

She said the government had to go for an ordinance because the financial health of many of the cooperative societies, which are also performing as banks, was becoming very delicate.

The financial state of affairs of 277 urban cooperative banks is weak and they are reporting loss. 105 cooperative banks are unable to meet the minimum regulatory capital requirement. 47 banks have net worth is negative. 328 urban cooperative banks have more than 15 per cent gross NPA ratio, she said.

The minister said that in March 2020, the stress in cooperative banks increased due to pandemic and gross ratios of urban cooperative banks increased from 7.7 per cent in March 2019 to over 10 per cent in March 2020. Therefore, it was felt that the ordinance should be brought in the interest of depositors.

She said the bill will not apply to a primary agricultural credit society or a co-operative society whose primary object and principal business is providing of long term finance for agricultural development if such society does not use as part of its name, or in connection with its business, the words bank, banker or banking and does not act as drawee of cheques.

The amendments entail making provisions applicable on cooperative banks which apply on commercial banks so that the former is equally subjected to better governance and sound banking regulations through the RBI.

The minister said amendments to section 45 will enable the RBI to make a scheme of reconstruction and amalgamation, for example, the way in which Yes Bank reconstruction happened to protect the interest of depositors.

Participating in the debate, Congress leader Manish Tewari opposed the manner in which the government had brought an ordinance.
Soon after arriving in a South American country to work in 1978, after some years in South Asia, I was talking with a local mechanic about a used car I was trying to get fixed. The fact that it was a Chevy seemed to excite the mechanic, and he commented on the vehicle's overall quality by saying it was "mah-dey en oo-saw." When I responded that I had no idea what he had just said, he looked at me with absolute perplexity and said in Spanish, "You are a Yankee. You should know what 'mah-dey en oo-saw' means!" It finally dawned on me that he was transliterating "made in USA," pronouncing the English words with Spanish sounds rather than translating them, which would have been "Fabricado en Estados Unidos de America," something I would have caught immediately.

It used to be that "mah-dey en oo-saw" had all kinds of local pronunciations around the world, and they all signaled that something had been well made and was a solid product. It's been a long time since the 1970s and a very long time since North America topped the list in the world's opinion for turning out quality products, with the possible exception of German manufacturing.

Now with China producing most of our consumer, medical, and electronic products, it's only old guys like me who remember what a solid American product looked like and how it actually functioned. And with the COVID-19 crisis and China's predatory marketing as well as financial bullying, we are looking at the empty hulks of our former factories and longing for the good ole days.

At a "Made in the USA" event in 2019, Trump touted new U.S.-based factory jobs and American-made products and plans another at the White House this October 5. Joe Biden has been trying to play catch-up with his "America First" campaign, while accusing Trump of actually continuing to close plants and ship jobs overseas. Whether Trump or anyone else will be able to bring home the factory jobs and whether we can realistically rebuild our supply lines from within the country are legitimate questions that can only be answered by the formation of a broad coalition of entrepreneurs and financiers as well as the crafting of regulations (or de-regulations) that will again give oo-saw sustainable conditions for profitable industry.

In the meantime, we can continue to say with somewhat reduced pride that many good products are presently "dey-seeg-ned en oo-saw" (designed in USA) or at least "cone-soom-ed en oo-saw" (consumed in USA).
Dubais Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) said it has briefed officials from the Dubai Municipality on the practices and processes of the Building and Facilities Department as well as the central and specialist indicators adopted by the department in project planning, designing and implementing.

The event took place during a virtual video meeting between officials from both parties. Attendees included Abdulrahman Al Janahi, Director of Building and Facilities, Corporate Administrative Support Services Sector, RTA, and Omar Al Bishr, Director of General Projects, Dubai Municipality in addition to several other officials from both parties.

The briefing is part of RTAs strategy of sharing knowledge and expertise and carrying out benchmarks with strategic partners and stakeholders, said Al Janahi.

"The meeting with the delegation of Dubai Municipality was held in the context of our endeavours to share experiences with our strategic partners to develop the best practices and modern techniques of managing infrastructure projects," he stated.

It also fits with the policy of boosting cooperation between public entities in the interest of serving the Dubai Government objectives, added Al Janahi.

At the start of the gathering, Dubai Municipality officials reviewed the organisational structure of the corporate administrative support services sector.

They also studied the structures of the Building and Facilities Department as well as the roles and responsibilities of each section. They also took note of the achievements, awards and certificates that the department had facilitated the way for the RTA to obtain.

These include the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Certificate  Gold Category for the Enterprise Command and Control Centre, ISO 41001:2018 certificate in Facility Management, which was the first time such a certificate was awarded to an entity in the region, and Etihad Museum winning the 'Best New Museum in the MENA region to name a few," explained Al Janahi.

"The meeting also touched on RTAs methodology of linking the initiatives and projects of the Building and Facilities Department with RTAs strategic goals and objectives. It also shed light on the performance indicators of the department in the fields of project planning and designing as well as corporate knowledge. Discussions also included nonconformity cases along with the corrective actions taken in this regard," he added.

Omar Al Bishr, Director of General Projects, Dubai Municipality, said: "These meetings offer a chance to review the processes and methodologies of the General Projects Department and how to measure their indicators and link them with the local and global benchmarks for the benefit of all."

"We have reviewed the organisation chart of the General Projects Department along with its processes in planning, designing, implementing and closing projects through an electronic system based on the best practices of the industry," noted Al Bishr.

"The system enables the tracking of work progress in all project phases and provides a platform for all users. We also discussed the delegation of authorities to contractors and consultants such that they can submit transactions through electronically reviewed and approved flow paths," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
The Daniel Marshall by Carlos Fuente XXXVIII Anniversary Cigar, Limited Edition 2020 is being allocated to 38 of the worlds top tobacconists and iconic hotels, representing one location for every year since Marshall founded his company. The 116 year-old nameplate, Rolls-Royce has curated this rare cigar collection to be showcased in their elite members club, Whispers. The DM XXXVIII for Rolls-Royce experience will include a Virtual Campfire with the Founder, limited edition numbering, the addition of a 24kt XXXVIII x Fuente Golden Cigar, complimentary DMCC Membership and an autographed edition of Marshalls Commemorative Book, 38 YEARS.

Rolls-Royce & the XXXVIII

Membership in the Whispers Club is limited to owners of Rolls-Royce, making it the most exclusive members club in the world. The Whispers Club highlights the worlds most rarefied luxury goods and experiences for their owners to enjoy. DM will provide a complimentary XXXVIII cigar for members to experience the nuanced flavors of this rare Daniel x Carlito Cigar with Marshall in an exclusive Virtual Campfire, an experience never before offered in the cigar world. Marshall noted his appreciation for Rolls-Royce, I love more than anything when our beloved cigar world is embraced by legendary brands and discriminating individuals as one of life's most cherished enjoyments, a lifestyle and a celebration.

Limited Edition Numbering

Designed by Marshall and Fuente, each humidor is individually numbered. Number selection of limited edition cigars is also popular with the collection, with known personalities receiving and reserving numbers such as Steve Harvey No. 17 for the day of his Birth, Wayne Gretzky "The Great One" No. 99, Andy Garcia's favorite No. 1, and Michael Jordans No. 23. Marshall is offering for those that order the cigar during early allocation, a special opportunity to choose the number of the piece.

Cigar History

In speaking on their collaboration, Carlos Carlito Fuente Jr. told Marshall, I want to do something for you very, very special. I am making a cigar for you, which I do for no one, to commemorate our long time friendship and my highest respect and admiration for you and your story. Its an honor to be able to participate with you on this special anniversary. I am humbly honored to have been chosen. I poured my heart into every detail, hoping to make you proud. I will give you my best.

Daniel Marshall visited Carlos Fuente and Ciro Cascella in Santiago, Dominican Republic on March 5, 2020. Carlos and Daniel discussed this masterpiece cigar after their recent visit to Chateau de la Fuente. Carlos mentioned their collaboration together is historic, and suggested Daniel wrap one of the eight cigars in his signature 24kt gold. Anyone collecting these rare cigars in the special humidor will be collecting history, said Fuente. Both the cigar and humidor symbolize the best of what the two men have created over their lifetimes.

Works of Art

The XXXVIII is made from handpicked leaf, lovingly cultivated on the choicest acres at Chateau de la Fuente, Dominican Republic. One of Arturo Fuente's Master Rollers, in a special room where the "best of the best" of Fuente's cigars are made, brings to life only 12 of the XXXVIII Cigars a day, making this cigar extremely rare.

The Collection

Each Daniel Marshall Limited Edition Desk Travel Humidor, hand crafted in Macassar Ebony, will contain:



(1) Daniel Marshall by Carlos Fuente 24kt Golden XXXVIII Anniversary Cigar with 2 grams of pure 24kt gold personally rolled by Daniel Marshall

(7) Daniel Marshall by Carlos Fuente XXXVIII Anniversary Cigars

(1) Daniel Marshall by Carlos Fuente XXXVIII Anniversary Cigar to be enjoyed in the Virtual Campfire with Daniel

Each humidor will come with a hand signed commemorative book, 38 YEARS, a book that chronicles the story of this cigar and of the Daniel Marshall journey from the creation of a thank you gift in 1982 to today.

To all collectors of this historic cigar, DM will offer a complimentary membership in the DMCC  The Daniel Marshall Campfire Club. Upon enrollment, each member will receive a Since 1982 Travel Aluminum Cigar Ashtray, DM Cutter, DM Torch Lighter and the DMQ Magazine as well as valuable benefits and exclusive offers.

View behind the scenes making of the DM XXXVIII by Carlos Fuente and Limited Edition Humidor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNYMRjaHjcw

Pricing

Collectors price will range between $1500 and $2000 USD (varies by region).

Regions for Release

The XXXVIII will be allocated in phases across 25 Countries and 5 Continents. More of the worlds most prestigious locations that meet the criteria will be added in the near future. For allocation requests please email TheCampfire@DanielMarshall.com

North America



USA

-- Corona Cigar Company, Florida

-- Sir Louis Cigars, Massachusetts

-- Red Beard Cigar Co, Arizona

-- Lord Puffer Tobacconist and Lounge, California



Mexico

Europe



England

-- Davidoff of London, London



Germany

France

-- A La Civette, Paris



Austria

Belgium

-- La Casa Del Tabaco - Brussels

-- La Casa Del Tabaco - Antwerp

-- La Casa Del Tabaco - Kortrijk

-- La Casa Del Tabaco - Hasselt

-- La Casa Del Tabaco - Brugge

Holland

-- Hajenius  Amsterdam

-- Oude Leeuw  Rijswijk

-- Piet van Kuyck  Eindhoven

-- Hans van Werven Cigars  Apeldoorn

-- De Graaf  Den Haag



Switzerland

-- Tabac Besson, Lausanne



Denmark

Norway

Spain

Africa



South Africa

-- Portia Cigar and Champagne Lounge, Sandton

Asia



Abu Dhabi

-- Le Tabac Exclusivo



Dubai

-- Baqer Mohebi Enterprises



Qatar

-- The Humidor and Cigar Shop



Lebanon

India

Japan

-- Isetan Shinjuku, Tokyo



Hong Kong

Malaysia

Vietnam

Singapore

Thailand

Russia

View an Austrian TV report on the DM XXXVIII: Austrian OE.24 TV https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riLQlW0qo8E

About Arturo Fuente

Since 1912, the Arturo Fuente Cigar Company is proud to say, We are truly a family-run business. Four generations and counting, the Fuente family is still loyal and devoted to the heritage and traditions that have been passed down through the years. We will continue to pride ourselves on superb quality and consistence, in order to continue making the best premium cigars in the world. That is our code, that is our passion, that is our DNA. Fuente is the most critically acclaimed makers of hand-rolled premium cigars outside of Cuba.

The Fuente Fuente OpusX is consistently ranked as the single most sought after cigar in the world by Cigar Aficionado Magazine and know by many to be the greatest cigar in history, prized by collectors. The OpusX is wrapped in rosado leaves which are grown on the Chateau de la Fuente plantation in the Dominican Republic. Arturo Fuente OpusX Cigars are one of the rarest cigars on the market today. Known for being the cigar that all others aspire to, the Arturo Fuente OpusX Cigars use the finest premium Dominican tobacco.

Each OpusX is handmade and features a one-of-a-kind Dominican wrapper that has a trademark spice to it. The vintage tobacco used throughout this rare cigar is second-to-none.

Visit the Arturo Fuente website: http://www.ArturoFuente.com

About Daniel Marshall:

Daniel Marshall, a 38-year veteran of the cigar industry is one of the leading names in the cigar world. He is Cigar Aficionados No.1 rated Humidor designer and creator of the coveted 24kt Golden Cigar. DM Humidors & cigars are enjoyed in the homes and offices of countless Hollywood celebrities, US presidents, dignitaries, titans of industry, fashion designers and the most discriminating cigar lovers worldwide. Marshall is also a cigar and humidor supplier of Englands Royal Family.

Since 1982, Daniel Marshall has created and designed for the prestigious luxury gift houses Dunhill, Tiffany & Co., S.T. Dupont, Cartier, Hermes, Fred Joaillier, Harrods, Bally of Switzerland and Garrards of London. Daniel Marshalls humidors are historic, with a collection on display at the Smithsonian Museum.

One of DMs highly collectible Governor Schwarzenegger Humidors broke sales records in 2016 at Leonardo DiCaprios Foundation Gala Fundraiser in St. Tropez. This extremely rare humidor topped the charts for highest amount paid for a modern day humidor with new world DM Cigars.

September 2017, a 1 of 1 humidor DM made for Prince Albert II of Monaco with Daniel Marshall Cigars was put on the block and raised 75,000 Euros to benefit our global oceans.

December 2019 Daniel Marshall won in London Boisdale's Lifetime Achievement Award. Previous winners include: Academy Award Winner Jeremy Irons, Legendary Hollywood actor and director, Burt Reynolds, British Conservative member of the House of Lords and once a code-breaker at Bletchley Park during the Second World War, Baroness Trumpington, Edward Sahakian of Davidoff of London and celebrated British broadcaster and journalist, Andrew Neil.

Since the opening of the Daniel Marshall Cigar Lounge in the Kitzbuhel Country Club, Austria in 2013, Daniel Marshall has been hosting elite and exclusive "Modern Day Campfire Experiences with discriminating connoisseurs across the globe. For upcoming DM Campfires and to join the DMCC The Daniel Marshall Campfire Club email: TheCampfire@DanielMarshall.com

Visit Daniel Marshalls site at http://www.danielmarshallshop.com.

You can also find Daniel Marshall on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/danielmarshallhumidorsandcigars or follow Daniel Marshall on Twitter @DMCigarWorld or Instagram @DMCigars

For Daniel Marshall: 714-973-8660 - thecampfire@danielmarshall.com
Academic Policies and Procedures

Academic Honesty



Honesty - A college is a community of students and faculty interested in the search for knowledge and understanding. Essential to that search is a commitment to honesty and integrity. Honesty on the part of every college student has and always shall be an integral part of the plan of higher education at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. Acts of dishonesty conflict with the work and purpose of the entire College and are not merely a private matter between student and instructor.



Violations of academic honesty include but are not limited to:

Submitting the work of others as one's own in class or electronically

Plagiarism (as defined below)

Communication during an examination of any kind, including text messaging and other forms of electronic communication

Using crib notes (hard copies or electronically) in an exam, except as allowed by the instructor

Obtaining prior knowledge of examination questions

Substitution of another student in an examination in class or electronically

Altering College academic records

Knowingly using false statements for academic benefit

Collaborating on material after being directed not to collaborate

Forging a signature of a College official or faculty member

Soliciting an official signature under false pretense

Plagiarism -The academic departments of the College have varying requirements for reporting the use of sources, but certain fundamental principles for the acknowledgment of sources apply to all fields and levels of work. The use of source materials of any kind and the preparation of essays or laboratory reports must be fully and properly acknowledged. In papers or laboratory reports, students are expected to acknowledge any expression or idea that is not their own. Students submitting papers are implying that the form and content of the essays or reports, in whole and in part, represent their own work, except where clear and specific reference is made to other sources.



Even if there is no conscious intention to deceive, the failure to make appropriate acknowledgment may constitute plagiarism. Any quotation - even of a phrase - must be placed in quotation marks and the precise source stated in a note or in the text; any material that is paraphrased or summarized and any ideas that are borrowed must be specifically acknowledged. A thorough reordering or rearrangement of an author's text does not release the student from these responsibilities. All sources that have been consulted in the preparation of the essay or report should be listed in the bibliography.



Upon an occurrence of alleged academic dishonesty instructors may exercise their discretion in imposing a sanction. Instructors may further file charges with the Academic Appeals Committee against students if they believe that additional sanctions would be appropriate. Instructors shall notify the Registrar in writing of any occurrence of academic dishonesty whenever they have imposed sanctions. Such notification shall include the student's name, course title, date of occurrence, type of dishonesty, sanction(s) being imposed, and any further action requested. This notification shall be effected within fourteen days after discovery of the incident. A copy of said notice shall be sent to the student involved, including the charges made against the student and the grounds, if proven, that would justify failure or other academic sanction. If the student involved wishes to appeal the sanction imposed by the instructor, the student must initiate an appeal within two weeks after receipt of this notification.



The Academic Appeals Committee shall consider as a basis for a hearing that: a) the student claims not to have been academically dishonest;

b) the student claims the instructor imposed an inappropriate sanction;

c) the nature of the offense merits further action.



In academic dishonesty cases the Committee may receive requests for hearings from students, from individual faculty and staff members, and from the Registrar. The Academic Appeals Committee reserves the right not to hear any appeal in any case where data is not sufficient, the necessary steps have not been followed, and when the committee jurisdiction is not clear.



Further information regarding instructor and student rights and responsibilities and appropriate procedures to be followed in applying this policy may be obtained from the Office of the Dean of Academic Affairs or the Registrar.

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Admissions



All students applying for admission to the MBA program are required to complete the designated application process. (See MCLA website for admissions criteria and application process.)

An undergraduate major in business is not a requirement. The program requires 45 credits of graduate business courses. Credit waivers may be available for those students who already possess an undergraduate business degree. (See Waiver policy)



Transfer credits are accepted up to a maximum of six (6) credit hours for core or elective courses with grades of B or better and must be no more than five years old, taken at an accredited institution. (See Transfer of Graduate Credit Policy)



Prior to consideration for admission, international student applicants whose primary language is not English, must receive a passing score on the TOEFL or have completed a prior degree from an accredited college or university in a primarily English speaking

country.

Attendance



Class attendance is taken very seriously, and students may be penalized for unexcused absences within the grading process. Students are expected to attend classes regularly, since this is a necessary means of learning and of attaining the educational objectives of the College. Since course design and objectives vary, attendance policies are set forth in each instructor's course syllabus.

Course Drop/Withdrawal

If an MBA student must drop from a course for extenuating circumstances (such as family situation, military service, or extremely urgent work-related issues) he/she must complete a drop form including signatures from the Professor and the MBA Program Director and submit to the Registrar within seven academic days of the start of class. After the drop period the students will receive a grade of "W" and will be financially responsible for the course.

The student has an option of taking an incomplete if he/she completed 50% or more of the coursework with a passing grade, and may complete the specific course with the next MBA cohort or withdraw from the program.

(See Readmission policy)

Any student who enrolled, but did not attend a course and did not officially withdraw will receive an F in the specific course.

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Grade Appeal



In cases involving appeals of a course grade, a student has 21 days following the completion of the course to initiate an appeal relating to a grade earned in the most recently completed MBA course. The appeal begins with the Faculty member. If unable to be resolved, it then goes to the Program Director and then the Graduate Education Council. Students should contact the Registrar's office for appropriate paperwork . All appeals must follow this chain and the specified time frames as outlined.

Incomplete



A temporary grade of "I" - incomplete - will be used when a student, having completed at least 50 percent of the course, cannot complete the remainder of the course due to documented illness, family or work situation, or other extenuating circumstances. Arrangements for completing the work must be made with the professor and documented in written correspondence with the Program Director. Students assigned a grade of "I" will be allowed one year to complete the outstanding course requirements or they must repeat the course with the next cohort. If the course is repeated, the grade of "I" will be changed to "W". If the course is not repeated, the "I" grade will be converted to an "F."

Leave of Absence



A student whose personal, family, work or medical circumstances require a temporary interruption of graduate study may apply for a leave of absence for up to one year. Requests will be reviewed by the Program Director and the Dean of Academic Affairs. Since the MBA is a cohort program, when a student returns from a leave of absence, he/she will be required to make up the missed courses with the next cohort, or may request the option of joining the next cohort. (See Readmission policy.)

Probation/Suspension



Graduate students at MCLA are expected to maintain a GPA of 3.0 or better in all of their coursework. A student who fails to achieve a cumulative GPA of 3.0 will be placed on academic probation and must meet with the Program Director to discuss the situation which may cause the student's inability to maintain the required GPA. Failure to show improvement in the next two courses may lead to suspension. All MBA students must have at least a 3.0 cumulative average in order to graduate from the program.

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Credit Waivers



Credit waivers for up to five of the foundation courses may be available to those students who have an undergraduate degree in business from an accredited school. Students must be prepared to show documentation including a transcript of the grades received in those courses, a course syllabus and the text and/or materials used in the course. Waivers are given at the discretion of the Program Director.



Program Withdrawal

Students who have been accepted into the MBA program may defer admission for up to one year. If the student does not enroll in courses within that year, he/she must formally withdraw from the program by completing a Withdrawal from College form obtained from Advising Services. The form must be signed by the Program Director.

Readmission

Students who are admitted to and enroll in the MBA program, but who take a leave of absence, may be away from the program for up to one year without being required to reapply for admission. After one year, they must complete another application form and submit an updated resume. The application will be evaluated based on the current admission standards at the time of the request for readmission, and reentry to the program will be based on qualifications and space available in the current cohort.

Transfer of Graduate Credit



Transfer of graduate credits from another institution will be considered on a case-by-case basis. The decision criteria include currency, relevance to the MBA curriculum, and the quality (accreditation) of the institution at which the course was completed. Any potential transfer credit must have earned a grade of B or better. Requests for transfer credit (maximum of six credits) must be submitted to the Program Director.

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Credit: CC0 Public Domain

New research conducted by the University of Sheffield into the incidence and experience of mesothelioma among UK armed forces has identified how care and support can be improved.

Funded by national cancer charity, Mesothelioma UK, the Military Experiences of Mesothelioma Study (MiMES) aims to explore the prevalence of the asbestos-related cancermesotheliomaamong British armed forces veterans, to understand their experience and health/support needs, and to identify how health and legal professionals, and support agencies can best meet the needs of this group.

Mesothelioma is a form of cancer that affects the mesothelium. The mesothelium is a thin membrane that lines the inner surface of the chest wall (the pleura), the abdomen (the peritoneum) and the testicles. Exposure to asbestos is responsible for nine out of ten mesothelioma cases. Mesothelioma is a terminal disease, with 50 percent of those diagnosed dying within 12 months.

2,700 new cases of mesothelioma are diagnosed in the UK each year and while the incidence among UK military veterans remains unknown, eight veterans per month claim war pensions due to a diagnosis of mesothelioma.

Quantitative data was gathered to generate statistics and interviews were carried out with veterans living with mesothelioma to identify common experiences and needs.

Angela Tod, Professor of Older People and Care at the University of Sheffield's Health Sciences School, said: "Research like this is vital if we are to provide all those living with mesothelioma with equitable access to first class care and treatment.

"We're grateful to everyone who took part and are pleased that the findings will be used as an educational resource for professionals working with veterans with mesothelioma."

The report identified the following key messages for healthcare and legal professionals, and other support agencies:

Assumptions regarding who has been exposed to asbestos while in the armed forces should be challenged and awareness of the risk of exposure should be raised

Occupational history taking requires skill and sensitivity for patients with an armed forces background

Veterans' stoic approach may disguise their physical and emotional needs

Veterans require access to experts with experience of navigating the relevant health, legal and military systems

It is important to recognize and understand the perspective and support needs of family members

Veterans living with mesothelioma may prefer to support, and be supported by, other veterans

Some veterans see inequalities between their experience of living with mesothelioma and that of civilians

There is a lack of awareness regarding asbestos exposure in the armed forces and concern about ongoing asbestos risk

Head of Services for Mesothelioma UK, Liz Darlison, commented: "This study was part of Mesothelioma UK's Supporting Our Armed Forces project. Armed forces personnel often have very different experiences and needs to civilians and it is important that the health and legal professionals supporting them are aware of this, so that they can provide the most effective help possible. We were delighted to support this research and are confident that the findings will lead to an improvement in support for this group of patients."

Explore further Early palliative care offers no extra benefit for mesothelioma patients

More information: The full report is available online: The full report is available online: www.mesothelioma.uk.com/about-  helioma-study-mimes/
Bob Woodward has released another controversial recording of a conversation with Donald Trump in which the president said he bailed out of a meeting in April after a person sneezed, around the same time he was telling the American public the virus was past its peak.

The Washington Post journalist revealed the excerpt  from just one of the 18 tapes recorded for his upcoming book, Rage  during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

In the 13 April recording, Mr Trump says that coronavirus is "so easily transmissible, you wouldnt believe it, before going on to tell Mr Woodward an anecdote to illustrate his point.

I was in the White House a couple of days ago, meeting with 10 people in the Oval Office, and a guy sneezed  innocently, not a horrible, you know just a sneeze. The entire room bailed out, OK? Including me, by the way," Mr Trump said.

The White House did not immediately respond to The Independents request for comment regarding the recording.

Only days after the date of the recording on 15 April the president said during a press conference that the virus was past its peak and began paving the way for gradual reopening of states amidst the pandemic.

At the time, the president called the latest data "encouraging", saying the numbers have "put us in a very strong position to finalise guidelines for states on reopening the country".

On 13 April, deaths from the virus in the country had just surpassed 23,000. This week the country is nearing a death toll of 200,000.

Mr Woodward went on to speculate if someone were to sneeze in the front row at the presidents indoor rally in Nevada over the weekend whether he would have staged a similar exit.

The president has faced intense criticism following the indoor campaign event in Henderson, during which a large proportion of attendees were not social distancing or wearing masks.

Mr Trump has also faced severe backlash since the publication of other audio recordings from Rage in the past week, most notably for claims that he admitted that he knew the coronavirus pandemic was far more serious than he let on to the public and concealed the virus true dangers.

You just breathe the air and thats how its passed, the president said during the phone call with Mr Woodward. And so thats a very tricky one. Thats a very delicate one. Its also more deadly than even your strenuous flu.

Last Wednesday, Mr Trump admitted that he did downplay the seriousness of the virus, but only in an attempt to reduce panic.

Mr Trump said he told Mr Woodward one thing and the American people another because being honest in public would mean youre going to have bigger problems.

I dont want people to be frightened, he said. We want to show confidence, we want to show strength.

The US has now recorded 6.59 million cases of the novel coronavirus since the outbreak began in the country in March.
US sporting goods retailer REI surprised the real estate world last month when it put its never-been-used headquarters in a Seattle suburb up for sale, a striking example of how the pandemic is reshaping office demand.

The property didn't sit around long, however. This week, Facebook bought it for $368m (310m), delivering a profit to REI and adding to a trio of buildings the social media giant has already leased nearby.

The quick listing and sale highlights the topsy-turvy nature of commercial-property markets six months after Covid-19 forced people to work from home, leaving skyscrapers and office parks vacant.

It also shows the wide variation among employers as they weigh their future real estate needs, said Greg Johnson, president of Wright Runstad & Co, which developed the Seattle headquarters. While REI chose to scatter workers across multiple sites, Facebook "has said we're hiring like crazy and we want to have places for people to sit in close proximity," Johnson said. "Everything in between is going on, as well."

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg said earlier this year that as many as half his company's employees would work remotely in the next decade, which many real estate investors took as a bearish omen for the industry. But since then, Facebook announced a major lease in New York, a clear sign that it still wants physical offices for employees to gather and collaborate.

In Ireland, Facebook signed up before the pandemic to be the key tenant in a massive office in Dublin in the former AIB Bankcentre campus in Ballsbridge.
The Serum Institute of India, which had paused phase 2 and phase 3 trials of the Oxford University's vaccine, received the go-ahead from the DCGI to resume the trials in India

India's coronavirus case count crossed 50 lakh on Wednesday with 90,123 new cases being reported in the 24 hours since 8 am on Tuesday.

According to the COVID-19 database maintained by the Johns Hopkins University (JHU), India is the second country in the world after the US to have reported over 50 lakh cases. The US has recorded 66,06,674 COVID-19 cases as of 16 September.

Meanwhile, the Serum Institute of India (SII), which had paused recruitment of volunteers for the phase 2 and phase 3 trials of the Oxford University's vaccine candidate following reports of adverse reactions to the vaccine in the UK, received the go-ahead from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) to resume the trials.

India records 10 lakh cases in 11 days

The total number of coronavirus cases in the country mounted to 50,20,359 on Wednesday, while the toll climbed to 82,066 with a record 1,290 fatalities registered in the last 24 hours, according to the health ministry's latest update.

This comes just 11 days after India's caseload surged past 40 lakh.

According to news agency PTI, it took 110 days for the COVID-19 cases in the country to reach one lakh and another 59 days to surpass 10 lakh. The total coronavirus cases jumped from 10 lakh to 20 lakh in 21 days and raced past 30 lakh in another 16 days. It took 13 days more to cross 40 lakh and 11 days to go past 50 lakh.

However, recoveries have also been on a rise and a total of 39,42,360 persons have so far recuperated from the virus. According to the Hindustan Times, India reported its highest daily recoveries on Wednesday with 82,961 having recuperated from the disease.

The recovery rate now stands at 78.53 percent, up from 77.77 percent a week ago (9 September), showed the health ministry's data updated at 8 am. The fatality rate is now at 1.63 percent, the ministry said.

The country now has 9,95,933 active cases of COVID-19, comprising 19.84 percent of the total caseload. As per the ministry's data, Maharashtra has the highest number of active cases (2,92,174) followed by Karnataka (98, 555), Andhra Pradesh (92,353), Uttar Pradesh (67335) and Tamil Nadu (46,806).

Chhattisgarh follows at the sixth position with 35,909 active cases.

According to the Indian Express, Chhattisgarh is currently showing the fastest growth in new cases in the country. The state's case count has doubled since the start of September, the report stated. Chhattisgarh on Tuesday recorded its highest single-day spike of 3,450 coronavirus cases, taking the state's total cases to 70,777,

Of the 1,290 new deaths reported on Wednesday, 515 were from Maharashtra, 216 from Karnataka, 113 from Uttar Pradesh, 90 from Punjab, 69 from Andhra Pradesh, 68 from Tamil Nadu, 59 from West Bengal and 36 from Delhi.

Of the total 82,066 fatalities due to COVID-19, Maharashtra accounts for the highest with 30,049 fatalities followed by Tamil Nadu with 8,502, Karnataka with 7,481, Andhra Pradesh with 5,041, Delhi with 4,806 and Uttar Pradesh with 4,604.

According to the ICMR, a total of 5,94,29,115 samples have been tested till 15 September, of which 11,16,842 samples were tested on Tuesday.

SII gets DCGI nod to resume vaccine trials

Even as the country's coronavirus count continued an upward trend, the Centre on Wednesday said that three potential vaccine candidates against the novel coronavirus infection are in the advanced stage of trials while four are in advanced pre-clinical development stage.

Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai informed the Rajya Sabha that 13 clinical trials of repurposed drugs have been also undertaken to build a portfolio of therapeutic options for COVID-19 patients.

Meanwhile, the DCGI allowed SII to resume the phase 2 and 3 trials of the vaccine jointly developed by Oxford University and Swedish firm AstraZeneca but instructed Serum to scrupulously follow additional conditions, including exercising care while screening potential volunteers and providing additional information to them.

The regulator also instructed the Pune-based firm to closely monitor volunteers who receive the shot for any adverse reactions.

The DCGI had on 10 September issued a show-cause notice to the Serum Institute of India, which had chosen no to halt the clinical trials in India even though trials had reportedly been paused in various countries like US, Brazil and South Africa. The countries had halted the trials after the Swedish firm had reported an unexplained illness in one of the volunteers in the UK.

Russia strikes deal with Dr Reddy's Laboratoeis to distribute 100 million doses of Sputnik V

In another development on the vaccine front, Russia has entered into an agreement with drug company Dr Reddys Laboratories Ltd to to distribute 100 million doses of the Russias experimental Sputnik V vaccine in India.

#RDIF and Dr. Reddys to cooperate on clinical trials and supply of 10 Crore doses of Sputnik V #RussianVaccine to Indiahttps://t.co/tlCW7GBIeh@drreddys @rdif_press pic.twitter.com/yJ0oKv9nK6  Russia in India (@RusEmbIndia) September 16, 2020

Press secretary Arseniy Palagin told news agency The Asociated Press that the 100 million doses of the experimental vaccine were meant for population-wide use as long as they met regulatory requirements and clinical trials were successful.

According to the Indian Express, the Hyderabad-based company will also help conduct the final-stage human trials of the vaccine in India.

The Phase 1 and 2 results have shown promise, and we will be conducting Phase-3 trials in India to meet the requirements of the Indian regulators. Sputnik V vaccine could provide a credible option in our fight against COVID-19 in India, DRL Co-Chairman and Managing Director GV Prasad told the Indian Express.

Palagin also said that the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) was in talks with several other Indian companies for manufacturing the vaccine.

Last week, Dr VK Paul, NITI Aayog member who also heads the national task force on COVID-19 vaccines, had said that India was considering Russia's requests for conducting the phase three trials in India and that an agreement will be "good for both the countries."

The coronavirus pandemic, which began in China's Wuhan last year, has claimed 9,35,898 lives and affected 2,96,10,479 people across the globe, according to the JHU's coronavirus tracker.

With inputs from agencies
The demand for second-hand cars has seen a surge as many people are buying or planning to buy their own car to avoid public transport due to the ongoing covid-19 pandemic. In case you are planning to sell your old car to bridge the gap in your cash flows or to upgrade to a new vehicle, now may be a good time.

There are multiple options to sell a car. You can connect with your local dealer or visit portals which help in buying and selling cars online. Experts advise going through organized dealers such as online portals as they offer safety and convenience. Organized dealers, including online portals, carry out proper checks and verification of the documents of the buyer. This helps in reducing the chances of the car being sold to a person who uses it for wrongful purposes," said Gaurav Vangaal, associate director, IHS Markit, a global information provider.

View Full Image Source: Cars24

We tell you the factors that buyers or online portals take into consideration while buying a car, to help you negotiate a better price.

Valuation factors

Most of these portals have online calculators to arrive at the expected price you may get for your car, on the basis of certain factors.

Age of the car: One of the most important factors is the age of the car. The value of the car drops the moment it is bought and depreciates every year. This is called age-wise depreciation (see graph). When it comes to ageing, a car will depreciate at varying rates across its age. It can be 10-25% per year depending on make, model, variant and other supply-demand factors," said Umesh Hora, chief executive officer, used cars business, CarDekho Group, an online portal for buying or selling cars. Therefore, lower the age of the car, lesser will be the depreciation charged and higher will be the value of the car.

Others: Apart from age, there are multiple other factors that affect the value of the car. Broadly, a used cars price is based on the make, model, variant, kilometres run, condition, registration year, ownership frequency or status, as well as the state of registration of the vehicle," said Gajendra Jangid, co-founder and chief marketing officer (CMO), Cars24, an online pre-owned car buying and selling portal.

Models that are more in demand are likely to attract better prices. Few of the automobile brands as well as models are in high demand as compared to others. For example, Maruti Swift and Hyundai i10. Therefore, you get a higher quote for them. In terms of colour, white is the most in demand and commands a higher price," said Jangid.

The frequency of change in ownership also impacts the car price. The higher the number of ownership changes, lower will be the price.

The car that has been driven more is likely to attract a lower price compared to a car that has covered fewer kilometres. Ownership and odometer (which measures the distance covered) reading can impact the price of a vehicle up to 10% and the refurbishment cost on a used vehicle on painting, tyres, engine, among others, can be up to 7-8% of the price of the vehicle. However, the level of impact can vary across regions, make, model, variant, and other supply-demand factors," said Hora.

Cars with no accident history may also attract a better price as they may be in better condition.

Insurance: If you dont renew the insurance of the car at the time of sale, the vehicle is likely to get a lower price.

An insured car can get a higher value on sale, so it is recommended to have at least third-party insurance for your car. A lot of owners lapse their policy because they plan to sell their car. This should be avoided," said Animesh Das, head of product strategy, ACKO General Insurance.

Things to keep in mind

A car in good condition, which has been regularly serviced from an authorized center, adds to the value. A full service at an authorized dealership will infuse new life in your car. Changing oil filter, air filter, engine oil, gear oil, air conditioner filter will help maintain the car in excellent running condition which will ultimately gain more eyeballs," said Hora.

Also, it is better to get dents or scratches removed before you put out car for sale. The cost of getting such repairs may not be high and it will help you negotiate a better price with the dealer or the buyer.

Having proper documentation is the most important aspect that is considered during the sale of a car. All documentation related to the vehicle such as registration certificate (RC), valid insurance and pollution under control (PUC) certificate, service record, history report, financial contract and owner manual should be maintained to increase the valuation of the car," said Hora.

Also, very old cars may not be in demand. Experts say that you get the best price when your car is three to five years old. While the average age of a used car in India is five to seven years, a car gets the best value after around three to four years. Post this age, the cars price can depreciate faster, and the car owner can incur higher maintenance cost," said Hora.

Before selling the car, dont forget to compare the prices you are getting on different portals.

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If Trump thinks the issue is good for him, he might want to reconsider. This issue is another confirmation that everything he touches turns to lead. The biggest jump in public support for expanded trade has been in the past four years. The more he tries to block international commerce, the better it looks.
Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has inaugurated the new Western Region House of Chiefs in Takoradi.

Following the creation of the new Western North Region, the former Western Region House of Chiefs was dissolved on Tuesday September 15, 2020 after it held its final meeting, and a new one, comprising only traditional authorities in the Western Region.

Traditional authorities whose jurisdiction fall within the newly created region will be under the Western North Regional House of Chiefs, which will be inaugurated by President Akufo-Addo later this month.

Addressing the Chiefs after their inauguration, Vice President Bawumia said, despite controversies that the Chieftaincy institution has gone through in some areas, the relevance and contribution of Chieftaincy to the development of the country cannot be underestimated.

Nananom, the Chieftaincy institution, like various other institutions of state, has lived through controversial periods of our history, playing different roles at different time. Dr. Bawumia said.

The Vice President noted that some people often raise criticism about the relevance of chieftaincy, but he maintained that the institution is indispensable.

I do not hesitate to state that Chieftaincy has, and will be an indispensable part of our history and development. It is so widely respected that even when our fellow Ghanaians leave our shores and are free of the influence of chieftaincy, they create chiefs wherever they are, Dr. Bawumia stated.

Government committed to strengthening Chieftaincy institution

Vice President Bawumia stressed the Akufo-Addos belief in the Chieftaincy institution as an integral part of the nations development process, especially in our democratic dispensation.

He also listed a number of things the Akufo-Addo government has done, since assuming office in 2017, which he said affirms the governments belief and support of the Chieftaincy institution.

Government recognizes that, in order to ensure the success of the programme of social and economic transformation that was put before the Ghanaian people, we have to do a lot. It is important that we bring the traditional role of our Chiefs into the modern, constitutional set up, under which we govern our country, Dr. Bawumia emphasised.

As a start, we made a pledge, in the NPPs 2016 Manifesto, to increase the monthly allowances paid to Chiefs, and the quarterly budgetary support to the Traditional Councils and Houses of Chiefs. This we have done by a hundred percent (100%).

Government has also assisted the National House of Chiefs with three million, five hundred thousand cedis (GH3.5 million) for the completion of its new headquarters office complex in Kumasi.

Government is also committed to assisting the National House of Chiefs to moving speedily on finishing work on the codification of the traditional norms and rules that have guided our communities throughout the ages.

The Ministry, in collaboration with the National House of Chiefs, has also begun the process of digitising records of the National House of Chiefs, particularly records in the National Register of Chiefs.

The Chieftaincy Ministry has also instituted a programme to have courses in Chieftaincy development, comprising lectures, seminars and other activities, aimed at building the capacity of Chiefs and all persons with interests in the Chieftaincy institution. I applaud this initiative.

As the Vice President enumerated a number strides the government has made in the Chieftaincy sector, he also bemoaned the many Chieftaincy disputes in the country, which he said is unfortunately one of the major setbacks to our nations socio-economic development.

Such disputes have resulted, sometimes, in full blown conficts, threats to our nations peace and stability, destruction of properties, loss of lives, closure of educational and health facilities, and separation of families.

He added that government is concerned, and in a move to help curb chieftaincy disputes, has decided to take up the cost of extrajudicial committees of the various House of Chiefs to help speed up the adjudication of disputes.

In helping to reduce these disputes and their harmful effects, government, through the Ministry of

Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs arranged to provide the funds that will increase the number of sittings of Judicial Committees of Regional Houses.

This should hasten the adjudication of pending issues, in order to bring closure to outstanding disputes that continue to generate tension.

Again, the National House of Chiefs, together with the Chieftaincy Ministry, in order to reduce conflicts and establish areas of customary jurisdiction and allegiance, has delineated traditional areas of paramountcy

As trustees of lands of the people, Dr. Bawumia also urged Chiefs in the country to help govern treatment streamline the administration of lands in the country.

We need as a matter of urgency, an efficient and well-functioning regime of titling, fixing of boundaries, and ownership tracing, he said.

---kasapafmonline
By Pieter Friedrich

The Overseas Friends of the BJP (OFBJP), after 29 years in operation in the United States, formally registered as a foreign agent on 27 August 2020.

Support TwoCircles



Asked what prompted this sudden change in status, OFBJP Vice-President Adapa Prasad told me, We learned about FARA regulation very recently and upon review of the regulation, we thought it best to register voluntarily. FARA  the Foreign Agents Registration Act  is a 1938 law which, according to the US Department of Justice (DOJ), requires certain agents of foreign principals who are engaged in political activities or other activities specified under the statute to make periodic public disclosure of their relationship with the foreign principal, as well as activities, receipts and disbursements in support of those activities. In other words, US-based actors who lobby on behalf of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) must disclose their expenditures, source of funds, and activities, including their meetings with US elected officials.

OFBJPs registration highlights a massive shakeup within an organisation that has long served as a huge overseas support base for BJPs electoral campaigns in India as well as a leading advocate abroad for the partys agenda.

Four days after the BJPs overseas wing filed its registration, President Krishna Reddy Anugula  who has served since 2016  submitted his resignation. Krishna Reddy ji has resigned due to his family reasons and as the current Vice President, I took over as the working President, says Prasad. He indicated, however, that there is another reason, which he did not detail. In a separate interview, Achalesh Amar  described as OFBJPs Houston chapter coordinator  suggested that he is no longer with the group, explaining, There have been lots of changes recently.

Changes include circulating rumors that the DOJ is investigating the group. Responding to enquiry, DOJ spokesperson Marc Raimondi said, We dont confirm or deny the existence of criminal investigations.

The allegations first emerged on 9 September when Professor Ashok Swain of Uppsala University claimed that there is a serious attempt going on to suppress this news. WhatsApp messages he obtained from Vijay Prabhakar  a Chicago-based OFBJP activist who campaigned for the BJP in Tamil Nadu in 2019  claim that the OFBJP USA suspends all activities and the president abruptly resigned as there is a DOJ investigation ongoing.

The OFBJP swiftly issued an official denial, announcing that it is fully functional and is not under any investigation. However, WhatsApp messages from a figure identified as an associate of OFBJP and worker with Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS)  the overseas wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)  conflict with the denial. In messages supplied by an anonymous source, the HSS worker, asked if there is an investigation, says, Yes. I heard so. He further states, OFBJP guys did not know the difference between politics and advocacy. They crossed the line and started advocacy without realising. It was a mistake at OFBJP side. Dont know much about US laws. Referring to OFBJP Organising Secretary Vasudev Patel, he says he is also [in the] soup, adding that he thinks the group has hired lawyers and may be facing monetary fines, presumably for violation of FARA regulations.

The group was formed in March 1991, said founder Mukund Mody in a 2004 interview, to propagate the policies and philosophies of the BJP and rebuff the dissemination of disinformation by the vested interests. He explained, We have three categories of membership: 200 active members, 2,000 supporters, and more than 20,000 sympathisers.

Immediate past BJP Foreign Affairs Department head Vijay Jolly, then in charge of the OFBJP, declared in 2015, We need to touch base with as many among the diaspora as possible and to indoctrinate them with the BJP ideology. In an August 2014 speech in Atlanta, Georgia, Jolly claimed that, under his leadership, the OFBJP had swelled from two international units  in US and UK  to chapters in 41 countries. If there would be two Indians even with the Eskimos in Greenland, Vijay Jolly does have a call, he added.

OFBJP played a key role in Narendra Modis election in 2014.

Groundwork for the mass mobilisation was laid as early as 2011, when the OFBJP organised first of its kind training camps in New Jersey and Texas which were conducted by the political advisor to then BJP President Nitin Gadkari. In 2013, then BJP vice-president Smriti Irani inaugurated the OFBJPs annual convention in Florida. Modi, who addressed the audience via video-conference, urged them to play a meaningful role in the upcoming election, concluding, As soon as I finish (my speech), they will start.

Then OFBJP President Chandrakant Patel said that nearly 5,000 non-resident Indians  some of whom, claims political analyst Dilip Hiro, were hired volunteers  flew from the US to campaign for the BJP. Within the US, the OFBJP held over 200 chai pe charchas in support of Modi and formed an army of Indian-American volunteers to call their friends and relatives back home. According to Patel, Each volunteer is expected to make at least 200 calls.

Leading up to the May 2019 general election, Anugula reports that over 1,000 volunteers joined phone-banks to make more than 1 million calls to Indian voters. When Modi won re-election, the group organised victory parties in at least 20 cities across the US. Over the past year, the group has hosted BJP officials at multiple events throughout the country, including in Illinois, New Jersey, and California.

Currently, reports journalist Soumya Shankar, the OFBJP is active in 46 countries and boasts of 2,000 registered members and 5,000 supporters across the United States.

Until early this year, the OFBJP website listed a National Executive Committee of ten members, a National Committee of 21 members, a National Council of 38 members, and 25 chapters in 17 states. The entire leadership list has now been scrubbed from the website, which now features a statement that it is disseminated by Overseas Friends of BJP-USA, a registered foreign agent, on behalf of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Founded at the height of the BJPs Ram Janmabhoomi movement, OFBJP was intended to counter the bad press coverage the party was receiving. Asian Studies expert Isaac McQuistion reports that its first task was to send out flyers to American lawmakers giving the BJP version of events after the destruction of the Babri Masjid. Besides echoing the party line, the group makes arrangement for visits of party leaders to the US and ensure that they get a chance to meet US government representatives such as State governors, Congressional leaders, and State Department officials, writes historian Padma Rangaswamy.

The groups initial growth was overseen by the BJPs LK Advani, who visited Los Angeles in 1992 to launch a new chapter. Modi himself reportedly played a role in the OFBJPs development. Historians Walter Andersen and Shridhar Damle explain that he was dispatched by the BJP to the US in 1998 to review the activities of the group. When he was banned from the US after the 2002 Gujarat riots, journalist Rajdeep Sardesai reports that his NRI supporters, including the Overseas Friends of the BJP, began to vigorously lobby for him at Capitol Hill.

In 2013, then BJP President Rajnath Singh visited Washington, DC to appeal to the US government to clear the US visa to the Gujarat chief minister. One of the few US politicians who met with him, at a meeting in which Vijay Jolly participated, was Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, who has faced allegations of a strong connection to both the RSS and the BJP.

Notably, Gabbard was a featured speaker alongside Jolly at the August 2014 banquet where he spoke about expanding the OFBJP even to the Eskimos in Greenland.

All across the country, I heard different people saying that Narendra Modi would not be prime minister of India, she said at the event. He is. Why is that possible? Because people like you stood up and said, Were gonna make this happen. Jolly, who spoke after Gabbard, told her in relation to her upcoming re-election to a second term, We are sure, with the support of the people of Indian origin, the non-resident Indians and, of course, the US citizens, your victory later this year is a foregone conclusion.

At the event, Gabbard posed for a photo with Jolly while wearing a BJP scarf and holding a biography of Modi. It was both the second time she had headlined an OFBJP banquet and worn a BJP scarf  the first being in June 2014 in Los Angeles. Questioned about it while campaigning for president in January 2020, she responded, Somebody put something around my neck and snapped a picture without my knowing what it was.

The OFBJPs registration as a foreign agent means that, going forward, any such interactions with US elected officials must be reported to the US government.

The changed status of the BJPs overseas wing also puts a new spin on any future US-based receptions for Modi. Andersen and Damle report that the OFBJP has been working closely with the HSS to organise Modis rallies. All three of Modis major rallies in the US  including New York City in 2014, San Jose in 2015, and Houston in 2019  have featured heavy organisational involvement by OFBJP leadership or associated activists. In 2014, then OFBJP President Chandrakant Patel and Vice-President Ramesh Shah took a leading role; in 2015, it was former OFBJP President Chandru Bhambhra; and in 2019, it was long-time OFBJP activist and HSS Vice-President Ramesh Bhutada (a patron of the event), his son Rishi (the events official spokesperson), and his brother-in-law Jugal Malani (the events chairperson).

The change in status also makes clear the direct link between the OFBJP and the BJP. As the FARA registration states, the group does engage in regular communications with officials of the BJP and, from time to time, acts under the direction or at the request of BJP officials when planning events or distributing informational materials within the US. No longer is there any doubt that the Overseas Friends of the BJP is controlled  to one extent or another  by the BJP.

Whatever the future holds for the OFBJP  and whether it is actually under investigation or not  it seems certain that (at least in the US) it will no longer be par for the course for the BJPs international wing.

Pieter Friedrich is a freelance journalist specializing in analysis of South Asian affairs. He is author of Saffron Fascists: Indias Hindu Nationalist Rulers and co-author of Captivating the Simple-Hearted: A Struggle for Human Dignity in the Indian Subcontinent.
Navalny case: Russian opposition figure shares photo, says breathing unaided

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 15 September 2020 11:09 AM

Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny who has been at the center of a dispute between Russia and Western countries over allegations that he was poisoned in Siberia last month, has shared a photo of himself and his family on Instagram, saying he is now able to breathe unaided.

"Hello, this is Navalny," he said in the caption of a photo of himself, his wife and their two children in the Berlin hospital where he has been receiving treatment.

"Yesterday I was able to breathe on my own all day," Navalny said in his first social media post since the alleged poisoning incident.

"I really liked it. It's an amazing process and underestimated by many. I recommend it," he joked.

A Monday report by The New York Times cited a senior German security official as saying that Navalny had spoken to a German prosecutor about what he claims was an attempt on his life and said he planned to return to Russia as soon as he recovered.

"He's fully aware of his condition, he's fully aware of what happened and he's fully aware of where he is," added the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Navalny remains heavily guarded by German police in the hospital, according to the US-based daily, which further cited the official as claiming that he had refused to cooperate with a Russian request to jointly probe the case with Germany in his conversation with the German prosecutor.

Noting that Navalny planned to return to Russia, the official said, "He's not planning to go into exile in Germany. He wants to go home to Russia and he wants to continue his mission."

The Charite Hospital announced that Navalny's condition continued to improve, saying, "The patient has been successfully removed from mechanical ventilation. He is currently undergoing mobilization and is able to leave his bed for short periods of time."

Meanwhile, Russia on Monday censured Germany's refusal to share with Moscow the details of its medical treatment of Navalny and Berlin's referral of the case to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

"Sorry, this is just some real evasion, to put it mildly," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during an interview with the local Rossiya-1 broadcaster on Monday. "But given the resonance and the sensitivity of the issue that we are all observing now, to be honest, I would like to pick up a stronger expression, because this is impossible."

The remarks came after statements by German Foreign Minister Heiko Mass that OPCW experts had taken samples of Navalny at Berlin's Charite Hospital and that Moscow, as a member of the organization, could forward its requests regarding his case to The Hague-based agency.

Also on Monday, German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said Germany and the OPCW had advanced in joint work on the alleged poisoning case and "received the undeniable results of the special laboratory of the Bundeswehr (the German military)."

"We renew our call for Russia to explain these events," Seibert added.

Zakharova said, "If there are serious facts, and they tell us these are real facts, and there is a request from the respective law enforcement agencies, then what could be more common, simple, true, honest, and right than to just hand them over to the Russian side?"

"Unfortunately, the chain of these strange things is not going to break," she said.

Navalny was taken to a local hospital in the Siberian city of Omsk on August 20 after collapsing on a domestic flight. He was airlifted to Germany on August 22.

On September 2, the German government claimed that Navalny had been poisoned with a Novichok-family toxic agent. Berlin further claimed on Monday that three EU laboratories, including those in France and Sweden, had confirmed its test results for the Russian blogger.

Russia has said that tests on Navalny's blood samples during his stay at the hospital in Omsk were negative, and that Germany should provide the details of its own tests on the opposition figure.

France, Germany urge Russian cooperation

Meanwhile, Germany and France also called on Russia on Monday to cooperate and probe the case after the laboratories in France and Sweden allegedly confirmed that he had been poisoned with a nerve agent.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, however, accused the West of using the incident as a pretext to impose additional sanctions on Moscow.

French President Emmanuel Macron's office also declared in a statement after holding a phone conversation with his Russian counterpart, President Vladimir Putin, that Moscow had to provide explanation.

"The president expressed his deep concern over the criminal act perpetrated against Alexei Navalny and the imperative that all light be shed, without delay, on the circumstances and responsibilities of this attempted assassination," Macron's office said, referring to the French president.

The Kremlin issued its own readout of the phone call, saying that Putin told Macron that it was "inappropriate" to make groundless accusations against Russia in the case and that Moscow wanted Berlin to hand over the medical test results taken from the opposition figure.

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Fending off an eviction could depend on which judge a renter in financial trouble is given, despite a federal government order intended to protect renters at risk of being turned out.

The order, a moratorium imposed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is meant to avoid mass evictions and contain the spread of the coronavirus. All a qualifying tenant must do is sign a declaration printed from the C.D.C. website and hand it over to his or her landlord.

But its not as simple as it sounds: Landlords are still taking tenants to court, and what happens next varies around the country.

Some judges say the order, which was announced on Sept. 1, prevents landlords from even beginning an eviction case, which can take months to play out. Some say a case can proceed, but must freeze at the point where a tenant would be removed  usually under the watchful eye of a sheriff or constable. Other judges have allowed cases to move forward against tenants who insist they should be protected, and at least one judge, in North Carolina, has raised questions about whether the C.D.C.s order is even constitutional.
Mbanza Kongo  Forty citizens from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been detained and expelled from national territory last Monday, Angop has learnt.

The National Police in northern Zaire province said in a statement on Tuesday that the illegal immigrants have been questioned at the border posts in Luvo, Buela, Kinsende and at 11 and 12 posts.

Foreign citizens in an irregular migratory situation were also repatriated.

On the same day, according to the note, 26 national citizens were arrested in the municipalities of Mbanza Kongo, Soyo and Cuimba, accused of various crimes, mainly disobedience.

The police clarified that the detentions were carried out in neighborhoods of TGFA and Kungu yenguele (Soyo), Terra Nova (Cuimba) and Sagrada Esperanca, in Mbanza Kongo city.

The offenders were forwarded to the Public Prosecutors' Office for legal procedures.
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Increasing legalization of marijuana in different countries is encouraging the growth of legal marijuana market. Thus, the application of legal marijuana in medical sector is witnessing a rapid growth at a global level. Moreover, marijuana oil and hemp seeds are now also being used in personal care products and are found to heal skin conditions including psoriasis, skin rashes, and eczema, which is adding fuel to the growth of the legal marijuana market. Based on the type of the legal marijuana, sativa is dominating the market holding a global market share of 56.3% and is expected to grow substantially over the forecast period. However, Indica segment is expected to account for a steady growth in the Covid-19 Analysis on Legal Marijuana Market over the forecast period 2016-2024. Researchers are taking efforts to bring out value added products from the cannabis strains, which is contributing in the growth of legal marijuana market. Increasing awareness of the health benefits associated with the legal marijuana is propelling the growth of this market.

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Some of the leading players in the Global Covid-19 Analysis on Legal Marijuana Market are Medicine Man (U.S.), AmeriCann, Inc. (U.S.), Abattis Bioceuticals Corp (Canada), Novus Acquisition & Development (U.S.), GW Pharmaceuticals (U.K.), Canopy Growth (Canada) and Insys Therapeutics (U.S.)

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Global Covid-19 Analysis on Legal Marijuana Market is projected to reach USD 4.69 billion by 2024 at a CAGR of 22.03% RoW likely to experience the highest growth at a rate of 30.18% during the given forecast period majorly in Australia, Turkey and Argentina.

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JPMorgan Chase & Co. announced last week that at least some employees  largely those in sales and trading  would be expected to be back in the office September 21. Although many organizations have encouraged employees to come back, JPMorgans move was notable because it was framed not as a choice, but an expectation. Exceptions will be made, but this is an opt-out, not an opt-in. Other employers are wondering how hard to push people to return, and employees are wondering if their at-home time is ending.

There is some feeling of abruptness to this. If it wasnt safe to go back in August, why is it safe now? In some locations (for example, Texas and Georgia) cases have dropped in the last month, so its possible to see why returning to work might have become a better idea. But JPMorgans announcement was about its offices in New York. Cases there have been stable and low since the middle of June. This makes the decision seem arbitrary; that employers have just decided its time" rather than evaluating the risks to employees.

One hallmark of good decision-making is consistency. Changing your decision when nothing has actually changed is not consistent. In my view, though, something has changed. But its not the facts about the virus. Instead, its how were thinking about the alternatives. The choice of whether or not to open a workplace  or to open a school, or to go to the hairdresser  depends crucially on defining what will happen in the or not" scenario.

For months weve been, either explicitly or implicitly, operating under the assumption that  pretty soon  this will end." That is: If we just wait until a vaccine is approved, or rapid antigen tests are available, well be able to reopen everything normally. Decisions not to reopen workplaces over the summer were, I think, rooted in the expectation that if we just waited a bit longer, things could be more normal. Employers wouldnt have to go through all the work of setting up a Covid-safe workplace.

Because re-opening workplaces before a vaccine is available is going to require a lot of additional work  more cleaning, more distancing, weird partial pod-oriented schedules, messing around with the elevator settings. Masks! Routine testing! People will object. It will be annoying, to say nothing of the fact that some employees are likely to get Covid-19, whether or not they get it at work. Investing in this sort of office homecoming really wouldnt make sense if everything is going to return to normal in a few weeks.

When we ask whats changed, I think the answer is that we have started to realize  and I know we do not want to hear this  that its not a few weeks, or even a few months. Employers have realized they need to plan for the long term. Its dawning on all of us that there is not an end" in sight. Vaccine trials are moving along, and it does seem possible we will have some vaccine by the end of the year. But it will take time to vaccinate everyone, and the vaccine will not be perfect. Antigen tests are here, but they arent a magic bullet and they are not yet widely available. I think Dr. Fauci may have said it best when he said that well be dealing with this is some way for the next 18 months  at least.

With that realization, employers now face the choice of opening Covid-safe" now or waiting perhaps 18 months to open normally." This is a very different choice. Although a few companies (tech firms, largely) have decided that work from home is a long-term solution, others are realizing that simply wont work for them. JPMorgan says its internal data show workers are not as productive from home. The result is a decision to make the investments to bring people back as safely as possible in this new normal. These investments in safety make a lot more sense than they would if we were going to return to normal in a few weeks.

We must acknowledge that the outcome is uncertain. It is possible that cases will increase if we open workplaces. Employers will need to be diligent about monitoring, open to backtracking, and willing to learn from what works and what doesnt. This learning, too, has more value as we acknowledge a longer road ahead.

This logic extends to other types of reopenings. Schools are one obvious example, but so are things like gyms, restaurants and other businesses. Keeping schools closed under the assumption that youll be able to open normally in October may make sense; once we realize that were looking at an entire academic year at least, it may make sense to invest in ways to conduct in-person instruction more safely.

I can hear the howls of protest already. People will object that this is privileging the economy over health, and its morally reprehensible to consider asking people to return to work (or school, or anything else) until we are sure it is 100% safe. I see this point, but staying closed also has serious risks in terms of employment, income and, yes, health  both mental and physical. There are no perfect options here. Making good choices among the many imperfect options requires realism about how long this pandemic is likely to last.

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Houston Strong is a phrase that has become intertwined with our regions unbroken spirit in the face of crisis, and our well-earned reputations as friends and neighbors who selflessly go above and beyond for one another. It was a phrase born in the wake of Hurricane Harveys devastation, but has resurfaced in the face of a deadly pandemic ravaging our health, jobs, and increasingly, our homes.

Stories of the most vulnerable among us have filled our television screens and broken our hearts. The elderly woman being forcibly removed from her apartment during record heat; a young father carrying all his worldly possessions in his infants crib; and the property manager fighting back tears as he removes a tenants furniture, are all stories that have cut us to our core. Perhaps these stories cut so deeply precisely because they challenge the story we have told ourselves about ourselves  that we are Houston Strong.

It has been more than a week since the Centers for Disease Control issued a nationwide temporary halt on evictions to slow the spread of COVID-19. In the first week since the temporary halt, at least 500 eviction cases have gone forward in Houston. Reports indicate that due to the broadly written nature of the CDC order, our local Justice of the Peace courts are implementing the temporary halt without uniformity, causing confusion amongst tenants. The CDC moratorium is clearly broken, and once again we are being inundated with stories of families being forced from their homes, left to fend for themselves. It doesnt have to be this way. City council can, and should, act immediately.

The CDC order establishes a bare minimum standard and allows for local governments to create stronger guidelines to fit the unique set of circumstances their region may be experiencing. Today, I am calling on the mayor and my city council colleagues to create and pass an ordinance establishing clearer guidelines on the CDCs temporary order. These suggestions are not an exhaustive list, but I believe a good framework should include the following:

Remove the burden from tenants having to present a declaration of COVID-19-related hardship to their landlords, and instead, require all landlords to proactively attach the CDCs declaration to any notice to evict sent to a tenant before eviction;

Clarify that the declaration does not need to be notarized;

Mandate that a Know Your Rights document be attached to the declaration, so tenants understand their options upon receiving the CDCs declaration from their landlord;

Remove the income requirement from qualification to align with the Citys existing rental assistance guidelines;

Include a provision for payment plans and agreements between tenant and landlord.

The above reforms would be a good first start toward shoring up some of the deficiencies in the CDC order, but may not be enough. Council should pass an ordinance with these clarifications and remain prepared to strengthen them further should the ordeals playing out in the Justice of the Peace Courts continue. I understand and respect the fact that the mayor does not believe a moratorium is the most optimal solution to the crisis we face. The mayor has made clear that direct financial assistance is the best option to the problem. I agree with him. However, the CDC has placed us in this position, and I believe it is incumbent upon us to make sure the temporary eviction halt is done in a uniform and orderly fashion. Additionally, I will continue working with the National League of Cities to ask the federal government for relief for landlords.

I have laid out suggestions, and it is my hope that they are acted upon, or at a minimum, better alternatives are put forward. I sincerely hope to move forward as a body in unity with a speed reflecting the dire straits our friends, family, and neighbors are facing. The first of the month has been a day many tenants have lived in fear of since the virus stole jobs, incomes and stability from renters across the city. The city council should act before then. Its time we fully embrace our roles as legislators and put aside custom and tradition in this unprecedented crisis.

Houston cannot be strong so long as families are sleeping in cars and children are starting school from homeless shelters. We are a resilient and kind people, capable of creatively solving the seemingly intractable. The story we have told ourselves of our strength and compassion is true. Its time to stop retelling that story and instead, make it manifest once again.

Plummer is a member of the Houston City Council At-large Position 4.
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Linkedin Tri Indah Oktavianti (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, September 16, 2020 15:13 492 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c4522d10 1 National Dino-Patti-Djalal,COVID-19 Free

Dino Patti Djalal, a former deputy foreign minister and a cofounder of the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia (FPCI) think tank has been admitted to the Gatot Subroto Army Hospital (RSPAD) in Central Jakarta.

FPCI executive secretary Mohammad Irfan confirmed on Tuesday that Dino had been hospitalized at the renowned army hospital, but could not provide detailed information on the reason for his admittance.

It remains unknown whether [Dino] has contracted COVID-19 or not, because we are still awaiting the results of his PCR [polymerase chain reaction] test, Irfan said in a statement made available to The Jakarta Post.

Hopefully, the result of the PCR test will be negative [for COVID-19] and Pak Dino will be able to rest well in the meantime, he said.

Irfan added that he could not confirm earlier reports that said Dino was hospitalized after experiencing breathing difficulties.

Only his family was allowed to accompany him to the hospital, he said on Sept. 15 as quoted by tempo.co.

Dino cofounded the FPCI in 2014 along with political scientist Dewi Fortuna Anwar and former Indonesian ambassador to Poland Peter Gontha.

He served as presidential spokesperson from 2004 until 2010 in the Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono administration, and served as the Indonesian ambassador to the United States from 2010 to 2013. Dino then served as deputy foreign minister from July 2014 to October 2014, during the final months of Susilo's second presidential term.
Last summer, Malinda K. Babineaux was offered a nursing position at the Central Texas Detention Facility in downtown San Antonio.

Babineaux, 46, asked employer Wellpath LLC for permission to wear a scrub skirt rather than scrub pants on the job to comply with her Apostolic Pentecostal Christian beliefs.

Wellpath refused Babineauxs request and rescinded the job offer, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleges in a lawsuit filed Monday in San Antonio federal court.

The federal agency accuses Wellpath of engaging in unlawful employment practices by discriminating against Babineauxfor her religious beliefs in violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

On ExpressNews.com: Former county jail in downtown San Antonio shutting down

Nashville-based Wellpath spokeswoman Judy Q. Lilley said the company didnt do anything wrong.

Wellpath prohibits discrimination in violation of laws, including based upon religion, and takes its obligations to provide reasonable accommodations very seriously, Lilley said in an email. Wellpath engaged in no wrongdoing and trusts the facts of the case will evidence the same. Unfortunately, Wellpath can provide no further comment due to the active litigation of this matter.

Wellpath employs about 15,000 in 36 states and in Australia, providing medical and behavioral healthcare services to about 300,000 patients in residential treatment facilities, civil commitment centers and local, state and federal correctional facilities, its website says.

The Central Texas Detention Facility at 218 S. Laredo St. closed earlier this year after housing federal pretrial inmates for decades downtown. It had been operated by the GEO Group, a publicly traded real estate investment trust based in Florida.

Bexar County commissioners, citing a decrease in revenue the county received as part of an arrangement with the U.S. Marshals Service, last year voted to end the countys contract with the Marshals Service.

The building opened as the Bexar County jail until 1962. The University of Texas at San Antonio plans to expand its business college on the property, county officials have said.

The EEOC is suing Wellpath for unspecified financial damages on behalf of Babineaux, including back pay and future monetary losses, and pain and suffering. The agency also seeks punitive damages.

Babineaux wears an almost ankle-length skirt and long sleeves as part of her religious beliefs, EEOC attorney Philip Moss said.

Allowing Mrs. Babineaux to wear a scrub skirt would not have caused a hardship to (Wellpath) or its client as Mrs. Babineaux could fully perform the duties of the position while wearing a scrub skirt, the EEOC says in its complaint. In fact, Mrs. Babineaux has worn a scrub skirt for several years while working in medical settings in correctional facilities.

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Some Apostolic Pentecostal denominations encourage members to dress modestly, including full-length skirts or dresses for women at all times. Women also dont cut their hair or wear makeup.

Just why Wellpath wouldnt allow Babineaux to wear a scrub skirt, as the EEOC alleges, couldnt be determined.

We think that they could have provided her a scrub skirt, EEOC attorney Edward Eduardo Juarez said. It wouldnt have been an undue burden of any sort.

Employers are required to reasonably adjust their dress codes to accommodate the religious beliefs of applicants or employees, unless these actions would constitute an undue hardship, he added.

Patrick Danner Patrick Danner covers banking, insurance, business litigation and bankruptcies. To read more from Patrick, become a subscriber. pdanner@express-news.net | Twitter: @AlamoPD
by Ati Nurbaiti

For Marzuki Darusman, the ethnic group is the victim of atrocities in Myanmar and must be helped to determine its own future. Increased international pressure on Myanmar is needed as is greater support for Bangladesh, which hosts a million Rohingya refugees. Third countries, especially in ASEAN, must welcome the Rohingya.

Jakarta (AsiaNews)  The prospects seem bleak for the Rohingya, but hope for a better future for one of the most persecuted minorities in the world is still alive, this according to Marzuki Darusman, a former UN official who investigated atrocities in Myanmar.

Speaking to AsiaNews, Darusman said that the stateless ethnic group must be helped to determine its own future. To this end, it is necessary to renew international pressure on Myanmar and support Bangladesh, which is host to around a million Rohingya refugees.

In early September, about 30 Rohingya died during a seven-month odyssey at sea on their way to Malaysia to reunite with their families after leaving their refuge in Bangladesh. Another 395 refugees eventually landed in Aceh, north-western Indonesia. Two later died of respiratory illness, raising concerns about possible COVID-19 infections.

The Bali Process, a forum of Asia-Pacific countries (including Indonesia and Australia) centred on human trafficking, has been criticised for failing to help Rohingya boat people, victims of people smuggling.

Marzuki Darusman, who chaired a United Nations-appointed fact-finding mission on Myanmar, cited "four most urgent measures" to end Rohingya suffering.

The list includes involving the Rohingya in talks about their future, i.e. recognise them as part of the process; mobilising resources and funds to help Bangladesh; talking to third countries willing to offer asylum to refugees who fear returning to Myanmar; and reactivating UN multilateral mechanisms to allow all these measures to turn the spotlight on Myanmar's behaviour.

The independent fact-finding UN team highlighted the "genocidal intent" of the Myanmar military against the Muslim minority, which in 2017 drove over 725,000 people out of the country.

The Rohingya, called "Bangla" in Myanmar, are accused by authorities in Naypyidaw of being illegal migrants from Bangladesh. Most are stateless, since they cannot produce papers required by Myanmars citizenship law on non-officially recognised ethnic groups.

Last Friday, after the UN Security Council debated the situation in Myanmar, eight countries, including the United States, Great Britain, France and Germany, asked Myanmar to immediately allow "safe, voluntary, sustainable and dignified return of refugees, and to respect the ruling of the International Court of Justice, which in January ordered the Myanmar government to prevent a Rohingya genocide.

Myanmar State Councillor and Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi insisted that killings that have occurred are the result of an "internal war" against terrorist groups.

A few days ago, the European Parliament suspended Suu Kyi from the Sakharov Prize community. She had received the award in 1990 for her struggle against her countrys military dictatorship.

Meanwhile, the International Criminal Court has opened an investigation to see if Myanmar's military leaders have committed large-scale crimes against the Rohingya.

During a recent ministerial meeting of the (Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which includes Myanmar, member countries appealed to Myanmar to draft a repatriation plan for thousands of Rohingya, which they would be ready to support.

For many observers, the pressure on Myanmar has proved ineffective. ASEAN leaders care more about the relationship between member states rather than oppressed populations whom they have a duty to protect, said Kyaw Win, head of the London-based Burma Human Rights Network.

In addition to China, Myanmar's main economic partners are Western countries and some ASEAN members like Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand). In light of this, are ASEAN member states really willing to confront Myanmar? wonders Prof Rosalia Sciortino, director of the Bangkok-based SEA Junction.

According to Darusman, since Indonesia currently holds one of the non-permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council, it is in a good position to facilitate multilateral initiatives in favour of human rights in Myanmar.

Some steps have been undertaken under the auspices of the UN Secretary General, the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar and the UN Special Envoy to the Asian country.

Creativity is needed, said Darusman, instead of unrealistic interventions like demanding changes in Myanmars citizenship law. One extraordinary example to follow was the global cooperation over Vietnams refugees in the 1970s, hosted on Indonesias Galang Island.

If only out of economic interest, Darusman noted, Myanmars main ally China has provided funds and transportation for refugees safe repatriation.

China is building a hydropower dam and a deep-sea port in Rakhine state, the home of the Rohingya, as part of its Belt and Road Initiative spanning Europe to Asia.

Darusman and Kyaw Win separately warn that failure to curb violence against the minority could worsen abuse against other minorities in Myanmar and elsewhere.

Sciortino noted that Rohingya have refused repatriation without guarantee of safety. However, seeking third countries is presently not feasible.

Countries that traditionally would receive refugees such as Australia and the US now have anti-immigration policies and Europe is occupied with refugees from Middle East and Africa.

At least ASEAN countries could "divide" refugees among themselves, Sciortino believes. However even wealthy Malaysia has said that it can no longer accommodate more than the 150,000 Rohingya it is now hosting.
Sales of $5.4 million for the third quarter through September 16, 2020

CHICO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / September 16, 2020 / AmeraMex International, Inc. (OTCQB:AMMX), a provider of heavy equipment for logistics companies, infrastructure construction and forestry conservation, announced that it has received an equipment order totaling $350,000.

The order is for a low-hour Taylor Machine TXI-650 forklift with a 65,000- pound lift capacity. The equipment is shipping to a construction company located in the Midwest.

About AmeraMex International

AmeraMex International sells, leases, and rents heavy equipment to companies within multiple industries including construction, logistics, mining, and lumber. AmeraMex, with a US and international customer base, has over 30 years of experience in heavy equipment sales and service. Follow AmeraMex on Twitter @ammx_intl and visit the AmeraMex website, www.AMMX.net or www.hamreequipment.com for additional corporate information, online heavy equipment inventory/ pricing and videos.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this press release are forward-looking statements. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "plan," "potential," "continue" or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements include risks and uncertainties, and there are important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Investors are encouraged to review the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 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. 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.

Investor and Media Relations

McCloud Communications, LLC

Marty Tullio, Managing Member

Office: 949.632.1900 or Marty@McCloudCommunications.com

SOURCE: AmeraMex International, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/606362/AmeraMex-International-Sales-Team-Receives-350000-Equipment-Order
Two days before External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi reached an agreement in Moscow, heightened tensions along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh had led Indian and Chinese troops to open fire on the north bank of Pangong Tso. While the Indian troops had moved towards the western side of Finger 3, the Chinese army had moved to occupy the area between Finger 3 and 4. The step by both the countries led to firing of 100 to 200 shots" in the air as the troops came 300 metre close to each other.

A report by Indian Express quoted a top government officer, aware of the details, as saying: 100 to 200 shots were fired in the air by both sides on the ridgeline where Finger 3 and Finger 4 merge before moving north as one ridge."

In the first week of September, there was a lot of movement" on both the north and south banks of Pangong Tso, the officer was quoted as saying, mentioning multiple" incidents of firing in the region in the first week of September.

Top government sources told News18 that India and China exchanged fire twice at LAC. The first round of firing took place in Chushul sub-sector on September 7. These were said to be warning shots. The second round of firing occurred on September 8 at North Bank  this was serious". At least 100 rounds were fired, sources said.

The IE report stated that till date, neither side has officially said anything about the firing on the north bank which took place after the Chushul incident, and was bigger in scale.

The situation, however, has since calmed down, the officer was quoted. Now things have cooled down because of the talks between our Defence Minister and their Defence Minister and the Foreign Ministers. The focus has shifted towards dialogue," he said.

The two sides have agreed to hold another round of talks between the Corps Commanders though the date is still to be decided. The officer indicated that this time, the talks may include an official from the Ministry of External Affairs, the report stated.

The officer was further quoted as saying that before India occupied the heights along the LAC in the Chushul sub-sector, China was in a position of advantage, and at the discussions at the military and diplomatic levels, they were trying to bargain for time" as at that particular stage they were better off" and they had no reason to negotiate".

On current positions on the Fingers on the north bank, the officer was quoted as saying that the Indian soldiers were above the Chinese deployment on Finger 4.

Chinese troops, he said, are trying to go further up" but we are in a slightly better position, there is a limit to how much you can keep jockeying" on that ridgeline, and that the Chinese would not be able to sustain themselves at a point higher on the ridge than where the Indian soldiers are.
Sept 16 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Wall Street Journal. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

- China's ByteDance Ltd would retain a majority ownership stake in its TikTok app unit as part of a proposal being reviewed by national-security regulators, with an eye toward settling the high-profile deal by a deadline Sunday, according to a person familiar with the situation. https://on.wsj.com/2GYpVas

- The Federal Trade Commission is gearing up to file a possible antitrust lawsuit against Facebook Inc by year-end, according to people familiar with the matter, in a case that would challenge the company's dominant position in social media. https://on.wsj.com/35FzOnR

- The city of Louisville, Kentucky, will pay $12 million to the estate of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman killed by police during a raid on her apartment, as part of a legal settlement with her family. https://on.wsj.com/2GWUZay

- The Justice Department has joined U.S. securities regulators in examining allegations that electric-truck startup Nikola Corp misled investors by making exaggerated claims about its technology, according to people familiar with the matter. https://on.wsj.com/2ZIdDJY

(Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom)
The National Academy of Engineering today announced the new class of the EngineerGirl Ambassadors program.

WASHINGTON -- The National Academy of Engineering today announced the new class of the EngineerGirl Ambassadors program. The 23 new ambassadors will participate in a yearlong program designed to build leadership skills in female high school students by helping them promote engineering to younger students in their community.

Each ambassador will design, develop, and implement a project that will encourage younger girls -- particularly those with little access to engineering role models -- to think about engineering careers and give them practical experience in engineering design. They will work with local sponsors and receive guidance and support from EngineerGirl staff. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, all ambassadors are adapting their outreach plans and events to ensure participants can engage safely. That means that many of the proposed plans are subject to change and most in-person events may be held asynchronously or online.

The 2020-2021 EngineerGirl ambassadors are:

Diya Agrawal, 11th grade, Inverness, Illinois. She is planning to work with an after school club led by fellow high schoolers to help introduce engineering principles to underprivileged elementary school girls.

Sarah Amacker, 11th grade, Covington, Louisiana. She proposed to work with middle school girls creating hands-on engineering focused projects with the help of local engineers.

Nikita Bharati, 11th grade, Chandler, Arizona. She proposed to use the Food Computer program in Arizona middle schools to teach students agriculture skills, computer design, engineering and sustainability.

Diana DiProfio, ninth grade, San Diego, California. She is planning to create and edit video interviews of women mentors in engineering and STEAM to inspire young girls.

Elizabeth Halton, 11th grade, Ithaca, New York. She is planning to develop hands-on engineering activity boxes to be used by young girls at the Sciencenter in Ithaca.

Simran Kulkarni, 10th grade, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. She proposed an after school STEM club at a kid's center for young girls. The engineering focus will be robotics, chemical, and computer programming, which are all fields currently underreported by women.

Aavni Kuppusamy, 10th grade, Austin, Texas. She proposed a program that will encourage girls to pursue engineering by introducing them to diverse female role models and by offering hands-on experiences.

Nikki LaPierre, 12th grade, Andover, Massachusetts. She is planning to work with a group of middle school girls from Bellesini Academy, a private school for low income children, and teach them about engineering.

Hyunjin Lee, 12th grade, Chesterbrook, Pennsylvania. She proposed a series of six workshops centered on different engineering fields. The workshops will immerse girls in hands-on engineering projects.

Jewel Levy, 12th grade, Easton, Pennsylvania. She proposed an engineering club for middle school girls during the school year. The club will teach engineering through projects and with the help of high school mentors.

Faye Liu, 11th grade, Manhattan Beach, California. She plans to lead elementary school girls in various engineering and STEM-related projects. These sessions will explore the importance of female engineers, engineering for humanity, and teamwork.

Ishika Nag, 10th grade, Oviedo, Florida. She proposed an engineering club at the Boys and Girls Club of Central Florida. This club will feature engineering competitions, field trips, and engineering camps.

Allison Nguyen, 11th grade, Sugar Land, Texas. She hopes to pique the interest of young girls by introducing engineering creatively through exciting teaching projects and a supportive environment.

Yana Outkin, 11th grade, Albuquerque, New Mexico. She proposed an after-school program that will help young women in her community build engineering skills and develop confidence to continue in STEM. It will focus heavily on Lego Mindstorms robots to introduce the girls to mechanical engineering and programming.

Kaylee Pfister, 10th grade, Flower Mound, Texas. She plans to create a program at a local elementary school for girls interested in STEM. The program will include talks from female engineers and use LEGO Mindstorms for hand-on projects.

Izabella Pollett, 11th grade, Tulsa, Oklahoma. She proposed a program that will introduce young girls to female engineers who will serve as inspiration and mentors.

Yarianis Rivera, 11th grade, Manati, Puerto Rico. She proposed a program that will get young girls interested in engineering through robotics workshops.

Diana Sobolieva, 12th grade, Pittsfield, Massachusetts. She plans to create a program that will introduce young girls to female engineers who will talk about their experiences in the industry.

Julia (Heyu) Sun, 12th grade, Barrington, Illinois. She proposed an after-school program for middle school girls with the help of few high school mentors. They will teach the students engineering concepts by presenting a STEM-related slideshow followed by hands-on projects.

Danielle Sutterlin, 11th grade, Gibsonia, Pennsylvania. She plans to work with her local middle school to host a "Girls in Engineering Day," introducing girls to the various engineering disciplines, classes offered in her district, and talks from female speakers currently in the field.

Ananya Tadigadapa, 12th grade, State College, Pennsylvania. She proposed a program that teaches fourth to eighth graders engineering using the hands-on experience of building and programing a robot.

Emerson Utgaard, 11th grade, San Diego, California. She plans to create a series of seven STEM workshops through the school year and a five-day summer camp introducing elementary school minority girls to engineering.

Zoe Vardys, 12th grade, Austin, Texas. She proposed a three-day workshop for young girls and their siblings in cooperation with Casa Marianella, a home for displaced immigrants. Over the course of the project, they will complete STEM-based experiments and learn about career opportunities.

To see a more in-depth profile of the student ambassadors and videos please visit the EngineerGirl website.

The EngineerGirl ambassadors receives support and project funding of up to $250, leadership development, networking and engagement opportunities, and a certificate and letter of recognition from the National Academy of Engineering that may be sent with college applications.

The EngineerGirl Ambassadors program is made possible by a generous grant from John F. McDonnell.

###

EngineerGirl is designed for girls in elementary through high school and offers information about various engineering fields and careers, questions and answers, interviews, an annual writing competition, and other resources on engineering. EngineerGirl is part of the NAE's ongoing effort to increase the diversity of the engineering workforce.

The mission of the NAE is to advance the well-being of the nation by promoting a vibrant engineering profession and by marshalling the expertise and insights of eminent engineers to provide independent advice to the federal government on matters involving engineering and technology. The NAE is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, an independent, nonprofit organization chartered by Congress to provide objective analysis and advice to the nation on matters of science, technology, and health.

Contact:

Brandon Green

Communications/Media Specialist

National Academy of Engineering

202-334-2226 <

a href="mailto:bgreen@nae.edu">bgreen@nae.edu
On the heels of its lawsuit filed in March against Canadian Solar Inc. (CSIQ) in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Solaria Corporation, a U.S. company based in Fremont, California, today announced it filed additional claims against Canadian Solar with the International Trade Commission (ITC).

Solaria has over 250 patents and has invested more than $200 million in developing our advanced solar panel technology, said Solaria Founder and Director Suvi Sharma. Despite our pending District Court case, Canadian Solar continues to willfully misappropriate Solarias intellectual property. Its unfair that an infringing company can swoop in, as Canadian Solar has done here, use our patented inventions, and threaten American jobs. We filed the ITC complaint because Canadian Solar deems itself above the law, and its anti-competitive behavior must be remedied.

According to Solarias complaint, Canadian Solars HiDM shingled modules infringe Solarias U.S. patents that cover tiled or so-called shingled solar modules, as well as Solarias patented process for separating photovoltaic (PV) strips from solar cells for use in such modules. Solaria asserts that it introduced its high-efficiency, high-density module (HDM) technology to Canadian Solar when representatives of Canadian Solar evaluated Solarias next generation shingling technology for a potential licensing deal. Shortly thereafter, Canadian Solar launched its HiDM shingled modules and began advertising and selling them in the United States. Solaria is seeking an exclusion order that would prevent Canadian Solar from importing infringing products into the U.S.

T.J. Rodgers, a member of Solarias Board of Directors, said As a founder and 34-year CEO of Cypress Semiconductor, I have been through dozens of legal actions against big companies who think they can take what they want. I am now actively involved in Solarias suit against Canadian Solar in the ITC  the American institution that levels the playing field for an emerging company like Solaria.

Solaria has spent years researching and developing our technology, explained Solaria CEO Tony Alvarez. Numerous companies in the industry, including ones from China, have recognized the value of Solarias IP by licensing Solarias technology. To protect ourselves and our valued partners, Solaria will actively defend our IP against any infringers.

The ITC is expected to review the matter and begin an investigation within 30 days. If the ITCs investigation finds that the accused Canadian Solar products infringe Solarias patents, it will issue an exclusion order, which will prevent Canadian Solar from importing and selling shingled modules in the U.S. and from installing or servicing the infringing imported shingled modules.

Solaria's District Court complaint filed on March 31, 2020, can be read here.

Solaria's amended District Court complaint filed on June 3, 2020, can be read here.

Solaria's ITC complaint filed on September 15, 2020, can be read here.

About Solaria:

Solaria Corporation is a U.S.-based solar PV technology and systems company, with a strong track record and 20-year history in solar power innovation and product development. Solaria is paving the way for distributed, clean power generation by building advanced solar panels and fully integrated systems. Using advanced patented technology, proven field performance, and sophisticated automation, Solaria delivers solutions that address a unique set of requirements for residential and commercial solar markets. Solaria headquarters are in California, USA. For more information, please visit www.solaria.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200916005300/en/
More home care hours and better access to diagnostics for GPs - as well as measures to keep as many patients as possible out of hospital - will be key measures in the HSE's 600m winter plan.

The service is facing into a winter that could pose the greatest threat to people's health "in living memory", Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has warned.

The plan will see additional beds inside and out of hospital, supporting cancer screening and care, and the hiring of thousands of people to run the testing and tracing system.

There will be widespread use of new community assessment hubs across the country to treat patients in the community and avoid hospital admissions, with a particular focus on treating older people and managing patients with chronic diseases.

Mr Donnelly said the health service will need to adopt a "zero tolerance" approach to overcrowding in any care environment this winter because of the risks of Covid-19.

"Before Covid arrived, we had the longest waiting lists anywhere in Europe and they are now significantly longer because it takes longer to care for people and a lot of the services were shut down for several months," he said.

"The challenges we are facing this winter are unprecedented.

"The combination of winter and what Covid has done to our healthcare system means this winter will probably be the most challenging time in healthcare in living memory."

The plan also promises over 30 Covid-19 test centres, six pop-up fleets, and contact tracing centres.

Commenting on the plan, the Irish Hospital Consultants Association said: "We note today's indications from Government that the promised winter plan is now just days away.

Funding

"The Minister for Health has promised that the plan will include more funding, beds and services. To work, these promises all depend on one fundamental - healthcare professionals.

"As it stands, the deficit in hospital consultants is stark, with 500 permanent posts unfilled and our overall numbers 40pc below the EU average.

"Until we meaningfully recruit to address this deficit, waiting times will continue to grow and patients will not get the level of care they deserve this winter. We await the plan's publication with interest."

Meanwhile, the Asthma Society of Ireland is calling for a subsidisation of all asthma medications. It said 380,000 people in Ireland have asthma and 890,000 will develop the condition in their lifetime.
At an online-only WWDC event, Apple officially took wraps from the latest iOS 14 operating system. The next iteration of iOS is full of welcome additions such as App Library, redesigned home screen with widgets, Apple Maps enhancements, Privacy controls, and more. We have already covered every possible new feature in a separate post. In this post, we are going to talk about major hidden elements in the iOS 14. These improvements may not seem like a big deal on a first glance but on a whole, they make a strong case a seamless iOS 14 experience.

iOS 14: Hidden Features You Should Know About

As the title suggests, this article is only about small and hidden features. If you want to know about every single feature in iOS 14, take a look at our continuously updated iOS 14 features guide. While you are at it, dont forget to check out the best features in iPad OS14 and iOS 14.

1. Pin Multiple Conversations in Messages

iOS 14 lets you pin your important conversations on the top. Swipe right on a conversation and select the Pin option. It makes sense for a single conversation but what if you want to Pin/Unpin several conversations on the go? For that, you can tap on the menu above and select the Edit Pin option. It will allow you to Pin/Unpin multiple conversations quickly.

2. Filters in Messages

The new Filters menu in Messages automatically organizes messages based on Known Senders, Unknown Senders, Promotions, Transactions, Promotions, and Junk. We have seen similar implementation on the Android side. Its good to see Apple taking steps to declutter the messages inbox. This feature is only available in India though.

3. Sleep Mode

The Bedtime Mode in iOS 13 is now replaced by the new Sleep Mode in iOS 14. You can set the Sleep goal in the Health app and it will turn on Do Not Disturb Mode during the set time. Sleep mode can simplify your Lock screen at your scheduled Bedtime. You can turn on/off Sleep Mode from the Control Centre.

4. Wind Down

Wind Down is related to Sleep mode. It will reduce distractions and help you relax before going to bed. You can set a time to enable Wind Down before starting Sleep Mode.

5. New Siri Automation for Charging and Low Power Mode

In iOS 14, Siri Shortcuts has received some welcome changes. Now you can set automation when the device is charging or using Low Power Mode. For example, you can set Siri to turn off DND, Bluetooth, reduce brightness, turn off location, and more when the iPhone goes into Low Power Mode.

6. New UI in Shortcuts Gallery

The ready-to-go Siri Shortcuts in the Gallery menu now shows bigger thumbnails and more information. I like how Apple has played with different colors to differentiate the shortcuts.

7. Security Recommendations

In iCloud Keychain, iOS 14 warns users about the data breach and potential password leaks. It will display the account and provide you the link to change the password on the website. Apple calls it Security Recommendations and its a part of iCloud Keychain.

8. Mirror Front Camera

iOS 14 now lets you capture mirror selfies. What you see is what you get in the final results from the front camera. Its disabled by default. You can enable the options by going into the Setting app on the iPhone. Scroll down to Camera and enable the Mirror Front Camera option.

9. Smart Stack of Widgets

The widget functionality isnt limited to the home screen and resizing. You can place a stack of widgets on the home screen. Based on the time and day, iOS 14 will cycle between the widgets for you. For example, it will showcase Maps widget in the morning, Calendar in the noon, and Health widget at night. Smart Stack saves space on the home screen and serves the purpose. You can also swipe up and down on the stack to go through the added widgets.

10. Add an App to Library

In iOS 14, when you try to delete an app, the system will offer you the option to add the app to the App Library menu. That way, you can remove the app from the home screen but it stays on the device in the App Library.

11. Smart Downloads in India

Starting with iOS 14, you can download India Siri voices and software updates, as well as download and stream Apple TV+ shows over cellular networks for the first time.

12. New UI for Adding Time and Date

You will find a new bubble-style User Interface for adding time and date throughout the Operating System.

13. Notify Me in Messages

When enabled from the Messages Settings, the Notify Me option will bypass the muted conversations and send you a notification when someone mentions you in a group chat.

14. Back Tap in Accessibility

This one is really cool. With iOS 14, you now double-tap or triple tap on the back of the iPhone to quickly access the home, app switcher, notification center, Siri, take a screenshot, and more. Its buried inside the Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Back Tap menu. The good news is, the back tap even works if you have a case on your iPhone. Currently, I have set the OS to take a screenshot when I double tap on the back.

15. Group FaceTime Add-on

This is part of accessibility improvements. FaceTime can now recognize when someone is using sign language and make them prominent in a group call.

16. Banner Notification for Bluetooth Device Connection

This is a welcome change. iOS 14 now showcases a small banner notification at the top with the Bluetooth device name connected option. No need to go back to Control Centre to see which device got connected over Bluetooth.

17. Indicator When An App is Using Camera or Microphone In Background

With iOS 14, Apple is doubling down on privacy. The system will showcase a tiny Green dot beside the Wi-Fi icon when an app is using the device camera. You will see an orange dot at the same place when an app is using a microphone in the background.

18. Long-press the Back Button to Bring Up the History Stack

With iOS 14, if youre deep in a navigation stack and want to quickly head back to a level, you can long-press the back button to bring up the history stack. It can be useful when you are deep inside the Settings app and want to move back to the main home page with a single click.

19. Change Video Format in the Camera App

For years, users have been asking Apple to allow them to change video resolution and format from the camera app. Apple finally listened to them with the iOS 14 update. Now, you can change video resolution and format from the video UI in the Camera app. Just tap on the video format and frame rates at the upper right corner to switch between the available options.

The option was already available on iPhone 11 devices running iOS 13.3 but now with iOS 14, Apple is adding it for all iPhones.

20. Swipe Away An Incoming Call to Hide It

As I mentioned, iOS 14 has added support for new caller UI as a banner notification. You can swipe it and the OS will put it in an upper left corner. The gesture wont decline the call though. For that, you will have to tap on the End button in the banner notification.

21. Reminder to Charge AirPods

iOS 14 will send you a notification as a reminder to charge your AirPods. Its a neat add-on and adds more value for the iPhone and AirPods users.

22. Privacy Report in Safari Browser

In iOS 14, when you visit a website and tap on the font menu in the address bar, it will showcase the Tracking Report option. The report displays the Known trackers prevented, websites that contacted trackers, and more.

23. Precise Location Toggle

In iOS 14, certain apps can ask your precise location. The option is automatically enabled for ride-hailing apps such as Uber and food-ordering apps like Swiggy and Uber Eats. If you disable the option then the apps can access your approximate location.

24. Notification When An App or Widget Reads Your Clipboard Data

iOS 14 will display a banner notification on the top when an app or widget reads your clipboard data. For example, if you copy text from Notes and open the Google Chrome app, a notification appears that says Chrome pasted from Notes. The notification disappears after a few seconds.

25. Faster JavaScript Performance in Safari

Safari on iOS 14 features the new JavaScript engine for 2x faster JS performance than Chrome on Android 10.

iOS 14 is shaping out to be an excellent upgrade for iPhone users. The official update for the general public will be available later this year. If you are feeling adventurous then you can go ahead and download the beta profile on your device for free. While you are at it, do let us know about your favorite additions in the iOS 14 update.
SCHENECTADY  The union representing Schenectady police officers has petitioned a court to block the release of part of the personnel record of Officer Brian Pommer, who was involved in a controversial incident over the summer in which video appeared to show him kneeling on the neck of a man he was arresting.

The judge in the case, state Supreme Court Justice Mark Powers, signed a temporary restraining order last week prohibiting the city from releasing Pommer's file before a Sept. 23 hearing. The Schenectady Police Benevolent Association, who filed their petition under seal, is expected to argue at the hearing that portions of the officer's personnel records should remain private despite the state's repeal this year of a 44-year-old statute that had shielded the public disclosure of police disciplinary records.

In July, the Times Union had filed a request for Pommer's personnel records, including any information related to his July 6 arrest of Yugeshwar Gaindarpersaud, who was suspected of vandalizing a neighbor's car on North Brandywine Avenue. Pommer initially approached Gaindarpersaud in front of Gaindarpersaud's home, but the 31-year-old man ran into his backyard where he was tackled by Pommer. Albany Proper, a local website, and the Daily Gazette made similar records requests.

Videos of Gaindarpersaud's apprehension by the officer triggered demonstrations in the city and prompted an internal investigation of the encounter between Gaindarpersaud and Pommer by the police department. The Schenectady County district attorney's office also is investigating the incident. Neither agency has release results of its findings.

Gaindarpersaud, who has accused Pommer of kneeling on his neck and punching him several times during the skirmish, has been charged with criminal mischief and resisting arrest, both misdemeanors. He is free pending a future court appearance.

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Last week, the city's top attorney, Corporation Counsel Andrew Koldin, said the city initially intended to comply with the Times Union's request to release the full contents of Pommer's personnel file.

But he said the city held back releasing the materials after the PBA disclosed they were preparing to file court papers to block the disclosure. Koldin said he made the decision to "avoid further litigation because they gave us a heads up."

Although most of the documents filed in the case by the PBA are sealed, the restraining order issued by the judge indicates the PBA specifically wants the city to withhold information about incidents that were determined to be unfounded, could not be substantiated or that did not lead to discipline.

Gaindarpersaud's father videotaped the confrontation which appeared to show Pommer kneeling on Gaindarpersaud's neck. The video, shared with the Times Union and other media outlets, drew comparisons to the killing of George Floyd, who died May 25 after a Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

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

The police department later released footage from Pommer's body camera which showed Gaindarpersaud running from the officer when Pommer tried to discuss the vandalism complaint. On that recording, Pommer can be seen punching Gaindarpersaud several times in the ribs while Gaindarpersaud squirmed on the ground.

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Police Chief Eric Clifford insisted the videos did not show Pommer kneeling on Gaindarpersaud's neck but rather on his head. Within days, the police department announced a policy prohibiting officers from kneeling on a person's head.

Earlier this summer, Mayor Gary McCarthy raised concerns about the events leading to Gaindarpersaud arrest and directed Clifford and Public Safety Commissioner Michael Eidens to consider possible discipline based upon any department policies that may have been violated.

It is unclear if Clifford or Eidens followed through.
Courtesy photo /Bexar County Sheriffs Office

A Bexar County sheriffs deputy was fired last week, accused of making an inappropriate comment on Facebook, the law enforcement agency said.

Jackie Farmer was fired on Thursday after posting an offensive Facebook comment that incited violence, a Bexar County Sheriffs Office spokeswoman said. She noted the comment does not represent the views of the sheriffs office.
Many fear conditions in temporary camp would be no better than Moria, which had drawn widespread humanitarian concern.

Greek authorities were still struggling to move thousands of refugees and migrants sleeping rough into a temporary camp, a week after the overcrowded Moria migrant camp burned down, while fears grew about a coronavirus outbreak on the island of Lesbos.

About 13,000 people, mostly refugees from Afghanistan, African countries and Syria, were left without shelter, proper sanitation or access to food and water by the fire that tore through Moria, Greeces biggest camp.

No one was killed in the fire, which broke out after quarantine measures were imposed following the discovery of COVID-19 cases on the site.

So far, only 1,200 people have moved into the temporary facility at Kara Tepe near the islands port of Mytilene, which was ready to host at least 5,000.

They are still reluctant, said a police official on condition of anonymity. Negotiations are ongoing.

Authorities have distributed flyers and sent text messages to people, trying to convince them to move into the new tents, officials said.

But many refugees and migrants hope to be allowed to leave the island and believe that living conditions in the temporary camp would be no better than at Moria, which aid groups had called appalling.

People crossing the new facility entrance were being tested for COVID-19 and so far 35 were found positive. Residents worried that a coronavirus outbreak was looming with thousands of people sleeping rough and untested.

On Tuesday, six refugees were arrested in relation to the Moria blaze. Another blaze, which broke out overnight near another migrant camp on the island of Samos, was put under control and three people were arrested.

Greeces conservative government, which took power last year, said it aims to replace open-air tent camps with formal migrant centres with temporary housing, where entry and exit would be controlled.

The fire has intensified calls for Europe to step in.

European leaders should act quickly to bring the people stranded on Lesbos to safety, said Belkis Wille, senior crisis and conflict researcher at Human Rights Watch.

They also need to fundamentally rethink the failed and inhumane policies that led to the creation of a sprawling, unsanitary and dangerous refugee camp in an EU country, rather than just building a replica of the same thing.
People cheer for President Donald Trump after he spoke during an indoor campaign rally at Xtreme Manufacturing in Henderson, a suburb of Las Vegas, Nev., on Sept. 13, 2020. (Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images)

Biden Campaign Manager on Trump Rallies: People Will Die

Former Vice President Joe Bidens campaign manager called Trump rallies super spreader events and claimed that people will die due to failure to comply with guidance sought to help stop the spread of COVID-19.

People will die because of these types of events and thats from the president of the United States, Jennifer OMalley Dillon told Politico on Sept. 15. And you look at folks that might not be wearing masks or arent taking this seriously and you understand how thats the case.

OMalley Dillon referenced an indoor rally President Donald Trump held in Nevada and said the president is not doing enough to enforce the guidelines created by his own administration. She also pointed to the signing of a peace deal at the White House on Tuesday where attendees sat shoulder to shoulder and didnt wear masks.

OMalley Dillon called the peace deal signing another day-after-day episode showing the fact that the president of the United States is taking guidelines from medical experts about what to do in a pandemic to stay safe and help make sure your colleagues and neighbors are safe, and not executing it at the White House.

President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event at Xtreme Manufacturing in Henderson, Nev., on Sept. 13, 2020. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Circumstantial evidence in the form of dozens of observational studies suggests that masks and social distancing may help with the spread of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the coronavirus. No randomized control trials have been completed to offer direct evidence that either measure works.

Biden supports the peace deal that Israel, United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain signed on Tuesday. OMalley Dillon nonetheless said the Biden campaign will continue to focus on Trumps handling of the pandemic because he continues to just suggest that we arent in the middle of a pandemic and its really problematic.

When the president was asked on Tuesday whether indoor rallies were safe, he said that the governor of Nevada forced the rally indoors by prohibiting the campaign from using outside venues.

We didnt want an indoor rally, but we did an indoor rally. They spaced as much as they could have, but the governor could have solved the problem. All he had to do was let us use one of the outdoor venues. Plus, they had 25,000 people outside of the venue that couldnt get in, Trump said.

But its very interesting: When they have protests, thats okay. When they have violence, when they have anarchists and they have agitators, thats okay.

Trumps campaign events are sharply distinct from the ones run by the Biden campaign. The president regularly draws large, raucous crowds. Biden, in the meantime, has opted from sparsely attended events with all of the attendees spread six feet apart.
The Queen Mother of Kansaworodo in the Essikado Constituency of the Western Region, Nana Akua Mansa II has commended President Akufo-Addo for the massive road development in the area.



Speaking during a visit by Vice President Bawumia to the area to inspect on-going road projects and also cut the sod for the construction of a market in the area, Nana Akua Mansa II also emphatically endorsed the President's second term bid.



"We thank the NPP government for fixing our road in Kansaworodo. Today we can also beat our chest and say we have road fixed," the Queenmother said.



"For what you have done for us, it is 4 more for Nana," she added.



The Queenmother said, hitherto, deplorable road remained one of Kansaworodo's biggest challenges, and they are very grateful to the President for bringing development to the area.



Apart from the road, Kansaworodo is about to get a new market, as a sod was cut for the commencement of the construction of the new market.



The Queenmother said the construction of the market, is another reason why her people will vote massively for President Akufo-Addo and the Member of Parliament for the area, Joe Ghartey.



"We are confident we will very soon have our new market. This is why we say 4 more for Nana and 4 more for Joe Ghartey."



Nana Akua Mansa II, on behalf of the community, thanked Dr. Bawumia for being the first Vice President to visit the community.



"This means so much to us and we thank you very much for this historic visit", she said.



While commending the government and assuring it of the community's unflinching support towards the second term bid, she appealed to the Vice President for the government to consider the community for more development, especially the improvement on their water supply and fixing of more roads.





Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 15:16:32|Editor: huaxia

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Photo taken on Sept. 16, 2020 shows explosions following air strikes in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis. Israeli warplanes at the dawn of Wednesday attacked military sites belonging to Hamas and the Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip, in response to rockets fired from the coastal enclave into Israeli towns, Palestinian security sources reported. (Photo by Yasser Qudih/Xinhua)

GAZA, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Israeli warplanes at the dawn of Wednesday attacked military sites belonging to Hamas and the Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip, in response to rockets fired from the coastal enclave into Israeli towns, Palestinian security sources reported.

The sources and witnesses told Xinhua that Palestinian residents nearby heard massive explosions caused by the Israeli air strikes.

The sources said that no injuries were reported, but the air strikes caused considerable damage to the bombed places and nearby houses in the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian militants responded to the Israeli air strikes with anti-aircraft fire and more home-made rockets fired into the southern Israeli town of Sderot, the sources added.

The Islamic Jihad movement and al-Nasser brigades said in a press statement that they launched 13 rockets against Israeli towns.

"The Palestinian resistance will continue its adhere to the equation of shelling by shelling, even in light of the fragile truce agreement concluded between Hamas and Israel through international mediation," the statement said.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army said in a press statement that the "Israeli raids came in response to the launch of rockets from the coastal enclave into Israeli towns."

"We are working with determination against any attempt to commit acts against our residents in the towns adjacent to the coastal enclave," the statement said.

Rocket-warning sirens were activated in the town of Sderot and around Gaza, an Israeli army spokesman said, adding that Israel's Iron Dome anti-rocket system tried to intercept the Palestinian rockets.

On Tuesday evening, two rockets fired by Palestinian militants in Gaza struck the southern Israeli cities of Ashdod and Ashkelon, injuring two people, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said on Twitter.

The rocket attacks on Ashkelon and Ashdod came as Israel signed agreements to normalize diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in Washington.

Tensions have been running high in the Gaza Strip for several weeks as Palestinian youths send incendiary balloons towards Israeli cities adjacent to the strip and Israel refused to allow the transfer of Qatari money to the besieged Palestinian enclave. Enditem
Nigerians students sponsored abroad for further studies by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) are holding a protest in front of the Nigerian High Commission in London over the non-release of funds for their scholarship.

The protesting students, about 25 of them, represent several students on Batch 2018 of the NDDC foreign scholarship programme who are yet to receive money for their tuition, despite the claims by the NDDC that it has recently released over $5.9 million (about N2.28 billion) for the programme.

The students gathered around 9 am in front of the High Commission, with placards.

The students, in their statement to PREMIUM TIMES a few days ago, said the NDDC management deliberately excluded them from the latest payment for the scholarship programme.

The NDDC selectively handpicked those it paid without any defined criteria and is refusing to pay fees, grants, and upkeep of 2018 scholars for no justifiable reason whatsoever, the students said in the statement.

This came as a rude shock to us because historically, the NDDC had always paid the fees and upkeep of scholars in the order in which they were incurred, that is, from the earliest to the latest.

The students said their exclusion may have been to punish them for protesting against the delay in the release of funds for the scholarship.

The NDDC management said, without substantiating it, that the students were hirelings masquerading as the Commissions scholars.

A statement by the NDDC spokesperson, Charles Odili said the students were part of powerful individuals who are part of the systemic corruption uncovered by the commissions interim management.

In 2018, the Commission paid a total of $900,000.00 (Nine hundred Thousand Dollars) only to cover the Commissions obligations to its scholars.

In 2019, the amount paid rose to a total of $3.5million (Three million, Five Hundred Thousand Dollars) only. Recently, the IMC paid out a total of $5.99m (Five Million, Nine Hundred and Ninety Thousand Dollars) to cover all the verified obligations to our scholars.

Now, there is a demand for an additional payment of $3million (Three Million Dollars), bringing the total to an alarming $9million (Nine Million Dollars), Mr Odili said in the statement.

He added, Some of the important questions everyone must ask are: why is the amount paid to cover our obligations to this foreign scholarship programme rising astronomically? Where are all these demands coming from? What do they cover?

NDDC was set up in 2000 by the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo to fast-track development in Nigerias Niger Delta region.

The region, 20 years after, still remains backwards in terms of infrastructure and standard of living, despite the huge amount of money made from oil-exploitation in the area.

The commission, with several of its abandoned projects littered around the region, has been involved in corruption scandals, which led to its recent probe by the National Assembly.
Election Worker Shifts

Consolidating Absentee Counting Boards

Felonies for False Absentee Voter Applications

Expanding Options for Polling Places

Letting Active Duty Military Vote Electronically

Ballot Dropbox and Ballot Rejection Requirements

Verifying Voter Registration

Holidays and Time Off for Election Day

Changing May Tlections to March and August Elections to June

More Time to Count Absentee Ballots

Ballot Selfies

(TNS)  With seven weeks left until voters step into the ballot box  and even less time until voters can begin sending in absentee ballots  Michigan lawmakers are considering changes to the states election laws in anticipation of record absentee turnout.On Tuesday, the Michigan Senate voted 34-2 to approve Senate Bill 757, legislation sponsored by Senate Elections Committee Chair Ruth Johnson, R-Holly, that would allow election officials in communities with at least 25,000 residents to start processing absentee ballots a day early.Its a step meant to help clerks handle an unprecedented number of voters choosing to cast absentee ballots in Michigan, although a number of clerks said Tuesday they hoped lawmakers will ultimately opt to give clerks even more time to pre-process absentee ballots so results dont take days to tally.But giving clerks more time to process ballots isnt the only idea thats emerged in the lead-up to Election Day. Below are some other proposals for changing Michigans election laws that legislators have taken up or could consider this fall.The expected increase in absentee ballots cast has elections officials predicting that ballot counts could take much longer than usual  which would put an even bigger strain on election workers already used to working well into the night to finish tallying votes.Senate Bill 756, also sponsored by Johnson, a former Secretary of State, would let absentee vote counters work in shifts, although all workers would still have to stay in the building until polls close. Absentee ballots could not be left unattended during a shift change.To participate, local clerks would have to notify the Secretary of States office at least 20 days in advance in 2020, and 40 days in advance for subsequent elections.The legislation passed the Senate and the House Elections and Ethics Committee, and is currently before the House Ways and Means Committee for further review.Lawmakers have already legalized one option suggested by Michigan clerks after Proposal 3 of 2018 was signed into law  allowing local governments to consolidate their absentee counting boards for speedier processing.While absentee ballots counted in precincts are typically tallied during lulls throughout the day or after polls close, workers in absentee counting boards are solely focused on processing absentee ballots throughout Election Day.House Bill 5141, sponsored by Rep. Julie Calley, R-Portland, changed Michigan law to let neighboring communities set up shared absentee counting boards instead of requiring each municipality set up individual boards.The bill was signed into law by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in June and is now Public Act 95 of 2020.The exponential increase in absentee voting has some lawmakers concerned people might try to submit false information via absentee ballot applications.Senate Bills 977 and 978, sponsored by Sen. Kevin Daley, R-Attica, would make it a felony to knowingly send in an absentee voter ballot application with another persons name and personal information, unless expressly authorized by law to do so. Submitting an absent voter ballot application with the intent to obtain multiple absentee ballots would also become a felony under the legislation.Daleys bills passed the Senate 31-6 and are currently in the second step of the House committee process. They were referred from the House Elections and Ethics Committee to the House Judiciary Committee last week.Similar bills introduced in the House by Reps. Pauline Wendzel, R-Watervliet, and Ann Bollin, R-Brighton, passed the House Elections and Ethics Committee and are also before the House Judiciary Committee.A trio of bills from Bollin would allow for a series of changes to how voting precincts are set and allow for alternative polling place options.House Bill 5031 would allow locations other than publicly owned buildings to be used as polling places if public buildings are not available for use or convenient. The bill would allow other buildings owned by tax-exempt organizations to be used as polling places, as well as certain privately owned areas such as conference centers or clubhouses.House Bill 5032 would increase the maximum number of electors allowed in a precinct from 2,999 to 5,000, and allow precincts to be consolidated for any election except the November general election so long as it occurred before at least 60 days before an election and didnt change the polling place for an election precinct. It would also require local clerks to maintain a permanent absent voter list.House Bill 5123 would require cities and townships with two precincts and more than 6,000 electors to have an absent voter counting board for both precincts, and require an absent voting counting board for each precinct for cities and townships with more than three precincts.All three bills cleared the first step of the House committee process and are before the House Ways and Means Committee.Under federal law, states are required to provide electronic absentee ballots to active members of the military 45 days before an election. But because Michigan doesnt allow electronic absentee ballots, military voters serving overseas currently have to print out their ballot and mail it back - an extra step that can be difficult for people serving in areas with little to no mail service.Senate Bills 117 and 297, sponsored by Johnson and Sen. Paul Wojno, D-Warren, would allow electronic absentee ballot returns for military voters serving overseas. The voter would sign their absentee ballot with an electronic signature verified by the U.S. Department of Defense.Both bills passed the Senate 36-1 in October 2019 and were reported out of the House Elections and Ethics Committee in March. Theyre currently before the House Ways and Means Committee.House Bill 6199, sponsored by Rep. Brian Elder, D-Bay City, would require clerks in each city or town to provide at least one secure ballot dropbox with outdoor access for voters. This would be another option for voters to submit their ballots, in addition to in-person voting and voting by mail.Clerks would have to check and empty these drop boxes daily or assign an authorized assistant to do so. Only the clerk or assistant would have access.Elder also submitted House Bill 6200, which would require local clerks to provide an explanation to voters if their ballots are rejected for any reason. The note would have to be sent within 30 days and must indicate that the vote was not counted and the reason why it was rejected.These bills were referred to the Elections and Ethics Committee.A series of bills address the removal of inactive voters and ensuring clerks complete required training.House Bill 6177, sponsored by Rep. Matt Hall, R-Marshall, requires the Secretary of State to verify the birth date of registered voters with an unknown date of birth.Using the same language as current law on canceling the voting registration of deceased adults, the bill requires the Secretary of State to send postage verifying birthdates by March 31, 2021. If the postage isnt returned by 15 days before the next election, a voters registration would be canceled.In addition, House Bill 6178, sponsored by Calley, would remove a voters registration if they do not vote by the following two November general elections. If the bill is passed before this November, that would mean a failure to verify birthdate, address or vote by November 2021 would cancel a voters registration.This is based on an Auditor General report that identified 230 registered electors older than 122 years, or the oldest officially documented person to ever live according to legislative analysis by the House Fiscal Agency.The Secretary of State would also have to notify local clerks of this persons canceled registration. In House Bill 6179, sponsored by Rep. Steve Marino, R-Harrison Township, the office would also have to post the name of each local clerk who hasnt conducted required election education training by July 1 of odd-numbered years.The Auditor General found that election officials had not completed the required training to obtain or retain accreditation in 14 percent of counties, 14 percent of cities and 23 percent of townships. The training involves, but is not limited to, understanding the absentee voting process and absent voter counting boards.These bills were referred to the Elections and Ethics Committee.House Bill 5451, sponsored by Rep. Vanessa Guerra, D-Saginaw, would make regular election days in May, August and November state holidays.Another bill from Guerra, House Bill 6000, would allow workers to take paid leave during their shifts to go vote if they dont have the day off.Both bills remain before the House Elections and Ethics Committee.Senate Bills 1082 and 1083, sponsored by Sen. Aric Nesbitt, R-Lawton, and Wojno, propose shifting the months for Michigan elections.Nesbitts bill would change the states May elections to March and August primaries to June. Wojnos bill would formalize these date changes for county board elections.These bills were referred to the Senate Elections Committee.Amid concerns over handling an influx of absentee ballots ahead of time and fears that many ballots wont be counted if theyre held up in the mail, a handful of bills introduced by Democrats would give absent voter counting boards additional time to tally absentee ballots  both before and after Election Day.House Bill 5435, sponsored by Guerra, would let absent voter counting boards begin tabulating votes a week prior to Election Day.House Bill 5987, also sponsored by Guerra, would allow clerks to count absentee ballots received within 48 hours of polls closing so long as they were postmarked by Election Day. Another bill sponsored by Rep. Yousef Rabhi, D-Ann Arbor, House Bill 5807, would go even further, allowing clerks to count ballots postmarked by Election Day for six days after the election.All three bills were referred to the House Elections and Ethics Committee and remain there.Michigan voters can now take pictures of their ballots in the voting booth and share it publicly after theyre more than 100 feet away from a polling place without fear of spoiling it under a 2019 settlement, but the Secretary of State contends pictures of a ballot with a persons face in it are still not permitted.Rep. Steven Johnson, R-Wayland, sponsored House Bill 4196 to write ballot photography rights into state law, and sponsored a similar bill last session. He disagrees with the Secretary of States assessment and said he believes voters have the constitutional right to take photos of their ballots, however they choose.Johnsons bill is intended to apply to in-person and absentee voters alike.The bill got a hearing in the House Elections and Ethics Committee in January and remains before that committee.
Samsungs upcoming rugged Android tablet, the Galaxy Tab Active 3, could launch anytime now. The device has been picking up the necessary certifications pretty rapidly over the past couple of weeks. Now, it has got support pages on Samsungs official websites as well.

Samsungs German and UK websites have published support pages for an unannounced device with model number SM-T575. Going by previous leaks and certification listings, this is none other than the LTE variant of the Galaxy Tab Active 3. Samsung is also preparing Wi-Fi-only (SM-T570) and 5G (SM-T577) variants of the new rugged tablet.

The official support pages for the Galaxy Tab Active 3 do not reveal anything about the device itself. However, we already know a lot about the upcoming Samsung tablet, thanks to all those leaks, rumors, and certification listings in the recent past.

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Galaxy Tab Active 3 rumored specifications

Its been nearly three years since Samsung last launched a rugged Android tablet. The successor to the Galaxy Tab Active 2 is now finally arriving, with three years worth of changes and improvements. According to a Geekbench listing, the Galaxy Tab Active 3 will be powered by the Exynos 9810 chipset with 4GB of RAM. The tablet scored 723 points in the single-core test and 2,085 points in the multi-core Geekbench test.

Itll debut with One UI 2.x based on Android 10, hopefully, One UI 2.5. The device packs an EB-BT575BBE battery module with a rated capacity of 4,900mAh (5,050mAh typical). For a quick reminder, the Galaxy Tab Active 2 launched in October 2017 with the Exynos 7870 chipset, 3 GB of RAM, Android 7.1 Nougat, and a 4,450mAh battery.

As mentioned earlier, the Galaxy Tab Active 3 will come in Wi-Fi-only, 4G LTE, and 5G variants. It will become Samsungs first rugged tablet to support 5G, joining an ever-growing list of 5G-capable Galaxy devices. The Bluetooth SIG recently certified the tablets with Bluetooth 5.0. The new rugged Samsung tablet misses out on the latest Wi-Fi standard, Wi-Fi 6, though.

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In terms of size and design, the Galaxy Tab Active 3 shouldnt look and feel too different from its predecessors. The tablet measures roughly 215 x 130mm, which is identical to that of Tab Active 2, which measures 214.7 x 127.6 x 9.9mm. Since ruggedness is the primary focus here, the tablet will still feature three physical navigation buttons, a rare sight in 2020 as we push for all-screen mobile devices.

Samsung has yet to announce a launch date for its new rugged tablet. However, with support pages going live on its websites, an official introduction for the Galaxy Tab Active 3 may not be too far off now.
Thanks to efforts of a poverty alleviation working team to improve the living conditions of Jiayi village, the traditional stockaded village where people of Miao ethnic group inhabit has become cleaner and more attractive day by day.

Located in Jihua township in the hinterland of the Moon Mountain in Rongjiang county, Southwest Chinas Guizhou Province, Jiayi village has 1,843 residents of 409 households in six natural villages or 14 village groups.

The mountainous village has long been troubled by the scarcity of water and farmland. Because of its unique terrain, residences are scattered in mountains and valleys.

For centuries, local people of Jiayi village had lived in semi-seclusion in typical two-story wooden buildings of the locality, where poultry and livestock like pigs, cattle, and chickens used to be kept on the ground floor, while people lived on the second floor.

In 2018, a working team on poverty alleviation and Party building of the information center of the organization department of Rongjiang county Party committee came to improve Jiayi village.

The local people are used to their traditional lifestyle and change would by no means be easy, said Sun Jian, a member of the working team, recalling the first time he visited the village when sewage flowed everywhere and people and animals were surrounded by mosquitoes and other insects.

As it was difficult to find a resettlement site for the livestock, and it would require a lot of efforts to clear the feces of animals, no household was willing to remove the livestock from their house.

The working team and local officials of Jiayi village then helped villagers relocate animals to an area far away from residential areas and clear the feces. After the cleaning, they started comprehensive renovation to the ground floors and made the houses much more livable.

As the transformed houses were not only clean, pleasant, and free from bad smell, but had twice the living space they could offer before, more residents were willing to renovate their houses.

Although the transformation did give a brand new look to the houses, the dwelling environment in peoples homes was still untidy, disorderly, and bad, for their living habits didnt change much and they didnt pay enough attention to keeping their homes clean.

To completely change the situation, the working team has carried out appraisal activities for domestic hygiene, and given material rewards to families which have kept their homes clean, thus gradually changing the living habits of Miao people.

In addition, the working team has installed kitchen ranges, chimneys, and windows for families that have maintained good hygiene habits, and moved their fireplaces from the second floor to the ground floor to reduce the risk of fire in peoples houses.

So far, Jiayi village has witnessed transformation of 98 dilapidated houses and 106 buildings shared by people and livestock, as well as improvement in 125 houses in poor condition.

Eighty-two houses in the village have been reinforced and 91 old houses and pig and cattle pens have been pulled down.

Moreover, the village has got a total of 156 solar street lamps installed and been equipped with basically complete infrastructure including parking lots and public toilets.

Jiayi village has many high mountains and steep slopes, with 99 percent of its land being hilly areas. The lowest altitude of the village is 680 meters, while the highest is 1,450 meters.

With more than 10,000 mu (about 666.67 hectares) of primeval forests and over 3,000 mu of Moso bamboo woods, the village has a forest coverage rate of 90 percent and a forestland area of 34,373.4 mu.

Due to its subtropical monsoon climate, Jiayi village has warm climate and abundant rainfall. Its primeval forests that havent suffered any damage have been the natural treasure of the local people.

In March, Jiayi village established a company to sell farm products and characteristic local products so as to increase income for local people.

The company currently sells bamboo shoots in spring including fresh bamboo shoots, pickled bamboo shoots, and dried bamboo shoots, as well as roots of kudzu vine via online and offline means. The total sales volume of these products have exceeded 200,000 yuan (about $29,480).

A bigger development plan is awaiting Jiayi village, according to Sun, who explained that the village has rich tourism resources, including its profound historical and ethnic cultural deposits, well-protected natural environment, and buildings with unique architectural styles.

Construction of a family inn project is in full swing in Jiayi village. With the main structures all being fully completed, nine high-standard country inns in the village are now undergoing interior decoration.

A visitor center and a building for auxiliary facilities have also been built for Jiayi village. With the decorated archway in front of the buildings getting a brand new look, the tourism project is expected to flourish in half a year.

As rice in the paddy fields in Jiayi village enters mature period, the golden terraced fields look as beautiful as a terrific picture scroll.

Terraced fields in Jiayi village are the masterpieces of the farming culture created by ancestors of Miao people. They represent the oldest features of Chinese rice culture, and have increased the income of some local people who tapped into the unique scenery for tourism development.
Lao blogger Houayheuang Xayabouly, known by her nickname Mouay, was detained in 2019 for criticising the regions government for the mishandling of flooding in Laos southern Champassak and Salavan provinces. After having served one year of her five year sentence, this week activists and rights groups have once again called for her release. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemns Mouays prolonged detention and echoes the calls to have her freed.

In a Facebook Live video on September 14, 2019, Mouay called out the Laos government for responding to the floods too slowly, leaving villagers stranded and cut off from help. This criticism resulted in Muays arrest for breaking the law on promoting anti-Lao PDR propaganda.

Deputy director of the Asia-Pacific region for Human Rights Watch, Phil Robertson, said on September 14: She did nothing to deserve her punishment. She only expressed her opinion, and the Lao government should have listened and responded to this, and not jailed her.

Human rights advocates including Bounthone Chanthavong-Wiese from the Germany-based Alliance for Democracy in Laos and former Thai Human Rights Commission member Angkana Nilapaijit have also demanded Mouays release on the grounds that she did nothing that would have harmed the country and was only exercising her rights as a human being.

Mouay was arrested under Article 117 of Laos Criminal Code, which permits jail time between one and five years and fines between five to 20 million Kip (USD 570 to 2,280) for anyone found guilty of propaganda activities against and slandering the Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, [] or circulating false rumors causing disorder by words, in writing, through print, newspapers, motion pictures, videos, photographs, documents or other media which are detrimental to the Lao Peoples Democratic Republic or are for the purpose of undermining or weakening State authority.

Mouay is not the only person to have been jailed for criticising the Lao Government for social media posts. Three young Lao workers, who criticised the government in Facebook posts while living in Thailand, disappeared in March 2016 after returning to Laos to renew their passports. On August 26, Sangkhane Pachanvanthong was arrested at his home in southern Laos. He is still in jail after being questioned by authorities about alleged links to anti-government groups overseas.

The IFJ said: Laos cannot label all criticisms of its governance as anti-government propaganda and use Article 117 of its Criminal Code to silence voices seeking to hold authorities to account. The IFJ demands Mouays freedom and urges the Lao government to allow its citizens to voice their opinions, without fear of arrest and detention.
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology's Mussallem Union The U.S. News ranking continues to highlight the strong return on investment from a Rose-Hulman education, and further attests our mission of continuous improvement to be the best in STEM education.- Robert A. Coons, President, Rose-Hulman

For the 22nd consecutive year, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology has been ranked by its peers as best among U.S. engineering colleges that are focused on bachelors- and masters-level education.

The latest No. 1 ranking is featured in U.S. News & World Reports 2021 Best Colleges Guide, released September 14. The publication asked U.S. college engineering deans and senior faculty to rate programs at accredited undergraduate engineering programs on a scale of 1 (marginal) to 5 (distinguished). Rose-Hulman tallied a 4.6 score, tops out of 220 colleges nationwide in the category.

Rose-Hulman also once again earned No. 1 rankings in five academic department categories: chemical engineering, civil engineering, computer engineering, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering. The schools biomedical engineering program was ranked No. 2.

Rose-Hulman President Robert A. Coons acknowledges that, combined with other distinctions by publications and organizations, the U.S. News ranking reaffirms the institutes standing as one of the nations premier colleges for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education.

The U.S. News ranking continues to highlight the strong return on investment from a Rose-Hulman education, and further attests our mission of continuous improvement to be the best in STEM education, Coons said. Our peers continue to recognize the excellence of our faculty, staff and students, the success of our loyal and proud alumni, and quality leadership provided by our Board of Trustees and administration.

Rose-Hulman recently was ranked as a Best Value College and Green College by the Princeton Review, a college with a high return on investment by PayScale, and earned top marks for academic quality, quality of professors and student life by Niche.

Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Richard E. Stamper, PhD, adds that Rose-Hulman works hard to maintain its No. 1 ranking by improving its academic facilities, investing in courses, and encouraging teaching excellence.

Were dedicated to continuous improvement in all areas of our operations. Thankfully, those efforts, including the reputation of our faculty within their career fields, havent gone unnoticed by our engineering education peers, said Stamper, a 1985 mechanical engineering alumnus.

In recent years, the college has added the Branam and Kremer Innovation Centers to provide students with more opportunities for hands-on learning and working on group projects and competition teams, and added new academic majors in engineering design, data science and biomathematics to the curriculum. In fall 2021, Rose-Hulman will open a new state-of-the-art academic building, with design studios, chemistry laboratories, and workspaces for teams and individuals.

Rose-Hulman is so nuanced and complex in how theyre able to support the student body, and the ranking puts a bow on all of that, said Addison White, a junior mechanical engineering major and vice president of the Student Government Association. It brings people in the door and shows how Rose treats education and student life vastly different from most colleges. It drew me to campus to come experience what that really meant; what being the No. 1 institute in the country feels like.

Rose-Hulmans Early Action deadline to apply for the 2021-22 school year is Nov. 1, 2020.

About Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

Founded in 1874, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology is dedicated to preparing its students with the worlds best undergraduate science, engineering and mathematics education in an environment infused with innovation, intellectual rigor and individualized attention. The institute is consistently recognized nationally as an elite STEM school for distinctions that include faculty excellence, return on investment, value added and career services. Career placement is near 100 percent year after year. Six of the colleges professors are listed in the Princeton Reviews Best 300 Professors book. Located in Terre Haute, Indiana, Rose-Hulman has an enrollment of approximately 2,000 undergraduate students and nearly 100 graduate students. Learn more at http://www.rose-hulman.edu.
An undated handout photo made available by Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny via his Instagram site shows Navalny at his Charite hospital bed in Berlin, Sept. 15, 2020. EPA



Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on Tuesday posted a picture of himself from his hospital bed in Germany where he's recuperating from being poisoned with a nerve agent, wryly joking about being able to breathe on his own.



''Hi, this is Navalny,'' he wrote in the Russian-language post on Instagram in the first image of the 44-year-old since he was taken to Berlin's Charite hospital. The photo shows him being given a hug by his wife Yulia and flanked by his two children as he sits upright in his bed in a hospital gown.



''I have been missing you. I still can't do almost anything on my own, but yesterday I managed to breathe on my own for the entire day,'' he added in the post, which got over 1.1 million likes in several hours.



Separately, Navalny's spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh tweeted that once he has recovered, Navalny plans to return to Russia, where he has supported opposition candidates and waged anti-corruption battles. ''No other option has ever been considered,'' she wrote.



Navalny fell ill on a flight from Siberia to Moscow on Aug. 20 and treated at a hospital in the city of Omsk. Two days later, he was flown to the German hospital, where he was kept in an induced coma for more than two weeks as he was treated with an antidote. On Sept. 7, doctors said his condition had improved enough for him to be brought out of the coma.



On Monday, the hospital said he had been removed from a ventilator and was able to leave his bed for ''short periods of time.''



In his Instagram statement, Navalny displayed his well-known sarcastic humor when he talked about being able to breathe without a ventilator.



''Just on my own, no extra help, I didn't even use the simplest valve in my throat,'' he said. ''I liked it very much. It's a remarkable process that is underestimated by many. Strongly recommended.''



Despite his recovery, doctors have said they cannot rule out long-term health issues associated with the poisoning.



Leonid Volkov, a top associate of Navalny, refused to give any details on his condition or his possible return when reached by The Associated Press.



A German military lab has determined that Navalny was poisoned with Novichok, the same class of Soviet-era agent that Britain said was used on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, England, in 2018. On Monday, the German government said independent tests by labs in France and Sweden backed up its findings.



The Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons also is taking steps to have samples from Navalny tested at its designated labs, Germany has said.



The Kremlin has bristled at calls from German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other leaders to answer questions about the poisoning, denying any official involvement.



French President Emmanuel Macron's office said he had expressed ''deep concern over the criminal act'' that targeted Navalny directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday. The Kremlin said Putin in the call ''underlined the impropriety of unfounded accusations against the Russian side'' and emphasized Russia's demand for Germany to hand over analyses and samples.



Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Tuesday that Russia is puzzled by Germany's refusal to share Navalny's analyses and other medical data, or compare notes with the Russian doctors who said they found no trace of poison in his system while he was at a hospital in the Siberian city of Omsk.



''Russia has been absolutely open for cooperation in determining what happened,'' Peskov said. ''Russia needs cooperation with the German side in getting the patient's biological samples to be able to advance.''



Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who canceled a scheduled trip Tuesday to Berlin, said Russian authorities have conducted a preliminary inquiry and documented the meetings Navalny had before falling ill, but he emphasized they need to see the evidence of his poisoning to launch a full criminal investigation.



Lavrov said Navalny's life was saved by the pilots of the plane who quickly landed in Omsk after he collapsed on board and by the rapid action of doctors there. He accused the West of trying to smear Russia and use the incident as a pretext for new sanctions against Moscow.



In a phone call Tuesday with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, Lavrov warned him against politicizing the situation with Navalny, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. Lavrov said Moscow would view Germany's continued stonewalling of Russia's request for analyses and samples as a ''lack of desire to help determine the truth as part of an objective and thorough investigation.''



Berlin has rejected suggestions from Moscow that it is dragging its heels on sharing evidence. Asked why no samples from Navalny have been given to Russia, a German Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said Monday that ''Mr. Navalny was in Russian treatment in a hospital for 48 hours.''



Sergei Naryshkin, the director of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, said that studies by Russian labs found no indication Navalny was poisoned while still in Russia.



''It's a fact that at the moment when Navalny was leaving Russia, there were no toxic agents in his body,'' Naryshkin said in remarks carried by Russian news agencies. ''In that context, we have many questions to ask the German side.''



He emphasized that Russia has fully met its obligations under the international chemical weapons ban and completely destroyed its chemical weapons stockpiles.



''It's disinformation to say that Russia has production assets or old stockpiles of military nerve agents,'' he said.



Most of Germany's political parties have joined Merkel in calling for an investigation, but leaders in the far-right Alternative for Germany, known for its pro-Moscow sympathies, have said Berlin should not be involved. On Tuesday, it invited media to a discussion with a Russian lawmaker on ''the Russian view of the Navalny case.'' (AP)


Amazon has a lease at the Philadelphia Logistics Center at 3025 Meeting House Rd., in Northeast Philadelphia. Read more

Amazon.com Inc. has a lease to fully occupy a newly built warehouse in Northeast Philadelphias Byberry East Industrial Park, as the e-commerce giant boosts its North American headcount in response to a surge in online-shopping demand during the coronavirus pandemic.

Amazon will be the sole tenant of the 207,370-square-foot Philadelphia Logistics Center building at 3025 Meeting House Rd., according to the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development, whose board voted last week to lease a nearby city-owned property to the company for use as a parking lot.

The Philadelphia Logistics Center lease comes amid a hiring push that Amazon said this week would add 100,000 full- and part-time logistics jobs over an unspecified period of time in the United States and Canada, paying at least $15 an hour, twice the federal minimum. About 5,000 of those jobs will be in Philadelphia, a company spokesperson said.

Amazon has seen sales explode, especially for groceries and other household goods, as consumers avoid in-person shopping and continue to work from home due to the coronavirus.

Bloomberg News reported Tuesday that the company plans to open 1,000 warehouses nestled within cities and suburbs to more quickly reach customers with deliveries.

Amazon did not respond to follow-up emails asking whether the Philadelphia Logistics Center was one of those such locations, and whether the jobs it would accommodate were among the 100,000 it has announced.

Amazon will employ 280 full- and part-time workers at the four-acre facility near the city border with Bucks County, the authority said.

Authority documents describe the Northeast Philadelphia site as a last-mile distribution facility, a term that generally describes warehouses close to population centers to serve as final way points between far-off factories and customers homes.

The propertys Denver-based owner, the Black Creek Group, declined to comment.

Including the new lease, Amazon has deals at 24 existing or under-construction warehouses comprising 9.4 million square feet of space in an area that includes Philadelphia and surrounding Pennsylvania and South Jersey counties, plus New Castle County in Delaware and Cecil County in Maryland, according to real-estate data tracker the CoStar Group.

Three of those properties, comprising 655,870 square feet, are in Philadelphia itself, according to CoStar. Some of Amazons biggest facilities in the region are in Logan Township and Burlington.

The company has nearly 630 facilities nationwide, according to MWPVL International Inc., a logistics consulting firm.

It is scheduled to open 100 new operations buildings, which include fulfillment and sorting centers and delivery stations, this month, Amazon said.

Chicago-based Ridge Development broke ground on the Philadelphia Logistics Center building in late 2018 on land acquired from the city for $2.18 million.

At the time, it was the first modern, e-commerce-serving distribution hub  or logistics center  to be built in the city as a so-called speculative development, without tenants lined up to use the space.

A Black Creek affiliate paid $25.6 million for the completed facility in December 2019, city property records show.

Under Amazons deal with the authority, the company is expected to invest $2.5 million to put a parking lot on a seven-acre city-owned site at 2703 Black Lake Place. It will pay the city yearly rent starting at $43,800, with annual increases.

The lease is for a 10-year term with two five-year renewal options to coincide with Amazons deal at the Philadelphia Logistics Center facility, according to the authoritys documents.

The property is in an area designated by officials as a Keystone Opportunity Zone, which gives businesses operating within its borders breaks on taxes.

Staff writer Christian Hetrick contributed to this article.
The U.S. Air Force will not resume physical fitness testing until January, as it extends its lengthy pandemic-related hiatus for the second time, its top enlisted leader said Wednesday.

Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne Bass announced that the service will resume testing on the push-up, sit-up and run components Jan. 1.

However, the service will not administer the tape test and airmen instead will receive "full credit for the waist measurement" on their PT scorecard, added Chief of Staff Gen. Charles "CQ" Brown.

Read Next: Army Proposes Limiting Retiree Burials in Arlington National Cemetery

In March, the service suspended its physical fitness testing until at least May 30; that change meant that members who were slated to take the PT test between March and May got a six-month reprieve. However, officials then delayed testing again until at least Oct. 1.

Brown said resuming testing in October would not have given installations enough time to prepare, depending on their COVID-19 restrictions.

"People are still staying fit; it's just we want to make sure that, as we move into this, we give them fair warning," he said during the Air Force Association's virtual Air, Space and Cyber conference.

The waist circumference test is unworkable under social distancing guidelines, he said, which is why the Air Force is scrapping it for now.

"We have to do this differently in the COVID environment," Brown said.

The modified changes could lead to a new way to measure PT down the line, added Bass.

"I would like to see us at a place where we're not so much focused on the PT test as we are more about fitness and readiness," she said. "[So] we are also taking some looks within on, 'What does fitness look like for our force?'''

The Air Force is following the Navy's lead with the January timeline. Earlier this month, Chief of Naval Personnel Vice Adm. John Nowell announced the new date for resuming sailors' fitness tests, with tweaks to include planks in place of curl-ups and the use of a rowing machine instead of the run portion.

Meanwhile, the Marine Corps this month said its PT testing would resume immediately, which requires Marines to complete the Combat Fitness Test by the end of the year. In addition, Marines outside height and weight standards who need body composition evaluations need to pass their tape test.

-- Gina Harkins contributed to this report.

-- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @oriana0214.

Related: Air Force PT Test Suspensions May Continue Past June
I think in a presidential year, people were always going to want to know who I supported and why, especially before the Democratic nominee was chosen, Lamb said Tuesday during an interview outside the Capitol. I just felt like I might as well do the best I could to try to have influence on our nominee being the person whos best for western Pennsylvania.
Q. I was told if youre over 55 and on Medicaid and you earn more than the earning limits, they want money back for the benefits you used, plus capitation, when you die. Either you pay this or get a fine. Is this right?

 Retired

A. Heres how it works.

Under both federal and New Jersey law, Medicaid is required to recover funds from the estate of an individual receiving  or who has received  Medicaid benefits on or after age 55.

This includes capitation payments made to any managed care organization that would have been reimbursed regardless of whether any services were received, said Shirley Whitenack, an estate planning attorney with Schenck, Price, Smith & King in Florham Park.

A capitation fee is a fixed amount per patient that is paid to a health care provider by the federal and state for each patient enrolled in a capitated insurance plan, she said.

The capitation fee varies depending on the contract among the federal and state agencies and the insurance carrier, she said.

The estate consists of any property, whether in sole or joint name, that the beneficiary had any legal title or interest in at the time of his or her death including a residence, personal or real property, bank accounts, a living trust or other arrangement, and proceeds of life insurance policies, she said.

Whitenack said the funds dont need to be probate assets, for example, they may have designated beneficiaries such as life insurance policies.

Unless there is a surviving spouse, a minor child or a surviving child of any age who is blind or disabled, Medicaid will place a lien on property after the death of the Medicaid beneficiary if the amount to be recovered is in excess of $500 and the estate is in excess of $3,000, she said.

The personal representative of the estate of the Medicaid beneficiary  the executor or administrator  must contact Medicaid in writing to ascertain whether Medicaid has a right to recovery, she said.

Medicaid then has ninety (90) days from receipt of the letter to respond, Whitenack said. The personal representative should ask Medicaid for a detailed `bill,' which will include the capitation costs attributed to the deceased Medicaid beneficiary.

Email your questions to Ask@NJMoneyHelp.com.

Karin Price Mueller writes the Bamboozled column for NJ Advance Media and is the founder of NJMoneyHelp.com. Follow NJMoneyHelp on Twitter @NJMoneyHelp. Find NJMoneyHelp on Facebook. Sign up for NJMoneyHelp.coms weekly e-newsletter.
WASHINGTONCanadians really do not like President Donald Trump. And their distaste for the U.S. president is dragging their opinion of the entire country down to record low levels.

In that, they are not alone, as a Pew Research survey released Tuesday showed dramatically low favourability for both the U.S. and Trump among residents of 13 nations in Europe, North America and Asia.

In several countries, the share of the public with a favourable view of the U.S. is as low as it has been at any point since the Center began polling on this topic nearly two decades ago, the Pew Report reads.

Among Canadians, only 20 per cent expressed confidence in Trump to do the right thing regarding world affairs, a new low for a president whose previous standing was already a record nadir for American presidents in the 20-year history of Pews survey. George W. Bush reached a previous low of 28 per cent confidence among Canadians during the Iraq War period in 2007, while Barack Obama inspired Canadian confidence throughout his presidency, trusted by 83 per cent of Canadians when he left office in 2017.

Their opinion of Trump seems to be poisoning Canadians on the country that elected him. During the mid-2000s, while Bush was unpopular among Canadians, most continued to have a favourable impression of the country itself  in 2007, the depth of Bushs personal favourability in Canada, a majority 55 per cent of Canadians still held a favourable view of the U.S., and that rating remained a majority opinion, often with well over 60 per cent of Canadians favourable, throughout Bush and Obamas terms. But less than half of Canadians held a favourable opinion of the U.S. beginning in 2017 when Trump took office, and has bottomed out to a record low of 35 per cent in the new report.

Even among Canadians who describe themselves as being right wing, a majority still hold an unfavourable opinion of the U.S. at the moment, with only 44 per cent generally favourable towards the country, compared with 25 per cent of those on the left, according to the survey.

Canadian firm Ekos research recently found similar results when they polled Canadian opinion on Trump and the U.S. In one Ekos survey this summer, 79 per cent of Canadians said they feared the U.S. was on the verge of chaos. That Ekos survey sampled 1,021 Canadians, leading to an estimated margin of error of +/- 3.1%, 19 times out of 20.

Its amazing, Frank Graves, the president of Ekos Research recently said on the phone. Canadians are saying their outlook on the United States is the most unfavourable ever.

Graves says Trumps approval among Canadians hes surveyed is in the mid-15 per cent range, and that this is unprecedented. In the height of the, you know, Iraq War, there was enormous antipathy in Canada to George W. Bush, but even then it pales compared to the level of approval of Donald Trump.

Graves says a range of issues are driving the opinions towards Trump and the country he leads, but key among them is the coronavirus response: 72 per cent of Canadians feel the U.S. would stand a better chance of recovering from the crisis with a change in government in the upcoming November election.

When I ask, When do you think we should think about opening the border? They go, Well, maybe never, Graves says.

That, too, aligns with Pews findings. In the Pew survey, 83 per cent of Canadians say the U.S. has handled the coronavirus either very badly or somewhat badly  as compared to their opinion of Canadas handling of the virus, which 88 per cent of Canadians say has been good.

The Pew survey drew on phone interviews with nationally representative samples of 13,273 adults from June 10 to Aug. 3 of this year in Canada, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the UK, Australia, Japan and South Korea. The Pew report does not include an estimated margin of error.

According to Pews report, these sentiments towards the U.S. are fairly common around the world. Some countries expressed even greater antipathy toward the U.S.  Germany has only 26 per cent holding a favourable opinion of the U.S., France 31 per cent, and Australia 33 per cent. Of the countries in the survey, only South Korea continued to have a majority favourable impression of the U.S., at 59 per cent.

Across all 13 countries, a median of only 15 per cent say the U.S. has done a good job dealing with coronavirus, and only 16 per cent have confidence in Trump to do the right thing for the world. Belgium expressed the least confidence in Trump at nine per cent, Japan the most with a still anemic 25 per cent confidence in the U.S. president.

Trump is even less trusted  among Canadians and those in the other countries in Pews survey  than the leaders of Russia and China. Among Canadians, 24 per cent had confidence in Russian President Vladimir Putin, 22 per cent in Chinese President Xi Jinping, and only 20 per cent in Trump. The median of all countries in the survey ranked the trust in those leaders similarly, with Putin at 23 per cent, Xi at 19 per cent, and Trump at 16 per cent.

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Students enrolled in the 2020 election class on Monday learned two top lessons.

The first: allegiance to political parties cannot be swayed. It is a decision made early on in life influenced by family, religion, demographics, and other factors.

Political ideas are deeply embedded into our psychology, said Joseph Uscinski, associate professor of political science who co-teaches the class at the University of Miami.

The second lesson is that Florida, as one of the top swing states in the nation, could very well determine the presidential election of 2020. The state delivers 29 electoral votes.

You all have the good fortune to be taking a class in a place that is really at the centerpiece of this 2020 election, lecturer and pollster Fernand R. Amandi told the students.

With more than 200 students, the class is also taught by Casey Klofstad, professor of political science. Amandi is a managing partner of Bendixen & Amandi, a top public opinion and strategic communications firm.

The class meets both virtually and in person at the Watsco Center once a week. Taught every two years, it purports to teach that in a democracy the actions of the government are based on the wishes of the citizenry.

According to Amandi, every Floridian should be prepared to see the candidatesboth presidential and vice presidentialvisit the state in the near future. One main reason was detailed in a poll his company conducted in conjunction with the Miami Herald last week.

Of 500 likely voters, the poll (conducted from Sept. 1-4) revealed that former Vice President Joe Biden is leading the race in Miami-Dade County with a 55 percent approval rate against President Donald Trump, who logged a 43 percent approval rate.

There is no question that Biden seems likely to win Miami-Dade County comfortably, said Amandi. The question is, by what margin will he win?

One trouble spot for Biden is the split in the Hispanic vote in the county. While non-Cuban Hispanics look on Biden favorably, 63 percent of Cuban Americans have an unfavorable view of Biden, he said.

Traditionally, Cuban Americanswho tend to vote for the Republican tickethave played a major role in swinging elections in the county.

If you are a Biden supporter, it is troubling that he has a low margin [among those voters], said Amandi. It seems like Trump is over performing.

Cuban Americans approval of Trump is partly based on his strong talk against the Cuban and Venezuelan regimes, both communist strongholds. The political rhetoric has energized the right wing of those communities, said Joe Garcia, former U.S. representative and University of Miami alumnus, who was invited to the class as a guest speaker.

He has run a good campaign for those who feel disenfranchised or left out of the process, but he is also very good speaking to little ethnic communities, said Garcia, a Democrat. Trump has spent a lot of time feigning that he is going to invade Venezuela.

Garcia also sees that Democrats have not fully taken advantage of new technologies to reach voters, especially younger Hispanics.

Democrats are being outspent both in Spanish social media platforms and Hispanic television, he said. I am worried.

Carlos Curbelo, a Republican, former U.S. congressman, and a University of Miami alumnus, also was a speaker in the class.

Curbelo sees Bidens lead in the state as tenuous.

The vice president faces big threats to that lead, he said. Curbelo also said that he believes a lot of Biden supporters care about the issue of law and order that the Trump campaign is trying to put front and center. Trumps ads have portrayed Biden as someone who wants to defund the police and leave citizens without any police protection.

A lot of voters feel law and order is more important than COVID-19, yet Biden has spent a lot of money on COVID-19, Curbelo said. There is a risk that if COVID-19 continues to dissipate, the Biden campaign has invested so much it could suffer.

Another threat for Biden in Miamis Hispanic community is the issue of socialism. The Trump campaign has successfully put the socialist label on Democrats. Biden has lacked a good defensive strategy on this front, said Curbelo.

He needs to come to Miami and say, I am not a socialist, said Curbelo.
St Stephen's College

New Delhi: The Delhi University's St Stephen's College has released its first cut-off list for undergraduate courses, with the highest cut-off being announced at 99.25 per cent for BA (Hons) Economics for students coming from commerce background.

This year's cut-offs are higher than last year. In 2019, the cut-off for BA (Hons) English and BA (Hons) Economics were pegged at 98.75 per cent for students from commerce background.

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StudentsThe cut-off for BA (Hons) Economics stands at 99.25 per cent for commerce students, 98.75 per cent for humanities and 98 per cent for science stream students.

The cut-off for BA English (Hons) stands at 99 per cent for commerce students, 98.75 per cent for science and humanities stream students. This year's cut-off for the course is higher by 0.25 per cent for commerce and science students.

Last year, the college had pegged the cut-off for BA (Hons) English at 98.75 per cent for commerce students, 98.25 per cent for humanities students and 98.75 per cent for science students.

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Medical students

The cut-off for BA History (Hons) stands at 99 per cent for commerce students and science stream students, and 98.25 per cent for humanities students.

The cut-off for BA (Hons) Philosophy stands at 98 per cent for commerce, 98.75 per cent for Humanities and 97 per cent science stream students.

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The cut-off for BSc Physics (Hons) stands at 97.66 per cent while the cut-off for BSc (Hons) Chemistry stands at 96.67 per cent.

Last year, the cut-offs for BSc Physics (Hons) and BSc Chemistry (Hons) stood at 96.66 per cent and 96.33, respectively.

StudentsThe cut-off for BSc (Hons) Mathematics stands at 98 per cent for commerce and science students and 96.5 per cent for humanities stream students.

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In Economics, the college has put a rider that applicants need to score at least 95 per cent in mathematics to secure a seat.

For English honours applicants, students need to have scored 90 per cent in English Core or 85 per cent in English Elective.
I have a bad feeling about the future of Canadas publicly funded health-care system.

Thats because despite a major court ruling last week that upheld the basic principles of public medicare, the rich and powerful forces that favour profit-driven health care are gearing up for more legal challenges aimed at opening doors wider for private medicine.

Indeed, the coming fight for increased privately funded health care could lead to a dark hole of unprecedented greed on the part of some doctors, insurance companies, financial institutions and senior business executives.

Importantly, if they win this fight, medical service for most Canadians wont be any better, although it may be faster for the rich, who can pay to jump the queue for medical attention.

Advocates of private health care arent deterred by the B.C. Supreme Court ruling that upheld the view that access to health care should be based on need, not ability to pay. They dismissed the ruling as no big deal and are now vowing to take the fight all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Dr. Brian Day, a B.C. orthopedic surgeon, who founded the private Cambie Surgery Centre, had challenged a provincial law that bans extra billing and private insurance for medically necessary procedures.

But Justice John Steeves ruled that Day failed to show patients rights were being violated because of long wait times, noting the law was based on equitable access to care, not on a patients ability to pay.

No question, though, that the B.C. ruling is a big deal.

If the judge had ruled in Days favour, it would have been a nail in the coffin for public medicare. It would do so by opening the door for insurance companies and financial institutions to make a ton of money  the very people who will financially support Day and others fighting for private health care.

Heres how the math works for the big-money people, as outlined to me by one of Canadas leading health experts.

Lets say the B.C. court ruling had allowed patients to pay for access, either out of their own pockets or more likely through new, private insurance. Now assume Canada becomes like the U.K., where 10 per cent of people have private health insurance on the basis of paying for quick access to care.

In Ontario alone about 10 per cent of the provincial health budget amounts to $6.4 billion. Then assume the premium quick-access cost is doubled to $12.8 billion. Upgrade that to all of Canada at about $32 billion. Figuring that profit margins would be about 12 per cent, that results in about $4 billion in new profit for private insurers.

More than 10 per cent of Canadians might get this private health insurance through company benefit plans.

Not only would insurers create an important new recurring annual revenue line, the health expert explained, they would also get all the loans needed to build new private hospitals and clinics  which would be immediately profitable based on the availability of private insurance.

So it would be a huge windfall for big banks and health insurance companies, he said.

In his decision, Justice Steeves said he found that physicians preferred the more lucrative private practice over the public system.

But he found little evidence during the trial to back claims that private health care and private insurance reduced wait times in public systems in countries such as Australia and the U.K.

And in a direct slap at the Fraser Institute, a right-wing think tank heavily financed by rich U.S. donors, Justice Steeves said he seriously question(s) the idea that the institutes wait-time surveys can be relied upon as providing reliable data. He added the institutes expert who testified in the case was minimally qualified as an expert.

For years Fraser Institute experts have railed against medicare and medical wait times. Sadly, their dire-warning press releases are often treated as gospel by right-leaning news outlets and conservative politicians without any serious scrutiny.

Ultimately, with billions of dollars are stake and greedy forces at play, the struggle to preserve medicare is far from over. The B.C. ruling was a step in the right direction, but there is still a long way to go.

Bob Hepburn is a Star politics columnist based in Toronto. Twitter: @BobHepburn is a Star politics columnist based in Toronto. Twitter: @BobHepburn

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Natural & organic cosmetics market promises a potential growth soon. Organic products are drawing an intensive commercial attention owing to the changing tastes and lifestyle of the consumer. Today, consumers are becoming more and more alert about the goods they apply, use, or consume. It has become a challenge for the cosmetics marketers to align themselves accordingly.

An increased level of importance has been placed on the usage of organic and natural elements in cosmetic products since the consumers are increasingly growing an inclination towards using natural products. It has been anticipated that the worldwide natural & organic cosmetics market is likely to develop at a 9.60% CAGR over the forecast period of 2018 to 2023. As the customer base develops further in the upcoming years, the demand for organic cosmetics is likely to expand exponentially.

Also Read : https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2019/05/21/1832931/0/en/Natural-and-Organic-Cosmetics-Market-Size-to-Reach-USD-25-100-Million-by-2023-at-9-60-CAGR-Predicts-Market-Research-Future.html

Regional Analysis

Based on region, the natural and organic cosmetics market has been segmented into Africa, Europe, Latin America, North America, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East. North America is likely to dominate the global natural & organic cosmetics market over the forecast period. Of late, the region represents over 34% share of the worldwide market in terms of value. The region has a favorable presence owing to the availability of a wide range of cosmetics products. Additionally, North America is increasingly becoming a key investment region for the market players. Although, Europe has a smaller market when compared to North America, the region can be identified as a lucrative market for major cosmetics brands in the near future. A substantial percentage of female customers in Europe has preference for natural and organic items. APAC holds a potential share of the natural and organic cosmetics market and has been anticipated to reflect a strong growth over the forecast period.

Market Segmentation

The global Natural and Organic Cosmetics Market Size has been segmented based on distribution channel, consumer group, and type.

By distribution channel, the market has been segmented into store based and non-store based. The store-based segment is expected to remain highly attractive throughout the assessment period. In 2017, the store-based segment reflected a valuation of USD 11,729.6 Mn. Store-based distribution channel includes convenience stores, supermarket/hypermarket, and others. Supermarkets/hypermarkets are the primary contributors to the sales of organic & natural cosmetics.

By consumer group, the market has been segmented into female and male. The female segment has been anticipated to dominate over 2023. Currently, the segment has been projected to generate more than USD 10,600 million holding a market share of over 70%. The female segment is the major consumer of cosmetic products throughout the world. In fact, the most renowned cosmetics are focused at serving the female client base specifically. Hence, the female segment is considered extremely significant for the markets growth.

By type, the market has been segmented into hair care, skin care, make up cosmetics, oral care, and others. The skin care segment records for the highest market share. During 2017, the segment represented a worth of USD 4,933.5 million and has been expected to witness a healthy growth over the forecast period. Altering lifestyle collectively with the surge in customer's spending on personal care items in fast-developing nations is associated with the growth in the skin care products market. Additionally, increasing demand for clean brand items is impacting the industrys development positively.

Key Players

The worldwide natural & organic cosmetics market has been dominated by key players such as L'Occitance International SA, The Estee Lauder Companies, Inc., The Clorox Co, FANCL Corp.,LOreal SA, Laboratoire Nuxe, Jurlique International Pty. Limited, Nature's Gate, Escentuals, Inc, Aubrey Organics, Inc., and Bare.

Also Read : https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/natural-organic-cosmetics-market-7257

Note: Our team of researchers are studying Covid-19 and its impact on various industry verticals and wherever required will be considering covid19 footprints for a better analysis of markets and industries. Cordially get in touch for more details.

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Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta on Wednesday said he has tested positive for COVID-19. "Last week, I took a COVID test after having light fever. Its report was negative. I was tested again as I was feeling unwell. The report has now come as positive," he said in a tweet in Hindi.

Gupta said he was in quarantine during the last week and advised those who had come in contact with him to get themselves tested. Delhi BJP media cell head Ashok Goel said Gupta was found positive in his third COVID-19 test. The previous two tests, including an RT-PCR, came out as negative, he said.

"The Delhi BJP president underwent a rapid antigen test last week and later, an RT-PCR test, both of which showed him to be COVID negative. He had body ache but no fever. He was again tested using the RT-PCR method, the report of which came on Wednesday as COVID-19 positive," he said.

Party leaders said Gupta's parents, who live in his ancestral village in Uttar Pradesh, had also tested positive for COVID-19 and were treated in Delhi 15-20 days ago. Meanwhile, the Delhi BJP office on Pant Marg was closed for sanitisation on Wednesday, a day after 17 people there tested positive for COVID-19.

These include staff members and their families who live on the party office premises. On Monday, a peon of the Delhi BJP office tested positive for COVID-19, after which all the staff and their family members, numbering around 40, were tested.

Two BJP MPs from Delhi, Meenakshi Lekhi and Parvesh Verma, were found COVID-19 positive ahead of the Parliament session that started earlier this week.

Also read: COVID-19 hits Karnataka cabinet; two more ministers test positive

Also read: Amit Shah health: Home minister admitted to AIIMS again


For Bryant Atencia, the social and emotional well-being of his students is more important than his lesson plans.

The coronavirus pandemic has affected students and their families in Laguna Province in the Philippines, where he teaches high school. Students are also facing what he calls a huge adjustment to distance learning.

Atencia told VOA that before the health crisis started, he mainly taught from books and gave tests on the material.

But now, I try to touch the emotion, touch base with the students and their parents. I try to build up the relationship that would make the students more comfortable in taking lessons online.

Right now, teachers around the world are amending their lesson plans for online learning. So, teaching social-emotional skills, or SEL, may not be high on their to-do list. Yet some experts say these skills are more critical than ever.

Hope floats

Christina Cipriano is director of research at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence at Yale University in Connecticut. In an open letter to teachers after schools closed in March, she wrote, Now is when we need to apply everything weve learned about SEL. She added that these are real skills that can support us in managing the rollercoaster of emotions we will be having over the coming days and months.



Atencia, who also trains teachers and teaches English at another job, was ready for whatever came. In May, he took online trainings on SEL and how to use it in the classroom.

One month before his high school students began classes, he held weekly Zoom video conference meetings with them. His goals were getting students excited about distance learning and identifying their skills and needs.

In one meeting, Atencia put the students into three separate online rooms and gave them a creative activity. He wanted to see how well they worked independently and in groups, and which ones would need the most support going forward.

The Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning, or CASEL, is a research and training organization. It divides social-emotional skills into five areas. They are recognizing and controlling ones emotions; setting and reaching positive goals; showing sympathy for other people; developing and keeping positive relationships; and making responsible decisions.

The Yale centers research found that emotions like happiness and curiosity support a persons ability to pay attention and have greater involvement in school. But emotions like anxiety and fear, especially over long periods, hurt ones ability to think clearly.

Aileen Watts has witnessed this kind of anxiety in students firsthand.



In her 20 years of teaching, she has worked with students from all walks of life, including those who were homeless and those requiring special education. She has also taught Iraqi children living in the United States.

Watts says that, over the years, she has often included some form of SEL in her lessons.

Last year, she taught sixth graders at a school in McLean, Virginia. Some of the students were born in Iraq and had seen friends and family members killed.

Watts said she and other teachers built in activities to help students reduce anxiety. Classes took brain breaks, which meant stopping the lesson to play a short game or even do a dance. And, if a child was feeling anxious, he or she could partner with someone to help calm those emotions.

Weve discovered that if theyre stressed out, they dont take in new information. They dont participate.

Watts, who is based in Arkansas, has just begun teaching fifth graders online at Fort Belvoir, a U.S. Army base in Virginia. She said most of the SEL activities are built into the first part of the day and involve relationship building, dealing with social pressure and recognizing ones strengths and weaknesses.

A recent study of teenagers found that many struggled with depression, anxiety, and sadness during the mass school closures six months ago. Around 40 percent said they had not been offered any social or emotional support by an adult from their school.

Watts told VOA that in addition to pandemic-related stress, spending six hours in an online class daily causes children more stress. So, she says, educators in Fairfax County, Virginia are desperately trying to put together de-stressing activities.

Teachers are human, too

Students are not the only ones facing increased anxiety and stress because of the health crisis.

After the pandemic began, the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence partnered with CASEL on a questionnaire for teachers. Within three days, more than 5,000 responded, saying they most often felt five emotions: anxious, fearful, worried, overcome and sad. Some teachers feared that they or a family member would get COVID-19. Another cause of stress was having to deal with their own needs and their families needs while working full-time from home. And there was anxiety around using new teaching technologies.

Watts noted that the head of one Arkansas school asked its counselors to create de-stressing activities for the teachers. There, the teachers were facing increased pressure from problems involving the new technology. And some have family members who have lost jobs during the pandemic.

Atencias high school, too, seems to know the value of SEL in the current climate. He has been entrusted to teach the skills to some of the other teachers.

Im Alice Bryant.

Alice Bryant wrote this story for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

Quiz - Teaching Social, Emotional Skills Critical in Pandemic Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz

_______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

lesson - n. a single class or part of a course of instruction

adjustment - n. a change that makes it possible for a person to do better or work better in a new situation

comfortable - adj. causing no worries, difficulty or uncertainty

rollercoaster - n. a ride at an amusement park which is like a small, open train with tracks that are high off the ground and that have sharp curves and steep hills

positive - adj. hopeful or optimistic

curiosity - n. the desire to learn or know more about something or someone

anxiety - n. fear or nervousness about what might happen

participate - v. to take part in an activity or event with others

teenager - n. someone who is between 13 and 19 years old

desperately - adv. done in a way that uses all of your strength or energy and with little hope of succeeding
New Delhi, Sep 16 : The Rajya Sabha passed the Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda Bill, 2020. The Bill seeks to merge three Ayurveda institutes into one institution -- Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda. The Bill declares the institute to be an institution of national importance.

The Bill was moved by Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan in the absence of Ayush Minister Sripad Naik, who is recovering from Covid-19.

Harsh Vardhan said, "The ministry is giving deemed university status to the institutes in various parts of the country and the matter is referred to the UGC and Education Ministry."

The Minister said that there are 103 institutes of national importance, but there was none in Ayurveda. He said the Jamnagar institute has been chosen because this is one of the oldest institutes of the country founded by the Government of India in 1956.

Many MPs from the TRS, Bodoland People's Front, AIADMK, CPM, BSP and others demanded similar institutes in other states also.

The Chairman, M. Venkiah Naidu, said, "The minister should take into consideration the demand of such institutes in every state." Congress leader L. Hanumanthiah raised objections during the discussion. He said, "Why Gujarat is given so much importance and Kerala should also be given prominence, which is a pioneer of the Ayurveda."

While Thambidurai AIADMK member supported the Bill, he demanded a National Institute of Siddha in Tamil Nadu.

Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal raised the issue of mental health and said House the mental counselling is needed in Covid times.

RJD MP Manoj Jha demanded a regulator for the Ayurvedic medicines so that no misuse takes place. He cited the claims made by Ramdev that he has made medicine for Covid-19.

The Bill seeks three institutes to be merged -- the Institute of Post Graduate Teaching and Research in Ayurveda, Shree Gulabkunverba Ayurved Mahavidyalaya, Jamnagar, and, the Indian Institute of Ayurvedic Pharmaceutical Sciences, all in Jamnagar.

The proposed Institute will be situated in the campus of Gujarat Ayurveda University, Jamnagar.

The Institute will be developed on the patterns of teaching in medical education in Ayurveda and pharmacy, bring together educational facilities for training of personnel in all branches of Ayurveda, and attain self-sufficiency in postgraduate education to meet the need for specialists and medical teachers in Ayurveda, also make an in-depth study and research in the field of Ayurveda.

The Bill provides that the Institute will consist of 15 members and the Director of the Institute of Post Graduate Teaching and Research in Ayurveda, Jamnagar will be appointed as the first Director of the Institute.

The Bill states that there will be a Governing Body of the Institute, which will exercise powers and such functions of the Institute, as specified.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- Syndicated from IANS
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 07:52:53|Editor: huaxia

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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (R) addresses the closing session of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York, on Sept. 15, 2020. Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, president of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly, declared the annual session closed on Tuesday, and passed the baton to the next president of the assembly, Volkan Bozkir. (Manuel Elias/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua)

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, president of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly, declared the annual session closed on Tuesday, and passed the baton to the next president of the assembly, Volkan Bozkir.

"The emergence of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has shown that we have to continue to deepen multilateral cooperation in the health sector, as in other areas, and implement the commitments of our heads of state and government to scale up national and global efforts to build a healthier world for all," Muhammad-Bande told the closing session.

"It is important that in achieving this, we must continue to deepen cooperation to ensure that, despite the challenges posed by COVID-19, we will meet the goal and target we set for ourselves for (the) 2030 (Agenda)."

He emphasized the importance of the General Assembly, the most representative body of the United Nations. "We cannot underestimate the importance of this assembly, which is founded on the equality of voice and vote. Its resolutions reflect the aspirations of humanity, helping (with) the normative development of international law with far-reaching ramifications across a wide breadth of issues for individuals and for states."

"This is a moment of reckoning for our shared planet and future. This is a time for action, ambition, equality, inclusion and partnership," he said, stressing the importance of engaging and empowering the youth and underrepresented groups such as women and people with disabilities.

Seventy-five years ago, the founders of the United Nations did not allow cynicism to prevail. It shall not be allowed to prevail now, he said. "To ensure this, we must continue to thoughtfully define our actions and uphold our pledge to leave no one behind, even in the face of disagreement -- indeed, in spite of disagreement. We must practice empathy and choose unity over discord."

In his remarks, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the 74th session of the General Assembly was like no other in the past 75 years as a result of COVID-19.

"The last seven months have been extremely difficult for the people we serve, and for many of us, personally and professionally. The COVID-19 pandemic has cut a swathe through our lives and our communities. We are all dealing with high levels of uncertainty. Right now, we are still in the middle of the fog. The extent of the pandemic, its social and economic impact, and its interaction with other global challenges and megatrends, is unknowable. Our only hope is to respond with unity and solidarity, while supporting the most vulnerable."

He said it had been a privilege to work with the General Assembly, a common platform for international consensus and action, during these difficult days under the leadership of Muhammad-Bande.

Muhammad-Bande's capable stewardship saw the General Assembly adopt new working methods to continue its work smoothly, he said. "On a personal note, I would like to thank Professor Muhammad-Bande for his wise, determined and serene approach to those unforeseen challenges, and his excellent judgment under pressure. I commend the patience and support he has demonstrated during these unprecedented times."

The introduction in March of new decision-making procedures made it possible for the General Assembly to adopt resolutions and decisions without in-person meetings. More than 70 resolutions and decisions were adopted in this way, he noted.

The 74th session of the General Assembly also oversaw elections to the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council, and successful intergovernmental negotiations on the Declaration for the Commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of the United Nations, and on an omnibus resolution on COVID-19 response, he said.

"The world looks to the United Nations as the indispensable forum for international cooperation on global challenges. Let us continue our work together to beat the pandemic and build a better future," said the UN chief. Enditem
My action was very strong, Trump added. Im not looking to be dishonest. I dont want people to panic. Woodward at another event has said there was "denial across the board" among White House staffers about the severity of the coronavirus, and he blamed Trump for being a "bulldozer" who rejects opposing views. Journalist Bob Woodward conducted more than a dozen interviews with Trump for his book. Credit:AP "I think there was denial across the board," Woodward said when asked whether White House staffers who also knew about the lethality of the virus denied its severity. He added that Trump is "a one-man band" who is "going to do what he wants to do on impulse or on information he has." "He's a bulldozer to the staff and, quite frankly, to the country," Woodward said. "And he just says what he wants, and so there's no control. And this is one of the problems of the Trump presidency, that he doesn't build a team. He doesn't plan."

At the town hall event, Trump also insisted he was not wrong when he praised China's response to the virus in January and February, saying he trusted Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader. He told me that it was under control, that everything was and it turned out to be not true, Trump said. Trump also suggested the virus would disappear without a vaccine, claiming the nation would develop a herd immunity with time, but he didn't mention the lives that would be lost along the way. Its going to be herd-developed, and thats going to happen. That will all happen, Trump said. "But with a vaccine, I think it will go away very quickly." The questions from uncommitted voters were pointed and poignant: a diabetic man who said he felt hed been thrown under the bus by mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic; a black woman with a disease that left her uninsurable until the Obama health care law came along who is worried that she could lose coverage again; a black pastor who questioned Trumps campaign motto to "Make America Great Again.

When has America been great for African Americans in the ghetto of America? the pastor asked. Asked about what he was doing to address protests against racial injustice, Trump lamented a lack of respect and the absence of retribution for those who clash with or carry out attacks against police officers. Trump on Sunday called for the death penalty for the individual who shot and critically injured two Los Angeles Sheriffs Department deputies over the weekend. Loading Trump has been unusually mum on his debate preparations ahead of the first debate, set to take place in Cleveland. On Tuesday, he told Fox News that he believes his day job is the best practice for his three scheduled showdowns with Biden. Well, I sort of prepare every day by just doing what Im doing, Trump said. He noted that he had been in California on Monday and had been to other states before that to make the point that hes getting out and about more than Biden.

One person likely to study the replay: Biden. Returning from a long day of campaigning in Florida, Biden said at his plane that he was preparing for the debates mostly by going back through what Trump has said in the past. But he suggested he had yet to initiate mock debates, saying he was unaware who would play the role of Trump in his preparations. Loading Trump, in the Fox interview, lowered expectations for his Democratic opponent's performance, judging Biden a disaster and grossly incompetent in the primary debates. He assessed Biden as OK and fine in his final one-on-one debate with Bernie Sanders before clinching the nomination. Trump's rhetoric on Biden marked a departure from the traditional efforts by candidates to talk up their rivals' preparation for televised debates, in hopes of setting an unattainably high bar for their performance. The second of the three scheduled debates, set to be held in Miami on October 15, will feature a similar town meeting style.
MCLA offers many options for all students to build a strong, supportive College community that's critical to individual and group achievement. The Multicultural Education Resource Center encourages cross-cultural relations, student empowerment, and leadership especially for ALANA, international, and veteran students. Connecting students with successful peers, faculty, and community members helps students envision and realize their goals. The Center also promotes access to College and other resources, benefits, scholarships, careers development, and graduate programs.

The Center collaborates with our ALANA and other clubs and departments to enhance College programs, activities, and services that engage all and especially unrepresented students. Together we work to enlighten the MCLA and local community about the value and contributions of many cultures and perspectives.

Here are some of the ways you can participate:

Support or host multicultural overnights for prospective students to experience inclusive campus life at MCLA.

Be a student assistant for open houses for prospective and accepted students, and orientation sessions for new students.

Join ALANA and other clubs, Club Council, and Student Government Association programs and activities.

Establish mentoring and advising relationships with peers, faculty, and staff.

Participate in internships, College work opportunities, and study abroad.

Engage in community service and outreach opportunities.

Stop by!



Arlene Theodore

Campus Center, Room 320

413.662.5440

9am - 5pm Monday to Friday. Accessible evenings and weekends by student clubs and student staff.
APPLICATIONS are being sought from from artists who would like to meet and work with rural communities along the river Shannon during the Spring and Summer of 2021.

The River Residencies offer a structured residency programme that will support artists to work with rural communities in Cavan, Clare, Limerick and Tipperary and are under the Arts Council of Irelands An Invitation to Collaboration scheme.

They will take place along the Shannon Estuary in the heritage town of Glin, on the shores of Lough Derg and in the Cavan Burren.

The initiative is supported by Limerick City and County Councils Culture and Arts Office, Ormston House and Arts Offices of Clare, Tipperary and Cavan.

"The River Residencies offer a fantastic opportunity for an artist to engage with the communities in Glin area. With the residencies divided into two parts it will give the artists involved valuable time to immerse themselves in the Glin area and see what the area has to offer. No doubt the local communities will also help the artists to create something inspiring," said Dr Pippa Little, Culture and Arts Officer with Limerick City and County Council.

As part of the programme, one artist (or artist-led collective) will be hosted in each location for a total of four weeks. While there, they will meet with communities engaged with the river through craft, environmentalism, leisure, industry, or simply through a life lived along its banks.

Local participants will inform the artistic research in each county and will be invited to participate in the creation of artistic projects.

The residencies will be divided into two parts: two weeks dedicated to community engagement and research during Spring 2021, and two weeks dedicated to co-production and delivery during Summer 2021.

The research residency will include a mix of programmed and self-directed activities. Artists will develop projects remotely between the residencies. There will be curatorial and logistical support during the research residency, the creative development phase and the production residency from project personnel in each county and the Ormston House team.

The River Residencies will bring together artists and local communities through creative practice, and will support the co-creation of artworks and interventions.

The River Residencies are part of the Museum of Mythological Water Beasts (2017), an artistic project about, along and on the River Shannon. The River Residencies will be co-curated by Caimin Walsh and Mary Conlon.

For further information on the residencies and how to apply, click here.

The deadline for submissions is 12pm on September 21, 2020.
An Attleboro High School student who tested positive for the coronavirus attended the first day of classes this week, prompting more than two dozen other students to quarantine, officials said.

After testing positive for the viral respiratory infection last week, the student went to school Monday, Bill Runey, principal of the high school, told WBZ.

In an email to the high school community Tuesday, Runey said officials learned about the positive case Monday. The student was not in school Tuesday, the principal wrote.

The reporting systems we count on to notify us of positive cases did not identify this one until today, Runey said about the positive case. Therefore, there was no way that we could have prevented this from occurring.

School nurses reviewed seating charts in classes, cafeterias and on the students bus. Through their efforts, they identified another 30 students as close contacts with the student who tested positive. The students were told to quarantine, according to Runey.

We will work closely with those students and families to maintain their learning, the principal said. If your family was not contacted by our Nurses today, then your student is not considered a close contact.

The positive case and subsequent quarantines were not the result of a breakdown in the schools safety protocols, Runey claimed.

Our precautions are in place to protect everyone when there is exposure. If they were successful, there will not be further spread traceable to this specific case, he wrote in his email.

Schools across Massachusetts kicked off their first days of classes this week, many operating with remote or hybrid learning models.

The Attleboro School Committee voted in August to begin the year with a hybrid mode of learning, where students would be instructed both in person and remotely on a rotating schedule.

The citys high school is not the only one to report a coronavirus case after opening for the 2020-2021 academic year.

Pope Francis Preparatory School in Springfield switched to remote-only instruction for at least two weeks after a student tested positive for the virus.

Before opening, Dover-Sherborn Regional High School opted to start the year remotely after a party of more than 100 students excessively drinking was reported, the districts superintendent said. The school was previously planning to open with a hybrid model in place.

Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School similarly decided to start off the school year with remote learning only after a crowded indoor and outdoor student party Friday evening that involved alcohol and complete lack of safety precautions to protect against the spread of COVID," according to the schools principal.

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The alleged gunman wanted for the murders of Hamilton mobster Angelo Musitano and innocent bystander Mila Barberi has been found dead in Mexico.

Michael Cudmores body was found in an abandoned vehicle on the side of a rural road at the end of June 2020, ending any hope he could face justice as one of three men charged in the murders.

The circumstances of his death, including whether its suspicious, are not clear, but the news comes more than two years after he was reported missing. Its believed he died sometime at the end of June, shortly before his body was discovered.

We have absolutely no information on the exact location or the circumstance, we are working with the RCMP liaison officer and hoping to get that information so we can decide if there is anything for us to act on in Canada, said Det. Sgt. Peter Thom, of the Hamilton police major crime unit.

Investigators on the multi-jurisdictional task force formed to solve the two murders have received very limited information from the Canadian Embassy and Mexican authorities, he said.

In a rather unusual turn of events, police were not notified of Cudmores death because he was wanted on international warrants, but rather because the Canadian Embassy shared information with his family who had reported him missing, Thom said.

When Hamilton police were notified in July it began a process where they eventually confirmed his identity through fingerprints. Cudmores family is still working to bring his body home.

Cudmore allegedly fled to Mexico on May 20, 2017, following the shooting deaths of 28-year-old Barberi on March 14 and 39-year-old Musitano on May 2.

He went to join Bolton mobster Daniele Ranieri, a person of interest in the case. Ranieri was found bound and murdered in a ditch in Mexico in March 2018  his death believed to be intended to send a message.

Cudmore had not been heard from since and his concerned family reported him missing a month later. It is not clear what he was doing in Mexico, in the years leading up to his death.

Thom said Mexican police are aware of the death, but its not clear to what extent they have or are investigating.

A spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada said they were aware a Canadian citizen died in Mexico and consular services are being provided to the family.

Consular officials are in contact with local authorities to gather additional information, spokesperson Jason Kung said in an email, adding that no further information can be disclosed.

Cudmore was one of three men facing charges of first-degree murder in the deaths of Barberi and Musitano, as well as the attempted murder of Saverio Serrano  Barberis boyfriend who police believe was the true target when they were shot inside a car during a hit-gone-wrong in a Vaughan parking lot.

Police have said the targets and their families were under surveillance leading up to the shootings.

In addition to Cudmore, the other two facing charges are Jabril Abdalla and Daniel Tomassetti.

Abdalla remains the only man arrested. He is accused of being a party to the offences, but not the shooter. His case remains before the courts and a trial date has not been set.

Tomassetti, a high school friend of Abdallas, is alleged to have fled to Mexico Jan. 27, 2018. Hamilton police have previously said he was under surveillance when he left, but was allowed to leave for investigative reasons.

Police say the Tomassetti family has told them they do not know where he is, but believe he is scared.

Thom said detectives will once again reach out to the Tomassetti family.

Neither Cudmore, Abdalla or Tomassetti were ever considered major players in the criminal underworld by police, who say they are not the masterminds behind the murders.

Cudmore was from Hamilton and was known to police, moving in and out of jail. While in custody he had the chance to meet high-level players in the criminal underworld, Thom said.

He was also known to travel around the province.

Thom wouldnt elaborate on how Cudmore knew Ranieri or why the Bolton mobster was a person of interest in the case.

That is part of the investigation and may come out in court, Thom added.

Investigators have never identified who they believe ordered the hits, however, Angelo Musitanos death marked the beginning of a resurgence of Mob violence in Hamilton.

This has led to other murders that police believe may have been retaliation, including the recent slaying of Hamilton Mob boss Pasquale (Pat) Musitano, Angelos older brother. In several of the cases, less-powerful family members were targeted seemingly as a message to their mobster family members.

Albert Iavarone, 50, was shot and killed in the driveway of his Ancaster home on Sept. 13, 2018, in a murder that paralleled Angelo Musitanos. His brother, Tony Iavarone, is seen as a powerful figure.

In January 2019, 43-year-old Cece Luppino was gunned down in the doorway of his Mountain Brow Boulevard home. He is the son of mobster Rocco Luppino.

This past March, realtor Giorgio Barresi, who in the past was tied to the Musitanos, was fatally shot outside his Stoney Creek home.

Pat Musitano survived an attempt on his life when he was shot outside his lawyers office in Mississauga last year. But died July 10 when he was shot in a Plains Road East parking lot in Burlington, just outside his armoured GMC Yukon Denali.

The Musitanos were once one of three Mob families that vied for control in Hamilton, along with the Papalias and Luppino-Violi families.

Pat inherited control of the family business after his fathers death.

He and his younger brother, Angelo, made waves when they were accused of taking out notorious Mob boss Johnny (Pops) Papalia in May 1997.

They were accused of ordering hitman Ken Murdock to commit the murder. However, they struck a deal and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder in the death of Papalias lieutenant, Carmen Barillaro, in July 1997. They were sentenced to 10 years and served two-thirds of that time in prison.

Its unclear what power the Musitanos still have, with Pat and Angelo dead and the seeming rise to power of other families, including the Iavarones.

Mafia watchers say the unrest likely means more violence to come.

Anyone with information that could help police is asked to call Thom at 905-546-2458.

To remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or crimestoppershamilton.com.

Nicole OReilly is a Hamilton-based reporter covering crime and justice for The Spectator. Reach her via email: noreilly@thespec.com

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 09:40:24|Editor: huaxia

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TRIPOLI, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- More than 20 illegal migrants have drowned off the Libyan coast, said the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Tuesday.

"IOM staff report that over 20 migrants lost their lives at sea last night, off Libya," the IOM tweeted.

"This new tragedy signals yet again the need for increased search and rescue capacity in the Mediterranean," the IOM said.

Following the 2011 fall of the former leader Gaddafi's regime, Libya has been plagued by a state of insecurity and chaos that encourages thousands of illegal migrants to attempt to cross the Mediterranean Sea into Europe.

According to the IOM, hundreds of migrants have died and others gone missing on the Central Mediterranean route so far in 2020.

In 2019, a total of 9,225 illegal migrants were rescued and returned to Libya, the IOM said, adding that 270 migrants died and 992 were missing on the Central Mediterranean route.

The IOM has repeatedly stressed that Libya is not a safe port for disembarkation of rescued migrants. Enditem
Columbia Pike, 2300 block, 1:03 p.m. Sept. 5. Three males entered a business and attempted to smash a glass display counter with rocks but were unsuccessful. One of the males grabbed merchandise over the counter and threw it at store employees, then attempted to strike another employee before fleeing on foot. Two District males, ages 18 and 19, were arrested and charged. The third male remains outstanding.
DUBLIN, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Hospital Beds Market - Global Outlook and Forecast 2020-2025" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global hospital beds market size is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 6% during the period 2019-2025.



With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, hospital admissions across the world are growing at an alarming rate, which is fueling the demand for hospital beds. The pandemic has affected more than 200 countries, with around 2 million infected across the globe. The number is growing at a rapid rate. Developed countries such as the US, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy with standard healthcare infrastructure are the worst hit with high infection and mortality rates.



The hospital bed US market is witnessing a scarcity of beds due to the increase in coronavirus cases, which have increased admissions in the region. As the infection is highly contagious, patients need to be kept in isolation medical wards that are increasing the demand for medical beds. As the destruction caused by the virus has been growing unabatedly since its eruption, healthcare facilities are using advanced medical facilities for critically ill patients to monitors vital signs, provide mobility and comfort to the patient population, which is expected to drive the demand for hospital beds during the forecast period.



The electrical hospital beds market is dominating and growing at a significant rate during the forecast period. One of the major reasons for the growth of the segment is the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is boosting the demand to treat critically ill patients. Patients suffering from mobility challenges are increasingly using full-electrical hospital beds.



Also, the availability of quick assistance with smart features is driving the demand in medical emergency rooms. While there is a surge in efforts to revamp the healthcare sector across the world, the development of increasing multi-specialty and private hospitals is aiding the demand for full-electric models as they are equipped with advanced easy handling features.



Market Dynamics



Market Opportunities & Trends

Increasing Demand For Hospital Beds In Home Care Settings

Growing Demand For Hospital Beds In Low & Middle Income Countries

Sudden Surge In Demand For Hospital Beds From COVID-19 Affected Countries

New Growth Opportunities From Smart & Robotic Medical Beds

Market Growth Enablers

Favorable Patient Demographics Coupled With Increase In Patient Admissions

Technological Advancements In Hospital Beds

Favorable Government Initiatives & Establishment Of New Hospitals

High Demand For ICU Compatible Hospital Beds

Market Restraints

High Cost Of Hospital Beds

Increasing Demand For Refurbished Hospital Beds

Declining Number Of Hospital Beds In Developed Countries

INSIGHTS BY VENDORS



The global hospital beds market is moderately fragmented. Large corporations dominate the industry; however, there are significant growth opportunities for new entrants. Several investigational and small med-tech companies are entering the industry with their innovative products and technology.



The market offers tremendous growth opportunities for existing as well as emerging market players due to the presence of a large pool of patients with chronic diseases. These hospital bed companies have a wide geographical reach, diversified product portfolio, and a strong focus on innovation and research activities. Stryker hospital bed market share is likely to increase as the company has taken a few measures/initiatives to enhance the supply chain and increase production capabilities due to the outbreak of COVID-19.



Key Vendors

Stryker

Invacare

Paramount Bed Holdings

Medline Industries

LINET spol

Hill-Rom Holdings

Getinge

Stiegelmeyer Group

Other Vendors

Gendron

Savion Industries

Favero Health Projects

Joerns Healthcare

Malvestio Group

MESPA

Famed ywiec

Antano Group

HIDEMAR

HEBEI PUKANG MEDICAL INSTRUMENTS

PUKANG MEDICAL INSTRUMENTS Sichuan Yufeng Medical Equipment

Jiangsu Saikang Medical Equipment

Zhangjiagang Medi Medical Equipment

PROMA REHA

Besco Medical

Missaglia Spa

JMS - Mobilirio Hospitalar

Tenko Group

Timo d.o.o.

Guangdong Kareway Medical Technology

BiHealthcare (Zhangjiagang Braun Industry)

HOSPIMETAL

WUJIANG EVERGREEN EX/IM

Strongman Medline

Span-America

Ningbo Hecai Medical Equipment

Jiangsu Aegean Medical Group

NITROCARE

Dixion Vertrieb medizinischer Gerte

Joson-Care Enterprise

HI-LIFE TECHNOLOGY

Hopefull Medical Equipment

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/iicvfu

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



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SOURCE Research and Markets

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The Times still has two correspondents in Beijing and is hopeful over time that we will be able to get our entire reporting staff back, said Michael Slackman, the Timess assistant managing editor for international news. Yet we are clearly struggling to figure out how best to cover China when access is such a problem. But as you can see from our report we are continuing to try to cover the most important political, social and economic stories of the day. Of course, it would be a lot easier if more of our correspondents were permitted to live and work in China again.
TAMIUs Dustys Food Pantry received a $1,000 donation from Electric Transmission Texas on Tuesday to help provide for students who may be facing food insecurities during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

We believe in supporting the educational sectors within our service area, Tony Arce Jr., Manager of External Affairs at AEP Texas and ETT representative said. Its important to support students as they experience the unique challenges brought on by the ongoing pandemic.

The pantry was opened in 2017 to provide access to non-perishable goods. Students and members of the university would have the possibility to receive and donate the goods to support the pantry. According to TAMIU, over 2,142 items were given to 231 students in the spring semester.

Over 70 of the students who used the pantry were unemployed, and first-generation students made up over 60%.

Food insecurity is a real issue that affects our student body. Through Dustys Food Pantry, we can assist students and help them succeed. Our university community truly demonstrates a spirit of service and empathy as Dustdevils help fellow Dustdevils, Student Emergency Services coordinator Mariana Rodriguez said.

According to a fall 2020 survey, 41% of individuals stated that the pantry was their main source of food. The university stated that currently enrolled students can submit an online form at the TAMIU website to schedule an appointment for the pantry.

The Dustys Food Pantry can be found at the Student Center and University Village. TAMIU states that supplies can be picked up Mondays through Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Gifts of support like that generously provided by Electric Transmission Texas help buoy our students and enable their continued educational journey here. Knowing that their pursuit is supported by friends of the university is a tremendous incentive to not only continue but to complete their degree plan, TAMIU president Dr. Pablo Arenaz said.

Christian Ocampo may be reached at cocampo@lmtonline.com
The United Arab Emirates on Monday granted emergency approval for use of a coronavirus vaccine, six weeks after human trials in the Gulf Arab state started

China and the United Arab Emirates have seen some positive results in their Phase III COVID-19 vaccine trials, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a news briefing in Beijing on Wednesday.

The United Arab Emirates on Monday granted emergency approval for use of a coronavirus vaccine, six weeks after human trials in the Gulf Arab state started.

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Drastic travel measures to control the coronavirus probably do work, a scientific review has concluded, but the evidence is still lacking.

Academics looked over the findings of 36 studies which assessed whether airport screening, closing borders and quarantining travellers have any real impact on reducing cases.

It found the most beneficial was shutting borders to other countries, which could reduce the incidence of new cases in a country by at least a quarter (26 per cent).

But it could be as high as 90 per cent, according to the results of Australia's move to block all travel from China in the early days of the pandemic.

Imported cases from overseas could be slashed by 70 to 80 per cent with cross-border bans, according to studies which simulated outbreaks.

But Britain's borders have remained open during the course of the pandemic. And health bosses still aren't routinely testing travellers from overseas, despite some airports taking it upon themselves to do basic temperature checks.

The Government's one attempt to minimise imported cases is an ever-changing quarantine list  currently including France, Spain and Portugal  which dictates that travellers returning from certain countries must self-isolate for two weeks.

However today's review, by the Cochrane Library group of international scientists, found there is a lack of evidence that quarantining people on their return from another country has any impact on coronavirus cases as a stand-alone measure.

It also showed the success of screening passengers at airports depends almost entirely on how rigorously it's carried out, with swab tests significantly more effective at spotting infected travellers than temperature checks, for example.

Health bosses still aren't routinely testing travellers from overseas, despite some airports taking it upon themselves to do basic temperature checks. Pictured: A passenger being screened at Heathrow Airport, July 10

Drastic travel measures to control the coronavirus probably do work, a scientific review has concluded, but the evidence is still lacking. Pictured: A thermal screening point in Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia, March 10

Jacob Burns, a research associate at Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany, led the Cochrane review.

Speaking in a virtual briefing today he said: 'I don't want to stretch too far here, but I think the evidence, even with its limitations, consistently showed some benefits of these early somewhat drastic measures that were taken by countries to reduce travel in the early stage of the pandemic.

'I think even though we have very low certainty, the evidence does point in the consistent direction that these measure were impactful and did provide some benefit.'

AIRPORT SCREENING COULD 'SLIGHTLY' SLOW COVID-19 SPREAD Screening people for coronavirus at airports and train stations could 'slightly' slow down the spread of the disease. A review of the existing evidence surrounding coronavirus in travellers suggests screening them at the border  asking them whether they have had symptoms  could slow down the spread of the virus. The review, by the Cochrane Library group of international scientists, looked at 22 past studies and found there was weak evidence in favour of screening. It could push back a local outbreak by eight days if there were 10 infected people arriving per day, researchers found, without any other measures in place. Systems would catch some infected people but would also miss others carrying the virus and wrongly diagnose some people, the scientists said. Looking at 12 specific papers they found that one-off screening procedures could catch between 0 and 60 per cent of people with the virus. And they would wrongly single out between 0 and 44 per cent of people who were actually healthy. Measuring someone's temperature and asking them about their travel history and social contact could be up to 23 per cent accurate at weeding out infected people, the study said. While temperature screening and assessment of symptoms was more accurate at between 12 and 69 per cent. Both carried a risk of about one in 10 people being wrongly thought to have Covid-19. The Cochrane experts said the evidence they found was of low quality, meaning the scientific papers it was published in were not particularly well done studies. Advertisement

Researchers wrote in the Cochrane Review  considered the gold standard for reviewing evidence  that although the certainty of the evidence for most travelrelated control measures is very low, it appeared they may mitigate the spread of disease across national borders.

The research team looked at a total of 31 studies, 25 of which looked specifically at Covid-19.

Most studies compared what happened when the travelrelated control measures were in place to a scenario in which they were not.

Four studies showed that when implemented at the beginning of the outbreak, travel bans may lead to a reduction in the number of new cases of between 26 to 90 per cent.

The 26 per cent figure comes from a study of border closures from the beginning of February through March in 12 North American and Western European countries.

And the 90 per cent figure comes from one evaluation of the complete ban on travel from China implemented by Australia at the beginning of February.

The study said a travel ban led to over 100 fewer cases imported from China to Australia.

On February 1, Australia banned the entry of foreign nationals from mainland China, and any citizens returning from China had to self-quarantine for 14 days.

Subsequently a ban on travellers from Iran, South Korea, and Italy was implemented as all three countries began seeing a surge in infections.

Australia closed its borders on March 20 for all non-residents, when it had recorded less than 1,000 cases. It followed nearby New Zealand the day before.

Data broadly suggests that countries which banned international travel at the start of the pandemic fared better in controlling their outbreaks than those that did not, including Norway and Denmark.

But scientists steered the UK Government away from shutting the UK's borders because they said it would have had 'surprisingly little value' in stopping Covid-19's spread, documents have previously revealed.

One of the scientific reports presented by the Government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), sent to ministers in May, said restricting air travel would have virtually no effect because the damage was already done.

The Cochrane review also pointed to a study which found a full ban on international travel from China led to a large reduction in the total number of deaths in Australia  eight deaths compared to 400 deaths without the travel ban.

Five studies found a border ban could reduce the number of imported cases between 70 and 81 per cent, while the risk of an outbreak was up to 37 per cent smaller.

In Britain travellers are currently required to self-isolate for two weeks if coming home from places where the coronavirus infection rate is high, such as France, Spain and Portugal

SAGE SAID SHUTTING BORDERS WAS POINTLESS BECAUSE THE 'DAMAGE WAS DONE' Scientists steered the Government away from shutting the UK's borders because it would have had 'surprisingly little value' in stopping Covid-19's spread, secret advice papers published on June 19 revealed. Two separate reports advised the Government not to shut its borders in April and May because the damage was already done in February and March. One of the studies was a 2006 paper modelling the effect of restricting incoming flights in the event of a highly-infectious flu pandemic. Researchers from the Health Protection Agency - which ceased operations in 2013 - found 'restrictions on air travel were likely to be of surprisingly little value in delaying epidemics, unless almost all travel ceases very soon after epidemics are detected'. SAGE then handed a separate paper to Government in early May reiterating that there was 'little scientific justification' for putting restrictions at the border. The scientists estimated that fewer than 0.5 per cent of new infections were being imported into the UK in April and May. It did this by reviewing Home Office data of incoming flights and predicting how many of these passengers were likely to be infectious based on bad epidemics in their home countries were. SAGE said that current swabbing techniques were too slow, and temperature checks were too unspecific to warrant being set up at airports and borders. However, the group said that restrictions may need to be put in place in the event global air travel returns to normal and other countries suffer second waves. It recommended a 14-day quarantine, which is now being implemented by the Home Office, despite huge backlash. However, the 14 days could be slashed by repeat testing, SAGE said in their 42nd meeting on June 18, the minutes of which were published on August 14. The group reviewed several papers that analysed how useful repeat testing was. It would require testing someone on their arrival to the airport and several days later. Results showed 'double testing travellers could enable quarantine duration of less than 14 days'. The best day to take a Covid-19 test was between five and eight days after exposure. That means if someone catches the virus on the last day of their holiday in Spain, it would likely show up on a test eight days after they come home. Therefore, if it is negative, they are free to leave quarantine. And, if travellers are tested twice a few days apart, it significantly rules out the possibility of an initial false negative result at the airport, SAGE said. Advertisement

All the evidence, however, is of 'low certainty'. It means the researchers cannot be firm with their conclusions due to a number of concerns, including that the studies data or methods may have been of low quality.

They said across the aspects measured, there is a lack of 'reallife' evidence which is urgently needed.

Mr Burns said: 'I think it's important to highlight we've seen little to inform us on what happening currently. So if, hypothetically, Germany were to close its borders today, what effect that would have on transmission is impossible to say.

'I don't think I can emphasis more that we need updated evidence that's reacting to where we currently are in the pandemic and looking forward to where we are going.'

The Cochrane review looked at 24 studies assessing the impact of screening travellers who exited evacuation flights or disease-ridden cruise ships at the start of the pandemic.

Screening approaches varied but typically involved a symptom checklist, followed by quarantine, and different procedures for observation and PCR testing over a period of at least 14 days.

The proportion of cases detected hugely varied, from 0 to 91 per cent, depending on the screening approach.

Unsurprisingly, using the 'gold standard' PCR test  the swab test used by all countries to officially diagnose cases  was best at detecting infected travellers.

Symptom based screening  when travellers are asked if they have suffered any of the tell-tale Covid-19 signs  was the least effective, probably because the majority of those infected either were asymptomatic or in the pre-symptom phase of the disease.

It follows another Cochrane Review of 22 studies, published yesterday, revealing screening people for coronavirus at airports and train stations could only 'slightly' slow down the spread of the disease, because methods are simply not sensitive enough for detecting infected people.

Officials at airports all over the world have been doing screening of various robustness throughout the pandemic. But it was never adopted in the UK.

Bosses at Heathrow have set up a facility capable of testing 13,000 people per day, but aren't yet using it.

Lastly the Cochrane review published today looked at four studies in relation to enforcing quarantine for travellers.

The paper said: 'There was insufficient evidence to draw firm conclusions about the effectiveness of travelrelated quarantine on its own.'

Evidence from just one modelling study, which Mr Burns and colleagues said was weak, simulated a scenario in which travellers arriving from China to South Korea quarantined for 14 days. It 'suggested a reduction in the number of cases seeded by imported cases'.

The more people complied, the larger reductions in imported cases, ranging from 277 to 19 cases.

Despite the void of research into the effectiveness of quarantining travelers, it is the one the UK Government has adopted in order to stem coronavirus cases while allowing Britons to travel more freely.

It bases its 'quarantine list' on whether a country has more than 20 cases per 100,000 people  a rate that the UK is currently breaching.

It comes as Transport Secretary Michael Matheson revealed today talks have been taking place with the aviation sector over a pilot scheme to test passengers arriving at Scottish airports for coronavirus.

He told MSPs ministers still believe the current quarantine system, with 14 days' self-isolation required for travellers entering Scotland from Covid-19 hotspots, is the 'most effective way' to prevent importing the virus.

Mr Matheson confirmed the industry  which has been pressing for testing as an alternative to the two-week quarantine period  has now submitted data to clinical advisers in the Scottish Government.

This is now being reviewed, he said, adding once this has happened more talks can take place.
Jenna Bush Hager can still remember the sinking feeling in 2004 when she saw her face on television giving a raspberry to members of the media during a stop on the reelection campaign of her father.

Luckily, the TODAY with Hoda & Jenna co-host had nothing to fear from George W. Bush after the photo made headlines.

Watch TODAY All Day! Get the best news, information and inspiration from TODAY, all day long.

Jenna shared her father's reaction to the infamous picture of her sticking her tongue out at reporters while she chatted with Andy Cohen on "Watch What Happens Live" on Tuesday.

Video: Jenna Bush Hager tells Andy Cohen when she knew life was different

"I was with my dad and my sister, and I was like, 'People don't even know what's going on in here, like watch this,''' Jenna said. "And Barbara and I constantly harassed (my father) and tried to make him laugh, and then I was down in the hotel gym doing the elliptical and I looked up on the TV and there was like my little face with a spotlight on it, and it was on the local news.

"I was like, 'Oh no, I better get back up to the hotel room and tell Dad that this thing went out.'"

Bush treated it like Jenna just being Jenna.

BUSH (Stephanie S. Cordle / AP)

"My dad was just like, 'Jen, this is so typical,''' she said. "He thought it was funny. I think he really wanted Barbara and I to have normal childhoods, and we did until he became president."

Jenna and her twin sister, Barbara, had been in the spotlight a few years earlier after incidents while both were in college. Jenna was cited for possession of alcohol as a minor and using a fake ID to purchase alcohol within a five-week span in 2001 as a University of Texas student during her father's first term, while Barbara was charged with possession of alcohol as a minor that same year while attending Yale University.

"There's no guidebook, but his whole thing was like, 'Y'all can be normal college kids. You go be you,' and then he realized pretty soon after that that we really couldn't be normal college kids," Jenna said. "His reactions were always filled with grace and love. He wasn't the type to shame us for acting silly."

Story continues

Jenna reflected on TODAY in March about what it was like enduring the glare of the public spotlight after the incidents in college.

"While we were growing up, I for one had parents that let us fail, let us fall and publicly,'' she said. "And I always say to them now, 'How brave of you,' because it didn't reflect great on them, either."

Bush surprisingly apologized to his daughter after she gave her own tearful apology to him.

"He apologized to me because what we wanted more than anything was to just be normal college kids,'' she said. "So he always would say, 'No, you can be normal.' He also wanted to give us what we wanted, some space and to grow, and also I think he wanted to give us the chance to make mistakes, not so publicly.

"He said, 'I'm sorry. I promised you you could be normal, and this isn't normal.'"

Jenna also spoke with Cohen about the first time she realized her childhood was not normal. She and her sister had just attended the 1989 inauguration ceremony for her grandfather, former president George H.W. Bush, in their first trip from their home in Dallas to Washington, D.C.

"My sister actually thought all grandfathers had inaugurations because our grandpa just was so kind and humble and didn't act like he was more important than anybody else," Jenna said. "So we got home and she was like, 'Angie, when is your grandfather's inauguration?' and she was so disappointed to find out it was really a one-person thing."
Lennar Executive Chairman Stuart Miller told CNBC Tuesday that he expects housing will be one of the main forces powering the U.S. economy, given the strength in the housing market.

"Housing, and especially affordable housing, is going to be a primary driver of the overall economy," he said in a "Mad Money" interview with Jim Cramer, one day after releasing an earnings report that showed the company beat estimates in its latest quarter report and raised guidance.

"We can bring a lot of new people to work and absorb a lot of unemployment, and that's what you're going to see happen over the next year or two with the housing market expansion."

Lennar, the second-largest homebuilder by market value, reported more than 15,500 in new home orders, up 16% from the same quarter a year ago, and upped its new orders forecast in the current quarter to 14,300 on the high end compared to an initial projection of as much as 12,500. The company is benefiting from a surge in home sales amid the coronavirus pandemic.

New single-family home sales in July surged 36% from the same month in 2019, and the median sales price was up 7% to $330,600. The output was driven by pent-up demand from the spring, which was limited by the economic lockdown, flight from the cities to the suburbs and the need for more home offices.

Housing data from the U.S. Census Bureau for the month of August is set to release Thursday morning. Housing starts is expected to climb 0.45% month-over-month in August, according to FactSet.

The growth in housing comes against the backdrop of a U.S. economy that is toiling through a recession and an unemployment rate above 8%. The Midwest, South and West have been the hottest regions in the housing market, while sales have slid in the Northeast.

"With the housing expansion, you see job opportunities open up," he said. "Now, it takes some time for people to go from unskilled to skilled [labor] within our industry, but we are not an industry that requires a tremendous amount of education."

Lennar reported revenue of $5.87 billion and profits of $666.4 billion, which translates to $2.12 per share. That topped FactSet estimates of $5.35 billion and $1.55 EPS, respectively, in the fiscal 2020 third-quarter. The stock sold off almost 4% on Tuesday, however, as the company projected the average sales price to slip year over year to $390,000.

"It's the best of the best times. This is a robust housing market," Miller said. "Covid brought us in to a downturn [and] Covid has ignited an expansion and a recalibration for the industry. The market is strong and we just had a terrific quarter."

Lennar reported a backlog of 19,697 homes as of Aug. 31.

While analysts would have liked to see a stronger backlog, "we didn't want to get out over our skis," Miller said.
An accusation against the Madhya Pradesh police leveled by the Chhattisgarh government has stoked inter-state tensions between the two central Indian states. The Chhattisgarh government has accused the MP police of killing a tribal man of their state and attempting to eliminate his associate in a fake encounter recently.

Md Akbar, the Forest minister of Chhattisgarh, has written twice to Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan seeking a probe into the death of Jham Singh Dhurve, a native of Balsamundra village of Kabirdham district in Chhattisgarh, who had ventured into MPs Kanha Tiger Reserve area with his friend Nemsingh Dhurve for fishing on last Sunday.

The MP police had later claimed that Singh was killed in crossfire during an anti-combing operation in Balaghat. His aide Nem Singh had returned home the next morning with the information that Jham Singh had fallen prey to the security personnels bullets.

A combing operation was underway inside the Kanha reserve core area on the basis of inputs about Maoists presence and an exchange of fire took place and the man was found (dead) there, Balaghat range IG KP Venkateshwar Rao told the media, adding a case was registered and a magisterial probe was on.

Locals of Dhurves village next day went to the spot but could not find his body and later approached Jhalmala village in Chhattisgarh where they were informed that Balaghat police were probing the case.

However, in his letter dated September 14, Akbar referred to his earlier letter written on September 12 and requested a high level probe into the matter and to keep the Chhattisgarh government posted.

Its a murder of a tribal man from Chhattisgarh by the MP police and attempt to murder of another one which is a serious issue, said the minister in the letter, ruing he was yet to receive anything on the action taken in the matter.

Akbar also accused the MP police of unprovoked firing on the two men, quoting primary findings of Jhalmala police in Chhattisgarh.

Meanwhile, the tribal community has since been outraged and anguished with the lack of action.

Akbar also forwarded the complaint to Chhattisgarh governor Anusuiya Uike with all the evidence on Tuesday, seeking her intervention into the matter.

Two Kawardha tribals had gone to MP for fishing and police gunned down one of them and another one narrowly escaped bullets, said CG Congress spokesperson Sushil Anand Shukla, adding that no action has been by the MP government, which has rather called them maoists.

Chhattisgarh BJP president Vishnudev Saay told News18 that if the men who were shot at were not maoists then those who fired bullets should be punished. Though he fended off further comments saying he would first seek details of the matter.
B oris Johnson has been warned that the US will not support any free trade pact with the UK if it fails to uphold its commitments to Northern Ireland as part of Brexit.

The UK Internal Market Bill cleared its first Commons hurdle on Monday despite deep misgivings by some senior Tories. Amendments to the Northern Ireland provisions are expected to emerge in the Commons next week.

Four US congressmen, led by chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Eliot Engel, have written to Prime Minister Mr Johnson urging the Government to respect its open border and peace process with Northern Ireland.

They wrote: "Many in the United States and in Congress consider the issues of the Good Friday Agreement and a potential US-UK Free Trade Agreement inextricably linked.

"With the issues raised in this letter in mind, we therefore urge you to abandon any and all legally questionable and unfair efforts to flout the Northern Ireland protocol of the Withdrawal Agreement and look to ensure that Brexit negotiations do not undermine the decades of progress to bring peace to Northern Ireland and future options for the bilateral relationship between our two countries."

The letter, which was also signed by Mr Engel's fellow Democrats Richard Neal and William Keating as well as Republican Peter King, comes less than a week after Nancy Pelosi said there would be "absolutely no chance" of a US-UK trade deal if Mr Johnson overrides the Brexit deal with Brussels.

The Speaker of the US House of Representatives said the American Congress would never pass an economic agreement that it felt could "imperil" the Northern Ireland peace accord.

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Ministers have admitted the proposed Internal Market Bill will breach international law. However, they argue the new proposed legislation is necessary to protect the Northern Ireland peace process if London and Brussels are unable to agree a free trade deal before the current Brexit transition period runs out at the end of the year.
Twelve Hong Kong Detainees 'Not Oppressed' in Chinese Detention Center: Carrie Lam

2020-09-15 -- Twelve Hongkongers who fled the city amid an ongoing crackdown on participants in last year's protest movement weren't "democracy activists being oppressed," the city's leader Carrie Lam told journalists on Tuesday.

While Lam said her government would provide the detainees and their families with the "needed and feasible" assistance, she said their treatment by the mainland authorities was entirely appropriate.

"Twelve Hong Kong residents were suspected of illegally entering mainland China ... and so they were detained by mainland Chinese law enforcement," Lam told a regular news briefing. "It is obvious that this case falls within mainland China's jurisdiction."

She added, in comments reported by Reuters: "The reason for them leaving Hong Kong seems to be that they were running away from legal responsibility."

"I want to set the record straight, because certain local and overseas individuals tried to shift the attention, describing them as democracy activists being oppressed," she said.

While the Hong Kong authorities have called on other jurisdictions not to "harbor" people wanted on criminal charges in Hong Kong, they have repeatedly said they won't "interfere" in the cases of the 12 Shenzhen detainees."

All 12 are suspected of committing crimes in Hong Kong, according to the city's security bureau, with 10 of them wanted for manufacturing or possessing explosives, arson, rioting, assaulting police officers, or possession of offensive weapons.

Hong Kong arrests, prosecutions

Authorities in the city are bringing hundreds of protest-related prosecutions dating from the anti-extradition and pro-democracy protests that began in June 2019 on a range of charges including unlawful assembly, assault, arson, and rioting.

Thousands of people have been arrested since the movement began. A U.S. State Department report warned in March that the prosecutions of activists had infringed on the rights of Hongkongers to peaceful assembly and protest.

The 12 Hongkongers are aged 16 to 33, and are being held on suspicion of "illegal immigration" at the Yantian Detention Center in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, which borders Hong Kong.

They were intercepted by the China Coast Guard after they tried to escape by speedboat to the democratic island of Taiwan last month.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying, who referred to the 12 on Twitter as "elements attempting to separate Hong Kong from China," said on Tuesday that only one is suspected of "colluding with foreign powers" under a draconian national security law imposed by the ruling Chinese Communist Party on Hong Kong from July 1.

The family members of six of the detainees held a press conference on Saturday, calling on the Hong Kong authorities to bring them back to the city as soon as possible.

Growing concerns

Concerns are growing over the lack of access to lawyers hired by their families and to adequate medical care.

Pro-democracy lawmaker James To accused Lam's administration of operating a "double standard" when it came to Hong Kong detainees overseas.

"If the Hong Kong government believes that these 12 people have broken Hong Kong laws, shouldn't they be requesting that mainland China return them?" To said.

"[They] have already said that the five Hongkongers held in Taiwan [for illegal immigration] should be returned."

He called on the Hong Kong authorities to do more to support the 12 detainees.

"The family members would like the Hong Kong government to show more concern, and to protect their rights and interests," To said.

Reported by Gigi Lee for RFA's Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

Copyright  1998-2020, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content September not be used in a manner which would give the appearance of any endorsement of any product or support of any issue or political position. Please read the full text of our Terms of Use.

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Cutting down on greenhouse gases is a huge environmental goal, but if the world wants to get to net zero emissions by 2050, it will cost a staggering $1 trillion to $2 trillion a year. (But scientists warn letting the climate crisis go unchecked could be even more expensive.)

Here's what you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On with Your Day.

(You can also get '5 Things You Need to Know Today' delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up here.)

1. Coronavirus

We're all waiting for a coronavirus vaccine, but Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says even if a vaccine were released now, it would take six to nine months for enough people to receive it to create immunity. In the meantime, Redfield says masks may work even better than a vaccine. For when a vaccine does arrive, rich nations including the United States, Britain and Japan have already bought up more than half the expected supply. That's about 51% of available vaccines for about 13% of the world's population. Meanwhile, some local leaders are enacting unusual punishments for people who don't abide by health policies. In parts of rural Indonesia, those caught without masks must dig graves for Covid-19 victims. The governor of one Philippine province is asking people to report loud karaoke singers who disrupt people's sleep during curfew hours.

2. Hurricane Sally

Hurricane Sally thrashed Alabama and Florida as a Category 2 hurricane, swallowing up homes, downing power lines and turning streets into rivers. At least one person is dead, one is missing, and more than 500,000 customers are without power in the aftermath. Three to four months' worth of rain could fall in the region before the storm clears out today. Sally, now a tropical depression, is the fourth hurricane to make landfall in the US this year -- the most to hit by the same date in 16 years. And scientists say the climate crisis is making storms like Sally worse. Warmer waters can make storms intensify more rapidly. Climate factors also can make storms slower and, thus, more destructive as winds stick around longer and more rain gets dumped in the same place.

Check your local forecast here>>>

3. Census

The Trump administration is trying to get a federal judge to help shield thousands of internal documents about the 2020 census from the public. Many of these records detail the controversial move to cut off the census at the end of September, rather than the end of October as originally planned. The documents are in play because groups are suing the government to extend counting to through October, claiming the Trump administration is trying to create future GOP voting advantages by manipulating census methods. But for the administration to respond to the claims, the documents -- more than 8,800 of them -- must be released. So, the Justice Department actually wants the judge to rule against the administration to prevent that from happening. Remember that last year, revelations from documents cast doubt on the administration's rationale for adding a question about citizenship to the census. That question was eventually forbidden by the Supreme Court.

4. William Barr

Attorney General William Barr is facing criticism for comparing calls for a nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus to slavery. 'Putting a national lockdown, stay-at-home orders, is like house arrest,' he said during an event at Hillsdale College. 'Other than slavery, which was a different kind of restraint, this is the greatest intrusion on civil liberties in American history.' Barr also launched into a tirade against the hundreds of Justice Department prosecutors working beneath him, equating them to preschoolers and essentially saying the opinions of politically appointed Justice Department leaders are more important than those of career attorneys who have served through multiple presidencies. Barr also recently suggested charging violent protesters with the rarely used accusation of sedition -- conspiracy to overthrow the US government.

5. Venezuela

A new United Nations-backed report accuses the Venezuelan government of committing widespread crimes against humanity over several years. A fact-finding mission commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council investigated 223 cases of alleged extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions and torture, and reviewed an additional 2,891 to corroborate patterns of violations and crimes. The mission found evidence that Venezuelan authorities and security forces committed 'serious human rights violations' dating back to 2014, including 'arbitrary killings and the systematic use of torture.' The UN report calls for the Special Action Forces, one of the government's police groups, to be dismantled and for those responsible for its actions to be held accountable.

BREAKFAST BROWSE

Here's who won at last night's Academy of Country Music Awards

Not to spoil anything, but there was a BIG surprise.

People are flocking to ugly produce right now

Cheaper, and just as healthy. It's what's on the inside that counts!

Bus passenger uses a live snake as a face mask

You can bet people were probably social distancing themselves all the way onto another bus.

The Big Ten has reversed course and will play college football after all

Keeping up with who's playing and who's not is a sport unto itself.

Jim Carrey will play Joe Biden on 'SNL'

Seems promising, but we're gonna have to see the white wig first.

TODAY'S NUMBER

60%

That's the proportion of businesses that closed during the pandemic that will likely not reopen, according to new data from Yelp. That translates to about 163,700 businesses on Yelp that have closed since March 1. Of those, operators of about 98,000 say they've shut their doors for good.

TODAY'S QUOTE

'Everyone deserves to see themselves in government, to follow their dreams, and to be accepted by their community.'

Transgender activist Sarah McBride, who won her party's nomination in Delaware for a state Senate seat, putting her on the path to become the first out transgender person in the US to serve in a state Senate post.

AND FINALLY

Who needs a vacation when you can travel virtually?

All of us. We all still need a vacation. But maybe a few minutes touring these gorgeous and unusual places will help. (Click here to view.)


Sanjay Dutt who flew to Dubai yesterday to meet his children before he begins the second round of his treatment for Cancer is known to be a fighter. He has faced several hurdles in life, but has always come out victorious. The actor is known for his macho persona and carefree attitude. He s also adored for having a large heart. Sanjay Dutt will be seen in Shamshera next, but before that he is undergoing treatment for lung cancer. However, even though life keeps throwing problems at him, he knows how to tackle it all well.







Sanjay is also a lover of luxury and owns a fleet of cars that could give competition to the biggest celebrity garages. Mr. Dutt owns a Ferrari 599 GTB Coupe. The GTB stands for Gran Turismo Berlinetta and it can go from 0100 km/hour in under 3.3 seconds. The price of the car is Rs 3.37 crores. This is surely amazing!




By Joshua Schneyer

FLAGSTAFF, Arizona (Reuters) - Near the end, Howard Smith spent every moment he could with his wife of 50 years as she lay dying from complications of Alzheimer's disease in an upstate New York nursing home.

For 12 days last month, Howard and the couple's daughter, Laurel Smith, kept vigil at Lois Kittson's bedside at the New Paltz Center in the Hudson River Valley, sometimes spending fitful nights slouched on a chair in her room.

During the first of these visits, Lois, 78, was cognizant, opening her eyes, acknowledging their presence, even smiling though she could no longer speak. When Lois' organs began failing and she could no longer swallow, Howard wet her tongue with cool water every so often to keep her comfortable. A renowned artist, he painted watercolors by her bedside.

There was music, too, meant to soothe Lois through her final days. The visitors often played two CDs: flute sonatas by Bach, which they thought might evoke memories of Laurel's own beautiful playing back in her youth; and violin pieces by Beethoven, including "Spring Sonata," one of Lois' favorites.

Howard was there, holding Lois' hand, when her breathing speeded up on the morning of August 28 and when, hours later, it stopped.

He commended the facility's staff for providing his wife with stellar care but said that being unable to visit her had been wrenching.

"For months we hadn't been able to see Lois except through a digital screen, which really meant very little to her," Howard said. "So these final visits, while sad, were quite beautiful."

Reuters first wrote about Howard and Lois in April. Their story showed how the pandemic, and resulting nursing home lockdowns, had broken their years-long routine of near-daily visits together, a ritual that was central to the couple's lives. Lois had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's a decade ago and spent the last five years at the nursing home with advancing disability and dementia. (See the original Reuters Special Report on Howard and Lois https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/health-coronavirus-marriage/)

Story continues

Between March 11 and last month, Howard had rarely been allowed to see his wife in person, including a brief outdoor visit in June.

More than six months into a pandemic that has claimed more than 190,000 American lives, much of the country has now reopened for business. Precautions such as social distancing and mask-wearing remain, but for most Americans, strict lockdowns are over.

At many nursing homes, however, lockdowns remain in force. The final days that Lois, Howard and Laurel spent together highlight how, in facilities that have been the site of more than 40% of the country's COVID-19 deaths, routines are still anything but normal. In many cases, loved ones are still kept out unless a resident is near death.

Visitation bans are meant to protect vulnerable residents against the virus. In New York alone, there have been more than 6,000 COVID-19 deaths at the state's care homes. Health data shows a decline in virus cases at the facilities in recent months.

To be with Lois during her final days, Howard and Laurel Smith were required to make use of one of the only in-person visitation options currently available at Lois' nursing home, the so-called "end of life" provision.

Reopening nursing homes to regular family visits is proving a slow and complicated process nationwide. "It's not just 'open the door and let 'em back in,'" said Dee Pekruhn, a policy director at LeadingAge, a group that represents nonprofit senior service providers. "Closing down was the easy part, and opening up is the hard part."

On August 17, Howard got a call from Lois' nursing home informing him that she had entered the end-of-life phase. This meant family members were allowed to visit and say goodbye.

Howard rushed to her bedside the same day. Laurel, who works in the tech sector and lives in Manhattan, arrived soon after.

"We know she died peacefully, and I don't think my dad would ever have recovered had he not been able to get in there," Laurel said.

Six days a week for the past five years, Howard visited Lois to keep her alive. For 12 days last month, he visited Lois to help her die.

(Reporting by Joshua Schneyer; editing by Kari Howard)
Marie D. De Jesus, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

Houston ISD officials are investigating reports of inappropriate communications sent to students through Microsoft Teams, one of the districts primary tools for hosting online classes during the coronavirus pandemic.

HISD administrators did not disclose the nature of the communications or the number of reports received.
The Brandon Police Service seized over 3 million unmarked cigarettes in a joint investigation with the Ontario and Manitoba government last week  one of the largest busts in Manitoba history.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 16/9/2020 (492 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Advertisement Advertise With Us

The Brandon Police Service seized over 3 million unmarked cigarettes in a joint investigation with the Ontario and Manitoba government last week  one of the largest busts in Manitoba history.

Police arrested four Brandon men on Sept. 9 in relation to the bust and charged them with possessing unmarked tobacco and possessing more than 25 units of unmarked tobacco.

Brandon police inspector of service Mike Pelechaty said the four men were smuggling illegal tobacco into Manitoba from Six Nations First Nation, near Hamilton, Ont.

Officers pulled over a vehicle towing a large trailer on Sept 9, he saic. Police executed a search warrant and found 173 cases of unmarked cigarettes in the trailer.

A second search the next day found 183 cases of unmarked cigarettes in a storage locker.

Approximately 3,570,400 cigarettes were seized, Pelechaty said, along with a vehicle and transport trailer. The men who were charged are between 46 and 60-year-old.

The seizure saved the province over $1 million in tax revenue, said Rob Bell, supervisor of the Manitoba Finance taxation special investigations unit.

See Thursdays newspaper for more details.

 The Brandon Sun
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump parachuted into the coronavirus aid debate Wednesday, upbraiding his Republican allies for proposing too small of a relief package and encouraging both parties in Congress to go for a bigger one that would include his priority of $1,200 stimulus checks for most Americans.

But his top GOP allies in the House and Senate shrugged off the presidents mid-morning tweet for more aid. They also weighed in against a $1.5 trillion aid package backed by moderates in both parties that earned praise from the White House.

Trump, by evening, dug in.

I like the larger amount, Trump said during a press conference at the White House. Some of the Republicans disagree, but I think I can convince them to go along with that.

The president said he wants Americans to be given relief checks and thinks hes getting closer to a deal.

Negotiations remain far apart. All the key players in the entrenched impasse over a COVID-19 rescue package instead focused their energies on finger-pointing and gamesmanship, even as political nervousness was on the rise among Democrats frustrated by a stalemate in which their party shares the blame. There remained no sign that talks between the White House and congressional Democrats would restart.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., says any deal will have to include far more than just another set of Trump checks and a handful of other priorities.

All they want is to have the Presidents name on a check going out. . Thats all he really cares about, Pelosi said. We have to do more than just have the Republicans check a box.

At issue is a potential fifth coronavirus relief package that would extend supplemental jobless benefits to replace a $600-per-week COVID unemployment benefit that expired at the end of July. It would also funnel more than $100 billion to help schools open, provide assistance to state and local governments, and funnel more money into a program that directly subsidizes business hit hardest by the pandemic.

The bipartisan spirit that birthed a $2 trillion aid package in March has evaporated. Many Republicans cite deficits and debt and are simply wary of another Pelosi-brokered deal. As the talks progressed, Senate Republicans made their proposal smaller, moving further away from Democrats.

The smaller bill from Senate Republicans that Trump criticized did not include $300 billion for a second round of Trump-endorsed stimulus checks, which the White House said is a top priority. Senate Republicans worked for weeks with the White House to construct the very aid package Trump criticized.

Go for the much higher numbers, Republicans, Trump tweeted Wednesday morning.

What the president was referring to was the $500 billion bill that passed the Senate, said White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany. It didnt include direct payments. He wants more than the $500 billion and hes very keen to see these direct stimulus payments.

Pelosi, for her part, is fending off a rebellion among some Democrats who fear that her hardball strategy is partly responsible for the deadlock and makes for bad politics. Some of her more moderate colleagues from Trump-friendly congressional districts have signed on to a new bill by the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus that totals $1.5 trillion, a measure that won praise Wednesday from White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.

I thought it was very thoughtful and actually is in a way very meaningful if youre looking at Republicans and Democrats coming together in a bipartisan way, Meadows told reporters. Meadows, however, spent much of August negotiating with Senate Republicans to produce the much smaller $650 billion measure. And it was clear the $1.5 trillion total is a non-starter with most Republicans.

Wed have to see whats in it, but I think its difficult, said House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, D-Calif.

Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., said Wednesday that worries among Democrats are not limited to frontline lawmakers in Trump-won districts like hers. The concern about being able to actually move forward with a relief package has been top of mind for just about every member of Congress that Ive spoken to, she said.

Pelosi says shes willing to negotiate from a $2.2 trillion marker set last month, but Senate GOP leaders havent budged from a $650 billion measure that Democrats scuttled last week via filibuster. An earlier $1 trillion Senate GOP plan never gained momentum.

The No. 2 Senate Republican, John Thune of South Dakota, asked about Trumps higher numbers tweet, told reporters that a good number of Senate Republicans might support a $1 trillion measure. But as you go upwards from there, you start to start losing Republican support pretty quickly, he said.
WILMINGTON, Del. - Delaware Sen. Christopher Coons fended off a left-wing challenge on Tuesday, defeating activist Jessica Scarane to win the Democratic nomination for a second full term.

Coons, elected in 2010 to the seat once held by former vice president Joe Biden, has cut a moderate profile in Washington - one that Scarane, a digital strategist and member of Democratic Socialists of America, ran hard against. She endorsed Medicare-for-all and a Green New Deal, suggesting that a suburb-heavy state that has trended toward Democrats could have more liberal representation in Washington.

That message hit a wall with Delaware's Democrats, and Coons outspent Scarane, while securing the endorsement of the elected members of his party as well as a strong endorsement from Biden. Coons also said he wouldn't side with Republicans who would block a potential Biden agenda if Democrats won control of the Senate in November.

"If Minority Leader [Mitch] McConnell - doesn't that sound good? - uses the filibuster to block progress ... then I'm not going to stand by and watch," Coons said in an interview this past weekend.

Republicans were set to pick a challenger to Coons, with the state party endorsing attorney Jim DeMartino over Trump campaign activist Lauren Witzke, who has tweeted about her belief in the QAnon conspiracy theory. Entering the day, Witzke had raised nearly $170,000 to DeMartino's nearly $47,000, but he took an early lead in the vote count.

The Delaware contest marked the end of six months of partisan primaries.

Coons, who has derided President Donald Trump and also challenged the Democratic Party's far left, aired TV spots and distributed mail that emphasized his support from Biden.

It was Coons, who received a master's degree in ethics from Yale Divinity School, who spoke of Biden's faith at the Democratic convention nominating the party's presidential standard-bearer last month, saying, "I've known Joe about 30 years, and I've seen his faith in action."

Scarane did not attract the endorsements or fundraising numbers of the year's major left-wing campaigns, like New York congressional candidate Jamaal Bowman, who won his Democratic primary race. But her campaign said Monday that it had made more than 900,000 voter contact attempts, reaching most of Delaware's Democratic voters. It returned to in-person canvassing last month, while Coons's campaign did not.

The senator outspent Scarane on ads.

"I have an election, and I'm delivering the resources needed to win the election," said Coons. "I don't think that says I'm on the run. It says that I'm standing for reelection."

The senator did not debate Scarane, but the race finished the story of the left's primary campaigning this year, which unseated three House Democrats and won a string of victories down the ballot. Delaware Democrats control every statewide office and a majority in the legislature, and Gov. John Carney easily beat only a nominal primary challenge.

Republicans, who have not won a statewide race in Delaware since 2014, faced serious disadvantages this year. Their best-known candidate for governor, state Sen. Colin Bonini, ran and lost to Carney by 19 points four years ago; Carney, whose response to the coronavirus pandemic has been popular, was in a stronger position this time. Bonini had five primary opponents, including lawyer Julianne Murray, who was endorsed by the state Republican Party.

The GOP was also picking its challenger to Coons, who was first elected when conservative activist Christine O'Donnell unexpectedly won the party's primary then flamed out in the general election after having to insist to voters that she didn't practice witchcraft. Delaware Republicans endorsed DeMartino but he was heavily outspent by Witzke, a pro-Trump activist who has tweeted the slogan ("WWG1WGA") of the QAnon conspiracy movement.

QAnon conspiracy theorists believe that Trump is battling a cabal of "deep state" saboteurs who worship Satan and traffic children for sex. The FBI has identified the movement as a potential domestic terrorist threat.

Lee Murphy, an actor and perennial candidate, won the GOP nomination and will face Democratic Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester.

Louisiana will hold all-party primaries on Election Day on Nov. 3, and Georgia will hold an all-party primary for the seat held by Sen. Kelly Loeffler, a Republican.
A SENIOR Polish politician has claimed that Ireland is a "Catholic wilderness with rampant LGBT ideology".

The remarks were made by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of the ruling Law and Justice party.

Poland's Government has been heavily criticised for its approach to LGBT rights including in the European Parliament this week there were calls for it to lose EU funding over the issue.

Read More

Right wing politicians in Poland have claimed that increasing rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people is a dangerous "ideology" that poses a risk to the country's Catholic tradition. Some Polish towns have claimed to be 'LGBT free' and there are concerns over growing numbers of crimes againts the community.

In contrast, LGBT rights have improved in Ireland, particulary after the introduction of marriage equality following the 2015 referendum.

Mr Kaczynski made his remarks about Ireland in an interview with weekly magazine Sieci and they were reported by the Notes from Poland website.

He warned of the the threat he claimed is posed by what he describes as "LGBT ideology" to Polish culture and religion.

Those who do not fight  and there are many examples in Europe  have lost, Mr Kaczynski said.

He claimed Ireland was an example of this and is now a Catholic wilderness with rampant LGBT ideology.

He added: I will not let us be defeated bythis threat to the very foundations of our civilisation.

This trend needs to be fought  albeit wisely, he said.

Poland's Government was criticised in the European Parliament this week for stigmatising the LGBT community as well as its record on the rule of law.

It debated a new report on fundamental rights in Poland prepared by Spanish MEP Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar.

He argued that Poland is moving away from European values and said it's "extremely concerning".

Dutch MEP Sophia in t Veld said: We see Poland crossing red line after red line.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has effectively banned Scott Morrison from entering the state under her strict coronavirus border closures.

The prime minister is allowed in for work purposes but would have to quarantine for 14 days like other politicians, health officials have confirmed.

Mr Morrison, who last visited Queensland in July to announce funding for the film industry, has no plans to head north until the borders are relaxed.

It means he will be unable to campaign locally for the Liberal-National party in the run-up to the state election on 31 October.

Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk (centre) has effectively banned Scott Morrison (left) from entering the state under her strict coronavirus border closures

Even WA Premier Mark McGowan, who has the toughest border closures in the country, has said he would let Mr Morrison visit without having to quarantine.

'I'd be more than happy to show him around,' the premier said earlier this month.

But Queensland has said no exception will be made for the country's leader.

A Queensland Health spokesman told news.com.au: '[Elected representatives] can enter Queensland from a declared COVID-19 hotspot, such as the ACT, to return to their electorate or to perform official duties.

'They must enter via air and will be required to quarantine for 14 days from the date of arrival as per global quarantine requirements.'

Queensland's borders are closed to Canberra residents even though the city has not had a coronavirus case for 68 days.

Chief Health Officer Jeanette Young, who admitted she was extremely 'risk averse', has designated Canberra a hotspot because it is 'in the middle of NSW'.

On Wednesday South Australia opened its borders to Canberra, allowing residents and tourists to enter by air without quarantine.

Queensland's borders are closed to Canberra residents even though the city has not had a coronavirus case for 68 days. Pictured: Coolangatta on the NSW-QLD border

Mr Morrison has been urging Queensland to relax its border controls with the ACT and NSW, where case numbers are low.

Last week he asked Ms Palaszczuk to let a 26-year-old nurse attend her father's funeral but the premier refused and accused him of 'bullying and intimidating' her.

Sarah Caisip, who lives in coronavirus-free Canberra, applied for an exemption last month to visit her sick father Bernard Prendergast in Brisbane - but it took 20 days to get approved and he died of liver cancer two days before her flight.

The young woman was banned from attending her father's funeral on Thursday and was instead only granted a private viewing of his body.
Boston Properties, BentallGreenOak, Brookfield Properties, DLC Europe, Hudson Pacific Properties, Kilroy Realty Corporation, Nuveen Real Estate, and The Tower Companies are latest to commit to Fitwel certification of evidence-based viral mitigation policies.

NEW YORK, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Fitwel, the healthy building certification system operated by The Center for Active Design (CfAD), today announced the formal launch of its Viral Response module, with additional commitments for adoption from leading companies, including BentallGreenOak, Boston Properties, Brookfield Properties, DLC Europe, Hudson Pacific Properties, Kilroy Realty Corporation, Nuveen Real Estate, and The Tower Companies.

Today's formal launch of the module, which provides annual, third-party certification of policies and practices informed by the latest public health research on mitigating the spread of contagious diseases, reflects the quick progress Fitwel and its industry and academic advisors have made to prepare the module for widespread implementation. The module's comprehensive guidance and turnkey policies were designed to be efficiently implemented across commercial and residential portfolios or individual assets, helping companies to build trust with tenants and employees.

Unlike other products, Fitwel's Viral Response module requires that companies follow a set of baseline strategies - actions that are necessary to mitigate the spread of infectious respiratory diseases such as COVID-19. These minimum requirements cover indoor environments, behavioral change, and building occupant trust, and get as granular as specifying the chemicals that are needed in cleaning products. Fitwel and its advisors intend to update the module annually in accordance with the evolving science.

Joanna Frank, President and CEO of CfAD, said, "Fitwel was initially created to optimize built environments for chronic disease prevention. Companies can chart their own course within Fitwel Certification to address these long-term issues without minimum requirements. However, infectious disease mitigation is quite different, and the science shows there are baseline requirements that companies absolutely must follow to effectively reduce infectious respiratory disease transmission in buildings. The Viral Response module was developed to set the industry standard in response to COVID-19, and it represents an evolution of Fitwel's efforts to promote health and wellness in the built environment."

Fitwel's two-step certification process enables companies the flexibility to establish and implement viral response policies at scale. Users establish policies to cover any portfolio, selection of assets or individual tenant spaces that have consistent operational practices, then submit to have these policies certified by CfAD in a six-week, double-blind review process. Once Viral Response certification is achieved, companies can demonstrate application within specific assets. This step verifies that the strategies have been put into practice, and CfAD recognizes this achievement with a plaque that companies can use to convey to occupants that their spaces are optimized for viral mitigation.

"The built environment plays a crucial role in the health, wellness, and productivity of the people who live and work within the communities that we manage on behalf of our clients. BentallGreenOak's role as industry advisor and early adopter of the Center for Active Design's Fitwel Viral Response module provides us with an industry leading response to COVID-19 to better serve our tenants and community stakeholders, while equipping our property management teams with clear and informed guidance for implementation across our managed portfolio," said Anna Murray, Managing Director, Global Head of ESG, BentallGreenOak.

BentallGreenOak, Harrison Street, QuadReal Property Group, Tishman Speyer, Triovest Realty Advisors, and Vornado Realty Trust are among the companies that served as the industry advisors that prototyped the module. A group of highly respected public health experts from leading institutions such as Columbia University Irving Medical Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Queensland University of Technology served on the module's academic advisory board and advised on its strategies.

About Fitwel and the Center for Active Design

Fitwel is the world's leading certification system committed to building health for all. Generated by expert analysis of 5,600+ academic research studies, Fitwel is implementing a vision for a healthier future where all buildings and communities are enhanced to strengthen health and well-being. Fitwel was originally created by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention and U.S. General Services Administration. The CDC remains the research and evaluation partner for Fitwel. The Center for Active Design, a global not-for-profit organization, was selected as the licensed operator of Fitwel, charged with expanding Fitwel to the global market. To learn more about Fitwel, please visit: www.fitwel.org .

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1080221/CAD_Logo_Blue_Logo.jpg
By Hyonhee Shin and Sangmi Cha

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean President Moon Jae-in has told Japans new prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, that he was willing to sit down anytime in a bid to improve ties strained by historical and economic disputes, Moon's office said on Wednesday.

Disputes dating from the neighbouring nation's colonial occupation of Korea from 1910 to 1945 deepened over a 2018 order by South Koreas Supreme Court for a Japanese steelmaker to pay compensation for forced labour during World War Two.

In a move widely seen as retaliation for the ruling, Japan last year said it would stop preferential treatment for shipments to South Korea of some key high-tech materials whose production it dominates and which are used by firms such as Samsung Electronics Co.

In a letter to Suga, Moon said Japan shared fundamental values and strategic interests with South Korea, and was its closest friend geographically and culturally, said Kang Min-seok, a spokesman of the presidential Blue House.

"Our government plans to cooperate actively with the Suga administration to wisely overcome issues of past history and reinforce practical cooperation," Kang told a briefing.

These included economic concerns and people-to-people exchanges, he added.

Kang said Moon also sent a letter to Suga's predecessor, Shinzo Abe, wishing him a rapid recovery following his resignation because of ill-health.

(Reporting by Hyonhee Shin and Sangmi Cha; Writing by Josh Smith; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
As northwestern Syria experiences a spike in cases of coronavirus, the Salvation Government has announced the closure of a number of venues writes Alsouria Net.

The Salvation Government, operating in northwestern Syria, announced new measures in response to the high rate of coronavirus cases in northern Syria.

The Council of Ministers of the Salvation Government issued a circular, a copy of which Alsouria Net obtained on Tuesday, in which the council called on all ministries, agencies, and bodies affiliated with it to adhere to a number of measures.

Among the measures are closing all wedding venues and playground areas, closing public swimming pools and private educational institutes as well as stadiums, gyms, and other gathering spots.

The Salvation Government recommended that the concerned authorities close restaurants and limit their service to takeout only.

In its circular, the Salvation Government allowed a 48-hour period to close the aforementioned facilities, starting Sept. 14, 2020, provided that the closure extends over a period of one week, subject to extension based on the spread of the novel virus.

Northern Syria, which is under the control of the opposition factions, has been witnessing an acceleration in new cases. The Epidemiological Surveillance Laboratory announced, on Monday, 80 new cases, 51 of which are in Aleppo Governorate and 29 in Idleb.

The number of coronavirus cases in northern Syria has increased to 345, of which 103 cases recovered, amid fears that the pandemic will spread further.

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.
Covid-19 vaccine

New Delhi: Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) Dr V G Somani gave permission to Serum Institute of India to resume clinical trial of the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine candidate in the country while revoking its earlier order of suspending any new recruitment for phase two and three trial.

The DCGI, however, put certain conditions like taking extra care during screening, providing additional information in informed consent and close monitoring for adverse events during follow-up of the study which have to be followed by Serum Institute of India (SII).

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Covid-19 vaccineSII has also been asked to submit to the DCGI's office details of medication used in accordance with the protocol for management of adverse events.

The DCGI had on September 11 directed Serum Institute of India to suspend any new recruitment in the phase two and three clinical trial of the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine candidate till further orders in the backdrop of pharma giant AstraZeneca pausing the clinical trials in other countries because of an unexplained illness in a participant in the study.

On Saturday, British-Swedish biopharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford said clinical trials for their coronavirus vaccine have resumed in the UK after the Medicines Health Regulatory Authority's (MHRA) confirmed that the trials were safe.

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Covid-19 vaccine

SII, which has partnered with AstraZeneca for manufacturing the vaccine candidate for Covid-19, on Tuesday submitted the recommendations of the Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB), UK and DSMB, India, and requested for permission to restart enrolment in the clinical trial.

According to Tuesday's order issued by DCGI, the DSMB, UK, recommended that the investigators recommence all immunization in their clinical trials subject to certain conditions.

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DSMB, India, also has recommended to continue the study and enroll the remaining participants in the clinical trial as per protocol subject to certain conditions.
US President Donald Trump said he would have no problem selling F-35 fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates, despite objections from Israel.

Speaking just hours before the Emiratis are due to sign a historic US-brokered accord with Israel, Mr Trump affirmed he would be happy to pursue the divisive arms sales.

Anwar Gargash, the UAEs minister of state for foreign affairs, had said earlier that the UAE wanted to modernise its military, and that Tuesday so-called Abraham Accord dispels any grain of doubt about why the fighter jets should be delivered.

However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said his government would oppose the sale, adding last month that the US had clarified to Israel that it will always safeguard Israels qualitative edge.

Mr Trump appeared to contradict that telling Fox News that selling our stuff is good for our country.

I know the leader very well, Mohammed, he said referencing the UAEs de facto ruler and crown prince Mohammed Bin Zayed.

I would have no problem in selling them the F35, I would have absolutely no problem. I view it as an asset, not a liability, he added.

When the Fox hosts mention Israels reservations he added: It is tremendous, jobs at home, youre talking about a large number of planes."

The UAE and Gulf neighbour Bahrain are set to sign historic normalisation accords with Israel at a White House ceremony on Tuesday. Details and wording of agreements have not been made public.

But one of the thornier issues has been the relationship between the accord and this alleged US-UAE weapons sale.

Washington has refrained from Middle East arms sales that could blunt Israels qualitative military edge. This has applied to the F-35 which has been denied to Arab states, like Egypt, while Israel has bought and deployed it.

But Mr Gargash on Tuesday mentioned the purchase of F-35 jets in a potential sale which - according to media reports - could also include Reaper drones and EA-18G Growler electronic warfare planes.

"The UAE seeks like any country that takes its military seriously, to modernise its military, always, so our request for the F35 and other systems pre-dates this agreement," he told reporters in the US.

US Marine Corps F-35B Joint Strike Fighter hovers in an aerial display (REUTERS)

The UAE's existing F-16 jets are now almost two decades old, and it is time to renew them, he added.

Last month, Mr Netanyahu was firm that that the diplomatic deal with the UAE would not include a weapons sale and hinted that he had received assurances from the Trump administration that the sale would not go ahead.

The peace agreement with the UAE does not include any clauses on the matter, and the United States clarified to Israel that it will always safeguard Israels qualitative edge, he said.

His office had clarified in an accompanying statement that the Israeli prime minister has opposed the sale of F-35 jets and other advanced weapons of any sort in the Middle East, including Arab states that make peace with the State of Israel.

A plan for a similar sale was blocked by US congress in the past, under pressure from Israel and the Israeli lobby in Washington.

I would have no problem in selling them the F35, I would have absolutely no problem. I view it as an asset, not a liability Donald Trump

Mr Netanyahu is in Washington DC, alongside ministers from the UAE and Bahrain, to sign the agreement.

Mr Gargash said the country's decision to normalise ties broke a "psychological barrier" and is the way forward for the region.

He said the US-brokered deal would see Israel suspend its planned annexation of Palestinian land allowing an easier path to a two-state solution.

A strategic breakthrough is needed, he added, but "it will not happen overnight".
A study spanning 38 countries has concluded that soil erosion is a critical threat to the future of food production and urgent action is needed to prevent further loss.

New international research has provided a first insight into how soil erosion may be affecting the longevity of soils across the world.

The study, led by Lancaster University, Changan University in China, and KU Leuven in Belgium, brought together soil erosion data from 255 locations.

This data was used to calculate how long it would take for the top 30 cm of soil to erode at each location - the soil lifespan.

The top layer of soil is often rich in nutrients and organic matter, making it important for growing food, fibres, feed and fuel.

Researchers say soil erosion is a serious threat to global sustainability, endangering food security, driving biodiversity loss and degrading ecosystems.

The study included soils that are conventionally farmed, as well as those managed using soil conservation techniques, to find out how changes to land use and management practices can extend the lifespans of soils.

Researchers found more than 90 percent of the conventionally farmed soils in the study were thinning, and 16 percent had lifespans of less than a century.

These thinning soils were found all over the world, including countries such as Australia, China, the UK, and the USA.

Our soils are critically important and we rely on them in many ways, not least to grow our food, said lead author Dr Dan Evans, of Lancaster University.

There have been many headlines in recent years suggesting that the worlds topsoil could be gone in 60 years, but these claims have not been supported with evidence.

"This study provides the first evidence-backed, globally relevant estimates of soil lifespans."

However, in the data, soils managed with conservation strategies tended to have longer lifespans, and in some cases these practices promoted soil thickening.

Only 7 percent of soil under conservation management had lifespans shorter than a century, and nearly half exceeded 5,000 years.

Co-author Professor Jess Davies, of Lancaster University, said: Whilst 16% of soils with lifespans shorter than 100 years is a more optimistic estimate than 60 harvests left, soil is a precious resource and we cant afford to lose that much over a human lifetime.

But importantly what our study also shows is that we have the tools and practices to make a difference  employing the appropriate conservation methods in the right place can help protect and enhance our soil resource.

The researchers noted that converting arable land to forest was found to be the best way to lengthen soil lifespans.

However, other approaches that allow farming to continue, such as cover cropping, were also shown to be highly effective.

The ploughing of land along contours rather than down slope, and hillslope terracing were similarly suggested as beneficial for lengthening soil lifespans.

Professor John Quinton, of Lancaster University and co-author of the study, said: It is clear that we have a conservation toolbox that can slow erosion and even grow soil.

"Action is needed to promote the adoption of these measures so that we can protect and enhance our soil resource for future generations.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Micah Fluellen/Los Angeles Times)

Whats the difference between a viola and a trampoline? You take your shoes off to jump on a trampoline.

Those damn viola jokes! Though usually good-natured and funny, they nonetheless belittle a middle-register instrument often hidden in an orchestra or string quartet. Composers have been notorious for giving filler to the viola. The solo literature (however affecting) is discouragingly small compared with the violin and cello.

The one thing youve got to love about viola jokes, though, is how easily they can be dispelled. Mozart, who played and loved the viola, did it in a few seconds with a single chord. Just listen to the opening blastoff of his Sinfonia Concertante for violin, viola and orchestra. A sudden burst of intensity with a mellow viola-infused chord is allowed to slowly fade, then it's repeated half as long followed by two repetitions as quick beats. Each instance is more insistent than the last.

The chord itself is not just the sound of a viola amplified; that would be too narcissistic. Rather than expecting other instruments to sound like the rapt viola they are not, Mozart invites them into the soul of the viola. Oboes and horns and violins and cellos all play in the viola range. They reverberate like a viola. They find out what it feels like to be a viola within their own instrumental bodies and sonorities. We are all, essentially, violas, Mozart reveals. You can fake empathy, but you cant fake being.

The extraordinary effect was produced by a composer who was 23 during summer 1779. Mozart was about to set off from Salzburg to the Austrian and classical music capital, Vienna, to find greater fame and fortune. He felt something coming. This opening chord might be a mysterious waft of viola perfume out of nowhere announcing the life-altering arrival of someone special. Or, maybe, it is the kind of adrenaline jolt you get by jumping into an icy Finnish sea after running out of a sweltering sauna.

Whatever magic there may be in five finger-snaps of the same chord in about as many seconds, it would be patently absurd to think that they alone have the power to overcome prejudice. Still, all we have to do is change our minds, and Mozart's greatness was his capacity to show how that is possible. He does it first with revelation. Discourse is reserved for when your emotions are primed. This Sinfonia Concertante was the first instance of that wondrous Mozartean shock, through the senses, to the system.

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The Sinfonia Concertante is a hybrid concerto-symphony, a concerto format in which solo instruments tend to blend into an orchestral fabric. In this case, Mozart chose it as a father and son affair, with the overbearing Leopold taking the violin part and Wolfie on the viola. There is affectionate jostling between the two solos. While often sounding dutifully submissive, the subtly subversive viola shows capable an originality and emotional profundity out of the violins depth. With the launch of his viola-infused chord, Mozart's mission is one that would prove as much societal as musical. For the first time in this young mans already triumphantly flourishing career, Mozarts medium became, as though he were an 18th century Marshall McLuhan, his message.

Mozart had already wowed world royalty as boy-wonder on keyboard and as a composer. In his teens, he wrote symphonies, keyboard concertos, sonatas, Italian operas and religious music of remarkable fluency and flair. He mastered the Classical-era forms of his day with exceptional ease and composed at unbelievable speed. But the fact is that not until his ninth piano concerto, nicknamed Jeunehomme after its dedicatee, did Mozart truly stand out as more than a remarkably facile prodigy.

For the first time, he transformed the concerto, which mostly served at the time as a vehicle for showy virtuosity, into a drama. The soloist became like a character in an opera, capable of expressing a range of feelings from tragedy to boyish joy, within the classic constraints of symmetry, reason and the like. Even so, it took Mozart another two years, and about 100 more compositions, to mature to the point where he understood the profound potential for contravening convention.

There was no precedent for this Sinfonia Concertante  which has the chronological Kochel number of 364 and is in the same E-flat major key as the Jeunehomme (K. 271). Double and triple concertos tended to be celebratory and gimmicky. A good way to find favor in court could be to add, say, a third, unchallenging keyboard part in a concerto for three pianos that allowed an amateur member of the royalty to join in. Even Mozarts playful Concerto for Two Pianos, K. 365, which he wrote for himself and sister around the same time as K. 364, is, for all its exuberant brilliance, a flashy work of little consequence.

The Sinfonia Concertante, on the other hand, announces its ambitions from the start, not only with that chord, but also with a flowering of melodies, one idea flowing from another, with as much irrepressible logic as invention. Harmonies are enriched by unexpected dissonances. It doesn't take long for Mozart to use every note in the chromatic scale, and when he gets to the last one, a D-flat, he lets you know with great, unresolved emphasis.

The entrance of the soloists is miraculous. The standard concerto form is the exposition of themes by the orchestra in anticipation of a curtain-raising, showy solo entrance. Here, though, the violin and viola sneakily glide in from above like a couple of trickster angels; they hold very quiet high pitches a third apart as they gradually fall into the orchestral setting. They then dart back and forth. The violin exhibits a short phrase. The viola picks it up, and the violin soon joins in. The second time the violin tries a solo trick, the viola follows with a long extension. The violin tries to match, but the viola always can say  and feel  more. Yet Mozart never lets competition or dialogue stop, for a micro-second, progress, as one character thrillingly completes the sentence of the other.

In the Jeunehomme Mozart wrote his first poignant concerto slow movement. The Sinfonia Concertante's slow movement is the second, this time resembling a duet of two operatic characters exploring each others feelings. Mozarts fantasy already exceeds father and son niceties anticipating, instead, the kinds of exchanges of feelings between lovers that will eventually make his operas convey some of the most revealing expressions of love in art. The third movement is Mozart, bags packed, and on his way.

In short order, Mozart, prepped by the Sinfonia Concertante, would write his first consequential operas. The unfinished Zaide, which is concerned with slavery, turned out to be a subject neither Mozart nor classical opera was yet ready for. With Idomeneo, however, he furthers father-son conundrums in an opera based on Greek myth that also reveals Mozarts prescient understanding of the environment. Over barely more than a dozen years, Mozart would famously humanize all he touched.

What he started in the slow movement of the Sinfonia Concertante, then, became a paradigm for discovering through music the path to betterment and redemption that his operas present like no other to this day. Let's not get carried away, listening to Mozart may not change your mind about anything. But it will give you the opportunity.
Copyright  2020 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  New Mexico voters who dont want to risk having their mailed absentee ballots arrive too late to be counted will have another option this fall  ballot drop boxes in most counties.

With an avalanche of absentee ballots expected for the Nov. 3 general election after records were shattered during the June primary election, backers say drop boxes minimize person-to-person contact during the coronavirus pandemic while encouraging voter participation.

We really are trying to accommodate the public with this, Bernalillo County Clerk Linda Stover said Tuesday. That way you dont have to mess with the post office and dont have to worry about COVID-19.

For now, the drop boxes will primarily be at existing polling places and county clerks offices, although there could be some exceptions.

In Bernalillo County, for instance, completed absentee ballots can be dropped off at a drive-through location at Expo New Mexico starting Oct. 6, when absentee voting begins statewide.

They can also be turned in at the County Clerks Annex and, once early voting begins Oct. 17, at any early voting convenience center.

Under a 2019 state law, the drop boxes  or secured containers  can be installed outside traditional polling places, although county clerks are required to publicly disclose such locations in advance and adhere to strict security guidelines.

This isnt going to be something sitting in the middle of nowhere with no one around, said Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto, D-Albuquerque, a former state elections director who provides technical assistance to county clerks. Its not going to be sitting there unattended.

Although the drop boxes are not mandatory, Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver has encouraged all 33 county clerks to provide the option to voters.

The expenses related to purchasing and installing the drop boxes will be reimbursed by $6 million in federal pandemic relief funds, Secretary of States Office spokesman Alex Curtas said Tuesday.

In a recent memo to county clerks, the Secretary of States Office said county clerks should, at a minimum, have drop boxes available at every voting location.

Its definitely something thats part of the modern election infrastructure, Curtas said.

The memo also stipulates minimum requirements for securing drop boxes, including constant supervision by at least two county staffers or election workers and daily ballot removal. In addition, the drop boxes should either be bolted down or easily movable so they can be transported to a secure location when not in use.

County clerks in at least 10 counties  including Bernalillo, Santa Fe and Dona Ana  began sending out absentee ballot applications to all registered voters this week.

But thousands of voters statewide have already submitted applications, including more than 82,000 registered voters in Bernalillo County as of Tuesday, Stover said.

Absentee voting rates skyrocketed during the June primary, after top-ranking state Democrats urged voters to mail in their ballots to reduce person-to-person contact during the pandemic.

In all, a record 264,793 New Mexico voters used the method to cast their ballots  or about 63.4% of all votes cast.

However, thousands of additional absentee ballots were delivered to county clerks too late to be counted on Election Day.

For the general election, the application deadline for requesting an absentee ballot has been moved up to Oct. 20 in an attempt to reduce the number of ballots that are returned too late to be counted.

Completed absentee ballots can be dropped off at any polling location  with or without a drop box  although voters must hand in their ballots in the same county they are registered to vote in, Curtas said.

In addition to a high-profile presidential race, all 112 legislative seats and various judicial and county-level offices are up for election this year.
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The worldwide automated guided vehicle market is anticipated to reach USD 3,977.8 million by 2026 according to a new study published by Polaris Market Research. In 2017, the automotive sector 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.

Growing need for automation and increasing labor costs fuel the market for adoption of AGV. Use of these automated vehicles increases productivity, and efficiency, while saving time and costs. The increasing demand from industries including healthcare, defense, aerospace, agriculture, and food and beverage is expected to provide growth opportunities in the coming years. Emerging and untapped markets of developing economies further provide growing opportunities to key players in the market. Increasing investments, research and development further boosts the growth of the market.

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There has been a high demand for automation in the global market. Companies are automating processes to reduce cost, save time and deliver better quality products. With stiff competition existing in the global market, companies are automating their processes for better quality and increased productivity. These vehicles automate internal processes and reduce the workload of employees, by working in collaboration with workers for better efficiency. Due to stringent safety regulations, companies are forced to employ Automated Guided Vehicles for dangerous and hazardous environment conditions. Automation of manufacturing processes was earlier restricted to only automotive sector. Now, industries such as healthcare, aerospace, food and beverage are also adopting the automated vehicles solutions. Increasing need of automation in various industries is a key factor driving the growth of the market.

With ever-increasing labor costs existing in most of the countries, companies are turning towards AGVs to save costs and time. Their usage increases efficiency while reducing wastage. They also eliminate chances of faults occurring due to human errors. These vehicles can be operated with the help of software, thereby saving the expense spent in training and management of labor. Unavailability of skilled labor to manage the processes along with high labor costs pushes companies towards automation and supplements the growth of this market.

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Europe generated the highest revenue in the market in 2017, and is expected to lead the global market throughout the forecast period. Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Rapid industrialization and increasing automation in the region drives the market growth. Introduction of new advanced technologies and increasing applications in automotive, aerospace, electronics and healthcare sectors is expected to support market growth. Growing demand from automotive industry for high quality products, along with increasing labor costs encourages companies to invest in automation, thereby augmenting growth.

The various end-users of AGVs include automotive, aerospace, healthcare, food and beverage, and others. In 2017, automotive accounted for the largest share in the global market, and is estimated to grow at a substantial rate during the forecast period. Companies use these vehicles in the automotive sector to save cost and increase their production. The key factors driving this market include increasing labor costs, new safety regulations, and need for increased efficiency. Use of AGVs in the automotive industry enables manufacturers to achieve high quality, reliability, economic efficiency and less product life cycle cost.

The well-known companies profiled in the report include Toyota Industries Corporation, KUKA AG, Daifuku Co. Ltd., Bastian Solutions, Inc., JBT Corporation, Swisslog Holding AG, Seegrid Corporation, Baylo, Inc., EK Automation GmbH, Kion Group AG among others. These companies launch new products and collaborate with other market leaders to meet the increasing needs and requirements of consumers.

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TEL AVIV - Waqf, the Palestinian agency for the preservation of holy sites, has banned entry to worshippers and visitors to the al-Aqsa mosque and the holy site known to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif for three weeks, starting Friday after prayers. The objective, it said, is to contain the spread of coronavirus.



Hatem Abdel Kader, a top official of Waqf, told Palestinian news agency Maan that during this period in the perimeter of the al-Aqsa mosque it will be possible to enter for guardians, employees and clerics who pray on loudspeakers.



The al-Aqsa mosque was closed to the public in March during the first wave of coronavirus. The second wave has been reported in the West Bank, in East Jerusalem and in Gaza, although less.



Two months ago, the Palestinian health ministry reported that 9,000 Palestinians had been infected and 55 had died. The number of Palestinian infections since the start of the pandemic was 42,379 and deaths 276 as of yesterday, according to the same sources. Active infections in East Jerusalem were about 2,000.
Hoy hicimos entrega de 65 #BienesCulturales repatriados desde Australia, Espana, Estados Unidos y Reino Unido al ministro de @MinCulturaPe @alexperec. La proteccion, recuperacion y repatriacion de nuestro patrimonio cultural no se detiene.#DiplomaciaCultural pic.twitter.com/XI0B3Ok1u5
As September marks the sixth month of social distancing measures nationwide, the strain placed on the aging population continues to grow  leaving older adults with dementia more agitated and restless, and family caregivers at a loss for how to keep their loved ones safe and healthy.

While caring for an individual with memory loss requires a great deal of time and patience year-round, the coronavirus has placed a unique set of emotional and physical demands on Alzheimers and dementia caregivers, with nearly 82% reporting higher stress due to COVID-19 in a recent study by UsAgainstAlzheimers A-LIST.

The pandemic has upended our normal way of life. For those supporting a loved one with dementia or Alzheimers disease, its no surprise that stress is at an all-time high, said Lakelyn Hogan, gerontologist and caregiver advocate at Home Instead Senior Care. However, no one should feel the need to travel this journey alone. There are many online communities and resources available to guide them.

September is World Alzheimers Month, a good reminder to refresh your care approach and evaluate the areas where you may need assistance. Hogan suggests incorporating the following tips into your daily care routine to empower individuals living with Alzheimers disease and other dementias and establish a positive environment:



Encourage healthy habits. Many people living with Alzheimers disease and other dementias have pre-existing medical conditions that put them at a higher risk for COVID-19. Remind them to stay healthy with the help of visual cues like regular handwashing or covering your mouth while coughing. For another nudge, hang signs near kitchen and bathroom sinks with simple instructions, such as wash your hands.

Build structure into the day. A routine not only benefits the individual, it can also improve the productivity and emotional well-being of their caregiver. Basic patterns subconsciously guide our bodies through the day. Explore new activities that engage the seniors mind and body  host an afternoon tea, organize items in your closet or take part in a daily exercise class via YouTube or other online channels. If you are social distancing from one another, set a regular time each day to connect through phone or video chat.

Create a safe space. Those receiving care are often very in tune with their caregivers emotions. If you are anxious or upset, your family member will likely feel it, too. Keep your stress levels in check by taking the Caregiver StressMeter assessment. If youre someone who likes to keep the television on throughout the day, make time for positive programming (such as documentaries and musicals) instead of daily news shows. Evaluate the best level of information to share about topics such as COVID-19 and consider creating a script that other members of the family can use when answering difficult questions.

Brainstorm a backup plan. A recent study found that 73% of people caring for an individual with Alzheimers disease at home are unsure what would happen to their loved one if they as the caregiver contracted COVID-19. By creating a short- and long-term plan, you can help ensure the proper plan is in place and reduce the stress of decision-making under pressure. Assemble important documents and keep a record of key information, should you need to enlist an alternate carer.

Seek out support. Supporting an individual with Alzheimers disease can evoke a variety of emotions and take a heavy toll on even the most resilient caregivers. Using resources or respite services doesnt mean you have failed. In fact, asking for help can often be a gift to both yourself and your family member. You will be a better caregiver when you take moments to rest, eat healthy meals and lean on a support system.

Above all, remember you know your family member best. Release any pressure youre placing on yourself to memorize an exact list of tips in order to be a good caregiver  use what you know and admire about your loved one to guide your care and connect with them in meaningful ways. Take each day as it comes, and dont be afraid to reach out for help if stress starts to wear down your physical or mental health.

With the right resources and support, you can set yourself up for success and provide the right level of care. To learn more, visit http://www.helpforalzheimersfamilies.com.

ABOUT HOME INSTEAD SENIOR CARE

Founded in 1994 in Omaha, Nebraska, the Home Instead Senior Care franchise network provides personalized care, support and education to enhance the lives of aging adults and their families. Today, the network is the world's leading provider of in-home care services for seniors, with more than 1,200 independently owned and operated franchises that provide more than 80 million hours of care annually throughout the United States and 13 other countries. Local Home Instead Senior Care offices employ approximately 90,000 CAREGivers worldwide who provide basic support services that enable seniors to live safely and comfortably in their own homes for as long as possible. Home Instead Senior Care franchise owners partner with clients and their family members to help meet varied individual needs. Services span the care continuum  from providing personal care to specialized Alzheimers care and hospice support. Also available are family caregiver education and support resources.

Visit HomeInstead.com. Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
NEW YORK, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- VG Acquisition Corp. (the "Company) a special purpose acquisition company, announced today that it filed a registration statement on Form S-1 (the "Registration Statement") with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") relating to the proposed initial public offering of 40,000,000 units at a price of $10.00 per unit, consisting of one share of Class A common stock and one-third of one redeemable warrant. The Company has applied to list the units on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "VGAC."

The Company is a newly formed company incorporated for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. The Company intends to search for targets that operate in consumer-facing industries in the United States and Western Europe.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. Any offers, solicitations of offers to buy, or any sales of securities will be made in accordance with the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"). This announcement is being issued in accordance with Rule 135 under the Securities Act.
Is COVID-19 testing going to be a requirement for teachersand studentsto return to school? Thats how things are shaping up in some of the United States most populous school districts.

Los Angeles, home to the nations second-largest school district, is moving forward with an ambitious plan to test all staff members working in person at its schools and their children, and to conduct contact-tracing for any positive results. Last week, it conducted more than 5,000 COVID-19 tests of some of its essential workers and their childrensome of whom began attending childcare programs in about 300 city schools this week.

And that isnt all; in order to return to in-person schooling, all staff and students will need to be tested. After that, L.A. plans to move to periodic testing based on research models developed by several universities. It will also provide tests for family members of students or staff who test positive, or show symptoms of COVID-19. It anticipates administering up to 40,000 of these randomized tests a day. (For context, L.A. has more than 450,000 students and about 75,000 employees.)

According to The Los Angeles Times, the district will make some of that information available on a website , which will allow parents and the public to see the number of cases by school, grade level, and student cohort, or the small group each student will be placed in and move through their schools with.

The testing program involves the district, the University of California Los Angeles, Stanford University, The Johns Hopkins University, Microsoft, two testing providers, Anthem Blue Cross, Cedars-Sinai, and Health Net.

This program will provide the foundation for students and teachers to return to school in the safest possible manner, and it will help keep students in school because we can identify and isolate cases before more people are exposed to the virus, Superintendent Austin Beutner said in a statement.

This is potentially a harbinger of things to come as more districts consider safetyand just as importantly, how to build confidence in that safety among parents and teachers,

The nations largest districts are, by and large, in the same situation as Los Angeles. According to the most recent Education Week data, nearly three-quarters of the 100 largest districts are choosing remote learning to kick off the school year. (Remember, though, that the average school district is much, much smaller. There are literally thousands of districts, especially in states with lower transmission rates or more aggressive opening timelines, that have chosen to begin in-person learning.)

Per state health guidelnes, Los Angeles students will not return to in-person attendance until the COVID-19 daily case rate in the city falls below 25 cases per 100,000 residents, and case positivity rates are no greater than 8.0%. (Los Angeles County was at 463 daily cases as of Sept. 12.)

The full cost of the Los Angeles program is unclear, the L.A. Times noted. And in the absence of a coherent federal or statewide plan for testing, it has largely been up to districts to cobble together the funding and logistics for these types of programs.

An illustrative counter-example is in the more than 1 million-student New York City district.

The city is providing free priority testing for all students and education employees throughout the city. As part of its back to school plans, the city will conduct mandatory random testing of up to 10 percent of students and teachers beginning Oct 1. It will not, however, test all students or employees before the first day of schools, on Sept. 21.

So far, most of the citys tests have yielded very small positive results and New York now has one of the lowest daily case rates in the country. But ongoing disagreements with the United Federation of Teachers over safety protocols and delayed contact tracing mean the details of testing and tracing will continue to evolve.

What makes all of this so complicated is balancing safety needs against educational ones. Research shows that online learning tends to be less effective than in-person learning , which is one reason why some advocates support efforts to get students back to in-person schooling as quickly as possible. The director of UNICEF, the international child-support agency, for example, recently noted that at least one in four countries it studied didnt have a date in place for returning students to the classroom.

We know that closing schools for prolonged periods of time can have devastating consequences for children, UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said at a press conference today. They become more exposed to physical and emotional violence. Their mental health is affected. They are more vulnerable to child labor and sexual abuse, and are less likely to break out of the cycle of poverty.

Photo: In this July 2020 file photo, a woman and girl take a coronavirus test together in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Unified School District is embarking on a large-scale testing of staff and students. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)
Last year, the UK government pledged to make the economy carbon neutral by 2050. Photo: Getty

The world is able to achieve its net zero emissions goal by 2050 if it sinks considerable investment into the cause, according to a report by the Energy Transitions Commission (ETC)

The global coalition of 40 energy producers, industrial companies and financial institutions said it would cost an estimated $1tn to $2tn (774.83bn to 1.55tn) a year. This is equivalent to 1-1.5% of global gross domestic product (GDP).

There is no doubt that it is technically and economically possible to reach the zero-carbon economy which we need by 2050; and zero must mean zero, not a plan which relies on the permanent and large-scale use of offsets to balance continued GHG emissions. But action in the next decade is crucial  otherwise it will be too late, ETC co-chair Adair Turner said.

The group laid out three key ways for an economy to achieve net zero status:

Graphic: ETC

Annual global electricity supply will have to grow four to five times to reach 90,000-115,000 terawatt hours and the annual pace of wind and solar capacity will need to significantly improve by five to six times that of what it achieved in 2019.

Chart: SYSTEMIQ analysis for the Energy Transitions Commission analysis (2020), IEA (2019), World Energy Outlook

Last year, the UK government pledged to make the economy net zero by 2050.

This month, the Climate Assembly UK published a report on how Britain can achieve that goal and delivered it to six Parliamentary Select Committees.

Among its 50 recommendations, it said that Brits cutting down on eating meat and dairy by 20-40% will help the UK hit its net zero emissions goal. It also recommended that the UK government consider a special tax for frequent fliers.

READ MORE: UK citizens tell government: We'll eat less meat to hit climate goals

Meanwhile a number of large businesses and banks are pledging to help the cause.

Earlier this year, Barclays (BARC.L) became one of the first banks to publicly sign-up to a new cross-industry initiative aimed at increasing the flow of financing of 'green' projects.

Barclays was among five banks to commit to the Bankers for NetZero project in July, alongside Sweden's Handelsbanken (SHB-A.ST), ethical bank Triodos, the Ecological Building Society, and fintech Tide.

"The capital ratio is much higher for an obviously green project than for a non-green project because it's deemed more risky," Louise Kjellerup Roper, chief executive of research and advisory firm Volans, told Yahoo Finance UK.

"We have to look at why that is if we want to go towards renewables and retrofitting and some of those less carbon intensive industries  why are we deeming them more risky?"
Wearing eyeglasses daily may reduce the risk of contracting the novel coronavirus, a new study suggests.

Researchers from China found that COVID-19 patients were five times less likely to have frames than the general population.

The team, from The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, says they believe this is because ACE-2 receptors, which the virus latches onto to enter and infect human cells, can be found in the eyes.

The findings also provide more evidence for why healthcare workers should wear eye protection and why more attention needs to be focused on preventive measures such as frequently wash their hands and avoid touching their face.

A new study found that 5.8% of nearly 300 coronavirus patients wore eyeglasses eight hours a day for nearsightedness compared to 31.5% of people in the Hubei province. Pictured: A man wears an American and Puerto Rico flag mask in New York City, September 2020

This indicates people who wear frames are about five times less likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19 than the general population. Pictured: A healthcare worker tends to a patient in the COVID-19 Unit at United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, Texas, July 2020

For the study, published in JAMA Ophthalmology, the team looked at 276 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 between January 27 and March 13.

Thirty patients wore eyeglasses (10.9 percent), including 16 cases of nearsightedness and 14 cases of farsightedness.

None of those diagnosed with the virus wore contact lenses or had undergone refractive surgery to correct their vision.

A total 16 patients, all nearsighted, were long-term wearers, defined as wearing glasses for more than eight hours a day, accounting for 5.8 percent.

For the general population, the researchers looked at study decades ago from students between ages seven to 22 years in Hubei province, of which 31.5 percent wore glasses for nearsightedness.

At the time of publication, those students would be between ages 42 and 57, close to the median age of 31 for the COVID-19 patients.

This means that the general population is 5.4 times more likely to wear eyeglasses daily than those diagnosed with coronavirus.

'Our main finding was that patients with COVID-19 who wear eyeglasses for an extended period every day were relatively uncommon, which could be preliminary evidence that daily wearers of eyeglasses are less susceptible to COVID-19,' the authors wrote.

The researchers hypothesize that frames 'prevent or discourage wearers from touching their eyes, thus avoiding transferring the virus from the hands to the eyes.'

Studies have recently found that the eyes produce ACE-2, making the organs a prime target for the virus.

Coronavirus has not only been found on the surface of the eyes, but also within tears, which would transfer the pathogen.

This may explain why up to 12 percent of patients with COVID-19 have so-called 'ocular manifestations,' such as redness and swelling.

'Therefore, the eyes are considered an important channel for SARS-CoV-2 to enter the human body,' the authors wrote.

'For daily wearers of eyeglasses, who usually wear eyeglasses on social occasions, wearing eyeglasses may become a protective factor, reducing the risk of virus transfer to the eyes and leading to long-term daily wearers of eyeglasses being rarely infected with COVID- 19.'

In an invited commentary, Dr Lisa Maragakis, an associate professor of medicine and epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said people should not wear glasses if they do not need them.

'Although it is tempting to conclude from this study that everyone should wear eyeglasses, goggles, or a face shield in public to protect their eyes and themselves from COVID-19, from an epidemiological perspective, we must be careful to avoid inferring a causal relationship from a single observational study,' she wrote.
The popular nickname Tall City could take on new meaning as the Midland International Air and Space Port continues to attract new commercial space business.

Midland sits in the center of a hub with six spaceports licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration, Oscar Garcia, chairman and chief executive officer of InterFlight Global Corp., told Midland Development Corp. board members at their monthly meeting on Monday. InterFlight has contracted with the MDC to help procure tenants for the Spaceport Business Park.

Three tenants  Avellan Space Technology & Science, Nano Avionics and Kepler Aerospace  already have set up shop. The three companies, which have taken up occupancy at the business park since 2018, have created over 200 jobs. Garcia said 12 more companies are in active discussion for projects ranging from a hotel at the airport to manufacturing both civilian and military aircraft and spacecraft. He said he expects three to six more companies in the near future. Citing delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Garcia told board member Jill Pennington he is confident at least three more will be signed by the end of 2021.

Rather than attending trade shows, InterFlight brings three or four companies at a time to Midland to visit the facilities. Fifty companies already have visited, and additional familiarization trips are set for October and December, Garcia said. A specialized high-speed flight workshop is planned for February.

Midland, with its skies considered to be among the clearest in the nation to fly, is drawing interest from the commercial space industry, he said. That industry is forecast to grow to $1 billion globally and $600 million a year in the U.S. by 2030, according to Garcia.

The air space offers a lot of space where companies can fly vehicles, test and research hypersonic vehicles, launch rockets into space, he said.

Already the home of Space Mobile, the worlds first direct to cellphone satellite constellation, Midland could also be home to the first point-to-point space flight, which has never been done before, Garcia said. Noting that Spaceport America in New Mexico is only 250 miles from Midland, he said high-speed vehicles are expected to fly from Midland to Spaceport America next year to demonstrate what the space corridor could look like.

We aim next year to hold a demonstration from Midland to Spaceport America and back on the same day to prove its possible, Garcia said.

In another presentation, Lori Rice-Spearman, president of Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, updated board members on the expansion by 20 percent of the universitys physician assistant program with Midland College.

The MDC contributed $5 million for the expansion while state Rep. Tom Craddick secured a $20 million grant, requiring Tech to raise another $5 million to build a 32,500-square-foot facility on the Midland College campus.

The last six months we have been working diligently with our architects as well as the team here in Midland and the stakeholders to ensure were partnering well with Midland College to promote the program on campus, she said.

The new building will include several labs that can be used by nursing students around the Permian Basin, including an anatomy lab so that students no longer have to travel to Lubbock to use Techs state-of-the-art anatomy lab.

The final architectural drawings will be presented to the Tech Board of Regents next month, and a groundbreaking is expected next spring, Rice-Spearman said.
Families Flee Historic Wildfires in the West: Its Like the End of the World

Wildfires Rage Up the West Coast

Wildfires are spreading across the west coast

With COVID, politics, the protests, the riots and now this, realizing everything is gone in the fire, and smoke everywhere, it just seems like the end of the world, Kayla Carter, 29, tells PEOPLE in this week's issue.

The two Carter family homes burned to the ground on Aug. 20 in the aftermath of a rare, spectacular dry thunderstorm on Aug. 16 that ignited fires throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Historic fires are burning in California, Oregon and Washington.

While urban and suburban areas were largely spared, the rural areas went up in flames. But almost everywhere, residents were trapped in an eerie orange world caused by the immense smoke making air quality one of the worst on the planet.

It was so distracting, like nuclear winter Wednesday, and light was having trouble existing in this world, says San Francisco resident Chad Jones. It was like something important was happening and you had to pay attention.

Fires in the Western states hit hard and fast.

Kaylas father-in-law Fred Carter built his country home in the hills above the town of Livermore 25 years ago. Fred's daughter Crystal, her husband Roger and their 8-year-old daughter Riley had a home on the property, and his son Andrew, daughter-in-law Kayla and their young son lived in his home.

For more on the wildfires, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, or subscribe here.

Kent Porter/The Press Democrat/AP

People up there are living off the grid. We used solar power and generators for back up and we ran everything from hot water to the oven through the propane tank out front, says Carter. Thats how everyone is set up. People are spread out, Id say our closest neighbor is about a quarter-mile down the road.

While those in town safely watched the red flames of the fire in the hills, those living in the secluded area were fleeing.

There is almost no cell service in the area, Carter says, and Wi-Fi is spotty. Most depend on landlines that went out during the fire, making it difficult to tell people living down the dirt roads, in the canyons and on the hillsides that they needed to evacuate.

Story continues

Carter says the fire started about two miles up the road, but there was no evacuation order.

That night we could see the glow and were worried about it getting closer, so we tried to pack up the most important things we could grab, Carter says. Then we got the notification that the fire was on the other side of us and we had to leave ASAP.

The fire ripped through the rural area and, as Carter describes it, everything turned to dust.

RELATED: Smoke From West Coast Wildfires Is Seen as Far as NYC and Boston

Near Eugene, Oregon, Marion County Commissioner Kevin Cameron had something in common with the people he visited at the evacuation center at the local fairgrounds  they all had escaped but did not know if they would have homes when they returned.

I had to manage a crisis and then help manage a crisis, Cameron says.

Cameron lives in Detroit, a town of about 200 residents but with thousands of summer homes.

Marion County Sheriffs Office/Courtesy Marion County, Oregon Marion County Commissioner Kevin Cameron (right) amid the destruction in Santiam Canyon near Detroit, Oregon, on Sept. 9.

We are used to fires, but not like fires in California, because we dont have that population density, Cameron says. Its like second-home communities.

Cameron was celebrating Labor Day with family when he received notice to prepare for a level 2 evacuation at about noon Tuesday. That changed dramatically as the winds began whipping up the flames. They were told to evacuate at 1 a.m. and traveled through smoke and flames so hot it felt like my car was melting.

We were dodging downed limbs and rocks and traffic was backed up bumper to bumper, Cameron says. Embers were pouring down everywhere.

RELATED: Gavin Newsom Asks Trump to 'Agree to Disagree' That Climate Change Has Impact on California Wildfires

After navigating to a safe place, he started making calls to make sure the evacuees in his county were being cared for. He opened the state fairgrounds and secured rooms at an almost-vacant hotel reserved for COVID-19 patients.

Right now Im staying at my daughters house, says Cameron, although he has been told that his house survived. Most of the town is gone, many of the structures are just gone. Its surreal and you mourn. Most people cant get back to their houses, so they dont know if they are standing or not. Thats when the anger comes in, the not knowing.

Kayla Carter The remains of Kayla Carter's family's home

Kayla, Andrew and their son are now living in Salinas, about 90 miles south and near Monterey, with family members.

Even if they rebuild, well end up staying in this area," she says. "We wont be back.

Her father-in-law and other family members, who are currently staying in a Livermore hotel, plan on moving back to the property as soon as possible.

My 8-year-old niece had to start school with distance learning from a hotel. Doing distance learning is a challenge then to do it outside your comfort zone, Carter says. Its just all too much.

The Carters have a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for a trailer and rebuilding costs.

To help communities facing destructive wildfires in the Western U.S., consider donating to the following organizations:

 The American Red Cross allows donors to direct funds to support people impacted by the fires.

 GlobalGivings Wildfire Relief offers emergency funding to local efforts providing essentials to wildfire victims in need.

 GoFundMes California Wildfire Relief Fund aims to "support a range of needs" by issuing "grants to individuals, organizations and communities that have either been impacted themselves or are dedicated to helping."

 The California Fire Foundation "provides emotional and financial assistance to families of fallen firefighters, firefighters and the communities they protect."
Google is celebrating the life of German-Jewish poet Mascha Kaleko with a Doodle.

On this day (16 September) in 1974, Kaleko held her final reading in Berlins America Memorial Library after more than 40 years writing poetry.

In her Google Doodle, which is drawn by Ramona Ring, she is seen surrounded by plants. This is a reference to her poem Das Bichen Ruhm (A Little Bit of Glory), in which she compared her fame to plants that can only be maintained with daily care.

Born in what is now southern Poland in 1907, Kaleko was named Golda Malka Aufen at birth. Her family fled the country for Germany at the outbreak of the First World War and settled in Berlin in 1918.

As a teenager, Kaleko began writing German-language poetry which was swiftly published in Berlin newspapers, helping her earn a level of fame within the city.

Kaleko's Doodle by artist Ramona Ring (Google)

By the early 1930s, she was a well established figure within the capitals avant garde literary scene, publishing her first book Das Lyrische Stenogrammheft (The Lyrical Shorthand Pad) in 1933, which was quickly subjected to Nazi censorship.

Her work was best known for discussing day-to-day life in Berlin as well as exploring ever-pressing themes such as social injustice and exile.

In 1938, the year before World War II broke out, Kaleko emigrated to the US with her second husband, composer Chemjo Vinaver and their one-year-old son Steven.

She spent nearly two decades there, returning to Berlin for the first time in 1956. She would return again three years later after being honoured with the Berlin Art Prizes literature award, the Fontane Prize, only to decline it because a former Nazi and SS member was on the jury.

In 1959, Kaleko moved to Israel, where she wrote poetry until her death in 1975.

She is remembered in Berlin with a memorial plaque at her home, as well as having a street and park named after her.
Switzerland-based Lindt, a global chocolate brand, has raised the curtain on its new Lindt Home of Chocolate in Kilchberg featuring a unique Chocolate Competence Center with interactive museum, research plant and open-view production line, among others.



Swiss Federal Council Ueli Maurer, President of the Foundations Board Ernst Tanner and brand ambassador Roger Federer unveiled the centerpiece of the new Lindt Home of Chocolate  the over 9-meter high chocolate fountain, accompanied by a shower of golden confetti.



The chocolate fountain is the centerpiece of the Lindt Home of Chocolate and represents a homage to the globally renowned and popular Lindor truffles, explained Ernst Tanner, President of the Lindt Chocolate Competence Foundation



The Lindt Home of Chocolate is a unique chocolate experience and I look forward to coming here with my kids, said Federer.



Swiss Federal Council Ueli Maurer is said: Chocolate is a part of our national identity and the chocolate industry is an extremely important economic sector of our country. For this reason, fostering local chocolate expertise is synonymous with boosting Switzerland as an economic location.



The Lindt Chocolate Competence Foundation aims to continue the work of the chocolate pioneers and further strengthen Switzerland in its role as a leading chocolate producing country in the long-term. While the pioneers established the chocolate industry more than 200 years ago, the Foundation promotes todays innovations, thereby providing the entire industry with new impetus.



The chocolate museum is the charitable foundations main project and represents a comprehensive information platform for the wider public. More than 100 million Swiss francs were invested in the Chocolate Competence Center.



Situated close to Zurich and benefiting from excellent public transport connections, the new attraction will provide an exciting destination for up to 350,000 chocolate fans from Switzerland and abroad. - TradeArabia News Service
The second coming of COVID is here. Though it appears to have made a loitering stop in Peel, put its feet up, made itself at home.

While Ontario braces itself for Coronavirus: The Sequel, either woefully unprepared for another round of contagion or prophylactically buffered, depending on who you trust  doctors or politicians  the Region of Peel has already borne the brunt of a revisit. If, in fact, it could be said that COVID-19 ever left, to the level of Stage 3 unshackling, which only happened on July 31.

Peel is a diverse and varied sprawl, from Caledon, where more than 40 per cent of the population has been in Canada for three generations or more  as per the most recent census, 2016  to Brampton, where 73.3 per cent of the population are visible minorities. Overall, 35.5 per cent of Peel residents were born in India, 51.5 per cent are immigrants, and 14 per cent of immigrants call Mississauga home.

Is any of that data relevant to the alarming figures disclosed by Dr. Monica Hau, Peels associate medical officer of health, at a press conference last week? Probably, although statistics dont particularly provide any perspective more insightful than a surface contour, a topography.

But the city of 700,000 northwest of Toronto, less than half the size of Toronto, had more active cases of COVID-19 reported than any other public-health unit in the province according to figures as of last Wednesday  451  scaling heights over last week not seen since June, with about three-quarters of the new infections diagnosed in Brampton. As of Tuesday, cumulative active cases in Peel were 546, according to Public Health Ontario.

Part of that spike  at least 55 cases  is connected to a major workplace outbreak, the whence of it kept under wraps by Peel public health officials, who take the view that it serves no purpose to identify the source. Thats a regrettable posture; the public has a right to know if theres a point of origin just up the street. Treating COVID-19 like a taint, rather than the generally random illness it is, only promotes a sense of stigma, even shame.

And Lord knows there was plenty of shaming on social media  attached to culture, ethnicity and practices to every immigrant wave that has settled in Canada  when the Peel statistics were publicized. Among those who took understandable offence to the instant stereotyping was one Naheed Dosani, who tweeted: Brampton is now the epicenter of Ontarios #COVID19 crisis. Rather than racial gaslighting South Asians, POC & those in multigenerational homes, lets try to learn how peoples vulnerabilities are shaped by their circumstances.

Dr. Dosani is a palliative care physician and health justice activist who founded Palliative Education and Care for the Homeless (PEACH).

I wrote that tweet because it was very apparent, looking at comments on social media and also the way it was being discussed in the media, that there seemed to be a description of a kind of people that were behaving in a certain way that was contributing to COVID-19, Dosani tells the Star. There are a lot of assumptions in how South Asians and people of colour live differently in a higher concentration like Region of Peel, how they behave.

It was surely not the intention of Peel Public Health to stereotype any community. However, there was an attempt made by both officials and media to explain the numbers, the apparent contributing factors, and this narrative reinforced an aspect of blame  particularly the takeaway that the coronavirus was being spread, to some extent, by people living in multi-generational households and individuals whod travelled to severely struck countries such as India (second highest number of cases globally, 4.4 million, a jump of almost 100,000 cases within a 24-hour period on Friday) and Pakistan.

Visiting family in ancestral countries is hardly exclusive to South Asians. Sloppy behaviour cant be assessed racially or ethnically.

Still, as a contributing factor, it cant be ignored  with 58 per cent of Peels COVID cases (from February to September) in Brampton, with an infection rate of 711 per 100,000 people, while neighbouring Mississauga has seen just 390 infections per 100,000 people.

Data is easily exploited. Which is why collecting race-related statistics is such a dicey proposition. We did already know, however, from data gathered by Toronto Public Health, that COVID is taking a disproportionate toll on racialized and low-income groups. In that context, the coronavirus does discriminate.

Often people who are living in these communities are working, theyre using public transport, theyre living in multi-generational homes, because its a way to cope with their finances and take care of their relatives, says Dosani. Yes, there are cultural factors at play. But people are jumping to conclusions about other peoples behaviour, as if they are in control of all aspects of their behaviour. Certainly theyre responsible for their own personal behaviour, but theyre not responsible for the structural factors around them.

Last month, Peel published a report, Social Determinants of Health: Race and Occupation, which showed that, while visible minorities make up 63 per cent of Peels population, they made up 77 per cent of the regions COVID-19 cases. Over-represented race categories were South Asian, Black and Latino.

But look a little deeper and there are more telling factors. The three most frequently reported occupations among positive cases (from those who disclosed that information) were: health jobs (33 per cent of cases), trade, transport and equipment operators (18 per cent), and manufacturing and utilities (13 per cent).

For the most part, these are occupations that have to keep working during the pandemic, that have been deemed essential, or were never permitted  if they wanted to retain a salary  to lay down their tools of the trade.

There are doubtless cultural factors involved in some community transmissions  large wedding celebrations and the same kind of reckless young adult gatherings seen everywhere else in the GTA.

But, although theres scant hard data, its fairly obvious this is a demographic that couldnt lock itself down and in, that continued reporting as personal support health care workers, often using public transit, continued to labour in construction industries, and that may not have the luxury of home-schooling their kids  although it should be noted that 10,000 students last week switched from in-person to online learning at Peel public schools, bringing the total number of students signed up in Peel to 64,000. One Brampton high school and one Catholic secondary school in Peel had reported a positive test for COVID-19 as of Monday.

Any responsible reporting of statistics, in this case spiking statistics, should present the whole holistic approach to the structural factors of why people in a particular community may be more susceptible to COVID-19, says Dosani. In this case, race, culture, language, health literacy, income, housing and how communities support their elderly members are factors at play. That should be described and communicated to people rather than being used as a way to blame people.

When it comes to South Asians in the Region of Peel, its become a form of gaslighting. We will not have success dealing with this virus if were using data to blame people, to blame communities. We will achieve much better success if we are able to learn how people are vulnerable and then learn how those vulnerabilities impact their decisions and their lifestyle choices.

Elderly living at home, as part of the extended family, for instance. Theres no doubt that a number of the South Asian community are more likely to support their loved ones as they age in a home setting and we know theres a potential for COVID-19 to transmit in settings where people are living closer together in higher numbers. Its important to start asking the question: Why are South Asians maybe not as trusting of long-term care facilities or other aspects of publicly funded health care that supports elderly people?

Actually, aversion to warehousing their elderly relatives probably saved an untold number of lives, in the South Asian and other immigrant communities.

Dosani urges public health agencies to get the COVID-19 protection measures in a more accessible way for immigrant communities  in different languages, over multi-lingual radio, TV and other media platforms.

For too much of this journey we have relied on a one-size-fits-all approach to public health. We must keep in mind that Ontario is a very diverse place, people come from many different countries, language is a factor, health literacy is a factor and cultural approaches to health care is a factor.

This is what the public health approach is all about, digging at these roots.

Correction  Sept. 15, 2020: The column was edited to correct the name of Caledon.

Rosie DiManno is a Toronto-based columnist covering sports and current affairs for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @rdimanno

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THE HAGUE, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Lawyers for Iran told judges on Wednesday at the United Nations' top court that by crippling Iran's economy, sanctions imposed by the United States in 2018 had violated a decades-old bilateral friendship treaty.

In an earlier case involving frozen assets, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), or World Court, ruled in 2019 that the 1955 Treaty of Amity could provide a legal basis for its involvement in an Iranian-U.S. dispute.

Lawyer Hamidreza Oloumiyazdi asked judges to reject the United States' argument that the court had no jurisdiction in this case.

"The U.S. measures disregarded the very foundation of international law," Oloumiyazdi said.

"All that matters now for this U.S. administration is whether its measures are succeeding in ruining the Iranian economy and the lives of hundreds of thousands of Iranians," he added.

On Monday, lawyers for the United States demanded that the ICJ, which deals with disputes between states, dismiss the case brought by Iran.

The United States says Iran is wrongly invoking the Treaty of Amity to essentially restore a 2015 nuclear pact opposed by the administration of President Donald Trump. Washington imposed economic sanctions on Iran when it abandoned the 2015 pact, aimed at stopping Tehran developing nuclear weapons.

Iran on Wednesday insisted it could base its claims on the decades old friendship treaty because it was precisely concerned with economic relations between the states which were profoundly affected by the sanctions.

The treaty was signed before Irans 1979 Islamic Revolution and the sharp deterioration in ties with Washington. After Iran filed two claims based on the treaty - which gives the ICJ jurisdiction to settle disputes about the application of the agreement - Washington officially withdrew from it in 2018.

The hearings this week in The Hague will deal only with the preliminary matter of whether the court has jurisdiction. A decision is expected by the end of the year. (Reporting by Stephanie van den Berg; Editing by Mark Potter)
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 07:41:30|Editor: huaxia

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Video: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sept. 15, 2020 calls on the international community to get united and find a vaccine that is accessible to all. (Xinhua)

"As we look ahead to the new session of the General Assembly that begins today, may we build on his extraordinary legacy to address the challenges upon us and, together, build a more peaceful, just and sustainable world," says Antonio Guterres.

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday called on the international community to get united and find a vaccine that is accessible to all.

"As the COVID-19 pandemic has upended our world, we have once again seen that international solidarity is no longer a choice, but an obligation," the UN chief said at the wreath-laying ceremony to commemorate the 59th anniversary of the death of former UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks at the wreath-laying ceremony to commemorate the 59th anniversary of the death of former UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold at the UN headquarters in New York, on Sept. 15, 2020. (Eskinder Debebe/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua)

"That means working together to stop the spread of the virus," said the secretary-general, adding that the global community should work together "to find a vaccine that is accessible to all."

"And, just as importantly, working together to recover better, protect the most vulnerable and reduce the inequalities (is) heightened by the pandemic," said the UN chief.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (R) attends the wreath-laying ceremony to commemorate the 59th anniversary of the death of former UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold at the UN headquarters in New York, on Sept. 15, 2020. (Eskinder Debebe/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua)

"As we look ahead to the new session of the General Assembly that begins today, may we build on his extraordinary legacy to address the challenges upon us and, together, build a more peaceful, just and sustainable world," said Guterres.

Dag Hammarskjold was a Swedish economist and diplomat who served as the second UN secretary-general. He still remains the youngest person to have held the post, being only 47 years old when he was appointed in 1953. His second term was cut short when he died in a plane crash in Northern Rhodesia while en route to ceasefire negotiations during the Congo Crisis on Sept. 18, 1961. 
Thailand's monarchy is protected by one of the world's toughest royal defamation laws, making any criticism of the powerful King Maha Vajiralongkorn all but impossible inside the country.

Some student leaders have called for the abolition of the laws as a pro-democracy movement gathers steam in Thailand.

Under section 112 of Thailand's penal code, anyone convicted of defaming, insulting or threatening the king, queen, heir or regent faces between three and 15 years in prison on each count.

But the law is routinely interpreted to include any criticism of any aspect of the monarchy  including criticism posted or shared on social media.

The harshest punishment so far? A man was sentenced to 35 years in jail in 2017 for a series of Facebook posts and comments about the royal family.

Anyone can make an accusation under the law and authorities are bound to investigate.

There is no transparent disclosure of the official number of lese majeste complaints, arrests, charges or sentences  only an inconsistent trickle of information from authorities.

But the use of 112 has risen dramatically since a 2014 coup by the arch-royalist military.

According to legal aid groups, just six people were behind bars on lese majeste convictions before 2014. That number skyrocketed in the following five years, with 169 convictions.

Those charged are almost always convicted. But if they plead guilty, sentences are often halved.

Legal observers and rights campaigners say 112 and other laws like the Computer Crimes Act and sedition, have been used to target dissent in Thailand.

The ultra-royalist military has long used its self-appointed role as the defender of the monarchy to justify coups and political interventions.

But critics say it has used the cover of protecting the monarchy to stifle political opponents and tighten its hold on power.

UN special rapporteur David Kaye urged the regime in 2017 to stop 112 prosecutions, saying such laws "have no place in a democratic country".

Also read: How some exiled critics of Thailand's king Maha Vajiralongkorn are fuelling a revolt

The use of 112 has slowed recently. Premier Prayut Chan-O-Cha  leader of the 2014 coup  said in June that the king had requested the government to "refrain" from using it.

But it isn't just the military  self-appointed ultra-royalist civilian groups also monitor the web and report alleged 112 violations.

Prosecutors have dramatically widened what counts as defamation of the royal family in recent decades to include social media and satire.

An anti-junta activist was sentenced in 2017 after posting a news story on Facebook, even though more than 2,000 others had shared the same article.

His two-and-a-half-year sentence was cut short when the king pardoned him last year.

One man was prosecuted for satirical comments he made about the king's favourite dog.

There is no comparative research that shows which countries use royal defamation laws the most, but historian David Streckfuss says Thailand has been "the leader" since 2006 when it comes to its prosecution rate.

Domestic and international media must routinely self-censor their reporting of lese majeste cases and the monarchy in general, or risk prosecution.

Detailed reports on issues such as the list of recent demands from pro-democracy protesters could put reporters at risk.

Readers who share the news could also face prosecution, and even repeating or summarising the details of 112 charges could be interpreted as a violation.

A pro-democracy movement in Thailand is gathering momentum, with rallies bringing thousands out on the streets in recent weeks.

Some prominent activists, including student leaders, have included the abolition of 112 in its list of demands, calling for an open discussion of the royal family's role in Thailand.

King Maha Vajiralongkorn sits at the apex of Thai power, flanked by the military and the country's billionaire business elite.
Indian shares on Wednesday notched their best closing levels in nearly three weeks, boosted by gains in large-cap banks and IT firms, while drugmaker Dr. Reddys Laboratories jumped on a deal with a Russian fund to cooperate on Moscows vaccine trials.

The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index closed 0.72% higher at 11,604.55, while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex climbed 0.66% to 39,302.85, both marking their highest close since Aug. 28.

Gains of around 2% each in index heavyweights HDFC Bank Ltd and Infosys Ltd helped Indias benchmark indexes outperform peers in Asia and Europe, where risk appetite was limited ahead of the outcome of the US Federal Reserves two-day policy meeting, which ends on Wednesday.

However, a rally in the Nifty Smallcap 100 lost steam after four straight sessions of gains. The Nifty Midcap 50 index ended up 0.29%. Gains in the Nifty and Sensex came even as concerns lingered about Indias relations with China on their disputed Himalayan border and as total cases of the novel coronavirus surged past 5 million.

Meanwhile, Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das said on Wednesday that while high frequency indicators point to some stabilisation of economic activity in the second quarter of the current year, the recovery was not yet fully entrenched. By all indications, the recovery is likely to be gradual as efforts towards re-opening of the economy are confronted with rising infections," Das told members of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industrys national executive committee.

Dr. Reddys Laboratories ended up 4.2% at its best close in over five weeks after it agreed to cooperate with Russias sovereign wealth fund on clinical trials and supply of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine in India. Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd closed 4.2% higher and lifted the Nifty Auto index 1.53%. Private sector lender IndusInd Bank Ltd slid 1.9% and was the biggest percentage loser on the Nifty.
16.09.2020 LISTEN

First, it was one of the Personal Assistants to the Governor of Oyo State, who tried to locate him. After he did, the PA wanted him to come to the Government House at Agodi. He told the PA that he was busy and couldn't come. The PA asked him to hold on, then handed the phone to his boss, Governor Seyi Makinde (GSM) who wanted to know his whereabouts. His answer was not what GSM wanted to hear. GSM appealed to him to come over to the Government House.

While all these conversations were going on, General Yusuf Buratai, the most malevolent Chief of Army Staff in Fulani Republic of Nigeria's1pq1qA trajectory, was sitting there in silence, praying and hoping that Mr. Sunday Igboho would take the bait and agree to come to the Government House. Whatever plans Buratai had for Mr. Igboho, was frustrated because he could not be convinced to come.

As at that time, when GSM was inviting Mr. Igboho, the vicinity of his residence had lorry - loads of soldiers packed here and there. Their purposes and objectives were not clear. But the brave warrior of and for Oodua Nation suspected their intent. He ignored them, doing his thing. His preparations for the October 1, 2020 march to further reinforce the desire of the Yoruba people for Oodua Nation was in top gear.

The enemies coagulated under the auspices of Fulani herdsmen, being enabled by the appurtenances of Nigerian State would seek to destroy him. They have been trying to trace him and arrest him. They have his residence monitored. They have his close friends monitored. Many of his aides are also being monitored. But the owners of Oodua Land would not let this happen. Knowing the way they operate, these enemies would not give up, and he himself must not relent.

"I am not going to be deterred," he had said in a small meeting in which we jointly participated. "This is to be expected. We are not afraid of them. It is time to liberate our land. Yoruba would not be slaves in their land. Omo Oodua ni wa," he had explained further. He then added, "We know their tactics, to intimidate and arrest without trial. But they won't be able to stop us. We will have our Oodua Nation."

Already, word was out that they were planning to arrest him. They were determined to sabotage the October 1 March. The Intelligence officers, like ravenous ants on a mission blessed by the morning dew, are crawling all over the place. They want to have him arrested so that he won't be there for the Yoruba Nation to play his patriotic role in the March For Freedom; in the March of Freedom.

Despite the fact that Mr. Igboho seems to be a number of steps ahead of them, it remains to be seen whether the agents of the Fulani Federal Government would succeed in their dastardly plans to arrest him. They have made Mr. Sunday Igboho the focus of the October 1, 2020 protest march. But he does not mind. His followers are confident and self assured. They are not worried. They are brave warriors for Oodua Nation.

Some detractors have been trying to hawk undue animosity against Mr. Igboho. They have been condescending from their high horses because they have a chain of degrees after their names. They have been contending that Mr. Igboho was not exposed and has not received the kind of "education" that they had. They have forgotten that whiteman's "education" has limited values compared to being actually educated in the ways of our fathers, and the values we inherited from them.

This kind of detractors whose "education" made them to follow certificate forgers as leaders; whose "education" made them to mobilize for a dullard in Mohammadu Buhari who never graduated from a High School to lead this contraption; whose "education" turned to eaters of crumbs while throwing away their self dignity and whose "education" made them unable to stand up, defend their land, their mothers, their daughters, obviously, need some real education in the real sense of it.

Jesus Christ was an ordinary carpenter. Out of his 33 years of physical existence, only the last three was dedicated to his ministry. The impact of those threw years could be attested to by all and sundry. Incidentally, Sam Nujoma of Namibia was also a carpenter. He delivered his people from slavery and colonialism. It is not the height in which you are that matters, it is lowly from whence you come.

In all great moments of History, Providence has a way of intervening. It has a way of resetting the roles of individuals, the roles of a group, the roles of communities and the roles of a race. At such great moments, when seismic events that have shaken the destinies of men took place, those who play indelible roles are never forgotten. They are eternally remember for their heroics.

Mr. Sunday Igboho has been thrusted into the midst of all this to play his role. He has picked up the gauntlet. His concern is the freedom of Yoruba race from the Fulani or any type of domination in our space. Mr. Igboho has hearken the clarion call. He has heard the shrill cries of our women and daughters. He has heard the agonies of the victim of arson and destruction. He wants to play his own part. He is ready to stand in gap for his own Yoruba people.

Mr. Igboho is on the threshold of monumental History making. Yes, this is an opportunity to write his name into History. It is an opportunity that does not come very often. It is an opportunity to separate himself from the run of the mill. Mr. Igboho himself understands the dynamics. He was not born yesterday. He would conduct himself appropriately. He knows what to do.

Ki origun merindinllogun Ile Oodua ko ti lehin. Ase.

"In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility - I welcome it.

-John F. Kennedy

*Remi Oyeyemi*
There is nothing quite like an avocado, and as an industry leader and trusted partner in the retail and foodservice sectors, AFM saw an opportunity to fulfill the rising need for avocado education. A 2016 study conducted by AFM of 1,820 U.S. nationally represented consumers revealed that 73% of shoppers would be more likely to buy avocados if they had more knowledge about them. 1 This and other AFM research, analysis of industry needs, and in-depth consumer insights inspired Avo University. The tech-forward program shows industry professionals "It's That Easy!" to handle, manage and merchandise the product  and equips them to "avo-cate" with consumers, sharing what they have learned.

"Avo University is a first-of-its-kind certification program specific to industry professionals," said Stephanie Bazan, Vice President of Trade and Market Development for Avocados From Mexico. "Right now, education is one of the top purchase barriers in the category. This innovative solution offers our retail partners best-in-class category and product knowledge to support their operations and influence the shopper journey. Ultimately, Avo University creates value by driving demand and consumption."

In retail, Avo University is designed for corporate category managers, produce store associates, wholesalers, and grocery e-commerce professionals. Participants will learn:

How to determine when avocados are ready to eat, based on factors such as blooming, sizing and ripeness

Techniques to maximize avocado freshness and usage, so shoppers can purchase avocados with confidence

The journey an avocado takes on its way to market

Suggested merchandising strategies to help retailers move volume in-store

Tips to share with staff and customers on selecting ready-to-eat avocados

In foodservice, operators and distributors participating in Avo University will learn:

The five stages of avocado ripeness and the best menu uses for each, so no avocados go wasted

Methods for bulk avocado prep and ripening

Avocado handling tips and tricks to maximize restaurant back-of-house techniques

Holding methods to keep avocado halves, slices, dices or guac perfectly green throughout service

"Nothing adds premium appeal to a menu like fresh Avocados From Mexico, and the many tips, tricks and techniques available at Avo University make the category easy and fun to master," said David Spirito, Senior Director of Culinary and Foodservice for Avocados From Mexico. "We look forward to helping foodservice professionals expand their avocado knowledge and impress their guests as a result."

The Avo University curriculum also addresses what makes premium-quality AFM avocados so desirable and in demand, as well as brand partnership opportunities with AFM. To get started visit AvoEasy.com, or to learn more about the Avo University certification and how to partner with AFM contact [email protected].

To learn more about these and other marketing and promotional activities, visit https://avocadosfrommexico.com/, on Facebook (www.facebook.com/AvocadosFromMexico) or Twitter (@AvosFromMexico).

About Avocados From Mexico

Avocados From Mexico (AFM) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Mexican Hass Avocado Importers Association (MHAIA), formed for the purpose of advertising, promotion, public relations and research for all stakeholders of Avocados From Mexico. Under agreements, MHAIA and the Mexican Avocado Producers & Packers (APEAM) have combined resources to fund and manage AFM, with the intent to provide a focused, highly- effective and efficient marketing program in the United States. AFM is headquartered in Irving, Texas.



1 AFM Shopper Mindset Study, 2016.

Contact:

Stephanie Bazan

Vice President, Trade & Market Development

Avocados From Mexico

[email protected]

469-930-5704

SOURCE Avocados From Mexico

Related Links

https://avocadosfrommexico.com


One of the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus rex fossils ever unearthed is coming up for auction and could fetch between $6 million and $8 million.

The 67-million-year-old specimen, named Stan, will be auctioned off by Christie's on Oct. 6 and will be on display in the windows of Christie's Rockefeller Center starting Wednesday. Christie's CEO Guillaume Cerutti said giving the public a chance to see a 40-foot-long, open-mouthed T. rex fossil in the middle of Rockefeller Center could help lift the city's spirits during tough times.

"We believe that after these challenging times, it was important to start the new season with something positive  a moment of joy," Cerutti said.

Stan is one of the most famous T. rex fossils, and one of only about 50 ever discovered, with most displayed in museums. Stan has been on display for years at the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research in South Dakota. It is one of the most complete T. rex fossils ever found, with 188 bones, the head in pristine condition, and with teeth over 11 inches long. It has often been used as the model for T. rex figurines and depictions.

The fossil was found in 1987 by amateur paleontologist Stan Sacrison, hence the fossil's name, in the Hell Creek Formation, part of an area known as the Cretaceous Badlands, which stretches from North Dakota and South Dakota to Wyoming and Montana. Initially, it was misidentified as a more common Triceratops. But in 1992 paleontologists from the institute recognized it as a T. rex.

The bones took more than 30,000 hours to carefully excavate, and it was later installed and displayed at the institute.

Paleontologists say the T. rex, which would have weighed between 7 and 8 tons at his peak, showed signs of a difficult and violent life. He suffered a broken neck, with two of his vertebrae bonding together and a third immobilized. He also had a puncture in his skull and his ribs.

While the business of selling fossils, meteorites and other natural-science trophies has always been active, a T. rex is a rarity and could draw a broader audience of wealthy bidders from around the world.

"This has a true mass appeal," Cerutti said.

The last T. rex fossil to come up for auction was in 1997, when "Sue," also found in South Dakota, sold for $8.36 million. A consortium that included McDonald's and Walt Disney World Resort purchased the fossil and donated it to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.

Whoever buys Stan will get all 188 bones and the elaborate support structure. But assembly is required. Christie's said a buyer will be able to work with the expert company that assembled the fossil to take it apart and put it back together for the buyer.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 16

By Elchin Mehdiyev  Trend:

Azerbaijan and Turkey are linked by strong fraternal ties, Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Yavuz Selim Kiran said.

Kiran made the remark at the webinar entitled "Regional Geopolitical Polarization and Turkish-Azerbaijani Relations" on September 16, Trend reports.

The webinar was jointly organized by the Azerbaijani Center for International Relations Analysis and the Center for Strategic Research of the Turkish Foreign Ministry.

Azerbaijan and Turkey are jointly fighting against all forms of terrorism, the Turkish deputy foreign minister said.

"We express our gratitude to Azerbaijan for support in the fight against Gulen Movement (FETO), Kiran said. We are together in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic and will always be close to Azerbaijan. The brotherhood of Azerbaijan and Turkey is the guarantor of security in the region."

The support for Turkey's position, which was demonstrated by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, when receiving the Greek ambassador, is the highest example of brotherhood between Azerbaijan and Turkey, the Turkish deputy foreign minister said.

In turn, Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov stressed that Azerbaijan and Turkey continue to cooperate successfully in all spheres.

The brotherhood of Turkey and Azerbaijan serves to strengthen moral unity throughout the Turkic world, the Azerbaijani deputy foreign minister added.

Khalafov stressed that cooperation between the two fraternal countries also contributes to the stability and security of the region.

The jointly implemented transnational projects such as the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline, the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP), along with improving the well-being of our peoples, also contribute to the regional and global development processes, Azerbaijani deputy foreign minister said.

The successful implementation of transnational projects opens up new opportunities for the economic cooperation between the two countries," Khalafov added.

The level of the Azerbaijani-Turkish relations has never been on as high of a level as they are now, the Azerbaijani deputy foreign minister said. The two fraternal countries cooperate in the military sphere at the high level.

"There is the necessary legal basis for this, Khalafov added. The recent joint exercises have made an important contribution to increasing the combat readiness of the armies of both countries. Our countries also closely cooperate within the international and regional organizations."

The Azerbaijani deputy foreign minister added that the trade turnover between the two countries increased by 33 percent in 2019 and the growth of trade turnover continued this year despite COVID-19 pandemic.
COVID-19 has triggered an economic downturn in Northern Ireland 10 times more severe than that experienced at the start of the year, an economist has said.

Ulster Bank chief economist Richard Ramsey also warned that recovery to pre-Covid levels of activity in the economy could take until 2024 or 2025.

Northern Ireland had already been in recession at the outset of 2020 but Covid-19 had triggered something much worse, he said.

Addressing the Stormont Economy Committee on Wednesday, Mr Ramsey predicted that the Northern Ireland unemployment rate of 2.9% could rise to 10% before the job market starts to recover.

And he said 16 to 24-year-olds would continue to be hardest-hit by a loss of jobs resulting from lockdown and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mr Ramsey predicted that youth unemployment could soar to 25% - its current rate, according to the labour force survey for May to July, is 8.2% .

While NI was in the eye of a storm at the moment, there would be a far worse hit to the jobs market than weve already seen.

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Lifting Covid restrictions has improved the economic environment but this is not the end of it, Mr Ramsey said.

We will see another storm and indeed, this will be most marked in the labour market - where there is more damage to come than we have had already.

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Paul MacFlynn, a senior economist at think tank the Nevin Economic Research Institute, told MLAs that there was a continued need to support workers after the governments Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is fully wound down at the end of next month. It has preserved the jobs of up to 250,000 people in Northern Ireland.

He said that the CRJS, also known as furlough, had preserved the relationship between employee and employer in the short-term.

However, a shift in the economy during lockdown had meant that some jobs would be no longer viable.

Covid had accelerated trends in employment that would have occurred more gradually otherwise, he said - and for that reason, workers would need support.

We need a mind shift from supporting jobs to supporting workers. There are firms who will survive in different forms without the same job numbers as before.

Lockdown has pushed them towards tech or automation which they havent considered before as there just wasnt the incentive before... so its just not viable for them to bring workers back.

Covid is pushing something more quickly which would have occurred organically further...

The idea should be that were no longer supporting a worker to remain as they were before the crisis. Instead, we have to equip that worker whos seeking new work with the skills and the resources that theyre going to need to regain employment.

Mr MacFlynn said there was a fairly bleak vista ahead - but that the impact of the pandemic could usher in a new way of looking at employment.

Many jobs will have been lower-value added and lower-paid jobs which arent doing any good for the person whos doing them. If we instead start to look at job quality instead of just job quantity, we may actually be able to garner something better at the other end of this crisis.
Pastors wife known as saint drowns while rafting with church group on Nolichucky River

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Louvella Arrowood, the beloved wife of a North Carolina pastor, considered by some who knew her to be a saint, drowned Saturday while rafting with a church group along the Nolichucky River. She was 63.

Matt Moses, CEO of USA Raft, said in a statement that Arrowood, whose husband is the Rev. Jimmy Arrowood, was on the 2:30 p.m. rafting trip with 14 guests and three guides when the raft she was traveling in was flipped by a rapid.

The trip started at Poplar, North Carolina, and was set to run through Class 3-4 whitewater for 8 miles to the takeout at Erwin, Tennessee.

At the beginning of a substantial rapid, a raft flipped. Two other rafts were positioned downstream as part of standard safety procedures and immediately began recovering guests. All guests were recovered by the other rafts quickly, Moses said in his statement.

Sgt. Gale Wilson with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, which investigates all accidents on state waterways, told the Citizen Times that the pastors wife was under water for about 5 to 8 minutes before she was pulled from the river.

We are heartbroken to report that she passed away, he said.

Arrowood was pulled from the river into a raft and found to be unresponsive. USA Raft guides as well as guests provided CPR until emergency services arrived but they could not revive her.

At this point, we are doing everything we can to support the family and our staff members that were both on the river that day or involved in the efforts from our headquarters in Erwin. What happened Saturday was a tragedy for our guests, our guides and community. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of the deceased as well as everyone that was on the trip or otherwise involved, Moses said.

Arrowood was a nurse serving Blue Ridge Regional Hospital and several private practices over the years and she loved spending time with her grandchildren, according to an obituary. It also noted that while she attended Odoms Chapel Free Will Baptist Church she was a member of Middle District Free Will Baptist Church where Pastor Scott Jenkins remembered her fondly.

RIP Louvella. You will be forever loved and greatly missed. You left a wonderful legacy. We are comforted in the truth that we will be reunited in Gods glorious heaven one day, Jenkins, noted in a statement on Facebook.

Smithville, Texas, resident Hattie Belle Crader, who says Arrowoods husband previously served as her pastor, remembered her as a saint.

Rest in Heaven Louvella, hug my daddy for me. Rev. Jimmy Arrowood was my pastor growing up, the man who baptized me in that little creek.His lovely wife Louvella was in my opinion, a saint. She taught me so much more than she ever knew, about life, God, and love. I'll never forget it... I know she's touched a lot of lives, she will be very missed. Sending up prayers for the family and all who are heartbroken by this loss, Crader said in a statement on Facebook.

Along with her husband, Arrowood is survived by her daughter, Christy Cain Adam; son, Aaron Arrowood; sisters Angie Hopson and Elenia Yelton; brother, Eugene Yelton, and several grandchildren.
Working from home

Agricultural companies targeted

(TNS)  In the first six months of the year, as most of the world shut down because of COVID-19 and workers everywhere shifted to working remotely, online criminals and state-backed hackers got busy breaking into computer networks, especially those of manufacturing, technology and telecom companies.Indeed, hackers worked at a greater pace than they did all of last year, according to cybersecurity research firm CrowdStrike.Companies in as many as 27 different industries fell victim to the hackers, nearly double the number of industries that were targeted in all of 2019, CrowdStrike said in a report made public Tuesday.While technology, telecom and financial companies are routinely targeted, the manufacturing industry has experienced a dramatic increase in interactive intrusion activity compared to past years, CrowdStrike said. Manufacturing companies saw an 11 percent increase in attacks and intrusions on their networks compared with all of 2019, the company said.The attacks on manufacturing companies observed by CrowdStrike affected the business systems or front-office networks rather than computers involved in factory control systems, Jennifer Ayers, vice president at CrowdStrike, wrote in an email to CQ Roll Call.The report is based on CrowdStrikes analysis of attacks on its clients networks around the globe.Both online criminals and state-sponsored hackers may have chosen to target industries already left vulnerable because of large-scale disruption in their global supply chain of materials, CrowdStrike said. Businesses experiencing trouble getting materials and supplies led attackers to believe that the companies may be more inclined to pay a ransom to prevent further disruption, CrowdStrike said.Criminal groups are focused on monetary gain through ransom and extortion by theft of data, whereas state-sponsored attackers are focused on a different agenda which can range from espionage to [intellectual property] theft as examples, Ayers said.For nation-state hackers, international trade tensions, increased competition for essential goods, and efforts by some firms to decrease their reliance on offshore suppliers could all have contributed to increased foreign interest in the operations of firms in these sectors, CrowdStrike said in the report.But in some cases the difference in tactics used by the two kinds of attackers is blurred, with criminal groups willing to play the long game in search of greater profits, the report said.The increase in attacks was also likely driven by the sudden shift to remote working, and the accelerated set up of new infrastructure by many companies, which may have led to more security gaps and vulnerabilities being exploited, the report said.Some companies made sure to take the security of their corporate networks into account as they made the transition to remote work, while some have had to invest heavily or change their security strategy to survive, Ayers said.If you had to move the majority of your business to an online presence rapidly but did not employ basic security, that is a ripe target for a criminal actor who could deploy ransomware and request several million dollars to recover, Ayers said.That can decimate a business not just operationally but financially as well, Ayers added. This year, at this time, it is not an if there will be an attack, it is a when and that statement applies to all companies regardless of size.Although some industries saw a spike in attacks directed at them, others such as airlines, hospitality and retail businesses saw a drop in hackers targeting them, mostly because the industries were the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and likely offered little potential for extracting ransoms, CrowdStrike said.For state-backed hackers, companies in agriculture, health care, media, tech and telecom appeared to be the most attractive, with more than one hostile country targeting these sectors, CrowdStrike found.North Korea and China are both targeting agriculture companies, the report said.In one case, a North Korean government-backed group code-named Labyrinth Chollima targeted an unnamed agricultural company by sending one of its employees an unsolicited job offer, which the victim then opened. The Microsoft Word document attached to the email contained a malicious code that allowed the hacker to copy files on the CrowdStrike clients network. The attack was stopped after CrowdStrike identified the attack and took steps to prevent any data loss, the report said.The attack could be a case of economic espionage targeting a sector that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has identified as key to the countrys economic development, CrowdStrike said.Six separate Chinese hacking groups are targeting telecom companies, a popular target for state-backed hackers, CrowdStrike said.The United States has been waging a campaign against Chinese telecom giant Huawei, alleging that the companys attempts to establish a global leadership in 5G mobile phone technologies is a way for Beijing to gain access to sensitive data from all over the world. Huawei denies these allegations, but under pressure from Washington, many U.S. allies have declined to allow Huawei access to their networks.An Iran-based hacking group code-named Tracer Kitten used a custom-designed backdoor to break into a telecom company that had operations in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, CrowdStrike said.The telecom industry still remains firmly within the crosshairs for targeted attacks, the motivations of which are likely associated with espionage and data theft objectives, CrowdStrike said.In another case involving an attack on a health care company in Asia, CrowdStrike found that Chinese hackers had penetrated the companys network using a remote-access tool that masqueraded as a genuine Microsoft Windows process available on GitHub, an online platform that hosts open-source software code used by programmers.Companies across the globe need to step up investment and attention on defending their computer networks, constantly watching for attacks, CrowdStrike said.In my opinion, defense can be less expensive than trying to recover from an attack, Ayers said.
Of all the touching tributes to Jaimi Kenny in the wake of her tragic death, one of the most poignant came from her mother's biggest swimming rival whose daughter also died too young.

Lisa Curry and Tracey Wickham were Australia's golden girls of the pool during the 1980s, winning more than 20 international swimming gold medals between them.

But while celebrated by the nation and cheered on in unison in the pool, the pair were far from friends.

Famously in the lead up to the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane, Lisa belittled her rival by slow clapping her as she walked out on to the pool deck.

Yet when Lisa and her fellow sporting champion ex-husband Grant Kenny released a statement about Jaimi's death at just 33, Wickham was among the first to pay tribute.

Having lost her own daughter Hannah to cancer at just 19 in 2007, Wickham told her grieving one-time swimming rival: 'I can't believe we both have lost our beloved daughters'.

Olympic swimmer Lisa (right) and her Ironman ex-husband Grant Kenny released a statement on Monday informing the public about the death of their eldest daughter Jaimi (left) at age 33

Lisa's former swimming rival Tracey Wickham has paid an emotional tribute in the wake of her daughter Jaimi's death on Monday. Wickham lost her own daughter Hannah at age 19 to cancer in 2007 (She is pictured posing next to a photo of her daughter at the launch of the Hannah's Chance Foundation in 2008)

Jaimi Kenny (left), the daughter of Lisa Curry, and Hannah Ciobo (right), the daughter of fellow Australian swimming star Tracey Wickham, both passed away after long battles with illness

Wickham told her grieving one-time swimming rival: 'I can't believe we both have lost our beloved daughters'

'Lisa, my heart breaks for you and your family,' Wickham posted on Lisa's Instagram.

'It's a tragic time when losing a child. I can't believe we both have lost our beloved daughters.

'God bless you and hoping everyone holds you tight. Big hugs... much love. Tracey.'

Hannah Ciobo was just a teenager when she was diagnosed with synovial cancer in 2004 and bravely battled the rare disease for three years.

Just hours before her death she married 'soulmate' Tom O'Driscoll from her hospital bed.

The pair had met in hospital where he too was fighting cancer.

At Hannah's funeral her mother - the former world record holder in the 400m, 800m and 1500m swimming events - described her daughter as her 'rock'.

'When I first laid eyes on my newborn baby girl, the love for Hannah was overwhelming,' Wickham said.

'A full head of dark, curly hair - an absolute stunner from day one.

'She was my teacher and she was my rock.

'She knew how to light up the room, she only had to smile to do that.'

Wickham previously told how when she was 19 - the same age her daughter died at - she and Curry were involved in a poolside spat.

Wickham (left) and Curry (centre) show off their medals after the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane, where both were Australia's golden girls of the pool

Wickham is pictured with her daughter Hannah (right) and son Daniel (left) in 2001 after a thief broke into their family home and stole three of her international gold medals

A shattered Wickham is helped out of the funeral service for her daughter Hannah in 2007. Just hours before her death Hannah had married her 'soulmate' Tom O'Driscoll, who she met while he was also undergoing treatment for cancer

Wickham (left) held the world records in the 400m, 800m and 1500m swimming events

At the Queensland state titles ahead of the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane, she took on Curry at her opponent's pet distance having rested from all other events.

'Lisa says: "Oh we've decided to swim have we?",' Wickham recalled to The Brisbane Times, telling how Lisa gave her a slow clap as she walked up the starting block.

'I was so angry.

'It was like Steve Moneghetti racing Michael Johnson over 100m but I thought I have to win this to prove a point.'

And win she did, just edging ahead of her bitter rival to win by less than a stroke.

Jaimi Kenny passed away at Sunshine Coast University Hospital on Monday morning surrounded by her family, including both her Olympian mother and Ironman father.

For years she had been supported by her parents and siblings through many years of treatment at private clinic End ED, on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland.

Shattered staff at the clinic said they could not discuss Jaimi's struggle, but told how she became part of the 'family' over the years.

Despite her struggles with weight, friends of Jaimi told how she always brought 'light and laughter' to the lives of those she around her.

Jaimi Kenny sits on her mother's shoulders as she returns from the Auckland Commonwealth Games in 1990 with a gold medal around her neck

Jaimi had privately battled an eating disorder for many years and was supported through her struggles by her family (Pictured L to R: Jaimi, newlyweds Ryan Gruell and Morgan Kenny, Grant Kenny, Lisa Curry and Jett Kenny)

Jett Kenny (left) shared an emotional tribute to his sister (right) on Instagram, admitting he may 'not have always been the best brother' but that they 'loved one another unconditionally'

'Bright, caring and loving soul': Lisa spoke of her 'unbearable' pain in a gut-wrenching post on Tuesday (above). Her post was interspersed with pink floral emojis - an ode to Jaimi's 'love of flowers'

Lisa described her family's pain at losing her 'beautiful daughter' as 'unbearable'.

'Our hearts are completely broken. Our beautiful daughter Jaimi has lost her battle with a long-term illness and passed away peacefully in hospital yesterday morning with her loving family by her side,' Lisa wrote.

'So loved. So beautiful. So kind to everyone... So painful. I can barely breathe.

'Jaimi will forever be remembered as a caring, bright and loving soul who always put others before herself. Her love of flowers, cooking, art, decorating, photography, babies, the beach, and helping others will always be remembered.

'Our hearts are broken and the pain is unbearable but we cherish every wonderful moment we got to share with our treasured and so loved first child.'

Lisa's ex-husband Grant broke the news of their daughter's death on Monday with a public statement.

Jaimi was the couple's eldest child, and a sibling to sister Morgan and son Jett.

Lisa and Grant married in 1986 and were one of Australia's most famous couples with both enjoying individual sporting success on the world stage.

But after their separation in 2019, Grant has since welcomed a fourth child with radio presenter Fifi Box, while Lisa married Elvis impersonator Mark Tabone in 2018.

Jaimi continued a close friendship with Fifi even after she separated from her father.

Co-parents: Lisa and Grant separated in 2009 after 23 years of marriage. They are pictured with Jaimi on the Sunshine Coast on April 3, 2008

Her model brother Jett paid tribute to his sister on Tuesday, admitting that while he 'may not have been the best brother' they 'loved one another unconditionally'.

'I may not have been the best brother to you all the time, I know you thought you werent being the big sister I needed all the time, but I do know we loved one another unconditionally all the time,' he wrote.

'I will love you forever. Rest In Peace my beautiful big sister, the world lost one of its treasures yesterday but heaven gained one. You will be dearly missed by all whose lives you touched.'

Jaimi had just turned 33 in June, with her mother taking to social media at the time to wish her a happy birthday.

'Our first born. Really... where have all those years gone! Have a lovely day bubba. We all love you so much,' Lisa wrote.
The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, on Tuesday held a meeting with the Chairman of the House Committee on Niger Delta Affairs, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo.

The meeting also had the spokesperson of the House of Assembly, Benjamin Kalu, as well as the acting Clerk to the National Assembly, Olatunde Ojo, in attendance. The meetings held separately and behind closed doors, Punch Newspaper reports.

Although the outcome of the meetings was not disclosed, it is not unrelated to the National Assemblys investigation on the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

Prior to the annual recess, both chambers of the National Assembly commenced investigation into the alleged financial recklessness of the commission as well as mismanagement of N81.5bn by the interim management of the NDDC.

READ ALSO:

The probe, which lasted for over a month, witnessed shocking revelations including how the commission spent N1.5 billion for staff as COVID-19 relief funds.

Both officials of the NDDC and some lawmakers on the panel accused each of being culpable.

In the same vein, the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, had challenged Mr Akpabio to list lawmakers who are complicit after the latter listed some lawmakers and said there were more to be named.

After his meeting with the Clerk, the minister was asked, on the charge by Mr Gbajabiamila, to present proof of his allegation.

No, no, no, you are wrong. That was not what the Honourable Speaker demanded. The Speaker wanted to know whether there was undue influence from any section of the National Assembly in respect of contracts in the NDDC. He did not say whether they were contractors. So, Im hearing it from you was his response.

National Assembly is National Assembly. We must ensure that there is harmony between the legislature and the executive, and that harmony has existed. In fact, we are just talking to the Clerk of the National Assembly that today, we have a better National Assembly, by implication the Senate and House of Reps, in terms of legislative-executive harmony and cordiality, he added.

The Senate panel has since submitted its report and made recommendations to President Muhammadu Buhari who had earlier asked that the probe be taken seriously.

Part of the recommendations was asking the NDDC to refund all unjustifiable funds paid to staffers. It also vowed to investigate alleged complicity of members.

The House panel is yet to consider its report.
Asthma prevalence and mortality remains highest for Black and Puerto Rican Americans; report identifies specific actions for change

Black and Hispanic Americans continue to have the highest rates of asthma. Hispanics of Puerto Rican descent have the highest rates of asthma compared to any other racial or ethnic group in the United States.

Black and Hispanic Americans continue to have the highest rates of asthma. Hispanics of Puerto Rican descent have the highest rates of asthma compared to any other racial or ethnic group in the United States.

Washington D.C., Sept. 16, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A new, comprehensive report from the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA) shows stubbornly persistent disparities in asthma for Black and Hispanic Americans. The Asthma Disparities in America: A Roadmap to Reducing Burden on Racial and Ethnic Minorities report examines serious gaps in asthma rates, care and outcomes. The report follows AAFAs Ethnic Disparities in the Burden and Treatment of Asthma report from 2005.

While AAFAs 15-year review demonstrates modest improvements in quality of health care overall and asthma disparities beginning to shrink between some racial groups, the U.S. is falling far short in eliminating the problem for Black and Hispanic Americans who experience the most stunning differences. AAFAs latest report lays out specific strategies and tactics for prioritizing policies and programs to improve asthma health for Americans most at risk while dismantling systems that fuel harmful disparities.

The significance of the timing of this report is not lost on us as the struggles of the world around us closely mirror our findings and objectives. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to surge and expose what we've found when it comes to asthma: populations of color are disproportionately impacted, said Kenneth Mendez, AAFAs CEO and president. Racial injustice is being met with a powerful global reawakening that is calling for change. Racism and discrimination touch almost every facet of our lives including health, and it comes as no surprise sharp inequities continue in the community we serve affected by asthma.

Story continues

Due to health impacts of systemic racism and other structural failures, some key facts of the report show:

Black and Hispanic Americans continue to have the highest rates of asthma. Hispanics of Puerto Rican descent have the highest rates of asthma compared to any other racial or ethnic group in the United States.

Black Americans remain three times more likely to die from asthma than white Americans.

Black patients are five times more likely to be treated for asthma in hospital emergency rooms compared to white patients, a gap that has remained unchanged since 2005.

More Black women die from asthma than any other group.

American Indian and Alaska Natives also have some of the highest rates of asthma prevalence, morbidity, and mortality. However, data is thin for tribal nations. AAFA is calling for more immediate investment in research and data collection to help improve outcomes for Indigenous Americans.

The findings in our Asthma Disparities in America report arent surprising. Causes of disparities in asthma have been documented for decades and effective interventions have been successfully implemented in various populations, said Sanaz Eftekhari, vice president of research at AAFA. Despite this, disparities persist. Why? It boils down to two reasons: insufficient funding and lack of political will. Achieving equity in asthma is completely possible if all stakeholders agree to prioritize this work and invest the resources needed to make real change.

AAFAs report details 69 specific strategies to effectuate change. It also serves as a working guide and action plan for like-minded individuals, organizations and other stakeholders dedicated to upending dangerous racial and ethnic imbalances causing the most harm to people of color with asthma.

Its important we not only describe these egregious inequities but fully shift the focus toward finally eliminating them once and for all, said Melanie Carver, AAFAs chief mission officer. Thats why weve created a roadmap within our report of direct action items aimed at tearing down barriers creating the heaviest burden on Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous Americans living with asthma. This report is also a call-to action to fix systemic failures and improve asthma care overall.

Health disparities not only have an impact on affected groups but also limit the overall quality of health care for the entire population, leading to avoidable costs to the health care system. It is estimated that, from 2019 to 2038, the total cost of uncontrolled asthma could exceed $963 billion in direct and indirect costs. Asthma is also the leading chronic disease among children and a top reason for missed school days.

You can find AAFAs full report and executive summary at aafa.org/asthmadisparities

##

About AAFA

Founded in 1953, AAFA is the oldest and largest non-profit patient organization dedicated to saving lives and reducing the burden of disease for people with asthma, allergies and related conditions through research, education, advocacy and support. AAFA offers extensive support for individuals and families affected by asthma and allergic diseases, such as food allergies and atopic dermatitis (eczema). Through its online patient support communities, network of local chapters and affiliated support groups, AAFA empowers patients and their families by providing practical, evidence-based information and community programs and services. AAFA is the only asthma and allergy patient advocacy group that is certified to meet the standards of excellence set by the National Health Council. For more information, visit www.aafa.org.

Attachment

CONTACT: Kafi Brown, Public Relations Director Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America 202.974.1223 kbrown@aafa.org




Felon With Guns Stole From Seattle Store Because of Anger Towards Police: Charging Documents

Defendant said he was getting revenge for police killing his friend

A felon was arrested Tuesday after admitting to breaking into a store during riots in Seattle because of anger over a friend being killed by police, federal authorities said.

Al Talaga, 32, of Aurburn, Washington, was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. He faces up to five years in prison.

According to a criminal complaint obtained by The Epoch Times, Seattle police officers responded on June 1 to a report of a burglary in progress at the Sneaker City store on Pike Street.

Officers rushed to the scene and witnessed several people exiting the building through a broken window. Officers gave chase but several ran away, and a driver went onto a sidewalk, nearly hitting an officer and two suspects he was trying to detain.

A witness told police that he saw between 10 and 15 people enter the store, and three or four vehicles parked nearby. Another witness saw a large group gathering in Sneaker Citys parking lot, despite the fact it had been closed since March because of rules imposed amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

One of the witnesses said he saw suspects loading stolen items into a Dodge Magnum that was parked nearby. Police found stolen merchandise and a gun in the drivers side door panel.

Detectives called the phone number for the owner of the vehicle and Talaga answered. He initially claimed his vehicle had been stolen but eventually admitted that it had not been stolen. He said he was in the area of Sneaker City on the night of the robbery.

Talaga said he broke into Sneaker City and stole some items. He said he did it because the police killed his friend.

Thats why Im taking out my anger like that, he said, adding later, Its going to make me happy because I know that my tax dollar that Im paying, Im taking it right back.

Talaga said another gun was inside the glove department. He said he was aware he was not legally able to possess firearms because of prior convictions, including one for robbery in the second degree. He said his DNA and fingerprints would probably be on the gun because he moved it from the glove box.

A search warrant was obtained for the vehicle and a loaded Glock 22 .40 pistol was found in the drivers side door panel. Another gun, an FNP .40 caliber pistol, was located underneath the floor mat on the passenger side.

Seven new pairs of Air Jordans and other stolen items were also discovered, along with drugs.

No lawyer was listed for Talaga, who was due to appear in court later Wednesday.

The Seattle Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, a federal agency, worked together to investigate the case.
New Delhi:

Aviation regulator DGCA has ordered a probe into the incident involving an IndiGo flight which made an emergency landing at the Kolkata airport on Wednesday due to a serious engine glitch.

The flight, carrying 180 passengers including two infants onboard, was on its way to Dibrugarh from New Delhi when it was diverted to Kolkatas Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport.

One of the aircraft engines was shut midway which forced the IndiGo Delhi-Dibrugarh flight to made emergency landing at Kolkata airport. It is a very serious issue. The DGCA has launched its investigation into the incident, sources said today.

A response from IndiGo on the issue is awaited.

However, IndiGo had on Thursday claimed that its pilot had not sought emergency landing of its flight and Kolkata ATC had acted on its own.

Despite that cockpit crew did not declare any emergency, ATC (Kolkata) declared full emergency on its own. The aircraft landed safely, IndiGo said in the statement.
NEW MILFORD  An empty building soon will return to the tax rolls after the Town Council, in a split vote Monday, approved the sale of 25 Church Street for nearly $295,000.

While councilmembers largely supported the sale, some opposed using an executive order to do it because it bypassed the town meeting required by the town charter.

I know were in new times, but that doesnt mean we can scuttle our town charter, Councilman David Lawson said.

Talk of selling the building began several years ago under then Mayor David Gronbach. This offer from David and Scott Benincasa came in early March, just before the coronavirus outbreak led businesses and town offices to temporarily close.

The Benincasas plan to put in 10 to 20 high-end apartments, Mayor Pete Bass said. Adding housing in downtown has been highlighted as a need in recent market studies.

When Bass was elected, he asked the Facilities Utilization Committee to look at the building, along with the other town buildings to determine the best uses and actual costs for them.

New Milfords charter requires any town building sales to be decided at a town meeting.

Gov. Ned Lamont, however, issued an executive order earlier this year allowing local boards to make decisions since town meetings and, at the time referendums, werent allowed out of concerns of spreading the coronavirus. It largely applied to passing budgets, which needed to be done before the new fiscal year started in July.

Some council members questioned if this sale was an emergency and needed to keep the town operating. Council members Lawson, Mary Jane Lundgren and Michael Nahom opposed the sale for this reason.

I dont see the urgency, the necessity or the emergency in all of it, Lawson said.

Nahom said the town, state and nation were using the emergency to sidestep too many things.

The health director has said he wouldnt approve an indoor meeting that exceeded 25 people based on coronavirus conditions, which doesnt meet the requirements needed for a town meeting, Town Attorney Randy DiBella said.

Hes very cautious, as he should be because he doesnt want anyone to get sick, DiBella said.

He said they couldnt have a virtual town meeting either because the registrars couldnt control who was on it and ensure that everyone was a registered New Milford voter. He suggested a hybrid plan that would allow a public hearing for residents to comment before Town Council voted. Some council members suggested adding it to the Nov. 3 ballot.

Other council members said they werent sure they would get a better offer than the $295,000, which is the propertys appraised value. They worried the Benincasas would back out if they had to wait much longer and they wanted to get the building back on the tax rolls. They also said the public had a chance to comment speak about the sale during Mondays public comment, and the public elected them to make decisions to keep the town going.

Constructed in 1920, the building has nearly 4,000 square feet of livable space. The town bought it in 2001, according to the towns property records.

On Monday, councilmembers Douglas Skelly, Michael Gold, Chris Cosgrove, Walter Bayer and Katy Francis approved the sale.

I think we should move forward and get it done, Gold said.

This isnt the first disagreement regarding the building. It drew some controversy because Gronbach moved Gallery 25 out of the space and into the old railroad station. He considered moving Housatonic Probate Court there in 2016, providing more space for the court, but the court instead moved to the old parks and recreation building, leaving the building open.

A then-councilman bid on the property, and the ethics commission ruled he didnt violate the towns ethics code.

kkoerting@newstimes.com
Experts and advocates are sounding the alarm as the federal government transitions from COVID-19 emergency aid to other recovery benefits, calling the move a recipe for economic disaster.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 15/9/2020 (493 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Experts and advocates are sounding the alarm as the federal government transitions from COVID-19 emergency aid to other recovery benefits, calling the move a "recipe for economic disaster."

As of Sept. 27, more than four million Canadians who received the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) will no longer have access to the weekly $500  with only about half eligible for lower payments under the revamped employment insurance program, according to a report released Tuesday.

Roughly three million people will be "worse off" once the switch happens, suggests data from a new study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives  at least 50,000 of them are in Winnipeg.

"It shouldnt be entirely surprising that were all very worried," senior CCPA economist David Macdonald told the Free Press. "Government hasnt even come back yet after they prorogued Parliament, and all these changes were announced just weeks ago."

Access to EI benefits is normally based on the number of insurable hours someone has worked in the year prior to their application, or since their last claim under a qualifying period. In major cities such as Winnipeg, that means working about 700 or so hours for a given year before being eligible.

Under new rules, Ottawa has temporarily altered eligibility: a minimum of 120 insurable hours or documentation that an individuals been unemployed since March will provide them with a payment of $377 per week, on average.

Stressing that "major reduction" in funds for at least 1.3 million Canadians switching between the benefits, Macdonald said 781,000 people wont automatically be switched over and will have to apply manually.

"CERB was definitely generous and there's no shying away from that," he said. "But it was also necessary because of the times we're in. And certainly, the EI just isn't like that  it's quite restrictive."

On top of that, the CCPA estimates about 482,000 people will stop receiving recovery support altogether. Around 20,000 of those are in Manitoba.

Macdonald believes a majority of those are gig, contract and low-wage workers who make less than $1,000 per month.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS About 30 or so of the tenants I work with are on social assistance, rooming house landlord Steve Tait said Tuesday.

"The transition off of CERB will be historic," he said. "The timeline is tight and the stakes are very high, so were urging the government to be very careful about these changes and how they could adversely affect vulnerable people who are still going through a crisis during this pandemic."

For Steve Tait, who runs lower-income housing in Winnipeg, the end of CERB could mean "watching more people get homeless and out on the streets."

"About 30 or so of the tenants I work with are on social assistance," he said Tuesday. "Thankfully, not all of them applied for CERB. But some of them did, and now theyre unfortunately going to feel the consequences of that."

The end of CERB could mean watching more people get homeless and out on the streets.  Steve Tait

Meantime, the CCPA suggests more women will be worse off when the switch to EI happens (about 1.6 million women versus 1.2 million men). The research organization also believes the change will "disproportionately affect" people who face long-term unemployment, international students, migrant workers and recent immigrants.

The new recovery programs have yet to become legislation, however, since Parliament is out of session.

Come Sept. 23, a four-day window will be open for the feds to make changes to the emergency benefits  which Macdonald hopes is when Ottawa will increase EI to match the former CERB.

"We certainly hope they'll listen to us and other economists who want them to do better."

Twitter: @temurdur

Temur.Durrani@freepress.mb.ca
Paris, Sep 16 : German youngster Lennard Kamna won the Stage 16 of the Tour de France after attacking over the summit of the penultimate climb to distance fellow escapee Richard Carapaz of Ecuador.

Exactly one month after his first pro win on the Criterium du Dauphine, and four days after he narrowly missed out in the Massif Central, Bora-Hansgrohe's Kamna put in an emphatic display of power and finesse in the Vercors Massif to take a maiden Grand Tour stage win from a large group of 23 riders.

Carapaz cut a lonely figure as he crossed the line 1'27" down to take second place for Ineos Grenadiers, who also saw the Russian Pavel Sivakov take fourth place behind Switzerland's Sebastien Reichenbach (Groupama-FDJ).

By placing three riders in the day's break, Ineos Grenadiers displayed aggressive tactics as the British team looked to turn a page following the collapse of defending champion Egan Bernal on the Grand Colombier in Stage 15. For his part, the Colombian definitely checked out of the GC battle by coming home in a gruppetto over 10 minutes behind the yellow jersey group.

Slovenia's Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) was called on to put out a small fire after compatriot Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) lit up the final climb to Villard-de-Lans with an explosive attack. The group of main favourites were eventually led home by Colombia's Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) almost 17 minutes down on Kamna as Roglic retained his 40-second lead over Pogacar ahead of Wednesday's queen stage in the Alps.

The 164-km stage from La Tour-du-Pin originally saw Bora-Hansgrohe work for Peter Sagan in his bid to slash his deficit on green jersey Sam Bennett of Deceuninck-Quick Step. But after the Slovakian was unable to infiltrate the day's break, the focus shifted to the stage spoils with Italy's Daniel Oss working hard to pave the way for Kamna.

But the 24-year-old Kamna had the measure of the current Giro d'Italia champion, dropping Carapaz near the summit of the Montee de Saint-Nizier-du-Moucherotte with 20km remaining before stretching out his lead on the descent and long drag to the foot of the final rise to the finish.

"I'm feeling great - it's an absolutely awesome day for me," Kamna said after the biggest win of his career. "It was from the beginning and I knew I'd have to make it to the finish alone, so when I saw that Carapaz was dropping the speed I thought 'now is the moment to go'. It's big for me and a relief for the team. The step I've made this year is so huge and I'm blessed to win today."

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
The swag is in the bag. The COVID-19 health crisis has forced consumers to shift their purchasing power online and prioritize safety. Now more than ever, brand managers face new challenges to maximize exposure for their products.

The swag is in the bag. SwagBag VIP is upending 2020 experiential marketing and digital marketing with its fresh direct-to-consumer community approach. Using a quarterly at-home delivery process, SwagBag VIP safely* showcases great products, allowing for authentic interactions and social sharing, while shoppers spend more time in their households and remain socially distant.

The COVID-19 health crisis has forced consumers to shift their purchasing power online and prioritize safety. Now more than ever, brand managers face new challenges to maximize exposure for their products, said Jason Abrahams, co-founder of SwagBag VIP.

SwagBag VIP is a brand amplification platform that connects brands with a select database of Tastemakers. Tastemakers are everyday consumers with a loyal, yet fierce social media following of 1,000  2,000 users on average. Qualified and pre-screened Tastemakers sample four products included in each curated SwagBag and share their experience with friends, family and followers via word-of-mouth and social media.

SwagBag VIP provides a viral integrated marketing program for brand partners that includes direct in-home delivery and physical sampling to 1,000 multi-dwelling Tastemaker homes, plus social media amplification, email campaigns, digital advertising and real-time consumer feedback data. Tastemakers use curated brand content, hashtags and promotion codes to increase visibility, engagement and bottom-line sales.

As brands and retailers continue to follow COVID-19 health and safety recommendations eliminating public in-person product demonstrations and live events, the ability to get product samples in the hands of consumers will continue to increase, explained Jeff Sodikoff, co- founder of SwagBag VIP.

Through this all-inclusive program, our intent is to boost brand awareness, connect consumers and drive excitement and sales for brand partners, said Sodikoff.

The first delivery of the SwagBag VIP will ship following Thanksgiving, in time for the holiday season.



All SwagBag VIP fulfillment and distribution follows CDC guidelines for COVID-19

About SwagBag VIP:

SwagBag VIP is a premier brand amplification platform connecting brands with a vast database of Tastemakers, everyday consumers with a loyal and close-knit, yet fierce social media following. SwagBag VIP provides a viral integrated marketing program for brands looking to get their products directly into the homes of their target audiences and expand their word-of-mouth efforts. The company is the brainchild of two marketing veterans with a combined 45+ years of experiential, live events and brand marketing experience; working with top companies including Sony Music, JVC Kenwood, Southern Wine & Spirits, KraftHeinz, General Mills, Allstate, Toyota and Starbucks. Learn more at swagbagvip.com.

Media Contact:

Sabrina S.

sabrina@santuccimedia.com

https://swagbagvip.com

@swagbagvip

facebook.com/swagbagvip

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No central data on death, injury to people during lockdown enforcement: Govt in RS

328 urban cooperative banks have more than 15% gross NPA ratio: FM in Lok Sabha

Crimes of loot, murder, rape gone up in Jharkhand, says BJP MP in Lok Sabha

This Bill does not regulate cooperative banks: FM Sitharaman in Lok Sabha

PTI

On third day of monsoon session, Rajya Sabha held discussion on Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda Bill 2020 and passed the bill by voice vote.

A heated discussion on Covid-19 was held in the upper house of Parliament during which various leaders raised points regarding migrant workers and the lockdown imposed by the government.

The health minister will respond to the question raised in today's session on Thursday

With various precautionary measures at place, the monsoon session of Parliament commenced from Monday amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The 18-day long session is slated to conclude on October 1 and is being held amid many firsts, including sitting of the two Houses in shifts without any off day, entry only to those having a negative Covid-19 report and compulsory wearing of masks during the session.

Follow the live updates here:
President Donald Trump confirmed Wednesday that a White House staff member tested positive for the coronavirus.

But the unnamed person who contracted the disease did not "affect" the large, in-person gathering with a number of world leaders that took place on the White House south lawn a day earlier, Trump's spokeswoman assured.

Questions had arisen earlier in the day about another Covid-19 infection at the White House, when a journalist there reported hearing about "a couple of positives today."

At a briefing, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany declined to comment on whether any staff members had tested positive, saying, "I don't share people's personal medical information."

But Trump, speaking at a news conference in the White House briefing room Tuesday evening, was more willing to discuss what he had been told.

"I heard about it this morning at a very small level," Trump began. But moments later, he said, "Last night I heard about it for the first time, and it's a small number of cases."

He then asked McEnany, who was sitting next to the podium, what she could share.

"We're not going to confirm the identities," she said, "But it did not affect the event and press was not around" the infected person.

"And it's not anybody that was near me," Trump added.

McEnany told Trump that just one person had tested positive for the virus. "It was one person," Trump repeated, adding, "not a person that I was associated with."

On Tuesday, the White House hosted a ceremony on its south lawn for the signing of accords formalizing diplomatic ties between Israel and two Gulf Arab states. Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, along with the leaders of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, attended the event in person.

CNN and other outlets noted that the celebratory gathering appeared to disregard most social distancing measures that public health experts, including many within the Trump administration, recommend.

Others who work in the White House have previously tested positive. In May, it was revealed that a personal valet for Trump, who among other tasks serves the president his meals, had contracted the virus.

That same month, Vice President Mike Pence's press secretary Katie Miller also tested positive.
Public schools in Andover, Massachusetts, a city of 33,000 north of Boston, open today, September 16, for both in-person and remote learning. The reopening follows a reactionary ruling September 8 by the Massachusetts Department of Labor Relations Commonwealth Employment Relations Board (CERB) against teachers who refused to enter school buildings on the first day of professional training and school preparations on August 31.

Many Andover teachers, concerned over the lack of safety against COVID-19 in schools, refused to enter the buildings, sitting outside them with laptops doing their required professional learning and assessment work and attending staff meetings while social distancing. School officials argued that by refusing to enter classrooms teachers were unable to carry out tasks such as tagging furniture and testing WIFI connections.

The Andover Education Association (AEA), which is affiliated with the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA), described it as a workplace safety action due to the school districts lack of good-faith bargaining over how to keep students and staff safe when school reopens.

A spokeswoman for Andover Public Schools (APS) denounced the action as an illegal work stoppage. District officials on the Andover School Committee met later the same day and voted to authorize their counsel to file an instant strike petition with the state Department of Labor Relations.

A petition for a strike investigation was filed September 1, alleging that a strike had occurred and is about to occur and that this strike has been induced, encouraged and condoned by the Andover Education Association (AEU or Union). It named six AEA officers, including AEA President Matthew Bach and Second Vice-President Julian DiGloria, both individually and in their capacity as union officials.

The petition was requested under Section 9A of the Massachusetts General Law (M. L. G c 150E), which states: (a) No public employee or employee organization shall engage in a strike, and no public employee or employee organization shall induce, encourage or condone any strike, work stoppage, slowdown or withholding of services by such public employees.

In its September 8 ruling, the employment relations board declared: In support of this Strike Petition, the School Committee argues that it is not up to the Union or teachers to decide when, where or how to perform their duties and that the Unions condonation and participation in a so-called work action in which they refused to enter school buildings despite clear instructions to do so constitutes a strike within the meaning of Section 1 and Section 9A of the Law. We agree.

CERB further ruled that although certain federal and state regulations may grant employees the right to refuse work in situations where they harbor a good faith reasonable belief that performing their duties could result in imminent serious injury or death, the Union has not defended its conduct here on such grounds, nor has it presented evidence that such circumstances exist at any of the APS schools on August 31, 2020. We therefore need not and do not reach this issue. [emphasis added].

The ruling ordered that the AEA, and union officials Bach and DiGloria personally immediately cease and desist from engaging any strike, work stoppage or other withholding of services and desist from encouraging or condoning or inducing work stoppage, slowdown, or other withholding of services. The AEA immediately complied with these demands.

In contrast to its own findings, a footnote to this section of the CERB ruling cites the Labor Management Relations Act, which states: nor shall the quitting of labor by an employee or employees in good faith because of abnormally dangerous conditions of work at the place of employment of such employee or employees be deemed a strike under this act.

It also cites Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Regulation 29, which states: However, occasions might arise when an employee is confronted with a choice between not performing assigned tasks from a hazardous condition at the workplace. If the employee, with no reasonable alternative, refuses in good faith to expose himself to the dangerous condition, he would be protected against subsequent discrimination.

It is clear that teachers return to school buildings poses imminent serious injury or death, abnormally dangerous and hazardous conditions. Nevertheless, the employment relations board, claiming there was no real danger to teachers (although it has no scientific grounds to prove that) backed the school districts claim that workers were involved in an illegal strike.

This situation has revealed a great deal about what teachers and other school employees confront as they seek to fight the spread of the pandemic and defend their lives and the lives of their students and their communities.

The labor laws both for public employees and private sector workers are thoroughly stacked up against the working class, giving management unilateral power to direct their workforce and impose a virtual dictatorship in the workplace. The unions agree to this reactionary setup in exchange for gaining legal sanction from the state and the ability to collect union dues from workers. The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA), the parent organization of the AEA, have spent decades suppressing strikes in exchange for the institutional and financial benefits that the union bureaucracy derives from this employment relations structure.

At the same time, if workers assert their right to refuse to work under unsafe conditions, they will not find any serious protection from OSHA, which has done nothing for workers during the pandemic. Meatpackers, health care, autoworkers and other workers who have reported outbreaks and dangerous conditions have been subjected to arbitrary victimization and even termination. The more than 8,000 COVID-related complaints filed by workers with OSHA, have resulted in less than 10 citations. This includes the first two citations against the meatpacking industry last week after six months during which time 18,000 workers were infected and more than 200 killed by the virus.

Educators have every right to organize and take collective action to defend their lives. But this means creating new forms of organization, which do not bow before managements rights, i.e., the dictatorial powers of management to control the workplace. In Florida, Texas, Detroit and New York City, educators have established rank-and-file safety committees to assert the interests and rights of workers to monitor safety conditions, oppose efforts to conceal the spread of infections, and, if necessary, carry out strikes.

Across the country, authorities of both the Democratic and Republican parties have promoted the homicidal reopening of schools even as cases and deaths have risen. Towns where public schools and university campuses have reopened have become the new epicenters of the coronavirus, with college towns being most affected. At least six teachers have died since schools reopened last month and over half a million children have tested positive for the virus since the pandemic began.

In an effort to back up its ruling against the teachers, CERB also argued:

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health COVID-19 Dashboard for the week ending August 26, 2020 reflected that within the past 14 days, Andover was rated Green, which meant it had an average daily case rate of less than four cases per 100,000 residents. What it doesnt mention is that the city of Lawrence, which is less than five miles from Andover, is a COVID-19 hotspot, with 20.5 cases per 100,000 residents and 299 positive tests for the previous 14 days, according to a September 9 report.

Teachers and other school workers do not live exclusively in Andover, a more affluent town, and travel from nearby Lawrence and other working-class communities with higher case rates. The virus does not recognize borders.

The day after the ruling, Republican Governor Charlie Baker welcomed the decision. I think Andover made the right decision by arguing that a deals a deal, that there was an agreement that those 10 days would be spent conducting the training that was necessary, Baker told a news conference.

I think the DESE [Department of Elementary and Secondary Education position], which is basically that its okay to teach and to be in a basically empty building, is an appropriate decision. And I think all the data we have, and all the advice weve gotten from our colleagues in the public health in the infectious disease and the pediatric communityis that thats okay, Baker said.

The unions acquiescence to the ruling forcing teachers back into school buildings constitutes an agreement that teachers have no right to defend their health and safety conditions.

Andover educators are particularly apprehensive about the state of HVAC systems in the school. APS posted information to the Return to School webpage showing that the Town of Andover employed HVAC experts whose analysis showed that the schools meet guidance released by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). Upon the AEAs request, the district has contracted an outside HVAC contractor to conduct an independent inspection of the ventilation systems in each school building. That work was due to finish September 4, but no report has yet been published.

In Sharon, Massachusetts, a district contractor examined the HVAC systems in each Sharon school and found that none of them met minimum standards, according to the Sharon Teachers Association. The nurses office, in particular, recirculates air to the administrative offices, the union said in a statement.

Sharon teachers refused to enter school buildings for three days, but on September 11 the union reached a settlement with the School Committee, after they too filed their own petition for a strike investigation by the state labor relations board. The chair of the Sharon School Committee, Judy Crosby, attributed the agreement to the ruling against Andover teachers. I do believe that the Andover decision that was released very late on Tuesday night was pretty essential in bringing all parties into the room to reach a settlement, she told the ABC affiliate WCVB.

With widespread opposition to school reopenings across the country, the aim of the Andover ruling is to intimidate teachers. The response of the unions shows that if the reopening is to be stopped and the lives of educators, students and their families be protected, it will require independent action by the working class. This is the purpose of the call by the Socialist Equality Party for the formation of rank-and-file safety committees and we urge teachers in Massachusetts to contact the WSWS Educators Newsletter for assistance in establishing these committees across all school districts.
Police in Ho Chi Minh City have captured a suspect for killing a 12th grader last week.

The student was stabbed to death in District 12 on September 11, a source told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Wednesday.

Police officers have apprehended a suspect and questioned those related to the death to find out the cause, the source said, without specifying the date.

The victim in question is D.N.K.Tr., a 17-year-old 12th grader at a middle and high school in District 12, according to police reports.

On September 11, Tr. and some of his friends were drinking bubble tea behind the Dong Hung 2 apartments in Tan Hung Thuan Ward, District 12 when four people approached them on two motorbikes.

One of the four stabbed Tr. and one of his friends with a knife.

Tr. died of blood loss at the hospital while his friend sustained a wound.

District 12 police officers then investigated the scene and interrogated related people before they arrested the suspect.

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New Delhi, Sep 16 : A Kenyan food import company, Magnum Africa, operating from Nairobi has rekindled hopes at the headquarters of India's external Intelligence agency -- RAW -- of locating one of the most sought after fugitives, Tiger Memon, the mastermind of 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, which killed 257 people in one of the worst ever terror attacks in the subcontinent.

For the past five years, the elusive Tiger Memon involved in drug trafficking, has been literally off the radar of Intel agencies.

Tracking Magnum Africa's dealings in Pakistan has disclosed that under the garb of trade in grains the company was involved in an international drug trafficking racket. On paper, Magnum imported high quality rice and other grains from Pakistan but its real deals were related to narcotics.

Tracking a 35kg heroin deal, smuggled from Karachi into India, the police caught Abdul Majid alias Moosa in February 2020.

Image Source: IANS News

Moosa, an accused in serial blasts, is considered Tiger Memon's right hand man. Moosa was arrested at the Mumbai airport while he was on his way to Dubai from Nairobi. Moosa's subsequent interrogation shed light on Tiger Memon's whereabouts.

The Intelligence dossier on the 'Tiger of Terror' says the 59-year-old Memon sought help from underworld don Dawood Ibrahim to execute serial bomb blasts in Mumbai.

While Dawood Ibrahim's specific addresses in Karachi have been traced, Tiger Memon remains almost unheard of, untraceable thus elusive.

"We have enough evidence against Dawood Ibrahim's presence in Karachi, but we have little information to go on in Tiger Memon's case, who is the prime accused..., " says Ujjwal Nikam, the chief prosecutor of the serial blasts.

Last time when police traced Tiger Memon, it was in July 2015. Tiger had called his mother in Mumbai, hours before his younger brother Yakub was hanged for his role in the Mumbai serial blasts.

In the three minute telephonic conversation with his mother, Tiger had vowed to avenge the hanging of Yakub. Since then Tiger has not been heard of.

"We have sent several Interpol notices to Pakistan to track and arrest Tiger Memon. But there was not even a whisper from the other side. On our files, Tiger, the mastermind of the serial blasts, is an absconder.

"Though the trial has ended, we still await his arrest. The moment he is caught, a fresh charge sheet would be filed on the basis of the evidence already placed before the court," said Nikam, special public prosecutor in several leading terror cases, including the Mumbai bombings.

Sources said that after executing the Mumbai serial blasts, Tiger Memon escaped to Pakistan and lived in Karachi's Gulshan-e-Iqbal area. Later on he shifted his base to the posh Defence Housing Area in the same city. Though Dawood and his brother Anees Ibrahim also live in Karachi, sources said that Tiger Memon and the D company have separate businesses.

Tiger Memon, mostly involved in drug trafficking has also launched a few prime construction projects in Karachi. Apart from organised crime operations, Tiger Memon also runs guest houses and hotels in Dubai.

The charge sheet in Mumbai serial blasts says that Tiger Memon had roped in Moosa to help him in the execution of bombings on March 15, 1993. Moosa, on his instructions had bought three scooters which were used in the blasts.

After the serial blasts, Moosa fled to Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh, and from there he went to Bangkok. Later, Memon got him a Pakistani passport under the name of Anwar Muhammed.

Sources said Moosa then shifted to Nairobi and has been running Magnum Africa, initially involved in import of rice from Pakistan.

-- Syndicated from IANS
Junior Finance Minister Sean Fleming is to chair Fianna Fails review into its disastrous General Election campaign in February, the parliamentary party has been told.

At the first meeting since the partys support was at just 10% in a Red C poll in the Business Post, TDs and Senators hit out at the level of leaks to the media in recent weeks.

The two-hour meeting was conducted over Zoom.

Clare TD Cathal Crowe said people have been using the parliamentary meeting to settle scores and that the leaks are damaging the party.

Enough is enough, we need to draw a line, he said.

Cork South West TD Christopher OSullivan said the negativity in the parliamentary party is sickening and said he agreed with Mr Crowe.

He called for more positivity while Senator Lisa Chambers said the party needs to support one another, be united and be a team.

Kildare Senator and former TD Fiona OLoughlin also hit out at the negativity within the party, saying it is deeply unhelpful.

Breaking: At @fiannafailparty parliamentary party, criticism of media - James Lawless TD reportedly said Irish Examiner is "not helpful" and Irish Indo has "become a red top" #iestaff  Daniel McConnell (@McConnellDaniel) September 16, 2020

Kildare TD James Lawless reportedly hit out at various media organisations saying leaks to the Irish Examiner have been unhelpful and the Irish Independent has become a red top.

It is understood that Mr Lawless criticised Health Minister Stephen Donnelly on communications around Covid and the recent lockdowns in Kildare, Laois and Offaly.

The Kildare TD told the meeting that the county lockdown was a "crude measure" and people did not believe it was the right decision.

While Stephen Donnelly may have claimed the restrictions had worked, people on the ground don't feel that and instead feel hard done by, Mr Lawless told the parliamentary party.

He said any future local lockdowns would have to be "targeted and focused" and should be data driven.

He said all data should be made public so people understand why decisions on restrictions and lockdowns are being taken.

Breaking: @MichealMartinTD tells @fiannafailparty that it needs to concentrate on issues of state, not internal squabbles.

He said the "stakes are high" and told his party to "Come to me, my door is open" #iestaff  Daniel McConnell (@McConnellDaniel) September 16, 2020

Mr Donnelly was in attendance at the meeting and briefed the party on the Living with Covid plan and the Winter Plan, but said the party must call out the Opposition and the media who are pushing the line the plan is confusing.

He said the plan was developed by experts and they are being undermined.

Sligo TD Marc MacSharry raised the issue of the Leaving Cert but also used his contribution to explain the context of his comments about the Chief Medical Officer Ronan Glynn last week.

Mr MacSharry said his comments had been misrepresented by the Taoiseach in the media, and what he said was that the nightly Nphet briefings were fuelling this polarisation in society. He said he contacted Dr Glynn to explain the context to his comments.

Mr MacSharry referenced his first ever parliamentary party meeting where Michael Woods said dissent is important and without it politics is merely public administration.

At the end, Taoiseach Micheal Martin called on the party to rally, to realise the gravity of the situation facing the country, adding come to me, my door is open.

In relation to Covid, Mr Martin said the situation is particularly serious and moving up to another level is a significant step and would have significant economic implications.

He said there is a particular concern about household clusters and that numbers are rising but stopped short of specifying whether the capital will move to level 3 this week.

At @fiannafailparty PP, Senator Ned O'Sullivan paid tribute to the leadership of @MichealMartinTD saying he disagreed with Eamon O Cuiv's call for a new leader #iestaff  Daniel McConnell (@McConnellDaniel) September 16, 2020

Senator Ned OSullivan said the party has a wonderful leader and the party needs to row in behind Mr Martin, adding he didnt accept Eamon OCuivs call for a new leader.

A raft of new measures to improve the lot of the Fianna Fail party have been presented to TDs and Senators tonight as it reels from a historically low poll rating.

Chief Whip Jack Chambers has presented the document at tonights parliamentary party (PP) meeting, being held over Zoom.

The new procedures, seen by the Irish Examiner, involve new rules for PP meetings, the establishment of new policy groups, a new group to improve relations between ministers and TDs and promises to improve communications.

The document is a response to visceral criticism of Taoiseach Micheal Martin and his lack of leadership.

The five-point plan says that Parliamentary Party meetings will be scheduled with a structured agenda to maximise the benefit from discussions.

Every week there will be a substantive update from a Minister to be selected based on the priority issue of the week or to give a general update on their area of responsibility.

Breaking: New TDs Cathal Crowe and Christopher O'Sullivan hit out at leaks from PP saying they are damaging. @lichamber reportedly said she is "sick" of said leaks #iestaff  Daniel McConnell (@McConnellDaniel) September 16, 2020

"Once approximately every 4 weeks a guest speaker will be arranged on a specific theme/topic and this speaker will address the party at a different time to the weekly parliamentary party, the document states.

The document also commits that new thematic policy groupings will be established with policy areas grouped into 6 areas.

Each group shall contain the relevant members of the Oireachtas Committee and line Ministers in each respective Department.

The groups are 1) Finance/Public Expenditure, Enterprise and Social Protection 2) Health 3) Education, Justice, Childcare 4) Housing, Local Government and Transport 5) Agriculture and Rural Affairs and 6) Brexit, Foreign Affairs and Arts.

Each group shall meet every two to three weeks to discuss forthcoming policy areas for legislative focus or policy change.

"This will enhance collaboration and discussion of the implementation for the programme for government.

"It will also enable key communications campaigns to be developed and planned for the forthcoming month between Ministers and the parliamentary party, the document states.

"The third point in the plan commits to creating a new Parliamentary party/Ministerial structure.

Three members of the parliamentary party, the Chief Whip and two other Ministers will meet every two weeks to discuss any areas of concern, communications, policy development, programme for government delivery.

"This will also provide an important forum to have an ongoing review to ensure the effectiveness of policy groups; rectify any communications challenges or policy feedback relating to local or national issues from the parliamentary party which can be followed up on with the respective Ministers, the document reveals.

The document also states that the Taoiseach will appoint a member of the parliamentary party to liaise with the Ogra Central Officer Board regularly as well as engaging with the broader Ogra membership.

The document also promises to strengthen the communications system and the structure of information flows.

A named member of the press/research team will triage and regularly send updates to each member of the parliamentary party and/or Councillors (through FFHQ). They will also send important social media/communications campaigns for members to post on their social media platforms.

"Each lead Minister in the policy group needs to take on the responsibility to brief the group but also ensure policy updates are communicated to this named person in advance so updates are regular, timely and meaningful, the document states.

The meeting is ongoing.

Read More Gerard Howlin: Muppet Show politics is damaging to the national interest

The Chambers Plan in Full:

1. Parliamentary Party Meetings: Weekly parliamentary party meetings will be scheduled with a structured agenda to maximise the benefit from discussions.

Every week there will be a substantive update from a Minister to be selected based on the priority issue of the week or to give a general update on their area of responsibility.

Once approximately every 4 weeks a guest speaker will be arranged on a specific theme/topic and this speaker will address the party at a different time to the weekly parliamentary party.

Each parliamentary party meeting shall receive an update from a nominated member/rapporteur of the policy groupings.

2. Policy Groupings: A new thematic policy grouping will be established with policy areas grouped into 6 areas.

Each group shall contain the relevant members of the Oireachtas Committee and line Ministers in each respective Department.

Other members of the parliamentary party may also join the group if they have a special interest in that thematic area.

A structured agenda will be developed for each policy group to manage their business but it is encouraged that all meetings will cover a review of policy and communications since the last meeting in the respective areas as well as planning the next three weeks.

Each policy grouping should also map a strategic 6 month plan for policy and communications.

Each relevant FF researcher/press officer/social media officer will also attend. Each group shall meet every two to three weeks to discuss forthcoming policy areas for legislative focus or policy chang.

Annie Keegan and Martin Phelan will be working with me in supporting the organisation and administration of the new policy groups.

This will enhance collaboration and discussion of the implementation for the programme for government.

It will also enable key communications campaigns to be developed and planned for the forthcoming month between Ministers and the parliamentary party.

Each group will hold an open forum for all members of the parliamentary party every 6 weeks (6 core groups so the aim is to schedule one open forum per week in addition to the parliamentary party meeting) for broader discussion of objectives, policy implementation, policy ideas, feedback etc.

This will also be an important forum for areas of concern to be flagged and followed up by the respective to report back at the next meeting of the group.

A rapporteur (non- Minister) will be nominated by each policy group who will report to the parliamentary party meetings with progress/updates on the discussions for the respective thematic area.

Read More Daniel McConnell: Government effort to bring certainty causes more confusion

This will enhance party policy development, engagement with the parliamentary party and enable a more effective/cohesive cross party communications platform.

This policy grouping should broaden their remit and reach with the party with meetings with the grassroots membership, party units and with Ogra.

These groups will co-ordinate this structured outreach through liaison with party organisers in FFHQ.

This will help reinforce grassroots involvement and input in party policy.

Policy Groups:

Group 1:

 Finance/Public Expenditure/Insurance

 Enterprise/Trade/Employment

 Social Protection

Group 2:

 Healthcare-Mental Health-Older People, Disability/Drugs/Mental Health/Covid/Public Health

Group 3:

 Education-Higher Education, Special Education

 Childcare

 Justice, Equality, Law Reform,

Group 4:

 Housing, homelessness, Local Government, Heritage, Community

 Transport, & Climate Action

Group 5:

 Agriculture, Rural affairs, Regional development

Group 6:

 Foreign Affairs, Defence, Brexit, Shared Island, EU Affairs

 Arts, Culture, Media, Sport, Gaeltacht, Tourism

3. Ministerial/Parliamentary Party Co-ordination Group: A new Parliamentary party/Ministerial structure will be established as the Taoiseach outlined in his address to the parliamentary meeting in June 2020.

Three members of the parliamentary party, the Chief Whip and two other Ministers will meet every two weeks to discuss any areas of concern, communications, policy development, programme for government delivery.

This will also provide an important forum to have an ongoing review to ensure the effectiveness of policy groups; rectify any communications challenges or policy feedback relating to local or national issues from the parliamentary party which can be followed up on with the respective Ministers.

4. Ogra FF: The Taoiseach will appoint a member of the parliamentary party to liaise with the Ogra Central Officer Board regularly as well as engaging with the broader Ogra membership.

This will help reinforce the positive engagement prior to the programme for government discussions and strengthen recruitment and retention with the ambition to have an active Ogra unit in every constituency.

It also helps collaboration and aligns new national communications campaigns emanating out of the policy groups with the Ogra leadership.

5. Communications Structure: We will strengthen the communications system and the structure of information flows.

A named member of the press/research team will triage and regularly send updates to each member of the parliamentary party and/or Councillors (through FFHQ).

They will also send important social media/communications campaigns for members to post on their social media platforms.

Each lead Minister in the policy group needs to take on the responsibility to brief the group but also ensure policy updates are communicated to this named person in advance so updates are regular, timely and meaningful.
Preferred Mutual Appoints Claims Chief

Preferred Mutual Insurance Co. has hired Michelle Raue as senior vice president of claims.

The carrier, based in New Berlin, New York, said Raue has more than 30 years of claims, operational and leadership experience.

Most recently, she was vice president of claims with Lyft Inc., where she built its in-house claim organization, focusing on claims and care management, policyholder and corporate services, as well as customer experience initiatives.

Before Lyft, Raue was vice president of claims for State Auto Insurance in Columbus, Ohio, according to her Linkedin page. Before then, she was director of claims for Southern United Insurance.

Raue has a bachelor of science in business from the University of South Alabama, according to Linkedin.

New Claims Leader Joining Kinsale

Kinsale Capital Group has appointed Mark J. Beachy as executive vice president and chief claims officer, effective Oct.5.

Beachy will succeed Ann Marie Marson, who served as chief claims officer since August 2009 and is retiring effective Sept. 30, the Richmond, Virginia-based speciality insurer said in a press release.

Beachy was previously group general counsel at The Travelers Indemnity Co., Kinsale said he led its staff counsel organization of more than 1,000 legal professionals responsible for defending policyholders in civil litigation throughout the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada.

From 2006 to 2018, Beachy served as managing counsel at Travelers, leading staff counsel operations and overseeing litigation services in Virginia, Kinsale said in a press release. Prior to 2006, he served as a trial attorney defending commercial and personal lines policyholders in bodily injury and property damage litigation.

Earlier in his career, Beachy held positions of increasing responsibility in the claims departments of both Travelers and Aetna Casualty and Surety Company.

Beachy earned a bachelor of science in journalism from West Virginia University and a Juris Doctor degree from Catholic University, Columbus School of Law. He is licensed to practice law in Virginia and the District of Columbia.

Allianz Names Head of Claims

Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty has appointed Frank Sapio as head of claims in North America.

Sapio replaces Terry Campbell, who will continue as an advisor to AGCS until July 2021.

A 30-year industry veteran, Sapio was previously the regional head of liability and aviation claims in North America, which he will continue to oversee on an interim basis, AGC&S said in a press release. Based in OFallon, Missouri, Sapio joined AGCS in 2014 and was with Firemans Fund since 2003 in various claims management roles.

Sapio earned his bachelor of science degree in aviation from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and a masters degree in organizational management from University of Phoenix.

Allianz is a global insurers with a U.S. headquarters in New York City.

Partner Named For Goldberg Segalla Liability Group

Goldberg Segalla has appointed attorney G. Calvin Awkward III as a partner with the firm, assigned to the General Liability Group in Baltimore.

Awkward defends clients in a wide range of matters involving construction, catastrophic personal injury, property damage, and general liability, the firm said in a press release. He regularly handles automobile liability, premises liability, condominium and homeowners associations, subrogation, and first-party insurance defense matters, as well as insurance coverage matters.He also devotes a significant portion of his practice to construction accidents and defects representing builders and contractors in a wide variety of litigation and counseling them on risk-management.

Prior to entering private practice, Awkward spent two years as a clerk for Judges John H. Tisdale and Theresa M. Adams in the Circuit Court of Frederick County, Maryland.

Awkward earned his bachelors degree and his Juris Doctor from Washington and Lee University, where he served as a student attorney in the Community Legal Practice Center Clinic, providing legal services to low-income individuals in Rockbridge County, Virginia. He is an active member of numerous legal and professional organizations, including the Defense Research Institutes Diversity Committee and Construction Law Committee.

Goldberg Segalla is a national law firm headquartered in Los Angeles.
16 Sep 2020, 10:14 AM

COVID-19 to become seasonal? Herd immunity will decide frequency of outbreak, claims study

Scientists have predicted that coronavirus will become a seasonal virus in countries with temperate climates only when herd humanity is attained. Until then, public health measures must be followed to curb the spread of the virus, a review published in Frontiers highlighted. Dr Hassan Zaraket of the American University of Beirut in Lebanon, added, "COVID-19 is here to stay and it will continue to cause outbreaks year-round until herd immunity is achieved".

Apple launches iPad Air 4 with A14 Bionic SoC, iPad 8 at Time Flies event

Cupertino based tech giant, Apple, hosted another launch event today where it took the lid off new products, including the Apple Watch Series 6 with blood oxygen monitor which the company claims can now help track blood oxygen levels, and also let users know of information about heart conditions. Dubbed as the "Time Flies" event, the virtual show did not see the company launch the much anticipated iPhone 2020, but instead saw Apple make important announcements about new iPads that it is introducing this year.

13 states raise Rs 14,000 crore in govt securities, development loan auction

A total of Rs 14,000 crore has been raised by 13 states at the auction of state government securities or state development loans (SDLs) held on Tuesday. This was Rs 1,500 crore more than the notified amount of the auction as two states - Maharashtra and Telangana accepted an additional amount of Rs 1,000 crore and Rs 500 crore, respectively.

Facebook announces Rs 32 crore grant for small businesses in India

Social media giant Facebook has announced $4.3 million (Rs 32 crore) grants to support small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) in India as they continue to face economic uncertainties in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The fund is a part of $100 million global grant for small businesses announced by Facebook in March this year.

India's role in coronavirus vaccine production critical in combating pandemic: Bill Gates

Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates has said India's willingness to play a "big role" in manufacturing COVID-19 vaccine and allow supplies to other developing countries will be critical in combating the coronavirus pandemic on a global scale. "India's willingness to play a big role in manufacturing and to allow some of those vaccines to go to other developing countries will be an absolutely critical part of that," said Gates.

Will take 4-5 years till everyone on planet gets coronavirus vaccine: Adar Poonawalla

Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute (SII) has alerted there won't be enough vaccines to combat the novel coronavirus for everyone in the world till 2024. "It is going to take four to five years until everyone gets the vaccine on this planet," Poonawalla told Financial Times in an interview. The head of the world's largest vaccine manufacturer said that the world will need 15 billion doses of the COVID-19 shot if it is a two-dose vaccine.

At least 17 Indian MPs infected with coronavirus as cases near 5 million

At least 17 members of the Indian parliament have tested positive for the coronavirus, government officials said on Tuesday, underlining the widening spread of infections set to cross five million cases soon. India, where cases have been rising faster than any other nation, lags only the United States in terms of its number of total infections.
Participation in clinical trials among Black people is low, according to Food and Drug Administration statistics. Still, including them in coronavirus vaccine trials has been a stated priority for the pharmaceutical companies involved, since African American communities, along with those of Latinos, have suffered disproportionately from the pandemic.

The ongoing trials are moving at a pace that is unprecedented for medical research, with the Trump administrations vaccine acceleration effort dubbed Operation Warp Speed. Yet recruiting minority participants requires sensitivity to a mistrust borne of past and current medical mistreatment. Trust-building cannot be rushed.

So far, participation by minority volunteers in coronavirus trials has increased only slightly compared with typically low levels for other clinical trials  and targeted outreach efforts to recruit more minorities have been slow to launch.

Some of that outreach is taking place at historically black colleges and universities, which are trusted institutions for many Black Americans. At Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee, researchers have set up in-person meetings with patients they already know. Earlier this month, a half-dozen patients gathered in a cramped conference room on campus. They snacked on turkey sandwiches and potato chips and listened to the pitch from their physician, Dr. Vladimir Berthaud.

Whats the best hope to get rid of this virus? he asked them.

Vaccination, they replied.

Then Berthaud followed up: So raise your hand if you would like to take the vaccine?

Some hands shot up, but not all.

I aint going to be the first one, now, said Lanette Hayes.

Katrina Thompson said she does eventually want to get a shot for protection against the coronavirus. She explained shes especially worried about all the residents of her apartment building who dont seem to be doing the basics of covering their coughs.

The word vaccination dont scare me, she said. The word trial do.

Black Americans have reason to be suspicious  stemming beyond the well-known Tuskegee experiments, in which Black men with syphilis were deceived and mistreated as part of an experiment that went on for decades. Many Black Americans report ongoing mistreatment by medical providers today.

Berthaud is recruiting patients for a clinical trial site he will oversee in Nashville, and he would like more than 300 people of color to enroll. Berthaud, who is Black and from Haiti, appeals to his patients' sense of duty.

If you dont have enough people like you in those vaccine trials, you will not know if it works for you, he told them. You will not know.

For most of the current coronavirus vaccine trials, recruitment mainly takes place online  which often results in mostly white people enrolling.

Thats why Meharry researchers are wooing Black patients with a personal invitation. But theyre not recruiting for the phase 3 trials underway. Meharrys first trial, for a vaccine candidate by Novavax, doesnt launch until October.

Other pharmaceutical companies are nearly done recruiting. Moderna said it chose nearly 100 trial sites for their representative demography.

The company did not respond to requests for comment but publicizes demographic statistics about the clinical volunteers every week. While somewhat more inclusive than the typical clinical trial, it still is not a good representation of the diversity of the U.S.

For the coronavirus vaccine in particular, the National Institutes of Health has suggested minorities should be overrepresented in testing  perhaps at rates that are double their percentage of the U.S. population.

We say we want to have everybody included, but really the effort for the vaccinations  in a sense  [is] starting the same way theyve always been, said Dr. Dominic Mack, of Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta.

Hes working with the NIH to make sure people of color are included in COVID-19 research. Mack said there are no shortcuts if medical research is going to reflect the diversity of the U.S. It takes time to build trust and meaningful relationships with people who have endured a history of abuse or neglect by medical providers, and exclusion from biomedical research and decision-making.

Now, that being said, the only thing we can do is what were doing, he said  by which he means respectful, unrushed outreach and dialogue.

The primary effort, called the COVID-19 Prevention Network, taps into four existing clinical trial networks designed to advance HIV research. Those networks are based in Seattle, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Durham, North Carolina.

One project will be led by the Rev. Edwin Sanders II of the Metropolitan Interdenominational Church in Nashville. It will involve seven faith ambassadors and 30 clergy consultants in the African American community working to dispel myths and increase trust in the clinical trial process. But Sanders cautioned this is not about a hard sell. Its not his job to preach trial participation from the pulpit, he said.

We are not out beating the drum, he said, acknowledging that congregants may have legitimate concerns. I am not going to do anything more than make sure people are able to make an informed choice.

The danger in lunging for big diversity goals is that it could spark a backlash, meaning minorities might be even less willing to participate, said associate professor Rachel Hardeman, who studies health equity at the University of Minnesota. Its important that the doctors doing the asking look like the people theyre appealing to, she said.

Its racial concordance, she explained. It offers this feeling of, You know who I am, you know where I come from, you have my best interests at heart.'

Historically Black medical institutions in the U.S. are uniquely positioned to do this work. While they havent been on the leading edge of recruitment for vaccine trials, they intend to play an important part. The president of Nashvilles Meharry Medical College, Dr. James Hildreth, is an infectious disease researcher. But instead of overseeing the trial site being hosted on his campus, Hildreth has a more modest goal in mind: He plans to participate as a patient, and urge others to join him.

I think my role is more important in advocating for people to be involved in vaccine studies than to be one of the leaders of the study, he said.

So at Meharry, Berthaud is the principal investigator. As lunch wraps up in the crowded conference room, he has managed to win over some holdouts.

Where is the line? asked Robert Smith. Where do we sign?

Smith, with his young grandson in tow, didnt raise his hand at first when asked if hed take the vaccine. But after listening to Berthaud, Smith agreed to participate in the clinical trial  for no other reason than the trust he has in Berthaud, his longtime physician.

Hes not only my doctor; hes proven that he cares about me, Smith said.

Persuading hundreds or thousands of Black Americans to sign up will be difficult. But researchers hope their outreach efforts will at least result in more minorities agreeing to take an approved vaccine when available.

This story is part of a partnership that includes Nashville Public Radio, NPR and KHN.
Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump participate in the signing ceremony of the Abraham Accords on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Sept. 5, 2020. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Up to 9 Additional Israel Peace Deals in Pipeline, Trump Says

President Donald Trump told reporters on Tuesday that additional peace deals are in the works with eight or nine countries.

Trump made the remarks shortly after signing historic peace deals between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

We have many other countries going to be joining us, and theyre going to be joining us soon. Well have I think seven or eight or nine. Were going to have a lot of other countries joining us, including the big ones. We already have the big one, but including the big ones, Trump said.

Forty-four countries, including thirty members of the United Nations, do not recognize Israel as a nation. Trump did not disclose which countries are in the peace deal pipeline, but mentioned that he has spoken to the king of Saudi Arabia.

At the right time, I do think they will come in, Trump said. This is a very big and very historic moment, and I think everyone agrees to that. But well have other countries coming in fairly rapidly.

The bilateral agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain formalize the normalization of Israels relations with the two nations in line with their common opposition to Iran. The United Arab Emirates became only the thirdafter Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994to fully normalize relations with Israel. Sixteen of the 22 members of the Arab League, including Iraq and Saudi Arabia, do not recognize Israel.

Israel and the United Arab Emirates agreed to approve bilateral agreements on 15 areas of mutual interest, including finance, trade, aviation, energy, telecommunications, health, agriculture, and water.

Were here this afternoon to change the course of history, Trump said from a balcony overlooking the South Lawn on Sept. 15. After decades of division and conflict, we mark the dawn of a new Middle East.

(L-R) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S. President Donald Trump, Bahrain Foreign Minister Abdullatif al-Zayani, and UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan pose from the Truman Balcony at the White House after they participated in the signing of the Abraham Accords where the countries of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates recognize Israel, in Washington on Sept. 15, 2020. (Saul Loeb/ AFP via Getty Images)

Other Arab countries believed to be close to recognizing Israel include Oman, Sudan, and Morocco.

We are very down the road with about five different countries, Trump told reporters before the ceremony.

Republicans see the peace deal as a boost for the president ahead of the election. Democrats, including presidential nominee Joe Biden, widely support the deal.

A few House Democrats attended the signing of the peace deal, a notable development at a time when their leader, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), is barely on speaking terms with the president.

Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.), said she accepted the invitation immediately on receiving it over the weekend.

It definitely was a monumental event, and the ceremony was very fitting for that, Luria, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said in a telephone interview.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A year after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) superseded the board of Mumbai-based Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank after discovering major financial irregularities and fraud, the RBI-appointed administrator is yet to succeed in finding a resolution plan for the bank.

According to a Reuters report, the administrator has approached major banks with a merger request, the banks administrator said in a Sept. 10 filing at the Delhi High Court, without identifying the banks or giving other details.

This is even as the efforts to recover money from HDIL is still halfway. On September 16, Mumbai Mirror reported that PMC Bank didnt find any takers during the auction of two airplanes and a yacht owned by HDIL Group promoters. These assets together valued at Rs 350 crore, the report said.

HDIL has denied any wrongdoing in this case.

In May this year, Moneycontrol first reported that there are no takers yet for the Mumbai-based bank. The regulator too has been engaging with various stakeholders to find a taker for the bank but with no success yet. According to persons familiar with the development, the RBI has had a few rounds of meetings on the PMC Bank issue with stakeholders. But lack of interest from other banks for takeover is creating a hurdle for an early resolution.

The RBI superseded PMC Bank board in September 2019. Of its total loan book of Rs 8,383 crore, as on March 31, 2019, about 70 percent had been taken by real estate firm HDIL. The bank had Rs 11,600 crore in deposits. The police later arrested Joy Thomas, former managing director of the PMC Bank, in October. The investigators have made a few more arrests since then.

During investigations, it was found that the bank had been allegedly running fraudulent transactions for several years to facilitate lending to HDIL through fictitious accounts and violating single-party lending rules. The RBI imposed restrictions on deposit withdrawals and superseded its board after the fraud was detected.

Deposit withdrawal restrictions were imposed on the bank (initially Rs 1,000 per account which was later increased to Rs 50,000).

About 78 percent of the depositors have since been allowed to withdraw their deposits within the withdrawal limit of Rs 50,000. Even though this limit was further enhanced to Rs 1 lakh in June this year, many depositors who have bigger amounts parked in the bank are still not able to get their money back.

While enhancing the withdrawal limit to Rs 1 lakh, the RBI had said that more than 84 percent of the depositors of the bank will be able to withdraw their entire account balance.

However, two depositors of the PMC bank told Moneycontrol that the bank is insisting on written requests from some customers for withdrawals.

Interestingly, the aggrieved depositors of PMC Bank even include two RBI employee co-operative societies, which together have around Rs 190 crore in the bank. In fact, the RBI employee associations had even suggested a few names to the central banks top brass to consider for a merger. This included a few Mumbai-based public sector banks.

PMC is not the only cooperative bank that has collapsed. There have been several such instances in the cooperative banking industry.

On May 2, the RBI cancelled the licence of Mumbai-based CKP Co-operative Bank. The RBI said the financial position of the bank is highly adverse and unsustainable. The bank, as per RBI's observation, also did not have any concrete revival plan or proposal for a merger with another bank. The bank had nearly 97 percent of Gross Non-Performing Assets (GNPAs), a lot of which were loans given to small and mid-sized real estate developers.

Besides PMC, the RBI imposed restrictions on Bengaluru-based Guru Raghavendra Sahakara (Co-operative) Bank Niyamitha on January 10 from renewing loans and deposits. The bank was also asked to not allow withdrawals beyond Rs 35,000 per account. Similar restrictions were imposed on Kolkatas Kolikata Mahila Cooperative Bank with deposit withdrawal restrictions of Rs 1,000 per account. On April 17, the RBI cancelled the license of Mapusa Urban Co-operative Bank for financial failure.

Not all depositors are equal?

In the case of Yes Bank, a new-age private bank which nearly failed early this year, the RBI could act swiftly to implement a successful bailout scheme with the help of a bank consortium led by State Bank of India.

Depositors of PMC Bank allege that the sense of urgency to find a resolution framework for Yes Bank on the part of the regulator and the government is absent in the PMC case. Several depositors of the PMC Bank are still unable to draw their money parked in the bank.

The Yes Bank resolution happened quickly. Why isnt the same not done in PMC Bank case? Im a mechanic by profession and the amount stuck in the bank was a good part of my savings. When will I get my money back? asked a depositor based in Navi Mumbai, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
When Memorial Hermann Hospital in The Woodlands allowed some of Francisco Medellins family to visit him from a window outside the intensive care unit last month, they all feared it might be the last time theyd see him.

Medellin, 69, contracted COVID-19 in June and despite interventions with the logical treatments, the disease ravaged his lungs, leaving him unable to breathe on his own. After a month of no progress, doctors told the family that there was little hope of him recovering.

It was really sad, said Maria Medellin, one of his daughters. We thought the only thing we could do was pray. We hoped for a miracle.

Medellin got a miracle of sorts, a double lung transplant, one of the first in the United States for the disease caused by the coronavirus. Typically a last-ditch effort for people with seemingly fatal, irreversible lung damage, such transplants are now on the radar for COVID-19 patients who are both acutely ill enough to need one and otherwise healthy enough to benefit from a transplant for a protracted period of time.

Medellin qualified on both counts. He got two new lungs at Memorial Hermanns flagship hospital in the Texas Medical Center on Aug. 27, just a day after hed gone on the donor transplant waiting list, and by last week he was in rehab. Doctors expect hell be ready for discharge next week.

He got the lungs quickly  the average wait time is three months  because his heart and lung function, oxygen requirements and other metrics were worse than most others on the list. The organ became available from a deceased patient at Memorial Hermann, one of the nations biggest trauma centers and donor hospitals.

A more common intervention?

Lung transplantation is expected to become a more common intervention for COVID-19 at U.S. transplant centers, though its use will be limited by the fact people hit hardest by the disease tend to have underlying health problems that make them ineligible for a donor organ. Still, doctors at Memorial Hermann say they are now on the lookout for candidates and have identified a few.

Its a real sweet spot the doctors will need to identify, said Chris Curran, vice president of organ operations at LifeGift, a not-for-profit organ procurement organization that recovers organs and tissue for individuals needing transplants in Houston and some other parts of Texas. Might the patient recover without a lung transplant? Might the patient be too sick to benefit for long? Might any delay in decision-making render the transplant no longer viable? Doctors will have to straddle a tightrope.

There have already been reports of the last scenario. Hospitals that got lung transplant procedures approved never got around to performing them because of disease complications that subsequently arose.

Wilf Thorne / Contributor

U.S. surgeons performed 2,700 lung transplants in 2019, most involving both organs. Though procurement rates have consistently been substantially lower than those for kidneys, livers and hearts, the number of lung transplants have increased every year in recent years as the procedure has become safer and survival rates better. Recipients, typically patients with pulmonary fibrosis or emphysema, now live an additional 10 to 12 years, twice the length of time they did in the 1990s.

The first lung transplantation for COVID-19 was reported in China Feb. 29, but it took until June for one to be performed in the United States, a 28-year-old Chicago woman who had spent six weeks on a ventilator before Northwestern Memorial Hospital doctors transplanted two lungs in her, a case that drew national attention. Northwestern doctors have performed two more lung transplants and the University of Florida did a fourth, on a Texas man in his 50s who was transported there. There have been no reports of others until Medellins last month.

Its been a little slow to roll out, but itll come, said Dr. Soma Jyothula, medical director of the lung transplant program at Memorial Hermann and one of Medellins team of doctors. Theres a learning curve. Its a novel thing to do for a novel infection. Nobody knows how well it will work, not everyones aware its an option. These arent our usual patients, after all.

Treatment plan

Like a lot of people who contract the virus, Medellin had no idea he was about to become a COVID-19 patient at all. He fought a cough and chills for nearly a week, then found himself so tired late on the morning of July 1. Family members noticed hed turn blueish  a sign of oxygen deprivation. Alarmed, they brought him to the ER of Memorial Hermanns hospital in Cypress. By the time he woke up, hed been diagnosed with COVID-19.

Over the next six weeks  first at the Cypress, then at the Woodlands  Medellin got a variety of treatments: convalescent plasma, the therapy that transfers the antibodies of recovered patients; remdesivir, an antiviral that was the first treatment granted emergency approval for the disease; and dexamethasone, a steroid shown to help those severely ill with COVID-19. None appeared to provide any benefit.

Medellin never went on a ventilator, but doctors kept him stable with intakes of pure oxygen. Still, even after the virus was clear, his lungs never improved, and heavy scar tissue showed up in imaging. The team told the family the situation was dire.

Wilf Thorne / Contributor

But soon thereafter, doctors determined that a transplant might work for Medellin, who faithfully did early-morning calisthenics, never smoked or drank and coped with mild diabetes. He was transferred to the Texas Medical Center, where an assessment found he was indeed a good candidate, Memorial Hermanns internal review board approved the plan and he went on the United Network for Organ Sharing wait list.

The surgery took about 12 hours, during which the left lung  all wet and heavy and inflamed, stuck to the chest wall  was the first removed. Things went without complication and Medellin needed less than 12 hours afterward on the breathing machine in the ICU, half what most patients need. Jyothula, also a professor of internal medicine/critical care at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, said that was a pleasant surprise that boded well for the recovery.

In less than two weeks, Medellin had been discharged to Memorial Hermanns rehab unit. There, although weak, he walked the halls, attempted to climb stairs and finally got to be with family members, who choked up just talking about how close theyd come to losing him. They also expressed gratitude for the organs that saved him.

Asked if the roses smell sweeter and the food tastes better, Medellin smiled and said yes.

I feel very happy for all the support and grateful to God to allow me to continue, said Medellin, a retired construction worker, father of nine and grandfather of 32. Im looking forward to regaining my youth and energy and be able to work and enjoy my family. Im happy to be able to live longer.

todd.ackerman@chron.com
New Delhi:

MEA official spokesperson Vikas Swarup on Thursday said that India is not seeking NSG membership as a gift, we are seeking it based on our non-proliferation record.

The statement comes after two days when China had said that admission of non-NPT signatories in NSG cannot be a farewell gift for countries to give to each other.

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying had made a statement out to media briefing on Monday, Regarding Indias application to the NSG, regarding non-NPT countries admission to the NSG, we have made our position clear before so I will not repeat it. I just want to point out that NSG membership shall not be some kind of (a) farewell gift for countries to give to each other.

China has been blocking India's NSG membership bid despite backing from majority members on the grounds that India is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT).

With PTI Inputs

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
A Wisconsin construction worker taking a morning stroll along a beach in search of a peace of mind got more than he bargained for yesterday when he found a brain wrapped in foil washed up on the shoreline.

Jimmy Senda, of Racine, was partaking in his daily walking ritual along the shore of Lake Michigan, near to Samuel Myers Park, on Tuesday when he made the horrifying discovery.

Senda, who's a part-time artist, says he regularly combs beaches in the area in search of interesting items such as sea glass to incorporate into his sculptures.

And the 47-year-old was understandably intrigued when he spotted a package, wrapped in aluminium foil and fastened with a pink rubber band, close to the water's edge.

'Curiosity got to me, so I popped it open and it looked like a chicken breast,' Senda told FOX6. 'It took a little bit for it to really [register] of what was going on; it was a brain.'

Senda said he was so dumbfounded by the discovery his own brain struggled to comprehend precisely what was unfolding

Jimmy Senda, of Racine, was partaking in his morning ritual along the shore of Lake Michigan, near to Samuel Myers Park, yesterday when he made the horrifying discovery

Also concealed in the bizarre package were two light-pink flower heads and what appeared to be Chinese currency, he said.

Senda said he was so dumbfounded by the discovery that his own brain struggled to comprehend precisely what was unfolding.

'I don't really know how to explain it, it didn't register...I was just like, 'What is this?' he continued.

The construction worker then consulted with some city workers nearby who concluded, 'Yeah, that's a Brain,' as he recalled it.

Senda then called police who made the same determination. The officers then took the brain away from the scene to investigate further.

Cops have since said they don't believe the brain is human, but are awaiting official confirmation from the Racine County Medical Examiner's Office.

A spokesperson from the examiner's office told DailyMail.com: 'We definitely know it's an animal brain, we're just not certain what kind yet.'

Early signs in the investigation suggest it could be a cat brain, according to TMZ.

He found the brain wrapped in aluminum foil, secured by a rubber band, close to the water

Also concealed in the bizarre package were two light-pink flower heads and what appeared to be Chinese money, according to Senda

Senda, meanwhile, told FOX6 he normally walks the beaches further north and said it has been a while since he had been to Myers Park

While Examiner's Office continues their probe, Semba's disturbing discovery has been blowing minds on social media.

'Just when you thought 2020 couldn't get any more f***ed up,' said one commenter on Senda's original Facebook post, documenting what he found.

'Is there a cannibal running around,' added another.

While many voiced fears the brain was human, others voiced scepticism from the beginning that it appeared to be a pig brain, or another animal, due to the scale of the encephalon compared to his hands.

'Why won't you say what the police said,' one user scoffed. 'It's obviously not a FULL GROWN human brain.'

Multiple other disturbed viewers theorized the brain may have been used in some form of sacrificial worship.

Senda, meanwhile, told FOX6 he normally walks the beaches further north and said it has been a while since he had been to Myers Park.

He said that on some level he's glad it was him who made the discovery.

'There's a lot of kids and families that are down here, and what happens if a kid would have found it?' he said.
President Trump, left, and former Vice President Joe Biden. (Associated Press)

As the presidential race moves into its final seven weeks, with former Vice President Joe Biden holding a lead that remains steady but not conclusive, he and President Trump face contrasting challenges, new data from a USC Dornsife poll show.

Biden has largely succeeded in uniting his fellow Democrats. But as he tries to build a broad coalition that would include a significant number of independents and moderate Republicans  a step that could lock down key states  he faces resistance on ideology. Independents and voters who lean Republican, groups that make up a large share of the remaining swing voters, judge Biden to be considerably more liberal than themselves, the poll finds.

Trump faces a different challenge: Not only is he behind, but a slice of his potential supporters are iffy about voting, the poll finds. At the same time, the main issue he has pushed in recent weeks  law and order  appears to have salience mostly with people who already strongly support him.

Registered voters who solidly back Trump and those who solidly back Biden report a similar likelihood of voting, about 95% on average. The president's problem comes with those who say they only lean toward voting for him. They average a 75% likelihood, the poll finds, compared with 92% for those who lean to Biden.

Those weak Trump supporters are also slightly more doubtful that their ballots will be counted  a worry that the poll indicates may be discouraging their likelihood of voting. Trump's warnings about rigged elections and vote fraud, which have been replete with false statements, may have heightened those concerns, unintentionally deterring some of his supporters.

Biden leads Trump nationwide by 9 points, 51% to 42%, the USC Dornsife poll finds. Biden's margin has shrunk slightly since last week, a change that could reflect a tightening of the race but is small enough that it may simply be random fluctuation in the poll's daily tracking.

Story continues

As he seeks to close the gap, Trump faces a daunting reality: A large share of the electorate has tuned him out. Nearly 6 in 10 voters have an unfavorable view of him, and about half say their view is "extremely unfavorable."

Among undecided voters  a small share of the electorate  70% view Trump unfavorably, as do about three-quarters of those who say they voted for a third-party candidate in 2016. About 15% of people who say they voted for Trump in 2016 view him unfavorably today.

Views of Biden are closely divided, 50% favorable and 47% unfavorable, the poll found. In contrast to Trump, only about a third of voters say their view of Biden is "extremely unfavorable." Independents have a net negative view of both candidates.

Among some voter groups, unusually large shares say their view of Trump is extremely unfavorable: 79% of Black voters, for example, 64% of city dwellers, 56% of Latinas, and 51% of millennials and younger voters.

Trump has made little pretense of fishing in those waters. Instead, his campaign has focused on driving up the vote among groups that already support him, focusing on identifying and turning out people who didn't vote in 2016.

That's not an impossible strategy: Key states such as Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan have large numbers of white residents living in rural and exurban areas who didn't vote in the last presidential election.

The poll, however, points to a major difficulty with that strategy: Trump hasn't had much success in making his law-and-order message connect with voters who weren't already committed to him.

The poll listed nine issues the candidates have talked about and asked respondents to pick the one that is most important in determining their vote. The results indicate that Trump has made law and order top of mind for many of his supporters. Law enforcement and criminal justice came in second place among Trump voters, although well behind jobs and the economy.

Among voters overall, however, law enforcement ranked fourth  behind not only the economy, but also "uniting the country and healing racial divisions," a main theme for Biden's campaign and a top concern for Biden supporters, and "response to the coronavirus."

Other issues took a back seat, notably immigration, which played a major role in the 2016 campaign, and climate change, although the current data was collected before Trump's visit to California this week renewed attention on that issue.

"So far, few voters are focused on climate change as a deciding issue in the campaign. It will be interesting to see if that changes as the campaign progresses," said Jill Darling, director of the survey.

Making matters worse for Trump, voters overall think Biden would handle law enforcement issues better than the president, although Biden's margin here is small, 52% to 48%. That's consistent with other surveys and voter interviews that have found that many believe Trump is worsening the problems of urban unrest and violence, not making them better.

"Trump is campaigning heavily on an issue on which Biden actually has an advantage," said Bob Shrum, the veteran Democratic strategist who directs the USC Center for the Political Future, which co-sponsors the poll. "That's an unusual strategy," he added.

Biden had a wider margin of approval, however, on handling COVID-19, 57% to 43%. Trump narrowly bested Biden on jobs and the economy, 52% to 48%.

Economic issues could still provide a path forward for Trump, especially if public concern about COVID starts to wane this fall, said Mike Murphy, the veteran Republican strategist and Trump critic who co-directs the USC center.

But "Trump can't help getting in his own way" by constantly raising personal grievances and other side issues, Murphy said.

The group of Trump voters who say they are less than certain to vote cite law enforcement as a top issue less often than firmer Trump supporters do.

Nearly one-third of Trump's voters have a below average probability of casting a ballot. They are more likely to be women and non-college-educated, and motivated by opposition to Biden more than support for Trump. Among them, law enforcement was roughly tied as a priority with uniting the country and healthcare  an issue that was high on the list for Biden supporters, but scarcely mentioned by Trump's solid backers.

Healthcare also ranks as one of the top issues among the small group of voters who remain undecided; by 55% to 45%, they say Biden would be better able to handle it.

Biden has emphasized his ability to unify the country  an issue on which voters give him a clear advantage, 61% to 39%. Undecided voters gave Biden a 78% to 22% edge on handling that task.

Among Biden's supporters, one-third chose uniting the country and healing racial divisions as the most important issue for their vote, ranking ahead even of responding to COVID-19, which just over 1 in 5 picked.

For Biden, the theme of uniting the country and healing its divisions provides several benefits: It connects with his long-standing image as a person who can forge compromises; it avoids potential splits within his party that might surface if the debate focused more intensely on healthcare, immigration or climate change; and it also more broadly sidesteps ideological debate.

That last point is crucial because independents and those leaning Republican see a wide ideological gap between themselves and the Democratic candidate.

Asked to rank themselves and the candidates on an ideological scale from 0 to 100, with 0 being the most liberal and 100 the most conservative, voters overall rated themselves somewhat right of center, at 56. They rated Trump as more conservative, at 69, and placed Biden significantly further to the left, at 35.

Independents gave themselves an average rating of 52 and placed Trump fairly close to themselves ideologically, at 55. They saw Biden as further to the left, at 39. Those who described themselves as only leaning to the Republicans rated themselves at 67. Like the independents, they rated Trump as fairly close to them ideologically, at 71, and saw Biden as further to the left, at 23.

Voters tend to pick the candidate they see as ideologically closer to them, although that's not always the case: In 2012, for example, surveys showed that voters, on average, saw the Republican candidate, Mitt Romney, as closer to them ideologically than President Obama, who won reelection nonetheless.

Biden has made a persistent effort to appeal to formerly Republican voters in suburban regions and white, blue-collar voters in states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

The campaign's focus on those more conservative voters has dismayed some of his party's progressive stalwarts, including Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. The senator's former campaign manager, Faiz Shakir, gave a statement last week to the Washington Post saying that Sanders was urging "a stronger outreach to young people, the Latino community and the progressive movement."

The USC Dornsife poll, a joint project of the universitys Center for Economic and Social Research and the Center for the Political Future, tracks the views of a panel of more than 8,000 eligible voters. The poll surveys each panel member every 14 days. The current results are based on responses from 5,272 panel members, of whom 4,580 are registered voters.

Results are weighted to reflect U.S. Census Bureau figures for demographic characteristics including gender, race and education. The estimated error range for the polls full sample is roughly 2 percentage points in either direction.

A complete description of the polls methodology, along with the text of the questions asked and the full data tables, is available on the USC Dornsife website.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta on Wednesday said he has tested positive for COVID-19.

"Last week, I took a COVID test after having light fever. Its report was negative. I was tested again since I was feeling unwell. The report has now come as positive," he tweeted in Hindi.

Gupta said he was already in quarantine during the last week and advised those who had come in his contact to get themselves tested.
Scholar, author and connoisseur of the arts Kapila Vatsyayan died at her Delhi home on Wednesday. She was 92. "She passed away at 9 am today at her home in Gulmohar Enclave, Kanwal Ali, secretary of the India International Centre where she was a lifetime trustee, told PTI. Vatsyayan, who was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 2011, was the founding director of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts.

A former nominated member of the Rajya Sabha, she was also chairperson of the Asia Project at the IIC. The renowned scholar of art history, architecture and Indian classical dance was born in New Delhi in 1928 and did her masters in English Literature from Delhi University and in Education from the University of Michigan in the US. She was the younger sister of poet and critic Keshav Malik.

Vatsyayan authored nearly 20 books on different forms of art and their histories in her long career. Some of her notable works include The Square and the Circle of Indian Arts (1997), Bharata: The Natya Sastra (2006),Dance in Indian Painting (2004), Classical Indian Dance in Literature and the Arts (2007), and Transmissions and Transformations: Learning Through the Arts in Asia (2011).

Remembering her as a institution builder and a true scholar, several personalities from the world of arts and culture took to Twitter and Facebook to express their condolences. Renowned Hindi writer Ashok Vajpeyi said Vatsyayan's death was a personal loss for him.

l deeply mourn the passing away of Kapila Vatsyayan,a great scholar, a sharp mind, a creative person and a great institution-builder. The world of culture in India loses a doyen, a tireless promoter and a bridgemaker amongst the arts, thought and imagination. Also a personal loss to many like me, he wrote on Facebook.

Describing Vatsyayan as a true scholar of the deep refinements of ancient Indian culture and civilisation, politician Pavan K Varma said he was deeply grieved by her death. She was a true scholar of the deep refinements of ancient Indian culture and civilisation. Her book 'The Square and The Circle of Indian Arts' is a classic. Om Shanti, he tweeted.

Eminent sarod player Amjad Ali Khan said she was a leading scholar of Indian classical dance, art, architecture, and art history. She was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship in 1970 and the Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana award in 2000, among the many accolades she won over the years. The final rites were held at the Lodhi Cremation Ground on Wednesday afternoon..

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The Maharashtra Congress unit will stage a protest on Wednesday across the state over this decision

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday urged the Central government to rethink over its decision to ban the export of onions. He said such a decision will help Pakistan and other countries.

The Maharashtra Congress unit will stage a protest on Wednesday across the state over this decision. Meanwhile, All Bharatiya Kisan Maha Sabha said that the Central government has betrayed the farmers of the country by this move.

The NCP chief met Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal with a demand to reconsider its sudden decision. Pawar informed that Goyal has assured him that the government will rethink the decision if there is consensus among the ministries of commerce, finance, and consumer affairs on the issue.

In a series of tweets, Pawar said that the Central government has abruptly announced a ban on export of onions. This has led to strong reactions from the onion growing belt in Maharashtra. Therefore, the representatives of various political parties contacted and requested him to convey their demands to the Central Government.

To address this issue, I met Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Shri. Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) today and apprised him of the plight of onion growers. I pointed out to him that these onion growers are mainly small land holders and Jirait farmers (sic), Pawar tweeted.

In another tweet, he said, I also brought to his notice that onions are in good demand internationally & we have been exporting onions consistently. But a sudden decision to this effect by the Central government is a major blow to Indias image as a reliable exporter of onions in the international market (sic).

In the wake of the decision, there is a possibility that India may emerge as an unreliable supplier of the commodity internationally, Pawar said, adding that the move will benefit nations like Pakistan and others.

In another tweet, Pawar said Goyal told him that the proposal to ban the export was moved by the Union Consumer Affairs Ministry based on the rising prices of the commodity.

Amid this, farmers at Lasalgaon in Nashik district, staged a protest on the streets against the ban. Agitations took place in Mungse, Pimpalgaon, Nampur and Umrane markets and protesting farmers stalled auctions underway for some 10,000 quintals that had arrived, and also tried to stop traffic in the vicinity, including on the Mumbai-Agra Highway that skirts past Umrane. The auctions started on Tuesday morning at a price of Rs 2,200 per quintal at Lasalgaon Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC).

Speaking to this newspaper, all India Kisan Sabha Maharashtras general secretary Dr Ajit Navale alleged that owing to the upcoming Bihar election, the farmers are being sidelined. The farmers of Maharashtra and the country have been betrayed by the Central government. The high onion prices are undesirable for any government seeking re-election. The farmers would stage a statewide protest on Wednesday, Navale added.
A Shenzhen Airlines Airbus A320 plane is seen at the Changsha airport in Hunan, Chona on Nov. 1, 2007. (MARK RALSTON/AFP via Getty Images)

Chinese Official on the Run From Interpol, Charged for Taking Bribes

A provincial Chinese communist official who amassed millions of dollars in bribes while in office is now facing imprisonment and is wanted by Interpol. His wife and younger brother, both co-conspirators to the alleged crimes, also face similar charges.

Local authorities in Hunan Province accused Peng Xufeng and his younger brother Peng Yaofeng of accepting bribes and money laundering exceeding 200 million yuan ($30 million). Xufeng fled overseas in 2017. Yaofeng was sentenced to life imprisonment on Aug. 31 this year.

Chinese media reported that Xuefeng and his wife, Jia Siyu, own five luxury properties across the world on four continents. Earlier this year, a Hunan court ordered the confiscation of the illegal assets of the husband and wife, and both have been on Interpols Red Notice list since May 10, 2017.

According to the Chinese regimes mouthpiece CCTV, Xufeng took advantage of his government posts between 2012 and 2017 and accepted huge amounts of bribes. The two brothers jointly amassed nearly 219 million yuan ($32 million) and Yaofeng helped Xufeng to transfer the money overseas.

In 2010, Xufeng was transferred from his position as the deputy director of the Changsha Municipal Housing and Construction Committee to the post of secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of the Changsha Rail Transit Group. In March 2017, he was promoted to the position of chairman of Hunan Infrastructure Investment Group.

After less than a month at his new post, Xufeng fled to Australia on March 24, 2017 and then headed to the United States. According to the CCTV report, Xufeng was also holding a passport of the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis, and a passport of Cyprus.

Xufengs wife, Jia Siyu, left China on March 10, 2017. According to Chinese media reports, Xufeng had previously arranged for his wife and children to move abroad and had wired about 150 million yuan ($22 million) overseas. The reports did not indicate where Xufengs family is currently residing.

According to the allegations filed in Chinese court, between 2012 and 2017, Jia transferred about 43 million yuan ($6.3 million) from Xufengs bribery overseas through underground banks or by channeling the funds through other peoples bank accounts. She is suspected of money laundering, with part of the bribery proceeds being used to purchase real estate and national debt overseas.

The various real estate properties purchased by the couple are reported to be located in Australia, Cyprus, Singapore, and St. Kitts and Nevis, an island in the American Caribbean. They allegedly invested 2.5 million euros in national debt instruments and had plans to use more than $500,000 to purchase other funds.

An investigation against Xufeng was filed on April 1, 2017 on suspicion of taking bribes; and another investigation was opened against Jia on suspicion of bribery and money laundering later that same month. On May 10, 2017, the Interpol issued the Red Notices for the couple.

Changsha Metro System

According to Chinese media reports, during Xufengs tenure as the deputy director of the Municipal Housing and Construction Committee of Changsha city, the capital of Hunan Province, he built and opened a number of subway and maglev lines. The official website of Changsha Rail Transit Group announced that as of 2018, the total scale of approved lines for construction is 88 miles (142 kilometers) with an investment of about 93 billion yuan ($14 billion).

The Changsha Metro Line 2, which cost tens of billions of dollars to build, has been plagued with problems, such as cracks and leakage in the main structure, after just two years of operation. As early as February 2013, there was online exposure that illegal bidding was involved in the construction of the Metro system.

As the chairman of the Changsha Rail Transit Group, Xufeng had control of the management of these projects and the use and allocation of funds. And more than just a few complaints had been filed against Xufeng regarding the abuse of his authority, according to insider sources.
Amaravati, Sep 16 : Andhra Pradesh Commissioner of School Education, V Chinaveerabhadrudu, has written to the National Statistical Office (NSO) to understand more about the intricacies of an NSO survey after the state was rated worst in literacy in a certain category.

"Prima facie, there are grounds to reexamine the report. I would like to get into the sample methodology and questionnaire to understand the report better," Chinaveerabhadrudu told IANS while pointing out that it was important to understand how the NSO had carried out the survey.

For 2017-18, the NSO rated the southern state lower than Bihar, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh in literacy rate for individuals above seven years of age.

The NSO allegedly surveyed 5,000 persons in some districts and even less in some others to arrive at this conclusion.

"I had asked the people concerned (NSO surveyors) to come and discuss the survey with me. They asked me to contact the NSO head, which I have done, and am waiting to hear from the organisation," he said.

The Commissioner said that prima facie, there appear to be some issues with the survey and the report needed a reexamination.

According to sources, the Andhra Pradesh government does not agree with the worst literacy billing the NSO gave to the state.

"No, we don't agree with that report. We want to know what parametres the NSO has followed," said a source.

"The state would like to contest it because (NSO) literacy rating is different from the Census literacy rate also done by the government of India in 2011," said the source.

In the 2011 Census, Andhra's literacy rate stood at 67 per cent while the NSO survey claimed the literacy rate was 64 per cent, pointing at a decline.

"Since we are almost 10 years from the last Census, in any way, the literacy rate should only be increasing and not decreasing," the source pointed out.

According to the source, the NSO rating is only based on a sample survey, unlike the census which touches every family in the state.

"This is only a sample study -- its main objective is not to find out the literacy rate, but about the consumption patterns. So, the data or observations of the NSO study about literacy are tangential or a byproduct of the research. The main objective is not to study literacy. So you need not give it more importance than what is required," the source added.

Irrespective of the NSO adjudicating Andhra Pradesh as the lowest literate state, several towns and a few cities in the state are major educational hubs, drawing thousands of students for studies.

Vijayawada, Guntur, Nellore, Bhimavaram, Kakinada, Vishakapatnam, Rajamundry, Kurnool and others are known for famous schools, intermediate junior colleges and several engineering colleges.

Some of the private schools such as Sri Chaitany and Narayana have expanded their branches all over the country, originating from the state.

Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, both the Telugu states, send a sizeable number of students every year to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), premier technical schools in India.

AP is also known for a high number of students who migrate to the US for higher studies.

(Sharon Thambala can be contacted at thamalasharon@gmail.com)
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The global formal shoes market is expected to exhibit considerable growth over the forecast period from 2019 to 2023, according to the latest research report from Market Research Future (MRFR). The research report profiles the global formal shoes market in great detail and provides readers with a comprehensive overview of the market. The markets historical growth trajectory, present conditions, and future growth prospects are studied in the report. The report provides a comprehensive overview of the markets historical growth trajectory by detailing the historical stats regarding the market. Future projections are based on the detailed historical stats offered in the report. Based on this platform, future projections for the formal shoes markets growth trajectory over the forecast period are provided in the report. The report also profiles the leading players in the global formal shoes market and gives readers a comprehensive analysis of the leading players in the global formal shoes market. The report also profiles the major drivers and restraints affecting the global formal shoes market. The factors making the market tick and those holding the market back are studied in detail in the report. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the formal shoes market is also assessed in the report.

Also Read: https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/formal-shoes-market-global-demand-value-size-share-global-scenario-emerging-audience-covid-19-pandemic-impact-and-forecast-to-2023-2020-08-04

The global formal shoes market has been driven by the growing urbanization in emerging areas of the world, such as Asia Pacific and Latin America. The increasing number of office jobs available in these regions has driven the demand for formal shoes, as most offices these days make formal shoes compulsory. The increasing IT sector in Asia Pacific is thus likely to be a major driver for the global formal shoes market over the forecast period, as the IT sector is likely to account for an increasing number of jobs in the coming years.

The increasing fashion variations in formal shoes are also likely to be a major driver for the global formal shoes market. With growing fashion awareness among consumers, formal shoe manufacturers have come up with several new design innovations to make their products appeal to urban consumers. This is likely to remain a major driver for the global formal shoes market over the forecast period.

Competitive Leaderboard:

Leading players in the global formal shoes market include C. & J. Clark, Alberto Torresi, Cole Haan LLC, The Aldo Group Inc., ECCO Sko A/S, Bata Limited, Hush Puppies, Steve Madden, Kenneth Cole Production Inc., and Roush.

Segmentation:

The global Formal Shoes Market Business is segmented on the basis of type, end user, distribution channel, and region.

By type, the global formal shoes market is segmented into ballerina, mules, oxfords, brogues, derbys, boots, and others. The boots segment is likely to retain a dominant share in the global formal shoes market over the forecast period due to the widespread popularity of boots across the gender divide. Boots are one of the oldest forms of formal shoes and their longstanding popularity is likely to be a major driver for the global formal shoes market over the forecast period.

By end user, the global formal shoes market is segmented into men and women. The men segment is likely to be the majority shareholder in the global formal shoes market over the forecast period. This is due to the dominance of men in offices around the world. However, the rising number of working women around the world is likely to drive the women segment of the global formal shoes market over the forecast period.

By distribution channel, the global formal shoes market is segmented into store-based and non-store-based. The store-based segment is further sub-segmented into supermarkets and hypermarkets, specialty stores, and others. The store-based segment is likely to dominate the global formal shoes market over the forecast period.

Regional Analysis:

North America holds the dominant share in the global formal shoes market, followed by Europe and Asia Pacific. However, Asia Pacific is likely to be the major growth market for the formal shoes market over the forecast period due to the rapid urbanization in the region.

Access Report: https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/formal-shoes-market-7242

Note: Our team of researchers are studying Covid-19 and its impact on various industry verticals and wherever required will be considering covid19 footprints for a better analysis of markets and industries. Cordially get in touch for more details.

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MINNEAPOLIS and DALLAS, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Mednet, a provider of eClinical solutions for the global life sciences community and MedTrials, a contract research organization (CRO) providing a wide-range of specialized clinical research services, announced they have extended their long-term partnership. Through the new agreement, Mednet will provide MedTrials with concierge-level account management and service delivery. The expanded partnership is part of the Mednet Value Program (MVP), designed to enable clinical research partners to fully optimize the comprehensive cloud-based capabilities to accelerate clinical development.

"Now more than ever, clinical research teams need flexible, comprehensive solutions to adapt to evolving requirements and to execute clinical trials as quickly as possible," said Kathy Labowitz, vice president of informatics, MedTrials. "But differentiation of professional services requires more than cost-effective tools; we value Mednet's deep experience and service approach. When our teams engage with the MedNet teams we can expect them to share our team's values of creativity, high quality, and professionalism. We believe the competitive pricing and additional services offered in the Mednet Value Program (MVP) further enhance our ability to achieve our client's research objectives."

Clinical trials are becoming increasingly complex, and there is a growing pressure to build and execute studies quickly and cost efficiently. At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic is creating additional demands on research teams. In a rapidly changing industry, sponsors and other research organizations need flexible, easy-to-use eClinical solutions to effectively address these demands. The MedTrials and Mednet partnership provides study sponsors with broad range of clinical trials services including clinical trials consulting, project management and monitoring, data management, biostatistics, safety, auditing and industry-specific training, coupled with a highly-flexible and efficient technology platform that adapts to a variety of study protocols and types.

"We're thrilled to expand our long-term partnership with MedTrials and bring additional value to their customers through the Mednet Value Program," said Scott Robertson, vice president of sales, global partnerships, Mednet. "MedTrials' experienced and talented team brings value to all facets of the clinical research process, and they've developed technology and business process efficiencies to ensure projects are completed on time and within budget. Through our expanded partnership and flexible platform, MedTrials can further leverage their expertise to accelerate clinical development and help life sciences sponsors bring new treatments to market as quickly and efficiently as possible."

To learn more about the MedTrials and Mednet partnership, contact us.

About Mednet

Mednet is a healthcare technology company specializing in eClinical solutions designed for the global life sciences community. Mednet's flexible, electronic data capture (EDC)-centric eClinical platform improves the efficiency of clinical studies of all types and sizes. Beyond simply EDC, Mednet's comprehensive solution set provides the tools required to build and manage all types of clinical research, while adapting to evolving demands and requirements. Pharmaceutical, medical device, biotechnology and Contract Research Organizations (CROs) around the world have trusted Mednet for nearly 20 years to deliver the technology innovation, experience and reliability they need for success. For more information, visit mednetsolutions.com.

About MedTrials

MedTrials is a Contract Research Organization that provides specialized clinical research services ranging from clinical trials consulting, project management and site monitoring, data management, biostatistics, safety management and auditing to providing industry-specific training programs. As clinical trial management experts, MedTrials has developed business process efficiencies and implemented the right technology to bring projects in on time and within budget. MedTrials clinical research professionals have the ability to anticipate study challenges, the savvy to overcome them, and the dedication to deliver high-quality results. It is an ongoing commitment to quality and customer service excellence that ensures MedTrials continues to meet our client needs and expectations.

Contact: Barbara Correll, [email protected]

SOURCE Mednet

Related Links

http://www.mednetstudy.com


Hyeon K. Park, Professor in the Department of Physics at UNIST received the 2020 Subramanyan Chandrasekhar Prize of Plasma Physics, becoming the first Korean plasma physicist to earn the prestigious award.

On September 10, the Division of Plasma Physics under the Association of Asia Pacific Physical Societies (AAPPS-DPP) has announced that it has selected Professor Hyeon K. Park, as the 7th Laureate of S. Chandrasekhar Prize of Plasma Physics.

Founded by the AAPPS-DPP in 2014, the S. Chandrasekhar Prize of Plasma Physics is an internationally authoritative annual prize, which is awarded to an outstanding scientist who has made seminal/pioneering contributions in the field of plasma physics. The award is named in honor of the late Indian-American Nobel laureate, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar.

Professor Hyeon K. Park, an internationally renowned plasma physicist, has been given the award in recognition of his original and pioneering works in fusion plasma diagnostics, the electron cyclotron emission imaging (ECEI) and microwave imaging reflectometry (MIR) enabled to measure unprecedented high-resolution images of MHD instabilities and turbulent fluctuations, leading to rich discoveries of novel plasma physics phenomena, such as precise images of the sawtooth crash process, tearing mode and edge localized modes. The plasma physics research, assisted by the advanced imaging diagnostics enhanced the synergies with numerical modeling and theories, and thus elevated the fusion plasma research program in Korea. This ECEI system has now become a standard in the majority of tokamak devices throughout the world.

Professor Hyeon K. Park received a B.S. degree in Physics, USC (1978) and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering, UCLA (1984). He joined the Department of Physics at UNIST in 2013. Prior to joining UNIST, Professor Park served as the Principal Research Physicist at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), Princeton University.

While working at PPPL, Professor Park developed high speed/high-resolution 2-D microwave camera [electron cyclotron imaging (ECEI) for electron temperature and microwave imaging reflectometry (MIR) for electron density] to elevate understanding of the physics of MHD instabilities and turbulence through international collaboration. The successful test of the ECEI/MIR system was performed on TEXTOR device, Germany. The result was highlighted in the back to back PRL papers (2006) on the physics of sawtooth instability as the first author.

In late 2007, Professor Park returned to Korea, as a professor of physics at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) and established KSTAR Research Center, one of the fusion plasma research centers in Korea. There, he developed the most sophisticated 2D/3D ECEI and MIR systems at the time on KSTAR as shown in Fig.1 with sample 2-D images. The ECEI system successfully visualized the time evolution of the edge localized mode (ELM) from growth to burst for the first time and the observed ELM structure was validated with the MHD code. Since then the ECEI system has been instrumental for the KSTAR physics research.

"I am deeply honored, to be the recipient of this prestigious award," says Professor Park. "This award will help the country's nuclear fusion plasma physics field, based on the KSTAR physics research and KSTAR Research Center, gain more international recognition."

Professor Park has published more than 300 SCI papers, along with 36 papers from Physical Review Letters (PRL), one of the most prestigious journals in the field of Physics. The recent review paper in Advances in Physics-X, 2019, summarized his work on new physics uncovered by the ECEI system up to now. He has delivered numerous plenary and invited talks at major international conferences, including IAEA-FEC, AAPPS-DPP, EPS-DPP, and APS-DPP. He has served on many international committees, including the International Fusion Research Council and the ITER Science and Technology Advisory Committee, and was a Chair of the ITPA Diagnostic Division. He also served Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion as an editorial board member, and he is a Fellow of the American Physical Society.

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Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-15 23:43:38|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Governments at all levels should implement the strictest arable land protection policies and clamp down on activities that encroach on arable land, according to a circular posted on Tuesday on the website of the central government.

To feed the 1.4 billion people in China, governments across the country must take effective measures to protect arable land, said the circular issued by the General Office of the State Council.

In recent years, China has put in place a slew of policies and measures to protect arable land, but there are still illegal occupations of arable land in some localities.

Authorities should strictly prohibit the illegal occupation of cultivated land for afforestation, landscaping, and non-agricultural construction.

Governments should also crack down on the illegal occupation of arable land and other illegal land use such as building wide green belts and expanding nature reserves at the expense of arable land, the circular said. Enditem
Xiaomi owned Redmi officially launched the Redmi 9A handset in India earlier this month. Today, the handset is all set to go on sale in the country. Redmi 9A online sale will commence at 12 noon via Amazon.in & mi.com. The handset will be offered with up to Rs 1,500 discount on Bank of Baroda credit cards, up to Rs 150 back with Amazon Pay UPI & no-cost EMI on select cards. Redmi 9A Smartphone & Redmi Earphones Launched in India; Prices, Features, Variants & Specifications.

In terms of specifications, Redmi 9A features a 6.53-inch HD+ LCD dot display with a resolution of 1600x720 pixels. The handset is powered by MediaTek Helio G25 SoC coupled with up to 3GB of RAM. For photography, the device comes equipped with a single 13MP rear camera. Upfront, there is a 5MP selfie shooter.

Redmi 9A India Sale (Photo Credits: Amazon India)

The smartphone runs on Android 10 based MIUI 12 operating system. The handset will be offered in two variants - 2GB RAM + 32GB storage & 3GB RAM + 32GB storage. The phone will be available in Midnight Black, Nature Green & Sea Blue Colour.

Redmi 9A First Online India Sale (Photo Credits: Amazon India)

Connectivity options include 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi, a 3.5mm audio jack & a micro-USB port. The budget device is fuelled by a 5,000mAh battery with 10W fast charging support. Coming to the pricing, Redmi 9A costs Rs 6,799 for 2GB & 32GB whereas the 3GB & 32GB is priced at Rs 7,499.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 16, 2020 10:04 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Jaipur:

At least 25 children were injured when the school bus they were travelling in overturned in Rajasthans Churu district.



The incident occurred this morning when the bus was on its way to the school in Radelsar from Chote Gaon and its driver lost control over the vehicle and it overturned, a police spokesperson said.



The injured children were rushed to a local hospital from where three seriously injured were referred to Churu hospital while others were released after first-aid, he said.



The children were students of Class I to VIII.



A case of negligence has been registered against the bus driver, the spokesperson said.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
There are currently nine vaccine candidates in late-stage human trials, although pharma giant AstraZeneca paused their trials after a volunteer developed an unexplained illness.

A China-developed coronavirus vaccine could be ready for the public as early as November, a Chinese official has told state television, as the global race to clear the final round of trials heats up.

Chinese manufacturers have been bullish about development, with companies Sinovac Biotech and Sinopharm even putting their vaccine candidates on display at a trade fair in Beijing this month.

Representatives of the firms told AFP that they hope their vaccines will be approved after phase 3 trials as early as year-end.

And on late Monday, the chief biosafety expert at the Chinese Centre for Disease Control told state broadcaster CCTV that a vaccine would be available to the general public "around November or December."

Wu Guizhen did not specify which vaccine she was referring to but said,"based on phase 3 clinical results, the current progress is very smooth."

Wu added that she had taken a vaccine in April and has felt good over the past few months, although she did not specify which candidate she had taken.

There are currently nine vaccine candidates in late-stage human trials, although some have hit recent obstacles -- pharma giant AstraZeneca and Oxford University momentarily paused clinical trials last week after a volunteer developed an unexplained illness.

Some of China's vaccine candidates have already been offered to essential workers under an emergency use programme.

A Sinovac spokesman told AFP this month that "tens of thousands" of people had voluntarily taken its vaccine, including 90 percent of its employees and their families -- between 2,000 and 3,000 people.

In June, China's military approved a vaccine for use within its ranks developed by its research unit and a biotech firm.
TOKYO - Liberal Democratic Party President Yoshihide Suga, 71, was elected as Japan's new prime minister during plenary sessions of the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors on Wednesday, and immediately formed his Cabinet.

The top priority of the new administration will be novel coronavirus measures and economic revitalization. It will also promote digitization in both the public and private sectors.

Suga had supported former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration as chief cabinet secretary since its inauguration in December 2012.

Suga became LDP president after defeating Fumio Kishida and Shigeru Ishiba in Monday's election, following Abe's announcement of his resignation. Suga succeeds Abe, who has been in office for seven years and nine months, the longest continuous tenure for a prime minister in the nation's history.

The new Cabinet lineup places emphasis on the continuity of coronavirus measures. Former Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Norihisa Tamura, who has been in charge of coronavirus measures in the LDP, returns to the health minister post. Katsunobu Kato, the health minister in Abe's latest Cabinet, was appointed to the key post of chief cabinet secretary, and Yasutoshi Nishimura retains his post as economic revitalization minister.

In forming his Cabinet, Suga has pledged to work hard on regulatory reforms and has expressed his desire to move administrative reforms forward, including the creation of a digital agency.

Suga will seek to implement his signature policies by appointing ministers with expertise in their areas. His close ally and former Defense Minister Taro Kono becomes the administrative reform minister. Takuya Hirai, former minister in charge of information technology, is now in charge of digitization.

On Wednesday morning, Kono told reporters at the Defense Ministry: "We will work together to ensure Japan steadily moves forward in the wake of the coronavirus epidemic."

Suga created a new cabinet post in charge of the 2025 Osaka Kansai World Expo, and Shinji Inoue, former vice minister of environment and the cabinet office, was appointed to that position.

Five ministers including Inoue are first-time cabinet members. Eight ministers, including Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Taro Aso; Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi; Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Minister Koichi Hagiuda; and Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games Minister Seiko Hashimoto, retained their posts.

Suga won a resounding victory in the LDP presidential election by positioning himself as Abe's successor. Reappointment of key cabinet ministers is partly aimed at maintaining policy continuity.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested key accused Giteli Imran, in the Visakhapatnam naval spy ring case. Imran is alleged to have deposited money in the accounts of navy officers in lieu of sensitive information that was sent to Pakistan, officials said.

Imran, 37, a resident of Godhra in Gujarat, was arrested on Monday under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and Official Secrets Act.

The case pertains to an international espionage racket in which Pakistan-based spies recruited agents in India for collecting classified information regarding locations and movement of Indian ships and submarines, and other defence establishments. The racket was unearthed last December
Russias Cabinet turns down bill on blocking of extremist websites by law enforcement

 RAPSI, Eugeny Varlamov

10:56 16/09/2020

MOSCOW, September 16 (RAPSI)  Russias Government has not backed a draft law granting law enforcement intelligence operations bodies a right to block extremist websites on the Internet, according to the State Duma database.

The Cabinet of Ministers considered that the initiative could vest the law enforcement with authority disappropriate to a public threat degree.

The bill proposed to allow the enforcement intelligence operations officers to send to an authorized body domains to be included in the register of online extremist resources.
ANN ARBOR, MI  The University of Michigans faculty senate was divided on a vote of 'no confidence in President Mark Schlissel Wednesday afternoon.

According to multiple sources, the vote was 957 in favor, 953 against and 184 abstentions. The vote requires 50% of all votes to be in favor to pass.

While the resolution appeared to not pass Wednesday, the senate was still discussing how to count abstentions. The vote tally -- and whether or not the no-confidence resolution is ultimately adopted -- could still change. But that much remained unclear Wednesday night.

The resolution faults Schlissel for not using scientific data predicting the risk levels for fall 2020 reopening plans. The resolution also says he failed in his handling of the sexual misconduct allegations against former provost Martin Philbert, who was dismissed for sexual misconduct that was known to members of the university for decades, the resolution says.

UM president says institutional failings allowed ex-provosts sexual misconduct to continue

The vote on the resolution came while members of the Graduate Employees' Organization are on strike, demanding a safe and just response to the coronavirus pandemic, including a robust testing plan, the universal right to work remotely for graduate employees and access to a disarmed and demilitarized workplace, among others.

The resolution of no confidence in Schlissel says he did not use a report by the Ethics and Privacy Committee  which was appointed by Schlissel  to inform reopening plans, did not respond to the committee and did not make the report public, the resolution says. Schlissel has also explicitly refused to accept personal responsibility for the consequences of the administrations decisions," the resolution states.

Members of faculty senate  professorial staff, research faculty, library staff, executive officers of the university, the dean of each school and others designated by the Board of Regents  voted on a number of motions, including a vote of confidence in the universitys reopening plan, which failed by a vote of 915 in favor, 991 against and 198 abstaining. The motion said that the Ethics and Privacy Committee appointed by Schlissel has declared that the reopening plan does not meet the reasonable standard for safety recommended by our report.

UM reopened with a mix of online, in-person and hybrid classes with 78% of credits being taught online.

According to UMs COVID-19 dashboard, there have been 386 positive tests since March 8 and 13,520 tests administered. In the last two weeks, 57 people have tested positive and 2,918 tests have been carried out.

Schlissel and UM Provost Susan Collins held a public conversation Sept. 15 where they addressed the universitys pandemic response and structural racism, among other topics. They both acknowledged that there were faults in their reopening plan and areas where they could have done better, such as quarantine and isolation housing.

Its not excusable that any of our students who are in quarantine or isolation arent well supported with all of the supplies they need, Collins said. Its a stressful, difficult situation, and that just shouldnt have happened.

University of Michigan president, provost address universitys pandemic response

During their conversation Tuesday, Schlissel said he took an experts-focused approach that became narrow," and he lost sight of how campus is experienced and the wisdom of all the different components of campus. His main takeaway, Schlissel said, was to do more communicating with different types of people and to hear whats on peoples minds rather than presuming.

Editors note: This story has been updated with a new headline and information that reflects how senate leadership is still looking into how to handle the abstentions.

READ MORE:

University of Michigan is no longer able to hide inadequacy of pandemic response, grad students say

University of Michigan seeks restraining order to end graduate employee strike

From COVID testing to cops, University of Michigan graduate students explain why theyre striking

University of Michigan undergraduates support grad student strike, say school favors profit over health
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday said the three bills --- The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020; The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020; and The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 --- have been introduced in Parliament with the intent to benefit farmers, but the Congress is creating hurdles in their all-round development by opposing them.

BJP president JP Nadda addressed media persons on the three key bills that are to be passed by Parliament during the 18-day uninterrupted monsoon session, which started on Monday, amid the raging coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic across the country.

These bills are far sighted. They are related to the empowerment of the farmers and are truly revolutionary. Farmers will be free to sell their produce in a competitive market of their choice. But the Congress is opposing them. The party is hampering the farmers all-round economic growth and development, Nadda said.

On Tuesday, the Lok Sabha (LS) passed Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020; and it will now be taken up for discussion in the Rajya Sabha (RS).

The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020; and The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020; are listed for discussion in the LS on Wednesday.

The Congress has opposed the ordinances related to the agri-marketing practices that seek to create new structures on the grounds that it would undermine the existing food security net.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh had said last week that revenues of agri-dominant states would be negatively affected by these three ordinances and private companies would benefit because of their corporate farming initiatives.

Nadda lashed out at the Congress for what he alleged was the rival partys doublespeak. He said the bills would ensure that farmers get good prices for their produce and investments in the agriculture sector would also be encouraged.

These are very beneficial from the point of view of agriculture. The Essential Commodities Act has been in force since 1955 when we used to face an acute shortage of food grains. About 10 million tonnes (MT) of wheat was produced in 1955, which has since gone up by 10 times. In 1955, rice production was 25 MT, which now stands at 110 MT. This bill was introduced when there was food grain shortage and there was a need to regulate things to ensure there is no hoarding and commodities can be sold at the right price, he said.

The BJP president, who is also a member of the RS, said that the government is making an attempt to benefit farmers by ensuring they can sell the produce with ease.

At present, farm produce can be sold only through mandis. These bills allow them to sell the produce outside of mandis as well and also determine their own price, he said referring to the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, which seeks to allow intra-state and inter-state trade of farmers produce beyond the physical premises of agricultural produce market committees (APMCs).

State governments are prohibited from levying any market fee, cess or levy outside APMCs.

The BJP president said a transparent process, where farmers could take a call on where they would get the best price for their produce would be in place after the bill is passed.

This bill also has the provision of giving information on prices. Farmers can be told which places are offering a fair price, he said.

He also cited The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill. 2020; that seeks to develop a framework for contract farming and trade agreements for the sale and purchase of farm produce.

Nadda said it would offer protection to farmers who would understand the details of agreements that would be drawn up in regional languages.

All these three bills are in the favour of the farmers. All the bottlenecks have been removed between a farmer and market. The Congress is opposing these bills because it has a double face. The party always plays politics. In 2013-14, the Congress had told its own state governments to denotify fruits and vegetables from APMC. The Congress in its 2019 parliamentary election manifesto had also promised that it would repeal the APMC Act, 2003, Nadda alleged.

The BJPs ally, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), had opposed the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020 in the LS.

SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal described the bill as anti-farmer and said his party was not consulted when the ordinances were framed. The party has also said it would oppose the other two bills as well.

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A massive conflagration that scorched a building in Oaklands Chinatown Wednesday morning was believed to have been started by a dumpster fire, and it bloomed into a five-alarm blaze, officials said.

No injuries were reported in the fire, which began about 8:20 a.m. and quickly spread to the the building that stretches across two-thirds of the 700 block of Webster Street. More than 70 firefighters responded to battle the blaze. It was brought under control within about two hours, authorities said.

It was not an easy fire to wrestle under control, Oakland Fire Chief Melinda Drayton said at a news conference. Crews had contemplated switching from actively attacking the fire to going into a defensive position at times. Some firefighters had gone through four of their air-supply tanks, whereas a normal fire typically requires only one or two.

Its not a normal fire, Drayton said.

The most intense area of firefighting activity appeared to be above Rang Dong Restaurant. At one point, dozens of firefighters appeared to be on the roof, checking for hot spots.

Just after 10 a.m., the fire seemed to re-ignite, sending waist-high flames through a roof and soot-filled plumes high into the sky.

One business owner could be seen rushing to the scene with several cases of bottled water to firefighters as they climbed down from the roof in shifts. Helicopters circled the area, but they were easier to hear than see, as smoke obscured the sky.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

The usually bustling Chinatown neighborhood came to a stop, with onlookers watching and taking photos as firefighters climbed a ladder leaned against the 8th Street Cafe and worked atop a neighboring building.

Though the Rang Dong restaurant was clearly damaged, Drayton said firefighters were able to gain access and save the Cathay Bank next door. After the fire was brought under control, crews continued to pull down weakened areas of roof and check for any trouble spots.

Authorities were still assessing the full extent of the damage Wednesday afternoon.

Michael Williams and Rusty Simmons are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Michael.Williams@sfchronicle.com rsimmons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @michaeldamianw @Rusty_SFChron
Photo: The Canadian Press Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole walks to a caucus meeting in Ottawa with his chief of staff Tausha Michaud and campaign manager Fred DeLorey in Ottawa on Sept. 9, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Federal Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole says he, his family and some party workers are in self-isolation after an aide tested positive for COVID-19.

A statement from the party says the O'Tooles are getting tested, informing the Opposition leader's recent contacts and keeping his son home.

"My family and I are feeling well, but we take COVID-19 very seriously," O'Toole said in the statement.

"Today was going to be Jacks first day back at school, but instead we will be getting tested and self-isolating per public health guidelines. The health and safety of my family and all Canadians is my top priority."

O'Toole was to appear at a party event in Alberta Wednesday evening, part of a mini-tour of the Conservative heartland in the West.

And he was just in Quebec, where he met Premier Francois Legault on Monday.

The Conservatives say the staffer who has the respiratory illness was travelling with him.

The federal parties are still sorting out how the House of Commons will function when it resumes next Wednesday. The Liberals favour a hybrid model, with some MPs in the chamber and others participating via videoconference with a mechanism for voting online.

The Conservatives have been arguing for MPs to participate in person only, with limits on the number of members in the chamber at a time and staggered voting when it's needed.

Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet is also in self-isolation, awaiting the results of his own COVID-19 test after both his spouse and an aide tested positive for the illness.

Blanchet's aide's positive test, a few days after the Bloc caucus met in person in St-Hyacinthe, Que., prompted dozens of MPs and party workers to isolate themselves.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau tested positive for COVID-19 early in the pandemic but recovered.
OTTAWA  Manitobas largest First Nation is bracing for yet another COVID-19 case, as its chief accuses federal underfunding for allowing the virus to spread and pull another community into lockdown.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 15/9/2020 (493 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA  Manitobas largest First Nation is bracing for yet another COVID-19 case, as its chief accuses federal underfunding for allowing the virus to spread and pull another community into lockdown.

Peguis Chief Glenn Hudson confirmed to the Free Press his reserve has a third presumed positive test result, which he said emerged Monday evening.

The Peguis woman awaiting a final result is in a relationship with a man with a confirmed case who lives at Sagkeeng First Nation, Hudson said Tuesday. Sagkeeng has since gone into lockdown.

That brings at least five confirmed or presumed positive cases on Manitoba reserves since the pandemic started, all of which occurred this month.

The Peguis band counts 10,500 members, of whom 3,600 people live on the reserve, which sits 180 kilometres north of Winnipeg.

Last Friday, the band reported two separate cases, when a rapid test conducted at the local hospital indicated a positive result, which the provincial Cadham laboratory has since confirmed.

Separately, Sagkeeng went into lockdown Monday because of a confirmed case. The reserve, 135 km northeast of Winnipeg, said only 262 members allowed onto reserve and all offices working from home.

"We want to prevent widespread community transmission and avoid outbreaks," reads a Monday notice the band posted on Facebook.

Earlier, Fisher River Cree Nation said a resident presented symptoms Sept. 8, after a visit to Winnipeg, and had confirmed results by last Friday.

On Monday, a third Peguis resident had a positive result in a rapid test around 6 p.m., said Hudson, who is waiting on confirmation from the Cadham lab.

Contract tracing is ongoing. The previous two Peguis cases did not result in any other cases from their contacts, who have been tested and are now isolating.

On Tuesday, officials at the sprawling Peguis reserve were setting up checkpoints at the 10 entrances to the First Nation. The reserve briefly implemented checkpoints at the start of the pandemic, and applied a month ago for federal funding to reinstate them, as Manitoba cases rose.

Hudson said hes thankful Ottawa approved that request, but said it arrived too late.

"Weve just been given the green light to move ahead on that proposal, over the weekend. But it took a positive case to enact that," he said. "We probably could have avoided this situation."

A spokeswoman for Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller said Ottawa has allocated $1.3 million to Peguis for things like preventing the spread of COVID-19 and supporting vulnerable residents.

"These funds flowed directly to Indigenous communities and groups across the country, to allow maximum flexibility in adapting supports for local needs," wrote Adrienne Vaupshas.

Peguis checkpoints involve assessing entrants for symptoms and contact with anyone awaiting COVID-19 results. Local fishers would be turned away, but those who can prove they live in Peguis or communities further north will be allowed through, such as Fisher River, Kinonjeoshtegon and Dallas/Red Rose.

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Hudson said his community is struggling to contain the spread due to cramped housing.

Two of the Peguis residents who tested positive lived in multi-generational homes with elderly relatives, and have since relocated to other homes on the reserve, where the household has agreed to isolate.

In the 2016 census, 45 per cent of households on the Peguis reserve reported being in major disrepair.

That was an issue for 38 per cent of homes in Fisher River, while in Sagkeeng, some 28 per cent of homes were deemed unsuitable, meaning the number of bedrooms is not suitable for the number of adults and children living at that address.

Hudson said COVID-19 cases illustrate how why communities need adequate housing and medical services in the first place. "The cost will shoot through the roof, if we dont contain it," he said.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca
She may be missing the usual hustle and bustle of New York Fashion Week, but she'll never forget her early morning jog.

And Kelly Bensimon flashed a smile and a peace sign as she pounded the pavement through Manhattan on Wednesday morning.

The 52-year-old former reality star slipped on a pair of leggings and a sweater for a quick jaunt around the block of her Big Apple neighborhood.

Sporty: Kelly Bensimon flashed a smile and a peace sign as she pounded the pavement through Manhattan on Wednesday morning

Kelly sported a pair of tight grey pants with electric yellow sneakers while jogging in the bike lane on a city street.

She kept her arms covered in a light grey sweater with rainbow splatter paint details and wore a host of necklaces and chunky gold bracelets.

The Real Housewives of New York alumni carried a pink iPhone in one hand and kept her face covering tucked underneath her chin.

Out and about: The 52-year-old former reality star slipped on a pair of leggings and a sweater for a quick jaunt around the block of her Big Apple neighborhood

Fashion first: She kept her arms covered in a light grey sweater with rainbow splatter paint details and wore a host of necklaces and chunky gold bracelets

Her auburn toned hair was parted down the middle and worn in loose waves and she appeared to be relatively makeup-free.

Kelly took to Instagram yesterday to honor her beloved fashion week as it takes a new turn with digital and smaller scale shows due to the pandemic and social distancing cues.

'In the Spirit of the New York Fashion Week, lets celebrate all of the designers, models, bloggers, retail stores, hair and makeup, stylists, producers who make Fashion week great,' she captioned a snap.

Safety first: Her auburn toned hair was parted down the middle and worn in loose waves and she appeared to be relatively makeup-free as she jogged with a mask

Walk it out: Kelly checked her phone while walking back home

Always on the go: Bensimon was spotted in black running shorts just the day before

She detailed her lengthy history in the industry which began at the age of 16 as a model and transitioned into a jewelry designer by 25.

'I have so much to be grateful for. Happy New York Fashion Week,' she finished the post which featured a vibrant hot pink Etro dress.

Governor Andrew Cuomo allowed NYFW to return this season, but new COVID safety measures included hosting shows outdoors with audiences capped at 50 people per show, according to CNBC.

Kelly became a household name after starring on three seasons of RHONY as a main character between 2009-11 before taking on a guest role for seasons six and seven.
Service members are returning from the battlefield only to become delayed casualties of war, Ruiz said. This is the Agent Orange of this generation  We need to be taking care of our veterans and saving lives.

As many as 3.5 million veterans could be eligible for the benefits under the legislation, if they showed signs of serious, uncommon illnesses believed to be the result of toxic fumes.

The legislation echoes previous measures passed by Congress related to compensation for emergency services personnel who worked in New York following the Sept. 11 al-Qaida attacks. Stewart was a key advocate in that legislative fight, and said he hopes to bring the same attention and resources to the burn pits issue.

Today, we plant a flag on this, he said. I cant imagine anybody wouldnt be on board with this cause.

But fears over the costs of such benefits extensions have sidelined similar past efforts. Rosie Torres, executive director of Burn Pits 360, said after more than a decade of advocacy work on Capitol Hill, only a few significant measures have passed into law, and even those with significant flaws.
WHO warns of COVID-19 momentum as winter looms in north The World Health Organisation warned on Wednesday that COVID-19 is spreading at a worrying pace in some parts of the northern hemisphere, a few months away from the winter influenza season. "We are starting to see worrying trends in some countries," Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO technical lead for COVID-19, said during a social media webcast. "We are seeing increases in hospitalisations, in intensive care units, particularly in Spain, France, Montenegro, Ukraine and some states of the United States. That is worrying because we have not seen the flu season yet."

Van Kerkhove also said hospitalisations of people aged 15-49 infected with COVID-19 were increasing in several countries. Dr Mike Ryan, the WHO's top emergency expert, advised people at high risk for COVID-19 infections to get a flu vaccination. Hospitalisations of people aged 15-49 infected with COVID-19 are increasing in several countries. Credit:Bloomberg France reports third-highest number of new COVID-19 cases The number of French people treated in intensive care units for COVID-19 rose for the twentieth straight day on Wednesday to a three-month high of 803, while the number of new daily cases was the third highest on record.

French health authorities reported 9784 new infections, just below the 10,561 daily all-time high reached on Saturday, bringing the cumulative number of cases to 404,888, the second highest tally in Western Europe behind Spain. Speaking to journalists shortly after the arrival of the Tour de France's seventeenth stage in the Alps, French President Emmanuel Macron said the virus was circulating "quicker and quicker in certain parts of the country". "The virus is here to stay for months, it will circulate everywhere in Europe and especially in France," he said, adding that health rules must be obeyed to protect lives. French President Emmanuel Macron attended the Tour de France on Wednesday. Credit:Getty Images The number of people in ICUs is still almost nine times lower than the April 8 peak of 7148, but the upward trend is putting a renewed strain on the hospital system in certain parts, such as Marseille.

The total figure for COVID-19 hospitalisations increased by 140, at 5819, rising by more than a hundred for the third day in a row, a sequence unseen since April 14, when that number reached its record of 32,292. The number of people in France who have died from COVID-19 infections rose by 46 to 31,045. That figure is higher than the seven-day moving average of 36, which itself is at its highest since the beginning of the month. Madrid mulls targeted lockdowns as infections surge The Madrid region, one of the worst hit by COVID-19 in Spain, is planning to announce restrictions on movement on Friday that could include targeted lockdowns in virus hotspots, a senior official said, as the country's infections surged again. Madrid accounts for about one-third of active coronavirus cases in Spain, with a higher incidence in high-density and low-income neighbourhoods, mainly in the south of the capital.

The health ministry registered on Wednesday 4728 new infections in the last 24 hours, including 1854 in Madrid. That was up from 3022 cases reported on Tuesday and brings the cumulative tally to 614,360  Western Europe's highest. With 17 new deaths, Spain's death toll has reached 30,243. Madrid also accounts for the highest proportion of hospital capacity occupied by COVID-19 patients, at 22 per cent, way above Spain's average of 8.5 per cent. A man and woman sit in downtown Madrid, which is experiencing a surge in coronavirus infections. Credit:AP "There will be decisions focused on restricting mobility," Antonio Zapatero, head of the COVID-19 response for the region, told reporters, adding the health department was considering locking down areas with the highest incidence of the virus. "There has been a relaxation of behaviour that we cannot afford," he said, adding people were organising parties, drinking in the street and not respecting quarantine rules.

Since restrictions on movement were lifted and mass testing began in late June, infections have risen in Spain from a few hundred a day to thousands. Deaths have also increased to 50-60 per day in the past two weeks from single digits in July. "Many people are doing whatever they feel like, so I do think we need to have more measures," said Ines Diaz, a Madrid resident. The latest plan comes amid controversy in Spain over who is to blame for the increase in infections, with regions and the central government pointing fingers at each other. South Africa says 12 million 'probably' had coronavirus

About 12 million people in South Africa have "probably" been infected with the coronavirus, but that startlingly high number has not caused a similarly high death rate and might indicate a widespread "level of immunity," the country's minister of health says. More than 20 per cent of South Africa's population of 58 million have had the virus at some point, Dr Zweli Mkhize estimated earlier this week. He cited studies that found the presence of coronavirus antibodies in blood samples taken from parts of the population. The findings have prompted the government to start a more complete national study, Mkhize said. "South Africa has seen the surge receding, and thus raises the question of the level of immunity that may already be existing in society," he said. Loading Other studies have indicated that up to 40 per cent of the population might be immune to the virus, the health minister said. Some South African experts suggest that Africa's most developed economy may be approaching herd immunity, but scientists believe at least 70-80 per cent of a population needs to be immune before there's any effect. And with COVID-19 it's unclear how long that immunity might last.
Since the tragic death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May, the topic of police reform has been elevated to the forefront of the public consciousness like never before. Following the recent shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, the national reckoning over policing has become even more intense and polarized. In the eyes of many, it seems, a person has to choose between supporting the cause for social justice or supporting the police. Against the backdrop of an election season, it would almost appear as though the middle ground has become the third rail of contemporary American politics.

QUOTE We appear to be losing our collective ability to engage in a reasonable discourse on policing that leads to meaningful action. This is detrimental to everyone -- including police officers.

As a result, very little progress has been made relative to the various reform proposals that have been offered at nearly every level of government over the last few months. We appear to be losing our collective ability to engage in a reasonable discourse on policing that leads to meaningful action. This is detrimental to everyone  including police officers.
The President of the Republic Nana Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo has posited that civilian leadership should be in charge of the transition in Mali, following the recent military Junta.

He said that once the required leadership was put in place through the processes that the Military rulers had agreed on in Mali, the sanctions that had placed on that country would be lifted.

Speaking to journalists after the consultative meeting convened by him to resolve the political crisis in the West African nation, President Akufo-Addo said though an agreement had not reached, the military leadership agreed with the decisions taken at the meeting.

However, the military leadership said they would have to go back to consult with those who were responsible for decisions to get them to buy into it.

"The view point of ECOWAS is that matters that have been put out should be dealt with in terms of days and not weeks so that we begin the process of normalizing the situation in Mali," he said.

In that direction, President Akufo-Addo who was undertaking his first major assignment after being made the regional bloc's chairman, said the mediator in the crisis, Nigeria's former leader Goodluck Jonathan would return to Bamako in a week's time to continue with talks with the military Junta.

"The situation in Mali calls for a quick resolution, we have to have a government in place that can begin the process of normalising things, and more than anything else organising the resistance to the Tuareg menace.

"The issue is now in the hands of the Malians," he stated, hopeful that by the time the mediator returns to Mali, things would have been sorted out so that the sanctions can be lifted.

ECOWAS had imposed sanctions on Mali and asked neighbouring states to close their land and air borders with the country after the military deposed the 75-year-old Malian President Ibrahim Keita on August 15, 2020.

The Bloc also suspended all financial flows between the 14 other member states and Mali, suspended the country from international decision-making bodies, and gave the military junta a deadline of September 15 2020 to appoint a new civilian president and prime minister.

Tuesday's meeting was attended by at least eight Presidents, Mali's political junta and other stakeholders.

Guinea's Alpha Conde, Togo's Faure Gnassingbe, Nigerien leader, Mahamadou Issoufou, who is the immediate past ECOWAS Chair, Senegalese President Macky Sall, Burkinanabe head of state Roch Marc Christian Kabore, Ivorian President Alassani Ouattara and the Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo took part in the consultative meeting.

They have since left for their respective countries.

---GNA
A House committee issued a scathing report Wednesday questioning whether Boeing and government regulators have recognized problems that caused two deadly 737 Max jet crashes and whether either will be willing to make significant changes to fix them.

Staff members from the Democrat-controlled Transportation Committee blamed the crashes that killed 346 people on the horrific culmination of failed government oversight, design flaws and a lack of action at Boeing despite knowing about problems.

The committee identified deficiencies in the Federal Aviation Administration approval process for new jetliners. But the agency and Boeing have said certification of the Max complied with FAA regulations, the 246-page report said.

The fact that a compliant airplane suffered from two deadly crashes in less than five months is clear evidence that the current regulatory system is fundamentally flawed and needs to be repaired, the staff wrote in the report released early Wednesday.

The report highlights the need for legislation to fix the approval process and deal with the FAAs delegation of some oversight tasks to aircraft manufacturer employees, said Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio, D-Oregon.

Obviously the system is inadequate, DeFazio said. We will be adopting significant reforms.

He wouldnt give details, saying committee leaders are in talks with Republicans about legislation. He said the committee wont scrap the delegation program, and he hopes to reach agreement on reforms before years end.

A Senate committee on Wednesday could make changes to a bipartisan bill giving the FAA more control over picking company employees who sign off on safety decisions. One improvement may be that a plane with significant changes from previous models would need more FAA review.

The House report stems from an 18-month investigation into the October 2018 crash of Lion Air flight 610 in Indonesia and the crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 in March of 2019. The Max was grounded worldwide shortly after the Ethiopia crash. Regulators are testing planes with revamped flight control software, and Boeing hopes to get the Max flying again late this year or early in 2021.

Relatives of people who died in the crashes said the report exposes the truth.

It was an unforgivable crime, and Boeing still wants to return the aircraft to service quickly, said Ababu Amha, whose wife was a flight attendant on the Ethiopia Airlines jet. All those responsible for the accident should pay the price for their actions.

Paul Njoroge of Toronto, whose wife, three young children and mother-in-law died in the Ethiopia crash while traveling to Kenya to see grandparents, said the report revealed Boeings culture of putting profit ahead of safety.

There are instances in the report where some employees within Boeing tried to raise safety concern issues. But their concerns would be slammed by people within Boeing, said Njoroge, who is among those suing the company. This is an organization that should focus more on delivering safe planes.

Eighteen months after the crash, Njoroge said he still relies on support from others. It just doesnt go away. It never leaves my mind, he said.

The investigators mainly focused on the reason Boeing was able to get the jet approved with minimal pilot training: It convinced the FAA that the Max was an updated version of previous generation 737s.

But in fact, Boeing equipped the plane with software called MCAS, an acronym for Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, which automatically lowers the planes nose to prevent an aerodynamic stall. Initially, pilots worldwide werent told about the system, which Boeing said was needed because the Max had bigger, more powerful engines that were placed further forward on the wings than older 737s and tended to push the nose up.

In both crashes, MCAS repeatedly pointed the nose down, forcing pilots into unsuccessful struggles to keep the planes aloft.

Investigators said they found several instances in which Boeing concealed information about MCAS from the FAA and airlines.

The Chicago-based company didnt disclose that MCAS worked off a single sensor that measures a planes pitch. It also didnt disclose that a gauge that would have alerted pilots to a malfunctioning sensor didnt work on most of the jets.

Boeing also concealed that it took a company test pilot over 10 seconds to determine that MCAS was operating and respond to it, a condition that the pilot found to be catastrophic, according to the report. Federal guidelines assume pilots will respond to this condition within four seconds.

Four Boeing employees working as authorized representatives with permission to act on the FAAs behalf to validate aircraft systems knew about the pilots slow response. But there was no evidence that they reported this to the FAA, the report said.

Another authorized representative raised concerns in 2016 about hazards of MCAS repeatedly pointing the planes nose down, but those never made it to the FAA.

According to the report, Boeing wanted to keep details about MCAS from the FAA so it wouldnt require additional pilot training. That would ruin Boeings sales pitch for the Max, that pilots of older 737s wouldnt need extensive simulator training to fly the new planes.

Investigators found that under a 2011 contract with Southwest Airlines, Boeing would have had to knock $1 million off the price of each Max if simulator training was added.

That drove a whole lot of really bad decisions internally at Boeing, and also the FAA did not pick up on these things, DeFazio said.

He added that Boeing had an internal meeting in 2013 and agreed never to talk about MCAS outside the company. At one point, MCAS was listed in pilot training manuals, but an authorized representative approved its removal, he said.

In a statement, Boeing said it has worked to strengthen its safety culture and has learned from mistakes. The company said it has has incorporated many recommendations from committees and experts who have examined Max issues.

Change is always hard and requires a daily commitment, but we as a company are dedicated to doing the work, the statement said.

The FAA said it looks forward to making improvements, and changes already are being made based on internal and independent reviews.

These initiatives are focused on advancing overall aviation safety by improving our organization, processes, and culture, the FAA said, adding that it is requiring a number of Max design changes before it can fly again.

When it came to FAA oversight, investigators said they found multiple examples of agency managers overruling technical and safety experts at Boeings behest. A draft internal FAA safety culture survey said that many in the FAA believe leaders are overly concerned with achieving the business oriented outcomes of industry stakeholders and are not held accountable for safety-related decisions, the report stated.

In an interview with investigators, Keith Leverkuhn, former Boeing general manager for the Max who was promoted in the company, said he considered development of the Max a success despite the crashes.

I do challenge the suggestion that the development was a failure, the report quotes him as saying.

Investigators wrote that this raised doubts about Boeings ability to change.

Only a genuine, holistic, and assertive commitment to changing the cultural issues unearthed in the committees investigation ... can enhance aviation safety and truly help both Boeing and the FAA learn from the dire lessons of the 737 Max tragedies, the report said.

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Though the annual citywide dining deal program Coolinary officially ended Sept. 13 this year, some restaurants decided to extend its prix fixe multi-course menus. It's no wonder, since many operators report the promotion has kept people coming and staff working.

Participating restaurants serve three-course dinner menus for $39 or less, and many serve similar offers at lunch (two courses for $20 or less). This year, some extend the offer to takeout meals and family meal packages (see Acorn and the Commissary).

Some restaurants are continuing the deals through the end of September and a few go significantly longer (through Halloween for some, past Thanksgiving for at least one). Some plan to transition from Coolinary right into another similar dining program, New Orleans Restaurant Week, which runs Oct. 5-11 this year.

Coolinary and New Orleans Restaurant Week were each conceived to give local restaurants a boost through the late summer stretch, when tourism and conventions are typically slow. With the hospitality business reeling from the economic impact of the pandemic, that boost has never been needed more, and of course, it is largely locals who are keeping these restaurants afloat.

In the French Quarter, the Pelican Club, a restaurant known for especially robust choices across its Coolinary menus, is keeping its own prix fixe deals in place through Nov. 30.

When we first opened, we were losing money but just keeping a few people working, Pelican Club chef/owner Richard Hughes said. Then Coolinary started and weve been selling out our tables. So we figure we will keep doing it for as long as we can take it.

Nearby at Muriels Jackson Square, Coolinary has helped maintain a bustle in a dining room revamped for social distancing, and it's meant more shifts for staff at the large French Quarter restaurant. It will keep the menus in place through Sept. 30.

Were doing it to keep the momentum going, said restaurant owner Rick Gratia. It keeps the energy up and keeps the staff happy, and thats a big part of it.

In a normal year, the majority of restaurants on the Coolinary list are in the French Quarter and downtown, where the tourism slowdown registers most. This time around, menus continue at the Dickie Brennan restaurants  Palace Cafe, Dickie Brennans Steakhouse, Bourbon House, Acorn and the Commissary (all through Sept. 30)  the Rib Room (through Oct. 4) and Annunciation (through Oct. 4).

But others across town also take part in Coolinary, and some of those are keeping their menus in place, too, like Atchafalaya (through Oct. 31), Bywater American Bistro (through Sept. 30), the Bower (through Oct. 31), Cafe Degas (through Sept. 30), Del Fuego (through Sept. 30) and Sala (through Sept. 30).

Gabrielle, which for now is serving takeout only, will keep its Coolinary menu in place during October, too.

Riccobonos Peppermill in Metairie is one of the few restaurants outside the city to take up Coolinary, but its been a helpful boost here, too, and will continue through the end of the month.

It always brings us new customers; people from the city come in, owner Cami Chairella said.

This year, that was especially helpful because we do have an older clientele, and understandably, they havent been dining out as much through all of this. So drawing new people has been important.

Coolinary also coincided with a facelift for the Severn Avenue building, which brought some curious new customers.

Theyll come in and say 'We just stopped to see this new place,' Chiarella said with a chuckle. Weve been here more than 40 years.

New Orleans Restaurant Week is normally scheduled in September, historically the slowest month for many local restaurants. With Coolinarys own extension this year, Restaurant Week rolls in Oct. 5-11, with restaurants serving three-course dinner or brunch menus for $45 or less and two-course lunch menus for $25 or less. The list of Restaurant Week participants is still taking shape, but you can get an early look at restaurantweekneworleans.com.

Heres a list of restaurants continuing Coolinary menus:

Acorn through Sept. 30

Food and restaurant news in your inbox Every Thursday we give you the scoop on NOLA dining. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up

Annunciation Restaurant through Oct. 4

Apolline through Oct. 31

Atchafalaya through Oct. 31

Bourbon House through Sept. 30

The Bower through Oct. 31

Bywater American Bistro through Sept. 30

Cafe Degas through Sept. 30

The Commissary through Sept. 30

Costera through Oct. 4

Del Fuego through Sept. 30

Dickie Brennan's Steakhouse through Sept. 30

Gabrielle throughout October (end date t.b.d.), takeout only for now

Muriel's Jackson Square through Sept. 30

Palace Cafe through Sept. 30

Pelican Club through Nov. 30

Rib Room through Oct. 4

Riccobono's Peppermill through Sept. 30

Sala through Sept. 30

Tableau through Sept. 30

Note: this story has been updated with additional restaurant information

+14 The story of Pirogues, Mid-City Yacht Club, others: How New Orleans bars reopen as restaurants The three New Orleans bartenders who opened Pirogues Whiskey Bayou in Arabi back in 2016 could draw on decades of combined experience to star

+8 Stacked, packed, stuffed potatoes turn a food truck into a new Tulane Avenue restaurant The stuffed potatoes are packed and stacked at Mr. Potato. Everything from roast beef with gravy to lobster tails turn once-humble spuds into 

+7 Arnauds, century-old French Quarter restaurant, sets reopening date, banking on locals Fire up the crepe cart and pop the Champagne corks for a fresh round of French 75 cocktails  Arnauds Restaurant will soon return for regular

+13 To give African food a bigger stage in New Orleans, a chef reaches across restaurant scene Serigne Mbaye sees links to the food of his ancestral home of Senegal all around his adopted home of New Orleans, in the gumbo, the rice dishe
The result for Arena is The 51st State, a compilation of 10 monologues about the Black Lives Matter demonstrations in Lafayette Square and the Districts reinvigorated campaign for statehood. It debuts on Arenas website on Wednesday evening. At Studio, the outcome is an anthology of seven short, deeply personal videos, shot and edited by seven Black actors who went to the Aug. 28 march. Titled straightforwardly March on Washington creative responses, the pieces are being posted on Studios website this week and next.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 22:41:23|Editor: huaxia

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BANGKOK, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Three companies of policemen will be deployed from Thursday in the premises of Thailand's Government House as part of the government's preparations for a student protest at the upcoming weekend, officials said Wednesday.

Those policemen from the Metropolitan Police headquarters are staying on alert inside the Government House for stepped-up security reasons at least until the upcoming Sunday, said officials attached to the Government House.

Closed-circuit TV cameras have been installed at varied spots around all buildings in the premises of the Government House whereas three power generators have been prepared in case of emergency, they said.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, who earlier said he has instructed the police to exercise patience and never use force against the anti-government protesters, has assigned Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon to closely monitor the situation.

The student protesters, led by the so-called Free Youth movement, have planned to gather at Thammasat University's Tha Phra Chan campus or a nearby Sanam Luang ground on Saturday and to proceed on Ratchadamnoen Avenue to the Government House on Sunday.

They have urged Prayut to have the police stop arresting political activists, endorse constitution amendment bids and finally dissolve the House of Representatives and call a general election. Enditem
WASHINGTON  President Donald Trump says he disagrees with the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention telling lawmakers that wearing a mask is guaranteed to protect people more from the novel coronavirus than a vaccine.

Trump said at a White House news conference that a mask is not more effective by any means than a vaccine, and I called him about that.

Trumps comments were the second time he questioned the testimony of the CDCs Robert Redfield on Wednesday. Earlier, he said Redfield was wrong in his estimation of how fast a potential vaccine will be available to the general public.

Trump says that I hope the vaccine is going to be a lot more beneficial than the mask. He also says that the mask perhaps helps.

Trump says he still has confidence in Redfield.

___

HERES WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS OUTBREAK

 CDC director: Scientific integrity unchanged despite White House pressure

 Eli Lilly says antibody study gives hint of help for COVID-19 patients

 UK to ration COVID-19 testing amid testing failures

 The U.S. government released a sweeping plan to make vaccines for the coronavirus available for free to all Americans, assuming a safe and effective shot is developed.

 South Africas minister of health says about 12 million people have probably been infected with the coronavirus. Thats more than 20% of South Africas population of 58 million.

 The Big Ten Conference will give fall football a shot after all. It reversed a decision to push the season to spring after push back from lawmakers, coaches and parents and President Trump.

___

Follow APs pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

___

HERES WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

HARRISBURG, Pa.  Pennsylvanias top lawyer is asking a federal judge to keep in place Gov. Tom Wolfs limits on crowd size, arguing that allowing large groups to congregate will result in peoples deaths from the coronavirus.

The office of Attorney General Josh Shapiro urged U.S. District Judge William Stickman IV on Wednesday to delay enforcement of his ruling that many of the governors pandemic shutdown orders are unconstitutional.

Stickman has said the states size limits for indoor and outdoor gatherings violate citizens constitutional right to assemble. The state has been enforcing a gathering limit of 25 people for indoor events and 250 for those held outside.

Shapiros office says Stickmans ruling does not consider the manner in which COVID-19 is spread or the rationale for adopting the congregate limits. Its points out that other federal judges and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court have upheld Wolfs pandemic shutdown orders.

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COLUMBUS, Ohio  Ohio has enacted a law that bars local or state officials from closing churches or other houses of worship and that bans the changing of election dates.

The legislation signed Wednesday by Gov. Mike DeWine was pushed through by Republican lawmakers in reaction to such orders as part of coronavirus containment measures. DeWine had refrained from shutting down religious institutions during the pandemic, but some other governors have restricted religious gatherings.

The new law also takes aim at DeWines eleventh hour decision in March to postpone the states in-person primary because of concerns about the coronavirus. The statute forbids moving elections other than from the time, place and manner spelled out in state law.

___

ANNAPOLIS, Md.  It will likely be at least six to eight months longer before a coronavirus vaccine can be distributed in a best-case scenario, leading Maryland health officials and lawmakers said as they make plans for the state.

Senate President Bill Ferguson said he spoke on Tuesday with one of the principal investigators at Johns Hopkins University who is working on a vaccine now in its third phase. While there has been remarkable progress, Ferguson said Wednesday that the logistics that go into distributing a vaccine are enormous and herculean.

I think its really important that we keep that in mind moving forward as we make decisions about the future of Maryland  that even with an amazing light-speed approval, it is still six to eight months from that point until well start to see the impact on herd immunity overall, so there is time to go in this ballgame, Ferguson, a Baltimore Democrat, said during a meeting of a legislative panel on the coronavirus.

Robert Neall, Marylands health secretary, emphasized that people need to be prepared to use available tools like masks and handwashing well into next year.

___

BERLIN  Germany has declared three European capitals and several regions risk areas for coronavirus.

The Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that the Austrian capital Vienna, Budapest in Hungary and the Dutch region that includes Amsterdam were added to the risk list due to high numbers of COVID-19 infections there.

Also listed were several regions in France, Romania, Croatia, Switzerland and the Czech Republic.

Travellers arriving in Germany from those locations have to go into mandatory quarantine and take a coronavirus test.

___

ISTANBUL  Turkeys health minister says Phase 3 trials for Chinas Sinovac Biotechs two-step vaccine have begun in Turkey with three Turkish health workers.

Fahrettin Koca said Wednesday the trial would expand to 1,200 volunteers and then to 10,000. He said trials for a Pfizer vaccine were also beginning and others were pending, adding that he hoped widespread vaccinations would start towards the end of 2020.

___

UNITED NATIONS  The United Nations chief says the COVID-19 pandemic remains out of control, with the world approaching the grimmest of milestones: 1 million lives lost to the virus.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told a news conference Wednesday that the coronavirus is the number one global security threat in our world today, posing a crisis that is unlike any in our lifetimes.

He said thats why he called for a global cease-fire on March 23 to tackle the pandemic.

And in his speech to world leaders at next Tuesdays mainly virtual meeting of the U.N. General Assembly, Guterres said he will make a strong appeal to the international community to mobilize all efforts for the global cease-fire to become a reality by the end of the year.

The secretary-general urged the international community to come together to defeat the virus, stressing that a vaccine alone cant solve the crisis.

___

JOHANNESBURG  South Africas president says the country will reopen for international travel as of Oct. 1 after confirmed coronavirus cases have dropped dramatically in recent weeks.

President Cyril Ramaphosa says visitors may not be allowed from countries deemed at high risk and a list of countries will be published in the coming days.

Visitors will be required to show negative test results for the virus no older than 72 hours before departure. Those who didnt test before departure will be required to stay in quarantine at their own cost.

International flights will be allowed only at the countrys three main airports in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban.

___

WASHINGTON  White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Wednesday was asked whether the White House was now counting on herd immunity to deal with the virus.

President Donald Trump said during an ABC News town hall on Tuesday that eventually there will be herd immunity to the virus, but that with a vaccine, the virus will go away very quickly.

For the United States to reach herd immunity against the coronavirus, most experts say, the nation would likely need to vaccinate roughly 70% of Americans.

Herd immunity has never been a strategy here at the White House, McEnany said. The president last night was noting ... (that) over a period of time a country, a society, can reach herd immunity. Its a fact. It was not a strategy ever presented here at the White House.

___

LONDON  The U.K. has recorded nearly 4,000 new coronavirus cases for the first time since May amid mounting concerns the country is on the verge of a second wave.

Government figures show new cases rising to 3,991, up markedly from Tuesdays figure of 3,105. Though more testing is picking up more cases, its clear the virus is spreading. The latest daily increase is more than two times the level reported a few weeks back.

Officials recently banned social gatherings in England of more than six people both indoors and outdoors. Though many of the recent cases involve younger people, there are concerns more vulnerable people may become infected.

The government reported Wednesday another 20 people died within 28 days after testing positive for COVID-19, the new U.K. cutoff for official deaths instituted in the last few weeks.

That takes the death toll to 41,684, Europes highest and fifth highest in the world. On Aug. 20, the reported death toll in the U.K. was 41,483.

___

BUDAPEST, Hungary  Hungarys prime minister set a maximum price for coronavirus tests, extended mandatory use of face masks and ordered temperature checks at school for all students and teachers starting Oct. 1.

Viktor Orban says in a video posted on Facebook that tests cannot cost more than 19,500 forints ($64.50). Wearing masks, already obligatory on public transportation and stores, will be extended to theatres, cinemas, health care and social institutions, among others, and nightclubs must close at 11 p.m.

Orban says the health care system was prepared to deal with the second wave of the pandemic, with a plan to increase the availability of hospital beds and deploy doctors and nurses where needed.

___

BERLIN  German public broadcaster ARD reports a far-right lawmaker in the national Parliament has tested positive for the coronavirus.

ARD quoted the Alternative for Germany party confirming Wednesday that Norbert Kleinwaechter was tested positive for COVID-19 and informed his caucus Tuesday. Six other lawmakers for the party and several parliamentary staff hed been in contact with were sent home to isolate.

Some Alternative for Germany lawmakers took part in protests against pandemic restrictions in recent months.

Germanys disease control centre says the country recorded 1,901 new infections in the past day, taking the total to nearly 264,000. Germany has confirmed 9,368 COVID-related deaths since the start of the outbreak.

___

WASHINGTON  The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told Senate lawmakers that his agency has not altered its scientific publications on the coronavirus.

That comes despite pressure from Trump officials who allege the agency has worked against the re-election of President Donald Trump.

Dr. Robert Redfield testified that the CDCs scientific integrity ... has not been compromised and it will not be compromised under my watch.

Last week news outlets reported that Michael Caputo, a Health and Human Services Department political appointee, tried to gain editorial control over CDCs weekly scientific report. In a separate online video last week, Caputo reportedly said some CDC scientists constituted a resistance unit conspiring against the Trump administration.

Redfield rejected the allegation and says he was deeply saddened by the comments.

Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the committees top Democrat, says the apparent political pressure on CDC, among other health agencies, had damaged public trust in federal health information.

___

BOULDER, Colo.  All students at the University of Colorados main campus are being told to self-quarantine for the next two weeks to stem an alarming rise in coronavirus cases.

Jeffrey J. Zayach, executive director of Boulder County Public Health, urged the measure in a letter Zayach sent Tuesday to Boulder campus students, faculty and staff. Zayach warned mandatory restrictions could follow if students do not comply.

University officials reported 13 positive tests the first week of school, 90 the second week and 205 the third week. Most cases involved students who live off-campus.

Dr. Rachel Herlihy, the state epidemiologist, says theres been six coronavirus outbreaks at Colorado colleges and universities.

___

JOHANNESBURG  A new survey across 18 African countries finds a worryingly high levels of misinformation related to the coronavirus pandemic.

The phone survey conducted last month indicates just over one in three people agreed with the inaccurate statements that foreigners were trying to test vaccines on the population and they were trying to discredit African medicines.

The countries where more than 40% of respondents agreed with the statements were Tunisia, Senegal, Guinea and Cameroon. Nandita Murukutla, of the public health organization Vital Strategies, called such misinformation potentially harmful.

In other survey highlights, 45% of people say they missed or delayed health care services because of the pandemic and 72% reported barriers in accessing food.
New Delhi, Sep 16 : Indian anti-terror agencies have alerted law-enforcement agencies in different states after the banned pro-Khalistan group Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) on Wednesday announced to undertake a door-to-door drive for voter registration in Punjab for its secessionist agenda 'Referendum-2020'.

The US-based SFJ has adopted the new tactic as its online 'Referendum-2020' voter campaign on Canadian and Russian portals could not gain much traction, an intelligence officer as well as two National Investigation Agency (NIA) officials said on the condition of anonymity.

The secessionist SFJ now plans to cover 12,000 villages of Punjab in 30 days, starting from September 21, for its voter registration campaign. To this end, the SFJ has announced to recruit 1,000 "qualified referendum ambassadors" who will register voters in their respective assigned geographical areas for 'Referendum 2020'.

The SFJ has promised to pay a monthly stipend of Rs 7,500 each to these so-called referendum ambassadors for their services.

The SFJ had earlier announced to hold its 'Referendum-2020' campaign in November this year.

The Indian agencies were alerted after SFJ's General Counsel Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on Wednesday announced the door-to-door voter registration campaign, saying that "by blocking the access to SFJ's voter registration websites and mobile apps, India is disenfranchising the people of Punjab".

"We are now starting a door-to-door voter registration to ensure maximum participation of the populace in the 'Referendum 2020', which involves a fundamental question of secession of Punjab from India," said Pannun, who has been designated a terrorist along with eight others by the Centre.

Earlier this month, the group had offered Rs 3,500 each as grant to woo Punjab farmers ahead of its anti-India campaign 'Referendum-2020'. The group had announced to distribute the money on a monthly basis to each of the Punjab farmers who have defaulted on agricultural loans, as part of its strategy to woo them ahead of the 'Referendum-2020' campaign.

Based on the NIA's recommendation, the Ministry of Home Affairs had in the beginning of this month also ordered the attachment of properties of the SFJ's key leaders -- Gurpatwant Singh Pannun and Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

Pannun's 46 kanals of land in Khankot village in Amritsar and 11 kanals and 13.5 marlas in Sultanwind suburban in Bhainiwal area in the same district were attached. Nijjar's 11 kanals and 13 marlas of land in Bhar village in Jalandhar's Singhpura was also confiscated.

Pannun is the SFJ's General Counsel while Nijjar is 'Referendum 2020' Canada coordinator.

The NIA said that the SFJ, headed by Pannun, is presently making efforts to propagate the 'Referendum-2020' on the social media.

The SFJ is also trying to hold meetings in the US and other countries to instigate and mobilise the Sikh diaspora for its illegal activities.

The MHA declared the SFJ as an 'unlawful association' under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act through a notification dated July 10 last year. The MHA, in a notification dated July 1, had designated Pannun, Nijjar and seven other pro-Khalistanis as 'terrorists' as per the Act's Fourth Schedule.

The SFJ had chosen Punjab, Delhi, and Jammu and Kashmir to launch its online voter registration on July 4 for 'Referendum 2020' through different portals but reportedly did not get support.

The group has even used the Canadian cyberspace twice for launching its voter registration in Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir.

The group is headed by Avtar Singh Pannun and Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who have been advocating the cause of 'Khalistan' as well as the online secessionist campaign for the referendum.

The SFJ is backed by Pakistan-based handlers in providing money and logistic support to radical Sikh elements in Punjab to carry out subversive activities.

Even though Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence has been backing the malicious SFJ campaign, with a large number of Pakistani Twitter handles tweeting in favour of the exercise, the secessionist agenda of the SFJ has been rejected by the Sikhs across India.

(Rajnish Singh can be contacted at rajnish.s@ians.in)
Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, Hon. Ignatius Baffour-Awuah has reported that the Akufo-Addo government has made progress in addressing the unemployment challenge in the country within 4 years in office.



According to him, the Akufo-Addo government is living up to manifesto promise to set an agenda for job creation as available data indicate that the current government has made some progress so far as job creation is concerned.



Addressing the media at the Ministry of Information in his turn to render an account of his stewardship as a sector minister to Ghanaians, Hon. Baffour-Awuah quoting from the latter part of 2015 survey conducted by the Ghana Living Standard Survey 6 said that the unemployment issue stood at 11.9 per cent.



The figures to prove this point is that the Ghana Statistical Service in the latter part of 2015 conducted Ghana Living Standard Survey 6 which had as one of its focus the issues of unemployment. they reported that unemployment then was 11.9 per cent. In 2018, a similar survey was conducted and they reported in that survey that unemployment had dropped from 11.9 to 8.4 per cent. In 2019, the later data by the Ministry also indicated that the figure had dropped further to 7.1 per cent and so there has been more than 4.5 percentage drop on unemployment rate within the 4 years that we are reporting on, he mentioned.



Indeed, if that is anything to go by, then it means that NPP has actually made progress so far as the issue of unemployment is concerned, he stressed.



He, however, revealed that the statistics from the Ghana Living Standard Survey 7, indicates that the rate of unemployment is higher among females which is 9.2 than the male by 7.5.



He added that in terms of regional breakdown, Greater Accra recorded the highest unemployment rate of 11.8 per cent, followed by the Ashanti Region with 10.3 per cent and the Volta region recorded the lowest unemployment rate of 5.8 per cent, followed by the Brong Ahafo Region with had 6 per cent.



He further disclosed that the youth unemployment rate has declined from 16.9 per cent to 12.6 per cent; thus, since January 2017, the ministry has continued in line with its mandate to improve the capacities at the national and subnational levels of promotion of decent job opportunities.



Hon. Ignatius Baffour-Awuah again said that his ministry is collaborating with its development partners to improve the capacity of the labour department and its public employment centres; nonetheless, 8 public employment centres in strategic locations, as a result, have been renovated and revamped to enable them to provide active labour market services including job-matching and career guidance and job-seekers.



These centres include Accra, Tema, Cape Coast, Takoradi, Tarkwa, Tamale and the employment information branch of the labour department. Apart from the routine active labour market functions of the public employment centres, the main purpose of the renovation and other capacity building interventions is to enable these centres and sections of the labour department collect and disseminate labour market information in a timely manner. these among others are some of the efforts being made towards the full operationalization of the Ghana Labour Market Information System, he disclosed.



He reiterated that a Ghanaian-German jobcentre has been established in Accra just behind the Ministry of Employment Labour Relations to help Ghanaian youth seek job opportunities abroad instead of using an unapproved route to travel outside.

Source: Daniel Adu Darko/Peacefmonline.com/[email protected]









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BRECKSVILLE, Ohio

Stolen bike: Brecksville Road

On Aug. 20, police were dispatched to a Brecksville Road store regarding a report of a stolen bicycle.

An arriving officer talked to the juvenile victim and her brother, who said they had left their bikes on the western side of the store. When the kids entered the store, the girl said a man gave her a look.

A few moments later, they went outside and her powder-blue Jamis Trail XR bike was gone.

Soon after, the bicycle was located at Winding Way and Brecksville Road. A man was seen getting off the bike and into a black car with Illinois plates. The bicycle was recovered.

The officer said he recognized the suspects description as a Cleveland man, whom earlier that day he had transported from the North Royalton Jail to Brecksville Mayors Court. While the suspect was ordered not to be released until paying his fines, he left anyway.

The vehicle he escaped in was later identified as a rented Chevrolet Sonic.

The Cleveland man was charged with theft and escape.

Read more from the Sun Star Courier.
One hospital in Manchester accounted for a third of all Covid-19 deaths in England last week, it was revealed today amid fears the life-threatening disease is spreading between wards.

Tameside General Hospital, in Ashton-under-Lyne, suffered 18 laboratory-confirmed coronavirus fatalities in the week to September 10, treble the six fatalities the week prior.

Figures from NHS England, which records all deaths in the country's hospitals, show a total of 52 victims were registered in the same week.

Some of the infected patients who died at the 500-bed Tameside General Hospital had been admitted for other illnesses before catching the coronavirus during their hospital stay, sources have claimed.

Health chiefs are now investigating the spate of deaths but the hospital insists it is a 'routine review' during the pandemic.

The NHS checked last week whether the hospital has stringent infection control, preventing the coronavirus from spreading between patients and staff. According to sources, official were satisfied.

It comes after Weston General Hospital in Somerset apologised last week after an investigation found 18 people may have died there after contracting the infection while getting treatment there in May.

Tameside General Hospital saw a surge of Covid-19 deaths in the week to September 10, double the six fatalities the week prior

The NHS reviewed whether the hospital has stringent infection control, preventing the coronavirus from spreading between patients and staff. According to sources, official were satisfied. Pictured: Staff 'Clap for Carers' on May 14

Tameside is one of the 10 boroughs that make up Greater Manchester, which has been hit by local Covid-related restrictions.

It is currently battling one of the highest infection rates of Covid-19 in England, with 107.7 cases per 100,000 people, according to data. This is almost four times higher than the country's average (26).

Some 244 positive test results were reported in Tameside in just one week to September 12, up from 148 the week prior, suggesting the spread is not slowing.

However testing has been increasing in the area, according to Public Health England data - from 118 per 100,00 people in the week to August 30 to 154 per 100,000 in the week to September 6 - which may contribute to the higher case numbers.

Tameside General Hospital, which serves the surrounding area of Tameside and the town of Glossop in Derbyshire, experienced a dramatic spike in Covid-19 deaths last week, described by The Guardian as 'sudden and unexplained'.

NHS 'WORKING IN THE DARK' WITHOUT COVID-19 TESTS FOR STAFF A lack of testing is contributing to staff absences across the NHS, putting services at risk, health leaders have warned. NHS Providers, which represents NHS trust leaders, said hospitals in Bristol, Leeds and London had raised concerns over the weekend about the lack of tests available for NHS staff. It warned that the recovery of normal NHS services was being put in jeopardy, while preparations for the winter pressures of Covid-19 and seasonal flu were being hampered. NHS staff are having to self-isolate due an inability to get a test for themselves or family members, it said. Testing has come under intense scrutiny after people across England reported they were unable to book tests, or were being offered tests hundreds of miles away. NHS Providers chief executive Chris Hopson said there was a lack of detailed operational information on the shortages, such as how long they will last. He said: 'The problem is that NHS trusts are working in the dark  they don't know why these shortages are occurring, how long they are likely to last, how geographically widespread they are likely to be and what priority will be given to healthcare workers and their families in accessing scarce tests. 'They need to know all this information so that they can plan accordingly. 'For example, trusts need to know if they should try to create or re-establish their own testing facilities as quickly as possible.' Mr Hopson said the health service 'simply can't spare members of staff waiting for tests, not being able to come into work' and patients unable to be tested. 'There is a significant impact and a growing impact on the NHS, and that is a problem,' he added. 'Nobody knows how widespread this problem is, nobody knows how long it's going to go on for, nobody knows, for example, given that there are scarcities of tests, about who's going to be prioritised for those tests that are available.' Advertisement

A further two people died of Covid-19 at Tameside hospital over the weekend.

It is currently unclear how many of the 18 Tameside patients died after catching Covid-19, while at hospital for another reason.

Well-placed NHS sources confirmed that at least some of the cases were the result of nosocomial infection  transmission within a hospital.

But hospital sources insisted that 'the majority' of the 18 people had Covid-19 before they came in, suggesting there has been an increase in admissions for the disease in Tameside as a result of rising cases.

It is understood that of the 35 new hospital admissions in Greater Manchester in the week to September 8, 10 of those were at Tameside Hospital, Manchester Evening News reported.

The number of deaths linked to the nosocomial outbreak is reportedly 'low'.

The source said: 'We test all patients who are being admitted. Some of them came back as positive [after they were tested] even though they were asymptomatic.'

Another official told the paper: 'The deaths fall into three categories: community transmission, probable hospital-acquired infection and actual hospital-acquired infection.

'There are a few of each so far. We know that some were related to the outbreak of hospital-acquired Covid.'

All 18 are thought to have been elderly and to have had one or more underlying illnesses, and the hospital pointed out that its patients are typically of an older population. This means that if they did test positive for Covid-19, they may be noted down as a 'Covid-19 death', even if it was their existing condition or age that was the root cause.

But it raises fears of a hospital-acquired Covid-19 outbreak  one of the first documented in the UK.

An outbreak is defined by Public Health England as two or more 'laboratory confirmed cases (COVID-19, influenza or other respiratory pathogen) linked to a particular setting'.

Hospitals have to take extreme care to protect staff and patients from nosocomial infection.

Wards are full of people vulnerable to severe Covid-19  those with underlying health conditions, the elderly and people who have had surgery and are at risk of infection.

NHS bosses say up to a fifth of Covid-19 patients in several hospitals have contracted the disease while already being treated there for another illness.

And papers published by Sage, the scientific group advising the Government during the pandemic, show that, at the peak of the crisis, transmission within hospitals was believed to account for up to 22 per cent of hospitalised patients and up to 11 per cent of deaths.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned hospital acquired Covid-19 has caused an 'epidemic' of deaths during the pandemic.

The NHS last week stepped in to review the situation at Tameside General Hospital. A spokesperson told MailOnline this is a standard procedure undertaken throughout English hospitals 'to look at patient deaths regarding Covid'. They did not clarify what it is prompted by.

The NHS tested all admitted patients and checked staff were wearing the right personal protective equipment  which varies depending on the section of the hospital they work in.

They were satisfied that hygiene practices to prevent hospital coronavirus spread were robust enough, a hospital source said, adding: 'There were no issues.'

Public Health England will examine the medical history of each of the 18 fatalities to identify how many had Covid-19 when they arrived and how many got it after being admitted.

It comes after Weston General Hospital in Somerset issued an apology last week after an investigation found that 18 people may have died after contracted the infection while getting treatment there in May

CASES ARE SOARING AMONG MIDDLE-AGED PEOPLE IN ENGLAND... AND HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS ARE ON THE UP, DATA SHOWS Covid-19 cases are soaring among middle-aged people in England and have soared by upwards of 90 per cent in a fortnight as the outbreak continues to grow, official figures show. Public Health England (PHE) data reveals 23.4 cases are now diagnosed for every 100,000 people aged between 40 and 49  up from 12.4 at the end of August. And coronavirus infection rates have nearly doubled in just a week for people in their fifties, jumping from 10.9 to 20. The most up-to-date PHE data, which was released on Friday, clearly shows cases are spiralling across every age group. People in their twenties  who aren't as vulnerable to the disease and are likely to escape death or serious illness  are driving the spike with an infection rate of 46, which has doubled in the last three weeks. Fears of a second wave are growing as the number of Britons being diagnosed with Covid-19 each day has topped 3,000 for the first time since May. Ministers have also been spooked by spiralling outbreaks in Spain and France and rising hospital admissions. Hospital admissions  another way of measuring the severity of the pandemic  have doubled in England over the past ten days. More than 150 newly-infected patients required NHS treatment on Sunday, up from a rolling seven-day average of 52 on the last day of August. But government officials believe a second wave of Covid-19 in Britain would not be nearly as bad as the first  which killed between 40 and 55,000 people  because we are better at containing and treating the virus now. The experts believe a combination of local lockdowns, social distancing measures and medical breakthroughs would substantially reduce both the death rate and number of cases. Advertisement

Dr Kailash Chand, the chair of Tameside Healthwatch, a local patient watchdog, who was a GP in the area for 20 years said he was 'really concerned' of the deaths at Tameside hospital.

'I'm also concerned to hear of this outbreak at Tameside of hospital-acquired Covid, which is well-known to pose a significant risk to hospitals and their patients.

'There needs to be an investigation and we need to learn the lessons if something has gone wrong here.'

It comes after the borough's director of public health, Jeanelle de Gruchy, said local restrictions on socialising imposed on Greater Manchester 'haven't had the impact that we would have hoped'.

She told a meeting on September 10: 'Unfortunately every day is currently bringing a rise in the rates. The latest data suggests that the rate is going up really quite quickly now.

'We have got activity in the hospital which means that we've got an increase in over 65s.

'We're a bit ahead of everyone else I think, so the increase in community transmission is very worrying in that it's now impacting on our care homes and in older people in the community

'And it's also unfortunately translating into deaths.'

A statement given to MailOnline from Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS trust, which runs the hospital and serves 250,000 people, said: 'We are working with Public Health England and other partners to fully understand the recent number of deaths, but we know that our local population is older with many pre-existing health conditions and that COVID-19 prevalence is higher in our local area.

'We continue to prioritise infection prevention in our hospital and patients should continue to attend their appointments wearing a face covering, maintain social distancing and regularly wash their hands.'

Outbreaks of Covid-19 related to the uncontrolled spread in hospitals has been scarcely reported during the pandemic. However, hospital acquisition of the coronavirus has been a common occurrence during the pandemic despite infection control.

Last week one hospital 'apologised unreservedly' to the families of patients who contracted coronavirus and died while in its care in May.

Weston General Hospital temporarily stopped accepting new patients, including to its accident and emergency department on May 25, causing huge concern for residents. It reopened fully in June.

University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust said it had carried out a 'robust' internal investigation to uncover what had gone wrong.

The trust's medical director Dr William Oldfield said the trust had reviewed the clinical notes of everyone who was an inpatient at the hospital between May 5 and 24 who had Covid-19 either on arrival or later in their stay.

Dr Oldfield said: 'During the investigation we identified 31 patients who have sadly passed away having contracted coronavirus infection whilst they were an inpatient in the hospital.

'A detailed review into each of these individuals was undertaken.

'To our profound regret, in 18 of these patients the infection may have contributed to their death.

'We are deeply sorry for this.'

Dr Oldfield said the trust's investigation had not identified a single cause of the outbreak but a number of factors may have contributed, including the layout of the hospital and small numbers of staff.

Public Health England (PHE) data reveals 23.4 cases are now diagnosed for every 100,000 people aged between 40 and 49  up from 12.4 at the end of August. And coronavirus infection rates have nearly doubled in just a week for people in their fifties, jumping from 10.9 to 20

The most up-to-date PHE data, which was released on Friday, clearly shows cases are spiralling across every age group. People in their twenties  who aren't as vulnerable to the disease and are likely to escape death or serious illness  are driving the spike with an infection rate of 46, which has doubled in the last three weeks
Circa 1621, Massasoit or Ousamequin, chief of the Wampanoag of Massachusetts and Rhode Island pays a friendly visit to the Pilgrims' camp at Plymouth Colony with his warriors after signing the earliest recorded treaty in New England with Governor Jo

Circa 1621, Massasoit or Ousamequin, chief of the Wampanoag of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, pays a visit to the Pilgrims' camp at Plymouth Colony with his warriors after signing the earliest recorded treaty in New England Credit - MPI/Getty Images

On a September day in Plymouth, southwest England, a ship set sail. The day was Sept. 16, 1620, and the vessel was the Mayflower. Its passengers and their voyage would soon secure their place as an indelible part of American history. Now, 400 years later, in another September in Plymouth, the facts of that story are coming in for a reexamination.

The Mayflower story taught to generations of American schoolchildren goes something like this: The ships arrival in Cape Cod, Mass., that November, was the start of British colonization in the Americas. Those onboard were pilgrims, migrating from Europe as a result of religious persecution; they created a new Plymouth in Massachusetts, overcame adversity and eventually celebrated the first Thanksgiving. But that is only a fraction of the true history. The Mayflowers passengers were not all pilgrims and 1620 did not mark the start of British colonization, nor did the 1621 Thanksgiving event mark a happy ending when it came to the settlers impact on the Indigenous Wampanoag people, who had been living on that particular part of the land for thousands of years.

Quite honestly, the Mayflower story cant be told without the inclusion of the Wampanoag perspective, says Paula Peters, a Wampanoag historian living in the community of Mashpee, Cape Cod. For the anniversary of the Mayflowers journey (which began 400 years ago Wednesday according to modern calendars, though the date was recorded as Sept. 6 at the time), she has been advising organizers of anniversary activities on both sides of the Atlantic about how to properly incorporate this often overlooked perspective.

One result of that collaboration: a new exhibition in the U.K. that acknowledges the impact of the Mayflower on Native American communities. While many Americans have begun to grapple more in recent years with the Indigenous perspective on their history, the U.K. has in many ways been slower to address its own role in that storyand when Mayflower 400: Legend and Legacy opens at the new gallery The Box in Plymouth, England, it will represent the first collaboration of its kind in the U.K., according to curator Jo Loosemore. The exhibition was conceived from the start to be co-curated by the Wampanoag and also features a specially commissioned artwork by Wampanoag artist Ramona Peters.



Story continues

A short walk from the Plymouth waterfront, the gallerys cool air provides some relief on a sticky September day. The museums staff are busy preparing for its opening later this month, which was delayed from earlier in the year by the coronavirus pandemic. As Loosemore leads the way up the buildings stately stone staircase, she explains how this year in particular has shown the circularity of history. We are telling this story in the midst of a pandemic, and effectively the disease that decimated the Wampanoag population before the Mayflower arrived really shaped that relationship, says Loosemore. Traditionally [the Mayflower story] has been told in a certain way, and that tradition has dominated for 400 years. With the Wampanoags help, and through the fact that we are telling a chronological story but with contemporary sources, [we can] unravel the fact from the fiction.

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Both Loosemore and Paula Peters highlight the importance of including context from the Wampanoag perspective as part of that unraveling.

Squanto shows the pilgrims of the Mayflower how to plant corn and fertilize it with dead fish. Illustration circa 1930 Cci/Shutterstock

It really has been a comfortable way to look at history: the Mayflower arrived, they met this friendly Indian named Squanto, Squanto taught them how to plant and fish, and they lived happily ever after, says Peters, adding that most people dont ask themselves how Squanto was able to communicate with the colonizers. In fact, six years prior to 1620, 20 Wampanoag men, including Squanto, and seven men from the neighboring Nauset tribe, were captured by English explorer Thomas Hunt and taken to England with the intention of selling them as slaves in Spain. Squanto was later able to earn his way back home as a guide, but by the time he returned home to Patuxet, most of the villagers had perished because of a plague known as the Great Dying, thought to be due to arrivals of European settlers, who brought diseases against which the Native American population lacked immunity.

Initially when the Mayflower arrived in Patuxet, which the passengers later renamed Plymouth, the relationship between the colonists and the Wampanoag was one of co-existence. For the Wampanoag, who had been diminished in number by disease, having an alliance with the English meant having an alliance with people who had arms and could help them defend their territory. But as more settlers arrived, relations became more strained.

That backstory is so important to knowing the impact on the Wampanoag, of both pre-colonial and colonial contact, says Peters.

In the U.K., too, there was more backstory than is often told. The port city of Plymouth played a fundamental role in English attempts to create colonies in America, both in the 1580s with Roanoke and in the early 1600s with Jamestown and Popham. By acknowledging those facts at the beginning of the exhibition at The Box, Loosemore makes clear that while the Mayflower as a ship and as a journey occupies a unique space in public consciousness, its real importance comes from its place in a larger context.

The main contemporary historical account from the time is the journal of William Bradford, called Of Plymouth Plantation. But, though the written record is all in the hand of the colonists, through this journal and other letters and diaries, it was always possible to interpret those materials from the Wampanoag side, says Peters, as the colonists were open and honest about how they treated the community. Many pilgrims were seeking a place where they could have the freedom to worship as they pleased and live as they pleased, she points out, and yet they did not have that same tolerance for the Wampanoag.

Second Peirce Patent, 1621 Courtesy Pilgrim Hall Museum

In fact, the long-term impacts for the Wampanoag would be devastating. The 1621 Peirce Patent Agreement is the oldest surviving state document of New England, and effectively granted the Pilgrims permission from England to settle in what would become Plymouth, Mass. As Peters puts it, it was a form of a land grab. The English colonists would completely take over the region within 50 years and force English law upon the community, and a series of bloody conflicts would then ensue. [The Wampanoag leader], whose name was Ousamequan, could not have known that he was going to be subject to the rule of the crown, says Peters. In spite of the fact that this is something the English had run from, they brought it with them.

Bradfords journal was lost for almost two centuries and then rediscovered in the 1850s in Plymouth, U.K., giving rise to a Victorian fascination with the Mayflower story, says Loosemore. But the Victorian version eliminated any Wampanoag history or perspective, blurring the fact and the fiction about 1620 right up until the present day. Its about heroism, it becomes about romance, it becomes about overcoming adversity. They paint it, they write poems about it, they write prose, says Loosemore.

The power of that romanticized story has persistedthough its starting to show cracks. As recently as 1970, organizers a 350th anniversary event at Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts asked Wampanoag tribal elder Frank James, who was due to speak, not to elaborate on the negative impacts that colonization had on his people. James withdrew from the official celebrations and went to Coles Hill, overlooking Plymouth Rock, giving his speech from there. That became the first annual National Day of Mourning in remembrance of the sacrifice of Indigenous ancestors, an event that has continued every year since. At the new exhibition in Plymouth, a transcription of James full speech is on display, with no censorship.



For Peters, the anniversary of Mayflowers journey and the colonization of Wampanoag land is a time to reflect on how Indigenous people have been marginalized throughout history, and how their story is one of survival despite all that has happened in the past. When you look at what happened 50 years ago, and where we are todayto be able to step up as equals on an international platform talking about our story, she says, I feel as though we are at last being heard.
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This week, ACE is celebrating several awards announced throughout the year by showcasing the winners accomplishments through video interviews, social media highlights, and more as part of ACE Awards Week. 



ACE last week announced that Amarillo College and Dominican University of California received the ACE/Fidelity Investments Award for Institutional Transformation, Walter Bumphus received the Reginald Wilson Diversity Leadership Award, and Philip L. Dubois received the ACE Council of Fellows/Fidelity Investments Mentor Award.



Guilford College Interim President Carol Moore Receives ACE/APL nextED Donna Shavlik Award

The ACE/APL nextED Donna Shavlik Award honors an individual whose leadership, both at colleges and universities and in national positions, has demonstrated a sustained and continuing commitment to the advancement of women.



Among other accomplishments, Moore led the private liberal arts women's college Columbia College in South Carolina to sound financial and academic standing and oversaw a significant increase in student recruitment and enrollment during her tenure as president. The press release for this award was published Feb. 19, 2020, in advance of ACEs annual meeting at which these awards are usually celebrated. COVID-19 diverted these plans, resulting in this virtual celebration of ACE Awards Week.



Click here to view a video interview in which Moore speaks with Kathy Gibson of APL nextED about women in leadership and to read Moores reflection on passing the baton to a new generation.



President and CEO of the American Association of Community Colleges Walter Bumphus Receives Reginald Wilson Diversity Leadership Award

The Reginald Wilson Diversity Leadership Award is named in honor of Reginald Wilson, senior scholar emeritus at ACE and founding director of the Council's Office of Minority Concerns, and is presented annually to an individual who has made outstanding contributions and demonstrated sustained commitment to diversity in higher education.



Among his many accomplishments, Bumphus formed the 21st Century Commission on the Future of Community Colleges, resulting in a report, Reclaiming the American Dream, that urged leaders to reimagine community colleges as centers of collaboration focused on the support of better learning outcomes. See the press release published last week for more details.



Click here to view a video interview between ACE President Ted Mitchell and Walter Bumphus and here to read a blog post by Bumphus on how the pandemic helped him look at student success through a new lens.



Amarillo College and Dominican University of California Receive Institutional Transformation Award

The ACE/Fidelity Investments Award for Institutional Transformation recognizes colleges or universities that, in a period of great change in higher education, responded to challenges in innovative and creative ways that allow the institution to thrive. ACE invited nominations and applications for the award from any U.S. college or university eligible for ACE membership, divided into two categories: the first for institutions with student populations of 5,001 and more (Amarillo), and the second for institutions with student populations of up to 5,000 (Dominican).



Amarillos transformation efforts include an ambitious five-year strategic plan called No Excuses 2020 to raise completion rates. Dominican garnered institutional change through a partnership with a nearby city to promote civic engagement with internships and scholarships. The San Francisco Bay area university achieved so much success that the program is now being scaled across California. See the press release published last week for more details.



For Awards Week, ACE President Ted Mitchell conducted video interviews with Amarillo College President Russell Lowery-Hart and Dominican President Mary B. Marcy. See also blog posts by President Lowery-Hart on the power of love to achieve institutional goals and President Marcy on the importance of small colleges for the economic and social recovery from the pandemic.



Philip L. Dubois Receives ACE Council of Fellows/Fidelity Investments Mentor Award



The Council of Fellows/Fidelity Investments Mentor Award is bestowed annually to acknowledge the substantial role of mentors in the success of ACE Fellows Program participants.



At the time of his retirement on June 30, 2020, Dubois was the chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Throughout the past three decades, Dubois mentored seven ACE Fellows and nominated two. See the press release published last week for more details.



Click here to watch a video interview between Dubois and one of his past mentees, Alan Soho (ACE Fellow 2012-13) and to read what other mentees said about the impact Dubois had on their lives and careers.



South Texas College President Shirley Reed and Northeastern University President Joseph E. Aoun Receive Hesburgh Award



The TIAA Institute Theodore M. Hesburgh Award for Leadership Excellence recognizes college or university presidents or chancellors who have demonstrated outstanding leadership qualities.



Dr. Shirley Reed, the founding president of South Texas College, devoted 26 years to making higher education accessible to the Latinx community of South Texas. Joseph Aoun spearheaded his universitys ambitious Northeastern 2025 strategic plan, which calls for bold action to align education and research with the realities of artificial intelligence. The winners of this award were announced June 9, 2020. Read the press release here.

Click here to watch a video interview with Dr. Reed and read about the Hesburgh legacy.

Applications for the 2021 awards will open later this fall. Information on how to apply will be available on www.acenet.edu.
Rajya Sabha, Parliaments Upper House, will hold the first debate on Covid-19 on Wednesday amid the criticism the government has faced from the Opposition over the handling of the pandemic. It was not immediately clear how much time would be allotted for the discussion.

The government is expected to defend its handling of the situation and highlight its successes in keeping the Covid-19 death rate lowest among major nations.

The Congress has objected to Rajya Sabha chairman Venkaiah Naidus move to club clarifications on health minister Harsh Vardhans statement on the pandemic with a debate on Covid-19.

Also Read: J-K, Ladakh fully integrated into mainstream India, says Centre

Indias Covid-19 tally crossed the five million mark as 91,136 new cases were reported on Tuesday when the toll from the pandemic mounted to 82,091. The cases have continued to rise at an alarming rate.

Indias tally is behind only the US, which is the worst-hit country with 6.76 million confirmed infections. India accounts for nearly one-sixth of all Covid-19 cases recorded worldwide since the outbreak originated in China nine months ago. The country also has the worst-ever daily infection rate recorded anywhere in the world.

The Congress has demanded a separate, full-fledged discussion on the loss of livelihoods of millions because of the pandemic and Indian economys contraction by 23.9% in the June quarter, the steepest in four decades.

If we cannot have a full-fledged discussion on the Covid-19 situation without being circumscribed by the ministers statement what is the point of having this session of Rajya Sabha in the first place? Congress chief whip, Jairam Ramesh, said in a letter to Naidu on Tuesday.

He said the decision to combine the debate with clarifications on the statement runs contrary to what V Muraleedharan [junior minister for parliamentary affairs] had assured me this morning that the two will be taken up separately.

Ramesh sought a minimum four-hour debate on Covid-19. In the BAC [Business Advisory Committee meeting] held on September 13, you yourself had said that it is very important to have a discussion on the prevailing public health situation. Todays decision of yours goes against the spirit of your own statement.

Also Read: China actions sparked LAC standoff; India ready: Govt

The Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda Bill and the Salaries and Allowances of Ministers (Amendment) Bill have separately been listed for passage in the Upper House on Wednesday.

In the Lok Sabha, fireworks are expected as the government has listed three contentious bills for passage: The Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill, the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill.

The Congress and other opposition parties have opposed the bills to replace related ordinances even as many experts have hailed them as reformist legislation to unshackle Indian farmers.

Congress leaders have maintained the move will only help corporate buyers of crops and weaken the Minimum Support Price, which protects farmers from any fall in prices.

Congress government in Punjab and its Haryana state unit have also objected to the legislation amid farmer protests against the proposed new laws.

Left parties have staged protests both inside and outside the Parliament and they too would oppose the bills.

The Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill is another flashpoint. The Congress has raised five major objections related to it. It has said cooperative banks are part of the structure of cooperatives and ought to be regulated by the state governments and not by the Centre. If the ordinance becomes law, all key financial intermediaries will come under the control of the Central Government, there will be more centralisation. Congress Party stands for decentralisation and for empowering states, the party said in a statement last week.

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The 126 animals Jacksonvilles Protecting Animal Welfare Society recently rescued from an Adams County breeder are decompressing and getting ready for adoption.

PAWS was among several regional agencies that assisted in the Labor Day weekend rescue of more than 300 animals from Hapke Bernese Mountain Dogs Breeding in Clayton, where PAWS took possession of 126 dogs and cats.

Lisa Jackson, founder and president of PAWS, said the animals were in various conditions when they were brought back to the shelter and all were examined by a veterinarian.

They were all extremely filthy and matted, and there were several that were underweight, Jackson said. Personality-wise, they are starving for attention. A few are pretty fearful.

PAWS has 88 dogs and 24 cats from the rescue that will be going up for adoption.

I got a call from the Illinois Department of Agriculture inspector on (Sept. 4) and he said he had a breeding/hoarding case and asked if we could assist and come get some of the animals, Jackson said. We loaded up the van and went up there.

On the first day, Jackson was able to bring back 27 cats and 18 dogs; the next day she brought back two dogs and 10 cats, she said.

After the breeder reached an agreement with the Department of Agriculture that allowed the business to keep 10 dogs, Jackson went back and helped remove the remaining animals, she said.

They had more animals than they could handle, she said.

Jackson and other volunteers removed animals over a three-day period, taking as many animals as they were able to handle, she said.

Other rescues, including Mandys Whine and Bark in White Hall and Scott County Dog Rescue, also have taken on care for the animals. Of those animals rescued by PAWS, 11 are being cared for by Mandys and three by Scott County Dog Rescue.

The 11 dogs taken in by Mandys are being examined by a veterinarian prior to being placed up for adoption, said Mandy Speaker, owner of Mandys Whine and Bark.

We have four that are being vetted this week and the others should be ready next week, Speaker said.
In 1989, The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA) launched National Recovery Month to increase awareness surrounding mental health and substance abuse. At the same time, it wanted to celebrate the success stories to illustrate that living in recovery is possible. National Recovery Month is a national observance held every September to educate Americans that treatment and support services can enable recoverees to live healthy and rewarding lives. Now in its 31st year, National Recovery Month celebrates the gains made by those living in recovery.

Public Advocates for Community Re-Entry (PACE), a vital part of the Martindale-Brightwood neighborhood in Indianapolis, opened the doors to its Recovery Resource Center (RRC) three years ago, offering recovery support services and resourcing. This is a priority initiative of the Quality of Life Plan developed by this community. Since its start, PACE RRC offers partners and the community an opportunity to gather annually to celebrate recovery. PACE has welcomed some 200 persons annually to learn more about pathways of recovery, stigma reduction and community supports. In 2019, state Rep. Robin Shackleford added her support with the addition of a 5-kilometer fun walk bearing her name and showcasing the streets of Martindale-Brightwood.

After 30 years of sponsoring National Recovery Month, SAMHSA is handing reigns over to the recovery community. PACE and its partners consider it a priority to celebrate recovery in 2020, even at this intersection with COVID-19. Large group celebrations have been reassessed in consideration of overall community health, but PACE and partners wish to share reasons and ways to Celebrate Recovery safely in 2020.

COVID-19 is exacerbating the overdose epidemic in the United States and Indiana. Now, more than ever, Americans need to know that recovery is a unique journey that everyone is welcome to start and many have been successful at. But please remember, life is a necessary but not sufficient part of the recovery process. So until that recovery journey starts, our focus needs to be on keeping people alive. -Dr. Brad Ray, Wayne State University

It is so vitally important for everyone to celebrate National Recovery Month. It comes around once a year in September, but more importantly it is an opportunity to recognize people who have overcome substance abuse and related issues. So many of our children and families who find themselves involved with the Juvenile Court system wrestle with these challenges on a daily basis. We celebrate and embrace those persons who can claim victory. -Marion County Juvenile Magistrate Judge Geoffrey Gaither

The media and stories around substance use only show one side. By putting a face on recovery, we provide hope and optimism that positive change is possible for anyone. We allow ourselves the ability to be known by who we are now, not who we were previously. -Justin Beatty, Director-MHAI Training Institute, Deputy Director-ICAADA, Director-IAPRSS

Throughout the year, most of the focus is on individual recovery. A national recovery month celebration provides a space for the community to come together and celebrate individual achievements, as well as bring focus to policy and system issues impacting treatment and resource access issues that impact recovery. -Dennis Watson, Ph.D. Senior Research Scientist, Chestnut Health Systems

Celebrating National Recovery Month is important as former members of the military and persons with past justice involvement battle alcohol and/or substance abuse. They need to know that (1) becoming addicted to substances after traumatic experiences is not out of the ordinary, (2) that admitting you have an addiction is okay and (3) that seeking out help is what they should do. There is no shame for falling into the trap of addiction. Many Famous Historical figures battled with addictions including at least one of the U.S. founding fathers and at least one of the Big 3 World War II heroes. -Charles Tony Knight, President, Martindale Brightwood One Voice Neighborhood Association

In my line of work, most of my cases have something to do with addiction. Active users commit crimes of theft, robbery, battery, domestic battery, attempting to get funds to support the addiction. In 35% of workplace violent crimes, the offender is believed to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs. National Recovery Month is important because while using, one has little or no idea of their behavior, the hurt or suffering caused and dont approach the idea of recovery until they have exhausted all other avenues. Once the recovery process begins, they begin to see past the fog, to realize a better sense of LIFE. How heroic is that? From being lost to being awakened. We need to celebrate this. A new and better life to live and enjoy. -Donna Hayes, Marion County Sheriffs Department

Being a part of the Martindale Brightwood community for over 20 years working to help families, youth and seniors; it becomes imperative to celebrate recovery from every type of trauma that has affected the Black community. During this COVID 19 period, families may have a tendency to focus on the lack in a quality of life. However, miracles and recoveries are happening every day. We stop and celebrate the victories along the way so that every event or experience will not seem like a destination but part of sustaining journey. -Gina Lewis-Alexander, ED, Oasis Christian CDC

Other Celebration Ideas

 SAMSHA Webinar on September 17: Communities Supporting Recovery

 The Indianapolis Reorder and PACE present a virtual town hall, Voices of Recovery, at 10 a.m. Sept. 19 on the Recorders and PACEs Facebook pages.

 Indiana State Museum offers FIX: Heartbreak and Hope Inside Our Opioid Crisis

 Find Indiana Recovery Network events here.
Israeli aircraft attacked in Gaza on Wednesday, witnesses said, and sirens warning of rocket fire from the Palestinian territory sounded in southern Israel.

The witnesses said a training base run by the Hamas militant group, which controls Gaza, was hit in the air strike. The Israeli military, which did not immediately confirm the attack, said rocket-warning sirens went off in Israeli communities bordering Gaza.

Hours earlier, a rocket fired by Palestinian militants in Gaza struck the coastal Israeli city of Ashdod, wounding two people, at the same time as Israel and two Gulf Arab states signed agreements in Washington to establish formal relations.

(REUTERS)
By Ayya Lmahamad

Azerbaijans energy providing company Azerishig has started reconstruction of power lines in the village of Agdam in border Tovuz region that came under Armenian attack in July.

It should be noted that as a result of the provocation and shelling of the village of Agdam by Armenian armed forces on July 12, serious damage was caused not only to residential houses, but also to power lines.

Azerishig began reconstruction works in the village to restore supply of stable electricity to citizens upon the presidential order.

On July 12, Armenian forces shelled Azerbaijan's positions in Tovuz, Azerbaijan's strategically-important district. The attack killed 12 Azerbaijani servicemen, including an army general, as well as a 76-year-old civilian. Armenian forces retreated after suffering losses in Azerbaijan's retaliation. The Armenian attack also destroyed some of the regions infrastructure facilities.

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.

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[September 16, 2020] HP Announces PC Innovations for Hybrid Work Environments at HP Reinvent Partner Event Delivers productivity and collaboration experiences for working between the home, the office, or on-the-go Makes meaningful innovations accessible and as a service solutions flexible for partners and customers of all sizes PALO ALTO, Calif., Sept. 16, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today at HP Reinvent, HP Inc.s annual global partner event, the company announced a range of devices and solutions designed to help people boost productivity, collaborate with ease, and work anywhere, with strong security. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted work environments around the world and its clear that hybrid working environments are the new normal. Nearly half of business professionals are working remotely1 and the importance of productivity at home is clear: people want faster PCs and faster internet.2 For IT organizations, 60% are finding ways to support more flexible work arrangements to provide the same level of support at home as users get in office.3 At the same time, more than 40% of IT departments are prioritizing built-in security on employee endpoint devices.4 With workspaces at home becoming the status quo and businesses supporting their workforce both remotely and back in the office, the PC is essential in these hybrid working environments, said Andy Rhodes, global head of Commercial Personal Systems, HP Inc. Were making our most premium experiences more accessible with new laptops that offer greater mobility to work from anywhere, desktops that bring powerhouse performance to small workspaces, monitors that enable collaboration and support wellbeing, and services that offer comprehensive and flexible solutions  all to support the business transformation happening today. ENABLING NEW WAYS OF WORKING With a starting weight of under one kg5 and long battery life, the HP ProBook 635 Aero G7 is designed to keep users productive around the home, in the office, or on-the-go. HP Sure View Reflect allows users to work discreetly,6 Wi-Fi 67 and 4G LTE8 makes it easy to get connected, and the keyboard provides a smooth and quiet typing experience. Additional features include: Sleek and built with sustainability in mind. An elevated design provides a premium feel that is compact yet sturdy, and the all-metal design has over 62% of mechanical parts made from recycled materials  a proud addition to HPs worlds most sustainable PC portfolio. 9

An elevated design provides a premium feel that is compact yet sturdy, and the all-metal design has over 62% of mechanical parts made from recycled materials  a proud addition to HPs worlds most sustainable PC portfolio. Solid performance. Boost productivity when powered with the latest AMD Ryzen 4000 Series Mobile Processors, optional Ryzen PRO 4000 Series Mobile Processors, and latest integrated AMD Radeon Graphics.

Boost productivity when powered with the latest AMD Ryzen 4000 Series Mobile Processors, optional Ryzen PRO 4000 Series Mobile Processors, and latest integrated AMD Radeon Graphics. Sanitization features. Designed to withstand 1,000 cycles of disinfection with household wipes,10 users can sanitize with confidence. HP also introduced the HP ProBook 600 G8 and HP ProBook 400 G8 PC Series built for professionals at growing companies who move from desk to meeting room to home. With an enhanced design and optional quad-core 11th Gen Intel Core processors,11 the latest ProBook 600 and ProBook 400 PCs continue to deliver the commercial performance, security, and durability that users need. For users who need more power to keep up with serious workloads, HP unveiled new Elite and Pro desktops designed to meet the demands of a multi-task work-day with a choice of form factors. The HP EliteDesk 805 G6 Series PCs features an upgraded chassis for a modern look and new flexibility and expandability options for personalization. HP Run Quiet Design acoustics minimize noise levels to help users focus and VR-ready capabilities enable high performance workloads. The desktop series allow users to experience enterprise-class productivity, plus industry-leading reliability, security, and manageability in their choice of form factors. The HP EliteDesk 805 G6 Desktop Mini PC is a compact, high-performance PC that fits easily into an open office when paired with the optional Mini-in-One display. 12

is a compact, high-performance PC that fits easily into an open office when paired with the optional Mini-in-One display. The HP EliteDesk 805 G6 Small Form Factor is part of the worlds first AMD-based small form factor business class desktop PCs with dual M.2 drive capability.13 The HP ProDesk 405 G6 Series PCs features the latest AMD Ryzen PRO Series Desktop Processors14 for powerful performance and versatile options with quieter and energy-efficient designs for growing businesses. With nearly half of employees working without a good work-from-home setup15?and 60% of remote workers without a dedicated work space,16 HP introduced new monitors designed with collaboration, wellness, and space in mind. The HP E24d and E27d Conferencing Monitors empower users with everything they need to virtually collaborate. These Zoom-compatible monitors allow users to effortlessly video conference with the integrated pop-up webcam, microphone, and attached speaker bar without having to buy or connect additional accessories. This clean desk solution is completed with docking, so with a single cable from this monitor, users can connect their laptop and all their PC essentials with 100W USB-C power delivery. When hands-on productivity is needed, the HP E24t G4 FHD Touch Monitor allows users to interact with content onscreen, without distracting glare and fingerprint smudges. Get the right set-up for a comfortable workspace with four-way ergonomics and HP Eye Ease, which addresses blue light without affecting color accuracy or introducing any yellow shift. Responsibly made with more than 80% of its plastics being recycled17 and 100% sustainably sourced and recyclable packaging.18 DELIVERING NEW WAYS OF BUYING AND MANAGING With 57% of small- to mid-sized business owners planning to adopt options for employees to work from home in the long-term,19 they are struggling to manage, protect, and support their remote employees while ensuring business continuity. HP understands the complexity and challenges businesses face in todays unpredictable climate and is bringing to market a new solution-oriented program providing peace of mind and ultimate productivity. HP Business Boost20 provides the right technology, security, and support services enabling small to mid-sized businesses to manage the workforce evolution at an affordable monthly cost. HP Business Boost provides: IT support at your fingertips. Each solution includes essential services, and if an organization needs managed or unmanaged IT solutions, there are a variety of premium service and security upgrades.

Each solution includes essential services, and if an organization needs managed or unmanaged IT solutions, there are a variety of premium service and security upgrades. Powerful devices that keep business going. Supplies employees with the hardware they need to stay productive when working from home, including Elite and Pro PCs, printers, monitors, docking stations, headsets, wireless keyboards, and more.

Supplies employees with the hardware they need to stay productive when working from home, including Elite and Pro PCs, printers, monitors, docking stations, headsets, wireless keyboards, and more. Work now, pay over time. Available at an affordable monthly cost that makes IT expenses more predictable. To help businesses better manage the device lifecycle, the HP Device as a Service (DaaS)21 program has been updated and simplified. Customers around the world now have a consistent solution  whether they operate in a single country or globally  and can customize their DaaS program with additional, optional HP or Partner Services, to better address their needs. For partners, the updated HP DaaS program serves as a foundation to build tailored solutions for their customers, and HP Integrated Financial Solutions provides flexible payment solutions to help secure new customers and optimize refresh opportunities in the future. HP TechPulse, the analytics platform that drives services in HP DaaS, is constantly evolving to put the power of insights and AI into the hands of our customers and partners. Pricing and Availability22 HP ProBook 635 Aero G7 is expected to be available in November. Pricing will be available closer to product availability.

is expected to be available in November. Pricing will be available closer to product availability. HP ProBook 600 G8 PC Series is expected to be available in November for a starting price of $1,169.

is expected to be available in November for a starting price of $1,169. HP ProBook 400 G8 PC Series is expected to be available in November for a starting price of $729.

is expected to be available in November for a starting price of $729. HP EliteDesk 805 G6 Desktop Mini PC is expected to be available in November for a starting price of $939.

is expected to be available in November for a starting price of $939. HP EliteDesk 805 G6 Small Form Factor PC is expected to be available in October for a starting price of $929.

is expected to be available in October for a starting price of $929. HP Desktop 405 G6 Desktop Mini PC is expected to be available in November for a starting price of $649.

is expected to be available in November for a starting price of $649. HP Desktop 405 G6 Small Form Factor PC is expected to be available in October in select markets.

is expected to be available in October in select markets. HP E24D and E27D G4 Conferencing Monitors are expected to be available in October for $369, and $499, respectively.

are expected to be available in October for $369, and $499, respectively. HP E24t G4 Touch Monitor is expected to be available in December for $349.

is expected to be available in December for $349. HP Business Boost is expected to be available starting in the Fall in select countries through HP channel partners for monthly payments starting at $29.99 a month.

is expected to be available starting in the Fall in select countries through HP channel partners for monthly payments starting at $29.99 a month. HP Device as a Service updates are available now. About HP HP Inc. (NYSE: HPQ) creates technology that makes life better for everyone, everywhere. Through our product and service portfolio of personal systems, printers and 3D printing solutions, we engineer experiences that amaze. More information about HP Inc. is available at www.hp.com . Christina Wahl, HP Commercial

Christina.Wahl@hp.com



www.hp.com/go/newsroom Copyright 2020 HP Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.?

1 HP Proprietary Research. Intel Share. 600 ITDMs in US, UK, and Australia. August 2020. 2 Based on an HP survey of 2554 consumers in US, UK, France, China and Australia, June 2020. 3 Remote work changing landscape, IT Leader View, May 2020. 4 Remote work changing landscape, IT Leader View, May 2020. 5 250 nit panel, HP Sure View Reflect, multiple SODIMMs, WWAN, 53Whr battery, and backlit keyboard not available on configurations starting at less than 1 kg. 6 HP Sure View Reflect integrated privacy screen is an optional feature that must be configured at purchase and is designed to function in landscape orientation. 7 Wireless access point and internet service required and sold separately. Availability of public wireless access points limited. Wi-Fi 6 is backwards compatible with prior 802.11 specs. The specifications for Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) are draft and are not final. If the final specifications differ from the draft specifications, it may affect the ability of the notebook to communicate with other 802.11ax devices. 8 WWAN is an optional feature, requires factory configuration and separately purchased service contract. Check with service provider for coverage and availability in your area. 4G LTE not available on all products, in all regions. 9 Applies to HP PCs, Workstations and Displays manufactured after January 2019. Based on most Gold and Silver EPEAT registrations by meeting all required criteria and achieving 50-74% of the optional points for EPEAT Silver and 75-100% of the optional points for EPEAT Gold according to IEEE 1680.1-2018 EPEAT. Status varies by country. Visit www.epeat.net for more information. 10 Select household wipes can be safely used to clean HP Elite, Workstation PCs and HP Pro 635 Aero G7 up to 1,000 wipes: See wipe manufacturers instructions for disinfecting and the HP cleaning guide for HP tested wipe solutions at How to Sanitize Your HP Device Whitepaper (http://h20195.www2.hp.com/v2/GetDocument.aspx?docname=4AA7-7610ENW) Not applicable to HP Elite c1030 Chromebook. 11 Multicore is designed to improve performance of certain software products. Not all customers or software applications will necessarily benefit from use of this technology. Performance and clock frequency will vary depending on application workload and your hardware and software configurations. Intels numbering, branding and/or naming is not a measurement of higher performance. 12 HP Mini-in-One 24 Display sold separately. PC must be configured with optional USB-C with 100W Power Delivery card. 13 Based on business class desktops between 3 and 13L with AMD Pro processors, Windows Pro, up to 11 USB ports, TPM with and two M.2 slots for NVME SSD storage as of August 2020. 14 Multi-core is designed to improve performance of certain software products. Not all customers or software applications will necessarily benefit from use of this technology. Performance and clock frequency will vary depending on application workload and your hardware and software configurations. AMDs numbering is not a measurement of clock speed. 15 Covid19 Insights Update, HP Customer Insights, 2020. 16 Covid19 Insights Update, HP Customer Insights, 2020. 17 Recycled plastic content percentage is based on the definition set in the IEEE 1680.1-2018 EPEAT standard. 18 100% outer box packaging made from sustainably sourced certified and recycled fibers. Fiber cushions made from 100% recycled wood fiber and organic material. Any plastic cushions are made from >90% recycled plastic. 19 https://smallbiztrends.com/2020/05/remote-work-after-pandemic-survey.html . 20 Minimum purchase requirements apply. Financing should be directly obtained by the Customer and is available through HPs endorsed finance partners to qualified customers. It may be subject to credit checks by the finance partner and execution of their standard documentation. The warranty and support services coverage should match the finance term e.g. if the customer opts for a 3-year finance term, then the hardware should be covered for that entire duration with Pick up & Return Care Pack or base warranty (3/3/3). Check Care Pack Central to verify PC compatibility: http://cpc.ext.hp.com/portal/site/cpc/ . The rates and terms of the offer may vary based on customers credit rating, offering types, services and/or equipment type and options. Other charges, including without limitation, taxes, fees and shipping charges, may apply. Not all HP products are eligible and not all customers may qualify. Other restrictions may apply. HP reserves the right to change or cancel this program at any time without notice. HP services are governed by the applicable HP terms and conditions of service provided or indicated to Customer at the time of purchase. Customer may have additional statutory rights according to applicable local laws, and such rights are not in any way affected by the HP terms and conditions of service or the HP Limited Warranty provided with your HP Product. 21 HP DaaS is sold separately and includes hardware, repair services, and analytics components and may include financing. HP DaaS requirements may vary by region or by Authorized HP DaaS Service Partner. Please contact your local HP Representative or Authorized DaaS Partner for specific details in your location. HP services are governed by the applicable HP terms and conditions of service provided or indicated to Customer at the time of purchase. Customer may have additional statutory rights according to applicable local laws, and such rights are not in any way affected by the HP terms and conditions of service or the HP Limited Warranty provided with your HP Product. 22 Pricing and availability subject to change without notice.

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DUBLIN, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Data Center Power Market in US- Industry Outlook and Forecast 2020-2025" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

In-depth Analysis and Data-driven Insights on the Impact of COVID-19 Included in this U.S. Data Center Power Market Report

The US data center power market share is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 3% during the period 2019-2025.

South Eastern U.S. is one of the major contributors to the U.S. data center power market. With a power capacity share of over 40%, the region attracted high initial investments, especially Virginia, which witnessed over $1 billion in 2019. States such as Virginia, Arizona, Illinois, Nevada, California, Texas, Ohio, Tennessee, Iowa, and North Carolina have received significant investments in recent years. Colocation providers are the major investors, accounting over 50% share, with enterprises, hyperscale operators, and government entities contributing to the rest of the investments.



North America is likely to dominate the global data center power market with over 50 hyperscale development projects to be operational in the United States and Canada in the coming years. The U.S. market is likely to experience a rise in edge data center computing to deliver services with low latency and high efficiency. There is a significant rise in the number of data centers that run blockchain and cryptocurrency workloads across the U.S. market. These blockchain and cryptocurrency facilities consuming hundreds of megawatts of capacity. This is likely to boost the U.S. power market growth during the forecast period.



Key Questions Answered

1. What is the U.S. data center power market size and growth forecast?

2. What are the factors impacting the growth of the U.S. data center power market forecast?

3. What are the leading drivers, trends, and restraints in the data center power market in the US?

4. Who are the leading vendors and what are their market shares?

5. What impact the COVID-19 Pandemic has on the market?



The following factors are likely to contribute to the growth of the US data center power market during the forecast period:

Increasing Procurement of Renewable Energy

Emergence of Nickel-Zinc & Prussian Blue Sodium-ion Battery UPS Systems

Use of Fuel Cells in Data Centers

Adoption of DC UPS Systems to Reduce Power Loss

INSIGHTS BY VENDORS



The US data center power market is witnessing an increasing competition among power infrastructure providers. The market is becoming highly competitive as power solution providers are offering innovative products with maximum efficiency and reliability. Data center operators are more open to procuring energy-efficient power infrastructure solutions. Varied requirements of operators are prompting vendors to develop innovative products that reduce OPEX by up to 50%.



Key Vendor Profiles

ABB

Caterpillar

Cummins

Eaton

Schneider Electric

Vertiv

Other Prominent Vendors

AEG Power Solutions

Artesyn Embedded Technologies

Black Box Network Services (AGC Networks)

Bloom Energy (Fuel Cell)

Chatsworth Products

Cisco Systems

Controlled Power Company

Crenlo

Cyber Power Systems

Delta Group

Detroit Diesel

Euro-Diesel (KINOLT)

Fuji Electric

Genarac Power Systems

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)

Hitachi Hi-Rel Power Electronics

Hitec Power Protection

Hitzinger

Kohler (SDMO)

Legrand

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation

MTU On Site Energy (Rolls-Royce Power Systems AG)

Natron Energy

Panduit

Piller Power Systems

Pramac

Riello UPS

Rittal

Socomec Group

Toshiba

Virtual Power Systems

Yanmar Group (HIMOINSA)

ZAF Energy Systems

ZincFive

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/zgyozi

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



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Even in a presidential election year, not everything is about politics. In fact, the things that have the greatest impact on our lives  for better or worse  have nothing to do with red states or blue states.

This includes the devastating fires sweeping across the western United States.

Go West, young man, and grow up with the country.

That phrase  which is often attributed to author and newspaper editor Horace Greeley  embodied the spirit of Americas westward expansion in the mid-19th century and the concept of Manifest Destiny.

Yet, in the apocalyptic year of 2020, the destiny of the West is, to put it mildly, uncertain. Suddenly, the Northeast winters, Midwest tornados or Gulf Coast hurricanes that we fled in search of a gentler climate dont seem so bad.

Out West, the climate isnt so gentle after all.

Americans have always headed toward the sunset for a fresh start. Now, with white ash blanketing rooftops and the skies clouded in orange haze, it doesnt look like the start of anything fresh. It looks like the end of days.

According to CBS News, nearly 100 active wildfires are now charring nearly a dozen states in the West. Basically, on a map of the United States, it looks like everything west of Kansas is on fire.

Entire towns have been wiped out in several states.

National Public Radio reports that Oregon has at least 35 fires. Gov. Kate Brown is warning of historic loss of life and property as a result of what she calls a once in a generation firestorm.

Her words are revealing. An elected official might once have said once in a century. Now, no one knows what disaster is around the corner.

As a lifelong resident of hard-hit California, my heart is heavy. Ive seen this story before and up close. My family has been evacuated three times in the past 15 years, and the last time flames got within a quarter-mile of our home.

These days, Im thinking a lot about my first home. My small hometown in Central California is less than an hour away from the horrendous Creek Fire, which has burned more than 220,000 acres in the Sierra National Forest. Nearly 50,000 people have been evacuated. A couple of hundred people trapped by road closures had to be rescued by helicopters manned by the California National Guard.

This horror movie is playing out in what used to be my backyard, in tiny mountain towns like Shaver Lake, which has for generations welcomed campers, hikers and fishermen. These are the places where we went for higher climate, cleaner air and cooler weather. High school friends now live there with their families.

Im heartsick. Every one of these fires is about more than burnt acreage. Its about people who lose their homes, and communities that lose their bearings.

But Im also angry.

Im not angry at Mother Nature. In states like Nevada or Arizona, its been hot in the summer since summer was invented.

Im also not angry over the fact, in California, a decade of drought has dried out mountains of brush and turned it into kindling.

But I am fed up with my fellow Californians and other Westerners  on both sides of the ideological divide  who dont have the self-control to resist the impulse to interrupt all this human suffering to insert their own political ad.

On talk radio, through social media and in letters to local newspapers, the one thing we have an abundance of in the West is pettiness.

The only narratives that people are interested in are the ones that advance what they already believe.

On the right, conservatives are blaming the fires on environmentalists, who have worked for years to prevent logging and the removing of excess brush out of affection for the same trees that are now, ironically, burning to the ground.

On the Left, liberals blame climate change, which they say causes higher-than-normal temperatures. California Gov. Gavin Newsom  who never met a crisis he didnt bungle  said recently he has no patience for climate-change deniers.

Give it a rest, folks. You can fight this out another time. Our only priority at this moment is to rescue, reflect, repair and rebuild.

The man said: Go West, young man, and grow up with the country.

In the West, its time to shelve the politics  and just grow up.

ruben@rubennavarrette.com
Facebook is defending a recent update to Messenger that limits the number of times a message can be forwarded.

Users can now only forward a message a maximum of five times, as the firm aims to tamp down on misinformation campaigns - especially about the presidential election and coronavirus pandemic.

If a user is warned about sending too many messages or sending them too quickly, they could now be blocked from posting on Messenger.

In addition, articles that have been flagged by fact checkers on Facebook will also be flagged when shared in Messenger.

Scroll down for video

Facebook recently announced that messages sent on Messenger can only be forwarded a maximum of five times. The company is hoping to tamp down on misinformation campaigns, especially about the presidential election and coronavirus pandemic

According to Facebook, if a user is warned about sending too many messages or sending them too quickly, they may be unable to send messages on Messenger.

At the TechCrunch Disrupt 2020 virtual summit on Tuesday, Facebook Messenger VP Stan Chudnovsky said some users were turning what should be seen as a private conversation into more of a 'public broadcast.'

'Messenger is obviously a private means of communicating. And we want to make sure it is private. This is a very important priority for us,' Chudnovsky said, according to TechCrunch.

The company isn't looking to phase out link-sharing, he added, which is 'core to the internet.'

Users repeatedly warned about the volume or frequency of their messages may be blocked from posting on Messenger. The forward limit was tested last year in Myanmar and Sri Lanka, countries plagued by ethnic violence and online hate speech

In 2019, Facebook began testing the five-forward limit in Myanmar and Sri Lanka, two countries plagued by ethnic violence and online hate speech campaigns.

Ultra-nationalist Buddhists in Myanmar have used Facebook to incite violence against Rohingya Muslims.

Sri Lanka banned Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram in 2018 in hopes of curbing mob violence aimed at the country's Muslim minority.

'Certain pieces of information cannot be forwarded too many times,' Chudnovsky said.

'That's something that we think is really going to help in stopping the spread of the misinformation, especially in the times that we are in right now.'

Facebook Messenger VP Stan Chudnovsky says some users are turning what should be seen as a private conversation into more of a 'public broadcast'

Earlier in the year Messenger updated its community standards, added safety notifications and two-factor authentication, and introduced new features making it easier to block and report unwanted messages.

This month, the company announced the forwarding limit was going global.

'Limiting forwarding is an effective way to slow the spread of viral misinformation and harmful content that has the potential to cause real world harm,' Jay Sullivan, director of product management for privacy and safety, wrote in a September 3 blog post.

He singled out the COVID-19 pandemic and upcoming elections in the U.S. and New Zealand as ripe for disinformation.

The five-forward limit helps 'curb the efforts of those looking to cause chaos, sow uncertainty or inadvertently undermine accurate information,' he said.

Messages that have been shared more that five times on WhatsApp will be flagged with two arrows . In April, WhatsApp limited popular messages to just one chat at a time

'We want Messenger to be a safe and trustworthy platform to connect with friends and family. '

Facebook-owned WhatsApp has started flagging messages shared more that five times with two arrows.

In April, the company announced it was limiting the number of times popular messages could be forwarded to just one chat at a time.

Users can still send a message to many accounts, but they must do so manually.

'We believe it's important to slow the spread of these messages down to keep WhatsApp a place for personal conversation,' the company said.

In August, the company began testing a feature that lets its users inspect forwarded messages.

The 'Search the Web' feature is being trialed in the US, UK, Ireland, Brazil, Italy, Mexico and Spain.

It lets users do a quick Google search on dubious content by tapping a magnifying glass icon next to a message.

It's not clear what the new limitation on Facebook Messenger will mean to the platform's popularity.

WhatsApp's five-forward limit led to a 25 percent decrease in total message forwards, according to the platform.
In July of this year, Prudential Life Insurance Ghana (Prudential), a leading insurer in the country, announced its partnership with three institutions; United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the School of Languages, University of Ghana and United Way Ghana, to fund projects worth USD 80,000, set to impact over 23,000 Ghanaians in Covid-19 relief.



Two (2) months on, the infection rates have dropped and so has the intensity of concern for the disease. The economic ramifications however and impact felt by the underprivileged are far from dwindling. The success stories pour in, from the kayayei (head porters), the aged, disabled, unemployed, deaf community and those excluded by language, when Prudential Life through its funding and volunteering of its employees in partnership with the aforementioned institutions lend a helping hand.



A determined but shy 18-year old Mamprusi girl from Aaba in the Upper East Region of Ghana, a long way away from home, at the Tema Station in Accra looks into the camera. Her head covered in a pink turban, she fiddles with her hands and tries to gear herself up for what she is about to say



My name is Gifty and Im 18 years old. I came to Accra to be a Kayayo. Im a leader of 20 people and this project has helped us a lot It has taught us to be neat, to protect ourselves from STDs and to get health insurance. When we came to Accra, it was a problem to get money to buy food, but now we dont use our money to buy food or soap and so we can save.



UNFPA, the lead UN Agency that targets vulnerable adolescent populations, have harnessed their expertise to address the needs of Kayayei. Prudentials fund has provided 500 Kayayei in the Tema station area with access to basic healthcare services, personal development and reproductive health education, provision of food supplies and care kits.



It is great to feel the Ghanaian benevolent, camaraderie spirit not just in the peak of the pandemic but when its aftershocks are still being felt and the average Ghanaian is still reeling from it - needless to say, the underprivileged are even worse off. Its been a real joy to work with Prudential Life and its staff who get involved on weekends sometimes on weekdays, helping us to off load the trucks, ensure that Covid-19 health protocols are observed and distributing food boxes to 500 Kakayei at the Tema Station area. They are one of the most compassionate corporate donors we have worked with Said Akosua Agyepong, Project Coordinator at UNFPA.



Adamrobe in the Eastern Region - The makeshift chapel which is actually a classroom with open ceilings, showing its wooden beams, buffed cement floors and yellow peeling paint, was buzzing with activity. About 26 deaf people, a majority of which were women and only a handful of men, between the ages of 19 and 75 years were in attendance. About 20 children were also present, the youngest of whom was about 3months old. The slightly older children scurried to and fro with broad smiles excited for the company of visitors.



Most of them were murmuring, gesticulating enthusiastically in their sign language, with each other and to themselves as they watched the drama that was enfolding in front of them. They raise their hands a little above their heads, palms facing outwards and waving them from side to side  the sign for applause.



We mix these leaves; she points to the leaves of the Nim tree and thosesomeone brings in 2 branches with leaves varying in shape and size. We drink the water from the boiled leaves and use whatever is left to bathe. We wear face masks but no one has Covid-19 here. We dont venture out from our community. We know about Covid-19 from watching TV and the young ones read about it from their phones. We dont get a lot of information. I am surprised that you say someone can have the disease and still be healthy the strong 75-year old woman in her Sunday best with a handkerchief across her face signed in a spirited demeanour.



The University of Ghana School of Languages has reached the Adamrobe deaf community and made direct contact with some minority language speakers in selected market places, to fight stigma and misinformation on COVID-19. They hope to provide local language interventions in traditional media and on social media platforms in the coming weeks in Akan, Ga, Ga-Adangbe, Dagbani, Ewe, Hausa, Fafra, Ghanaian Sign Language, Ghanaian Pidgin English, English, and French reaching over 20,000 Ghanaians in the process.



Its 9am, a bright sunny morning in Ayeduase, Kumasi and the PPEs are piled high in an orderly manner as if a department store but no, its the OPD waiting area of the Ayeduase Health centre, the only government clinic serving the community. Ayeduase Hemaa (The queen mother of Ayeduase) Nana Yaa Saa looking regal in her off-white and peach cloth with glistering silver trimmings thrown over one shoulder as is traditionally done, stands proudly tall with 2 of her sub chiefs and Okyeame (linguist) by her side to receive the donation on behalf of the people of Ayeduase.



She thanks Prudential profusely and then turns with a pack of overalls, handing it over symbolically to the Physician Assistant in charge Ernest Gyamfi. She admonishes the clinic to use the PPEs for their intended purpose and for them to uphold their hippocratic oath to treat the sick people of Ayeduase to the best of their ability. PPEs are crucial in the fight against Covid-19 but they are expensive. These essential items will go a long way to protect the staff and patients of this facility from this dreadful disease and so we thank you says Ernest Gyamfi



United Way Ghana, a member of the United Way Worldwide network with expertise in the fields of education, health and financial empowerment are fighting the pandemic and addressing post Covid-19 social issues in underserved communities in Ghana. Through Prudential Life, they have provided food for 300 families, literacy programs for 500 families (whose children are home as a result of schools being shut down), in the deprived community of Pig Farm as well as donated PPEs to the Ayeduase Health Centre in Kumasi.



Mr. Emmanuel Mokobi Aryee, CEO of Prudential Life Insurance Ghana said Prudential is passionate about its purpose of helping people to get the most out of life, be it in a financial or socio-economic setting. Our mantra is always listening, always understanding. We respond to the market with gap-filling innovative products and so in the same vain, we listen and invest in the community when it needs us. We live our purpose and values; they are not just pretty words displayed on a wall or a website.



Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Schools play such a vital role in our communities and deserve our support!

Sonoma Clean Power (SCP) is partnering with TerraVerde Energy to offer financial and technical feasibility assessments for battery storage systems, at no cost, to public K-12 schools in Sonoma and Mendocino Counties.

Reliable backup power has become an essential asset for public-serving entities in California, especially for public schools, which in addition to being important educational facilities for their communities, often serve as emergency response centers during natural disasters.

In October of 2019, over 1,000 California schools were forced to close their campuses due to wildfire-related Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) events.

Our service territory has endured a lot of challenges over the last few years. As an agency, its our priority to make sure our communities are adapting quickly and safely to be better prepared for future disasters and power outages. Helping our customers install battery storage systems where they can have the biggest impact is one of the best ways to facilitate that adaptation, said Carolyn Glanton, Programs Manager at SCP.

Of the 52 School Districts in SCPs territory, those with existing on-site solar arrays are invited to apply for the feasibility study.

Each participating School District will receive a report from TerraVerde outlining the financial benefits, infrastructure implications, and considerations of coupling their solar system with added energy storage. The report will also identify potential funding sources available to schools for installing a battery storage system.

Schools play such a vital role in our communities and deserve our support! As independent energy advisors, TerraVerde has proudly served schools for more than 11 years in evaluating and deploying energy projects. We are thrilled to partner with Sonoma Clean Power with providing schools in Sonoma and Mendocino Counties with objective technical and financial assessments of the opportunity for deploying battery systems at their campuses. said David Burdick, Executive Vice President of TerraVerde Energy.

SCP and TerraVerde will be reaching out to local School Districts via phone and email over the next few weeks to begin enrolling sites in the program.

Interested School Districts can also learn more by emailing programs@sonomacleanpower.org, or by visiting sonomacleanpower.org/solar-storage-study-for-schools.

# # #

About Sonoma Clean Power

Sonoma Clean Power is the public electricity provider for Sonoma and Mendocino counties. SCPs services and programs are practical, affordable, and inclusive, empowering everyone to be part of the transition toward a clean energy future. To learn more, visit sonomacleanpower.org or call 1 (855) 202-2139.

About TerraVerde Energy

TerraVerde Energy is an independent energy consulting firm that supports Community Choice Aggregators (CCAs) in designing and deploying Distributed Energy Resource programs that leverage energy technologies such as solar PV, battery energy storage, electric vehicle chargers, and smart thermostats. Through these programs, CCAs and their customers can enjoy reduced energy costs, increased power reliability, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. TerraVerde provides data-driven program design, efficient program deployment, and effective program administration services that deliver the strongest outcomes for CCAs and their customers. Learn more at terraverde.energy/cca.
This handout photo shows a view of the edge of the Alathar ancient lake deposit and surrounding landscape

Around 120,000 years ago in what is now northern Saudi Arabia, a small band of homo sapiens stopped to drink and forage at a shallow lake that was also frequented by camels, buffalo and elephants bigger than any species seen today.

The humans may have hunted the big mammals but they did not stay long, using the watering hole as a waypoint on a longer journey.

This detailed scene was reconstructed by researchers in a new study published in Science Advances on Wednesday, following the discovery of ancient human and animal footprints in the Nefud Desert that shed new light on the routes our ancient ancestors took as they spread out of Africa.

Today, the Arabian Peninsula is characterized by vast, arid deserts that would have been inhospitable to early people and the animals they hunted down.

But research over the last decade has shown this wasn't always the casedue to natural climate variation it experienced much greener and more humid conditions in a period known as the last interglacial.

Arabia at the time was more akin to the semi-arid grasslands of the modern African savanna.

The paper's first author Mathew Stewart of the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Germany, told AFP the footprints were discovered during his PhD field work in 2017 following the erosion of overlying sediments at an ancient lake dubbed 'Alathar' (meaning "the trace" in Arabic).

The first human footprint discovered at Alathar and its corresponding digital elevation model (DEM). Credit: Stewart et al., 2020

Elephant (left) and camel (right) trackways. Credit: Stewart et al., 2020

"Footprints are a unique form of fossil evidence in that they provide snapshots in time, typically representing a few hours or days, a resolution we tend not to get from other records," he said.

The prints were dated using a technique called optical stimulated luminescenceblasting light at quartz grains and measuring the amount of energy emitted from them.

A Green Arabia

In total, seven out of the hundreds of prints discovered were confidently identified as hominin, including four that, given their similar orientation, distances from one another and differences in size, were interpreted as two or three individuals traveling together.

The researchers argue these belonged to anatomically modern humans, as opposed to Neanderthals, on the basis that our extinct cousins aren't known to have been present in the wider Middle East region at the time, and based on stature and mass estimates inferred from the prints.

This handout photo shows elephant trackway

This handout photo shows animal fossils eroding out of the surface of the Alathar ancient lake deposit

"We know that humans were visiting this lake at the same time these animals were, and, unusually for the area, there's no stone tools," said Stewart, which would indicate the humans made a longer term settlement there.

"It appears that these people were visiting the lake for water resources and just to forage at the same time as the animals," and probably to also hunt them.

The elephants, which had gone extinct in the nearby Levant region some 400,000 years ago, would have been particularly attractive prey, and their presence also suggests other plentiful freshwater resources and greenery.

In addition to the footprints, some 233 fossils were recovered, and it's likely that carnivores were attracted to the herbivores at Alathar, similar to what is seen in African savannas today.

It was previously known that early humans spread to Eurasia via southern Greece and the Levant, exploiting coastal resources along the way, but the new research shows that "inland routes, following lakes and rivers, may have been particularly important" too, said Stewart.

"The presence of large animals such as elephants and hippos, together with open grasslands and large water resources, may have made northern Arabia a particularly attractive place to humans moving between Africa and Eurasia," added the study's senior author Michael Petraglia of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.

Explore further First human migration out of Africa more geographically widespread than previously thought

More information: M. Stewart el al., "Human footprints provide snapshot of last interglacial ecology in the Arabian interior," Science Advances (2020). Journal information: Science Advances M. Stewart el al., "Human footprints provide snapshot of last interglacial ecology in the Arabian interior,"(2020). advances.sciencemag.org/lookup  .1126/sciadv.aba8940

 2020 AFP
Indian Government has mandated unrestricted domestic travel; international travel likely to catch up fast

MUMBAI, India, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Indian Government has mandated states to do away with any restrictions on movement of persons within the country. The policy of unrestricted travel first announced in Unlock 2 has been reiterated in Unlock 3 and 4 guidelines and the states are now lifting restrictions like e-passes, COVID-19 tests and quarantine, etc. The states who allow unrestricted access are likely to benefit from huge pent-up demand, as the air, rail and road transport also open up. Yet only about a dozen states have implemented travel without any restrictions and rest are expected to follow soon. Domestic air travel has resumed to the level of one-third of its usual levels and is likely to come back to normalcy within the end of the year 2020 as anticipated by the aviation ministry. Countries are also preparing to reopen as the risk perceptions of travel have considerably subsided. Though it may be a while before full normalcy is established, countries that open faster and with least restrictions are likely to tap into the pent-up demand in the coming season.

Domestic travel reopening fully is a strong precursor to that happening internationally. It is noteworthy that domestic air travel in China is reported to have recovered to 84% to what it used to be in 2019. Domestic as well as international destinations that open faster and with least restrictions are likely to tap into the pent-up demand in the coming season. Given the widespread nature of the pandemic, now it is being realised that lockdowns are a blunt instrument and widespread travel restrictions are not required, as per WHO.

In the above backdrop, the global travel industry is assembling at the virtual travel expo - ReCONNECT on 18th September, hosted by the organisers of India's leading travel trade show OTM Mumbai. ReCONNECT is a virtual platform to help 3000+ travel industry professionals to restart the dialogue for resumption of domestic and international travel, as the restrictions are gradually lifted.

In the inaugural session of ReCONNECT, the keynote address on Reconnect and Restart Tourism will be delivered by Sanjiv Agarwal, Chairman & CEO, Fairfest Media, Editor & Publisher, Travel News Digest.

Dignitaries who will grace the inauguration include Shri Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State for Tourism (I/C), Govt. of India, Meenakshi Sharma, IAS, Director General, Ministry of Tourism - Govt of India, Arvind Bundhun, Director, Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority, Jenu Devan, IAS & Managing Director, Gujarat Tourism and Jabed Ahmed, CEO (Additional Secretary), Bangladesh Tourism Board.

Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority and Kenya Tourism Board have joined ReCONNECT as Premium Partner Countries. Tourism Fiji and Spain Tourism are Official Partners while Bangladesh is the Partner Country. Singapore Tourism Board is exhibiting as the Feature Country. Frankfurt Tourism, Visit Brussels and Zagreb Tourist Board will also be present as Feature Destinations for the first time.

Destinations like Azerbaijan, Belgium, Croatia, Ethiopia, Germany, Japan, Kenya, Madagascar, Maldives, Mauritius, Singapore, Thailand, Zimbabwe, Jamaica and many others will be represented at the event.

Amongst Indian States, Gujarat Tourism will be present as the Premium Partner State. The Ministry of Tourism, Govt of India is also setting up a virtual booth at ReCONNECT, extending its vital support for reopening tourism.

Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL) has joined in the capacity of the Hospitality Partner. helloGTX and Technogram are the event's Travel Technology Partners. OneAbove has come onboard as the DMC Partner.

ReCONNECT will take place on a proprietary virtual platform that allows ease of doing business where destinations can e-meet with their buyers and media to rebuild confidence and re-energise travel. Using the AI-powered Smart Matchmaking tool, sellers can connect with the most relevant buyers for digital networking. Virtual brand promotion, video conferencing and screen sharing are all a part of ReCONNECT.

Over 4,000 buyers have registered for the virtual event. Travel agents, corporate buyers, wedding planners and event managers comprise a diverse base of buyers interested in meeting with 200+ B2B suppliers representing 500+ destinations from 18 countries in the virtual show.

The event is also hosting a global Conference Programme with the best minds of travel & tourism from India, Asia and beyond. More than 25 leaders from Bidroom, Genesys Digital, Lonely Planet India, Reliance, SAP Concur, Travelstop, Thomas Cook are going to discuss travel in a post-COVID world.

ReCONNECT is supported by travel associations like TAAI, TAFI, OTOAI, ADTOI, MTOA, IATO, IATTE, Skal International Mumbai South, ETAA, NIMA, SITE, SATA, GTAA, TOSG, TAAN, VTA, ATAA, TAAS, TAG, TTAUP, HHTDN, EHTTOA, SIGTOA, TTAA, TAAP, UTEN, TLC, SGTCA and TAHAT.

The virtual event is designed to provide the long-awaited booster shot to the Indian travel trade community and their global partners, in the wake of lockdowns. Visit the ReCONNECT website for more details.

SOURCE ReCONNECT
A University of Arkansas scientist is part of an international team working to establish a network to track dragonflies and damselflies

A U of A biologist is part of an international team of researchers building a volunteer network of citizen scientists to help monitor the abundance of dragonflies and damselflies.

Recent studies have indicated that insect species in general are declining throughout the world and could be headed toward collapse due to intensive agricultural practices, climate change and habitat loss. For many species, however, there isn't enough baseline data to determine trends in insect abundance.

Adam Siepielski, associate professor of biology, is part of a team working on a solution -- establishing a volunteer network that will collect data on odonata, the scientific name for dragonflies and damselflies. Odonata are easy to spot, often vividly colored and an important indicator group of species reflecting environmental changes in freshwater biodiversity.

"Volunteer nature enthusiasts can greatly help to monitor the abundance of dragonflies and damselflies, iconic freshwater sentinels and one of the few nonpollinator insect groups appreciated by the public and amenable to citizen science," the scientists wrote in a paper published in the journal BioScience.

Researchers propose modeling the volunteer network on a similar collection of projects, organizations and individuals dedicated to butterflies. "The network has improved knowledge of not only butterfly geographical distributions but also their relative population sizes across years and the effects of large-scale environmental change," researchers wrote.

"We are hopeful that with similar efforts dedicated to odonata, great strides can be made in our understanding of changes in their abundances and distributions too. They really are amazing animals and fascinating to observe," said Siepielski.

An odonata network would fill in gaps from areas of the world with little information, and incorporate existing data-collection efforts. Ideally, volunteers would collect data at a fixed location for 10 to 15 years, and have a standardized portal to report their findings.

"An army of amateur naturalists may contribute far more data than a small cadre of professional observers," the researchers wrote. "Citizen science promotes biophilia while contributing enormously to understanding large-scale biodiversity loss and environmental change, especially in developing or transitioning regions."

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Linkedin Deborah Bloom and Brad Brooks (Reuters) Portland, Oregon  Wed, September 16, 2020 10:38 492 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c4511a38 2 World forest-fires,california,oregon,US-government Free

Thousands of evacuees displaced by deadly wildfires in Oregon settled into a second week of life in shelters and car camping as fire crews battled on against the blazes, and search teams scoured the ruins of demolished homes for those still missing.

With state resources stretched to their limit, Oregon Governor Kate Brown has requested a federal disaster declaration from the White House to bolster US government assistance for emergency response and relief efforts.

Dozens of fires have charred some 4.5 million acres (1.8 million hectares) of tinder-dry brush, grass and woodlands in Oregon, California and Washington state since August, ravaging several small towns, destroying thousands of homes and killing at least 34 people.

Eight deaths have been confirmed during the past week in Oregon, which became the latest and most concentrated hot spot in a larger summer outbreak of fires across the entire western United States. The Pacific Northwest was hardest hit.

The conflagrations, which officials and scientists have described as unprecedented in scope and ferocity, have also filled the region's skies with smoke and soot, compounding a public health crisis already posed by the coronavirus pandemic.

Satellite images showed high-altitude plumes of smoke from the fires drifting as far east as New York City and Washington, D.C., carried aloft by the jet stream.

The fires roared to life in California in mid-August, and erupted across Oregon and Washington around Labor Day last week, many of them sparked by catastrophic lightning storms and stoked by record-breaking heat waves and bouts of howling winds.

Weather conditions improved early this week, enabling firefighters to begin to make headway in efforts to contain and tamp down the blazes.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire) said 16,600 firefighters were still battling 25 major fires on Tuesday, after achieving full containment around the perimeter of other large blazes.
Meanwhile, patients are seeking the intervention of government to stop misuse of plasma donation by some middlemen for monetary gain

Though the AP govt has announced financial incentives to plasma donors, there is no clarity as to who will release that amount to the donor. (Representaional Image: AFP)

Vijayawada: Financial hardships are forcing some plasma donors to demand more money from COVID-19 infected patients in several parts of Andhra Pradesh.

In a recent case at Indian Red Cross Societys (IRCS) blood bank in Nellore, a voluntary donor expressed his interest to donate his plasma and when the authorities informed him that he would get Rs 5,000 as financial incentive announced by the state government for the donation, the donor asked for more money.

However, IRCS authorities informed him that they were unable to pay extra, and the donor complied. Later on, when the donor overheard the IRCS authorities discussing that a new patient requires plasma of a specific blood group, which was the same as the one he just donated, the donor approached the family members of the COVID patient for money, claiming that they were going to be given the plasma donated by him. The family refused to pay and alerted the IRCS authorities, who in turn admonished the donor and sent him home.

In another case in Visakhapatnam, a senior government official was infected with COVID-19 and was in need of plasma. The health authorities identified a suitable donor and asked him whether he could donate plasma as his blood group matched the patients. The donor reportedly asked for more money, claiming financial hardships in his family due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Though the government has announced a financial incentive of Rs 5,000 for a plasma donor, there is no clarity as to who should release that amount to the donor.

Plasma therapy is free for COVID-19 infected patients taking treatment in government hospitals but in the case of IRCS blood banks, they are charging Rs 14,000 per 400 ml plasma which comes in two units of 200 ml each. Permitted private blood banks are also charging Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000 per 400 ml of plasma.

On the other hand, some middlemen with access to a list of COVID-19 infected and recovered patents and registered donors of plasma, are arranging plasma donors for patients especially in notified COVID-19 hospitals in exchange of money.

Some corporate hospitals too are offering good commission to middlemen who can arrange the donation of plasma of specific blood groups.

ICRS blood bank chief medical officer at Nellore Dr Yashovardhan said, We are allowing only voluntary donors of plasma and the donated plasma is being offered to the required patients following the government fixed cost only as we have to collect and process it before transfusion to the patient.

Meanwhile, COVID-19 infected patients are seeking the intervention of the state government to arrest misuse of plasma donation by some middlemen for monetary gain.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 19:05:25|Editor: huaxia

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TALUQAN, Afghanistan, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Police in the northern Takhar province have arrested two drug traffickers and confiscated illicit drug from their possessions, police spokesman for the province Abdul Khalil Asir said Wednesday.

The alleged drug smugglers, according to the spokesman, have been detained during routine operations over the past couple of days and police have discovered a amount of heroin and hashish from their possessions.

Both the arrested men were Afghans and investigation was underway to identify and locate the ringleaders of the drug smugglers in the province, Asir said.

Police would continue to target the drug traffickers in the restive Takhar province, he added. Enditem
BOSTON, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --

CLIENT

At its inception more than 55 years ago, the original vision of The Paper Store ("TPS" or the "Company") was to serve as a local retailer offering newspapers, magazines, greeting cards and school supplies. Since then, The Paper Store has expanded beyond its original vision and has grown organically from a "mom-and-pop" shop to a regionally renowned specialty retailer. Today, The Paper Store is one of the leading specialty gift chains in the Northeast with 86 locations in 7 states.

SITUATION

TPS had experienced a significant decline in store traffic and related consumer spending, as well as numerous operational challenges as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially on account of actions taken in response to the public health crisis. Mandated store closures significantly contributed to missed sales targets, unsold inventory, and depressed profit margins. The Company could no longer cover its pre-bankruptcy debt service and was facing an impending liquidity crisis given working capital requirements leading in to the holiday season. Prior to filing, TPS pursued several strategic alternatives to address the liquidity need and balance sheet challenges but was not able to reach concensus across the interested parties.

ENGAGEMENT

TPS engaged G2 Capital Advisors, LLC ("G2") as its restructuring advisor in June 2020, following the liquidity and operational challenges to examine strategic alternatives and stabilize operations. Following an inability to reach an out-of-court solution with the key stakeholders, TPS expanded G2's role by appointing Don Van der Wiel as Chief Restructuring Officer ("CRO"). The Company subsequently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to facilitate a going concern sale of the Company. Through the CRO role, G2 became the chief fiduciary tasked with creating sufficient runway to preserve going concern value and maximizing potential recovery for all stakeholders. Through the CRO role, G2 actively navigated complex stakeholder dynamics, during a time when market instability was at an all-time high due to the continued pandemic. G2 developed and executed liquidity management tactics to maximize strategic options for the Company, as well as managed all transactional and bankruptcy proceeding timelines. With a long-term focus on maximizing value, G2 supported TPS's sale process, leading to efficient and expeditious transaction execution.

Tom Anderson, President & CEO of The Paper Store said, "G2 was a true partner for The Paper Store as we navigated the highly disruptive impacts of Covid 19 across our business. The G2 team, with its operational and financial advisory capabilities, quickly understood our Company and situation, developed a set of strategic alternatives, and then assisted us in executing the strategy, resulting in a stabilization of day-to-day operations and the long term survival of the Company."

OUTCOME

G2 provided day-to-day liquidity and process management support throughout the bankruptcy proceedings, including leading a tailored transaction process resulting in the signing of an asset purchase agreement in August 2020 and an eventual going concern sale of TPS on September 1, 2020 under Section 363 of the Bankruptcy Code for $22MM in cash consideration, plus the assumption of certain liabilities.The highly efficient court case process took 49 days from the petition filing date to the closing of the transaction.

Throughout the engagement and culminating with the successful transaction, G2 was able to assist the company in preserving nearly 2,000 jobs across the TPS platform. The strategic execution of the engagement also created significant value for junior creditors in terms of assumed liabilities.

"We are very proud of G2's contributions to help TPS navigate through the complex challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. The blend of our operational turnaround and transactional experience proved invaluable in allowing us to support the unique requirements of this project in an overall tough retail landscape."  said Jeffrey Unger, CEO of G2 Capital Advisors.

Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. served as the Company's bankruptcy counsel and SSG Capital Advisors, LLC served as investment banker for the transaction.

About The Paper Store:

The Paper Store, LLC, based in Acton, Massachusetts, is a leading specialty gift retailer with 86 stores located in the northeastern United States. Since its inception, the Company's mission has been to help their customers find unique gifts to celebrate all of life's occasions from humorous to heartfelt. The Company also believes in maintaining strong, local ties to the community thru various charitable endeavors. For more information, please visit https://www.thepaperstore.com.

About G2 Capital Advisors

G2 Capital Advisors provides M&A, capital markets and restructuring advisory services to the middle market. We offer integrated, multi-product and sector-focused services by pairing highly experienced C-level executives with specialist investment bankers. We aspire to be the trusted advisor of choice to our clients including corporations and institutional investors. For more information, please visit www.g2cap.com

Securities offered through Hollister Associates, LLC. Member FINRA, SIPC. G2 Capital Advisors, LLC and Hollister Associates, LLC are separate and unaffiliated entities.

G2 Capital Advisors CONTACTS ON THIS Transaction:

Jeffrey Unger, CEO:

E: [email protected]

Don Van der Wiel, Managing Director, Restructuring:

E: [email protected]

Konstantin A. Danilov: Vice President, Restructuring:

E: [email protected]

Matt Powers: Associate, Restructuring:

E: [email protected]

SOURCE G2 Capital Advisors

Related Links

http://www.g2cap.com


A n investigation has been launched after a police officer was killed riding his motorbike to work.

PC Chris Miller, 35, was pronounced dead at the scene of a crash died in Woodford New Road, Redbridge, at 5.09am on Tuesday.

Ken Marsh, chair of the Met Police Federation, said: This is tragic news. We are always devastated when we lose a member of the Metropolitan Police family. Our thoughts go out to all Chriss family, friends and close colleagues at this time.

Detective Constable Dustin Irribarren, from the Serious Collision Investigation Unit, said: Our thoughts are with the mans family at this very sad time.

I would like to thank the members of the public who tried to help the victim and who have spoken to us.

I am urging anyone who was in the vicinity of the incident at that time to please check your dash-cam footage. If you have any footage of this incident, or saw what happened, please get in touch and help us piece together what happened.

Anyone with footage or information is asked to call 0208 597 4874, 101 or tweet @MetCC quoting ref CAD 983/15 Sept.
The president has pledged to Kenosha, Wis., some $47 million to repair damage caused by rioters, looters and the civil unrest. So my question to each and every American citizen is, why should we have to pay for this, not only in taxes but in the higher insurance premiums we will have to pay?

While all this goes on, those who should have put a stop to this in all those Democratic-controlled cities and states continue to collect a salary, health care benefits and pensions. So as a nation, who has the right to petition our government for redress of grievances? Why has no one filed a suit against all those who permitted this to happen? This was not a peaceful protest.

Since we now live in a nation full of money-hungry lawyers, perhaps one could bring this suit against the state governors, mayors, senate and assemblies who allow this to go on. But upon rethinking this whole situation, better to let those who elected all these Democrats suffer from their poor choices.

Think also about who died in those Democratic states from coronavirus. Yes, it was the senior citizens who the Democrats do not seem to care about. Put them back into the nursing homes, Andrew Cuomo.
A sorority girl, a volunteer medic and a newspaper employee are among the 13 protesters who were arrested during clashes with police in Pennsylvania.

The protesters were taken into custody on Monday in Lancaster and slapped with a slew of misdemeanor charges including arson, riot, vandalism and criminal conspiracy.

A judge set bail for nine of the defendants at an astonishing $1million, including 20-year-old Kathryn Patterson, a Kappa Delta sorority sister at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster.

A GoFundMe campaign raising money to help Patterson post bail describes her as an 'ally' of Black Student Union at her school, which charges nearly $60,000-a-year for tuition.

Another campaign was set up for fellow defendant Taylor Enterline, 20, whose family said she has been working as a volunteer medic at the protests, 'running around and helping those that were hurt and or tear gassed'.

LancasterOnline identified defendant Matthew Modderman, 31, as an account services representative in the newspaper's Client Solutions Department.

Kathryn Patterson (pictured), a 20-year-old Kappa Delta sorority sister at Franklin and Marshall College, was among the 13 protesters arrested on Monday following clashes with police in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, following a fatal officer-involved shooting

Taylor Enterline, 20, (pictured) was also arrested after her family said she was working as a volunteer medic at a protest on Sunday

A judge set bond for Patterson (left), Enterline (right) and seven other defendants at $1million. The defendants are facing a slew of charges including arson, rioting and vandalism

Ten other people who ranged in age from 16 to 43 were also arrested on Monday morning in connection with protests over the fatal police shooting of Ricardo Munoz on Sunday.

Police said the protests devolved into rioting that damaged Lancaster's police headquarters and produced an arson fire that blocked a downtown intersection.

LancasterOnline identified defendant Matthew Modderman, 31, (pictured) as an account services representative in the newspaper's Client Solutions Department

The other adults charged were Jamal Shariff Newman, 24; Barry Jones, 30; Frank Gaston, 43; Yoshua Dwayne Montague, 23; Talia Gessner, 18; T-Jay Fry, 28; Dylan Davis, 28; Jessica Marie Lopez, 32; and Lee Alexander Wise, 29.

Among the eight for whom charging documents were available, not all face identical charges, accusations that include arson, rioting and institutional vandalism.

One has been charged with carrying a concealed weapon without a permit.

A 16-year-old boy, who was not named, has been charged with riot, disorderly conduct, possession of instruments of crime, possession of a small amount of marijuana, propulsion of missiles onto a roadway and institutional vandalism.

Patterson's father Chip spoke out about her arrest on Tuesday, calling her $1million bail 'obscene' and saying that she had been acting as a medic as she has at other protests in the recent past.

'Everything that I know so far, which is not a lot, indicates that Kat is not guilty of those charges. But then again, we'll have to wait and see,' Chip said.

He said he has not been able to reach his daughter since her arrest.

'I cannot tell you how long this night has been,' he said.

'I think regardless of what these people did or didn't do, the bail amount is just outrageous and clearly against the Eighth Amendment,' which addresses bail.

Patterson grew up in the tiny town of Mercersburg, according to her Facebook page, which is filled with photos of her racial justice activism.

One post from August shows her pumping her fist in the air during a march.

'My left fist, to symbolize black power. BLM, all day everyday,' she wrote in a comment.

Patterson's GoFundMe page has raised more than $44,600 as of Wednesday afternoon.

A GoFundMe campaign raising money to help Patterson (pictured) post bail describes her as an 'ally' of Black Student Union at her school, which charges nearly $60,000-a-year for tuition

Authorities said the protests following Ricardo Munoz's fatal shooting degenerated into rioting that damaged Lancaster's police headquarters and produced an arson fire that blocked a downtown intersection

People chant during a protest at the scene of a police shooting on Sunday in Lancaster

A GoFundMe campaign was also set up for Enterline, the other 20-year-old arrested.

The description on the page said Enterline, whose Facebook page says she works as a waitress in Manheim, Pennsylvania, was tending to injured protesters when she was 'charged with guns by police along with another person from her activist group'.

'She is being held under false charges that all witnesses protest against, She was denied her family lawyer and charged with a $1,000,000 bail that is a direct violation to her 8th amendment rights,' the page, which has already raised nearly $21,000, states.

Enterline's mother declined to comment on her daughter's arrest when approached by the New York Post.

'I'm not comfortable at this time,' the mother said.

A GoFundMe campaign for Enterline (pictured) has raised nearly $21,000. The description on the page said Enterline was tending to injured protesters when she was 'charged with guns by police along with another person from her activist group'

A third GoFundMe campaign was launched for 23-year-old Yoshua Montague (left in his mugshot and right in a Facebook photo). Montague's sister described him as 'a man of integrity with morals' and warned that he could remain behind bars for 'years' if he can't to make bail

A third GoFundMe campaign was launched for 23-year-old Yoshua Montague, whose sister Shacura described him as 'a man of integrity with morals'.

'Yes he was downtown, yes he felt an injustice with the police killings, but no he did not set anything on fire, no he did not loot, no he didn't deface the police station, no he did not help destroy business downtown,' Shacura wrote on the campaign, which has raised just over $1,400.

The sibling warned that Montague could remain behind bars for 'years' if he is unable to make bail while fighting the charges.

Two of the people arrested on Monday - Lopez and Davis - had already been detained during a different protest last month, according to LancasterOnline.

Lee Alexander Wise, 29, (left) and Barry Jones, 30, (right) were among the 13 people arrested in Lancaster on Monday after clashes with police

Pictured: Jamal Shariff Newton, 24, (left) and T-Jay Fry, 28 (right)

Pictured: Frank Gaston, 43, (left) and Dylan Davis, 28 (right)

Pictured: Talia Gessner, 18, (left) and Jessica Marie Lopez, 32 (right)

The protests concerned the police shooting death of Munoz, whose sister had called authorities in hopes of having him involuntarily committed for mental health treatment.

Police have made public the officer's body camera video.

It showed Munoz, 27, approaching the officer with the knife in what appeared to be a menacing manner, before the officer, who has not been publicly identified, shot and killed him.

Bodycam video shows Ricardo Munoz, 27, pictured 'brandishing a knife over his head' in a threatening manner. He was shot dead

Munoz had been out on bond, awaiting trial for allegations he stabbed four people last year, including a teenage boy who was stabbed in the face.

His sister said Munoz was mentally ill - diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia - and hadn't been taking his medications.

She said she had called a crisis intervention organization and a police non-emergency number to get her brother involuntarily committed.

'He had an episode. He was just incoherent and acting out,' she said. 'I called to find out what the procedure was to get him some help.'

Protesters gathered outside the police station in the wake of the shooting and, in video posted to social media, they chanted: "Hands up, don't shoot," "No justice, no peace" and "What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!"

It was unclear how motivated protesters were by racism as they have been in other cities where deaths at the hands of police have stoked protest.

Court papers list Munoz's race as white.
New York, NY, September 7, 2020  ArtWorks Legal Incubator & Residency Program is an exciting, first-of-its-kind dual Residency & Legal Incubator Program for new and transitioning attorneys, looking to grow in the intellectual property practice area. The ideal candidate for this program is new attorneys, law graduates, and those transitioning practice areas. Founded through a collaboration of attorneys, business strategists, and philanthropists, the program is currently accepting applications and is 
Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut on Monday came under a stinging attack from the Congress over her Mumbai-PoK" remarks and leaving the city for her home state without giving information about drugs to government agencies.

Read: Sara Ali Khan, Rakul Preet Singh, Simone Khambattas Names Crop up During NCB Probe in SSR Case

Mumbai is pride" of Maharashtra and India and to demean the city by likening it to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) is blasphemy", said All-India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary Ashish Dua without naming Ranaut, who is already facing fire from the partys ally, the Shiv Sena.

Taking to Twitter a day after Ranaut met Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at Raj Bhavan here over partial

razing of her office by the Mumbai civic body last week, Dua also said the governors office is not for politics".

#Mumbai is pride of #Maharashtra & entire India. This is a city which has realised dreams of millions without prejudice or discrimination. To demean it by comparing with PoK is blasphemy. Guv office is not for politics (sic)," Dua

tweeted.

#Mumbai is pride of #Maharashtra & entire India. This is a city which has realised dreams of millions without prejudice or discrimination. To demean it by comparing with PoK is blasphemy. BJP should refrain from dividing citizens on basis of region. Guv office is not for politics https://t.co/Dc9ZwJ0F4V pic.twitter.com/HU6H7tCpJ5 Ashish Dua (@ashishdua_INC) September 14, 2020

He said the BJP should refrain from dividing citizens on the basis of region." Ranaut had said she met Koshyari to apprise him about injustice" done to her. Meanwhile, Maharashtra Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant hit out at the actress for leaving Mumbai for her home state Himachal Pradesh without giving information about drugs to government agencies.

@KanganaTeam has returned to HP. Really surprised! What abt her knowledge of drug mafia and bollywood connection? Wasnt it her duty to give information she has to NCB? Isnt it a crime to withhold information about a

crime under IPC 202 & 176 also in ndps act? Or was it a hoax (sic)?" Sawant asked on Twitter.

.@KanganaTeam has returned to HP. Really surprised!What abt her knowledge of drug mafia and bollywood connection? Wasn't it her duty to give information she has to NCB? Isn't it a crime to withhold information about a crime under IPC 202 & 176 also in ndps act? Or was it a hoax? https://t.co/a5JY4VBARo Sachin Sawant   (@sachin_inc) September 14, 2020

The Congress is one of the constituents of the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government - the other being

the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Earlier in the day, the Queen" star, before leaving for Himachal Pradesh, reiterated her PoK barb, which had riled the Sena and other members of the MVA.

Ranaut has tweeted that she has been terrorised with constant attacks and abuses" and that her analogy comparing

the Maharashtra capital with PoK was bang on". The Sena and Ranaut have been at loggerheads ever since the actress compared Mumbai to PoK after Sena MP Sanjay Raut asked her not to return to Mumbai.

Raut had targeted Ranaut after the latter expressed her distrust in the Mumbai Police in view of actor Sushant Singh Rajputs death.
Around the same time that Donald Trump was heralding the dawn of peace in the Middle East on Tuesday, the U.S. backed away from its threat of tariffs on Canadian aluminum.

Clearly, Canada caught Trump on a good day.

While it isnt exactly peace breaking out in the Middle East or even a cure for coronavirus, Canadas victory in the aluminum tariff battle isnt a small thing either in the larger scheme of Canada-U.S. relations. In a crazy presidential election year, with voting less than 50 days away, Canada triumphed over a Trump tantrum.

In fact, this marks the second time during the pandemic that Canada has successfully escaped Trumps efforts to turn the COVID-19 crisis into a trade war.

The first came back in the spring, when Trump invoked an America-first presidential order on the production of pandemic-relief supplies, such as medical masks produced by 3M. After an extraordinary few days of Canadian fist-shaking against the president (and also some quieter diplomacy,) Canada won an exemption from that order, which remains in force.

Chrystia Freeland, who also wrestled a new North American free trade deal out of Trumps White House two years ago, had some reason to look pleased when she talked to reporters on Tuesday about the aluminum win.

This is a day when common sense has prevailed, Freeland said, which is also something you cant say happens every day in Donald Trumps America.

Originally, this was going to be a news conference in which Freeland would announce all the U.S. products that Canada planned to hit with retaliatory tariffs. On that list were the washing machines produced at the same Ohio factory where Trump announced the tariff war against Canadian aluminum in August.

This tactic also wouldnt be unprecedented. Back in 2018, when Trump hit Canada with a round of steel and aluminum tariffs, Canada shot back with an exhaustive, dollar-for-dollar list of retaliatory tariffs drawn up with political impact in mind.

As things turned out, Canada didnt need to unveil a similar list in this battle, but International Trade Minister Mary Ng says this country is keeping one in its back pocket in case Trump fires up another round of tariff rockets.

Neither Canada nor Justin Trudeau are major players in Rage, the new Bob Woodward book that was officially released on Tuesday, even if this country has found itself on the receiving end of the presidents angry outbursts. Trudeau doesnt even get a mention among those 18 interviews the president granted Woodward, but trade is a recurring obsession that became tiresome to Woodward.

Trump grew exercised when I tried to break up his litany of trade achievements and grievances  which we covered nearly every time we spoke  with more questions about foreign policy, Woodward writes.

Its a signature insight into Trump, how everything about his outlook on the world, even in a pandemic, is viewed through the prism of trade. At another point in the book, Trumps son-in-law, Jared Kushner, points to the Canada-U.S.-Mexico free trade deal as among the top three things Trump had to do to win re-election.

Peace in the Middle East, incidentally, is not one of the three: they would be the wall at the Mexican border and a trade deal with China.

Chances are that neither Trump nor his trade people are going to explain fully why they backed down in this most recent trade war with Canada, but the safe bet is that once again, the U.S. learned that messing around with Canada is more complicated and costly than they anticipated. It seems to be a lesson that Trumps White House keeps needing to learn.

Back in the spring, Canada won the exemption on the America-first order because it was able to demonstrate that the U.S. was also relying on this country to produce pandemic-relief supplies  pulp from B.C. for masks, for instance, or Canadian parts for ventilators.

It is bad luck for Trudeau that Trumps election ended up being such a defining feature of his time in power, forcing the Liberal government into constant defence in its relationship with Canadas most important neighbour and trading partner.

But it hasnt lost any big battles yet, and somehow, remarkably, Canada is currently managing to keep its border closed with the United States for the longest stretch in the history of either country. It has pulled this off through a complicated, constant negotiation in which both nations are repeatedly reviewing whats essential about their relationship.

Again, its not peace in the Middle East, but its not insignificant either. Trump has two kinds of fights he cares about  trade and re-election. Quietly, Canada keeps showing he doesnt win every fight he picks.

Susan Delacourt is an Ottawa-based columnist covering national politics for the Star. Reach her via email: sdelacourt@thestar.ca or follow her on Twitter: @susandelacourt

Read more about:
Hospitalisations in Delhi during third Covid wave significantly lower than second

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Centre approved anti-viral medicines to treat COVID-19 patients: SC

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Sep 16: The Supreme Court on Wednesday said there was an approval by the Central government on use of Remdesivir and Fabiparivir as medicines to treat COVID-19.

The top court was hearing a plea seeking registration of an FIR by the CBI against ten Indian pharmaceutical firms for manufacturing and selling these two medicines for treating COVID-19 patients allegedly without valid licences.

Remdesivir and Favipiravir are antiviral drugs and their efficacy in treating COVID-19 patients have been a matter of debate among medical experts.

Covid-19: Zydus launches India's cheapest version of Remdesivir at Rs 2,800

A bench comprising Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian referred to the New Drugs and Clinical Trials Rules, 2018 and said these medicines have been permitted by the government for using in treatment of novel coronavirus patients.

"You have not noticed this rule (New Drugs and Clinical Trials Rules) and filed this petition. We are adjourning this matter, you see the rules and then come back," the bench told lawyer M Sharma who has filed the PIL.

Adjourning the hearing by two weeks, the bench said, "There is approval by the Government of India for Remdesivir and Fabiparivir".

Seeking CBI probe, Sharma had filed the PIL alleging that these two medicines have been wrongly manufactured and sold for treating COVID-19 patients without any valid licences from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation.

"That respondent no.3 to 10 are Indian pharmaceutical company who have signed partnership agreements with foreign companies that are Gilead Science Inc -USA and Fujifilm Japan, to manufacture and sale impugned drug, Remdesivir and Avagin (Favipiravir) in India. Without having a licence, the are manufacturing and selling impugned drugs as a medicine for corona in India," the PIL alleged.

Sharma has sought prosecution of the Indian companies for offences of cheating and criminal conspiracy besides under the provisions of the Drug Act, 1940.

The PIL said that these medicines have not been certified as medicines for Covid-19 till date by any country.

"They are under trial and no country, including India, have issued licence to manufacture and sale them in the country...," it said.

The companies are manufacturing and selling them at very high rates in India and people are paying that "due to the fear of COVID-19 infection" and are dying, it said.

Over 30 vaccine candidates supported, 3 in advance trials, 4 in advanced pre-clinical stage: Centre

More than 300 doctors have died in hospitals where these two medicines have been supplied and it amounted to "exploitation of public" due to the fear of death.

Remdesivir was introduced by Gilead Science Inc. USA to treat Ebola Virus in Africa but it was not effective to treat Ebola virus as well, it said.

Favipiravir was developed by Fujifilm Toyama Chemical and was actually approved to treat Influenza .

India describes Pakistan as an epicentre of terrorism | Oneindia News

The PIL has made the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation as parties.

It has also made 10 pharmaceutical companies including Cipla Ltd, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd, Hetero Labs Ltd and Zydus Cadila Healthcare Ltd as parties.

Stressing that there were no effective medicines for the pandemic, the plea said, "the Prime Minister have already initiated process with Russia to import COVID-19 vaccine to manufacture/distribute in India through PSU Bharat Immunologicals and Biologicals Corporation Limited (BIBCOL).

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Wednesday, September 16, 2020, 16:48 [IST]
SECU Foundation & Habitat of NC Announce Completion of SECU Habitat Challenge in all 100 North Carolina Counties!

L to R: Richard Forbis-Former HHNC Chair and Jama Campbell-SECU Foundation Executive Director celebrate completion of the SECU Habitat Challenge.

L to R: Richard Forbis-Former HHNC Chair and Jama Campbell-SECU Foundation Executive Director celebrate completion of the SECU Habitat Challenge.

RALEIGH, N.C., Sept. 16, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- It is with tremendous excitement that SECU Foundation and Habitat for Humanity of North Carolina (HHNC) announce the completion of the $11 million SECU Habitat Challenge! The affordable housing project, which started five years ago between SECU Foundation, HHNC and statewide Habitat affiliates turned into an incredible opportunity for the non-profit to build capacity and expand its presence in counties where no Habitat home had ever been built before. It began with a celebratory first closing for a Macon County family in 2015 and concluded with a joyous passing of keys to a Lee County family in the spring of this year.



The Challenge to build one new or renovated home in each of North Carolinas 100 counties resulted in 102 families experiencing the benefits of home ownership through a nearly $11 million commitment by the SECU Foundation. The SECU Habitat Challenge, also known as the Mountains-to-the-Sea Challenge, is a significant milestone in the history of the Habitat organization  with North Carolina the only state in the country to have undertaken a project of this scope. The project helped one deserving family in every county fulfill their dream of owning a safe and affordable home.

Current SECU Foundation Board member and former Board Chair McKinley Wooten, Jr. met with HHNC officials to execute the agreement which set the lofty goals of this venture in 2015. The SECU Habitat Challenge has been an unbelievable project  with this Challenge now come full circle, Mr. Wooten said. The collaboration and dedication of SECU, SECU Foundation, HHNC, local Habitat affiliates and an army of volunteers has made this project successful. An effort of this magnitude does not come without challenges, but collectively we overcame every obstacle with great determination. We are very proud to be part of a project that has truly made a difference in the lives of so many families, and at the same time, expanded the capacity for Habitat for Humanity of NC as they continue their mission for underserved families across the state!

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The realization of this SECU Habitat Challenge goal has been an incredibly important stimulus to affordable housing, especially in some of the rural or economically challenged areas of North Carolina, even exceeding our lofty goal of 100 homes for 100 families! remarked Richard Forbis, former HHNC Board Chair. Habitat North Carolina is so grateful to have received this level of financial support from the SECU Foundation and to have been able to work out such a successful endeavor with Habitat affiliates and SECU across our State. We should all be very proud of what we have accomplished together  the impact of this funding will continue to pay it forward to address future needs for affordable housing.

From the first to the final Habitat home dedication, this project took enormous planning, teamwork, perseverance  driven by a deep desire to help others  in order to bring it to fruition, said SECU Foundation Board Chair Jo Anne Sanford. The transformational impact of this Challenge for Habitat for Humanity of North Carolina and for the 102 families who realized the dream of home ownership will be felt for many years to come. Congratulations to everyone on a tremendous accomplishment!

About SECU and the SECU Foundation

A not-for-profit financial cooperative owned by its members, SECU has been providing employees of the state of North Carolina and their families with consumer financial services for 83 years. The Credit Union also offers a diversified line of financial advisory services including retirement and education planning, tax preparation, insurance, trust and estate planning services, and investments through its partners and affiliated entities. SECU serves over 2.5 million members through 270 branch offices, 1,100 ATMs, 24/7 Member Services via phone, a website, www.ncsecu.org and a Mobile App. Members can also follow and subscribe to SECU on Facebook and YouTube. The SECU Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization funded by the contributions of SECU members, promotes local community development in North Carolina primarily through high impact projects in the areas of housing, education, healthcare and human services. Since 2004, SECU Foundation has made a collective financial commitment of nearly $200 million for initiatives to benefit North Carolinians statewide. In addition to the website, highlights are also available on the SECU Foundation Instagram page.

Contact: Jama Campbell, Executive Director

Office: 919-839-5562 | secufoundation@ncsecu.org

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/cacd69b2-70fe-49d6-8e47-1f5a5bc6cc3c




When a local hotel reached out to a gay couple to use his photo on social media, Andee Chua didnt think too much of it until he saw the flood of comments and reactions Monday.

The hate was expected given Singapores open antagonism toward the LGBT community, but when the rush of positive comments praising both the couple and hotel began to drown them out, it was heartwarming, he told Coconuts Singapore.

Reading the comments, Im not surprised about the harsh ones knowing that we still live in a pretty conservative society with 377A still being around, the 30-year-old model said, referring to Singapores anti-gay sex law. But Im pretty touched by the positive ones  I see the positive ones flooding the comment section and thats pretty heartwarming.

A photo of his March staycation at W Singapore at Sentosa Cove drew more than 3,000 reactions and over 800 comments on the hotels Facebook page mainly because it is so rare for companies in Singapore to overtly acknowledge the LGBT community. Chua said they were celebrating his partner Hugo Lius 33rd birthday in the photo.

And kudos to W for taking the progressive step in posting the picture and having more representations, Chua added.

Asked what the hotel thought of the response, a spokesperson responded obliquely: We are in the business of welcoming all and occasionally feature guests with their permission on our social platforms.

The hotel said the online post was not an advertisement like some people had assumed, but simply a resharing of user-generated content of guests.

The bulk of comments praising the couple and hotel for representing the LGBT community said that they would book a stay there because of the photo.

I booked a staycation just because of this, social media personality Jade Rasif wrote in the comments.

Well done W Singapore  Sentosa Cove what an inspiring and uplifting post! Diversity is the lifeblood of success  so great to see every corner of Singapore represented in these ads, Facebook user Nic Horsfield said.

Story continues

Then there were nasty comments like this one by user Melvin Tai: Is this hotel promoting HIV?

Or indirectly selling the expensive cocktail of HIV drugs? Wish them well.

Since Tai brought up about drugs, this hotel seems to have a very strict policy even when it comes to anything close to looking like narcotics. Staff from the same hotel last year mistook white deodorant powder for drugs and ended up putting its guests behind bars.

Other stories:

Mistaking armpit powder for drugs, Singapore hotel lands Indonesian guest behind bars

Orchard Road eatery busted for sneaking beer in teapot after curfew

This article, Love drowns out the hate after Singapore hotel features gay couple, originally appeared on Coconuts, Asia's leading alternative media company.
Katie Jones for Variety

Growing up, I remember the few Latino shows and media personalities that made an impact in my life and paved the way for my interest in media. For 17 years I worked for Univision and watched how Latinos changed the landscape of TV with the beloved telenovela format.

That's why I'm excited that Eva Longoria Baston will join Latino powerhouses such as Gloria Estefan, George Lopez, Justina Machado, and Edward James Olmos, as they pay tribute to Hispanic achievements in television.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-17 05:21:30|Editor: huaxia

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UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday called for more efforts to address the global fragilities that the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed.

"We must do far more to address the global fragilities that the virus has exposed," the UN chief told journalists at a hybrid press conference held at the UN headquarters in New York.

"Even before the pandemic, the world was veering far off course in efforts to eradicate poverty, achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, and we were losing the battle against climate change," he said, noting that greenhouse gas concentrations reached new record highs in 2020.

"The Northern Hemisphere has just experienced its hottest summer on record," he said.

"The world is burning, and recovery is our chance to get on track and tame the flames," the secretary-general stressed.

Talking about recovery, the UN chief said that it must be aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

"Recovery must be green. Subsidizing fossil fuels and bailing out polluting industries means locking in bad patterns for decades to come," he added.

The secretary-general also underscored that recovery must advance gender equality and requires effective multilateralism as well. Enditem
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Vivek Shandas is a Professor of Climate Adaptation and the Founding Director of the Sustaining Urban Places Research (SUPR) Lab at Portland State University. Professor Shandas specializes in developing strategies to reduce exposure of historically marginalized communities to climate-induced extreme events. He has published over 100 articles, three books, and his research has been featured in the New York Times, National Geographic, Scientific American, and other national and local media. Professor Shandas serves as chair of the City of Portland's Urban Forestry Commission, technical reviewer for Federal and State agencies, and a board member on several non-profit organizations. During his spare time, he revels in the mountains and waters of the Pacific Northwest, and pines for late-night vegan tacos anywhere he can find them.

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The U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement announcing the sanctions that the Chinese company in 2008 acquired a 99-year lease from Cambodias government for the development of the Dara Sakor project covering almost 20% of Cambodias coastline by forming a local company to become the leaseholder. The company later reverted to Chinese ownership, the Treasury Department said.
Businesses are trying to recover during the pandemic while ensuring the safety of their workers and customers, but two obstacles are slowing their progress: access to coronavirus testing and long delays in receiving results.

Some have found a reliable workaround, writes The New York Timess Noam Scheiber:

Through a growing number of intermediaries, they can generally obtain test results within one to three days, often by circumventing large national labs like Quest and LabCorp that have experienced backlogs and relying on unused capacity at smaller labs instead. The intermediaries occupied various corners of the health care galaxy before the pandemic, like offering treatment on behalf of insurance companies or providing employee access to human resources data. Now they are addressing what Rajaie Batniji, an executive at one of the companies, calls a supply-chain optimization failure. The bottleneck in the crudest terms is: Are you routing tests to processing labs that can process it immediately? said Dr. Batniji, a physician and co-founder of Collective Health, which administers health plans for employers and created a separate testing and screening product during the pandemic.

The solution often means turning to labs in areas where the spread of the virus is relatively contained, said Daniel Castillo, the chief medical officer of Matrix Medical Network, which is among the companies connecting businesses with laboratories.

We might send a test across the country  fly it to Maryland from Arizona, Dr. Castillo told Mr. Scheiber.

But costs can add up, and decisions about testing reveal the economics of a business and the value it places on driving down workplace transmission. Businesses for which an outbreak among employees would be extremely costly are generally the most likely to seek out tests.
Kremlin warning comes as Merkel faces calls to halt pipeline bringing gas from Russia to Germany over poisoning attack.

The development of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany should not be linked to the case of Alexey Navalny, the Kremlin said on Wednesday, amid bristling tensions between the two countries.

Berlin said Navalny was poisoned in Russia with a nerve agent, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel has faced calls to halt the nearly complete pipeline bringing Russian gas to Germany in response to the suspected attack.

Speaking to reporters on a conference call, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Nord Stream 2 should not be raised when discussing the Navalny case.

It should stop being mentioned in the context of any politicisation, he said. This is a commercial project that is absolutely in line with the interests of both Russia and European Union countries, and primarily Germany.

Moscow says it has yet to see proof the 44-year-old Kremlin critic was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent, as claimed by laboratories in three European countries.

On Monday, the German government said tests by French and Swedish laboratories backed up its findings.

Navalny was flown to Berlin for treatment at the Charite hospital two days after falling ill on a domestic flight in Russia on August 20.

Peskov reiterated that Russia was hoping to cooperate with Germany on the case but that its efforts to do so have so far been rebuffed.

What happened to the Berlin patient needs  investigation and clarification, Peskov said, referring to Navalny.

To move forward on this investigation and clarify the circumstances, cooperation with Germany is essential, first and foremost. Russia is seeking this cooperation but has not been met with reciprocity.





Led by Russias Gazprom with Western partners, the Nord Stream 2 project, which will double the capacity of the existing Nord Stream 1 pipeline from Russia to Germany, is more than 90 percent complete and scheduled to operate from early 2021.

In a sign that Russia is determined to press on with the project, a Gazprom vessel has departed St Petersburg for Mukran, the pipelines supply base in Germany, ship tracking data showed on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Navalny posted a photograph on Instagram of himself sitting up in his Berlin hospital bed. He said he could now breathe independently after having been in a coma following his poisoning.

The United States and many European countries oppose the pipeline, which they have said will increase Europes reliance on Russian gas and deprive transit states such as Poland and Ukraine of leverage over the giant country to their east.

The US, rich in domestic energy as a result of soaring shale gas production, is also eager to expand its exports, including to Germany, whose industrial might is heavily dependent on imports, mainly from Russia.
Kolesnikova is currently in jail in Minsk after ripping up her passport to thwart an attempt to expel her to Ukraine.

Belarus investigators have officially charged a protest leader with incitement to undermine national security, the Investigative Committee said in a statement on Wednesday.

Kolesnikova was charged with calling for actions aimed at undermining Belarusian national security using the media and the internet, the committee said.

Kolesnikova, 38, is currently in jail in Minsk after ripping up her own passport last week to thwart an attempt to expel her to Ukraine.

A member of an opposition coordination council, she was the last of three female politicians left in Belarus who joined forces before an August 9 presidential election to try to challenge President Alexander Lukashenko.

A vocal critic of Lukashenko, she played an important role in weeks of mass demonstrations and strikes by protesters who accuse Lukashenko of rigging his re-election.

Lukashenko, who has been in power for the last 26 years, denies that allegation and has accused foreign powers of trying to topple him in a revolution. He has responded with a crackdown which some of those detained say includes torture and beatings.

While Europe has said it does not recognise Lukashenko as the legitimate leader of Belarus, Russia has supported its ally.

On Monday, Russia agreed to a $1.5bn loan with Minsk, President Vladimir Putin said, adding that the Belarusian people should resolve the crisis without foreign interference.

Putin, in comments broadcast on television from talks alongside Lukashenko in Russias Sochi, said he thought a proposal by the Belarusian strongman to carry out constitutional reform was logical and timely.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 17:44:50|Editor: huaxia

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SUVA, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Fijian police officers will access counselling services in an effort to assist in improving service delivery around Fiji.

According to Fiji Broadcasting Corporation (FBC), Acting Police Commissioner Rusiate Tudravu said Wednesday that counselling was needed as disciplinary issues and work pressure has at times hampered the performance of Fijian police officers.

In order to deal with these issues, the Fiji Police Force and Medical Service Pacific (MSP) will work together to provide counselling services to police officers, he said, adding that this partnership will also assist police officers who are dealing with victims of gender-based violence, child abuse and sexual crimes.

Tudravu said there have been complaints in the past that these victims do not receive proper treatment from police officers.

The MSP is committed to rights-based and voluntary family planning and works to ensure Pacific women and adolescents have access to quality and professional health services, particularly reproductive health and maternal and child health services. The MSP works to raise the status of women and seeks to end Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) and provides clinical services to respond to sexual assault.

According to Fiji's Child Welfare Act national database, Fiji reported a total of 122 child abuse cases in February, 97 cases in March and 90 cases in April.

Shairana Ali, chief executive of Fiji's Save the Children, said the rise in the number of child abuse cases in Fiji is triggering concern in the community level.

In recent years, child abuse cases have sky-rocketed in the island nation. More than 1,300 cases of child abuse were reported last year, a 22-percent increase compared to 838 cases recorded in 2018, also the highest reported since 2016. Enditem
The investigation has so far failed to identify the person who ordered the hit.

Wednesday, September 16, marks the 20th anniversary of the murder of journalist and founder of the Ukrayinska Pravda online outlet Georgiy Gongadze.

Despite the fact that the perpetrators have been convicted, the investigation has not identified the person who ordered the hit.

Read alsoGongadze murder case file doctored, lawyer claimsFamily and friends of the slain journalist, therefore, have some questions unanswered.

Gongadze murder: main facts
GEORGETOWN  People in Georgetown County need to keep wearing masks when they go into most retail stores and restaurants, at least for the next two months.

During their regular meeting on Sept. 8, Georgetown County Council members voted 6-1 to renew the emergency ordinance that requires masks.

As I take my face covering off in order to talk in the microphone, I am encouraging another 60 days, said Wesley Bryant, the countys attorney.

He said the provisions of the ordinance are the same as the previous version, with the addition of some additional language from DHEC.

Everyone over the age of 10 is required to wear a face covering or mask in retail establishments, as well as people preparing food.

There are exemptions for people who cannot wear face coverings for religious or health reasons, Bryant said.

I would like to add what I said in our emergency meeting (Sept. 2), DHEC has reported that areas of the state with a mask ordinance in effect have seen a decrease, Chairman John Thomas said. Those who dont have a mask ordinance, (cases) have increased.

The 60-day extension will continue until Oct. 27, which is the date of a scheduled Georgetown County Council meeting.

Possible pay increase

Back in early October 2019, Georgetown County Council gave first reading to an ordinance that would raise the base salaries of elected officials, other than themselves. At the second meeting that month, members voted to defer the proposed ordinance. Thats where the measure sat for each agenda since then, until the Sept. 8 meeting.

There wasnt a lot of discussion on the proposal, but members narrowly approved second reading by a 4-3 vote. An ordinance requires three readings before it gains final approval.

The ordinance that would increase base salaries came about after the death of former Sheriff Lane Cribb in September 2019.

Bryant said the ordinance would not change any existing salaries of current office-holders.

Base salaries stay the same for elected officials, but some offices also are provided a stipend or supplement from the state budget. In addition, a person such as Cribb, who was first elected sheriff in 1992, would have his salary increased when there are general, across-the-board increases such as longevity or cost of living adjustments.

As an example, Bryant said, the new auditor and new treasurer will take office on July 1, 2021. If the ordinance is approved, the new officials would be paid at the new base salary rate.

People elect officials, Bryant said. Their pay is not necessarily based on their education or background. You are paying for a position. You do have to make it competitive.

A long-time elected official would have tenure and the various increases that may have occurred over time. Without an adjustment to the base salary, a newly-elected officials pay could be much lower.

Bryant said the figures in the ordinance and the language are fluid. Its up for amendment if Council members so choose.

Within the agenda packet, it states: Council desires to update the base salaries listed herein to account for previous cost of living increases, evolved responsibilities, and to establish the salaries as analogous to those employees serving in positions that are not elected who share comparable responsibilities and duties.

The proposed base salaries would be:

County Council Chairman: $19,433

County Council Member (6): $15,947

Auditor: $52,715

Treasurer: $55,657

Coroner: $53,733

Clerk of Court: $100,391

Sheriff: $109,155

The stated amounts are not changed for the chairman and other members of County Council. The ordinance also says that Base salaries of the Probate Court Judge, newly appointed Magistrates, and/or a newly appointed Master-In-Equity continue to be set by the State of South Carolina.

If the ordinance is approved, the base salary increases would take effect on January 1, 2021.

When Thomas asked for a motion on the ordinance, no one else spoke so he moved for approval. Raymond Newton seconded the motion. Second reading was approved on a 4-3 vote.

Yes votes came from Thomas, Newton, Lillie Jean Johnson and Steve Goggans. No votes were cast by Ron Charlton, Louis Morant and Everett Carolina.

Third and final reading of the ordinance will be on the agenda for the Georgetown County Council meeting on Sept. 22.
A 14-year-old girl who allegedly brutally murdered her cousin, 10, on a rural farm will remain behind bars for at least another two weeks.

The 10-year-old was staying with her uncle and aunt on a farm in Gunnedah, in north-west New South Wales, on July 8 when she was allegedly stabbed to death in a crime that shocked the nation.

The case was so horrific that a court banned details of it or the names of the victim or accused from being published in the media.

The teenager was arrested shortly after in a neighbouring property after her mother found her bloodied niece.

At Tamworths Children Court on Wednesday, Magistrate Julie Soars adjourned the case and ordered prosecutors to serve evidence to the girls lawyers by September 28, The Daily Telegraph reported.

The young girl was staying with her uncle and aunt for the school holidays when she was killed (Pictured are officers at the scene in the days after the tragedy)

Police and state emergency service volunteers meticulously searched paddocks and fields for what is believed to be the alleged murder weapon

The girl, who did not apply for bail, will return to court for a committal mention on September 30.

The case will then be handled by a higher court due to the seriousness of the charges.

It was just before 6.30am on Wednesday, July 8, when the older girl's mother walked into their room to check on them before going out to begin work on the farm.

When she returned just half-an-hour later she found her niece horrifically killed and her own daughter vanished.

Dazed and confused, the alleged teenage killer had walked three kilometres across a wheat field with the sharp weapon allegedly still in her hand.

The young victim had gone to stay with relatives on the farm for the school holidays.

While the details of the case and the gruesome manner in which the young girl died can not be published by the media, the incident has been the talk of the small town of Gunnedah.

So serious was the alleged murder that the first police officer on the scene has taken leave after being severely disturbed by what confronted him at the property.

The alleged victim's father has since shared a touching tribute tattoo to his daughter, telling friends in a Facebook post how her drawing was an eerie metaphor for her life.

'Cherry blossom tattoos are a metaphor for the transience of life because they do not live for very long,' the father wrote.

'Japanese cherry blossoms also mean strong luck and good fortune.

The girl's father said the drawing of a cherry blossom tree was a metaphor for her life as they 'do not live for very long' but are a symbol of 'strong luck and good fortune'

The father of a 10-year-old girl (pictured) allegedly killed by her cousin on a farm at Gunnedah, in NSW, has tattooed one of her final drawings on his arm, in a touching tribute to his daughter

'They are considered to be omens of good things to come. The blossoms serve as emblems for affection and love.'

Tributes to his daughter have flooded the grieving father's Facebook in the months since her death.

Among them were photos of the talented young artist next to more of her drawings.

'So clever and beautiful fly high my angel,' the proud father wrote.

Just days before the incident, the alleged teenage killer had been suspended from her local high school for throwing scissors at a classmate.

The alleged murder rattled the sleepy country town of around 10,000 people, known best for being the hometown of supermodels Miranda Kerr and Erica Packer.

Police spent days combing the nearby wheat and cotton paddocks for clues as they try to answer the many questions remaining about the incident.

A close neighbour a few paddocks down the road was shocked the little girl he remembered playing in the grass was accused of a heinous crime.

Gunnedah, known best for being the hometown of supermodel Miranda Kerr, is about an hour west of Tamworth and 450km from Sydney

'I used to see her and her sister running around the paddock, playing, or with her parents at cattle market,' he said.

'She was always very polite and happy, I never had any qualms with her. How does this happen?'

The deceased girl is from Orange, a town west of Sydney past the Blue Mountains, and also from a locally prominent family.

Police have refused to give details of the girl's injuries except that that were substantial, and the court has suppressed such information anyway.

A post mortem examination was carried out earlier this month and should provide police with more clues about how the alleged murder unfolded.
Lay's recently selected a San Antonio woman who "actively spreads joy" to be featured on one of its potato chip bags.

The Plano-based company announced in a news release on Monday the members of its third-annual "Smile with Lay's" campaign in which Lay's converts millions of potato chip bags to feature smiles from 30 who are doing extraordinary things for their communities.

Mona Patel, who is the founder of the San Antonio Amputee Foundation, will showcase the bottom half of her face and her smile on the Flamin' Hot Dill Pickle bag. In 1997, Patel started San Antonio's first amputee support group after experiencing a loss of her own, according to her website.

READ ALSO: San Antonio apartments are among the smallest in Texas, study says

Past news articles on Patel report that she opted to have her right leg amputated below the knee after she was struck by a drunken driver when she was a 17-year-old student at California Polytechnic State University.

In her description in the release from Lay's, the company describes Patel as someone who helps better the lives of amputees, writing that she campaigns for better prosthetic insurance coverage and led a climb up Mount Kilimanjaro. Lay's said in its release it selects people who "actively spread joy" in their communities to be featured on its bags.

The "Smile with Lay's" campaign provides up to $1 million in proceeds benefiting Operation Smile  a nonprofit organization that provides safe surgeries for those born with cleft lip, cleft palate or other facial differences.

In its 2020 launch, Lay's brings back three fan-favorite and limited-time-only potato chip flavors: Lay's Fried Pickles with Ranch, Lay's Hot Sauce (in partnership with Franks RedHot) and Lay's Kettle Cooked Beer Cheese.

The bags are available nationwide while supplies last. Click here to learn about the Lay's campaign.

Priscilla Aguirre is a general assignment reporter for MySA.com | priscilla.aguirre@express-news.net | @CillaAguirre
BOSTON and LONDON, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Signifier Medical Technologies ("Signifier"), an innovator in the sleep disordered breathing market, today announced it has closed a circa $10M Series C funding round led by Alan Howard, VC investor and co-founder of Brevan Howard. The proceeds from this latest successful fundraising will allow Signifier to invest further in its innovative and non-invasive solutions for patients with sleep disordered breathing conditions.

The financing round also included participation from James Blair, a career healthcare venture capitalist and Partner/Co-founder of Domain Associates as an additional new investor in Signifier. Existing investors participating in the round included The Pritzker Organization and Signifier's Chairman Kieran Gallahue, former CEO of both CareFusion, Inc. and Resmed Inc.

Alan Howard commented: "I look for companies that are addressing extensive market opportunities, are rapidly growing, and have experienced leadership teams. I strongly believe Signifier is one of those companies, and I am pleased to support its transformational innovation to address sleep and breathing disorders and chronic care management."

Joseph Gleberman, Managing Director of The Pritzker Organization, added: "We are pleased to continue supporting Signifier's breakthrough technology for treating both chronic snoring and obstructive sleep apnea."

James Blair noted: "I am delighted to become an investor in Signifier, which is combining the tools of information technology with the knowledge of leading physicians to improve the daily lives of millions of people suffering from sleep disordered breathing both conveniently and inexpensively."

Signifier is continuing to build its operations and infrastructure in preparation for global commercialization of its eXciteOSA device for mild sleep apnea, while expanding commercialization of its Snoozeal device for primary snoring.

Akhil Tripathi, CEO and co-founder of Signifier Medical added "I am delighted to have attracted such prominent and well-known investors in our latest financing round. Our non-invasive tongue muscle-neurostimulation devices are the first and only technologies being developed to solve the conditions of mild sleep apnea and snoring and make a real impact on the lives of millions of people worldwide. We recently announced the appointments of Philip Hess, former President and CEO of Bose Corporation, as Chief Operating Officer based in Boston, US, as well as Matt Sharris as Vice President of Sales in the North American market and Steve Saunders as Head of Sales in EMEA. With the addition of this latest financing round we are well prepared to accelerate the commercial phase of our development."

For more information, please contact:



Signifier Medical

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +44 (0)20 7096 0586



Citigate Dewe Rogerson

Frazer Hall/Mark Swallow

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +44 (0)20 7638 9571

About Signifier Medical Technologies

Signifier Medical Technologies is a medical technology company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative and non-invasive solutions for patients with snoring and sleep disordered breathing conditions.

Signifier's proprietary therapy is the first and only daytime genioglossal (tongue) muscle-neurostimulation technology for snoring and mild obstructive sleep apnea, supported by clinical data from prestigious and well-recognized universities and academic institutions, that provides a safe and effective treatment for its patients.1-3

For more information, please visit www.signifiermedical.com.

About Snoring and OSA

Nearly 1 billion adults aged 30 to 69 years are estimated to have obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) globally. There is a strong, clinically proven link between OSA and co-morbidities like diabetes, hypertension, and strokes. Mild OSA affects over 110 million people in the US and 100 million people in Europe.

Obstructive sleep apnea is marked by the recurring collapse of the upper airways during sleep. The most common symptoms are restless sleep, snoring, tiredness during the day, decreased intellectual alertness, and personality alterations. Higher risks of cardiovascular diseases and increased mortality rates have been associated with OSA.

Standard therapy of all advanced levels of sleep apnea is with a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) device. Many patients find this therapy invasive, and the long-term compliance of CPAP therapy is limited, so there is a clear demand for new forms of treatment.

References

1. Wessolleck E, Bernd E, Dockter S, et al. Intraoral electrical muscle stimulation in the treatment of snoring. Somnologie (Berl). 2018; 22 (Suppl 2): 4752.

2. Sama A, et al. Daytime Intraoral Neurostimulation with Snoozeal for Treatment of Snoring and Mild Sleep Apnea. CHEST Annual Meeting Notes. 2018.

3. Clinical study of 115 patients with snoring or mild OSA (Apnea-Hypopnea Index (AHI<15)). Objective snoring and respiratory parameters were recorded with 2 consecutive WatchPat night sleep studies before and after the use of the device. An intra-oral tongue stimulator device was used for 20mins, once a day for a 6-week period.

SOURCE Signifier Medical Technologies
Would you prefer the next Broncos ownership group include John Elway or Peyton Manning?

You voted:
As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster, Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) muses near the start of Goodfellas, and in the fall of 1990, when that film was released, it seemed that every filmmaker of note wanted to make a gangster movie. Martin Scorseses Goodfellas led the way that September, with Phil Joanous State of Grace and Abel Ferraras King of New York opening later that month. The Coen brothers Millers Crossing followed in October. And in December came what was expected to be the biggest title of them all: The Godfather Part III, the long-awaited follow-up to the Francis Ford Coppola films that most audiences considered the gold standard of gangster pictures.

Such a wave of similarly minded movies hadnt been seen since the glut of rip-offs that followed the release of the original Godfather. The torturous time and effort required of any major production made their rollouts more coincidental than coordinated, though it seems safe to surmise that studios were hoping to ride the wave of interest in Godfather III. Yet that film, the most hotly anticipated and (initially) the most financially successful, was the least enthusiastically received  and left the smallest cultural footprint.

Instead, the other gangster movies of that fateful fall 30 years ago would prove far more influential: they combined to draw a map of the routes the crime movie, and movies in general, would take in the coming decade.
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - Five European countries urged UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday to appoint a Special Envoy to Libya "as soon as possible" after the adoption of a Security Council resolution extending the mandate of the United Nations Mission of Support in Libya (UNSMIL) until 15 September 2021
Two farming families from the Conwy Valley in Wales have gone into a partnership to run as a single state-of-the art dairy business.

The families decided to join together for a better work-life balance, more stock, less pressure and the prospect of new opportunities.

Young farmer Emyr Owen, 30, from Bodrach, near Pandy Tudur, farms in partnership with his parents on a 185-acre former beef and sheep farm.

He joined up with his next door neighbour Gwydion Jones, 38, whose family formerly farmed a herd of 150 dairy cattle at the neighbouring 95-acre Tyn Ffynnon farm.

They combined forces in a new joint venture business partnership thanks to the Welsh government's Farming Connect Venture programme.

Emyr and Gwydion are Aberystwyth University agriculture graduates. They were determined to expand their original family businesses in order to maximise the potential to produce milk off grass whilst also enabling their respective parents to take a step back.

Emyr has a contract agreement to manage a local farm and realised he could not farm both places without continued support from his parents who hoped to take a step back.

Gwydion has been able to bring in additional members of staff, freeing up more of his time and improving his work life balance. He says the support from the Venture programme was invaluable.

The combination of having a sound business plan and legal agreement together with Emyr and I having a clear vision of what we want to achieve, mutual respect for each other and the determination to safeguard the future of our family farms, has given us a great basis for moving forward.

Although the two farms were being run very efficiently, both families recognised we had taken them as far as we could and agreed it was essential to plan ahead for the longer-term sustainability of both, says Emyr.

At the end of 2018, they contacted their local Venture officer, Gwydion Owen, who helped support the families throughout the joint venture process.

They received funded business and legal support through Venture, and the two businesses were able to set up a new limited company, a trading arm, Llaeth Bod-Ffynnon Cyf.

Armed with a business plan provided by approved Farming Connect consultant, Geraint Jones of Kite Consulting, the two families formally joined forces, were able to approach the bank and receive the loan needed to create their new dairy infrastructure and increase stock numbers.

This was quickly followed by a legal agreement drawn up by Elin Owen of Agri Advisor Legal LLP.

Emyrs family sold all their beef and sheep in order to purchase dairy heifers and focus entirely on the new dairy enterprise.

For Gwydion and his family, this was an opportunity to increase the size of their original spring calving New Zealand herd from 150 through the purchase of 300 bought-in dairy heifers which are now owned equally by both families.

A new rotary milking parlour and suitable tracks were built at the yard at Bodrach which was centrally located between the two farms with a new water supply installed on both farms.

The new milking infrastructure has the capacity to milk 450 cows twice daily, producing up to 5,000L of milk annually, sold on contract to Arla.

Gwydion has been able to bring in additional members of staff, freeing up more of his time and improving his work life balance.

A clear vision of what we want to achieve, mutual respect for each other and the determination to safeguard the future of our family farms, has given us a great basis for moving forward, he said.

Gwydion added that the support from the Farming Connect's Venture programme was invaluable.
An artistic piece depicting local history is in a location more appropriate than where it sat unappreciated for a number of years.

A statue, encased in a transparent case and barricaded by a fence at Merritt Park, was moved last October from the Dain Avenue property of closed steel producer Lakeside Steel, which later became Energex Tube in 2012 before it shut down permanently more than five years ago.

Crafted by former Lakeside Steel employee Neil Bilbe, the display illustrates two men exchanging tools.

Claire Masswohl, a local resident who heard about the statue sitting on the abandoned site, contacted the city last June to find a new home for the piece.

It was created by Bilbe in 2009 to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of Wellands steel industry taking off, she said, adding that it is meant to symbolize the co-operation between management and workers to create a quality product.

When Masswohl learned about the statue collecting dust at the former steel producer property, she knew Merritt Park would be the best fit.

I said theyre fabulous and need to be with all the other workers monuments, she said.

It just fit, and its a beautiful piece, she added.

The structure is made from steel and has been touched up with paverpol, a fabric hardener applied to the clothes on the two men.

Rankin Construction donated time and staff to relocate the statue, and also poured the concrete pad it sits on at no charge to the effort.

Niagara Glass took down the glass case and reassembled it at Merritt Park, which sits along the recreational canal.

Members of a coffee-breakfast group that meets regularly paid out of their own pockets for bronze plaques to be made and placed at the site about two weeks ago, said Masswohl.

A time capsule planted in 2009 that wont be cracked open until 2109 has also been moved to Merritt Park.

RELATED STORIES Niagara Region Welland council approves heritage designation for mural on museum, canal monument

A ceremony that will share stories about the steel industry and expected to be attended by members of the Bilbe Family is scheduled for Oct. 2 at 11 a.m., said Masswohl.

A short distance to the north at the park is the home of the Welland Canal Memorial Monument, built to commemorate the people of Canada and around the world who came to Niagara to build the canal.

It was unveiled in 2001 and given a heritage designation under the Ontario Heritage Act in 2018 following a request made by city council.

Merritt Park, on the west side of King Street, sits across from Welland Museum, where the north wall of the building is covered with a canal construction mural.
Having put up with an unfortunate development near Rezang-La-Rechen heights in Ladakh, China is now racking up its troops deployment at at least four positions across the border in Northeast Indias Arunachal Pradesh.

Troops building-up spotted in the Chinese territory opposite Arunachal Pradeshs Asaphila Tuting axis, Chang Tze and Fishtail-2 sectors, whiich is almost 20 km from the Indian territory, according to India Today.

As stated by sources, it is likely that China may seek to execute more intrusions in these areas and seize some dormant lications. They stated that the Indian army are in every respect ready to impede such attempts and the forces have reinforced their strength accordingly.

As per sources, the movement of Chinese troops in their depth areas has been noticed in the past few days making use of roads built by them in the area. Taking a look at the Chinese activities in the area, the Indian side has also intensified its positions on the LAC.

The Chinese Army patrols have also been seen on a regular basis and are coming very near to areas belonging to India, sources said. They said the country's top security brass has also held dialogues regarding the state of affairs in and around the Doklam area where the Chinese army has built up significantly in the recent past.

A few year ago, India and China were engaged in a major stand-off in the Doklam plateau area where the Chinese were building roads on Bhutanese soil up to the Jhamphiri ridge, threatening Indian positions in the Siliguri corridor.

Couple of years back, India and China had been embroiled in a major stand-off in the Doklam plateau area where the Chinese were constructing roads up to the Jhamphiri ridge, threatening Indian positions in the Siliguri corridor.

Not long ago, Indian army occupied heights overlooking the Chinese positions at Finger 4 along the Pangong Tso lake in eastern Ladakh and the heights near Spangur gap on southern bank of the lake.

These operations were held as pre-emptive actions to hold heights near the southern bank of Pangong Lake around August end. The actions by the Indian army shook the Chinese who then turned to firing in the air, which marked the first reported firing incident on the LAC in the last 45 years.

Also Read: Amid tensions at LAC, Indian Army prepares for chilly winter in Ladakh
Iran: Measures to normalize ties with Zionist Regime strategic mistake

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, Sept 15, IRNA -- Iranian Government Spokesman Ali Rabiei on Tuesday said that any step taken to formally normalize relations with the Zionist Regime is regarded as a strategic mistake.

In reaction to the attempts of some Arab states to normalize relations with the child-killing regime of Israel, Rabiei added that Iran warns against any insecurity created by the Zionist regime in the Persian Gulf.

The responsibility for all the consequences of the action falls on the Bahraini government and any government that has compromised, he underlined.

Iran considers the Zionist regime's interference in the region as a threat, Rabiei said, adding that the states taking steps in the path must take full responsibility for the consequences.

The oppressed people of Palestine and Muslims who have lived with the Palestinian cause will not admit any normalization of relations, he underscored.

The Government Spokesman reiterated that this is a fundamental mistake made under the US pressure and not for the benefit of the people residing in the region, but in favor of the campaign of US President Donald Trump.

7129**2050

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Waitrose has revealed plans to close four of its supermarkets, with the loss of 124 jobs - but one will be reborn as a Tesco.

The grocery chain said it will shut its Caldicot, Ipswich Corn Exchange and Shrewsbury sites, and sell its Wolverhampton store to rival Tesco.

It said it made the decision to shut the branches after it struggled to make them 'profitable in the long-term' after a period of 'challenging trading'.

The Caldicot, Ipswich and Shrewsbury stores will close on December 6.

Three Waitrose stores will be shut while one will be sold on, together with staff, to Tesco

Waitrose said 124 staff at the three stores will face redundancy and will now enter into consultations.

Meanwhile, all 140 staff at the Wolverhampton store, which will shut on December 31, will be transferred to Tesco as part of the sale.

The announcement comes a day before parent firm John Lewis's latest update on the state of their business after they suffered during the coronavirus pandemic.

Waitrose had been a bright spot of the business but its split with Ocado and the subsequent costs of setting up its own distribution have had an effect.

Increased staff overheads during lockdown due to the huge demand have also taken their toll.

The latest closures mean 19 Waitrose shops have closed in the past 18 months.

The closures are part of an ongoing review of the Waitrose store estate which started in 2017.

Wolverhampton's Waitrose (pictured) will be closed but its staff taken on by Tesco

Berangere Michel, executive director of customer service for the John Lewis Partnership, said: 'Closing any of our shops is always a last resort and is not a reflection on the dedication of our partners in Caldicot, Ipswich Corn Exchange, Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton.

'Sadly, we have not been able to find a way to make these shops profitable in the long-term, despite the hard work of everyone involved.

'Our priority now is the wellbeing and future of our partners in these shops.

Berangere Michel, executive director of customer service, said moves were 'last resort'

'We will do everything we can to support them and explore opportunities wherever possible for those who may wish to remain with the partnership.'

Parent business John Lewis Partnership had said in July that it could close more of the supermarket arm's outlets as part of cost-saving measures.

The group previously announced the closure of eight John Lewis retail sites, which put 1,300 jobs at risk, as part of its turnaround efforts.

Waitrose is expected to reveal higher sales after being boosted by demand for groceries and online deliveries in the face of the pandemic.
NEW DELHI: In a major step aimed at making the policing system more transparent and sensitive, the Supreme Court has directed the chief secretaries of all states and Union Territories to provide data about the installation of CCTV cameras in each and every police station.

The top court, while passing the order, said that it is an important step as it involves the fundamental rights of citizens.

The Supreme Court had last month sought the assistance of Attorney General KK Venugopal in apprising it of the progress made in installation of CCTV cameras across all police stations in the country and audio-video recording of statements made before the police officers.

Recalling the courts orders passed in 2018, a bench, headed by Justice Rohinton F Nariman, had asked the Centre to file a detailed affidavit in this regard by September 7 so that the status of the compliance could be known.

Live TV

The Union of India to file its affidavit in reply not later than 07th September, 2020. We request KK Venugopal, learned Attorney General of India, not only to appear on behalf of the Union of India but also to assist us in this case, the top court order said.

The court passed this ruling while responding to an appeal by Punjab DSP Paramvir Singh Saini, who has been booked in a criminal case for alleged illegal detention of two men in the police station for five days, and torturing them in connection with a murder case.

In November 2016, the Punjab and Haryana High Court order had ordered registration of an FIR against Saini and five other policemen under various charges of the Indian Penal Code.

During the proceedings, the bench turned its focus on the root of the problem and use of technology, as was envisaged under its 2018 judgment, to unravel the truth in such cases.

It noted that the 2018 judgment favoured bringing all police stations under the surveillance of the CCTV cameras to check human rights abuses.

For this purpose, all states were required to constitute independent committees that could study CCTV camera footages and periodically publish reports of its observations.

Further, the apex court asked the Central government to set up a Central Oversight Body (COB) and provide necessary funds so that it could issue necessary directions to states and union territories to facilitate videography of the crime scenes and compliance with other directions of the apex court.

The bench, which also included Justice Navin Sinha, sought to know about whether there was any headway made in audio-video recording statements of complainants and witnesses before the police, as well as about the installation of CCTV cameras in police stations.

In 2015, a Supreme Court bench had asked the Centre and state governments to install CCTV cameras in all police stations and prisons in a bid to curb the cases of custodial tortures.

A bench of then Justices T S Thakur and R Banumathi had ruled that police lock-ups and interrogation rooms shall be installed with CCTV cameras.

(With Agency inputs)
the Department of Homeland Security flag flies outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) headquarters in Washington, DC ((AFP))

Democratic representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has said that the US needs to atone for human rights violations, in response to allegations of abuse against migrants from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) whistleblower.

On Monday, Dawn Wooten, a nurse at the Irwin County Detention Centre (ICDC) in Georgia, filed a complaint alongside advocacy groups including, Project South, to the Office of the inspector general (OIG) at the Department of Homeland Security, according to Law and Crime.

In the complaint, Ms Wooten claimed that there was jarring medical neglect at the facility, and said that several Spanish-speaking women had come forward to Project South to report what they felt was an excessive amount of female detainees forced into having hysterectomies, which involves removing part of or all of the uterus, according to the BBC.

Recently, a detained immigrant told Project South that she talked to five different women detained at ICDC between October and December 2019 who had a hysterectomy done, the complaint read.

When she (Ms Wooten) talked to them about the surgery, the women reacted confused when explaining why they had one done. The woman told Project South that it was as though the women were trying to tell themselves 'its going to be OK.

Speaking about the detainees confusion around the surgery, Ms Wooten wrote in the complaint: When I met all these women who had had surgeries, I thought this was like an experimental concentration camp. It was like theyre experimenting with our bodies.

The complaint also noted that officials at the detention facility had refused to test detainees for Covid-19, who have been exposed to the virus and are symptomatic, and accused them of shredding medical requests submitted by detained immigrants, and fabricating medical records.

Responding to the report on Twitter, Ms Ocasio-Cortez wrote: The fact of the matter is the United States has engaged in a program of mass human rights violations targeting immigrants.

Story continues

The fact of the matter is the United States has engaged in a program of mass human rights violations targeting immigrants.



This includes mass child separation, systemic sexual assault of people in detention, kangaroo-court procedures, & more.



Our country must atone for it all. https://t.co/KaacDaww5t  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) September 15, 2020

This includes mass child separation, systemic sexual assault of people in detention, kangaroo-court procedures, & more. Our country must atone for it all.

Democratic senator Ed Markey tweeted: Abolish ICE in reference to the report, while Democratic representative Mark Pocan wrote: This is horrifying. Forced sterilizations are eugenics & a human rights abuse that must be fully investigated immediately.

In the complaint, Azadeh Shahshahani, an attorney with Project South, called for an immediate investigation into the allegations of abuse.

For years, advocates in Georgia have raised red flags about the human rights violations occurring inside the Irwin County Detention Centre, she said.

Ms Wooten's whistleblowing disclosures confirm what detained immigrants have been reporting for years, Ms Shahshahani added.

In response to the allegations, ICE shared a statement with Law and Crime, where the agency wrote: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) does not comment on matters presented to the Office of the inspector general, which provides independent oversight and accountability within the US Department of Homeland Security.

The agency added: ICE takes all allegations seriously and defers to the OIG regarding any potential investigation and/or results.

That said, in general, anonymous, unproven allegations, made without any fact-checkable specifics, should be treated with the appropriate scepticism they deserve.

Read more

Muslim ICE detainees forced to choose between pork or expired halal meals

Fiona Apple says ICE agents must have failed the f***ing psych test to be a police officer
Hennessys "A World Odyssey" Presents A Daytime Explosion Event by Artist Cai Guo-Qiang

Livestreamed from Cognac to audiences worldwide, the artist's The Birth of Tragedy honors the universal values of resilience, courage and hope



PARIS, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Cai Guo-Qiang is one of the most admired artists on the contemporary art scene. In addition to his largescale, site-specific installations, Cai is particularly renowned for his unique use of gunpowder and fireworks as an artistic medium to stage spectacular public events of intense emotional resonance, as he did for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. This fall, Hennessy invites Cai Guo-Qiang to create a daytime explosion event to be held on the Charente in Cognac, France, on Friday, September 25th at 3 PM CET.



This impassioned fireworks display was designed as an uplifting event amid the unprecedented context of a pandemic. Inspired by Nietzsche's "The Birth of Tragedy," Cai Guo-Qiang composed a 15-minute fireworks event in three acts to honor the eternal cycle of creation and destruction and the human spirit that, while acknowledging pain, nonetheless embraces and rejoices in life, in harmony with nature. Like a theatrical performance, this artistic odyssey promises to explode with drama, poetry, color and emotion, with multicolored fireworks launched from 150 oak barrels floating on the Charente River that echo Hennessy X.O's 150th anniversary. In a first for the Maison, "World Odyssey" will be unveiled internationally via livestream. For the artist, this project represents the first time he has conceived a daytime explosion event launched from an aquatic environment, to be broadcast to a global, real-time audience.



"In these unprecedented times, what has become particularly clear is that we are one interconnected family," says Hennessy president and CEO Laurent Boillot. "At Hennessy, our roots run deep thanks to longstanding relationships reaching back generations. Today, from his base in New York City, Cai Guo-Qiang reminds us of those time-honored bonds with a masterpiece of universal beauty and resonance. On behalf of the Maison Hennessy, it is not only an honor and a privilege to host this artistic event, it is a demonstration of our steadfast commitment to our extended international family. A century and a half after the Hennessy X.O saga began, Cai offers an artistic vision of an Odyssey forged by unity, resilience and hope. In the exceptional context of 2020, those values guide us, reminding us how far we've come, and how far we can still travel together. From our vantage point in Cognac, where fireworks from the East - Liuyang county in China - blooms in the sky overlooking the Charente, Hennessy and Cai are proud to welcome one and all to participate in an artistic event that honors generosity of spirit and looks to new horizons with renewed courage."



Says Cai Guo-Qiang, "We are now entering a new chapter of humankind's strenuous odyssey. The signal from Cognac, travelling through cloud infrastructure, connects individuals from different parts of the world, enabling primeval passion to burst and form a community of shared future that is closely bonded with nature and art. While the fireworks express my contemplation on tragedy, art, and the essence of life, I hope the audience will draw inspiration from the fireworks in order to reconcile with nature and find the power to heal."



The event is yet another instant of the energy, persistence and hope demonstrated by Maison Hennessy this year in an effort to support its communities in Cognac and internationally. "World Odyssey" carries a dual message from the illustrious cognac maker and the artist, one of consolation to those affected by the pandemic, and of confidence in the future that will be livestreamed across digital platforms including Hennessy.com, WeChat, Tencent, Facebook, and YouTube.



Cai Guo-Qiang's daytime explosion event will be staged using exclusively non-toxic, reduced-smoke, CE-certified pyrotechnic products.



To learn more and view the livestream, visit Hennessy.com/en-int/stories/cai-guo-qiang-live-event



ABOUT CAI GUO-QIANG

The recipient of numerous international art awards, including the Medal of Arts from the State Department (Washington DC), the 24th Praemium Imperiale Lifetime Achievement in the Arts (Tokyo), and the Fondation Cartier award (Paris), Cai served as the Director of Visual and Special Effects for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, for which he staged remarkable opening and closing ceremony events. A native of Quanzhou, China, Cai currently lives and works in New York. His personal story, inspirations and projects are the subject of the acclaimed Netflix documentary Sky Ladder (2016) by Academy Award-winning director Kevin Macdonald. This event in partnership with the Maison Hennessy marks his first collaboration with a luxury brand.



ABOUT HENNESSY X.O

In 1870, Maurice Hennessy, a 4th-generation member of the Hennessy family, asked the Cellar Master Emile Fillioux to create a special cognac for his family and friends, using long-aged eaux-de-vie to perfect the blend. They called it "X.O" for "Extra Old". Hennessy X.O became the first House blend to attain international renown, to the point that the X.O classification became a gauge of uncompromising quality. In 1947, Gerald de Geoffre - Maurice Hennessy's great-grandson - created its iconic carafe, a shape inspired by an upturned cluster of grapes. Today, Hennessy X.O remains as true as it was when Maurice Hennessy first shared it with his inner circle. A timeless symbol with a powerful and balanced structure, it carries the promise of an extremely long finish: each drop an invitation to embark on an odyssey of the senses through seven tasting notes.



In 2020, Hennessy X.O marks its 150th birthday with a masterpiece by Cai Guo-Qiang.



ABOUT HENNESSY

The leader in Cognac, the Maison Hennessy has shined around the world with its exceptional know-how for more than 250 years. Built on founder Richard Hennessy's spirit of conquest, the brand is present in more than 160 countries. Based in the heart of the Charente region, Hennessy is also a steadfast pillar of the regional economy. The Maison's success and longevity are rooted in the excellence of its cognacs, each of which is born of a unique process of transmission of know-how from generation to generation. The first spirits house to be certified ISO 14001, Hennessy unites its capacity for innovation and the support of all of its partners to protect this exceptional area. As a crown jewel of the LVMH Group, Hennessy is a major contributor to French international trade, with 99% of production sold in export, and a worldwide ambassador for the French art de vivre.



Media contact

Will Davis

(917) 618-0185

will.davis@6degrees.group



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(Disclaimer--Features may vary depending on the regions; subject to change without notice.)
US Marine Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton has been granted an absolute pardon by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte for the killing of a trangender woman in 2014

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte granted an absolute pardon on Monday to a US marine convicted of killing a transgender woman, drawing condemnation from rights groups.

Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton has been in prison since the October 2014 killing of Jennifer Laude, whom he met at a bar while on a break from military exercises in the northern city of Olongapo.

A local court ruled last week that Pemberton qualified for early release due to good behaviour, but was still being held due to an appeal.

Duterte's pardon clears all legal obstacles to the soldier's release, despite him serving just over half his 10-year sentence.

Duterte, a former prosecutor, said in a televised speech that it was his personal decision to pardon Pemberton after learning about his case in the news.

"You have not treated Pemberton fairly. So I will release him (through) pardon," he said after meeting his cabinet, including the justice minister.

Duterte said officials had not accurately measured the jail time served by Pemberton under a law that rewards good behaviour with shorter terms.

The Laude family lawyer condemned the decision, calling it a "mockery" of the country's justice system.

"This is another injustice -- not only to Jennifer Laude and family but a grave injustice to the Filipino people," Virginia Suarez said in a statement.

"This is a travesty of Philippine sovereignty and democracy."

The pardon has renewed anti-American sentiment in the Southeast Asian nation, where groups have long called for the removal of US military presence.

Renato Reyes, leader of the leftist group Bayan, criticised the president's remarks and condemned Pemberton's "special treatment."

"If Filipinos want pardon... they need to undergo a long process. The American soldier that killed a Filipino was given an express lane," he tweeted.

The pardon came despite Duterte shifting away from the US to seek closer relations with China since assuming power in 2016.

rbl/rbu
OTTAWANDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says the upcoming throne speech doesnt really matter and that the real test for Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus minority Liberal government is whether its next budget helps people during the COVID-19 crisis.

But the Liberals wont get to present a budget if the government falls in a confidence vote on the throne speech. To survive, the Liberals need the support of at least one of the Conservatives, the Bloc Quebecois or the NDP.

Speaking to reporters on Parliament Hill Tuesday, Singh said he wont be surprised if the throne speech  which Trudeau pledged would lay out an ambitious plan for Canadas COVID-19 recovery on Sept. 23  includes NDP priorities, but that his party wont decide whether to support the governments vision until it hears the speech.

The Star reported Monday that the government plans to outline a universal pharmacare program and increased spending on child care in the throne speech. The NDP has long advocated for both initiatives.

I wont be surprised if the prime minister says some of the right things, says some of the things that Canadians want to hear, some of the things that we want to hear, Singh said Tuesday. But what I am worried about is that theyll just be empty words.

He pointed to previous Liberal pledges that werent followed up on, and said the next budget would be a better indicator of whether the government is serious about its promises.

We will hear the throne speech, we will evaluate it, he added in French, but for me the real test of things is, one, the budget, and two, will the government change its approach and not reduce aid to people?

A spokesperson for the NDP later said Singh's words shouldn't be taken to mean the party plans to let the government survive a confidence vote on the throne speech.

Singhs comments came as Trudeaus office confirmed the prime minister will speak with all opposition leaders  including Green parliamentary leader Elizabeth May, whose party doesnt have enough seats for official-party status  before the end of the week.

Singh said will use his phone call with Trudeau to push for more generous changes to Employment Insurance and emergency benefit programs that the Liberals announced Aug. 20. The government said at the time that it will temporarily extend EI to contract and self-employed workers, and create three new emergency benefits for people who still dont qualify but have lost income during the pandemic, after the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) expires on Oct. 3.

Singh pointed out Tuesday that the EI scheme and new benefits will pay about $400 per week, while CERB paid out $500 per week.

On Monday, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives published a report that predicted roughly 3 million people currently receiving the CERB will be worse off when they transition to these other programs.

Singh said reducing supports like this is the wrong thing to do given the potential for a second wave of COVID infections this fall.

Trudeau said when he prorogued Parliament on Aug. 18 that the government would present its plan for the pandemic recovery in a throne speech on Sept. 23 and force a confidence vote that could trigger an election. Votes on the throne speech in the Commons are considered "implicit" confidence motions by parliamentary tradition.

After months of record-shattering government spending, Liberal cabinet ministers have described the need to continue supporting people through the COVID-19 pandemic, while also spending on initiatives that will spur economic growth and help reduce emissions that cause climate change. Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna told the Star the goal is to show triple benefits for every dollar spent.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said Tuesday that the governments first priority has been health care since the beginning of the pandemic, but that a focus on green jobs will also be part of the governments pandemic recovery plan.

There are a lot of reasons for us to be extra vigilant and careful going into the fall, and that in no way negates any other emphases or priorities, she said.

Meanwhile, Trudeau met with his cabinet for a second day in Ottawa on Tuesday, as the government prepares to table its throne speech on Sept. 23. But there were questions about how the House of Commons would resume that day, after the entire Bloc caucus announced it would go into isolation because a staff member from Leader Yves-Francois Blanchets office contracted COVID-19.

On his way into Tuesdays meeting, Liberal House Leader Pablo Rodriguez told reporters the government wants to set up virtual voting so that MPs can participate without being in the House. While the National Post reported this week that the Liberals are considering introducing a smartphone app for votes, Rodriguez suggested Tuesday that MPs could vote by Zoom.

It makes no sense that you have, I don't know, dozens of MPs that cannot vote because they're doing exactly what is asked from them, which is to isolate. And in my mind, it's one MP, one vote. They've been elected democratically across the country and we should be all be able to vote, he said.

Singh told reporters he supports such a hybrid model for the Commons, which has been used since the regular operation of Parliament was suspended amidst the early pandemic lockdown in March. But Rodriguez said Tuesday that he is trying to convince the Conservatives in particular to buy into the plan.

A spokesperson for the party declined a request to interview a Conservative MP about the partys priorities for the throne speech Tuesday.

The Bloc did not respond when contacted by the Star.

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Specimen of Iberian emerald lizard (Lacerta schreiberi) in the region of La Vera (Caceres, Spain). Credit: Adeline Marcos

Climatic conditions are changing at an unprecedented rate, affecting mainly fish, amphibians and reptiles, ectothermic animals that are unable to generate their own internal heat. With heat waves and rising temperatures, these organisms experience not only increased growth rates and heat stress, but also further aging.

Fish, amphibians and reptiles are animals known as ectotherms, which means they cannot actively control their internal temperature and are regulated by that of the environment. Faced with an increase in temperature caused by climate change, these organisms will experience a rise in their body temperature that will have serious consequences for them.

In fact, environmental changes are already altering them, as several studies have shown over the last few years. Their growth rates are already faster when temperatures are higher, and they are subject to heat stress from extreme events such as heat waves.

"Heat waves take animals out of their thermal preferences, to the point even of reaching their temperature tolerance limits. The longer and more frequent the heat waves, the greater their impact on the physiology of ectotherms," German Orizaola, researcher at the Joint Institute for Biodiversity Research of the University of Oviedo, explains to SINC.

Now, this expert, together with an international team of scientists, has reviewed other effects of the temperature increase on fish, amphibians and reptiles in the scientific literature. The results of this opinion article, published in the journal Global Change Biology, suggest that there will be a climate change impact on their aging rates.

"Higher growth rates will generate physiological imbalances in ectotherms, increasing, for example, oxidative damage to the proteins and DNA, which may also affect the telomeres, the repeated sections of non-coding DNA located at the ends of chromosomes," says Orizaola.

Telomeres, which provide stability and protect coding sequences from loss at the end of the chromosome, can be shortened or lost each time a cell splits. The faster a cell divides and the higher the levels of oxidative stress, the faster the length of the telomere is eroded.

"As telomeres protect DNA, the faster the telomeres are lost, the faster the cells degrade and the body ages. This clear link between climate change and aging is described for the first time in our article," the researcher explains.

Shorter life expectancy in populations

This rapid aging caused by climate change can have serious consequences for natural populations. "One rather clear consequence is that if the life expectancy of individuals in a population is reduced, their ability to produce offspring may be compromised," warns Orizaola.

With a reduced lifespan, any external phenomenon such as a severe drought, flood, disease, or heat wave will reduce the recovery capacity of populations and the time to produce enough offspring will decrease. Furthermore, as scientists stress, the effects on the aging of a species can affect other species that are part of its ecological network, for example, if it affects the number of prey, competitors, parasites, etc.

"This is a field that has barely been explored so far, but everything indicates that it could be another of the possible problems facing wildlife that is exposed to climate change," stresses the co-author from the University of Oviedo. To his mind, knowing the effects of the climate crisis on ectotherm aging would help to design better conservation and management programs.

"For example, if a species (say, a fish) is caught for commercial reasons, it is important to know that climate change can reduce its lifespan when catch rates are defined and population demographics are evaluated," he says.

On the other hand, species that are already endangered and with a small population size may be even more threatened if life expectancy is to be reduced, so conservation measures should be implemented. With other species, whose habitat may be affected by rising temperatures, "it may be necessary to consider relocating these individuals to a more suitable habitat," the scientist concludes.

Explore further New research: Climate change could reduce lifespan among hundreds of species

More information: Pablo Burraco et al, Climate change and ageing in ectotherms, Global Change Biology (2020). Journal information: Global Change Biology Pablo Burraco et al, Climate change and ageing in ectotherms,(2020). DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15305
KAMPALA  The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has hosted a farewell luncheon in honour of the outgoing High Commissioner of Rwanda and the Dean of Diplomatic Corps, Mr. Frank Mugambage.

Mugambage thanked Ugandan administration for the excellent facilitation and cooperation he was given during his 11 years of tour of duty in Uganda.

He promised to work tirelessly to promote the Spirit of East African integration even in his retirement from service.

Mugambage also expressed optimism to the normalisation of relations between Rwanda and Uganda.

In his farewell remarks, David Karubanga, Minister of State for Public Service who represented Sam Kutesa, Minister of Foreign Affairs, hailed the Mugambage for his achievements while in Uganda and hoped for an early normalization of relations between Rwanda and Uganda.

Karubanga wished the High Commissioner a safe return home and success in his new assignments.

The farewell was attended by the incoming Dean of the Diplomatic Corps Mohammed Suleiman Ahmed, Ambassador of Eritrea to Uganda, Simon Duku Michael, Ambassador of South Sudan to Uganda plus representatives from the High Commissions of Kenya and Tanzania.

Ambassador Patrick Mugoya, the Permanent Secretary and other senior officials, represented the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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THE PARENTS: Julie Overly, 42, and Nate Overly, 41, of Havertown

THE CHILDREN: Jaxon Nathanael, 3 1/2; Dominic Cole, 10 months, adopted July 9, 2020

HOW THEY TOLD JAXON HE WAS GETTING A SIBLING: They summoned the grandparents, pulled the baby car seat from the closet, and said, Mommy and Daddy are leaving with this car seat, and tomorrow when we come back, it will have your little brother in it!

On their first date, they saw stars.

After a round of gallery-hopping with friends in Charlottesville, where theyd met on a city league softball team, Julie and Nate wandered to the observatory at the University of Virginia. Overhead was the bright cluster of stars in Orions belt.

That was 2005. Julie says she knew right away. Nate was funny, but in a kind of quirky way. Also quiet and gentle and observant. After the first softball practice, I called my best friend and said, I just met the man Im going to marry. 

Nate was slower to catch the flame. But during a weekend trip to Virginia Beach, when they began talking about the future, It clicked that this was the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.

Both had lived abroad after college  Julie taught in an international school in Tel Aviv, while Nate did a year of service in Zambia  and wanted more of that kind of adventure, together.

First, Nate proposed, dropping to one knee outside a Smoothie King, with an embarrassed Julie urging Just get up! Half an hour later came the real proposal, on the University of Virginia campus where theyd spent their first date.

They planned an outdoor ceremony in a vineyard near Monticello  an archway entwined with roses, chairs set up in perfect rows. But as Julie and her bridesmaids were getting dressed, she watched massive clouds roll in over the mountains.

Guests ran to shove everything under the reception tent. They processed down the middle of the portable dance floor and shivered as they said their vows. I remember looking at the scene and knowing that the perfect setup was not going to happen, Julie says. And knowing none of that even mattered; I just wanted to get out there and marry this guy.

Two months later, the couple left for Dar es Salaam, a coastal city in Tanzania: Julie would teach and Nate, after a brief stint in the schools business office, worked on malaria prevention for an economic development agency.

They felt whiplashed by culture shock, then tugged by grief; Julies mother became ill and died while the couple was overseas. But during their three years in Tanzania, they also built lasting friendships, including some with couples who were forming transracial and transnational families through adoption.

Julie knew she wanted to be a mom  There was no question. Im a teacher. Id built my life around children  but Nate wasnt as sure; he wanted more clarity about his career first. By the time they started trying, Julie was 36.

I had underestimated  how quickly fertility can decline, she says. They tried a few intrauterine inseminations and one round of IVF, which produced a single healthy embryo that failed to implant.

I had to deal with the fact that I would never give birth, Julie says. It took another six months of processing and mourning before we decided to pursue adoption.

A Baby Step Adoption appealed to them because it emphasizes relationship-building between birth parents and adoptive ones, even before the baby is born. But when the phone call came, on a Sunday in January 2017, the message was urgent: Theres a baby boy here. He needs a home today. Are you ready?

In Jaxons case, the birth mom, 15 at the time, had chosen a different family, but those parents changed their minds. We drove downtown and picked him up at the home of that family, Julie says. The man handed him to me in a car seat and said, I think this is for the best. I said, I think youre right. 

A week later, Julie and Nate sat in the parking lot of a South Philly diner, waiting to see if Jaxons birth mother and grandmother would want to meet with them. Finally the caseworker invited them inside.

Julie sat down. I dont know what you believe in  God, the universe, the stars to align, she remembers telling the babys birth relatives. "But I know this little boy was meant to fall into our arms. I just want you to know how much we already love him and would love to build a relationship with you.

They looked at us. The birth mom said, I think hell be very happy with you guys.  Then there were tears, and a pile of paperwork, and an infant in their care.

Jaxon was an easy baby, and though Nate was initially unsure if he wanted a second child, both he and Julie felt strongly that their son needed a sibling who was also Black. They returned to A Baby Step; last December, an email arrived, so much like the initial message about Jaxon that it gave Julie chills: Biracial baby boy born in PA.

By 6:30 a.m., Julie had submitted their profile. By midday, they were preparing to drive to Williamsport and meet their son. They brought Dominic home on Jaxons third birthday.

Now their family constellation sprawls: they see Jaxons birth mother and grandmother every few months and text frequently; they attended his birth moms high school graduation and have recently connected with their sons birth fathers family.

Theyve also grappled with their responsibility as parents at a time of national reckoning on racial justice. We recognize that there are some things theyre going to experience, growing up, that we cant protect them from, and some we cant even relate to, Julie says. We know we need to find the resources, and a big part of that will be tapping into their Black family to make sure these guys get what they need.

Once, they were out with Jaxons birth mom and his birth grandmother when a stranger asked, Whos the parent of this beautiful boy? Nate recalls the adults exchanging glances: Well, we all kind of are.

Its been fun, Julie says, to challenge peoples ideas of what a family looks like.
 Budget 2021 will focus on providing further support to the economy;

 Decisions will prioritise crisis management  addressing the fall-out from the Covid-19 pandemic;

 Any further measures will be targeted at the three priorities in the Programme for Government  health, housing and climate change;

 We will base the Budget on the assumption of a disorderly Brexit;

 There will be no broad based increases in income taxation;

 Budget 2021 will target an improvement in the headline fiscal position, while allowing deficit-financed spending to continue in the short-term;

 The Government will publish a medium-term plan in spring outlining how we will balance the budget, when there is more certainty.

The Government, at its meeting on Tuesday, discussed the overall strategy for the forthcoming Budget. The Government decided that its overall strategy would balance the need to continue to provide counter-cyclical support to the economy while ensuring that the public finances remain on a sustainable path.

It was confirmed that the Budget will be based on the following assumptions:

 From the beginning of next year, bilateral trade between the UK and the EU will be on World Trade Organisation terms; and

 That, in the absence of a vaccine, the economy  and broader society  must co-exist with the virus.



Furthermore, it was agreed that:

1. Broad-based increases in taxation would be counter-productive at this stage of the cycle;

2. As set out in the Programme for Government, in Budget 2021 there will be no change to income tax credits or bands;

3. Budget 2021 will prioritise a continued response to the Covid-19 crisis rather than normal budgetary adjustments;

4. Preserving and maintaining existing levels of service will be the priority;

5. As per the Programme for Government, the sectoral priorities will be Health, Housing and Climate change;

6. As set out in the Programme for Government, a Recovery Fund will be established and we will provide the details and mechanics of this on Budget day. This Fund will be needed to ensure continued support for the economy. Decisions with respect to the Fund will be made across the year.



Given elevated uncertainty, the economic and budgetary projections which underpin Budget 2021 will cover the short-term, and will not extend beyond 2021. Medium-term projections will, instead, be set out in the Stability Programme Update, which will also set out a medium-term trajectory towards a balanced budget. This will be published in the spring, in line with the normal timetable.



Budget 2021 will provide support for the sectors of the economy most in need in the short-term, while also targeting an improvement in the headline fiscal position. The objective is to ensure that Irelands deficit position remains within average euro area levels, in other words, that Ireland is not an outlier in terms of borrowing.



Given limited resources, Budget 2021 will prioritise preserving and maintaining existing levels of service. Additional crisis-related supports will be tailored to those sectors and workers who are most in need. As per the Programme for Government, sectoral priorities will be health, housing and climate change. There will be no broad based changes to income taxation.



Commenting on this strategy, Minister Donohoe said:

Budget 2021 is being formulated against the background of continued economic, financial and wider societal fall-out from the Covid-19 pandemic and against the threat of a disorderly ending of the transition period which governs bilateral trade between the EU and UK. With limited resources available, the priority of the forthcoming Budget must be to provide support to those areas most in need. Government has acted decisively this year to counteract the worst effects of the pandemic, with support measures of around 24 billion provided to date. Put simply, this level of support is unprecedented, and has been appropriate given the scale of the economic shock. For next year, work is ongoing at an official level but, at this stage, a budget deficit in the region 4 - 5 per cent of GDP appears to be in prospect; this includes continued substantial Covid-related expenditure, albeit not at the same level as this year. This equates to cash borrowing in the region 15-19 billion for next year. Additional policy decisions  to be announced on Budget day  will add to this. Our objective is to ensure that the overall deficit is in line with that of our European neighbours. The Government will continue to support jobs, to cushion household incomes, and to expand healthcare capacity. We can do this while also begin the process of gradually improving the deficit, at a pace that is tailored to the needs of the economy. It is my expectation that economic growth will do most of the heavy lifting.



Reflecting on the significant expenditure response to the Covid-19 pandemic Minister McGrath said:

Government has introduced a series of critically important expenditure measures to support our households and businesses from the unprecedented shock of Covid-19. The Health service has been provided with the funding to implement the necessary measures to respond to the public health crisis with further funding to be made available deliver the 2020 Winter Initiative.

The reopening of our schools is critically important for the health and wellbeing of pupils and has been supported with funding for works in schools, additional teachers and extra cleaning. In recognition of the essential role that the further and higher education sector can play in preparing for the challenges of a changing economy, funding has been provided for additional places in higher education and in training and skills development.

Taking into account the significant additional expenditure provided to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic, in aggregate it is expected that gross voted expenditure will be more than 86 billion this year, an increase of approximately 16 billion on the level of expenditure set out in the Revised Estimates for Public Services 2020 published in December last year. There will be an ongoing requirement for a significant expenditure allocation to respond to Covid-19 next year across a number of areas in particular, Health, Schools, Further and Higher Education, and Social Protection. In addition, funding will need to be provided to address the potential impact of a disorderly Brexit. In this context, for core expenditure programmes, Budget 2021 will prioritise preserving and maintaining existing levels of service and delivering the increased resources for capital investment set out in the NDP. Additional crisis-related supports will be tailored to those sectors and workers who are most in need. As per the Programme for Government, sectoral priorities will be health, housing and climate change.



Minister McGrath said:

Ensuring the provision of the necessary funding to support our citizens and key public services over the next phase of the Covid-19 pandemic will be the key priority in Budget 2021. While directing resources to these areas, we will also ensure that existing services are preserved and that the increases in capital investment set out in the National Development Plan are implemented in order to support the recovery in the economy. This would see core gross voted capital expenditure of 9.1 billion next year.



Notes to Editors:

The Department of Finance is currently finalising its short-term macroeconomic forecasts that will underpin the budgetary arithmetic. These are subject to endorsement by the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council. A statement will be made at that time.



Key dates:

29 September Macroeconomic forecasts to be presented to the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (IFAC).

2 October Publication of Exchequer returns for Q3

9 October Publication of White Paper

13 October Publication of Budget 2021



Under European Union guidelines, Member States are only required to provide forecasts (draft budgetary plans) for the current and following year.

The activation of the General Escape Clause of the Stability and Growth Pact has suspended the normal application of the EU fiscal rules.
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Chandigarh: Warning that the enactment of the farm ordinances would lead to resentment and unrest in the border state, which was already at the receiving end of Pakistans concerted efforts to foment trouble, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday led a Congress delegation to submit a memorandum to Governor VP Singh Badnore, seeking his intervention for non-pursuance of the Agriculture Bills by the Centre in Parliament.

Flanked by PPCC chief Sunil Jakhar and other members of the delegation, the Chief Minister told the Governor that the party felt that any move to tinker with the present procurement system, and that too in the times of nation-wide crisis, may deepen social unrest amongst the farmers of the State.

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It may not be conducive for the peace and development of the region, which faces serious challenges of public order due to a live international border, he stressed.

Pointing to Pakistans bid to disturb the states peace and stability through narco-terror and other anti-India acts, the Chief Minister later told mediapersons outside the Governor House that these anti-farmer legislations would lead to rise in the peoples anger. Why are we playing into the hands of Pakistan?, he asked.

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These Bills, one of which has already been passed in the Lok Sabha yesterday, are against national interest, and particularly detrimental to Punjab, where the majority of the farmers tilled less than 5 acres of land and would be the worst hit, warned Captain Amarinder.

Hoping that the Centre will back out of pursuing the remaining two Bills and not get them passed in Parliament, he said the Centre had failed to take the interest of the farmers into account in introducing these Ordinances and instead, took a stand in favour of corporate houses.

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The Chief Minister said he had written to the Prime Minister thrice on the issue but had not received any response to far. The enactment of the remaining two Bills would ruin Punjab, he said. If MSP ends, which is what the Centre seems to be moving towards, the agriculture sector will be ruined in Punjab and across the country, he added.

Taking on the Akalis and Sukhbir Badal over their theatrics and U-turns on the issue, the Chief Minister pointed out that all except the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were on board at the all-party meeting he had convened on the issue.

We passed a resolution in the State Assembly, we talked to all political parties and farmer unionsand all were on board except the Akalis, who are now pretending to be opposed to the Ordinances, he said.

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Isnt Harsimrat Badal a member of the cabinet? Why didnt she protest there and why doesnt she speak outside either on the issue? What did the Akali Dal do in the assembly? asked the Chief Minister, terming their U-turn a total farce and nothing more than a face-saver.

Capt Amarinder Singh

The Congress, and his government, had been vocally and vehemently opposing the Ordinances all through, Captain Amarinder pointed out, adding that the Union Minister in charge of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution had made a misleading and incorrect statement in Parliament claiming that Punjab was on board the move.

The Chief Minister said that Punjab was in fact excluded from the high-powered committee on agricultural reforms constituted by the Government of India and it was included after his government protested.

One meeting was attended by Manpreet Badal and at the second meeting of officers the states were clearly told that their opinion was not being sought but they were only being apprised about the proposed reforms. No mention was ever made of the Ordinances, he added.

Termed the passage of one of the Bills in the Lok Sabha yesterday a black day in the history of Parliament, Jakhar warned that under pressure for the farmer unions, the Akalis may even go to the extent of enacting the drama of resigning from the Central Government but it would be another farce on the part of the party.

VP Singh BadnoreHe saluted the farmers of the country, especially Punjab, who had compelled the Akalis to change their stance on the issue. He also categorically denied Union Minister Raosaheb Patil Danves claim and said Punjab was never consulted on the Ordinances.

Besides Captain Amarinder and Jakhar, the delegation that met the Governor today comprised Cabinet Ministers Manpreet Badal, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Bharat Bhushan Ashu, MLAs Rana Gurjit Singh, Kuljit Singh Nagra and Dr Raj Kumar Verka and PPCC Secretary Capt Sandeep Sandhu.

The delegation requested the Governor to recommend to the Union Government not to pursue the Bills recently introduced in the Lok Sabha further to convert these ordinances into legislation.

They urged the Governor to take up the matter with the central government for urgent attention and action, pointing out that the new changes in the agricultural marketing system have led to apprehension amongst the farmers that the government is planning to withdraw from the assured procurement of every grain produced by them.

The memorandum further urged upon the Union Government to review and reconsider the measures introduced by the Bills, as these are unlikely to deliver on the promises made out of them. Agri-marketing should be left to the States as envisaged in our Constitution.

The Bills relate to the three ordinances issued by the Union Government on June 5, 2020, for permitting trade in agricultural produce outside the physical boundaries of the set-up agricultural market under APMC Act, easing restrictions under the Essential Commodities Act and facilitating contract farming.

The memorandum noted that the Agriculture Produce Marketing System in Punjab has served its purpose well for the last 60 years. It has stood the test of time. It has ensured food security on one hand and livelihood of millions of farmers and workers on the other.

It further said that a well-developed state of the art infrastructure has also been created in Punjab, both for open marketing and storage of produce and seamless transportation of produce from farm-gate to mandi and godowns.

The Punjab State Legislative Assembly has also, in its sitting on 28th August 2020, passed a resolution urging upon the Union Government to reconsider these decisions and instead promulgate another ordinance making the MSP a statutory right of the farmers, the delegation submitted to the Governor.
US President Donald Trump Monday vowed a response 1,000 times greater in magnitude to Iran after reports alleged the Islamic Republic is plotting an assassination on US ambassador to South Africa, Lana Marks, to revenge killing top military general Qasem Soleimani early by the U.S.

According to press reports, Iran may be planning an assassination, or other attack, against the United States in retaliation for the killing of terrorist leader Soleimani, Trump tweeted.

Any attack by Iran, in any form, against the United States will be met with an attack on Iran that will be 1,000 times greater in magnitude!

Over the week-end US media citing unnamed sources alleged that Iran has planning to take Markss life in assassination plot.

Iran has however brushed aside the allegations calling them baseless and part of repetitive and rotten methods to create an anti-Iranian atmosphere on the international stage, The New Arab reports.

Tensions between the two countries have further flared since January following the Soleimanis assassination in US air-strike outside Baghdad airport. Tehran has vowed to revenge the killing of its military commander. The UN also condemned murder.

Trump in 2018 unilaterally tore up Washingtons commitment to the 2015 nuclear agreement signed between Iran and the world power and re-imposed tougher economic sanctions.
Senior leader Anand Sharma on Wednesday questioned the government's claims that the prevented up to 29 lakh COVID-19 cases.

Initiating a discussion on the COVID-19 pandemic in Rajya Sabha, he said people of the country should know if the really helped in containing the spread of the disease.

"The minister said in a statement yesterday that it has been estimated that this decision prevented approximately 14-29 lakh cases and 37-78 thousand deaths...how have you derived this figure? What is the scientific basis, the House must be informed," Sharma said.

The day the was imposed the country had 600 cases which have now increase to 50 lakh cases, he added.

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan had said in Lok Sabha that the lockdown had prevented 14-29 lakh cases of

While saluting the doctors and paramedic staff for their efforts during the pandemic, Sharma also asked the government to strengthen public healthcare system in the country.

He said 70 per cent of the intensive care beds in the country were in private hospitals with the rest in government hospitals.

"In view of this pandemic, I want to request the government that after talking to state governments there is a need to make public health infrastructure stronger because government hospitals treated poor people. Where they have 30 per cent beds, they treated 70 per cent of the cases," Sharma said.

So the time has come to learn lessons from this situation and strengthen the system, he added.

"Make an action plan starting now and tell us that it would be implemented in so many years," he noted.

Referring to an article in a leading medical journal which questioned the credentials of hydroxychloroquine, Sharma said, "They had to take it back ..because it was fabricated..a case should be filed here as well because the pharma lobbies, as it is an affordable drug, want to discredit it.."



Sharma also sought answers from the health minister regarding the ongoing development work on various drugs for the treatment of COVID-19.

BJP member Vinay P Sahastrabuddhe said the government took decision on the lockdown based on discussion with state governments.

He said the prime minister, home minister, home secretary, cabinet secretary held discussion with state chief ministers and chief secretaries around 15 times and no one opposed lockdown.

"Central government took decision based on the basis of state governments. No decision was forced," Sahastrabuddhe said.

He said often prime minister and home minister are targeted on social media by the opposition and other people.

"I believe politics of responsibility is more important than politics of ridicule," he said.

He said those who light candles near India Gate for any reason close to their heart do not like lighting a lamp to express gratitude towards health workers and security personnel.

Sahastrabuddhe said that Madhya Pradesh government made arrangements for food and travel of migrant labourers and also developed an app to help get jobs for labourers.

He, however, criticised the Maharashtra government for the management of the pandemic due to lack of coordination among officers of different department and political leaders in the government.

Sahastrabuddhe said a 2000-bed COVID centre was set up in Thane and the beds were taken on rent as rentals involve various kind of "wrong dealings".

He also said that no arrangement has been made by the state government to fill up vacancies in the health department.

Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan said even her family members suffered due to the pandemic.

"The way people were being treated in hospitals, the way Mumbai roads are getting sanitised every hour, it is incomparable. There should be no politics on this subject," Bachchan said.

(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.)
New Delhi, Sep 16 : Dell Technologies is reportedly planning to lay off an unspecified number of employees owing to the declining growth in ongoing Covid-19 pandemic -- a move that may impact its workforce in India where the company has a sizeable employee strength out of its over 165,000 global workforce.

According to a report in UK-based Data Center Dynamics on Tuesday, Dell Technologies' Chief Operation Officer Jeff Clarke informed the upcoming job cuts in a quarterly all-hands meeting.

"We're also evaluating our business to make sure we have the right number of team members in the right roles and in areas where customers need us most," a company spokesperson said in a statement.

"And, we're addressing our cost structure to make sure we're as competitive as we should be now and for future opportunities. While we do this type of organisational review regularly, and while it always results in some job loss or restructuring, we recognise that there is nothing routine about today's environment." In an open letter to staff last month, CEO and Founder Michael Dell warned that there would be no return to pre-pandemic norms for the foreseeable future.

In May, Dell said it would be cut costs, freeze pay raises and "hiring for the rest of the fiscal year, as well as discontinuing contributions to employees' 401(k) retirement plans under a matching programme".

In the same month, Arvind Krishna-led tech giant IBM joined the league of companies who started firing employees in tough Covid-19 times.

"Recognizing the unique and difficult situation this business decision may create for some of our employees, IBM is offering subsidized medical coverage to all affected US employees through June 2021," said a company spokesperson.

IBM, however, did not disclose how many workers are affected but media reports said thousands of employees were set to lose jobs in at least five states of the US.
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Linkedin Norman Harsono (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, September 16, 2020 12:31 492 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c4518b30 1 Business mining,watchdog,ESDM Free

A watchdog coalition has called for the government to delay passing a mining government regulation (PP) until after the Constitutional Court (MK) makes a key decision on the 2020 Mining Law, which lays a legal basis for the regulation.

The eight-member Clean Indonesia Coalition argued that the government's efforts to pass the regulation would all go to waste should the court nullify the mining law, deliberations of which are still ongoing in Jakarta.

They focus on economic infrastructure but ignore democratic infrastructure. They did not even consider the court process when drafting the regulation, said coalition spokesman Arip Yogi Yogiawan, who also works for the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), on Tuesday.

The government regulation on mining activity is the nearest to completion among three similar regulations being drafted by the Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Ministry in realizing the recently passed, controversial 2020 Coal and Mineral Mining Law.

Read also: Civil society brings new Mining Law to court over transparency issues

Energy Ministry mining director general Ridwan Djamalludin first spoke about the three regulations on Aug. 27, by which time the regulation on mining activity was being discussed between ministries. The others were still being discussed internally.

The energy minister wants these done before the end of the year, he told lawmakers at a House of Representatives hearing in Jakarta.

The regulation on mining activity addresses, among others issues, giant coal miners whose mining permits  legally called contracts (PKP2B)  are slated to expire between November 2020 and April 2025, depending on the individual company.

Topics : mining watchdog ESDM
The District Court of The Hague today ruled in favor of Chevron Corporation in its dispute with the Republic of Ecuador, upholding a 2018 arbitral award rendered by an international tribunal administered by the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

In its unanimous award, issued pursuant to the U.S.-Ecuador Bilateral Investment Treaty, the international arbitral tribunal found that a $9.5 billion Ecuadorian judgment against Chevron was procured through egregious fraud and corruption by the plaintiffs' legal team, including bribery of the presiding judge and ghostwriting of the judgment. It held the judgment unenforceable under international law. The tribunal also rejected the underlying environmental allegations against Chevron. In its award, the tribunal found that a Chevron subsidiary completed an environmental remediation program supervised and approved by the Republic of Ecuador and that the Republic released the environmental claims on which the fraudulent Ecuadorian judgment was based. Any responsibility for current environmental conditions in Ecuador lies with the state-owned oil company, which continues to operate in the same area today.

The District Court of The Hague upheld the award in full and rejected the Republic of Ecuador's attempt to set it aside, noting that "the fraudulent character of the Lago Agrio judgement and the proceedings preceding it is common ground between the parties." The court found that the international tribunal acted within its remit when issuing the award, and that the award was well reasoned and complied with the applicable law and public policy. The court concluded that the international tribunal's orders properly sought to "remove the consequences of a fraudulent judgment that was rendered by a corrupt judge." The court held that "because none of the setting aside grounds brought forward by Ecuador succeed, the claims will be denied."

The court's ruling follows decisions from courts in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Gibraltar and the U.S. rejecting the fraudulent Ecuadorian judgment against Chevron. In July, Argentina's highest court unanimously rejected the plaintiffs' bid to enforce the corrupt judgment, bringing to an end the last pending recognition proceeding against Chevron. Even Ecuador finally admitted in a public filing earlier this year that the $9.5 billion judgment issued by its courts against Chevron is "fraudulent." Chevron's arbitration against the Republic of Ecuador is now in its final stage, where the company is seeking to recover from the Republic of Ecuador costs it has incurred to expose and defend against the fraud.

Chevron Corporation is one of the world's leading integrated energy companies. Through its subsidiaries that conduct business worldwide, the company is involved in virtually every facet of the energy industry. Chevron explores for, produces and transports crude oil and natural gas; refines, markets and distributes transportation fuels and lubricants; manufactures and sells petrochemicals and additives; generates power; and develops and deploys technologies that enhance business value in every aspect of the company's operations. Chevron is based in San Ramon, Calif. More information about Chevron is available at www.chevron.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200916005970/en/

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Firefighter Justin Silvera worked 72 days straight in 2018, when the Camp Fire destroyed his Butte County hometown of Paradise. Seven of his family members lost homes. It took a toll, exhausting him more than anything in his two-decade career.

But hes even more worried about this fire season.

Its on track for being the worst year Ive ever experienced, Silvera, a Cal Fire battalion chief in Humboldt County, said on the phone from his hotel last week.

As of Tuesday, Silvera had worked 37 days straight in the CZU Lightning Complex fires in Santa Cruz County. That included one of the most harrowing experiences of his career, when an inferno in Big Basin Redwoods State Park trapped his crew overnight during a 68-hour shift.

Its stressful, Silvera, 43, said. I hope I can continue to keep everyone safe and get them home.

Its been a month since California firefighters started battling historic blazes that have burned more than 3 million acres, with nearly 16,500 firefighters from Cal Fire alone on duty Monday. The unprecedented scope and scale of fires across the state, and COVID-19 outbreaks decommissioning some inmate firefighting crews, have stretched resources dangerously thin.

The coronavirus pandemic is also adding mental stress for firefighters with families, as spouses juggle working from home and remote learning for kids. So far this year, two professionals have died while fighting fires. One was a firefighter in the August Complex burning in Tehama, Trinity, Glenn, Lake, Mendocino and Humboldt counties. The other was a contracted pilot in the Hills Fire in Fresno County. As of Monday, Cal Fire said 106 have been injured.

With a couple months of fire season still ahead, many firefighters are already exhausted. The more exhausted  mentally and physically  firefighters become, the more they are at risk of injury. Exhaustion might also hamper crews ability to work effectively.

Were in an arena of fires getting bigger and faster and more destructive and more deadly, said Mike Ming, staff chief of Cal Fires behavioral health and wellness program. We have so many fires out there that we are on resource drawdown. So theres really no choice that we have as far as taking time off or getting home.

Brittany Hosea-Small / Special to The Chronicle

Cal Fire firefighters, who normally work 72 hours and then get four days off, are now working as long as needed. If theyre lucky, theyll get a night to sleep, still on call, in a hotel. Tim Edwards, president of Cal Fires firefighters union Local 2881, said firefighters in the Creek Fire in Fresno and Madera counties worked 96 hours straight, taking turns sleeping in the fire engine.

Were pretty resilient, Ming said, but added that recent experiences have been more traumatic. The unknown of COVID-19, the unknown of not going home, the unknown for your own safety when youre trying to evacuate people under high-stress environments or on the fire line ... those unknowns often burn hotter and brighter in us and affect us with more anxiety and depression and stress, he said.

Cal Fire provides support services to firefighters and their families  anywhere from 8,000 to 22,000 people, Ming said. The program offers financial and legal services; physical fitness, nutrition and meditation programs; and clinician and substance abuse referrals. It also staffs a 24/7 help line. This year, Ming added 21 staff, but the program is still busier than ever before.

Firefighters said the inadequate staffing in the face of massive fires adds to the stress. Cal Fire firefighter Brian Wanhala, whos a Local 2881 member, worked an exhausting 72 hours straight during the LNU Lightning Complex fires in and near the North Bay, but when his crew was the only one sent to a burning neighborhood, they lacked enough firefighters to save homes.

Wildland firefighter health risks Firefighters face long-term health concerns, including potentially deadly lung and heart disease, because of smoke inhalation and chemical pollution. Research is still developing, with studies actively ongoing, but here's what we know so far. Firefighters have an estimated 8% to 43% higher risk of dying from lung cancer depending on the length of fire seasons and careers. The risk of dying from heart disease increases between 16% and 30%. Inhaling particulate matter can increase the risk of premature mortality, with a higher risk of dying from lung cancer than heart disease: Breathing in smoke causes acute lung-function decline. High levels of mercury and other chemicals were found in the blood of firefighters after the Tubbs Fire. Firefighters after the Camp Fire carried a greater mixture of toxic chemicals, that have been linked to heart disease, kidney, liver, and reproductive dysfunction, in their bodies than the general population. Sources: Kathleen Navarro at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and other researchers, 2019; Joint Fire Science Program, 2017; NIOSH, 2014; Women Firefighters Biomonitoring Collaborative, 2019; San Francisco Firefighters Cancer Prevention Foundation, 2020. See More Collapse

Just when his crew thought theyd be sent home with the LNU largely contained, they were deployed to tackle the Oak Fire in Mendocino County, where hes based.

Theres no end in sight, Wanhala, 34, said from his hotel last week after 23 days on the line.

On top of stretched resources, historic heat waves have slowed down firefighting efforts and raised the risk of heatstroke. Also new this year is the coronavirus pandemic, which compounds existing health risks for firefighters.

Past evidence and preliminary research shows that firefighters could be at an increased risk for COVID-19 and more likely to get sicker if they do have it, said Kathleen Navarro, a firefighter and research industrial hygienist at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

Wildland firefighters cant effectively wear masks or air filters on the line. While they try to social distance, monitor symptoms and get tested, some still worry about bringing the disease home to their families.

It adds another level of stress, Silvera said. Im not so concerned if I get sick; Im concerned if I get someone else sick.

Brittany Hosea-Small / Special to The Chronicle

But firefighters said the greatest burden this year, even more than physical concerns, is the mental strain of the pandemic.

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.

Where Im getting most of the calls is the stresses, of not just being on the fires and seeing the devastation ... its whats going on back at home, Edwards said.

The morning after Santa Clara County firefighter Chuck Andersons kids started the school year virtually, he called his wife to let her know he was already on his way to the Lake Fire in Los Angeles County.

Anderson, 40, a 17-year veteran of the department and third-generation firefighter, said his family has gotten used to his disappearing for a couple of weeks in the fall over the past few years.

But this year, its harder. At home, his wife, Kim, has been supervising distance learning for four kids ranging from first grade to high school while starting a new job from home. On nights off in his hotel room, the firefighters teenage sons called him for math homework help.

A few days after lightning struck, his unit was sent back to the Bay Area to respond to three major fire complexes. He didnt come home for more than two weeks.

We just have to focus on whats positive and try to help others in need, Kim Anderson said.

Silvera expects to move to the August Complex fire, the largest in California history, this week. He doesnt know when he will see his wife of 19 years again, and tries to call her from the fire line just to tell her that he loves her.

Its heavy. I think about how much time you miss from your family that youre not going to get back, said Silvera.

A member of Local 2881, Silvera said he was grateful for Cal Fires mental health services, which he used to speak to a counselor after the Camp Fire, but wanted to see more support for spouses.

Its a start, but its not nearly enough, he said. This job is hard enough as it is.

Mallory Moench is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mallory.moench@sfchronicle.com Twitter:@mallorymoench
Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales has requested to be recused from the cases pending against a local activist.

The founder of Reliable Revolutionaries was arrested on Sept. 9 after allegedly leaving her children home alone.

Jourdyn Parks, 29, was charged with abandoning a child with intent to return, according to the Bexar County Sheriff's Office.

READ MORE: Local activist arrested after allegedly leaving her children home alone

In a statement, Gonzales noted he met with Parks and other Black Lives Matter activists on numerous occasions in recent months. The district attorney and the activists discussed how his office handles police shootings.

"Because of the prior community-based meetings conducted between Ms. Parks and our office and in order to avoid the appearance of any conflict, I am seeking to recuse the District Attorneys Office from any further involvement with these cases," Gonzales said.

"Additionally, because our office represents the Texas Department of Regulatory Service in Childrens Protective Service matters, I have likewise elected to seek a recusal of our office from any involvement regarding the care of her children."

Parks' case was orginally reviewed and accepted at the magistrate's office by an assistant district attorney, according to Gonzales. He has filed a motion to recuse his office as soon as possible.

Parks was arrested after deputies, called to her home for a welfare check, found two children, ages 8 and 2, looking out from an upstairs window. The elder child opened the window and told deputies her mother was at a meeting and would be back soon.

The deputies entered the home through a back door that had been left ajar. Sheriff Javier Salazar said the deputies discovered "deplorable conditions" inside.

Parks arrived home and told deputies she had gone to get her phone fixed. She was arrested and the children spent the night in Child Protective Services' custody before being reunited with their non-custodial parents the following day, Salazar said.

The Reliable Revolutionaries, formed in the wake of protests over George Floyds death, advocates for changes including amending the police union contract and reallocating money from the police to other departments.
Beach Park Illinois, Sept. 16, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Beach Park School District celebrated the re-opening of their five schools with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday, September 1st. Their cause for celebration was threefoldnot only were they happy to see the imminent virtual return of students, but they were excited to show their updated facilities and for students and staff to experience the new cooling and heating systems that were installed by CTS Group, a Veregy Company, in each school over the summer. Of course, the community was unable to participate fully in these improvements as school started virtually on September 9th; however, there was a tour of Oak Crest Elementary after the ribbon cutting.

The Beach Park School Districts buildings date back to the 1950's and lacked essential amenities that staff and students needed to perform at their highest level. "The amount of work that was performed in our district for a wonderful price and potential future savings is phenomenal for our students and our community. We put in air conditioning in all of our buildings that weve never had before, so the air quality is so much better. The Board of Education and myself are very pleased." stated Dr. Craig Doster, Superintendent.

The School District, working with CTSs Account Executive Doug McMahan and the Operations Team, executed a comprehensive energy efficiency and infrastructure upgrade project that included all school buildings in the district and an attractive financing option that was approved by the Beach Park Board of Education. A no tax increase referendum for $23 million was passed by the community in March 2020.

CTS Group, in partnership with their sister company Dynamix Engineering Services, provided comprehensive, modern, energy-saving improvements and repairs. The scope of work included mechanical equipment, roofing, insulation, building envelope, windows, doors, weather stripping, caulking, electrical, lighting, heating, air conditioning, building automation, security, access control, facility management, bathroom renovations, including domestic water and sewer, fire alarm, and energy recovery systems. They also installed ADA compliant ramps and restroom fixtures.

Dr. Doster states, CTS Group was determined to help our District by design planning through performance contracting, which in return was a fraction of the cost compared to other organizations. Moreover, CTS understood the importance that all work had to be completed during the summer of 2020. This was even more challenging due to the restrictions that COVID-19 brought to the industry in regards to ordering materials and a healthy workforce. In the end, the work was completed over the summer, a strong relationship was created, and our students, staff, and community benefited from the partnership. CTS Group was able to achieve substantial completion of the work in 13 short weeks from the time the contract was signed.

Operational savings were also integral to building renovations. CTS Group replaced worn-out heating and mechanical systems with energy-efficient HVAC systems and controls. Building automation and facility management systems were included to reduce overall operational costs, as well as upgrades to LED lighting and replacement of leaking windows and doors. As a result of the project Beach Park School District is expected to save over $1,024,000 per year.

About CTS Group, A Veregy Company

CTS Group, a Veregy Company, utilizes Guaranteed Performance Contracting to provide outstanding energy-saving solutions that exceed expectations in funds saved and long-term sustainability. CTS Groups team-oriented approach leads to highly successful results and long-term relationships built on trust and respect. Clients can count on CTS Group's team for Facility Master Planning & Execution, including energy-efficient infrastructure upgrades, ad hoc building maintenance projects, and day-to-day facility monitoring in mechanical, electrical, plumbing, solar, battery storage, geothermal, microgrid, and customizable building control systems.

About Veregy

Veregy is made up of eight award-winning engineering and energy service companies across the United States that together create pathways to eco-friendly building and systems optimizations, generating immediate and future energy savings.

For more information, please visit www.veregy.com or contact us (636) 686-9856.

# # #

Photos provided upon request

Attachment
A woman who was told she needed to have her leg amputated due to severe chronic swelling has revealed that her foot has become so large that she can't wear a shoe or even see her toes.

In a preview clip from Thursday's episode of the TLC reality series My Feet Are Killing Me: First Steps, Tiffany opens up about her struggles with lymphedema during a virtual consultation with Dr. Ebonie Vincent, a podiatric surgeon based in Orange, California.

'I didn't get diagnosed fully with lymphedema until I was a teenager, and by that time, it was just so out of control that the wrapping and stuff wasn't working,' Tiffany explains. 'They were telling me they're going to have to amputate the leg.'

Struggles: Tiffany opens up about her lymphedema during a virtual consultation with Dr. Ebonie Vincent on Thursday's episode of My Feet Are Killing Me: First Steps

Hard to handle: Tiffany admits that her leg drains so badly that she has painful wounds, and her foot is so large that she can't wear shoes or even seen her toes

Lymphedema is a chronic condition that causes swelling in the body's tissues and usually develops in the arms or legs.

Other symptoms may include repeated skin infection, wart-like growths, and fluid leaking from the skin.

Tiffany tells Dr. Ebonie that when doctors were recommending amputation, she was busy with a newborn child.

'There's just no way that I can live with my leg amputated. It just kept getting worse, and so now, it just drains constantly,' she adds.

'I've been draining for years now. It just drains so bad that I have wounds.'

Vitual consult: Tiffany's friend helps move the camera so Dr. Ebonie can see her leg and foot. The patient explains that doctors wanted to amputate her leg, but she had refused

Ouch: Lymphedema is a chronic condition that causes swelling in the body's tissues. Other symptoms may include repeated skin infection and fluid leaking from the skin

Stunned: 'Wow, yeah, that's a big wound there,' Dr. Ebonie says as she looks at Tiffany's foot on her computer screen

The show was filmed during the coronavirus pandemic, and all of the patients' consultations with Dr. Ebonie, Dr. Brad Shaeffer, and newcomer Dr. Sarah Haller have been done virtually.

In the clip, Dr, Ebonie asks Tiffany if she has someone who can help move the camera, so she could look at her painfully swollen leg and foot.

But she isn't prepared for what she is about to see.

Tiffany's foot is so enormous that it has a fat roll at the top, and she also has painful scabs and wounds on her ankle and heel from the fluid that is constantly draining from her leg.

'Wow, yeah, that's a big wound there,' Dr. Ebonie says.

WHAT IS LYMPHOEDEMA? Lymphoedema is a long-term condition that causes swelling in the body's tissues. Lymphoedema is a long-term condition that causes swelling in the body's tissues It usually develops in the arms or legs. Lymphoedema affects up to 10 million people in the US and more than 200,000 in the UK. It occurs when the lymphatic system does not work properly. The lymphatic system is a network of channels and glands that remove excess fluid and help fight infections. As well as swelling, which is often worse during the day, other symptoms may include: An aching, heavy feeling

Difficulty moving

Repeated skin infections

Hard, tight skin

Wart-like growths

Fluid leaking from the skin

Folds developing in the skin Lymphoedema can be inherited or occur as a result of infections, injuries or cancer treatment. Around one in five women with breast cancer and half with vulval cancer develop lymphoedema. There is no cure. Treatment focuses on minimising fluid build up via compression stockings and a healthy lifestyle. Source: NHS Choices Advertisement

friend candace how bad the wound is and how big it is
Spend an hour on social media and you'll see preteens  often in makeup  pouting their lips and strutting their stuff as if they were grown women, Doucoure wrote in her op-ed. The problem, of course, is that they are not women, and they dont realize what they are doing.
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Prime Minister Scott Morrison will be required to quarantine himself for 14 days before entering Queensland if he wishes to join the state election campaign.

Speaking on the Today show, Mr Morrison said he didn't think there should be "double standards" over the state's border exemptions, and expected he would quarantine himself for the mandatory 14 days if entering Queensland ahead of the state election.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

"The same rules should apply to me as anyone else," he said.

"Those rules should be fair, they should be sensible, and they should be compassionate too, I think.
BOULDER, Colo., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Today the STAR organization (Standards for Technology in Automotive Retail) announced that Wipro, a technology company, has joined STAR.

Wipro Limited, is a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company. Wipro is well positioned in the automotive industry and has worked with 50+ Automotive customers on 2000+ projects, 7 of 10 global auto OEMS, and 6 of 10 Tier-1 suppliers. Wipro delivers services across the value chain and recently launched their innovative Automotive Connected Services Studio in collaboration with AWS Launchpad. In addition, Wipro is working with major automotive OEMs in their digital transformation journey to implement and maintain their connected vehicle, Industry 4.0, incentive management, e-commerce platforms, warranty management, Dealer Management Systems (DMS), and retail Integration systems. Wipro's automotive CTO Mohandas Udyavar commented: "In these challenging times the automotive industry has to be more customer focused and implement systems that make the car buying and owning a joyful experience. Wipro is glad to partner with STAR to create and implement the retail standards which will enable the automotive ecosystem partners to sell and service innovative products."

STAR Chairman Rafael Maldonado (Vice President and CIO of the National Automobile Dealers Association) commented; "We are very excited that Wipro has joined STAR and we look forward to adding Wipro's connected vehicle and other broad ranging expertise to the STAR teams as we move forward with our objective of providing a broad framework and related standards for the secure interchange, integration, sharing, and retrieval of auto retail information. As STAR membership grows, we continue to gain the collaboration and momentum necessary to realize our mission of delivering industry standards that allow for secure, global data interoperability using modern standards and technologies."

About STAR: Standards for Technology in Automotive Retail (STAR) is a nonprofit, dues-paying organization whose members include dealers, manufacturers, retail system providers, and automotive-related industry organizations. Incorporated in 2001, STAR is considered the IT standards organization for the retail automotive industry. STAR's objectives are to define industry standards for automotive retail, standard architecture to support global data interoperability, and to standardize the dealership IT infrastructure. STAR's goal is to use non-proprietary technology (IT) standards to reduce cost and complexity while increasing innovation and returns for all members.

https://www.starstandard.org

About Wipro

Wipro Limited is a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company. We harness the power of cognitive computing, hyper-automation, robotics, cloud, analytics and emerging technologies to help our clients adapt to the digital world and make them successful. A company recognized globally for its comprehensive portfolio of services, strong commitment to sustainability and good corporate citizenship, we have over 180,000 dedicated employees serving clients across six continents. Together, we discover ideas and connect the dots to build a better and a bold new future.

https://www.wipro.com/automotive/

Contact:

Thomas Henry

(615) 200-3353

[email protected]

SOURCE Standards for Technology in Automotive Retail (STAR)

Related Links

https://www.starstandard.org


Sony today announced the pricing and availability for its PlayStation 5 console during its PlayStation 5 Showcase that was streamed online.

The console will be available in two versions. The standard version with the disc drive is priced at $500/500/450 while the Digital Edition without the disc drive is priced at $400/400/360.

The console will be available starting November 12 in US, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea. The rest of the world (except China) will get it a week later on November 19. The Chinese launch date is yet to be finalized and will be announced at a later date.

Sony also announced the PlayStation Plus Collection, an additional PlayStation Plus benefit for PlayStation 5 customers. Through this feature, PlayStation 5 players will get a selection of PlayStation 4 titles as part of their PlayStation Plus subscription. This includes titles like God of War, The Last of Us Remastered, Uncharted 4, Battlefield 1, Monster Hunter World, Fallout 4, Final Fantasy XV, The Last Guardian, Ratchet & Clank, Infamous Second Son, Days Gone, Bloodborne, Detroit Become Human, Batman Arkham Knight, Mortal Kombat X, Persona 5, Until Dawn, and Resident Evil Biohazard. Players will be able to download and play all of these games at launch on the PlayStation 5.

Sony also showed off additional gameplay footage for some of the titles that it showcased back in June, including new Spider-Man Miles Morales, Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War, Deathloop, Demon's Souls, while also showcasing some new titles like Final Fantasy XVI, Hogwarts Legacy, Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition, and Five Nights at Freddy's Security Breach. Sony also showed some footage of Fortnite running on the PlayStation 5. And last but not the least, the event was closed with a very brief teaser for the next God of War game, presumably titled Ragnarok.

And that's pretty much it. The cat and mouse game is over and we finally know what both consoles from Sony and Microsoft cost and when they will be available, along with a fairly decent idea of what the launch titles are going to be. With most of these titles also coming to the PC, NVIDIA dropping its RTX 3080 today, and new CPU and GPU coming from AMD next month, PC players have a lot to look forward to as well. It's a great time to be a gamer right now.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / September 16, 2020 / Legend Power Systems (TSXV:LPS) a global leader in commercial electrical system solutions, today announced follow-on orders from a major Ontario-based commercial property customer, which has now enabled 16 of its multi-family buildings with SmartGATE. The customer owns and manages a $10+ billion portfolio of North American multi-family properties including 400 buildings with over 40,000 units.

"We are pleased that SmartGATE plays a central role in helping this customer attain ESG mandates and in enhancing financial performance across their building portfolio", said Legend CEO, Randy Buchamer. "Legend is experiencing growth in new and existing relationships with North American multi-family building owners seeking a partner that can identify the root causes of electrical inefficiency in their buildings and provide customized solutions. This is a multi-billion-dollar market vertical for which Legend is uniquely positioned as the leader and sole provider of its kind."

SmartGATE is an industry-leading, turnkey solution which identifies and fixes underperformance and waste in the electrical system of a commercial building. These performance issues often impact key areas of commercial real estate metrics including occupant safety and satisfaction and financial performance. This waste can also lead to higher operating costs, lower net operating income and other potential financial risks to the building owner, including damaged tenant experience.

About Legend Power Systems Inc.

Legend Power Systems Inc. (www.legendpower.com) provides an intelligent energy management platform that analyzes and improves building energy challenges, significantly impacting asset management and corporate performance. Legend's proven solutions support proactive executive decision-making in a complex and volatile business and energy environment.

For further information, please contact:

Steve Vanry

CFO

+ 1 604 671 9522

svanry@legendpower.com

Sean Peasgood

Investor Relations

+ 1 647 503 1054

sean@sophiccapital.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This Press Release may contain statements which constitute "forward-looking information", including statements regarding the plans, intentions, beliefs and current expectations of the Company, its directors, or its officers with respect to the future business activities and operating performance of the Company. The words "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company, or its management, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future business activities or performance and involve risks and uncertainties, and that the Company's future business activities may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. Such risks, uncertainties and factors are described in the periodic filings with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities, including the Company's quarterly and annual Management's Discussion & Analysis, which may be viewed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Although the Company has attempted to identify important risks, uncertainties and factors which could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be others that cause results to not be as anticipated, estimated or intended. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements other than as may be required by applicable law.

SOURCE: Legend Power Systems, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/606276/Leading-North-American-Property-Manager-Makes-Follow-on-Investment-in-SmartGATE-Solutions-for-Two-Additional-Buildings-of-Multi-Family-Portfolio
Operating a waterpark is costly, Welland city council heard Tuesday night as it approved releasing another request for proposals (RFP) to operate a facility in the north end.

A staff report said the only company to bid on operating a waterpark at the Community Boathouse on Thorold Road was not ready to proceed with the financial and operational commitment of entering a contract to open a new facility at this time.

PT Watersports told the city it was facing significant impacts due to COVID-19, including the closure of all its facilities this year. It operates FunSplash Hamilton at Binbrook Conservation Area and St. Marys Quarry Waterpark in St. Marys.

Wellands waterpark was to open next July.

Ward 3 Coun. John Chiocchio, a proponent of more activities on the Welland Recreational Canal, asked if staff had investigated the city operating a waterpark on its own.

What if we purchased the equipment, put lifeguards in place and regulated it all? Even if we just broke even, he said, adding the city owns the waterway and could control it and expand a waterpark if it wanted.

Dan Degazio, Wellands general manager of economic development and recreation, said the idea has been explored in the past and that purchasing the equipment alone would cost taxpayers between $300,000 and $500,000.

Staffing would see 10 to 15 people needed to operate the facility. The costs could be quite extensive. Its out of our realm to do this, thats why we looked at an outside agency, said Degazio.

He told council its possible PT Watersports could submit another bid to operate a waterpark, but added the company said investing in new equipment right now, during the pandemic, might be too much for it.

Chiocchio said he doesnt want to see the city lose a year and its momentum on the waterway. He wondered if there was a backup plan.

I get why they cant do it, he said of PT Watersports.

The idea of using city-owned Wibits  akin to inflatable playground equipment  was floated during the meeting. Degazio said they could be used as a temporary park.

Ward 4 Coun. Bryan Green supported a new RFP being released by the city and wondered if there was anything that could be done differently to entice new bids.

Five companies picked up RFP documents earlier this year, with PT Watersports being the only one to submit a proposal.

Earlier this year two groups  Pirate Ship Cove out of Jordan and Welland resident Derek Stonier of Splashtown Niagara  approached the city about setting up in the former canal.

Neither of those groups submitted a proposal and did not respond to the city when asked why.

Degazio said city staff went out of its way to call those two companies and others across the country to see if they would be interested in running the Rose Citys waterpark.

We went above and beyond.
Three containers of copper from Turkey heading to a Chinese smelter have been discovered to have been filled with bricks upon arrival in Lianyungang port in China, sources told Fastmarkets.

The containers, each of which were supposed to be transporting about 25 tonnes of 99% copper-content blister, were inspected by customs personnel last week, according to photographs seen by Fastmarkets.



Two industry sources told Fastmarkets that the containers had been filled with stacks of red cement bricks and have been impounded at the port.



The seals on the front of the containers were intact at the point of inspection, the sources said, while the copper is believed to have been stolen by thieves who broke in from the side of the containers.



At current copper prices, the containers were carrying more than $500,000 worth of copper.



The containers were said to have been booked by a major commodity trading house, which declined to comment on the incident when contacted by Fastmarkets.



Approximately 75 tonnes of blister copper had been scheduled to be delivered to its Chinese copper smelter client via Lianyungang port to be processed into copper cathode.



Chinese copper smelters that use Lianyungang port include Sanmenxia, Yuguang Gold Lead, Baiyin Nonferrous and Jincheng.



The port authority of Lianyungang did not respond to inquiries from Fastmarkets at the time of publication.



Fastmarkets reported a similar incident in August where containers of copper cathode from Africa were found to be filled with sand upon arrival in China.



The containers of copper cathode, which belonged to two parties - one Africa-based copper producer and one Asian trading house - were broken into at the port of Beira, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter at the time.



And an Asia-based trader also mentioned hearing of a copper shipment from Pakistan containing iron slabs and cement among the ingots in the past two months.



These reported incidents come after a copper price rally in recent months. The London Metal Exchange three-month daily official copper price was $6,800.50 per tonne on September 15, the highest since June 2018. It is up 47% from the lowest point this year of $4,626.50 per tonne on March 23.



On higher spot availability, Fastmarkets copper blister 98-99% refining charge spot, cif China went up slightly to $135-160 per tonne on August 28, from $135-155 per tonne at the end of July.
Indias National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval is set to join his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi for a virtual meeting of the NSAs of the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS) grouping on Thursday against the backdrop of the border standoff.

The 10th meeting of the NSAs of the grouping is part of a series of events being hosted by Russia, the current chair of BRICS. This will be the fourth time this month that top Indian and Chinese leaders have been part of multilateral meetings hosted by Russia, following a virtual meeting of BRICS foreign ministers, and meetings of the defence and foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Moscow.

People familiar with developments said on condition of anonymity that as in the case of the BRICS foreign ministers meeting on September 4, there will be no scope for bilateral discussions between the Indian and Chinese NSAs during the meeting.

Also read: Rajnath Singh to make statement on LAC in Rajya Sabha tomorrow

There will be statements by the NSAs and discussions on the items on the agenda which has already been decided. Besides, the BRICS grouping has no scope for taking up bilateral matters, one of the people cited above said.

On 17 September, the Russian chairmanship will hold the 10th Meeting of BRICS National Security Advisors.

According to a statement issued by Russia, the BRICS NSAs meeting is expected to discuss threats and challenges to national security.

The meetings agenda comprises of challenges and threats to global, regional and national security in todays world, the statement said. It added that the event will take place via video conference and Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the security council of the Russian Federation, will represent Moscow at the meeting.

Though both India and China have made it clear that they dont want any third party mediation on the months-long border standoff that has taken bilateral ties to an all-time low, Russia has pushed the two sides to resolve their differences through dialogue.

The meetings of the defence and foreign ministers of the SCO in Moscow facilitated meetings on the sidelines between defence minister Rajnath Singh and his Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe, and external affairs minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.

The two foreign ministers agreed on a five-point roadmap to address the tensions on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) but there has been little progress on the disengagement and de-escalation efforts on the ground, mainly because of China not pulling back its troops from friction points.

Tensions have been exacerbated by Chinas provocative military manoeuvres on the south bank of Pangong Tso since August 29-30 and Indian troops are now preparing to remain deployed at forward positions through the harsh winter.
MT CLEMENS, MI -- A little more than two years after she stabbed one of her classmates to death at Fitzgerald High School in Warren, Tanaya Lewis was sentenced to at least 27 years in prison Wednesday. Lewis appeared before Judge Kathryn Viviano in 16th Circuit Court to receive her sentence after she pleaded no contest last month to first-degree murder.

Prior to sentencing, Lewis addressed the court and gave a tearful speech in which she apologized for what happened and said she wished she could take back the stabbing.

I have nightmares about it. I accept my punishment, Lewis said while crying before later adding No amount of apologies will take it back.

She added that she hopes one day her victims family will forgive her.

Viviano said the Lewiss pre-sentencing report was unique because there was nothing in it to explain how the stabbing took place or why Lewis would act that way. The report gave Viviano hope that Lewis will be able to turn her life around and be rehabilitated during her prison sentence. Viviano then issued the sentence that comes with a maximum of 40 years in prison.

Lewis was convicted of murder after she stabbed 16-year-old Danyna Gibson to death during a school fight on Sept. 12, 2018. Witnesses described a scene in which Lewis yelled Im going to kill you while laughing and chasing Gibson with a steak knife before actually stabbing Gibson. A teacher then pushed Lewis out of the classroom, but it was too late.

The fight started between the two girls over a boy who was in their school.

Family members for Gibson also spoke prior to sentencing and expressed the pain they feel by not having Danyna in their lives.

Lewis was deemed competent to stand trial in late 2018, but the trial was repeatedly delayed before she entered her plea last month. As part of the sentencing, Lewis was ordered to have no contact with Gibsons family and to pay fines. She was given credit for 735 days served, meaning she will be eligible to be released in 2045.

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NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / September 16, 2020 / What many business owners considered a downturn in their respective operations became a season of leveling up for JPure, a fashion company founded by Joshua Smith Bowman. While other companies were forced to shut down due to the pandemic, the team behind JPure's original and creative clothing line focused on giving out free masks to 9,000 children and families in impoverished neighborhoods to help them stay safe and 600 more to delivery drivers and parcel carriers.

JPure is fast becoming a no-nonsense fashion company as it responds to the pressing needs of the community. Aside from giving out free masks to thousands of poor families, Joshua Smith Bowman also embraced the Black Lives Matter advocacy. He fully realized the present world crisis is a time for self-sacrifice, unity, and perseverance, and these are what he and his team poured out to ensure that the business survives.

Despite the quarantine restrictions, JPure was able to carry out three photoshoots and two soirees, all following protocols as required by local ordinances. The company also managed to use its own equipment to build and grow its brand has transformed to become one of the first fashion brands to produce and own all the equipment, production, music, logo, and talent. Joshua believes that this is the future of many fashion brands: that all manpower and technology needs will emanate from the inside.

After generating a six-figure income in a span of a few months during the pandemic, JPure used this to invest in equipment. This was made possible by building their own website and designing their own products until it fully materialized. What furthered their popularity was using social media and street promotion to create strong awareness for their products. Interestingly, Joshua Smith Bowman and his team sacrificed their salaries for the past months and will continue to do so until the end of the year so that they can stay afloat.

The heart and soul of JPure are about highlighting a pure lifestyle, a brand that is approachable, loving, and non-judgmental. After its successful digital launching in Los Angeles, Joshua deemed it valuable to partner with organizations that can contribute to the success of his brand. Hence, the partnership with David Kazmierski came to be for the company's branding and graphic design needs. Moreover, a promising partnership was also forged between JPure and the Dutch Creative Space owned by Kari Turner for their production, technology, and creative marketing needs.

With strong partnerships accompanying JPure in its journey to brand success, Joshua Smith Bowman is poised to make a significant impact on the lives of other people through his fashion insights.

In the coming years, Joshua Smith Bowman sees JPure evolving into a conglomerate of fashion brands that still meet the needs of different clients. The company will definitely continue to produce more content and hopefully sponsor other industries that are working on developing a synergy with fashion. Joshua is looking forward to partnering with independent artists, wig producers, and makeup artists who can work with them as JPure continues to expand. Joshua envisions buying different firms to establish a dynamic fashion house that will become home to exceptional makeovers.

At this time, Joshua Smith Bowman is focused on attracting more partnerships for JPure. He is looking at connecting with large tech firms who can invest equipment to help build the brand further. At the rate that he is going, he is highly likely to succeed in bringing in investors.

Find out more about JPure by visiting this website. Follow the company's Instagram account for updates.

Company: Jpure

Email: Jpure@jpurela.com

Phone number: 310-717-7370

Website: jpurela.com

SOURCE: Jpure

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/605545/JPure-Elevates-how-a-Fashion-Business-Should-be-Done
Russia will send 100 million Russian Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V doses to India's Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Deliveries could start in late 2020. The first batch of Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 has been released into civil circulation.

The Russian Direct Investment Fund on Wednesday confirmed reaching an agreement to supply 100 million doses of Russian COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V to Indias Dr. Reddys Laboratories.

Sputnik quoted the RDIFs press release, The RDIF, Russias sovereign wealth fund, and Dr. Reddys Laboratories Ltd. (Dr. Reddys), a global pharmaceutical company headquartered out of India, have agreed to cooperate on clinical trials and distribution of Sputnik V vaccine in India. Upon regulatory approval in India, RDIF shall supply to Dr. Reddys 100 million doses of the vaccine.

Deliveries could start in late 2020, the release added. GV Prasad, Co-Chairman and Managing Director of Dr. Reddy said that the Phase I and II trials results have shown promise, and the company will be conducting Phase III trials in India to meet the requirements of the Indian regulators.

Also read: Yoshihide Suga elected as Japans prime minister, PM Narendra Modi extends congratulatory wishes

Also read: India takes on Pakistan OIC, urges Turkey to understand democratic practises, at UN Rights Council

We are pleased to partner with RDIF to bring the vaccine to India. Phase I and II results have shown promise, and we will be conducting Phase III trials in India to meet the requirements of the Indian regulators. Sputnik V vaccine could provide a credible option in our fight against COVID 19 in India, Dr. Reddys Co-Chairman and Managing Director GV Prasad said, as quoted in the press release.

The RDIF is pleased to reach the agreement with the Indian company, the RDIF CEO Kirill Dmitriev said. Dr. Reddys has had a very well established and respected presence in Russia for over 25 years and is one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in India, he said

India is amongst most severely impacted countries from the novel coronavirus and we believe our human adenovirus dual vector platform will provide a safe and scientifically validated option to India in the battle against COVID 19. RDIF partners will receive an effective and safe drug to fight the coronavirus, he added.

Last week, the Russian Health Ministry announced that the first batch of Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 has been released into civil circulation. The Russian health ministry registered the first vaccine against COVID-19, named Sputnik V, on August 11.

Also read: NSA Ajit Doval walks out of SCO meet after Pakistan uses fictitious map
Justin Silvera came off the fire lines in Northern California after a grueling 36 straight days battling wildfires and evacuating residents ahead of the flames. Before that, he and his crew had worked for 20 days, followed by a three-day break.

Silvera, a 43-year-old battalion chief with Cal Fire, California's state firefighting agency, said he's lost track of the blazes he's fought this year. He and his crew have sometimes been on duty for 64 hours at a stretch, their only rest coming in 20-minute catnaps.

"I've been at this 23 years, and by far this is the worst I've seen," Silvera said before bunking down at a motel for 24 hours. After working in Santa Cruz County, his next assignment was to head north to attack wildfires near the Oregon border.

His exhaustion reflects the situation on the West Coast fire lines: This year's blazes have taxed the human, mechanical and financial resources of the nation's wildfire-fighting forces to an extraordinary degree. And half of the fire season is yet to come. Heat, drought and a strategic decision to attack the flames early combined with the coronavirus to put a historically heavy burden on fire teams.

"There's never enough resources," said Silvera, one of nearly 17,000 firefighters battling the California blazes. "Typically with Cal Fire, we're able to attack  air tankers, choppers, dozers. We're good at doing that. But these conditions in the field, the drought, the wind, this stuff is just taking off. We can't contain one before another erupts."

Washington State Forester George Geissler says there are hundreds of unfulfilled requests for help throughout the West. Agencies are constantly seeking firefighters, aircraft, engines and support personnel.

Fire crews have been summoned from at least nine states and other countries, including Canada and Israel. Hundreds of agreements for agencies to offer mutual assistance have been maxed out at the federal, state and local levels, he said.

"We know that there's really nothing left in the bucket," Geissler said. "Our sister agencies to the south in California and Oregon are really struggling."

Demand for firefighting resources has been high since mid-August, when fire officials bumped the national preparedness level to critical, meaning at least 80% of crews were already committed to fighting fires, and there were few personnel and little equipment to spare.

Government spending on fighting wildfires has more than tripled since the 1990s, to an average of $1.8 billion annually. That's failed to reduce the problem as climate change, drought and millions of trees killed by pests led to more fires in the Western U.S. over the same period, particularly dangerous "megafires" that burn 100,000 acres (404 square kilometers) or more.

The growing severity has spurred federal lawmakers to push prevention efforts, including controlled burns, faster approval of logging projects and upgrading homes to make them more fire resistant.

"We are at a critical time: The West is burning. People are dying. The smoke is literally starting to cover our country, and our way of life as we know it is in danger," Republican U.S. Sen. Steve Daines of Montana said Wednesday during testimony in support of an emergency wildfire bill, co-sponsored by Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, that would direct more resources to prevention.

___

The smoke from dozens of wildfires in the western United States is stretching clear across the country  and even pushing into Mexico, Canada and Europe. While the dangerous plumes are forcing people inside along the West Coast, residents thousands of miles away in the East are seeing unusually hazy skies and remarkable sunsets.

The wildfires racing across tinder-dry landscape in California, Idaho, Oregon and Washington are extraordinary, but the long reach of their smoke isn't unprecedented. While there are only small pockets in the southeastern U.S. that are haze free, experts say the smoke poses less of a health concern for those who are farther away.

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The UK IVF market was valued at $514 million in 2018 and is estimated to reach $928 million by 2026, registering a CAGR of 7.6% during the analysis period.



In-vitro-Fertilization (IVF) is a common artificial infertility treatment performed in the laboratory. The treatment involves removing an ova (egg or eggs) or ovum from the ovaries and allowing sperm to fertilize them in a laboratory dish. It is a form of assisted reproductive technology based fertility treatment across the clinical industry. The process involves five major steps such as stimulation, egg retrieval, insemination & fertilization, embryo culture, and embryo transfer, which is completed over a course of several months. After the fertilized egg (zygote) undergoes embryo culture for up to 6 days, it is implanted in another or same woman's uterus.

In vitro fertilization can help conceive when other natural treatments have failed.



The UK invitro fertilization market is on the rise owing to increase in awareness about assisted reproductive technology, favorable regulations for IVF, and commercialization of three-parent IVF procedures. In addition, rise in awareness about assisted reproductive technology is expected to boost the UK IVF market. However, ethical considerations by social and religious organizations, and cost of the treatment are expected to hinder the growth of the IVF market in the UK. However, involvement of social and religious organizations for revaluation of the IVF legislation in the UK hinders the growth of the market. Furthermore, surge in technical advancements related IVF technique is projected to provide lucrative opportunities during the forecast period.

Request for Report Sample: https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/sample/13250





The UK in vitro fertilization market (IVF) is segmented based on cycle type, and end user. Based on cycle type, the market is divided into fresh IVF cycles (non-donor), thawed IVF cycles (non-donor), and donor egg IVF cycles. Based on end user, the market is classified into fertility clinics, hospitals, surgical centers, and clinical research institutes.





KEY MARKET BENEFITS

 The study provides an in-depth analysis of the UK in vitro fertilization (IVF) market along with the current trends and future estimations to elucidate the imminent investment pockets.

 The report presents a quantitative analysis of the market from 2018 to 2026 to enable stakeholders to capitalize on the prevailing market opportunities.

 An extensive analysis of the market based on application assists in understanding the trends in the industry.

 The key market players along with their strategies are thoroughly analyzed to understand the competitive outlook of the industry.

KEY MARKET SEGMENTS

UK In Vitro Fertilization Market

By Cycle Type

o Fresh IVF Cycles (non-donor)

o Thawed IVF Cycles (non-donor)

o Donor Egg IVF Cycles

By End User

o Fertility Clinics

o Hospitals

o Surgical Centers

o Clinical Research Institutes

LIST of KEY PLAYERS PRofILED IN THE REPORT

 The Lister Fertility Clinic

 The Bridge Centre

 Chelsea and Westminster Hospital (Assisted Conception Unit)

More Info of Impact Covid19@ https://www.trendsmarketresearch.com/report/covid-19-analysis/13250
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / September 16, 2020 / Foodies are frequently in search of the next IG-worthy destination with good eats and a great ambiance. And tucked in the robust liveliness of Deerfield Beach in Florida is The Modern Rose, an eclectic boutique cafe that promises to give everyone a highly memorable experience.

The shop sits in The Cove Shopping Center. It features choice and locally roasted coffee by Marine Corps-veteran owned, award-winning roaster Calusa Coffee, organic and hard-to-come-by selections of tea with over 50 different varieties, and a varied menu of some of the most Instagrammable dishes. The Modern Rose's specialty is its avocado toast menu and many baked goodies that have had customers returning frequently.

The Cove Center cafe started as a quiet vintage boutique that sold tea to curious guests. Christine, the store's original owner, moved to Georgia to start a bed and breakfast business in the woodland areas. But the vision of creating an eccentric yet warm space for everyone continued through the new owners, Jimena and Emilio Dominguez.

Later on, the concept grew into a coffee and tea shop that has turned into an international sensation. As of late, the boutique cafe has reeled in some franchising interest from individuals who look to bring the concept to places like South America and Nepal. Jimena and Emilio share the simple recipe for the success of The Modern Rose. "What it takes is keeping a timeless approach of quality, shopping fresh every day, and treating every guest like family."

The young entrepreneurs have come far as business owners since the founding of their sensational establishment. Recently, US Air Force veteran Emilio joined the US Reporter's 30 Under 30 Entrepreneurs. When asked what was next for them and their thriving venture, all they had to say was a resounding and straightforward, "More."

The concept store with a twist has some of the most unique and vivacious aesthetics. This is thanks to the company's designer,Lindsay Bolton, who has helped them bring their creative ideas to life by curating menus, logos, and implementing strategic design planning.

The Modern Rose has picked up the interest not just of its regulars, but also of the community. In recent times, it received recognition as the Best Cafe of the City and Best Desserts in the City. The shop is also rated five-stars on websites like Google, Yelp, Facebook, TripAdvisor, and Uber Eats. The cafe is often the go-to spot for many of the most well-known real estate moguls, YouTube celebrities, and social media influencers. Yet in all, The Modern Rose is a place for all who look for a great experience and great food and drinks.

The cafe's menu features a variety of highly creative and delicious eats like an Elote-style avocado toast, a classic peanut butter and jelly sandwich served on brioche, a vegan bruschetta, and an exceptional egg sandwich with a twist, to name a few. Their drink selections of coffee-based and tea-based beverages are also some of the best tasting in the area. The Modern Rose has the most popular Cinnamon Mocha Latte. Another of their specialties is a drink called Dragonfly, a hot pink tropical tea with organic pitaya and lemonade.

Most of the cafe's selections can be made gluten-free, which has been a significant plus for many of their health-conscious patrons. Their store packaging is compostable, and a sizable amount of their profits go to local charities. Overall, The Modern Rose is a highly sustainable business that looks to serve up quality in a highly conscious manner.

Company Name: The Modern Rose

Email: AUniqueCafe@gmail.com

Phone Number: (954) 405-8448

Website: AUniqueCafe.co

SOURCE: The Modern Rose

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/605944/The-Modern-Rose-A-Creative-Spark-of-Happiness-in-a-Cup
A Vietnam veteran's obituary included a swipe at Donald Trump and his alleged comments that military members in World War I were "suckers" and "losers."

The commentary was made as part of the obituary for Vietnam veteran Mark Schroeder, who was 70 when he died. Mr Schroeder served in the US Army from 1969 until 1971.

Mr Schroeder is described as a "hero," a "father," and as a "teacher" before the obituary turns its attention to the president's alleged comments.

"One thing he was not, Mr Trump, was a sucker or a loser! He was a proud veteran till the day he died," the obituary read.

The Atlantic first reported Mr Trump's alleged comments. According to the publication, Mr Trump cancelled a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in France in 2018. The cemetery is the resting place of Americans who died during World War I fighting in France.

After cancelling thee event, Mr Trump is alleged to have said "Why should I go to that cemetery? It's filled with losers."

Unnamed officials leaking the story to The Atlantic said he also referred to the 1,800 US Marines who died in the World War I battle at Bellau Wood as "suckers."

After the story broke, Mr Trump denied ever making the comments, and his base rallied to his defense. However, Jennifer Griffin, Fox News' national security correspondent, said other unnamed officials shared similar remarks the president has made with her.

"According to one former senior Trump administration official: 'When the President spoke about the Vietnam War, he said, 'It was a stupid war. Anyone who went was a sucker,'" Ms Griffin wrote on Twitter.

She reported that Mr Trump allegedly struggled to understand why anyone would join the military in the first place.

"This former official heard the President say about American veterans: 'What's in it for them? They don't make any money,'" she wrote. "I read the source a few quotes from The Atlantic article. This former Trump admin official said, 'The president would say things like that. He doesn't know why people join the military. He would muse, 'Why do they do it?'"

Since Mr Schroeder's obituary was published, people - including those who did not know him - have been posting comments to offer their sympathies to the family and to state their appreciation for his military service.
More money will be earmarked for New Jersey nursing homes and their workers, under a package of legislative reforms signed into law Wednesday in response to the deadly COVID-19 pandemic that killed so many in the states long-term care facilities.

However, several other measures proposed in the wake of the shockingly high death toll among nursing home residents as well as those who cared for them are still being fought over in the Statehouse  including a long-debated push to mandate minimum staffing levels in often understaffed nursing homes.

These are big steps forward to make sure that we live, we learn; that we can address what was an uneven performance in that industry and put some pieces in place that will have permanent significance and allow us to weather future storms, said Gov. Phil Murphy before signing the four bills in a ceremony at the Trenton War Memorial.

Murphys administration has been under fire for months over its handling of the nursing home crisis here.

While nursing homes across the country were devastated by the pandemic, with at least 50,000 deaths nationwide, New Jersey has had the highest rate of death per capita, according to federal data. As of Wednesday, 6,757 residents and 121 staff members have been killed by the virus in the state, which has reported outbreaks in 695 long-term care facilities.

Earlier in the day, veterans groups along with dozens of healthcare workers and relatives of residents who died gathered outside the states own Veterans Memorial Home at Menlo Park, demanding an investigation into the deaths of at least 65 residents and one staff member  one of the highest tolls in New Jersey.

There has not been enough movement to improve things there, said Gary White of the Marine Corps League, who helped organize the protest.

He said veterans in the nursing home, whether they fought in war or served in peacetime, deserved far better.

You dont need a ticker tape parade. They just need to be treated with dignity in their final days, White said.

Nearly half of the lab-confirmed deaths from the coronavirus in New Jersey to date have been in nursing homes, according to state Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli. An investigation by NJ Advance Media earlier this year based on internal records and interviews with players behind the scenes, showed the state failed to react fast enough or take aggressive actions to curb the spread of the outbreak in nursing facilities.

SETTING NEW MANDATES

The bills approved by Murphy included A4547, which allocated $62.3 million for a nine-month Medicaid rate increase that would raise direct care worker salaries and buy personal protective equipment. Also approved was A4482, which would raise the minimum wage for direct care staff in long-term care facilities to $3 higher than state minimum wage, beginning in July 2021. In addition, it would give the Department of Human Services authority to set a still-controversial minimum direct care loss ratio that would dictate how much profit is allowed versus the amount spent on workers' salaries.

The package also creates a so-called Long-Term Care Emergency Operations Center in the state Department of Health. Under A4476, the center will serve as a centralized command center to respond to future outbreaks in long-term care facilities including state psychiatric hospitals, as well as home health care providers. And under a fourth bill, A4481, the state will establish a task force to develop recommendations to improve the safety and quality in long-term care.

Those bills came after the administration hired outside consultants in May to assess the states response to the coronavirus in long-term care facilities and come up with recommendations.

We were crushed, like every American state by COVID, deaths  especially long-term care facilities. That includes both residents and staff members, Murphy said. It spread like dry wood in a forest fire.

The governor said the state must not only learn from what happened, but put in place pieces to make sure this never happens again.

Acknowledging the rally at the states veterans home in Menlo Park, Murphy said earlier in the day at his latest coronavirus briefing he did not blame people for being upset about the outbreaks there and other long-term care facilities.

We have complete sympathy, he said. We need to make sure we hold the mirror up to them, and ourselves.

With the signing of the reform legislation, nursing home officials said while they were on board with most of the measures, they took issue with the impact the so-called minimum direct care loss ratio would have on already financially troubled facilities.

Jonathan Dolan, CEO of the Health Care Association of New Jersey, which represents long-term care providers in the state, said there was appreciation for the administrations efforts on providing COVID-19 emergency relief funding and other mechanisms meant to improve the stability and resiliency of the industry.

But he noted that the federal CARES Act funding that nursing centers received earlier this year does not even cover the additional costs that centers faced responding to COVID-19, adding that the recently passed state funding is mostly dedicated to wage increases for certified nurse aides.

The balance of funding is to be directed to COVID-related costs. We are not permitted to use this funding for anything other than this, Dolan said.

He and others raised objections to the issue of setting a direct care loss ratio, which was among the measures signed into law on Wednesday.

Murphy, in explaining the issue, said that in its most simple terms, a bar would be set on how much are you putting at the point of attack, in regard to patients and residents, as opposed to what goes to overhead and other items.

Were going to require a certain commitment to that, the governor said.

Dolan called the provision constitutionally questionable, asking whether the state could set such ratios on revenues outside of Medicaid.

Milly Silva, executive vice president of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, which represents 8,000 nursing home workers in New Jersey, applauded the reform package approved by the governor.

For too long, nursing homes in our state have operated without proper oversight and some have put their bottom line before the needs and wellbeing of their vulnerable patients, she said. As we head into the fall, these reforms will help protect nursing home patients against future viral outbreaks by establishing better statewide coordination among facilities and developing stronger safety requirements.

Silva said legislative package signed by the governor recognizes the importance of investing in these frontline caregivers.

Restructuring our nursing home industry cannot end here, however, Silva added, pointing specifically to the legislation on the table in the Assembly to set minimum staff ratios of certified nurse aides. She said that advocates and residents have all pointed to deplorable staffing conditions as a primary failure to meeting residents' physical and emotional needs, both before and during this pandemic.

On Thursday, meanwhile, the state Assembly Appropriations Committee is set to debate several additional legislative measures. Among them would include a requirement that hospitals and nursing homes maintain 90-day supply of personal protection equipment such as masks, gowns and gloves; a mandate that nursing homes maintain a supply of personal protection equipment for residents; and the proposal to set minimum certified nurse aide-to-resident ratios in nursing homes, which legislators failed to pass in January.

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Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com.
Hundreds of shoppers flooded Aldi supermarkets in Melbourne for its special buys French linen sale.

Large queues of bargain hunters were pictured outside several stores on Wednesday morning, despite COVID-19 restrictions.

Most customers were seen wearing face masks, but the crowds were pictured standing close together as they waited to get their hands on the luxury French flax linen sets for less than $100.

One woman said it did not seem like there was any system in place ensuring social distancing measures were maintained.

Many onlookers were left shocked as the city still in Stage Four lockdown as the state's coronavirus cases remain high, with 42 new cases and eight deaths recorded on Wednesday.

Large queues of bargain hunters were pictured outside several Melbourne stores on Wednesday morning, despite COVID-19 restrictions (Pictured: Aldi's Preston store)

While most customers were seen wearing face masks, the crowds were pictured standing close together as they waited to get their hands on the luxury French flax linen sets for less than $100

Residents are still only allowed to leave their homes for work, exercise and shopping for food or other essential items.

Erica Cervini hit out at Aldi, saying it was 'extremely negligent' to allow this type of gathering to happen during lockdown.

'A friend has sent me a pic of well over 100 in line outside an Aldi in north of Melbourne for special buys of French linen...This is extremely negligent of you to do this during lockdown/pandemic,' she wrote on Twitter.

Another shopper said they drove to a store in north Melbourne hoping to grab some linen but drove home once they saw the massive lines.

'I couldn't imagine how they'd let all those people in to bunch up together and gather around the linen shelf searching for sizes and colours,' she told the Leader.

'I just drove home again. I don't need linen that much.'

Aldi Australia will bring back its luxurious French linen collection for a fraction of the price that's set to rival high-end brands costing hundreds of dollars (picture of the quilt cover set for $89.99 for queen size or $99.99 for king)

Erica Cervini hit out at Aldi, saying it was 'extremely negligent' to allow this type of gathering to happen during lockdown

An Aldi spokesman said the company has implemented a series of social distancing measures across all stores, including 1.5 metre social distancing floor markers at checkouts to ensure staff and customer safety.

'Occasionally, heightened anticipation for a particular product has attracted more customers at once than usual, resulting in large lines. We need our customers to respect social distancing measures at all times, even when they are standing outside our stores.

'While the majority do follow the correct process, it is disappointing to see instances where social distancing measures are not adhered to.

'While our store teams do their best to enforce customer flows, such as limiting the number of shoppers in our stores, we also ask our customers to remember to keep at least 1.5 metres apart from each other at all times, both in and outside of our stores.

The French linen sheet sets, which includes flat sheet, fitted sheet and two pillowcases, will also return to shelves for an affordable price tag of $89.99 for a queen size or $99.99 for king

In addition to the collection, there's a $29.99 four-piece towel set, which includes two bath towels, hand towel and a face washer

'This measure is in place to ensure the utmost safety of our customers while they shop with us. We ask everyone to show cooperation, patience and understanding when shopping at ALDI.

The supermarket giant has come under fire previously for hosting its sales during the lockdown.

In July shoppers desperate to get their hands on an Aldi special buy kids table formed huge lines outside one of the chain's supermarkets in Melbourne.

Images posted on social media showed a long line of people queuing for up to an hour before Aldi's doors even opened.

'The lines this morning were ridiculous but was worth the wait. Bought my little man the kids table and stool set and he loves it!' one mum wrote.

While the mother managed to quickly get into the store and purchase the $69.99 table, she admitted others were not adhering to social distancing rules.

A huge sale at Bonds at the same shopping centre also attracted crowds.

'You should have seen people going through the Bonds stuff, they were literally on top of each other. I didn't bother looking, coronavirus right there!' she wrote.

The woman was slammed for going out and standing in line during lockdown to get a non-essential item such as a table.

Other mothers showed pictured of their Aldi Special Buys hauls on Wednesday (pictured), including kids' toys and clothes

Shoppers desperate to get their hands on a children's table breached lockdown rules and flocked to Aldi in Melbourne's north on Wednesday morning (pictured, left and right)

'I won't bother reading your comments. I'm just happy I got my hands on the table and chairs,' she replied.

While other mothers shared their similar experiences, some were not impressed with how relaxed shoppers were.

'Yes, ridiculous lines for an area in stage 3 lockdown!' one woman wrote.

'That's a ridiculous line. No wonder why we are in this situation now,' another mother said.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Aldi for additional comment.
There has been no recent deterioration of bilateral relations with neighbouring countries like Nepal, China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afganistan and Myanmar, the Centre has said.

Trinamool Congress MP Prof Saugata Roy raised the question of whether relations with neighbours soured following recent spats particularly with China (over tensions at LAC); with Nepal (over a new map Kathmandu released that incorporated Indian territories as its own); apprehensions in Bangladesh over India's proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC).

Roy also asked whether China is keeping good relations with any of those countries and the steps taken initiating for cordial relations with neighbouring countries of India.

To this, Minister of States for External Affairs, V Muraleedharan, in his written reply said the government accords the highest priority to Indias relations with neighbouring countries and is an active political and economic partner of its neighbours, involved in various projects, including development projects with these countries. "India also has extensive education, culture, trade and investment linkages with neighbouring countries."

"Indias relations with other countries stand on their own footing and are independent of the relations of those countries with third countries," Muraleedharan said, in reference to China.

China has been cosying up to South Asian countries to try to maximise influence through infrastructure projects under the ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). India has kept out of this programme and has sought to undertake its own path through joint ventures in social and physical infrastructure projects in these countries, as an alternative to Beijing's infamous 'debt-trap' policy.

READ | India And Nepal Hold High-level Talks; First Since Oli-induced Strain In Ties

READ | Amid LAC Faceoff, Indo-China Trade Deficit Reduces To $5.48 Billion In April-June 2020

India and its neighbours in recent months

Notably, India and China are locked in a months-long tense standoff in eastern Ladakh across the Line of Actual Control. New Delhi has also imposed restrictions on trade with the northern neighbour and has banned dozens of Chinese-owned apps.

Relations with Pakistan remains strained as Islamabad has notoriously drummed up Jammu and Kashmir in multilateral bodies  only to taste dust from Indians  and continues to foster terror groups across the Line of Control to foment trouble in India.

The ties between India and Nepal came under strain after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated an 80-km-long strategically crucial road connecting the Lipulekh pass with Dharchula in Uttarakhand on May 8. Nepal protested the inauguration of the road claiming that it passed through its territory. Days later, Nepal came out with the new map showing Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura as its territories. In June, Nepal's Parliament approved the new political map which India termed as untenable and "artificial enlargement" of territorial claims.

Meanwhile, relations with Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar have remained steady as India has extended medical, technical and monetary aid throughout the Coronavirus pandemic. PM Narendra Modi had previously dialled leaders of those countries and assured assistance in response to the health crisis, which received warm gratitude from his counterparts.

(PTI Photo)

READ | 'Revived Grassroot Democracy In J-K,' Says India At UNHRC, Takes A Dig At Pakistan

READ | Sri Lankan PM Condoles Pranab Mukherjee's Death, Hails His 'benevolent Leadership'
DUBLIN, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Pulse Oximeter Market 2019-2028" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

According to this report the global pulse oximeter market is predicted to progress at a CAGR of 5.57% during the forecasting period 2019-2028.



The upsurge in healthcare spending across the world is primarily driving the growth of the global pulse oximeter market. The ever-increasing aging population is fueling the demand for these devices due to the prevalence of chronic diseases in this age sector. Also, the rate of occurrence of respiratory diseases is on a rise, which is also likely to boost the global market growth. Portable pulse oximeters are increasingly gaining traction and are estimated to create new business opportunities for the market. However, lack of awareness regarding the use of these devices is hampering the market growth. Besides, stringent regulations introduced for patient safety are also impacting the growth of the pulse oximeter market.



The global market report covers the countries from the Middle East and Africa, North America, Europe, the Asia-Pacific and Latin America.



The Middle East and Africa is likely to be the fastest-growing region for the pulse oximeter market in the projected period. There is a high incidence of asthma reported in countries like Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and South Africa. This is due to factors like excessive tobacco smoking and heavy exposure to dust & sand storms in this region. Besides, the region is witnessing extensive research activities for the advancement of different applications of pulse oximeters. These factors are likely to influence the regional market growth positively.



The major companies in the pulse oximeter market are BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), Smiths Medical Group Limited, Cas Medical Systems Inc (Acquired by Edwards Lifesciences), Nonin, Zensorium, Invacare Corporation, Medtronic, Opto Circuits Limited, Koninklijke Philips NV, Nihon Kohden Corporation, Welch Allyn, MASIMO, Spacelabs Healthcare, GE Healthcare (General Electric Company), and Omron Corporation.



Established in 1897, BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) is a global medical technology company involved in the development, production and marketing of laboratory equipment, medical devices and diagnostic products. The company has a wide product portfolio, including respiratory ventilation & diagnostics equipment, syringes & pen needles, infusion pumps & disposables and instruments to detect infectious diseases, cancers and healthcare-associated infections. The company serves the pharmaceutical industry, healthcare institutions, clinical laboratories, life sciences researchers and the general public. The Alaris EtCO2 Module, provided by the company, when integrated with Alaris PCA Module, is used for continuous respiratory monitoring.



Key Topics Covered:



1. Global Pulse Oximeter Market - Summary



2. Industry Outlook

2.1. Market Definition

2.2. Porter's Five Forces Model

2.2.1. Threat of New Entrants

2.2.2. Threat of Substitute Products

2.2.3. Bargaining Power of Buyers

2.2.4. Bargaining Power of Suppliers

2.2.5. Competitive Rivalry

2.3. Key Insight

2.4. Market Attractiveness Index

2.5. Political & Legal, Economic and Technological Outlook

2.6. Utilization of Pulse Oximeter in Covid-19 Monitoring

2.7. Vendor Scorecard

2.8. Market Drivers

2.8.1. Surging Healthcare Spending

2.8.2. Growing Aging Population

2.9. Market Restraints

2.9.1. Small Players Offering Low-Cost, Poor Quality Devices

2.9.2. Lack of Cognizance Concerning the Usage of Pulse Oximeter

2.10. Market Opportunities

2.10.1. Surging Prevalence of Respiratory Diseases

2.10.2. Increasing Demand for Portable Pulse Oximeter

2.11. Market Challenges

2.11.1. Stringent Regulation



3. Global Pulse Oximeter Market Outlook - by Component

3.1. Table-Top/Bedside Pulse Oximeter

3.2. Fingertip Pulse Oximeter

3.3. Handheld Pulse Oximeter

3.4. Pediatric Pulse Oximeter

3.5. Wrist-Worn Pulse Oximeter



4. Global Pulse Oximeter Market Outlook - by Industry Vertical

4.1. Hospitals & Other Healthcare Facilities

4.2. Homecare



5. Geographical Analysis

5.1. North America

5.1.1. Market by Component

5.1.2. Market by Industry Vertical

5.1.3. Country Outlook

5.1.3.1. The United States

5.1.3.2. Canada

5.2. Europe

5.2.1. Market by Component

5.2.2. Market by Industry Vertical

5.2.3. Country Outlook

5.2.3.1. Germany

5.2.3.2. France

5.2.3.3. United Kingdom

5.2.3.4. Italy

5.2.3.5. Russia

5.2.3.6. Spain

5.2.3.7. Rest of Europe

5.3. Asia-Pacific

5.3.1. Market by Component

5.3.2. Market by Industry Vertical

5.3.3. Country Outlook

5.3.3.1. Japan

5.3.3.2. China

5.3.3.3. India

5.3.3.4. Australia & New Zealand

5.3.3.5. South Korea

5.3.3.6. Asean Countries

5.3.3.7. Rest of Asia-Pacific

5.4. Latin America

5.4.1. Market by Component

5.4.2. Market by Industry Vertical

5.4.3. Country Outlook

5.4.3.1. Brazil

5.4.3.2. Mexico

5.4.3.3. Rest of Latin America

5.5. Middle East and Africa

5.5.1. Market by Component

5.5.2. Market by Industry Vertical

5.5.3. Country Outlook

5.5.3.1. Saudi Arabia

5.5.3.2. Turkey

5.5.3.3. United Arab Emirates

5.5.3.4. South Africa

5.5.3.5. Rest of Middle East & Africa



6. Company Profiles

6.1. GE Healthcare (General Electric Company)

6.2. Invacare Corporation

6.3. Omron Corporation

6.4. Nihon Kohden Corporation

6.5. Smiths Medical Group Limited

6.6. Zensorium

6.7. BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company)

6.8. Welch Allyn

6.9. Nonin

6.10. Opto Circuits Limited

6.11. Masimo

6.12. Koninklijke Philips Nv

6.13. Spacelabs Healthcare

6.14. Cas Medical Systems Inc (Acquired by Edwards Lifesciences)

6.15. Medtronic



7. Research Methodology & Scope

7.1. Research Scope & Deliverables

7.1.1. Objectives of Study

7.1.2. Scope of Study

7.2. Sources of Data

7.2.1. Primary Data Sources

7.2.2. Secondary Data Sources

7.3. Research Methodology

7.3.1. Evaluation of Proposed Market

7.3.2. Identification of Data Sources

7.3.3. Assessment of Market Determinants

7.3.4. Data Collection

7.3.5. Data Validation & Analysis



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/z1093e

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



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The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday directed that the body of a COVID-19 patient will be handed over to the family for cremation after completion of hospital formalities, provided post mortem of the dead body is not required. Observing that the right to dignity and fair treatment under Article 21 of the Constitution is not only available to a living person but also to his mortal remains after his demise, the court said that it is of the view that the right to live a dignified life extends up to the point of death including the dignified procedure of death.

We are inclined to interpret the phrase dignified procedure of death in an expansive manner so as to included ignified disposal of the human remains of a deceased," a division bench comprising Chief Justice T B N Radhakrishnan and Justice Arijit Banerjee said. It directed that the body should be secured in a body bag, the face end of which should be preferably transparent.

Disposal of a human body, whether or not the person dies of COVID-19, whether by cremation or burial, should be done with due respect and solemness," the court observed. The bench directed that the face end of the body may be unzipped by the staff at the crematorium or burial ground to allow the relatives to see the body for one last time.

At this time, religious rituals that do not require touching of the body should be allowed, the court directed, noting that the people handling the body shall take standard precautions like wearing masks, gloves, etc. The court directed that the persons handling the body shall go directly from the hospitals to the crematorium or burial ground and not to anywhere else including the home of the deceased.

Passing the order on a PIL, the division bench directed that the government should prescribe additional reasonable measures as may be advised by medical experts. Observing that traditions and cultural aspects are inherent to the last rites of a persons body, the bench said that the right to a decent funeral can also be traced to Article 25 of the Constitution which provides for freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion subject to public order, morality and health.

The court observed that the traditional belief in the country is that unless the last rites are performed before the burial/cremation, the soul of the deceased will not rest in peace. Noting that this belief is rooted and that it also has an emotional and sentimental aspect, the court said that it firmly believes that the family members of a deceased who is infected with COVID-19 should not be deprived of the right to perform the last rites, subject to them taking all necessary precautionary measures.
- The APC has alleged that there is a link between Governor Obaseki and an article insulting the Oba of Benin

- The party claimed the verbal attacks on the monarch began after the September 2 peace meeting in the state

- But a spokesperson for Obaseki has distanced the governor from the reported article

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The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the incumbent governor of Edo state, Godwin Obaseki of regularly insulting and verbally attacking the Oba of Benin, Ewuare II.

The Edo APC in a statement accused the governor of sponsoring a social media attack on the palace of the Oba of Benin.

Prince John Mayak, the chairman of the Edo APC media campaign council claimed that the social media attack on the Oba of Benin began after the September 2 peace meeting the monarch organised between politicians in the state, The Nation reported.

APC accuses Obaseki of insulting the Oba of Benin, Ewuare II. Photo credits: Oba palace Benin

Source: Twitter

The party said the people of Edo state will punishment Obaseki for disrespecting the monarch by voting him out at the September 19 governorship election.

But a spokesperson for Obaseki has distanced the governor from the reported article against the Oba.

The governors special adviser on media and communication strategy, Crusoe Osagie insisted that there was no connection between the state government and the disparaging article.

READ ALSO: Edo 2020: Everything you need to know about the upcoming elections

He said the Edo state governor has a deep respect for the monarch and would not undermine the Oba of Benin.

The Governor Obaseki-led government holds our royal father (Oba of Benin) in very high esteem and will never be part of any unholy plot to attack or undermine him," Osagie stated.

He said desperate people were trying to link the said article to the Edo state government for political reasons.

Meanwhile, an ardent supporter of Governor Godwin Obaseki and publisher, Lukman Akemokue, has said the candidate of APC, Osagie Ize-Iyamu and the ex-national chairman of the Adams Oshiomhole will face defeat in the hands of well-meaning Edo people at the poll.

According to Akemolue, Governor Obaseki's victory at the forthcoming Edo governorship election on Saturday, September 19 is sacrosanct.

Akemokue who spoke to journalists in Benin city, the Edo state capital, said Governor Obaseki is not contesting against Osagie Ize-Iyamu, but Oshiomhole.

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PORTLAND, Maine - A rural church wedding and reception on a beautiful day in the shadow of Mount Katahdin was no doubt a happy day. But it has spread misery ever since.

That single event on Aug. 7 is linked to outbreaks in at least two other locations in Maine, with more than 170 people contracting the virus and seven deaths since.

Dr. Nirav Shah, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control, said the single event has the power to undo much of the states progress during the pandemic. The virus can become the uninvited guest at every single wedding, party or event in Maine, he warned.

The super spreader event started with wedding attendees in the Katahdin region and spread to the community at large and to a nursing home in Madison. An attendee worked at the York County Jail, 220 miles (355 kilometres) away, where there are more than 70 cases. The state is also investigating an outbreak at a church in Sanford, home of the weddings officiant.

None of those who died actually attended the wedding and reception. The first of the deaths was reported in Millinocket, where no one has tested positive for several weeks, the town manager said Wednesday. Six other deaths were residents of Maplecrest Rehabilitation and Living Center in Madison.

The ramifications were swift.

Across the state, brides and grooms scrambled as event venues reassessed safety rules during the pandemic. The reception venue lost its business license, briefly, and hired a public relations firm. The pastor hired a law firm that specializes in religious liberty.

The outbreak changed the calculus of state health officials, who urged renewed vigilance in a state that had largely controlled the virus previously, Shah said.

It is spreading in the community in and around York County with remarkable force, he said.

The epicenter was an unlikely place. Millinocket is a rural community that serves as gateway to North Woods made famous by Henry David Thoreau. Prior to the wedding, the community had no cases of the coronavirus.

It unfolded on a sunny day in August with a wedding at the Tri Town Baptist Church in East Millinocket and a reception at the Big Moose Inn in Millinocket, population 4,400.

There were 65 guests at the Big Moose Inn -- violating the states 50-person limit for indoor events -- and many attendees didnt wear masks or socially distance from each other, state officials said. Other guests not affiliated with the wedding brought the number to more than 100.

The officiant at the wedding, the Rev. Todd Bell of Calvary Baptist Church in Sanford, joined several members of his congregation. About 10 of his congregants also have tested positive for the virus. He declined to speak to The Associated Press.

Bell continued to hold services in Sanford and bristled over attacks aimed at him on social media. In one sermon, he urged people to put their trust in God over government and questioned the wisdom of masks, likening their effectiveness to a chain-link fence trying to keep out mosquitoes.

On a video, which is no longer public on YouTube, he said hes been reviled because of the wedding.

Indeed many people have questioned the wisdom of having such a gathering in the midst of a pandemic.

Tragic is the word for things that we dont have any control over. In this case, we dont have control over the virus but this pastor absolutely had the choice whether to perform the wedding, said the Rev. Erika Hewitt, a Unitarian Universalist in Bath.

Already struggling, Maines summer wedding industry tightened rules, forcing people to pare down guest lists, or cancel events altogether.

In Belfast, Thomas Roberts nearly blew a gasket when the Boathouse notified his daughter the venue might cancel her wedding.

We have people already paid for travel arrangements, airline arrangements, rooms, and COVID-19 testing before travelling. Dont mess with my daughters wedding less than a month before it, he said on social media.

His daughter, Amber, said shed already reduced her guest list, and informed guests of Maines quarantine and testing requirements. Her wedding is outdoors but she may have to drop more people from an indoor reception.

I worry and stress out very easily, said the bride-to-be. Were trying very hard to follow their guidelines so we can have a happy day.

___

Associated Press writer Patrick Whittle contributed to this report.
When a wooden statue of Melania Trump was erected near her hometown in Slovenia last year, it was mocked as looking like a Smurfette or a scarecrow. Then it was set on fire.

Now, the artist who commissioned it is back with a new one  and this sculpture, made of bronze, is intended to have a more enduring legacy.

With the Black Lives Matter protests, theres been a tendency to rip down monuments, so I wanted to install a permanent one, the artist, Brad Downey, an American, said in a telephone interview from Slovenia on Wednesday.

Although Mr. Downey said he did not support President Trump or his anti-immigrant policies, the artist said that Mrs. Trumps origins obliquely contradicted her husbands views. Weve got a president who is against immigration, but his wife is an example of successful immigration, Mr. Downey said.
As the 2020 elections draw nearer, every community is insisting on its pound of flesh from the national cake.

It is in this direction that residents of Santasi-Apire and Hemang in the Ashanti Region have staged a demonstration meant to bare teeth at the government over the bad roads in the area.

The aggrieved residents accused the government of neglecting the area despite having declared 2020 the year of roads.

They have attributed recent accidents in some communities to the nature of the roads.

The residents have threatened to boycott the December polls if the roads are not constructed before the elections.

Residents also say their plight worsens, especially during the rainy season due to the struggles community members go through.

One man said lives were at stake because of the nature of the roads.

People are dying here. Accidents are occurring here. Even if a pregnant woman should go to the hospital she cannot go, he said to Citi News.

Others said the effects of the poor road extended to their home lives.

The women here are suffering and we are saying no roads no vote.

The roads are not proper so what we are saying is that this year we are not voting. If the road is not completed for us, we are not voting, one woman complained.

Other residents said the communities simply wanted their share of the development promised them.

What we know is that we are also entitled to the national cake. If the cake is being shared, they should also give us our portion.

---CitinewsRoom
Motorola G9 Play comes to Europe at 160/170, Moto G9 Plus and E7 Plus will follow soon

Three new mid-range and entry-level offerings from Motorola have arrived in Europe, following launches in Brazil and India.

As expected the Moto G9 Play (known simply as the G9 in India) can now be found on the Old Continent. In the UK its price is set to 160 while on the mainland its 170. Thats the price in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, anyway.

Moto G9 Play prices in Europe Belgium 170 France 190 Germany 170 Italy 230 the Netherlands 170 Poland PLN 800 Spain 200 the UK 160

The Moto G9 Plus will be available soon, though no stock is available anywhere in Europe yet and the price isnt listed. The European price should be under 350, which is how much the more capable Moto G 5G costs.

The same goes for the Moto E7 Plus  no stock, no price. In terms of specs the E7 Plus and G9 Play are nearly identical, save for the chipset, Snapdragon 460 and 662, respectively. Expect the pricing to be similar.
Hot springs may have been used by early human ancestors to boil food around 1.8 million years ago  long before they mastered cooking with fire, a study suggested.

The Olduvai Gorge in northern Tanzania has produced some of the oldest remains of early human ancestors known to date, along with some of the tools they used.

Researchers from Spain and the US have now found evidence that the rift valley also contained a number of hot springs near the sites of the early hominids.

This proximity, the team reported, raises the possibility that our distant relatives took advantage of the springs to boil kills like wildebeest, as well as roots and tubers.

Hot springs may have been used by early human ancestors to boil food (as depicted) around 1.8 million years ago  long before they mastered cooking with fire, a study suggested

'As far as we can tell, this is the first time researchers have put forth concrete evidence for the possibility that people were using hydrothermal environments as a resource,' said paper author and geobiologist Roger Summons of MIT.

In these settings, he added, 'animals wouldve been gathering and [...] the potential to cook was available.'

The researchers had originally set out to understand why a sandy layer of 1.7 million-year-old rock found as a 1.9 mile (3 kilometre) outcrop in the Olduvai Gorge was so strikingly different from the 1.8 million year old layer of dark clay it overlay.

'Something was changing in the environment, so we wanted to understand what happened and how that impacted humans,' said paper author and archaeologist Ainara Sistiaga also of MIT.

She collected rock samples from the gorge, which she analysed for the presence of certain lipids  a type of large organic molecule  that can provide signs of the kind of vegetation that would have grown in the region at the time.

It is thought that  around 1.7 million years ago  East Africa gradually dried up and, as a result, transitioned from a wet, tree-population environment to drier grasslands.

'You can reconstruct something about the plants that were there by the carbon numbers and the isotopes, and thats what our lab specialises in, and why Ainara was doing it in our lab,' Professor Summons said.

'But then she discovered other classes of compounds that were totally unexpected.'

The lipids, the team realised, had not been produced by plants, but by bacteria  and in fact were identical to the lipids released by microorganisms in the hot springs within the Yellowstone National Park, in the United States.

'Some of the samples Ainara brought back from this sandy layer in Olduvai Gorge had these same assemblages of bacterial lipids that we think are unambiguously indicative of high-temperature water,' Professor Summons explained.

One such bacterium, he said, is called 'Thermocrinis ruber'  and it typically lives in the outflow channels of hot springs.

'They wont even grow unless the temperature is above 80 degrees Celsius [176 degrees Fahrenheit],' he added  suggesting that hot springs were likely present in the Olduvai Gorge, which is known to have been a geologically-active region.

The Olduvai Gorge in northern Tanzania, pictured, has produced some of the oldest remains of early human ancestors known to date, along with some of the tools they used

Researchers from Spain and the US have now found evidence that the gorge also contained a number of hot springs near the sites of the early hominids. Pictured, Sistiaga collects samples

Exactly if and how our distant ancestors used hot springs to cook, however, remains a hard question to answer with certainty, although the team think that the early humans could have dipped food in the springs to make them more palatable.

Equally, animals could have accidentally fallen into the boiling hydrothermal waters  allowing humans to later fish them out as a 'precooked' meal.

'If there was a wildebeest that fell into the water and was cooked, why wouldnt you eat it?' Dr Sistiaga asked.

'We can prove in other sites that maybe hot springs were present, but we would still lack evidence of how humans interacted with them.'

'Thats a question of behaviour, and understanding the behaviour of extinct species almost 2 million years ago is very difficult,' she added.

'I hope we can find other evidence that supports at least the presence of this resource in other important sites for human evolution.'

The full findings of the study were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
At least 11 people, including women and children, were killed after a boat carrying over 30 devotees to a temple in Rajasthan's Bundi district capsized in the Chambal river on Wednesday. Three people are still missing while 20 devotees have been rescued.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the deaths due to the boat capsize. Taking to micro-blogging site Twitter, the PM said, "Anguished by the capsizing of a boat in Kota, Rajasthan. My thoughts are with those who have lost their near and dear ones."

Live TV

Belonging to the Khatoli Itawa area of Kota, they were going to the Kamleshwar temple in Indergarh of Bundi to offer prayers, said news agency PTI. The accident took place around 8.45 am near Gotra village under the Khatoli police station, about 110 kilometres from Kota district headquarters.

Anguished by the capsizing of a boat in Kota, Rajasthan. My thoughts are with those who have lost their near and dear ones: PM @narendramodi  PMO India (@PMOIndia) September 16, 2020

The depth of the river where the boat overturned is around 40-45 feet, an official said, adding rescue operation was launched by the SDRF and the NDRF. "At least 11 people have been killed in the mishap in Khatoli while the search for three others is underway," District Collector Ujjaval Rathore said, adding that 20 people were rescued. According to local residents, 35-50 people were on board with 14 to 15 motorbikes when the accident took place, he added.

The district collector said prima facie, a weak structure of the boat caused the mishap. Area DSP Shubhkaran said the bodies were handed over to families after an autopsy and they have lodged a case against the boat's Sailor and owner. Describing the incident as "sorrowful and unfortunate", Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on his Twitter handle expressed condolences to the aggrieved families. The chief minister announced a compensation of Rs 1 lakh to the kin of each deceased.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, who is an MP from the Kota-Bundi constituency of Rajasthan, too expressed grief over the incident. Local Congress MLA Ramnarayan Meena expressed sorrow over the tragedy and demanded that the relief amount be increased. "I have written to CM Ashok Gehlot to increase the compensation," Meena told PTI, alleging that negligence by local officials resulted in the mishap. When local officials were aware of the movement of the boat, they should have informed their seniors," he told PTI.
MUMBAI : State-run Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd may acquire its partner Oman Oil Company Ltd's stake in Bharat Oman Refineries Ltd (BORL), a joint venture between the companies, said two officials from BORL.

"We will acquire Oman Oil's stake if they are willing to offer. So far there has been on such communication from Oman Oil," said N Vijayagopal, director finance, BPCL.

BPCL had this June increased its stake in the refinery from 50% to 63%, after converting warrants into shares. BORL thus became a subsidiary of BPCL.

BPCL had made an investment in compulsorily convertible debentures and share warrants of BORL or Bina refinery in Madhya Pradesh. This was equivalent to 24% additional equity stake in BORL. Part of these share warrants, 13%, have been converted to equity. A decision on conversion of the remaining 11% warrants would be taken at a later stage, the company said.

"At the most diluted stage, Oman Oil will be holding 20%-odd stake in the fully diluted capital stake of BORL. So our stake will increase to around 79% with a minor stake being held by the Government of Madhya Pradesh," added Vijayagopal.

In 2015, Oman Oil Co. had expressed its reluctance to put more money in the refinery to fund its 3,000 crore expansion. BPCL, in April 2016, sought government approval to put in more equity to fund the expansion by way of subscription of convertible warrants, giving it the right to convert it into equity shares.

Till 2018-19, in addition to Oman Oil, national oil companies of Kuwait and Abu Dhabi were also in talks with BPCL to buy up to 24% stake in the refinery. But with crude oil prices crashing, talks did not progress.

BORL is a key refinery for BPCL, helping the company serve the northern and central markets in the country. The refinery receives crude supply by a cross-country pipeline from Vadinar to Bina.

Bina refinery has raised its refining capacity in two phases to 7.8 million tones million tonners per annum (mtpa) from the initial 6 mtpa at a cost of 3,072 crore and then to 15 mtpa for an additional investment of 30,000 crore in the next four-five years. The refinery will also set up a petrochemicals unit with a 1.5 mtpa naphtha cracker.

"Bina is a well performing refinery posting handsome gross refining margins. Despite the process of privatisation, we are going ahead with Bina's expansion plans," added Vijayagopal.

BPCL has cut its capital expenditure for this fiscal by 36% from 12500 crore to 8000 crore.

It has decided that any project which has an investment of less than 150 crore is minor project and will be put on hold.

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If walking and talking robots are coming to replace employees at counters, desks and tills, Canadians dont appear to be too concerned about it.

Thats the broad finding in a new survey released Wednesday by the Environics Institute, a research organization that engaged with 5,000 Canadians over the age of 18 between February 28 and April 4.

To find that Canadians dont appear to be overly anxious about how technology is changing the workplace, it was surprising enough, said Andrew Parkin, executive director at the Environics Institute, which partnered with the Future Skills Centre and Ryersons Diversity Institute on the survey.

Theres been a theme among experts that robotics, artificial intelligence and automation would cause disruptions in the job market, Parkin said. According to a recent Statistics Canada study, those most at-risk for automation impacting them are office support workers and workers in the 25 to 54 age range. More highly educated workers and professionals are at a lower risk.

But most survey respondents said they feel positive about technologys impact on their jobs, including 30 per cent who found technology resulted in better pay and more job security.

Two-thirds of those surveyed said that their jobs had changed due to new technology and 83 per cent of that group were more likely to be satisfied with their jobs. Only 75 per cent of those who had seen little or no change said they felt satisfied.

However, some groups including women, and retail and sales workers, were less likely to say that technology resulted in better pay. While 34 per cent of men said that new technology resulted in better pay, only 25 per cent of women agreed. This gap was seen in job security as well, where 37 per cent of men felt more secure due to new technologies, only 28 per cent of women said they felt that way.

Racialized Canadians were more likely to have seen both positive and negative changes due to technology in the workplace, the survey found, and less likely to have seen no change.

This underlines the importance of not overgeneralizing about the experiences of different types of workers, including racialized workers, in Canada, the survey reported.

Many people didnt voluntarily mention automation or new technology as a concern around unemployment, but when asked about it directly, most survey respondents said say it could cause unemployment. Two per cent of those who were worried about unemployment cited new technology as a concern specifically, but when asked about it directly, 71 per cent said it could cause unemployment in Canada.

The survey also asked questions about job security and concerns about unemployment, giving a snapshot of employment just before the start of the pandemic in mid-March.

Half of the survey respondents reported feeling unsure if they or someone in their family could find stable, full-time work. A quarter who had employment said that theyd recently experienced unemployment and an even greater number said they knew someone who had.

The numbers are starker for racialized Canadians and recent immigrants who were found to be twice as likely as those who identified as white to be temporarily employed rather than working full-time. The proportion of those whove experienced recent unemployment was also found to be higher in this group.

The survey began prior to the pandemic when unemployment was relatively low, hovering around 5.7 per cent.

As the pandemic continues to sweep across the country, its left about 1.8 million Canadians unemployed or underemployed, and Ottawa is drawing up plans for an economic recovery ahead of the federal governments throne speech next week.

Researchers like Sunil Johal, a fellow at the Public Policy Forum, an Ottawa-based think tank, says theres no immediate danger robots are coming for our jobs, but there does need to be awareness around keeping job skills relevant in a rapidly digitizing economy.

The pandemic has accelerated the technological changes at work, he said, whether thats around working from home or a shift to services going online instead of in person.

The conversation around automation generally should be one more about job transformation than job elimination, Johal said.

I dont think most people one day are at work and then all of a sudden the next day a robot is wheeled in and they eliminate five people in your office and they dont ever appear again.

As the economy gathers steam, some sectors will be in decline like retail, hospitality and tourism, while others will see higher levels of demand like in health care and warehousing, he said. Many people in Canada are ineligible for publicly funded skills training programs and employer-funded job skills training is declining, said Johal.

This presents a challenge for gig-workers and part-time employees who currently rarely have access to skills training, he said.

How do we make sure were helping workers adjust to that new reality where somebody who may have been working as a bartender for the last 10 years all of a sudden has fairly grim employment prospects?

Arif Jetha, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto researching the future of work, said that things like artificial intelligence and advanced technologies will impact labour at all levels, including white collar workers.

Obviously, thats going to displace workers, and thats going to have an impact on the types of jobs that people are performing and the way that they perform them, he said.

But I think a lot of people also do realize that theres going to be a lot of new jobs that get created as a result.

This requires policy-makers to target groups of people who are likely to be displaced by this information age revolution in the workplace.

Jethas research focuses on people with disabilities who he says could have tons of opportunities in a work environment that has more robots which could take on physical tasks, for example.

But to what extent do these opportunities get translated to those who need them the most? he said.

I suspect the opportunities are more for those who come into the future of work at a place of advantage.

Read more about:
Two cranes collided at a construction site in Austin, Texas, on Wednesday, injuring at least 22 people, authorities said.

Footage posted by TV station KVUE showed two cranes, 150 feet high, tangled several stories above a building under construction a few miles north of downtown in a rapidly growing neighborhood that includes residential, retail and office space.

At least 22 people were hurt, including at least seven who were being treated and prepped for transport to a hospital, Austin-Travis County EMS reported.

It is not yet known what caused the collision. Battalion Chief Mark Bridges said: 'This just happened to be two cranes working, were not sure how or why, but they did get entangled.'

Two cranes are entangled, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2020, in Austin, Texas

A firefighter and a construction worker inspect the damage atop a crane, Wednesday

Two cranes collided at a construction site in Austin, Texas, on Wednesday, injuring at least 22 people, authorities said

At least eight ambulances were headed to the scene.

Commander Mike Benavides told The New York Times one person was seriously injured.

Battalion Chief Bridges added: 'Since they are attached at the top, we dont want the wind to cause further problems. Right now, no one is trapped or injured and we are doing our best to monitor the scene.'

Authorities say two cranes collided at a construction site causing one to partially collapse and injuring at least 22 workers

TV footage had shown one of the crane operators still inside the crane cabin, although it did not appear to be damaged.

Authorities had described it as a 'crane collision' and a 'structural collapse'; they later stressed it was not a collapse.

All of those injured were workers at the site, officials said. Most of the injuries occurred as they left the site, KVUE reports.

The development also includes a children's hospital near the accident site.
MINSK -- A court in Minsk has found two photojournalists -- including one from RFE/RL -- guilty of violating Belarus's law on mass gatherings and sentenced them each to 11 days in jail.

The Frunze district court found RFE/RL photojournalist Uladz Hrydzin and another photographer, Alyaksandr Vasyukovich, guilty during a trial on September 16. A third man, their friend Yahor Kalyahin, was fined 540 rubles ($210) on the same charge.

The three were detained in a Minsk bar by a group of people wearing balaclavas on September 13, the day when tens of thousands rallied in the Belarusian capital to protest against official results from an August 9 presidential election that handed a landslide victory to the incumbent, Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

Crisis In Belarus Read our ongoing coverage as Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka continues his brutal crackdown on NGOs, activists, and independent media following the August 2020 presidential election, widely seen as fraudulent.

The Interior Ministry reported more than 400 arrests on that day.

RFE/RL deplores the jail sentences imposed on journalists Uladz Hrydzin and Alyaksandr Vasyukovich, simply for doing what journalists do  reporting the news," acting RFE/RL President Daisy Sindelar said in a statement.

"These sentences are the latest examples of the Belarusian governments ongoing assault on independent journalism -- and a clear attempt to silence reporters telling the truth about Belarus's deeply flawed elections and the brutal crackdown on citizens that the world has been witnessing for weeks," she added.

Hrydzin, who was recently stripped of foreign-media accreditation, was detained just before he sent photos of the protest to RFE/RL.

The protesters and opposition leaders say the election was rigged. Lukashenka, who took just over 80 percent of the ballots according to official results, denies any fraud.

Since the vote, thousands of people have been detained and beaten by police, while nearly all the opposition's key leaders have been forced to leave the country or been arrested in a widening crackdown condemned by the United States and the European Union.

The crackdown includes stifling the media.

On September 4, six Belarusian journalists were sentenced to three days in jail after being detained while covering an anti-government protest in Minsk.

Belarusian authorities have stripped accreditations from at least 17 journalists from major foreign news organizations -- including five from RFE/RL or its affiliates -- who have been covering the countrys turmoil.
New Delhi: The Delhi University's St Stephen's College has released its first cut-off list for undergraduate courses, with the highest cut-off being announced at 99.25 per cent for BA (Hons) Economics for students coming from the commerce background.

This year's cut-offs are higher than last year. In 2019, the cut-off for BA(Hons) English and BA (Hons) Economics was pegged at 98.75 per cent for students from commerce background.

The cut-off for BA (Hons) Economics stands at 99.25 per cent for commerce students, 98.75 per cent for humanities and 98 per cent for science stream students.

The cut-off for BA English (Hons) stands at 99 per cent for commerce students, 98.75 per cent for science and humanities stream students. This year's cut-off for the course is higher by 0.25 per cent for commerce and science students.

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Last year, the college had pegged the cut-off for BA(Hons) English at 98.75 per cent for commerce students, 98.25 per cent for humanities students and 98.75 per cent for science students.

The cut-off for BA History (Hons) stands at 99 per cent for commerce students and science stream students, and 98.25 per cent for humanities students. The cut-off for BA(Hons) Philosophy stands at 98 per cent for commerce, 98.75 per cent for Humanities and 97 per cent science stream students.

The cut-off for BSc Physics (Hons) stands at 97.66 per cent while the cut-off for BSc(Hons) Chemistry stands at 96.67 per cent. Last year, the cut-offs for BSc Physics (Hons) and BSc Chemistry (Hons) stood at 96.66 per cent and 96.33, respectively.

The cut-off for BSc(Hons) Mathematics stands at 98 per cent for commerce and science students and 96.5 per cent for humanities stream students. In Economics, the college has put a rider that applicants need to score at least 95 per cent in mathematics to secure a seat.

Those under Church of North India Delhi Diocese (CNID) and Church of North India (CNI) need to have 70 per cent marks in the subject while SC, ST and general applicants need 95 per cent in the subject.

For English honours applicants, students need to have scored 90 per cent in English Core or 85 per cent in English Elective. For the BA programme, the cut-off for students from commerce and science backgrounds stands at 99 per cent while for humanities stream students it is 98 per cent.
Early mornings will not be the same without James Naughtie, who has been a cerebral anchor for Radio 4s Today programme for longer than most of us can remember. How we will miss the great Naughtie question  the sort of question that gave you time to shower, dress and have breakfast before it reached its final question mark, like the 183-word blockbuster he put to the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on 31 March 2006.

But the question, he said, is not whether liberal democracy  you talked about this in your lecture on the eve of this programme  is a good thing or a bad thing, as most people in this country, as in yours, think it is a desirable state. The question is how you go about bringing it.

Now let me remind you, and Im sure you know these words from President Bush himself in the presidential debate just before he was elected October 2000. He said, if were an arrogant nation, they will resent us  speaking about the United States. Now the problem is that many people who try to look at this fair-mindedly, look for example at the question of extraordinary rendition, people taken to third countries where there may be practices that amount under international convention as to torture and they know that they go through our airspace. And the government said, well, really request every time  a permission is requested every time this happens. Is a rendition flight only allowed through our airspace if the British government has been informed?

Rice replied in 23 words.

A Naughtie disciple?

The Liberal Democrat MP Greg Mulholland caught it from the Speaker, John Bercow, for ignoring a plea for brevity. After a question he was asking had stretched to 64 words, he was sharply told to sit down, and ticked off for discourtesy. He did not like that, and let it show  whereupon Bercow told him: Dont shake your head, mate. I am telling you what the position is: you were too long. And as the MP stormed out, the Speaker told his departing back: Leave! That is fine  we can manage without you.

Exs scandal

Some days you see ex-MPs wandering about the Houses of Parliament, apparently unable to grasp that they are ex. The Press Association has obtained a list of 381 who hold passes that allow them back in the buildings, so long as they are not engaged in commercial lobbying. Some may think this scandalous, but generally these lost souls look more sad than seedy. They demonstrate the wisdom of the old Jewish custom that when a body was brought to a cemetery fellow members of the synagogue would shout in the corpses ear: Know that thou art dead!

As clear as Day...

Doris Day is older than the United Kingdom  so it was alleged by Angus MacNeil, MP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar (known to the English as the Western Isles), in a debate on the Scotland Bill. This is an interesting but contentious piece of trivia.

MacNeil bases his claim on the premise that the UK has existed in its present boundaries since the secession of the Irish Free State on 6 December 1922. He also assumes that Doris Day lied about her age. Last year, the reclusive star made a rare appearance on her balcony to wave to adoring fans who remembered her as one of the greatest box-office draws of the 1950s, and had gathered to mark her 90th birthday.

She has always claimed that she was born in April 1924, but there is scholarly evidence that she was in fact born in Cincinnati in April 1922. If so, it can be argued that she really is eight months older than the United Kingdom.
The Gulf State Park pier in Gulf Shores has been ripped in half from #Sally. Photo from Michael B Cummings. @NWSMobile pic.twitter.com/4uv00HQvuO  Thomas Geboy (@ThomasGeboyWX) September 16, 2020

Hurricane Sally upended plans today by state officials for a ceremonious ribbon cutting on $2.4 million renovations to the Gulf State Park Pier in Gulf Shores when the storm severely damaged the structure.

The newly built lodge at the park had minimal damage.

[Live Updates: Continuous coverage of Sallys impact]

The head of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources said Wednesday morning that hes not even sure what is left of the structure. The pier, at least a section of it, was badly damaged by the storm, he said.

Images circulating on social media appears to show a large section of it gone or badly damaged.

The ribbon cutting had been set for 10 a.m. Wednesday but the ceremony had been cancelled earlier this week due to the pending storm.

Chris Blankenship, commissioner of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, said his crews have not yet had a chance to assess the damage to the pier. Strong winds continued to buffet Baldwin county and many roads remained impassable Wednesday morning.

It is not safe for people to be traveling around south Baldwin County, Blankenship said. Were in a holding pattern waiting for the weather to improve We have teams waiting to make damage assessments.

Blankenship said the pier project was insured but did not yet have an estimate on how much repairs could cost. He said the $2.4 million project included replacing decking, adding an observation platform and replacing lighting with lights more friendly to sea turtles.

The project was financed through a portion of BP oil spill funds.

The pier was one of the few places not shut off to the public during the early days of the pandemic. It was closed, however, in May for the start of the construction project and was mostly complete, Blankenship said.

Blankenship, meanwhile, said the Gulf State Park Lodge had minimal damage. The raging waters from the Gulf blew in the front doors to the lodge. A few people had spent the night inside the hotel, he said. The former Lodge was destroyed by Hurricane Ivan in 2004.
By Akbar Mammadov

Azerbaijani MP Samad Seyidov has said that the visa regime with Turkey may be fully lifted in the future.

Seyidov who is the chairman of the parliamentary committee on International and Inter-parliamentary relations, made the remarks while addressing the committees meeting on September 14.

Seyidov noted that the level of relations with the two brotherly countries allows to fully remove the visa regime.

He said that Azerbaijani Parliament Speaker Sahiba Gafarovas recent meetings with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly Mustafa Sentop, ministers and a number of other officials, once again showed that the Azerbaijani-Turkish relations are at the highest level.

Azerbaijan and Turkey recently agreed on visa exemptions for citizens who have valid international passports and wish to stay in these countries for a period of no more than 90 days. Earlier, citizens of Azerbaijan and Turkey could stay in these countries for 30 days without a visa.

The agreement "on the mutual exemption from visa between the governments of Azerbaijan and Turkey" was signed on February 25 in Baku. Turkish Recep Tayyip Erdogan approved the visa agreement with Azerbaijan on June 3. The Azerbaijani parliament had approved the agreement on May 31.

It should be noted that during her visit to Turkey on September 11-12 Parliament's Speaker Sahiba Gafarova also met Turkish Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan who proposed signing a Free Trade Agreement with Azerbaijan and increasing a trade turnover between the two countries.

---

Akbar Mammadov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AkbarMammadov97

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
OAK BROOK, IL / ACCESSWIRE / September 16, 2020 / Affluence Corporation (OTC PINK:AFFU), a diversified technology company focusing on innovative Edge Cloud, Internet of Things and 5G enhancing technologies, announced today that the company and Worldsensing have executed the definitive documents for the acquisition of the OneMind Smart City Software business unit. Included in the definitive documents was the establishment of OneMind technologies S.L. which will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Affluence Corporation.

"The OneMind acquisition is at the core of our IoT and 5G go to market strategy," said James Honan, Jr. Affluence's CEO. "OneMind Smart City technology is used to monitor and manage security, mobility and traffic, creating unprecedented situational awareness in cities worldwide. The OneMind intelligent IoT Solution builder allows cities in the USA, Colombia, Mexico, Europe, and South-East Asia to optimize operational processes and make real-time decisions based on data driven insights and be more efficient, responsive, and sustainable. The OneMind Smart City Solution is already a key component in the enterprise solutions currently being offered by several Fortune 50 companies that resell, distribute, and integrate Smart City enterprise solutions. This is the first of several acquisitions that will round out a fully integrated Edge Cloud and IoT solution that can be deployed today and will also capitalize on 5G as the technology is rolled out," said Honan.

"As part of Affluence, the OneMind Smart City solution has the opportunity to grow and evolve", said Ignasi Vilajosana, CEO and Co-Founder of Worldsensing. "Affluence's strategic long term vision as it relates to 5G, IoT and Edge Computing provides the ambition and innovative technological approach that will ensure that the OneMind Smart City solution will continue to grow its position as a market leader," said Vilajosana.

Letting go of its OneMind Smart City offering enables Worldsensing to continue focusing on its core business, Loadsensing, the global leader for IoT remote monitoring of critical infrastructures.

About Affluence Corporation.

Affluence Corporation (AFFU.PK) is a diversified technology company focused on edge computing and innovative cloud solutions that capitalize on IoT, AI and 5G technologies. We are investing in mid-market businesses to create a cohesive unit which brings together technology for the next generation of internet https://www.affucorp.com

About Worldsensing

Worldsensing is a global IoT pioneer. Founded in 2008, the technology provider delivers operational intelligence to traditional industries and cities. With more than 100 employees and offices in Barcelona, London, Los Angeles, and Singapore, Worldsensing is globally active and has customers in more than 60 countries. Worldsensing's investors include Cisco Investments, Mitsui & Co, McRock Capital and ETF Partners, among others. https://www.worldsensing.com/

About OneMind

OneMind is an intelligent IoT solution builder used to create applications for Smart Construction and Smart City operations. Functioning as a system of systems, OneMind allows connecting all existing data sources to one single point of insight to provide real-time information on operational processes. https://www.worldsensing.com/one-mind-smart-cities/

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. There are important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including: general economic business conditions, competitive and technological factors, markets, services, products and prices, availability and the cost of capital, success of growth initiatives, limited operating history and other factors discussed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commissions. Additionally, this release may not be considered as legal, accounting, or investment advice, and is not, and may not be considered, a solicitation for the purchase of any securities issued by Affluence Corporation.

For further information contact Affluence Corporation Investor Relations: info@affucorp.com

720-295-6409

SOURCE: Affluence Corporation

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Brandi Glanville has revealed details of her intimate conversations with actress Heather Locklear amid the fallout from her salacious affair with Locklear's old foe Denise Richards.

In an exclusive interview with DailyMailTV, Brandi said Heather reached out to her over Instagram, offering the former model her 'full support' and the two have started chatting.

Heather has a tumultuous past with Denise amid rumors that the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star tore Heather's husband Richie Sambora away from her in 2006, claims Denise has denied.

Brandi says Heather contacted her shortly after she revealed her own secret affair with Denise during a bombshell episode of RHOBH, first revealed by DailyMail.com.

Brandi Glanville has revealed details of her intimate conversations with actress Heather Locklear amid the fallout over her salacious affair with Locklear's old foe Denise Richards (pictured together in January 2006)

Heather has a tumultuous past with Denise amid rumors that the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star tore Heather's husband Richie Sambora away from her in 2006, claims Denise has denied. Pictured: Heather with husband Richie in 2005 (left) and Denise with Richie in September 2006 (right)

Brandi says Heather contacted her shortly after she revealed her own secret affair with Denise during a bombshell episode of RHOBH

Brandi has since given DailyMailTV all the juicy details of the affair, claiming Denise is 'sexually aggressive' and instigated the tryst by demanding to see her breasts before throwing her up against a bathroom wall in a restaurant and kissing her passionately.

She also revealed the pair had sex when Denise invited Brandi to visit her on set while filming a movie in northern California.

Brandi said: 'During this whole dramatic situation, during the reunion and whatnot, I get an Instagram DM from Heather Locklear who I literally grew up watching on TV and I was kind of starstruck.

'She said thank you with a bunch of hearts and prayers and I wrote back to her, I said, listen, you know, the truth always comes out no matter how long it takes and that I'm really sorry that you went through what you went through.

'Denise told me that she didn't know Heather, that they weren't friends at all. And now I'm finding out completely the opposite.

'And you know, Denise is now saying that she doesn't know me and we weren't friends at all. So I kind of see how she's operating these days.'

Brandi says her and Heather are texting back and forth and are meeting for lunch this week.

'I feel bad for her because I think that part of a lot of what Heather had to go through (in her marriage) was because of what Denise did,' she said.

'Not that her husband was not part of the problem, but when you have a girlfriend and you think that you're close, you don't think you have to worry about your husband with that person.'

In an exclusive interview with DailyMailTV, Brandi spilled all the juicy details of the secret tryst, revealing how 'sexually aggressive' Denise instigated the affair by demanding to see her breasts before throwing her up against a bathroom wall in a restaurant and kissing her passionately

She also revealed the pair had sex when Denise invited Brandi to visit her on set while filming a movie in northern California (pictured)

Brandi says that in one message Heather sent, the Melrose Place star wrote: 'I tried to watch the reunion. I just felt sick, I guess about Denise's spirit, such a dark place. So I had to turn it off.'

Brandi, 47, says she asked Heather, 58, if she could show her messages on camera to the rest of the RHOBH cast.

But Heather wrote back: 'Probably best not to show it because I'll get a cease and desist, which she sent me years ago. LOL. I won't even say anything. I support you fully.'

Heather and Denise used to be close pals but their friendship broke apart in the late 2000s as their respective marriages collapsed.

The pair had a falling out in 2006 after Heather found out that Denise was dating her ex-husband, Richie Sambora.

While Denise and the Bon Jovi rocker ended their roller-coaster relationship for good in 2012, she told Redbook magazine at the time that she did not ruin their marriage.

'I was no longer friends with Heather months before Richie and I got together,' Denise said. 'I dont want to say what caused the split, but she and I werent even speaking then.

Heather and Denise used to be close pals but their friendship broke apart in the late 2000s as their respective marriages collapsed. While Denise and the Bon Jovi rocker ended their roller-coaster relationship for good in 2012, she told Redbook magazine at the time that she did not ruin their marriage

Brandi, 47, says she asked Heather, 58, if she could show her messages on camera to the rest of the RHOBH cast. But Heather wrote back: 'Probably best not to show it because I'll get a cease and desist, which she sent me years ago. LOL. I won't even say anything. I support you fully'

'It wasnt ever like wed be shopping and go back to her house and Id flirt with her husband.

'Yes, I got together with Heathers soon-to-be ex-husband, but no, I didnt have an affair with him.

'If Heather and I had been friends at that time, I would never have crossed that line. But we werent.

'The friendship was not salvageable, and in the beginning, Richie and I just talked as friends because we were dealing with similar situations. We never planned for anything to happen.'

She concluded: 'But in my heart, I know I did not break up their marriage. If either Richie or I had felt our marriages were fixable, we wouldnt have crossed that line I definitely fell in love with him. That would have been a big price to pay for just some rebound fling.'
Hurricane Sallys three-day crawl towards the coastline along the Alabama-Florida border will produce life-threatening, historic rainfall flooding stretching east along the Florida panhandle and well inland into east central Alabama and southern Georgia, according to the National Hurricane Center and the Mobile office of the National Weather Service.

Update: Hurricane Sally makes landfall near Gulf Shores, Ala.

Sally, which as of Sunday was headed straight for New Orleans, also poses a storm surge threat to the Alabama-Florida coast, with surge levels of up to 4 feet in Mobile Bay and up to 6 feet at the state line and along Pensacola.

For much of Tuesday, Sally's winds had been weakening as it drifted offshore, after having rapidly intensified on its meandering approach to the the coast. But on Tuesday night, the storm increased intensity again, and was supposed to have top winds of 90 mph at landfall early Wednesday. Forecasters warn that areas along the coast and just inland could experience up to 24 hours of at least tropical storm-force winds, defined as winds of at least 39 mph.

Hurricane-force winds were recorded repeatedly on Tuesday afternoon as Sally passed just east of the mouth of the Mississippi River at the Main Pass 140B oil platform. Winds of more than 90 mph were measured just after 2 p.m. aboard Chevrons Petronius rig, due south of Mobile.

TROPICAL UPDATE: Here's the latest look at #Sally from @NOAA's #GOES16. @NHC_Atlantic says historic life-threatening flash #flooding due to rainfall is likely through Wednesday along and just inland of the coast. Get updates here: https://t.co/VTAp4gGkHs.. https://t.co/GEB6YqAqZo pic.twitter.com/KfClcll77z  NOAA Satellites - Public Affairs (@NOAASatellitePA) September 15, 2020

At 10 p.m., Sally was about 65 miles south southeast of Mobile and 60 miles southwest of Pensacola, with top winds of 85 mph. The storm's eye was inching along at a snails pace of just 2 mph towards the coastline along the Alabama-Florida border, and wasnt expected to make an official landfall until 7 a.m. Wednesday.

But Sallys outer bands were already creating havoc along the Alabama and Florida coastlines, as outer bands at times dropped as much as 3 inches of rain an hour over some locations, and were also spinning off possible tornadoes northeast of the storm's eye.

The entire coastal area of Alabama and neighboring Florida remains under a flash flood watch through Thursday morning, with rainfall totals of 15 to 20 inches expected across much of the area, and some locations possibly seeing as much as 25 to 30 inches of rain. Nearby southeastern Mississippi could see up to 6 inches of rain, with some higher amounts possible.

At mid-day, Eglin Air Force Base near Niceville, Fla., reported rainfall rates of 2 inches an hour, and the weather services Weather Prediction Center warned that much of the western Florida panhandle had already seen up to 3 inches of rain.

A flash flood warning was in effect for all of coastal Baldwin County in Alabama and Escambia and Santa Rosa counties in Florida until 11:15 p.m. Tuesday, after 2 to 5 inches of rain had already fallen in that area. Forecasters warned another 20 to 30 inches were possible through Wednesday.

Environmental news in your inbox Stay up-to-date on the latest on Louisiana's coast and the environment. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up

Forecasters with the Mobile office of the National Weather Service provided repeated warnings of what they believe will be historic flooding caused by Sallys rainfall, both because of the already-begun flash flooding and from rapidly filling river courses throughout the region.

Major flood levels are expected at locations along five rivers in south Alabama and the Florida panhandle, and moderate flood levels are forecast in three other rivers in Mississippi and Alabama.

Over 4 inches of rain has accumulated over the immediate coast of Baldwin County (which includes Gulf Shores), with 2.5 to just over 4 inches over coastal northwest Florida, said meteorologist Jason Beamon in a 12:44 p.m. Tuesday note on the weather services chat service for emergency managers and television forecasters.

We cant stress enough the seriousness of this flood potential, Beamon said. Numerous rivers are forecast to reach major flood stage, with a few rivers in southwest Alabama/northwest Florida forecast to come close to record stage.

Life-threatening flash flooding will likely impact many areas, especially tonight into Wednesday as the core of the hurricane slowly moves to the coast, he said. The flooding threat is serious all the way north into south-central and inland southwest Alabama."

The ocean said 50kt surface winds in the NW quadrant of the center of #Sally earlier today made for impressive looking swells from where we were sitting.(Video c/o Maj. @JeremyDeHart53d) pic.twitter.com/ZWKich4C9l  Hurricane Hunters (@53rdWRS) September 14, 2020

On Tuesday, forecasters were able to use both land-based and aerial radar and other instrumentation to watch Sally's barely perceptible wobble towards the coast from the northern Gulf.

On Tuesday evening, an Air Force Hurricane Hunter aircraft and Doppler radar found Sally to be strengthening, with its eye becoming better defined on radar, said the hurricane center's Senior Hurricane Specialist Richard Pasch.

"Given the recent trends, the official forecast allows for some more intensification before landfall, which is likely to occur in less than 12 hours," Pasch said in a 10 p.m. forecast discussion message. "Rapid weakening will occur after the center moves inland, and the system should become a remnant low in a couple of days."

Sally was moving just east of due north, according to radar and aircraft center fixes, and the storm was expected to move north northeastward and then northeastward, with a gradual increase in forward speed, along the northwestern side of a weak mid-level high pressure area over the next two days, Pasch said. The storm will then begin moving a bit more quickly to the east northeast as it continues to lose strength, and will weaken into a dissipating remnant low pressure system by 7 p.m. Friday, when it will be along the coast at the border of South and North Carolina.

Some strengthening could still occur before landfall, "and Sally is expected to be a dangerous hurricane when it moves onshore along the north-central Gulf Coast," Pasch said in the 10 p.m. forecast advisory message.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 00:29:25|Editor: huaxia

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URUMQI, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in June launched a project to preserve the site of the ancient Loulan, dubbed "Oriental Pompeii," investing some 9.42 million yuan (about 1.4 million U.S. dollars).

Loulan was a prosperous settlement built around 2,000 years ago to serve traders transiting through the ancient Silk Road. However, with time, references to Loulan mysteriously disappeared. The site is today located in the wilderness of southern Xinjiang's Ruoqiang County.

In 2019, cultural relics protection staff found the ruins of a pagoda and three rooms with their foundations collapsed to various extents. Fractures, holes and erosion near the ground were also visible on the buildings.

The project mainly aims to excavate and reinforce the site, and a 30-person construction team is guarding the ancient city day and night.

The construction team selected soil materials from the periphery of the structures to prepare adobe so as to support the collapsed parts of the foundations and repair the damage using traditional techniques, said Jiao Yingxin with the cultural relics protection department of Ruoqiang.

"By the end of July, the reinforcement of the site and the foundations of the three rooms had been basically completed, and workers are now starting to carry out work toward the pagoda," Jiao said.

Archaeologists found that the extreme sandstorms in Lop Nur, home to the ancient Loulan, were the main cause of damage and the collapse of the site.

According to meteorological data from the last five years, the Loulan area sees 80 days per year with winds of 17.2 to 20.7 meters per second; floating dust conditions prevail 115 to 193 days per year; and the surface temperature in summer is 70 degrees Celsius.

The project is being conducted by Northwest Research Institute Co., Ltd. of CREC, which has also participated in cultural relics protection work for UNESCO world heritage sites, including the Mogao Grottoes and the Leshan Giant Buddha.

Zhou Peng, an engineer from the company, said the team has moved operations into the night since August to avoid the adverse effects of high temperatures and other environmental factors, and the project is expected to be completed by November.

The mysterious city was first rediscovered by Swedish adventurer Sven Hedin in 1900. The structural ruins he found were square in shape.

Loulan thrived around an oasis in a part of the desert known as "No man's land." The red willow branches and reeds found among the ruins of a circular wall had been carbon dated, and the results suggested the structure dates back to the late period of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220).

Archeologists theorize the city was one of the capitals established by the Kingdom of Loulan, which was moved several times due to scarce water resources, natural disasters, widespread disease and war. It had disappeared completely by the Tang Dynasty (618-907).

Since the 20th century, archeologists from around the world have found a significant number of well-preserved structures and artifacts around the site of Loulan. Enditem
NORWICH  The state Department of Public Health announced Wednesday it has ordered all patients to be removed from the Three Rivers Healthcare nursing home following an investigation into a deadly COVID-19 outbreak.

Since July 24, DPH officials said, at least 21 residents and six staff members at the Norwich nursing home were infected with the virus. Four of the patients have died.

The order, called a rare enforcement action, was made by Department of Public Health Acting Commissioner Deidre S. Gifford.

This is a difficult and sad step that we have to take, but the department has concluded that its in the best interest of the health and safety of the residents, staff and families at this facility, Gifford said.

An inspection of the facility recently found numerous serious violations related to infection control, staffing and other issues that led to the appointment of a temporary manager.

DPH Order by Peter Yankowski on Scribd

The emergency order signed by Gifford calls for the discharge of all residents. She said residents who are COVID-negative will be moved to nursing homes near Norwich.

A union that represents health care workers in Connecticut, including those in nursing homes, said the decision will most likely ensure Three Rivers closes, which could let the home operator off the hook.

Residents will now suffer through transfers in the middle of a pandemic, said Pedro Zayas, a spokesman for SEIU 1199, adding that workers there could also face lost jobs if the facility does close.

The union said the state should have brought in outside management to take over the facility based on the apparent collapse of the previous management.

While action needs to be taken, we believe there were alternative measures available that would have ensured the safety of the residents and provide for a pathway for the nursing home to fall back in compliance under a new administration, Zayas wrote.

The state DPH started to investigate the outbreak on Aug. 17, including daily on-site visits, interviews with residents and staff and reviews of facility records. State DPH personnel have been on site to monitor the situation at Three Rivers since the investigation began, officials said Tuesday.

Two trade organizations that represent nursing homes said Wednesday they agreed with the agencys decision on Three Rivers.

Nursing home residents must be our collective priority and we are pledging the resources of our associations to facilitate and assist in the safe and compassionate transfer or residents to nursing homes in the area under these extraordinary circumstances, said Matthew Barrett and Mag Morelli in a joint statement.

Barrett heads the Connecticut Association of Healthcare Facilities and the Connecticut Center for Assisted Living, which represents for-profit homes. LeadingAge Connecticut, Morellis organization, represents nonprofit homes.

An investigation at the nursing home on Sept. 9 revealed the outbreak started on July 24 when a staff member tested positive through routine weekly testing, officials said.

There were serious violations found facility-wide in general infection control practices, staffing, cohorting (grouping together) residents who tested positive, and use of personal protective equipment, the state DPH said.

This is a challenging time for Three Rivers Health Care, our residents and our staff, the JACC Health Center of Norwich, which operates Three Rivers Health Care, said in a statement released Wednesday. Since the initial COVID outbreak, we have been cooperating with the state Department of Public Health to bring our facility into full compliance with state and federal regulations, including the engagement of a temporary manager to oversee the facility.

Following an initial assessment, the temporary manager concluded that bringing the facility back into substantial compliance within the time frame mandated by regulatory bodies was not feasible due to a number of concerns, including the absence of critical staff.
The Missourians Opinion section is a public forum for the discussion of ideas. The views presented in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missourian or the University of Missouri. If you would like to contribute to the Opinion page with a response or an original topic of your own, visit our submission form
The new update first made the headlines in late August when it was published on a Spanish forum. At that point, Toyota owners were basically supposed to download the file and update the head units in their cars manually , something which obviously wasnt recommended for beginners.On the other hand, several Corolla owners confirmed last month that this update was the one enabling Android Auto on their cars, and after reaching out to authorized dealerships, they were told the official rollout would begin in September or October, all depending on the region.And according to a RAV4 owner , Toyota dealers in the United States are indeed offering the head unit software update that enables Android Auto, albeit for now, its not yet clear if all supported models are getting this version today.At the same time, we still dont know if all Toyota dealerships have received the new USB drives that allow for the installation of the latest firmware update, so your best option right now is to call them and ask if the update can be installed on your model too.No matter if the update is performed officially or unofficially, the whole process takes around 40 to 50 minutes, after which the head unit is restarted to apply the new image. Once the whole thing comes to an end, simply connecting an Android phone to the head unit should bring the Android Auto icon on the screen, and you can just launch it like any other app.The first time Android Auto starts, drivers need to complete the configuration wizard and set up some basic functionality, including the Google Assistant integration for voice command support.
Joe Biden: I will return US to Iran nuclear deal

Iran Press TV

Tuesday, 15 September 2020 2:21 PM

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden says if elected he will return the United States to the Iran nuclear deal as a starting point for follow-on negotiations.

Biden said in a recent article for CNN's website that the US will rejoin the 2015 deal if Iran returns to what he called "strict compliance" with the nuclear accord, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

"I will offer Tehran a credible path back to diplomacy. If Iran returns to strict compliance with the nuclear deal, the United States would rejoin the agreement as a starting point for follow-on negotiations. With our allies, we will work to strengthen and extend the nuclear deal's provisions, while also addressing other issues of concern," he wrote.

"I will also take steps to make sure US sanctions do not hinder Iran's fight against Covid-19. And on day one, I will repeal Trump's disgraceful travel ban targeting a number of Muslim-majority countries, among others," he added.

Biden's Republican rival, President Donald Trump, withdrew the US from the Iran deal over two years ago. Trump said it was a bad deal that needs to be re-negotiated.

Iran has time and again said it will not renegotiate the existing accord or make a new one with the US as long as sanctions remain in place.

Since scrapping the JCPOA in May 2018, the Trump administration has unleashed its "toughest ever" sanctions to bring Iran's economy to its knees, but it keeps humming and is getting back on its feet.

President Hassan Rouhani has condemned US sanctions which have obstructed Iran's access to medicines amid the coronavirus pandemic, saying the White House knows nothing about humanity.

Speaking during a meeting of the national task force for fighting the coronavirus on Saturday, Rouhani slammed Washington for blocking a request by the Iranian government for a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to combat the deadly outbreak.

Iran has been contending with the deadliest pandemic the world has seen in many decades amid US sanctions, which have seriously hampered efforts to contain the outbreak.

More than 407,000 Iranians have been infected with Covid-19 in Iran. More than 23,453 have died, while 350,000 have recovered.

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 16)  The Department of Health reported on Wednesday that 3,550 more people in the country have been diagnosed with COVID-19, pushing the total case count closer to 273,000.

The latest data from the department showed there are now 272,934 confirmed cases of the viral illness nationwide, of which 60,344 are active cases. This means 22 percent of the total number of infected are still afflicted by the disease.

According to the DOH, Metro Manila detected 1,459 new infected residents, while Rizal had 271, Cavite had 196, and both Bulacan and Laguna registered 172 each.

Health spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire said the DOH has identified five new clusters in Calabarzon and four in Bulacan, which led to the increase in the coronavirus tallies in the areas.

READ: DOH: New COVID-19 clusters found in Calabarzon, Bulacan

Meanwhile, 524 recoveries were logged by health officials, with the countrys recovery count rising to 207,858.

The death toll also reached 4,732, as 69 more people succumbed to the disease. Of this number, 34 passed away in September, 18 in August, and 17 died in the months of April to July.

The DOH noted in its bulletin that it removed 23 duplicates from the total case count as part of its constant data cleaning process. It added that nine cases previously reported as recoveries turned out to be deaths after final validation.

Sixteen more Filipinos abroad caught the coronavirus, while another 13 recovered, the Department of Foreign Affairs said.

A total of 10,339 overseas Filipinos have been infected with COVID-19 in 77 countries worldwide. Of this number, 6,581 have gotten well while 773 have died, according to the DFA.

The Philippine National Police also confirmed 27 more cases and 62 new recoveries in its ranks. Nearly 60 percent, or 16, of the newly infected are assigned in Metro Manila. The tally among police personnel went up to 5,233 detected cases, including 3,813 recoveries and 16 fatalities.
You should consider this $300 as an investment toward your own future. You do not trust your boyfriend enough to stay with him. Your judgment is quite flawed when it comes to him. If you turned over any of your (or his) personal information to the scammer (phone number, bank information, etc.), you should take steps to correct this. (And if the scammer could hack your boyfriend, couldnt he also hack you?) If the scammer turns up the pressure or threatens you in any way, you should definitely go to the police.
Ben Shapiro speaks onstage during Politicon 2018 at Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles on Oct. 21, 2018. (Rich Polk/Getty Images for Politicon )

Daily Wire to Leave Los Angeles, Moving Headquarters to Nashville

The Daily Wire, the conservative media outlet founded by Ben Shapiro, Jeremy Boreing, and Caleb Robinson, announced plans to move its headquarters from Los Angeles to Nashville.

Shapiro, who serves as editor emeritus, shared the news in a tweet on Sept. 15.

Weve been asked over and over and over again when we would leave California. The answer: now. See you in Nashville, gang! Shapiro wrote.

The company is currently headquartered in Sherman Oaks, a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles.

Shapiro noted terrible governance as a factor driving the decision, while suggesting more widespread dissatisfaction with the political environment among other business leaders.

Ive lived my entire life in California. Within weeks, well be taking our 75 jobs and leaving. Were not the first. And we certainly wont be the last. Terrible governance has consequences, he wrote in a separate tweet.

Boreing, who is co-CEO, told Deadline in an interview that the decision to relocate operations to Nashville was fueled by deteriorating quality of life in Los Angeles, including costly housing and homelessness.

According to a June report from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, which measured the state of homelessness in January, the number of homeless in the city of Los Angeles grew by 16.1 percent from last years point-in-time count. Los Angeles Police Department crime statistics (pdf) show that, while citywide property crimes have fallen by 9.5 percent in the year-to-date period compared to the same period in 2019, the number of murders has spiked by 14.7 percent, while the number of shootings has gone up by 12.9 percent.

Like Shapiro, Boreing expressed dissatisfaction with local governance.

The dream of California and the weather were enough to draw us all here and keep us here, even when it was hard, he told Deadline. But its hubris to think you can keep making it worse and worse for people and that somehow the idea of temperate winters will be enough to make them stay forever.

He said Daily Wire executives mulled setting up shop in Texas, but ultimately settled on Nashville because they expect to find a substantial talent pool of creative talent for potential new hires.

Boreing said staff have until Oct. 1 to decide whether to move to Nashville, adding that around 80 percent are expected to join the company in relocating.
This is an opinion column.

The City of Troy has invented a new exception to the Alabama Open Records Act, the law that allows citizens to request public documents from state and local governments: It doesnt have to look for them if it doesnt want to.

Alabamas law was already weak and has been called one of the worst in the country. It doesnt set timetables for officials to respond. It allows officials to charge outrageous fees for copies. And the only way to appeal a denial is to sue for records in court, which can be costly.

But Troys city attorney, Richard Calhoun, has gone a step further into the absurd. According to Calhoun, when the public requests records, the state law doesnt actually require city employees to search for the documents.

Nor does the law require city officials do other things, like gathering those documents together or sending them to the person who requested them, the city attorney says.

Ive seen my share of public record refusals from pigheaded public officials, but thats a new one, even for me. And it was a new one for Daniel Tait.

Tait works for an environmental watchdog group, so its his business to be nosey. As part of his job, he puts in hundreds of state public records requests and federal Freedom of Information Act requests each year. One of those requests recently was to the City of Troy.

In July, Tait asked for any electronic records, such as emails, that mentioned, were addressed to, or received from three officials from Southeast Gas, the natural gas utility that services a handful of cities in the Alabama wiregrass. Troys city attorney sent Tait a letter back denying his request because  well, finding the documents would be too hard.

Under Alabamas Open Records Act, all citizens have a right to inspect public records and take copies upon request. Or, at least, thats what the law says. Thats not always how it works. Public officials and state agencies thumbing their noses at Alabamas open records law arent all that unusual. Initial refusals are, unfortunately, common.

But what sets this case apart is the reasons Troys city attorney, Richard Calhoun, gave for denying the request.

Compliance with your Records Request will unduly interfere with and hinder the efficient discharge of the duties of employees and officers of the City of Troy, Calhoun wrote in his denial. "Additionally, there is no obligation under the Alabama Open Records Law requiring that a municipality conduct a search for records for the requesting party, nor is there an obligation requiring a municipality to gather and assemble records for a requesting party, not (sic) is there an obligation requiring a municipality to transmit gathered and/or assembled records to a requesting party."

There are several things flat-out wrong with those two sentences. Lets take them one at a time.

First, compliance with the Alabama Open Records Act isnt a hindrance to city officials' duties. Complying with the Open Records Act is their duty under the law.

Second, this supposedly burdensome search Calhoun talks about in his letter shouldnt be different than how you might search for an old email in your Outlook account or search for a document on your computer. They could probably do this in minutes if not seconds. Theres a good chance the mayor could do this from his phone.

Third, since the records are already electronic, it makes much more sense to transmit them electronically, since thats their native format. Printing them out on paper would be a waste of paper and ink (although copy fees are a common way public officials drive up the costs of record requests).

Fourth, if a government employee cant be asked to look for a document, then how the heck does anyone ever make a request under the law? Are government officials supposed to produce documents when they find them by accident? Will they give Tait some time with the mayors laptop to look for the documents himself?

Fifth, and finally, the Troy records request form, which Tait filled out, fully anticipates the possibility of all this work searching and compiling documents. The form requires the requestor to agree to a research fee of $15 per hour. The first hour of research time, according to the citys written policy, is free. And is it really going to take an hour of time for the mayor to type three names into a search bar and drop those records into a folder on his desktop?

More voluminous or time-consuming requests, the form says, will be replied to as soon as reasonably practical.

But in this instance reasonably practical just means never.

If looking up a few emails on a computer is too hard for a mayor, then maybe Troy needs another mayor.

And if the burden the city attorney trots out is clearly addressed on the citys records request form, then maybe Troy needs another city attorney, too.

Whats really seems to be happening is that Troy officials arent following the law because they just dont want to.

But this isnt just about a few obstinate officials in Troy. Because if this is what passes for a records denial these days, then this affects all of Alabama. If Troy can get away with this, then everybody else will try, too.

For the last two years, State Sen. Cam Ward, R-Alabaster, has been fighting to rewrite Alabamas open records law to give it some teeth. Ward has sponsored a bill to add timetables for responses, sets fees for copy costs, and creates an affordable appeals process that doesnt require anybody hiring a lawyer to sue.

We need all those things. Other states have them. We deserve them, too.

But when I showed Ward the citys denial, he didnt say how such a new law would address it. In this case, the old law should be sufficient. And if its not, then the existing law is meaningless.

Under his interpretation, there is no right to any public records, Ward said. That is beyond the BS smell test.

And thats the bottom line.

If Calhoun is right about public records, then public records are not a right.

And thats just wrong.

Kyle Whitmire is the state political columnist for the Alabama Media Group.

You can follow his work on his Facebook page, The War on Dumb. And on Twitter. And on Instagram.

More Alabama in the Dark

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Whats in Birminghams $2.6 million contract? You dont get to see.

What is Alabamas AG still hiding? Lawsuit seeks answers.

Why does God need public records? In Alabama, thats a real question.

Public records access is supposed to be free in Alabama. It cost one business $70,000.

Hey, Alabama, public data are public records, too

Trampling on Sunshine: The PSC wont be live-streamed

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This open records bill would make Alabama ... better

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Wales second local lockdown to be imposed in Rhondda Cynon Taf

This article is old - Published: Wednesday, Sep 16th, 2020

Wales second local lockdown is to come into force in the Rhondda Cynon Taf after tomorrow, with a curfew being imposed on all licensed premises for the first time.

Health Minister Vaughan Gething made the announcement at this afternoons Welsh Government briefing.

He said it comes as a result of a sharp increase in cases of the virus.

Figures released by Public Health Wales (PHW) show that 52 positive tests have been recorded in the last 24 hours.

Under the new restrictions, which come into force from 6pm on Thursday, people will not be allowed to enter or leave the Rhondda Cynon Taf Council area without a reasonable excuse and everyone over 11 will be required to wear face coverings in indoor public areas  as is the case across Wales.

People will only be able to meet outdoors for the time being and people will not be able to meet members of their extended household indoors or form an extended household.

For the first time in Wales there will also be an 11pm closure time imposed on licensed premises in the Rhondda Cynon Taf area.

Mr Gething said the restrictions are being introduced following a rapid increase in the number of confirmed cases in coronavirus, which have been linked to people meeting indoors, not following social distancing guidelines and returning from summer holidays overseas.

They will be kept under regular review but if cases do not fall, the Welsh Government, working with Rhondda Cynon Taf Council and Public Health Wales, will consider further measures.

Speaking today the minister said that there is community transmission in the Rhondda Cynon Taf area and two significant clusters.

These are linked to a rugby club and a pub in the lower Rhondda and a club outing to the Doncaster races, which stopped off in a series of pubs on the way.

Mr Gething said: We have seen a rapid rise in cases in Rhondda Cynon Taf in a very short space of time, linked to people socialising indoors and not following social distancing guidelines.

We now have evidence of wider community transmission in the borough, which means we need to take urgent action to control and, ultimately, reduce the spread of the virus and protect peoples health.

We need the help of everyone across Wales to prevent the increasing and onward spread of coronavirus. We can bring coronavirus under control if everyone pulls together and follows the rules we have put in place. They are there to protect you, your family, and your community.

Coronavirus has not gone away. It is still circulating in communities across Wales. Its vital people stick to the rules.

This is the second local lockdown to be introduced in Wales, with the first in Caerphilly earlier this month. However Mr Gething said cases are starting to level off after measures were brought in.

Asked if there was evidence of coronavirus cases spreading in pubs in Rhondda Cynon Taf and why they werent being closed altogether if that was the case, Mr Gething said the impact of doing so needs to be considered.

He said: There is evidence that pubs are a factor in transmission in Rhondda Cynon Taf in a way that we didnt have evidence for that within Caerphilly, and youll see this in other parts of the UK too.

We also need to consider that if we close all pubs, it isnt just the economic impact of people losing businesses and jobs, but also there will be people who will carry on drinking. If there are no opportunities to drink in a licensed premises, we may see more people breaking the rules and drinking in each others homes.

Thats a much more significant challenge for us in the spread of coronavirus.

Thats also why of course, the extended household provisions are ending in Rhondda Cynon Taf for the time being, as well as in Caerphilly.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 23:43:08|Editor: huaxia

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BERLIN, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Before the African swine fever (ASF) was detected in Germany, China had become the country's "most important trading partner" for pork exports in the first half (H1) of the year, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) announced on Wednesday.

Between January and June, 233,300 tons of pork were exported to China, accounting for 26.8 percent of Germany's total pork exports, more than doubled compared with the same period of last year, Destatis noted.

"Last year China developed into the most important customer for German pork and quantities continued to grow," market expert Matthias Quaing of the association of pig farmers in Germany (ISN) told Xinhua on Wednesday.

Italy, which used to be the biggest export market for German pork, now ranked second behind China with a share of 15.2 percent this year.

Last week, the first case of African swine fever was detected in a dead wild boar in Germany's federal state Brandenburg near the border with Poland. Following the announcement, China, South Korea, Japan and other countries banned German pork imports.

"The export stop for China makes us very concerned," said Joachim Rukwied, president of the German Farmers' Association (DBV) in a statement on Monday. "China is our most important export market for pork outside the EU (European Union)."

The Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Integration, and for Consumer Protection of the federal state of Brandenburg (MSGIV) announced Tuesday that ASF was detected in five more wild boars.

The locations where the wild boars were found were all in the already defined endangered area and local governments already teamed up to build electric fences to prevent potential further spread.

As prescribed in such cases, samples of the five dead wild boars were sent to the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute (FLI), the Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, which still had to confirm the results of the tests, according to MSGIV.

"We must now do everything we can to fight ASF in wild boars and prevent it from spreading," said Rukwied. Enditem
The Boston Public Library has announced that it is starting up a free homework help program, to be held virtually over Zoom, for the upcoming school year.

The Homework Assistance Program, formerly known as Homework Help, will start Sept. 21 and run through May 14. It takes place Mondays through Thursdays from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. and is open to all students in kindergarten through eighth grade on a drop-in basis, according to a news release.

Trained high-achieving high school students offer homework help and mentorship through the program, the library said.

As we embark on an unprecedented school year, BPL is dedicated to helping Boston students succeed, BPL President David Leonard said. HAP is designed to open up a supportive dialogue between mentors and mentees, bridge the digital divide to provide accessible homework support, and create a welcoming environment for younger students as they navigate these unique times.

The 56 homework assistance mentors, who are in grades 10, 11 and 12, will work with mentees on school assignments. As social distancing continues, they will also provide support and advice for younger students as they transition to virtual and hybrid learning models, the statement said.

Boston Public Schools is starting the school year remotely. Families can opt into a hybrid learning plan starting in October.

BPS is incredibly appreciative of our partners at the Boston Public Library for facilitating the Homework Assistance Program, which allows some of our older BPS students to mentor, support and assist our younger learners during this very different and often challenging period in their education, BPS Superintendent Brenda Cassellius said. The neighborhood-based approach to this program will help to build community, will foster stronger relationships among our students, and allows further sharing of virtual learning skills and resources within the community.

Zoom calls for each Boston neighborhood will be held to reach students across the city, allowing them to meet the mentors they would work with during the program. The Zoom groups are: Group 1: Brighton, Honan-Allston, East Boston, South End; Group 2: Connolly, Egleston Square, Parker Hill, Roxbury; Group 3: Jamaica Plain, Hyde Park, Mattapan, West Roxbury; and Group 4: Codman Square, Fields Corner, Grove Hall, Lower Mills, Uphams Corner. Links to Zoom calls will be available online on Sept. 21.

The Worcester Public Library has also announced a virtual tutoring program for this year.

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OTTAWAThe federal ethics commissioner has ruled that Canadas former ambassador to the U.S. broke federal conflict of interest law by taking improper advantage of his position to lobby senior Liberal staff and cabinet ministers after he left his post as a public servant.

David MacNaughton, a longtime Liberal operative Trudeau appointed as Canadas top diplomat to Washington in 2016, has acknowledged he broke the law by communicating with nine ministers and political staff this spring, according to an order published online Wednesday by Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion.

The decision comes after a season of ethical controversy over the Liberal governments decision to outsource a $544-million grant program to WE Charity, despite its ties with Trudeaus family and former finance minister Bill Morneau.

Wednesdays order from Dion details how MacNaughton was named president of Palantir Technologies Canada on Sept. 4, 2019, two weeks after his last day as ambassador. Then, between March 2 and April 9 this year, MacNaughton had meetings and discussions with government officials  including Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains  to offer Palantirs pro bono assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dion determined this broke section 33 of the Conflict of Interest Act, which bars former public office holders from acting in such a manner as to take improper advantage of their previous position.

While the offers of pro bono assistance did not result in any contract being awarded to Palantir, MacNaughton acknowledged that the communications and meetings, to the extent they could have furthered the interests of Palantir, were contrary to the act, the ruling stated.

Dion also ordered the nine officials who interacted with MacNaughton not to have official dealings with him for one year.

Along with Freeland and Bains, the list includes: Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Jonathan Vance; Rick Theis, director of policy and cabinet affairs in the Prime Ministers Office; Jody Thomas, deputy minister of national defence; Leslie Church, chief of staff to Procurement Minister Anita Anand; Bainss chief of staff Ryan Dunn; Simon Kennedy, deputy minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada; and Bill Matthews, deputy minister of Public Services and Procurement Canada.

MacNaughton and Palantir did not respond to requests for comment from the Star on Wednesday.

The Prime Ministers Office said in a written statement to the Star that this was a matter between Mr. MacNaughton and the (ethics) commissioner that has been resolved. We once again thank Mr. MacNaughton for his immense contribution to public life and Canada-U.S. relations.

In a written statement, Bainss press secretary John Power said the minister thanks MacNaughton for his leadership during trade talks with the U.S., and that Dions order is based on MacNaughtons conduct alone. It does not suggest any wrongdoing whatsoever by any current public office holder, Power said.

Freelands spokesperson Alex Lawrence added that the deputy prime minister takes her responsibilities as a public office holder very seriously. The Commissioners order is about the conduct of a former public office holder and does not suggest any wrongdoing whatsoever by any current public office holder.

NDP MP Charlie Angus, who wrote to Dion in May and asked him to investigate MacNaughtons dealings with Trudeau Liberals as Palantir president, applauded the commissioners ruling. Angus said he was pleased Dion named names and ordered high-ranking officials like Freeland, Bains, and Chief of Defence Staff Jonathan Vance to refrain from dealing with MacNaughton.

Deputy Prime Minister Freeland cannot open up her office to do business with people just because theyre friends of the prime minister and theyre powerful people. They have to follow the rule of law, Angus told the Star by phone on Wednesday.

This is what gets this government in trouble time and time again. So I think Mr. Dion is firing a shot directly at the ethical lapses of the Trudeau government with this ruling, Angus said.

Trudeau has broken Canadas conflict of interest law twice as prime minister.

Last year, Dion ruled Trudeau breached the Conflict of Interest Act during the SNC-Lavalin scandal, finding the prime minister tried to advance the Montreal-based companys interests by pressing then-attorney general Jody-Wilson Raybould to settle a criminal case against it. Trudeau was also found to have broken the law when he accepted a family vacation to the private island of the Aga Khan  whose foundations have dealings with the federal government  in December 2016.

Dion is now investigating him again  along with Morneau  over the WE Charity controversy. Morneau also agreed to pay a $300 fine last week for breaking federal elections law in 2019, when he promoted two Liberal candidates for last years election at government events.

Duff Conacher, co-founder of the ethics advocacy group Democracy Watch, said Canadas conflict of interest regime is too soft to prevent ethical lapses because the commissioner conduct audits and inspections, and the law doesnt include penalties for major violations.

It adds up to a sad joke, he said Wednesday, pointing out that MacNaughton faces zero penalty for breaching the law.

The system really is the scandal and the law really is the scandal, and its not surprising to see that it encourages scandalous behaviour year after year, he said.

Correction  Sept. 17, 2020: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly said Canadas Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner does not have the power to conduct audits and inspections.

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An angry woman dubbed a 'Karen' screamed the n-word and threw a glass bottle at a black woman jogging in New York City in a brazen attack caught on video.

The New York Police Department is asking for help identifying the woman behind the shocking abuse that unfolded on 53rd Place and Broadway in Queens on August 17.

The victim, a 37-year-old woman who lives in the Woodside neighborhood, was running in the area and passed the suspect, who was sipping from the glass bottle.

As the jogger approached the corner, the suspect suddenly threw the bottle and yelled 'Go back to Africa, n****r, police say according to the New York Daily News.

An angry woman dubbed a 'Karen' screamed the n-word and threw a glass bottle at a black woman jogging in New York City in a brazen attack caught on video on August 17

As the jogger approached the corner of 53rd Place and Broadway in Queens the suspect suddenly threw the bottle and yelled 'Go back to Africa, n****r', police say

The woman threw the glass bottle and it shattered on the ground near the jogger's foot

The suspect then repeatedly screamed 'Get out, Go back to Africa, n****r!'. The jogger looked back and said, 'What is your problem?' before continuing her run

The bottle is heard shattering on the ground and the victim turned around confused after the glass smashed by her feet.

The suspect then repeatedly screamed 'Get out, get the f**k out and go back to Africa, n****r.'

'What is your problem?' the jogger said before continuing her run.

The victim did not report the incident at the time until a friend saw the witness video on social media.

Police are asking for the public's help in identifying the suspect

Police say the suspect is a light-skinned woman in her 40s and appears to have a foreign accent

She is described as 5'5", has blue eyes, long blonde hair and was wearing a black tank top, white shorts, and dark sunglasses

The NYPD released the video on Wednesday asking for help identifying the suspect and the Hate Crimes task Force is investigating the incident.

Police say the suspect is a light-skinned woman in her 40s and appears to have a foreign accent.

She is described as 5'5", has blue eyes, long blonde hair and was wearing a black tank top, white shorts, and dark sunglasses.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS. Spanish speakers should call 1-888-577-4782. All calls will be kept confidential
In response to a question, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai stated in Parliament that No infiltration" has been reported along the India-China border during the last six months". The response puzzled many who compared the statement made by Rai with the one shared by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday, in which he had talked about the repeated attempts made by Chinese army to occupy territory held by the Indian troops. If there was zero infiltration on the LAC then wasnt Rajnath Singhs statement contradictory to the one made by MoS Home?

The answer may lie in the convention used by the ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Defence in how attempts to cross over into Indian territory is defined. The response of the MoS is quite in line with the terminology India has officially used to distinguish between ingress into the Indian territory by soldiers from neighbouring countries from those by terrorists.

Briefing journalists in Jammus Nagrota-base corps headquarter area, the then General Officer Commanding-In-Chief (GOC-In-C), Northern Command, Lt Gen B S Jaswal had made a similar statement, There is no intrusion or incursion whatsoever. There has been transgression. It continues," in context of Pak armys attempted movement into the Indian side.

In 2014, the then MoS Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju had made a similar statement in the Parliament in which he had said that since 2010 there has zero incursions across the LAC, however, he said 1612 transgressions had taken place across the LAC between January 2010 and August 2014.

Two years later, in July 2016, the then Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had said in Lok Sabha in response to questions over the ingress of PLA into Uttarakhand border, India-China border is not formally demarcated. There are areas where both sides have differing perceptions of LAC. Barhoti (Uttarakhand) is one such area. There was no incursion, just transgression which has been settled. There is a well defined mechanism to settle such transgressions.

So, what is the difference between an incursion/infiltration and a transgression and how are these terms used.

Infiltration refers to people in small groups moving through a held line of defence. The term suggests that the people infiltrating move covertly across well defined border lines," Lt. Gen. Anil Chait (retired), former Chief of the Integrated Defence Staff, told News18. He said that infiltration refers to the method of movement and is understood to be unorganised.

Transgression on the other hand is not a military term. But we understand it to be more of an organised activity. A movement which is much larger in scope across a held line. The line here refers to a jurisdiction, hence the movement is considered to be against the established jurisdiction," he added. He said that when the term transgression is used, it is understood that the body of people transgressing has the mandate of authorities. It is a willful act against another authority," Lt. Gen. Anil Chait (retired) further added.
" " The Southern Footballfish, (Himantolophus stewarti), a globose spiny anglerfish, with an elaborately decorated lure and protruding chin, restricted to the deep southern waters of all three major oceans of the world, was described as new to science as recently as 2011. Ted Pietsch

Anglerfish have got an angle all right, but it's definitely not to win anyone over with their spooky good looks. Rather their end game is to attract their prey using a form of fishing known as angling, where an angle (hook) is used to lure in and catch an unsuspecting fish. Yep, just like a fisherman sitting with a pole in hand, anglerfish do indeed fish ... except they do it from the ocean floor. No tackle box or bait needed.

The carnivorous female anglerfish wait patiently in the depths of the sparsely populated deep sea to literally lure in their next meal. They wiggle and "angle" a rod-like extension of their dorsal spine that protrudes from their head and emits light. Once their prey comes close, the female strikes and snags them, using her large, pointy teeth to chomp them up, even if they are twice her size. You gotta admit, that's some seriously self-sufficient fishing.

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And in a scientifically groundbreaking 2018 video, scientists captured images of a female with numerous thin filaments extending from her body in addition to her main dorsal appendage. These filaments also emit light, creating a bioluminescent web of whiskers to attract and surround their prey:

Where Do Anglerfish Hang Out?

Some species of anglerfish live in shallow, tropical waters, but the ones that peak the interest of scientists are the ones that live in the deep, murky depths of the ocean  some as deep as 16,400 feet (5,000 meters).

Ted Pietsch, a professor at the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences at the University of Washington and author of Oceanic Anglerfishes: Extraordinary Diversity in the Deep Sea, has been studying the elusive anglerfish almost his entire career. He reports by email that, "There are about 166 species so far, but new ones are still coming up. They live so deep that we don't really have a good idea of how big they actually get. We send nets down to collect them, and the deeper we go the larger specimens come up."

But how do they manage to stay so close to the ocean floor at such depths? Pietsch shares that most anglerfish, along with some other deep-sea fish, don't have a swim bladder  a gas filled sac that helps fish stay afloat without the need to constantly swim. The lack of a swim bladder not only helps them stay near the bottom, it also conserves energy  energy that's at a premium given the difficulty of finding a meal so far down.
Sudan's public prosecutor Tagelsir al-Hebr on Wednesday said they arrested 41 people for possessing a large amount of explosive materials enough to destroy (the capital) Khartoum.

Sudanese authorities on Wednesday said they arrested 41 people for possessing a large amount of explosive materials, including the same compound that caused a catastrophic explosion in Lebanon last month.

"Forty-one people were arrested in possession of explosives, enough to destroy (the capital) Khartoum," said public prosecutor Tagelsir al-Hebr in a press conference, adding that his office had opened an investigation.

Intelligence gathered since August on "the movements of terrorist groups" led to the arrests, according to Jamal Jumaa, spokesman for the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

"We fear now that some Sudanese people will resort to carrying out sabotage and bombings," he said.

"This is a threat to Sudanese national security."

Jumaa said the materials seized included the same explosive compound that caused the massive blast in the Lebanese capital on August 4.

The explosion of tonnes of ammonium nitrate at Beirut's port killed at least 190 people and devastated large swathes of the city.

Sudan is currently led by a transitional government, which took power months after the April 2019 ouster of longtime president Omar al-Bashir.

The government has vowed to rebuild the economy, beleaguered by decades of US sanctions and internal conflict under Bashir's rule.

But the country has continued to suffer severe economic hardship, which played a key role in triggering the unprecedented anti-Bashir protests in December 2018.

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Four held in Gujarat, days after 6 workers died due to inhalation of chemical fumes leaked from tanker

Gujarat to launch schemes on PM's birthday; Shah to attend event

India

pti-Madhuri Adnal

Ahmedabad, Sep 16: The Gujarat government announced that a number of pro-people schemes and development projects in the state would be launched on Thursday to celebrate Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 70th birthday.

These schemes and projects will be remotely launched by Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani from Gandhinagar through video-conference facility in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel and Governor Acharya Devvrat, the government said in a statement on Wednesday.

Modi launches 7 urban projects worth Rs 541 cr in Bihar, praises Nitish govt

Union Home Minister Amit Shah would virtually attend the event from Delhi. He is scheduled to attend the e-bhoomi pujan ceremony of 247 water supply project for Gandhinagar to be held at 11 am, it added. State ministers, MLAs and other leaders will attend this event from 70 different places in all the 33 districts across the state, the release said.

The CM would first launch a scheme wherein farmers would be encouraged to opt for cow-based organic farming, for which the government would provide monthly assistance of Rs 900 to farmers. He would also launch another scheme of providing kits to farmers to make Jivamrut, a natural fertiliser.

Indian Army: Ready for full-fledged war against China | Oneindia News

Later, the CM and the Deputy CM would launch a water supply project for 205 villages of Narmada and Tapi districts, it added. On the occasion, both the leaders would perform e- bhoomi pujan of project to provide 247 drinking water to the residents of Gandhinagar, the release said.

Other schemes which would be launched tomorrow include a scheme to provide loans worth Rs 1,000 crore to 10 lakh women to start their own business. Ten MoUs related to the Climate Change Department would be signed, the statement added.
Isabella Carlstrom will soon welcome her first child with wife Moana Hope.

And on Wednesday, the 28-year-old model flaunted her blossoming baby bump while standing in front of a mirror at her home in Melbourne.

Taking to Instagram, Isabella gently cradled her stomach as she turned her body to show off her pregnant figure.

Nearly there! Moana Hope's model wife Isabella Carlstrom flaunted her blossoming baby bump on Wednesday while posing for a mirror selfie at her home in Melbourne

The expectant mother looked radiant as she wore a pair of turquoise underwear and a tan-coloured top.

She captioned the clip: '31 weeks.'

The countdown is on for Isabella and Moana, with their baby due later this year.

Expectant: The expectant mother, 28, gently cradled her stomach as she turned her body to show off her pregnant figure

Earlier this month, ex-AFLW star Moana penned a sweet tribute to her pregnant wife.

Moana shared a photo of the couple kissing as a colourful floral projection beamed on them. The image was taken while they were on holiday in Japan.

'Completely and utterly in love with you,' she wrote in the caption.

The future looks bright: Earlier this month, ex-AFLW star Moana penned a sweet tribute to her pregnant wife. Moana shared this photo of the couple kissing as a colourful floral projection beamed on them, and wrote: 'I can't wait to share motherhood with you'

'@isabellasofiacarlstrom I can't wait to share motherhood with you,' she added, along with the hashtags #MyWife, #OurLife and AlwaysSmiling.

Moana's heartfelt message to her wife comes after they celebrated their first wedding anniversary last month.

The former Australian Survivor star shared their wedding video to Instagram, and gushed over her expectant wife in the caption.

Forever: The couple married in Melbourne last August, 10 months after Isabella proposed

'Today last year I married my best friend, my soulmate and the mamma of our children to be,' Moana wrote.

'I love that all we do is laugh, your smile makes my day light up. I wake happy knowing that I get to see and kiss your beautiful face. I'm completely in love with you. Thank you for always being you. Happy anniversary, my beautiful wife.'

In May, Isabella announced she was expecting a child with Moana.

Bumping along nicely! Isabella has been documenting her pregnancy journey on Instagram

'It's time to be mummas! We feel so incredibly grateful to be able to share this news. I am pregnant and Mo and I are expecting our little one in November,' she told her Instagram followers.

'It's been a beautiful journey and I can't believe we're finally at this point. It wouldn't have been possible without the amazing team at Monash IVF, so a huge thank you to them. I'm so excited to raise our child with you, beautiful.'

The couple married in Melbourne last August, 10 months after Isabella proposed.
TORONTO, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - CI Financial Corp. ("CI") (TSX: CIX) announced today it has completed the acquisition of Balasa Dinverno Foltz LLC ("BDF") of Itasca, Illinois, a highly regarded private wealth management firm with US$4.5 billion in assets as at August 31, 2020.

The addition of BDF increases CI's U.S. wealth management assets to approximately US$11 billion (based on assets as at August 31, 2020) and gives CI a leading presence in the vital Chicago region. The purchase of BDF, which was first announced on August 4, 2020, is CI's fifth direct acquisition of a registered investment advisor ("RIA") firm this year and the eighth overall when including acquisitions by affiliated RIAs, and CI's largest RIA acquisition to date. CI is one of the industry's fastest-growing RIA platforms, having made its first acquisition in the first quarter of this year.

"BDF is a thriving, high-quality firm and we're excited to welcome the team to CI," said Kurt MacAlpine, CI Chief Executive Officer. "Adding a firm of BDF's size and excellence significantly accelerates our U.S. wealth strategy. As we add scale to the business, we can realize synergies and provide service enhancements across our network, such as deeper wealth planning support and a wider choice of effective investment solutions."

"Furthermore, we will be introducing the CI Private Wealth brand in the United States and Canada to represent our high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth advisory businesses and support our unique value proposition."

The BDF team of 62 people provides customized wealth management services to individuals and families, business owners and institutions and non-profit organizations. BDF has earned numerous accolades, including being ranked Number 30 on the RIA Channel Top 100 Wealth Managers for 2020, and being listed on the 2020 FT300: Top Registered Investment Advisors and the Barron's Top RIAs for 2020.

Chad Carlson has been named President and Co-Chief Investment Officer of BDF. He previously held the positions of Wealth Manager and Director of Research.

"CI is pursuing a compelling strategy of building a national wealth management company and we're thrilled to play a key role," said Mr. Carlson. "We share a client-centered, comprehensive approach to wealth management that helps our clients live full lives. As part of CI, we look forward to continuing to enhance our service offering and growing the firm."

CI began its expansion in the U.S. earlier this year in support of its newly adopted strategic priorities of globalizing the firm and expanding its wealth management platform.

CI also holds ownership interests in the following RIAs:

The Cabana Group, LLC, of Fayetteville, Arkansas

Congress Wealth Management, LLC of Boston, Massachusetts

One Capital Management, LLC, of Westlake Village, California

Surevest, LLC, of Phoenix, Arizona .

BDF was founded in 2001 by Mark Balasa, Armond Dinverno, and Mike Foltz. Its expertise includes practice groups specializing in the unique needs of women, widows, business owners, insurance brokers and agency owners, lawyers, financial professionals, and divorcing individuals. BDF was advised by the Asset & Wealth Management Investment Banking group of Raymond James Financial, Inc. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

About CI Financial

CI Financial Corp. (TSX: CIX) is an independent company offering global asset management and wealth management advisory services. CI held approximately $189 billion (US$143 billion) in fee-earning assets as of August 31, 2020. CI's primary asset management businesses are CI Investments Inc. and GSFM Pty Ltd., and it operates in wealth management through Assante Wealth Management (Canada) Ltd., CI Private Counsel LP, CI Direct Investing (WealthBar Financial Services Inc.), BBS Securities Inc., The Cabana Group, LLC, Congress Wealth Management, One Capital Management, LLC and Surevest LLC. Further information is available at www.cifinancial.com.

All financial amounts in Canadian dollars unless otherwise specified.

Barron's RIA rankings are intended to shine a spotlight on the nation's best wealth managers and raise standards in the industry. Firms that wish to be ranked fill out a 102-question survey about their practice. Barron's verifies that data and applies its rankings formula to the data to generate a ranking, based on assets, revenue and quality of practice.

The FT 300 assesses registered investment advisers based on desirable traits for investors and presents the FT 300 as an elite group, not a competitive ranking of one to 300. RIAs must complete an application to be considered. The formula the FT uses to grade advisers is based on six broad factors and calculates a numeric score for each adviser. Areas of consideration include AUM, asset growth, the company's age, industry certifications of key employees, SEC compliance record and online accessibility.

RIA Channel ranked the Top 100 RIA firms of 2020 based on a proprietary set of criteria and data. The ranking is based on both size and growth in assets as of June 30, 2020, as reported to the SEC. RIA Database (RIADatabase.com) was used for regulatory data, organic research, and advisor surveys.

This press release contains forward-looking statements concerning anticipated future events, results, circumstances, performance or expectations with respect to CI Financial Corp. ("CI") and its products and services, including its business operations, strategy and financial performance and condition. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as "believe", "expect", "foresee", "forecast", "anticipate", "intend", "estimate", "goal", "plan" and "project" and similar references to future periods, or conditional verbs such as "will", "may", "should", "could" or "would". These statements are not historical facts but instead represent management beliefs regarding future events, many of which by their nature are inherently uncertain and beyond management's control. Although management believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements involve risks and uncertainties. The material factors and assumptions applied in reaching the conclusions contained in these forward-looking statements include that the investment fund industry will remain stable and that interest rates will remain relatively stable. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations include, among other things, general economic and market conditions, including interest and foreign exchange rates, global financial markets, changes in government regulations or in tax laws, industry competition, technological developments and other factors described or discussed in CI's disclosure materials filed with applicable securities regulatory authorities from time to time. The foregoing list is not exhaustive and the reader is cautioned to consider these and other factors carefully and not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Other than as specifically required by applicable law, CI undertakes no obligation to update or alter any forward-looking statement after the date on which it is made, whether to reflect new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE CI Financial Corp.

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WASHINGTON -- Researchers have developed an automated 3D printing method that can produce multicolor 3D microstructures using different materials. The new method could be used to make a variety of optical components including optical sensors and light-driven actuators as well as multimaterial structures for applications such as soft robotics and medical applications.

"Combining multiple kinds of materials can be used to create a function that cannot be realized with a single material," said research team leader Shoji Maruo from Yokohama National University in Japan. "Methods like ours that allow single-step fabrication of multimaterial structures eliminates assembling processes, allowing the production of devices with high precision and low cost."

In The Optical Society (OSA) journal Optical Materials Express, Maruo and colleagues describe their new 3D printing method and demonstrate it by creating various multicolor 3D structures. Their technique is based on stereolithography, a 3D printing method that is ideal for making microdevices because it uses a tightly focused laser beam to make intricately detailed features.

"The ability to make multimaterial microscale optical elements using 3D printing could aid in the miniaturization of optical devices used for medical treatments and diagnoses," said Maruo. "This could improve the ability to use these devices in or on the body while also enabling them to be disposable, which would help provide an advanced and safe medical diagnosis." Optimizing color stereolithography

Stereolithography builds up a high-precision 3D structure by using a laser to harden light-activated materials known as photocurable resins in a layer by layer fashion. Microfluidics are often used to hold the liquid resins, but it is challenging to keep the different resins from contaminating each other when switching materials without creating large amounts of waste or forming air bubbles in the printed object.

In the new work, the researchers developed a way to hold the various materials in a droplet state, which allows them to be more easily exchanged in a closed space such as a microchannel without creating waste. To suppress air bubbles, the 3D-printed structure is moved around inside the resin each time a resin is replaced. They also integrated a two-step process for cleaning the 3D printed structure when the resins are changed to completely prevent cross-contamination.

To implement this optimized approach, the researchers created a palette to hold multiple resins and placed it, two cleaning tanks and an air blow nozzle on a motorized stage. "All the processes, including 3D printing, resin replacement, bubble removal and cleaning are sequentially carried out using software we developed," said Maruo. "This allows multicolor 3D microstructures to be created automatically."

Creating multicolor 3D structures

The researchers tested the approach by placing various types of photocurable resins in a palette and using them to create 3D microstructures. For one of these demonstration structures, a tiny multicolor cube just 1.5 millimeters across, the 3D printing system exchanged five colors of resin 250 times during a 6-hour fabrication process. The researchers also showed that adjusting the number of layers of multicolor resins made it possible to adjust absorbance of each part of the structure, allowing them to create microstructures with colors such as black by combining layers of red, blue, green and yellow.

"This method can be applied not only to multicolor resins but also to a wider variety of materials," said Maruo. "For example, mixing various ceramic micro- or nanoparticles with a photocurable resin can be used to 3D print various types of glass. It could also be used with biocompatible ceramic materials to create scaffolds for regenerating bones and teeth."

The researchers are now working to shorten the time required for processes such as resin replacement and bubble removal to allow for even faster fabrication. They also plan to use technology they previously demonstrated to build a multiscale fabrication system in which the fabrication resolution can be changed from less than a micrometer to several tens of micrometers by modifying the focusing lens and laser exposure conditions.

###

Paper: T. Maruyama, H. Hirata, T. Furukawa, S. Maruo, "Multi-material microstereolithography using a palette with multicolor photocurable resins," Opt. Mater. Express 10, 10, 2522-2532 (2020). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1364/OME.401810.

Optical Materials Express

Optical Materials Express is an open-access journal focusing on the synthesis, processing and characterization of materials for applications in optics and photonics. It is published by The Optical Society (OSA) and emphasizes advances in novel optical materials, their properties, modeling, synthesis and fabrication techniques; how such materials contribute to novel optical behavior; and how they enable new or improved optical devices. The editor-in-chief is Alexandra Boltasseva from Purdue University, USA. Optical Materials Express is available online at OSA Publishing.

About The Optical Society

Founded in 1916, The Optical Society (OSA) is the leading professional organization for scientists, engineers, students and business leaders who fuel discoveries, shape real-life applications and accelerate achievements in the science of light. Through world-renowned publications, meetings and membership initiatives, OSA provides quality research, inspired interactions and dedicated resources for its extensive global network of optics and photonics experts. For more information, visit osa.org.

Media Contact: mediarelations@osa.org
AUBERRY, Fresno County  As she surveyed the devastation of the Creek Fire, Sen. Kamala Harris said she couldnt help but notice how little the flames left behind. For some, all that remained standing were the chimneys.

Those chimneys remind me of tombstones, the Democratic vice presidential nominee said.

Its a landscape that the West is likely to see more of if the country doesnt accept the reality of climate change science and act accordingly, Harris said Tuesday as she redoubled the Democratic presidential tickets new emphasis on the threat that an unchecked output of greenhouse gases poses for peoples lives, health and property.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden seized on the issue Monday, after a week when wildfires throughout the West killed more than 30 people, turned the midday skies orange in California and Oregon and laid down a blanket of smoke from Southern California into British Columbia. Biden called Trump, who has systematically rolled back environmental regulations and pulled the U.S. out of the Paris accords limiting carbon dioxide emissions, a climate arsonist who ignores the danger of wildfires burning the suburbs of the West.

Its become a point of sharp demarcation with Trump, who reiterated his rejection of climate change science Monday when he told California officials that itll start getting cooler. He added that I dont think science knows whether people are contributing to climate change, although in fact scientists are in wide agreement that human activity is driving the phenomenon.

Harris sought to emphasize the divergence as she visited her home state Tuesday. She and Gov. Gavin Newsom viewed a town largely leveled by the Creek Fire, which broke out in the Sierra foothills near Sequoia National Park on Sept. 4 and has burned more than 220,000 acres.

Harris and Newsom stood in front of a burned playground outside an elementary school in Auberry, 35 miles northeast of Fresno, where in better times children would have been playing during lunchtime recess. Ash fell from the sky as they spoke.

Sadly, these wildfires and the devastation they cause are utterly predictable, Harris said. This is not a partisan issue. This is just a fact. We have to do better as a country.

The school itself survived the flames, but the playground is a total loss. Charred pine trees, their foliage burned away, stick up from the surrounding hills for miles.

Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle

We have to understand that California, like so many other parts of our country, has experienced extreme weather conditions, Harris said. It is incumbent on us, in terms of the leadership of our nation, to take seriously these new changes in our climate, and to do what we can to mitigate against the damage.

Harris has called for eliminating carbon emissions from the electricity-generating sector by 2035 and has put forward a plan to spend nearly $2 trillion over four years on increasing renewable power and creating incentives to build more energy-efficient buildings, homes and cars. Biden predicts this would create 10 million jobs in the clean energy sector, triple the current total.

Harris said that the people who are victimized by these (fires), they could care less ... who they voted for in the last election. This is not a partisan issue.

Harris praised firefighters who have been battling the Creek Fire, in some cases as their own houses burned.

They are working around the clock without rest, she said. They have been working 90-hour shifts, some of them, to save families, to save property.

Newsom, who a day earlier gently urged Trump in a wildfires briefing outside Sacramento to accept that climate change is real, and that is exacerbating this, bumped elbows with Harris as he arrived. The two peered at the rubble of a home that burned down to its foundation and looked at a burned pickup truck nearby.

Newsom alluded to Trumps visit as he spoke alongside Harris: If you dont believe in science, come to California and observe it with your own eyes, he said. You cannot be in denial about this reality.

Now Playing: Firefighters are using backfires to help contain the massive wildfires in Northern California. Backfires are small, controlled fires to help reduce the amount of dry vegetation thats available to the main fire. The technique originates from Native American land management to clear brush, manage wildlife and more, and is now a key component of California's fire management efforts. Video: San Francisco Chronicle

The governor said Harris gets it and that a Biden administration would be committed to rapidly overhauling Americas energy economy by reducing the amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere.

The Creek Fire is already the 12th-largest in California history and its still burning, having been just 16% contained by Tuesday. Five of the states 20 largest fires have happened this year, as a dry winter, searing heat and an August lightning storm combined to light the state ablaze.

Both Harris and Newsom talked with emergency officials who gave an overview of the fires extensive damage, and talked with firefighters who have been on the front lines.

What a year, you guys, Newsom could be heard saying.

Dustin Gardiner is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dustin.gardiner@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dustingardiner
Lucknow: A special CBI court hearing the Babri mosque demolition case will pronounce its judgment on September 30. Special CBI court judge SK Yadav has directed all accused to remain present in the court on the day of judgment.

Prominent among the 32 accused are former deputy prime minister LK Advani and BJP leaders M M Joshi, Kalyan Singh, Uma Bharti and Vinay Katiyar. CBI counsel Lalit Singh said that arguments of the defence and prosecution concluded on September 1 and thereafter the special judge started writing the judgment.

The CBI has produced 351 witnesses and about 600 documentary evidence before the court. The Babri mosque in Ayodhya was demolished by karsevaks on December 6, 1992.

Live TV

The Supreme Court had earlier given the CBI Special Court hearing the Babri Masjid demolition case time till 30 September to deliver its verdict.

It may be noted that an earlier deadline for judgment had expired on 31 August.

The special CBI court that is hearing the Babri Masjid demolition case should complete the trial and deliver its verdict by September 30, the Supreme Court had said.

In 2017, the top court had directed the trial court to conduct day-to-day hearings and finish the trial in two years.
BANGALORE, India, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the new market research report " Natural Rubber Market by Type (Ribbed Smoked Sheet, Technically Specified Rubber, Latex), by Application (Automotive (Non-Tire Applications), Medical, Industrial, Consumer Goods) and Region - Global Forecast to 2026. In 2019, the global Natural Rubber market size was USD 23560 Million, and it is expected to reach USD 27870 Million by the end of 2026, with a CAGR of 2.4% during 2021-2026.

The major factor driving the Natural Rubber market size is the Growing demand for natural rubber products due to a rise in the automobile industry.

This report has estimated the size of the natural rubber market in terms of value. In this report, the market has broadly been segmented based on types, applications, and regions.

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TRENDS INFLUENCING THE NATURAL RUBBER MARKET SIZE

Increasing demand from the footwear industry is fuelling the Natural Rubber market size. The footwear industry uses a broad range of materials to produce footwear from casual footwear to specialized items, including protective footwear and protection footwear. The natural rubber has many physical characteristics ideal for the manufacture of the shoe sole.

The rising demand for natural rubber in tire production is driving the Natural Rubber market size. Natural rubber's advantages include abrasion resistance and adhesion to metals, making it suitable for producing seals, gaskets, and other goods.

Another factor that is expected to increase the Natural Rubber market size is the strong demand for natural rubber products due to a rise in crude oil prices.

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NATURAL RUBBER MARKET SHARE ANALYSIS

The Asia Pacific is expected to hold the largest Natural Rubber Market share during the forecast period. China is poised to be the region's leading natural rubber market. Natural rubber consumption in China is high because of infrastructural and building developments. Other major natural rubber markets in the Asia Pacific include Japan, South Korea, and India.

North America and Europe are expected to hold a significant share in the overall market.

Regional and Country-level Analysis:

North America

United States

Canada

Asia-Pacific

China

Japan

South Korea

India

Southeast Asia

Australia

Rest of Asia-Pacific

Europe

Germany

France

K.

Italy

Russia

Nordic Countries

Rest of Europe

Latin America

Mexico

Brazil

Rest of Latin America

Middle East & Africa

Turkey

Saudi Arabia

UAE

Rest of MEA

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NATURAL RUBBER MARKET SEGMENTATION

Segment by Type, the Natural Rubber market is segmented into

Segment by Application, the Natural Rubber market is segmented into

Automotive (Non-Tire Applications)

Medical

Industrial

Consumer Goods

Key Companies:

Continental

Bridgestone

Goodyear

Sumitomo

Firestone/ Sameer Africa

Horizon Addis Tyre

Tyre Corporation(Kal Tire)

Truco

NUVO Rubber Compounders

TRENCO

Naroben.

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SIMILAR REPORTS

 Industrial Rubber Market

The Global Industrial Rubber Market size is expected to grow from USD 27,111.79 Million in 2019 to USD 35,746.68 Million by the end of 2025 at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 4.71%.

View Full Report: https://reports.valuates.com/market-reports/360I-Auto-6X189/the-global-industrial-rubber

 Rubber Latex Thread Market

The global Rubber Latex Thread market size is projected to reach USD 517.9 Million by 2026, from USD 417.9 Million in 2020, at a CAGR of 3.6% during 2021-2026.

View Full Report: https://reports.valuates.com/market-reports/QYRE-Auto-25K2402/global-rubber-latex-thread

 Natural Rubber Sheets Market

View Full Report: https://reports.valuates.com/market-reports/QYRE-Othe-3I318/natural-rubber-sheets

 Natural Rubber for Mining Market

View Full Report: https://reports.valuates.com/market-reports/QYRE-Auto-2Q3454/global-natural-rubber-for-mining

 Technically Specified Rubber Market

View Full Report: https://reports.valuates.com/market-reports/QYRE-Auto-18X1914/global-technically-specified-rubber

 Natural Rubber Latex Condoms Market

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ABOUT US:

Valuates offers in-depth market insights into various industries. Our extensive report repository is constantly updated to meet your changing industry analysis needs.

Our team of market analysts can help you select the best report covering your industry. We understand your niche region-specific requirements and that's why we offer customization of reports. With our customization in place, you can request for any particular information from a report that meets your market analysis needs.

To achieve a consistent view of the market, data is gathered from various primary and secondary sources, at each step, data triangulation methodologies are applied to reduce deviance and find a consistent view of the market. Each sample we share contains detail research methodology employed to generate the report, Please also reach to our sales team to get the complete list of our data sources

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Legislators introduced the I am Vanessa Guillen Act of 2020 on Wednesday, a bill that would drastically change how the military investigates sexual offenses reported by active-duty members.

The bill is named after Houston native Vanessa Guillen, who was murdered on April 22 inside the Fort Hood Army base in Killeen after telling her family and friends another soldier sexually harassed her. She did not report the incidents to military personnel for fear of retaliation, her family said.

The endless cycle of harassment, assault, and retaliation for those who speak reveals the deep roots of a toxic culture we must eradicate so that survivors are taken seriously and treated with respect, and assailants are held accountable, Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-CA), author of the bill, told the Houston Chronicle.

At a news conference on Capitol Hill, Speier compared the impact of this bill to the Me Too movement that shook the status quo of sexual harassment and abuse in the workplace and civilian life in 2017.

This is the militarys Me Too moment, and we are going to take full advantage to amplify it and to cause the kind of changes that we believe should take place, said Speier, chair of the House Armed Services Military Personnel congressional subcommittee.

Dressed in black and white, Guillens parents Gloria and Rogelio Guillen and sister Lupe stood together in silence while the elder sister, Mayra, spoke in the familys name.

She is now an American hero that will save American lives in the military, said Mayra Guillen, who thanked Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi for meeting with the family before the news conference.

The bill would amend several sections of Title 10 of The Uniform Code of Military Justice.

One change would create a separate military charge for sexual harassment offenses. Currently, the offenses fall under four general articles, or charges, such as maltreatment of a subordinate, misconduct or violation of general orders.

Another change, which addresses concerns about retaliation, would establish an independent investigation using trained professionals outside the complainants chain of command.

When sexual harassment is reported, the incident is typically investigated by another service member in the unit who has little or no training or experience in investigating sexual harassment, a document from Speiers office says.

Internal command investigators are particularly problematic, and abysmal reporting rates help demonstrate that many service members do not trust their commands to address their harassment, the document reads.

The issue of sexual assault and sexual harassment in the military isnt a Democrat or Republican issue; its an American issue, said Congressman Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), a sponsor of the bill. We must strengthen the militarys ability to protect its most important resource, which is the people who willingly sign-up to protect all Americans.

Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia (D-TX), the legislator in Guillens district who was instrumental in pushing for a congressional investigation in the case, described the bill as a transformative piece of legislation that will safe lives and keep members of the military safe.

Garcia said that the Army failed Guillen but that the bill would bring comprehensive changes in her name. She held back tears in an emotional moment while quoting words from the soldiers mother, a native of Mexico. Mi hija es historia; ella va a salvar muchas vidas (My daughter is history; she will save many lives).

Speier said that military leadership has repeatedly failed to reduce sexual harassment, sexual assault and violent crime at Fort Hood. Only this year, 28 soldiers posted there have died, at least nine of them in suspicious circumstances, Speier said.

Just last month, Sgt. Elder Fernandes, 22, was found dead, hanging from a tree in an apparent suicide after reporting being sexually assaulted.

Sexual misconduct, however, is widespread across all military services, Speier said. She added that an estimateed 20,000 service members were sexually harassed in 2018, but only 5,000 reported it.

Congresswoman Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) from El Paso, who also sponsored the bill, said that Congress must respond to this moment of reckoning with new solutions to tackle this epidemic and pass the I Am Vanessa Guillen Act.

Speier said that Pelosi agreed to take the bill to the House floor for voting, which could happen as soon as in a few weeks or before the end of the year. The author of the bill added that it currently has 73 cosponsors but still needs 90 more.

Natalie Khawam, the attorney representing the Guillen family, urged people to help in passing the bill. Please call your congressman, she said. Enough is enough. we didnt have to lose Vanessa; we didnt have to lose any of these soldiers. They fought for us; its time we fight for them.

Mullin said that the bill will also encourage survivors to come forward to report sexual assaults and sexual harassment and to provide justice. This is about protecting our men and women in uniform and I will keep fighting so no family has to go through what the Guillen family has gone through, he said.

olivia.tallet@chron.com

Twitter: @oliviaptallet
VANCOUVER, BC, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - Wildflower Brands Inc. (CSE: SUN ) (OTC: WLDFF ) (the "Company") announces that Wildflower CBD products will soon be available in Canada, after signing a Brand Licensing Agreement with Rubicon Organics, Inc. ("Rubicon Organics")("C.ROMJ").

Included in the launch are two of Wildflower's award-winning CBD topicals, the CBD Cool Stick and CBD Relief Stick, are planned to be launched in Canada in the first half of 2021. The Brand Licensing Agreement will put Wildflower CBD products in over 840 cannabis storefronts across Western Canada and Ontario which represents a little better than 8 out of every 10 cannabis retail stores in those jurisdictions.

"There is already a high demand for Wildflower CBD products in Canada," says Krystian Wetulani, President at City Cannabis Co., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wildflower Brands. "We have customers asking about them almost every day. This addresses a clear gap in the market, with topical products being the most underrepresented category in the market vis-a-vis demand."

Wildflower CBD products have been available in the US since 2016, and have garnered a lot of popularity and attention, even amongst celebrities like Kim Kardashian , who made Wildflower CBD products a fixture at her luxurious CBD Baby Shower in 2019, and Kate Hudson , who called Wildflower's Relief Stick (formerly called the Healing Stick) her favourite CBD product of 2020.

"Rubicon Organics is a perfect partner for us," explains William MacLean, CEO of Wildflower. "They are one of the top organic cultivators in Canada, and their focus on quality is one of the many values shared between our companies."

Tim Roberts, President of Rubicon Organics states "We looked at a number of CBD brands to partner with and Wildflower stood out, not only for its great brand, but for quality of their products. We look forward to working with the Wildflower Team to bring these amazing topicals to the Canadian market."

ABOUT WILDFLOWER BRANDS INC.

Wildflower Brands is a Vancouver-based company developing and designing brands that focus on plant-based health and wellness products. All of our brands work in synergy, toward becoming a global wellness leader.

For more information about Wildflower Brands, visit wildflowerbrands.co . To learn, engage and shop our wellness products visit buywildflower.com .

ABOUT CITY CANNABIS CO.

City Cannabis is a premier cannabis retailer recently acquired by Wildflower Brands and holds three City of Vancouver licenses to sell cannabis and has four licenses in the Province of B.C. City Cannabis has been profitably operating various dispensaries in Vancouver since Vancouver commenced licensing cannabis retailers.

For more information about City Cannabis, visit citycannabis.co .

ABOUT RUBICON ORGANICS INC.

Rubicon Organics Inc., through its wholly-owned subsidiary Vintages Organic Cannabis Company Inc., is a licensed producer focused on cultivating and selling organic certified, super-premium cannabis from its flagship 125,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art hybrid-greenhouse located on a 10-acres property in Delta, BC, Canada. The Company is focused on achieving industry-leading profitability through the development of the brand identity Simply BareTM Organic, that combines the sale of high-margin, super-premium organic products with low-cost sustainable production. The Company is currently ramping up to production capacity of 11,000 kg per year of organic certified and environmentally sustainable cannabis.

Cautionary and Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forwardlooking statements and forwardlooking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. These statements relate to future events or future performance. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forwardlooking statements or information. Forwardlooking statements and information are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "appear", "seek", "anticipate", "plan", "continue", "estimate", "approximate", "expect", "may", "will", "project", "predict", "potential", "targeting", "intend", "could", "might", "should", "believe", "would" and similar expressions.

Forward-looking statements and information are provided for the purpose of providing information about the current expectations and plans of management of the Company relating to the future. Readers are cautioned that reliance on such statements and information may not be appropriate for other purposes, such as making investment decisions. Since forwardlooking statements and information 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 risks associated with the cannabis industry in general such as operational risks in growing; competition; incorrect assessment of the value and potential benefits of various transactions; ability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources; failure to obtain required regulatory and other approvals and changes in legislation, including but not limited to tax laws and government regulations. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forwardlooking statements, timelines and information contained in this news release. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive.

The forwardlooking statements and information contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and no undertaking is given to update publicly or revise any forwardlooking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise unless so required by applicable securities laws or the Canadian Securities Exchange. The forward-looking statements or information contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement The Canadian Securities Exchange Inc. has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved of the contents of this press release.

SOURCE Wildflower Brands Inc.

Related Links

http://wildflowerbrands.co


Phoenix

The backup Uber driver involved in the first self-driving vehicle fatality has been charged with negligent homicide for being distracted in the moments before fatally striking a woman in suburban Phoenix.

Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel's office said Tuesday that Rafaela Vasquez was charged on Aug. 27 in the 2018 crash in Tempe that killed 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg. She pleaded not guilty Tuesday. Her attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Prosecutors declined in March 2019 to file criminal charges against Uber, as a corporation, in Herzberg's death.

Vasquez, 46, told investigators she didn't use her cellphones before the crash. But the National Transportation Safety Board concluded Vasquez's failure to monitor the road as she watched television on her phone was the main cause of the crash.

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

Contributing factors cited included Uber's inadequate safety procedures and ineffective oversight of its drivers, Herzberg's decision to cross the street outside of a crosswalk, and the Arizona Department of Transportation's insufficient oversight of autonomous vehicle testing.

The board also concluded Uber's de-activation of its automatic emergency braking system increased the risks associated with testing automated vehicles on public roads.
The current online education system is untenable. My wife and I have decided it would be irresponsible for us to keep our children in an environment where they are not learning. We do not feel as though we are alone and would like the CPS to resurvey parents. If the school does not return to in-person education for the winter quarter, my kids will not return to the CPS system. I am fortunate to have the ability to explore alternative education environments. My heart breaks for the families without those options. The Chicago public school system is failing them most of all.
Passenger numbers have fallen off a cliff as the coronavirus crisis continues to cripple the travel industry, with one Northern Ireland airport experiencing a 91% drop in travellers.

George Best Belfast City Airport saw terminal and transit passengers fall from over a quarter of a million in July 2019 (256,565) to just 22,976 two months ago, according to figures from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

Belfast International Airport (BIA) also reported a slump in passenger numbers, down from 639,412 to 103,921, or 84%.

The news comes as BIA boss Graham Keddie slammed the UK Government for a new policy that makes Northern Ireland the only region that does not benefit from duty free for European Union flights, rendering us less competitive than the rest of UK and Ireland.

Airlines and airports have seen customer demand fall dramatically due to lockdowns, travel restrictions, quarantine concerns and Covid-19 worries.

BIA blamed the worldwide pandemic for its "devastating effect" on travel.

"In July we carried almost 80% of Northern Ireland's air passengers, however, that is a fraction of what we would normally carry during our peak summer months," a spokeswoman said.

"In the three months since flights began operating we have had in excess of 400,000 passengers as well as facilitating almost 1,000 cargo, medical and military flights in order to keep Northern Ireland fully equipped with the pandemic. The worldwide Covid-19 pandemic has had a devastating effect on global aviation and Belfast International Airport is no exception."

Mr Keddie, BIA's managing director, said that a new policy due to come into effect in January will be detrimental to Northern Ireland because it will be the only part of the UK that does not benefit from duty free for EU flights. He added that it will make air travel in Northern Ireland less competitive than the rest of the UK and Ireland.

"The Government has once again shown a complete lack of awareness for the jobs and businesses on the line in the aviation sector," said Mr Keddie.

"Our industry is weathering the worst crisis in the history of civil aviation, it can scarcely afford another hammer blow like this. By removing the airside statutory concession, the Government is needlessly harming the revenue of retailers and airports.

"Passengers will be disincentivised from making purchases as they travel through the UK.

"By extending the duty free sales to EU countries from GB only, it puts Northern Ireland airports at a complete disadvantage and instead of achieving additional revenue for the UK Treasury, passengers will choose to fly out of neighbouring airports, and the sales and job roles will be lost to the Northern Ireland and UK economy. I strongly urge the Government to reconsider, review its proposal and act in partnership with its once world-beating aviation industry to secure jobs, businesses and livelihoods across the country."

A spokesperson for Belfast City Airport added: "Over the summer months our airline partners resumed activity from Belfast City Airport and we are currently seeing passenger numbers increase slowly but steadily.

"Since July we have commenced a number of new routes with Aer Lingus, British Airways, Eastern Airways and Loganair. These include Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London City, Manchester and Southampton, all of which were previously operated by Flybe."
Brigid Doherty, a member of the expert panel on nursing homes, said the lack of information about residents deaths has been frustrating for families (Oireachtas TV/PA)

Families whose loved ones died in care homes during the coronavirus pandemic cannot grieve until they get answers about their final days, an Oireachtas committee has heard.

Brigid Doherty, a member of the expert panel on nursing homes, said the lack of information about residents deaths has been frustrating for families.

She told the Special Committee on Covid-19 Response that there is a huge gap in information on how care was provided in the final weeks and days of care home residents lives.

Ms Doherty warned that the huge issue will have implications for the grieving process.

Ms Doherty is a member of the expert panel which made 86 recommendations on Covid-19 and nursing homes. The report was published last month.

She also called for an independent advocacy service to investigate complaints or issues raised about nursing homes.

We need to keep an eye on these recommendations and make sure that those recommendations are implemented David Cullinane

The committee was told that any complaint regarding care in a nursing home is dealt with by the home, which Ms Doherty said was not very satisfactory for families.

The HSE safeguarding services does not have the legislative authority to investigate complaints in private nursing homes, Ms Doherty told the committee.

Residents in nursing homes do not have that support as they would do if they were in hospital or at home.

We do need an independent advocacy service for nursing homes and I understand that is being explored, but we need a process of investigation that is independent of the nursing home provider, whether that is private or public.

The lack of information is frustrating for families, Covid has highlighted this even more, it has brought it to the fore because families were not able able to visit residents.

People will not begin to grieve for their relatives until they get the answers.

Chairman of the expert panel, Professor Cecily Kelleher, said its recommendations reflect that systematic reform is needed in the way care is delivered in the future.

This and other issues that arose during the crisis lay the basis for the disaster. Brid Smith

He added: It was clear from a range of stakeholders that healthcare staff worked tirelessly for the residents and all parties, including carer staff, now require a range of supports.

Great value was placed on the services stood up to cope, especially Covid-19 Response Teams.

These supports must be sustained and regularised over the next 18 months. This is a multi-factorial challenge and we must be action driven.

Sinn Feins David Cullinane said the report needs to be reviewed on a regular basis by the health committee, when it is established.

We need to keep an eye on these recommendations and make sure that those recommendations are implemented, Mr Cullinane added.

Can I propose that in our final report that is one of the recommendations that we make? This cant be a report that sits on the shelf or that is cherry picked. We have to really get under the bonnet of it.

Expand Close Signs in relation to Covid-19 at the entrance to a nursing home in Dublin (Brian Lawless/PA) / Facebook

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Ms Doherty also told the committee there is an issue around staffing levels in care homes as there is no statutory requirement for the number of staff or the skill mix in nursing homes at any one time.

HIQA (Health Information and Quality Authority) do not have powers, and regulations say it is down to the (care) provider to state the level of staff. That needs to change, she added.

The Department of Health is commencing the framework for safe staffing and skill mix  it is crucial that happens sooner rather than later, otherwise its very difficult to assess whether or not there is an appropriate level of staff.

Meanwhile in a separate sitting of the committee, Roisin Shortall, co-leader of the Social Democrats, said the report identified low-paid care staff who were often living in poor quality accommodation and overcrowded settings.

She added: Given the growth of the virus in Dublin and potential impact on nursing homes, what exactly is happening with that issue on unsatisfactory housing conditions because it seems that is the source of much of the spread of infection?

Expand Close Dr Kathleen MacLellan, Assistant Secretary, Department of Health.Picture is sreenshot from Oireachtas/TV. / Facebook

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Sandra Tuohy, assistant national director at the Services for Older People, said the HSE has been providing private hotel accommodation for staff who need to self-isolate.

She said there are hundreds of care home staff who are using the accommodation.

Ms Shortall added: That and so many other issues arising from the recommendations underline the totally precarious nature of the funding model for nursing home care.

It is so delicately calibrated to maximise profit, on the one hand for a return on investment and then to limit the financial exposure for the State.

Neither of which have to do with care for older people.

It also emerged during the committee that more than 4,500 people who have been approved for home care are still on waiting lists.

Ms Tuohy said she hopes to have the waiting list cleared by the end of October.

Solidarity-People Before Profit TD Brid Smith said: I firmly believe that the key issue is not the cause of the policy that worsened the impact of Covid-19 on our nursing homes, it was the decision taken in the 1990s to contract out the care of our elderly to private for-profit nursing homes.

I believe some of the points made by the panel backs up that view.

The fact that 80% of all beds are in the private sector and that in that sector we see long hours of work, precarious employment, low pay as well as a skills shortage and a push to cut costs, thats why we saw the early restrictions on the use of PPE.

This and other issues that arose during the crisis lay the basis for the disaster.

Dr Kathleen MacLellan, assistant secretary at the Department of Health, said they are unfortunately seeing a gradual change in the epidemiological situation and nursing homes have not remained unaffected.

Since the start of pandemic and as of 10th September 2020 there have 281 clusters in nursing homes, she added.

Over 85% of these clusters are now closed with 39 remaining as open clusters. The open clusters are in areas of high community Covid-19 transmission  27 in the east of the country, 10 in the Mid-west and two in the North East.
STORRS  The University of Connecticut reported 12 new cases of COVID-19 among students at its Storrs campus Tuesday.

Three of the new cases were among students living on campus, the other nine are off-campus commuters, spokeswoman Stephanie Reitz said.

Thats in keeping with the trend UConn and other Connecticut colleges and universities have reported, as students off campus see higher rates of new infection, while new infections among their peers living in dorms on campus stay relatively low.

Asked about that trend Monday, Reitz said many of the off-campus cases involve one housemate catching the disease and passing it along to others.

Usually, one person would get the virus and the roommates would then catch it. We also saw a number of small off-campus gatherings that helped create the spread, she said.

Last week, the school quarantined students living off campus at the Oaks on the Square apartments after a spike in cases there.

On Monday, the school performed more than 400 tests, Reitz said, including students randomly selected for testing as well as asymptomatic on- and off-campus students who asked to be tested.

The school is also testing the campuss wastewater as a bellwether to warn if the university is about to see an outbreak

As of Tuesday, UConn Storrs reported 34 active cases on campus, and 124 students have recovered. There were no new cases reported among staff or the schools four other campuses that day. The schools Stamford campus previously reported four cases among commuter students, and the Hartford campus previously reported one commuter case.

Other Connecticut colleges and universities continue to report their cases of COVID-19.

In Hartford, Trinity College reported three new cases last week, the most recent testing data available.

In West Hartford, the University of Saint Joseph reported two new cases as of Friday.

The University of Hartford reported four new cases last week, data from the school shows.

Connecticut College in New London reported two new cases among students last week.

Central Connecticut State University in New Britain reported seven new cases  all among residential students  on Monday, the most recent data available.

Wesleyan University in Middletown reported three active cases among employees who are not allowed on campus. To date, the school has had two cases among students, the schools data shows.

The University of Bridgeport said the school has had one case among commuter students as of Tuesday.
The aircraft took off from Kharkiv's airport on Wednesday evening.

The Bombardier Challenger 604 plane used in August to airlift Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny from Russia to Germany's Berlin-based Charite hospital after his poisoning with a chemical nerve agent from the Novichok group has reportedly visited Ukraine.

The aircraft (Reg No. D-AFAD, owned by FAI Aviation Group, a German general aviation operator and air ambulance specialist) arrived in Kharkiv from Nuremberg, Germany, at 19:15 Kyiv time on September 16, the Suspilne.Media outlet reported.

Read alsoKharkiv City Council denies reports on mayor's COVID-19 coma

The publication cited a source in Ukrainian law enforcement agencies saying that the plane had arrived to airlift Kharkiv Mayor Hennadiy Kernes, who has allegedly been diagnosed with COVID-19.

There is no official confirmation of the report yet.

What is more, a Suspilne.Media correspondent spotted ambulances and cars with "0202" number plates at the airport. The number plates are used on the cars of Kernes and his security personnel.

The plane later took off at around 21:50 Kyiv time on September 16, according to the Flightradar24 service, Suspilne.Media said in an update.

"The destination airport is not specified on the website," it added.

What has happened to Kernes: Behind the curtains
Researchers at Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have developed the world's smallest ultrasound detector. It is based on miniaturized photonic circuits on top of a silicon chip. With a size 100 times smaller than an average human hair, the new detector can visualize features that are much smaller than previously possible, leading to what is known as super-resolution imaging.

Since the development of medical ultrasound imaging in the 1950s, the core detection technology of ultrasound waves has primarily focused on using piezoelectric detectors, which convert the pressure from ultrasound waves into electric voltage. The imaging resolution achieved with ultrasound depends on the size of the piezoelectric detector employed. Reducing this size leads to higher resolution and can offer smaller, densely packed one or two dimensional ultrasound arrays with improved ability to discriminate features in the imaged tissue or material. However, further reducing the size of piezoelectric detectors impairs their sensitivity dramatically, making them unusable for practical application.

Using computer chip technology to create an optical ultrasound detector

Silicon photonics technology is widely used to miniaturize optical components and densely pack them on the small surface of a silicon chip. While silicon does not exhibit any piezoelectricity, its ability to confine light in dimensions smaller than the optical wavelength has already been widely exploited for the development of miniaturized photonic circuits.

Researchers at Helmholtz Zentrum Mu?nchen and TUM capitalized on the advantages of those miniaturized photonic circuits and built the world's smallest ultrasound detector: the silicon waveguide-etalon detector, or SWED. Instead of recording voltage from piezoelectric crystals, SWED monitors changes in light intensity propagating through the miniaturized photonic circuits.

"This is the first time that a detector smaller than the size of a blood cell is used to detect ultrasound using the silicon photonics technology", says Rami Shnaiderman, developer of SWED. "If a piezoelectric detector was miniaturized to the scale of SWED, it would be 100 million times less sensitive."

Super-resolution imaging

"The degree to which we were we able to miniaturize the new detector while retaining high sensitivity due to the use of silicon photonics was breathtaking", says Prof. Vasilis Ntziachristos, lead of the research team. The SWED size is about half a micron (=0,0005 millimeters). This size corresponds to an area that is at least 10,000 times smaller than the smallest piezoelectric detectors employed in clinical imaging applications. The SWED is also up to 200 times smaller than the ultrasound wavelength employed, which means that it can be used to visualize features that are smaller than one micrometer, leading to what is called super-resolution imaging.

Inexpensive and powerful

As the technology capitalizes on the robustness and easy manufacturability of the silicon platform, large numbers of detectors can be produced at a small fraction of the cost of piezoelectric detectors, making mass production feasible. This is important for developing a number of different detection applications based on ultrasound waves. "We will continue to optimize every parameter of this technology - the sensitivity, the integration of SWED in large arrays, and its implementation in hand-held devices and endoscopes", adds Shnaiderman.

Future development and applications

"The detector was originally developed to propel the performance of optoacoustic imaging, which is a major focus of our research at Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen and TUM. However, we now foresee applications in a broader field of sensing and imaging", says Ntziachristos.

While the researchers are primarily aiming for applications in clinical diagnostics and basic biomedical research, industrial applications may also benefit from the new technology. The increased imaging resolution may lead to studying ultra-fine details in tissues and materials. A first line of investigation involves super-resolution optoacoustic (photoacoustic) imaging of cells and micro-vasculature in tissues, but the SWED could be also used to study fundamental properties of ultrasonic waves and their interactions with matter on a scale that was not possible before.

###

Collaboration and patenting

The Institute of Biological and Medical Imaging at Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen, the Chair of Biological Imaging at TUM, and TranslaTUM - the Central Institute for Translational Cancer Research at TUM's university hospital Klinikum Rechts der Isar, have contributed equally to this new technology which was published in the journal Nature. Protection of the intellectual aspects of this technology is ongoing.

Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen

Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen is a research center with a mission to discover personalized medical solutions for the prevention and therapy for environmentally triggered diseases and promote a healthier society in a rapidly changing world. Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen is headquartered in Neuherberg in the north of Munich and has about 2,500 staff members. It is a member of the Helmholtz Association, the largest scientific organization in Germany with more than 40,000 employees at 19 research centers.
Blackstone Resources AG (SWX: BLS) is pleased to announce that it has achieved a series of important milestones for its proprietary 3D-printing technology to print lithium ion solid-state batteries.

The company has been investing in the next generation of battery technology through its German subsidiary Blackstone Technology GmbH. This includes patented 3D-printing techniques and research into the mass production of batteries, which has been shown to offer greater energy density and a higher number of charging cycles.

Blackstone Technology's 3D-printing process offers substantial advantages over conventional battery cell design that use liquid electrolytes. This includes:

Significantly lower costs.

A higher level of production flexibility when it comes to the format of the cell.

20% increase in energy density.

Moreover, by using this technology, the amount of materials that do not store energy could be reduced by up to 10% i.e. copper and aluminium. These advantages can be achieved independently of the electrode chemistry.

Having developed and tested this technology, Blackstone is ready to take the next step. To achieve the highest efficiency and greatest leveraged from this 3D-printing technology, the company plans to produce 3D-printed solid-state battery cells.

This could be a game changer for the development of solid-state batteries. An automated 3D-printing production process could save up to 70% of the traditional Capex used to produce solid-state batteries. Solid-state batteries are also safer as they do not use flammable liquid electrolytes that are also more harmful to the environment.

The first solid-state battery prototypes developed by Blackstone Technology GmbH have already been tested. The company is now developing the 3D-printing technology required to print these solid-state battery cells for mass production.

The production of these prototypes will demonstrate that Blackstone Technology can print many of the battery composites, casings and solid-state electrolytes needed for mass production.

Holger Gritzka, CEO of Blackstone Technology GmbH says: "Together with the developments we have made in 3D-printing battery technology to date, this development paves the way for the mass production of solid-state battery cells. In addition to major markets such as the automotive industry, marine applications and new 5G wireless networks would benefit from the advantages that 3D-printed solid-state cells can offer".

Blackstone Resources AG

Blackstone Resources is a Swiss Holding Company, with its legal domicile in Baar, Kanton Zug and is concentrating on the battery technology and the battery metals market as primary metals. In addition, it sets up, develops and manages refineries used for gold and battery metals. It offers direct exposure to the battery metal revolution that is being driven by the demand of electric vehicles that need vast quantities of these metals. These include cobalt, manganese, molybdenum, graphite and lithium. In addition, Blackstone Resources has started a research programme on new battery technologies for 3D printing and solid-state batteries.

For more information please visit www.blackstoneresources.ch.

The disclaimer is an integral part of this press release.

Please ensure you consult the disclaimer for a full understanding of the content within: http://www.blackstoneresources.ch/about-us/disclaimer-press-release/

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200916005681/en/

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In a harrowing incident, an elderly woman was ruthlessly beaten by a local on the streets in Uttar Pradeshs Ghaziabad district.

The shocking incident took place on September 12 in Rajapur village, where the woman was thrashed by an unidentified man after they got into a scuffle.

The CCTV footage of the woman being beaten up in public view has taken the internet by storm. Towards the end of the video, when the woman tries to sit up, the man takes a chair from her side and goes on hitting her until she falls flat on her back.

The infuriating incident was shared on Twitter and has been going viral since.

After taking cognizance of the matter, in a subsequent tweet, the Ghaziabad Police mentioned that the accused seen in the video has been arrested and further probe is on. There were reports of the woman getting beaten up because she resisted a case of molestation. Cops, however, clarified that no such incident had been reported to them.

However, thats not the end of the matter. What has further agitated netizens is the fact that bystanders were just merely looking at the entire fiasco, with no one coming to the rescue of the helpless woman.

And needless to say, they also pointed out how we are failing as a society everyday to protect the women of our country.

Catch this cretin, reveal his identity and shame him till he's a social outcast. And this bystander syndrome will kill us all one day. No one stepped in to help as this lady was assaulted? https://t.co/wDyzRnrPJ7 TheRichaChadha (@RichaChadha) September 15, 2020

Its sad to see that no one stopped him.tamasha dekh rahe sab please arrest him @ghaziabadpolice @Uppolice https://t.co/9kSHCB7T4c Ritika Shahi (@RitikaspShahi) September 15, 2020

@myogiadityanath @narendramodi Situation of women .It's shame 4 us."Beti padao, beti bachao" is just mere a slogan?? If not punished him so that he never dare 2 touch any woman and never ever tried to tease any girl. #bharat Mata ki jay https://t.co/ZIojqUMJoU Vishal Bhattacharjee (@vishalbhattach9) September 15, 2020

What the hell are these people doing just standing and watching this.I request @dgpup @ghaziabadpolice to please arrest this disgusting man and also to take strict action. https://t.co/ntUcwiFvkG Smilie Yadav (@S_M_I_L_I_E_16) September 15, 2020

Oh my god! Ashamed of the people around watching this disgusting act. Someone please find and take action on the disgusting animal  @Uppolice @myogiadityanath #Ghaziabad https://t.co/JZWOXFeuqU Amrita (@Amrita764) September 15, 2020

Shame on the onlookers around watching this happening. I know it takes guts to raise voice and act but at least show some balls and don't you dare back off when and if it gets reported. @HTNoidaGzb #Patriarchy https://t.co/zmwBxhmPav Jsah (@Jsah28598323) September 15, 2020

As per a report by The Hindu in January 2020, Uttar Pradesh tops the list in crimes against women.

Recently, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has approved the creation of a women and child safety wing, to be headed by an Additional DG, to check crimes against them.
Attorney General Bill Barr also allegedly warned that violent protests could become worse

Attorney General William Barr told U.S. prosecutors that he wanted violent protesters to be charged with sedition or the overthrow of the US government, according to a new report.

Barr advocated for the fullest extent of the law to be unleashed against protesters during a conference call last week, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. The death of George Floyd in May while in the custody of Minneapolis police led to widespread Black Lives Matter protests, some of which became violent as protesters clashed with cops.

Read More: Kamala Harris slams Trump, Barr for denying systemic racism in justice system

U.S. Attorney General William Barr testifies before the House Judiciary Committee in the Congressional Auditorium at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center July 28, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Floyd died after now-former police officer Derek Chauvin placed a knee on his neck. Some of the demonstrations around the country after Floyds death led to the destruction of property, vandalism, and fires being set to police cars.

President Donald Trump issued an executive order in June to protect buildings and monuments in response to the wave of protests. The Trump administration declared the Department of Justice would prosecute to the fullest extent permitted under federal law, any person who incited violence or damaged government property.

As theGrio reported, Trump has made law and order an essential feature of his re-election bid. He has threatened to deploy the military to cities to quell the protests.

Getty

Read More: AG William Barr says Jacob Blake shooting may have been justified

Youve got to arrest people, you have to track people, you have to put them in jail for 10 years and youll never see this stuff again, Trump said over the summer. Were doing it in Washington, D.C. Were going to do something that people havent seen before.

Barr is also said to have sounded the alarm about the upcoming elections worsening the current climate. Barrs remedy was to charge violent protesters with a litany of federal charges, even when states ones applied, such as the rarely used sedition charge.

Story continues

Legal experts claimed to the WSJ that it would be hard for the nations top prosecutor to prove a conspiracy for government overthrow using sedition. It would also run afoul of the First Amendment which guarantees the public the right of protest.

According to the WSJ, more than 200 people have been charged with federal crimes as a result of the protests. Arson, assaulting federal officers, or gun crimes have been among the charges.

A spokesperson for the Department of Justice has not commented on the veracity of the WSJ report.

Have you subscribed to theGrios podcast Dear Culture? Download our newest episodes now!

The post Barr instructed federal prosecutors to charge protesters with sedition: report appeared first on TheGrio.
Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh conducts proceedings during the ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament, amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, in New Delhi, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2020. (PTI)

New Delhi: Opposition parties in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday questioned the Modi government's claim that the lockdown helped prevent over 29 lakh COVID-19 cases and thousands of deaths, and said it should have ensured better coordination with the states.

Members of the Upper House were participating in a discussion on 'COVID-19 pandemic and steps taken by the Government of India'.

Several opposition members, including from the DMK and CPI (M), also pointed out that the government took almost two months to impose the lockdown after the first case came to light in January, and claimed the delay had proved costly.

Some of them also took a jibe at the government saying it was busy hosting US President Donald Trump, who was on a two-day India trip in the last week of February.

Initiating the discussion, senior Congress leader Anand Sharma questioned the government's claims that the lockdown prevented up to 29 lakh COVID-19 cases.

He argued that the people of the country should know if the lockdown really helped in containing the spread of the disease and sought compensation for the migrant workers who died during the lockdown.

"He (health minister) has said that it has been estimated that this decision prevented approximately 14 to 29 lakh...and 37,000 to 78,000 deaths...The House must be informed as to what is the scientific basis on which we have reached this conclusion that but for the sudden lockdown, the number of cases could have risen up to 29 lakh," Sharma said.

He was of the view that the Centre should have taken the state governments into confidence so that they could have prepared better for the lockdown.

"Were we prepared for the lockdown? I am not levelling any allegation as nobody in the world was prepared, but you could have spoken to the states, alerted them ... to make preparations at the district level...

"This did not happen so what happened was that in four hours railways stopped. This led to painful scenes and the picture of the country which went out was not good," Sharma said, adding the sudden decision led to immense problems to the migrant labourers.

Sharma said that the government has in a reply stated that no compensation has been given because there are no figures regarding the death of migrant workers during the lockdown.

"This is such an unfortunate situation for the country. Why don't you have figures? Every state knows who died. They should be given compensation," the Congress leader said.

He said for the future the government should make a database regarding migrant workers in the country.

"There should be a register and those people who live in cities who did not get food security, ration, please find a solution for such exigencies," Sharma said.

Referring to an article in a leading medical journal which questioned the credentials of Hydroxychloroquine, Sharma said, "They had to take it back because it was completely fabricated... a case should be filed here as well because the pharma lobbies, as it is an affordable drug, want to discredit it."

Accusing the Centre of not consulting experts to draw a strategy to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, All India Trinamool Congress (AITMC) MP Derek O' Brien said that the central government should not use the pandemic "to convert democracy into autocracy".

"Did you consult global experts?... We set up a Global Advisory Committee with half a dozen people...The problem is that when things are going good, you want to take the credit and when things are tough, you start talking about the chief minister and bulldoze us in a serious speech like this," he said.

He asked if the Centre transferred funds to the informal sector and migrant workers, as demanded by the 12 opposition parties.

"You need humility...This government needs humility to work together with states. You don't know at all...Unless you have this one thing how will we go forward," O'Brien said.

He also took a swipe at the government over the PM CARES Fund.

"The most opaque and dark fund in the world is called the Prime Minister's couldn't care less fund. Oh! I said the name wrong," he said.

Tiruchi Siva (DMK) alleged late action by the government in tackling COVID-19.

"The first case was detected in January and the self-imposed curfew started from March 23," he said.

According to him, the lockdown was delayed for the "gala welcome" of the US President Donald Trump, who was here on a two-day visit on February 24 and 25.

Swapan Dasgupta, a nominated member, said the government should clear the confusion caused by claims that India is "under-reporting" its numbers and urged the health minister to come out with some clarification over the statistical robustness of the figures.

BJP MP Vinay P Sahastrabuddhe said that the Centre held discussion with state chief ministers and secretaries around 15 times and no one during their conversation even once said that the lockdown should not have been imposed.

He criticised the Maharashtra government over its handling of the pandemic, claiming ther is a lack of coordination among officers and political leaders in the state.

Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan said even her family members suffered due to the pandemic.

"The way people were being treated in hospitals, the way Mumbai roads are getting sanitised every hour, it is incomparable. There should be no politics on this subject," Bachchan said.

K Keshava Rao of TRS said that there was a need for better coordination between the Centre and the state governments for handling the pandemic.

RCP Singh of the JD(U) said over 20 lakh migrant workers from Bihar were sent back by the states after the pandemic without recognising their contribution and now they are being called back by their respective employers

Elamaram Kareem (CPI-M) cited data from CMIM (Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy) to claim that around 15 crore people have lost jobs and alleged that the government has not taken any steps to address the situation.

While talking of the COVID-package, Kareem said that it is just one per cent of the GDP, while the packages from other countries are up to 21 per cent of their GDP.

Manoj Jha of the RJD also raised the issues of workers who were turned down by their employers during the pandemic.

Earlier in the day, Santanu Sen of AITMC recalled that in the initial days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when his party members were wearing masks they were asked to remove them by the Chair.

To this, Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu said: "At that time, the Chair was guided by the guidelines issued by ICMR. On that day, when this comment was made, there was no such thing."
The foundations of local journalism are crumbling, as this newsletter seeks to explain each week; over the past few years, as the US has faced voter suppression, foreign meddling, and executive overreachand as political polarization charges the atmosphere around the worldthe foundations of a democratic government can also seem precarious.

In April 2019, the Pew Research Center reported that more than half of survey respondents were dissatisfied with the way democracy was working in their country (among US respondents, 58 percent expressed dissatisfaction with the state of democracy in America). This concernthat our democracy is falling shortechoes throughout news headlines, ominous opinion pieces, and social media screedsand it has only been heightened and complicated by the upheaval of a global pandemic in a significant election year, with the loss of 194,000 American lives to covid-19 and the ongoing protests against systemic racism. Conversations about reviving democracy are complicated, as are efforts to revive local news, but the two are inextricably linked and ought to be treated as such.

The loss of local newsrooms has hurt civic engagement. The Knight Foundations new report on the relationship between media habits and voter participation found that people are more engaged with national news than local news. Non-voters and voters are both more likely to feel more knowledgeable about national affairs than about whats happening in their local communities, the report states. Considering that the newsrooms at US newspapers are half the size they were in 2008, this dynamic is hardly surprising.

Nor is it new. In 2009, following the financial crisis, Congress held a hearing to discuss The Future of Newspapers: The Impact on the Economy and Democracy. Various researchers and publishers gathered to bear witness to the swiftly growing corrosion in journalisms traditional economic models and to plead for a public commitment to finding solutions. In an opening statement, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a Democrat from New York, said, Without our newspapers, we lack a critical uniting feature which fosters broad participation in our democracy and community. More than a decade later, research has proved her assessment correct, but the crisis has only worsened.

In a 2003 study, researchers found a strong association between newspaper circulation and corruption: the lower the circulation of newspapers in a country, the higher that countrys appearance on the corruption index. For Nieman Reports last year, longtime journalist Mary Ellen Klas wrote that less local news means less democracy, highlighting work that drew bright lines between declining newsrooms, government overreach, and declining civic participation. One study found, for example, that the decline of local news correlated with reduced political knowledge and participation. A Harvard report indicated that increased dependence on national news and social media platforms left readers more vulnerable to misinformation. Other researchers discovered that as local newspapers closed, public administrators salaries increased, and taxes did too.

In a 2015 study on local news and civic engagement, Danny Hayes and Jennifer Lawless wrote, Citizens exposed to a lower volume of coverage are less able to evaluate their member of Congress, less likely to express opinions about the House candidates in their districts, and less likely to vote.

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National reporting has its own role to play in a democratic nation, but it is a poor replacement for a local newsroom. As researcher and Texas A&M professor Johanna Dunaway told me last year, national political news is naturally more partisancentered around the disputes between the two major national parties, and way less about what local representatives are doing for their districts. A study from 2018, for which Dunaway was one of the authors, found that the decline of local news correlated with the decline of split-ticket voting in that arealocal news outlets were weakening, and so, too, was political nuance at the ballot box. People were voting in less complicated ways, Dunaway said.

Democracies are complicated, and so is the nuanced and specialized coverage that only a local newsroom can provide. Finding a sustainable model for democracy requires foregrounding local news. And finding a sustainable model for local journalism is more than a public good; its a civic necessity.



The Journalism Crisis Project aims to train our focus on the present crisis, tallying lost jobs and outlets and fostering a conversation about what comes next. We hope youll join us (click to subscribe).

EXPLORE THE TOW CENTERS COVID-19 CUTBACK TRACKER: Over the past six months, researchers at the Tow Center have collected reports of a wide range of cutbacks amid the pandemic. Now theres an interactive map and searchable database. You can find it here.

CONTRIBUTE TO OUR DATABASE: If youre aware of a newsroom experiencing layoffs, cutbacks, furloughs, print reductions, or any fundamental change as a result of covid-19, let us know by submitting information here. (Personal information will be kept secure by the Tow Center and will not be shared.)

ATTEND OUR SYMPOSIUM: Join us this afternoon for the second day in our online symposium aimed at fostering fresh thinking about the mediaconsidering how to rebuild the news industry after this season of loss. Well hear from some of the most urgent voices in the profession to talk about where journalism goes next. You can register here.

Below, more on recent changes in newsrooms across the world:

JOURNALISM JOBS AND OPPORTUNITIES: MediaGazer has been maintaining a list of media companies that are currently hiring. You can find it here. The Deez Links newsletter, in partnership with Study Hall, offers media classifieds for both job seekers (at no cost) and job providers. The Ida B. Wells Society announced that its micro-loan program for journalists would no longer require recipients to repay their loansyou can apply here and donate here. The Successful Pitches database offers resources for freelancers. And the International Journalists Network lists international job opportunities alongside opportunities for funding and further education.

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Lauren Harris is a freelance journalist. She writes CJR's weekly newsletter for the Journalism Crisis Project. Follow her on Twitter @LHarrisWrites.
Veteran actress and Rajya Sabha MP Jaya Bachchan gave a rousing speech at the Zero Hour in the Parliament yesterday, defending the film industry. She made a strong statement sayiing people who'd made a name for themselves in the industry were calling it a gutter now. She also mentioned that the film fraternity needed protection.

Many film personalities like Farhan Akhtar, Sonam Kapoor, Anubhav Sinha and Manoj Bajpayee came out in support of the actress. Today actress and BJP MP, Hema Malini too came forward to talk in support of Jaya Bachchan. Talking to a leading new portal, she said, You cannot tarnish the image of Bollywood. These are small instances, like a stain on a piece of cloth we must wash it away. I have received a lot of love from this industry, how can I watch anyone say anything bad about it?

She further added, Bollywood is a beautiful and creative world. It is an art and culture industry. I have gained name, fame and respect from this industry.



The fire sparked after Kangana Ranauts explosive tweets where she compared the industry to a gutter. BJP MP and actor Ravi Kishan too had spoken about the drug culture prevalent in Bollywood.
Burma Thai Authorities Arrest 10 Illegal Migrants From Myanmar in Mae Sot

Ten Myanmar illegal migrants found abandoned at a border community in Mae Sot district, Tak province, Thailand, on Tuesday. / Assawin Pinitwong / Bangkok Post

TAK, ThailandTen Myanmar nationals were arrested near the border in Mae Sot district of Thailands Tak province on Tuesday, all without travel documents, as security along the Thai-Myanmar frontier remains tight to keep out COVID-19.

The seven men and three women were found in the Santonpin community by a patrol of police, soldiers and immigration officials. The illegal migrants were reported to have been abandoned there.

All were unable to produce official travel documents. Health officials later tested them for COVID-19. None was showing any symptoms.

They were taken to Mae Sot police station for legal action.

Security has been tightened along the border amid fears illegal immigrants could be carrying the coronavirus disease, which continues to spread in Myanmar.

The COVID-19 situation in Myawaddy, Karen State, directly across the border from Mae Sot, was still worrying, an official said.

Myawaddy authorities recently imposed a curfew, banning people from leaving their homes between midnight and 4 a.m., to help control the virus.

This article first appeared in The Bangkok Post.

You may also like these stories:

Thailand Puts Border on Alert Amid COVID-19 Surge in Myanmar

Border Gate Forced to Open as Myanmar Migrant Workers Leave Thailand Amid COVID-19
CLEVELAND, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Jermaine N. Conner has joined McDonald Hopkins LLC as an associate in the Litigation Department of the firm's Data Privacy and Cybersecurity group in the Cleveland office.

Jermaine comes to McDonald Hopkins after working as an attorney for Legal Aid of Western Ohio. He has experience litigating cases, negotiating consent agreements and conducting interviews and investigations. He has also represented domestic violence survivors in civil and criminal proceedings.

Jermaine earned his J.D. from the University of California, Berkley School of Law in 2016. He completed a B.S. in Early Childhood Education at the University of Cincinnati in 2011 where he was on the Dean's List from 2009-2011 and received the Kemp Scholarship for Excellence in Education.

While in law school, Conner served as a law clerk for the Port Attorney's Office at the Port of Oakland, California. He also worked as a law clerk for Clyde and Co US LLP in San Francisco.

Conner can be reached at 216.348.5707 or [email protected].

About McDonald Hopkins

Since 1930, McDonald Hopkins has thrived by building long-lasting relationships with businesses and individuals who share an entrepreneurial spirit. As the business advisory and advocacy law firm celebrates its 90th anniversary in 2020, it has a renewed commitment to providing exceptional client service and insight for the challenges at hand and on the horizon. To learn more, visit mcdonaldhopkins.com.

CONTACT:

David Carducci

McDonald Hopkins LLC

600 Superior Avenue, East, Suite 2100

Cleveland, Ohio 44114

Phone: 216.348.5814

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE McDonald Hopkins

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Apple on Tuesday unveiled Apple Watch Series 6, Apple Watch SE, two new iPad models, and Apple One subscription plans during its virtual September 2020 event.



Apple Watch Series 6 can measure the oxygen saturation of users' blood, so the users may better understand their overall fitness and wellness.

To compensate for natural variations in the skin and improve accuracy, the Blood Oxygen sensor employs four clusters of green, red and infrared LEDs, along with the four photodiodes on the back crystal of Apple Watch, to measure light reflected back from blood, the company demonstrated.

Apple Watch uses a custom algorithm built into the Blood Oxygen app to measure blood oxygen between 70 percent and 100 percent.

Its new operating system "watchOS 7" also brings new features such as Family Setup, sleep tracking, automatic handwashing detection, new workout types, and the ability to curate and share watch faces, the company said.

Apple Watch SE features the same accelerometer, gyroscope and always-on altimeter as Apple Watch Series 6, and with the latest motion sensors and microphone. It offers robust health and safety capabilities including fall detection, Emergency SOS, international emergency calling, and the Noise app, the company said.

"Apple Watch SE combines elements of the Series 6 design with the most essential features of Apple Watch, all at a more affordable price," said Jeff Williams, Apple's chief operating officer.

Apple introduced the eighth-generation iPad, featuring the A12 Bionic chip that brings the Neural Engine to the entry iPad for the first time.

"For the first time on iPad, A12 Bionic introduces the Neural Engine for next-level machine learning capabilities, including people occlusion and motion tracking in augmented reality (AR) apps, enhanced photo editing, Siri performance, and more," Apple said.

The new iPad Air features an all-screen design of 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display, with upgraded camera and audio, a new integrated Touch ID sensor in the top button, and the A14 Bionic chip, the company said.

"This is our strongest iPad lineup ever, giving our customers even more ways to enrich their daily lives," said Greg Joswiak, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing.

Using 5-nanometer process technology, A14 Bionic is packed with 11.8 billion transistors. The latest-generation A-series chip features a new 6-core design for a 40 percent boost in CPU performance, it added.

Starting this fall, customers with Apple subscriptions will be recommended the Apple One plan, which includes all of Apple's subscription services, the company said.

"With a single subscription, customers in over 100 countries and regions can enjoy their favorite Apple services across their favorite devices, including iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV, and Mac," the company said.

The Individual plan includes Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, and 50GB of iCloud storage for 14.95 U.S. dollars per month.

The Premier plan is for 29.95 dollars per month, including Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, Apple News+, Apple Fitness+, and 2TB of iCloud storage, and can be shared among up to six family members.

Apple reported late July its financial results for its fiscal 2020 third quarter with quarterly revenue of 59.7 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 11 percent from the year-ago quarter while the net sales in the Great China region increased to 9.329 billion dollars.

According to the quarterly financial report, the company's services revenue reached 13.156 billion dollars, up by 14.8 percent year on year. Its Wearables, Home, and Accessories unit brought in 6.450 billion dollars, a 16.7-percent growth, and its iPad unit reached 6.582 billion dollars.
Over a year after Texas House Bill 3 changed tax rate calculations for public school districts across Texas, Cy-Fair ISD is seeing a steady drop in their tax rate.

The Cy-Fair ISD board of trustees approved the tax rate for the school district, a rate of $1.3555 per $100 valuation for the 2020-2021 year, compared to a previous tax rate of $1.37 for the 2019-2020 year and $1.44 for the 2018-2019 school year. The board approved the tax rate on Sept. 14.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Cy-Fair COVID Resource Guide: From food giveaways to teletherapy, heres where to find help

Karen Smith, chief financial officer for the district, said the tax rate  a combination of the maintenance and operations tax rate of .9555 per $100 valuation and the interest and sinking rate of .40 per $100 valuation  is based on HB 3. Some tax rate-related aspects of HB 3 did not take effect until this school year, she said during her presentation to the board on Sept. 10.

This year, the tax rate for the first time was based on the lower of the state compressed (tax) rate and the local compressed rate, Smith said; as opposed to last years, which was based on the state compression rate of .93.

Current-year property values are a factor in determining the M&O compressed rates, she explained.

If property values grow by more than 2.5 percent from one year to the next then the tax rate is compressed so the taxpayer does not see an increase more than 2.5 percent associated with their tax payments, Smith said.

The state compressed rate this year is .9164 based on an estimated statewide property value increase of 4.01 percent, according to the Texas Education Agencys website.

The districts local compressed tax rate is .9055. Cy-Fair ISDs M&O tax rate was calculated using this lower compressed rate, plus five golden pennies, which hold additional value and could not be subject to recapture, Smith said. Before HB 3, the school district could only access four golden pennies without holding an election.

This is the first year that we could access that fifth penny. This additional penny actually provides the district approximately $11 million more in funding and its a combination of property tax revenue as well as additional state aid funding because of that golden penny.

No-new-revenue tax rate

Board members expressed concern regarding new verbiage the district had to use in its motion to pass the tax rate.

The language for the proposed tax rate is confusing, Smith said, because, due to HB 3, the motion is required to say that the new tax rate is effectively an increase over the no-new-revenue tax rate. The no-new-revenue tax rate  previously the effective tax rate  describes the rate at which the school district would receive the same property tax revenue as the previous year.

The no-new-revenue tax rate is $1.3455, Smith said. Because of that, even though our tax rate is going down, the district is required to have in the board motion the following item: I move that the property tax rate be increased by the adoption of a tax rate of $1.3555 which is effectively a (0.74) percent increase in the tax rate.

According to Smith, the owner of a $200,000 home would actually see a $20 decrease in their tax bill under the new tax rate.

Board member Don Ryan and other trustees agreed they felt that the language was misleading to the public.

Its not necessarily our tax rate as much as their property values going up, Ryan said.

The school board approved the tax rate with language added in the motion to reflect a decrease in the actual tax rate of 0.0145 or 1.45 cents.

Board member Julie Hinaman said during the Sept. 10 meeting that HB 3 has not simplified school finances like some had hoped.

Although, we are grateful for some additional funding that was committed to public schools  were hoping that will actually come to fruition, Hinaman said.

We often talk about local control and how local school boards strive to have local control to best represent their constituents and their local citizens and its a challenge when so much is driven by state, including our tax rate. Were doing the best we can within the parameters that were given to set a tax rate that satisfies our core mission to educate our children but also to respect and serve our taxpayers as well.

For more information visit www.cfisd.net/en.

chevall.pryce@chron.com
John Healeys decision to pull out of the Labour deputy leader contest will fuel the paranoia of some who are backing Caroline Flint. They could not understand why he put his name forward in the first place. Flint represents a seat in Yorkshire. So does Healey. Was it all a plot, masterminded by the Blofeld-like frontrunner, Tom Watson, to prevent Flint getting the nominations she needed?

If so, it failed. At present only two candidates have the 35 signatures to stay in the race  Watson and Flint.

Watson has said that if the leader is a man, the deputy leader should be a woman. Assuming he is serious, it would mean that if Andy Burnham won the leadership contest, Watson would concede the deputy leadership at the last minute to the woman contestant who had the highest vote.

With Healey out of the race, it increases the possibility that another woman, such as Angela Eagle, could get on the ballot paper.

Earth didnt move for Alan

News that a British woman has been arrested for causing an earthquake by stripping on a sacred mountain in Malaysia reminds me that years ago I climbed Helvellyn in the Lake District with three friends, including a future Cabinet minister, Alan Milburn.

It was a basking hot summer day, and Milburns tight jeans absorbed so much heat that he removed them. We photographed him at the summit in only his underpants. But there was no earthquake.

Its a long, painful Labour

Reaction to David Milibands hint that he might return to the UK politics has been mixed.

Alastair Campbell was first out, promising that he would lead a campaign to remove whoever is elected Labour leader this September, should that person prove to be inadequate. That would create an opportunity for Miliband to return like the prince from across the water.

The columnist Jenni Russell, by contrast, weighed in to say it was a fantasy to imagine that Labour would have won in 2015 under the leadership of the other Miliband. She is godmother to Ed Milibands children.

Then John Prescott erupted, telling the BBCs Politics Today programme that the Miliband period is now gone, David Miliband should shut up and Campbell should stay at home. Afterwards, the former spin doctor and the former Deputy Prime Minister took to Twitter to continue their argument.

When Boris met Len

Under an archway beside the yard beneath Big Ben, as the shadows lengthened at the end of the parliamentary day on 10 June, Boris Johnson was locked in a prolonged handshake with Len McCluskey, leader of Unite. What plot were they hatching?

Best tracksuit bottoms help

It must have been an anti-climax for Peter Smith to go back for another meeting of Wigan Council this week. He was not supposed to be there. Lord Smith, who has been on Wigan Council since 1978, and has led it since 1991, was in line to be interim Mayor of Greater Manchester, a post created as part of George Osbornes Northern Powerhouse.

The meeting was called to choose his successor, but the new job in Manchester went to the former Labour MP Tony Lloyd.

Meanwhile, a councillor named Rob Brierley, who has been a constant pain in Lord Smiths neck, had put himself forward to be on an important Greater Manchester committee. Said Lord Smith: If I was looking to choose someone as a public representative of Wigan, even if he promised to wear his best tracksuit bottoms, I dont think Cllr Brierley would be... At that point, Wigan Today reports, he was silenced when Mr Brierley protested that he was being rude.
Shares of Yes Bank fell over 2 percent in intraday trade on BSE on September 16 and looked on course to extend the losses into the second consecutive session.

Brokerage firm Kotak Institutional Equities has a 'sell' call on the stock with a target price of Rs 10.

"We reinstate coverage on Yes Bank with a sell rating and fair value of Rs 10. The bank has stabilised its key business operations and is on the path to recovery. However, this recovery is unlikely to be easy as the bank has the challenging task of rebuilding confidence and deliver RoE through an asset mix where competence is untested," Kotak said.

As per the brokerage, execution risk leading to a delayed recovery in return ratios is high while valuations leave limited room for disappointment.

"At our fair value, we are valuing the bank at nearly 0.9 times September FY2022E book for RoE being on the lower side in the medium term and much of the solid earnings growth led by a low base. In what appears to be atypical of valuation, we are quite surprised at the premium valuation that Yes Bank is trading at in the market despite its recent history. A combination of factors could be driving this premium but we would want to be watchful," Kotak said.

The stock has been buzzing of late after the rating agency ICRA upgraded the ratings of various debt instruments of the private-lender on September 11.

ICRA upgraded infrastructure bonds and Basel II compliant lower tier II bonds to BBB (Stable) from BB+ (Rating Watch).

Basel III compliant tier II bonds were upgraded to BBB- from BB. Basel II compliant tier I bonds and upper tier-II bonds were upgraded to BB+ (Stable) from a default (D) rating, YES BANK informed the bourses in a filing.

Read more: ICRA upgrades Yes Bank's debt instruments on the improved liquidity position

Besides, Yes Bank on September 10 said it has fully repaid Reserve Bank of India (RBI) the entire Rs 50,000 crore of Special Liquidity Facility it had availed.

The chairman of the bank, Sunil Mehta, confirmed the development at the virtual Annual General Meeting of the shareholders held on September 13.

Read more: Yes Bank says no merger plans with SBI, repays entire Rs 50,000 crore to RBI

Shares of Yes Bank traded 1.79 percent lower at Rs 14.29 on BSE at 13:40 hours.

The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on Moneycontrol.com are their own and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
Bhubaneswar, Sep 16 : Odisha has reported the highest single-day spike of 4,270 fresh Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the state's total tally to 1,62,920, informed the health department on Wednesday.

The number of active cases in the state mounted to 36,473 while 1,25,748 patients have been recovered so far.

The Covid-19 death toll increased to 656 as 11 patients succumbed to the virus in the last 24 hours, the department said.

The fresh deaths were reported from Puri (3), Sambalpur (3), Khordha (2), Kalahandi (1), Mayurbhanj (1) and Sundargarh (1).

Of the total fresh Covid-19 cases, 2,478 have been reported from quarantine centres while 1,792 were local contacts.

Khordha district reported highest 876 positive cases followed by Cuttack (374) and Puri (287).

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Amitabh Bachchan has penned a special poem for his quiz show Kaun Banega Crorepati which is set to return to the television screens with an all new season. The actor wrote about the work he does and how he is grateful for the respect and affection he receives from his fans.

He wrote in Hindi, Ji haan huzoor main kaam karta hoon, main tarah tarah ke kaam karta hoon, main kism kism ke kaam karta hoon. Kujh kaam kiye they maine masti main, kujh kiye praat-raat jabardasti mein. Ye KBC ki lat lagi hai logo ko, santusht karu bas yahi apeksha Sony ko. Shuruaat hui hai, abhi to din kujh baki hain, sneh aadar pyaar mile, to hum aabhari hain - ab. Hum apna kaam karein, tum apna kaam karo. (Yes sir I work, I do different kinds of things, I do a variety of work. I had done some things in fun, some I had done through day and night. People are addicted to KBC, Sony expects me to satisfy their expectations. It has just started, more days are yet to come, If I receive affection and respect, I will be grateful. - ab... We do our work, you do your work).

He added that he was inspired from poet Bhavani Prasad Mishra while writing the poem. He shared the same poem on Twitter along with a picture of himself all dressed up to host the show in a blue three-piece suit, a picture of the KBC sets with a contestant on the hot seat and one of the empty set.

Talking about shooting for the show, he wrote on his blog around midnight, Work at early hours .. in the speed of completion .. and then some more .. 12 to 14 hours each day .. on the over the wonder what lies ahead .. work with the crew and support is an adhesive .. it remains glued for the duration after ..

Also read: Happy birthday Nick Jonas: When he revealed why he did not kiss Priyanka Chopra on their first date, left her upset

He went on to talk about how nothing is impossible in todays times. He wrote,  many watch the dilemma of the populist domain .. it frightens the present most and the future even more .. discovery and experimentation were never more predominant than they are today .. they think absurd and prove its virtues .. anything and everything is the possibility preached .. we live in the times of the times when the impossible is garbaged in the bags of incommunicable junk  each hour and minute reverberates with invention .. and the touch of experimentation is obsolete now .. the touch of inform and pro forma dominates the Universe .. unknown is unknown .. and may it ever be so ..

Amitabh had returned to work after recovering from Covid-19. He was admitted to a Mumbai hospital, along with his son Abhishek Bachchan, daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai and granddaughter Aaradhya - all of whom had tested positive for the virus.

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Andrey Rudakov

Alexey Navalny is planning to return to Russia even as the Kremlin critic and opposition leader remains under guard in a German hospital after a near-fatal poisoning in his homeland last month.

"No other option was ever considered," Navalny's spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said by text message. "We haven't discussed concrete plans yet."
Fox News Channels Tucker Carlson Tonight

September 14, 2020

8:04:31 p.m. Eastern

()

TUCKER CARLSON: That was hard to listen to that audio, it was awful. But we played it for you for a specific reason. This is the country they are creating. An attempted assassination of two young deputies. There was no dispute beforehand. There was no arrest. A man walked up out of nowhere and tried to kill them. Its the kind of thing we refer to as a senseless crime. But it wasnt senseless, there was a reason he tried to kill them: He tried to kill them because they were cops.

Can we really be surprised that he tried to do that?

Since the beginning of summer, the Democratic Party has told us that the police are evil, that theyre killers, agents of racist genocide. Cops are the problem. Democrats have told us that every day for three and half months. They put it in their party platform.

Finally, at least one man believed them. So, he shot a young mother in uniform in the face and ran away. As she stared out of her patrol car, struggling to bleed through the blood, a group of people in Compton stood across the street and watched. They didnt help her, they didnt call 911. They filmed the woman as she bled out. One on-looker celebrated her suffering. Watch this.

[Video]

CARLSON: That didnt happen by accident. Again, this is the country theyre creating. Someone got aired out in Compton the man says laughing. You would like to know how that man is. You would like to know where he is right now. Youd like to find him.

A young woman shot in the face gasping for air as she trys to stay alive for her child. What kind of person could laugh at that? You would like to think only a monster could laugh at that. But the truth is scarier. Legitimate sociopaths are rare. Far more common are people who believe what theyre told, and people like that are everywhere, especially right now.

Black Lives Matter has told this man that police officers deserve to die because theyre sub-human. So, why wouldnt he celebrate their death? He and many others.

A mob of ghouls quickly assembled outside of the hospital where these two deputies were taken. They showed up to root for their death, and then they blocked the entrance and exit to the Emergency Room. That meant ambulances couldnt move. If there was ever a moment when the Los Angeles sheriffs department would be justified in using immediate and overwhelming force to move these people and protect the public by doing it, it was this moment.

But they didnt do that. Instead the sheriffs department went on Twitter and begged Joe Bidens voters to please move. It didnt work. If anything, the mob seemed emboldened. Watch.

[Video]

CARLSON: Oink, Oink. I hope they die. If you missed the reference there, it means you havent been following Black Lives Matter very carefully. Pigs in a blanket, fry them like bacon. Thats what BLM chanted when police officers were murdered four years ago in Dallas and Baton Rouge.

This is the same BLM, the very same that the Democrats Party promoted at its convention over the summer. The same BLM that the happy rich lady across the street from you celebrates with a sign on her front lawn that makes her feel virtuous in between yoga classes.

Thats what theyre promoting when they promote BLM. Theyre promoting people like Kevin Wharton Price. Price is one of the BLM activists who wished the deputies death as they struggled to stay alive. Price is a well-known left-wing activist in Los Angeles. The L.A. Times, the local paper, has mentioned Price approvingly, repeatedly.

On Facebook, Price uploaded a video applauding the shooting of these deputies. Watch it.

KEVIN WHARTON PRICE: An unknown assailant walked up and bust a cap on both of them, shot them in the head. [Transition] So, I mean, what are we supposed to do yall? We are supposed to celebrate today because an oppressor has been slain. [Transition] This is the start of retribution. And I think this is a very good start.

CARLSON: The oppressor has been slain, Its retribution, its, quote, a very good start.

Is Kevin Wharton Price on a federal watch list? You certainly would be if you advocated terrorism. But its not likely he is because Price has powerful friends. Local Democrats in Los Angeles consider him a community leader.

Just this February of this year, the L.A. Times reported that Prices organization, the so-called Afrika Town Coalition met several times with Mayor Eric Garcettis office. Eric Garcetti didnt think Price was a dangerous lunatic, just the opposite. In fact, Garcettis office met with Prices group to discuss forcing location businesses to obey their demands.

So, the guy who celebrates cop killing was Garcettis go-to consultant for, quote, cultural competency. Mayor Garcetti now says hes opposed to shooting police officers. Too late, we know the truth!

Meanwhile, in the nearby city of Lynwood, right next to Compton, where the police officers are hospitalized tonight. The city manager, a man called Jose Ometeotl, also celebrated their shooting. He posted this statement on his personal Instagram. Quote, The chickens come home to roost, quoting Malcolm X. In other words, they deserved what they got. Lynwood City Council has not condemned those remarks.

Multiply these attitudes by every Democratic office holder in America, and you wont be surprised to see our cities burning and the cops murdered.

There were riots last night in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, of all places. Never thought you would see a riot there. The details in that story tell you everything about whats happening to the country.

A 27-year-old man named Ricardo Munoz charged at police with a knife in his hand. And it wasnt an ideal threat in his case. Munoz was booked last year for knifing four strangers, including a teenager. So, the cops shot Munoz in self-defense. Good for him! You would have done the same or you would have been killed. We are not speculating about that, by the way. Heres body cam footage.

[Video]

CARLSON: Its not a close call. A still frame photograph from the video clearly shows Munoz with a knife raised as charges wildly at the officer. So, the police released that footage because they thought it would calm tensions. Of course, the guy had a knife. Hed been busted for knifing four people, the cop was about to be the fifth. Calm down everyone, there was a reason we shot him. Thats what the police were thinking.

And in a reasonable country it would have been over. Of course they shot him. But Joe Biden voters and BLM activists respond the way Democrats trained them to respond. They immediately smashed windows, they attacked a post office and a police station, they set literal dumpster fires in the streets. Watch this.

[Video]

CARLSON: So, what are they trying to tell us by rioting? What point are they making? This is a demonstration. Okay, whats the message? That the guy trying to knife a cop is a martyr? Apparently, they want you to think that. Just like they know require you to believe that George Floyd was a role model for your kids. Grow up to be like George Floyd, son.

Its all such an absurd lie. And everyone who is paying attention knows its a lie. But they demand that we all play along and they punish us if we dont. And what are the results? The most obvious result of this on-going scam, this grotesque scam on the country is cops get murdered.

Last week in North Carolina a police officer was shot in the face and killed when he responded to a break in. On Sunday, somebody fired a rifle at police in New York as they responded to a domestic violence call. Should they not respond to domestic violence calls? They wont if people keep doing this.

The Democratic Party has encouraged them to resist!

So, were told we cant blame the people who pull the trigger for the violence.

And by the way, unlike the Republican Party, Democrats when they come up with a talking point they stick with it and they repeat is so often and at such volume that millions of people believe it. Because again, people tend to believe what theyre told. Weve got 200 years of practice. People believe those in authority. And for most of our history it was worth believing people in authority. No more.

So watch as everyone from congressmen, to activists, to mayors, and all levels of government repeat the mantra: its the cops fault, its our fault, its your fault! We need to reimagine law enforcement.

[Video]

CARLSON: So, what is reimagining the police look like? Shooting them? Maybe, we dont know. No one specified. Least of all Joe Biden. Hes never even imagined police in the first place. Hes been in a bubble for 50 years, hes got no idea whats going on in America. Watch Joe Biden declare the police right now just dont pull over white people, somehow. Watch.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: If I were your daughter, what advice would you give me the next time I am stopped by the police?

JOE BIDEN: If you were my daughter youd be a Caucasian girl and you wouldnt be pulled over.

CARLSON: What a buffoon. Its hard to believe theyre running that guy. Silly old fool.

But behind Joe Bidens vacant smile and laughably outdated assumptions about an America that does not exist and hasnt for many years, there is a group of hard-eyed handlers right behind him and they know exactly whats going on, and they have a purpose for it. These people want power. They know that effective, honest, independent local law enforcement stands in the way, in their way. The left already controls the FBI completely. They want your police department to come to heel. Thats their plan.

And if dead cops are the price, they think its worth it.
Press Release

September 16, 2020 Villanueva reiterates appeal to gov't to lift deployment ban on healthcare workers; asks DOH to improve employment terms to entice workers Senator Joel Villanueva has reiterated his appeal to the government to lift the prevailing deployment ban on healthcare workers, as he suggested to health authorities to make improvements to their working conditions and contracts to make it more commensurate to the risk involved. Villanueva, chair of the Senate labor committee, issued the appeal after the IATF leadership forwarded to the President its recommendation on the deployment ban issue, which have met strong opposition from healthcare workers such as nurses. "Hindi po supply ng healthcare workers ang problema ng ating gobyerno, kung hindi kakayahan nitong pahalagahan ang kanilang trabaho. Wala pong duda na mas pipiliin ng ating mga healthcare workers na maglingkod sa ating mga pagamutan at ospital dito sa atin kung may seguridad sa trabaho at tapat na sahod at benepisyo," Villanueva said in a statement. "Nakikiusap po tayo sa ating gobyerno na tanggalin na ang deployment ban para sa kapakanan ng ating mga healthcare workers na nagigipit na." ("Supply of healthcare workers is not our government's issue, rather its ability to put value on their work. There is no doubt that our healthcare workers will choose to stay and serve in our health centers and hospitals if they can be assured of job security and sufficient salaries and benefits," Villanueva said in a statement. "We appeal to the government to lift the deployment ban for the sake of our healthcare workers who are in distress.) "We have noted, that between 2012 and 2018 alone, 148,832 Filipinos passed the licensure exam for nurses. This is more than double the total 65,108 nurses currently employed in private and public health facilities," the lawmaker added, citing data from the Department of Health (DOH). "Sa pagitan ng 2012 at 2018 po, mayroong 148,832 na mga Filipino na pumasa sa licensure exam para sa mga nars. Higit doble ito sa kabuuang 65,108 na nars na kasalukuyang nagtatrabaho sa mga pribado at pampublikong ospital at pasilidad," the lawmaker added, citing data from the Department of Health (DOH).) Villanueva pointed out that health authorities should look into improving the employment terms it currently offers to healthcare workers to further entice them to join the government's ranks. Aside from the low pay and unclear guidelines on the grant of hazard pay, the employment under the emergency hiring program lasts only three months, which the lawmaker described as "too short, since the pandemic won't be over within that time frame, and not to mention the lack of security of tenure that the DOH offers. Para lang po silang biktima ng 'endo.'" Villanueva has written twice to the IATFon June 18 and Aug. 28to bring to its attention the impact of the deployment ban to healthcare workers. He explained that the affected workers are their families' breadwinners, have left their jobs to pursue overseas employment, and have spent considerable time and money to train and prepare for deployment. The body replied to Villanueva on Sept. 1, reiterating that only those healthcare workers with perfected contracts as of Mar. 8 would not be covered by the deployment ban. From the initial 600 nurses directly affected by the deployment ban, the number has grown to about 2,000 nurses, according to a nurses' group. Citing industry data, Villanueva said Filipino nurses lag behind regional neighbors in terms of compensation, being paid an average of P40,381 a month, the least within the ASEAN. On the other hand, nurses in Singapore are paid P236,400 a month on the average, according to data aggregator iPrice group. In April, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration issued a temporary deployment ban on healthcare workers such as doctors, nurses, and allied health professions while the national state of emergency prevailed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Journal-Courier | campus photo by Adam Moss

MACOMB  An arrest warrant has been issued for a Western Illinois University student in the late night shooting of his roommate, police said Wednesday morning.

Kavion Poplous, 18, is being sought on charges of attempted first-degree murder, aggravated battery and aggravated discharge of a firearm in the shooting, authorities said at 10:45 a.m. Wednesday.
Terming the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act 2020, passed by the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, a "direct and deliberate assault" by the Centre on the interests of the farmers, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said his Congress will challenge it in court.

Riding roughshod over the concerns of the farmers, the Modi government, of which the Shiromani Akali Dal is a constituent, has imposed a Central law on a state subject, thus eroding the federal structure of the country, he said.

"We will challenge it in court," he said.

Asserting that he will not allow the interests of the to be compromised in this "shameless" manner, Amarinder Singh claimed the enactment of the legislation is clearly a step towards abolition of the MSP regime.

"It is a conspiracy on the part of the BJP-led NDA government to destroy and its farmers," he said, declaring that the Congress will fight this attack on the state's interests tooth and nail.

"The legislation talks of encouraging competition among Do they really expect the poor farmers, who are only competing with themselves for survival every day, to rival big corporates for protecting their interests?" he asked.

Noting that the enactment, along with the other two farm ordinances that the Centre has already tabled in the Lok Sabha, was in line with the recommendations of the Shanta Kumar committee, Amarinder Singh pointed out that the same committee had also suggested dismantling of the MSP regime.

It is evident that the NDA government is now moving towards the elimination of the MSP system, which is the lifeline of the farmers, he said, adding that the Congress will not allow the interests of the farming community to be trampled in this manner.

The very survival of the is at stake, he warned.

The Chief Minister also took on SAD chief Sukhbir Badal, who was reportedly present in the House when the bill was passed by a voice vote, for failing to protect the interests of Punjab's farmers, whose messiah he claimed his party to be.

Sukhbir Badal and his SAD were clearly party to the treachery of the Union government, which has paved the way, through the passage of this bill, for taking away the rights of the farmers, who have fed the nation and given it food security for decades, he added.

"Will you quit the ruling coalition at the Centre, or will you continue to wait outside their doors for any crumbs they throw your way?" Amarinder Singh asked Sukhbir Badal, adding that the Akalis had totally and irrevocably failed their own state yet again.

Taking a dig at Sukhbir Badal's remarks that the SAD would live up to the legacy of senior party leaders who had stood with the farmers before him, the Chief Minister said the only legacy that the incumbent Akali chief was promoting was of a party that will always put its own interests over those of Punjab's people, particularly the farmers.

--IANS

vg/vd

(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.)
In the late Oregon-based author Ken Keseys 1962 novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, and the Oscar-winning 1975 movie adaptation, the character of Nurse Ratched personified everything cruel about authoritarianism. Less a character than a symbol, she was an iron-willed bureaucrat, who ruled her territory in an Oregon mental hospital with an iron hand.

Despite Louise Fletchers Oscar-winning movie performance as Nurse Ratched, all we really knew about her was her determination to crush any opposition, especially the rebellious spirit of patient Randle Patrick McMurphy (played by Jack Nicholson).

So when Ratched, a Netflix series designed to tell the origin story of Nurse Ratched was announced, it seemed like a tantalizing idea. What was the psychological makeup of the woman who became the villain of One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest? How did she become a person willing to trade her humanity for the sake of some twisted definition of order?

Unfortunately, Ratched turns out to be a bloody bore. The eight-episode series is less a character study than it is a horror show, where the gore spills all over nifty period costumes and fancy production design.

Ratched is created by Evan Romansky, but the show bears the heavy fingerprints of Ryan Murphy, whos an executive producer. As a producer, writer and director, Murphy isnt known for subtlety. But Murphy-backed projects are notable for inclusive casting, and at their best  as in the FX series American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson, Feud: Bette and Joan and Pose  the shows marry pulpy energy to insight into people who have been marginalized or misunderstood.

Despite the presence of the talented Sarah Paulson in the lead (and as an executive producer), Ratched shares with other recent productions that Murphy has done for Netflix  The Politician and Hollywood  an uncertain tone, in this case wavering between slasher movie, camp, and flabby imitation of Douglas Sirk-style melodrama.

Related: Hollywood: Netflix series is a glamorous blend of gossipy dish and wish-fulfillment fantasy

More than anything, Ratched feels like American Horror Story -- the garish anthology that has won Murphy a bafflingly loyal viewership -- particularly the Asylum installment, which took place in a mental institution.

Ratched takes place in 1947, as Mildred Ratched (Paulson) arrives at Lucia State Hospital, a mental institution in Northern California run by Dr. Hanover (Jon Jon Briones). Mildred talks her way into a job, though head nurse Betsy Bucket (a wonderfully witty Judy Davis) isnt happy about this interloper.

Sarah Paulson as Mildred Ratched in "Ratched." (Photo: Saeed Adyan/Netflix) SAEED ADYANI/NETFLIX

Mildred has reasons of her own for wanting to work at Lucia State Hospital, as we soon discover. Everyone, we soon learn, has secrets, whether its a drug habit, a marriage created to hide sexual preferences, a liking for dangerous men, a horrific example of malpractice, and on and on.

Paulson is watchable, as always, but Ratched pays more attention to her perfectly applied crimson lipstick and color-coordinated hats and gloves than it does to what makes her tick. Early on, Mildred seems like a cold-blooded manipulator, then we find out shes been scarred by an awful past, then she seems fine with killing innocent people, then were supposed to be touched by her coming to grips with her trauma and falling in love with someone who  for no reason we can fathom  is drawn to Mildred.

Like Mildred, the other characters behave with mystifying inconsistency. Finn Wittrock plays Edmund Tolleson, a serial killer whose gruesome murder of clergy members lands him at Lucia State Hospital. From one moment to the next, Edmund is a total lunatic, then a poor guy who just wants to be loved, then a revenge-minded murderer.

Sharon Stone as Lenore Osgood in "Ratched." (Photo: Netflix) COURTESY OF NETFLIX

The cast is packed with talented people, including Sharon Stone as a wealthy widow who likes to sport her pet monkey on her shoulder; Corey Stoll as a sexy, fedora-sporting investigator; Sophie Okonedo as a troubled patient; and Vincent DOnofrio as the boorish governor of California.

In addition, Ratched sometimes feels like a tribute to other movies, with its Alfred Hitchcock-like aura and musical score (emphasis on Vertigo, and its Northern California setting); a Bonnie and Clyde-inspired death scene; Brian De Palma-esque split screens, and more.

Most puzzling is a moment where DOnofrios sexist governor approvingly comments on Mildreds appearance, quoting a line Spencer Tracy used to describe Katharine Hepburns character in Pat and Mike: Theres not a lot of meat on her, but whats there is cherce. Huh?

The colors are beautifully saturated  luminous red, grassy green, vivid turquoise -- and Ratched boasts a lovely, heartfelt performance from Cynthia Nixon as the governors press secretary, who becomes entangled with Mildred. But thats about all that can be praised.

Rather than construct a narrative that makes sense and moves forward, Ratched kills off characters on such a regular basis it becomes both repulsive and repetitious. Why get attached to anybody when they may have an ice pick lobotomy in their future? It doesnt help that mental illness is treated as a sideshow, with characters behaving like examples of Bad Drama 101 instead of actual people with conditions that need treatment.

Ratched has already been renewed by Netflix for a second season. Based on the first eight episodes, the show will need a miracle cure to be worthy of all the talented people involved.

Ratched streams its eight-episode first season on Netflix beginning Friday, Sept. 18.

More of our coverage:

29 Oregon-filmed movies and TV shows to watch when youre at home because of coronavirus

Subscribe to our What to Watch newsletter. Email:



-- Kristi Turnquist

kturnquist@oregonian.com 503-221-8227 @Kristiturnquist
DUBLIN, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Rubber Tired Gantry Crane Market Forecast to 2027 - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis by Type, Power Supply" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The rubber tired gantry crane market was valued at US$ 907.79 million in 2019 and is projected to reach US$ 1, 168.17 million by 2027; it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.67% from 2020 to 2027.



Reasons to Buy

Highlights key business priorities in order to assist companies to realign their business strategies. The key findings and recommendations highlight crucial progressive industry trends in the rubber tried gantry crane market, thereby allowing players to develop effective long term strategies. Develop/modify business expansion plans by using substantial growth offering developed and emerging markets. Scrutinize in-depth global market trends and outlook coupled with the factors driving the market, as well as those hindering it. Enhance the decision-making process by understanding the strategies that underpin commercial interest with respect to Type, Power Supply.

A rubber tire gantry (RTG) crane is a type of mobile machinery used for moving and stacking storage containers found in container ports. Its main components include crane frame, power transmission system, lifting mechanism, crane traveling mechanism, trolley traveling mechanism, and telescopic spreader. The trolley is equipped with a lifting tool and moves along its track set on the main beams to load, unload, and stack containers. The crane with tires travels around the stockyard, or other workplaces, and moves flexibly from one work site to another. With its flexibility and smooth movement, it is commonly used in stockyards and other places where box-shaped storage containers are used, and the crane can lift and move the containers from one place to another quickly and safely.



Based on type, the rubber tired gantry crane market is categorized into 8-wheeler and 16-wheeler. In 2019, the 8-wheeler segment dominated the rubber tired gantry crane market. The demand for rubber tired gantry cranes is constantly rising. There are two types for each model-the 8W and 8WA for the 8-wheeler, and the 16W and 16WA for the 16-wheeler. The main differences between the two models are the design of the anti-sway system and the number of gantry wheels. The 16-tired RTG cranes require a larger travel area. Therefore, they cannot be used in tiny spaces, while 8-tired RTG cranes are preferred in smaller spaces.



Geographically, the rubber tired gantry crane market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South America, and the Middle East and Africa. Europe held the largest share of the global rubber tired gantry crane market, followed by Asia Pacific and North America, in 2019. Europe's ports have adopted electric RTGs for reducing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Government regulations in this region have enabled the adoption of electrical container handling equipment, such as carbon emission verification in maritime transportation. Also, financial transparency regarding port investments has enabled port authorities to invest strategically in port infrastructure. European nations rank among the leading importers and exporters of commodities and goods. Europe accounts for a large volume of trade in products and assets, such as machinery, vehicles, aircraft, fuels, nonferrous metals, textiles, chemicals, clothing, and crude oils. Europe ranks first in trading owing to which the region leads the global market for rubber tired gantry cranes.



Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Rubber Tired Gantry Crane Market



COVID-19 outbreak, which began in Wuhan (China) in December 2019, has rapidly spread across the globe. It has severely affected China, Italy, Iran, Spain, the Republic of Korea, France, Germany, and the US, in terms confirmed positive cases and reported deaths as of March 2020. The COVID-19 outbreak has affected economies and industries in various countries as it has resulted in lockdowns, travel bans, and business shutdowns. The overall market breakdown due to COVID-19 is also affecting the growth of the rubber tired gantry crane market due to factory shutdowns, disrupted supply chain, and downturned global economy.



The overall size of the global rubber tired gantry crane market has been derived in accordance to primary and secondary sources. To begin the research process, exhaustive secondary research has been conducted using internal and external sources to obtain qualitative and quantitative information related to the market. Also, multiple primary interviews have been conducted with industry participants and commentators to validate the data, as well as to gain more analytical insights into the topic. The participants who typically take part in such a process include industry expert such as VPs, business development managers, market intelligence managers, and national sales managers along with external consultants such as valuation experts, research analysts, and key opinion leaders specializing in the rubber tired gantry cranes.



Key Topics Covered:



1. Introduction

1.1 Study Scope

1.2 Report Guidance

1.3 Market Segmentation



2. Key Takeaways



3. Research Methodology

3.1 Coverage

3.2 Secondary Research

3.3 Primary Research



4. Rubber Tire gantry crane Market Landscape

4.1 Market Overview

4.2 PEST Analysis

4.2.1 North America - PEST Analysis

4.2.2 Asia-Pacific - PEST Analysis

4.2.3 Europe - PEST Analysis

4.2.4 Middle East & Africa - PEST Analysis

4.2.5 South America- PEST Analysis

4.3 Expert Opinion



5. Rubber Tire Gantry Crane Market - Key Market Dynamics

5.1 Market Drivers

5.1.1 Favourable government initiatives for the development of ports

5.1.2 Rise in Demand of Seaborne Trading

5.2 Market Restraints

5.2.1 Huge Cost of Installation and Maintenance Service of high capacity container handling equipment

5.3 Market Opportunity

5.3.1 Advancements in Technologies is Expected to Fuel the Market

5.4 Future Trends

5.4.1 Rising Focus Towards Green Technology

5.5 Impact Analysis



6. Rubber Tire Gantry Crane Market - Global Market Analysis

6.1 Rubber Tire Gantry Crane Market Overview

6.2 Rubber Tire Gantry Crane Market -Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Million)

6.3 Market Positioning - Global Key Players



7. Rubber Tired Gantry Crane Market Analysis - By Type

7.1 Overview

7.2 Rubber Tired Gantry Crane Market Breakdown, by Type, 2019 & 2027

7.3 8-wheeler

7.3.1 8-wheeler Market Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Million)

7.4 16-wheeler

7.4.1 Overview

7.4.2 16-wheeler Market Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Million)



8. Rubber Tired Gantry Crane Market Analysis - By Power Supply

8.1 Overview

8.2 Rubber Tired Gantry Crane Market Breakdown, by Power Supply, 2019 & 2027

8.3 Diesel

8.3.1 Overview

8.3.2 Diesel Market Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Million)

8.4 Electric

8.4.1 Overview

8.4.2 Electric Market Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Million)

8.5 Hybrid

8.5.1 Overview

8.5.2 Hybrid Market Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Million)



9. Rubber Tired Gantry Crane Market - Geographic Analysis

9.1 Overview

9.1.1 Global: Rubber Tired Gantry Crane Market - Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Million)

9.2 North America: Rubber Tired Gantry Crane Market

9.3 Europe: Rubber Tired Gantry Crane Market

9.4 SAM: Rubber Tired Gantry Crane Market

9.5 APAC: Rubber Tire Gantry Crane Market

9.6 MEA: Rubber Tire Gantry Crane Market



10. Impact of COVID-19 Outbreak

10.1 Overview

10.2 North America

10.3 Europe

10.4 Asia-Pacific

10.5 Middle East and Africa

10.6 South America



11. Industry Landscape

11.1 Overview

11.2 Market Initiative

11.3 Merger and Acquisition

11.4 New Development



12. Company Profiles

12.1 Anupam Industries Limited

12.1.1 Key Facts

12.1.2 Business Description

12.1.3 Products and Services

12.1.4 Financial Overview

12.1.5 SWOT Analysis

12.1.6 Key Developments

12.2 ELECTROMECH MATERIAL HANDLING SYSTEMS (INDIA) PVT. LTD.

12.2.1 Key Facts

12.2.2 Business Description

12.2.3 Products and Services

12.2.4 Financial Overview

12.2.5 SWOT Analysis

12.2.6 Key Developments

12.3 Kalmar

12.3.1 Key Facts

12.3.2 Business Description

12.3.3 Products and Services

12.3.4 Financial Overview

12.3.5 SWOT Analysis

12.3.6 Key Developments

12.4 Konecranes

12.4.1 Key Facts

12.4.2 Business Description

12.4.3 Products and Services

12.4.4 Financial Overview

12.4.5 SWOT Analysis

12.4.6 Key Developments

12.5 Liebherr

12.5.1 Key Facts

12.5.2 Business Description

12.5.3 Products and Services

12.5.4 Financial Overview

12.5.5 SWOT Analysis

12.5.6 Key Developments

12.6 Mi-Jack Products.

12.6.1 Key Facts

12.6.2 Business Description

12.6.3 Products and Services

12.6.4 Financial Overview

12.6.5 SWOT Analysis

12.6.6 Key Developments

12.7 REVA INDUSTRIES LTD

12.7.1 Key Facts

12.7.2 Business Description

12.7.3 Products and Services

12.7.4 Financial Overview

12.7.5 SWOT Analysis

12.7.6 Key Developments

12.8 Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries CO., Ltd. (ZPMC)

12.8.1 Key Facts

12.8.2 Business Description

12.8.3 Products and Services

12.8.4 Financial Overview

12.8.5 SWOT Analysis

12.8.6 Key Developments

12.9 TNT Crane & Rigging

12.9.1 Key Facts

12.9.2 Business Description

12.9.3 Products and Services

12.9.4 Financial Overview

12.9.5 SWOT Analysis

12.9.6 Key Developments

12.10 Sany Group

12.10.1 Key Facts

12.10.2 Business Description

12.10.3 Products and Services

12.10.4 Financial Overview

12.10.5 SWOT Analysis

12.10.6 Key Developments



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/ozyeez

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

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Amber Ellis just wants to go home.

The Perth woman had established a dream life in Auckland after moving there four years ago when her fiance, a pilot for Virgin Airlines, was transferred. Everything was perfect and their elation reached a giddying high last year when they found out they were due to start a family in 2020.

Amber Ellis, Thomas Pedersen and their baby Indigo.

But when COVID hit, their perfect life turned into a nightmare and now the new mum is pleading with airlines and the government to help Aussies like her get home.

The pandemic forced them to call off their wedding, her partner was made redundant and, worst of all, her baby Indigo was born six weeks premature in April and was in intensive care for two weeks.
On Tuesday, Gov. Ned Lamont issued a new executive order that allows fining people for not following previous orders aimed at controlling COVID-19 infection.

Here are some questions and answers on the new fines.

Why are they necessary?

Lamont said the fines were in response to mayors and first selectmen who want teeth in the state coronavirus rules that have been, in effect, mostly suggestions on public use of masks and attendance at private events.

The only legal tool local officials have had is to arrest people on misdemeanors if they disobey guidance such as wearing masks in stores.

When do they take effect?

Immediately.

Who will be issuing these fines?

Local police, health departments and elected officials will be able to issue the fines.

Will towns get to keep the fine money?

No. It goes into the states General Fund.

What if I choose not to wear a face mask?

Any person who, while in any public place or in any location where and for whom wearing a mask or face covering is required can be fined $100.

Who is exempt from wearing a face mask?

You are not required to use a mask or cloth face covering if it is contrary to your health or safety because of a medical condition.

However, an Aug. 14 executive order by Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz says those claiming to be exempt must provide written documentation that the person is qualified for the exemption from a licensed medical provider, the Department of Developmental Services or other state agency that provides or supports services for people with emotional, intellectual or physical disabilities, or a person authorized by any such agency.

Masks are also not required for anyone, who while outdoors, maintains a distance of approximately 6 feet from every other person.

A child in a child care setting and anyone under the age of 2 are also not required to wear masks.

Who will be fined if an employee in a business is not wearing a mask?

A business entity, rather than the employee, is liable for a fine of the same amount for any employees failure to wear a required mask or cloth-face covering while at work.

Whats the fine for organizing, hosting or sponsoring a gathering size that exceeds 25 people indoors and 100 people outdoors?

$500.

Whats the fine for anyone who attends an outdoor event that exceeds 100 people?

Any person who attends a gathering that violates the gathering size restrictions for gatherings and venues and sector rules for outdoor events can be fined $250.
 Flash

Security and stability in the Eastern Mediterranean is an issue that does not concern only Greece and Cyprus, but the European Union (EU) as a whole, European Council President Charles Michel said on Tuesday during joint statements with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis after their meeting in Athens.

"The issue of security and stability in the Eastern Mediterranean is not an affair of Greece and Cyprus alone, but an EU issue. We believe that all the member states must be respected and this is the meaning of my presence here today, to repeat this message," Michel was quoted by Greek national news agency AMNA as saying.

Michel paid a visit to Greece to discuss tension in the region lately over maritime borders and exploitation rights of energy resources, as well as the refugee-migration challenge after the destruction of Moria, Greece's largest reception camp on the island of Lesvos by a series of fires last week.

The situation in the Eastern Mediterranean and EU-Turkey relations will be discussed in the upcoming Special European Council on Sept. 24-25, during which the EU should demonstrate its unity and strength because security and stability are strategic interests of the EU, he added, according to AMNA.

Mitsotakis said on his part during the joint statements to the press, which were broadcast on Greek national broadcaster ERT, that the Mediterranean Sea is a vital security zone for entire Europe. "Therefore, support to Greece and Cyprus is not only a demonstration of solidarity but a clear acknowledgment that the EU's geopolitical and strategic interests are at stake here," he elaborated.

After the Turkish seismic survey vessel Oruc Reis returned to Turkey last weekend after weeks of research in a disputed area, the Greek prime minister said Greece expects more positive steps and an end to "provocations" to restart dialogue with Turkey over the delimitation of maritime borders.

In August, Turkey dispatched Oruc Reis and two auxiliary navy vessels to the disputed region near the Greek island of Meis, also known as Kastellorizo, where Greece claims lies within its continental shelf.

"Turkey has time, before and after the EU summit, to follow up the first encouraging step of disengagement from the crisis. If we see tangible proof of good behavior, we are ready to begin exploratory contacts with Turkey at once on the sole difference that exists between us, the delimitation of maritime borders in the Aegean and Eastern Med," Mitsotakis said.

"Until there is a final delimitation, however, either through a bilateral agreement or through an international court ruling, the international law of the sea prohibits unilateral actions," he stressed.

Regarding the refugee, migration challenge, Michel stressed that Greece and other countries at the forefront of the influx in recent years have shouldered disproportionate burdens and the EU is ready to find a common effective response through a new policy on the issue.

The European Council president was scheduled to visit Lesvos island in the northeastern Aegean to personally see the reality the EU faces.

Lesvos received the bulk of the massive flow of more than one million people who reached Greece since 2015, mainly from Turkey.

"It is time this European support will be translated into tangible solidarity and will be shown with actions and not words so that we can succeed where we had the courage, in my view, as the EU to admit that we have failed in the past," Mitsotakis said on Tuesday.

The Greek PM also stressed that with the support of other EU partners the new hosting facility under construction on Lesvos will offer better living conditions than Moria.

Meanwhile, Greek Citizen Protection Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis announced from Lesvos that five young foreign nationals were arrested for the arson in Moria, while another, who has been identified, is still at large.

Greek authorities said that the series of blazes that turned the camp to ashes started when few of a total of 35 camp residents who had tested positive for COVID-19 resisted isolation measures.
A second UK pub has introduced a ban for under-25s over claims the young drinkers are "refusing to adhere to any social distancing rules".

The Old Red Lion in Whinmoor, east Leeds announced on Facebook that it would be implementing an over-25s only policy from Friday to Sunday.

"This is due to the Government restrictions which came into effect today," wrote the pub on social media.

"We have found some of the younger age drinkers are refusing to adhere to any social distancing rules and it's not fair by putting both our staff and our regular customers as well as our business at risk.

"Until these current Government restrictions are lifted we are sorry but we must put safety of others first."

The landlady told the Mail Online that a minority of young people "spoil it for others" as the staff have had to keep reminding them to respect the coronavirus guidelines.

Empty streets in UK after pubs and restaurants close 1 /8 Empty streets in UK after pubs and restaurants close An empty Westfield Stratford City Getty Images The empty car park outside a cinema in Leicester, after Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered pubs, restaurants, leisure centres and gyms across the country to close PA Westminster Bridge is quiet in London AFP via Getty Images A pedestrian walks past a closed pub in New Cross, south London PA Cyclists keep their distance in Richmond Park PA A sparse Odeon cinema in Leicester after the Government ordered leisure facilities to close PA

"We're all in this together, we don't want anyone to get poorly, we want to get back to normal as soon as we can," said the landlady who wishes to remain anonymous.

"I just don't want to keep repeating myself (asking young people to social distance). It's very stressful.

"We want to do it for a short time, to be honest. We are going to review it in a week or two."

It comes after The Oddfellows Arms in Sherburn, near York, made a similar announcement on Facebook.

"This is not where we want to be," said the north Yorkshire pub as it revealed it would temporarily ban under-25s.

"We would rather have a safe environment than a place which is teetering on the risk of closure. Please see that we are acting for everyone's best intentions at this time."

The pubs owner later removed the following an angry flurry of complaints.

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Pub owner Maggie Holmes later told the Independent she had received abusive messages and phone calls, including a death threat.
FLINT, MI  Teachers in the Flint Community Schools district who moved buildings this year due to the closure of the Flint Junior High School building, formerly Northwestern High School, will receive two extra days off under an agreement with the teachers union.

The extra paid time off will go to 24 Flint teachers who moved schools due to the building closure.

Flint schools closes Flint Junior High School, former Northwestern building

The district has a memorandum of understand with United Teachers of Flint, Inc., that outlines packing and unpacking, which covered procedures, including pay, for teachers moving as a result of school closures, reconfigurations, and/or program discontinuation, Cassandra Washington, the districts executive director of human resources, said in a statement to MLive and the Flint Journal.

"While no contract violations occurred with respect to payment to teachers for packing and unpacking, the District honored the past practice and conferred with the (union) to settle the grievance with the remedy of two additional PTO days, Washington wrote in the statement.

United Teachers of Flint did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Flint Community Schools Board of Education voted to close the Flint Junior High School building in July.

The building closure was proposed after the district learned last month it is in need of $4 million in repairs. If the district moves to take on these repairs, the expense would drain the districts infrastructure fund, leaving nothing for all other school buildings. The district would also have to spend $1.2 million from its general fund.

Those who had been in the junior high building were moved to Holmes STEM Academy in the fall. Holmes STEM Academy became Holmes STEM Middle School Academy, reconfigured to become a middle school for 6th-8th grades. Brownell STEM Academy expanded from a K-2nd grade to a K-5th grade school. Children enrolled in 3rd-5th grade at Holmes, instead attended Brownell. Grades K-2nd at Brownell were not affected.

Johnson Controls, the districts HVAC contractor, presented the scope of repairs needed at the junior high school building during a Tuesday, June 9, Flint Community Schools Board of Education meeting. Many repairs were noted to be critical, meaning if that system failed, the facility would no longer be fit to be occupied.

The district has $560,000 from an energy efficiency bond. This means the district would need to commit $3.5 million to the building if it plans for students to use the building, executive director of finance Carrie Sekelsky has said. The district has $2.2 million in sinking fund dollars, which would be depleted under this option. An additional $1.2 million would have to be taken from the districts general fund.

The Northwestern building still has the districts central kitchen. It also houses maintenance equipment, and its stadium and auditorium could be rented out, Superintendent Anita Steward has said. The district currently rents space for its buses. With the building closed, Northwestern could be used for buses instead.

The city district is continuing to provide instruction online only, and until further notice amid the COVID-19 pandmic.

To help you navigate this complicated fall, were pleased to offer you a simpler way to get all of your education news: Our new Michigan Schools: Education in the COVID Era newsletter delivered right to your inbox. To receive this newsletter, simply click here to sign up.

Read more:

Flint Community Schools to stay online only until further notice

$4M in needed repairs at Flint school would drain districts infrastructure funds

Flint school board votes to reconsider closure of Flint Jr. High School building

Board narrowly rejects plan to close Flint Junior High School

Flint school board terminates superintendents contract without cause
A study by Oxfam Kenya last February, found that a heavy and unequal responsibility of unpaid care and domestic work is borne by women and girls.

Oxfam commissioned the Household Care Survey (HCS) between October 2018 and March 2019 through its Women's Rights Programme.

Its objective was to understand how Unpaid Care and Domestic Work (UCDW) impacts men and women, boys and girls at the household level.

The survey targeted five informal settlements of Kibera, Mathare, Mukuru, Kawangware and Korogocho in Nairobi County. The Household Care Survey found that women spend 11.1 hours per day on care work com-pared to men's 2.9 hours per day.

Women's opportunities

"Unequal distribution of unpaid care and domestic work between women and men, boys and girls, further limits women's opportunities for economic empowerment and political participation. Reduction of unpaid care and domestic work for women would enable them engage in productive activities linked to improvements in their livelihoods," the report says in part.

The Kenyan National Bureau of Statistics validated the findings last week.

A survey on Socio-economic Impact of Covid-19 on Households done by Kenya National Bureau of Statistics found glaring disparities between women and men regarding unpaid care and domestic work in homes.

For cleaning and maintaining their own dwelling surroundings, women accounted for 64.5 per cent compared to men at 45.3 per cent. When it comes to caring and instructing children aged 6-17 years women command 52.7 per cent compared to men's 39.2 per cent.

Instructing children

On food and meals management and preparation, women again lead at 44.2 per cent compared to men at 24.2 per cent.

Regarding caring and instructing children aged 0-5 years, women take the lion's share accounting for 40.5 per cent to men's 32 per cent.

On caring for dependent adults aged 18-59 years, women are at 34.7 against men's 30.5 per cent. Women also lead at 18 per cent with men being put at 16 per cent on shopping for household and family members.

They also spent the most time caring for dependent adults aged 60 years and older at 11.7 per cent while men spent 10.1 per cent.

Gender insensitive

Eva Komba, a Gender and Development expert says as long as unpaid care work remains unquantified, unrecognised and unpaid, it will continue to be gender insensitive as far as gender equality is concerned.

She observes that to effectively implement the principle of equity, a gender lens must be used in arriving at decisions.

"Nationally, the struggle has been around quantifying and attaching value to care work largely contributed by women, and it's a high time this is sorted out otherwise we will continue to undervalue and overburden women," says Ms Komba.

Huge disparity

She notes that there is a need for employers to consider the existing huge disparity in gender pay gap between men and women when hiring.

Out of the respondents who worked for at least one hour during the seven days preceding the survey period, 55.9 per cent were aged 35-64 years while those aged 25-34 constituted 33.8 per cent and those aged 18-24 constituted 10.2 per cent.

Almost half (48.5 per cent) of the respondents were working employers while slightly more than a third (35 per cent) were paid employees.

About four out of ten males were in paid employment compared to about three out of ten of the females.

Budget policies

To deal with these issues, Oxfam proposed a raft of recommendations for government, media, the private sector, civil society and citizens.

They include development and inclusion of gender-responsive budget policies that recognise unpaid care and domestic work in citizens' lives.

The organisation also recommends collaboration among diverse stakeholders, including religious leaders, private sector, the media and government to develop evidence-based social norms interventions that encourage men to share responsibilities for unpaid care and domestic work.

Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Kenya Women By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later.

Men's roles

"Government should also invest in public services, social protection and infrastructure to reduce long hours of unpaid care and domestic work for women and the related negative health impacts and opportunity costs. It should also carry out evidence-based policy advocacy that will allow freeing up women's time and allow more women to participate in social, political and economic life," Oxfam's recommendation reads in part.

Oxfam also recommends for the development of public communications, advertisements and public service announcements that positively reinforce men's roles in caring for children and families

Public and private institutions have been asked to make provision for care supporting services and spaces in meeting and workplaces, for example, breastfeeding spaces and child care facilities.
PALO ALTO, Calif., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Sourcenext (listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, code: 4344), a market maker for brands in Japan including software, hardware, and IoT products and the manufacturer of Pocketalk , today announced the launch of its U.S.-based operations in Palo Alto, with a mission to help U.S.-based companies expand into the Japanese market.

Many western companies, large and small, typically fail in Japan due to misunderstanding market entry and the mindset of the Japanese consumer. Sourcenext, which is known for successfully raising sales performance in Japan for brands such as Rosetta Stone , Evernote and Dropbox , has deep roots in both B2B and B2C channels.

With a corporate office in the heart of Tokyo and a CEO based in Palo Alto, one of only a few Japanese CEOs based in the country, Sourcenext uniquely positioned the new U.S. office to be a marketmaker for American brands. By unlocking the world's third largest economy in a way not possible before, Sourcenext is able to help brands achieve success through its superior understanding of Japanese consumer behavior.

With more than 25 years of proven success and a complete turnkey approach designed to take months instead of years, the team at Sourcenext understands every part of the go-to-market funnel, including certification, localization, logistics, distribution, marketing and channel strategies and customer service.

"The combination of Palo Alto and Tokyo provides Sourcenext with a unique vantage point," said Doug Bieter, Head of Partner Development at Sourcenext. "We have purview into two of the most dynamic markets in the world and have been building a team of employees that deeply understand U.S. business needs. We're truly making the market as opposed to just distributing the product, which is a strategic advantage we have over virtually everyone."

Sourcenext U.S. has also announced an initial strategic alliance and capital investment in Owl Labs , the leader in immersive video conferencing technology and services. The team in Palo Alto will serve as Owl Labs' exclusive go-to-market partner, selling its full line of products in Japan.

"As hybrid work environments and remote teams continue to rise at a rapid pace, Owl Labs has been dedicated to helping companies adapt around the world," stated John Stevens, Chief Financial Officer at Owl Labs. "As part of that effort, we've partnered with industry leader Sourcenext to accelerate distribution of the Meeting Owl Pro to the Japanese market based on their experience and expertise. We couldn't be more excited about this partnership and the speed at which Sourcenext moves. From our first meeting to availability in-market it took just four months and now we have a certified, localized product driving significant revenue in Japan already."

"Our system, from signature to deployment of your product or innovation, takes a fraction of the time it would to enter the market typically. We have a process and a proven formula for the companies that we select that economically activates revenue at record pace. As part of that, we have an investment arm that is inclined to make investments in companies we find particularly promising," said Noriyuki Matsuda, Founder and CEO of Sourcenext. "Owl was selected as a superior product that meets the needs of the Japanese market today by redefining the new hybrid work environment we are now facing."

Sourcenext, known for its forward-thinking office set-ups, is also prioritizing bringing these unique solutions to its team. As such, Owl Labs has become part of the key upgrades in their own Tokyo office as Sourcenext employees re-enter the workplace from sheltering-in-place during the pandemic.

For more information, please visit us.sourcenext.com .

About Sourcenext:

Sourcenext (Tokyo Stock Exchange, 4344:JP) is the largest distributor and creator of software, hardware, and IoT products in Japan. Founded in 1996, Sourcenext specializes in helping companies like Rosetta Stone and Evernote sell their software products and apps to a market of millions. And now with the launch of Pocketalk, Sourcenext is bringing its own products to the world. Through its expertise in user experience, marketing, and customer support, Sourcenext has earned the trust and respect of partners, retailers, and consumers around the world.

About Owl Labs

Owl Labs is a collaborative technology company dedicated to creating a better workplace experience for today's hybrid workforce of remote and in-office employees. The company's products use emerging technology such as AI to bring teams together for better work. While focused on its core hardware, The Meeting Owl line of products, the company is developing advanced software technology to reinvent the conference room ecosystem and make it smart. Learn more about the company at www.owllabs.com .

SOURCE Sourcenext

Related Links

https://us.sourcenext.com


U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with reporters as he walks to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020, in Washington. AP



U.S. President Donald Trump insisted his country could have been in a nuclear war with North Korea if he had not been elected four years ago.



"Everybody said because of my personality, they said he'll be in a war immediately," Trump said of his election four years ago in a town hall event hosted by U.S. television network ABC. "Look at North Korea, how that's worked."



Trump has often argued his engagement and good relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is what prevented what many believed to be an imminent war with the communist North.



"If President Obama were president, if Hillary Clinton ever got in, there would be a war. We would have a war, probably a nuclear war with North Korea," Trump said.



In his new book, "Rage," Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward quoted Trump as saying that the U.S. had been much closer to a war with the North in 2017 than anyone had imagined.






S erious criminals will serve at least two-thirds of their jail terms amid Government plans for a huge sentencing overhaul.

Community punishments including 20-hour-a-day curfews and the use of satellite monitoring for convicted burglars are also among measures set out in the shake-up of sentencing powers.

The Sentencing White Paper also contains measures aimed at helping rehabilitate offenders, with more flexible community orders allowing them to carry on working in the week and reducing the time before a conviction is spent.

Announcing the shake-up on Wednesday, Justice Secretary Robert Buckland said sentencing failures can perpetuate low-level offenders getting stuck in a life of crime as he called for a new approach.

During a speech for the Centre for Social Justice, Mr Buckland said: This means that offenders have little hope of being rehabilitated and we, as a society, have little hope of ending the cycles of crime in which any one of us can become victims.

"That is a failure, letting down everyone concerned. Aside from the social impact, it is also a waste of money, with the cost of re-offending running into the billions every year. We need a new approach.

Justice Secretary Robert Buckland said sentencing failures can perpetuate low-level offenders getting stuck in a life of crime as he called for a new approach / PA

Mr Buckland told the online audience the White Paper being put forward by the Government was an opportunity to grow trust and confidence in the sentencing system  in its ability to make the smart choices to protect the public from the harmful effects of crime, in whatever form they take.

He said the public rightly expects child killers to feel the fullest and harshest extent of the law, adding: We will therefore ensure a Whole Life Order is not just available to sentencers in these cases but that it will be their starting point.

In exceptional circumstances we will also give judges the discretion to impose a Whole Life Order on those aged 18 to 20, where currently only those aged 21 or over may receive this severest of punishments.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has already said the reforms will make it easier for judges to put dangerous offenders behind bars for longer.

Adult offenders given life sentences in other circumstances would also spend longer behind bars before they can be assessed for release under the plans, Mr Buckland added.

But he said there must also be efforts to intervene to prevent low-level and repeat offenders from going back and forth to prison, for short custodial sentences that hold little rehabilitative value for them.

Serious criminals will serve at least two-thirds amid Government plans for a huge sentencing overhaul / Getty Images

He said: Offenders in this category often live chaotic lifestyles, sometimes driven by drug and alcohol misuse, or poor mental health.

"Their backgrounds are often characterised by entrenched poverty, absent role models, and a lack of any decent education.

"This makes for bleak prospects and many offenders believe they have few options but to get involved in criminality.

There is no doubt that they deserve punishment but, if we are to have any chance of turning their lives around  and in the process preventing crime  then we need to divert them towards lives that hold the promise of the things we all want from life  a place to call home, meaningful work, a future thats better than the past.

If were going to offer offenders opportunities to work hard towards these things, then we must identify their individual needs and ensure the sentencing toolkit is able to meet them.

Under the plans, electronic tagging could be used more  for up to 20 hours a day  to enforce curfews and for up to two years instead of 12 months, he said.

He continued: These changes will encourage compliance with orders of the court and will allow sentencers to address more serious repeat offending with increased restrictions.

The measures will also seek to produce high-quality pre-sentence reports (PSR) to give crucial insights into an offenders history and behaviour.

Mr Buckland said: More information being available also reduces the space for assumptions to creep in, which, too often, can be the entry point for stereotyping.

He said: These changes will encourage compliance with orders of the court and will allow sentencers to address more serious repeat offending with increased restrictions. / PA

Evidence suggests that some offenders are sent for short custodial sentences without a PSR ever being produced.

We will now pilot new ways of delivering high-quality PSRs, identifying the offenders who would benefit most.

Mr Buckland also said the changes would encourage courts to look at other alternatives to custody, such as deferred sentencing in a bid to divert offenders away from crime and look at ways of simplifying the system to save court time and taxpayers money.

He hailed the innovative idea of five problem-solving courts, pledging that these would take a completely new approach to dealing with low-level offending.

Mr Buckland also said it was time to make a concerted effort to address the approach to offenders with conditions like autism and dyslexia, adding: If a neurodivergent condition and its associated needs are not recognised as early as possible and appropriate interventions put in place, then it can set up a chain reaction for the offender, cascading failure throughout the system.

This is not frankly their fault but the effects on their lives and their life chances can be devastating.
New Orleans will be reopening government offices and public transit and resuming coronavirus testing on Wednesday now that the major threats from Hurricane Sally have shifted east to Mississippi and Alabama, Mayor LaToya Cantrell said at a press conference Tuesday morning.

However, a mandatory evacuation remains in place for areas in New Orleans outside the federal levee system because of continued concerns about storm surge.

Sally remains a Category 1 hurricane heading slowly toward the Mississippi/Alabama line. On its current track is not expected to have significant impacts on the New Orleans area, and all watches and warnings for the city have been cancelled.

Its definitely a brighter day today than it was yesterday, Cantrell said. Im very thankful on many different fronts from the prayer warriors we have in New Orleans  which we do  but also to the team we have at the city. They show up every time and Im more than appreciative.

With the impacts of Sally greatly diminished, government services will be largely getting back to normal Wednesday.

Public schools, which had planned to start some in-person classes on Monday, will remain with virtual learning for now but more announcements are expected during the day, city Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Director Collin Arnold said.

Parking restrictions will be reinstated at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, so vehicles should be removed from neutral grounds and sidewalks before then.

The Regional Transit Authority plans to resume service by 4 p.m. Tuesday, with the exception of the ferries, Arnold said.

The resource center for the roughly 12,000 Hurricane Laura evacuees being housed in New Orleans hotels will reopen on Wednesday as well.

In addition, public coronavirus testing sites will resume operations on Wednesday.

The mandatory evacuation order for Venetian Isles, Irish Bayou and Lake Catherine will remain in effect because of the continued possibility of storm surge, Cantrell said.

Arnold said the city will continue to monitor Sally, which has proven difficult to forecast and remains a slow moving storm as it approaches the Gulf Coast. But all indications are that Sally will be added to the list of storms that missed the New Orleans area this year.

Cantrell and Arnold both said that residents should not allow themselves to be lulled into a sense of complacency or fatigue as hurricane seasons stretches onward.

Its been a long year with COVID...I know theres an element of fatigue out there but everyone responds and rises to the occasion and thats so important, Arnold said.



2020 The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate

Visit The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate at www.nola.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
(All amounts in US$ unless otherwise specified and reflect 100% of the project)

Capstone Mining Corp. ("Capstone" or the "Company") (TSX:CS) announces its 70% owned subsidiary Minera Santo Domingo ("MSD") has entered into a memorandum of understanding ("MOU") with Puerto Abierto S.A. ("PASA") a wholly owned subsidiary of Puerto Ventanas S.A. ("Puerto Ventanas") (subsidiary of Sigdo Koppers S.A.) for Capstone's Santo Domingo project in Region III, Chile ("Santo Domingo" or the "Project"). During a 90 day period, both MSD and PASA will together explore mutual synergies and regional benefits for the proposed port component of the Santo Domingo Project, Puerto Santo Domingo (the "Port"). The Port is fully permitted and located 100 kms from the Santo Domingo project site (see Figure 1). It will be one of only two Cape-size vessel ports in the region, making it an attractive site for bulk shipments and a key asset allowing for broad resource development in Region III of Chile.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200916005274/en/

FIGURE 1: The Region III District in Chile has enormous potential for copper and iron ore mine development. Capstone's Santo Domingo is located in the middle of this growing mining district. (Graphic: Business Wire)

MOU DETAILS

MSD will allow PASA to study, at its own cost, during a term of 90 days, the Project engineering and conduct a market study. PASA is looking to potentially acquire, construct, operate and maintain the deep-water Port, including financing its development. Once in operation, Santo Domingo will receive preferred service as its volumes will represent a baseload of business for the Port. The MOU also gives PASA 90 days to evaluate the replacement of the 110 km magnetite concentrate pipeline with a railway as part of its rail business, Ferrocarril del Pacifico S.A. (FEPASA). The Santo Domingo project infrastructure that is under consideration in this MOU represents approximately $400 million of the CAPEX identified in the most recent NI 43-101 Technical Report and includes:

Marine works including pier

Iron concentrate pipeline from Santo Domingo Mine to Port

Magnetite filter plant and stockpile building

Copper storage building

Ship loading and support facilities.

"Over the past three months we have seen a surge in interest in our fully permitted Santo Domingo project," said Darren Pylot, President and CEO of Capstone. "I believe this relationship with Puerto Ventanas will serve as a major catalyst for our Santo Domingo Project. Our path forward includes successful culmination of the strategic sales process, executing a gold stream agreement and arranging project debt financing."

"A partnership with PASA would simplify the Santo Domingo project as we would focus on construction and operational ramp-up of the mine site only, lowering our upfront capital requirements and allow each company to focus on their core business," said Dr. Albert Garcia, VP, Projects at Capstone. "This, coupled with the fixed cost, turn-key proposal from POSCO E&C, an internationally recognized, reputable EPC contractor for the mine site, significantly de-risks the overall Project."

"The signing of this MOU is a great opportunity for Puerto Ventanas to work with Capstone and to contribute our expertise providing port services and railway cargo solutions. Our track record is internationally recognized in the logistic services and we are confident that we can contribute to the success of the development of Minera Santo Domingo," said Juan Eduardo Errazuriz, Chairman at Puerto Ventanas.

"We are looking forward to working with Capstone to offer them the best technical and economical solution for MSD logistics needs," said Jorge Oyarce, CEO at Puerto Ventanas.

FIGURE 1: The District has enormous potential for copper and iron ore mine development

ABOUT PUERTO ABIERTO S.A.

PASA is a part of the Chilean conglomerate Sigdo Koppers S.A., who has operations in five continents and its business activities are organized into three business areas: mining; industrial construction, transportation and logistics; and machinery and car distribution. https://puertoventanas.cl/en/

ABOUT CAPSTONE MINING CORP.

Capstone Mining Corp. is a Canadian base metals mining company, focused on copper. Our two producing mines are the Pinto Valley copper mine located in Arizona, US and the Cozamin copper-silver mine in Zacatecas State, Mexico. In addition, Capstone owns 70% of Santo Domingo, a large scale, fully-permitted, copper-iron-gold project in Region III, Chile, in partnership with Korea Resources Corporation, as well as a portfolio of exploration properties. Capstone's strategy is to focus on the optimization of operations and assets in politically stable, mining-friendly regions, centred in the Americas. We are committed to the responsible development of our assets and the environments in which we operate. Our headquarters are in Vancouver, Canada and we are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). Further information is available at www.capstonemining.com.

COMPLIANCE WITH NI 43-101

Unless otherwise indicated, Capstone has prepared the technical information in this news release based on information contained in the technical reports and news releases (collectively the "Disclosure Documents") available under Capstone Mining Corp.'s company profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Each Disclosure Document was prepared by or under the supervision of a qualified person (a "Qualified Person" or "QP") as defined in National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects of the Canadian Securities Administrators ("NI 43-101"). For readers to fully understand the information in this news release, they should read the Technical Reports (available on www.sedar.com) in their entirety, including all qualifications, assumptions and exclusions that relate to the information set out in this presentation which qualifies the Technical Information. Readers are advised that mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The Disclosure Documents are each intended to be read as a whole, and sections should not be read or relied upon out of context. The Technical Information is subject to the assumptions and qualifications contained in the Disclosure Documents. For further details refer to the Company's NI 43-101 Technical Report Santo Domingo Project, Region III, Chile, Feasibility Study Update, published March 24, 2020, effective February 19, 2020. The Technical Information in this news release has been prepared in accordance with NI 43-101 and reviewed and approved by Albert Garcia III, PE, Vice President, Projects, a Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101.

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

This news release, and the documents incorporated by reference herein, contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this document and Capstone Mining Corp. ("Capstone" or the "Company") does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements, except as required under applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect our expectations or beliefs regarding future events. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the continuing success of mineral exploration, Capstone's ability to fund future exploration activities, the estimation of mineral resources and mineral reserves, the realization of mineral reserve estimates, the timing and amount of estimated future production, costs of production and capital expenditures, the cost of capital expenditures for the Santo Domingo Project, our ability to separate any permits required for the Port if necessary, the success of our mining operations, the estimation of increased cathode production, the ability to obtain required permits for the intended expanded leaching activity, the estimation of the expected economics of the expanded leaching activities, the estimations for potential quantities and grade of inferred resources and exploration targets, environmental risks, unanticipated reclamation expenses and title disputes. In certain cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "aiming", "approximately", "guidance", "scheduled", "target", "estimates", "forecasts", "extends", "convert", "potential", "intends", "anticipates", "believes" or variations of such words and phrases, or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "should", "would", "will", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved" or the negative of these terms or comparable terminology. By their very nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, amongst others, permitting risks related to the Port, risks related to inherent hazards associated with mining operations and closure of mining projects, the inherent uncertainty of mineral exploration and estimations of exploration targets, potential delays in exploration or interruption of production directly or indirectly related to COVID-19 or governmental action, future prices of copper and other metals, compliance with financial covenants, surety bonding requirements, our ability to raise capital or fund explorations, Capstone's ability to acquire properties for growth, counterparty risks associated with sales of our metals, foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, changes in general economic conditions, risks associated with hedging strategies, accuracy of mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates, operating in foreign jurisdictions with risk of changes to governmental regulation, compliance with governmental regulations, compliance with environmental laws and regulations, reliance on approvals, licences and permits from governmental authorities, impact of climatic conditions on our operations, aboriginal title claims and rights to consultation and accommodation, land reclamation and mine closure obligations, uncertainties and risks related to the potential development of the Cozamin project, increased operating and capital costs, challenges to title to our mineral properties, maintaining ongoing social license to operate, dependence on key management personnel, potential conflicts of interest involving our directors and officers, corruption and bribery, limitations inherent in our insurance coverage, labour relations, increasing energy prices, competition in the mining industry, risks associated with joint venture partners, our ability to integrate new acquisitions into our operations, cybersecurity threats, legal proceedings, and other risks of the mining industry as well as those factors detailed from time to time in the Company's interim and annual financial statements and MD&A of those statements, all of which are filed and available for review under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those described in our forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause our results, performance or achievements not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that our forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as our actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200916005274/en/

Contacts:

Jerrold Annett, VP, Strategy and Capital Markets

416-572-2272

jannett@capstonemining.com

Virginia Morgan, Manager, IR and Communications

604-674-2268

vmorgan@capstonemining.com
Toulon, September 16, 2020 at 6:00pm



ECA (Euronext Paris: ECASA) will publish its half-year 2020 results on Tuesday, September 22nd 2020 at 6:00pm Paris time. The press release and slide presentation will be available on our website: www.ecagroup.com.

On Wednesday, September 23rd 2020 at 11:30am CET, Guenael Guillerme, CEO, as well as Loic Le Berre, Deputy CEO in charge of Finance of Groupe Gorge, will comment on ECA Group's results and answer questions from the financial community during a conference call in French.

To participate in the conference call, you may call any of the following telephone numbers approximately 5 - 10 minutes prior to the scheduled start time:

France: +33 (0)1 70 71 01 59

United Kingdom: +44 (0) 2 07 19 43 759

Germany: +49 (0) 6 92 22 22 54 29

Access code: 23427434#

A replay will be available shortly on ECA Groups' investor website, page "Documents".

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Full and original release in PDF format:https://www.actusnews.com/documents_communiques/ACTUS-0-65028-eca-group-financial-invitation-to-h1-2020-results-conference-call.pdf
Wildfires have burned millions of acres in the western United States this year. Tens of thousands have been evacuated and thousands of buildings and other structures destroyed. Thick smoke blankets much of the region  colouring the skies red and orange  and is flowing north into British Columbia and Alberta. Tens of millions of people have been exposed to these hazardous conditions.

Wildfire smoke is a complex mixture of fine particulate matter, called PM 2.5, and gases, such as volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide. The composition of the mixture depends on many variables, including the fuels that are burning, the temperature of combustion, the weather and the distance from the fire. Although wildfire smoke is different from the air pollution caused by traffic and industry, it is also harmful to human health.

Wildfires cause episodes of the worst air quality that many people will ever experience. Fine particulate matter can be inhaled deep into the lungs, where it may lead to systemic inflammation that affects other parts of the body.

On smoky days, more people visit emergency rooms, more people are admitted to hospital and some people will die because of the smoke exposure. We also know that PM 2.5 can affect the immune system, which may make some people more susceptible to acute respiratory infections such as influenza and COVID-19.

Coping with intense and prolonged wildfire smoke is difficult, both physically and mentally. I have been studying how this unpredictable and extreme type of air pollution affects the respiratory and cardiovascular health of exposed populations for many years. Here are 10 tips to protect yourself and your family from the risks of wildfire smoke.

1. Understand your susceptibility

Some people are at higher risk of experiencing health effects from smoke, especially those who have asthma, COPD, heart disease, diabetes, other chronic conditions or acute infections such as COVID-19.

Pregnant women, infants, young children, older adults and people who work or live outdoors are also more susceptible. Anyone who uses rescue medications should carry them at all times.

2. Listen to your body

Different people can have very different reactions to the same amount of smoke. If you feel unwell, listen to your body and take actions to reduce your exposure.

The most common symptoms include eye irritation, sore throat, cough and headache, which usually disappear when the smoke disperses. Anyone who has more severe symptoms such as difficulty breathing or heart palpitations should seek medical attention.

Smoke is an environment hazard to be respected, not a personal challenge to be overcome.

3. Take it easy

The harder you breathe, the more smoke you inhale. The average resting adult breathes about six litres of air per minute, but this can easily increase to 60 litres during intense exercise.

Taking it easy is one of the simplest ways you can limit your exposure.

4. Use a portable air cleaner

Portable air cleaners with HEPA filters can significantly reduce indoor PM 2.5 concentrations when used properly. Smaller units can be used to keep one room relatively clean as a place to seek relief when needed.

A high quality furnace filter taped to a box fan can also do a pretty good job in a small room, although do-it-yourself devices should never be left running unattended.

5. Seek comfortable spaces in the community

Public places such as libraries, community centres and shopping malls often have large air filtration systems and relatively good indoor air quality. Unfortunately, access to some of these spaces may be restricted during the COVID-19 pandemic, so making a comfortable space at home is more important than ever.

6. Consider wearing a protective mask

One silver lining of the COVID-19 pandemic is that we have learned new things about face masks. Although a well-fitted N95 respirator will always be the best option for wildfire smoke, recent research shows that other masks can provide reasonable protection from PM 2.5 if they are closely fitted around the face. Masks with multiple layers of different materials were the best for filtering fine particles.

7. Drink plenty of water

I know, I know  everyone is always telling you to drink more water. Staying well-hydrated helps the kidneys and liver to remove toxins, which can reduce any systemic inflammation caused by wildfire smoke exposure.

8. Know where to find information

The air quality impacts of wildfire smoke can change fast. Know how to stay updated on conditions in your area. Smartphone apps such as the Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) in Canada and SmokeSense in the United States can send alerts when air quality starts to deteriorate.

9. Pay attention to wildfire smoke forecasts

Forecasting wildfire smoke is even more difficult than forecasting the weather, but the models are improving every year. Tools such as FireWork in Canada and BlueSky in the U.S. show smoke predictions for the next 48 hours.

10. Start preparing for next season now

Wildfire seasons are getting longer and more extreme as the climate changes. The best way to protect yourself from smoke is to plan and prepare well before the smoke arrives. There is increasing recognition that we must learn to live with wildfire and smoke in western North America.

On that note, I often get asked about the long-term health effects of extreme and repeated wildfire smoke exposures. Not much is known at this time, but it is an area of active research and I think we will learn a lot in the next five years. Even so, please remember that taking action to reduce exposure in the short-term will also help to protect you and your family in the long-term.

This article was originally published on theconversation.com

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Large hotels are using technology to accelerate the check-in process. For example, Marriotts Bonvoy mobile app has a feature that allows guests to check in from anywhere and also alerts them when their room is ready. The app also offers Mobile Key which lets guests use their smartphone as the room key in more than 3,000 properties worldwide, eliminating the need for a plastic key card.
SEOUL, South Korea, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- To help and bring an end to COVID-19 and provide disaster relief, a leading global apparel manufacturer and exporter Sae-A Trading has been carrying out diverse CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) activities at its overseas corporations. Additionally, Sae-A's Chairman Woong-Ki Kim, has taken part in a global social media campaign called 'Stay Strong', organized by South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to encourage COVID-19 recovery and elimination efforts. These CSR activities were carried out across 60,000 associates of Sae-A located in 10 countries around the world.

Donating relief and disease prevention items worth $70,000 to local communities in Guatemala

Sae-A's manufacturing plants in Guatemala corporate leaders, associates and union representatives visited local communities that are experiencing hardships due to the spread of COVID-19 and donated items to them. 6,000 'relief kits' that consisted of necessities for quarantined households were delivered to communities near production factories in Petapa, Villa Nueva and Mixco, as well as the central emergency response headquarters of Guatemala. A total of 60,000 masks for protection against COVID-19 were also donated.

Donating protective gear and clothing to the local health ministry and emergency response agency in Nicaragua

Sae-A's manufacturing plants in Nicaragua carried out a large-scale donation to government offices. As well as donating 30,000 masks to the local health ministry, 410,000 pieces of clothing (worth $3.5 mil.) for children, teenagers and women were donated to the country's emergency response agency (SINAPRED). The head of the agency, Dr. Guillermo Gonzalez, gave a message of appreciation, saying, "Donating to our important agency and the health ministry at this difficult time is a wonderful act that brings us all closer together. Sae-A has proven itself to be a very socially responsible and trustworthy company."

Donating 200,000 masks to the local community and government in Haiti

Sae-A's Haitian corporation, S&H Global, donated 200,000 masks to the government and the local community in the northern Haiti region of Caracol, including schools, hospitals, and the port. 5,278 yards of material to produce masks (enough to produce 50,000 masks) was also donated to an NGO consortium, located in the capital, Port-au-Prince. Additionally, S&H Global understood that basic disease prevention and sanitation management systems were lacking in the local region, so it has continued to carry out safety education for the production office staff and local community, including personal hygiene practices.

Sae-A Trading CEO, James Ha said, "Even in this uncertain COVID-19 situation, the weight of being socially responsible has not changed for the company. Moving forward, we will continue to pursue our philosophy of co-prosperity with our local community and staff." He added, "Through various donation activities and disease prevention education programs by our Sae-A offices overseas, we hope we can do our part to help bring about an end to the COVID-19 pandemic."

* * *

The Global Sae-A Group fulfills its corporate social responsibility roles in every country it has entered, and is establishing its reputation as a sustainably managed company. The company has carried our various CSR activities tailored for local communities, including the establishment of the 'Sae-A School' (S&H School), which has become a leading comprehensive school in Haiti through its advanced education curriculum and free meals, scholarship programs in Vietnam, South Korea, and Guatemala for students from low-income households, as well as food drives in Indonesian slums, and supporting campaigns for blood donation and environmental protection in Nicaragua.

For more information on Sae-A's work and social responsibility programs, please visit: www.sae-a.com.

SOURCE Global Sae-A Co., Ltd.
The Joe Biden-Kamala Harris campaign held a grassroots fundraiser Sept. 14 afternoon featuring the Indian American vice presidential candidate in conversation with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and actors Maya Rudolph and Amy Poehler. More than 100,000 people attended the virtual event, which Harris characterized as an extraordinary display of democracy. (Zoom screen grab)
T Muruganandham By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and School Education Minister KA Sengottaiyan on Wednesday told the state Assembly that the AIADMK government was firm on the two-language policy and that the government would take further action regarding the new National Education Policy based on the recommendations of the committees constituted to study it.

Replying to the discussion on the NEP during the zero hour, Sengottaiyan said the Centre had sent the draft NEP on January 31, 2019, and the views of the state government were conveyed to the Centre on August 26, 2019. The state had firmly said that it would adopt only the two-language formula and would continue to oppose the three-language formula. It was also conveyed that the 10+2+3 education system would continue and that the proposed 5+3+3+4 system cannot be accepted.

Recalling that late leaders including CN Annadurai were firm on the two-language policy, Sengottaiyan said the present government too would be firm on that. The Chief Minister had also written a letter to the Prime Minister reiterating the two-language policy on June 26, 2019.

ALSO READ: 'Tamil speaking Indian': T-shirt sloganeering adds fresh hues to language activism in TN

After the two committees submit their views on the other aspects of the NEP, the state government would take a decision on that. The minister asserted that though the draft NEP insisted on the

three-language policy, the AIADMK government would not allow it. It would not allow any harm to social justice and federal principles.

Speaking on the issue, Leader of the Opposition MK Stalin said the two committees constituted to study the NEP should be expanded. Further, the Chief Minister should convene an all-party meeting to discuss the policy as well as convene a special session of the state Assembly to pass a resolution opposing the NEP.

When Stalin reiterated his demand for adopting a resolution opposing the NEP, the Chief Minister and school education minister said the government would take a decision based on the report to be submitted by the two expert committees. Objecting to the refusal to pass a resolution, Stalin led his members in a walkout.
Two deadly Boeing 737 Max crashes were the horrific culmination of engineering, mismanagement and oversight lapses that allowed the company to hide flaws, a report says.

Congressional investigators in the US said 346 lives were lost because of repeated and serious failures by Boeing and air safety regulators.

They were told the chief project engineer approved a critical design change to software despite being unaware of the key details and a test pilots warning that a failure would be catastrophic.

US congressional investigators in the US said two deadly crashes involving Boeing's 737 Max airline were a result of 'repeated and serious failures' by Boeing and air safety regulators

The Transportation Committee report stemmed from an 18-month probe into the 2018 crash of a Lion Air flight in Indonesia and of Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 in 2019.

The Max was grounded worldwide shortly after the Ethiopia crash.

It said: The crashes were the horrific culmination of a series of faulty technical assumptions by Boeings engineers, a lack of transparency on the part of management, and grossly insufficient oversight by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Failings included pressure to rush the Max out to compete with an Airbus plane and a culture of concealment, it said.

In both crashes software repeatedly pointed the nose down, forcing pilots into unsuccessful struggles to keep planes up.
Registered candidates can change their choice of exam cities on jeeadv.ac.in between 12 pm (16 Sept) to 5 pm on 17 September (Thursday)

The official website of JEE Advanced 2020 entrance exam has now opened the correction window to change the choice of exam city in the registration form. Candidates who want to make changes can visit the website at jeeadv.ac.in.

As per the official notification, "Registered candidates may change their choice of exam cities on the registration portal between Wednesday, September 16, 2020 12:00 hrs and Thursday, September 17 17:00 hrs."

According to a report in Hindustan Times, for candidates who want to make changes in the form, they will have to visit the official website at jeeadv.ac.in and log in using the JEE Main application number and password. Once they have done that, the filled registration form will be displayed. Candidates need to make the changes in the form, save and proceed.

While the online application process for JEE-Advanced 2020 started on 12 September, the last date to register for JEE Advanced is 17 September and the last date to pay fee is 18 September.

The results of JEE Advanced will be announced on 5 October.

As per a report in Jagran Josh, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, has added new examination cities to the existing list of centres to facilitate students during the COVID-19 pandemic. The list of new examination cities include Bagalkot (Karnataka), Burdwan (West Bengal), Dhule (Maharashtra), Ichalkaranji (Maharashtra), Kashti (Maharashtra), Sangamner (Maharashtra), and Valsad (Gujarat).

The result for JEE (Main) was announced on Friday with 24 students scoring 100 percentile in the engineering entrance exam. JEE Main was pushed back twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Telengana had the maximum number of 100 percentile scorers at eight, while Delhi was at the second spot with five followed by Rajasthan (four), Andhra Pradesh (three), Haryana (two) and one candidate each from Gujarat and Maharashtra.
By PTI

PUDUCHERRY: Chief Minister of Puducherry V Narayanasamy on Wednesday attributed the dip in COVID-19 cases here to Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi's cooperation and the team spirit of all engaged in combating the pandemic.

Addressing a virtual press conference, the Chief Minister, who has been at loggerheads with the Lieutenant Governor since she assumed office in May 2016, said, "All sections and also cooperation of the Lt Governor have been playing a pro-active role in fighting COVID-19."

He further said this unified approach is responsible for the decline in the cases of infection.

"All are putting in team work and there is also cooperation of the Lt Governor to fight the pandemic," he said.

He said no particular organisation or individual should be given the credit as has been sought to be given by some sections of late.

Giving credit to an organisation or to some individuals would virtually demoralise others as there should be a broad- minded approach in fighting the pandemic without giving room for any section to be hurt, he said.

Earlier, Narayanasamy, kickstarting the implementation of the Smart City project, said the project involved an investment of Rs 1,828 crore with contribution from the Central and the Puducherry governments.

In the first phase, he said, Rs 200 crore would be spent to develop infrastructure and basic amenities to attract tourists.

He said there were attempts to block the implementation of the project without identifying who had placed obstacles in executing the Smart City project.

"We will clear the obstacles and go ahead with the implementation of the project," he said.

Narayanasamy said the views and guidelines of scientists and experts in countries like the UK, France and other European countries would be enlisted through a video conference by health professionals from here on Sunday next to eradicate the pandemic here.

"With the guidelines of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) the foreign scientists' views will be incorporated in the action plan of the territorial government to counter the pandemic situation here," he said.

Narayanasamy and Bedi have been engaged in heated exchanges over the function of the territorial administration with him alleging that she was interfering in the administrative matters.

Their stand-off had reached the courts too.

Meanwhile, the Union Territorty recorded 518 fresh cases of coronavirus and 13 related deaths, taking the aggregate so far to 21,111 and the number dead to 418.
Kim Santepheap, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice, said the treaty will benefit both nations and it was different from an extradition agreement.



This treaty will allow the transfer of sentenced persons between the two nations, he said, adding that in some cases, families of the sentenced persons can also request the respective governments for the transfer.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Cambodia Vu Quang Minh said this is a very humanitarian arrangement, reflecting mutual trust and close cooperation between law enforcement authorities of the two countries.



He said the treaty would help both sides to transfer certain inmates to continue serving their sentences in their own countries so their families can also visit and support them while in prison.



The ambassador expressed his hope that the Vietnam and Cambodia will continue their joint efforts to find and curb transnational crimes, including human trafficking, drug abuse and illegal trade, and reduce the crime rates in both countries.



Kin Phea, Director-General of the Royal Academy of Cambodias International Relations Institute, described the treaty as a good legal instrument that highlights good legal cooperation between the two countries.



During his visit to Vietnam in December 2016, Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Xuan Phuc witnessed the signing of three cooperative agreements, including the Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters between the two nations and the Treaty on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons.

In May 2020, the Vietnamese Embassy presented 4,000 antimicrobial face masks to detention centres through the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Cambodia.



The support was in response to a call from the ICRC in Cambodia for medical supplies for detainees amid the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic.
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - Germany and the United Kingdom have welcomed the decision of the United Nations Security Council to extend the mandate of the United Nations Mission of Support in Libya (UNSMIL) until 15 September, 2021, assuring that the move marks the commitment to restore peace in this North African country
Charles Stanley stepping down as senior pastor of First Baptist Atlanta

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After nearly 50 years of serving as senior pastor at First Baptist Church Atlanta, Charles Stanley announced during a pre-recorded streaming service on Sunday that he is stepping down. The megachurch said Stanley will be replaced by Dr. Anthony George.

Earlier this month, I informed the board that I felt the time had come for me to step down as senior pastor, Stanley said. I have many wonderful memories. But as much as I love being your pastor, I know in my heart this season has come to an end.

Stanley, a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention and who will turn 88 later this month, will become pastor emeritus. To say I didnt rush this decision would certainly be an understatement, he said.

Stanley, whos been with First Baptist since 1969, said hes not retiring and will remain active with In Touch Ministries, which was founded in 1992.

The church said in a statement on its Facebook page, We are forever indebted to this man of Godnot only our faithful pastor, but also a pastor to millions around the world.

George, who assisted Stanley as the churchs associate pastor since 2012, stated, Thank you for being strong and of good courage through every battle that youve had to fight, through every trial youve had to overcome.

You have stood tall and confident through all these years while at the same time remaining dependent and prayerful before an almighty God. Because you were a yielded vessel the Gospel of Jesus Christ, through you, has blanketed this globe. Truly, God has been with you wheresoever you have gone.

In his message, Stanley said he was so grateful for George. Thanks to Anthonys leadership and his love for you and his love for God. I have no doubt that there are many great days ahead for the First Baptist Church of Atlanta. My hope is that the greatest days are still ahead.

A former senior pastor of Aloma Church in Winter Park, Florida, for one and a half decades, George said he plans to do some serious strategic planning for updating our churchs organizational structure and ministry model.

Stanley had to be hospitalized twice last year, George recalled, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

After coming home from the hospital each of those times, he had me over to his house to tell me it was time for him to step down, George said. As he recovered and regained his strength following each of those conversations, he let me know that he had changed his mind and planned on remaining as senior pastor. Then at the beginning of this year, he had me over to discuss it, only to back down again and say that the timing wasnt right. So even with the back and forth, I knew it was weighing heavily on his mind. And for the record, I have always discouraged him from stepping down.

David P. Gushee, a professor at Mercer University and director of the Center for Theology and Public Life, called Stanley one of the giants of conservative Southern Baptist life for the last generation or more, according to AJC. He said Stanleys commitment to staying in one place and serving as a faithful pastor in that one community is just something you dont see anymore.
Mumbai, Sep 16 : Spelling huge relief for the Maharashtra government, the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has concluded that in her much-publicised and controversial alleged visit to the Cooper Hospital morgue, Bollywood actress Rhea Chakraborty was only in the permitted 'waiting area', a top official said here on Wednesday.

"We have accepted the contentions of the Mumbai Police and the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) after examining their detailed replies and all other supporting documents. The matter is now disposed of," SHRC acting Chairman M.A. Sayeed told IANS.

As per the replies submitted to the SHRC by the BMC, there is a 'waiting area' where certain categories of people such as relatives are permitted.

The autopsy room is barred for all except the doctors and their attending staff, while the main morgue is absolutely out of bounds for everybody except those specifically authorised to enter it.

"From all the records made available, the person concerned (Rhea) was only in the designated 'waiting area' and not beyond that point. This is the spot where she may have viewed the body of the late actor (Sushant Singh Rajput)," Sayeed added, throwing the shroud over the controversy.

According to official sources, the video may have been shot when Sushant's body was in the process of being handed over to his relatives, including his sister Mitu Singh, in the waiting area of the morgue.

The video later went viral as "Rhea's morgue visit" when she reportedly spent 45 minutes and allegedly muttered "I am sorry" on seeing Sushant's body.

Last month, a massive row erupted after some TV channels aired the clip showing Rhea -- currently in judicial custody -- allegedly visiting the morgue at the R.N. Cooper Hospital in Vile Parle, hours after Sushant's death at his Bandra home on June 14.

After getting the complaint, the SHRC took suo moto cognizance of the matter and slapped notices to the BMC (which runs the hospital) and the Mumbai Police demanding an explanation in the matter on priority.

On August 31, BMC hospital Dean Pinakin Gujjar had submitted a brief letter stating that it had not granted any such permission while the police did not respond.

The CCTV footage of the waiting room was automatically erased after a week and it was not preserved as nobody had foreseen such a fracas over the incident, said official sources.

Apparently dissatisfied with the BMC reply, the SHRC sought a detailed reply and also sent a reminder to Mumbai Police to comply with its earlier notice.

After both the parties responded and the SHRC scrutinised the replies along with the supporting evidence, it was satisfied and concluded that the norms were not flouted.

Latest updates on Sushant Singh Rajput Death Mystery

-- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 21:33:43|Editor: huaxia

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LUSAKA, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Zambia's regulator of medicines on Wednesday ordered the recall of expired drugs that were supplied to government hospitals recently.

The expired drugs were supplied by a company called Honey Bee to the Ministry of Health at a cost of 17 million U.S. dollars.

The Pharmaceutical Society of Zambia revealed last week that the health kits recently distributed by the government contained expired drugs, a move that has caused consternation in the country.

But the Zambia Medicines Regulatory Authority has called on the company that supplied the drugs mainly Paracetamol to initiate the process of recalling the consignment as most of the drugs have changed colors, indicating that they were not good for human consumption.

Jerome Kanyika, the regulator's president said in a letter addressed to the company that analysis of the drugs at the National Drug Quality Control Laboratory found them out of specification.

The regulator has also ordered the company to submit a reporting process which should include the quantity of the products imported and the quantity collected from various health facilities. Enditem
Inquiry to cost $2m

"The Hope Royal Commission into Australia's intelligence agencies will cost more than $2 million this financial year. Legal expenses alone are expected to total more than $900,000 for 1983-84. The total estimate is $2,037,000 for the legal and administrative expenses, salaries, overtime, furniture and fittings and property costs. Counsel before the commission are expected to be paid fees of $263000, travelling allowances of $27,800, and fares of $30,000."

Thieves on crest of crime wave

The boat thief perhaps approaches his task in a more premeditated fashion than a car thief, gliding up to his target in a dark inflatable dinghy, stealing anything from small accessories to large yachts. The incidence of boat theft is rising fast. Some 235 motor boats and 43 sailing boats have been stolen in NSW so far this year; not just those small, easy-to-hide boats  a 13-metre ketch is missing from The Spit; a 7-metre cabin cruiser is missing from Balmoral.

Hawke delays uranium crunch
New Delhi:

The CBI inquiry against Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jains daughter by a rattled BJP government is the cleareast indicator that AAP will sweep Punjab and Goa in the upcoming Assembly polls, the party said on Thursday.

AAP Delhi Convenor Dilip Pandey told a press conference that CBI action was also a manifestation of Prime Minister Narendra Modis fears over AAPs imminent electoral success.

Pandey also sought to link it to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwals assertion that he will jail Punjab Minister Bikram Singh Majithia before April 15. Come what may, Majithia will be put behind bars, Pandey said.

After Arvind Kejriwal promised to jail Majithia, even we were wondering why Modji was silent. But now, the CBI has been activated and let loose. Modijis cowardly act has established, in a way far better than any opinion poll, that AAP will win Punjab as well as Goa, he said.

Yesterday, the CBI registered preliminary enquiries against Deputy CM Sisodia and Saumya, daughter of health minister Jain, in two separate cases.

Strengthening its case that AAP MLAs were being framed, the party also fielded Tilak Nagar MLA Jarnail Singh, who was discharged by a sessions court last month.

The Gujarat model has been implemented here over the last three years. But the court order has once again proven how AAP MLAs are being systematically targetted on false charges, Singh said.

Singh was accused of obstructing a public servant from performing his duty. A trial court had framed charge against him in the case.

The legislator was booked for allegedly assaulting MCD staff Athar Mustaffa and preventing him from carrying out his duty when the latter and his team had gone to demolish an illegal construction in West Delhi on April 28, 2015.

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The Delhi government has informed the high court that it has issued an order for setting up 15 special cells to deal with complaints of harassment and threats to couples who marry out of their caste/religion and has also instituted a safe house to accommodate such persons.

In the status report filed on Monday by Delhi government standing counsel Rahul Mehra and advocate Chaitanya Gosain, before a bench of justice JR Midha and justice Brijesh Sethi, the state home department said the decision to constitute the special cells was taken on August 28.

In its report, the government also said a meeting was held on August 14 and it was decided that a special cell -- comprising the deputy commissioner of police, district social welfare officer and a representative of women and child development department -- shall be set up in each revenue district. However, in the next meeting on August 21, the government decided to set up these cells in each of the 15 police districts of Delhi.

The status report was filed in response to a habeas corpus plea by an NGO and a man who claimed that the woman he wanted to marry was being confined against her will by her parents, who were opposed to the union over caste differences.

The plea also claimed that the Supreme Court had directed the setting up of special cells to deal with problems faced by intercaste wedded couples and to ensure their protection, but this has not been complied with. The Supreme Court had also directed that the cells be headed by district superintendents of police, the document read.

During the earlier hearing, the court had told the Delhi government that if no special cell has been constituted, then they should be set up before August 11 and the mans complaint must be registered by the special cell and due action taken.

Subsequently, on August 11, the Delhi government told the bench that appropriate steps were being taken to comply with the apex court directions.

The status report said while initially it was decided that the social welfare department would create and manage a helpline meant solely for couples of intercaste marriages, later it was decided that the Delhi Commission for Women would help such couples through their existing helpline -- 181 -- meant for women safety.
A disgraced police officer who conned innocent victims to build a fraudulent investment empire has become the first Victorian female cop to be jailed.

Former police sergeant Rosa Catherine Rossi, 58, was sentenced to four-and-a-half years behind bars with a non-parole period of two years and four months in Victoria's Country Court.

Wearing a headscarf and face mask in an unsuccessful attempt to disguise herself, Rossi was surrounded by a media scrum as she arrived for sentencing in Melbourne on Wednesday.

Rossi used her position of authority to steal six vacant homes between April 2016 to June 2017 by claiming 'squatters' rights'.

Rosa Catherine Rossi (pictured) arrives at County Court of Victoria on Wednesday, where she was sentenced to four-and-a-half years jail

She then changed the locks of the properties and rented the homes out to pocket the cash.

The elaborate scam began with three small Willaura homes in western Victoria worth $50,000 and $108,500 before it expanded to Melbourne properties worth up to $1million in Malvern, Chadstone and Brooklyn.

She used the police database to research at least one property owner's details.

On one occasion she went to a suburban Melbourne council office in police uniform to demand an owner's number.

Rosa Catherine Rossi (pictured as a police sergeant) used her position of authority to steal empty properties, change the locks and rent them out to tenants to make cash

She also created false documents as part of deception to change the addresses with water and power companies.

When a concerned neighbour called police after spotting Rossi at one Willaura home, she said she was an officer, had keys and was buying the property.

Investigators later discovered the home was owned by a man in South Africa, who was not selling the property.

Rossi eventually resigned from Victoria Police and pleaded guilty to nine charges including of obtaining property by deception, perjury, and unauthorised access to police information following an anti-corruption investigation.

She rose through the ranks of Victoria Police after joining in 1994 and spent 24 years in the force before her resignation in 2018.

The former police sergeant (pictured) will spend at least two years and four months in jail

One of her victims was a disability pensioner, who told the court he felt 'like a fool'.

'It didn't seem right to me that a police officer would be up to anything fraudulent,' the man told the court in a statement.

'I was gutted. I felt like a fool.

'I still don't know why she did this.'

Anther victim Karen Lang had her home taken over by Rossi while she was living in Melbourne with her partner.

When she returned to the Willaura property, the home had been cleaned out and the locks had been changed.

Rosa Catherine Rossi was facing up to 10 years behind bars when she arrived for sentencing

'I think she has no shame,' Ms Lang told A Current Affair in June.

'For a police officer to do something like that to a family, is pretty appalling. We've got special needs children too and she stole from special needs children.'

Another victim 'couldn't believe' the lengths the former cop went to take over his almost $1-million property in Malvern.

'That was probably the creepiest part of it,' Kev told the program.

Rossi was facing up to 10 years behind bars.

Judge Martine Marich had stern words for Rossi during Wednesday's sentencing.

'Your conduct was brazen and callous to the rights of the true owners,' the judge told the court.
Hillsborough Castle, the official residence of the Queen in Northern Ireland as well as Secretaries of State, is planning to shed 33 jobs in the coming months.

A consultation period underway over proposed redundancies finishes at the end of October and staff have been informed.

At present the 18th century castle, where the contentious 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement was signed and which has hosted many royal and state visits down the years, employs 91 people across 78 full-time posts.

That means more than 33 people could find themselves out of work between November and next January, as the 33 jobs will be full time equivalent posts.

The news comes after Translink, Northern Ireland's public transport provider, said it may need to cut more than 50 jobs to save 20m due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The double blow comes as new unemployment figures showed that redundancies here have more than doubled over the past year. The number of people claiming unemployment benefit also increased by over 0.6%, while overall unemployment rose to 2.9%.

There were 820 confirmed redundancies in August, while the data also revealed 3,880 confirmed redundancies in the 12 months to the end of August - more than double the previous year.

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the Lagan Valley MP, said the redundancies shows the fragility of sectors of the economy that are reliant on passenger spend.

"It is tragic that people are losing their jobs in the face of Christmas," he said.

"Historic Royal Palaces {HRP) have done everything to keep these jobs but in the end the economic reality bites home.

"Visitor numbers were exceeding expectations before a lengthy lockdown, which now regrettably means they're going to have to let some staff go in the face of Christmas."

He added: "Both HRP and Translink are heavily reliant on recreation and travel and during the lockdown that simply wasn't happening at all. It's important for Governmnet to recognise that there should be targeted support for some sectors."

South Belfast MP Claire Hanna said Northern Ireland is facing "a number of cliff edges".

"Big government interventions like furlough cushioned workers and the economy from the worst economic aspects of Covid," she said.

"As they dry up, even with recovery in the bigger picture, several sectors are unable to fully reopen and unfortunately we are facing a number of economic cliff edges.

"However, the last six months have also shown us the power of government when it chooses to act, and it is important the Executive moves quickly on a recovery strategy that uses all resources at their disposal in targeted and strategic ways.

"They should prioritise sorting out infrastructure, like transport and broadband, skills and education to ensure that the next generation are not really disadvantaged by this economic shock."

EY chief economist Neil Gibson said unemployment, which now sits at 62,700, is below expert predictions of 70,000.

"It's worrying but we're not at the end of the journey with job losses," he said. "We're still in a tough phase and we're going to see more unemployment in the autumn and winter.

"It's very clear that we're not going to end the year living, shopping or working the same way as we started it. That reality has shifted forever and we are going to see more unemployment.

"Having said that, I expected to unemployment to be pushing 70,000 at this stage so that gives us some encouragement that people are finding other opportunities." Ulster University economist Gareth Hetherington said there could be more hardship to come.

"The Department for the Economy received 9,000 proposed redundancies in the 12 months to the end of August - and that's the highest number since records began 10 years ago," he said. "But the notifications received in the first two weeks of September alone is more than all of August.

"Over the next couple of months we're likely to see another jump in the claimant count in line with the phasing out of the furlough scheme."

Hillsborough Castle, which is managed by Historic Royal Palaces, a self-funded charity, said it was "with deep regret" that it "has entered a period of consultation over proposed redundancies" having "exhausted all other avenues".

It blamed the prolonged closure of the castle, Covid restrictions and the major downturn in international visits to Northern Ireland for a significant shortfall in income and said it needed to reduce costs "and ensure that the castle can thrive again as a sustainable visitor attraction".

Laura McCorry, head of Hillsborough Castle, said finances had been "badly hit by the pandemic".

"Like so many other organisations across Northern Ireland, the downturn in visitors and international tourism has had a devastating impact on us," she said.

"It is a matter of enormous regret that we can only do so if we act now to reduce our payroll costs and make the castle financially sustainable.

"Our staff care passionately about the castle and their work. We are deeply sad that it has come to this."

Hillsborough Castle said: "The proposal being considered in the collective consultation includes a reduction of 33 full time equivalent posts".

It is understood that while at least 33 jobs are at risk, the final figure will not be known until the consultation is complete.

Announcing its plans to cut 50 jobs, Translink said it hoped savings will reduce operating, overhead and management costs, whilst maintaining front line services.

One proposal involves withdrawing the Ulsterbus Tours business due to the long-term impact of Covid-19.

Although the exact number of workers affected will depend on consultation with trade unions, it is understood between 50 and 100 jobs could be at risk.

Translink boss Chris Conway said the economic impact of the pandemic had left public transport in a very "challenging funding situation".
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-17 00:44:43|Editor: huaxia

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NAIROBI, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday called for urgent and bold interventions to deal with the challenges posed by climate change in Africa.

Kenyatta said challenges posed by these climate-related events have been compounded by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic which has disrupted global economies.

"Though not directly linked to climate change, the global resources allocated to fighting COVID-19 and to mitigate its negative impact on the economy have no doubt reduced what is available to address climate change," he said during the virtual launch of the African chapter of the Global Center on Adaption (GCA Africa).

Kenyatta in a statement issued after the meeting noted that the recent climate change attributed desert locust invasion of Eastern Africa, as well as intermittent droughts and floods, are a growing socioeconomic burden to the region.

"Exacerbated by climate change, the desert locust invasion of Kenya and other Eastern Africa countries has devastated the livelihoods of farmers and poses an unprecedented threat to food security," he said.

Kenyatta told the meeting which was hosted by the President of African Development Bank (AfDB) Akinwumi Adesina and addressed by several African leaders among them Presidents Nana Akufo-Addo (Ghana) and Sahle-Work Zewde (Ethiopia) that the effects of climate change have been worsened by the global COVID-19 health crisis.

He called for the integration of adaptation measures into COVID-19 recovery packages and urged development partners to support Africa's climate initiatives.

Kenyatta challenged GCA Africa to spearhead the upscaling of pilot adaptation projects such as Kenya's livestock insurance scheme, the first of its kind in Africa, to the rest of the continent.

"Additionally, several adaptation initiatives that have been piloted in Africa should be scaled up by the center we are launching today," Kenyatta said.

He lauded AfDB for its support in setting up IGAD Climate Prediction and Application Center (ICPAC) in Nairobi, a facility he said helps the region to receive timely climate prediction data.

In his opening remarks, Adesina announced that AfDB is working on raising amounts available for investment in Africa's climate-smart projects to 2.7 trillion shillings (25 billion U.S. dollars) by 2025.

He singled out Kenya's Lake Turkana Wind Power Project, the continent's largest wind power project financed by the continental bank, saying the plant represents the future of Africa's adaptation in the energy sector. Enditem
As part of its distinguished speakers series, Hollins University will hold a virtual conversation next week with legal scholar Michelle Alexander, the bestselling author of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.

The webinar is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday and is open to the Hollins campus community, according to a news release. The Zoom question and answer session between Alexander and Hollins University President Mary Dana Hinton is titled The New Jim Crow: A Dialogue in Support of a Multi-Racial, Multi-Ethnic Justice Movement in America.

Alexanders The New Jim Crow focuses on systemic racism and racial injustice within the modern legal system. Alexander is a legal scholar, social justice advocate, columnist at The New York Times and visiting professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York, according to the news release.

Youth program receives grant

Community Youth Program at St. Johns Episcopal Church recently received a $2,000 literacy grant from the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, according to a news release.

The program was one of 18 organizations in Virginia to receive a grant. The grants will benefit a total 4,500 Virginia children, according to the release. The foundation supports adult, family, summer and youth literacy.

Despite the unprecedented obstacles, we admire the tremendous efforts and commitments from educators as they work to provide students with the tools they need to develop their literacy skills, said Todd Vasos, Dollar Generals chief executive officer and Dollar General Literacy Foundation board member. We hope these funds will help support their plans to advance learning and deliver quality instruction in our hometown communities.

St. Johns Community Youth Program provide after-school and summer support to at-risk fourth through eighth grade Roanoke students, according to its website.

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, Sep 16 : More than a decade after being banned, a vulture-toxic drug is still being prescribed in pharmacies across India, according to an undercover investigation led by a group of environmental organisations and universities.

In 2003, the widespread veterinary use of a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac in cattle was discovered to be decimating the most iconic birds in South Asia -- Asian vultures -- after entering the vultures' food chain.

This environmental disaster caused 99.9 per cent of white-rumped vultures and 97 per cent of long and slender-billed vultures to be wiped out -- a staggering 40 million birds -- pushing these birds to the brink of extinction.

Governments were quick to react, with India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh banning the drug from veterinary practice.

Yet cattle carcasses in India continue to be found containing potentially lethal concentrations of diclofenac along with contaminated, dead vultures.

Worryingly, populations of these critically endangered birds were not showing significant signs of recovery.

The new study, published recently in the journal Bird Conservation International, set out to identify what non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs were being offered for sale for veterinary use.

From 2012 to 2017, members of the research team visited pharmacies and asked for drugs to treat their injured cow, buying the first drug that was offered.

This research was undertaken by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Centre for Conservation Science, the Bombay Natural History Society, Bird Conservation Nepal, IUCN Bangladesh and the University of Cambridge.

John Mallord, the lead author of the study, said: "As the sale of diclofenac for veterinary use is illegal, if we were open about the reasons for the survey, and that we were vulture conservationists, pharmacists would be unlikely to offer us diclofenac." "We had to pretend to be livestock owners so we could get an unbiased picture of its availability." In India, trends in sales of different non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs varied between the different regions surveyed.

In the first year, diclofenac was still the most commonly offered non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug.

Whilst sales of diclofenac declined in some states, elsewhere there were actually increases.

In the five Indian states surveyed in the final year, 2017, diclofenac was still being offered by 10 to 46 per cent of pharmacists.

Chris Bowden, Programme Manager of Saving Asia's Vultures from Extinction (SAVE), told IANS: "The importance of these results is emphasised by the most recent published nationwide population surveys of vultures in India and Nepal." "In Nepal, there is evidence that vulture populations have begun to recover, but in India they either continue to decline or, at best, are stable but at low levels and not yet showing signs of a recovery." However, the study had some positive findings.

Sales of diclofenac declined in all three countries over the course of the survey, although there was variation depending on the region.

Diclofenac virtually disappeared from the pharmacies in Nepal, with meloxicam, a vulture safe non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, being the drug of choice for treating cattle.

In Bangladesh, the vulture-toxic drug ketoprofen was always more commonly sold than meloxicam, despite being also illegal and banned.

Vibhu Prakash, Deputy Director of Bombay Natural History Society said: "Although diclofenac, which is the most toxic drug to vultures, has been the main focus of our advocacy work, our study recorded 11 different non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, of which five are already known to be toxic to vultures.

"Where there is robust scientific evidence that drugs are toxic to vultures, governments within vulture range countries should implement bans on their veterinary use.

"This will require extensive safety testing of a range of drugs, which will also discover further vulture-safe non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, which will give farmers and veterinarians a choice, in addition to meloxicam."

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Moscow, Sep 16 : Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged his German counterpart Heiko Maas to abandon further politicisation of the suspected poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the Russian Foreign Ministry said after a phone conversation between the ministers.

The focus of the phone conversation on Tuesday was on the state and prospects of Russian-German relations, as well as building bilateral and international cooperation amid the situation around Navalny, the ministry said in a statement, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Lavrov called on his colleague to refrain from further politicisation of the situation with Navalny," it said.

The Russian side confirmed its readiness for cooperation on the Navalny case, it added.

Lavrov and Maas also agreed to continue the dialogue on issues of the Russian-German and international agenda, according to the statement.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
All negotiation sessions are currently held online.

Ukrainian Parliament Speaker Dmytro Razumkov says he sees no grounds for relocating the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) peace talks platform from Minsk, Belarus.

He said on TV that it was his personal position, according to an UNIAN correspondent.

Read alsoZelensky's chief of staff: Next meeting of advisers to expedite new Normandy summit

Answering a question whether it could be appropriate to relocate the negotiating platform from Minsk to another city over the situation in Belarus, he said:

"My personal position is that it is inappropriate... There were such speculations earlier, when there was no COVID-19 [pandemic]  Astana [the former name of Nur-Sultan, the current name of Kazakhstan's capital], some other cities were mentioned."

"I think that changing the location will have no impact on the quality of work," he added.

Razumkov says that today he sees no reason for any relocation at all, as all negotiation sessions are held online.

"Today there is no logic in the change of the place, name. Because, in fact, the meeting point is not in Belarus or Ukraine, or in any other European country," he said.

Previous developments
YouTube has been hit with yet another class action style lawsuit in the UK. The latest lawsuit alleges the Google-owned video platform of violating child privacy laws by harvesting childrens data for targeted ads. International law firm Hausfeld and tech justice nonprofit Foxglove are seeking damages of more than 2.5 billion (around $3.2 billion) from the company.

The two firms allege that YouTube has violated the UK Data Protection Act and the European Unions General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by collecting childrens data without parental consent. They accuse the company of unlawfully targeting up to five million under-13-year-olds and harvesting their data for advertisers. The UK Data Protection Act doesnt allow companies to collect data from minors under the age of 13.

The [YouTube] website has no user practical age requirements and makes no adequate attempt to limit usage by youngsters, Hausfelds press release notes. If the case is successful, hundreds of pounds in damages could be payable to millions of British households.

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This is reportedly the first representative litigation against a tech giant on behalf of children in the UK. Duncan McCann, a father of three children all under 13, is serving as the representative claimant in the case. He noted that its just impossible to combat Googles lure and influence, which comes from its surveillance power. Theres a massive power imbalance between us and them, and it needs to be fixed.

When the internet first emerged, we used to be worried about how children used the internet. That is still a problem, but now its a two-way street. We need to focus on how the internet is using our children.

YouTube hit with another lawsuit alleging child privacy violations

This isnt the first legal challenge YouTube is facing for its handling of childrens information online. In September last year, the Federal Trade Commission ordered Google to pay $170 million to end investigations into YouTubes alleged collection of childrens data without parental consent.

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YouTube, meanwhile, maintains that the platform is not for under 13s. Google already has YouTube Kids, a dedicated kids app launched back in 2015. The company says this app is for children to discover family-focused content safely and securely. However, it has never been able to claim that children under 13 do not use YouTube.

YouTube is not for children under the age of 13. We launched the YouTube Kids app as a dedicated destination for kids and are always working to better protect kids and families on YouTube, a company spokesperson said in a statement to TechCrunch. The case is not expected until next autumn.
A single infusion of an experimental drug dramatically lowers levels of coronavirus in the bodies of newly infected patients and cuts their chances of hospitalization, the drug's maker reported Wednesday.

Eli Lilly's announcement did not include detailed data and hasn't been peer-reviewed or published yet, The New York Times reported.

The news comes from interim results of a trial sponsored by Eli Lilly and the U.S. National Institutes of Health. NIH officials would not comment on the announcement until they have seen more detailed data from the trial, the Times reported.

How does the drug work its magic? It is a monoclonal antibody, a manmade copy of an antibody produced by a patient who recovered from COVID-19, the Times reported. Scientists around the world have high hopes that that monoclonal antibodies will prove to be powerful coronavirus treatments, but they come with a caveat: They are difficult to manufacture, and would take time to produce, the Times reported.

In the trial, 452 newly diagnosed COVID patients received the monoclonal antibody or a placebo infusion. Some 1.7 percent of those who got the drug were hospitalized, compared with 6 percent of those who received a placebo a 72 percent reduction in risk, Eli Lilly said.

At the same time, blood levels of the coronavirus plummeted among those who received the drug, and their symptoms were fewer and milder, the Times reported.

This is the first treatment aimed at patients who are not already seriously ill and hospitalized, the newspaper added.

Dr. Myron Cohen, director of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told the Times he was impressed by the findings.

"It's exciting," said Cohen, who was not involved in the study. The trial appears to be rigorous, and the results are "really compelling," he added. Other monoclonal antibody drugs to combat the coronavirus are in development, he noted.

"This is the opening of a door," Cohen said.

Most Americans doubt Trump's vaccine comments

In a sign that Americans are becoming more wary about the safety of a new coronavirus vaccine, a new poll shows a majority of adults don't trust what President Donald Trump has said on vaccine development.

More than half (52%) of adults said they don't trust the president's vaccine comments, the NBC News/Survey Monkey poll found, while just 26% say they do. Twenty percent said they were "not aware" whether they trust what the president has said about a vaccine, NBC News reported.

Those polled were also more skeptical about whether they or their families would get a government-approved coronavirus vaccine if one became widely available, NBC News reported.

The poll's latest data show that just 39% said they would get it, 23% said they wouldn't and 36% say they weren't sure. Just a month ago, 44% of Americans said they would get a government-approved vaccine, 22% said they wouldn't, and 32% said they weren't sure.

The highest level of confidence in a coronavirus vaccine came during the week of Aug. 17 to Aug. 23, when 45% polled said they would get a vaccine.

Despite public hesitancy, President Trump has promised a "safe and effective vaccine this year," and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has advised states to prepare for "large-scale" vaccine distribution by Nov. 1.

Public health experts have questioned that aggressive timeline. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading infectious diseases expert, has said that he feels "cautiously optimistic" that a safe and effective vaccine would be found by the end of the year but that doing so by Nov. 3 was "unlikely," NBC News reported.

Vaccine trials continue

Meanwhile, Oxford University announced that final-stage testing of a coronavirus vaccine it is developing with drug maker AstraZeneca will restart following a pause last week after a serious side effect showed up in a volunteer.

"The independent review process has concluded and following the recommendations of both the independent safety review committee and the U.K. regulator... the trials will recommence in the U.K.," the university said in a statement released on Saturday. No further details were given on the results of the review.

Media reports have said the person who had the suspected adverse reaction had been volunteering in a trial based in the United Kingdom. The volunteer was diagnosed with transverse myelitis, an inflammatory syndrome that affects the spinal cord and is often sparked by viral infections.

The AstraZeneca vaccine is considered a frontrunner among the dozens of coronavirus vaccines in various stages of testing around the world, the Associated Press reported.

The university said in large trials "it is expected that some participants will become unwell and every case must be carefully evaluated to ensure careful assessment of safety." Globally, some 18,000 people have received its vaccine so far, the AP reported.

Two other vaccines are in final testing in the United States, one made by Moderna Inc. and the other by Pfizer and Germany's BioNTech.

On Sunday, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said the company should soon know whether its vaccine works, CBS News reported.

In an interview with "Face the Nation," Bourla said the Pfizer vaccine trials indicate "we have a good chance that we will know if the product works by the end of October."

The pharmaceutical giant now plans to expand trial enrollment from 30,000 to 44,000, to test the vaccine in more vulnerable populations, CBS News reported.

"Right now, the study recruits from 18 to 85. Now we will go to 16 years old," Bourla said. "Also, we will go to people with special conditions, chronic conditions like HIV patients, but also we will try to use it to increase the diversity of the [study] population."

Colleges scramble to contain COVID spread

Just weeks into the fall semester, universities and colleges in all 50 states are struggling to contain the spread of coronavirus on their campuses.

More than 40,000 cases of COVID-19 have been reported among students, staff and faculty nationwide, CNN reported. That number is likely higher due to a lag from schools that update their data every few days.

Many outbreaks have cropped up after gatherings at fraternities and sororities: One cluster of COVID-19 cases was traced back to a fraternity party held at the University of New Hampshire. More than 100 people attended the Aug. 29 party and few wore masks, CNN reported.

At Indiana University Bloomington, 30 sorority and fraternity houses have been ordered to quarantine following what campus officials have described as an "alarming increase" in COVID-19 cases within the houses, CNN reported.

Meanwhile, the University of Wisconsin-Madison has told all undergraduate students they must restrict their movements for the next two weeks, to try to reverse a rise in COVID-19 cases, CNN reported. The university also directed nine campus fraternities and sororities with off-campus live-in houses to quarantine for at least 14 days.

"We've reached the point where we need to quickly flatten the curve of infection, or we will lose the opportunity to have campus open to students this semester, which we know many students truly want," Chancellor Rebecca Blank said in a statement.

Some of the highest number of cases are at Miami University, University of South Carolina, Ohio State University and East Carolina University, all of which have over 1,000 confirmed cases, CNN reported. The University of Missouri has 862 confirmed cases, while Missouri State University has 791, the CNN tally shows.

Cases keep mounting

By Wednesday, the U.S. coronavirus case count passed 6.6 million as the death toll passed 195,600, according to a New York Times tally.

According to the same tally, the top five states in coronavirus cases as of Wednesday were: California with nearly 770,000; Texas with more than 700,000; Florida with nearly 669,000; New York with more than 450,000; and Georgia with over 280,000.

Curbing the spread of the coronavirus in the rest of the world remains challenging.

By Wednesday, India's coronavirus case count had passed 5 million, just one month after hitting the 3 million mark, the Times reported.

More than 82,000 coronavirus patients have died in India, but when measured as a proportion of the population, the country has had far fewer deaths than many others. Doctors say this reflects India's younger and leaner population.

India reported 90,123 new cases on Tuesday, and its seven-day daily average of new cases is more than 92,000, the Times reported.

The country's public health system is severely strained, and some sick patients cannot find hospital beds, the newspaper said. Only the United States has more coronavirus cases.

Meanwhile, Brazil posted nearly 4.4 million cases and over 133,000 deaths as of Wednesday, the Times tally showed.

Cases are also spiking in Russia: The country's coronavirus case count has passed 1 million, the Times reported. As of Wednesday, the death toll in Russia was 18,853.

Worldwide, the number of reported infections passed 29.6 million on Wednesday, with nearly 936,000 deaths, according to the Hopkins tally.

Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

More information: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on the The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on the new coronavirus

Copyright  2020 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
The lockdown and subsequent demand for data have seen Rain quadruple subscriber growth rate in recent months and helped the operator to become cashflow positive long before expected.

This is feedback from African Rainbow Capital (ARC) co-CEO Johan van Zyl, who was speaking to MyBroadband after the company released its annual results.

ARC holds a 20.7% shareholding in Rain, which is the largest contributor to the companys intrinsic portfolio value of R11.139 billion.

ARCs R3.111 billion valuation of its 20.7% shareholding in Rain, which values the operator at R15.03 billion, has raised eyebrows among some analysts.

Van Zyl, however, explained that Rains strong revenue growth, subscriber increases, and low debt justifies this valuation.

He highlighted that they use a discounted cash flow model for the valuation and included minority and marketability discounts to ensure a conservative figure.

ARC has traditionally not released much operational data about Rain, but van Zyl and Rain CEO Willem Roos have now provided more details about the company.

Roos told MyBroadband Rain currently has just over 400,000 subscribers and is rapidly increasing its user base.

Before the lockdown Rain signed up between 10,000 and 20,000 new mobile and 5G subscribers per month.

This has now quadrupled to between 60,000 and 80,000 sign-ups per month because of strong demand for data services during the lockdown.

The companys churn is also much lower than anticipated, which further helps its subscriber growth.

What is particularly impressive is the rise in average revenue per user (ARPU), which is approaching R400 (VAT inclusive).

The higher ARPU is a result of many people signing up for Rains unlimited 5G products, which are priced between R699 and R999 per month.

The growth in subscriber numbers and ARPU has helped Rain to become cashflow positive far sooner than expected.

Roos, however, cautioned that while Rain is generating a positive EBIDTA, the business still requires further CAPEX-related cash to build out the 5G network.

Rain hopes to generate profits in the next year or two.

Big growth plans

Rain has experienced exceptional growth during the lockdown, but the company has no plans of slowing down.

Rain raised R720 million in June to support the rollout of its 5G network, which had 447 active sites in South Africa as of the end of April 2020.

The company is planning to increase its 5G footprint to 1,500 sites by December 2021, and ultimately more than 2,000 5G towers in all larger metro areas.

Rains LTE network is also continuing to grow, which is partly thanks to increased traffic on Vodacoms network.

Rain has a roaming agreement with Vodacom, and with the growth in mobile traffic during the lockdown, roaming revenue has seen a big jump.

The partnership also gives Rain access to Vodacoms sites and facilities, which makes it possible for Rain to roll out its LTE network faster and with far less capital than competitors.

With this rapidly growing mobile network and the increased demand for data, Rain has comfortably beaten its financial and subscriber targets.

Van Zyl told MyBroadband Rain has reached milestones they only expected to attain next year, which is very encouraging.

Roos said they are looking to reach 2 million mobile and fixed-broadband subscribers over the next five years.

Rains operational data

The table below provides an overview of Rains latest operational data.

Rains Operational Data Measure Numbers Number of subscribers 400,000 Subscriber growth 60,000 to 80,000 per month ARPU Approaching R400 (Inc VAT) 4G sites (April 2020) 5,500 5G sites (April 2020) 447 Valuation R15 billion

Now read: Impressive Rain numbers released
Ukraine fully trusts the results of in-depth research of Navalny's biological samples carried out by the Bundeswehr laboratory, as well as independent studies by French and Swedish labs.

Ukraine urges the international community to "maintain coordinated pressure on the Russian Federation," given the high probability of its government's involvement in the poisoning of opposition figure Alexei Navalny.

Ukraine says it is concerned about the German government's statement on the results of the tests of Navalny's biological samples. This may indicate the involvement of the Russian government in unlawful acts with the use of a chemical warfare agent from the Novichok group in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said in a commentary.

Read alsoZelensky condemns attempt on Russian opposition politician Navalny's lifeUkraine fully trusts the results of in-depth research of Navalny's biological samples carried out by the Bundeswehr laboratory, as well as independent studies by French and Swedish labs, which confirmed that the poisoning involved a chemical warfare nerve agent. Ukraine also welcomes the fact that the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has joined the investigation.

Ukraine reaffirms its firm position that "the use of chemical weapons by anyone, anywhere and under any circumstances is a flagrant violation of international law and should be severely condemned."

"Those responsible for such a gross violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention must be punished," the commentary says.

Given the high likelihood of the Russian Federation's involvement in the poisoning, Ukraine appeals to the international community to continue coordinated pressure on the Russian Federation so that it ceases to threaten world security and violate international law through aggression against own citizens and other states.

Read alsoNavalny poisoning: Ukrainian envoy to Germany calls for blocking Russian oil, gas suppliesNavalny poisoning: background
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Leading congressional Democrats reacted furiously Tuesday to lightly-substantiated claims that immigrants held at a detention center in Georgia are undergoing questionable hysterectomies.

In a complaint filed Monday, a nurse alleges that the Irwin County Detention Center performed questionable hysterectomies, refused to test detainees for COVID-19 and shredded medical records.

Democrats seized on the most explosive allegations in the nurses complaint  that a gynecologist called the uterus collector was performing mass hysterectomies  in declaring they would investigate the matter.

A follow-up news conference Tuesday in Atlanta provided little information to substantiate the claims. Lawyers for the nurse, Dawn Wooten, refused to release her full statement that she made to the Department of Homeland Securitys Inspector General. She declined to take questions after reading a statement that made no reference to mass hysterectomies or did not quantify how many of the procedures were performed on immigrant women at the facility. The doctor is not named in the complaint.

Wooten worked full-time as a licensed practical nurse at the immigration jail until July, when she was demoted.

Democrats were quick to jump on the allegations after spending the last three years condemning the Trump administrations treatment of immigrants, including the separation of families and the detention of children in squalid conditions at the border.

If true, the appalling conditions described in the whistleblower complaint  including allegations of mass hysterectomies being performed on vulnerable immigrant women  are a staggering abuse of human rights, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said in a statement.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, said the panel is conducting an ongoing investigation about the conditions at ICE contractor facilities and will be examining these new and incredibly serious allegations.

It was unclear to Wooten if women knowingly consented to the operations. She said nurses raised concerns about the doctor.

Everybody he sees has a hysterectomy  just about everybody, Wooten said in the complaint. Hes even taken out the wrong ovary on a young lady.

The facility in Ocilla, about 200 miles south of Atlanta, houses men and women detainees for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as inmates for the U.S. Marshals Service and Irwin County. Its run by the private LaSalle Corrections, a Louisiana company.

ICE said it does not comment on matters before the inspector general but that it takes all allegations seriously.

That said, in general, anonymous, unproven allegations, made without any fact-checkable specifics, should be treated with the appropriate skepticism they deserve, the agency said in a statement.

Wooten spoke little about the hysterectomy allegation during the news conference, instead focusing on her concerns that the facility wasnt testing detainees for COVID-19, that the detention center wasnt being sanitized, and that little protective equipment was available for employees.

While the 27-page complaint filed by advocacy group Project South quotes unidentified detainees extensively, it also includes detailed comments from Wooten. The complaint says Wooten was demoted after missing work with coronavirus symptoms, which she believes was retaliation for raising questions about COVID-19.

I know I was demoted because I raised questions about why, Wooten said during the news conference. I was told not to tell officers that there were detainees they dealt with day in and day out that were positive.

Wooten said the number of detainees infected was much higher than reported because there was no active testing and not all cases were reported, according to the complaint. The New York Times reported in June that inmates engaged in protests because of concerns about poor COVID-19 protections.

Wooten is quoted as saying the sick call nurse sometimes fabricated seeing detainees in person when they hadnt and that she saw the nurse shred a box of detainee complaints without looking at them. She said nurses ignored detainees reporting COVID-19 symptoms.

If detainees reported a fever, nurses would put them on an over-the-counter cold medication for seven days without testing them for COVID-19, she said.

Wooten said the facility declined to use two rapid-testing COVID-19 machines that ICE purchased for $14,000 each. No medical staff had been trained on them and she saw the machines used only once.

LaSalle Corrections did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Monday.

As of Sunday, 42 detainees at the facility had tested positive for the virus, according to ICE. Nationwide, 5,772 detainees were positive.
IndependentSeptember 15, 2020Authorities in Panama have discovered a mass grave they believe contains the bodies of people tortured and killed by a religious cult.Investigators had to hike through the mountains for 10 hours to reach the grave in a remote indigenous province in the countrys north-west.Skeletal remains are being removed from the grave where they will later be forensically examined.The discovery comes after another grave containing seven bodies was exhumed in January.Police alleged an indigenous-run religious sect performed exorcisms on victims to make them repent for their sins.The deceased victims included a pregnant mother and her five children, and the familys teenage neighbour.A further 15 people were being held captive in a makeshift church and forced to participate in bizarre rituals which included the sacrifice of a goat.Public prosecutor Azael Tugri said they believe a different sect is responsible for the new mass grave.At this time it is not possible to determine either the sex or the number of people [found in the grave], he told local media.The grave is located about 210 miles west of Panama City on the jungle-clad Caribbean coast.All the remains will be sent to a morgue where a forensic examination will be carried out.Earlier this week, police arrested the alleged leader of the New Light of God over Januarys mass grave discovery.Authorities were alerted to the cult after three villagers managed to escape to a hospital and raise the alarm.They told police their torturers tried to remove the demons by attacking them with machetes, sticks and bibles.The cult had reportedly been preying on local villagers for three months before police got to them.Authorities believe the 15 survivors would have also been killed if they werent found in time.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-16 22:03:41|Editor: huaxia

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Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and head of the central leading group on Hong Kong and Macao work, meets with a high-level delegation of the Macao Special Administrative Region disciplined forces led by Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 16, 2020. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei)

BEIJING, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Vice Premier Han Zheng on Wednesday met with a high-level delegation of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) disciplined forces led by Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak.

Han, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, heads the central leading group on Hong Kong and Macao work.

Han commended the disciplined forces for playing an important role in maintaining social stability and order in the Macao SAR.

He urged the forces to remain committed to implementing the "one country, two systems" principle, continuously improve the supporting legal system and enforcement mechanisms for safeguarding national security in the Macao SAR, give full support to the chief executive in governing the SAR in accordance with the law, and make greater contributions to the steady development of "one country, two systems."

Wong briefed Han on the work of the disciplined forces and pledged to safeguard "one country, two systems" and the prosperity and stability of the Macao SAR. Enditem
(TNS) - U.S. Rep. Greg Walden says the Federal Emergency Management Agency is now on the ground in Oregon to help the thousands of people impacted by the massive wildfires that are still burning across the state.He said state officials have plenty of federal money to immediately provide free hotels rooms or apartments to every family displaced from their homes.Walden, a Republican from Hood River, represents most of eastern and southern Oregon, including the fire-decimated communities of Phoenix and Talent.In a conference call with the press Wednesday morning, he encouraged anyone adversely affected by the wildfires to register with the federal agency by calling 1-800-621-3362 or going online to DisasterAssistance.gov.The sooner they do that the sooner theyre in the queue and can move forward, he said. Then FEMA will reach out and begin providing assistance.Walden said hes pleased the president moved so rapidly to approve the governors request for an emergency declaration of this magnitude, freeing up resources for those affected.He added the state has a housing plan for those who lost homes to the fires. People should call 2-1-1 to get free housing. But he said registering with FEMA is key.FEMA, with the help of state officials, has identified and catalogued available housing in the state, including hotel rooms and apartments. They have that list, so going through FEMA is the best way to get access to housing, Walden said.But he noted that the supply of available housing will be tight in some areas, particularly Southern Oregon.In the Phoenix and Talent areas, about 2,700 homes were destroyed. Just 400 new housing units were built in all of Jackson County in 2019, Walden said. Now families need almost seven times that many new homes.The congressman said hes heard that a rumor is circulating about housing vouchers being necessary to access temporary housing.Theres no such thing as housing vouchers, he said. This is all taken care of without that [when people register with FEMA].The money is there, he added. No one should be sleeping in their car.  Lack of resources is not an issue.Walden expects the federal response will be swift and significant thanks to President Donald Trumps major disaster declaration on Tuesday. He says the U.S Army Corps of Engineers is already on the scene.Youll see an increased presence of federal disaster-assistance personnel in the state, he said.Walden joined U.S. senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden and fellow U.S representatives Peter DeFazio, Earl Blumenauer, Kurt Schrader and Suzanne Bonamici in a statement Wednesday morning announcing the disaster declaration.The damage from the wildfires across Oregon is catastrophic, and the scale of the recovery is beyond the capabilities of the state, DeFazio, a Democrat from Lane County, said in the statement. Im grateful for the White Houses swift action in declaring a major disaster.Merkley, also a Democrat, added that he had driven over 600 miles from Portland to Medford and back -- meeting with first responders, talking to people who have suffered terrible loss, witnessing unimaginable devastation. Its clear that our state is going to need an unprecedented amount of support in our response and recovery.In his virtual press conference, Walden said he has visited the southern Oregon towns of Phoenix and Talent and seen the burned-out buildings, the lots with nothing left standing, the mobile homes reduced essentially to cinders.I think people are still in a state of shock and disbelief, he said. The fire was so hot and vicious. Theres not a lot left behind.He added that, during a meeting Wednesday morning with FEMA officials, he recommended that they come down to southern Oregon in particular, given the scale of home losses there.People are going to be displaced for some time, he acknowledged.The good news, he added, is this [federal assistance] system will start to work right away now that we have the national disaster [declaration] in place.-- Douglas Perrydperry@oregonian.com@douglasmperry2020 The Oregonian (Portland, Ore.)Visit The Oregonian (Portland, Ore.) at www.oregonian.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
A User Slams Jaya For Not Taking A Stand For Disha

While slamming Jaya Bachchan, a user wrote, "#JayaBachchanShamlessLady Bachchan family didn't say a single word when their daughter in law's ex manager Disha was brutally killed! They didn't stand for the truth! How disgraceful!"

Sandip Singh told in an interview that Disha Salian is not known, but after seeing this scene, it is clear that Sandip Singh is definitely hiding something. #sandipsingh #JayaBachchanShamlessLady pic.twitter.com/TI7KtPdPo7  Vicky Gujrathi (@vickyGujrathi1) September 16, 2020

Aishwarya's Pic With Disha Goes Viral

Another user shared the same picture and tweeted, "Sandip Singh told in an interview that Disha Salian is not known, but after seeing this scene, it is clear that Sandip Singh is definitely hiding something."

Jaya Bachchan Criticised Mercilessly

@prasadggp: I didn't see anything wrong in Ravi Kishan's speech. JayaBachan seems to have jumped to gun and in the process put mud on her face. Looks like some of the film personalities do not want to be a part of the cleansing act lest they get exposed. #JayaBachchanShamlessLady

@Vinod60845157: Another Bollywood superstar of yesteryear supporting the mafia and druggies. Shame on the celebrities that nobody speaks on the murder of SSR and Disha.

@aka_dpu: Where tf was she while numerous killings took place inside B-town? Where was this lady when our culture, religion gets mocked by their films? Where was she when cops were bribed & worked for b'wood? Where when Money Launderings? When Terror links? #JayaBachchanShamlessLady.

Uh Oh!

More than 32,000 tweets have been posted on Twitter under the trending hashtag 'Jaya Bachchan Shameless Lady'.

Meanwhile, many B-town celebrities like Taapsee Pannu, Sonam Kapoor, Richa Chadha, Hema Malini, Anubhav Sinha, etc., have lauded Mrs Bachchan for her explosive speech.

(Social media posts are unedited.)
Cote d'Ivoire's top court has cleared the way for President Alassane Ouattara to seek a controversial third term, sparking violent protest in several cities. The constitutional council also barred former president Laurent Gbagbo and ex-prime minister Guillaume Soro from standing in next month's election.

Only four of the 44 original candidates remain in the running for the 31 October presidential poll.

Apart from incumbent Ouattara, the other contenders cleared to run are former president Henri Konan Bedie from the historically dominant Democratic Party of Cote d'Ivoire (PDCI), Gbagbo's former prime minister Pascal Affi N'Guessan, and Kouadio Konan Bertin, a dissident from Bedie's party.

notamment Laurent Gbagbo, @SoroKGuillaume, @atmabri, @M_Koulibaly et Marcel Amon Tano. Nous devons demeurer en ordre de marche pour l'alternance democratique en vue de la construction d'une Cote d'Ivoire reconciliee, unie et prospere. #HKB2020 - Henri Konan Bedie (@HKBofficiel) September 14, 2020

The constitutional court decision provoked violent protests in several cities, with a bus being torched in Yopougon, a working-class district of the economic capital Abidjan.

Yopougon is known as a fiefdom of exiled former president Laurent Gbagbo.

Fears of a return to electoral violence

Gbagbo's refusal to concede defeat to Ouattara after the 2010 election sparked a bloody conflict in what was formerly a beacon of stability and prosperity in the region.

Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Cote d'Ivoire Governance Legal Affairs By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later.

In the western city of Bangolo, demonstrators set fire to a mining truck and other vehicles on Monday. Police dispersed protesters using tear gas.

At least 15 people have died in violence since Ouattara announced last month that he would run for a third term.

Cote d'Ivoire's constitution limits presidents to two terms, but Ouattara and his supporters argue that a 2016 constitutional adjustment reset the clock.

Death of Coulibaly changed balance

The president had previously committed to not running again, but changed his mind after the sudden death of his anointed successor, then prime minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly, from a heart attack in July.

The electoral commission has said that anyone convicted of a crime will be disqualified from running for the top office. It therefore barred former rebel chief turned prime minister Guillaume Soro, after he was sentenced in April to 20 years in prison for "concealment of embezzlement of public funds".

Laurent Gbagbo was sentenced in absentia to a 20-year term over the looting of the local branch of the Central Bank of West African States during the 2010-11 crisis.

Former president Bedie is expected to be the opposition's main flagbearer, after his PDCI party nominated the 86-year-old as its candidate last Saturday.
PHOTO: Getty Images

SINGAPORE  When he noticed a neighbours maid doing the laundry, a man pulled down his pants and climbed onto a stool to get her attention.

It was not the first time Waqas Ali had exposed himself to the domestic helper. The 30-year-old British citizen told the police that he had exhibited himself some five to six times to the victim, as he thought she did not mind them.

Waqas, a Singapore permanent resident, was fined $4,000 on Wednesday (16 September) after he pleaded guilty to insulting the 32-year-old Indonesian helpers modesty. If he cannot pay the fine, he will be jailed 20 days in default.

Waqas had been working in Singapore for one and half years as an administrative data associate.

The victim stayed with her employer at a landed property with a courtyard facing Waqass unit. She cannot be named due to a court gag order.

On 16 November last year, at about 11am, the maid was at the courtyard of her employers house doing laundry while Waqas was walking around in his own unit topless. When he noticed the maid, Waqas pulled down his pants to knee level, exposing his penis.

He then clambered onto a stool and started doing an obscene act while facing the maid. He knew that the maid was looking at him.

The maid immediately went into her employers house to inform him about what she had seen. The employer, a 45-year-old man, exited the house some 15 seconds later to verify her claims.

Upon noticing his neighbour, Waqas immediately ceased what he was doing and went back into his kitchen to prepare breakfast.

The neighbour called the police and Waqas was arrested on the same day at his unit. He admitted to his act and mentioned that he had exposed himself to the maid on several occasions before as he thought that she had no issue with his actions.

The lawyer representing Waqas said that his client was diagnosed adjustment disorder with depressive mood and committed the offences to de-stress, as he had job-related difficulties upon returning to Singapore.

Story continues

Waqas has recognised his problem and is prepared to seek help for it, said the lawyer.

For insulting the modesty of a woman, Waqas could have been jailed up to one year, with fine, or both.

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Ms. de Armas is a rising Hollywood star. She recently received a Golden Globe nomination for her role in Knives Out , and she'll soon appear in the upcoming James Bond film, No Time to Die. Ms. de Armas also shines throughout this new multipart campaign, which was developed to celebrate the myriad connections with which natural diamonds are worn or exchanged, and to bring awareness to the Natural Diamond Council's "Only Natural Diamonds" online platform . The Natural Diamond Council represents seven of the world's leading diamond producers, all of which must follow the group's ethical codes, with an emphasis on mindful and sustainable mining practices and the support of women and families in diamond-mining communities. The " Only Natural Diamonds " portal serves as a window of discovery into this natural diamond universe.

The campaign  which was lensed in coastal Portugal, directed by Manu Cossu and photographed by Camilla Akrans  will be released on September 20, 2020, during the first ever virtual Emmy Awards. Teasers will be dropped in the weeks leading up to the ceremony, and information about the campaign will appear on the NDC's website from September 16, 2020.

Ms. de Armas was approached for the project as she radiates with poise and modernity, and she epitomizes an ascendant, free-thinking generation. Her elegant, effervescent and easygoing demeanor reflects the next chapter in the history of natural diamonds; a mindset in which the traditional tenets of diamond-wearing and exchanging are dismantled, leaving an open playing field in their place. From a barefoot party in a fragrant vineyard to a tangerine sunset along the Portuguese coast  diamond baguettes catching and diffusing the glowing rays as the sun slides into the horizon  this new attitude is casual, fun, energetic, present, and, most importantly, driven by connection and experience. Whether heading to a reunion with loved ones after months of isolation, seeing your best friend for a glass of wine after a long day, or taking a twilight walk with a partner, each and every moment is its own  and every moment is like no other.

"I love thinking of diamonds this way, as special emblems of even the small personal moments in our lives," says Ms. de Armas. "They represent joy and warmth and beauty."

The campaign's 30-second hero spot airing at the Emmys will be complemented by a series of shorter video segments, spotlighting the various relationships portrayed from the clip. She is seen in laid-back outdoor settings with friends, with a parent, and with a partner. In this, a fresh, opened-up association continues to be emphasized: diamonds are not solely the purview of romantic interests or formal occasions. They are meant for every type of connection.

This new campaign marks a number of firsts for the Natural Diamond Council, in addition to welcoming its first Hollywood headliner. It is the first celebrity-fronted campaign for a diamond group (brand agnostic), adding an important contribution to an industry that supports the livelihoods of roughly 10 million people worldwide. This is also the first campaign dedicated to NDC's "Only Natural Diamonds" platform, and the first marketing initiative by the NDC to showcase such a diverse roster of jewelry designers that work with natural diamonds in exceptionally modern ways.

"Ana is a true talent, and the dynamism she exemplifies is exactly what we seek to do daily in our support of the natural diamond industry," says Kristina Buckley Kayel, Managing Director of Natural Diamond Council North America. "This campaign redefines traditional diamond moments, celebrating a variety of personal connections with these natural stones. It's a more contemporary approach to the diamond dream, for meaningful moments big or small."

A selection of the designers and brands featured in the campaign, all of which use diamonds from the Natural Diamond Council's producers, include: Anita Ko, KATKIM Fine Jewelry, De Beers Jewellers, Ana Khouri, Delfina Delettrez, Gabriel & Co, Zoe Chicco, Eriness, London Jewelers, Jade Trau, Lorraine Schwartz, Suzanne Kalan, Fernando Jorge, Vanleles, Foundrae, Marla Aaron, Nikos Koulis, Melissa Kaye and more.

Following its Emmys debut, the campaign will be featured in print media, including Vogue and Vanity Fair's respective November 2020 issues, The New York Times, and at online publications ranging from Bustle to Who What Wear. It will, additionally, be featured on non-linear TV, from Hulu to Amazon Fire. The Natural Diamond Council will also distribute campaign materials through its owned channels, including its website, which will feature behind-the-scenes footage and an interview element with Ms. de Armas, as well as comprehensive information about the brands and designers that are seen. The campaign will have a global presence, also running in the United Kingdom, China and India.

The Natural Diamond Council (NDC) advances diamonds' desirability by publishing in-depth and engaging features and trend reports, and sharing resources and information with consumers on the ultimate timelessness and singularity of this remarkable natural stone. The NDC also works to support the integrity of the natural diamond industry, providing transparency, and insight on the ethics, sustainability and progress of this sector.

SOURCE The Natural Diamond Council

Related Links

https://www.naturaldiamonds.com/council


Photograph: Marco Ugarte/AP

Mexicos president has announced plans for a referendum on whether to prosecute his unpopular predecessors, saying he wants the people to give the green light to any legal proceedings against the countrys former presidents.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, commonly called Amlo, delivered a document to the senate on Tuesday, asking for a plebiscite on prosecuting former presidents to be held along midterm elections on 6 June 2021.

Related: Mexico rocked by claims of corruption against three former presidents

The document outlines a litany of grievances during the three decades before Lopez Obrador took office in December 2018, including privatisations rife with cronyism, spiralling violence and an increasing concentration of wealth.

Lopez Obrador has previously said that he opposes putting past presidents on trial, saying: We must not be anchored to the past. But he has a track record of putting controversial ideas to the people.

Plans for the plebiscite were unveiled as Mexico weathers the twin storms of a pandemic which has claimed more than 70,000 lives and a stumbling economy which recently saw its worst contraction since the Great Depression.

It also allows him to keep the flame of grievance alive and have people express their frustration, anger and resentment, which is very real, said Carlos Bravo Regidor, a political analyst in Mexico City.

The plebiscite will present legal challenges, including the statute of limitations which has expired for conduct within the terms of all living ex-presidents, except for Amlos immediate predecessor, Enrique Pena Nieto. Mexican law also prohibits holding a referendum on the same day as an existing election.

Amlo does not think like a lawyer, said Rodolfo Soriano Nunez, a sociologist in Mexico City. I am not betting my soul on Amlo getting people in jail, but we need to address these issues.

The only living president not mentioned by Lopez Obrador is 98-year-old Luis Echeverria  who Amlo has never criticized publicly. A specialized prosecutors office filed charges against Echeverria for the 1968 Tlatelolco massacre (in which police, soldiers and paramilitaries gunned down hundreds of protesters), but he was exonerated by a tribunal in 2007.

Story continues

Lopez Obrador swept to power as an anti-system candidate on an agenda of getting rid of graft in government and overturning the hold of what he considers a corrupt political class.

He drew on a deep well of disgust over past political corruption scandals and, even after taking office, Amlo still rails against the old regime, often using his daily press conference to relitigate past scandals and personal slights.

Amlo has been quick to repeat allegations by a former boss of the national oil company, Emilio Lozoya, who told prosecutors he had accepted bribes from the Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht. That money, Lozoya said, funded Pena Nietos 2012 presidential campaign and paid off lawmakers to support an opening of the state-controlled oil industry.

But the presidents own family has also been caught up in corruption allegations. A 2015 video recently surfaced showing his brother Pio Lopez Obrador accepting cash payments for Amlos fledgling political party. Amlo has called the money collected by his brother contributions and insisted it wasnt linked to the Lozoya case.

In recent weeks, Amlo supporters have mobilized to collect the 2m signatures necessary to trigger a plebiscite.

Were the people, and were paying them, and they went about stealing from us, said Ariadna Bahena, a university student involved in the campaign. Amlo isnt getting rich.
PROVO, Utah, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- COVID-19 has increased the global humanitarian needs, and Nu Skin employees and sales leaders are once again stepping up their efforts around the world to give back to those communities where they live and work. As part of the company's annual Force for Good Day, Nu Skin is sponsoring projects in markets where the company operates.

This year at Nu Skin's global headquarters, employees and their families are working on projects in their homes to benefit local schools and community nonprofit organizations. More than 5,000 items are being created to support 10 different projects including children's-themed facemasks for local preschools, face shields themed as astronauts and fish tanks and other creative environments for local elementary school kids and teachers, homework kits to support those not able to attend school regularly due to COVID, learning puppets for children with disabilities and meals for hungry families affected by COVID in the local community.

"This year's Force for Good Day will look different in each of our markets," said Ritch Wood, chief executive officer. "Even though we are not able to gather together as we typically do, we felt it was important to continue our tradition of giving back in our local communities. We remain committed as a global family of sales leaders, customers and employees to dedicating our resources and time to help those who are in need, while celebrating the impact we have had on hundreds of thousands of people around the world. Whether at home or abroad, Nu Skin always strives to be a force for good."

Global Force for Good Day Projects

A sample of this year's global Force for Good Day projects includes:

Greater China  Nu Skin volunteers in Greater China will be spending the day with elementary students and teaching them about health

 Nu Skin volunteers in will be spending the day with elementary students and teaching them about health Eastern Europe  Employees fulfilled a wish for a little boy sick with leukemia

 Employees fulfilled a wish for a little boy sick with leukemia South Africa  Nu Skin employees will be giving service at an orphanage

 Nu Skin employees will be giving service at an orphanage Taiwan  Sales leaders and employees will participate in cleaning up a local beach

 Sales leaders and employees will participate in cleaning up a local beach Japan  Nu Skin employees will be sending books to 12 primary schools

 Nu Skin employees will be sending books to 12 primary schools Korea  Nu Skin employees will be making gift boxes comprised of masks, soap, hand sanitizer and other health and hygiene items needed for high-risk individuals.

Pacific  Nu Skin employees will be participating in a blood drive for the Red Cross

Nu Skin's Force for Good Day is an effort focused on volunteering within the company's local communities. The company along with its sales leaders, employees and customers contribute to many other projects throughout the year, which can be found at nuskin.com/forceforgood. More information on the company's efforts specific to COVID-19 can be found at the link on nuskin.com/newsroom.

About Nu Skin

Founded more than 35 years ago, Nu Skin develops and distributes innovative consumer products, offering a comprehensive line of premium-quality beauty and wellness solutions. The company builds upon its scientific expertise in both skin care and nutrition to continually develop innovative product brands that include the Nu Skin personal care brand, the Pharmanex nutrition brand, and most recently, the ageLOC anti-aging brand. The ageLOC brand has generated a loyal following for such products as the ageLOC LumiSpa skin cleansing and treatment device, ageLOC Youth nutritional supplement, the ageLOC Me customized skin care system, as well as the ageLOC TR90 weight management and body shaping system. Nu Skin sells its products through a global network of sales leaders in Asia, the Americas, Europe, Africa and the Pacific. As a long-standing member of direct selling associations globally, Nu Skin is committed to the industry's consumer guidelines that protect and support those who sell and purchase its products through the direct selling channel. Nu Skin International is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc., which is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol (NYSE: NUS). More information is available at nuskin.com.

SOURCE Nu Skin

Related Links

http://www.nuskin.com


If you really want to honour him, implement his inclusive ideology: SC Bose's grandnephew

Modi to dedicate the historic Kosi Rail Mahasetu to the nation through video-conference on Sep 18

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

New Delhi, Sep 16: Prime Minister Narendra Modi shall dedicate to the nation the historic Kosi Rail Mahasetu (mega bridge) to the Nation through video-conference at 12 Noon on the 18th of September 2020.

Apart from this the Prime Minister shall also inaugurate 12 rail projects related to passenger facilities for the benefit of the Bihar State. These include a new railway bridge on the Kiul River, two new railway lines, 5 Electrification projects, one Electric Locomotive Shed and 3rd Line Project between Barh-Bakhtiyarpur.

PM Modi tweets in Japanese to congratulate Yoshihide Suga

The dedication of the Kosi Rail Mahasetu is a watershed moment in the history of Bihar and the entire region connecting to the North East.

In 1887, a meter gauge link was built in between Nirmali and Bhaptiahi (Saraigarh). During the heavy flood and severe Indo Nepal earthquake in 1934, the rail link was washed away and thereafter due to meandering nature of river Kosi no attempt was made to restore this Rail link for long period.

The Kosi Mega Bridge line project was sanctioned by Government of India during 2003-04. The Kosi Rail Mahasetu is 1.9 KM long and its construction cost is Rs. 516 Crore. This bridge is of strategic importance along the India-Nepal border. The project was completed during the COVID-Pandemic where the migrant labour also participated in its completion.

Indian Army: Ready for full-fledged war against China | Oneindia News

The dedication of this project will fulfil the 86 year old dream and the long wait of the people of the region. Along with the dedication of the Mahasetu, the Prime Minister shall also be flagging off the Saharsa- Asanpur Kupha demo train from the Supaul Station. Once the regular train service begins, this would prove to be highly beneficial to the Supaul, Arariya and Saharsa districts. It would also make it easy for long distance travel to Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai for the people of the region.

The Prime Minister shall also be inaugurating two New Line projects at Hajipur-Ghoswar-Vaishali and Islampur-Nateshar. Modi shall also be inaugurating the Karnauti-Bakhtiyarpur link bypass and 3rd line between Barh-Bakhiyarpur.

The Prime Minister shall also be inaugurating the Railway Electrification projects of Muzaffarpur - Sitamarhi, Katihar-New Jalpaiguri, Samastipur-Darbhanga-Jaynagar, Samastipur-Khagaria, Bhagalpur-Shivnarayanpur Sections.
Pune, Sept. 16, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global calcium formate market size is projected to reach USD 628.5 million by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 4.0% during the forecast period. Increasing cement production is likely to emerge as a central growth driver for this market, finds Fortune Business Insights in its report, titled Calcium Formate Market Size, Share & COVID-19 Impact Analysis, By Type (Feed Grade, Industrial Grade), By Application (Feed, Construction, Leather, Chemical, and Others), and Regional Forecast, 2020-2027. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that 4.1Gt of cement was produced worldwide in 2019, with China accounting for nearly 55% of the global production, followed by India at 8%. By 2030, according to the World Cement Association, Chinas production is forecasted to contract to 35%, while Indias is set to double to 16%. These changing dynamics augur well for this market as calcium formate is an essential component in cement manufacturing. This compound acts as a setting accelerator for cement, working as an additive to boost the strength of the cement mortar. Thus, rising demand for cement, especially in developing economies, will provide the necessary fuel for the growth of the market for calcium formate.





The report states that the global market value stood at USD 469.4 million in 2019 and also offers the following:

Microscopic analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the market;

Granular study of the factors and trends shaping the market;

Detailed evaluation of the regional dynamics influencing the market; and

Comprehensive profiling of and in-depth research into the key market players and their strategies.





Get Sample PDF Brochure with Impact of COVID19:

https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/request-sample-pdf/calcium-formate-market-101683





Market Restraint

Declining Sales & Profits to Hamper Companies Investment Plans amid COVID-19

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has had grave implications for the global chemicals industry, which are hurting the calcium formate market growth. Lockdowns, social distancing, and trade restrictions have caused massive disruptions in supply chain networks, while a severe economic downturn has impacted demand and consumption.

As a result, companies in this market are reporting an unprecedented loss of revenue, which in turn has forced them to rethink their investment plans. For instance, in August 2020, the Germany-based specialty chemicals company, Lanxess, sold off its organic leather chemicals business for USD 230 million to TFL Ledertechnik GmbH to reduce its dependence on the automotive industry. With the automotive industry facing an unparalleled demand crunch amid COVID-19, Lanxesss divesture from the leather business seems prudent. In another example, Sweden-based Perstop AB reported a staggering drop of 32% in its net sales, amounting to SEK 2.08 billion in July 2020, as the company took drastic measures to tackle COVID-19. These adverse developments are likely to stall the adoption of calcium methanoate during the current year.





Regional Insights

Surging Construction Activities to Power the Market in Asia Pacific

Asia Pacific, with a market size of USD 251.4 million in 2019, is anticipated to dominate the calcium formate market share during the forecast period. The main reason attributable for the prolific market growth in the region is the rapid expansion of building and construction activities in India and China. For example, the India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) predicts that India will emerge as the third-largest construction industry by 2025.





Browse a detailed summary of 135 pages research report with ToC:

https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/industry-reports/calcium-formate-market-101683





Competitive Landscape

Steady Expansion of Presence in Fledgling Markets by Key Players to Stir Competition

Key players in this market are intensely focused on strategically expanding their presence in booming markets in the developing regions around the world. In implementing this strategy, companies are entering into partnerships and undertaking acquisitions with regional players to establish operations in emerging economies.





Industry Developments:

November 2019: Perstorp announced plans to invest in a new facility in Gujarat, India, to produce Pentaerythritol (Penta). The plant will allow Perstorp to meet the rising demand in Asia for its Penta products as well as produce and distribute calcium formate in the country.

Perstorp announced plans to invest in a new facility in Gujarat, India, to produce Pentaerythritol (Penta). The plant will allow Perstorp to meet the rising demand in Asia for its Penta products as well as produce and distribute calcium formate in the country. September 2019: CPS Performance Materials, a portfolio company under Arsenal Capital Partners, announced the acquisition of GEO Specialty Chemicals. The acquisition will allow CPS to add GEOs diverse chemicals and materials for diverse industries such as water treatment and paints & coatings to its specialty chemicals portfolio.





List of the Leading Companies Profiled in the Global Calcium Formate Market are:

Chongqing Chuandong Chemical (Group) Co., Ltd. (China)

Jiangxi Kosin Organic Chemical (China)

Zibo Ruibao Chemical Co., Ltd. (China)

GEO Specialty Chemicals (USA)

Perstorp (Sweden)

Sidley Chemical Co., Ltd. (China)

Shandong Baoyuan Chemical Co., Ltd. (China)

Henan Botai Chemical Building Materials Company Ltd. (China)

American Elements (USA)

LANXESS (Germany)





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Detailed Table of Content:

Introduction Research Scope Market Segmentation Research Methodology Definitions and Assumptions

Executive Summary

Market Dynamics Market Drivers Market Restraints Market Opportunities

Key Insights Key Trends  For Major Countries Global Feed Production Overview Regulatory Scenario Global Cement Consumption Overview

COVID-19 Impact Analysis Supply Chain Challenges Steps Taken by Government/Companies to combat COVID-19 Potential Opportunities due to COVID-19 Outbreak

Global Calcium Formate Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast, 2016-2027 Key Findings / Summary Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast By Type Feed Industrial

Global Calcium Formate Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast, 2016-2027 Key Findings / Summary Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast By Application Feed Construction Leather Chemicals Others



TOC Continued!





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Have a Look at Related Research Insights:

Cement Market Size , Share & Industry Analysis, By Type (Portland, Blended, and Others), By Application (Residential, and Non-Residential), and Regional Forecast 2019-2026

Fly Ash Market Size , Share & Industry Analysis, By Type (Class F and Class C), By Application (Cement & concretes, Fills & embankments, Waste Stabilization, Mining, Oil field Service and Road Stabilization and Others), and Regional Forecast, 2020-2027





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Read Press Release:
By AFP

GENEVA: There have been so many Atlantic hurricanes and tropical storms this year that the world is running out of names for them, the United Nations said on Tuesday. The storms are given first names in alphabetical order but this year they are set to run out.

"The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season is so active that it is expected to exhaust the regular list of storm names. If this happens, the Greek alphabet will be used for only the second time on record," Clare Nullis, spokeswoman for the UN's Geneva-based World Meteorological Organization (WMO), told a media briefing.

Throughout the annual hurricane season which runs from June 1 to November 30, storms are assigned alternating male and female names, this year beginning with Arthur and Bertha. Storms are named to make them easier to identify in warning messages.

The names are overseen by the WMO. They are reused every six years, though if the hurricanes are particularly devastating, the name is retired and replaced.

The name lists use 21 of the 26 letters of the alphabet due to the difficulty in finding a balance of six easily recognisable English, Spanish, French and Dutch names starting with Q, U, X, Y and Z -- the languages spoken in the Atlantic and Caribbean regions affected.

This year, only the name Wilfred remains unused, meaning a switch to the Greek alphabet is looming.

Joint record

In the latest state of play, Hurricane Paulette had its eye over Bermuda on Monday; Tropical Depression Rene has now dissipated; Hurricane Sally is likely to cause flash flooding on the US Gulf coast on Tuesday; Tropical Storm Teddy is expected to become a hurricane on Tuesday, while Tropical Storm Vicky is over the Atlantic.

Nullis said that to have five tropical cyclones over the Atlantic basin at the same time ties a record set in September 1971. And according to the US National Hurricane Center, an area of low pressure has formed near Cape Verde and has a 50 percent chance of tropical cyclone formation in the next 48 hours.

The Greek alphabet was only ever used once before in 2005, when the first six letters were used as names for storms: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon and Zeta. That exceptional year saw the devastating hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma, whose names were all retired.
Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili.

The report "Organic Feed Market by Type (Cereals & Grains, Oilseeds), Form (Pellets, Crumbles, Mashes), Livestock (Poultry, Ruminants, Swine, Aquatic Animals), Additives (Amino Acids, Enzymes, Vitamins, Minerals, Phytogenics), and Region  Global Forecast to 2025" The global organic feed market size is estimated at USD 6.8 billion in 2019 and is projected to reach USD 10.1 billion by 2025, recording a CAGR of 6.8% during the forecast period. The market growth is driven by the increasing demand for organic food, rising organic livestock farming, expansion of organic farmlands, and the contribution to the environment. Developing countries in South America are projected to create lucrative opportunities for organic feed manufacturers in the coming years.





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By type, the cereal & grains segment is projected to dominate the organic feed market during the forecast period.

The cereals & grains segment is estimated to account for the largest share, on the basis of type, in the organic feed market in 2019. Cereals and grains include wheat, corn, and barley. The high growth in the Asia Pacific region is attributed to the increasing awareness about the benefits of feeding organic cereals and grains to livestock, to maintain their nutrient requirements and enhance their growth, and fulfill the rising demand for organic food. High availability of cereals and grain crops in Europe and Asia Pacific due to the increasing organic farmland practices in most of the countries in the region is also one of the key factors driving the growth of the segment.

By livestock, the poultry segment is projected to dominate the organic feed market during the forecast period.

The poultry segment, on the basis of livestock, is estimated to account for the largest share in the organic feed market in 2019. The poultry industry is the largest and also the fastest-growing sector that witnesses high organic production. Poultry meat is consumed across regions, and unlike beef and swine, it does not have any religious constraints. The increasing concerns about animal health and the rising awareness pertaining to the benefits of organic feed feedstuffs have contributed to the growth of this market. Due to the increase in organic poultry production and the rise in demand for organic meat, the meat producers are focusing on investing in organic rearing of livestock to produce meat, dairy, and other by-products from animals.

The pellets segment is projected to record the fastest growth during the forecast period.

Pellets are the most common and preferred form of organic feed. They also contain a high level of binders as compared to the mashed form of organic feed. The pelleted form of organic feed stimulates early organic feed intake. Pelleting of organic feed also reduces wastage, as it is easy to feed to animals, convenient to store, and is also preferred by backyard chicken farmers.

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North America is projected to be the largest market during the forecast period.

North America is projected to be a key revenue generator for organic feed manufacturers due to the increased demand in the US. North America witnesses various key players operating in the organic feed market. These include Cargill (US), SunOpta (Canada), and Purina Animal Nutrition LLC (US). The demand for organic feed products remains high in the poultry segment in the region. The US is among the largest producers and consumers of corn, wheat, and soybean at a global level. These ingredients are majorly used in the feed industry, as they increase their nutrient quotient. Due to the rising consumer preferences for natural ingredients, the demand for these ingredients is projected to increase in the coming years.

In Canada, some of the small scale players are focusing on offering organic feed for poultry, swine, and ruminants. In Mexico, the demand for organic poultry products, such as eggs and poultry meat, is projected to create lucrative opportunities for organic feed manufacturers. Milk is also projected to increase the demand for organic feed products among ruminant livestock, as consumers opt for organic dairy products in the region. Thus, North America is projected to offer high growth prospects for organic feed manufacturers in the coming years.

This report includes a study of marketing and development strategies, along with the product portfolios of leading companies, in the organic feed market. It consists of the profiles of leading companies, such as Cargill (US), BernAqua (Belgium), Country Heritage Feeds (Australia), ForFarmers (Netherlands), SunOpta (Canada), Ranch-Way Feeds (US), Aller Aqua (Denmark), Purina Animal Nutrition LLC (US), Scratch and Peck Feeds (US), Cargill (US), K-Much Feed Industry Co., Ltd (Thailand), The Organic Feed Company (UK), B&W Feeds (UK), Feeddex Compaies (US), Country Junction feed (US), Green Mountian Feeds (US), Unique Organic (US), Kreamer Feed (US), Yorktown Organics, LLC (US), and Hi Peak Feeds (UK).
Wildfires burning across the western United States will continue releasing smelly, harmful air until later in the week or after that, scientists say. They add that the smoky, cloud-covered skies might last even longer.

People in Oregon, Washington and parts of California were struggling with yellowish-green smog caused by the fires. The air is the worst, most unhealthy air on the planet, by some measurements.

The bad air is everywhere. It has entered homes and businesses. It caused the Oregon Zoo in Portland to close. No one can escape it.

I dont think that we should be outside, but at the same time, weve been cooped up in the house already for months, said Issa Ubidia-Luckett of Portland. I mean, we shouldnt be outside period.

Oregons Department of Environmental Quality extended its air quality warning until Thursday. It was supposed to end on Monday.

On Monday, Alaska Airlines announced it was suspending flights to Portland and Spokane, Washington, until late Tuesday. The company said the air was too thick.

Zoe Flanagan has lived in Portland for 12 years. She rarely leaves her house. She went out into the smog to walk her two dogs Monday.

I can feel it in my chest and. I just couldnt get enough water, I had a headache, she said.

Dylan Darling is a spokesman for Oregons Department of Environmental Quality.

I grew up in Oregon and lived here a long time, and to see this much smoke for this long and wide spreading, really stands out in the states history, he said.



Some areas of central California covered with smoke are not likely to see conditions improve until October, said meteorologist Dan Borsum. He is studying weather conditions and sharing his information with firefighters in Northern California.

Its going to take astrong weather pattern to move all the smoke, he told reporters Sunday night.

Borsum added that smoke from over 20 wildfires in the West and throughout California is gathering in the Central Valley. The area already has some of Californias worst air quality, even before the wildfires.

Darling said that during earlier wildfires in Oregon, such as the fires of 2017, people could travel to other parts of the state for fresh air. Not this time.

There just isnt a place in Oregon right now to find fresh air, Darling said.

Tyler Kranz is a meteorologist at the U.S. National Weather Service office in Portland. He said Oregon will need strong winds blowing from the ocean towards land to clear the air. But he said there needs to be a perfect balance of wind so that it blows away the smoke but does not start more fires.

We need the winds to get the smoke out of here, Kranz said. We just dont want them to be too strong, because then they could fan those flames and all of a sudden those fires are spreading again.

Im Susan Shand.

The Associated Press reported this story. Susan Shand adapted it for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

smog  n. thick, dirty air and fog

meteorologist  n. a weather expert

cooped up  v. trapped inside with no relief

pattern  n. a repetitive system

fan  v. to increase air flow
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 15

Trend:

Over the past 24 hours, Armenian armed forces have violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops 30 times, Trend reports referring to Azerbaijani Defense Ministry.

Armenian armed forces were using large-caliber machine guns.

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.
A rape survivor who waited two-and-a-half years to get to court faces another nine-month delay due to a lack of Perspex screens.

Victims Commissioner for London Claire Waxman said on Wednesday the delay means the person concerned will have waited nearly four years since the original incident.

Giving evidence to the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee, Ms Waxman said that Covid-19 had only exacerbated a pre-existing backlog of rape cases.

The Commissioner added that she did not know why the courts were lacking Perspex screens.

There was a backlog before Covid, Covid has only exacerbated that," she said.

Ive got rape survivors, I only had one last week, they were due into court after two-and-a-half years, it was pulled the week before and theyre not going in until next June. That will be close to four years from time of report to court.

Its coming down to Perspex screens, which for some reason the courts havent set up yet.

Labour committee member Jennette Arnold said the delay is unacceptable and heartbreaking.

Crown Prosecution Service figures show there were 2,102 rape prosecutions in 2019/20, down 59 per cent since 2016/17. Of these, 439 resulted in convictions.

The average time for a report of rape to result in a criminal charge is 395 days, longer than any other crime type.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: The government has provided four more months till January next year to the domestic toy industry to comply with quality norms amid the coronavirus pandemic, an official statement said on Wednesday.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), under the commerce and industry ministry, has issued a notification to extend the date of implementation of Toys (Quality Control) Order, 2020 "as January 1, 2021 in place of September 1 this year".

"This decision allows domestic manufacturers four months of extra time to make necessary arrangements for compliance of standards in view of difficulties arising out of COVID-19 pandemic," it said.

As the government is focusing on promoting domestic manufacturing of toys, it came out with a quality control order and also increased import duty in February.

Quality control order on toys is one of the ways to stop flow of cheap sub-standard toys into the market.

According to a study, about 67 per cent of toys failed all safety and standard tests, while about 30 per cent of plastic toys failed to meet the safety standards of admissible levels of heavy metals and phthalates.

Phthalates are a group of chemicals. The toys industry in India is primarily in the unorganised sector comprising about 4,000 small and medium enterprises.

About 85 per cent of toys are imported in the country, with maximum coming from China. It is followed by Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Germany, Hongkong and the US.

Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that India has talent and ability to become a toy hub for the entire world and called upon startups to work towards realising this potential while being "vocal about local toys".

Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is the government's nodal agency that frames quality standards in coordination with the ministries concerned.
Russian flagship air carrier Aeroflot has resumed its flights to the UAE last Friday, a media report said, adding that the flights will be carried out twice a week - on Friday and Saturday.



The first flight was scheduled to take off at 2:30 Moscow time on Friday, reported Emirates news agency Wam, citing Russian news agency Tass.



Covid-19 PCR tests are mandatory for all inbound and transit passengers arriving to Dubai (and the UAE), including UAE citizens, residents and tourists, irrespective of the country they are coming from. Upon their arrival from UAE, Russian citizens will have to undergo another test and upload the results to the official state services portal.
It almost seems as if Meghan, Duchess of Sussex has her hand in so many different things. She is a former actress, a humanitarian, a feminist, and so much more.

Many people might even think that there is just about nothing that Meghan cant do, and judging from what we have seen, that may very well be true. The Duchess of Sussex has always been adamant about making her voice heard. Over the years, she has given numerous speeches about causes that she believes in, and she also never hesitates to voice her opinion.

We all know that there are extremely strict rules that the royal family members have to follow. They have to dress and act a certain way, and one of the rules that hold strong is that they cant have political opinions. However, Meghan and Prince Harry made the unique and unexpected move of stepping down from royal duties, and they are embarking on a journey independent of the royal family.

The couple is currently living in Meghans hometown of LA California. Now that they are no longer senior working royals, is it even possible for Meghan to become the U.S. President?

Meghan is more political than the royal family would probably like

RELATED: Prince Harry and Meghan Markles Summer Plan Change Hints At Bigger Problems Within Royal Family

While there is no way to know what the royal family members discuss in the privacy of their own homes, no one should really expect anyone like Prince Charles, Prince William, or even Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge to speak publicly about their political views. Meghan, however, is legally a United States citizen, having been born and raised in California.

Even after her marriage to Prince Harry, she hasnt stopped making her voice heard. In recent months, the duchess has been pretty open when it comes to talking about political issues, and she hasnt let the royal rules stop her from doing so.

Chances are, the royal family would prefer that she refrain from being so political, but Meghan shows no signs of stopping. She has been actively encouraging women to vote in the upcoming election, and during a recent virtual appearance, she went into great detail about the importance of voting and what it means for everyone.

Is it even possible for Meghan Markle to become the United States President?

With all the meaningful political comments that she has made, some people are wondering if Meghan might even be considering running for U.S. President in 2024. However, is it even possible for the Duchess of Sussex to do so?

While many people might assume that it is not, the answer is actually that yes, it is possible. According to Yahoo!, Meghan meets the eligibility criteria to run for office, and although the royal family might not like it, a source says that they do not have the power to stop her.

What do the experts have to say?

So, what are experts saying about the possibility of Meghan someday entering into the presidential race? According to a professor at Kings College London: There is no legal provision by which the royal family could prohibit her standing.

Should fans expect to one day see Meghan sitting in the Oval Office? While it is certainly possible, it is not very likely to ever happen. A betting firm says her odds are extremely low, and while this is likely true, it doesnt mean that Meghan wont ever become a presidential candidate.

While she speaks openly about politics, she has never spoken about her affiliation with either political party, but we still know that Meghan is a very strong woman. After all, she has been trying out different adventures lately, and politics may be something that the duchess chooses to pursue.
Fury was sparked today over controversial plans that may see pregnant women who drink alcohol have all their consumption recorded on their baby's medical records  even if they only had a single glass of wine.

The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) warned the move would be a 'gross infringement' of data privacy and could risk burning the trust between women and healthcare professionals.

Midwives currently ask women about what they have drunk since conception but are not obliged to record that information.

A single glass of wine consumed even before a woman knew she was pregnant will be documented under the controversial proposal from the NHS advisory body NICE. The proposal, which is not set in stone, will not take ask for the mother's consent to record the information.

NICE says an accurate recording of the alcohol consumption of mothers-to-be will help identify children at risk of foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD)  a range of conditions which can cause life-long problems, such as learning difficulties, stunted growth and issues with concentrations.

Charities argue that if a woman had small amounts of alcohol before she knew she was pregnant, as is often the case for unplanned pregnancies, the risk of FASD is typically low.

Drinking just one glass of wine while pregnant, even before women know for sure they are expecting, will be recorded on their baby's medical records under controversial new proposals

Under the new plans, mothers-to-be would be urged to recall how much booze they have had at antenatal appointments.

Women could easily hide the truth or under-report their drinking, however. Or they may simply not remember.

The results would be formally noted in maternity records before being transferred to those of the newborn child.

An accurate recording of a pregnant woman's alcohol consumption will help identify children at risk of suffering physical problems as well as issues around learning and behaviour through FASD, NICE says.

Being able to look at drinking habits is particularly key for children who are adopted or placed into care, it added.

However, the proposed guidelines have proved controversial with charities who have blasted them as 'unjustified and disproportionate' and urged NICE to rethink.

WHAT IS FOETAL ALCOHOL SYNDROME? When a pregnant woman drinks, the alcohol in her bloodstream passes freely through the placenta into the foetus' blood. Because the foetus does not have a fully developed liver, it cannot filter out the toxins from the alcohol as the mother can. Instead, the alcohol circulates in the foetus' blood system which can harm brain cells and damage the nervous system of the developing baby throughout the entire nine months of pregnancy. It can result in the loss of the pregnancy, and babies that survive may be left with lifelong problems. Foetal alcohol syndrome is a type of foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), the name for all the various problems that can affect children if their mother drinks alcohol in pregnancy. Symptoms include: a head that's smaller than average

poor growth  they may be smaller than average at birth, grow slowly as they get older, and be shorter than average as an adult

distinctive facial features  such as small eyes, a thin upper lip, and a smooth area between the nose and upper lip, though these may become less noticeable with age

movement and balance problems

learning difficulties  such as problems with thinking, speech, social skills, timekeeping, maths or memory

issues with attention, concentration or hyperactivity

problems with the liver, kidneys, heart or other organs

hearing and vision problems These problems are permanent, though early treatment and support can help limit their impact on an affected child's life. Sources: NHS and NOFAS-UK Advertisement

Clare Murphy, from the BPAS said: 'Most women report drinking very little in pregnancy if any at all, even if they may have drunk before a positive pregnancy test.'

She said on BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'The idea that this data will be transferred without a women's consent onto her child's health records I think is an absolutely gross infringement of her data privacy. And our position is very much that women don't lose their right to medical privacy simply because they are pregnant.'

The charity, which offers advice, counselling and abortion care for some 100,000 women every year, added that there is no evidence for lower levels of alcohol consumption resulting in harm.

Ms Murphy said: 'There is simply no compelling evidence of harm at low levels of consumption.

'I think in a time when we are talking more and more about public health policy following the evidence and also having discussions about data privacy, this set of proposals is an affront on both of those levels.

'I think we need to think really carefully about the implication on the really important relationship between a woman and her healthcare professional if she feels her confidentiality is going to be jeopardised in this way.

'We want women to be able to have frank and confidential conversations with their midwives because that's the best way to achieve and protect the health of pregnant women and their babies.'

Ms Murphy said women who drink heavily are 'often well known to healthcare professionals'.

Experts also suggested the proposals could see a breakdown in trust between midwives and expectant mothers.

And the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists admitted it 'shares some of the concerns raised', while legal experts suggested they could be unenforceable by breaching GDPR.

Matthew Holman, a data privacy lawyer, said: 'Any attempt to force disclosure against the mother's wishes is likely to be unlawful except perhaps in the most limited cases where there is a clear and present risk to the unborn child.'

NICE insists feedback from members of the public and external organisations will help shape understanding of what will and won't work in England.

Each year there are 40,000 babies born in the US with FASD, a diagnosis used to describe a wide range of physical, mental, behavioral, and learning disabilities.

It's not clear how many are affected in the UK. But leading support group NOFAS-UK cites research by the University of Bristol which indicated six per cent of a study cohort, equivalent to up to 4million British people, may have FASD.

But it could be as high as 17 per cent, depending on how the reasearchers analysed the data. The findings were criticised for potentially causing pregnant women to panic and seek an abortion.

It suggests FASD, often described as a 'hidden disability', affects more people than autism and is most often undiagnosed or misdiagnosed.

NOFAS-UK says: 'If you had small amounts before you knew you were pregnant or while pregnant, in most cases the RISK is low.

'Choose to stop drinking now for your baby's future. If your child has challenges later, ask doctors about FASD.'

The risk of FASD is higher the more you drink, the NHS says, although there's no proven 'safe' level of alcohol in pregnancy. Therefore, not drinking at all is the safest approach.
Barbados ha annunciato la sua intenzione di rimuovere la regina Elisabetta del Regno Unito come capo dello stato insulare dei Caraibi e diventare una repubblica entro novembre del prossimo anno, come nuovo passo per superare il suo passato coloniale.

La decisione e stata ufficializzata nel cosiddetto "Discorso del trono", pronunciato a nome del primo ministro Mia Mottley dalla governatrice generale dell'isola Sandra Mason in occasione della cerimonia di apertura del parlamento martedi.

Piu di mezzo secolo dopo aver ottenuto l'indipendenza dalla Gran Bretagna, "e giunto il momento di lasciarci completamente alle spalle il nostro passato coloniale", ha detto Mason.

"I barbadiani vogliono un Capo di Stato barbadiano", ha detto. "Questa e la massima dichiarazione di fiducia in chi siamo e in cio che siamo in grado di ottenere". Mason ha affermato che "Barbados fara il prossimo passo logico verso la piena sovranita e diventera una Repubblica entro le celebrazioni del nostro 55esimo anniversario di indipendenza", che sara il 30 novembre 2021.

"Avendo raggiunto l'indipendenza piu di mezzo secolo fa, il nostro Paese non puo avere dubbi sulla sua capacita di autogoverno", ha sottolineato Mason.

Interpellato su queste dichiarazioni, un portavoce di Buckingham Palace ha dichiarato che "questa e una questione che riguarda il governo e il popolo di Barbados".

La regina Elisabetta e il capo di stato del Regno Unito e di altri 15 paesi che in precedenza erano governati dalle autorita britanniche, dove e rappresentata dal governatore generale. Tali Paesi sono Antigua e Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Giamaica, Nuova Zelanda, Papua Nuova Guinea, Saint Kitts e Nevis, Santa Lucia, Saint Vincent e Grenadine, Isole Salomone e Tuvalu.

Diverse nazioni hanno rimosso lo status di capo di stato per la regina del Regno Unito a seguito della loro indipendenza, pur rimanendo parte del Commonwealth, con Mauritius l'ultimo Paese a diventare una repubblica nel 1992.

 Riproduzione riservata

(Unioneonline/F)
BELOIT, Wis., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- First Community Credit Union (FirstCCU) is pleased to announce that Shawna Sherri and Tammy Kolovitz have joined the credit union's mortgage department.

Shawna Sherry Tammy Kolovitz

Shawna Sherry has joined FirstCCU as Mortgage Operations Director. In this role, she is responsible for developing strategies that strengthen member relationships with FirstCCU's mortgage department and expand the credit union's products in order to offer a wider selection of types of mortgages. She works with her sales team to solidify best practices and deepen their understanding of business trends as well as regulatory requirements. With 20 years of experience in the financial industry, Sherry is able to provide exceptional member service to those who are needing residential lending assistance.

Residing in Evansville, WI, with her husband and three children, Sherry and her family enjoy trips to Florida and trying new activities around their community. Sherry is based out of FirstCCU's Beloit branch located at 1702 Park Ave, Beloit WI, 53511.

Tammy Kolovitz has joined as a Mortgage Loan Originator serving members in the Janesville, WI community. With over 15 years in the financial industry, Tammy provides expert knowledge to members looking to purchase or refinance a home. She consistently aims to exceed member's expectations as she guides them through the mortgage process every step of the way. She is a licensed mortgage originator in both Wisconsin and Illinois.

Currently, Tammy resides in Janesville, WI and has two daughters ages 17 and 19. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, volleyball, and kayaking. She is based at FirstCCU's Janesville office located at 2701 N. Pontiac Drive, Janesville, WI 53545.

About FirstCCU

First Community Credit Union is a member owned financial institution serving four full-service branch locations in Beloit, Janesville, and Monroe, WI and Rockford, IL. With more than 20,000 members and $168 million in assets, FirstCCU is a Bauer Financial 5-Star Superior Safety rated credit union for more than 18 consecutive years. Membership with the credit union is open to anyone who lives or works in Dane, Grant, Green, Iowa, Jefferson, Kenosha, Lafayette, Racine, Rock, Walworth, & Waukesha County in WI as well as Winnebago, Boone, Carroll, DeKalb, Jo Daviess, McHenry, Ogle, & Stephenson in IL. For more information, please visit www.firstccu.com.

Media Contact: Jessica Wright, Sales and Service Manager

[email protected] 608-368-7686

SOURCE First Community Credit Union

Related Links

http://www.firstccu.com


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Armed robbery report unfounded ALTON  A report of an armed robbery in Alton Friday afternoon has turned out to be unfounded....
Facebook has suffered a major setback in Australia after a judge ruled that the social media giant indeed carries out business in the country on Monday, September 14. Facebook was first sued by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) back in March wherein the tech giant was accused of breaching the privacy of 300,000 Australians between March 2014 and May 2015 following the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Read: Facebook To Remove Rumours That Oregon Wildfires Were Started By 'extremists'

Facebook locked in legal battle

The Australian Privacy regulator has accused Facebook of grave privacy breaches that is believed to have exposed the data of some 300,000 users in the country. As per The Guardian reports, Facebook headquarters are located outside Australia and the regulator had to establish that the company carried out business in Australia to move ahead with the case on privacy laws.

After being served documents, Facebook Inc tried to argue that it did not carry out business in Australia during that period. But in a ruling made on September 14, Judge Thaley affirmed that the Information Commissioner had been successful in proving that social media firm did carry out business in Australia and that during the time in question it was collecting and storing the personal data of Australians.

Following the judgement, both the Australian Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner Angelene Falk stated that they were pleased with the court's decision and would now be moving forward with the case.

Read: How To Change Name On Facebook? List Of Steps & Things To Know

Ex-Facebook employee accuses company of profiting off hate

On September 8, a Facebook employee lashed out at the companies policies and slammed the social media platform for being on the wrong side of history. In a post, the ex-employee claimed that he could no longer stomach contributing to an organisation that is profiting off hate in the US and globally.

The employee also highlighted Facebook's several content moderation decisions in the recent past despite civil rights advocates pressurising the social media platform to control the hate speech and disinformation.

Read: EU Asks Facebook, Twitter & Others To Take More Steps To Tackle Fake News

Read: Zuckerberg: Facebook Not A 'right-wing Echo Chamber'
President Donald Trump railed about mail-in voting, which he cast as vulnerable to foreign interference  and raised the prospect Wednesday that a contested presidential election could be thrown to the House.

He also vowed to squelch any violent protests on Election Day, warning they will be 'put down very, very quickly.

The president exploded about mail-in voting at a White House press briefing after DailyMail.com asked him about his earlier vow to 'put down' any potential violent election protests, which he said would amount to an 'insurrection.'

Trump said at a White House briefing that 'at a certain point it goes to Congress' raising the prospect of a contested election

He then raised the prospect of an election so disputed that it ends up being decided not by the direct vote or the Electoral College, but by the House of Representatives.

'It's not just the counting of the ballots, which, by the way will take forever,' Trump fumed. 'It'll take forever. You think November 3rd? You might not have  I guess, at a certain point it goes to Congress. At a certain point it goes to Congress  you know that,' he said.

The Constitution provides for the House to decide disputed elections, where each state delegation gets a single vote  a situation that could favor the Republicans, depending on the composition of the new Congress.

Although Democrats currently control the House and are likely to keep it, Republicans currently control a majority of state delegations.

Trump unloaded on mail-in ballots, which he describes as fraudulent, even as he defended his own absentee ballot in Florida. Several states use mail-in ballots for their elections.

People outside a Dolce & Gabbana store in Soho on Monday, June 1, 2020 in Manhattan, N.Y. Trump vowed to put down any violent demonstrations on Election Day

Trump was asaked about Attorney General Bill Barr urging prosecutors to go after violent prosecutors with sedition charges, as well as his own comments about putting down violent protests, which he previously termed an 'insurrection'

The president raised the prospect of a contested being thrown to the House

The president once again railed against mail-in voting. Here a workere prepares absentee ballots for mailing at the Wake County Board of Elections in Raleigh, N.C., Thursday, Sept. 3, 2020

'It's very dangerous for our country. And you know who knows that better than anybody? The Democrats,' Trump said.

Asked about his prior comments, made on Judge Jeanine Pirro's show on Fox, as well as attorney general Bill Barr urging prosecutors to go after violent prosecutors with sedition charges, Trump responded: 'If there's any kind of demonstration of violence, there will be nothing that interferes with this product, this vote.'

'There's going to be nothing,' he added.

'If we have violent demonstrations yes we will put it down very, very quickly if there is, absolutely.

Then he continued: 'The biggest problem we have right now are the ballots. Millions of ballots going out. That's the biggest problem.'

Trump then dismissed intelligence warnings about Russian election interference, as well as preferences by China and Iran. 'When you talk about other countries, whether it's China, Russia, or many others that get mentioned, they're in a much better position with these paper ballots to do something than they would ever be under the old system,' Trump said.

Trump said he considered Democratic governors pushing mail voting amid the pandemic a greater threat than Russia.

'Our biggest threat to this election is governors from opposing parties controlling ballots, millions of ballots. To me that's a much bigger threat than foreign countries,' Trump said.

The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Barr had warned prosecutors that violent protests could escalate as the elections approach, and pushed them to use the rarely used sedition laws, which would require the feds to prove a conspiracy against the government.

The president's comments ran through a handful of issues that threaten to form a toxic combination on Election Day: new and competing forms of voting, the potential for foreign interference, accusations of partisanship in election oversight, and angry demonstrations after a summer of protest.

He declined to answer repeated follow-ups by DailyMail.com about whether he might declare victory before mail-in ballots are counted.

'This is a disgrace. This is being done on purpose. They know it's no good. they know it's going to be fraudulent. It's going to be fraud all over the place. Who's getting the ballots? Who's sending the ballots?' Trump asked.

'They have people saying you don't need a verified signature. This is a serious threat to our democracy, and the Democrats know that,' Trump said.

Trump defended his own use of the mail to vote  with the frequent flier saying he couldn't make it to battleground Florida, where he switched his residence from New York.

'If you solicit the ballot, you go through a process. You ask for a ballot because you can't be there for a large number of reasons  I'm doing it myself,' Trump said. 'I won't be able to be in Florida. You solicit and they send it back. You do it and you send it back. that's the process that you go through.'

But he would only give his full support to in-person voting, and said the coronavirus would be less of a threat by Election Day.

'The thing that really works is you go to the ballot box. it's going to be very safe,' he said.

'I think by that time covid will be even lower. it's going to be very low. It's going to be a very safe process,' Trump said.

He complained about Nevada's Democratic governor Steve Sisolak holding oversight over elections in his state, and brought up a recent grievance after having two planned outdoor rallies shut down.

He called Sisolak someone 'who is a political person, very political, far beyond being governor, where they try to stop you from making a speech unsuccessfully, but we had to move around a lot, had to move quickly. So this same guy that tried to stop you from making free speech outside, they forced us inside because of what they did. But outside. This is the guy that's controlling ballots,' Trump said.

He complained about 'missing ballots, ballots that never showed up, ballots with bad signatures, ballots with no signatures ...'

He claimed without evidence that Democratic governors would open states once the elections are over  and claimed they wanted bad coronavirus numbers.

'It'll open on November 4th. it'll open up right after the election. but they want people to -- they want our numbers to be as bad as possible,' Trump said.

Trump's politically volatile comments came at a briefing where he started out showing a chart with morbidity from the coronavirus. ''The blue states have tremendous death rates,' Trump said of traditionally Democratic-voting states. 'If you take the blue states out, we're at a level I don't think anybody in the world would be at,' he said.
With $185 million in capital infrastructure investments, Seaspan's Vancouver Shipyard was purpose-built for the construction of the Polar Icebreaker and is the only shipyard in Canada with the workforce, facilities and capacity in place today to deliver the complex vessel by the Coast Guard's critical 2029 deadline. A new Polar Icebreaker is urgently required to replace the CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent, which is the only ship in the Canadian fleet capable of year-round operations in the Arctic and is now in its sixth decade of service and rapidly approaching end of life.

Seaspan will draw on Genoa's expertise in leveraging advanced technology to develop digital ship models. The company has played a critical role over the past six years in the design of modern ice-capable ships for the Canadian Coast Guard and is also currently working as a sub-contractor on the Polar Security Program in the United States, the US equivalent of the Canadian Polar Icebreaker program.

Since being selected as Canada's strategic NSS partner, Seaspan Shipyards has helped rebuild Canada's marine industrial sector and become an economic engine for the industry across Canada. Seaspan has also become a revenue lifeline for small to medium-sized businesses (SMEs) across the country, delivering $1.5 billion to Canada's gross domestic product* and awarding more than $1 billion in NSS-related contracts. Genoa Design is one of these SME successes. Growing from 20 employees to more than 220 since joining Seaspan's supply chain in 2014, Genoa has matured its service offering, gained significant expertise, and expanded its business. The company is now a recognized industry leader, a Canadian exporter, and a champion for the emerging innovation economy in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Uniquely positioned along Iceberg Alley, Newfoundland and Labrador is the go-to jurisdiction for Arctic know-how and expertise, and a global leader in cold-ocean technology and marine operations. As a gateway to the Arctic, the province is home to the Canadian Coast Guard Atlantic Regional Headquarters, a primary base of operations servicing Canada's Arctic, and home port for Canada's existing heavy icebreaker, the CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent. It is also home base for more than 40 research facilities that are focused on the ocean, the Arctic, and harsh environment research and technology development, led by many of the world's authorities on cold-ocean, ice-prone environments and severe sea states.

At a time when the need to leverage federal procurement dollars to support Canadian companies and employees has never been greater, construction of the Polar Icebreaker by Seaspan's team will support thousands of Canadian jobs across the country over the multi-year life of the program. Beyond Genoa, the National Shipbuilding Strategy and the Polar Icebreaker program represent jobs and procurement opportunities well-suited to Newfoundland and Labrador's established cold-ocean and mega-projects supply chain. This is especially important now, as the provincial economy has been hit hard by both the COVID19 pandemic and the need to diversify the Newfoundland and Labrador economy.

Genoa Design joins Ontario's Heddle Shipyards, the largest operator of shipyards on the Great Lakes, on Seaspan's Polar Icebreaker team. Heddle will fabricate ship modules at its three Ontario shipyards, in Hamilton, St. Catharines and Thunder Bay, and at its facility in Mount Pearl, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Quotes

"This province is home to world-renowned ingenuity, and it is wonderful to see a local company making a mark, as Genoa is under the leadership of CEO Gina Pecore. As Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, I want to congratulate Genoa Design on this important teaming agreement with Seaspan Shipyards to create Canada's future Polar Icebreaker."

 Honourable Andrew Furey, Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador

"A world-class marine supply chain in Canada is critical to our ability to build world-class ships for Canada. One cannot happen without the other. Genoa is a classic example of the industrial and economic impact possible when innovation, investment and opportunity come together. As Canada's national shipbuilding partner, Seaspan has put together the best team in Canada  coast-to-coast  to deliver the Polar Icebreaker on the Coast Guard's critical timeline."

 Mark Lamarre, Chief Executive Officer, Seaspan Shipyards

"Genoa's NSS work with Seaspan has fueled our growth and enabled us to earn a place on major shipbuilding programs in North America. We're pleased and ready to support Seaspan's mission to deliver Canada's next Polar Icebreaker and to help extend the benefits of that program to Newfoundland and Labrador. As a global leader in Arctic and cold ocean technology and marine operations, this province is home to a cluster of companies, innovators and R&D facilities that can provide unmatched value to the construction of Canada's next Polar Icebreaker."

 Gina Pecore, Chief Executive Officer, Genoa Design International

Quick Facts:

Seaspan is the only shipyard in Canada with the workforce, facilities and capacity in place today to deliver the complex Polar Icebreaker by the Coast Guard's critical 2029 deadline.





with the workforce, facilities and capacity in place today to deliver the complex Polar Icebreaker by the Coast Guard's critical 2029 deadline. As a result of its NSS-related activities, Seaspan Shipyards has become an economic engine for Canada's marine industry, contributing $1.5 billion to Canada's gross domestic product.

*Source: Deloitte Socio -economic Impact Study, February 2020





marine industry, contributing to gross domestic product. *Source: -economic Impact Study, Seaspan, the first shipyard to deliver a vessel under the NSS, is about to deliver its third Offshore Fisheries Science Vessel to the Canadian Coast Guard, thus completing the first class of ships under the NSS.





Genoa Design's work on the NSS has directly contributed more than $100M to Newfoundland and Labrador's economy. In 2020, Genoa's operations and capital investment activities will deliver approximately $30M to the provincial GDP, sustain 220 full time employees, and generate approximately $3M in provincial and municipal government revenues.





to and economy. In 2020, operations and capital investment activities will deliver approximately to the provincial GDP, sustain 220 full time employees, and generate approximately in provincial and municipal government revenues. Newfoundland and Labrador has more than 40 labs and research facilities focused on the ocean, the Arctic, and harsh environment research and technology development.





and has more than 40 labs and research facilities focused on the ocean, the Arctic, and harsh environment research and technology development. Newfoundland and Labrador has a mature supply chain and service community with more than 600 companies that support industries which regularly operate in Arctic-like conditions.

Associated Links

Watch the Genoa Design video about today's announcement

National Shipbuilding Strategy

Seaspan Shipyards

Seaspan NSS

Genoa Design

Seaspan Shipyards and Heddle Shipyards join forces in bid to deliver the Polar Icebreaker to the Canadian Coast Guard

Social Media

Twitter: @MoreThanShips

LinkedIn: Seaspan ULC

Instagram: @SeaspanULC

Twitter: @GenoaDesign

Facebook: GenoaDesignInt

LinkedIn: Genoa Design International Ltd

Instagram: @GenoaDesign

About Seaspan Shipyards

Seaspan Shipyards, a division of Seaspan ULC, is a leader in Canada's shipbuilding and ship repair industry. With modern facilities and a dedicated workforce of 2,700 in North Vancouver and Victoria, the company has proven itself to be a trusted partner on a range of complex projects for both government and the private sector.

Seaspan Shipyards is proud to be Canada's chosen non-combat shipbuilder under the NSS. In this capacity, the company is building state-of-the-art ships in Canada for the Canadian Coast Guard and Royal Canadian Navy. Through its NSS-related work, Seaspan Shipyards is creating jobs, generating economic benefits and rebuilding Canada's shipbuilding and marine industries.

About Genoa Design International

Genoa Design International has been providing production design and 3D modeling services to shipbuilding and offshore industries since 1995. In that time, they have become one of the most sought-after production design firms in the North American shipbuilding market with a commitment to quality as an ISO 9001:2015 certified organization.

With a team of more than 200 designers, engineers, naval architects, administrators and technical support staff dispersed between their four locations in Mount Pearl, NL; Vancouver, BC; Halifax, Nova Scotia and New Orleans, US, Genoa provides expertise and dedicated support throughout the shipbuilding process. Currently, Genoa is active in major government initiatives such as Canada's National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS) and in commercial contracts in shipyards throughout North America.

SOURCE Seaspan Shipyards

For further information: Media Contacts: Seaspan Shipyards, Keelan Green, [email protected], 613-220-2016; Genoa Design International, Erika Kelland, [email protected], 709-690-4174

Related Links

https://www.seaspan.com/


By PTI

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Assembly's Minorities Committee on Wednesday expressed displeasure over Delhi Police not providing it copies of FIRs related to riots in the northeast district and directed the home secretary to seek an explanation from the force.

The committee also discussed in detail the issue of compensation for the riot victims.

AAP MLA Amantullah Khan, the chairman of the committee, instructed the Delhi government's home secretary to seek clarification from Delhi Police on the issue, according to an official statement.

"Delhi Police not providing a copy of the FIRs related to the riots to the Committee of Legislative Assembly was the most important issue in the meeting," it said.

The committee also called three riot victims for deposition.

ALSO READ | Delhi riots: HC asks accused to move bail plea after filing of charge sheet in UAPA case

"Two women alleged that their homes were looted, while one witness claimed that his brother was killed in the riots. But no FIR was registered by the police in the three cases," the statement said.

Those cases, where compensation was allegedly less than the actual damage, were also discussed in the meeting and Khan directed officials to reconsider all such matters, it said.

The Delhi Police special cell on Wednesday reached Karkardooma Court and filed a chargesheet in the Delhi violence case stating that anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) WhatsApp groups were used to fuel violence in North-East Delhi in February this year.

The chargesheet was filed under the sections of the UAPA/IPC/Arms Act in the Delhi violence case. The Delhi Police said that they are relying on digital evidence, WhatsApp chats, and call detail records (CDRs), and that it has also received sanction from the Centre and the state in this regard.

Delhi Police informed the Court that it will be filing a supplementary chargesheet as the investigation is underway. DCP Special Cell, Pramod Kushwaha represented himself before the court of Special Judge Amitabh Rawat.

ALSO READ | Six more accused to be charge-sheeted soon for 'larger conspiracy' in February riots: Delhi Police

"The evidence includes WhatsApp chats of February 24. That was the time when the violence took place. At that point, key conspirators were guiding their foot soldiers about violence in the area. The conspirators used a WhatsApp group to incite violence in Seelampur and Jaffarabad areas. A total of 25 WhatsApp groups were specially created for 25 protest sites. The impression was given that they were anti-CAA protest group, but through these groups, conspirators were guiding the people on the ground," Delhi police said.

"Some WhatsApp chats have been deleted. But whatever has been recovered has been submitted as the evidence. Police identified each group. Each group has got its own role in the conspiracy. Three levels of conspirators were there - Top-level, Middle-level conspirators and foot soldiers who were rioters," it added.

The police said that there are around 20,000 pages in the chargesheet from which the operative part is 2,692 pages and the total pages including the annexure are around 17,500. There are 747 witnesses, it stated.

The names of the 15 accused have been reported as -- Tahir Hussain, Md Parvez Ahmed, Md Iliyas, Saifi Khalid, Ishrat Jahan, Miran Haider, Safoora Zargar, Asif Iqbal Tanha, Shadab Ahmed, Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita, Tasleem Ahmed, Saleem Malik, Md Saleem Khan, and Athar Khan.

"Today's chargesheet does not have the names of Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam. They will be in the supplementary chargesheet as their arrest was made just a few days before the filing of the chargesheet," Delhi Police said.

A total of 53 people died and 581 got injured in North-East Delhi violence in February this year.

(With ANI Inputs)
Discussions on reverting mission schools to the Missions will be re-opened if the National Democratic Congress (NDC) returns to government, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, Vice Presidential Candidate of the NDC has said.



According to her, although the previous NDC administration was prepared to hand over the mission schools, the discussions with the Missions regarding their arrangements to manage the schools, were inconclusive.



We are prepared to hand over, but we have to make sure that the Missions have the capacity to manage the schools effectively, she said.



A statement signed by Mawuena Trebarh, her Spokesperson and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra said the Running Mate said it during an interaction with the clerics of the Sekondi Diocese of the Methodist Church in Sekondi as part of her campaign tour of the Western region.



The government took over the mission schools due to inadequate managerial capacity and resources of the Missions to manage their schools.



However, in the last several years, the Missions have been asking for managerial control of their schools to be returned to them.



It is a conversation which we will re-open and concluded when we return to power, she said.



Prof. Opoku-Agyemang explained that as much as the NDC government would want the Missions to have the schools, it would be interested in ensuring that the Missions have the management capacity, the resources to pay staff, and structures for open and fair admission.



During her tenure as Education Minister, she said while some Missions were calling on government to hand over the schools to them, other religious bodies were requesting the government to absorb their schools due to the difficulty in managing the academic institutions.



We are ready to hand over the schools, but we dont want to return to the reason the schools were taken over by the government, she said.



She assured the Missions of enhanced partnership in managing the schools for the benefit of the children, describing the contribution of the Missions to the development of the countrys education system as enormous.



The next NDC government shall enhance its partnership with the Missions to advance the level of education in the country, Prof. Opoku-Agyemang said.



Rt. Rev. Daniel De-Graft Brace, Bishop of the Sekondi Diocese, thanked the Running Mate for her sincerity on the matter, and assured her of the support of the church.

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 Oregon Department of Human Services is asking for the publics help in locating a missing teenage foster child who might be in danger, the agency said Wednesday.

Mataya Gearhart, 16, was last seen in Portland on Sept. 8, officials said in a statement.

Gearhart was described as 5 feet 6 inches tall. Officials said she is believed to be in danger, but did not provide any further details.

Gearhart previously went missing in Oregon in May.

Anyone who sees Gearhart or who has information regarding her whereabouts was asked to contact local police or call 911.

-- Kale Williams; kwilliams@oregonian.com; 503-294-4048; @sfkale
(Photo : objectivity haver/ Twitter) Unprecedented Number of Birds Drop Dead Across New Mexico as Wild Fire Rage the West Coast (Photo : REUTERS/Patrick T. Fallon) A helicopter drops water to help extinguish the Bobcat Fire, in Arcadia, California, U.S., September 13, 2020.

New Mexico's Game & Fish Department has been receiving numerous reports about thousands of bird found dead across the state. While it is still what causes this strange phenomenon, experts think this may be due to raging wildfires on the West Coast.

Game & Fish Department spokeswoman Tristanna Bickford said that they have been receiving calls beginning September 8 "and they haven't really stopped since then." Bickford begged to confirm with Santa Fe New Mexican the cause yet as it would just be "pure speculation."

However, New Mexico State University Professor Martha Desmond told CNN that dead birds were found at the White Sands National Monument and the US Army White Sands Missile Range as early as August 20. It was first believed to be an isolated incident before the widespread problem was exposed across the state, including in Socorro, Jemez Pueblo, Dona Ana County, and Roswell.

"We've never seen anything like this," Prof. Desmond the said adding that this "terribly frightening" phenomenon is affecting up to millions of migratory birds.

According to the Daily Mail, experts have speculated that the early freeze experienced the state have led the birds' feathers to be wet while their food sources are destroyed. Wildfires in California and other Western states could also be poisoning the air as well as changing the patterns or timing of migration as birds may have been forced into early migration.

Desmond said that birds might have not had enough fat to survive while others might have not even had the reserves, which are needed in migration, "so they died in place."

Similarly, Texas, Mexico, and Colorado also have discovered hundreds of dead birds that include blackbirds, sparrows, bluebirds, and warblers. These species are both migratory and year-round species, and they are all insectivores. There is still no official number yet on the deaths of birds.

Meanwhile, journalist Austin Fisher posted a footage showing dozens of dead birds scattered on the ground in northern Rio Arriba County as was hiking on September 13.

pic.twitter.com/XXVM4AZrDu I just recorded this up in Velarde, N.M. I've never seen anything like it. I'm told of other dead migratory birds found in Hernandez, Ojo Sarco and El Valle de Arroyo Seco. https://t.co/GpeFZbyuW7  objectivity haver (@austieJFish) September 14, 2020

87 wildfires rage the West Coast

According to the National Interagency Fire Center, firefighters have been struggling to put out 87 large wildfires that are currently burning in 10 states across the West Coast since mid-August. These fire incidents led to 35 deaths, including a child in Washington, 24 in California, 10 in Oregon while over 42,000 structures have been destroyed.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said on Twitter than "not much is known about the impacts of smoke and wildfires on birds" as thick smoke from these recent fires has already reached as far as New York, Canada, and the Midwest.

Biologists and residents reported that birds were acting strangely before their death. Prof. Desmond said they observed a number of birds were unresponsive and lethargic, which caused them to be hit by cars in large numbers.

"This is devastating," Desmond said adding that some questions still remain aside from the role of fires and dry weather in the birds' deaths and strange behaviour.

"Climate charge is playing a role in this," Desmond noted.

The biologist explained that the U.S. has already lost about 3 billion birds since 1970 as well as a tremendous decline in insects, so the current phenomenon "is terrifying to these populations and it's devastating to see."

Read also:Killer Whales Surprise Researchers With Their Unusual Behavior After Attacking Boats

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Written by CJ Robles

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A sign on the smoke-free gaming floor at Park MGM directs guests to outdoor locations where they can light up. (MGM Resorts)

After a pandemic shutdown in March, Park MGM plans to reopen at the end of September as a nonsmoking casino and hotel. It's the first Las Vegas resort that won't welcome smokers. "Lets clear the air. Park MGM is smoke-free," its website announced Monday.

The new policy applies to MGM as well as NoMad, its hotel within a hotel. "Its something that were looking forward to definitely continuing for the long future," said Anton Nikodemus, who heads the company's Las Vegas properties. "As we had seen an increasing amount ... of guests looking for a nonsmoking alternative  we finally felt now would be the best time to make that decision.

The hotel-casino, which includes Bavettes Steakhouse, Primrose and Italian marketplace Eataly, will reopen Sept. 30. The former Monte Carlo opened two years ago with all nonsmoking guest rooms. State law also banned smoking in restaurants, but Park MGMs casino allowed players to smoke until coronavirus forced all Nevada casinos to close March 17.

The Park MGM and NoMad in Las Vegas will reopen Sept. 30. (MGM Resorts)

"While weve had it closed, we purchased all new carpet for the casino," Nikodemus said. "We redid the ceiling lighting and new paint. And [there are] new wall coverings around the entire exterior of the casino. It is a brand-new, fresh casino experience for our customers when they return."

Las Vegas observers say the timing may be right for a smoke-free resort. "If it was ever going to work, now would probably be the time," said Anthony Curtis, publisher of Las Vegas Advisor, a newsletter for visitors.

"I think that everybodys trying to find something thats going to be unique given the (COVID) situation," he added. "Vegas is fighting for tourists again.  Theyre fighting for that dollar."

The publication in August polled readers on whether they agreed with the idea of a smoke-free casino. The results, based on more than 1,500 votes, showed that 57% of respondents support some sort of smoking ban. Nearly 1 in 4 agreed with banning smoking in casinos.

Story continues

Michael Green, an associate professor of history at University of Nevada Las Vegas, also agreed that a nonsmoking resort may prove successful. "I think we are seeing the future upon us," he said. "Our awareness of COVID, the masks and all that involves, is discouraging smoking further.  I dont think theyd do this until they think there is a demand."

MGM Resorts eight other Vegas casinos already have set aside portions of their gaming floors for nonsmoking guests. Some smoke-free table games are available at Wynn-Encore. The poker room at the Venetian is also smoke-free.

Green said that based on the citys history, he doesnt expect other resorts to quickly ban smoking. "Las Vegas earned a reputation for being the place you went to do bad things that werent necessarily good for you," he said. "Las Vegas has long encouraged this behavior."

But Green added that Park MGMs no-smoking policy may mean attitudes are changing.

"Does it mean that we will end up entirely with no-smoking properties on the Strip? I doubt that, he said. [But] I wouldnt be amazed if at some point somebody advertises, Oh, come here, well let you smoke if it does spread.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
LONDON  Emily Wilson, a classicist, translator and single mother in Philadelphia, has spent much of lockdown home-schooling her three children and caring for a puppy. On top of that, as one of this years Booker Prize judges, she had to read more than 100 books.

She often woke before dawn to keep up the pace, which at times meant finishing a book a day. But she said in a telephone interview that the task was a great gift during this challenging year. Whenever she thought about turning on the news to check coronavirus death rates, she could tell herself, No, I cant do that. Ive got 300 pages of a great novel to read.

For that escape, Wilson said, I was very lucky.

Among the countless projects, events and routines that the pandemic has upended, the Booker Prize, one of the worlds most prestigious literary awards, has also had a year like no other. The five judges, who typically gather in London several times before announcing the winner, instead met over Zoom, and they completed their reading assignments in wildly divergent circumstances.

The British author and critic Sameer Rahim read book after book with his newborn baby asleep in the crook of his arm. Lee Child, the best-selling thriller writer, has been at his Wyoming ranch, surrounded by acres of emptiness. The poet Lemn Sissay has been in a London apartment.
Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday said that he has tested positive for coronavirus COVID-19. The minister took to twitter to inform that he is asymptomatic and is under self-isolation.

Bommai also urged everyone who had come in contact with him in the last few days to undergo test immediately and take appropriate precautions.

The infection was confirmed in the Covid-19 test yesterday for a working boy in our home. Against this backdrop I have also been tested and I have been infected, have no symptoms and are healthy and isolated at home. Those who have recently come in direct contact with me are urged to get tested immediately and take appropriate precautions, tweeted the minister.

Live TV

Meanwhile, India's coronavirus COVID-19 tally jumped past 50 lakh on Wednesday, just 11 days after it crossed 40 lakh, with 90,123 new cases of infections being reported in a day, while recoveries surged to 39,42,360 on Wednesday.

The Union Health Ministrys 8 AM data showed that total coronavirus cases mounted to 50,20,359, while the death toll climbed to 82,066 with a record 1,290 people succumbing to the disease in a span of 24 hours.

A total of 82,066 deaths have been reported so far in the country includes 30,409 from Maharashtra followed by 8,502 from Tamil Nadu, 7,481 from Karnataka, 5,041 from Andhra Pradesh, 4,806 from Delhi, 4,604 from Uttar Pradesh, 4,062 from West Bengal, 3,244 from Gujarat, 2,514 from Punjab and 1,820 from Madhya Pradesh.
Purpose

The purpose of the CARE Team (Community, Assessment, Response, Education) is to identify as early as possible students who are in need of support to achieve success academically and/or socially as members of the MCLA campus community. The purpose of the CARE Team includes coordinating the provision of various levels of intervention ranging from informal reminders to individual case management based upon evaluation of risk factors. The information that this Team discusses is confidential.

Any Campus Community member can submit a notification report that will go directly to the Dean of Students for review and referral to the CARE Team.

The CARE Team is a self-sustaining committee that is led by the Dean of Students, Student Affairs Division.

Reasons to refer a student to the CARE Team include:

 The student remains distressed following attempts by you and others to be helpful  The student becomes increasingly isolated, unkempt, irritable or disconnected  The student's academic or social performance deteriorates  The student's behavior reflects increased hopelessness or helplessness  The student shows significant and marked changes in behavior or mood  The student demonstrates an inability to care for oneself

The CARE Team is comprised of key campus community members that can provide direction for referrals, interventions, and strategies for individual student success. This committee will meet regularly to address the CARE Team reports received and address trends as a proactive approach in support of student success. There could be a decision to request a CARE Team meeting for immediate review of report. There are times when additional members of the Community will be requested to join based on information received about a student(s).

 Dean of Students  Chair

 Dean of Academic Affairs

 Dean of Student Success & Engagement

 Director of TRiO Program

 Director of Athletics

 Director of Residence Life & Housing

 Director of Counseling Services

Additional Departments/Offices that can be requested to attend a meeting.

 Faculty Members

 Police Department

 Chief Diversity Office

 Health Services

 Disability Services

 Veterans Services

 Marketing and Public Relations

 Other Dept./ Campus Members as needed

CARE Team Notification Report

The CARE Team notification report is a valuable tool to help monitor students who are having academic and social concerns. The CARE Team uses this notification in order to take concrete steps to assure that each student receives appropriate support. The CARE Team report can be found on the MCLA Portal page and the following link

CARE Team Report Form

Importance of Confidentiality

Confidentiality Statement: Providing effective recommendations to improve student success requires the collection of information regarding academic and student life. Some of the information collected and discussed is protected under FERPA guidelines. CARE Team members recognize the sensitive and confidential nature of the information collected and discussed during CARE Team meetings and communications. Disclosure of protected information to necessary parties will be determined by the Dean of Students; with documentation of what material will be releases, to whom, and for what purpose.

Additional Resources:

Connect with Counseling Services: Making an Appointment Students are seen at Counseling Services by appointment only. To schedule an appointment, students are welcome to call Counseling Services and speak with a member of our staff or call (413) 662-5331 between the hours of 8:30 am-4:30 pm, Monday-Friday. Students may also email Counseling Services with scheduling or other non-urgent questions at counselingservices@mcla.edu.

Guide to Helping Students in Crisis

Resources for Students
She moved into her new home with fiance Ben Bhanvra last week.

And Louisa Lytton wasted no time getting started on the home renovations as she gave fans a glimpse into their plans on Tuesday.

Taking to Instagram, the 31-year-old actress documented her day as she set to work painting the front room.

DIY: Louisa Lytton wasted no time getting started on the home renovations as she gave fans a glimpse into their plans on Tuesday

Louisa stripped down to a bikini as she enjoyed the balmy weather with a quick rest outside before cracking on with painting.

Disaster then struck as the actress accidentally got paint splattered into her hair after following fan advice to use a primer on the walls.

On Monday, Louisa took to Instagram to document the early stages of transforming her new abode after moving her things into the home.

Fun in the sun: Louisa stripped down to a bikini as she enjoyed the balmy weather with a quick rest outside before cracking on with painting

Hard work: Taking to Instagram, the 31-year-old actress documented her day as she set to work painting the front room

Oops: Disaster then struck as the actress accidentally got paint splattered into her hair after following fan advice to use a primer on the walls

Louisa took to social media to share a snap of herself and husband-to-be Ben sat in the back of the moving lorry surrounded by boxes.

The star admitted the chance to buy their first home was a welcome consolation after the COVID-19 pandemic forced them to cancel their wedding.

She penned the caption: 'Still unpacking i honestly don't know how all of that stuff fit in our little flat.

'I feel so overwhelmed (in a good way) my flat was my baby, it looked after us during lockdown, it allowed me and the girls (@alexlouizebird @mariannaneo ) to fall in drunk after nights out, have nights in with 3BlindMice (@cartierfraseriheacho @mafromusic) it even had a space in the bed for @natashastonemua for a whole month whilst she held my hand and supplied lots of wine through a break up.

Love nest: Louisa revealed she'd moved into a new house with fiance Ben Bhanvra on Monday after COVID-19 forced them to cancel their big day

Love nest: The actress took to Instagram to document the early stages of transforming her new abode

Pretty corner: The following evening the star shared another snap of the cards she'd received to congratulate her on the move, perched neatly on a new rattan table

'It was mine and @bennnyy__ first home. Goodbye wedding (for now) Hello house  Shall I update you on the progress or are we bored of home accounts?!'

Louisa then shared a video montage of her and Ben moving into their home to the John Legend track Good Morning, with the living room and driveway completed covered in boxes and bags.

The following evening the star shared another snap of the cards she'd received to congratulate her on the move, perched neatly on a new rattan table.

She penned the caption: 'Thanks for the comments, I'll update as I go (i'm nervous as I'm really not good at this gram stuff) The only corner acceptable enough to post right now.'

Changes: She later documented the move with a video montage, which displayed her living room covered with bags and boxes

Good news: The star admitted the chance to buy their first home was a welcome consolation after the COVID-19 pandemic forced them to cancel their wedding

The Ruby Allen actress later took to her Stories to document the early stages of transforming her home, including making friends with the new neighbourhood cat, and helping her nearby mother paint her fence.

Louisa was forced to postpone her wedding in the US earlier this year due to the coronavirus crisis.

But her spirits were recently lifted after her friends threw her a surprise hen do in the park on the day they should have been flying out to Croatia together.

The actress revealed that she was tricked into believing she was going to Ikea with her fiance, before actually being surprised with a picnic.

Cute: Louisa later took to her Stories to document the early stages of transforming her home, including making friends with the new neighbourhood cat

She captioned the snaps: 'Today we would have been jetting off for my hen do, instead I went to work, came home and argued with Ben as to why I didn't want to 'go to IKEA in 30 degree heat'.

'Little did I know it was all a ploy to get me to my surprise pre hen picnic. What a special day, social distance celebrations are fast becoming my fave. A picnic with my girls in the sun. All that was needed x love you all x Thank you.'

Louisa is yet to reveal when he wedding, which should have been taking place in August, has been rescheduled for.

Louisa and Ben got engaged on her 30th birthday while on holidays in the Maldives last year, just a year after being together.
Delta Mu Delta, founded in 1913, was established to recognize and reward superior scholastic achievement by students of business administration. In 1963 it was admitted to membership in the Association of College Honor Societies, an organization of 68 member national honor societies whose purpose is to maintain desirable standards. Delta Mu Delta is affiliated with the Association of Collegiate Schools of Business and Programs. In the United States, 155 Delta Mu Delta chapters have been formed in fully accredited public and private colleges with membership of over 78,000. Here at MCLA we have the Zeta Zeta Chapter of Delta Mu Delta, established in 1992. Since then we have inducted over 650 members into our local chapter.

Hoping to join in the future? If you have any questions about eligibility for the society, please contact Dr. Ovitsky, faculty adviser for DMD, at N.Ovitsky@mcla.edu, or call her at 413 662-5306.

For more information on the society, go to Delta Mu Delta.

Delta Mu Delta Inductees, Officers, Faculty, and Administrators

Kim Noltemy of Boston Symphony Orchestra, Spring 2015 Delta Mu Delta Honorary Inductee.

Three of our honorary Delta Mu Delta members at a Berkshire Chamber Good News Breakfast - Mike Supranowicz, Director of Business Development at Hillcrest Education Centers, Tyler Fairbank, CEO of The Fairbank Group, and Karen Zink, President & COO of Berkshire Gas

Sheila N. Keator, Partner of Keator Group LLC, inducted in 2011 as Honorary DMD Member.
Why Jill Duggar Dillard Decided to Drink Alcohol: Im Okay with People Not Being Okay with It

Growing up, the whole idea of drinking was not encouraged, Jill Duggar Dillard tells PEOPLE

Jill Duggar Dillard made headlines last week after revealing she drank an alcoholic pina colada. Now, the reality star is speaking out about her surprising decision.

We have boundaries, Jill, 29, tells PEOPLE. In our faith, we believe like we're not supposed to get drunk. So, with drinking, it's not like we're just like going crazy. Its more socially here and there, or at home, for a date or something. Our kids are pretty young right now, but I think it's good for them to see a healthy balance.

Raised by her devout Baptist parents Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, Jill and her siblings starred on the TLC series 19 Kids and Counting, which documented the conservative familys life, from their "modest" dress code to strict rules about dating.

Growing up, the whole idea of drinking was not encouraged, Jill says. I know my parents would not be happy with it, and I know that my siblings, some more than others, would probably have an issue with it. Other ones would probably be like, 'Whatever's good for yall, that's fine. Live your life.' So far nobody's said anything to us about it.

After adhering to her family's courting tradition, Jill and husband Derek Dillard wed in 2014, later welcoming sons sons Israel, 5, and Samuel, 3. The couple will be hosting a Q&A series on their blog, DillardFamily.com, and on their YouTube channel, Dillard Family Official. Fans can submit questions on the blog in the comments section.

Jill Duggar/Instagram Jill Duggar Dillard

Jill says she and Derek have changed in more ways than one in recent years.

I think we've grown a lot as a couple, and Im okay with people not being okay with it," she says. "Sometimes it's a good thing. I'm very much a people pleaser, so not doing something because I was afraid of what other people would think. Or keeping my opinion quiet because I don't want to have to worry about conflict.

Story continues

RELATED VIDEO: PEOPLE Explains: Jill Duggar Dillard Distancing From Her Family

PEOPLE Explains: Jill Duggar Dillard Distancing From Her Family

Everything you need to know about Jill breaking away from the Duggar family norms

Jill continues: The journey that we've been on as a couple, were being better about having boundaries and our own family life.

The pair add that their new perspective has been a positive change all around for them. "We're okay with letting people see more of our life, and our journey. Just being at a healthier place and realizing that it's okay to be transparent. It's been really good," Jill says.
A Jersey City man grabbed a woman off a Jersey City street in the early hours Saturday morning and sexually assaulted her, authorities said.

Bili Crisostomo-Hernandez, 23, of Jersey City, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with second-degree sexual assault, fourth-degree criminal sexual contact, third-degree hindering and fourth-degree providing false statements, Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez said.

The prosecutors office said the 28-year-old female was walking in the area of Ogden Avenue and South Street in the Jersey City Heights at approximately 3:30 a.m. Saturday when the attack occurred.

The Prosecutors Office has filed a detention motion, which is scheduled for Sept. 21. The prosecutors office did not provide any other details or say what led the Special Victims Unit to Crisostomo-Hernandez.

Anyone wishing to report a sex crime should call the Hudson County Prosecutors Office Special Victims Unit (SVU) at 201-915-1234.
ISTANBUL  A growing chorus of international human rights groups are raising concern over the ongoing detention of dozens of Turkish lawyers suspected of fostering links to a terrorist organization through their professional activities.

At least 47 Turkish lawyers were taken into police custody during dawn raids on their Ankara homes on Sept. 11 on allegations they were using their legal practices to support followers of the US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, which the Turkish government has accused of orchestrating the 2016 coup attempt.

As of Wednesday, all but two of the lawyers under investigation remained in police custody and were undergoing interrogations regarding their contacts with clients and colleagues. Rights advocates said the investigations were targeting lawyers for representing clients accused of terror links, adding the operation threatens suspects rights to legal defense and broader rule of law norms in Turkey.

Equating lawyers with the profile of those they are defending is a really, really dangerous path to go down, and it absolutely contravenes the principles of what the role and function of a lawyer is, Emma Sinclair-Webb, Turkey director for Human Rights Watch (HRW), told Al-Monitor.

According to a briefing by the Ankara chief prosecutors office, about 60 suspects are being investigated in Ankara and seven other provinces for alleged links to the Gulen network, which the Turkish government refers to as the Fethullah Gulen Terror Organization, or FETO. One suspect who was detained and later released told HRW police detained her at 5:30 a.m. Sept. 11 and confiscated electronic devices from her home.

The lawyers who remain in police custody, which can be extended through court orders up to 12 days under Turkish law, are being held in cells with poor air ventilation amid a growing COVID-19 outbreak in Ankara, posing a potential health risk for the suspects, according to an HRW report.

The Ankara Bar Association released a statement Tuesday alleging the lawyers rights had been violated in the process of their detentions.

The houses of the suspected lawyers were searched without calling the representatives of the bar association, resulting in a clear violation of the law, the bar association said. Phones were seized at dozens of addresses without allowing the lawyers to call their lawyers.

The operation comes after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivered a speech during an opening ceremony for the judicial year Sept. 1, in which he called for the suspension of lawyers accused of terrorism links.

We will do what is necessary to cut off the bloody path from attorneyship to terrorism, Erdogan said during the ceremony.

Nate Schenkkan, director for special research at Freedom House, said the latest wave of arrests was a continuation of pressure on the legal profession that has been ongoing since the 2016 coup attempt.

What is especially disturbing in this wave of arrests is that lawyers are being arrested based on the accusations their clients face. This undermines citizens rights to defend themselves in court, Schenkkan told Al-Monitor. It is a continuation of the evisceration of due process that has occurred in Turkey over the last decade.

Earlier this summer, Turkish lawyers led nationwide protests against a bill that would restructure bar associations in the country. The legislation passed July 11, and Schenkkan described the measure as part of the same picture by which the government seeks to erode one of the last bastions of effective, independent civil society.

The developments also follow the death of a hunger-striking lawyer, Ebru Timtik, in late August. Timtik had been convicted of membership in a terrorist organization and succumbed to a 238-day hunger strike in prison while demanding a fair trial.

Turkish lawyers face ongoing prosecutions as state authorities continue to conduct mass dentations on suspected members of the Gulen movement. On Wednesday, more than 100 people were detained by counterterrorism police across 34 provinces.

Sinclair-Webb warned that if lawyers are subjected to investigations for representing suspects with alleged Gulen movement links, such operations could easily expand to lawyers representing defendants linked to other groups in the country.

Unless we have strong public outcry on this operation, then were going to see this happen to lawyers defending Kurdish defendants and lawyers defending leftist defendants who are also tried for terrorism charges, Sinclair-Webb told Al-Monitor.
Youreplay.com scored 42 Social Media Impact. Social Media Impact score is a measure of how much a site is popular on social networks. 2/5.0 Stars by Social Team

This CoolSocial report was updated on 11 Jul 2013, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want.

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PAGE TITLE Youtube replay - replay youtube video now DESCRIPTION Youtube replay is the best youtube repeat or replay website on this niche and probably one of the oldest one KEYWORDS youtube replay, youtube replay, youtube repeat, you repeat, you replay OTHER KEYWORDS youtube, replay, repeat, youtube repeat, youtube replay, us youtube, your favorite



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DOCTYPE HTML 5.0 CHARSET AND LANGUAGE English (United States) English (United States) DETECTED LANGUAGE English English SERVER Apache/2.2.24 (Unix) mod_ssl/2.2.24 OpenSSL/0.9.8e-fips-rhel5 mod_auth_passthrough/2.1 mod_bwlimited/1.4 FrontPage/5.0.2.2635 (PHP/5.3.24) OPERATIVE SYSTEM Linux Linux

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Over five months, Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara made a major U-turn before declaring to his unsettled country that he would run for a third term.

The violent response to the announcement has stirred memories of a brief civil war that erupted after then president Laurent Gbagbo refused to cede to Ouattara after elections in 2010.

Here is a timeline of this key period in the runup to the October 31 poll:

Ouattara steps aside

On March 5, 2020, Ouattara, 78, announces he will not run for a third term in order to make way for "the younger generation", ending months of speculation over whether he would seek another mandate.

Coulibaly steps in

In mid-March, Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly is nominated as the ruling RHDP party's candidate.

Sudden death

Only July 8 Coulibaly dies unexpectedly from a heart attack, plunging the country into uncertainty.

Ouattara will run

On August 6, Ouattara finally announces he will seek re-election in October.

The opposition slam the decision, saying it is against the constitution, which allows two terms, but Ouattara and his supporters argue that a 2016 constitutional tweak reset the clock.

Protests and violence

Ouattara's announcement triggers protests that turn violent, leaving around 15 people dead.

On August 22 Ouattara is formally chosen by his party to run for a third term.

Gbagbo and Soro candidates

On September 3 Gbagbo as well as former rebel leader turned prime minister Guillaume Soro also file their candidacies.

The ex-president Henri Konan Bedie, 86, is officially nominated as candidate for his party on September 12.

Validated and rejected

On September 14, the Constitutional Council, the country's top court, authorises only four candidacies out of 40 applications it receiveds. It validates Ouattara's bid but bars Gbagbo and Soro.
BBC presenter Stephen Nolan's wealth tops the 3m mark, according to accounts filed with Companies House.

The latest figures for the Radio Ulster and Radio 5 Live presenter's long-running Stephen Nolan Broadcasting Company show net assets of just over 1.4m.

Meanwhile the most recent figures for his Belfast-based TV production company Third Street Studios revealed total assets of 2.4m at December 2018.

This gives the workaholic 47-year-old presenter a total of 3.8m for both firms.

He is listed as a director of several firms in Companies House files, but the cash from his successful broadcasting career is concentrated in Third Street Studios and Stephen Nolan Broadcasting.

Nolan's Third Street Studios is the company behind a string of the star's BBC NI television programmes, including The Top Table, Made in NI and Radio Face.

Read More

Accounts for the company for the year ending September 30, 2018, are described in Companies House files as "unaudited" and "abridged".

They showed Third Street Studios had net assets of 1,558,806.

The statistics give only a snapshot of Nolan's wealth and don't include the award-winning broadcaster's personal savings, property or other investments.

It emerged on Tuesday that the presenter of the self-styled "biggest show in the country" pocketed a salary of almost 400,000 from the licence fee in 2019-20, and that's before the individual projects are accounted for.

The BBC said Nolan's salary hike represented his "income across many projects".

The corporation's latest annual report, which gives pay details of its top earning stars, revealed Nolan took home between 390,000 and 394,999 in the past year, compared with around 325,000 in 2018-19.

His salary is for presenting The Nolan Show on BBC Radio Ulster, The Stephen Nolan Show on BBC Radio 5 Live, and Nolan Live on BBC One Northern Ireland.

It makes him one of the top 10 best paid presenters at the BBC.

Speaking on BBC Radio Ulster's Talkback programme yesterday, People Before Profit councillor Fiona Ferguson said the high salaries paid to BBC stars, coming as many sectors, particularly the arts, face significant cuts here amid Covid-19 pandemic pressures, is "obscene".

"We have workers losing their jobs and people becoming unemployed en masse," she said.

"There are people who are really struggling out here and I don't think we should have people who are paid that amount of money while this is going on," she added.

Mr Nolan did not respond to a request for comment when contacted by the Belfast Telegraph yesterday.

The star, who grew up on Ballysillan Road in north Belfast but now lives in a 1m pad on the shores of Strangford Lough, has previously admitted to being insecure about money, partly due to his childhood and because he lost his life savings - around 200,000 - in the property market crash in 2008.

In a 2012 interview he said losing a fortune through property investment was "one of the most frightening and traumatic things" he had been through.

"I'm sure my insecurity about money comes from not having much when I was young," he added.

"My dad was finding it difficult to pay the fees for me at Belfast Inst while other dads were dropping their kids off to school in flashy Mercs."
LONDON: Britain has returned three antique bronze sculptures to Indian authorities more than 40 years after they were stolen from a Hindu temple in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

A total of four bronzes from the Vijayanagara period, which lasted from the 14th to the 17th century, were stolen in 1978 from a temple dedicated to the god Vishnu in Nagapattinam.

The thieves were convicted in India at the time but it was only in 2019 that three of the statues were found, when the Indian High Commission in London discovered that one of them was being offered for sale by a UK-based dealer.

Alerted by the embassy, the Metropolitan Polices Art and Antiques Unit investigated and was able to establish that the dealer had purchased the item in good faith.

Once he had been shown evidence that the bronze had been stolen, he voluntarily handed over the sculpture, and identified two additional ones from the same group, the police said. All three will now be returned to their homeland.

The Indian High Commission tweeted photographs of the statues, taken during a formal handover to the government of Tamil Nadu, describing the event as an auspicious moment.

The Metropolitan Police said it was proud to have been involved in the return of the bronzes to India.

Not only are they beautiful and historically significant, they are of course of religious importance so its particularly gratifying that they are to be returned to the temple from which they were taken, said Detective Chief Inspector Tim Wright in a statement.

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor
WikiLeaks withheld 15,000 documents about the Afghanistan war to 'protect innocents' from harm, the Old Bailey heard today

Former Der Spiegel reporter John Goetz told Julian Assange's extradition hearing that WikiLeaks was 'removing bad stuff' to ensure no one was put at risk.

Assange, 49, is wanted in the US for allegedly conspiring with army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to expose military secrets between January and May 2010.

The US claim the WikiLeaks founder published the un-redacted names of US informants living in Iraq and Afghanistan. This potentially put their lives in danger, Washington says.

However, Mr Goetz, who worked with The Guardian and New York Times on the Afghan files, said there was no evidence harm came from the leaks.

He told Assange's lawyer Edward Fitzgerald, QC, the news organisations 'over-redacted' the material.

Julian Assange's extradition trial saw the US claim that the WikiLeaks founder published the un-redacted names of US informants living in Iraq and Afghanistan

Former Der Spiegel reporter John Goetz told Julian Assange's extradition hearing that WikiLeaks withheld 15,000 documents about the Afghanistan war to 'protect innocents' from harm

Giving evidence via videolink the investigative journalist told the hearing: 'I was asked to go to London and to meet with the Guardian and with Julian Assange because there was the prospect of us working together on a project about the Afghanistan war logs.

'I went over and was one of the participants in the early meeting in the bunker at the Guardian. All the partners were in the same room.

'We would all be partners in researching material but each outlet would do its own stories about the Afghanistan files.

'It was very unorthodox and it was different. It's fascinating because now it's far more common but at the time it was very unique.

'[The documents] were a fascinating first-hand eye-witness diary of what was happening in Afghanistan during the war.

'You could follow their activities and that hadn't been known that was very new and that's why it was a major story at the time.'

'[Assange] was very concerned with the technical aspect trying to figure out how to find the names in theses massive, massive collection of documents* so we could redact them so we could take measures so they weren't published and no one would be harmed.

Stella Moris (right), the partner of WikiLeaks founder Assange, and his lawyer Jennifer Robinson (left) arriving at the Old Bailey in London on Monday

'It was designed to protect innocents from being harmed.'

Mr Fizgerald asked if the 'harm minimisation process' 'involved contacting the White House for permission and fair warning.

Mr Goetz replied: 'It did. It was agreed the New York Times [would do it] because the team were based in Washington.

'The White House was asking for redactions.

'It was communicated to the White House that 15,000 [Afghanistan war logs] documents would not be published because of the harm minimisation process and that is what happened.'

Assange's lawyer asked Mr Goetz if 'names got through the net' as the US claim.

He replied: 'I don't know if that's true. I have no knowledge of that and I've not seen an example.

'I'm not aware of it.

'WikiLeaks kind of over-redacted and ended up redacting more things than the defence department themselves.

'It turns out there were documents in the Iraq war log that had already been FOI'd [subject to a freedom of information request] and more information was released by the Department of Defence FOI than had been in the WikiLeaks redaction process.

'I don't know of any case of anyone having been harmed from the publication of diplomatic cables.

'WikiLeaks were removing bad stuff.'

Yesterday, the court heard that Assange's extradition trial is a 'politically motivated prosecution' fuelled by Donald Trump's desire to 'keep him quiet' as rumours the President was aided by foreign powers including Russia in the 2016 election continue to plague his 'legitimacy'.

US lawyer Eric Lewis claimed that President Trump is 'desperate to squash' the 'threat' Assange poses to his 'legitimacy' by 'diverting attention' and jailing him, according to his witness statement presented to Assange's extradition hearing.

The Old Bailey in London heard how President Trump has blown hot and cold over the WikiLeaks founder, first calling for his execution in 2010 before making '140 positive mentions' of Assange after WikiLeaks published Democratic National Committee emails to the 'undoubted benefit of Trump' in 2016.

When the emails threatened to 'undermine' his political legitimacy, the US President reverse ferreted and claimed to know nothing about WikiLeaks, only that 'there is something having to do with Julian Assange', it was alleged.

In his statement, Mr Lewis said: 'The prosecution of Julian Assange is part of Trump's efforts to distract attention from the help that WikiLeaks gave to focus attention on the earlier leaks, which are much more politically potent for him.

'He wants to put Mr Assange in jail and keep him quiet.'

The hearing continues.
Myanmar & COVID-19 Myanmar Traders Brace for Another Hit as China Closes Key Customs Gate Due to COVID-19

The Muse-Mandalay Highway in Myanmars Shan State / The Irrawaddy

YANGONTraders at Myanmars largest border crossing with China, in Shan States Muse,

are expecting border trade to take another serious blow following Chinas decision to shut a crucial customs gate to curb the spread of COVID-19.

On Tuesday, authorities in Ruili, the town across the border from Muse in Chinas Yunnan Province, imposed a lockdown and ordered that all residents be tested for COVID-19 after two Myanmar nationals tested positive there. Chinese officials also shut down Ruilis customs clearance office, a crucial checkpoint for goods from Myanmar.

Border trade has stopped completely. Since the customs gate is no longer in service, we cant export any goods to China, U Min Thein, vice chairman of the Muse Rice Wholesale Center, told The Irrawaddy.

One hundred percent of business activities with China have halted here, U Min Thein said.

Through Muse, Myanmar mainly exports rice, sugar, corn, onion, beans, chilies and seafood including shrimp, sea crab and eel, according to officials from the 105 Mile Trade Zone in the town.

Meanwhile, about 400 truckloads of export goods are stranded in Muse. Around 100 more truckloads of goods are stranded in Chinas Jiegaowhich lies between the border and Ruiliand traders are looking for warehouses to temporarily store the goods.

The total value of bilateral trade shipped through Muse is around 4.57 billion kyats (US$3.44 million) per day, according to the Ministry of Commerce. According to Ruili authorities, the shutdown period will last at least a week, depending on the residents test results.

Border trade had already been hurting badly since March due to COVID-19. Although China has been allowing our trucks to enter in recent months, the process is extremely slow due to the [COVID-19] restrictions, U Sai Htun Ko Ko, the secretary of the Muse-Namkham Chamber of Commerce, told The Irrawaddy.

Now, again we have to prepare for the worst. We cant foresee what is going to happen. The situation depends on China, he said.

Since late March, Myanmar and Chinas border gates have been closed to people not involved in transporting goods, and trucks exporting goods have to follow COVID-19-related procedures. The impact of the strict COVID-19 prevention measures imposed by China, Myanmars largest trading partner, is mostly being felt by local traders, farmers, producers and workers.

According to the Ministry of Commerce, Myanmar exported $3.1 billion worth of goods to China last fiscal year.

The official data show that Myanmars exports through Muse to China dropped by about $140 million between Oct. 1, 2019 and Sept. 4 this year compared with the same period a year earlier. According to the ministry, from Oct. 1, 2018 to Sept. 4, 2019, Myanmars exports were worth $2.93 billion, while from Oct. 1, 2019 to Sept. 4 this year the total was $2.79 billion.

Some goods can be stored in warehouses, but seafood cant be stored for long. So, we will definitely face losses, seafood exporter U Tun Thein told The Irrawaddy.

We cant complain, because its a public health issue. Theres nothing we can dothis is a pandemic. We just have to wait until [the border] opens, he said.

Chinese state media reported that authorities in Ruili have imposed wartime-style anti-epidemic measures and ordered a crackdown on illegal border crossings. According to a Ruili government videoconference, the population screening started on Wednesday.

Its a health issue. We cant ask them to reopen. [But] the longer it stays closed, the worse the damage to business will be, said U Min Thein, the rice wholesale center vice chairman.

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Displaying Paks new map at SCO in blatant violation of charter of 8 nation bloc

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Sep 16: National Security Advisor (NSA), Ajit Doval conveyed a strong message after he left the video conference with his counterparts from the seven other SCO nations.

Doval objected to the display of the map behind Pakistan's representative, Moeed Yusuf.

He had the map behind him as a display image when he joined the conference. Doval conveyed his strong objection to Islamabad's use of a fictitious map as a backdrop for its representative depicting India's sovereign territory as part of Pakistan. This was in blatant disregard to the advisory by the hose against it and in violation of the norms of the meeting, Anurag Srivastava, spokesperson, Ministry of External Affairs said.

NSA Doval led CSG to meet, work on agenda for military commander level talks with China

Doval left the meeting after consulting with the host of the meeting, Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of the National Council of Russia.

Pakistan had on August 4, unveiled its new political map showing the entire Jammu and Kashmir and parts of Gujarat as its territories, drawing the ire of India, which dismissed it as ridiculous assertions that have neither legal validity nor international credibility.

"We have seen a so-called political map' of Pakistan that has been released by Prime Minister Imran Khan. This is an exercise in political absurdity, laying untenable claims to territories in the Indian State of Gujarat and our Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and of Ladakh, the Ministry of External Affairs had said then in a brief statement in New Delhi.

Prime Minister Khan released the new political map of Pakistan and said it was approved by the federal Cabinet on Tuesday.

The new map showed Pakistan frontier clearly marked with India with the entire Kashmir as its territory. However, the part of Kashmir and Ladakh border with China was not marked and described as Frontier Undecided. Similarly, the Line of Control had been extended to the Karakoram Pass, clearing showing Siachen as part of Pakistan. The LoC had been marked by a red dotted line.

India describes Pakistan as an epicentre of terrorism | Oneindia News

J&K had been described as Disputed Territory Final status to be decided in line with relevant UNSC resolutions. Another change in the map showed that the international border lines lie along the eastern bank of Sir Creek, which was previously along the western bank.

Officials in New Delhi told OneIndia that the use of the map was in blatant violation of the charter of the eight nation bloc and went against all established norms of safeguarding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the member states.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - A Florida sheriffs deputy who was fired for his inaction during a school shooting that left 17 dead has been reinstated with back pay by an arbitrator who ruled that the sheriff missed a deadline for dismissing the deputy.

An arbitrator ruled this week that Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony acted 13 days too late when he fired deputy Josh Stambaugh last year for his conduct during the February 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.

State law says discipline against law enforcement officers must occur within 180 days of an investigations completion. It is unknown exactly how much Stambaugh will receive in back pay, but he earned more than $150,000 in 2018, including overtime.

It is the second time an arbitrator has reinstated a Broward deputy fired for his conduct during the Parkland shooting. Another arbitrator reinstated Sgt. Brian Miller four months ago, saying Tony had missed that deadline by two days. The sheriffs office is appealing the Miller decision and says it will do the same with Stambaugh.

Once again, an arbitrator with no connection or association with Broward County has made a flawed decision to reinstate a deputy who was terminated for his response to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the sheriffs office said in a statement.

Jeff Bell, president of the Broward patrol deputies union, told the newspaper that firing Miller and Stambaugh after the deadline was a waste of taxpayer money on cases where the agency knows it violated Florida State Statutes.

An arbitrator is scheduled to hear a similar case involving a third fired deputy, Edward Eason, later this year. Miller made $137,000 in 2018 and Eason made $118,000.

A state investigative commission found that Stambaugh was working an off-duty shift at a nearby school when he responded to reports of shots fired at Stoneman Douglas. He got out of his truck, put on his bulletproof vest and took cover for about five minutes after hearing the shots, according to body camera footage. Stambaugh then drove to a nearby highway instead of going toward the school.

Eason ran the other way as gunfire continued, then spent time putting on his bulletproof vest and body camera while the carnage continued, investigators said.

Eason was also faulted for not writing an official report after receiving a tip in February 2016 that the shooting suspect, Nikolas Cruz, was making threats on social media to shoot up a school. Tips to the FBI about Cruz also were not followed up, a separate investigation has found.

Miller was the first supervisor to arrive at the school, arriving in time to hear three or four shots, records show. Investigators found that Miller took his time putting on a bulletproof vest and hid behind his car.

Cruz, 21, is awaiting trial and could get the death penalty if convicted. His attorneys have said he is willing to plead guilty in exchange for life sentence.
US order to register AJ+ as foreign agent criticised; appears to be a condition by UAE to normalise ties with Israel.

Al Jazeera has strongly condemned a US Department of Justice (DOJ) order that forces AJ+ to register as a foreign agent, saying it appears the designation was a precondition of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to normalise diplomatic ties with Israel.

In a letter dated Monday, the DOJ said AJ+ should be subject to the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), claiming the outlet engages in political activities on behalf of the Qatar government.

AJ+, which is part of the Qatar-based Al Jazeera Media Network, produces videos for social media in English, Arabic, French and Spanish. With offices in Doha and Washington, DC, the FARA determination would only apply to AJ+ English based in the US.

In making its case against Al Jazeera, Jay I Bratt, the DOJs counterintelligence chief, said in the letter the Qatari government provides Al Jazeeras funding and appoints its board of directors.

Journalism designed to influence American perceptions of a domestic policy issue or a foreign nations activities or its leadership qualifies as political activities under the statutory definition, Bratt wrote.

The FARA designation of AJ+ follows relentless lobbying efforts by the government of the UAE, which has long tried to pressure Qatar into shutting down the Al Jazeera Media Network.

In 2017, the UAE, along with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt, imposed a blockade on Qatar, accusing Doha of supporting extremism and fostering ties with Iran, allegations Qatar has strongly denied.

At the start of the Gulf crisis, the blockading quartet issued an extensive list of demands Qatar would need to comply with in order to have the blockade lifted, including the shuttering of Al Jazeera.

In a statement to the New York Times, Al Jazeera said: The UAE has confirmed it presented the United States with preconditions prior to announcing the Abraham Accords, and we received DOJs letter the day before the UAE signed the Accords, referring to the normalisation agreement signed at the White House on Tuesday.

Hobbling Al Jazeera was one of the top conditions of the UAEs blockade against Qatar and the Justice Department just gave the UAE what it wanted, the statement said.

Threat to press freedom

Patrick Toomey, senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, warned against the FARA designation, saying the administration of President Donald Trump should not target news outlets for political reasons.

This order is a threat to the freedom of the press, Toomey said. People in the United States rely on dedicated news organisations for reporting on world events and the human impact of our governments policies around the globe. The government should not misuse a vague and overboard foreign agent law to target news organisations for political purposes.

The Palestinians have criticised the normalisation deals between Israel and the UAE and Bahrain as a betrayal by fellow Arab states, further undermining their efforts to achieve self-determination and leaving them isolated under a new framework to regional peace dictated by Trumps administration that also views Iran as malice.

The Palestinian leadership wants an independent state based on the de facto borders before the 1967 war, in which Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and annexed East Jerusalem.

Arab countries have long called for Israels withdrawal from already illegally occupied land, a just solution for Palestinian refugees and a settlement that leads to the establishment of a viable, independent Palestinian state in exchange for establishing ties with it.
Pakistans Head of Belt and Road Program Accused in Media Report of Corruption

A top aide to Pakistans prime minister who serves as the chairman of the ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor Authority (CPEC) is under pressure to resign after an investigative report claimed that hes guilty of corruption, having used his military rank to benefit his family business in four countries, including the United States.

Retired Lt. Gen. Asim Saleem Bajwa leads the government body that oversees Chinas Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) plans in Pakistan, including the $62 billion CPEC alliance.

The Bajwa family business empire grew in four countries in sync with Bajwas rise in military, according to an investigative report published by Pakistani media outlet FactFocus on Aug. 27. The story alleged that Bajwa, who also is a special assistant to Prime Minister Imran Khan for information and broadcasting, used his influence to help his family amass huge wealth.

Bajwa served the Pakistan army as commander of the Southern Command and as director-general of Pakistans Inter-service Public Relations before he retired and was named chairman of the CPEC, which made him a key person in the PakistanChina relationship.

In a statement on Sept. 3, Bajwa described the investigative report as an attempt to damage his reputation.

I strongly rebut the baseless allegations leveled against me and my family, he wrote in a message on Twitter.

Adnan Aamir, an independent journalist covering the Belt and Road program in Pakistan, told The Epoch Times in an email: This certainly gives a bad name to CPEC. There are already allegations of corruption and financial irregularities in CPEC and this scandal will further inflame the controversy.

A malicious propaganda story published on an unknown site, against me and my family, (just uploaded on social media) is strongly rebutted  Asim Saleem Bajwa (@AsimSBajwa) August 27, 2020

In response to the FactFocus allegations, Bajwa resigned as special assistant to Khan but continued to chair the CPEC. Khan rejected his resignation.

A Pakistan government report earlier this year had alleged widespread corruption in the CPEC. A nine-member committee was appointed last year to study the high cost charged for power even as CPEC projects boosted generation.

The report indicates corruption and collusion between influential people on both the Pakistani and Chinese sides, according to a commentary by the European Foundation for South Asian Studies.

Aamir, however, points out that the current allegations against Bajwa arent linked with China and CPEC in any way.

China and CPEC are dragged in this scandal because General Bajwa is the chief of Belt and Road in Pakistan, Aamir said.



I strongly rebut the baseless allegations levelled against me and my family. Alhamdolillah another attempt to damage our reputation belied/exposed.I have and will always serve Pakistan with pride and dignity. pic.twitter.com/j185UoGhx1  Asim Saleem Bajwa (@AsimSBajwa) September 3, 2020

Allegations

The growth of the Bajwa familys business in the United States and later in Pakistan progressed proportionally with Bajwas rising power within the army, the FactFocus investigation concludes.

Asim Bajwas younger brothers opened their first Papa Johns pizza restaurant in 2002, the year he went to work for General Pervez Musharraf as a lieutenant colonel on the military dictators staff, writes journalist and FactFocus co-founder Ahmad Noorani.

Musharraf had come to power in 1999 by leading a coup against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and had appointed himself as president in 2001 while continuing to head the army.

The FactFocus report details evidence of how someone on an army salary and no prior evidence of wealth came to have extensive holdings in four countries outside of Pakistan.

It includes, among other information, a database of the 99 companies set up by the Bajwa family, along with relevant documents; year-by-year details of the opening of Papa Johns Pizza franchises, along with the estimated investment required; details of commercial and residential properties purchases, along with relevant documents; and a graphical timeline of the developments that took place in the Bajwa family business.

The report says that from 2002, when Bajwa joined Musharaffs staff, to 2008, the family purchased 53 franchises of Papa Johns Pizza worth $16 million and registered 19 companies in the United States, two in Pakistan, and four in Canada. The report lists and tabulates details by year how the Bajwa familys wealth increased as his power in the army increased.

Its saying that General Bajwa used his power in the military to make illegal money and then laundered them abroad where his family invested them in businesses, said a Pakistani political analyst, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The editor of the report says the group managing investments to these companies avoided questions about where the initial investments for the business in the early 2000s came from.

When Bajwa was appointed as assistant to Khan for information and broadcasting, he declared in his statement of assets and liabilities that he and his wife didnt have any immovable property held outside Pakistan or business capital outside Pakistan, which is contradicted by FactFocuss reporting.

Papa Johns Pizza didnt immediately respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment about the allegations against the Bajwa family business.

The records of U.S. state governments and other records related to companies show that some of these American companies (all jointly owned by Asims wife, Farrukh Zeba) also have investments in the real estate sector and own some 13 commercial properties in the United States, including two shopping centers, according to the FactFocus report, which estimates that the value of investments owned by Zeba is $52.7 million.

The familys global business is managed by a company called Bajco Global Management LLC, which is registered in the United States and has a liaison office in Pakistan, the report said.

The official documents of this parent company show that Asim Bajwas wife, Farrukh Zeba, is an equal shareholder in the businesses of Bajco Group along with his five brothers. Farrukh Zeba is a housewife with no known business experience, the report states.

Asim declined to respond to FactFocus when asked through different WhatsApp messages and a Twitter post if there are any bank accounts maintained in the name of his wife in the United States, and why he declared that he and his wife have no business capital outside Pakistan.

In a statement, Bajwa says allegations of his wifes business investments in the United States are false, and asserts that she divested all her interests this year, which he said is documented in official records in the United States.

If one were to look at the actual figures, the inescapable conclusion would be that the news item has been spread with a view to malign my reputation, he said.

Aamir, who says he doesnt sense any major conspiracy behind the allegations, noted that there is a faction in the political opposition who aim to gain from the accusations.

Death Threats to Noorani

Noorani formerly worked for The News, an influential news outlet in Pakistan, and is known for his criticisms of Pakistans military and intelligence agencies. He has earlier written about financial impropriety by Khans political party. He survived an attack by unknown assailants in Islamabad in 2017.

Due to a threat on his life, Noorani was forced to move to Islamabad from Rawalpindi and deactivate his Twitter account. His current Twitter account has over 235,000 followers. The Committee to Protect Journalists reported that Noorani has received more death threats since the release of the FactFocus investigative report.

The Pakistan Bar Council, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, and Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists in a joint statement all strongly condemned the threats against Noorani.

The bar, press, and civil society leaderships urge the government to provide protection to Mr. Noorani and investigate elements behind these threats to the journalist, the statement reads, according to Pakistans leading newspaper, Dawn.

The statement noted that the assailants in the 2017 attack on Noorani have not been caught.

Noorani didnt immediately respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.
American tech giant Microsoft said Sunday its offer to buy TikTok was rejected, leaving Oracle as the sole remaining bidder ahead of the imminent deadline for the Chinese-owned video app to sell or shut down its US operations.

TikTok is at the center of a diplomatic storm between Washington and Beijing, and President Donald Trump has set Americans a mid-September deadline to stop doing business with its Chinese parent company ByteDance -- effectively compelling a sale of the app to a US company.

The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times reported that Oracle had won the bidding war, citing people familiar with the deal, although the company did not immediately confirm that to AFP.

But two Chinese state media outlets -- CGTN and China News Service -- said Monday that ByteDance will not sell TikTok to Oracle either, citing unnamed sources.

The Oracle bid would need approval from the White House and Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a source told the Journal, with both parties under the belief it would meet US data security concerns.

Microsoft had indicated at the beginning of August that it was interested in acquiring TikTok's US operations, but announced Sunday that bid had been rejected.

"ByteDance let us know today they would not be selling TikTok's US operations to Microsoft," it said in a statement.

"We are confident our proposal would have been good for TikTok's users, while protecting national security interests."

In early August, Trump issued an executive order stating that if a purchase agreement was not reached by September 20, the platform would have to close in the United States.

Trump claims TikTok could be used by China to track the locations of federal employees, build dossiers on people for blackmail, and conduct corporate espionage.

- Disputed dangers -

In late August, China's commerce ministry published new rules potentially making it more difficult for ByteDance to sell TikTok to a US entity by adding "civilian use" to a list of technologies that are restricted for export.

Story continues

ByteDance had vowed to "strictly abide" by the new export rules.

"We believe Microsoft would only buy TikTok WITH its core algorithm which the Chinese government and ByteDance was not willing to budge," Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives said in a note.

"Given the need now to get a green light from Beijing after its export rules were changed a few weeks ago, TikTok's days in the US likely are numbered with a shutdown now the next step," the analyst said.

Downloaded 175 million times in the United States, TikTok is used by as many as a billion people worldwide to make quirky, short videos on their cellphones. It has repeatedly denied sharing data with Beijing.

Microsoft said it would have "made significant changes to ensure the service met the highest standards for security, privacy, online safety, and combatting disinformation."

A deal with Microsoft could also have included Walmart, which joined forces with the tech giant during negotiations.

Ives said that even with Microsoft out of the picture, "while Oracle is technically the remaining bidder, without willing to sell its core algorithm we see no TikTok sale on the horizon."

"Oracle could be a technology partner, but a sale/divestiture of the US operations for TikTok remains the focus."

TikTok meanwhile has filed a lawsuit challenging the US crackdown, contending that Trump's order was a misuse of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act because the platform is not "an unusual and extraordinary threat."

Controversially, Trump has demanded that the US government get a cut of any deal, which critics contend appears unconstitutional and akin to extortion.

The bidding for TikTok comes during a broader deterioration of relations between the world's top two economies in recent months, with both exchanging fierce recriminations over trade, human rights, and the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.

dho-bfm-axn-qan/fox
LaPORTE  Another 150 jobs are being eliminated by a maker of high-performance airplane engine components due to the COVID-19-related downturn in commercial flying.

This comes after 115 workers at Howmet Aerospace were let go recently.

The additional job cuts were blamed on additional orders for parts being canceled, which was not expected, according to company officials in a Sept. 14 letter addressed to all employees at the plant at 1110 E. Lincolnway.

Bert Cook, executive director of the LaPorte Economic Advancement Partnership, said he also was notified by the firm Monday about the layoffs.

Its obviously disappointing news, he said.

The latest workforce reduction over a four-week period will start Oct. 1.

The previous layoffs over five days ended Sept. 2.

About 500 workers still will be employed at the facility on LaPortes east side.

Howmet has been a tremendous partner for many, many years, and they will continue to be a big partner. They still employ a ton of people here, Cook said.
The Palestinians are opposed to the agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, viewing them as a betrayal of their cause by the Arab countries, which agreed to recognize Israel without securing territorial concessions. They vow that the agreements, and any others that may follow, will not undermine their cause.
Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Dr Robert Redfield claimed that masks offer more certain protection against coronavirus than vaccines will - at least in the immediate future.

'I might say this face mask is more guaranteed to protect me against covid than when I take a vaccine' said Dr Redfield during his Wednesday testimony before a Senate subcommittee.

He pointed out that there is more research to clearly show that masks work to block the spread of infectious particles, while vaccines are still in testing and their true efficacy won't be entirely clear until large groups of people have been dosed.

Dr Redfield's comments came as part of the same testimony in which he and other officials presented a plan to give all Americans free coronavirus vaccines, distributing them to the general public as January.

CDC Director Dr Robert Redfield on Wednesday said that masks offer more 'guaranteed' protection against coronavirus than prospective vaccines, because there is more scientific proof they work than as-of-yet unproven shots

But the CDC head walked back the optimism of the 'playbook' and Trump himself, estimating that vaccines won't be broadly available to Americans until spring or summer of next year.

Trump continues to insist that a vaccine is only 'weeks' away while hinting at his hope that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will approve one ahead of the November 3 election.

The CDC director's apparent endorsement of masks and sobering view of vaccines was typical of his tense day before the Senate on Wednesday.

While trying to temper expectations set by the 'playbook' for distributing coronavirus vaccines published by his agency in conjunction with other health agencies and the Department of Defense, Dr Redfield also had to bat back criticism.

The CDC's game plan assumes that tens of millions of doses of a vaccine will be available to send freely to Americans - not just frontline workers - by January 2021.

In turn, that assumes approval of a shot by the end of next month.

Health experts, including Dr Redfield, have said that that is possible, but not likely.

Senator Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon, accused the CDC of being politically motivated to create a vaccine development and release timeline that is convenient to President Trump's reelection campaign.

Dr Redfield faced accusations that his agency had bowed to pressure from the Trump administration, which is pushing for a vaccine to be ready by election day

'It escapes no one's perspective that you're deliberately laying [plans to have states start administering vaccines] two days before the election,' Merkley said, asking Dr Redfield who in the White House had asked him to do so.

When Redfield answered that 'no one' had, Merkley hit back that he was 'influencing the election,' asking 'what happened to science driving decisions' and said that the improbable vaccine timeline 'undermines [the CDC's] credibility.'

Dr Redfield stood up for his agency, claiming the timeline was 'independently developed by our subject matter experts.'

But he also said a vaccine would not likely be widely available until much later than the 'playbook' suggested.

He also tempered expectations for the efficacy of a potential vaccine and cautioned that, in the grand scheme of things, the world really has little data on what protection vaccines will offer.

'Masks are the most powerful and important public health tool that we have,' he said.

'We have clear scientific evidence that they work and they are our best defense.'

For a vaccine, on the other hand, 'the immunogenicity may be 70 percent, and if I don't get an immune response the vaccine may not protect me,' Dr Redfield said.

The FDA has set the bar for a vaccine it would consider approving at 50 percent efficacy.

But that means it may only prevent infection in half of those who get the shot.

In early trials, the three leading vaccine candidates - AstraZeneca's, Moderna's and Pfizer's - all elicited some antibody production in trial participants.

What remains unknown is how significant an immune response needs to be to offer protection, and how long that shield might last.

Masks are simpler, and their effects are clearer. Research has suggested that wearing a face masks reduces your risks of contracting COVID-19 by as much as 65 percent.

They are also thought to cut the amount of potentially infectious particles a person can expel into the air by about a third.
A 32-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly using fake websites to cheat people by offering inexpensive mobile phones on equated monthly instalments (EMIs), accepting advances paid into bank accounts and not delivering the devices, the police said.Two of his associates are on the run.

Jitender Singh, who has a Bachelor of Computer Application (BCA) degree, told the police that he and his associates had duped more than 2,500 people across the country, said deputy commissioner of police (south-east) RP Meena. Two mobile phones have been seized from Singh, who was arrested when.

We are verifying his claims of cheating over 2,500 people. The bank accounts that the racketeers used are being examined to ascertain the money transactions related to the scam. As of now, we have arrested Singh in one case that was being investigated by our districts cyber cell team since early this year, the officer.

An investigating officer said an initial analysis of one bank account reflected four or five deposits by people for cellphones. We will approach the depositors to know whether they had filed any police complaints regarding the cheating. Singh has told us that his gang used to dupe two or three persons daily, the officer said, requesting anonymity.

DCP Meena said that the racketeers used to create fake websites on which they sold inexpensively priced cellphones at easy EMIs. After duping a certain number of people, they used to deactivate the website and shift its domain name to avoid demands for return of money or delivery of the phones.

They used to take only small amount -- between Rs 1,999 and Rs. 7,999 -- depending on the price of the phones, so that the victims do not approach the police even after being duped. Also, they only took money through virtual payment address (VPA) mechanisms to make the transactions detection difficult, said Meena.

On January 9, a man named Irfan Pathan filed a case at the Govindpuri police station in Delhi, saying he had come across a website in December that offered cellphones that were cheaper than market prices and on EMIs.

An executive of the website tricked him into depositing R 5,998 in three instalments through a virtual payment address.However, after taking the money the fraudsters neither delivered the phone nor returned the amount. They deactivated the website and all the contact numbers. Thereafter, Pathan filed a case, said Meena.

During the probe, the police collected details of the phone numbers that were linked to the website and used to contact Pathan as well. The call details of one phone number revealed that it was registered with an e-commerce payment system site and a bank account in the name of Rajat Shukla.

Details of the VPA used by the gang were obtained from the National Payments Corporation of India. It was found that the VPA was registered with Shuklas bank account, through which the money were transferred to another account in the name of Jitender Singh, said officer Meena.

We arrested Singh from his home in Ghaziabad and seized two cellphones used in the crime. Singh disclosed that Shukla and Praveen Kumar were his partners in crime, said Meena, adding that the police were conducting raids to catch the other two suspects.

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Linkedin Moch. Fiqih Prawira Adjie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, September 16, 2020 09:15 492 e22cd4161040e111d73a5626c450bf1d 1 National Nias-Island,North-Sumatra,governor,sumatera-utara,limit-access,restriction,COVID-19-in-Indonesia Free

The North Sumatra administration is planning to postpone all air and sea travel to and from Nias Island, closing down the famous tourist destination in the province following a recent surge in COVID-19 cases.

North Sumatra Governor Edy Rahmayadi conveyed the plan during Mondays meeting with the North Sumatra Legislative Council (DPRD), adding that he would ask the Transportation Ministry to suspend all flights to the island as early as Thursday.

The coronavirus was carried there by visitors to the island, Edy said in a statement on Monday. A month ago, there were no suspected COVID-19 cases on the island. Now, 90 people have tested positive.

North Sumatra COVID-19 task force secretary Arsyad Lubis said the administration had prepared an agreement to close all air and sea travel to and from the island for 14 days. The agreement, he added, would need to be approved by all regional leaders, namely one mayor and four regents.

We are taking this measure to make Nias Island a green zone [with low transmission risk] again, Arsyad said. Every region of the island needs to agree on their rights and obligations.

Read also: North Sumatra University closes after lecturers test positive for COVID-19

The governor said he would ensure that prior to the lockdown, enough supplies were available for the locals during the isolation period.

North Sumatra Health Agency head Alwi Mujahit said the administration would establish a laboratory capable of performing COVID-19 swab tests to speed up detection.

Nias Island is home to around 800,000 residents, and we aim to perform the swab test on 72 people per day, he said.

However, he added that health authorities would use COVID-19 rapid tests for the moment as it would take around two weeks to build the lab.

Edy had asked Coordinating Maritime and Investment Minister Luhut B. Pandjaitan to permit the lockdown during Mondays virtual meeting. The coordinating minister did not make his decision during the meeting but said he would talk more with the governor about the request.

Read also: In virus-stricken Indonesia, many can't afford to self-quarantine at home

Aside from isolating Nias Island, Edy also said the administration would limit access to some areas of Medan city, Binjai city and Deli Serdang regency to increase supervision of the health protocols.

I will barricade the [Medan, Binjai and Deli Serdang] areas and raid nighttime activities [as well as those who] still ignore health protocols. Let's work together hand in hand to save our families and our beloved North Sumatra, Edy said.
Source: Xinhua| 2020-09-17 00:01:37|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in its latest report published on Wednesday revised up its forecast for global economic output in 2020 to a contraction of 4.5 percent, which was less negative than what had been expected in June.

According to the OECD Interim Economic Assessment, the drop in global gross domestic product (GDP) is "smaller than expected" primarily due to upward revisions in China, the United States and Europe.

In the second quarter of 2020, China was the only country recording growth (11.5 percent) among the G20 economies compared to that in the first quarter, which reflected a national recovery after the onset of the pandemic, according to a previous report by OECD.

The latest report showed weaker outcomes in India, Mexico and South Africa. It also said that in most economies, the level of economic output at the end of 2021 was projected to remain below that of 2009, and "considerably weaker" than prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The OECD suggested in the report that improved confidence could boost the global economy in 2021, considering the uncertainties brought by the virus. Meanwhile, a possible resurgence of the virus has been estimated to cut 2-3 percent from global growth. Enditem
MADRID The Spanish capital will introduce selective lockdowns in urban areas where the coronavirus is spreading faster.

Deputy regional health chief Antonio Zapatero said Wednesday that the measures will most likely affect southern, working-class neighborhoods of Madrid where infection rates have been steadily soaring since August.

Zapatero said that Madrid wants to flatten the curve before the arrival of autumn and the complications that cold weather could bring, adding that the measures to be taken will be decided by this weekend.

Madrid and its surrounding region of 6.6 million people have accounted for nearly one third of Spains new cases, which have averaged 8,200 per day for the past week.

Overall, Spain has had more than 600,000 cases and just over 30,000 deaths.

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HERES WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS OUTBREAK

Trump denies downplaying virus threat, despite audio recording, and continues to cast doubt on masks

Indias virus cases pass 5 million and are still soaring, testing feeble health care system and closing in on US total

Iowa governor wont budge on mandating masks even as virus deaths rise

Doubts persist as NYCs hybrid school year is set to start

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Follow APs pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

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HERES WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

LONDON The British government plans to ration coronavirus testing, giving priority to health workers and care home staff after widespread reports that people throughout the country were unable to schedule tests.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday will face questions about his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in the House of Commons and before a key committee amid the outcry over the shortage of testing.

Justice Secretary Robert Buckland says the government is in the process of drawing up a new priority list for testing, suggesting that students and their families could be next in line after the National Health Service and social care.

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VATICAN CITY Pope Francis says the coronavirus pandemic has proved that our own health depends on the health of others and the environment, and that exploiting nature means exploiting others.

Francis doubled down on his insistence of the interconnectedness of people and the planet during his general audience Wednesday, held in a Vatican courtyard with the faithful spaced apart to limit contagion.

Francis said if people are unable to contemplate the beauty and majesty of nature without exploiting it, they will be similarly unable to contemplate others without taking advantage of them. He said: He who lives to exploit nature ends up exploiting people and treating them like slaves. This is a universal law.

Francis is expected to elaborate on the themes of solidarity, fraternity and care for creation in an encyclical hes expected to sign Oct. 3 on living in the post-COVID world.

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HANOI, Vietnam Vietnam will resume international commercial flights connecting the country to several Asian destinations starting Friday, after a monthslong shutdown to curb the coronavirus outbreak.

The flights, however, are reserved for Vietnamese nationals, diplomats, experts, managers, skilled workers, investors and their families. They are not yet available for tourists.

The flights connecting Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to destinations in South Korea, Japan, China and Taiwan will operate weekly, the government website announced. Flights connecting Vietnams two largest cities with Cambodia and Laos will resume next week.

To board a flight, passengers must hold a certificate showing they have tested negative for the coronavirus no more than five days before the departure date. Upon arrival, they will be tested and quarantined, the report said.

Vietnam shut down international flights on April 1. National carrier Vietnam Airlines estimated last month that it would lose $650 million in 2020.

Vietnam has reported 1,059 cases of the coronavirus. It managed to avoid any deaths until July, when the virus crept into the city of Da Nang, killing 35 people.

But no new cases have been reported for two weeks. Last week, Da Nang lifted a travel restriction after two months.

PRAGUE The Czech Republic has registered another steep rise in coronavirus infections, with the number of new confirmed cases surpassing 1,600 in one day for the first time.

The Health Ministry says the day-to-day increase reached a new record of 1,677 on Tuesday. The record was broken four times last week.

The capital of Prague has the highest number of people who tested positive, over 141 per 100,000. The surge has prompted some European countries, including Slovakia, Denmark, Britain and Switzerland to impose travel restrictions for travellers from the Czech Republic.

According to government figures released on Wednesday, 333 people needed hospitalization. That number was over 400 during the first wave of the pandemic in the spring.

The Czech Republic has had 38,896 people infected with 476 deaths.

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SEOUL, South Korea South Koreas daily coronavirus tally has stayed below 200 for two weeks, but the government is urging people not to lower their guard.

Authorities said Wednesday that the 113 cases added in the last 24 hours took the countrys total to 22,504, including 367 deaths.

Eighty-one of them were in the Seoul metropolitan area, the heart of a recent viral resurgence.

Vice Health Minister Kim Gang-lip called on people to refrain from having unnecessary gatherings and visiting crowded places.

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UNITED NATIONS The new president of the U.N. General Assembly is warning that unilateralism will only strengthen the COVID-19 pandemic and is calling for a new commitment to global cooperation including on the fair and equitable distribution of vaccines.

Turkish diplomat and politician Volkan Bozkir, who took over the reins of the 193-member world body on Tuesday, announced that the General Assembly will hold a high-level special session on the COVID-19 pandemic in early November, though diplomats said the date may slip.

Bozkir takes over from outgoing General Assembly President Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, who presided over a unique year-old session that he said was defined by a pandemic and included virtual meetings and new voting procedures.

Bozkir told diplomats from U.N. member nations, seated at socially distanced spaces in the assembly chamber, that confronting the effects of the coronavirus in all their dimensions will be an overarching priority for my presidency.

He said no state can combat this pandemic alone, and it is the members responsibility to strengthen peoples faith in multilateral cooperation and international institutions, with the U.N. at their center.

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor
China has been getting a lot of flak  perhaps justified  as the source of the novel coronavirus that has wrought so much havoc in 2020. But set politics aside for now, and focus on the markets. As the source of the virus, China was also the first to see an outbreak  and the first to start the economic comeback. The Asian giant now appears to be in the midst a V-shaped recovery, giving some hope of surcease for the rest of us.

On the economic front, there are several concurrent developments pushing Chinese growth. Capital flows are giving China a major boost. The country is attracting international private capital, but government initiatives are huge. Beijings current policies include a $2 trillion-plus five-year-plan of investments in vital areas: AI, IoT, data centers, 5G, ultra-high voltage electrical transmission, and alt-energy vehicles. These are widely viewed as the technologies of tomorrow; China is funding them today.

The result is a surge in manufacturing. Chinas Caixin index  a gauge of purchasing manager sentiment and activity  reach a decade high point last month, in the wake of the virus. Its a clear sign that Chinas factories are getting back to work.

The upshot, of course, is that there are going to be plenty of stocks in Chinese companies gearing up for growth in the near future. Using the TipRanks database, weve pulled three such equities  all from China, but traded on Wall Street  that get Strong Buy ratings from the analyst community.

LexinFintech Holdings (LX)

Well start with a holding company, LexinFintech. This company controls a series of subsidiaries in the online consumer financial service sector. The services range from wealth management to monetary loans to installment payments, with a customer base among Chinas young professionals.

Now this doesnt mean that the corona crisis has been easy for Lexin. Revenues slipped by $650 million in Q1, but are trending back up now; the company reported 18% sequential revenue growth in Q2, and a return to EPS profitability.

Story continues

Nomura analyst Martin Ma believes Lexin will do well in coming quarters.

We expect continued profitability recovery into 2H20F, as we have seen improved 30-day+ delinquency rate in 2Q20, on the back of GDP growth recovery, and management guided that Lexin will increase its focus on offline customer acquisition in 2H20, which has lower acquisition cost and business quality compared to online channels, Ma opined.

Ma rates LX shares a Buy, and his target price, of $11.75, implies an impressive upside of 60%. (To watch Mas track record, click here)

LX's Strong Buy analyst consensus on LX is based on 5 reviews, and they are unanimous; the stock has only positive reviews. Shares are selling for $7.30 and the average price target of $12.21 implies a 67% upside potential. (See LX stock analysis on TipRanks)

21Vianet Group, Inc. (VNET)

Our next stock is in Chinas largest carrier-neutral data center and internet provider. 21Vianet provides space for customers server and networking hardware, while also providing interconnectivity and data delivery to all points around the globe.

21Vianet holds a niche of ever-increasing importance in todays digital world, and its revenues have been growing steadily. Over the past four quarters, the company has seen the top line rise from $980 million to $1.14 billion. Shares have grown, too, with barely a blip from the coronavirus. VNET is up an eye-opening 193% since the start of the year.

At the end of Q2, the company got a big boost  both in funding and confidence building  when it announced the closing a $150 million investment from Blackstone. It was a milestone for 21Vianet, and helped offset EPS losses in the quarter. More recently, the company has raised another $350 million through the sale of 17 million shares of stock. Its a successful capital raise that puts 21Vianet on solid footing.

Credit Suisse analyst Colin McCallum pleased by VNETs successful fundraising, and sees it as a strong support for the companys move toward a purer data center business.

The capital raise does not surprise us, given that the structural demand for data centres looks extremely strong. Furthermore, data centers have a long lead time for construction (circa 12-18 months) and are capital intensive

McCallum shows his confidence with an Outperform (i.e. Buy) rating, and a $28.50 target price that indicates room for 34% upside growth this year. (To watch McCallums track record, click here)

21Vianet is another stock with a unanimous Strong Buy, having 3 Buys set recently. The stock has an average price target of $30.80, slightly higher than McCallums, that suggests a 41% upside form the $21.28 trading price. (See VNET stock analysis on TipRanks)

Tal Education Group (TAL)

Last on our list of Chinese stocks is a Beijing-based education company, Tal. Tal focuses on technology and science education in the classroom, and is part of a wave of such endeavors present at all levels of Chinese education. TAL has had success bringing integrated internet-based technology to schools in Chinas major tier-1 cities, and is moving toward the smaller markets.

Revenues of $910 million powered a return to EPS profitability in Q2, as the company started coming back from the economic crisis and as schools begin to reopen.

Covering TAL for Nomura, analyst Jessie Xu takes an upbeat stance, with a Buy rating a $93 price target. That target implies an upside of 24% for the stock. (To watch Xus track record, click here)

Backing that forecast, Xu writes, We believe TAL is still the best online & offline integration play in the China education space. The strong online momentum should continue into 2QFY21F. We forecast 2Q revenue to grow by 25%, higher than guidance... We believe TAL will also be able to maintain its leading position in following quarters of the year.

All in all, with 8 recent reviews, including 7 Buys and 1 Hold, TAL shares earn a Strong Buy rating from the analyst consensus. The stock is selling for $75.22, and the average price target of $85.65 suggests it has a growth potential of 14% from that level. (See TAL stock analysis on TipRanks)

To find good ideas for stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks equity insights.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.
Online conspiracy theories and misinformation relating to Covid-19 may have resulted in at least 800 deaths from coronavirus, new research has revealed.

The so-called infodemic resulted in around 5,800 people being admitted to hospital as a result of following false information on social media in the first three months of this year.

A study published in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene detailed examples of misleading rumours, conspiracy theories and stigma surrounding the pandemic.

Rumours include claims that drinking cleaning products, hand sanitiser or cow urine can cure coronavirus. However, the actual figure of the number of people who have died may never been known, as the underlying data acknowledges that it is unclear how many people drank adulterated alcohol for recreational purposes or as gastrointestinal disinfectant to preventor treatCOVID-19 infection.

False conspiracy theories range from fears that Covid-19 is a bio-weapon funded by Bill Gates, to accusations that Covid-19 has been engineered to damage US President Donald Trumps chance of re-election.

The spread of online misinformation relating to the deadly virus was labelled an infodemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in March, who said it was spreading faster than the virus.

The organisation met with technology giants in an attempt to stem its spread, at a time when there were less than 100,000 confirmed cases around the world. That figure passed 20 million this week.

The study found that some of the worst hit countries in terms of case numbers  including the United States, Brazil and India  were also among the top countries plagued by online misinformation.

The researchers followed Covid-19-related misinformation circulating on online platforms, including fact-checking agency websites, Facebook, Twitter, and online newspapers, and examined their impacts on public health.

They identified 2,313 reports of rumours, stigma, and conspiracy theories in 25 languages from 87 countries.

Beyond individuals following misinformation, the researchers also uncovered cases of organisations following inappropriate and misguided advice. A church in South Korea, for example, was the source of more than 100 infections when it used a contaminated salt water pray bottle to disinfect its attendees.

Investigations by The Independent found that many of these rumours and conspiracy theories continue to circulate online, despite the crackdown by social media firms.

New conspiracy theories have also emerged and gained traction since the completion of the research, which covered the period between 31 December 2019 to 5 April 2020.

One of the most prevalent conspiracy theories is that coronavirus outbreaks are linked to the installation of 5G towers  an idea that scientists have comprehensively debunked.

We are taking aggressive steps to stop misinformation and harmful content from spreading on our platforms and connect people to accurate information about coronavirus, a Facebook spokesperson told The Independent.

The tech giant revealed this week that it removed over 7 million pieces of harmful misinformation related to Covid-19 on Facebook and Instagram between April and June.

The latest study concluded that more needs to be done by both private companies and public organisations in order to prevent further deaths.

"Misinformation fuelled by rumours, stigma, and conspiracy theories can have potentially severe implications on public health if prioritised over scientific guidelines," the study concludes.

"The national and international agencies, including the fact-checking agencies, should not only identify rumours and conspiracies theories and debunk them but should also engage social media companies to spread correct information."
CALEDONIAProvincial police say theyve charged 22 people in relation to an ongoing land dispute in southwestern Ontario.

Officers have been charging those at the camp at McKenzie Meadows, the housing development at the centre of the dispute, since Aug. 5.

They say the 22 individuals arrested have all been released and are expected to appear in court in Cayuga at a later date.

Among those charged are members of the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation and Tyendinaga First Nation, as well as residents from elsewhere the province.

Most of the charges include mischief and disobeying of court order.

There is currently a court injunction ordering everyone off the land.
India insisted on 'complete disengagement' in all its talks with China on eastern Ladakh row: Govt

We will continue to deal with Chinese PLA in firm, resolute manner: Army chief

Govt likely to convene closed door meeting on China issue with Opposition parties

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Sep 16: The Union Government has hinted at a closed door meeting with the Opposition parties on the China issue.

The government is considering this meeting, although no final decision has been taken on the matter as yet. The Opposition has accused the government of shying away discussing the issue in Parliament.

On Tuesday, Congress leader, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary questioned the stance of the government on the issue. He said that if the public, news agencies can discuss the issue, then why can't the Indian Parliament.

Congress walks out after Govt declines opposition's demand for discussion on India-China tension

On Tuesday Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh made a statement in Parliament on the Indo-China issue.

There was a face-off in Galwan Valley on June 15, in which the Indian forces inflicted heavy casualties on the Chinese forces, Rajnath Singh also said. The indian forces will forcefully counter all Chinese aggressive actions along the border. Since April we have seen an increase in troops and weapon deployment along the LAC in Ladakh, Singh said.

Let no one have any doubt about our capabilities. We want peace and will continue to talk to China. Both sides should respect the Line of Actual Control Singh also said. All mutual agreements must be respected, he also said.

China does not accept customary and peripheral alignment of Sino-India border, Singh also said. There has been a massive build up by the Chinese along the LAC and this has led to several friction points, the Defence Minister also said.

Our Armed Forces will successfully thwart all threats and protect the borders. We should be proud of our forces, he further said.

These are challenging times and in the midst of the pandemic, our soldiers have protected our borders. This is also due to Border Infrastructure Management, Singh also said.

Violent conduct of Chinese troops is a violation of all past agreements. Our troops have done counter deployments in the area to safeguard our borders, the Defence Minister also said.

I have conveyed to the Chinese side that we want a peaceful resolution to the solution. I made it clear that we will not comprise on our territorial integrity. The External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar during the meeting with his counterpart also conveyed the same message, Singh also said.

China has mobilised a huge number of Army battalions and armaments along the LAC and inner areas. There are many friction points in Eastern Ladakh, Gogra, Pangong Lake's north and south banks. The Indian Army has made counter deployments in these areas, Singh also said.

India describes Pakistan as an epicentre of terrorism | Oneindia News

Singh further said that India is ready to peacefully resolve the border standoff with China.

He also said that China is not honouring the customary alignment of the boundary with India. The alignment has not only been defined by treaties, but has been maintained historically. However China believes that the border is not defined.
The launch of the Facebook-built Oculus Quest 2 marks the first appearance of the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 VR platform. Or at least in the consumer space, according to a recent announcement from the latter company.

Now, Qualcomm already gave out a wealth of information about its new platform back in February. Snapdragon XR2 goes well beyond VR and into every extended reality space. So this more recent Snapdragon XR2 announcement puts a pinpoint focus on the Oculus Quest 2 VR headset from Facebook.

The company indicates that the improvements and enhancements brought by the platform to Oculus Quest 2 are extensive. And they apply to far more than just the visuals that the headset delivers. Although thats an important focal point as well since the new headset offers 50-percent more pixels thanks to the platform.

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What does the Snapdragon XR2 bring to Facebook VR?

Among other things, the AI processing in Oculus Quest 2 is significantly enhanced thanks to the new Snapdragon VR platform. Thats by as much as 11-times, according to Qualcomm. And that, in turn, allows the HMD device to process more perception algorithms at the same time as a host of other processes. The end result, for wearers, is a more immersive experience.

Moreover, the headset incorporates the Engine for Visual Analytics (EVA). Thats a dedicated computer vision processor that takes VR-related tasks and offloads them. That equates to lower latency and reduced power consumption. With the latter metric, the platform combines alongside heterogeneous compute architecture. Summarily, allowing for a better runtime in terms of battery life, despite all of the extra processing oomph.

In fact, Oculus Quest 2 battery life sites at around two to three hours in spite of processing improvements. And those improvements sit atop bleeding-edge connectivity improvements too. Making the playtime more impressive still. Qualcomms FastConnect 6800 connectivity system enables up to Wi-Fi 6 standards.

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When is Oculus Quest 2 available?

As to the Oculus-branded headset itself, delivering on all of those improvements, thats going to be available sooner than later. As per Facebooks announcement, that will be available for consumers as early as next month. Pre-orders are already open, with sales expected from Oculus and Amazon with a starting price of $299.

$100 more takes the storage from 64GB to 256GB. Shipments are slated to start on October 13.
When Brandi Rodriguez was handed an eviction notice, her heart sank.

"They asked me to pay $4,500 and on top of that I would pay $1,500 each month," Rodriguez said in an interview with Chron.com.

It was a struggle that Houston-area mom Rodriguez said she never expected to face. Just after her husband lost his job in the pandemic, Rodriguez was served with an eviction notice, despite a federal eviction ban issued by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention on September 4.

Making matters worse, all of this happened as Rodriguez was preparing her seven children to return to school. While other moms focused on online learning, Rodriguez and her husband Mario are now desperately searching for a permanent place to call home.

'IT'S UNBELIEVABLE': More than $234K raised to help Harris County renters facing eviction

The Rodriguezes realized that it would put the family deeper and deeper in debt to stay. Despite the eviction ban, renters are still expected to pay back rent and all the fees associated with it.

"It put me in a hard place. After the four months when the eviction ban ends, you'll still owe all that back rent. And the homeowner has to agree to it," Rodriguez said. "It was so many shut doors. At that point, I just felt defeated."

The Rodriguez family's one attempt for assistance fell through the cracks of bureaucratic red tape. Despite Harris County dedicating $60 million rental assistance program through BakerRipley to help renters facing eviction, Rodriguez's attempt to sign up before being forced from her home hit a snag. Her landlord had to participate in the rental assistance plan before it was approved, and that didn't happen in Rodriguez's case.

"I was upset because I thought the whole point was that the tenant was to apply for help and provide the property owner information," Rodriguez said. "It felt like we were set up to fail."

Although it was too late for Rodriguez family, Mayor Sylvester Turner urged all Houstonians who were facing eviction to still sign up for BakerRipley program even if landlords were not in agreement.

"Even if your apartment complex, or landlord may not have signed up, if you're need of rental assistance, I still want you to apply," Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said in a press conference on September 4.

The Rodriguez family is now staying with friends from their congregation, Get Wrapped Church in southeast Houston.

"We've had so many 'no's. We have a big family and there's nine of us," Rodriguez said. "My husband lost his job. Then I told my landlord, 'I'm gonna be late', then she filed the eviction notice."

Rodriguez says she feels for other struggling tenants who have lost their jobs and are facing an uphill battle in the pandemic.

"I started to see all the people who were being thrown out of their homes," Rodriguez added. "I feel for them too. The solution is not to throw people out of their homes. We're all going through this together. We have to move and adjust as much as possible."

Amid all the family's seemingly insurmountable challenges, Rodriguez stands strong in unshakeable faith and perseverance.

"I'm just taking it one day at a time. I'm praying. That's something that makes us positive," Rodriguez said. "Persevere. That's our big thing and staying positive. We can either choose to be joyful or choose to be miserable."

Rodriguez explains how frustrating and frightening it can be to have your family facing a traumatic event like an eviction.

"That was the scary thing. Those (eviction) letters are scary. An officer is at your door," Rodriguez said.

The family plans to keep looking for a permanent place to call home.

"For every 'no,' theres got to be a 'yes' somewhere," Rodriguez said. "Right now, we're just applying to places. Were just being hopeful. Were just going to stay positive. We're open to anything."

For all Houstonians who are facing this challenge, she lends words of wisdom.

"Be transparent. Be positive. Ask questions. And stay focused," Rodriguez said. "I can't be mad at them (landlords). Being mad at them is not going to change my situation. The end result is that I need to move. I have to lead with love. You've got to have compassion. You never know what the next person is going through."

If you'd like to help the Rodriguez family, a GoFundMe account has been created to assist them.
China expressed its appreciation for the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling that the United States' Section 301 tariffs on Chinese products were in breach of its WTO obligations, a spokesperson with the Ministry of Commerce said Tuesday.



Calling the ruling made by a WTO expert panel "objective and fair," the spokesperson said it's a must for China to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests by resorting to the WTO dispute settlement mechanism to tackle the wrongful practices of the U.S. unilateralism and trade protectionism.

It also demonstrates China's firm determination to respect WTO rules and safeguard the authority of the multilateral trading system.

Noting that the multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core is the cornerstone of international trade, the spokesperson said China has always firmly supported and safeguarded the cornerstone and respected WTO rules and rulings.

China also hopes that the U.S. side will fully respect the ruling of the WTO expert panel and the rules-based multilateral trading system, take concrete actions and work with China and other WTO members to jointly safeguard the multilateral trading system and promote stable and sound development of the world economy, the spokesperson said.
Genealogy as a hobby can be expensive. There are numerous ways to spend your money including books, conferences, webinars, society memberships, travel, online subscriptions, and DNA testing.

However, there are many ways to continue your research without spending a fortune. Census records are a good example. Beginning in 1790, the United States counted its residents every 10 years. While the information in each census varies, the tabulations pinpoint our ancestors location at a specific time. Starting with the 1850 census, all members of the household are listed along with their ages. Each census adds additional questions and by 1900, the information listed for each person includes month and year of birth, year of immigration, occupation of every person over nine years old, and much more.

With the exception of the 1890 census, which was destroyed in a fire, the records from 1790 through 1940 are available online at several different websites. While most of these sites charge for the information, FamilySearch.org is a free option. All that is required is for you to create a free account to begin searching.

Familysearch.org also has many free options for education. I was recently researching a family using handwritten church records in Latin. I searched the FamilySearch Research Wiki (located under the Search tab) and found several articles on Latin terms and phrases used in church records that allowed me to decipher the records.

If you want to sample some of the online subscriptions without committing yourself to a monthly subscription, watch for free weekends when the online databases are available to anyone with a computer and internet connection. For example, Fold3, a database of military records, frequently offers free access over Memorial Day weekend and around Veterans Day. You can follow these companies on social media or subscribe to email updates to keep informed of their special sales.

Many state archives are digitizing their records and making them available online for free. Simply google the state archives for the state you need and follow links for either genealogy or digitized records.

A free site from Illinois is the Illinois Digital Archives, idaillinois.org. According to the website, The Illinois Digital Archives (IDA) was created in 2000, as a repository for the digital collections of the Illinois State Library as well as other libraries and cultural institutions in the State of Illinois. This site contains a wealth of information, including many of the publications of the Madison County Genealogical Society. Since this is not just vital records or databases, you will also find photos, manuscripts, maps, postcards, and much more. New records are constantly being added so if you are searching in Illinois, be sure to check this site often. This site is in addition to searchable databases offered at the State Archives.

These are only a few options available to anyone searching for their ancestors. I am sure you can find many more.

Mary Westerhold has worked most of the last twenty years at the Madison County Archival Library helping others find their family roots.
The latest Dublin Economic Monitor (DEM), published yesterday morning by the four Dublin Local Authorities, shows the deep and widespread economic implications of Covid-19 for the Dublin economy. The monitor covers 14 key indicators, consumer spending data from the MasterCard SpendingPulseTM and provides regular insights into different aspects of Dublins economy.

The data shows that activity across the Dublin economy collapsed in the second quarter of 2020 as measures to limit the spread of Covid-19 had severe implications for residents, businesses and visitors alike. Employment levels decreased by over 33,000 year on year (YoY), business activity contracted at record rates, while usage of Dublins airport, port, and public transport system all fell substantially.

The PMI fell to 25.2 (where 50 = no change), signifying the severe contractions which occurred across manufacturing, services and construction in the quarter. The declines in output and new orders during the second quarter exceeded those seen during the worst of the global financial crisis. Services were particularly affected, likely due to the importance of the sector for economic activity in the Dublin region.

Weak business activity was further reflected in the office market where vacancy rates increased in the second quarter, while public transport usage declined by over 76% YoY as a combination of travel restrictions and remote working reduced residents and visitors movements.

Passenger throughput at Dublin Airport fell by over 98% YoY in the second quarter 2020, and this had severe implications for the tourism and hospitality sectors in particular. Hotel occupancy rates fell as low as 5.9% in the second quarter as domestic and international travel restrictions limited visits to the Capital. Such low demand for hotel rooms also affected prices, with average daily rates falling by over 40% YoY.

The monitor also underlines the deep impact which the global pandemic is having on retail spending in the Dublin economy. Sales fell by 12% YoY in the second quarter according to MasterCard, with significant YoY declines recorded in the discretionary and household goods categories in particular. A clear shift towards eCommerce is evident, with traditional bricks-and-mortar retailers such as department stores suffering as a consequence.

Retail spending by tourists in Dublin fell to negligible levels in the second quarter, with declines of over 50% recorded across each of Dublins major international markets. The greatest contraction was in the Chinese market where tourist spending fell by 94.3% YoY. This was followed by the more sizeable tourist markets of France (-84.1% YoY) and the UK (-73.3% YoY).

Commenting on the research, Chief Economist with Grant Thornton, Andrew Webb said, "The second quarter has brought the deep impact of the economic shutdown into sharp focus. Key indicators of the economic health of the city all displayed dramatic downturns. Employment levels in Dublin fell, business activity contracted markedly, while travel patterns in to and around the city region also declined significantly."

He added, "As the economy moves tentatively out of lockdown, some green shoots of economic recovery have emerged, with declining numbers now on income supports and signs of increased activity in tourism. The third quarter will provide more evidence of the full impact of the downturn and whether the early momentum from the lifting of lockdown is maintained into the autumn."

Source: www.businessworld.ie
Victoria's Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said the backlog for elective surgery now numbered about 60,000 patients. "The figures change from hour to hour and day to day. Of course, as people's needs change and I want to stress also that as we resume this elective surgery that people will get access to their treatment based on clinical need," she said. Ms Mikakos said anyone awaiting for a category 2 or a category 3 surgery may be able to have their condition and case reviewed to ascertain their priority. "For anyone who is concerned about their current condition or have any concerns that their condition may have deteriorated in recent weeks, it's important that they speak to their GP or their specialist doctor about their place in that waiting list," she said.

The waiting list for category 2 patients at the end of June as Victoria headed into its second wave was 23,249 and for category 3 was 30,869. Those totals were already well above the figures from 12 months earlier. Dentists to reopen Melburnians needing routine dental work will be able to see their dentists in Melbourne at the end of the month. MS Mikakos announced dentists and other allied health services will be able to resume non-urgent procedures and treatment from September 28. "They will be able to resume non-urgent procedures such as routine examinations, temporary fillings, simple extractions and simple procedures," she said.

"That's significantly important for those waiting for dental care as well as others waiting for allied health." On track for lockdown lifting Wednesday was the second consecutive day that Victoria has recorded 42 cases and comes after 35 infections were reported on Monday, 41 on Sunday and 37 on Saturday. Melbourne's 14-day case average, which is crucial to easing lockdown restrictions from September 28, has dipped to 49.6. In its road map to recovery, the state government said restrictions would only start to ease from the end of September in Melbourne if the 14-day average remained between 30 and 50 cases.

Mr Andrews said the state now had fewer than 1000 active cases for the "first time in a long time". "[That] should be a point of pride for every single Victorian who is doing the right thing, making sacrifices, staying the course, doing what has to be done to get our state open and keep it open," he said. The number of new "mystery cases" with no known source since August 31 til Sunday is now 81. For curfew and the five kilometre limit to lift, by October 26 the total number of mystery cases over the prior 14 days needs to be five cases or fewer. Mr Andrews said there might be an assessment made on whether restrictions could ease earlier than September 28, but urged patience.

"The fact that we are in the 30-to-50 band should be a point of pride, absolutely. But we are making an assessment, not today, but in a short amount of time, about being in the 30 to 50 band and if we are, not just for a day, but for a decent period, for a significant period, then we'll be able to make that call," he said. "It needs to be in that band of 30 to 50 and we need to wait a little bit longer. I know that's challenging but, as we've said, we are on track." Road blocks to the regions The 14-day case average in regional Victoria has fallen to 3.5. The Health Department has reported an additional mystery case of unknown community transmission in regional Victoria but noted that it emerged more than 15 days ago and would not jeopardise the easing of lockdown restrictions in country areas from midnight. Melburnians trying to escape to holiday homes following the easing of restrictions in regional Victoria will face an almost $5000 fine at beefed up road blocks.

Deputy Commissioner of regional operations Rick Nugent announced a new $4957 fine on Tuesday for "failure to comply with a requirement to remain in a restricted area". In an effort to deter Melburnians travelling to regional Victoria in the upcoming school holidays, Mr Nugent said police would check every car towing caravans or boats. The fine will apply per person found in a group travelling. For example, a couple travelling would each receive a $4957 fine and be sent home. In regional Victoria from Thursday, residents can have visitors to their homes, restaurants and cafes can have seated indoor and outdoor dining, beauty services can reopen and people can gather in groups of 10 outside.

Victoria Police has beefed up vehicle-checking at key arterials roads in and out of Melbourne. "I just say to anyone who is caught in one of those roadblocks, you know, that will be challenging, but nowhere near as challenging as this getting away from us again in regional Victoria because people went to regional Victoria from metropolitan Melbourne, had no lawful reason to do it, and took the virus with them," Mr Nugent said. "The feedback I get from very small country towns to big regional centres is they'd love to have visitors but they love being virus-free a lot more. "There will be a time for travel. There will be a time for tourism to get back on its feet, Melbourne out into the regions and vice versa. That is not now."

Meanwhile, research by some of the nation's most senior scientists has found that more than 60,000 cases of coronavirus in Australia could have gone undetected, potentially adding to calls to ease restrictions sooner. Loading The federal government-funded study by a team of researchers including Australia's Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Dr Nick Coatsworth, estimates that by July  before Victoria's peak in cases  71,400 people may have contracted the virus. At the time, there were only 11,190 officially confirmed cases in Australia.
The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Rt. Rev. Prof. Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mante has performed a sod-cutting ceremony for the construction of a doctors bungalow for the Assin Praso Presbyterian Health Centre in the Assin North District of the Central Region.



The construction of the residence has become necessary to provide a desirable accommodation environment in order to employ the services of a medical doctor to raise high health standards at the health centre and also improve quality medical care for the people. Currently, Physician Assistant is in charge of the health facility.



The Assin Praso Presbyterian Health Centre is a moderately sized health facility which serves a large, mainly farming, population (about 100,000 people) in its catchment area.



It was established by the Presbyterian Church of Ghana in 1987 to provide health care to the people around the area.



The sod-cutting ceremony was attended by the Moderator, Rt. Rev. Prof. Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mante, the West Akyem Presbytery Chairperson of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Rev Dr. Benzies Adu-Okoree, the District Chief Executive for Assin North District Assembly, Mr Nicholas Ohene Andoh, Nananom from both Assin Praso and Assin Asempanaye, the Clergy, Opinion Leaders, Church members among others.



Speaking at the short but impressive ceremony, the Rt. Rev Prof. Mante said the Presbyterian Church of Ghana for the past one hundred and ninety-one (191) years in its quest to be Christ-Centred, Self-Sustaining and a Growing Church, had used a three-prong approach in its mission work  namely Preaching, Teaching and Healing.



This approach he said, had been fashioned after the patterns of Jesus Christ as stated in Mathew 9:35.



The Moderator emphasized that in a typical Presbyterian enclave in any city, town or village, one would see a Chapel and school and then, in some of the places a healthcare facility. The teaching and preaching of the good news are supposed to bring healing to the sick.



He said the Presbyterian Church of Ghana will continue to provide quality healthcare delivery to the people of Ghana to ensure and promote comprehensive development of the wellbeing of the people.



The District Chief Executive for Assin North, Mr. Nicolas Ohene Andoh lauded the Presbyterian Church of Ghana for playing major roles in various sectors of the economy, especially in the area of health to help develop the country.



He pledged that the District Assembly would support the project to be completed on time. He made a personal contribution of 50 bags of cement to support the construction.



The Physician Assistant in Charge of the Health Centre, Mr Noah Tetteh expressed his appreciation to the Presbyterian Church of Ghana for the support given to the facility.



He said the health centre was working hard to improve on the working conditions of its workers and that the construction of the bungalow was a manifestation of that drive.



He said having been operating under the Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG), the health centre is one of the biggest facilities in the area with an average Out-Patient Department (OPD) attendance of 35,000, and therefore it would need to provide a decent living environment for its staff. Mr Tetteh mentioned that the project is estimated to cost GH420, 000.



The Moderator earlier fellowshipped with the local Congregation at Assin Praso.



He made a personal contribution of one hundred (100) bags of cement to support the project.











Source: Presbyterian Church of Ghana









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VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / September 16, 2020 / GLOBAL HEMP GROUP INC. ("GHG" or the "Company") (CSE:GHG)(OTC:GBHPF)(FRANKFURT:GHG) is pleased to announce that the Company has entered into agreement to form an Exclusive Strategic Partnership to create a Sustainable Economic Zone in northwest Colorado with Western Sierra Resource Corporation ("WSRC") (OTC: WSRC). The Economic Zone will be vertically integrated and will generate multiple revenue streams for this 50/50 Partnership.

The Partnership will benefit from WSRC's extensive existing water infrastructure, that has been diligently developed over the last 15 years and currently valued at over US$40mil. The availability of these water resources is a key resource in developing this project and creating multiple revenue streams from its three operational segments - hemp cultivation, processing and sustainable construction.

The Partnership will also seek to grow through a series of acquisitions and accumulate long term real estate assets and look to further enhance their value through the expansion of water infrastructure. Significant job creation will be an addition benefit to the region. The project will maximize the beneficial use of the water through all aspects of the Sustainable Economic Zone.

Components of this zone will include; industrial hemp cultivation, primary processing, creation of hemp value-added products produced in a centralized area adjacent to the farming areas known as a Hemp Agro-Industrial Zone (HAIZ), and utilization of these value-added products in sustainable construction, with a special emphasis on affordable and environmentally friendly housing.

The hemp cultivation will focus on the production of hurd and fiber, which will be processed into value-added products in the HAIZ. Initially the HAIZ will focus on building materials that will then be used in the construction of affordable housing in Colorado. A by-product of the processing step is hemp fiber, which can be processed into additional value-added products or sold directly to the marketplace as an additional source of revenue.

Through partnerships, joint ventures, and acquisitions, the Strategic Partnership will collaborate to build an industrial complex to fully and judiciously utilize 100% of the hemp plant with a strategic portfolio of forward-thinking companies that also believe in the disruptive potential of industrial hemp. This collaboration will form the basis of the HAIZ.

Curt Huber, President of Global Hemp stated, "Since Global Hemp's inception, the Company's vision has always been about sustainability and collaboration, with a focus on the development of the industrial aspects of the hemp. The multiple applications of the hemp plant, notably in the building industry, will become the most significant over time. This project combines all of the Company's values into one project. We are looking forward to working with the Western Sierra team in the development of this project."

Final definitive agreements and budgets for the project will be concluded over the next 60 days. The Company's initial funding commitment over the next 30 days is US$25,000.

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/globalhempgrp

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hemp_global/

Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Hemp_Global

About Global Hemp Group Inc.

Global Hemp Group Inc. (CSE: GHG) (OTC: GBHPF) (FRANKFURT: GHG), is focused on a multi-phased strategy to build a strong presence in the industrial hemp industry the United States. The Company is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, with hemp cultivation operations in the state of Oregon. The first phase of this strategy is to develop hemp cultivation with the objective of extracting cannabinoids (CBG & CBD) and creating a near term revenue stream that will allow the Company to expand and develop successive phases of the strategy. The second phase of the plan will focus on the development of value-added industrial hemp products utilizing the processing of the whole hemp plant, as envisioned in the Company's Hemp Agro-Industrial Zone (HAIZ) strategy.

For Further Information Contact Global Hemp Group

Tel: 424-354-2998

info@globalhempgroup.com

https://globalhempgroup.com

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements

Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of Global Hemp Group Inc., including, but not limited to the impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions, volatility of commodity prices, currency fluctuations, dependence upon regulatory approvals, the availability of future financing and exploration risk, the legality of cannabis and hemp. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, Global Hemp Group Inc. disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward looking statements to reflect actual results, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions, changes in factors affecting such forward looking statements or otherwise.

The CSE has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE: Global Hemp Group Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/606400/Global-Hemp-Group-Forms-Exclusive-Strategic-Partnership-to-Create-a-Sustainable-Economic-Zone-in-Northwest-Colorado
Job Title: Receptionist

Organisation: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

Duty Station: Mbarara, Uganda

Vacancy Notice: Internal/ External Vacancy Notice no. 015/2020

Position Number: 10033694

Position Grade: GS-3

About US:

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was established on December 14, 1950 by the United Nations General Assembly. UNHCRs mandate under the Statute of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is to lead and co-ordinate action for international protection to refugees; seek permanent solutions for the problems of refugees and safeguard refugee rights and well-being. UNHCR has an additional mandate concerning issues of statelessness, as it is given a designated role under Article 11 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.

Job Summary: The Receptionist will assist in organizing and coordinating the reception area of UNHCR Office. The incumbent has no supervisory role and will always function under the direct supervision of a (Senior) Associate or an Officer who is required to monitor the performance of the incumbent and provide regular guidance. The incumbent will have internal contacts within UNHCR with staff members and focal points from different units and with external parties for exchange of information and reception of visitors.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

 Receive, screen and assist visitors/clients and escorts them to responsible officer concerned. Adopt tactful attitude to inform and convince interlocutors to accept unforeseen situations, such as waiting longer than expected, meet with a different officer than expected or accepting the cancellation of an appointment.

 Answer to incoming calls and transfer calls to concerned officer and/or take messages or provide general information, understanding the importance and the confidentiality of the issues treated.

 Receive and transmit verbal and written messages to appropriate officer/office/Unit/Department.

 Record the incoming and outgoing mail and manage internal courier distribution, as appropriate. Register/keep records of visitors/clients, as requested.

 Utilise office equipment (telephone, fax, radio, computer) when necessary.

 Perform any other clerical duty that may be required





Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

 The ideal candidate for the United Nations UNHCR Receptionist job placement should hold a High school diploma

 At least three years of previous job experience relevant to the function is required.

 Analytical Thinking

 Planning and organizing

 Change Capability and Adaptability

 Knowledge of English is required

Desirable Qualifications:

 Good computer skills in using various office applications (including Microsoft Word, Excel, Internet Explorer and Access) is desirable.

 Good knowledge of proGres (HCR database for registration of refugees, returnees and displaced persons) is desirable.

How to Apply:

All interested Ugandan nationals who wish to join the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the aforementioned capacity are encouraged to click on the link below and follow the application instructions after reviewing the job details.

Click Here

Deadline: 21st September 2020

For more of the latest jobs, please visit https://www.theugandanjobline.com or find us on our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/UgandanJobline
But what, exactly, is a resident?

Even if you wont be living at the address where youre registered to vote  an apartment back in the city, for example, while youre staying with your parents elsewhere  in the days leading up to the election, you can still vote at your permanent address.

Much of the decision comes down to whether you have an intent to remain at the address youve moved to, said Tammy Patrick, a senior adviser at Democracy Fund, a nonprofit organization that supports free and fair elections.

Its absolutely legal for someone to vote in a state or city they have moved from if they intend to go back there, she said, adding that if you move shortly before the election  especially within the window of residency requirements in your new home state  you can vote at your previous address.

You may also want to consider if the state you moved to has same-day registration, which allows you to register on or before Election Day at the polls. (You will most likely need to provide proof of residency, such as a utility bill.)

One thing to keep in mind if youre thinking about voting at your temporary residence: In some states, registering to vote can be a declaration of residency, which could complicate things if you plan to be there only temporarily.
Protesters tempers flared during the St. Francois County Health Center forum regarding a countywide mask mandate, but ultimately, the health board voted 3-1 in favor of mandating masks, effective Monday.

Penalties for violating the mandate would focus on fines.

The mandate, which at press time was still a draft on the SFCHC web page, can be found at

Voting in favor of the mandate was St. Francois County Health Center Board Chairman Jack Poston with fellow board members Tara Wadlow and Jason King. Voting against the mandate was Dr. Victoria Damba, doctor of osteopathic medicine in family practice. Board member Joni Bannister was absent.

People are very emotional, so it didnt surprise me the things that were said, Poston noted after the meeting, which allowed public comment for about 30 minutes before the vote was taken. Business owners and doctors joined in at the podium to speak for and against the mandate.

We wanted to hear from the public. We got mixed reviews. The majority of the people who spoke, spoke against it and it is what it is, said Amber Elliott, St. Francois County Health Center director. We know the public was divided, based on the public comment that we took prior to this, it is almost split right down the middle. So its what we were expecting.

As of Monday, the number of active cases in St. Francois County is 725. The active cases on Friday had been 665. One national report has listed St. Francois County as one of the nations top five COVID-19 hotspots based on cases per population density. Thus far, there have been six deaths since March 22 attributed to COVID-19, and 1,591 total cases since March 22.

The public comment portion before the vote was a mix of pro- and anti-mandate sentiments, most were against.

The death rate was called low by many anti-mandate speakers, who also cited reasons such as PTSD, general anxiety, infringement on their freedoms and questionable effectiveness of masks in preventing or slowing the spread of the coronavirus.

Those for the mandate cited epidemiology reports showing that, while not 100% protection, mask-wearing  when boosted by mask mandates  seemed to slow the spread while combined with other health-protective measures like hand washing and social distancing.

The first to speak was Parkland Health Center President Annette Schnabel, who acknowledged St. Francois County was in a red zone and asked that the mandate be invoked. Schnabel pointed out that some days, some departments are in the red, meaning they can no longer take any more patients, due to the spread.

Since her speech was muffled, many carrying anti-mask signs in the audience yelled at her that they couldnt hear her.

Is the microphone on? one yelled. Turn on the microphone! another yelled. Its probably her mask! many dispersed through the audience murmured.

Many of the pro-mandate speakers were booed and heckled to the point they were unable to be heard by the board. Farmington attorney Ed Pultz asked the board during his pro-mandate comments to get the audience in hand, which brought louder boos and heckling from the audience.

Poston intervened, asking the audience to quiet down and show respect to all speakers. The heckling continued more quietly, with one audience member shouting at Poston, yes, maam!

The anti-mandate speakers were given long rounds of applause and excited cheers at the end of their two-minute presentations.

Sue Cook, retired teacher and resident of Terre Du Lac, cited statistics that she said proved the ineffectiveness of masks.

Restaurant owner Joan Hurst of Farmington noted that although her son lived in a city that mandated masks, and although he had been careful given his immunocompromised condition, he still caught the virus and was counted among St. Francois Countys COVID statistics, although he lives elsewhere.

A doctor noted that he was surprised by the emotional intensity surrounding the mandate, of which he wasnt strongly in favor due to compulsion vs. voluntary aspects.

Half an hour into the meeting, the board cut off comments and entered the business portion of their meeting, approving minutes of Aug. 27 and Sept. 1 meetings. They then voted to amend the mandate to show an enforcement date of Monday, Sept. 21, so as to give businesses, schools and other public places time to adjust to the mandates requirements. The four voting board members unanimously agreed, to the loud groans of the audience.

Dr. Damba spoke up, reassuring the audience that they were strictly voting to amend the mandates official verbiage, they hadnt approved the mandate yet. But when the mandate came up for vote, Wadlow, King and Poston voted in favor, with Dr. Damba voting against it.

Poston then invited the board members to speak.

Dr. Damba told the audience she voted against the mandate because, while she thinks theres a benefit to masking, but she worried that masking provided a false sense of security and increased anxiety. The crowd cheered loudly, and she continued to say that those with higher mortality potential  the elderly, the immunocompromised  already stay home, for the most part.

Its a choice that we all make about things about our health, and for people believe that a mask mandate is a necessary thing, its the mandate thats the problem, she said. Many loud cheers erupted from the audience.

Wadlow observed that, as with any medical issue, its important to get treatment and information from doctors who specialize in those areas.

You wouldnt go to a podiatrist or a foot surgeon for heart surgery, she said. The Infectious Disease Society of America has pushed for masking since July 8 and said of all the simple and effective steps we can take to slow the spread of coronavirus, masks are key among them.

As she continued, a few in the audience yelled Bull!

Poston said they were sympathetic to those who were anxious about wearing masks, to those young children being expected to wear a mask, and to those who had breathing problems, and noted, Good news, we addressed those concerns, and this mandate covers those issues. As he continued he was shouted down, and turned into a vote, with many in the audience hollering insults against the board.

Hey! Get six feet apart! bellowed a man in the center rows toward the boards table at the front of the audience. Get em boys! he hollered at the police in attendance, theyre not six feet apart!

The anti-mandate crowd slowly made their way out of the building, or over to the board members, some still loudly peppering questions at board members until the police moved between them.

I expected some opposition, Poston said after the meeting. People are very emotional these days, so it didnt surprise me what was said tonight.

And its America, God blessem if they want to speak their mind.

Sarah Haas is the assistant editor for the Daily Journal. She can be reached at 573-518-3617 or at shaas@dailyjournalonline.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.
Grossi terms Iran as important partner for IAEA

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, Sept 15, IRNA -- Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi described Iran as an important partner for IAEA.

Grossi made the remarks in a meeting with Iran's deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs Mohsen Baharvand who is in Vienna to attend the IAEA Board of Governors meeting.

He hailed cooperation between Iran and the IAEA and also the level of verifications in Iran.

Baharvand, for his part, referred to Iran-IAEA cooperation and stressed the fact that the IAEA will not be influenced by the political pressures of some countries aiming to divert interactions.

He noted that cooperation in a constructive and impartial atmosphere will benefit both sides.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the senior Iranian diplomat appreciated IAEA's aid for fighting coronavirus in Iran.

He described technical cooperation as an important and integral part of the Agency's mission.

Stressing the fact that using peaceful nuclear energy is for all members of IAEA, Baharvand said Saudi Arabia's activities which are not transparent and refuse to accept IAEA inspectors are source of concern.

He reiterated that the IAEA should be able to do its verification activities in these countries.

Earlier on Monday addressing the IAEA Board of Governors' meeting, Grossi said that the IAEA has reached an agreement with Iran over the implementation of safeguards, expressing hope for this agreement to result in developing cooperation and mutual confidence.

He added that based on the Additional Protocol, the IAEA had access to one of the two sites and inspectors investigated the area.

9376**2050

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The merchants of Armenia, who again were demonstrating in front of the main building of the government, are now marching toward the National Assembly.

They are dissatisfied with the new customs regulations in the country, and demand that they remain the same.

According to them, the duties for customs clearance of goods is increasing in Armenia as a result of the new regulations.

These demonstrators had had a meeting with chairman Edvard Hovhannisyan of the State Revenue Committee on this matter, but again they were dissatisfied.
Photo by Neil Nash

Shocked wildlife groups say they are appalled at a government decision to extend badger culls to Warwickshire and ten other counties this autumn, despite pledges to move away from the practice.

The Warwickshire Wildlife Trust, the RSPCA and the Warwickshire Badger Group have all criticised the move, which will see up to 2223 badgers killed in the county during its first year and up to more than 63,000 nationwide.

The Warwickshire license runs until January 2024, with DEFRA setting the number of badgers allowed to be killed each year.

The government claims its intention is to phase out intensive badger culling, but points to the more than 30,000 cattle slaughtered each year due to TB infection.

The decision to extend the culls has horrified a number of the countys wildlife groups, who have emphasised the suffering caused to badgers and the need to concentrate on vaccination and testing instead.

In recent weeks the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust has been ramping up its efforts to stop the cull being extended to the county, writing to farmers to stress the ineffectiveness of such actions in cutting bovine TB.

A petition recently started by the organisation opposing the cull in Warwickshire has been signed by almost 15,000 people.

Warwickshire Wildlife Trust CEO, Dr Ed Green, said: This is a staggering government U-turn and one which will result in thousands of healthy badgers being shot across England this autumn.

In March, following a review by Professor Godfray, the government promised to move away from lethal control. However, after seven years of badger culling, the government has failed to act on its own advice and is expanding its culling programme into new regions including Oxfordshire, Leicestershire and Warwickshire into what will be the biggest cull yet.

We are at a critical turning point for our natural world and this latest U-turn should set alarm bells ringing, culling is an outdated policy that seeks to eradicate protected wildlife rather than addressing the real problem which is the main cause of bovine tuberculosis (bTB): cattle-to-cattle infection.

Recent news that investment in a cattle vaccine is underway is welcome, but it is not enough. Moving the culling into areas where badger vaccinations have been taking place will also undermine this vital and under-funded work.

The Warwickshire Badger Group say the Government has still not released the results of a 2017 survey examining the incidence of TB within badgers killed on the countys roads and are demanding its publication.

The group, which participated in the survey, believes the results will not support the move to extend the cull.

Dr Denise Taylor, chair of the Warwickshire Badger Group, said: We took part in the survey in good faith. We were promised that the detailed findings would be published and made available to us. That has not happened. Why? We believe that the low level of disease incidence could not and does not support the Government's decision to extend badger slaughter into our area. So the results have been hidden away. That's shocking.

"The county's badgers are healthy. They are not the cause of bovine TB spread locally. But the Government's obsession with the alleged contribution of badgers to bovine TB spread, means that this year as many as 2223 badgers will be cruelly sacrificed to satisfy what increasingly looks like a vindictive, unscientific and politically driven campaign enthusiastically backed by the farming unions. By far the majority will be healthy and some will even be immune to the disease, having been vaccinated against it.

"The badger is a protected species. But its biggest persecutor is now the Government. We urge everyone to make their objections known to MPs, the Cabinet, and in the media. This bloodbath must be stopped.

She added that improving biosecurity measures would be a much more effective way of cutting TB in cattle.

Adam Grogan, head of the RSPCAs wildlife department said: We are shocked that the Government is stepping up its inhumane and ineffective badger cull despite its recently announced commitment to government-supported badger vaccination and surveillance.

It is appalling news that the cull is to be extended to another 11 regions, given the Governments April announcement that it would move away from culling towards badger vaccination, the development of cattle vaccination, more frequent and improved cattle testing, better management of cattle movements and incentives to improve biosecurity.

Explaining why the government was extending the cull, Environment Secretary George Eustice said: Bovine TB is one of the most difficult and intractable animal health challenges that the UK faces today, causing considerable trauma for farmers and costing taxpayers over 100 million every year.

No one wants to continue the cull of a protected species indefinitely. That is why we are accelerating other elements of our strategy, including vaccination and improved testing so that we can eradicate this insidious disease and start to phase out badger culling in England.

The government statement said that arrangements were in place to carry out culling in a safe, effective and humane way and work was underway to develop an approved cattle vaccine by 2025.
BRUNSWICK, N.Y.  State Police in Brunswick are asking for the publics help in solving a series of burglaries.

State Police are looking to talk to the person pictured about multiple burglaries that took place in the Town of Brunswick in Aug.

If you have any information regarding his identity, youre urged to contact the New York State Police at the State Police barracks in Brunswick at (518) 279-4427.
The Red Sox have been aware of Tanner Houcks confidence since before they drafted him 24th overall out of Mizzou in 2017.

I said, No matter what, if you guys select me, Im going to be the best pick in the draft," Houck recalled to MassLive.com back in 2018. "Youre going to look back in 20 years and say, we got the best guy. And I still have that mindset.

That same confidence was on display during his major league debut Tuesday. He pitched without fear, leading Boston to a 2-0 victory over Miami at Marlins Park.

The righty tossed 5 scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and three walks while striking out seven.

He joined Eduardo Rodriguez, Dave Morehead and Larry Pape as the only Red Sox pitchers to strike out seven and not allow a run in an MLB debut. He became the first Red Sox pitcher to win his MLB debut since Rodriguez in 2015.

Definitely right now Im kind of high on life, Houck said. Getting that win was truly amazing.

7 Ks and a W in his big league debut. pic.twitter.com/zSx3tZQNqA  Red Sox (@RedSox) September 16, 2020

Houck  who likely will make two more starts with 11 games remaining in 2020  still was somewhat anxious (and understandably so).

For me, getting to go out there to warm up (in the bullpen) the first time, I definitely had the heart pounding a little bit more than usual, Houck said. But it was a surreal moment.

The righty attacked the strike zone and went right after hitters with his two-seamer, four-seamer and slider, which had excellent movement. He trusted his stuff. He challenged hitters. He wasnt afraid. That was especially evident when he used his slider to freeze one of Miamis best hitters, Miguel Rojas, for a strikeout to end the fourth inning with two runners on base.

But being able to come back, I think it was 3-2, throwing a slider, punching him out there was a big moment, Houck said. And it definitely set me up to be able to go back out there for the fifth.

He showed he has big league stuff. Whether he ends up as a starter, setup man or closer longterm, he should be able to have an impact on this team for many years to come.

Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke was most impressed with Houcks composure and command.

Just got ahead of people with strikes. Really good to see. He looked calm out there. That was fun watching him.

The righty recorded nine swings-and-misses. Five came with his slider, two with his two-seamer and two with his four-seamer, per Statcast. He topped out at 95.5 mph with his four-seam fastball and averaged 93.6 mph. He averaged 92 mph with his two-seam fastball and topped out at 94.7 mph with it (Statcast).

Hes got great movement on his fastball," Roenicke said. "Thats the biggest thing. Hes got a sinker. It runs when its up some. Hes got a four-seamer. Hes come up with a cutter. And the slider is really good. You saw to the right-handers he threw a lot of great sliders down and away they have trouble picking up. So good mix of pitches.

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Officers suspended after participating in far-right groups, including one which shared image of refugee in gas chamber.

Five far-right chat groups have been discovered among members of police forces in western Germany, in what a the local government has called a disgrace.

Some 126 pictures were shared in the groups, including images of Adolf Hitler and a doctored image of a refugee in a gas chamber.

Twenty-nine police officers took part in the chats, all of whom have been suspended, Herbert Reul, interior minister in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, told reporters in Dusseldorf on Wednesday.

They are all facing disciplinary measures, he added. Fourteen of them are set to lose their jobs.

Reul addressed reporters after raids were conducted against 14 police officers at 34 police departments and private properties in the cities of Duisburg, Essen, Moers, Muelheim and Oberhausen.

The state minister described the scandal as a disgrace for the police.

Police believe one of the groups was founded as early as 2013.

This is not the first case to raise concerns in Germany of far-right attitudes among police.

In the central state of Hesse, investigators looking into a hate mail campaign against politicians and public figures stumbled upon a chat group used to exchange extremist content.

A similar group was also discovered in the southern state of Bavaria last year, in which hate speech targeting Muslims was shared.

In Baden-Wuerttemberg in the southwest, it emerged that seven police cadets were being investigated for exchanging right-wing extremist content in a private WhatsApp group.

In response to the latest case in North Rhine-Westphalia, Reul announced that a special inquiry would be initiated for the police department of Essen, where 25 of the suspended officers work.

A special commissioner for rooting out far-right elements in the state police will also be hired.
The image of the US overseas has suffered since the beginning of the Trump administration, but it fell to a new low this year with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, a poll shows.

A 13-nation survey by Pew Research Centre shows the reputation of the US plummeting among key allies and partners.

In several countries, the percentage of the public that have a favourable view of the US is at its lowest point since the group began a survey on the topic 20 years ago.

The 13-country median with a favourable view of the US was 34 per cent of respondents, with only 16 per cent having confidence in the president, Donald Trump.

Only Spain, the UK, Japan, Italy and South Korea had a favourable view of the US exceeding 40 per cent.

Western Europeans have a particularly low opinion of the president, with only between nine and 11 per cent having confidence in him in Belgium, Germany, Denmark and France.

Japanese respondents had the most confidence in Trump, but that totalled only 25 per cent. The UK had a 41 per cent favourable view of the US and 19 per cent had confidence in Trump.

Confidence in the president is as low as with post-Katrina George W Bush. Trump is currently perceived similarly to the leaders of Russia and China, with 83 per cent having no confidence in him compared to 73 per cent for Vladimir Putin, and 78 per cent for Xi Jinping.

In terms of the pandemic, respondents were asked to say if the US had done a good job responding to the coronavirus. They were also asked the same about their own country, the World Health Organisation, the European Union, and China.

The US had a median score of 15 per cent, compared to 74 per cent for the home country, 64 per cent for the WHO, 57 per cent for the EU, and 37 per cent for China.

Only six per cent of South Korean respondents said the US had done a good job. The highest percentage of people that thought the US had handled the crisis well was 20 per cent of Spanish respondents.

The survey was conducted among 13,273 people in 13 countries  not including the US  from 10 June to 3 August, 2020.
On 16 July, Pakistan provided consular access to Jadhav, but the Indian government said the access was 'neither meaningful nor credible'

Islamabad: Pakistan's Parliament has extended for four months an ordinance that allowed Indian death-row prisoner Kulbhushan Jadhav to file an appeal against his conviction in a high court as required by the International Court of Justice.

The International Court of Justice (Review and Reconsideration) Ordinance promulgated in May was set to expire on 17 September but the National Assembly or the lower house on Monday through a voice vote extended it for four months, the Dawn News reported.

The ordinance was launched to implement the verdict of the ICJ which asked Pakistan to provide effective review of the sentence given to Jadhav by a military court.

Jadhav, the 50-year-old retired Indian Navy officer, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of "espionage and terrorism" in April 2017.

Pakistan government has approached the Islamabad High Court to appoint a defence lawyer to represent Jadhav in the court.

The court on 3 September heard the case for the second time and directed the federal government to give India another opportunity to appoint a lawyer to represent Jadhav. Now the case will be heard next month.

Pakistan last week said that it has conveyed the judicial orders to India for appointing a lawyer to represent Jadhav in the court but New Delhi had not responded yet.

On 16 July, Pakistan provided consular access to Jadhav, but the Indian government said the access was "neither meaningful nor credible" and he appeared visibly under stress.

The Ministry of External Affairs said Pakistan is not only in violation of the judgment of ICJ, but also of its own ordinance.

India approached the ICJ against Pakistan for denial of consular access to Jadhav and challenging the death sentence.

The Hague-based ICJ ruled in July last year that Pakistan must undertake an "effective review and reconsideration" of the conviction and sentence of Jadhav and also to grant consular access to India without further delay.

Pakistan claims that its security forces arrested Jadhav from the restive Balochistan province on 3 March, 2016 after he reportedly entered from Iran. India maintains that Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran where he had business interests after retiring from the Navy.
The MPs in the Budget Committees of Parliament eliminated, on Wednesday, on the proposal of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the article of the budget revision according to which the pension point will be increased by 14 pct, thus leaving in force the law of the public pension system which provides for a 40 pct increase.

The article according to which the pension point will increase by 14 pct has been removed, thus the MPs decided to "maintain the value of the pension point, as provided by law, at the value of 1,775 RON, for the purpose of maintaining the calendar regarding the increase of the pension point until the entry into force in full of the law referring to the public pension system."

The committees also adopted an amendment, also proposed by the PSD, by which the sums allotted to territorial administrative units (UAT) is increased by 1 billion RON, while for the county seat cities another 500 million RON is allotted, to be distributed equally, regardless of the political color of the local administration.

Through another amendment adopted, the committees have additionally allotted 5.635 million RON, to the budget of the Chamber of Deputies, for the acquisition of equipment necessary for MP offices in the territory, upon the changing of the legislature.

The MPs have also allotted an additional sum of 67 million RON for the Agriculture Ministry, an amount destined for the financing of the Program to complete the national anti-hail and precipitation increase system.

Also in Wednesday's session, the committees have decided to increase the base salaries for teaching staff, as is provided by law, meaning from this year.
The Supreme Courts 2018 ruling that barred public employee unions from collecting fees from nonmembers did not give union members a right to resign and recover dues they have already paid, a federal appeals court said Wednesday.

Neither the union nor the state of Washington, the workers employer, violated their First Amendment rights by continuing to collect dues they had voluntarily agreed to pay, said the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The ruling applies to several similar cases in California, including one from this January in which a federal judge in Oakland denied refunds to schoolteachers who had left their union.

The First Amendment does not support employees right to renege on their promise to join and support the union, Judge M. Margaret McKeown said in the Ninth Circuits 3-0 ruling, the first by any federal appellate court on the issue.

The case is one of a series of efforts by foes of government employee unions to enlarge on the victory they scored in June 2018. In the case of Janus vs. AFSCME, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that states violated the free-speech rights of workers who chose not to join the unions by requiring them to pay fees to unions for the costs of representing them at the bargaining table. The ruling applied to about two dozen states, including California, that required public employee unions to represent all employees.

Groups of nonunion members are seeking refunds for the fees they paid before the Supreme Court ruling, but the Ninth Circuit and other courts have ruled against them, saying the unions had reasonably relied on 40 years of high court precedents allowing the deductions. The nonmembers have appealed to the Supreme Court.

Wednesdays case involved seven Washington state employees who dropped out of their branch of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees after the Supreme Court decision and sought refunds. They and other AFSCME members had promised in April 2018, under a new union membership agreement, to pay dues for the next year. But the seven plaintiffs argued, in a proposed class-action suit, that they signed the agreement without being properly advised of their constitutional rights.

Upholding a federal judges dismissal of the suit, the appeals court said the former members had not been coerced into remaining in the union or signing the agreement. The court said they could have dropped out in 2018 and paid the lesser fees then charged to non-members, but chose to remain and keep such benefits as discounts on some goods and services, access to scholarship programs and the right to vote on union contracts.

The Supreme Courts ruling does not extend a First Amendment right to avoid paying union dues, McKeown said. She said the state has merely allowed the private choice of the parties and did not coerce them to remain in the union. And she found no evidence that the union, a private organization not bound by the First Amendment, had conspired with the state to force members to remain and pay dues.

AFSCMEs general counsel, Judith Rivlin, said federal courts around the nation continue to reject these attempts by corporate interests to manipulate the judiciary against working people and trample on their rights and freedom to join together in a union.

Attorney James Abernathy of the Freedom Foundation, representing the seven employees, said they would appeal the ruling, either to the entire appeals court or to the Supreme Court.

The appeals court has ruled, in effect, that the First Amendment does not apply to employees who choose to pay union dues, Abernathy said.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko
The idea the coronavirus originated from a laboratory has been raised again but dismissed by scientists. (Getty)

A new study, which is not peer reviewed, has made claims about the coronavirus coming from a lab

Scientists have said it is more likely to have originated in nature

One said it could be damaging to repeat the claim without looking at other evidence

A new study claiming that the coronavirus originated in a laboratory has been dismissed by scientists as damaging and lacking any credibility.

The study, which has not been peer reviewed, said the coronaviruss biological characteristics are inconsistent with a naturally occurring, zoonotic virus.

It claims the evidence shows it should be a laboratory product created by using bat coronaviruses as a template or backbone, and calls for an investigation into research labs.

Among its authors is Dr Li-Meng Yan, who The Australian reported is a virologist who left China after studying the early COVID-19 outbreak.

Watch: Watch: Yahoo UK Health Correspondent, Alexandra Thompson explain how to remove a face covering correctly

Scientists said the evidence indicates that the coronavirus is far more likely to have occurred naturally and noted that the study has not been peer reviewed.

Dr Michael Head, senior research fellow in global health at the University of Southampton, said: This particular conspiracy around deliberate release from a laboratory has been doing the rounds throughout the pandemic.

Read more: Number of coronavirus sufferers in hospital has doubled in past fortnight

It has been rebutted several times already. Ultimately, it could be damaging to public health if reported uncritically without looking at the wider evidence.

If people are exposed to and then believe conspiracy theories, this will likely have a negative impact on efforts to keep COVID-19 cases low and thus there will be more death and illness than there needs to be.

Dr Gkikas Magiorkinis, assistant professor of hygiene and epidemiology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, said that closely related coronaviruses have been retrieved from animals such as bats and pangolins which makes the scenario of naturally occurring evolution far more likely than any scenario of laboratory manipulation.

Story continues

He added: In fact we have clear history of zoonotic origin of lethal coronavirus outbreaks such as SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV.

The paper by Li-Meng et al does not provide any robust evidence of artificial manipulation, no statistical test of alternative hypotheses... and is highly speculative.

Read more: Woman received creepy messages from worker who got details from test and trace form

Dr Andrew Preston, reader in microbial pathogenesis at the University of Bath, said the report cannot be given any credibility in its current form, that it is not based on an objective interpretation of the SARS-CoV2 genome, and its interpretations are not supported by data.

Meanwhile, Daniel Altmann, professor of immunology at Imperial College London, said the study is interesting, but perhaps an outlier opinion.

For my taste, the bulk of the data fit with the consensus that this is a virus transferred to humans from bats or pangolins, where one can find terribly similar coronaviruses, he said.

A former head of MI6, Sir Richard Dearlove, told the Telegraph in June that he thought the pandemic started as an accident after the virus escaped a laboratory in China.

Coronavirus: what happened today

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Bonnie Kristian is a fellow at Defense Priorities, contributing editor at The Week, and columnist at Christianity Today. Her writing has also appeared at CNN, NBC, USA Today, the Los Angeles Times and Defense One, among other outlets.

We may never see unassailable substantiation or debunking of The Atlantic story alleging President Donald Trump privately speaks of U.S. war dead as "losers" or "suckers" and otherwise insults American forces and veterans.

Neither believers nor deniers are likely to produce video, audio or documentary proof of Trump's guilt or innocence. Even a president in the age of social media has some moments left unrecorded.

But while our national conversation has broached the subject of poor treatment of American troops, our attention should turn beyond Trump himself to a bigger and more durable insult: Washington's foreign policy of the last 19 years. If Trump's alleged comments offend us on the troops' behalf, this state of perpetual warfare should infuriate us.

For nearly two decades and over three administrations, U.S. foreign policy has assigned American soldiers to reckless, counterproductive, miserable and even impossible tasks. It has asked them to act well outside their rightful purpose and oath of enlistment. It has tasked them with battles unconnected to U.S. interests and neglected constitutional safeguards. It has asked our troops to kill and be killed as instruments of aggression rather than defense.

Our post-9/11 foreign policy promised quick victories and delivered generation-long fights. It lengthened soldiers' deployments and busied them with endless occupation, counterinsurgency and nation building. It rotated in new commanders and tactics and left larger strategic questions -- "Is this right? Is it necessary? What does 'victory' look like, and how is it achieved?" -- habitually unasked. The results were predictably disastrous.

This foreign policy uses American forces to defend dictators, take sides in regional religious turmoil, intervene in civil wars, overthrow governments, and otherwise meddle in situations that were never ours to resolve. Like an invisible treadmill, it keeps the military ever trudging but never actually moving toward conditions-based withdrawals paradoxically predicated on conditions unlikely to arise absent U.S. withdrawal. It slanders any objection to this state of affairs as "irresponsible," as if there could be anything responsible about a state of permanent war.

This dysfunction is already apparent to U.S. veterans and active-duty military alike, as poll after poll in recent years has demonstrated. Six in 10 veterans want the United States to be less militarily engaged abroad, and seven in 10 support full U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and Iraq. Eight in 10 service members and veterans say both these wars have "been going on too long," and strong majorities of veterans say the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria were not worth fighting. Only one in three believes our post-9/11 foreign policy has made our country safer. As The Washington Examiner's Timothy P. Carney wrote of one such survey, "The Americans most directly affected by this endless war emphatically want it over. ... The people who fight our wars want less war when we can help it."

And we can help it. The most generous possible interpretation of Trump's alleged comments is that he wants less war, too. That was the meaning suggested by a retired Green Beret, Joe Kent, in an Associated Press report. "I didn't get any kind of disrespect," Kent said. "He seemed to me to be a leader who was deeply conflicted about sending people off to die."

Trump's foreign policy record to date doesn't convince me of that view. He's happy to talk about bringing troops home and ending "endless wars" but notoriously sluggish -- if not outright oppositional -- about putting those words into action. If the president is really conflicted about sending people off to die, he can make good on his many promises and finally stop sending them.

In fact, whatever Trump did or didn't say or mean, that's an option always available to him or any president. The foreign policy of the next two decades need not replicate that of the last two. We could learn from our mistakes, reevaluate our grand strategy, heed this remarkable consensus among the military community, and finally change course.

If our concern for service members, veterans and the war dead is more than performative outrage, we should reject the disgraceful foreign policy whose brunt they've borne.

-- The opinions expressed in this op-ed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Military.com. If you would like to submit your own commentary, please send your article to opinions@military.com for consideration.
September 16 : Actor Vijay Sethupathi and Aishwarya Rajessh starrer Tamil film Ka Pae Ranasingam will be released on October 2 on the OTT platform Zeeplex. The film will be released in five Indian languages and it will be subtitled in 10 international languages. It can also be streamed in over 150 countries, according to details released by Zeeplex.

Taking to his Twitter handle on Tuesday, Vijay Sethupathi announced release date of the film, he wrote, The biggest DTH & OTT release you have witnessed so far!  Watch #KaPaeRanasingam from the comfort of your homes from 2nd of October on @zeeplexofficial.

Sethupathis co-actor Aishwarya also shared poster and release date of the film on her Instagram handle, she wrote, Watch #KaPaeRanasingam from the comfort of your homes from 2nd of October on @zeeplexofficial @actorvijaysethupathi @pkvirumandi @kjr_studios @VijaySethuOffl @aishu_dil @pkvirumandi1 @GhibranOfficial @shan_dir @eka_dop @Vairamuthu @gobeatroute @onlynikil @proyuvraaj.

The biggest DTH & OTT release you have witnessed so far!  Watch #KaPaeRanasingam from the comfort of your homes from 2nd of October on @zeeplexofficial  pic.twitter.com/yQGm5OscKK  VijaySethupathi (@VijaySethuOffl) September 15, 2020

Ka Pae Ranasingam marks fourth collaboration between Aishwarya Rajessh and Vijay Sethupathi as leads actors. The movie will also feature Yogi Babu, Samuthirakani, Vela Ramamoorthy and Poo Ram in prominent roles.

The film is based on real-life events and is written and directed by P Virumandi. The film is produced by Kotapadi J Rajesh under the KJR Studios banner and Gibharan is the music composer.

The official teaser for the film was released on May 23. It highlighted the plight of farmers and issues surrounding land. Vijay Sethupathi is shown helping farmers in their fight against industries which have encroached their land.

Vijay Sethupathi is also currently awaiting the release of Vijay starrer Master in which he plays the main antagonist. The movie is directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj and produced by Xavier Britto under the banner XB Film Creators. He will also be seen sharing screen space with Aamir Khan in Lal Singh Chaddha which will mark his debut in Hindi film industry.
IMA publishes list of 382 docs who died due to COVID-19, demands they be treated as martyrs

India

pti-Madhuri Adnal

New Delhi, Sep 16: Taking exception to Health Minister Harsh Vardhan not mentioning the death of healthcare workers due to COVID-19 in his statement in Parliament, the IMA on Wednesday published a list of 382 doctors who died due to the viral disease and demanded that they be treated as "martyrs".

On MoS Health Ashwini Kumar Choubey's statement that public health and hospitals come under states and so insurance compensation data is not available with the Centre, the doctors' body said that it amounts to "abdication of duty and abandonment of the national heroes who have stood up for our people".

Chinese firm to test COVID-19 vaccine in teenagers, children on Sep 28

"The IMA (Indian Medical Association) finds it strange that after having formulated an unfriendly partial insurance scheme for the bereaved families to struggle with the ignominy of the government disowning them altogether stares at them," it said.

According to the IMA COVID-19 data on September 16, as many as 2,238 doctors were infected with the disease and of them 382 lost their lives, a senior official of the doctors' body said. Referring to Vardhan statement, the IMA said the 19th paragraph acknowledges the contribution of healthcare workers during this pandemic, but "conceals" the morbidity and mortality of doctors, nurses and healthcare workers.

Terming it "indifference", the doctors' body said, "No nation has lost as many doctors and healthcare workers like India. Doctors suffer four times mortality of ordinary citizens and private practitioners suffer eight times mortality on the same scale."

Indian Army: Ready for full-fledged war against China | Oneindia News

"To feign that this information doesn't merit the attention of the nation is abominable. If the government doesn't maintain the statistics of the total number of doctors and healthcare workers infected by COVID- 19 and the statistics of how many of them sacrificed their life due to the pandemic, it loses the moral authority to administer the Epidemic Act 1897 and the Disaster Management Act."

"This also exposes the hypocrisy of calling them corona warriors on one hand and denying them and their families the status and benefits of martyrdom," the IMA stated. Publishing a list of 382 doctors who died in the COVID-19 pandemic, along with their addresses, it said, "We demand they be acknowledged and treated as martyrs." Their families and children deserve solace and solatium from the government, the IMA stressed.

"The IMA also commends to the government they seek such data from the representatives of nurses and other healthcare workers," the statement said. The doctors' body said it had shared with the health ministry hundreds of suggestions and feedback during this national health emergency.

Indian government wasted golden months to stop Covid-19: Ghulam Nabi Azad

"The prime minister deemed it fit to invite the national president of IMA to a meeting to share the concerns and seek suggestions and cooperation. The suo moto statement of the health minister preferred to ignore the national dimension of the war against COVID-19," it said in the statement.
DP World, a leading global provider of smart end-to-end logistics solutions, and Dubai Customs will explore opportunities to develop trade links between Israel and the UAE, following the signing of a series of memorandums of understanding (MoUs).

Group Chairman and CEO of DP World, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, signed MoUs with DoverTower, a company owned by Shlomi Fogel, the co-owner of Israel Shipyards and Port of Eilat.

It was also revealed that DP World and Israel Shipyards will collaborate to establish a joint venture that will participate in the tender for privatisation of the Port of Haifa.

Part of the engagement between the two countries to strengthen peace, dialogue and stability and promote sustainable development, the MoUs create a framework for the companies to work together in assessing opportunities to develop infrastructure for trade between Israel and the UAE, as well as within Israel and the region.

The MoUs cover three broad areas of cooperation:

 DP World will assess the development of Israeli ports and free zones and the potential establishment of a direct shipping route between Eilat and Jebel Ali.

 Dubai Customs will promote and facilitate trade between private entities in the two countries through customs best practice and seamless, innovative processes.

 Drydocks World will explore business opportunities with Israel Shipyards on a joint venture for developing, manufacturing and marketing ISL products.

Bin Sulayem said: "The MoUs will contribute to the efforts to tap economic and trade cooperation opportunities, and facilitate development-oriented linkages between the two countries. DP World's mission is to enable global trade  our work to build trade routes between the UAE, Israel and beyond will help our customers to do business in the region more easily and efficiently."

Fogel said: "This is a great honour to work and collaborate with HE Sultan bin Sulayem, Chairman and CEO of DP World. I'm proud of our mutual friendship and vision to create a strategic partnership that will positively impact the global trade and economy while strengthening the commercial relationship between the state of Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

"I believe that this agreement is just the beginning of mutual and long collaboration and more agreements will follow between DP World and DoverTower across different industries.

"I am also happy to announce that DP World and Israel Shipyards will collaborate to establish a joint venture that will participate in the tender for privatisation of the Port of Haifa." - TradeArabia News Service
New Delhi:

Apple manufacturing its signature smartphone in India has hit a roadblock as some officials have thwarted at Apple's demand of tax concession, calling it unfair for other companies who are already manufacturing their products in India.

As the spring deadline to launch the key project manufacturing is inching near, officials are mulling ways to keep the deal going amid Apple's long list of demands.

On Wednesday, Information and Technology Minister Ravi Shanker Prasad said that India would keep an 'open mind" in negotiations in the deal. The minister said that "We will very much like Apple to come and have a base in India".

There is a difference in the stand of officials, some faction of officials say that it would be unfair to those companies who are already working in India if Apple Inc's long list of demand is accepted by the Indian government.

Apple Inc demands include tax concession and several other policy exceptions. Reuters quoted some official saying the government should make policies for the industry, not individual companies.

"Apple is coming here because it sees a lucrative market, this is not a favour being done to India," quoted news agency Reuters as officials saying.

To solve the ongoing issues with demands of Apple Inch, the departments of industry, information technology and electronics, and finance will meet Apple executive on January 25 to consider the demands set out by the firm in India.

Apple Inc demand list



Here are few demands the smartphone maker have:

- Tax duty exemption on raw material and manufacturing, components, and capital for15 years for both domestic asnd export markets.

- It also demanded to import defective iPhones to repair and export them again. Currently, India allows phones to import phone that are not older than three years.

- It also wants some changes in India's Custom rules.
More than 215,000 of the vast sums that the Conservative Party poured into marginal seats in the run-up to the general election came from the mysterious United and Cecil Club. In the Register of Members Interests, 51 Tory MPs declared donations to their constituency parties from the club, ranging from 1,000 to 10,000, in the first three months of this year.

Most beneficiaries are new MPs, though there are a few who won their seats in 2010 by narrow margins. The three whose parties received 10,000 each were sitting MPs Kris Hopkins and David Morris and Ben Howlett, who took Bath from the Lib Dems.

United and Cecil is a members association with only one known purpose  to collect and disburse donations to the Conservative Party. On the Election Commission registry, its address is given as a 2m private house near Slough. Most of the MPs who have benefited from it give its address as a stables near Windsor, run by Tim Lord, former chief executive of the Tobacco Manufacturers Association. A few give its address as Munslows, an accountants firm in High Holborn, London, and one entry suggests it is based in the same building as the Carlton Club, a short walk from Parliament.

United and Cecil has no contact details and its membership list is not public. It does not need to declare its sources of money as it comes in individual donations below 7,500. Given the clamour the Tories raise about Labours union donations, you might think they would have qualms about being funded by a secretive organisation, but apparently not.

Major donors to the Conservative Party Show all 10 1 /10 Major donors to the Conservative Party Major donors to the Conservative Party Michael Farmer Hedge fund: RK Capital Management Worth: 150m Total donation: 6,556,092 Rex Features Major donors to the Conservative Party Sir Michael Hintze Hedge fund: CQS Worth: 1,055m Total donation: 3,221,027 Major donors to the Conservative Party Lord Fink Hedge fund: ISAM Worth: 130m Total donation: 3,172,007 EPA Major donors to the Conservative Party Chris Rokos Hedge fund: Brevan Howard (pictured) Worth: 230m Total donation: 1,344,850 Google Street View Major donors to the Conservative Party Andrew Law Hedge fund: Caxton Associates Worth: 350m Total donation: 1,226,411 Rex Major donors to the Conservative Party Sir Paul Ruddock Hedge fund: Lansdowne Partners Worth: 300m Total donation: 818,783 Rex Major donors to the Conservative Party David Harding Hedge fund: Winton Capital Worth: 750m Total donation: 593,765 Major donors to the Conservative Party Hugh Sloane Hedge fund: Sloane Robinson Worth: 185 Total donation: 533,500 Major donors to the Conservative Party Sir John and Peter Beckwith (L) Hedge fund: RiverCrest Capital Worth: 350m Total donation: 520,996 Rex Major donors to the Conservative Party Alexander Knaster Hedge fund: Pamplona Capital Management Worth: 1,266m Total donation: 400,000

Conservatives in the money

Meanwhile, it is customary to look through the Register for MPs who are making vast amounts of money outside Parliament, such as the Tory MPs Stephen Phillips and Geoffrey Cox, who are also high-earning barristers, and Boris Johnson. A comparatively new entrant to this club is Nadine Dorries, whose sideline as a fiction writer brought in more than 100,000 in 12 months.

BBCs belated apology

The BBC needs to tread carefully in its dealings with the Tories, with a decision pending on the licence fee and charter renewal. That may be part of the explanation for a graceful apology received by the former Conservative chairman, Grant Shapps.

His complaint was that the BBC got very excited about a story that an anonymous Wikipedia contributor had been barred from contributing to the site after making flattering additions to Shappss entry. It was implied, but never substantiated, that Shapps or someone he knew was doctoring Wikipedia.

The BBC was not so interested when the story turned out to be flakey, and the culprit was exposed as Lib Dem activist. James Harding, the BBCs director of news, has written to Shapps, admitting that the BBC did not give the later development enough coverage. Im sorry we didnt do as much as I would have liked, he wrote.

The Rock displays its might

Gibraltar may be small, but it does not lack ambition. It has a Supreme Court, which has ordered a right-wing Spanish union called Manos Limpias (Clean Hands) to pay 30,000 damages plus 35,000 costs for libelling the Rocks Chief Minister Fabian Picardo, whom they accused of smuggling, drug-trafficking and money-laundering.

But Manos Limpiass boss, Miguel Bernard Remon  a defender of those who held high office when Spain was under fascist rule  has told the site Spain Report: I dont recognise his authority, the sovereignty of the Gibraltar government or that bogus court. I cant see this being resolved amicably.
Professor Chris Whitty is pushing for a new two-week national lockdown amid concerns the true number of coronavirus cases is far higher than being reported, a former World Health Organisation expert claims.

Anthony Costello, who sits on the independent SAGE panel, made the statement on Twitter on Wednesday evening, adding that daily infections could be as high as 38,000.

It comes after Boris Johnson insisted he was doing 'everything in my power' to avoid plunging the country back into blanket restrictions, voicing fears that we could not 'afford' it.

But he acknowledged he could not dismiss the possibility, conceding there is 'not enough' capacity for screening and pleaded for people only to get checked if they have symptoms.

According to Mr Costello, the Prime Minister has been told by his Chief Medical Officer that such a move may be needed to stop the recent rise in infections.

He wrote: 'Im hearing from a well-connected person that government now thinks, in absence of testing, there are 38,000 infections per day. Chris Whitty is advising PM for a two week national lockdown.'

Sir Chris Whitty, pictured, is pushing for a new two-week national lockdown amid concerns the true number of coronavirus cases is far higher than being reported, a former World Health Organisation expert claims

Anthony Costello, who sits on the independent SAGE panel, made the statement on Twitter on Wednesday evening, adding that daily infections could be as high as 38,000

He wrote: 'Im hearing from a well-connected person that government now thinks, in absence of testing, there are 38,000 infections per day. Chris Whitty is advising PM for a two week national lockdown'

Britons 'could face curfews within weeks' Britons could face an even tougher lockdown within two weeks unless the Rule of Six brings down coronavirus cases, it was claimed on Wednesday. Ministers and government officials insist they are ready to take more draconian steps to stop the spread, despite a wave of criticism. Options on the table could range from curfews to closing pubs - although there is a determination that schools will stay open. 'Lockdown is the only thing that we know works, to be frank,' one government science adviser told ITV. The dire prospect has been raised amid fears that the disease is on the verge of spiralling out of control again. Although cases have spiked over 3,000 a day, it had been mainly among younger people, who are less likely to be badly affected. However, alarm has been sparked by early signs that hospitalisations are on the rise again, and infections are becoming more common among older people. Advertisement

Coronavirus cases spiked again on Wednesday to 3,991 amid rising alarm that the UK is about to be hit with a second wave.

But there are concerns that the shambolic testing system means the UK faces 'lockdown by default', with schools forced to shut in case people with colds are carrying the disease, and workers unable to return to offices.

In a sign of the mounting chaos, the government has stopped publishing daily capacity figures - with the data now marked 'N/A'.

Testing tsar Baroness Harding is also facing questions, with ministers demanding that schools are made a 'priority' and have 'swift' access to checks.

Despite previously boasting of 'Moonshot' plans to carry out 10million tests a day, Health Secretary Matt Hancock is now rushing to create a 'priority list'.

However, putting hospitals and care homes first raises the prospect of schools being left in limbo, with teachers saying 740 have already been forced to close or send children home because so many have cold or cough symptoms.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said headteachers were obliged to order that the 'bubble has to stay at home' if a pupil or teacher could not get a test to prove they were negative.

'This will feel I think like lockdown by default  it will be more frustrating for parents because you can't predict whether it is going to happen,' he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

The ASCL demanded that Mr Johnson 'personally take charge of this situation in the interests of keeping our schools and colleges open, and protecting pupils and staff'.

Asked whether there was enough testing capacity, Mr Johnson replied bluntly: 'No, we don't.

The UK has announced a further 14 Covid-19 deaths in the preliminary count, although the final figure can sometimes differ

Public Health England (PHE) data reveals 23.4 cases are now diagnosed for every 100,000 people aged between 40 and 49  up from 12.4 at the end of August. And coronavirus infection rates have nearly doubled in just a week for people in their fifties, jumping from 10.9 to 20

'We don't have enough testing capacity now because, in an ideal world, I would like to test absolutely everybody that wants a test immediately.'

He promised that there would be capacity for 500,000 tests a day by the end of October.

But he urged people without symptoms to stay away from testing centres  although he acknowledged the reasons why they may want to find out if they had Covid-19.

'What has happened is demand has massively accelerated just in the last couple of weeks,' he told MPs.

Professor Andrew Hayward, one of the government's SAGE experts, said around half a million people every day could be expected to display symptoms similar to coroanvirus at this time of year, even before the pandemic appeared.

That would be far above the government's current claimed testing capacity of around 375,000 - although they have never carried out that many in a single day.

Prof Hayward, director of University College London's Institute of Epidemiology & Health, said: 'The background to this of course is that we would expect the demand and the capacity to need to rise quite rapidly over the autumn and winter as the number of people who develop symptoms that could be Covid increase.

'Some of our research has shown that at least in the winter, you would expect about half a million people a day to develop symptoms that are typical of Covid  and that would be in a winter when there was no Covid  so you can see that the capacity requirements will have to increase dramatically if we are going to keep up.'
CHICAGO - Former longtime Illinois state Sen. Terry Link pleaded guilty Wednesday to tax evasion in federal court.

The Democrat, who resigned last week, had been in office since 1997. Hes the latest state legislator to be charged in the federal governments ongoing criminal investigations into public corruption in Illinois.

Link, 73, appeared in federal court before U.S. District Judge Robert Dow via video during a roughly 45-minute hearing.

According to Wednesdays 18-page plea agreement, Link listed his 2016 tax return income as $264,450 when it was at least $358,000. He also admitted to spending more than $73,000 in campaign funds on personal expenses, among other things.

When Dow asked Links plea on the tax charge, Link said, Guilty, your honour, according to The Chicago Tribune.

Link would face up to 16 months in prison, but federal prosecutors said Wednesday that they intend to recommend probation if Link fully co-operates with the government.

A status hearing has been set for March 30.

His plea comes after several other state lawmakers were charged.

Among them was former state Rep. Luis Arroyo, a Chicago Democrat, who pleaded not guilty in February to bribery allegations. Hes accused of paying a bribe to an unnamed state senator in exchange for support of a gambling bill that would have benefited a lobbying client.

He resigned in November, a week after his arrest. In announcing the bribery charge, federal prosecutors revealed that the unnamed state senator had been co-operating with them since 2016.

Link has previously denied to reporters that he was the unnamed state senator. The Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times, citing anonymous sources, have identified Link as the unnamed senator.

A phone message left Wednesday for Link wasnt returned.
Astros right-hander Chris Devenski underwent arthroscopic surgery to remove a bone spur from his right elbow yesterday, the team announced Wednesday. The recovery time on the procedure is expected to be about four months.

Devenski, 29, has struggled over the past few seasons, but from 2016-17, The Dragon was a major piece of Houstons bullpen. In that time, he worked a combined 189 innings with a 2.38 ERA, 9.7 K/9, 2.2 BB/9, 0.71 HR/9 and a 35.9 percent ground-ball rate. He posted a swinging-strike rate better than 15 percent over that two-year stretch, including a gaudy 16.9 percent in a 2017 campaign that saw him punch out 31.6 percent of the hitters he faced.

Since Opening Day 2018, however, Devenski has a 4.88 ERA in 120 frames. Hes still averaging 9.6 strikeouts per nine innings pitched in that time, but his walk rate has ticked up slightly, his velocity has dipped, and hes become vastly more prone to home runs (1.73 HR/9). Devenski managed just 3 2/3 innings in 2020 and was tagged for six runs on seven hits and three walks in that brief sample.

Heading into the offseason, Devenski will be at somewhat of a crossroads. His $2MM salary in 2020 was hardly outrageous, and his limited body of work this year means hes unlikely to receive much of a raise  if any at all. Still, every club will be looking to trim some payroll where possible (to varying extents). Devenskis late elbow procedure and his downward trend in 2018-20 will make him a non-tender candidate, particularly given that hes only controllable through the 2021 season right now at present anyhow.




THE Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (Zimsec) has extended the registration period for November 2020 Ordinary and Advanced Level examinations to cater for pupils and schools that failed to do the process due to different reasons because of the Covid-19-induced lockdown.





This is the second time that Zimsec has extended the registration process after doing so in April. Zimsec says the examinations are going ahead with the council having already completed the printing of Grade 7 examination material.





Marking of the June examination is starting this week with results expected before the November examinations commence. No late registration fees would be charged to candidates and centres.





The provision is in accordance with Governments announcement that all potential candidates will access the 2020 examinations.





In an interview yesterday, Zimsec board chairperson Professor Eddie Mwenje said:





The registration will start on the September 28 once they open schools and then it will close of October 2. Just like we said the rationale for this is that you know some of the students could not travel to register during the lockdown period. And also, because schools were closed and some people could not travel from here to there and also some could not get their registration done using the electronic system.





We have got an electronic payment and registration which some people could have been failing to access depending on where they are. So, we said once schools open on September 28, we give them one week gap and them we close. So, this is official. Anyone can register, they have to take advantage of their centres where they register. So, anyone will be able to do that. We will not segregate any particular registration really.





We dont segregate those people that write nor do we reduce the number of subjects people want to write.





But the major thing is that we wanted to make sure that we are just fair to the majority of Zimbabweans especially that registration was affected by the Covid-19-induced lockdown. Some people had problems and some schools could not actually transfer the money electronically, the registration details and so forth.





We have finished the Grade seven examinations. We have completed preparations in terms of printing the material and so forth. We are already done with that and we have already started actually printing the Ordinary and A Level examination material and we are progressing well. There are no problems at all, said Prof Mwenje.





He said the marking of June examinations is penciled for this week.




KAMPALA  President Museveni has described Uganda as the best country in the world and urged the youth to preserve its ecosystem.

In a missive posted on his social media pages on Wednesday, 16 September 2020, Mr Museveni said he wonders why many people are so desperate to leave such a beautiful country.

The President then explained how Uganda is endowed with important features such as lakes and rivers, zeroing down to Lake Victoria and River Nile.

He explained that while growing up, these two water sources had never flooded as it is now, urging those cultivating on their banks to vacate.

What captured my interest when I was growing up, was the level of the water in these Lakes and Rivers over the last 120 years, ever since the new Government (following the colonization) had started keeping records. The water-level is measured at Jinja. The lowest level of the water was in 1923 when it was 10.28metres, Mr Museveni wrote.

The next high record was on the 16th of May, 1964, when the water level reached 13.41 metres, he added.

However, since last year, the water level has been going up. The highest level was on the 19th of May, 2020, when the water level reached the new record level of 13.49metres. Since that time, the water level has remained above 13 metres. Even the morning of the 15th of September, 2020, my 76th birthday, the water level is still at 13.04metres. The people who settled too close to the Lake shores, should move away from the Lake Shores, he added.

See full missive here

.

It is always good for the Bazzukulu and even the adults to know their country. Uganda is the best country in the World. I always marvel at some Ugandans that look so desperate to travel to other countries, almost all of them not as endowed and as beautiful as Uganda. On this occasion, I will inform the Bazzukulu about the few facts I have on Nalubaale (what Europeans call Victoria) and Kiira (what the outsiders know as Nile). We cannot talk about the two without talking about Mwitanzigye (Lake Albert), Kyooga, Masyooro (Lake George) and Butuumbi  Rutshuru (Lake Edward).

The Bazzukulu can check for themselves from the different reference points about the size of each lake in sq. kms., etc.

What captured my interest when I was growing up, was the level of the water in these Lakes and Rivers over the last 120 years, ever since the new Government (following the colonization) had started keeping records. The water-level is measured at Jinja. The lowest level of the water was in 1923 when it was 10.28metres.

Before that, the highest level recorded had been in 1918 when, on the 1st of January, the record showed 11.89metres.I had heard about these heavy rains of 1917/1918 from 2 sources. Some of the historians of the KAR had referred to them during the 1st World War.

Secondly, my mother, Esiteri Kokundeka, always told me that she was born during the time of the heavy rains. There was also another elderly lady, Komukyeera, which meant that she had been born when the heavy rains had just stopped. She was from the Bahiinda clan.

The next high record was on the 16th of May, 1964, when the water level reached 13.41 metres. By this time, I was very much around and I was 19 years old, in S.IV at Ntare School. Those rains had been steadily building up the water, eversince 1961. By 1962, the plains of Kashaari, where we were grazing our cattle that time, were flooded. It was quite a bother splashing in water in the plains day after day in our rugabires or the more unhealthy cha-cha plastic shoes. The plains of Ruyoonza, Kakigoonjo, Rweera, Kyarwabugaanda, etc., were all flooded. The only way you could escape water was if you went to the hills of Rugoobwa and Kaigoshoora. On the lake shores, most of the landing sites and piers were rendered unusable. Actually, that is when lake transport was interfered with. Soon political turmoil set in and there was nobody to worry about much of the lake transport to Butiaba, Bukakata, Namasagali, etc. Only Port-Bell and Jinja survived. I know this because I used the ship Victoria in July, 1967, from Port-Bell to Mwanza.

During the El-nino of 1997/1998, the water-level reached 12.97metres on the 17th of May. The water went up but it did not reach the level of 1964. However, since last year, the water level has been going up. The highest level was on the 19th of May, 2020, when the water level reached the new record level of 13.49metres. Since that time, the water level has remained above 13 metres. Even the morning of the 15th of September, 2020, my 76th birthday, the water level is still at 13.04metres. The people who settled too close to the Lake shores, should move away from the Lake Shores. Staying 200 metres from the Lake shore is the wise, correct and useful thing to do. When you do that, vegetation and forest grow around the Lake shore. That vegetation is like a filter for the omukoka that goes into the Lake (the mutuunga, the run-off water, Alele, etc). The filter, keeps the soil in the vegetation and only the clean alele goes into the lake. Thereby, the Lake avoids silting and mineral nutrients do not go into the Lake, which phenomenon attracts aquatic plants that take oxygen from the Lake and can lead to the extinction of fish. The Lake is also clean for swimming ? no pollutants ? and, therefore, for tourism and drinking water that does not require too much cleaning by the National Water and Sewerage Corporation. It also looks beautiful to look at.

Also, keep 50 metres away from the River Banks for the same reason. It should only be in a few areas where the engineers of the Town or City Council, allow some permanent buildings within the zone of 200 metres from the lake-shore or 50 metres from the River banks. I can authoritatively speak on this because I was born near one of the tributaries of the Kagyera ? Kyamate-Katiinda Kifuunjo (papyrused tributary). Recently, I bought back part of my ancestral land at enkoondo and the papyrus there is totally undisturbed. It is not only beautiful but the water preserved for irrigation and the swamp grasses can be used for mulching. Papyrus can be used for making paper like the Egyptian did 3 millennia ago. Fish farming can be done by cages in the Lakes or in fish ponds near the river banks.

YKM, the Oldman with a hat

16th September, 2020

Related
 One recovered in Midlothian, Illinois, five days after being purchased;

 And one recovered in Chicago 12 days after being purchased.

For each gun purchased, Ivery answered "yes" on a ATF form that asks, "Are you the actual transferee/buyer of the firearms(s) listed on this form," records state.

When interviewed by ATF agents, Ivery allegedly admitted he bought all but one of the guns for individuals living in Chicago, who had asked him to buy firearms for them. They all paid Ivery in cash for every purchase he made, court records allege.

Ivery's case was investigated as part of Operation Legend, which was launched by the U.S. Department of Justice in July in response to an uptick in homicides and nonfatal shootings in cities across the nation.

The Northern District of Indiana isn't a designated district for Operation Legend, but the U.S. attorney's office for the district works closely with federal prosecutors in Chicago, according to a news release.
Brussels, Sep 16 : European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday that the executive arm of the European Union (EU) is proposing to cut emissions by 55 per cent from 1990 levels by 2030, in response to the climate emergency.

The new target, which is more ambitious than the 40 per cent goal originally set in the Green Deal but falls short of the 60 per cent target requested by the European Parliament's environment committee last week, was announced in von der Leyen's first State of Union speech at the European Parliament, Xinhua news agency reported.

"This will put the EU on track for climate neutrality by 2050 and for meeting its Paris Agreement obligations," she said.

"I recognise that this increase from 40 to 55 per cent is too much for some, and not enough for others... But the 2030 target is ambitious, achievable, and beneficial for Europe," she noted.

According to von der Leyen, by next summer the Commission will revise all of the EU's climate and energy legislation to make it "fit for 55".

The European Commission's new target is backed by large economies including France and Germany, but will still face resistance from countries that are still way off the target. EU leaders will discuss the new target at their summit next month.

The chief of the EU's executive arm also said that 30 per cent of spending from the 750-billion-euro recovery plan to restart the European economies following the pandemic will be earmarked for climate-friendly projects and financed through the proposed green bonds.